SXSW 2010 (the free stuff): OK, so we know that we’ve been writing a bunch about this thing. But, we figure it’s a big festival—and besides, today’s take isn’t for the official badge-buying set. Nope. We’re bringing back the SXSW talk to tell you about the wide variety of sort-of-associated free shit that goes down during festival week (March 12-21) here in Austin. And there’s a ton of it.

But sometimes you have to RSVP to reserve yourself a spot. The Bay Area Takeover, for example, will happen at the Beauty Bar on March 18. Bands include Sleepy Sun and Wallpaper, and the event runs 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. To get in on the fun, hit up that their Web site and get your name on the list.

The Republic of Austin has a pretty good rundown (complete with links to RSVP pages) of all of this stuff. If your SXSW plans come sans badge or wristband (as our’s here at Festival Watch do), you should check it out.

Big Ears Festival 2010: We here at Festival Watch sure do hope that our inability to access the Big Ears Festival’s Web site isn’t a sign of some kind of disaster. I mean, we know how tough times can lead to the sudden dissolution of worthy (well, maybe not market-worthy) projects. So this’d be a shame.

Still, we think that Big Ears’ sudden electronic unavailability is probably something that’s totally fixable. Otherwise, yesterday’s announcement of the additions of Sufjan Stevens, Adrian Belew, William Basinski, Liturgy, Konk Pack, Abe Vigoda, and Ches Smith to the lineup would be kind of weird. We suppose we’ve seen quicker turnarounds in fortune.

Anyway. Other already-announced participants in the second edition of the Knoxville, Tenn., festival include Tim Hecker, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Terry Riley, the Ex, Vampire Weekend, Joanna Newsom, and Dirty Projectors. Hecker and Bang on A Can will also be featured in a couple of collaborations—the former with the Books in a performance of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports and the latter with Terry Riley for a run-through of the composer’s “In C.”

Dang. This sounds kind of blockbuster to us.

It all goes down between March 26 and 28, and tickets—presuming all’s still well with the festival—can be had through the Big Ears web site. Our fingers are crossed.

Lollapalooza 2010: On Tuesday, the Daily Swarm reported that Green Day, Soundgarden, Lady Gaga, and maybe the Arcade Fire will be the headliners for this year’s Lollapalooza. Yawn, we say. But you should click on that link anyway ‘cause they’ve posted some pretty great ur-Gaga photos that catch the Lady at the 2007 edition of that festival. Minus the peroxide and fancy outfits.