The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

It's Friday, the midpoint of South by Southwest 2009, the biggest and most hyped music festival in North America. Thousands of bands, music execs, and fans from around the globe have made the pilgrimage to Austin, Texas, the city that bills itself as "the live music capitol of the world."

Given Austin's other identity as the "queer mecca of the south," it should come as no surprise that there's plenty of fun to be had in the margins at SXSW. This Sunday, queer musicians from across the U.S. and Canada will share a bill with local artists and visionaries at the fourth annual GaybiGayGay festival.

GaybiGayGay is one of many unofficial parties that flourish at SXSW. It's also the biggest of big tents, a petri dish of emerging identities, a place where winsome fauns sing paeans to three-pronged forks in uncharted harmony.

Past performers have included Dynasty Handbag, Lezzies on X, and Men. This year's line-up boasts Shunda K. (of Yo Majesty), Sissy Bounce, Gretchen Phillips, Romanteek, Dave End, Christeene Vale, and Butch County.

I was going to link to Christeene Vale's new video with a very strong Not Safe For Work warning, but now I see that apparently the video, titled "Fix My Dick," was not safe for YouTube either. It's been taken down. I hope she finds some way to sneak it past the censors. In the meantime, you'll have to come see Christeene at GaybiGayGay. I'm just praying that the dancers from the video will also be onstage.

The full line-up for gbgg is available on MySpace and Facebook. If you're in Austin, be sure to arrive in time for Butch County's 3:30 set. Butch County frontman Katy Koonce (who also happens to be my wife) describes their genre as "silicone cock rock." Originally, I thought that Silicone Cock Rock would be a great name for their band (CSR for short), but the band was worried about what they would tell their mamas! That's Texas butches, y'all. Come out and get you some.