Datebook
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15
ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD. Austin becomes the music capital of the nation--maybe the world--for five days as the South by Southwest music festival and trade show, known as SXSW, takes over the city. Musicians and record labels gather to promote themselves; last year more than 1,200 acts from blues to electronica performed at over 50 venues. This year, more than 25 foreign countries, including Latvia, Sierra Leone, and Uzbekistan, are scheduled to be represented, and stars like Neil Young, the Beastie Boys, and the Pretenders will appear.
CHECKOUT TIME. Hurricane evacuees in Louisiana and Mississippi are scheduled to lose their expenses-paid hotel rooms today, unless the Federal Emergency Management Agency grants an extension. FEMA quit paying hotel bills elsewhere on March 1.
THURSDAY, MARCH 16
MARCH MADNESS. Who've you got in the Final Four? College basketball's tournament season begins in earnest today (a men's "play-in" game on March 14 determines the final 64-team field), dominating sports talk and office chitchat for nearly three weeks. The men's championship game is set for April 3 in Indianapolis, while the women's crown is decided April 4 in Boston.
FRIDAY, MARCH 17
GREEN DAY. For the 245th straight year, the St. Patrick's Day Parade marches up Manhattan's Fifth Avenue (right past St. Patrick's Cathedral, of course). Down on Wall Street, in keeping with the Irish spirit (and spirits) of the holiday, the Guinness brewmaster and Bushmill's master distiller will ring the New York Stock Exchange bell. If you like your St. Paddy's Day away from the bright lights, try the celebrations in Savannah, Ga., or Shamrock, Texas.
HUNAN STYLE. Russian stunt pilots fly fighter planes through a narrow cave in Hunan province as part of a tourism promotion. Tianmen Cave, which looks like a towering rock archway and has been described as a "big eye in the sky," ranges in width from 92 to 188 feet. It is one of the sights in Zhangjiajie, whose forests and mountain peaks are considered among the most scenic landscapes in China.
SATURDAY, MARCH 18
WHEN THE SAINTS... New Orleans keeps the St. Patrick's Day party going with its annual Italian-American St. Joseph's Day parade through the French Quarter. It's sponsored by the Italian American Marching Club, which bills itself as the largest ethnic organization in the Southeast. Metairie in neighboring Jefferson Parish hosts an Irish-Italian parade tomorrow.
SUNDAY, MARCH 19
MINSK MINUET. President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, perhaps the most Soviet-style ruler in the former Soviet republics, faces three opponents in today's presidential election. One of Lukashenko's challengers has called the vote a "farce," and another has vowed to "liberate Belarus." For his part, Lukashenko has warned that "only dark forces are behind revolutions, regardless of the revolution's color," an allusion to the "orange revolution" triggered two years ago by vote fraud in neighboring Ukraine.
WAR ANNIVERSARY... Three years ago today, the United States launched the initial airstrikes of the war against Iraq (at 9:30 p.m. EST, 5:30 a.m. March 20 Baghdad time). The campaign was known as Operation Iraqi Freedom. Last week, a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that 57 percent of Americans believe the war was not worth fighting, two thirds think the Bush administration does not have a clear plan for handling the situation, and 80 percent consider Iraq likely to descend into civil war.
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