The indie festival season used to start & end in Austin, from South-by-Southwest (QRO recap) in March to Austin City Limits in September, but now it's San Francisco which bookends it, all the way to November with Treasure Island (QRO Festival Guide), and starting in February with Noise Pop.  The singer/songwriter-friendly fest goes from modern artists like Stephen Merritt to the world's most famous singer-songwriter...'s widow, Yoko Ono.

Like SXSW, Noise Pop is held in venues across the city - even starting across the bay in Oakland (scroll right to see Oakland):

It's a new year for New York, with twelve more months of places to go & people to see (now with Shows of the Week & Special Events):

The north end of Brooklyn had its own mini-CMJ (or mini-mini-SXSW) in the inaugural Northside Festival.  Put together by the only publication named after a subway line, L Magazine, Williamsburg & Greenpoint rocked Thursday-Sunday, June 11th-14th.  Most of the acts were local ones, including some you'd always meant to see, but there were also some nice out-of-towners heading things up.  Many of the bands were disappointing, but some weren't, and a few really stood out and grabbed your attention.

While it ain't ready to be challenging the big boys, Northside was a great way to spend four days walking around the hippest of neighborhoods, building up your indie-cred.