Twestival Thursday: Technology + Charity + Music + People, H-Town Style

I’ve dodged the Twitter bullet so far, and I have to say, I’m fairly glad of that. Heck, ’til the recent dive into Facebook hell and not counting the Myspace “mirror” for this wee blog, I’ve mostly avoided the whole social-networking thing completely. Yeah, I’m a cyber-Luddite on some levels, it’s true; it just feels like it takes up too damn much time, y’know? This site eats my life as it is…

So I can’t claim to get the whole Twitter/tweet thing, not completely. I do get the general idea of the Twestival, though, which is to bring people together across the world — 105 cities, all together — on one day, Thursday, February 12th, linking ’em via common interest and technology, to raise money and awareness for a cause that means something globally. This year, that cause is Charity:Water, a group that literally builds wells in areas where people are in desperate need of fresh, clean water to drink. Waterborne diseases are bad, bad news, the type of bad news that can kill a person, blind them, or leave them otherwise crippled, and having no water at all, well, how that’s bad isn’t hard to figure out.

With the whole “clean water” aim in mind, then, Houston’s goal in this year’s Twestival is to raise $4000 to build a water well. And to do that, the festival (er, Twestival, sorry) is all about bringing together the Twitter community here in H-town face-to-face, connecting them with Twitter users elsewhere, and hopefully help people at the same time. Which is a cool idea, if you ask me.

The Houston version of the event will be held at the ever-busy Caroline Collective in Midtown (4820 Caroline; and yes, it has its own Twitter tag, @carolineco), and will run from 5:30PM to 10PM. The admission fee, as far as I can tell, is pretty much up to what you can give — go here to donate and then, uh, tweet about it. (If you want; I think that’s part of the raising-awareness thing.)

And yes, there will be music, as well — the Houston version of the Twestival includes Red Eye Carl and the Pirates, Wayside Drive (whom I’ve heard are good), Snake Charmers (who I’ve heard are really good), & Blue Funk, w/Blue Funk starting at 7PM or so.

There you go, then — get on out this Thursday, tell all your tweeting friends and get them on out (because, c’mon, admit it — this electronic-friend stuff really isn’t a substitute for hanging out in person, is it?), donate to an ultra-worthy cause, have fun, enjoy some good music, and feel like your part of something truly global.