March 17th in Austin
So, this is the first time I've been able to get back on the internet--I was swamped yesterday. This is a recap of Friday--I'll get to Saturday later.
Friday, we woke up to warm, sunny Austin--I wish. It was freezing and I was thrilled that I remembered to bring a warm sweater and long sleeves. Honestly, most of the day is a blur now. I think we went downtown to see if we could find anything going on, but our parking meeter was only for an hour and 15 minutes. We did stop in to see one singer/songwriter guy--he was pretty good. Actually, nearly everyone here is good. There's no question as to why most of them are here. So, we walked around and finally decided to head over the Austin City Limits set to the KEXP taping. Of course, we didn't get to actually see anyone perform because we got there at the perfect time to just miss them. But it was cool to be there anyway and we got to see part of UT.
I must say this city is by far, the coolest place I've ever been. Minus the music, it's still exceptionally cool. Lots of artists and folks who make clothing and jewelry. If you've ever been to Yellow Springs, OH, it's kinda like that except miles and miles of it.
But as for music, I was thrilled to have Mark Messerly and Dawn Burman join me for the Gogirls 2 song night. Things were running behind so we got to hear Sara Bettens (former K's Choice) do her sound check. It was amazing and unexpected. After that, I had to run Mark and Dawn and my friend Ben (Sunspot) back to downtown then I drove back South of town and picked up my keyboard, Allison Tartalia, Jennifer Richman and Deborah Crooks for a night on the town.
Downtown was a mess. It was, of course, St. Patrick's Day which screwed up everything. There were so many people in the streets that we could barely walk. We walked at least 10 blocks to get to the club where Rhett Miller was playing under an assumed name. Normally we would be able to pay $10 or $15 to get into the show but they were accepting only wristbands and badges. What? Are you serious? The club isn't even full--how can you not let us in? I was crushed. I had come all this way and tripped over people on my crutches and now I can't get in. We meandered around a little and decided to get some Mexican food at a little place nearby. Then we decided to see what else was going on. Nearly every club was taking only wristbands and badges so that's why so many people where just milling around in the streets. The clubs that were letting people in had metal bands or a bunch of folks we had never heard of. The one band I wanted to see, I missed because of the stupid time change and my inability to understand that it was actually 12a and not 11p. I was exhausted and confused.
On our way back toward the minivan, we caught a few acts on the street which actually were pretty good. There was a brass jazz band from New ORleans, and a little bluegrass band. The blue grass band was amazing--the guy playing stand-up bass playing really percussively, while smoking a cigarette and talking on the cell phone and the kids that played violin, guitar and banjo were probably in jr. high or high school. It was good, and free.
We fought the crowds and went back to 4th St. where there had been an outdoor tent--maybe they still had something going on. But no. When we got there, there wasn't anyone playing and there were just people. We decided to cut through between the street and the tent--ick. I got some sort of beer infused muddy crud on my shoes and crutches--now what? It just so happened that there was this nice pool of water at a building across from the parking lot we parked in. I stood near the edge and stuck the bottem of my crutches in to rid them of crud and suddenly, there's this guy on a cell phone walking through the pool. He gets out on the other side and is telling the person on the phone that he was wet but he couldn't figure out how he got that way. He looks down and says, "I must be drunk." Really? We all laughed. Then he proceeded to yell at the person on the other end of the phone. "Come pick me up, B#*&#! You're going to make me get wet again!" And he walked back into the pool of water. Gee, was it really any wonder why she wasn't coming to get him?
Well, time to head back to the hotel and then do it all again tomorrow.
Friday, we woke up to warm, sunny Austin--I wish. It was freezing and I was thrilled that I remembered to bring a warm sweater and long sleeves. Honestly, most of the day is a blur now. I think we went downtown to see if we could find anything going on, but our parking meeter was only for an hour and 15 minutes. We did stop in to see one singer/songwriter guy--he was pretty good. Actually, nearly everyone here is good. There's no question as to why most of them are here. So, we walked around and finally decided to head over the Austin City Limits set to the KEXP taping. Of course, we didn't get to actually see anyone perform because we got there at the perfect time to just miss them. But it was cool to be there anyway and we got to see part of UT.
I must say this city is by far, the coolest place I've ever been. Minus the music, it's still exceptionally cool. Lots of artists and folks who make clothing and jewelry. If you've ever been to Yellow Springs, OH, it's kinda like that except miles and miles of it.
But as for music, I was thrilled to have Mark Messerly and Dawn Burman join me for the Gogirls 2 song night. Things were running behind so we got to hear Sara Bettens (former K's Choice) do her sound check. It was amazing and unexpected. After that, I had to run Mark and Dawn and my friend Ben (Sunspot) back to downtown then I drove back South of town and picked up my keyboard, Allison Tartalia, Jennifer Richman and Deborah Crooks for a night on the town.
Downtown was a mess. It was, of course, St. Patrick's Day which screwed up everything. There were so many people in the streets that we could barely walk. We walked at least 10 blocks to get to the club where Rhett Miller was playing under an assumed name. Normally we would be able to pay $10 or $15 to get into the show but they were accepting only wristbands and badges. What? Are you serious? The club isn't even full--how can you not let us in? I was crushed. I had come all this way and tripped over people on my crutches and now I can't get in. We meandered around a little and decided to get some Mexican food at a little place nearby. Then we decided to see what else was going on. Nearly every club was taking only wristbands and badges so that's why so many people where just milling around in the streets. The clubs that were letting people in had metal bands or a bunch of folks we had never heard of. The one band I wanted to see, I missed because of the stupid time change and my inability to understand that it was actually 12a and not 11p. I was exhausted and confused.
On our way back toward the minivan, we caught a few acts on the street which actually were pretty good. There was a brass jazz band from New ORleans, and a little bluegrass band. The blue grass band was amazing--the guy playing stand-up bass playing really percussively, while smoking a cigarette and talking on the cell phone and the kids that played violin, guitar and banjo were probably in jr. high or high school. It was good, and free.
We fought the crowds and went back to 4th St. where there had been an outdoor tent--maybe they still had something going on. But no. When we got there, there wasn't anyone playing and there were just people. We decided to cut through between the street and the tent--ick. I got some sort of beer infused muddy crud on my shoes and crutches--now what? It just so happened that there was this nice pool of water at a building across from the parking lot we parked in. I stood near the edge and stuck the bottem of my crutches in to rid them of crud and suddenly, there's this guy on a cell phone walking through the pool. He gets out on the other side and is telling the person on the phone that he was wet but he couldn't figure out how he got that way. He looks down and says, "I must be drunk." Really? We all laughed. Then he proceeded to yell at the person on the other end of the phone. "Come pick me up, B#*&#! You're going to make me get wet again!" And he walked back into the pool of water. Gee, was it really any wonder why she wasn't coming to get him?
Well, time to head back to the hotel and then do it all again tomorrow.
posted by pale beneath the blue @ 8:36 AM
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