Howdy!
Day one for 1/2 of the ILC gang started way too early as we had a 5AM wake up call to catch a 8:15 flight to Austin. Things went smoothly however and we arrived in central Texas around 11AM, ready to check out the sights. After a short bus trip from the airport to downtown, it was time to hunt down some food and margaritas. Sadly, M’s recommendation from having great food there two years ago, Las Mananitas on South Congress, was now a parking lot. We opted for Copa right next door. The food was pretty good and the margaritas tasty. Grant, M and I soaked up the warm 75 degree air on the back patio. After Grant chided my verbal faux pas by telling our waitress that the “food was good…I hope it gets better,” I was summarily crapped on…litterally (and I wasn’t even singing) by one of the noisy, aggressive Grackle right down the front of my black shirt (maybe G.G. Allen reincarnated?). After a hasty cleanup, we progressed down Congress to the south side of the river and our lodgings for the next few days.
Finding the house we rented not ready yet, we dropped off our luggage at the house owner’s hip salon, Pink and headed farther south down Congress to the Hotel San José and took a brief tour of the hip place where M stayed two years ago. From there we moved on down to Guero’s, had a couple of beers and listened to our first “band” of the fest, Kid Infinity, which was an MC/DJ duo. They opened with a pretty straight up (but more vocally energetic) version of Temporary Secretary. I knew it was a cover, but was shocked to find out later that it was a Paul McCartney tune from 1980. I’m not a huge fan of this music, but the guys kept my interest.
The second band up was Love is a Story, which had a good indie sound despite some issues with the monitor sound mix for the band. The three piece didn’t sound very tight and I think the mix contributed to that. It just goes to show how difficult it is to play along with a tape, click track, IPod, whatever… These guys would do well to add a keyboard player when they play out live. The band’s arrangements seem to be keyboard driven, and I think it would really add to its live sound.
We only heard about half of Love is…’s set because the house was finally ready. Time to get out of the bird crap T-shirt! We headed back to Pink, where I passed the “favorite prog band” quiz by answering in a panic, “King Crimson.” Turns out our “Temporary Landlord” is dating current King Crimson drummer, Pat Mastelotto. The prize? A cache of toilet paper.
The margaritas, welcome Texas heat, and early flight time finally caught up with us, so we decompressed for a bit at the cute “Pink House” while waiting for our friend Holly to arrive. Finally, with a little self-motivation, it was back to the San José to see Texas Country Music Hall of Famer, Billy Joe Shaver. After a great set with a kickin’ backup band, Grant and I headed down to 6th street to check out the bands and get acclimated to the location of all the zillion clubs.
Finding most of the venues already full we contimplated hanging out for That Petrol Emotion at 1AM. Food was on the first order however, so we found Stubb’s for some Southern deep fried goodness (Grant’s first exposure to fried green tomatoes) and a pulled pork sammich (good but a little sparce on the prOk.) Unfortunately, the meal put the brakes on the evening…1AM seemed like a decade away (it was 11:30PM) and it was wisely decided to head home and save our energy for the coming days.
