Hmm,
So, thursday night, I was up till midnight or so,
then a bit before 5 a.m. it became apparent i wasn’t going to be sleeping,
so i got up,
got the paper,
needed Dr Pepper,
walked (one block) to the Save Store
(for the first time in my eight year residence, i found out they’re not open at 5 a.m.)
walked the other direction to the Diamond Shamrock,
got 2 liters Dr Pepper,
morning is good,
about 7 a.m. laid down in bed listening to NPR,
stared at my eyelids till 8 a.m.
I really need to get a copy of Waking Life on DVD. I rented it and watched it several times a while back. It’s great. (FWIW, Ebert raved on it) Also, if you’ve seen it, the string quartet, Tosca which appeared in it will be playing with Glover Gill on Sunday, July 13 at The Continental Club (in Houston). Glover plays piano every monday at 8pm. He’s excellent. If you haven’t seen him, give it a try. He scored Waking Life, which brings me back to that. I really need to get a copy!
OK, so it’s been a weird mojo day.
I officially got into the ACP for HISD, but the day before…
My roommate’s (Conn’s) car was totalled, while parked outside his place of work (Catbirds) and two others were damaged. But the hit and runner had no luck, because someone had just had a 2×4 tossed through their window around the corner, so the HPD went and soon got the guy, who’s 30th birthday it was (and whose friend obviously suck for getting him drunk and not driving him home). Previously that day (around noon), at the construction site across the street, the crane dropped a load, killing one (near bottom) and seriously injuring another.
So,… Continue reading
As usual, I never got around to documenting the final days at SXSW. After thursday, I was a little jaded. I had attended many shows where the venues were “showcases” for some label. Annoying, aloof, drunk, all kinds of self-important people.
Then friday came and things get real crowded. The goal for me tends to be avoid the lines, not see anyone in particular. The evening was totally redeemed by two bands.
Just before the midnight show, we waited outside The Vibe for the Austin band Grupo Fantasma. With 10 or a few more, they have a large stage presence. A lot of horns and a lot of energy. Finally, a venue where everyone was having a good time. We bounced about in the crowded venue for the whole show.
Afterward we tried several places on Red River, saw Red Eyed Fly didn’t have a line like the rest. It has always done us well, so we popped in. Saw the last 3-4 songs of a crazy mahem set. Gogol Bordello It was gypsy punk with high energy. Two girls in costume were the percussion section. One bass drum. One symbols. A gypsy fiddle, a mad eastern European, all from… NYC. Think Mojo Nixon playing East European Folk Music. Yes, it is too much to wrap your head around. The show ended with the singer balancing on the bass drum as it was passed into the audience.
I can’t emphasize enough that I would readjust my schedule drastically to see either of these bands. Since the former is based in Austin and just released their first CD, I’ll likely have a chance. I can only hope that Gogol will get back down to Texas.
-b
This song was wafting in and out of my head several weeks ago. I really need to dial it up on the CD player and get it out of my system. I think it’s particularly apropos (oh no, did I use a French word? The horror.), but I’ll leave my personal feeling of its interpretation to myself. That’s the beauty of music, it can mean different things to different people, all correct.
-b
>REM – Dead Letter Office – Bandwagon
Bandwagon
Come on aboard, I promise you you won’t hurt the horse
We treat him well, we feed him well.
There’s lots of room for you on the bandwagon,
The road may be rough, the weather may forget us
But won’t we all parade around and sing our songs,
a magic kingdom, open-armedGreet us hello, bravo, name in lights
Passing on the word to fellow passengers and players, passing in,
Until you’re tired looking at all the flags
And all the banners waving
This is some parade, yesiree Bob.
Could we have known?
Yesiree Bob, could we have known?Look at all the flags and all the banners waving.
Open up our arms, a magic kingdom, open-armed and greet us allCome on aboard I promise you you won’t hurt the horse
We treat him well, we feed him well
There’s lots of room for you on the bandwagon
The road may be rough, the weather may forget us
But won’t we all parade around and sing our songs and wave our flags.
A magic kingdom, greet us all hello, greet us hello, greet us hello.
SXSW day 2.
We missed a band last night called Dressy Bessy, they seemed good, so we went to check them out at Waterloo Records in-store. It was decent, but something missing. Very cute red-haired chick singer, gigantic guitar player. Perhaps because they didn’t have much room in the record store, but they didn’t seem to have much excitement.
Michelle and I stepped next door for some lunch. I had the chicken fried stake, and I have to say it was the worst chicken friend steak i’ve had in i-can’t-remember-how-long. There’s musicians coming from all over the world to the music store, I sure hope they’re not eating there and judging it.