Whew! South by Southwest is over already, what a whirlwind! The nicest part about Austin is the warmth of the sun penetrating you all the way to your heart. You can tell that it affects the way people act and feel. People are very warm, friendly and open to every kind of music, in fact they pride themselves in the diversity of music and art that is everywhere. I met so many great people in Austin, I'm already looking forward to my next visit!
Well here's the rest of what I did in Austin. Friday afternoon I played a set at the legendary Antone's Records, right near the University of Texas. This record store has been around for about 30 years, and was opened by the original owner of Antone's Nightclub. He opened it right across from the club, which has relocated to 6th Street now (the first club to open on the famous street), but the record store has stayed in it's original location. It's now under new ownership by a group of record and music lovers, including Forest, who was there during my show. Check out the picture Jim took of the cool store front! BTW all the photos in my blog were taken by Jim Countryman.
My second show for the day, which turned out to be our entertainment for the evening as well, was Amelia's Retro. Amelia's is a great second hand boutique in South Austin with all sorts of vintage clothing, furniture, and more, with a lovely garden behind it with little winding paths through bamboo forests – which is actually part of the store. So you're wandering through and you'll come upon some kind of cool treasure. The garden is shared with another store, which is called, fittingly, Happiness.
Jim got some good pics of my set, some taken through some of the tropical foliage that's growing in the garden. After my set, we stuck around to see some really cool bands: The Shakeltons and Sumner Erickson and the Texmatics.
The Shakeltons (pronounced like shackle-tons but with the word "shake" appropriately hidden inside) are a raucous five-piece from southwestern PA that have been getting a lot of great press lately... just check out the Shakeltons myspace. They put on a great show, in which they transform the stage into a forest by hanging branches all over it (they said it's much more effective in a club where the stage itself isn't already like a forest). The lead singer's mic stand is so tall it's ready for a giant, but then he comes up and gets up on a chair, and he is rocking the chair and the mic. Unfortunately it's an old chair (the same chair I sat in for my set), and it disintegrates right from under him. A second chair is offered by an audience member (this one a beautiful antique one from the store – which manages to survive the whole set). This was a very fun band to see live.
Next up is Sumner Erickson and his Texcentrics. They play "only Texas music", which I think means music written by Texans. While wandering around the garden earlier I'd met an older lady named Evelyn. It turns out she is the mom of Roky Erickson of the influential psychedelic rock band the 13th Floor Elevators (Sumner's brother). Sumner himself is also a world-class tuba player! Evelyn and Sumner are both in the movie "You're gonna miss me," a movie about Roky Erickson and a disturbingly intimate portrait of an imploding family and the struggle between modernized medicine and religion. Evelyn is now 85 years old, and still does yoga everyday (in fact, she stands on her head everyday!). The Texcentrics were great, and Evelyn is an inspiration, and was dancing with everybody absolutely all night!
The party was over after midnight, so we went to Magnolia's, a really funky 24-hour diner on S. Congress St. in South Austin with an alcohol license and an outdoor patio. They also have the best salsa around, and that is saying a lot for Texas! Maybe it's just because I was so hungry at that point...
Saturday I played again at the Evangeline Cafe. It was a beautiful afternoon once again and I played two sets. Sumner Erickson dropped by, and we got to hang out a bit. Curtis Clark, the owner of the Evangeline and the person who first got me to come down and play blues in Austin, was also there. It was a really fun afternoon. Thanks, Curtis, for another really great time, not to mention yummy Cajun food! (Also thanks to that guy who tipped me $50!)
Sunday morning we slept in, my first day without a gig since Monday. Tried to go to our favorite breakfast place again, but there was a huge line out the door, so we tried an Asian place called Veggie Heaven. (I love how things in Austin are called things like Heaven and Happiness!) I would recommend it! They have things like tofu balls, veggie beef, ham, you name it. They also don't just serve Asian, they have fajitas and wraps too. Even soy Thai iced coffee and tea! I wish they had a website, but if you're in Austin look for it right near the University of Texas on Guadalupe.
That afternoon, we went to local blues legend and “Queen of South Austin” Leeann Atherton's Full Moon Barn dance. Too bad they don't have parties like this in Boston :( Leeann has built a big stage in her back yard, and it's a huge yard with plenty of room for people. It's a potluck, so the entry fee is cheaper if you bring food, and it's byob. We ran into Sumner again, and we got their just in time to see a set by Katzenjammer(!) (who played before me earlier in the week at Maria's [btw Maria was there too]). Anyway, Jim got some great photos, and I got a video of their last, rousing song. Great stuff!!! See for yourself:
That's about it, I can't wait to visit Austin and all my new friends soon!!! Thanks for reading!