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(first off...apologies for posting this so late. it's been a crzy week. monday started it all off, and it never let down. i'm just now catching my breath).
So monday morning we had to get up and get mary packed for her experimental research extravaganza. She had to have a physical at 1pm, and then was supposed to check in at 2. So we packed up a bunch of stuff--or really, she packed while i sat there. (i don't know what she wants to take).
The research people are really really anal about getting to appointments on time. In fact, once you're in a study, they even issue fines if you are late. So... we got there at 1.00 on the dot. Mary didn't even park the car, just ran inside. I tried to read a book while she was having her physical. I'm not a strong reader. It didn't go well. I was trying to read Lewis Grizzard's "Elvis is dead, and i don't feel so good myself". I read about 15 pages. It didn't hook me yet. And then Mary came out, and then i just sat there w/ her, and then they checked her in, and then i headed home.
Back at the cabin, the neighbor MK came over. He invited us over for supper to repay us for supper over the weekend. I told him Mary was gone, but i could use some food (especially since i don't really cook). Later in the day, before supper, i saw MK and he expressed interest in going to the infamous Devil's Backbone Tavern. that sounded sort of fun. I had told my buddy Tim, who is coming to visit in Nov, that i'd try to wait until then to go, but i was figuring i'd be bored w/ all the days of mary gone, so thought i might go to the Backbone. MK said i could come over early if i wanted and have some drinks, and we could chat and get to know each other a little better. That didn't sound so fun. I figured I wouldn't come over too early.
So, a couple minutes before food was supposed to be ready i showed up. It smelled pretty good. Chicken fried steak and some ranch style beans. RM showed up too. I was hoping he would, so it wouldn't just be me and MK. Mercy though.... now that mary wasn't there w/ us, i guess it was all good for us to have guy talks, and talk like manly guys. i've never really enjoyed good old manly talks. granted, when i was in college, some of my fondest memories were of staying up late at night, sitting on Brad's green couch, having **cough cough** "titty talks". basically, we would just talk about the hottest girls on campus--primarily Kim Davidson--- and we would lament that fact that we would never get to go out w/ such girls. but that was college. i don't really have a need for such talks these days.
the first round of beers while we waited for chicken fried steaks involved MK announcing: "RM--- i'm gonna really need to go to a titty bar soon".
"Oh. Ok. Austin or San Antonio?"
they discussed it.
both options were ok.
RM said they could do it.
Then RM, always the storyteller, told some story about how late one night he got a knock on the door, and it was 3 hot ass girls standing there. they asked if he was RM. he said he was. they said 'so and so' and sent them, and that RM could help them. here's where i'm not sure what happened. (RM is hispanic, and i don't always understand what he says). i was thinking the story was going to be something about all the crzy things that the girls did, and what a crzy night it was.
from what i could gather though, the girls were strippers/dancers, on their way from San Antonio to Austin, and were going to go perform in Austin late that night. and this 'so and so' guy from SA knew RM, and told the girls that he could fix them up before they got to Austin. so... RM "fixed them up, and had them looking pretty" and they headed to Austin.
WHAT?
What?
what happened there? that story made no sense. but that's what the story was. "fix them up"?
what are they... boxers? is RM a great corner man, like Clint Eastwood in Million $ Baby? did RM have to stitch up their faces, and help them pretend that they weren't battered? is "fix them up" a code for Coke or something? is RM a hairdresser and makeup artist? if so, why didn't the girls get 'fixed up' before they left San Antonio. It's only an hour and a half from Austin. it's not like they had been in the car for 10 hours. maybe i missed on out details or something. but i don't understand it. it perplexed me.
i actually said to RM.. "what the heck? people just know who you are, and they seek you out to fix their problems? that's crzy.".
it's like he's Hannibal from the A-Team, or Magnum PI, or MacGyver. no, motherfucker's better than MacGyver.
from there, stuff just got crazier.
RM started telling a story and in the story he made reference to his parole officer. Parole officer? why did he have a parole officer? oh.. nevermind he said. if you let slip that you have a PO, you have to say why. i told him this.
'oh...murder. he said. i killed 2 guys'.
um....what?
not larceny, or drugs, or assault. let's shoot right for the top. #1. way to go.
so he had to tell the story.
apparently, when he was much much younger, he was at a party, and was outside, and this group of Puerto Ricans in a car called for him to come over. for some reason he went over there. i'm not sure why, b/c as RM tells the story, as he approached he could tell that something was wrong. he tried to play it cool. he said that he had been taught that if you're ever in a situation like that to go at the strongest guy or the one that has the gun. he could tell that the guy in the passenger side has a gun, so when that guy made move, RM lunged at him. RM grabbed the guys arms before he could aim the gun. the guy was trying to point the gun at RM and shoot him. they struggled. RM says he the bad guy still had the gun, but RM managed to get his hands on the gun too, and while they were both holding the gun, RM bent the shooters arms back, up in the air, and pointed away from him. at some point he had got the shooters arms bent all the way back, so the gun was pointing right at the shooters own face. the gun went off. it apparently went thru the guys mouth/head, and the bullet then struck another guy in the car. it killed them both.
the cops were just down the street. RM says it was self defense. he was up for 20 years, but he got 5. he said he was in prison w/ a lot of badass dudes. he said he learned a lot there.
i say i'm a little more scared now.
RM then told a story about working on this paint crew, and everyone on the paint crew had done time. he said it was a requirement to be hired---that you had to have done time.
i wonder if they put that in their brochure?
all of my neighbors have been in prison. MK had already told me his convict story. so instead he told me about his kid, who is in his 20s, and has been arrested tons of times. apparently he went on some crime spree all thru the south on the way back from visiting his grandmother. i didn't ask for details on this one. i didn't really want to know.
we ate the food, we drank plenty of beers.
at this point i was undecided on whether or not i was going to go to Devils Backbone Tavern. but they didn't even ask. they just announced that we would be going soon. i didn't want to appear to be a wuss, so i took Gus home and tried to muster up my enthusiasm.
more later...
Gruene Hall is one of the oldest dancehalls in TX. I think it actually bills itself as the oldest dancehall in TX, but i was surfing around the internet the other day and believe i saw several that were older. Regardless, it's still a cool place, and we still hadn't been there yet, even though it's cooler and closer than Austin.
They have free shows almost every weekend, and this weekend we (or really, I) decided we should go to the small town of Gruene, and check out Ponty Bone and the Squeezetones. Ponty Bone used to play with Joe Ely and a bunch of other people. He's supposedly one of the great accordion players. Mary had never seen Gruene Hall, so some fun, free, cajun music seemed like a fun adventure.
It wasn't necessarily. The town was way packed, the vibe in Gruene Hall was strange, and Mary seemed thoroughly unimpressed. We only got to hear a couple songs before we left. But we heard enough to remember a partial rule i made up one time: if someone is known as being a great instrumentalist, they will probably not be that good if they decide to start their own band.
I made that rule up about some banjo player or famous guitar player who started their own band and wasn't particularly good, and would have been better off (to my ears) by staying in their original band and not being a lead singer.
I think it's also particulary bad when you start a band and name the band after the instrument that you have become proficient at.
This band was called Ponty Bone and the Squeezetones. Not a good song. They proved the rule.
They were fine, and fun, but nothing extraordinary. A typical bar band w/ cajun spicing.
They did play a favorite old song of mine-- Big Mamou. I remember listening to Hank Jr's version of that in Oakwood dorm at EMU w/ G and Bird... good times.
Anyway, our trip to Gruene Hall was short, and once again Mary was unenthused about music that i made her go see.
In her defense though, it wasn't that great.
I just thought it'd be a fun trip.
I guess it kind of was.
Musically, nothing too relevant though.
I should have gone to see Joe Ely the week before.
But that cost $.
And Ponty Bone was free.
I wish i had $2 to put in the jukebox. That'd be cool. That'd be fun. That'd be different.
The following is a true story:
On Friday Mary and I were walking home from the library. It must have been our lucky day. I found a dime and she found a quarter. We found 35 cents. That's the most $ that we've made since we've been in TX.
we had to celebrate.
we went out and ate.
we got 7 packets of saltines.
just kidding.
sadly, 35 cents is indeed the most money that we've made since coming here. the first day we went on a walk we found 12 cents. but we hadn't found anymore free money since then. we're not doing too good. that's only about .03 cents that we're finding per day.
our neighbor MK informed me that he's going to make a sidewalk out of stones surrounded by pennies. holy crap. that's going to take a lot of pennies. he says pennies are worthless and he has a huge jug of them. he's going to put them down, out in the yard, and make a sidewalk.
he might be missing a couple hundred of his sidewalk materials if he turns his back.
so we did go out and celebrate though on friday night. nothing in particular, we were just tired of not going out to eat. so out to eat, we went.
in actuality, friday was actually the 1 year anniversary of when we started hanging out. but both of us were so tired, we didn't even really acknowledge it. oh well. at least we got to go out and eat.
eating options in wimberley are pretty limited. you have the Burger Barn, which closes around 8 i think. the cypress creek cafe, which looks like a slightly upscale, american type eatery, the wimberley cafe, which is a breakfast/lunch place, and there was an unknown entity named Inoz Brew and Chew. at 8 o clock on a friday night our options were the cypress creek cafe or the unknown possible food establishment. we checked the menu at Cypress creek. it was ok, but mary wanted to see what Inoz was. i thought it might be a coffee shop. it wasn't. it was sort of a glorified sports pub/bar type place. if it wouldn't have been dark and cold, the place would have had some great views of the Cypress Creek. they actually have 2 really cool decks and courtyard. but it was cold and rainy so we ate inside. the menu didn't impress me so i just ordered cheesy fries. mmmm mmmmm. they were tasty. it was my first time ever having curly cheese fries. curly cheese fries w/ bacon and ranch....yum. mary got chicken tenders. they were pretty good too. i don't think i'll ever order anything there besides the cheesy fries. but i might go back for them.
the end.
oh-- we walked to the eateries, and on the way, just in front of our cabin, 13 deer ran out in front of us. right in front of us--less than 10 yards away. they saw us, and totally came to a halt. they stood for a moment, and then ran back towards the river. then, on the way home, walking thru the middle of the city, we were walking down a dark street, and inside a fenced in yard were 4 black shadows that looked like deer. i thought maybe they were those metal lawn ornaments. but i wasn't sure. (it's really really dark out here). i asked mary. she guessed lawn ornaments. then it looked like one of the lawn ornaments moved. then mary whistled. then all of the lawn ornaments moved. crzy stuff. deer in a fenced in yard in the middle of the city. wimberley belongs to the deer apparently.
on saturday we took our first journey to the town of Gruene. the historic town of Gruene seems to actually be in the town of New Braunfels, but whatever. I won't argue with them. and Gruene is usually nicer than NB, but this saturday it was totally packed out. the Gruene Wine Festival was going on, and perhaps there were 1000 people in town for that. or maybe it's just always crowded on the weekends. i don't really like crowds. the purpose of our trip was to check out the town, and see a little free music at Gruene Hall. one of the better accordion players in the world was there w/ his band. i thought mary would be impressed by Gruene Hall-- one of the oldest dance halls in TX. she was not. she was pretty. so we didn't stay long. the music wasn't that exciting anyway. people were playing horseshoes in the courtyard. i wanted to play, but since mary wanted to leave we strolled down the 2 streets in town, and left to come back home.
on the way home we found a Big Lots. jackpot! Big Lots rocks!
we stocked up on essential items like chips and fig newtons and pasta.
then we came home.
mary cooked up a fine dinner. we invited MK and RB. MK came but RB did not.
MK is an interesting fellow. he told us how he's been divorced 4 times. he also told a story about one time as a youngster when he got arrested. he'd apparently been 'hitting the pipe too hard' and had a girlfriend who turned out to be a stripper, and well, somehow her other he had made up his mind that he had to ditch the stripper girlfriend, so he planned to drive to a party and leave her there and never return. the story didn't exactly make sense, but at some point at that party, or maybe another party, some guys got into a fight w/ him, and the police came, and he had some pot on him and he went to jail.
saturday was an okay day.
Sunday was fun.
we went into austin and met up with some friends for the Sunday Gospel Brunch at Maria's Taco Express. it's free tunes and reportedly good breakfast tacos. it's an awesome scene there. tons of people hanging out and having fun. the brunch takes place in their outdoor courtyard. (courtyard seems to be the word of the day for this post. courtyard). our friends were discouraged that the band was not one of the 2 bands that they usually see there. they said they weren't as good. they were okay, but definitely nothing stellar. half of them looked like they had just woken up. the 2 lead singers were fun. the leader of the band scared me a bit. he had jeans, a sweatshirt, and baseball cap on. he was really enthusiastic. kind of like an obnoxious YMCA/Pop Warner/Little league coach that thinks he's way cooler than he is. or maybe like a recovering alcoholic who's found Jesus. or maybe like an alcoholic. i don't know. he was really excited. not like a jumping around excited. more like hand motions. and obnoxious facial expressions and motions. i'm not explaining him very well. apologies. he scared me though. the other guy was cool. a very large hispanic fellow w/ a tie dyed shirt and big poofy hair, and mutton chop sideburns. sometimes he sang in spanish, sometimes in english. he belted it out. i liked him.
i didn't pay attention to much of the music.
i was too busy people watching.
i did hear them play a version of Amazing Grace to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun". I love to hear musicians play Amazing Grace. I discovered on Sunday that i don't love it so much when they do it to the tune of an Eric Burden song.
there was this crzy magician at the concert. he scared me. brad called him the mime magician. he never said any words, he'd just go up to tables and start doing his magic. mostly for the single ladies. brad said he really wasn't a good magician, b/c while we watched him across the room we could see him hiding the stuff in his hands. i speculated that maybe he was ok, and that magic is based on the line of sight, and we weren't supposed to be there. but i also agreed that perhaps he wasn't a good magician. brad went to smoke a cigarette so i went w/ him. while talking, the mime magician made his move on our ladies. i looked over, and there he was, doing his routine.
"crap" i said to brad. "we totally set them up for it by leaving them alone, and now he's swooped in".
"Really?" said Brad. "crap, i wanna see it!" and he smushed out his cig and ran back to the table.
me--- i was just going to go try to save the ladies.
brad--- he was pissed he was missing out on the magic show.
brad was so excited. he loved the magic. he 'ooed' and 'ahhed' at all of the mime tricks.
he was like a little kid.
then the mime left.
oh---the food was pretty good, but nothing monumental (in my humble, and apparently minority opinion). we we left 90 minutes later there was a line out the door and around the block w/ people waiting to get in and get some breakfast tacos.
i thought they were good, but i wouldn't wait for them.
i'd go back for the music and fun though.
i don't remember what else happened on sunday.
mary found out she got into a study that was starting on monday.
woo hoo!
that's big news.
now we get some $$
now i get into trouble.
holy crap. it's cold. really cold. i woke up this AM and it was 50 degrees. and guess what? i didn't bring any winter clothers to TX. oops. i have exactly 2 long sleeve dress shirts, 2 long sleeve cowboy shirts, 2 long sleeve t shirts, 1 flannel/shammy type shirt, and 1 lightweight jacket.
hopefully it won't get colder before i head home at Christmas.
it did feel like a nice fall morning though when i woke up.
that was really cool.
last night was a huge exciting night here in wimberley: at the Dollar General i bought 1 $5 universal remote control, and it works! (you never know w/ those things). this one controls the DVD player, the VCR, and the TV. ROCK! if only it controlled the stereo. oh well. i'll take 3 out of 4. i'm so excited to get back to my typical channel surfing self. i was so tired of having to sit thru commercials. i almost reverted back to the golden olden days of being a kid, when the one tv didn't have a remote, and we'd find a yard stick or broom handle and spend hours trying to make it change the channel. it would take FOREVER to get it lined up, but it was better than getting up and walking the 2 feet to get to the tv.
the sad thing i realized this AM as i was basking in the glow from my new remote was that i only have 15 channels. you change thru those really quick with a remote.
oh well. the moral of the story is that i love my remote control. best $5 i ever spent.
My new favorite shows on TV are "my name is earl" and "Extras" on HBO. funny funny stuff.
and now for a story:
i never wrote down the story of the last night we spent on the road trying to get here, and since i have absolutely nothing to do today, and mary has the truck down in austin, i'll quickly relay it here so i don't forget it.
for the drive out here, in my mind, i had mapped us out a perfect route, w/ free places to stay.
the plan was to drive 4-6 hours the first night and stay w/ mary's cousin or friend. then to drive 12 or so hours the next night and stay w/ some family friends. and then we'd have a 4 or 5 hour drive the last day. the middle day of driving would be long, but overall it shouldn't be that bad.
unfortunately, none of that materialized.
my mindplan was assuming an avg speed of 72mph for the trip.
the poor truck was weighted down way more than it was supposed to be.
the ass was draggin hard on the poor truck. but it made it here thank goodness.
but it had major problems going over 60mph.
SO.. after 11 hours of driving the second day we were nowhere close to the free place that we had to stay. we continued to drive.
i really didn't want to spend $$--- it's the mennonite in me i guess--- but i didn't want to sleep in the truck, and i knew there was no way i was awake enough to drive an additional 3 or so hours to get to our free place to stay.
sadly, i decided we'd have to waste $ and get a hotel. mary was glad to get one. i said i wouldn't pay much for a hotel though. i wanted to find one for $29. good luck, right? yeah...that's what i figured.
but i was going to try.
first smallish town we got to that had multiple hotels we decided to stop.
now 1 time, many years ago, at some conference or something that i was at, i heard the speaker talk about how to get a good rate at a hotel. he said that whatever rate they first tell you, you should just laugh and walk away, and that 90% of the time, they'll respond with a cheaper offer before you get to the door. it sounded nice, but i'd never had the cahones to try it. well, after 20 some hours on the road, i was feeling like tryin it if he didn't offer me a good price.
the night was sunday-- a slow night in the hotel industry. i know this from my extensive stints as front desk clerk at the Ramada Inn and the Seminole Trail Lodge back in the mid 90s. so, it was sunday night, after midnight, it's slow, i pull up to a comfort inn b/c i hear that they often accept pets. i go up to the door. door locked after 10pm. crap! it will be hard to laugh and walk towards the door when there's no door. that doesn't rattle me though. i plan to stick to my guns.
there's a little intercom on a window and you push a button, and this guy comes over.
do you accept dogs here? i say. they do
how much for a room?
$59.99 he says.
HA! no thanks i say. and walk back towards the truck.
(i didn't have to think about it. it just came naturally. his price was so ridiculous, that i just laughed spontaneously, and headed back to the truck).
"Wait!" he said.
(ahh.. i knew it. that motivational speaker guy was right)
"What if i could do $54.99 for you?" the idiot said.
HA! i laughed again.
no thanks, i said. i just want to sleep for a couple hours. i'll go down the road and find someplace else.
"Wait" he said. "What price would you stay here for?"
(now we're talking. but now i have to offer up far less than he has offered me. $29 sounds cheap. i quickly think in my head something to say, but i'm tired, and i don't want to spend $)
"Well, $30 is the most i'll spend tonight. i just want to sleep for a couple hours, and then get on the road. I'm not paying more than that to just sleep for a few hours".
i figure here is where he'll laugh, but he starts considering my offer.
"$30 huh? and just sleep? hmm......i can let you let you have the room for that price if you only stay a couple hours".
(What? what kind of bizarro hotel is this? $30 is nice, but this is a strange deal. i have to go talk it over w/ mary).
"Let me go check w/ the woman. what time would we have to be out of the room for this $30 deal?
"ummm... 4 o clock".
(yikes. that sounds early. but i'll go check w/ mary. she's too delirious to make any decent decision. i know it's up to me. i have to make a decision. dang. i like $30, but 4am sounds mighty early. i walk back to the intercom)
"thanks anyway" i say. "she says if she happens to still be sleeping at 4, she doesn't want to have to wake up".
"ok" he says. "it's a slow night. i'll just rent you the room for $30".
SCORE!
ha. i pay cash. there's not even any tax or anything. $30 total bucks. i hate to waste $, but that's not bad for a pretty nice hotel room.
we slept in til 8.
and we ate the free continental breakfast.
Monday was a big day. And a fun day. And it totally fit my budget and my musical appetite.
I had heard that Billy Joe Shaver was playing a free in-store performance at Waterloo Records---one of the coolest record stores anywhere. I also heard there was going to be free beer. Free beer and free music legend? Even though the concert was taking place at 5pm, the exact wrong time to be out in traffic in Austin, I knew i had to be there. I didn't exactly expect there to be free beer, but a free Billy Joe mini-concert was reason enough to convince me to get to Austin at about 4pm.
I had thought it was going to be a solo acoustic performance, and it was acoustic, but not solo. He had his band Diamondback with him. A pretty large crowd of people had gathered in the aisles at Waterloo by the time Billy and the boys took the stage. The owner of Waterloo, gave Billy a nice introduction, and said the beer wasn't here yet, and then the band started playing. They sounded great. They started out with "Heart of Texas" and then played some songs from the new album. I figured it would be mostly new songs, but they threw in a number of other songs which were great.
In addition to the new songs, which sounded superb acoustic, they also played "Live Forever"--one of the most perfect songs ever, "Jesus Christ is still the king", "try and try again", and maybe another older song or two.
The beer people showed up at about the second song, and it was perfect. A free Billy Joe performance, and free beverages. Seriously--- does it get any better?
Billy Joe Shaver and the band played acoustic for about 45 minutes, and it sounded great---every minute of it.
After that, I headed got some food, and then headed up the road to catch a free show by David Garza at the Cactus Cafe. I love the Cactus Cafe. It might just be my favorite listenening room anywhere. They get sound incredible musicians there, and the sound is always tremendous. I'd heard good hype on David (pronounced 'Dah-veed'), but didn't know anything about him really. I was looking forward to seeing him, and anticipated a laid back, acoustic, singer songwriter set. Holy crap. I was totally wrong. DG and band were totally rockin. They were loud and raucous and the fans loved it. I'd never seen people dance at the Cactus before. People danced at this show. Lots of them. Mostly ladies. Ladies apparently love David Garza. Everyone in there seemed to love David Garza. It was like i had crashed a private party, and was the only one not in the know. but i didn't tell anyone. I pretended i knew what i was doing. And i enjoyed it. Quite a bit actually. The second song of the night was a song called "Discoball World" which sent the crowd into a frenzy, and made me quite happy as well. I'd heard that song before, but never knew who sang it. And the version monday night was a lot more rockin than the version i heard on the radio once or twice. I need that song. I need a live version of it maybe.
The second set was more subdued than the first. There were some guest stars. The love-fest between crowd and performer continued. I'd been out for awhile, and unfortunately had to leave early, and didn't get to see all of his second set. But i enjoyed all the music i saw that night.
When he comes around again, I'm pretty sure i'll go check him out again.
It's nice out here where i live. I've said that before. But there's a bad side to country living sometimes. like today.
after weeks of not having internet at the cabin, i was set to hook it up today. everything was ready. everything was a go .
guess what?
there are no local access numbers.
awesome.
so anytime i would want to use the internet it'd cost 10 cents a minute.
sonofawhore.
the joys of country living i guess.
things are slowly lining up for some potential possibilities for some income revenue.
mary's one "lead" fell thru today, but we have a couple others.
hopefully i'll have some exciting news to report next week.
On Sunday we had a mighty fun day. Lance Armstrong, who lives in Austin, threw a big celebration for the city. It was at a park in town, and featured music by Bob Schneider and Sheryl Crow. AND they encouraged you to bring food snacks and beer. nice.
So we went, and we had a blast.
Sometimes concerts are good listening events. I like those. I like sitting there-- focused fully and intently on the performer--soaking up every word and every note. Sometimes concerts are just a big social event, where there's music, but also food and fun and conversation, and you don't focus fully on the perfomer, but focus more on just the fun and social event. This was one of those times.
Everyone out there was just there to have some fun. And it was indeed fun. We packed some snacks and beverages, and met up w/ some of my old friends. We got there early and snagged a prime parking spot, and found a good spot for the blanket. I bought a big can of Steel Reserve for old times sake. Steel + Sun = Sleep. i had to rest a little during Sheryl Crow's set. she sounded good though. Bob Schneider was fun as always. He played a nice mix of his old songs and some from his most recent album. His set was a tad more "tame" than it sometimes is due to the family nature of the event, but it was still really good. "Tarantula" always makes me happy.
After some video clips, and some nice words from Lance, the soon to be Mrs. Armstrong Sheryl Crow took the stage with her band. As i mentioned, sometimes concerts are more social events, and since this one was, we mostly just had a fun time instead of totally focusing on the music. She played some of her old ones, but to my dismay not "leavin las vegas"-- my favorite Sheryl Crow song. as i rested my eyes at one point my mind wandered back to 1995 when my buddy ASS and i went to DC to see the Eagles on the Hell Freezes over tour. the opener, was a new musician named Sheryl Crow. she sang "Leavin las vegas" that night in front of thousands. (i remember her really a really short black leather skirt too....ahhh...memories). she was decked out in black at this concert too, but no short skirt here. for a great majority of the set, little kids danced onstage. not exactly a rock and roll moment, but this wasn't your typical R&R show. i think lance's kids were the first ones to start dancing and then sheryl invited more kids up, and then next thing you knew there were kids everywhere. sheryl made several comments about it, and seemed genuinely happy about the whole situation. they're all so cute (kids and lance and sheryl). so very very cute.
i almost threw up in my mouth a little bit.
just kidding. it actually was really nice, and everything was so laid back and fun.
sheryl played a couple covers including "the first cut is the deepest" and "black betty". the evening ended w/ a rousing version of a ZZtop song featuring Lance on drums. you don't see that everyday.
at least not anywhere besides austin.
have i mentioned lately how fun a town this is?
oh..
We took a ton of pictures at this one. Hopefully i'll figure out how to post some here in the next couple days. Please check back.
well, it's 6.40 CT, and here i am at the public library. hopefully today will be the last time that happens. i mean, it's ok to be at the library in the afternoon, but this is really too late to be here. i needed to play on the internet. and we still don 't have it at home. but hopefully that changes tonight. some nice lady is donating me her old modem. hopefully it works, and hopefully we'll be online at the Log Cabin by tomorrow afternoon. stupid modems. we went to Walmart last night. internal ones were only $20, but i don't know how to hook those up. external ones: $50. ha!
$50. umm... no.
we were in Austin last night b/c we had a big night out. we went to a comedy club and had some good laughs. i'd never been to a comedy club before. always wanted to, so last night we went. apparently on tuesdays here they have great deals. same act that you see on thurs, fri, or saturday takes place on tuesday but for only $4.50 instead of $12. that's a good deal. so we went. the headliner was Andy Kindler. the crowd was really rough last night. it was hard for him to get into any rhythm or routine. he had some really funny jokes though. some of the opening guys were really funny too.
so, i realize it hasn't been said so thought i'd point out that in my new simpler lifestyle i wear flip flops almost all the time. so comfy. so better than shoes. but it's spoiled my feet. now when i have to wear socks and shoes my feet get angry. and they hurt. and they sweat. so when i rush home i had quickly disrobe my feet. then they are happy again.
on wednesday's in Wimberley they have a Farmers Mkt. the ad promised arts and crafts, or artisans and crafters, or artisans showing their crafts---something like that, and food stuff and what not. so we went. there were 5 vendor tables set up. that's it. good ad. BUT, we found a couple things we wanted. mary got some gourment goat cheese, and we got some mint to make mojitos. mmm...mojitos. i haven't had one of those since my trip to Toronto. mmm.... mary got some basil too. there was homemade jerky, which was exciting, but the price tag was not, so i passed.
the end.
Sometimes writing reviews is hard. Sometimes it's hard just because it takes energy. Sometimes it's hard b/c you have to leave a negative review about a band you liked (or once liked). This is one of those times.
The Derailers were playing for free last saturday night in san marcos. i'd seem them 2 or 3 times before, and always had a blast at their shows. i was looking forward to it, but i had just a little bit of apprehension. tony villanueva, the main singer and songwriter from the group, had left the band over a year ago. the band decided to continue without him, w/ brian, who wrote some songs, and sang lead on some songs, taking full duties. i had heard a pretty good concert review on the new lineup, so i thought it'd be ok.
we were running a little late getting to the park. as we walked, you could hear the music in the darkness. as we got closer we could hear the music. i didn't like it. i said "mercy, i hope this is the opening band". unfortunately it was not. the first 2 or 3 songs we heard sounded nothing like the derailers i knew. it sounded like a bar band trying at times to sound like they had the california sound. the REAL derailers HAD the california. it sounded natural. everything about saturday nights performance seemed forced to me---almost like a schtick. the band played a couple songs off of "Here come the Derailers"--my fav. cd--- and 1 of them sounded really good. the other only sounded ok.
they announced before one song, that the next one would be a song off their new album.
the song was called "get er done!".
and it was then that i knew that i could no longer cheer for the derailers. "get er done"? that's pandering to the lowest common denominator. apologies if you're a fan of the redneck comedy scene. all things have their place i guess, but i don't need my music being inspired by that, or sinking to that level. that's not clever. that's just awful. ( i hated the song by the way).
things didn't ever really pick up after that. another song or 2 i didn't really like. and we left early.
i feel bad for the band that was there. i really do. i saw the Derailers on my first real trip to Austin 4 or so years ago at the historic Gruene Hall. it blew my mind. the band came out in shiny suits and their rickenbacker guitars sounded incredible. it was an insanely fun night, and helped get me hooked on TX right away. from there, I purchased 4 of their cds. i saw them again the next time i came to austin. same stellar show. high energy, very professional. very good.
and then tony left the band.
it's always tough when a lead singer leaves a band and the rest of the guys want to continue. bands w/ new lead singers usually suck. styx, foreigner, journey---they're all out there playing the oldies circuit, but none have their original singer. i'll never go see them. that's one of my pet peeves, when a band does that. it's like you're going to see professional karoake. no thank you. some bands have had success w/ multiple singers (survivor, van halen--w/ the exception of when they tried out gary cherone), but most it's just not worth it. the derailers case is slightly different. i can't blame them for wanting to keep the name, and keep playing. it wasn't their choice to have tony leave. and brian was great on the songs he wrote and the songs he sang. it seemed logical to have him give it a try as the front man. so they persevered. and from their standpoint--why not? they still wanted to play, and the Derailers had really made a name for themselves. as one of my favs off "here comes the derailers" says, they were all the rage in Texas.
and they'd gained a decent following outside of TX too. their sound was pure california country and it was good. it certainly was good.
but now, they're just kinda hanging on to the name. the band i saw on saturday was nothing like the derailers i knew. while brian was excellent in the supporting role, i can't say that translated to being the leader of the band. it all just seemed forced--like he was trying to hard. it's too bad. i can't recommend them anymore. they seemed like just another bar band. it hurts me to say so, but it's the truth.
i wish them luck in their new adventures, and i wish tony villanueva luck in whatever he's doing these days. they were potent when they together. if you never saw them, i'm sorry you missed on it. it really was something.
yikes. remember when i said nature was scary? even pretty things are scary sometimes. lots of people had warned me about all the deer on the side of the road late at night.
apparently 11.45pm on a monday night is when they love it the best.
last night comin back from austin i passed a minimum of 19 deer. 19!
and they weren't all in one group.
it was more like 7 or 8 groups.
1 ran out in front me.
i was a tad tense when i got home.
i had a fun evening.
went to Waterloo Records and saw a free instore performance by one of my favorite singers Billy Joe Shaver AND there was free beer. free beer! what in the world? austin rocks.
then i got some food-- a burger--mmm--haven't had a burger in ages.
then i saw another free show.
exciting.
and mary found us perhaps some little side work.
hopefully we'll get a little cash in our pockets.
saw Million Dollar Baby the other day. i've always been a huge clint eastwood fan, but i never got around to seeing it. didn't think it looked good. my apologies clint. i loved it. i see what all the hype was about.
it's one of the few decent movies i've seen for free from the library. things are free, so i check them out. movies i've heard of, but never got around to seeing. i realize why i never got around to watching them. i don't like them. most aren't good. most don't make it to the end before i turn it off.
oh well. they're free.
yesterday we saw a plethora of fish on our walk. there were 2 really big fish in the water and then 16 little catfish all hanging out together. it was kind of bizarre. i don't know what they were doing, but all the little catfish just stayed in one spot for about 10 minutes.
then i left
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