Halloween in Austin, Fort Building, and Bennu Coffee

A couple of weeks ago, Booooooom.com ran a fort building contest in honor of the then-upcoming movie, Where The Wild Things Are.  Unfortunatley, by the time I discovered this beautiful project, there was less than 48 hours to construct the world's greatest fort and submit our photograph.  Eirik and Lennon guffawed at my eagneress to meet the deadline, but Eirik did a 180 change of heart after he saw the movie, and decided that our next game night should instead become PJ-Fort-Wild-Game-Rumpus night.  And so it was.

Our fort may not have been quite as artsy as some of the booooooom creations, but a fort shoved full of friends is a hundred times better than a fort with random objects d'art... like squiggly balloons.  Although, squiggly balloons are pretty cool.

The casualty of the night was the support beam of my couch, which split in the middle when someone stood on it to nail up part of the fort's ceiling, so this weekend, my lovely roomies are going to do their best Bob Vila impersonations and fix it, or the lady of the house will be very displeased.

As the evening died down, Merritt Fields was coerced into playing a song for us.  By this time, I had gone upstairs to bed since I'm old and have to work during the day.  But when it became apparent how amazing he was, I had to come back downstairs.  He played three songs - a Fleet Foxes cover, a cover of Just Walk Away Renee, and then an original.  Now, I'm scanning MySpace furiously, hoping to find a page where he has uploaded tracks, but no luck yet.

The creepy thing is, as I sit in Bennu coffee shop - which, being open 24/7, as I just learned - makes it my new official place,  (Dear Flightpath: demerits for closing early) - the Four Tops cover of the song came on over their Syrius radio, and I'd never heard it before last night.  And it didn't JUST come on, it came on at the EXACT minute I opened up Merritt's photos to crop and collage them.  Now I need to go pop in I Heart Huckabees.  Or, look up the tabs to learn to play the song, as it's now stuck in my head.

Before going any further, I suggest listening to the You Tube video of the song so you can hear it as you read further, and then imagine it a million times more heartbreaking, acoustic, and in a fort with fairie lights at 2AM.  Eirik described Merritt well when he said "Merritt's scary talented."

This week there's a lot going on in Austin since Saturday is Halloween.  It's been a busy week between meetings piled higher than the stack of clothes on my bedroom floor, the Keep Austin Beautiful awards luncheon (woot for getting an invite), calling police officers to break up a fight, and attempts at being social in between, so I hope I can muster the energy to make it out, (there's no way I'm missing the Elephant Engine High Dive Tour), and this large chai on an empty stomach is definatley helping - I'm already starting to pulsate.

Thursday - The Gossip played tonight at Emo's, and even though I missed it, I have to give them a nod because Beth Ditto hails from Searcy, Arkansas, which is right next to Cabot, where her sister was a sophomore/junior while I was teaching there, which is two-degrees-of-seperation-cool.

I'm actually going to declare it the night of Arkansans, because Hayes Carll played at Stubb's, and while he may be a Texas native, he's a Hendrix College Alum and thus, officially claimed. 

Friday - Elephant Engine High Dive Tour!!  Buddy Wakefield, Anis Mojgani... holy crap why would you not go!?  It starts at 8PM at the Independent. 

Saturday - It's Halloween, so you damn better where a costume wherever you go.  One of my co-workers, Jewels Barschow, will be playing guitar and singing at Jovita's at 6:30, so I'd highly recommend going there for dinner.  Afterward, it just wouldn't be Halloween without the Rocky Horror Picture Show, this year live at Emo's. 

Sunday - Gogol Bordello is playing at Stubbs, but I hear they are sold out, which will really suck if it's true, because I LOVE Alex from Everything is Illuminated, and the soundtrack is pretty cool, too.  Sunday is also the Texas Book Festival, which I shall be exploring after church.  My church is doing a special Sunday concert with a forty voice choir performing Requiem during services.  Sunday morning is going to be amazing.

Monday - I don't know what exciting things are going on, and I shall probably stay home and recuperate.

Tuesday - It's open mic night at Ruta Maya.  Maybe I'll polish up my cover of Flightless Bird to torture a crowd other than my poor roommates. 

Wednesday - FREE ICE CREAM at Amy's from 3-7PM for their 25th anniversary.  Need I say more?  They were founded in 1984, and yes, I'm really good at math. 

Also, Rakim is going to be performing at Emo's, who I was informed today by our S.O.U.L. Sessions instructors, is THE best emcee alive, and they shook their heads, frustrated, when I misspelled his name four times trying to write it on a memo to see if I can pull some strings to get my kids a Q&A with him during sound check.  On such short notice, I'm skeptical, but we do have amazing board members, so I'll cross my fingers. 

What are your plans for the week?

This is Alyssa and I making our best metal faces at the Straylight Run concert at Emo's on Tuesday - because that band is totally metal.  Alyssa and I went to high school together, (eight years ago - oh my goodness), and didn't reconnect until I moved to Austin.  The last time I saw Straylight Run was in the Dickson Street Theatre in Fayetteville, Arkansas, while in high school, so it felt full circle.  The show was great - I love it when I can sing along to the old songs and the underage crowd can't - but seriously dudes, where was Michelle Nolan??

I also find it serendipitious that at the end of the show they played Something to Write Home About over the PA system, and when I last saw Straylight Run, they were opening for The New Amsterdams, and I also bought Get Up Kids tickets for November 18th at Emo's that same afternoon.  I will be the screaming fan girl at the front of the stage during that show, so be warned and don't get in my way - we're talking top five favorites of all time here.