Last night, a friend from Arkansas drove down to Austin, and it was just in time to attend our friend JB's UFO party at the Flying Saucer. JB has, over the course of many months, tasted 200 beers at the Saucer, earning himself a gold rimmed platter with his name on it (in the corner, above the hallway to the restooms!). The Saucer in Little Rock was a second home, as many a Monday Pint Night, Tuesday Trivia Night, It's-sleeting-and-work-is-cancelled-tomorrow night, and weekend no-good-bands-are-playing-elsewhere night were spent drinking Shiners and Blue Moons in the warm glow of the copper penny back splash. So, who says you can't go home again?
This weekend/week in Austin is going to be nuts, there's so much going on. Here are my picks for the week:
Friday - While my friend might have driven in to see Mastadon and Dethklock at the Austin Music Hall, I'll take the Monsters of Folk with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes playing at Stubbs. Plus, Bishop Allen is at Mohawk, but I've already seen them in Little Rock. Leave it to Beverly at The Off Center is also happening tonight - a play about 60's sitcoms gone wrong. Either way, I'll be at a birthday party, bringing a six pack as a present. I should also mention that it's the Boys and Girls Club Fall Gala - which I could never afford a ticket to, but if I didn't already have plans, I could go to for free/as a volunteer... and the menu, steak aside, was certainly tempting.
Saturday - The East Austin Studio tour kicks off! Be sure to stop by the studio of Michael Long, an artist and photographer who teaches art to my kids after school five days a week. Even some of our toughest, don't-like-anybody-in-authority teenagers, like Michael Long, so you should too.
Sunday - The Swell Season at the Paramount! If you've seen the movie Once, then you probably love them. I got to see them play at BU in Boston last year, which is lucky because I certainly can't afford a ticket to the Paramount. Last year, I used the movie to do a compare/contrast essay with my senior English class over James Joyce's short story Eveline. A few soundtracks were purchased afterward. Seeing as I am poor, I will be attending the Flipside Flyers aerial silk performance at 4:30, and then the Austin Garden Party at 6:00, both more within my budget.
Tuesday - Eisley at Emo's. They aren't the featured act - but I love their vocals, plus they're a Texas band.
Wednesday - The Get Up Kids at Emo's! Get out of my way, because I will be front row and center. I've loved them since the tenth grade, and Something To Write Home About is still the only CD I've ever had to replace because I played/play it so much.
Thursday - Girl crush night - Holly Miranda playing solo at Mohawks. Tickets: bought.
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.
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.
Wednesday is poetry day around here, and tonight was the quarter-final round of competition to begin determining the Austin team for representation at the National Poetry Slam. Christopher Lee is one of my favorites. He didn't win tonight, but he typically places top three. Eirik broke out the Harry Potter Love Song, and my coworker Elizabeth finally made it out to a show with her girlfriend, Andrea.
I'm embarassed to say that I haven't performed at a slam since leaving Little Rock. It's yet to be determined if my fascination with spoken word poetry is based on appreciation of the art and should be left at that, or if it's a drive and I need to spend time writing, editing, and conquering my stage fright.
After the show, it was imperative to eat, as my lunch consisted of a granola bar at 2 o'clock this afternoon. I've gotten addicted to Magnolia's Mag Mud Dip. And while I know I could easily make it at home for less than the six and change that a bowl costs, it's still so much better when ordered in a warm restaurant late at night. Mag Mud is simply a concotion of black beans, cheese dip, and avocado, with a bowl of salsa on the side. I will bite off finger tips to get the avocado.
Andrea and Elizabeth had never been to Magnolia's before. It was a good choice of locale because Elizabeth has recently started a blog dedicated to her favorite food: breakfast tacos, and Magnolias has several options for a breakfast taco enthusiast.
Andrea and I both got the tuna melt. Cottage cheese is a side option, and I like to splurge the extra fifty cents to order blueberries on the side. Lennon and Elizabeth seemed to think that this was an absurd combination, but I've been eating frozen berries over cottage cheese since my dorm room days. I don't know why I still eat fish, but just like some people say with other meat - I'm not sure how I'd get by without it. My taste buds aren't quite resigned to only being able to order salads at certain restaurants. Not to mention that survival without HEB sushi seems implausible, and at the very least, unpleasant.
If you want to check out Elizabeth's new taco blog, (and I recommend you do, her demerit system for rating taco sellers is quite discerning, as is her palette), then visit Tacos Are For Breakfast. To Magnolia's credit, she cleaned her plate, as did the rest of us.
Since the weekend is almost here, I want to share my selections of the best offerings in Austin that are upcoming this week, (and then imagine how wonderful it would be to do all of them if I had the money for it):
First and foremost, of course, is Ladies Rock Camp, which is where I'll be all weekend, and today I got the AMAZING news that I don't even have to pay my tuition fee out of pocket, or take a vacation day Friday - it counts as a work trip/training expense. I have the. best. job. EVER.
Thursday: Howie Day + Colbie Caillat at Stubbs. There are two songs by Howie Day that I love enough to merit seeing him.
Friday: Black Heart Procession will be playing at Mohawk, a favorite from high school, back when Clunk Music Hall was THE place to be in Fayetteville, Arkansas. RIP, Clunk. Also, if I were in to the gory movie thing, I'd be all about the musical version of Evil Dead that's going on at the Salvage Vanguard, complete with ponchos and "splash" zone for the blood baths that will ensue. I'll stick to Sea World, personally.
Saturday: Oktoberfest + Built to Spill. Damn! I'm almost sad I'm going to miss these, but my day will be quite satisfying with guitars and awesome ladies during the afternoon, and then a Dia De Los Muertos/house warming party at night. Oktoberfest will be at Waterloo Park and Built to Spill at Stubbs.
Sunday: Ladies Rock Camp showcast at Nomad at 7PM with Melissa Bryan and Pony Mistress. Seriously, why would you NOT be there?! It's my rock star debut.
Monday: Halloween Music Concert at Austin Theological Seminary. The entire orchestra will be in costume and the blurb on the Chronicle says "why won't you?" Well geeze, I guess I need to go and wear one.
Tuesday: Emos + Straylight Run. I haven't kept up with their new stuff, but they're old stuff was good enough that I'm still in love with it. Also: Interfaith Communications through Austin Area Interreligous Ministries. The topic will be the difficulties of compassion and it's at the First United Methodist Church.
Wednesday: I don't even need to look at a calendar, because it's rumpus day, and there WILL be pictures.
