Songbirds

I was visited by a cardinal on my way to the Saxon Pub yesterday:

Went to the Patrice Pike show with Mollie. Hadn't seem Ms. Pike in many years - probably not since her Sister 7 days.

Nice show, but she needs to work on her stage banter. She does seem more at ease with herself now and more confident too:

SXSW 2012

It's SXSW time again in Austin, America. If there was ever a year for me to get a badge, this would have been it. Bruce Springsteen gave the keynote address this year and also played a showcase with his band. And he also made a special surprise appearance at the Austin Music Awards show, playing with Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely (pic from linked Rolling Stone article):

Alas, I didn't have a badge, so I occupied myself with some of the free shows. Saturday afternoon, I met up with Mollie and Pete at Rachael Ray's party at Stubbs. We were there a little late, so we didn't get any of her signature food dishes. But the Blue Moon beers were cold, and we did get to see Train perform:

Leaving Stubbs, we passed by the Belmont, where Dre and Dustin were hanging out on the roof at a Shiner sponsored party.

Mollie and I grabbed a quick bite at Walton's on 6th before taking the bus to the LBJ library to see the Big Easy Express movie and show. We met up with Glenn, Karen, Benjamin, and Madeline in line and got in pretty quickly:

It was a really great night to be outdoors - cool, breezy, soft lawn, and bug-free. Pre-show music was provided by an ensemble of band members from Mumford and Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros:

Afterward, Emmett Malloy came out to present his movie, The Big Easy Express - about the week and a half railroad trip and tour with the 3 bands playing later that evening. Good band movie, with lots of shots of Austin for local color:

About 9:PM, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros took the stage:

And around 10:15PM, Mumford and Sons:

Here's a video I shot of the band playing "Roll Away Your Stone." The video quality is ok, but the audio sucks. The microphone on my camera hasn't been the same ever since I dropped the camera a few months back:



Both bands united, along with guests from Old Crow Medicine Show for the last couple of songs before leaving the stage:

It was a nice nightcap to a very full day. Btw, the bus is THE way to get around during a huge event like SXSW.
 

Cival Wars

Mollie scored some front row seats to the Cival Wars show at the Paramount recently. Has the theater always been bathed in colored lights?

The Staves opened up the evening. They are a very sweet sounding folk group from outside London. They really are worth checking out:

Honestly, I had never heard a Cival Wars tune until I went to their show. Mollie has a pretty good idea of my musical tastes, and she said I'd like the band - and I did:

Marathon kids 2012

Friday, Mollie and I went to the Marathon Kids benefit show at the Paramount. The show featured Shawn Colvin and Lyle Lovett:


Last year, the show featured Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin. But Patty seems to be busy these days.

Court Jesters

Prior to going on vacation last week, I got a chance to hear Pete speak at the Black Star Co-op about his law suit on behalf of Jester King Craft brewery versus the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC):


Later in the week, we all went to see Wilco play at the ACL Moody Theater:


It was a good show. Nick Lowe opened for them. He looks a little fuzzy here, but I assure you he was fine:

Shocked

Maurie had tickets to tonight's Michelle Shocked show at the Cactus (and kindly invited me along). We managed to get seats 3 rows from the stage. Great show. It's probably been 20 years since I last saw her. She's quite the showman now, engaging with the crowd, acting up, and being very comfortable with herself in general. And she also seems very happy with where she is in life:


A bonus song near the end brought her dad up on stage, where he led the band in a rousing rendition of This Land is Your Land. Here's a quick video in case you weren't there:



After the show, I picked up a copy of Short, Sharp, Shocked that I misplaced years ago. Michelle offered herself up for a picture, which I happily obliged:

ACL mellow boots

This past weekend was a busy weekend. Friday, I won tickets to the Lykke Li taping of Austin City Limits, so I invited Mollie along. I had never heard of Ms. Li, but she and her band put on a great show.



Afterward, we had dinner at Taverna nearby. Honestly, it was the best meal I've had in a long time. The most tender roast pork over a bed of red pepper mashed potatoes and a side of asparagus. Dessert was a chocolate mousse pie thing that was simple and amazing. It had been a few years since I've been to Taverna, but I definitely want to go back.

Saturday, I woke up at 3:30 AM, so I could pack my car and set up at Mellow Johnny's for their annual Mellow Swap. Think Velo Swap, but on a micro scale. My sister volunteered to help out for the day (in return, I "volunteered" to chaperon her students when they go to the Latin state competition in San Antonio next year). It took me a couple of trips to haul all my stuff there. In hind site, I should have left the bikes and frames at home, but you never know what people will be looking for at these events. Turns out they're looking for cheap stuff. I sold a bunch of used stems, handlebars, water bottle cages - stuff in the $5 to $10 range. All told, I probably sold $800 worth of parts. It was all stuff I really had no use for, so $800 for 10 hours isn't so bad. MJ did provide burgers and New Belgium beer for lunch, which was a bonus.



I also ran into old friends and met some nice people at the swap. The guy who set up at the table next to me was the former British national road champ. He rides for the Rapha Condor cycling team and was selling off outdated kits (jersey, bibs, vests, etc.). Apparently, Rapha revised his jersey 6 times this race season and wouldn't let him wear the old designs. I wish I could remember the guy's name, but I was amazed he was about 6'-2" and wore a size small. Needless to say, I did not pick up any of his excess kits. Oh, wait, I found the guy on the Rapha team site. He's Kristian House. Super nice guy. And he apparently wins a lot.


Speaking of cycling teams, Team Radio Shack was also there selling off their gear, including team bikes and clothing. In case you didn't know (or didn't care), Radio Shack is combining with Leopard Trek next year to form a super team that will include the Schleck brothers, Cancellara, Horner, and Klöden. It'll be called RadioShack-Nissan-Trek. Catchy name, yes?


Saturday night, I went to a musical at The Vortex theater with Maurie and Julia. It was the final show of Sarah Silver Hands. I wish I could tell you what the musical was about, but I kept falling asleep throughout the show. Julia liked it, however, which was the main thing.


To make up for my inattention, Maurie, Julia and I went to see Puss in Boots in 3D at the Alamo Village Sunday afternoon. Now, that was a good film. Funny. And the 3D effects were really well done. I especially liked the floating dust in the bar scenes. It was so lifelike. Amazing.

Jill's on the last of her 3 stops for this trip. She's in Two Rivers, Wisconsin for a week, but should be home soon. Hurray! This long distance thing sucks.

Lyle Lovett

I was suppose to have dinner with Mollie Thursday night. However, I found out Lyle Lovett was playing a sorta impromptu show at Gruene Hall that night, so I asked if we could go to that instead. Despite the 2 hour drive getting to Gruene (traffic), I thought it was a wise choice:


We didn't have much time to eat prior to the band taking the stage, so we grabbed a quick bite at Cantina del Rio. They had a nice patio outside. My green chile cheeseburger and fries were excellent. Her fish tacos were so so:



Lyle was his usual dry humor self. He told lots of stories and played about 2-1/2 hours. His backing sextet was spot on and included: Russ Kunkel, Viktor Krauss, Keith Sewell, Luke Bulla, John Hagen, and Mitch Watkins. It was my first time in Gruene Hall. It's small. And very white. I think I was the only non-white person there. Not that I noticed.


Like I said, the show was excellent. We were about 30 feet from the stage and had a great view. Here's a quick video that I shot:



PS - Happy 40th Birthday, Mollie

ACL Live

Got down to Town Lake a little earlier this morning to beat out the ACL traffic. Not a bad day for the 7 mile loop, mostly because I managed to stay vertical the whole way.

Speaking of ACL, I'm not going to the festival this year. However, Mollie had tickets to last night's Austin City Limits Live taping of The Head and the Heart - and was nice enough to invite me along:


The show was great - and it was my first time in the new ACL Live space at the W:


Afterward, we had dinner at Trace, and then went for a walk around downtown to do some people-watching. It was a good night for hipsters and tall heels (not together - usually).

Montreal - day 2

Our first full day in Canada started with us running into the "Le Marathon des Arts" festival. We witnessed the opening parade and lion dancers:




For lunch, we found a great vegetarian place called Commensal, where food is sold by weight. It was a lot like Souper!Salad! - except nicer, hipper, and with good food.



Afterward, we made our way to a couple of dual purpose bike shops that I had read about. Le Grande Cycle is a small shop that had an unridden Gary Fischer Klunker for a really reasonable price ($495) that I really wanted. They also have a small cafe inside. The other shop is called BikeCurious. It's also a small neighborhood shop that - surprise, surprise - is gay and lesbian friendly. They have a small barber shop inside and offer "lesbian haircuts for anyone."


After the requisite bike shop stops, we made our way to Chinatown, passing along the way a Ferrari Daytona (a pretty rare car that I have never seen in the wild):


a sidewalk tribute to Leonard Cohen:


And finally, the Chinatown arch:



Then we made our way down to Vieux-Montréal and Vieux-Port (Old Montréal and Old Port). The old part of the city is pretty touristy, so we didn't stay long:







On our way back to the hotel, we passed a number of weddings being photographed:


We also saw a bunch of BIXI bikes for rent in town. I believe Austin will have similar bike rental stations soon:


Jill finished off the night working on her novel: