I'm rather embarrassed to tell people that now I'm in Hawaii. Don't know if I should be or not. I'm spending the month with Matt Hime at his place in Kailua, Hawaii.
One of the major damn points of having this damn blog was to put pictures up, at which I've failed miserably. I'm trying to get a lot of tour pictures from Kristy and I'll put those up.
Hawaii is pretty darn amazing. This beach is about a mile away. Matt's girlfriend is letting me use her bicycle all month. Sporting events come on at 1pm. It's 80 degrees every day. And they serve taro pie at McDonald's.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
SXSW
Nine weeks of exciting madness ended at South By Southwest last weekend in Austin. I got to Austin on Monday, and decided to kick off the festival by sleeping as much as possible and watching Breakfast At Tiffany's with my sister.
I got to see a few good bands - I ran into the guys from Dead Confederate, a band from Athens GA, who we opened for in Oxford MS. After their show, we talked for a few minutes, then I asked them when they'd be playing again during the festival. The drummer laughed and said "we're actually opening for REM tonight." Not bad.
Later that day, I ended up talking to another band from Athens called The Modern Skirts. They also informed me that later this summer, they'll be opening up for REM. In Amsterdam. Intimidating.
But honestly, no one's ever really listened to REM anyway.
We had the chance to play two shows - one at an event called Love On The Lawn and the next day at the Cactus Cafe. "Love" is a boutique store in south Austin, and (unbeknownst to me) is a pretty big-time lesbian hangout. Many people were there to see Patrice Pike, an Austin artist who made it really far on some reality singing show that's not American Idol. I think it was the one where the winner got to sing for INXS.
The Cactus Cafe is famous for having all kinds of cool acoustic artists from Texas. We only had about 25 minutes, but it was a fun way to end the tour.
I wish I could say that other highlights of the festival included seeing a million douche bag hipster bands from Brooklyn and Los Angeles, but there are numerous other places to read about that, and I didn't see many of them. The true highlights for me included seeing Wynn Walent play with Matt Singer. (Full disclosure/pre-emptive apology: they are from Brooklyn, but are not douche bags.)
Matt sang one of the funnier songs I've heard - some serious-sounding song about how he wished he was a better "orator, so I could do more chicks." Or something similar. Bless him.
Every time I've seen Wynn play, it's been superb.
Just solid dudes.
Golden Bear continues to rule.
All of them were certainly more enjoyable than just about everything else I saw. I think I could present the rest of the festival in Mad-Lib form:
Hello Austin, we're from [Los Angeles/Brooklyn/Austin]. We are a mixed-gender band consisting of [2-6] members. It's pretty rad that one of our members plays a [xylophone/trombone/turntable/computer]. The reason it's pretty rad is because this member of our band is [not very good/terrible/unconscionably bad] at that instrument. But you don't really care, because it's just neat to see that person playing it while jumping around. Besides, you're too busy [drinking free whiskey/trying to hit on some girl who works for MTV/eating free tacos] to listen to the music anyway. See you all soon!
I also had the pleasure of sharing my sister's floor with Wynn throughout the week, and competing in Snore-Off 2k8, which I'm pretty sure Wynn dominated. Rebecca Hewett is a saint.
Besides putting up with the snoring, she made me a birthday cake. Which was delicious.
After driving 19 hours in two days, from Austin to Charleston SC, this week has been spent at the beach with my parents. Next week, I fly to Hawaii to stay with Matt Hime. It's kind of embarrassing to tell people that, but exciting nonetheless.
I got to see a few good bands - I ran into the guys from Dead Confederate, a band from Athens GA, who we opened for in Oxford MS. After their show, we talked for a few minutes, then I asked them when they'd be playing again during the festival. The drummer laughed and said "we're actually opening for REM tonight." Not bad.
Later that day, I ended up talking to another band from Athens called The Modern Skirts. They also informed me that later this summer, they'll be opening up for REM. In Amsterdam. Intimidating.
But honestly, no one's ever really listened to REM anyway.
We had the chance to play two shows - one at an event called Love On The Lawn and the next day at the Cactus Cafe. "Love" is a boutique store in south Austin, and (unbeknownst to me) is a pretty big-time lesbian hangout. Many people were there to see Patrice Pike, an Austin artist who made it really far on some reality singing show that's not American Idol. I think it was the one where the winner got to sing for INXS.
The Cactus Cafe is famous for having all kinds of cool acoustic artists from Texas. We only had about 25 minutes, but it was a fun way to end the tour.
I wish I could say that other highlights of the festival included seeing a million douche bag hipster bands from Brooklyn and Los Angeles, but there are numerous other places to read about that, and I didn't see many of them. The true highlights for me included seeing Wynn Walent play with Matt Singer. (Full disclosure/pre-emptive apology: they are from Brooklyn, but are not douche bags.)
Matt sang one of the funnier songs I've heard - some serious-sounding song about how he wished he was a better "orator, so I could do more chicks." Or something similar. Bless him.
Every time I've seen Wynn play, it's been superb.
Just solid dudes.
Golden Bear continues to rule.
All of them were certainly more enjoyable than just about everything else I saw. I think I could present the rest of the festival in Mad-Lib form:
Hello Austin, we're from [Los Angeles/Brooklyn/Austin]. We are a mixed-gender band consisting of [2-6] members. It's pretty rad that one of our members plays a [xylophone/trombone/turntable/computer]. The reason it's pretty rad is because this member of our band is [not very good/terrible/unconscionably bad] at that instrument. But you don't really care, because it's just neat to see that person playing it while jumping around. Besides, you're too busy [drinking free whiskey/trying to hit on some girl who works for MTV/eating free tacos] to listen to the music anyway. See you all soon!
I also had the pleasure of sharing my sister's floor with Wynn throughout the week, and competing in Snore-Off 2k8, which I'm pretty sure Wynn dominated. Rebecca Hewett is a saint.
Besides putting up with the snoring, she made me a birthday cake. Which was delicious.
After driving 19 hours in two days, from Austin to Charleston SC, this week has been spent at the beach with my parents. Next week, I fly to Hawaii to stay with Matt Hime. It's kind of embarrassing to tell people that, but exciting nonetheless.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Louisiana
I wish it was easier to put pictures up on here. It's not that hard, I guess I mean I wish I had the camera, because it's not too difficult to put them on here once the camera is around. It's much more fun to point things out in photos.
We're at Birdman Coffee/Books in St. Francisville, LA. It's a very tiny town, about 30 minutes north of Baton Rouge. It's not even on the map in our car (which is a great map). We played tonight in front of a packed room of 25 or so people who were incredibly attentive and very excited. It was another un-mic'd show - those are usually the most fun, because you can hear everything well. And there's no soundboard for the soundman to not be running when he doesn't show up.
There was a blinding light shining on me throughout the entire show, giving me a terrible headache. I also was pre-occupied with thoughts of the peach cobbler that the owner (Lynn) made that afternoon. I told her I'd have some after the show, which was a huge mistake, because it's all I could think about. Boy did it live up to expectations. I have a wicked stomach ache at the moment.
One of the men at the show talked to me about how he worked in Baton Rouge as a drafter for about 20 years, hated it, then bought a piece of land "about 30 minutes east of here in the country," built a house on it by himself ("No, I had no idea what I was doing. But I kinda know what a house is like, so I just kinda built one."). He now bakes his own bread, bringing the number of self-sufficient breadmakers that I've met on this trip up to two. He also rides a scooter everywhere, so as to save money on gas. He totally rules. Here's his website, I haven't been to it yet, but I imagine it's zany.
Mobile, Alabama is really cool. Celebrating Mardi Gras originated there. Neat. "It's like a little New Orleans." I think we've heard that about 15 times in the last month, but it seems kinda true for Mobile.
We stayed with Dylan's friend Lance in Hammond, LA. Lance is an upstanding country gentleman from the Louisiana countryside who refers to everyone (regardless of gender) as "love" or "babe." His family owns a 9-hole golf course. About six years ago, he turned on the television and happened upon a soccer game. He had never seen much soccer, but fell in love with it, and now is the head coach of the high school soccer team. Somewhere down the line, he plans on moving to Liverpool, England, so he can marry a wonderful pale-faced British woman and go see the Liverpool soccer team as much as he wants. Lance is marvelous.
Tomorrow we drive to Austin for South By Southwest.
Tonight I will sleep in a bed, for the first time in a long time. I can't even figure out when the last time was that I slept in a bed. I'm too tired to calculate. However, after tonight, I don't think I'll be sleeping in a bed for the next 6-7 nights. Boom.
We're at Birdman Coffee/Books in St. Francisville, LA. It's a very tiny town, about 30 minutes north of Baton Rouge. It's not even on the map in our car (which is a great map). We played tonight in front of a packed room of 25 or so people who were incredibly attentive and very excited. It was another un-mic'd show - those are usually the most fun, because you can hear everything well. And there's no soundboard for the soundman to not be running when he doesn't show up.
There was a blinding light shining on me throughout the entire show, giving me a terrible headache. I also was pre-occupied with thoughts of the peach cobbler that the owner (Lynn) made that afternoon. I told her I'd have some after the show, which was a huge mistake, because it's all I could think about. Boy did it live up to expectations. I have a wicked stomach ache at the moment.
One of the men at the show talked to me about how he worked in Baton Rouge as a drafter for about 20 years, hated it, then bought a piece of land "about 30 minutes east of here in the country," built a house on it by himself ("No, I had no idea what I was doing. But I kinda know what a house is like, so I just kinda built one."). He now bakes his own bread, bringing the number of self-sufficient breadmakers that I've met on this trip up to two. He also rides a scooter everywhere, so as to save money on gas. He totally rules. Here's his website, I haven't been to it yet, but I imagine it's zany.
Mobile, Alabama is really cool. Celebrating Mardi Gras originated there. Neat. "It's like a little New Orleans." I think we've heard that about 15 times in the last month, but it seems kinda true for Mobile.
We stayed with Dylan's friend Lance in Hammond, LA. Lance is an upstanding country gentleman from the Louisiana countryside who refers to everyone (regardless of gender) as "love" or "babe." His family owns a 9-hole golf course. About six years ago, he turned on the television and happened upon a soccer game. He had never seen much soccer, but fell in love with it, and now is the head coach of the high school soccer team. Somewhere down the line, he plans on moving to Liverpool, England, so he can marry a wonderful pale-faced British woman and go see the Liverpool soccer team as much as he wants. Lance is marvelous.
Tomorrow we drive to Austin for South By Southwest.
Tonight I will sleep in a bed, for the first time in a long time. I can't even figure out when the last time was that I slept in a bed. I'm too tired to calculate. However, after tonight, I don't think I'll be sleeping in a bed for the next 6-7 nights. Boom.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Back In H-Ville
After some schedule juggling, we are back in Huntsville, AL. To be honest, it feels like we're coming back to an old home of ours. The people here we know are all fantastic. We'll be here for a couple more days before our show in Mobile, then off west to go play another show before South By Southwest.
We're playing at SXSW on Friday 3/14 here - http://www.loveaustintexas.com/shows.html
I need to put up some pictures, but I'm too tired to even do that. Sheesh.
We're playing at SXSW on Friday 3/14 here - http://www.loveaustintexas.com/shows.html
I need to put up some pictures, but I'm too tired to even do that. Sheesh.
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