The Big One pt. 1

South By in a word: holyfuckingshitthatwasamazing.  In about 1500 more words: please read on. 
____________________________________________________________
Thursday the 17th was a lot of things: it was St. Patrick's Day, it was the day my sister flew into town, it was the first day of SXSW (for me), and it was St. Patrick's Day.  The perfect storm for a music loving person who also happens to be 50% Irish.  I wore a green tshirt, a green Ireland rugby polo, and my green suit coat to work.  More like I carried my green suit coat to work because it was about 85 degrees and that bastard must be 120% wool.  I got into work and received notice that my boss was going to be out sick for the day.  It was like St. Patrick himself was sitting up there behind those Pearly Gates and had an eye on me this day.  Needless to say, the day started out on a good note.

I spent the next four hours searching for and listening to Irish music playlists on YouTube.  (If my boss is reading this, totally just joking).  My sister's flight came in at 2:30 and so I dipped out of work right around then.  We were back to my apartment at 3pm and had our first beers of the day.  Well, my first.  She had one or two on the flight/airport bar.  We walked two blocks to the bus stop to wait for a ride downtown.  Forty-five minutes later, we were standing in line to see the Strokes play a free concert.

Fans were lined up along the fence for a good 200 yards, then the line snaked back and forth about four times.  We weren't standing against the fence but were in the "snake" closest to them, meaning we were relatively close.  These orderly lines worked well for a good 40 minutes.  Once 5:15 hit and the gates opened, this orderly line turned into people just bum rushing the front.  (I wonder if homeless people get offended when people use this term.)  We made it inside after another 20 minutes of waiting in line.  They had vending machines offering bottles of Maker's Mark.  I thought I had gotten a photo of these but I did not.  Just need to take my word. 

This is not the Strokes but this is where they played

Luke Rathborne and Twin Shadow went on before the Strokes.  Both were pretty decent, nothing mind blowing at all.  On the other hand....the Strokes fucking rocked.  They played for an hour and half and just flat out fucking rocked.  Not going to get all journalistic here, just a kickass show.  They came out for an encore and played "Last Night" as a ten minute firework show went off behind them.  Again, fucking awesome. 

Along with the other 30,000 people who packed in for the show, we headed downtown after the Strokes in search of more music and more importantly, more beer.  I don't even remember where we ended up or who we saw, but we did manage to find a bar touting Chicago bands. 

Chicago INVADED Austin

We intentionally took the bus downtown so we wouldn't have to deal with parking and driving.  In my mind, we would be able to find a cab and take it home.  Well apparently Austin only has about 19 cabs and every single fucking one of them were full.  We attempted to hail a cab for a full hour before giving up and retreating to a local sandwich place(subtlety called Which Wich).  Full of food and vigor, we returned to the streets for a ride home.  The streets are basically empty except for the random filled cab.  So I'm standing pretty much in the middle of the road trying to hail a cab.  All of a sudden, St. Patrick had taken pity on us and a car stopped right in front of us.  Katie opened the passenger side back door to get in.  As she opened it, I noticed there were a bunch of boxes in the back seat so I decided I would sit up front with the driver.  As I opened the passenger side door and was ready to get in, the dude screamed at us "WAIT, I'M NOT A CAB" and he drove away. 

Katie and I looked at each other and busted out laughing.  To this day I cannot figure out why this dude stopped for us.  We were in the middle of the road and there wasn't a stop or street sign at all.  He didn't mention anything while Katie opened the back door.  But as soon as I was about to ride shotgun with him, he suddenly remembered he wasn't a taxi driver and he couldn't drive us. 

Finally, a full two hours after we had began our search, a lady in a black SUV pulled up next to us and asked if we needed a ride.  She said she was a "charter service" and that she would drive us home for $15.  At the time, this was the greatest thing we had heard all night.  Looking back, the lady could have used our faces for masks as we just nonchalantly agreed to take her up on her offer.  People in Texas are a lot nicer than Chicago.
_________________________________________________________
After getting back to my apartment unharmed around 2:30am, we came up with the plan that we would get up a mere 7 hours later and be downtown by 10:30.  Well 10:30 rolled around and neither of us were awake yet.  Note for next year #1: plan all you want, but you are not getting two hungover 20 somethings up at 9am. 

RSVP'd for a good 25 parties throughout the weekend.  I even created a Google Map of the parties and their locations.  (My mom would be so proud.  If only she knew how to create a Google Map)  Now we just had to figure out which ones were close by and which ones had free beer.  We decided on the Fader Fort by Fiat (yes, the car) just east of downtown.  Apparently Fader is one of the larger parties and gets some pretty big names.  (Kanye played there 2 years ago). 

We got our wristbands and (shockingly) migrated directly to the beer tent.  They had 16 oz. Budweisers which I'm not a huge fan of, until I found out they were FO' FREE.  And just like that, Fader became an awesome party.  We eventually saw Ellie Goulding, the Smith Westerns, Odd Future, and Matt & Kim.

Ellie is pretty hot and has a pretty amazing voice. 

The Smith Westerns are from Chicago and I actually hear them on the radio pretty frequently. 

I had never heard of Odd Future before and personally didn't care much for them.  But I have a feeling you will be hearing about them in the near future.  They had so much buzz and hype surrounding them all weekend.  One of those bands that I saw just to say I saw them. 

Last but definitely not fucking least was Matt & Kim.  They sing "Cameras", "Good ol Fashioned Nightmare", "Daylight", etc.  Easily the craziest crowd atmosphere of the night.  They played with so much enthusiasm, like they wanted to be there, not that they had to be there.  I didn't go in as a big fan but I definitely left as a huge fan.  Again, just fucking rocked.

Reluctantly, Fader Fort ended and the free beer was no more.  We somehow managed to make our way to a show called Ohio by Southwest.  Thursday night was Chicago night, Friday turned into Ohio.  I mention this show for one reason: the band Karate Coyote.  That link goes to their wikipedia page so you know they're legit.  I couldn't tell you what kind of music they played.  No idea if they have any chicks in the band, how many dudes, or anything whatsoever about the band.  What I do remember is the swag they gave out.  Specifically these:

Karate Coyote, bitches.

Clearly they win for best and most original band merch.  Some dude was walking by and had this mask on top of his head.  Katie asked the dude were we could get them and he gave it to her.  Then he gave one to me.  Needless to say, us wearing coyote masks took precedence over everything else that night.  We eventually left the place with masks in hand, or on head.  Countless people stopped us in the streets to ask us about them, take pictures with them on, get my number, etc.  The masks were an immensely huge hit.  We ended up at some other random bar and met some new best friends there.  Had an amazing time taking pictures with the masks.  Someplace, Katie has about 20 pictures of us in various poses with said masks.  Once she puts them online (hint: put them online Kate), I will add a few here.  I know me typing about us taking pictures with coyote masks sounds hilarious, but it was fucking hilarious in person.  If anyone should ever visit me in Austin, you can see the masks firsthand.  Incentive!!!
___________________________________________________________
I am at more than 1500 words, 5 links and 3 pictures and have only reached Friday night.  This is going to be the end of part 1.  The second part will come out sometime this weekend.  (No promises).  Y'all come back now y'hear. 

Celebrations and Remembrances

Lots of celebrating going on in Austin this past week and this upcoming week.  For those of you who live under or rock or in Ohio, South by Southwest has begun.  And while I still don't fully know what to expect, I am incredibly excited.  I happened upon a street fest yesterday, and if SXSW is anything like that, I am in for a hell of a week.  (The locals refer to SXSW as South by.  Not sure how I feel about that yet.  I love acronyms and nicknames almost the same.)  This "fest" was called Honk TX.  It was comprised of several musical ensembles which I can only describe as "big band."  Think trombones, saxophones, bass drums, and megaphones.  One of the mottos of the city is "Keep Austin Weird."  I think yesterday I finally realized just what that meant. 

Wonder when he's going to start keeping Austin weird

I really wish I had taken more pictures, because the people in audience would be so much easier to describe.  Essentially, anything goes.  There were men in tights, kilts, full tuxedos and top hats, short shorts, suspenders, wigs, masks, lederhosen, and everything else in between.  (Really not sure what I would do without wikipedia.  It is truly a gift from god.  Or Al Gore.)  Austin is a very BYOB place so the crowds were full of people drinking beer.  And smoking the reefer. 

Honk TX was less of a fest and more of bands and people congregated in adjoining parks and nearby parking lots/empty lots.  There were three of these "big bands" playing in different parts of the green space and one magician/street performer named Derek Derek.  He kept things weird by wearing a top and suspenders, no shirt.  I took a video of his last act but it was too large for me to email from my phone so I am unable to post it here.  However, I tracked down a video of him on the youtube.  This wasn't in Austin, but it is essentially the same routine he did.  I didn't actually watch that whole video so I'm just assuming he does the same thing everywhere.  His last act was him juggling a flaming torch, a hatchet, and a big fucking knife. Pretty impressive. 
______________________________________________________________
Two years ago today was the last anniversary of the South Side Irish Parade back home in Chicago.  For those of you who had the honor of participating, this was an amazing tradition and a drunken debacle.  It was always on the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day on the south side.  Unless that Sunday happened to be Palm Sunday, then the parade would be the week before.  Kind of shows you just how Irish and Catholic my neighborhood was. 

The 2009 parade was the first one I had been to since high school and also happened to be the first one I was of legal drinking age, not that it mattered.  We didn't know it at the time, but this also happened to be the last parade period.  I'm not going to sit here and type out the stories and memories I have of this parade mostly because I don't have the time nor do I remember much of what happened.  A sample of things that happen at the parade: 1)lots of beers and screwdrivers are consumed.  2)Seeing old friends from grade and high schools.  3)Making fun of cubs fans.  4)Eating corned beef and cabbage and my aunt and uncle's.  Repeat 1-3.

The 2009 parade was one of the top 10 memorable days in my life.  It will forever be ingrained in my memory and just wanted to get a shout out for the SSI parade.  I can only imagine how many single tears are being shed across the southside of Chicago today. 
________________________________________________________
Music portion of South By starts this Wednesday.  Unbelievably excited for the Strokes on Thursday.  RSVP'd for so many shows on Friday and Saturday.  Live music, free booze and food are staples of many of these shows.  The forecast for Austin this weekend Thurs-Sun: 79, 79, 81, 81.  Forecast for Katie and me Thurs-Sun: sunburned, drunk, lost, and in awe.  
__________________________________________________________
I've already had two sno-cones this year.  Haters gon hate.  And back by popular demand (meaning one person made a comment about it): Y'all come back now y'hear. 

Boots

In case you missed the title, this is going to be about boots.  Real, Texan boots.  I feel like I've mentioned this before, but boots are highly thought of down here.  Going to work?  Wear boots.  Going to the bar?  Boots.  Going to the strip club to do lines off the toilet seat?  Probably boots but who really cares. 

I walked into my first boot store today.  After looking around for a good half hour, I came to this realization: I am not worthy of boots.  Not yet at least.  I think most salsas are still too hot.  I say Chi-cah-go and sah-sige.  I get sunburned really easily (shockingly, this happened today).  I do not own a truck.  Or a cowboy hat.  I did not go to every home football game from 4th grade through college.  (Mostly because my high school and college sucked at football.  And a little bit because I liked to get drunk with my friends instead and not be social with others.)  I do not deserve to own real Texan cowboy boots. 

I'm learning though. When I send emails to a large group of people, I tend to start it with "hey y'all."  I eat Tex-Mex at least once a week.  Often times, it is more like three or four times a week.  I know there is a difference between Mexican and Tex-Mex food.  I do not know what that difference is yet, but I know it exists.  (Something along the lines of refried beans and pinto beans.  Like I'm even thinking about the beans when I'm gorging on cheeses, sour cream, chicken, beef, chorizo, etc.  God I'm hungry.)  I know how to pronounce Manchaca (manchack), Guadalupe (guadaloop), and cerveza (beer). I enjoy all types of cooked meats.  I thoroughly enjoy football.  All of this added to the fact that I already owned like 7 or 8 flannel shirts before moving, makes me about 2% Texan. 

One day I'll come to realization that I have become worthy enough to own some fine, Mexican handmade boots.  That day will probably come when I get a huge raise at work, considering these boots cost a pretty penny.  Cheapest pair I saw were 200 bones.  Chew on that for a few seconds.  I own a pair of Nike Air Zooms, Skechers dress shoes, and Dockers dress shoes.  My guess is that these three pars combined cost roughly $150. 

The most expensive pair I saw?  $1700 for these bad motherfuckers. 

 

 

 

Skulls are cool

______________________________________________________________
Countdown til St. Patrick's Day, the day Katie flies down to visit, and the day the Strokes rock the fuck out at SXSW (which all happen to be the same day): 11 days.  Can't wait.