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. 
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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. 
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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.  
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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.