Austin City Limits Festival, Day 2

We learned some things on Day 1 that were helpful on Day 2. For example, there are free water stations onsite and you can bring your own water bottle. Sweet! Big money savings for day 2.

Unfortunately, our sweet free parking garage was charging $10. At least we got one day free.

I discovered about a block from the car that I didn't have my phone with me. We went back to the car, only to discover that I'd left my phone at Cindy's house. D'oh! She had spent Day 1 concerned about her fun new phone (we both just got the new G2), so she grabbed her crappy old phone for day 2. I went without once I discovered we'd have to drive back to her place to get mine.

Here's what we saw yesterday (after arriving later than we wanted to and completely missing Silversun Pickups):

• Broken Bells. Yes, they were on at the same time as Silversun Pickups, but closer to the gate and at the other end of the park. The guitar player also played keys. Pretty complex sound. They had a trumpet player too. We liked them reasonably well.
• Kinky. We caught quite a bit of their set inadvertently as we stood in line for food and ate. I don't remember much about them other than they were a dance band, so they weren't really attention grabbing. Or I was hungry and P. Terry's distracted me.
• Gogol Bordello. My son described them as "gypsy rock," but their first song was definitely reggae influenced. I initially thought the boy didn't know his genres, but as they continued I agreed with his labeling (and he later told me he'd read the description). Pretty frenetic rhythms at times, lots of people up and dancing around. Fun stuff.
• Monsters of Folk. We walked by on our way from Gogol Bordello to LCD Soundsystem. We didn't stay; they were way too mellow (i.e., sleep inducing). Pretty big crowd there, though, and this was the only band given a two-hour set on Saturday, maybe due to this being a Conor Oberst band.
• LCD Soundsystem. Dance. Good beat, not too cookie cutter or samey-samey from song to song. They did go a little screamo one song, but only one.
•  Deadmau5. Holy cow, the BASS. We were a long way back, and it was hitting us pretty hard. Awesome dance groove, great light show (I took several short videos). All the freaks came out to play for this one. It got really samey after 20-30 minutes, and lots of people left to get a spot for 
• Muse. According to the numbers on the web site, this was the most popular show of the fest. My sister previously told me she liked them better than U2 when she saw them together. I haven't seen U2 live, and this was my first Muse show, but they were amazing. I only own their newest album, but I need to correct that. For the most part Cindy has been really laid-back during the fest. This has been the one time she's put her foot down and said, "Let's move forward," and "We're staying to the end of this set!" Not that I wanted to leave, but it was great to hear that she was really enjoying the set. The lights were fantastic. The sound, honestly, could have been louder. We started out pretty far back, but we were getting some bleed through from M.I.A. clear across the park. Once we got closer it was louder, of course, but we could still talk pretty comfortably. Muse was definitely the best of day 2 by a wide margin, no contest.

Austin City Limits Festival, Day 1

I have a friend who won a pair of tickets to ACL (I love a friend who calls you at times like these!), so we have thrown ourselves into the chaos. And chaos it is! I haven't seen attendance numbers, but it has to be in the tens of thousands.

The bands I've heard of are all playing today and tomorrow, so Cindy and I just wandered around and sampled things yesterday. Don't yell at me about "You haven't heard ?" Now I have. I listen to a LOT of music, but I hadn't gotten around to these before yesterday.  =)

Here's what we heard:

• Pat Green. Your basic Austin country. He busted out a little U2 at one point ("With or Without You"). Pretty good, but I don't listen to a lot of country.
• Qbeta. They were on a stage that was shaded -- a naturally attractive prospect in the heat of the day. We only caught their last tune, which was kind of a dance-raggae thing and a lot of fun. I was sad I couldn't hear more.
• The Band of Heathens. These tied for the best of the day for me. They were a mix of several genres, funky and rocky with great harmonies. As we were walking by, the singer said, "We're gonna have a little church now. Y'all need to have some church, I think!" or something like that. In that crowd, it was pretty funny. Then they broke into a funky praise thing. Lots of people were dancing around with hands in the air. They were fun. But we were actually on our way to
• Beach House. We listened to them for half a song and decided The Band of Heathens was more fun, so we went back. Still only caught like 3 songs though. Curse the hour-long sets!
• Slightly Stoopid. Several people said this was a fun band, and they were. Good groove, sort of a rock/reggae vibe.
• Vampire Weekend. Holy cow, what a huge crowd, and a lot of pot in the crowd.  We were a LONG way back and were still packed in. They were OK, would probably have been better if I owned any of the music (I'd considered buying it but hadn't gotten around to it).
• Sonic Youth. One friend asked me how I was going to decide between Vampire Weekend and Sonic Youth, so I went to both. We found chairs by SY, which was nice. They were highly sonic, but no longer young, and Cindy and I laughed about the 3 minute outros on several songs. In a one-hour set, that adds up. We kind of wished we'd stayed at Vampire Weekend, but it was really nice to sit down, too.
• The Strokes. We both loved The Strokes, who I probably should have heard before now. I'm not sure how to categorize their music -- it's rock, but with elements of other stuff thrown in. Their singer had some interesting stage banter. The first thing he said to the crowd was, "If all y'all would come out of the woodwork, maybe we wouldn't be so broke!" I hope he gets his wish. I'll probably buy some stuff.

So that's Day 1. I'll try to keep taking notes and posting so all two of my readers can have some new music to try out on youtube.  My dad will hate all of it (except maybe Pat Green).

Oh, a couple of other comments on the fest: with so many people temporarily in one place, there is no way to use your phone in any real way. I'd love to twitter or facebook updates (and I really tried yesterday), but the network just won't handle that many people. There is no twitter, no facebook, no texting. Calls will usually go, but you can forget about data.

And those porta potties? With that many people onsite (all eating, drinking and what-have-you), those need to be cleaned more than once a day, y'all. For real. Yick.

What a Cool Birthday Gift!

Those who know me well know that I was married on my birthday, so I celebrate my birthaversary each year. Or whatever you want to call it.

This year, for our 20th anniversary, hubby and I celebrated by going to Hawaii. I had wanted to go to Europe, but our friends were headed to Maui and offered us a room in the house they were renting. With arm-twisting like that, who were we to say no?

Since that was a couple of months early, I kind of wondered if we might have some sort of smaller local celebration. As the time approached, nothing really presented itself. No big deal, really. I'm not the kind of girl to kick and scream. I mentally shrugged and went on about my business.

On Saturday night, we went to see one of my all-time favorite songwriters, Terry Taylor. Terry is the front man for Daniel Amos, a Christian alternative band, and the Swirling Eddies, a humorous offshoot. He also plays with the Lost Dogs, a band comprised of front men from other bands. On his current tour, Terry is playing with his son Andrew for the first time, which is fun to see. He's also being accompanied by Steve Hindalong, a recent addition to the Lost Dogs and drummer and songwriter for The Choir, another band I've followed for more years than I care to count. You, dear reader, would know Steve best for his songwriting credits... perhaps not my favorite ("Beautiful Scandalous Night") but probably his most famous ("God of Wonders").

Saturday's show was fun: great musicianship, to be sure, but also wonderful comraderie between three men who clearly were having a genuinely good time playing music together. I had my camera with me, but the pictures were abysmal, so I shall not burden you with them.

Cut to Sunday. I get an email from my friend Angela, forwarded from Terry's manager. Seems there has been a cancellation, and they'd like to schedule a house concert anywhere between San Antonio and Dallas on Monday night. Angela is an apartment dweller, but my house is perfect for such a thing. Angela's birthday is Sunday, and she knows mine is Tuesday. We're both huge fans; what a great gift to both of us! I book the show, knowing I have about 30 hours to pull together a crowd for it.

I invite everyone I know on Facebook who lives in Austin, regardless of whether they might have heard of Terry. One of the people I invite is the sister-in-law of the promoter from the Saturday show. She gets him involved, and he adds another hundred people to the invite. Suddenly, we're talking about a potential real crowd here!

Forty people come to the show. Andrew (Terry's son) tells hubby it's the second biggest crowd they've seen at a house concert. He's impressed we've managed to publicize this well given a little over 24 hours for a Monday night show. So am I.

The crowd is appreciative. Many know all the songs; a few aren't familiar with Terry but come because of friends or because of other reasons. We don't charge admission, but the tip jar fills nicely, and the band sells some merchandise.

Most of the pictures don't turn out, but a few do, so I'll share those. First up: a shot of the band from the back of the room, showing part of the crowd. I counted about forty people, including kids. Not bad.

The guys jamming. From L-R, Andrew Taylor, Terry Taylor, Steve Hindalong.

During one song, Steve shows off his lasso skills: risky business in Texas. It's the only time I use a flash during the show.

After the show, hubby insisted I get a pic with the band. From L-R, it's Andrew Taylor, Terry Taylor, me, and Steve Hindalong.

It's not often you get to spend an evening with people you've admired for so long. The talent and poetry that flows through these gentlemen is hard to describe to the uninitiated.

I asked them each to sign something that would be meaningful to me. Terry signed my copy of the first Daniel Amos CD that I fell in love with. It's from the '80s, and I can't say it's aged best of all his music, but I still love it. Steve signed the first recording of "Beautiful Scandalous Night." He wrote, "On the hillside you will be delivered," which is a lyric from the song.

What did Terry, ever the jokester, write on the Daniel Amos CD? "Don't listen to this."

It's Still Rock 'n' Roll to Me

If you don't follow me on twitter and haven't heard me ramble about this, I've been excited about this for over a month now:

That's right... last night I fulfilled a dream I've had for, um, longer than I'd care to discuss.  We'll just say, since junior high.  I got to see Billy Joel live and in person.  The fact that he was playing with Elton John was a big bonus.

I had looked at the two dates they were playing in Texas, and unfortunately, I found out too late to get tickets.  Houston was way past sold out, and San Antonio only had single tickets available. At that point, I went to my good friend the internet and started looking in other places.  Since this was a once-in-a-lifetime event, I figured I could go ahead and spend the bucks for a floor seat.  Turns out I could get a 2nd row seat in Phoenix for $1600, or I could go to Tulsa and sit farther back for not much more than face value.  Hmmmm... I choose sanity.

Tulsa built their BOK Center about a year ago, according to some friendly folks we ran into at dinner before the show.  There was apparently some public curiosity about whether Tulsa could pull in big names with an arena.  Turns out Kevin Costner was right: if you build it, they will come. Here's a shot of the stage prior to the show.  You'll see that screen again later.

I went with my friend Heather. There are only so many people you can drive 15 hours and stay in a hotel room with over two days. She's a keeper. She also took all the pictures; I was afraid they'd ban my big DSLR from the arena, so I left it in the car.  Awesome photog job, Heather!

I'll grant you that her camera has a big ol' zoom on it, but this was a cool stage setup, and just being in the room with these two men was electric.  Elton is on the left; Billy is on the right.

These men can flat THROW DOWN on the piano.  Their styles are vastly different, though; it didn't take long before I didn't need visual cues to tell me whose hands I was watching.  Both are just stunning to watch play, to say nothing of their songwriting and singing talents. I went in with expectations set on "sky-high" and they exceeded all of them.

Here's a second picture of the two of them on that giant screen you saw before. They used this screen for all kinds of stuff: pics of the two of them, illustrations of stuff in the song (the stuff they played during "We Didn't Start the Fire" was really interesting and obviously historic), cartoony fun stuff, you name it. Great use of a set design element.

Also, since we were in an arena, there was the huge thing hanging over our heads with screens on four sides.  We weren't in the best position to get a good pic of it, but Heather got shots of both men on it.  Billy first:

Then Elton.

And if you want the real nitty-gritty details, here are my notes from the night, complete with set list.

There was no opening band.  The stage started bare; the pianos rose out of the stage, complete with dry ice and all that wonderful stage-y stuff.  They began by playing and singing together, trading verses in each others' songs.  They then played individual sets (Elton first, then Billy), coming together at the end for another set together.

The entire concert was three and a half hours -- longer than Heather and I had dared to hope. They played every monster hit and many little-known songs. Every song that Heather had been dying to hear was played, so she can now die happy. I would have loved to hear some that were not played, but they were never hits, so no complaints from me.

We were sitting quite a way back from the stage, on the left edge of the floor seats (or stage right for you theater types).  The couple next to us were also huge Billy Joel fans and were very nice. There was a group of four people in front of us (two couples) that was, er, interesting. Both women had bought flashing LED glasses frames that they wore throughout the show. Fortunately, the stage lights were brighter, and we didn't notice them most of the time.  

Set list (songs are in bold; my notes are not): 

Elton and Billy together:

Your Song

Just the Way You Are

There was a woman two rows in front of us, clearly intoxicated even before the show, who was dancing energetically to the two slow opening songs.  Ummmm, ok...

Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me

My Life

Billy sang backup on this one -- his own song!  I found that amusing.

After "My Life," Billy left the stage, and Elton did his solo portion of the show.

Elton's solo set:

Peachtree Road (I have this title wrong, but I didn't recognize the song)

There was one person standing on the floor during this song.  Perhaps you might guess where he was?  Yes, that's right: directly in my line of sight to Elton.  Granted, Elton wasn't who I was there to see, but still, I thought it was rude.

Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

Burn Down the Mission

Mad Man Across the Water

Tiny Dancer

I noticed on this song that Elton wasn't even trying to hit the high notes in his songs.  Either another singer or the keyboard player would hit the high notes, and he would take a lower note. It wasn't terribly distracting, but I noticed it because I was looking for it; Heather and I had wondered if these guys would still be able to hit those notes (Billy still hit all his, which impressed me). Elton's voice is still amazing -- his tone is beautiful, and his voice is strong and resonant. He just doesn't have the range on the top end that he once enjoyed.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

He had the audience singing along to hit the high notes on this one.  We didn't mind.

Daniel

This was the one I most wanted to hear from Elton.

Rocketman

He did probably a 10-minute jam on this song.  I thought he was finished with his set after this, but he faked us out.

Levon

I'm Still Standing

Crocodile Rock

This song is even more fun live than on a recording.  We had a great time dancing around to it.

This concluded Elton's set. He received a long standing ovation, walked around the entire stage (which was more or less done in the round), and shook hands and signed autographs before exiting. I was pointing up at the screens and telling Heather, "For only $1200 more, that could have been us!"

Yyyyyyyyyyyyeah.

So, up next was Billy's solo set.  And holy cow, Elton had done 11 songs with some seriously long jams!  What did we have to look forward to?  Lots of great stuff, as it turned out.

Billy's solo set:

Angry Young Man

I wasn't really familiar with this song, but I figured that would be the exception to the rule.  In fact, it was the only exception.

Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)

By this song, Heather and I and the couple next to us were on our feet, singing along and dancing.

Allentown

Zanzibar

Billy introduced this one by saying it was "what used to be commonly referred to as 'an album cut.'" He told us it was a great tune and urged us not to use this time as a restroom break. Since "52nd Street" and "Glass Houses" were the first two Billy Joel albums I owned (and I do mean albums -- I had them on vinyl originally), I knew every word of this song.  And I will never hear it the same way again.  Not the album cut I wanted from "52nd Street," but whatcha gonna do?

Don't Ask Me Why

Another great tune from "Glass Houses."

She's Always a Woman

Like he could get out of there without playing this.

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

This was the one that Heather most wanted to hear.  She learned to play piano because of Billy Joel, and she and her dad and brother used to play this tune together (dad on guitar, Heather on piano, brother on either bass or the egg).  It holds a lot of emotion for her. I was so glad he played it.

River of Dreams

Another great one to sing and dance along to.  I was seriously feeling bad for the people in the non-floor seats who were all sitting down.  We were having so much more fun.

We Didn't Start the Fire

Billy played guitar on this, and did some crazy things with the mic stand, throwing it up in the air and catching it.  At the end of the song, he threw it literally the length of the stage to one of the other musicians, who caught it. Wild.

It's Still Rock & Roll to Me

More singing and dancing.  I love me some Billy Joel.

Only the Good Die Young

Still more singing and dancing. Seriously, the man is an amazing entertainer. Loved it.

After this song, Billy made his rounds of the stage, also shaking hands and signing autographs. Heather and I were both struck by how gracious both men were with the fans, and also by how much fun they seemed to be having playing, entertaining the crowd, enjoying the music, each other, and the fans. I don't think you can fake that.

Last part of the set:

Duo, part two:

I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues

Great tune.  On this song, as with many others, I noticed that Elton couldn't help singing along (away from the mic) during Billy's parts of the songs.  Billy did the same thing during other songs.  Also, during one song (and I failed to write down which one), Billy clearly came in at the wrong time and mouthed an exaggerated "Oops!" face at the camera.  Good stuff.

Uptown Girl

At the end of this song, a female (fan?  not sure) got onstage, dancing to the song.  She danced over to Billy, kissed him on the cheek, then went over to Elton and kissed him on both cheeks followed by a big smooch on the mouth. She then left the stage. I didn't see security hustling her off, and Elton and Billy just kept playing, but it was weird.

The B!tch Is Back

Again, not familiar with this song, one of Elton's.  The crowd was really into it, though. Bleeped the word cuz, y'know, I'm a family blog and all.

You May Be Right

I was happy to hear this one.  It was great as a duet.

Benny and the Jets

Billy took all the high parts on this.  Worked out well.  Another great singalong.

You Say It's Your Birthday

Not sure if that's really the name, but whatever the rock 'n' roll birthday song is.  They asked if anyone was having a birthday, then they sang it. It was cool, but there are other things I would rather have heard from them.

Back in the USSR

Candle in the Wind

Heather said later, and I agreed, that if she'd been asked she would have said that she could have gone a long time without hearing this song again since it was so overplayed back in the day. It was fantastic live, though.  Really beautiful.

Piano Man

Yes, they saved the ultimate singalong -- and their theme song -- for last. It had to be played.  It was epic.  They stopped playing and let the the audience sing one round of the chorus.  Wow: the power of 20,000 voices.

These men have been entertaining people for well over 50 years between them. They are serious about music, and they blew. me. away.

Odds and Ends

I don't have a "post topic" today, just a couple of little things.

First of all apparently it's a lot easier to take pictures when there is light streaming from the sky and WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME TRENT WAS PLAYING AT THE RANCH ON LABOR DAY? OK, deep breath. I'm better now. Provided there will be an October show in my living room. If such a thing is not forthcoming, I do not promise that I will not throw myself to the floor in a toddler-like temper tantrum. Even my ultra-picky teenage son (Son the Younger) loved the music -- quite the endorsement!

In other news, if you'll look somewhere down the left column, you'll see a new button close to the top. The Blissfully Domestic website just re-launched this week (and there was much rejoicing, yay!), with a new Inspired Bliss channel, to which I will be one of the regular contributors.

What will I write? you might be wondering. Hopefully something more insightful and intelligent than what I manage here, I would answer. We shall see.

I Like Me Some Music

I'm not even going to count my CDs. Let's just say the number is somewhere north of 500.

And once I started downloading music, I REALLY lost track.

It's great to live in Austin, where there is so much great live music, but really, what could be better than having great live music right in your own living room?

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you TRENT MONK!

OK, to explain a little, I've had the Monk and Neagle CD for about a year (or since it came out; I ordered the pre-release). I've listened to it continually over the year and LOVE it. Since it's done with a full band and a lot of two-part harmony, I wasn't sure how Trent was going to pull off a show by himself with just his guitar. Answer: beautifully. Dude can flat-out play, and he's got PIPES. And the people love him. He's modest and sweet, and he has a way with a crowd.

Here is Trent's weapon of choice: a Taylor, of course. Gotta love it. Covered in stickers and signatures, then a layer of clear tape. Niiiiiiice.


I particularly liked the notation by the bridge. It's important to have a sense of humor. Or pathos. Or both.


Trent sang to us for about an hour, doing material from "The Twenty-First Time," and then he was happy to hang around, socialize, and take pictures. There may have been adult beverages, but I'm not sure...

This is my BFF Heather, me and Trent.


This may win Picture of the Night. This is Clare, daughter of the photog for the evening (because I was a bad blogger and didn't take pictures), and Trent being his sweet self. Clare is an amazing photographer in her own right; I would love to showcase her work here someday if she and her mom give me the go-ahead (hint, hint). She does stuff with her point and shoot that I can't manage with my SLR. I just have to remember not to covet my neighbor's camera skills.


This is about the most disgustingly good-looking couple I know, Jen and Jonathan. I'd hate them, but they're fantastic people, so I'm forced to adore them in spite of their physical perfection. Darn the luck.


This is a great example of Heather's facial expressions (she has thousands), but it's also a decent group shot of the people who hung out after the party. I'm on the far left, Jonathan is shaking hands with Trent, and Clare's dad Edward is in the white shirt on the right.


I'd love to know what Trent looks so shocked about here. Danny, his road manager, is on the left.


Last but not least, this is Kate, our photographer for the evening (a.k.a. Clare's mom and Edward's wife). Kate is one of those people who can juggle 87 things and make it look easy. She rocks, and I love her.

I talked with Trent about his history of doing house concerts as he was setting up in my living room, and you'll never guess whose living room was his very first? None other than the person who introduced me to his music -- blogging's very own beloved Sophie! When I met her in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago, she specifically asked me to tell Trent hello. He almost jumped up and down when I mentioned her name, he was so excited to hear about her. He said he and Danny will be heading back that direction soon, and they can't wait to do another show with her.

In the meantime, they'll be back in Austin soon -- sounds like maybe October -- so I might get to host another show. Yippee! There's nothing finer than great music in my own living room, surrounded by old friends and new. I can't wait to do this again with a bigger crowd! This last time was Labor Day weekend, with too many people out of town.

So for those folks in the central Texas area, if you missed this one and want in on the next one, comment, email, or twitter me and let me know!

For the Illumination of the Masses

It's 16 hours until Trent Monk plays live in my living room.

I am understandably a-twitter. And in this case, I'm not talking about the web application.

However, since my older son recently left the nest, flew the coop, or, in a bit of high-tech humor, RTSed, we have been cleaning furiously for a couple of weeks. Nothing like eleven years of clutter to motivate you, especially when Son the Younger decides to switch rooms. They are now almost Zen-like in their simplicity and lack of clutter.

No, you may not see pictures. Chiefly because why would I take pictures of that? (Here I am referring to the "before" state.)

But this evening, I was telling Robin that I needed to clean up my bead room. She apparently did not realize why one would need an entire room just for beads.

Apparently she has not been introduced to my obsession hobby. So, for anyone who is unfamiliar, here is where I put things on string. Yes, it is a mess. That's why I needed to clean it up.


This is a closer shot of the bead boxes you can see in the above photo. You can tell here that each type of bead has its own little place to be. Ah, order!

And here is a shot of a single box. In this one there are gemstones (moukite on the top left, lapis at top right, plus a few others), and a lot of glass, including some millefiori (glass beads with flowers in them; the word is Italian for "thousand flowers") next to the moukite.

Now just imagine this box multiplied by... [leaves room to count]... let's just say more than 20.

Then imagine that I now own a torch and prefer to make my own beads from molten glass (any of the lampworking posts will show you more), as opposed to beading, i.e., stringing other people's beads.

Sad, how many beads there are. I should string some of them or something.

But first, I think I'll sleep. And then clean some more. So that that cool musician fella has a clean house to play in.

If You Haven't Heard of Dave Barnes...

Then you're missing out on some of the most talented singer / songwriter music out there. Not to mention that he's not terribly difficult to look at.

First, check out his music.

Then check out his sense of humor (sorry, can't embed his videos).

Enjoy the magnificence that is Dave!

Life? What Life?

I keep thinking I should post more often, but it seems like I just don't have much to say these days. Maybe I'm not cueing in to those fun little moments in life, or maybe I'm just bored. Or, as my dad used to tell my sister when she would complain about being bored, maybe I'm BORING. That's certainly a possibility.

So here's what's going on in my life. I'm working on the silent auction for the women's retreat at my church, which is always fun and a challenge. For the first time in three years, I'm not in charge of the auction, which is actually great -- we have someone who's new and excited in there doing some different things. I bet everyone will love it. We'll be doing a lot of themed baskets this year, which I'm sure will be well received. Lots of our regular donors are coming back -- massage by my massage wizard, jewelry by me and the other woman who has always been my co-lead for the auction, purses by an amazingly talented woman who happens to be the wife of our associate pastor (soon leaving the church world for the business world), fantastic girl bows by the new auction leader, and the list goes on and on. So I'm excited about all of that. Proceeds go to our women's ministry: helping with child care for women's groups, helping single moms, things like that, so that's great too. It's been taking up a fair amount of my time.

I also just volunteered, as I have in years past, to put together the music for the retreat. Our church is nontraditional to say the least and is very seeker-friendly; we will have a lot of women who are new to faith or who haven't made that step yet who will be at the retreat. So the music will not be CCM heavy but will be a mix of fun stuff that people recognize and things that will make you think if you listen to the lyrics. I just picked up Dave Barnes' new CD today, "Me and You and the World," and I'll cram as much of that into the mix as I possibly can. I'll also have some Monk and Neagle, some Aaron Roughton (friend of M&N, native of our church, and hubby of the auction chair). I'll put in some stuff that should sound familiar to everyone: Colbie Caillat, Feist, and Yael Naim's "New Soul," among others.

So if you have any thoughts about great music I should pick up, please let me know. I'm always on the lookout for good music, and this time of year is always a good excuse for me to find more. =)

How Did it Get to Be Thursday?

Seriously... and I haven't posted since Monday!

Bad blogger! No donut!

Son the Younger was griping at me about my lack of posting yesterday. "Mother!" he said, in his most disapproving voice (which, if you have a teenage son, you know is highly disapproving), "you haven't posted in two days!"

Oh, the horror. Can you imagine such a thing?

So what was I off doing in my TWO DAYS of not posting? (I know it's three now. I'll get to that.)

On Monday night, Son the Older called from San Antonio, where he and the Mighty Marching Band were planning on competing in the state competition. He informed me that he had forgotten his marching shoes. Whaaa? But oh, hey, he could borrow shoes from an alternate who wouldn't be marching. What size? Oh, size 15. Son's size is 10.5.

You gotta be kidding me. No way was I gonna throw the state marching competition -- in my son's senior year, no less -- because he tripped over his own feet because he didn't have his own shoes.

The alarm rang at 5:30, which is highly uncivilized in my night-owl world. I showered, dressed, fought traffic, and made it there around 9am. Bradley's band was due to march at 10. I had no trouble finding him and made the Grand Shoe Switch. Turns out he had switched shoes with a third person who had taken the alternate's size 15 shoes. Too much for me to keep up with. I stowed the spare shoes in my trunk and hurried into the Alamodome to watch them march. I did stop long enough to buy a pretzel and a Dr. Pepper, since I hadn't gotten breakfast in my early morning fog.

The band was brilliant in the preliminaries, earning second place of all the bands. I drove the two hours home and collapsed since the finals were hours away.

Unfortunately, the finals did not treat them as kindly, and for the second year, they came in fifth place in state. Apparently several people in the crowd told band members they were robbed. When Bradley looked at the judges' marks online the next day, he found that one judge (we'll call him or her the "East German judge") had marked their school far lower than all the other judges.

Ah well. Life in the school of hard knocks.

Here is a pic of the band, or a lot of them. They don't all fit in one picture. Can you see the tenors in the back? They used to be called quads, but there are five drums. I've put those drums on, and they're HEAVY (about 40lb). I admire those kids for being able to carry them. Two of the three tenors this year are girls. You go, kids!





And here is Bradley doing what he loves to do. He is on the right of the three tenors, although there's a bass drum behind him.

Ah, but I promised to tell you about Wednesday too, huh? Well, Wednesday I slacked. I played a lot of World of Warcraft. And no one wants to hear about how I went to Serpentshrine Cavern for the first time and died repeatedly at the hand of a giant fish, or changed from mooncloth tailoring to shadowcloth tailoring, or farmed for materials for my new tailoring specialization.

I did mail out the jewelry to the Fall Y'all giveaway winners yesterday (except for the pink earrings -- haven't heard back from her yet, curiously), plus organized some other jewelry stuff (web site, blah blah blah). And I looked for a job, as always. And then I played the rest of the day away.

And now it's Thursday, and I'm overdue for a post. Not that anyone's reading, really. More that I feel like I should. =)

Happy Thursday, y'all!

My First Meme -- musical memories and current tastes

So what are the rules on memes? Do you have to be tagged or can you make up your own?

I'm gonna be wacky and make up my own. I'm just that kind of a girl.

Like bensrib, I'm suffering from pre-menopause memory loss and can't remember whose blog tripped this for me so I can link them properly. I hereby apologize, but I'll identify you well enough so that you can gripe at me. How's that? =)

I was reading someone's blog recently who was talking about their earliest musical memories. She said she remembered hearing "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," which are also two of the earliest songs I can remember. It got me thinking about the music I grew up with (country) and the music I listen to now (lots of stuff, almost no country).

So here are the questions I have for anyone who might care to be tagged -- and I'm not going to tag anyone specific because I don't want to annoy anyone. If you'd like to pick this up, feel free. If it doesn't inspire you, ignore it.

1. What are your earliest musical memories? What songs do you remember? What was your first favorite song? What kind of music did you grow up listening to?

2. How have your tastes evolved? What kind of music do you love now? Do you have a favorite song; if so, what is it?

For me, I've answered most of #1, but my first favorite song was "Wildfire." If you're old enough to remember, it was a song about a horse that (I think) got lost. It was sad, and I would wail along to it when I heard it on the radio.

My tastes now are all over the map. I listen to some pop, some rock, a lot of "classic rock" (whatever that is), some Christian (although I'm pretty picky and tend toward indie artists), folk, some soul and jazz type stuff. My profile lists my favorite bands, most of which the general population has never heard of. Some are local Austin artists; some are indie.

Music is hugely important to me though. I see a lot of live shows and follow a lot of bands. I have friends who are musicians and love to see them live when I can. The upside to all that is that I'm not nearly as starstruck as I once was -- musicians are just folks really. There are a few people in the world who would make me tongue-tied, but not many.

Aha -- there's question #3:

3. What musician or band would you most love to meet and why? Would you be nervous?

I've met many of the bands on my profile page. A few of them are friends. The one I'd really love to sit down over dinner with would probably be Bono. I'd love to hear about his avtivism and why he chooses the causes he does to get involved in. I have a friend who's worked closely with him on one cause (debt relief for poor countries), so I'm familiar with a lot of his nearest and dearest causes. I'd love to hear more about them, though.

And yes, to meet Bono, I would probably be at least a little nervous.

Now it's your turn! Leave a comment if you pick up this meme on your blog. I'd love to read your answers.

Live music is alive and well in Austin, Texas

We're supposed to be the "Live Music Capital of the World," or so the ad people would have you believe. But occasionally you have to venture out and find out for yourself.

Several years ago, I ventured out to SXSW. Since I'm a local, I rarely do this -- it's almost not worth the hassle to battle the traffic, the parking, and the crowds to see a given band for a 45-minute set. Most bands will be back for a nice long set sometime, and I'd rather see that. But Steamboat (a local club) was doing a "Texas favorites" showcase, so I thought I'd check it out. The 1am show was Sixpence None the Richer, who I'm well acquainted with (their former bass player is now the music director at my church, and I've been a fan of theirs for years anyway), and the 9pm show was Ginger Mackenzie, who I'd been wanting to see for quite a while. I figured I could sit through whatever happened to be in between.

The surprise of the evening was one of the best live shows I've ever seen, and I do love live music... by which I mean I've seen hundreds of live shows. I'd put these guys as tied for the best live show I've ever seen. They're actually from NYC, so their placement in the showcase was a mystery to me, but the show blew me away. I've been a fan ever since. You can check out their sound here:
http://www.myspace.com/gabedixonband or here:
http://www.gabedixonband.com
They're very jazzy rock -- Gabe plays keys, and the other guys are upright bass and drums (when I saw them they also had a sax).

Anyway, they were opening tonight for a couple of other guys, Matt Wertz and Dave Barnes, neither of whom I'd ever heard of. I was so excited -- I hadn't seen them since the SXSW show, which was probably in 2001 or 2002 or something. Since I'm on a bit of a budget since my layoff, my dear friend Heather bought my ticket (thanks again, Heather!).

Doors at 8, show at 9... we arrived at 8:30 to find that the Gabe Dixon Band had already played. Whaaa? It seems we were misinformed; doors were at 7, show was at 8. Oh, the heartache! Gabe and his drummer played the entire set with the other two guys, so we did get to see them, but still, it was disappointing.

However, seeing Matt and Dave was fantastic. They're apparently best friends who decided to go on tour together. They backed each other up -- no real "headliner" to this show -- and had a great time bantering with each other and the audience. Both guys have great voices and a real rapport with the crowd, and both were real easy on the eyes. I'd have to confess a slight preference for Dave in general since I have a weakness for a soulful voice and a 300-watt smile, but maybe that's just me. Here are their pages so you can hear their music:
http://www.myspace.com/mattwertz
http://www.myspace.com/davebarnes

They'll be on tour for quite a while, and their show is a lot of fun. I highly recommend them, even though I was WAY over median age in the crowd (lots of young 20s girls).

Their harmonies are just beautiful... a lot like some other band BooMama has been talking about recently... now, who could that be? ;-)