Friday, November 28, 2008

Fun Fun Fun and Eat Eat Eat 2008

We've been receiving a steady stream of visitors since we moved down here nearly a year ago. Last up was my sister and brother-in-law, Melissa and Chris, who flew in from New Jersey for the weekend. If you've been following the blog, you'll probably guess that we planned much of our weekend around what and where to eat. If so, you're right, so I guess we owe you a tamale or something.

We picked our guests up from Austin-Berstrom airport, which is conveniently located well south and east of downtown Austin. Happens to be right in the direction of Lockhart, one of the great BBQ meccas of Texas. We picked them up at the departure area and kept heading south.

After a pretty quick drive, 30 minutes or so, we found ourselves in Lockhart. Having been to one of the three main Lockhart BBQ places already (Kreuz Market), we decided our options were the remaining twosome of Smitty's Market and Black's Barbecue: one, the other or both.

We opted for both. First we checked out Smitty's Market. Smitty's is owned by relatives of the family that runs Kreuz Market, which used to be located in the Smitty's building. After the family patriarch passed away, his children couldn't agree on some things. One of them took the "Kreuz Market" business and moved it into the roomy place it still is in today. The other set kept the original building and equipment and reopened as Smitty's Market.

Where we ordered a pound of brisket, one hot sausage and a few pork ribs. I have to say, the brisket was excellent. Second best of the briskets I've tasted behind only Louie Mueller, and not by much. Ribs were also moist and tasty, not as well done or overly salty as they were at Kreuz.


Rachel, Chris and Melissa in front of Smitty's during our BBQ double-header



Melissa and our food pile. As for amenities, what you see is what you get (paper, plastic knife)


Venerable BBQ pits at Smitty's

After our warm up lunch, we had our final course around the corner at Black's Barbecue. Here we just decided to get a small amount of turkey and brisket to sample, along with a few sides we couldn't resist. The brisket was cut differently and not as smokey or spicy as Smitty's. Good flavor and pretty good texture, but not stand-out like Smitty's. Turkey, like any decent BBQ, was not dry and had a good smoky-sweet flavor. One difference between Black's and Smitty's is that the former offers sauce, the the latter doesn't (and doesn't need any).


Plate of turkey and brisket, Black's BBQ

We hit up some other memorable food and drink spots during our weekend. Once again, we proudly showed off Austin's Mexican food with a meal at homey, old favorite Habanero and another at Sago, a more upscale, modern take on Mexican. We also had a great breakfast at one of Austin's southern food institutions, Hoover's Cooking, where Rachel and I remarkably had never been. Chicken fried steak, eggs, biscuits, cheese-garlic grits and hoecakes (like a pancake with cornmeal) were among the things we all got to taste. Enjoyed a fresh beer, too, at the Gingerman, which is known for the wide selection of beer on tap.

Melissa and Chris are both music fans. As luck would have it, one of the better music festivals outside of the big two (ACL and SXSW) was being held that weekend, the Fun Fun Fun Festival at Waterloo Park, right downtown.


Three hardcore festival goers

The line-up at this year's Saturday/Sunday festival was heavy on the old American hardcore punk music, but it had lots else to offer as well. Saturday afternoon was beautiful out, so we went that afternoon and caught Dengue Fever, a band from L.A that play a style heavily influenced by Cambodian pop, especially from the 1960s. Their set was short and had a few sound issues, but was lively and fun, especially for the daytime outdoor setting. We also heard a fair amount of a great set by Texas's Centro-Matic, followed by another good set of tight indie-rock by Bishop Allen (at Melissa's good suggestion). After a taking a break and having some dinner, we headed back to Waterloo to catch some of Z-Trip's turntablist gig near the entrance before heading over and seeing The National close things out as the night started to get just a bit crisp. An excellent, well-rounded day of music.


Dengue Fever's Ethan Holtzman and Senon Williams


Bishop Allen


Crazy dancer being watched by his puppy


Typical hairstyle mix at an Austin music festival

We didn't have time to do much else. We took some walks, strolled some shopping areas, drank some good java and hung out. We always like to talk about all the things we didn't do but could have to try so people will want to come back and visit us again.

Special thanks to various grandparents for taking care of Gabe, who we hope can make it down to Central Texas another time.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

ACL 2008: People-watching

A few more shots from ACL 2008. Thought I'd better post these before ACL 2009. When you aren't watching the musicians, you can always watch the people!

Some good shirts:




Are you looking at my headgear?





Sharp-dressed men:

Monday, October 27, 2008

ACL 2008: Day Three Review

By the time we got to day three this year, we were pretty exhausted. Days one and two were both long ones, and while the heat and dust weren't as bad as they were in some prior years, they were still a factor.



A crowd either trying to combat the dust or preparing to rob a train

Additionally, the lineup for day three was probably a bit less loaded than the first two days. So we decided to make it a short day. We left a bit later than usual and arrived at about 4:00. After catching a bit of the Silversun Pickups' show, we saw the second half of Neko Case's set. Neko's got a great voice -- perhaps a bit one-dimensional (belting it out!). She does sound great live though. Next, we caught a bit of Austin-based Okkervil River. The band sounded pretty good, cranking out faithful renditions of lovely tunes from a recent album. We'd probably have caught more, but got hungry and went to the food court. By the way, the food at ACL is great. They have a very wide range of choices: meaty delites like BBQ, burgers and sausage, ethnic options like kebabs, burritos and noodles, vegetarian items, frozen treats (very important for a late-September event in Austin) and lots more. The beer selection sort of sucks though.

After Okkervil and food, we met up with our group and caught our last act of the day -- The Raconteurs. Guitarist/singer Jack White, better known as the key half of The White Stripes, cautioned the crowd that he might be a bit off due to his suffering from a bad back. I couldn't tell. We'd seen the band a few times, and they rocked and rolled just as hard as usual, rarely giving the crowd a chance to sit down and catch their breath.

Overall, this festival was another great one. Great weather and fab music has a funny way of making you forget that you're grimy and stuck in a dusty field with 65,000 other people. We got to meet up with Kurt, a fellow member of the Tufts class of 1993 and one-time GM of WMFO 91.5 FM, where I put in 4 excellent years as a deejay. (Kurt has a cool music blog, The Good, the Bad, and the Funky -- check it out.) Oh, can't forget to give a special thanks to Heather and Fabian, who were so generous as to drive us there all three days and always managed to find good parking!

Rachel and Kurt, getting ready to put a wrap on ACL 2008

Rachel, Heather and Fabian, cooling in the shade

Will we be back next year? Well, about a week after the festival, Rachel already bought a pair three-day passes for ACL 2009. See you there!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

ACL 2008: Day Two Review

Day two was another long one. Arrived at about 2:00 and didn't leave until about 10:00. Eight hours is a long time to spend on your feet in the hot sun, breathing in dust. Thankfully, the weather didn't get too hot -- "merely" 90 degrees or so -- and we had a few good opportunities to sit down and catch a breather.

If the musical theme of day one was world-influenced music, day two's was R&B (and R&B-influenced). A lot of our prior days at the festival had been a little heavy on the indie-rock/pop, so it was good once again to mix it up a little.

Day Two's Best Show: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

I was really looking forward to this show. I had heard and read lots of positive things about Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings' live performances. Plus, I'm a long-time supporter of tha funk. The Dap-Kings play a very pure, classic instrumental funk that wouldn't sound out of place in the Stax, People or Atlantic Records studios in the late 60s or early 70s. Yeah, it is a bit derivative. That doesn't bother me, though. I didn't really have an opportunity to catch the original masters in concert. I was either way too young or not yet born.

The Dap-Kings came out first, looking quite Dap-per and thus living up to the band's name. The band (3 horns, 2 guitars, bass, drums and percussion) played a few "warm-up" instrumentals that got the crowd moving, before bringing out Sharon Jones. The band didn't move all that much -- they were way too focused on tight, flawless playing. Ms. Jones, in contrast, was a dynamo. Her voice was powerful and expressive -- a little bit Tina, a little bit Otis -- and as she was dancing and jumping all show long you'd have never guessed she was in her 50s. She had some fun, too, bringing out a couple of fellas from the crowd to dance with her for two of her numbers (funny choices from the audience, too -- look below and you'll see what I mean). She and the band tore through "100 Days, 100 Nights" and other songs from their latest album. Like all of the good shows at the festival, the only bad thing was that they couldn't play a longer set. Guess we'll just have to catch 'em next time they roll their funky bus through Austin.


Sharon Jones serenading a big dude from the crowd


A trio of dapper Dap-Kings

Day Two's Best Crowd: Beck

Beck played the headliner's spot on day two: last show of the night on the festival's biggest stage. Beck is an artist with two personae (if not more) -- the mellow, folksy Beck from albums like Sea Change and Mutations, and the "hippie-hop" white R&B of Odelay and his more recent albums -- you're never sure what you're gonna get. Being that his latest albums were more in the latter mold, I figured we'd probably get a set of mostly up-beat numbers. That's exactly what he delivered. Beck and his band roped the crowd in early by leading off with his first hit from back in 1992, "Loser," and kept the pressure on all night. The crowd really dug songs like "Devil's Haircut," "Where It's At" and "Qué Onda Guero." He did take a quick break from the electronic Beck to play a couple of tunes from Sea Change. I was sort of hoping he'd mix in a few more of his more melodic, poppier numbers. He didn't, and I might have been a bit disappointed, but the crowd wasn't and it kept on grooving until the close of day two.

Wish We'd Seen It: John Fogerty

Another casualty of the "too many good acts at the same time" problem: overlapping sets by Fogerty, the Black Keys and Iron & Wine. Everything I've read said that the old timer put on a great show. Supposedly his voice, his guitar playing and his set list were all great.

What Else We Saw and Heard
  • We planned on getting to the festival in enough time to make sure we were there when Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings started. We got there early, so we were able to catch a bit of the Fratellis. Sounded pretty good, but nothing that really stood out.
  • After Sharon Jones, we stayed close by and caught a bit of CSS on a neighboring stage. Some of the people we were with really liked them, but it wasn't really my cup of tea.
  • Austin's Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears drew a pretty big crowd for the smaller Austin Ventures stage. His mix of blues, rock and funk was a good follow-up to Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. A bit less tight and more raw, but still good at getting people on their feet and dancing.
  • The mellow soul of Erykah Badu was a good wind-down from the earlier sets of energetic R&B. She sounded good live. She couldn't resist getting a bit preachy from time to time, but also displayed a good sense of humor.
  • Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band played most of Oberst's latest self-titled album, plus a cover of Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" that appealed to some of the older members of the crowd, as well as some of the younger ones. We saw Conor play with Jim James and M. Ward at the Newport Folk Festival in 2005, so it was nice to see and hear him play an entirely different set of songs with a different sounding band this go-round.
  • Iron & Wine, a band we missed at one of the prior festivals we attended, played a well-executed set of interesting, moody songs that meshed well with the darkness of their night-time slot.

A Photoshopped Fratelli


Mystic Valley Band and Conor Oberst (far right)


Iron & Wine's Sam Beam

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

ACL 2008: Day One Review


Rachel, looking fresh at the start of Day One

ACL 2008 started off on a high note. The Friday lineup was pretty loaded, as described in my preview post. The weather was great, the crowd wasn't too thick, and the music definitely didn't disappoint.

Day One's Best Show: David Byrne

On a day with many good acts, our favorite performance was turned in by David Byrne. Anticipating a good one, we got there early and worked our way up through the crowd, ending up with great spots about 10-20 feet from the stage.

David and band came out in all white clothing, just like his hair. He may be more gray than he was during his Talking Heads days, but David Byrne's guitar playing and voice have not diminished (and I should throw in that while his hair is gray, he looks trim, fit and young). The set featured a mix of songs from his new collaboration with Brian Eno and old ones from the Eno-produced Talking Heads albums. The new songs are good, but the highlights for me were the classics like "Once in a Lifetime," "I Zimbra," "Crosseyed & Painless" and "Life During Wartime." His band and backup singers, while not the Heads, were tight and talented. The only thing I could have done without were the goofy dancers doing moves that looked like they were inspired by Spike Jonze and his troupe's performance in Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" video. That was a very minor bummer. The bigger one was that he couldn't play for another hour!


David Byrne and his pretty red acoustic guitar


Day One's Best Crowd: Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra

There are eight stages at ACL. All of them are outdoors, but one of them is covered by a large tent. For whatever reason, the organizers schedule a lot of non-rock/country acts in the tent. We've seen some great crowds pack the big top in years past to see groups like Beausoleil and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra was a great pick for the tent. The textured, horn- and percussion-heavy rhythmic afrobeat sounds filled up the area and whipped the packed crowd into a dancing, chanting frenzy. Bandleader MartĂ­n Perna, who dubbed the WaMu-sponsored venue the "Washington Mutual Memorial Stage," was as energetic as any musician we saw all weekend. His song "Indictment" really worked well with the crowd, who were happy to damn Cheney, W and others in a long call-and-response segment of the song. We only caught about 20 minutes or so of the show, but I'm glad we didn't miss it.



Antibalas' MartĂ­n Perna egging on the crowd


What Else We Saw and Heard


  • We wanted to get to the festival in time for Vampire Weekend's set at 2:30. Since we were early, we got to hear some of Austin's own What Made Milwaukee Famous on a nearby stage. WMMF sounded pretty good and was a nice way to usher in the festival.
  • Vampire Weekend played at one of the two main stages to what I imagine was the first big crowd of ACL 2008. VW has some great songs, and while the band played quite faithful renditions of their material, it was still a fun, peppy set. "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and "Oxford Comma," among others, were big crowd pleasers.
  • Del the Funkee Homosapien performed a set that was pretty similar to the one he did back at the free outdoor show during South by Southwest. He added some tunes from his earliest album, from way back in 1991, which proved to be highlights of the show: "Dr. Bombay" and "Mistadobalina!" The crowd was smaller than at Common's gig last year, but that was to be expected, given it was pretty early on Friday and some folks were still at work or in class. It was cool to catch a little hip-hop, but I wish there was more.
  • M. Ward played in the WaMu tent. I think he was a bit too big to be slotted in the tent. By the time we got there, there was no room left under the canvas. Sound outside wasn't very good, but after a while we managed to find a decent place to listen. He played most, if not all, of his latest release, Post-War. Great songs, but I wish they were played at one of the bigger stages where we could have gotten better viewing/listening spots.
  • The headliner on day one was Manu Chao. At the end of a week of work and a long day at the festival, we were only able to catch a little of the show. I liked his energy, and his band was good. His Latin-tinged reggae perhaps got a bit redundant though. Still a good choice for a nightcap.



What Made Milwaukee Famous (I think it's the beer)



Vampire Weekend, looking very white


Del, one funkee homosapien

Monday, September 29, 2008

Were the Sox the Home Team? Trip to Arlington/Ft. Worth

Before I start posting more about the recently-concluded 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival, I thought I should clear some of our inventory and share some of the other post-worthy things we've done recently.

I am a Red Sox fan. Not one of those recent bandwagon fans who only got interested when the team started winning. My allegiance goes back to my childhood, growing up with a Red Sox-rooting father (and uncle and older cousin). Which means I've been with them through a good amount of painful memories as well as the good ones. '86? Watched game 6 with my evil step-father (who isn't really evil, but although he has come around and now follows the Sox, he's a native New Yorker and was pulling for the Mets at the time). '78? One of my first baseball memories was also one of the first times I heard a naughty word as my dad yelled out, "Who the f--- is Bucky Dent!" after that cursed homer. Still, I stuck with my team through lots of seasons that finished on the stinky end of playoff sweeps and other assorted lean years.

Bill, keep your glove DOWN!

Although moving from New England makes it more difficult to follow the Sox, the good thing about baseball markets other than Boston and a select few is that they tend to be a lot less insane about their love for the home town team. That makes it easier to get tickets. Boston plays at least one series every year at the Rangers, so we decided to get some tickets and head up to Arlington for the ballgame. Us and about 15,000 other Red Sox fans. 19,104 or more of the announced 38,208 attendees had to have been Sox fans. We were everywhere! Pretty cool for Boston fans, but a bit sad for the Rangers.

The Texas Rangers weren't exactly the class of the American League this year. Still, they weren't as bad as they've been in recent seasons. Pitching was pretty nonexistent, but they had the top scoring offense in the league in 2008 (901 runs, 46 more than the next highest scoring team). Unfortunately, we got to see them when the offense was firing on all cylinders. Tim Wakefield pitched for Boston, and it seems like every season, by August he's a 50-50 pitcher: half of the time he'll pitch eight innings of one-run ball, but the other games he just throws batting practice. This was an instance of the latter. Boston took an early lead, but it didn't last very long as the Rangers put up seven runs in the second inning on their way to a 15-8 blowout. Ugh!


Rachel at the ballpark
Sox at bat


Given that Papi, Pedroia, Youk and company weren't going to give us a victory, we had to entertain ourselves in other ways. We walked all the way around the Ballpark at Arlington, one of those nice new "throwback" stadiums that every team wanted after they built Oriole Park at Camden Yard in Baltimore. And it is a very nice stadium. Not Fenway, for better or worse, but still pretty cool. We also got to see the gigantic $1.3 billion stadium being put up nearby for the real pro sports attraction in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (the Cowboys, for all of you dummies and non-sports fans). I think the highlight of our stadium tour, though, was catching a close-up glimpse of Don and Jerry, the Red Sox TV broadcast team, complete with Wally the Green Monster perched on the ledge outside the broadcast booth.

Wally, watching the game from the press box

So the game was a bummer. The weekend, though, was pretty cool. We spent most of our time in Fort Worth, where we had never been. Fort Worth is a great little city. "Cowtown" is not as cosmopolitan as its sister-city, Dallas, but it has a great downtown with lots of pretty old buildings and many good restaurants and bars that get packed on weekend nights. A short walk from central downtown, we checked out the Fort Worth Water Gardens, a quiet park in the midst of the city with some cool pools and fountains. Fort Worth also has an excellent arts district, with several great museums. We checked out a couple of good ones: The Kimbell Art Museum and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the latter of which was hosting an exhibit featuring the odd and thought-provoking cut-paper silhouette-based art of Kara Walker. We also spent a few hours roaming through the historic Stockyards National Historic District. The Stockyards used to be a major cattle trading base and where you can still see a longhorn or two despite its reinvention as a tourist destination. We were lucky to show up during a classic car show, too, and got to see a bunch of groovy old cars and trucks, plus this guy:



Not-so-easy rider


Overall, a fun weekend getaway, and easy to get to, so I have a feeling we'll go back next baseball season. Here are a few more pics from the weekend:

Me enjoying a beer at the Flying Saucer in downtown Fort Worth

Classic cars at the Stockyards

Them's some long horns!


A couple of shots of the Water Gardens

Sunday, September 21, 2008

ACL 2008: Sunday Preview

Rachel and I seem to agree that Sunday is the day we're looking forward to the least. First off, we don't really have any interest in Sunday's headlining act (Foo Fighters). Also, we've already seen a few of the better Sunday acts. For whatever reason, the organizers decided to put two of the bands most people want to see -- Gnarls Barkley and The Raconteurs -- on at the same time. Feh! Nonetheless, there will still be plenty of good music to close out the festival.

Sunday

Gillian Welch (2:30-3:30)

In 2005, Rachel and I went to the Newport Folk Festival, where Emmylou Harris was in the lineup. She had to pull out due to a family emergency and was replaced at the last minute by Gillian Welch and her longtime collaberator, Dave Rawlings. I didn't know much of her music, other than that she appeared on the popular O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundrack. Turned out to be a lovely set. I can't listen to too much bluegrassy-type music before getting bored, but I like it in small doses. This should be a good way to relax on Sunday afternoon.


Gillian Welch and Allison Krauss: I'll Fly Away

Stars (3:30-4:30)

Canadian group Stars' music has been described as beautiful, eloquent indie pop. Some of the members are also part of the group Broken Social Scene. Influences they have cited include an odd mix of Berlioz, Outkast, Syd Barrett, Paddy McAloon, New Order, The Smiths, Brian Wilson and Momus. I don't know their music too well, but this set should be worth checking out.


Stars: Take Me to the Riot

Neko Case (4:30-5:30)

Neko Case is a country-pop crooner who is also (sometimes) a member of "supergroup" The New Pornographers. We saw The New Pornographers play in Philadelphia a few years ago, but she wasn't there with them. In 2006, they came to ACL, and we weren't expecting Neko to be there with them, but we were pleasantly surprised when she showed up on stage with Carl Newman and co. Never seen her solo, though. Here she is sounding a bit like Grace Slick:


Neko Case: Hold On, Hold On

Okkervil River (5:30-6:30)

Another one of those bands that is mostly just one person. Okkervil River is mostly Will Sheff. They (he) are another band based in Austin, so if we miss them here, we'll have other opportunities to catch them around town. Their popularity has been increasing, so OR should draw a pretty good hometown crowd.


Okkervil River: Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe

The Raconteurs (6:30-7:45) / Gnarls Barkley (6:30-7:30)

Here's a dilemma. We've seen both bands (back at ACL 2006). We've seen The Raconteurs twice (once not long ago at Stubb's BBQ) and Gnarls Barkley once. That would seem to make it more logical for us to go catch Gnarls during this slot. But The Raconteurs rock live! Gnarls puts on a good show, too -- last time we saw them they had horn and string sections there to accompany Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse. We might even have to resort to the coin flip for this one.


The Raconteurs: Steady As She Goes


Gnarls Barkley: Who's Gonna Save My Soul?

Galactic (7:00-8:00)

Galactic's music draws heavily on funk and jazz. They purportedly are good live, but we'll probably only have a chance to catch a song or two after the end of the 6:30 dilemma.


Galactic: Hustle Up

Band of Horses (7:30-8:30)

I don't know much about Band of Horses, but Rachel says they're supposed to be good. I trust her taste (most of the time). According to wikipedia, "the band often draws comparisons to My Morning Jacket, largely due to the vocal similarities between Bridwell and My Morning Jacket lead singer Jim James, as well as the occasional Southern rock tendencies the two groups have in common. Allmusic has compared Bridwell's vocals to early Neil Young and Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips."


Band of Horses: The Funeral

Saturday, September 20, 2008

ACL 2008: Saturday Preview

I don't know if Saturday is quite as loaded as Friday, but it has plenty of highlights to keep us busy all day and all of the night (as Ray Davies would sing).

Saturday

Fleet Foxes (12:30-1:30)

Not only is the band Fleet Foxes on the ultra-cool label Sub Pop, but their debut record was given a 9.0 out of 10 on the very picky pitchforkmedia.com. It was also given 4 stars by Rolling Stone, and compared to the likes of the Beach Boys, Band of Horses, Animal Collective, and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Pretty decent company.


Fleet Foxes: White Winter Hymnal

The Fratellis (1:30-2:30)

Good, solid, Scottish alt-rock. The Fratellis are comprised of lead vocalist and guitarist Jon Fratelli, bass guitarist Barry Fratelli, and drummer, backing vocalist, occasional guitarist and banjo player Mince Fratelli. I don't think they are all really named "Fratelli" -- sort of like the Ramones or the Doobie Brothers (no, they aren't all named "Doobie" and they're not really brothers).


The Fratellis: Flathead

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (2:30-3:30) (see prior post)

Man Man (3:30-4:30)

I can't add much more than what's said in the first paragraph of the wikipedia entry on Philadelphia's Man Man:

Their musical style has been described as Viking-vaudeville, Manic Gypsy Jazz. Man Man is known for their exuberant live performances. When performing, the members of the band dress in white outfits and wear war paint. The band uses pseudonyms - the frontman is Honus Honus, and its other members are Sergei Sogay, Pow Pow, Critter Crat (formerly known as "Cougar"), and Chang Wang.

This I have to see!


Man Man: Van Helsing Boombox

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band (6:30-7:30)

Conor Oberst is the lead man from Bright Eyes. Wait -- he IS Bright Eyes. Which Rachel and I discovered is sort of a rip-off of Daniel Johnston. But he's still a talented singer-songwriter, albeit probably not the next Bob Dylan, as some have proclaimed him to be.


Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band: Souled Out

The Black Keys (7:30-8:15)

A two-piece, drum-and-guitar blues rock group with a neutral color in its two-word name. White Stripes? Nope. Black Keys! They played the first ACL we went to in 2005 and we only caught a bit of their set, but it rocked!


The Black Keys: I Got Mine

Iron & Wine (7:30-8:30)

Iron & Wine is Sam Beam. Sam Beam is Iron & Wine. Sam/Wine overlaps with the Black Keys, and since he's/they are Austin artist(s), I don't know if we'll catch him/them or not.


Iron & Wine: The Devil Never Sleeps

Beck (8:30-10:00) (see prior post)

ACL 2008: The Time Has Come (Friday Preview)

There's only a week left before Austin's big outdoor music festival, Austin City Limits. 3 days, 8 stages, 130 bands, and 60,000 people per day. I've posted a few times on artists that are coming for the festival this year. Here's a few other artists that Rachel and I are looking forward to catching.

Friday

Vampire Weekend (2:30-3:30)

One of the buzziest bands around. They were in town in March for the other big festival (South by Southwest), and apparently put on a pretty good show. I expect one of the first big crowds of the festival there to catch VW's afro-tinted preppy indie rock, which sounds at times like updated 80s Paul Simon or Peter Gabriel, the latter of which is name-dropped in this song:


Vampire Weekend: Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

Del tha Funkee Homosapien (3:30-4:30)

Del's been around a long time for a hip-hop artist. How long? I played Del on my radio show on my college's radio station, WMFO, back in 1991. We saw Del with some members of his posse, Hieroglyphics, back in March at SXSW, and I thought his set was pretty good. Plus he raps with Gorillaz! Hard to gripe with a guy who's most well-known song is called "Mistadobalina."


Gorillaz - Del The Funkee Homosapien: Mastermind

David Byrne (6:30-7:30)

The former front man of Talking Heads was crafting world beat-influenced rock tunes when the members of VW were still in kindergarten. I'm hoping for a good mix of his solo material and songs from the Heads.


David Byrne: This Must Be the Place

Antibalas (7:15-8:15)

Keeping with the world/afrobeat theme, Antibalas has been described as being modeled after Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra. Whatever it is, I'm betting that they put on a good show.


Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra

Manu Chao (8:30-10:00)

Capping off a day of international music, Brazil's Manu Chao headlines Friday night. Me gustas tu!


Manu Chao: Me Gustas Tu

Friday, August 1, 2008

Dai Due: Molto buono, squisito!

Yeah, food. We like it. We post about it -- perhaps too often for you, but I guess that's just a reflection on what's on our minds. Eating. That's how we roll.

Not long after we got to Austin, we heard about Dai Due, a roving supper club. Everything we heard was good: excellent food, nice people, great locations, etc. The club's website offers this description:

Our 4-10 course dinners are prepared with only locally produced, seasonal ingredients, grown with sustainable agricultural methods which are purchased from Farmers’ Markets or directly from local farms. A complimentary aperitif, locally made, of course, is offered before a seated dinner with old and new friends. Live music is included, and guests are encouraged to bring their own wine or other drinks.

A few of our friends had been to Dai Due events, which happen about 3 times a month, and had good things to say about it. So we checked the calendar and found a few upcoming dinners that sounded good ... but by the time we tried to reserve our spots, there weren't any. Finally, after reading about a seafood supper that was being held close to our home in July, we jumped on it and successfully reserved seats for three of our friends and us.

As the variety of fruits and vegetables tapers off in the heat, Gulf seafood is arriving with the most diversity and quality of the year. Tuna, jacks, snapper, dorado (mahi mahi), grouper and ling are active and available, along with deep- and shallow-water shrimp, squid and “by-catch” - the delicious and oft-thrown-away morsels caught in the shrimpers’ nets. We will present 10 courses of seafood, summer vegetables and herbs, followed by local cheeses and hot-weather fruits.

Our Dai Due experience took place at Habitat Suites, a nearby hotel that features a great garden from which some of the night's ingredients were obtained. The meal started with some hors d'ouvres (great fried squash blossoms) and a rose wine made right here in Texas by Becker Vinyards. We also had a chance to meet the hosts: Jesse Griffiths, the chef, and his wife, Tamara Mayfield.


Chef Jesse, serving tomatoes stuffed with yellowfin tuna confit

Coctail hour was followed by five small courses of seafood, cheese and dessert. Honestly, I thought every single thing was tasty. Stand-outs? The squid braised with chorizo was seriously good, and the tuna tartare was ... well ... I'm a sucker for good tuna. And some sweet fish soup! I took a picture of the menu, mostly so we'd remember the night, but maybe also to make you a little jealous! C'mon, it's 103 degrees outside -- we have to have something going in our favor!




The menu -- click to enlarge (watch out if you're hungry)


Our table, having fun


Austin jazz legend Stanley "Cool Pops" Smith

Verdict? Sometimes it isn't easy to eat that way, in little bites of lots of different things, and while our stomachs got full, our wallets emptied out. But as on occasional thing to do for fun, I don't think I've eaten as well since coming here. So check the calendar before you visit, and maybe you too can Dai Due.


Done!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

ACL 2008 Artist: Beck

"In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey. " That's how the Beck's song Loser begins. I admit it, I had never heard of the guy before Loser. So you can say that's how Beck introduced himself to me. Well, I suppose I can relate. Still, although I found the song decent and somewhat catchy, I, perhaps along with a majority of the people who heard Loser, might have pegged him as a one-hitster.

Then he put out the album Odelay. Again, I was not one of the first person I know to get a copy, but once I did, it ended up on heavy rotation. I wasn't alone. It won a Grammy, and was (perhaps more importantly) voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll. Acclaimed Music -- a sort of master consolidated ranking of popular music songs and albums -- ranks Odelay at #55 of all time (today, anyway). Subsequent albums were great as well, particularly the more folky and psychedelic Mutations and somber Sea Change.

Despite owning our share of his CDs, Beck has been on what is becoming a short list of artists who are still out there touring who we really want to see perform live. We were among the people who were excited to see his name atop the Austin City Limits list of artists for 2008. Want to join us? Beck is playing the closing set on Saturday, September 27th at 8:30 p.m.


A younger Beck, with the blues, performing Hollow Log

Thursday, July 10, 2008

"Old Austin" Feel: 29th and Guadalupe

Old Austin is alive and well, you just have to look a little harder and ignore the pockets of ugly developments, commercial sprawl and chain stores and restaurants. Trust me, you're never too far from either Denny's or Waffle House. Austin is one of the fastest growing metro areas in the U.S., but it isn't really a big city and doesn't have that metropolitan air that the bigger, more densely populated cities have. What it does have is lots of great, distinctive neighborhoods and a few excellent commercial strips like Burnet Road, Guadalupe, East Sixth, South First and South Congress.

Apart from the bigger strips, Austin also has some small pockets of cool, independent small businesses. A few that come to mind are north on 6th on Lamar (Cheapo Discs!) and the eastern portion of North Loop (see Vintage Austin post from December 2007 -- the first few places we went to were there). The area around Guadalupe and 29th is another good one. We started going there to visit Ruby's BBQ, the place we ate at our first ever night in Austin back during our first visit in 2005. We'd also been next door to the United States Art Authority, where we saw the Art on Deck exhibit (see Art on Deck: Skateboard Art post from February 2008).

This past weekend, we stopped by Ruby's again, then took a stroll around to check out a few other places. After a great pair of sandwiches -- chopped beef on one, smoked turkey on the other -- we went around the corner to the other side of the United States Art Authority to grab a cup of coffee from the Spider House. The Spider House is one of Austin's older cafes, and has always attracted an interesting mix of people, including a healthy number of collegians from nearby UT. Maybe they're attracted to the huge, shady patio area. If that's not big enough, Adams Park is across the street. Maybe you don't want coffee? Spider House has a full bar with popular happy hours. Everybody loves the Spider House. Pretty good coffee too, by the way. I've even heard rumors that Leslie Cochran likes to hang here sometimes!

If you head back in the direction you came from, past Milto's Mediterranean Cafe (which we haven't tried yet), across Guadalupe is an odd looking toy store called Toy Joy. Judging by the bizarre mix of old school and new doo-dads in the window, we'll have to check it out some time. Back on the other side, up from Milto's, is I Luv Video, an interesting independent video store which looks like one of the best alternatives to Netflix. We zeroed in on Antone's Records, founded by the same Clifford Antone who started the eponymous club (yeah, go see Spring = Music post from June 2008). Lots of great vinyl -- and even cassettes if you're into lo-fi old school -- in addition to a small but great mix of new and used CDs, including a generous amount of blues and Texas artists. Finally picked up a copy of Television's Marquee Moon, which I for years had been determined to find at a used CD store but had consistently struck out.

There are more great places nestled around the corner of 29th Street and Guadalupe. We still haven't been to Ken's Doughnuts & Pastries, although we've tasted the excellent blueberry doughnut holes they sell at Emerald City Press. Texas French Bread is said to make good bread (but only average sandwiches). Don't forget Chango's Taco's. If you want a grown-up slice of 60s-style Austin, there's Oat Willie's smoke shop. Onward through the fog!


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Monday, July 7, 2008

Have you heard about the bird?

Our next door neighbors were away a few days ago. Taking advantage of their absence on a hot and sunny weekend, a threesome of large herons moved into their backyard and hung out by their large inflatable pool. After consulting with our copy of Lone Pine Birds of Texas, we made an educated guess that they were juvenile little blue herons. My ornithologically-inclined relatives made the same educated guess after looking at the pictures we took.







The herons three


Around the same time, a single small bird spent a few nights sleeping in a nook in the roof above our front door. He was hard to take a good picture of since he really crammed himself into a small space, but we tried. Another consultation of Lone Pine Birds of Texas has us thinking this little guy was a Carolina wren. We wanted to take a better picture with my zoom lens, but by the time we thought of it, he had moved on to someone else's front stoop.




Our friend, wren