"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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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

ACL 2008 Artist: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

Sharon Jones was born in Georgia in 1956. According to one bio, she sang gospel in church and funk with local bands, and earned back-up vocal credits (often as "Lafaye" Jones). She also supported herself as, among other things, a corrections officer and armored car guard. Jones received a late break in 1996 after she appeared on a session backing Lee Fields, "a soul and deep funk legend."

The Dap-Kings, a funky soul band. They formed some time shortly after 2000, backing Sharon Jones, although many members have deeper roots as musicians in the industry. The band plays in the Austin area pretty frequently. Good press has been building. If Rolling Stone's take on the recent performance at Bonnaroo is any indiciation, ACL 2008 should be a great show:

New York-based outfit Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings ripped up the Which Stage. They might not have been the most suavely-dressed of the three groups – former corrections officer Jones was decked out in a ruffled get-up she called her “Tina Turner dress,” and her band sported stifling black suits – but they were by sure the funkiest. Over sexed-up riff-driven funk and retro-style big-band soul, Jones unleashed her firey pipes on tunes about broken and breaking hearts.

Here are a recent performance and interview from Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings:

ACL 2008 Artist: Roky Erickson

Roky Erickson is not a typical comeback story. Way back in the the mid-60s, he was putting out great psychedelic hard rock with his band The 13th Floor Elevators. By 1968, he began to have mental problems. Although he was active off and on for a while, it wasn't after 2000 when his brother, Sumner, took over his care and Roky began to improve significantly. Here's a great article from the Austin Chronicle about Roky from late 2005. He's now rokking again, and since he's living in the area, we should be seeing him on the club circuit. Great news for fans of music.


Roky Erickson and unannounced special guest Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) play Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer) (1974) at Emo's in Austin, May 2008.

Roky played at ACL in 2005, and is back in 2008. He played Emo's in Austin last month (see video above), but I had guests in town at the time and did not make it. He plays at the same time as The Black Keys and Iron & Wine. If we miss him at ACL, we'll catch him around town.


Roky and the 13th Floor Elevators 60s TV appearance (Bandstand?)

More visitors, more fun, more food

In 1992, when Jon was studying overseas in London, his father and stepmother, Robert and Barbara, came to visit him and arrived on his birthday. We had a great week plus that started in London, moved to the Costwolds and finished in Paris.

In 2008, they did it again, arriving for a short visit to Austin on Jon's birthday, May 15. Another set of first-timers. As we have with our other visitors, we kept 'em busy.

We hit a lot of the same spots we have with other visitors, like Mount Bonnell, the Downtown Farmer's Market, South Congress, UT (of course, this time we went while they were setting up for the most gigantic commencement ceremony I've ever witnessed), Central Market and Auditorium Shores. We also got to do a few new things:

• Birthday dinner at the beautiful ristorante Mexicano, Fonda San Miguel.
• A visit to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, a fun museum that covers the twisting story of Texas from the precolonial days to the present.
• A swim in the cool waters (on a hot day) at Barton Springs, the soul of Austin.
• Lunch at Enoteca, a great little casual Italian spot.
• A trip out to the beautiful site of the Austin Museum of Art - Laguna Gloria.

One of the huge, twisted Live Oak trees at Laguna Gloria

• Mexican breakfast at Las Manitas Avenue Cafe, one of our favorite breakfast and lunch spots, and one of Ann Richards' as well, in the heart of downtown, where we were joined by Barbara's friends Evan and Frank. Muy delicioso.

Frank, Barbara and Evan, outside Las Manitas

• Lunch at Ruby's Barbecue near UT.
• Another museum visit, the Blanton Art Museum -- although Rachel and Jon spent that time at Halcyon Cafe downtown.
• Casual French dinner at Chez Nous, also downtown.
• A memorable night of watching the Congress Street Bridge bats!

Can't wait for the next visitors, whoever they may be. If you come before the fall, be prepared to sweat!

Rachel, Rob and Jon at the farmer's market


Jon preparing to serve a bottle of his first homebrew to his guests

Spring = Music

Austinites are lucky when it comes to the live music scene. The local scene is amazingly active, with dozens if not hundreds of shows going on most days. It also attracts a great variety of regional artists -- blues, rock, latin and music from Louisiana are popular -- and big-time acts in almost every genre. Plus the festivals -- SXSW, ACL, and lots of other smaller ones like Mess With Texas, the Reggae Festival and the Fun Fun Fun Festival.

There is a noticeable lull, though, during the late fall and winter. Come April or so, the season starts to kick into gear again, and by May there's something good going on almost every weekend.

A few weekends ago, we caught our first show at Stubb's Barbecue. Stubb's sells a pretty well known brand of its sauces in stores across the U.S. Stubb's also has a popular, spacious barbecue restaurant downtown in the heart of the club district along East 6th and Red River. The restaurant has two stages: a small indoor room and a large outdoor venue, but small enough so that you know you'll find a good spot no matter when you show up. Plus the BBQ is supposed to be decent. No wonder people like Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth call Stubb's their favorite club to play in the U.S.

We went to see the Raconteurs on the first night of a two night stand at Stubb's. The Raconteurs are most well known for being the second band of Jack White of the White Stripes. They play a straight-ahead classic hard rock style that lends itself well to the stage. Now that they have two albums out, they were able to play probably a bit longer than they did when they first toured in 2006. They played 19 songs over one set plus one encore. Two thumbs up for the show and the venue.


Video for Steady As She Goes

Eight days later, we caught a Wilco show at Stubb's, who were also there for a two night stand. We had seen them a few times before, but this show was one of the best. The band has featured a lot of departures and additions over the years, but the current line-up has been together for a while now and can really play beautifully live. Also, Wilco recently played a five night series at a hall in Chicago where, over those days, they ran through their entire catelog of songs. Since then, they've been incorporating older songs into their set, including a few songs we'd never seen them play before. For Hoodoo Voodoo, from the first volume of the Mermaid Avenue collaboration with Billy Bragg, Pat Sansone picked up a guitar and had a memorable duel with "guitar god" Nels Cline, trading riffs like welterweights. Jeff Tweedy traded instruments with John Stirratt, who took a rare turn at lead for It's Just That Simple from first album A.M. Great stuff.

You can find setlists and all sorts of other information on Wilco shows at WilcoBase, including the Austin show.

A few weeks later, we went to another legendary venue for the first time, Antone's. Stevie Ray Vaughan took a big step toward becoming a star and legend there. That night, we saw a great show by Gary Clark, Jr. I had barely heard him, but had read good things. Clark played guitar with a bass and drum rounding out his trio, and ripped through a an energetic, eccestric set of bluesy, hard, roots rock, with occasional moments of more modern rock that conjured up U2 of all bands to a few of the people in our party. Maybe you've heard of Clark from his role in the movie Honeydripper? Potentially a star on the rise.


Gary Clark Jr. with the Honeydripper All-Star Band

The highlight of the night might have come after the show. On the way home, we stopped with some friends at Mrs. Johnson's Bakery, an Austin landmark. Mrs. Johnson's stays open well past midnight, serving a tempting variety of doughnuts, kolache and other treats to the many people working their way home after a night out. Drive-through only. Plus they always throw in a free doughnut, even if you only order one yourself. Rachel and I both liked the cake doughnuts were great -- "[A] delicious cake doughnut, of which I crave more," raves Rachel!

More and more good shows are popping up on the schedule. The schedule for ACL (Austin City Limits music festival) was just released too, so there's that to start studying. Stay wired.