22:50 10/17/2003
Austin. But more about that later....
Last night was pretty fantastic. First off, we went to eat at the Outback, I had a wonderful steak, and so did JD, and li'l Annette had grilled chicken. After we finished eating, we walked over to a Hobby Lobby, where Annette got some beads and JD and I wandered the aisles cracking wise about the merchandise and the people who buy it.
Then we took Annette home, she didn't want to go out partying, since she had to work today.
And she missed a good show, she did.
I have never seen/heard such a performance. Absolutely fantastic, it was. First off, Nels Cline performed solo on his guitar. He did some really weird things with the instrument, techno-alternative stuff, using loops and feedback and, and... well, it was wonderful.
The venue was odd... and old house with a large room built onto the back maybe 40 years ago, from the looks of it. There were theater seats along the sides with a wide center aisle. Heh, I used "aisle" twice in the same entry!
But I digress.
In the center in the back was a recliner-rocker. I planted my butt there, with a clear view of everything. There was a couch to my left, and a long upholstered bench across the rest of the back of the room.
They were selling soft drinks and beer, so I opted for some RC cola... I had bought a bottle of Jack Black earlier, since JD told me that it was a BYOB place.
So I sat in my easy chair and really enjoyed the show. I might point out that I was easily the oldest guy in the place... there were only probably 60 people there, what I thought was probably a poor showing, but about average for this type of show, JD said.
The last show was Carla Bozulich, a very versatile singer. Her show was... impossible to describe, especially for someone with the poor skills that I have. She did some techno-alternative stuff and some fairly straight country... Red-Headed Stranger. Excellent stuff.
I had enough guts to go up and shake the performers' hands at the end of their sets, and they seemed genuine in their appreciation of my adulation. There was also a girl performing with Carla, playing the fiddle, that I was really appreciative of, and I spoke to her briefly on our way out.
JD and I got up kinda late today, we were planning to leave about noon, and we did... but.
We had to stop and eat... went to and I-HOP on 290 just out of Houston. Spent an hour there, and then we stopped to get gassed up. The car, I'm talking about. Anyway, it wouldn't take either of my cards. Finally it let me put in my PIN, so I thought that it was OK, filled the tank and got back in the car. As JD was about ready to pull out, a girl came up to the car and said that we hadn't paid for the gas. Seems that she had reset the pump when she saw that I was having trouble.
And then it was on to Austin! Well, except for the traffic jam caused by construction... only it wasn't the construction, it was the really neat trip-hammer that they were using to break up the old concrete. People gawking, that's all that it was. Jackasses.
Well, it *was* pretty neat, and I gawked too, but that was OK, since JD was driving....
We got to Austin about 16:30, and I-35 was jammed. I called the hotel to get directions and JD figgered out how to get us there, he did good.
Checked into the hotel with no problems, we drug the stuff from the car into the hotel and headed for the Omni.
We're staying in the Raddison, about six blocks from the Omni, and we were told that there was a shuttle... but the doorman at the Raddison knew nothing about it, so we decided to walk.
We only got slightly lost, but it was an enjoyable walk. Well, except for the last block, which was a 20° grade, kinda got to my legs.
We went in and registered and started meeting people. Greg Bueno, Amanda Page, the Mad Redhead, Ryan, Dreama, and dammit, I've blocked the other names, I'll get to them later. Links can be found on the website, I won't repeat them here.
A little later on, we met Bill Chance about the timke the ice-breaker was folding up, so we went down to sixth street to get a bite.
We essentially wandered around for a while and found a mexican place that looked good, and JD had been there before and had a good report on it, so we went in.
I got a fish/shimp dish that was fantastic. I don't know what Bill and JD got, but they cleaned their plates up. I left most of my rice, not because it wasn't good, but because of the carbs,
Bill is really an interesting guy, very likable and very knowlegable on a wide variety of subjects... but I already knew that from reading The Daily Ephiphany.com for all these years.
After we ate, we went back to the Omni for the first readings. Sex/gender issues... some very good stuff there. Some funny, some erotic, some startling, all very thoughtful.
After the readings, almost everyone went to the hotel bar, but JD and I hooked up with one of the guys that did a reading to got to a bar three blocks away 'cause they had cheap beer. He was a pretty interesting guy too, he was really into the Austin music scene, and he and JD hit it off very well. About the same age as JD, I would guess.
Well, the cheap beer place closed at 22:00, so that was a no-go, so we walked back to Omni. there were journallers in the bar, but JD and I decided to go back to our hotel, we were both damned tired, having a late night last night....
Besides, I had to write this, and it's already 00:30, so I'd better get to sleep.