Austin

We were excited to get to Austin and see our friends (and co-rockers) Grand Champeen. Aside from being dear friends, they're also one of the best live bands we've ever played with and a frequent feature on our van's soundsystem. We stopped by Jenny and Alex's house on the way into town. They just got a choice new place up the street from Blythe and Micheal's home/ studio, our perennial guest quarters in Austin.
We headed downtown to load in for our show at The Beauty Bar. We had to take a long detour because, guess what? Sixth street was closed off for a festival. Really? A festival you say? In Austin? Weird.
After load in we split up for dinner and I walked over to the street fair, like an idiot. Wandering aimlessly, starving. Or maybe I wasn't even hungry. Couldn't tell. I bought a giant turkey leg from a dead eyed street vendor. As soon as I saw her morosely shake her puffy head when I asked for hot sauce I knew I was doomed to be food bummed. No hot sauce? Aren't we in Texas? Maybe this is why Texas Pete is made in Holly Springs. Anyway, I doused the slimy, sinewy thing with powdered cayenne and gnawed on it dejectedly, like a dying animal.
I missed most of the first band (sorry guys, everybody said it was great) because I was over at Lovejoys with some old friends. Grand Champeen player a killer set. There is theoretically some good video of it but I'll let Scott tell you about that. I felt great about our set, best crowd so far. The only hitch was during soundcheck when Cheetie's fender combo started smoking and made a sound like someone shooting an automatic rifle at a tree trunk. Unfortunately i know what that sounds like but that's a story for another time. Luckily, somebody from GC came to the rescue and lent her an amp.

All the Beauty Bar staff were so helpful and friendly, go see them for a drink next time you're in town. Better yet, hunt them down and corner them and buy them drinks next time your in town. We went back to Crow's after the show and stayed up way way too late. This is what always happens when we're in Austin and I love it.