Austin City Limits Music Festival

Austin City Limits. ACL. 3 days of awesomeness. It's all the same. Just don't get it confused with the ligament in your knee or the PBS show Austin City Limits. While the TV show is what inspired the music festival, and many of the featured artists have performed at the festival it is, in fact, not the same. Many people are often confused as the TV show has been around for 35 years while the Austin City Limits Festival only began in 2001. With the awesomeness of ACL one would think that it has been around for years, however, past weekend was just the 9th year of the festival's existence. 

While I am by no means a music, concert, or music festival expert I am certainly lucky to enjoy Austin City Limits in my city every year. I have been to Austin City Limits 3 of the 4 years that I have lived in Austin and this year was another exceptional experience. With over 65,000 people in attendance EACH of the three days I don't think I am alone in loving this festival.

One of the best stages... natural acoustics with the rock wall!

Essentially there are +130 bands, 8 stages, and 3 full days of music. The music ranges from country to rap with a lot of rock and alternative in between. My favorite shows were Mayer Hawthorne, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Matt and Kim (the literally climbed on top of the stage and danced ON TOP of the crowd). I put a few samples of music that I saw on the side bar so you can pretend like you were there with me! 


Besides the excellent selection of music my favorite things about ACL this year were the things that made this music festival unique to Austin. Taking place at Zilker Park; a park inside the city along the banks of Town Lake with beautiful  weather and the Austin skyline as the backdrop for the stages. Sunny skies, light breeze and low humidity kept everyone mostly comfortable throughout the weekend. Being within the city allowed people to transport themselves easily to Zilker park via foot, bus, bike, or convenient drop off and parking locations with shuttles around town. I was able to exercise all but the bus portion of forms of transportation used to arrive and depart from the festival all weekend. Lucky for me my friend Emily lives downtown and we were able to bike from her place with ease!


With the sun shining drinking water for festival goers was a priority; and since I personally drink my recommended 8-10 glasses of water daily, I especially appreciated the FREE water refill stations inside the park. Friendly volunteers filled water constantly throughout the weekend. Not only does this limit dehydration and emergencies, but also saves ACL guests money and thousands of plastic water bottles. Yeah Austin for being so ECO Friendly! Beyond the free water*, the food available for purchase is 100% Austin. From Aquarelle's French fare to Freebird's burritos all of the food is brought in from local restaurants for a price point of $5-$8  an item. This is a pretty good deal as many of the vendors don't normally have a meal under $20 on their regular menu. This weekend I got to eat at the Salt Lick, Aquarelle, and Hudson's on the Bend for about 20 bucks in one weekend! 

ACL at night

Beyond my basic needs of food, water, music, and great weather, Austin City Limits also provided numerous other amenities that make ACL easy to attend. Tons of beer and freebie tents, fashionable concert t-shirts from American Apparel (yeah hipster), artisans selling their local goods, and of course... police that are really there just for show who enforce next to nothing. What else could I ask for? Oh wait... yeah... almost all of my Austin friends attend ACL! That is the very best part! I know I can buy a ticket and not worry about finding someone to rock out with because everyone is there and having a great time. I highly recommend Austin City Limits and entire package it comes with because I LOVE it. :-) 


*yes I realize nothing, including water isn't really free when you pay $185 for a 3 day pass... but I paid for that months ago so it feels like it is free. 

Courtesy of Hill Country Conservancy FB page... View of Zilker from above

http://www.aclfestival.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_City_Limits_Music_Festival
http://austincitylimits.org/ 

Inspired

In general I don't "believe" in rallies, marches, or picketing. I figure, what's the point? It's pretty hard to change the way people feel about their politics. However, I learned, politics is not always the cause and sometimes it is simply to raise awareness and support. Through the encouragement and persistence of my friend Jessica to join her in expressing her passion, I decided to do something different and march in the Men Rally For Change. 

On a beautiful Saturday morning, motivational leaders and groups spoke out against domestic, sexual, and physical violence while promoting healthy relationships and safe communities down at the Mexican American Cultural Center on Town Lake. Organizations involved included the Hip Hop group PUBLIC OFFENDERS, Soul Raiders Reagan High School Marching Band, the teen group No Kidding, and Safe Place domestic violence center.  To explain, PUBLIC OFFENDERS is a  quartet that includes a young woman and three men who rap out against domestic violence. No Kidding is a nonprofit organization that sends actual teen parents out to schools to share their experience of being a young parent with their peers.  And while it may seem that a Marching Band speaks for itself, this white girl from the suburbs has never seen a marching band with as much rhythm and personality as the Soul Raiders.  All of these organizations are new to me, but have inspired an new confidence and admiration for the minority and disadvantaged youth in the Austin community.

The Hip Hop Group PUBLIC OFFENDERS gave a passionate performance, showing there is more to rap about than sex, drugs and violence. The Soul Raiders Reagan High School Marching Band led the group in a march through East Austin; literally "waking up the neighbors" to the cause.  Popular songs from the likes of Beyonce and Kanye were played with intermittent choreographed hip hop dance breaking up the march for entertainment. People came out of their houses, watched from their store fronts, and joined in the cause as the parade of people and music passed.

I have few words, no music, pictures or video to post to give this event any justice. Now I understand and have been swayed by my experience of attending a "march for change" in person. As it turns out, simply writing or talking about change doesn't inspire the way real action from real people can. Although I never doubted it, I can attest that inspiration, hope, and talent are alive and well in Austin, TX.

Men Rally for Change
http://www.menrallyforchange.com/index.html
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Men-Rally-For-Change/208687691493?ref=ts

P.U.B.L.I.C. O.F.F.E.N.D.E.R.S
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:754219
http://www.myspace.com/poffenders

Soul Raiders Reagan High School Marching Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTIbXDA6fD8
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Soul-Raider-Marching-Band-Austin-Tx/370087350095

SXSW love

South by Southwest is a series of interactive, music, and film festivals lasting about a week and a half in Austin every Spring. I had no idea what to expect as SXSW conveniently coincides with UT Spring Break. The last two years I went out of town thinking paying for a $700+ wristband was too much money. Silly me. We are in Austin and there are ALWAYS free things. I should have known better. I decided to rectify my mistakes of years past and attempt to attend as any free events as my work schedule would allow. My intentions far exceeded my ability and have now ended up sick from all the festivities.

The downside of SXSW is that Austin is overrun with tourists from all over the world who have come to steal my secret parking, cause horrendous traffic, and create ridiculous lines at the most average places. Boo. On the other hand, with the sudden population increase there were innumerable sponsors providing free drinks, movies, food, and music throughout Austin. Yeah! I traded in some of my good karma I have with the world and consistently avoided compromising my standards of paying for parking, waiting in line or paying for cover throughout the weekend.

Highlights began when I forced myself on a Sunday night to push through my tiredness of a long weekend to go to an independent movie premier at the Alamo Drafthouse. The Alamo Drafthouse is an entity to love all on it's own and as it is always always an ideal location to watch movies and have dinner or drinks. Walking up to the beloved theater there were lines wrapping all around. Not to worry, I went with Emily who is a Sundance Film Festival veteran and friend of the producer for the movie Putty Hill. We simply walk right past the lines to the front and choose the best seats in the house. While the movie critic we met before the movie and the movie itself left us underwhelmed we respected the uniqueness of the experience. Obvi we were invited to the after party; but being a Sunday night with work early in the morning we only stayed long enough to find out movie industry people are not quite the conversationalists we had hoped.

St. Paddy's Day had to fall in the middle of all of this and of course that is basically like my birthday splashed in Technicolor green. I did my duty as the former Rose of Tralee but also avoided that dang $15 cover at Fado. I made friends with the Guinness girls and whoever else wanted to buy drinks that night. I think I am still recovering.

On the second Friday of SXSW I went downtown  in the afternoon with my new friend and neighbor, Tiffany. We found perfect sunny seats atop the roof deck at Molotov where great bands were playing and free drinks and food were a coming till about 7. This guy (pictured above) had quite the style and I had to ask... he stores harmonicas in that vest! Throughout the rest of the night we ventured to several other random parties, shows and bars with a variety of friends throughout downtown. We probably walked a few miles, but with our week we probably needed the exercise!

The last official day of SXSW was filled with musical guests and highly anticipated parties. The weather took a turn for the freezing and discouraged me from attending any outdoor shows on Auditorium Shores. Fortunately, I had the (indoor) Perez Hilton "One night in Austin" party to look forward to. While Perez might be of questionable fame, his party was not. Walking up to the location with the freezing cold at our backs Jessica, Casi and I worked our way to the front of the mob to figure out how we were to utilize our VIP status to get in. Although they couldn't locate our names somehow we were given wristbands and walked directly in the door while several thousand people awaited entry outside. How that happened is still under review, but I'm not complaining.

It seemed that every random or local liquor company had come to advertise and offer free drinks. The lines for the bathroom were absurd and the entire thing was horribly planned (see: how I got in), but we rocked out to the music all night with acts like Macy Gray and Snoop Dogg! Later Harlan, our hook up for the tickets, was able to get off work to make it in time for his teenage idol, Snoop Dog. I made it my personal mission to annoy/flirt with the security guards until I could make this happen. Ultimately, it came down to the Fire Marshall letting people in but at least I was able to keep Harlan's thirst to a minimum by providing him line drinks. That's all the security guards were at liberty to turn a blind eye to. We had a blast but ended up bailing on the after party for lack of energy and sleep. I guess age isn't just a number.

Clearly the week/weekend was a success from all angles.There are certainly downsides to SXSW but I figure the worst part is for everyone else who has to go back to their city and leave Austin after the fun is over! I get to stay here and bask in the afterglow for as long as I want. Thanks to everyone for making it a great weekend!!!

http://sxsw.com/
http://perezhilton.com/tv/A_Recap_One_Night_In_Austin_2010/?ptvid=a9b5941e0e953

Chef Smackdown @ Stubbs

Whenever I have a chance, I try to peruse the weekly Chronicle for fun upcoming events. Recently, I was skimming through and I spotted the Stubb's Bad to the Bone Celebrity Chef Smackdown featuring: Chef Shawn Cirkiel of Parkside, David Bull of Bolla, and Paul Petersen of Rick's Chophouse.  Sweet, just a couple of months ago my brother, Harlan, became the General Manager of Parkside. Meaning... FREE TICKETS! How did he not tell me about this before? Immediately, I scope out my chances for a set of tickets. Highly unlikely; I was told. Since it never hurts to ask, I persisted that Harlan just check in with Shawn anyway. Lucky me, Shawn's wife decided not to go and 2 extra tickets were to be had! :-)

Naturally, I ask Emily to join me in order to continue our hot streak of adventure together. Free food, live music, and a competition - what's not to love? The event was held outside on the Stubb's outdoor stage. The competition consisted of each Chef pre-selecting a secret ingredient and then incorporating all three ingredients into one fabulous dish. Seeing as the event promised food for each guest, the chefs were able to plan their dish in advance but they were required to make the judges' dishes on stage within 30 minutes. The chosen ingredients consisted of goats milk or cheese, achiote, and tangerine. I never heard of achiote but apparently it is a sauce made of ground annoatto seeds often used in Latin American cuisine. 

Here were their dishes: 

David Bull - Achiote Glazed Salmon with Smoked Bacon Grits, Goat Cheese Crema and Tangerine Spinach Salad

Paul Peterson - Annato Crusted Pork Loin with Goat's Milk Corn Pudding and Achiote Seared Tangerines.

Shawn Cirkiel - Goat Milk Sorbet, Achiote and Tangerine Fritter, Tangerine Salad, Local Orange Blossom Honey. 

Not surprisingly, the dishes were all great; and for both Emily and I our top choices were between the Pork Loin and the Fritter (aka: a donut). Comparing savory and sweet is the epitome of apples and oranges but for us, and the rest of the crowd, Shawn's fritters won by a landslide! 

Afterwards we headed down to Parkside to completely fill our bellies with even more mouthwatering food. An entry for Parkside will have to wait for now, but clearly this was another unforgettable night in Austin!  

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Austin-TX/Stubbs-Bad-to-the-Bone-Chef-Smackdown/227030227315

http://www.stubbsaustin.com/

http://www.parkside-austin.com/

Jazz Hands!

In general, it isn't my scene to be found in a basement bar soulfully listening to jazz music. But hey, it's twenty ten and time for a change. 

A random connection and a need to get out of the house sparked an adventure to the Elephant Room on Congress. At 715pm my friend Emily calls and invites me to go with her to see an Austin original, Kat Edmonson. The catch was we had to be there by 8pm. Up for a challenge, this girl was ready and out of the house in 20 minutes! Sure enough Emily and I got there and the line was out the door but we made it in just before the bouncer all but stopped the line for the next 3 hours. As it turns out Ms. Edmonson draws quite the crowd and doesn't go on until 930. True to our hosts reassurances, she was well worth the wait. 

Kat is a beautifully tiny woman with a distinctive and sultry voice. New to the whole jazz scene I was caught off guard when conversation throughout the bar all but stopped when she stepped on stage.  The entire basement bar was transfixed with this woman and her melodic band. Needless to say I bought a CD and fell in love with the jazz scene that night. Striking up a quite conversation (only between sets of course) with the random strangers seated at our table and trying the uniquely served Belgium beer, Kwak, are also novelties of the Elephant Room scene. 

Elephant Room and Kat Edmonson, I heart you. Thank you for being in Austin. Who knows, maybe one day I will be that girl at the end of the bar sitting alone with a fedora mysteriously covering my face while drinking a dry martini...


http://www.elephantroom.com/ 
http://katedmonson.com/