Go E.A.S.T.

My mother would be so proud. I have found that I live in the artistic epicenter of Austin.  Always the one to encourage any "cultural" activities, growing up, she insisted our family frequent museums and theaters as often as possible. While it was fun to take a 45 minute trip from the suburbs into Houston it sure is nice that I don't have to drive into town to get my fill of culture anymore; culture is literally in my backyard.

Pump Project Studios 

No. I am not exaggerating. The East Austin Studio Tour, aka E.A.S.T.,is hosted by Big Medium Studios on Bolm Road and approximately 0.50 miles from my front door. E.A.S.T. is a 9 day event where hundreds of artists throughout the area know as East Austin open their studios and front doors to the public. Visitors of the tour get a chance to meet artists, watch demonstrations of their work, and purchase art. Art includes sculptures, paintings, jewelry, drawings, music, clay works, interactive art, glass blowing, metal works, photography, print making, book binding, modern, classical, eccentric, and much much more. There are types of art I have never heard of on display. Encaustic? My spell check doesn't even register that as a word.

And of course...there are parties. Pre-parties, after parties and throughout the tour many of the artists are smart and offer wine and beer at their studio. They know you are more likely to spend hundreds of dollars on artwork if you are drunk. Free culture and alcohol? Yes please! Every year I have lived in Austin I have visited studios all over my 'hood and every year it gets bigger and better. I conveniently (and oh so very greenly) ride my bike around the East Side with friends to check out the art, attend parties and even meet new neighbors. In fact, my friend Jessica and I pretty much mark the anniversary of our friendship solidifying during our first E.A.S.T. experience in 2007. I have nothing but positive experiences on the tour.

Just imagine what's inside...

When most people think of East Austin they think of the "ghetto" or the "bad part of town." Well that is just silly for more reasons than I can begin to list. As it turns out Artists like the East Side, and everyone knows artists are lovers, not hooligans. The East Side in Austin is considered  the area East of I-35, which stands as a physical socioeconomic dividing line. Where Christmas lights never come down, there are fast food joints on every corner, a pawn shop next to every Pay-Day Advance, a run down house next to a eco-friendly home, and artists and minorities live in perfect harmony.  As it turns out, starving artists need an affordable place to live and with them they naturally bring their art! Art People = Trendy People. Trendy People + East Side = Trendy East Side.

I could write forever about the unique art I have seen, the intriguing people I have met, and how much fun it is to ride around town on bikes with friends 10 deep in our newly formed bicycle gang. I have a Huffy from circa 1989, purple splatter paint. Don't be jealous. Be jealous of E.A.S.T. and get down here a dose of art and culture for yourself. Anyway isn't art in the eye of the beholder? So what good is it for me to tell you what I saw if you don't see it yourself.

November 13-21, 2010 
November 19-27, 2011
http://www.eastaustinstudiotour.com/
http://www.bigmedium.org/east.htm

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/ 

Mobile friends and BBQ

I hesitate to assume that Austin is the only place you can find food in a unique location, but earlier this week my friend and I found a gem of a restaurant... on a school bus. Old School BBQ & Grill.

An Austin original is to get quality food out of a trailer, but Old School takes trailer food to the next level. Driving along MLK I busted a "U" when I spotted the big yellow bus I had heard about but never seen. My friend Emily and I pull up and hop out in the freezing dark cold and check to out the menu. Turns out on this particular day (and I suspect most other days) they are just about sold out of everything on the menu. Emily and I ask the jovial cook to tell us what we CAN get and he informs us that all they have left are burgers, brisket, and fries. Perfect. We will have one of each. No he says, you will each need your own fries. Ok, then you're the boss.

After we place our order we are then honorably invited to join the party ON the bus rather than waiting in the cold. While our new friend informs us this isn't typical and he never lets customers on the bus we spot two of his groupies chilling in the front seat hanging out. We take the risk. While watching our new friend Dan cook our food we hear his story of opening something like 56 restaurants in 12 countries in 3 continents. AMAZING. Then his sidekick, Trey, returns and joins in on the cooking. Em and I squeeze in the corner of the bus and slap on our napkins to devour the food. The burger was so good we forgot to add condiments and there was nothing left of the chopped brisket sandwich or the homemade sweet and chunky BBQ sauce. It was a good thing I was safely on the bus cause we definitely went took a ride to flavor town.

Now I am pretty sure that experience can't be repeated for everyone but THAT is what I love about Austin. Making new friends down by the railroad tracks. 

Available Mon 11am-3pm, at 3001 East Cesar Chavez St; Tue-Sat 12pm-6pm at MLK Jr. Blvd & Clifford Ave