what summer spent in toasty texas is complete with out a day spent floating down a river with a few hundred of your favorite drunk rednecks? we didn't want to risk finding out so we took matt's friend garth (visiting from chicago) and cousin eric down to new braunfels to toob (they really spell it that way) on the guadalupe river. after crawling through the traffic to get to jerry's outfitters, we set out for a 2 hour float. the 2 hours turned into 3 as we stopped our floats from floating to try and distance ourselves from the fun group blasting some kind of "new country" music. at one point we came upon some kids with super hosers spraying tooooobers as they went by. this one woman started yelling all sorts of obscenities at the kids to stop ruining her $100 sunglasses from christian dior. this turned into a yelling match with the hoser group chanting "walmart walmart" and the dior group calling them white trash. we later passed a guy with a large swastika tattooed on his chest. it was like they took a jerry springer casting call and moved it to the river. good times!
but seriously folks, it was a great way to cool off and relax. i can't wait to go again next year!
i've really dropped the ball on this here blog for the past months. there likely is not a soul still tuning in to the life and times of me any longer. guess that frees me up a bit to go crazy. or something. so why now? why return after months of stony silence? and where in the deuce have i been you might ask if you were here.
i recently went to the harry ransom center on ut's campus to take in the "on the road with the beats" exhibit they've got going on. the main attraction is the infamous "on the road" scroll that kerouac created by taping together pieces of drawing paper to make one very long continuous scroll on which he typed the first draft of that seminal book. the full length is 120 ft, the exhibit showed about 45 ft of his free-flowing prose and scratched out lines. it was very cool to see. the weird part of this (at least to me) is that jim irsey - longtime owner of the colts - bought the scroll at auction and has sent it on the road to share. i used to live not too far from him on the north side of indy and would hear tales of his lavish parties and opulent lifestyle, but i guess i never pegged him for a lover of the beats. who knew!
i started yesterday what i hope will be a 5 day internal cleanse...2 days down 3 to go. this always seems like a fantastic idea - detoxifying and all that fun stuff. but then i get a day or so into it and i can't believe i've willingly done this to myself. all i can think about is pizza...a yummy, goooey east side pie or marhgarita pizza from enoteca would be so perfect right about now. and beer. i love beer and would LOVE nothing more today than to go home after work and enjoy a cold summer wheat beer while watching the sunset out back. but the now constant inner-tube around my middle shows me that the feeling is not reciprocated.
pizza, beer
i have to steer clear
a jimmy john sub, a trip to the pub
i can't eat that grub
nice little poem there, huh? i not thinking about food at all right now. no, really.
well i've finally got the photos from elizabeth & josh's wedding at rose hall in jamaica up and ready for your viewing pleasure. despite some overcast and breezy weather the first couple of days, we had a wonderful time playing euchre (matt & i won of course), drinking lots of red stripes and soaking in the hot tubs. the weather eventually parted for the bride, allowing the sun to shine down on the walk down the aisle.
enjoy.
that it is today - this fine fine day. I"M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!
my mind has not completely adjusted to all that room in there for wandering...i'm still stuck in the cycle of planning. planning what to read now, what to wear to our big dinner at the four seasons tomorrow night, what to pack for my trip to tucson this weekend, and my favorite, what to do with all this time. i've been free-stylin to-do lists better than any hustle and flow rap.
and our nation's great hope, that being obama, made an incredibly real speech yesterday. even if you are not a supporter, it hard to dismiss the truth of what he says. maybe even chew it over...
it was written largely by obama himself and is being cited as one of the most important and nuanced speeches given on race in america.
i can't even bear to think of how horrible i would feel if hillary manages to finagle the nomination. i can't stand her. i would LOVE to have a woman president - but she is so not the right woman for the job. waaaaay too much baggage and the republicans would just love to run against her. i did feel just a wee bit sorry for her during the texas caucus - they had to take tables away from hillary to give to obama supporters as there were about triple the number signing up for obama.
off to visit the parents in tucson this weekend - a nice four day break. looking forward to lots of hiking in saguaro national park, seeing crawford family that i haven't seen in years, and doing nothing at all.
in less than 48 hours i'll be lying outside somewhere in the grass with hugo without a thought to clog my mind. that moment is carrying me on through the last remaining days of sxsw. it's been a fun, exhausting, frustrating, giddy ride but i'm ready to get off now, please.
a big highlight of the fest this year has been lou reed's keynote. he and david bowie are tied for coolest persons on the planet, if there was such an award. i'm in awe of him. my friend dave once wrote me a song, in the key of lou. i know that has something to do with my affection for lou reed's work/art/poetry...between thought and expression lies a lifetime. that line kills me every time.
in other cool people news, i just met khaela of the blow, my new favorite music that i just discovered. i love you, that's what i told her to start the conversation because i just knew she was the kind of person to respond in a good way to hearing that from a stranger. i was right. we talked very excitedly to each other, in mutual recognition (i think). if you like miranda july, you will like the blow.
tomorrow i move into the austin convention center for 10 days of south by-mayhem. it's both exciting and a bit nausea-inducing that the one big thing i work all year on is about to happen. and then like that - poof - it's past and i can settle back into a more relaxing lifestyle. until the cycle begins all over again...
i haven't had much time to really pour over all the film screenings, music showcases, book readings, panel discussions, parties...to figure out what i'd like to see when i'm not working. which isn't much of the time. actually i think i've only seen one film in the 5 festivals i've worked. music showcases tend to be a little easier to squeeze in. one person i'm really pumped to see live is dolly parton. she recently canceled her entire spring tour due to "back problems" - shouldn't that really be "boob-induced back problems"? but she's still taking the stage here for her showcase. yay - dolly parton working nine to five....i loved that song when i was like 7 and i had zero idea as to what it meant to work 9 to 5. now i wish that's all i worked - it's more like 8am - 1am during the festival.
on the music fest homepage blog we're posting various sx staff and other illustrious folks top 3 picks of sx showcasing artists. here were mine, as reproduced from the website:
The Helio Sequence
I first saw them play in San Francisco a few years ago. It was one of those rare happenings when I'd never heard of the band, was dragged to see them play by a friend, and was instantly knocked over by how amazing they sounded live. Thoughtful lyrics and simple phrase-turning combined with driving beats (drummer Benjamin Weikel, formerly of Modest Mouse, is one of the best drummers I've seen/heard). Super-sonic! I've been anticipating the day I'd get to catch them live again.
Daniel Lanois
Another phenomenal live performer - blows away any of his recordings. He's produced some of the greatest albums in the past 20 years but is a very talented songwriter and musician in his own right. His music carries an ethereal quality. And he wrote the much-covered "The Maker" - one of my all-time favorite songs. And...need i say more? The guy rocks.
Eleni Mandell
I bought her album "Snakebite" at the recommendation of the Austin Chronicle some time ago and have since loved the quirky, dramatic stories told in her smoky voice. I haven't heard anything other than that record so maybe what she's doing now is completely different, but I've no doubt that she'll be interesting. She's kinda like a vaudevillian PJ Harvey - more jazz, less punk.
well this is it from me for a few weeks. catch you on the other side...
well tonight is the big night here in austin. our fair city has been turned on it's ear as everyone is abuzz with debate fever. i'm not sure how it happened - but it did: matt & i were not two of the lucky 100 chosen ones to represent the laypeople at the obama / clinton "conversation" tonight. and our odds were so good, only 28,000 people entered the lottery. dang. but i know someone who is going...so i'm only one degree away. does that count? i didn't think so...
matt just had his own individual brush with greatness down at ladybird lake (formally known as town lake until ladybird johnson passed away). he and hugo were having their usual rabble-rousing good time that typically involves a ball, water and running, when some suits walking along the hike and bike trail caught matt's eye. lo and behold it was his man obama, just walking along doing his thing with a phone stuck to his ear and eight secret service men following. when they were a mere ten feet apart matt hollered, "good luck mr obama!" and got a wave in return from our soon-to-be-president. not bad. now matt can die happy.
tomorrow night is a big rally with obama dowtown which we will be among thousands in attendance. if you're in austin and want to get inspired, you can rsvp.
it was announced this week that obama and clinton will be coming to austin for a debate on the 21st. woo-hoo! there are 100 tickets going out to the general public via a lottery. we are of course entered and fingers are tightly crossed. send us some winning juju - we REALLY want to attend. i don't know if matt will be able to handle not seeing his man obama when he is so close. pure torture.
it would be amazing to see the two of them debate during this historical campaign. it's inspiring and invigorating how energized people are about these two candidates, about a new presidency, about the possibility of change. i'm reading more and more stories (or hearing them on npr) about life-long republicans who plan to vote for the democratic nominee over mccain. it seems that not many people can stomach another four years of republican disaster. praise jah, allah, god, jehovah and the rest....
hope is a four letter word.
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