2000-03-21 07:01:36
Grand Finale
So, to continue from the two previous entries, I enjoy Clay Davidson's music. His keyboard player plays with Faith Hill so I will be watching for him with her on TV now and I met the bass player before they sang. He met me, I should say. I loved SXSW (if I haven't said this before) because it is okay to be alone at a club during SXSW. No one looks at you like a freak and people are even extra nice to you, not knowing who you are or what influence you might have.
After Clay Davidson I watch Cooder Graw from my hometown of Amarillo play. I've heard of them for a long time but haven't heard a bit of their stuff. They were really hot. I can't tell you if they have radio airplay or Nashville potential but they were a really fun, tight, pithy bar band. They almost had me standing up, slinging beer this way and that and hollaring "Amarillo!" No wait, they DID have me doing that. They almost had me hooting and staggering toward the stage yelling "Home with the Armadillo!"
I've heard of Cooder Graw for a long time and have seen there name time and time again but it wasn't until they took the stage and introduced themselves as "Coup de Gras" that I finally "got it!" Rather clever, as were their song lyrics. They are on the web at coodergraw.com if you care.
Meanwhile, between bands, I've talked to people I know from all different directions. Guys Mark plays with, guys Mark knows, guys who know Mark and even one or two guys that know me! And yes, SXSW is the place to be for women. Men outnumber the women about 10 to one in town for this, it appears. Of course, 80% of them are in radio or musicians so you're kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel. Probably a better idea to go to the SXSW interactive (computer) conference where you might run into a dotcom millionaire.
Okay, the high point of the night. I'm watching the dancers and seeing this tall handsome man dance by time and time again. He is SO familiar to me, but, as before, I don't know if he is some musician or movie star I'm not recognizing in this setting or how I know this person. I begin to beieve that I am MAKING people look like familiar people. But this guy looks so much like a guy, I finally determine, that I went to high school with and haven't seen or heard about since.
I go over on a break to this guy and tell him that either he is "Lowell ____ " or someone famous and I'm an idiot. His face changes and he knows I'm from way back because now his name is "Travis ____". It is him, whatever the name. I haven't seen him in 23 years and his name has always come up at the high school reunions and no one has known what happened to him. He was only in high school with us for one year, a transplant, and we figured he must have gone back to his home state for college or something. He's been happily residing in Austin for 17 years and it was really nice to see him.
I am greatly relieved to be happily married. It was chance encounters like this that set me a-flutter way too much in my single days. The whole twist of fate involved in meeting a single guy that I thought was so cute when he was 18 would have had me fantasizing and scheming and sleepless for weeks. I'm really happy to see Lowell/Travis again and want to get together with him and other high school friends here and I want him to know my husband, but that's it. I'm glad glad glad I'm not looking anymore.
Believe it or not, that is the end of my SXSW saga. Yes, that was only Thursday night but I was a wuss and didn't make it out again through the weekend. One night of drinking and carousing puts me out for a week or more these days, which is fine. I saw my friend Jamey from Amarillo while he was here for the conference and we went to eat barbeque from the Salt Lick with him. Mark and I are the last two people in Austin that hadn't eaten at the Salt Lick and I'm thrilled now to say I've experienced it in all it's glory. It is my favorite barbeque joint now. I've had better brisket and ribs (although there's were fabulous) but their sausage is out of this world good.
I also got to do an interview with a cute young up-and-comer Eric Heatherly. He's got a remake of the Statler Brothers' Flowers on the Wall on the radio now and I wish I could have seen his showcase but it was too late on Friday night for me to want to be out (refer back to aforementioned wussiness).
All in all, I had a great SXSW weekend and the nicest feeling of all, seeing all these strangers walking Sixth and down on South Congress, was knowing that they thought Austin was the coolest city and they were enjoying all its quirkiness and hipness and beauty and that they were going to get on a plane Sunday and leave while I get to stay and enjoy this city EVERY DAY!!!!
The End
It seemed like there should be some conclusion to that long boring "is that all there is?" story. It's stupid early in the morning and I'm only up because my mind was racing. I'm going to go eat a banana and see if I can go back to sleep for a while. Yesterday I couldn't drag myself from the bed after 12 hours of sleep, today I'm wide awake and buzzing after less than four. Weird weird.