Honoring those who serve our country at this morning’s Veterans Day parade in downtown Austin…
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Veterans Day: 2011
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Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011
As I write this entry on Sunday evening, Bill and I are listening to the final bands perform at Fun Fun Fun Fest. We are not actually at FFF across the lake at Auditorium Shores but, take my word for it…all of downtown Austin can hear the music!
Tonight’s headliner, Slayer, is currently playing on the stage closest to our apartment. I can now say that I have heard a thrash metal band. Their light show looks pretty impressive from up here.
I was not downtown much this weekend so I’ve missed most of the fun-fun-fun. Sound checks started around 8:45 AM each morning and continued periodically until the bands started playing around noon. The city of Austin imposed a 10 PM curfew. According to the Austin American-Statesman, this was a problem on Friday evening when a band started late and only played two songs before the curfew cut-off.
Bill went over to FFF on Friday and heard The Thermals, Black Joe Lewis, Okkervil River, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Public Enemy and Passion Pit. Bill says that he “has his priorities” (that would be UT and Giants football) so he wasn’t able to go back for the other two days.
p.s.I now see a lot of smoke coming from the Slayer stage, so I hope this is part of the show…
Texas State Capitol
The Texas State Capitol is the centerpiece of the city of Austin. The building’s exterior is made of Sunset Red granite and was completed in 1888. A much-needed expansion (mostly underground) was finished in 1993. Texans will proudly tell you that this is the largest state capitol (in square footage) and is higher than the US Capitol.
Visitors must pass through metal detectors at the north or south entrances. Free guided tours meet in the lobby every day except major holidays. I’ve taken the tour many times and usually the tour guides are knowledgeable and friendly.
Portraits of previous Presidents of the Republic of Texas and Texas Governors hang in the central rotunda. George W. Bush’s picture is the most recent and hangs near the south lobby. When our current governor, Rick Perry, leaves office, his portrait will be hung in that spot and all the others will be moved one spot over. Some day I need to walk up to the fourth floor to see whose portrait is first up there. I’m guessing it’s Sam Houston, as the first elected President of the Republic of Texas, but it might be David G. Burnet, who was the interim President before him.
Historically, Texans have not been fans of big government. As a result, the Texas State Legislature only meets on odd-numbered years for no more than 140 days. (The Governor can also call 30-day special sessions on specific topics.) Downtown Austin was noticeably busier this past spring when the Legislature was in session.
The House chamber on the west side of the Capitol is crowded with desks for the 150 state representatives who are elected for two-year terms. The speaker of the House is elected by the majority party.
The Senate chamber at the opposite end of the second floor seems more spacious because there are only 31 state senators. They serve four-year terms and the Lieutenant Governor serving as presiding officer. Both chambers have an upstairs viewing gallery.
I often walk up to the Capitol just to see what’s going on. Sometimes there are demonstrations or marches on the front lawn. School groups perform on the front steps or in the rotunda. And the building and surrounding grounds are a popular backdrop for wedding and Quinceanera photographs.
Halloween 2011
Happy Halloween from downtown Austin!
Bill and I strolled along Sixth Street on Saturday evening after the UT football game and then again tonight. Lots of very original costumes….here’s a sampling:
Mary Poppins and Bert
Atlas and friends
From The Hangover…
Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) revellers
Aliens
Penny
Scary guy on stilts
Not So Wicked Witch
Texas Book Festival 2011
One of my favorite Austin events, the Texas Book Festival, was held last weekend in and around the State Capitol building. TBF was started by Laura Bush in 1995 to honor Texas authors, promote reading, and benefit public libraries. Except for an opening night gala, all sessions are free. Attendance was about 35,000 according to the Austin American Statesman. The weather was perfect, with sunny skies and highs in the 80s.
This year a friend from Pennsylvania joined me at TBF. Too many sessions! Too little time! But here’s what we managed to see:
Saturday, October 22:
New Directions in Southern Cuisine with Hugh Acheson and Martha Hall Foose
Mississippian Martha Hall Foose made funnel cakes and fudge (which she later gave to the judges at the Literary Death Match). Atlanta chef Hugh Acheson demonstrated a recipe from his book, A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for your Kitchen.
Alton Brown
My favorite session…even though I was probably the only person in the theater who didn’t know who Alton Brown was. Based on his Q&A session with the audience, now I know that Alton has his own show, Good Eats, on the Food Network, is the commentator on Iron Chef America, and hosts/judges The Next Iron Chef. I also know that Theater was his college major. That’s not surprising. He was very entertaining.
Literary Death Match
This “competition” is held in various cities in various countries, including previous TBFs. Literary Death Match creator Todd Zuniga was assisted by local writer/comedian Owen Egerton. Bill later pointed out that we’ve seen Owen in Master Pancake Theater at the Alamo Drafthouse. I thought he looked familiar.
The match was judged by Lisa Loeb, Adam Mansbach and Chuck Palahniuk. The competing authors were Charles Yu (How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe), Martha Hall Foose (A Southern Course), Karen Russell (Swamplandia!), and Libba Bray (Beauty Queens). Now that I’ve read more about the judges, I can understand why the authors looked so nervous as the match started.
In the first round, the four authors each had seven minutes to read selections from their books. We thought that Libba was the best writer, but we were rooting for Martha since we had seen her earlier in the day. At the end of the round one readings, the judges decided that Charles and Martha would advance. For the next round, audience members came up on stage and held up pictures of famous writers. On the back of each picture was a number of something associated with that writer. (For example, Kurt Vonnegut’s photo had the number “5” on the back, for his book, Slaughterhouse-Five, so that was worth five points.) Charles and Martha took turns selecting pictures and accumulating points. The final score was close, but Martha was declared the TBF 2011 Literary Death Match winner.
To Ban or Not to Ban: What Is the Question?
After the Literary Death Match ended, we ran over to the First Baptist Church and caught the second half of a panel discussion with authors of young adult books. They were Against Book Banning.
Kathy Reichs
Kathy Reichs’ books, and her career as a forensic anthropologist, inspired the TV series Bones. She is a consultant for the show and said that she reads all the scripts for accuracy. My friend’s copy of her novel Spider Bones is now next on my reading pile.
Sunday, October 23:
Paula Deen
In case you are wondering…yes, I knew that Paula Deen is also a Food Network star. She spoke to Hugh Acheson for a while and then answered questions. Paula certainly is personable. The audience loved her!
Marcia Clark
Yes, this was the Marcia Clark who was the lead prosecutor for the O.J. Simpson trial.
She now writes crime novels. Marcia talked about her latest book and then took questions from the audience. As you would guess, most of the questions were about the O.J. trial. But she didn’t seem to mind.
Sex! Murder! Scandal! History! with H.W. Brands and David R. Stokes
H.W. Brands’ latest book is The Murder of Jim Fisk for the Love of Josie Mansfield: A Tragedy of the Gilded Age. Bill Brands is a UT history professor and an engaged speaker who I’ve heard on several occasions. David Stokes talked about his book, The Shooting Salvationist: J. Frank Norris and the Murder that Captivated America.
Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge
Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge randomly selected an audience member to assist as they demonstrated their recipes from The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook. I happened to sit next to this assistant’s friend who told me all about how Josh and Brent quit their NYC jobs to live on The Beekman farm in upstate New York, how Brent used to work for Martha Stewart, how they started making and selling cheese and soap, how they have their own TV show, The Fabulous Beekman Boys, and how his assistant/friend who is a baker had visited their farm. It was all very exciting.
Crystal Cook and Sandy Pollock
…aka The Casserole Queens. These two have a casserole home-delivery business here in Austin and are now promoting their first cookbook. Crystal and Sandy were so kind to pose for a photo before their demonstration that I bought their cookbook afterward. They signed my cookbook with their slogan: “Put Some Lovin’ in your Oven!” Aren’t they cute?
Fire Relief: The Concert for Central Texas
Last night Bill and I saw a GREAT concert, Fire Relief: The Concert for Central Texas, at the Frank Erwin Center on the University of Texas campus. Proceeds benefited the Central Texas Wildfire Fund at the Austin Community Foundation. The event was hosted by local celebrity Turk Pipkin and actor Kyle Chandler from the “Friday Night Lights” TV show.
Musicians from the Austin area and those with local ties performed for over five hours:
- Christopher Cross played his classic song, Sailing, and one from his lastest album called Dreamers. I was reminded why I liked him back in the ’80s!
- Terri Hendrix was accompanied by Lloyd Maines, father of Dixie Chick, Natalie.
- Eric Johnson. Cliffs of Dover. Guitar Nirvana.
- Joe Satriani is a virtuoso electric guitar player, but we’d never heard of him before last evening. According to Wikipedia, he played for Deep Purple, now has a band called Chickenfoot, and is the master of “two-handed tapping and arpeggio tapping” which he did during his performance. Very impressive. And very loud.
- Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel play around Austin often. They performed several of their own Texas Swing songs, including crowd-favorite, Boogie Back to Texas, and then backed up the next six acts.
- Texas Tornados including accordionist Flaco Jimenez.
- Randy Rogers Band, who we had never heard of, but we liked them.
- Lyle Lovett always surprises me, even though I’ve heard him before. He’s a good performer and songwriter.
- Shawn Colvin sang the Star Spangled Banner at the Walk to End Alzheimer’s on Saturday, so this was the second time I’d seen her in three days. Lyle sang harmony for one of her songs and then she joined in on his catchy song, That’s Right (You’re Not in Texas).
- Willie Nelson … well, Bill and I are big fans. He sang a few of his many hits including You were Always on my Mind and On the Road Again. He also played a new song called Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die…definitely a Crowd Favorite.
- The Avett Brothers aren’t from Texas, but they joined Willie for two songs. They had played at Stubb’s over the weekend (Bill thought about going) and decided to stay for the benefit. Good for them.
- Dixie Chicks played a great set, including Landslide, Taking the Long Way and Not Ready to Make Nice. Lloyd Maines also played in their backup band.
- George Strait finally took the stage a little before 11 PM. Bill and I listened to a few songs and then headed home. After all, we had to get up for work in the morning!
LIVESTRONG Austin 2011
This weekend is the annual Team LIVESTRONG Challenge Austin, benefiting Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG Foundation. On Saturday morning, the 5K Walk/Run starts early on the First Street bridge and loops through south Austin. The Livestrong bike ride is on Sunday morning about 20 miles west of Austin near Dripping Springs in the Texas Hill Country. Bill has participated in this ride for four years now. We picked up his ride packet this evening.
Years ago Lance started this event as “Ride for the Roses” with his cycling buddies. He still attends each year (and rides a lot further than Bill is planning to). Lance still has a home in Austin and a ranch in Dripping Springs. His ex-wife, Kristin, lives in Austin with his three oldest children.
Lance’s Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop on Fourth Street is the center of this weekend’s LIVESTRONG Challenge activities. Mellow Johnny’s sells (and rents) bikes and anything cycling-related. Bill has taken his bike to their repair shop for tune-ups. The building even includes a little coffee shop for cyclists who want to linger after those long, long rides.
Mellow Johnny’s offers free guided bike tours each week. Bill likes the intermediate 20-25 mile rides. As a result, he now has a pretty good idea of how to safely and easily bike around and in and out of downtown Austin. They also have an easy six-miler up to UT and back which I want to try….that’s more my distance!
The Envelope Please…
Bill and I have been considering our choices over the past few months: whether to stay downtown or move back to the suburbs. You can read about what we like and don’t like about downtown living in my previous blog entry.
For the past year we’ve been tracking our feelings about downtown living on our little whiteboard in the kitchen (which doubles as our Car Tracking System). Twelve months ago Bill drew a circle there and divided it into four quadrants: Hate, Dislike, Like, and Love.
Bill has consistently been in the “Love – Love – Love” quadrant; he has loved living downtown since our first day here. He is still amazed that I agree to make this move. I have been mostly in the “Like” quadrant; some days I like downtown more than others. But this week I decided that I am officially on the “Like-Love” line.
Bill is thrilled.
So now, here’s our Decision, which probably won’t surprise anyone…
We are going to continue renting in downtown Austin for the coming year!
Decision Time
Bill and I moved to downtown Austin one year ago this month. We now have a decision to make: should we renew our lease or move back to the suburbs? We compiled the following lists to help us decide…
What We Like about Living in Downtown Austin
Lady Bird Lake / Hike-and-Bike Trail
Bill and I love our view of the lake. We have a front-row view for concerts, festivals, races, fireworks, Presidential visits and protests. We walk or run on the Hike-and-Bike Trail almost every day.
Entertainment Options
We definitely attend more concerts, festivals, races and other events since living downtown. We didn’t realize how much is happening downtown until we moved here. Since we don’t have to worry about driving or parking, we often decide to do something on the spur of the moment.
Walkability
Bill and I walk all over downtown. My favorite destinations are Whole Foods, South Congress and the Capitol grounds. Bill likes to walk over the Alamo Ritz or Stubbs. We also walk to games and concerts up at UT. Some days when we don’t drive our cars at all.
Visitors
We enjoy having friends come downtown to visit!
Austin Farmers Market (Janis)
Since it’s just a few blocks away, I try to visit the Farmers Market every Saturday morning. Then we enjoy fresh vegetables, quiches and breads for the next week.
SXSW (Bill)
Bill loved living downtown during South by Southwest in March because he didn’t need to fight traffic or worry about parking. He could go back to the apartment and relax in-between shows…especially nice since SXSW is always during the first round of the NCAA tournament. This is not on my list since I left town that week.
Movies within Walking Distance (Bill)
Bill walks to see movies at Violet Crown, Alamo Ritz, The Paramount and even The Long Center. I sometimes join him but this is not on my list either.
What We Don’t Like about Living in Downtown Austin
Traffic: Morning rush hour isn’t bad because driving north on Mopac is against traffic. Evening rush hour is bad in both directions. We try to avoid rush hour but sometimes we just have to deal with traffic.
Space: Our two-bedroom apartment sometimes feels cramped. We still have a small storage unit in northwest Austin. We would love to have a little room for an office in the apartment.
Noise: We hear bands from Fourth Street on the weekends and some weeknights. At first this really bothered us, but we’ve gotten used to it now and sometimes sing along.
Other Factors:
Cost: Our rent is high, but our overall costs are still lower than when we lived in a house. We aren’t building equity while renting but we won’t have to worry about selling in the future.
Parking Garage: We have to allow extra time to get to the garage and carrying things to or from the car can be challenging. It’s really a pain if you forget something. But we never worry about parking for a downtown event now.
No yard: I like gardening and miss my yard…although perhaps not this year. For the record, this factor is in Bill’s “Like” category.
Restaurants: No problem if I don’t feel like cooking…there are many excellent restaurants within a few blocks of our apartment. But after living here for a few months, we realized that eating out too much is not a good idea for a lot of reasons so I try to cook on week nights. Bill likes being able to run downstairs and get a smoothie or frozen yogurt.
So that’s our analysis. Stay tuned to hear about our Big Decision…
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum is located on North Congress Avenue between the State Capitol and the University of Texas campus. Besides the actual museum, the complex includes a cafeteria, a gift shop, an IMAX theater, a smaller theater with an interactive show called The Star of Destiny, and an attached parking garage. The gift shop is the best place in town to find Texas and Austin souvenirs and, yes, the final Harry Potter movie is still playing at the IMAX.
This museum is named after Bob Bullock who was Lieutenant Governor for most of the 1990s. He is credited with championing the idea of having a state history museum. His statue is displayed in the rotunda. His closing words for every speech, “God Bless Texas,” are etched on the wall behind the statue.
The rotunda floor features a colorful mural by artist Robert T. Ritter: The Story of Texas: Born around the Campfires of our Past.
I was surprised to learn that all items are on loan because this is a non-collecting museum. The permanent exhibits have not changed much since I last visited a few years ago. Texas history is traced on three floors:
Floor 1. Encounters on the Land (Native Americans and early settlers)
Floor 2: Building the Lone Star Identity (Texas Revolution through Civil War)
Floor 3: Creating Opportunity (20th century through today)
A special exhibit, Texas High School Football: More than the Game, is on display until January. I am not a football fan (and that’s an understatement!) but as a Former Band Mom, I seemed to have absorbed some knowledge of high school football here. So I enjoyed looking at memorabilia from teams, coaches, bands, and drill teams from Central Texas and other areas.