Category Archives: Festivals

ACL Day 1

Posted on by
Reply

 Austin City Limits Music Festival is off to a good start! Everyone was worried about moving the festival back to the typically hot month of September again. But overcast skies on Friday kept the temperatures in the low 90s. Bill and I headed over to the festival at Zilker Park after a brief rainstorm passed over downtown. We took the shuttle bus from Republic Square Park just a few blocks from our apartment. Then we walked back home at the end of the evening. 

Bill and I didn’t have any “must-see” bands yesterday so we criss-crossed the park to various stages. I don’t think we stayed for any complete sets…unusual for us. Official sold-out attendance yesterday was 65,000 but we felt the park was very crowded for a Friday (usually Saturdays are the worst). So we weren’t very close to most of the stages.

Here’s who we heard on Friday in chronological order, with performers listed below the appropriate photo:

Brandi Carlile
Delta Spirit
James Blake
 
Ray LaMontagne
 
Big Boi
 
Cave Singers
 
Foster the People 
 
Charles Bradley
 
Mavis Staples
 
Kanye West
 
 
Coldplay

Holy Bat Fest, Batman!

Posted on by
Reply
Last Saturday the City of Austin sponsored Bat Fest: Night of the Bat. Our city is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America from March until November. Each evening around sundown, locals and tourists gather on the Congress Avenue Bridge to watch the bats emerge and head off in search of food. Sounds like a good reason for a festival!
Bat Fest kicked off in the early afternoon with a screening of the original Batman movie at the Paramount Theatre. Back in 1966 the Paramount had actually hosted the world premiere for this film to repay the local company who built the Batboat. There was no sign of a boat this time, but we did get to see a Batmobile which was parked outside the theater. Based a detailed Batmobile Wikipedia article and the Texas license plate, I think this was a replica and not the original car. But it was still black and shiny and fun to look at. 
Adam West, who played Batman in the 60’s TV series and in the movie, participated in a Q&A session before the show. He had kind words to say about his movie co-stars: Burt Ward (Robin), Cesar Romero (The Riddler), Lee Meriwether (Catwoman), Burgess Meredith (The Penguin) and Frank Gorshin (The Joker). He noted that his corniest line ever was in this movie: “Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb.” Of course the audience roared at this line later during the movie.

Since Saturday’s afternoon high was 107°, Bill and I waited until evening before visiting the outdoor festival on the Congress Avenue Bridge. Two stages for live music were set up on either end of the bridge with food and vendor tents in between. We listened to Suzanne Choffel (she’s playing at everything in Austin this summer), The Black and White Years and Bob Schneider.

One of the more interesting sights at Bat Fest was this “Bat Cow” from the Austin Cow Parade exhibit. 

You can see the artist’s concept in my photo (of a poster) below. The idea seems to be that this bat-wrapped cow would be suspended from underneath the Congress Avenue Bridge. I can only imagine the 9-1-1 calls that would result if this plan had actually been implemented.

Pecan Street Festival

Posted on by
1

What better way to celebrate Mother’s Day Weekend than at the Pecan Street Festival? 

East Sixth Street (also called Pecan Street) in Austin hosts the largest free street festival in Texas. I enjoyed strolling among the booths this afternoon, taking in the sights and sounds:

Every home needs a bunch of ceramic peppers…

… and wooden roses. (The bamboo is real.)


Every girl needs a headdress with stars and ribbons…




…and a brightly-colored sundress.



Every dog needs Bowser Beer… 











…and a Texas dog collar.

Every Austin street festival needs live music…





  
…and free iced tea!

Cowboy Breakfast

Posted on by
2

Today I attended my first Cowboy Breakfast. This free event across the lake at Auditorium Shores promoted the upcoming Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo. This was a very educational experience. Here is what I learned:

 

Cowboys get up early—6:03 AM to be exact—and they like to eat breakfast under big flags.

 

 
Cowboys like free food. Here is what cowboys eat for breakfast: sausage and biscuits, sausage and pancakes, sausage wraps, and sausage.



Cowboys brew their coffee over hot coals. They like free coffee too.

Cowboys go to cowboy churches.  


















Don’t cross a cowboy because he is an expert with a power saw.







Magician is a career path for cowboys … 

… as is Congressman. 


A Taste of Austin

Posted on by
1

Last week Bill and I enjoyed an evening out with friends at A Taste of Austin. We sampled food from over 50 mostly-locally-owned restaurants and businesses.  Proceeds from the evening benefited the Greater Austin Restaurant Scholarship Fund, Westwood High School DECA Marketing Club and area culinary programs.

 


Food was served on little plates or in bowls. Some repeat-attendees brought trays to carry their samples. One tray-carrier kindly let me photograph her food:

 

Our Best Prepared Tray Carrier Award went to Big Wayne, who proudly showed us his Debbie Meyer Buffet Genius. According to their web site, the Buffet Genius “literally holds everything…at least when you’re at a buffet, party, indoor or outdoor gathering.” We gotta get us some of those for next year.

We were pretty fixated on the trays, but I should mention the food was very good. We all agreed that our favorite was the shrimp and grits from Mansion at Judges Hill :

Caribbean Cart Catering had a nice display and good food to match.

The ahi tuna drizzled with a mustard sauce from Flemings was tasty too. 


We ended a fun-filled and food-filled evening with sugar cookies from Kellie’s. Yummy!