Austin City Limits : Sunday Review

This was the second year that I have attended this legendary music festival and every time it gets better. This year I could only attend the last day of ACL, I was broke because of the hurricane. Arriving in Austin that morning the first thing me and my friends did was get our grub on. Denny's Eggs and Breakfast Sausage hit the spot perfectly. I enjoyed a spirited conversationabout all kinds of eggs while I stuffed sausage into my mouth.
It was delicious.

When we got to the fest the bands that I saw were : Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck played "Eleanor Rigby" as we were walking into the festival. Once inside after snapping a few pics we settled down and listened to the old-timey country swing of the Belleville Outfit. Then we moved over to watch Austin's own the Octopus Project. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was really starting to heat up. Fortunatly the music helped to soothe my tortured soul. After the O.P. show we went to set up camp on the hill between the AMD stage and the AT&T blue room stage. Gillian Welch played a marvelous set. I left about halfway through to go see Mike Farris. I enjoyed his music very much it was inspirational and uplifting blend of gospel, funk, and soul. Stars and Neko Case were both very good and chilled out. We listened to Heartless Bastards only for a song or two as me and Gaby ate lunch. As we walked back to our base we heard Blues Traveler play "Want You" After that I went to the ACL shop to buy a concert T. My new favorite band Okkervil River played one of their new songs "Lost Coastlines".



Gnarls Barkley. I have always liked Cee-lo with both Goode Mob and now as Gnarls Barkley. This was the first oppurtunity to see them perform live. I was not let down it was awesome. They played some of my favs from the new album, like "Surprise" and "Run(I'm a Natural Disaster)"



I would be remiss if I didn't mention the dust. It was dusty, really really dusty. People were wearing bandanas and surgical masks over their faces to protect themselves from the particles in the air. The sunset was beautiful, the snot and congestion was not. The Raconteurs were excellent they played "Steady As She Goes" I guess this makes up for the White Stripes canceling last year.Tegan and Sara = meh. I didn't like them and I don't know why they had such a good time spot. I think it was because someone dropped out and they got moved up. Foo Fighters kicked ass. I've liked the Foo Fighters since the mid 90's. I'm not their biggest fan but I like their music. Good solid rock n' roll. They know how to put on a damn good show. I thought they did a better job headlining the fest than Bob Dylan did last year. Alot more people stayed to watch them that is for sure. Even though I wasn't one of them, we left during the drum solo. They are still one of the best live rock bands on the
planet.

Boy Howdy, Austin City Limits is one helluva a good time. I would recommend it for anyone that likes good music and having fun because it is practically guaranteed that you will have A Great Time.
T

Hurricane Ike Aftermath

On The Road To Overcoming A Disaster

Hurricane Ike blew into Houston early last saturday morning. I knew this was no joke and had been "hunkering down" for some time, prepared for the worst. By prepared for the worst I mean drinking heavily and anxiously awaiting the storm. I had been busy doing "hurricane algebra" all night to determine how soon after landfall I would feel the effects in my area.
Finally after an already dramatic evening, which included a trip to the ER, the storm finally started to affect the museum district in a bad way about 1 am. The main part was wind, lots of wind, powerful wind, intense wind with a large side of rain. The power flicked off and on several times before finally calling it quits at about 1:15. Green and Blue fire balls exploded into the sky as transformers blew up one after the other. Block after block the city of Houston was plunged into a terrible windy darkness. 100 mph winds bent trees over and snapped branches like toothpicks. No part of the city was sparred. It went on like this for about twelve hours.
The next day when I woke up to massive destruction and property damage. I had to quickly asses the situation and take control. The report on the radio said that power might be out for weeks. Food was already starting to go bad in the fridge. Huge trees had been toppled on almost every street. My brother later remarked that it looked like a "green blizzard" with all of the branches and leaves that covered everything.
I decided that it would be my best bet to leave town for a couple of days. Get my "hurri-cation" started right by evacuating to another city. San Antonio was the place that my girlfriend and her friend were going so I caught a ride with them. There is no better place to seek sanctuary from a natural disaster when you are a penniless evacuee. Thank You to the people of San Antonio for welcoming me with open arms and forgiving my drunken antics.
When I returned to Houston several days later I was nervous to find out if I had power restored to my apartment. I had electricity but over half of the city did not. It was in a random way. One street had it another didn't. Half of an apartment complex did the other half nothing. Some thought that it was the government fucking with people to get them freaked out so they could come in and take control of our minds. I don't know about all that but some crazy shit was going down. Brennan's burned down, a tiger was loose on Crystal Beach, there was a tornado of broken glass downtown, the Balinese Room was completly detroyed.
Death and Destruction rained down on every part of the area. The clean up is going to take forever. There are piles of leaves and branches on just about every curb. The whole city smells like sawdust and pine needles. Broken glass liters every part of downtown. Almost a week later and alot of people still don't have any power at all.
Galveston will take months if not years to recover. It will be a long road to recovering the area.

Thankfully me and my family made it throught the storm without injury.
God Bless Texas.
T

Live blogging the 'cane

Live here in Houston
This is Tony reporting from the Museum District.
Here is my Hurricane Ike weather report update.
The situation here is getting worse
the hurricane anxiety has been at incredible levels.
Now the day of the Hurricane has finally arrived
This is Brays Bayou near Almeda before the storm.

I'm "hunkered down" here in my fortified
compound waiting for Hurricane IKE.
It's making its slow approach staight up the a-hole
of the Houston-Galveston area.
The weather station is predicting a massive
storm surge of 20 ft.
Hurricane Ike is going to pound the coast.
I'm expecting 100 mph winds
to blow on my exposed infrastructure.

well I'm ready.
I've "battened down the hatches"
and have completed all hurricane preparations
including the purchase of tortillas and beer.
the only thing left to do is wait it out.
Good Luck
T

Hurricane Ike

Dude i'm freaking the fuck out

hurricane ike is headed right for us
i've already bought tortillas and peanut butter
going back for batteries and beer later
will probably board up house
huddle in a corner with a loaded shot gun
waiting for hordes of looters
and dangerous flood waters
sweating profusely and twitching nervously at every sound
this shit is for real


gaby's note

No
this isnt for real
we are going to be fine
sitting on our asses
getting high,drinking beer and watching movies
there'll be rain
there'll be wind
there'll be nappy naps
my two weeks vacation started a few days early
I turn 29 in 8 days
so let the party get started!

Texans Lose Again

Get used to this football fan.
texans lose in horrible way
i am jumping off the bandwagon
texans suck

Are you ready for some football ?

because i am ready for some football
some football, BBQ and beer



Hook em horns

T

I'm not crying.

i've just been cutting onions

i was making a lasgana
for one

Live from the Front Lines

Gustav
Hurrincane of Emotion



Winds of 100 miles per hour
Dodging a bullet
from 350 miles away
labor day weekend
houston tx


peace out

tony

Baseball Season Part II : The Season Heats Up

Center Field at Minute Maid Park


Safe at Home.


Safe at First and an RBI.

Houston Astros Photos

The Houston Astros 2008 baseball season.
Spring Edition.

The statues of Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell watch over the opening of a new baseball season.


Junction Jack.


Miguel Tejada starts the season with a walkoff homerun.


Hunter Pence Swings for the ball.




Jose Valverde saves the game against the Cubs.


Another beautiful spring day at the ballpark.

the malaguena

this is a video of the guitarist
i saw a couple of weeks ago in san antonio

san antonio weekend

two weeks ago i went to san antonio for a birthday party
i ended up seeing some great live music
as well as having a memorable time



friday night me and gaby went to patsy's
patsy's ice house is a small little place
right on the corner of two streets
there were alot of people hangin' out
smoking and drinking on the porch

there is no smoking ban in s.a.
it was the smokiest bar i had been to in years
the bartender would only sell one beer per person

there were several bands
san antonio favorites robo trumble
played their last show ever really
they killed it by the way it rocked
it was totally awesome the crowd cheered wildly
they gave out free cd's it looked like this:




saturday was the big day
all day to set up a get ready
for the birthday party later that evening
there was a ton of food plenty of beer
friends and family and good music
all the ingrediants for a good time



the guitarist was great
i had seen him last year at a benefit
he was terrific as always
Dante even sang a song for his adoring fans



then the guitarist played a beatiful malaguena
presents were given cake was cut
food was eaten beer was drank
conversations were had
a world famous musician showed up
i drank a "vampiro con sprite"
the party went on till late in the night
it was a fantastic time

art car parade

art car parade in houston is totally cool.



art cars are cool because there is a great variety of creativity
and humor on display. they are especially cool in houston
because in this town everybody drives everywhere.
it is a sight to see over two hundred and eighty cars.
several bands playing on art car trailers. about a
million people and kids on bikes. a woodie. moped
art cars. lowriders. fire breathers. mirror covered cars.
painted cars. weirded out freakshows.
any kind of art car you can imagine and a couple
you couldn't.

i went to the art car parade this year with my friend and my brother.
once i got there it was pretty hot. there was very large crowds of families,
as well as crowds of hipsters. the families were having fun with their kids.
the hipsters were drinking.tents were selling 16 oz. beers for five dollars.
i had to walk all the way down allen parkway to meet up with my friend
and his wife. it was worth it they had a shady spot in the front row and
a plastic bottle full of coke and whiskey. i had a great view of the art cars
as they passed. there were some good ones this year.
some of my favorites included: our lady of transportation.
the missile dick chicks homecoming and their cheney/satan 08 bumperstickers.
the genie bottle, a giant rooster, and an opera singing mouth.
a rolling port-a-pot and what can be best described as a flying piece of shit.
the hillbilly truck, the zebra, and the one that was shaped like a wave.



the st. arnold's car and finally the artcar that was covered in blackboard,
which people had drawn with chalk on.



by the time the parade ended i had a good buzz
it was still early so after a bite to eat i ended up going to the
artcar afterparty. it was at the brandspanking new park
downtown - discovery green.




i ran into some people that i know had another cold one.
it was pretty nice. after awhile i went home and ate
sushi with my girlfriend. it was a really good time.

a day or so later i hear about the accident. one of the
art car museum curators had been run over by a drunk
driver later that very night after the parade.
so this is really terrible and sad. i had such a good time
at the parade and the afterparty that this puts such
a tragic note to an otherwise great experience.


overall art car parade was awesome.
senseless death not so much.

Beer Review

-- Catra Blanca Cerveza --

This beer is the mexican coors light.
A quart of creamy goodness in every bottle.
It is muy delicioso.
It's also really cheap.

Blog Haiku

new museum blog
what words shall i write now
more after the jump

ifest

I saw the Wailers at ifest this year.

British Sea Power @ Numbers

This show was totally awesome and stuff.



British Sea Power are from England.



The guitarist jumped into the audience.



A good time was had by all.