rusty_halo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rusty_halo) wrote2007-10-04 01:56 pm
rusty_halo) wrote2007-10-04 01:56 pm
Entry tags:
Laura's Austin Adventure
I was in The New York Times!
Okay, not really. But a blog post I wrote was linked from one of the New York Times blogs. And from Brooklyn Vegan, too.
*feels cool*
What else? I haven't been posting much. I've been busy, and traveling, and tired.
My office moved to Brooklyn. It sucks. I don't even have the energy to rant about it right now.
I went to Austin last weekend, for an insane mini-vacation. I had less than 24 hours to cram in my first visit to Texas, a meal, some sleep, and an Alice in Chains concert.
So, I flew in Saturday morning, arrived about noon, and took a cab to a vegan restaurant. Actually it turned out to be a yoga studio with a vegan buffet brunch. It was hippie health food, but the good satisfying kind. The entree was this cool mushrooms and tortilla chips dish, with optional jalapeno sauce, and there were all kinds of good sides like brown rice with almond sauce, and delicious beet soup, and sauteed greens with fresh basil tahini sauce, and blueberry scones, and really good mint iced tea (although no caffeine!). So I was happy. And I took that whole all-you-can-eat thing to heart, since it was my only meal of the trip.
I then called a cab which took me to my hotel--the downtown Radisson--where I dropped off my stuff, and hopped into another cab to the The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. This was actually a really cool museum, new and huge, with three levels telling the chronological history of Texas. It started with Native Americans and conquistadors, moved through the various groups of settlers, the struggle for independence, the Civil War, and ended up with the oil barons (which is where it was most obviously biased since most of their sponsors were oil companies). It was actually pretty well-rounded otherwise, especially in its portrayal of how the settlers completely screwed over the Native Americans and of how important slavery was to its early economy. (And there were lots of features showing what women, Black people, and Native Americans were up to while all this was happening.)
When I walked in, I noticed a *huge* group of people partying right outside, all down the street and beyond. It turns out this was the tailgate party for some sports game. Apparently these people try to sneak into the museum to use the bathroom, so they had guards everywhere, and you had to have a special wristband to use their bathrooms. My museum ticket was only $5.50, though, and I pretty much had the museum to myself.
As soon as I walked into their special exhibit (which was about how the changing clothing styles of Native Americans reflected the social upheaval they were experiencing) this old woman docent approached me. She was so happy to have someone to talk to that I let her lead me around the exhibit for an hour--she had some interesting things to say, although I think she was kind of senile because she repeated herself a lot. She also asked me all about myself, told me about herself, and then ran into a friend who worked there and told her friend all about me. They thought it was completely fascinating (or possibly insane) that I'd come by myself for one night from New York to see a band, and was spending my afternoon in a history museum. They warned me to guard my purse on 6th Street ("Oh, she's from New York, she knows that") and encouraged me to introduce myself to the band ("I'm sure they'll be so pleased that you traveled all the way from New York to see them"). This was fun although, since my time was short, a bit frustrating.
I left the museum when it closed at 6pm, and decided to walk back to my hotel to change for the concert and get in line. It immediately began to pour down raining, and I was instantly soaked, so I walked back through the rain. (I did try to buy an umbrella at a drugstore, but they were out.) I got into my hotel, dried off, quickly changed and put on makeup, and was in line a bit before 7pm. (I was a little annoyed that I didn't have time to walk through the Old Pecan Street Fall Arts Festival, but I did at least walk by it.)
There was already a pretty big line. They let us in about 8:25, and I got a second row spot on the far right of the stage. (Jerry's side). It kind of turned into a first row spot by the time they started. Frustratingly, I had to really crane my head to see William or Mike, and I couldn't see Sean at all because Jerry was blocking him. On the plus side, Jerry was right in front of me--like three feet away.
The stage was tiny. The venue was tiny--its capacity was 600. Everyone was awed to see Alice in Chains in such a tiny place.
The opening band sucked, and was followed by a comedian, who spent most of his time instructing us on how to cheer loudly and then shut up so that they could get a clear audio recording of the band members' banter. (They made a big deal about the fact that the show was being recorded, although didn't tell us why. *crosses fingers for a live acoustic album*.)
Then the band came out, and played an awesome set, mostly focusing on the Jerry-written acoustic songs. (They did play some crazy old shit--"I Can't Remember" was a surprise!) And they brought out a surprise guest for "Angry Chair"--Scott Weiland! Who didn't know the words and made a point of explaining to us that they hadn't rehearsed, but tried his best and got a couple of lyrics right. The whole thing was really friendly, relaxed, and casual. I can't tell you what an awesome experience it was to see Alice in Chains that way, after growing up with their MTV Unplugged as one of my watch-over-and-over defining musical moments.
At the end, Jerry gave out a ton of guitar picks. I actually managed to drop the first one he gave me, so he handed me another. (*grin of awe*) And Sean came by and shook many hands, including mine. Then I went to the merch booth and bought a signed limited edition poster for this show for $50. The guy next to me also wanted to buy one but was $5 short, so I gave him $5 and he spent the next ten minutes telling me how utterly grateful he was (and offering to give me $20 from an ATM, which I refused). I did go out to the ATM on my own, though, so I could get cash to buy![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
10zlaine a t-shirt.
When I exited the second time, I walked right into Mike Inez. He was handing out Alice in Chains Football t-shirts to the crowd gathered outside the door, and managed to hand me two. I was in such awe that I could barely move. Mike Inez!!! The girl next to me was upset that she hadn't gotten a t-shirt, so I gave her one of mine, figuring the good karma could only help. Then I noticed that the shirt was signed in marker by Jerry and William... I'm not so sure I'd have given it away if I'd realized that. Maybe I would've. What else am I going to do with an Alice in Chains Football t-shirt? You can't wear it, because then you'd have to wash it, and then the signatures would come off. So I have one and I'll hang it up or something.
So I was walking around with a poster signed by all four guys, a guitar pick handed to me by Jerry Cantrell, and a t-shirt signed by Jerry and William. I decided to stick around anyway, because people were just hanging out in front of the tour bus (it was parked right in front of the venue) and it's not like I had anywhere else to go. I'm glad I did stick around, because after about twenty minutes, Sean Kinney came out.
Sean Kinney!!!!
My thoughts were not articulate. I was standing right next to him. I pulled out my ticket and he signed it for me. He was chatting with people and I thought I should get out of the way, but when he had a moment I jumped in and said "Sean, can I have a hug?" And he said sure. And hugged me. Sean Kinney hugged me!!!! Someone was asking for an autograph at the time and he said "Just a minute, I'm giving a hug." And then afterward I looked at him and said "I've loved you since I was ten years old." And he said "Well, that's funny, because I'm only, like, twelve." And then threw out a bunch of other low numbers. Oops, I made Sean Kinney feel old. I wanted to banter back, but I literally lost my ability to speak. This has never happened to me before. I have never been so impressed by a celebrity that I've become inarticulate, and I tend to relentlessly mock anyone who does. Well, now I can sympathize. I really have adored Sean Kinney for over half my life, and my brain totally couldn't wrap itself around the fact that he was standing there in front of me talking. (And gave me a hug!!!!)
So then I stepped back and faded into the crowd, and decided not to stick around to meet Jerry, because I don't have the same personal admiration for him that I have for Sean. (Who is just so funny and warm every time I've seen him talk; my admiration for Jerry is more just musical, so I got all I wanted from him by seeing him perform so closely.) And I didn't know if Jerry would come out to the crowd anyway, and I wanted to go grab a local beer at one of the bars before they closed at 2am.
So I wandered around 6th Street, which turns out to be an INSANE place on a Saturday night. Like DragonCon only with drunk Texans instead of geeks. Austin really is the live music capital of the world. Bars and clubs playing every kind of music, huge lines, various cover charges, tons of people on the streets, everyone drunk and partying. I wandered into one bar where a blues band was playing a cover of Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter," and had a microbrewed Texas beer (now I forget the name of it) and then wandered into another more packed one where they were playing a mishmash of 80s rock music and classic 80s video clips. I felt like I was at someone's insane bachelor party. It was unbelievably packed and full of people dancing and drinking and partying... and this was one of the less crowded places!
I finally left at 2am, walked back to my hotel, walked around it so I could see the river, went in, packed and showered, went to sleep, slept for an hour and a half, got up at 4:30am, and took a cab to the airport. I slept on the plane, got into NYC around noon, got home around 1:30pm, and slept all day.
It was an adventure.
[Cross-posted to my InsaneJournal]
Okay, not really. But a blog post I wrote was linked from one of the New York Times blogs. And from Brooklyn Vegan, too.
*feels cool*
What else? I haven't been posting much. I've been busy, and traveling, and tired.
My office moved to Brooklyn. It sucks. I don't even have the energy to rant about it right now.
I went to Austin last weekend, for an insane mini-vacation. I had less than 24 hours to cram in my first visit to Texas, a meal, some sleep, and an Alice in Chains concert.
So, I flew in Saturday morning, arrived about noon, and took a cab to a vegan restaurant. Actually it turned out to be a yoga studio with a vegan buffet brunch. It was hippie health food, but the good satisfying kind. The entree was this cool mushrooms and tortilla chips dish, with optional jalapeno sauce, and there were all kinds of good sides like brown rice with almond sauce, and delicious beet soup, and sauteed greens with fresh basil tahini sauce, and blueberry scones, and really good mint iced tea (although no caffeine!). So I was happy. And I took that whole all-you-can-eat thing to heart, since it was my only meal of the trip.
I then called a cab which took me to my hotel--the downtown Radisson--where I dropped off my stuff, and hopped into another cab to the The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. This was actually a really cool museum, new and huge, with three levels telling the chronological history of Texas. It started with Native Americans and conquistadors, moved through the various groups of settlers, the struggle for independence, the Civil War, and ended up with the oil barons (which is where it was most obviously biased since most of their sponsors were oil companies). It was actually pretty well-rounded otherwise, especially in its portrayal of how the settlers completely screwed over the Native Americans and of how important slavery was to its early economy. (And there were lots of features showing what women, Black people, and Native Americans were up to while all this was happening.)
When I walked in, I noticed a *huge* group of people partying right outside, all down the street and beyond. It turns out this was the tailgate party for some sports game. Apparently these people try to sneak into the museum to use the bathroom, so they had guards everywhere, and you had to have a special wristband to use their bathrooms. My museum ticket was only $5.50, though, and I pretty much had the museum to myself.
As soon as I walked into their special exhibit (which was about how the changing clothing styles of Native Americans reflected the social upheaval they were experiencing) this old woman docent approached me. She was so happy to have someone to talk to that I let her lead me around the exhibit for an hour--she had some interesting things to say, although I think she was kind of senile because she repeated herself a lot. She also asked me all about myself, told me about herself, and then ran into a friend who worked there and told her friend all about me. They thought it was completely fascinating (or possibly insane) that I'd come by myself for one night from New York to see a band, and was spending my afternoon in a history museum. They warned me to guard my purse on 6th Street ("Oh, she's from New York, she knows that") and encouraged me to introduce myself to the band ("I'm sure they'll be so pleased that you traveled all the way from New York to see them"). This was fun although, since my time was short, a bit frustrating.
I left the museum when it closed at 6pm, and decided to walk back to my hotel to change for the concert and get in line. It immediately began to pour down raining, and I was instantly soaked, so I walked back through the rain. (I did try to buy an umbrella at a drugstore, but they were out.) I got into my hotel, dried off, quickly changed and put on makeup, and was in line a bit before 7pm. (I was a little annoyed that I didn't have time to walk through the Old Pecan Street Fall Arts Festival, but I did at least walk by it.)
There was already a pretty big line. They let us in about 8:25, and I got a second row spot on the far right of the stage. (Jerry's side). It kind of turned into a first row spot by the time they started. Frustratingly, I had to really crane my head to see William or Mike, and I couldn't see Sean at all because Jerry was blocking him. On the plus side, Jerry was right in front of me--like three feet away.
The stage was tiny. The venue was tiny--its capacity was 600. Everyone was awed to see Alice in Chains in such a tiny place.
The opening band sucked, and was followed by a comedian, who spent most of his time instructing us on how to cheer loudly and then shut up so that they could get a clear audio recording of the band members' banter. (They made a big deal about the fact that the show was being recorded, although didn't tell us why. *crosses fingers for a live acoustic album*.)
Then the band came out, and played an awesome set, mostly focusing on the Jerry-written acoustic songs. (They did play some crazy old shit--"I Can't Remember" was a surprise!) And they brought out a surprise guest for "Angry Chair"--Scott Weiland! Who didn't know the words and made a point of explaining to us that they hadn't rehearsed, but tried his best and got a couple of lyrics right. The whole thing was really friendly, relaxed, and casual. I can't tell you what an awesome experience it was to see Alice in Chains that way, after growing up with their MTV Unplugged as one of my watch-over-and-over defining musical moments.
At the end, Jerry gave out a ton of guitar picks. I actually managed to drop the first one he gave me, so he handed me another. (*grin of awe*) And Sean came by and shook many hands, including mine. Then I went to the merch booth and bought a signed limited edition poster for this show for $50. The guy next to me also wanted to buy one but was $5 short, so I gave him $5 and he spent the next ten minutes telling me how utterly grateful he was (and offering to give me $20 from an ATM, which I refused). I did go out to the ATM on my own, though, so I could get cash to buy
10zlaine a t-shirt.When I exited the second time, I walked right into Mike Inez. He was handing out Alice in Chains Football t-shirts to the crowd gathered outside the door, and managed to hand me two. I was in such awe that I could barely move. Mike Inez!!! The girl next to me was upset that she hadn't gotten a t-shirt, so I gave her one of mine, figuring the good karma could only help. Then I noticed that the shirt was signed in marker by Jerry and William... I'm not so sure I'd have given it away if I'd realized that. Maybe I would've. What else am I going to do with an Alice in Chains Football t-shirt? You can't wear it, because then you'd have to wash it, and then the signatures would come off. So I have one and I'll hang it up or something.
So I was walking around with a poster signed by all four guys, a guitar pick handed to me by Jerry Cantrell, and a t-shirt signed by Jerry and William. I decided to stick around anyway, because people were just hanging out in front of the tour bus (it was parked right in front of the venue) and it's not like I had anywhere else to go. I'm glad I did stick around, because after about twenty minutes, Sean Kinney came out.
Sean Kinney!!!!
My thoughts were not articulate. I was standing right next to him. I pulled out my ticket and he signed it for me. He was chatting with people and I thought I should get out of the way, but when he had a moment I jumped in and said "Sean, can I have a hug?" And he said sure. And hugged me. Sean Kinney hugged me!!!! Someone was asking for an autograph at the time and he said "Just a minute, I'm giving a hug." And then afterward I looked at him and said "I've loved you since I was ten years old." And he said "Well, that's funny, because I'm only, like, twelve." And then threw out a bunch of other low numbers. Oops, I made Sean Kinney feel old. I wanted to banter back, but I literally lost my ability to speak. This has never happened to me before. I have never been so impressed by a celebrity that I've become inarticulate, and I tend to relentlessly mock anyone who does. Well, now I can sympathize. I really have adored Sean Kinney for over half my life, and my brain totally couldn't wrap itself around the fact that he was standing there in front of me talking. (And gave me a hug!!!!)
So then I stepped back and faded into the crowd, and decided not to stick around to meet Jerry, because I don't have the same personal admiration for him that I have for Sean. (Who is just so funny and warm every time I've seen him talk; my admiration for Jerry is more just musical, so I got all I wanted from him by seeing him perform so closely.) And I didn't know if Jerry would come out to the crowd anyway, and I wanted to go grab a local beer at one of the bars before they closed at 2am.
So I wandered around 6th Street, which turns out to be an INSANE place on a Saturday night. Like DragonCon only with drunk Texans instead of geeks. Austin really is the live music capital of the world. Bars and clubs playing every kind of music, huge lines, various cover charges, tons of people on the streets, everyone drunk and partying. I wandered into one bar where a blues band was playing a cover of Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter," and had a microbrewed Texas beer (now I forget the name of it) and then wandered into another more packed one where they were playing a mishmash of 80s rock music and classic 80s video clips. I felt like I was at someone's insane bachelor party. It was unbelievably packed and full of people dancing and drinking and partying... and this was one of the less crowded places!
I finally left at 2am, walked back to my hotel, walked around it so I could see the river, went in, packed and showered, went to sleep, slept for an hour and a half, got up at 4:30am, and took a cab to the airport. I slept on the plane, got into NYC around noon, got home around 1:30pm, and slept all day.
It was an adventure.
[Cross-posted to my InsaneJournal]
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okay, so i won't laugh (out loud).
but, jeez. to go through all the bother of address changes and all that shit, money must be really tight to give up that prime office space. pretty soon, you'll be given a pay cut.