Some random stuff that happened in Austin:

The AEV got broken into.  One evening while we were downtown, thieves smashed out the passenger side window and made off with everything they could grab, namely our navigation system, iPod, some towing accessories, a box of crackers, a travel blanket and a couple of CDs.  For some reason, they stole the Jeep’s registration and owner’s manual as well.

The most irritating part was the loss of the AEV for almost three weeks while the window got replaced.  By means of offering a one-finger salute to the unknown thieves:  y’all should’ve looked in the cargo area, because you missed a $300 LightStick towing light, a $1100 Brake Buddy auxiliary towing unit still in the box, a $100 emergency kit and a six-pack of Lone Star beer that we forgot to take inside after a grocery trip that afternoon, you larcenous shitheads.  Just to show the world that it wasn’t going to get us down, we even gave that beer away to some homeless guys.

On a considerably less aggravating note, we also discovered new music.  Literally–while tromping through a riverbed in the park, looking for photo shoot locations for Lexie, I stumbled across a still-wrapped CD in the mud.  It turned out to be a disc by a German punk rock band called Oxymoron.  We cleaned it off, gave it a listen, liked it, and added it to the music collection.  How it ended up in the river in its shrink wrap is a mystery of viral marketing that will probably never be solved.  Too bad the band seems to be defunct.

We also discovered thrifting joy in the form of the Goodwill Blue Hanger Store.  This no-frills shop seems to be the last stop for clothing, books and linens that don’t sell at the regular Goodwill stores.  It’s basically a large room full of wooden bins, and if you want to find something, you’ll have to dig for it.  With clothes at a flat fee of $1.25 and books $1, however, it can be worth a few hours of rooting about.  Lexie and I made several trips, coming home with (among other things) a nearly-new Coleman sleeping bag, a serviceable pair of Carhartt overalls for me, a fancy black dress for Lex, and a hardcover copy of Stephen King’s Duma Key, as well as a stack of other readables.

While in Austin, we did a bit of a fashion shoot, too.  Lexie shot some promotional photos for LastWear, a Seattle-based producer of unique steampunk and martial arts-inspired clothing.  The shoots were fun, and the results were, of course, pretty cool as well.   As for the clothes…well, after you’ve worn a pair of hakama pants with cargo pockets, you’ll wonder why you ever wore anything else.

We also got cupcakes from "Hey Cupcake's" roving cupcake truck. That's right, a roving cupcake truck. Awesome.

Hurray for the Riffraff at SXSW 2009

We liked Hurray for the Riffraff, who came to SXSW from New Orleans.  The band consists of a stand-up bass, a dulcimer, an accordion, a banjo and a trumpet; the music has shades of Rasputina and the Ditty Bops, and they have a cool, shy sort of stage presence.  Watching one of their members play accordion and trumpet at the same time was kind of interesting, too.

I liked Tokyo-based Asakusa Jinta, though Lexie was somewhat less than impressed.  This eclectic seven-piece band is an unlikely (and on the surface, ill-advised) collision of punk rock and marching band.  Osho, the lead singer, is mesmerizing as he slaps away at his custom-made, metal-framework stand up bass, and the band’s high-energy set has an infectious exuberance that make it clear why the group calls itself an “Asianica Hard March” band.  At SXSW they performed at the relatively small Elysium, but when they’ve got more room they will reportedly march right into the audience during their show.

Natccu at SXSW 2009. This image is horribly blown out because Emmy took it instead of Lexie.

While we were resting between sets at one of the venues, a Japanese woman in rockstar sunglasses came up, handed us a flyer and shyly asked, “My name is Natccu. Will you please come to my show tomorrow?”  She was so charmingly adorable that I said I would, and I wasn’t disappointed.  Natccu’s sound is a fusion of Shonen Knife and The Faint, if you can imagine that.  She sings in English and Japanese (though she sounds better in her native tongue), and partway through her performance I realized that she was reading her between-song patter from a piece of paper on the floor at her feet. She speaks English, but apparently wanted to be sure she got her words right. “Texas Austin is very big. And very hot,” she said, then looked at her feet. “It makes me want to drink beer. But there is no beer here. So…” She looked at her feet again, then smiled and bent down and picked up her cheat-sheet. “So let’s drink water instead!” And with a “kampai!” she did just that. Super-cute.

Amanda Palmer at SXSW 2009

We were very happy to catch the solo performance by Amanda Palmer, of the Dresden Dolls.  “Showmanship” and “stage presence” are the operative words.  Palmer performed alone, with just an electric piano. Before she started, however, she walked to the front of the stage and belted out an a capella, un-microphoned, goosebump-raising rendition of “The Wind that Shakes the Barley.” This was an excellent way to get our attention. The show was very casual; the venue was actually a local church that had been commandeered by SXSW, and Palmer spent as much time talking to the audience and telling stories about her songs as she did performing. Most amusing was that she had prepared a noisy set based on her past (loud bar with lots of patrons not paying attention) experience at SXSW, only to find herself slotted in at the church.  She said she felt kind of silly, playing loud, angry songs while everyone sat quietly in the pews. This didn’t stop her, of course, but she did a lot of set changeover to play quieter stuff. She also performed a cute duet with Margaret Cho who popped up as a surprise supporting performer.

In the end, though, we have to say that the White Ghost Shivers won SXSW.  Oh, I know what you’re thinking:  “But SXSW isn’t a competition!”  Doesn’t matter.  They still won.  Who, what, why are the White Ghost Shivers?  Stay tuned.

Local Austin industrial band Tungsten Coil peforms at SXSW 2009

You don’t have to be a music snob to appreciate and enjoy the city-wide madness that is Austin’s annual South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival (though it helps if you live outside the city). Revered and reviled by locals and tourists alike, SXSW brings over two thousand performers to the city for a four-day orgy of fresh faces and new talent in mid-March. Though the festival started out with countless local and unsigned acts, these days a large number of well-known performers turn up as well. The shows are spread between over seventy venues, with dozens of concerts happening simultaneously all over the city. Various venues are set up to highlight particular segments of the musical landscape, with nights devoted to Japanese, Spanish and hip-hop bands, among other themed nights. As if that wasn’t enough to keep you occupied, the SXSW Music Festival takes place in conjunction with the SXSW Film Festival and the SXSW Interactive Festival, which is aimed at “digital creatives” and “visionary technological entrepreneurs” and highlights cutting edge online and other technologies. The level of activity in the city during SXSW verges on the ridiculous; the streets are alive with music, food, alcohol, flash mobs and free hugs.

This year’s SXSW music festival included something for just about every music taste, from the modern ragtime of the White Ghost Shivers to a special appearance by heavy metal legend Metallica. Crowded venues and shifting schedules mean that SXSW can be difficult to navigate at times, and it’s best to get a schedule and determine who you want to see so you can plan ahead. Big-name acts will play relatively small venues, resulting in over-capacity shows, and the sets are short and lean. Think of SXSW as a musical sampler buffet, rather than a full meal. We took a relaxed pace and still managed to see no fewer than twelve bands in our four days attending the shows.

Amanda Palmer organized a flash-mob pillow fight on Sixth Street, and Lexie was there!

Getting in to hobnob with the elite and see the performers is a complicated process. An elaborate system of wristbands and badges provides access to various parts of the festival and is recommended, as attempting to pick and choose by paying the cover charges for only the bands you want to see tends to put you at the back of a long line. Wristbands allow access to as many events as you can stomach, and cost $165 to $180. SXSW badges offer a wider range of admission, as well as a higher spot in the pecking order (which can mean the difference between getting into a crowded venue and being stuck outside), and are available with varying levels of access from $300 to $1145 (all prices are for the 2009 event. For 2010 details, check out http://www.sxsw.com).

We have no idea what this girl was doing, but she looked cool doing it.

If you want to forego the expensive badges and wristbands and avoid fighting the crowds, SXSW is also rife with free stuff. Simply walking the streets of downtown Austin during the festival, you’ll be able to hear many of the performers as the music spills out of Sixth Street’s many bars and clubs. Street performers abound, and more than a few of the headlining bands are all too happy to show up for impromptu sidewalk performances as well. SXSW provides an opportunity for up-and-coming bands to connect with new fans and music industry insiders alike.

Japanese glam-rockers Quaff filming a music video on Sixth Street.

A few insiders’ tips: Parking, which is difficult in downtown Austin at the best of times, will be virtually non-existent during SXSW. The meters don’t need to be paid after 5:30pm, but finding a street-parking spot becomes nigh-impossible much earlier than that, even if you’re willing to walk twenty blocks. Street-parked cars are also susceptible to break-ins; Austin is a hip town, but it’s also still a big city with its share of miscreants, so be sure to hide your valuables. Surface lots and garages are open, with rates at twice what they’ll cost on a normal night. Parking outside of downtown is possible, as Austin’s Capital Metro buses, independent taxis and human-powered pedicabs compete for riders and space on the crowded streets.  And if the stress of SXSW is too much for you, there are always the free hugs.

If it weren’t for the noisy music and clever faux-stone painted walls, you might mistake the place for a typical honky-tonk bar:  you’ve got a dance floor and a stage at one side, some tables and circular velvet couches in the center, and the bar and some red- covered pool tables at the other end, and you’re constantly going up or down steps: two down onto the dance floor, or one up to the bar.  There’s an outdoor patio as well, for people-watching.  Look closer, though, and you’ll notice the Bauhaus and concert posters on the walls, and random sigils and art that decorate the walls.  Austin does have a goth scene, and this is the place most of them call home.  It’s also where the noisy folks like Funker Vogt and Voltaire come to play, when they’re in town.

Arrive early and you’ll think that there aren’t many people in the aforementioned scene, but by midnight the Elysium’s too crowded to throw an elbow, on most Saturday nights.  The dance floor is old-school wood and a bit smaller than average, because the club’s set up for live music, the bread and butter of Austin’s club scene.   On Haven nights, the stage is open for showing off if you like.  Be careful, though–the surface is a little bit uneven.

Like the Church, Elysium’s staff and patrons are friendly, especially if you’re dressed to the nines and beyond.  Most any form of dress is acceptable, however.

The sound system is also biased toward live music, so the sound is better at one end of the dance floor than the other.  There’s the requisite smoke machine, of course.  A good Haven night will lean heavily toward older synthpop and very new stompy stuff:  VNV Nation, And One, Faderhead, ohGr, Ladytron and Combichrist.  Expect a bit of Depeche Mode and Ladytron to pop also, as well as the odd Rammstein throwback.  Resident DJs Void and The Gothfather spin a good mix that’s fairly constant throughout the night, and since they always play the original mix of “Le Disko” by Shiny Toy Guns, never bothering with any of the many nasty remixes, they get a thumbs-up from me.

Austin’s unique for its social makeup, in which seasoned hippies rub elbows with college-age hipsters, new-money industrialists, hardworking laborers and an army of musicians.  Oh, yes, Nashville calls itself the Music City, but Austin’s got a great deal more to interest us tune-wise, because its music scene’s a lot more diverse.  We arrived in town just in time for the annual South by Southwest music festival, which we’ll talk about later.

While you’re downtown getting a feel for the college-y Sixth Street bar district, or its more mature counterpart over on Fourth, be sure to arrive before dusk to check out the bats.  The South Congress bridge, over what looks like a river but is actually called Lady Bird Lake or Town Lake, depending on which end of it you’re at, is the summer home of the largest urban colony of Mexican freetailed bats in North America.  Over 1.5 million of these tiny midnight fliers roost under the bridge, and at sunset they head out to take care of business.  The daily exodus is something to see, as the masses of bats take to the air in a steady flow lasting forty minutes or more.  Don’t be afraid; a large crowd gathers nightly to see them take off, and the bats don’t pose any threat to humans.   These little guys eat insects–up to 10,000 to 20,000 pounds a night, which helps to keep the mosquito population down–and aren’t interested in getting tangled in your hair.

This diverse town also offers many places to eat, of course.  It would take years to visit them all, but we can recommend Banzai and Ichiban for sushi and excellent Japanese fare, the tree-themed Woodland for a fantastic breakfast or elegant supper, Curra’s Grill for outstanding Tex-Mex and local favorite Threadgill’s for homestyle American cuisine.  If you want it, you can probably find it.  Looking for Thai?  Try Thai Passion, downtown.  How about Romanian?  Austin’s got you covered; head up to the tiny, family-owned Drakula.  Austin’s also home to the Alamo Drafthouse, a premier dinner-and-a-movie joint.

It seems as though even the “regular” businesses in Austin are somehow cooler.  Why bother with Blockbuster when you’ve got I Luv Video, whose shelves are stocked with just about every obscure and cult DVD you could ask for?  Where most video stores are hard-pressed to offer a full selection of anything but the newest releases, I Luv Video has sections devoted to specific directors’ entire catalogs.  There’s a row containing nothing but classic silent films.  The knowledgeable staff is also well-versed in cinematic trivia, and stickers with commentary on the films at hand are common throughout the store.  Thumbnail reviews by the staff are also found at Book People.  This massive independent bookstore is a great place for browsing.

Speaking of browsing, the South Congress Street antique shopping district is also worth a weekend walk.  You’re guaranteed to find something you didn’t know you needed at Uncommon Objects, to see an awesome rat rod or a flotilla of Vespa scooters parked or on the road, and don’t forget to hit the carnival goodness that is the Big Top candy shop.

RV camping is a bit spendy in downtown Austin (unless you’re coming from California).  The Pecan Grove RV park is a quaint, retro-style park that’s literally right in the heart of downtown, within walking or biking distance to most of the stuff we just talked about as well as the lovely Zilker Park and Barton Creek Springs.  We stayed at Pecan Grove for a few days, then moved farther out of town to save money.  If you’re willing to trek ten or fifteen miles out of town, the prices are more reasonable.  We pulled into the Highway 71 RV Park expecting to stay for a week or two, and wound up settling in for quite a while.  Highway 71 has a decent mix of vacationers and long-term residents, extremely clean facilities, free wi-fi and a friendly staff.   If you stay near the man-made pond, the resident ducks will come to your door begging for handouts and heedless of the fact that bread isn’t particularly good for them (we gave them cat food).

More on Austin shortly…

Credit: the churchpictures.com

Dallas’ Lizard Lounge hosts a couple of noisy-stuff nights a week, under the name The Church.  On Thursdays and Sundays, the DJs spin neo-gothic, industrial and electro (that’s according to The Church’s website) tunes in one of the cooler club environments I’ve experienced.

The Lizard Lounge isn’t a goth club every night of the week, but the atmosphere and building lend themselves well to the task.  The building dates to 1899 and is registered in the Texas Haunted Building Registry, so that’s a good start.  Head through the front door and you’ve got a choice of turning left, right or going straight, up a curved staircase.  To the left, you’ll find the main bar and a good-sized, multi-level dance floor that includes a platform with a stripper pole.  A seating area curves around the front of the dance floor with a walkway in between, providing good people-watching space.  The sound system is fantastic, loud enough to make your chest hurt but clean enough to keep the music clear and distortion-free.  The lighting and other décor are equally well put together.  Random trivia:  the video for Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock & Roll” was filmed in this building.

On the other side (that is, if you turn to the right after entering) you’ll find a more conventional dance floor and a secondary bar, as well as the doors to an outdoor patio.  There’s smoking allowed inside the bar as well (though that may reportedly change soon depending on Texas law) but when the weather permits the fresh air is nice.  The two downstairs dance floors connect at the rear in a small maze of hallways and seating areas.

Done exploring yet?  Nope.  Upstairs there are wingback chairs lining the balcony, the better for people-watching and socializing, and yet another small bar.  Plenty of places to get your drink on in the Church.

The Church’s main dance floor is the most fun, and it’s where the club’s carnival atmosphere is most noticeable.  The multi-tiered space is shallower than most dance floors, which gives it a very stagelike feeling.  There’s no fading into the background here; if you’re dancing, the people watching can see you.  Rather than being intimidating, however, the Church’s dance floor is inviting.  Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, the friendly regulars would be happy to see you take a turn on the pole, or up on the uppermost stage level.  The social hierarchy isn’t oppressive, unless of course you’re a complete jerk in which case the security staff will politely ask you to leave.  Otherwise, the Church wants you to come in, have a drink or two, meet someone, and go strut your stuff on the dance floor when you’re ready.

In my six or eight trips to the Church, the music has gone one of two ways.  Of course, I’m happiest when it leans toward the noisy end of the spectrum, with Rob Zombie, Skinny Puppy, Combichrist and VNV Nation well represented.  DJ Joe Virus is creative, too, putting together excellent “themed” sets:  the “R. Lee Ermey” and “nasty girl” groupings are especially cool, as is the Homestar Runner/Rammstein mashup that’s only available at the Church, to the best of my knowledge.    On other nights, the Church’s main floor is a retro-New Wave paradise, all a-swirl with Depeche Mode, Dead or Alive, Sisters of Mercy and Shriekback.  If New Wave is your thing, the Church’s smaller dance floor is perpetually stuck in the Day-Glo Eighties.  This lends itself well to long club nights; bored of one kind of noise?  You can go over and relax to another.

Of the clubs I’ve been to, the Church comes the closest to creating that “home” feeling that I get back in Detroit, at City Club.  We don’t pretend to have an objective club-ranking system, but to date I will call the Church my second-favorite dancin’ place, and that’s high praise indeed.

This did not go as smoothly as we’d hoped.  The first few nights were fine; the Incorrigible was under the knife at Camping World, having our new Everpure water filtration system installed, and the folks at the Denton, TX, store were happy to let us camp out in their lot for a couple of days, even loaning us an electrical hookup one night when the temperatures got chilly.  We have a new set of tires on order, and plan to return to Denton to have them installed when the time comes.

After that, however, it got a bit rocky.  Close to downtown Dallas, the Wal-Marts we found proved to be very RV-unfriendly, and we were kicked out of the lot after parking for only three hours in the middle of the day (even though we made a point of patronizing the store to stock up on groceries).  “NO OVERNIGHT PARKING” signs barred the entrance to every lot we checked out as night fell, and we eventually wound up driving the Incorrigible to the Lizard Lounge, where we danced the night away and the management was kind enough to let us stick around in their parking lot until the next morning.  It was definitely the shortest drive home after clubbing we’ve ever had!

The next day, we went in search of a roosting spot, and had to venture all the way to Irving before we found a friendly Wal-Mart.  The next night found us back out in Denton, where we risked stopping in the Golden Triangle Mall’s lot.  Mall lots are generally an iffy proposition, but as night fell, the mall closed, and nobody harassed us, we figured we might be okay for the night.

Wrong!  The security guard woke us up at one in the morning and told us we had to move.  Why he didn’t knock on the door at ten, when it was clear that we planned to stay the night, I have no idea.  I was polite, and got the Incorrigible out of there in less than five minutes.  When we’re boondocking in a parking lot, I always keep the motorhome and Jeep ready to leave at a moment’s notice; we don’t set up the computer table inside, use the leveling jacks, or take the Jeep out of neutral.  It was a five minute drive to the Denton Wal-Mart, and we overnighted there.

It was all too much trouble in the end, and we decided to rent a hook up at one of the inexpensive RV slots at the Lewisville Lake Park.  We hadn’t budgeted for a nightly hookup, but the $16 overnight fee wasn’t much more than it would’ve cost to dump our waste tanks anyway (which also needed to be done) and we wanted to get at least one night’s sleep without having to keep an ear open for security guards.  It was a good decision; the park allowed us to host some local friends for a dinner of venison (remember our Alabama adventure?) and an extremely tasty brown rice recipe that Lexie makes.

Out in Grand Prairie, halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, there’s a massive outdoor flea market called Trader’s Village.  Outdoor flea markets are popular just about anywhere that it doesn’t snow regularly, and there’s always interesting stuff to be found.  Trader’s Village is one of the biggest we’ve seen, however.

With a permanent location in what appears to have once been a self-storage facility, the vendors had just about everything:  furniture, car parts, musical instruments, books, CDs, antiques, sugar gliders, four wheelers, kitchenware and clothing.  A carnival-like atmosphere is provided by the amount of walkaround food that’s available: while Lexie looked at rugs, I munched on an ear of roasted corn and a roast turkey leg.

While in town, we also attended the “Underground” art show put on by ArtLoveMagic.  Featuring local artists, the show was a dizzying blur of mixed-media presentations, music, poetry, photography and socialization, and the only thing that was missing was a larger display space than the Janette Kennedy art gallery, which was overwhelmed by the number of attendees.  Our friend Kevin Steele had a booth just around the corner from The Crow creator James O’Barr’s.  ArtLoveMagic is dedicated to developing and showcasing local talent in and around Dallas, and organizes regular events around town.

Other random travel notes: we found two awesome places for food and workin’ on the computer:  Banter, in Denton, and Buli, in downtown Dallas.  The report on both is the same:  awesome food, creative non-alcoholic drinks and a comfortable environment.  Buli especially is notable for serving our wickedly tasty sandwiches in old-school lunchboxes. Cool.