I hit the ground crawling at 11am. Finally I’ve achieved musician time, except the other musicians were still asleep. My friend Naz had to check out in minutes and needed to begin her long drive so we loaded her car and then drove to this magnificent Cuban restaurant on 6th street. The heat was already like an oppressive wall but we step inside and the dim and cool interior felt heavenly. We choose to sit out on their balcony, which is in the back of the restaurant overlooking the garden, river and courtyard. Huge fans circulate cool air, water trickled by in the canal, and the quiet Sunday morning allowed birds to serenade us. It was a real perfect spot in which to renew a friendship that has seen some fifteen years under its belt.
The lunch was spectacular and also spectacularly simple. I had a pressed pork sandwich with hand cut fries and simply THE BEST MOJITO ever. We finished up and explored a little of 6th street on foot. It was early afternoon and not many people were out. I am not sure what I expected of the famous 6th street, but I am quite sure I didn’t expect it to be quite so seedy. I found it mostly shut up, touristy and a bit rough around the edges. Later in the day, people would experience an even seedier version, but in the early Sunday afternoon, it was merely a somewhat depressing little street.
Naz and I motored back to the hotel. I can’t imagine that people can go without a car in Austin and actually get around. The city does not have sidewalks outside of the little downtown and the area we were staying was like a big outdoor mall without any way to get from one store to another without a vehicle. Everyone else had taken off for their own lunch. I loved that one group went to a vegan restaurant and the other group went to a traditional Texas BBQ place. Austin really is that bi-polar, you can feel it in the air.
Naz and I chatted while I packed up costume and gear and then she, sadly, departed. She’s been away from Boston for five years and I miss her very much, I felt glad she could drive all the way to Austin from her part of Texas to come see a show, but sad too that the time was so short.
The usual suspects were rounded up and we hit the road for the short drive to the club. Emo’s is quite a well-known place. Many of the bands I admire have played there. Likely the most notable for me was a little solo artist named Johnny Cash. I snapped copious amounts of pictures. I felt somewhat like a tourist in my own life. The show was super early but an early show means an early night. Jaggery started the night off and again I was in complete and utter awe of them, Mali’s voice portrays emotion so strongly. The day had felt surreal all along and I myself felt a bit off. Mali grounded me for the songs she played and I felt one with the music. We went on next, the sound was spectacular and playing with Mali’s band mates Toni and Daniel has allowed me to grow a great deal in a short time. I felt a synergy with them that moved the music in new directions. The keyboard, however, wasn’t feeling that synergy. It decided to somehow un-tune itself.
We started our song No Room and I could tell something was off, but I thought it was me. I was in the back of the house attempting to play along and interact with the crowd but my accordion sounded as if someone had stepped on it. I realized around 1/2 way through the song that it actually wasn’t me, it was the keyboard. Walter adjusted as well as he could and we finished the song, but it was quite strange. That song somewhat sealed the day for me. I had been feeling strange, moody, tour tired for the entire day. Like all of us were a little bit into our own worlds and swirling around each other without totally interacting. We totally dropped the piano from the rest of our set and played only guitar songs. The super unfortunate thing was that Mali was to come back and play a few songs after us and then we were coming back on. There was no way to rectify the piano situation. Everyone tried their hand and it refused to cooperate. Walter and I hit the stage again, we only played a few more songs and decided to end the night with Sea Song rather then the big blow out number we had been doing. The mood just wasn’t right for that kind of interaction.
The heat was lifting a bit and the night was darkening so I sat at the picnic tables in the courtyard. They played an hour of the move inside and I sat outside letting my body feel the movement of the earth. People hopped in and out of the periphery while I concentrated on feeling the ear through the souls of my feet.
Austin portends to be progressive, and I think, it its own way it is, but it is also a Texan town through and through. We spoke of this later in the night when a small group of us made our way back to the hotel and gathered on the balcony outside our room. Sunday night brought far fewer hookers and miscreants out and allowed us to talk without the interruption of payments through car windows and the constant movement of gentlemen in and out of the rooms of spectacularly dressed ladies.
We had all felt the somewhat strange bi-polar nature of Austin and all of us, at one point or another felt the day had been surreal. But, I think, we all agreed that the adventure had been a learning experience and for me, allowing me to grow as a member of my own band and as a member of a community of artists. I am very thankful to have been able to spend time with the people on this trip and rejoice in the fact that I have new people in my life that fuel the creative charge.
Thank you Texas, for reminding me that life is about individual sacred moments, person-to-person, soul-to-soul.
