Texas

Back to Texas! This trip was originally going to begin with a Thursday night gig in Houston, but Hurricane Harvey cancelled it. Instead, we flew Friday to Dallas to begin the weekend's work.

D/FW

Friday: Our first stop was a public show in The Colony, which is (I think) one of those "planned community" places. The Lava Cantina has a large outdoor stage that is mostly protected from sun and weather.

This show was pretty good. The crowd was into it (free show in the suburbs!), from what I could tell. A few things that were weird: 1. the large video screen that broadcast (on a 1.5 second delay) what was happening on stage--incredibly distracting! 2. the stage was maybe seven feet high, which left me feeling pretty disconnected from the crowd. Maybe they could show the crowd on the big screen (solving both of my issues?). I did like it later in the night when people would step in front of the camera out front, blocking half of the shot with a dark, fuzzy blob. That drove the video guy crazy.

The food here was great, and the staff was excellent. No complaints!

Saturday: A wedding reception in Ft. Worth. No alcohol was allowed, so we improvised a solution.

The Modern Art Museum of Ft. Worth is pretty cool looking!...

...but maybe not ideal for a band. We set up in a round room with concrete behind us and glass in front of us--kind of an acoustic hell. The hedge was added to keep the drunk dancers from accidentally falling into us. The green room was a hallway.

Painless gig. Lots to look at.

It's Monkeyboy. Don't ask.

Sunday: Road trip to Austin! We couldn't make it without a pit stop at a Buc-Ee's, which looks like the offspring of a gas station and a Wal Mart. It's overwhelming. It's Texas big.

Tonight's gig: 3Ten Austin City Limits Live, which is an exceptionally good sounding room. Not the big room where they film the TV show, but we're in the same complex downtown.

Before the show, Zach, Bencuya, and I dined at Taverna, an outstanding Italian restaurant a few doors down. I ate an entire pizza. Cute waitress.

Highlights from the show: a drunk hippie-dancing chick latched onto Zach while he was working--a very entertaining side show. Also, the PA briefly died during the show, and no one in the audience seemed to notice. These two things were not connected.

Pretty solid crowd for a Sunday night, I thought.

Monday: Hurricane Irma was bearing down on Atlanta today, so we switched to a flight that left Austin at 6:10 AM--painfully early. However, we beat the storm home, which was all that really mattered. I slept like a dead guy on the plane.

photo cred: Peter Olson