"Our Trip to Austin
Oh Boyoboy back jack loooooong triiiiip!
we all sang and danced and played and
sang and slept and peed and slept and laughed. crusty and crispy and dirty and banging about with Cornfed at the wheel shooting us from wherever texas
to la this morning 6 am... no cars of ours in the lot tho... hadnt thought of that...
More thinkin bout the goood times we had in and to and back from AUSTIN and South By South West.... Swimmin in the city's beautiful river, ears
submerged eyes fixed on sky sky breathing clouds clouds by and by drifting down blissful river... Eating BARBEEEKEW hot nasty perfect bbq warm pig
love and love and love. The idea of consuming animals on my mind all the while and the idea of it simply the idea....as a thing to sit on the
idea...and eat on the idea...and with a smile and thanks we did eat and left any question of natural disturbance to the jury of our stomachs, who
ruled 'Yay!' (I think!)
We played 3 shows in Austin. It was my first time there, I believe...and the gangs first time collectively... We got there after much muchness about
the Good Bus stopping on us somewhere in the dark and long jokes and soft tequila till sunrise, that time that fixes all things, and we were on our
way again... tho I'd better thank Paul or Pete the good ol boy who got us going again priming our engine and bleeding rough charm. And Chris Angel too
the marine on his way to see his mama for a few weeks before heading off to Afghanistan - he picked me up on the side of the road and drove me all
around and we talked bout the world and what he's seen and his reasoning/confusion for being in the marines and how much flack he gets from people
bout it and all that. I didnt give him flack, but I did tell him a fact - that if everyone made a commitment to peace, war would be no longer. I hope
and pray for him.
When we pulled in our housing arrangements more or less fell thru so I hopped on Craigslist and found a house for rent. A little sort of flop-house
from a shifty sweet girl who took our cash and split. We drove the good bus right into the back yard and set up a tent and a fire pit and home.
Our first Show was at a place called the Parish room and kinda felt churchy now that I think about it... was a bit empty and my nerves were gettin at
me - the noise and amount of humans out on that street that human corridor of bustle seemed to overwhelm the sound system. Cristo was scramblin tryin
to get the sound together while I was having a drink fixed on the 10 foot perimeter the audience had formed around the stage, as if some invisible
barrier was there, disallowing them to come any closer... I took a breath and dropped into myself, the I, relaxed for power as a conductor of
electricity, thru and thru and thru.
by our third song the people had come right up to the stage and gazers from the outside had ventured in, packing the room. I clam up now writing about
our own show... I will leave that to others. I will say tho that it was, up to that point, the best we had played as a band. And also that I was a
smiley smiley man afterwards, wandering thru the people and into the streets, energized, loving, wild.
Our friends DAWES and FOOLS GOLD played the next day and some of us went along but I just had to be at the house, feeling some kind of
extra-terrestrial exhaustion.
The next day was Saturday and we had two shows - one, the 'hottest party at south-by' and the other a 2 AM send-off show. The first was for Rachel
Ray, the cooking show hostess, with lines around the block and vip lounges and the NEW YORK DOLLS and free food and us... For us the show was less
than our best...quite a bit less than our best. Between the piano shorting out (tequila spilled into it), the bass cutting in and out, and generally
fucked up sound (most of us couldnt hear much of what was going on), our focus was splintered and the songs rammed and banged along in a cloud of
feedback and noise...still the point must have spilled across as a good man from NPR came up to me and informed me that he cried during the set...
tears of joy I could live on tears of joy.
That night at 2AM was indeed redemption time.
We unloaded instruments onto the busy sidewalk and waited for the speed-punk band with a dedicated following of elbow-throwers to finish up while we
smoked joints and sat against the walls and fell asleep (really only Tay fell asleep as only Tay is master of the curb-nap).
Finally on stage we took Kanye-long to soundcheck cuz we didnt wanna have another show with crap sound but the people were gettin frisky and shouting
'get on with it' and all that and the photographer for Spin yelled 'you guys better be good!' referring to the time/reward ratio that we were pulling
everyone thru... but the crowd seemed to gather more and more, ready for one last chance ecstatic experience of the festival, or just curious as to
what all these strange folk were doing up on stage making noise...
Cristo was having trouble gettin it together but we had to start or face some kind of mutiny (I had just overheard some lady acting very authorized
yelling at someone managing things that the DJ's were ready and why the fuck werent we off stage already...)
We dove into the songs and began, and instanly we all knew what was happening - the best show, playing, communion, music, trust, psychic tuning,
movement that we had done up to that point was happening and would continue to grow and build.
We played for an hour and fifteen minutes, the last fifteen at the insistence of the people. The people who came up to us and hugged us and looked
into our eyes with infinite smiles and cried and thanked us and who WE THANKED and THANKED and THANK and THANK!!!! We all sang together! all of us!
the whole room, the walls, the roof, we SANG! with tears and teeth and bright beaming bursts we all fucking sang and it was glorious!
And then, later, we slept. Then we cleaned up camp and came on home, first stopping at the River for a swim, then at the Salt Lick for that bbq...
Thank you all. Thank you people, Pete or Paul, Chris Marine, singers, helpers, clappers, dancers, lovers, friends and family, pigs and river!!
to infinity and beyond
=E"
Taken from their mysapce blog.
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