a baby boy turns two
the baby has survived two years on earth. had some friends over for asian food feast.
I got him a mountain of fortune cookies.
« February 2010 | Main | April 2010 »
March 29, 2010
by the light of the wimberley moon
we spent the night at the wimberley place.
the moon was nice and bright.
we set out a few solar powered landscape lights along the path in to the cabin
we now have a porch deck on the smaller but taller cabin.
all the images in this post were illuminated by moon and star light with the occasional bit of light from the fire pit and the solar landscape lights.
March 23, 2010
day three sxsw 2010, stereogum party, dcfc
I had rsvp'd the three of us for the stereogum party. we still had to get there early and stand in line for 45 minutes, temps had dropped to the low 40's and we were miserable. I'd only had 3 hrs sleep. but... we got in!
free drinks, free food buffet from pluckers and three free bands and a few stand-up comics.
this party was plush compared to the other walk-in day parties we've attended.
the morning benders started us off. then wye oak from baltimore. really liked wye oaks songs and as we used to live in baltimore, we could relate to lyrics about bad neighbors or dead bodies. not exactly an easy place to live.
anyhow, while wye oak played, my knees urged me to back away from the stage and find a place to lean or sit, lean it was as there was no seating. I handed kat the camera and the rest of the great pics on this entry were taken by her.
earlier into this party I nudged kat and said, "I think I see mel, from flight of the conchords". she agreed the girl in front of me resembled mel, and I said "NO, I think that IS MEL"
when we woke up that morning, after just a few hours sleep, kat asked what I had planned for sxsw day three. she is often unfamiliar with a lot of the music I play here at the house, so I grabbed the iphone and went to youtube, loaded up Title and Registration as my favorite deathcab for cutie song.
she recognized the intro and managed to capture the whole song in glorious 720p HD. her arms were tired from holding that camera at that height, need to get her a monopod. she did a great job and I was very thankful and proud of her for her effort while christopher and I leaned on the bar and made good use of the free cocktails.
they announced a DJ was coming on for the afterparty. we had images of turntables and dance music... but we got some sort or rap that was a great contrast to the wonderful folk/rock show. the "DJ" was good to look at, but all her rapping sounded like "get out y'al. get out y'all" to us indie rock scenesters. the place emptied pretty quickly.
they raffled off screen print originals for the party poster. I was HAPPY to win one. we went to IF+D for a little shopping and kristin gave me some protection to get my poster home safely.
I was beat down dead dog tired from only three hours of sleep and three days of standing and walking.
tested out some new studio strobes on cmoore before he left. kat said he looks like a repo man.
day two sxsw 2010, night time, back stage with brady
at the beginning of sxsw day one, I was demonstrating a new iphone app by go-time called "happy hours" from Village Voice. when I opened the app I received an announcement, I had won $20 bar tab at max's wine dive! so next evening... we went to max's
we had some sangria, some pork belly and wild board pasta.
then we made our way over to cedar street courtyard to meet up with our friend brady. it was VERY cold while we waited out front. we ducked into the absinthe bar next door, peche.
our favorite absinthe drink, the corpse reviver no. 2
knowing from past sxsw experiences, this is a busy time for mr blade. we were prepared to be patient for him to text us back with our backstage entry instructions. we were surprised when he got right back to us. he instructed us to meet him asap. we had to slam those fancy absinthe drinks and run out the back door to meet brady in the alley.
I spent some quality time with exene cervenka.
I also got to spend some time catching up with someone from the neighborhood, chatted with robin while her husband jimmie vaughan finished his set. then I had to get my camera back from kat. she loves to push that button, looks like we'll be in the market for a second camera body...
one, two, three and JUMP!
the buddy miller with brady blade on drums portion of the eveing:
buddy put on a good show, he always does.
we had great real estate to enjoy the show.
hanging out with brady is one of the highlights of sxsw for us. besides his various drumming gigs, he was in town to promote his new recording studios. I also got to meet his business partner scott crompton.
these two were having a good time and she knew how to work that pole.
THE END...
I told you it was the end.
day two of sxsw 2010, the day parties
we started off at Justine's Brasserie, $1 live oak beers!
these two guys were rockin' the blues, justine did a twirl
they gave us their BEST table. we were able to see and hear the band while sipping red wine and enjoying the cheese plate and house made pate. we were happy!
we moved on to the dickies day party at the lustre pearl. I was so happy to get into this show as I knew that she & him were playing later after broken bells. we did get to see warpaint and a few other bands I don't really remember, then they forced everybody who did not have stars upon thars (golden wristband) to leave. so we did not get to see zooey and m.ward or broken bells etc.
zillionaires planning to catch some of the side show action.
March 22, 2010
day one of sxsw 2010, some highs and lows...
my friend christopher moore came in to attend sxsw as usual, he was also here to promote his newest website and magazine. he got in a bit after 2 and we were at our first show by 3. we ducked into the parlor and grabbed a pint of lunch as the band over at monkeywrench books was still setting up. the fireman's #4 was good but I didn't bother catching the name of the band.
then we saw the eastern sea.
they played in a book store. the drummer took the opportunity to catch up on some reading.
these guys were a bit pensive of the guy on the floor and his camera.
I had hoped to catch the japanese showcase on the east side, but traffic in 35 was not moving and that beer we had was. it was an easy decision to exit and head downtown.
we happened upon a good set by jason collett from broken social scene.
we ducked into the beauty bar to catch some of the bay area takeover. maybe it was bay area hip-hop day... I am not gonna say much about the girls above, they were moving it... we ducked to the back stage seeking an improvement.
and we did not find it. this guy actually sang rapped "chew it" and then explained to us "that song was about eating a girl..." you shoulda seen us make our rapid exit out the back door.
that is more like it! a real irish rock band! hoo-ray for lovejoys, and hoo-ray for seats as we had no idea how rare they were about to become.
and look! the air was clear. my wife often refuses to go in this place because they did not enforce the no-smoking law. the air was clear on this visit.
the irish bass player had a shot of jameson.
we then stopped in at a canadian showcase... I am not gonna mention the bands playing there... a girl at the bar insisted on turning my camera on us.
the best thing about the canadian showcase was that they had free food, fries with cheese curd and gravy. we also met this canadian who now lives here in austin, she had to explain the "canadian food".
I crossed paths with this photographer slinging cameras AND a guitar, we had a quick duel.
March 15, 2010
boxy kite has flaming lips
WIMBERLEY OFF-GRID PROJECT UPDATE
I am ready to spend some time applying paint and clear coat in the larger cabin. the pic above is the room divider/storage I have been working on this past week.
ZILKER KITE FESTIVAL
our annual kite flying for the zilker kite festival.
success! both our kites got some fly time.
kite-tastrophy! the tie ups are going to happen. nobody gets upset, tangles are undone and the kites go back up.
FLAMING LIPS AT THE AUSTIN MUSIC HALL 2010
wayne coyne in his space bubble
we took the 10 yo daughter along. we staked out some space on the front row so she did not have to stare at the back of tall people. but that put us right in front of LOUD speakers. I had prepared for extreme decibels and outfitted her with ear plugs.
balloon is filled with confetti and...
POP! I love how the confetti is suspended in air, keeping the shape of the balloon. eyephone did a great job. point and shoot camera did not...
had a photo shoot last night, then the camera got turned on us.
March 07, 2010
doubling up on the effort
we are making a push for a self imposed deadline on the wimberley off-grid cabins. hope to get back to at least three trips down a week.
I went down by myself this past saturday and managed to get the last of the drywall up after using a few cans of expanding foam to fill in voids and cracks.
the ceiling still needs insulation and a few sheets of plywood to cover it.
the small area to the right of the door will be covered with birch plywood and will have a small switch board for the LED lighting and a 12 volt power point that will later be connected to a bank of batteries that will later be connected to a few PV panels. no dates set on the PV panels, maybe in 2011?
I framed in the windows by making boxes from scraps left from the flooring.
next is the tape and mud followed by caulk and prime/paint. I've noticed that the battery in my logitech pure-fi anywhere and also the ipod have greatly reduced their capacity. I usually know it is getting near pack-it-up time when the music cuts off. may have to find a creative solition to the tunes. it was a bit odd working the last few hrs by myself in the silence. no ambient noise to block out those other voices...
March 01, 2010
one lonely orange chair and a string instrument
we drug a few sheets of drywall into the woods. I LOATH drywall. and it doesn't make things easier when you get the thin (cheap) drywall and your drywall screws easily pop right through. but we got it up and it now feels like a small home. so I placed the singular orange chair against the drywall for some contrast...
chairs are for sitting so....
I sat.
the ever expanding expense of child education... the daughter is receiving weekly guitar and piano instructions. the piano teacher even comes to the house! she is now preparing for middle school and signed up for orchestra. this saturday we went to westlake high school orchestra dept so she could sample different instruments and meet the private instructors offering the private (non school) lessons. her two top choices...
#1 violin
#2 bass