Austin ModHouse

we knew it would happen at some point, and we talked about this day, but somehow, it wasn't real till we drove away; just the two of us.  #2 son started preschool.  I am way behind on several projects, mainly because I can only get an hour or two a day to work on them.  the #2 son was a full time job. 

he jumped right into the class like he had always been there, sat in his chair and started to participate.  we waved good-bye and he reciprocated, we just walked away... 

then later that afternoon a yellow school bus pulled into the driveway.  I could see him waving from inside. 

he said school was fun.  no big deal.  no drama or tears, just fun.

SWIM SPA:

I installed a new liner in the swim spa.  the ugly one leaked from day one, I think it was as defective as it was ugly.  the replacement went in MUCH easier and is a better fit for the house.  solid blue with a single white stripe.

and #2 son was having so much fun around the water, he dropped a garden stake into the pool.  kat tried to fish it out, but she managed to push it between the liner and the duct work...  so I had to get into that cold cold water. 

I had to use a screw driver to remove a section of the duct to get that stake out.  I didn't expect to have my first swim in march when the water was still cold. 

we went to maria's taco xpress for hippie church sunday, the gospel project was playing.  singer PJ came over to our table and sang to #2 son (video at the bottom of this entry)

FOOD:

kat had requested wasabi pea crusted salmon, while getting ingredients from the pantry I found an old bag of goldfish crackers and adjusted the menu. 

the salmon had a lovely golden crunchy coating.

the weather has been great for dining in the screened room.  we had many dinners there this week, the guest list included my dad, artist sharon kyle kuhn even exene cervenka came and shared a meal with us.  I also helped watch the merch table at exene's show at the mohawk friday night.  working the merch table was not nearly as interesting as I had imagined.  I did get to enjoy part of her show.  she kicked off her north american tour here, catch her if you can.  tour dates here

a friend of ours just bought her first house, and it's very near us.  we went over for dinner and #2 son was THRILLED to find a mostly empty room and a big mirror. starting a home from scratch can be an overwhelming task.  she didn't have enough dishes or cutlery, luckily we anticipated this and we brought our own wine glasses and opener.  we urged her to make the drive to ikea.  the next day she had her first ikea experience.  looking fwd to seeing all the new kitchen gear and home accessories she surely found there. 

misc. food pics from the week:

Posted by paul at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I start to rsvp for parties weeks prior to sxsw.  I would inform kat of my plans and I quickly picked up on her lack of enthusiasm.  she explained "the only thing I want to do for sxsw is see brady play".  so the last day of sxsw had us biking in the park with the kids then taking them back to my mom's and going back to the tour bus. I'd started to refer to the bus as "the deathstar".  when the setting sun hits the side of that big black behemoth it creates a hot spot on the side where we had enjoyed loitering.

parking for sxsw can be a real hassle.  problem solved, affix a blade studios sticker to the e39 and we got artist parking on the street outside the W next to the blade studios deathstar.

we went back to la condesa for the third time this sxsw.  and we met some girls again.  cmoore didn't have to buy them drinks as they were already lit and talked our ears off.  karma?

we walked to brady's gig at red eyed fly on red river st, the HUGE full moon guiding us.

Maggie Bjorklund was on stage when we got there.  like!  her cd comes out tomorrow.

schedules are tight at sxsw.  bands typically hit the stage on time, have a few minutes to check mic levels and get the show started.  when they are done they break it down and get off stage as the next band is usually standing there waiting.  easy to see many bands in a short amount of time.

exene cervenka with brady blade on drums, will sexton on bass, maggie bjorklund on steel guitar and cindy wasserman on vocals.

we all had dinner at stubb's bbq after the show.

I found this beauty queen outside of stubb's bbq.  I grabbed CMoore as I figured they'd be perfect for each other.  she was screaming "I NEED BEEF, I NEED BEEF!"  I explained "he is MADE OF BEEF!"  she smiled and took a bite of him.  life can be full of surprises.

cmoore getting the drink order in while they set up the table.  I'm not a big carnivore but stubb's was pretty good.  I especially don't like to eat right off a bone.  I was happy that kat picked select pieces off her ribs for me and cindy fed me really spicy creamed spinach.  I'm spoiled and happy that way.  sxsw was coming to a close. 

we walked cindy back to the driskill and said our goodbyes and hugs. 

we dove into the sxsw crowd, found a corner to just sit and people watch.  brady was happy to have the opportunity to relax, just to sit back and watch...

we were amused by this guy with a propeller on his head and mismatched shirt/pants.  I snuck a pic of him and we all had a good laugh at ourselves when he later pulled out a camera and took pics of us...  karma again?

 sxsw 2011 is over and I'd like to thank my mom for watching the kids, and also my wife.

and to all the beautiful people who bought me drinks, tacos and helped get me in the back door or parking:

christopher moore, brady blade, scott crompton, cindy wasserman, exene cervenka, raven lorthos, jerry fitzpatrick, genevive (la condesa), kimball packard, maggie bjorklund, will sexton, filming louisiana magazine, guero's, la swanda, trombone shorty, mother falcon and quiet company...

and sorry to those that I rsvp'd to your parties or promised to come see your band.  I may have bitten off more than I can chew. 

Posted by paul at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

friday of sxsw 2011, we picked up brady and some of the guys from the bus and had lunch at guero's, cindy wasserman also joined us.  we went next door for exene's show at the yard dog for bloodshot records.

brady jumped on stage and they got right to it. 

exene seemed pleased with how everything fit, explained this was the first time they'd all played together.  the crowd was appreciative of the effort put out for them.

maggie bjorklund on the steel guitar and brady blade keeping time.  it was crowded in there so I had to take all the pics from one location. 

we all went to guero's outdoor stage area for margaritas after the set.  some band that I won't mention was playing as hard and as loud as they could.  sort of made me appreciate silence and seemed ironic under that big peaceful oak tree.  so we left.

we all went to threadgill's to catch dave alvin.  they had texas swing band outside under the oaks and it was real crowded inside.  scott crompton, jerry (rock/roll bus driver) and I took the chance to get a moment of relaxation out there.  I caught a small bit of the dave alvin show, exene later stated that his was one of the best she saw at sxsw.

brady picked up my camera and fired off a few rounds, cmoore driving and jerry the professional driver take the opportunity to not watch the road.  then brady turned the camera on me. 

I ducked out early, went home and made dinner for my family and enjoyed the weather by eating in the screen room.  cmoore, brady and co went on to see the north missisppi all stars and steve wynn at momo's.

Posted by paul at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

our friend brady arrived yesterday, complete with tour bus.  we made our way downtown and pretty much camped out there most of the day.

we did get into the HBO Treme party.  I won a bar tab using a new app called Livetapp.  the bar staff did not recognize my valuable iphone bar tab app bar tab prize.  so I found the CEO of Livetapp and he made good on his app's award, he bought our beers. 

HBO had a film crew there interviewing people about their new orleans experiences.  Cmoore offered some words, I thought it best not to share my NO stories.

exene cervenka and brady blade joined us in the courtyard of the ghost room.

back to the bus.  it was probably 4 pm by this time.  I'd still not had any lunch (solid food at least)

we found papa mali on the bus and we all shared some good stories from the early years of the killer bees.  turns out I had left my wallet in papa mali's apartment back in ...85, 86?  he had made sure I got it back, but I never knew he was also the same guy as papa mali.  we play his music is on the playlist here at amh, not knowing he was the guy I wanted to thank for his good deed 25 years ago.  good times with good people.

Jerry Fitzpatrick, our rock and roll bus driver displaying his collection of back stage passes.  he even drove for the grateful dead.  he's got a book coming out with all the details...

we spent most of the day just hanging around the bus, drinking beer.  I did manage to find a red delicious apple after doing a lot of whining over the fact that I got no real lunch.

people came and went all day long, one of the guys from wide spread panic visited for a while.  then there were a lot of interviews, we found some camp chairs in the luggage compartment and moved our talking and beer drinking to the sidewalk outside the bus, that's legal right?

CMoore's promo girl he hired to promote his magazine stopped by to pick up flyers to hand out, we had other stuff to do.

I finally managed to peel cmoore away from the prevost...

we let Genevieve at la condesa order for us.  the kitchen spent the next hour shuffling plates of delicious food for us to sample.  cmoore got friendly with some girls from urban outfitters (he bought them a round of drinks, they smiled at us for a while and then turned their backs to us)  maybe I did start in on how awesome my wife and kids are...  I was thinking of home by this time.

we heard rachel ray was also there, if you've not eaten there, you should.  not your every day mexican food and candy for the eyes as well.

after dinner, we met back at the tour bus and the whole group of us made it over to Antone's to see Emmylou Harris.  the guy at the back door was not too happy about our mob.  refused to let us all in and I was OK by that as I've been in Antone's when it's crowded, hot and uncomfortable!

Brady quickly regrouped and we ducked into another venue a few doors down.  and then I heard it...  QUIET COMPANY was on stage.  one of my favorite local bands. 

as they always do, they put on a tight set with lots of energy.

the horn section was a nice addition.

then it was back to antone's.  Emmylou had called brady and asked him to come back.  I stayed outside, chatting to papa mali and listening to cmoore rant about the doorman at antone's. 

two more days of sxsw...

Posted by paul at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

first day of sxsw music 2011 and we caught a day show at the skanky possum.  mother falcon issued another great set.  lots of fun and energy.  love these people! 

that thing in the middle is a bassoon (the instrument, not the hairy dude).  makes music, not a smoking device.  we learned something.

they sort of remind me of edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros, except they have more than one good song and smell better too.

we left the skanky possum location on the east side to head downtown.  we had to track down cmoore's promotional girl he'd hired to promote his Louisiana Film Magazine.  we figured it was easier on us to hire somebody to do the actual work for us, the plan seemed to have worked!  thank you promotional girl, and thank you skanky possum and the mother falcon. 

saint arnold's brewery was hosting a party at the gingerman.  bands played on the back patio, we found stools at the bar.  good enough.

they gave us pint koozys!

that microbrew made us thirsty so we went to la condesa for happy hour.

she was so good to us, took our empty glasses and made them whole again.  pure magic! 

#2 son finished the blue popcorn last night.  this morning he gave us a green saint pattrick's day surprise.

Posted by paul at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

we started out at uchiko for social hour.  it used to be like a real bargain with discounted prices on select menu offerings, but now the social hour food seems to be reduced portions at reduced prices; or half the portion for half the price.  so the price is mostly the same.  but they kept us happy by gifting us some items and also complimentary desserts for Pi (3.14) day.  the food there is good, really good.  the place was packed by 6 pm on a monday night.

our friend ben enjoying his complimentary and controversial dessert.

then cmoore and I raced downtown to try to get into a sxsw event.  a "pretty girl on the street" had told cmoore about a "free, no badges required show with free drinks".  she told him it was at the moody theater and yeasayer was playing.  I was skeptical.  yeasayer is pretty popular and everybody and their friends/relatives would want to get into see the new acl studio- moody theater, especially with free drinks!  sounded too good to be true.

so we raced down, prepared to wait in line for hours.  after about ten minutes of standing in line, security gave us the bad news.  this was not a public party.  they assured us all that there was ZERO chance at getting in w/o an invite or badge.  they explained that bill gates was hosting and those were the rules that would be strictly enforced. 

cmoore produced the newspaper with the details of the "free" party that was given to him by the pretty promotion girl on the street.

cmoore: see, it says it RIGHT HERE!  FREE!

me: that newspaper there?... it's the Onion...

cmoore: yeah?

me: you know everything in that magazine is untrue, a whole newspaper based on lies

cmoore: (long hard thought) F%$#! F*%^$!!!  (he went on to insult the onion, the bands and bill gates using many sentence enhancers coloring up his tirade)

went for a walk so he could calm himself, things got weirder

we found this really comfy outdoor lounge with free iphone charging stations and a solar powered carousel.  cmoore was really PO'd and insisted on telling everybody his thoughts on the onion and bill gates.  we shared a bottle of sake with some people there and one guy explained that we gave up too easily.  "Jedi powers and confidence will get you in, I will go back with you, and I will get you in that door" he informed us.  we finished the sake and decided to give it one more try with our jedi friend handling security.  then our jedi friend explained "I need to use the restroom real quick, when I get back we will smoke a J, then if you don't get in, at least you will have smoked a J".  cmoore and I looked at each other, we wanted in, by jedi powers.  we had not mentioned wanting to "smoke a J" with this guy that had claimed to have jedi powers.  the jedi went into the restroom and we dashed, without the J smoking Jedi in the porta-potty.

back at the moody, the line was LONG and security still tight.  we sat on a park bench and sulked.  cmoore continued to bad mouth the onion and bill gates, getting louder all the while.  he used his iphone to try and find an alternative sxsw party.  then, our luck turned. 

we found the 3rd annual Downtown NOLA party hosted by the new orleans downtown development district was just a block away  Cmoore is really here on Lousiana Film business so this was a good fit for his future expense report.

the lucky lounge, and drinks were free!  our ship had come in!  we were lucky!

trombone shorty with big sam's funky nation put on a smoking hot show.  I wasn't missing bill gates's oniony party one little bit!  I was happy!

I even made friends with the hostess, LaSwanda.

indians made an appearance.  the excitement level in this party was pegged!

we left, made our way to the parking garage across from the bill gates' party we couldn't get into.  we could hear the music from the street.  we walked closer and then we heard a voice.  it said, "the direction you are going in, is the right one".  whispered by a guy standing at the bottom of the stairs, this is real jedi stuff here, no j-smoke

and there you have it!  we kept walking in that direction and found ourselves in the moody theater for the yeasayer party.  instead of standing in line for hours, we had attended a kick-ass party up the street.  talk about having your cake and eating it too. 

the moody theater is so amazing, I've heard all about it.  but it was so much more than I even imagined. 

no caption necessary

yeasayer

there is a flourescent digital forest scene, all  around the theater.  giant digital animals would walk by and graze.  even the drummer had a hard time keeping his attention on his kit as he was watching the deer walk behind him

I've got a bunch of pics of the drummer checking out the digital forest creatures, too funny.  and we all got free cornucopia popcorn on our way out the door.

Posted by paul at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

spring break means sxsw for us, and this year has started early.  we typically skip the film and interactive portion of the week, but my friend christopher is involved in the louisiana film industry so he used that as an excuse to come early.  we hit the ground running on saturday, after he paid some people to walk around downtown holding his signs promoting one of his businesses.  we had better stuff to do.

micro brew wheat beer at uncle billy's

I'd read so much about giggling goat, was hoping it would be as good as odd duck trailer.  it was good...  maybe I was a bit put off by the fact that there is NO restroom near ( the trailer park eatery at odd duck does)  cmoore showing you the fried sweet breads.

as luck would have it, we found our way into a sxsw party at highball

party was hosted by fandango and alamo draft house

they had live band karaoke.  ipad was one of the prizes but I guess I'd not had enough liquid courage to get up there.

highball is just gorgeous.  bowling, private karaoke rooms, live music stage, a restaurant and a bar...  why ever leave?

cmoore and I made some new friends.  they had a table with a great location and a cheese tray!  also, next to the photo booth by annie ray.  annie was a bit concerned when we started to help ourselves to her props and to take 50 or so silly pics on our own cameras.  she tried to keep working her pics and keeping a skeptical eye on us.

uh.... something tells me there might be pics of us out there somewhere.  I'm sure they'll never make it onto the internet.

annie ray had enough, she regrouped and shuttled our shenanigans into her space and took control (so I took a pic of her taking a pic of us, click here to see the flipside of the pic below)

when annie applied mustaches to cmoore's nipples I slowly backed out of the shot in a rare expression of caution.  see annie's version here

Posted by paul at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

although we had just got back from mardi gras in louisiana late sunday night, had one day off it was a good fat tuesday here in austin.  we were a bit run down but not one to back away from a good party. 

marvin is really enjoying the valuable stuff we brought back from mardi gras

jason displaying his "pinkie out" sazerac technique.  those drinks are pretty stiff.

I had my first sazerac ever, but switched to the trusty french75.

it was more of a birthday party with a fat tuesday theme

the gumbo and jambalaya from cypress grill were fantastic!  as authentic as it gets. 

I think that was one of the best fat tuesday, or any tuesday night parties I've ever been to.

we also got some stuff done around the house this weekend.  the roofers finished and we got the queen palms in the ground.

the first hole was easy.  the second hole was not.  the ground around here is mostly rock.  my pick axe is down at our wimberley off-grid project house.  we spent two hours with the hammer-drill and masonry bits and some sledge hammering and finally got the hole deep and wide enough.

had to relocate the sago palms

the end

Posted by paul at 01:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

because we just can't get enough... we powered through it.

got up and went to the Oyster Bar for lunch.  that baby loves spicy salsa!

after a few unfortunate events; once in new orleans and once in ocean city md, kat had concluded that she is allergic to oysters.  slowly but surely she has gained confidence and she is back on top of 'em.  they were delicious!

made a claim to a small space in debbie's yard and waited for the final parade to roll past us.

and here comes scot, still dragging his cooler.  the miles those wheels have traveled...

Debbie served up the king cake.

it was lulu that had rescued J-Rock from the street the night before.

here comes the Highland Parade!

our friend matthew tossed us a few beads!

not everything thrown off the floats is complete crap.  the kids do enjoy catching beads but they do have other things, especially for the highland parade.  M caught this hand painted artwork and an egg that had a chick and some $. 

he'd figured it out this parade biz and got excited, a parade veteran.

the highland parade is all about being different.  one float tossed ramen noodles and another was throwing Tony Chachere's creole seasoning

many moon-pies were being thrown and caught.

plush prizes too...

kat even managed to catch a hot-dog from the krewe of bbq float.

when he got this plush puppy....  it was worth all the effort.  he just wanted to stand there and hug it.

after the last float cruised past, we jumped in the car and I drove us the six hours home. 

Posted by paul at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

despite a late night at the Highland Masquerade Ball...  we got up and made it to space #83... in the rain. 

Scot was going to be riding a float in the parade but he did good on his fire contribution.

we've been doing this a few years now, like a well oiled machine, it all comes together quickly.

tent up, j-rock got his disco music blaring and John has the protein wagon in motion.

love seat recliner was a nice resting space.

our space can get a little rowdy, our neighbors have given up hopes that the police will make us turn it down.  they came on a social visit, friends of 83.

the disco gnome

making offerings to the #83 disco gnome

J-rock is like a magician when it comes to electrical tape. 

I tried to chase her down on a scooter.  my front wheel caught in a rut and I went flying over the handle bars.  those things are dangerous.

me and my boys.

happy with his craft, J-Rock even has electrical tape in his hand if a sudden need comes up.

his first silly string experience was positive.

warm and comfy waiting for the sun to set.

I've known these guys since Jr High (7th/8th grade)

sun set and the laser is on!

the dancing has started.

everybody was so delighted by the laser.  covered a good bit of the space and spilled out onto others.

here comes the parade...

J-Rock did some street dancing between floats... had to be pulled back to the side by children concerned for his safety.

early econoline!

scot threw extra beads for his space #83 crew.

packed up the beads and sent the kids (and gnome) home.  we stay until they force us out...

the fire dept came to shut us down.... again.

everybody else was long gone...  we have to be pushed out of our area.

it got cold real quick once our fire was put out.   and out of the darkness, scot waddled up dragging his cooler down the street and just a few beads. 

Posted by paul at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

mardi gras 2011, highland masquerade ball.  we were in disguise so we can misbehave and nobody will know who we are... besides the fact that I took all these pics

this historic mansion makes a nice event location for the highland royalty.  kat and I were supposed to help our friend matthew present the royalty, but I think we got there too late. 

but we did meet the queen.

her crown was made of chicken feet and her gown made from leather gloves (to resemble feathers). 

there was some absinthe being passed around. 

the queen was mostly happy.  she even bit my cheek like I was made of glazed donut.

she was the queen, if she felt like pouring cold water down your dress, she just might do it, (zoom in below)

then she turned the water bottle on the rest of us.

kat said this guys costume was beyond her comfort level, but she appreciated that we live in a place where he is free to dress this way.

kat LOVES a good buffet.  she got a leg from the whole roasted pig.  she also discovered Natchitoches meat pies.

our friend matthew in his king crown and personal light show.

getting a little beak.

matthew on stage with le freak

matthew was lit up like a christmas tree.

she danced the night away and out the door...

Posted by paul at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)