Driving into downtown was easier than expected as we meandered down Guadalupe and decided to grab a parking spot at a lot fairly close to everything. We parked, made sure to have everything we needed and walked first to a bar called The Ginger Man. I had heard a lot about it so wanted to check it out, plus it served food and we were both starving. In the standing room only bar, we got to watch a band from Spain while eating empanadas and drinking good beer. Great start to the night!
From there we wandered down 4th street and decided to keep moving as there weren't many people around that area yet. We ended up on 6th, which is the main thoroughfaire in Austin and popped in and out of several bars to listen to various bands. We listened to one purely because the drummer was HOT and ended up being invited to their next performance that night.
Michelle wanted to see the situation with Muse, so we headed over to the venue and I got a few pics of all the people waiting to get a glimpse of them as well as pics of their tour bus. No tickets were to be had, which suited me fine since I could honestly chew my arm off if forced to listen to even one of their songs.
The time went by quickly and we discovered it was time to walk over the bridge to see Cheap Trick! We made our way through the crowds and I got a free hug
and then we watched the bats flying out from under the bridge. The venue for Cheap Trick is outdoors, so we got a bad shave ice and positioned ourselves as close as non-ticketed people could get. Cheap Trick was probably a pretty great band in their day...but one song in and Michelle and I were done. They played their big hit "I want you to want me" only three songs in, while I was in a massive line for the port-o-potties, so we met up with our friends and left.First we walked to a stage in south congress at the advice of a friends' date which turned out to be a waste of time. Michelle and I grabbed a pedicab so we could try and see the band that invited us to their later performance, but when we got there they were behind schedule and I didn't want to miss HoneyHoney. We walked along 6th street again and Michelle had to run back to grab another friend so I wandered along laughing at the people and made my way to The Tap Room at Six. It's a lounge within another lounge...and the people were at fire capacity when I arrived...they looked like sardines.
While waiting outside, I ended up getting to chat with Ben, one of the singers of the band HoneyHoney and figured I couldn't get in since I didn't have one of the cities SXSW badges. After the band began setting up, the parents of another band member began chatting with me and ended up bringing me in with them!! So I got great pics of HoneyHoney and rocked out with all the other fans. I had seen them in Florida two years ago when they along with Matt Nathanson opened for Lifehouse. What I love is they are from LA, I am from LA, I have seen them twice, but never once in LA. That's rad, right?
With my purpose for the evening out of the way, I headed up to dance with Michelle and her friends at the bigger lounge, but they were ready to go. We walked loudly to Cheers and had shots and beers. We were meeting up with other friends of friends and I chatted with a bunch of them while Michelle and her friends danced. We ended up walking to Katz, an Austin institution that serves food 24/7. We shared bagel sandwiches, french fries, fried pickles, eggs benedict and 1lb turtle cheesecake. That's normal, right??
All in all, the evening had been a blast and a total success on seeing who I went to see! The energy of Austin was alive and well throughout the night and the characters we got to experience were nothing short of Venice Beach quality. Good times!
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