The Future of Rock and Roll . . . it might get loud.

Well it has been a good long while since I have been to a proper rock concert. However, tonight I accompanied a new friend to the Mohawk for the "Red River on the Rocks" concert. It was a day of local and regional bands tearing it up on the main outdoor stage of the Mohawk and the inside stage. Here were my favorites (admittedly, I did not get there until 7pm).

Frank Smith

FUTUREBIRDS

Ume

I need to provide more info for these bands, but they were really awesome and were up on stage giving it their all. I loved it. More later on these great artists!!!!

Swimming Holes

Well, I must say this about the Hill Country around Austin, there are a lot of great places to cool off during the summer months.

I have been trying to explore the more wild side of Austin. While I am far from the Mountains, I don't think I need to completely abandon outdoor recreation. And, while it is a million degrees, I cannot wait out the heat like I did in Jackson and Boulder. Moreover, the Austin area has magical cold springs and rivers. Not a little cold, really really cold. Barton Springs, a place I have mentioned before on these pages, boasts water temperatures around 68 degrees year-round. Other rivers and springs around here have similar temperatures. A friend introduced me to Deep Eddy pool. While one side of the pool smelled like feet, no joke, the other side was chlorinated and was awesome!!!

Venturing further out into the Hill Country, I found Pedernales State Park. It is an amazingly beautiful place. The river is meandering and rather shallow this year. If you are not careful you will end up in the shallows and the shallows get entirely too warm on Austin's 100+ degree days. However, the deep water is slowing moving and cold and provides the right amount of relief.

General does not like the swimming. Yes, he can swim just fine thank you, but he prefers not to. Anytime you release him into the water, he immediately starts swimming back to shore where he sits and looks angrily in your direction from the shore.

Hamilton Pool (thanks for the suggestion John H.), does not allow pets, it is a wild life preserve. Travis County has taken great steps to ensure that there are great trails, good guard rails to keep people on the paths, and great streams, plants and flowers to admire. As my friend and I walked down the quarter mile into the canyon holding the pool, we enjoyed the canopy of trees shielding us from the unforgiving sun. Under this canopy are every manner of Texas shrubbery and trees. Once we reached the bottom of the canyon, there was a beautiful stream full of fish, lined with lush green moss. There were tall trees with roots that looked like craggy fingers digging down into the stream. It was also incredibly peaceful. Then we were upon the massive cave-like hole that is a all natural pool.

It was great way to pass the afternoon, and a nice way to take my mind off the job search, the job not finding. Another friend of mine recently sent me an email exclaiming his love of wilderness and how he believed that god was in nature and all you had to do was go out in nature to find god, or the divine.

I would have to agree. While floating under the tree pictured in the center of the photograph, I could look up and see rays of sunlight just peaking through the leaves of the tree. The water in my ears quieted the chatter of those around me (though everyone was very chill), and I just felt at peace. I was glad I took the adventure out 71, and I will definitely be out there again.

Moving on up . . . to the East side?

Well, now I know where all the hipsters are. But, knocking on hipsters is really no fun. Though I wonder what this group would have been before there was such a thing as hipster? Perhaps they were always that way, and now we are all being trendy by naming them thusly?

I took myself down to east 6th to experience a little more of Austin.

I don't know, but there were a lot of mustaches, side burns, and corduroy shorts. It was really fun! Emily and crew were my guides. We started off at Shangri-la, it is a cool bar that hosts sock hops on Sundays. The jukebox was awesome, as per usual. The bartenders were very nice and the martinis were very dirty. Some crazy Rob Zombie movie was playing on the television, but I had to give up. Too creepy.

Then it was off to Liberty, and Liberty is great because it has this awesome Thai food stand outback. I am told it is now very famous because Anthony Bourdain visited the place when he was in Austin. Good for him. The food is unbelievable! So yummy. Sticky buns with fried chicken thigh and a spicy mayo sauce with cilantro and mint. Damn, now I am hungry again. The bar itself was so so, but they have a massive back patio area with amazing fans and cold beer, in Austin that is sufficient to make a place great.

Oh, and while on the way to Liberty we came across a 30-piece band playing gypsy music and marching down the street. The name of the band was . . . I forgot, shoot. But they play around Austin a lot and it was really cool to see them just wandering down East 6th. I have a video and will post it soon.

After Liberty we started to wear down because we are old and it is hot. We ended the night at Brixton in Austin, this bar will forever be in my heart because they serve Quilmes beer. It is this lovely brew from Argentina that Holly, Matt and I were very fond of. I am sure I can find the picture of a liter-sized bottle sitting on a counter in our hotel room with a random picture of Holly tearing it up on the slopes. It was a great "worlds collide" moment.

It was also a great night out with friends!

Shine a Light

Man, this economy is killing me. Straight up killing me. My soul is super low about everything. Hey employers, I know this is your market, but you could show people a human decency. How about a reply email? How about some acknowledgement that I just spent 15 minutes on your company?

Fine.

Anyway, I went out tonight and played an open mic. Admittedly, the guitar players, the singers, are all much better than me down here. But, they are kind and I am pleased to be here. The only thing that is going right for me lately is music. And, by going right, I mean that people actually want to interact with me.

Stephanya says, "Think on something and it grows." Well, aside from a job, I have been thinking on someone liking my music and me getting some regular paying shows here in Austin.

Hard times, hard times. For everyone out there looking for a job, best of luck to you, and, you are not alone. Meanwhile, I will be playing music and learnin' some fiddle.

"Come on, come on down you got it in you, got to scrape that shit right off your shoes." - The Rolling Stones