acl - day one

austin was hot. hurricane rita didn't bring us any breezes or rain. by saturday evening i was wishing it would rain just enough to pack down the dust. i kept thinking my glasses were dirty, but really it was a cloud of dust that followed us everywhere we went. dust was all over my body, sticking to the sweat, forming mud. it was great.

on friday, jen and i left around 12:30 and went straight to downtown austin to catch the shuttle to zilker park. we got there around 3:30 - in time to watch mates of state. we had a pretty decent viewing area. there were not a lot of people there, and it made me really excited. if the rest of the week was like this, i thought, we can hop from stage to stage and see everyone we want close up. jen and i tested the theory by leaving the stage to see lucinda williams. we left her a little early to treck back to the amd stage to hear spoon. i have always wanted to see them, and i was not disappointed. they put on a good show. most of the songs were from their new album, gimme fiction. they played the song i wanted to hear the most (the way we get by), so i was very excited. we decided to listen to blues traveler after spoon. they were amazing. high energy, good music, lots of fun. the sounds john popper can make with a harmonica are unbelievable. for a couple of songs, they had a brass trio play along. i promise his harmonica sounded like a trumpet. he also makes interesting sounds by getting close to the amp as he plays. their music was more busy than i remember from radio play, but i figured it was probably because it was live. they played their hits along with new songs. it was without a doubt my favorite concert that night. after them, we decided to see if we could hear lyle lovett. there was a huge crowd, though, and i wasn't excited enough to try and make my way to the front. the stage was by the festival and waterloo store, so we decided to look around as we heard lyle play and watched him on the big screen. i bought some stickers - one for me, two for my sisters. we tried to buy koozies for two of our friends, but they were sold out.

by that point, we were really tired and hungry, so we left. i think it took us like twelve minutes that night to get downtown by shuttle. the lines were so short on friday. we decided to eat at the original kirby lane on kirby lane. we got directions from a man in front of us as we walked to catch the shuttle. as soon as we got to the restaurant, i waited in line for the bathroom, cleaned by hands, feet, and face and was ready to eat. the queso at kirby lane is some of the best i've ever tasted. jen had been craving it since the moment we had decided to go there. so, while she was in the bathroom, i ordered some. i ordered migas and jen had some spinach quiche stuff with potatoes.

we stayed the night with some of our friends who had just recently moved into a new apartment. they had no furniture, but the place was clean and cool and they were happy for us to stay with them. it's so nice to be able to stay somewhere where you don't feel like an inconvenience. zach and amy were kind and hospitable. even though all they had in their place was a mattress on a floor, some food and drinks, and bathing necessities, they were willing to share and give of whatever they had. when we arrived, they were both asleep, but amy got up, let us in, and talked with us for a while before we both went to bed. i slept so well that night, even though i was on the floor. i set my alarm for 7:30 because we had decided to have breakfast with a cousin of mine the next morning at 9:00. i don't even remember when i fell asleep. it must've been right when my head met the pillow.

i'm off to eat lunch now and get some reading done that i didn't do this weekend. i'll finish off the week later.