People aren't kidding about Austin

This town is great! It has moved up to the top of my list of places I would live if Seattle was no longer an option. The public transit is pretty comprehensive, and bus passes are only $18 a month!

After a few mellow days hanging with my friend's mom in San Marcos, during which time we ate, drank, chatted, drove over to Devil's Backbone, saw glassblowers make a lampshade, and I got my hair cut and colored, I headed in to Austin to meet my friend.

We kicked off a really great trip by going to see The Kills. The show was fantastic, and I don't think it was just the secondhand smoke talking. The crowd had incredible energy, even showing much love to the opening band, The Magic Wands, which was a couple originally from Nashville whose smooth sexy style made some of the songs seem a bit like foreplay. I doubt anyone in the audience had heard of them, but they were totally into the show. My friend happened to know them (small world!), so we got in for free, but the show was good enough that it would have been worth the money to pay for it. We weren't so into the second band, The Horrors, which was some tragic 80s sounding stuff, but they were good at what they did. It seemed like all of the bands were really feeding into the crowd's energy and responding in kind.

The next night we did a bit of random barhopping, to take in the Saturday night in downtown Austin scene. There was a ridiculous amount of blatant public drunkenness, as well as a huge police presence, but the police were just standing around watching out for violence and leaving the drunks alone, so that was cool. Most of the music venues here have outdoor stages, since the weather is generally so nice, although the actual stage and at least a small area in front of it is always covered, which came in handy during the frequent storms and showers that were happening for most of the week.

Sunday night we saw a local band from San Marcos, Zlam Dunk, six college boys with a ton of energy, decent talent, some creative songwriting, and just the right amount of cowbell. Afterwards we hung out with some friends of friends who worked at the club, which was pretty chill, since most of the bar patrons left after the music ended.

Monday was stormy and we were partied out, so we stayed in and discovered the best public access show ever, Cookin' Good, starring the Cola sisters, Arcie and Shasta. This show should be on real TV, and these girls should get big money for their awesomeness. Seriously. We were just channel surfing, and paused a bit on this show that looked like a white trash cooking show, wondering what it was. When we heard the stuff coming out of their mouths, our jaws dropped, and we were sold. If you like the TV I like (and you know who you are!), check it out.

Tuesday I dropped off my bike and gear at a bike shop to be shipped home, and that night we checked out more local music at a different venue, but none of it was really worth writing home about. It was fun, though, and the last band, Snatch Racket, was loud, fast, and funny, which always makes for a decent show.

There is a really yummy Ethiopian restaurant (Aster's) right next to the hotel, and they have a lunch buffet. We got addicted and ended up eating there three times, so if you're ever in Austin, that is the place I can recommend the most. We enjoyed the street vendors downtown, too, and I heartily recommend "The Cuban" with slaw, from Beelzebun's. But only if you are a really really bad vegetarian, like me...

Tomorrow I'm headed for Tucson, to visit my Grandparents and some cousins for an undefined length of time, before I move on to an unspecified location.