Sunday, April 26, 2009

Eeyore's Part II


Eeyore's Birthday was pretty much exactly as described on the wikipedia page. But first, and most fabulous of all, I had my first confirmed Leslie siting. I was pretty sure I saw him at SXSW, but didn't have any sources to back me up. Yesterday, my friends confirmed that I was, in fact seeing, Austin's favorite mayoral candidate. Leslie has had three official bids for mayor, his most successful run in 2000 when he received almost 8% of the vote. He is so popular that you can now buy a magnet with his likeness here in Austin that comes with interchangeable magnetic outfits. He's known for flashing his thong at public events and generally bringing the party.

Anyway, back to Eeyore's. My first ten minutes set the tone. While waiting in line for drink tickets I stood behind two people who were smoking a joint. Then, two minutes later at the costume contest an old woman got on stage, wearing rabbit ears, a skirt and her boobs painted like Easter eggs tossed out condoms from her Easter basket. There was a lot of hula-hooping, a May pole, a large crowd of people attempting to double dutch, and people of unknown qualifications that had set up "free body painting" areas. It was pretty fabulous for an event just minutes from downtown.

When I first heard of Eeyore's birthday I was pretty sure it would be little kids, mostly lame games, and a lot of store-bought Winnie the Pooh costumes. There were a lot of kids, but they were the breed of hippie kids that I like. Oh and the costumes were amazing. Here's one of my favorites:

Friday, April 24, 2009

Eeyore's Birthday

Reason #15763 you should live in Austin:

(from wikipedia) Eeyore's Birthday Party is a day-long festival taking place annually in Austin, Texas since 1963. It typically occurs on the last Saturday of April in Austin's Pease Park.[1] It includes live music, food and drink vending which benefit local non-profit organizations, attendees in colorful costumes, and very large drum circles. Although frequented by children and families, with specific events presented for them by the event organizers, Eeyore's Birthday Party is also known for its high incidence of recreational drug use.

It's happening tomorrow. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

April Showers of Shows

Since SXSW I've been jonesing for more music and luckily spring time in Austin brings a lot of opportunity for music.

What I'm missing:

Austin Reggae Fest was today. Zach and I drove by it and saw white folk in droves wearing everything green, black, yellow, and red that they found in their closet. While the festival is cool in theory, and I'm a little tempted to see the one and only Skatalites, it looked a little douchapalooza to me. There seemed to be too many dudes wearing knitted hats.

May 7th: Flight of the Conchords. This broke my heart. Tickets went on sale back in February and I mistakenly waited a whole 10 minutes before trying to buy them. They sold out so fast that people were immediately on craigslist offering to pay $100 and up for two seats.

What I'm hoping to not miss:

Right now my Google calendar shows two events for the next three weeks: Lucero and Thao Nguyen with the Get Down Stay Down. These are both bands that I saw at SXSW, but at a festival you only get teased for 25 minutes...theres no encore and theres no leeway for which songs and how long they go. Thao is this Thursday, April 23rd and I'm desperately hoping that I can get myself together enough to go. This song won't leave my head and I'm convinced I'll just have to see it live again before I can rest. Then, a few weeks later is Lucero. After SXSW I bought Zach this documentary called Dreaming in America and it endeared me to Lucero in a whole new way. It's a good movie because it shows how they're successful by most peoples' standards (they've put out half a dozen albums and are able to survive on their music alone) but that with this success comes a back-breaking tour schedule that puts them on the road constantly (about 200 shows a year). Zach and I have talked about seeing this show to celebrate our 8-year anniversary. Yes, my readers, you all are really that old now.