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A LITTLE LOW ON THE
RESERVES AND AUSTIN GIVES ME A...
FREE WEEKEND
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One of many, many self-indulgent self portraits I took whilst
traversing the Texas State Capitol's grounds.
Email me to see more! |
September 13, 2004 - Austin, Texas -
I've been working up a maelstrom in studio lately, and finally, the
work is gelling, picking up pace, and filling the walls with thoughts
I never imagined even three weeks ago. I started in on some new drawings too, funny little
creatures with shifting axes and bodies carved out of the charcoal.
Bolstered by the rapture of new music from Franz Ferdinand and the
Streets, I've felt productive, upbeat and in tune with the weirdness
of life again.
FRIDAY
For the fourth crazy weekend in a row, I had nary an idea of what to
expect or even a vague notion of what would happen. I left
home and headed north after a quick stop at the Fiesta market.
Whitesnake's 'Here I Go Again' rumbled through my truck's radio, and
I laughed off its trite tones and headed into rush hour traffic.
With a big crew in attendance, I held true to my pledge to eschew
alcohol for September and drank a 2 liter of Orange Crush while I
chatted away about bad Christmas gifts, movies, and assorted odd
topics, and more than one person came up to me and made flattering
comments about this little corner of cyberspace. After
catching a taped segment of the Graham Norton show with Marilyn
Manson (does every English star have to try to make it in America?),
I headed for home, and Whitesnake's 'Here I Go Again' greeted me as
I drove off. The second experience was nowhere near as
nostalgically fun as the first, but I resigned myself to listen to
it one more time.
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SATURDAY
Saturday seemed to arrive with an air of indecision. It took
me a good forty minutes to figure out if I was going to brush my
teeth or shower first. I ended up drawing in studio instead.
Once I got going, I did clean myself up, got some mighty fine work
done, and took a ride through the hood on my bike. The weather
has been unreal this summer, with a constant rain filling reservoirs
and keeping things cool every few days, the temperatures never hit
their normal highs with any fervor this summer. That is
probably the only reason why I made it from May to now without air
conditioning anywhere in my life - studio, truck, bedroom. But
now, the nights are cool again, the days smoothly pleasant, and
having a bike makes it so easy to just head out the door and ride
through
Town Lake or head through the back roads of East Austin and see
what you find (find #1)
So Saturday was mostly a work and relax day, with lots of boisterous
loud music bolstering my work. I also tried cleaning out a PC
of popup ads and spyware before heading out to catch the Shins at
Stubb's. I didn't have a ticket, so I hung out in the dark
recessed of an anonymous loading dock behind the outdoor
amphitheater and hung out for the first half of the show, catching
up with a lot of stuff I was familiar with, until they started
delving into their back catalog heavily. That's when I broke
my September sobriety pledge, and headed into Casino. Matt was
already off his shift, and welcomed me with a smile and a firm
handshake. The regulars were behind the bar, and Snoop Dogg's
'Soul Plane' added a touch of the surreal to the punkish
proceedings. I ended up talking with a girl who lost her voice, but
we still chatted away about our times spent in Ireland. I
headed out before closing, with the good folks there helping me to a
healthy buzz by sliding me a few free rounds. Once home, I
continued to toil on some fictional writing that I've been working
on for a while now, hoping the alcohol would help the creative
process a bit. It didn't.
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An’ here I go again
on my own
Goin’ down the only road I’ve ever known...
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This ghostly picture was snapped at the AMOA's Ghost Stories Show.
The table had all this flattened silverware and placings suspended
over the table by fishing line.
A foreign exchange student asked in very broken English, "Art?"
The docent, reaching in the green blouse, bumped into the fishing
line and rattled the whole arrangement, and responded with zeal, "Oh
yes, it's art!!!"
She then turned her attention to the now swinging and clanking
hanging art and exclaimed, "Please spirits, make the swaying stop!"
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SUNDAY
The first thing I did was turn on my computer and check the All
Ireland Senior Hurling score. I figured I'd overslept the
match, with the boys from Cork playing the role of underdog to the
defending champs from Kilkenny. Low and behold, the Rebels
pulled off the upset, and all was right in the Republic once again.
With that ray of sunshine, I puttered a bit in studio before heading
out with my housemate Myra to experience the joys of Free Museum Day
in Austin. I've always wanted to check out the Bob Bullock
Texas History Museum, but never could corral up the admission fee,
so I always gave it a skip. It was pretty nice, packed with
people, so all interest was strictly limited to quick scans and
brief stops here and there.
We decided to skip on over to the Museum of Art, which is always a
depressing affair, and it didn't let me down. There was a show
of ghostly art that featured a lot of photography tricks and the
like, my favorite was a large color print of a woman's legs (in
hose) walking up a set of stairs with a dramatic chandelier and
ballroom setting framed by the dress and legs. Myra said I
only liked it because it was a woman's legs. |
The show actually was alright, it just caught
me on a wrong note, and fighting crowds in a museum that small always
brings you down. The highlight was a man who was showing off a
Theremin, and in the middle of my time there, he broke into 'Somewhere
over the Rainbow'. It was cool.
We headed across the way to the Arthouse,
which was filled to the brims with an interesting show about comics, art
and the mixing of the two. It was curated by Barbara Bloemick, the
original curator of KC's Kemper Museum, who has a sarcastic sign I
painted from Beaux Arts in 1994. The show was lively,
entertaining, and the space works well, in stark contrast to the small,
cramped feelings of the AMOA.
After all that, and a quick end of the week
dinner at Nuevo Leon to fill up on enchiladas, beans, rice and a chalupa
for good measure, I headed out to my final destination of the weekend:
The Texas Lonestar Roller Derby. Invited out by my friend who was
racing in her first bout, I was on the guest list and watched a roller
derby live for the first time in a year and a half. The Rhinestone
Cowgirls were matched up against the devilish Putas del Fuego, and with
a couple of extremely leggy skaters (even taller when strapped onto
wheels) to pay special attention to, the match was a blast. I got
to chat with some of my roller derby friends during halftime, catching
up and getting some inside info on bruises and cherries, as well as
getting a buzz of some Lonestars and their enthusiasm. The
Cowgirls pulled it out, and everyone went home happy, and now, another
week is upon me.
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