Hey there folks! So here's a recap of the first 3 days of Jonathan and my first trip to SXSW...
Day 1: Departure delayed 3 hours due to a certain party member’s long goodbye in the bathroom at Muddy Waters. This led us to hit the worst blizzard I have ever been in ever. Icy roads, high winds, total white-out conditions, 20 mph on 35S. Terrifying. We set out to meet the 4onthefloor bus in Ames, IA. We made it to Williams, 30 miles north and got a hotel. Beers were had.
Musical Side Note. Listened to Spoon: Gimme Fiction and Haphduzn & Dimitry Killstorm: Whittier Alliance, both for the first time and they were both great albums.
Flavorful Side Note: Always get the salad bar as your side from the little diners. You need the roughage and if you don't get it as your side and you order it later, they'll charge you full salad bar prices.
Day 2: Roads still a little rough going south into Ames. Met up with the
4onthefloor bus there. Driving became great once we got south of Des Moines. Being on a
real tour bus was great. Lots of Blimes [Bud Light Lime] and white wine was
drank. Too many. We watched VHS tapes. Can't Hardly Wait, Jurassic Park,
Adventures in Babysitting (a first time for me. Fell asleep and missed the
ending, so don't ruin it). I was awoken by a very friendly Texas Police Officer
at 3:30 in the morning. During my drunken slumber the bus had been rear-ended
by a sleeping driver. The bus was fine, everyone was ok. I slept right through
the whole incident. Everyone on the bus (15 of us) had to give their info and
we were back on the road. Arrived in Austin,
TX at 7:00am. Musical Side Note: The Band's The Band and Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline and Highway 61 Revisited are fucking great road trip albums.
Flavorful Side Note: Had my first McNugget in years. Still tastes exactly the same.
 |
| 4onthefloor's Gabe Douglas works hard while Trevor drinks Blime. |
Day 3: Woke up at my friend Jade's apartment after a few more hours of sleep. Ventured out after a nice breakfast. We hopped around from bar to bar until we hit downtown. St. Roch's, Yellow Jacket, White Horse. All pretty cool places. After getting to the main strip we hit Valhalla, tried to get into the Belmont, met some friends from the bus at the Soho Lounge (douchy vibe), we went back to Valhalla, and finally to the Swan Dive. This would prove to be the only musical act I actually caught day one, however, for the life of me I have no idea the names of the bands. Then on to Rainy Street and a nice long 3 mile walk back St Roch's. So tired.
Musical Side Note: Heard Black Diet's "You Did it to Yourself" that's going on the split 7" with Southside Desire. Shit’s hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, I need get some ear plugs before going out today.
Flavorful Side Note: I had the best brisket sandwich ever from a food truck. Holy shit. Everything about it was perfect. The chicken nacho fries I shared with Jonathan was decent for sure, but it was no brisket sandwich. On that note, I am sure I will have more to say about the food in this town than the musical aspects of SXSW. Damn good food here.
