Its quite possible weve given away more ice cream in Austin than any other city. Its hard to believe with us spending so much time in Southern California but when we hit Austin, we hit hard. For South by Southwest this year we gave away over 11,000 free treats and we slung over 3000 pieces at Austin City Limits. Were set to return to town for Fun Fun Fun Fest on November 7th and 8th which means well tack on another 2500 Blue Bunny treats there. I love Austin though and its a great place to hang out when its not a hundred degrees out.
Austin City Limits got pushed back a couple weeks this year which meant it was a li’l bit cooler than years past which was nice. I had remarked that I didnt think the lineup was that strong (Foo Fighters, Beck, Manu Chao), especially compared to C3s other major festival Lollapalooza (Radiohead, Kanye, Rage). The one thing I had forgotten to take into account was that ACL takes place in Austin, the live music capital of the world. Thats not an exaggeration either. Theres more live music going on there than anywhere Ive ever been. You can be walking around downtown mid-afternoon and hear live tunes coming from a bar, coffee shop, or park. The reason Austin is the live music capital is because people support it there. So.. the headliners might not have been the biggest for a festival this summer but the lineup was solid and, with eight stages, there truly is something for everyone.
I arrived in Austin a couple days before the fest started so I could get everything in order. Newt was a mess from driving from Denver to Austin and she needed a thorough cleaning. Even though I already had Bessie, Bessita, and two push carts permitted in Austin, Newt was not. On top of cleaning and permitting the truck I also had to run by Yumi Ice Cream to check up on cream and I was scheduled to sling at a Tech Crunch event that afternoon. Thinks were going smooth enough for me to have time to stop by Juan in a Million for a couple breakfast tacos before visiting Inspector Phillips at the health department.
I almost didnt get my permit because of all the toys and candy I have on the truck. Apparently ice cream trucks arent allowed to sell anything but ice cream in Austin but he let me slide. I made it to the conference center near the University of Texas where the roundtable discussion was close to wrapping up. I peeped my head in to catch a few quotes about starting up new businesses then waited outside the door with my cooler bag to offer people treats on their way out. I thought, since this was a business event and it was close to dinner that there wouldnt be many takers. Surprisingly quite a few people dug in. After about 15 minutes I was approached by a nice lady who happened to work for the exclusive vendor of the convention center and she informed I couldnt do what I was doing. (I wish more people could handle situations like she did: friendly, professional, and up front). There was a meet-up going on downtown so Erick and another lady from Tech Crunch jumped into the truck with the Brians and I and we headed on down.
I arrived at the festival on Friday morning just past 9AM. It didnt kick off ’til 11:15 but Zilker Park, where its held, can be extremely tough to navigate once the crowds start filing in. The backstage area was setup a li’l different this year so I wasnt sure where I was going to park. I got as close as I could then hung out in the parking lot near the catering tent for a couple hours finishing my book, Surely Youre Joking, Mr. Feynman! Usually at festivals were in the artists hospitality area but this year we ended up parking next to the main catering tent where everyone ate. Good thing we had more cream on board this year than the last couple years.
Tom Zinn and his buddy Scott were taking care of the photo duties all weekend and they arrived early to start snapping. I could hear music from the Dell Stage which was cool by me cuz Yeasayer and Jamie Lidell were playing there. I figured wed run out of the first stash of cream around sixish and it seemed to be heading that way. Brian, who designed our site, came by the truck with his friend Brian to help sling while I skipped out to see some David Byrne. I wasnt able to catch Hot Chip who I really wanted to see because A) theyre rad and B) they added a live drummer for this tour. I had to settle for Slightly Stoopid. I had always felt like they were just an extension of Sublime, who I never really cared for, but there were a few grooves in their set that caught my attention. Dont ditch your horns like other So Cals bands seem to like to do (No Doubt cough, cough).
David Byrne was prolly my favorite show I saw all weekend. The guy got leapfrogged by a dancer while playing the guitar..and hes over 50 years old. Hes got a new album out with Brian Eno right now thats quite catchy and fun but Mr. Eno wasnt in tow. He did have a full band with three backup singers and three dancers though. Everyone was dressed in white and Id say the set was a 50/50 mix of new songs and Talking Heads songs. Im a pretty big fan of his solo work and I wish he would dug up a couple gems from Uh Oh or Feelings but he gave the crowd what they wanted and they danced in return. Which is another good thing about being in the live music capital of the world; people dance.
I had wanted to see some of N.E.R.D but missed them while grooving to David Byrne. I also was curious to see The Mars Volta because I havent been that impressed by them in shows past and wanted to give them another try. If their set woulda ended at 10:00 instead of 9:30 I woulda headed over. Instead Aaron, Alana and I hung out and watched Manu Chao. The key to a Manu Chao set like so many other high-energy bands is that you have to make your way far enough towards the front so that everyone around you is moving and the music is louder than in the back. We jumped up and down and threw our fists in the air over and over again. If youve never seen him, its one helluva party. After a few times, its still fun but you wont be slamming your feet down on the ground trying to dance harder.
I had to restock on Saturday morning and get on site before everyone arrived so I was up ‘n at ’em pretty early. This also meant I arrived on site a bit early and had time to grab some ribs from The Salt Lick before the cream business picked up. Partially thanks to James, Ive been on a constant search for the best BBQ this country has to offer. Salt Lick often comes up when you mention BBQ and Austin in the same sentence and I had yet to try it. Their ribs were exceptionally meaty and definitely better than most but they didnt blow me away. The slaw was great. While eating lunch I got to catch some Langhorne Slim whos music fell right in line with the ribs; good but didnt blow me away. It sounded somewhat like Old 97s who coincidentally took the stage opposite Slim after his set.
There was a lot of good music going on on Saturday but I had to choose my battles (no.. believe it or not, Battles was NOT at this fest like every other). My pick of the day was Erykah Badu. I had never seen her, and hadnt really been that big a fan either, but I wasnt going to miss this rare festival appearance. She went on at 4:30 and I had been in a blissful daze all day. People mighta thought I wasnt happy but that wasnt the case. As I headed out into the field I was detoured to the top of the area where they set up the news cameras to get wide shots of the fest. It was cool to watch about half of the set from above the crowd. You could see everything. I couldnt believe that there was an artist who made music just for ME or. Just for my mood. Eryka Badu took chill to another world. It only made me feel even better as I started to bop around a bit then had to make my way to behind the soundboard where I could hear a li’l better. As she was talking between songs she got into politics a bit. She was trying to say that, even if Obama is elected we still need to mix things up a lot. She somehow compared the government to being a bowling alley and when talking about mixing it up she said something like even with Obama its still a bowling alley. We need to make it a roller skating rink!
Right after Erykah Badu, Spiritualized went on on the stage closest to the truck. Theyre a legendary band but their music doesnt always work the best at festivals. During the day. Instead of trying to over do anything, headmaster Jason Pierce kept the band pretty stripped down with only two backup singers. This coupled with the fact that theyve been touring for a while made for a mind blowing set. It was one of those sets where you end up looking around at people near you because you cant believe how lucky you are to be there witnessing it. I needed to return to the truck to relieve Aaron and Alana and we quickly closed down Newt so we could save some cream for Sunday. The real reason was more like I closed down the truck so I could run over and catch the end of Spiritualized.
It was nice to have some time off and since Newt didnt need a driver that night, I loaded up my backpack with some Lone Stars and headed out to watch some more music. My blissful feeling was still going strong when I parked myself a ways back from the main stage on the grass for Conor Oberst. I like his new album better than the last Bright Eyes effort, Cassadaga. In the middle of the set he said, This next song goes out to Farmer Dave if hes around. Dave is from Long Beach and it was cool to hear him get a shout out from the main stage in Austin..and I didnt even know he was around. Cape Canaveral was the best song and, on the way outta Austin to New Orleans yesterday I gave another listen to the new album and dug it even more.
Im guessing dinner fell in here somewhere but it didnt last long because Roky Erickson was playing. Its great to hear thats hes doing so well and his songs never get old (unless youre working 100 hours a week in a bar in Austin and his CD is in the jukeboxbut thats another storywhich includes never putting Marquee Moon in a jukebox). The best rumor thats hopefully true that I heard all weekend was that The Black Angels were given 60 unreleased tracks from Roky and theyre picking out twelve or fifteen to record. Then. Theyre going to hit the road with Roky as his backing band. That made my night. Lets just hope its true.
The final band on Saturday was Beck. Just before his set I think I went back to the truck to get beer and some water. I ran into Christian from Nike and we started talking about the festival. I mentioned that they really do it right in Austin. A month or so we were in Baltimore for Virgin where they spend oodles on landing three or four headliners each day and they only brought in 25,000 people. ACL sold out Saturday and Beck was the headliner. I was trying to show how the environment of a festival was so important but the two guys next to him.. who I learned were both playing with Beck that night might not have taken it the same way.
The last time I saw Beck was when he was doing the puppet tour. He had the puppeteers from Team America on tour with him and each band member had a mini twin behind them on a mini stage. I thought that tour was one of the best I can remember for putting on a unique and entertaining show. Not surprising, it costs a ton of money to bring a bunch of puppeteers on the road and this time around he brought along a minimized band that didnt fill out the main stage like his mini friends had done before. The new album, Modern Guilt has some great cuts on it but, as a whole, the set didnt really get me going. Even though I wasnt digging it that much I had to stick around for Chem Trails off the new album. By the time it came on I was toward the back of the crowd and as much as I wanted to get lost in it, it didnt really happen.
Doug drove us down on Sunday and we stopped off at my favorite coffee shop in town Caffe Medici before parking near Cosmos house then walking down. We arrived just in time to catch a few AA Bondy tracks then opened shop. While slinging in the truck the band that played the same stage as AA Bondy came out with a serious BANG! Doug and I were both taken by the sounds and it took only a few minutes of listening to figure out it must be Octopus Project. There were some complaints that the bass on the Dell stage was overboard and judging by how awesomely loud it was by the truck, it was definitely shaking people up front. I think some kids came out to play during the set too but I never was able to sling away to confirm that.
My friend Colibri was working on the far far stage all weekend and she kept asking me to come by with cream. I wanted to on Friday or Saturday but never got around to it. At around 3:30 or so I finally got a cooler bag loaded up and Zack said hed watch the truck for a bit while I was gone. It could just be a crazy coincidence but when I got over there Neko Case and her band were getting ready to take the stage. Stars were playing on the neighboring stage and I was happy that I got to hear some of them while I gave away cream to all the folks working on the AMD stage. Neko went on soon after and I stuck around for a handful of songs but the remaining ice cream I had was getting soft and I had to split to sling it while it was still good.
By the time I got back to Newt we were down to just Big Dippers on board. I wanted to venture out to see some more music and there were only a couple boxes left so we locked up and I headed over to see Heartless Bastards. What little Ive heard Ive liked. The upbeat tracks they played really got me going but some of the slower stuff just made me wish they were rocking out more.
I must have picked a really bad time to eat dinner because The Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, and local heavy-hiitters, White Denim were all playing at the same time. By the time I got back out into the field Raconteurs was bowing on the AMD stage, and I had missed the other two. Ah.. shucks.
Foo Fighters were the headliner for the whole festival and would close out Sunday night. Thats cool and all but I know a lot of music fans that arent fans of Foo Fighters. On Friday and Saturday nights when Manu and Beck were on, there were also other shows going on, The Mars Volta on Friday and Alison Krause and Robert Plant on Sunday. On Sunday Night there was no other band on the AMD stage and, if you werent a Foo fan, you were outta luck. Ive seen the Foo Fighters a couple times and they rock. Dave Grohl is an amazing front man and the energy of their sets is admirable. But the radio friendly rock songs just arent my favorite. Im prolly completely wrong here but I was thinking a while back if the band didnt make the music they were playing, theyd prolly never listen to it.
This might have been a blessing in disguise because I realized if I got packed up quickly I could drive Newt out before the rush of people leaving the show. They have a lock down on the compound from 9:30-11:00 each night while the 50,000 fans leave Zilker Park and I was lucky to barely make it out ahead of time. There were hundreds and hundreds of people making their way down Barton Springs Road and I was doing my best to dodge them. Once I hung a left onto Lamar I was home safe and quite relieved. I was hoping to end up a pool party that night to do some chillaxing but that didnt work out. Instead I found myself planted on Dougs couch drinking Lone Star while watching Human Giant and reminiscing about the weekend.
Thanks to Dirk and Kamal and everyone at C3 for making it possible for us to be there. Thanks to Blue Bunny and Yumi for the cream. Thanks to all the wonderful folks at Fresh and Clean for the photo passes. Thanks to Doug and Zack for the floor to crash on for a week. Thanks to Tom and Scott for shooting and to Aaron and Alana for helping to sling.
The good news is that theyve already announced the dates for ACL in 2009 and its even later next year, October 2-4. With all the money that The Parks Foundation gets I think theyre investing in irrigation at Zilker Park so next year will hopefully be less dusty too. If you want to get some cheap tickets now for next year you can scoop some up for $135 for all three days here. And lastly without further or due the moment youve all been waiting for. Youve read over 3000 words to get here. We have finally made our first enemy. Yup, its true. There are people out there that dont like what do. Or.. at least one person. Check out the comments section here to see what its all about.
