Twinkle Twinkle Lonestar, by Amanda Dunbar
Friday was Keith’s birthday! So to celebrate we took a weekend trip to Austin, TX to see the Kings of Leon play at the Austin Music Hall. It was FABULOUS! Neither of us are really picky about our accommodations so we opted for the cheaper La Quinta within walking distance of the music hall and everything downtown. The room was just fine. It did smell faintly of cigarettes, an odor which clung to our luggage, and there was a mysterious curly hair clinging to the shower wall that belonged to neither of us, but other than that, I had no complaints. (Ugh, I know!) We got to Austin around 6 p.m. and walked downtown to Sixth street for dinner. We’d scoped the area out online before we left, and learned that most of the nightlife is on Sixth and the surrounding streets. We stopped at the Iron Cactus, a mexican restaurant, for dinner and drinks. My margarita on the rocks and the frozen peach one that followed were delish and made Sixth street seem that much more interesting. Let me tell you, Austin is a prime location for people watching. There are people of all ages milling around at night, and most of them seem to be of the laid-back, free-spirit variety. There must have been a costume party going on somewhere because we saw folks dressed as werewolves, historical figures, cats, fairies, etc. Additionally, there was a Longhorn vs. OSU game last weekend, so the crowd was thick with fans proclaiming their pride in various shades of orange. To be honest, I couldn’t tell them apart unless there was a longhorn emblazoned upon their shirts. Whatever. They seemed to be cordial to each other. We even saw some fans of opposing teams outside a bar sharing a cigarette. How’s that for southern hospitality and manners? At one point, we accidentally wound up at an OSU alumni reception at The Blind Pig bar. Whoops! I’m pretty sure no one noticed though.
On Saturday, we walked all over the downtown area, and it was HOT! We ate lunch at The Ironworks Barbecue, which is housed in a historic (early 1900s) iron works building. The barbecue was pretty good. Keith got the sampler plate, and the sausage was terrific. I got pork loin, wishing I’d gotten the sampler as well. Later in the afternoon, we went to a really cool music store where I saw these crazy things (below). They’re some kind of Mexican/skeleton shadowboxes. They were so great, I could have bought them all. And then I got to try Jamba Juice, which was so was yummy and refreshing in the heat. I’d definitely be broke if there was one of those nearby.
Finally, the Kings of Leon concert was amazing. They played a really long time and covered all the songs I wanted to hear: Revelry, On Call, Charmer, and Sex on Fire. Let me just add that lead singer Caleb Followill is very nice to look at. There, I said it. He sounded really amazing too. The Austin Music Hall is a great small facility, which provided the perfect atmosphere for this concert. It was a tad cramped, but that’s just part of it. We were in the gen. admission section just a ”row” or three back. There were of course the usual d-bags who drunkenly tried to push their way to the front, but the tall guy next to me held them back, almost getting into a fight at one point. Fun, fun. Anyhow, The Stills and We are Scientists opened. I’m partial to The Stills, especially Still in Love, but they were both good opening acts. Sadly, I did not take my camera so I have no pictures to share of the concert. I kicked myself over this later, but at the time, I was afraid I would: a) drop it b) not be allowed to have it. It was quite a trek back to the hotel, and I did not want to deal with that. And, since I still do not have one of those fancy schmancy iPhones (Ryan), I was out of luck. I’m sure we’ll see them play again though, and next time I’ll be ready. So, sorry about the long post, but the trip was better than I could have hoped. We will definitely go back one day when we can stay longer.
