Thursday, April 28, 2011

Railroad Revival: The Cloud and The Music

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"This April, Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show will embark on a tour unlike any in recent memory. Traveling exclusively in vintage railcars, the three bands will journey across the American Southwest over the course of a week. The aptly titled Railroad Revival Tour will feature the three bands playing concerts at six unique outdoor locations along the route, beginning April 21st in Oakland, California."-Tour Announcement, Posted on March 2, 2011 By Railroad Revival Tour-Here

The tickets for the Austin show sold out faster than any other show on the tour. We are talking like 10 minutes or so. Maybe less. All I know for sure is that I was one of the lucky ones......
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The show was this past Wed and it was, as fellow concert attendee and friend Kim C. put it, "Hot, dirty and amazing!"

Old Crow Medicine Show played first. I really don't have a good picture of their performance as we were too far from the stage at that point. Don't worry, we moved up by the time the next band took the stage. OCMS were fantastic live! Dale and I discussed how much we would love to see them in a small venue. That would be too much fun.

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Here we are waiting for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros to take the stage. Soon, our good friends Rachel and Larry joined us. Rachel was dressed for the occasion in her cute engineer hat-
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Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros came out and started their set with 40 Day Dream. Here is a short clip of that + me, Rachel, Larry, Dale, and the crowd:


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If I were in a band playing to thousands of people, I think I would take a picture just like this guy (Stewart Cole) did.

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Alex Ebert is one of the most engaging front men I have ever seen. This guy has the charisma you were looking for! No, it's not under the bed with your missing sock and your flip flop.

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Jade Castrinos has a voice that will make you want to cry, move, sing, pass out, paint, and make pancakes. All of that and she is sporting a great dress.

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Oh, look! Marcus Mumford and Ben Lovett of Mumford and Sons came out to join the band! (They did the same thing when OCMS played.)

Do you want to know about the most beautiful thing that occurred that night? It was a moment that included this cloud + the music of Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros+ the vibe of the crowd.
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This mutha was HUGE! At one point, Alex Ebert pointed to the enormous cloud and exclaimed "Holy Shit, Look at That!" followed by "thanks mom."

Now look at this short clip of the band and the music and the crowd and tell me it ain't beautiful:


Mumford and Sons up next....

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Work Shenanigans

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As you can see by the lovely reminder posted on a colleague's white board, we only have 30 working days left of this school year! Woo-hoo!!!!
The countdown to freedom has begun. In celebration, I took a bunch of pictures of cool work things or me goofing around at work. Would you like to see a few? I will show you two today throw a few more at you here and there. You know....spread things out a bit.
(disclaimer, I work really hard. I often arrive to work at 6:30 so please don't think I goof off all day long. I only do so part of the day, gosh!)

Here we go:
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This a small portion of a large mural. This section of the mural is located right outside of my office. The silhouettes are of actual students and staff members. I blend in well, no?

Here I am messing around in the audiology office:Photobucket
Fake ears are fun!
The audiologist uses this ear to demonstrate how she makes ear molds. That pink stuff is what she squirts into your ear canal to capture the shape of your ear. When the pink stuff hardens, she pops them out of your ear and ships them off to a company that makes them into earmolds for hearing aids. If you don't need hearing aids, she will make you ear plugs! I work a a school for the Deaf, so the audiologist is an important employee.

p.s. yes, I did put my earring in that fake ear.
That is all.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

3 Things

1. You know I love me some beauty products. I also love samples of beauty products. I have often bid on sample packages from sephora or ulta on ebay. My friend Cristie recently told me about Birchbox and I jumped all over it. See, Birchbox is a service that sends you samples every month. You pay $10.00 month and they send you a handful of samples every month. Plus, if you decide that you want to purchase a full size product that was featured in that month's birchbox, you can do so at a discounted rate. I decided to give the service a try and I received my first Birchbox just the other day.
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normally, the box is pink but they changed it up for April... I think it had something to do with going green.....

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I love getting things in the mail (other than bills and crappy coupon packs that are filled with coupons for carpet cleaning and garage door repair).

Here are the items that were wrapped up in the pink tissue paper:
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The box contained the following:
Juice Beauty, Green Apple Peel (tried it last night and liked it. The tingling (burning) sensation must mean it's working)

Liv GRN, Earth Eau de Parfum (smells nice)

Weleda, Wild Rose Smoothing Facial Lotion (good stuff)

Zoya nail polish in Jules (a pretty nude shade with shimmer)

Extre/Bloomin, Seed Paper (not sure about this one)

Ok, enough about skin care and what not. On to the next item!

2. We had to have the car serviced and the repair center gave us a volvo convertible as a loaner car. I drive a Volvo s80 Sedan, so this little convertible was a nice change.
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I told Dale that it felt like we were on vacation.

3. Dale and I went to a hamburger place for lunch. Here is a little tip, never order a salad at a burger joint.
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This is the type of salad you might want if you prefer Ranch dressing. Ranch eaters don't care what the salad tastes like because they can only taste the ranch dressing. Blech.

In Other News:
I think I am going to take a stained glass class this summer. Why not? I think I will be good at it.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Spectacles

Bored? I suggest you go to warbyparker.com and try on glasses, virtually. Here is a picture of me virtually trying on the "Huxley" frames in Revolver Black:
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What...not my best look?

Next, I suggest you take advantage of their "home try on" service. You pick 5 different frames and they send them to you to try on in the comfort of your own home. You get to keep them for 5 days and then send them back. They pay for postage both ways, so you have nothing to worry about! Would you like to see me in the 5 frames I chose to try on? Well all right then!

Starting with the worst pair first:
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What in the hell? I don't look cool, I look like I took my gran'pappy's seizure meds.

Second pair: How about these?
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Oh hellllllllllllllll nah!

Third pair: Maybe if I try to look a little sexy these frames will work....
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Nope. No workie.

Fourth pair
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Not so bad, but not so good.

Last pair
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Hmm...I like these.

The best part of warby parker is that they only charge $95 for a pair of glasses (frames+prescription lenses). That is not a bad deal my friend. You can also buy a monocle, if that is your kind of thing.

Bonus pic:
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I stab you!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

SKIN

I love skin products. SPF moisturizing lotions, toners, tonics, scrubs, masques, peels, exfoliators, serums, and refiners.
Love them all.

Here I am with my newest black peel masque (or mask, if you prefer). I like peels because I pretend like I am peeling off my own skin when I am removing them.
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Here I am right after I removed the masque. Ahhh, so fresh and so clean!
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You would think that, because I love skin products, that I would love going to the spa for a facial. Nah. I went for one a few weeks back and it was ok. I'll try it out again but so far, I like doing it myself.

Here I am crossing my eyes. Your welcome.
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When I was in my early twenties, I hung out mostly with dudes. They let me give them little mini-facials and, in return, I would shave the back of their necks for them. Hey, when you don't have many girlfriends, you have to improvise. I learned that the peel masque was not the best thing to put on a guy that was sporting a 5 O'clock shadow. So remember, before applying a masque to your masculine friend, stubble is trouble.

That is all.

Friday, April 08, 2011

SXSW:Sunday-Night

Ahhh, here we are at the last of the SXSW 2011 posts. Soon, I will be able to post about random things again like: my dog is fat, my other dog is thin, I saw a deer get hit by a car this morning, I am going to a rolfer for some rolfing, etc.

For now, let's discuss the last night of SXSW. Dale and I started off at Central Presbyterian church to catch Sharon Van Etten. I had heard her singing and playing guitar on the radio a few days before and her voice just about killed me. That was on the radio. In person, I damn near thought I was going to need medical attention. Her voice is like a hook that plunges into your gut and pulls out your small intestines. I had goose bumps during her entire performance. Loved her. In fact, she is now my favorite new (to me) artist. This is why I love SXSW......if you do it right, you will find new music to love.

Here is a video of Sharon performing at the IFC Crossroads house during SXSW 2011-

Niiiiiiiiiiice.

After SVE (that's Sharon Van Etton, duh) we went to Frank's for a frank:
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If you are going to eat a hotdog, best go get one at Frank's.

Next up, Antones for Joe Ely and David Grissom. Joe Ely was born in Amarillo and was raised in my hometown, Lubbock. He has been at this music thing since before you were born. I recently found out that he toured with The Clash and even sang back up vocals on "Should I Stay or Should I go." He is a great musician, songwriter, and performer. You should check him out sometime. In fact, see him now while David Grissom is playing with him. David's guitar playing will spank your ass. IT WILL SPANK IT HARD!
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Joe

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David

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Joe and David.

Here is a funny story about this show. We walked into Antone's and the place was packed. There was a line around the building. We pushed our way into the crowd and found a decent spot. I started looking around and noticed something strange. I turned to Dale and said, "man, there are a lot of bitches up in here. I wonder if Bob Schneider is playing later on." No offense bitches and Bob. It's just that Bitches love them some Bob Schneider. Simple fact, that's all. Anyway, Joe Ely comes out on stage and this girl next to me tells her friend, "oh! he is old!" At this point, I knew something funny was going on. Most of the crowd was compromised of women in their late 20's-early 20's. This is not the norm for a Joe Ely show.
So Joe Ely and the band do their thing and they do it well. Dale and I went home after that set. When I got home, I checked the SXSW schedule and found out who those chicks were waiting to see:

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Hanson. Yup.....Hanson.
photo credit

This concludes the SXSW 2011 Blogs.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

SXSW: Sunday-Day

We started our Sunday by heading to east Austin for the Mess With Texas Fest. Deer Tick was playing and, well, we were excited to see them. We got there a little early and were able to catch most of The Growler's set. The Growler's are from Costa Mesa, California and they play gothic/Hawaiian/Surf music (according to their myspace page).
I was diggin' their gothic/hawaiian/surf sound and wanted to go take some pics of them producing said sound. I walked up to the stage, took out my camera, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.....nothing. Error message, actually. My shutter was not working. Say What?
That very morning, I pulled my camera bag off the bed and the camera fell out. I thought it was securely strapped inside of the bag but noooooooo. Not so. When it dropped, I turned it on and it seemed to be ok. I packed it in the bag and decided to not tell Dale. Well, flash forward to me trying to take pics of The Growlers only to be met with the terrifying error message that basically told me my fancy camera was now nothing but a fancy paperweight.

Now I had to tell Dale. I told him that something was wrong with the camera. I did not tell him I dropped it that morning and that was what was wrong. I thought he might be able to fix it and I would be off the hook.He examined it, could not fix it, and wondered why it was not working. That is when I had to tell him. Here is my video confession:

Awkward.
He was surprised that I was not completely forthcoming with him in the first place. I was just so dang embarrassed that it happened. He told me "this is why we can't have nice things." Soon, I will send the Nikon off for repair. Keep your fingers crossed.

Thankfully, soon after my confession, Deer Tick came on next and rocked the hell out of east Austin. We were able to forget about our troubles for about 40 minutes. After that, we went to the San Jose to catch White Denim, went to the Snack Bar for some quinoa, and then went home for some rest and air conditioning. It was hot, ya'll! We did not stay home for good. We had some night shows to attend. Next post will be the last SXSW 2011 post. It will also contain information regarding my favorite new (to me) artist found during the festival!