So I have made it to Austin. The plane trip was pretty painless, though the connecting flight from Phoenix to Austin was uncomfortable, as I boarded last, and the way Southwest Airlines loads passengers is kind of strange. Long story short, I got confused and as a result ended up between an older man and older woman. I began feeling uncomfortable when the man handed the woman one of his snacks over me--no words had been exchanged between them prior to this. I guessed they were a couple and having some issues. Later on the woman hands the man one of her snacks across me. The man was a short and stalky and covered most of the armrest, adding to the discomfort, and every time I moved my legs the woman scooted away from me. Anyhow I landed in Austin to rain and a sweet sweet grassy smell.
From the airport, I took the bus downtown, then caught the 10 going down 1st for about 20 minutes to Karen's house. Karen is fantastic. When I arrived there was a warm greeting and lots of good food--shrimp, pasta, and fruit. I had seconds. Her dog, Rosey, is a female something (not sure what kind dog, collie?), but she's pretty cute, brown and white long hair and she seems to like me a lot.
I learned quite a bit about Karen: she is a liberal, she has a son in the Navy that is in Iraq that will be coming back to Texas soon at Corpus Christi (Karen's home town), not too far from Austin. She has house concerts all the time in her backyard and knows many musicians. She is a bit chatty. I have found the perfect place to stay in Austin.
The rest of the day I spent napping and locking in my SXSW schedule and getting bus and event info. I could have done a bit more to prepare for this trip, but you live you learn.
Day 2:
Today was fantastic. I got up late and went to Tommy Byrd's home and home recording studio. Karen, Tommy, and I sat and talked about music for a while, mainly how to sell it and a bit about Americana. They gave some good insight into Austin music and what local acts to check out. To tell the truth, I didn't have a single Austin band on my list before this conversation. We also talked about how to be successful as a musician, calling for gigs, following up, making contacts, and simply relying on other musicians to help you out. Also, about keeping interest. Giving customers a few songs here and there to keep interest alive. I shared my experiences about being a musician in Seattle and gave some suggestions about submitting songs to blogs and about the beauty of Hype Machine.
After our sit-down, we moved into Tommy's recording studio. He has a great setup. He runs Cubase 4, with three different sets of speakers to get the perfect sound across a lot of different systems. He uses a Mark Of The Unicorn digital pre-amp, which gets a really great sound. It has two mic inputs and 8 quarter-inch inputs. I've heard MOTU was pretty bad ass and yeah, this guy Tommy gets a great sound out of it. What he puts into it great too, he uses an MXL diaphragm mic for vocals and a really nice condenser mic for instrument recording. He knows a lot of musicians and what I've heard sounds brilliant. I've got his latest CD now, Love Broke The Fall. Here's an mp3 I found on his site called "He Tells All the Girls He's a Cowboy".
After Tommy's, Karen and I went to two grocery stores. I stocked up with ground beef, cheddar, milk and pasta. Damnit, I just realized I forgot to get cereal. Anyway, I dropped my jug of milk with the white stuff all over the floor beneath the shopping carts.
Got back to Karen's ate most of two burgers. Ran to the bus stop, went to the Convention center, met a cool girl named Denise and went to bag-stuffing with her. Met some of her friends. Got pizza. Saw a band she knows called The Organics. Long story short, here are pictures:
