Where Have I Been Hiding?

Wondering where I've been lately? This wouldn't be much a of a travel blog if I didn't at least periodically update you on my adventures, would it now? To sum it up, I've been...

Here:

Tagging along with my friend, Julie, to South Stradbroke Island, where we spent the afternoon lazing around in hammocks.

And here:

Byron Bluesfest. Highlight of the day was seeing Michael Franti, but also enjoyed Kim Churchill and Xavier Rudd. Regrettably left before seeing ZZ Top due to cell phone failure...

Festival feet - GROSS!

And spending a whole lot of time here:

Burleigh Heads, about a 20 minute drive or hour bike ride from my place. Amazing spot to watch the surfers and enjoy the gorgeous 'winter' weather. Also good for a bit of nostalgia, as it's the first place Jaime and I stayed on the Gold Coast last year.

Other than that, I've been enjoying everyday life, trying hard not to take for granted how lucky I am to live here.

Good Vibrations

Last weekend we gathered a solid crew - Kevin, Katie, Kirsty, Julie, Sharon and yours truly - and headed to the Good Vibrations Festival on the Gold Coast, featuring headliners Faithless, Phoenix and Ludacris.

Some of my favorite memories of the day:

- Seeing Aloe Blacc and, more specifically, a guy at the Aloe Blacc show who was wearing a shirt that read 'Go to Bunnings, buy some timber, build a bridge and get over it.' Not only was it creative, but it appeared to be homemade and was a tank top. For some reason, men here love tank tops. Also, when Aloe Blacc asked the audience to shout out the name of the person they wish was there with them, Kevin shouted without hesitation - 'STEVE MANOLAS!'

Kevin and Katie

Glistening in the afternoon heat

Crowd loving Aloe Blacc

- Checking out Fat Freddy's Drop and their trombone player who stripped down to his undies and danced around the stage

Trombone guy ruled!

Just checking to make sure the camera's working

- Watching a bit of the Ting Tings while sipping a delicious frozen cocktail

Cheers!

- Nas and Damien Marley, with their flag waver who NEVER stopped waving the Rasta flag...hardest working man in show biz I think

- Catching the end of Miike Snow and the beginning of Faithless from a relaxed spot on the hill

- Phoenix giving us a high energy performance with an amazing light show. Then seeing the lead singer come down into the crowd and lean over the fans, while being anchored by a security guy with one hand firmly in the back of his pants so he didn't fall. Necessary, but awkward.

- Ludacris singing 'All I Do Is Win' while people danced like crazy under the tent

The lowlight of my day was losing my new watch in the first couple of hours we were there. I made the mistake of trying to be responsible and re-applying sunscreen between shows, and I forgot to put my watch back on when I was done. It was gone within minutes of leaving that spot, and I hope whoever is wearing it now feels like a bad person!

Even that bit of bad luck didn't put a damper on a really great day; can't wait to do it again!

ACL Day 3 (or I Think I Drank the Kool-Aid)

Sunday, October 11

4:00 We get a late start for obvious reasons. There are grumblings about potentially not wanting to attend at all, but we rally and get ourselves out there.

Still standing



4:07 We see the gold sequin jacket dude again. Same exact outfit. This guy rules.

5:00 Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Wow. I'm not sure what I had envisioned, but this caught me slightly off guard, albeit in a good way. This dude took the stage and looked like he could be holding a church revival meeting or at least was the leader of a cult. And the music had a very similar feeling to it. But I loved it! I'm pretty sure I would join that cult, though I don't think I would move to the compound. Honestly, this goes down as one of my favorites of the festival.

Random sidenote: there was a TOM's booth in the marketplace this year, and Michelle and I walked over so she could buy some more comfy shoes. Turns out she leaves her wallet there, and they later text her about it, then offer to deliver it to her work today. I'm so impressed, I'm going to buy another pair!

6:00 We opt for The Flaming Lips over Band of Horses. We could have probably seen both, but were feeling lazy. The Lips were good, but not nearly as good as when I saw them at SXSW a few years years ago. Could have been me, could have been them, but it was a little less than I was hoping.

The Flaming Lips



Most excited fan, in many ways



8:00 Set up shop for The Eagles. Behind us, Norah Jones is finishing up. I text my friend Adam, who I've heard detests her, asking him if he'd like me to buy him a commemorative t-shirt, and get the following reply:

"Please do, then douse it in a flammable liquid, jam that in the top of a glass vessel filled with said flammable liquid, light it and hurl it towards her, molotov cocktail style. Enjoy ACL!"

Incredible. The Eagles were about exactly what you would have expected, nothing more and nothing less. I wasn't keen on staying very long, especially after they cracked this joke on stage 'We wrote this song back when the Dead Sea was only sick.' That was all she wrote for me!

In all, ACL 2010 goes down as one of the best years yet for me! Can't wait until next year...or 2012 if I just happen to be out of the country in 2011 ;)

Austin Rocks!

ACL Day 2 (or Revenge of the Kettle Corn)

Saturday, October 9

2:00 After checking in with the crew, no one is ready to go over with me, so I make the trek alone. I pack as much vodka as I can in my ziploc bag (that I hid inside of a tampon box inside of my backpack), and haul butt to get to the Two Door Cinema Club show. I saw the last 15 min and they didn't disappoint. Fun dance music from a group from Northern Ireland...couldn't go wrong! I wandered from there to see Gaslight Anthem and meet Brie's crew, who were easy to find because they were carrying a green stuffed dinosaur decorated with a red bandana and Xmas lights on a stick. Party Monster - classic.



4:30 I have no idea where we spent the last hour, but I am pretty sure it included buying Sweet Leaf Tea to mix drinks. Also procured a bag of kettle corn during this time. These decisions would all haunt me later. Head to Broken Bells and enjoy ourselves thoroughly.

Frequently visited...



5:30 Check out The Temper Trap, another solid choice.

Florida girls



The Temper Trap



Our crew



6:30 We forgo LCD Soundsystem for Gogol Bordello, which was a must see per my friend, Mike. Tough call as LCD was very highly recommended as well, but I thought we could probably split the time. Well, Gogol Bordello was so entertaining, we didn't leave. The main dude is Romanian or something Eastern European and is insane! I downloaded a few songs, but listening to it on iTunes does not do it justice. This did not actually happen to us as we weren't close enough, but the singer apparently walks into the crowd and pours red wine on concert goers. He also drinks straight from the bottle of red wine during his songs. Their performance was definitely one of my favorites of the weekend!

These guys rocked



Party Monster feeling groovy on Day 2



Austin at dusk



7:30 Missed both Matt and Kim and Deadmau5 because I got distracted by the tent with the big screen broadcasting the Gator game. In retrospect, this was a bad idea. I only saw a portion of the second quarter, but it was when things started going downhill. The highlight of this was that I was asked very conflicting questions in two separate conversations with strangers - first, was I still a student at UF? and second, did I have a child who attended UF? Whoa. I dismissed both and kept drinking.

Fellow Gators felt my pain



9:00 We can hear MIA playing in the background at the football tent, and she does indeed put on a acoustically terrible show. Lots of yelling and screeching noises. We head to Muse, which is pretty great. I would like to give you more specifics, but this is where things start to go downhill for me...I was rocking out until I decided I had to take a quick bathroom break. I determine on that walk that I have had too much to drink, too much kettle corn in place of real food, and that I am quite nauseous. After informing Michelle and Jenna, they agree to leave with me and we set out on the walk home. As a precaution, I empty the rest of the kettle corn out of its plastic bag and walk calmly with my head down. Deep breaths, deep breaths. I am holding steady until we get to the Mopac foot bridge over Lake Austin, where I make it about 75% across before I burst into a full out sprint. A combination of the crowd, the running and the waft of kettle corn coming from the bag does it for me, and I toss my cookies (corn?) right there amongst hundreds of my festival friends. Thank God for the bag. I'm sure I wasn't the first and won't be the last! I have to say I am pretty proud of my execution, and kind of consider myself hardcore after this turn of events. Good training for Australia!!

Muse



Return of the camera setting



All smiles before our quick exit

ACL Day 1 (or Glowsticks Are Amazing)

The following posts will be composed as a timeline of events from Austin City Limits last weekend. For the record, this was one of the most fun weekends of the year, every year, and this year was no exception!



Friday, October 8

1:00 Jenna and I park, potentially illegally, in Tarrytown and chug a few beers for good measure before we embark on our walk to the festival. We decide that the risk is worth taking and we will probably be okay with just drinking at Deep Eddy later that night if the car is indeed towed.

1:30 Donovan Frankenreiter. Solid show, good way to ease into things. We spy a man in jeans, a white tee, and what looks like his grandmother's formal gold sequin jacket. Hands down my favorite outfit of the weekend. How he didn't pass out is beyond me, as we all know that sequins don't breathe well.

2:00 First vodka drink is poured, as Blues Traveler plays the background music for that glorious moment.

3:00 Miike Snow dazzles us with their attire (all black outfits with full silver masks), but we aren't moved to stay there the whole time. We head over to Angus & Julia Snow and enjoy a few Aussie colloquialisms before wandering back to the previous stage for the Black Keys.

4:00 Vodka supply is gone, and I vow to make amends the next day by sneaking in more (and sharing less). We are now on to beer, which I am sorry to say was exclusively sponsored by Budweiser this year. I begrudgingly drink Bud Light, and pray that I don't exhibit typical Bud Light behavior. I reminded myself once again that I must ration more vodka for Saturday.

4:30ish The Black Keys rocked, as they did in 2008 when I saw them at ACL. Michelle arrives on the scene.

Michelle and me at the Black Keys



Terrible threesome



Beautiful day, big crowd



6:00 - 8:00 Spoon is great as always. Vampire Weekend is even better, such a high energy fun show. Brie has joined us at this point with Maaaaachael, his friends and the party monster, which became our official mascot of the weekend.

Great view of Spoon



Party Monster!!!



8:00 We're all a little toasty by now, and The Strokes are on. Another great performance. The excitement is increased ten-fold when some random people in front of us start tossing out glow sticks. On top of that, I discover some new settings on my camera and hilarity ensues. At least it was pretty hilarious at the time.

This is so cool...



...especially when we've been drinking...



The Strokes



10:00 We make the long walk home, discover the car is still there, drive through Taco Cabana and call it a night. Successful first day on all accounts.

Can't. Stop. Partying.