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Saturday comes in and brings the best of weather again. The sun is out all day, the temperature rises to a maximum of 90F. My kind of weather! Signature Sounds Records and Red House Records have joined forces with Jimmy Lafave’s new label Hard Road Records for their annual showcase. Mother Egan’s, their location for the last couple of years, has disappeared and a new venue had to be chosen. Zak’s (or Zax), across the street from Threadgill’s Riverside is the new home base for these wonderful labels. That is where my Saturday starts. Jimmy Lafave is the first artist and his side men really take up all the room at the small stage at Zak’s. Andrew Hardin joins Jimmy on lead guitar and my good friend Chip Dolan is on keyboards and accordion. Jimmy’s 25 minutes are as great as ever, his wonderful Dylan interpretations are beyond compare and worth cherishing.
The Saturday afternoon is reserved for the birthday celebration of Blue Rock Studios in Wimberley. The fifth anniversary starts at 1pm with a visit to the studio and an inside look into a recording session of Brazilian jazzman Gabriel Santiago. From 2 pm on it is concert time in the main room of the house. I listen to wonderful short gigs by Robbie Hecht, The Flyin’ A’s, David Berkeley, Gabriel Santiago, Carrie Elkin and Danny Schmidt. The 100 guests are listening quietly, the atmosphere is serene and good as ever. Home away from home! Our hosts Billy and Dodie Crockett are wonderful, the (blue!) birthday cake must be America’s best and leaves you without any need of more food. It is hard to leave and say goodbye. Until next year!
We are back just in time to experience the super moon. For the 14th time since 1900 the coincidence of a full moon with the closest approach the moon makes to the earth took place on this Saturday. And no cloud to be seen in Austin and there we were in the garden, looking at a bright moon with a 12% larger size than usual. It is said a super moon might be responsible for an increased risk of disasters like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Of course we already had the tsunami in Japan on March 11 last (exactly 9.5 years after 9 11), but that wasn’t close enough to provide us with scientific evidence.
Sunday March 20 is the very last day of SXSW 2011. The sun is hiding behind clouds, but the temperature is nice as always. It is the day of LeeAnn Atherton’s full moon barn dance (very appropriate this year!) in her enormous garden on South 2nd Street. Before going there we are in Amelia’s garden, one street east of LeeAnn’s. The PA is working again, good for Nancy K. Dillon, Teri Joyce/Roger Wallace and Matt Harlan. Watch out for this last guy, a Texan by birth, he is great! The Barn Dance is amazing as ever. It seems like all hippies in Austin have decided to go there and enjoy themselves. Everyone brings in food and/or drinks, a barbecue does its delicious thing, the music is wonderful. We listen to Eric Moll (with bassist Steve Carter), young Norwegian star Marit Larsen, Erin Harpe and her Delta Swingers, The Drakes (an Austin based rock group consisting of sidemen: Matt Giles, Michael ‘Cornbread’ Taylor, Vicente Rodriguez, Ron Flynt and Tom Gillam), Ray Bonneville and the eight piece soul band ‘Soul Track Mind’. My fifth SXSW is over! See you again next year, my dear Austin and SXSW!
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