Here is a map of sweet spots around Austin where I like to play outdoor shows. My favorite spots are natural amphitheaters, secluded stages, echoey places, like beneath bridges. I look forward to adding places I’d like to play and starting maps for other cities like D.C. and San Diego.
View Map of Sweet Spots for Outdoor Concerts in Austin in a larger map
I used Hannah’s pic of me from my concert in Calhoun courtyard as my map pin. I’m a pinhead!
Thanks to Ron (of The Ron Museum) I’ve had an art-collector eye out for cheap art that makes me happy. Last night I found this on eBay and got it for $30, shipped from CA for $36.
After a little sleuthing this morning, Ron helped me figure out that it is probably a souvenir painting from the House of the Vettii in Pompeii, which explains the brown, yellow and red borders and the floating platform cupid is on. It doesn’t explain why he’s blowing a kiss to these three fading trees, and I like that mystery.
The back of the painting says:
Brooks, my beloved
husband, bought this
in Pompeii on 7 June 1956.
A.D.
Details:
Here are some similar images from the inside the Vettii.
Our good friend Carlos “Los Monster” Lopez passed away recently, suddenly, unexpectedly at 43. Too soon, too young. Los backed me up many times over the last 15 years on kit and conga not to mention made me laugh hundreds of times hanging after the gig. And I’m just one of many musicians in our circle who Los backed up and entertained.
We gathered at my place recently for a memorial Ugi Breakfast and Los Monster Jam. Thomas brought over a great old interview with Los and we all sat around and listened. Los was with us.
We had a fantastic trip out West to Marathon, Terlingua, Fort Davis, and Marfa. Here are a few of my favorite pics.
UPDATE: After reading a bit more about the science behind what Pono proposes – see Why Neil Young’s New Pono Music Player Doesn’t Make Any Sense – I’ve cancelled my pledge to the Kickstarter project. This raises lots of questions about what all those stars in the video were hearing, why they testified, and their motivations for doing so. I’ll be eager to follow the Pono player reviews when it comes out, but I’m backing away from being a first-gen guinea pig.
Neil Young’s mission may still very well be a good one, even if it simply returns us to listening to CD quality songs on our digital devices instead of MP3s. We’ll see.
Neil Young is on a mission to save us from the mp3 and I’m betting he’ll get us kickstarted. His Kickstarter video for Pono (Hawaiian for righteous) Music is the most persuasive I’ve ever seen. Artist after legendary artist gets out of his boat of a car and testifies to their conversion on one listening. It’s like he got them all high on music! They’re all searching for the words to describe the vividness with which they experienced songs they knew but never really heard like this before.
I watched the video and had to hear what they were hearing. I pledged $300 for one of the 1st Pono players and can’t wait to get it in October (projected). I’m investing in this reversal of the lofi trade for convenience, back to hifi richness and sound quality. Like every one of the artists who hears the difference in the video, this makes me hopeful.
This whole project stuck me as a profound idea in many ways:
This a great idea. Like a strong wind behind great a new wave of connections to music and musicians. This leap in sound quality, combined with the great leap in artist autonomy that this crowd-funded model represents is… righteous.
When I pledge this afternoon at 6 PM, there were 5K+ backers for $1.2 million (the goal was $800K). It’s now 6 hours later and it’s up to 7K backers and $2.2 million. This is going to be big.
