spring break recap

As is the case every spring break in Austin changes in to a whole new world as the who's who of music and film descended on Austin for SXSW. It is the one time of the year that I feel like a foreigner in my own city. It almost feels like living in LA and who wants to live there? News coverage featured JayZ, Seth Rogen, Jimmy Kimmel ran his show here for a week, Rachel Ray, and on and on. So it is surprising with all this news coverage that Pete Flisakowski was able to slip in to town unnoticed.

We enjoyed our time with Grandpa Pete,  but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with his hopes of fishing. He got out one day on Lake LBJ and then he and the boys fished from the docks one day at Lake Pflugerville. We managed to do a few other things to keep busy including visiting the Bob Bullock museum, the Cele Store for some BBQ, The Noble Pig for a great sandy, a baseball practice with JT, and Sherman and Mr. Peabody (Grandpa Pete and boys only!). The chickens loved having him in town so they could show their tricks to a new audience.

There is a good chance, Grandpa Pete had to undergo some serious therapy to decompress and acclimate back to regular life after a few days here but we enjoyed having him and hope he makes an annual fishing trip  to Texas in March.

After Grandpa Pete left, Rick and I had two nights of adults only activities to wind up our Spring Break. The first was seeing Lucinda Williams at the new venue the Roost and the second was helping Rick's buddy Mike celebrate his 50th. Both were great events. I've wanted to see Lucinda ever since I was introduced to her music when we arrived here 15 years ago but she is a hard ticket to come by. I was not disappointed. The Roost is a smaller venue and because of SXSW it wasn't packed. We were close to the stage and I think she played almost all of my favorites. The birthday party was great fun as well. I left at a reasonable hour but I think some mid-forty and newly fifty year old men learned that they can't drink tequila shots like they did years ago.

We are all back in the full swing of our normal routine post spring break, work has been busy (hence my late post), and of course baseball is going full speed now so most nights are spent juggling schedules.

For you listening enjoyment, I am providing my top 10 Lucinda Williams songs.I think I've rewritten the list a few hundred times because there are so many I love. Lucinda definitely knows heartbreak and love and has some great lines like "conversation with you was like a drug" or "june bug versus hurricane".

1. Essence
2. R U Alright
3. Something About What Happens When we Talk
4. Still Long for Your Kiss
5. Right in Time
6. Righteously 
7. Those Three Days
8. Change the Lock (Tom Petty cover is the more known version)
9. Joy
10. Blue