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During the summer months, we Austinites don't get out much. Cruelly, the weather gets hotter as each day progresses, so that by 6:00 or 7:00 p.m., when our workday is done and it's time to decide whether to go out or stay holed up inside where it's cooler, it's tempting to stay inside and catch up on our reading.
But now September is here, and I'm making plans to leave the house again. First up is a trip to Chicago for the Touch and Go Records 25th Anniversary Celebration, September 8–10, 2006. It features 25 bands in three days, with not a bad one in the bunch.
Ted Leo
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Friday's lineup is for the kids, and I'll be grateful to be in a city where I don't know a whole lot of people. I'll get to dance my ass off like a gigantic dork, and none of my friends will be around to remind me about it the next day. Supersystem and !!! will be playing — two of my top choices for dancing around my bedroom in my footie pajamas — and my secret boyfriend Ted Leo will also be on the bill.
Saturday's list of bands skews significantly older. Back when I was a little niblet, I'd stay up late listening to college radio, and hearing the live music calendar used to make me deeply bitter — there so many shows that I would never get to see. Back then, 21+ shows were ten years away, and I knew that all my favorite bands would have broken up by then. But on Saturday, September 9, vengeance is mine: I get to see Big Black, the Ex, Scratch Acid, and Killdozer all in one night.
And Sunday is a bunch of bands I don't care for. I'll probably pop by to see the Monorchid and spend the rest of the day shopping for used records. If anyone knows where the craic is at on a Sunday afternoon in Chicago, well, let me know.
Damian Marley
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The following weekend is the Austin City Limits Festival, an event both loved and dreaded by Austinites. It's absolutely huge, both in lineup and attendance, and it's always either my worst or my favorite weekend of the year. This year's bill is scattershot — will I find the stage where Damian Marley is playing in time to see his set, or will I get separated from all my friends and wind up overheated, dehydrated, and hopelessly cranky? Will I stumble across a new band that I've heard about but never listened to and fall in love? Or will I get trapped in the middle of a huge crowd, unable to flee from the horrors of Tom Petty or the String Cheese Incident? If I time it right, I'll be able to flit effortlessly between Ted Leo (again), What Made Milwaukee Famous, White Ghost Shivers, and the Shins while remembering to drink water like a marathon runner.
After the ACL fest, I'll crawl back into my cave until mid-October, when the temperature drops back below 90 degrees. By then, hopefully, some of the hearing I plan to lose in the next two weeks will have come back.
Posted September 2006
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