acl = austin city [love]

it's amazing how easy it is to conform to an easier way of life.....

last week i ventured down to austin to attend the "austin city limits music festival". my first three day music festival. for a few days i traded my desk chair for a lawn chair, door schedules for concert schedules, and my itunes for live tunes.

after spending thursday driving down, we enjoyed a little bit of the austin night life with our austin friends, watching the famous bats depart from under the bridge, and enjoying some amazing mexican food. that night we planned. our itinerary was light on the details and heavy on the music. the only "for sure" event would be crashing at the house of our friends, boyfriends, parents, who just happened to live close to the festival, and who also ended up being incredibly gracious hosts.

with so many bands and so different taste in music, it was almost impossible to stay as a group. we would meet up to hit the bands we all enjoyed, but then would spit off to take in a band that full filled our own personal liking. my own personal play list for the festival seemed to be a mix of indie folk, "beard rock", electropop, and 90's alternative

day 1:
what made milwaukee famous
vampire weekend
jamie lidell
m. ward
mates of state
hot chip
jenny lewis
thes swell season
the mars volta

day 2:
fleet foxes
jose gonzalez
back door slam
css
erykah badu
spiritualized
john fogerty
iron & wine
beck

day 3:
octopus project
flyleaf
stars
neko case
okkervil river
gnarls barkley
band of horses
foo fighters.

as with anything there were a few disappointments, but also a few surprises. some performances that stand out in my mind were jenny lewis, the swell season, mars volta, css, iron and wine, and the foo fighters. also running, into an old friend from college, out of 75,000 people and eight stages was a pleasant surprise.

there was however an event that trumped all other experiences at the concert. in my program i read neko case would be signing autographs at 6 p.m. on sunday! this time was constantly in the back of my mind. about 1 pm on suday i decided it would be wise to pick up a cd at the festival store, giving me something to have her sign. at the store i found her "autograph time" had been moved up to 2! wow! how easily i could have missed it. the time came, i took my turn in line, which gave me time to think about what i might say! something like,

"thank you for providing the soundtrack to my life!"

.... nope too weird. how about..

"your music makes me want to sell my car and ride a horse!"

...nope weird, and not true. or i could ask if she remembered the moment we shared back in april of 2007 when she played lawrence! written about here. nope, too weird, and a little "stalker-ish".

with all these thoughts in my head! i felt a little like ralphie in a "christmas story" on his way to see santa! before i knew it, i was at the front. my mind froze. somehow i managed to sit down, hand her the cd, and utter the words, " i love your music". she smiled and signed the cover. before i could even think, it was done. walking away i looked at what she had wrote, and smiled, i think she remembered lawrence. (see cover below). later that afternoon neko performed. it ended up being the only concert where i left the comfort of my folding chair and fought my way to the front of the stage to enjoy it.

the whole festival was amazing. the music was enjoyable, but the real real treat was being able to take some time off work to spend with friends!