Hooves on the Turf

Day 4 in Austin was March 20, 2009. We rolled into downtown by Mohawk, which was one of the places where the much talked-about Hot Freaks party was happening. There was a huge line outside.

We got inside and had These United States for breakfast.

We went on a mission to see Parenthetical Girls at Radio Room.

They were awesome. I’m a fan of the drama front man Zac Pennington introduces to their live shows, syncing the movement of picking a guitar up with the tempo of a quickening phrase, throwing one cymbal at a time on the floor to the beat and later playing them squatted, and so on. It’d be one thing if it seemed like he was trying too hard, but I’m convinced that this is how Zac would perform even when nobody’s watching. He’s obsessed with the relationship of his movements to the music, and I love it.

There’s also the undeniable effect of Rachel Jensen’s divine stature and intense face.

Zac walked around quite a bit.

He jumped off the stage to play this pole.

And this floor.

Referring to the comedian who went before them, Zac mentioned they didn’t quite have the guts that Alex the comedian did, but I think they did, and much more.

Line continued outside, but it continued to move swiftly.

We made our way outside of the downtown area, back to the eastern part of the town. Treasure City is the back of a thrift store, and some of the coolest DIY kids in Austin had organized a show and were playing too. Reverse X Rays were on when we got there.

The saxophone player was running around half naked.

What’s Up was next. Their music was pleasant.

DD/MM/YY

This free distribution of coffee and grilled cheese sandwiches is one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen.

A member of Quiet Hooves was sitting there making one grilled cheese sandwich after the next.

And his friends were helping him out.

His other friends were dancing.

My reason for being there, other than Treasure City being a fun place to hang out at, was Tune Yards.

She blew everyone away. I don’t have many pictures of the set because I was filming it. Will be edited and posted once I’m back in New York. Someone gave her CDs of his band because he was so impressed with her performance.

Merrill sold copies of her vinyl, Bird-Brains.

No Kids and Parenthetical Girls were there. They’re touring together.

The No Kids Tune Yards fist bump.

Next stop was Iron Gate to catch Dark Dark Dark at the Minneapolis party. They’d just started their set.

I was extremely pleased to run into Caroline Smith (of Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps), Sara Lucas of Callers and Walt McClements of Hurray for the Riff Raff there. Jesse Elliott of These United States and Peter Silberman of The Antlers were there, too.

Nona Marie was looking particularly lovely, I thought.

With Jesse Elliott with t-shirt holes.

Back to Ms. Bea’s, our resting place. Todd P’s patio parties were getting more and more crowded by the day. I felt like everyone I knew from Brooklyn was there that night.