I had never thought about moving to Texas until a conversation with my mom between songs at a small post-Austin City Limits show last night. Feet covered in mud (the ramification of Saturday’s rain that made the last day of the music fest a five mile mud pit) and hot as hell, my answer to her question about whether I could see myself living there surprised even me: “Sure.”
To be fair, I’d seen fantastic music, eaten more than my share of empanadas, gotten to tool around at a hyper-modern bike shop (Mellow Johnny’s—and no, it didn’t sound like “yellow jerseys” to me either), and would later pay a visit to the Snake Farm on the road back to San Antonio. So happy to be in Texas goes without saying.
But I’ll try to be objective about festival pros and cons, especially considering how much I’ve been frustrated by other large summer festivals (read: Lollapalooza).
ACL +
Great stage layout; good access for photographers; solid lineup (of which Dirty Projectors was an unexpected bonus between their variety of instruments and three singers with great syncopation); perfect iPhone app; Lone Star tall boys.
ACL –
Poor showing by Mos Def; disappointing showing of women’s groups.
I’m hopeful that the latter will improve (but let’s be honest, will try to go back either way).
Speaking of good iPhone app work, I recently came across an app called Ruben & Lullaby made by a graphic novelist (who also collaborated with a chamber music group on a concert I previewed (ahem, sorry for the self-promotion)).
The app is a lot different than most, including ACL’s. Instead of being useful, it’s…well, it’s art. To the best of my knowledge, this makes it quite original. I think we may one day look back on R&L like we do Atari, but hopefully app-art is a trend that’ll continue.