Emo’s Alternative Lounge Austin, TX February 11, 2003

A new year, a new set of long, blathering reviews! LOL

Read on or click here to get to the show or here for the set list.

Woo hoo! Club dates in Texas at long last! None of that "fifth on the bill for an outdoor festival" crap. News of these dates was a great early Christmas present. These shows were also the reward after a veeeeeeeeery long week at work. 90 hours. Oy vey. Long yes, but it was for a workshop I’m in charge of: the best part of my day job at TOMCAT USA.

Despite the reward, I received some news just before the shows that had me feeling less than enthusiastic, shall we say. On the 9th, I found out that my mom was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

The news hit me like a punch in the face. While the doctors call it "very, very treatable" it still scares the $hit out of me. Feelings of helplessness abounded as well, knowing that she was way up north in Columbus and I was stuck in Midland, Texas. :P

Sorry to start off on such a bummer. As it turns out, mom’s treatment will be short. No chemo necessary! Woo hoo! In fact, when she asked the doctor if she’d be alright to go visit her grandson in March, the doctor told her that he felt certain that she could do see him in March and see him off to college as well…

*Whew*

Anyway, the 5+ hour drive to Austin proved to be quite therapeutic. Somewhere between Sterling City (which is neither, BTW) and San Angelo, depression over mom’s diagnosis shifted to simply feeling pissed off.

The drive was also a great chance to catch up on some music I’d been meaning to listen to. Wayne Kramer’s "Adult World" was on heavy rotation that day: great stuff that brought back memories of him opening in Anaheim. The title track as well as "Brought a Knife to the Gun Fight" and "Nelson Algren Stopped By" kick my butt.

I found Emo’s at my usual stupid-early time. Jimmy from South Carolina had just arrived, too. Nice to meet him in person. We both admired the poster for the shows (pictured above).

After Jimmy left to check into his hotel, a manger of the venue popped outside, becoming the first in a series of people to openly ridicule me for showing up so early. LMAO!

I regret nothing.

Anyway, he informed me that the poster was made by a local artist (only 165 in print) and they’d have some for sale at the merch booth that night.

I met a couple other attendees who came to the club hoping to buy tickets. They couldn’t do that, so they asked me where 33 Records is. I didn’t know at the time but now I can tell you that the store is on Guadalupe and 40th. LOL

Danny F. Saint and Stephanie showed up not too long after that. Great to see them both – particularly Stephanie. These shows would be her first in over a year and a half. Glad she was able to make it in from Boston.

In fact, it had been almost 4 years to the day since we met at the album shows in this very town.

Speaking of… I LOVE AUSTIN! It’d been over a year since I’d been to my favorite Texas city, which is too long.

The club is located just off of the infamous 6th Ave. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a bar or a tattoo parlor. We were also conveniently located by the Salvation Army. Needless to say, there was a wide variety of characters in the neighborhood.

After catching up, the four of us took turns searching for dinner. The only option that time of day (The Iron Cactus) had some pretty good Tex Mex stuff. Gotta love a place that has frozen margaritas in a soft serve ice cream machine. ;)

Dave from Austin is another friend we made that day. The five of us were the only stupid-early arrivals. Our reward was overhearing a bit of sound check and saying hello to the guys as they left. Rick didn’t even have time to get his suitcase in the van before being accosted for an autograph. Doh! When the woman asked if he’d mind signing something, he said, "I’ve never minded." LOL

Another online friend showed up a little bit before the doors opened – Kelley. Nice to meet her in person as well!

Although we were told that doors would open at 6, the tickets said 7. As if to compromise, they didn’t actually open until half past six. The venue was a veritable maze. Stephanie and I were lookin’ pretty silly running in there to claim our spots. We got up to the barrier and wondered where everyone was until an Emo’s dude told us we weren’t s’posed to be in there yet. Doh!

Apparently they were still trying to locate the sawhorses for the barrier. LOL

Why Emo’s opened the doors when they weren’t ready to have us in the stage area is beyond me. I’d buy the "let’s have them spend their $$$ at the bar while they wait" excuse were it not for the fact that the bar next to the door WASN’T OPEN. LOL

Oh well.

When that bar did open, I got a shot of tequila. When I ordered it the bartender just said, "Good girl." LMAO!!!!!

Going back a little bit, I’m not kidding about the sawhorses. Apparently that’s what qualifies as a barrier at Emo’s. I think my favorite part was the big open space right in the middle. Once they did let us in, Jimmy and Dave stationed themselves there in case any losers tried to force their way up front.

Unauthorized bouncers! LOL…

When this show was announced my uncle (his band the Coffee Sergeants has played there) described the place as "low rent" and man, he wasn’t lying. The ceiling was low, the floor was an uneven, cracked slab of concrete and the stage, tiny. I still don’t know how they managed to get their gear up there. The best thing about the "stage" was the big pole right in the middle. Bahahahaha! WTF?!

That area of the club was partly covered, with a patio off to the side. Beyond the doors into this area, there was another patio with picnic tables and a small bar.

And as for the restrooms – I’ve seen port-a-potties that are cleaner. :P

THE SHOW

Openers Sloberbone (from Denton, TX) took the stage around 7:30. I thought they had a good sound (rock with some strong country undertones) but I was driven slowly insane trying to understand the lyrics. Yes, yes, I know that it’s rock n roll so my penchant for good diction (stemming from a theatrical background) doesn’t apply, but damnit, there’s no excuse for not being able to understand one bloody word! LOL

We couldn’t decide if the bassist looked like Big Foot, Jim Henson, or Abe Lincoln in Kurt Cobain clothing. LMAO! The drummer was doin’ a retro BEC thing too – a cigarette perpetually in his mouth. ;) Bahahahaha!

FASHION REPORT

SET LIST

MISC. STUFF

Just before the show, two more friends arrived – Brian and Chris from the Dallas area. So good to see them both. Chris and I swapped "how’s your kid sleeping" stories. LOL

With one possible exception, the staff there was pretty nice. There were 3 guys down front for the duration. I was a wee bit disturbed when I overheard their leader instructing his guys to "kick" if need be. Once he was gone, I leaned forward and told the staff dude in front of me that that wouldn’t be necessary. :P

Although the place wasn’t very full when Sloberbone went on, by the time CT hit the stage, there were probably about 800 or 900 folks there. IMHO we were a good, enthusiastic crowd. Much to my amazement, there was no shoving or pushing where we were up front. Gotta love that!

Robin seemed to be having some sound problems – frustrating to be sure. He was in great voice, though.

Tom’s got some pretty new picks – a shattered blue marble motif, if you will.

As you can imagine, Rick got some mileage out of the pole in the middle of the stage: pretending to run into it, leaning against it, etc. He was also forced to deal with a low beam that got in the way whenever he stood on the top of his steps. Sometimes he’d duck under it or peer through the holes. LOL

RICK SEZ

After commenting that it was great to be back, he said he had a "bone to pick" with Austin. Apparently they’d been to a restaurant, left money with the bill (including a nice tip) but it was stolen. So there was now a rumor going around about them doing the ol’ dine ‘n dash thing. "You can hate our music, that’s OK, but this rumor hurts our feelings."

Rick pointed out Danny, then Chris and said, "What do you have 14 kids now?!" LMAO! This was used as a segue to tell everyone that I only have one.

Rick went on to tell everyone that my mom was sick, which got a huge "Awwwww!" from the crowd. Even Tom gave me a sympathetic look… Rick assured everyone that mom would get better and that we all had to do the synergy thing.

Even Danny F. Saint was all verclempt after that. :)

He announced that they’d be playing some old stuff and new stuff plus the fact that the next night’s show, would be a different set. Woo hoo!

I'm sure I'm forgetting something - that's what I get for sleeping before writing reviews. LOL!

POST SHOW

Afterwards I got over to the merch booth where Fred was quite the busy guy. There are a few new items now: a hooded sweatshirt, a t shirt with the CT 77 photo and a new white football jersey. Unfortunately I couldn’t afford one of each, so I opted for the latter plus a copy of the ultra kewl Emo’s poster.

Robin was outside the venue signing autographs and making fans happy. :) I took the opportunity to tell him nice show then felt like a goofy 14 year old all over again when he gave me one of his great smiles. ;)

Before making my way to my aunt and uncle’s place, Danny, Stephanie, Jimmy and I grabbed a bite to eat in one of those tall downtown Austin hotels, the name of which escapes me now. LOL

The only thing better than a CT show in Austin? Two CT shows in Austin.

Review of night 2 is on its way…

Thanks for reading.