Well, it's been busy around here, always too much to do. Been getting behind in the postings here, and even forgot to mention my 7 year blog anniversary on the 6th! Will start out with Eeyore's Birthday Party, the annual costumed gathering that I like to call "Flowers, Drums, Songs." It's an all-ages all-species event featuring old and new hippie culture, May-Pole, live music, microbrews, topless women, and freeform dancing centered (for us, anyway) around the drum circle. Here's a short video of this year's circle.
OK, you are thinking, "where are the topless women?" (I could tell.) There are a number of really nice photo collections of the festivities and fabulous costumes posted on the Eeyore's site, ranging from casual to pro. A couple of my favorite ones are by Craig Bush and Nathan Caperton.
Saturday winds down a very busy week of live music and other activities. Eeyore's Birthday Party, which even has a Wikipedia page is an event where you are are strongly encouraged to bring your inner child, druid, satyr, Ent, faerie, fox (or whatever it may be), your *actual* children, dogs, cats, pet snakes, what-have-you, and something for the drum circle. Everybody plays nice. It's wonderful. I dearly love this party and don't ever want to miss it, although we couldn't stay that long this year due to another event in the afternoon.
The kids and animals are always the stars, because, let's face it, they bring the cute. Is there anything cuter than a pink-haired pomeranian? You be the judge. This little girl's 'noodles' were each wearing a sock, so I think it was a kind of a centipede... make that "Princess Centipede." It was a beautiful summer day but getting hotter and sweatier by the minute (we've been in the mid-90F range for a long time now), and with the Decemberists' show being General Admission we had to get home and recover a bit before getting in line at Stubb's for it. There were already about 20 people in line 2 hours before doors opened (that's a lot for Austin, where people tend to show up at the last minute) but this show sold out easily in a few hours. Very popular band in their prime, and their fans are young and have lots of stamina (unlike us). Here's a video from the show. Colin Meloy, the band's central figure, is quite a political leftie... which I love, of course. Check out the sticker on his guitar! Solidarity. Another theme for May Day. He mentioned also that it was the Eve of Beltane, and asked if maybe there might be a smattering of Pagans in the audience. He said it was very fitting to be here for it, where it is so warm, after beginning the tour in such cold conditions. It really was very hot, with the dry drought dust sticking to sweaty skin. Despite the cool front that moved over us today, it is summer here.
Today we had tickets for another day-long music show (a charity benefit, as so many of them are), but I really couldn't handle any more activity. Needed time to relax. Monday will be here soon enough.
Ain't gonna happen. It's a very Austin party. Put on the funnest* thing you can think of to wear, nothing is too weird, grab something for percussion - pots and pans, buckets, shakers, tambourines, cowbells, drums of every kind. Bring kids, dogs (one guy brought his pet pig), and don't forget your camera. There's food, microbrewery beer, kid's activities, costume contest, and some live music later in the afternoon. For us, the highlight is the drum circle. It's lasts for many hours, and is actually quite relaxing compared to the ugly stress we've got going on most of the rest of the time. Here's a 30 second video taken early in the day. Here's one taken later (by someone else) when it was much more crowded. Here are just a few of the pictures I took. (Click here for the Statesman's pro shots)
If Rivendell had showgirls... There were quite a few topless women, but this is the only one I got a picture of. (Sorry boys and girls, for the lack of more female nudity. I should have handed MrB the camera. I think he seeks it out.) Cutest couple costume of the day. Fairy with a tiger on a leash. meow! Someone a bit older than me getting in on the fun. Always good to see. This little kid had on a t-shirt with the famous Farrah Faucett poster on it. Cute. There were uniform cops here and there, but this is the Mounted Peacekeeping Brigade. *not a word, but should be.
What a great Saturday! There was rain the night before, but beautiful (although a little bit muggy) weather for Eeyore's Birthday Party. We love this event. It's very non-corporate and homegrown. The beer and food is all local (good beer!!). There is some live music but the main focus of it is "bring your own". Wear a costume, or something really festive. Make it weird. Make it creative. Bring a drum, noisemaker, of just something to bang on. It can be a cowbell, tambourine, pots & pans, sticks, trash can, even a propane tank. The drum circle (and the party) goes from 11AM to sundown, and you can stay in the drum circle for hours without realizing it. There is something in our human DNA that makes community drumming and/or dancing seem like a good thing to do.
Really cute dogs, children, and even a cat, all in costumes, a really enthusiastic photographer going all out for the best shots, a few women in painted-on shirts, a photo of us (the Blueberrys), and lots of "get yer hippie-pagan-heathen-bacchanalian-faery-nymph on", but still remaining a great kid's event. A few samples below:
Eeyore's Birthday Party was really fun this year (is it ever NOT fun? The answer is No.). It's all about taking your personal weirdness to the next level (at least fashion-wise), costumes encouraged. Bring a drum, egg shaker, gourd, gong, cowbell, empty rum bottles, pots and pans from the kitchen... anything that you bang on to keep the rhythms going. It's very people- and animal centric and very non-corporate. Lots of games, costume contest, hula hoops for all ages, giant puzzles and lots more for the kids of all ages, including a real live Eeyore for petting. All the beer sold is from local micro-brews, and it is very good! Mmmmmm. Beeeeer. Also lots of really good food with plenty of veggie selections, and all the food and drink sold benefits various charities.
Costumes only limited by the imagination, and there is not actually a law here against female toplessness (the laws seem to depend a lot on the circumstances), so there are quite a few women who just wear paint on top, like this lovely "Earth Mother" that my husband enjoyed photographing. Lots and lots of dogs in attendance, of course, but we did see one cat. See the pic below. The guys did an Adam & Steve theme, and the kitty had some hair coloring applied (green), but I'm not sure the cat had a themed role to play, maybe Garden of Eden foliage? It just rode around on "Steve's" shoulders, just being the most well-behaved cat in the world. Our cats would never do something like that. There was a great band there called Rattletree, a Zimbabwean-style marimba group playing 5 marimbas handmade from wood and sewer pipes, also drums. Fantastic! This dog was also celebrating his birthday. Here is some video I shot, just trying to capture what it's like being in the drum circle.
Also trying to prove what a bad filmmaker I am. In the next one I was trying to capture those fantastic tail feathers!
It was a really beautiful, warm, sunny weekend. Saturday we started out at a CityWide Garage Sale Clearance, which was doing an "everything must go" for a funky little antique shop so we got some really fun stuff cheap.Eeyore's Birthday at Pease Park where everyone can let out their inner flower child. Here are a couple of pics from that, both from early in the day when it wasn't very populated yet. What a little angel, huh? It's the one day of the year I get to be more than an air drummer and make some of my own noise.
It was lots of fun, and the drum circle was going very strong when we had to leave to get ready for the show at The Glenn. It was the big Del Castillo show with Grupo Fantasma opening (I've linked to MySpace for quick listens). Two of my favorite bands!! It was a great show! I swear, we have the best local bands in the world! Director Robert Rodriguez was the special guest.
Eeyore's Birthday Party is this Saturday. A celebration of weirdness, good beer, veggie food, really fun costumes, and the absolutely cosmic drum circle which you can play in for hours without even realizing it! My avatar pic was taken there last year.
Saturday is Eeyore in the daytime, and Grupo Fantasma/Del Castillo at the Glenn in the evening.
Some notes on the first week of May. the weather has been gorgeous!
April 30, 2005
Time for Eeyore's Birthday party and the weather could not have been better! The drum circle is cosmic. You can spend hours in that without even noticing. It's food for the soul.
First visit to the new Alamo on South Lamar to see the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Laughed a lot. Did not disapprove on the handling of the material for the most part. I think Ford was a bit wrong [marvin sigh] but enjoyed it.
May 1, 2005
Van Wilks and Jeff Carroll's joint birthday party (it's been a birthday weekend if you count Eeyore) is an annual event that we enjoy (thanks for the invite, Van). It's very laid-back and the music was excellent. Dave Sebree and Van played together and it was absolutely awesome.
May 4, 2005
Went to see Jedd Hughes at Stubb's. It was a free show, and really excellent. He plays really good guitar and is a talented songwriter. I think this may be a big year for him, but he is still really unknown in Austin. The Greencards were in attendance as I thought they might be since their schedule looked open and they play in Austin on Friday. I am really excited for them, they are starting the big tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson later this month and good things are going to be happening for them in a big way!
May 5, 2005
This morning I got President Clinton's autograph. I got in the line at 6:30 am for 9:00 am doors. There were maybe 150 people there already. The Secret Service arrived in their fleet of matching white Chevys and stationed them around the block. One car unloaded its spiffy-looking, sunglassed ear-wired suits right in front of us. When they walked away I couldn't resist turning into Bart Simpson for a moment with an expression of "That was cooo elll" (Well, it's very sexy and exciting) Next was the parade of police accompanying the bomb dog -- they, and another Secret Service white car went into the secure gate. They were being extra secure for this, reneging on the allowance of getting up to 5 books signed to only allowing one per person per time through the line. Luckily I am too poor to afford more than one so it was not a problem for me. Also we were not permitted to carry so much as a set of keys into the signing area -- everything got checked in baskets and our bodies screened for metal. I'm glad they are being careful. I'd hate to lose another President I love to some nutjob (not that I believe in the lone gunman theory from 1963, but that's another topic), especially in Texas.
People seemed to be having similar reactions when they got to the third floor signing room and could see Clinton standing there. GASP. Geez, that's actually Bill Clinton standing there, one of the most famous people on earth. All I could think of was WOW that's really him! And it was. I wanted to giggle, but didn't. He shook every person's hand and greeted each person, and did it 1300 times. It's a huge book, and I hope I can find time to read it this summer.
Tonight is First Thursday, so we went down to South Congress. Shook hands with Kinky Friedman, who is running for governor (and why the hell not?). We landed at Jo's Coffee, which is usually my preference for First Thursday, and listened to Gary Primich while having a veggie BBQ. Tonight he had Mike Keller with him, so that is an extra special treat. Mike is one of the best guitarists around this town.
It was a beautiful night, and sufficiently weird. It was Cinco de Mayo, but Guero's didn't have any specials on margaritas. $4.50 for a small (but strong) one.
Saturday winds down a very busy week of live music and other activities. Eeyore's Birthday Party, which even has a Wikipedia page is an event where you are are strongly encouraged to bring your inner child, druid, satyr, Ent, faerie, fox (or whatever it may be), your *actual* children, dogs, cats, pet snakes, what-have-you, and something for the drum circle. Everybody plays nice. It's wonderful. I dearly love this party and don't ever want to miss it, although we couldn't stay that long this year due to another event in the afternoon.
This little girl's 'noodles' were each wearing a sock, so I think it was a kind of a centipede... make that "Princess Centipede."
Eeyore's Birthday Party was really fun this year (is it ever NOT fun? The answer is No.). It's all about taking your personal weirdness to the next level (at least fashion-wise), costumes encouraged. Bring a drum, egg shaker, gourd, gong, cowbell, empty rum bottles, pots and pans from the kitchen... anything that you bang on to keep the rhythms going. It's very people- and animal centric and very non-corporate. Lots of games, costume contest, hula hoops for all ages, giant puzzles and lots more for the kids of all ages, including a real live Eeyore for petting. All the beer sold is from local micro-brews, and it is very good! Mmmmmm. Beeeeer. Also lots of really good food with plenty of veggie selections, and all the food and drink sold benefits various charities.
Costumes only limited by the imagination, and there is not actually a law here against female toplessness (the laws seem to depend a lot on the circumstances), so there are quite a few women who just wear paint on top, like this lovely "Earth Mother" that my husband enjoyed photographing. Lots and lots of dogs in attendance, of course, but we did see one cat. See the pic below. The guys did an Adam & Steve theme, and the kitty had some hair coloring applied (green), but I'm not sure the cat had a themed role to play, maybe Garden of Eden foliage? It just rode around on "Steve's" shoulders, just being the most well-behaved cat in the world. Our cats would never do something like that.
This dog was also celebrating his birthday.
It was a really beautiful, warm, sunny weekend. Saturday we started out at a CityWide Garage Sale Clearance, which was doing an "everything must go" for a funky little antique shop so we got some really fun stuff cheap.Eeyore's Birthday at Pease Park where everyone can let out their inner flower child. Here are a couple of pics from that, both from early in the day when it wasn't very populated yet. What a little angel, huh? It's the one day of the year I get to be more than an air drummer and make some of my own noise.
It was lots of fun, and the drum circle was going very strong when we had to leave to get ready for the show at The Glenn. It was the big Del Castillo show with Grupo Fantasma opening (I've linked to MySpace for quick listens). Two of my favorite bands!! It was a great show! I swear, we have the best local bands in the world! Director Robert Rodriguez was the special guest.
