it has gone to flowers everywhere . when will we ever learn.

I went a couple times as a kid with relatives, same for fishing. But it never really took with me, probably cause my dad didn't do either. I'd probably be more naturally inclined toward fishing, and who knows, I just might start yet.

One thing that's always fascinated me is the noodlers, the guys who catch catfish bare-handed. How awesome is that.

There's a creek 20 yards away that carries it all to the sea afaik.

How is life in Austin treating you? Did you check out SxSW?

I went to SxSW last year. It was pretty okay, but nothing amazing. Didn't see the point of going this year.

I'm really sick of Austin... [snip bashing]. I would like to go back to Los Angeles, to be honest.

I always hear great things about Austin. I've never been there. I hear it's pretty hot! Why do people like it so much?

Me, too, Dave.

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The good:

The people are just great all around. Very easy to talk to people. No one is staring at their phones all day. People read actual books.

Pretty and, shall I say, easy-going women. Friendly, open, not assuming you are a rapist, for the most part.

Nature is pretty nice. The river walks are great. Kind of flat though there are hills and cliffs, but overall, beautiful scenery. They've managed to not pave over all the beauty like they did in San Francisco.

Lots and lots of live music, spanning mostly rock, country, heavy metal, folk, etc. Not much of an EDM scene if you are into that stuff. Best part is that it is mostly free.

The bad:

Despite it's rep as a "music capitol," it is far from. Little useful talent, a dearth of singers, and mostly a bunch of pot heads. The good stuff at SxSW is all imported.

Way too much alcohol / drugs. I don't have a problem with it per se, but it's kind of tiring to see wine at Starbucks and beer at a book store. The problem is amplified because no one sees being an alcoholic or a junky as a problem.

I work in a restaurant. I'm absolutely terrified of ever eating in a restaurant here if it doesn't have an open kitchen.

The hospitals are 3rd world. I learned this the hard way, but a few of my friends have been going through the same thing and are absolutely shocked.

The weather. OMG, it is all over the place. 110 degrees in summer, some days it is 90 in the afternoon and 40 at night. The rain is horrible.

Getting way too expensive way too fast. It wasn't that bad when I first came here 18 months ago, but it's gotten out of control and it's up to LA prices right now, and probably going to get worse.

I'm also used to living a life where I can just step outside and walk to wherever at any time and have something to do. Austin, at least the area I live in, is kind of sleepy and boring.

The slobs. It's just crazy to think people live like this. Putting a truck on cinder blocks would be a step up in sophistication for these people. Just gross.

But overall, I'd say Austin is an amazing place to visit. It has a lot of redeeming qualities for visiting, but staying here is kind of ugh.

Austin Texas- Known for it's music scene and easy-going women who don't assume you are a rapist.

Haven't seen many pictures of Austin but I'm always impressed by how pretty Waco looks on the Fixer Upper show. Houston was humid when I was there.

Explain what you mean by 3rd world.


If I can summarize your post: it's sleepy, boring, with lots of live music, too many drunken slobs, beautiful scenery, 3rd world hospitals, and kind of ugh. Is that what you are saying?

Face it dave, you are bored and missing LA. What part of LA did you live in?

Austin is beautiful. Let me post some pics:

That's downtown. Sort of got a river next to it.



The Austin Symphony has an outside venue, I guess? I never witnessed it:



And if you walk in the gate that isn't locked, you can walk down the little stream:




As I said, nature and people mix up fine:



The crown jewel of tourist attractions is the capitol building. It is the largest in the nation, lol.

It's my worst pic, but honestly, can't do the place justice. The building is AWESOME



Did I mention there is live music? This is from an open mic a long time ago. Not sure what they were playing, but I'm sure it was pretty interesting.



Everything in Austin is an X + something else. This is the Buzzmill coffee shop / bar / concert venue / comedy stage / food truck area. It is brutally hot in the sun.



Did I forget to mention that there is beer like, everywhere. This place has 150+ taps. Lots of craft beers from all over the world at every bar. Good luck finding Budweiser



Oh... everything is bigger in Texas. Waaay bigger.

Well, the music scene is much to beg for, to be honest.

My own treatment was basically "see if I die" before taking care of me. I've heard a lot of other sour experiences, like slow and careless medical care.

That's it in a nutshell. I think (no insult intended), I wasn't expecting this place to such a flyover town. It comes down the people; lots of talk and no action.

I lived all over, but spend the last few years in downtown. It was great down there. I always tell people to drive past the beaches, see LACMA, and go downtown. It really is where all the fun stuff is without the snobbery.

dT,
Whatever happened to your 'daughter'?

Austin music scene sounds ready for dT to light it on fire.

Austin is still 10 kinds of awesome but it probably peaked in the 80s or early 90s, before the full extent of its greatness became widely known throughout the land. San Antonio suits my character a little better, we first moved here in 1990.

She quit the job. Sort of a long story, but to put it lightly, she hated certain people at the restaurant, lol.

We still say what's up now and then, and that's fine with me.



Music

Between work on work and working on my project, I've been trying to put videos of my work on YouTube. I didn't realize recording was this friggin' hard.

New Guitar



It sounds great clean, but sheesh, can't tell you how fun it is to crank up all the knobs and let the bugger roar.

In any case, I think I have it all figured out now. I just have to get some new strings on it, since Elixer is truly garbage electric strings, and I have to figure out the lighting so I can maintain 30 fps when I record.

I play out now and then, but haven't been on stage for a few months now. Everyone tells me my music is "very pretty."

I don't sing, so I've been looking for a singer to work with and collaborate for the whole time I've been in Austin. Believe it or not, it is very hard to find anyone who can stay in key, much less carry a tune. My music is fairly complex and I haven't found but a few people who I feel I won't totally run over. None worked out and that's okay.

I did discover that you can get acapella tracks of basically everything, so I'm working on remixing that stuff with my own play. I'm thinking of building out a set that is recordings on the computer with me playing whatever live. This will hopefully make the music interesting enough to see for an hour since even I get tired of listening to finger-picking after 20 minutes. Hopefully that sends a message that says "this is the singer I'm looking for."

I'm strongly influenced by trance, so I play a lot of those motifs on the guitar, though I suppose it isn't totally obvious what I'm doing if you aren't familiar with that music.

Well, there was this situation that happened a year ago. I was asked if I wanted to join someone on a tour (do you have a passport?), and I was like "nah, just want to stay local." If I had a crystal ball and could see today... oh well.

facepalm.jpg

Ever consider Nashville?

I didn't like the music, lol, plus I just wasn't prepared to be on stage like that. I was still going up and choking, shaking like a leaf, and bombing half the time.

If my project lifts off and I make my dream of not having to look for a job ever again, I'd like to visit Nashville for a few months and see what that scene is about, but I'd have no intention of staying there long term.

I will say one thing though. I'm not a huge fan of country, but I've been digging into it quite a bit lately. I'm impressed by their ability to stack simple melodies on top of each other to create a truly complex pieces of music. I'm also quite shocked to note that country musicians seems far more open-minded and diverse in their tastes than any other kind of musician I ran into. I think that many are music-school educated, so they just had that exposure. It's rather disorienting to see a guy in cowboy getup pull off the capo and bust out a Tarrega at the end of their set.

No matter where you go, there you are.

-Buckaroo Banzai

Dave,

I was in Anaheim last year for a conference with two colleagues. One left Friday morning, and my other colleague and I went to LACMA Friday afternoon and evening, caught a Frank Gehry exhibit there, so I took her to see the Disney concert hall after that, which was designed by Gehry. We spent the next day at the Huntington and part of the next evening in downtown LA. I'm only sorry we didn't have more time. I love LA, and I had a blast showing someone else the neat places in and around LA.

Also, The Fling in Santa Ana is a great dive bar. 😀

Going again this summer to visit relatives and can't wait.

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The Disney Concert Hall is a true masterwork of architecture. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense from the outside, but the inside is incredible, which reveals the astonishing thought that went to the outside.

Love the Arts District as well. It has a sort of ghetto vibe with no lighting anywhere, but it is the safest place you can ever be.

The crazy part of downtown is seeing everyone walking to some place, and you have no clue where they are going or why they are going that direction.

I don't miss the guy jerking off at the front door every morning, but you know, can't ask for perfection. Most of the windows in the building faced the street, so it was up for debate if the tenants should ask him to move his party to the other side of the road. It isn't as funny as it sounds. Living so close to skid row, there were a lot of interesting characters, but basically harmless.

Also, if you ever go back downtown, check out Cranes. It's a nice quite bar inside of an old bank teller. Always good conversation and friendly atmosphere.

Sunday at the Masters is about as good as sports get. Jordan Spieth ftw! Fine young Texas boy.

Augusta National is the covert headquarters of the Illuminati.

Fun facts: Bobby Jones had degrees in Mechanical Engineering, English Literature, and passed the law boards without graduating from law school. He attended three semesters.

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golf is fun if you can hit the ball straight.

the masters is a real test as all kinds of shots come into play and it isnt a game of long drives and putts.

Ack. Golf.

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I kept a 5- iron in my car as an equalizer, being smaller than average for a male. No blood stains.............yet.

This extended family is also under suspicion, they tried to hide it by changing their name......

House_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha