Turns out, for a small quaint town in rural Illinois, the fourth of July fireworks show pretty much rocked.

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This year marked the 47th year that Austin has thrown a birthday party for the lovable Eeyore, who as far as I’m concerned is way cooler than Pooh. Eeyore’s began in Austin..well frankly because Austin likes a good excuse to throw a party. Years ago it began at a fraternity but quickly over took its humble roots and has since moved to Pease (pronounced ‘peace’ of course) Park. Currently, it’s even outgrowing the park!

People that come to Austin often wonder what our slogan “Keep Austin Weird” means. Technically it refers to supporting local businesses as opposed to chains. But, it’s evolved over the years into so much more. Now it’s more about embracing individuality and uniqueness is all respects..especially in people! And that is what Eeyore’s is all about.

You first board a school bus serving as a shuttle down to the park. For many of you this will be your first time on a big yellow school bus in many years. Don’t overlook the short 8 minute bus ride. Ours consisted of a spontaneous sing-a-long

Welcome to Pease Park!

Eeyore’s is all about freedom and expression and music. Some call it a hippy festival and if that’s what being a hippy is, I’m in!

Yards full of hula-hoops to play with..check!

Potato sack races for big and small? Double check!!

A spontaneously huge drum circle in which you can play anything that even makes noise. The sound combines in collective freedom and rings through out the park. So bang a drum for me…

And bang a drum for you…

The drum circle grows from little…

to big!

As the day goes on the musicians, instruments, and costumes get more interesting

Costumes are creative and crazy and the people watching is top notch! Check out this crazy chick (me)

SilverMan shows up every year…

I wonder how he gets that silver paint..ya know everywhere…

Beam me up

This one really has to suck when you have to pee

The bird is the word

Silver is the new black

So what if I have paints made of fake hair and a parasol.. are you saying you don’t?

This is about the only snowman you ever see in Austin

Let’s go do some toad!

Even the kids get into the costumed fun

Feel free to check out the entire flickr set here

Happy Birthday Eeyore! See you next year for number 48!

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Thanks to my friend Ruben, I scored a ticket to see a band I’d never heard of called Temper Trap at Emo’s. I love live music and I love checking out new bands. I thought it would be a smaller show, not too crazy. Turns out that the show was sold out, packed, crazy and lots of fun!

Only in Austin (or at least places as cool as Austin.)

(droooooool…..)

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Possibly one of the best shows/bands I saw that I’d never heard of was a band called Soulution. With their hip-hop reggae infused rock island style of music is was so unique and aside from their amazing talent, it was a really fun show to catch.  They did original songs as well as covers of everything ranging from Tool to Michael Jackson. The lead singer, Jer Swaby, was FULL of talent and energy. He, and the rest of the band, were a blast to watch. I’m really glad I accidentally caught their show and if we end up in the same place again, I’m there.

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Oh Hi Molotov…Listen..you’re a ‘west sixth’ kind of place and I’m more of a ‘east sixth’ kind of a girl. Wait, what’s that? You have a free completely open bar and live music? Man you really know how to sweet talk a girl…

But seriously… I think on a given day Molotov’s crowd would be too swanky for a jeans and chucks girl like me, but on typically stunningly beautiful spring Austin day during sxsw it was absolutely perfect.

A very interesting quasi-death-metal band was playing in the downstairs bar.. if anyone knows what these guys are called let me know..I need to give credit where credit was due. I’ll be honest..it was loud and well…kind of bad…but it was actually quite amusing to watch 45 year old men trying to be 21 year old death metal rockers…they just tried so darn hard

So after a couple of free drinks downstairs.. I venture up to Molotov’s beautiful roof top patio…. There’s nothing that can quite explain how awesome sitting on a rooftop watching a good band rock to the backdrop of a big blue Texas sky while drinking free booze. This band 28 degrees north really just rocked it! My only band I saw with a rocking harmonica player.. really just great. Check them out if they come to a place near you… (my friend and I had a fight over if the lead singer looks like Jack Black or not..you tell me..)

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My sxsw experience this year was all over the place (if you couldn’t tell from previous posts hah.) I carefully made my lists of bands I wanted to see and places I wanted to go and ended up really just winging it anyway! The one band that I knew I wouldn’t miss was Wakey! Wakey! I was sincerely lucky enough to catch not one, but two their shows! Both free!

They had a preceding band at both shows called Pearl and the Beard. They were…interesting. Akward, but I think that’s what they were going for. The one girl (you’ll see which one I mean) looks like Velma from Scooby Doo, how can you not be amused by that. Some of the songs they did were genuinely good, the skill was certainly there. Some however were just really strange, one was even just a clapping revival, felt like an odd gospel song. Either way, that’s what you gotta love about sxsw..you just never know what you’re going to get!

Up first was the show at the Dizzy Rooster. The sound there was really dismal and poorly setup but Wakey! (I know them personally so I can shorten it to one Wakey!) pulled out a great performance. As for Pearl and the beard..well… yeah. You gotta love the Dizzy Rooster though, it certainly pays an interesting homage to Austin bars. In fact, to be honest, I think I’d really really like the rooster if it wasn’t in the heart of sixth street infested with the douchey fratsters.

So it’s a Friday at 11 a.m. and I’m drinking at a bar in the middle of sixth street…beat that

Up first..Pearl and the Beard (better pictures of them in the second show.)

Now we’re talking… Wakey! Wakey!

If you wanna play in Texas (even if you’re from Brooklyn…) you gotta have a fiddle in the band

One of my favorites of Mike Grubbs… the man has wicked crazy talent

Show number two for Pearl and the Beard and Wakey! happened over at the Kung Fu Saloon, which it turns out I actually really enjoy on a weekday afternoon It’s chill and open and the bands were playing on an outdoor patio…totally great. And the sound was MUCH better here!  Oh, and since Wakey hadn’t played my favorite song (Brooklyn) at the rooster, I asked and got them to play it here! Thanks Grubbs!  For my money (which was free but I would have gladly paid) it didn’t get better then a live performance of Brooklyn by Wakey! Wakey!

For your listening/watching pleasure: A video of wakey! wakey! playing Brooklyn:

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By far and away my favorite sxsw venue and show was the converse “get out of the garage  showcase” at Fader Fort.  The venue is an actual art installation warehouse, where frequent exhibits are shown.  The musical acts were exactly what I was looking for in a south by southwest experience, meaning that they were bands I’d never heard of but ended up being fantastic shows!  The lineup included the pains of being pure at heart (amazing,)  Mayer Hawthorne (incredible!) and Twank Star (prounced like gangsta, a rapper from houston that was my favorite performance of the night.)

Even the view from the back of the line was pretty great

Once inside, I took a walk around the grounds just checking out the scene, it really was an interesting setup.

I mean really, out door picnic tables, warm lighting, space and a view of downtown…my kind of party!

And you know, for me to say it’s my favorite venue..there’s gotta be free booze! There was and plenty of it.  I can’t stress how well this party was managed. The line was easy to get through, the venue opened on time, booze lines were a bit long but that’s to be expected. Free soco and Budweiser products.

And free ping pong? Have I mentioned this venue rocks

You’re already impressed and we haven’t even gotten to the music yet!
I love the huge monitors set up so short folks like me could get a good view!

And my favorite performer of the night Twank Star (and the chick next to him with the blonde hair had an amazing voice!!)

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I’ve been a fan of Kate Voegele ever since I caught a song of hers on the tv show One Tree Hill when flipping channels. So imagine my surprise to find her playing a show at sxsw, and not only that but a free show at a really small venue. I can’t even say how much I love it when big acts sing in small venues. I even got lucky enough to see a performance by Kelley James before hand at Shiner as well. Talk about an incredibly talented and genuinely entertaining show. Kelley had met a man in the audience, they’d got to talking about music, turns out this man Enan is a musician. So Kelley pulls him out of the audience and they play an impromptu jam session, completely random and totally awesome. So here are some shots I took at the show!

Kelley rocking it solo:

Kelley and Enan

Kelley and Enan inspired me to want to own a tambourine

A peak at the set list for Kate

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