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View Full Version : What to do in Austin TX?



TripleTransAm
11-26-2004, 11:12 AM
Not necessarily North Texas, but I figured I'd put it up in this sub-forum...

What's there to do in Austin this time of year? I understand there's a good choice of music to be had, and I've heard of a street that's particularly good for college-type bars and such stuff. Anything else? Any recommendations?

Specifics: I'm arriving either the 7th or 8th of December, leaving the 12th probably early. The work I'm there to do will happen on the night of the 9th, so anytime after that is kind of unstructured (depending on how things go, which shift I'm on, etc.).

Logan
11-26-2004, 11:28 AM
You can visit Logan. Who would want anything else on their agenda?!?

Unfortunately, the timing SUCKS. I'm in San Francisco from the 5th-9th, getting home very late on the 9th and leaving for Acapulco @10am on the 10th for a week...

So, I'm going to miss you... :(

Donny Carlson
11-26-2004, 08:17 PM
Not necessarily North Texas, but I figured I'd put it up in this sub-forum...

What's there to do in Austin this time of year? I understand there's a good choice of music to be had, and I've heard of a street that's particularly good for college-type bars and such stuff. Anything else? Any recommendations?

Specifics: I'm arriving either the 7th or 8th of December, leaving the 12th probably early. The work I'm there to do will happen on the night of the 9th, so anytime after that is kind of unstructured (depending on how things go, which shift I'm on, etc.).
Check out the Alamo Draft House. Food, Beer, movies. Cool place.

2003 MIB
11-26-2004, 08:26 PM
More local flavor is available West of town- Fredricksburg and Luchenbach are only about an hour away. That's the real Texas and they'll find your accent charming.:beer:

drgnrdr33
11-26-2004, 10:52 PM
Last time I was in Austin I stumbled on a mexican restaurant somewhere downtown called Ketema. A flamenco band plays there. The lead guitarist is "El Teye". The music and flamenco dancing was amazing. Food was good too.

Logan
11-27-2004, 06:26 AM
Check out the Alamo Draft House. Food, Beer, movies. Cool place.
10-4 on the draft house, fun place. Was just there this past Tuesday.

TripleTransAm
11-27-2004, 07:23 AM
Thanks for the hints. Bummer I'll miss you, Logan - I forgot you had moved down there.

One of my coworkers (one of the most skilled s/w troubleshooters I've ever had the pleasure of working alongside and drinking beer with) went to school in Austin and I believe originally worked there (AMD?). He's from New Braunfel (sp?)...

The only thing I've been warned about is red ants... (?)
And now I'm starting to remember Logan's rant about some crazed bug using his noggin as a landing strip. :eek:

Any parts of town to avoid?

cyclone03
11-27-2004, 08:56 PM
I'll tell you one thing I know about Austin,Just like San Antonio you should have no problem finding something to eat!....

If You like BBQ and Mexican that is.

2003 MIB
11-27-2004, 09:06 PM
The only thing I've been warned about is red ants... (?)

Fire Ants- they've all but wiped out the native red ants. Nasty creatures- they've been known to kill small animals (goats, calves, cats etc...) and devour almost everything on the insecticide buffet.

Any parts of town to avoid?
It's nothing like Dallas, Houston or San Antonio but try to keep west of I35-IMO.

CBT
11-27-2004, 10:16 PM
Hmmmm....intimidate ricers? I think that's fun in Texas, isn't it?:)

TripleTransAm
12-09-2004, 12:40 AM
It's nothing like Dallas, Houston or San Antonio but try to keep west of I35-IMO.


Hilarious. I'm staying on I35, actually... and on the East side of the highway on top of it. Guess I'm screwed. :P I'm at the Marriott Courtyard just south of 71. Anyone living in Austin that happens to drive by there anytime soon, open your windows and listen for me snoring from my hotel room! :o

TripleTransAm
12-09-2004, 01:02 AM
Got here at 1:30 pm, chilled at the hotel, stuffed my face at the Spaghetti Warehouse or something like that, then chilled some more at the hotel, then went out to look for some action (yeah, on a Wednesday night :rolleyes: ).

Stubb's was recommended but was reserved for a private party. Too bad, sounded like the music was good. Everything else was pretty dead... closest thing to enticing was Retro Alternative and Mainstream Gothic, nearby. Oh well, not what I (and 3 coworkers) were looking for (I would have enjoyed checking them out, standing out like a sore thumb in my Pontiac GTA jacket amidst piercings and black lipstick, but my coworkers might not have been so open minded).

So we walked up 6th street looking for ANYTHING happening. Finally spotted a Rhythm/Blues bar called "311 Club" that had a rocking "blues" band with a bassist called Dewayne Davis.
http://www.dewaynedavis.com/pages/1/index.htm

Being a bass player myself, I was enjoying watching his technique and went up to drop a tip in the band jar between songs, and told Dewayne I enjoyed his style of playing (he had a particular slap/pop technique that was fun to study). He asked if I played bass, I said yeah, he asked if I wanted to come up on stage. He** no, I'm not ready to jump up on stage at a bar with guys I never played with, no clue what the repertoire was. So I balked and went back to my seat with the rest of the gang.

During a break, Dewayne came over and we talked gear and his technique and what I play, etc. and he mentioned again about me going up on stage. I kind of balked, and admitted maybe I could pull off a 12-bar blues if they told me what key it was in, now that I saw the electric guitarist's style of playing, and the drummer's style as well. Dewayne went back up on stage eventually and I thought nothing more of our conversation.

After a couple of songs, the guy's calling me up on stage. Talk about nerve-wracking... I'm used to playing with guys with whom I've practiced, and had time to study the song properly. What the heck, I thought... I've had a couple of beers and you only live once, so I went up on stage and he handed me his beautiful black Fender Jazz bass. I considered playing with my fingers but remembered I had a pick in my pocket, so I figured I'd try for a more crisp attack out of the playing.

So, 12 bar blues, in the key of A. One vicious sweat later, I was getting into the groove and banging out a slow blues with this awesome guitarist. The tune seemed to last forever, but eventually after having a few opportunities to pull off a few interesting improvised patterns, we ended it with a nice powerful ending. Was cool to see folks dancing, on those few occasions where I managed to look into the crowd.

Stuck around until the bar closed, and bought Dewayne's CD as a memento.

We wandered out of the closed club to find 6th street positively vibrant with nightlife! Wow. Talk about starting late! At that point we were hungry and I was kind of tired from the effort, so after a quick pizza slice on the sidewalk (shades of my university days!), it was back to the car (and the TON of bird crap from having parked under a tree) and back to the hotel, where I can't get that #$%^#$%%$ 12-bar blues pattern out of my head!!!!!! :lol:

Cool evening. I'm impressed with the atmosphere here (the roads aren't the best) but the nightlife tonight really made up for it. Friendly folk, too!

merc406
12-09-2004, 02:27 AM
Glad ya had a great night down their, probably warm weather too, enjoy!! :beer:

2003 MIB
12-09-2004, 05:35 AM
Cool evening. I'm impressed with the atmosphere here (the roads aren't the best) but the nightlife tonight really made up for it. Friendly folk, too!
I told you they'd like you. It makes me feel good to know my fellow Texans are treating you well down there. I think you'd have been cool in the Goth club too- they are very busy looking depressed to acknowledge a guy in a GTA jacket. :)

TripleTransAm
12-09-2004, 10:39 AM
I've actually always liked the look of a thin black-long-haired girl dressed up in Goth garb (not into piercings, though). Please don't think I'm weird. ;)

Weather's nice, temperate and much more pleasant than the ice-rain my wife had to endure yesterday back home. :(

Best of all, I have great memories of watching Austin City Limits on PBS with my grandfather on Saturday nights at 7pm, so it's kind of personal for me to have been able to say I've played music in a bar in Austin TX. And on top of it all, DeWayne ended the gig with a great rendition of Folsom Prison Blues (by the Man in Black himself) which was something I used to put on my grandfather's turntable back when I was really young (he was a big fan of Cash).

Johnman
12-11-2004, 09:17 PM
Austin's a great music town, I'm glad you got to experience it and perform there. When I was in a Dallas band back in the 80's we would play there frequently and even got a Tuesday night residency opening for the True Believers at the Continental Club. I had to skip Dental school classes to do it but I'm glad I did. The TB's spawned Alejandro Escovedo, now a Texas music icon and I'm proud to say I knew him in the early days; a great guy. He's fighting hepatitis C now, and needs donations since he's not on the road making money, so go to www.alejandrofund.com and donate. Buy his CDs too, they're excellent.

LiLWrink
01-03-2005, 11:49 AM
Yep, and Dewayne's a little feller too...whooooweeee!


You all wont believe this, but there is a branch of the same Davis clan where i live...and they all play music-anything from Blues to Bluegrass.

I bet you did have a big time, the 12 bar in E?
Tell us more about the music...I grew up playing, and with some of this guys kinfolks too, and I like to hear about it. :beer:

Austin has Bats at the bridge, Antone's at 6th street is famous, and 6th street goes all the way down to Hippie Hollow.
Just stay out of one particular club called the "Venus Flytrapp" because the village people hang out in there.

If you want a scenic drive down a hill country hiway that is FUN... go west to Fredricksburg and come up SH16 North. The hiway follows the original traildrive cowtrail, and is right smack dab in the middle of God's country.

TripleTransAm
01-03-2005, 01:14 PM
Yep, and Dewayne's a little feller too...whooooweeee!


LOL! yeah, he's a little on the short side.... .... NOT!

Towering mountain of a man, and a source of great conversation to boot. I'm keeping his feedback in mind when I go out searching for my wireless kit. I've always played "by wire" and always wondered whether a wireless setup would work in anything but a large stadium venue... now I'm sold. In fact, I would have gotten one as a Xmas gift (wife wanted to give me something bass-related) but at the last minute I opted for a small 20 watt portable Peavey bass amp : I get fed up of lugging my huge heavy Yorkville 200 watt combo to smaller practices (which is a so-so sounding amp/speaker combo for bass, to be honest, but I've yet to run into a drummer who could drown me out when I'm playing through that thing... and it sounds awesome on electric guitar, too, for some reason). In any case, it'll make it easier to play more often at home, instead of going 1-2 months between practice sessions. :(

Watching Dewayne's technique was a lot of fun, and it's given me a new appreciate of blues and texas funk in general. My repertoire has always been more pop/rock oriented, due to the nature of my gigs, but with some possible bar time coming up, I'm definitely looking to expand in the blues direction.

I might be back in Austin for a brief spell at the end of January, and am hoping to catch another one of his gigs. Cool that you know his family... next time you run into him you gotta tell him there's a guy from up north that really dug his playing.