Let's go camping!

My long term companion, Chris Bourcy Jr, and myself decided to take a last minute camping trip.  We agreed that the best place would be at Guadalupe State Park, which is about two hours southwest of Austin.  We set up the reservation for one night since we did not have the entire weekend to rough it.  The recent rainstorms made for better water level conditions and we were determined to go fishing. After a thorough search around Academy for supplies and gear we departed with a snugly packed Mazda 3 back seat.  

We did last minute shopping for food and nicknacks and left the city around noon on Saturday.  The park check in was at two p.m so we got there right on time...and so did everyone else.  It might have just been a regular crowded summer weekend, but as it was nine days before Memorial Day it was looking like an early bunch of campers.  We set up our fancy surrogate three-bedroom tent home,  which was decked out with a dinner picnic table and a running water tap.  We constructed the tent, cracked the beers and relaxed a bit before heading out to find the fish. 

On the map our site was directly stationed beside the river, but after further inspection we saw the enormous cliff which led to the water hundreds of feet below us.  We trekked around with no luck of finding adequate water and I thought about getting a fish sandwich from McDonalds. We finally stumbled upon an extremely crowded swimming hole area of the park which had a couple of inlets to drop our lines.  After hearing way too many kids shrieking and people splashing around, we reconsidered the idea and pulled our poles out.  It was so hectic and loud that if any fish were in that water, they probably already tried to kill themselves.

We ventured back to the house and set up refreshments for the ensuing archery practice.

Flash floods washed me to Houston

All hell was loose and horrible torrential flash floods had taken over Texas. There was an 80% chance of bad weather where I was headed and of course I am one of the many people who believe they will melt if exposed to the rain. My destination was the notorious 'fattest city in the nation' three-time winner known as Houston, Texas.

This whole trip had been planned many months in advance. Actually it had been over half of year that one of my best buds, Kelly Rae, and I were arranging a sleepover weekend.  I spent way too much time being a data entry monkey and usually ended up playing shows or juggling the constant overflow of activities on my plate through the weekends.  My dream of having an intern to do my bidding and cook exquisite meals for me while I sit at home and create works of art has not exactly happened yet. Kelly had a wedding and is currently at the brink of the addition of a newer and tinier family member so things have been busy.

The trip to H-town had been full of surprises.  I headed out of Austin earlier enough to beat the early Friday traffic that engulfs the city every week.  After traveling half an hour south, I reached Elgin and treated myself to BBQ at Southside Market, which was dang delicious and left me with the itis and a full belly.  I was less than half an hour outside of Houston and the sky opened up and dumped its load all over the interstate commuters.  The downpour ended up being thick and what was worse were the three types of drivers on the road.  The skittish, rodent-like ones who would consistently freak out and randomly brake, the steady and practical drivers and of course the cocky Texans who drove recklessly for no good reason.  Somehow numbers 1 and 3 eventually ended up making a scene which ended with a four car pile up in front of my car and a 2 car fender bender straight behind.  I got out of that mess and looked up to see a double rainbow straddling the highway and touching down on either side.

I made it to Kelly's house without getting lost and ending up in Galveston or needing to worry about what colors I was wearing in which neighborhood.  We caught up and relaxed to Southpark.  All is well tonight and tomorrow is the art car parade and some long awaited songwriting time.


HOUSTON IS MINE!

A new door opened

It had been around seventeen years ago that I had last visited my grandmother.  I was about 10 years old and was told by my dad not to contact her without his discretion.  Time went on and I consistently asked about her and my aunt and cousin but my dad said they were busy and we would go visit them soon. Seventeen years later and three weeks ago I got a call from him telling me that my grandma had breast cancer and she would be going to a hospital to get the lumps removed.  I immediately cancelled my weekend plans and booked a hotel in San Antonio.  My dad and sister were supposed to meet me down there but both flaked at the last minute, so I made the journey with my friend.

After checking into the Super 8 Motel I called and asked when would be a convenient time to visit everyone and my grandmother said not today.  I asked if tomorrow would be better and she said she was in too much pain and did not think it would be a good time.  My aunt snatched the phone out of her hand and told me to come by in the morning and we would all catch up.

We arrived at their house around 10:30 in the morning and the first thing after hugs and smiles was the eerie recognition of their voices and mannerisms.  I felt so comfortable like I had seen them recently and we had a great visit.  My grandma was so much peppier than she had sounded on the phone. She was full of life, sass and a dirty mouth to boot just as I had remembered her.  My aunt told me that she adored fried chicken legs and cardboard boxed sweets and

Dallas, here we come...

Three of us Danger*Cakes piled into Jamie's van and made the three and a half hour venture to Dallas from Austin.  Tonight we play a show at The Freeman and it is almost 8 p.m. We are running terribly late.  After quickly shoveling down food at Five Guys Burgers & Fries in Cedar Park we were ready to hit the road again. We sped into the city with about thirty minutes to spare before showtime and changed into our fifties style pin-up outfits in a Chevron bathroom. The security guard seemed very entertained by our steady parade in and our exit out of the convenient store. Dallas...Debbie Does Dallas, the building downtown that looks like a microphone, Dallas Cowboys, road rage and asshole drivers, deemed high crime hotspot, place where RoboCop was filmed, the nostalgic place where I grew up. I avoided getting stuck for hours in traffic because of perpetual road construction and wrecks and made it before daylight...Time to party down and rest up before a trip to the Aquarium and the second show tomorrow night.

This means war!

Deep Ellum was strangely dead n' quiet for the weekend before Christmas...You could almost hear the snap of the parking lot matador's flags waving in the wind, begging the soon to be drunk drivers to pull in.  This district served as my teenage stomping grounds and I had not been back in years, so over half of it was abandoned and unrecognizable. 

All seven of us Danger*Cakes got to The Bone around 8pm, and filled in with the other 15 or so other people scattered around the bar. The first band up was as The Bone's website calls them The Marfalites & Bastardo De " Mutha Fukin " Sancho.  The trio sported luchador masks and the drummer banged on empty paint buckets and retired metal film reels which served as cymbals. The bartender assured my confused face that the band usually plays Rush covers and pulls a huge crowd . The later burlesque performance meant that a bunch of half naked dames were running around the bar and freezing their nips off to get ready for the performance. 

We were second up and snuggly fit our mass on the rickety-ass stage.  I unknowingly dodged a bullet when I asked my singer, Jamie's, fiance to hand me an extension cord on the ground which ended up shocking him pretty badly. Right before we went on we were told that the sound guy was MIA because of a wreck and could not make it. Every one of us improvised to attempt hearing each other. Tina's sax mic was not turned on for the entire show and we were cut off before our two last songs. 

As the night went on we saw the gangs of Santas arising from every street corner.  Apparently, if you dressed up for the night you could get into every club downtown free of charge. Watching these masses from the venue balcony was one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen. All in all, it was a very interesting night filled with many drunk and horny men,  2/7 Danger*Cakes being granted parking tickets, a hysterical show promoter which also happened to to be the Ringleader of the burlesque troupe and me holding my tongue to avoid conflict with a rude hairy bartender...After all it wasn't his fault he was being all mouthy, I mean, he was drinking.