acl: day one
Austin. City. Limits.
So, I’ve never been to a music festival before. Last year I toyed with the idea of going to Bonnaroo, but I couldn’t really afford to take the time off from work. So when Joellen told me that one of the main reasons for the road trip, the Mecca to our hajj, if you will, was Austin City Limits, I got pretty excited. And nervous. I don’t do so well in the heat, nor do I care for large crowds or excessive noise (I may be a 90-year-old masquerading as a 20-something). One thing that always bonded Joellen and me, though, is our love of music, so I could think of no better destination for the road trip.
We got up early (around 8:30…) and headed over to Zilker Park for day 1 of ACL. When we arrived, we were relieved to find that the lines were short and the sky was full of clouds. As I’m sure most of you are aware, Austin is experiencing a major drought and to see rain clouds in the sky is kind of a miracle. With hope of a good-weather day, we headed over to see Cults, but not before dropping by another, smaller stage to see what Miniature Tigers had to offer. An all male band with a familiar sound, they sounded a little raw and were alright, but not my favorites. Now Cults: I was not aware of this band, but Emily and Helen–Joellen’s friend from Kentucky and Emily’s high school friend–really wanted to see them, so we were all game. I really liked the band. They had a female front man (front woman?) and a somewhat dreamy sound that reminded me of something I would hear on the Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack (that is a good thing). I would up knowing one song (you’ll notice that’s a trend with most of the bands we saw) and really enjoyed my first music festival act. After Cults, we stopped by another stage to see An Horse who I also enjoyed. A male-female duet from Australia, they had a cool sound as well. It was a Joellen pick and did not disappoint.
We then took a break for lunch #1 and were so excited when we saw all that there was in the Austin Eats section of the park. There was so much to choose from so we decided to take it slow. We started with a grilled corn salad with a soft boiled egg from Odd Duck Farm to Trailer. It was really good. I wasn’t expecting it to be cold, but that was a very pleasant surprise. Really nice flavors that didn’t totally bomb in the heat. Definitely a good way to start off. Then we decided to have something small, so we each ordered a taco from Torchy’s. I got the green chile pork (on flour tortilla) and Joellen got the fried avocado (also on flour) and wow. They were so delicious. I actually favored Joellen’s taco, as it had a wider array of flavors, and I was really digging the fried avocado. Mine had just a touch more cilantro than I can handle, but I will definitely be making more trips to Torchy’s soon.
After our first lunch, we went to check out The Secret Sisters, a band I’ve heard Joellen mention a few times before. Now, given her usual tastes, I assumed they would be indie-alternative singers who may or may not be related (see: Tegan and Sara). I was really surprised when she told me that they did old-school country music. And did they ever. These Alabama girls were both energetic and demure, and sung beautifully. I was absolutely thrilled at how much I liked them. Check them out. Now. We then went over to a bigger stage to set up camp to see Brandi Carlile, who I was really excited to see. I’m just going to take this time to come out and say that I knew of about 5 artists of 130 who are at ACL this year. And Brandi was one of them. I discovered her on a Grey’s Anatomy Soundtrack and fell in love with her sound. She was awesome. Just really great. Just as I hoped she’d be, and so much more.
It was then time for lunch #2. We walked farther down the food section and found a lot more that piqued our interests, so we again decided to try/share a few little dishes. We first got the Kick Ass Nachos from Tim Love’s Love Shack, which lived up to the name. Joellen and I both have a secret (now not so secret) love of cheese sauce. This dish had plenty. And it was homemade, too. Nice job, Love Shack. We also got some truffled mac and cheese from Lonesome Dove Western Bistro which I devoured. I’m really in to truffles right now (see here) and this dish was flavorful without being heavy. It was delicious. They used orzo instead of the traditional macaroni which I liked and Joellen wasn’t crazy about. I would order this dish over and over, but again, when you’re using two of my favorite ingredients, that is a given.
We then went to meet with Emily and Helen at the Smith Westerns show, which abruptly ended 20 minutes before it was supposed to. Odd. We heard that Ray LaMontagne was onstage and went to go see him. Joellen really likes him and the more I hear, the more I like. I would have liked to stay, but it was so swamped that we decided to go to the stage next to his to wait for Cold War Kids and listen to him from the sidelines. I really enjoyed CCK. They were an Emily pick and a good one at that. Again, I knew one song and got really excited. I also did not want to stand up so I got a good glimpse of feet and tattoos. It was pretty great.
We went to the next stage (where Ray had been) and set up camp for Bright Eyes. They are a favorite of Joellen’s and I’ve liked them for a while too. I was introduced to them back in high school and have dabbled ever since. I’m ashamed to say that I fell asleep during their show, but it was a light, short sleep and I could hear how awesome Conor and the gang were.
Joellen and I left a little early to get a spot for my favorite act of the weekend: Sara Bareilles. I just love her. She sings one song that got really big, and I have been pretty excited about her for a long time (thanks, Andrea for letting me burn her cd!). She was awesome. Energetic and so talented. I wish that she was given a bigger stage/that she had played longer. Oh well, we’ll just have to see her in concert some day. After Sara, we had dinner: spinach pakoras with a delightfully spicy/refreshing mint chutney from Royal Indian Foods and an fried avocado “cone”: fried avo with spicy sauce and sweet coleslaw in a flour tortilla situated in a paper cone from The Mighty Cone. It was actually really good. Oh, and we also got ice cream. Amy’s Ice Cream, which is something that Joellen has been talking about since we got here. Apparently it’s very Austin. We got the mint chocolate chip which was awesome. We then found Helen and Emily and settled in for our final show: Kanye. And it was fine; just what you’d expect: flashy, loud and crowded. We all enjoyed sitting toward the back and taking it all in.
To close, some observations about ACL (if I still have an audience, thanks for hanging in):
– There are so many nice people. Everyone is pretty like-minded and I have neither heard nor seen anyacts of violence. It’s all peace and love here.
– I love the flags. People carry around flags or balloons, inflatable animals, what have you on long poles and I love them. We have seen so many fun, creative and random flags. They’re also excellent for identifying location when you’re trying to find a friend
– There are so many kids here. And not just little kids with their parents, but 11, 12 year olds (seemingly just with a group of friends) who should maybe be with a chaperone. It’s a little alarming to see that once the later shows start.
– “So many young people with so many regrettable tattoos” -Joellen
– Rain happened. It was awesome, even if brief.
– This is the greatest place to people watch-EVER.
Until next time, Peace and Love from the ACL-ers
❤ Amy
vegas: most relaxing city award?
I know it seems that every other post we talk about how we “revamped” and “really needed it;” we talk about our friends who graciously let us use laundry facilities and how we reorganized the car and how whichever city was a godsend. It is not untrue that Seattle and LA offered us relaxation, each in their own ways (cough cough, laundry), but Vegas has been a different beast altogether. We’ve been staying with my friend Alana and her boyfriend Steve who have offered us unlimited laundry use and cold drinks galore. And even though we have ‘reorganized’ before, yesterday we actually got to clean out the car. I mean, everything was out and we threw things away and vacuumed and Windex-ed and Armor All-ed and it felt so good. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning of our day:
We woke up late, apu (as per usual), and had a leisurely morning before heading to the Bellagio, where both Alana and Steve work. Alana is a stage manager for Cirque du Soleil’s O (it is amazing, you must go see it) and Steve is an acrobat in the show. They are a pretty awesome couple. They keep interesting hours, but manage to be more energetic than we could ever dream of being. So, we went to the Bellagio to have lunch at a restaurant that Alana has really been wanting to try: Todd English’s Olives. I must admit, when I first read the menu, I thought a lot of the items were tired. But when we arrived and tasted the food, my mind quickly turned. I had a Bellini (when in Rome…) while Joellen stuck with water and Alana had a raspberry lemonade. We ate some bread with different olive tapenades and tried to decide on what to order for our main courses. It took me an unusually long time, since it’s Vegas Restaurant Week and there were so many options.
Alana had the Boston Bibb Salad and the Sea Scallops, Joellen had the Portobello Flatbread and I had the Caesar Salad (with anchovy fillets) and the Sea Scallop dish as well. Alana really enjoyed the salad and scallops and Joellen’s flatbread was delicious. Made with fontina cheese and white truffle oil, it was aromatic, slightly salty and really well-balanced. My salad was so tasty (it was also nice to have something fresh and green…it’s been a while…), and the anchovy added a great amount of salt and depth of flavor. The sea scallops were absolutely fantastic. I mean really, really stellar. Paired with a whipped yukon gold mash, fava bean puree, roasted beets and frisee, I was floored at how well balanced the flavors were. The beets were, in my opinion, what made the dish. The scallops were, for the most part, seared nicely, and who wouldn’t love mashed potatoes? And the fava bean puree was just divine. For a restaurant I was none too excited for, Olives really delivered. The server even remembered to get me lemons for my Diet Coke (I might have had three drinks in front of me…caffeine, alcohol, hydration; they’re all key)–hooray for nice, attentive servers (to the server from Park Grill, you could take a few notes from Olives guy).
After lunch, Joellen and I headed back to Alana’s house, but not before stopping for me to get a manicure at a wonderful 24-hour salon , having a Starbucks break (very necessary) and seeing someone get arrested…for stealing from CVS…really?! We went back and had the massive car cleaning session, which was just so fantastic and really cathartic.
Afterwards, we got cleaned up and decided that we would again stay in; after all, we’re in Vegas! We sat outside sipping on our respective drinks of choice, enjoying the nice change in weather, reading. Or at least I was reading. Joellen was doing something on her computer. We got hungry and so we decided to eat two of the tamales that we purchased in Grants Pass at the farmer’s market. The girl who sold them to us said that re-steaming them was the best way to enjoy them, but that a microwave would also suffice. I decided to MacGyver a steamer using a deep skillet to simmer the water, a large metal bowl to catch the steam, and a cooling rack to hold the tamales. I was pretty impressed with myself. It might have taken almost an hour, but the results were delicious. Everything a tamale should be. Alana came home and we had another drink with her before everyone turned in for the night.
So this might not have been the Vegas experience everyone dreams of, but it was truly blissful for us. Being in the car for the bulk of our days is pretty tiring and having a nice soft bed and a washer-dryer is all we need to make us happy. Now on to touch multiple states at once!
❤ Amy