SXSW-DAY STAGE CAFE- TOUR DAY 8

Finally we've gotten to the much anticipated portion of my tour travels, that being SXSW! Oh what marvels I have to tell....

So, we woke up the next morning in Chicago and made our way to the airport. Dropping off the rental van was a pain in the ass. Mainly, because I didn't know where the drop off location was and was nervous about leaving the band alone when we were running on a tight check-in schedule for the flight.

When I finally met up with them, we were able to get checked in on time, but with the security check point and the gate being on the otherside of the airport, our time was very limited to getting on the plane.

We landed in San Antonio a little early. I went ahead to go get the rental van while the band waited for their luggage. When I arrived we hit our first bump in the road that day, Francois's suitcase didn't show up.

Apparently it ended up on a later flight. Francois didn't wanna leave the airport without his bag and really wanted to stay to wait for it. I might have freaked, but this situation really isnt a big deal, it's happened before on other tours, so I wasn't really worried about the airlines shipping it to us later that evening. I think Francois thought he might not see his luggage again, poor thing.

After a little convincing and reassuring with Francois we left for Austin to do the Day Stage Cafe Show. On the way we stopped to get the band something to eat since they were running on empty and tired at this point. They kept on wondering how important this gig was because of the lack of sleep, lost luggage, and the show night before was terrible. They really didn't feel like playing.

I thought the drive into Austin was gonna be really bad, but we lucked out and found some pretty decent parking near the convention center where we were playing. We didn't have much time till load in, and I was told we had to go to artist registry before we could perform. I just thought it would be a better idea to go straight to the stage and then register afterwards, but people kept telling me it wouldn't take long to get the band their wristbands and badges for the four days they were there. I covered my bases calling the stage manager for the show we were playing to make sure it was cool for us to wait in line or if we should just go ahead to the show. She said there was no prob if we were a little late to load in... Although I was happy for the laid back, self-assured response, waiting to register was not the best, however that's what we did and the line took forever.

We were able to hook up with other minties at this point, but were running out of time for load in. Angie, Al, myself, and some sxsw volunteers took the liberty of rolling our van around and doing a throw-and-go style loadin. Anthony took care of getting the band wristbands and their whole registration thing out of the way.

That day was the worst out of the whole 4 though. Just complete stress, too many cooks in the kitchen, nothing really getting done...., But hey, the band made it to the stage, they did their show, and it's all good. After this though i prayed the rest of the time in austin wouldn't be as bad as this...and we had 3 shows the next day so i was really nervous about the same 'last minute, running behind, no time' stuff happening. I didn't get to catch this performance btw because i was too busy parking then unparking to bring over the transformer, then parking again, then loading out. i"m sure they did good though.

AFter the show we all went over to the house we were staying at. I found it on craigslist for a sweet deal. basically the tenants said 'if you're international, you can stay here for free!' This is cuz of some deal at south-by where you can get free wristbands if you house an international band. It was only 6 blocks north of all the fun stuff at sxsw and was real chill, also everyone in the band was able to get their own room and bed to sleep in, so it rocked.

When everyone was done freshin' up, we had the evening to hang out in the city. The band was hungry, so I suggestd going to Stubb's for some awesome barbeque. When we finally found parking and walked down it was over an hour wait to have dinner there. Al, Angie, and Anthony were all meeting us there to eat, but decided to wait in line at the Stubb's main stage venue in the back of the resturant to see the Lily Allen, Bravery, Razorlight, Jamie T, the automatics, play. It actually turned out good that they did that. Since Al, Angie, and Anthony all had badges and we had our Prototypes badge, we were all able to pass up the long line and get in right quick to the venues. So while waiting for our table to be called upstairs at the resturant, we chilled downstairs in the back just hanging out.

This was probably when it hit me I was at sxsw! I was completely elated. But I totally had to water it down for myself because I was technically still working and couldnt' go crazy happy in front of co-workers....not yet anyway....Mostly while waiting we all just talked. I think somewhere in the mix we ran into the Young Knives again...they were on a route to find some foreign substances, so we parted ways reasonably soon after saying 'hey.'

Finally our table got called and we all sat down to some awesome bbq. I had some pulled pork and a cup of beans, it kicked ass. I couldn't really tell you too much of the conversations being passed around the table, cept witnessing Al get more smashed and gropping some lady's ass a couple times to see if she would notice. Also there was mention of how stressful today was, and I suggested to teh band we just take it easy tomorrow morning, and I'll buy some eggs, bread, milk etc and we'lll have a nice low key breakfast. they seemed to dig that idea, and francois wanted to get apricot jelly (what a smart man)

After dinner we went back to the lodging, I'm pretty sure we layed low this evening because we were tired. I think at this point I decided it would be best to go to the grocery store to get food that evening instead of wake up wicked early to get food for everyone. For some reason Al was with us, so i decided to give him a ride back to his hotel, but on the way stop and a 7-eleven so he could pick up something that I can't remember at this point....but there was food there so i got food there for the band and myself.

meanwhile i discovered my phone was ringing and I had three missed calls from Francois. Thank goodness he called again. he was wondering why his luggage hadn't arrived to the house yet and was very worried the man who would be delivering it wouldn't be able to find the hosue we were staying at...which francois has a point on, it wasn't the easiest house to see in the dark.

Anyways, I spoke with Francois and told him i'd be home soon so we could call the austin airport to check on the bag and then go to the airport to pick it up. After calling we found that Francois' bag was being held there, so we jumped in the car and went to go pick it up.

Francois was very happy about this and said he could sleep that evening now and would be in a much better mood the next day. I was happy because it was one less concern to handle on top of three shows the next day.