SXSW-NIGHT OFF-TOUR DAY 9 (PRT. 4)

After we all got back to our lodging, we devised a plan to shower and chill for a bit before setting out on foot for the evening. I made up a few maps for people, and gave them my number just incase something should arise where they need me or got lost getting back to the house.

I also took the time to scope out the SXSW pamphlet that provided info for most of the shows happening that night. After making a list of all the bands playing that I wanted to see, then cutting it down to a list of bands I really wanted to see. I was able to devise a nice course of action to take that evening. The line up was Cold War Kids, Amy Winehouse, Menomena. I'm sure there was some other bands tagged onto the beginning and end there, but I can't really remember.

I called up Angie since her and I were gonna be partners in crime that evening & have the same likes in music. She said she was gonna be late to CWK because she had to run back to the hotel with Astrid Swan (another Minty artist) to get her bag or something...actually now that I think about it I didnt call Angie at all...let's back track...

After devising a plan of action that evening, me and the band walked down to 6th street. They eventually took off to do their thing and I went over to some club on Congress to see Astrid Swan perform. I got there before everyone else which was a bit of a bummer, but eventually Angie, Astrid, Al, and Anthony showed up. Astrids' show was pretty cool, I love that song 'Old Fashioned Couple' of hers, real nice.

While watching the performance, this is actually when i narrowed down my list of possibly shows to see, Angie and i coordinated our schedules, and that's when we came up with the break down CWK, Amy, & Menomena. Angie also said there was a possibly Paris Hilton party that night where you had to say "foodsty"? to get into and there was a playboy shin-dig at 2am.

After Astrid played, Angie said she had to go back to her hotel to grab a bag of Astrid's or something, so I told her i'd just meet her at the cold war kids show. Good thing i did too. The line was really long, esp. for people who just have wristbands...see if you have a badge you can just waltz right in, which Angie and Al had the luxury of doing, but no matter I got a free wristband, so i'm not complaining, and I got to eat some free Ice Cream while waiting in line.

Eventually I got into the show. The venue was really big and there was probably like 2,000 people there to see CWK play. Angie and Al arrived later, but i didn't see them till after the show. It was kinda funny watching the band play, seeing as how I saw them at Johnny Brenda's in philly and the stage/venue was much smaller and here they were now in a much bigger place with lots of people watching them. They put on a good show. I believe some fellow musicians from other bands came out near the end of their set with brass horns to give the audience and extra juicy performance. i was only half paying attention at this point.

After the show I met up with Angie and Al. We made our way over to check out the situation regarding Amy Winehouse, well I did really, because I knew I'd have to stay in line much longer to wait to get in then Angie and Al. I got up near the front door of the venue and was bout to go in when I realized Amy got pushed back in the lline up, so i went on over to Buffalo Billards where Angie and Al were watching Menomena. I told them the situation regarding Amy and they were all drunk, haha. Also somewhere in the mix, my buddy, jonas was txtin me to meet up. Since I wasn't a huge Menomena fan...and I don't really think they'd gone on at that point anyways, I opted to go meet up with hiim and the rest of the teeth(jonas'band) at Malaga some irish pub down on 4th. I tried to get Angie to come too, but she was right satisfied where she was, bummer.

When I finally arrived down at Malaga's, there was an outdoor patio area and some swank indoor bar. I went inside the bar to first see if the boys were in there and get a drink. It was pretty empty, and the guys weren't there, but I decided to get a drink all the same. Two bad things happened at this point. 1. the bartender wouldn't give me a drink because they wanted to keep the inside bar and the outside patio seperate entities for that evening. 2. I lost my I.D. indicating my age, and posing as a problem if I wanted to leave Austin in two days via airplane!!!

Immediately I freaked, then figured when i pulled out my map from the back of my pocket somewhere along the way on the walk down to Malaga's my I.D. had fallen out. So I did what any other determined being such as myself would do...i immediately back tracked ignoring prior engagements. I walked all the way back to Buffalo Billards retracing my footsteps as best I could...which is pretty pointless when you're half drunk and you're not paying attention to the steps you take to begin with. I met up with Angie and Al and told them what was up. They checked out the area we were hanging in, since that's where I last used my ID to get into...but there was no such luck.

I eventually left them and went back over to the Amy Winehouse venue since I did accidentally headed that way after leaving Buffalo Billards to go to Malaga's in the beginning.I didn't find any ID but noticed there was no line for Amy, which was odd. The bouncer there told me her show got canceled on account of drunkeness, that Amy, always staying true to form!

At this point jonas texted me again saying they'd all moved over to this bar called The Bayou. Since it was a block from where i was, I quit my search for the ID and went over there to join them. I pretty much thought this would be a fool's errand seeing as how I couldn't get into any bars w/o an ID, but thought i'd try all the same.

At the door to the place there was a big black security guard lookin' dude. He asked me for my ID and I just told him the truth of the matter and tried to look for anything on my person proving I was over 21. He just said "Hey, I'll let you in, but you should tip me!" haha, I said "alright!" and gave the man 2 bucks. real awesome dude. I dunno what it is about black men, but usually they're always nice to me.

So, I went inside to the back of the bar and there by the pool table was jonas, peter, andrew, chadwick, and a friend of peters? some girl who's name I can't remember. We all just played pool and hung out. Just kinda talking about how our tours were going thus far. somewhere in the mix I really wanted a drink, and thought i might be able to snag myself one seeing as how the bar ID's at the door, but I didn't wanna chance possibly getting kicked out and getting the security guard in trouble for letting me in....so right before I had to take a shot I gave jonas money to buy me a drink and thought this routine would work well if I wanted to keep on drinkin! ....& save myself both embarrassment for losing my ID and the hassle of not being able to drink because I had no ID. My whole policy is if I can avoid telling people things that will cause embarrassement and make me look stupid, I'll probably be clever and do so. However the second time I asked jonas to get me a drink he queried me about why I couldn't get it myself, and my plan was defeated.

I think like 30mins. later we left, and I thanked the security guard again for hiim being awesome and he gave me a special brotherly handshake and hug. I started walking back with the boys to where their car was at. I think at this point they were all pretty drunk because all they talked about was refried beans they were gonna have back at the place they were staying, and smoking pot. Chadwick was talking about how wary he was of smoking when he was drunk because he'd take off his pants and whip out his goods which he was also recounting in detail....on this note i realized i'd lost my glasses, yeah another tragedy that night. So I just said 'oh you guys are leaving now right?', they agreed, so i used it as an excuse to bail and look for my glasses. another account to avoid embarrassment...

Again I back tracked, and went back to the bayou to search for them. There were a few people standing on the corner by the club and were lookign around trying to help me out. I looked around the area of the club for a bit and right as I turned my head in one direction I saw my glasses skid across the pavement. I ran over to them and so did the person who caused them to skid in the first place, probably by kicking them or something. He picked them up and the frame was crushed and one of the eye pieces was broken. I was bummed, and pretty much blamed the whole night on the fact I went outta my way for people, but really it's no one's fault but my own and i was looking for a scapegoat at the time.

However the good thing was that since I had my glasses I could take them back to the place that made them and get a new pair since I have insurance on them up to one year. And I also had a back up pair of glasses at home just in case of situations like these where I lose my original pair.

i wandered over to Maggie Mae's then, to go find Alex and Isa who were checking out the French/Canadian Connection showcase. They were just hanging outside the club. We ended up just walking back up to the house. Isa also had a bad night that evening losing this awesome pullover she had...which she was borrowing from a friend from home. ..

I still had the idea that i might find my ID for some reason, and kept kinda looking for it. Alex said though it was impossible to find and I should just give up...so I did, and we got some huge slices of pizza before going back to the house.

i think once there we met up with Francois and Stephane...or maybe they showed up later. I sat down on my computer for about an hour or so and tried to talk to airport security about my license. I also tried to rack my brain to solve the problem of getting an id to me in time....this pretty much sucked that I had to do all this stupid work when tomorrow was my day off from working....what a pisser.