An 'Odd' time in Austin

Where can you find the most music venues per capita in the country? Well, Austin, Texas of course! I didn't know that myself until my visit there this week along with a few other facts:  Austin is the capital of Texas and 11th largest city in the U.S., but is still only the 4th largest city in the state. Austin host dozens of festivals each year, revolving around film, music and others industries including the growing South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. Also, I was told it's so hot in Austin that it's not unusual to see topless women strolling the downtown sidewalks. I have to say I was probably downtown for only about an hour before actually seeing this with my own eyes.  I kept staring at everyone else waiting for people to stare at her. Never happened.  Apparently, within Travis County things are pretty casual and laid-back.  Outside of Travis County, not so much.

I was glad when I heard the Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival was kicking off in Austin this month since it gave me a chance to visit Austin for the first time and visit some friends from Dayton who now live there, Reed and Maria Finnell.  They tried to cram in quite a bit of sight-seeing and live music into my short trip and it was fun and exhausting.  We hopped around to several different districts and venues but we just scratched the surface of all the places there are to go just in the downtown area alone.  I left a day too early to attend the 9th Annual Night of the Bat Fest, but I still got a chance to see the 1.5  million free-tailed bats that fly nightly from underneath the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. I'm not much of a bat lover, but it was still a pretty spectacular sight.  There were hundreds of other spectators out there lining the bridege and some even in boats right under the bridge.  However, with that amount of bat poop down there, I'm not sure that was such a good idea!

(Boats Gathered Around The Congress Ave. Bridge Bat Watching)

(Bats At Congress Bridge Video)

Before and after the bats, we spent the most of the day on and around Sixth Street, a historic street and entertainment district in downtown Austin.  Sixth Street is so frequented by bar and club goers that it is regularly shutdown to vehicle traffic so folks can easily walk from bars to clubs to restaurants and back.  Even on a Thursday night, things got pretty crowded.  During our many stops, we hit Pelons Tex-Mex, 508 Tequila Bar, the Bat Bar, the Scoot Inn, and Eastside Showroom. Then lastly, we saw Chali 2na, who was one of the founding members of Jurrasic 5, give a very energetic show at Parish.  Living in the small, quiet city of Dayton, OH it was pretty amazing to me to see so much energy everywhere, but in the live music capital of the world, it was just another night.

(Artist paints new murals outside 508 Tequila Bar)

(Mighty Mountain at Scoot Inn)

(Charli 2na at Parish)

(Festival Line-Up)

 By Friday evening, I was ready for a change of pace and looking forward to the Oddball festival which was headlined by Dave Chappelle and Flight of the Conchords.  We headed over to the new 1,000 acre Circuit of the Americas which contains a Gran Prix racetrack, a conference center and several other spaces including the venue for the night, the Austin360 Amphitheater.  The place was jammed packed but we finally found our assigned parking lot and trekked over to the festival. Oh, and did I mention how hot it was?!  Austin keeps it warm and unfortunately, sitting amongst 14,000 comedy fans wasn't going to help things much either.  At one point Dave Chappelle said this was the first time he had to towel off during a set, and he visibly sweated profusely throughout his whole routine. Although this has been billed as his return to comedy, this was at least my third time seeing Dave perform since leaving his show. However, it was still good to see him in the national spotlight again.  We can only hope there will be much more to come from Dave after the tour is over!  

(Reed, Maria and Ed)

(Jeff Ross)

Some of the other performers in the line-up included Comedy Central regulars Jeff Ross, Al Madrigal, Demetri Martin, Hannibal Buress and Kristen Schaal. I have to say everyone was funny that night and the crowd definitely had a good time.  I was unfamiliar with a lot of the line-up's actual stand-up routines, although I see Al Madrigal and Kristin Schaal often as regulars on the Daily Show.  Now, it was probably a toss up for me as to the biggest surprise of the show between Flight of the Conchords and Hannibal Burress. I hadn't heard of either before the festival but both were extremely entertaining in very different ways.  Among other bits, Hannibal hilariously broke down several rap lyrics of famous rappers while Flight of the Conchords' song lyrics, clever back & forth and timing were really on point.  The biggest surprise for the comics was probably the occasional jet plane flying over from nearby Austin Bergstrom Airport which obviously distracted each of them somewhere through their routine.  Actually! the biggest surprise was the zeal in which security kept people from using their phones and cameras. I don't mean you just weren't allowed to take pictures.  You couldn't use your phone at all!  By the time Dave came out to close the show, they had stressed over the P.A. you would be ejected if caught using your phone.  So, I'm actually not really sure how these pictures got on my blog!  Shhhh! (Although, their official site requested people post pics with the hashtag #oddballfest??!!)  Bottom line though, when the tour comes to a city near you, be sure to check it out.  You won't be disappointed. 

(Food Truck Park on Rainey Street)

Incredibly the heat didn't subside all night, but after the show we made one more stop to Rainey St.  This is a street in which homeowners were all bought out and their houses turned into bars and flanked by a couple of food truck parks.  Now, this is the first time I've mentioned food trucks thus far but they were certainly an integral part of my trip.  They're everywhere around the downtown area and feature every type of cuisine you can imagine.  I would think Austin is probably considered the food truck capital of the world, too, and if its not, it should be!  We hit Scotty's BBQ truck for some late night eats and dined in the park before heading across the street to Lucille Patio Lounge.  It was a comfortable place with a cozy little patio, really nice decor and finishings. Unfortunately, the long day, the heat and the hour time difference finished me off and it was back to the Hyatt Place for good night's sleep before catching my flight back to Dayton in the morning. 

It's always a treat to discover another city that makes we want to return before I even leave, and Austin is just one of those kinds of places.  I recommend Austin to anyone who enjoys live music, cool, but enthusiastic crowds, festivals and choice after choice of great food joints.  I'll plan a return trip soon, so just let me know when you're ready.

(BTW - Couldn't leave Austin without hitting a Diner, Drive-In and Dives spot.)

(Got the spicy Amarillo Burger w/ Verde Fries at the Casino El Camino)