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Published: February 17th 2012
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I had arrived, finally to the Promised Land. Alternatives as far as the eye can see. I was in... Austin, Texas… I have always thought of myself as a casual alternative. You know an individual that is different but not one that tries to stand out as the usual “Alternative”. I’m more your laid back alternative, A casual alternative.
Austin is the live music venue of America and it was here I planned to see as many alternatives as possible. How could I go wrong when we are talking about musicians playing live around people who like music.
It was around this point that during channel changes the Christian radio promo said “Y2Kfm – Positive alternative!” I was like ‘Geez even the Christians are getting in on the alternative act.’
I found it interesting how alternative is a genre of music in itself. It’s kind of not rock, not heavy, not easy listening… its, dare I say, alternative. So I felt if I was to fit in here, for this blog entry anyway, I’d give myself an alternative status and I’m fine with casual alternative.
Austin is the capital
of Texas and the big gun hoe attitude they are renown for, its capital is quaint, some would say an alternative capital to the mainstream thought.
Again the weather was crap with constant rain dampening our days and parts of the night. Mist clogged the highway between Fort Worth and Austin. It was unexpected since Texas has been hit by the worst one year drought on record. It averaged 6.35inches (17cm) of rain for the year (this was as of late August 2011.) In some parts the streets are cracking with tree roots searching for the last drops of moisture. US government gave 94% of Texas Pasteur and rangeland as poor or very poor - The worst rating on record.
Farmers have had to either buy expensive hay for grazing cattle or prematurely sell off cattle to feedlots. Wheat farmers are suffering too with 50% below normal levels. Half or more of Texan cotton fields may have to be abandoned. In the 2006 drought, which lasted more than 20 months. Texas then suffered a returning economic lose of $4 billion.
So whilst some may have cheered the light rain, some were
asking for more. Robert Parish and I were hoping selfishly that the rain would ease off for at least a couple of days.
Despite the drought Austin doesn’t hold back on the food either with a food-selling alternative. Instead of having restaurants everywhere they set up food stalls in random streets. They are permanent stations and the one we went to was on South 1
st street. What you get is a price that cuts out the middleman and cooked like it’s a home party. We got some red meat again and we were in heaven.
My travel buddy and I rarely had any problems but there was one and it had to do with the wardrobe. See I had a dominant blue with thin white striped short sleeve shirt whilst Robert Parish had a similar shirt but in long sleeve. We God damn looked like we were a couple. So we had to try and co-ordinate when we were going to wear it before going out so one could put on a different shirt. It was a thing I felt best to avoid especially when you are going out trying to pick up.
At the hostel the guy at reception told us to “Go to East 6
th street there are some nice bars there.” We later found out it was the gay area. I blamed Parish’s spiky front to his hair proclaiming now on this blog that his hair made him look like a gay alternative...
We pre gamed again before heading to the bus stop. The bus is in the distance, arriving (they come every 30 mins) and I notice. “Oh shit we’re wearing the same shirt again! Fuck!” It’s late and we hop on like two bloody gay alternatives.
We reached a bar that plays mostly country music and just before we enter a guy comes up to us on the street and says, “This is not a gay bar is it?” “No! No defiantly not.” So it was confirmed we looked like gay alternatives. Not casual alternatives as I had hoped for.
We did however have a night out where we didn’t dress like an alternative gay couple. This was our best night out. Especially music wise, almost all genre’s are here, especially the "alternative" genre. But for us
the best moment was the death heavy metal group that just went skits. Our favourite song of there’s, like all the others, was incomprehensible but Parish thinks he said, “This next song is… MAGGOTS on your grave!”
Oh! The entertainment value of a great heavy metal band is almost indescribable. The high pitched scream followed by a dog growl word, to head banging, to the thumping guitar riff and crazy as double kick drum. I encourage everyone to get through the initial shock and you’ll have a smile on your face all day the next day.
The main drag is 6
th street and I had high expectations of debauchery. Perhaps because it was the last week of exams but it had nothing on the carnage Europe can produce or Australians on New Years Eve parties.
There was however some moment to cherish like this guy spewing during a group photo with his friends in the middle of the street. Some girl with her legs half open vomiting her guts up on the gutter. Yes I have seen much worse on my travels and at home.
Most of the
students we spoke to didn’t seem alternative at all. In fact it was quite hard to find many locals on 6
th street. The locals have given alternative a new meaning they are more vacant alternatives and only come out at night when the students leave to be with families in the summer.
The students are more neutral alternatives meaning they aren’t alternative at all just that they have a free rain to get hammered on the main drag of a states capital city, which is alternative to most colleges. The Australian accent did get some attention again but on the first night toward close we attracted some dickhead alternative. A guy that was nice enough, heck Parish got 3 shots off the guy whilst I was buying us a drink. But he was hanging around us to try and use our accents to score with the ladies.
We managed to get a lift that night because we were Australian. The next night (the gay alternative night) we got a taxi back. The fare was $10 and 1 cent. We give him the 10 and searched for the 1c. We find it and hand it
over. He tells us sarcastically “Here keep the 1 cent. It’s okay, don’t worry about a tip.” Parish replies back. “Okay Sweet!” A real casual alternative way to handle the situation on what was a gay alternative start.
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