On the Road with Verona Red Day 4: Austin, TX

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Before the Show

When we woke up on Misty Matthews' various couches, we looked around at the disaster scene surrounding us. It was pretty bad when we had arrived the night before, but the extra beer bottles and cans, plus the natural detritus left behind by a group of wandering 20-somethings. We all took this wonderful opportunity to get clean again. Miraculously, Steve also decided that this would be a prime time for his first shower in at least 3 days (and we're talking 3 days of car travel and hard rocking ). He came out in his boxers, air drying himself since apparently Misty didn't have the foresight to prepare guest towels for her random weekend encounters with strange bands.

We said thanks to our gracious hosts, and made moves to the van. We began the trip sitting three across the middle bench, and I, with my usual level of luck, was crammed next to Steve. I read a bit, and slept a bit and everything was going fine until at one point Steve lifted his arm to point to something, and a foul rotting odor assaulted my nostrils. Not one to bandy words, I asked Steve what the hell the funk was all about. The rest of us were then treated to his lovely definition of an acceptable and reasonable shower: splashing water on the smelly bits. That's it. No soap, just water. This news immediately sent me clambering up to the mattress, despite my knowledge that any type of accident would either send me shooting like a missile through the windshield or crushed by the huge wooden frame along with thousands of pounds of equipment that was underneath me.

It was my first time in Austin, Texas. The city seemed nice, open and expansive, with a small but clean downtown area. Chris, Mike and Adam, along with our friend Tony on the bass had been down there just recently to play SXSW, a week-long music festival featuring thousands of bands. When I heard the stories about their week there, it definitely made me excited to explore the city a bit. Unfortunately, Tony was busy during this Southern tour, so the task fell to Steve to play bass for the band. And while he did an admirable job on stage, I can only imagine the downtime with Tony would have been better. Just as awkward, but a funny kind, rather than a tense and uncomfortable kind. SXSW was only the previous week, so the crowds along the streets were a bit sparser than they would normally be since everyone was probably exhausted from a full week of rock.

We unloaded everything into the night's venue, Momo's, and then decided to take advantage of our geographic location and enjoy some fine Southern barbecue. After many inquiries to the staff, we were told that Stubb's was probably our best option. We then did one of my very favorite things - walking through the downtown area of an unknown city. When we arrived, we realized that it was not only a well-reputed barbecue joint, but also a pretty popular music venue. While we were eating, the Scissor Sisters were playing a show behind the barred doors. It was a strange juxtaposition to see all the burly Southern guys shoveling down barbecue at their tables with clusters of cross-dressers weaving their way through them to the venue doors. Food was good, but it was time to head back to Momo's for the show. Some (probably awful) TV show was shooting some scenes along our route back, so there was a bit of a crowd to navigate through.

The show was solid. Despite the initial emptiness of the bar, and the fact that the band didn't get on stage until midnight, there was a decent turnout. There were a couple portly middle aged men who were really tearing up the dancefloor for Verona Red. There was also a cute photographer taking a ton of pictures of the band during most of their set. Before I could go over and investigate, however, she had packed up her things and left. After they were done playing and everything was packed up, Chris schmoozed the dancing dudes for a bit and we hit the road. Mike's cousin George lives in Austin, and he was kind enough to offer his couch and floor to us for the evening.

I came to Austin thinking it would be one of the more interesting and wild nights out, but it ended up being by far the quietest. Then again, after a few pretty rowdy evenings, and knowing there were probably more to come, it was a nice break from the madness.

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