this decade in Austin

...and we look to the Texan capital, an unlikely place for our generation's great pariah to incubate. The good people of the great town of Austin have responded to their former governor's follies with pervasive music. Feels like San Francisco might have felt in the 60's. Music is everywhere, it's cheap and damn good. I wandered in to the Continental Club on a random wednesday night around midnight and caught James McMurtry rocking the shop, then back at the venue on friday it was Charanga Cakewalk. I hadn't heard of them and walked out dancing all the way back to my hotel. From what I gathered accordianist/keyboardist/trumpeter/vocalist Michael Ramos is the backbone of the band, but the guys playing with him were kicking. I spent the rest of my cash on Bass and couldn't afford a cd so I bought the most recent one, Chicano Zen, on iTunes soon as I got back to Brooklyn.

This was right after Austin City Limits, one of the biggest weekends in music anywhere, and still mobs of people were out on wednesday, thursday nights listening and dancing. Here's to the good people of Austin for setting a stage on which the rest of the country can soon rebound along with them.