Previously, I wrote about my experience last weekend when my wife got to go to SXSW and I had to stay behind with the kid. While I was panicking trying to put the kid to bed, she was rocking out to Panic! at the Disco. But enough of the whine and grind, let’s get the other side of the story. Let’s see what hijinks mom got into.
As it turned out, last Friday morning my wife, Amy, got a call at work from an old friend that had come to town to work at SXSW. She had some free time over the weekend, and there was an OMD show Friday night. That was too late for Amy, and she couldn’t make it. But, what’s this? They’re playing another show in the afternoon? “OMD? OMG!” Of course, she just had to go. And so it began.
Off they went to the Spin party at Stubbs, with a borrowed VIP pass. There they saw an up and coming band called the Vaccines. Then Moby came out and introduced OMD. He credited them for getting him into electronic music. They opened up with “Electricity,” and that set the pace for the rest of the weekend. When they played “If You Leave,” there were cell phone cameras everywhere. Amy was excited, but downplayed the event to me later:
“They sounded good for a couple of old dudes.”
Although I’m a fan of oldschool 80’s tunes, I didn’t feel that I missed anything. Personally, I saw OMD open up for Power Station back in the day, so I’m good.
Next was the IFC show at the Crossroads House behind The Driskill Hotel. Really, this was more of a shack-like place with no air conditioning. It was about 1,000 degress in there and steamy. IFC was filming the event for their live webcast. Fitz & the Tantrums played. They’re a really cool band with a nice soul-revival sound. We actually just bought their latest album on iTunes. Amy felt sorry for the lead singer, since he was wearing something like a pea coat and it was so hot in there. The girls were saved by the little guitar-shaped fans they got at the Spin party earlier. This was about the time Amy realized she wore the wrong shoes for this kind of day. Ouch.
Saturday brought the arrival of Round 2, which began with the Atlantic/Chop Shop Records showcase. They liked Scars on 45, which was a band they got to see last year as well. The girls even got to meet them, apparently they were “nice.” [Note to wife- If you go again next year, no talking to any boys.] The headliner of the show was Portugal the Man, who hailed from Alaska. They were listed as an experimental outfit, however Amy’s friend thought they were “hippy-ish” but cool. In any case, as always at SXSW, it was good times.
Then they hustled over to the east side of town to a club called Shangri-La to see Love Inks. Amy is good friends with the lead singer, Sherry. The band has an amazing laid-back sound; they are highly recommended. The show was so crowded that the club was over capacity. They wouldn’t let more people in until some people left. So the girls had to listen to half of the show outside until they could finally get in. Then it was time for dinner and some much needed sitting down. At least Amy wore proper shoes this time.
Sixth Street was crazier than usual. Generally, it was just over-stimulation, with street acts everywhere. Even their noses weren’t safe. The whole street smelled like “pot, B.O. and poop.” They saw two fights break out that night. There was also some kind of giant robot contraption that someone had made. Strangely, during the night they saw multiple couples with little kids, and many with strollers. Amy was appalled. This wasn’t really the time and place for babies.
While back at the hotel bar trying to recoup, Amy saw a tweet about The Bravery show going on later at 1 AM. This was way past her bedtime. But on a whim they popped over anyway, and got there 15 minutes before the show started. They somehow walked right up towards the front of the stage. During the show, Dennis Quaid came out and played guitar and sang with the band. He was very happy with himself. The show ended at about 2 AM. Amy posted a pic to Facebook to prove that she stayed up that late and didn’t turn into a pumpkin. However, she was really sorry she never got a new iPhone, since her old phone can’t take videos. At this point with enough being enough, the night had to end sometime. They crapped out before the Kanye West show that didn’t start until 3 AM. And Jay-Z was there!
Cue the tears. Let me get out my tiny violin.
As much as I complain and poke fun, my wife certainly deserved this. She works hard for the money and takes great care of our little family. Neither of us get to go out a lot these days, and we don’t get to see old friends often since we moved to Texas. She needs time to recharge the batteries as much as anybody.
So, my wife got to go to SXSW and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. Actually, I didn’t get a t-shirt, but she did get me some swag. I got a guitar keychain and a guitar-shaped coozy. She said if I somehow get to go next year, to fit in I should grow out my beard and wear some skinny jeans. The worst part of it all was how her clothes smelled, and thus how my whole closet ended up smelling like Sixth Street. The next morning Piper threw a fit, not wanting mom to go upstairs and take a shower. All I could think was, “Please kid, let mom shower … and let dad do the laundry.”
Alas, a stay-at-home dadmom’s work is never done.
jeffsilvey.com 
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