Category: Around Austin

Looking back at another SXSW

April 10, 2016 / Mike Fitch

SXSW has cleared out and Austin is back to our normal/weird self. Seeing the empty streets the Sunday afterward reminded me of an episode of Seinfeld where George gains access into a club of beautiful people – only to find it has vanished with barely a trace when he tries to go back.

The essence of SXSW was summed up for me amid cocktail conversations at one of the convergence parties with both filmmakers and entrepreneurs from all spans of the globe – including Istanbul, Toronto, Tokyo, and of course across the U.S. I couldn’t pull away from work to see as much of the Interactive festival as I would have liked, but a keynote by Dr. Brene Brown stood out as a highlight. As has become tradition for me as a bit of digital scrapbooking – here is a rundown of the music I saw – as best as my memory over a haze of four days can recall.

Wednesday

POP ETC

Coast Modern

Theo & The Get Down Stay Down

Thursday

Purple

Sunflower Bean

Hinds

Grace Mitchell

Ra Ra Riot

Friday

Spin Day Party

Beach Slang
White Lung
Bleached
BAIO
Vince Staples
Deftones

Youtube @ Copper Tank

Muna
Lewis Del Mar

Elliot Summer

Small Black

X Ambassadors

Saturday

Honne

The Heavy

X Ambassadors

A Perfectly Ordinary Texas Sunset

December 27, 2014 / Mike Fitch

I missed a beautiful sunset last week. I didn’t miss it exactly, but it was over my shoulder and behind me while I was driving home. Short of pulling off the road or crashing my car – I settled for stealing a few glances where I could get them. The next evening provided similar weather conditions and I was hoping for an equally spectacular vista. This time I’d take to a hill by my house, camera in hand, and wait for just the right moment. I took a few pictures and kept one that I thought provided the universe at least an adequate representation. After all, the job of a photographer at sunset is mostly just not to F*** it up.

I went home and reviewed my handy work – overall satisfied with the output. Good, but not great. It wasn’t until I went out to Instagram to compare my efforts that I realized I took exactly the same picture as dozens of others. I’d tried to be clever and frame the picture with trees in the foreground to give it depth. Well that and I couldn’t get the trees out of the shot without standing in the middle of a busy street. The thought of dying for one’s craft most certainly doesn’t apply here. The result is a bit of a cliche picture, but it’s a start. I guess I’ll just have to watch a few hundred more sunsets and keep trying…

And the Band Played On

November 23, 2014 / Mike Fitch

When I drove by this afternoon, there was a line out the door at Players. At some point later tonight, they will serve their last burger, blend the last shake, and turn out the lights on 30 years as a fixture of the UT community. For me, I had one last bacon cheeseburger combo a few days ago. Change and Austin are synonymous these days, but sometimes a place goes and you feel it more personally. Players is was one of those places for me; as was the recent demolished original Ginger Man building on 4th St.

The very first meal I ate after arriving at UT was at Conan’s (on the site of the current Kerby Lane) and I’ll remember that forever. My first visit to Players is not similarly etched in memory, but it was a touchstone for me through out my time as a UT student. The burgers are fine, but it was never really about the food. It was….comfortable. A feeling not to be underrated when you are trying to find your place among 50,000 fellow students.

By and large, I’ve enjoyed watching Austin grow into what it is today. Old makes way for new. Throngs of people who were never patrons of a place suddenly become long lost friends when word comes of the next closure. The common refrain goes something like: “Well, I never really ATE at _________ (Las Manitas, Paggi House, etc), but it was a tradition!” While I appreciate nostalgia, the rich mixture of culture and diversity continuing to flourish in Austin requires a certain amount of perpetual motion.

As Austin continues to evolve, we’ll find new things to love. The restaurant scene today is unrecognizable (in the best of ways) compared to a few years ago. Paul Qui could have hung a shingle anywhere and he decided to stay in Austin. We are better for having him. But as we turn into a full fledged Big City – here’s hoping we can hang on to a few of those comfortable places.