Mikey Goes to Austin, Day 2: The Hold Steady and Bad Tex Mex
Mikey Goes to Austin
Thursday, March 20, 2009
By Mike Spine
Since I left you yesterday afternoon, I saw a free show at Red 7 with Tennessee workhorses Lucero and Twin City via NYC rising stars The Hold Steady.
Lucero is not my favorite band, but I can appreciate their hard work. My only exposure to The Hold Steady thus far was their performance on one of the late night shows, which was underwhelming, but Dan from Solyoni talked me in to going and I’m glad I did. They sound like a blend of Bob Mould and Bruce Springsteen, and I enjoyed their set as much as the rest of the first-pumping crowd. The show was high energy and definitely worth the 10 minutes I stood in line.
At the end of the show my elementary school buddy Ahmed Evens showed up. He lives in Houston now and does deep water diving on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Ahmed bought me dinner and beverages at a pretty awful Tex Mex joint. My cheese and chips were horrid. I thought it would be similar to nachos, but the cheese was some sort of spicy Velveeta in a Styrofoam bowl. (My stool today is representative of the misery of that meal. Four poops in the last four hours.)
Circle Jerks
After wandering around for a while we ended up at Beer Land again on the insider tip of my new Portland buddy Teri. She’d heard that the Circle Jerks were playing a free show under a fake name. Being a giant Repo Man film fan in my younger years, this band has always held a special place in my heard.
Unfortunately, by the time they came on I was too hazy to tell you how their set was. The heat, lack of sleep and food, and drinks had all taken their toll.
Ahmed was kind enough to guide me back to his diving buddy’s condo about a mile out of town where we spent the night.