Go Away Rain, Or: Nothing New Under The Sun

I am pretty sure it's been raining since the last time I posted. I'm not here to cry about it, but rather to use this fact as an excuse for not posting in more than a week. It's not that nothing's been happening, quite the opposite. It's just that if I told you about it, I'd have to kill you. Secret agent stuff, I'm sure you understand.

So instead, I am going to post some pictures of old stuff that never made it up here before. Yes, this is one of those mid-season episodes that starts off with everyone trapped in a cabin in a blizzard with no electricity, and since they have nothing else to do they tell stories about all the crazy stuff they did over the last year. You know, the awful ones with about four minutes of new footage and 22 minutes of rehashed crap from previous episodes. Probably aired during a writer's strike. Sorry about that. At least the pictures are new.

I put in my new transom a couple weeks ago. Here's a cool nighttime shot of my mostly-finished doorway.

I never posted about Mardi Gras this February. (Is it really May already?) I don't have time to tell the whole story right now.. but here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend. Lots more on flickr.

Mom's Ball




... you win.




Frenchman Street




Wandering around Uptown looking for stuff to use on my costume




Where we parked in the Marigny...




I just liked this




Really reaching back into the archives, I never posted about my trip to Austin last fall for the 2008 Austin City Limits festival. It was my first time to this particular festival, and I was fortunate to have a friend who had just moved into a new place about a mile from Zilker Park. ACL isn't a whole lot different on the surface than other big music festivals like Jazz Fest, but the lineup was great, and the organization was top-notch. It was hot and dusty, but plenty of free drinking water was available. Bathroom and beverage lines were never too bad and even though it was a capacity crowd on Saturday, it didn't seem oppressively crowded. These sorts of festivals have their pros and cons - while it's probably not the best way to see your favorite band, it's a chance to get exposed to dozens of performers and probably discover something new. Also, the lesser-known, or local bands often perform early in the day, when crowds are light. Until late in the afternoon when the bigger-name acts start playing, it's easy to get right up to the front at many of the stages and get a great view of the performances.

Here are some pictures, lots more here.

I think this is Sharon Jones...




Light crowds early... I especially liked the "no chairs" policy which prevents people from creating wagon-circles in the middle of prime real estate.




Patty Griffin




Just something about this one...




Yeah, it got crowded later..




Finally, when are we going to get some of this action around here? My house as at the end of that rainbow, by the way. I am not kidding, anyone who recognizes where this picture was taken and knows where I live can confirm that. But in case you were thinking of looking for the pot of gold, just FYI, this is Columbia Heights. I already found it, but then got robbed about 30 minutes later. So don't bother.