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Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Today we're at the Magnolia Café on South Congress, the Iron Cactus on Pecan, and the Cactus Café at UT for a show that night.
This morning we learn that the young woman on the front desk at our hotel is called "Precious." We don't know if that's her real name or not, we've never met a "Precious" before (other than in "Lord of the Rings"). It seems a real "southern" kind of name.
The plan is to meet Alison at lunch time for a feed at the Magnolia Café on South Congress (pictured above). But first we're out in the sun to enjoy the morning and bike some more of trail. This time to the east end of Town Lake. It is much quieter here and we find an interesting house for sale. We had looked at property before in Austin and this one might be possible. It's one of about three and each are the same architecture. They look out onto Edward Rendon Park, a large green space on the north side of the lake, and a small cove on Town Lake. They're modern, narrow, with a flat roof and lots of glass to exploit the views. They are three stories tall where the first story is open for the garage, with the front and back sections separated by an open air stairwell. Houses in the neighborhood tend to be more modest much older single story structures.
East Austin is defined by the IH-35. The area was colored (i.e., segregated) and working class but is now transitional. Artists and musicians live here because it's cheaper, but it's still very close to downtown and we hear there's a developing club scene. If any property close to downtown is affordable this will be where it's found.
Back at our apartment Kate looks for a MLS realty listing on the internet but can't find the house we've seen. Reg calls the agent who is listed on the "For Sale" sign but it's an answering machine. Kate reads that realty in Austin is still very hot. There is no recession here and we can expect it to be expensive, even it it's East Austin. It's surely out of our price range.
We start some laundry at our hotel (that's another reason to like the long stay facilities). Kate feels that Reg is getting to look like a street person. Fortunately our plan is to go to a fundraiser for the homeless at the Cactus Café tonight — he'll fit right in.
We pick up Alison at the Driskill at 12:30 and take a drive along Barton Springs Road. It's a sunny day, cool but not so windy. The open air patios are in use in the clubs along the way and we decide that it would be a good idea to go there for lunch on a warmer day. The pool at Zilker Park (the "sacred" Waters of Barton springs) is not so busy today. Perhaps it's only 65° F or so — warm enough to enjoy some sun bathing but not for swimming.
We deal with the laundry and we're at the Magnolia by 1:30 or so for a lunch. And it's a big lunch as usual. Alison's cornmeal pancakes on the side are really a meal in themselves and only $0.95. Reg has some "Love Migas" ("migas" is a Spanish word, it's the corn chip crumbs and bits from the bottom of the bag) with scrambled eggs. Kate has a veggie stir fry with gulf shrimp. The restaurant isn't busy at this time of day, it's often busy at lunch time. Perhaps having a late lunch has advantages.
After lunch we do some shopping at "Prima Dora", the gift store next door — the girls are after souvenirs and presents for friends back home. The Magnolia Café, which is open 24 hours, has a neon sign saying "Sorry, we're open!" the gift store next door has another sign saying "Sorry, we're open too!".
We do some more shopping at nearby shops on South Congress and Kate holds up pretty well but is failing. She is still recovering from her nasty ankle sprain back in October when we were in the Algarve. There's some more shopping at 6th and Lamar. Alison is keen on the place called "Anthropologia" which is mostly clothing, but also dishes and other stuff. Reg is keen to have his first hit at Waterloo Records which is just across the street.
After lunch and this shopping spree we drop off Alison at the hotel so she can get prepped for the evening. We arrange to meet at the Iron Cactus rooftop patio, which is just down the street from the Driskill, for happy hour. We are able to park the car for free on Pecan / 6th Street. At the Iron Cactus we have margaritas, chips and salsa while waiting for Alison. When she arrives the girls order "Mexican Martinis" which are basically a double Margarita on ice served in the cocktail shaker with a splash of olive brine. The olive brine is the "martini" part. They are quite yummy and a heck of a deal.
We have some "Table Side" guacamole made fresh right at our table by the waitress. You get to pick what you want to have in the guacamole and the girls asked that she hold those onions. The version of guacamole she makes for us consists of two avocados, half an orange, half a lime, salt and pepper, cilantro, and a deveined jalapeno all mushed up in a stone bowl using a couple of forks. The orange is a novelty we've not seen before. We polished that off and are still hungry for more. Kate wants more guacamole but we persuade her to try the quesadilla. Quesadilla are basically grilled cheese sandwiches made with tortillas. Again, it's very yummy. And another heck of a deal.
It's cool on the rooftop patio and they have some propane heaters that are lit as the sun goes down. You can see other rooftop bars. Across the way on 6th Street there's a 20-ft projection TV, another patio has a stage with a big sound system. Alison is interested in these bars which are just seedy enough without being too seedy. The Iron Cactus, by contrast, is a white table cloth posh restaurant. Our rooftop happy hour snacks here count as our dinner tonight. Next on our schedule is the event at the Cactus Café.
At the Cactus Café homeless benefit that night the performers are David Gaza on piano and more, Sarah Hickman with her daughter Lily, Abra Moore, and Kat Edmondson on drums and percussion. We have CDs by Sarah Hickman and another of Abra Moore from previous Austin trips, but don't know the other performers. We were here at this club only once before and that was back around 1990 to see Sarah Hickman; she is one reason why we've returned for this show. It should be good.
Reg drops the girls on Guadalupe, on "The Drag", near where he recalls the café is located. He ends up parking up the street and returns to find them in the queue to the café. We're early at 6:45, the doors open at 7:30, and the show was scheduled at 8:00. Being numbers three to five in the queue, we are pretty much guaranteed good seats so Reg is sent out to find some drinks. He returns without much luck — it's the University of Texas campus and this might be the only bar around. Alison is concerned that the people aren't queuing up "properly" and worries we will "lose our place". She's more than a little weird about this and sets herself up as the head enforcer of the queue. This is odd given the crowd of well behaved middle-aged folkies in line who don't need, and probably resent, the enforcing. But we manage the wait and are able to get very good seats.
David Gaza seems to be the organizer of this event. He sings, plays piano, and guitar. What makes this weird: it would seem he's had a relationship with both Sarah Hickman, whose husband is there filming, and also with Abra Moore. He dedicated a couple of love songs to each of them! Abra Moore comes on stage during Dave's singing. She's very thin, long hair, very expressive and comes off as a "Billie Holiday" jazz type combined with the "Morticia Addams" goth look. Kate and Alison are quite impressed by her; Reg is not a jazz fan. Alison met her in the washroom and gushed that she loved her singing. Reg felt that she just creeped him out with the Addams Family vibe.
Sarah Hickman is 20 years older than when we last saw her but still young and singing with the same vigor. This time she has her 13-year-old daughter Lily to accompany and harmonize. Lily closes the set singing the song "Simply" which we recognize as one of her mom's from 20 years ago. It really brings the house down. "Oh my god!!" the audience gasps.
Alison had to leave as the dynamics were too weird between the various parties on stage. David Gaza had also sung "Simply" earlier as a love song dedicated to Sarah! When he sang she held her daughter Lily's hand and rolled her eyes. Sarah sang a love song to her husband (he was their filming) with a lengthy introduction which David kept interrupting. In retrospect it was pretty weird. Alison was probably right, but it wasn't creeping out Kate and Reg as much.
We cut out at the first break. We might have stayed longer but Alison needed to get away from the odd dynamics.
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