Mama said today that there are groups of two and three, sometimes more, musicians playing along the streets, especially on Congress Avenue where all the far-out shops are, even for kitties and doggies (!), and that these music people will be fiddling and strumming and singing and drumming from now until the end of next week-end when Austin City Limits is over.
As if that ever happens.
The music scene in Austin, mama says, is so cool that when she asked in a shop if there was a law that business owners HAD to play really cool playlists in their shops and service areas, the lady said, “Absolutely! We wouldn’t think of playing Muzak or canned music chosen by someone else.”
Mama says that in the bottom of an office building where there is a little sandwich place and she and papa grabbed a bite before a meeting, they heard Credence Clearwater, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, Van Morrison and…appropriately, The Mamas and the Papas, haha!
“All the leave are brown…”la, la, la, la, la, “and the sky is grey”…la, la, la. Well, of course, it’s like that for me, forgotten here at this other place, but what the heck. I want them to enjoy themselves (lots of luck–fifteen gazillion appointments per day), but it’s a lot easier to go through a heavy schedule with music like that playing as your inspiration.
Suzanne Vega is performing next week. All sorts of country and western musicians. Music is in everyone’s life in Austin and you can have anything you want. I sort of like lyrics like “Hey, diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle” and things like that. But then again, to be the beloved Tuxedo kitty of Cat Stevens wouldn’t be so bad, haha.
Just kidding, mama, you know I’m faithful. I’m doing some vocal exercises on my own to practice up so that when you come back (if EVER!), I’ll do a little caterwauling of my own right here in the privacy of my own home!
Just an observation on my part: those musicians and singers mentioned above are from…when? A few decades ago, right? And most of the shops are playing THEM, right? So who is new on the scene? Who is going to stick in our hearts and minds NOW?
It will be interesting to see what mama observes about the new people playing in Rilker Park (see the link above). All I know is that mama is not as happy about crowds and loud music as she used to be when…well…younger, but that’s okay. Because of the systems they have now, you can probably hear all you want by just passing by the park in a car and stopping for a few minutes. Mama thinks that half the adolescent world is going deaf or deaf already from abusing their cochleae with too-loud music in exercise classes and headphones and rock concerts, but what can you do?
I’m covering my little ears from now on when someone puts on heavy metal, that’s for sure!!!
TOO LOUD!!! Hit the volume button, PLEASE!
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