October 11, 2010

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Today is National Coming Out Day, which was created to encourage those still in the closet to come out and live a free life. It's still depressing that it's 2010 and we've got candidates for Governor saying that he doesn't want people "brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option". And this only days after 9 men were arrested for assaulting 3 men they suspected as being gay and the recent string of gay suicides.

I'm still confident that eventually LBGT's will achieve equality, and the opinion polls continue to slide further and further towards love and respect. It's just a matter of time.

As I expected, ACL Fest took up pretty much my entire weekend which is why there weren't any updates. I ended up seeing a lot of great bands and having a lot of fun with friends, so it was quite the successful weekend. The highlight of the festival was a tie between Gogol Bordello and Matt and Kim. Both brought a ton of energy to the stage, and have a lot of really fun songs.

I really liked Matt and Kim's set because they interacted with the audience between the songs. If I just wanted to hear a band crank out songs one after another, I'd listen to the CD. I like knowing what some song is about, or what they think about Austin Tex-Mex.

The grass also held up really well this year. They re-sodded it 2 years ago, but last year it rained so much that it turned into one giant muddy pit. This year was gorgeous all 3 days, and there was hardly any dust in the air at all. Normally by the 3rd day everyone is coughing up black snot because of all the dust.

I didn't get up as close to the stages this year though as I did in years past. Partly because I wanted to see so many bands that I didn't get there early enough to get up front, but also partly because I just didn't feel like squeezing my way up there. I guess another mark of getting older. But not too old... I still was almost always close enough where I had to stand, so I wasn't one of the chair people in the back!

I also got to see Miike Snow (yes, two i's) up close and personal at an after party show Friday night downtown, which was cool. That was ridiculously packed though, I haven't been that squished at a concert in years. But of course That Guy (tm) (you know that guy, there's always a "that guy") just had to try shove his way through, until eventually he realizes that no, there actually is no more room.

I also tried Kirby Lane's sausage pancake on a stick. It was pretty good, but about 3 bites in I realized there was no way I could finish it. It was just too rich tasting. I do love though that all the food vendors at ACL are local businesses, and the Tiffwhich was amazing! It's two warm chocolate chip cookies with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream in the middle. I have no idea how bad it is for me, but I don't really care.



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