September 21, 2004

• TOPIC: FEELING RE-BORN AFTER AUSTIN

  
  

  It’s been a few days since I’ve posted.  Just got back into St. Louis this morning, after 17 hours on a bus from Austin.  I’m finding the long bus rides to be wonderful opportunities to catch up on reading, writing, and just letting my mind wander and think about life a bit.

  
  

  So…Austin City Limits was absoulutely fuckin’ amazing.  For the third day, Sunday, we got to the gates as they opened at 11am.  The show was at Zilker Park, a huge park w/ about 8 stages spread about.  As the gates opened, my friends and I began running, blanket in hand, to the main stage where Jack Johnson, the Roots, and Ben Harper would be performing.  The stage speakers began playing the Super Man theme song, and when we realized we were practically the only ones running, we slowed down and just started running in circles, getting dizzy w/ excitement.

  
  

  Our reward for arriving early was that we were right up as close as we could get to the stage.  By the time Ben Harper played, at 8:30pm, there were possibly 70,000+ behind us.  It was something to see, especially as everyone put their lighters in the air as Harper song about our world of war.

  
  

  Just as exciting as seeing Harper play, was seeing the person who introduced him.  An native of Austin, and a good friend of Harper’s, this person came out and told a story of how the two of them went cliff diving the day before, to kind of shake up their soul a bit, a cheat death.

  
  

  The person, was none other than Lance Armstrong.  The man who has cheated death himself, dying of cancer, and going on to win 6 consecutive Tour de France’s, the most grueling bycicle race out there.  I was going nuts, screaming, nearly in tears from excitement. 

  
  

  I rediscoverd a passion for music, like I never had before.  The Roots show was like having Red Bull poured into your vains, pure energy for one hours.  Jack Johnson, the Hawaiin surfer, played his usual chill, happy songs, while we were all sweating in 90 degree heat.  The night before, I saw Trey Anastasio from Phish, lying on the lawn, I awoke from his music and felt as though I had just been given a massage of both body and soul.  So relaxing.  A new band i heared was the Jon Butler Trio, from Australia.  The guy plays a mean slide guitar, and has extra long fingernails on his right hand to play his 12-string.  In between songs he would file his nails.  The basist would get up on the speaker to watch and chear on the drummer as he’d solo.  You could tell they loved what they were doing.

  
  

  And…girls in Austin are hot!!! Maybe it was the fact they were all in bikini tops.  Maybe it was the sexy straw cowboy hats many were wearing…with their hair in pigtails.  I manged to eye-down the most beautiful girl in the world, who waved me over to chat.  I never saw her again, but for the rest of the weekend I felt as though I had lost the woman of my dreams. 

  
  

  I also was the only American in my group of 12 friends from camp.  I kinda like having so many int’l friends.  On the bus, they’d be singing Aussie chears, or we’d sing jewish songs that we learned at our camp.  Waiting on line for the buses, we’d see who could get the most high fives from strangers.  Aftre one show ended, I did an 5min. air guitar solo in front of one of the stages, which actually brought on a small crowd to chear me on.

  
  

  I return to St. Louis w/ these amazing memories, and w/ little worries on my mind, although i have much to do still, and I have officially moved into super budget mode.  That means bologna sandwhiches and such.  Tonight, I’m camping out w/ my roommate to buy Cardinals playoff tix for a broker.  That should net me a much needed $150!

  
  

  Well…i’ll leave the update at that.  This is Dan, the South African traveling, book writing, camp working, Outwrad Bound loving, college improving, US wandering, couch sleeping, Lilienthal, signing off.

  
  

  And…if you haven’t yet bought a copy of my book, “College Daze,” click here and buy a copy.  Proceeds go to my bologna sandwhich fund.

  • 11:02 am
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