Stubb's BBQ in Austin, Last Friday - my log book is way behind

Blind Pilot played the after party.  The headliner of the show was Monsters of Folk.  It seems like a lot of bands get together just to play ACL.  Phish played the main stage at the Austin City Limits (ACL) festival while Monsters of Folk was playing Stubbs.  Monsters of Folk is a band of All stars – much the same way that Blind Pilot is a band of Portland Indie Rock All stars. 

http://monstersoffolk.com

The show was amazing and inspiring.  I’ve always wanted to see Conor Oberst perform.  I really like his art.  His lines just keep coming.  “While my mother waters plants, my father loads his gun, says death will give us back to god just like the setting sun is returned to the lonesome ocean.”

My wife’s cousin Matt traveled From Alaska for ACL.  It was really good to see him, I wish we had been able to hang out more.  

Blind Pilot played the after party on the inside of Stubbs.  The house was packed.

There were folks who waited in the inside of Stubbs through the Monsters of Folk show.  I wound up standing amongst a bunch of people from Portland. During “Get It Out”, a song that has not yet been released, someone asked the name.  The girl standing next to me said the name before I could, get it out.  It turns out she and her husband traveled from Portland for ACL.  We all wound up hanging out with the band after the show.  This was the best show so far. The sound was great the audience was energetic the house was packed.  By the time the set was over and the meet and greet finished closing time had occurred. 

Ian has a super power. Ian has the rare and valuable ability to get cases of beer from bartenders after closing time frequently without parting with any money.  I’ve seen it happen more than once on this tour – and have been a witness to testimony that it has happened before.  Unfortunately he did not choose to apply his powers on this evening and we had no beer on the bus.  He and I shared the analysis that Stubbs was not a venue that would let a case of beer slide out the back door after hours.  The band had a radio interview and performance earlier in the day and they got a ride back to Stubbs on the Gibson promotional bus.  They picked up a case of sweet tea and a bottle of Vodka and the cocktails included but were not limited to the watermelon that Mike had picked up the day before, some ice and this said fifth of vodka.  I may have cut the top off of a water bottle and used it as a glass ala Ricky from Trailer Park Boys … big time. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5SHF40rW3c

The next opportunity I had I outfitted the bus with a reasonable amount of beer.  It tends to help in maintaining order in an environment that can at times resemble a tinderbox – a party tinderbox.

Blind Pilot is managed by Red Light Management they are officially represented by Jason Colton and Stu Smith but it seems like Stu is the dude that handles the nuts and bolts of the Blind Pilot account.  Both of these dudes are in Austin and both either read this blog or get reports of its content from their mutual and/or respective underlings (Hello, sirs.) Stu is joining us from Austin to Tucson which I think is the longest stretch of driving on the tour.  Stu is always smiling, he’s the type of dude that turns a couple of people sitting around having a beer into a lets open up this 5th of vodka and see what happens night of debauchery, without ever really saying or doing anything. Stu claims to have dated his step sister sometime before the middle of high school.  To give this fair treatment it was before their respective sets of parents had split and reassigned themselves with one of the results being Stu's dad and Stu's ex-girlfriend's mom. - it was a small town. Stu is smart, lucky, confident and brave.

Conor Oberst is one of Israels Idols.  Stu knows Conor Oberst and introduced the two after the Monsters of Folk show.  I was very excited for Israel.

Red light bestows, what appears to me to be, personal and special attention on Blind Pilot. In all fairness I have not seen their treatment of any other of their artists – and their list of artists is impressive.  I choose to interpret this “special treatment” as a sign of their faith in the inevitable growth of the band.  Their sudden rise from obscurity with the release of “Three Rounds and a Sound”, as well as the quality of their future work seems to instill confidence and respect in management.  It seems like the management is trying to keep Blind Pilot as a client rather than just tolerating them as another account. I choose to see it as a good sign.