Week 4: Renegade Foxhole Aggie Muster

For those of you just joining us, I am counting down the remaining weeks until my summer vacation from my teaching job by having one "adventure" per week, and documenting said adventure here. 

Week four's adventure took me to the elegant and exclusive Headliner's Club to celebrate Aggie Muster.  Muster is a Texas A&M tradition dating back as far as 1883 whereby Aggies around the world pause and honor fellow Aggies who have left this life over the past year.  Apparently there are Musters taking place at 300 locations world wide, and the official Austin Muster location is the capitol building.  For the past three years my family (immediate plus our extended Austin Aggie family) have attended the Muster at the capitol, but this year we decided to go rogue and have our own private and exclusive 7 person Muster at the Headliner's club (aka the Foxhole).

This is our view from our private room at the Headliner's Club.  Note that you can see the capitol from our foxhole, so, technically, we were "there".

From our cocktail area in the foxhole (did you know foxholes had cocktail seating?  I didn't.  Very New Army.) we enjoyed this view:

This is our host, Andy.  He's the one who suggested we skip the crowds at the capitol and go renegade, and I think I can say we're all grateful for his insight in addition to his hospitality.

No Aggie event is complete without a fair amount of good bull.  Here are Jimmy and Ronnie commencing with the bull.

Then arrives Fred with his own contributions of bull.

Of course there is always lovely wifely accompaniment mitigating the sting of all bull, making everyone look good, and lending credence to the naming of our venue the "fox" hole.

Cocktails and hilarity ensue, and then we move on to dinner.

Our beautifully set table gave us maximum enjoyment of the view as the sun set over downtown Austin.

Thanks to Fred's superb planning, we were able to incorporate some Muster traditions into our celebratory dinner.  I read the invocation.  Dad read Silver Taps.  Ronnie led the Roll Call for the Absent, and we all said a general "here" for all fallen Aggies.  We had a particular moment for Clarice's father and for fellow Bellaire High School grad and Class of '64 Aggie Jerome Levy, a good friend of Ronnie's.  I think Fred had planned to read The Last Corps Trip, but he didn't have a chance to get around to it before the bull started flying again.  Something about a squirrel?  I'm not sure...


All in all, it was a most lovely evening complete with excellent company, delicious food, a phenomenal view, and a thriving Aggie spirit.  It was, I'm quite certain, the best Muster out of all 300+ Muster locations of 2011.

Gig em!

Week 3: East Austin Cool

My adventure for Week 3 took me to the cool and hip east side of Austin.  The purpose of the journey was to absorb and enjoy the coolness and hipness of it all, and just to make the most of a beautiful spring day.

A fabulous day can only be made better by pizza.

East Side Pies is located deep in the heart of east Austin.  Next to Home Slice Pizza (in the equally hip South Congress area) and Italy (the country) I have never had more delicious pizza.  

However, unlike Home Slice and Italy (the country) East Side Pies does not serve beer.  If you want a cold one to go with your pizza you'll have to hit up the Ideal Soul Mart across the street while your pizza's cooking.  Note:  The Ideal Soul Mart is apparently so cool that, in true east side hipster fashion, it has inspired the nomenclature of a local band.

In keeping with the east side hipster Austin indie music theme (I don't know where that came from because I'm pretty sure I was talking about pizza. But oh well; that's the east side for you.), while you're sipping your brown paper bag clad Lone Star and waiting for your pizza to cook, you could take a stroll through the uber cool Trailer Space record shop, where they sell actual records.  Remember those?  Maybe not.  They also sell art and bread mix and condoms.  The owner's name is "Spot".  If that ain't hipster, I don't know what is.

Meanwhile, back at the pizza joint, you can enjoy the alfresco dining area and peruse fliers for local cool upcoming happenings.  I'm not sure what East Side Pies does during extreme weather because there is no indoor seating.  Probably you just get your pizza to go and eat it in your dining room where there are, presumably, no cool fliers of upcoming events to review.  Maybe.

This is what your pizza looks like.  Mmmmmmm.  The crust is super thin making it possible for you (me) to easily eat at least 5 slices.  This trip, though, I modestly limited myself to a slice and a half.

My east Austin cool tour continued on to 11th street.  Below is a shot of the historic Victory Grill which has been "nourishing the soul since 1945".  I guess it just continues the (unexpected) theme of food and music as the Victory Grill definitely and effectively combines both of those things.  Since 1945, apparently.  Although I only passed by it on my way to my destination, I think I'll have to go back and check it out.  Something tells me they have excellent collard greens.

My goal, however, what another type of green.  I found my way into the Longbranch Inn.

The Longbranch Inn's claim to fame, other than being situated in a crazy cool and hip section of east Austin, is that its bar, the actual bar part of the bar, used to be the bar at the legendary Driskill Hotel on Austin's (neither cool nor hip) 6th Street.

I like my greens cold, canned, and served on the back patio.  It was exactly the right spot for observing east Austin's local wildlife in its natural setting...

...and monitoring its nourishment preferences and communication modes.

Week 2: Lonestar Round Up

Week Two's adventure took me out to far east Austin (practically to Houston.  Not really.) to the 10th Annual Lonestar Rod & Kustom Round Up.

As far as I can tell, this is a big national show and party for folks who love classic (pre 1963) cars.  But it goes beyond that.  They like the hot rod/racing aspect of classic cars, and they like to restore and customize them staying mostly true to the original customization styles of the period.  Plus, you have to be able to actually DRIVE your customized classic hot rod into (and sometimes TO) the show.  No cars carted in on trailers, please.

Some of the cars have not been restored, or, possibly, have been restored to look like they have not been restored.

Even the interiors get restoration and customization attention from these autophiles.

And we are not limited to just cars.

This vato-mobile has a chain link license plate frame and steering wheel.

The clientele of this show carries its love of classic times to personal restoration and customization.  There were many dudes and chicks sporting their very best Rock-a-billy styling.  There were cuffed jeans, greased up pompodours, and beehives galore.  If you didn't come decked out in your 50s best, inside there were vendors who would customize your look right there on the spot.

This booth was a real hit.  The ladies were lined up two deep to get their bouffants done.  Also inside were other artists and vendors with wares ranging from t-shirts to custom pinstriping to hot rod themed wall decor to custom interior upholstery.

Outside, in addition to the car showcases, there were food and beverage booths.  Participants could see races and hear live music.  At night the fun changed locations to the hip South Congress section of Austin for more music, revelry, and auto and tall hair ogling.

Overall it was a fascinating and enlightening foray into an entirely new world for me.  I even had a favorite car:

It reminds me of a panther...long, sleek, dark and dangerous.  In my mind I'm appreciating a slight nod to 1930s gangsterism, but for all I know this is some 1960s accountant type suburb-to-town commuter vehicle.

Next up for Week 3:  Not sure.  But I'll keep you posted.