We have video clips of the great party Rachael and John threw in Austin a week or so ago at the SXSW Music Festival. You can see a party montage clip, a sample clip from each of the bands and a full length song clip from The Cringe. Check it out here:
At the suggestion of one of our site visitors who posted a reply to our blog from Friday, I tried Las Manitas restaurant for breakfast before leaving town on Sunday. Apparently they are closing soon-sounds like a typical case of rents going up like we see all the time in NYC. It’s too bad-this place rocks! I had Huevos Rancheros and my friend had Chorizo and Eggs. Both dishes were served with refried beans and potatoes plus either corn or flour tortilla. The juices were all hand squeezed and for two full breakfasts with coffee and juice, we didn’t even spend $20. I hope this place opens up nearby because I’m going back there next year! Las Manitas on Congress and Second St.
Rachael and buddy Adam Perry Lang cooked up some fine grub for the SXSW party she held at the Beauty Bar. Wait till I tell you about the bands and surprise guest, but for now, the food! All recipes will appear in an upcoming issue of Rach’s magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray.
There were Seven Layer SXSW Sliders, Vegetarian Mac and Cheese, Baby Back Ribs, Barbecued Chicken served topped with cornbread. It was all so good and all gone by the end of the day!
Rose’s Mojitos Cocktail Mix was our party sponsor and they were kind enough to set up a special mojito bar which featured their 3 mix flavors-traditional, mango and passionfruit (my fave). Here you can see one of the sweet staff members of the Beauty Bar getting ready to pass the drinks around and a photo of the bar:
Keep checking out our page for more photos and soon video from the event!
As I headed out of my hotel this morning for an early jog, I was thrilled to find that there is this beautiful running path that runs all along Lake Austin. As I crossed over the bridge from 1st street to head down to the path on the other side of the lake, imagine my surprise when I saw this:
Apparently, if you go to this bridge at dusk, there are tons of bats flying around. I didn’t see any doing any day time hanging around, but I am intrigued enough to try to go back. I guess this would be like whale watching somewhere else, as you can take a river boat tour and see the bats from that angle. Signs are posted that caution you-don’t touch the bats if you find one resting on the ground. Don’t worry, I won’t!
As I continued down the path, I ran into this statue of the late and great Stevie Ray Vaughn:
A fine tribute to one of the world’s greatest musicians who left us way too early in his life due to a plane crash many years ago.
I headed back to my hotel and found that even at an early hour, the music scene had already begun. Here was a street band that found a corner and started playing for fun:
What a city!
When I arrived by cab to Austin on Friday, it looked like the film festival was just ending and the music festival was just beginning. Streets were kinda empty at 5pm and Congress st looked like this:
But then I turned the corner and ran smack into this:
on 6th st. What a scene. As I walked down the street, every little coffee shop, restaurant, bar, Chinese food restaurant, and convenience store had opened its doors and allowed a band to set up on a makeshift, albeit real stage. Every few steps I would hear a different band and the talent is just flowing through the streets.
On Friday night we went to see The Cringe, who rocked the house at the Chuggin Monkey bar. I have never heard them sound so good as they debuted some new material and gave us classics from Tipping Point and Scratch the Surface like my personal favorite, And Then I’m Gone.
Next, we hopped into a cab and went over to Threadgill’s, famous for the Chicken Fried everything and we saw the amazing Bob Schneider and the Scabs. His music is a mix of funk, pop, jazz, rock-I know it sounds crazy to mix all of these patterns of music but he pulls it off going from one song into the next without much of a break for hours. At one point he had a young girl on stage playing violin!
A food note-if you happen to be staying where I am staying, at the Intercontinental, and you need a quick snack, you gotta try this place called Damn Good Tacos. I had a chicken burrito that was truly the best I’ve ever had-grilled, charred chicken filled a homemade burrito shell along with pico sauce, rice, beans and avacados. Delish!
Stay tuned for more from the Austin SXSW music scene!
Stay tuned as we will be reporting to you live from the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Rachael is a long time music lover and this year she’s showing her appreciation by throwing a party at the Beauty Bar in Austin on March 15th, featuring some of the coolest bands at the festival, including The Cringe, her husband, John’s band.
South by Southwest is not just a music festival, it actually has three parts to it-Music and Media, Interactive, and Film. The Music part has been around since 1987 and has grown from 700 people attending in the first year to over 10,000 expected this year. Austin has always been known as having an amazing music scene that is isolated from the rest of the country, so the festival was started as a perfect way to draw attention to the otherwise unknown talent. In keeping up with the times, Interactive and Film were added and the festival was extended in 1997.
Our party is hosted by Rachael Ray and co-sponsored by rachaelray.com, Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine, Watch Entertainment, Listen Records and our friends at Rose’s Mojito Cocktail Mix. Rose’s is going to set up a Mojito Bar at the event so we can sample their three kinds of mojito mixes. That should help keep everyone cool as the party is during the day and it is currently HOT in Texas! Rach is going to cook up some recipes to be served at the event, which you can find in the magazine in a future issue.
There will be five bands playing, including The Cringe, so we will be rocking all day!
We will be updating this blog with more news from the festival.
