U.S. Tour '13: Entr'acte

I finally made it to Austin, and look who I bumped into at the airport. We hadn't seen each other in something like 30 years and he still remembered me.

photo by the lovely and talented Patricia Collins

Then I checked into my hotel, and a couple of days later emptied a coffee-cup into my computer. This was because the hotel's wi-fi had fried my e-mail program and I was trying to fix it. Yes, it was a stupid thing to do. But it happened and I had to take the laptop down to the Apple Store, which took just under a week to fix it.

I'll detail this whole thing a bit more, but I've only had the machine back for about 24 hours, and have a lot of stuff yet to do. Tomorrow I'm leaving for a couple of days in Louisiana, and I'm taking the camera. I have some good food news about Austin (no pix: I'm getting a little self-conscious about shooting food pix in public), and I'm sure I'll have some from Louisiana. Kind of impossible that I won't.

On the music front, please be on the lookout for these two guys:

That's Marquise Jones on the left, and Julian Agacannoo on the right, dunno the percussionist's name, but I owe them $5 for making joyous avant-garde jazz in the streets, probably the most creative music I heard in all of SXSW Music. I talked to them briefly, and Marquise explained that the plastic tube gave each of them access to overtones they wouldn't normally have been able to blow. It was like the World Saxophone Quartet cut in half, or some of the loft jazz from the '70s, played by young guys with skill and enthusiasm. I only had some $20 bills, and I was only able to listen for a few minutes, so I owe 'em. Power to those who respect and build on the tradition, and may they thrive and prosper.

Back soon with a much larger post.