The Head and The Heart

The week before SxSW 2011, Clayton and I visited The Opolis in Norman to catch a new band on their way to Austin. Their first album was about to be released or had just been release and he’d heard some great buzz about them. And the tickets were cheap. And we weren’t doing anything that night anyway.

The band was The Head and The Heart and they were phenomenal. I don’t mean they were good or fun or cute or Not Boring. I mean they were a rare phenomenon in our music seeking experience. The songs were beautiful and interesting. Pop-py, folky, catchy. They were passionate give-it-your-all performers. If you could only see the stage you’d think you were seeing them play for 5,000 people.

I looked around that night and couldn’t believe I was watching them with about 24 other people.

We downloaded the music and synced to our phones. Over the next couple of weeks I synced it to my heart. I hate being trite, but that’s my truth. I fell in love with an album not much longer after I had fallen in love with a boy. I had shared that experience with him, too, which made it all the more special.

We missed The Head and The Heart at SxSW but were thrilled to discover they’d be playing the Telluride Bluegrass Festival a couple of months later as we made our summer vacation plans. They played early in the week, early in the day which is code for: no one knows who they are. They were booked for a Nightgrass show. In fact, they were booked for the only Nightgrass show that wasn’t yet sold out. Before their set finished, Clayton scooted over to the box office before we missed our chance.

That Nightgrass show a couple of weeks later was a musical luxury that I rarely experience. It was held in a high school auditorium and maaaaybe held 300 people and they were all there, voraciously, at midnight, to see The Head and The Heart. We all knew the words to every song. Clayton and I, ever the indie dorks, rushed the stage and were treated to a night of joy.

Imagine the thrill of learning that The Head and The Heart would be playing Austin City Limits Music Festival. We would now be seeing them FOUR times this year!

We should have quit while we were ahead.

Sunday we were running late for the festival. We were almost jogging the mile and a half into Zilker Park and missed the first 20 minutes of their 1 hour set. 3,000 people (literally) had beat us to the stage and as we were chatting and weaving our way through the crowd we lost each other. He said something and I responded to him. I turned to say something else to him and he was g o n e.

Author’s note: I started this post (everything before this note) on or around September 30 and promptly abandoned my blog for several months for no apparent reason. Thus is the life of the fledgling blogger.

What I do remember about that performance: I tried to be real, real cool and just enjoy the concert. Enjoy the concert already, Freak! But mostly what I did was listen to these perfect perfect songs and cry behind my sweaty sunglasses because the love of my life wasn’t right there with me to hear all these perfect songs. Neither of us knew why we got separated in the crowd that day other than that stage and its position in the festival makes for difficult maneuvering. I went on living and breathing.

About 2 weeks ago we watched the Austin City Limits performance they recorded the night before the above mentioned show. Guess who gripped her lover’s hand and cried through the viewing? The Head & The Heart was the soundtrack to one of best years of my life and the very best year of my heart. Worth every embarrassing tear.

Austin City Limits Music Festival

You didn't get to Heaven but you made it close

We arrived for this Life List item on Thursday and have been putting in 16 hour days ever since. I’ve overloaded my iPhone’s battery for two days in a row attempting to tweet, Instagram and FB all my experiences and thoughts. Austin City Limits Music Festival is an overwhelming experience, as most music festivals probably are. 70,000 people a day, about 7 stages rotating from 11 am to 10 pm, mostly half simultaneously at any given moment. I’ve never seen what 70,000 people look like and I’m not convinced I ever want to again… There. Are. People. Everywhere. But I’m glad I’m here.

I’ve discovered some excellent music and gotten to hear some old favorites live and in person.

Highlights from Friday were:

Brandi Carlile! #aclcase @CaseMate Ray.

 

 

 

 

 

(Brandi Carlile and Ray LaMontagne)

And after my phone died: The Cave Singers, Santigold, Bright Eyes and Coldplay.

Highlights from Saturday will have to wait. Sleep becons.

Jam Night #1

I have this friend. His name is Jacob.

IMG_3077

He is one of my best friends. Through the years we’ve discovered that each other is awesome in a unique but very complimentary sort of way and it’s been lovely. The other day I got a Facebook invite that simply told us recipients, “Bring your instruments. Let’s have some beverages and play some music.” A few days later his wall post asked, “Can anyone play the harmonica?” Then shortly after he updated the event wall with, “We have a confirmed cellist.”

This was getting exciting for a Friday night in my world.

Young Jacob (his very unnickname from me) was the only soul I knew at the jam. But I packed up my horribly out of tune guitar and my camera. There were several hiccups in my planning. The largest was I hadn’t played my guitar in a year. Also, my flash’s batteries were dead, dead, dead.

Oh well. I remind you again, The Video.

I met some interesting people.

IMG_3074 IMG_3079

I met some interesting dogs.

IMG_3070 IMG_3081

Indeed there was a cellist. And a singer/songwriter/science teacher. And many other musicians, wannabe musicians and just people who came for a good time. Beers were drank, cajons were thumped and songs were sang. Dreams came true. It was beautiful.

IMG_3082

IMG_3087

IMG_3099
I totally meant for this pic to look like that. Way, way on purpose.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...