Magic Christian

So, I'm here...got in yesterday afternoon and managed (I am very proud of this) to reach my hotel on public transport. Yes, I got off one bus at the wrong spot, missed the first connection and dropped my purse, briefly, at the bus stop, but eventually everything turned out okay and I am here. And it cost $1.50 instead of $40 like last year.

The music festival hasn't officially started yet, but there was stuff going on last night, so I went first to the Beauty Bar, where Fanatic Promotion was having a party and later (not much later, it was boring) to the Dog and Duck, where I had a really good time. It was, obviously, St. Patrick's Day, so time for green hats and beer and "kiss me I'm Irish buttons", and the Dog and Duck had a big tent set up for all that. The main difference was taht they had some bands, too, good bands in fact, and one fantastic band...

I saw Right or Happy, the current incarnation of mid-1980s Austin pop band the Reivers, often mentioned in the same breath with Swimming Pool Qs, Let's ACtive and such. It is good to see women my age striking the rock star pose, windmills and all, in PTA-mom dresses...I don't know why but it is.

I saw Magic Christian which is kind of an all-star garage pop band, formed around Cyril Jordan, the guitar player from the Flamin' Groovies, plus Eddie Munoz from the Plimsouls and Clem Burke the from Blondie. A much younger singer Paul Kopf more than keeps up with all these heavyweights...in the sort of spastic, tambourine-and-maraca frenzy, part David Johannson, part John Petkovic from Cobra Verde. Anyway, super fun, go see this band if you like anything along the lines of power pop, garage etc. There are a bunch of downloads here.

I also saw a tiny bit of Ian McLagan and the Bump Band -- the piano player from the Faces and Small Faces -- and it seemed very fine, but I was pretty tired and today will be a long day, so I left kind of early. No disrespect to Mr. McLagan who was putting on a really good set.

More later, including photos, if I can find a camera cable somewhere.