at the same time?
Last night we went to Threadgill's World Headquarters to hear Jimmy LaFave. The outdoor venue is located a couple of blocks south of the river (aka Ladybird Lake). There is a big park bordering the lake on both sides. Just on the south side of the lake, is the Parmer Event Center and the brand spankin' new Long Center for the Performing Arts. The Long Center is so new that this weekend was its gala opening. It is on the site of the old Parmer Center which was partially torn down and some of its more unique features recycled into the design of the new building. The construction was privately funded mostly by some Dellionares and other very wealthy folks . Tickets to the gala started at well over $100. These people put a lot of money into the center and a lot of money into the gala.
Jimmy and his band took the stage just before 10:00. After the first song, he said that he had heard that there were supposed to be some fireworks over the lake at 10:00 and that they might start any time. His plan was for everybody to just turn their chairs around and the band would 'play something patriotic or something' when the time came. They were about four or five songs into their set and John Inmon was on fire. He was into a long smokin' riff when Stephen nudged me and pointed to the sky over the lake. The sky had exploded. Inmon continued and the band was sure that they would be able to sustain the song until the firework finally. After two or three minutes, they gave up. Jimmy made a statement about how long the display was lasting and they stopped playing for a few minutes while we all watched the sky. Then Jimmy talked John into a Hendrixesque version of the Star Spangled Banner which he certainly made his own and just about brought down the house. When he finished, the fireworks were just getting started so the band went into a blues number which started out slow and gradually gained tempo as it went along. Once again, Inmon and the keyboard player were sure that they could time the end of the song with the finally in the sky and we all thought they had. Then about thirty seconds after they finished, we were treated to about and other ninety seconds of fireworks.
I am sure the longest fireworks display any of us had ever witnessed was all in honor of my birthday this week. At any rate, it was one of those magic nights in South Austin.
Soundtrack for this post: Every song I heard last night.
Photo of Jimmy LaFave and his band is from his website and it is not the same configuration of players as last night.
Photo of fireworks from:http://www.atpm.com/11.01/fireworks/
8 comments:
Awesome!!!
I missed it by one night!! I was there Saturday night/Sunday morning.
Sounds grand!!
That is, I missed the Grand opening of the Long Center.
I walked over there from the Hotel Sunday morning and enjoyed mingling with the runners in the rain.
Actually, this was Saturday night. If you has gone outside and looked south around 10:20, you would have seen it. I thought about all those folks at the Paramount for JJW and how they were missing the best show.
Did you stay at the hotel where I work? You can easily tell which one is it from my SXSW post.
sounds like a GREAT time! thanks for sharing it with us:)
At 10:20 we were at Homeslice on SoCo, inside.
No, it looks like we didn't stay were you work. (We were at the Radisson.)
But I'll be back for the State Convention, (If not before).
Wow! Happy Birthday(late) BTW.
a night with inmon soaring, that is not to be missed. did they play any of inmon's songs? he writes wonderfully.
No, it was Jimmy's show and they did not do amy of Inmon's songs. I agree about his writing and I will have to get out to a Gonzo show before long to hear more of him. Maybe they will be playing Kerrville this year. I haven't seen the line up yet.
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