Jason and I journeyed south on I-35 all the way to Texas in our trusty van outfitted with navy blue curtains Jason sewed himself and equipped with a futon mattress atop a wooden frame he crafted for the back! My husband is a Renaissance man!
We were able to visit the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Fest in Austin, TX. I presented a set of songs at what we called the South By Southeast Showcase since it was located at a sweet venue called Space 12 on the East side of the highway. The Netzer Co-op hosted the showcase. They are cool and introduced us to a very cool veg-friendly local restaurant where we enjoyed amazing conversation and delish food!
We also really enjoyed the performance of Hey Marseilles. Jason gave this 7 person band a ride to their next gig in the van! =) Good times.
The next day, we drove down to San Antonio where a pretty incredibly cool family of 6 hosted us for a house concert. All the kids had their own roles. The 3 girls found chalk and drew beautiful welcome messages all along the walkway to the door. They even choreographed bowing motions and rehearsed what they would say to welcome guests! Neighbors, colleagues and friends - many who didn't know each other - were invited to come enjoy music and stories in the living room of their home. We really enjoyed the variety of people in the audience and appreciated the warm reception.
This house concert host was Paul Soupiset a really gifted artist and designer who we admire and also like. Check out his work!
We also met Paul from Beloved Virus, who gifted me a really cool t-shirt with flying birds on it. Many of you know how significant the symbolism of the songbird flying freely is to me. ;-)
In Dallas, we were able to visit, The Bridge, an impressive complex assisting the street-dwelling community of Dallas. Emergency shelter, job assistance, daily lunch served in a clean cafeteria - these were some of the services we witnessed as we toured the facility. I sang for this community for about an hour and was thoroughly delighted by their presence and responsiveness. A tall black man in a white suit coat and a red tie sat to my left, bobbing his head, saying "amen", and playing the air-bass guitar nearly the entire time. Another gentleman totally got his groove on in a space that could've been the dance floor if others decided to join. We saw tired, weary eyes sparkle and the corners of mouths turn up with appreciative smiles. My chest always carries a little apprehension when we go into a new environment like this, but everyone was so respectful and kind. Thanks to our new friend, Jon, for introducing us to this community and providing the opportunity to connect with The Bridge community.
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