Sunday, I woke up not wanting to do anything. Laying around the whole day in bed sounded like a great plan to me. Roger and I had talked about finding time to make it down to the Handlery Hotel (yes, in Hotel Circle) to watch Lady Dottie & the Diamonds perform poolside. Sunday seemed like the perfect opportunity to do this, if I could just make it out of bed.

Once out of bed, around 11:30 a.m. or so, we ate a bit of lunch before heading down. We made it there around 12:30 p.m. just in time to get the last lounge chairs available. I believe that having the lounge chairs was key in the lounging part of my day. It was sort of mellow at that time. The band had not started playing, athough the scheduled time to start was posted as 12 noon. In fact Nate was the only one there, with his gear set up and ready to go.

By the time the rest of the band rolled in and set up to start playing, it was about 1:15 p.m. Nobody seemed to care. I know I didn’t. I was just happy soaking up the sun with the rest of the scensters arriving.

The day was pretty much like that. The size of the pool area is much bigger than that of the Lafayette. There is bar with wait staff that come to you for orders (much less often then you want them to) and very limited choices of food. I estimate that there was about 150 people there by the time that we had left including hotel patrons (though few), scensters with and without kids, and some Casbah staff including Tim Mays. We left around 4:15 p.m. as they were starting their third set.

At one point this 13 year old kid, Miles, took over drumming for Nucci for half of a set. He was incredible. If you didn’t know any better, you may have thought that he was a regular part of the band. Meanwhile, Nucci got a break from drumming to drink. Perfect.

In the end, I managed to leave with a toasted stomach but awake enough to head out to the Summer Pops that evening.

Thursday night I headed down to Lestat’s after derby practice to catch The Assumptions last few songs before Roger’s band, Listening to Rocks hit the stage. This was The Assumptions first live performance as they were created to fulfill Layne Sterling’s need to create. The record is complete waiting on the artwork layout for completion. The band includes Layne, her daughter (Sara), Jon Kanis, Mike Keneally and Brian “Nucci” Cantrell. Nucci ended leaving halfway through the set for another gig, presumably the standard Wednesday night Lady Dottie gig at Henry’s Pub downtown.

Layne’s voice was beautiful as the band’s rhythmic sounds put your mind and soul at ease. Sara’s vocals complemented Layne’s perfectly. You could definitely see the relation. I wish I had made it there earlier, since I know they pretty much have one more performance left… their CD release.

It is weird for me to review Listening to Rocks since I am married to the lead guitarist. I don’t know if that makes me more biased or hypercritical. Either way, I will try to make this brief. The band started as a one-off band for Roger to perform our one year wedding anniversary at the Casbah. The band includes: Roger, Jon Kanis, Dave Rizzuto (from Roger’s work), and Brad Smith (from Blasphemous Guitars). All of the guys in the band were having a great time, so they decided to keep it going. This was the third performance with at least one more on the books (Aug 23 at Jon Kanis’ Birthday party).

Lestat’s is known for great quality sound and this show was no exception. This was the best quality sounding performance for the band to date. It was great to hear how the band should sound. However when the quality is that good when mistakes are made it is more obvious to everyone. Anyhow, it is good for them to get a good quality recording (Lestat’s actually records of the board and sells it back to the artists for $20) so they can use it to improve.

I am glad to see that each of them are having fun with it.

I am finally getting around to updating… Last Wednesday, June 25 Roger and I headed down to House of Blues for Ingrid Michaelson. Our plan was to meet up with friends for dinner then head in for the show. We ended up eating at the House of Blues restaurant for some decent Southern semi-Cajun food. After some good conversations over gumbo, we threw down some cash to pay for the meal (since the wait staff seemed to be taking forever) and headed outside for will call.

Now, Roger and I have always had problems with HOB… and this time was no exception. When we first arrived, the will call list was not even available (yet doors were open) so we went to go eat. When we returned, there was a short line for will call and a line around the block for security. Only one guy was checking bags, while another guy was making sure no one blocked the entrance to the 7-11 next door. My thought… if you had more than one person checking bags, you wouldn’t be blocking the 7-11.

Anyhow, after a half hour in line missing most of Greg Laswell‘s set… we found out that we didn’t need to stand in line since we had dinner at the HOB restaurant. What a waste of time. Already irritated, we headed in to a pretty crowded HOB. The room seemed off. The crowd was loud, even with an acoustic set. Lame people.

Roger and I had the privilege of seeing Ingrid Michaelson before at a small venue at SXSW. Unfortunately, the circumstances were off for that show too. The venue was a tent in a park, with 3 other tents with bands playing at them. The tent directly behind the stage that Ingrid was playing on was the British Indie Rock Fest. She was having trouble keeping time… but her voice was beautiful and I knew I wanted to see her again.

The show itself was good… the crowd, however, was not. The best thing about both Greg and Ingrid is that they connect with people. Even when there is 400 people in the room, you feel like you know her or feel like you could be her best friend. Many artists, famous and not so famous are disconnected with their audience to the point they make you feel small or that they are so much better than you. I love seeing bands and artists that make you feel like they are letting you into their life through music and stories.

At the end of the night, I felt satisfied. Though I still feel like I need to see her again in a proper setting… maybe the rooftop bar at the Hilton Garden Inn at SXSW?? Who knows.