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=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: distance on September 14, 2005, 01:58:00 am
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anyone else making the roadtrip?
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air trip... but yeah
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Yup, I'm going...it will be my first time at ACL. Any recommendations (on anything -- music, restaurants, bars, must-see sights, best way to get around, etc.)
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Originally posted by Bags:
Yup, I'm going...it will be my first time at ACL. Any recommendations (on anything -- music, restaurants, bars, must-see sights, best way to get around, etc.)
threadgills for the best chicken fried steak and sides (try to hit the original on north lamar). also, for music, go to waterloo music. as for bars, sixth street is where it's at.
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I've only been once but it's a good idea to check the local clubs for live performances while you are in town. Some of the festival performers play at local clubs while they are in town (but act fast because tickets sell quickly). It's especially helpful when two great groups are performing at the same time during the day.
Enjoy the festival!
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make sure to check out the bat bridge at sundown!!
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Originally posted by Bags:
Yup, I'm going...it will be my first time at ACL. Any recommendations (on anything -- music, restaurants, bars, must-see sights, best way to get around, etc.)
well if you're anywhere around 6th street, there's a billion bars and concert venues and restaurants.
i haven't eaten at a lot of places there (as i've only been once prior to this trip), but we really liked veggie heaven.
went to a show at stubb's last year after friday night @ ACL. i think i'm going to see m83 at emo's this year. not sure if i'm going to anything else yet.
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austin shows (including info for post-acl shows)
http://www.showlistaustin.com/ (http://www.showlistaustin.com/)
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I'm not a big fan of 6th Street, it reminds me of how Georgetown used to be and is very collegiate when school's in session. But if you find yourself in that area Casino El Camino is a great bar [lots of old-school punk rock on the jukebox], and they have the best burgers in town. Sometimes you have to wait about an hour for 'em, but they're huge and damn fine.
Also try Lovejoy's, which is just north of 6th on either San Jacinto or Trinity, I forget which.
The Continental Club on S. Congress is my favorite, if I could only go to one place in Austin that would be it.
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Originally posted by distance:
i think i'm going to see m83 at emo's this year. not sure if i'm going to anything else yet.
good choice ... their black cat gig is still in my top 3 shows of the year
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Originally posted by twangirl:
I'm not a big fan of 6th Street, it reminds me of how Georgetown used to be and is very collegiate when school's in session. But if you find yourself in that area Casino El Camino is a great bar [lots of old-school punk rock on the jukebox], and they have the best burgers in town. Sometimes you have to wait about an hour for 'em, but they're huge and damn fine.
Also try Lovejoy's, which is just north of 6th on either San Jacinto or Trinity, I forget which.
The Continental Club on S. Congress is my favorite, if I could only go to one place in Austin that would be it.
GREAT suggestions -- thanks, twangirl. Overall, the 6th Street scene isn't really what I usually enjoy, but every "crazy bar drag" usually has a gem or two. Though I can't think of a gem on M Street here in town just now....
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Guero's is my favorite restaurant in Austin. Also on S. Congress, close to the Continental Club. Go for the santa fe enchiladas or the shrimp fajitas. You could also get the santa fe enchiladas WITH shrimp, which I think is a terrific win-win solution to that choice I kept having to make. I was just there this week and I'm bummed I'll be missing the festival.
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Also, keep your eye on what might be going on at Beerland. They have some decent shows sometimes.
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better pack a raincoat (sorry about the size):
<img src="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT18/refresh/AL1805W5+gif/151209W_sm.gif" alt=" - " />
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i already added ponchos to my packlist.
basically anytime i go to an outdoor show anymore (coachella was an exception) we bring ponchos after the experience at the scranton (@ montage mountain) roger waters show in 1999.
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Trust me, we're aware. The question is whether the storm will screw up our flights out Monday -- some are flying through Houston. It really sucks -- either 104 degrees or torrential storms. Unless this storm really changes course, some tough decisions are going to have to be made on Friday...
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Fri 9/30 Octopus Project, Voxtrot, Prince Klassen, Treewave at Emo's (late show, outside stage)
The Octopus Project was one of my fave bands of CMJ. Brilliant live show.
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Originally posted by Bags:
Trust me, we're aware. The question is whether the storm will screw up our flights out Monday -- some are flying through Houston. It really sucks -- either 104 degrees or torrential storms. Unless this storm really changes course, some tough decisions are going to have to be made on Friday...
i'm driving.
in fact, it's 545am and i'm about to head out for day 1 of my drive out there.
we drove last year as well. we had to deal with a hurricane as well. we got caught in new orleans evacuation traffic for hurricane ivan.
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Is there anyone still around here who was planning to go to this and has made a decision one way or the other? I just can't decide. The promoters are only looking at cancelling Saturday, but Sunday will be a wet muddy mess, and I get in mid to late afternoon Friday. Also, I'm concerned about electricity outages....
Just wondering.
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well, if you can wait until 6:30 PM CDT, the acl festival organizers will make their announcement:
ACL Fest organizers to decide today whether to cancel parts of festival
Friday and Sunday look promising, promoter says.
By Michael Barnes
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Austin City Limits Music Festival organizers said they will announce at 6:30 p.m.today whether to cancel or reschedule portions of the nearly sold-out event because of Hurricane Rita.
Festival promoter Charles Attal insisted Wednesday that the three-day event at Zilker Park, now in its fourth year, will go on.
"No, we will not cancel," he said. "We would wait it out, but it is rain or shine. We will be fine on Friday and Sunday."
Officials with Capital Sports and Entertainment Inc., which is co-producing the festival, said they will not put their fans, musicians or staff members in danger because of high winds, high water or lightning. Yet they resisted defining the thresholds for those dangers.
Hurricane Rita is expected to move through Central Texas on Saturday with winds up to 65 miles an hour, waves of heavy rain and threats of tornadoes.
Industry experts say that 40 mph-plus winds can threaten the trusses used to build outdoor festival stages, especially the upper structures that hold banks of lighting equipment.
"Forty miles per hour is probably not a bad number to start with, depending on the structure," said Karl Ruling, technical standards manager for the Entertainment Services and Technology Association, which represents show business technicians.
Standards for temporary stages are under revision by Ruling's national association because "they blow down sometimes, and it's not pretty when they do."
ACL Festival spokesman Mark Higgins said that organizers, in consultation with Austin safety officials, would make the call on the fate of the festival.
Yet the city could act alone and pull the plug if the weather looked particularly threatening to public safety.
"I don't anticipate that happening," City Manager Toby Futrell said Wednesday. Festival organizers "are professional folks. They're not fly-by-night operators. They have always been professional and responsible."
Futrell said her staff is consulting with festival organizers regularly.
Bill Stapleton, a principal partner with CSE, said the group does not carry rain insurance on the festival, which means that ticket refunds would come out of the producers' pockets. About 65,000 people are expected to attend each day. Three-day passes sold out months ago for prices up to $105. Day passes for Friday were still available for $50 plus service fees.
If Zilker Park is damaged because the festival went on in heavy rain, CSE has promised to restore it to its pre-festival state.
"It's our responsibility to put the park back the way it was when we arrived, if not better," Higgins said.
Victor Ovalle, spokesman for the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, said the park staff would work closely with festival officials on public safety decisions.
"We do have staff monitoring that situation, and they'll be looking at the grounds," Ovalle said. "But it's premature to go into the damage."
The festival is an annual bonanza for local food and retail vendors who set up shop at Zilker Park. They were watching the weather closely Wednesday.
"CSE is calling the shots," said Fred Schmidt, co-owner of Wild About Music, a gallery that sells music-related items. "We'll be out here as long as we can, but there's no point in being our here if there are high winds and it's too dangerous for the musicians to play."
Howard Burke, manager of Roy's Austin, said the restaurant will use a tarp to cover its park operations.
"The show's got to go on; we've got some great food made up," Burke said.
As long as the festival is open, Capital Metro will provide its planned shuttle service, agency spokeswoman Libba Letton said, but it might be cut back because of lower attendance.
CSE officials say no participating bands have canceled so far, and that none has been rerouted because of potential airport closures. More than 120 acts from around the world are scheduled to play.
More than 200 festival tickets were for sale Wednesday on Web sites such as eBay and Craigslist, but only a few sellers posted Hurricane Rita as a reason: a University of Texas student who was heading home to Houston to help his family, and a Houston native who was hosting Houston-area family members and friends and planned to volunteer with the Red Cross in Austin.
Additional material from staff writers Patrick Beach, Joe Gross, Pamela LeBlanc, Ben Wear, Renuka Rayasam and Stephen Scheibal.
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Originally posted by Venerable Bede:
well, if you can wait until 6:30 PM CDT, the acl festival organizers will make their announcement
Yup, the question is whether to go to Austin for Friday night and a wet, wet Sunday (but with a show that's going on...)
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For anyone who's interested:
Latest News on Hurricane Rita & ACL
The show is on. Thank you for hanging in there with us while we've watched the progress of Hurricane Rita. The meteorologists we have consulted with advised us to wait until 48 hours before expected landfall in order to get the most accurate look at the storm's track. As you may have already heard, the latest report from the National Weather Service shows Rita shifting further east than originally predicted, placing Austin outside the range of severe weather related to the hurricane. Therefore, we are planning to go forward with the Festival as originally planned.
The forecast now calls for mostly sunny weather on Friday with a high near 100. A 20 to 30 percent chance of rain is predicted for Saturday and Sunday with winds around 15 to 20 mph and overall cooler temperatures.
Regardless of the nice weather we are now expecting, we are continuing to monitor the hurricane very closely. The safety of our fans, the musicians and our crew is our top priority, and we are working with the city to make sure we are prepared for every contingency. Should anything change, we will post updates on our web site and coordinate with the media to disseminate information as quickly as possible.
In addition to the weather, many of you have been wondering about ticket refunds, hotel availability, artist cancellations, etc. Thank you for your patience while we wade through the pile of emails. In the meantime, we will be posting replies to the most frequently asked questions on our web site on Friday morning.
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depending on the track, it might not be raining that much on sunday (but probably would be muddy)
i just got into austin. if saturday gets called off, i'll be working on stuff on my computer all day.