Last night {{{sunset}}} held an EP release party at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre. The space was set up for a play that's currently at the theatre, which, according to my sources is a rave/greek play, so there you go. The layout and lighting were really cool - the stage was tiered and jutted out so the audience could not only surround it on three sides, but sit on the steps so it felt a bit more connected than the usual audience | performer layout.
A good half dozen other bands played, and the place was pretty packed. There were a lot of familiar faces, and it took me a while to realize why that was strange -- I'm just not used to seeing them here yet. So I guess I must be acclimating and really living here, which is nice. It's incredibly thrilling to be in the middle of a completely foreign place, having adventures and whatnot. It's also a bit scary sometimes, being a tiny you in a big, new place.
As a part of the EP release festivities, the band brought a cake to commemorate YouTube's birthday.
This morning we filmed a conversation between Catarina Sigerfoos and Carolyn Schwarz, of SIMS and HAAM. Both institutions do great things for local musicians, and the two of them go way back so there was good energy.
Then, finally, 3:45 rolled around and it was hard hat time! We met up with Perry Lorenz, one of the most powerful developers in town, under the Spring building. The structure is pretty intimidating from that angle, especially when Dave keeps cracking jokes about plummeting in the elevator with the counterweight following.
To be fair, I joined in, but only because Nathan is supposedly more scared of heights than I am. He didn't seem fazed at all once we were in the elevator, actually, and Dave was the only one who seemed uncomfortable - though that may have had to do with the awkwardness of the hard hat vs. headphones situation.
Perry was joined by Kirby Kuntz, whose company is building the Spring Towers. We climbed into a construction elevator (passing the counterweight on our way up) and went up to the 41st floor.
Which is very high up. And unfinished. A few corners were still missing windows, everything was concrete, and interestingly enough the giant "41" that marks the floor, and that I see on my way home from the office all the time, is no more fancy than what you used to make school projects with.
Outside on what will soon be a balcony, Perry talked to us about developing in Austin.
He's proud that this high rise is going up while so many people are feeling the effects of the recession, and while he's a pretty liberal guy and values local music and arts, he thinks that the cultural changes surrounding the building of condos like the Spring are inevitable. He's the most powerful developer in town for a reason.
This is 2 stories below the top of the building, which is 494 ft. tall -- 6 feet short of being required to abide by airplane flightpath safety regulations.
After the interview Perry showed us around the top of the building. We looked around the future penthouse while speaking with him and Kirby Kuntz some more. The giant red crane that looms over downtown was suddenly very close. Perry told us that the man who operates it gets up there at 6:30 in the morning and is up there all day, and then asked what would be the first question one would pose... "how does he pee?" of course. He pointed to a black tube running down the side of the crane.
I still have my doubts. (Also, are there ever any lady crane operators?)
Once a week a guy climbs to the top of the elevator pulleys to grease them -- we lucked out, because apparently that day is Monday!
Right??!
It started to rain and was getting late, so we packed up our things and headed back down. We're going to try and go back to get some nice shots of the city when it's not all cloudy and the light's better.
Finally, since I'm going nuts with the photo posting anyway, I leave you with my favorite:
This is where the elevators will go.
A good half dozen other bands played, and the place was pretty packed. There were a lot of familiar faces, and it took me a while to realize why that was strange -- I'm just not used to seeing them here yet. So I guess I must be acclimating and really living here, which is nice. It's incredibly thrilling to be in the middle of a completely foreign place, having adventures and whatnot. It's also a bit scary sometimes, being a tiny you in a big, new place.
As a part of the EP release festivities, the band brought a cake to commemorate YouTube's birthday.
This morning we filmed a conversation between Catarina Sigerfoos and Carolyn Schwarz, of SIMS and HAAM. Both institutions do great things for local musicians, and the two of them go way back so there was good energy.
Then, finally, 3:45 rolled around and it was hard hat time! We met up with Perry Lorenz, one of the most powerful developers in town, under the Spring building. The structure is pretty intimidating from that angle, especially when Dave keeps cracking jokes about plummeting in the elevator with the counterweight following.
To be fair, I joined in, but only because Nathan is supposedly more scared of heights than I am. He didn't seem fazed at all once we were in the elevator, actually, and Dave was the only one who seemed uncomfortable - though that may have had to do with the awkwardness of the hard hat vs. headphones situation.
Perry was joined by Kirby Kuntz, whose company is building the Spring Towers. We climbed into a construction elevator (passing the counterweight on our way up) and went up to the 41st floor.
Which is very high up. And unfinished. A few corners were still missing windows, everything was concrete, and interestingly enough the giant "41" that marks the floor, and that I see on my way home from the office all the time, is no more fancy than what you used to make school projects with.
Outside on what will soon be a balcony, Perry talked to us about developing in Austin.
He's proud that this high rise is going up while so many people are feeling the effects of the recession, and while he's a pretty liberal guy and values local music and arts, he thinks that the cultural changes surrounding the building of condos like the Spring are inevitable. He's the most powerful developer in town for a reason.
This is 2 stories below the top of the building, which is 494 ft. tall -- 6 feet short of being required to abide by airplane flightpath safety regulations.
After the interview Perry showed us around the top of the building. We looked around the future penthouse while speaking with him and Kirby Kuntz some more. The giant red crane that looms over downtown was suddenly very close. Perry told us that the man who operates it gets up there at 6:30 in the morning and is up there all day, and then asked what would be the first question one would pose... "how does he pee?" of course. He pointed to a black tube running down the side of the crane.
I still have my doubts. (Also, are there ever any lady crane operators?)
Once a week a guy climbs to the top of the elevator pulleys to grease them -- we lucked out, because apparently that day is Monday!
Right??!
It started to rain and was getting late, so we packed up our things and headed back down. We're going to try and go back to get some nice shots of the city when it's not all cloudy and the light's better.
Finally, since I'm going nuts with the photo posting anyway, I leave you with my favorite:
This is where the elevators will go.
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