Radio IST List: Graham Williams
Book Festival Interview With Jonathan Foer
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Wine: Austin Cellar Classic Is Tomorrow
Austinist's Will Mills Gets Dunked For Charity [Video]
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ACL Fest is full of shit. http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entr
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I'm a huge fan of The State and really wanted to go to but couldn't make it. How was the event?
It was cold and wet as fuuuuuuuuuuuck. The Michaels were most entertaining. Peanut M&Ms. Ian Black invited a hammered heckler named Stephanie (there were a couple in the crowd actually, both Stephanies and drunken hecklers, but she appeared drunkest) up on stage where he gave her enough rope to slur all over. In a twist of sweet irony, he ended up defending her a bit against the growing ire of the crowd. It was a thing of beauty to behold.
I enjoyed Showalter's set immensely. The ease with which he handled the crowd kinda blew me away; after the first minute we were putty in his hands, and he rode it out from there for what seemed like almost two hours. His "movie trailers" were absolutely hilarious. I liked Ian Black less, but, then again, I've always liked him less. I high-tailed it out of there during the heckler on stage debacle. As Paige would say, I couldn't help feeling the "second-hand embarassment," and it made me really uncomfortable. Like a Todd Solondz film.
Also it was fucking COLD. My toes have never been more unhappy.
Wow, that show was lousy with Austinist writers.
I've got to throw in my 2 cents...the comedians both were funny, and Michael Ian Black was especially good-natured and fun to watch. However, certain people in the crowd, not just that Stephanie girl, decided to make it less enjoyable for the majority of us by adding their running commentary/refusing to pipe down. Annoying.
Also, Showalter was right: WHY THE HELL WERE PEOPLE YELLING OUT RANDOM REFERENCES TO THE PROJECTS HE HAS BEEN A PART OF? So juvenile. It's like being in a room with 400 people quoting the same SNL skit at the same time.
my toes are still cold, too. great pics, huck. i'd give Showalter an A- and Black a B-. My full take is here
the show was pretty good, except for some jerk photographer who had pushed his way in front of me and my friends (short girls!) blocking our view, even though we had been patiently waiting in that spot for over an hour.
i like reading austinist, but not cool man. not cool.
Well Disgruntled, assuming that "jerk" you're referring to is me, I would humbly venture that there's no need for ungrounded ad hominem attacks. I'm a pretty nice fellow, if I do say so myself.
The fact of the matter is: I'm 6'4" and the show was extremely crowded. There's no easy way to get close enough to take pictures without scootching past all kinds of folks: short, tall, holding drinks, hugging their girlfriend, taking pics with their cellphone, all of whom want a close, unadulterated view of the act.
Luckily, the goal is an altruistic one. One of the reasons we post pictures here is for the benefit of those who couldn't make it to the show or people that didn't get to be front and center, so my height comes in handy grabbing a few pics to relay the event to others.
Unfortunately, like so many shows before, other event goers have to stand behind me for a bit; pictures taken against the back wall of the club would be very disappointing indeed. While I'm sorry that you and your friends resent the fact that I had to shimmy my way towards the stage (apologizing and excusing myself profusely all the way, as is my habit) I can't help but think that our inequalities in elevation served some higher purpose; that your inconvenience allowed others to get that much closer to Michael Showalter's nosehair.
Anyway, thanks for reading the site and taking the time to comment. Next time you see me out, poke me in the back and let me buy you a drink to make up for it. You can stand in front of me :)