Celtic Festival

Here is your soundtrack for this post. Picture sitting on the bank of a river, the weather is perfect, temperature 77°F/25°C, sunny, dry, and light breezes. We were sitting on a blanket behind the stage where a band was playing, so the music is live.



A guy paddled by in a coracle, which I am only familiar with by name because a friend of mine in the UK has one. Considering the recent floods (and the banning of river recreation) he was probably committing a misdemeanor, so I hope his adventure ended well.

I didn't take loads of pictures of the bands and costumes this year, as I have done before. Just a few snapshots. Enjoyed petting the mini-horses, and really... what is cuter than a mini-horse? It would be a tough competition. Princess Neko would be in there (and all cats, really), puppies, baby hedgehogs, mini-horses, etc.

Let it rain!

We don't even really try to go to the ACL Festival anymore. It's harder for us to be on our feet for 12 hours a day than it used to be - where you have to walk a mile to find a spot to sit - crowded and sweaty. This year it wasn't just sweaty, on the penultimate night of it we got something like 4 months worth of rain in one night, so they cancelled that day. A lot of the bands did 'popup' shows, last-minute-arranged stuff you need to be on twitter to find out about. One band played at the homeless shelter for just food donations. Atoms For Peace, which sells out venues at the $100 range, played for $10 a ticket. Many bands put on free shows! Lionel Ritchie picked up a house concert and played for maybe 50 people, don't know what he charged though.

I got happy because one of my favorites, The Lone Bellow, played a couple of free shows -- one of them at 5:00pm (perfect for us old timers who just wanted to get home in time to watch The Walking Dead, then hit the sack for the workweek) (priorities).

I love these guys! This one is a slower ballad but most of their songs are up-tempo -- check them out if you like this:


Still getting some rain (so wonderful) and later this week it will cool down enough to maybe turn off the air conditioner.

Wendy's Theme

Local band Bright Light Social Hour happened to be at the big Citizen's Filibuster event where the awesome Wendy Davis spoke for 11 hours, on-topic, with being allowed food, bathroom breaks, or even leaning on something -- and they made a music video based on the chants.

You can get a free download of the music here on SoundCloud.

Makes me very proud.

Spread it around if you like it.

Tall weeds and a new toy

Spring is just busting out like crazy now, and I have a new camera which I am still trying to get used to. It's got options for "special effects," which the old camera didn't offer. Here's one used to capture the Bottle Chandelier.

(Note: I put the bug pictures at the bottom of the post so you can bail out if you are phobic. On the positive side for fellow arachnopobes, there are no spiders, just a bee and another insect)

Yellow Columbine gets the "illustration" filter.

Maybe the most interesting filter isolates the color red, and removed color from everything else. It worked really well with the poppies. Another feature kicked in when I took this one - it informed me that it had detected a blinked eye. Ha ha! Very perceptive Ms. Camera, but he's not going to open his eyes any wider than that. Ever.

We got our first sunflower of the year, and it is a perfect beauty, even without this effect that is supposed to make it look like a painting.

No special camera effects on the rest of them, just some close shots of a HUGE black bee that has been visiting the milkweed. It's not a Bumble Bee, but a Carpenter Bee that goes by "Xylocopa micans."


Again, no special effects, but just a shot of a bug that is ALL OVER the milkweed. Turns out it's called a Milkweed Bug. Harmless, except to milkweed, which is a problem for us since the milkweed is much needed for butterflies. We are not going to discourage the MW bugs, but instead are headed out to buy some more milkweed plants - so maybe there will be enough to go around.

Those boots

Remember the pairs of mysterious gold boots that were draped, tennis shoe style over the wires around town? (Things can ALWAYS get more fabulous, and you truly never know what you will see during SXSW!) I didn’t think they were an official SXSW decoration (not corporate enough) but a rogue act.

I just went to the CD release for (awesome local band) The Wheeler Brothers, which is called “Gold Boots Glitter.” I have a very strong suspicion that the boots were a tribute. Anyway, I am kind of new to The Wheeler Brothers even though they've been causing a stir in the local music scene for awhile. They are a really good band, and know we know they have a lot of style too. Here's a video from their earlier record - worth watching on its own merits just for being fun.

A pic from the in-store at Waterloo Records:

When I opened up the CD, my jaw dropped in amazement at the design of it! Flaps unfold, and unfold again, and eventually it turns into a popup! The insert slides underneath the burning guy. They don't give out prizes anymore in this town for album art, but if they did, this one should win.

I hope that there is always a need and a purpose for physical album art. Maybe the resurgence of vinyl will ensure that, for awhile anyway. I really like Gold Boots Glitter, and thin maybe I should buy some more Wheeler Brothers.


Image from Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966)

Zombie Day and The End

We got downtown early enough to be able to head back to the Waterloo Records parking lot to see The Zombies, a band I have loved since I was about 12. They still have enough principal original people in the band to keep their credentials and sound solid (with Colin Blunstone, lead vocals, and Rod Argent, keyboards).

The Zombies

Some old footage:

We saw them at noon, then again at 2pm down the street at a bike shop (where KEXP of Seattle was hosting their SXSW live broadcasts). We were pretty close at the Waterloo parking lot stage, but really just inches away at the bike shop. Tickled pink.

Our friend who was with at the KEXP show drove us over to Threadgill's for the Folk Alliance party, which was certainly the most relaxed and easiest event of the week. You could go inside or out, order dinner and drinks, sit wherever you like, listen to good music, and chat with friends. I finally got to see Willie Nile (after years of recommendations) and he was good - also a blast when he came out to dance with the audience.

Willie Nile and dancer

It was Saturday afternoon and time to start winding it down for the week. We don't don't anything on Southby Sunday, even if it IS St. Paddy's Day. Dem's da rules (unwritten). We headed down to South Congress to hit the big stage at SXSJ (South by San Jose), another parking lot and just jammed full of folks. MrB was a hero and wiggled us up to the front, where we got to see Dawes for the last time. Here is a well-recorded video of one of their shows from the week.


We saw:
Caroline Brooks, Courrier, Seryn, The Preservation, Emily Reid, The Royalty, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Quiet Company, Dawes, Delta Spirit, John McCauley, Kopecky Family Band, Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons, Quiet Life, The Lone Bellow, Guards, Foxygen, Michael Fracasso, Nels Andrews, Nathan Hamilton, Birds of Chicago, von Grey, Shakey Graves, Milk Carton Kids, The Dunwells, Billy Bragg, Jesca Hoop, Frightened Rabbit, Alt-J, Richard Thompson, Billy Bragg, The Relatives, The Mavericks, Emmylou Harris with Rodney Crowell, The Zombies, Trey Hawkins, Willie Nile, Sahara Smith, Heartless Bastards.

43 shows, 38 acts (a few more than once, accounting for there being more shows than acts).

A pig and a unicorn went downtown...

"Goodnight Austin Texas... wherever you are."
-- Frank Zappa, Armadillo World Headquarters, 1975
-- Jack White, Austin City Limits, 2012

A Day at the Park(ing Lot)

Friday was easily planned.
(A) Go to Waterloo Records.
(B) Stay all day.

Waterloo's SXSW day shows have outgrown the inside of their record store (which actually hosted Iggy Pop & the Stooges in 2007, INSIDE the store from a tiny stage), and have more recently been held in the parking lot. The line waiting to get in was about a block long, but we still did great and ended up on the front rail. It was at capacity all day, and you can see why from this stunning lineup:

Frightened Rabbit, Alt-J, Richard Thompson, Billy Bragg, The Relatives, The Mavericks, and Emmylou Harris/Rodney Crowell

The Mavericks featuring Raul Malo

All folks that I either already loved or was wanting to see for the first time (Alt-J being in that category). It was all great, and there were autograph opportunities after each performance, for those willing to lose their concert turf and go into the store, that is... someone not me.

Here's The Mavericks with one of their badass new songs:

The legendary Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell

My 70s Goddess - I've only seen her once before and it was from back in the cheap seats. These free 'seats' proved to be much better. A sweet day.

Hop, skip and jump around

Golden glitter cowboy boots had been wrapped around high wires in several places around town. How they got there is a mystery.

As yesterday, we started at the Paste party at the crack of noon. The first band was “von Grey,” which we knew absolutely nothing about… turns out they are a very listenable group of 4 young sisters who sing and play various acoustic instruments (very well), and for lack of a better description I would say they play contemporary pop/grass Americana with just a slight Nashville flavor. Wow - that was a genre salad. See what you think:


We left Paste (The Stages on Sixth) after von Grey and walked some blocks over to the Pandora Discovery Den, which is usually known as Antone’s nightclub (that is until it moves to the Eastside this week). They have great lineups as well, and it’s really pleasant and cool inside. Also, maybe a bit less crowded than some other places because you need to RSVP for a wristband (which is free) and they don’t have free refreshments. Anyway, it makes for a nice atmosphere. We saw Shakey Graves, an Austin-based singer/songwriter who I highly recommend - a little along the lines of John Fullbright and maybe some Ryan Bingham flavor in my opinion - lots of soul. We talked with his manager while we were waiting in line. He was a really nice guy from Canada, although his name escapes me.

Next up was the Milk Carton Kids from Los Angeles. They reminded me of Gillian Welch/Dave Rawlings (esp. Dave's guitar), Chad and Jeremy, early Simon and Garfunkel... and their stage banter was dry and funny like the Smothers Brothers. Sweet stuff.

Milk Carton Kids

We left Antone's and hiked over to the Whole Foods rooftop just in time to catch The Dunwells from Leeds UK. I really like those guys, they are good and lots of fun to watch too. Go and see them if you can. This picture looks pretty comical where the guitar player on the right in concerned.

The Dunwells

The East/West bus was uselessly slow, so we walked back to Antone's in time for Billy Bragg and Dawes (3rd time). I have wanted to see Billy Bragg for years. Checked another one off of the must-see list.

Billy Bragg

Yet another hike back west got us in to see Jesca Hoop, who has a beautiful and hypnotic vocal and guitar style. We sat cross-legged on the floor in a really terrible music venue for her, but during southby there is live music coming from every nook and cranny.

Wednesday Day Shift

It was hard to be at the bus stop, all packed for the day, at 9:30AM after not getting to bed until around 3:00 the same morning. On the bus ride ride in, there was a big thump of a noise in front of us. A motorcycle and car had collided right in front of the bus. The rider was wearing a helmet, and fortunately was able to be helped to the curb, possibly injured but alive. The driver of the car was an old man who I think was probably too old be still be operating such dangerous machinery - but tragedy was averted, as far as we could tell.

We started out at the Wednesday Paste party, they never fail to present a lineup that's very impressive in quality. The venue is a great place to see a band, there's a stage indoors and one outdoors in the back under a tent... and real working bathrooms (not a small benefit, esp. for a woman in the SXSW throngs). They also have (free while they last) t-shirts, good beer, and cold Honest Tea. Yum.

The Lone Bellow was one of our must-sees, and they blew us away. Spectacular! Three strong voices to make you tingle and swoon. Also saw Guards, Foxygen (a young band channeling some mid-sixties and sound and style), and then Dawes (again) (I will try to hold back the gushing for now).

The Lone Bellow

Foxygen

Dawes

There was time for lunch at Koriente, a hike to the bus stop and headed south for Guero's Taco Bar courtyard - something called South-by-Soupfest, a benefit for the homeless shelter. It's a nice area for hanging out, big trees, picnic tables and benches, kids (and adults) romping it up and dancing. Watched several great local and not-so-local singer/songwriters before another of our must-see bands came up - Birds of Chicago (from Chicago and Canada). Soooo wonderful, so under the radar too. LOVE. Here's the scene right after sundown.


A fine day with beautiful weather.

Tuesday rowdiness

We went to the Dyn party last year, so this year when I RSVP'd they sent a code for VIP status. That meant that in addition to the free music we got free drinks, food, and swag (lighted tambourines, sunglasses, t-shirt, backpack, and hardcover journal), plus access to the side balconies where it was a teeny tiny bit less crowded.

A great, high-energy lineup, including Kopecky Family Band, John McCauley (Deertick, Diamond Rugs, Middle Brother) Delta Spirit and Dawes.

Delta Spirit's singer Matt Vasquez has been known to do some acrobatic stuff, and I hope he always makes it back down safely. Fun to watch... but OH NOOOOOOO!

First time to see John McCauley after wanted to see him for a year or so. This was the first of FOUR Dawes shows for us during SXSW, but I believe they played 14 times so it's not like we went to all of them. ;-) SXSW shows range from about 15 minutes to maybe 45, with most being a half-hour.

This was the hardest party to do for us because MrB had to work all day after getting up at 5:00am (not me though, I took Tuesday off). Then we hustled over to the bus transit center. The ride in went smoothly but the ride home with the "Night Owl route" (running on detours due to festival traffic), not knowing exactly where to catch it and then overshooting the transit center because - hey - I didn't not know they CLOSED it... sheesh... but we were walking on blisters after 7 hours of standing for music - and the half-hour commute took 2.5 hours.

Worth it? Yes.

Our day-party kickoff

We have already started our week-long SXSW music party as of yesterday. This one took place on the rooftop of the Whole Foods HQ, where it is always windy (and they really should install some turbines). It was a really good lineup with Seryn, What Made Milwaukee Famous, headliners Quiet Company and several others. I have already started working on my sunburn (or maybe this one is a windburn)! Here is Quiet Company:


Our next event is on Tuesday. Bring it.

Party business, it's March!

Hellloooo! Yes, I'm still alive and well - better than usual, in fact. My foot is healing up and it looks like I'm going to be left with some permanent aching and swelling, but it hurts less than the cyst that was removed, so I can live with it... at least I hope so.

We have not gone out as much for live music lately (have been cocooned in the house a lot, watching DVDs and such, even during nice weather... for shame!) but will make up for it in about a week when SXSW music kicks in. I have been very busy keeping track of all the day parties and their lineups, sending RSVPs and such, and making decisions soon. Lots of bands I love and some I want to see for the first time. Really going to try and see Dawes, The Lone Bellow, Emmylou Harris with Rodney Crowell, The Zombies (yup... returned from the 60s), Billy Bragg, maybe John Hiatt, maybe Divine Fits, maybe Birds of Chicago, Richard Thompson, The Dunwells, Delta Spirit, John McCauley, Josh Ritter, Alt-J... looking for wonderfulness and hoping our feet and backs hold up.

Someday, we will be too old for this.

Wince!!

Just in the past couple of weeks, there have been a couple of high-profile Austinites in the news, and first of all, I must say... I apologize. Please don't judge the rest of us based on a few big-time stinkers.

The first embarrassment is Alex Jones. You may have heard some of his bad crazy on the topic of guns via the rant on Piers Morgan. The Young Turks provide the highlight reel below. This is some really far out craziness:


Alex Jones is an Austin-based conspiracy theorist of THE most wild-eyed over-the-top variety. His website is InfoWars and his shows are called Prison Planet TV. His product is massive paranoia, and a lot of people are buying that nowadays.

The other local chaff is Lance Armstrong. He lives not even a mile from my commuter road. The level of excitement, admiration and inspiration that he brought to people with his amazing performance on the bike - coupled with being a cancer survivor who established a force for good such as the Livestrong Foundation - it was amazing. There have been plenty of athletes disgraced by steroids before, and we are all getting used to that kind of disappointment. I went through that whole Mark McGwire roller coaster when I lived in St. Louis, same kind of thing, but the added cancer-related part of the story elevated Lance to a much higher place in the public's eyes.

Some Livestrong participant/supporter postcards displayed.

Plus, he was just so damned convincing in the lies that most people refused to even entertain the accusations as anything more than mean-spirited jealousy... until they just wouldn't go away, the wheels started to come off. Trouble is, he didn't just wreck himself, his fall injures so many more - folks who really don't need anything else beating down their hopes and dreams.

This is being written the night before the 2-part Oprah confession is revealed, and I am interested in what he is going to say. My prediction is that along with his confession he will point the finger at everything else possible, and I do believe that professional sports are highly poisoned by power, money, cheating, and absolutely wrong-headed priorities. Truly.

Running to help

That's our Mayor, Lee Leffingwell, as Batman. It's a fitting choice of superhero for him because this is a bat-oriented city. The reason these folks are addressing the press dressed up like this is to promote the CASA Superhero Run on Sep. 30. CASA is "Court Appointed Special Advocates" and their purpose is to help abused kids to get into a safer situation. The motto of the run is "Every child needs a hero, but abused children need superheroes." This video is just too darned cute.

2011 CASA Superhero Run from CASA of Travis County on Vimeo.

On Oct 20 there will be a differently-themed run called the Austin Thong Jog, held in honor of the memory of Leslie and benefiting the homeless. This is the first one, so there's no archived footage, only this little promo.

A bit less dressed than the first event, but probably more dressed than this annual World Naked Bike Rise that Austin participates in every June.


The Thong Jog happens at the same time that MrB likes to ride his bike (in costume) in the Tour de Fat Parade so we might miss the underwear spectacle. I can't run or jog (with this misbehaving foot of mine) and never could ride a cycle with fewer than 3 wheels - so I'm pretty much a freak and a permanent spectator, but I'm glad for the folks who do get to play along.

Chillin' with music in the extended dog days

Well, the "Dog Days" trudge on still hot as hell (98-101°F, ~37°C) and no relief for another month. Apparently, the Dog Days are called that because in ancient times they thought that the Dog Star, Sirius, was helping to heat things up. I'm still avoiding some outdoor activities, but on a hot night with a spectacular blue moon overhead we did make it out to see MilkDrive co-billed with Phoebe Hunt. If you've not heard of Phoebe, you might have heard of Belleville Outfit, and band she used to be part of. She has played in and toured with many bands and done plenty of session work. Now she's got her solo thing going. We were happily surprised to see that Carrie Rodriguez stopped by and played a tune with her. Check it out for wonderful fiddle goodness:

Here is MilkDrive with one of their new ones, and I promise this one will stick in your head in a good way:


This morning we are going to a kickass brunch show, hopefully indoors, featuring amazing guitar and vocals from Jeff Plankenhorn, Guy Forsyth, Malford Milligan, David Grissom and others. Wow.

For no reason at all, other than I love the idea of it, here's a squirrel playing electric banjo.

You can buy this on a t-shirt here.

This music could melt your face

Ramen Noodle Rag

The South Austin Jug Band became one of our favorite bands after we moved down here in 2000 (which is right about the time the band formed). They were amazing, and we felt lucky to be able to see them fairly often. The peak of this version of the band was when they won "Best New Band" at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2003. It was a pretty big deal. Over time they had some personnel changes, and each person who left took a few songs with him along with a playing style. The ones who joined the band in their absence were equally awesome, the overall sound was a bit different... more of this... less of that. They finally called it quits at the end of 2008, all of these guys and the later band members went on to be part of other bands, both new and old, and are all still hitting the stage on a near-daily basis. This reunion show of the original line-up (which may be just a one-off) that just happened on August 5th will be a night to remember for all of us.

Enjoy!

This lineup, left to right: Matt Slusher, Will DuPuy, James Hyland, Warren Hood, Willie Pipkin. Later band members include Dennis Ludiker, Brian Beken, and Matt Mefford. All musical monsters down to the last man.

This week in live music

It's been a busy month, between work, some freelance work, and trying to finish painting the inside of the house. I wish it was something fun, like a mural, but instead it's large areas of a rich charcoal gray. I love it, actually. What is it about a bold gray? Is it the way it can make ordinary accent colors look stunning? Don't know.

It finally feels like Texas summer here now, it's been mostly in the 90s (with one 101° day so far) but compared to last year it's very mild.

As usual, we've had a chance to get out to some live music events. The Head and The Heart (Seattle) came through town, and even though they sold out a major venue (Stubb's) for 2 nights in a row, they still came by Waterloo Records for a free in-store. They've got great songs and love the vocals. We even managed to drink a free beer while going through the autograph line, then the female singer, Charity (a beauty, by the way), complimented MrB on his very cool Third Man Records t-shirt. That shirt gets the ice broken. This is Down in the Valley, one of their better-known tunes.


Also on the schedule was a free show from The Dunwells (Leeds UK) at Shady Grove. We saw them back in March at SXSW, and liked them enough to come back and see them again. Their music is Americana (just like all the others in this post), and I would say it's got some Dawes, Eagles, Searchers, CSN, some country, pop... anyway, I really like it. They recorded their album at Willie Nelson's studio here in town, and are still here doing a bit more of that. They were a treat to see again, and some nice guys too.

Later in the week we went to the CD release for one of our favorite bluegrass/dawg/swing/jazz/jam bands (jeez, genres are so complicated these day they are nearly meaningless - or the meaning is up for a long discussion) - MilkDrive (Austin). This is an amazing instrumental (not sure of the name of it), although quite a few of the new ones have vocals. This is a real beauty.

All Good and Fine

We had a great day of music on Saturday. This was a free all-day concert held on a downtown street, a benefit for Comfort the Children International. Lots of "green" foodie vendors with samples/coupons, and the permanent shops and sidewalk joints. Ponderosa (Atlanta GA) and Cowboy & Indian (Austin TX) are excellent bands that we've seen before and liked a lot. We saw only partial sets of theirs because the stages were located at the other end of the street from where I was hanging out. I wanted to make sure and see Seryn (Denton TX).

Over a year ago we caught a few songs of theirs during SXSW, we were watching from the sidewalk outside an Irish pub, and were very impressed and asked the woman in the band who they were. She said "Seryn. S-E-R-Y-N." (pronounced sir-WREN, or sair-REN). We missed some opportunities to see them again since that, but got lucky on Saturday. I have been in love with their sound ever since. Gorgeous! High-energy, rich beauty.

The traffic light looked weird as a backdrop for the stage.

Believe me, it sounds good.

They are one of Paste Magazine's favorite bands - period. When the set was over, someone asked a band member who they were, and he replied "Seryn. S-E-R-Y-N." It must be spelled each time. Ha Ha!

Alpha Rev (Austin TX) is another favorite of ours, and they have added quite a bit of new material lately. Casey McPherson's voice is amazing to me. Good singer and songwriter too. Like Seryn, lots of lush sounds here. Check out this western-flavored "Lonely Man." I swore it was something that I'd heard from Mark Knopfler before, but it is an original tune co-written with the Texas Ukulele King (TUK), and his version that he calls "That's How You Die a Lonely Man." I'm not seeing a ukulele in his picture though. ;-)

We finished off the day with a night show at the great listening room, the Cactus Cafe, where 2 of the mainstays from The Band of Heathens were doing an unplugged show - Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist. They are doing something special both at these unplugged and full-band gig - they are recording the show and making it available for sale on a thumb drive afterward.

This is Gordy Quist, the singer and songwriter of this tune. I didn't get any focused shots of Ed Jurdi, so apologies for that. Need to improve the camera situation soon for better low-light shots.

I love every one of their songs. Every one.

Acousticity

We were just a couple of days past Eeyore's Birthday drum circle day when it was time for some great live music shows. We got a couple of very special tickets for the Punch Brothers' Austin City Limits TV taping! Didn't not take any pics or video (They really really prefer that you don't take video, esp. since they are filming the show anyway, and all the phone cams make the audience look dorky.) but there are lots of nice pro pics at the link.

This was only our 4th time to get to attend and ACL taping. The tickets are free but must be acquired through a lottery or a connection, it's not easy to get in. The sound is amazing, and so is the camera work on the finished product, that we may get to see on TV this Fall.

If an ACL taping with what is probably my favorite band right now was not enough, we also saw them the next night at a sold-out, little-bit rowdy show at Antone's club. If the crowd at the taping was a bit reserved, this one made up for it - and there's video to show for it. This is actually an old one that mandolinist Chris Thile first wrote and recorded back when he was about 18. It's a gorgeous instrumental that I can't listen to enough.

Punch Brothers - Song For a Young Queen


This one is a cover of a song by The Strokes, but PB has made it their own, IMO. It's not one that they played during the taping because it contains one of those words that you still can't say on TV.
Punch Brothers - Heart in a Cage


Just a couple of days after Punch Brothers came though town, we were happy to welcome The Greencards back to Austin. They have moved back here from Nashville, and it's nice to have them back. Like Punch Brothers, they really tear it up on the strings and vocals. Here's a beautiful instrumental.
The Greencards - Adelaide


Great shows! What a week. Now - a little rest.

Spring's Last Hurrah

Well, it's been busy around here, always too much to do. Been getting behind in the postings here, and even forgot to mention my 7 year blog anniversary on the 6th! Will start out with Eeyore's Birthday Party, the annual costumed gathering that I like to call "Flowers, Drums, Songs." It's an all-ages all-species event featuring old and new hippie culture, May-Pole, live music, microbrews, topless women, and freeform dancing centered (for us, anyway) around the drum circle. Here's a short video of this year's circle.

OK, you are thinking, "where are the topless women?" (I could tell.) There are a number of really nice photo collections of the festivities and fabulous costumes posted on the Eeyore's site, ranging from casual to pro. A couple of my favorite ones are by Craig Bush and Nathan Caperton.