You won't be missing the Mardi Gras parade here in Austin. Saturday night/Sunday morning saw a minor riot on 6th Street. The police used a mild mannered aproach to yobs lobbing bottles at them.... rubber bullets and chemical sprays!! As a result the main parade tonight is cancelled.

Still bars to go to and music to hear but the whole place has gone seriously down hill.

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

Answers

oh aye.... it wasn't me that started it!

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

Aah divvent believe ye Geordie. Ye biker (or is it Byker??) lads are aal the same man. So if it wasn't you, what started it aal?

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

I confess, twas me. I placed a few calls doon to some of the heaton mafia and they woz more than happy to oblige.

Seriousley though, I saw it on the TV and I sez to mesell I sez " I wonder if Geordie is there"? Looks like it got way out of hand, students get loaded and it all gets out of control. Same happens in Boulder over halloween, same in Detriot every halloween (I believe its called Hell night) nice that like.

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

6th St is just a load of bars... each with live music. Take away the music and it's just a big pub crawl area. Every night, especially the w/ends, there'll be punch ups, minor scuffles... bit like the Bigg Market or any other pub/club area at chucking out time.

On Saturday a brawl broke out at about 2am (Sunday morning) and the police tried to break it up. There was about 100,000 folk there that evening and probably 50000 still there in the wee small hours. Some bottles etc. were lobbed at the police so they donned riot gear and told everyone to clear the streets. Wait a few mins and then start firing/spraying. It seems like a massive over-reaction by the police as it was indiscriminate spraying not selective so innocents that were trying to leave the street were caught up. You can't expect 50000 folk to just disappear instantly. Of course, the yobs shouldn't have started it!

The shame is that the big parade tonight was a family occassion and would be over well before midnight. The problem of drunken yobs coming out of bars and fighting will still be there! I think I'll give it a miss tonight.

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

I wasn't there when it kicked off!

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

Saw an article on the box this am about New Orleans. It seems that live jazz has almost disappeared from the bars around Bourbon St, to be replaced by sex shows, strip joints and the like. Not quite the same atmosphere any more for a traditional Mardi Gras down on the delta.

Shame - Bourbon St 15 yrs ago is one of the memories I will keep forever.

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

Glad to hear you didn't start it Geordie! :o))

I was lucky enough to be there on Halloween last year and the party atmosphere was brilliant. Shame this one was spoilt.

Have you found John McVey yet? He's on at Babe's Grill tonight (Wed 28th). Have fun.

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2001

John McVey from the original FM? Nurse, phone the airport and get me on a jetplane.

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2001

Cheers Pilgrim. I had searched and failed to find him. I might not go to see Jeff Beck tonight now!

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2001

Oh shut up you tart. Eric was telling me only last night that Jeff isn't as good as he used to be ;-)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2001

So which should I go to Screach?

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2001

I'd go to the Elvis concert if I were you.

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2001

Well Geordie,

Where did you go, who did you see?????

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2001

OI PILGRIM!!! A reet cods that was. I decided to go to Babes on your recommendation and give the big Jeff Beck event a miss. So 9:30 comes along and McVey doesn't. He had a stand-in as he was recording.

Band was OK. The blues just doesn't seem right being played by a 17yr-old girl guitarist (see below):

HOW TO GET THE BLUES

1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning."

2. " I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, 'less you
stick something nasty in the next line, like "I got a good woman, with
the meanest face in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it.
Then find something that rhymes ... sort of: "Got a good woman - with
the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher - and she
weigh 500 pound."

4. The Blues are not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a
ditch; ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars: Chevys and Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't
travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Discoveries. Most Blues transportation is a
Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft ain't even in the
running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does
fixin' to die.

6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults
sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the
electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place
in Canada. Hard times in St. Paul or Tucson is just depression. Chicago,
St. Louis, Kansas City still the best places to have the Blues. You
cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain. So Manchester
would work.

8. Breaking your leg cuz you skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg
cuz an alligator be chomping on it is.

9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting
is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the chained-up fire
escape.

10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. empty bed
c. bottom of a whisky glass
d. Reading Gaol

Bad places:
a. Ashrams
b. private viewings at art galleries
c. Buckingham Palace Garden Parties
d. golf courses

11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you
happen to be an old ethnic person, and you slept in it.

12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues?
Yes, if:
a. you're older than dirt
b. you're blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied

No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived.
d. you have a retirement plan or trust fund.

13. Blues is not a matter of colour. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger
Woods cannot sing the blues. Chris Evans could. Ugly white people also
got a leg up on the blues.

14. If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's the Blues.

Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. wine
b. whisky or whiskey
c. muddy water
d. black coffee

The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. mixed drinks
b. cranberry juice
c. Diet Coke
d. sparkling water

15. If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues
death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to
die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse, and dying lonely on a
broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis
match or getting liposuction.

16. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling

17. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie

18. Persons with names like Fiona, Kirsty, Alistair, Darren can't sing
the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

19. Make your own Blues name (starter kit):
a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) b. first name
(see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi,etc.) c. last name of
President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.) For example, Blind Lime
Jefferson, or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, (Well, maybe not "Kiwi."), Peg Leg
Clinton, etc

20. I don't care how tragic your life is: you own a computer, you cannot
sing the blues. You best destroy it. Fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog,
or get out a shotgun. Maybe your big woman just done sat on it.
 

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2001

Real cryin' Blues, that, Geordie. Real cryin' Blues. Aah cried so much, aah nearly p1$$ed mesel'

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2001

I was going to post that a few weeks ago but couldn't remember if I'd lifted it from here in the first place.

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2001

Brilliant Geordie!

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2001

What a brilliant thread to read, a beginning , the middle , and a emotion packed ending , and Geordie survives, I feel like shakin my fantail , as in "Buddy" the music Lives on,

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2001

It all sounds kind of different to Gay Mardi Gras out here in Sydney! I can't wait to drag me poor old Mam along to watch that on Saturday. Nowt like topless lesbians on Harley Davisons, or a pair of hairy buttocks hanging oot the back of someone's strides to kickstart your holiday eh folks?

I know I know, I'm going straight to hell for this one. But it'll be worth it all to see the look on her face.

;O))

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2001

Oh well Geordie, next time eh?

They're on at Joes Generic Bar tonight (Friday)as the Dupes (If John McVey isn't recording). I agree about the 17 year old girl btw.

Do you know about the Austin Chronicle online? http://www.austinchronicle.com

Find the music listing page on that and you can see who's playing where each night.

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2001

"You can't expect 50000 folk to just disappear instantly."

You weren't at the Man City game then? ;-)

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2001

Cheers again Pilgrim. I'll look it up. I've been looking on Austin 360, digitalcity, citysearch etc..

-- Anonymous, March 02, 2001