Another Friday, and another busy, fun weekend ahead.

It's Friday again, so you all know where we'll be. It's Mom's turn to pick the restaurant and she's chosen to go back to BJ's. Good thing too. We haven't been back there in a while. After that we'll probably head back to that cool Irish pub we discovered a few weeks ago. O'Briens, in downtown Temple. Just check out this list of draft beers. That's more choices than you can find anywhere else in the area, so far as I know. I wish to God the place was in Killeen, but it just may be a good thing that it isn't.

I found their web site while workin' on this post and clicked on the "events" link. We saw when we were there the last time that they have a nice little stage set up on the first floor, and the place looks like it'd be PERFECT for seeing to a great band close up. Looking at the schedule I see that Chris Lopez is gonna be playing there at 10PM on October 3rd... next Friday!

He's a San Antonio based guitar player, heading up a great little power trio. Click on that MySpace link above, scroll down a bit and and click on "Somewhere Beyond Forever". Crank that sucker! You'll see what I mean.

We saw him close up at a blues festival we accidentally bumped into in Marble Falls some time back. He was playin' Stevie Ray Vaughn covers in a little house that'd been turned into a bar. I was mesmerized by his talent. You judge for yourself...



Denise and I were both enjoyin' his music that night, but we couldn't stay and listen. It'd been a long day. This time we'll be there for the long haul.



The big event this weekend, as I've told you already, is the ACL Festival in Austin. Denise and I will be out there in that crowd (these shots are from the 2007 event... Yep, stealin' again), jammin' the tunes and tryin' to pack as many cool bands into our Saturday and Sunday as we can.



I'm stoked as hell! The last time I went to one of these gigs was the last Lollapalooza festival I attended, up near Dallas in 1996. It was the year that Metallica headlined. I took my cousin, who was about 15 or so then. Blew his friggin' mind. Denise has never been to one of these things, but I know she'll eat it up. She's game as hell when it comes to loud music and good fun.

We've got a reservation for Saturday night at a hotel near Highland mall, just off I-35, so we won't have to drive back and forth from Killeen each day. It's still gonna be a zoo though, gettin' in and out of the park, but it'll be well worth it.

Of course, the festival actually started today (it's a three day thing), but there weren't enough bands on today's schedule to get me to want to plunk down the funds to attend. I'd like to see Jacob Dylan and David Byrne (both in tonight's lineup), but Saturday and Sundays bands will be more than enough to keep me happy.

Saturday will start with a trip to Pappasito's. That's right dammit, were gonna pork up at the good Tex-Mex feed before going to the festival so we don't get tempted to spend ridiculous sums of money for food at the park. It'll suck enough to have to spend something like eight to ten bucks for an adult beverage. Fuck that noise! I'll make sure I drink at least two beers, and Denise at least as many strawberry margaritas, before we leave the restaurant. We'll both be full as a tick and balanced delicately on the brink of inebriation by the time we get to the friggin' festival. Everything else will just get better from there.

The first act we plan to catch is this guy...



Robert Earl Keen. He takes the stage at 4:30 pm, so we won't have to bust our asses getting down there early in the day. I figure we'll get to Pappasito's by noon and then try to get into the park by 3:30. We can wander around once we get in there, checkin' out the scene.

The next act on the schedule is John Fogarty. Denise is a huge fan of CCR, and I kinda like the stuff too, so it should be fun. After that we'll have to relocate to another venue in the park to see these dudes...



The Black Keys. Ol' Mushy turned me on to these dudes a while back. As you can see, they have an amazing, raw, bluesy sound. I'm excited to get the chance to check them out live.

The headline act Saturday night is gonna be Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. You may remember that Denise and I saw them in concert up near Dallas a few months ago. They put on a hell of a show, so we're both lookin' forward to seein' them again.

Thing is, as is inevitable in one of these festivals, there's another band playin' at another venue the same time Plant and Krauss take the stage. I'm gonna be torn. I'd love to check this dude out.



While Krauss and Plant spin their wonderful tales at the AMD venue, Beck is gonna be playin' at the AT&T venue in another part of the park. I've never seen him, and would love to. We'll see what happens.

Sundays festivities will begin at 4PM, and again, I'll be torn. This one is a HUGE bummer. My choice is between this guy...



Joe Bonamassa, and this guy...



Xavier Rudd. I'm really torn. I guess you can't have everything you want in this world. I'll have to decide when we get there, but my heart is gonna be beatin' for that guitar.

Shooter Jennings will be going on stage at the WaMu venue at 5:30, and then the shit's gonna get really good. The next band on the schedule is one of the ones that I'm REALLY wanting to see. This is another group that Mushy turned me on to.

He emailed me one night... One of those nights when we used to email one another back and forth, like we were instant messaging. He told me to go to specific music site and watch a streaming live concert given to celebrate the latest CD release by The White Stripes. I have to say that I thought their sound was a bit too "garage" for me then (Mushy LOVES that shit), but the last tune they did totally blew my mind. Check it out...



The leader of that two piece band, Jack White, also plays with another band called The Raconteurs. They take the stage in Austin at 6:30, at the AMD venue. Here's a taste.



After that experience, I'm gonna be wrecked! But the concert goes on. The big headliners Sunday night will be The Foo Fighters.

I've been a HUGE fan of theirs ever since Kurt Cobain blew himself out of the picture and his band Nirvana (another band I loved) bit the dust. I've often thought that maybe it was some sort of kismet... Cobain putting himself out of whatever misery he was experiencing so that we could all grow to recognize Dave Grohl's true genius. Who knows. Anyway, I can't WAIT to see and hear their show. They take the stage at 8:30.

After that it'll be a tired worn out drive, about an hour, back home to Killeen. A good shower and the sack. The alarm will be goin' off at 6:30 AM sharp Monday mornin'! I know, it's a bummer, but it's WELL worth it. Life is to be lived, by God!

Anyway, I figure I'll have about 600 pictures in the camera by the time we get home Sunday night, so you know what I'll be doing all week long. Hopefully some of them will turn out good.

You guys try to have a good time too, and we'll reconnect after all the fun. Cheers!