What was it that Wolfe said?

Is it possible for one to become homesick for a city that's not one's hometown? After reading the goings on of rollerboogie at the most recent SXSW, I've got a touch of nostalgia and homesickness (for lack of a better word) for my beloved Austin.

It's odd to think that the SXSW festival has grown from the little itty bitty thing that it was when it started when I was there to the huge event it is now. Back in the day I swear $10 could get you a special Visa band that would allow you entrance to all venues on the first weekend of the event... and those venues were pretty restricted to just the 6th Street environs and I think maybe the Palmer Auditorium. Perhaps some outside stages on the shores of Town Lake. I can't remember. But that's not the point.

Now it's a huge event littered with record company A&R "people", scouts, tourists, etc. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. I'm just saying.

But such SXSW musings make me miss Austin in general as well. What other city has a weekend event dedicated to Eeyore's Birthday? And Aquafest. And RiverFest. And The Pecan Street Festival. And on and on.

I miss The Drag, I miss South Congress, I miss Hyde Park and Enfield. I miss Town Lake and Lake Austin and the Colorado River, even if I never was exactly sure why that body of water had three names. I miss Lake Travis, especially for having the sense to have only one name. I miss the Oasis, which yes, is overrated (even at sunset), but you grow to miss the overrated touristy traps when you're gone. I miss Mount Bonnell, I miss FM 2222. I even miss Zilker Park and the traffic jams it caused on Sunday afternoons.

I miss the South Austin Bubbas and North Austin Teasippers. I miss holes in the walls like The Hole In The Wall. I miss Captain Quack's... the coffee shop that Was Cool Before It Was Cool To Be A Coffee Shop. I miss other venues now gone like Liberty Lunch, Steamboat, Toulouse, Maggie Maes (I don't even know if that's gone, but what the heck, I miss it anyway), and The Fast And Cool Club (even though it was usually warm and tepid).

I miss all the characters on The Drag: the hippies trying to sell you their hand-made silver jewelry and leather bracelets, the homeless warning you of fluorinated water in exchange for fifty cents, the seventh-year sophomore trying to play "Closer To Fine" on his beat-up Yamaha guitar that was never in tune, the LDS's trying to give you a copy of The Book Of Mormon if only you'll allow them to come buy your apartment and "chat".

I even miss the folks out on 6th Street on a Saturday night, and this was back when there was no open container law, either. The Shiner Bock served about 10 degrees too warm in Maggie Maes. Forgetting if we parked on 5th Street or 7th Street, then remembering we were off of Red River and MLK.

I miss all the odd restaurants and eateries, like Chewy's, Carmello's, The Omlettery, Jalisco, Mesa Hills Cafe, Kerby Lane Cafe, and basically all the other places that had the word "Cafe" in their name and black beans and Shiner on their menu. The Hula Hut didn't exist then, and for that I'm sorry... but I miss the Hula Hut now, too, which is odd, since to me it's a recent interloper on the Austin restaurant scene. But they have black beans and Shiner, so...

My daughter was born in Austin and lived there the first three years of her life, however, and I'm still always reminded of her when we're in Austin now. As long as I don't venture much into Far North Austin I'm okay, but that area, the area around 183 and MoPac and parts even more north than that just make me sad. Cindy and I went to Highland Mall once and I almost broke down it reminded me of my daughter so. Better to go to Barton Creek Mall which I don't associate with her at all... but to a degree all of Austin still reminds me of her when she was a little girl, and I think that this in the end will prevent me from ever moving back. Well, that and the fact that Cindy is not a big Austin fan... ;-)

Wait a second... this isn't supposed to be that sort of blog. Oh well. I'll say I'm being "ironic" in posting a typical blog-type entry. That's it.