GOD I MISS AUSTIN

I flew into Austin this morning and made my way to the Omni at Ben White, an old haunt. I think in 2003 I actually stayed at this hotel more than I stayed in my duplex. I made a self vow on the plane that I would eat Mexican food for every meal while in Texas this trip. Chris Newsom picked me up at 11 and we headed down to do a site survey at Sea World in San Antonio. We stopped in San Marcos and got lunch at Garcia's, an old hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint across the street from Cheatham Street Warehouse. If you don't know what Cheatham Street Warehouse is, just quit reading this now and go get educated, I don't feel like explaining. Anyway, I had the enchilada plate (one beef, one chicken and one cheese....AND IT WAS YELLOW CHEESE!!!!!). I don't get yellow cheese- or decent mexican food, for that matter- in Nashville.

The site survey for Sea World went about like you'd expect...a complete disaster. God, I miss arenas. Or sheds. Beggars can't be choosers when you're talking about decent gigs. Anyway, it will make tomorrow an adventure. And it has nothing to do with a whale, either.

We headed back to Austin and I met up with an old buddy, Kevin Lindley, from college. Kevin is Rick Perry's (governor of TX) campaign manager. We went to Maudie's on Lamar for more enchiladas. This time I had a chicken with sour cream, a beef with spicy chipotle and a cheese (AGAIN...YELLOW!). See below...this is what heaven will serve.




We spent the meal catching up on a bunch of the college guys I don't keep in touch with and talked politics, music, etc. We drove around Austin for a little while after and I saw all the enormous growth and infrastructure coming up around town. It's unreal how much has happened since I spent any time here.

Enough for now, I have to mentally prepare for the beatdown that will be tomorrow.