another year has come and gone, but i'd like to take a moment to reflect as i can't recall one in my life that has been more significant start to finish.
i moved to austin on january 1st, 2008 after driving straight to my sister's from a new year's eve spent in memphis, tn (see 'from austin to nyc (via nashville)') with only a short stop over in dallas to pack up the remainder of my belongings. from that day, the direction and momentum of my life changed significantly and the last year spent in austin has been one of tremendous rebuilding, growth, and development.
from the surface, it doesn't seem like i've done too much of anything spectacular, and when i look at it myself, i even sometimes wonder what i've accomplished. but really, making the move was about more than getting out of one place to get to another, finding a new job, moving to a cool city, trying to live a certain lifestyle, or hoping to identify with a different culture. some of all of that has come into play or to pass, but it was never about that end. i think what it was really about was that it was the first time i daringly and unapologetically followed my heart and had the faith to do so. even now, and i still sometimes try to fight it, but i know that i am where i'm supposed to be and following the path that's being put in front of me.
yes, quite a bit came of 2008 -- a year my friend lorne deemed 'the year of allen rogers'. i thought that was a touch radical, but lorne is canadian, and from what i hear, they're known to be that way.
let's go rob gordon...
top 5 weekends of 2008:
5) south by southwest - not completely nor technically just a weekend, but it was too good to leave out. my first sxsw experience, i worked the night time show stage at club deville on red river, saw some great acts, and met some cool artists. nothing is ever bad when my friend justin is around either, and of course he came to see what it was all about this year too.
highlights -- meeting martha wainwright and jeff lewis at the deville stage. meeting eric earley (lead singer of blitzen trapper) after their day show at the paste magazine party. meeting ashleigh buck. seeing jim james. watching ben harper perform an acoustic tribute song to a disabled iraq veteran. brian hultgren and justin peltier staying at the house. mayhem.
4) boston - hard to believe that a semi-spontaneous decision to take a long weekend trip to boston with life badass adam beaugh, a city to which i had never been, just to hang out and see a live bon iver performance could fall to #4, but i think that says a little bit about what a good year it's been.
highlights -- touring the MIT nano lab, getting a wine cider at a harvard bar on the coldest night of the year from sarah the beautiful waitress/actress, talking to dave the security guard at the grad student housing for over an hour at 2 in the morning, watching a boston local pretend to be a bouncer at an irish restaurant at 4:30 in the afternoon and pulling it off, seeing the bruins in the garden, cheers, boston common, ames pub, and bon iver at the wilbur.
3) austin city limits music festival - acl 08 was perfect.
highlights -- jose gonzalez, fleet foxes, patti griffin, beck, mgmt with 70,000 other people, band of horses - three rows back at the magic hour in the most soulful performance i've ever experienced.
2) road trip to new york city - 3 of the coolest guys i know, 1 passat diesel, a stopover in nashville for america's birthday, crashing with the boys in brooklyn. give me a break.
1) band of horses/reunion weekend - on paper, this does not seem like the most spectacular or even cool weekend in the top 5. i went back to dallas about 6 weeks after moving to austin to stay with my best friend alex and see a show by a band i had just recently caught onto called band of horses. there was a buzz about the whole thing that i still can't quite explain, but this seemingly normal weekend trip back to dallas turned into something extremely meaningful. i don't know that i can explain it much better than that, but i will say that the epitome of it was a spontaneous parking lot dance party after the show at gilley's to neutral milk hotel's 'holland 1945'.
a lot of this year's highlights involve some sort of live music event, but that's also a big reason i moved to austin. maybe it's not the most important thing in the world, but i am inexorably tied to it, and i like that.
other highlighted shows from 2008:
wilco, ben folds, david byrne, paul banks at emos lounge, and the black keys.
best single night:
tv on the radio concert at stubbs with sarah wolf then meeting up with paul at creekside lounge and dancing at beauty bar. the quintessential austin, tx night.
other major events:
becoming close friends with phil, constance, lorne, alicia, john schulze, and lauren luxton. witnessing the coolest couple of all time (phil and constance) elope in india, throw a party, and move to thailand. joining the 'work daily email' (wde). meeting kelly garrett. second sunday sock hop. joining forces with melissa, rachel, & leah at tc's. two weeks in brazil and chile. seeing my sister host christmas in austin. having a 2 hour conversation with my aunt pat about her dad, life, and love. making my dad laugh.
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