End of Silence

Austinist points out that Mohawk has topped Esquire’s list of best bars in America. Other local bars mentioned in the list are Mean Eyed Cat, Donn’s Depot, and Ginnys Little Longhorn. The lists are generated by users submitting a location and then voting on it, so it only takes a few zealous fans and some high ratings to get on to the list. That probably explains the weird results.

I’ve been to Donn’s Depot a few times. It’s a bit quirky and has an old Austin feel, but unless you’re into swing dancing, there’s not much to recommend it. I’ve been meaning to get over to Mean Eyed Cat since it opened, but still haven’t made it over there. I’ve never set foot in Ginny’s Little Longhorn. Isn’t that the one with chicken shit bingo or is that the Poodle Dog? I always confuse the two. I’m still partial to La La’s Little Nugget when I’m in that neighborhood. Mohawk seems pretty cool. I’ve seen some great live photos from the patio, but have yet to experience a live show there other than a Rock N Romp during SXSW last year, which isn’t a good show on which to base an opinion.

That being said, I 100% agree with their other two Texas choices: La Tuna in San Antonio and Inwood Lounge in Dallas.

The Esquire list coincides with another list involving bars: APD’s annual list of most frequently mentioned bars during drunk driving arrests. None of the bars on Esquire’s list show up on APDs list. In fact, I don’t frequent any of the bars listed on APDs list either. My theory is that these places are where the amateurs hang out. Dallas Nightclub, the perennial list-topper is still on the list, but far below the number of arrests of Oilcan Harry’s. Between that and Rain, it looks like APD was targeting gay clubs in 2007. Bars west of Congress are more frequently mentioned than their eastern brethren.

The local beer blogs are atwitter since Ft. Worth-based chain Flying Saucer opened up its first location in Austin last night in the Triangle near 47th and Lamar (see allowing development there brought us more beer!).

I’ve been to their location in Dallas and it was one of the only places that I could tolerate (other than the Gingerman location there). That being said, if you’re used to Draught House, Gingerman or Dog & Duck, you’re going to feel a little out of place at Flying Saucer. It definitely has more of a Dallas feel to it (I know Ft. Worth is like Dallas’s neglected little brother, but still). I don’t want to rip on the place since any place that offers up a good variety of beers is ok in my book.

I’ve been meaning to check out Mandola’s for months. Now that there are two destinations in The Triangle (does anyone else hear Twilight Zone music when they refer to that development?), I’m going to have to make a stop.

Image from Flying Saucer’s web site

Despite a nagging head cold and having spent the day in New Braunfels at the last day of Wurstfest (a family tradition), I headed down to the Compound on East Fourth to check out The Evens for their first Austin appearance. The Evens are Ian MacKaye of Fugazi and Minor Threat fame and Amy Farina. Farina plays drums and sings while MacKaye plays a Danelectro baritone guitar and sings.

I’d never been to the venue and I’m not even sure if it’s going to continue to host live music. MacKaye mentioned that someone lives on the property and the band is known for playing non-traditional rock venues like basements of libraries and churches. They played a gallery in Dallas the night before. It was essentially a yard between several corrugated metal structures. The weather was perfect, something MacKaye commented on several times.

This set list isn’t in the order played (and I may have missed some), but it’s pretty close. They played “Cut From the Cloth”, “Everybody Knows”, “Cache Is Empty”, “Eventually” and “Dinner with the President” from Get Evens. There were several songs from the first record including “Shelter Two”, “All These Governors”, “Sara Lee”, “Mt. Pleasant Isn’t”, “Blessed Not Lucky”, “On the Face of It”, and “You Won’t Feel A Thing”.

Anyone who’s familiar with MacKaye won’t be surprised that the evening was politically charged. The stripped down arrangements of the songs lent themselves to showcasing the message. MacKaye enlisted the audience to sing along during “Mt. Pleasant Isn’t” and “You Won’t Feel a Thing”. The whole event had a feel of a campfire sing-along crossed with a protest sit-in; a bit cliched perhaps, but given the current state of things, not entirely unwarranted. In introducing one song, MacKaye likened the changes in DC to periodic storms, a storm comes in, does some damage and then people clean up and rebuild. To him, the current administration is a particularly nasty storm. Perhaps the 100 or so people in attendance were looking for a respite from the storm and hopefully got what they were looking for. There’s going to be a lot of clean up work to do.

In what’s becoming an annual tradition, I once again scored some free tickets to Fun Fun Fun Fest this weekend in Waterloo Park (Thanks, Austinist!). I went last year and enjoyed myself despite the cold temperatures. By moving the festival a month earlier, the organizers were rewarded with near perfect weather. In fact, it was a bit on the warm side with temperatures reaching the low to mid 80s in the afternoon. As with last year, I completely neglected the third stage which features mostly DJs and dance music, not really my cup of tea…
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