An update!
Things worth mentioning:
A friend of mine has a band called Crotch Rock It. They play "crotch rock," that rock of the 80s characterized by heavy guitar and big hair--think AC/DC, Judas Priest, Scorpions, etc. They played a set at Republic Live, which is an interesting venue--the lighting engineer decided to use straight up red lights on them for 85% of the show (in my estimation from reviewing my photos), which is ridiculously dumb and bad for photography (red tends to bleed over pixels on my sensor). Strike one. Secondly, the door guy gave me a lot of grief (and I mean excessive grief) for not having a hand stamp when I was on my way out, intending to return and see the Iron Maidens (all-female Iron Maiden cover band) later that night. He even told me to get out and not come back since I didn't have a hand stamp...before I could show him a purchased ticket. Awesome customer service dude. Also, the reason I didn't have a hand stamp was because I had come in with the band during early setup to photograph them. Looks like the door people were late to that party. I'm not recommending Republic Live for its management, that's for sure. Will there be a strike three, or will I set foot in that place again? Stay tuned.
I played a bit of blues at Antone's during their Austin Blues Society Monday blues jam. It was pretty cool, except for the fact I got called up in a group that included a young kid (11 yrs old or so), so the whole set had to follow his one riff that he knew (more rock 'n' roll than blues). Needless to say, it was not terribly creative. I didn't get called up again the rest of the night, but at least I got to see Pinetop Perkins perform. He was Muddy Waters' keyboard player, and even at 80 or 90 years old, the man can still play.
I gotta say, my job is keeping me later than expected these days. It takes time and effort for an undermanned team of engineers to work at the front lines of a major company's effort to break into an exploding market. I'm not sure I or the higher-ups realize how important my job is. If I thought about it some more, I'd realize how important my team's particular focus area is to the overall effort...but that would lead to a little too much pressure on myself. For now, I'm going to go see the Gold Magnolias at Momo's, though I'm late for the show now.