Keeping Austin Interesting--and Weird

Even though we played the tourist role to perfection on our first visit to Austin, Texas, we did, on our second trip, take our eyes off the guide book describing the historic downtown structures.

Since 6th Street was blocked off to traffic--except for beverage trucks--

we could walk along the street and even into the street while watching life around us.

We had arrived in Austin as the Interactive (or Technology) portion of the South By Southwest (SXSW) Festival was wrapping up and the Music portion was beginning. There were posters plastered on every flat surface as well as many curved surfaces (such as the lamp post below) announcing the activities of the Festival.

Our pre-noon arrival found little activity (see the first photo above), but this is easily explained given that the music goes far into the night and noon is an early-riser time.

So we took the candid photos below as we walked around downtown Austin.

When I saw this gentleman (below), I was drawn to the orange hat. I had little time to compose the photo, and it wasn't until I looked at the photo that I noticed other things in the scene. Not only did the shirt and hat coordinate with the barrier on the left, but the gentleman's tan slacks matched the color of the truck in the background

Shown below are two of the three members of a street corner performing group.

This young music-lover was listening to the trio. A sign in the background announces to Jimmy Kimmel (who was in town hosting his show for the week) that his hamburger is ready.

T-shirts and coffee mugs carry the message: "Keep Austin Weird." Now the fellow in the slice of pizza "outfit" (photo below) does not rival the Cathedral of Junk built with over 700 bicycles or the Spamarama, Austin's premier weird cook-off as an example of the weird, but I thought it was pretty good for noon on a weekday.

But "good example" is undervaluing the description of this twosome.

And The Most Interesting Man in the World seems to be continuing this mission all by himself.

Stay weird.

NOTE: Thanks to Kate for solving the problem of the very slow process of loading the photos noted yesterday. Her solution: try the simplest solution first--disconnect the power pack cord and connect it again. Voila!