Spoon Fed For Free

Today I woke and packed food. Lots of food. I packed up some of that lentil/barley soup I made on Monday night (here's the recipe, (sub barley for bulgur)), I packed up some oranges, threw in some golden raisins, and made two peanut butter and honey sandwiches. No, I wasn't going camping, but 'Spoon'ing rather. And as my pal Gen has informed me, spooning leads to forking.

Tonight in Rockefella' Park, the Austin indie band Spoon was playing outside for free. I've wanted to see them live every since a pal of mine came back from a Guided by Voices concert raving about this opening act. If you haven't heard them, then skip down to your local "cooler- than-thou" indie record store and ask for them. It might even earn you a tight lipped nod from the wildly pierced and tattooed faces behind the counter.

Right after work I took my foodstuffs downtown to watch the show. But the skies had other things in mind for me and Spoon. Clouds were dumping gallons of rain down on the waiting. I stood out in the rain under my umbrella for a little while until I decided being under an open field near water and trees was not the best idea during a lightening storm. So I found shelter in a parking garage until the rain let up. As soon as it got less biblical, I went back to the concert grounds and waited. I stood inside a forest of umbrellas while the rain got less and less and finally stopped. A woman appeared and announced it would be at least a half an hour until the stage was dry enough for the band to play with out fear of electrocution. Then, to wild cheering, they started removing the tarps covering all the equipment.

Until it started to rain again. I started to lose hope. But I munched on raisins and met a few new friends. Sharing is good. Then the rain stopped and stayed stopped. They decided to skip the opening act and Spoon came out and rocked the park. It was great and even better because I didn't have to pay for it, and I felt a camaraderie with the packed park as we had all stuck it out together. Wet, miserable and rocking. Even when it started to sprinkle and a guy who looked like Ben Gibbard's dad would come out between songs, arms crossed, and sternly speak with Spoon's lead singer Britt Daniel, the band continued to play. Electricity be damned. Eventually the forces that be won and Britt informed us "They're telling us to get off the stage." They finished and waved and our encore calls weren't heard. Still aside from "The Way We Get By" I heard everything I wanted to. It was wet, it was loud, it was Spoon.

THE DAILY BREAKDOWN

The only thing I spent today was a few fun hours in the park.

Starting Balance: $19

IN: $10

OUT: $0

Balance: $29