Day 69 - Painfully (Un)Hip

Here's one example of how I am a completely unhip person (and yet somehow I still haven't been exiled by the Austin mob):  

Date: March 18, 2010, during Austin's well-known, industry-lauded South by Southwest music festival. This is a time when music moguls, waifs, punkers, rockers, roadies and groupies gather in the Capitol City to outcool each other, wail into microphones (which are located conveniently at every street corner) and look unimpressed in general.

Where: Krush Lounge (Yes, in Austin, Sherlock Smartass, because I know at least one person reading this is about to ask.)

What/why: A friend's band, Katoptric, landed their first Austin gig (and there was much rejoicing.) I had been invited to witness and celebrate their debut.

Evidence: At the conclusion of their set, the drummer threw his sticks into the crowd. Clearly not paying attention on my end (in my defense, there was a lot of showmanship going on), one of drumsticks pegs my friend (who is a cutie, score for her!) who then (understandably) flinches. The stick begins its deflected journey anew to land in the hands of an ecstatic crowd member behind us. Lo and behold, another stick comes soaring in our general direction (again, my friend), this one landing to the right near a doorway. Keep in mind, the crowd was sparser than anticipated (I'd say around 30 nearby, so there were bald patches in the crowd. AND btw, not the band's fault at all.) Me, the big doof, look around, see if anyone is going after it and ask my friend if we're supposed to pick it up. It's something along the lines of, "What's going on? Did he mean to let go of the stick? Do I just leave it laying over there? Is that rude? No one else is going after it. What does this mean?" My friend, who is much hipper than I am and understood that this was a fun thing that drummers in bands do at times to celebrate the end of a gig, tolerated this nonsensical question barrage before vaguely nodding and gesturing. It ends with me awkwardly turning, searching for the stick in the darkness, finding it, bending down slowly so as not to spill my beer and then standing up looking like that confused elderly woman who yells, "I've fallen and I can't stand up."

You now hopefully can understand why I must surround myself with the cool people I currently surround myself with. Otherwise, I'd be one step from living in Sanford and Son's junkyard (yet not in the actual house until cool points accrue.)

Meanwhile, rock on Katoptric.