10/6 - Jamie's Birthday and ACL, wrap-up

Happy Birthday to Jamie! Jamie turned 21 on Sunday, and she really started her 21st year with a bang! I guess it would be more accurate to say she ended her 20th year with a bang, because, as promised by the boys from Ghostland Observatory – Aaron and Thomas – Jamie was dancing on stage at Austin City Limits (ACL) with Ghostland. OK, so she wasn’t, like, front and center, on the stage, but she was only a little to the side, where the band’s family hangs out. It was an amazing show!! Me, Jamie, Roni, mom, Becca and Cris got to go backstage, then on stage, at the AMD stage on Saturday night. That was the second largest stage at ACL, after the Livestrong stage, and the amount of people watching Ghostland blew me away. However, the real surprise came at the end of the show… up until the finale, it was your usual Ghostland Observatory concert (meaning, it was an awesome, frenetic, non-stop electronic rock, light show…), but, unbeknownst to the crowd, the University of Texas Marching Band was sitting backstage, right next to Jamie and her crew. When Ghostland started one of my favorite songs – And The Band Marches On – the UT band assembled on the stage and started to rock along with Thomas’ beats and Aaron’s vocals. It was pretty great and the crowd was really into it. Afterwards, Jamie got some quality time with Aaron and Thomas, and then said so long. We’ll see them again in Dallas on Halloween. All in all, Jamie had a fantastic birthday weekend. We are so happy we got to share it with so many of Jamie’s friends… frankly, we’re just happy that Jamie is still with us, enjoying life.

You may have wondered how in the world Jamie could be getting around at ACL. Ordinarily, Austin City Limits is very difficult to traverse. There are thousands upon thousands of people, trying to get from stage to stage to see their favorite performers (I think there were a total of eight stages), and everyone traverses the same routes, more or less, across Zilker Park. Well, ordinarily, it would be tough for Jamie to see her favorite performers, and it was made even worse by the much-complained-about rainstorm that hit ACL this weekend. So, it was muddy. Very muddy. So, presented with all of these challenges, how did Jamie fare? Pretty well! Jamie drove around the park on a motorized scooter provided to her by a friend of Jamie’s and Cris’ family, Tommie. This scooter was awesome. Jamie got through the crowds and the mud with ease…. And if that doesn’t sound awesome enough, Jamie was able to take advantage of the “special access” section at each of the stages. These sections were immediately in front of the crowds, in a sectioned-off area that gave Jamie access to some of her favorite acts. She’d have to tell you more about who she was able to see. I’m not cool anymore, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you half of their names. I mean, she saw Grizzly Bear and Michael Fonti (I think that’s how it spelled)

Anyway, that’s all for now. Mom and I are off to Brownsville for a few days to retrieve some of her old belongings from the Valley that we haven’t been able to retrieve since November. See you in a few days!