Free Ben Harper Concert = Emily Loves Austin

Yesterday was the Nike+ Human Race 10K – an event of superb mass-marketing that involved 25 major cities all around the world hosting races in the name of uniting humanity. Kinda wish I'd known about this earlier, 'cause I've been feeling that as an official Austinite it's now my duty to train for some sort of city-wide athletic competition, most likely some kind of long-distance running since right now the other two ever-popular triathlon events of biking and swimming don't seem appealing to me at all. And though I didn't run in it, props to the more than 14,000 people who flooded downtown to take part. That means (according to the guy with the mic last night) that Austin had more participants than either Chicago or New York, and just under Los Angeles. Plus, Austin was the 2nd fastest city in the world. I knew I picked a cool city to move to.

Even more exciting though was the post-race entertainment. I'd written earlier about how Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals were headlining the concert, and that supposedly only race participants could attend. I decided to take my chances though, figuring that as long as the show was outdoors, then surely I could find a way to get in. And indeed, the stage was set up at Congress & 11^th in front of the Capitol, and the one small sign stating "Racers Only" was doing absolutely nothing to keep outsiders from entering inside the guardrails (as if standing outside the guardrails would have been very far away anyways.) So to my complete delight, I found myself about 6 rows from the stage for a totally free Ben Harper concert – so great! Even though the show wasn't that long, Ben definitely lived up to his reputation for putting on a stellar live performance – steering away from his more mellow tunes to do mostly intense, upbeat numbers (though personally I love his mellow acoustic stuff the best.) Personal favorites were "Into the Colors", a cover of Bill Wither's "Use Me Up", and "Black Rain" (appropriate since thoughts were definitely with New Orleans.) He closed with "My Own Two Hands", which had everyone dancing with raised arms for a pretty inspiring ending.

The only thing I could possibly complain about was that the majority of the people at the concert HAD actually ran the 10K, so the amount of B.O. was pretty horrible at times, and making my way through the crowd meant touching way too many sweat-drenched t-shirts. But, I couldn't hate too much given the fact that they'd just ran for 6 miles straight while I had been sitting in the AC… plus, being Austin, most of the B.O. was hidden by an even more prevalent smell of weed. All in all, it left me feeling quite a bit of affection for Austin for making such an event possible. A conversation later in the night would again have me missing Jazzfest and brass bands and all the beautiful music of New Orleans, but, nonetheless, the ATX is definitely growing me :)

Some of my favorite men...

So in a break from serious contemplation about Sudan and what-I-want-to-do-with-the-rest-of-my-life stress, I'm taking a minute to consider other highly important matters. Two of my favorite male musicians are coming to Austin and I MUST find a way to overcome some barriers and hear their voices live and in-person. What barriers you ask? Well let's consider the scenarios...

First, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals are playing THIS Sunday evening as part of the post-Nike+ Human Race entertainment. I was a little late in coming to realize how incredible Ben Harper is, but once I got on that boat last fall, I've been dying to hear him in concert (particularly since he's known for putting on stellar shows.) The problem though is that supposedly you have to be a participant in the race in order to get into the concert. Hmmm. That's a little problematic since I haven't exactly been training for a 10K run, and I also already have plans for Sunday night. Do I ditch plans, pay the $35 entry fee, and then run over 6 miles ... all just to hear Ben? I dunno. I'd be so bummed to think that he's playing in Austin and I'm NOT there, but... I think that suddenly enlisting in an athletic competition might be a bit much. Anybody know of ways to get into the show that won't involve running shoes??

The other show I just found out about tonight, and I'm SO excited for. On October 25th, the one and only Ray Lamontagne is going be playing at the Paramount here in Austin -- and seriously, I MUST be there. Three years ago I made a mix of songs by Ray Lamontagne and Amos Lee, and I've literally listened to it hundreds of times since then. The barrier for me going to this concert is far less hindering than a 10K run, but nonetheless, is cause for some slight hesitancy in buying a ticket. See, back in '06, GQ magazine put out this article (check out #8), which forever put attending a Ray concert in the same category as say riding a gondola in Venice or going to an Italian restaurant on Valentine's Day. It's something you only do if you have a special significant other to do it with, because otherwise no amount of confidence-in-your-singleness will prevent you from being depressed about being in that romance-heavy environment sans a love interest to share the moment with. Even if you ration that it'd be o.k. to attend a Ray concert without necessarily being in love with your companion for the evening, let's be honest, the minimum requirement would at least be someone you can make out with during "Trouble". Now, I've gotta admit that I've kinda enjoyed my singleness this past year, since it afforded me the freedom to go on more dates with incredibly-good-looking men in the past 6 or 7 months than I've been on in the past 6 or 7 years. But, I'm going to really need to be NOT single for that Ray Lamontagne show. Or at least be single, but with a really hot date who is gonna be ok with some required cuddling. :) Fortunately for me, I've got two months to figure this dilemma out. Training for that Nike race in 4 days, on the other hand, is lookin a little less feasible...