Before leaving Houston, my brother George and his wife Del introduce us to a Viking game called “cubes”. Boys against girls, George and I demonstrate that Heather’s and Del’s, though shaplier they may be, are certainly more thoroughly kickable. (i.e. we won)
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Part of our audience at SXSW in Austin, Texas – performing at Guero’s Taco Bar…. it was AWESOME.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
The crowd at Guero’s for SXSW was one of the most intent, excited ones we’ve ever had. It was Lovely.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Stephanie’s Id on the Guitar Hero III stage at South by Southwest in Austin, TX.
Stephanie is possibly one of the best performers I’ve ever seen and her band threatens to be perfect. She is a projection of joy and passion and Love and child-like happiness that’s impossible to capture unless you’re THERE and it was awesome to see them on a large stage, with a sound system worthy of thousands. It’s certainly where they deserve to be. A huge part of their charisma (beyond the sheer personality of the singer herself) is the interplay between Stephanie and her guitarist. He looks at her with joy and plays with agony rolling out of him and is generally an amazing player – never playing too much, letting the sound pour out of him with an elegance not often associated with the brashness of lead guitar.
The sun goes down over Austin, TX as we return from Sixth Street back to the comfortable confines of Guero’s for dinner (and to find the t-shirt I wanted!)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
My favourite part of South by Southwest has nothing to do with the fancy stages and huge crowds. It’s the street musicians that come to take advantage of those huge crouds. Some of them, like the G String Band here were much better than most anything than had been on stage. We really want to come back to Austin for something other than SXSW, just to see what it’s like. It could be a really, really cool town. Plus we want to see the bats!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Who’s gay in ilyAIMY?
Recently we received this message on our myspace: “I noticed a while back, that a lot of your friends where gay pride groups. which member of ilyAimy is gay(or lesbian)? or are you guys just amazingly pro gay? “
Now, unfortunately, this individual has privacy settings extreme enough that we can’t actually answer that question, not that I’m even sure HOW to answer it…. it’s funny, I don’t think of us as “amazingly pro-gay”, just as having gay friends and fans. i.e. – we’re just not bigots.
Aesthetically we’re often compared to Ani Difranco, stylistically Rowan and I can be a bit swishy. Heather’s got a short hair cut and Sharif can be kind of metro. I tried dating guys in high school, but it was experimentation. Heather is at least open-minded enough that we can compare notes. Rowan and I have been mistaken for being a couple, but “amazingly pro gay”? What does that even mean?
Well, first off – my paranoia kicks in. I’ve had a couple of friends beaten to within an inch of their Lives for being homosexual, so even if I answer the question for myself (I’m straight) I don’t feel particularly inclined to be really straight (haHA) on anyone else’s orientation….
Second off – we’re not a very activist group. We perform for almost anyone who’ll have us as long as we don’t disagree with their politics or morality. Every week I’m home I run an open mic at a Christian coffeehouse – but I’m not Christian by any stretch of the imagination. I operate by their moral constraints because I see the sense of them. I don’t allow adult language or blatantly sexual metaphors, we avoid blatant drug references and hate language – this isn’t a Christian thing, it’s a family thing, it’s respect for the fact that it’s not just US in there. I’m vaguely worried about what would happen if had a blatantly homosexual musician or poet come to the open mic – as long as they’re not being graphic about anything, they can talk and sing and spout about their Love Lives… I don’t THINK the establishment would have any issue with that, but if they DID simply on the basis that the performer was out of the closet, there would be some issues and I’d probably have to discontinue my association with them.
But I don’t see that as a problem because beyond anything else, the main reason we’re at Java Mammas is because they’re community-oriented, good people.
I’m getting off-topic.
Who’s gay in ilyAIMY? Come and hit on us and you’ll find out, I suppose. Or maybe you won’t. I’m single and straight… no-one else in the band is available and that’s about as far as it’s anyone else’s business! Rowan’s black, there’s no avoiding that. But we’re not amazingly pro-black – and Heather’s a woman but we’re not overly pro-feminist – we’re just ilyAIMY. Pro-human. i love you And I Miss You, baby.
