Saxon Pub

Saxon Pub

Monday, August 10, 2009

Austin is a city filled with people. It is a city that has a vibe unique to the people who live inside of it. This is first understood coming from a culture in which Independent is not something that is self-promoted.

Moving from Phoenix to Austin has changed the perspective in which I have toward people. In Phoenix, no one has an identity. No one has a sense of self. No one has any true clue what to do or how to live. This is not an attack on Phoenix as I grew up there, but witnessing the lifestyle of Austin there is a definite difference.

Saxon Pub is an establishment that is south of Lady Bird Lake on Lamar. It is in South Austin and a few blocks from the known SoCo. The Pub is nothing more than a few rooms, one that has a stage and some seating, one that has a large bar and the last that has tables. As is the norm in Austin, everything is wood paneled and neon signed lit. We had a table in the back of the third room, this offered low visibility of the stage and the band except for the television screen that was playing the performance life. But, it did allow for more comfortable of seating and a sound level that allowed for quality discussion.

The Pub has housed many famous talents including the Great Willie Nelson. On the evening I attended, Bob Schneider was playing. He is a local Austin musician and plays the venue religiously on Monday nights. The cover was 10 bucks and by the time Schneider took the stage the Pub had reached max capacity and a line was forming outside and around the building.

Schneider is a singer/songwriter born in Michigan and raised in Germany. He currently resides in Austin, TX. He has made over a dozen albums. He is also a published poet. I’d like to think the music has the lyrical description created by Bright Eyes without being so bleak, with the look and musical stylings of Pete Yorn.

Prior to the beginning of the show, the party in which I attended the show with became hungry and the Pub does not serve food. Therefore, utilizing the amazing Iphone, a pizza place was located, an order placed and picked up and brought back into the Pub by a member of our crew. He walked right in without any discussion with the bouncer and was back at the table with a few pizzas from the uniquely named, Austin Pizza.

By this time, I had vacated the tabled and ponied up to the bar to consume more Shiner and try to get a better view of the band. I stood by the entrance of the bar with a clear shot of the stage. This allowed me to watch Bob and his band rock the hell out of their instruments. The vibe of the show was that of Bob himself. It was a chill vibe that was very nurturing. Not to get too Lifetime network on you guys, but that is the vibe of Austin.

The people at the show consummated the vibe of Bob and his music as well as the greater Austin. It is a vibe of understanding and support. It is a vibe of expression and Independence. It is a vibe that I think exists in San Francisco. It is a vibe that exists in pockets of New York and Los Angeles. It is a vibe that is the lifeblood of the artists in San Diego and Chicago. This vibe is something that is brand new to someone that grew up in the suffocating track homes of the Phoenix desert.

I find that people are constantly changing and this causes everything that I am writing to be placed into question. A friend of mine has a blog and the point of his blog is to record what happens during live music concerts. Why do people become so excited and understanding. Can the emotions that are evoked during these shows be developed past just the concert and into everyday life?

I say, yes. I think that you can be as happy as you are during concerts all the time. It does not have to be concerts. This can be anything in your life that brings you joy. If you are newly in Love, you can bottle that and keep that flowing past the first few stages of a relationship. If you have been promoted, you can keep that feeling of accomplishment past the first 90 days and still be proud of who you are months later.

I find that as a society, we are constantly worried. We are constantly worried about what is enough. We are worried about what others think of us. We are worried about how we look. We are worried about what is wrong with someone else. We are worried with what is happening to people on television.

My question is this: When do we worry about ourselves? When do we become selfish and worry about how we are feeling? When do we stop being a cultural push over because an even keel is easier to handle than rocking the boat?

These are questions that I found answers to in Austin. I always thought that I was the only person who wondered why everyone worries about so many things they can not control. I was worried about my job. I was worried about my appearance. I was worried about sports and social activities. I never worried about myself during these things, but rather how I looked to the outside world during these activities.

I am not saying to give up society and go Libertarian. I am not for a revolution and to fight the Man. All I am saying is live. Live the life that you want to lead. Do the things that you want to do. If you are in a relationship that you don’t want to be in, leave. If you are at a job that you hate, leave. In you are in a rut inside of your mind that you can not get out of, leave. There is always an answer to every question by assessing the thing that is causing you pain from a new angle.

This is what I found in Austin the evening that I watched Bob Schneider at Saxon Pub. I found a culture of people who were leading the life they imagined. They didn’t just buy quotable mugs from Starbucks in order to distract themselves from the life they were leading. Grab life and go with it. Get lost in the city you are living in. Take a break and go for a walk. Take time to enjoy the thoughts within your mind. Follow the dreams you had when you were six. They maybe outrageous, but you were probably happier when you were six.

The evening concluded with a trip to Taco Cabana prior to use getting home. Before we left the Pub, we exchanged numbers and pleasantries with the people we were introduced to at the table. This occurrence is mentioned as it is something that has never happened to me before. We actually created friends and exchanged numbers while at a bar listening to music. This is something that is common in Austin and goes further to prove that the people of Austin are just flat out nice. It is still funny to me that I am writing about how we made friends. But, coming from the culture of Phoenix, it was nice to talk to people that were not judgmental and open to your opinion. It is nice to not always have to debate and actually converse with people. Who knows, maybe that is just a step for me leaving my pretentious past to my open-minded future in Texas.

Austin is my Nirvana. Austin is my city of dreams. Austin is my Hope. It is my Barack Obama. It is my unicorn. It is all within my mind and it can be within yours. What is your Austin?

Moral: Bob Schneider is an amazing singer-songwriter and poet; and life is waiting for you.