First off, a shout out to John, who lives next door to Mike and Keelie in Austin. He reads our blogs regularly, and it was a treat for me to meet a reader in person.

Once again, I really dug Austin. It is the greatest little city ever, and I would move there in a heartbeat, except there are no jobs, it is as humid as a wet sock, and it is surrounded by the rest of Texas. We never paid more than $5 for a drink. I bought two top shelf vodka cocktails and it came to $8.75. For both drinks together. The land is beautiful, and the town has a vibrant, funky arts scene. Everyone is super friendly and laid back. Emily, Jenny Purple and I walked back to the hotel from the venue on Saturday night, and happened across an art opening at the Austin Museum of Art. We got to see a couple of very cool installations, my favorites being the clear tubes with water rushing through them that ran through a couple of the rooms, the giant paper strips that created a giant diorama when you stepped back, and the video piece you walked on that was like a stream filled with water, bugs and flowers.

Ratgirl and Jobber Ratgirl also need a shout out. You can see a photo of them on Steve's blog. Their costumes are made out of trash, and they stay in character the entire time. I thought it was a bit, but there was a chance that they were exploited mental cases, Austin's Scary Debby and Scary Purple. Scary Purple is not related to our own Jenny Purple. SD and SP were two girls at Emerson that one wished were pretending, but they weren't. Ratgirl works by day at a law firm and goes to great lengths to keep her actual identity a secret.

In general, the comedy coming out of Austin was a little more raw, a little rough around the edges. They can take the comedy risks and succeed or fail without worrying about a casting director who might be in the audience that night seeing an off show. PUNCH DRUnK Comedy of Dallas reminds us that the funny is that they DON'T actually look good it the bondage wear, and that's why the bit works. If they looked like professional doms, it wouldn't be as funny. The entire fest embodied the kind of comedy they do down at the FAKE Galleryin Los Angeles.

Can't wait until next year.

BTW, the lights went out at Pirateville as well. The company next door did not lose power, and the planes still kept landing and taking off, so we all just assumed it was a car hitting a pole or something. No one assumed it was terrorists. I saw this morning that the rest of the country was looking (hoping?) for a calamity.

My last day was yesterday. A great relief and some well deserved time off.