A Perfect Austin Evening

Great band, crappy picture.

When you hear that Austin is the Live Music Capital of the World, you probably think of a night at the Continental Club, or Emo's, or any of a couple dozen other venues -- packed with people, the music loud and intense and danceable, a firehose of sounds and images blasting you.

But sometime live music is a babbling brook on a moonlit evening, filling the air with just enough sparkle and rhythm to make magic. And so, last night in the "yard" of a coffeehouse under a just-past-full moon, a dozen friends and I listened to great music in what was essentially a private party.

It was the perfect arena for my mood. I was feeling pensive and quiet after a long, hard week. I went to the Irie Bean coffeehouse on South Lamar to meet up with my friend Laura and some others. Shanna, Karen and Danien were there, and so were new acquaintances like Callie, Dan, Amy, Elise and Emily. I even took some pictures, which I will post soon.

The music was wonderful. Ghosts and Sparrows is Barbara K, Richard Bowden and John Jordan. They are all great musicians, and each song turned into a jam, with Barbara on guitar, John on bass and Richard on violin alternately adding great licks and sublime texture to the music. They were accompanied occasionally by Thom the World Poet, whose meditations on Life Its Ownself were perfectly framed by their music.

A perfect Austin evening.

UPDATE 9/30/07: More pictures from Irie Bean here.