Steve, Austin

My day began with coffee and a burrito at the supremely, um, for lack of a less-trite word, funky cafe, Spider House. (Confidential to KR: thanks for the tip!)

Then I strolled through the neighborhood adjacent to the University of Texas campus, where I took this here pic of a Daniel Johnston wall painting. On the campus itself, I was hoping to visit the observation deck atop the University of Texas Tower (from where sniper Charles Whitman shot a bunch of people in '66), but it was closed today. Instead I ate a deliciously simple grilled-cheese sandwich at Dirty Martin's.

Two of my favorite movies were shot here by local guy Richard Linklater (before he started to suck). The town's vibe still rings true with Slacker, filmed nearly 20 years ago, with all its freaky folks. Traces of Dazed and Confused, set over 30 years ago, are less apparent. Top Notch, where Wooderson hilariously hit on Beck's wife, is still here, but Westenfield Park, home of the beer bust, has no moon tower (tho' I've seen others around town).

Dart Bowl has lotsa cool bowling memorabilia... I bought the new Detroit Cobras CD at Cheapo Texas... Craving some relatively healthy food, I was delighted to stumble across the monster Whole Foods flagship store.

Tonight I was torn between bats at the Dell Diamond and bats at the Congress Avenue Bridge. Last night I checked out the Round Rock Express's suburban ballpark, which is pretty fantastic for a AAA venue, but tonight's game's opportunity costs were too high. Fortunately, the live bats didn't disappoint. Standing under the bridge 'til sundown was like watching a pot come to a boil, but eventually thousands of 'em came pouring out for a good 20 minutes... Incidentally, without any thought, this morning I donned my Batman T-shirt, which must've made tonight's few hundred other bat-fans assume I was some bat-obsessed lunatic. However, after dinner at Hut's, some guy on Sixth Street yelled at me that I looked like a child molester.

Keep Austin weird.