It may seem strange to feature a photo of an English rock musician in this post about Texas, but it’ll all make sense.

My first trip to Texas was a brief one, on the road trip route in 1997, a little out of our way, as we made our way from Arkansas up to my uncle’s in Tulsa. We stopped at a friend’s in Dallas for a night (Marble Slab for ice cream, lots of rain, and a bar in Deep Ellum with a lounge band named Mr. Pink) before heading north to Oklahoma the next day via Paris.

My second trip to Texas was far more interesting and fulfilling: I spent a week in Austin in 2003 at South by Southwest, with nothing to do but see as many bands and as many films as possible. Amanda’s roommate Aaron, from her apartment in Somerville, went every year, and one year, offered me a platinum pass (access to every show and screening) if I got myself to Austin, so I took him up on the offer with no hesitation. I had never been to Austin before, and it lived up to everything I’d heard about it: it was beautiful, relaxed, full of nice people, with great restaurants, plentiful bars, and, during South by Southwest, it was about the best place I could imagine finding myself. The lineup in 2003 happened to feature some of my favorite artists, including Blur, Supergrass, Sondre Lerche, and (two-thirds of) R.E.M., and I ended up seeing some terrific shows in tiny venues that week. The week was also a great chance to see Caroline, whom I hadn’t seen in awhile after we both left the Pioneer Valley, and we hung out between screenings and shows. It was great to see Austin from her perspective, instead of merely the SXSW tourist point of view, and it was nice to catch up. We went to a war protest on the steps of the capitol; I can’t believe how long ago that was.

The week had a lot of variety: I got to see Blur in a small club, from the front row (the photo above), and I got to hang out with Marty and see the Washington Social Club play in someone’s back yard. I saw Peter Buck and the Minus 5 play at the Continental Club, and sat next to Mr. Buck and Mike Mills at a breakfast place one morning. I saw the indefatigable Willie Nelson, and talked to the relative newcomer Sondre Lerche, who was very nice. I saw the Polyphonic Spree for the first time, which is always a crazy experience, and watched the Frames play under a tent behind a bar, years before Glen Hansard would win an Oscar for his music from Once. I often think of going back to the conference one year, but I know it would never be as great as it was that year. More photos from that week can be found here.

I returned to Austin in 2005, for the AMIA conference, which meant more movies and more hanging out with Caroline, and a nice respite from winter in Rochester. Texas, like Georgia, is on our list of places to return to soon because we’ve still got some unfinished baseball park business in Arlington and Houston. I smell a road trip…