Deep in the Heart of Texas

We got to Austin yesterday afternoon in beautiful weather.  Checked into the hotel and I did laundry before heading out for dinner before the show.  We're staying downtown so it was a relatively short walk to Stubb's, the BBQ place where Hardy and I ate.  We were joined by Jon Rogers, a good friend of my son who is from Bristol but who is doing graduate work at the University of Texas here in Austin.  The meal was great and then we all three walked to the Paramount Theatre, our venue for the evening for fight call and sound check..

The Paramount is a beautiful old theatre built in 1915.  Over the years the Paramount has hosted everybody from Houdini to Dan Rather to Steve Earle.  Here's a few shots of detail work in the house:

The ceiling of the Paramount

Sunday was Mollie Slattery's birthday so we all sang happy birthday during sound check.

Singing to Mollie

The show was fantastic.  It was another of those magical nights.  We have several native Texans in the cast and I know that playing in such a beautiful historic venue in the state capital was special.  The audience was right with us all night long and it was just one of those nights when everything was clicking at full speed. Certainly a memorable stop.

Afterwards several folks headed out to celebrate Molly's birthday but I hung out with Jon and we shared some rememberances of times gone by and caught up with the present.

After a good night's sleep and breakfast we headed back to the theater.

Monday morning view of downtown Austin from my hotel room

We have over 1000 high school kids in attendance for this morning's show.

The Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas

As I write this it is intermission and the first act was fantastic.  An audience of 1000 high schoolers giving their rapt attention to this classic story playing out on the stage - it can't get much better than that.