The very first act of the festival was a favorite local artist of mine - Kacey Crowley. She's one of those, "when I finally give up my real job and become a rock star, I wanna be just like her..." artists. A tiny woman with an amazing voice and songwriting talent. Since it was so early, we got to stand right in the front row! Dig her sunglasses!

We spent much of the first day wandering from show to show, playing hackysack, and throwing around the Nerf football. But it was SO HOT that we were fading fast! By about 3:00 something had to be done so we headed across the park to Barton Springs pool. This was possibly the BEST IDEA EVER!! We were able to cool off before anyone passed out from heat stroke AND we got to practice our cannonballs.

Sondra demonstrates the miraculous restorative power of Barton Springs! Wheeee!!!! :)

A rosy sunset warms the clouds over Austin. The glass topped Frost Bank building is the latest addition to the skyline, and a fine one in my humble opinion. If you view the building on the diagonal, the large round clock details at the top of the building, along with the angle of the corners form the countenance of an owl - a signature element of the architect's designs.

Sondra and Eric relax on the grass.

By the end of day 1, we'd managed to see 15 bands. By day three we took in a grand total 39 performances! Still, that was only a fraction of the 130 plus artists that performed. This year's lineup was fantastic - and I think even more diverse than in previous years. With something for every musical taste: from Elvis Costello to the Pixies to the Neville Brothers. Here's our much-loved schedule!

The positively yummy bassist from Mofro. Oh yeah, the music was great, too! ;)

Monte Montgomery played a KILLER set at one of the smaller stages and we got right up in front. At the end of his show he pulled a Hendrix-esque move and snapped all the strings on his guitar with one amazing power strum. Great show!

Sunset during Monte's show. I love the way the light behind the tree is making it glow an eerie green.

These next few pictures are actually from a few weeks before ACL fest, but they are so "Austin" that I thought it appropriate to include them here. We were on our way home from getting DRENCHED while camping on the Guadalupe river. We'd driven out of the trip-ending storm to the South of us and were behind the next cell to the North. The combination of the immense black thunderheads, tiny break in the clouds, and the sunset turned the sky this amazing shade of hot pink, and Kearson took some photos out the car window as we drove along. When we got home, we just unpacked our camping chairs and watched the lightening from our front lawn. What a show!

Kearson and I make eyes at each other while taking in Endochine. The shirt I'm wearing here is a fabulous sheer creation covered with butterflies by a local clothing boutique called SoLa - one of the vendors at the festival Art Market. My hat is from last year's ACL Fest. I just love wearable mementos!

A highlight of the show for Sondra and I was seeing Wilco's show on Sunday. They had played the first ACL festival and have just come so far musically since then. It is cool to see the evolution of the group over a few years. Can you see Jeff Tweedy on the Jumbotron to the right?

A final picture of me and Sondra on the last day of the festival. Yay Festival Girls!

Ah, ACL Festival - I can't believe another year has come and gone. Sigh. Luckily, there's plenty of music in Austin to tide us over until next September. By the way, next year's Festival dates are set for September 23rd - 25th. Hope to see you there!!!