Russell Lewis, Broker,CLHMS,GRI

Austin, Texas is really in to Halloween and frankly it's one of the biggest holidays because we do take the moniker "Keep Austin Weird" very seriously! I have lived in the Lost Creek Neighborhood here in Austin for almost sixteen years and we are no different. Situated in the Eanes School District we have a large population of children of all ages so there is usually a good crowd of "Trick or Treaters" of all ages out haunting the night beginning around dusk and continuing to the wee hours or whenever the candy finally runs out! Halloween is a fun and silly time but it's always good to be careful and here is a site with some excellent tips

safety tips from injuryboard.com

When our children were younger, my wife and I would take turns accompanying the kids around the neighborhood or staying at home to dish out the candy to the assorted goblins, ghouls, super heroes, tinker bells etc. For many years a neighbor who lived a few houses down installed a stuffed scare crow in a rocking chair with a large bowl of candy and other goodies. Bathed in a dim and spooky light, it was innocent but still a bit scary. The first year we approached the porch with some trepidation and my children carefully reached in to the bowl and scooped up some treats. Walking away to the next house, we passed a group of older kids heading up to the porch and just as we were about to knock at the house next door, we heard the group of teens all scream in unison. Puzzled...yes, but we were on a candy gathering mission so we moved on and thought nothing of it.

A year goes by and for some reason I get Trick or Treat patrol duty again so we head out together in the early evening to begin the annual romp through Lost Creek. Once again, we approach the house with the scare crow but this year both of my children are hesitant and stand at the edge of the porch carefully eyeing the bowl of candy. I finally tell them we need to get a move on because we still have a number of houses to haunt. Neither of them budge. Exasperated, I step on to the porch and reach into the bowl. All of a sudden, the scare crow grabs my hand and I am so startled that I want to scream. Here is the worst part, have you ever been scared and when your mouth opens to shriek, the only thing that comes out is a pathetic squeal? Well, that was me..and my children also screamed and then began howling with laughter. The scare crow also started cackling and eventually I did too.

A few years ago, this mischievous neighbor moved out of the area so I decided to take up the challenge. Last year I dug around in our garage and found the all time creepiest mask ever, some very large clothes, pillows for stuffing, gloves and a large sombrero. I did an excellent job of looking like an inanimate object(for those who know me, this was a herculean task). I planted myself in a lawn chair and strung some colored lights around and waited. The outfit was so creepy that I had to badger convince my daughter to join me in a chair and read a book posing as someone who was there to make sure everyone got a fair share of the candy. The outfit was so creepy that EVERYONE who walked up did so with caution! I have to say that I was very responsible and did not move a muscle when the little ones accompanied by parents approached.

Each and every group of visitors asked, "Is that real, is someone in there?" My daughter was a pro and said nothing but would also whisper the status of the groups so that I would know whether to stay perfectly still or if I could, at the right moment, scare our guests. Towards the end of the evening it got to be a lot of fun because by then it was mostly teens. My daughter knew many of them and I have to tell you took great pleasure in watching then scream as I would suddenly come to life and scare the beejeebers out of them!

This week, my wife asked me if we were going to be doing the stuffed sombrero routine again and I said yes! After all, there are some new kids on the block and there are some that were too young to scare last year so it will be their turn now. And of course, there are all of those parents I let slide, who will see the scary candy clown and still think I am just a stuffed prop! She just laughed and told me that she will be taking her place beside me as the innocent candy monitor this year. We might even set up a video camera for some interesting clips. Whatever you do this year, please remember to:

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

It's the day AFTER Halloween and at the Lewis house, the Scary Clown is bummed and starting to grouse!

Yes, due to any number of circumstances we sadly only had three groups of "trick-o-treaters" (and all too young to frighten) Soooooo....it's back to the garage with our frightening friend and another year before I will have to sit still again! I guess we will have to eat all the candy ourselves...

I took one of those Facebook quizzes awhile back and was moderately surprised to learn that I was "Moderately Liberal" in my political leanings (If leanings is a word). Now if you were to poll a cross section of people who know me you would get some widely contradicting opinions about this statement. For those with whom I hunt and fish I am known as an avid outdoors-man, gun owner and property rights advocate. I am also considered to have a strong attitude toward fiscal policy and don't really care for an invasive and over large Government. Because of these ideas there are those who consider me more than a little conservative. On the other hand I agree with many that we live in a rich and powerful country and it's appalling that we have so much poverty and hunger in our nation. It's also apparent to me that because of the mindless greed and self serving attitude of many that we need to have regulations to curb and at least make some attempt to avoid the disastrous policies of the last eight years. Those ideas would make me a bleeding heart liberal in the eyes of many. Here is the thing, I AM NEITHER, my beliefs over the spectrum of issues in the world are very diverse and do not define me as right or left or in any way pigeon hole me with a particular ideology. In fact I believe that a large majority of the country is divided along a very narrow line and that we are actually very close to agreeing on almost all issues. Right after the election, I wrote a post entitled The Election is over...and we are still HERE! After hard fought primaries and a contentious election, it looked like we were going to experience some civility and maybe have some non-partisan attempts to compromise and even make some progress together. Unfortunately, nothing of the sort took place...

In my opinion, the attempt to divide or Balkanize the American public is the work of those who have an agenda that is not entirely in the best interests of our country as a whole. It is disturbing to me that based on one or two beliefs I find that people I know, pundits on the news, talk radio and TV "Infotainers" from both sides will excoriate me and a large part of the population for not being "American" enough to support them, no matter how ridiculous. To not agree completely and blindly with the various extreme points of view automatically demonizes anyone who does not go along. To vilify others based on a few differences of opinion is a cheap shot and reminiscent of the tactics of Joe McCarthy back in the 50's. This is absurd because issues are not black and white and that kind of thinking only exists in comic books. We live in a Democracy NOT a Theocracy. We have a separation of church and state to protect us from the same sort of ideology that resulted in the Spanish Inquisition and the Taliban. And it's just as bad when you hear the hateful ideas of any Minister or Preacher who takes something from any religious book out of context and uses it to promote a self serving agenda. Extremism is divisive and usually plays on FEAR. Unfortunately fear works, especially on those who are uninformed or find it easier to follow the claims of anyone who happens to have an"opinion du jour" without actually investigating the FACTS.

The use of distortion, obfuscation and outright lying by different groups in an attempt to manipulate the public and the elected representatives has become inexcusable. Like the man in the cartoon above, there is a lot of "yelling at clouds" and very little effort to deal with facts or work in the spirit of compromise. In fact I was always told that when the volume goes up the IQ drops exponentially! I find it alarming that the level of discourse in our debates has deteriorated to name calling, making false and misleading statements, shouting down the opposition and as my Grandmother use to note "displaying a complete lack of manners". When Rep. Joe Wilson screamed out "You lie!" I was dismayed and thought that it was, to put it simply, trashy behavior! And frankly, while I am on this soap box I am very disappointed in the so called leaders on both sides of the aisle in Congress who have failed to get anything done as well as the talking heads who continue to encourage the politics of "NO". It's as if we are witnessing the death of common sense. After all, the media hosts are in business to make money and maintain ratings. I read somewhere that Rush Limbaugh had a $400,000,000 contract. Heck I could probably keep people stirred up and would even do it for half the money?!?! And the left also has it's share of loud mouthed screamers! My cynical side wants me to think that BIG MONEY has paid EVERYONE and that as voters we are completely ignored. Think about this from a standpoint of how you live in your community, relate to your neighbors and how you conduct your business. In Texas we are known (for the most part) as having pretty good manners as well as for priding ourselves on our quality service. When a customer is not happy there are always consequences. dawdling [noun]: the deliberate act of delaying and playing instead of working. This is the kind of "service" we are getting from Congress. Click on the video below for an old school response to bad manners and "dawdling service". I admit that I get a perverse thrill out of the video but would never actually do that to anyone. It would just nullify anything I said as far as compromise and cooperation. BUT I will say that we all need to start treating each other with some RESPECT. And frankly if anyone acting like Joe Wilson showed up at my house yelling at me, I might just...well, I will leave it to your imagination. The other day I was having lunch with a very good friend who I think highly of and we were talking about some political issues about which we have very differing opinions. It was enough to make the conversation a little bit uncomfortable and we acknowledged this and actually laughed about it and went on and enjoyed a very pleasant time together. I guess it comes down to this, we just have to agree to disagree and continue to maintain friendships and working relationships based on the things we admire and respect about each other. Hopefully, in the long run, common sense will eventually return and we will NOT let media pundits, politicians and lobbyists continue to split us up so harshly. After all we may disagree on a few things but we are still neighbors, associates and citizens of a country that allows us to engage in any type of discussion in as heated a manner as we can without encouraging violence and that's something that will always make our nation great!

Let's remember the things that unite us and ignore those who would divide us for their own selfish reasons!

 

The next event of the third season of the Architecture at the Umlauf Series season takes this place Thursday, October 1st. Doors open at at 7:00 pm.

The monthly series was founded and is produced by two of my associates at AvenueOne properties; Scott Harvey and Carla Umlauf (granddaughter of the esteemed sculptor) and is sponsored by our firm, AvenueOne Properties and hosted by The Umlauf Torchbearers. The lectures take place at the beautiful Umlauf Sculpture Garden and the series is now in the second half of its hugely successful third season. J.C. Schmeil AIA is the featured speaker. Catering will be provided by WINK. There is a minimal charge of $5.00 for the event but is free to museum members. Come out and enjoy an excellent talk in this beautiful venue. You might want to show up early because this event has been at capacity at all of the previous lectures!

UPDATE: Due to ACL, there are some parking issues for tonight's lecture. We are working to get them resolved, but please note that the parking area just down the road is open (approx. 2/10 mile to the south of the Umlauf, just past the ball field) and there is also the ACL/Uncle Billy's parking on Sterzing Rd. just north of Barton Springs, which is about 1/4 mile away. We are also working on getting a shuttle service, though this is all very last minute so we apologize in advance for the inconvenience!

Thanks again for your continued interest and support!

Too old to Rock & Roll, too young to die... Ray Lomas

A number of years ago during SXSW here in Austin, Texas I was standing outside a club with a friend who worked as an A&R guy for a large record company waiting to see a band showcase. At one point he held out his hand and in it were the two biggest pills I had ever seen in my life! I looked at him and said, "Thanks man but I don't do that sort of thing anymore"! He just laughed, shook his head and replied, "Don't be a nitwit, These are EAR PLUGS , not pills"! OOPS...and yes, I was more than a little embarrassed. I love all sorts of music but admit I am partial to Rock and Roll and every once in awhile I like to crank it up and push the volume to (as they noted in Spinal Tap) 11... Yep, we are living the good life in Austin, Texas! For those of you who may not know, Active Rain's Community Manager and blogger extraordinaire Active Brad Andersohn is an accomplished guitar wizard, click on his name and you will be treated to a scorching guitar solo!!

As an avid music fan I like all sorts of music, hitting the shuffle mode on my iPod can be a confusing experience because you will skip from Metallica to Mozart, Gospel to Soul, Reggae, old school country, Blues and well... you see what I mean! I remember exactly when I got my first taste of LOUD Rock & Roll. In high school, I skipped class with some friends and ended up at a house where there were no parents during the day! It was a pretty boring experience until one the guys put on a new record (yes, I am talking vinyl here) and the track opened with some sustained feedback that crashed into some loud chords and I had my first experience hearing Jimi Hendrix! It's funny but I still get a chill to this day when I hear Foxy Lady. Music has a huge impact on people of all generations and you would have a hard time finding anyone who did not attach some song to many significant events in their lives. I am not saying that Music can save the world but it certainly has a significant influence. Think about the collapse of the Soviet Union, I know there are lots of people who would like to take credit for that but consider the influence of the Monsters of Rock tours in Moscow during the early 90's and the effect of the full on sonic assault from Texas band Pantera who called themselves the cowboys from hell! And as my friend Mark Varien also pointed out, Mikhail Gorbachev was a ROCKER!

I began listening to all sorts of other harder edged rock bands and I have never really lost my love for a whole range Rock & Roll styles over the years. My friend, Margaret Moser, an incredibly insightful and talented music writer for the Austin Chronicle describes our segment of the baby boom generation as "SONIC BOOMERS". I have to agree that her portrayal is very accurate. The last time I was at a ZZ TOP concert, over half the people there were older than ME! I recently read a post by fellow blogger Sharon Paxson about her attendance at a recent ACDC concert, the Rolling Stones are all in their 60's, many new rock bands pay homage to old school rockers of the 70's,80's and 90's. I am amazed that Ozzy Osbourne is still around and playing before huge crowds. Face it, loud music is not just the pastime and realm of the young. To this day whenever I enter a club or show and it's between songs I seem to always shout "TURN IT UP", no matter how loud the band is already playing! Another rather juvenile stunt I often pull is when I am in the car and I have the music cranked up, I will sometimes turn it up a bit louder and crack the window some so that the cars next to me at a stop light can get a taste. I usually do this next to older folks and often much younger just to see the reaction!

As most of the music loving universe knows, Austin, Texas is Live Music Capital of the World and as such has numerous live music venues. I've listed some of my favorite Rock & Roll venues here in town and though by no means comprehensive, they are all good places to listen to GREAT MUSIC! By the way, for anyone who might get the wrong idea, Rock is not my only music love and next week I might list my favorite boot scootin' dance halls or jazz clubs but this week It's only Rock & Roll but I like it...ENJOY!

Antone's is known as one of the premier Blues Clubs in the nation and world and I can teel you the volume can get very loud at times. Home to Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Vaughn, James Cotton, and many others!

The Continental Club is another place that has been around for many years and play host to local and touring acts in a smaller more intimate venue!

Emo's is one of several clubs along Red River that cater to alternative, metal, and other fringe acts. The last time I was here was to take my son to a Butthole Surfers show. I know the lead singer Gibby Haynes and he left an envelope with passes and you guessd it Ear Plugs along with a note that said,

"WEAR THESE!"

RedEyedFly is a very cool smaller venue also in the Red River District! They just celebrated their ten year anniversary and have enjoyed a variety of shows here including a couple I've attended with my daughter! I would also like to thank the owner for helping me when I locked my keys in the car the day I took this picture!

Stubb's Don't be fooled by the quaint stone building. In the back is a large open air theater that has hosted road shows from all over the world. Stubbs was the place I took our son for his first concert when he was eleven. It was a around Thanksgiving and it only cost some canned good for the local chapter of the Food Bank. Nickelback and Saliva headlined the show; this was before they were playing arenas and my son was pretty excited by the whole experience. This is s great venue to see touring shows if you don't mind standing while you rock! They also have an incredible Gospel Brunch on Sunday's.

La Zona Rosa is a club just west of downtown that has been around since the early 80's. I have seen so many rock, reggae, blues and assorted bands here that I cannot name them all. Although it's been awhile the last show I saw here was a tour by Robin Trower !

Austin Music Hall is in a brand new remodeled building just south of the 360 Condos. A large number of road shows and tours stop here and again the music performed covers a very wide range. About 10 years ago I attended a Motley Crewshow here with a friend who is an architect. We did not have time to go home and change and just showed up wearing suits and ties much to the chagrin of many of the fans who just did not know what a couple of "suits" were doing at a heavy metal show. They must have figured we were cops or extremely bad-A fans and everyone gave us a rather wide berth!

The picture below is from the back of one of the stages currently under construction this week for a little party that happens once a year in Austin known as the ACL Music Festival where several hundred thousand music fans (OF ALL AGES) will gather to hear an enormous range of music representing almost every genre being played these days. It is one of the largest music events in the world and of course, it's right here in The Live Music Capital of the world. I am planning to catch a few shows and if possible will try and catch Pearl Jam ...another band that likes to CRANK IT UP!

Well that's about all for now but before I go I want to tell you one more thing...my daughter came home the other day and told me, "Dad, you know when you pull up next to old people and crank up the tunes?" "Sure," I replied. "Well, my friends and I like doing that too!" I guess it does run in the family, Rock on!!

It's a Good Life in Austin Texas!

In the middle of the Austin's longest drought since the 1950's it has been a losing battle to try and save the yard...it's fried. Water restrictions are in place and are being enforced, and so we have retreated to our back deck overlooking the valley and tried to make it an oasis against the never ending heat. Last weekend, we actually had a very good rain and the weather has cooled to the semi-tolerable 70's in the mornings so I have had the pleasure of enjoying morning coffee while working outside after my morning run. I am enjoying the good life in Austin Texas and I hope you are having a good day!

If you or anyone you know is anticipating purchasing or selling real estate anywhere in Central, West or Southwest Austin or the Westlake/Eanes School District area, I would be happy to be of assistance. Let me put my nineteen years success helping upscale buyers and sellers in Austin's finest neighborhoods to work for you. Contact me for a private consultation at your convenience! Mobile 512-657-8769