All was well until late into the night.
We played a packed free show at Mohawk with some great bands. We also met up with Dead Oceans Label Czar Phil and SC/Jag/DO UK Publicist Manish for a wonderful meal. We had margaritas, tortilla soup, fish tacos, and the guacamole they make right at your table. But towards the end of the evening our sleeping arrangements fell through…
That’s where trouble started. I fell asleep and missed a good portion of it (thankfully) but the dudes decided to head to south Austin to find a hotel room. By the time they arrived there, they were so tired that Todd volunteered to sleep outdoors—it was mild and comfortable weather—with his sleeping bag and pillow while the rest of us crashed in the van.
When I awoke, a terrible comotion was afoot. Apparently, the spot Todd handpicked had also been paw-picked by…
A filthy SKUNK.
Yeah, he got sprayed hard. So when he returned to the van everyone thought a skunk sprayed in the vicinity. In truth, the skunk sprayed Todd (plus his sleeping bag/clothes/pillow) directly and as soon as he was in the van this became obvious. In my partial sleep-coma, I had a hard time understanding what had happened. Josh described it as “the smell of 1,000 burning onions.”
The next thing I wake to is a Starbucks parking lot at 4:30 am, Todd crouched in the headlights stripping down to his boxer shorts. We eventually got to a hotel (they gave us two full days for $60—SWEET!) where Todd mixed up a de-skunk formula to take to the shower while the rest of us got some much needed sleep. A casualty of the night, however, was all of Todd’s gear—sleeping bag, pillow and clothes he was wearing.
I’m sure that Todd driving in underwear (and fedora) while sipping on a huge can of Diet Rockstar energy drink was quite a sight to the folks at the hotel.
I came-to in time to join Jones for some 6 am continental breakfast (Texas-shaped waffles!) and here we are prepping the van to get a much needed detailing before we continue our sxsw experience.
Off day today. Stay tuned!
Kyle
