About a year after the Second Battle of Adobe Walls and later fighting in the Red River War, Quanah Parker and his band of Comanches surrendered themselves at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1875. During the next 35 years, Parker continued to represent his people, and also became known as a rancher, statesman and Native American Church leader. (Photo from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission)

One of the most compelling stories in Texas history is that of kidnapped settler Cynthia Ann Parker and her son, Quanah Parker, who became the last chief of his Comanche tribe. (Be sure to pick up your October 2012 issue of Texas Highways for Russell A. Graves’  story on the recently established Quanah Parker Trail–a preview can be found here.) Part of Quanah Parker’s legacy is his role in the Second Battle of Adobe Walls in 1874, in which he led hundreds of men in an attack on an outpost of white buffalo hunters. The hunters held their ground, meaning a defeat for the southern plains tribes that would hasten their movement to reservations and the extermination of wild buffalo in the region.

On Saturday, this important period in Texas frontier history is examined during the Adobe Walls Trek, an annual event presented by the Hutchinson County Museum in Borger. Expert presentations begin at 9 a.m.  in front of Borger’s City Hall, then continue by caravan to the sites of the 1864 and 1877 Battles of Adobe Walls. There is no charge to participate, though donations are welcome. For more details, call the museum at 806/273-0130.

More information about the Battles of Adobe Walls and their implications for Texas history can be found in this booklet on the museum’s website.

And while you’re in the region, you might also be interested in stopping by the Calf Fry Cook-Off, Barbecue and Beach Party in Canadian (about an hour east of Borger) on Saturday. Pro tip: If you don’t already know what a “calf fry” is, let your education begin by just eating and enjoying — then ask.

The kids are back in school, and we’re already working on the winter Texas Events Calendar, but hopefully there’s still room in everyone’s schedule for summer’s last hurrah – Labor Day!

In addition to the usual holiday celebrations, many communities choose this weekend to put on some of their biggest and most unique events.

West puts on its signature Czech heritage festival, Westfest, this Friday through Sunday. Along with the expected festival offerings of a parade and carnival, this event stands out for its cultural displays, including costumes, polka music and dancing, and (my favorite) tasty kolaches. Saturday is the main day for musical entertainment, with Brave Combo and Larry Joe Taylor performing.

Marfa’s Labor Day weekend tradition is the annual Marfa Lights Festival, named for the eerie nighttime phenomenon seen in the desert nearby. From Aug. 31-Sept. 2, the festival will present free concerts, a parade, 5K run and other activities, plus the event’s first soapbox derby.

Then, if you’re already out in Marfa, you might as well take a short drive to Alpine to see the hot-air balloons at the Big Bend Balloon Bash, which runs Sept. 1-3. The balloons are only in flight from about 7:30-10 a.m. (weather permitting), but if an evening visit is more your speed, check out the 8 p.m. Fire Concert at Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport on Sunday.

Galveston’s newest addition to the Labor Day event roster is the BrewMasters Craft Beer Festival, happening Aug. 31-Sept. 3 at Moody Gardens. More than 400 craft beers will be featured at more than 10 events, including beer tastings, food pairings, seminars, poolside parties and a live country music concert. Tickets can be purchased in advance (which also is a good time to plan a safe ride home).

A roundup of other events this Labor Day weekend:

Anna: Hammerfest 2012

Bertram: Oatmeal Festival

Boerne: Kendall County Fair

El Paso: Sun City Music Festival

Granbury: Hoodstock Music Festival

Waelder: Fiesta Guacamole

On a recent visit to Houston, I made plans with my sister, Jean to go the Houston Museum of Natural Science to see Titanic, The Artifact Exhibition before it leaves (on view through Sep. 23), and also explore the new Hall of Paleontology.

Long before the 1997 Oscar-winning film, I have always been fascinated with the history of the shipwrecked ocean liner and the class system within it. A traveling exhibit in honor of the 100^th anniversary of the tragedy, Titanic, The Artifact Exhibition contains items uncovered from the ship including clothing, jewelry, luggage and leather goods, stationery, perfume bottles (one of the bottles still bears a faint scent) and china used in the first-, second-, and third-class dining rooms. I learned that china imprinted with the simple, smart design of the ship’s White Star Line logo was served in third-class to discourage theft from passengers. (I must admit if I had been a passenger, the opposite would’ve been true!) The items for the most part are remarkably well-preserved, thanks to a combination of the type of chemicals used to tan leather suitcases a century ago, plus the enormous water pressure from the ocean floor helped form a tight seal around the trunks and cabinets containing the contents.

Other class distinctions: differences in size, décor, and even bathroom fixtures in the classes of staterooms. Many first-class staterooms had private bathrooms, outfitted with marble toilets, whereas in third-class, some 710 passengers shared two full bathrooms and several water closets, although there were chamber pots in each room. Despite the disparate accommodations, the Titanic was considered a well-appointed ship even by third-class standards compared with similar vessels at the time.

A wall chart contrasts the costs of a first-class, second-class, and third-class ticket in 1912 and 2012 dollars. A standard first-class ticket cost today’s equivalent of $57,000; a third-class ticket, $900, still a pricey amount when one considers many third-class passengers were families immigrating to the U.S. that included at least several children and a relative or two.

Not surprisingly, most of the artifacts and displays are fragile, displayed in low light and cordoned off or encased in glass. However, a touch display of a simulated iceberg truly felt bone-chilling. According to a quote from an exhibit caption, “Striking the water was like a thousand knives being driven into one’s body. The temperature was 28 degrees, four degrees below freezing,” —Charles Lightoller, Titanic Second Officer.

As we entered the exhibit, each person was handed a boarding pass bearing the name and a brief bio of an actual passenger on the Titanic. At the end of the exhibit, a mural-size chart reveals whether your passenger perished or survived the shipwreck. Jean and I both received boarding passes from second-class passengers who happened to have survived.  My passenger, Miss Dagmar Jenny Ingeborg Bryhl, age 20 from Skara, Sweden, who boarded second-class, accompanied by her brother, Kurt, and her fiancé Ingvar Enander, survived. As I read what happened to her companions, Kurt, who was traveling as an interpreter for the couple and planned to immigrate to the U.S., sadly, did not.

We exited Titanic directly into the newly reborn and expanded Hall of Paleontology, which features more than 30 dinosaurs, along with large mammals. Displays of these fossilized creatures are not in the usual static poses, but in situational, active settings such as eating, and chasing (and being chased). The Hall of Paleontology’s curator, Robert Bakker was one of Steven Spielberg’s advisors on 1993’s Jurassic Park. Rather than seeming fierce and menacing as in the movie, I found the creatures’ poses more personable and even endearingly irreverent. The spare, modern presentation of these massive once-beings against a white backdrop, accented with strategic lighting, evoke the feeling that you’re in an art gallery and not a natural history museum.

Sea life is also shown here in a virtual aquarium, and there are even touchable specimens, including fossilized dinosaur skin. Other smaller creatures that caught my attention: the ammonite, with its textured shell and graceful tentacles, and the squid-shaped head of the boomerang-headed amphibian gave it a Dalí-esque appearance. Besides the creatures’ skeletal shapes, the shapes they left behind are also on view, in the form of coprolites, or fossilized excrement. They look just as you’d think they would—you can’t miss it!

When I lived in Houston, I paid many fond visits to the old Hall of Paleontology’s Life Through Time exhibit, with a T. rex replica sharing the centerpiece with the museum’s first dinosaur, Diplodocus hayi. This dazzling, new Hall of Paleontology is truly eons of light-years ahead, and even boasts a well-preserved, real-bone, T. rex now!

Reflections on Artifact Collecting and the Science of Archeology

See related: Our Paleo Past

Paleoindian experts once believed that Clovis culture - defined by the use of signature stone tools - was the first culture of the americas. Archeologists at the Gault Site have discovered evidence placing humans in Central Texas much earlier. (Photo by J. Griffis Smith)

By Dale Weisman

I admit it: There’s something magical about spotting an arrowhead on the ground, picking it up and holding it in my hand like an ancient talisman. I imagine the keen intelligence, the sculptural ability, and the skillful hands that deftly chipped the projectile point from a rough chunk of chert hundreds or thousands of years ago.

For some collectors, the artifact’s appeal lies not with its timeless beauty or archeological significance but with its monetary value. An authentic, finely crafted and sought-after projectile point – an Andice, a Perdiz or a Scottsbluff, for example – can fetch top dollar at an artifact show or when sold online. Follow the money in the artifact collector market, and it often leads to a pay-to-dig site on private property or sometimes to a looted site on public or private land dug up by trespassing “pot hunters.”

It’s understandable and perhaps forgivable to pick up an artifact lying on the surface of the ground. But to dig up a significant archeological site – taking scores or hundreds of artifacts out their historic or prehistoric context and leaving behind piles of dirt, craters, and uprooted plants – is a destructive act on a much larger scale that I find disturbing.

I’ve seen the destruction first hand. Several years ago I participated in a Texas Master Naturalist clean-up project on public water quality lands south of Austin. Looters had dug up a large burned-rock midden (a prehistoric trash heap containing organic material and artifacts), leaving a house-sized crater ringed with huge piles of dirt and rock. We spent much of the day filling in the depression and replanting disturbed vegetation. The only good news in this sad story is that the looters eventually were caught and fined.

Collecting artifacts on public lands, such as a national or state park, is illegal. However, it’s perfectly legal to dig for artifacts on private land (with the landowner’s permission). There are no laws in Texas or elsewhere in the United States regarding archeological sites on private property except for laws pertaining to sites with human burials, which differ from state to state.

Some landowners with middens or other archeological sites on their properties allow collectors to dig and remove artifacts for a daily fee. While this pay-to-dig practice is legal, the results are irreversible. Digging up a Native American site obliterates the archeological record contained in the strata – the layers of soil that have accumulated for thousands of years.

Each artifact reflects an individual or shared behavior that sheds light on how a person or a culture lived and behaved in prehistoric times.

Archeologists are interested in lithic artifacts buried in well-stratified sites. Each artifact reflects an individual or shared behavior that sheds light on how a person or a culture lived and behaved in prehistoric times. The layers of soil provide useful information about our ancient past that archeologists, paleobotanists, paleontologists, and other specialists can interpret using sophisticated techniques that are not available to the average collector or digger.

An object lesson in how diggers often destroy the archeological record of an area is the Gault site in Bell County. For nearly 70 years, multiple landowners ran the Gault property as a pay-to-dig site, collecting in later years up to $25 per digger per day. Maintaining a pay-to-dig operation was more profitable than trying to run cattle on the hardscrabble land. Over the decades, countless collectors dug up the site, destroying much of the prehistoric record. The Gault site contains one of the largest burned rock middens in Central Texas – longer than a football field and originally six feet high. Pay-to-dig collectors greatly reduced the midden’s size in search of artifacts. Fortunately, they didn’t dig deep enough to disturb the underlying layers containing artifacts from the Clovis culture and even earlier cultures.

One sunny afternoon I sat at picnic table in a wildflower-dappled pasture on the Gault Site, now a protected archeological preserve, and talked with Clark Wernecke, the executive director of the Gault School of Archeological Research. Our conversation brought into focus the important role archeology plays in the scientific study of human cultures.

‘We are ultimately trying to understand human behavior. If we understand past behavior, we’ll understand ourselves better and where we are going in the future.’

“Archeologists are only interested in people,” Clark explained. “We are ultimately trying to understand human behavior. If we understand past behavior, we’ll understand ourselves better and where we are going in the future.

“We study people through material artifacts and environmental data left behind. In other words, we look at people’s garbage. Instead of being like Indiana Jones searching for the Crystal Skull, we are more like Sherlock Holmes. We like to call ourselves CSI Prehistoric.”

Inevitably, we talked about diggers and looters and their impact on archeological sites in Texas. “Everyone hates looters and trespassers who jump your fence and dig holes,” said Clark. “But the truth is, almost all archeologists started as collectors who picked up stuff when they were kids. Where archeologists differ from collectors is that when we pick something up, we wonder how old it is, how did they make it, where did it come from, who made it? Most collectors think that it’s neat looking and put it on their wall and classify it like stamp collecting.

“There is this tension between archeologists and diggers and collectors, and in particular looters, because they are hunting individual artifacts. As soon as you remove those objects from the site, you destroy the story. We are trying to recreate the story, and every little thing at a site tells a bit of the story.”

Archeologists do not dig an entire site – typically only 10 percent of the site’s surface area – unless it is in danger of being destroyed by development or inundated by a reservoir. According to Clark, only three percent of the Gault site has undergone archeological excavation.

We try to leave many areas intact for future generations of scientists who will apply new instruments and tests, resulting in new information.”

“Archeology is a destructive science, and archeologists get only one shot at gathering data from the strata as they dig,” said Clark. “We try to leave many areas intact for future generations of scientists who will apply new instruments and tests, resulting in new information.” When archeologists work at a site like Gault, they dig through each layer with painstaking care, often using plastic tools, bamboo sticks and even chopsticks to avoid damaging fragile chert while unearthing them. In one case, archeologists at Gault removed 16,309 chert flakes from a one-meter square area just five centimeters deep! They wash, measure, number and bag every single rock, and the bagged rocks go from the dig site to the laboratory for analysis.

Archeologists can learn a lot about the lifeways of Paleo cultures by studying their lithic tools, how they were made and used. Scientists examine the edges of tools under microscopes to determine wear patterns. Every tool has a telltale signature of the material it was used to cut, such as meat, hide, grass, wood or bone.

When a lithic artifact is found in situ with organic material such as bone or charcoal, archeologists can use radiocarbon dating technology to pinpoint the age of the organic material and hence the artifact. If organic material is insufficient or not available, archeologists sometimes use optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) technology to determine the age of the surrounding soil. OSL measures the amount of energy stored in grains of quartz and feldspar contained in the buried soil. After the soil is buried and no longer exposed to sunlight, the mineral grains accumulate energy. Optical stimulation in a special lab releases the energy, which is measured to determine when the soil – and the artifact – was buried.

Each day of field work at an archeological site results in 20 days in the lab. The total process is long and laborious, involving much paperwork.

“Some of the stuff found at Gault may not be analyzed in my lifetime,” says Clark. This unanalyzed lithic material ends up in a storage facility like the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) of the University of Texas in Austin.

Artifact collectors often complain that archeologists are really no better than diggers because they also destroy sites through excavation, and then they lock up the artifacts in vast warehouses like TARL, never to be seen or experienced by the general public.

Established as a National Monument in 1965, Alibates Flint Quarries offers insights into the Plains Village culture that thrived here between A.D. 1050 and 1450. (Photo by J. Griffis Simth)

The Texas Archeological Society (TSA) and its statewide regional affiliates also provide opportunities to participate in digs at sites on public and private land. Avocational archeologists have made many important contributions to the archeological record.

Archeology, however, is a scientific pursuit that’s truly open and accessible to the public. From neophytes to students to avocational (amateur) archeologists, anyone can participate in scientific field work at some level and experience the thrill of archeological discovery. Major archeological sites in Texas such as the Gault site and Lubbock Lake Landmark actively involve volunteers in field work. The Texas Archeological Society (TSA) and its statewide regional affiliates also provide opportunities to participate in digs at sites on public and private land. Avocational archeologists have made many important contributions to the archeological record.

Ultimately, what separates professional and avocational archeologists from diggers is the attitude that each individual has about finding an artifact and understanding its significance in the greater picture of human culture.

“Archeologists are not after just individual artifacts,” says Clark. “We are after stories that illuminate human behavior, to try and better understand our species. If you take the artifacts out of the ground without documentation and research, we lose that story, and you never get it back. It’s a little bit of all of our past that is gone forever. All you have left is something to look at on the wall, and I think that’s a shame.”

As musicians and fans roll in for the annual Navasota Blues Festival this Friday and Saturday, I wondered: How did this town get its title as the “Blues Capital of Texas?”

Mance Lipscomb died in 1976 in his hometown of Navasota, Texas.

A key figure in the area’s music heritage is songster and blues musician Mance Lipscomb, who was born in Navasota in 1895 and spent much of his life as a tenant farmer before releasing his first album 1960. (The term “songster” refers to traveling musicians who played in a wide variety of styles that influenced and blended with blues music as it’s known today.) After being signed by a major label at age 65, Lipscomb became a regular at music festivals and blues clubs around the country before returning home to Navasota in his final years. Today, the city celebrates his musical legacy with a two-day festival featuring celebrated local and regional blues performers.

This year’s Navasota Blues Fest is Aug. 10-11 at the Grimes County Expo Center (yes, it’s inside with air conditioning – an important detail during a Texas summer!) For details, check out our event listing here.

Other events happening around the state include:

Alpine: Big Bend Ranch Rodeo, Aug. 10-11

Chappell Hill: Lavender and Wine Fest, Aug. 11

De Leon: Peach and Melon Festival, Aug. 7-11

Howdy, folks! My name is Erin, and I’ve mostly worked behind the scenes here at Texas Highways as editor of the event listings on the website, as well as in the magazine and the Texas Events Calendar. I’m excited to join the team on TexasHighways.com to highlight the wonderful events the Lone Star State has to offer on my new blog, Texas To Do.

Let’s get started with some picks for events happening around the state this weekend. If you’ve never experienced the Texas Panhandle, this weekend would be a great time to make the drive to Dalhart for the XIT Rodeo and Reunion. Starting in 1937, cowboys who worked the once-sprawling XIT Ranch gathered here to reminisce with their families, and put on a rodeo and free barbecue for the public. Today, the event has grown into a massive affair that triples the size of the town, offering the World’s Largest Free Barbecue, a fiddlers’ contest, arts-and-crafts show, concerts and more. Check out the links below for details on the XIT Rodeo and Reunion, and other events this weekend.

Dalhart: XIT Rodeo and Reunion, Aug. 2-4

Llano: Hill Country Hammerfest Aerobatic Contest, Aug. 3-4

Tomball: Tomball Night, Aug. 3

San Antonio: Final Night of the Balcones Heights Jazz Festival, Aug. 3

F.I.S.H. by Donald Lipski at I-35 underpass

TH’s May cover story of San Antonio’s River Walk reminded me of a recent visit to the area.  After an evening of celebrating my nephew Will’s graduation from medical school at Tower of the Americas’ Chart House, I intended to stop for a nightcap at the Esquire Tavern on the River Walk on the way back to the hotel.  But I overindulged and was ready to turn in for the night.  By morning, I was rested and ready to take a stroll on the River Walk, with the goal to walk as far as the Museum Reach extension to see the art installations and recent additions to the area.

It’s been nearly seven years since I’ve been to the River Walk, and it was interesting to see how much has changed and how little has changed.  And it seems it accomplished both. I usually associate the River Walk with late afternoon and nighttime activity, so the morning jaunt was a novel adventure. In daylight and without the boisterous crowds, I was able to see and appreciate the beauty and diversity of commerce coexisting with art and nature, plus more easily locate some of the newer hotspots like Lüke and Ocho as well as the classic Esquire.

Early a.m. sighting: Family of ducks heading to the river

As one might expect, there was hardly a soul out at 8:00 a.m. as I started near Navarro St., except for the occasional jogger and a few sanitation workers finishing up a spotless cleaning of the River Walk.  But as I walked north, I noticed a few more early risers, and how their characteristics would change, from wide-eyed curious tourists ogling the enormous hibiscuses, and as I headed further north toward the San Antonio Museum of Art, those who resembled folks living nearby, nonchalantly walking their golden retrievers or with toddlers in larger, non-travel-size strollers.

And the surroundings became less commercial and more creative, with underpasses adorned with colorful light installations and artfully arranged industrial panels, amplified sound effects of birds and insects, and at my end point, a school of luminous fiberglass fish under I-35.  On my way back, I stopped to admire the only lock and dam in Texas, which is mechanically similar to the one in the Panama Canal.

Just over an hour later, I’ve returned to my starting point, exhilarated by the sights and sounds of my Sunday morning River walk, ready for coffee and tacos.

Photo by Peter Brown

Texas Photographers: Descriptions of China, now showing at the Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio, offers  perceptive views of a vast and fast-developing nation through the eyes of five photographers whose careers and creative visions are widely varied: Peter Brown from Houston, Al Rendon, Ricardo Romo, and Ansen Seale from San Antonio, and Joel Salcido from Austin. I had a chance to view the exhibit with my daughter, Lucy, as Fiesta celebrations drew to a close.

The images, shot last fall in and around Shanghai, Lishui City, Wenzhou, and Beijing, were part of a cultural exchange between the Confucius Institute at The University of Texas at San Antonio and the China Photographers Association. The photographers were also invited to show their Texas work at the association’s International Photographic Art Exhibition in Lishui.

Although the photographers shot from the same locales, which range from a Chinese opera performance to street market scenes to breathtaking rural landscapes, the images convey distinctive viewpoints. The styles range from classic photojournalism to abstract digital wizardry.

Photo by Joel Salcido

Peter Brown’s glistening images of fresh pork and beef cuts in an outdoor market looked appealing even to my vegetarian daughter. I initially found Ansen Seale’s prints of exaggeratingly expanded street views a bit jarring, but upon further inspection was mesmerized by the surreal effect. Ricardo Romo’s tranquil image of modest, tile-roofed homes flanking a verdant countryside evoked resemblances to rural France. Al Rendon’s depiction of tango dancers provides a joyful context to the bustling Tiananmen Square backdrop. Joel Salcido’s images reveal versatility and humor, whether from a view of a stylist on break in a hair salon or the nostalgic scroll-like quality of a sepia-toned, circle-framed Great Wall. Salcido, a longtime TH contributor, also displayed images from our small-town Texas photo feature series in the Lishui exhibit.

We noticed there were no captions accompanying the photos. While at first it felt a bit puzzling wondering what was shot where, as we viewed each image, we found this encouraged more active interpretation from the viewer.

Texas Photographers: Descriptions of China is on view at the ITC through May 27^th.  While at the museum, don’t miss A Maverick’s Texas, photographs taken by students of Pasadena Memorial High School near Houston. The images were inspired by the work of TH Photo Editor Griff Smith, who recently met with the students. Also be sure to see Timeless Texas Toys, which includes an exhibit of paper dolls of famous Texans created by Smithville illustrator Tom Tierney, and a video interview with the artist.

As I was covering SXSW Film for TH, I spent my time in line waiting to get into screenings to observe and chat with my queue-neighbors. Like my colleague Lori Moffatt, I attended most of the screenings with a film pass. I kept thinking about my experience as a music fan, going to free SXSW music shows and ACL Fest, and how rabid music fans differ from serial filmgoers, and what these tribes have in common.

Among the film-pass people I’ve met at various theaters, I found that they tend to be local Austinites. In contrast, more of the SXSW music fans, even the wristband- and badge-less, hail from out-of-town, and with ACL Fest it’s about even. Film-pass folks are loyal, too—many buy SXSW Film passes every year, much like ACL Fest goers. My cinephile friends Tina and Michael are in the film-pass camp, and they also get passes for the Austin Film Festival in the fall.

Film-pass people are a hardy, tenacious bunch. The steady rain on the first two days of SX Film didn’t deter long lines of pass-people, hoping to get into the premiere showing of the docu-thriller The Imposter (most did not) or to see Trash Dance or Killer Joe (most if not all did). Everyone I spoke to in the pass lines managed to get into their must-see screenings, and knew to avoid the tiny Violet Crown or Ritz theatres. Many were also waiting until later in the week, when SX Music starts, to see the popular buzz films.

I’ve always prided myself on the number of bands I can see in one day at ACL Fest (at least five to eight), but with films, I could only manage one on that rainy Saturday, three on Sunday, and one per weekday. Some of the pass-folks I spoke to saw at least three or four movies a day. There’s also a more defined schedule with films, and figuring in travel and wait times. Plus, movies generally start with more punctuality than music performances.

There doesn’t seem to be a stereotype for pass-people: I’ve met a cinema-obsessed teen and her mom; a petite middle-aged woman who works full-time yet had seen 14 films by Tuesday night; a film critic for an online movie site; an older gentleman who’s a big Will Ferrell fan; as well as college students on spring break, and even fashionably-dressed, badge-less hipsters.

One difference I’ve noticed, as a music fan who often goes solo for SX- and ACL Fest, are the large numbers of singular film-goers, both female and male. The music events tend to draw more pairs and packs. Maybe the experience of watching a movie in a quiet, dark theater seems more suited to solo activity than seeing a live performance with a crowd of raucous music fans.

You can also make fast friends with the film bunch, as you’ll see some of the same people in line for different films, and they won’t hesitate to compare notes, and rave or rant on what they’ve seen. It’s a little harder to spot familiar strangers among the massive crowds at music shows, whether it’s SXSW or ACL Fest.

Finally, one curious thing I’ve noticed in the film lines (both badge and pass), and waiting for music to begin at wide-open spaces like Auditorium Shores, are the lack of iPads or e-readers and the presence of books, especially hardbound volumes, to pass the time. Seems the printed word may still be thriving, even at SXSW.

Liliana Saumet of Bomba Estereo at Auditorium Shores

As SXSW Film was winding down, I set aside time for some of the free SXSW music shows. I went to Thursday’s Auditorium Shores concert and saw M. Ward and later, the Shins. I was pleased and surprised by M. Ward’s high-energy set, and also the Shins’ recent addition, guitarist Jessica Dobson, who I think brings an edgier and more distinctive sound to not only the new material, but enhances their older hits without changing the structure. I also spent most of Friday afternoon at Waterloo Records, another major hub for free SXSW shows.  I heard Talib Kweli, Jimmy Cliff, Of Montreal, and Gary Clark Jr. play to a near-capacity crowd and all performed phenomenal shows. And I returned to Auditorium Shores one last time to hear Bomba Estereo perform a short but explosive set before heading to UT for the Big Easy Express film screening with Mumford & Sons headlining a live show.

Two big misses/goofs: I took a break for lunch around 4 and missed Father John Misty, who I later discovered is Josh Tillman, former member of the Fleet Foxes, one of my favorite bands. And I stuck around for the headliner, 80s’ hard-rock veterans the Cult, mistaking them for a younger indie pop band called the Cults. I felt so foolish, as the Cult took over a half-hour to set up and I had plans to meet friends on S. Congress. But the next day I felt somewhat vindicated when one of my young SXSW houseguests revealed to me that she and her friend made the same goof. Legions of middle-aged biker types surrounding the stage also tipped them off that maybe they weren’t here to see the same band!