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March 15, 2006

Gimme Back

Five years ago I was standing at an outdoor show at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas listening to Slobberbone rock out “Gimme Back my Dog.” I was intoxicated with spring and Shiner and love and I kissed a boy I probably had no business kissing. I’ve always sort of blamed Slobberbone for that, but I mostly blame the Ides of March. (And the fact that I was 25.)

But that day (and that kiss) stands out as one of the few moments in life where your mind still sees all the details – the pink flowers growing in the rock, the way the sunset filled the sky. I was wearing a black t-shirt from Express, A&F jeans and flip-flops. There was free beer on tap and my hair was long. It was a record company show where we got in thanks to our names on a list, and it was just one show among dozens that we saw that weekend, but it was by far the most memorable. Because it was 2001 I was the only one with a cell phone, and Chris kept borrowing it to call Allison who was speeding down I-35 from Dallas. I also remember just laughing and laughing and laughing. Unfortunately, I can’t remember at what.

2001 doesn’t seem like that long ago – even though I had a different job and lived in an entirely different state and certainly was in a different state of mind. It was a year that marks some corner I turned – the kind of year that you can’t appreciate when you’re marinating in it.

I always thought that I would return to SXSW again and again, but I haven’t. The following spring I moved to Atlanta and that was that. It’s probably best because there would be no way to recapture that weekend or best the memories. It was my first exposure to Ryan Adams and the first time I saw Lucinda live. It was the first time I’d been to Austin as an adult and the city didn’t disappoint. It was the first time I’d met someone where the energy in the empty spaces between us was palpable.

Five years later I’m stuck behind a desk and the only music I hear is through the earbuds on my iPod (though I could call up Slobberbone with the click of a wheel), and my plans tonight don’t involve squeezing in as many bands and beers as possible, but instead revolve around the gym and maybe making it to Kroger. And strangely enough, I couldn’t be happier.

Posted by hannah at 04:17 PM