Austin Grover lamps at the Lone Star Roundup April 13-15 2012

Here is my number one Primo William Blunk playing in my back yard with a backdrop of my lamps.  William plays an Ol Time Blues influenced mix of mostly originals.  He will also be set up playing at my booth in the Lone Star Roundup this year.

Austin Grover lamps at the Lone Star Roundup April 13-15 2012

It's official, I have a booth and will be selling my lamps and photography at the Lone Star Roundup this April 13th-15th.

The Lone Star Roundup will be at the Travis County Exposition Center.
Located at 7311 Decker Lane Austin, TX 78724

The Lone Star Roundup is a custom car show featuring the most beautiful assortment of custom rat rods, truly a must see.  So come one and all, and tell your friends!

The movie below is the latest lamp I finished last night and shows it in great detail.  There are also more movies of other lamps I have made and will be available to sell, on the right hand side of this blog


Watch this movie to see the latest Austingrover.com lamp.

South By Southwest at Ramble Creek Studios 2012

Musicians from Ramble Creek Studios played a yard party during SXSW this year.  I was there and it was a blast!  It was a semi small gathering in a medium sized yard and the viewing was up close and personal.  It was sooooo much better than the huge crowds you normally experience during South By Southwest.  All of the bands that played there were amazing.

I gave up all hope of America's youth, and their inability to come up with any musical talent many years ago.  Since I moved to Austin, I have been schooled at just how much talent actually does exist.  One of my biggest lessons came this Saturday at a South By Southwest concert event, when I heard Seryn.

It all started in the backyard of a home near Barton Springs and close to downtown Austin.  (I have since met the owner, and for now will keep her nameless). I have to say that this was the best music experience I have had in my life, and Seryn blew my mind.  I got to hang out with them before and after their performances and they were as nice as they were talented.

I loved all of their retro tube driven amps and funky equipment

Seryn had a funky tribal beats with heartfelt tempos and explosive crescendos that left the hair on the back of my neck standing tall.  I felt some inspiration of Sigur Ros in their music.

Here come my Nieces!

My Nieces came to visit over the weekend and we had a blast.  From left to right we have Hannah, Sterling  and Alley.  Three of the best behaved children in the  world, and smart.

   
Hannah wants to be an artist and when she smiles, she means it.  She loves projects, flowers and reads an astounding amount of books.  Her job in the trio is not unlike that of a magician.  It's entertaining, yet it leaves you scratching your head.  She will have you thinking that she just took your favorite watch and smashed it into bits and then pull the watch unharmed from behind your ear.
   
Sterling is sweet, kind and ultra polite.  She isn't quite sure what she wants to be when she grows up yet but whatever it ends up being, she will be the best one doing it.  She is organized, tidy, and runs on a tight ship.  Watching her beautiful smile along with her big dark brown eyes makes me feel like I'm watching a Bambi movie.
   
Watch out everyone, here comes Alley.  She will charm you blind, steal your heart, then leave you asking for more.  Behind those steel blue eyes lies a shrewd powerhouse not to be messed with, and with Barbie Doll looks.  I think she is going to be a lawyer, and if she does God help us all.

All of them taught me to love children.

Trucks and old cars in my neighborhood.

This is a heavy-duty half-ton' model 3100 w/ 216 C.I.D. inline, splasher oiled six motor, 16" 6-lug wheels w/ 6.5x16 bias ply tires

This truck was under a tarp, and I passed it every day hoping to see someone outside.  Finally I just knocked on the door of the house it was parked beside.  The owner is Mark Montgomery.   We both removed the tarp and had a great discussion about his truck as we watched the lighting get to this point.
   

Mark sent me the following e-mail story of his truck:

     I am the old blue truck.  I was built in the Oakland, California General Motors plant in 1951, shortly after they resumed manufacture of civilian vehicles after World War II.

      Purchased, along with four identical sisters, we went to work for the then fledgling Cupertino Electric Co. as the work vehicles for their 5 foremen and did 10 hard years on the job before being stored in one of their storage sheds where we seldom saw the light of day.

      After about twenty years in storage we were resurrected and given to our original foreman/drivers upon their retirement from the company.  I moved up to a small farm property outside of Placerville, California with my owner and did general chores and mule duty for about the next twenty years and haven’t been driven on the roads in all that time.

      When Ernie, my owner, realized he was getting too old to drive me anymore I was offered to his son-in-law Mark who had expressed interest in me over the years.  Mark was glad to have me and had me trucked out here to Austin, Texas where I’m hoping he’ll fix up some of my old aches & pains and we’ll soon be prowling the streets and byways together.

Mark

This is a truck that I photographed, then as I was putting an 8x10 print with my card on the windshield, the owner came out and I met him.  His name is Brodie Beard and his daughter is Ann Marie.  Ann Marie drove this truck through High School.  This truck sits here every day and greets me as I turn the corner and bike down this street.

Ann Marie sent me this photograph of her when she was in High School driving the truck.