Guayaki Yerba Mate-Brett Dennen Show-SXSW 2011

I was ready to call SXSW 2011 a total bust for me this year. My son was home from school for spring break so daytime shows and screenings were already a no-go. Going out at night is almost always never an option for me, so I didn't even try. But I got an email last-minute that changed all that...for one day, at least.

The PR folks for the Guayaki Organic Yerba Mate- Brett Dennen show sent me a VIP invitation to attend the show, bring a guest and collect swag. There was also a documentary screening scheduled after the show. After working much logistical magic between the family of my plus one and mine, it was settled: the men watched the kiddos and me and my plus one were out to do it VIP style in the ATX! Which was awesome and also totally not what you think...

The show was on the rooftop at Whole Foods Headquarters. It's located on my favorite corner in Austin right across from Book People (where I have spent many hours drooling over the awesomest collection of stationary, handmade jewelry, scarves and oh yeah--books)  and Anthropologie (where I usually wear blinders as I make  a beeline for the clearance room in the back of the store) and Waterloo Records (which I've never been into because I'm not hip and am not into music THAT much, but is great for people watching from the street-level cafe seating outside Whole Foods. Anyway, so the show was on top of Whole Foods HQ. Brett Dennen performed a great acoustic set as children played on the playscape behind him. Oh yeah, there's a playscape on the rooftop at Whole Foods, mostly because Austin absolutely ROCKS when it comes to keeping whole families in mind and the best businesses always keep that in mind. Austin luh da kids. 

Anyway, so I didn't know there was a playscape on the rooftop at Whole Foods, because I had never been up there. I had gone to the cafe many times and had heard about the kids area up there, but no way was I going to picture a bonafide mini-playground. I totally would have brought my son with me had I known that. My plus one and I arrived late, post-VIP checklist, post swag, post feeling special about ever being invited, but right on time for a great Austin SXSW 2011 experience. Fortunately, there were wristbands left--which to my disappointment, nobody checked for but I was determined to feel like a VIP so I wore my bright orange wristband proudly. The in-store Guayaki promotional event had closed down and everybody was moving upstairs for the show.

This was the perfect SXSW event for me to attend for the following reasons:

• It was free. 
• It was sponsored by Guayaki Yerba Mate (pronounced Gwy-uh-KEE yerba mahtay)...TEA! Beverages were free and I could drink all I wanted and not need a designated driver. Mate (that's what hardcore drinkers call it) is an organic energy source which boasts the "strength of coffee, health benefits of tea and euphoria of chocolate." Personally, I'd buy it just for the artwork on the packaging alone. It has a very mild taste...it's tea, not too sweet. I received an awesome gift certificate as a VIP, and am looking forward to some loose leaf tea and getting  my Mate latte on.
• It was in Austin, which basically means I could dress up or down as much as I wanted either way and not feel over or under dressed. 
• It featured a pop/folk artist who performed with his acoustic guitar and did a couple of songs with a flutist. To some of you that might sound like yawnsville, but to me...ummm...frickin heaven? AND there was a singalong! Come on. During the event I tweeted that Brett Dennen reminded me of Death Cab and would fit right in on my folky playlist with James Taylor and Damien Rice an those guys. Brett Dennen's voice is a little haunting, but in a good way. It stays with you. I'm so glad I had a friend who also enjoys that kind of music as much as I do. Fun time.
• It was at Whole Foods HQ, which has an amazing cafe, so dinner was going to be unfussy and awesome. We ended up having sushi and I tried, for the first time, sashimi! I eat salmon rolls all the time, but because the raw fish is in small quantities and in mouth-fulls of rice, I'm not so squeamish about it. My friend had sashimi--basic raw seafood--and convinced me to try it. I did and it was so yummy and I felt so grown-up.   
• It featured a documentary. I enjoy documentaries because they're just observations of life happening. To be a little fly on the wall in somebody else's world for a few moments is enriching. The film "Out of a Jam," is a documentary that follows 25 artists, including Dennen, other singer-songwriters, poets and rap artists as they gather in New Orleans just before the historic Presidential election of 2008. I enjoyed hearing all the hope and enthusiasm in everyone's comments about the election. The performances in the film were really good too...the audience actually clapped after some of them as if they were live. 

After a mad dash to find the restrooms (courtesy 3 hours of free tea drinking), my friend and I went over to Book People for coffee and book worship. That's 'cause we go hard. lol 

As usual, a few photos are up on my Facebook page.  

Comments

[Billy]

Great post!!!I feel like some Mate....(accent agrave)

[Sigers]

Girl you got to throw some 'BOWS in the sale room at Anthropologie! They purposely make them teeny phi tiny so you give up and go to the regular priced stuff before you get carted off. Once, when I was feeling all Madea, I rolled Amsden's stroller in there. He was freaking out and yelling and I was humming while I shopped. That STILL didn't clear those bargain hunting hussies out of there.

[Quel]

lol @ "bargain hunting hussies". That closet is serious though. The markdowns are worth the scars.

[Belstaff jackets]

I like you on facebook and follow through google reader!