Mipso
March 23, 2019
Mipso 
Mipso
Austin is without a doubt my favorite city in Texas and one
of the best places that I have the good fortune to visit on a fairly regular
basis. There is just so much going for it, it has everything that I seem to
love including an amazing music scene, a fantastic selection of some of the
finest craft breweries in America as well as a plethora of amazing restaurants.
Now it also happens to host an Indy car race, so of course the initial Indy Car
race ever held at the Circuit of the Americas was on my must do list.
Having the better part of a day and night in Austin prior to
any activities got underway at the track, I was free to indulge some of my
other passions. My first stop was the site of the Hope Outdoor Gallery, which
was formally home to an ever changing array of graffiti art. Sadly I found the
entire area fenced off and closed to the public. I had heard that the property
had been sold to developers, but seeing it all closed off was disheartening.
Progress once again destroys the creative spirit and money of course talks.
My next stop had a much better result as I joined the line
at the famous Franklin Barbeque. Since opening as a small food truck in 2009,
Franklin’s has grown into a full-on restaurant serving what has rightfully been
described as the best barbeque in the known universe. Patrons line up early in
the morning and the line remains throughout the day until they run out of
brisket, which they have done every single day since they opened, usually by
about 1:00 PM.
I was fortunate to make it in just under the wire as they
ran out just about a dozen people in line after me. The food was as amazing as
advertised. I had brisket and sausage and it was just incredible. Franklin Barbecue owner Aaron Franklin was
awarded a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in 2015. He is the only
chef who specializes in barbecue to ever be nominated, or receive, the award.
The restaurant is almost always listed as one of the ten best bbq restaurants
in the world and there is always a line, but well worth the wait.
After lunch, I did a mini-brewery tour visiting four of
Austin’s finest craft breweries, starting at my favorite the Austin Beer Garden
Brewery (ABGB) which has won the award as best brewery in America an unheard of
three straight years at the Great American Beer Festival. Their beer Rocket 100
is also a multiple gold medal winner at GABF and is still one of the best beers
that I have ever had. I also stopped at three other breweries, having the
benefit of a vehicle on this visit to Austin.
I stopped at St. Elmo Brewery, Independence Brewing and
Skull Mechanix Brewery which was literally next door to the hotel where I was
staying. They all had pretty good selections and it was really fun to explore
the differences between the breweries and the beer they offered. As awesome as
the beer selection in Austin is, once the sun set, I was off in search of
another experience that the city is famous for, live music.
Having multiple options and not sure where to go, I opted to
go to a place I was familiar with and was fairly certain would have good music,
Antone’s. I was not disappointed as they were hosting a stop on the tour of a
pair of bands out of North Carolina that I was not previously familiar with,
Mipso was the headliner with a band called River Whyless as the opener.
River Whyless 
River Whyless has apparently been around since 2012, but I
had not had the good fortune to come across them, but was thrilled to catch
their wonderful set of folky Americana style music. One of the better opening
acts that I had seen in ages and I recall thinking that the headlining band
Mipso had their work cut out for them if they hoped to top that set.
Mipso did that and then some, delivering an amazing set.
Reminding me of a traditional folk string quintet, the band delivered a melodic
set of folky gems with the three lead singers at times trading lead vocal
duties and offering some truly beautiful three-part harmonies. To say I was
pleased with my choice to attend this show would be a huge understatement.
Both of these bands are worthy of checking out and both have
been on heavy repeat play on my Spotify account since seeing the show. I am
always thrilled to discover a wonderful new (to me) band and to get two for the
price of one is truly good fortune.
posted by Michael and Kathy @ 7:28 AM
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