Life is a Bumpy Road

Austin, Texas. Travel in Texas. Life in General. "Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - - -Dylan Thomas

My Photo
Name:
Location: Austin, Texas, United States

I am an esteemed alumni of Austin College in Sherman Texas (Class of "none of your business"). I graduated with a BA in Liberal Arts as a History Major. Subsequently, I have worked in the human services field since graduation because there aren't too many jobs out there for history majors. Except for my short incarceration in Sherman, I have always lived in Austin, Texas. That's not totally true, I was born in England and lived there approximately 18 months, but for some strange reason I don't remember living there. I travel through out Texas for my job, every week. So beware Texans, I might be coming to a town near you!! I am happily married to a wonderful guy and have 0 (zero, zilch) children. (We just forgot to have them?) I find life amusing now (I used to find it extremely depressing but that's another story). So here's to Life, which after all can be a very bumpy road!

"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." -Albert Einstein

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Funeral Blues

Ever since I heard this poem recited in the movie "Four Weddings and a Funeral", I loved it because it expresses exactly how I would feel if I ever lose my husband. It is a poem of true love lost.




Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

-- W.H. Auden

Saturday, April 29, 2006

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.



The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.

Friday, April 28, 2006

The Soup Peddler


David Ansel started delivering his homemade soups door to door on his bicycle to subscribers. Initially he limited his list to 100 subscribers. He would peddle around town delivering the soup and even left soups in coolers (left by the owners) on front porches. He began his soup delivery service, cooking on a four-burner stove in a small South Austin home. As the business took off he needed more space and began cooking in a restaurant kitchen when it was closed. Now he works out of a store front on the SE corner of South First and Mary Streets in South Austin. Where customors can come by and pickup their pre-ordered soups between 11-1 and 5-7 Monday through Thursday.

They still deliver door to door too. Just leave a cooler with ice on your front porch and they will tuck your food safely away, and it’ll be there waiting patiently for your return. There is a $15 minimum for delivery, but it wouldn't be hard to find $15 of soup to order off their ever changing menu. Soup is delivered as part of a route based on zipcode. They are currently working on expanding their service area and have an email database you can sign up for to receive updates, news and menus.


Test Your Spanish

 


Habla Espanol? - Continuing Education - MSN Encarta

Monday, April 24, 2006

The Cathedral of Junk



A guy in South Austin has built something of a junkyard amusement park in his backyard. He has been working on it for over 15 years now and apparently his yard is so awesome that it caught the attention of RoadsideAmerica.com which is an online guide to off beat tourist attractions across the U.S. Be sure to check out the article they wrote on this at The Cathedral of Junk. This is just another fine example of creative recycling!!



Field Report by the Roadsideamerica.com Team
Address: 4422 Lareina Drive, Austin, TX [Show Map]
Directions: On the south side of town. US 81/290 to the Hwy 71 (Ben White Blvd E.) exit. Hwy 71 west to the Congress Ave. exit. Head south a couple of blocks, turn right on St. Elmo Rd W., then take the second left onto Lareina.
Admission: Free, donations accepted.
Open: By appointment only. Call Vince first -- he has a day job.
Phone: 512-299-7413

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Eeyore's Birthday is Right Around the Corner


Many years ago a birthday party for Eeyore was begun by some University of Texas students. The party has changed alot over the years, but it is one of the few celebrations that is still truely Austin. The party is always held at Pease Park. This year the celebration will be on April 29th, 2006. In the event of rain, Eeyore's celebration will move to May 6, 2006

Cows

Cow headed for meditation circle


Cow playing xylophone





pictures courtesy of Sky

Saturday, April 22, 2006

FORTUNE: Trapped in cubicles - Mar. 22, 2006


Even the designer of the cubicle now thinks they are a bad idea. Duh! Why did it take so long to figure this out??

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Real World Restaurant May not be Real Mexican Food


Ever wonder what happens to the living quarters they build for the MTV show Real World after they're done with the show? Well, in Austin they are turning the Real World house into a restaurant. Located at 301 San Jacinto Blvd., the new restaurant is the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant based out of Fort Collins, Colorado. It seems like a huge leap of faith to open a Colorado based Mexican food restaurant here in Texas where we pride ourselves on our Mexican food. But then again with the influx of people moving here from out of state, there is no telling what the reception will be like. The locals may not like it, but the new residents of Austin may just find it right up their alley.

Not that all Texans know good Mexican food. In Wichita Falls Texas they think Queso should be fluorescent orange with tortilla chips that closely rival the color of their queso. In San Angelo, they serve refried beans as dip for the appetizer. And have you ever tried to find a good, authentic chile relleno? Sometimes they try to pass off a stuffed bell pepper as a chile relleno! Even here in Austin they can't always get it right. All over town healthy vegetarian based Mexican food restaurants are popping up with sprouts and tofu!! My husband has taken to eating what they call a New Mexican enchilada. That's an enchilada with an over easy egg on top. I find it disgusting, but he thinks it's heaven. So, I guess there is no accounting for taste.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Room Service!

NO! Not that kind of Room Service! It's Room Service Vintage, that really cool vintage store on North Loop. They now have a second location in Austin at 1701 S. Lamar Blvd. A grand opening is scheduled on April 30 from 4pm to 9pm, but according to their webpage, the new store is already open for business.

Room Service has always been the place to shop for funky vintage furniture, records, housewares, clothing, and accessories. The prices are reasonable, but the turn over of merchandise is fairly quick, so grab it when you first spy it cause it probably won't be there when you come back.

Check out their website at www.roomservicevintage.com.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Easter Guilt


It's Easter Sunday and once again the guilt is being piled on by my mother. "Not going to Church?? Oh, ok...." But it's the look that says it all. She is disappointed. She is angry. She is sad. She is unhappy....

It was better when my father was still alive. She didn't rely on me so much, but she also didn's make me feel as guilty about not going to church. Back then it was just my lack of religious conviction that upset her. Now she's disappointed because she wants someone to go with her to church and that someone is ME.

I don't like church. I think it comes from being forced to go to church as a child whether I wanted to or not. My parents were very strict about this. I hated it. First off, I didn't like to be still for that long. I found it too restraining. Second, I didn't understand a thing they were saying. And third and most important, I was missing the Sunday morning cartoons which were different than the Saturday morning cartoons and, because I rarely, if ever, got to see them, were somehow more entertaining and exotic.

Am I now rebeling from church because I spent my entire childhood missing the Sunday morning cartoons? I don't think so. I think it is that I am not able to sit still and pay attention to what's going on. I don't find it entertaining in the least, I don't get anything out of it and I think I realized that if it's not "meaningful" you shouldn't be taking up pew space.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Baby Busters or the Lost Generation


"TOO YOUNG FOR THE HEAD SHOP? TOO OLD FOR THE MOSH PIT? THEN YOU'RE ONE OF THE MORE THAN 43 MILLION AMERICANS WHO WERE BORN FROM 1958 THROUGH 1968. YOU ARE A BABY BUSTER!"-- www.BabyBusters.org

The term "Baby Busters" was first coined in the 1989 book, America Now (later released under the title, Why Nothing Works: The Anthropology of Daily Life) by anthropologist Marvin Harris. Nestled somewhere between the Baby Boomers and Generation X, the Baby Busters were born between the years 1958 to 1968. They are called Baby Busters because the drop in birth rates beginning after 1957 was the start of the longest period of birth decline in American history. Often confused with Generation X, the Baby Busters actually overlap both the Baby Boomers who came before them and the X-er's who followed them in birth.

According to Wikipedia:
"The psychographic position of the Baby Busters and how they relate to neighboring generations has been the subject of considerable debate. Some insist that they constitute an entirely separate group, between the Baby Boomers and Generation X, while others reckon them as an older subset of Generation X."

I am a Baby Buster. Although I was born in the late summer of 1957, I relate to the Baby Buster generation. Caught between the hippies and the punkers. We were not a radical bunch. We were disco, a sad commentary on our view of society. And yet we knew that we were adrift. We just didn't have anything to hang onto.

Baby Busters were often the products of "broken homes" at a time when divorce was on the rise, quickly becoming much more acceptable and common than ever before. We were weaned on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X. We spent each night at the dinner table during our childhoods watching the Vietnam War on the evening news. We were witness to the Kent State riots and the killing of college students at the hands of the police. In high school we saw Watergate unfold on national television and witnessed the subsequent resignation of the President of the United States. The Arab Oil embargo which caused dramatic gasoline shortages was happening just as we were finally getting our freedom with a driver's license and a car. Our college years included the abduction of Patty Hearst and the Iran Hostage Standoff.

Dean Anderson refered to the generation born between the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 in his book The Isolation Generation: the Incredible True Story of the Group Between the Boomers and the X'ers. He notes that this generation is a generation without an identity.

This group examined the generations before them, indecisively. Would they be rebellious or attempt to please their parents? In many cases, they are still deciding!


I can remember feeling exactly this way as a child. The conflict between what my parents believed in and what the generation before me believed in was played out each evening at the dinner table. My sister was a mere 3 years older than me but at that time those 3 years very significant in how we viewed the world. She was out to change the world. She was bold and wanted to step forward into the fray, protesting the government, questioning authority. I, on the other hand was cautious. I listened to my parents, seeking a sense of security and stability in a time of turmoil. I didn't want to fly headlong into a world with no rules. And yet, I was drawn to the activities of those young people just a few years older than me, who had such conviction and a moral cause. But, I could not really let go and join them.

As a "Baby Buster" I grew up in a time of turmoil when the institutions of Western Civilization such as marriage, family, government, police, seemed to be crumbling all around me. I understand why as a result, my generation was full of insecurities, hopelessness, or even worse, indifference. Many of us became cynical, hedonistic, and socially alienated. We did not become a generation of change. We had no social causes or purpose like the generation before us. We had no identity. We were and still are the Lost Generation.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

'Skeleton woman' dead in front of TV for years

Is this for real??

'Skeleton woman' dead in front of TV for years(Filed: 13/04/2006)
telegraph.co.uk

A woman's skeleton was discovered in her flat three years after she is believed to have died, it emerged today.

Joyce Vincent was surrounded by Christmas presents and the television and heating in her bedsit were still on.

The 40-year-old's body was so decomposed that the only way to identify her was to compare dental records with a holiday photograph.

Police believe she probably died of natural causes in early 2003, and was only found in January this year when housing association officials broke into the bedsit in Wood Green, North East London.

They were hoping to recover the thousands of pounds of rent arrears that had piled up since her death.

Details of the case emerged during an inquest at Hornsey Coroner's Court, which was attended by relatives including Ms Vincent's sisters.

A spokesman for the coroner said today that Ms Vincent had apparently been a placed in the women's refuge accommodation as a victim of domestic violence.

When representatives from the Metropolitan Housing Trust arrived at the flat on Jan 25 they drilled the door open and discovered stacks of unopened post.

Some mail was marked February 2003, and medication and food had February 2003 expiry dates, the spokesman said.

Ms Vincent was found lying on her back on the floor of the living room, which also doubled as a bedroom.

Dr Simon Poole, a pathologist, told the inquest he had been unable to establish the cause of death because the remains were "largely skeletal", but police do not regard the circumstances as suspicious.

The coroner recorded an open verdict.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

YouTube - Condom Commercial

YouTube - Condom Commercial

This is hilarious!!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

More Travels Across Texas


Tips and Hints:

1) Never stay at the Clarion Hotel in Waco. It smells like dead people.

2) Never stay at the Residence Inn in Waco. They gave away my reservations and booked me a room at the Clarion instead (see item #1).

3) Be aware that the tap water in Brady is radioactive. (No Kidding!)

4) Careful when shampooing in Sherman. The water is very soft there and it may take you a LONG time to rinse your hair out. (Lots of foaming bubbles).

5) Never smoke in a non-smoking room at the Hampton Inn in Harlingen. It will set off the smoke alarm. (tip was given to me by a friend who tried this out).

6) Always make sure you know which Omni you made reservations at in Corpus. Either the Bayfront or the Marina. They are one building apart on the same road. So when you stop to check in, make sure you are at the correct one.

7) The Best Western in Lytle smells like the Pig Stand restaurant next door.

8) Hilton Hotels often charge to use their wireless internet.

9) The Amerisuites tend to clean their rooms later in the day, so if you want maid service don't come back until late afternoon.

10) You can use the honors fridge bars at the Omni Hotels to store you personal items, just remember to put all their stuff back before you leave the room or they will charge you for the items.

11) Some hotels try to charge you daily for the use of the safe in your room even if you didn't use it. Be sure to check your bill very carefully.

12) The Comfort Inn in Temple does not have an elevator. Always insist on a ground floor room unless you like trying to lug your suitcase up a narrow flight of stairs to the second floor.

13) Hampton Inns are notorious for serving egg patties for breakfast.

14) Advantage Rentals at the Houston Hobby airport has terrible service.

15) Enterprise rentals for the Corpus Christi airport does not have a reservations desk at the airport. They have a courtesy phone by the luggage carousel to call and have them pick you up. Their lot is a ways from the airport and they are often under staffed so you have to wait a while to get your car. (Try Avis, they are on site).

Monday, April 03, 2006

Northcross Mall to Get a Face Lift


After a long period of uncertainty, plans are in the works to do something with Northcross Mall. Looks like they will keep the ice rink and increase the size of retail stores, with possibly two stories and a parking garage. Wonder what this will do to the traffic along Anderson Lane...


Changes set for Northcross
Austin Business Journal - March 31, 2006
by Mary Alice Kaspar
Austin Business Journal Staff


A major redevelopment of the Northcross Mall site in Central Austin is in the works.

Dallas-based real estate firm Lincoln Property Co. has put under contract a 27.8-acre site at the southwest corner of Anderson Lane and Burnet Road, according to the seller's representative.

Lincoln's plans include demolishing the western two-thirds of the existing mall structure and renovating the remaining one-third, according to plans filed with the City of Austin's planning department. The site features a total of 387,559 square feet. The redevelopment proposal comprises 373,110 square feet of retail space and a parking garage, filed plans show.

Robert Dozier, executive vice president of the retail group for Lincoln Property, is listed in the filing as the new owner's contact. He couldn't be reached for comment.

Jim Schissler of the Austin office of Houston-based Jones & Carter Inc. is listed as the project's engineer. A recent letter submitted by Schissler details Lincoln's plans for construction of five new retail buildings and a three-level parking garage.

One of the larger retail buildings will be two stories tall, and the most recent site plan calls for the inclusion of the popular Chaparral Ice skating rink, according to Schissler.

Northcross Mall was built in the mid-1970s and purchased by Midland Red Oak Realty Inc. in 1998. Then, sources said the mall was purchased for less than the $18 million sought by the seller. The deal marked the Midland company's first foray into Austin.

In the spring of 2004, Midland Red Oak tapped Robert Townsend of San Antonio-based mall consulting firm Robert Townsend Retail Consulting to help reposition the property.

A roughly $1.5 million overhaul was planned for the new tenants, including the return of Chaparral Ice. The transformation was expected to take two years.

Now, Townsend confirms Lincoln Property is under contract to purchase Northcross Mall.

Townsend says the repositioning made it "a more viable atmosphere to get a redevelopment buyer to the table."

The repositioning was designed to aid a major overhaul. Leases gave the landlord a one-time termination right in the event of a redevelopment, and this January the lease with Oshman's Supersports was reduced to 24 months.

Townsend says Midland Red Oak, the real estate arm of an oil company, decided to sell Northcross because it determined the project could be done better by a more experienced company.

"You've got to have the confidence to invest the dollars, [and] experience and expertise to be able to determine the upside and feasibility of the redevelopment," Townsend says.

makaspar@bizjournals.com | (512) 494-2519

Sunday, April 02, 2006

A calendar book, a guitar and a very cold case

Michael Cahill was shot to death in his drive way by a burgler who had stolen his guitar. He had chased after the burglar to get his guitar back when suddenly he was shot in the head. He died in Austin on the night of April 13, 1979 when he was only 28 years old. To this day his killer has not be apprehended and his guitar was never located. But what is truely strange about this murder is the cast of characters involved and the strange connection they all had to one another.

Haunting memories linger with 'Book of Days' photographers who faced a burglary spree and a murder in 1979
By Denise Gamino
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, March 31, 2006

To those people who were "touched by the inexplicable killing [of Michael Cahill] in the Bouldin Creek neighborhood of South Austin ... it will always be the haunting "Book of Days" murder.

"Among those caught up in the perplexing case are people who either were in 1979, or who later became: Travis County judge, Travis County sheriff, acting Austin police chief, a Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist, a Leonard Cohen backing singer and a platoon of gifted photographers influenced by legendary New Deal documentary photographer and UT professor Russell Lee.

"All the photographers contributed to the 1978 "Book of Days," a desk calendar filled with artistic black-and-white pictures by Austin photographers. The calendar was published most years from 1977 to 1995, and was designed to "create some photographic commotion," the first call-for-entries flier said.

"In the spring of 1979, a burglar — or several burglars, no one knows for sure — seemed to handpick the homes of Austin photographers. And once inside, the thief took his time. He turned on lights. He opened cupboards. He examined kitchen blenders and checked closets. He liked music, too. Most remarkably, the thief thumbed through record collections. Sometimes, he snubbed every album but one. From one place, he lifted Randy Newman's "Sail Away." From another, he chose only Elvis Costello's second album, "This Year's Model."

"This thief knew the photography world, too. He looked for cameras and photo equipment and even books about photography and coffee-table books of photo collections. But he was picky. He preferred high-quality, classic Leica cameras to the more mainstream Nikons.

Stealing the single Costello album was like leaving a calling card. On the album cover an intense Elvis Costello is shooting a photo with a Hasselblad, a camera often used for portrait photography.

The photo burglar is believed to be the same person who left Cahill's apartment with the treasured guitar, police say. Similar weekend burglaries had occurred in the month before Cahill's killing.

"Cahill, who attended UT from 1969-72 but never graduated, was not a photographer. He was a cook at Gordo's, a billiards parlor on Sixth Street... He recorded songs and made demo tapes in pursuit of a music career. But his world intersected the photography world. He had photographer friends, including Ave Bonar, who lived in the South Austin duplex apartment above him. Her apartment might have been the prime target on the night of Cahill's murder — Friday the 13th.

"Bonar is perhaps best known for her black-and-white postcard photos of quirky people and funny moments, including many of Ann Richards campaigning for governor and having her big hair done. Bonar was out of town with her camera equipment the weekend of Cahill's killing. But the thief forced open her back door, rummaged through her place and stacked a pile of belongings from her and Cahill's apartment on Cahill's front porch. Bonar's Randy Newman album was cached along with some magazines, a half dozen of Bonar's books of photo collections, a Jimi Hendrix book and a drinking glass full of coins that had been stuffed in a sock. The burglar, it seems, intended to come back for the items after he lifted the guitar. But Cahill and two friends drove up ... at about 10:30 p.m. The burglar... was walking away, almost casually, with the guitar in its case. Cahill yelled from the back seat of his friend's car, according to police. Then he jumped from the car and ran for his guitar.

"Cahill had paid $565 for the Guild D40 six-string guitar at Willie's String Shop on the Drag. Cahill...had saved and saved for the guitar. He'd owned it for three years. Its serial number, 132227, was imprinted on the back of the head stock. "That guitar "took the place of all the things he didn't have," said Cahill's older sister, Barbara Klasel, who lives in Houston. "It was his happy, his sad, his wealth and his poverty."

Cahill was a hopeless romantic, writing wistful love songs straight from his heart. His music friends believe he could have had a singer-songwriter career if he'd been a better self-promoter. "He had a lot of heart and very smart lyrics without being clever or preachy. And a voice like a Texas James Taylor," said close friend Julie Christensen, who went on to sing with Leonard Cohen and other big names in Southern California.

Michael Hearne, now a popular singer-songwriter in Taos, N.M., spent many hours picking informally and playing gigs with Cahill. He still can instantly break out in a Cahill song:

"Surprised, I guess.

I never guessed the truth until you told me.

No regrets.

Your memory will be enough to hold me

From myself."


"When Cahill went after the burglar, his two friends stayed with the car momentarily. The driver, Watt Casey Jr., was a photographer, who, coincidentally, had a photo published in the 1978 "Book of Days." Casey's fiancée, Colette Schroeder, was also in the front seat. (Cahill was to be a groomsman in their May wedding.) "When shots rang out, "I just dove into the dirt," Casey said. "I told Colette, 'Duck down! Get down!' " Casey got back in the Volvo, threw it into reverse and backed down the street. He told police he heard Cahill yell at him and then he heard two rapid gunshots, followed by a third shot moments later. He saw the burglar running down the street toward Bouldin Avenue, and then pulled his car into Cahill's driveway, where his friend lay dying, he told police. Casey called police and "we just waited there holding Mike. We held him until the ambulance came."

"At the same time, on the street behind Cahill's duplex, then-Travis County Judge Mike Renfro heard the gunshots. He was working upstairs in his house at 907 Columbus St. "I remember the dogs started barking like crazy," Renfro said. ''It was real loud and out of character for them to carry on." Renfro and his wife heard someone run past their house and into their large backyard. But the person couldn't get over their back fence and ran back toward the street after Renfro's two dogs started to crash against a chain-link fence that penned them in. Renfro ran outside but didn't see anyone.

"Police are mystified why the burglar never dropped Cahill's guitar, especially after the shooting started. So is Ray Henning of Heart of Texas Music, who has been selling guitars in Austin for more than 30 years. A Guild guitar, which in 1979 weighed twice as much as a Martin guitar, was not worth killing for, he says. "If it was a Martin, sure," he said. "They might kill over a Martin. Maybe a Gibson. But not a Guild."

"Police never found a bullet or shell casing. Or more precisely, a bullet or casing tied to Cahill's murder. When they started searching the grass and tree trunks, some lead was found. Then more, and more and more. So much was found it became obvious something was amiss. The supervising investigator was Doyne Bailey, a police homicide sergeant who a year later was elected Travis County sheriff. It turned out, Bailey said, that the house next door to Cahill's had been the home of an Austin police officer who made thousands of homemade bullets for officers to use in target practice. The lead was not from the killer's gun, but from the police officer's backyard hobby.

"... the burglar struck again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Five times. Four photographers and one photo hobbyist were burglarized on Friday, April 20, one week after the murder. Four of them had photos in the 1978 "Book of Days." "What strikes me as odd about this case is that this murder occurred in the middle of a series of burglaries," says Austin police Sgt. John Neff, head of the homicide cold case unit. Presumably, the murderer and the burglar are the same people. That he would continue to burglarize other places after he committed such a serious offense as murder kind of boggles the mind."

Photographer Rick Patrick was in Big Bend when the burglar broke into his house near West Sixth Street and MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1). "It was clear he had a shopping list because the resemblance between the items he wanted to steal from Ave (Bonar) and what he stole from me was beyond coincidence," Patrick said. "It was uncanny because of the specificity." The thief picked through Patrick's albums, including many stored in paper sleeves because their covers had been damaged by water. He lifted Randy Newman's "Sail Away" album and a Time/Life series on photography, both of which had been taken from Bonar and stacked on Cahill's porch. Patrick also lost other albums, stereo equipment, a television, a blender, two Leica cameras and four Leica lenses. The thief shunned the Nikons in the house. The stolen camera equipment was worth almost $3,000. "He only took the collectors' cameras," Patrick said. "A knowledgeable photographer would have stolen the cameras he took, but a thief would have taken everything."

"Photographer Randy Ehrlich's cottage, on West 13th Street near West Lynn Street about a mile from Patrick's house, also was broken into that night. And, in an eerie replay of Cahill's encounter, Ehrlich and his wife drove up at 10:20 p.m. while the burglary was in progress. The lights were on and Ehrlich saw a curly-haired white man through the bay window. He was "going through my albums," he said. "I slammed the (car) door and ran to the front door. (He) tore out the back . . . right through the same window" in the kitchen that had been pried open. "Ehrlich, like Cahill, chased the burglar. "Now, that scares me," he said. "I never thought about the fact I could have been killed." They ran through the backyard and behind a neighbor's house before the thief disappeared through a thicket of bamboo. A neighbor told police she saw a white or Hispanic man with kinky, collar-length hair. He was wearing orange Playtex gloves and had a tan satchel slung over his shoulder. Later, Ehrlich found his cameras, camera case and the HBO box from his television in the grass behind his house.

Berkeley Breathed wasn't home when the burglar hit his duplex near the UT law school that same night. Breathed, who was about to graduate from UT with a degree in photography, also had a photo in the 1978 "Book of Days." He was writing "Academia Waltz" for the Daily Texan at UT and later would earn fame in the cartoon world. Breathed had a beat-up Nikon that the thief passed over. Nothing was taken.

But the duplex behind Breathed's was also hit. One of the residents, photo hobbyist Judith Birdsong, came home while the burglar apparently was still in the house. "I was working at Steak and Ale restaurant, and I was a bartender," she said. "I guess it was a slow night, and they let me off early. I pulled into the driveway and I walked up to the back door of the house, and the back door was wide open and the light was on. I thought, well, that's a little creepy. I walked into the apartment and all of my stereo equipment was stacked up next to the open door — the speakers, the amps, the turntable. "I always just assumed he heard my car and that it frightened him away,'' said Birdsong, now a photographer and lecturer in UT's school of architecture. The thief went through her closets and took a Leica camera bag, an Olympus camera, a Konica camera and other photo equipment. He also took the lone Elvis Costello album from a small storage cabinet. ''I would have had them filed alphabetically and Costello would not have been first," she said. "I thought it was so weird because he could just as easily have picked the thing up and walked out with the whole thing. Why take one record?" At midnight that same night, a burglar alarm was triggered at Marlon Taylor's commercial photography studio at 225 Congress Ave. The thief fled.

"A few days later, Ave Bonar and Randy Ehrlich were shooting the breeze, as usual, in the darkroom at Ehrlich's Custom Photo Lab. They discussed the murder and burglaries and started putting pieces of the puzzle together. "There in the dark, a flash of light crossed our brains simultaneously — all of the photographers we'd been talking about had been in the 'Book of Days,' " Bonar said. "It was like a huge revelation because the police could never have figured that out." Then they checked the Austin telephone directory. Sure enough, the victims were listed in the phone book. A photography-oriented thief, using the phone book and the "Book of Days," could compile a list of places to hit. Bonar contacted police, who were grateful for the tip and formed a task force to try to solve the murder and burglaries. Police had a composite picture of the burglar that apparently was not released publicly.

For two weekends, police staked out the homes of 1978 "Book of Days" photographers who were listed in the phone book but who had not been burglarized. Austin American-Statesman staff photographer Larry Kolvoord, then a UT photographer, remembers two undercover police officers with long hair coming to his house with shotguns and ammo belts across their chests. Kolvoord and his wife went out for the evening and the two officers sat in their dark house waiting for the burglar. But it was as if the thief knew he was being watched. The thefts stopped. Perhaps, some think, the thief was a photographer who heard it through the grapevine. "He was one of us," Bonar said. Police never found enough evidence to make a case.

"Cahill: Unfinished," is a lovely album put together in 1980 by Cahill's friends, who each chipped in about $100. Maybe Cahill could have made it big as a songwriter. Or maybe not. His voice on the album keeps his spirit alive. On side two, he sings "Caught in the Middle." :

"Caught in the middle, I was turning to run.

Little is left to describe.

All of my defenses,

Well, they did me no good.

I was left holding the gun."


The song ends with a plaintive last line:

"Oh what a lonely good-bye."


Somebody somewhere may be playing Cahill's guitar right now. But it's hard to imagine a new owner could cherish it as much as Mike Cahill did when he made music in Austin in 1979.

dgamino@statesman.com; 445-3675

Take the quiz yourself:
What European City Do You Belong In?


I Belong in Paris



I enjoy all that life has to offer, and I can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris.

I'm the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Interesting Facts About Populations in Dallas and Austin





Dallas: 2006 Population Update



Metro Population: 6,242,800

Gain in last year: 168,000

Gain since 2000: 906,000


Top 20 Municipalities:

1. Dallas 1,260,950
2. Fort Worth 661,850
3. Arlington 363,050
4. Plano 252,950
5. Garland 222,400

6. Irving 201,950
7. Grand Prairie 156,050
8. Mesquite 135,900
9. Carrollton 118,700
10. McKinney 103,800

11. Denton 100,950
12. Richardson 97,300
13. Lewisville 89,100
14. Frisco 84,600
15. Allen 70,750

16. N. Richland Hills 63,500
17. Flower Mound 61,550
18. Rowlett 53,100
19. Euless 52,900
20. Mansfield 49,000



Austin
2000 census population -- 656, 562
2002 census population -- 680, 899
- 52.9 percent white,
- 30.5 percent Hispanic
- 9.8 percent African American
- 4.7 percent Asian
- 2.1 percent other

Travis County
812,280

Austin/San Marcos MSA
1,249,763

Google
web site visitor counter
DVD Rental Sites