More ACL fun: White Denim!

So my long lost teacher friend, Mr. Steve, is going to play at ACL this year, y'all!



That's Mr. Steve on the right. Wonder if he remembers me now that he's big and famous. I remember reading in The Onion AV Club: Austin that White Denim was named "Band of the Year" for 2007, which is a pretty big freakin' deal in this town.

I want to tell you guys a story about Mr. Steve, in the hopes that you will all come see him at ACL this year. See, Mr. Steve and I used to be teachers in this after school art program here in Austin for 1st-5th graders called "C-Club" ("C" = "creativity"). We worked at Oak Hill Elementary, and one time, a sort of hapless kid named Jack accidentally threw one of those oddly-textured kickballs up into a tree. He didn't mean to do it, he was in the middle of a game, and was basically losing his sh-t. Like...choking on his own tears. Because his bouncy ball was gone. (And, P.S., Jack was seven, but I can think of many similar situations that felt as, if not more, grave. Like losing keys, or my whole car, when it's late and I'm sorta liquored up and can't find it...for example.) Poor little Jack.

So Mr. Steve valiantly (if not setting the best example) throws over a garbage can - full of garbage! - onto the ground and positions it upside-down underneath the tree. He then strides backwards, all stony-eyed, and makes a running leap for the top of it - it's at least a 4 ft. tall can. Now, I think what he meant to do was "stick the landing," calmly remove said kickball from the branches, and place it in Jack's waiting hands.

But instead.

Mr. Steve did make the top of the garbage can, which immediately and forcefully tipped over onto the dirt, like a face-plant. A face-plant for Mr. Steve and his huge thick glasses. Needless to say, he didn't get the ball.

The rest of the teachers were dying (in laughter), and poor little Jack cracked up, too. He forgot all about the dumb ball, then ran to the monkey bars, still giggling. Mr. Steve got up and brushed himself off.

I've always suspected he did it on purpose.