By Melissa Ludwig and Anita Powell
Austin American-Statesman
Sept. 20, 2003
The Austin City Limits Music Festival was a city within a city, one with love and
happiness and music to spare.
With 40 restaurants, 42 clothing and accessory vendors, 130 bands and 562 portable toilets
among them, the 45,000 people danced, drank $4 beers and listened to 42 musical acts on
Friday. Among them: indie queen Liz Phair, folksy Shawn Colvin and a riotously crowded
performance by Los Lonely Boys.
This little city was just as weird as the big one.
One group of people dancing around a dog-shaped piņata on a stick identified themselves
as members of Club Chi-Wa-Wa, a South Austin "dance club without walls."
"A lot of us are in our 50s but we can still rock," said Cissy Zollo, one of the
club's founding members.
Even Elvis showed up. That's the only name a man in a red cape and white spandex pantsuit
gave as he passed out free samples of Flipnotics smoothies.
"This is an ungodly hot pantsuit," he said. "But business is good. We're
rockin' and rollin.' Uh huh."
The festival started slowly, but by 2 p.m., the trickle of people swelled to a flood and
continued steadily through the evening. The morning was cool and overcast, warming up to
the low 80s as the sun came out in the afternoon.
At the end of the day, one person had been arrested for having a counterfeit ticket. Only
32 minor injuries, ranging from cuts to heat-related illness, had been reported. No
children were reported lost, said festival staff, who affixed wristband identification to
380 children in the Tag-A-Kid program. One of the only significant breakdowns was a group
of fieldlights near the Capital Metro stage that failed to go on, leaving some of the
people in the dark as they watched Al Green close out the night. Organizers said the
lights would be fixed for Saturday night's sets.
Although the festival began smoothly, with none of the long lines of last year to enter
the venue, leaving the fest at night was another matter.
At 9:30 p.m., festival goers reported waiting as long as an hour for shuttle buses. The
wait for taxi cabs was nearly as long, as buses and cabs competed for pavement at the
pick-up site. Capital Metro had hired 37 charter buses to accomodate the crowd.
But that was about as tough as things got.
"This is a more laid-back crowd, a little older," said Austin police officer
David Socha. "They've got more to lose if they do something silly."
A couple of policemen, driving around in a golf cart with a handmade sign that read
"Five-O," admitted they were having fun.
"This is actually a mellow crowd out there," said officer Charles Ortiz.
Inside the festival, revelers reported good vibes.
"The energy is always good here," said Joshua Petty, 26, of San Marcos.
"There's families, kids and the younger generation getting introduced to great
music."
Petty should know about energy: He has an electric socket tattooed on his back to remind
him that the world is made up of energy, he said.
Many patrons who forgot to hit the ATM before coming into the festival regretted the
decision because of a $4.50 transaction fee tacked on at the privately contracted
machines.
"Capitalist America is going to take advantage of you because you're there and you're
stuck," said Jake McNeely, 21.
At the general store, sunblock, cigarettes and sunglasses were in high demand. Manager Pam
Richeson said sales of chewing tobacco were slow, but predicted that would change.
"Wait until Robert Earl Keen starts playing," she said.
Others vendors were touting stranger wares, from cowboy boots to lawn chairs to $295
diamond-studded toe rings. Most vendors, who paid $650 per booth, said they easily
recouped the money in the first few hours.
The U.S. Postal Service made its first appearance in the marketplace this year. Post
office spokeswoman Barbara Pokorny said they were asked to come by the festival's
organizers, who waived the vendor fee.
"This post office is going to be open on Sunday," she said.
The reason, she said, was to help out-of-towners ship their goods home.
One such visitor, Koichi Munakata, came from Tokyo to see Dwight Yoakam.
"I think this festival is the best," he said.