Before the Tsunami Benefit Concert: Austin to South Asia, we met Kari and Greg at Katz’s Deli for dinner and drinks and then walked three blocks to the Austin Music Hall.

We arrived just in time to watch Austin resident Patty Griffin start her set. We grabbed a couple of beers, and despite the sold-out general admission crowd, were able to find a good spot to stand just to the left of the front of the stage.

In addition to all the ticket sales ($67,000), the bartenders all agreed to donate their tips. All beer and merchandise profits are also being donated to the tsunami relief effort.

The surprise, unannounced, musical guest of the evening was Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks. I openly admit to despising her and her politics, but she was there for a good cause, and—much to her credit—didn’t use the stage to try to further her own political causes.

Unfortunately, you can’t say the same for ex-Presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D) who made a brief appearance on stage. For what purpose? I’m not sure.

Since we arrived late, all we saw of Natalie was her singing a duet with Patty Griffin on “Mary”, backup for Joe Ely on “Would you Settle for Love” and backup for Willie (along with Kelly Willis) on “Fly Away”. All three songs were amongst the highlights of the night.

My favorite performance of the night, though, was when Patty Griffin joined Willie for a duet of “Angels Flying to Low to the Ground”.

Of course, my wife’s favorite moment of the night was getting to meet one of her Hollywood boyfriends.

Before Willie Nelson’s set started, we walked out towards the front doors to get some fresh air. While we were standing there, I noticed a young guy in a red-flannel shirt and blue jeans surround by several good looking young women. He appeared to be trying to get into the sold-out show.

I nudged my wife, and said I thought the guy in the red shirt looked a lot like Luke Wilson. As it turns out…it was Luke Wilson (star of “Old School”, “The Royal Tenenbaums”, and “Legally Blonde”, amongst others). When Luke walked past us (apparently his celebrity status was good enough to get him and his friends into the sold out venue), my wife squeaked out a very school girl-like “Hi”, he touched her elbow and said, “How are ya?”

Luke was born and raised in Texas, and his brother, actor Owen Wilson attended the University of Texas at Austin. Luke also appeared in Willie Nelson’s video for “Maria, Shut up and Kiss Me”.

My wife later ran into Luke in the beer line, and had a short chat with him while they waited. He told her he liked her braids, and that Willie would be jealous of them. My wife informed him that Willie’s granddaughter does her hair. He said something about just being in Austin for some fun…and she thinks she babbled something about how much she loves him. She can’t quite remember the entire conversation.

Anyhow, she said he was extremely polite and approachable. Which is nice; too often you hear about celebrities who aren’t so gracious to their fans out in public.

So, it was a great night. I got to watch Willie and Patty sing a duet. Shannon got to meet Luke Wilson. And a lot of money was raised to help the victims of the tsunami.

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Monday, January 10th, 2005 | Trackback |