A good friend of The Posse came to one of our gigs a few weeks back and mentioned that he likes doing "the right thing." He said this without any sort of context. In fact, we were discussing the mass-to-volume-to-flexibility characteristics of various Mongolian food ingredients, and the associated implications of each with regard to bowl-stacking strategies at the Mongolian Grill. Because of the limitations set forth by the Mongolian Grill, each customer is allowed to load one bowl with uncooked ingredients, and then hand it over to the cook who "grills" is on a giant griddle. Of course, you could pay for two bowls, but if you play the game correctly, and carefully consider the mass, volume, and flexibility of each ingredient - and then load the bowl strategically - you can basically game the system and feel a small victory in your heart.
"I like to do the right thing." He says. I assumed he meant that he liked to load his lo-mein noodles first. "No," he said. "I mean, I'm all about trying to do the right thing morally."
We thought about that proposition, then asked him what he was talking about. He indicated that he knew of an awesome charity event that was coming up, and that he would be serving on the board. They needed a band that was all about bringing sardonic honky-tonk bluegrass heat, but sometimes for a cause rather than tons and tons of money (which is usually how we get paid). He wondered if we would like to "do the right thing" and sponsor the event by donating our services.
I asked him why he brought that up right in the middle of a conversation about Asian Cuisine. He didn't have a good answer, except that it had made him think of being hungry. The benefit is for Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in Austin. He pointed out in a fairly polite way that while we were talking about gorging ourselves, there were plenty of people - just in Austin- who not only go hungry, but who don't even have a place to sleep at night. The Austin event lasts for a week (obviously) and is a team effort by the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, the Basic Needs Coalition of Central Texas (which includes tons of great organizations), and now The Possum Posse.
That's right, we've decided to "give back" and stop being what my grandmother calls "a bunch of selfish jerks."We're going to be playing the Monday Night Networking happy hour, Awareness Austin, on November 15th at Molotov Lounge on West 5th street. If you don't know, it's owned by some bachelor named Brad. Word is that he's going to be there. As much as I would like to believe he's probably a total jerk, he's a better guy than us because he beat us to the punch in sponsoring the event.
You can get on some facebook thing and see the event details, and you can find out more about Austin's Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week here.
So I hope we'll see you there! Not only would you get to hear the greatest band in the world, possibly ever, but you would get to officially say that you did the right thing.
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