Received a great birthday present today...

[jcdenton]

A little piece of Austin history:

 

[jcdenton]

BTW that's not me, but my friend who "won" the auction for the sign last night at Flip's final night open (and the drink he's holding--a moonquake shake--is the final drink ever served at Flipnotics). The guys next to him were the founders.

 

[jcdenton]

BTW,

Here's my friend's (the one in the pic) writeup of the final night and how the auction went down:

"Man, what a great night. I got there around 830pm and the place was packed- I have never seen so many people crammed together everywhere- outside, on the deck, in the music room- and the line was maybe 30 deep to order. I saw a couple great bands, and the store's general manager Drew put on the auction. I thought there would be several pieces- knick-knacks from the shelves, etc, but there were only two items- the hallowed Flipnotics sign from the music room, and the last Moonquake Shake ever made by Flips.

First up was the sign, and the bidding started off at $50 and slowly worked its way up from there. I kept waiting until the 'going once' or 'twice' and raised my bid, but others kept charging ahead. There was one guy who stayed with me through the main bidding and gave up, but there were a couple people that threw out some of the largest bids and didn't raise again. Finally I took the winning bid, it was relieving and awesome. I went up on stage to collect and gave a short speech about how long we've been going there, how much it meant to us, and how the sign was not going to gather dust but hang on the wall like the piece of art it is. I thanked the patrons, the musicians, and employees for making Flip's such a great place over the years and everyone cheered. Drew just gave me the Moonquake instead of auctioning it off as he announced, and I offered to keep it up for bids but he said to go ahead and take it.

It was freakin' amazing as always- you can see it in the pic. The two guys I'm standing next to are the founders- really nice guys and everyone loved the story about how it's a present for [jcdenton]'s birthday today, and is going to be a prized possession of someone who has loved Flipnotics. Everyone was in such a great mood that night- words were somber at times but everyone was glad to be there, glad so many people turned out and were celebrating together. Drew was kind enough to give me the Flipnotics-parking-only sign for free! I figured [jcdenton] would keep the Flipnotics logo sign and I wanted the parking sign- since those were really the only signs with the name available- and it worked out perfectly. I got a couple amusing t-shirts as well.

I'll miss the place of course, but tonight was about the best send-off I could expect. I'm grateful to live in Austin during some of its best years, and grateful to have had a place like Flipnotics."

 

[jcdenton]

I suppose now would also a good time to reveal the answer to one of the greatest Hornfans mysteries of recent years; my friend also happens to be the author of what may be the most successful "first post" in Hornfans history: The Link

 

[LonghornCatholic]