Yeehaw Y'all!

I'm back. I've been in the cave of The Samantha Murphy Show. I'm proud to say we all emerged with 7 days of awesome shows from South By Southwest. I hope you've all checked out the show (go to smtvmusic.com if you haven't yet seen me make a complete fool out of myself on camera).

Just before SXSW, the Miley/Hannah crew reunited in Houston for the livestock and rodeo show. It's was a much bigger deal than most of us expected. There were big music acts every night, and we were the only one that sold out. That was exciting, but on top of that Kay was super-psyched to see the cowboys do what they do.

We arrived all groggy around 10am at the venue, which was all dirt. Nobody wore the right shoes. A massive stage sat in the center.

We soundchecked for awhile, then decided to run the entire show. The stage was much smaller than we were used to, so the choreography needed to be adjusted.

We were told that the stage would be turning as we performed, so that everybody in the arena could see us. But we were assured that it would turn quite slowly.

This was not really so true. As we ran the show for two hours on empty stomachs, we noticed that the speed of the rotation was a bit undersold to us. It was actually kinda fast.

Also, the stage could only make three full rotations, because of cabling. Then with a lurch, it would spin in the opposite direction. Which of course meant that every minute or so, all the dancers would nearly get knocked to the ground. Fun! And I was kinda sick. A little nauseous.

To celebrate our quease, Candice, Jaco and I spent our couple hours off enjoying the carnival rides.

We also checked out the freaks and the farm animals:

The rodeo started at precisely 3:46pm. I don't know why. They run that thing like clockwork. We gathered out front to see all the calf-roping action up close. Kay quickly became disenfranchised by the violence of the act.

At 6:22pm exactly, they drove us out to the show in little golf carts, and the whirlwind began.

And just as quickly as it began, it was over. Miley and Billy Ray left the stage in a clearly marked Ford Mustang convertible, which we all thought was hilariously cheesy. I'm sure Miley an Billy Ray would agree.

Our sold-out show broke the rodeo's attendance record, which was previously held by last year's Hannah Montana/Cheetah Girls show. 73,000 cowboys and little cowgirls were present.