Willie Nelson and His Guitar, Trigger

This statue of Willie Nelson is always a hit with visitors to town.
He calls his guitar Trigger. 

 

Barbara Jordan

I love this statue of a woman who stood up and made a big difference on the national political scene. She was also a fan of UT's Lady Longhorns.

Rubber necking

This giraffe spends all day checking out the traffic on West Sixth. He's a sight to see, that's for sure!

Stones cold great!

Love these Rolling Stones characters we saw a a local shop the other day.

Iconic Texan

Barbar Jordan's statue on the UT campus. Her statue is also at the airport. She was a legendary Texas Democrat. She was the first African-American elected to the Texas Senate after reconstruction. And the first woman elected to the United States Congress from Texas I believe.

Looking good, Stevie!

This guy was shooting a photo of the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue the other day. He's getting a good angle.

Tending the Wounded

In this shot you see more of the scene from the Vietnam Veterans memorial. The soldier's arm from yesterday was that of the wounded soldier on the right. The designers intended him to be one of our South Vietnamese allies. However, he was later 'changed' to an Asian-American soldier. I read in the newspaper  recently that they didn't change all the elements of his uniform and, in fact, there are epaulets and other details that would mark it as a South Vietnamese uniform. The reason for changing it to an Asian-American was to complete the ethnic tableau of the soldiers.  White, black, Hispanic, Native American were already represented. (I have to confess, I just saw soldiers.) There was also the issue that this monument was about Texans who died. Dog tags with the names of the dead are entombed in the monument.

Soldier's Arm

In this detailed shot from the Vietnam Veterans memorial on the Capitol Grounds you can see how realistic the soldier's skin appears (especially with the rain drops that were dotting the statue that day).

Bevo Visits Second Street

There was a fund raiser for the Darryl Royal Alzheimer's Research Fund Wednesday. Next to Willie's statue Bevo greeted people along with his handler. Willie sang at the event inside the Moody Theater.

Walk Around the Lake

When we do our Lady Bird Lake strolls there are lots of interesting sites. When we are almost directly across from our building on Auditorium Shores there is Stevie Ray and his shadow in the shadow of our tower.

Our Statue of Liberty

On the North Lawn (the back yard if you will) of the Capitol there is a small copy of the Statue of Liberty. The statue was presented by The Boy Scouts of America in 1951 as part of the 'Crusade to Strengthen Liberty.' It's tucked away where you might not see it unless you use the Capitol grounds as a walking path. We were on our way to Blanton museum when I shot this.

Native Home of the Cowboy

We sometimes use the Capitol Grounds as a thoroughfare and sometimes walk there as a destination. The other day I noticed this statue and read the inscription. The artist is Constance Whitney Warren. She was a New Yorker who went to Paris (to study sculpture I assume) and produced this piece there. The governors of New York and Texas arranged in 1925 to have it donated to Texas "as a memorial gift to the native home of the Cowboy." Well, we still see lots of hats and boots!

Willie Salutes Buffet

In May Jimmy Buffet played at ACL Live. They decked out the Willie statue with island wear for the occasion. Thanks to Jackie for this catch.

Willie Looks On

At the statue dedication the statue Willie seems bemused by the fuss. The TV cameraman in front seems to be hunting for the celebrities he's supposed to be filming. (Thanks, Jackie for these pictures.)

Willie

Second Street has another 'honorary name' and that honoree is Willie Nelson. Here he is speaking on April 20th at the dedication of a statue of him near the Austin City Limits Theater. Thanks to Jackie for a series of pictures we'll be showing for a few days.

Stevie Shares the Shores

FFP caught this cow near the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue on August 18 on his morning walk. One day we will have to figure out these wandering cows.

Rise Up

This is a statue of Cesar Chavez on the UT campus. It's a relatively new addition.

Love Note To Stevie Ray

We walked by Stevie Ray the other evening and noticed that he had a love note in his hand. Also gives you a nice close-up of the gifted guitarist's hand.

Statues

Today is theme day on City Daily Photo. I missed last month. Just slept through a chance to riff on a theme with the other daily picture bloggers. This month, though, we're back to participating. The theme is 'statues.' Every city and town and village has some and ours is no exception. Since it's the state capital we have the Capitol Building and grounds. Lots of statues. There two, though, are my favorites. The one atop the Capitol dome is Lady Liberty with the Lone Star (great story about her removal and replacement with a copy during renovation for another day); and the one in the foreground which is an old monument to volunteer fireman who died in the line of duty. The oldest one I saw was for a man who died in 1877 during a fire at the 'Blind Institute.' There are many names on the side you can see of volunteers who died at Texas City in 1947 explosions and fires at the port. This was one of the worst industrial accidents in the history of the U.S.

See other city statues: Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Skyline Changes, Stevie Ray Endures

We showed you Stevie with our house in the background recently but thought we should show you his statue with the finished Ashton and almost finished Austonian in the background.