More Keeping Austin Weird

The word is that Jimmy Kimmel, the newly-crowned king of late night TV, is coming to Austin during SXSW (along with a few hundred thousand of his closest friends) in search of... weirdness.

Never mind that SXSW itself stands as a beacon of weirdness, Jimmy plans to seek out and immortalize those individuals and events that keep Austin on the edge, so folks have been coming up with suggestions for him.

I've mentioned a few of those folks in this blog;  The Running Man who performs on the street corner by an HEB, the Thong Guy who rides his bike wearing only a thong (actually, I hear there are two of them now. I refuse to look that closely). Or the Protest Guy who has a thing for lawyers.

Others have mentioned weirdness of which I am not yet personally acquainted. Like the guy who turns rejection into an art form.  In an effort to immunize himself to rejection, Jia Jiang spent 100 days making wacky requests, expecting to be crushed. Who knew a flight attendant would allow him to make an announcement on a plane's intercom system, a Sonic manager would lend him roller skates or a software company executive would accept his challenge to a staring contest?

How about Dowser Dan? For 18 years, Evan Kelley has been going to local elementary schools to sing about water conservation. He's a one-man show with a water gun, an inflatable globe and a (clean) plunger.

Or CLAWstin. The gals of Austin's Collective of Lady Arm Wrestlers annually flex their muscles to raise money for charity. Think theater mixed with sport.

Boyce Cabaniss. This lawyer knows by heart every member of the British monarchy (from the beginning) and every American president. He can also list most Russian czars, French kings, Roman emperors and Chinese dynasties. I can't remember how many kids I have.

Sofia Dyer, aka, The Girl Who Knows. She may just 18, but this Austin girl has got it going on. You can usually catch this mentalist reading minds and identifying objects while blindfolded on South Congress Ave.  Sorry, the only link I could find is behind a paywall.

I'm just sorry that Kimmel is to late too catch up with Lezlie.  I love this town.