We were driving down a highway in what felt like a Cormac McCarthy novel, when they told me to pull over between the trees. Sure enough, there was a big ditch in the middle of nowhere asking to be skated. And we did, until the full Texas moon and passing cars were all the light we had left.

I went to Austin back in June to photograph a scene piece for The FADER. It centered around what used to be a halfway house, but now consisted of a group of friends that all played music together. There’s Pure X, Sleep ∞ Over, Silent Diane, and Troller. But it was more like Nate, Stefanie, Jace, Christine, Youngblood, Amber, Eli, and Michael Stein. The music is why were there but the people are what made it interesting. For a full week they showed us the best of Austin — swimming, skating, synthesizers, Topo Chico. True hospitality. And Sam, my bearded friend from The FADER, chronicled it all in his story Austin, Texas: The City That Always Sleeps. For a town that regularly hits 107F, it sure is a cool ass place.