Off the Record
Music News
By Austin Powell, Fri., July 31, 2009
Rolling Stone From Texas
Now that the initial manuscript has gained approval from UT's faculty board, it is OTR's great privilege to announce that the University of Texas Press will publish The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology 1981-2010, co-edited by the incomparable Doug Freeman and yours truly, next September. Coinciding with the beginning of this paper's 30th year, the hardbound collection traces the evolution of both the local music scene and this weekly while celebrating the individual styles that developed within the two inextricably linked entities. The Chronthology, as it's been dubbed in these quarters, features a foreword from Daniel Johnston, an introduction by Chronicle Editor Louis Black, and many now-iconic images, such as a budding Stevie Ray Vaughan outside his first tour bus, that have graced our pages along the way. The greatest hits collection mirrors the Chronicle's editorial approach with an assortment of in-depth features (an oral history of Scratch Acid), seminal album reviews (pre-Spoon Skellington), "Live Shots" (Blaze Foley at the Austin Outhouse), and rarities such as R.E.M.'s interview of Roky Erickson and a Butthole Surfers review written from the perspective of a distraught high school librarian. In the case of Chris Gray's quest to track down James Hand, the trajectory of Antone's leading ladies (Angela Strehli, Marcia Ball, and Lou Ann Barton), and Margaret Moser's 1981 tour diary with the hotel-wrecking Joe Ely Band, the book also reminds us to root for the underdogs. Updates to come.
Room 710 Is Dead, Long Live Room 710
"There's no business like going out of business," bemoans Room 710 owner Asher Garber. Despite receiving a spike in business over the past few weeks, the club still plans to shutter its doors on Monday, Aug. 3, leaving Austin with one less incubator for local talent. The landscape on Red River has shifted dramatically since Room 710 opened in 2000, and the increase in competition for both local and touring acts, plus repercussions from the 2005 smoking ban and the economic downturn, has caused seismic ripples across the board. After all, anyone who missed the Dicks' hardcore lacerations last Saturday can just as easily catch the local punk icons at Emo's on Friday, July 31. "There are a lot of clubs, and it's hard to stay in business with that," Garber agrees, "but I'm more concerned with how the city values the property. I don't see how the building is worth so much more than the amount of business I'm able to bring in. That's the paradox. You can't tell me this is Beverly Hills when I know it's the fucking slums. That's what the city is doing, and they've really had me bent over the last three years." With any luck, Garber, whose lease doesn't expire until year's end, won't have to file for bankruptcy. He's in negotiations with a group of investors and hopes a deal can be reached within the next month. In the meantime, Hug, Foot Patrol, and Pong help send Room 710 off in style on Saturday, Aug. 1. "It's just best to get out now – I'm ready, and I'm exhausted," Garber concludes. "People are going to feel the loss. There's going to be a real odd feeling on Red River when we close, and I think it's important that people sense that on their own."
Let the Light In
The open road is the most reliable source of inspiration, a landmark metaphor for hardships, opportunity, and the beauty uncovered along the way. That much is made clear in Amy Cook: The Spaces in Between, a new documentary directed by Todd Robinson, whom the local songstress worked with for the 2000 film Amargosa. "It was a little unusual to take the full band on such a short jaunt through the bowling alleys of the Southwest, but it was for the sake of moviemaking," smiles Cook, who recently wrapped up sessions for her Alejandro Escovedo-produced third album, Let the Light In, which features contributions from Patti Griffin and Ben Kweller, among others. "I'm a ham for the camera, but I didn't take to the whole Barbara Walters interviews where you talk about your past and this and that." The film premiered on the Documentary Channel earlier this month and airs on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2pm, and Friday, Aug. 21, 7 & 10pm, but don't expect Cook to host or attend any viewing parties. "I can't watch myself," she laughs. "It's too uncomfortable." Cook lights up Mohawk Wednesday, Aug. 12, the night before she kicks off a Thursday residency at Jo's on Second.
Spirit World
Beloved South Austin jack-of-all-trades Stephen Bruton, who succumbed to cancer in May, could always find distraction in the studio. Last year he took part in two recording sessions with the Texas Sheiks, a roundtable of veteran slingers – Austin's Cindy Cashdollar alongside Geoff Muldaur, Suzy Thompson, and Johnny Nicholas – rounded up by the Resentments' Bruce Hughes. The resulting romp of folk, blues, and jug band tunes, which T Bone Burnett deems "modernist classical music" in the liner notes, will be released in September through Tradition & Moderne Records. The Sheiks have lined up a few gigs in September, and an Austin date is in the works. "It'll be hard to listen to and then joyous to listen to at the same time," says Cashdollar of the album. "It's another reminder of what a gifted musician [Bruton] was in so many different ways and styles."
Random Play
• Sixteen Deluxe is deemed one of the "The Greatest Bands You've (Probably) Never Heard" in the new issue of Spin, characterized as "a huggable headrush, giving shoegaze a punk kick and recording two of the 1990s' most pleasurably squalling albums (Backfeed Magnetbabe and Emits Showers of Sparks)." At the same time, talk of a possible reunion for the local quartet in early 2010 is generating some noise. "Nothing firm, but it is being discussed," verifies bassist Jeff Copas via e-mail. "Just getting everyone speaking again is an accomplishment in itself."
• And then there were two: Sarah Sharp and the Tiny Tin Hearts. This is the final week to vote in the Chronicle's Sound Wars. The winner performs at the annual Hot Sauce Festival at Waterloo Park on Sunday, Aug. 30. All ballots must be cast by 4am on Saturday, Aug. 1: austinchronicle.com/soundwars.
• Ray Benson's Western swing institution Asleep at the Wheel will receive the Lifetime Achievement for Performance award at the annual Americana Honors & Awards ceremony in September. For now, the Wheel's Austin City Limits session with Willie Nelson airs on Sunday, Aug. 2, 7pm, as part of KLRU's summer pledge drive.
• Following Spoon x 3 and Explosions in the Sky's sold-out fireworks at Stubb's, the Sword continues the ushering in of a new era for local headliners by expanding its Mohawk date to a two-night stand, Aug. 28-29.
• Jim Ortiz of Amplified Heat had his 1960s reissue Fender Stratocaster (with "Adawna" written on the back) and an Anvil pedal case stolen from his van at work on Friday. Contact him at jimijack59@gmail.com with any info.
