This issue is your last chance to fill out The Austin Chronicle Music Poll ballot.
Although it may seem like an intimidating task, you can fill out as much of it
or as little as you want. Over the last 15 years, the music scene has grown and
changed, sprouted and shrunk, matured and ruptured: Over the years, the Music
Poll results have been a running document of what has gone on. It seems odd to
look at the class of ’82, the cover photo of the first Music Poll winners, many
of whom will still win, place, or show in this year’s poll. The scene has
changed, but its history is alive and working.
The ballot is your chance, readers, to step forward and be counted. In many
ways, the music scene defines this community and the poll is constructed to
reflect not just the winners but the top ten or so runners-up in over 60
categories. Voting assures your favorites, the ones you listen to
in clubs and on the radio; the artists whose CD you buy get the
attention they deserve.
The culmination of this voting and tabulating will be the Chronicle‘s
Music Awards issue, available the week of South by Southwest and at the annual
Austin Music Awards show (presented by The Austin Chronicle and
SXSW and co-sponsored by 107.1 KGSR and 101X). Margaret Moser is lugging around
her notebook with show plans, is often on the phone, and frequently coming up
with new ideas, but the bill so far features 81/2 Souvenirs, the
Sexton Sextet, Texas Tornados (minus Freddy Fender but plus Roy Head), and a
special tribute to Townes Van Zandt hosted by Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Mr. Paul
Ray, of course, is emcee-for-life. It will be held at the Austin Music Hall on
Wednesday, March 12, at 7:55pm sharp; advance ticket information will be
announced soon but ballot deadline is Friday, February 7. Expect updates as
names are added to this bill.
The deadline to register your group or act in the Musicians Register
(co-sponsored by 107.1 KGSR) is also Feb. 7. The Register is not only included
in the February 21 Chronicle but is also inserted into every registrant
bag at SXSW. This register is used as a directory of Austin music by nearly
everyone in the music business, not just in Austin. When you register, you can
pick up your ticket for the Austin Musicians Appreciation Supper at
Threadgill’s north (co-sponsored by KLBJ-FM, the Austin Music Network, and
The Austin Chronicle.)
The Austin Film Society will present a special screening of Richard
Linklater’s new film SubUrbia, based on Eric Bogosian’s play. The
screening, introduced by Linklater with others from both cast and crew, will be
at the Paramount Theater. This is a benefit for Texas Filmmakers’ Production
Fund, which gives independent filmmakers money to help with their projects.
Tickets go on sale for $15 on January 30 and are good for entrance to the
reception afterward. Call the Austin Film Society, 322-0145 for more
information. (Note: Louis Black is on the AFS Board.)
This article appears in January 31 • 1997 and January 31 • 1997 (Cover).