Cornered and Clubbed
Those who’ve heard already were stunned, but it’s true: Longtime Emo’s employees Dave Thomson, Joe Sebastian, and Kevin Crutchfield, aka Kumbala, have resigned from the club as of last Tuesday Nov. 19. Emo’s owner Frank Hendrix calls the mass exodus “a solidarity type thing,” explaining that Thomson had been trying to get the venue to develop more of “a bar-type crowd,” along the lines of Casino el Camino, Lovejoy’s, and Club DeVille. “We can’t do that at Emo’s anymore,” states Hendrix. “People come to the club to see the bands and then leave. I felt we were taxing our resources, staying open on nights with no bands and such, but Dave and the others still have that old-type mentality.” Thomson and Crutchfield are apparently taking advantage of their early Thanksgiving, out of town and unreachable for comment, but Sebastian emerged briefly from being lost in computer games to acknowledge that the three departed over a “general creeping-in of the club changing direction,” ironically including an oversupply of “emo” bands being booked. Hendrix is adamant that all three are welcome back at any time. He adds that Thomson has already agreed to continue helping out Emo’s on a consultant basis and to work the club during the busy SXSW week. “After the holiday season, they may realize that the job prospects aren’t that good, and if so, they’re welcome back,” he assures.
Hendrix was no doubt surprised to be making news this week, as he has been quietly watching it happen at the property on the corner of Sixth and Red River, a spot he’s long been trying to expand into. Since the Rehab Lounge closed, a new venue called Club Envi was trying to open at 600 Red River, but a mid-renovation raid put a stop to that. It’s a bit confusing, as the APD told me to talk to the TABC, while the TABC said I needed to ask the IRS. The TABC rep says that all he knew was that there was a “federal investigation” pending in the matter, but the official response from the criminal investigation unit of the IRS was that they “couldn’t confirm” whether there was in fact such an investigation or not.
Making matters more interesting yet is the matter of City Council Member Will Wynn‘s connection to the building. Wynn is a member of the partnership that owns the building in question (as well as a majority owner of 701 E. Sixth, currently an office complex), though he says he’s not involved in the management of it. He says that after having to deal with evicting a previous tenant and other troubles at that address, “we didn’t like some of the things we saw” as far as Club Envi, and it won’t be opening if he has anything to do with it — which he obviously does. In fact, the revelation that Wynn is a Sixth Street-area property owner makes his recent high profile in the council’s proposals about boosting Austin’s “cultural features” (see our News section) that much more interesting.
Hendrix, meanwhile, says he’ll repeat his offer (which was laughed at the last time) in a couple of months just to see if the place has become troublesome enough that the owners would rather pass it on to him. Since Wynn says his new lease will include an absolute ban of anyone under 21 in the building, things don’t look good as far as the odds of a punk rock club sneaking in there. Further down Red River, for those who hadn’t yet noticed, Dino Lee‘s drinkery Ocean’s 11 closed over the previous weekend, “for remodeling” according to a sign on the door. In point of fact, the venue is shut after receiving its own raid by the comptroller’s office over back taxes (unpaid, of course), and its future remains uncertain.
December 5th — Be There
If you think things are quiet elsewhere on Sixth Street/Red River, think twice and then mutter a horror movie-style “It’s Baaaaack!” After a false start in the spring, the Austin City Council is finally bringing up a final draft of a new noise ordinance at a session scheduled for Dec. 5. Yep, this is the same issue that the local music community was rightly ranting and raving about months ago (austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2002-05-03/music_feature.html ), only to have it delayed after a mass of citizens appeared at the public meetings yelling that they hadn’t been given time to check out the proposal. Already history is repeating itself, as complaints are now flooding in about the final draft of the ordinance not being available to citizens ahead of time, as well as the fact that it has not been checked out by the Austin Music Commission. There is some information on it available, however: As reported in our News section and in a recent Austin American-Statesman article, a near-final draft of the ordinance exists, and info from it has begun to circulate. Among the statements in that draft: Outdoor concerts would be mandated to end by 10:30pm Sunday-Wednesday, 11pm Thursday, and midnight Friday and Saturday, with APD officers allowed to check sound levels from any point on a club’s property. No exceptions would be made for club owners who have made sound-dampening acoustic improvements on their properties, and in fact, clubs with outdoor stages like Stubb’s would be required to apply for a permit from the city for each outdoor performance. One exception states that bands playing at outdoor venues that hold 500 or fewer in the Sixth Street or Warehouse entertainment districts can play until 2am. The public hearing is, as stated above, next Thursday, Dec. 5, 6pm, at the Austin City Council Chambers, 3701 Lake Austin Blvd., and the implication is that the council expects to actually vote on the issue at that time. Given the intense controversy that doesn’t seem to be settling in the least, that scenario is likely to be replaced by another one altogether, involving lots of club owners and citizens and voices raised high enough that they may violate the new ordinance right off the bat. Expect madness — utter madness.
Take It to the Limit One More Time
Computer muck-ups led to this getting left out of last issue, but don’t worry, you’ve still got plenty of time to get tickets now that there will indeed be a sequel to September’s phenomenally popular Austin City Limits Music Festival in Zilker Park. The surprise news is that while talk after the inaugural festival was of scheduling it later in the year to let some of the Texas heat wane, the new dates have been announced as September 19-21, 2003. “The main problem was avoiding UT football games,” says ACL‘s Terry Lickona. “And then after the second week in October, the rainy season begins, as festival organizer Charlie Jones is only too familiar with.” Instead, Lickona says the plan is to add misters and more shade and to “make the best of it.” The festival will be three days in 2003, with the first headliners expected to be announced soon after the beginning of January, and Lickona says he hopes the extra day will give “more leverage in booking talent, as far as making it more diverse.” He’s also focusing on getting together the cash and facilities to tape next year’s fest, though whether it will be several episodes of the series, a two-hour mega-special, or a separate set of programs for another network is up in the air at this point. In current City Limits taping news, ACL has almost finished up its current season, with Corey Moore, Pat Green, and Pat Metheny having taped this weekend. The final taping, Spoon, is coming on Tuesday, and there are a limited number of free “space available” tickets to this taping. The tickets will be distributed at 2pm Monday at KLRU-TV, located at the corner of 26th (also known as Dean Keeton Street) and Guadalupe. The Spoon show airs as part of ACL‘s 28th season on Jan. 11, 2003.
SIMS Lives
You’ve read Andy Langer‘s cover story on SIMS in this issue, but news continues to come in on that front, and the latest is that starting in December, Star Tickets will begin printing one million concert tickets with Mr. Gatti’s coupons on the back of them. How does that fit into the SIMS story? Well, for every one of those tickets that is redeemed, Gatti’s has agreed to donate $5 to the organization for musicians’ mental health. SIMS’ Don Harvey says the usual rate of such coupons getting used is about 3%, which may not sound like much, but by my calculations it adds up to SIMS netting somewhere around $150,000 if all goes well.
Harvey is also happy to announce that the Continental Challenge, SIMS’ music-related business membership drive that began Nov. 11, has been extended through the holiday season. The big Rock Enrollment celebration ending the Challenge was originally scheduled for Dec. 5 at the Continental Club, but with so much support coming in via varied sources (which hasn’t always been the case) like Arlyn/Pedernales Studios and classical radio station KMFA-FM, Harvey says it has been rescheduled for January, exact date TBA.
Meanwhile, former SIMS boss Peyton Wimmer is moving forward with his own current plan, a Doug Sahm memorial project geared toward musicians’ physical health. Currently, he’s doing an assessment survey to see exactly where help is most needed by the Doug Sahm Musicians’ Health Clinic, and will be calling bands at random out of the 2002 Chronicle Musicians Register to get information (be ready to take that call). Continuing the progress toward the establishment of the Medicino Clinic, a steering committee is being formed that currently includes Kimmie Rhodes, Dr. Don Counts, and others. Wimmer describes the current situation with the statement that, “We don’t have a building, but we’ve got just about everything else.”
Mixed Note
Russell Crowe and his Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, who’ve made Austin something of a second home over the past couple of years, have canceled their Jan. 21 show at the Austin Music Hall — and in fact have ditched their entire U.S. tour. The band’s Web site explains that, “For a number of reasons, we have decided that it is essential that the members of the band and crew have the opportunity to spend the Australian summer with their family and loved ones,” adding that, “Several of these reasons relate to family health situations.” In other reports, Crowe is noted as saying he wants to see more of his Australian girlfriend, Danielle Spencer. Whether this means he’s got an Austin girlfriend he wants to see less of is open to interpretation…
This article appears in November 29 • 2002.