Recapping the year in music for this week’s column proved to be more difficult than expected. Here are a few of the more notable local events worth revisiting one last time.
Half a century after prophesizing The Shape of Jazz to Come, the rest of the world finally caught up with Ft. Worth-born trumpeter Ornette Coleman. Along with reissuing the 1975 Japanese-only LP To Whom Who Keeps a Record (Water), the improv icon received Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the Grammys and the Texas Medal of Arts Awards, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Music for 2006’s splendid Sound Grammar.
In 2006, Patrice Pike launched herself into the Austin Music Hall of Fame after appearing on the TV show Rock Star Supernova. This year, reality struck even closer to home. Chuggin’ Monkey and Uncle Flirty’s owner Brad Womack starred in the latest season of ABC’s The Bachelor, while the Chronicle, in turn, held its inaugural Bacheloser competition (Winner Chris McMinn is still holding out for a Natty Lite commercial) ME Television, meanwhile, hosted The Next Veejay, resulting in two new television personalities. Austin’s Pushmonkey, Wendy Colonna, and Boombox ATX all took home first place in different categories as part of FameCast, a locally based online competition, which recently completed its third season.
In the political realm, the Austin Music Commission held a town hall meeting last month to address the possible amendments to the Austin sound ordinance and rally rightfully concerned citizens. Lyle Lovett testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on behalf of the MusicFirst Coalition, arguing the need for broadcast radio stations to pay a royalty fee to performers. Kinky Friedman, Bob Livingston, and Stephen Bruton led July’s Concert to Save Town Lake. And local businesses and patrons joined forces on the second annual Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM) Benefit Day to raise more than $180,000 for the local nonprofit organization.
The International Music Products Association (NAMM) conference brought 340 companies to the Austin Convention Center in July and generated approximately $14 million for the local economy. Major label downsizing resulted in Sound Team and Trail of Dead parting ways with Capitol and Interscope, respectively. Sounds Under Radio, on the other hand, signed on with Epic. Expect like-minded contemporaries the Steps and the Soldier Thread to follow suit in the near future. Until then…
This article appears in December 28 • 2007.