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Friday, April 17, 2009
UPDATED: Old Settler’s Music Festival continues rain or shine
Old Settler’s Music Festival president Jean Spivey assured fans that the festival is going on rain or shine this weekend.
“It looks like it’s clearing out a little bit,” Spivey said, laughing. “Everything is a go and we’re prepared and, you know, bring rain gear.”
The campsites are not sold out, but there are plenty of campers. “People are up and around and having a good time,” Spivey said. “They’re a hardy bunch.”
UPDATE: All of the acts slated for the Blue Bonnet stage this afternoon and tonight are being moved to the covered Discovery Stage. That will get going at 4:30 p.m. The Hill Country Stage, the main stage, will start at 6 p.m.
Check out the schedule for all the acts involved.
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Austin Music Source is now on Twitter
The Austin Music Source is now on Twitter!
Check it our for breaking news, links to reviews, critic’s playlists, play-by-play commentary and more from all over the Austin music scene.
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What’s up with Stubb’s?
Reader Gary Etie, who knows more about the city permit-pulling process than just about anyone (he makes sure the Levi’s/ Fader Fort, among other private party sites, is up to code at SXSW every year), says that according to its 1996 building permit, Stubb’s is classified as a restaurant and therefore the 70 dB code that shut down live music at Freddie’s Place technically applies.
In a recent comment to this post, however, Etie says that Stubb’s could easily fix that. “For Stubb’s, and other restaurants in the Central Business District (CBD), the solution is going to be relatively easy,” Etie wrote. “Because Stubb’s in is in the (CBD) they would not be required to get a Conditional Use Permit Approval from the Planning Commission…”
Here is a transcript of a City Council meeting in March where the restaurant/ cocktail lounge classification is discussed. (Scroll down a bit.)
Stubb’s co-owner Jeff Waughtal says his lawyer has been in the process of getting the 2,100-capacity Waller Creek Ampitheater classified as a music venue as part of renovation plans. “It never was an issue before,” said Waughtal, who said he was under the impression that because a greater percentage of Stubb’s business is as a music venue, rather than a restaurant, the decibel limit would remain at 85 dB. But to make sure, he said “we’re in the process of addressing that.”
As for the $5 million expansion of Stubb’s into a 4,000-capacity outdoor venue, with a companion new 1,400- capacity indoor venue, Waughtal said he and his architects are still working on a site plan to present to the city. The expansion plans were first announced more than two years ago.
Waughtal went before the city planning commission April 14 seeking city approval to not only build a 35,753 square foot indoor venue on the corner of 9th and Red River Streets, but to add 6,445 square feet to the outdoor venue and 4,295 square feet to the existing barbecue restaurant. The commission recommended approving the plan, which the City Council is expected to hear on Thursday.
The eastern part of the property along Waller Creek, which was formerly a dairy, is currently in a flood plain, which has made the process much more difficult, Waughtal said. “If the Waller Creek tunnel project goes ahead, we won’t have to worry about a lot of these things in six years.”
But the bigger Stubb’s won’t wait that long. Waughtal said the first stage of construction will be the new 1,400-cap. venue. The earliest work on that would start is at least 18 months from now, he said.
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CD review: The Alice Rose
The Alice Rose
“All Haunt’s Sound”
Three stars
The Alice Rose are the kind of seldom-heralded, hard-working heroes that make Austin’s live music scene so dependable on a nightly basis. Sure, they fetch the occasional positive press or NPR mention, but this is not a band that’s garnered a maelstrom of blog buzz. Instead, they toil away at unglamorous venues like the Hole in the Wall, dependably cranking out the kind of palatable power-pop tunes that might have made them millions in the ‘90s but are a lost art today.
The five-piece led by JoDee Purkeypile, he of the voice that effortlessly evokes the seductive lilt of Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook, assembles 12 such gems of radio-friendly hooks for the band’s sophomore effort, “All Haunt’s Sounds.” Opener “She Did Command” provides an ideal template for the songs to come, composed as it is of dueling acoustic and electric guitars, toe-tapping keys and Purkeypile’s understated vocal presence.
Unconventional ballad “Agony Aunt” showcases another of the band’s great strengths, with harmonies marching in lockstep, while sweetly sad closer “Black Tide” is a stripped down tune of mourning — at least until the crescendo and the mandolin kicks in.
If the Alice Rose are guilty of anything, it’s a willingness to hew a little too close to formula — “It’s Allowed” is the sort of generic pop that could happily score the trailer to an inoffensive romantic comedy, and there’s a commonality to the songs that makes the disc slightly repetitive. When the songs depart a bit stylistically — and when they incorporate other instrumentation, as with the harmonica on “Agony Aunt” or strings on “Maybe A Ride” — the Alice Rose show hints of a future growth that could make for a more exciting band. Even so, without a single song that clocks in at over four minutes, it’s not an album that overstays its welcome.
