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‘ACL’ honored by hall of fame; Mos Def and K’Naan to tape sets
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum says it’s designating the Austin City Limits music television show as a historic rock and roll site. About to embark on its 35th season, the KLRU-based program is the longest running music series in American TV history.
Terry Stewart, president and CEO of the rock hall of fame in Cleveland, made the announcement Monday with the show’s executive producer, Terry Lickona (pictured).
“I was speechless,” ACL executive producer Lickona said of Stewart’s suggestion that the ACL studio be included on the list of historic sites. Other sites so designated include the Whisky-a-Go-Go club in Los Angeles and Brooklyn High School in the Cleveland area, where Elvis Presley played his first concert north of the Mason-Dixon line.
Stewart says a plaque will be placed at the Austin City Limits studio on the University of Texas campus and another plaque will be placed in the show’s new, 2,500-capacity studio in Block 21, which is scheduled to open in 2011. (The current studio can hold about 300 people.)
The old Austin skyline backdrop will not move to the new space; a new one is slated to be designed. The old backdrop will remain in the old studio, which will continue to be used.
The formal presentation of the plaque and designation will be Oct. 1, which is also the date of ACL’s first hip-hop show, a double shoot with Mos Def and K’naan, both of whom will be playing the Austin City Limits Music Festival. On Oct. 2, the studio will host two educational panels on the history of the program. Pearl Jam tapes a set Oct. 3, while Sonic Youth tapes a set Oct. 5.
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