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Sunday, October 18, 2009
Buju Banton show moved to Flamingo
As Out and About columnist Michael Barnes reported last week, the October 21 Buju Banton show scheduled to go down at Ace’s Lounge this week was canceled.
Writes Barnes, “Banton’s notoriously anti-gay views — including song lyrics from the 1990s about execution of Jamaica’s gay population — had stirred up strong local feelings before the planned Oct. 21 concert. Aces owner Brendan Puthoff sought the advice of gay activists such as Mark Erwin and Bettie Naylor about deflecting the impact of the third-party booking, but Guttfreund avoided the collision through his cancellation.”
The show has been moved to Flamingo Cantina which will host Rasta Got Soul 2009 tour on Wednesday.
Austin isn’t the only city where Banton’s 2009 tour has run into controversy lingering from his inflammatory 1992 release “Boom Boom Bye Bye.” His San Francisco show on October 12 was nearly shut down over threatened protests before Banton agreed to a sit down with leaders of the city’s LGBT community. The San Fran show failed to go off without a hitch, however, as the reggae star’s fans were subjected to a pepper spray attack from an unidentified assailant during the concert. According to SFweekly.com, a small group of gay rights activists who staged a peaceful protest before the show were initially accused of involvement in the attack, but later cleared.
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Campise showing slight signs of improvement
Sax player Rene Sandoval was supposed to play Saturday’s Texas Jazz Fest in Corpus Christi with Austin jazz great Tony Campise. Instead, he had to ask the audience to pray for Campise, 66, who’s in critical condition after a fall Thursday outside the Best Western Marina hotel in Corpus Christi.
“He was able to make it into the lobby and tell them that he had fallen and needed to go to the hospital,” Sandoval said Sunday. Campise fell into a coma and was operated on by a neurosurgeon Friday, but Sandoval says he was encouraged to hear Saturday from Campise protege Kris Kimura that Campise opened his eyes.
Sunday showed signs of more improvement, with Campise moving his arms and legs. Campise was at Christus Spohn Memorial in Corpus Christi, but was expected to go back to Houston with his family Monday.
The Facebook page created to give updates on the condition on Campise, the first Austin artist to ever make the Billboard jazz charts (in 1992), posted the following Saturday night:
“The Doctor removed the device from his head that was meassuring pressure on the brain. She did this because he was showing great improvement in movement. He has opened his eyes a few time and even squeezed my finger with the right hand - the side that has had little to no movement so far. The extent of mental capacity driving these movements is still unknown but none-the-less encouraging. Because of the extent of brain damage “best case” scenario is that he will one day be able to “communicate with his environment.”
A titan of the local jazz scene and mentor to up-and-coming musicians, Campise was nominated for a Grammy for 1992’s “Once In a Blue Moon” LP. It was also the first Austin album to make the Billboard jazz charts.
The Houston native moved to Austin in 1984 after several years touring the world in the Stan Kenton Orchestra. He’s also backed such legends as Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan.
Campise’s Big Band played the Austin Jazz Festival at the Zilker Hillside Theater Oct. 10.
