Austin Music Source

By Aron

February 3, 2010 7:17 PM | Link to this

I guess those Cactus employees were draining the University with their huge salaries. Is that what we are supposed to believe/derive from this absurd plan? That was one of the excuses, right? The Cactus simply wasn’t profitable. Well, pretty much every show I’ve ever attended there has been packed, and the bar area had a steady stream of customers. So it must be those huge paydays that the staff was pulling down. So, you take out the bar, and higher cheaper staff to do…what exactly? Deliver Starbucks orders from outside into the glorified study space with outstanding acoustics?

By Aron

February 3, 2010 7:18 PM | Link to this

Sounds like that instead of Carrie Rodriguez, you’ll soon be able to hear Carrie from your Economics study group doing that a cappella cover of “With Or Without You” that you always never wanted to hear. What a waste. Turning a world-renowned music listening room into a karaoke parlor. Seems to me you didn’t have students going before, and you won’t get them now with this ridiculous plan. However, now you lose those that WERE coming and spending money to see talented performers. Just get it over with and turn it into a Cupcake bar. That isn’t any more insane that what they are thinking of doing.

By tinaintexas

February 3, 2010 8:39 PM | Link to this

Remove the bar? Why?

If there are management problems that’s a separate issue.

What’s the problem here UT? First: “it wasn’t profitable.” Then, It’s not just about $, it needs to have more student input.”

Now as soon as current management is replaced, it will still have music and student open mics.

You could expand the variety of acts without killing the integrity of the Cactus. You guys are ignorant to the importance of this place. Pathetic. I thought you were there to learn.

By Terri Hendrix

February 3, 2010 10:19 PM | Link to this

The Cactus Cafe is not just a bar. It is a landmark of Texas music and music, period. This is the “Ark” of Texas. This is the “Freight and Salvage” of Texas. This venue is one of the greats promoting our next generation of singers and writers from the Lone Star State by giving them a stage in which to perform  and it’s a favorite place for lots of major non locals and out-of-state artists to play, too.

Judging from the public uproar since this news hit, I’m certainly not the only artist and music lover who knows how important and special the Cactus Cafe is. And even if you don’t live in or around Austin, if you’re a music lover, this affects you, too. Venues like the Cactus share the same root system. Artists like me need places like this in order to play for fans like you. Cut the throat of the venue, and you cut the lifeblood of every artist that plays there.

I for one, am in this fight to the finish. Terri Hendrix

By Aron

February 3, 2010 11:51 PM | Link to this

And if they move it to the Alumni Center it WILL become “just a bar”. The Cactus is the kind of place a music lover like me can go and enjoy a performance without someone shooting video with their cell phone right in front of me. I once had Alejandro Escovedo and a couple of bandmates set up right in front of me in the audience, and play one of my favorites, “Last To Know”. It was so perfect that I practically held my breath through the entire song. I didn’t want to disturb such a beautiful moment. There are some great clubs in town, but you just don’t get that kind of magic in any place other than the Cactus.

By Austin versus UT

February 4, 2010 3:00 AM | Link to this

Students, if you selfishly say that only you can use the Cactus, expect to see us in your audience heckling the acts. Very loudly.

By Lissa Hattersley

February 4, 2010 10:22 AM | Link to this

What I really don’t understand is why the board didn’t seek to work WITH the Cactus to make changes geared towards making the venue more “student-friendly.” This is just an unfriendly takeover!

And it does NOT speak well for the entire University.

By Bettysoo

February 4, 2010 10:45 AM | Link to this

If you strip away the bar and current management, what is left to make that room special? How will it be different and specially suited for the proposed alternate uses for the room - in ways that another room in the Union could NOT satisfy?

Why kill the Cactus when the room adjacent (that used to be the Texas Tavern) is still available? From what I’ve seen, that room is hardly used, even as a dining room - but it is especially underused as a performance space. All of the uses that have been mentioned for the re-invented Cactus seem to be just as well, if not better, served by other rooms in the Union. In a very large student union, it is a very small room.

Financially, we all know there are countless small ways which could make the Cactus not only solvent, but fiscally viable and profitable without changing major aspects of the musical programming. $66,000 is a drop in the bucket for a university of this size with the kind of endowment it enjoys, but I believe the Cactus could survive even without costing the University that loss. If Cactus patrons knew there was concern over funds, I am confident the community would have been happy to step up and help create a better business plan for the venue - or to donate directly. I also feel confident saying most of the artists and patrons of the Cactus would be thrilled to see more student involvement in the venue - and would join in efforts to make that a reality.

As for Informal Classes, is the Union Board trying to tell us a deficit of less than $60,000 justifies all of that lost opportunity for learning, all of those part-time teaching incomes, and that vital link between the University and its surrounding community?

Before final decisions are made by so few - regarding a place that affects SO MANY - there needs to be more time for more dialog. I urge President Powers and the Texas Union Board not to host symbolic Town Hall meetings at which people voice their dissent to no avail but to listen to the community and really weigh if this is in their and the surrounding community’s best interest.

I believe the surrounding community has voiced a resounding “NO!”

BettySoo

By Cactus Girl

February 4, 2010 11:56 AM | Link to this

I agree with the previous poster. Why don’t they talk to CURRENT Cactus management? (those who made the Cactus what it is and what we are trying to save).

I am absolutely positive Cactus management would be happy to work with student committees and encourage more student participation. I cannot believe students have approached the Cactus simply to be turned away. My suspicion is they have never even tried.

By Joergen

February 6, 2010 3:31 PM | Link to this

Sad to hear that this world-famous café is ending like a simple karaoke-place, before i got a chance to visit it.

By TXn

February 7, 2010 10:44 AM | Link to this

Another one bites the dust.

Once again Money talks. F*ing Suits