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Thursday, February 4, 2010
Student members of the University Unions Board of Directors issue statement
The student members of the University Unions Board of Directors, which makes recommendations regarding use of the University of Texas unions, including the Texas Union, issued a statement Thursday night clarifying the board’s role in plans to close the Cactus Cafe. The statement was sent out to UT’s student body.
“The board members in attendance did review and support the proposal after careful consideration, but did not vote,” reads the statement. “… The student members of the board expressed support for management’s decision to repurpose the Cactus Cafe and cancel informal classes effective August 2010. The student members respect and appreciate the Cactus Cafe and what it has meant to the UT and Austin communities. The room, however, will go back into the room inventory, and student organizations will be able to reserve and utilize the room for their own performances and programs.”
The statement reiterates that the student members of the union board endorsed — but otherwise had no active role in — the decision, made by Wm. Andrew Smith Jr., executive director of University Unions, and his staff. Student Government President Liam O’Rourke said late Thursday, after the statement was released, that there are no plans to alter or modify the room itself. While the immediate plan for the Cactus Cafe is to include it in the inventory of rooms available for student use, O’Rourke said, student leadership is planning to develop a plan that will keep the space music-oriented. What direction that will be, however, is still up for discussion.
“We’re very committed to keeping it primarily a music venue,” O’Rourke said. “The union board supported the management decision to address the operational issues to meet budget needs, but we have not come up with procedures, rules, or plans for the room just yet. We wanted it to be a space for student musicians and performances.
“The big change will be that the people setting the agenda for the room will be primarily students.”
You can view the full statement here.
Update: SaveTheCactusCafe.org, the official Web site of the now 20,000-strong Facebook group, will hold an informational meeting tomorrow, Saturday Feb. 6, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Maria’s Taco X-Press. Organizers plan to “provide the background to the planned closing of the Cactus Cafe, announce a plan for saving the legendary listening room and enlist volunteers to begin organizing and mobilizing to urge the university to reverse its decision.”
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NYT: Mary Bruton contests husband Stephen Bruton’s will
Two months before he died of cancer, Stephen Bruton filed for divorce from his wife of 13 years, Mary Bruton, and willed the bulk of his $1.2 million estate to his brother Sumter, the New York Times is reporting. But in contesting the will, Mary Bruton is claiming that her husband was not in sound mind at the time and manipulated by T-Bone Burnett, his childhood friend and co-music supervisor on “Crazy Heart,” which received three Oscar nominations this week (though none for Bruton.) Stephen Bruton left his photographer wife $100 in addition to their community property.
The article is rife with anonymous sources and does not include any quotes from Mary Bruton or Burnett, who both declined to comment. It also doesn’t mention where court papers were filed.
Having researched in preparation to interview Burnett for this story, I can attest that T-Bone has erroneously compared Bad Blake’s career to that of Bruton’s. Stephen Bruton never drove 300 miles in a rusted out Suburban to play dives. But he knew people who did and was fascinated by them. Bruton hadn’t touched drugs or alcohol for the last 20 years of his life. In advising actor Jeff Bridges, who was never more than ten feet away from Bruton during the filming, Bruton no doubt drew on his experiences with Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver and Lowell George.
In the interview with Burnett, I was impressed that he gave Bruton the majority of credit for “Crazy Heart“‘s music. Bruton would’ve love what’s happening now with his movie. It’s a shame that, at a time when Austin’s silver fox is finally receiving his due as a songwriter and musician, this bit of ugliness has to surface.
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Weekend picks: Charging rock, house wrecking gospel, Casual Victims
(Pictured: The Gary. David Weaver FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
FRIDAY
Joseph Arthur at the Cactus Cafe. ‘El Prolifico’ released four EPs and his eighth studio album in 2008, but you can do that when, as the Ohio native Arthur, you’re a recovering alcoholic and all of a sudden the days are four times as long. Since this gig is without his somewhat sloppy Lonely Astronauts band, we can hope for more songs from his great 2000 album ‘Come To Where I’m From.’ Arthur returns to the Cactus on Saturday. 8:30 p.m. $20. 2247 Guadalupe St. utexas.edu/txunion. — Michael Corcoran
Also recommended:
- Jerry Jeff Walker at the One World Theater
- Moonlight Towers at the Hole In the Wall
- Graham Wilkinson, Drew Smith’s Lonely Choir at the Continental Club
- Alec Ounsworth at Emo’s
- Casual Victim Pile bands at Beerland
SATURDAY
The Gary CD release at the Scoot Inn. The Gary is primed to have a very big 2010. After releasing a sensational EP of blue-collar, irony-free rock with 2009’s ‘Chub,’ the Austin trio returns with the charging, nine-song debut album ‘Logan.’ It’s an impressive first album that builds on all the strengths that made ‘Chub’ so headbang-worthy, and the band celebrates its release on CD — it’s been available digitally since December — at the appropriately straightforward charm of the Scoot Inn. 9 p.m. $5. 1308 E. Fourth St. www.scoot-inn.com. — Patrick Caldwell
Also recommended:
- Casual Victim Pile bands at Beerland
- I Luv Video 25th Anniversary with the Diagonals
- Ghost Knife at the United States Art Authority
- Bowerbirds at the Mohawk
- the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Stubb’s
SUNDAY Bells of Joy at Stubb’s Austin’s greatest gospel group, whose 1951 single ‘Let’s Talk About Jesus’ was cited by Ray Charles as the inspiration for ‘I Got a Woman,’ no longer has the great A.C. Littlefield on vocals, but it can still wreck a house. Two seatings at this Gospel Brunch are 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Call 480-8341, ext 4, for reservations. 801 Red River St. www.stubbsaustin.com. — M.C.
Also recommended:
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UT regents staying out of Cactus Cafe flap
Don’t expect the governing board of the University of Texas to get involved in the dust-up over plans to close the Cactus Cafe.
The UT System Board of Regents, which oversees UT-Austin and 14 other campuses, is meeting in Dallas today, and I asked Chairman James Huffines about the cafe.
“That’s strictly a campus decision,” he replied.
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Local supergroup the Coveters debut at the Continental Club tonight
The Coveters — something a Momo’s supergroup composed of many of the beloved local players who rock the West Sixth Street club on a regular basis — will make their public debut tonight, First Thursday, at the Continental Club. The band includes solo vocalists Suzanna Choffel and Dan Dyer, Band of Heathens singer Ed Jurdi, and violin and fiddle player Warren Hood, with a rhythm section including the New Bohemians’ Brad Houser and Jeff Botta.
Dyer and Choffel got the ball rolling on the new band after both decided they wanted a low-key outlet for their music.
“Myself and Dan Dyer were sort of complaining about the stress of our careers and what-not, and how we were both kind of stressed out and had a lot on our plate,” Choffel said. “So we kept talking about a side project that might just be fun, no pressure.”
The band began rehearsing in late 2009, and has a full set of original material, though they’ve yet to play a gig. The lineup was designed so that individual members could come and go as their own projects demanded — Dyer, who is on tour, will be absent from tonight’s show but should play with the band at their next performance, March 4 at Momo’s.
“I see it being a once a month or once every two months kind of thing,” Choffel said. “It’s kind of one of those things where we’ll probably have irregular shows and see how much people dig it.”
The show kicks off at 10 p.m. and costs $8. The Texas Sapphires, playing a release party for their new album “As He Wanders…” will follow the Coveters at 11:30 p.m.
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Todd P goes to Mexico
Todd Patrick, better known as Todd P — the concert organizer and promoter who’s too cool for a period — has announced via his Web site that he’ll debut a new, post-SXSW music festival, the MtyMx All Ages Festival of Art and Music, in Monterrey, Mexico, this year.
Austinites might best recognize Todd P as the organizer of a series of popular SXSW day parties at Ms. Bea’s in East Austin. This year, he’s elected to set his sights on Autocinema Las Torres in Monterrey, a drive-in theater with a 5,000 person capacity, where he’ll hold his own festival from Saturday, March 20 (the last day of the SXSW Music Festival), to Monday, March 22.
Further details are available at the Web site, but here are the bullet points: two stages and 75 bands (with staggered sets to keep acts from overlapping), tickets $30 for all three days, with a visual art component including murals and video projections, on-site camping available and thrice-daily shuttle buses running between Austin and Monterrey to ferry attendees. Confirmed bands so far include Dan Deacon, No Age, Neon Indian, Toro Y Moi, Das Racist and dd/mm/yyyy. Deacon and No Age are exclusive to the festival and won’t be performing at SXSW, according to the announcement.
“Monterrey, Mexico is roughly the same distance as other ‘next stop on your tour’ cities like Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, El Paso, etc.,” reads the announcement. “The idea of the festival is to provide bands with another option during those 3-4 days after SXSW, where they risk playing under attended, money losing shows because a) it’s spring break, b) it’s a Sunday night in Oklahoma City and c) every other band in the world is also trying to play a show on a Sunday night in Oklahoma City!”
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Meet the Casual Victim Pile band: Dikes of Holland
Ricardo B. Brazziell/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Ahead of tonight’s release show for Austin-centric Matador Records compilation “Casual Victim Pile” (see our interview with compilation architect and Matador co-owner Gerard Cosloy here, review here and photo gallery of the bands here), we’ve talked with three of the compilation’s most notable bands. Tonight’s performers the Dikes of Holland are featured below, you can check out Follow That Bird here, and tune back in tomorrow for an interview with Friday performers Woven Bones.
Most bands are lucky to have one skilled songwriter. The Dikes of Holland have three.
John Paul Bohon, Trey Reimer and Christopher Stephenson share the spacey, psychedelic punk band’s songwriting duties, each penning their own individual songs. Instrumentally, the band is every bit as adaptable — Stephenson alone plays the drums, guitar, bass or keyboards, depending on the needs of the song.
Although that variable approach gives the Dikes of Holland a certain freewheeling energy, it also meant that when Cosloy approached the band to participate in “Casual Victim Pile,” they had three songs to pitch, with one from each of its writers — and wanted some outside help to make a choice.
“We had like three songs recorded at that time, and we just kind of showed them to some close friends of ours and asked which one they thought was the best, and it was kind of unanimous,” says Stephenson, 27. “We talked to people we had made music with in the past and people that had similar tastes to us who could make a judgment about what sounded best. Because sometimes a song that feels good to play live doesn’t really translate to the recording, and what you’re not too excited about comes out sounding great.”
The unanimously chosen song was Reimer’s “Little City Girl,” a blast of psychotropic, atmospheric, hard-driving rock that clocks in at less than three minutes.
Stephenson has no idea what — if any — fallout “Casual Victim Pile” might have for its featured bands. But his hopes are modest. Inquire about what he’d like to see emerge as a result of the compilation’s release, and he doesn’t talk about label deals or added publicity. He’d be happy if it gave everybody more excuses to hang out.
“It would be great if it just brought bands to each other’s shows. It was really cool to see everybody there for the photo shoot,” Stephenson says. “With all the bands there it was like a packed show without anyone playing. It was cool to see everybody in one place at one time, and it’d be great if that happened more as a result.”
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Meet the Casual Victim Pile band: Follow That Bird!
Ricardo B. Brazziell/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Ahead of tonight’s release show for Austin-centric Matador Records compilation “Casual Victim Pile” (see our interview with compilation architect and Matador co-owner Gerard Cosloy here, review here and photo gallery of the bands here), we’ve talked with three of the compilation’s most notable bands. Tonight’s performers Follow That Bird are featured below, you can check out the Dikes of Holland here, and tune back in tomorrow for an interview with Friday performers Woven Bones.
When powerfully confessional folk rock singer Bill Callahan headlined a show at the Parish back in July, he chose a seemingly unlikely opener: the thunderous pop-rock trio Follow That Bird. If Callahan’s dark, intimate ruminations seemed an odd pair with Follow That Bird’s riot grrl-descended rock, well, they thought so, too.
“I asked him about it, because I was like ‘Bill. What are we doing here? Tell it to me straight,’” drummer Tiffanie Lanmon, 23, recalls with a laugh. “It was weird, because the two times we’ve played really big shows were both at the Parish, and they were with Bill Callahan and Shearwater. Shearwater was a CD release show and they had all these orchestral instruments and … we were Follow That Bird.”
But Follow That Bird’s cachet with accomplished locals like Callahan and Shearwater speaks highly to their status as one of Austin’s (relatively) hidden rock ’n’ roll gems. Lanmon started the band with vocalist and guitarist Lauren Green, 21, in 2005. Bassist Mitchell Tellstrom, 28, joined up last year (as a former member of the Persimmons, Tellstrom manages the impressive trick of having played in two “Casual Victim Pile” bands without actually appearing in either’s songs on the compilation).
Their high-energy, straight-ahead rock, anchored by Green’s Joan Jett-by-way-of-Chrissie Hynde and Siouxsie Sioux wail, also impressed Matador Records’ Gerard Cosloy. The longtime supporter of the band asked them to appear on “Casual Victim Pile” early on in the selection process.
“He presented it as ‘This is really selfish. This is what I want to hear. I want it in one place and this is what I’m doing. It’s just stuff that I’m excited about and maybe want to show everyone else what’s going on,’ ” Lanmon says.
Without much persuasion needed, Follow That Bird signed on and recorded “The Ghosts That Wake You,” a driving anthem that provides the perfect opening for a compilation that has an impressive breadth.
“It has a really broad scope for being, for the most part, bands that play at Beerland. It’s at least an idea of all the different things that go on there,” Tellstrom says. “The difference between No No Hopes and Kingdom of Suicide Lovers is gigantic. But at the same time, they probably all live in the same neighborhood, and they make sense together.”
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