Never the Same Again: A Story of SXSW 2010
The year is 2010, a time when Austin isn’t completely overrun with condos, cranes, and “hipsters” just yet, even during the infamous SXSW music festival. My favorite shows are lovingly … Continue reading
Community Preservation and the “Value” of a Bad Guy
How does a community preserve a threatened treasure? In 2010, Austin citizens and University of Texas students joined forces in a popular uprising that saved the Cactus Cafe, the much-loved … Continue reading
Noctornes
I came to Austin last week to work under the guidance of mentor and Magnum photographer, David Alan Harvey at a workshop and exhibition hosted at the University of Texas. … Continue reading
The Beginning, the Middle, and Not the End
In the beginning, when Austin was born, it was named Waterloo. Young, little Waterloo had humble beginnings as a small Texas town in the hill country, but Mirabeau B. Lamar … Continue reading
Neverland
When I first moved to Austin almost seven years ago, the city welcomed me with open arms. Granted, I grew up on the east coast, so it’s possible my bar … Continue reading
Memorial Wall
“It started out as something smaller, a Day of the Dead thing,” Henry Gonzalez explains, standing before the Memorial Wall at the South Austin Popular Culture Center on Lamar, “but … Continue reading
A Conversation With Thor
About halfway through Thor Harris’s A Post Apocalyptic Tale of Friendship (2010), a mutilated and deformed figure hauls a shark-filled aquarium through a desert populated by wilted flora and equally … Continue reading
The Ends of Austins
For some Austin ended when the Armadillo became Threadgill’s South. For others, when S X S W started (or when wristbands began to cost three digits). Or when the warehouse … Continue reading
I Grew Up in a South Texas Town
I grew up in a South Texas town, a caliche pit of farm equipment yards and suburbs searching for urbs… no core, no history. South Texas stretches across some of the … Continue reading
Downtown Real Estate and the Music Scene
Imagine two performances from the original cosmic cowboy and outlaw country musician, Willie Nelson. The first takes place in an austere concert hall that holds about 400 hundred people. Nelson … Continue reading
