Diatribes by Joah

DID YOU SEE THIS???

From the BET Awards...

Vid: Eminem, Mos Def, Black Thought Freestyle BET Cypher - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Pearl Jam, ACL Segment on PBS

Indisputable: Why Austin Calls Itself The Live Music Capital of the World

After my ACL Festival post, I wanted to more formally introduce the book I'm currently writing. I've given it the provocative title seen above.

So let me start by telling you that I originally thought about writing a book proving to the naysayers of London, Los Angeles, New York, Nashville and every other urban live music hotspot to prove to them why Austin’s live music scene is better. 

But I don't think one person will ever be able to figure out precisely why one city’s live music scene trumps another. Not even me. Still, I won’t let that stop me from making the case for Austin. I’ll let someone else make the case for their city (good luck).

When you think about London, New York, L.A., Chicago or Minneapolis you think of a ton of things before you think of live music, but with Austin it’s different.

And when you think of Dublin, Memphis, Nashville, Seattle or Miami, you may think of music, but it’s probably not live music. It’s probably U2 or blues or country or grunge or Rick Ross.

Austin is unquestionably about live music.

This Austin I speak of has a foundation built by the likes of Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughn, The Continental Club, Antone’s, Austin City Limits, both TV show and festival, South by Southwest and all of the hundreds of others who make up the bands, festivals, and venues that have made this city a live music mecca for decades.

And the city’s music portfolio, although glaringly missing of hip-hop stature, includes Grammy winners and critically acclaimed artists like Shawn Colvin, Los Lonely Boys, and Spoon, classic, nationally-known venues like Stubb’s and Emo’s, up-and-coming businesses and events like C3 Presents, which runs ACL Fest and Chicago's Lollapalooza, Frontgate Tickets, which is saving us from Ticketmaster with each event, and, the up-and-coming indie festival, Fun Fun Fun Fest, which takes place Nov. 7-8 this year in a Downtown Austin park.

I get upset when I hear people from other cities with established music scenes question Austin’s designation as the Live Music Capital of the World. They think it’s just more of that Texas cowboy swagger. And our last president sort of rubbed people the wrong way on that as you know. Regardless, my typical response is fairly simple: no other city’s live music scene is as vast, vaunted, vibrant and vital to its culture and economy as Austin’s.

Janis Joplin started her career here for cryin’ out loud! And Richard Florida, author of the book The Rise of the Creative Class, pointed out Austin's music scene as a reason for its ability to attract people from cities like Pittsburgh by fostering creativity and diversity (and not that outdated definition). Also, I've heard our two major festivals SXSW and ACL have a combined economic impact that now surpasses $150 million annually...take that recession!

How else do you explain how Sweet Leaf Tea’s business was catapulted, seemingly overnight, after the first ACL Festival. And how do you explain why both Austin Ventures, known for investing in dozens of high-tech startups, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation had their names emblazoned upon stages at this year’s festival.

That festival is our presidential election, our Oscars and each year’s lineup is viewed as the next big I.P.O. Those stage sponsorships are like Super Bowl ads here in Austin.

Bands and musicians rise and fall every day, but Austin is where much of it is chronicled. Either on the local stages that they start and finish on, SXSW where they get a label deal, the marquee venues they play on their way up and down the musical food chain, on the famous stage of the Austin City Limits TV show, or when they headline the festival of the same name.

Speaking of, did you know Pearl Jam played something like a two-and-a-half-hour set for the legendary program (and a crowd of 300 or so) the day before their headlining performance at the festival? It’s an hour-long broadcast folks. That's live music love for band and fan alike.

You can add Eddie Vedder and Co. to a long line of musical talents to take the KLRU stage, located on UT’s campus (for now), in a line of that runs as deep as the chords from B.B. King’s guitar and as vast as the influences of Gnarls Barkley.

Of course, some people don’t like all this urban growth and attention. People are moving here from L.A. and New York for Christ’s sake! Yep, there are those here in Austin who believe that our live music is attracting too many of the wrong kind of people. Specifically, Live Nation.

Turns out the music industry behemoth will be running the new 2,500-seat ACL venue that opens in Downtown Austin late next year. Maybe that explains why Jay-Z is playing here in Austin (UT's Frank Erwin Center) in two weeks after skipping the city for several years? My take: If we have to get Live Nation ticket prices to get Jay-Z talent on a Tuesday night, sign me up!

Can’t you see what all this points to? Let me beat you over the head for a couple more seconds just in case…

London and Glasgow are probably the best cities in Europe for live music, but their musical range is mostly limited to indie (i.e. Glasgow's Franz Ferdinand), premier electronic acts like The Chemical Brothers and mega arena acts that are never fully embraced in the U.S., i.e. Robbie Williams.

Of course, Austin can't compete with the likes of Radiohead, Coldplay, Muse, Blur, The Streets and Dizzie Rascal, but the cities (or our festival's) ability to get the attention of those acts has grown tenfold in the last five years alone.

In Los Angeles, people are too busy reading scripts, going to auditions and watching movies to make live music their city’s calling card. The Airborne Toxic Event is a really good band, but having to compete against the Lakers and USC Trojans can't be good for business.

People think they plan ACL Festival around the UT football schedule, but I'm starting to believe UT football doesn't want to go up against ACL Festival because they may lose some students in the process, probably on the food alone.

In Nashville, record labels and music publishers keep musicians busy writing songs and making studio records.

Garth Brooks trumps Willie Nelson in Nashville.

And New Yorkers are writing ads and articles like mad men or scouting the hottest stocks and fashion trends; so much for that Tuesday night show at CBGB.

What'd you say? CBGB closed. What kind of world are we living in???

This is what makes Austin unique. Both our economy and culture, more so than any other city in America, are dependent upon live music. Hole in the Wall, a classic venue near the UT campus nearly went out of business but is back in full effect. Clifford Antone passed away, but his club is still booking hot bands like The Dirty Projectors...they played here last night.

As Steve Wertheimer, the owner of Continental Club, told me the other day, “People here make sacrifices for live music. Whether it’s a few hours of sleep or money…”

These sacrifices earn Austin the highest of live music titles. It’s not about what’s happening Friday and Saturday – at least outside of festival weekends – as much as what’s accessible and available on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Don't get me wrong, we watch The Office and Weeds and plenty of Monday Night Football, but live music is a significant part of the weekly schedule for Austinites. 

People sometimes complain about Austin missing out on mega acts like U2 because they're playing Houston or Dallas on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, but the truth of the matter is that they're playing those cities on those particular nights because they won't make enough money to pay for those massive stages and light shows if they roll through the Toyota Center or the American Airlines Center on a Tuesday or Wednesday.

I'll some all this up for you in a few key points:

Proof point #1: The talent.
Only 800,000 people call Austin home, compared to 8 million in New York and something like 4 million in LA, but we have outsized depth when it comes to musical talent. Every garage band isn’t getting a deal out of this city and even the most polished bands play 100-person venues for years.

Proof point #2: The competition.
The best up-and-coming bands from every city in America, even bands from the UK and Denmark, are begging to play South by Southwest Festival showcases in March where more than 1,000 bands play in around 100 venues. And guess who shows up for surprise performances at this past year’s festival? Metallica to Kanye West. And that's not Metallica in an arena, that's Metallica on stage at an outdoor 1,500-person venue (Stubb's) and Kanye at The Fader Fort, a temporary venue/stage that only exists for four days. How sick is that?

It’s no surprise Mr. West was heard rapping, “next crib loftin’, where’s that Austin...” during his SXSW performance, freestylin' with Common and Erykah Badu.

Proof point #3: The industry.
Fellow Chicagoan and, at the time, newly-elected President Barack Obama needed a major production crew for inauguration in D.C. and who’d his team call? Nope, not the Ghostbusters…Austin-based C3 Presents. Apparently there’s no break between booking and promoting shows at Stubb’s and Emo’s, two of Austin’s classic live music venues, and ACL Festival.

Proof point #4: The festival.
Austin’s city’s biggest park, Zilker, where The Rolling Stones played a few years ago, didn’t get a face-lift for 70 years and who foot the bill for an upgrade? C3. They even involved fans in the matter, including a small fee in the ticket price, which still cost substantially less than tickets for Coachella, Bonnaroo and other major three-day festivals.

Proof point #5: The buzz.
Check this, Memphis’ top rock’n’roll band, Lucero, had a gig at Troubador in Los Angeles earlier this year and who shared the bill? Austin’s own Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, one of 2009’s hottest bands, now headed to Europe for some tour dates next month.

Still guessing as to what all this means?

Proof point #6: The legacy.
Here’s a simple one: what is the longest running music series in American TV history? You guessed it, Austin City Limits.

Long story short, I'm of the belief that it is indisputable that Austin is the Live Music Capital of the World. Call me controversial, but I'm writing a book that reminds (or informs) everyone.

(All photo credits: Lauren Balli)

Just bought these today

 

Friday Jam: John Mayer

Off his upcoming album Battle Studies.

An Austin Rebuttal to Aaron Penn's New Geography piece, "The White City"

For my book Real Role Models, I had the privilege of interviewing Leonard Pitts, Jr., the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Miami Herald. Pitts is just one man, but he always brings a perspective that is equally grounded in the facts the world gives us and the facts his experience has given him.

Although it’s usually Pitts doing the interviewing, his years on the other side of the pen have surely given him a knack for quote making. So what’s the best thing he said to me?

“Writers are readers. When students tell me they love writing, but they don’t like reading, I have to remind them that if you want to be a writer, you need to be a reader.”

I typically write stream of consciousness on here, which is possible only because of how many articles, blogs, books, magazines and newspaper (websites) I read before I put my fingers on the keyboard.

However, I recently read something on New Geography that leads me to take a step back into my college days when I was known for a persuasive essay or two. The New Geography piece, titled “The White City,” was written by Aaron Renn who runs one of the top urban affairs blogs in the country, The Urbanophile, which focuses primarily on urban policy issues in the Midwest. 

In his post, Penn calls out a few notable American cities for their lack of diversity and the role their anglo-affinity, demographically speaking, may have on their ability to adapt sound urban policies. He keys in on Portland, but also throws jabs at “its progressive brethren” which he names as Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle, and, you guessed it, Austin.

So in essence, Penn says these cities are better than others – most notably the cities in his neck of the woods, the Midwest – when it comes to progressive policies because they have more white people.

He opines, “Why move to the suburbs of your stodgy Midwest city to escape African Americans and get criticized for it when you can move to Portland and actually be praised as progressive, urban and hip?”

It must be noted that I was sent the link to the article from a good friend and reader of my diatribes I’m sure he did so either because he thought that a) I would agree with Penn and reiterate Austin’s lack of Blackness or b) attack Penn for going after my city. I didn’t ask my friend which direction he thought I’d go, but if he knows me well he’d have picked b. I did.

I refuse to let someone say something bad about this city if they don’t live here. Especially if they spend their days writing about cities like Cincinnati, Detroit and Indianapolis…cities that need people like Penn running for city council, not chastising the demographics of more buzz-worthy metropolitan regions.

Now I could go on here and tell you all about how Austin’s failure to cater to the needs of its Black population is despicable (paging Reagan High School). And I could write thousands of words about how the city needs to promote more policies to integrate more of the awesome things that make Austin so livable. I could break down the demographics and various aspects of Austin City Limits (the TV show and the festival) and Texas sporting events and talk about removing stereotypes and stigmas from typically-“Black” events like Texas Relays weekend, but what would be the point?

That would imply that I agree with Penn and his 20th Century definition of diversity. Penn makes a Herculean leap in the outset of his piece that kills his entire point. One of his opening statements is that “the “progressive” cities aren’t red or blue, but another color entirely: white.” Then he makes a jump greater than any I’ve ever seen by LeBron James – a Midwesterner himself – to land on this line:

“Not one of these “progressive” cities even reaches the national average
for African American percentage population in its core county.”

Excuse my French, but are you f*cking kidding me…he’s using a national average to measure diversity? That’s like using a Census to determine the exact population of Tijuana!

Let me get this straight? Penn’s point is that cities like Cleveland and Louisville shouldn’t care to follow what’s working in Seattle or Austin because they have more Black people than those “progressive” cities? With this thinking, the Utah Jazz should never compete in the NBA Playoffs because their city’s Black population is much lower than that of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.

Penn asks, “how can a city define itself as diverse or progressive while lacking in African Americans, the traditional sine qua non of diversity, and often in immigrants as well?” The answer is quite simple: change your traditional definition into a progressive one.

Diversity is not the number of Black people in your city. I’m sorry, it’s not. You can get 30 kids in an AP History class and call it diverse if three Black kids are in it – based on national averages – but you’d be completely over-looking tons of other elements worth noting when addressing diversity.

How many kids are non-white? How many are from single vs. two-parent homes? How many have lived abroad? How many have college-educated parents? How many play instruments or sports? How many have been outside the state, country?

There are so many different ways to splice up demographics, but a survey will hardly ever count for perspective.

And that’s why Penn’s argument is faulty.

It’s a white man telling “white” cities that they shouldn’t brag because they aren’t Black enough. Now I’m sure Penn did his research. He’s seen plenty of statistics and met plenty of minority spokespersons I’m sure. But what appears to have happened is rather simple: he forgot about politics.

Hate ‘em all you want, but politicians know something way more applicable to the real world than Penn and most demographers and urban affairs specialists: they know perspective.

Sure, that perspective may be as limited as their conservative Limbaugh listening constituents or their liberal Jon Stewart viewing voters, but that perspective (and those votes) is what determines urban policy, not demographics. Certainly not national averages.

Take Texas for example. Texas is the absolute worst state in the country about public transportation if you measured it against how much money this state brings in and how many cars are driven. We LOVE our cars, trucks and SUVs. And who could blame us? We’ve never had a major elected official stake any semblance of political capital on promoting public transportation, unless you’re counting people eyeing a campaign donation from Lance Armstrong or Governor Rick Perry since he did break a collarbone a few months back while biking. Yeah, that has to count for something.

And it doesn’t get much better at the city level: Houston and Dallas have atrocious public transportation systems in comparison to internationally-known cities like Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Yet, Austin, a city with a much lower percentage of Black people, joins its more populous Texas brethren as a city with a huge public transportation problem. Interstate-35, the main highway in and out of Austin, is in serious need of some Vapo Rub-policy treatment yet the city’s “Keep Austin Weird” proponents have yet to advocate a light rail system like those struggling in Dallas and Houston. This isn’t a black or white thing: it’s a Ford or GM thing…you should know that Mr. Penn, covering the Midwest and all.

Just goes to show that Austin isn’t progressive on all fronts. Besides, Austin’s success on other matters has very little to do with its failure to have 12.8 percent of its population check the African-American box…it has plenty more to do with something I pointed out months ago: an embarrassingly low turnout of voters. In essence, the progressives just so happen to be the most engaged on a number of issues, including promoting biking and live music.

I may not have tons of stats and fancy charts to back up my claims here, but I have my ear to the streets here in Austin and if the excuse for other cities to not implement policies that have been effective here and in other progressive cities is because of perceived homogenous qualities in its makeup, then I think your city is going to need to look for a new definition of diversity before it finds any policy success.

***

I remember Pitts telling me that, “Writers must be persistent and have inner direction to know where you want to get and the course you need to go to get there.”

Cities should be more like writers because good urban policy has more to do with the inner direction of its leaders and the perspectives reflected on ballots than the population averages a Census tells us is most common.

Oh, and one final note: Austin was recently ranked #1 on New Geography’s Best Cities list. Plenty of jobs here to fill out according to national averages.

Friday Jam: Muse

I gotta have these!