Flanfire

Once in a while you still hear the laments about “the good old daze” in Austin and the venues that once were — and people saying that live music here is dying out for whatever reason.  Yet every day it seems I am meeting musicians who just moved to Austin and every week I seem to find another new music venue — and new venues are opening faster than I can check out.  Even better, some of these new venues are some of the best in the city.

Let’s start with an old venue that has taken on new life thanks to the vision and a lot of hard work by partners CJ Vinson and Lauren Bucherie, who started the “Sessions at the Hideout” just a few months ago.  Months earlier, Brian Conway was booking Erin Ivey and special guests for shows at this old theatre in the back of the Hideout coffeehouse at 7th and Congress — that’s when I first learned that this old theatre, which seats maybe a hundred folks (if you add a lot of chairs), could become a fabulous listening room.

Well, CJ and Lauren have turned this musty old room into a warm and friendly gathering place where people come just because the doors are open.  I finally got over to the Sessions to see my friends Justin and Tiffani (who are old friends of CJ’s during their days in Brooklyn) and their duo Justif.  Now I had first met this couple back in February at the impromptu Stonehoney show at Threadgill’s on North Lamar (the day Justin told the lads he would gladly play drums for them and did NOT mention he had quit playing drums for real a decade earlier).  Well, Justin did play with Stonehoney at the Saxon Pub, and that was not his only show with the band.  I did not know at that time that they were singing together (Justin on guitar), but ran into the couple at the Monday night House Wine open mike where everybody who gets on stage is pretty darn good.  And they were too!.  What a joy to catch their set at the Hideout, and then to hang out for the rest of the evening.

Vanessa Peters was up second — I remembered meeting her at a Melissa Mullins showcase at El Mercado years ago, and I had seen her more recently at Momo’s Club.  The bandleader of “Ice Cream on Mondays” has put out two more records since our first encounter (at which I immediately pegged her as a Dallas gal) and is touring (including in Europe) extensively.  Then it was another Brooklyn buddy of CJ — Ted Hefko, a Wisconsin native who spent nine years in the Crescent City before heading north long before Katrina hit town.  I really liked Ted’s music, and that is good as he does get to Austin here and now (sometimes playing sax with CJ’s band), and his songs impressed me quite a bit.  His brand-new record, Egyptland, was recorded partly here in Austin (at Trampa Studios under the direction of Adam Ahrens).  Indeed, Ted gives kudos to my friend Rose Reyes “for opening up the Austin music scene to me.”  Last but hardly least on this night’s bill was Jess Klein — in town for a short while before hitting the road again with her brand new CD, Bound to Love.

The next “Sessions” event will be November 5th — with Aimee Bobruk (fresh from her sister’s wedding), The Blue Hit (love that Grace Rowland), Jason Poe (of the band Jets Under Fire), and Bethany Solonika (maybe on autoharp and vocals).  Judging by the talented friends who have already played the Sessions, I would recommend that any time CJ and Lauren and friends open the doors the show will be well worth the small cover charge — and then some.

One night a while back at the House Wine open mike, I got to hear this gal Lauren Bruno (just here from Berklee School of Music) sing a song or three and she kept talking about this benefit concert she was throwing at her house (which turned out to be in far northeast Austin, even north of my humble abode).  So my new pal Brett Randell and I drive up, find the place, and walk into this trippy backyard with a video screen, a mini-stage that sits at the doorway of an outdoor shed that has been turned into a music room (compleat with soundproofing all around) — and that, we learned, is where they put the drum kit and bass amp so that the noise does not escape into the neighborhood. 

We pay the two dollars, which we learn is going to Clayton Lillard’s Backyard Crew project — since he was a ten-year-old in San Antonio, Clayton has been repairing bicycles to give to children with at least one parent incarcerated.  Yeah, this guy (who just moved to Austin after two years at Berklee) has been fixing about 100 bicycles a year — and has been written up in a whole bunch of newspapers, magazines, and oh yeah just got to speak at Texas A & M with two U.S. Presidents in the house.  No big deal — he just loves to play good music — mostly drums and guitar.

Lauren and Clayton have started up the Austin expansion of “$2 Shows,” a concept begun in Los Angeles by the equally renowned Spencer Ludwig, who one day decided to throw a benefit concert where all the proceeds would go to a charity of his choosing, musicians could play without hassles from the club scene, and a community might be created.  $2 Shows is now an official nonprofit that is also expanding into Louisiana — you can learn more at www.twodollarshows.com . 

So at this music event, we also get to see a video of Spencer Ludwig welcoming the Austin audience to his little idea made flesh.  Clayton played drums for the band Salesman and guitar with Lauren in their band — Anna Noel was there, and there were several others who performed before the night ended with an acoustic jam.  The event  raised 146 dollars for Clayton’s Backyard Crew.  Lauren and Clayton hope to have a second $2 Show the third week in November.