You may have been around when this transformation was taking place. It was when the very meaning of “Austin music” was mutating. The Electric Lounge first made the local music scene in 1993 – the essential venue of artists (music, visual, and all others) boldly and loudly creating the next wave of Austin weird. Forget “wave,” it was more of a tsunami.
Its doors may have closed in ’99, but the legends live on. Now, twenty years later, it’s time for an encore.
The Electric Lounge 20 Year Reunion show will feature performances by some of the movers and shakers that put that venue on the Austin map, including Sixteen Deluxe (featured on today’s AMM), Graham Reynolds, Kevin Russell, Ethan Azarian and Jeff Johnston of Orange Mothers, PONG, Hamell On Trial, Gay Sportscasters and many more. Poets Hilary Thomas, Genevieve Van Cleve, and Phil West will be on hand for readings at this event, and Wammo will serve as your badass irreverent host.
The Electric Lounge 20 Year Reunion show happens today at 3Ten at ACL Live, 310 Willie Nelson Blvd. The music starts at 4 p.m. This is also an event that benefits the SIMS Foundation, Mosaic Sound Collective, and local artist Jason Austin. Recommended.
-Photo of Sixteen Deluxe by Danny Clinch, taken at the Austin Motel in 1997.
