Mayor Adler Op-Ed: “We Need Specific, Concrete, and Quick Action.”
Mayor Steve Adler had an op-ed piece published yesterday emphasizing the dire state of the Austin music scene and to reiterate how dedicated he is to enacting policies to augment that state as quickly as possible. He says he’s not looking to invest more time and money into a study; he wants “specific, concrete, and quick action, because Austin can’t keep losing musicians, music venues, artists, and performance space and remain the city that we love.” The op-ed is essentially a conversational translation of the “Music & Creative Ecosystem Stabilization Recommendations” report released at the end of last month that pinpointed factors weakening the city’s live music infrastructure and a plan of action to rectify them, starting with 10 issues the committee felt needed more immediate attention. The mayor has called a Special Meeting of the Austin Music Commission taking place tonight at 6 pm at Austin City Hall. All who want to get involved in taking back the Live Music Capital of the World are encouraged to attend.
How to Balance Live Music and Children
Summertime is festival time, though if you have children, going out to live music events becomes a bit of a challenge. With so many local musicians and other industry professionals with families, Austin 360 sought out some pro-tips. They put together a list for marrying your love for your kids to your love for live music with advice from music industry parents like Celeste Quesada (event architect and wife of musician Adrian Quesada), Dan Redman, father of Residual Kid’s Max and Ben Redman, and Bill Childs, host of KUTX’s kids program Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. Read all about it here.
DJ Obi Sets New Gunniess World Record
There’s a new Guinness World Record holder for longest DJ set played. Nigerian DJ DJ Obi performed for 240 straight hours between June 22 and July 2 at a Lagos café without breaking either of Gunniess’s parameters: someone must always be dancing, and no single song can be repeated in a four-hour time period. DJ Obi was given a five-minute break every hour, but reports that he started hallucinating after four days without sleep. His set beats the 200-hour set by Polish DJ Norbert Selmaj 2 years after taking the title.
-Taylor Wallace
