After downpours on Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, skies were clear when Bill and I arrived for the final day of the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Zilker Park remained a little muddy in spots, but was nothing like the 2009 Mud Fest. Temperatures were in the 80s for most of the day.
Austin City Limits Music Festival continued with an overcast day on Saturday. This kept temperatures in the 70s with an occasional sprinkle…until around 5:30 PM when two downpours came through Zilker Park. Bill and I had decided to walk over to Chuy’s on Barton Springs Road so we were dryly eating Tex-Mex during the worst of the rain. Zilker Park was very muddy after the rain but not as bad as the ACL Mud Fest of 2009.
Bill and I put in a long first day for the 2012 Austin City Limits Music Festival. We arrived at Zilker Park in the morning to see The Wombats and Asleep at the Wheel and finally ran out of energy around 8 PM. The sun was hot in the afternoon but the evening temperatures were wonderful. Here’s who we saw on Friday:
I first stopped by the Byrne-Reed House on Rio Grande Street, headquarters for Humanities Texas. As the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, this non-profit “conducts and supports public programs in history, literature, philosophy, and the other humanities disciplines.” Humanities Texas administers a grants program, creates traveling exhibitions and conducts various educational programs.
The current exhibit is Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. But I must confess that I spent more time admiring the house than reading the exhibit panels. I learned that the Byrne-Reed House was built as a family home in 1907 but was turned into an stucco-covered offering building in 1969. Humanities Texas purchased the building in 2006 and recently completed an award-winning restoration project .
Next on my itinerary was the Texas Medical Association History of Medicine Gallery. I have driven past this corner of Guadalupe and 15th Street many, many times but wasn’t aware of this little museum in the first floor lobby.
The current exhibit, Don’t Spit on the Sidewalk, describes the top 10 public health achievements of the last century, including vaccination, motor vehicle safety, and fluoridation of drinking water. The exhibit’s name comes from sidewalk bricks which were laid to help control infectious diseases. This “museum” wasn’t big but the displays were informative and I was glad that I had stopped by.
Last stop on my downtown museum tour was the German Free School, tucked away on the 10th Street hillside near Red River. I’ve been to concerts next door at The Mohawk, but had absolutely no idea that this beautiful historic building was behind the trees. The folks in the School probably know about their noisy neighbors at The Mohawk though.
Thirty-six area museums participated in Sunday’s Austin Museum Day. I took advantage of this free admission day to visit several museums in East Austin…
The Texas Music Museum “explores and documents all the music that plays a role in the hearts of Texans.” Currently their main exhibit is “Contributions of East Austin African-American Musicians to Texas Music.” This museum is not very big and seems to be more focused on providing research and materials for other organizations. The walls are filled with posters containing photographs and short biographies of famous and not-so-famous musicians from around the state.
Retiring space shuttle Endeavor flew over downtown Austin this morning. The shuttle spent last night in Houston and passed by Austin on its way to the Los Angeles Airport. Then in October, Endeavor will be transported along Los Angeles city streets to its final home at the California Science Center.
Several hundred gathered at the Texas State Capitol to watch the flyover, which was expected between 7:30 and 8:00 AM. Most of us waited on the south lawn down towards Congress Avenue. I saw some news crews over there and thought they probably knew this would be the best angle for photographs of the shuttle and the capitol dome.
But it turns out that news crews don’t always know either. At 7:41 AM, we heard an engine roar behind us as Endeavor flew a few blocks south of the capitol grounds, almost above 10th Street. The flyover only last about 5 seconds but I did manage to get turned around and snap a picture. The crowd was impressed. It was pretty cool to see the shuttle flying over downtown.
Dear USPS:
I was heartbroken to receive your recent “Dear Postal Customer” letter.
I had hoped that the rumors were untrue, but it looks like you really are selling the downtown post office. I realize that the postal business is not doing well these days and that this particular location sits on a full city block of prime downtown real estate. I guess charging for evening bar-hopper parking hasn’t helped to make ends meet?
Conspirare’s Big Sing! was Big Fun!
Austin-based Conspirare includes two adult vocal ensembles: Community of Voices with professional members from around the US and Symphonic Choir with 100 auditioned professional and volunteer members from Central Texas. The group has recorded several critically-acclaimed albums, was featured in a PBS special, and has received several Grammy nominations. A release party for their latest recording, Samuel Barber: An American Romantic, will be held this Wednesday over at Waterloo Records. Conspirare also has two youth choirs.
I knew that Conspirare periodically holds these free community sing-a-longs, “where the audience is the choir,” but had never attended a Big Sing! before. Symphonic Choir members were scattered throughout the audience to provide guidance and support. Ushers handed out some packets of printed music which were helpful, but not required, since all of the song lyrics were displayed on the front screen. The music was easy enough so that even non-singers and non-music-readers could participate and enjoy themselves.
Conspirare director Craig Hella Johnson was quite entertaining as a conductor, as a voice instructor, and as a commentator. He chose a wide range of musical styles for us to sing, ranging from folk to gospel to Broadway to classical. My favorites were “Edelweiss” (continuing my recent obsession with The Sound of Music) and an abridged version of the “Hallelujah Chorus.”
This particular Big Sing! doubled as a sound test for the soon-to-be-opened Topfer Theatre at Zach Scott. At times we were instructed to face different walls or adjust our singing volume for acoustical testing. I know nothing about sound engineering but 500 voices raised together in song sounded awesome in that theater.
Zach’s Artistic Director Dave Steakley spoke about the new large and flexible theater space. Stadium seating means that every seat has a good view of the stage and seats can be removed to create an orchestra pit, allowing for more elaborate musical productions. Some finishing work such as touch-up painting and minor tilework remains to be completed before the grand opening celebrations planned for later this month.
