Last Sunday’s AMP UnGala 2013: UnWind was organized by and also benefited local non-profit Austin Music People. AMP’s self-described mission is “advocating for the brands, bands and fans that make Austin the Live Music Capital of the World.” The concert showcased a variety of local musicians representing genres ranging from orchestral rock to alternative country.
Community street bands have descended on Austin this weekend for the annual HONK!TX festival. Twenty-three bands are participating, including nine from the Austin area and one from Vancouver, British Columbia. Bands range from four to 40 members with a variety of musical influences including New Orleans brass bands, European klezmer, Brazilian Carnaval, and drum lines. Some groups have political goals, but most seem to be former band nerds who still like to get together and play their instruments.
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.
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.
Austinites, there are only two more weekends to see The Sound of Music at Sheffield Hillside Theater in Zilker Park. You don’t want to miss it!
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Ramma lamma lamma ka dingity ding da dong
Shoo bop shoo wadda wadda yippity boom da boom
Chang chang changity chang shoo bop
Dip da dip da dip do wop da dooby do
Boogy boogy boogy boogy shooby sho wap sho wap
Sha na na na na na na na yippity dip da do
Ramma lamma lamma ka dingity ding da dong
Shoo bop shoo wadda wadda yippity boom sha boom
Chang chang changity chang shoo bop
Yip da dip da dip shoo bopp sha dooby do
Boogedy boogedy boogedy boogedy shooby do wap sho bop
Sha na na na na na na na yippity dip da do
A womp bop a looma a womp bam boom
Can you can sing this verse from “We Go Together”? Do you know the motions to “Born to Hand Jive”? Do you secretly long to be a Pink Lady? Then you should have been at the Grease Sing-along at The Paramount Theater last weekend! Continue reading
Bill and I avoided the crowded Mother’s Day buffets this year and went to two free concerts instead…much more enjoyable with less guilt!
First we saw Elizabeth McQueen up at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. This month the Texas Center for Music History is sponsoring a free concert series on Sunday evenings on the museum’s terrace. Last year I had avoided going to outdoor concerts here since it’s all concrete. But while watching The Big Squeeze competition a few weeks ago, I realized that the terrace is shaded by the museum after mid-afternoon so these evening concerts are not unbearably hot.
Elizabeth McQueen performs with the Texas swing band, Asleep at the Wheel, but also does solo work. Our local NPR station KUT has been playing songs from her third and latest album, The Laziest Girl in Town. Elizabeth’s voice is clear and strong and she has a good stage presence.
The museum offers free admission on Sunday evenings during these concerts, so Bill and I looked around inside. Their latest special exhibit, Texas Music Roadtrip, celebrates famous Texas musicians including Janis Joplin, Bob Wills, Selena, Willie Nelson, and many more. I was thrilled to actually see Stevie Ray Vaughn‘s famous guitar, Number One, which has never been on public display before this exhibit. His custom Fender Strat is immortalized in the Stevie Ray statue at Auditorium Shores.
Bill and I then walked a few blocks to the Texas State Capitol to hear a free concert by the Austin Symphonic Band. I know a few musicians who play in this band and have attended their other concerts around town. We arrived late to this concert (I had spent a lot of time looking at Number One) but we enjoyed selections by Henry Mancini and John Phillip Sousa. Both concerts had several hundred people in attendance.
