Three series of free concerts are being offered in downtown Austin this summer…

1. “Concerts in the Park” are performed by musicians from the Austin Symphony. So far I’ve heard a brass quintet and a string ensemble on the terrace outside the Long Center.

These concerts start at 7:30 PM on Sunday evenings. By this time the temperature has cooled off to a balmy 98 degrees. It’s tough to decide where to sit. The Long Center terrace has a nice view looking out to downtown but the concrete is still radiating heat and the performers face the other way. The grass in front is cooler but slopes down away from the terrace. In either case, shade is a must.

2. “Blues on the Green” is held twice a month on Wednesday evenings in Zilker Park. A large ACL-like stage is set up on the lawn near the Zilker Rock Garden. The grass here is an extremely hardy variety that was planted especially for the Austin City Limits Music Festival. These concerts also start at 7:30 PM but somehow the late-day heat seems  bearable on that lush lawn.

Local blues-ish musicians perform for fairly large crowds. Over 12,000 people attended the opening night concert by Bob Schneider. I missed that one but have heard Suzanna Choffel and Marcia Ball in recent weeks.

3. “Music under the Star” is held on Friday evenings in July. Unfortunately I will probably not get to one of these concerts this month. I’ve either had conflicts or just haven’t been motivated to walk up to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum at 6 PM…the hottest part of the day here.

Austin lived up to the title, Live Music Capital of the World, with lots of free music last weekend!

Thursday the Austin Symphony celebrated their centennial anniversary with a special program featuring violinist Itzhak Perlman. A large screen was set up outside The Long Center for those of us who were too cheap or too late to buy a ticket. I took the following photo as the crowd was still gathering and while it was still daylight.

Several hundred people were watching by the time Itzhak played after intermission. His performance of Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 was outstanding! The inside crowd gave him a 15-minute standing ovation and even us outsiders jumped to our feet for a while. I have only one complaint (besides not being inside): the closed-circuit camera was blocked when the inside audience stood up. So we couldn’t see the stage until everyone inside sat down again!

Friday brought another beautiful evening with another free show at The Long Center called “Texas Swing into Spring.” The Lucky Tombin Band played a little bit of everything including country, Texas swing and Chuck Berry, prompting lots of two-steppin’ on the terrace…

Saturday during a walk around Lady Bird Lake, we watched a rehearsal for the Fusebox Festival. Three pianos were rolled up the circular ramps of the Pfluger (pedestrian) Bridge and two were in the center. The unusual location presented quite a challenge to the musicians. The poor pianist next to noisy Cesar Chavez Street couldn’t even hear his own piano. Hopefully they worked this out before the performance later that evening. 

We missed the actual Fusebox performance to see The Decemberists at Stubb’s…a great show but certainly not free!

Sunday evening featured simultaneous concerts at the Play Me, I’m Yours pianos which are scattered around downtown Austin. These “Playin’ for Pinetop” concerts honored Pinetop Perkins, a famous blues piano player who retired in Austin and died last month at the age of 97. 

Bill and I started with the Austin City Hall piano and then slowly made our way around Lady Bird Lake. We listened to one or two jazz/blues songs at each location. Other instrumentalists (guitar, string bass, trombone) played along with some of the pianists. A cold front had just blown through so the audiences were sparse. 

The pianist on the Shoal Creek Peninsula was playing a lively version of Cole Porter’s Day and Night when a bicyclist stopped to listen with us. It turned out that this random guy was himself an accomplished jazz pianist; I think his name was Kevin Lovejoy. Kevin had no idea about these concerts and just happened to be riding by. He sat down and played his heart out. The original pianist and his wife started dancing and others joined them. Definitely a “Why We Love Austin” moment…

Downtown Austin’s already-high Cool Factor increased this week with the start of Play Me, I’m Yours. The public is invited to play, as well as decorate, the 14 pianos which are scattered around downtown.

Play Me, I’m Yours is part of an “international tour” by artist Luke Jerram. The pianos will be around Austin for the month of April and are the talk of the town!

A piano with a view on the terrace at the Long Center. 

A photo of a photo shoot on the Pfluger Bridge.

Another piano with a view at Lou Neff Point near Barton Springs. 

These street guys under the gazebo at Auditorium Shores told us that people are playing the pianos in the middle of the night.
 

 

This was my favorite piano to play, up on Doug Sahm Hill near the Palmer Events Center. 

Someone has thoughtfully provided music for this piano on the First Street Bridge

Outside the W (hotel) and the entrance to the ACL-Live Theatre. I went back later to take another photo and the security guard told me that I needed a permit to take any photographs on the W property!

Someone is usually playing this piano that we can see from our apartment.

On the stairs at City Hall. I saw the piano being moved (via dolly) onto the Pfluger Bridge but wonder how they got some of the other ones into place.

That’s me playing near the Pfluger Bridge. 

Most of these pianos are not under a roof, so tarps are attached to the backs in case of rain. “Piano Buddies” are assigned to keep an eye on a piano and try to cover it if needed. I volunteered to do this but didn’t hear back so I assume the pianos all have their buddies!

Bill and I are Austin Music People.  No, no…this isn’t because we are going to more concerts since living downtown. This is because we attended last week’s Austin Music People (AMP) Launch Party and so we are now officially AMP members.

The mission of this newly-formed organization is to protect and grow Austin’s music culture. After all, Austin has a reputation to maintain as Live Music Capital of the World. AMP got off to a good start with this concert!

Alejandro Escovedo

Here was the line-up…all with local ties: 

• The Bright Light Social Hour: Getting a lot of buzz around Austin these days. We liked them.
• The Coveters: We were so-so on this band from local club Momo’s.
• Bavu Blakes: Bill and I were not sure what to expect from this hip-hop artist but he was great!
• Brownout!: I must confess that we missed this band. When we saw that the concert was going to last until the wee hours, we ran back to the apartment for a few minutes. Living one block from ACL-Live at the Moody Theatre has its benefits.
• Alejandro Escovedo: Excellent as always. He’s a great guitarist.
• Court Yard Hounds: Two-thirds of the Dixie Chicks (sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison). This was why I went. I was not disappointed. Love those vocals!
• Blue October: Good, but not our favorite.
• Ghostland Observatory: This is why Bill went. He was not disappointed. Just two guys, lots of energy and a great light show.

Court Yard Hounds

My birthday present to Bill was tickets to opening night of the new Austin City Limits stage at the Moody Theater. This evening was a fund raiser for the local PBS station, KLRU, which produces the Austin City Limits TV series. 

The ACL backdrop was unveiled at the start of the program. The scene is an updated view of the downtown Austin skyline from the same vantage point as the old backdrop. Downtown is not quite drawn to scale since the UT Tower and State Capitol are now dwarfed by the highrises. My photos of the actual backdrop don’t do it justice but you can get the idea from my photo of the poster above.

Bill and I had first row balcony seats on the side near the stage. We liked this location better than our floor seats last week … no cowboy hats to block our view. This also gave us an opportunity to watch everyone who had arrived earlier for a catered dinner.

Local musican  Ray Benson (minus Asleep at the Wheel) introduced the musicians. 

Carolyn Wonderland and her band played first. She reminds me of Janis Joplin, who I’ve always liked for obvious reasons. 

The evening was headlined by the Steve Miller Band. I didn’t realize that Steve Miller was such a good guitar player. They played a long set list (20+ songs) but did not come back on stage for an encore. They played in Houston the following night and then came back to Austin to tape the first ACL TV show in the new theater.

Bill and I had forgotten that the Steve Miller Band had so many hit songs:

After the show, everyone was invited to wander around the Moody Theater. The mezzanine level has a gallery of photos from famous ACL performances. Except for maybe the first few rows on the floor, those mezzanine seats are the best in the house. We also went up to the stage for a closeup view of Steve Miller’s many guitars (which he did play during the concert).

Big news in our downtown neighborhood: Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater has now opened! Bill and I were at Willie Nelson’s inaugural concert there on Sunday evening. Wow…this theater is spectacular! The sound was perfect. The theater seats almost 3000 but some sections can be blocked off to create a more intimate space for tapings of the PBS Austin City Limits series. 

The adjacent W hotel dressed up to honor Willie’s trademark red bandana and braids. He still wears the red bandana (actually two during this show, which he tossed into the audience) but he cut off the braids a few years back.

Moody Theater has three levels. Bill and I were on the Floor level; there is also a small Mezzanine and a fairly large Balcony. All seats are said to be within 75 feet of the stage. Our floor-level chairs (with cup holders) were comfortable and had clear views of the stage … except for the guy with the cowboy hat in front of me. But this is a known risk when seeing a Willie Nelson concert in Texas.

Willie was backed by a small orchestra for the first 45 minutes of the show. This part was good, but not great. The orchestra sounded wonderful in the space but the songs seemed a little slow and monotonous after a while. Willie gave the conductor a huge smile at the end of each song. I thought he was enjoying himself but our local paper seemed to think that he was relieved when each song was over. 

After intermission, just Willie and his band took the stage. (I assume the Texas flag was helpful for those who didn’t have cowboy hats nearby to remind them of their location.) Willie seemed back in his element again and played one hit song after another for the next 90 minutes. What a great concert … and oh, did I mention that the Moody Theater is amazing too??