It was mostly the stylus, but the cartridge was as ancient as the turntable, bought used and third in a line that began long ago with a Dual 1212, so I held them both accountable for the excruciating noise that came from the speakers. It was time for a quest. Where was a vinyl-owner to turn for turntable help?

I found my answers and the cartridge, stylus, and proper calibration thanks to the tactful and knowledgable and speedy artists of sound and all-knowing oracles at Audio Systems courtesy of a referral from a kind person who answered the telephone at Waterloo Records.

I was so happy not to be met with ridicule, but with understanding and kindness, and even more pleased by the results unexpectedly found at what I suspected would turn out to be a den of impossibly high-end equipment where people would have no use and no time for assisting me with my modest and antique turntable.

So, yes; some record stores here in town do stock and will sell a cartridge and stylus. I had planned to find replacements, install them myself, and carry on, but this was by far the better course of action. I’m so sorry that I took no names, but I certainly plan to return to Audio Systems when it’s time for an upgrade. The well organized workspace reinforces the confidence inspired by the Audio Systems people.

What’s spinning? It’s Maverick LP-001 (1980, entitled “For the Record”), featuring Marcia Ball and the Misery Brothers, Augie Meyers and the Western Head Band, Doug Sahm, Bobby Earl Smith, Joe Gracey, and more. The exact song at this minute? “Meet Me in Seguin (Once Again).” This album is in close to mint condition and it sounds just like new, thanks to Audio Systems. Look for the blue awning at 1102 West Koenig, telephone 451-5736.

but not for the environmental impact.

I’d guess there will be a lot of hand wringing over this years Austin City Limits, the bands, the venue, the environmental impact and of course the grass. I’d bet that right now, over at  C3 Presents , a member of staff will be working on a press release extolling the virtues of the recycling effort, etc. etc.

I only did ACL Friday this year, the music wasn’t really my “scene”. Anyway, to the point of my post. Saturday evening I found myself downtown for dinner at La Condesa on 2nd St. What stunned me was between 7:15pm and about 9pm, the sheer number of Cap Metro shuttle buses streaming past the restaurant completely empty.

Tonight I stopped off on the way home around 7:30pm and counted the empty buses on their way back to Republic park. Again, mostly for the 30-minutes I waited there were a dozen or more buses, travelling back completely empty. As far as I could see, none of these were Cap Metro’s fleet of Gas powered buses, they were the older stock diesel buses. On my way along Caesar Chavez doing the regulation 35MPH, I was overtaken by a bus doing at least 5MPH faster.

For a city that makes a big deal of it’s environmental efforts this needs addressing for next year. Sure, C3 contracts with Cap Metro to run a bus every so many minutes. At peak times, I’m sure that is not enough and a backlog of passengers builds-up. However, there has got to be a better way than shuttling back and forwards all these empty buses.

Next headline: Zilker Park becomes private entertainment complex, fenced off again for 2010!

ACL Okkervil River Program

The past year for Okkervil River has been full of some pretty big milestones. They released their latest album The Stand Ins only a few weeks before playing the Austin City Limits Festival last September. They played The Late Show with David Letterman this past January and were at both the Coachella and Bonnaroo (where they apparently “killed”) festivals this summer. Their latest achievement is an Austin City Limits taping last night for Season 35 to air later this year.

I’ve heard a lot about the band (pronounced “awk”-ervil not “oak”-ervil as ACL producer Terry Lickona did introducing them last night) over the past few years both in the media and from friends. Their sound is somewhere between folk and pop and they’re often lumped in with bands like The Decemberists and Arcade Fire. It was a decidedly local crowd last night. We ended up sitting next to bassist Patrick Pestorious’s mother and father. Jonathan Meiberg, former Okkervil member who left to focus on his band Shearwater which started out as a side project for both he and Okkervil frontman Will Sheff, was on hand for “Lost Coastlines”, a songn they had to do twice for the taping due to some mistakes in the first attempt. They also added a horn section and a string section to the normal 6 member line-up. Okkervil River have backed Roky Erickson, another local performer and recent Austin City Limits artist, and are slated to go into the studio with him later this year. (more…)

Among the delights of the current production of Iolanthe are a 15-piece orchestra, a singing and dancing cast of over 30 by my count, and delightful staging and costumes. The Gilbert & Sullivan Society has brought its annual grand productions to venues all over Austin; in the Travis High School performing arts center it may have found the best one yet.

Yesterday’s children’s matinee was so delightful that I hope to attend another performance of Iolanthe before the run ends. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (June 18, 19, and 20) at 8 pm and on Sunday (June 21) at 3 pm. There will be supertitle captioning on Thursday and Friday.

H.M.S. Pinafore, Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado are performed more often, and the opportunity to see a fully produced and laugh-out-loud production of Iolanthe is a precious one. When the peers of the realm (who are threatened by the possibility of competitive examination), along with other, lesser mortals, meet the fairy sprites of the woodland, merriment ensues. And so does beautiful music, vocal and instrumental.

Iolanthe is a true labor of love. I think that only in Austin is to be found the combination of multifaceted talent and concerted volunteer effort required to mount performances of such excellence.

I meant to stay for a while and then come home to blog about the Cinco de Mayo conjunto festival and encourage others to attend. That isn’t the way it happened. I started taking pictures at first and then became too caught up enjoying the music and the food and the strolling and more, so plans changed. I created a conjunto festival group at Flickr for the few pictures that I did take.

The annual conjunto festival began at Parque Zaragoza in July all those years ago and was successful from the beginning, despite the small venue, biting insects, the heat of the height of summer, and the unshaded dance floor. These days, there’s more comfort at Fiesta Gardens than could ever have been imagined way back then. I’ve never missed a single one, even though it hasn’t always been possible to be there from start to finish.

I was afraid that the scantness of publicity, the weather forecast, and fears of the H1N1 influenza might keep people away, but they just kept on arriving. As always, this was a wonderful event for those of all ages. A great crowd favorite that most of us were hearing for the first time was the group Leti y El Conjunto Central, from Corpus Christi. Leti has charisma and a rich alto voice. I’m sorry that I forgot to ask where any unsold posters or t-shirts will be available, although it did appear that they were going fast. Many thanks go out to organizer Johnny Degollado and the sponsors of this wonderful event.

My Bloody Valentine at the Austin Music Hall

You can view the whole set here.

Dialogues of the Carmelites has three performances remaining (tomorrow evening at 7:30; Friday, April 24, at 7:30; and Sunday, April 26, at 3). Although this opera premiered in 1957 and is therefore “modern,” it’s not the sort of modern that should keep anyone from attending and enjoying this production. On Saturday, the orchestra was at its finest, having never sounded better, and it was a delight to hear the singing, especially the chorus of nuns. The staging was clear and fast-flowing, and the lighting was excellent.

The stage was raked, and I think that all action was visible from every seat. I’ve seen a performance of this work only once, and I had completely forgotten the first scene. The production’s sung in French, for the most part with a clarity of diction that allows every word to be distinguished. There was a time or two when the projected English translation fell a bit behind. It’s probably just something about the perspective, but to me the prop wood-range appeared to be miniature to the point of laughability.

The reggae fest was gearing up for the evening and had been in session all afternoon. The opera people sent special e-mails and recorded telephone messages to ticketholders, where possible, disseminating parking information and asking people to arrive early. I think that we were among the few who did arrive well before curtain time. It was beginning to look as though there’d be a lot of empty seats, but last-minute arrivals filled them.

The program, which I always read after the performance and never before or during (I like as much as possible to be a surprise), contained an insert informing us that several of those who performed in Dialogues will be on stage for the Gilbert & Sullivan Society performances of Iolanthe in June.

There’s seldom a chance to hear this work performed, and so well. I’m very glad that I was there and would advise any lover of excellent music to look into the availability of tickets. Thank you, Austin Lyric Opera!

• There was South by Southwest coverage galore. Some print outfits offered accounts by multiple journalists (e.g., NYT). So far, though, I’ve happened across not much that seemed like genuine enthusiasm. An exception would be the WSJ of March 24, wherein reporter Jim Fusilli (”Where SXSW Points Talent“) says that he loved Austin’s own Band of Heathens, giving the group credit for “the best set I came across during my five nights in town.” Fustilli tweeted from Austin.
• An outpouring of generosity organized by the local AustinMama community was highlighted in today’s NYT (”Helping out With Cash: A Delicate Art,” byline Ron Lieber). A family with a seriously ill baby and few healthcare resources has been amazed by the support from this local on-line group of caring parents who’ve been known to charge into action as benefactors IRL, as in this case.
• An Austin-area Voting Rights Act case has attracted national attention and much has been written about it, both as news and as analysis. The best writing that I’ve seen about how this case arose, why it was taken to the Supreme Court and how, and what the issues are is to be found in today’s WSJ (”A Showdown on Voting Rights,” byline Jess Bravin). Note the little remark on how it was that Austin went from single-member districts to an at-large city council. Here’s coverage by the local daily upon the issuance of a writ of certiorari (January 10, 2009; byline Chuck Lindell). The case was originally entitled Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District v. Mukasey and is now v. Holder (08-322). The current Court docket sets this for oral argument on April 29.
• Austin stars in How Perfect Is That, a novel of social comedy and manners written by our own Sarah Bird. I don’t buy many books these days, and this one’s been constantly checked out from the library, so I only recently caught up with it. I know that Sarah Bird has a national following, but I always wonder what outlanders make of specific references to aspects of Albuquerque (in the case of The Flamenco Academy) or Austin (in this case). Although she sets it as occurring in April, not our current waning days of March, the author offers a wonderful appreciation of the arrival of spring foliage as we see our local trees bursting forth in blossoms and leaves. She pays special tribute to those crispy oysters with yucca root chips on the menu at Jeffrey’s. And one of her composite characters, an earnest and saintly sort, gets about via recumbent bicycle, reminding one of a certain sometimes columnist for the Wheatsville Breeze, frequent writer of letters to the Chron, and former candidate for city council (initials “AB”).
• One series of accounts from SXSW that I’ve particularly enjoyed appears to be destined for an on-line existence only, but it would be a shame for anyone to overlook these brief takes from some fine folks reporting for The New Yorker magazine.

Turntable Records is now to be found at 1903 South First, right there in the Golden Slipper shopping district.

Destiny brought me to this discovery. Because I was thrifty and took certain items to Golden Slipper for repair instead of replacing them, I saw Turntable sooner than might otherwise have been the case.

So I’m now the proud owner of the latest by A. J. Castillo (the one with that “Superman” song that plays all the time on Tejano 95.1-FM and won’t leave your brain once you’ve heard it), plus a Dos Gilbertos with “Por Una Mala Mujer” on it and a Texmaniacs production that all help make the collection more complete.

The affable owner is new in the location and is still setting up, so bring cash (or write a check if you have an honest face).

I didn’t buy soup from the Soup Peddler or cloth diapers from Austin Baby or have any current need for the services of Sharp’s Locksmith (family-owned and with a fine reputation for service, honesty, and integrity), but at least I did run a very important errand at Golden Slipper and find Turntable again. When I pick up my items from Golden Slipper, I hope to have a few minutes to explore this little corner, always changing, in its entiretly.

This is another of those years when South by Southwest (March 13-22) and whatever the rodeo’s calling itself this year (Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo, March 13-28) coincide in whole or in part.

When the rodeo used to be at the Coliseum and along the banks of the river, I used to see more of it than the cowboy breakfast and sometimes a parade. I still go out to enjoy the carnival rides and hear some music, but it’s just not so convenient at the new location. On Saturday, March 21, among those taking the outdoor stage will be Los Texmaniacs, who are up here nearly every week from San Antonio, and Los Texas Wranglers, hometown favorites.

It’s easy to tell that Austin attracts those who arrive early for these events and others. They’re already populating South Congress and downtown hotspots and there’s already guidance to our attractions available.

This past Sunday’s NYT travel section focused on places selling turntable fodder (”In Austin, Vinyl Is Still Vital,” byline Joel T. Weickgenant; additional NYT Austin links). I can think of at least three establishments omitted from the annotated list, but the included are Waterloo, End of an Ear, Sound On Sound, Antone’s, and Cheapo. I don’t care how much anybody offers: I’ll never part with my original Blue Horizon albums or my complete Charlie Parker Savoy sessions.