End of Silence

Photo courtesy of Brent via Flickr

The Austin Chronicle noted last week that the 33-story Frost Bank building won’t be the colossus of the downtown Austin skyline for much longer. There are two projects slated for that side of Congress within a few blocks of each other. The Fifth & Congress project is farther along, if I’m not mistaken. The other project would take up most of the block between 2nd and 3rd.

As Kelso notes, this’ll mean demolishing the current building that houses Las Manitas along with Tesoros and Escuelita Del Alma. La Peña and Copa are safe because of their historic building status. I’ve heard mention that one or another was an old blacksmith shop and also something about an early train station on those spots. Las Manitas may move into the La Peña location if this deal goes through. Tesoros owner already runs another location elsewhere, so it’s not too big of a hit. Escuelita is searching for other options. We can’t really afford to lose any daycare facilities in an already strapped market, so let’s hope they find a suitable alternate location. It appears that demolition wouldn’t happen until the spring, so you still have time to get your last meal at the current location. None of this is an absolutely done deal yet.

Clifford Antone’s death has spawned a fair amount of talk about Austin’s music legacy around here. The late 70’s – early 80’s blues scene that he fostered is probably the most well-known Austin music legacy. Equally important to a lot of people is the early 80’s punk scene in Austin.

My love affair with Austin began, in part, because of bands like Big Boys, Scratch Acid, Butthole Surfers, and The Dicks. That’s why I’m excited to see that Scratch Acid is going to play a show at the Touch N Go Records 25th Anniversary in September in Chicago along with several other legendary bands that have called the label home.

Road Trip!

P.S. Google let me down. I couldn’t find an album cover shot of either of the first two LPs. I’ll have to break out the camera when I get home tonight and dig them up.

I half-jokingly made fun of K-EYE last week about their headlines, but we appear to have had a rough weekend in South/East Austin.

A man was stabbed to death in an apartment complex across the street from Travis High School on Sunday and another man was shot during a home invasion yesterday. It appears there was a second shooting later in the day. I think the Statesman story last week on Mission Hill, a street only a few blocks from my house and notorious among the neighbors, has made me somewhat hypersensitive, but this still seems like another outlier weekend for crime by Austin standards. I personally thought the Mission Hill story was a bit exaggerated in its description of the street.

Austin Now, a program on KLRU, is airing a documentary about the persistent charges of misuse of force by the Austin Police Department and the on-going political battle over who really controls APD and speaks for the officers this Friday, May 26th at noon and 8pm and again on Sunday at 4:30pm.

This should be especially interesting in the light of this past week’s announcement that Chief Stan Knee is resigning to go work in Afghanistan.

Thanks to April for the tip!

CNN reports that Dr. Robert Rey (aka Dr. 90210) had to restrain an elderly passenger on a flight from Austin to LA. Apparently, Rey was in town filming a segment for The Insider (oh, Pat O’ Brien, what happened?) on Jenny Lee, a woman who is addicted to plastic surgery. That last story says Lee is a Dallas resident, so I’m not sure what they were doing in Austin.

I’m ashamed to admit I’ve watched a few episodes of Dr. 90210 and it’s more than a little amusing to find out that Dr. Rey, a man who himself is clearly obsessed with image and whose affluent lifestyle is a direct result of promoting plastic surgery is going to advise someone that they’ve gone overboard with it. The good doctor’s wife clearly has a serious eating disorder, something they’ve only marginally dealt with on the show from what I’ve seen. The mind boggles.
Image from The Insider