Latest / Austin Signal / Austin faces a high-stakes choice on funding parks over I-35

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Austin faces a high-stakes choice on funding parks over I-35 · Austin Signal

• 0:09
  Austin faces a high stakes choice
• 0:11
  on funding parks over I-35,
• 0:13
  with city leaders split over how to
• 0:15
  move forward.
• 0:16
  We'll hear more about that from
• 0:17
  transportation reporter Nathan
• 0:19
  Bernier.
• 0:20
  Plus some great music came out of
• 0:21
  Austin in 2025.
• 0:23
  KETX's Ryan Wen highlights his
• 0:25
  favorite song of the year.
• 0:27
  Also, we catch up with longtime
• 0:29
  musician, Robert Earl Keane,
• 0:31
  who's gearing up for his Christmas
• 0:33
  shows right here in Austin.
• 0:35
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:37
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:39
  Miles Bloxson.
• 0:41
  KUTX's Maile Carballo checks
• 0:43
  in with the latest music news.
• 0:45
  And guess what?
• 0:46
  Christmas is right around the
• 0:47
  corner. I know time flies, so
• 0:49
  if you're like me and you still
• 0:50
  haven't finished your holiday
• 0:52
  shopping, don't worry,
• 0:54
  we've got some ideas just for you.
• 0:56
  All that and more coming up right
• 0:58
  here on the Austin Signal.
• 1:10
  Hi there, Austin!
• 1:11
  It's Thursday, December 18th.
• 1:13
  I'm Miles Bloxson.
• 1:14
  And can you believe it's exactly
• 1:16
  one week until Christmas for those
• 1:18
  who celebrate the holiday?
• 1:19
  So what does that mean?
• 1:21
  Time is running out if you
• 1:22
  still need to do some holiday
• 1:23
  shopping. I know I still have
• 1:25
  a few things to pick up, so you are
• 1:27
  not alone in that.
• 1:28
  But don't worry, we'll have some
• 1:30
  ideas on where you can go later on
• 1:32
  in the show.
• 1:33
  This is The Austin Signal.
• 1:35
  A quick headline before we start the
• 1:37
  show... Leander ISD has
• 1:39
  voted to close an elementary school
• 1:41
  for the 2026-2027
• 1:43
  school year.
• 1:44
  The move was considered as a
• 1:46
  cost-cutting measure since the
• 1:47
  district is facing a $12.8
• 1:49
  million budget shortfall.
• 1:51
  We have more on this story at
• 1:53
  KUT.org.
• 1:55
  And a looming decision over the
• 1:57
  construction of parks above I-35
• 1:59
  is forcing Austin City Council
• 2:01
  members to weigh two risky paths
• 2:03
  forward. As KUT's Nathan
• 2:05
  Bernier reports, They're beginning
• 2:07
  to split.
• 2:07
  Over which one the city should
• 2:09
  actually take.
• 2:12
  This fork in the road centers on
• 2:14
  a deceptively simple question.
• 2:17
  Which highway decks should the city
• 2:19
  commit to paying for?
• 2:21
  Council members already approved the
• 2:23
  broad footprint of the project
• 2:25
  in May.
• 2:27
  As amended is adopted.
• 2:31
  That vote committed the city to
• 2:33
  paying TxDOT more than $100 million
• 2:35
  at some point in the future,
• 2:37
  likely around the year 2030.
• 2:40
  And that money would pay for the
• 2:41
  support columns that would hold up
• 2:43
  these giant parks over the
• 2:45
  highway after TxDOT tears
• 2:47
  down the upper decks and sinks the
• 2:48
  main lanes.
• 2:49
  So where would these park decks go?
• 2:52
  Here's where they're putting the
• 2:53
  support column, from Cesar Chavez
• 2:55
  to 7th Street, From 11th
• 2:57
  to 12th Street and then a couple
• 2:59
  smaller 300-foot-wide
• 3:01
  decks that could go in near the
• 3:02
  Hancock Center.
• 3:04
  So now councilmembers have to decide
• 3:05
  which of those park decks they'll
• 3:07
  have the money to pay for over the
• 3:09
  next eight years or so.
• 3:11
  The price tag on those is
• 3:13
  unclear.
• 3:14
  The full package, just the decks,
• 3:16
  nothing on them, would be more than
• 3:19
  $300 million.
• 3:20
  But something changed since the
• 3:22
  council took that first vote in
• 3:24
  May on the support columns, And
• 3:26
  that is...
• 3:27
  The city now says it has a lot
• 3:29
  less time to lock in the
• 3:31
  best price on those park decks
• 3:33
  before the cost is guaranteed
• 3:35
  to go up.
• 3:36
  We do understand that
• 3:38
  TechStot is kind of
• 3:40
  moving timelines now.
• 3:41
  Christine McGuire is with the City's
• 3:44
  Economic Development Department.
• 3:45
  It's really not a November of
• 3:47
  26 hard
• 3:49
  decision that they really need more
• 3:51
  clarity from council in
• 3:53
  May of 2026
• 3:56
  for future commitments for
• 3:58
  CAPTEC.
• 3:59
  So took
• 4:01
  all the oxygen out of the room.
• 4:03
  I can proceed to the other
• 4:05
  slide.
• 4:05
  Having to make the decision by May
• 4:07
  instead of November puts the city
• 4:09
  in a more risky financial situation,
• 4:12
  city staff say.
• 4:13
  They were expecting more detailed
• 4:15
  cost estimates before having
• 4:17
  to commit, because the city has
• 4:18
  to pay if anything goes over budget.
• 4:21
  TxDOT says it does not need a
• 4:23
  firm commitment by May, only
• 4:25
  a general idea of which
• 4:27
  caps the city wants to build.
• 4:29
  City staff say they
• 4:31
  can't even make a ballpark
• 4:33
  estimate. Without a
• 4:35
  formal City Council vote.
• 4:37
  I know, I'm a downer, I am a
• 4:38
  buzzkill, nobody invites me to
• 4:39
  meetings anymore, but that is from
• 4:40
  financial services point of
• 4:42
  view, the city's risk
• 4:44
  profile has increased.
• 4:48
  And that brings us to this fork in
• 4:49
  the road.
• 4:51
  Make a commitment in May to which of
• 4:52
  those caps the city will pay for
• 4:54
  without knowing exactly how much
• 4:56
  they'll cost, or wait until
• 4:58
  they have a much better idea of the
• 5:00
  price tag, knowing it will
• 5:01
  definitely cost more.
• 5:04
  And that's the question that is,
• 5:05
  again, dividing the city council.
• 5:07
  On the one hand, you have council
• 5:08
  members like Chito Vela, who are
• 5:10
  all in on building parks
• 5:12
  over I-35.
• 5:13
  There's no question that this
• 5:14
  project is going to cost a lot.
• 5:17
  The reality is though when it's done
• 5:19
  it will have huge economic
• 5:22
  benefits in terms of additional
• 5:24
  property tax revenues that are going
• 5:25
  to be brought in to the
• 5:27
  city and that's the money
• 5:29
  that we get to pay for our
• 5:31
  emergency services to pay for our
• 5:33
  parks and our libraries and our
• 5:35
  quality of life.
• 5:36
  On the other hand, you have council
• 5:38
  members like Christa Lane, who voted
• 5:39
  against the plan in May to pay for
• 5:41
  those support columns.
• 5:43
  She says the financial risks
• 5:44
  have only increased since then.
• 5:46
  We need to make sure that we have
• 5:48
  enough capacity for the needs of the
• 5:50
  city, given the very significant
• 5:51
  revenue constraints.
• 5:52
  And the more that we
• 5:54
  do not acknowledge the actual
• 5:56
  level of risk in these costs,
• 5:59
  the greater it could really
• 6:01
  hurt us as a city.
• 6:02
  Then there are council members like
• 6:03
  Paige Ellis, who's somewhere in
• 6:05
  between.
• 6:06
  She supports signing up the city to
• 6:07
  pay for a smaller package of parks
• 6:09
  over the highway, specifically just
• 6:11
  the 11th to 12th street cap
• 6:13
  and the smaller 300-foot-wide
• 6:15
  decks near the Hancock Center.
• 6:17
  But she's skeptical of this
• 6:19
  whole timeline.
• 6:20
  I don't see a scenario where I'm
• 6:22
  supportive of let's just continue
• 6:24
  to say we will
• 6:27
  find money later when we don't
• 6:29
  know where we're going to find it.
• 6:30
  I feel like we're being put in, you
• 6:32
  know, in between a rock and a hard
• 6:33
  place for numbers that
• 6:35
  are flexible.
• 6:36
  They're moving around.
• 6:38
  And if we didn't hate I-35
• 6:40
  enough, this is definitely
• 6:42
  adding fuel to the fire.
• 6:45
  There's also option number three,
• 6:47
  do nothing.
• 6:49
  And after the I-35 expansion is
• 6:51
  completed around 2033,
• 6:53
  TxDOT will impose a 10-year
• 6:55
  moratorium on any construction
• 6:57
  on I- 35.
• 6:59
  Then the city could come back around
• 7:00
  2043 and talk
• 7:02
  again about building highway parks.
• 7:05
  Because no matter what, they have
• 7:07
  already committed to paying for
• 7:08
  those support columns that would
• 7:10
  hold them up.
• 7:11
  I'm Nathan Bernier in Austin.
• 7:24
  You're listening to the Austin
• 7:25
  Signal.
• 7:26
  Hello, I'm Ryan Wen, and I'm
• 7:28
  a host and producer for KUTX.
• 7:30
  One of my favorite songs out of
• 7:31
  Austin this year is called Julia by
• 7:34
  Boomer Shack.
• 7:34
  Julia says
• 7:37
  the moon on
• 7:39
  high Same
• 7:42
  one as yesterday
• 7:44
  I love hard-swinging down-tempo
• 7:47
  music, and as much as I
• 7:48
  may outwardly profess my love for
• 7:50
  things like funk, Quiet Storm R&B,
• 7:53
  and bluesy doom metal, I also
• 7:55
  secretly, terminally
• 7:56
  love sad-boy Americana.
• 7:59
  With all I
• 8:00
  could give up
• 8:07
  To be honest, Boomer Shack is a bit
• 8:09
  of an enigma, which is kind of hard
• 8:10
  to be today, but typically the best
• 8:12
  musicians are really bad at
• 8:14
  marketing themselves.
• 8:15
  But what I can glean from the little
• 8:17
  information that exists about them
• 8:18
  is that the primary songwriter is
• 8:20
  named Dan Perez, and
• 8:22
  the material that eventually led to
• 8:24
  this song and their debut EP
• 8:26
  originated from a drawer full of
• 8:28
  demo cassettes and eight-track
• 8:29
  recordings Perez had written and
• 8:30
  recorded over the course of a
• 8:32
  decade.
• 8:36
  Nail by nail,
• 8:40
  side by side
• 8:41
  I see Evelyn
• 8:44
  and you'll
• 8:45
  Anyways, while I love the
• 8:47
  footstopping, honky-tonk sound,
• 8:49
  it's all about those vocals for me.
• 8:50
  That raspy voice, swinging melody,
• 8:53
  and all the longing, frustration,
• 8:55
  and self-loathing a sad song-enjoyer
• 8:57
  could want.
• 8:58
  Add a few simple yet tastefully
• 9:00
  placed backup harmonies, and man,
• 9:02
  this is the stuff.
• 9:04
  I'm a fool,
• 9:07
  every time I'm
• 9:09
  winning, I'm on
• 9:11
  my own
• 9:13
  Dead in water,
• 9:16
  that's nothing
• 9:19
  It's vaguely like a honky tonk take
• 9:21
  on the Beatles' Oh Darling, which
• 9:23
  in and of itself is kind of
• 9:24
  derivative of an old school southern
• 9:26
  style of R&B.
• 9:28
  Well, I don't think Boomer Shack was
• 9:29
  consciously pulling from these
• 9:30
  places, but this is all to say,
• 9:32
  they get it.
• 9:33
  I was hooked within seconds of
• 9:35
  hearing this song, and immediately
• 9:36
  texted like five of my friends to
• 9:38
  listen to it.
• 9:39
  I know that the sun
• 9:41
  will rise
• 9:43
  Let's bet
• 9:44
  The vibe is, it's
• 9:46
  a Tuesday and you're on your 12th
• 9:48
  Lone Star at the hole in the wall
• 9:49
  when a band nobody has ever heard of
• 9:51
  steps onto the front stage and
• 9:53
  immediately reminds you why you
• 9:55
  moved to Austin.
• 9:55
  I just pray
• 9:57
  that you're right here
• 9:59
  with me With
• 10:01
  all I can give
• 10:03
  her I...
• 10:08
  I'm Ryan Wen, and I'm a host and
• 10:10
  producer at KUTX,
• 10:12
  and you can find out all of our
• 10:14
  favorite songs from 2025 over
• 10:16
  at kutx.org.
• 10:18
  This is Austin Signal.
• 10:20
  This is all I can give up,
• 10:22
  can't give up on
• 10:24
  you This is All
• 10:26
  I can Give Up You
• 10:29
  know I'm
• 10:31
  a Sheep And I'm
• 10:33
  Winning
• 10:37
  There's more Austin Signal coming
• 10:39
  up after this.
• 10:41
  Stay with us.
• 10:44
  Oh
• 10:52
  This is the Austin Signal, I'm Miles
• 10:53
  Bloxson.
• 10:58
  A box of Tampons,
• 11:00
  a Marlboro Line
• 11:03
  Yeah, everybody say
• 11:05
  cheese Merry
• 11:08
  Christmas from the family
• 11:13
  Merry Christmas from the family by
• 11:15
  Robert Earl Keen has become a
• 11:16
  Christmas staple beyond just Texas
• 11:19
  households and for years Keen's
• 11:21
  annual Christmas show has captured
• 11:23
  that same enthusiasm and love
• 11:25
  for the holiday.
• 11:26
  Freshly back on the road from
• 11:28
  retirement, the legendary Texas
• 11:30
  singer and songwriter will be in
• 11:32
  Austin for his shows Friday and
• 11:33
  Saturday.
• 11:38
  He's much for talking with us
• 11:39
  today.
• 11:40
  Hey, thank you for
• 11:42
  tracking me down, Miles.
• 11:44
  I appreciate it.
• 11:44
  Of course.
• 11:46
  How many years have you done a
• 11:47
  Christmas tour?
• 11:48
  I think it's about 14.
• 11:51
  I wrote the song quite a while
• 11:53
  ago and then it turns out that
• 11:55
  people
• 11:57
  just wanted to hear me play the song
• 11:59
  during Christmas time so we started
• 12:01
  putting these Christmas shows
• 12:02
  together. That's how that came
• 12:03
  about.
• 12:04
  Yeah, so what inspired that song
• 12:06
  that that some would say
• 12:08
  is more realistic portrayal of
• 12:10
  holiday celebrations
• 12:11
  I grew up in Houston, Texas and
• 12:14
  I was writing some songs
• 12:16
  for another record and kind of wore
• 12:17
  myself out trying to be real
• 12:19
  serious.
• 12:20
  It was just about Christmas time and
• 12:22
  I thought, you know, I don't have a
• 12:23
  Christmas song.
• 12:24
  I don't know what chestnuts are
• 12:26
  and sleigh
• 12:28
  bells and the whole thing.
• 12:29
  So I decided I'm just going
• 12:31
  to write my own Christmas song and I
• 12:33
  didn't really intend to
• 12:35
  even record it ever.
• 12:36
  Finally the next time I talked
• 12:38
  to a producer.
• 12:39
  That they were asking what the
• 12:41
  producers always do.
• 12:42
  Well, do you have any more songs?
• 12:43
  And I said, yeah, I have this one.
• 12:46
  And I played that and they said, oh,
• 12:47
  you gotta put that on record.
• 12:48
  I said okay, so I did.
• 12:53
  I
• 12:59
  Well, this year, the holidays will
• 13:01
  be tough for those families impacted
• 13:03
  by the devastating floods that
• 13:05
  hit curville, you know, the hill
• 13:07
  country in central Texas in July,
• 13:09
  you did a benefit concert in August
• 13:11
  for those who were impacted.
• 13:12
  Can you tell us about the experience
• 13:14
  of doing that concert?
• 13:16
  Well, I was slated to
• 13:18
  play Kerrville on the
• 13:20
  river on 4th of July,
• 13:22
  and as everyone knows, that's when
• 13:24
  the flood happened.
• 13:25
  And so that was
• 13:27
  the beginning of our tour in the
• 13:29
  summer, and my manager
• 13:31
  Kelly Thomas and I sat around
• 13:33
  and said, well, we've got to do
• 13:34
  something.
• 13:35
  So we decided to immediately put
• 13:37
  all our money that we
• 13:39
  raised from our merchandise went
• 13:41
  to benefit the
• 13:44
  community foundation for the Texas
• 13:45
  Hill Country.
• 13:47
  And then we said, well, we got to do
• 13:48
  more. So we put together this
• 13:51
  concert at Whitewater and
• 13:53
  ended up with having over
• 13:55
  40 acts and eventually
• 13:57
  raised over $3.2
• 13:59
  million.
• 14:00
  That's amazing.
• 14:01
  And you know, the Hill Country is
• 14:03
  your home.
• 14:03
  So what has that area been like
• 14:05
  since July?
• 14:07
  It has improved
• 14:09
  greatly,
• 14:11
  actually, as far as the mess
• 14:13
  that the river was in.
• 14:16
  They came in there with an army
• 14:18
  full of trucks,
• 14:20
  and I'm talking about giant trucks
• 14:22
  as big as apartment complexes.
• 14:24
  They were giant.
• 14:25
  And they hauled away
• 14:27
  a lot of the trees and all
• 14:29
  the debris that was
• 14:31
  washed down and
• 14:33
  I'll have to say, it looks now
• 14:35
  more like a state park than
• 14:37
  a devastation,
• 14:39
  so they've done a really good job.
• 14:42
  The families that
• 14:44
  lost family and
• 14:45
  property, they're still hurting,
• 14:48
  yes.
• 14:49
  Yeah, that's something that, you
• 14:51
  know, that something that's hard to
• 14:52
  get over.
• 15:05
  You meant to retire a
• 15:07
  while back, but when it came down
• 15:09
  to it, you saw it
• 15:11
  and you said, hey, I don't want
• 15:13
  to retire.
• 15:14
  So what made you continue to
• 15:16
  decide to work?
• 15:20
  Well, mainly, Miles, I just
• 15:22
  didn't have anything that
• 15:24
  I knew how to do at all,
• 15:26
  other than perform and
• 15:28
  write songs. And I didn't want to
• 15:30
  learn how to anything new.
• 15:32
  I had some interests in other
• 15:33
  places, but I just, you know, when I
• 15:35
  started messing around with them,
• 15:36
  when took some time off,
• 15:38
  it just wasn't working for me.
• 15:40
  So this is
• 15:42
  what I love to do, I just continue
• 15:45
  at this.
• 15:48
  After I played a few shows, I found
• 15:49
  people really wanted me to come
• 15:51
  back. I kind of felt a little
• 15:53
  bit of shame that I was,
• 15:55
  you know, going back on my
• 15:57
  promise that I'm going to
• 15:59
  retire, but everybody seemed to be
• 16:01
  happy about it, so I'm happy back.
• 16:03
  When they asked me if I'd
• 16:05
  like to stay I said, I'm
• 16:07
  coming home to you
• 16:12
  I'm, coming home
• 16:14
  Baby, in my mind that's what I'm
• 16:17
  gonna do Can't
• 16:19
  love nobody on the telephone
• 16:22
  I'm comin' home to
• 16:24
  You
• 16:25
  It's hard to put down what you love,
• 16:27
  right? You gotta keep picking it up.
• 16:29
  So what is your favorite
• 16:31
  part about touring?
• 16:33
  The performance itself,
• 16:35
  I love performing, being
• 16:37
  on stage has always come
• 16:40
  very naturally to me,
• 16:43
  and now that I have just
• 16:46
  a huge bushel basket of songs,
• 16:48
  I don't ever run out of anything to
• 16:51
  talk about or sing about,
• 16:53
  so it's about the performance.
• 16:55
  Yeah, in Texas, you know, this big
• 16:57
  place, this place we call home.
• 17:00
  How did the audience in Texas differ
• 17:01
  from the audiences in other places?
• 17:03
  I would like to think we're the
• 17:04
  best, but what do you think?
• 17:06
  Well, no, there's a
• 17:08
  certain enthusiasm and
• 17:10
  wildness that go on with Texas
• 17:12
  audiences, but it is surprising
• 17:14
  that we can go from Portland,
• 17:16
  Oregon, to Portland, Maine.
• 17:20
  And audiences respond pretty
• 17:23
  well to us because we're
• 17:25
  out there to entertain people and
• 17:27
  we're out there have fun, and that's
• 17:28
  it.
• 17:29
  That's really the goal.
• 17:31
  And we do play well,
• 17:33
  and I have great, great musicians
• 17:35
  in my band, but we're
• 17:37
  out there to entertain, so
• 17:40
  we get a response
• 17:42
  from people that are like, God,
• 17:44
  I didn't know what I was going to
• 17:45
  get when I got here, and this is
• 17:46
  really fun, so it is.
• 17:49
  Well, that's amazing.
• 17:50
  We've been speaking with musician
• 17:52
  Robert Earl Keane.
• 17:54
  His Christmas show, Robert Earl
• 17:55
  King Presents The Greatest Christmas
• 17:58
  on Earth is in Austin this Friday
• 17:59
  and Saturday at ACO Live at
• 18:02
  the Moody Theater.
• 18:03
  We'll have a link to more in today's
• 18:05
  podcast show notes.
• 18:06
  Robert Earl keane, thanks so much
• 18:07
  for joining me this afternoon on
• 18:09
  the Austin Signal.
• 18:10
  Thank you, thank you, thanks.
• 18:13
  A mistletoe.
• 18:16
  When Santa Claus came
• 18:18
  knocking,
• 18:20
  he looked like Uncle Joe.
• 18:25
  Someone put the
• 18:27
  coffee on and
• 18:29
  find the Tylenol.
• 18:33
  Merry Christmas, everyone.
• 18:37
  Happy Holidays
• 18:39
  to you all.
• 18:42
  Well, it's been a big week for
• 18:44
  music news here in Austin,
• 18:46
  and KUT's Syeda Carrillo
• 18:48
  sat down with KUTX's Maile
• 18:50
  Carballo and asked her
• 18:52
  to catch us up.
• 18:55
  There's a lot of things happening this week.
• 18:56
  A little bittersweet week on
• 18:58
  the flip side of that though.
• 19:00
  It is the 50th season of the
• 19:02
  Armandillo Christmas Bazaar
• 19:04
  and it's super cool.
• 19:06
  It was started by the Armadillo
• 19:07
  World Headquarters.
• 19:08
  Of course, world renowned in
• 19:10
  Austin here. They've been doing a
• 19:11
  lot of great stuff recently kicking
• 19:13
  back up the brand.
• 19:15
  But celebrating the 50-th season of
• 19:17
  this little art bazaar and music
• 19:19
  collaboration is super cool.
• 19:21
  It's kind of one of those few
• 19:22
  places, very Austin thing
• 19:24
  to do, where you can grab a
• 19:26
  beer, buy a painting, and
• 19:28
  also see an Austin artist
• 19:30
  all at once.
• 19:32
  You can do that in a lot of places,
• 19:33
  but this is the place to go
• 19:35
  for Christmas shopping, Kind
• 19:37
  of similar to the Blue Genie, but
• 19:39
  supporting music as well.
• 19:41
  Yeah, it seems like a great
• 19:43
  one-stop shop to support
• 19:45
  local artists and also other types
• 19:46
  of creators, and hard
• 19:48
  to believe it's been 50 years
• 19:50
  already that it's been around.
• 19:52
  For folks who are not familiar,
• 19:54
  could you kind of tell us what to
• 19:56
  expect when you're visiting for the
• 19:57
  very first time?
• 19:59
  Absolutely. So there's a small entry
• 20:00
  fee when you enter.
• 20:02
  It is at the Palmer Event Center
• 20:04
  from now through December 21st.
• 20:07
  And when you go in, you'll hear
• 20:09
  music playing.
• 20:10
  They have live musicians, local
• 20:12
  musicians playing all day.
• 20:14
  And you can just shop around
• 20:16
  different artisan booths and
• 20:18
  see what's what, what you want to
• 20:19
  get for the family or for your
• 20:20
  friends.
• 20:21
  But actually today, currently
• 20:23
  right now, Austin's
• 20:26
  very own The Point is playing at
• 20:28
  art bazaar.
• 20:29
  As well as Como Las Movies
• 20:31
  later on at 4 and Madam
• 20:33
  Radar at 7 p.m.
• 20:35
  So two KUTX artists
• 20:37
  of the months in there It's pretty
• 20:38
  cool
• 20:38
  Very cool.
• 20:39
  Yeah, great opportunity to check out
• 20:41
  some local acts and how
• 20:43
  long is the is the bazaar
• 20:45
  open?
• 20:46
  Yeah, it's open now from
• 20:48
  now until December 21st,
• 20:50
  every day at 11 a.m.
• 20:52
  To 9 30 p.m at the Palmer
• 20:54
  Event Center downtown.
• 20:55
  Well, still some more time to
• 20:57
  check that out if you haven't been
• 20:58
  to the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar's
• 21:00
  and Austin Institution.
• 21:03
  And Maile, catch us up on some other
• 21:05
  big music news that happened this
• 21:07
  week.
• 21:07
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 21:08
  So on the more bitter side of
• 21:10
  things, yesterday it was announced
• 21:12
  that Joe Ely and Jim
• 21:14
  Stringer passed away.
• 21:15
  It's been a really hard week for
• 21:17
  celebrity passings all around, of
• 21:18
  course, with Rob Reiner as well.
• 21:20
  But this week we're remembering two
• 21:22
  kind of country roots musicians,
• 21:24
  those guys.
• 21:25
  Joe Ely was really a cornerstone
• 21:27
  of Texas music for over the past
• 21:29
  50 years, is
• 21:31
  a founding member of the Lubbock
• 21:33
  Mafia.
• 21:34
  A lot of people in Austin called him
• 21:36
  the musician's musician which I
• 21:37
  think is a really
• 21:39
  great quote.
• 21:41
  Jim Stringer as well was also a
• 21:43
  mainstay for kind of Austin Roots
• 21:45
  and Rockabilly for over 30
• 21:47
  years.
• 21:48
  He was the leader of the A.M.
• 21:49
  Band and yeah, just wanted to
• 21:51
  send out a big old cheers to these
• 21:53
  two guys and love and
• 21:55
  prayers to their family because
• 21:56
  they really helped to find the
• 21:58
  light.
• 21:58
  Music Capital of the World.
• 21:59
  Absolutely.
• 22:00
  Well, Maile, thank you for catching
• 22:02
  us up.
• 22:03
  And we do have a great look at Joe
• 22:05
  Ely's legacy over on kut.org
• 22:07
  for folks that want to learn more
• 22:09
  about him and take a look back at
• 22:10
  his impact on the Austin music
• 22:12
  scene.
• 22:13
  Maile Carballo is with our sister
• 22:15
  station at KUTX.
• 22:17
  Thank you, Mile, for catching up on
• 22:18
  Austin Music Headlines.
• 22:20
  Thank Thank you.
• 22:22
  Well, that's it for us here on the
• 22:24
  Austin Signal. Thanks so much for
• 22:26
  hanging out with us today.
• 22:28
  Rayna Sevilla is our technical
• 22:29
  director.
• 22:30
  Kristen Cabrera is our managing
• 22:31
  producer. Thanks for doing all that
• 22:33
  you do.
• 22:34
  We got more about the show in
• 22:36
  our podcast Show Notes at
• 22:38
  KUT.org slash Signal.
• 22:40
  I'm Miles Bloxson and for my buddy,
• 22:42
  Jerry Quijano, Austin Signal is
• 22:44
  back tomorrow.
• 22:45
  Talk to you then.