Latest / Austin Signal / Austin’s Lawn Chair Brigade brings unique spin to Fourth festivities

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Austin’s Lawn Chair Brigade brings unique spin to Fourth festivities · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  The podcast, After the Flood, is
• 0:10
  marking one year since deadly
• 0:11
  flooding ravaged parts of central
• 0:13
  Texas and the Hill Country.
• 0:15
  This area is often called Flash
• 0:16
  Flood Alley because of how
• 0:17
  frequently it's affected by fast,
• 0:19
  accumulating waters.
• 0:21
  Today we're going to hear about
• 0:22
  another deadly flood that happened
• 0:23
  almost 50 summers ago.
• 0:25
  And evidence hampering charges
• 0:26
  against a former Williamson County
• 0:28
  Sheriff and former Assistant County
• 0:30
  Attorney have been dropped.
• 0:31
  The move follows a years-long legal
• 0:33
  battle spurred by the death of
• 0:34
  Javier Ambler following a traffic
• 0:36
  stop. The latest coming up on
• 0:38
  today's show.
• 0:39
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:41
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:43
  Jerry Quijano.
• 0:44
  Plus, one neighborhood in Austin has
• 0:46
  a unique way of celebrating Fourth
• 0:48
  of July.
• 0:49
  Come hear about the Lawn Chair
• 0:51
  Brigade, those stories,
• 0:52
  and more, coming up on today's
• 0:55
  episode of Austin Signal.
• 1:07
  Howdy out there.
• 1:08
  This is Austin Signal.
• 1:10
  I'm your host Jerry Quijano.
• 1:11
  It is Thursday, the second day
• 1:13
  of July.
• 1:14
  We're glad you're tuning in.
• 1:16
  This is community-powered public
• 1:17
  radio KUT News.
• 1:20
  Evidence tampering charges against
• 1:22
  former Williamson County Sheriff
• 1:23
  Robert Chody and former Assistant
• 1:25
  Williamson County Attorney Jason
• 1:27
  Nasour have been dropped.
• 1:28
  Travis County District Attorney Jose
• 1:30
  Garza made the announcement this
• 1:32
  week. That move comes after a
• 1:33
  years-long battle stemming from
• 1:35
  the death of Javier Ambler after a
• 1:37
  traffic stop.
• 1:38
  That interaction was caught on film
• 1:40
  for the reality TV show,
• 1:42
  Live PD.
• 1:44
  Kaylee Hunt is KUT's Williamson
• 1:46
  County reporter and she is joining
• 1:47
  us with the latest.
• 1:48
  Hi, Kaylee. Hey, Jerry.
• 1:50
  So this was a pretty high-profile
• 1:51
  case at the time, but it's been a
• 1:53
  few years now. Can you briefly
• 1:54
  remind us what happened back in 2019
• 1:57
  during this traffic stop that's at
• 1:58
  the center of this legal battle?
• 2:00
  Yeah, so this traffic stop is
• 2:02
  going on now, it's been seven years
• 2:04
  since this event actually took
• 2:05
  place. So it's a very drawn out
• 2:07
  event, but it all stems from
• 2:09
  when Javier Ambler, who was
• 2:12
  a 40-year-old black man from
• 2:13
  Pflugerville, died in Williamson
• 2:15
  County deputies custody in March
• 2:17
  2019, after being pursued
• 2:19
  by law enforcement for allegedly
• 2:21
  failing to dim his headlights to
• 2:23
  oncoming traffic.
• 2:25
  So once deputies attempted to
• 2:27
  stop Ambler They
• 2:29
  Caught up with him, they used
• 2:31
  tasers on him four times, although
• 2:33
  he protested that he had a heart
• 2:35
  condition and couldn't breathe, and
• 2:37
  he died shortly after.
• 2:39
  Okay, the video evidence that's in
• 2:41
  question here was actually being
• 2:42
  filmed for a reality TV program,
• 2:44
  that's correct?
• 2:45
  That's right, yes.
• 2:46
  Yeah, so Ambler's death was caught
• 2:48
  on video for the reality TV show,
• 2:50
  Live PD.
• 2:51
  A lot of folks may remember that
• 2:53
  being on the airwaves.
• 2:55
  And Live PD had a contract with the
• 2:57
  Williamson County Sheriff's Office
• 2:58
  at that time.
• 2:59
  And as far as allegations
• 3:01
  against Chodey and Nasour,
• 3:04
  they were accused of
• 3:05
  tempering with evidence and
• 3:07
  working to hide this video
• 3:09
  evidence of Ambler death from
• 3:11
  investigators and the public.
• 3:13
  You were updating this story for a
• 3:15
  while, and then we didn't hear
• 3:16
  anything for what seemed like
• 3:18
  a good amount of time, and then all
• 3:19
  of a sudden these charges are being
• 3:20
  dismissed. Why now?
• 3:22
  Yeah, that's right.
• 3:24
  So, Chode and Nisour, they actually
• 3:25
  went to trial for this.
• 3:27
  The trial began in August of
• 3:29
  2024.
• 3:31
  And at that time, I remember we
• 3:33
  were there in the courtroom.
• 3:34
  First day of the trial,
• 3:36
  State District Judge Karen Sage, who
• 3:38
  was overseeing it, she
• 3:40
  made a ruling that essentially
• 3:43
  limited the type of testimony
• 3:45
  that would be allowed related
• 3:47
  to the case, and
• 3:49
  specifically with the video
• 3:50
  evidence.
• 3:51
  And so from there,
• 3:53
  the trial was put on hold while
• 3:55
  the Travis County DA's
• 3:57
  office tried to appeal the
• 3:59
  judge's decision
• 4:01
  to allow evidence.
• 4:03
  And that appeal
• 4:05
  went through the third court of
• 4:07
  appeals process.
• 4:08
  The court initially ruled in the
• 4:10
  favor of the Travis county DA's
• 4:12
  Office, but then later reversed
• 4:13
  itself. So, as a
• 4:15
  result, prosecutors say
• 4:17
  that... The judge's decision
• 4:19
  has essentially blocked them from
• 4:21
  putting on essential facts in their
• 4:22
  case. Basically they don't have
• 4:23
  enough evidence at this point to
• 4:25
  try it.
• 4:26
  And so that's why they were
• 4:28
  dismissed.
• 4:28
  And that's why it's now.
• 4:29
  Yeah, so we're specifically talking
• 4:31
  about the charges against former
• 4:33
  Williamson County Sheriff Robert
• 4:34
  Chody and former assistant
• 4:36
  Williamson county attorney, Jason
• 4:37
  Nasour.
• 4:38
  There were other law enforcement
• 4:40
  officials involved in this incident
• 4:42
  though. Did they face any legal
• 4:44
  repercussions?
• 4:45
  Yes. Yeah, there were actually two
• 4:47
  Williamson County deputies,
• 4:49
  JJ Johnson and Zach Camden,
• 4:52
  who were indicted and
• 4:54
  tried on manslaughter charges in
• 4:56
  2024, and a
• 4:58
  Travis County jury acquitted those
• 5:00
  deputies.
• 5:01
  Okay what have you heard, how have
• 5:02
  the district attorneys involved in
• 5:04
  this case responded so far?
• 5:06
  Yeah, so we received statements from
• 5:08
  both the Travis County and
• 5:10
  Williamson County district
• 5:11
  attorney's offices.
• 5:12
  The two offices and DAs
• 5:14
  heading them were jointly
• 5:15
  prosecuting this case since it
• 5:17
  involved Williamson county and
• 5:19
  Travis county.
• 5:20
  Both of them expressed frustration
• 5:23
  with the outcome and with
• 5:25
  the evidentiary ruling
• 5:27
  that the Travis county judge
• 5:29
  put into place.
• 5:30
  Um, they said their, their hearts
• 5:32
  were broken for the Ambler family,
• 5:34
  who had waited for
• 5:36
  seven years at what they saw
• 5:38
  as a chance for justice.
• 5:39
  So does that mean that this is
• 5:41
  the end of this case going forward?
• 5:43
  This is likely the end of all
• 5:45
  the cases concerning Javier
• 5:47
  Ambler's death.
• 5:48
  Okay, that is Kaylee
• 5:50
  Hunt. She is KUT's Williamson County
• 5:52
  reporter.
• 5:53
  Thank you for the update, Kaylee.
• 5:54
  Thanks, Jerry.
• 6:06
  This Saturday marks the one-year
• 6:08
  anniversary of the deadly flooding
• 6:09
  that tore through the Texas Hill
• 6:11
  Country on the 4th of July.
• 6:13
  More than 130 people
• 6:15
  were killed.
• 6:16
  Since then, public radio reporters
• 6:18
  across Texas have been working on
• 6:20
  the podcast after the flood.
• 6:22
  It's a five-part series that asks
• 6:24
  why this happened, and if
• 6:26
  something like this could happen
• 6:28
  again.
• 6:29
  Episode two is out now, explaining
• 6:31
  how the Hill Country earned the
• 6:33
  nickname Flash Blood Alley.
• 6:34
  Recalls other floods in the region's
• 6:36
  past. That includes one in 1978
• 6:39
  that killed at least 37
• 6:41
  people.
• 6:42
  After the flood is hosted by Houston
• 6:44
  Public Media's Dominic Anthony Walsh
• 6:46
  and is produced by the Texas
• 6:48
  Newsroom and PBS Frontline.
• 6:50
  Here is a preview of Episode 2.
• 6:53
  The 1978 flood was described
• 6:55
  at the time as unprecedented,
• 6:58
  catastrophic, record-breaking.
• 7:00
  But less than a decade later,
• 7:02
  it happened again.
• 7:05
  On Friday morning, July 17th,
• 7:07
  1987, the small town of Comfort,
• 7:10
  Texas became the scene of a heroic
• 7:11
  rescue and tragic loss.
• 7:13
  That day probably was one of the
• 7:15
  most traumatic of my whole life.
• 7:17
  We thought that the only people that
• 7:18
  were alive were the ones that were
• 7:20
  around us, and we were scared to
• 7:21
  death. I know I'll never get over
• 7:23
  this, because it's something that's
• 7:24
  gonna be in my mind forever.
• 7:26
  Listening to the news coverage of
• 7:28
  this one really gives me an eerie
• 7:29
  sense of deja vu to the
• 7:31
  flood from last summer.
• 7:33
  Good evening. It's well known in the
• 7:34
  Texas Hill country that flash
• 7:36
  flooding can be extremely dangerous.
• 7:38
  It was mid-July, 1987.
• 7:40
  The flood hit in the early morning
• 7:42
  hours, causing the Guadalupe River
• 7:43
  to rise in astonishing 29
• 7:46
  feet.
• 7:46
  And the victims were
• 7:48
  summer campers.
• 7:50
  The victims that year were from a
• 7:51
  summer camp, just about an hour's
• 7:53
  drive from Camp Mystic.
• 7:55
  The teenagers were being evacuated
• 7:57
  from Camp Pot of Gold, a Baptist
• 7:59
  church camp, during a driving
• 8:01
  rainstorm.
• 8:02
  They were trying to drive over a
• 8:04
  low-water crossing when one of
• 8:06
  two vehicles stalled.
• 8:07
  The vehicle started filling with
• 8:09
  water, so they held hands and
• 8:11
  tried to wait out, but the strong
• 8:13
  current swept some of them away.
• 8:15
  43 people were carried into
• 8:17
  the waters.
• 8:18
  Most of them were rescued.
• 8:20
  But ten children died in
• 8:22
  the waters of the Guadalupe River.
• 8:26
  The river has returned to normal,
• 8:28
  but the lives it touched remain
• 8:30
  forever changed.
• 8:31
  Sometimes we'll cry about it
• 8:33
  and sometimes we wish we were dead
• 8:35
  sometimes and that they were still
• 8:37
  here
• 8:37
  All four of my kids were there and
• 8:39
  so we lost two
• 8:41
  and we got two back so we
• 8:44
  know what both ways feels like,
• 8:45
  getting your kids back plus losing
• 8:47
  your kids.
• 8:48
  There's an empty spot in my life,
• 8:51
  a big one.
• 8:52
  After the 1987 flood came
• 8:54
  a reckoning, much like the one we're
• 8:56
  seeing today.
• 8:57
  Tough questions, promises of change,
• 9:00
  lawsuits.
• 9:01
  Back then, there was only one
• 9:03
  way to warn people along the
• 9:05
  Guadalupe that the water was coming
• 9:07
  for them.
• 9:08
  Whenever it rained a lot, folks who
• 9:10
  lived upstream would watch the
• 9:12
  water rise and call folks downstream
• 9:14
  to let them know.
• 9:16
  That was it. A good old-fashioned
• 9:17
  phone tree.
• 9:18
  But after the 1987 flood,
• 9:20
  local leaders decided that enough
• 9:22
  was enough.
• 9:23
  It was time to stop relying on
• 9:25
  a literal game of telephone and
• 9:27
  instead install an actual
• 9:29
  flood warning system—gages
• 9:31
  that would measure rainfall and
• 9:32
  river levels in real time—and
• 9:35
  transmit those readings to emergency
• 9:36
  managers.
• 9:38
  Kerr County residents grumbled about
• 9:39
  the cost, which they had to cover
• 9:41
  through higher property taxes.
• 9:42
  But Kerr County area
• 9:44
  officials insisted.
• 9:47
  The system came online in 1989.
• 9:52
  Yet, last summer, when asked how
• 9:54
  such a catastrophic flood could
• 9:55
  catch so many people off guard,
• 9:58
  their answer was...
• 9:59
  We do not have a warning system on
• 10:01
  the roof.
• 10:02
  So what happened?
• 10:06
  You can find the answer in episode
• 10:08
  two of After the Flood.
• 10:10
  Again, that's a new podcast from the
• 10:11
  Texas newsroom and PBS Frontline
• 10:14
  out now.
• 10:15
  The show examines last year's deadly
• 10:17
  floods in the Texas Hill Country,
• 10:19
  as well as here in Central Texas.
• 10:21
  We just spoke with KUT's
• 10:23
  Williamson County reporter, Kaylee
• 10:25
  Hunt, about things happening in
• 10:26
  Williamson county. Kaylee has also
• 10:28
  been working on an episode of
• 10:30
  After The Flood, and we'll be sure
• 10:32
  to feature that here on Austin
• 10:33
  Signal whenever it's out, but be
• 10:35
  sure to subscribe to the
• 10:37
  show wherever you listen to
• 10:39
  your podcasts.
• 10:40
  Right now you're tuned in to Austin
• 10:42
  Signal and we sure do appreciate
• 10:44
  you spending some time here with us.
• 10:46
  We've got more show for you
• 10:48
  after this break.
• 10:59
  This is Austin Signal, welcome back.
• 11:01
  We've got a few headlines for your
• 11:03
  day.
• 11:04
  Austin Fire Department says a
• 11:05
  lithium-ion battery ignited a fire
• 11:07
  yesterday at a South Austin e-bike
• 11:09
  warehouse.
• 11:10
  Fire officials say the blaze was
• 11:12
  extinguished around 1230.
• 11:14
  The company, ModBike, said on social
• 11:16
  media that the fire did not
• 11:18
  affect inventory.
• 11:20
  Austin's Latino community continues
• 11:22
  to mobilize to provide aid to
• 11:23
  victims of earthquakes that
• 11:25
  devastated Venezuela last week.
• 11:27
  The Austin Venezuelan Association
• 11:29
  has been organizing donation drives
• 11:30
  for those affected.
• 11:32
  For more about that story, head on
• 11:33
  over to KUT.org or
• 11:35
  you can find it on the KUT app.
• 11:37
  And a personal watercraft ban on
• 11:39
  Lake Austin goes into effect
• 11:41
  tomorrow at sunset for the July
• 11:43
  4th weekend.
• 11:44
  Austin police will have patrols on
• 11:45
  the lake looking out for prohibited
• 11:47
  watercraft.
• 11:48
  That ban includes jet skis,
• 11:50
  wet bikes, motorized surfboards,
• 11:52
  and similar devices.
• 11:54
  Again that ban only applies to
• 11:55
  Lake Austin.
• 11:56
  And expires at sunrise Sunday,
• 11:58
  July 5th.
• 12:07
  America's 250th birthday is
• 12:10
  almost upon us.
• 12:11
  Another Independence Day, another
• 12:13
  chance to see some fireworks,
• 12:15
  grill some hot dogs, maybe watch
• 12:17
  a parade.
• 12:18
  But there's one neighborhood in
• 12:19
  Austin that has a unique
• 12:20
  way of celebrating, and
• 12:22
  our ATXplain project got a
• 12:24
  question about it.
• 12:26
  KUT's Olivia Aldridge brings us
• 12:28
  that story.
• 12:29
  On a hot Fourth of July, around
• 12:31
  a decade ago, Jeremy Hendricks
• 12:33
  and his wife went out to celebrate
• 12:35
  in the Northwest Hills neighborhood.
• 12:37
  That's when they first saw them.
• 12:40
  This group of women decked out in
• 12:42
  red, white, and bling.
• 12:43
  Saw these crazy ladies marching
• 12:45
  down the street with their lawn
• 12:46
  chairs, and my wife
• 12:48
  was enamored with it.
• 12:50
  They weren't just marching.
• 12:51
  They were performing a choreographed
• 12:53
  drill routine, spinning chairs
• 12:55
  around instead of batons or rifles.
• 12:57
  They call themselves the Lawn Chair
• 12:59
  Brigade, and Jeremy's wife,
• 13:01
  Lynn, immediately knew she had
• 13:03
  to be a part of whatever the heck
• 13:05
  was going on here.
• 13:06
  Soon enough, she joined up.
• 13:08
  She is now the hospitality chair.
• 13:11
  Uh, she calls herself because she
• 13:12
  brings the jello shots to the
• 13:13
  practice the night before.
• 13:19
  Now, Jeremy has been supportive,
• 13:21
  but he also doesn't quite
• 13:23
  get it.
• 13:24
  I can't get out of any of them, how
• 13:26
  it got started, why they do it
• 13:27
  exactly, other than the camaraderie
• 13:29
  I guess, but yeah.
• 13:31
  So you're like, what is my wipe up?
• 13:33
  That's exactly right.
• 13:34
  What has she gotten herself into?
• 13:36
  At a recent lawn chair brigade
• 13:37
  practice, Lynn told me she kind
• 13:39
  of can't believe Jeremy is still
• 13:41
  bugging her about this after all
• 13:43
  this time.
• 13:44
  He asked, did you ever find
• 13:46
  out about how the launch
• 13:48
  air brigade started?
• 13:49
  And I was like, no,
• 13:51
  and he's like, so you're just part
• 13:52
  of a cult. I'm like, No, I'm not a
• 13:53
  part of the cult. Like no cult meets
• 13:55
  once a year for the fourth of July
• 13:56
  parade.
• 13:58
  Really can't be too sure.
• 13:59
  I mean, they're not drinking any
• 14:01
  Kool-Aid, but Lynn herself
• 14:03
  is providing the jello shots.
• 14:05
  So I told Jeremy I'd look into it.
• 14:08
  Maybe questions about all-female
• 14:09
  lawn chair drill teams require
• 14:11
  a woman's touch.
• 14:14
  It didn't take long to see that this
• 14:15
  group enjoys something of a
• 14:17
  celebrity status in Northwest Hills.
• 14:19
  Longtime troupe Ann Dinkler says
• 14:21
  she often gets recognized while
• 14:23
  out and about.
• 14:24
  I've given autographs
• 14:26
  on cocktail napkins in the
• 14:28
  neighborhood.
• 14:29
  I don't want you thinking I'm a
• 14:31
  serious drinker, but you
• 14:33
  know.
• 14:33
  Anne joined in 1999.
• 14:36
  For every year a brigade member
• 14:37
  marches, they get a ribbon to pin on
• 14:39
  their chair.
• 14:40
  And no one has more ribbons than
• 14:42
  Anne.
• 14:43
  So if anyone should know how this
• 14:44
  all got started, it's her.
• 14:46
  It's a little bit fuzzy.
• 14:48
  That's a bit fuzzy!
• 14:49
  Okay, so the group had already been
• 14:51
  up and running for a while when Anne
• 14:53
  joined.
• 14:54
  She really only knew rumors about
• 14:55
  how it began.
• 14:57
  But she went digging for me.
• 14:58
  She even dusted off her old AOL
• 15:00
  account looking for clues.
• 15:02
  And that fuzzy picture started to
• 15:04
  come into focus.
• 15:05
  A picture of a small gaggle of
• 15:07
  neighborhood friends clanging
• 15:09
  down the street.
• 15:11
  I can just hear a bump bump bump,
• 15:13
  bump bump hitting the
• 15:16
  street with the edges
• 15:17
  of the lawn chairs.
• 15:19
  This is Marilyn Hill Henderson,
• 15:22
  the original godmother of the Lawn
• 15:23
  Chair Brigade.
• 15:25
  The earliest home video footage we
• 15:26
  could find is from 1995,
• 15:29
  a few years after they got started.
• 15:31
  And there's Marilyn, tall,
• 15:33
  blonde, and in charge, leading a
• 15:35
  small group of women in denim cutoff
• 15:37
  shorts.
• 15:39
  We cannot!
• 15:40
  We've got to get some help!
• 15:40
  It all began when Marilyn moved to
• 15:43
  Austin.
• 15:43
  She wanted to find a way to connect
• 15:45
  with people in her new neighborhood,
• 15:47
  with a background as a high school
• 15:49
  majorette.
• 15:50
  She had her eye on the annual 4th
• 15:52
  of July parade.
• 15:53
  So all that kind of came together
• 15:54
  when I saw that clip of
• 15:57
  the guys with the briefcases.
• 15:59
  She's talking about the Fred Hill
• 16:01
  briefcase drill team.
• 16:02
  Here comes my favorite group, the
• 16:04
  Fred Hill Briefcase Grill Team.
• 16:06
  They're a lean, mean, marching
• 16:08
  machine.
• 16:09
  They're the team from Plymouth,
• 16:10
  Michigan.
• 16:11
  If you ever wanted to know what
• 16:12
  executives do in their off time,
• 16:14
  take a look.
• 16:15
  But for decades, these businessmen
• 16:17
  from Chicago suited up and
• 16:19
  spun their briefcases with military
• 16:21
  precision at parades in Detroit
• 16:23
  and even the Macy's Thanksgiving
• 16:25
  Day parade.
• 16:25
  One, two, three, four!
• 16:29
  Marilyn thought, why not do
• 16:31
  something like that in Northwest
• 16:33
  Hills, but, you know,
• 16:35
  with lawn chairs.
• 16:36
  See, she'd spent a lot of time at
• 16:37
  this county fair in Mississippi,
• 16:39
  where there's a tradition called the
• 16:41
  lawn chair race.
• 16:42
  Everyone rushes down to a
• 16:44
  performance stage with chairs in
• 16:45
  hand to try and get the best seat
• 16:47
  for a show.
• 16:48
  So I had a real orientation to
• 16:50
  lawn chairs and I don't know,
• 16:52
  it seemed like such a summer thing.
• 16:54
  And so, you know, Americana.
• 16:56
  She brought the idea to two women
• 16:58
  in her neighborhood.
• 16:59
  It was probably over cocktails.
• 17:02
  That's Patti Myers.
• 17:04
  She, Marilyn, and another woman
• 17:06
  named Juliet Vanderplug all
• 17:08
  had kids around the same age.
• 17:10
  They'd all get together and watch
• 17:12
  them play on Friday nights.
• 17:14
  And Patti says she and Juliet were
• 17:16
  immediately game for Marilyn's
• 17:18
  big plan.
• 17:18
  We all three had experience being
• 17:20
  in some form of performance
• 17:23
  in high school.
• 17:24
  I mean, I think we all three were
• 17:26
  sassy little show-offs,
• 17:28
  frankly.
• 17:29
  In the beginning, it was just a few
• 17:31
  women working up routines in
• 17:33
  Patty's cul-de-sac.
• 17:34
  They sometimes called themselves the
• 17:36
  tacky Texas tarts.
• 17:38
  And Juliet says people got a real
• 17:40
  kick out of their parade debut.
• 17:42
  I remember PJ Pierce
• 17:44
  was on the side watching and
• 17:46
  she yelled out at us.
• 17:49
  I want to do that next
• 17:51
  year, call me.
• 17:52
  That woman, PJ Pierce,
• 17:54
  actually did join up after that.
• 17:56
  She ended up becoming a really
• 17:58
  important member of the group.
• 17:59
  I wanted to do it because it
• 18:02
  just sounded like silly fun.
• 18:05
  This is where things get a
• 18:07
  little complicated because
• 18:09
  PJ remembers this whole story
• 18:11
  very differently from Marilyn and
• 18:13
  her original crew.
• 18:14
  I must have a much better memory
• 18:16
  than she does.
• 18:17
  Remember, there's no footage we
• 18:19
  could find of those first couple of
• 18:21
  years of the parade.
• 18:23
  And PJ says, when she first yelled
• 18:24
  at the ladies from the side of the
• 18:26
  road, there were no lawn chairs.
• 18:28
  Not yet.
• 18:29
  No, she says they were doing
• 18:30
  something entirely different.
• 18:32
  They sat in the back of
• 18:35
  a convertible, had their
• 18:37
  prom dresses on or
• 18:39
  evening dresses on with a
• 18:41
  ribbon that said, ladies
• 18:43
  who like parades.
• 18:44
  As I said, totally different.
• 18:47
  I was there the first year that we
• 18:49
  did lawn chairs.
• 18:50
  I know that.
• 18:50
  Interesting, because they think
• 18:52
  they did lawn chairs from the
• 18:54
  beginning.
• 18:55
  They did not.
• 18:57
  Marilyn, Patty, and Juliet all
• 18:59
  say they have no memory of
• 19:01
  ever wearing gowns.
• 19:02
  So, like Anne said,
• 19:04
  it's a little fuzzy.
• 19:05
  But all of these women agree on
• 19:07
  what happened next.
• 19:09
  Within a few years, the original
• 19:11
  trio moved on from the brigade.
• 19:13
  Life got busy, they just got tugged
• 19:15
  in new directions.
• 19:16
  PJ stepped up to keep the brigade
• 19:18
  going.
• 19:19
  And under her leadership, women were
• 19:21
  joining left and right.
• 19:23
  Even the occasional man got
• 19:24
  involved.
• 19:25
  They became a staple of the parade,
• 19:27
  so much so that the one year
• 19:29
  they decided to skip it, PJ got
• 19:31
  a call from the president of the
• 19:33
  Neighborhood Association.
• 19:34
  He'd gotten complaints.
• 19:36
  He said, I've called to ask
• 19:37
  you specifically to do the Launch
• 19:39
  Air Brigade.
• 19:41
  So I said.
• 19:42
  Okay, Larry.
• 19:43
  The ladies were back the next year,
• 19:44
  and they haven't missed a parade
• 19:46
  since.
• 19:48
  What started as a way for three
• 19:49
  neighbors to bond over silly fun
• 19:51
  became a local tradition shared
• 19:53
  with generations of women.
• 19:55
  Marilyn passed the baton to PJ,
• 19:57
  who eventually passed it to Anne,
• 20:00
  and Anne continued to grow the
• 20:02
  group.
• 20:02
  It was mostly middle-aged women.
• 20:04
  At some point, the group actually
• 20:05
  nicknamed themselves the Hot
• 20:07
  Flashes, and they had an unofficial
• 20:09
  rule. If you're menopausal,
• 20:11
  you're in.
• 20:12
  Cream and a puzzle, you gotta
• 20:14
  audition.
• 20:15
  All jokes aside, Anne says
• 20:17
  everyone is welcome.
• 20:19
  The common denominators,
• 20:21
  these are fun women, they all have
• 20:23
  great senses of humor,
• 20:25
  they know how to yuck it up, they
• 20:27
  like to strut their inner ham.
• 20:30
  Brought some local luminaries into
• 20:32
  the fold. There are state
• 20:34
  representatives, judges, and
• 20:35
  county commissioners who are all
• 20:37
  dedicated members.
• 20:39
  In fact, so many people joined over
• 20:41
  the years that a problem emerged.
• 20:42
  It was hard finding enough lawn
• 20:44
  chairs.
• 20:45
  They have to be vintage, the
• 20:47
  lightweight aluminum kind that's
• 20:48
  easy to twirl around.
• 20:50
  Ann says they've scoured estate
• 20:52
  sales and gone dumpster diving to
• 20:53
  find them.
• 20:54
  Sometimes anonymous supporters even
• 20:56
  drop them in her driveway.
• 20:57
  I have 21 in
• 20:59
  my garage.
• 21:01
  My husband threatens to divorce me,
• 21:03
  but as of now, that's all talk.
• 21:05
  This surplus means that Anne can
• 21:07
  always be in recruitment mode,
• 21:10
  which I found out the hard way when
• 21:11
  I asked if I could record a
• 21:13
  rehearsal.
• 21:14
  Only if you perform.
• 21:17
  Join us, Olivia.
• 21:18
  Well, that didn't sound cult-like
• 21:20
  at all, but I had no
• 21:22
  choice. I had to go gonzo.
• 21:25
  That's how, a few weeks later, I
• 21:26
  found myself with a crowd of women
• 21:28
  in the Doss Elementary School
• 21:30
  parking lot, wearing a blue tutu
• 21:32
  and a red bedazzled tiara.
• 21:34
  Soon enough, I even had the chant
• 21:35
  down.
• 21:42
  I also got to try out the Lawn Chair
• 21:44
  Lady's patented choreography.
• 21:46
  Do the clap and then we're going to
• 21:47
  do the zipper and then we will move
• 21:49
  with it. That's where it looks good.
• 21:50
  I may have also taken a jello shot.
• 21:52
  It's all a little fuzzy.
• 21:55
  I asked as many of the brigade
• 21:56
  members as I could, why do
• 21:58
  you do this?
• 21:59
  Most of them answered a lot like
• 22:00
  Rachel Rogers.
• 22:01
  It's fun.
• 22:02
  It's good to have some whimsy in
• 22:04
  life. So there's one answer to
• 22:06
  Jeremy Hendrick's question.
• 22:07
  Why do the lawn chair ladies do what
• 22:09
  they do?
• 22:10
  Girls just wanna have fun.
• 22:12
  But actually, I think it's a little
• 22:14
  deeper than that.
• 22:15
  When I talked to the brigade member,
• 22:17
  I heard a lot about camaraderie.
• 22:19
  About sisterhood.
• 22:21
  Here's Anne.
• 22:22
  Every year there are women I never
• 22:24
  see.
• 22:25
  I just see them this one time
• 22:27
  a year and it's
• 22:29
  like we talked the day before.
• 22:31
  We just, that interconnection,
• 22:34
  it's fabulous.
• 22:36
  It's, you know, estrogen
• 22:38
  city.
• 22:39
  Really, it's a tradition the whole
• 22:41
  community looks forward to,
• 22:43
  rain or shine, even in tough years,
• 22:45
  like during COVID when the brigades
• 22:47
  still got out and marched in the
• 22:49
  Randall's parking lot.
• 22:51
  Anne remembers one especially
• 22:52
  difficult year when a longtime
• 22:54
  brigade member passed away from
• 22:56
  cancer.
• 22:57
  And her husband missed her so much.
• 22:59
  He just showed up in a tutu
• 23:02
  with the necklace
• 23:04
  on him. We were almost, all
• 23:06
  of us almost in tears,
• 23:08
  but he was fabulous.
• 23:09
  He knew all the routines because
• 23:11
  he'd been watching his wife for 10
• 23:13
  years.
• 23:14
  So yes, the lawn chair brigade
• 23:16
  is about fun.
• 23:18
  But fun isn't always a trivial
• 23:19
  thing.
• 23:20
  Silliness can be magic and joy
• 23:23
  can be medicine.
• 23:24
  If you need a little bit of that
• 23:25
  magic in your own life, the ladies
• 23:27
  will be back to their usual mischief
• 23:29
  this year.
• 23:30
  You can't miss them.
• 23:31
  They're the ones marching down far
• 23:32
  west with the lawn chairs.
• 23:34
  If you squint, you might even see
• 23:36
  me among them.
• 23:39
  I'm Olivia Aldridge in Austin.
• 23:45
  That story was first performed as
• 23:47
  part of our A.T.
• 23:48
  Explained live show at Bass Concert
• 23:50
  Hall back in May, including
• 23:52
  a performance by the Lawn Chair
• 23:53
  Brigade.
• 23:54
  You can see that on KUT's YouTube
• 23:56
  channel. You could also catch up on
• 23:58
  all the questions we've answered in
• 23:59
  the A. T.
• 24:00
  Explain podcast.
• 24:01
  We're going to have a link to that
• 24:02
  story in today's podcast.
• 24:04
  Show notes, and that's it for us
• 24:06
  today. And you can always find more
• 24:08
  from us at kut.org
• 24:11
  slash signal.
• 24:13
  Rene Chavez is our technical
• 24:14
  director, Alexandra Hart is our
• 24:16
  producer, and Kristin Cabrera is our
• 24:18
  managing producer.
• 24:19
  I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
• 24:21
  We'll be back with you tomorrow.
• 24:22
  Talk to you then.