Every March, thousands of people descend upon Austin for SXSW. In the fall, it is The Austin City Limits Music Festival and then there are events and activities every other day of the year. It is non stop. The internet bursts with reports of having the most wonderful time in Austin at such and such a festival. All media promotes the music scene, film industry, the literary community, the University of Texas and it goes on and on and on.
Well, after living in Austin since 1972, I have a different viewpoint. I was once very active in this community and the Austin Music Scene. That was a long time ago. The film industry which is becoming more popular than the music scene was young and raw when I was out and about. It is now very professional and successful.
I do not want to rain on anyone’s parade but the music scene and film industry are not all that they are cracked up to be. Yet, no one seems to be presenting an opposing point of view to all the rave reviews on line and in the media. I have searched the internet to find other points of view other than all the incredibly wonderful postings and articles that I read about The Austin Music Scene and Film Industry.
I am about to present a different and opposing viewpoint.
First, to be certain, there is some wonderful music in Austin. There always has been. The film industry is new but is rich with talent and successes.
However, there is another side. And how do I gently put it? There have been a lot of deaths around these industries. Many have been murders. Some have been ruled suicides and others, accidents. Of course, there are the drug overdoses. Since I have lived in Austin, there have been thousands of persons in the music / film scene who died untimely deaths. I knew or knew of a lot of these persons.
Other persons are in wheelchairs or walk with a cane due to accidents and other situations. Some of them were violent.
There is a lot of organized crime around the music scene and film industry. And no one is talking about it. Nor is anyone writing about it. Quite the opposite. It is hype after hype. Everyone talks up the scenes and crows about it.
And this hype brings thousands and thousands of persons to Austin every year for any number of activities and events and festivals revolving around music and film, most notably SXSW and ACL Festival. I do not doubt that thousands have a truly wonderful time but I can assure you that hundreds of others have a very bad time.
No one talks about the crowds out of control or persons who come here to commit crimes during these very crowded events. There are rapes and assaults. Wallets and purses are stolen. Because there is a lot of drinking and drugs, there are accidents and fights sometimes resulting in serious injury and even death. No one who has a really terrible experience at SXSW or ACL writes about it or maybe they can not get their article published.
There are those who have great success at SXSW but there are many others who come with high expectations spending a lot of money to get here only to have hopes dashed. I am reminded of one band who came from England last SXSW only to find not one person at their show. It was due to a bad time slot and club that was assigned to them. They had no choice in where they played or what day or time.
Until the last couple of years, I attended some free SXSW events. This year, I was home by 7 pm every night. The situation was out of control to the point of being frightening. I probably will not be doing anything in 2012.
There continues to be great music in Austin. There are lots of very talented persons in our film industry. But it is not all pretty. And I am just trying to present the other side.
