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live in Austin to be able to do that. Now I can't imagine anyone being able to do that. I can't imagine that being possible. A lot of writer friends of mine and musician friends of mine and were allowed to think of ourselves as these creative types, because we could survive with a part- time job or a relatively low- paying job, something that didn't demand all of our attention. We could still write or play music or mix sound or paint or whatever we wanted to do, and do it long enough to where we might have some semblance of a career. I don't know that it really made for better art- certainly people have made great art, lasting art, under much more difficult circumstances, but it did allow a lot of people to think of being a musician or a creative person as a viable way to live your life.
So, you've been around Austin bands for going on 20 years now, so you must get a certain amount of harassment in your position at the conference.
Surprisingly little. Some, but there's a fine line between harassment and someone saying, "Pay attention to me," even if that sometimes is a "Fuck you." I'm not so thin-sinned that somebody- if somebody won't demand that they be recognized, it's hard for me to think that anybody else is going to pay attention to them anyway. It requires a certain degree of belief in oneself and I think connected to that is if you've got something to say you want to make sure people hear it. There's a line there, but somebody bitching or being a bit of a pain- I respect that.
What are some good examples of crossing the line?
There's this sense among certain creative people, musicians that I've encountered, that you hold their ticket to success. If you would give them something, the world would recognize their obvious talent. You can't tell somebody, "Hey, everybody knows who you are, it's just that your audience is limited," Or that you lack something creatively that engages more people. A lot of people think that if they don't have an audience or they don't have the recognition that they beleive that they're due, it's somebody else's fault.
So when they think it's your fault, what form does it take?
Sometimes I get nasty emails and sometimes I get verbally-
Feel free to name names.
They know who they are. And truthfully, and this is a bit patronizing, but in cases like that, I kind of feel sorry for them. If your presupposition is, "This guy is fucking me over, if I can just yell at him for a while, something better is going to happen," or whatever sort of response they expect- like I said, I feel sorry for them.
I understand people at the Chronicle take a lot of that because they're seen as the only venue-
Well, the thing that's really funny is that the Chronicle was largely founded by fans and like-minded people. I think there's probably room in town for something else. Do it yourself! At this point the editors are 50, they're not out in clubs

Spring 2001

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