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There’s a ‘new,’ retro way to listen to music coming to Music Lane.
Co-owners of Breakaway Records vinyl shop—Josh LaRue and Gabe Vaughn—Mohawk owner James Moody, and Bunkhouse Group have teamed up to create their take on a Japanese kissa: a high-quality sound, vinyl music listening and appreciation bar.
The vinyl bar, which has yet to be named, will be in the basement of Hotel Magdalena, 1101 Music Ln., and the group hopes to host a soft opening sometime late this year.
A lifetime lover of music, LaRue told Austonia he visited many jazz kissas in Japan in the 2000s, enjoying the emphasis on the music, attentive listening atmosphere and curated cocktails. LaRue said he thinks Austinites will fully appreciate the experience.
“I think the level of music fandom is just different here—people just in general seem to know and care a lot about music in this town,” LaRue said. “Live music is obviously a huge part of Austin. We're just trying to shine a little bit of light on the other side of music, the recordings that people have made and the record collections that people have.”
Bunkhouse will handle the design element while LaRue and Vaughn focus on creating a curated vinyl collection, which will serve as a “living museum” that will evolve over time, through a Texas lens.
LaRue said it will include Texas-based musicians like Willie Nelson and Erykah Badu but also national and international artists with a Lone Star-inspired flair. Expect early jazz, traditional country music and blues in a Hi-Fi setting.
Music programming is still in the works but LaRue said a big element will include playing full or entire sides of LP vinyls as well as having guest personalities curate a night’s music. Of course, there will be a curated drink menu and likely bites from the restaurant upstairs.
“The general idea is to honor the record collection that we're building for this place and listen to those records as a whole… more like how the person who made this record wanted you to hear,” LaRue said. “We're trying to focus on something you can listen to from start to finish, enjoy the whole thing you know, and be taken on a ride by the artists.”
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Austin is one of the top metro areas where homebuyer income saw the greatest surge during the pandemic and it came at a cost to locals.
A new analysis by real estate services firm Redfin reports that affluent out-of-towers have contributed to surging home prices in metros like Austin. Due to this trend, Redfin notes, many local buyers with lower incomes have been priced out.
“For white-collar workers earning high salaries, remote work is a huge financial boon,” said Sheharyar Bokhari, Redfin senior economist. Jobs with that flexibility, Bokhari says, enable them to move from a tech hub like San Francisco to a more affordable part of the country where they can get more home for their money and even put some toward a rainy day fund.
“It can have the opposite effect on locals in those destinations–especially renters–who are watching from the sidelines as home prices skyrocket while their income stays mostly the same,” Bokhari said.
In Austin, the median homebuyer income surged 19% from 2019 to 2021, ultimately reaching $137,000. In that time, the median home price growth was 48%, just behind Boise, Idaho which was more than 50%.
But the housing market is starting to slow. Redfin says high mortgage rates and unsustainable price growth have driven demand down. In fact, Austin is among the 20 housing markets that have cooled the fastest in the first half of this year.
“People are still moving in from California and they still have enough money to buy nice homes in desirable neighborhoods, sometimes with all cash,” said Austin Redfin agent Gabriel Recio. “But the days of homes selling for 25% over asking price with multiple offers are over. Buyers are no longer as eager now that mortgage rates are up and there’s buzz in the air about the slowing housing market.”
As a result, Recio says, local and out-of-town buyers have an opportunity to buy a home at the asking price or even under.
Redfin carried out its analysis using data from the home mortgage disclosure act to review median household incomes for homebuyers who took out a mortgage, though it doesn’t include buyers who paid using all cash.
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School is back in session—do you know the latest TikTok trends?
With Austin ISD resuming session on Monday, school officials are keeping tabs on the newest TikTok trends that could pose classroom disruptions and property damage.
TikTok trends swept through Austin-area schools last year with the “Devious Lick” challenge, which encouraged students to steal from school property and reportedly caused $15,000 in damages at Round Round ISD; and the “slap a staff member” challenge.
On the distraction end, a substitute teacher was dismissed from Bowie High School in December after bringing in a karaoke machine to class and singing Britney Spears’ “Toxic” for the class on TikTok.
Officials told KXAN they are staying aware of the trends as they change during the 2022-2023 school year and the district will investigate perceived threats. Since TikTok trends vary in severity, they will also evaluate to see which trends could cause harm or not.
Finally, the school district said it does not tolerate violence or bullying and will focus its efforts on protecting students both physically and digitally.