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Bonnie Whitmore plays her Facebook Live weekly Tragic Mondays All-Request Hour—one of the few almost-gigs she has had since venues closed down in March. (Karen Brooks Harper)
It was mid-March, and Austin singer-songwriter Bonnie Whitmore was about to start the first leg of a 20-city tour with iconic Americana performer James McMurtry—a boost for her hard-fought music career that had only recently become full time.
Whitmore, 37, was playing Thursday nights at the Continental Gallery and logging regular work as a studio bassist, back up singer, and tour opener. She was to tour Europe with acclaimed Austin band The Mastersons. She releases another album this summer.
And then coronavirus shut down Austin, the Live Music Capital of the World, and Whitmore's career came to a standstill.
Festivals and tours canceled. The venues closed. Studios were deemed nonessential businesses. No more ticket sales. No more merch sales.
"Everybody just kind of came to the realization that none of it was going to happen," Whitmore said.
Her story reverberates across her industry in Austin, home to an estimated 8,000 working musicians.
Most of them subsidized their income with jobs in the service industry, which has also been hard it, and the vast majority earn less than $25,000 total in a year even in the best of times, said Reenie Collins, CEO of the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.
The biggest chunk of that money for most comes from doing shows at some of the city's 250 live music venues, all of which are shut down.
The cancellation of SXSW was the bellwether of grim times to come, costing many musicians and venues the majority of their year's earnings.
"Our musicians are absolutely in a dire place," said Collins, whose organization donated $30,000 to local musician relief in the first weeks of the shutdown. "They live in a fragile ecosystem that has been totally upended."
Last year, HAAM surveyed its 2,600 members and discovered that about 30% of them reported they worried about running out of food at least once a month.
The organization surveyed its membership again after the bars shut down in March, Collins said. Some 81% now say they can't meet basic needs because of lost income.
"I don't have any paying gigs right now," said Nakia Reynoso, local songwriter and president of the nonprofit advocacy group Austin Texas Musicians. "The financial loss to musicians because of this pandemic is devastating."
Reynoso said artists are getting creative about making money online, such as subscriptions and covers. But an influx of superstars who are doing concerts and benefits online during the pandemic is powerful competition that makes it hard for locals to get people to tune into their shows, he said.
And while losing artists from Austin is a real possibility, he said, losing up to 60% of its venues is just as likely.
"That's one of the hard realities that some folks in the music industry might not really have woken up to yet," he said. "Their favorite club might not be there when this comes back."
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Popular
(Moriah Wilson/Instagram)
Austin police have charged Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, a local cyclist, for the murder of Moriah "Mo" Wilson.
Wilson, a rising star in the gravel and mountain bike community, was found dead with gunshot wounds inside an East Austin home on the night of May 11 when she was in town for the weekend Gravel Locos race in Hico, Texas.
Police believe Wilson was having a relationship with a man Armstrong was also in a relationship with. The man, another gravel cyclist, Colin Strickland, has since issued a statement on the murder.
In his statement, he said he had a brief romantic relationship with Wilson in October 2021 before he resumed his relationship with Armstrong, but that he remained friends with Wilson. "There is no way to adequately express the regret and torture I feel about my proximity to this horrible crime. I am sorry, and I simply cannot make sense of this unfathomable tragedy.
NEW: Austin professional cyclist Colin Strickland has just released a statement about the murder of cyclist Moriah Wilson, clarifying his relationship with her and expressing “torture about my proximity to this horrible crime.” pic.twitter.com/KnIna3mWrE
— Tony Plohetski (@tplohetski) May 20, 2022
Wilson, a 25-year-old Vermont native living in Colorado, had won a slew of races becoming a fan favorite. She had just become a full-time racer this year.
Anyone with information on this crime can contact Austin police at 512-974-TIPS or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 512-472-8477.
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Kelly said the planned homeless housing hotel suffered months of damage. (Mackenzie Kelly)
Austin has added 24-hour security to the city-owned Pecan Gardens property, which will be converted into supportive housing for people exiting homelessness, after the former hotel was found with months of damage and vandalism May 5.
The building, which was broken into and stripped of copper and had people illegally sleeping inside of it, has been secured, Kelly said in a Friday press conference. Kelly said the city confirmed a measure to implement 24-hour security, including updates every 60 days until the property opens up as supportive housing.
"We cannot let this happen to any vacant city-owned property ever again," Kelly said. "This blatant act of disregard and criminal behavior will not be tolerated in our community."
The city bought the former hotel in August 2021 for $9.5 million with plans to renovate the property into a 78-unit supportive housing property. Those 55 or older that are experiencing chronic homelessness can qualify to live at the site once it is completed in late 2022-early 2023.
While the council was set to discuss a $4 million deal with Family Eldercare to begin converting the property Thursday, Kelly pulled the item for a later executive session due to security concerns. But the council did approve an item to authorize city leaders to begin negotiating other renovation contracts.
"I want to thank my colleagues for pumping the brakes on this contract and realizing that we owe the community not only an apology, but reassurance that the protection of the assets the city owns is vital to the success of achieving our intended goals," Kelly said.
When the building was found vandalized May 5, Kelly, who presides over the district containing the property, said damage included:
- Damage spanning all three floors of the building and is in nearly every room.
- The entire hotel was stripped of copper.
- Destroyed washers, dryers, air conditioners and electrical wiring.
- People sleeping at the hotel without permission.
On Tuesday, Austin’s Homeless Strategy Officer Dianna Gray apologized and said there was no security due to a delay in processing the request.
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