City Limits

CITY LIMITS Ezine Fall 2020

LINEUP 6 ? Meet the Editors 8 ? Austin City Limits: No Exit in Sight

by Milo Kevorkian 12 ? Austin City Limits by the Numbers by Milo Kevorkian 14 ? From Unknown to Unforgettable

by Liesl Geiger 18 ? ACL Through the Ages by Liesl Geiger 20 ? How ACL Excels by Turner Piercy 24 ? Can't Make ACL? by Turner Piercy 26 ? The Bad Behind Our Festival by Rylie Shieh 30 ? Do You Have Heat Exhaustion?

by Rylie Shieh 32 ? Sounds of Austin by Megan McIntosh 36 ? Activities Around Austin by Megan McIntosh 4 | CITY LIMITS

CITY LIMITS | 5

Meet the Editors Dear Readers, It is a pleasure to welcome you to our magazine. Inside these pages, you will find stories about one of the most culturally important festivals in Austin ? Austin City Limits. This magazine showcases different aspects of this festival (including the television show of the same name that inspired it, its history, and the musicians who have been a part of its production) and explores topics that both avid festival goers and those who have never been to ACL will find fascinating. With a rainbow of colors and bold accents, we wanted to embody the spirit of ACL and give you the feeling that you had been there before, even if you have never heard of the festival.

When our group began working on this project, we discovered that we could all find common ground in one thing ? music. It was then that we decided to focus on something that we felt captured the essence of Austin music. Armed with a love of our city?s culture and an appreciation of how songs and melodies can bring people together, our team worked many hours to bring you this well-rounded view of ACL. We spent long days writing and rewriting, drawing graphics and making sure everything was in the perfect spot to bring you this magazine that we sincerely hope you enjoy.

In addition to all of this, we have learned many things along the way. We studied new ways of writing stories, experimented with designs and graphics and challenged our creative spirits. We learned how to communicate with others and discovered the value of pouring our hearts and souls into something that we are very proud of. So we hope you enjoy our magazine!

Sincerely, Liesl, Megan, Milo, Turner, and Rylie

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Liesl Liesl Geiger is a freshman at LASA and has lived in Austin her whole life. She started playing violin in first grade and still enjoys practicing today. She loves listening to Simon and Garfunkel while doing homework and jamming out to Elton John when walking through her neighborhood. When she?s not tuning in to classic hits, you can find Liesl drawing at her desk or watching math-related YouTube videos with one of her three cats.

Megan Megan McIntosh is 14 years old and has lived in Austin her whole life. She has visited Austin City Limits Music Festival many times and enjoys the lively music and people that it brings to the city. In addition to listening to music, Megan also plays the oboe and some piano in her free time. She loves participating in many sports, including soccer and basketball, and can always be found outside or in nature whenever possible.

Milo Milo Kevorkian is a proud 14-year-old Austin native and freshman at LASA. He plays piano and percussion, and he enjoys music in many forms, from classical to jazz to country. He is also an avid tennis player and loves watching all kinds of sports. Milo enjoys spending time in the fresh air going on hikes and bike rides, and hanging out at the beach or in his backyard.

Rylie Rylie Shieh has lived for a short 14 years. This weirdo enjoys playing the violin and piano, but is much better at piano because she was forced to play when she was 4. Rylie also enjoys acting in local short films and plays, drawing, and swimming in her clothes with her scout troop. Someday she wants to be a divorce lawyer, or a plastic surgeon, or maybe a hitman. She isn?t sure yet. Rylie is also obsessed with various book series and will judge you if you aren?t a Slytherin.

Turner Turner Piercy is a native Austinite and freshman at LASA. When he's not swimming for Austin Swim Club, you can most likely find him at the gym, fishing, camping, or hanging out and playing games with his friends. Also a lover of music, Turner frequently listens to Hip-hop, Jazz, and R&B and has played piano since age 5.

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AUSTIN CITY LIMITS: NO EXIT IN SIGHT The show that made Austin the 'Live Music Capital of the World'

By Milo Kevorkian

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magine you?re sitting on a hilltop late at night outside of Austin, staring at the skyline.

Suddenly, spotlights come on in front of you, and they light up a stage with a band on it and you hear some groovy music playing.

Wait a second! You?re not dreaming on a hilltop, you?re watching an episode of Austin City Limits on television!

I

Austin City Limits, not to be confused with Austin City Limits Festival, is a live music television show made in Austin, Texas with a long history of broadcasting great music. The show began in 1974 when it was created by Bill Arhos, Bruce Scafe, and Paul Bosner. They came up with the name of the show when Bosner passed a city limits sign driving into Austin. After a pilot episode that year featuring Willie Nelson, Austin City Limits was turned into a series and went on with its first season in 1976. Since then, the Austin TV show has aired around 13 weekly episodes every year for public television, and each one features one or two live-audience music performances by selected musicians, spanning around one hour.

receive the National Medal of Arts, as well as now being the longest-running music show on American television.

Emily Bolf is an Austin City Limits associate producer as well as the show?s digital director and has worked with the show for over 20 years. For many years, Austin City Limits was a show that was dominated by country, folk music and Texas musicians, and helped showcase a growing music scene in Austin and in Texas. ?The show was born out of the music scene that was taking place in Austin in the 70s,?Bolf said.

But over the years, the music on the show has evolved and diversified to include a wider range of genres and musicians showcasing countless forms of music. ?The music has become way more eclectic. We work hard to create a diverse lineup of musicians and genres - it's really important to us to be inclusive and show real, authentic quality music regardless of genre,?Bolf said.

Austin City Limits can be a big Austin City Limits features a landmark in the career of rising wide variety of artists and genres, artists and groups. Appearing on and is the only television show to Willie Nelson per f or ms in an episode of Austin City Limits in 2018. Nelson's 16 appear ances on the show date back to the pilot episode in 1974.

Photo by Scott Newton. Cour tesy of Austin PBS.

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Moody Theater in downtown Austin hosts a concer t by Widespr ead Panic in 2011. Austin City Limits moved its episode tapings to the 2,750 seat, state-of -the-ar t theater that year .

Photo by Scott Newton. Cour tesy of Austin PBS.

the show helps them gain recognition and have an important achievement under their belt.

of 2,750, much more than Studio 6A?s capacity.

?It allowed ACL to become more visible in Austin - before ?I love working with new, the studio was kind of hidden on up-and-coming bands,?Bolf said. the UT campus,?Bolf said. ?With ?It's a huge deal for them to do the larger capacity, Austin PBS the show, probably one of the was able to increase fundraising biggest milestones they've and the show is able to continue reached so far in their career. producing new episodes.?

They are always super excited Curtis Kasefang is the Lead and that energy is really fun to be Theater Consultant for designing around.?

Moody Theater. Although For the first 36 seasons of modern Moody Theater is very Austin City Limits, the show was different on the outside from filmed in Studio 6A on the Studio 6A, and is also used for University of Texas at Austin concerts and private events, on campus. The studio has been television it appears virtually the designated as a Rock & Roll Hall same as the old home of Austin of Fame Landmark and first used City Limits. the iconic mock Austin skyline ?The biggest goal we had stage backdrop in 1982. The was to make sure that when they location had a capacity of around moved from Studio six a in the 800, but it was reduced to 300 communications building up to because of limited access to fire the Moody Theater, that the exits. In 2011, Austin City Limits room looked the same to moved to Moody Theater in people, especially on television,? downtown Austin. The venue was Kasefang said. He added that a specially built for hosting the TV lot of people think that the show show and has a seating capacity 10 | CITY LIMITS

is filmed on a hilltop outside of Austin because of the skyline backdrop. So the designers worked hard to hide the exit signs from the cameras shooting the

"

We hear all the time that ACL isthe first thing people mention when they find out someone isfrom Austin.

"

show to maintain that illusion, but also keep the exit signs visible to the live audience.

State-of-the-art Moody Theater is a memorable place to attend as well as perform at. ?It's such an intimate concert venue for its seating capacity, and performers really love performing there,?Kasefang said. He said that the furthest seats from the stage are only 75 feet away, so the audience is very close to the stage for a

2,700-seat theater, and said that the theater is shaped ?three quarter round?, with the audience on three sides of the stage.

Something very unique about Austin City Limits is that it has a live audience, so you can watch the show live as it's being taped.

The experience of attending a taping is very distinct from seeing the show on television. ?[There is] definitely more energy and a communal experience being with other fans in a relatively intimate setting especially when an artist is performing who would normally be playing arenas or stadiums,?

Bolf said.

Another unique feature of Austin City Limits is that there is very little video and audio editing that goes into the final product, giving the show a very authentic feel. ?When they tape the show, by the time the audience leaves, the show is almost completely

edited, there's only a little bit of editing to go before it gets ready for the air. And that's very unusual,?Kasefang said. Bolf said, ?We deliberately shoot the performance slowly and without following quick shots, edits and other trendy camera moves. We showcase and follow the music.?

showcased in the past. For example, we probably would not have approached Billie Eilish to tape ACL if she hadn't been performing at the festival - and that ended up being one of our biggest shows ever.?

Austin?s live music scene was a factor in Austin City Limits?early In 2002, Austin City Music success, but the show is also a Festival (ACL Fest) was created, big reason for the iconic and inspired by Austin City Limits. The thriving music scene in the city festival has had huge success and why Austin is called ?The Live and popularity, and one might Music Capital of the World?. think it has overshadowed the TV ?ACL grew out of a music show more than anything. But scene that was already ACL Fest has contributed to the established in Austin, but as the diversity of Austin City Limits? show has grown and evolved, and genres, and it has helped attract has branched out into the festival, big-name musicians to perform ACL Live and also ACL Radio, it on the show. has helped establish and support ?[ACL Fest] has made ACL Austin as the Live Music Capital. more visible to a younger We hear all the time that ACL is generation of fans,?Bolf said. ?It the first thing people mention has also helped expand our when they find out someone is bookings to genres we hadn't from Austin,?Bolf said.

Austin City Limits' cr ew on the stage at Moody Theater in f r ont of the Austin skyline backdr op.

Photo by Scott Newton. Cour tesy of Austin PBS.

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From

Unknown to

Unforgettable

By Liesl Geiger

How a small music festival in Austin, Texas became one of the most popular in the countr y

Cr owds f r om Austin and ar ound the wor ld gather in Zilker Par k to hear their f avor ite bands per f or m on ACL's eight stages. ACL hosts ar ound 450,000 people ever y year and has been r anked by Festicket as one of the best music f estivals in the US. Photo cour tesy of Blair f ield Realty

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ACL?s Hollywood-like sign watches over the f estival f r om a r ock f or mation in the center of Zilker Par k ever y year . At night,a pur ple light can be seen illuminating the letter s, making it a per f ect spot f or Instagr am self ies.

Photo cour tesy of CBS Austin

t?s the morning of the biggest festival of the year.

You and your crew pile into the car, filled with water bottles and beach chairs, and soon arrive at your destination.

Thousands of people are already there, dressed in shorts, tank tops ? anything to beat the sweltering heat ? and soon you find yourself being pushed along with the crowd, ready for the moment when you can finally see your favorite bands perform just a few feet in front of you. They walk on stage as music blasts through loud, black speakers on either side of the stage. You think you might be dreaming, but this is real.

This is Austin City Limits.

Austin City Limits, or ACL, is considered by some to be Austin?s greatest music festival.

Held every year over two weekends in October, the event takes place at Zilker Park and draws in around 450,000 people annually. It began with a big idea in 2002, when one Austinite decided to put on a music festival. The show was named Austin City Limits after a music TV program put on by Austin?s public television station KLRU, and it took place September 28?29. It has continued to run with no interruptions for 18 years, with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The idea for ACL began in the mind of one man: Charlie

I

Jones. He grew up in College Station, a small town in East Texas. Music had always been an important part of his life ? he had worked for Direct Events, was a tour manager for Sister 7, and when Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France for the first time, Charlie was the producer behind the celebration that took place in Austin.

They get a lot of the people that the other festivals don?t really get because it?s so steeped in history.

?

So it was no surprise when in early 2002, he decided he wanted to produce ACL in just four months. Dirk Stalnecker, who was the director of ACL for 14 years, reflects on the years leading up to ACL, stating that one of Jones?s main inspirations was another famous music festival, one held in New Orleans. ?Charlie had been to Jazz Fest in New Orleans,?

Stalnecker said. ?And there, they have eight or 10 stages, an amazing array of food, and this idea of having all these different stages over multiple days. Now Jazz Fest is insane.

They get a lot of the people that the other festivals don?t really get because it?s so steeped in history. Charlie really liked that idea of having multiple stages in multiple days, and he knew that it wasn?t really being done in Austin. And he thought Austin would be a great town for that to happen because of the musical culture here.?

In 2001, Jones joined with Bill Stapleton, the owner of Capital Sports (which had produced the Lance Armstrong celebration in 1999), to start a new company that would produce ACL. When he decided to start working on ACL, he first brought in Charles Attal, who was managing his own company, Charles Attal Presents. ?Bill and Lance [Armstrong] were a big part of ACL starting financially. And so Charlie Jones joined Bill and created Capital Sports Entertainment. CSE in conjunction with Charles Attal Presents ? CAP ? produced the first several ACL festivals together. And all of those were presented by KLRU,?Stalnecker said.

Then in 2007, another Charlie came into the picture ?

Charlie Walker. He came from a company called Live Nation, which was another event production company at the time. That summer, the three Charlies officially came CITY LIMITS| 15

LL Cool J Per f or ms at ACL Fest on Satur day, October 1, 2016.

His per f or mance, which included thr owing r oses of f the stage, ear ned him the name, ?Hip-Hop Ladies Man.?

Photo cour tesy of Amy Paddock

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wasn?t that crowded. So there were still lots of wide open spaces. . . . I knew from the first year that this was amazing and awesome.?

Paddock also talked about how she?s seen ACL grow and change since she started going. ?It?s been interesting to see how festival fashion has evolved and the time and thought that people put into festival fashion. . . . It?s definitely become more of a thing. . . . I [also] feel like it?s become too crowded. In the early days . . . it felt like there was a lot of free space. So people were throwing the football or playing frisbee. And now it just feels like there?s hardly space between the stages and one

crowd just morphs into the other,?Paddock said.

Paddock mentioned that

That summer, the three Charlies officially came together to create C3 Presents.

?

?

together to create C3 Presents.

C3 went on to produce every ACL up to this point, along with over 1,000 other festivals every year.

Longtime ACL fan Amy Paddock, who has been to almost every ACL festival since 2003, moved away from Austin for college but grew up going to music festivals. Once she moved back to town, she discovered ACL. ?I hadn't gone back for very long and had just met my husband and everyone was talking about ACL,?Paddock said. ?I didn?t have any context or know what it was. And we went all three days and just had the best time. . . . [It didn?t have some of] those huge acts . . . and it

she has seen a lot of musicians who have been put on small stages only for the audience to be too big for the platforms.

Stalnecker also commented on this and talked about how hard it is to make sure people have enough room. ?Understand that these bands are purchased months

and months in advance and they?re slated to go into a certain time slot on a certain stage,?Stalnecker said. ?It?s a good talent buyer when they can purchase an artist to perform, knowing that [the artist] could grow. . . . Overall, you have to be mindful of the amount of stuff that you build and also where it is, and how the crowd is going to travel from stage to stage and how they move around.?

Paddock and Stalnecker also shared their most memorable moments from the festival. ?One of my favorite memories was the year after Tom Petty died and they did a tribute to [him],?Paddock said. ?It was a late afternoon on a Saturday and . . . they blasted Tom Petty?s song ?Free Falling? and they had skydivers come down out of the sky. They timed it perfectly . . . and people were crying. That was really awesome.?

Stalnecker said that one of his most memorable moments was in 2009, when there was so much rain that Zilker Park turned into a giant mud pit. ?I remember walking out into the field Sunday night after the show was over,?Stalnecker said. ?Everyone had slogged their way out of there. I went

out with my boss and he effectively said, ?We broke the park.?And I said, ?It?s okay, there?s still grass under there.

We?ll clean it up.?But that was a very memorable experience.?

Paddock also posed some questions about what the future of ACL will look like, but reaffirmed that she would support the festival no matter what. ?It?s hard to imagine it ever happening again in a post-COVID world in the way that it was.?Paddock said. ?And so maybe with a vaccine, we?re not going to worry about huge gatherings like that. Does [the show] go back to starting small and growing over the years? Or again with a vaccine, do people just say ?we can go back to the way it was??Well, we?ll be the first ones to stand in line and buy our tickets. I can tell you that. But it will be interesting to see what it looks like in, hopefully, 2021.?

This year, ACL hosted an online livestream on YouTube from October 9th through the 11th with artists like Paul McCartney and Billie Eilish.

Although the year?s show was online, it still took many long hours of coordination and effort to make sure it was an event that people were going to enjoy. Because that?s what

ACL?s image of a guitar hangs over the entr ance to the f estival.

Photo cour tesy of Jacob's Media Str ategies.

The Austin Eats sign and tr ailer stands in the middle of the outdoor f ood cour ts at ACL. Photo cour tesy of Austin Business Jour nal

makes ACL the festival that it is ? hard work, dedication, and a lot of perseverance. Without any one of those things, the event most certainly would not be where it is today ? the greatest festival in Austin, Texas.

Cr owds gather in f r ont of one of ACL's stages to hear f r om their f avor ite musicians. In the backgr ound i the Independent, nicknamed the Jenga Tower , standing out as the tallest building in Austin's skyline.

Photo cour tesy of Jacob Dapper

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ACL Through The Ages

By Liesl Geiger

2002 Organized by Charles Attal, Charlie Jones, and a handful of others, the festival ran for two days from September 28-29, and around 42,000 showed up. There were 67 bands and only five stages. The lineup consisted of bands such as Ryan Adams, Emmylou Harris, The String Cheese Incident, Pat Green, and many others.

2004 By 2004, the festival had expanded quite a lot, with the festival now lasting three days. Because of all the people, neighborhoods complained about the loud noises, but that didn?t stop performers like Elvis Costello, Spoon, and My Morning Jacket.

2003

The second year came with a big addition: Austin Kiddie Limits. W ith kid-friendly musicians and crafts galore, ACL was shaping up to become a family affair. Beach chairs and spread out picnic blankets were replaced by more crowds of festival-goers, and 100 bands performed on the festival's stages.

Artists included Asleep At The W heel, Patty Griffin, and The Shins.

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2007 This year came with last minute lineup changes.

Fans were disappointed by sudden cancellations from bands like Amy W inehouse.

Instead, festival-goers were able to get front-row seats to over 100 other bands.

Other notable events included the two fires that broke out during the festival.

2005 2005 was a big year in the festival?s history ? the infamous ?Dust Bowl,?where fans kicked up so much dust that it was hard for audiences to breathe. This was later fixed with a sprinkler system the following year.Because of neighborhood complaints, the festival?s producers reduced the park?s daily capacity by 10,000 people.But even despite this, ACL won Pollstar?s Festival of the Year Award for 2005 and fans were able to enjoy performances from artists like Coldplay, Black Keys, and W idespread Panic.

2013

2018 Disaster struck when a foot injury during an earlier performance prevented Childish Gambino from being able to play in the headlining spot during the festival.

Although many fans were severely disappointed, all was not lost, because replacements came in the form of Justice, Phoenix, and Lil Wayne. Other performers included Khalid, Paul McCartney, Metallica, Camilla Cabello, Lisa Loeb, and Hozier.

Little changed for the festival until 2013, when the event was expanded to two weekends to allow for even more bands to play, and announced the opening of the Barton Springs Beer Hall in the beach volleyball courts. Sadly, the third day of the second weekend was canceled due to flash flooding. But even with the cancellation, artists like Vampire Weekend, Muse, and Tame Impala were able to put on amazing performances.

2009

2014

After the event was moved to the first weekend of October to avoid the heat, festival-goers saw Zilker Park become a mud pit as torrential rains caused mass chaos during the festival. W hile the mud was a hindrance to some, others took it in stride, taking off shoes and using the opportunity to create their own slipping slides.On a different note, the food court welcomed its doors to Torchy?s Tacos, and artists like John Legend, Kings of Leon, and Pearl Jam performed for excited fans.

Listed in Forbes as one of the five American musical festivals to look forward to, ACL 2014 was the start of ACL cashless, where people coming to the festival could use their wristbands to pay for online purchases. Austin City Limits partnered with the Austin Food and W ine Festival to introduce a chef showcase, which allowed festival-goers to experience different foods and cuisines from different vendors every day of the festival. As always, artists wowed fans with fantastic shows, and this year?s performers included Foster The People, Eminem, Childish Gambino, and Lana del Ray. Photo by Heywood Hotel

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How ACL Excels Taking a closer look at what ACL accomplished to earn a top spot in the Music Capital of the World

By Turner Piercy

Many different moving parts make up a successful music festival. C3 Presents, the promoter of ACL Fest, displays a strong understanding of this.

With a great location, production team, and artist management, it's no surprise that ACL ranks as number 6 in Festicket's top music festivals in the entire USA. Var ious pr oduction equipment set up to r ecor d and str eam ACL live

"Oh, it's great! It's super great!"

This was Debra Davis, founder of Debra Davis Productions and 12th-year producer for ACL Fest's immediate response when asked about her experience producing for ACL. "C3, the promoter, is very professional. They know exactly what they're doing"

Debr a Davis shows of f her Emmy Awar d f or NBC's Olympic Br oadcast 20 | CITY LIMITS

C3 was founded in 2007 by Charles Attal, Charlie Jones, and Charlie Walker with one goal in mind, to put smiles on people's faces. Needless to say, they did a great job fulfilling this goal, and more.

By maintaining great relationships with every team involved in hosting a music festival, C3 has earned high respect in the concert promotion industry. One example Davis uses to describe C3's cooperation with the production team is during the process of

laying down all the cable to and from the stages.

"We cable all of our stages back to one central location," Davis said, ?and we put out about six or seven miles of cable. You can't go direct. You can't just go right over the street, or where people are walking, so we have to fly it in the sky or put it in conduits in the ground. It doesn't just go as the crow flies, so you have to have a lot of cooperation from your partners to be able to do all that. So working with them [ACL] and their corporation [C3],

understanding of everything that we do has just been fantastic."

By making every part of the process easier and more intuitive for everyone involved, this only encouraged Debra and her team

to come back year after year.

However, although production is undoubtedly a very important role in shaping a great music festival, it can't exist without a group of talented

bands. Lucky for us, ACL consistently books the best artists across the nation every year, making for amazing performances that you will certainly never forget.

Jack Ingr am per f or ms as the lead guitar ist on stage at ACL Fest in 2014

P icture this: you've just arrived at ACL after practically bursting with excitement all week.

Surrounded by a multitude of stages with dozens of talented artists, you can't even decide where to go first, as every different stage offers a special performance with such an unforgettable aura of energy.

This is all due to the kindhearted employees at C3 and the wonderful bands that work their

hardest to create an experience for the concertgoer that will remain permanently in their memory.

can't really explain ... It felt like we exploded the room ... It was really eye-opening, just seeing what words and music can do.?

Jack Ingram is a country music artist and has performed multiple times at ACL and still remembers each one for its unique energy.

Not only does ACL book famous bands, but they also give less popular, early-on bands a chance to show off their talent and gain fame. Ingram describes their way of booking performances.

?I played at ACL on some of those big stages, and that was always fantastic,?Ingram said. ?It's always just been this energy that you can't recreate and you

?Every act has a meaning to be there,?Ingram said. ?They?re not just booking whoever the biggest acts are.?

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A photo taken by Katr ina Bar ber f r om the per spective of the cr owd at ACL Fest in 2016

field, and I remember being so proud when she said, ?I can hear Jack Ingram,?because we were so loud and we had such a ball. I felt like we were the headliner. It wasn't what it is now. It wasn't like there were 30,000 people there.

They were literally just trickling in.

And I just remember going for it and being like, we're here, let's go. And that's probably my favorite performance,?Ingram said Clearly, C3 does a fantastic job making ACL a festival that both the listeners and performers can enjoy. However, without the beautiful scenery of Zilker Park, ACL would not be nearly the same experience it is today.

Ultimately, everybody?s satisfaction matters to the directors at ACL. Not only do they ensure that the listener has a blast, but the performer, too.

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Ingram recalls his favorite performance of all time at ACL in 2003. ?I remember Kelly Willis was on at another stage across the

A wide landscape of ACL Fest in 2016 with the downtown Austin skyline pr esent in the backgr ound

ACL could not have picked a better location to hold their festival. The wide-open space with the splendid Austin skyline to the east makes for a beautiful vista, along with just enough space for one to feel comfortable, yet still part of a larger group.

Luckily for us, ACL won?t be heading out of Zilker anytime soon, as they have a great relationship with the Austin Parks Department. As the production team works closely with the administrators at the location, Debra Davis has gotten to see a

bit of the effective relationship between C3 and Zilker. ?They also have a great relationship with the parks department.?Davis said. ?That's one thing that C3, the promoters, do really well. They know how to integrate partners such as the parks department, the mayor's office, the police department, all that kind of stuff, and that makes it so much easier for everybody else. I can't say that about everything that goes on in Austin. There are some promoters that we work with that have more adversarial relationships and that makes

things harder, but not ACL. They do a beautiful job, and they're highly respected in the industry.?

Overall the ACL staff at C3 demonstrates proficiency in running a festival the right way.

From their cooperation with the production team, to their great relationship with the Parks department, and the smooth relations and enthusiasm of the performers year in and year out, ACL defines itself as a festival unlike any other. Without a doubt, spending a weekend at the wild stages of ACL deserves to be on every Austinite?s to-do list.

Photos cour tesy of KUT, Debr a Davis Pr oductions, GRAMMY Awar ds, and Community Impact Newspaper

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The Bad Behind Our Festival

A Look Behind the Scenes of Our Beloved Music Festival

By Rylie Shieh

Rock and Recycle is a pr ogr am that lets you exchange a bag of r ecyclables f or a f r ee t-shir t. This gets people to pick up tr ash, leave the par k cleaner , and also get a cool f r ee shir t.

Photo Cour tesy of Kr istin V. Shaw Photogr aphy

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Butler Landf ill used to be a gr assy ar ea until C3 Pr esents illegally dumped r ocks on it to use as staging f or ACL. Photo cour tesy of Jay Janner

ery year, people from all Evover the world come to celebrate at the music festival, Austin City Limits (ACL for short).

Located in Austin, Texas at local landmark Zilker Park, thousands of people come to enjoy a weekend or two in the hot Texas sun. Zilker Park is one of Austin?s many popular green spaces and Bobby Levinski, attorney for the Save our Springs Alliance, has has withstood the effects of concerns about this area and its ACL for several years. effect on the lake nearby. ACL W hile ACL provides an and C3 Presents, the company excellent boost for Austin?s behind ACL, had a permit to use economy, it might not have a this area for staging. great impact environmentally. It And in order to use it as goes past the event itself and staging, they needed a more Zilker Park to trails and money. solid surface to put their Every year, Zilker Park is equipment on, so they poured a shut down two weeks prior to bunch of rocks on that area. the event to prepare, and two That was a violation of the Texas weeks after to shut down and Commission on Environmental fix the damage. All over the Quality rules (TCEQ) because park, trash and recycle bins that area was actually a former serve as reminders not to litter, landfill, and it was covered up yet people still leave their trash with a clay cap.?Levinski said. all over the park. ACL also Dealing with landfills isn?t brings a lot of tourism and the easiest, but Dawn Lewis, economic benefits to local Chair of the Environmental restaurants and hotels.

Commission said, ?W hat you Butler Landfill really should do is just put a lot of vegetation on top of it, that's There is an area around the most effective way to really Zilker Park known as the Butler stop it, it just closes up the area Landfill. It used to be a nice and it can have a much more grassy field, but if you look at it positive impact.? now, all you will see is rocks.

W ith the landfill now covered with rocks instead of vegetation, the area is often used for parking. The Zilker Botanical Gardens has it advertised on their website that the Butler Landfill is their overflow parking.

Even just going to that area, anyone can park there.

Lewis said ?There's a lot of concerns about that [parking on

the landfill]. And about the possibilities of what can happen if you're going to have cars parked here, it will inevitably have oil leaks or gas leaks that will leak into the soil. And then, of course, it is close to the lake.?One of the biggest concerns is that all this pollution is going to make its way towards Town Lake where people often kayak and swim.

Now, both C3 and the Zilker Botanical Gardens want the Butler Landfill to be paved and CITY LIMITS| 27

Color f ul tr ash and r ecycling cans ar e located ar ound Zilker Par k to r emind f estival goer s not to litter .

Photo cour tesy of Kr istin V Shaw Photogr aphy

made into a real parking lot.

Levinski has a lot of issues with this idea in addition to the area being a landfill.

The landfill used to be a green space ? not used for anything ? it was just green space. C3 and the Zilker Botanical Gardens have ideas to use this area, but they aren?t the most environmentally friendly. ?The volleyball areas that are on the Great Lawn, the sand volleyball area, you could theoretically move those over to the landfill, and then free up more open space for people to use in the Great Lawn. So there's other options that you could program that area and use it as a function that isn't just staging for ACL, or overflow parking for a bunch of different uses,?Levinski said.

Unfortunately, all these ideas would be a lot more challenging to do now that the area is covered in rocks.

Dumping rocks on this area 28 | CITY LIMITS

wasn?t the only solution available though. Other big events that take place on wide grassy spaces would often use metal sheets that they would lay on the ground. These sheets would allow cars to drive over them and can be used for whatever the event needs them for. ?And then when they remove it, they just revegtate the area because the grass will die underneath the middle mats. But it's better than causing erosion,?Levinski said.

Unfortunately, the rocks have already been poured and there isn?t much that can be done about it now.

issues. One could come up with all sorts of ways to fix these problems, but none of them would be necessary since having green space already solves these problems.

Levinksi said, ?W hen you're talking about the function of green infrastructure, we're talking about grassy areas you already have. You've got carbon sequestration involved in that, you've got filtering processes.

W hen the rainwater goes into the ground, and the grass feeds off the nutrients, you've got solutions that are already embedded into open space that you don't have to create an engineering solution for. And usually, when you're talking about engineering solutions, you're solving for one problem, but not all problems.?

Even then, something could

Benefits of Green Space But what?s so special about having green space with just grass and vegetation?

" So it kind of get s away

to develop solutions to things like rainwater runoff and other

quest ion."

from necessarily an environment al quest ion If we just paved over the Butler Landfill, we would have and more t o a public benefit

The Austin Par ks Foundation is an or ganization that helps better Austin?s par ks. They pr ovide sever al volunteer oppor tunities and also r eceive a lot of donations f r om ACL. Photo Cour tesy of Austin Par ks Foundation

malfunction. Natural solutions also come with other advantages. One could rely on a pond to clean up storm water, but trees can do that and so much more. Trees provide shelter for animals and shade to help prevent the heat island effect. ?You might be solving one problem, but you're not addressing all of the benefits that just maintaining that tree would have already done.?

Levinksi said.

One also has to take into account who the park is supposed to benefit. If the park is meant for the general public, then it?s better with more green space. If the park is meant to benefit ACL and other events, it would be better to have more parking lots instead of green space. ?So it kind of gets away from necessarily an environmental question and more to a public benefit question.?Levinksi said.

The Austin Parks Foundation The Austin Parks Foundation boasts that they receive over 42 million dollars from Austin City Limits on their website. This is a

good thing, right? These millions of dollars are going to our parks ?So it 's like t he Parks and are going to benefit the Foundat ion was making t his environment and community. decision not t o provide Unfortunately, this might not be funding for t rail maint enance the case. and repair aft er ACL. W hich is W ith all of the money the Parks Foundation receives, where exactly does it end up going? ?I have not seen a clear cut,?

Lewis said. ?This is the money where it's coming in. This is specifically where it's going.?

t o me definit ely what t hat money should be used for.

Again, it just highlight s t he concerns about t he Parks Foundat ion,?

Foundation turned her down.

?So it's like the Parks Foundation was making this So we don?t know what the Austin Parks Foundation uses all decision not to provide funding this money on. It would be great for trail maintenance and repair to assume that this money goes after ACL. W hich is to me definitely what that money to repair the damage that ACL has made on parks and trails as should be used for. Again, it just highlights the concerns about well as various projects around the Parks Foundation,?Lewis said. the city, but once again, that might not be what?s going on.

A lot of people really enjoy ACL because of the music and There?s a trail that people often use to get to ACL either on tourism that it brings to Austin. bike or on foot. Afterwards, there Although there are also a lot of negative impacts with money is damage done to this trail. going to the wrong places and Heidi Anderson, The Trails Foundation director, saw this and dumping rocks without permission. This just goes to reached out to the Parks Foundation. She asked them for show that there can always be negatives hiding behind money to help repair this trail something that seems so since it would always have innocent. damage after ACL.The Parks CITY LIMITS| 29

Do You Have Heat Exhaustion?

How to Tell if You Have Heat Exhaustion and How to Treat it!

By Rylie Shieh W hile attending ACL, the hot, Texas weather can reach almost 100 degrees! If you don't stay hydrated and cool, you could get heat exhaustion or even heat stroke!

Symptoms of Heat Exhaustion Cold, Pale, and Clammy Skin Muscle Cr amps Sweating Dizziness Quick, Weak Pulse Headache Tir edness or Weakness Fainting or Passing Out Nausea or Vomiting 30 | CITY LIMITS

How to Treat Heat Exhaustion!

Hydr ate!

Move to a Cool Place

Put on Cool or Wet Clothes Loosen Your Clothes The key thing when tr eating heat exhaustion is to hydr ate and cool down!

Emergencies!

Call for medical help immediately!

Thr owing up!

Symptoms Get Wor se!

Symptoms Don't Stop Af ter an Hour !

Information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CITY LIMITS| 31

Sounds of Austin Exploring the Music Industr y?s Impact on Austin, Texas.

By Megan McInt osh

Every night, as the sun starts to hide behind the trees and the bats arrive to accompany the fading light of the Texas sky, Austin?s music scene comes alive. Music can be heard everywhere ? from Austin City Limits Festival in Zilker Park to almost every corner as you walk along the bustling downtown streets. Under the city lights, countless people dance along to the sweet tune of country, folk, bluegrass, Tejano and indie music. No matter what gets you

on your feet and moving to the beat, there is always something for you in the Live Music Capital of the World.

With over 250 live music venues, Austin is the ?live music capital of the world.?However, all of its music venues and festivals, including the Austin City Limits Music Festival, require a lot of behind the scenes work to keep Austin relevant and stay involved in all things music, as well as to keep locals and tourists interested in the music industry. Especially

with the pandemic of 2020, fewer people are going out due to safety issues, so preserving this billion-dollar industry is more vital than ever.

One of these people who have invested their time and career into keeping the Austin music scene active is Rebecca Reynolds. Reynolds is the president of the Music Venue Alliance of Austin, and a member of the State Bar of Texas. Her work is focused on protecting Austin?s live music network. ?Music Venue Alliance of Austin is an advocacy group, and we represent about 50 businesses in town whose primary function is the performance of live music,?

Reynolds said. ?Our primary goal is to make sure that independent live music venues in Austin still have a place in the future of Austin as Austin becomes a

Omar Lozano is the Dir ector of Music Mar keting at Visit Austin. As Dir ector of Music Mar keting, Lozano helps to pr omote Austin?s billion-dollar music industr y both locally and inter nationally. Photo cour tesy of Omar Lozano.

32 | CITY LIMITS

bigger city.?

Omar Lozano also has an interesting perspective on the Austin music scene. As the director of Music Marketing at Visit Austin, Lozano plays a crucial role in sustaining the music industry by promoting it both locally and internationally. ?My responsibilities as the Director of Music marketing of visit Austin range from essentially making sure that since Austin has such a large story in music, that we are including it, and representing it authentically, in all of our marketing campaigns, as well as a lot of our sales efforts,?

Lozano said.

Both Reynolds and Lozano grew up in Texas and around music, but they took very different routes to get where they are today. ?I had been around the Austin music scene since I was a kid and it was a big part of my life,?

Reynolds said. ?I had an interest in being a part of that [industry] as an adult and then realized when I got through law school that these businesses were in danger of being forced out in Austin's new, much more expensive real estate economy. That gave me a way that I could be a service to a community that had meant a lot to me growing up.?

Lozano grew up around music, but was originally from El Paso, Texas, making the trek to

Austin whenever he could for music festivals. Lozano said he started small and began to work his way up until he was offered his dream job at Visit Austin. ?I went from sleeping on friends?floors to eventually getting the chance to start producing some large scale events in Austin ? South by [Southwest] and around those types of events,?Lozano said. ?I've just always loved the city.

I've always considered it my home and I've always wanted to support the local community of musicians and venues here.?

The music story of Austin is so important to the identity of countless people living and working around the city. It not only adds to the diverse culture but also brings in lots of tourism, which is a major part of Austin?s economy. ?The music story of Austin is incredibly important to tourism and the way that we work to get folks and business travelers excited about experiencing our destination. It's such a cultural, powerful story and we have the ability to bring folks in to experience that,?Lozano said. ?There's not a ton of cities

around the world that have such a history in music and continue to be working towards that future of telling that music story, and having the ability for people to experience it.?

Reynolds said that many local venues and artists rely heavily upon tourism and vice versa. ?Given that we pride ourselves on [being] the live music capital of the world, live music venues and tourism often historically have been very reliant on one another,?Reynolds said. ?The venues rely on tourists, and the tourism industry here in Austin most certainly relies on the help of our music venues.?

Another vital part of this economic growth is centered around the major festivals, such as Austin City Limits and South by Southwest. Lozano said that these festivals have both a large economic and cultural impact on Austin. ?Events such as a South by Southwest and ACL are incredibly important to the fabric of our destination, not only economically (which is a really amazing economic return for visitors coming into the city and experiencing live music), but also

Rebecca Reynolds is the Pr esident of Music Venue Alliance of Austin and a Member of the State Bar of Texas. Reynolds wor ks to advocate f or the f utur e of iconic music venues in Austin in or der to pr otect Austin's live music networ k. Photo cour tesy of Rebecca Reynolds.

CITY LIMITS| 33

Tr aveler s pr e-COVID ar e gr eeted with live music at the air por t, as they?r e welcomed into the Live Musical Capital of the Wor ld. Photo cour tesy of Sandy Stevens, City of Austin, Depar tment of Aviation.

34 | CITY LIMITS

culturally, as a value that's harder to measure,?Lozano said. ?[If] you've been to ACL, you understand how special it is to have that right in our backyards.?

COVID-19 has now caused both the music and tourism industries to have to adapt.

Lozano talked about the many different ways to make sure that music stays relevant while still making sure everyone stays safe. ?There are event planners, producers, large event companies; there are even scientists trying to understand the safest way to continue to have live music and to maintain

that type of culture around the world, especially here in Austin,?

Lozano said. ?You'll see drive-thru performances right now and limited capacity shows, but there's definitely going to have to be some changes in processes and protocols with masks and sanitation. I think that we're on the right direction to understanding what needs to be done.?

Many other regulations and safety measures have also been placed upon events, gatherings, and venues, making it not only hard on those performing there, but also for the entire music community of Austin. Reynolds mentioned how vital festivals such as ACL and South by Southwest are to surrounding music operations. ?When we first heard about the cancellation of South by [Southwest] this year, it was a massive blow because many venues rely on that month to get them through the rest of the year,?Reynolds said. ?I don't think that they will be back in a way that we're used to by 2021, but it's important that South by [Southwest] and ACL remain healthy events for our music economy going forward.?

Although the music industry in Austin (and all over the world) has taken a devastating hit due to COVID, countless people are continuing to work towards creating a new normal, whatever that may entail.

Lozano believes that the Austin community is very resilient, but it will still take time for the music scene to recover. ?I think that our music community is strong and adaptable. It's been incredibly hard on this music community

because it's the livelihood of people and venue owners and festival organizers,?Lozano said. ?It's going to take a recovery process that's going to be stretched out over time, and we're going to see changes in our community, but I think that the heart of the community and the people who are behind the scenes working to create and continue those experiences are working hard to make sure that we don't lose that part of our identity here in the city. So I think what you'll see is a strong recovery, but one that is still in the process of being imagined.?

No matter what the future of Austin looks like, Lozano is optimistic that music will remain present at the core of the community. ?I think the future of Austin music is definitely going to be a strong, adaptable, resilient future where we work to make sure that musicians have a place to perform [and] have access to affordable living situations; and that we're able to continue to showcase our talent on an international scale, whether through Visit Austin or through some of the great festivals that we have here,?Lozano said. ?I think that it's going to come back, hopefully, stronger than ever, and we're going to continue to keep making noise.?

Music festivals, venues and artists are at the core of our noisy city and keep every Austinites' musical heart beating. Despite all the obstacles and challenges thrown its way, music has persevered in order to inspire the next chapter of Austin musicians and will undoubtedly lead to a bright future for the live music capital of the world.

CITY LIMITS| 35

Barton Springs is a staple of Austin .

It is filled completely with natural s[ring water and at a refreshing 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit year round it is a great way to escape the Texas heat.

Zilker park is always filled with bustling Austin energy.

This park hosts many different festivities such as The Trail of Lights and Austin City Limits. With 350 acres, Zilker Park is a must see with so many different areas to explore including Barton Springs, a botanical garden, hillside theater, Nature and Science Center and more.

36 | CITY LIMITS

One of the most unique things about Austin are our bats. Every Summer evening around sunset, over a million bats fly out in an amazing spectacle. Any Austinite will tell you that it is truly an amazing site and a must see in Austin.

Also known as the "River City", Austin never runs out of fun water activities.

From kayaking, to canoeing, to paddle boarding,, there is something for everyone.

AT the heart of Austin you will find 6th Street. It is home to great restaurants, bars and live music, making it the epicenter of Austin's nightlife. Although it is both loved and hated by locals, it is key to getting the full Austin experience

CITY LIMITS| 37

Don't miss out! ? Be sure to show up on October 1- 3 and 8- 10 2021for Austin City Limits Music Festival!

Fr ont and back cover photo cour tesy of Steve Hopson.