We are Austin music, repeats Jonathan Chaka Mahone.
He states those words emphatically in reference to not only his own musical endeavors, but the unappreciated depth of Black talent in the Texas capital. Putting the Black and brown face on music is what they should be doing, he continues. Get out of the way. Stop acting like we re still in the Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan days. The symbol of [Austin] music is still a guitar. That day is over!
His passion transcends virtual confines necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic. After 11-plus years of hustling alongside his wife, Ghislaine Qi Dada Jean, the hyperactive social justice advocate earned the right to voice his opinion in unadulterated terms. The two unite as Riders Against the Storm, a hip-hop duo focused on uplifting its community in lieu of promoting dysfunction for album sales.
In a teaser trailer for
Mobley s upcoming virtual tour, the local one-man band exists everywhere at once: Mobley peers up from tropical foliage, Mobley hits drums atop a Downtown hotel, Mobley strolls through an empty field, acoustic guitar strapped to his chest.
An alternative, intellectual reinterpretation of the action movie star, the indie-pop artist s take on
John Wayne involves skinny jeans and a wide-brimmed hat. The ticketed online tour celebrate new conceptual EP
Young & Dying in the Occident Supreme, out Feb. 19. Beyond his own cinematic making, Mobley s participation in Austin music over the past year felt equally omnipresent.
Back in July, his roundup of over 30 musical and visual artists for album/movie
Austinites trudge through the aftermath of the first of a series of winter storms that have pummeled the state since Sunday, disrupting power and water supplies for hundreds of thousands of Central Texans. (Photo by John Anderson)
By Wednesday night, most of Austin was dealing with four overlapping crises: the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the arrival of winter storms that brought the coldest weather in decades, the near collapse of the state electricity grid, and water system failures that forced a citywide boil water notice. Each of these helped make the others worse.
While COVID-19 infections have leveled off from the surges of previous weeks, area hospitals were nearly full before the storm hit. As the electric grid crisis forced nearly half of Austin into darkness and cold for three full days, residents dependent on power-driven medical equipment were forced to call 911 to be transported to hospitals. Many other Austinites required emergency medical care from
Country Boyz Fixins has been serving soul food in the East MLK neighborhood of East Austin since 2013 with roots in the neighborhood that go back even farther. The residents of this historically minority neighborhood have seen it change dramatically over the years. Photo By David Brendan Hall
Heading over to the restaurant at the corner of E.12th and Springdale, Austin’s explosive growth and continuing gentrification of the historic Black East Side is highly visible. The neighborhood is filled with the now familiar sight of mixed-use development construction, a mixture of old and new houses demarcating recent and established residents, and a hip new coffee shop across the business park with several cranes in the background.
Sun., Feb. 14, 7:30pm (doors at 7pm)
In the Before Times, this local party band had a long-running weekly Motown Monday residency and could be seen across town at a variety of events. At this special event you can catch their Motown covers in addition to sets of decade-spanning soul, funk, and R&B. Tickets are $10 for a three-hour set, and the Fowl Mouth food truck will be on site.
A note to readers: Bold and uncensored,
The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for almost 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.