Bruce Robison

Luv Doc Writings, The Luv Doc Recommends

MON., JULY 31, 2006

South Austin, Texas, is about the only place in the world where people have the chutzpah to go country dancing in sandals. Part of the reason is that it’s hot down South … crazy hot, hot like flu breath, hot like a Harley muffler, hot like a hooker’s crotch. But it’s hot a lot of places and they still manage to throw together a respectably western ensemble. Just because the sun in Ft. Stockton could cook the skin off a napping lizard doesn’t mean the locals are running down to the Wal-Mart to trade in their Tony Lamas and Wrangler cowboy cuts for Crocs and cargoes. There’s an aesthetic to consider, traditions to uphold. You can’t have a bunch of leftover-salmon stank hippies twirling around the dance floor in tie-dye and dreads butchering the sublime choreography of the sacred Texas two-step. That’s just asking to rip a huge hole the fabric of the space-time continuum. South Austin, it would seem, is just such a wormhole, the kind of place, as David Allan Coe used to sing, “Where bikers stare at cowboys who’re laughing at the hippies.” Of course, unlike the Coe verse, in South Austin they all got high at the afterparty on some gay dude’s ecstasy and made babies. In some places they would call that a clusterfuck, but Austin is a university town and so we call it evolution. The result of this crazy cultural miscegenation is that on any given evening you might see a cat who looks a lot like Jesus in Tevas (either the Christ or the one who sells flowers down on Sixth Street) kicking up dust (maybe toe-fungus spores?) at a honky-tonk with some Patsy Cline wannabe Circle C soccer mom on girls night out … and once the fog of cultural incongruity clears, you might find the answer to the question, “What would Jesus do-si-do to?” If it’s this weekend, there’s a good chance he’ll be dancing to a member of the musical family Robison. Friday night Charlie and Li’l sis Robyn Ludwick will be teaming up at Threadgill’s on Riverside, and Saturday night brother Bruce will be cutting loose at the Spoke. Whether by nurture or nature, all are great entertainers who will surely get your sandals scooting.

The Resentments

Luv Doc Writings, The Luv Doc Recommends

SUN., NOV. 16, 2003

If there were ever a geographical locus of the “Keep Austin Weird” battle, it would unquestionably be South Austin. While other parts of the city have already been blighted by chain stores and cultural homogenization, South Austin still retains much of the funk and freakiness for which Austin is known. Even still, corporate Generica is creeping its way up South Congress and pockmarking sections of South Lamar. It’s an unfortunate circumstance to be sure, but a lot of misplaced animosity gets laid on the greed mongers when in reality, they’re just a symptom of the real disease. Inevitably when creative, artistic types whip up a scene, moneyed folks are sure to follow – usually not with the intent of creating something unique and interesting themselves, but rather with the intent of buying into it. There’s the rub. South Austin used to be a funky, artsy, and ultimately cheap place to live. In recent years however, the hand-to-mouthers who created the scene are being pushed out by people with day jobs and Supercuts hairdos. Decent people, no doubt, but not the type of folks who are likely to roll down SoCo in an old Toyota Camry with thousands of Jesus statuettes glued to it. Truth is, weirdness doesn’t come from a marketing campaign, no matter how weird that marketing campaign is, and encouraging people to buy local is still encouraging them to buy. The cool thing about Austin and South Austin in particular is that it has always been a place where people are judged less by what they consume and more by what they create. Fortunately, South Austin still has more than its share of creative people. This Sunday night several of them will be gracing the stage at the Saxon Pub when the Resentments perform their weekly gig. Collectively they may not be overburdened with purchasing power, but Stephen Bruton, Jon Dee Graham, Scrappy Jud Newcomb, and Bruce Hughes all have enough chops to earn them cult status in South Austin. Bruton and Graham already have several impressive solo CDs under their belts and loyal followings outside of the Resentments. Scrappy Judd has a growing list of producing credits, and Bruce Hughes is an accomplished songwriter in his own right. It could easily be argued that the Resentments are South Austin’s supergroup. Stephen Bruton has performed with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, and Bob Dylan; Jon Dee Graham has played with the Skunks, True Believers, John Doe, and Michelle Shocked; Scrappy is a former member of Loose Diamonds, and Bruce has played with Poi Dog Pondering and Bob Schneider. Few other cities in America could claim as much talent in one city, much less a zip code, and you get the feeling that they’re still hanging around for love, not money. These days, that’s pretty weird.