Austin 360
Austin s classical radio station KMFA 89.5FM has moved into a new East Austin space with a live performance studio that can host up to 135 people, but due to the ongoing pandemic, station managers have opted to host a virtual grand opening celebration called Live from the Draylen Mason on Jan. 29-31.
The Draylen Mason Music Studio, which is the centerpiece of the station s new space, is named after a promising young bassist who died tragically when a package bomb exploded at his house in March 2018. Mason was 17 at the time and many KMFA staffers knew him through his participation in Austin Youth Orchestra and the youth music program Austin Soundwaves. At the time of his death, Mason had been accepted to several prestigious music schools including The University of Texas Butler School and the competitive conservatory program at Oberlin.
Austin radio stations raise over $137,000 for Central Texas Food Bank
Austin 360
Listeners and sponsors of The Horn, KOKE-FM and 105.3 The Bat came together to make the beginning of the year a bit easier for Central Texans struggling with food insecurity through the radio network s annual Buy a Box holiday campaign.
The campaign, which kicked off on December 26, encouraged listeners to sponsor $30 emergency food boxes. Each box contains 23 meals and includes proteins, dairy, fruits, and vegetables.
The initial goal of the Austin Radio Network, parent company to the three stations, was to provide1,100 boxes. The drive brought in 4,588 boxes for Central Texans in need.
Austin 360
As far as album titles that encapsulate the essence of an artist, Mama Duke’s “Ballsy” is as good as it gets.
The rapper, an out-and-proud lesbian, doesn’t pull punches on her full-length debut, an 11-song, 27-minute blitzkrieg of hard-hitting bars tempered by a Drake-ish knack for a sing-song hook. On lead track “Ghost,” she skewers the rappers who ignored her heat on the come-up. She mocks her haters, stacks her paper and flaunts her sexual prowess on debut single “Mad.” By the time she warns you to step off her imaginary male appendage in the penultimate track “Get Off My (Expletive),” the gauntlet has been laid, the (ahem) sword unsheathed. It s gender-bending braggadocio.
Austin 360
Ginny Kalmbach, former owner of the storied Burnet Road dive Little Longhorn Saloon, has died. She was 85. It is with great sadness that we have lost one of the most special people on the planet today. Our Honky Tonk Angel Ginny Kalmbach. You will be dearly missed. Our hearts go out to your family. RIP Miss Ginny, a post to the club s official Facebook page read.
“She was an amazing gift to all of us, our community, our bands, everyone she met because she meant so much to so many people in different ways,” the club’s current owner, Terry Gaona, said Wednesday.
Austin 360
The day after Graham Williams announced the closure of Margin Walker Presents the premier indie booking and promotion company in Texas he described a music industry adrift in uncertainty as the coronavirus pandemic churns around it.
“I liken this whole thing to the music business being this sinking ship, and we re all getting on lifeboats trying to get to this island where live music is happening,” Williams told the American-Statesman over the phone on Tuesday. “Except usually, you can see this island and you re going toward it. Here, it s been like you re waiting in open water. You don t know which direction. You don t have a compass. You re like, Which way do we go? But if we go one direction and then there s no land there, we should have gone the other direction. That s what s been happening.”