Currently heralded as one of the best books on the Austin 70’s music scene, Armadillo World Headquarters will be for sale at the Pecan Street Association booth (“MERCH” booth, Sixth St. & Trinity) during the festival.
As an extra-EXTRA-special treat, authors Eddie Wilson & Jesse Sublett will be at the booth on Saturday, 2-4pm, signing copies!
Many know Eddie Wilson as the owner of Threadgill’s, and former owner of the Armadillo World Headquarters where Austin’s Live Music Capital legend took root. The Austin Chronicle’s Kevin Curtain described Eddie “as a Texan amalgam of concert promotions legend Bill Graham and circus tamer P.T. Barnum, but the memoir reveals a Mark Twain streak of insightfully folksy prose.”
He joined former Skunks bass guitarist and multi-genred and heralded author Jesse Sublett to create a colorful record of the Armadillo’s heyday.
Join us!
Currently heralded as one of the best books on the Austin 70’s music scene, Armadillo World Headquarters will be for sale at the Pecan Street Association booth (“MERCH” booth, Sixth St. & Trinity) during the festival.
As an extra-EXTRA-special treat, authors Eddie Wilson & Jesse Sublett will be at the booth on Saturday, 2-4pm, signing copies!
Many know Eddie Wilson as the owner of Threadgill’s, and former owner of the Armadillo World Headquarters where Austin’s Live Music Capital legend took root. The Austin Chronicle’s Kevin Curtain described Eddie “as a Texan amalgam of concert promotions legend Bill Graham and circus tamer P.T. Barnum, but the memoir reveals a Mark Twain streak of insightfully folksy prose.”
He joined former Skunks bass guitarist and multi-genred and heralded author Jesse Sublett to create a colorful record of the Armadillo’s heyday.
Join us!
“Women in the Tejano community have always kept cultural traditions alive.”
– Teresa Palomo Acosta and Ruthe Winegarten, Las Tejanas: 300 Years of History
For a combined 106 years of hard work in downtown Austin; investment, sacrifice, curation, community-building, activism and not to mention 10s of 1000s of skillets of migas, three amazing women stood out equally as the Pecan Street Association’s choice for 2017’s Heritage Award: Lidia Pérez, Cynthia Pérez and Sylvia Orozco.
Since 1983, Sylvia Orozco has been producing Mexican-American cultural programs and multimedia exhibits in downtown Austin, starting with the Día de los Muertos festival, and in 1984, establishing Mexic-Arte Museum, alongside Sam Coronado and Pio Pulido. In 1988, it moved from the Arts Warehouse space, known originally as Galería Mexico, at 300 San Antonio, to its present home at 419 Congress and receives approximately 75,000 visitors annually. The beloved Viva la Vida, is the largest and longest-running Día de los Muertos celebration in Austin.
Ms. Orozco is the daughter of a boot-maker from Guadalajara, and her mother was a community organizer and crafter. Even as a young girl, Sylvia was a collector – using found objects to make art. In the mid 1970s, she joined the Chicano student movement, lending her artistic skills. You can hear more about her early days in this interview, and see some of her paintings here, and hear Ms. Orozco educate us on some lost Latino downtown history.
Among her many honors, in 2007, she received the Ohtli Award from the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior of the General Consulate of Mexico and in 2009, was selected for the Austin Arts Hall of Fame.
In 1981, after a few years selling tacos from a stand on the drag, sisters Cynthia and Lidia Pérez opened Las Manitas on Congress Avenue, before any serious rehabilitation was taking place downtown. Soon after, they opened La Peña, the South-American term meaning, “festivals where local artisans gather to share art, music, poetry, performances, and social commentary.” Both venues became more than just a restaurant (or a music venue) or just an art gallery, they became gathering spots where folks came to share, just as they had imagined.
Raised in San Antonio, with seven siblings, by pecan shellers, “community” was in their blood. Their parents opened a bakery and corner store, which became the de-facto community center. Their mother took on the role of community godmother, helping migrant workers with their English, getting on a path to citizenship, helping with their finances and even marriage counseling. Like mother/like daughters, they too have become godmothers, especially to their staff. “We don’t let them stay as dishwashers,” Lidia asserts. “We’re always coaching them, teaching them, promoting them up the line.”
It’s no wonder waitstaff at Las Manitas wore a T-shirt “bearing a collegiate-like crest for the ‘University of Rice and Beans.'”
Then the developers came…and the story of the struggle for Las Manitas (and their adjoining day care, Escuelita del Alma) became national, and the sisters, Comandantas in the fight. Austinites of all persuasions had come to see Las Manitas as “one of the places that makes Austin Austin.” Austin definitely lost a bit of its soul with its passing, but the sisters fight on via La Peña, and through those they mentored that continue the struggle.
The sisters have been honored by a variety of groups, including the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and AIA Austin – where, in 2016, they were named “Collaborators of the Year.”
“Women in the Tejano community have always kept cultural traditions alive.”
– Teresa Palomo Acosta and Ruthe Winegarten, Las Tejanas: 300 Years of History
For a combined 106 years of hard work in downtown Austin; investment, sacrifice, curation, community-building, activism and not to mention 10s of 1000s of skillets of migas, three amazing women stood out equally as the Pecan Street Association’s choice for 2017’s Heritage Award: Lidia Pérez, Cynthia Pérez and Sylvia Orozco.
Since 1983, Sylvia Orozco has been producing Mexican-American cultural programs and multimedia exhibits in downtown Austin, starting with the Día de los Muertos festival, and in 1984, establishing Mexic-Arte Museum, alongside Sam Coronado and Pio Pulido. In 1988, it moved from the Arts Warehouse space, known originally as Galería Mexico, at 300 San Antonio, to its present home at 419 Congress and receives approximately 75,000 visitors annually. The beloved Viva la Vida, is the largest and longest-running Día de los Muertos celebration in Austin.
Ms. Orozco is the daughter of a boot-maker from Guadalajara, and her mother was a community organizer and crafter. Even as a young girl, Sylvia was a collector – using found objects to make art. In the mid 1970s, she joined the Chicano student movement, lending her artistic skills. You can hear more about her early days in this interview, and see some of her paintings here, and hear Ms. Orozco educate us on some lost Latino downtown history.
Among her many honors, in 2007, she received the Ohtli Award from the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior of the General Consulate of Mexico and in 2009, was selected for the Austin Arts Hall of Fame.
In 1981, after a few years selling tacos from a stand on the drag, sisters Cynthia and Lidia Pérez opened Las Manitas on Congress Avenue, before any serious rehabilitation was taking place downtown. Soon after, they opened La Peña, the South-American term meaning, “festivals where local artisans gather to share art, music, poetry, performances, and social commentary.” Both venues became more than just a restaurant (or a music venue) or just an art gallery, they became gathering spots where folks came to share, just as they had imagined.
Raised in San Antonio, with seven siblings, by pecan shellers, “community” was in their blood. Their parents opened a bakery and corner store, which became the de-facto community center. Their mother took on the role of community godmother, helping migrant workers with their English, getting on a path to citizenship, helping with their finances and even marriage counseling. Like mother/like daughters, they too have become godmothers, especially to their staff. “We don’t let them stay as dishwashers,” Lidia asserts. “We’re always coaching them, teaching them, promoting them up the line.”
It’s no wonder waitstaff at Las Manitas wore a T-shirt “bearing a collegiate-like crest for the ‘University of Rice and Beans.'”
Then the developers came…and the story of the struggle for Las Manitas (and their adjoining day care, Escuelita del Alma) became national, and the sisters, Comandantas in the fight. Austinites of all persuasions had come to see Las Manitas as “one of the places that makes Austin Austin.” Austin definitely lost a bit of its soul with its passing, but the sisters fight on via La Peña, and through those they mentored that continue the struggle.
The sisters have been honored by a variety of groups, including the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and AIA Austin – where, in 2016, they were named “Collaborators of the Year.”
We are proud to present our poster and t-shirts design for this fall; which will be available at the Pecan Street Association booth at 6th St. and Trinity during the festival.
It is designed by our featured artist, Eleanor Herasimchuk (known as “Niz“). An Austinite, originally from Lima, Peru, and with Ukrainian roots, she typically works on mural scale. She fuses Mesoamerican magical realism/”mythical photorealism” with contemporary, hip-hop insight.
Designated “the Queen of Austin stencil art” by renown graffiti artist Nate Nordstrom, her work is instantly recognizable and sets a bar for other street artists. Her work can be seen outside Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop in south Austin, Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, The Parlor Room on Rainey, Stay Gold, Sparkle Kids Upscale Resale, Salon Sovay, SoCo Lofts, New India Restaurant, Elizabeth Ney Museum and by Home Slice Pizza on S. Congress Ave.
She was recently a part of Mexic-Arte Museum’s El Mero Muro mural project. Watch a time-lapse video of her working on a Janice Joplin piece.
It is difficult to find anyone these days that hasn’t heard of the music scene, breweries, or even BBQ in Austin. Is that all that the capital of Texas has to offer though?
AustinPartyRide.com and
MyEpicAdventures.com have compiled a massive infographic detailing the best of the best in Austin and why you should consider either a visit or a relocation to this great city.
Matt Rourke/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
The City of Austin will present a proclamation this Thursday, June 22, 5pm, at City Hall/Council Chambers, pre-declaring “Boyd Vance Day” on July 9 (his birthday).
UPDATE: Here’s the video – click on “Proclamation 1.”
Boyd Vance was the Pecan Street Association’s posthumous Heritage Award winner last year, as an artist/producer/organizer, preserving and promoting the arts in Austin. Councilmember Ora Houston was gracious enough to sponsor a similar honor this year, while Council is tackling the long-overdue issue of systematic racism in our City – something Boyd would have been at the forefront of as he fought to preserve African-American culture while Austin’s African-American population was dwindling.
Please join us for the reading, alongside his brother Clen and twin brother Booker, and a brief reception following in the lobby.
Booker Vance (front center); Clen Vance (rear center), Mayor Adler, Cmbr. Ora Houston (sponsor) and friends
A message from his brothers:
Bismillah
With the name of the Creator
Boyd
Little Man with the Giant Footprint
It has been 12 years since our brother transitioned to the big stage in the sky. We want to thank everyone in the Austin community for remembering and acknowledging his influence. He has been honored with many proclamations/awards and since his death with a theater named after him and most recently the Pecan Street Association’s Heritage Award. A street where his voice can still be heard coming out of the clubs there. He left a legacy as an educator, comic, actor, singer, dancer, director, community activist, coordinator, aids advocate, proud gay man, party animal, cook, speaker, Christian, story teller, cheerleader, confidant, gossiper, cousin, nephew, uncle, brother-in-law, HNIC and most of all our BROTHER.
We love him and miss him madly. Thank you Austin again and everyone behind the scenes who made this happen.
May the Creator continue to bless and keep my brother,
Clen Del and Booker Vance
The Pecan Street Festival needs YOUR voice! 
We are constantly striving to improve our Festival. It’s the little things that matter, and we are here to create an experience where even those little things are being given proper attention and commitment. Let’s become more amazing together.
Our electrician, Bob Cannon, better known as – and usually ONLY known as – “Bulb,” has been with the Pecan Street Festival longer than anyone, except for Shannon Sedwick and Michael Shelton.
photo courtesy of the Austin Chronicle
He is, in and of himself, an Austin institution. He has been behind the scenes of so many things that have made this city the city that it is, but with little recognition. John T. Wright, Pecan Street Association board member, noted that in his past work as a promoter, he would schedule weekly coffee sit-downs with his maintenance/electrician leads; that “they became good friends and mentors, and their foundational contributions and ideas were invaluable.” So it is with Bulb.
He provides power to the entire event. From the lights and fans in the vendor booths, to the sound systems on all three stages, to the grills and coolers for the food vendors, this show literally cannot run without him!
This Saturday, at 12:40pm on the Main Stage (7th & Neches), we will be honoring Bulb.
“More than an electrician, Bulb is a hero,” noted Luis Zapata, Special Events Management, producer of Pecan Street Festival. Luis highlights Bulb’s “Master Fix-It” abilities: if other service providers had an issue they couldn’t resolve, Bulb found a way to fix it and keep the festival running smoothly. Luis says when he arrives at 3:00am Saturday morning before the show all stressed out, he sees Bulb’s truck and the stress dissipates. He also values Bulb teaching him blues guitar riffs during the down times!
This will be Bulb’s last festival to be in charge of all things electrical as he moves slowly into retirement, but will consult and train the new workers over the next few festivals.
Bulb says he’s “honored to be recognized for having provided a comfortable and safe environment for millions of people!”
THE LONGEST RESUME IN AUSTIN!:
In April of 1982, Bulb first lit up the Austin Blues Heritage Festival and wired Brook’s Home Cooked Meals at 418 E. Sixth St. – the second venue to have live music on Sixth St. when it opened 20+ years earlier. In May of that year, he worked his first Pecan Street Festival – and has worked every one since.
In 1983, he became the in-house electrician for the Austin Opera House and in his 10-year tenure until it closed, he brought light and sound to the likes of Ray Charles and Stevie Ray Vaughn for their live album recordings.
Also in 1983, he installed the electrical system for Southpark Meadows, the 30,000-seat natural amphitheater, and managed the system for several hundred concerts until it’s closing in 2000.
Other venues he helped build or managed electrical for shows, concerts, private parties: Austin Music Hall; La Zona Rosa; The Backyard; Stubbs; Zilker Park (Blues on the Green; Freedom Fests; ACL Fests; 4th of July Celebration); Auditorium Shores (AquaFest, Reggae Fest, Fun Fun Fun Fest, Spamarama and many, many more); Waterloo Park (Fun Fun Fun Fest, Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, Ice Cream Festival, Spamarama, various concerts); Travis County Expo Center (Republic of Texas “ROT” Rally; Texas Heat Wave; Makers Faire, various concerts); Old Settlers Fest and concerts at the Seaholm Power Plant.
He’s also worked: the A2K Festival; ROT Rally events on Congress/Sixth St.; Bat Fest; Motorola Marathon; New Year’s Balldrop; SXSW (for 30 years: once handling 15 shows at a time!); the Chronicle Music Awards; Armadillo Christmas Bazzaar; Gay Pride Festival; Aqua Palooza; Buchanan Dam 50th Birthday Party; Viva Zavida/Mexicarte Museum; Woody Awards; Swamp Romp; White Water Amphitheater on Canyon Lake; events in Luckenbach, TX; Cedar Park Center; Circuit of the Americas Amphitheater; Lollapalooza, Rosenberg, TX; The Houston Astrodome (U2 live broadcast); and t.v productions for Uplink Studios.
He’s also had long-term customers including several hot rod shops, Maggie Mae’s, Jackalope, Moose Knuckle Pub, The Library on Sixth, The Belmont, and Antone’s.
And this is just the short form! 😉
Our electrician, Bob Cannon, better known as – and usually ONLY known as – “Bulb,” has been with the Pecan Street Festival longer than anyone, except for Shannon Sedwick and Michael Shelton.
photo courtesy of the Austin Chronicle
He is, in and of himself, an Austin institution. He has been behind the scenes of so many things that have made this city the city that it is, but with little recognition. John T. Wright, Pecan Street Association board member, noted that in his past work as a promoter, he would schedule weekly coffee sit-downs with his maintenance/electrician leads; that “they became good friends and mentors, and their foundational contributions and ideas were invaluable.” So it is with Bulb.
He provides power to the entire event. From the lights and fans in the vendor booths, to the sound systems on all three stages, to the grills and coolers for the food vendors, this show literally cannot run without him!
This Saturday, at 12:40pm on the Main Stage (7th & Neches), we will be honoring Bulb.
“More than an electrician, Bulb is a hero,” noted Luis Zapata, Special Events Management, producer of Pecan Street Festival. Luis highlights Bulb’s “Master Fix-It” abilities: if other service providers had an issue they couldn’t resolve, Bulb found a way to fix it and keep the festival running smoothly. Luis says when he arrives at 3:00am Saturday morning before the show all stressed out, he sees Bulb’s truck and the stress dissipates. He also values Bulb teaching him blues guitar riffs during the down times!
This will be Bulb’s last festival to be in charge of all things electrical as he moves slowly into retirement, but will consult and train the new workers over the next few festivals.
Bulb says he’s “honored to be recognized for having provided a comfortable and safe environment for millions of people!”
THE LONGEST RESUME IN AUSTIN!:
In April of 1982, Bulb first lit up the Austin Blues Heritage Festival and wired Brook’s Home Cooked Meals at 418 E. Sixth St. – the second venue to have live music on Sixth St. when it opened 20+ years earlier. In May of that year, he worked his first Pecan Street Festival – and has worked every one since.
In 1983, he became the in-house electrician for the Austin Opera House and in his 10-year tenure until it closed, he brought light and sound to the likes of Ray Charles and Stevie Ray Vaughn for their live album recordings.
Also in 1983, he installed the electrical system for Southpark Meadows, the 30,000-seat natural amphitheater, and managed the system for several hundred concerts until it’s closing in 2000.
Other venues he helped build or managed electrical for shows, concerts, private parties: Austin Music Hall; La Zona Rosa; The Backyard; Stubbs; Zilker Park (Blues on the Green; Freedom Fests; ACL Fests; 4th of July Celebration); Auditorium Shores (AquaFest, Reggae Fest, Fun Fun Fun Fest, Spamarama and many, many more); Waterloo Park (Fun Fun Fun Fest, Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, Ice Cream Festival, Spamarama, various concerts); Travis County Expo Center (Republic of Texas “ROT” Rally; Texas Heat Wave; Makers Faire, various concerts); Old Settlers Fest and concerts at the Seaholm Power Plant.
He’s also worked: the A2K Festival; ROT Rally events on Congress/Sixth St.; Bat Fest; Motorola Marathon; New Year’s Balldrop; SXSW (for 30 years: once handling 15 shows at a time!); the Chronicle Music Awards; Armadillo Christmas Bazzaar; Gay Pride Festival; Aqua Palooza; Buchanan Dam 50th Birthday Party; Viva Zavida/Mexicarte Museum; Woody Awards; Swamp Romp; White Water Amphitheater on Canyon Lake; events in Luckenbach, TX; Cedar Park Center; Circuit of the Americas Amphitheater; Lollapalooza, Rosenberg, TX; The Houston Astrodome (U2 live broadcast); and t.v productions for Uplink Studios.
He’s also had long-term customers including several hot rod shops, Maggie Mae’s, Jackalope, Moose Knuckle Pub, The Library on Sixth, The Belmont, and Antone’s.
And this is just the short form! 😉
