Just arrived and feel like a deer in headlights! (apartment, live)

[swsrock]

Speaking of making friends, at the risk of repeating myself, I am a 45+ year-old grammy and will be bringing my grandson with me when I relocate to Austin. Is there any one in the Austin area in the same boat? I also enjoy other things, but it will be nice to meet people who share this similar experience.

Thanks,
swsrock

[love roses]

I'm sure there are plenty . If not a lot in Central Austin, I bet if you venture out to some of the surrounding towns, you'll find more. My moms pondering moving out here as well.

[readymade]

You gig for money, Twang? You must not live in California then. I was pretty shocked when I moved here and was expected to "pay to play".

I haven't played out in years.

I do have friends who get paid to play, but it's not music they're into... they're just tools in the band. Oh, and some friends in a Ramones cover band... they get paid too. I'll be curious as to your experiences playing out in Austin. I wonder if there's a thread about that.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by twange

Well, we could have gotten a bigger, more modern place further away for the same price, but our locator guy could tell by our interests that wouldn't be a good fit.

Austin seems to be one of the most disparately-priced metros in the USA. You can take the same house and move it a mile in any direction and its value will change so dramatically, it doesn't compare at all to the west coast or the northeast. I think it's because Texas is so vast and open. There's no scarcity here, and value is created by micro-location-specific amenities. It's very strange. I'd have a hard time being in real estate here because I'd probably make a lot of mistakes in my judgment about locations, whereas I was very good at the R.E. game out west. It made more sense to me there. Here, you can live in a cheap mansion in a safe neighborhood. Pflugerville is a great example of this. Falcon Pointe is a perfectly respectable family neighborhood with well-designed homes but they're struggling to sell them at bargain-basement prices because there's no sense of place, the developers just took a swath of empty rolling fields and parked a bunch of homes on them. They're a fantastic bargain for anyone who has a family and wants a nice home, as long as you don't have to commute to downtown Austin or Cedar Park. Best to keep the commute to a minimum or else you'll forget the names of your own children.

[griffininsight]

twange
welcome to the neighborhood! i too am in silver creek. there is no creek, but great location nonetheless! im down with musicians. im a visual artist - painter - and also dabble in some electronic music production. i can see the so1st club starting up! anyone else want in? harvester? plenty of room for old un-hip hippies!

[twange]

Originally Posted by griffininsight

twange
welcome to the neighborhood! i too am in silver creek. there is no creek, but great location nonetheless! im down with musicians. im a visual artist - painter - and also dabble in some electronic music production. i can see the so1st club starting up! anyone else want in? harvester? plenty of room for old un-hip hippies!

Great! When I get in town we'll meet I think my best work has been collaborations with visual/video/sculptural artists.

As to the question about gigging for $$$...well, that's the problem. I have to pretty much stick to covers and such to make any(at least I'm not a clown at kid's parties...)I'm a good musician, so I've been able to stretch things and keep them fairly interesting...at least enough to keep myself off the bottle...I've made most of my living off of teaching and other menial intellectual labor, which I enjoy to a point...

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by twange

As to the question about gigging for $$$...well, that's the problem. I have to pretty much stick to covers and such to make any(at least I'm not a clown at kid's parties...)I'm a good musician, so I've been able to stretch things and keep them fairly interesting...

Many musicians have found Austin to be a great place to either get their creative thing together and find a path in life, or get stuck in the velvet rut and do just enough to get by. Musicians are to Austin as Actors are to West Los Angeles/Hollywood. In other words, the person serving your food in most restaurants is probably a starving musician, so please tip them well.

There's a strong supportive network here for people who tap into it. Every local news channel, especially News 8 Austin and Fox (the local, not national version) features live music from local bands and individuals. News 8 and Fox have exclusive daily performances by local artists. We also have a local music channel. Getting videos made and pushing them onto the Austin music channel (which is now called M.E.) is a good way to get exposure. And I own a video production company that is branching off into music videos and promotions, though I'm not involved with that aspect of the business. It was the initiative of a couple of my employees. I'm disabled and broke and worthless but I could at least point you to some young talented folks who can help you on the cheap.

[twange]

Originally Posted by TheHarvester

I'm disabled and broke and worthless but I could at least point you to some young talented folks who can help you on the cheap.

Now, now. Worthless? I think most folks here would disagree with that statement

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by twange

Now, now. Worthless? I think most folks here would disagree with that statement

Thanks. My dog agrees with you and so do my friends and family. But it sucks that I can't be the guy behind the camera any more. I would love to get involved in these new videos that my peeps are doing. I'm an artist with hand-held camera work. Maybe I could be a director... Anyway, don't hesitate to ask for a free consultation.

[twange]

Originally Posted by TheHarvester

Thanks. My dog agrees with you and so do my friends and family. But it sucks that I can't be the guy behind the camera any more. I would love to get involved in these new videos that my peeps are doing. I'm an artist with hand-held camera work. Maybe I could be a director... Anyway, don't hesitate to ask for a free consultation.

Well, I may just do that, as I think I would like to start making some video art myself.