Most Authentically Texan City (Houston, Dallas: apartments, condo, townhouse)

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

Austin, home of Texas Country music.

You'll never ever hear Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, or Ray Wylie Hubbard on the radio in Dallas, Fort Worth, or Houston. Willie... maybe. Do bluebonnets even grow in those cities?

Originally Posted by RMFW

Are you serious? Townes Van Zandt was born in Fort Worth - great-great grandson of one of the early settlers/founders of Fort Worth, K.M. Van Zandt who donated the land that became Trinity Park. Pat Green lives in Fort Worth. Willie Nelson picnics on the 4th of July in Fort Worth. Bob Wills, etc. etc. and you'll hear plenty of all of them on the radio... on the stations operated in Fort Worth that they don't get in Dallas.

I'll be one of the first to applaud Austin's contributions to Texas Country Music, but sometimes it claims an exclusivity that could never be justified.

Originally Posted by JJG

I don't think that guy likes Fort Worth all that much...

Either that, or he knows very little about it.

Nah, he pretty much just hates all of the Texas cities. Well, except maybe Austin for some reason, where he exaggerates the positives (or like you see gives false facts) and just ignores any of its negatives. Strange.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by RMFW

Are you serious? Townes Van Zandt was born in Fort Worth - great-great grandson of one of the early settlers/founders of Fort Worth, K.M. Van Zandt who donated the land that became Trinity Park. Pat Green lives in Fort Worth. Willie Nelson picnics on the 4th of July in Fort Worth. Bob Wills, etc. etc. and you'll hear plenty of all of them on the radio... on the stations operated in Fort Worth that they don't get in Dallas.

I'll be one of the first to applaud Austin's contributions to Texas Country Music, but sometimes it claims an exclusivity that could never be justified.

I notice you said OPERATED in Fort Worth. Never heard a single outlaw country song on the radio in Fort Worth and I was up there a lot for job interviews.

I like Fort Worth... That's why I was considering taking a job there last week. But TVZ being from there doesn't mean it's some kind of center of Texas Country. Turn on the radio and all you'll hear is Nashville twangy garbage and a pickup truck and a dirt road and a hot girl.

[RMFW]

Take it off of that 99.5 the Wolf garbage broadcast from dallas and put it on 95.9 the Ranch or 92.1 HANK FM broadcast out of Fort Worth and yes, you will hear PLENTY of Texas and Outlaw Country.

Hope you land a job in Fort Worth. It'll give you time to find out just how much music is coming out of there from Country to Indie Rock.

[elan]

Wow, a simple question was actually pretty hard for me to answer. I think all those cities are authentically Texan, however I picked Fort Worth.

[Austinite101]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

And what I am trying to tell you (if such terms can be used), is that your opinion of what "Austin needs" is just that. Your opinion. Which is fine. Point is though, it is not necessarily shared by your fellow Austinites who like their city the way it used to be...not to turn into Berkeley. You are making presumptions based on your own opinion of what is the inevitable...and of course, what you obviously hope will become so.

BTW -- What "status quo" did "not work" before? Not much ever "works" if the comparison is utopia...so what was so wrong with Austin before (however "before" is defined...?).



Question? Where does this data come from, anyway? And even if it is valid (and at this point I have no reason to believe it either is or isn't), it would stand to reason that those moving to Austin from other Texas cities/areas, would -- in spite of minor differences -- be much more likely to bring with them an overall sense of Texas and our history and culture -- and easily assimilate -- than would transplants from the west-coast who care nothing at all about it and make no secret of their contempt for it. And want to change it into what they ran like hell from to begin with...!

The vast majority of Austinites would agree that the city needs to act on traffic issues. This isn't something you should be looking at through a political lens. This is a population growth issue and every growing city goes through it regardless of where the people are coming from. Older Austinites miss that small college town vibe it had in the 1960s. At that time, the city hadn't even hit 200K yet, so of course it can't feel like that today. It's just a bigger city.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by RMFW

For the record, I was intentionally vague in setting up this topic (said as much in the OP) about what should be considered "authentic." I expected that and was curious to see how people would fill in their own definition for what could be considered the most authentically Texan. Also, authentic and stereotypical are two distinctly different things and I think that most people who voted understand the difference.

My stereotype of an authentic Texan has to be bilingual (English/Spanish) and has to be a person that is proud of his/her culture (Mexican-American, Southern, Urban) to show it to the World and not care what anybody thinks.

that's why Sebastian "El Charro de Oro" is my stereotype of an authentic Texan

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEWDb1HR-7Q

As a Texan and having lived in San Antonio I was very proud to see him signing the national anthem having the b.... to go on national TV wearing his mariachi clothes that I bet most people would be afraid to do it (clothes don't make a person less or more American)

Spoiler

And after a bunch of people talked trash about him on the internet and TV .... he went back and did it again.

Spoiler

[Nairobi]

Originally Posted by Dopo

My stereotype of an authentic Texan has to be bilingual (English/Spanish) and has to be a person that is proud of his/her culture (Mexican-American, Southern, Urban) to show it to the World and not care what anybody thinks.

that's why Sebastian "El Charro de Oro" is my stereotype of an authentic Texan

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEWDb1HR-7Q

As a Texan and having lived in San Antonio I was very proud to see him signing the national anthem having the b.... to go on national TV wearing his mariachi clothes that I bet most people would be afraid to do it (clothes don't make a person less or more American)

Spoiler

And after a bunch of people talked trash about him on the internet and TV .... he went back and did it again.

Spoiler

You do realize that most Texans are not bilingual, though, right?

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

You do realize that most Texans are not bilingual, though, right?

I'm sure you are right
but I bet the bilingual population is very high and has always been high compared to other states.
My stereotype is more accurate than the "Cowboy" stereotype since Texas is a very urban state.

Texas Demographics

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Austinite101

The vast majority of Austinites would agree that the city needs to act on traffic issues. This isn't something you should be looking at through a political lens. This is a population growth issue and every growing city goes through it regardless of where the people are coming from. Older Austinites miss that small college town vibe it had in the 1960s. At that time, the city hadn't even hit 200K yet, so of course it can't feel like that today. It's just a bigger city.

Yes, from what I have heard from native Austinites, all agree that the traffic issue is a major concern. Where there seems (from what I have heard and read), the "division" comes in where the natives believe the failure to keep up the freeway system, etc (and all that implies), comes into conflict with those newcomers who want to "solve" the problem by spending millions on a mass-transit system and making it more "bicycle friendly"...which has its own set of issues.

But yep, there IS a political lens to be considered. That is, many newcomers to Austin bring with them political and cultural attitudes that rub up against those of traditional Texans.

You have every right in the world to think that such is a "good thing". At the same time, others have every right and reason to object to, and resist it. Not for the least of reasons being the former are attempting to turn Austin into what they ran from to begin with...

[TexasReb]

=Dopo;34245097]I'm sure you are right
but I bet the bilingual population is very high and has always been high compared to other states.
My stereotype is more accurate than the "Cowboy" stereotype since Texas is a very urban state.

This "urban state" thingy has to be seriously qualified though, Dopo. Not the least of reasons being exactly what make a place an "urban area"...as in population wise?

Also? There are many very large urban sprawls in Texas that, while they may count as part of the "Greater DFW" or "Greater Houston" (or whatever) that may be urban by count...there are plenty of suburbs of the same that have rural aspects and attitudes. In fact, that is why some of them move to the suburbs to begin with, and into a smaller town atmosphere...., don't you agree?