Stadtluft macht frei

"City air makes you free" is a secular prayer from the Middle Ages. If a serf could evade re-capture for a year and a day, the manor lord's bond was broken. Freedom is the ability to choose; and the city offers a multiplicity of choices. You can make yourself anew in the city. We do not question the fact that in our popular culture, all of the superheroes have secret identities and live in cities: Superman's Metropolis; Bruce Wayne in Gotham; The Green Arrow in Star City; Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen in Keystone City... 

Frost Tower from the Scarbrough Building

Bank of America Building from the Scarbrough Building

The Littlefield Building from the Scarbrough Building.
In 1910 they competed to be the tallest,
though limited by law not to surpass
the State Capitol.  The Littlefield is Beaux Arts.
In 1930 the Scarbrough was updated to an
Art Deco interior.

The German word is Wolkenkratzer: Cloudscraper.

ALSO ON NECESSARY FACTS
Around Austin
Austin at Night
Formulas for Success
South by Southwest 2013
Images from SXSW 2013
South by Southwest 2012

Austin at Night

Downtown Austin is party central.  The police cordon off streets for the convenience of people walking among bars, restaurants, clubs, and hotels.  Sunday and Monday are pretty quiet.  By Tuesday enough people have recovered from the previous weekend.  Wednesday looks like the weekend in most other places.  Thursday is the warm-up for Friday. Friday night and Saturday night are what it's all about.

David Navarro plays the hackdrum
he bought custom made in Switzerland. 

The Chronicle is the weekly entertainment newspaper, about 60 pages of ads for things to do thinly wrapped in a few liberal editorial complaints about the state and local governments. (Some people just cannot get enough government intervention in their lives... or maybe they just prefer it be in someone else's life...)  The Onion is published here, also.  Once you get past the humor (and the only rational opinions hereabouts on current events), the regular columns and advertising are all about things to do: music, comedy, and theater (live and cinema). The two public broadcast radio stations do not compete.  KUT-FM from the University of Texas carries "Morning Edition" and all the rest sandwiched within hour after hour of original music and new standards.  Musicians come to the studio to play live.  KMFA-FM is all classical (Romantic, Baroque, etc.) and no political news at all: local concerts and recitals only.   "Composers Datebook" lets us glimpse into the present century, "reminding you that all music was once new."

"If I had a name, it would be Drummer."

The party is everywhere in downtown, though Sixth and Congress is pretty much ground zero.  Going east on Sixth, you find the younger crowd, university kids and locals.  Going west you have the older set. But generalizations fail in three square miles of anything you want.  And that's only north of the river.  Austin has much more all over; and if South by Southwest is not enough, there is "North by Northwest" an entertainment brewpub near Tech Ridge


Myself, except as I keep some downtown offices safe and secure, I would never see any of this.  When I moved here, I got a library card first and then a driver's license.  I joined the local Macintosh users group, and found Dragon's Lair bookstore for D&D gaming.  I also have lunch once a month with the Austin Tech Republicans who do very little impromptu music.

ALSO ON NECESSARY FACTS
Around Austin
Stadtluft Macht Frei
South by Southwest 2013
Images from SXSW 2013
South by Southwest 2012