by Harold McMillan

This happens to be one of those times that the name of this column is fairly accurate.Yes, I'm up all night. The second time this week, up all night doing a mixture of getting work done and worrying about the work that I know needs to be already done. Once again it's Jazz Fest time in Austin. As hard as I might try, I still can't deal with it as "just a job." It's my baby and sometimes I worry that it looks too much like me -- other times I worry that there is no resemblence at all. Truth of the matter is I worry. Period.

I worry that one more year will come and go and I'll still not have a good enough clue as to what Austin will do to support a an annual cultural event that is very broad in its programming, yet based in the culture of African America. The accompaning worry is my fear that I'll not know if that even matters in the New Austin in which we find ourselves. And, like it or not, I am convinced that it is a New Austin.

I know that this is a New Austin because I used to live in the Old Austin (I've come to find that there are actually about five even Older Austins that I really don't know anything about. They say I'm just not old enough). And realizing that, I guess, makes me an old Austinite. Yes, this New vs Old thing has been going on for years. Maybe the truely old folks are even tired of the references that we younger folks make about "the old days when Austin was really cool."

Truth be told, I am over that "good - old - days - were - the - best - days" argument myself. I really think it's different this time.....it's now a post-redneck-rock, post '80s boom-bust, post-new-sincerity, post-new-whirled-order, post-sixth-street-reality. I've loved Austin for a long time now, but there have always been some things about this Hill Country Haven that bother me. Not enough to make me actually get up and go, but enough to make me really question why it is not as "cool" as we tell everybody it is. I feel the need to hang out and work on it, stay and worry about it, for some reason.

What's missing? What's the problem with our quaint little city? If we truly are in a transition period -- a historical/cultural watershed period -- what is it that we need now to become the city we'd like to be?

Now, I've come to the point where I think I can put my finger on some things I want in the New Austin. The first on my list is: PEOPLE. Before you get all riled, let me explain what I mean. You see, we are going to continue to get new people in here. It's too late to close the flood-gates, they're coming. As long as there is UT and the other colleges, high tech firms, the music scene, the government, clean air, those Highland Lakes, and a strong econoomy, folks will continue to come here by the thousands. Good or bad, that's it. It is built, they will come. And since they are gonna come anyway, we need to reconcider how we look at the new comers. It's gonna take a better mix of native, naturalized, and transitional Austinites to get us to where we need to be in the coming century.

Who we will attract, and what kind of Austinite they will become once they are here, has a lot to do with what's happening when they get here. If Austinites trash our environ, value ecomonic development at the risk of destroying historic neighborhoods (and the families who live there) and promote cultural conflict for the sake of politcal advancement, you can bet folks will come from miles around to get in on the action. If the word gets out that, for instance, Austinites would feel just fine about losing an important downtown playhouse to make room (and money) for a tacky theme bar -- another corporate bar on a block whose scene would not exist today were it not for that theater -- you can guess what kind of folks are going to come poking around downtown Austin. In truth, you and I know that they are already here. There will be others who follow. Fortunately they will not be the only kinda folks who will come.

So what makes this a transitional period for our fair town? Maybe it really isn't. Maybe that's all about how I view our current cultural socio-economic political situation. But see, for some folks I too am a newbie. I've only been here 17 years. How do you think the old-old hippies feel about all of this? How do you think the former Brown Barets feel about the end of the "Hispanic seat on the Council and the gentleman's agreement," how do you think the black Citizens' Task Force feels about the new strenght of the S.O.S.'s political clout, how do you think the "progressive liberal community" thinks about the riff between environmental groups and Austin's "minority comunities?"

What do you think Austin's small arts groups (without any space at all) think about the current space/facility crisis of the Symphony and Lyric Opera? What do you think Clarksville natives feel about the gentrification of their neighborhood? What do you think former Clarksville residents feel now that they can no longer afford to live in the 'hood? Do you think that perhaps Austin is in the midst of a transtional period that will have major implications for the near and distance future?........I do.

If we are to seriously look at Austin's future as a growing regional cultural, population (and econmonic) center, the connections between downtown development, public arts policy, neighborhood integrity and preservation, tourism and enviro-racial politics may not be obvious, but I really think all of this needs to be in the same conversation. Having asked you to take that small intellectual leap, I now need you to go a bit further. For the moment the extension of all of this for me (I can't help it) evolves into a discussion of Clarksville and our little Jazz and Arts Festival.

Just as the newest Austinite's will react to the current cultural and political climate (in whatever way they are moved to respond), 10 years ago I reacted. I wanted to inaugurate a cultural celebration in West Austin that would spotlight the African American roots of the Clarksville community. I also wanted to produce a music festival showcasing the tradition and players of jazz, blues, world music and gospel. For me, tying these concepts together seemed to be a natural fit. And that fit was not just an idea to consider, it was a need to address.

Yes, I am one of those folks who believe that each of us has a responsibility to work to improve our communities. And, I actually thought the Festival would address a need, fill a void, do something good for the cultural life of Austin. I still beleive that and that has most everything to do with why we continue in this experiment to show harmonious connection between human relations, culture, art and commerce: just plain old family values that most of us believe in.

Because of the person I am, the neighborhood in which I lived, and the political climate of the Austin music scene I stepped into, I was compelled -- nay, driven -- to address cultural issues that to some degree remain with us today. The good old days were old for everyone, but not so good for a lot of folks in Austin. And a lot of the folks for which those days were not so good were (are) black folks. Like jazzologist Martin Banks says, "...the blues is a suffering music,and a lot of the people who suffer in America are black. So, blues is black American music. You dig?" Likewise, Clarksville was an African American neighborhood, established by former slaves, that for years existed as a thorne in the backside of the political establishment in West Austin. We are not talking about some distant history here, we're talking about the last 20 years of so. I am talking about city folks with no indoor plumming, I am talking about unpaved streets and allys, I'm talking about Mopac paving over the homesteads of fourth generation Clarksville families.

We celebrate the living history, we celebrate the people, the culture and community that has survived in spite of adverse odds. And we do this with pride and a sense of sharing that has nothing to do with divisivness. You see, for us, African American history, culture, and music are attributes of this city that are significant to the lifeblood of our little town as a whole. We think it important to point out that Austin black folks really do play jazz, blues and gospel. We think it is significant that all of these new Austinites who have found homes in fashionable Clarksville know something of the history of their now upscale address. We think it is important to promote education, understanding, respect, tolerence and appreciation of what has come before. And we think its ok to have a good time while attempting to address these issues.

I mention all of that as preface to another glimpse of the good old days -- the good old days that we don't ever want to see again in Austin. When I arrived here in the late 1970's the folks in the Clarksville community were busy fighting city hall to get streets paved on one front and trying to avoid unfriendly development on all sides. In the late seventies there was not one business in Downtown Clarksville (the West Lynn area) owned by black folks. That remains true today. Although there was (and is) a great grocery store right in the neighborhood where most of the black folks shopped every day, that grocer was (is?) unable to stock, for instance, hair care products for black folks. The good old days?

When I first came to Austin I was impressed with so much live music going on. I was especially interested in checking out the festival season in the summer. There was, as there is now, a lot of activity in the spring and summer months for outdoor concerts. The thing is, I quickly noticed that the music most often connected to African American culture was almost never performed by black folks at these concerts. The were blues festivals with no black folks involved. There were jazz clubs where you rarely heard black folks play. The only reggae bands in town had no black folks involved. Now, for me all of that was a bit weird, good old days or not!

To this day, the Clarksville Jazz Fest is the only annual festival held in West Austin to celebrate the culture of African Americans. To this day, the Clarksville Jazz Fest is the only "major" music festival in Austin directed by a black man. To this day, those of us who work on this Festival find it difficult to get a lot of Austinities to understand that this celebration of African American music and cultural heritage is, also, simply a celebration of life in Austin. The music scene has grown and changed, mostly for the better. When I suggest that we need more people, I mean that the scene needs an infusion of fresh blood, new ideas, different kinds of venues and players. The New Austin is already addressing that need, and thanks to Keith Winking and James Polk at the Southwest Texas State University jazz program the will continue to be that infusion of fresh young ideas.

The importance here is that we celebrate the New Austin as much as offer cynical reminders of the past. The good old days were pretty groovy for a lot of things Austintaious. But, much had to (and still needs to) change for us to get better. As far as the Clarksville community is concerned, the urban revitalization efforts of the recent past have created a mixed bag of results. New energy is needed in the community right now to continue the work of folks like the late Mary Baylor. And whatever it is that the City of Austin needs to now do to re-open the neighborhood center should be made a priority. Clarksville will survive, but the new neighbors in the 'hood really should work more on preservation and less on re-invention of this historic district.

As I have muddled through this trying to communicate some things more felt than thought, I should close with a point or two that are crystal clear to me. As this New Austin fills up with more folks from the outside world, we should work diligently to find our kindred souls among them. Austin needs new ideas, new people to help us accomplish some of the tasks that we have become too closed minded and territorial to see. Many of the problematic cultural issues here have been maintained by entrenched provincial hometown folks who simply refuse to let go of a past that should never have occurred.

I was a newbie, just as most of you were at one time or another. Austin is now my home and I care for this community dearly.

Now if I could only afford to move back to the Clarksville area, I'd be happy.