Musicians fight to save Cactus Cafe

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Monday's meeting of the Austin Music Commission drew local fans and music lovers to discuss the impending doom of the Cactus Cafe , which is on the chopping block as part of the University of Texas' proposed budget cuts.

Closing the cafe, which has operated as a live music venue since 1979, is expected to save the union about $122,000 a year, and was targeted after Gov. Rick Perry instructed all state agencies to turn in leaner budgets for the next fiscal year.

"If we don’t protect the culture of Austin, Texas, against the bottom line, what we’ll be left with is only the bottom line. That's not a life that I would want for my kids," said Guy Forsyth , local recording artist, 20-year Austinite and several-time winner in the Austin Music Awards. 

Also in the budget crosshairs are the informal classes on campus, which can be taken by students and non-students alike, and which offer a wide range of courses - including line dancing, photography, and foreign languages.

And while the loss of those classes is drawing plenty of protest - some 10,000 people took the informal classes at UT last year - the real uproar is over the potential loss of the Cactus, both by music fans and recording artists.

"For music fans this would be like tearing down the football stadium," said Jimmy LaFave, a longtime musician at the Cafe. "It becomes a lot bigger thing than the brick and mortar."

Watch local artist Jimmy LaFave's discussion on the importance of the Cafe:

"I'll chain myself to the bar to save the Cactus Cafe!" singer/songwriter Sara Hickman wrote on her Facebook page, concerning the media interviews she's been doing at the cafe.

Forsyth, a member of Save The Cactus Cafe, said that since he got to Austin in 1990, he's been a regular - not just joining open-mic nights as a budding songwriter, but also performing as an award-winning recording artist. The importance of the world-famous cafe to the Live Music Capital of the World is immeasurable, he said. 

"It was clear even then that the room had a really strong history of the great Texas singer/songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark and Lyle Lovett," he said. "And so even then, 20 years ago, it was an important stop for young musicians who are trying to get into the business and learn the craft of songwriting and performing. ...

"It is internationally famous with people who care about such things – which isn’t everybody. But to people who care about song, in the same way people care about novels or poetry or any other art form, it’s an important place they know about from live records being record there.  It’s part of the legend of these legendary characters’ music."

Forsyth continued: "It’s part of the way that Austin generates songwriters and musicans, and that adds to our economy. You don’t get a music scene unless you have places that have open mics. You don’t get new songwriters unless there’s a place for a songerwriters to go and try it out."

And the university has an obligation to continue that - and not destroy an Austin legend that gives back to the community much more than it costs the school, he said.

"Quality of life cannot be reduced to dollars and cents," Forsyth said. "And there’s a tradition in Western civilization of story and song that runs through all the books in the library – they all talk about it," he said. "If you look up at the architecture of the school, you’ll see important places, emblems that are dedicated to art, and that sort of thinking. There’s a higher purposes to this other than merely commerce."

Meanwhile, it looks like the University's stance may be hard-pressed to change.

"It's a painful decision," UT Vice President of Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez said. However, Gonzalez said he would not reconsider the student board's action on closing the venue as it is currently run.

"We really want to re-purpose the Cactus Cafe so students can benefit from it," said Gonzalez.  Gonzalez said he did not have a plan for how students would run the venue.

A Facebook page to save the cafe attracted more than 8,000 fans in its first three days of existence. Supporters are encouraging people to write letters to UT administration and attend tomorrow's UT Town Hall meeting about the budget cuts on campus at 4 p.m.

To write a letter:

Texas Union Director Andy Smith
Austin TX Union
PO Box 7338
Austin, TX 78713

and

VP Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez
PO Box 7699
Austin, TX 78713