Janice Williams Loves Austin

Yes, that’s me. I am a slacker. I hadn’t really thought of myself that way until I had two reminders on the same day.

Sunday, I heard from my high school classmate Bryan. We’ve been good friends since 8th grade in Mr. Stocker’s science class when we were seated alphabetically for the entire year and got to know one another well. We went on to work together on the school newspaper in high school and were lunch companions at the “table” (that’s what we referred to our group as). Twenty years after high school we found ourselves both in Austin, oddly, and we continue to stay in touch, mostly by email, since he lives way up THERE and I live way down HERE.

Bryan sent an article about our classmate Alexis Hefley. The article, in the Dallas Morning News, tells the amazing and uplifting story of a group Alexis founded that helps children in Uganda called Empower African Children. Alexis has dedicated her life to educating these children and freeing them from the poverty and misery that overwhelms them in Uganda. What an awe-inspiring woman! I’m proud to have known her 30 years ago, although when I think of Alexis I mainly remember her playing on the basketball team. Go read the article and check her charity’s website and find a way to contribute to this wonderful cause.

So I had already been reflecting on my life and wondering about my long-lasting impact after reading about the thousands of lives she has touched. Then tonight I turn on 60 Minutes. They did a nice long profile and interview with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Did you see it? A very interesting man and one that you might enjoy having a conversation with. I am watching it just because it is on and it is interesting and I have always had a fascination with the Supreme Court. Then they began talking about Scalia’s new book Making Your Case. They show the cover and I see the name of another high school classmate, Bryan Garner. I already knew Bryan had gone on to great things. He has taught at Oxford and while he was in law school he wrote a dictionary of legal terms that immediately became the ultimate on all things legal. Go see what he has written through the years. Bryan was the drum major while we were in high school and very active in band and such. Like Alexis, he wasn’t in my immediate circle of friends, but in a high school with just 225 seniors, we all knew one another pretty well. A very nice guy, there was no doubt he would go on to succeed in life, but who knew he’d be hobnobbing, writing, and arguing with Supreme Court Justices in just 30 years? Amazing.

I’ve spent five years at a job that I really did feel was a calling for me. Even if it was fleeting, I felt that I touched lives and if I made somebody enjoy their day a little bit more, then I was doing a service. More than losing the “celebrity” I have had, I miss that little bit of contact. My high school had a great bunch of kids that have grown up to do interesting and amazing things, though some with more spotlight than others. Some have had the spotlight you don’t want. At least one was a murderer, I know. I think it is interesting to hear about two of these classmates on the same day. I admire them both for their accomplishments and I was just teasing about me being a slacker. Slackers don’t have mortgages, car payments, and insurance premiums. I can only HOPE to be a slacker one day!

Okay, here we are on April 2 and I’m keeping my promise of writing every day in April.

I went to Hill’s Cafe tonight for the music series. I had expected not to go at all because, why should I? Why should I support a radio station that let me go? But a few days ago I reexamined that. I thought about wearing a signboard in front of the place that said, “I’m still unemployed” or play my accordion outside with the open case waiting for tips. Then I pared that down to a t-shirt that said, “I need a job.” Finally, I just ended up going . . . but with a pile of resumes in my purse.

I’m glad that I went. It was quite a relief to not dash over at the last minute after barely getting off the air and to be responsible for things kicking off at the right time. There was a LOT of anxiety in those five years of that role. I don’t miss that anxiety at all. I ran into a lot of friends tonight. I avoided a few people, too. So, if you say to yourself “Hey, I didn’t see Janice!” then you very well could have been one of the ones I avoided! ha. I doubt it.

What was really interesting was seeing people that DIDN’T know I was fired. I saw Deek Moore, a fine Austin police officer. He had no idea. There were some listeners that stopped me to talk and wondered why I hadn’t been on the stage and didn’t know. (well, I guess technically they aren’t listeners, they are more just concert-goers). The drummer for Wade Bowen said it just didn’t seem right that I wasn’t on stage introducing them. And Wade said it felt awfully weird to go to the KVET studios and not be interviewed my me.

Eric Raines did do a fine job and I was glad to see him. He is a dear friend and we were friends long before KVET came into my life. I know he’d give a lot if I were still there and he didn’t HAVE to play host on Wednesday nights and extend his day from 14 or 15 hours to 20!

It was fun to see all the celebrities that show up at the music series–especially on the first night. Django Walker was there and I hadn’t seen him in ages. We talked about how he is about to kick it into gear and play a lot more–soon. There is a Momo’s gig for him on my calendar.  Kevin Fowler and sweet wife Gillian were there. He just got a new management team and I think some amazing things are going to start popping for him now. The woman that I want to be my gal Friday, Sarah Blincoe, was there and it was great to see her again. She is the more organized, efficient, on-the-spot woman I’ve ever known. I wish some of it would rub off on me. Ryan Turner was there and is about to move to Nashville. His road manager, Marshall, is now road manager-ing for Darren Kozelsky. This business has lots of changes all of the time. Jason Boland’s manager Corey McDaniel was there. He’s always fun. Katy Lytle was there and I’m sure I’ll see more of her Sunday at the Gruene With Envy awards. I was putting in the fix on receiving the Best DJ award. We’ll see Sunday if I succeeded. Chad Kudelka from the booking agency AUE and his nice wife and sweet baby boy. I was happy to see Scott Fisher of Fox News. He was our weatherman at the music series all through last year and was, without a doubt, my favorite TV weatherman to work with. He was fun. He still is fun. Nice to see him back at it. I feel like I still see him regularly, since I see his weather on TV. I told him I know how that feels when people say that. Too many friends would always say, “Well, I feel like I talk to you every day since I listen to you!”  Now they say, I read your blog so I know what is going on in your life. That doesn’t mean you still shouldn’t call!

I enjoyed seeing the people from KVET that I enjoyed working with:  Mike Pirtle (who had pictures and videos of his twin boy/girl . . . adorable!), Courtney Mallory, who got the axe just about the time I did, Justin, the young intern who was with me at just about every Wednesday night bar remote and many of the Austin Boats and Motors remotes, too. He’s one of the good ones. And it was nice to see the KVET sales staff, too, though I had to let a couple of them know that NOT calling me when I got let go was not acceptable.
I’m sure I left out some folks that I enjoyed seeing tonight. There were lots of people there and I actually did pass out my resume to many and my card to many more.

Oh, and the music? The music was very good, too. The Casey Donahew Band was the opener. I’ve heard of them, but had never seen them and I enjoyed their set a lot. They played the Band’s “Up On Cripple Creek” which I enjoyed. I didn’t get to REALLY listen closely to their set, which is always the bad part of these shows, but I liked what I heard and the energy with which they delivered. They are hugely popular in Fort Worth and I’m glad I could get a taste of the reason why.

And Wade did a wonderful job. His voice has that distinct sound that crisply delivers a lyric. And he writes beautiful lyrics. I found a good spot in the back where I really could hear well, though I couldn’t see, and I enjoyed hearing his familiar songs.

I said one of the nicest things about going tonight was that I could leave any time I wanted! But, as it turned out, I didn’t want to leave and, even when I tried to beat the crowd by a few minutes, I ended up visiting with policemen Deek Moore and Randy Ballard and finding more folks to say hello to (and give a resume or tell what I would like to do!).

So I guess the biggest thanks goes to Cheri Fox of Hill’s Cafe who makes it all fall together so effortlessly each week and to Marsha Milam who books the music series and makes it have the great performances from week to week.  It is those two that made it so easy and fun to do what I did the last five seasons and they made it easy and fun tonight, too.

How was your Christmas? Ours was a lovely day. The cinnamon rolls were good (though Mark still can’t taste anything) and the presents were lovely. Willie and Nathan Jr. were particularly delighted to discover money from Meema in their stockings. You can see the joy:

Willie, always benevolent and generous, offered the money to me and Mark to go see a movie on Christmas afternoon.

So we went to see Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. This is a movie we’ve been looking forward to since the first commercial. With our love of musical history, it spoke to us! And it lived up to the hype. Funny, silly, but accurate in so many of the little details. Okay, Mark found a couple of inaccuracies. His sharp eye caught the fact that the lugs on the drums on the 1953 talent show actually hadn’t been on the market until 1955. And the cymbals the drummer used in the scenes from the 1970s were made by a company that didn’t exist until 1986. Heresy! I certainly hope the filmmakers will issue an apology.  After the movie, old Eagle-Eye and I came home to that wonderful tradition of an afternoon nap. Remember a few weeks ago when I told you that Dewey Cox was coming through Austin? There’s photos of that visit at the Dewey Cox website. Check the video in other cities, too.
One of the members of Mark’s band, Little Elmore Reed, Dale Spalding came over and enjoyed chili and wine and apple and pumpkin pie with us. He brought some documentary videos by filmmaker Les Blank. We learned about Lightnin’ Hopkins, New Orleans and the tribes of Mardi Gras, and Gap-Toothed Women. It was fun to have company on Christmas.

And just a note about radio . . .  I listened to KGSR Christmas Eve and heard Loris Lowe on the air. It was good to hear her voice. She got “let go” at KLBJ-FM in October. Was there a planetary disturbance that we weren’t aware of at the time? Something sure was making radio volatile. I knew that anyone on the air on KGSR is “live” and actually there in the studio (and that is much more rare than you could imagine) and I called her.

Loris and I met a few years back at a Reckless Kelly show at Stubb’s. I liked her right off the bat. she and I shared the introduction on stage that night. I learned later that she also plays accordion. I knew there was just something special about that girl! She’s working part time at KGSR while trying to find a full time gig. I wish her well in finding something. She has a great radio voice.

Today makes six weeks of unemployment. And a dear friend of mine got fired/laid off at her job toda