An Austinite’s Guide to #SAA2014: Introduction

In a little less than four months, a bunch of archaeologists will be invading my hometown of Austin Texas for the 2014 Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting. There are a lot of archaeologists here in the Live Music Capital of the World, but I think I may be the only blogger. So I suppose I have an obligation to provide an Austinite’s Guide to the the SAA 2014 meetings. Besides, I love this town and want to highlight some of the great bars, restaurants, and music venues we have here.

First, I should probably do some reflexive archaeology and discuss my own biases:

– My own musical tastes tend towards punk and indie rock, with a healthy dose of old soul and hip-hop. I hate Stevie Ray Vaughan and the whole Austin blues thing. I love old honky-tonk country but don’t know or care much for most of what is Texas country music. i suspect some of the “official” tourist guides to the city and the live music scene can cover that stuff for you.

– I’m an omnivore and I like to eat delicious foods, but I also loathe the term “foodie”. I like cheap, good food with an occasional monetary indulgence. I think that describes my drinking habits as well. I also don’t like Shiner Bock (but I love Shiner Ruby Redbird more than any beer!).

– When you’ve lived here as long as I have (and been a pretty social guy) you get to know a lot of people. Some of the places and bands I’ll recommend are friends of mine, but I also promise you I’m not going to recommend something just because of my friendships.

So, with that in mind, I also want to know what YOU would like to know about! I’ll try and cover lodging first, since that’s most timely (although I don’t know much). There will be multiple bar and food posts, a guide to getting around, a guide to music venues, and some places to spend some money while you’re here (ie books, records, toys, etc).

Please comment with any thing you’d like to see, and please feel free to ask me questions! If there’s something I don’t know, I’ll endeavor to find someone who does! 

Adverse impacts

Yesterday, I went over to the French Legation Museum here in Austin, to see some bands (although it was more to kill time). The French Legation is the oldest standing structure in Austin (or at least one of the oldest), and it’s now a museum run by The Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The grounds are really pretty, and it’s one of those places that you wouldn’t guess it was there when you were a couple blocks away walking along IH-35 or East 6th Street.

The shows were on the grounds, not in the structure itself. And the place was packed. I heard it got even more crowded after I left. Anyway, while I was there I couldn’t help but think about what kind of impacts this type of event was having on what is essentially an archaeological site. I suppose that any important areas were protected, and since it’s been a functional museum since the mid 1950s I imagine it’s been well-studied. Still, thousands and thousands of people are going to be trampling the ground pretty hard.

At the same time, I realized that hosting events like this probably pay the bills for the rest of the year. I went to the museum 16 years ago, when I first moved to Austin, and it doesn’t get a lot of visitors. I’d bet that a lot of the locals who go there this weekend would never have seen the place otherwise. So while I still can’t help but feel like there is some potential for damage, I can also understand the reasoning behind opening the grounds for this kind of event monetarily, and from an outreach perspective. I was really happy to see people reading the historic marker to their kids.