Another live venue bit the dust thanks to the Pandemic as this nice little place has been gobbled up by a rich asshole who claims to be a benefactor; he also acquired the Saxon Pub and is involved with the charity HAAM. Whenever a multi-millionaire (or richer) steps in to “save” a local treasure, I’m always suspicious because they didn’t get wealthy without screwing over thousands or millions of people. Eventually they’ll shrug their shoulders to do some dick move, blaming the economy or whatever their goddess Kapitalism tells them. Worse is them trying to redeem their immoral reputation as per Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Stanford by building shit for the public while it has their name all over it. I doubt Gary Keller is quite in their league or the modern Rapist Barons (Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg) but I’m not a fan of real estate moguls, especially with how they’re doing all they can to make Austin unaffordable. In the end, I should’ve known my front-row seats to Crash Test Dummies being kicked back and then refunded meant something fishy was happening with One World Theater.
On the other hand, the Saxon Pub remains intact so I will take a wait-and-see approach despite OWT’s web site being a zombie. All the ticket and show information disappeared, I guess my CDT show wasn’t the only refund. Just the FAQ stuff remains. I do hope the continues its booking traditions. I saw great performers over the years. The Manhattan Transfer three times, Duncan Sheik, Adrian Belew and JD Souther. Next to the Cactus Cafe, it is one of Austin’s most intimate venues, only 300 seats in the theater. More importantly, when OWT isn’t being used for concerts, the whole place is used to teach children from all over Central Texas how to appreciate music on another level. That’s why the ticket prices ran a little higher.