THE AUSTIN MUSIC AWARDS GO BACK TO THE ROOTS The AMAs this year. Holy cow what a show! Finally, finally, they stripped away the bullshit and got back to what matters. The music. No more winner parade, no more yammering, just a chaotic celebration of our city’s sonic landscape . Below’s a collection of clips, and as you watch think about this: All these folks live here . Go find their socials, go find their spotify, go find them. We’ll start with Uncle Roy and Spice , backed by Walter Luken’s all-star house band, paying tribute to Tina Turner. DAIISTAR feels so right here right now. Kevin Russell paid tribute to Doug Sahm , backed among others by Doug’s bass player, Speedy Sparks. Now let’s go down a rabbit hole. Russell’s drummer? The grey-haired guy in the back? That’s Mike Buck. He’s one of the owners of Antone’s Records on Guadalupe. Buck also played with Doug. This year, Mike’s son Ben won Best Rap Artist. Ben’s sister is poster artist and Sailor Poon front woman Billie Buck. She’s a razor sharp satirist. Happy Heat commissioned Buck to draw what comes to mind when she thinks of women’s reproductive rights.  Our collaboration with Billie Buck- “If Cis Men Got Pregnant” 18x12 poster available at FSG What springs from our soil. What actually keeps us weird. The spirit channeled at tribal gatherings like The Austin Music Awards. Digging the Heat? Support our mission to keep Austin ~actually~ weird with the best of Austin-centric news and reflections. Get 20% off forever GOD BLESS TEXAS WOMEN Sweeter than Cactus . That’s Willis Alan Ramsey’s perfect description of a certain kind of grit, the grit that comes from growing up strong in a state filled with prejudice.  Which is why I believe the extremists are about to get aced.  The current vibe reminds me of 1990, when Midland oilman Clayton Williams ran against Ann Richards, a classic Austin liberal. The electorate was so conservative that, in the words of our pollster at the time, “they don’t want the electric chair they want electric bleachers.” But Williams decided to joke about rape at a gathering full of reporters. He then capped several months of additional gaffes and insults by walking up to Richards, cameras in tow, and refusing to shake her hand. Richards played it off. In the snap of a finger, the race started to pivot. Texas women, in large numbers , refused to vote for a jackass. Political similarities be damned. So here we are three decades later with another Midland oilman, Tim Dunn, serving as the new poster boy for intolerance . Talk like this triggers memories , and that’s not a good thing right now if you’re a Republican.  “It was perfectly legal for a man to have his wife committed against her will. And it was perfectly legal for a man to have his wife lobotomized. And I remember, you know, my mom and my aunts all whispering and talking about when this would happen to some woman they knew. And it seemed to tie in with when a woman was going through the change, you know. I grew up believing there was a risk that when I hit menopause, I might be called mentally ill and  be institutionalized. And I think that that's part of the misogyny of the culture that I grew up in, that those things happen to women.”   Diana Vicars as told to Barry Underhill, 2022.   A matriarch in my wife’s family, whose Texas roots go back to the mid-1800s, tells a story at a family gathering. About the time she went to the doctor and he told her she needed her husband’s permission before he could do anything.  My own mother escaped rural poverty by going to the big city and becoming what was then called a stewardess. She used to vote Republican. Regarding her switch in 2016, mom starts with the stories about the weigh-ins and height requirements , the pinches and grabs , and the fact that she had to “retire” when she got married at 23.  She lived it once, and doesn’t want her grandchildren to live it again — that world where a person’s seen as a possession, an object to be acquired . Mom’s first modeling gig. Linda Aaker’s distinguished legal career took her to Washington as a Clinton appointee to help govern the National Endowment for the Humanities. Texas Monthly put Linda and husband Bob Armstrong at the top of their 1987 list of power couples. Yet for all she did, the story that kept getting told at her funeral this past Sunday was how, as a young lawyer in the Texas Attorney General’s office, Linda charmed (intimidated?) her boss into letting her write a short legal opinion to codify a simple premise — that women did not have to take their husband’s name when they married. One small step. And Aaker continued to push forward her entire life.  Memories are deeply rooted, and the ground gained is not going be given back easily. To be clear, this isn’t about turning the state blue. That’s a different issue. George W. Bush washed out Ann Richards after one term because Texans didn’t like Richard’s politics, even if they did like her. No, the lesson here is the price that’s paid for pushing too far. And it feels to me like we’re in that moment. — Alan Berg Happy Heat publisher Alan Berg covered politics for fifteen years, and served as WFAA-TV’s Austin Bureau Chief from 1994-2000. Alan and his wife, Kristin Johansen-Berg, co-founded Arts+Labor. JACKIE VENSON IS PLAYING SOUL SUNDAY. Jackie Venson’s joining the bill ! Rolling Stone calls Venson one of “Austin’s rising stars”. She’s shared the stage with legends ranging from Gary Clark, Jr. to Alanis Morissette and John Batiste, and in 2020 was featured on Austin City Limits. One of the most respected voices in Austin’s music scene, Venson’s fought and won battles for diversity and fair pay, taking on institutions ranging from Blues on the Green to SXSW. Happy Heat profiled Venson in last year’s SXSW issue . This year, she’s playing Rolling Stone’s showcase at ACL , a long ways from her first fest appearance both in audience size and approach. But you’re still playing, notably this year as one of the headliners at Rolling Stone’s ACL showcase. How much does the SXSW exposure help your career? What do you see as career defining moments so far? Jackie Venson with Jon Batiste and Stay Human on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2016. What’s next? So close to each other, six months apart? Catch Jackie at Soul Sunday , along with fellow legends Leeann Atherton and The Jones Family Singers. It’s gonna be a good time. Join the Heat (L-R) Kristin Johansen-Berg, Jackie Venson, and Susan Antone at the 2024 Austin Music Awards. We need more voices, and we’d be forever grateful for your help. For the first 100 subscribers, we are offering 20% off forever, a slot on the Soul Food Sunday guest list, and a free t-shirt.  Get 20% off forever