Austin ranks second on list of America's Best Music Scenes.
Photo by Daniel Cavazos
SXSW is in the books, but the Live Music Capital of the World is still at the top of the charts: A new survey says Austin has the second-best music scene in the country.
Only Nashville outranks Austin on Travel + Leisure's list of America's Best Music Scenes, as determined by readers.
What makes our scene so special? "This is a musicians' town," Caleb Campaigne, the official Insider at W Austin Hotel, tells T+L. "Musicians know that the audience is going to be appreciative — but also prepared. Even if you’re a smaller band, folks are going to have done their research and know who you are."
T+L touts the city's most historic breakout acts — Janis Joplin, Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan — as well as our favorite modern-day clubs. "You can catch excellent shows year-round at the Moody Theater (where they tape the TV series Austin City Limits), at clubs along South Congress (like Continental Club or C Boy’s Heart & Soul), or the brisket-fueled Sunday Gospel Brunch at [Stubb's Bar-B-Que]."
The magazine also gives a nod to Waterloo Records, where music-lovers can still listen to an album before buying it.
Austin isn't the only Lone Star city on the list. Houston lands at No. 10 thanks to "its cosmopolitan combination of high-brow culture (like the acclaimed Houston Grand Opera) and crowd-pleasers." The Deep Ellum neighborhood, where you'll find "public murals, plenty of bars, and great rock-and-indie venues," earns Dallas the No. 25 spot.
Check out the rest of America's best music scenes here.
Writer/director Sean Baker’s filmography is full of films that aim to show stories not typically seen in mainstream movies, ones that often feel so true to life that they can be tough to watch. His latest film, Anora, is similar to his previous content in some ways, but much different in others.
Anora (Mikey Madison), aka Ani, is a stripper/sex worker who works at a club in Brooklyn. Because she can speak Russian, she is assigned to dance for Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), who she discovers is the son of a Russian oligarch. With an unlimited supply of money, he pays Ani for sex and, enjoying spending time with her, for her to pretend to be his girlfriend for a week.
That week sees them do a lot of wild stuff, most notably an impulsive trip to Las Vegas where they — almost as hastily — decide to get married. Their elopement doesn’t stay secret for long, though, with Ivan’s parents especially upset. A trio of henchmen track them down, enlisted by Ivan’s parents to force them to get the marriage annulled at all costs.
Baker is not your typical storyteller, and so even though the film has three distinct acts, they don’t play out in ways that will be familiar or comfortable for many filmgoers. Much of the first act involves Ani in states of undress, either dancing for customers or having sex with Ivan. Although the “rich guy paying for the company of a sex worker” echoes a film like Pretty Woman, the comparison doesn’t really fit, especially because the immature, video game-playing Ivan is about as far from romance as you can get.
Whatever appeal he might have had disappears in the second half of the film when he’s confronted with his parents’ displeasure. It’s here that Baker seems to play with moviegoer expectations the most. With three goons sent to get Ani and Ivan to take back what they’ve done, it feels like Baker is going to go down the typical mob movie road. Instead, what transpires can only be described as an intense farce, with Ani resisting the trio’s efforts with all her might, causing lots of comedic chaos.
What plays out throughout the film, and especially in the final act, is a disparity of wealth. While Ani being willing to have sex with a rich guy who comes into the club could be viewed in multiple ways, it does hint at her need to make money however she can. Conversely, Ivan spends money with abandon and acts accordingly, like someone who will never have a care in the world. After much frivolity, this imbalance hits like a ton of bricks in the film’s final minutes.
Madison, who’s had small but showy roles in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the reboot of Scream, proves herself to be a star in this role. She owns every part of the performance, from the New York accent to the pole dancing, and she is the fire that keeps the film humming. She is especially important because Russian actor Eydelshteyn is only intermittently effective. Special note goes to Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, and Yura Borisov, the three men who come for Ani and Ivan. Each walks the line between drama and comedy especially well.
Taken at face value, Anora could be viewed as a merely titillating and somewhat shallow film. But Baker doesn’t do anything without a purpose, which is why the subtext of the story gives the film its power, with a bravura performance by Madison to put it over the top.
