KGSR has announced the anticipated lineup for its 23rd annual live music series, Blues on the Green, taking place throughout the summer at Zilker Park. The summer music kicks off Wednesday, May 29 with hometown favorites Alpha Rev (and opening band Wild Child), and continues with five more performances throughout the season.
Blues on the Green is Austin's largest free concert series, averaging over 7,000 attendees per night. Music lovers are encouraged to bring blankets, lawn chairs, dogs and kids to the lawn for an evening of live music alongside food and beverages from local restaurants.
As always, the talented lineup features some of the best talent Austin has to offer — from bands on the rise to established Austin icons. The 2013 KGSR Blues on the Green lineup is as follows:
May 29: Alpha Rev with Wild Child June 12: Wheeler Brothers with The Whiskey Sisters June 26: Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears July 10: Bob Schneider with Max Frost July 24: The Gourds with Shakey Graves August 7: ACL Music Festival Preview — artists to be announced
All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. and continue after the sun goes down. For more information on the lineup and Blues on the Green, visit the KGSR website. Mobile updates are also available by texting “blues” to 29217.
To help ensure his career is “alright, alright, alright” in the AI era, Oscar-winning movie star Matthew McConaughey has trademarked two of his greatest assets: his face and voice.
Last year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued eight trademarks designed to prevent AI users from mimicking McConaughey’s likeness or voice without authorization. Applications for the trademarks, known as “motion marks” and “sound marks,” include:
A 7-second video of him seated near a fireplace and Christmas tree in his living room.
A 7-second video of him standing on a porch
A brief audio clip of him saying, “Just keep livin’, right?” J.K. Livin Brands, which owns McConaughey’s Just Keep Livin apparel business, controls the trademarks.
A brief audio clip of him uttering his iconic “Alright, alright, alright” catchphrase from the 1993 cult classic film Dazed and Confused.
“My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it,” McConaughey, a Uvalde native and longtime Austin resident, told The Wall Street Journal. “We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.”
As AI continues to infiltrate the entertainment business, McConaughey and other Hollywood A-listers are pursuing trademarks to stop AI-driven misuse of their faces and voices. However, everyday actors with limited resources may be unable to afford going through the trademark process and defending a trademark violation.
“Some actors fear a possible future in which studios will pressure them to sign away their likeness,” Scientific American reported in 2023, “and their digital double will take work away from them.”
The Wall Street Journal notes that various actors and singers have grappled with AI-created fake videos, audio, and images on the internet, including Tom Hanks and Taylor Swift. A study released in 2024 by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers predicted AI-generated content could cause music creators to lose 24 percent of their revenue by 2028, and could lead to screenwriters and directors losing 15-20 percent of their revenue.
The threat of AI stealing work from actors became a sticking point in 2023 negotiations between entertainment studios and striking members of SAG-AFTRA, a labor union representing performers, recording artists, and broadcasters.
Kevin Yorn, founder and managing partner of Southern California law firm Yorn Levine, which handled the trademark applications for McConaughey, says that while the actor and his attorneys support the evolution of AI, legal boundaries must be put in place.
“Protecting individual voice, image, and intellectual property is essential to building a future that works for everyone,” Yorn says in a statement provided to CultureMap. “Along with Matthew, we are forward-looking, engaged in the possibilities of AI, and thoughtful about how everyone’s creative identity is represented and protected.”
