Free Music Everywhere

Health Alliance for Austin Musicians releases schedule for 2012 HAAM Benefit Day

Austin's big day of free music to support the efforts of the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, HAAM Benefit Day is quickly approaching. Next Tuesday, you'll see tons of artists playing throughout the day at locations across the city.

On Monday, HAAM held a press conference to properly release the names, times and locations of the artists joining in the citywide celebration this year which begins promptly at 6 a.m. on Oct. 2 at Whole Foods Market Headquarters.

Scrappy Jud Newcomb is the lucky singer to kick off HAAM Benefit Day in that first slot, with three bands closing out the event at 1 a.m. at 29th Street Ballroom, Hotel Vegas and Cheer Up Charlie's.

Throughout the day, sponsored singers will play in expected, as well as nontraditional, venues across our fair city. The Whole Foods Market Headquarters will feature music all day on its impressive stage, and shows will also happen at The Whip Inn, Sahara Lounge, All Saints Episcopal Church, GSD&M, Noodles and Co. and even the Neiman Marcus at the Domain.

(Last year, our CultureMap staff spent the day at Romeo's and Jovita's, both of which are now mysteriously shut down. So we'll just stick to the flagship locations this year...)

The massively coordinated day is presented by Whole Foods Market and other generous local partners, sponsors and friends and organized by the tireless efforts of the HAAM staff and its large network of volunteers. If you're interested in volunteering at any of the benefit sites, it's not too late to sign up.

You can also help by visiting any of the host venues, who will be donating five percent of the day's proceeds and 100 percent of the donations received to the organization that provides health insurance to Austin's musicians.

Thanks to the contributions and goodwill of the city, the big-hearted nonprofit raised over $235,000 during HAAM Benefit Day last year. While that number was a record-breaker for the organization, the bar has been set even higher this year.

Now is the time to show your support for the individuals who make this the Live Music Capital of the World. Let's take a stand for their health and well-being.

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Check the HAAM Benefit Day schedule for venues and artists on the HAAM website. You can make donations directly on the site as well.

Movie Review

A Complete Unknown does justice to Bob Dylan's music at every step

Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown

Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown.

Music biopics never seem to go out of style, although they’re rarely very good because most of them tend to tell the same story. A musician/band gets discovered, rises to popularity, experiences trouble at their peak due to (insert sex/drugs/alcohol/ego), and either finds a measure of redemption once they’ve been sufficiently humbled or dies due to their lack of control.

Paradoxically, what few music biopics fail to do is properly showcase the music that made the person popular in the first place, a mistake that A Complete Unknown doesn’t repeat, becoming a smashing success in the process. The film follows Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) over a roughly four-year period from when he first arrived in New York City in 1961 to his then-revolutionary electric set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

Dylan seeks out well-known folk singers Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and an ailing Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) when he first arrives, with Seeger taking him under his wing. Dylan starts to establish himself in the local club scene with his unique songwriting voice, meeting fellow singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), with whom he starts an on-and-off relationship. As his popularity grows, his reaction is antithetical to what’s expected, as he rarely engages with fans and focuses on his next song(s) instead of the ones for which he became known.

Directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line) and written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, the film may not be much of a revelation for Dylan superfans, but for casual fans or those who know nothing about him, it is one of the most effective music biopics in recent memory, if not ever. Not only does Mangold track the musical evolution of Dylan, but he gives the full context of the people who influenced him most, including Guthrie, Seeger, Baez, and more.

The film is not a musical in the traditional sense, but the amount of music in it makes it the next best thing. Rarely does more than a few minutes go by before someone is singing, either on stage, for someone close to them, or as part of the songwriting process. Whether you’re a folk music fan or not, the way the genre is showcased in the film will make you believe in its power and why it was so popular at that particular point in time.

Dylan is famous for his enigmatic personality, and Mangold does a great job of maintaining that elusiveness while still exploring what drove Dylan early in his career. His relationships with Baez and the fictional Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) give him some dimension, but why he continually went back-and-forth between them (or why they put up with him) is only lightly explored. The film keeps most of the drama focused on the music, and it’s this decision that makes it as compelling as it is.

Chalamet has been “The Next Big Thing” since his Oscar nomination for Call Me By Your Name, but the combination of the Duneseries, Wonka, and now this has firmly established him as the star he is. His Dylan impersonation (including singing) is subtle-yet-clear, and he has the cool factor that makes him completely believable in the role. The supporting cast is also off-the-charts good, with Norton and Barbaro making the best cases for awards notice.

While 2024 has had its fair share of great movies, A Complete Unknown — in this critic’s opinion — should now be the favorite to win Best Picture at next year’s Oscars. It bucks the trend of mediocre music biopics by giving moviegoers the transporting feeling of what it was like to experience Dylan’s meteoric rise, and why his early songs remain so indelible.

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A Complete Unknown is now playing in theaters.

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