The J. Lorraine Ghost Town in Manor is a little bit hokey. A fact apparent at once when we arrived for Kiss My Grits, an evening featuring a slew of folk-centered bands. Even under the cover of night, the cartoonesque saloon feels less like a truly abandoned settlement and more like you accidentally got locked in a theme park after closing. There’s no getting around the fact that it’s all kinda cheesy. But maybe that doesn’t matter. As I see it, the ranch isn’t pretending to be anything it’s not. It’s for silliness and fun alone, a roadside stop for a family afternoon. It’s not trying to be hip or cool, and it’s hard to be glib about something without pretense. It’s like being snobby about a tacky Christmas sweater on a five-year-old. Sometimes it’s refreshing to not be cool. And as the venue has been used for some live music events by nearby Austin bands, it offers an alternative.
We’ve tried to be some of the Austin music scene’s biggest supporters and promoters. We’re fans through and through. However, sometimes the industry and saturation of the city’s incessant live music can feel smothering. At J. Lorraine, you feel so far from anything else, and something about that makes the music much more immediate. Your mind is less cluttered. Everyone there must have made a specific effort to get there–no one has wandered in by chance. The result feels like a gathering of like minds, of members of a community. Kiss My Grits exhibited this over the course of a long afternoon and evening of music from eight or so bands, including Jess Williamson, Rattlesnake Milk, RF Shannon, and Wil Cope. We had a great time, and we’re hoping for more events, whether at the J. Lorraine or elsewhere, that take us out of our traditional paths and into new and refreshing modes of watching artists perform live.
All photographs by © Madeline Naomi Harvey & Pop Press International; all rights reserved. Click any image to open set in slideshow viewer.
