by Kimberly Caterino
Echotone is a film that started out as a series of portraits of some of the director’s favorite musicians, but a second thematic story emerged, one that became the essence of the film: Echotone captures the lives of several local musicians in relation to the recent urban development growth in downtown Austin. Without giving too much away—the film opens with a black and white snapshot of a wide dirt road and some one-story buildings.. which then fades into an image of the currently-recognizable electric outline of downtown 6th street (Old Pecan Street) in Austin. The span of the film does not cover centuries of time as this comparison suggests, but geographically Echotone does focus specifically on Austin’s downtown and the area known as the Red River District.
Some of the artists featured are Austin’s Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, Dana Falconberry, and Sunset/Bill Baird.. the film takes you through daily slivers of their lives both making a living and making art, as well as chronicling their paths towards success. The definition of “success” is questioned.. and the artists’ stories are juxtaposed to the perspectives of local residents, venue owners, and urban planners. Echotone lets all these folks have their say in the daily politics that make a difference in a vibrant music scene: noise ordinances, parking meters, etc. With a similar, if not same, story emerging across the USA, director Nathan Christ hopes to follow up Echotone with a mini-series that captures the struggle of artistic versus not-exactly-artistic values, of urban development (i.e. usually literally building construction) versus the artist-next-door, happening in several other cities.
The most important aspect of this film, to me, is that it opens the door to discussion and invites citizens to be more aware and active. After the screening I viewed, there was a panel of local figures, including Paul Oveisi of the organization Austin Music People, who took questions from the audience. In the past few years of development in the city, Oveisi acknowledged, the creative class was not invited to the planning table. We can’t undo the past, but Echotone brings awareness to: What do we do now? How does Austin grow going forward?
The editing sequence of many speakers, the live music footage, and the panoramic scenes of downtown construction was often enough in itself to evoke applause, tears, or laughter. The sequence that stayed with me, choked me up a little, was a series of shots of Black Joe Lewis on his daily (unglamorous) day job. When someone asked Joe why he was being filmed, he gave a forthright answer before the scene immediately cuts to him performing at a venue—one of the funkiest songs Austin has known: “Sugarfoot”.
What was Joe’s answer? Why was he being filmed at his delivery job?
I’m a musician.
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