Momo's Celebrates Nine Years! [Thursday - Sunday]

The management path started with the Band of Heathens. There were 4 bands doing a Wednesday night residency. Most of those 4 bands weren't really established but we all knew the musicianship was there and we had to tinker with it. We started one of many coffee brainstorming sessions and decided to collapse the 4 bands into 1 (they pretty much shared a rhythm section anyway). We pushed the new-found residency harder, made a record, and I started booking the bands around the state and eventually around the country. The guys, once they found their groove, became exponentially better that the sum of their parts. At that time, Dan Dyer had moved back to Austin and we started comparing notes on how to re-start his career. He had been around the musical block a time or two and still didn't feel like he was in his element yet. I knew this project was going to take serious work and decided to exclusively work with him for as long at it took to build a seriously successful career. As I write this, he's in the middle of doing 8 cities in 9 days and will be touring 5 of the following 8 weeks with one week of studio time in between.

The Momo's/management thing, at times, go hand in hand. Managing will likely slowly take over more of my time. But seeing the venue experience from a musician's eyes, firsthand, helps me grow Momo's into a musician's venue. It's a very tough business. It's not horribly unlike wanting to become a professional athlete. But it sure helps to know a handful of venues around that actually care and understand the process.

Where did the name come from and who were some of your crucial partners early on? What comes to your mind when you think back to the first week of Momo's existence?

I inherited the name. Initially, I wanted to change it. But after a year or two of not being able to come up with a name, it sunk in and naturally started to become a brand. At the 5 year mark, we knew it would be foolish to change it. For awhile, I wanted my ownership to be somewhat secret so we would always allude to a mysterious Uncle Momo who was really in charge. I figured out that nobody really bought it when folks started calling me Uncle Momo.

In the beginning, I convinced my younger brother to be a minority partner. Unfortunately, he didn't really share the musical vision and we parted ways. Kate Tomich was to be his heir apparent. She was my manager at Steamboat and was absolutely instrumental in the middle era of Momo's. She brought a lot to the table: tremendous bar experience, impeccable musical taste and a serious tenure in the Austin live music scene. Ultimately, however, it came down to Uncle Momo flying solo.

Image from Momo’s MySpace

The top highlights are too numerous to name. Some of them I just don't remember, although every year at the anniversary I'm frequently reminded. There are a few standout moments though. Like when Willie Nelson inconspicuously came into the club to check out Los Lonely Boys, who were doing a Tuesday night residency. I haven't done a great job of keeping a diary or record of the legendary bands that have played the Momo's stage. Frequently I read about an artist whose career is starting to explode and will note "Oh yeah, they used to play at the Mo." I got a barrage of texts from folks at the Broken Social Scene show here recently after the band thanked Momo's as the first Austin club they played. Also we've had a lot of fun and more than a few "old Austin" reunion shows: Breedlove and Sister 7, to name a couple. We are starting to book more road shows, but the true pleasure is to discover the new stuff and help it grow. I get an absurd amount of gratification from helping an artist or a band get up to their potential. It's what keeps me going. I remember telling folks in the 3rd or 4th year of Momo's, when the music scene in general was having a pretty tough year, that Momo's would need to be around for 10 years to really get to its full potential. We're almost there.

Who handles the booking at Momo's?

For the first 4 or 5 years, I did the booking exclusively. I would spend 3-4 hours a day poring over press kits, taking notes, listening to CDs. Next thing I knew I owned 3 venues and managed and booked em all. It became overwhelming. I had a storage room full of CDs and created my own organizing and booking system (this was before myspace and EPKs). I slowly became consumed by it all. Two club closings and one divorce later, I regrouped. I hired David Cotton who handles the day to day booking. I now could be the big picture guy. I could go out and discover new music. Not many people appreciate the day to day madness that David has to endure. I do. I did it for years. It's a thankless and necessary job and he's been doing it for a decade or two.

Are you from Austin?

Born and raised in Austin. Been here my whole life except for a handful of summers in Toronto and law school in Dallas.

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of running a music venue in Austin?

The advantage: a seemingly never-ending supply of talented artists.

The disadvantage: a seemingly never-ending supply of talented artists

Seriously though, it's an interesting thing running a music venue in the Live Music Capital of the World. The supply is tremendous and the fans have the luxury of being spoiled. Out-of-towners are always shocked at the high level of musicianship you can find any night in Austin in a couple of dozen premier venues. We're all used to it and occasionally take it for granted. So we have to find creative ways to turn people onto new music. And the old adage sometimes rings true: to be successful in Austin, you have to find success outside of Austin. I see it all the time. It's almost like the community here is saying "we're not paying attention to any hype, we're gonna let the rest of the country flip out over an Austin band before we take notice" That's, of course, not always true. But occasionally a young band that is getting their chops gets frustrated with the fact that people don't flock to their shows. The converse is also true. I see bands who killed it in their small town and decide to move to Austin to take it to the next level only to get lost in the shuffle. Let's be clear: the bar here is high (no pun intended). You can't be only above average and build a career.

Former Mayor Will Wynn & Paul Oveisi

I was appointed to chair the Live Music Task Force by former Mayor Will Wynn. About 15 of us worked for 8 or 9 months on a whole variety of subject matters. It was tough work. In fact, we had a couple of "defectors", or rather, neighborhood representatives who fought the majority of us tooth and nail to try when we tried to work out a compromise on sound related matters. One of them, maybe two, didn't show up for our final vote and recommendations to City Council and in fact one of them was recently outed as calling in what seemed to be a bogus sound ordinance complaint on Shady Grove. There's a lot more to all of that, but it sure does illustrate how challenging of a task we had.

Largely though, we made monumental steps forward on the task force. We forged a fantastic relationship with the Austin Neighborhood Council largely through the work of Don Pitts, Bobby Garza and Danette Chimenti. We pushed hard for the creation of a music department. The department was tabled because the City, for the first time in awhile, was in serious debt to the tune of 30 million. I've met with most of our council members and we've created a plan to get a department off the ground as soon as some budget issues are worked out.

What would you like to see happen in the next nine years in the city of Austin and at Momo's specifically?

Great question. I had a 3 hour meeting today at City Hall with another live music venue owner and some other members of the arts community. We talked with the consultants who are drafting the creative plan for Austin in coming years. To state it simply: we want to protect the sanctity of what we all know is unique about live music in Austin. We also want to have the infrastructure so that those who are poised to make a career out of music (and it's not easy) have as many tools at their disposal as this community can provide. And not just musicians but those of us who help musicians build careers: managers, booking agents, promoters, producers, etc.

At Momo's we just want the opportunity to provide a great venue that embraces and fosters music. If we're around to see the 15 or 20 year anniversary, I'll be a happy man.

You have quite a line-up for the nine year anniversary and we believe, it's also your birthday? Any surprises in store?

Every year, the anniversary becomes a bigger deal. My birthday is actually Aug 26th. The magic that happens on stage that week is usually indescribable. We've worked hard at creating a family at Momo's. Most, if not all of the acts that are booked are close personal friends of mine, the Momo's crew and each other. They know each others songs, they collaborate, and some of 'em actually tour together. There's a handful of players that have probably played with over half the bands that week. It's gonna be tough for me cause I'm almost not going to want to socialize but plant my butt inside and watch every single song from every single act. There's going be a lot of musical incest taking place: musicians jumping on stage with other bands. Yeah, it'll be a love fest of sorts. But damn, it's gonna be fun.

Momo’s: [Official] [ MySpace]