The “Texas Music Cafe” sign is above the window with fake TV antennas rising above the roof at its new location on Washington Avenue, signs the long-running music series has found a downtown home.
It’s the former home of Rogue Media Network, now in larger digs at 1129 Webster Avenue, with its recording room and performance space reworked for “Texas Music Cafe.”
For TMC founder and director Chris Ermoian, the Washington Avenue space will provide a downtown toehold for the type of live music he has long advocated: original music and predominantly local and Texan.
“We haven’t had a physical location of ours in Waco for a long time,” Ermoian said, explaining that he and his staff closed their last studio in 2002 to focus more on the series’ road productions.
Setting up and tearing down audio equipment at each “Texas Music Cafe” concert or taping location, however, was starting to prove onerous and led the music series back to a fixed location at Nexus Esports, then to the current site at 715 Washington Ave.
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At that site, its exterior dressed up by artist Bruce Byars to suggest a television screen topped by rabbit ear antenna on the roof, “Texas Music Cafe” is launching multiple offerings for local music lovers. This week finds Austin’s Freddie Steady Krc appearing several times in Waco in those offerings.
Tuesday nights will find Record Forum, in which vinyl devotee Terry Otto spins a noteworthy album with a deep dive in the album’s music and creation. This week found Otto sharing Miles Davis’ landmark jazz album “Kind of Blue.”
Ermoian said that younger music fans raised on headphones and earbuds will find a different experience with records played on a high-quality sound system and large speakers.
Wednesdays has Artistic Expressions, a monthly interview of a musician or artist, led by Ermoian’s older brother and fellow musician Jeff Ermoian in wide-ranging discussions of music and its impact.
Jeff Ermoian will interview Krc this Friday night in an 7 p.m. Artistic Expressions interview.
Thursdays is Jonna Mae’s Kitchen, a songwriter night featuring local performers with the occasional drop-in by visiting Nashville or Austin artists.
Fridays will feature the occasional concert by touring musicians or bands with Saturday nights reserved for “Texas Music Cafe” performances and tapings.
Krc will perform a solo “Stories” session Thursday at Anthem Stories, a few blocks over at 800 Austin Ave., with a full “Texas Music Cafe” concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at the new Washington Avenue location. Ryan Paul Davis will open at 7.
Most Texas Music Cafe shows and programs will start at 7 p.m., a time Ermoian finds more suitable for families with students as well as older listeners. Some events are free while others will be ticketed.
Ermoian hopes the weekly offerings will build a following over time and give live original music a place downtown to attract listeners.