Archived from Monday, March 16, 2009
Austin City Limits will begin taping its 35th season of stellar live musical performances with producer Terry Lickona at the helm. Lickona answers your questions live from South By Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas.
Archived Chat
Welcome to our live chat with ACL producer Terry Lickona!
Jeannie:
Why did the music scene pop up in Austin? It seems like an unlikely place.
Terry Lickona:
Austin has been called a lot of things over the years - an oasis, a crossroads, a melting pot. I think a LOT of it has to do with the University of Texas, which is like a city unto itself with 50,000 students. Combine that population with the almost year-round mild weather and you have a prescription for a music scene! Beyond that, there are so many different ethnic and cultural groups represented in Austin that it created a natural blending of many different musical styles.
Kevin, Takoma Park, MD:
Any thought to trying to capture the performances at the festival for broadcast?
Terry Lickona:
Actually during the second or third year of the ACL Festival, we DID record a couple of the main performnances - namely, Sheryl Crow and Trey Anastasio. We found out the hard way that it's a lot more difficult shooting performances on an outdoor stage in the 99 degree heat as opposed to inside our air-conditioned studio. We had many technical problems and the sound was not nearly as good. Not to mention the extra cost involved. To make a long story short, we decided that it makes more sense to get the artists and bands who are performing AT the Fest to hang around for an extra day or two and come to the studio to tape shows. That plan has worked out very well, and we'll have some EXCITING shows to shoot for this year's coming Fest (but their names are secret for now.... ;-)
Jean:
Which artist has presented the biggest demands, or had the largest personality of all the shows you've overseen?
Terry Lickona:
The name Hank Williams Jr. is the first one that comes to mind. He obviously had no desire to be there and quickly announced that he HATED doing television. Of course, that was my first year as producer, so I was probably more easily shaken up by stuff like that. Let's put it this way - EVERY artist has their quirks and idiosyncracies, or else they wouldn't be artists! Beck was an interesting case just a few years ago. He's very picky when it comes to food and strange smells, so when he checked into the hotel he immediately smelled something "chemically" in his room and insisted on moving to another hotel. The manager later traced the source of the smell to a bar of SOAP in the bathroom. That being said, we LOVE Beck so we were happy to (try) to make him happy. Generally artists are on their best behavior when they come to tape Austin city Limits, though - they're just happy to be there!!
@cunningpike:
Any plans to issue ACL as a podcast?
Terry Lickona:
We've spent most of the last year upgrading our website - and you'll be able to see the results yourself in the next couple of weeks when we officially launch. We'll eventually have videos - full-length songs - from every show we've ever done (going back over 35 years). As for podcasts, it's inevitable that we WILL make them available, but I can't say when just yet. Part of the problem has to do with getting all the necessary clearances and permissions from the artists and their record labels, but I promise we'll do it as soon as we can.
Vince, Washington, D.C.:
Any chance of straying from mainstream music and giving new artists a chance to show their stuff? Maybe even on the ACL website?
Terry Lickona:
Hmmm...your question makes me wonder how often you watch our show! It's been a big part of our history for 35 years to showcase NEW music and up-and-coming artists, and I think our show features more new music than ANY other music program on television. Maybe it depends on your definition of "mainstream" music, but in just the last year or two alone we've done shows with Sufjan Stevens, Bettye LaVette, Iron & Wine, Ryan Bingham, Duffy, Expositions in the Sky, Ghosland Observatory, and many more. Submit some ideas to our website if you have somebody special in mind - we love to hear about artists we don't know!!
Linda, Chicago, IL:
Do you decide what artists you want on the show and pursue them, or do they (or their agents) pitch themselves to you?
Terry Lickona:
It works both ways - sometimes I get PILES of packages in the mail (yes, snail mail) of CD's from people wanting to be on the show. But I also hound booking agents, record label publicists and artist managers constantly trying to get them on the show. The headline acts are the hardest to book, obviously, and a lot of times it just depends on their schedules and whether they're on tour or have a new CD out.
Kevin, Takoma Park, MD:
Are rights issues a serious problem in terms of producing the show?
Terry Lickona:
Fortunately, rights issues are NO problem when it comes to Austin City Limits on PBS! Believe it or not, we pay every artist about $500 in scale - that's it! - and we don't have to negotiate for music clearances. HOWEVER, whenever we try to do anything else with the footage from the TV show, we do run into all kinds of rights challenges. We have released DVD's and CD's from the show, but it takes time to get those clearances. The thing we have working in our favor is that the artists LOVE to do our show, so they are generally cooperative when it comes to giving us permission. The record labels, on the other hand, are NOT always so generous - but they have lots of problems on their own these days.
larissa, jackson, miss:
Have you always been a part of PBS? How did the show come about?
Terry Lickona:
Yep, we've been on PBS ever since the very beginning, in 1975. Willie Nelson did the very first episode when he was 39 years old (that says something about how long the show has been around!!). It started as a music show specifically for Austin and Texas artists, but after about 2-3 years we realized we were starting to repeat the same acts, so we decided it was time to "stretch the limits" and book music from beyond Texas. Today there are NO limits, and we feature music from all over the world, and all kinds of genres. Funny thing is that some people STILL think of ACL as a country music program.
george, austin:
when will the show move into its new studio and what will change after the move? seating capacity? ticket giveaway? free beer?
Terry Lickona:
Our new studio is being built as we speak, but it's going to take another two years before we actually move in. We've spent two years working with designers to make sure we don't ruin the VIBE that we've perfected after 35 years. That being said, the capacity will increase significantly - especially when the studio is used as a live music venue. The actual size of the studio will be exactly the same as it is now, but it will have TWO additional levels so that we can increase the capacity to up to 2,500...but we can also keep it small and intimate if we want to, depending on the act. We haven't decided how we'll allocate tickets, and I HOPE we can continue the free beer policy - that's one of the "secrets" of ACL's success all these years. We always have a happy, enthusiastic audience when there's free beer!!
Charlie, Brooklyn, NY:
What bands do you predict will become big after SXSW this year?
Terry Lickona:
HA! You might as well have asked me when would be a good time to invest in the stock market again! If I knew the answer to that question, I would be a genius (and a lot richer). It's impossible to predict, but I've seen so many artists who've come to SXSW over the years who were virtual unknowns when they first performed here (including Norah Jones when I saw her play in a room over a local Indian restaurant). Check back with me in a week - AFTER SXSW - and I can tell you who I thought was great and destined for success!
Katie:
Do you read any music blogs or magazines to stay up to date? If so, which ones?
Terry Lickona:
I'm a little more old school when it comes to reading blogs or magazines...in other words, I tend to read mags like Rolling Stone or Paste or "industry trades" like Hits or Billboard. But I have two associate producers who spend much of their waking hours keeping up with everything on the net when it comes to music...so if I miss anything they're sure to let me know. We have a great team of producers with a cool diversity of musical tastes so we pretty much keep up with whatever's going on out there.
William, Washington DC:
Do you get any requests or you have you sought out any hip hop artists to perform on ACL? thanks!
Terry Lickona:
LIke I said earlier, we are definitely into "stretching the limits" these days and as far as I'm concerned, "ANYTHING GOES" when it comes to music. One of the challenges with hip-hop, of course, is language, and PBS is a little more conservative than cable channels, and generally the FCC-inspired climate over the last 8 years has been discouraging to free speech on broadcast television. So if we can come up with the right act, we'd love to take the leap forward with modern hip-hop. I tried to book The Roots a couple years ago, but they cancelled at the last minute. Also tried Erykah Badu last year, and SHE cancelled at the last minute! Are they trying to tell us something??? We'll keep trying...send in some suggestions.
Lou, Arlington, VA:
If you could have any artist on the show -- dead or alive -- who would it be and why?
Terry Lickona:
Dead OR alive?? LOL...nobody has ever quite put the question that way. In the non-living category, I'd have to say that HANK WILLIAMS (the original, not Jr.) would be right up there. Among the living, the obvious names missing from our 35-year history include Springsteen and Dylan...not for lack of trying...but I've never been able to break the ice. There are so many classic acts, too numerous to mention, but it was a thrill last year to have REM on our stage, and we're looking forward to another breakthrough this year with Pear Jam...but don't tell anybody... ;-)
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Starred (*) questions have been edited by PBS editors for brevity and/or clarity. The original, unedited question can be found to the right under Audience Questions.
tower of power
have they been on? if not, will they be?
I have been for the better part of your history.
Ray Davies on Austin City Limits Show
It is Saturday, March 21st, and I just finished looking at the Austin City Limits Show on the PBS Channel in Houston. A question that has intrigued me for years is the song on Ray Davies(the Kinks) Album ... "Something Else"....which is called "HARRY RAG"....who or what is the harry rag????...just what does he mean by that song?? Please....Mr. Lickona...explain the meaning of title and song. THANKS !!
Harry Rag refers to a
Harry Rag refers to a cigarette. That is what they sometimes called them in England, it is a slang name
Road to Recovery Song
Hello Terry,
I received your name from Glenda Facemire and she gave me your mailing address to send you a demo of the Road to Recovery song that I co-wrote as a tribute to our returning wounded soldiers from war. My hope is that Brad Paisley or someone of his style and popularity would record the song and appreciate your viewpoint as to the songs possibilities with a major artist.
I'm contacting you via this site to see if you would allow me to send the song to you via mp3 file instead of mailing it?
I look forward to your reply and appreciate your consideration.
Sincerely,
Diana D'Itri
866-284-3020 ex. 4
leanord cohen
Is it possible to obtain a cd or dvd of the 1993 Leaniord Cohen Austin City Limits concert?
If so, how.
hey terry how do you go about
hey terry
how do you go about picking a new group to play the show for their first time? im trying to learn about how to get my fusion jazz jamband on the scene in austin. thanks for your time! - jimmy epp
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