by Evan Johnson

It is easy to neglect the positive effect of the arts scene on a city like Austin. It is easy to overlook how artists in a community contribute to the quality of life and to the character of the population. Hence, it is easy to underestimate the value of their services -- even in a city that boasts on its artist community as a major part of its international public image. Austin may or may not be "The Live Music Capital of the World," but the city and its people and businesses deem music and the "hipness" it breeds as valuable and marketable facets of our economy and culture.

Comments Austin Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Goodman, "We have many very visible and valuable assets in Austin. We have one of the highest resident artist populations in the country, both performing and fine, and it's part of the reason for at least two of the names we call ourselves, 'The City of Ideas' and 'The Live Music Capital of the World.'"

Many bars feature live music every night of the week. So, in theory, a good musician can pick up work here up to seven nights a week, for fifty-two weeks, all 365 days of a year. I mean, if you are going to live in a city that promises music every single night of the year, someone out there is going to have to play it, which means that a lot of people out there are devoting much of their livelihood to "The Live Music Capital" reputation.

And it would seem that with so many opportunities for work, a good musician here could probably make an adequate living. Playing 365 days a year for, say $100 a night, provides an annual income of $36,500. But, again, that is an extreme scenario that calls for working every single night of the year, and not just on stage, but off-stage as well, hauling heavy equipment, promoting yourself around town, practicing, writing songs, etc. It means late hours, smoky bars, lots of cigarettes, binge drinking, irregular sleeping patterns and irregular family time.

And yet, according to Luniece Obst, a consultant with the SIMS Foundation (Services Invested in Musician Support), "Artists are not valued in the same way that some of us are in other professions."

What Obst is referring to is how easy it is for music patrons to underestimate the challenges and sacrifices of that high-stress lifestyle musicians often have to keep up to be a musician and make a living. Most Austin musicians keep day jobs in addition to working nights. These day jobs often do not offer benefits like health insurance or retirement or paid vacation. Meanwhile, the stresses on the body and mind can lead to depression, family problems, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc., etc., etc. It is a hard lifestyle and it takes its toll.

A good example would be Austin's own music city martyr Sims Ellison. Ellison's Austin metal band Pariah had a promising future. They had a huge (some estimate their mailing list at around 25,000 members) fan base and consistently packed Austin venues. When they signed with Geffen Records in the early '90s, many thought the band had effectively "made it." But the future was murky for metal bands at the time, and their bright shining star faded. Pariah's first album To Mock a Killingbird tanked just as the grunge movement emerged from Seattle. Geffen dropped them to concentrate on the other "next big things" (Nirvana, etc). Meanwhile, Sims Ellison was fighting an extensive battle with depression. After working the daily grind for a while at a clothing store on the drag, the youthful Sims committed suicide in 1995. For many who valued the Austin scene at the time, it was a wake-up call.

"The fact is the life that led up to his inability to cope had to do with his being in a band that was supposed to be the next big thing," says Don Harvey, an Austin drummer and co-founder and consultant for SIMS. He helped found SIMS shortly after Ellison's death. Located on Lake Austin Blvd., the organization was created to assist uninsured musicians with affordable mental health care services.

"Just like a religious group or an ethnic group," Harvey says, "the music community is a clear community. This organization was founded because of the tragic death of a member of that community. So it is a grass-roots way for musicians to help themselves. Record companies had no organization helping musicians with the problems of depression. SIMS is known as a conduit for these people to get the help they need."

Harvey's co-consultant Obst adds, "15% of the general population deals with alcohol and depression already. In this (musician) subculture the numbers are much higher just because of the stress issues and the lifestyle. One of the most wonderful things this organization does is provide access specifically for those musicians who have those stressors in mind and need support."

The ways SIMS works is fairly simple. Musicians can call their number, and within 36 to 48 hours someone will call them back to make sure they meet the criteria for assistance. If the musicians reside or work in Austin and lack mental health insurance, they are scheduled for an intake appointment.

Obst explains, "We do a very comprehensive intake. We sit down with folks for about an hour. We have a body of providers in the community who have agreed to come on board and work with us for a minimal amount of their normal hourly wage. With those providers, we have an understanding of their competency and can effectively and efficiently match them up with our clients. We give our clients a couple of names on our referral list, and the clients are able to call these people to see if this person is right for them. Then, they move into therapy and have twelve sessions with a provider through SIMS. They have a very minimal co-pay of $10 and then we pay the provider the agreed amount."

And, Obst emphasizes that participation in SIMS is completely anonymous.

SIMS has taken some public scrutiny and bad press over the last year, perhaps the result of growing pains in the organization. Complaints about imprompt callbacks, disorganization and a lack of adequate services have forced the organization into a restructuring process. But the organization has responded to its criticism. They have brought on new board members. They brought on both Harvey, a long-time Austin musician, and Obst, an experienced nonprofits consultant, fundraiser and mental health practitioner, as interim leaders.

Under Harvey and Obst, SIMS has a new program in the works called "A Day in the life." Through this program, SIMS is trying to recruit all businesses that make revenue from the music industry to adopt a day of the year from which to donate proceeds to the organization.

Says Obst, "We are trying to work with companies where musicians add value to their store."

SIMS is also in the process of building up its referral list to more adequately match its musicians with its providers. It is developing an annual signature fundraising event, and a newsletter is currently in the works as well. The SIMS website is up and running and is being developed as a cost-effective way of publicizing the organization and its upcoming events to provide information on mental health problems for artists and to stay in touch with its community of musicians, families, donors and providers.

"We are also stepping up to a lot more sophisticated ways to collaborate with the community for fundraising and to bring in better community partnerships," says Obst.

SIMS's most generous community partner has been Austin radio station KGSR 107.1, which has donated the proceeds from its popular live broadcasts CDs to SIMS for the last five years.

KGSR's Jody Denberg, who produces the CDs, says, "We had donated the proceeds to various organizations before, like Austin Child Advocacy and MusicCares, which is a national organization that also offers health care to musicians. But when SIMS arose it seemed like the perfect opportunity to keep the money in Austin and focus on local musicians instead."

Another regular supporter has been the new Austin Hard Rock Cafe on Sixth Street. The Hard Rock holds a SIMS Jam every Wednesday at 9:30. The event is hosted by David Holt and the Violet Crown Jewels and features a different guest star every week.

Says Hard Rock manager Steve Quiroz, "We got familiar with SIMS when we came in and started looking to support local music. Local musicians brought up SIMS and explained to us what it was for. We figured, being the Hard Rock, we always want to help support music."

Quiroz estimates the jams bring in about $500 in proceeds weekly for SIMS.

Says Harvey, "Hard Rock has really stepped up to the plate. It's the heart of the people that work there. They realize that this is a value to the community."

But perhaps the most effective -- and necessary -- community support has come from mental health care providers.

"There are a lot of dedicated providers with loyalties to the organization," Obst explains. "And I don't think they get the credit they deserve. Every provider is working for a fourth of what the normally make. They are very loyal to their clients.

"I am just hoping the community realizes how vicariously these musicians touch their lives on a regular basis. We believe these musicians bring a certain quality of life to Austin, and the value they bring means that as a community we need to support them."

Harvey adds, "It's really important to get the message out to those in the community who enjoy it, the fans, the Convention and Visitors Bureau that tags this as "The Live Music Capital of the World," all organizations that invite attendees to come to the Convention Center, people who are hiring from out of state and telling prospective employees about the great music scene here."

That brings us back around to "The Live Music Capital" thing. The City of Austin uses its musician population to advance its image and that is just what those musicians inevitably do. The music business and music-related businesses, such as bars and restaurants and hotels, bring in a surprisingly large amount of tax revenue each year that can be directly attributed to Austin's musical character and attractions, like SXSW.

Kevin Conner, chairman of the Austin Music Commission, explains how the music industry plays into the Austin's economy. "The city takes an interest in promoting businesses that provide jobs and tax revenue. With the economic feasibility study we recommended last year, it said that music industry and related businesses contributed over $600 million in the last fiscal year to the Austin economy. The same study pointed out that other businesses, especially in the tech industry, have said that music is the reason they moved here. The unfortunate by-product is that when we have had the boom years and tech people were moving in and rents were going up, it was kind of forcing our starving artists, so to speak, out of the central part of the city."

Harvey agrees. "I spent twenty-something years as a touring drummer. Fourteen of those year in Austin. It is more difficult today than it was 15 years ago. It is more expensive to live here, so the stress of being a musician is higher now."

So what is the city's responsibility to the musician population of "The Live Music Capital of the World," to those who work the front line for that $600 million dollars in revenue?

Says Conner, "The city has a responsibility here to give every consideration to the industry that it uses to boast itself as 'The Live Music Capital of the World.' A lot of people think that's a buzz phrase the city doesn't need to have anymore, but as long as they do they are going to have to live up to it."

Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Goodman agrees. "I think our responsibility to musicians is very important and should be as tangible for them as we're able to make it. The artistic element we have in Austin goes hand in hand with the intellectual richness that is visible in technology. So to acknowledge one and not the other is, to me, ignoring the same characteristics for one that you celebrate in the other.

"I think if we're interested in the sustainability of this city and in attracting and retaining the type of thinkers, artists and inventors that serve us...we need to strategically support them for an expanded and enhanced future that should include the diversity of large and potentially lucrative industries like film and music and whatever new frontiers and opportunities for art and technology we'll reach for in this century.

"We are a high tech and international contact center. We are 'The River City.' We are 'The City of Ideas.' And we are 'The Live Music Capital of the World.' We're very lucky to be all that and more, and we need to work to keep it all and stay this lucky."

It is impossible to pinpoint exactly what state of mind or mental health Austin's musicians are in at any given moment. It is also hard to estimate just how much SIMS has helped Austin's musicians. Harvey and Obst estimate SIMS has provided services valued at over a million dollars and has helped "thousands" of musicians since it started in the mid-90's, just before the Internet boom, just before the high tech companies and the droves of their employees started coming in.

Austin is still a cool place to be, but it carries a responsibility, for all of us, to decide what Austin will be like now and in the future, what the scene will be like, who is tolerated and tolerable and how well the arts and scene builders/city builders are supported as opposed to, say, the Intels.

SIMS is a part of Austin that not only supports those musicians but also takes care of them as well. It is a preservation society and should be noted for its efforts to service Austin's arts population. You can support SIMS and Austin music by coming out on Wednesday nights to the Hard Rock Cafe at 9:30 or by just going anywhere live music breathes to drink a beer or put a dollar in the tip jar. Keep Austin Weird.