I arrived in Austin, TX during the brief Slacker era. I was in grad school and working at a semiconductor company to pay the bills. I recall seeing Richard Linklater once a week, like clockwork, as I was heading north to get lunch at Conan’s between classes and he was headed south. We were nodding acquaintances. As we passed each other on the sidewalk, two long haired guys in shorts and t-shirts, a brief nod would pass between us. Austin was a friendly place.
Austin was coming out of the Liberty Lunch era of Willie Nelson and his hippie cowboy outlaws and a new generation dubbed Slackers was emerging. People were doing nothing and everything. Rents were cheap, so was tuition. The university and even the state government anchored things down a bit but otherwise everything seemed wide open. You could do pretty much whatever you wanted. But it was the opposite of ambition. Not that ambition was frowned upon, if that was your thing. Success might even be cool. But it was strictly optional.
London Review of Books revisits that time and place, mostly in the form of an extended music review. It must be said that there were lots of bands but very little music you would want to revisit. A good read all the same mostly for the beginning and end.
Steven A. Guccione 