If you live in North Texas, native or transplant, chances are this has happened to you. Cool, coastal friends will chide, "There's only one city in Texas worth living in and that's Austin." Similarly, your Austin amigos radiate a haughty hipness that seems to come as a side order with their Torchy's tacos.
Certainly, every indie musician in the state has at one time or another been asked, "So, when are you moving to Austin?"
You think, yeah, Austin's cool and all but I will not be memserized and lured to this sunburned Seattle.
Now, you -- or at least your T-shirt -- can have the last word. Houston musician Craig Kinsey, singer-guitarist with Sideshow Tramps, is marketing a shirt that says this in emphatically large type: "I'm not moving to Austin."
"Houston has had a series of musicians leave and move to Austin, LA, Nashville and forget their hometown is what got them their original popularity," says Sarah Gregory, who works for Zenhill Records, Kinsey's record label. "It's a loyalty statement really."
While the concept might have been born in North Texas' cross-state rival, there's no reason that those of us in the Metroplex can't partake in the party. After all, your Fort Worth-inspired "Life's Too Short to Live in Dallas" or your "Keep Dallas Fabulous" shirts are probably a bit frayed at this point.
Shirts, in either black or white, are $15 plus postage. Sizes are small to 2XL (men's) and small to XL (women's). E-mail Sarah@zenhillrecords.com to place an order.
Of course, if you wear it in Austin, expect to be chased down Congress by a speeding food truck and the members of Spoon. You have been warned.
