Once Upon a Time Ransom Williams Crossed State Highway 45 Southwest from klru tv on Vimeo.

“Ransom Williams was probably a freed slave from the Mountain City area of central Texas. Related to some of the African American families who lived in Antioch Colony (near Buda), Williams settled his family in over 40 acres of farm land that he bought about 1871 in the Bear Creek Community (near Manchaca). For some 30 years until he passed away about 1901, he lived next-door to Daniel Labenske, whose father immigrated to the United States from Poland. (And whose great-granddaughter also appears in this package).

This was an exceptional case of an African American family living in a predominately white community, because the years following Reconstruction, the Jim Crow era, were notoriously difficult for blacks living anywhere in the land. Records discovered recently suggest that Ransom Williams (as well as one additional resident of the Bear Creek Community) was a mulatto. After researching and co-authoringFreedom Colonies, Thad Sitton came to the opinion that during this time the best place for a mixed-race African American was the end of a long, isolated road, far away from anyone else. If this be the truth, then Ransom Williams found the best place on earth. For the Williams family, it must have been a hard, rugged lifetime. Shortly after Ransom’s death, the Williams family moved into Austin and pretty much abandoned the farmstead. Ownership of the site changed hands one or two times, but remarkably it remained undisturbed until recently.

In 2003, archaeologist Sean Nash was conducting surface explorations for TXDoT in advance of the construction of State Highway 45 Southwest (still on the drawing board), and spotted an old fallen chimney. This led to further examination and research by archaeologists and historians under the antiquities act, to learn more about the origins of these ruins. Many questions remain about the Williams family and where they might have vanished to, as well as the style of the life in Antioch Colony and the Bear Creek Community.”

Hey everybody! My new CD ‘Eye of the Storm’ is coming out tomorrow, St. Patrick’s Day, here in Austin! I will be having an Release Un-Party at Bull McCabes (714 Red River). It’s an un-party because the St. Patrick’s Day party will be enough, and really this is just a place where you can come find me, hear me play some tunes on my whistle, buy my new CD and have a great time buying drinks from Bull McCabe’s awesome staff! But it’s not officially a release party.

You will find me out in the back patio area with a drink in one hand and a whistle in the other! I pllan on starting around 7:00pm till I don’t know maybe 9:00. Check my Twitter updates for any changes! I plan on having the CD up for sale on CD Baby by the end of the week and will post a link to it when I do!

Come out! Have Fun! Buy a CD, and tip the staff!!!

Oh, and I have free stickers!!!

See you there!

“Fidelity”: Don’t Divorce… from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Thursday, Feb 12, 8pm
Aces Lounge

What do we love more than having fun in our wonderful city? Having fun while making the world a better place!
On Feb 12 over 180 cities from all over the world will be hosting local parties as a part of Twestival to raise money and awareness for Charity:Water, a non-profit organization that raises money to get clean drinking water to developing nations. The Chrontourage is proud to help do our part to help those who need it most.

Twestival was started and is powered by users of the social networking site Twitter. Never used or heard of Twitter before? That is alright, you can still attend and you can still help us raise as much money for Charity:Water as possible while showing the world what a kick-ass town Austin is. The Austin Twestival will take place at Aces Lounge on Thursday, Feb 12.

This year’s event will feature:
-A live Musical performance by T-Bird & The Breaks!
-Sumo Suit Smackdown streamed live over the internet
-Raffle. One free raffle ticket comes with every entry ticket and you can choose the items you want to potentially win.
-Free Stuff! Everyone there is going to get a free Jungle Disk license to back up all their cool pics, video, and anything else on their computer. The retail value of this is $20. You will also receive a coupon for Viva Chocolato for one free gelato. Yum.
-A livestream to www.liveearth.org, which has streamed some of most well viewed livestreamed concerts in history. This site belongs to Al Gore.

Austin Twestival main page: austin.twestival.com
World Twestival page: twestival.com
Volunteer and Contributor’s page: austintwestival.pbwiki.com
Twitter users can follow:
@austintwestival
@twestival
@austinchronicle

Purchase tickets HERE!

Aces Lounge
222 E. Sixth
Austin, Texas 78701-3626