SXSW 2019 REVIEWS: Jeff Sandmann’s NOTHING STAYS THE SAME: THE STORY OF THE SAXON PUB is a gem of a film about the peril of Austin’s bars and the musicians that play there because they made the city a cool place to live
Jeff Sandmann’s NOTHING STAYS THE SAME: THE STORY OF THE SAXON PUB is a gem of a film about the peril of Austin’s bars and the musicians that play there because they made the city a cool place to live REVIEW from SXSW 2019
“Art thrives where rent is cheap.”
This simple postulation is both a seed to ponder into a great unfolding, and a final etched-in-stone epitaph. It’s the welcoming clarion call of former rustbelt cities like Detroit and Pittsburgh who have seen its drop in real estate prices convert to an influx of painters, authors and composers.
And it’s the post-mortem such metropolises as New York City and San Francisco are summarizing, as soaring cost of living has made those legendary art scenes turn into the playgrounds of the rich, squeezing all but the most successful of entertainment professionals far away from Haight Ashbury and Tin Pan Alley.
And now, edging ever closer to the epitaph side, Austin, TX is facing the same kind of transformation. Paradoxically one of the nation’s epicenters for new music – and home to the legendary SxSW Film and Music Festival – is now in danger as dying as a thriving center for rockers, country honkers and bluesmen.
As with places like Los Angeles and London whose very names evoke cultural explosions which shook up all that came after, Austin is the victim of its own success.
Real estate is out of control.
Taxes are going up.
Wealthier residents are attracted to the Texan capital and the good old days of dirt-poor guitar players making it on minimum job wages by day then hitting the stage by night to try their luck at a music career are fading.
Not only that – the venues which for so long supported the aspirations of rising musicians, providing them a platform – are also on their way out. One such venerable establishment, The Saxon Pub, is the subject of Jeff Sandmann’s feature documentary NOTHING STAYS THE SAME: THE STORY OF THE SAXON PUB
The film serves as a perfect microcosm for the problem explained above. The fate of The Saxon is the fate of many smaller venues in Austin. They are losing ground as landlords are selling out to developers of condominiums, high-rises and storefronts for national brands.
And it’s a damned shame. More than just a tale about a single nightclub, NOTHING STAYS THE SAME reveals the intimacy of the music community in the Texas town. Interviews with the owners, the artists who play there, the fans who come to hang out, and the locals who rely on this mainstay to just always be there create a picture of not just another bar in danger of closing down, but of a family that is going to be split up, with no home to go to. The sheer warmth of The Saxon’s community is felt through the screen. The audience wants these people to stay together. The audience wants these people to be able to count on continuity and keep making wonderful music. It’s not just the history of amazing acts who have graced the pub’s stage – it’s this place where artists’ dreams are kept alive and patrons’ nightmares can fade away with a few drinks and some soothing tunes.
NOTHING STAYS THE SAME is an apt title, sad and realistic as it sounds. The film seems to know how this story will end: there is a sense of inevitability throughout. But those moments are few in comparison to the celebration of the magic recorded.
There are good times, good vibes and good music.
Viewers get a feel for the pulse of the place, what makes it work inside and out. An intimate love letter to what the owner himself refers to as “a dive” in the film, the audience will end up wishing they could have been a member of this extended family, be it as a regular customer, a bar back, or one of the bands’ drummers. But alas, as we are being told from the get-go – nothing stays the same.
Bittersweet but not defeated, angry but loving, this portrayal of how evolving cityscapes can all too often carelessly trample upon gems in their wake is more than the story of one place, it’s the story of everyplace. Because every place will change.
There is an additional irony in that the premiere of this film will be at SxSW itself. In a way, the film will be born under the shovel of The Saxon Pub’s own gravedigger.
Or not.
Because no matter what happens next, it has been immortalized in this gem of a film.
Jeff Sandmann’s NOTHING STAYS THE SAME: THE STORY OF THE SAXON PUB is a gem of a film about the peril of Austin’s bars and the musicians that play there because they made the city a cool place to live REVIEW from SXSW 2019