After graduation in 1963, he decided to tempt fate and stay in-state, attending Monterey Peninsula Junior College. Learn More. Former baseball star Kelly Gruber and realtor wife Tosca owned La Zona Rosa for awhile, but it continued to lose money until OConnor took over in 1997. Has Alejandro Escovedo ever sounded better than on the Sunday nights that closed SXSW? The Austin Music Hall was repossesssed in 2012 by OmniBank, which lent OConnor the money for the razing and rebuilding. The only way for promoters to make real money is on ancillary goods and services: alcohol, food, a percentage of a band's merchandising, and ticket fees. "Better yet, I told them I'd put on every poster and ad, 'Plenty of free camping in beautiful Travis Heights.' While he's used venues like the Mercury and Antone's to stage larger shows in the off-season, he also runs the risk those clubs will eventually cut him out of the deal. On those nights it was a listening room. He brought a level of professionalism to local concert promotion previously unseen, not to mention a wealth of shows unlike anything Austin had ever experienced. O'Connor may have entered the Nineties knee-deep in debt to the IRS, but at least the Eighties were behind him. "It's tough to build momentum as an independent anymore," explains O'Connor. The tale of Tim O'Connor starts with a Baby Doe born in Great Bend, Kansas. It was there in the former Chequered Flag folk club on Lavaca, that OConnor met new Austin resident Willie Nelson. Twitter). Strength in numbers now meant they weren't bidding against each other, so the only venue Pace could book without working with the newly formed collective was the Erwin Center. APA! Your entry has exceeded the maximum character limit. If Bobo the Elephant wasn't message enough, O'Connor told a neighborhood meeting that if they didn't back off, he'd host Nelson's annual Fourth of July picnic in the Opera House parking lot and aim the speakers at their houses. Copyright 2003 - 23 J.E. In the Opera House days, O'Connor cut his costs and launched a successful business with Brad Meyer by starting Star Tickets; they not only made money selling tickets for other venues, but they were able to keep the money from the Opera House in-house and available. Berating the singer for letting his encore be overrun, O'Connor began yelling. APA! He was born on June 14, 1983, in Santa Rosa, California. Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. I stuck around Willie like bad penny.". Individuals can donate to APA! "It wasn't by design, but it worked out that way.". Once again, the good times didn't last -- local authorities asked him to leave town. Moving into Michael Martin Murphy's house on 54th across from the DPS and forging fast friendships with musicians like Jerry Jeff Walker and Jimmy Buffet, O'Connor quickly made Castle Creek's bookings competitive. When the lease ran out on the other half in 2008, the Backyard closed and work soon-after started on a bigger, better Backyard about a mile west on TX 71, on land bought by billionaire John Paul DeJoria. He wound up in Houston, diagnosed with cancer. O'Connor recalls that only one friend, Texicalli Grille's Danny Young, believed it would work. He knew he'd been sick for some time, but blamed it on exhaustion. Nelson repeated. Audiences were either pin-drop quiet or bouncing off the walls. That would be good enough for me.". "Tim and Willie were an odd couple," says Arlyn's Freddy Fletcher, Nelson's nephew. And yet, Attal says he's not waiting in the parking lot for O'Connor to show up with the paperwork. O'Connor's contract with one of the country's largest promoters is due to expire in December. Free of drugs and alcohol since 1988, Tim was addicted to the concert game, the work, the risk/reward rush, which eventually led to a slew of lawsuits and a 2013 bankruptcy. "I wanted a fight.". "That wasn't the bottom line with Tim, though. Charles "Charlie" M. McLemore 81, passed away Tuesday February 21, 2023. Besides being Willie Nelsons promoter and business partner since the second Fourth of July Picnic in 74, OConnor ran the Austin Opera House for 13 years, then founded Direct Events in the 90s, owning and operating such successful venues as the Backyard, Austin Music Hall and La Zona Rosa. What do you want me to be?". and formed what later became known as the Ivory Tower collective. Was it a case of O'Connor keeping his enemies close? Help tell the story of your loved ones unique life. Its a job for a streetfighter mentality and that was Tim. As Austin's most successful concert promoter, O'Connor has earned and lost several fortunes, ridden deals to the edge of bankruptcy, and played chicken with the IRS since his arrival in town during the early Seventies. After Travis Heights homeowners blamed him for cigarette butts left nearby, O'Connor found a commercially zoned lot that bordered the neighborhood and briefly put in a petting zoo. While it's a poorly kept secret that Attal and his partners are entertaining offers to sell Stubb's, O'Connor's retirement is more likely the deal breaker. During his career he was Sr. TRAPRS has been taking care of Bobbie Nelson and Yoyo Nelson over the past few weeks, arranging the dogs boarding, rehabilitation and training. Tim, an avid music lover and skilled audio Forecast: Severe storms possible Thursday, KVUE remembers the 2018 Austin bombings, 5 years later, Timeline: Severe storms possible on Thursday, Austin Pets Alive! In Colorado, O'Connor was offered a deal for a restaurant/bar/apartment combo along I-70, in the mountains not far from Winter Park. "Do I want to try and change my image? I've made some mistakes and enemies, but the other side is I hope I've made some friends and made a little bit of difference in the presentation and the quality of music that comes to Austin. you are the only one i can imagine to put all this into words of love and reality and yesteryear succinctly and soufully. "When Willie and I needed to deal with banks, we'd be sure to pull up in front with the bus," explains O'Connor. Tim O'Connor's association with Willie Nelson has yielded lots of similarly colorful tales over the ensuing decades, but they're a small part of his story. During the same period, he rented Laguna Beach High's gym for $50 and threw a concert featuring a semi-popular local band. Help tell the story of your loved ones unique life. By the time the problem got to him, his job was to play the heavy.". Of course, I didn't really go anywhere. "Every other time we'd get behind in taxes or I'd miscalculate someway, I'd call Willie and he'd come in and play five dates. Better yet, while studying the plots they'd just bought, O'Connor found an additional 13 lots they'd inherited through a sale the bank hadn't covered in the mortgage. "Winters are fairly cold in Colorado, so it became a strong collection approach.". Let others know about your loved one's death. Today, he owns three of the city's most popular venues: La Zona Rosa, the Austin Music Hall, and the Backyard. Defense from what? cover story that year. I met Tim the very first morning I spent in Austin on July 14, 1972, in front of a small folk club he owned called Castle Creek. to help find a new home for them. Obituary. By all means necessary. Charlie is preceded in death by his parents Felix Durward . When OConnor bought the building at 208 Nueces in Sept. 1994, the Austin Music Hall was its fourth venue that year. One of OConnors rules was that you cant trust someone who doesnt love dogs. "We had the town in a headlock," Ramsey says. Even so, merely owning La Zona added value to Direct Events. To send a flower arrangement or to plant trees in memory of With over 1,900 locations, Dignity Memorial providers proudly serve over 375,000 families a year. "I got to know an immense amount of people really well," he says. In the press release, APA! Timothy J. O'Connor, 78, of Mentor-on-the-Lake, passed away Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021, at his residence. Although O'Connor believed he could build a venue that reflected "Old Austin," his venue was at least 15 minutes away from downtown. That's rarely the case.". Unfortunately, O'Connor almost didn't get an opportunity to use his new Rolodex entries. Unfortunately, before he could think on it harder, a night of drinking in Carmel led to another arrest; police picked up O'Connor and his buddies after neighbors reported having seen them prying at a metal cage in front of the local liquor store. The venue was charmed from the start, with Leonard Cohen, Jimmy Cliff, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Everly Brothers, Little Feat, the Allman Brothers and a Willie Nelson Fourth of July Picnic that first summer. What started as benefit concerts for local Native Americans grew into something far bigger: star-studded concerts pairing artists with causes. They did. i'm holding the 25 year chip tim gave me when we both hit 25 years. But it's time to clear the air and say the driving force I have at this point is merely wanting to grow old gracefully. We're not bidding shows up 30-40% anymore.". His warning shot ended up going through a mobile recording trailer on the street and hitting the leg of a Columbia Records executive inside. At one point, it wasn't unusual for booking agents working the local market to get 40% more than their asking price after compiling competing bids from Direct Events, Liberty Lunch, and Stubb's. There was other drama as well: He'd been caught attempting to steal a WWI cannon from the town post office. Meanwhile, Backyard at Bee Cave is a development moving forward with plans to open a 3,500-capacity Live Oak Amphitheater in 2024. He was born in Clinton County, Missouri, Nov . It's not about the extra dollar. In any scenario, Jones and Attal say it would only take a drive to their office to unload the lease to the Austin Music Hall. "I always wanted to sit behind my desk and be able to tell some artist that had me pulling all the red M&M's out of the bag that he'd never play in this town again.". Mostly, the Opera House's vibe was supplied by Nelson's entourage, a constant presence at the door, in the crowd, backstage. On deadline. He is preceded in death by his brother, Thomas OConnor, his foster-father, Billy Bowden and step mother, Kay OConnor. Although O'Connor admits there's still "conversations at different levels" about how the deal might be salvaged, he says a group of well-financed smaller promoters could perhaps team up to purchase the Backyard. Send a note, share a story or upload a photo. "It took until I lived there to understand how unique the city is. It started with a love of music.James Timothy OConnor, his adopted name, came to Austin in 1972 to open Castle Creek with his Colorado buddy Doug Moyes. Travis Heights wouldn't be free of O'Connor until 1990. Copyright 1981-2023 Austin Chronicle Corp. All rights reserved. "My relationships are based on the old way of doing business, where theirs are on a new, more aggressive, streamlined, let's-buy-the-tour or region approach. to rescue the dogs. Hauser, meanwhile, who'd brought most of the group together, had left early on to start up the successful FreedomFest franchise. I felt lost, without a home, he told Chris Riemenschneider of the Statesman in 1996. With Nelson's own tax problems, O'Connor didn't have time to implement his traditional Plan B and wound up selling the Opera House at a "fire-sale" price. The Dignity Memorial brand name is used to identify a network of licensed funeral, cremation and cemetery providers that include affiliates of Service Corporation International, 1929 Allen Parkway, Houston, Texas. "Eddie Wilson pretty much had a headlock on the city," says Jim Ramsey, a local concert promoter who often rented the Opera House from O'Connor. "I thought that was the way it was done, but Ms. Martinez at the IRS totally disagreed with my position," says O'Connor of the six-figure penalties he accrued. "The first chance he had back in Austin, he fired me," reveals O'Connor. "While his was a closed shop, you could walk into the Opera House, cut a deal, and get your feet wet as a promoter. "You have to create a niche that's so protected and specialized that it doesn't draw too much attention. The last act to play La Zona Rosa under OConnors ownership was Prince at SXSW 2013. It didn't, and at 22, he moved to Colorado while his family left for Atlanta. Timothy Joseph (Tim) O'Connor, 53, of Toms River, NJ, passed away peacefully at home on December 26, 2022, after bravely battling cancer. Timothy worked for Kimbrell Farms for ten years as a service tech. He's equal parts Tony Soprano and Bill Graham. "I cleared a few hundred bucks easy," O'Connor says. Timothy David Scott O'Connor On Friday September 30, 2022, Timothy O'Connor passed away at the age of 39. Austin Owen O'Connor, 66 of Loogootee, was called home at 9:33 a.m. Friday, December 4, 2020 at Loogootee Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center. APA! Because if you're detected and manage to pierce the bottom of that larger national company's canopy, they're going to come after you.". To share your memories of Tom, please visit www.cookwaldenchapelofthehills.com. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this . That O'Connor quickly became known as the best "operator" in town paid off quickly. ESPN analysts say Urban Meyer should be fired for viral dancing video, Police say former NASCAR driver attacked ex-wife with hatchet before being shot, Dallas-area mother rents billboard next to AT&T Stadium to raise awareness about fake pills laced with fentanyl, 8 state propositions will be on the ballot this Election Day. Age 81. He loved all of his family and the times they spent together. He saw the acts being booked at the Creek- John Prine, Guy Clark, Steve Goodman, Steve Fromholz, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, etc.- and knew his songs were right for the room. He was surrounded by family and friends. Before moving to California, he lived on an island in the middle of Glen Wild Lake, located in Bloomingdale, New Jersey, 30 miles from Manhattan. The promoter shouldve retired in 2001, a move he contemplated in an. I certainly didnt have a problem with the acoustics when I saw incredible shows there by Bob Dylan, P!nk, John Fogerty, Oasis, Devo and many more. On others, it was a place for hell raising, hooting and hollering.". It's obvious that you get economy of scale working with them.". It just so happened it was my stray bullet.". "Have I done it all by myself? It's a move that gives Attal year-round booking clout and has already resulted in both La Zona Rosa and Stubb's paying lower prices for shows. Not only would the building at 200 Academy provide them with a 56,000 square-foot main building, the two would also be buying 218 apartments in 17 different buildings, stretching from the corner of the Travis Heights neighborhood to South Congress. One time I played steel with Milton Carrol in Albuquerque we opened the show for Willie,Tim O'Connor promised me a ride home to Austinwe got a couple of miles outside of Lubbock in Tim's bigass Lincoln when we ran out of gas.Tim gets on the Cb and finds a woman at a base station who gets in touch with her brother in law who happens to own a gas station"this was at 5:00a.m.,A guy shows up with a gas can starts the Lincoln we follow him to his gas station"did I mention its a blizzard outThe guy opens the gas station we fill up,Tim pays him and then tried to give him a fifty dollar tip,The guy said no way be safe.One time Maria Mauldaur played at the Armadillo world Mike Finnegan was on Hammond Organ a d was sporting a black eye,Tim told me that He was in the golden gloves with Finnegan when they were kids and it must've been a bad dude who gave Mike the shiner,Turned out it was Maria's gal background singer who hauled off and hit Finnegan,They yucked it up.Godspeed Tim O'Conner. After significant renovations, he lost nearly $140,000 its opening year and half that its second. "Obviously, there's already a pattern developing," smiles O'Connor. What O'Connor didn't know was they'd since befriended another fledgling band, Buffalo Springfield, and as word of the two bands' association spread, the show sold out on the belief Stephen Stills and company would show up to jam. He is survived by his wife, Beverly, of Austin; son Michael OConnor of Houston; Olive OConnor of Houston; daughter, Loraine Moulder and husband Jim of Cedar Park; three grandsons, Brian Poolman of Austin, TX; Daniel Poolman of Austin/Houston; Sean Poolman of San Marcos, TX; Granddaughter, Melanie Diggins, Great-Granddaughters Adrienne Diggins and Alix OQuinn; a brother, Donald OConnor ( Helen), of Plattsburg, MO; four sisters, Loretta Broderick (Tom), Plattsburg, MO, Juanita Thornton (Jim), Liberty, MO; Charlene Swope (Emerson) of Joplin, MO, Peggy Evans (John) of Smithville, MO; twelve nieces and nephews, all of Missouri, and several cousins, living in the Midwest.. Burial will follow in Assumption Cemetery. When Attal was paying for his own meet-and-greet trips to the coasts, Jones was meeting agents on O'Connor's dime. This was one of those nights. That wouldnt last long. ", Several months later, the landlord offered him the chance to do just that; after tearing down the wall O'Connor opened the Austin Music Hall with a sign that said "Phase 1. While at the San Francisco airport, after making it out of Japan without sparking an international incident, O'Connor and Nelson discussed opening a club together. A year earlier, in Nov. 2007, a rebuilt, 4,400-capacity Austin Music Hall debuted to bad reviews over the sound, which was always the bitch about 208 Nueces. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. "What do I want you to be?" He was born on May 19, 1954 to the late Ernest Joseph and Rose Mary (Smith) O'Connor. Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. The Backyard at Bee Cave, with its live oaks and star-speckled sky, was OConnors crown jewel. That facsimile of the original Backyard was not what Tim Whats Next? OConnor had in mind for his legacy venue. "I'm open to the possibility we can do something collectively that we can't on our own -- to protect the Austin market," reasons O'Connor. He left behind his pack of dogs. exceeds goal to save at-risk pups. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www . Find an obituary, get service details, leave condolence messages or send flowers or gifts in memory of a loved one. It wasnt a bad wound and OConnor wasnt charged, but he had to tell his boss what went down. "Not controlling your own destiny is a distinct disadvantage," says O'Connor. What it boiled down to was simple: the collective could pool connections and resources to produce bigger and better shows with more frequency then they could on their own. And yet, his primary obstacle has been not being able to buy large shows year-round. Comfort the family with flowers or a sympathy gift. Indeed, says Steve Hauser, if you're looking for O'Connor's legacy, look toward his lack of patience for part-timers and carpetbaggers. "Instead of coming to work with machetes, we tried a pencil and pad. Bobbie "Cole" O Connor, age 73, of Austin, lost her courageous battle with cancer and left the struggles of this life on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 Bobbie was born March 9, 1933 in Manor, Texas. While both sides had worked through 98% of the differences, SFX's plan to expand the Backyard clashed with O'Connor's vision of how he wanted to leave the facility. He loved to watch him run things with the other dogs. So much so, in fact, that Attal has pried a sizable amount of shows away from Direct Events. TRAPRS helped provide boarding, rehabilitation and training for Bobbie and Yoyo. And just what might that be? On the day Tim died and they took him away, Bruiser chased the car for miles. I never heard him not paying an artist or cheating a partner. He graduated from St. Thomas High School in Houston, Texas, in 1978. "I do think it's going to work to the consumer's benefit," reasons Attal, who now shares office space with Jones. After a short stint at a Jesuit high school, he was again shipped away for discipline: this time to Kemper Military School in Booneville, Missouri. O'Connor's fuse may be longer these days, but one crossed signal could end the deal. O'Connor was left holding the market share of shows in Austin. Or maybe it's not ironic at all. Tim O'Connor, Direct Events, The Backyard, The Austin Music Hall, La Zona Rosa, Castle Creek, The Austin Opera House, Pace Concerts, SFX, Willie Nelson, Information is power. said it is asking for donations to reimburse TRAPRS for the $2,800 spent. Few salesmen in any industry deal so long with so many customers that don't know their name. Chris was preceded in death by his father Joseph L. OConnor. Kansas State University was the next institution to ask O'Connor not to return. As cryptic as his warning may be, it's notable that O'Connor also refers to his new alliance as "solidarity by design of defense." While most people don't care who owns the venues they visit, it could be argued that the one non-performer's name every Austin music fan should know is Tim O'Connor. He is survived by his . . Tim was an aircraft mechanic and was employed by UPS for over 35 years. Watching football and repairing anything that needed it were among his favorite things to do, as well as playing cards with many of their friends. Late last year, however, SFX's purchase of the Backyard was a week away from being completed when it was called off. In the mid-Eighties, Austin's most powerful promoters shared office space at 411 Barton Springs Rd. Jones started answering phones for Direct Events in 1993, and just three years later was La Zona Rosa's general manager. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFdr_xNcv9s. Or, he hints, he could wind up settling for less money to merely close the venue and sell the property outright if he can't find the right buyers. OBITUARY Maureen Margaret O'Connor . Like Lance Armstrong, OConnor just couldnt walk away from the action, and suffered the consequences. Tim recognized that better than anyone. Thanks. Timothy James O'Connor, 65, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, April 16, 2015 with his family by his side. And if you're always looking out for your town and its fans, look what happens. When my lawyer got done kicking me in the leg, that's when things really went downhill," recalls O'Connor. You have to build a base on a fixed income so if you lose it on the concert side you don't go bust.". A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austins independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the communitys political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. I'd like to think I was one of the architects of trying to make this town's concerts more professional.". 2023 SCI SHARED RESOURCES, LLC. While this cost Direct Events some independence, the contract reserved O'Connor's right to promote 140 acts on his own that he had longstanding relationships with (artists such as Willie Nelson or Little Feat.) "There was an incident in front of the Alliance Wagon Yard," states O'Connor. We were always running around trying to book as many shows as possible and were most conscious of how much money we could make. Timothy was a member of the Masonic Lodge. View The Obituary For Christopher Joseph O"Connor. and yea.the gun.timc/s, This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Although it's been mostly by his own design, the great irony of Tim O'Connor's career is that it took 30 years for his story to reach his customers -- the people of the city he loves catering to. Visitation for friends and family will be held from 6:00 pm 8:00 pm on Friday, June 2, 2006, at Wilke-Clay-Fish Funeral Home. "He's always held most of the cards, and I've always been the guy fighting to get a few of them.". Let others know about your loved one's death. He grew up in Jackson, NJ, and attended Jackson Memorial High School, followed by Belmont Abbey College . "I didn't have much fear and figured I didn't need to take much guidance from anyone else.". Tim O'Connor, longtime club owner, music entrepreneur and erstwhile promoter of Austin music, partner of Willie Nelson as a director of the famed Fourth of July picnics, has died. I may have given up a certain amount of information here or there, but my past is that nobody really knows what I'm up to. I remember certain nights with Steve Goodman or John Prine where I physically threw people out for talking. On my own, I'm doing one date, while they're buying 40. In the Seventies, he reigned over Castle Creek. Join "His Willie thing was a phenomenon," exclaims Wilson.

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