"Archiving The History of Austin" with Leea Mechling

"Prosperity doesn't always mean dollar signs. Sharing music and sharing art really expands your heart." (Leea Mechling)

Leea Mechling grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas, where her earliest music experiences ranged from Czech dance halls to an Ike & Tina Turner backstage pass at age 11. After moving to Austin to attend UT, Leea fell in with the crowd at the Armadillo World Headquarters, where she worked from 1974 until its 1980 closing. She shares vivid stories from those years: the push to get women onto the main floor bar, and Henry Gonzalez's tireless creativity building stage sets and preserving posters. After the Armadillo closed, Leea worked with Asleep at the Wheel, Gregg Allman, and Stevie Ray Vaughan before channeling her passion for Austin music history into founding the Austin Museum of Popular Culture (AusPop) in 2004. What started on two folding tables next to Planet K on South Lamar has grown into a celebrated archive and exhibition space, with partnerships at the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Wittliff Collections, and the Bob Bullock Museum. Leea sees AusPop's mission as essential in a rapidly changing Austin: not to recreate the past, but to inspire newcomers and young artists to build something authentic of their own.

Content Warning: adult themes
Content created during the global pandemic, in the room, and on Zoom.

Chapters:
01:06 - Growing up in Corpus Christi; family music influences, Czech dance halls
02:03 - First concert: Ike & Tina Turner, 1968 (with backstage passes at age 11)
03:03 - The 13th Floor Elevators connection explained
04:05 - A fake Tiger Beat press passes and crashing a band rehearsal
07:09 - "Cowboys vs. surfers": the South Texas counterculture divide
07:44 - Friends from Corpus (John Main, Ken Featherston, Houston Evans) already at UT
08:38 - Starting at the Armadillo World Headquarters (1974)
11:55 - Women at the Armadillo: the fight to work the main floor bar
12:44 - The black nightgown strategy; breaking the barrier
13:55 - Jan Beeman: the Armadillo's den mother and moral compass
15:15 - Jan Beeman charms Frank Zappa into changing his backstage demands
17:54 - Henry Gonzalez: artist, muralist, and Armadillo creative force
22:48 - Most memorable musical nights at the Armadillo
23:58 - Roy Buchanan: babysitting Ben, and heartbreak at the Armadillo's closing
26:41 - Bruce Springsteen: "a Yankee who thinks he can rock and roll"
28:46 - Post-Armadillo: life after the Dillo closes, including a job with Asleep at the Wheel
30:42 - Founding the Austin Museum of Popular Culture (2004)
31:01 - Henry's poster preservation mission starting in 1968
35:01 - AusPop's role in a rapidly changing Austin
49:54 - Collaboration with the Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville

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Guest List: Leea Mechling, Founder, Executive Director and Curator, Austin Museum of Popular Culture

Production Team:
Host, Eddie Wilson - Armadillo World Headquarters founder @Threadgills
Host, Dr. Jason Mellard - Cultural historian @jasondeanmellard
Editor, Renee O'Connor
Music Mixing, Matt Carlson @axemanguitar
Producer, Renee O'Connor @realreneeoconnor
Producer, Sandra Wilson @sandrawilson709
Executive Producer, TSSI
Music by Jake Andrews Music @jakeandrewsmusic
Production assistant, Miles Muir @miles_muir
Production consultant, Katey Psencik