Austin Icons of the 1980s

Bill Leissner studied photography for four years in the University of Texas at Austin under Mark Goodman in a program founded by Russell Lee. He received a BA in Humanities and while in college began photographing Austin performance, politics, and social culture, accumulating an archive of 3500 rolls of 35mm film. In 2016 he began the process of digitizing his 100,000-image archive. 

This exhibit, Austin Icons of the 1980s: Selections from the Bill Leissner Photograph Collection, is the first result of these efforts – a brief selection of 16 images from his archive representing icons of 1980s Austin, at least icons through the lens of his camera. The exhibit accompanies the release of a new book from Waterloo Press, the publishing arm of the Austin History Center Association. He currently lives in Portland, OR, although his heart will always live in Austin.

More photographs by Bill Leissner can be found in the  Bill Leissner Photograph Archive  available at the Austin History Center (AR.2019.004).

Paul and Roberta Sessums built the Black Cat Lounge on 6th Street as a launching pad for new acts and blasted the music out onto 6th Street. It started as a “biker” bar but grew into a nationally known music venue (touted on VH1), featuring signature acts like Two Hoots and a Holler, Soul Hat, Chaparral, and Little Sister. 

Hubert Sumlin was a Chicago based blues guitarist, playing with Howlin’ Wolf from the 1950s to the 1970s. He influenced Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy and Stevie Ray Vaughan and others. By the ‘80s, he would come to Austin and play solo and with others at Antone’s.

Shannon Sedwick and Michael Shelton opened “Esther’s Follies” in 1977. Named after famed synchronized swimmer and actress Esther Williams, it started in the location that later became Liberty Lunch before moving to Sixth Street where it is still going strong after 40 years. Esther’s Follies is a vaudeville troupe, incorporating improvisational skits, juggling, mimes, magic, and biting social satire. This image shows Shannon and Terry Galloway performing in the skit “Jake Pratchett, Short Detective.”

At various times the Skunks included Jesse Sublett, Eddie Munoz, Jon Dee Graham, Billy Blackmon, Doug Murray, and Greg Murray. They recorded and toured, but also became a vibrant part of the live music scene in Austin, playing at Raul’s, Club Foot, and the Continental Club. 

Senator Barrientos was born in 1941 and raised outside of Bastrop. He graduated from Bastrop High and went to the University of Texas. After UT he worked as a community organizer for the National Urban League, then for Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA). Barrientos was a longtime Austin legislator, in the Texas House of Representatives from 1975 to 1985 and the Texas Senate 1985-2005. He is pictured here speaking at the South Austin Democrats Benefit at the Zilker Clubhouse.

Johnson and Pickle were stalwart Democratic icons of Austin, present together at many functions that Leissner documented. Claudia Taylor (Lady Bird) Johnson was the First Lady of the nation from 1963 to 1969, with her husband President Lyndon Johnson. Lady Bird also bought radio and television stations in Austin in the 1940s and 1950s and was a presence here the rest of her life. J.J. “Jake” Pickle served as president of the UT student body in the 1930s, then became the go-to political fixer for Governor Alan Shivers, Senator Lyndon Johnson, and Governor John Connally. In 1963 he won election to Congress, with Austin as part of his district. Jake was a friendly and revered member of the Austin community. 

Michael Malone, aka Rollo Banks, was one of the nation’s best tattoo artists and designer. He lived and practiced in California, New York, and Hawaii—and in the 1980s, came to Austin, pioneering the tattoo scene here. His wife was Margaret Moser, music critic at the Austin Chronicle, and he designed numerous covers for the publication. He is seen here drawing a full-body Godzilla tattoo on Prince Hughes.

Leissner was hired by the campaigns of “pretty much everyone who won” in his words and was the only photographer at Ann Richards’ campaign headquarters opening. He went on to shoot over 300 rolls of the campaign, from start to finish. She became an icon to women, seen as a trailblazer for other women to run for office: she was the first woman county commissioner for Travis County, the first woman State Treasurer, and the first woman to win the governorship in her own right. 

The Continental Club opened on S. Congress in 1957 as a Big Band venue before transforming into a showcase for Austin bands—retro, new Austin, alternative – as well as national acts such as this performance by T Bone Burnett. Mark Pratz and J-Net Ward ran it for a while, then Steve Wertheimer. It is now a seminal part of the SoCo scene. 

Frank Cooksey served as UT student body president then went to law school and worked for the Texas attorney general. He became an environmental lawyer and activist before winning election as Austin’s mayor, serving from 1985 to 1988. As mayor he supported the growing and vibrant music and arts scene. He is pictured here in a ceremony declaring Jesse Jackson an Austin Citizen, with Jim Hightower and Hazel Obey looking on.

The “Shakespeare of Punk,” Randy “Biscuit” Turner was a poet and the lead singer for The Big Boys, Austin’s hardcore punk band of the ‘80s. He would appear on stage in a pink tutu as the band led the crowd into a wild frenzy. 

In the 1970s, an abandoned lumberyard downtown was converted to an outdoor entertainment venue. Esther’s Follies began there, then when the troupe moved to Sixth Street, Charlie Tesar and Mark Pratz opened “Liberty Lunch” as a music venue for reggae, ska, punk, indie, country, and rock—and even showed movies. The Lunch became the go-to place for bands such as Uranium Savages, Beto and the Fairlanes, Extreme Heat, even Nirvana and Run DMC, shown here. 

Perhaps nothing else personifies the Austin cultural scene than the artists who lent their talents to producing concert/venue posters, album covers, murals, brochures, or just about anything else that needed an artists’ touch.

Joe “King” Carrasco is a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, playing with his band the Crowns. Joe “King” would come in from his Mexican or Nicaraguan home, rocking Austin with his Tex Mex and New Wave (Nuevo Wavo) music.

Big State Productions was an experimental theater company in the 1980s known best for its long running play “In the West.” Inspired by the Richard Avedon photo essay “In the American West,” the play is a series of monologues about western characters. It was performed in one venue after another across Austin over an eight year period, around Texas and even to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.