The News Review:

- Unveiling — Austin Music Hall
- THRN: ne Book final event one snoozer
- Recalls make shopping difficult this holiday season

Unveiling — Austin Music Hall
Austin 360 – Austin 360 (subscription) – Nov 24, 2007
The rebooted music hall has also taken steps to mitigate the noise issues that will inevitably arrive with new downtown condos. The live music community recently panicked over a proposed lowering of the public noise levels from 85 decibels to 75 decibels a 50 percent reduction in loudness. “I’m not concerned about noise” ‘Connor said matter-of-factly noting the layers of concrete metal and R-19 sound-dampening insulation that will be between the music and the outside. He also worked in the early stages of the project with Andrews Urban the developer of the 360 Condominiums at West Third and Nueces streets essentially next to the Music Hall. “We want to be good neighbors from a sound standpoint. The old hall had significant sound bleed. In March South by Southwest clearly missed having the music hall around.

THRN: ne Book final event one snoozer
Rocky Mountain News – Nov 24, 2007
The setting couldn’t have been less warm. The auditorium’s wooden seats are so hard that interrogators might want to install them at Guantanamo Bay: Throw the prisoners on those babies and I don’t care if they’ve withstood months of waterboarding and sleep deprivation they’d start singing like myna birds. Meanwhile the stage was equally sparse containing a lone metal folding chair and two guitar amps. I found myself studying the big red M on the musty blue curtain behind the setup as if it were the Mona Lisa for lack of anything better to focus on. When Denver Poet Laureate Chris Ransick came to the podium introducing the evening’s format I knew we were in for trouble almost immediately. Arvin would read from his book – to the accompaniment of a guitarist. There would be no questions and answers afterward… I don’t know about you but there’s pretty much nothing I dread more than sitting for an hour listening to an author read his work – unless it’s someone known for his or her enthusiastic delivery or an accomplished humorist (Al Franken comes to mind). Still I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the music would pep things up. Maybe Arvin’s stellar words would seem that much more crystalline spoken by the author himself. Maybe someone would slip me some mind-altering drugs – or better yet knock me on the head with a baseball bat and I’d wake up when it was all over. Arvin took the podium the guitarist took his seat on the metal folding chair.

Recalls make shopping difficult this holiday season
Brownsville Herald – Nov 24, 2007
For nearly two decades the Hermes Music Foundation has purchased toys from China to give to boys and girls throughout the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio. But recalls of everything from Barbie dolls to bicycles made in China led the Pharr-based offshoot of Hermes Music to spend an extra $7000 to make sure the toys did not have lead-based paint or other toxic substances. Many of the Chinese-manufactured toys pulled off the shelves this year contained levels of lead that exceeded U… Public Interest Research Group released a report criticizing the government for not being vigilant in removing potentially dangerous toys from store shelves and said some of those toys remain in stores. That’s why consumer groups as well as the government are urging people to read labels to check for what age group the toy is appropriate and check recall lists. From ctober 2006 through September 61 brands — slightly more than 25 million units — of toys have been recalled. That’s up from the previous federal fiscal year — 40 brands and 5 million toys — mainly because many toys had excessive levels of lead said Arlene Flecha a spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Among the recalled toys for the 2006 fiscal year were Magnetix magnetic building sets BRI’s Pull-Along Snail Toy and Little Tikes Co. ’s animal-shaped flashlights.