Red Wassenich
James (Red) Wassenich | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | June 6, 1950 Austin, Texas |
| Died | February 28, 2020 Austin, Texas |
| Occupation | Reference librarian; adjunct lecturer; author |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | The University of Texas at Austin |
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J. P. “Red” Wassenich was a Texas native best known for coining the phrase "Keep Austin Weird", and afterwards for writing two editions of a book by that name. Red Wassenich worked as a professional librarian in New York City and Austin, Texas. He spent the bulk of his life in Austin, where for decades he championed "the odd side of life".
Early Life
James Paul Wassenich was born June 6, 1950, in Seton Hospital in Austin, Texas. He was the youngest of three boys (brothers Mark and Tom). His father Paul [1] was a Disciples of Christ minister at University Christian Church across the street from the University of Texas campus; and his mother Ruth Siegfried Wassenich [2], a librarian. In 1957 the family moved to Ft. Worth, Texas, where Dr. Wassenich had been appointed Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University (TCU). When Red was 17 years old, he was hospitalized for scoliosis and had Harrington Rod surgery. He spent 10 months in bed, with 6 months in a full-torso cast. It is said that this experience spawned in him a strong sense of irony and absurdity, partly fueled by much television watching.
Nickname
There are different versions of the story of how Red got his nickname. At that time in Texas it was common for politicians and businessmen to have nicknames, and they would be known as John “Nickname” Doe. These figures were typically pompous or in some ways comical to the youth of the time. In high school, as a parody, Red and some friends decided to assign themselves nicknames and to begin to frame their names in that formulation, and to call themselves by their nicknames. Around this time, Red went into the hospital for his long stay. The nickname joke wore off quickly for the others, but by the time Red had recovered from the surgery, he had become completely committed to his nickname, and was thereafter known as Red for the rest of his life, except rarely an early childhood friend might call him Jim. It should be noted that Red had black hair, and there is nothing red about him, which is of course part of the joke.
College Years (1968-1977)
After graduating from Paschal High School in 1968, Red and many of his friends went to The University of Texas at Austin. This was a fertile time, with hippies, music, the anti-war movement, and marijuana, combined with Austin’s very warm climate, creating an earthy and irreverent atmosphere. Among the memorable events: Red and a friend did a week-long marathon TV-watch, each day starting at sign-on at 6 a.m., until sign-off at 1 a.m. (as was in those innocent times). Under the auspices of the Church of the Coincidental Metaphor, he and friends produced “The Brother Heumann Radio Hour”, which was a 15-minute religious satire broadcast via the 100,000-watt Mexican radio station XEG; Red played the lead character Brother Heumann, a radio evangelist caricature. About the show, Rolling Stone said, “If you’re a shut-in or just a weary traveler in need of spiritual devastation, pray that you can tune in.” At another point, he and three Paschal friends all ran for Student Council President, under the slogan “Four for Texas”. They all lost. Late one night, with friends who worked in the main university library, which at that time was in the infamous Tower, they turned out all of the lights except those that formed a 15-story question mark that was visible for miles, though there is no report of anyone noticing. Red was a member of a small group called Tomato Hubris, which did very little, although it put on a double feature of Nabokov films (“Lolita” and “Laughter in the Dark”), which they advertised as “Invitation to a Double Beheading”. Red and friends published an irregular, two-sided comedic broadsheet called “The Salamander Weekly”, which they sold for a penny on the “drag” across from campus, which was a form of street theater. Red drove a VW bug; on the driver door was a sign, “Death rattle and roll”, which friends had given him. Red got his BS degree in Radio, Television, Film in 1973. He lived a “slacker” lifestyle, along with many in Austin at that time, working various jobs to get by, for example at a nursery called Honest Plants. Red eventually went to graduate school and got his Masters in Library and Information Science from the University in 1977.
New York City (1977-1984)
After finishing his MLIS, Red moved to New York City, where he worked in the library at the American Museum of Natural History 1977-81. From 1982-84 he was a copyeditor at G.P. Putnam’s Sons; for example he worked very closely with Jessica Savitch on her book Anchorwoman [3]. In 1980-81, Red and friends published “The Greenwich Mean Times”, a 4-page comedic monthly. As with the Salamander Weekly, they would hawk it on street corners and outside theaters, for 5 cents. “Everything about it is a joke, including the price.” Always preternaturally thin, he and a similarly skeletal friend were cast as cadavers in the David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve film “The Hunger”, for scenes filmed in London. (His IMDB entry for “The Hunger” is as James Wassenich.) [4] After enjoying the fruits of the Big Apple, Red moved back to Austin in 1984.
Austin (1984-2020)
Red worked as a librarian [5] at Austin Community College from 1984 to 2016, and taught information literacy at The University of Texas iSchool in 2004 and 2019-20. In 1987 he met and soon married Karen L. Pavelka, a Senior Lecturer of library and archives conservation at The University of Texas. In 2000, while making a donation to the radio station KOOP, when asked why he was donating, Red replied, “It helps keep Austin weird.” Red and Karen printed “Keep Austin Weird” bumper stickers and gave them away. They founded the website. Then someone else trademarked the phrase in order to sell tee-shirts. The Wikipedia entry for Keep Austin Weird is not very informative. A subtext of Keep Austin Weird is to support local businesses. Anti-consumerism and anti-development were a strong thread through Red’s life. For example, he repeatedly turned down promotions into managerial roles at his job. He and friend Chuck Herring successfully collaborated on a project to preserve the Cathedral of Junk in Austin, including dumping 500 gallons of water on it to prove its sturdiness. Red helped to preserve Stefanie Distefano’s El Paso Street Bridge mosaic. He and Chuck also ran a failed attempt to train rats to remove ball moss from trees.
Author
Red was a lifelong reader and writer. He published Keep Austin Weird, in 2007, and Keeping Austin Weird, in 2016, with photographs of “the odd side of town” and drolly appreciative commentary. Red published a novel, Nothing Before Something, in 2011, which is a good expression of his worldview; and a selection of 13 of his short stories over 30 years, Minimum Opus, in 2018. There were other works-in-progress at his death, including an early unfinished work with the opening line, “Vlad Vroletchev awoke to find the entire collective unconscious.” Red’s Keep Austin Weird papers are housed at the Austin History Center, and the rest of his papers will be donated there as well.
Selected Works
- Wassenich, Red. (2006). Keep Austin Weird: A Guide to the Odd Side of Town. Schiffer.[6]
- Wassenich, Red. (2011). Nothing Before Something: A Novel. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.[7]
- Wassenich, Red. (2016). Keeping Austin Weird: A Guide to the (Still) Odd Side of Town. Schiffer.[8]
- Wassenich, Red. (2018). Minimum Opus: Short Stories. Independently published.[9]
Religion
He had none, other than – as with everything else – as a source of humor. For example, as a lad, together with his brother Tom, they attached a label to a picture of The Last Supper, with an arrow pointing to Judas and the words, “He did it.”
Personal Life
Red maintained lifelong friendships with several fellow 1968 graduates of Paschal High School; this group includes a number of unusual and extraordinary people. Red’s first marriage was to his cat Lola, in 1980; a soprano opera singer friend sang the 1902 wedding song “Because”, in an informal ceremony attended by a dozen friends and no family. After Lola’s death, Red married Karen Pavelka. Karen and Red lived in the historic Clarksville neighborhood of Austin, together with a succession of rescue dogs and a variety of cats. Red had many friends. Red was a literature devotee, especially Vladimir Nabokov; and he particularly liked the band the Kinks. Red was a baseball fan and enjoyed playing golf. Red’s politics were resolutely left-wing. He and Karen were staunchly opposed to the University of Texas football team and the massive resources it engulfs. Red’s manner was extremely gentle, but with implacable intellectual rigor. He was always quick to comment on the absurdity of things, in a bemused way.
Death
Red died [10] at home on February 28, 2020, at the age of 69, due to complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a few months after a problematic hip replacement. Some have asked if Covid was part of the cause, but it is thought that it was not. A memorial event was planned for April 2020 to be held at the Austin Public Library, but was cancelled due to Covid. A large, low-key get-together was held June 6, 2021, in the backyard of Karen and Red’s home in Clarksville. There were no speeches.
References
- ↑ "Paul Wassenich Obituary (2005)". Retrieved 2022-05-22.
- ↑ "Ruth Wassenich Obituary (2012)". Retrieved 2022-05-22.
- ↑ Jessica Savitch (1982). Anchorwoman (7 ed.). Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-12735-9. OCLC 477097537. Search this book on
- ↑ "James Wassenich - IMDb". Retrieved 2022-05-22.
- ↑ "Voices in the Library - Podcast: #1: Red Wassenich". Austin CC.
- ↑ Red Wassenich (4 November 2006). Keep Austin Weird: A Guide to the Odd Side of Town. Schiffer Pub. Limited. ISBN 978-0-7643-2639-4. OCLC 123129997. Search this book on
- ↑ Red Wassenich (14 August 2011). Nothing Before Something: A Novel. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1463737191. Search this book on
- ↑ Red Wassenich (2016). Keeping Austin Weird: A Guide to the (Still) Odd Side of Town. Schiffer Publishing, Limited. ISBN 978-0-7643-5096-2. OCLC 927402033. Search this book on
- ↑ Red Wassenich (26 June 2018). Minimum Opus: Short Stories. Independently Published. ISBN 978-1-983204-64-7. OCLC 1302703718. Search this book on
- ↑ ""Keep Austin Weird" Originator Remembered for Choosing Community Over Capital". Retrieved 2022-05-22.
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