 SOUTH BY SIXTH STREET: Holt, left, and Kusner spread the word about Texas' print chronicles. A few months ago in South Austin, I co-hosted a sports podcast with Chad Holt and his son. Chad commented on the game with both his head and the microphone resting on a bed pillow. Chad never left his bed. Instead of whining about feeling sick, Chad acted as if his mattress was a La-Z-Boy recliner. The studio was filled with neatly stacked piles of newspapers. Chad published Whoopsy! magazine.  SPREAD CHAD'S WORD: Click photo for a PDF of Whoopsy! The column "OFFSIDES WITH CHAD HOLT: The Butthole Prophecies" contains an eternal message. Whoopsy! was like Austin’s gonzo version of Rolling Stone. And Chad was its Hunter S. Thompson. Chad gracefully shifted opposing topics — like connecting Ann Coulter’s horse-face to an argument about evolution. Over the past year, Chad and I hung together in Austin. Probably three times. He wasn’t always bedridden. We sweated it out while walking from Adam Reposa’s law office near the Texas Capitol over to Sarah Weddington's nearby leadership center and then downhill to the Colorado River. That's where we downed hot coffee while Chad inhaled home-rolled cigarettes. On Sixth Street, we chowed on burgers at The Jackalope. That's where we snapped a selfie, above, as we vied for the affections of our favorite Texan, web-design goddess Beth Sams. During the recent “Sports Karaoke” episode, one of the fellow podcasters cracked an off-the-cuff joke about the “need” for printed media. I raised an objection with the authority of a Texan defending the Bill of Rights. Chad and I fist bumped. When I wrote about biking through Austin, I consulted with Mr. Badass himself. Here’s what Chad said.  “Parents who pedal around on the street with their kids in those deathtraps attached to the back of their bike belong in fucking prison.” — CHAD HOLT, editor-publisher of Whoopsy! magazine and subject of the documentary “Total Badass.” (Photo: Truitt Ray, 2015.) ONE LAST THING During one of our recent walks, Chad expressed his sincere respect for Louis Black, founding publisher of The Austin Chronicle. Chad and Black's SXSW festival have a storied history that's stitched into the documentary "Total Badass," which is worth watching. Rest in power, Chad. (Whoopsy daisy.)
0 Comments
|
