Somewhere along the way, O'Connor started a band in Laguna. Likewise, his exit strategy remains characteristically ambiguous. Called an Ice House for the Arts, La Zona Rosa was a special place, opened by Marcia Ball and husband Gordon Fowler in late 89. to the Family. Receive a notification when services are updated. He graduated from Plattsburg High School in 1949, and farmed with his father until he joined the US Air Force in 1952. They now own 130 venues nationwide, including 44 amphitheaters. "I knew I'd screwed up big and made my mea culpas. And to some degree, it's also about admitting what I've done wrong. For those desiring, memorials are suggested to Mobile Loaves & Fishes, 903 S. Capital of Texas Hwy., Austin, TX 78746 or at www.mlfnow.org/donate. "The acoustics were horrible, and it was just this terribly hot, smoke-filled room.". Charlie is preceded in death by his parents Felix Durward . TRAPRS has been taking care of Bobbie Nelson and Yoyo Nelson over the past few weeks, arranging the dogs boarding, rehabilitation and training. When OConnor bought the building at 208 Nueces in Sept. 1994, the Austin Music Hall was its fourth venue that year. Its been renovated once again and is currently renting out for private parties. Chris is survived by his widow, Sandra OConnor, mother Elizabeth (Penny) OConnor, 2 brothers, Tim OConnor, Argyle, Texas and Kevin OConnor and wife Laura, New Mexico, three nephews, Ryan, Matt and Jeffrey OConnor. "Winters are fairly cold in Colorado, so it became a strong collection approach.". Meanwhile, O'Connor has directly helped shape Charlie Jones' destiny. Some still fear him. Then, AMHII was torn down in 2016 to make room for a 28-story office building called Third + Shoal. Defense from what? With over 1,900 locations, Dignity Memorial providers proudly serve over 375,000 families a year. If you did your job and something went wrong anyway, Gonzalez says O'Connor would protect you from angry promoters or artists. Besides being Willie Nelsons promoter and business partner since the second Fourth of July Picnic in 74, OConnor ran the Austin Opera House for 13 years, then founded Direct Events in the 90s, owning and operating such successful venues as the Backyard, Austin Music Hall and La Zona Rosa. October 14, 1949 - April 16, 2015, Timothy O'Connor passed away on April 16, 2015 in De Pere, Wisconsin. The singer believed he'd stumbled on the perfect property. "We had the town in a headlock," Ramsey says. I'm not sure if I said it or not, but I knew right then that I was willing to carry this guy's guitar to hell.". Although the Backyard wound up proving Austinites would indeed go out of their way for atmosphere and talent, O'Connor's next move brought him downtown. *Please note that the service will not be at a Keever facility, so please have flowers sent directly to the Hilco Event Center in Itasca.*. He had a whole pack of big, beautiful canines on his ranch far west of Austin. From there, he landed a job in Dallas working at various local bars and hotels. Travis Heights wouldn't be free of O'Connor until 1990. It was a messy end to an empire that raised the standard of professionalism in local concert presentations. One of OConnors rules was that you cant trust someone who doesnt love dogs. They are afraid of strangers and are unwilling to leave OConnors property. i fuckin' miss that guy. Unfortunately, Ramsey says, there were often too many cooks in the kitchen without a head chef. Their profiles are up on APA! "Mark my words, if you think it's difficult now, give it 24 months. His mission was always to bring entertainment for Austin, not bring Austin entertainment just because it worked in Houston or Dallas. Not only did Nelson play Castle Creek, he also offered to take O'Connor on the road. Tim was born in Lakewood, NJ to Joseph P. O'Connor and Patricia DiGennaro O'Connor on December 4th, 1969. "But to get a major company to sit down and have the same general plan -- a plan that doesn't compete with the city or the design of the developments around the facility -- is very challenging. In the Seventies, he reigned over Castle Creek. Celebrate the life of Maureen O'Connor, leave a kind word or memory and get funeral service information. "I'm open to the possibility we can do something collectively that we can't on our own -- to protect the Austin market," reasons O'Connor. Seeing an opportunity, O'Connor began inviting them to play his bar in exchange for free lodging in the bungalows below. He also produces classy and smooth-running shows; as with the Backyard, acts that play Stubb's tell their agents they want to return. Yet for all the yelling, he's known real pain of his own: He's lost a testicle to cancer and a daughter to drugs. "He called me into his office and said, 'Tim, I just want to let you know I think you did a great job, but I think you're maybe just a little ahead of us. So much so, in fact, that Attal has pried a sizable amount of shows away from Direct Events. "Clubs might argue over one act, once a year or so," he says. The deal Willie made with Terrace Motel owner Dude McCandless included 14 acres on South Congress at Academy for just over a million dollars. When Attal faced a weekend's worth of rainouts last season, Jones brokered a deal that allowed both shows to move to La Zona Rosa. What's done is done. The Austin Music Hall was repossesssed in 2012 by OmniBank, which lent OConnor the money for the razing and rebuilding. on its website. He graduated from St. Thomas High School in Houston, Texas, in 1978. What do you want me to do? Now, O'Connor owned and operated four different venues with four different configurations: a 3,000-seat indoor room, a 4,000-seat outdoor space, a 1,400-seat indoor venue, and a smaller club-sized room within La Zona. Id sure like to play your joint, said Willie, who was growing out his hair and looking for new audiences. On Oct. 1, 1957, he proudly became an employee of IBM and enjoyed a career of 30 years - with 22 of them in Kansas City, MO, and 8 in San Jose, CA before retiring in Austin, TX. To share your memories of Tom, please visit www.cookwaldenchapelofthehills.com. to rescue the dogs. Employees fear him and competitors loathe him. Is he showing his hand to lull competitors into a false sense of security, or is coming clean part of a public relations campaign designed to repair his reputation before he eases into retirement? What a mistake it was to tear down the Music Hall to build a new one that was worse than the old one. Express your condolences with flowers sent to Christopher's family, Share your thoughts and memories of Christopher, Share your thoughts and memories with family and friends of Christopher. Sign up for service and obituary updates. Backyard II just couldnt accommodate sellout crowds of 7,500, like the May 11, 2011 Arcade Fire show when hundreds of ticketholders had nowhere to park and missed the show. There will be a reception following the service. After Travis Heights homeowners blamed him for cigarette butts left nearby, O'Connor found a commercially zoned lot that bordered the neighborhood and briefly put in a petting zoo. His warning shot ended up going through a mobile recording trailer on the street and hitting the leg of a Columbia Records executive inside. I wanna work your joint.'". Oh, how OConnor doted on his kids Bobbie, Freda, YoYo and the rest, who inherited his magical energy, as one friend put it. Like Lance Armstrong, O'Connor just couldn't walk away from the action, and suffered the consequences. He left behind his two dogs, Bobbie Nelson and Yoyo Nelson, who both had severe stranger danger.. By 1994, Fowlers Two-Alarm Chili money was almost gone, so he and his partners closed their liberal hangout where youd see Gov. I know this thread is about Tim, so excuse the minor hijack. Get hyperlocal forecasts, radar and weather alerts. He was of the Catholic Faith. He was schooled in electronics and radar at Lowry Field, Denver, Colorado, and then became a Radar Technician at Perrin AFB, Sherman, TX, where he worked on the exact fighter jet that is on display at Camp Mabry, Austin, TX. He was born on May 19, 1954 to the late Ernest Joseph and Rose Mary (Smith) O'Connor. Owning the Backyard and Music Hall gave O'Connor an opportunity to formalize their dealings; in 1995, the two companies signed a contract that allowed Pace to co-promote shows in O'Connor's venues. This scene could change as drastically as it did from the Seventies to the Nineties within just a couple of years. He's maybe a little crusty,'" laughs O'Connor. During his career he was Sr. "I met Willie in San Antonio to apologize to him," recalls the promoter of his last move before leaving Austin. "You have to create a niche that's so protected and specialized that it doesn't draw too much attention. Or, he hints, he could wind up settling for less money to merely close the venue and sell the property outright if he can't find the right buyers. TIMOTHY O'CONNOR OBITUARY. It doesn't take much asking around for folks to recall the first time he screamed at them, or the first time they witnessed him either stand on his desk to make a point, or clear it with the sweep of an arm. Unfortunately, before he could think on it harder, a night of drinking in Carmel led to another arrest; police picked up O'Connor and his buddies after neighbors reported having seen them prying at a metal cage in front of the local liquor store. The only way for promoters to make real money is on ancillary goods and services: alcohol, food, a percentage of a band's merchandising, and ticket fees. "I think he likes the game too much to really be trying to get out," maintains Attal. Two dogs, Bobbie and Yoyo, remain. "Tim and Willie were an odd couple," says Arlyn's Freddy Fletcher, Nelson's nephew. The last act to play La Zona Rosa under OConnors ownership was Prince at SXSW 2013. Your entry has exceeded the maximum character limit. He was a 1972 graduate of Barr Reeve High School. A special thanks to Dr. Michael Watkins, Dr. Robert Canby and staff at Texas Cardiac-Arrhythmia and Dr. Stuart McKennon for their excellent care in the past 20 yrs. Tim O'Connor believes his funeral will be like many other events he's staged: well-attended. REX/Shutterstock. Learn More. On the road, O'Connor got his hands dirty re-wiring sound systems and handling payouts, but his stint with Nelson was short-lived. TRAPRS helped provide boarding, rehabilitation and training for Bobbie and Yoyo. She is survived by 2 daughters, Sheila Ham and Janet OConnor; 2 sisters and 4 brothers; 10 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren and a host of other family members. While it's a poorly kept secret that Attal and his partners are entertaining offers to sell Stubb's, O'Connor's retirement is more likely the deal breaker. But his theme song that first decade of the new millennium was Weve Only Just Begun. It was all there in a framed note from Willie that OConnor had on his wall: To Tim, Whats Next? OConnor had big plans to create venues for next generations of Austin music fans as his legacy. O'Connor says the business side of concert promotion back then was fast and loose, but not very competitive. He left behind his two dogs,. "I got to know an immense amount of people really well," he says. He'd bought Nelson out two years earlier, just before the singer's tax situation got messy, but it wasn't long before O'Connor himself wound up in a bit of IRS trouble; since buying the Opera House in 1977, he'd been filing corporate taxes, but not personal taxes. Three years later, O'Connor's life changed again, this time by his own choice. Who Receive obituaries Alfred Herman Bohot February 25, 2023 (93 years old) Timothy leaves. As Austin's most successful concert promoter, O'Connor has earned and lost several fortunes, ridden deals to the edge of bankruptcy, and played chicken with the IRS since his arrival in town during the early Seventies. We were going to see what we could work out together, as opposed to being at each other's throats.". CANDLE HAS BEEN LIT CANDLES HAVE BEEN LIT, We are reviewing your submission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFdr_xNcv9s. Thanks. Log in, Steel Guitar Forum LLCPO Box 237Mount Horeb, WI 53572 USA. Maybe it's yet another O'Connor business strategy. Things are moving that quickly.". You are invited to a reception following the graveside service at the funeral home. "I always wanted to sit behind my desk and be able to tell some artist that had me pulling all the red M&M's out of the bag that he'd never play in this town again.". Even if you control a market and wind up making money, as the Ivory Tower collective did, it's often not the kind of money true empires are built on. He was king of the roadshow in town for a quarter century, from 1977 until his protege Charlie Jones and Charles Attal took over in 2002 with the Austin City Limits Music Festival and aggressive bookings all over town. After roughly 26 months in an adoption facility, he was adopted and given the surname O'Connor. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. "Once upon a time, we were all fighters that ruled our own little neighborhoods," says Threadgill's Eddie Wilson, who once competed with O'Connor at the Armadillo. "That's where I learned to present the best show -- show by show. One pulled out a knife, Tim pulled out a gun. That OConnor had 13 very good years in that former chili factory was remarkable. James Timothy OConnor, his adopted name, came to Austin in 1972 to open Castle Creek with his Colorado buddy Doug Moyes. It may not have cost him his friendship with Nelson, but O'Connor's stray bullet came with a hefty price tag -- having to leave Castle Creek. Today, he owns three of the city's most popular venues: La Zona Rosa, the Austin Music Hall, and the Backyard. California Consumer Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information, California Consumer Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. He's equal parts Tony Soprano and Bill Graham. Charles "Charlie" M. McLemore 81, passed away Tuesday February 21, 2023. "I've never had a customer tell me I should cut down a 400-year-old oak tree because the sightlines would be better," he says. i'm holding the 25 year chip tim gave me when we both hit 25 years. It re-opened as Phase I, and everyone agreed that Phase II better address the acoustics, which had been touted as state-of-the-art. "Willie had long been my songwriting hero," explains O'Connor, "and out of the blue, he just walked in, asked for me, and said, 'Hi. And suffice it to say that in those days, there were plenty of outside influences that dictated someone's personality, to be as polite as I can without casting stones from a glass house.". He went on to receive and Associates Degree from TSTC. 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