Austin’s Hakone Agency, like many, others has wondered how to deal with live performances being stopped. Their solution is TYFS48.
Earlier in 2020, we reported on the state of hip hop in Austin, Texas, and the Hakone Agency’s efforts in the city to establish a more formal and professional industry presence. A major part of the strategy designed by Hakone founders Rad and Wane was to produce live events for hip-hop, R&B, and electronic artists. This “public platform development” creates a discernable value to build upon and leverage within the local community and larger industry. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic halting all such gatherings, Hakone has had to re-think their game plan.
A New Blueprint
Adjusting to the paradigm shift as so many have throughout the world, Austin art institutions—like the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater and Other Worlds Film Festival—have opted for online events. Wane and Rad have chosen to venture a similar path, in spite of the quirks and difficulties in translating a live event to the digital medium. The core question: do you attempt to re-create something of the atmosphere and vitality inherent to the live event? Or do you embrace the medium for what it is, striking a new path?
The pair has sought an answer through their collaboration with Charles Moon—Hakone artist, ThankYouForSweating (TYFS) Founder and half of the DJ duo In Praise. Their solution is a 48-hour global radio show called TYFS48. It begins at 12 pm EST on May 15th, and points to one of the interesting silver linings of imposed evolution.
TYFS48 is “an initiative to help raise the spirits through a wide array of uniquely selected DJs from around the world.” Deconstructing the title, the 48 derives from the duration of the event—two days of non-stop live-streaming disc jockeys. While the TYFS refers to ThankYouForSweating, a production and event entity Moon founded in 2017 to re-energize the nightlife experience of Austin. TYFS took ATX crowds out of the normal haunts on and around 6th Street and transported them to secretive basements and warehouse spaces.
