The Cactus Cafe, Explained
Live music is back! Look no further than the Texas Union building to get your fix.
Written by Ellen Daly
Photo courtesy of Joshua Guenther
Anyone who’s wandered around the Texas Union building has certainly noticed that tucked behind the Starbucks on the ground floor is a somewhat enigmatic sign for what appears to be a music venue called the “Cactus Cafe.” The dimly lit booths and vintage posters advertising performances by the likes of Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett, and Townes Van Zandt decorate the space nicely. The exterior of the club provides a peaceful study atmosphere, but what happens inside there?
The Cactus Cafe is a historic music venue. Known for its incredible acoustic quality, accessibility to local artists, and position in bolstering the careers of countless Texas musicians, it’s a rare feature on a college campus, and, frankly, one due some respect and appreciation. Much of the venue’s history is rooted in its affiliation with such big names in music (Robert Earl Keen, Lucinda Williams, Shawn Colvin, Nanci Griffith, and Ani DiFranco, to name a few more), but its tradition is much more than that. The venue is a hub of student music appreciation and craftsmanship. A popular ritual at the Cactus is its open mic night, of which we hope to see the return soon, and though the venue offers a full-service bar, it prides itself on its orientation being directed towards the music, rather than socialization, with the listening experience often being described as “intimate.”
Times are uncertain for the Cactus right now. Since the turn of the century, things have been a bit rocky: the venue nearly closed in 2009, but KUT essentially saved it by taking up management responsibilities and effectively running it for 10 years. The momentum they’d built, however, came to a hard stop in March 2020 when COVID forced its closure. This past summer, the duty fell back on the University Unions to re-open and manage the venue — no easy feat for a university whose student body is largely completely unfamiliar with its normal functioning.
Photo courtesy of Jana Birchum
To try to piece together what the venue’s future might look like, and how the university is navigating this uncertainty, we spoke with James Buckley, who serves as the Director of Facilities and Operations for University Unions. Here are some takeaways from the conversation about what students should know about the current happenings of the Cactus Cafe:
Don’t be shy; walk on in! Buckley was extremely inviting and encouraging of any students who are interested in exploring the cafe. “You can come in, it's open during the daytime, even when events are not going on. So students can go in there and study… you can go in there, eat your lunch (...) you can go in and chill out, you know, listen to some music, any number of things,” he explained. For anyone who likes to snoop around campus, this invitation is a thrill.
It is a bar, but it’s not all about that. “You don't have to be 21 to enter…. It's a bar, so there is alcohol there, but there’s a wide variety of nonalcoholic beverages and specialty drinks available to anyone, students or otherwise.” For underage live music fans who appreciate the importance of a Bev, this is reassuring.
The Cactus wants you! Student engagement is what it’s all about. When speaking about the venue’s goals in reopening, Buckley explained, “Our goal right now is kind of to launch back and really reach out particularly to our student community. There's a great history to the Cactus Cafe. There's been some fabulous performers that have been in there. I think one of the things personally that has been lost along the way is the connection to the student body. It kind of drifted in a different direction. So our goal is to try to drift back towards the students and to do different programming and events that meet the needs of our students that are of interest to them.”
Look forward to a variety of events — open mic nights, karaoke, trivia, even comedy. “We're just going to add more variety, showcasing student talent, showcasing faculty and staff talent, as well as local, regional and national talent (...) but mixing it up, throwing in karaoke, throwing in trivia night, different things like that, that hopefully will be of interest to the students because I think there are a lot of students who maybe have never set foot into the Cactus and we'd like to change that.”
In conclusion: Have hope for the Cactus. Check it out between classes, and show up for any events that intrigue you. Buckley was incredibly welcoming of student interest, and seemed to deeply hope to see student involvement at the Cactus as it reopens. More info and upcoming events can be found at cactuscafe.org.