Eileen Bristol is a doer. She grew up working in her family’s motorcycle shop in Houston. Quite literally--she started pulling down a paycheck at age 9. When she moved to Austin at 17, she already valued her experiences. The diverse crowd she had come to know beyond her own cohort had shown her the grit needed to run a small business.
This was Bristol’s start. By the time she opened Sahara Lounge in 2011, she had already founded the multi-disciplinary Austin Waldorf school, worked in a bio-dynamic vegetable farm, run a massage therapy business, started a correspondence program providing meditation and self-development coaching for people in prison across the country. To call her a Jill of all trades would be a trite characterization given the work and will it has taken her to do what she has done day in and day out. Perhaps ‘Joan-of -arc of all trades’ would be more sufficient, but honestly to her, the most important thing in her life has always been music. Bristol didn’t pick up the bass until she was in her 40s, but she’s spent a lot of time playing in bands in Austin and Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she was living when Sahara Lounge first become a twinkle in her eye.
“I was playing bass in Zoumountchi with my friend, Ibrahim Aminou. My son, Topaz McGarrigle (Golden Dawn Arkestra) came up to Michigan and played a show with us on saxophone. A couple of weeks later Ibrahim was sitting with me on the porch and told me he had a dream and we were going to move to Texas and open a restaurant/club. As much as I loved my community in Michigan, I was weary of the gray winters and missed Texas. So I said, "Sure! let's do it." I asked Topaz to join forces with us as a partner says Bristol.
Sahara Lounge is a representation of Bristol’s eclectic history and musical taste. And it gives her great joy. “Watching our residencies such as Africa Night (Saturdays) and Ladies Night develop a community of regulars. Seeing new people every week at our wide variety of shows is also satisfying. We do our best to create an atmosphere where everyone is welcome and feels comfortable. We enjoy the diversity of people who come out to our shows.” she says.
Sahara Lounge sits far East of downtown on Webberville road. It’s the only establishment of its kind in the area, which is fitting. It sits out on its own, a musical destination, thumping to the beat of whichever musical genre is being featured that night. And much like its founder, it attracts an eclectic mix of patrons who appreciate a one-of-a-kind experience.
