Howie Richey left his hometown of Corpus Christi in 1971 to study radio at The University of Texas at Austin. He worked as a disc jockey in Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, and Uvalde. In 1982, he gained a slot on KUT-FM, the local NPR affiliate. Within a few years there, he was broadcasting a late-night rock ’n’ roll program and an early Saturday morning folk music show. These lasted until 2003, when he produced a weekly calendar of outdoor events at community station KOOP.
Richey turned skills from his second degree, a bachelor’s in geography, into a stint as a land surveyor and then as a tour guide known a the Texpert. He leads natural and cultural history trips within and outside of the Capital City, and he presents to classes and convention meetings.
Between all those activities, Howie repeatedly found himself working as a proofreader and editor for the Texas Senate. That detail-oriented, technical position gaves him an insider’s perspective on state government’s convolutions. More importantly, however, the job helped him hone his precision with the language.
Over the years, Howie became active in the field of social design, especially in the building of yurts. He helped with several on other folks’ properties and collaborated in building two on his own. Plywood is one of his favorite materials, out of which he exhibits shelves, cabinets, racks, chuck boxes, a chuck wagon, and two sheds.
An irrepressible party animal, Richey consistently hosts revelries: weekly and seasonal shindigs, each organized around a specific theme. These include artists’ birthdays, May Day, the Winter Solstice, and 1960s music marathons. From his studies of merriment and his love of Austin came Party Weird, a history of celebration in the strangest city in Texas, published in 2014.
Howie Richey is a curious fellow who has long been fascinated by the things people celebrate and how they do so. His formal background in Texas geography and audio production reveals little about this own capacity to jubilate, by either attending the closest socialty or by throwing one of his own. Nor do his 50-plus years as an Austin resident or his too-long career as an editor hint at the kind of company he keeps. A teacher, public speaker, radio personality, cartographer, woodworker, inveterate camper, blogger, and facilitator, Howie doesn’t know everyone in Austin but is working on it.
Born in Death Valley, Howie’s wife, Lina, up in Southern California. She escaped the Los Angeles suburbs in 1970 to go to school in Utah to study art, finishing an MFA in 1979. In between the BFA and MFA, she traveled some, then stayed in Utah, married, had two children, and worked as a book conservator and later taught art in a private high school. After a divorce in 1989, she moved her little family to Austin where she went back to working as a book binder, and then later as an art teacher in the public schools. Now retired with kids grown and flown, she co-creates with Howie Richey and is involved with the Austin Book Arts Center. Lina reads and swims most every day. Life is good!