Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Buchta.
Hi Patrick, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
From childhood to now, two things have been a constant: music and illness. Having been born with a rare liver disease, I spent much of my early life in the hospital, having one surgery after another, spending Christmases away from my family, and learning about death early after I lost my roommate in the children’s ward at age five. Music was always there to heal, to inspire, and to entertain me as I leaned into creativity to transcend the reality I had become accustomed to. It was during this time that I also became a big fans of superheroes, reading comic book after comic book in my hospital bed, someday hoping that I myself could grow strong and be one myself.
My Czech grandfather, who spoke very little English at all, was a farmer and a polka musician and taught me the basics of guitar at the ripe age of 11 when my mother spent the summer learning the fine art of Kolache baking from my grandmother. When Grandpa passed away just a few years later, his love of music had taken hold over me, and I began playing in high school bands and writing my own songs. I grew as a young leader, becoming Student Council President, Mr. Waco High School and Prom King all in my senior year.
Life seemed to be going well so it came as a surprise during early college when I grew sick again with liver disease, waking up one morning couching up blood while camping with friends. Having lost a great deal of blood, I died for several minutes on Good Friday, only to wake once again on Easter Sunday. I thought this meant that God had chosen me for something very special, and as I healed and graduated college with a film degree, I was sure that my life was set forth on a path with true purpose. I moved to Austin, began headlining clubs all around town with different bands, got married, bought a house, and settled into a somewhat secure life.
But, as life often has other plans for us, I became ill once again just six months into my marriage, coughing up blood once again. I had to quit work and go on disability, walking away from a promising career in Austin’s burgeoning film scene. During this dark period, I grew more ill, more depressed, and further away from God as I watched my body begin a slow decline from Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis.
After another bleed out that almost killed me, I decided that I needed to make something meaningful out of my situation and went back to work, sick as I was, at KVUE-TV in Austin, where I stayed for eleven years, I was listed for transplant and stayed on that list for three years while my marriage fell apart due to the stress of this disease, and while my own father succumbed to early onset ALZ. I began to create my own mythology for myself, becoming the superhero I had always admired growing up and began to connect deeply with the age-old concept of the hero’s journey and the journey of the shaman into death to bring back something meaningful for their tribe.
After a full month in the hospital and with hours left to live, I finally received my liver transplant on March 23, 2012. I awoke with an immediate sense that I had been given a second life and the deep desire to pay forward the gift I had been given. I began to write music again, to become athletic for the very first time in my life (I was paralyzed from the waist down for months before transplant, now I became a runner!), and best of all, I was given the opportunity to create positive change in my community through my role as Community Service Manager at KVUE. This role allowed me to chance to partners with dozens of great nonprofits throughout the community, like Make-A-Wish, American Heart Association, HAAM, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Austin Film Festival, the Junior League of Austin, and many more.
In early 2019 the chance to bring my two worlds of music and service presented itself, as musicians Nakia Reynoso, Sonya Jevette and I came together to form Austin Texas Musicians. Our first project was to secure a portion of Hotel Occupancy Taxes for music, and thusly we were successful in helping bring about the Live Music Fund, Austin’s first-ever sustainable public funding for music. When the pandemic hit, we quickly had to expand our services to meet the most basic needs of musicians, and so we created partnerships with Texas Workforce Commission to connect hundreds of musicians directly to unemployment benefits, Workforce Solutions to offer new income opportunities, HAAM to expand open enrollment outreach to underserved communities, and many more crucial community partnerships to benefit our musicians. Our Musicians Advisory Panel volunteers created our ATXM VOTES team and registered over 700 new voters in Travis County, our ATXM BRIDGE team to create better relationships between musicians and venues, and our ATXM REACH team to bring address issues of equity for women, people of color and LGBTQIA+ musicians. Additionally, we worked with City leaders to create the Austin Music Disaster Relief Fund grants for musicians and rallied to bring $5M in aid to our struggling music venues through the city-funded SAVES grants. And in 2021, we were honored to receive a “Best of Austin” Award from the Austin Chronicle for partnership with city officials to mobilize nearly 500 unemployed musicians, venue and event workers to serve food and water to 10,000 Central Texans in need during February’s Winter Storm.
My life’s journey has been a gift, with each challenge only serving to make me stronger, more empathetic, and hopefully wiser so that I may serve with a warrior’s heart. I always like to say that shattered glass reflects the light even more brilliantly, and I’m grateful for every experience that’s brought me to be the man I am today. #donatelife
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Liver disease has always been a part of my life and has proven to be both a challenge and a gift. I cherish every experience that has built me into the man I am today so that I may serve with strength and grace.
We’ve been impressed with Austin Texas Musicians, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
In early 2019, musicians Nakia Reynoso, Sonya Jevette and I came together to form Austin Texas Musicians. Our first project was to secure a portion of Hotel Occupancy Taxes for music, and thusly we were successful in helping bring about the Live Music Fund, Austin’s first-ever sustainable public funding for music. When the pandemic hit, we quickly had to expand our services to meet the most basic needs of musicians, and so we created partnerships with Texas Workforce Commission to connect hundreds of musicians directly to unemployment benefits, Workforce Solutions to offer new income opportunities, HAAM to expand open enrollment outreach to underserved communities, and many more crucial community partnerships to benefit our musicians. Our Musicians Advisory Panel volunteers created our ATXM VOTES team and registered over 700 new voters in Travis County, our ATXM BRIDGE team to create better relationships between musicians and venues, and our ATXM REACH team to bring address issues of equity for women, people of color and LGBTQIA+ musicians. Additionally, we worked with City leaders to create the Austin Music Disaster Relief Fund grants for musicians and rallied to bring $5M in aid to our struggling music venues through the city-funded SAVES grants. And in 2021, we were honored to receive a “Best of Austin” Award from the Austin Chronicle for partnership with city officials to mobilize nearly 500 unemployed musicians, venue and event workers to serve food and water to 10,000 Central Texans in need during February’s Winter Storm.
To my knowledge, we are the first effort of this kind… musicians advocating for musicians, building a grassroots network of representation to city, state and federal policymakers. We’ve been honored to help mentor new organizations who are now attempting to do the same, such as the New Orleans Musicians Alliance.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My mother: my greatest champion, fighting to keep me alive every step of the way. My sister: supporting me through every obstacle and challenge.
My partner Gwendolyn Seale, for inspiring me to serve our music community together.
My oldest and best friends, whom I still talk to every day.
My former KVUE boss and musical partner Mark Willenborg who believed in me when no one else did and helped me develop professionally and personally.
Contact Info:
- Email: pat@austintexasmusicians.org
- Website: atxmusicians.org
- Instagram: @atxmusicians
- Facebook: @atxmusicians
- Twitter: @atxmusicians
- Youtube: @atxmusicians
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/m-patrick-buchta/tracks
Image Credits:
2nd image at city hall: courtesy Julia Reihs, KUTX 3rd image of ATXM Board against white background, courtesy Todd Wolfson
