The Story of the Viva Terlingua Festival

The 1st Annual Viva Terlingua Music Festival is now just a fond memory, a hard-drive full of videos and photographs, and something to look back on as we plan next year’s festival.

By any standard, the fest was a success. By the standards I set out with the sponsors when we were planning it, it was a raging success.

Over 30 musical performances in two locations- performers from California, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Old Mexico, and all over Texas joined us in the beautiful Big Bend of Texas. Many of them had never been here before. They’ll be back.

There were several highlights – Joe King Carrasco on Thursday night at the Starlight Theatre was legendary. People will be talking about that show for a long time.

Andres Cantisani, Aaron Todd, and the duo, Tahoma, jamming at the Thirsty Goat Saloon in Lajitas was a magical moment.

The New Vagabonds were definite crowd pleasers.

At the top of this page there’s a menu tab that says “music videos.” Any time you want to see and hear Terlingua Music, that’s the place to go – and I’ll upload videos from the festival as I get them done.

Movies – we had movies.

The Grove, Texas, is a documentary about a ghost town, somewhat like Terlingua, and the man who kept it going – and what it was like when he got old and had to sell it.

The Road to Austin, Gary Fortin’s masterpiece about Stephen Bruton’s final musical performance, features Bonnie Raitt, Delbert McClinton, Kris Kristoffersen, Eric Johnson, and a cast of Austin’s finest pickers in a gorgeously produced film.

Local favorite, Crystal Allbright’s “Hoops For Rain,” was a trippy celebration of hula-hoops and cinematography.

We learned a lot about putting on a film festival this year, and next year’s festival will be much bigger.

Photography- Butch Hancock brought out several of his amazing photos for our exhibit. Crystal Allbright and Fran Brothers, among several others, also displayed their photos.

I exhibited my photos of Terlingua Musicians. Continue reading “The Story of the Viva Terlingua Festival”

August 19, 2014August 20, 2014

Viva Terlingua Festival – Day 4

It’s a wrap.

The last night of Viva Teringua Fest kept the momentum going. Due to a temporary casualty in the sound crew I had to run sound at Lajitas Sunday, so I didn’t get to the Starlight Theatre- we’ll round up some pics and reports from there, too.

I’m going to post pics- I have many stories to tell, and as soon as I’ve recovered from the weekend I’ll tell most of them.

Here’s a video of Jesse Brand and Butch Hancock doing a song-swap at the Thirsty Goat Saloon-

Andres Cantisani sang his lovely songs in Spanish and English. He also instigated the first jam session.

jack — Jack Pledge was just here for the party – till we heard him play. He played “main stages” at least twice.

Sweet harmonies, excellent songs- Tahoma.

August 17, 2014August 17, 2014

Viva Terlingua Festival Day 3

Viva Terlingua Festival – Day 3

We kicked off the Saturday fest with a film festival –

Breadwinner, Vanessa Cook’s comedy, was definitely a hit. And, of course, The Road to Austin, Gary Fortin’s masterpiece, got an ovation.

The Grove, a documentary about a family, a town, a lifetime of collecting, and the disbursement of the collection… just go see it. Definitely tugs at the heart-strings in a good way.

It was very, very cool to sit out here in the comfy, air-conditioned Flat Rock Theatre with the mountains of Mexico out the front door and brand-new Indie films showing inside.

Then the music… I’ll post reports from the Starlight as they come in. I spent the day at the Thirsty Goat in Lajitas.

Ashley Rose had already gotten quite a bit of attention Friday when she played solo. Her duo act, “The New Vagabonds,” were definitely crowd pleasers.

Jason Blum got us started, Dr. Fun, featuring Griff on slide guitar, showed what the local boys can do.

The March Divide and D.B. Rouse kept the rhythm going… and then, Gary Fortin walked in and told me that Jesse Brand and Butch Hancock were going to do a song swap for the last set.

There is no way I could have planned this one…

If you were there, you know. If you weren’t there… well… here are some pics. Let me see how the video looks…

Butch Hancock and Jesse Brand – Intense

Butch and Jesse

D.B. Rouse

Dr. Fun, with Griff on slide and Joshua on bass

Jason Blum

The New Vagabonds – audience favorites

August 16, 2014August 16, 2014

Viva Terlingua Festival Day 2

Here are some pics from Viva Terlingua Festival day 2.

Butch Hancock

Crystal Allbright

Happy crew: Craig, Jose’, Sierra, Buckner

The Griff

Los Pinche Gringos

Jesse Brand

Jesse

Laird Considine

The March Divide… solo.

August 15, 2014August 15, 2014

Viva Terlingua Festival Day 1

The first day of the first annual Viva Terlingua Festival was amazing.

Wednesday was all about getting ready. The Thirsty Goat Saloon at Lajitas Golf Resort and the Starlight Theatre both got new sound systems this week. I spent some time helping Buckner Cooke at the Starlight and Trevor Hickle at the Thirsty Goat dial in their new PA systems.

Then, we set up the photo exhibit. Crystal Allbright and Betsy Blaydes did the work while Butch Hancock and I “supervised” while talking of fractals and eating peanuts.

butchpicsstarlight — Butch Hancock supervises while Crystal Allbright and Betsy Blaydes hang his photos.

butch-and-his-pics — Butch taking pics of his pics.

butch-and-my-pics — Butch taking pics of my pics.

Thursday, the music started. I was at the Starlight – we’ll have pics from the Thirsty Goat later…

Jeff Haislip started the show, with Griff on national steel guitar. Griff stayed on stage and played with Collie Ryan.

Carlos Maxwell brought the whole band: George Womack on drums, Ted Arbogast on guitar, Neil Trammel on bass, and Robin on interpretive dance and flute. They rocked.

Then, Mexican rock star Andres Cantisani played… lots of “who is this guy?” conversation ensued. Andres and I used to kick around Monterrey, Mexico together playing bars and exploring. Andres also played with me when I toured around Texas in the 90’s and early 2000’s. He’s just gotten better and better…

Joe King Carrasco closed out the show. He’s got a rocking band and man, does he put on a show. Joe danced on the bar, ran through the crowd playing guitar, and just generally blew our minds.

And that was day one. Tonight we crank up with day 2.

Also, the film festival starts today. Schedule at http://viva-telringua.com

Here’s the first video from the festival – Joe King Carrasco on the bar at the Starlight Theatre.