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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-

 

 

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Aaron Todd gave us a wonderful concert of classical and flamenco guitar.
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Andres Cantisani sang his lovely songs in Spanish and English. He also instigated the first jam session.
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Dan McCoy
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Jack Pledge was just here for the party – till we heard him play. He played “main stages” at least twice.
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Jason Blum
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Sweet harmonies, excellent songs- Tahoma.

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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…

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Butch Hancock and Jesse Brand – Intense
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Butch and Jesse
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D.B. Rouse
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Dr. Fun, with Griff on slide and Joshua on bass
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Jason Blum
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The New Vagabonds – audience favorites

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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.

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Butch Hancock supervises while Crystal Allbright and Betsy Blaydes hang his photos.
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Butch taking pics of his pics.
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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.

 

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Andres Cantisani
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Carlos Maxwell
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Collie Ryan
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Griff
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Jeff Haislip
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“You must be Joe King”
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Joe King Carrasco
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Joe’s icon.

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“The Succulents” – Austin music in Terlingua

Last night, the all-female band, The Succulents, played at the Starlight Theatre in Terlingua.

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The Succulents at the Starlight Theatre

Here’s their bio from their Reverb Nation page.

The Succulents are an indie/folk/country/soul band from Austin, Texas known for their three-part harmonies. All three of their founding members, Erin O’Keefe, Audrey Abbott, and Stacey Blackman are singers, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists who bring a diverse range of influences to their songs and performances. Some of their favorite artists include The Beatles, Kitty Wells, John Lee Hooker, Daniel Johnston, Stevie Wonder, Lena Horne, Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, and Lita Ford. They are frequently likened to Mazzy Star. They proudly accept tips, hugs, compliments, and whiskey drinks at their shows.

They pulled into the Starlight parking lot hauling a U-Haul trailer, from which they extracted an impressive array of acoustic and electric guitars, a vintage RMI keyboard, kalimba, harmonica, and amplifiers.

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Vintage RMI keyboard

Vintage RMI keyboard

Continue reading ““The Succulents” – Austin music in Terlingua”

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The Paper Moonshiners at the Starlight

Last night, Austin’s “Paper Moonshiners” played the Starlight Theatre in Terlingua.

From their website:

Paper Moon Shiners is a duo from Austin, Texas. They specialize in vintage songs and originals inspired by American music from the early Twientieth Century including blues, jazz, swing, ragtime, americana roots and folk. Elena Antinelli fronts the band with her shoo-fly pie syrupy vibratos and turpentine tinged belly growls.
Frank Meyer toured with Gary Primich, played bass with B.B. King and roadied for Junior Brown once. He’s the string man in the band and his fingers pull thumpin’ notes from the stand up bass, delicate ripples from the ukelele, and soothing rhythms from his jazz guitar. Mix all that with deep vocal tones that resonate like shifts in tectonic plates and yes, you’ll feel the earth beneath your feet move.

All that and a bag of chips.

Although I’ve played with Frank on the porch and at the Boathouse, I’d never heard the band before. They’re like a musical time machine, showing how and why the 20’s and 30’s were so musically interesting and fun.

Elena has an amazing voice, with shadings of Ella and Janis, with the occasional Billie Holiday inflection. Frank is tasteful on guitar, uke, and national steel, and his deep voice provides an interesting counterpoint and contrast to Elena’s.

Local sax-whiz Chase Peeler sat in on Tenor and added some spicy leads.

All in all, it was a surprising contrast – music we don’t normally hear in Terlingua that fit right in.

They’ll be at the High Sierra Friday, 3/28/14.

Here’s how it looked:

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Elena

Continue reading “The Paper Moonshiners at the Starlight”

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Benefit for Hungry Terlinguans

Last Sunday, 3/2/14, there was a benefit at the Starlight Theatre for:

Food Distribution in Terlingua 

Family Crisis Center of the Big Bend, Inc.

Once again, the Terlingua community came together to take care of our own.  Terlinguans, wherever you are, give yourselves a hand.

“Hungry children in Terlingua?  Not on my watch.”  Glenn Felts

I did a blog post HERE explaining why this is something we had to do right now.  A few weeks ago, Mike Drinkard told me he could provide food assistance for the 600 or so people in the Terlingua area who needed it for $300, and he was having trouble coming up with the $300.

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Me, Trevor Reichman, Chase Peeler, Charles Maxwell – Photo by: Jessica Lutz

Sunday night we raised about $2,000 for food distribution.  More importantly, over 30 people signed pledge forms to contribute monthly.  When you add in Lajitas Golf Resort for $250/month (thank you Ruffin Moore, GM) and the Terlingua Preservation Society for $420/month- they picked up Glenn Felt’s donation as a memorial to Glenn, that gives Mike over $1,000 a month in recurring income to buy food.

I’m pretty sure Glenn would be proud of us. Continue reading “Benefit for Hungry Terlinguans”

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Benefit for Boquillas scholarship – Starlight – Feb 16, 2014

Sunday night, 2/16/14, there was a benefit concert at the Starlight Theatre to generate funds to send a girl from Boquillas off to school.

The Terlingua community raised $1,075 for the scholarship fund.  Since Cynta only needs $250 right now, TerlinguaCares has set up a fund for Cynta’s projects with the remainder of the money.

In the process of raising the money, we had an amazing party.  It’s the Terlingua way.  Music was provided by Laird Considine, Charlotte Teer, Jeff Haislip, Moses Martinez, Tom Delaney, Webster, Al Berry, Ted Arbogast, Mike Davidson, Chase Peeler, Collie Ryan, and many other local pickers.  Trevor Hickle was there and ready…

The plan was for the “band of angels” to play an acoustic set early in the evening and rock out later on…  and, once again, I discovered that making plans is for amateurs.  We had so many musicians who wanted to contribute that it turned into a concert.

Buckner ran sound and herded cats.  The Starlight Theatre provided a comfy and friendly location for the benefit as well as paying the band – and the band donated that paycheck to the fund-raiser.

We were hoping to raise $500, which will cover the tuition for a year. Terlingua reached deep and more than doubled that.  I’m proud of my community – we funding compassion in action and having a party while we’re at it.  It’s the Terlingua way.

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Buckner kept it sounding good all night.

Continue reading “Benefit for Boquillas scholarship – Starlight – Feb 16, 2014”

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Funding the Terlingua Food Bank.

There are hungry children, disabled people, and neighbors down on their luck right here in Terlingua.  To most of us, they’re invisible.

 

If you can’t attend the benefit, you can download a PDF of the pledge form, print it out, and send it in to the Family Crisis Center.  That would be a good thing to do.

Click HERE to download the PLEDGE FORM to
donate to the Benefit for “Food Distribution in
Terlingua Family Crisis Center of the Big Bend, Inc.”

pledge form FCCBB

At a recent meeting of the Big Bend Citizens Alliance (BBCA), the local non-profit that is the umbrella organization for  my TerlinguaCares non-profit, I had a fascinating conversation with Mike Drinkard, who runs the food bank here in Terlingua.

I learned that

1) by ordering food from the area food bank “menu,” Mike can get food for the local food bank very cheaply.  He can keep the 600 or so people who need assistance from starving for just $400 a month.

2.  Some months, he can only serve a few people because he can’t come up with $400/month.

3.  The quality of food offered by the food bank is uniformly bad – powdered potatoes with trans fats, frosted flakes, chicken laced with antibiotics…

I had no idea.  Did you?

I have friends who live in shipping containers.  I have a couple of friends who live in tents.  But, they do so because they want to.  When I hang out on the porch or bop around town, I don’t see anybody who looks homeless or hungry-  well, that’s not entirely true.  Terlingua fashion does tend to be a little informal.  But, I didn’t know anybody was missing meals- especially children!

Surprise!  There are over 600 people in our neighborhood who need food assistance.  Over half of them are children or disabled adults.

We can’t rely on the government to fix this.  This is my problem.  This is your problem.

This shall not stand.  (Big Lebowski quote)

No way are we going to allow children to go hungry in Terlingua.  We’re going to fund the food bank.

We’re looking for heroes to permanently fund the food bank by making regular, monthly donations.  We’ve found our first two heroes:  Ruffin Moore, the General Manager of Lajitas Golf Resort, has agreed to donate $250 a month. Mike Davidson, Alpine City Councilman and Pinche Gringo has agreed to donate $25/month.

(update) We have two new heroes!  Glen at La Kiva has pledged $420 a month- and is challenging other local businesses other local businesses to pledge what they can to improve quality and quantity.  Mike Perry of the Alpine Daily Planet has pledged $25/month.

To volunteer to be a hero, contact Mike Drinkard at 432-371-3147.  Your contributions are tax-deductible and all proceeds will go to buy food for hungry people.

We’re also going to hold a benefit concert at the Starlight Theatre on March 2nd, Texas Independence day.  We need musicians to play and items to donate.  We also need you to be there!  To volunteer to play or donate an item for the auction contact me (Pat O’Bryan) at koanwrangler@gmail.com.

Our goal is two-fold:

1)  if the choice is between not eating and eating empty calories and transfats, let’s go for the empty calories.  We need to make sure the food bank has at least $400 a month that Mike can count on.

2)  we don’t want our neighbors eating that stuff – it makes you dumb and kills you.  The ultimate goal is to provide healthy, nutritious food (beans and brown rice would be a big step up) for our neighbors who need help.  We need to fund the food bank sufficiently so that Mike can order and distribute nutritious food.

 

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