Fingerpistol at the Little Longhorn Saloon

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There's Kate's brother Gord Graham and his partner "Wesley" (Leslie Carmichael) cutting up the rug with the Fingerpistol at (Ginny's) Little Longhorn Saloon, Austin TX. It's a good night for dancin' and there were free dance lessons as well.

It's a fun place but very small with a very crowded dance floor and tiny stage -- the bass player sits on the dance floor as there's no room for him on the stage.

Bob Schneider's Lonelyland

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We went to see Bob Schneider's Lonelyland residency on Monday night just down the street from our place. We've been a few times before and enjoyed the performances (they are definitely "Keeping Austin Weird"). This time with Gord Graham and "Wesley" (Leslie Carmichael); they were suitably impressed as were we. The show is very hard to describe but well worth a try.

We had seen the show on other visits to Austin and had been there a week earlier but every show is different. Sometimes it's quite silly, sometimes quite raunchy, but always fun.

I understand it's broadcast live on his FaceBook channel but I've never watched it.

Purgatory Players

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The Purgatory Players are a bunch of musical characters (Jeff Plankenhorn, Seela Misra, John Dee Graham and Scrappy Jud Newcombe on acoustic guitars with Jon Greene on drums) who have been around for many years and play Sunday mornings at the El Mercado on South 1st in Austin -- typically they pass a tip jar to raise money for the Central Texas Food Bank. It's an event we always attend while in Austin. They're all very good musicians, comfortable playing with one another and very funny with one another. They say the event is a "gospel-ish" brunch -- there usually is some music with a gospel theme that sinners like us can tolerate. And there's usually lots of fine music without any tinge of religion.

When Gordon and Leslie were visiting in late February we took them. The show is from 10:00am to 1:00pm with a short break in the middle. We arrive early around 10:30 to get good seats and order a Tex/Mex breakfast -- with a "Morning Margarita" or similar beverage to wash it down.

The audience is usually pretty good at listening and the sound mix is always excellent. On this day Scrappy Jud Newcombe, a core member of the group, wasn't there -- other commitments. When the core group is too thin due to other commitments they'll have guests sit in to fill out the group.

Guests in the second set included Ray Bonneville, Barbara Bergin, Kelly Micheal McDaniels, Kate Howard and Shawnee Kilgore (who we had seen fronting for Butch Hancock at the Acoustic Austin gig).

There's a Canadian connection to the group -- Jeff is married to a Canadian, Seela and Roy Bonneville are Canadian ex-pats who have moved to Austin.

One of the really neat things about this weekly show is it's regularly taped and posted to YouTube by "DanViewTube". I met him one day recording at a Waterloo Records show (Hays Carll) and chatted a bit. I let him know that I really enjoyed the videos. Check out his Youtube channel -- the audio quality is surprisingly good.

Mike Stinson at C-Boy's Heart & Soul

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An album of Mike Stinson at C-Boy's Heart & Soul for Sunday afternoon Chicken Shit Bingo. Great honky tonk music and lots of dancers that put the most of us to shame. I like all his music but especially the tune "I may have to do it, but I don't have to like it" -- for some reason it reminds me of Johnny Winters version of Highway 61.

Los Texmaniacs at Gruene Hall

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We've seen a lot of great music here in Texas but this was a special night. On Friday February 22, 2019 we took Gord and "Wesley" to Gruene Hall (about 2/3 of the way to San Antonio) to see Los Texmaniacs who are from San Antonio. Great Conjunto/Tex Mex music made even greater with guests Rosie Flores (who also opened the show), Augie Meyers (who sang several Texas Tornados hits) and Flaco Jimenez (who also brought his son on stage to sing a few including: "I'm all strung out on heroin on the wrong side of town..."). It was packed with an enthusiastic audience cheering them on, lots of beer and friendly folk, people were dancing where ever they could find a clear spot. If you've never heard this kind of music (mostly Spanish, button accordion, plunky guitar and a polka beat) look up Los Texmaniacs on YouTube (or Los Pinkys from Austin or the Texas Tornados (who are no more) for a less jarring introduction...). It's nice to see the young folk in Los Texmaniacs keeping this music alive. They were keen to play with these guests who are legends in the genre.

Here's a photo album from the event.

Hayes Carll at Waterloo Records

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We saw Hayes Carll at Waterloo Records. He has a new album, "What it is" and was selling out concerts around town. We couldn't get tickets to any of these shows but we got a quick capsule show at a record store! Over the years we've seen several bands showcase albums here. And there's always a ton of music (new, used, LPs, CDs and more) to browse and buy.

Here's some photos from the event.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

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The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is just a little south west of Austin. During Cindy's visit we took her there -- it was the first time for all of us. We've driven by many times on our way out of town to the Salt Lick BBQ and nearby Hill Country wines.

The Wildflower Center is a largeish bit of rough hill country land that's been pretty much left in it's wild state. Lots of cactus, scrubby trees and grasslands. You're even warned to watch out for rattle snakes -- I've never seen one in all my trips to Texas and the desert country but then I don't want to. There's very little soil in this part of Texas, you'd wonder how anything could grow here. Especially in the summer time when they get many days over 100F. They warn you about taking the trails during the heat of the summer. They're not long, but you are out in the sun.

We took a walk through one of the trails where they had forts set up for kids to explore. As it was a Sunday there were lots of kid p'liking in these forts.

One of the interesting features on that trail is the "Hall of Texas Heroes". It's not a hall at all, it's a meadow where the Texas Heroes are famous trees from around the state. What they've done is taken cuttings or grown seeds from these famous trees to preserve their story here. Famous trees like the Matrimonial Oak from San Saba.

The visitor's centre is an impressive rough hewn native limestone building with a cafe, exhibits, a gift store, a viewing tower and an impressive entrance. There's a shaded courtyard which would be a nice relief on a hot summer day.

It's winter time so there's not much flowering (Texas Mountain Laurel is in bloom but not much else). We saw lots of evidence that the meadows would be covered in Blue Bonnets (Lupins to us) when the weather warms.

Here's some photos from our visit.

Lonelyland

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We went to the Lonelyland Monday night residency (Bob Schneider and his band) at the Saxon Pub on South Lamar in Austin. We shared the photos in this album with a couple we met at the show -- so there's only minimal editting. It's not a "best of" photo album.

As always, a quirky show. One that we do recommend.