Tripping with Cindy, Reg & Kate

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This covers our first trip to Texas. We flew into Austin and from there we did quite a bit of driving about to San Antonio, Luckenbach, Laredo and Corpus Christi. We were only there for a week but packed a lot in.

Wednesday Feb 7, '90

We three (our chum Cindy, Kate and Reg) drove from London to Detroit Airport and left for Texas at around noon. At the Detroit Airport they take your luggage at the curb — how sensible! We arrived in Austin about 5pm after a brief stopover and plane change in Dallas.

We take a cab from the airport to the Crest Hotel at the bridge over Town Lake on Congress. The cab driver was a nice woman wearing a rather obvious wig. Cab rides are pretty cheap and convenient.

We checked in to the hotel and then went to the "Happy Hour" — one drink each (total cost $3.00) with free hors d'oeuvres (chicken wings, tortillas, veggies, etc.).

Walked down Congress that night past the Capitol building. The dome is just a few inches higher than the dome at the nation's capitol in Washington D.C. (everything in Texas is a little bigger). We continue on the the University of Texas area, reconnoiter the record stores and had some Tex/Mex food.

Thursday Feb 8, '90

We have a free breakfast at the Crest — a huge buffet with greasy grit gravy, fruit, cereal, bacon, eggs, etc.

We talked with the bell captain (Willie) and rented a car through Alamo at his recommendation. The young woman who came to pick us up drove through a stop sign on the way to the car rental place.

We shopped at the University area and checked out the Cactus Café. It's a great venue to see music and we got to see Sara Hickman there on Saturday night.

We bought some "Double Vodka" at a nearby liquor store (it's actually only 50% alcohol versus the 40% we have back home). Kate and Cindy stayed pretty mellow on it for the rest of the trip.

We got "lost in Austin" on our way to San Antonio. We arrived in San Antonio about 4:00pm and got the last available room at the downtown La Quinta. It was very busy as there was a music teacher's convention and the rodeo was on. Lots happening in San Antonio.

We walked around a bit, toured the Alamo (you remember the Alamo! It's right downtown!), and had some appetizers at the Lone Star Café.

We took a cab out to the rodeo. The cabbie was really crazy, he took the long way and even offered to drive us to Laredo (frightening!).

At the rodeo we saw the barrel race, Mexican dancers and Kathy Mattea. We also made friends with local rodeo fans.

We had a tired, but relatively sane, cabbie on the drive home. However, she had only had 3 hours of sleep and she kept yawning and weaving over the road.

Friday Feb 9, '90

In San Antonio Reg and Kate shopped for records and groceries. Cindy shopped in drug stores. These excursions uncovered some of the seamier side of town. It's not all the "River Walk".

Kate had a "Chicken Fried Steak" at the Lone Star on the River Walk (actually it was hamburger and not the real thing). We shopped a bit more and went on a boat tour around the canals. There was a young Latino tour guide/boat driver who seemed a little sarcastic (e.g. "Here's the best Mexican resaurant in the worrrld ... it's owned by my uncle").

We went up the nearby tower for a few of the city. It was a bit hazy and, while it is a tall tower, it doesn't compare to the CN Tower in Toronto. We smelled the bee sting tree that was blooming (I think it's call Texas Mountain Laurel) and went back to our hotel room to drink more of the Double Vodka and wait out the "Texas Tornado" — a big wind had come up and Kate swears there were white caps in the swimming pool.

That evening we went for dinner at Landry's Seafood House. This was a dinner on Pat's dime. Reg had a huge dish of crawdads.

Saturday Feb 10, '90

In San Antonio we visited the San Antonio Museum of Art which is located on the river north of the River Walk in an old Lone Star Brewery building. There's some pretty interesting folk art, ancient Latin America artifacts and quite a bit of modern art. It's a good spot to visit.

We drove to Luckenbach to the north of San Antonio and west of Austin. We hadn't been before and it's not well signed. We first found a place which advertised itself as "Uptown Luckenbach". This consisted of a farm and a souvenir store run by an older man and his young son ("Play 'em the tape boy!" and the lad obliges with a copy of Waylon Jennings singing "I'm goin' to Luckenbach Texas ...").

Reg and Cindy could not accept that this was all there was to Luckenbach. On the way here, down the road a bit, they had passed a large group of campers by a stream (South Grape Creek). Near the front of the camp was a tattoo parlor tent — there also seemed to be a lot of bikers camped out there. After circling around a bit we finally went back to the camp of the "Tattooed Bikers from Hell". We entered to discover that this was in fact Luckenbach (the sign is regularly stolen as a souvenir) and they were having a "Valentines Day Hug-In" in Luckenbach that weekend. Cindy and Kate had to submit to big bear hugs from the local tattooed biker greeter.

Luckenbach, once we found it, was great. There were groups of people making music and others watching, chatting, chuckin' washers, drinking beer,  and joining in when they could. Everybody was drinking beer except for Kate and Cindy who were still on the "Double Vodka". Beside the old dance hall was another old building where "Big Daddy", a huge character of about 70 years and 300 pounds, operated a food stand. You could have sausage, beans, sausage sandwich, sausage and beans, or sausage and nachos. And the beans come with "Wonder Bread"!

There was a wood worker shop and a small craft store as well as the general store and bar (where beer by the tin or bottle was all you might ask for). The wood worker's dog was pretty mournful as he wasn't allowed to run free on Saturdays. An old fellow in a wheel chair told Cindy that his name was "Mr. Luckenbach" — he showed her his check book to provide it. He wore an "Old Fart" gimme hat, drank a lot of beer and must have had a Volkswagen gas tank for a bladder.

On our way back to Austin we saw an "Austin City Limits" sign. We took a cab from the Crest hotel to the Cactus Café after having some "Happy Hour" snacks at the hotel bar. The cabbie was our original cabbie from the airport — the woman with the awful wig.

We saw Jimmy Lafave fronting for Sara Hickman. She was great. We shared a table with a newly married couple who had only known each other for a few weeks when they got married. Kate and Reg assured them that this was okay.

Postscript: We saw Jimmy Lafave several times over the years, was very well respected in the Austin music community and died in 2017.

Sunday Feb 11, '90

After breakfast at the Crest we headed back south down the I35 with a brief stop in Gruene (pronounced as "green") where there's an old time dance hall. We walked around a bit, not much was going on, and then settled in the car for the long drive to Laredo on the Mexican border. On the way we did see a pickup truck with a gun rack but it didn't have any bumper stickers.

We arrived in Laredo late in the afternoon. It was hot, hazy and smokey (families were down by the Rio Grande river barbequing on mesquite).

Laredo was very poor with a lot of run down buildings and metal security bars on the windows. We crossed to Nuevo Laredo, on the Mexican side of the river, where it's even poorer and dirtier. Reg and Kate bought some leather travel bags and Cindy bought some Mezcal for Pat. 

Monday Feb 12, '90

Cindy shopped at a local sleazy mall in Laredo while Kate and Reg crossed to Nuevo Laredo where they shopped and walked around a bit. It was cleaner and fresher than the evening before but still depressing and harrassing. Guys were offering drugs, valium, access to a doctor, a tour guide, etc. but nobody offered their sister! It was unreasonably warm — the hottest place in the continental US — and Kate wanted a loose dress to ware. She bought two dresses and Reg bought some silver toe tips for his cowboy boots. He saw cowboy boots for only $18 but didn't buy them. Although not intending to bargain for the silver toe tips, he said "no" to the sales woman because he'd seen them cheaper elsewhere (which he had). She chased him out the door and down the street lowering the price with several offers until Reg felt obliged to buy them. They did bargain over a hammock ($6) and then felt stupid and guilty for doing so. The hammock made it's way to Jack and Doreta's cottage north of Kingston.

Alice TX — we stopped in Alice not too far from Corpus but there was nothing there. We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant on the outskirts. The food was so-so and there was no bar!!

Corpus Christi — we arrived in the later afternoon and spent a long time searching for and deciding on a hotel. We finally ended up at a La Quinta downtown. It was a heck of a deal — 2 free drinks, free breakfast and only $45!

We had a shrimp dinner at "Elmo's Diner" across the road from the hotel. It was a great dinner; afterwards we wandered the docks and checked out the many shrimp boats. You get fresh gulf shrimp from these very boats!

We went to a Texas gift shop — expensive but neat stuff. The nicest buildings in town were the banks.

Tuesday Feb 13, '90

At Corpus it was very windy in the morning. We went to Corpus Christi University and walked in a tidal bay where it was very muddy. We went to Padre Island and walked in the waters of the Gulf Coast, and saw a "Man O'War" jelly fish on the beach.

Back in San Antonio we toured some of the old Spanish Missions on our way into town (on the El Camino Royal). We had to restrain Cindy from being born-again at the very nice painting to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Cactus grows everywhere, even on roofs. We made friends with a couple from California. She was all dressed in red as was Kate.

We stopped in Gruene on the way back to Austin and had a great lunch at the Old Mill. It was high on the bank of the Guadalupe River and it seemed like a lovely spring day. There were even stray cats who came to the restaurant to beg. We shopped at a village gift store and Reg toured a pottery place where they were firing some pots.

Back in Austin we're again at the Crest. We had dinner at a New Orleans type of place with a Jazz band on 6th Street (also known as Pecan). The food was only so-so. We walked up and down 6th, there's lots of bars and entertainment here.

Wednesday Feb 14, '90

We return our car and have an uneventful flight home via Dallas and Detroit. Back home Jack and Doreta have been house sitting and we spend an evening regaling them with our adventures. Maybe someday they'll travel to Texas with us.

Slides scanned and these notes transcribed January of 2022 during the "Omicron Wave". Notes are those recorded at the time by Kate.

Walter's Falls Community Centre - 100th Anniversary.

Walter's Falls Community Centre - 100th Anniversary

1889 - 1989

HISTORY OF THE WALTER'S FALLS COMMUNITY CENTRE

1883 - the Canadian Order of Foresters formed Lodge in a Walter's Falls; the membership desired a more suitable place to meet. 

1889 - this hall was framed by William Lemon Sr., Dr. John
McCullough, Arthur Smith, Alfred Ward, Charles Dobson, R.W. Quinton, George Proud, and Peter McLaughlan; these men were some of the members and shareholders. Oyster suppers were held to raise funds for the lodge.

1917 - the Canadian Order of Foresters dissolved and the Women's Institute of Walter's Falls, with president Mrs. John Wilson, agreed to purchase this hall including furniture for the sum of $550. A community canvass was held in order to purchase the hall. There were 107 subscribers and $330 was collected, including a note in the amount of $250 backed by John Laycock, making a total of $550.

1917 - the Dance Club held "11:30 Dances" to raise money. The dances started at 8:30 PM and ended at 11:30 PM. Music was supplied by local talent.

1923 - the gas lights were installed by H.R. Seabrook; the lights hung from the ceiling on a chain and were lit with a torch.

1931 - hydro was installed in the hall by McLinden's of Owen Sound; Frank Carney of Brampton supplied the fixtures: Total cost $137.50. The Walter's Falls Agricultural Society held dances and concerts in the hall to raise money for the Fairs.

1939-45 - During World War II, the Red Cross had the use of the hall rent free for their meetings and activities.

1948 - the backdrop at the stage was painted and donated by Garnet Hazard of Walters Falls.

1952 - the hall board removed the battens from the walls and covered the outside of the hall with insulated brick siding.

1958 - the raised seats at the back of the hall were removed, the walls were panelled, and acoustic tile was put on the ceiling. 

1962 - the big box stove was removed and a forced air oil furnace was installed.

1966 - the old porch was removed and a complete entrance cloak room and kitchen were built unto the hall. 

1975 - a lot beside the hall was purchased from Fred Mower, as well as, the old blacksmith's shop, enabling a septic bed to be installed.

1976 - the hall board applied and receives a L.I.P. grant and received approval for a Wintario grant. A donation to the memorial fund was also made.

1977 - the new addition was built unto the side of the hall containing flush toilets, more kitchen space, and two rooms in the basement. At a cost of about $56,000, this addition was opened in October of that year.

Today - the hall continues to serve the community and raises funds through dances, euchres, suppers, and rentals. The hall is now formally named:

The Walter's Falls Community Centre

 

Walter's Falls was my childhood home. This note from a document found with Margaret Quinton memorabilia. Filed in my blog as Aug 1, 1989 (at about the time of the celebration). This note added to my blog on Apr 21, 2021.

DOA w Magic Binmen

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I'm looking for some help ... again! I have some photos of D.O.A with the Magic Binmen fronting them from July 12, 1989 (but that date might be wrong). They're photos I've recently scanned from negatives filed away with that date. I'm looking for help identifying where this might have happened. For sure it was London. I've asked Mark Goodwin and Dave O'Halloran if they have any recollections but, like me, their memory has faded. If you know or recall anything about this event, I'd like to know more.

I'm pretty sure it's 1989 as Dave Gregg isn't there as the second guitar (the others are Joe Keithley, Brian Goble on bass and Dimwit on drums). In Wikipedia it says "Dave Gregg quit in 1988 after D.O.A. fired their manager Ken Lester, to which he was close. The band hired Chris Prohom from the Dayglo Abortions as a replacement." So I believe the second guitar is Chris Prohom.

Dave O'Halloran doesn't recall the show and thinks the interior looks like it might have been Mingles but I think not. I've asked for some help from friends on the 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario Facebook Group and await comments.

Mark Goodwin couldn't recall the date or place but writes "Pix by London, Ontario photographer Reg Quinton of an old gig with our band, Magic Binmen opening for  the legendary D.O.A.  Great show and Mr.Keithley and co. were the coolest non rock star types ever. Ya  never think any time has elapsed but, sheeee-it.....this is just before moving to Montreal."

I recognize Mark Deroux on bass (he played all over town with many different bands and sadly died of cancer in 2004) and Mark Goodwin as the face of the band. Mark had several influential bands in this period.

Mark Goodwin tells me the Magic Binmen were:

Bass:    Mark "Louis" Deroux
Guitar: Jon Wood.
Guitar and Vox : Mark Goodwin

Former members include Marcy Saddy and Brian McCullough (both on drums).

In my iTunes library I have digitized a copy of the 1989 Magic Bin-Men C90; the London Music Archives had another C90 tape that I've copied. I don't listen to them much but they were very good alternative post-punk musicians.

This note and these photos collected and scanned April, 2021.

Jerry Lee Lewis, "The Killer"

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Our friend Dave O'Hallaran (under the alias What Wave Records) recently posted a FB article (Aug 28, 2025) where he recalls an event in London on this date (Aug 16, 1998). Dave writes:

"Played some Jerry Lee Lewis on this week's show, which reminded me when Jerry was in town Aug 16/1988, Dr Rockits, London ON. It was a packed show and we were right up front pressed against the stage. Here's some pics."

This jogged my memory. Kate and I were at that same event with our friends Colleen, Pat and Cindy. Dr Rockits was a large bar at the corner of Wharncliffe Rd and Riverside Dr. Mostly we were there for Pat who, being a bit older, had more memories of Jerry Lee Lewis, "The Killer", than we. It's a style of "Rock'n Roll" from before my time.

I recall that we have pictures taken at the event. If you click on the image of Dave's post you can find my pictures. These were digitized in 2021 during the pandemic .... when we had a lot of time on our hands.

This note composed Sept 1, 2025 and filed for the date of the event.

Maggie & Moe - 50th Anniversary

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My parents, Maurice and Margaret Quinton, were married on Saturday June 11, 1938 and 50 years later celebrated their 50th anniversary with an event on Saturday July 9 with family and friends in Walter's Falls where they were married and where they lived together. We had a lunch at the nearby Talisman Inn and a big party and dance that evening at the Walter's Falls Community Center. The photo album at left documents some of the event.

Margaret Ellen Dixon (February 5, 1920) was born and raised in the village of Walter's Falls and would have been 18 years old at the time of the wedding. Maurice Watson Quinton (April 19, 1914) was born and raised on the nearby family farm in Euphrasia Township. The farm is not quite a mile outside of Walter's Falls on the Deviation Rd just past the ball park. Dad would have been 24 when they married and they lived together on the farm which they managed with Richard Quinton, his father.

Their children were: Ellen Alberta (1938), Larry Russell (1940), Anthony Walter (1945), David Maurice (1947), Reginald Emerson (1952), Dale Dixon (1954) and Paul Finley (1958). All were in attendance with their family for this celebration.

I have a type written writeup of the event found in family notes and records. I suspect it was prepared by both of them for the local newspapers. I have typed it up with minor corrections:

After celebrating their 50th. Wedding Anniversary Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Quinton of Walters Falls, returned from holidaying in England, Wales and Ireland.

On July 9th. Maurice and Margaret celebrated their 50th. Wedding Anniversary with their family of one daughter Ellen, and six sons Larry, Anthony, David, Reginald, Dale, Paul and their families who arranged a dinner party at Talisman Resort, Kimberley 45 guests, immediate family and brothers and sisters of the honored couple, with their Rector Rev. A. and Mrs. Robertson. Guests arrived from Chilliwack, B.C., Kingston, London, Hamilton, Mississauga, Orangeville, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Simcoe, New Hamburg, Mitchell, Markdale, Flesherton, Holland Center, Meaford and Chatsworth. 

Rev. Robertson offered the dinner Grace, Larry Quinton of Kingston the eldest son was M. C., Beier Pitts of Meaford proposed the toast to the Bride and Groom of 50 years. Each family member spoke briefly of their childhood memories which brought laughs and tears. The family that plays together stays together. Father and Mother made fitting replies and sang, "When your hair has turned to silver, I will love you just the same." 

After a bountiful dinner all returned to the Community Centre, Walter's Falls where a decorated Hall of flowers, balloons, streamers, wedding bells, relatives and many friends greeted them with Best Wishes and Gifts. Those in attendance where from Schreiber, Sarnia, Brampton, Toronto, Iroquis Falls, Owen Sound, North Bay, Ottawa, Waterloo, Durham, Meaford and Markdale and areas.

Larry Quinton the M.C. welcomed all and introduced his friends the Dady Brothers from Rochester, N.Y. who entertained the young and the older guests with music and humor, dancing was enjoyed to music for all ages. 

Misses, Leslie, Natalie and Julia Quinton of Montreal, Ottawa and Kingston, daughters of Larry and Lori Quinton sang by special request for their Grandparents that beautiful song "Because." 

The family called their parents to the stage and presented a gift of English money for their holiday trip. Taken by surprise the parents offered their many thanks to them, and to all who made the celebration so meaningful and sange once more, "When you hair has turned to silver." A bountiful lunch was arranged by Jeananne Edmonstone a grand daughter and their daughter-inlaws Cathy Quinton, Lori Quinton, Gail Quinton, Kate Graham, Judy MacDonald and daughter Ellen Edmonstone. The Dady Brothers were given special thanks for their entertainment. 

Congratulatory certificates were received from The Premier of Ontario, The Prime Minister of Canada, The Governor General of Canada and Dr. Gus. Mitges, M.P.

Mr. and Mrs. David Quinton of Hamilton accompanied the Quinton's on their holiday trip. When in England they visited St. Peters Anglican Church Cemetery in Formby, and the grave of Sgt. Walter Dixon, a fighter pilot who gave his life for his country in the war of 1939-1945, a brother of Margaret and son of the late Russell and Mrs. Dixon of Markdale.

While in Ireland Mrs. David Quinton was pleased to attend Mass in the Church of her father John Delahunty of Ottawa attended as a boy in Templemore, Tipperary, and meet relatives for the first time.

The trip was most enjoyable, but there is no place like Canada, and all came back appreciating it more and more.

This note was prepared during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2021. 

Trip Home

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Our trip home (June 25-30) from the San Francisco area, driving across the country, was much more hurried than our trip out where we were crossing a state a day and stopping for an adventure or two in each state. There are far fewer pictures and only a few stories to relate.

Our route takes us a little north of our trip out. We head east on I80 and followed it all the way to Chicago. 

Our first path is through Sacramento and Reno where we had been on our trip out. Just outside of Sacramento we stopped in Auburn for a bit of "Gold Rush" touristing. This side of the mountains is green and forested. Past Reno you get into the dry Great Basin and big empty country.

Crossing Nevada on the I-80 has many more stops and lots more services than "Highway 50, the Loneliest Road in America" that we had taken driving west at the beginning of the month. It's an impressive highway all the way with lots of service stops. We needn't worry about a break down on any empty road. It's dry land, with modest mountains, and modest sized towns. There are some interesting towns along the way, if only for their names. Winnemucca, Wells and Oasis stand out as we cross this big empty country. 

We recall staying overnight in the casino town of West Wendover, Nevada on the border with Wendover, Utah. This was perhaps even weirder than Reno. The town is right against the Nevada border with bright lights, lots of casinos (e.g., "The Red Garter"), lots of gambling, drinking and general whoring around. Salt Lake City, where such goings on are very much frowned upon, is the largest nearby city and two hours away across very empty country — the Bonneville Salt Flats and the Great Salt Lake. We suspect the clientele at these casinos will be doing their penance at the Mormon Temple on another day. We arrived late, took a motel room and got our rest for the next days adventures.

We crossed the Bonneville Salt flats on a very long, very straight stretch of road. We stopped to expore the flats and later saw a bit of the Great Salt Lake. This is what the Great Basin is all about. Ringed by mountain ranges it really is a basin. Water to the east of the Continental Divide flows out through the Mississippi. To the west it flows out to the Pacific. Here it collects in this basin with nowhere to go. The Salt Flats, and the Salt Lake (it really is a Salt Lake), are the remains of the water that has collected here over the years. There's recreational boating on the lake. Oddly, we stopped at a tourist trap water slide kind of place on the lake which showed clear evidence that the water happened to be very high this year; a large Byzantine styled building was submerged in several feet of water!

We visited the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City. I had a girlfriend in high school who lived with a Mormon family so I knew a little bit about the religion and customs. I recall going to a very long Sunday service with them one time and I remember the family doing a "pilgrimage" one summer to visit the Temple here in Salt Lake City. I also knew that you couldn't go into the Temple unless you are a Mormon. But I wonder how they test that? I never learned a secret handshake so we didn't even try to enter. The Mormon rules against intoxicants like coffee and alcohol meant I was never fond of the religion and we didn't stay long in the city. And please don't get me started on the Golden Plates!

From there it's up over a mountain range into the cowboy/cattle country of Wyoming. I recall seeing some cowboys on horseback tending their herds. The land as you descend quickly becomes dry desert country and we cross the Green River again with a stop in Cheyenne.  The country around Green River is impressive dry canyon country. Not as impressive as further south in Utah but quite pretty. Kate has an interesting story about Cheyenne.

We stopped to visit the university in Cheyenne. While visiting the student centre Kate used the ladies room. In the ladies room there were a row of cubicles, a row of sinks and, near the door, a large couch/bench. When Kate was washing up at the sinks a student arrived, tossed her purse/bag on the couch and went off to one of the rest room cubicles. She just left her bag on the couch! It's a very trusting environment. We wouldn't do that at home.

On through Nebraska where we follow the North Platte River with stops in Lincoln (for a statue of Lincoln) and Omaha (for the Joslyn Art Museum).

A jaunt across Iowa has us crossing the mighty Mississippi River at Davenport. Then we're near Chicago, across Michigan and on to home.

Photos scanned and blog notes created during the BadAss.II Covid-19 variant and the Russian invasion of Ukraine April & May 2022.

Usenix/San Francisco

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We returned to San Francisco from Pacific Grove for the week of June 20-25 for the Usenix conference which was held in the Hilton Union Square. It's a huge luxury hotel just on the edge of the Tenderloin District. The accommodations were much better than the UCB student residence earlier on our visit and much nicer, of course, than the Caribbean Motor Hotel of Pacific Grove.

The conference hotel has a restaurant near the top where we had lunch one day and enjoyed the views of the city. The conference itself was quite large with workshops the first few days and technical papers on the last few. Those days I was quite the "Unix Bigot" having worked several years on BSD Unix (from Berkeley), Ultrix (from Digital), and at Western we had an ETA computer from CDC which promised to run Unix System V some day. The conference took pictures of all participants. Somehow I got a "Groucho Marx" disguise (glasses, furry eye-brows and a big nose) and wore it for my picture shown at left. The photographer got a laugh out of that. Unix guys, at that time, were a crazy bunch of nerdy geeks. I wonder if that's changed.

The Tenderloin District leaves a lot to be desired with strip clubs, nude girls and "all male live nude sex shows" at the nearby Nob Hill Theatre. But you're a short walk to Nob Hill and the Mark Hopkins at the top where we again visited the "Top of the Mark" for, on this visit, night-time views of the city.

One evening, we went to see the "Greater Tuna" play at the Mason Street Theatre not too far from our hotel. The story is set in a mythical Texas town  — "Tuna" the third smallest town in Texas. We went entirely on speculation, this looks like it might be fun. One of the authors, Jaston Williams, we saw several times in Austin in later years.

We went to a couple of concerts while in the area. 

We saw the Pixies fronting for Throwing Muses at the I-Beam in the Haight Ashbury district. I was really impressed by the Pixies, their music was uniquely jarring and there was nothing like it at the time (apparently there would never have been a Nirvana if it weren't for the Pixies). I collected the Pixies and Francis Black (their lead) music as their career continued. Many years later, on a visit to Melbourne Australia, I caught the Pixies on tour. Our friend Paul Dietz got the tickets for us. At that concert they wouldn't let me bring in my camera! So these pictures of the Pixies are what I have. The Throwing Muses didn't impress me as much but they are still releasing music (1986-2020). See the Pixies and Throwing Muses on Wikipedia.

At the I-Beam South, we saw Sister Double Happiness fronting for the Butthole Surfers. Again, this was entirely on speculation — it looked interesting. The Butthole Surfers, it turns out, were an outrageous somewhat psychedelic Texas band from San Antonio/Austin area. I recall one of them setting fire to lighter fluid on his hands. There was also a young woman with them who stripped naked and danced on the stage during the show. For all of that they weren't a band we ever followed.

Sister Double Happiness was more traditional punk, and we enjoyed them much more. We recognized the chunky intense fellow singing and fronting for the band. Isn't that guy "The Big Dick" (Gary Floyd) from "The Dicks" show we saw when we were in Cincinnati 1984? Well it turns out it was! And there's another Texas connection — The Dicks and Gary Floyd were also from Austin! No wonder they were touring with the Butthole Surfers. See The Dicks (Band), Sister Double Happiness and Butthole Surfers on Wikipedia.

The I-Beam South was quite a large venue, in a warehouse area, and we were far from the stage so I have no pictures of the bands at that event. I do have a poster from the event in the photo album.

While not at the conference, and not out with the punks, we did our fair share of touring about in the city. We climbed the Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill for views of North Beach, the Financial District and bay. North Beach just down the hill from the tower is oddly named as there is no water nearby — apparently much of San Francisco is reclaimed land. Chinatown and the Financial District with the iconic Trans America Pyramid are nearby. While tramping around Chinatown we bumped into the bronze plaque for Sam Spade (Kate is fan of those mysteries).

Another day we crossed the Golden Gate bridge (we must have taken a bus) and ended up in the pretty town of Sausilito. We took a ferry back to the city; there are some pictures of Alcatraz taken from the ferry. As a prison it had been closed for quite some time (1963); there was a period where natives had occupied the island (1969-71); these days it's a tourist day-trip.

There's a couple of car stories I should tell. I've already mentioned our fuel filter problem that had us laid up briefly in Green River Idaho. There's more to tell...

Our little 1984 Hyundai Pony struggled to get up and over some of the mountains on our trip west. Within San Francisco navigating some of the very steep hills with a manual transmission was quite the challenge. I recall trying to "feather the clutch" on a steep hill intersection in the Haight-Ashbury area — the clutch was all the way out and we weren't going anywhere! I thought, damn that's going to be a problem but fortunately I dumped the clutch, tried again, and away we went. Fortunately I hadn't burned out the clutch, that would have been difficult to repair.

The poor little car also over heated when fighting mountains, strong headwinds and when we were pushing it hard to make time. While in San Francisco I got an oil change and had the mechanic remove the thermostat so the coolant would circulate at full force all the time. That helped.

After the conference, we hurried back home. There's another blog on that.

Photos scanned and blog created April 2022 during the BadAss.II Covid wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.