Butch Hancock at Strange Brew

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Kate, Sam and I had a pleasant evening at Strange Brew and caught three different acts. Here's some photos of Butch Hancock's set with Bob Livingston on bass. The set started with "Spanish is the Loving Tongue" which made our day. Lots of tunes we know and love and some we'd never heard before even though they were written back in the 1970's.

Butch told a funny story about his university days in Lubbock with Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. They had a table made out of a door balanced on a couple of cinder blocks. With only two legs (the cinder blocks) it wasn't very stable. An engineering friend pointed out that it would be stable if only they had a third leg .... stunned silence, why hadn't we thought of that! So they saved up for a week and Joe brought one home on the back of his bicycle. Problem solved. Of course it's still a table only about a foot off the floor! 

I asked and Butch announced that there will be a Townes Van Zandt birthday party bash at the Cactus Café on March 7. Cindy will be here visiting at that time so we've got to get tickets for that event!

Terri Hendrix, Cactus Cafe

2015/02/13 Terri Hendrix, Cactus Cafe: On Friday night we caught Terri Hendrix at the Cactus Cafe on the UT campus. We caught a similar gig last year at about the same time. Terri is a powerful singer and a great writer. Lloyd Maines, as always, was there. It was another great show we thoroughly enjoyed. I've been following her for years and have come to recognize and love many of her songs.

We took Sam with us, her first night in town visiting, and on the way stopped at the Texas Chili Parlour Bar for a bowl of red and some mad dog margaritas (and not caring where you are...)

Another fun night...

Steve Earle at Waterloo Records

2015/02/12 Steve Earle at Waterloo Records: Kate and I got to see one of our favorite artists in a most unusual location. Steve Earle was showcasing his new album "Terraplane" at Waterloo Records on Lamar at 6th -- an early release. This is a blues album celebrating a long tradition from traditional artists, through folk like Townes Van Zandt down to current folk like Steve who turned 60 recently. Great tunes, it was fun and a wonderful opportunity to see an artist we've admired for years.

Two Tons of Steel, Guero's Taco Bar

2015/02/11 Two Tons of Steel at Guero's: Kate and I caught the San Antonio band "Two Tons of Steel" Thursday night at Guero's Taco Bar on South Congress in the garden under the live oaks. It was a lovely warm evening and the dance floor was hopping for the regular Wednesday live to radio broadcast. Really enjoyed the show and some of the best dancers we've seen in a while. I need to learn the Texas two step.

We had a bite at the Snack Bar down the street and some tasty margaritas during the show -- we think they're some of the better ones in town. They're simple to make but seem to have an effect on you.

And we even met a fellow Canuck who was staying down the street at the motel with penis shaped neon sign and the "So near, yet so far out" slogan.

Amanda Cevallos at The Broken Spoke

2015/02/10 Amanda Cevallos at The Broken Spoke

Amanda Cevallos & the High Hands play for tips as a dinner show before the dance at the Broken Spoke. I had a chicken fried steak (like many places they claim to be the best in all of Austin if not all of Texas), Kate struggles with the minimal vegetarian options. We've come for the music and dinner.

Amanda recognizes us from previous visits and I'm here to find out about her new album. She tells me it's only going to be released on LP, there's only going to be a pressing of 100 copies at $100 a pop, it will not be released on CD and if we want a copy we need to act fast. Hmmm... that sounds like a very odd marketing strategy. While I really like her music and have her last CD I have no desire to spin LP's and will pass on this new release.

Hopefully there will be new music coming soon in CD or iTunes format.

Mike Stinson at the Little Longhorn Saloon

2015/02/08 Mike Stinson at The Little Longhorn Saloon: Some photos from the Mike Stinson gig at Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon. Kate was going to buy tickets for the chicken shit bingo but the lineup went around the building! Mike Stinson is a seasoned musician with some great drinking tunes. We had fun and so did the dancers.

A Day in San Antonio

2015-02-26 A Day in San Antonio: Kate and I had a day in San Antonio in February where we visited the Museum of Art, the River Walk and the Alamo. We'll come back another time and bring our bikes to explore off the beaten trail.

Kate and I had a quick visit to San Antonio during our winter vacation in Austin (it's only an hour or so south). We visited the San Antonio Museum of Art where there was a special exhibit of Picasso pieces rendered as tapestries. We wandered the River Walk and had a quick peek at the Alamo (that famous battle with Santa Anna was 1836 -- you remember the Alamo). We were going to do a bit of an architectural walk (there's lots of interesting buildings from the turn of the last century) but he weather turned on us.