VOLUME 17 ISSUE 4
Dedicated to Peter Cedarstacker
Sat., April 2nd
Sun., April 3rd
9pm
Larry Joe Taylor
★
Tejas Brothers
★
Six Market Blvd.
1pm
The Dust Devils
1pm
MUSIC ROAD
Records
Showcase
✪
Jimmy LaFave
Sam Baker
Kevin Welch
Slaid Cleaves
Stonehoney
April 2011
Fridays 3pm
The McKay Brothers w/ guests 1st - Lisa Morales &
Thomas Michael Riley
8th - john Arthur martinez
15th - Owen Temple
22nd - Brennen Leigh
29th - Adam Carroll
Dances
1st - Kevin Deal 8pm
8th - Kick A Boot Band
Sat., April 9th Sat., April 30th
15th - Sarah Pierce
Bobby Flores
Paul Thorn
22nd - Jamie Richards
29th - Almost Patsy Cline Band
9pm
✯
Inside
“THE MOON”
Cedar Creek Clippings ................................Page 3
blacktopGYPSY
Robyn Ludwick
CD Release - 1pm
Check website or call for ticket info & details
www.luckenbachtexas.com
Everybody’s Somebody ..........................Pages 4-5
Luckenbach Store & More ..........................Page 6
You Can’t Forget Memories ........................Page 7
Luckenbach Upcoming Events ....................Page 8
HAPPENINGS IN LUCKENBACH – March 1, 2011
There was a Classic car photo shoot at Luckenbach for the catalogue cover of a Dan Kruse Classics Auction
that will be in San Antonio on April 8 & 9. Three beautiful cars were borrowed from Street Dreams in
Fredericksburg. Dan Kruse from San Antonio and Rick Sevenoaks of Leake Auction from New York stood
by the ’57 red Chevy convertible worth $100,000 against the backdrop of the old store and Hondo’s Bust
Stop. They posed in Michael Malone hats. Kit knew Dan Kruse from high school days when he swam for
Churchill with Dan’s daughters Tedra and Tiffany.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
LUCKENBACH’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
Fri., May 27th – 8pm
Thomas Michael Riley – Don Williams Tribute
Sat., May 28th – 9pm
Billy Joe Shaver
Sun., May 29th – Texicana Sunday – 1pm
Stephanie Urbina Jones
Mon., May 30th – 1pm
Chris Berardo & DesBerardos
LETTERS TO THE
MOON
Walt Perryman's Day - Feb. 26, 2011
Luckenbach's Poet
DOESN’T ANYBODY WRITE LETTERS ANYMORE???
SEND US A LETTER SO WE HAVE MORE STUFF TO PRINT!
The LUCKENBACH MOON is published monthly by Luckenbach Texas, Inc.
Opinions expressed in The LUCKENBACH MOON do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the owners, directors, or staff of Luckenbach Texas, Inc.
We would like to acknowledge and thank the following “Somebodies” who
made this month’s MOON possible:
Peter Cedarstacker aka Hondo Crouch, Becky Crouch Barrales, John Raven, C.
P. Vaughn and Robbyn Dodd.
2
BIRD BRAINS
Note: From 1961-1973, Hondo (nom
de plume, or alias, or AKA Peter
Cedarstacker) wrote a social satire column for the Comfort News. The fictional town of Cedar Creek and all of its
characters eventually became the real
town of Luckenbach and all of its characters (and Luckenbach has some real
characters!) The MOON reserves a special corner for Peter Cedarstacker,
Writer, as a corner of wit and human
insight for us today.
-Becky Crouch Barrales
"HEADLINE": FIGHTING BREAKS out in
Luckenbach TX! (Sounds like the rest of the
world). Feathers have been ruffled! An apparent
foe from across Grape Creek has crossed boundary
lines and squared off against one of Luckenbach’s
fearest fighting roosters, "Rooster Cockspur."
Naturally the fight was over food and females. The
instigator, a rangy bantam weight, aptly named
"Little Drumstick" figgered it was his turn as
"Cock of the Walk", so the fight was on. With
feathers flying and spurs a slashing a storm was
brewing!
The Spite boy is back from summer camp and
reports a good time was had by all. Since he was a
good swimmer he liked swimmin’ best. One day
his instructor told him his swimmin’ would be better if he’d speed up his left arm recovery and
breathe on the right, returnin’ his head to neutral
position before pullin’ with his left, and that when
he worried about his body angle he forgot his kick
and right arm recovery.
"Oh," said the Spite boy to his instructor, and
on the next try he nearly drowned.
Exactly like the centipede I talked to at the Park
Side Road durin’ last year’s "Vermin Festival"
sponsored by our Bug Watchin’ Club.
I asked the centipede how on earth he ever
learned to walk with so many legs when it takes a
human being nearly a year - with only two legs. He
said he never thought of that.
I asked the centipede how on earth he knows
which foot to start walkin’ with and he said he
never thought of that either, that he started with his
left front. No, right front; no, I start in the middle
and work forward; no, wait a minute and I’ll see.
Well, he started to walk and fell on his face.
Folks sure can confuse people, can’t they?
Turns out Cock Fights are agin’ the law, and the
men with badges got called out, but only after
Rooster Cockspur was victorious in a bloody (but
not deadly) win over the young banty rebel! Never
the less, the wheels of justice were in slow motion
and a case number was issued for the event! Both
roosters, with tail feathers between their legs were
sent off to separate trees to await the verdict. The
wheels of justice barely turn out here, so a wait and
see attitude is up in the air. In the meantime,
Rooster is still strutting his stuff, but made to wear
a "pigeon band" with GPS capabilities to keep him
from flying the coop while waiting for justice to be
served.
Final report to follow.
Terry McDaniel
Cub Reporter
ROOS
TER
Peter Cedarstacker
Writer
C.
Remember: Fight Snorkels
www.luckenbachtexas.com
and the winner is...Rooster Cockspur! Next stop, Tyson? har, har
3
beat swimming in mossy green tanks with turtles.
We’d jump in Hondo’s truck for the trip to town.
Hondo surveyed the water of floundering bodies that
had possibility. When he spotted a prospect he
called them over. "Do you want to be on my swim
team? Be at the pool at 6:30. We’re gonna practice."
In ten minutes he’d have picked a dozen boys.
He knew a natural when he saw one. There were my
brothers Juan and Kerry, their nine year old schoolmates John Davidson, Mike Klett, Dick and Dor
Brown, Riley Osbourn, Terry Wells, Jay Stein. There
were four tough seven year old girls who worked out
in boys’ swim trunks: Cris Crouch, Aneen Wells,
Melissa Osbourn and Penny Perry.
EVERYBODY’S
SOMEBODY
by
Becky Crouch
Barrales
Fredericksburg’s First
Pool, Coach, Swim Team
Hondo Crouch was an All-American and champion swimmer at Texas, 1936-40. To make money
for travel expenses for meets all over the country
Coach Tex Robertson had the team perform water
carnivals on road trips — diving, stunts, exhibition
swims. It was at UT Hondo got his nickname.
Coming from the west Texas town of Hondo they
asked him how he learned to swim, so well. "It
rained one time," Hondo answered, "and I learned to
swim in a cow track." The sports announcers would
ask, "Who’s that Hondo guy?" He was known as the
Swimming Cowboy.
Swim lesson - photo courtesy Melissa Osbourn Starry
"Alright, men…. and ladies," Hondo started,
"this is swimming. You can’t find a better sport to
save your life! All you have to do is think or thwim!
And remember, swim downhill!" It was his way to
get them to put their heads down in the water and
tailends up in the air.
Hondo worked them hard. Fifteen minutes of
nonstop swimming. He marked their racing start
glides with a leaf or wet toe mark on the cement.
Soon they were ready for their first meet.
UT All-American John “Hondo” Crouch, 1940
The two station wagons of kids felt like they
were going to the Olympics instead of Llano, Texas.
Years later he taught thousands of kids to swim Noticing the aquatic clubs’ initials on their T-shirts,
at camps Longhorn and Champions, which he Hondo quickly thought up a name: Downtown
helped start. He never knew his grandsons also Fredericksburg River Aquatic Club, DFRAC, for
became All-American competitive swimmers. Kit short.
and Ren Patterson swam on scholarships at UT. But
When the Camp Longhorn buses pulled up to
Fredericksburg had Hondo first.
the pool house, the kids got out like they were the
Around 1958 the city built a brand new public Russians. Hondo’s little motley group fell out of the
pool. We kids would do anything–even take naps–in station wagon in their homemade bathing suits.
order to go swimming in that new turquoise water. It Who won? DFRAC!
4
The other big event was the official opening of
the first city pool. The boys loved working with
Hondo on their exhibition swims, skits and dives.
The whole town showed up — from farmers to
bankers. Hondo had his record-holding "stars"
demonstrate a lap of their special stroke. Kerry
swam his self-taught breaststroke. Hondo dove into
the water to please the crowd with his famous
American crawl and championship backstroke. No
one could believe how smooth and effortless he
swam. Diving in he almost coasted the entire length
of the pool, gliding with such grace and speed. It’s
as if he had a motor device underneath no one could
see.
No one recognized him as a clown in Opa’s
baggy 1928 one-piece wool bathing suit. His skinny
legs were anchored by argyle socks and work boots.
He wore a funny hat and carried a cane pole over his
shoulder. Pretending to have a wad of worms in his
mouth, he muffled, "Too nasty to hold in my hand!"
He managed to trip, fall into the pool head first, but
his feet never got wet! They stuck out of the pool 12
inches, as if he’d hit a rock. This trick always
amazed everyone. How did he do that?!
He gave comic demonstrations of different
strokes, such as the "crowded swimming pool"
stroke and the "Guadalupe River" stroke, flicking out
imaginary debris. The crowd loved it all.
There were stunts, clown diving, water ballet.
But the most dangerous one performed by one of his
boys was the Popeye stunt. Hondo picked the smallest boy and stuffed newspaper "muscles" in his longsleeved shirt. After he "ate" his can of spinach and
jumped in the water, the kid sped across the pool so
fast he left giant skier’s wakes behind him. The
crowd was in shock and awe. The secret no one
knew was that the kid was holding onto a hidden
wire cable held by someone in a car outside in the
parking lot. When the car lurched forward a few feet
it drug the swimmer, creating super human speed.
The kid got out of the pool to roaring cheers and
saggy wet paper muscles. Luckily he wasn’t pulled
up over the gutter and strained through the chain link
fence!
Hondo, the Swimming Clown opens Fredericksburg
Municioal pool, 1958
Such was the opening of the city pool in 1958.
Now in 2011, it is closing, moving to another location. But we remember the first. As Hondo said,
"You can’t forget memories."
Becky Crouch Patterson
From her book, Hondo My Father
Hondo, the Swimming Cowboy, at UT Pool, 1938
5
“BE SOMEBODY” in LUCKENBACH APPAREL & STUFF
GRE AT
GIFT
IDE AS!
T-shirts, Caps, Denim, Stickers, Games, Etc.... Check it out or shop on our website:
www.luckenbachtexas.com
Order by phone at 888-311-8990 Ext. 23
FOR RENT
The Best Dancehall in Texas!
You can rent the world famous Luckenbach
Tony Wilson
Dance Hall! Great for weddings, recep-
830-816-2334
tions, birthdays, anniversaries... social
gatherings of any kind!
L•I•V•E MUSIC
7 Days a week
Call us toll-free at 888-311-8990 Ext. 29
[email protected]
BBQ, Burgers & More!
Hours:
Thursday Thru Sunday 11am - 9pm
6
After the retirement ceremony, K.R.Wood and his
aggregation took to the outdoor stage and performed
K.R.’s "Fathers of Texas".
The "Fathers of Texas" is an opus of about twenty
songs that tell the story of Texas. The list of songs, poems
and artists is too long to go into here. The "Fathers of
Texas" has been named "The Texas State historical sound
track" by the Texas Legislature. (Available on Texanna
records).
Texas history and Texas present are full of legend and
lore on about any subject you can name.
When Alaska was inducted into the Union, it was said
to be larger than Texas which up until then was acknowledged as being the largest state.
Global warming is about to change Alaska’s claim to
being biggest state. Scientist say that if the warming continues and the ice in Alaska continues to melt, by the year
2036, Alaska will have melted down to the size where it
will fit in the Waxahachie, Texas city limits.
You can’t
forget
Memories
April 2011
Copyright John Raven
Saturday the 5th of March I was in attendance at the
Texas Independence Day celebration at Luckenbach.
This celebration goes back some years. I don’t
remember the year the first real Texas Independence Day
event was held at Luckenbach. I do know that about 1990
the infamous Headliners East in Austin had an
Independence Day celebration and the Luckenbach delegation would be on hand for the big domino shoot-out.
The usual Luckenbach Team was Ken Morgan and Sam
Lewis. They were in the finals against Team Shiner for
bragging rights... I don’t remember our team bringing
home a trophy...
Sadly I missed a lot of the early Texas Independence
Day events at Luckenbach. I will try to not miss any more.
This year’s event was greeted with fine weather and a
respectable crowd of Texas knowledgeable folk.
A feature of the day was the flag retirement ceremony conducted by the Former Texas Rangers group. These
folk are either retired Texas Rangers or have had Texas
Rangers in their families.
The flag retirement is the replacement of the Texas
flag that flies over Luckenbach with a new flag. The old
flag is lowered by the Rangers and carefully removed to a
suitable location where it is burned. (You just don’t throw
away an old flag). I must say the entire crowd on hand
was very quiet and respectful during this solemn rite.
The new flag is raised with spirit and a cheer went up
from the crowd.
Six Flags Over Texas
• Through its history, Texas has had six different flags flying over the state.
• The first flag was the flag of Spain which
was planted in 1519 and remained until 1685.
• The French flag was in place from 16851690 then Spain took over again until 1821.
• The Mexican flag was on top the pole from
1821 until 1836.
• The Republic of Texas came into being in
1836 and flew over the Republic until it
joined the United States in 1845.
• The flag changed again in 1861 when Texas
joined the Confederate States.
• The Rebel Flag fell in 1865 and Texas was
back in the Union.
7
APRIL CALENDAR
Sat
Sun
1st
2nd
3rd
The McKay Brothers
w/ Guests-Lisa Morales & Thomas Michael Riley
Dance - Kevin Deal
3pm
8pm
The Dust Devils
1pm
Larry Joe Taylor • Tejas Brothers • Six Market Blvd. 9pm
Jimmy LaFave • Sam Baker • Kevin Welch
Slaid Cleaves • Stonehoney
1pm
Mon
4th
Sol Patch-Picker Circle
5pm
Tue
5th
Ben Beckendorf-Picker Circle
5pm
Wed
6th
W.C. Jameson-Picker Circle
5pm
Thu
7th
Art & Lisa-Picker Circle
5pm
Fri
8th
The McKay Brothers w/Guest john Arthur martinez
Dance - Kick A Boot Band
3pm
8pm
Sat
9th
blacktopGYPSY
Paul Thorn • blacktopGYPSY
1pm
9pm
TICKET
TICKET
Sun
10th Walt Wilkins • Jason Eady • Davis Raines
1pm
Mon
11th Sol Patch-Picker Circle
5pm
Tue
12th Ben Beckendorf-Picker Circle
5pm
Wed
13th W.C. Jameson-Picker Circle
5pm
Thu
14th Art & Lisa-Picker Circle
5pm
Fri
15th The McKay Brothers w/Guest Owen Temple
Dance - Sarah Pierce
3pm
8pm
Sat
16th Mike Mancy
Dance - Charlie Montague
1pm
9pm
Sun
17th Thomas Michael Riley
1pm
Mon
18th Sol Patch-Picker Circle
5pm
Tue
19th Ben Beckendorf-Picker Circle
5pm
Wed
20th W.C. Jameson-Picker Circle
5pm
Thu
21st Art & Lisa-Picker Circle
5pm
Fri
22nd The McKay Brothers w/Guest Brennen Leigh
Dance - Jamie Richards
3pm
8pm
Sat
23rd Cosmic American Roadshow
1pm
Sun
24th Bo Porter
1pm
Luckenbach Texas, Inc.
412 Luckenbach Town Loop
Phone (830) 997-3224 Phax (830) 997-1024
888-311-8990
Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
Mon
25th Sol Patch-Picker Circle
5pm
www.luckenbachtexas.com
Tue
26th Ben Beckendorf-Picker Circle
5pm
Wed
27th W.C. Jameson-Picker Circle
5pm
Thu
28th Art & Lisa-Picker Circle
5pm
16
Fri
29th The McKay Brothers w/ Guest Adam Carroll
Dance - The Almost Patsy Cline Band
3pm
8pm
Kerrville
30th Robyn Ludwick CD Release
Bobby Flores
1pm
9pm
Help us keep Luckenbach legal!
Please do not bring alcohol
or take it off the grounds when you leave
25¢
87
290
Johnson
City
Fredericksburg
290
290
✪
LUCKENBACH
1888
1376
10
Sisterdale
Sat
Blanco
1623
87
281
Comfort
TICKET
46
Monday-Friday - Jimmy Lee Jones-Picker Circle 1pm
Most Sundays - Cowboy Doug Davis-Picker Circle 5pm
8
Boerne
To San Antonio
To San Antonio
To Austin
This schedule may change...Call or check online for info on TICKETED events 888-311-8990
TICKET
Fri