October 2014 - Luckenbach, Texas

VOLUME 20 ISSUE 10
Dedicated to Peter Cedarstacker
October 2014
Saturday October 4th
The Damn Quails
1pm
Oktober
Fiesta
9pm
Stephanie
Urbina Jones
& Paul Cauthen
Saturday October 18th
10am
FRIDAYS
8pm
Oct. 3rd
Wagon Aces
Oct. 10th
Tessy Lou & the Shotgun Stars
Oct. 24th
Almost Patsy Cline Band
Proceeds to benefit:
Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation
of Any Baby Can
w w w. h a r v e s t cl a s s i c . o r g
Jesse Dayton - 1pm
Saturday
October 25th
Thomas
Michael
Riley
9pm
1pm - Weldon Henson
Oct. 25th
Jeremy Steding
★
✯
★
★
Inside
“THE MOON”
Cedar Creek Clippings ................................Page 3
Everybody’s Somebody ............................Page 4-5
Luckenbach Store & More ..........................Page 6
Check website or call for ticket info & details
You Can’t Forget Memories ........................Page 7
www.luckenbachtexas.com
Luckenbach Upcoming Events ....................Page 8
Headline…
Texas country girl getting hitched...
Kristin Schwartz and Dave Pullig met through a mutual
friend while attending a trivia contest at the Mellow
Mushroom, a local pizza parlor. They couldn’t have
known then what was to happen next was anything but
trivial. They had an instant connection with each other
inseparable since their first meeting. Dave asked
Kristin’s parents and best friends to join them at a Wade
Bowen concert for her 25th birthday. Little did she
know that he had already asked her parents for her hand
in marriage and asked them to be there for the special
proposal. Now getting hitched at Luckenbach Texas
joining with their parents, Greg and Renee Schwartz of
San Antonio and Steve and Stacy Pullig of Lantana, TX,
the wedding with ceremony under the great cypress
trees canopies on October 11th, 2014.
Congratulations from Luckenbach Texas
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.
Help us keep Luckenbach legal, Please do not bring alcohol or take it off the grounds when you leave.
2
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
The C.C. Columbus Day fest was a huge success. Everyone
there was present except Senator Garble and he came as soon as he
heard about it on Wed. of this week.
To keep from hurting anyone’s feelins, the fest was held at the
Park Side Road instead of Abe Gutowsky’s (New York Ind.) or
Miguel Schultze’s (Real Indian).
The décor was Indian Halloween and we saved the decors for the
Halloween feast later this month. Mama, not knowin’ we were to
save the decors, took a pumpkin home and made some pies. Mrs.
Wurstbottom told her she has to bring the pies back to the
Halloween thing.
Miguel Schultz (Indian) made a speech written for him by Jesus
(pronounced Hey-soos) McNeil about Queen Willermeaner and her
love affair with old Cris before he left home to discover us.
He also told of what White Man has done to us. I think he
meant "for us." He told of many things White Man has loused up
for his folks and it would have been embarrasin’ but nobody there
felt white.
"The Indians used to study the stars but now, since the White
Man has started pokin’ ‘round in space, they move, even without
drinkin’," he said. "Don’t touch space, by Gemini," he blasted.
"Everything White Man touches he louses up. He gave us crowded
bathrooms."
Sen. Garble made a speech.
Peter Cedarstacker
Writer
Remember: Fight Phlegm
Who’s reading the Moon?
(photo courtesy of John Raven)
Making Memories in Luckenbach
3
behind the bar read, "If you’re drinking to forget, pay in
advance". The music began to flow. Every night was
Amateur Night.
EVERYBODY’S
SOMEBODY
Guich Koock performed an accurate rendition of a
Southern Baptist Negro preaching a sermon. Then he
sang an old slave song, shifting into "High Noon", Tex
Ritter style and ending in "Jalisco", Hondo punctuated
with gritos. At its conclusion, Hondo played "Saints Go
Marching In" on a kazoo hidden in an old sink p-trap,
sliding the joint like a trombone. "Accompany me on the
guitarlet, Guich!" A toilet seat strung with guitar strings.
"We’re the Luckenbach Comodians!" The hysteria subsided. The single kerosene lamp glowed softly. CC
Gibbons, prominent member of the Houston Symphony,
sobered everyone up with the mere unlatching of her violin case. Not long after she drew her bow slowly across
the strings our ears recognized foot-stompin’ "Cotton Eye
Joe". The outsider was immediately respected. The
Mexican man played a German
favorite, "Beer Barrel Polka".
When he played "Jesusita en
Chihuahua" Hondo danced the
polka around the stove. The guitar, ceremoniously passed around
the circle, came to my husband
Dow and me. Hondo put us on a
pedestal by shushing everyone as
we sang his favorite, "Rivers of
Texas". When it was Hondo’s turn
his weathered rancher face and
twinkling eyes became animated.
He sang songs that painted pictures of canyons, sunsets, whispering sands, tumbleweeds. His
voice sang with the sentiment he
felt over the passing of a romantic era he once knew. He saved
the best for last, "Que Puntada!",
loudly snapping his guitar strings
and slapping the guitar box in
Huapango style.
The times I relished most with my father were those spent
in his singing presence. I was spellbound. We lost ourselves, performer and listener, with that magical world
that music brought home to our hearts. After everyone had
gone, Ruff was too drunk to fly up to his roost, so Hondo
gently lifted him to his oak tree perch. "Gollee! Look at
that moon Guich!" Hondo exclaimed. "Don’t tell anyone
we have such a big moon for such a small town!"
from Hondo, My Father
by Becky Crouch Barrales
The Original Magic of Luckenbach, Texas
(The First of the Picker’s Circle)
Growing up around my father, Hondo Crouch on our
ranch in Gillespie County we spent our leisure time with
guitar-playing friends sitting in a circle, each taking a
turn. It was diplomatic; no one hogged the show and
everyone felt like someone. When Hondo bought the little
antique German community of Luckenbach in 1971 with
Guich Koock, the Picker’s Circle would become, and still
is, a living legend. It defined what Texas music is: eclectic, spontaneous, laid back,
weaving all classes and abilities
of people together. We never
knew then that this custom would
lead to Luckenbach becoming
the birthplace of Outlaw Country
Music.
The special Saturday night I
remember most at Luckenbach in
1973 was when we were all sitting under the trees with chickens, along with Ruff the alcoholic rooster and a sprinkling of
lightning bugs. The chill moved
our small friendly group into the
tiny bar to huddle around the potbelly stove. Ruff followed, hoping for more beer that Hondo
would pour into a bottle cap.
Sheriff/Bartender Marge chased
Oink Van Gogh, the one-eared
pig, out of the bar. The door burst
open. A few old friends carried in a violin, guitar and
Jamaican bass. Someone produced a harmonica. Another
drug up a washtub bass. A Mexican man no one knew had
a push-fiddle (accordion). A round of beers went forth.
We all lifted our beers in a toast toward the ceiling to the
empty chair Hondo’d put in the cobwebbed corner in
memory of Benny Luckenbach, a regular who would
come with his Chihuahua every day to start his cocktail
hour as early as 3:00 p.m. The chair held a sign "Reserved
for Benny". A small sign in Hondo’s handwriting posted
4
Dale Watson
Bob Schneider
KENDS
E
E
W
in
LU
C KE N B AC H
Tessy Lou & the Shotgun Stars
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. 232
BBQ, Burgers & More!
Tony Wilson
830-816-2334
FOR RENT – The Best Dancehall in Texas!
You can rent the world famous Luckenbach Dance Hall! Great for weddings, receptions,
birthdays, anniversaries... social gatherings of any kind!
Call us toll-free at 888-311-8990 Ext. 229 [email protected]
6
right side of Main Street. When the parade gets to the western limits of the route, it turns around and comes back down
the other side of the street. So there is a point where the
parade is going in two directions at once. Pretty impressive.
[Most of the time the fair was in progress, the ABC-TV camera crew was filming the high points. They captured a good
bit of the parade and associated action in living color. The
proposed special of the event never was made. One of the
members of the Great World Fair Committee worked for
Lady Bird Johnson’s TV station in Austin. He, Wally Pryor,
collected all the fair film he could find and stored it. Just
recently Wally passed on and he and his wife donated the
film collection to Texas Archive. The clip is a Texas treasure, showing how life was in Fredericksburg in 1977.
The clip can be seen at:
http://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=1977_L
uckenbach_World%E2%80%99s_Fair
You can’t
forget
Memories
October 2014
Copyright John Raven
Part Four
1977. New Fairgrounds, Fredericksburg
Carter Country
Between the 1976 fair and the 1977 fair, Guich Koock had
found employment as an actor on the new ABC-TV program
"Carter Country". Jimmy Carter had just been elected
President of the United States. The President was a peanut
farmer in Georgia by trade so the TV decided to make a
HillBilly comedy program based on the Carter Name.
The star of the program was Victor French who made a
decent living acting for a while. Our boy Guich played his
usual goofy deputy in the show. The rest of the cast was
mostly unknown except to their relatives.
The story goes that Guich sold ABC-TV on the idea of
making a special of his Great World Fair to promote "Carter
Country" and build an audience. ABC agreed that it could
work. So everyone connected with "Carter Country" and the
ABC film crew showed
up in Fredericksburg for
the big event. There was
a crowd. Some of the film
crew was complaining
about having to sleep on a
motel lawn.
One member of
the fair committee who
acted as concierge for the
weekend said there would
never be another weekend
in Fredericksburg where
so much happened or was
supposed to happen or
maybe happened. No mention here of lovely ladies in town
from Hollywood.
There is the story that Billy Carter, black sheep brother of
President Carter was present. It is said that he was not satisfied with the attention he was getting so he left and went
somewhere and was not seen again for three days.
The parade for the fair was a heck of a deal. Main Street
was lined with spectators from one end to the other.
Fredericksburg parades are unique in that they go both ways.
The parade starts on the east end of town and goes down the
As you can see, there was a lot going on. The chicken flying and armadillo races got a lot of attention. They were not
high dollar sports. Armadillos were for the catching and you
could get a decent chicken for about a buck.
There was music non-stop. The lovely lady at the piano is
Marcia Ball. She is still making music. At the time of the
fair, she had just started her single act. She had been lead
singer for Freda and the Firedogs, a band, that got a good run
for a couple of years.
The guy with the motorcycle was Even Steven out of San
Antonio. He was working toward getting enough distance to
get noticed.
The fat guy with the bomb was Bad McFad. Bad specialized in doing dangerous things.
There
was
a
"Daredevil Challenge"
at the fair. The object
was to see which daredevil could best thrill
and astound the
crowd. The run Even
makes in the clip was a
practice run. At the
actual challenge his
motorbike stuck a rod
out through the side of
the engine. McFad
won by default but he
won.
The boxing match was bare knuckle. This was way before
the martial arts stuff come along. It was highly illegal to box
without gloves at that time.
As with all the Great World Fairs, there was something for
everyone during all the open hours.
7
OCTOBER CALENDAR
ShAnnie-Picker Circle
Thu 2nd Sol Patch-Picker Circle
5pm
Fri
3rd T & C Miller-Picker Circle
Wagon Aces - Dance
4pm
8pm
Sat
4th
Oktober Fiesta w/ Stephanie Urbina Jones
The Damn Quails • Paul Cauthen
1pm
9pm
Sun 5th
Walt Wilkins & Friends
1pm
Mon 6th
Danny & Lorna Terry-Picker Circle
5pm
Tue
Stephen Morris-Picker Circle
5pm
Wed 8th
ShAnnie-Picker Circle
5pm
Thu 9th
Sol Patch-Picker Circle
5pm
7th
Follow Us On
5pm
Fri
10th T & C Miller-Picker Circle
Tessy Lou & the Shotgun Stars - Dance
4pm
8pm
Sat
11th Kim Carson Band
1pm
Sun 12th Tom Gillam
1pm
Mon 13th Danny & Lorna Terry-Picker Circle
5pm
Tue
5pm
14th Stephen Morris-PickerCircle
Wed 15th ShAnnie-Picker Circle
5pm
Thu 16th Sol Patch-Picker Circle
5pm
Fri
17th Harvest Classic European Bike Rally
T & C Miller-Picker Circle
Two Hoots & a Holler
8am
4pm
7pm
Sat
18th Harvest Classic European Bike Rally
Jesse Dayton
8am
1pm
Sun 19th Chris Wall, Dallas Moore, Kyle Wilson & Pauline Reese
1pm
Mon 20th Danny & Lorna Terry-Picker Circle
5pm
Tue
5pm
21st Stephen Morris-Picker Circle
Wed 22nd ShAnnie-Picker Circle
5pm
Thu 23rd Sol Patch-Picker Circle
5pm
Fri
24th T & C Miller-Picker Circle
Almost Patsy Cline Band - Dance
4pm
8pm
Sat
25th Weldon Henson
Thomas Michael Riley
1pm
9pm
Sun 26th Jason Eady, Jamie Wilson & Scott Miller
1pm
Mon 27th Danny & Lorna Terry-Picker Circle
5pm
twitter.com/LuckenbachTexas
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25¢
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Luckenbach Texas, Inc.
412 Luckenbach Town Loop
Phone (830) 997-3224 Phax (830) 997-1024
888-311-8990
Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
TICKET
www.luckenbachtexas.com
87
290
Johnson
City
Fredericksburg
290
Tue
28th Stephen Moris-Picker Circle
5pm
290
✪
16
Wed 29th ShAnnie-Picker Circle
5pm
Kerrville
Thu 30th Sol Patch-Picker Circle
5pm
Fri
4pm
8pm
LUCKENBACH
1888
1376
10
Sisterdale
31st T & C Miller-Picker Circle
Jeremy Steding - Dance
Monday - Thursday - David Harris-Picker Circle
Fridays - Hayden Whittington-Picker Circle
Most Sundays - Bill Lewis-Picker Circle
1pm
1pm
5pm
8
Blanco
1623
87
281
Comfort
46
Boerne
To San Antonio
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To Austin
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