Nothing like a bit of nature to help you get your head together. I spent a couple of hours bicycling in the countryside outside Elgin, Texas and except for the sore muscles and sore tail, it was a very pleasant way to spend Easter Sunday.
Not that it was all that “natural.” I saw transmission power lines and a gravel pit, was passed by the occasional car or truck and could just hear traffic whizzing by on U.S. 290. Got chased by a few dogs. But I saw some gorgeous wildflowers and could hear the birds, including a woodpecker tapping away. And best of all, I could hear myself think.
I’m still out of shape – living in the Sausage Capital of Texas for two years hasn’t helped my waistline – but I’m working on it. I love riding, though I am not and never have been “competitive.” I still enjoy it, exhausted as I may be. Riding downhill almost makes struggling uphill worth it. Dat breeze.
I didn’t find a good song for Easter this year (Here’s what I posted in 2010, in 2011, and here’s a Good Friday song by Fairouz you must hear if you never have), so I’ll leave you with this:
I respect a twisted sense of humor almost as much as I do musical talent. I saw John Pointer for the second time last Thursday at Quoffer’s in Elgin, Texas and he had both of those qualities on full display. He put on a great show, just like the first time I saw him. He showed off his unconventional guitar picking technique, his sense of ryhthm and his beatboxing talent.
He sang his awesome version of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir,” originals like “Abraham’s Disciple” (at my request — it’s my favorite Pointer song so far) and “Annalisa.” But as he predicted, the most memorable song of the night was the one he wrote earlier that day, a hilarious song with a jaunty melody that sounded like something you might hear on Sesame Street except for the lyrics: “These Are the Hookers I Know.”
The song has been playing in my head ever since. Some of the parts I remember: “These are the hookers I know, watch ‘em walk up and down to and fro on the corner, slingin’ ass aplenty. You may ask yourself, why does he know so many? Well I don’t know, but there’s Anna, she can take a banana, turn it into a split, you won’t believe that shit. Then there’s Florence, she used to be Lawrence, he had a sex change — I think it went pretty well. Not like Sandy, who used to be Andy. It didn’t go so well. But at least she’s freaky.” And lots of other verses along those lines. That’s the kind of song he can riff on endlessly and throw in a new hooker and a new verse at every show.
That might be enough to get me to sign up as a John Pointer patron at Patronism.com. At least two people at Thursday night’s concert already have. They knew his back catalog like the backs of their hands. It was amazing.
As I said in my last post, Pointer has come up with a model for compensating artists that might just save music (and might be yet another nail in the coffin of the music industry). It’s basically a return to the patronage system that supported great artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci during the Renaissance. Instead of buying a product like a CD or a T-shirt, you become a patron (starts as low as $2 per month) and get access to whatever the musician creates and shares. It’s about building relationships rather than buying and selling.
Just got an update from my new faves, the Chubby Knuckle Choir, about upcoming shows (I’m on the mailing list). If you’re lucky enough to live in Central Texas you might be able to catch them.
They’ll be at Quoffer’s Pub tomorrow night, June 23, starting at 8:30 p.m. No cover. I have to cover something for the paper, but I’ll try to catch at least part of that show.
Friday, June 24, the Choir will be in San Marcos for the Cheatham Street’s annual Bigfest. Bigfest will raise money for the Cheatham Street Foundation. Other bands performing include: Tournpike Troubadours, Kyle Park, Jamie Richards, James Lann, Jason Allen, John Evans, Greezy Wheels, The McKay Brothers, Doug Moreland, Red Volkaert, Big John Mills, and more. (I won’t make it – Western Days in Elgin will be getting under way.)
Saturday night, June 25, the Choir will peform for the first time at Floores Country Store in Helotes, startng at 9 p.m., followed by Scott Wiggins.
Wednesday, June 29, the Choir will be at Billy’s Ice House in New Braunfels, starting at 9 p.m. No cover.
John Pointer is a talented songwriter, guitar player and beatboxer. He also has an idea that just might save music.
When Quoffer’s manager Kevin Smith dropped by the office last Thursday, June 9, saying “The Great John Pointer is playing in my bar tonight!” My first thought was “John who?” Then I remembered John Pointer’s interview on KOOP 91.7 FM about his “crowd-sourcing” website for musicians called Patronism. And the amazing cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.” I had been wanting to get hold of him for a couple of months so I could write about him. Now here he was, about to perform in a pub just a few doors down from where I work. It was like fate.
I was glad I went. John Pointer the musician put on a hell of a show. John Pointer the idea man was also pretty inspiring.
First, the show…
Pointer has some unusual techniques. He stands on a wooden box that he stamps on for rhythm. He has a percussive guitar playing style — he recently had had his guitar reinforced to keep it from cracking. He also picks with both hands on the neck. Very unique. I’ve never seen anyone play like that. He performed with confidence and humor, teasing and joshing with the audience.
My favorite song of the night was “Abraham’s Disciple,” a fierce song about religion-inspired violence. “I don’t care what you’re teaching Brother, I’m gonna study war…” He also sang some beautiful more delicate-sounding songs like “Annalisa,” a song inspired by Portland songwriter Annalisa Tornfelt; and “Sleep Well,” a song he wrote to comfort his terminally ill father.
His take on “Kashmir” was pretty awesome as well. There was some unwelcome competition from some basketball fans at the bar who wanted to make it known as loudly as they could that they came for the game, but he handled it gracefully, making a joke out of their outbursts rather than going off on them (like they would’ve deserved, frankly). “Please hold your applause…. Let’s see him do this.”
His cover of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” impressed me as did his version of Blackstreet’s “No Diggety.”
Pointer gave some great beatbox performances (including, after much begging from a fan, a pastiche of Chili’s ‘Babyback ribs’ commercial) and even taught the audience how to get started beatboxing: Repeat “Mississippi, Mississippi, Mississippi, Pississippi, Pississippi, Pississippi, etc.” (Just the basics. To get as good as he is takes 30 years of practice.)
The beatboxing was popular and he got a lot of audience participation. “James Brown rules: When I say ‘Ain’t it funky?’ say ‘Yeah!’”
John Pointer the Musician
John has been playing music since he was 5, starting out on the piano. He learned to play cello using the Suzuki Method, learning to play percussion and then guitar at age 12. Back then his heroes were guitarists like Steve Vai, Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour and Joe Satriani. When he was studying music at the University of Texas in Austin, where he got a degree in cello performance and composition, he found that “nobody wanted to hear shredders.”
His uncle gave him a Stratocaster and he began playing the blues, like Austin folks wanted to hear. He began playing with guitarist and singer/songwriter Michael Hedges. Then he played cello with a group called Woodwork featuring guitar virtuosos David Lee Hess and Chris Downey. He credits Hess and Downey as major influences on his guitar style. “They still perform occasionally as Seahorse,” he said. “They’re so good they can’t find their audience. I’m nowhere near as good as they are on guitar. They do it more precisely. I’m a bull in a china shop.”
Pointer got into beatboxing and performed with Schrödinger’s Cat – Big Beat A Capella. It was with that group that he got the idea to perform atop a percussion box.
He has had success in the theater. He recently performed in Rent at the Zach Scott Theatre.
Patronism
Patronism is a subscription-based company that allows fans — or patrons — to subscribe to artists they love. In exchange for subscribing, a patron gets access to all kinds of creative content. That could include downloadable songs, videos, guitar tabs, or lyric sheets — whatever the artist decides. “The idea is to get the patron actively involved in the creative process,” said Pointer. “It will stabilize the artists income so they can keep creating.”
Pointer wants musicians to get out of the album/T-shirt/CD-selling business and devote more time to their art. “I don’t release CDs anymore,” he said. “They’re pretty worthless.” The subscription system on the other hand, allows artists to partner with fans so they can keep making music. “You have to be a musician to understand how radical this change is.”
Pointer is confident his way is the way of the future. “This is going to sink the rest of the music industry, or what’s left of it. But it will save music. In three years I’ll be known as the one who changed music. I’m not making any money, I’m just making sure musicians can keep making music.”
Patronism went live in September and is still in beta, but it has already gained attention from the media. It was a semi-finalist in the Harvard Business School and Berklee College of Music Business Model Competition and has been has been written up by numerous publications, including Time, Hypebot and Wired Magazine.
Patronism is different from Kickstarter, a “crowdsourcing” website that helps people fund projects such as album releases. Kickstarter projects have a definite beginning and end. Patronism is ongoing. “We don’t ‘kickstart’ projects,” Pointer said. “What we do is keep the engine running.”
The website uses a “pay what you feel” model, similar to the one Radiohead used to sell downloads of In Rainbows in 2007. “It’s more like a fan club with lots of content,” Pointer said. “An artist could have special shows for patrons, for example. Music is not a commodity. It should be shared by people who are most moved by it and want to ensure it’s survival.”
If John Pointer’s Patronism saves music it will be ironic, because it’s actually a very old concept. Pointer sees the current “record deal” model as an aberration, something that’s only been around for 100 years. “The future of music is ancient history. We would not have had the Rennaissance without the Medicis. Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Boticelli – they were all supported by the Medici family.”
Musicians are accepted based on talent and ability to use the web. “We are curating it one band at a time,” said Pointer. “They have to be compelling and be able to communicate online. If we deny a band, we have an incubator program. We’ll help them grow their e-mail list.”
Pointer has two business partners: Dave Kuster and Michael Torkildsen. Right now, they are working in the U.S. only, but they plan to take it worldwide.
There are two types of music fans according to Pointer:
1. Super-fans or “patrons.” These are the people who are moved by music and find value in it and are willing to support it. They actually have a relationship with the music and the musicians that produce it.
2. Consumers. These just want to be “fed” or entertained. Music might be fun, but it’s not that important, worth downloading maybe, but not worth paying for. (“To the people who just want everything I do for free, I say fuck them, because that’s what they’re saying to me. I practiced for 32 years to learn how to do this. But if you value what I do, I’ll give it to you.”)
Let’s hope there are enough people in the first category to make Patronism and companies like it successful.
Ever mix foods that don’t sound like they should go together and find out they really really do? Like peanut butter ‘n’ banana sandwiches? Sounded weird at first, but trust me, it’s a combination that was meant to be.
I recently discovered a musical example: The Chubby Knuckle Choir, a band with a funny name and an even stranger combination of styles, with members from Bastrop, Cedar Creek, Elgin, Waco and Liberty Hill.
It’s almost impossible to pin down their sound. Americana doesn’t quite do it. Blues, bluegrass, country, rockabilly, Cajun, R&B, funk… They’re all part of the mix. It’s such a weird combination of styles, but it sounds rootsy and natural, like folk music from a country that never was, but should’ve been.
The band has five members: Rory Smith of Elgin on vocals and percussion; Perry Lowe of Bastrop on percussion; Tres Womack of Waco (formerly of Bastrop) on guitar and vocals; Slim Bawb Pearce of Cedar Creek (by way of Sacramento, California) on mandolin and other stringed instruments and vocals and Dave Gould of Liberty Hill on string bass.
The percussion is a bit unusual, with Rory pounding on congas, scratching on a frottoir (rub board) and at times a Jew’s harp given to him by his Swedish mother-in-law. Perry plays a Brazilian box drum known as a cajón (that doubles as his chair) and an African drum called a djembe.
Each member brings something into the mix — styles, instruments and songs. Tres adds a country music flavor. Slim Bawb adds Louisiana and bluegrass influences (although he’s from California). Rory and Perry contribute R&B, funk and soul. Dave Gould, who also plays in the Watts Brothers Band, brings his skill on the bass fiddle.
“People compare us to the Gourds, but I think we’re more unique,” said Tres, who helped kick start the band. He hosted an open mic night that featured Rory and a CD release party where both Rory and Perry turned up to sing harmony. They enjoyed working together so much a musical relationship was born. In time they picked up Slim Bawb Pearce and Curtis Farley (the previous bass player).
“Tres, Rory and Perry had been playing together for a while and they needed a picker,” said Slim Bawb. “I played some slide mandolin and we meshed really quickly. It’s fun to play in this band. We have a lot of harmonies and you never know what’s gonna happen. There’s a lot of improvising going on.”
Slim Bawb moved to Cedar Creek from Sacramento five years ago. Before he became a transplanted Texan, he spent 20 years with a group called the Beer Dawgs, which was inducted into the Sacramento Area Music Hall of Fame in 1998.
Curtis, who owns Twisted Twig Studio, is still involved with the band on the production end. He came up with the name Chubby Knuckle Choir while poking fun at the musicians’ middle age spare tires and chubby hands. The musicians were having a jam session and singing harmonies. “Curtis was picking on us and said ‘y’all look like a chubby knuckle choir’ and the name stuck,” Rory said.
Rory and Perry chose their percussion instruments for two reasons: 1) their cars weren’t big enough to hold trap sets and 2) they provide rhythm without overwhelming the vocals.
Tres also liked the idea of using those instruments to make the band’s sound more unique, and offset his strong country influence. The frottoir was a nod to Slim Bawb’s Cajun influence.
“What makes it work is we all like each other,” Rory said.
The Chubby Knuckle Choir has had its share of local success, performing at South By Southwest in 2008, 2009 and 2010. They have also opened for Austin musician Guy Forsyth, former member of the Asylum Street Spankers at Nutty Brown Café outside of Dripping Springs.
Most of the time they perform at the Lumberyard in downtown Bastrop or in Quoffer’s in Elgin, but they also play in other venues around the state and are slated to play in Elgin’s Hogeye Festival next October.
They are not trying to become a national act — although they are open to possibilities if they somehow strike it big. “We’re all at that age where we have responsibilities,” Rory said. “Perry has a couple of toddlers. If we get a following that’s great, but it’s not on the agenda. We just love what we do.”
The band is working on songs for the debut studio album, which should be finished by the end of the year. In the meantime, you can buy CDs of their 11-track album “Live at the Lumberyard” for $10. E-mail rolow86@yahoo.com.
The Chubby Knuckle Choir’s next show is at the Lumberyard is 8 p.m. Friday, June 10. The band will perform at Quoffer’s at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 23.
This one may be my favorite:
Ethylene
These are quite impressive as well:
Herville
It’s Always Something
The Live Experience
I caught the tail end of one of their shows at Quoffer’s bar in Elgin and went to see them again a few weeks ago in Bastrop in a really cool venue called the Lumberyard (it actually used to BE a lumberyard).
The audience was a mix of old and young who from time to time got up and danced. The band obviously a small but dedicated following (that recently grew by one).
Their set list featured some great original songs, along with some inspired covers. “Freakshow,” “It’s Always Something” “Farmer’s Tan” and “Ethylene” were among my favorite originals.
They did excellent covers of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” the gospel standard “Jesus on the Mainline” and Lee Dorsey’s “Ya Ya.” Venue owner Jeff Brister joined the band on trumpet during “Ya Ya.”
Another highlight was Storytelling, a band tradition. Band members take turns telling stories from one concert to the next. The stories are supposed to be true. Rory told one about raccoons taking up residence in his attic.
Every story ends with “and I heard a song on the radio,” followed by a cover song. The one that night was AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.” Never expected to hear a bluegrass version of that, but it really worked.
Very entertaining live show. I’ve been looking for a band to fill the empty place in my soul left by the breakup of the Asylum Street Spankers and I may have finally found it – right in my back yard.
Not necessarily in that order… Lots of good stuff coming up. It’s going to take me a while to digest it and put it together.
Just got through interviewing Monte Thomas of the Elgin, Texas gospel group the Thomas Family, I love the music I’ve heard from them so far. I’m working on a story for the local paper and I’ll blog them and put up some downloadable mp3s (with permission).
Tonight, I’m going to see a group called The Chubby Knuckle Choir, a group that has members from Elgin and Bastrop. I’ll be writing them up for the paper and this blog in the near future. I’ve heard a little of their music before, and I can’t describe it easily. Kind of a rootsy mixture of blues and country and maybe a bit of funk?
Then Sunday morning, I’m going to the Mt. Vernon-Zion AME Church to take a picture of the Thomas Family performing. That ought to be quite a segue from Saturday night.
I’ve also been editing an interview with Joanne Gabriel aka Caterwauler, one of my favorites from the old days at T61.
FAVA singers Patrick Russell, Hasmig Aroian, Julia Hamon and Sawyer Sellers perform 'School for Husbands' (photo by Katie Hayes Luke)
I had a really neat musical experience last night, as the Franco-American Vocal Academy (FAVA) put on an operetta called “A School for Husbands” (an English language version of Jacques Offenbach’s Le mari à la porte) in the auditorium of the old high school building in Elgin, Texas. The music was beautiful. The young singers and the pianist who accompanied them were very impressive.
The story, in a nutshell: A bride gets mad at her husband on their wedding night and locks him out of the bedroom. As she commiserates with her friend, they discover a young composer who has fallen down the chimney and an awkward situation ensues as they try to get rid of him before the groom discovers him.
I am extremely proud of Elgin for packing the auditorium — and I’m proud of FAVA for hosting the free event and introducing their art to the community. Elgin, Texas is close to Austin. A lot of folks live here and work there. But in many ways it’s still a rural town. The kind of place that loves barbecue, country music, high school sporting events. It’s just a good solid Texas town.
Something like the opera can be intimidating for small towns. Years ago I was in a small town in West Texas and some folks put on a Christmas pops concert. It was sparsely attended because a false rumor spread around that suits and ties were required and it was a blue jeans and boots kind of place. That was sad, because it was actually light-hearted and fun and they would’ve loved it.
Elgin is very fortunate to have one of three FAVA schools for professional opera singers. The other two are in France and Austria. Since William Lewis and his wife Frederique Added (both talented singers in their own right) moved to Elgin and opened their school in an old bed and breakfast, they have done a great job of making opera music inviting to people who might not have experienced much of it. They want to develop a community of people who love their music, and based on the attendance last night, I think they’re on the right track.
It’s the same philosophy I have with this blog. I don’t go around saying, “I’m into [fill in underground music group], but of course you wouldn’t have heard of it.” I say, “Give this a try, you might like it!” I’m all about winning musical converts, not bragging about my taste in music.
I couldn’t find a video of the artists performing “A School for Husbands,” but here is a video of an Offenbach piece FAVA performed in Paris:
Austin might be known as a rock ‘n’ roll town, but there are some hard-rocking musicians right here in Elgin.
The retro-rockers known as the Soulphonics have been practicing and playing in Elgin for years. They just produced their first album, The Dynamic Sounds of the Soulphonics, Austin, Texas. The album features 16 songs, including the single released in December, “All I Want for Christmas Is a Job.”
There will be two record release parties: at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2 at Carousel Lounge in Austin and again at 9 p.m. on Saturday, March 5 at Utopia Restaurant in Elgin.
The band features Glen Worley on guitar and vocals, Reid Watson on guitar and Kevin Connolly on drums. No bass, but Watson takes care of the low end by the way he plays guitar.
They’ve been playing together for around 30 years in bands including the Rattlecats and the Rivals — with a 20-year hiatus. During that break, all the band members moved on with their lives. Connolly adopted three daughters.
“The kind of music we make wasn’t popular during that time. That was about the time the Seattle Grunge scene got big,” Worley said.
Their sound is basically “garage rock,” the kind of music featured on the “Nuggets” compilations of ’60s era music that influenced many numerous bands, including Nirvana. “We do several songs off Nuggets,” Worley said. “We’re doing mid-’60s rock and roll. We’re not trying to recreate a sound, we’re just doing what we do.”
The Soulphonics haven’t changed their sound, but for some reason it has become back in vogue — maybe Director Quentin Tarantino’s soundtracks helped. Their Dick Dale-esque song “Theme from the [fictitious] TV Show ‘The Rivals’” sounds something Tarantino might’ve used on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.
They came together as the Soulphonics in 2007 when a friend of Watson’s was booking music for the Cherrywood Art Fair in Austin. ”Now people like ‘vintage’ guitars — they used to just be old,” said Connolly. “We’re making 2-and-a-half to 4-minute songs with hooks and melodies.”
The band is a labor of love. All three members work at the University of Texas to pay bills. “I would like to have a hit record of course, but what we want to do is play the music we like and have a good time.” It took about three years worth of tips to save up money to put out their album. “We decided to put it to good use instead of spending it on debauchery,” Worley joked.
The group performs at the Carousel Lounge in Austin on the first Wednesday of each month. They have performed at Quoffer’s and at Elgin’s Hogeye and Western Days festivals.
For more information about the Soulphonics and to hear some of their music, visit their MySpace page.
Note: This article was just published today in the Elgin Courier. Also, there is another band called the Soulphonics in Atlanta, Georgia. If you want to check them out, the Austin Soulphonics have a link on their MySpace page.
Author, musician and humorist Kinky Friedman signs autographs following his Nov. 21 talk in Elgin, Texas
Kinky Friedman is many things: a musician, a humorist, and a prolific author. On Sunday, Nov. 21, he was above all a Texan.
Friedman spoke before an audience of approximately 120, giving his take on what makes a real hero. He read from his book, Heroes of a Texas Childhood and spoke on other topics. Friedman signed autographs and posed for photos for an hour and a half. He also gave a $300 donation to the Friends of the Elgin Public Library, the group that sponsored his talk.
Friedman peppered his talk with one-liners that got laughs from the audience. ”I’m 66, but I read at the 68-year-old level,” he said. He joked that he planned to be cremated and have his ashes “sprinkled in Rick Perry’s hair.”
Friedman’s 23 heroes included the likes of Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Barbara Jordan, Willie Nelson and his own father Tom Friedman. “These people are my heroes, not because of who they were, what families they were born into, or because they worked hard or were brave,” he said. “I chose these people because of their tragedies and challenges and how they dealt with those challenges.”
Friedman said he showed the table of contents of his book to a group of college graduates, who only recognized three out of 23 names. They had never heard of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan or WWII hero Audie Murphy. “I think people need to know upon whose shoulders they stand,” he said. “If I ever become governor, I’ll make my book mandatory reading in public schools.”
At times, Friedman’s talk entered the political realm. He said he hoped that Governor Rick Perry, being a staunch conservative, might have the ability to end the death penalty in Texas. He noted that many believe Cameron Todd Willingham, was wrongly executed for arson in 2004. “Christians, I apologize that you have to hear it from a Jew, but remember that’s who you heard it from the first time,” he said.
Friedman said one of his main goals when he ran for governor was the “De-wussification of Texas.” He cited as examples of wussification, or weakening character, the arrest of drinkers in a Dallas hotel bar by undercover police, and the scandal caused when he was photographed drinking a Guinness beer during a St. Patrick’s Day Parade. “I drank it, but I did not swallow,” he said.
He quoted Jordan as saying that political correctness “is going to drown our culture” and said the term was popularized by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
Freidman’s reading was about his father, who grew up in Chicago during the 1920s, earning money by working for a peddler in a horse-drawn cart, running groceries up to tenement dwellers. His father went on to became a Navigator on a bomber plane during WWII, a college professor and owner of a summer camp in the Texas Hill Country.
Friedman said his father taught him to “treat children like adults and adults like children.”
A few days back I interviewed a really cool guy named Joe Peña, who has an Arizona-based group called Greyhound Soul. He’s about to come back to his home town of Elgin, Texas for the annual Hogeye Festival on Saturday, Oct. 23 and I can’t wait to see him.
I expect Hogeye to be a blast, by the way. If you’re going to be in the Austin area this weekend, you should make a short drive out to Elgin and check it out. Maybe you’ll see me, snapping pics of everything for the local newspaper, the Elgin Courier. There’s all kinds of stuff planned, including a lot of other bands and lots of food, games, a parade, etc. This town is famous for its barbecue, especially sausage. In fact, people call Elgin the Sausage Capital of Texas. You really can’t beat these little small town festivals.
The following interview is pretty close to the one I ran in the Elgin Courier‘s Oct. 20 edition, except I put the cuss words back in. I love the way he talks, all laid back and hip, but I toned it down for the paper – it was a bit too rock ‘n’ roll for a small town. I interviewed him via text message. First time I ever did that. Worked out pretty well I think. What I really find interesting is the family aspect. He’s the third generation in his family to play music professionally – his father did it (still does) and his grandfather. And they’re all named “Joe.” Also, Joe IV’s brother Jeremy Peña is a reggae artist who plays around Austin.
…..
Talk about family tradition. Guitarist and singer/songwriter Joe Peña IV, who will perform at Hogeye Festival with his band Greyhound Soul, grew up surrounded by music. His father and grandfather (both also named Joe) were both professional musicians. His father still plays keyboards with a band. Joe grew up in Elgin. He left Texas around the ninth grade and wound up in Arizona, where he got a band together and developed a following for the rootsy brand of music he calls desert rock.
“I guess we sound like a Rolling Stones, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Sonny Boy Williamson wannabe band, cuz that’s what I dig,” he said. Growing up, he cut his teeth on the music being served up in Elgin night clubs, including his grandfather’s club, Dos Amigos. “I was fortunate enough to be around in the Kung Fu Inn days. Ol’ Charlie Brown’s Place on Ave. C [Kung Fu Inn] and across the street was my grandpa’s place. Between the two you had blues and R&B, soul, country & western, jazz and Tejano bands having some of the best moments of their lives. Being 12, 13, 14 years old in and out of bars was my life. Hell, still is. And being witness to that shit is solid gold bro.”
Having professional musicians in the family was tough, but it also made him who he is today. “Growin’ up with music going on day and night, Dad playing his stuff, Gramps puttin’ in his two cents and then me getting it from both sides wasn’t easy. They were always tryin’ to teach the right way to do stuff. Always the right way, all ol’ school, all these chords gettin’ me dizzy. I’d be like screw this, I’m gonna play football. Well, never played football. Now I’m ol’ school and diggin’ it. Somewhere down the line I guess it just stuck and I just can’t seem to get it off my shoe, haha.”
Even after touring around the U.S. and in Europe, Joe is excited to come back to Elgin for Hogeye. “Coming back to play in my home town is fuckin’ awesome,” he said. He’s also excited to see Malford Milligan on the bill, performing with Chloe and the Crossroads band. “That’s just too cool man. We used to pass each other on our way to school back in the day,” he said. “I’m sure he doesn’t know who the hell I am, but he will goddamn it.”
Joe Peña III has played in blues and Tejano bands all his life, learning the trade from his father, who performed Spanish big band music. Although Joe III will be performing in Fort Worth during Hogeye, he encourages Elgin to turn out and watch his son play. “He has five CDs out. He tours Europe. He writes his own material and he will be playing the electric guitar my dad got for me,” he said. “He’s influenced by everything from country music to Paul McCartney. You have to play a little of everything to entertain people nowadays.”
Check out Greyhound Soul’s “Layin’ Down Lost.” Sounds kinda like good alt-country to me…
And in case you decide to check out Hogeye Festival, here’s a schedule:
Hamtastic Events
Lindsy Kay Wing Memorial Children’s Costume Contest and Pet Parade
Registration 8:30 a.m., judging 9 a.m. followed by parade
Hogalicious Dessert Contest
9 a.m. turn in entries–Awards 12:30pm
El Maguey Restaurant
Pearls Before Swine Art ShowJewell Arts Photography – 119 2nd Street @ Avenue C10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Road Hog Car Show
Awards 2:45 p.m. at Nofsinger House City Hall
Gordon Swenson Memorial BBQ Pork Cook-off
Awards 4:30 p.m. at the Chamber
In a Pig’s Eye Dart Contest
Regulator’s Sports Bar and Grill 12 p.m.-4 p.m.
Celebrating 20 years of Main Street
Union Depot Museum 10 a.m.-5p.m.
Acme Brick Toss
Depot Plaza 10 a.m.-5p.m.
Cow Patty Bingo
4 p.m. on Depot Street
Bands and live entertainment
2nd Street Stage
10:30 a.m. Monty Thomas Family Band
11:45 a.m. Soulphonics
1 p.m. Chloe & the Crossroads Band
2 p.m. The Sowpremes
2:45 p.m. Grupo Agresivo
4 p.m. Greyhound Soul
5:15 p.m. Mark Winston Kirk
Depot Stage at Veterans’ Park
10 a.m. Jungle Jill & the Jaybirds (interactive children’s show)
