by Phil Houseal | May 23, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Food, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Venue
May 22, 2019–I first came to the Texas Hill Country in 1978. Yet I’d never visited Castell. Last weekend, I fixed that. The Castell General Store–which is essentially Castell–was celebrating its Testicle Festival. As auspicious an event as any for finding out...
by Phil Houseal | May 2, 2019 | All Articles, Education, Events, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
May 1, 2019–Years ago I had the idea to create an athletic competition that required no athleticism whatsoever: Der Sitzenfest. Competitors would vie for prizes by sitting comfortably in their favorite chair, rocker, or recliner. It was all an idle (very idle)...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 25, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Music, Philosophy, Venue
(Note: This is the second of two columns on my interview with Jimmie Webb. Read Jimmy Webb: Writing His Songs) April 24, 2019–A question I ask of all recording artists I have the honor of interviewing is whether it is the song or the singer that makes the hit. Jimmy...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 18, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Music, Venue
April 17, 2019–Even after his six decades in the industry, being the only artist ever to receive Grammy Awards for music, lyrics and orchestration, being a member of every musical hall of fame on the planet, and writing so many hit songs no one has added them...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 11, 2019 | All Articles, Education, Events, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
April 10, 2019–When I was in high school the band director announced he was starting a jazz band. There were only 300 students in our entire school, so once you pulled out the football players and cheerleaders, there weren’t that many of us left to fill out the...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 4, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Philosophy
April 3, 2019–Recently I decided to take a walk on the ribald side and go to a big city comedy club. It was not the experience I expected. My motivation was to catch a comedy act that I stumbled across on the Internet. These guys post two-minute bits that hit me in...
