by Phil Houseal | Mar 16, 2017 | All Articles, Events, Music, Venue
Mar 15, 2017–Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson calls them the “Carnegie Halls of western swing.” But if you are old enough to have waltzed across Texas, you know them as dance halls. When I wrote about these two-stepping temples in 2013, Stephen Dean of Texas Dancehall...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 25, 2017 | Education, Events, People of the Hill Country
Jan 25, 2017–Not to alarm readers, but the Hill Country is being invaded by marauding hordes, intent upon establishing a sovereign country ruled by medieval laws and customs. And food and fun. The invaders march under the flag of the Kerrville Renaissance Festival, a...
by Phil Houseal | Jun 22, 2016 | All Articles, Events, History, Music
June 22, 2016–In 1963 a young gal went round to tiny Midwest radio stations trying to get them to play a record made by her little brother’s band. That girl happened to be Louise Harrison, and her brother George’s band was called The Beatles. “Oh yes,” she said in a...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 23, 2015 | All Articles, Education, Events, History, Music, Philosophy
Dec 23, 2015–On a recent trip to Iowa I took part in our family’s cherished holiday tradition–we burned a piano. That’s right. On a cold Midwestern night, with snow on the ground and stars overhead, family and friends circled the instrument and took turns playing it...
by Phil Houseal | Feb 10, 2015 | Events, People of the Hill Country
Feb 4, 2015–It’s a science nerd’s dream. Can you imagine playing in a 3-dimensional sandbox? Or standing inside a silo with LEDs that light up in response to ambient cell phone use? Or walking through an aquifer as you follow a drop of rain on its journey to become...
by Phil Houseal | Feb 10, 2015 | Events, People of the Hill Country
Jan 28, 2015–As I recently watched a family member travel the dim journey through dementia, I was intensely curious how the disease appeared from inside the mind of the victim. Fredericksburg Middle School theater teacher David Remschel had the same question, and...
