by Phil Houseal | May 25, 2021 | All Articles, Events, Music
May 26, 2021–You know what helped get me through the year-long live entertainment drought? Polka music. I’m not ashamed to admit that every Tuesday evening I tuned into Mollie B’s Polka Party, a live hour-and-a-half program put on by Mollie Busta Lange and Ted Lange,...
by Phil Houseal | Feb 3, 2021 | All Articles, Events, History, Music, Philosophy
Feb 3, 2021–On the morning of Feb 3, 1959, 14-year-old Tom LaVille opened up his bundle of newspapers to deliver like he did every day. But this morning was different. There, on the front page of the Mason City Globe-Gazette, was the news that Buddy Holly, the...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 7, 2020 | All Articles, Events, Music
Dec 9, 2020–Before he arrived at country music, Justin Biltonen traveled through gospel, punk, rock, and southern rock. Most fans know Biltonen as the long-time bassist for the American rock band 3 Doors Down. But he’ll be performing in Fredericksburg this week as a...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 30, 2020 | All Articles, Music, Philosophy
Sept 30, 2020–With several readers commenting that I’m coming across “curmudgeonly” in my writing lately, I decided to lighten up on the topic choice. So, for your column-reading pleasure, here is a list of favorite musician jokes I’ve heard uttered backstage...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 2, 2020 | All Articles, Events, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy, Venue
9/2/2020–You can’t keep a good dancer down. Recently I heard there was a gang of dancing rebels operating a “dance easy” in Fredericksburg. Apparently this loosely connected group of five or six couples gather on a weekly basis to… wait for it… dance in...
by Phil Houseal | Aug 20, 2020 | All Articles, Events, Music, Philosophy, Venue
August 19, 2020–After months of isolation, I am venturing out in public more often. It reminded me why I stopped venturing out in public. It has nothing to do with social distancing. It’s more about social “closening.” It’s not because of any virus. I have a fear of...
