by Phil Houseal | Jan 25, 2018 | All Articles, Music, People of the Hill Country, Venue
Jan 24, 2018–Here’s some advice for beginning musicians: Choose an instrument that is small and easy to carry. I made the mistake of playing boat anchors. First it was drums. “You can’t serenade your girlfriend in the backseat with a drum set,” said old Frankie Lee...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 11, 2018 | All Articles, Events, Music, Venue
Jan 10, 2018–When I first started a family, I nurtured gauzy visions of sitting on the back porch, strumming guitar with my talented wife singing at my side and my precocious children playing along at my feet. Alas, despite spending thousands on music lessons,...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 27, 2017 | All Articles, Events, Music, People of the Hill Country, Venue
Dec 27, 2017–“How can we go to a Jake Hooker show and not dance!” According to Sheila Hooker, wife of the popular dance band front man, that is a common plaint from fans about the band’s first “sit down” theater show set for Jan 6 at Lantex Theater in Llano. It’s a...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 14, 2017 | All Articles, Events, People of the Hill Country, Venue
Dec 13, 2017–I came face to face with steampunk for the first time in 2010. Literally. It happened during my tenure as director of Club Ed community education program. As a marketing hook, I would adopt various personas to make my catalogs stand out. Over the years, I...
by Phil Houseal | Nov 30, 2017 | All Articles, Events, Music, People of the Hill Country, Venue
Nov 29, 2017–For Michael Martin Murphey, changing up his Cowboy Christmas Show would be “like coming to town and not singing Wildfire.” “The audience would kill us if we changed it,” said the American music legend during an interview about his Dec 2 show at the...
by Phil Houseal | Nov 9, 2017 | All Articles, Events, Philosophy, Venue
Nov 8, 2017–I was at Ground Zero for the birth of eSports, and didn’t realize it. The year was 1982. The location was Ottumwa, Iowa. More specifically, it was inside a storefront video game arcade called Twin Galaxies. After a challenging day teaching at Evans Junior...
