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...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 28, 2019 | All Articles, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
3/27/19–For years I have been on a quest for the perfect pillow. That’s one of those life essentials you didn’t know you needed until you become an adult. As a kid, you could fall asleep on the floor on top of a pile of coats, with a wadded up sweatshirt under...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 24, 2019 | All Articles, Philosophy
Mar 20, 2019–I’ve come to believe one thing: Don’t believe anything. One recent chilly morning I was trying to determine just how chilly it was so I would have some ammunition to start my breakfast conversation. I happened to be driving past a Time & Temperature...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 14, 2019 | All Articles, Events, History, Music, People of the Hill Country
Mar 13, 2019–Robert Hardy “Bake” Turner has spent his life around larger-than-life characters in the worlds of professional football and country music. He is larger than life himself. Turner, as true football fans know, was a wide receiver out of Alpine, Texas, who...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 7, 2019 | All Articles, Education, Events, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy, Venue
Mar 6, 2019–It started in 2015 in Llano, Texas, as a tribute to her father. But even Binky Morgan can’t believe how in five years the Llano Earth Art Festival (LEAF) has grown into the world’s largest stone balancing event and home of the World Rock Stacking...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 2, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Music
Feb 27, 2019–They call it “human music.” “It’s just us and microphones,” explained Scott Leonard of Rockapella, the most sophisticated, lasting, and imitated vocal groups around today, according to their blurbs. “People find it hard to believe there are no...
by Phil Houseal | Feb 21, 2019 | All Articles, Events, People of the Hill Country
Feb 20, 2019–One January morning as I made my weekly trip to Pioneer Memorial Library to pay fines, I was distracted by a gaggle of adults and children running and jumping and cheering around the gazebo. They were way too enthusiastic for this early on a chilly...
by Phil Houseal | Feb 13, 2019 | All Articles, Philosophy
Feb 13, 2019–My mom died last week. It was the final separation, but what intrigues me is that it’s a separation that has been underway my entire life. This is just the last step. It begins at the aftermath of birth, really. In a painful and precise moment, we are all...
