Archive 2012
End of Year 12/26/2012
I hate “end of year” and “best of the year” and “looking back at the year” articles. So I’m writing one.
1940s Radio Hour 12/19/2012
It was cold outside... colder than a snitch’s wit.
Celtic Christmas 12/12/2012
Over eight years of doing this column I’ve written about nearly all genres of music. But this is my first opportunity to talk about Celtic music.
Rose of Texas Fair 12/5/2012
Talented women, good music, and a worthy cause.
Strings Aloud 11/28/2012
Kevin McCormick is a world-class talent. Literally.
Ray Price: Visit with a Legend (Part II) 11/21/2012
Guess what? Ray Price invented the "shuffle" beat–both the word and the rhythm.
Ray Price: Visit with a Legend (Part I) 11/14/2012
So what do you ask a legend?
The Dark Day of the Missing Sushi Chef 11/5/2012
A skeletal ninja–dark-garbed, masked, and brandishing his sword–leaps on stage and announces: “I am taking over the world, and keeping all the sushi for myself!”
A "Welcome" Challenge 10/31/2012
In this corner: The Host. In that corner: The Guest.
New Sounds; Ancient Visions 10/24/2012
Any performer will tell you it’s stressful to play a song in public.
Creativity 10/17/2012
We can learn a lot from fruit.
Lipstick & Piccolos 10/10/2012
During Friday night Fredericksburg High School football halftimes, senior Zoey Bradshaw has so little time between marching in the band and dancing with the Red Hotts, she sometimes loses track of her lipstick.
Of Paintings and Pizza 10/3/2012
How can $10 worth of oil paints daubed on a $19 piece of canvas be worth $18,000?
Freaky Friday 9/26/2012
It’s 12:43 a.m., and I’m sitting outside the Fredericksburg High School auditorium in my 1999 Voyager shuttlecraft.
From Bach to Rock 9/19/2012
There is so much music in the Hill Country, I must confess I haven’t got around to hearing it all.
First Lines 9/12/2012
This sentence is supposed to make you want to read the rest of this column.
The Wine Drive 9/5/2012
Okay. You like to drive. You enjoy wine. You love being around interesting people. What would be your dream job?
More Musical Truths 8/29/2012
"Don't eat before you play your flute" and more musical truths.
Wanted: New Music 8/22/2012
I’m ready for a new kind of music.
Bad Ol' Guitars 8/15/2012
Over the past 27 years Bill Badeaux has hand crafted guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and even a “guitjo”–a cross between a guitar and banjo. One day at Luckenbach this summer, he showed me something he’d never made before.
Derby Dolls 8/8/2012
Are you ready for this? Zsa Zsa More Gore and the Wizard of Owz might be coming to a flat track near you, if Pink Tink has her way.
A long strange trip 8/1/2012
A significant milestone happened in the music world this month. You might have missed it, because it took place a ways from Fredericksburg–10 billion miles down the Milky Way, to be exact.
Bikinis at Bankersmith? 7/25/2012
Is it an itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny coverup or a double-D big deal? Or maybe it’s just B.S.
TJ Smith: Unleashed 7/18/2012
With just a few guitars and a handful of hats, T.J. Smith brings alive artists from Satchmo and Johnny Mathis to Johnny Cash, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Ray, and Elvis–both the early and later versions.
Pat's Hall 7/11/2012
It’s the place where many relationships started, and probably more than a few ended. It is Pat’s Hall, and it reopens this Saturday.
Looking Back At Luckenbach 7/4/2012
It had been awhile since I toodled down the road to Luckenbach, that legendary town where legions of music lovers travel to get back to the basics of life.
Ready. Set. Honk! 6/27/2012
Fredericksburg Theater Company audiences will soon be immersed in a cartoon countryside, complete with cattails, lily pads, dancing frogs, and ugly ducks. Much of the ambience will be thanks to the front-and-behind-the-scenes magic of Jim Weisman.
Kerrville Hills Winery 6/20/2012
New wineries seem to be popping up like corks at a wedding.
Nedgra Culp: Born to Sing 6/13/2012
The Rockbox Theater’s newest cast member was “born to sing.”
Broken Circle 6/6/2012
Another picker has left the circle.
Drummer Durawa 5/30/2012
Ernie Durawa has played drums for such music legends as the Texas Tornados, Doug Sahm, Freddy Fender, Flaco Jimenez, and Delbert McClinton. But given his druthers, Durawa would play Latin Jazz.
Sugar and Smoke... and Songs 5/23/2012
Sugar and Smoke with a side of sweet sounds is what’s on the menu at Fredericksburg’s newest bistro.
Daddy Dance 5/16/2012
Grapevine! Temptations! Step, slide, step. OK, hands on your tush. Now... wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle! And so go Monday nights at the dance studio as Rhonda and Regan Mann put 20 befuddled middle-aged dads through their paces.
Ray Price: Backstage with a Legend 5/9/2012
Last weekend I was able to listen to Ray Price, sideways.
An Interrupted Conversation: Part II 5/2/2012
Last week, I introduced you to my 80-something friend and mentor - Dick - who I asked to send me his 100 truths in life. Here are the second 50... almost.
An Interrupted Conversation: Part I 4/25/2012
When my friend and mentor Dick was well into his 80s, I asked him to write down 100 truths. To my surprise and joy, he did...
Music Matters 4/18/2012
Do you ever feel you don’t make a difference? Read on.
First Gig 4/11/2012
Recently I played in a new band doing its first gig.
Redeeming Instruments 4/4/2012
For someone whose handmade guitars have been called “the perfect instrument,” “the Rolls Royce of guitars,” and “the guitar I want to take to heaven with me,” Mark Piper is surprisingly humble.
Pulling Harp Strings 3/28/2012
What kind of kid wants to play the harp? A kid like Haley Ping
What Makes a Grown Man Cry? 3/21/2012
What songs make you cry, and why?
Her Hardest Truth 3/14/2012
Penny Ney wanted to do music so badly she would have given her right arm. She almost did.
Red Hott Athletes 3/7/2012
Last Saturday I spent the entire day amid a hundred dancing girls.
Birth of a Band 2/29/2012
Did you ever want to start a band? You know, get some guys together, find a barn to practice in, then book a gig at a local event?
Making For India 2/22/2012
It is no surprise that Jake Edwards loves football. He is a husky 6-foot, 225-pounder who played offensive line in college, and named his firstborn son Landry. What is surprising is that he sings like a girl.
At the Edge of the Stage 2/15/2012
I’ve been trying to get Donna Vaughan to sit still for an interview for five years now. I still haven’t gotten her to sit still, but I was able to interview her during a rehearsal for the Fredericksburg Theater Company’s upcoming production of Godspell.
Bringing Christian Music to the Masses 2/8/2012
On any given weekend, you can listen to your choice of musicians playing anything from country to blues to rock to roots, even classical and choral. But one style of music has been rare - contemporary Christian. Greg Gremmer would like to change that.
Songwriting for the Love of the Song 2/1/2012
A while back I wrote a facetious column on how to write a song. It was filled with reckless advice...
New Licks for Old Dogs 1/25/2012
Good news. If you are older than 16, it ’s not too late to learn to play a musical instrument.
How to Write a Song 1/18/2012
How do you write a song? It’s not that hard. I’ve written hundreds. I know musicians working at pizza joints who have written thousands of songs.
Turning Trees Into Music 1/11/2012
John Williams turns trees into music.
Cheryl Kaderli: Finding a Larger Stage 1/4/2012
As a member of the pit orchestra in Fredericksburg High School ’s 2001 production of Grease, I watched senior student Cheryl Kaderli rivet audiences in the lead role of Sandra Dumbrowski. Now Kaderli is captivating Texas audiences with her clear, pure voice, unassuming persona, and accomplished songwriting.
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