Tip toeing barefoot through secret doorways into rooms filled with books and antiques. The walls covered in paintings. Guitars signed by stars shine in all the corners. Muddy Waters growls from the juke box as we play a game of Cut Throat on the ornate billiards table. Were these my dreams or is that how last night became this morning? Our day in D.C. was planned to be busy. This trip was planned with the generous help and support of one of my favorite people. A great lover of music and rock star in her own right, Jessie Scott. Part of the plan was to hang out at the O Street Mansion and film some songs for Music Fog and then play a show.
The Mansion itself is hard to explain. Here for 30 years or so, it’s not necessarily well known to Washingtonians. They like it that way. An underground art museum, hotel, rock-n-roll fantasy land. The list of guests who’ve graced these halls and slipped through the secret passageways here is long, illustrious and not to be discussed. When you’re here, you’re identity is unknown to the outside world. Reality is the world inside these walls. I found it fitting that we went back to the pool room to film with the Music Fog crew. It’s where our first day of tour ended, so why not start there again?
After an amazing brunch that included, yes, chocolate covered bacon! I returned to the billiards room. We planned to capture songs from both the Mystiqueros and me as a solo artist in support of both the new records, Agave and The Next Time. I went first. It’s bit nerve wracking to have three cameras in your face at 3 in the afternoon after staying up all night, but they did bring us some beer. (tastes like true love) The boys joined me on a song or two and all in all it went well. By the time we were wrapping up it was time to get downstairs and set up for the show. I was beyond hungry at this point. After performing for the cameras I was running on fumes but was revived by a side order of some of the best spinach I’ve ever had from a little place around the corner. It came with my crab cakes. (also fantastic) Then back to the Mansion for the show. I don’t know how it happened, but we had a really nice crowd. Not huge, but quite a bit better than I expected and we fell into that MQ thing that we do. And when we fall in like that, we do it well. I could almost feel all the musical magic that has happened in that room. Very cool.
When all the CD’s had been signed and the folks were gone and the last cable rolled up and put away I was dead on my feet. So tired that I felt ill. The boys went out and I went to bed. I may never live it down, but I had no choice. I’m looking forward to their stories of what may have happened while I rested. We head on down the road to Baltimore today and a show at Cyclops Books. I will miss this place, but it seems we’re welcome back anytime. I hope that time comes soon.
-El Guapo
p.s. I’ll leave you with a video of the video shoot. WW was kind enough to shoot this for me as the boys and I did “Hold Up The Train” Look for the Music Fog version sometime soon.
5 am came way to soon yesterday. Or was that the day before? Anyway, after a nice Sushi dinner outing in Austin I got home and packed for the road. Sleep usually comes easy for me, but I was restless and didn’t get much. As far as I’m concerned if you have to get up at 5 for a flight, it always comes way too soon. But we made it. And before I knew it we were on the ground in Baltimore, in the rental van and heading towards D.C. to check in to our hotel. After a surreal but fun check in and bag drop we had some lunch, and the first beer of the day (tastes like true love), then back in the van to head out to Virginia and our show. That’s when I started to feel like I was on prescription medication or something. I drove through Virginia in a dream. The 3 hours of sleep, flying, driving, lunch, etc. all mixing together like a delirious soup. I came out of my haze long enough to be social, I hope, with Scott from Shamrock Music in Purcellville, VA. He gave us a drum kit to use last night and we stopped by his shop to pick it up, sign a poster, give him a cd or two and our heartfelt thanks. Cool guy. Back in the van and down the road to the show. Are you getting tired? Writing this is making me tired again.
When we arrived at The Beautiful South it took another beer and a few minutes rest at the bar to gain the strength for loading in and setting up. After our nightly chores were done I snuck away for a 9 minute nap in the van. All the while, WW was doing his best to get to the show. He had to change his plans and leave Texas on a later flight from DFW and as I enjoyed my fitful, sweaty van nap he was rolling from the airport and unbeknownst to me, about to make a wrong turn. If you’ve ever made a wrong turn in the greater D.C. area you know what a disaster this can be. I actually saw 2 cars on the highway trying to reverse back to an exit they just missed! Stupid, scary, dangerous and crazy, but I get it.
As our scheduled downbeat time passed, the boys and I sat at the bar and tried to appear casual while wondering if we could pull of any songs without Big Daddy. But he arrived and we played. I brought a brand new bass on this trip and struggled to figure out how to play it all night. In Walt’s words, “We sounded like a band trying to sound like us.” But the crowd was really great and seemed to have a good time last night. I think I did too, but it was hard to tell through the fog. Then back in the van and to D.C. After parking our 12 passenger van in a tiny space in an alley, for the second time, we brought WW into the hotel. I can’t really explain this place to you though I’ll try in a later post, but it’s crazy cool. It’s hard to believe but we weren’t quite ready to shut it down yet so we explored the hotel and ended up playing pool until 5 a.m. Noticing that I’d been up for 24 hours was enough to send me to bed. So as brunch and a video shoot are calling, the fog is beginning to lift. The adventure has most definitely begun.
In the dark of early morning, not enough sleep, or none at all, we meet to travel east. You’d think it would be more rock-n-roll than G dropping off a car seat at my house so my girlfriend can help his wife with the kids. Ray’s the rock star for having no sleep. We’ll be in Baltimore by lunch time and playing our show in Hamilton, VA tonite. It’s our second time in DC but our first as a band in Baltimore, NYC and Upstate NY. We got drums, boots and our guitars……. the Honky Tonk Road continues…..
As you may know, the Mystiqueros are blessed to have many part time members. The incomparable Marcus (Crazy Uncle Mertis) Eldridge, Corby Schaub and Ron Flynt just to name a few. But this summer we got to spend the whole month of July with Jimmy Davis. From shows in Alabama, Nashville, and his home town of Memphis, to west Texas and the mountains of New Mexico. All over the Hill Country, DFW and even Oklahoma City, we played, we sang and we had fun.
Jimmy Daddy is no stranger to the road. In the 80′s he had a top 40 hit and MTV video hit with a song called “Kick The Wall”. He toured all over with his band Junction. One of my favorite things about Jimmy is the stories. From performing around Memphis as a kid, to MTV, to writing in Nashville, to riding the road and camping his way across America as a singer songwriter, he’s always got a story to tell. If you’ve seen him perform, you know the energy he brings to every song. That energy of his reminded me of the singer I am and always makes me bring it up from my toes.
No shirt, no shoes, a six pack of PBR; 11 a.m. rocking 30 people like they were 30,000. That’s Jimmy. From the toes.
It’s been a great run this last month. Many miles and giant craters of rock music left in very town. One of my favorite things about the MQ’s are the wonderful musical compadres that pass in and out of our shows. We have our first show in a month without The Reverend Uncle Cousin Jimmy Daddy Davis (no one is safe from the nicknames around here) tonight and I know we’ll all feel like something’s missing. But, he’ll be back in September. We’ll see him in Taos for Michael Hearne’s Big Barn Dance Festival and he’ll be with us on the 2nd Annual Walt’s Across Texas Tour. Once a Mystiquero, always a Mystiquero.
Peace,
-EL G
p.s. There’s lot’s of old footage on YouTube of Jimmy and Junction from the 80′s. Below is one of my favorites…
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks as evidenced by my lack of posts. It’s been one adventure after another on the Mystic road. Our friend, the immensely talented, fun to hang out with, singer / songwriter, Memphisian, Reverend (not really) Jimmy Davis has been sharing the stage with us since the 1st of July. Gruene Hall, San Antonio, Austin, a blow out blast in the heat at Luckenbach on the 4th of July, and although it took hours of driving through rain to get there, we just returned from a weekend in the mountains of New Mexico.
When the van starts to climb up towards Taos, everyone’s mood changes. It feels a bit like my childhood summer vacation trips. Everything is suddenly vibrant and exciting. Jimmy turns into our tour guide with bits of info he’s picked up from his many trips to the enchanted circle. We had a long drive from Lubbock and were running late when we arrived at the Old Blinking Light in Taos, but everyone was cool calm and collected there. No worries. We got the gear set up, ate some green chilli’s and played under the stars. I had to wear a jacket!! In July!!! We had a slow day on Saturday since all we had to do was get up the mountain to Red River, so we walked the plaza in Taos, Jimmy got to watch the World Cup. Food, beer and a relaxing time was had. On the way up to the Motherlode we stopped by the River for a bit of nature and another beer.
The Motherlode opened it’s arms as always and welcomed us back. It’s starting to feel like home up there. There’s so many great musicians up in that area. Michael Hearne sat in with us in Taos (and made sure we had a p.a.), and Jed Zimmerman was playing in the Lodge Bar in Red River. We rocked hard with our six piece 4 guitar show and laughed the night away with Jed and friends at the Lodge. It was good. The only hard part was leaving. No offense to Amarillo, but it just doesn’t sound that good when you’re standing in the crisp sunny morning mountain air on the main drag in Red River. We put it off as long as we could and headed down the mountain and back on to the high Texas plains.
After a long drive like Red River to Amarillo, I’m pretty much ready to be out of the van, play the gig and be done. However, we agreed to do an interview with nod internet radio station in Amarillo, Texas Drive Radio, hosted by Jeff Williams. We pulled in during a rain storm and got ourselves situated in the studio. I didn’t know what to expect and it turned out to be really fun. We answered a question or two and played three songs. It was a good way to arrive and feel welcome in Amarillo and a nice warm up for our show at Hoots later that evening. It was a slow night (Sunday) at the club, but the sound was great and we were inspired to play. And play we did!
Jeff Williams shot a little video of our visit to Texas Drive Radio, which you can see below. Hope you dig it. Me, I’m enjoying being home for a few days until the next adventure begins.
Highway 16 as I drive from downtown Kerrville to Quiet Valley Ranch never disappoints. This road is what the Texas Hill Country is all about. It’s June and we’ve had rain so it’s green and lush along the road. Black Eyed Susan’s still poke their yellow heads up from the tall grass of the shoulder. I’m happy to be heading to the ranch again this year. For the 4th year in a row we’ve been invited to play the Kerrville Folk Festival on closing weekend. As always there’ll be old friends, new ones too and, a whole lot of music. From the minute I arrive to check in and get my parking pass for backstage I’m treated amazingly well. It’s almost unnerving for a minute until I remember where I am. It’s hot and dry but not dusty and it’s already rained once today. Perfect Folk Fest weather.
As I approach the backstage area and up the familiar wooden steps I’m treated to the sound of Band of Heathens doing their sound check. They sound great as usual and it’s good to see everyone again. I love sharing the stage with those guys. They make me want to play my best. I dig that. Most of the MQ’s are already here, including Corby Schaub who’ll be joining us for the show. I shoot a little backstage video with my Flip camera. Should have shot a bit more, but as usual I got caught up in friends and the business of sound check. I drove in from Houston, as I had a show there the night before, and I’m a bit wiped out. After sound check I waste no time in heading to the hotel in town for a nap.
With a rest and a fine dinner behind me I once again travel down Hwy 16 back to the ranch. It’s just beginning to get dark and I’m trying not to speed, but I don’t want to miss Susan Gibson. She’s playing before us and I want to hear her on the big stage. I flash my “I’m In The Band” button at the front gate and am greeted with “Welcome Home”. What a way to enter a concert. It feels good here. With my 1st beer in hand, my new cd checked in and greetings from several old friends, I grab a spot and listen to Susan from out front. She’s got the whole place in the palm of her hand which becomes ever more evident when I watch her last few songs from backstage. She’s amazing as always.
Then it’s time. We take the stage, plug in and play. I’m trying out the Flip Camera onstage on top of the bass amp again tonight. I’ve done this before but haven’t been happy with the results. I have a little technical issue at the beginning of the show, wrong cable in the right place, but get it sorted out before I have to play my first note. The crowd is right there with us. The stage sounds great. It’s inspiring. I feel really great about our performance. I even get to take WW’s guitar for the encore and we sing my song “The Next Time”. I can’t really explain the feeling of singing to an audience, especially a large one, that’s listening except to say that it’s why I keep showing up on stage. Nothing else is quite like it and the audience at Kerrville is a special one indeed.
The Heathens procede to rock the place after us and Ray and I sneak out to join in on percussion for one of their encore’s. I’m always amazed at how quickly the crowd leaves after the show until I remember that for many of them the night is just getting started. There’s campfires, songs and fire dancers over in the campgrounds. I don’t always have the opportunity to stay and wander around the campfires when we play the Festival, but this year I don’t have to leave early the next day and Corby, Ray and WW all want to hang around a while. So I walk, play and listened until 4am. As I drive back towards town on 16 for the last time today, or was it yesterday?, I feel like I just had a really fine meal. I’m full and satisfied. At least until next year.
I’ve included a video I out together from my Bass Amp Cam experiment. It’s the first song of our set and some of my backstage footage. Hope you dig it.
He’s everywhere at once. I could swear that on more than one occasion I’ve seen him simultaneously at The Broken Spoke, Artz Ribhouse and Donn’s Depot. On any given Monday at Donn’s, Chris Gage and everyone in the bar will hail him upon his entry with a rousing “Hello Winker!” To which he”ll respond, “Hello Everybody”. I’ve been running into Winker for years and over those years I’m proud to have become his friend. I’m even prouder that he likes the Mystiqueros enough to come see us just about every Wednesday at the Saxon Pub. That’s a rousing endorsement from a true music fan. I don’t know anyone who sees more live music than Winker or is able to capture images of us musician types any better. Over the years it seems like his photography has gone from hobby to true calling. Right now, the majority of live shots you see of us are from Winker. His ability to take beautiful pitures in the darkness of The Saxon is amazing to me.
Not long ago we were asked to play for the grand re-opening of The Backyard here in Austin. The line up that day was a whose who of Austin talent and I got to see a lot of old friends. I knew it would be a good day when I saw Winker strolling to the stage, camera in hand. Below are some of the shots he took of us that day.
So here’s to an Austin original, even though he was born in Boston. When you see him at your favorite club supporting your favorite band, buy him a beer. Winker is one of the people that make live music in Austin like no other place in the world.
“In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history, lived a strange race of people….. the Druids” – Spinal Tap.
Often times, people wonder what a country rock band does with it’s down time on the road. Well, being the knowledge seekers that we are, we are often lead to interesting historical sites, natural wonders etc. by our head Mystic, WW. We also enjoy a good movie. You might find us quoting lines from our favorites in conversation, which can be maddening for the casual listener without footnotes. Our trip to Odessa last week to play a private party allowed us to bring together both of these off hour pastimes.
While driving thorough Odessa I never thought I would hear someone say, “I want to see Stonehenge”. And yet, somehow WW knew that there was a life sized recreation of the ancient mystical site in town. So, after getting directions from a somewhat bewildered desk clerk, WW drove us to the University of Texas Permian Basin campus to see Stonehenge. It’s actually pretty cool, but all I could think about was the foot high version from Spinal Tap. Once we filled ourselves with historical info and got a good look about the place we were inspired to create the video below…… (if you haven’t seen Spinal Tap, this will just seem stupid. Ok, it might seem stupid anyway)
note: I did have a version that included the Spinal Tap song “Stonehenge” but I didn’t want to risk copyright infringement. Use your imagination.
My favorite show of the year was yesterday. The annual KNBT Americana Jam 2010. Why do I love this show?
1. It’s at Gruene Hall (need I say more about that?)
2. It’s where the Mystiqueros were born – May 2006, Walt needed a band for this show. Ray, John, Marcus, Tina, Walt and I took the stage. It was magic. We became a band.
3. It’s put together by one of the coolest dudes at one of the finest radio stations in the country – Mattson Rainer (shown here mugging for my phone camera just before our set).
4. It’s just a great day. Great music, great fun, cold beer, and all for a good cause. (benefiting the New Life Children’s Center in Canyon Lake, TX.
Ray and I left McKinney around 8 am yesterday morning. As you might imagine, that was a bit early after a Saturday night show at Hank’s Texas Grill. But, we wanted to catch Tom Gillam’s set at 2pm. Tom and his band are awesome and it’s been great to get to hear them more since they moved down here from Philly. Ray managed to catch the whole set and after a stop home, where I may have fallen asleep on the couch for a minute, I managed to catch the last couple of songs. We played on the bar side stage this year, which feels pretty familiar since we’re in that same spot on the first Thursday of every month, and I’m fairly certain we rocked. Mr. Gillam joined us on guitar for the last part of the set and proved that the only thing better than one electric guitar is two! Well, I know I had a good time and the crowd was lovely, welcoming and cool as usual. We got to hang for awhile outside and catch up with friends new and old. The only problem I ever have with the Americana Jam is managing to see as many acts as I would like too. As usual I was done in before dark and made the trek back to A town, but I wouldn’t trade having this as our 4th birthday party show. Love and thankfulness to all…..
Last week was our one year anniversary at the Saxon Pub. It’s gone fast. I remember WW coming to us with the idea of doing a weekly show at the pub. My first gig at the Saxon Pub was opening for Jimmy LaFave in 1990. Over the next 19 years I played there a few dozen times and saw some great music there. It seemed like a weekly gig might be fun. A weekly gig can really help people remember you in an otherwise vast Austin ocean of live music choices. In previous years we hadn’t played very much in Austin so why not? As I said in my last post, it’s really turned into something special. It’s different every week and it’s been a great way for us to keep growing as a band. The only thing missing last week was G, and that’s a big missing, as he was home with Jess and Baby Emma. He has the longest commute to the gig, so he’s having a couple of weeks off with the new baby. The Pub is about 7 minutes from my door and I must say that having the opportunity to play with the boys every week so close to home has been great. So I’m looking forward to another year of weekly shows at the Saxon with great musical guests, good friends (like the infamous Winker who shot the above pic and regularly keeps a visual record of our Pub shows), and more joyful noise.
Below is a video of a fun night (we look like we’re having fun!) at the pub with Jimmy Davis, Corby Schaub and head Mystiquera, Tina Mitchell Wilkins. Brought to you by our friends (with slightly shaky camera hands) at Blue Boot Records.
One of the things I’ve come to love most about being a Mystiquero is the traveling musical circus we’ve created around us. Road gigs with Jimmy Davis or Brian Langlinais, Luckenbach with Ron Flynt or Davis Raines, shows with Corby Schaub or original MQ Crazy Uncle Mertis (Marcus Eldridge). There’s never a dull musical moment. And what better place to be joined onstage by amazing friends than a weekly show at the Saxon Pub, right in the middle of Austin, TX. When we first took on having a weekly show, I wondered how we might keep it fresh. Of course new songs help, but we continue to have the most wonderful musicians join us for our set. Last week was no exception. Here visiting Austin from the Netherlands and recording some tracks with WW at the helm and a backing band of MQ’s, Bart De Win joined us for a few songs. Bart is an incredibly talented musician and has the true heart of a Mystiquero. His lovely wife Arianne filmed this version of Big Daddy’s “Someone Somewhere Tonite” as we closed our set last week. I hope to see Bart again soon and share some more music both here in TX and in Holland. (where they have lots of beer!) So, if your in Austin on a Wednesday, you know where you need to be. Grab a seat at the pub and see what the MQ circus has in store for you. (they have lots of beer too!)
I’ve had the pleasure of being in Austin now, with the exception of a a couple of years when I clearly lost my mind, for 20 years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a spring quite like this one. As we’ve arrived to shows out in the Hill Country over the last several weeks it hasn’t been traffic or even beer we’ve been talking about, ok well maybe beer, but flowers. Amazing Texas wildflowers. Yes, grown men who give the appearance of being cool musician types, gawking slack jawed at all the flowers along the road, in the fields, seemingly everywhere you look. As Walt says many times during shows, “We’re the luckiest people on earth.” As I sat on the deck at the Bugle Boy in La Grange a couple of weeks ago and took this picture, I couldn’t have agreed more. For the past few weeks we’ve been playing CD release shows all over the Hill Country and with a spring like this it’s easy to get present to just how lucky we are. So if you haven’t seen your share of rare Texas beauty this spring, get out there on the back roads of the Hill Country. See ya out there…
I think I can speak for all the boys when I say that we really look forward to the KVET Free Texas Music Series at Hill’s Cafe every year. It’s always a great and it’s right down the street from my house! We got rained out last year, so we were extra ready for a great show this time around and with Adam Hood opening the show we had no choice bu to get up and rock the house. My dad looked on the MQ calendar and thought “that can’t be the same Hill’s Cafe I used to drive past in the 50′s!” Well, it is! I’m not completely up on the history but it looks like the re-opened in 2001 and this music series has really made it one of my favorite places in town. It took me a day to recover ,that may be from trying to keep up with Bobby Duncan after the show, and I hope everyone had as good a time as we did. So thank you Hill’s Cafe and thank you KVET. See ya next year…..
Well, I hope you’re ready for this…. the Mystiqueros have a blog! ( I hope we’re ready for this). 2010 is already starting off great with the release of our new record, AGAVE. If you don’t have one yet, well you might want to pick one up. And of course check back here, subscribe to the feed. We’ll be posting video, music, and stories from the road on a fairly regular basis. See ya on the road……
Tip toeing barefoot through secret doorways into rooms filled with books and antiques. The walls covered in paintings. Guitars signed by stars shine in all the corners. Muddy Waters growls from the juke box as we play a game of Cut Throat on the ornate billiards table. Were these my dreams or is that how last night became this morning? Our day in D.C. was planned to be busy. This trip was planned with the generous help and support of one of my favorite people. A great lover of music and rock star in her own right, Jessie Scott. Part of the plan was to hang out at the O Street Mansion and film some songs for Music Fog and then play a show.
