I’d been waiting 25 years to talk to Bette Midler, so when the chance came to interview the Divine Miss M on the release of her 1998 album “Bathhouse Betty,” I went for it. I told the publicist I loved the new record, then, having the phone time for her call reserved, went home, dug […]
#16 Austin Opera House When I moved to Austin in ’84, the Armadillo and Raul’s were closed, but there were great, intimate roadshows at the Austin Opera House, and serious punk rock action at Voltaire’s. I saw Elvis Costello at the Opera House soon after I got here- and they announced an impromptu second night, […]
#24 The Broken Spoke 1964- present Honky tonk Texas lives in a rustic red roadhouse that used to be on the outskirts of town, but now is surrounded by expensive condos. South Lamar has changed, but inside the Spoke it’s still 1964, the band is playing “Walking the Floor Over You” and the dancefloor is […]
Most Significant Nights in Austin Music History: #10 Talking Heads at Fiesta Gardens Sept. 7, 1982 This was the NYC band’s 7th concert in Austin in four years and the first not at the Armadillo World Headquarters. Yet, although there were some amazing shows on Barton Springs Road, this was the T. Heads’ most notorious […]
During a time of segregation (anytime before 1964 in Texas), the black community found safe havens, away from the white gaze, in church and at the juke joint. Just as touring religious singers had “the gospel highway” of connected gigs and places to stay, R&B entertainers traveled the “chitlin circuit.” Before they became mainstream acts, […]
1975- present Kill it again, it’s not dead yet Clifford Antone was a blues fanatic who wanted to meet his idols. He also wanted to turn others onto the music of all those Chicago greats nicknamed after their size. His club would book the legends for five nights in a row, to give them a […]
When the Texas Union reopened in 1979 after extensive renovations, it featured a new coffeehouse called the Cactus Café. But long before that, going back to the ‘30s, the space was known as the Chuckwagon. It’s where a UT student named Janis Joplin first performed in front of an audience in 1962, with a folk […]
1974 to present My theory is that the mob buried some bodies under the building in the ‘50s. How else could you explain that the Hole In the Wall is still there on the Drag, unleveled in this era when “mixed use” throttles mixed drinks? This nightlife warhorse has had more false farewells than the […]
Gloriathon at Liberty Lunch July 23-24, 1999 Many would choose to list the 1974 Van Morrison concert at the Armadillo World Headquarters where he played seven encores. But I picked the show where he just phoned it in. Liberty Lunch was the Armadillo in the trousers of ‘80s and ‘90s Austin. It was a special, […]
By Michael Corcoran In July 2001, I received this Amazing Gospel CD in the mail at my job at the Austin American Statesman. It’s an unauthorized British compilation of 1920s American gospel music that would would end up playing a big part in my slow transformation from cynical/ abrasive music critic to deep-digging historian. A […]
