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My Eagles concert review posted to Elmore

3 Jun

Elmore Magazine | The EaglesFive of the original Eagles took musicianship to the limits at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. Before a sold-out crowd, they performed hits from 12 albums and a career that spans four-plus decades. For over three hours (and two encores) Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh mesmerized their audience with nostalgic stories and songs synchronized to stunning videos of Southwest landscapes.

Selections from favorite albums, Desperado, Hotel California, and One of These Nights captivated Baby Boomers and Millennials alike, and introduced a new generation to the cross-genres from progressive country to rock. The six-time Grammy winners began their first set with early Eagles’ acoustic songs like “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” and “Tequila Sunrise” sitting on stage. After an intermission, band members stood and rocked the crowd to its feet. A boyish Walsh upstaged the show by inviting audience participation on “Life’s Been Good” and using a talk box to perform “Rocky Mountain Way.” With “Take It to the Limit,” Frey provided a moving tribute to guitarist Randy Meisner, absent from the two-year “History of the Eagles Tour” due to health issues. The final encore song, “Desperado,” closed the show on a magical note, with ethereal harmonies that will forever echo in the canyons of the mind.

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Also please see my review on Elmore magazine’s website at: http://www.elmoremagazine.com/2015/06/reviews/shows/the-eagles

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My Emmylou Harris concert review posted to Elmore

3 Jun

Elmore Magazine | Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell At The KerrvFans braved record-breaking rains to see Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell inside the lobby of the YO Ranch Hotel & Conference Center. The duo had moved indoors and to higher ground after Turtle Creek broke its banks earlier in the evening, threatening Kerrville Folk Festival’s outdoor theater.

The legendary singer/songwriters performed inside the historic hotel’s cowboy-themed lobby in front of a cozy limestone fireplace framed by two 10-foot wrought iron candelabras and five hanging chandeliers crafted from authentic cattle brands.

The duo sang songs from their 2013 Yellow Moon album and recent CD, The Travelin’ Kind. “La Danse de la Joie,” written by Harris, Crowell and Will Jennings, added a playful Cajun and upbeat zydeco sound to the evening.

The two, friends for 40 years, sat in repurposed dining room chairs, amid mounted exotic wild animal heads on the walls and an impromptu audience of rain-soaked fans, mostly 55 and older.

Harris sang a beautiful interpretation of “Love Hurts,” a huge hit for the Everly Brothers in 1960. Harris and Crowell together sang the night’s highlight, “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight,” from her 1978 Quarter Moon in a Ten-Cent Town album. Never did a bad storm feel so right.

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Please also see my article posted on Elmore magazine’s website at: http://www.elmoremagazine.com/2015/06/reviews/shows/emmylou-harris-and-rodney-crowell-at-the-kerrville-folk-festival

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My story about the Saxon Pub posted to Austin Monthly

3 Jun

New Beginnings - Austin Monthly - June 2015 - Austin, TXSince opening a quarter century ago, the Saxon Pub has served as a launching point for some of Austin’s finest musicians, from legends like Steven Fromholz and Rusty Wier to current favorites Bob Schneider (pictured) and Hayes Carll, to name just a few. Yet the venue has outgrown its roots, says proprietor Joe Ables, who intends to open a second location in an industrial area south of Ben White Boulevard on South Congress Avenue in the next two years.

The move is like a flashback to the past: When the Saxon opened on June 8, 1990, it was situated amid vacant lots and helped establish the 78704 neighborhood as its own entertainment district. Today, Ables feels the squeeze of new construction, dicey parking and a lease that expires in 2020, so his plan is to construct a $4-$8 million two-story multi-user venue adjacent to the $120 million St. Elmo Market development in an overlooked neighborhood near St. Elmo Street and South Congress. “It would be crazy of me if I don’t explore this fantastic chance to build a larger, better Saxon Pub for fans and our music family,” he says. (Ables plans to renew the lease on the South Lamar building and turn it into something else.)

While the large-scale St. Elmo complex will have a boutique hotel, condos, a 50,000-square-foot market and 200,000 square feet of creative office space, the new Saxon will feature a restaurant and theater for concerts and film screenings. Brandon Bolin, CEO of GroundFloor Development, the investors behind St. Elmo Market, describes the music venue as “the front door for the St. Elmo project.” Fans of Bob Schneider’s Monday night residency can rest easy—he’ll still have his regular weekly gig in the new space.

Moving forward is also a time for reflection. In that spirit, a yet-to-be-titled documentary about the venue will be released later this year, says Ables, who at 62 feels excited at the prospect of finally becoming a landowner. “It’s one of those things that I ask myself, ‘do I really want to do this at this age?,’” he says. “I do. I feel pretty young; I still feel good.”

Please see my article posted on Austin Monthly at: http://www.austinmonthly.com/AM/June-2015/New-Beginnings/

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