Tex Pop Center a music history culture museum

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Closed Tuesdays
• 2 • Action Magazine, January 2015
Just a 9-mile hop north of Loop 1604
30690 Blanco Road, Bulverde, Texas 78163
(830)980-2222
L i ve bands in January
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advertising is worthless if you have nothing worth advertising
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• DEPARTMENTS •
Sam Kindrick...........................................6
Everybody’s Somebody..........................9
Scatter Shots.........................................10
Editor & Publisher..................Sam Kindrick
Sales........................................Action Staff
Photography.............................Action Staff
Distribution............................Ronnie Reed
Composition..........................Elise Taquino
Volume 40 • Number 1
• FEATURES •
Tex Pop....................................................4
Robert Demil .........................................13
Action Magazine, January 2015 • 3 •
Tex Pop Center
a music history
culture museum
At 1017 E. Mulberry St.
off Broadway just north of
Downtown San Antonio,
across the street from
Good Time Charlie’s and
next door to Planet K is
South Texas Popular Culture Center (Tex Pop), a
truly unique and fairly recent addition to San Antonio
institutions
that
celebrate local culture. It is
one part museum, one
part music venue and an
all around gathering place
and destination for those
interested in San Antonio’s musical past, present
and future.
Let us cater
your holiday
party or bring
your party to
Texas Pride.
210-649-3730
www.texaspridebbq.net
Officially the mission
for Tex Pop is to “collect,
document, exhibit, preserve, interpret, celebrate,
and educate about South
Texas music and musicrelated art and history.”
While that may sound formal, Michael Ann Coker,
Tex Pop executive director
, says “ We want folks to
think of Tex Pop as their
club house - a place to
visit with friends, share
memories, listen to music
and maybe learn a little.
Certainly we want to foster
pride in San Antonio and
its rich cultural heritage.”
The Tex Pop vision is to
be the premier source of
South Texas music history
providing artifacts, information and analysis of
music’s impact on popular
culture.
“We are
pleased that we are regularly contacted locally and
from across the country to
help with academic papers and provide input for
the media, including print
and film,” Coker says.
“One recent call concerned Robert Johnson’s
time in our city.”
Robert Johnson's life
and music are legendary and he recorded about
Jeff Smith (left)) and Chris Casseb are both directors of Tex Pop. Smith Is also a Tex
Pop co-founder along with Margaret Moser and Michael Ann Coker, both pictured on
the cover of this issue of Action Magazine. Shown with them on the cover is Neka
Scarbrough Jenkins, artist and the official Tex Pop photographer.
half of his known songs
here in San Antonio. The
SA sessions were in November 1936. One of the
recordings was of Cross
Road Blues which has
been covered by numerous musicians and influenced countless more.
San Antonio itself is a
unique cultural crossroads
– a place where multiple
musical roots converge genres that combine here
include New Orleans zydeco and jazz, old school
country western and
swing, German, Polish,
and Czech polkas, and
sounds from or influenced
by Mexico (rancheros, trio
romantico, and our own
West Side Horns.) This
distinctive blend is the SA
Sound that Tex Pop celebrates.
“San Antonio native
Doug Sahm later recorded
an original titled ‘Crossroads’ – his tune combines country, rock and
blues. Sahm is quite arguably the first example of
the genre that is now
known as ‘Americana’ –
combining the above genres with R & B and Mexican and Cajun styles as
well,” explains Jeff Smith,
one of the Tex Pop
founders.
Tex Pop was founded
by Margaret Moser (music
writer) and Michael Ann
Coker (personnel, project
and planning manager)
along with Jeff Smith (musician, promoter, and
record label owner) and
Michael Kleinman (local
businessman and president of the PHOGG Foun-
dation).
The current Tex Pop
team is Chris Casseb
(merchandise and membership director), Jeff
Smith (director of promotions and productions)
and Michael Ann Coker
(executive director) with
Margaret Moser as consultant.
You’ll see Neka Scarbrough-Jenkins at many
of the Tex Pop events. The
award winning photographer / artist is the official
Continued on pg. 7
SATURDAY MORNINGS
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see our bartenders lisa & Crystal
Wednesday - steak night
12oz ribeye, baked potato and salad $10.99
ursday - open Mic
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Friday - DJ ✮ $3 Jack ✮ 11-9pm
saturday - Karaoke ✮ $3 southern Comfort ✮ 11-9pm
sunday - Bloody Mary’s with Crystal
Happy anniversary THora & al
• 4 • Action Magazine, January 2015
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Action Magazine, January 2015 • 5 •
It’s year 2015, and Action Magazine will be 40
years old in the spring.
For those of you who might still be wondering,
the answer is yes on an Action Magazine 40th anniversary party and concert.
So mark the calendars!
It is officially set for Sunday, April 12, at Texas
Pride Barbecue in Adkins. I have just started recruiting
talent for the event, and I have yet to received a “no”
from anyone.
Johnny Bush, Darrell McCall, Johnny Rodriguez, Wayne Harper, Ron Knuth, Jimmy Spacek,
Sylvia Kirk, and George Chambers are on for sure.
Augie Meyers will be a certainty if he isn’t in
Europe April 12. He will let me know soon.
I have heard via Facebook from Larry Patton
in Nashville, expressing interest in playing the
event. And Patton noted that he would bring old former San Antonio blues crooner Dale Jackson with
him.
The gates are now open for all of my musician
friends and subjects of Action Magazine articles to
weigh in. I am asking anyone interested in playing this
event to call or email and leave contact information.
I have a Sam Kindrick Facebook page for contact purposes, and the phone number is (830) 980-7861
for
Action
Magazine.
Email
address
is
[email protected].
The first issue of Action was printed in March
of 1975, but I decided to hold the anniversary blowout
in April rather than March. It gives us an extra month to
prepare, and weather conditions might be more favorable in April than in March.
The concert and party will be held at the gigantic Texas Pride Barbecue facilities in Adkins, an outdoor
hippodrome affair which is completely covered by a permanent roof.
No weather event will stop this show, and I have
every reason to believe that it will be a blockbuster to
end all blockbusters.
There will be no set cover charge for the
public. Concert attendees will be asked to make a
• 6 • Action Magazine, January 2015
cash donation to the Animal Defense League of San
Antonio, a no-kill facility that does work which is
close to my dog and cat loving heart. Donation
amounts and other details are being worked out at
this time.
Early feelers I have put out to musician heavies
who have graced the covers of Action Magazine over
the years are encouraging. I have heard not one single
“no” at this early stage of the game. And I really haven’t
even gotten started yet.
I plan to soon contact my old friend Governor Kinky Friedman about playing our anniversary.
Back during the day I helped Friedman book some
of his San Antonio area gigs.
Over the past 40 years, I have featured some
talented and interesting characters in Action Magazine,
from David Alan Coe and Leon Russell to Tanya Tucker
to Ray Sawyer and Dennis Locorriere of Dr. Hook and
the Medicine Show band. Also Alex Harvey, the unheralded songwriter genius who penned such hits as
Ruben James and Delta Dawn, to name only a few. And
I could never forget blues/folk queens like Maria Muldaur, who I interviewed at the old Wings Club on West
Avenue. And the list goes on ad infinitum. Willie Nelson
was on the first Action cover. That was March of 1975,
and Nelson has gone on to become a world renown superstar since those magical times.
There have been articles in Action on Hank
Williams Jr., Hank William III, Billy Joe Shaver, Ray
Benson’s Asleep At The Wheel, Emilio Navaira, Barbara Fairchild, Little Joe Hernandez, Delbert McClinton, Tom Russell, Joe King Carrasco, Marcia Ball,
Carolyn Wonderland, Terri Hendrix, Jerry Jeff
Walker, Robert Earl Keen, Gary P. Nunn, Dale Watson, Ponty Bone, Steve Earle, Ray Wylie Hubbard,
George Strait, Curley Mays, John Arthur Martinez,
Guy Forsyth, Steve James, and on and on and on.
Then there are so many terrific local musicians
that space doesn’t permit even a fraction of their listing:
Dub Robinson’s Drug Store Cowboys, The Toman
Brothers, Jimmy Spacek, The West Side Horns, Slim
Roberts, Ron Young, Hector Saldana, Claude Morgan,
Wayne Harper, the ailing Frenchie Burke, Spot Barnett,
Bobby Rey, Sunny Ozuna, Laurabell, Clifton Jansky,
Bubba and Patsy Brown, Johnny Bush, Ray Sczepanik,
Augie Meyers, Syvia Kirk, Geronimo Trevino, Ernie
Garibay, Billy Mata, Granvil Poynter, Mike Clancey, Conrad Gonzales, Bonnie Lang, Maurice Munter, Mitch
Webb, Kevin Geil, Johnny Cockerell, ReBeca Drury,
Kenny Penny, Terri Stampley, and a litany of other
super-talented locals that I couldn’t be expected to recall at this one sitting.
I don’t even know how
to contact many of these Action Magazine subjects from
the past, but I want them all to know that they are invited
should the word reach them.
And then there are the deceased greats who
I have had the privilege of interviewing and writing
about in Action Magazine. They would all be invited
to the anniversary party if they were still on this
earth. Some of them include Townes Van Zandt, Ray
Liberto, Johnny Cash, Ernest Tubb (he told me I
needed a haircut) , Rusty Wier, Pine Top Perkins,
Eddie Shaver, B.W. Stevenson, Randy Garibay, Gatemouth Brown, Waylon Jennings, Roxanne Krezdorn,
Bee Spears, Charlie Walker, Doug Sahm, Jimmy Day,
David Zettner, Jody Payne, Floyd Tillman, Freddy
Fender, Hank Thompson, Gary Stewart, Steve
Fromholz, Bobby Bland, and too many others who
have already “crossed the river,” as Billy Joe Shaver
would put it.
I have promoted two other music events in my
lifetime. The first was The First World Championship
Menudo Cookoff in Raymond Russell Park, featuring
Willie Nelson and Family with 30 other bands. I believe
that was in 1973 or 1974.
My second production was titled Sam Kindrick’s Outdoor Revival and Music Extravaganza, starring Bourbon Street parson Bob Harrington and the Lost
Gonzo Band.
The menudo cookoff drew more than 40,000
and resulted in my being banned forever from putting
any music event in a county park. The second show,
which included music by the Lost Gonzo Band and a
sermon of sorts, resulted in a cd titled Reverend Bob
Harrington Goes Country.
Our anniversary party could be a monster.
Tex Pop Center
Continued from page 4
photographer for the museum. Musician Marco
Villareal is also a Tex Pop
photographer. Some of
the folks who have advised Tex Pop on themes
for exhibits are JJ Lopez,
David Rodriguez, Mellissa
Marlowe, and Jim Beal.
Many friends and fans are
regulars at Tex Pop
events.
C h r i s
Casseb points out, “We’re
lucky to have Bruce Hathaway and Lee Woods as
frequent visitors and contributors. People enjoy
hearing their stories of
radio in its golden age.”
Through the 1980s,
radio was essential to pro-
“The Great Texas Experience”
Catering
Party Room Rental
Pavilion Rental
Fundraiser
Hosting
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moting
local
music.
Through playing songs by
area musicians and booking those bands at radio
sponsored events, deejays fostered and encouraged South Texas players.
To honor its strong role in
local culture, Tex Pop is
devoting a room to house
memorabilia of radio. Recently, in conjunction with
Society of San Antonio
Radio Broadcasters, Tex
Pop dedicated the SA
Radio Hall of Fame at the
museum with several of
the inductees of 2014 attending, including Sam
Kindrick. This will be a permanent display with new
inductees added yearly.
Beginning in May 2012,
Tex Pop has presented
posters, photos, and other
ephemera on a variety of
subjects. Past exhibits include “Doug Sahm: The
SA Years,” Dia de Los
Muertos altars created by
local artists honoring deceased musicians, “We’re
So Pretty: The Sex Pistols
in SA 1978,” “Talk to Me:
SA Chicano Soul,” “Kep
Pa So: Augie Meyers The
SA Sound Known Round
the World, ”Teen Canteen
and Sam Kinsey: Two
Decades of SA Rock n’
Roll, ”Alamo Airwaves:
Bruce Hathaway KTSA’s
King of Rock,” “SA’s 1964
Teen Fair with the Rolling
Stones,” and “SA Artist
Jim Harter’s Retrospective.”
Future exhibits will be
“SA: Heavy Metal Capital
of the World,” “Eastwood
Country Club with Curley
Mays,” “Accordions: So
SA” and “Wild and Loud:
Border Radio.” Planned
events include a touring
Punk Music photo show
and periodic “Tex Pop
Rox” concerts by local
roots and garage bands
hosted by Brian Parrish.
Tex Pop regularly
schedules one-day events
such as speakers, discussion panels and documentary screenings as well as
music performances – by
deejays spinning vinyl and
musicians playing live.
Just a few of the museum’s past events: “50
Years of the Beatles” with
headliners The Krayolas,
“An Evening at the Ebony
Lounge with Spot Barnett,”
35th Anniversary of SA
party band Los #3 Dinners, a panel discussion
with Joe Nick Patoski on
his Doug Sahm documentary and a tribute to
Robert Johnson’s SA
recording sessions by
local musician / educator
John Cockerell.
Tex Pop depends on
contributors; it is a nonprofit staffed by volunteers.
We are most
grateful to Planet K for
providing our space and to
Jack Orbin / Stone City Attractions for his generous
help in remodeling our
performance room. Collectors like Jesse Garcia
have provided us with
copies of vintage photos
while Ramon Hernandez
has loaned us items from
his extensive Hispanic Entertainment Archives.
We appreciate the musicians who contribute
their time and talent to
support our cause. Tex
Pop thanks Billy Gibbons
of ZZ Top for visiting and
providing photo ops for
fans; his band “Moving
Sidewalks” played at Teen
Canteen. The museum
schedules most of its
events on week-end afternoons so as many working musicians as possible
can attend.
If you believe in preserving South Texas’ musical heritage, consider
donating memorabilia or
cash to Tex Pop; tax receipts can be provided.
For our calendar of
events, follow Tex Pop on
Facebook (South Texas
Popular Culture Center) or
send us your email address to be added to our
newsletter
distribution.
Our email is [email protected] . Call
(210)792-1312 for questions or to schedule an offcalendar visit to Tex Pop.
Graphics artist and band promoter Jerry Clayworth
will have a poster exhibit at the Tex Pop museum during the month of February. Clayworth is coming on
strong after a successful kidney transplant.
Herb’s Hat Shop
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We who are carrying
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Here is a typical gathering at South Texas Popular Culture Center. From left to right,
the group includes Michael Ann Coker, Bruce Hathaway, Margaret Moser, Sam Kinsey,
Billy Gibbons, and Neka Scarbrough Jenkins. Coker and Moser co-founded Tex Pop.
Hathaway is a local radio icon. Kinsey founded and operated the legendary Teen Canteen. Gibbons, of course, is the ZZ Top lead guitarist, while Scarbrough-Jenkins is the
official Tex Pop photographer.
Action Magazine, January 2015 • 7 •
• 8 • Action Magazine, January 2015
Action Magazine, January 2015 • 9 •
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ESTABLISHMENT
• 10 • Action Magazine, January 2015
Happy Hour
Tues-Fri
2pm-7pm
Patio
Playground
PingPong
Table
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January BAND SCHEDULE
1/1
1/2
1/3
1/4
1/6
1/7
1/8
1/9
1/10
1/11
1/13
1/14
1/15
1/16
1/17
Blue Note Ringos 7:30 p.m.
The Lavens 6:30 p.m.
Nashville Jazz 6:30 p.m.
The Mo-Dels 9 p.m.
San Antonio
Blues Society jam 3:30 p.m.
Cody Coggins 7:30 p.m.
Prime Time Jazz 8 p.m.
TBA
The Lavens 9 p.m.
Brother Dave and
the Barrio Blasters 6:30 p.m.
Los #3 Dinners 9 p.m.
The Swindles 4 p.m.
Open mic with Lesti Huff 7:30 p.m.
Prime Time 5 8 p.m.
Wine tasting 7:30 p.m.
ReBeca and friends 8 p.m.
The Lavens 6:30 p.m.
Elijah Zane
with Jimmy Dasher 9 p.m.
1/18 Earfood Gospel Brunch 1 p.m.
1/20 Open mic
with Nico Laven 7:30 p.m.
1/21 Prime Time Jazz
1/22 King Pelican 8:30 p.m.
1/23 Boogie Blues Band 6:30 p.m.
The Lavens 9 p.m.
1/24 Michael Martin
and The Infidels 9 p.m.
1/25 Ashlee Rose 1 p.m.
1/27 Roy Schneider
and Kim Mayfield 4 p.m.
Open mic with
Jeff Reinsfelder 7:30 p.m.
1/28 Prime Time 5 8 p.m.
1/29 TBA
1/30 The Lavens 6:30 p.m.
Matthew McNeal 9 p.m.
1/31 Ruben V 9 p.m.
www.thecove.us
Frenchie tribute
Fiddlin’ Frenchie Burke
was the guest of honor
last month on Roy Holley’s
Talk About Texas show on
KKYX Radio.
Joining Burke and Holley on the 9 a.m. through
10 a.m. Saturday program
were Texas Pride Barbecue owner Tony Talanco
and Action editor-pub-
Roy Holley
Frenchie Burke
lisher Sam Kindrick.
Burke has been in
rough shape of late, battling cancer which has
spread from his one remaining kidney. Although
Roy Holley offered to work
the show by telephone,
Burke insisted on appearing in person for the radio
interview which was conducted remotely from the
Texas Pride Barbecue
restaurant and live music
venue in Atkins.
“We have been having
some difficult days,” said
Sarah Burke, Frenchie’s
wife of 30-plus years, “but
he wouldn’t have it any
other way than coming out
to do this in person.”
One of the greatest
stage performers ever to
rosin up a fiddle bow,
Frenchie broke into a gigantic smile when Holley
directed the KKYX studio
techs to play Burke’s hit
recording of Big Mamou.
The song which was
originally
a
classic
Louisiana waltz has now
become known across the
country as the cajun national anthem, largely because of the up-tempo
treatment Frenchie Burke
gave it.
“I did kick it into high
gear,” Frenchie laughed.
“Whoo-hoo,
and
Big
Mamou.
I haven’t been able to play
in a while, but I ain’t giving
up.”
Then he sang Happy
Birthday to a grandson
who was listening to the
radio show.
We have known Burke
for years, and he has been
featured in Action Magazine on numerous occasions.
He is one of the top fiddlers in the world, and
there isn’t a showman
alive who can eclipse
what Frenchie does on a
stage.
But most importantly,
Frenchie Burke is a humble soul who has spent his
life making things better
for the many who love
him.
There is nothing not to
like about Fiddlin’ Frenchie
Burke.
Santos exodus
After 17 years with
band mates Ron Rose,
Phil Bepko, and Chuck
Fletcher, Roger Santos is
hanging up his bass guitar.
But contrary to what
many believed, he didn’t
acquire the nickname Bananas as a pool shark.
When he played basketball at Central Catholic
here, he used a running,
looping hook shot which
was then referred to by
many as a “banana ball.”
Hence his lifelong handle of Bananas Rodriguez.
gan’s Buckboard Boogie
Boys.
Joe Sarli has played
bass with Rick Cavender,
the San Antonio Rodeo
Band, Witz End, and way
back during the day with
Ron Rose’s Green Slime
Boys.
Bananas closing
Roger Santos
His replacement is veteran Joe Sarli, another accomplished bassist.
Of his longtime friend
and band mate, Ron Rose
said, “Roger has some
residual issues from a bad
accident he had 10 or 12
years ago when he
crushed his left wrist. He’s
got more metal in his wrist
than you have in your front
bumper. Doctors had told
him he probably wouldn’t
be able to play bass any
more after the accident.
We were lucky to have
him as long as we did.”
Santos said he has
been playing for 49 years
with various bands, two or
three weekends a month.
“I’m taking a long break
from playing bass and
concentrate on my second
passion, fishing the bay,”
Roger said. “My replacement, Joe Sarli, is an accomplished bass player.”
Santos has worked
with a number of bands,
including Blackrose and
before that Claude Mor-
Bananas Billiards, a
near-downtown shrine for
true pool players which
bore the name of a San
Antonio legend, was
preparing to close the
doors as this issue of Action was going to press.
The pocket billiards
emporium had been a
regular advertiser in Action Magazine since it was
established in the 1980s
by Fernando T. Bananas
Rodriguez, a San Antonio
sports icon who died in
2002 at age 83.
A onetime all-state
basketball player at Central Catholic High School,
Rodriguez passed up basketball scholarship offers
from Holy Cross, Notre
Dame, and various other
major colleges to go on
the road hustling pool.
Bothered by bursitis in
his pool cue stroking arm,
Rodriguez returned home
in the 1980s to open his
Bananas Billiards on San
Pedro Avenue.
Action Magazine editor-publisher Sam Kindrick
and Rodriguez became
friends soon after their
first meeting, and Bananas started advertising
his business in the magazine from the very beginning.
Julie Thull
In those old days, Julie
Thull was a waitress at the
nightclub and billiards emporium, eventually working her way up to
management
and
a
trusted right-hand-girl position with her famous
boss.
Before Bananas died,
he included Julie among
heirs in his will, and she
eventually wound up in
both a management and
ownership position.
“I’m tired and ready to
move on to something
else,” Julie said last
month. “We will have a
bunch of our regulars, but
business hasn’t been all
that good for some time.”
She indicated that the
club is now up for sale,
and that there are several
potential buyers waiting in
the wings.
Julie kept her Bananas
ad in Action Magazine
until the very end.
“I know that’s what Bananas wanted,” she said,
“and I hope that new owners will stay with the magazine.”
Fernando (Bananas)
Rodriguez was a friend, a
gentleman, and a scholar,
and he was one of the
greatest pocket billiards
players to come out of
Texas.
Other Woman 20th
Frank Mumme’s The
Other Woman nightcub
on Fair Avenue celebrates
its 20th anniversary on
Saturday, January 10,
with barbecue and music
by The Toman Brothers.
The fun starts at 4 p.m.
with karaoke during the afternoon and live music in
the evening until closing.
Mumme also owns
Spurr 122 Cocktails on
Highway 181 South.
The Other Woman is
located at 1123 Fair Avenue. For further information on the party call (210)
534-7399.
Country rap?
A Nashville promo outfit has sent us a press release with a youtube clip
on one Mikel Knight, a
new indie recording warrior they are billing as The
King of Country Rap.
Knight is reportedly a
native of San Antonio (we
never heard of him), and
his current album titled
Urban Cowboy is being
touted as a city meets the
country endeavor.
At this point, we would
like to make reference to
the late Herbert Spencer,
a 1980s English philosopher who reminded the
Continued on pg. 14
Action Magazine, January 2015 • 11 •
Demel brings mid-week spark to Martini’s
Longtime vocalist and
band
leader
Robert
Demel has reunited with
his mentor and former employer Wayne Harper for a
Wednesday night show at
Harper’s Martini Club
which is getting results.
In this particular scenario, Demel is lead vocalist and stage front man,
while the multi-talented
Harper takes a front-row
seat in the audience.
“Robert is one of the
funniest persons I have
ever met,” Harper said,
“and he is also one hell of
an entertainer and vocalist. Our regulars at Martini’s are loving his
Wednesday evening performances. You can never
predict what might come
out of his mouth. It sometimes borders on insanity.
”
A working musician for
over 25 years, Robert
Demel has played the
rodeo and almost every
major club within a 100
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mile radius, including the
Leon Springs Dance Hall
and the now-demolished
Cabaret in Bandera.
“I have worked around
a lot of good musicians,”
Demel said, “But Wayne
Harper is flat-out the best
one I have ever known. I
grew up on Elvis, and I
have always loved George
Strait, but Wayne Harper
has taught me what the
business of entertaining
the public is really all
about. He has been my
greatest influence in
music and most everything else. He re-built my
motorcycle engine, and I
watched him tear down
his own Corvette, and
then put it back together
again. As many of us
know, he is a painter, a
mechanic, a superb guitar
and trumpet player with a
wonderful singing voice,
and he is one of the greatest showmen who ever
lived. Nobody else can do
what he does and with the
style he does it in.”
The Demel/Harper mutual admiration society really took root about eight
years ago when Wayne
hired Robert to play
drums.
“Drums were how I
started out,” Demel said,
“and although I had been
singing with my own band
for years, I hired on to be
Wayne’s drummer for
what turned out to be
about a year.
It was a move that I
haven’t ever regretted.”
Until about a year ago,
Demel was playing weekly
in two San Antonio nightclubs that he owned with
partners-first Crazy D’s at
Perrin Beitel and Nacogdoches, and the now-defunct RAD Club on Stone
Oak Parkway.
He was bought out by
his partner in Crazy D’s,
and the RAD Club he coowned with partner Rick
Rice went kaput because
of a failed restaurant operation.
“When we signed the
lease, they didn’t tell us
that we would be required
to run a food operation in
the club,” Demel said. “The
bar operation was going
great, but we didn’t know
enough about food to
keep up.”
The 52-year-old son of
a longtime San Antonio
band leader, Robert (Bob)
Demel Sr., Robert Jr. said
he started playing drums
at age 11, working at various times with such Bob
Demel bands as Country
Love and Country Express.
“My mom Dottie Demel
managed several nightclubs, and my dad’s bands
played in most of them,”
Demel said, noting that
Dottie managed the old
Oxtail Inn for Nora Hawes,
and also Dan Cook’s
Timeout Club for the late
sports columnist and TV
commentator.
“My dad’s still around,
retired from playing,”
Demel said. “Mom died
about three years ago.”
Continued on pg. 14
BEXAR BAIL
License
BONDS #145
Robert Demel building a Wednesday night
following at Martini Club
102 S. COMAL #2, SATX 78207
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210-224-9915
At the corner of Commerce & Comal
Victoria Embrey, Manager
Action Magazine, January 2015 • 13 •
Scatter Shots
Continued from page 11
world of an irrefutable
principle which has withstood the passing of one
century into another.
That principle, Spencer
wrote, is the one principle
which will keep a person
in everlasting ignorance,
and it has always remained: Contempt prior to
investigation.
Demel
Continued from page 13
Demel winds up the
Martini Club crowds with a
rapport that includes
stage bullshit and the ability to answer a wide variety of song requests with
a good and versatile
voice.
“My foundation is country,” Demel said, “but I do
everything from Bob Wills
to AC/DC to the Rolling
Stones, George Strait,
Chubby Checker, and
even Neil Diamond. I can
With all of this in mind,
we checked “The King of
Country Rap’s” youtube
single titled Last Night In
Texas, and we may now
report that country music,
both mainstream and otherwise, is in no danger of
being usurped by the
swaggering,
blustering
Mikel Knight.
To call his material
“country” would certainly
merit a thump and a bump
in the night from the respective boxes of Hank
and Lefty, but we don’t
want to seem totally insensitive to Mikel Knight’s
cool videos and hot urban
country music, as it is all
described by his promotion company.
The self-styled King of
Country Rap might go
over okay in a hip-hop
rock joint, but only if the inhabitants were properly
stoned on hash-laced
weed
or
sufficiently
amped up on Colombian
marching powder.
It ain’t music, and
Knight ain’t country. Call it
contempt after only one
listen, because the one
youtube blip was more
than we needed to see
and hear.
sing Diamond’s Sweet
Caroline when I’m any
place but Martini’s. I just
don’t measure up on that
one when I’m around
Wayne. I do love variety,
but no rap, hip-hop, or
heavy metal.”
Behind Demel’s riotous
stage persona there is a
serious side.
“I may not take myself
very seriously,” Demel
said, “but I am serious
about the music. I haven’t
written anything for a long
time, but that could hap-
pen now that I’m getting
things going again. I
recorded a casette a number of years ago that had
two of Wayne’s songs and
two by Ron Knuth. And I
did get a third-place finish
on a nationally televised
Nashville show called Be
A Star.
“I really think my voice
has matured over the past
few years. I know I can still
get gigs. I have longevity,
and I still have the desire
to play.”
Demel is working Mar-
tini’s on Wednesdays with
his longtime lead guitar
player Rex McNiel, and
with the two regulars in
the Wayne Harper Band-keyboard ace Ernie Kreth
and drummer Michael
Canales.
“These guys are all terrific musicians,” Demel
said, “they have the ability
to make you sound even
better than you are.”
He went on to say that
he doesn’t want to sound
like a jukebox. Not ever.
“I want to entertain the
Country Roses
The two San Antonio
and area “Roses” of Texas
music seem to be staying
active and doing well in
their respective centers of
influence.
Young singing sensation Natalie Rose of
Seguin has made it into
the top 50 on both the
Texas Music Charts and
the
Regional
Radio
Charts.
Her mother and manager, Tina Capparelli, says
Natalie is “doing great.”
And Ashlee Rose of
San Antonio took time out
from her work with Jimmy
Dasher to release a cd of
holiday music.
Billing themselves as
The New Vagabonds,
Ashlee Rose and Dasher
appeared last month at
The Cove where they
treated their fans to several new songs they have
written together.
crowd,” Demel
says.
“That’s what Martini’s is all
about. I never want to own
or operate another conventional nightclub or
sports bar, but I would like
to have a small music-oriented cabaret like Martini’s.
“Wayne has trained the
patrons to write their song
requests on napkins,
which are delivered (often
with a tip attached) to the
stage by the waitresses.
And they bring me requests in the same fashion when I play the club.
It’s a wonderful system.
Nobody yelling out requests and nobody trying
to climb on the stage.
There are no darts or pinballs or pool tables in the
club. All of the focus is on
the live music being produced on the stage.”
Demel says interaction
with the crowd is his forte.
“I try to make every patron feel like the focus is
on him or her, “ Demel
said. “I really have a good
time up there on the
stage. That’s where I’m at
home.”
Where to find Action Magazine
Northeast
Adrenalin Tattoos
Century Music
Charlie Brown’s
Cooper’s Lounge
Cootey’s
Crazy D’s
Cross-Eyed Seagull
Fiasco
Finnegan’s
Fitzgerald’s
Guitar Center
Hangin’ Tree
Jack’s
Jack-N-Arund
Jeff Ryder Drums
Jerry Dean’s
Locoe’s Sports Bar
Main Street Bar & Grill
Make My Day
Martinis
Marty’s
Midnight Rodeo
Papa’s Bar & Grill
Penthouse
Phantasy Tattoo
Planet K
Rebar
Recovery Room
• 14 • Action Magazine, January 2015
Rod Dog’s Saloon
Rolling Oaks
Scandal’s
Schooner’s
Sherlock’s
Spanky’s
STATS
Sunset Club
Thanks for Vaping
(2 locations)
Tra’s Country
Thirsty Turtle
Winston’s
Northwest
Alamo Music
Baker Street Pub
Bone Headz
Broadway 50-50
Coco Beach
Fatso’s
Hemingways
Highlander
Hills and Dales
Ice House Bar
Joe’s Ice
Kennedy’s
Knuckleheads
Mitchell’s
Planet K
Stacy’s Sports Bar
Whiskey’s
Central &
Downtown
Alamo Music
Armadillo
Augies BBQ
Bob’s Burgers
Bombay Bicycle Club
Casbeers
Cove
Goodtime Charlies
Joe Blues
Joey’s
Limelight
Luther’s cafe
The Mix
Olmos Bharmacy
Pigstand
Planet K
Sam’s Burger
Joint
Tycoon Flats
Southside
Boerne
Selma
Big T’s
Brooks Pub
Flipside Record Parlor
Herb’s Hat Shop
Leon’s
Mustang Sally’s
Planet K
Shady Lady
Spurr 122
Texas Pride BBQ
The Other Woman
The Steer
The Trap
Dog and Pony Grill
Bluebonnet Palace
Deer Crossing
China Grove
Universal City
China Grove
Trading Post
Longbranch
Helotes
Bobby J’s
Floore Store
Leon Springs
Bulverde area
Antler’s Restaurant
Daddy O’s
Max’s Roadhouse
Rusty Spur
Shade Tree Saloon
Specht’s Store
Taqueria
Aguascalientes
Tetco, 46 & 281
Angry Elephant
Longhorn Restaurant
Silver Fox
Live Oak
South Paw Tattoos
Billy D’s
Planet K
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Call for details
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A “ROCK N ROLL” TRADITION SINCE 1975
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FRANKLY SPEAKING:
WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT’S A WHOLE NEW YEAR TURN BACK THAT DAMN CLOCK, I DON’T WANT TO BE HERE.
THERE’S LOTS OF THINGS I MEANT TO DO SO BRING BACK THE OLD YEAR, I’M NOT THROUGH.
THERE’S 20 POUNDS THAT I WANTED TO DROP SO MY OLD LADY WILL LET ME ON TOP!
AND I MEANT TO PLANT A TREE SO WHEN I’M OUTSIDE I’LL HAVE A PLACE TO PEE.
AND I HAD PLANNED ON GETTING A PET BUT I HAVEN’T GOTTEN AROUND TO THAT QUITE YET.
I WAS GONNA PUT AWAY SOME MONEY FOR WHEN
TIMES GET LEAN - BUT I PUT IT ALL IN A SLOT MACHINE.
IN THIS NEW YEAR, I JUST DON’T FIT SO BRING BACK THE OLD ONE, I’M NOT THROUGH
WITH MY SHIT!
Frank
VISA, MASTER CHARGE, AMERICAN EXPRESS & CASH
The Trap Blog - http://caughtinthetrap.blogspot.com/
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Action Magazine, January 2015 • 15 •