Just moved back to Austin after 26 years in SF. We're loving it!

I remember an outdoor festival in '76 or '77 (believe it was somewhere off 183). They had the (then) heavyweights on the bill. Fleetwood Mac, Peter Frampton, and others. Anyone else remember? I couldn't make it - love to find out where exactly it was.

Also, I know a few have left us, but any updates, stories, on Balcones Fault. Must of seen them 50 times in my 3 years in the 70's.

I used to love to go to Virginia's Cafe down on S. 1st about half way btwn Barton Springs and Ben White. Around about 74-75 used to eat some of the best chicken fried steak, pork chops etc. with the usual vegetables; Virginia, whom was very old, would cook it, serve it and run the cash register. You could get along just fine as long as you didn't try to strike up a conversation with her. She was damned busy and did not mind telling you so. So just eat your damned food or talk to someone else.

I happened upon Austin at the invite of my best friend in high school(Upstate NY early'70's)in Nov.1974. I was in college in Okla. and he at UT. Sooo I went and experienced Austin on substances no longer the quailtiy they were back then. Imagine walking into the 'Dillo 3 days before Thanksgiving seeing that mural of Freddy 'Strait From Heart' King & drinking my first Lonestar and ordering up a chalupa and a Chocalate chip cookie. On that one visit I knew I had to live here. I quit college moved to Austin became a partime Rest. Mgr and full time part-taker of everthing musically-epicurian-artisan Tejas Hill country had to offer.
So my question is, other than the places, people, and things mentioned here does anybody remember:
1.The original 'Hole-In-Wall' off 'The Drag'
2.Mother Earth (I saw Tommy Shannon play there I think with the 'Fools').
3.Mad-dog and Beans (right anround the corner from Inner-Sactum.)
4.Ice Scream You Scream or even 'Nothing Strikes Back' ice cream parlour (if you had a serious case of the munchies, nothing like black-lights/deadheads and a chocolate-banana malt with whipcream and a nilla wafer).
5.BalconesFault (if you remember the 'Savages' you can't forget the 'Fault')
6.Too Smooth, The Electromagnets, 40times it's Own Weight.
7.Antones, Soap Creek, Blue Parrot, The Filling Station, Bee Caves, Mt.Bonnell......'Hippie Hollow'.
8.W.N.'s annual 4th picnic.
10.Middle Earth
11.I'll need to be refreshed here, out by Lake Travis there used to be a co-op run eatery that served family style dinners great viddles!!!!
12.Shivas Headband (I heat they'll still going strong)Commander cody,Asleep at the Wheel.

I had the need to drive up Burnet Rd. the other day and I was brought back in time to a place that was but is no longer: the Char-Ex Drive Inn. You know the place, it was on the corner of Old Keonig and Burnet (that's "ole KAYnig and BURnet" to you newbies... get it right) Their chili was outstanding, their beer was cold, the people there were old school Austin. Today, the building is still there but it has the look of a flea market instead of a respectable beer joint.

What happened to the beer joint? These days, there are notable hangers-on such as Deep Eddy and Ginny's Little Longhorn but the vast majority of the neighborhood taverns have vanished. Austin's reputation for live music has always depended upon the beer joint venues (you don't hear Austin music here)

The people and places that have always been there to define the true Austin culture are starting to get very rare.

When I first moved to Austin, one of my best friends was a vegetarian. Since I was new in town, I followed him around for awhile. That meant eating vegetarian meals, something very new to the Texas carnivore. There were a couple of places that I recall but mostly it was the "avocado and sprouts on whole wheat" that we would get at Salvation Sandwiches. That was the complete experience: the hippie food, the hippie food vendors, the hippie mentality. All in all, a very proper lesson in the culture of my new home.

One of the best pizzas (and environments) that I’ve ever had. We had moved out to Fritz Hughes Park (below the low water crossing at the dam) for a little over a year and a half. Nick’s was on 2222 shortly before you got to 4 points on the right. Small, non-descript location. He was from somewhere up north and made the best thin crust pizza that I’ve ever had to this day. It was like going in to see a friend at that place. He greeted everyone like an old friend and really wanted to know how you were doing.
Being around 14 years old at the time, these are some of the memories that shaped my individuality. This was around 1979.

when i first came to austin, i stayed for a bit on the infamous 33rd street. i am still friends with some of those folks and we have a sort of reunion every xmas.

this semi reunion has been taking place since 1990. it grows a bit smaller every year due to the passing of some.

i miss old austin. i do not like what has happened with this new austin. i do not mind growth and change but today's Austin does not work for me.

i am glad that someone is doing this website.

How about the split rail on wednesday nights when butch hancock played. this was the mid to late 1970s. bobbie and martin ran the place. there was a lot of diversity among the audience: hippies, conservatives, bikers, radicals, we all danced together and sat together and had a great time

Some things, thankfully, never change. Mike's Pub has resisted change for about 40 years. Way back when downtown was strictly for day-time inhabitants (well before 6th Street as we know it), Mike's was in that building that looks like a parking garage, up those stairs that seem to lead to nowhere good and serving up cold beer and burgers. None of that has changed. In fact, Mike's still seems like it's known to a small group of Austin cognoscenti... just like in the old days.

You can go in for a beer that's served in the same fishbowl glass as Jake's. You can review the strata of calendars, funny beer company swag, the old-school bar equipment, etc., that only come with years of accumulation in an Austin bar.

Most importantly, you can squint your eyes and see the way things used to be.

Ray Henning's HoT Music... a more mystical place may not exist for the Austin music lover. Consider this. Ray has been central to the Austin music scene since well before anyone knew there was one. I know a member of an Austin 50's doo-wop group (The Slades, compadres of Ray Campi) that remembers Ray running HoT music even back then. Ray gave the starving, strugging, Stevie Vaughn a guitar from the "used" bin that SRV went on to make his career upon. HoT music directly supports road shows and all Austin music festivals with equipment rentals, loaners, whatever. Ray help define Austin as a Guitar Town well before the the marketing guys woke up to it.

Musicians have come and gone in this town but one of the men behind the scenes, who made the music possible more than most, was always Ray Henning.

(thanks Rusty!)

Note: Ray doesn't seem to have a website and a lot of folks end up here after searching for him. Here is his information from the phone book:

Heart Of Texas Music
1002 S Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 444-9750
(800) 856-1313

Hours of Operation: Mon-Fri 9:30am-6:30pm, Sat 9:30am-6pm
Payment Methods: AMEX, DISCOVER, MASTER CARD and VISA

Ray Henning & Family - A Texas Tradition Since 1961