Note really an old Austin thing but surely a Weird Austin Thing - The Lake Austin River Raft Race. This event was actually quite the center of attention in its day and had everyone thinking about how to enter. Quite a bit of beer was consumed during the

• Conception
• Planning
• Construction
• Floating

I haven't been there in over ten years, and I don't even know if it's still open, or a McMansion has been built in it's place. Out on Mount Bonnell Road . . . you walk in, can buy a pickled egg out of a jar on the counter (they floated around in an ominous green liquid), then get your longneck beer and head to the deck upstairs. The old woman who owned the place would always yell at you, "Bring your damn bottles back down here when you're through with them!" Best sunsets in Austin, better than the Oasis, because it was just you and a few other people up there watching.

Back in college, starting in 1979, I remember old Bicycle Annie. By that time, she had given up her (three wheeled) bike, and would move slowly around on crutches. She moves so slowly that, you'd see her at one end of The Drag on your way to class, and when you were returning from class, she had finally made her way about six blocks toward the other end of The Drag.

One time, I made the mistake of trying to open the door for her at the Whataburger on The Drag. She screamed at me that, in no uncertain terms, would she accept no help from anybody. I cringed and slunk away like a beat puppy.

Man, she was old. I wonder how much longer she lived or who she really was.

Probably the last time I got to see Willie Nelson live would have been at an event held somewhere out near Lake Travis (at least I think it was - time erodes memories...)

It was an all afternoon and evening event called "The Last Bash on the Hill", and featured all sorts of bands in an outdoor setting. it was an ampitheatre sort of hill, with the stage at the bottom so just about everyone (and their dog - there were lots of those, too) could see and hear easily.

Willie came on just about sunset, doing his ever polished set. And about that time, the full moon rose from behind him! It was fantastic.

I missed one chance to hear Willie here in New Zealand back in the 70s, but nothing since. I can't help but think I got one of the best performances ever that night back outside of Austin.

And then walked back afterward to find that my truck, like the vehicles of many, many other people - had been *towed* for parking something like 3" onto the pavement of the road. Bugger...

Several years ago, I corresponded briefly with Robert Burns, after seeing that he had copies of old Austin posters, and I mentioned that I remembered one very well.

Robert was the art director, I think it was, for the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie, back in 1973 or so. I need to do another posting about the house for that on its own!

Anyway, the poster that Robert had was of a concert held on the baseball field just as UT was starting up again for the year. I say Sept 1970, but could have been 1971?

Anyway, the lineup for the day was:

The Allman Brothers
Leon Russell
It's A Beautiful Day
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (I don't remember them, but that was common for the time...)

It was a *fantastic* day of music, for sure.

While I was writing this up, I came across the following quote from Willis Alan Ramsey that relates to that concert (from http://www.willisalanramsey.com/content/Riverfront-times-review-2000-11-09.htm)

"Willis Alan Ramsey, his one and only album, at once captures that intimate milieu of folk songs and stories, then leaps well ahead of its time, owing in part to Ramsey's idiosyncratic tastes and a fortuitous encounter with Leon Russell. "I was booked into a motel called the Villa Capri in Texas, and staying at that hotel were the Allman Brothers, Leon Russell, It's a Beautiful Day and Pacific Gas & Electric. I saw their show and made it a point to knock on their doors. Leon was nice and receptive, and I was kind of cocky at that point. I thought I was writing some tunes that he should hear. Leon told me to break out my guitar. He and his road manager listened and gave me their numbers in California.

"They said I should come see them. Greg Allman and Dickey Betts were really nice as well. They invited me to come down and see them in Macon. This was right before the Allman Brothers took off. So I went to see all of them. Greg recorded a demo on me, and then I went out to see Leon, and he made a demo on me. Leon said, "I'm getting ready to tour. If you like, you can stay in my house and record in my studio at night.' That pretty much sold me! It all happened quickly. I was pretty confident in what I was doing, and suddenly I was over my head. I went from playing college coffeehouses and then I'm in Leon Russell's home studio and people like George Harrison are coming over. It was a completely different environment."

Austin was the birthplace of a musical genre that really deserves more attention. During the early 70's, the vibrant Texas rock scene had broken down and moved on. Big name (aka Big Business) acts dominated the music scene. As it always does, Austin responded by reinventing many of the rules and established notions and created the Cosmic Cowboys.

The true leaders of this movement never got the public credit they deserve but are usually cited as major influences by those that did make it big. My favorites are:

Willis Alan Ramsey - huge Austin influence. When you hear early Lyle, your hearing Willis

Michael Murphy - prior to his Michael Martin Murphy, horse riding cowboy days, Murphy kicked around Austin and produced what still could be an anthem for the town: "Alleys of Austin" Anyone have the lyrics? Update! I found them... see below.

B.W. "Buckwheat" Stevenson - Everyone has heard his "My Maria"

It's interesting to note that those three performers all came from Dallas from around the same period of time. South Dallas has produced quite a list of musical pioneers, SRV notwithstanding. Update: Here's a good listing of Oak Cliff notables. Anyone here heard of the "Oak Cliff 'Oh'"?

Not on my list are big names like Willie or Jerry Jeff. I think that the Cosmic Cowboy theme was already going when these guys showed up. I'm not saying that they didn't make great contribution... they just owe a debt to Austin and the true pioneers.

Alleys of Austin
(Michael Martin Murphey)

Out in the alleys of Austin,
There's a song on the side of the wall,
The bricks and the bottles and the mongrels
Are trying to make sense out of it all,
and the moon looks all too familiar--
The kids say "There ain't no man in there";
While the laid back baboon
By the light of the Texas moon
Is combing his auburn hair.
He's just combing his auburn hair.

I'm not sure if it is still functional, but the Austin Free Clinic started in a church hall, I think it was, to the west of the UT campus. I do think it moved a few times, but I remember it down in a basement area of small partitioned off rooms.

The clinic provided a really necessary service back in those days, and did it with a sense of purpose and non-judgemental care.

Pat Larkin worked there, I remember, a well-known character of the Austin housing co-op scene among other things in those days. I've often wondered where Pat ended up - he was a very straightforward (almost said straight - not the same thing in the context of those days...) and genuine sort of guy.

It must have been sometimes pretty frustrating work, with the transient population, the exotic drug use and the health issues brought about through little care for hygiene. I'll pay a long overdue vote of thanks to the people who started the clinic back then!

In the late 1960s students had a deferment from being drafted and sent to Vietnam. But if you quit school or whatever, you were open to being called up...

That all changed on 1 December 1969, with the first of the lotteries that drew out the dates of the year - and the order that they were drawn was the order that you'd get called up, regardless... As a student, you could finish the current semester, or the end of the school year if you were a senior.

I wasn't included in the first draw - that covered guys born before 1951. My draw came up the next year...

With a group of others, I walked to some place on what was then 19th Street (now Martin Luther King), somewhere near the top of the hill that goes down toward Lamar Blvd, to read the results in the window of some sort of news place.

Me? I got a high number - but it was a sad day for many others with smaller numbers. I remember some guys on the South Mall with tee shirts with their numbers written/printed on them...

Sometimes it really was just the luck of the draw...

Somewhere up past 24th Street on the Drag as some sort of big roadside sign, on the west side of the road, and somehow I think there may have been a pizza place nearby? Anyway, this sign was held by a massive steel 'H' beam, big enough to back into and almost be completely hidden.

And someone, probably many of us, discovered what an amazing sound it made if you backed up into that way, then kicked backward with your heel! It must have been something to do with the height and size and harmonics or who knows what - but everyone agreed that the correct description of the sound it made was "twerbling"...

I'm sure it must have driven the local shops mad, with loud and rowdy groups of drugged out hippies, walking up to the sign at all hours of the day and night, kicking it and laughing...

Update! Zanthan was there...

Austin has always struggled for a mainstream Christmas tradition... the Zilker Tree, the Trail of lights, Congress Ave. lights. However, there has also always been a counter-culture season tradition as well.

- Take, for example, the (now!) well known "Hippie Christmas" on 37th street. Started off weird-as-you-please but it didn't take long for the Westlake set to start cruising through in Explorers with the windows rolled up.

- When was the first time that you saw a wild cedar tree on the side of the road in full Christmas decoration? Pretty common now.

- Before the Continental Club went legit, you could always count on them being there AND open.

- Christmas Tamales and Tamaladas: one of many Tejano traditions that I first experienced in Austin. Remember when they called it "Austin style Mexican food"?

- The town getting empty. Remember when the UT students leaving town made a significant dent in the population? Suddenly, everything was empty and the folks remaining had the bond of true Austin kinship.

All is not lost. I hear that there is a very healthy chapter of the Santa Rampage here in town. Good for them.