Serendipity- and Bob Livingston Returns

If you hung out around Navasota a few years ago, you will remember a little place called Serendipity’s. Later Phil Heibeler, the owner sold the business and then got it back, and re-invented it and renamed it The Corner Café. Phil’s new vision was a café with Live music, and he featured about two years of excellent Friday evening mini-concerts he called a singer-songwriter series. I actually began this blog to try to help him promote the music scene here in Navasota, the “Blues Capital of Texas.” Every Friday night I was there at the Corner Café photographing and staying up very late writing the blogs while they were fresh on my mind.

In the process some of the musicians enjoyed my comments and used them on their websites. My photos went all over the Internet, and Phil had me blow some up and put them on his café walls. They looked good there, and I felt real cool coming in the place and feeling the art and the fun and the live music even when it was not there. Then Phil went out of business again, and left for greener pastures. He sold me the big enlarged photos I had made for his cafe, and suddenly I had these huge cumbersome things all over my studio. I’m talking 30” x 40” canvases of George Ensle, David Lutes, Susan Herndon, Bob Livingston and Brian Ashley Jones.

These folks are not exactly huge stars, but they are in my universe. Still, I was not sure what needed to happen to them, I just did not want them to leave Navasota, like the rest of our music history.

Anyway, all that to say that one of the big plans was to have each of the artists back some day and they could sign their canvases. You know, with one of those big gold pens. Of course other than one of them, that never happened. Now fast-forward a couple of years.

Sunday I was keeping the store at Blues Alley, something I rarely do any more, and had an average day and was about to close when two dudes strolled in. They arrived all smiles and commenting what a great town Navasota seemed to be… one of the prettiest towns in “East Texas” one of them offered. This identified them as Austinites. Everyone around here knows we are in CENTRAL TEXAS.  OK, we are on the edge... of three distinct geographical regions... Still, I had to agree that Navasota is one of the prettiest towns around... I bragged a little and tried to sell them a cheap guitar...

One of them asked about the Corner Café.  I shared the tragic loss of the wonderful little music venue we enjoyed for several years. And then one of them said, almost under his breath that he had performed there. I pondered that, for I had seen most of the shows. 

Bob Livingston

The only one of the performers he could have been was Bob Livingston, but Bob is taller, younger and clean shaven.

Bob Livingston is sort of a living piece of Texas music history, a Texas songwriter, once a member of the Lost Gonzo Band and running the roads with Michael Martin Murphy, Gary P. Nunn and other Texas Music Legends. This guy was no Bob Livingston. “You say you played at the Corner Café? What is your name?”

“Bob Livingston.”

Well you can imagine that, after insulting him mercilessly, I adapted quickly and invited Bob Livingston up to my studio to see my collection of Texas musicians… and he graciously offered to sign my canvas of his former countenance. It was a great mini-moment… One of the long Lost Gonzos had been found, right in my studio! Felt kinda like Neil Armstrong when he first stepped on the Moon. He even posed for a picture.

Songwriter and world traveler Bob Livingston poses with his obsolete portrait. I urged him to keep the beard. I was hoping he would give me the hat. I'm pretty sure he is thinking... "What a moron!"

And I had not been scheduled to keep the store like that, in YEARS. So Phil, that’s two down… three to go. Thanks to... your serendipity. 

This might take a while, but I‘m thinkin’ we gotta GO FOR IT!

The Navasota String Band brings bluegrass to the Blues Capital of Texas...WHA?

Navasota Blues Alley teamed up with the Filling Station to sponsor a great line-up of live music on March 9th, and a pretty decent crowd showed up considering the awful weather. Our own Blues Alley Cats opened for the Navasota String Band, which ironically is from Austin. It was a great show and we hope to see both of these bands again… and again… The Cats are maturing rapidly into a very respectable blues cover band, and offered up some sterling versions of She Caught the Katy, Pride and Joy, Little Wing, and much, much more. This band is ready for the road!

The Blues Alley Cats are cookin' with Jet Fuel!

The Navasota String Band is four young men who melt into a bluegrass locomotive the instant they start to play, making one formidable explosion of musical testosterone. They play… with one voice. One powerful voice. Serving up some bluegrass classics and some of their own that ought to be, the band took their name from… the street in Austin where they meet to practice. Our Mayor, Bert Miller, contacted them and invited them to come- and let us decide whether we like them using our name… Not really, but actually, they are quite worthy.

The Navasota String Band... has a friendly, youthful charm, but don't let that fool you.

These guys are not just good, they are fun and energetic and irresistible. And their tight driving sound contradicts their naive appearance. The lead singer has that Mick Jagger intensity, and commands their delicious assault like a young buck in the rut. You know, that eager young buck that trots under your deer stand, eats the grain, dodges your bullet and gets the doe, while you are watching in awe. Such youth and finesse and passion are rare, so we expect big things from this fledgling group.

Hopefully we can bring them back before they get invited for a national tour. But this kind of excellence cannot be contained. Thanks to the mayor for finding them, and bringing them to our humble city… hopefully they found that we are worthy to wear their name!

Navasota Mayor Bert Miller, in the middle, is often the will behind the way as Navasota builds its live music reputation.

Box o' Chocolates yummier than ever!

Texas Blues History! Luther Moore finally bought his own resonator! But it was still in transit, somewhere in Kentucky...

We call our informal jam session at Blues Alley the "Box o' Chocolates." Just like the famous line in the movie Forrest Gump: "Life's like a box of chocolates because you never know what you're gonna get!"

Over the past year it has become a family... our local music family. Like families, this group of indivivuals have an unexplainable need to get together, knowing full well that the gathering often serves to highlight our differences. Still, the sense of belonging, of joining in the making of musical magic is irresisitible. Friday night the music was especially nice, when the Jacob Austin Band showed up and injected a strong bluegrass sound to our blues-rock foundation. Jacob just listened and when it was his turn, found blues in his bones, just like he knew what he was doing. It was sure fun to watch, and his sweet mandolyn sure spiced up the evening.

The family harmony of the Jacob Austin Band

Our "Sister" Misslette and "Uncle Smokey" had to miss because of a gig at Field's Store, but Chris Puente came and played his soulful American roots songs, and Luther Moore made everything feel like blues with Jenny's resonator.

Chris Puente

Jenny played, and our two jam-anchors George Ward and Jett McFalls were back between gigs, adding to the magic, which went down like a chocolate covered cherry.

George Ward can flat fingerpick that Fender!

a simple jam session on Friday nights...

You never know what your wants and whims might lead to, and that is probably a good thing.

We began to jam months ago with no more agenda than to have a good time and let there be music, every week, in Navasota. These pictures convey some of the fun... and show some folks that will be featured artists on August 11th.

This jam session at Blues Alley is the incubator that is about to hatch a big egg downtown... called the Blues Capital Revue!

Comanches Come to Trade at Blues Alley

OK, so I have a great life... Sometimes my wife really needles me. While she toils in the schools with the stubborn and the learning disabled, and yes, ocassionally even with some school children... :) I am galavanting off on another wonderful adventure.. and sometimes they come to me...

Tuesday two Comanches from Oklahoma came and gave a presentation... Tim Nevaquaya played his native-made flutes and showed his striking paintings, and Eleanor McDaniel sang original Comanche hymns. They both had CDs to sell and other nice things... which a small but mesmerized group enthusiastically received.

Years ago, when I was young and crazy about things Comanche, I took Linda up to Oklahoma on our belated honeymoon, (it was good for me!) to see the place where Quanah Parker, the last Comanche chief to surrender, spent his last days after being removed from Texas. Half White and half Red, Quanah was not only the most feared Indian on the southern plains, but he became a prominent District Court Judge in the Indian Territory; Perhaps the only man in American History to find success and dominance in these two completely different cultures. I spent several years exploring and painting him and Comancheria, until eventually my mentors suggested focusing on my own cultural roots. But before the love affair was over, I had painted the great Comanche chief numerous times.

Lo and behold, in walk these two into Blues Alley, reminding me of this long lost passion. Amazingly, I had met Eleanor's brother back then while at an art exhibit in Oklahoma City, and even more amazingly, I remembered his name... He had met me and liked my work and invited me up to see a peyote ceremony firsthand... even as I was being directed down a different artistic path. I never saw him again.

And then the icing on the cake... they not only knew my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but sought to serve and glorify Him in their endeavors. Eleanor proudly served her Country in the U. S. Army, and has been especially honored by her people,(they call themselves the Nermernuh) as she is allowed to dance the Warriors Dance with the Comanche warriors, most of whom are men. She and Tim showed us the official Flag of the Comanche Nation. I hazard to guess that this is one of very few appearances here of this fierce amd legendary tribe since they raided Grimes County in 1840.

A big fat tear filled my eye as she sang with such beauty and dignity to her Lord, my Lord, the Lord of Lords, who so graciously won her heart, and in time, arranged to bring her and Tim to us, on this memorable day.

Oh yea, and Tim left some of his work to show and sell in Blues Alley! Way cool!

Navasota High School, 1914

It seems on days too numerous to mention, things have had amazing serendipity at Blues Alley. The "coincidences" surrounding my multi-faceted contact with Tary Owens are a good example. And then, while writing the previous blog about Kathleen Blackshear, even more of the same...

It all started when I got frustrated with Wikipedia. They erased my erasures, and put back very undesirable things in an article gone bad, due to relentless hacking, which I have more than a casual interest in. So I decided to get into the whole Wikipedia thing, to better understand it. I spent a whole day writing and rewriting a new article, just for Wikipedia. I chose to write about Kathleen Blackshear, as she has been neglected and is not found in this, the most popular of Internet encyclopedias. I had found a bunch about her on the Internet and in a book that I had... but I needed more... something deeper.

About 3:00 that Sunday afternoon, as I furiously pecked away with my two forefingers, Leon Collins walked in with something to sell... very rare and amazingly appropriate: a 1914 Navasota High School Annual, in those days called the Sachem.

I acted uninterested, as Bert began to look at it and read aloud. "Illustrated by KATHLEEN BLACKSHEAR! Art Editor..." She did the cover, the illustrations inside... there were quotes inside by her classmates about her. The price was going up. Leon knew it was something special. I was marginally aware of him, told him I was busy, to come back when I was through with the article.

He came back about thirty minutes later, hoping I was ready to deal. I was finishing the additions to my article, which I had just conveniently gotten from the old tattered annual. It was time to deal. Our eyes had just made contact when a woman bounded into the store, "My husband is looking for anything done by Kathleen Blackshear." Our eyes made contact again.

"Now Leon, you need to either..." Leon stopped me and reassured me the annual was mine. "This is your store..." He smiled and shrugged as we then turned our attention to the couple, looking passionately for a Blackshear piece, staring at the annual, wanting an original painting and hoping we knew of one for sale. We talked about the artist, the scarcity of her work, and gave a phone number of her living relatives.

This kind of thing happens about two or three times a year. But this time I was not only writing an article about her, but Leon had found our first actual Kathleen Blackshear artifact for our museum, just in time for my article, and brought it in minutes before these folks arrived. They looked upon the old annual with true interest. Hey, at least it was something tangible. I was more convinced than ever that the old book needed to be here on display at Blues Alley from now on, so others can come bounding in and see bits of our special heritage, and keep the legends of Navasota alive. And at least on February 20, 2011, Kathleen Blackshear was not forgotten, but as much the topic of conversation as if she were still about town.

Sadly, as then, most people in Navasota today have no idea who she was.

And the Wikipedia article? It was rejected and deleted swiftly, that very day, by a volunteer "deletionist" who gave little hope of it ever being used. That story is not over.

Caught up in the moment, with people breathing down my neck as I tried to negotiate with Leon, I'm sure I paid a little too much for "The Sachem." But, Hey, these pictures and this story were worth something...

The two Navasota beauties? Marie Danford and Melba Camp.

A Golden Evening...

It may have been one of the sweetest, most memorable evenings to date, for us at Blues Alley... a simple jam session...

We invited local artists that had expressed interest, a need for such a time to learn and share. Nearly everybody showed up. Even some professional musicians that found out about it. Mislettie led the session, and did a good job. Dennis Germenis on the drums, Thanks Dennis! Chris Puente brought his banjo, The Armstrongs brought a stand up bass, mandolin, and there were several acoustic guitars, even harmonicas.

William brought his electric guitar which I made him turn all the way down... and then I insisted he TURN IT UP! Then, literally bloody fingered, he took a break and Randy Pavlock! stepped in... and generously, humbly, contributed his talents. He even did a few songs at the drums. Rock veteran Sam Mursky sat outside, and unfortunately never got to join us. Maybe next time Sam! It was the most giving atmosphere imaginable, as country, bluegrass, folk and rock musicians shared the floor. Everybody got to play that wanted to.

And a very decent crowd crammed into the room to soak up a delicious and rare exhibition of Navasota's great and diverse musical talent. Needless to say, we're gonna do this again, real soon.

More on Blues Alley...

Hey Cindy! Here are some shots of our display window... which is also part of the blues museum section.

We are open Wednesday through Sunday, hours are unpredictable for now... probably best not to try us first thing in the morning... I'm almost always there, but have to step out sometimes... My cashier usually shows up around 10:30 or 11:00, sometimes earlier, and we stay open until five or six, or whenever people quit coming in.

Eventually we hope to be open more regularly, and every day. It's crazy right now, as we are planning a big mixer on the 26th, and a Mance Lipscomb birthday celebration on April 10th. So far reactions are very positive!