2 • Action Magazine, July 2018

• 2 • Action Magazine, July 2018

Road trip to Nashvill ................................4

Blue Star Brewing....................................7

Sam Kindrick ..........................................6

Scatter Shots ........................................11

Music Matters ......................................12

• DEPARTMENTS •

• FEATURE •

Editor & Publisher ................Sam KindrickAdvertising Sales ....................Action Staff..........................................Amy Heller ReifPhotography.............................Action StaffDistribution............................Ronnie ReedComposition..........................Elise Taquino

Volume 43 • Number 7

Action Magazine, July 2018 • 3 •

advertising is worthless if you have nothing worth advertisingPut your money where the music is. . .

Advertise in Action Magazine

By Jim Chesnut I recently took a 2,200-mile-roundtrip road trip toNashville to pitch somesongs and visit colleaguesand family. It was emotion-ally draining at times duepartially to my recent can-

cer encounter. In the con-text of my own recent jour-ney, reliving cherishedmemories of friends andassociates who have diedis challenging. It has been almost 40years since I signed my

first publishing deal withindustry giant Acuff-RoseMusic Publishing, Inc., thefirst country music pub-lishing company. During my Nashvillestay, I had coffee withfamed record producer

Ray Baker who was vice-president of the companyat the time, and we talkeda lot about the way thingswere then and the waythey are now. Ray produced the sec-ond of my two Nashville

albums, Show Me a Sign,which set up my first oftwo Billboard Top-40 coun-try singles, Let’s Take theTime to Fall in Love Again.It was a time (the mid-70s)when a 32-year-old Mid-land, Texas, kid like mecould walk through opendoors on Music Row andplay his songs for industryinsiders. When Ray Baker andWesley Rose signed meto Acuff-Rose Music in1976, the company had27 songs in BillboardMagazine’s Top-100 coun-try singles chart, as I re-call. That’s 27 percent,folks. When I left the com-pany at the end of myrecording contract in1979, it had one in thechart, and it was Let’sTake the Time . . . . None of us knew it atthe time, but that was thebeginning of a major tran-sition from the talent-seek-ing Nashville I knew towhat it has become today.

Gone are the days ofAcuff-Rose Music andTree International Music,two giants that facilitatedthe songwriting and per-forming careers of folkslike Hank Williams, RoyOrbison, Mickey Newbury,The Everly Brothers andDon Gibson. In fact, Tree was thelast major Nashville-owned publishing com-pany to be purchased by acorporate entity for a re-ported $30 million.Sony/ATV now owns thecatalogs of both Acuff-Rose Music and Tree In-ternational. The Acuff-Rose build-ing is still in use as a satel-lite campus of aBrentwood, Tennesseechurch. It has been refur-bished, but its Acuff-Rosehistory has been pre-served to some extent inthe lobby and elsewherein the building. I attendedthe 9:30 a.m. service on


Continued on pg. 14

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Some are jokingly calling it the “New AgeChainsaw Massacre.”

The flood of comments came after I whackedmyself with a saw.

Incredible, I believe, has been the responsesince I posted some photos of my wound on Facebook.

When personal comment posts passed the 300mark I stopped trying to count the number of folks wish-ing me well, many of them musician and entertainmentworld personalities I have known through the years--Linda and Johnny Bush, Lisa Morales of the SistersMorales duo, Willie Nelson ex-wife Connie Nelson, Dar-rell and Mona McCall, Carol Meyers, Sylvia Kirk, andAlycia Ambroziak, my Canadian writer friend who oncecovered the early-day Nelson July 4 picnics for the Mon-treal Star. And on and on.

It was the chainsaw debacle, an ignominiousevent that saw me whack a 7-stitch gash into my leftupper ankle and leg with an Echo brand chainsaw.

I called it right when it happened, a chroniccase of dumbfuckitis, for I am no stranger in life’s galleryof simpletons geared for self-torture. As if I don’t bearthe scars to prove it, some still recall the history.

Didn’t I leave the hospital too soon after an ap-pendectomy many years ago? And didn’t I subse-quently bleed through my suit and onto the floor ofPorter Loring Mortuary while trying to conduct a funeralfor nightclub bouncer Cotton Stout?

And wasn’t it me who set myself on fire with a5-gallon can of gasoline back in the early 1980s? Talkabout ignorance-fuelled drama. With hair and eyebrowssinged down to my bare hide, and with skin puckeringwith third-degree burns on both shins, wasn’t that mewho walked like a crispy critter from a Three Stoogescomedy right into the Bexar County Hospital emergencyroom, smoke still curling from my shirt?

I will never forget the welcome I got from theE.R. receptionist:

“Have a seat, sir, someone will be with you mo-mentarily.”

“I’m on fire lady,” I must have screamed. “Youcan smell the smoke. It’s me burning.”

I can’t plead ignorance or inexperience in thiscurrent case, for I am no stranger to the chainsaw. I ownthree of them, two Echos and a giant Stihl, plus a 30-ton Northern Tool Equipment log splitter, Dremel tool

chain sharpening attachments, and a Northern chainsharpening jig to boot.

Cutting cord wood to heat the house has foryears been one of my favorite things to do. I am clearon what happened and why.

First off, weather conditions were not conduciveto wood cutting. I usually do this work in the early andlate fall months. The temperature was hovering near100, and I was in a hurry to finish the job.

Secondly, this. My retired school teacher wifehas long said I suffer from ADHD (attention deficit hy-peractivity disorder). She may be right, but I call it HUAS(head up ass syndrome).

Finally, I must emphasize the importance ofwood cutting in the proper attire. You don’t run a chain-saw or any other heavy equipment wearing tennisshoes and short britches. Echoing the “dumbfuck” des-ignation is my friend Matt B. of Clean Cut ChainsawServices in Boerne, a tree removal expert who uses thebig saws on almost a daily basis.

“My chainsaw wounds have been minimal,” hesaid, “mainly because I have always worn the propersafety gear. High boots are a must. The boots have pre-vented me suffering numerous bad leg lacerations. Al-ways wear your boots.”

At high noon on June 10, a Sunday, I parkedmy brain in the shade, cranked up my smallest saw, anEcho, and walked out in blinding sun wearing T-shirt,short britches, and a pair of perfectly good New Balancerunning shoes to do what I intended to be a little lighttrimming on some cord wood I had already cut.

With the saw still running in my right hand, Istooped over to pick up a chunk of wood. That’s whenthe bar tip caught my left sock, and that was it. The run-ning chain teeth were pulled directly into my unexposedleg.

Blood spurted out of the wound, and it was fill-ing my shoe when I managed to find a piece of cottonrope in my tool shed for a tourniquet. Yeah, a tourniquet.That’s what I saw them do once in a movie. So I tied offthe gash.

I yelled at Sharon, my 5-foot wife. She saw meheaded for the truck.

“Are you going some place?” she asked.“We are going to the Baptist Hospital emergency

room off of Stone Oak,” I replied. “And you are driving.”

The rest is history. They staunched the bloodflow and sutured the wound.

I began to reflect on some of my dumbest ca-pers while Sharon drove us home. And my mind hungup on my emergency appendectomy at Bexar CountyHospital which was performed in the late 1970s by ayoung surgeon in residency who answered to Dr. Rod-ney Yoshida.

This incident, I believe, defines me well. A few days after the surgery, I was in the down-

town Porter Loring Mortuary to preside over nightclubbouncer Cotton Stout’s funeral. Stout and I had becomefriends after the two of us participated in a rather un-couth combative physical engagement in the old Squir-rel Cage Club on Austin Highway. When Cotton wasdying from cancer he asked me to preside over his fu-neral. He rejected the idea of a conventional preacher.

I will never forget the day. As I finished my talkover Cotton’s coffin, my appendicitis stitches broke.Blood soaked through my suit coat and someone droveme back to the hospital.

“What the hell happened?” Dr.Yoshida yelled.I told him and he was all but apoplectic with

fury. “You what?” he screamed. “You preached a fu-

neral only days after surgery? You never told me youwere a preacher.”

“I’m not,” I said. “I can explain.”The young doctor didn’t want my demise on his

record. Preacher or no preacher.“You told me I could do anything I felt like

doing,” I reminded him. “And I felt like preaching a fu-neral.”

Yodhida replaced my broken stitches andslumped into a chair. I will never forget what he told me.

Without one trace of a smile or one twitch ofgood humor on his face, Dr. Rodney Yoshida said: “Youare one of my very first surgery patients, and it is peoplelike you who make me seriously wonder if I made theright decision when I entered the medical profession.”

It seems like things have been this way a lot forme. And I was thinking, too, about the perfectly goodNew Balance sneaker that was ruined for no good rea-son when the saw sliced my leg.

When Joey Villarrealjoined the Air Force, heentertained visions of be-coming an astronaut. “The astronaut thingnever worked out,” saysVillarreal. “But I have morethan enough to keep mebusy now.” Villarreal first attendedThe University of Texas atSan Antonnio where hemajored in biology. Thenhe entered the Air Force,never dreaming he wouldeventually become a SanAntonio craft beer baronwith major downtownmusic club and restaurantvenues in a riverwalk com-plex which has become anestablished tourist desti-nation. So welcome to BlueStar Brewing Companyand the Villarreal enter-prises. There are pubsand clubs, a restaurant, avenerable St. Mary’sStreet tavern, a groceryconvenience store, and abicycle shop which is astone’s throw from theSan Antonio River banks. Joey Villarreal and hiswife Magdalena (aka Mag-gie) are well known andwell thought of by literallythousands of both localsand tourists who frequentthe holdings. With a total of some 50employees who work inthe multi-faceted opera-tion, the Villarreals arepersonable, hands-onowners who are loved byboth employees and cus-tomers alike. Maggie Villarreal is anattractive and ebullient ballof energy who connectsinstantly with people, andsince the Villarreals haveno children, she has longbeen at Blue Star Brewingalmost daily with her hus-band, a quiet type with anengaging smile. “I do the books andanything else that I canhandle,” Maggie said.“Joey and I work together.We got married in 1995.” It all started in Novem-

ber of 1988 when Villar-real opened Joey’s neigh-borhood tavern on the St.Mary’s Strip. He doesn’tfeature regular live bandsat Joey’s, but live musicwill be featured in Novem-ber when Joey’s cele-brates its 30th anniversaryin business. “I was looking forsomething to do,” Villarrealrecalls. “I had been help-ing Albert Orosco with hisPatio Bar and Grill andworking in my dad’s tortillafactory when the St.Mary’s Street space be-came available. I guess Iwanted a bar of my own. Ijumped on it and startedbartending myself. I wasworking the outside barwhen I met Maggie.” Recognizing the vastpotential of San Antonio’shistory-rich interior, Villar-real opened the Blue StarBrewing Company in1996. It is located at thebeginning of the MissionReach, a major bikefriendly and pedestrianfriendly thoroughfare tothe city’s cultural and his-torical features that runalong the San AntonioRiver. In defining what theBlue Star website lists asThe Pub, the promo mate-rial says, This eclecticcraft brewery and restau-rant is a central wateringhole and activity hub forlocals and hundreds ofthousands of visitors eachyear. The craft beer madeon premise, and elevatedpub food, are served sixdays a week using freshand locally raised andgrown ingredients. Maggie Villarreal said,“It is very important tonote that our beer isbrewed with nothing butorganic ingredients.” The website messagecontinues: The Villarreals havefostered a strong bondwith their community, ele-vating their classic pubdishes through an alliance

with local farmers. Thefood is made with qualityingredients prepared sim-ply. Blue Star BrewingCompany features weeklylive bands and other en-tertainment which in-cludes a Spurs shuttle,group bicycle rides andother entertainment. The brewery and pubinclude restaurant, brew-ing tanks, and a banquethall area which offersspace for parties, busi-ness functions, andweekly jazz shows by SanAntonio’s top jazz musi-cians. Separate from thebrewery and pub/restau-rant is the adjacent livemusic venue Joe Blues,

where live blues music isoffered on Mondays, anda singer/songwriter show-case is featured everyThursday. The pub jazz shows onTuesdays include the fol-lowing bands: First Tuesday: TheCrimson Jazz Orchestraled by George Briscoe. Second Tuesday: TheRiver City Big Band, ledby baritone saxophonistMD Merritt (Murph) Davis. Third Tueday: The SanAntonio Jazz Orchestra,co-led by George De-Rocher, Rick Horn, andDale Schultz. Fourth Tuesday: ThePrimetime Jazz Orches-tra, led by saxophonistand world traveler John

Magaldi. Fifth Tuesday (whenthere is a 5th): The Lamp-lighters directed by DavidHoeft. In the adjacent JoeBlues club, which Villar-real opened in 2007, theblistering blues guitar ofWill Owen Gage is beingfeatured each Mondaywith Gage starting at 8p.m. and continuing until10 p.m. The 30-year-old guitarphenom was featured onthe June cover of ActionMagazine, and venueowner Villarreal said theresponse was imprssive. The singer/songwriterThursdays feature a widevariety of talent, rangingfrom the immensely popu-

lar Michael Martin to fa-vorites like Josh Glenn,Sarah Centeno, JimmyWilden, Mike Ryan, andothers. Joey Villarreal takesgreat pride in the honorpaid his Joe Blues pubwhen world-renown bigband leader Doc Severin-sen chose the facility for arehearsal. “Many of the older fansknow Doc Severinsenfrom the Johnny Carsonshow,” Joey said. “He wasjust fantastic. Ninety-seven years old and stillgoing strong .” Joey noted that the JoeBlues singer/songwriterperformers are scheduledby club management.

Joey and Maggie Villarreal have created a unique local destination point.


Continued on pg. 13

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Big things are happeningthis summer at Tex Pop. Director Ruby Garzahas added a new art di-rector, and Bell Solloa isbringing her popular HighVoltage Music Program tothe South Texas Museumof Texas Culture (TexPop). The new art coordina-tor is Jarvis Quarterman,a 10-year employee atPlanet K, the official spon-sor of Tex Pop. Quarterman replacesApril Dawn Ceja as art co-ordinator. Of the new art director,Ruby Garza said: “Jarvisand I have worked side-by-side for many yearsand have done Planet K’sevent coordinating to-gether. He has a fantasticbackground in the artsand was already involvedin various projects. He hasa great deal of contacts aswell and I am super ex-

cited to have him here.” The upcoming HighVoltage Music Program isa first for Tex Pop withworkshops scheduled forevery Tuesday and Thurs-

day through the month ofJuly. The sessions runfrom noon until 4 p.m. Bell Solloa (aka BellStar) was the single par-ent of a Southside HighSchool student when shestarted her High VoltageMusic Program in Sep-tember of 2016. Upon realizing that theschool had no music

classes, Solloa did someresearch befor gainingpermission from theschool principal to takeboth instruments and in-structors to the school formusic classes. The result has beenphenomenal. High Voltage startedwith electric guitarclasses, and by the sec-ond semester was invitedto bring in a second classwhich was accoustic gui-tar. Solloa said, “The pro-gram has expanded withinthe campus, and now hasboth electric and acousticguitar classes as well as aband class on Tuesdaysand Thursdays. Bell says High Voltagenow hosts over 20 freeworkshops year around,primarily during holidaysand in the summer. TheTex Pop workshops willteach the fundamentals of

both electric and acousticguitar, bass, drums, vo-cals, songwriting, andeven DJ work. Bell Solloa started it allfor one simple reason. Be-cause there are kids outthere who can afford noth-ing else, and High Voltageis free. “An important factor tomaking HVMP a success,”Solloa say, “is having no

cost classes which allowteens a chance to learn toplay without any financialburden in an area of thecity which has no musicstores, music lessons, oracademies. This wasstarted primarily to helpstudents who can affordno instructions or instru-ments.” Solloa added: “Since itsinception, High Voltage

has received a grant fromRackspace, as well as in-struments awarded by theCharitable Foundation atGuitar Center. We havealso received supportfrom Robot Monster Gui-tars and private dona-tions.” Solloa said Tex Pop isproviding an off-campustraining site with room toinvite up to 12 studentsper workshop.


Tex Pop director Ruby Garza and new art coordinatorJarvis Quarterman.

Saldana theft The giant loss of bur-glarized musical instru-ments suffered last monthby Hector Saldana wasnot the first such loss bylocal musicians and itwon’t be the last. Hector’s loss--and itwas a big one--is differentfrom most such musicalinstrument thefts becauseit occurred in a climate-controlled security lockupwhich was equipped withsecurity cameras.

Most musicians wholose instruments to

theives are victimized bycar and van burglars whobreak into the vehicles,and few of these unfortu-nate souls lack the insur-ance to cover their loses. Hector’s collection ofvaluable guitars and otherequipment was taken bywhat appears to be twoyoung white men, one ofthem an ugly bastardwhose mug shows fairlyclearly in the securitycamera photos. Hector believes it wasan inside job. He said

someone had given thesecurity code to thetheives. Stolen was a 1957 Gib-son ES-125 TD sunburst,1965 Guild Starfire IIIRed, 1978 Hamer Sun-burst red color, 1970 Gib-son EB-1 bass sunburst,1940s Harmony Patriciannatural and tons of profes-sional studio gear includ-ing rare original Pendulumpreamps first year, Or-ange bass amp head all-tube and two Orange basscabinets with tweed grill

cloth. Please keep eyesand ears out. Stolen nearBlanco Rd and LockhillSelma area today. The Harmony guitar,Saldana says, was givento him by his father whenhe was 7 years of age. “I played it at my dad’sfuneral,” Hector said.

Print in trouble Print journalism, us in-cluded, is having an in-creasingly tough time ofit. The Express and Newslaid off more than a dozen

staffers last month, and LaPrensa closed its doors forgood. The daily newspaperlayoff included somestaffers who had beenwith the paper fordecades. La Prensa, San Anto-nio's bilingual newspaperfor more than a century,and a strong voice for theimmigrant community fordecades, has closed bothits online and newsprintoperations.

Continued on pg. 14

High Voltage musicnew Tex Pop feature

Hector Saldana

I recently heard that asomewhat popular livemusic venue in San Anto-nio is thinking of makingchanges to its live musicschedule to attract col-lege-aged people who willdrink more. H o l yMoly! I’dhate to betheir in-s u r a n c eu n d e r -writer. T h a tmakes asm u c hsense asa dough-nut makerincreasingprofits bym a k i n gthe hole bigger. Here’s a better one (inmy pretty-well-informedopinion). Why not attract a morestable crowd of peoplewho have more money tospend and offer them anentertainment experience

with food and service thatdoesn’t suck? Drinks areok, too, but no one gets aDWI from overeating. Here are some num-bers taken from the U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics(2013):

Of all of the adult agegroups, people under theage of 25 spend just over$2,000 more each yearthan they earn. How?Probably credit cards andparental support. The other age groupsactually spend less than

they earn, up until the ageof 75 when they startspending from savings. Here is the way annualentertainment spendingbreaks out by age group: Under 25: $1,243 35-44: $2,958

45-54: $3,07055-64: $2,65165-74: $2,48875+: $1,422Even our seniorcitizens spendmore for enter-tainment thanthose under 25.I think it is ex-tremely short-sighted tooverlook the pur-chasing power ofolder adults. True,for most of us, our

heavy drinking days arebehind us, but our thirst formeaningful entertainmenthas never been stronger. I once had a conversa-tion with the Arizonaowner of a now-closedchain of trendy discoscalled Bobbie McGees. He

told me that the life of hisDallas location in the mid-70s would be 27 months.The young crowd of thatday had a way of movingon in less than three yearsforcing the investors tomake their money and ex-pect to close within 36months. I wouldn’t invest in thatportfolio, would you? If you are in the under

25 age group, celebrateyour youth, and try on asmany pairs of shoes asyou wish. But, mark mywords, there will come atime when you will have apair of boots or slippersthat feel so good, youwon’t want to wear any-thing else. If you are a venueowner or operator, try tomake the shoes you offer

as comfortable to as manyfeet as possible no matterwhat their age.

... Jim Chesnut is a state-certified public manage-ment graduate of TexasState University in SanMarcos and a former majorlabel recording artist andstaff songwriter with Acuff-Rose Music in Nashville.

t• 12 • Action Magazine, July 2018i

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How about food and service that doesn’t suck?

“It is not an open mic,”Villarreal said, “but we dofeature a bunch of differ-ent musicians, and someof the younger ones arereal talents on the move.” Villarreal said the livemusic offerings at bothJoe Blues and the mainBlue Star pub are both at-tracting growing crowds. “People are beginningto come in from otherareas of the city, and alsofrom the surrounding com-munities,” Joey said.“There is a growing inter-est in blues and home-grown music, or that’s howI see it. I think we have re-ally got something goingat Joe Blues and at BlueStar.” Joey and Maggie re-turned last month from theNational Craft Beers Con-ference in Nashville. Theytoured music city and vis-ited the Country MusicHall of Fame. “It was fantastic,” Joeysaid. “I never thought wewould see so much.” He said the brewersconference was attendedby 1,800 individuals fromall over the country. The convention, Villar-real said, will be held inSan Antonio in 2020. “There are talks by in-dustry people, differentsuppliersand craft beer brewers likeus,” Villarreal said. “Theconference was fun andvery enlightening.” So for our own enlight-enment, we asked Villar-real the question whichhas no stock, grounded,and universally acceptedanswer that all can under-stand. What is a craft beer?

Joey rolled his eyesand grinned. “There are many defini-tions,” he said. “And theyhave continued to changethroughout the years. Ithink craft beers gotstarted in this country sim-ply because the mass pro-duced brands of beer losttheir flavor. “Do you recall back inthe day when we hadPearl beer brewed righthere in San Antonio? Itwas delicious. The samefor Schlitz and the oldMichelob we used to get.These and other mass-produced brands began tolose the taste.” Villarreal said the Spo-etzlBrewery in Shiner is farlarger than most craft beeroperations. “But in my mind,” Joeysaid, “Shiner Beer is acraft beer. Compared tothe big mass-producers,the Spoetzl Brewery is stillsmall, and they still agethe beer in oak and doother special things withtheir ingredients.” Maggie Villarrealpointed out that all ingre-dients in Blue Star DraftBeer are organic. “We deal directly withthe farmers,” Joey said.“Our beer contains maltedbarley, rice, corn, oats,and hops. We only brewdraft beer at Blue Star,and I estimate we brewbetween 600 and 700 bar-rels a year. We are stillunder a thousand barrelsand that classifies us as asmall brewery. “We sell our beer onpremise, and we deliverBlue Star to about 20 retailsuppliers in San Antonio,plus a relatively new barand grill in Bulverde. Ithink our product speaksfor itself. A lot of people

like to drink it. “In answer to your initialquestion, In my mind, craftbeer is any beer that is notmass-produced.” In addition to Joey’s onSt. Mary’s Street, the BlueStar restaurant and pub,and Joe Blues next door,Villarreal maintains a gro-cery operation in the samebuilding which he callsBlue Star Provisions, anda street-side bicycle shopknown as Blue Star Bicy-cling Company. “We have produce andfrozen meats in the gro-cery,” Villarreal said. “Weopened it because thereseemed to be a neighbor-hood need. We have adowntown H.E.B., so I liketo refer to our store asmore of a convenience op-eration. We sell a lot ofsodas and stuff thetourists like.” Since the entire BlueStar complex is on themissions trails of San An-tonio, the establishment ofa bicycle shop was onlynatural. The Blue Star BicyclingCompany sells new bikes,rents bikes, repairs bikes,and carries all bicyclingaccessories. “More and more peopleare touring the missionstrails on bicycles,” Joeysaid. “This is a verypedestrian and bicyclefriendly area.” Maggie Villarreal inter-jected, “We love our cus-tomers, and we lovewatching them have agood time.” Asked if he planedmore expansion projects,Joey scatched his headand gazed out over theriver. “I guess not,” he said. “Idon’t think we have thespace for more.”


Blue Star Brewingcontinued from pg 7

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Blue Star Provisions Store manager Dia-mond Mascorro is with Provisions shopkeeper Gabrielle Rose (center) and the BlueStar complex co-owner Magdalena Villarreal.

The Blue Star complex Villarreals, Joey andMaggie, offer everything the Mission Trailscyclist might need with a bike shop thatsells, sevices and repairs.

Nina Duran, who be-came publisher of LaPrensa following the re-tirement of her father,community activist andphilanthropist Tino Duran,who died two years ago,says she always knewwhen she took over thatthe newspapers's futurewas murky. "After serving the com-munity for 29 years, LaPrensa de San AntonioNewspaper has closed itsprint and digital doors,"Duran wrote in a post on

social media. "I’ve en-joyed every step of thisjourney and knew this wasa possibility when I re-turned as publisher in2016. Ultimately I’m sohappy I was able to pro-vide jobs to people who Iconsider family for twomore years. Looking back,I don't regret a singlething." Earlier this year, Duranlaid off some staff mem-bers and moved LaPrensa to a digital onlypublication. La Prensa dates backto 1913, in the first wave ofMexican migration to

Texas during the MexicanRevolution. Duran tookover the paper in 1989 tomake it a 'positive voicefor the Hispanic commu-nity. Meanwhile, the Cana-dian newsprint costs con-tinue to soar. Action Magazine hasendured and survivedmainly because we have alow overhead with what isvirtually a one-man opera-tion, and because Actionmay be the only publica-tion with balls still printingon the planet.

Club news The nightclubs in San

Antonio and immediatearea continue to close, re-open, and spring forth withnew owners. Bananas on San Pedrois back open with newownership and manage-ment; Taco Land is againin business, offering somelive music; and The RustySpur in Bulverde is nomore, and new owners onthe Blanco Road busnesswill soon reopen as a cof-fee shop and boutique. Baker Street Pub onWurzbach is no more, andCasbeers on Blanco Roadwas still closed at this writ-ing.

the Sunday I was there,and I must say Roy Acuffwould be very pleasedwith the current use of thespace. Today is indeed differ-ent in significant ways. Gone are the days thatbrought forth entrepre-neurs like Jack Clementsand Fred Foster (founderof Monument Records)who recorded the likes ofKris Kristofferson, TonyJoe White, Willie Nelson,Dolly Parton and manyothers. When I lived inNashville, I had the feelingthat the major entrepre-neurial players consideredthemselves to be stew-ards of country music.They were personally in-

vested in its future. Theywere personally engagedwith both music makersand music consumers.There seemed to be an in-terest in listening to newmaterial written by newpeople, believing that thenext big hit was yet to bewritten. From what I can seenow and from what I hearon mainstream countryradio, the industry is com-fortable producing thesame song over and overagain. There doesn’t seemto be the variety in radioprogramming that thereonce was. During my trip, I kepttrying to develop a themefor this article that re-volved around the geo-graphical limitations ofNashville. It was poeticand went something likethis.

Everywhere you look inmiddle Tennessee, yousee nothing but forests oftrees at least 60 feet tall.There is no horizon likethere is throughout mostof Texas. Without the hori-zon, there can be no vi-sion of the future. Folksliving in the hollers of Ken-tucky and parts of Ten-nessee, weren’tparticularly cozy with folksin other hollers, even ifthey knew they existed. That might have been alovely argument for thelack of a vision, but LaurenRenee-Zartman Martino,a record promoter with BillWence Promotions inNolensville, brought meback to reality from themetaphorical heavenwhere I live part-time. Corporate ownership insearch of predictable fi-nancial performance has

taken control of the mes-sage (Nashville) and themessenger (Radio). Broadcast ownershiphas been largely deregu-lated by Congress, andthe resulting consolidationhas created a radio oli-garchy that takes pro-gramming responsibilityaway from local stations.As a result, country musichas suffered, in my opin-ion, because of somethingcalled Groupthink. Groupthink happenswhen independentthought is restricted bygroup dynamics that occurwithin groups of peoplewho seek harmony andwish to avoid controversy.Music suppliers and theirpublic gatekeepers (radio)both seek the harmonythat comes with pre-dictability. If the last record that

sounded a certain waywas a hit with the public, itmakes sense that the nextone to be produced andreleased should sound thesame. Right? Oh, Hell no. Where would the kalei-doscope of our rich cul-tural music heritage bewithout the variety pro-duced by the likes of BerryGordy, Jr., Quincy Jonesor Chet Atkins? For thatmatter, where would it bewithout the pioneers offormat radio like ToddStorz and Gordon Mc-Clendon who are respon-sible for the concept ofTop-40 playlists. Where would trans-portation be without the in-dependent thought of EliWhitney or the Wrightbrothers? Where wouldcommunications be with-out the independent

thought of Bill Gates andSteve Jobs? Talking with tin cansand a piece of string be-tween two canoes, that’swhere! There was a time whenradio was as much a stew-ard of country music asthe early music entrepre-neurs in Nashville. Air per-sonalities were theconnectors who facilitatedrelationships between per-formers and fans. We’ve lost that, I’mafraid, and I miss the likesof Max Gardner (KKYX inSan Antonio), Arleigh Duff(KVET and KOKE inAustin), Bill Mack (WBAPin Ft. Worth) and RalphEmery (WSM inNashville). Theirs wasn’t a corpo-rate mission. It was per-sonal. And, we were better forit.


Where to find Action Magazine

Scatter Shotscontinued from pg 11

Memory Trailcontinued from pg 4

Northeast

Adrenalin TattoosBarbecue StationBoozehoundsBracken SaloonCentury MusicCharlie Brown’sCooper’s LoungeCootey’sCountry NightsCrazy D’sCross-Eyed SeagullEasy StreetEisenhauer Flea Mkt.Evil OliveFiascoFinnegan’sFitzgerald’s502 BarGuitar CenterHalftime LoungeJack’sJack-N-ArundJeff Ryder DrumsKrystal’s CocktailsLone Star Bar & GrillLocoe’s Sports BarMain Street Bar & GrillMake My DayMartinisMarty’sMidnight RodeoMinds Eye TattooOur Glass Cocktails

PigpenPlanet KRebarRecovery RoomRick’s CabaretRookies TooSchooner’sSilver Bullet Ice HouseSpanky’s The Crazy ApeThirsty TurtleTwo Rivers TavernWhiskey GirlWinston’sZona

Northwest

Alamo MusicBig Bob’s BurgersBend Sports BarBone HeadzBurn HouseCavenders Coco BeachCooter Brown’sCowtown BootsElement TattooFat RacksHardbodiesHighlanderHills and DalesIce House BarJanie’s Record ShopJoe’s Ice

Kennedy’sKnuckleheadsLas ChiladasMitchell’sPick’sPlanet KStacy’s Sports BarWetmore City LimitsWhiskey’sWise GuysWho’s Who

Central &Downtown

Alamo Beer Co.Alamo MusicArmadilloAmp RoomAugies BBQBig Bob’s BurgersBlue Star Brewing Bombay Bicycle ClubCasbeersCD ExchangeDemo’sGoodtime CharliesHardbodiesJoe BluesJoey’sLimelightThe MixPigpenPigstandPlanet K

Sam’s Burger JointSancho’sSqueezebox

Southside

Billy’s Bar 47Brooks PubFlipside Record ParlorHerb’s Hat ShopLeon’sMustang Sally’sPerfection TattooPlanet KShady LadySpurr 122Texas Pride BBQThe Other WomanThe Steer

Bulverde area

Antler’s RestaurantChoke Canyon BBQDaddy O’sMax’s RoadhouseShade Tree SaloonTetco, 46 & 281

China Grove

China GroveTrading PostLongbranch

Converse

Sportsman’s Bar

HelotesB-Daddy’s BBQBobby J’sFloore StorePete’s

Leon Springs

Angry ElephantLonghorn RestaurantSilver Fox The Grill at LeonSprings

Selma

Bluebonnet PalaceDeer Crossing

Universal City

Billy D’sPlanet KThe Pawn Pub


13247 BANDERA RD, HELOTES, TX 78237 210-695-4941

JULY BAND SCHEDULE

6-9 PM

NOW FEATURING LIVE MUSIC!

Join UsEvery Wednesday

SingerSongwriters Night

hosted byAmy Hermes6:30-8:30pm

SAT 7 TRISHA LYNN ANDERSONSAT 14 MEYER/ANDERSONSAT 21 DAVID N DAWNSAT 28 MEYER/ANDERSON

Come check out the world’s most unique barbecue joint

and entertainment venue

Bring the kids We are family friendly See our giant Rainbo playground and game arcade

Phone: 210-649-3730Address: 2980 E. Loop 1604 near Adkins

July 5 Eddie & the BoozersJuly 6 Wrangler CountryJuly 7 Big CountryJuly 12 Tony Rodriguez BandJuly 13 Whiskey 2 StepJuly 14 South Texas ReviewJuly 19 South Side JumpJuly 20 Lone Star PickerzJuly 21 IntexicatedJuly 26 Tony Rodriguez BandJuly 27 Bimbo and BorderlineJuly 28 Burgundy

Texas Pride Barbecue

LIve Music Schedule

Bike Nights ThursdaysFish fry on Fridays

up to $5,000 from CrimeStoppers

Suspect burglarized The Krayolas storageunit on June 8 at Life Storage located at7340 Blanco Road at McCarty. Last seendriving a 2014 or newer Jeep Compass orJeep Cherokee.

STOLEN: Vintage guitars and musicalequipment including a 1950s Gibson ES-125 TD, 1966 Guild Starfire III, 1970 GibsonEB-1 violin bass, 1978 Hamer Sunburst,1940s Harmony Patrician, Orange AD200Bbass amp, Orange OBC-410 and OBC-115bass cabinets, Pendulum HZ10-SE pre-amps and autographed Doug Sahm andKrayolas artwork.

SAPD case number 18120290

REWARD

Call SAPD 210-207-7701 or 210-224-STOP

Documents

2 • Action Magazine, July 2018