Driving through Alamo Plaza yesterday morning, I peered through the remaining bleachers, a hangover from Fiesta, for a glimpse of the familiar blue. Could it really be gone?
A reconnaissance mission on foot this morning revealed it truly had disappeared. All that remained was an unblemished view of the Alamo, minus what had seemed a permanently installed pop-up tent.
The ground where the pop-up had stood for so long resembles a large, freshly-dug, unmarked grave. The spot cries out for a rest-in-peace sign, but I doubt the ever-present Alamo guard would permit the erection of one.
Magically appearing, as if to allay fears the popping-down of the pop-up is temporary, was a man with a tape measure. The Alamo groundskeeper was sizing up the plot to determine the amount of sod needed to restore it as greenspace.
The morning moment seemed out of The Wizard of Oz, the Munchkin chorus whizzing through my head:
Ding-dong, the pop-up's gone.
As Coroner, I thoroughly examined her
And she’s not only merely dead,
She’s really most sincerely dead….
(Munchkin 1)
We thank you very sweetly for doing it so neatly
(Munchkin 2)
You’ve killed her so completely,
That we thank you very sweetly
(Glinda)
Let the joyous news be spread….
It seems there should be pomp and ceremony, a service excluding prayers for resurrection; this calls for a celebration. Ah, but I guess there was one – Fiesta San Antonio.
“Some men get new wives when they turn 40,” said Lamar. “All I want is an electric guitar.”
He is a practical man. Probably had weighed out the economics of the situation pretty carefully. Happy I made the cut. Probably was a close call.
Even I could see the equation clearly. Amazing I made the cut.
Fine.
Even though I thought I had married an acoustic man who had wooed me sitting on the front porch in the mountains of Virginia listening to records (did I mention we were old?) of the exotic (hey, I’m not from Texas) Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker and Willis Alan Ramsey.
My husband kept his electric roots repressed for two decades.
But this is a man who had played the Bonham – not today’s gay Bonham – when it was the USO. Captain Midnight headlined a St. Mary’s Hall dance; that was when the band found out Jeff Richmond only had one harmonica in one key that he played discordantly throughout the evening.
The high point must have been opening for ZZ Top at the Teen Canteen. Neglecting to mention Captain Midnight, Margaret Moser wrote in The Austin Chronicle:
Forget the cute, silly name – the Teen Canteen was the staging ground for San Antonio’s vibrant rock & roll scene, from before the Beatles until the dawn of punk. Owner Sam Kinsey opened the first Teen Canteen in 1960. It moved around to several locations, including a ballroom dance studio, settling at Wonderland (now Crossroads) Mall in 1963. In 1968, the Canteen moved to its last location on Bitters Road across from Northeast Stadium, the place it would occupy until it closed in 1977….
Local bands like the Pipelines, the Outcasts, the Spidels, the Stoics, the Swiss Movement, and the Virgil Foxx Group, plus touring bands of the day such as the Strawberry Alarm Clock (“Incense and Peppermints”) and the Syndicate of Sound (“Little Girl”) played there. More importantly, it was one of the places for Texas psychedelic bands such as Sweet Smoke, Zakary Thaks, Bubble Puppy, Shiva’s Headband, the Moving Sidewalks, and Lord August & the Visions of Lite. ZZ Top played their first gig at the Teen Canteen; others who got their start there include Mike Nesmith of the Monkees and Chris “Christopher Cross” Geppart.
Talent, and perhaps a smidgen of nepotism, continued to boost the band’s profile. Band member Galvin Weston, whose royal lineage can be substantiated online, managed to get the band booked on the family’s cruise line. Don’t know why Captain Midnight did not get an offer for a second summer cruise. Surely people our parents’ age were into songs by Cream or Spirit’s “I Got a Line on You?”
Even nepotism must have its limits. Alas, college dispersed the members of Captain Midnight to far corners of the map.
But fast forward past forty.
One electric guitar gets lonely. The first black guitar led to a red guitar. And then a woody-looking guitar. And now a really cool Teye (Guitar men are rolling their eyes in their heads over my superficial descriptions. If Captain, or After, Midnight’s band members want to get the details right, they have to get their own blogs.).
Plus, one does not play the electric guitar alone. Lamar had to seduce our friend Richard Nitschke off the acoustic. And Richard’s first electric guitar seemed to procreate as well (People, ducks, guitars. Does just say no ever work?).
Strangely, it turned out our CPA is an amazing drummer, Karl Yelderman (whose drumsets reproduce like ducks as well), and he brought along bass player Daryl Chadick (with his multiplying bass guitars). Now the band even has a keyboard player, Steve Chase (whose wife must have had his keyboard spayed).
Then there is Claytie. Claytie Bonds has the type of voice capable of singing the national anthem a cappella at a chamber of commerce gathering when she was only nine. She can belt out the blues.
After Midnight Blues Band: Daryl, Richard, Karl, Claytie, Lamar and Steve
You can catch the band this Saturday, April 17, from 7 to 10 p.m. at Alamo City Pizza and the following Saturday, April 24, at from 4:45 to 5:45 p.m. at the King William Fair.
Someone asked me if the band stuff drives me crazy. The answer is no. I love the blues, and, even without nepotism to help, in my unbiased opinion, After Midnight is great.
The blues are great therapy, and, Lord knows, living with me, Lamar needs large doses of that. So I’m standing by my man.
Update Added on September 5: No reunion performance of the members of Captain Midnight is planned for today’s Canteen Fest at Floore’s Country Store in Helotes. The band’s glory days are yet again overshadowed by ZZ Top.
ZZ Top made its first public appearance there. “The scene was that of a drugless rave,” Kinsey said. “We had black lights; we had strobes and overhead projectors. It was fantastic.”
Admission was 25 cents in the ’60s. Imagine “Where the Action Is” and “Hullabaloo” incarnate, albeit amateurish and fresh out of the garage.
Seeing the vintage photo of the Pipelines in the paper made me yearn to see a group photo of Captain Midnight, but, if he ever possessed one, my husband must have destroyed all evidence prior to our marriage.
An event that appears as though it should not be missed next year, like I did this year, has to be the Dignowity HillPushcart Derby, which Rina Moreno and Cruz Ortiz originated as a creative contribution to Contemporary Art Month. If you failed to attend as well, click here to read the San Antonio Express-News’ coverage.
Jennifer Herrera's photo from NowCastSA: Covering Up with Dignity on Dignowity Hill
But, what convinced me to find out more was Jennifer Herrera’s photograph on NowCast San Antonio. Not sure whether it was the shades or the goatee that compelled me to explore deeper, and, fortunately, someone has posted video footage capturing the carts careening across the finish line.
Note: I was not familiar with NowCast San Antonio, a nonprofit housed on the sixth floor of the Central Library. According to its website:
NOWCastSA is a grassroots project of Community Info NOW(formerly AACIS) and is funded in part by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, administered by the San Antonio Area Foundation.… NOWCastSA provides an interactive online communications portal for sharing neighborhood news – from neighborhood meetings and celebrations to disaster preparedness and volunteer opportunities, NOWCastSA focuses on the events, issues, and concerns that matter most to the neighborhood. Working hands-on with citizen journalists of all ages, the NOWCastSA team helps build new bridges for neighbor-to-neighbor communications.
Postcards from Barton Springs 