[AGL] Re: The Threadgill,s gatherings/Eddie Wilson

[Gerry]

Eddie made his underground debut as the manager of Shiva's Head Band in late '69. Prior to the that he was goodwill man for the Texas Brewer's Association (or something like that). In the summer of '70 he was busy putting the Armadillo on the air. But he could very well have seen Janis when she was in town. I was in Montreal at the time and did not attend.

I was the drummer for Shiva's while he was the manager. He was not a hippy, had short hair, and few underground connections, had not dropped acid nor been to San Francisco, etc. But he had a vision of what was happening and was eager to join in and promote the lifestyle and make a few bucks. His musical tastes were strictly folkie at the time and he was a buddy of singer Stan Alexander who was teaching English in Nacogdoches. Shiva's did a benefit for SNICK (?) in Nacogdoches at the National Guard Armory, a very scary gig since slavery was still practiced in those parts and the locals did not warm up to longhairs from Austin supporting the radicals who were stirring up the Black folk.

Personally I doubt if he ever attended a Threadgill's hippie show. But he understood the historical connection. I was around him regularly in the late '70's when he and a partner with money bought the Threadgill's lot and building. He was super-enthusiastic about the prospects of opening a restaurant and promoting the redneck-hippy history of the place. (Don't forget that it was he who was running the Armadillo when the first redneck-hippy fusion took place in the early '70's. And it was he who first booked Willie and launched what would become that unlikely social oddity that took off with the July 4th picnics.) 

His original plan for Threadgill's was to preserve the old building and expand it. But a fire of mysterious origins wiped out the old place (which was a real wreck) and the eventual restaurant building was completely new construction, borrowing from the original design. I recall the opening of the restaurant and being well pleased at the job he had done in creating a unique image of an old-time honky tonk complete with an old bar he had purchased and various other antiques which were blended into the building making it look like it was old. 

Eddie always supported underground artists, especially Jim Franklin. I would bet that Jaxon had a good payday for his work on the cookbook. BTW, Kenneth used to play weekly at the original restaurant and Eddie had a genuine love for the old man whose name and reputation he cashed in on. The gigs finally stopped when Kenneth could no longer control his bladder.

So, it is immaterial as to whether Eddie actually saw Janis and Kenneth play in the early '60's. He did see the importance of the connection and has been telling the world about it for nearly 50 years now.
G 


----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Connie Clark 
  To: survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s 
  Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 6:54 AM
  Subject: Re: [AGL] Re: The Threadgill,s gatherings/Eddie Wilson


  That's correct. The KT and JJ duo was just as Harry describes and was out at Oak Hill, I believe, Summer (maybe August) of 70.  She died October 70.  I was there, tripping.
  Connie




  Harry Edwards <laughingwolf at ev1.net> wrote:
    Frances, the event to which you refer was Threadgill's birthday. Janis 
    flew in from Hawaii and sang "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Sunday Morning 
    Coming Down," strumming a guitar and nursing a tumbler of tequila. I 
    didn't know it but we were saying goodbye, for she died not too long 
    afterwards. (JJ's birthday is in January.) 
    twisty

    On Jun 16, 2006, at 12:36 AM, Frances Morey wrote:

    > Connie,
    > As I understood it there were several occasions on which Janis and 
    > Kenneth Threadgill appeared at the same time on the same venue, even 
    > sang together. The most publicized was when it was Janis' birthday not 
    > too long before she died. EW might have been  a witness on that 
    > occasion rather than earlier at the service station before Janis made 
    > it big, and when Mr. Threadgill still owned it. I remember that one. I 
    > missed her much touted birthday appearance. Eddie Wilson as an Austin 
    > boy surely could have been part of the crowd at either one.
    > Frances
    >
    > Connie Clark wrote:
    >>
    >> Mike E.
    >> I remember that you were often at Threadgill's for the Wednesday 
    >> night jams, even with your violin sometimes, right?
    >>  
    >> Question has been put as to whether anyone remembers Eddie Wilson 
    >> there.  I saw him on a biographical tv show about Janis, and he spoke 
    >> of her as if a witness to her singing with KT. 
    >>  
    >> Do you remember seeing him at KTs?  I never knew him so I guess I 
    >> wouldn't have noticed anyway.
    >>  
    >> Connie
    >>
    >> Fontaine Maverick wrote:
    >>> Ahem. I was there a number of times in '62, '63 at the age of 15 & 
    >>> 16, still
    >>> at Austin High. Including the night that I tried peyote for the 
    >>> first time
    >>> with my older college boy date (you know who you are). Janis told us 
    >>> we had
    >>> to settle down, or leave.
    >>>
    >>> ----- Original Message -----
    >>> From: "Harry Edwards"
    >>> To:
    >>> Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 6:38 PM
    >>> Subject: Re: The Threadgill,s gatherings/Eddie Wilson
    >>>
    >>>
    >>> >I dunno. Just googled a 1997 Texas Monthly story about our Eddie, 
    >>> and
    >>> > he was 53 then. He'd be 61 or 62 now, mebbe not quite old enough 
    >>> to've
    >>> > been at Threadgill's when JJ was there. twisty
    >>> >
    >>> > On Jun 15, 2006, at 10:14 AM, R. StJohn wrote:
    >>> >
    >>> >> Compadres,
    >>> >> Take a look at Jaxon's Threadgill's history that
    >>> >> is in the back of the Threadgill's Cookbook. I don't
    >>> >> remember Eddie being there either but I would be the
    >>> >> last to question the historical accuracy of Jaxon's
    >>> >> research.
    >>> >>
    >>> >> R. P.
    >>> >>
    >>> >> __________________________________________________
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