Padre's opening, SXSW and general update

Last weekend I spent about 50 hours in Houston working on some stuff and attending Little Joe Washington's 70th birthday party. I got to play the show on drums as well, doing some singing and also backing up Little Joe for some of his time on stage. That was nice.
I dropped off the shuffleboard table we have been working on here for several months. Unfortunately, the straps holding it to the trailer gouged my new finish, so I have some work to do when I go back. I started the repair job when I loaded it into the back room of the Big Top, but it will require several rounds of TLC before it's really ready to rock. That table will eventually be the centerpiece of the soon-to-be Big Top back room and game room, which may take shape over the net 3-9 months.

My new dancehall/ restaurant/ live music venue/ game room/ sports on TV and general community meeting place Padre's will finally be open as of Tuesday March 24th. Our grand opening weekend will be Memorial Day Weekend all the way at the end of May, but we are going to be open from Wed-Sat for lunch and dinner and into the night until then. Hopefully after the grand opening we'll ramp up to at least having the building and bar open 6 nights per week.
Tuesday the 24th will feature a free show by German country rockers the TWANG, old friends of mine who come to the US every 4-5 years or so to do a few shows and camp out in Big Bend. That Tuesday show we'll have food, BYOB, games and music from 8PM to 10PM. No cover charge. Allen Hill will sub in on bass and I'll sub in on drums. The girls will run the club here along with John Davenport in the kitchen. To start we'll be serving Hebrew National hot dogs, burgers, a few types of general sandwiches, Zapp's potato chips and non-alcoholic beverages and set-ups. BYOB until we get our liquor license. That could be anytime within the next 4 weeks or even further out. The application is being processed in Austin and thus far, so good. It's kind of a mystery to me exactly how the TABC really functions deep within.
Anyhow, the next night (Wed 25) Allen Hill, myself and Jim Henkel will play another free show here at Padre's from 8-10 as the "David Beebe three" aka The El Orbits, circa 1999. By the way, we also have 2 shuffleboard tables, 2 pool tables, Ms Pac Man, Galaga, Burger Time and 4 vintage pinball machines in the back room. That, plus a CD jukebox for the big room and 2 different 45 rpm record jukeboxes in the back room.

I am psyched to be done with the big deal construction and now, instead, to be dealing with the operations side. Our kitchen is starting to look like it will be a really great one. We will also be recycling not only aluminum, but also cardboard and all colors of GLASS. Yeah, the only bar in the Trans-Pecos to do it ALL. That, plus our glassware and dishes are all re-usable. It'll be more work on everyone's part, but I am very, very happy about this- especially about the glass, which almost surely wasn't going to be able to happen until I had a great meeting today with Mark Battista out of Alpine/Sunny Glen, who re-processes glass into landscaping "tumbled" aggregate. I just bought 2000 pounds of green bottle aggregate from him for $50 to decorate my cactus garden and we worked out a deal where I'll bring the flatbed trailer with 32 gallon Brute containers of separated glass to him whenever I fill them all up, drop them off and leave the containers with him and then, next time, bring another set and take back the empties. All containers will be marked as belonging to Padre's. The total cost to me besides time and some effort will be the cost of doubling my garbage can inventory, but that will pay for itself in TWO months since I will be able to keep the small sized commercial dumpster and not have to move up to the next price range, which is about an extra $75 per month.

We are going to do things the right way here from the start. It's my dream- never been able to do it. Kind of like living next door to train tracks and also in a space as small as an Airstream.

SXSW is coming up this week and I'll be playing shows with Jon Langford, the Pine Valley Cosmonauts (w/ Rosie Flores), the Waco Brothers, The Allen Oldies Band, Andre Williams and TWANG. Busy, busy. I am trying to firm up the schedule and will post it here when I get my itinerary straight. I may sleep in the Suburban again this year- it was easier that way last year since I brought my bicycle to go from gig to gig and never moved the truck from Wed until Sunday. Traffic in Austin is already the worst in Texas and SXSW is quadruply bad. Anyway, I am excited. Too busy to really do this stuff this year, but half of it's PR for me and the new club/dancehall. It's extra important for me to be there and be me since we're beginning to book and will be open directly following the festival.

Lastly, and on that note, bands looking to play at Padre's can email me at marfagringo@yahoo.com. All bookings will be handled by email. Phone calls cost you brownie points. Materials may be sent via US Mail to Padre's PO Box 38 Marfa TX 79843. Give me at least 3 weeks to listen and/or look at that stuff before you email. If you have less than 75 minutes worth of music you should not go on tour at all. If your band is crappy, please stay in Austin. Finally, there are only 2000 people here on a good day and about 50% of them are over 65, so if you think you'll make any legit money coming out here just for this and not as a tour stop on a comprehensive West Coast and/or New Mexico/Colorado run, then please bring dad's gas card and your girlfriend's paycheck.
Sort of kidding on these, but not entirely. Looking forward to some great acts here playing great music! - David