CLUB OWNERS - Action Magazine · 2017. 12. 30. · do it because they love it. And, maybe because they have to. Among those who do earn their daily bread per - forming live music

• 2 • Action Magazine, January 2018

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Cowtown Boots .......................................7

Music Memories ....................................12

Live Music Matters..................................4

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

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

• DEPARTMENTS •

• FEATURE •

Editor & Publisher ................Sam KindrickAdvertising Sales ....................Action StaffPhotography.............................Action StaffDistribution............................Ronnie ReedComposition..........................Elise Taquino

Volume 43 • Number 1

Action Magazine, January 2018 • 3 •

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

Advertise in Action Magazine

I now have two reasonsto remember December7th. Of course, the attackon Pearl Harbor in 1941 isetched in my memory, asis the Christmas party atLas Chiladas MexicanRestaurant on December7, 2017. The Holiday Play-Inwas hosted by the AlamoChapter of the HarmonicaOrganization of Texas(H.O.O.T.) from 6:30 p.m.until I got sleepy and left

(and, I’m sure it went onlong after that). I was in-vited to perform a coupleof songs and was accom-panied by a group of tal-ented musicians on bass,drums, lead guitar, and ofcourse, a number of “har-monicats”. I first learned about thisgroup from my now-de-ceased father-in-law,Glenn Walden. Glenn wasthe spirit of live music, inmy well-informed opinion.

In his final years he couldbe heard playing his har-monica in his room and inthe common areas of hissenior care living centers.His neighbors loved hismusic, “grace” notes andall. And, when he didn’thave his harmonica, hewhistled! He died in thesummer of 2016, and I re-ally miss him. There is mysteriousmagic in live music, andnot all music magiciansare professionals. In fact,most people who playmusic never get paid for it.Like Glenn Walden theydo it because they love it.And, maybe because theyhave to. Among those who doearn their daily bread per-forming live music is Kat-rina Curtiss. Like me, shewas a special guest at theH.O.O.T. party at Las Chi-ladas. If Katrina could bebottled, the label wouldneed to include a warning:200 Proof! She is the realdeal, and her music willboth shake and stir you.Her blues and rock ’n rollnumbers brought the ca-pacity-crowd house down. And, wouldn’t youknow, I had to follow her. It reminded me of thefirst time I played in SanAntonio in the late 1970s.Drove all the way fromNashville and had to fol-low Frenchie Burke at theKKYX-AM River Festival. Geez, Louise. Can’t aguy get a break? Anyway, I was heart-ened and energized bythe collective spirit of allthe live music performers

and fans of live music whoattended the event. The Alamo chapter ofH.O.O.T. was founded in2004 by Betty Welch, anenthusiast of the harmon-ica who served as its firstpresident. This from thecurrent president and har-monica instructor, DonMcRee, who said: “Fromthe start, the mission wasto promote the advance-ment and appreciation ofharmonica music to ourcommunity and beyond. “Throughout the historyof the organization, on apractical level, the goalhas been to get the har-monica in as many peo-ple's mouths as possible.Persons who have alwayssaid they are non-musicalsuddenly find themselvesintrigued by the little ‘tinsandwich’. “In an effort to supportlive music, a sizeablenumber of H.O.O.T. mem-bers play with bands andserve as mentors for otherplayers. In the same vein,members join with othermusicians to jam twice amonth at local restaurants(currently held at Barbe-cue Station [located onLoop 410 at HarryWurzbach] in San Anto-nio). “Alamo H.O.O.T. hasalso found a way to bringSan Antonio's attention tothe harmonica on a largerscale. The organizationwent international in 2016,hosting the annual con-vention of the Society forthe Preservation and Ad-vancement of Harmonica(SPAH), which drew 500

harmonica players from allover the world conveningin San Antonio.” I must confess some-thing. I am somewhatjaded by my years as aprofessional musician. Infact, that is one of the rea-sons I left Nashville andreturned to Texas in 1982.I was burned out frombeing caught up in thebusiness of music and nolonger wanted to sing inthe shower, so to speak. But, my associationwith these harmonicaplayers, which began withGlenn Walden, has al-lowed me to re-experiencethe power of live music asa listener rather than as aperformer. And, what I getfrom these folks is authen-ticity. Authenticity is themost important ingredientin live music performance,once again in my well-in-formed opinion. So, I have to thankBetty Welch, Don McReeand all the others involved

with the local chapter ofH.O.O.T. for helping merecover from my musicbusiness jaundice to dis-cover anew the authenticspirit of my own music. For more informationabout H.O.O.T. and/or har-monica instruction, con-tact Don McRee at (210)827-6285. On Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/alamohoo

... Jim Chesnut, foundingpresident of the Texas LiveMusic Association, is a formermajor label recording artistand staff songwriter withAcuff-Rose Music in Nashville.After 25 years away from themusic business, he began per-forming in and around San An-tonio in 2008. Since then, Hehas self-produced and re-leased four CDs. Since Janu-ary 2016, he has had fiveconsecutive Top-10 nationalindie country singles, three ofwhich reached #1 in the Top-40chart of IndieWorld CountryRecord Report. He has been afreelance contributor to ActionMagazine since the beginningof 2016. Contact info:[email protected]


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We survived the blizzard of 2017, the rare snowevent in San Antonio and South Texas that was akin toa spiritual experience for many of us.

South Texas kids love new snow, and SouthTexas adults become kids again when the big, white,feathery ice crystals come floating down to terra firma.

For some of the younger kids, this year’s De-cember 7 snowfall was the first time they had ever laideyes on the fluffy white stuff; for many of us older “kids,”last month’s beautiful blanket of white was a catharic re-minder that there is a Force up there far more powerfulthan The Donald, Kim Jong Un, or The Magilla Gorilla.I choose to call that power God.

The snow magic started at our Elm Creekhome in Bulverde shortly before nightfall. A quiet andsoothing aura accompanied the swirling flakes, and withthis esoteric raising of my spiritual curtain, I couldn’tthink of a single soul (excluding mass murderers andbaby rapers) I would care to mentally shoot or evenstomp the shit out of. I was truly at peace.

Wife Sharon and I first got the snow word onFacebook from Boerne friend Robert Bennett.

“It’s snowing in Boerne,” Bennett messaged.And within minutes after his Facebook post, it wassnowing over the hills of Bulverde.

I felt like one of those nerdy-looking swains ina Christmas Hallmark flick. The ones who stand out inthe bogus snow with their faces hanging out like kinder-garten rejects.. But this was not Hallmark snow. It wasthe real deal. And I know that I was as pumped up as abantam rooster on steroids.

Sharon and I have a large sage bush directly infront of our house which was decorated by multi-coloredled lights. At night the lighted bush actually projects theshape of a traditional Christmas fir, and with the lastlight of day giving way to the snowy night, Sharon and Icapitalized on the moment with our cell phone cameras.

We hopped around in the snow like children,shooting photos of each other with the lighted sage asa backdrop, and I even tried a selfie of the two of uswhich turned out grainy and splotched by the fallingsnow.

Strange as it may sound, new snow in SouthTexas seemed to bring old friends together while kin-dling the spark of hope with the new ones. I believe itmay be the healing positivity of something new, bright,and white as opposed to the negative gray shade of po-litical bullshit which seems to gnaw at the human main-stem.

As the snow fell, South Texans took to socialmedia and cell phone to share in the phenomenon ofnature which brought about the odd and pleasing senseof joy and conviviality. My wife is a retired elementaryschool teacher, and she feels that public schools in thisarea should have given students a day off to play in thesnow and experience this once in a lifetime learning ex-perience.

It was a time to remember and reminisce, es-pecially for those of us who recall the winter snow stormof 1985 that dumped 13.5 inches of snow on San Anto-nio that literally paralyzed the city.

That was the year the late Johnny Goodeopened his Playa Santa Maria Club on North St. Mary’sStreet. Goode and I rented a house adjacent to the clubwhich we ostensibly used as “office space.” I distinctlyrecall some idiot scooting around on snow skis in frontof the Alamo, and I will never forget my truck trips be-tween Playa Santa Maria and the tarpaper shack in Bul-verde where I lived with a catahoula leopard hog dognamed Witch.

Shortly after Sharon and I finished our snowdance, I Facebooked my French Canadian friend AlyciaAmbroziak, a retired newspaper reporter who lives inthe small town of Rigaud just outside of Montreal. Alyciaand I have been friends for 37 years, having met atWillie Nelson’s 1980 4th of July Picnic at Nelson’s Ped-ernales Country Club. She was covering the picnic forthe Montreal Star at the time, and I believe her to be thefirst foreign correspondent to cover a Nelson picnic.

The Canadian writer has always derived a bighoot out of the South Texas fixation with snow. She grewup in country with snow drifts that could swallow ahorse, and I still have a pair of Indian-made snow shoesshe gave me following the blizzard of 1985.

I still believe she gave me the snow shoes as ajoke, but they are works of hand-crafted art with woodenframes and webbing of animal sinew, and the shoes arein excellent condition.

Following the recent snow, I took the snowshoes down from the wall of my workshop shed andmoved them into the house. Despite years of Texasheat, they are in excellent condition. And,of course, Ihave never had an occasion to use them.

“I’m not sure what kind of animal senew wasused to make the shoes,” she recently told me. “But I re-call where I got them--a Mohawk reservation calledKahnawake. I am happy to learn that you still havethem.”

Alycia and Sharon are now Facebook friends,and I mostly use Facebook to communicate with myCanadian friend, although in days of yore I used thetelephone. Alycia’s answer machine message is in twoparts--first in musical French, second in business-likeEnglish.

Alycia was accompanied to the 1980 Nelsonpicnic by brother Jimmy. I really took to Jimmy and webecame instant friends. He was killed more than 20years ago in a car crash, and Alycia’s other brotherGeorge, is also deceased.

After the Pedernales Country Club concert,which included Faron Young, Ray Price, and Leon Rus-sell, Alycia was to make numerous visits back to SanAntonio and other Texas points with daughter Aimee,and a couple more times with Jimmy before his death.She was separated from Aimee’s father Glen when thedaughter was small. She had established friendshipswith others in San Antonio who have since moved toCalifornia.

Alycia is extremely proud of the lovely daughter,an accomplished artist, writer, actress and film pro-ducer. When we talked after the snow event, Alycia saidshe was leaving for Toronto where the daughter and afriend were to premiere a short film they produced with$50,000 they won to complete the project.

“Enjoy your snow,” she said. “I still prefer warmsunshine. But the weather is changing all over.”


Sam Cedillo has soldthousands of cowboyboots over the past 32years, and the excitementin his bones never fails torekindle with every ap-proaching rodeo season. “Rodeo means cowboyboots,” says Cedillo, a na-tive San Antonian whomanages Cowtown Bootsin the Wonderland Mall onFredericksburg Road. “I’vebeen at it for 32 years, andmy wife Elsa has beenright with me for the past28.” Cowtown Boots is a fullline western wear store,featuring name brandshirts, pants, hats, belts,and Cowtown brand bootsalong with all other popu-lar brands such as TonyLama (Cowtown’s El Pasoneighbor), Lucchese(which started in San An-tonio), Durango, Dan Post,Ariat, and new brands likeBlackjack. Boots, country and Te-jano music, and South

Texas rodeo have been asmuch a part of the Cedil-los and Cowtown Boots ashave the country and Te-jano stars who frequentthe Cowtown aisles. Country legend JohnnyBush buys boots at Cow-town, as does Grammywinner squeezebox kingFlaco Jimenez, Max Baca,David Lee, Eddie Gonza-lez, George Rivas, andDarrell Hall, to name afew. Recently deceasedlegends such as EmilioNavaira, Nick Villarreal,and Fiddlin’ FrenchieBurke were all steadyCowtown customers. AndFelix Truvere recentlyrecorded a commercial inthe mall store. “Way back when, GarthBrooks managed theCowtown store inNashville,” laughedCedillo. “That was reallyway back when.” The family/business re-lationship in the Cedillofamily is consistent with

the family-oriented historyof the El Paso-basedCowtown Boots and theCalcaterra family which

founded and still runs thesprawling enterprise. “The Calcaterras aregreat people to work for,

and they are boot manu-facturers and distributorswho have learned theirtrade from the ground up,”Sam Cedillo says. “Theyeven have their own alliga-tor farm in Kissimmee,Florida, enabling us to sellfancy gator skin boots athalf the price asked bymost boot manufacturers.The huge Cowtown man-ufacturing plant andheadquarters in El Paso,and our Cowtown store inSan Antonio are the tworetail outlets in Texas forCowtown boots. At onetime, there were 72 Cow-town stores in Texas. Inaddition to us and the ElPaso home base, Cow-town now has a New Mex-ico store, one in LasVegas, Nevada, and threein Arizona.” The Cowtown store inSan Antonio started onBlanco Road, and Cedillorecalls when it was onBandera Road directlyacross from the Randy’sRodeo dance hall. Cedillo is a tireless

worker who toiled in laun-dry, catering, and land-scaping businesses aftergraduating from CentralCatholic High School. Heis now 58. His first clerkjob with Cowtown Bootscame at the old NorthwestPlaza location on Freder-icksburg Road, and it wasthere that wife Elsa joinedhim. The couple have nochildren, and you will findat least one of them andusually the two of them to-getherduring all store openinghours--from 10 a.m.through 7 p.m. Mondaysthrough Saturdays, andfrom noon until p.m. onSundays. “We feel privileged tobe a part of the CowtownBoots family,” Sam Cedillosaid. “And we are gratefulfor the many friends andcustomers we have accu-mulated over the years.” Sam and Elsa Cedilloshow their gratitudethrough various localcharities they support, and


Cowtown Boots manager Sam Cedillo displays the popuar square-toedmens boots that are big favorites with his customers. His stock at Cow-town includes all major brands along with the Cowtown label.

Continued on pg. 14

Elsa Cedillo poses with the vast variety of merchandise she and hus-band Sam Cedillo offer at the San Antonio Cowbown Boots westernwear store. In this photo we see silver belt buckles, women and kidsboots, belts, and mens boots. The store also features shirts, jeans, andwestern hats.

Cowtown Bootsthe life and loveof local couple




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Cancer survivors Local musicians WayneHarper and Jim Chesnutare both recent cancersurvivors who have madehundreds of new friendswith the way both haveheld together throughchemo and radiation treat-ments.

Both of these guys aresuper musicians whomake their livings with gui-tars and vocal cords, andboth of them have sur-vived mouth and throatcancer, the scariest can-cer that a singer couldever dream of contracting.

Chesnut and Harperhave tested their voicessince the big scare, andboth find their singingpipes basically intact.

Wayne Harper is themulti-talented lounge mu-sician and finger pickerguitarist who once ownedthe Martini Club, whileChesnut is a former majorlabel recording artist andsongwriter who now per-forms in local venues. Healso writes a column forAction Magazine titledLive Music Matters. Both Harper and Ches-nut eschew the notion thatthey are heroes, but that isexactly what they are. These musicians boldlytook their frightening dis-ease straight into the faceof the public by way of so-cial media, and they bothposed for Facebook pho-tos while wearing thoseugly, mummy-lookinghead radiation protectors. Chesnut has evenpenned a new song titled Isure do miss my hair. Thattook balls for a onetimeCurb Records pretty boy. While Chesnut has adevoted wife who has pro-vided comfort and deter-mination, the divorcedHarper has enjoyed thelove and devotion of a littleshelter dog he adoptedafter his cancer diag-noses.

Baxter is Harper’s little

shelter dog adoptee whohas also captured thehearts of many, and the lit-tle black mutt, part dachs-hund and part chihuahua,continues to race throughWayne’s life like a whirlingdervish on methampheta-mine. Wayne refers to him as“my little Rat-Bat-Piranha-Velociraptor.” The mutual love is obvi-ous. Harper says Baxter haschanged his life. Covenant Hills Covenant Hills, thepricey drug and alcoholtreatment center forwomen just outside ofBoerne on Highway 46,abruptly shut down lastmonth. Employees and pa-tients were given no rea-son for theclosing, and one womanwho worked there for over10 years said she wasdevastated. “I know it must havesomething to do withmoney,” she said. “But it ishard for some of us whohad no inkling.” Patients at the facility, ahuge and palatial housewith a breath-taking viewof the Texas Hill Countryfrom its back yard, weretaken a couple of times aweek to Alcoholics Anony-mous meetings in Boernein a van which the patientsflippantly referred to as“the druggie buggy.” Although they attendedAA, most of the CovenantHills women were straightdrug addicts. There are rumors thatthe treatment facility mayhave lost its insurance ac-creditation, and still other

mutterings about anotherdrug and alcohol treat-ment company coming into reopen Covenant Hills. We don’t know whatkind of success rateCovenant Hills may haverealized, but most peoplein the drug and alcoholtreatment business knowthat the cushy CovenantHills could not comparewith San Antonio’s AlphaHome for substance abus-ing women.

Tex Pop toys Ty Gavin, John MichaelRamirez, and numerousother local musicians per-formed during the pre-Christmas toy drive at theTexas Popular Culture Mu-seum known as Tex Pop.

The event was a hugesuccess and there was agood crowd on hand forthe two performinggroups--Ty Gavin’s HillCountry Band and a Bea-tles tribute band calledPete’s Best. True to his word, ex-punk rocker Gavin is nowwearing a cowboy hat andperforming country musicwith the definite Gavinrock edge. With him in the groupare Keith Harter and

Robert Dozier on guitars,Billy Mansell on drums,and Emmett Pastran Jr. onbass. Bad Bob Rohan

In musician speak,“bad” really means “good,”while the term “badass”means super good. So meet once againour badass fiddler friendand Action Magazine car-toonist Bad Bob Rohan.

Rohan’s Buffalo Galscartoon has been runningfor several years in ActionMagazine, and his bookBuffalo Gals, volume 2, isnow on the market withliner notes from DebbieTurner of the Goat GapGazette in Waxahachie,Mark Boardman of theTombstone Epitaph inTombstone, Arizona, andSam Kindrick of ActionMagazine in San Antonio,Texas. The Waxahachie editorwrote: Yee Haw! Anothercollection of the BuffaloGals to enjoy. Bob Rohanis a whiz at making uslaugh with antics of theGals and town folk of Buf-falo County. Even cityslickers will enjoy thesecartoons. Mark Boardman, theTombstone, Arizona editor

wrote: Bob Rohan is afunny guy. And he’s a car-tonist. And he puts to-gether funny cartoonsabout the West (especiallywith women making fun ofmen). Which is why hedoes Buffalo Gals everymonth for the TombstoneEpitaph. Grab this book,read it, and you’ll see whatI mean. You’ll be laughingwith him, not at him. Sam Kindrick of ActionMagazine wrote: Rohansurpasses the realm ofridiculous at times, but hisBuffalo Gals strips are al-ways good, clean fun thatmay be welcome at anyfamily’s dinner table. Andoften times the Gals makepoignant points about lifeand living while toleratingtheir worthless male coun-terparts. I highly recom-mend Bob Rohan andBuffalo Gals. You will find BuffaloGals on page 3 of thisissue of Action Magazine. Says Rohan: I have the books set upfor fans to go to my web-site at www.badbobro-han.com and purchasethe item either from BookBaby with a credit card orpay pal or from me directwith a check or moneyorder.If they buy direct from meand want both books, I willoffer both books for$50.00 which would in-clude shipping. Single copies of eitherbook may be purchasedby check or money orderfor $29.95. Postage ispaid. Send check ormoney order to BobRohan, P.O. Box 37,Keman, Texas 77565.


Wayne Harper

Jim Chesnut

Bob Rohan

Baxter

Ty Gavin

By Jim Chesnut Before TV changed theentertainment landscapein the 1950s and 60s,many San Antonio folksused to drive to Banderato dance and let off steamon the weekends, accord-ing to my country musicyogi, George Chambers. On the way to and fromBandera on state highway16 (Bandera Road), somewould stop along the wayat Papa Klein’s Texas StarInn in Leon Valley andJohn T. Floore’s CountryStore in Helotes for, it canbe said, refreshment re-fills. According to Cham-bers, there were a lot ofcar wrecks on the thentwisting and treacherous

highway that connectedSan Antonio and Bandera.Fortunately, it is a muchsafer highway these days. In his book Dance Hallsand Last Calls: A Historyof Texas Country Music,Geronimo Treviño de-

scribes Bandera up to the1950s as a “town that re-sembled something out ofthe Old West.” And so itwas . . . a wild, sorta-tamed community with a


Old Bandera road a treasure trove of memories

Continued on pg. 13

Willie Nelson has been playingFloore Store since the 1960s. Nel-son’s old friend John T. Floore islong gone, but Willie still returns tothe place.

It is still not uncommon to see saddle horses on thestreets of Helotes and Bandera.

Where there is country music, there will always be the two-steppercountry dancers. And this has never changed along Bandera Road.

John T. Floore Country Store is the most recognizable landmark in thehamlet of Helotes. It has been going strong for all these years with nosigns of a slow down.

reputation for lenient lawenforcement, fistfights andeven shootouts betweencombatants filled withbravado from too muchcerveza. There were a couple ofpopular but now-gonedance halls that attractedthe cowboys and cowgirlsof the day . . . Silver Spur,located on a hilltop west oftown, and The Cabaret, lo-cated on the main street intown. Both of these ven-ues booked travellingcountry music artists ofthe day, including ErnestTubb, Bob Wills, GeorgeJones, Willie Nelson,Loretta Lynn and a bunchof others too numerous tomention here. In Helotes, some folksused to ride horseback toFloore’s Country Store tolisten and dance to themusic of such acts asWillie Nelson, JohnnyBush, Darrel McCall andGeorge Chambers, ac-cording to my Helotes-born-and-raised friend,Amy Reeves. Although it haschanged a lot since thewild-west-Bandera hey-day, live music is still alivein venues along BanderaRoad. There is a string ofmusical pearls on the wayout of San Antonio begin-ning with Papa Klein’s(now Grady’s) Texas StarInn on the left in Leon Val-ley, which features livemusic on Friday and Sat-urday nights from 6:30p.m. until 8:30 p.m. withgreat barbecue, fried cat-fish and plenty of coldbeer. On a personal note,back when I was aNashville travelling trouba-dour, I booked a no-guar-antee, 100percent-of-the-gate gigthere. Made $35 as I re-call, but got free beer andlodging with Doris andMax Gardner. Ah, the late70s . . . good times forsure! Next, on the way out oftown on the right is TheBend, a sports bar at 7700Bandera Rd. Libations,live music (on the week-ends) and pizza can

soothe the soul for thosewho have had a tryingweek. Nice place withplenty of parking and acovered outdoorpatio/deck. Just across LeonCreek on the left at 7905Bandera Rd. is WhiskeyTree Bar and Grill, a livemusic venue that featuresover 20 on-tap beers andhomemade bar food, ac-cording to their Website. Next on the way out oftown is Cooter Brown’sSaloon, on the left justoutside Loop 1604 at11881 Bandera Rd. inHelotes. It is described ina Google search as acountry music bar that of-fers nightly entertainmentin “Western-themed quar-ters with a dance floor.” From there, you will dis-cover the magic of musicin Old Towne Heloteswhere you can find family-friendly live music at sev-eral festivals throughoutthe year such as MarketDays on the first Saturdayof each month. A variety oflive music is also featuredat Helotes Creek Winery,B-Daddy’s Barbecue,Floore’s Country Store,Pete’s Place and Toni Jo’sFood Truck Park. Colleen Miller is thevintner at Helotes CreekWinery at 14359 Old Ban-dera Rd., and I have thepleasure of performingthere from time to time.Folks rave about the wine.It is made from grapes im-ported from all kinds of ex-otic places. Great reviewson the Web, so check itout. I also get to pick andsing some at B.R. Ander-son’s B-Daddy’s BBQ,14436 Bandera Rd. It hasa wonderful stage outsidewith plenty of room forkids to play and a coveredpatio to shield the audi-ence from rain or shine(mostly shine in theseparts). B.R. got his startwith a barbecue food truckand still caters large andsmall events throughoutthe year. Great food andgreat people who serve it. John T. Floore’s Coun-try Store, 14492 Old Ban-dera Rd. is still at it after allthese years and is knownthroughout the country

music world for being oneof the best places to hearWillie Nelson in his earlycareer. They still book Nel-son, but most of their per-formers these days arewell known acts found inthe Texas music chart. But, you know, come tothink of it, I haven’t seenany hitched horses therelately like there were in theold days. That’s a shame. Pete’s Place, 14743Old Bandera Rd. is lo-cated on the other side ofHelotes Creek fromFloore’s also has an out-door stage and featureslive music frequently. In-side, you can find a num-ber of TVs tuned to a


Continued on pg. 14

Old Bandera Roadcontinued from pg 12

The historic Cabaret Dance Hall in Bandera has been torn down, butthere are many who recall the country music legends who played thebig club.

Some may recall the old Silver Spur Dance Hall west of Bandera,marked now by nothing but ruin.

variety of sports channels,so you can keep up withyour favorite teams, etc.Great place to chill. On the way out of

Helotes, you can often findGeorge Chambers playingmusic on the patio at ElChaparral MexicanRestaurant, 15103 Ban-dera Rd. This place hasbeen there for a couple ofgenerations of familyowner/operators. You can-

not beat the food or the at-mosphere. It’s the realdeal. Tremendous servicethe times I have beenthere. The last live musicpearl headed out of SanAntonio is the family-and-pet friendly Toni Jo’s Food

Truck Park of Helotes onthe right at 18620 Ban-dera Rd. It is right nextdoor to Picosos PeanutCompany. Live music willbe offered in 2018 everyFriday night from 7:00p.m. until 10:00 p.m. fromMarch or April through No-

vember, according to theowners. Well, there you have it,folks. A brief overview oflive music choices on Ban-dera Rd. headed out-bound from San Antonio.Hopefully, I will see you in

person at one of thesevenues, and we can pullup a chair and hidy eachother real soon. Let’s keep live musicalive on Bandera Road,South Texas’ Music Row.

the success reasonCedillo always givesstresses quality productand customer service thatis second to none. It is an echo from Joe(Joey) Calcaterra III, whonow serves as manager ofthe El Paso operation: “...the highest qualitycowboy and westernboots at the lowest prices--direct from the factory.This is our promise to you.It is a promise we keepevery day, always...” It all started in 1962when brothers Joe andPaul Calcaterra formed

the company now knownas Cowtown Boots. Theirfather, Joe Sr., was theowner of Fort WorthLeather. Joe II and Paulstarted by sewing mo-cassins in their father’sbusiness. Both brothersare TCU graduates. In 1968, Joe Jr. andPaul moved CowtownBoots to El Paso, hopingto benefit from the greatnumber of expert bootmakers in the El Paso andneighboring Mexico areas.In the beginning, the Cal-caterras were sendingtheir boots to Mexico to befinished there, and this ledto twin boot plants whichfunctioned until the Mexicoplant was closed.

For this article, andafter personally interview-ing the Cedillos, we turnedto the corporate head-quarters in El Paso for thefinishing touches. Direct from the front of-fice came this: Cowtown Boots Co.was founded on a simpleprinciple: to make the bestboot possible and sell it forthe lowest price possible.Staying true to this princi-ple, they make their bootsout of 100 percent leatherfrom start to finish. They use high technol-ogy, cost efficient produc-tion techniques combinedwith the skill of expert bootmakers. Cowtown makesthe finest, most economi-

cal pair of boots found inAmerica today. Along Interstate 10 inEl Paso is Cowtown’s100,000-square-foot man-ufacturing facility, the com-pany’s corporateheadquarters and theworld’s largest factory di-rect boot store. This50,000-square-foot retailstore showcases highestquality cowboy and west-ern boots. The company press re-lease went on to say thatPaul Calcaterra managesthe company alligator farmin Florida, while Joe’s son,Joe Calcaterra III, man-ages the retail store and isregional supervisor of allother stores. Trayce Cal-

caterra Hatton, Joe’syoungest daughter, is incharge of accounting forthe entire operation. Joe’sgrandson, Jesse Akers,helps his father MarkAkers run the Vegas store.And Paul’s son Paul Jr.helps his dad run theFlorida gator farm. Meanwhile, back at thebooming Cowtown Bootsstore in Wonderland Mall,it is business as alwayswith Sam and ElsaCedillo. “We try to stay current,”Sam Says, explaining:“Styles shift and change,as do customer tastes. Weare always expanding ourmerchandise in order tomeet demand and the

competition. We sell topbrand boots, Resistol andStetson hats, shirts andjeans that range fromWrangler to Cinch.” The Cedillos are al-ways giving back throughcharitable causes such asrodeo raffle tickets, theWounded Warriors pro-gram, and the Shrinersyouth projects. The boot business hasbeen good to Sam andElsa Cedillo. “The friends we havemade are the reward,”Sam said. “Word of mouthis the best advertising,and a familiar face comingthrough the door alwayslights our day.”


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 & Grill

Make My DayMartinisMarty’sMidnight RodeoMinds Eye TattooOur Glass CocktailsPigpenPlanet KRebarRecovery RoomRick’s CabaretRolling Oaks Rookies TooSchooner’sSilver Bullet Ice HouseSpanky’s The Crazy ApeThirsty TurtleTwo Rivers TavernWhiskey GirlWinston’sZona

Northwest

Alamo MusicBaker Street PubBig Bob’s BurgersBend Sports Bar

Bone HeadzBrewingzBurn HouseCoco BeachCooter Brown’sElement TattooFat RacksHardbodiesHighlanderHills and DalesIce House BarJanie’s Record ShopJoe’s IceKennedy’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 BurgersBombay Bicycle ClubCasbeersCD ExchangeDemo’sGoodtime CharliesHardbodiesJoe BluesJoey’sLimelightThe MixPigpenPigstandPlanet KSam’s Burger JointSancho’sSqueezebox

Southside

Billy’s Bar 47Brooks PubFlipside Record ParlorHerb’s Hat ShopLeon’s

Mustang Sally’sPlanet KShady LadySpurr 122Texas Pride BBQThe Other WomanThe Steer

Bulverde area

Antler’s RestaurantChoke Canyon BBQDaddy O’sMax’s RoadhouseShade Tree SaloonTaqueria AguascalientesTetco, 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

Live Oak

South Paw Tattoos

Selma

Bluebonnet PalaceDeer Crossing

Universal City

Billy D’sPlanet KThe Pawn Pub

Where to find Action Magazine

Cowtown Bootscontinued from pg 7

Old Bandera Roadcontinued from pg 13


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CLUB OWNERS - Action Magazine · 2017. 12. 30. · do it because they love it. And, maybe because they have to. Among those who do earn their daily bread per - forming live music