E
3
JAN 2016
STEAM So tell me is the story true that you were a commodities broker for British Petroleum and you quit to be a country star? JW This story kind of got a little out there. Basically, I graduated college in 2001 and was hired by British Petroleum and put on their fast track for brokers. I moved to Chicago and started working my way up. All the while my mind was on country music, so after about two-years I left BP and moved to Austin and started really pushing my music career. I’ve been doing this for about ten-years and I’m very happy with it. STEAM Listening to your songs we can really hear your country influences (George Strait, Garth Brooks, Merle Haggard, Alan Jackson), but do you have influences from other genres? JW Well, I listen to rock a little and some pop, but my heart is and always has been in country music. STEAM I see that you do a lot of touring in Texas and in the southern Mid-West. Are you planning to expand to the East or West Coasts soon? JW Of course we really want to spread out to the other areas and the coasts. I’m working with WMN towards our national release and a tour to support it. Right now we really enjoy performing for our fans and touring throughout Texas and the southern Mid-West. One thing I really want to make sure people know is that we love coming to Port Aransas. It is such a great city and the fans there are really behind my music. And I’m not just saying this. Port Aransas and South Texas have just really become a big part of my career and my fan base. I would like to see everybody come out to the show, say hello, and have a good time! Website and Facebook: JonWolfeCountry.com
2nd Annual STOMP Winter Festival! Saturday Jan. 30th 3pm-9pm Live music by Aaron Copeland & John Wolfe Tickets are $25 cinnamonshore.com
CONTENTS SOUTH TEXAS
JANUARY 2016 VOL. 4 ISS. 10
ENTERTAINMENT 14 X-FILES: TRUST NO ONE
ON THE COVER...
CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE FOR UPDATES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
WWW STEAMMAGAZINE NET RETRO HIPSTER SELFIE BY DOUG LARUE
15 NEW PRODUCT! NECK ILLUSIONS
ALWAYS IN STEAM
ART
MUSIC 3 STOMPIN’ WITH JON WOLFE
10 ARTIST DOUG LARUE: SUGAR COATING HIS ART
9 DEF LEPPARD HAVING A GOOD TIME 16 RON BAKER: A CAREER WITH PRIDE
QUICK READ 5 COMICS 6 CD REVIEWS 7 ALBUM OF THE MONTH 8 NEW RELEASES: CDs & MOVIES 19
WWW.STEAMMAGAZINERADIO.NET
KRYKEY PREMIUM RADIO 1081.0 ON THE DIAL
PUBLISHER RUSTY HICKS EDITOR TAMMA HICKS COMICS EDITOR ALLENE HICKS STAFF WRITERS RICK BOWEN, DALE MARTIN, TAMMA HICKS, STEVE GOLDSSTEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITERS J MICHAEL DOLAN, DEREK SIGNORE STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS ALLENE HICKS, RUSTY HICKS
TO ADVERTISE WITH US 361-904-4339 | SALES@STEAMTX.COM SEE US ONLINE AT WWW.STEAMMAGAZINE.NET SUBMIT YOUR MUSIC, BOOK, ART, OR SHOW FOR REVIEW! HAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? SUBMISSIONS@STEAMTX.COM
ALTERNATIVE WEEKLY NETWORK STEAM Magazine is published monthly by STEAM Magazine, South Texas Entertainment Art Music, in Corpus Christi, TX. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Views expressed within are solely the authors and not of STEAM Magazine. Typographical, photographic, and printing errors are unintentional and subject to correction. Please direct all inquiries to: submissions@steamtx.com
E
5
surefooted J. Michael Dolan (:15) The next step is already pre-planned, thought out and ready to take—so you might as well take it. The next BIG step is different. If it’s really going to be a BIG one, if it’s truly going to take you to the next level, then the next BIG step cannot be taken by who you are today. It can only be taken by that bold, intelligent, courageous, confident, surefooted person you become, when you finally make the commitment to take the next BIG step.
JAN 2016
Your headed in the right direction J. Michael Dolan (:19) Your plight is no different than any other successful artist or entrepreneur who consistently questions and doubts her own abilities, and who is confronted every day by the armies of distraction, resistance and uncertainty.
Road warrior J. Michael Dolan (:13) The true creative person is never really sure if she’s headed in the right direction because the bumpy road less traveled is always paved with doubt and uncertainty (that’s why it’s less traveled).
Dreaming in the drivers seat J. Michael Dolan (:21)
However, as a committed, crazy, genius artist/trep, that bumpy road is the only road for YOU, simply because it’s the only road that makes you feel like you’re headed in the right direction!
Your big idea wants to go viral. Your worthy project is screaming for attention. Your impossible dream wants to be made real. Don’t give up on your big idea just because it’s too hard or costly. “Hard” is a way of telling you it’s got potential. “Costly” is a way of telling you its an investment worth considering. Don’t give up on your worthy project just because you think it will take too long to manifest. Plant the seeds, add water and let time do the rest. You know that, right? Don’t give up on your dream just because you don’t know how to proceed. All knowledge known to man is now in the palm of your hand. If you can’t figure out the next step, hire a suitable coach to point the way. Don’t pause the one project that continues to tug at your heartstrings just because you have too many other irons in the fire. Most of the time that’s a lame excuse—a device “Resistance” uses to keep you from moving forward. Stop dreaming in the drivers seat, wondering which way to go. Just turn the key, rev the engines and floor it! You are in the drivers seat, right?
“The road to success is always under construction”
—Lily Tomlin
The prudent wage earner knows that the road he’s on will lead him to a predictable destination. However, YOU walk the road less traveled. Uncertain of where it will lead, yet confident you’re headed in the right direction Thank God every day that you chose this path in your life; the daring, independent life of a creative artist/trep—no matter how challenging it is. Because the alternative can be an endless traffic-jam of mediocrity—no matter how appealing it looks.
E
6
JAN 2016
www.theawkwardyeti.com www.lunarbaboon.com New Books Out Now! Order Yours Today!
CD REVIEWS
M
7
STEAMMAGAZINE.NET
BOB MARGOLIN MY ROAD (STEADY ROLLIN RECORDS & VIZZTONE RECORDS) By BOB GOTTLIEB
THE YAWPERS AMERICAN MAN (BLOODSHOT RECORDS) By ROB DICKENS The song “Doing It Right” kicks off the album American Man, which was released October 30 2015. The Denver trio doesn’t mess around; lyrically they recount tales of the forgotten and the down-and-out, as well as staring down some legends. Musically, they rip it up, using their full-on sound selectively, and with dramatic effect. The use of slide guitar suggests a blues and/or noir country foundation, on top of which they erect a structure of their own spirited making. The Yawpers are frantic slide guitarist Jesse Parmet, punishing drummer Noah Shomberg and energetic and hissing lead man Nate Cook. By the way, I should have commenced this article with a definition of the term yawp, this is from thefreedictionary.com: Yawp (verb): 1. To utter a sharp cry; yelp.; 2. To talk loudly, raucously, or coarsely.; Yawp (noun): 1. A bark; a yelp.; 2. Loud or coarse talk or utterance. It’s an apt name. American Man is the band’s second fulllength release, having previously selfreleased an EP (Savage Blue), a full-length album (Capon Crusade), and a bootleg covers record (Good Songs/Shitty Versions). The Yawpers formed in 2011 when Parmet and Cook played together at the only speakeasy in Boulder, Colorado. They added a drummer to the mix and a new trio was born. The band’s name is a nod to Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”: “I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.” The album has many highlights, the opener featured above “Doing It Right”, the title track which has it all – a slow soulful beginning, a stirring crank up, Cook’s searing vocals, a creeping interlude and a somewhat sardonic chorus: ‘Praise The Lord I’m An American Man‘. Also, worthy is the high-speed banjo and fiddle melded “Beale St”, together with the wonderful power hook shuffle of “3 am”. If you like The Replacements, chances are you’re going to embrace American Man. www.THEYAWPERS.com www.ROBDICKENS101.com
GRETCHEN PETERS BLACKBIRDS (SCARLET LETTER RECORDS) By ROB DICKENS It has taken me quite a while to fully explore Gretchen Peters' February 2015 release Blackbirds. But patience is a virtue they say, as this album has been well worth the wait. The artistry is impeccable. The songwriting draws you in as there is so much emotion and well-articulated insights in these stories. There are eleven tracks on Blackbirds and there is plenty of references to ageing and death, following Peters' own experiences of needing to attend more and more memorial services. Coproduced with Doug Lancio and Barry Walsh and recorded in Nashville, the album features some supporting heavyhitters - Jerry Douglas, Jason Isbell, Jimmy LaFave, Will Kimbrough, Kim Richey, and Suzy Bogguss. The title song talks of a crime in Southern Louisiana, "The House On Auburn Street" reflects on the darker side of a suburb in which she lived. A fisherman buries his wife as a result of the impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in "Black Ribbons", while "When All You Got Is A Hammer" recounts the troubles for a veteran adjusting to life after active service. It all sounds rather gloomy, but it is not. There is a delicacy and an empathy here, with a multitude of sharp observations. Peters was inducted into the prestigious Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014 and on Blackbirds the reasons for that accolade are abundantly clear. A towering collection. www.gretchenpeters.com www.ROBDICKENS101.com
A Fresh Look at a Long Hard Road… The hard earned credentials are sitting there for all to take a look at: exploring blues music as a guitarist in Muddy Waters band for seven years; this at the height of Muddy’s touring. And then striking out alone gives the man a hell of a mountain of street credibility; playing with some of the best guitarists and musicians through his 50 years in music; and through all of that alone is plenty, however he also went on to found the Steady Rollin Records label and he cofounded VizzTone Label Group! If you see him playing now he is every bit as vibrant and in synch with the blues as he ever was. I just happened to catch Bob not too long ago playing with James Cotton and wow what a show for both of them. Then listen to this disc which is his latest through the ever changing music business. The songs on MY ROAD reveal the journey he has undergone to get to where he is today, both alone and together with various members of his musical family. Six of the tunes were written by him alone, two
co-writes; one with Tad Walters and one with Terry Abrahamson, a great Nappy Brown tune, and Sean Costello’s story of his battle to keep it together in the music business. And there is one by Tex Rubinowitz and one by DB Codd that completes the picture being painted here. Bob shows his versatility here with his songwriting, guitar playing and he did the beautiful photo that graces the inside of the cover. The band is Bob on guitar and vocals, Chuck Cotton on drums & vocals, and Tad Waters on harp and guitar. You get a glimpse of what the life of a musician is in these times, not all the fun and games you thought. A very solid disc that shows what Bob is doing now. BOBMARGOLIN.COM
E
8
JAN 2016
"English Rose" by Fleetwood Mac (1969). This band has always been a showcase for some really talented people, but the version on this album (Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood) is definitely my preferred Mac. These guys, particularly Peter Green, helped define British blues as much as anyone. This album is a compilation originally released only
in America with a cover shot that also shows off Mick Fleetwood's crossdressing abilities. If you only listen to one track from this album, I recommend the instrumental "Albatross." It was a #1 hit in the UK, but barely played in the USA at the time.
"Buddy Holly 'Live'" (1979). I came across this and a few other interesting Buddy Holly LPs in the late 90s and being the Buddy Holly nut that I am, I had to have them. This is probably the best of them, all probably released after Gary Busey's Oscar nominated portrayal of Buddy in the highly fictionalized "The Buddy Holly Story." Released on Cricket Records, I'm not sure if this is a bootleg or
just some fly-by-night label looking to cash in on Buddy's resurgence at the time. Whatever it is, I'm sure it made MCA and Paul McCartney a little unhappy. It features interviews with Alan Freed and Dick Clark, among others. Also included are early recordings, a few unreleased gems, and a 6-song performance by the Crickets (with Sonny Curtis on vocals) dated February 3, 1969. The best track, and the only actual "Live" recording of Buddy on the album, is from the BBC in 1958 of "That'll Be The Day," "Peggy Sue," and "Oh Boy." BUDDY HOLLY LIVES!
Words by Scott Yager, Sound Magazine
DEF LEPPARD’s influential career includes numerous hit singles and groundbreaking multi-platinum albums including two of the best-selling albums of all time, PYROMANIA and HYSTERIA, capturing the group legendary tracks, bringing together classic Leppard has such as Rock of Ages, Pour Some Sugar On Me, and Foolin. This tour follows on the heels of the bands massive 2014 coheadlining tour with KISS and the release of their new album, DEF LEPPARD; we had a chance to speak with Phil Collen from the band in advance of their upcoming Texas shows.
STEAM What was 2015 like for Def Leppard? DL It was crazy and we haven’t stopped. We obviously just finished the record, but we've also been doing this DELTA DEEP, this extreme blues album. The Def Leppard tour is looking crazy long; they just keep adding stuff to it. The new album came out in October, so it’s just been nonstop.
STEAM You guys have succeeded in five different decades at this point. What are the major differences in music industry that you can pinpoint when it
comes to the touring in particular? DL It really comes down to the music industry becoming more of a business then an art form. It really changed everything, even down to help people tour now. Unfortunately, it's very corporate. Whatever you do, it's got that at the back of it; not really for the artist. We still love it. It's still amazing for us, but the changes are mainly business changes. Like how we don't have MTV anymore; MTV was really responsible for breaking Def Leppard. First it was a cassette, then a CD, and now it’s downloads; now you have a certain amount of people who’ve gone back to the vinyl. When it really comes down to it, the industry changes and you just need to go along with it. When it comes to us personally, we are still playing the same venues that we played 30 years ago. Sure it changed because now people can buy VIP tickets where they meet you, but when you look out into the audience, it all looks and feels the same. You never give up and you keep making good music. Our producer, Mutt Lange, said look we can be an average band or an OK band or we can be a great band with music that last, but that takes a lot more hard work.
We were on board with him and we worked a lot harder.
STEAM You guys have made
There is an art in artistry and you've got to bow down to it and really look at yourself in the mirror. Figure out where you’re fitting in and what your goals are and everything just falls into place.
it so long without ever breaking up or having any big bumps in the road while so many of the bands from your area broke up within a few years let alone a few decades. What makes you guys such a cohesive unit? DL There is a lot of narcissism in music and musicians. They have become elitist without becoming elite. I think one of the things is that we are all from England, except Vivian who is Irish. All of our parents lived through World War II. All of our parents would talk about stuff blowing up down the road and it was something about those people that instilled this really strong working class attitude in us. As we all got older or more experienced everyone is completely different socially, politically, spiritually, no one agrees on anything, but when it comes down to why we all started and that working class background, that is why we have been able to make it work. With some bands it's like a young girl getting her period for the first time and they are such wussies and they have no idea about what’s hard and what's not. People ask whether we get tired of
playing the same song every night and it’s like no, I wrote this and there is nothing better than seeing thousands of people sing these songs. Some musicians have real first world problems, as my wife and I like to say real champagne problems. I have a friend who just got out of Rwanda. That is real hardcore. We’re just a bunch of musicians having a good time. I think that's why a bunch of these musicians can't keep it together because they don't think of it like that and they're not deep enough.
STEAM You guys have songs like Pour Some Sugar On Me that get covered by bands every night, in every city in this country. As a band that appreciates a good cover, and put out a cover album yourselves, what does that mean to you? DL I went on iTunes once and, if I'm not mistaken, I think there were 300 or something versions of Pour Some Sugar On Me and it's really great. I always talk about this; the reason that a lot of these songs have this staying power is that our producer,
M9
CONTINUED — PG 18 —
STEAMMAGAZINE.NET
this concept in mind before I was commissioned by Strange Brew for a poster for the band Wrenfro. The poster is of a monkey with a monkey on his back taking a selfie with his GoPro while skateboarding down a hill and listening to an iPod and sharing earbuds. We know that typically for a commissioned piece has to be done within a certain timeframe, so how long does a piece take you to do, commission or not? It really just depends on the type and size of the piece because these aren't quick pieces that I do; they're pretty detailed, hand drawn, and the original art is typically much bigger than the mixed media piece or print, but I’ve kind of gauged my time over the years to about 10 hours per square inch. You were saying that you were into a variety of sports as a kid and now in your life there are the different types of art you are involved in including filming, photography, illustrating, and painting. Is there any means to the end or will it always be
Rebirth of a fallen soldiers cross (mixed media); Retro hipster selfie (pen & ink); Bolivia film crew, Doug: left/standing (photo by Laura Rojo-LaRue); strange daze movie poster
A
12
FACEBOOK/STEAMTX
evolving? Well, I have a brand services company, Glaze, so I do creative branding that includes photography, web development, illustrations, photography, graphic design, and whatever else needed. We've won two national awards for packaging designs. Glaze is an interesting name, how did you come up with that? Glaze is like glaze on a doughnut. We provide a service that adds the sweet sugary sparkle to your product. To tell the story of how you got into documentary filmmaking you also have to tell the story of how you met your wife, so… how did you get into documentary filmmaking? Well, in the mid-90s I had started an art and entertainment magazine here in Austin. About four years before I started the magazine, I was doing a t-shirt design for a guy who had a bungee jumping company and he said, “I know this photographer whose taken pictures for us and I think you and she would really hit it off.” So unannounced to us, he and
his fiancé invited me and Laura (Roja-LaRue) to film and photograph their wedding. Well, photographers are very competitive and we didn't get along. Now fast forward four years and I'm interviewing Loris Lowe about her show “Local Licks”, which I believe is the longest running local music program in Austin today. Anyway, I was doing a story about Local Licks and Loris said she knew a photographer that I needed to meet and it was Laura. So I was doing the magazine when we were dating and she just jumped in and here we are. The magazine, Capital City Art & Entertainment, was printed for about a year and then we kept it online for a while after that. It was a lot of fun and a great experience that opened my eyes to a lot of other things including documentary films as well as independent features. People had been telling us that the magazine should be a TV show, so it was kind of a natural step to move to the documentary films. We were very involved with the Austin Music scene and did two documentaries, Austin Groove and Strange Daze.
Strange Daze was about the Austin Music Network which was a public access channel the city of Austin turned it into a 24/7 all Texas Music station. The city had an $800,000/year budget and operated the station from 1993 to 2003. You can see it on my YouTube.com channel, Doug LaRue. That sounds very interesting. And Austin Groove? Well, that was actually a precursor to Strange Daze. Austin Groove is more about how people came to Austin and we interviewed a bunch of those artists; it's kind of a fluff piece on the Austin Music Scene while we were teaching ourselves about documentary making. Then we got into the real meat and learning about what was happening with the Austin Music Network and how the whole staff was being pushed around by the politics. But because of Austin Groove we were able to go in behind the scenes and see how things were working for Strange Daze. So how did you get into photography? My dad was into photography and one of my dad’s best friends Dan Coleman trained and taught classes with Ansel Adams so I started hanging around with my dad’s best friend. Dan’s whole house was full of original Ansel Adams and he taught me darkroom and printing techniques. That's very cool. However, I know that times have changed and I see that your equipment is digital. Do you have a favorite camera? Oh man, I have so many cameras now. That was another reason Lauren and I got along so well; we use Nikon and had interchangeable lenses. I had the better camera and she had the better lenses. Currently it would be the Nikon D800E, 36.2 megapixel. Canon and Nikon bodies are so close together that it really doesn't make a difference, it's mainly in the lenses that make the difference. What programs do you use? I use the Adobe CS6 suite. I use it with almost everything I do including painting, photography, and illustration. In my mixed media illustrations such as this guy in between you guys, Slim Guitar, I started that is an original pen and ink and then I scanned it in and I worked it again with a Wacom Pen Tablet in Photoshop and add a background. So now I’ve got an original of that cowboy that doesn’t look like the one hanging on the wall, because it doesn't have the digital things added into it. This piece has been pirated all over the world. That is Slim Lawrence from the band Back Porch Mary, it just came out very nice and I put it up on my site and not too long ago I did a photo search on it and found it being used by different music groups all over the world including a Jazz Festival in Sweden. Is it worth the trouble of getting a hold of these people and telling them “hey, that's mine you can't just use it”? It really depends on the situation. With some of things you can say it’s not a big deal, they're not doing anything with it. But what makes me mad is when I find it and they've ripped my name off, at that point I send them an invoice through PayPal. Typically those people will stop using my image from that point on. Do you have a favorite genre that you prefer to work in over another? I just like to switch it up, keeps things spicy. I don't get bored that way and I’ve got to learn things all the time. For example building websites I have to learn new code, JavaScript, and HTML all the time. the companies and corporations I work with through Glaze are pretty specific on what they want, however I decide how to put my creativeness to use for them. I build their website so I’m able to help them with Photography and illustrations, so it does keep things moving. I relay building a website to a video game; it’s about how you get the information in, make it look good, and usable.
Austin Artists (pen & ink); Slim Guitar (mixed media); Jake the Poet (pencil); The Ballerina; (pencil) Parrot Beach Party (mixed media)
To see more of Doug’s work and information on upcoming gallery shows: DOUGLARUE.NET GLAZE.NET
A
13
FACEBOOK/STEAMTX
Every year we go to a Comic Con to walk
the floor, take in the scenery, admire the costumes, talk to celebrities plugging their latest projects, and, occasionally, to get a sneak peek at an upcoming television or film release. Typically it's a pilot for a high concept show that doesn't even finish its first season due to cancellation. To a sold-out panel of two-thousand, these almost always play extremely well. No matter how lame something maybe, if you get a sneak peek of it at Comic Con it feels as if it might be the next big hit.
episodes. I’ll never do that again. With anything. But once the networks adopted the cable model Chris and I thought maybe we could do this”
When it comes to the dedicated fan base then X-Files has, Duchovny admit that he tunes them out when it comes to making decisions for his character and for the series. “I don't listen to what the fans want and I don't say that because I don't appreciate the fans because I do, but our job is to make the best show possible and to do that we can't pay attention to whether or not people want to see Mulder and Scully kiss or something like that.”
When I asked Duchovny if he was
This year however we were treated to a glimpse of a highly anticipated reboot; one that Comic Con goers were already very familiar with. The extremely popular XFiles are returning with a 6 episode miniseries that will begin airing January 24th. David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Peleggi, and all the fan favorites are back along for the ride with the creator Chris Carter.
Not only did we get to see the first episode which SPOILER ALERT is AWESOME! But we also got a chance to sit down with Fox Mulder himself, David Duchovny, as well as Skinner, Mitch Peleggi, and Chris Carter to talk about the series.
The
post-screening panel was moderated by X-Files super fan and star of HBO Silicon Valley, Kumail Nanjiani . Nanjiani shared his thoughts with us after the episode.
By Scott Yager, Sound Magazine
“I was surprised at how good it was at balancing stuff for newbies and also people who are existing fans of the show. They have so much work to do. They have to set the table again and move it forward. I was surprised in 42 minutes they were able to do that and how much bigger and more epic it was.”
Nanjiani also told us a little
bit about how the series breaks down, saying, “The first and last episodes are mythology and the Middle episodes are one offs.”
E
14
JAN 2016
David
Duchovny spoke about why this abbreviated version of an X-Files season was the only kind he was interested in doing. “I thought of television as 22
channeling a bit of his Californication character, Hank Moody, in the new slightly more pessimistic, less clean shaven, and obviously depressed Fox Mulder than we see in the premiere episode he shot me down saying, “I think you're just reaching I think you're just reacting to the stubble.”
We
ask Mitch Peleggi what he missed most about the series and the answer came out of his mouth instantly, “Gillian’s laugh and David’s wit. I miss standing across from them and working. Once you get Gillian laughing, oh boy. This show was so huge in my life and so huge in my career and to be able to do it again. I've had so many actors tell me that I am so lucky and I absolutely am.”
Creator Chris Carter admitted that showing the first episode to an auditorium filled with diehard fans and members of the media before its actual premier wasn't something he initially understood. “I hope that the buzz, if there is any buzz, lasts through January. That's what scares me.”
As for what material has been fueling Carter for this
latest go round? It's clear that the state of the world today is an ever flowing well of inspiration, especially for someone who is not hesitant to dig even deeper. “I've been paying attention to what's been going on online and a lot of conspiracy talk. I've gone to conventions. There is a lot to draw from. I went to a convention that was about the secret space program in San Jose,” said Cater.
We asked
Carter about Joel McHale, who plays a large part in the premiere episode and is on screen almost as much as Mulder and Scully. We wanted to know whether he returns for later episodes and what went in casting such an important role. “He comes back. He's the bridge between Mulder and Scully. He put them back together you'll see him again in episode 6. It was easy to cast him; he was the right person for the job. I saw him at the White House Correspondents Dinner roasting President Obama and I thought he was so funny. Little did I know he was an X-Files fan.”
Of course the topic on everybody's mind was the
idea of more X-Files. We haven't even gotten all of these X-Files and already all we want to know about is the prospect of more X-Files. When asked if there were other ideas, news items or stories that might turn into future seasons, Carter responded with, “every day I open the paper and see something that would make an interesting X-Files.”
This
should make fans optimistic; however Carter added that, “As long as they’re game, I'm game.” So it appears Mulder and Scully are the ones who need to be convinced. Based on how excited Duchovny seems about this recent go around, barring a ratings disaster, we wouldn't be shocked to see a few more of these mini-files in the future.
Release dates are subject to change, and often do.
**Release dates and Parental Ratings are subject to change, and often do.**
No, Pride had move to Dallas with the reasoning that from you can fly anywhere from Dallas. If you lived just about anywhere else you’d have to go to Dallas or Atlanta to get to where you were going, so it was just easier to live in Dallas.
By Tamma Hicks, STEAM Magazine
Walking down the street in Port Aransas, you probably wouldn’t notice the unassuming guy with long hair. You might notice that his nails on his right hand a little longer than most guys prefer, but if you notice that you’re either very observant or a guitar player too. Ron Baker’s not just any guitarist and if you stop him for a second and oh the stories he can tell! Really, when was the last time you talked to someone who survived a midair collision and didn’t miss that night’s gig? Ron is a true Texan, raised in San Antonio. He’s played guitar professionally since he was 14 and got his first taste of the spotlight in a Dr Pepper commercial. Ron’s career spans a good 50 years
known for her roles in the Beach Party movies in the 60s. Anyway, they came back a few minutes later and hired us. Our band went into the studio and recorded the Dr Pepper commercial. Of course we had to sign a release that if this was a huge hit we wouldn't get any money out of it and it wasn't a hit, but it was our first taste of somebody thinking we're good.
and eleven of those were spent in Charley Pride’s band the Pridesmen. Currently Ron is playing solo-acoustic shows around Port Aransas and around the Coastal Bend with the Bad Buoys band.
Charley Pride's not from Texas, he's from Nashville isn't he? Actually, he is from Sledge Mississippi and he really did pick cotton and to this day he will not take an aspirin out of a bottle because he won't pick that cotton. (laughs) At least that's what he would tell people. He started out in Sledge then went to work in construction in Helena Montana before going to Los Angeles to play for the California Angels baseball team and at the time the owner of the team was Gene Autry. One day Charley sang the national anthem before the ball game and, to hear him tell it, “it was very next day that he was given a tuna fish sandwich, an orange, and a bus ticket to Nashville and was told by Autry ‘you need to be singing.” When he got to Nashville he was hooked up with Chet Atkins, the president of RCA at the time, who signed him on.
So why did you take up guitar at nine years old? Actually, I think it was my mom and dad's idea. My mother's mom played the piano at the silent movies and my mom played a little piano. However, my dad was not musically inclined, but they gave me a guitar at nine years old and I took lessons till I was 11 and put it in the closet. Then one day I found it in there and I haven’t put them back. How did you get picked for a Dr Pepper commercial at the age of 14? Well, I was playing with this little group and there was a teen fair going on in the Joe Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio and I was in one of the bands outside performing and Donna Loren walked by with her manager. If you don’t STEAMMAGAZINE.NET know, Donna Loren was
M
16
And then a few years later you played Delbert McClinton? Oh, that's kind of interesting. Back when I was playing with him, he wasn't the “Delbert McClinton” that everybody knows today. He was really just getting well known in Texas. I had been working with a drummer who knew Delbert and said he was looking to put a band together, so I auditioned with him and learned his music so it was only a few jobs that we really did when I got the call from Charley Pride and of course Pride was already on top and it was still a question on where exactly Delbert was going to go, so I went auditioned for him.
So did you audition in Nashville then?
That probably isn't true now, but it might have been then. So tell me about your audition? When I got the call to audition for him it was really interesting because at the time my hair was down the middle of my back because I’d been in a local country rock band and that's what we did. So I got the call and I knew I’d have to cut my hair if I got that job, but did I want to cut my job before I went or keep it just in case I didn't get the job? I went up there with the long hair. The bass player picked me up the Ron @ Veranda Restaurant, N Padre Island CCTX 2015 airport and took me to Charley’s house. We're sitting in the living room waiting for Pride to get back Well with you joining a band like Charley from dinner and as he walks through the Pride, who's already made it to the top; door the first thing he said to me was, “What you must have been going out on tour have we got here?” And at that point I was pretty quickly. ready to pack it all up and go home. But we The first tour was Australia but the first actusat around and played and he’s just a super al professional note that I played with Charnice guy, so I thought I’d done well. At the ley Pride was at Bob Hope's 1975 Stars And end of the night he asked if I could hang out Stripes Show filmed in front of a live audiin Dallas for a couple of days as they had ence in Oklahoma City and I had to hit off another guy to audition, so I stayed with the the first song… with a TV camera within a bass player, Preston. A couple days later the couple feet of me, so thankfully somebody phone rings and Preston says, “yes, Charley. counted to four and I started playing. The Yeah, he knows that,” and that’s when I first concert was at the Waikiki Music Shell in knew I had to cut my hair. Preston handed Hawaii and then we were off to Australia, me the phone and Charley asked me what New Zealand, and Tasmania. At the time I size suit I wore and then told me that he was was used to playing a four-hour gig and going putting me on 6-month probation to see how home with my 35 bucks, but not anymore! As I’d do. So a few hours later there I was sitting we got on the plane for the Australia tour and on a Southwest Airlines plane flying back to RCA hands each of us 500 bucks, so they San Antonio and I remember thinking, “Oh were in Hawaii and there's knock on the my god. What the hell just happened?” door. It’s Charley who pays me another $500. Oh my gosh, I just made $1,000 and I hadn't even played a note in concert! At that point I felt that I’d made it. That had to have been an amazing feeling! It was. It was really cool in the beginning; you get this surreal feeling as your standing up there and there's thousands and thousands of people with their eyes on you and then after you do this for a while it just becomes a job. I would have thought it would have been cool even in the end. And how long did you play for him? Yeah, even in the end it was still cool, but I had a little girl and during my 11 years I’d
The Interview Tamma & Ron
doesn't go forever; we had gone Meacham Field in Fort Worth which has the longest airstrip in the area and all of the emergency equipment should something had actually happened. Once we were off the plane and we all stared at the tail which is hanging off to the side. What had happened is an instructor was teaching a student pilot how to fly on instruments only, so they didn't see our plane and their wing hit our tail and neither of them survived. So long story short, we ended up playing for the 660 nuns that night and, honestly, I didn't know nuns could drink that much wine!
Charley Pride’s band—The Pridesmen with Preston Buchanan/Bass, David Hutchins/Piano, Unknown/ Drums, Ron Baker/Guitar, Joe Wright/Pedal Steel
been to Australia and Europe six times at that point and japan too; Pride liked to rotate between Australia and Europe. For the most part Pride’s was a good job. We were on salary whether we played or not. One year we only played 75 gigs. He had his own airplane and it was up to him how often he wanted to work so we would fly out on Thursday and come home Sunday after the gig. And how long did you play with Delbert? Oh I don't know - 3 gigs? We had just gotten together and started working when I got the call from Pride and as soon as he hired me I just put everything else aside. As you said he had his own airplane, but I recall hearing that there had been a crash. Can you tell me about that? Definitely, that was fun. It was August 6th 1980, I will never forget that day. We had left South Dakota and headed back to Dallas to play for 660 nuns at the University of Dallas, which is a Catholic college. And Pride swears to this day that the whole reason we made it through was for those 660 nuns. We were about 6,800 feet up and our two pilots were retired Air Force pilots, who were just awesome. We're just cruising along and all of a sudden we hear this big bang and the plane turns sideways. The pilot comes on the intercom immediately and says, “Everybody sit down. Strap up. We got a problem.” That was the last thing we heard until we landed, so we knew something bad had happened. We felt the plane weaving and finally it kind of settled down but we knew we were going down. We had originally been going to love field because that's our home base and looking out the windows we didn't recognize one thing. The fiddle player, Ondre, was sitting across from me and in his broken Czechoslovakian English he says, “Ron this could be it,” and the plane was very quiet. I remember looking out and I could see the engine propeller was just barely rotating and we didn't see an airport. We just kept going down until we were right over the runway and touch down but we didn't stop we just kept rolling because our prop was out all they could do was shut off the engines. At this point we're all freaking out because we knew the runway
And to think this is back before cell phones or most of the communication we have now. I can’t imagine your family! Yeah, when we landed they told us that the news was reporting, “Charley Pride's plane in midair crash. Two dead.” So I called mom and dad told them it wasn't me, we were OK. I’ll never forget a newscaster in Dallas the next morning said, “Charley Pride has a good reason to Kiss An Angel Good Morning!” That was one of the scariest plane stories but you know when you're flying everywhere for 11 years stuff happens out there. What did you do after you left Pride? Well, interestingly Ondre, the fiddle player, left about the same time I did. Ondre was a Czechoslovakian guy who had gone to Nashville for an international band show/concert and pride had seen this band and he loved the way Ondre played fiddle so he offered him a job and he played for him for a long time. Anyway, we started a painting company together where we went into apartment complexes to clean up, repair, and paint after people moved out but, after a while I realized that was a whole lot like work and guitar playing was a whole lot better. I got hired on with a Dallas band called Desperado and played with them for about 5 years before going to work for a VHS and CD duplicating company. After about 5 years there I got the itch to go back to playing guitar so I tried out with a band, got the job, and the day before I was supposed to start with them I broke my wrist so at the duplication company. I didn't get to play with that band and when I finally got out of the cast 12 weeks later I told the doctor I didn’t need to go to therapy, I’m just going to play my guitar. And hurt like hell but I played until it felt better. So how did you end up in Mexico?
My brother lived in Mexico, on Lago de Chapala which is about 25 miles from city of Guadalajara. He thought I’d like it there and that I should at least check it out and I replied with “Are you nuts?” But I really didn't have a lot holding me in Dallas; I was recently divorced, I had closed up my recording studio, I wasn't playing music with anyone in particular since I’d gotten the cast off, so I flew down. I was there for 11 days, came back to Dallas for 5 days packed my guitars and everything that I needed and after 25 years in Dallas I moved. I know that people go down there and they just don't get it, but if you do you don't want to leave and that's where I was. Is that the lake that had been extremely polluted for a long time and the people living around it decided to clean it up? Yes, exactly. Now people can swim in it and you can fish. There was a gentleman that lived on the lake that was very involved in water conservation in the US and so kind of lead the group in their endeavors. But I personally never went in there and I can say that I never ate a fish that came out of that lake as
far as I know. We were also lucky in that we didn't need to speak a lot of Spanish because it was a very Americanized area.
M
17
STEAMMAGAZINE.NET
I was going to ask how fluent you are. I knew enough to get what I needed at the grocery store or at a restaurant but that's it. I met Sally Jo after a few years down there and we hit it off. She is pretty fluent. What brought you back to Texas? Well, my mother, who’d also moved to Mexico, had passed away and, really, I was just ready to come back. When I was a kid we used to come here for vacation so I brought Sally Jo here to see what she thought and she fell in love with it – which is what I was hoping. Now, I’m regularly playing solo-acoustic shows at the Dunes Condominiums in Port Aransas and with the Bad Buoys band all around the area. We’re having fun and that’s what we wanted to do. So come listen to me play. Facebook.com/BadBuoys Badbuoysofportaran.wix.com
Ron with the Bad Buoys (Rusty, Woodie, & Steve) @ Veranda Restaurant, N Padre Island CCTX 2015
M
18
STEAMMAGAZINE.NET
CONTINUED — PG 9 — Mutt Lange, really made us make these things special. He said look let's make it great, everyone can be average. That is why you still get people covering these things. Even the production on some of these records, not gratuitously, but we did spend a lot of time making sure that all these things worked. There is an art in artistry and you've got to bow down to it and really look at yourself in the mirror. Figure out where you’re fitting in and what your goals are and everything just falls into place. It's great. STEAM You guys have so much great work over the years and so many albums that many people consider to be your best work. I know it's a hard question to answer but do you have an album that you believe was the absolute top of your game? DL Absolutely. It would be HYSTERIA. When I listen to HIGH AND DRY some of it sounded a bit like AC/DC and at the time are blue print was AC/DC and QUEEN. If you can kind of imagine a hybrid of that and all those records even, with
PYROMANIA, it sounded like someone else; but HYSTERIA didn't sound like anyone else. It only sounded like Def Leppard. It was us being brave. Again it was Mutt Lange saying don't be someone else, let’s get seven singles off this. MICHAEL JACKSON's THRILLER was absolutely the inspiration on it because it crossed genres. It was soul, pop, R&B. It was openminded and humble. I think we did that with HYSTERIA.
February 2nd AT&T Center San Antonio February 5 American Bank Center Corpus Christi February 6th State Farm arena Hidalgo
M
19
STEAMMAGAZINE.NET
Innovative Features! One Size Fits All - For each category of instrument, there is a one size fits all mechanism. For example, the steel string guitar size will fit all standard steel string guitars, (electric & acoustic) These work with the most common scale lengths, neck widths and fret widths. Non-permanent Low Tack -They can easily be removed without leaving any messy residue. Stays in Place - Designed to hold up to the most demanding licks, the protector won't ever move, wrinkle or stretch! Unsurpassed Quality - Our product is constructed using only the highest of quality micro-woven synthetic fiber materials, these are not to be confused with cheap paper stickers. Ultra Thin - Only 0.005 inches thick, they won't interfere with the musicians playing ability. Easy to Install - Individual pieces make the installation super easy. Typically takes less than 15 minutes. Affordable! 100s of designs! Order online @ WWW.NECKILLUSIONS.COM
WWW.NECKILLUSIONS.COM
What customers think! "As soon as I saw the concept for Neck illusions, I knew it was genius. Millions of guitars made and played every year of different styles, color, and designs but the neck was always the same. Its prime real estate. I wasn't sure how it was gonna stay on or how it would look on, but after 10 gigs so far still looks amazing. Everyone who sees the neck design loves it. It's the next level… Power Up!!" ~ Duke Simms, Shinobi Ninja "This product caught my eye immediately when I guest appeared at a recent NAMM show. I instantly knew that this was one of the most innovative ways to personalize a guitar that I had ever seen." ~ Paul Nelson, Grammy Award winning guitarist/producer and Sony Music recording artist
Installs in minutes! Simply Peel & Stick
NEW! Lone Star Design Available NOW! 100’s of Designs Or Customize Your Own!
WWW.NECKILLUSIONS.COM
Neck Illusions Marco Solo MarcoSolo Productions Every once and a while an idea will come to us that is so unique and refreshing, we will stop everything that we were working on so that we can put our energy and effort into this new idea. Our Neck illusions graphic fingerboard protector is that idea!" ~ MarcoSolo Productions
“We saw this at Summer NAMM and were totally impressed with the quality and ease of use! The guys at Neck illusions were great to talk to and are open to suggestions, especially designs. How impressed? We sent them out as Christmas presents!” ~ Rusty Hicks, STEAM Magazine