One of my favorite lines is “if you remember the 60’s (or 70’s) you weren’t really there.” Well it seems plenty of us were really there and are remembering the Armadillo World Headquarters–that venerable music venue in Austin, Texas which was THE place to hear live music from 1970 through the early 1980’s.
Having been pointed in the direction of the ‘I Remember the Armadillo’ Facebook page by my brother Jack, I became an immediate fan. I proceeded to spend way too much time reading the posted memories, checking out the list of bands and dates they played, and creating my own nostalgic musing. Since my downstairs neighbors worked at the Armadillo, and would put me on the ‘list,” it seemed I was there every time the doors opened.
Just about every band or musician you ever heard of and, some you hadn’t, played at the ‘Dillo. Always the best audience, we gave a standing ovation for everyone—Ravi Shankar to Jerry Lee Lewis, Commander Cody to Frank Zappa, Freddy King to Boz Scaggs, and the list goes on. The Armadillo embodied everything about that era in Austin, the music, the camaraderie, the wafts of smoke (you know what I mean). But, it was definitely, first and foremost about the music for me.
So this weekend, I grooved to some of my old LPs, did a little dance and felt the love.
Listen to some good music this week.
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