I was 18 and new to Austin, and the Armadillo World Headquarters seemed like a smaller and “Austinish” version of San Francisco's Fillmore West. Even back in 1970, my freshman year of college at St. Edwards University, Austin had its own hip, simple, southern flavor. You'd go to a concert, sit on the floor, share crowd commodities (such as large bottles of inexpensive wine passed around, etc.) and absorb the music.
One always feared that their car, regardless of size, might fall into one of the sinkhole “potholes” in the back of the Armadillo. Although unconditioned in Austin, the huge fans near the ceiling provided enough oxygen to keep us from suffering too much. As we grew older, we realized the Armadillo’s existence from only 1970 to 1980 was a short-lived era of inexpensive and energetic music for we lovers of music to enjoy. If only we had known of the tiny, temporary slot in our lives we were living at the time……
Roy Buchanan was a spellbinding magician of the "crying guitar. Cheech and Chong were amazingly funny for virtually no props. The same was true with the fabulously and insanely funny Committee Theater from North Beach in San Francisco. Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie, even Frank Zappa (who later shared it was his favorite concert venue to perform at). Hundreds and hundreds of performers for a mere couple of bucks. Still, Freddie King was the King of the Armadillo. Every time he played, he performed like it was Carnegie Hall. He and his music were massive, hypnotic and almost overwhelming. It was an awesome experience for Denise and me. We should have gone to the ‘Dillo more.....
My wife of forty-one years, Denise, reminded me of our post-wedding reception as we walked into the Armadillo beer gardens the evening of our morning wedding . We were greeted with cheers and a standing ovation from the entire outside beer garden crowd, led by our family as we arrived as the newlyweds of only a few hours. Beer, nachos and family on a warm, humid evening in Austin was a fine start to our blessed marriage.
We will both always remain grateful for having the opportunity to experience music in a now sadly extinct manner: simple, naïve, cheap, and simply for the pleasure of loving music. Armadillo World Headquarters: a permanent place in our hearts.
One always feared that their car, regardless of size, might fall into one of the sinkhole “potholes” in the back of the Armadillo. Although unconditioned in Austin, the huge fans near the ceiling provided enough oxygen to keep us from suffering too much. As we grew older, we realized the Armadillo’s existence from only 1970 to 1980 was a short-lived era of inexpensive and energetic music for we lovers of music to enjoy. If only we had known of the tiny, temporary slot in our lives we were living at the time……
Roy Buchanan was a spellbinding magician of the "crying guitar. Cheech and Chong were amazingly funny for virtually no props. The same was true with the fabulously and insanely funny Committee Theater from North Beach in San Francisco. Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie, even Frank Zappa (who later shared it was his favorite concert venue to perform at). Hundreds and hundreds of performers for a mere couple of bucks. Still, Freddie King was the King of the Armadillo. Every time he played, he performed like it was Carnegie Hall. He and his music were massive, hypnotic and almost overwhelming. It was an awesome experience for Denise and me. We should have gone to the ‘Dillo more.....
My wife of forty-one years, Denise, reminded me of our post-wedding reception as we walked into the Armadillo beer gardens the evening of our morning wedding . We were greeted with cheers and a standing ovation from the entire outside beer garden crowd, led by our family as we arrived as the newlyweds of only a few hours. Beer, nachos and family on a warm, humid evening in Austin was a fine start to our blessed marriage.
We will both always remain grateful for having the opportunity to experience music in a now sadly extinct manner: simple, naïve, cheap, and simply for the pleasure of loving music. Armadillo World Headquarters: a permanent place in our hearts.
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