ARMADILLO INTERSECTIONS & AN AUSTIN LEGEND'S BACK IN TOWN.
Making it work by making it weird and a look at Austin's Rosetta Stone.
Wherever you go, there you are, and the groove from last week’s Jim Franklin chat took us to Bobby Ray’s living room, a magical time-capsule collection of poster art and pop culture artifacts — originals, full sets, signed….one of a kind, high-value stuff that reflects Austin’s musical heritage over the past half-century.
The 73-year-old Ray worked in the alternative press, and also as a disc jockey, an event organizer and a music manager. In addition to the art, he’s collected a few thoughts.
It felt like being in Paris in the impressionist days, I mean all of those artists were just spectacular. They hung out together, they liked each other, they worked together, they made each other better.
The Armadillo did six shows a week for ten years, and they did a poster for every day. I’m sure there’s a couple thousand Armadillo World Headquarters posters. Then take a venue like The Fillmore West, in San Francisco. They booked one band for the weekend, which meant one poster. There are only 264 Fillmore posters. I know, they’re numbered. The Armadillo was a lot of work for a lot of people for a long time.
Soap Creek Saloon had a poster every month, a monthly calendar. So you can see who’s the big band playing Saturday night, who’s still playing happy hour on Tuesday, who’s working their way up. Month by month you can see exactly what’s happening, the perfect picture of what our music was. Those calendars are the Rosetta Stone for the 70s.
I’ve talked to hundreds of young bands who just had their new record come out and they come by and I’m like ‘hey you got this new single tell me about it.’ And they go yeah, my girlfriend left me and I was really feeling bad so I wrote this song….that’s it! Dead air. If you sit down with Danny Garrett about a Muddy Waters poster he did for Antone’s, he’ll talk for 45 minutes. Explain what everything means. It’s a world of information that you never got from the musicians.
I’m amazed how many people live in this town and play music and didn’t get famous, but made a living for 40 years. They live well. Didn’t have to become superstars. Made a living and stayed and built what we have here.
Bobby Ray, June 2024. Interview edited for clarity.
Happy Heat’s collecting narratives, and if you know of stories that should be told, give us a holler. We’ll be sharing more from our visit to Bobby Ray soon!
CLEVE’S COMING TO TOWN!
“Cleve is such a character that I made him a character in my novels, where he mostly resides in a mental institution so he can’t harm himself or others.” Kinky Friedman, Texas Saturday Night
“Cleve” is Cleve Hattersley, and Happy Heat’s talking with him later this week because the man’s got a story to tell. Catch him rambling with Kinky Friedman in Texas Saturday Night, at about the 28:40 mark. The 1981 film is a fascinating period piece from the BBC.
“At that time, it was the fifth-most-watched documentary in BBC history. Kinky maintains that we should view this with some skepticism, averring that the fourth-most-watched documentary in BBC history was “Butterflies of Uganda.” Cleve Hattersley, Life is a Butt Dial
Hattersley fronted Armadillo World Headquarters anchor band Greezy Wheels. Poised for stardom, Cleve headed to New York for a gig. He decided to take a suitcase full of weed to sell on the side, make some extra bread. He got busted.
“The focus of my appeal was not that the Braniff employees opened my bag illegally. It was on the notion that pot shouldn’t have been illegal in the first place.” Cleve Hattersley, Life is a Butt Dial
Sent to Huntsville’s notorious Walls Unit in 1973, Cleve discovered being a good musician could literally save his ass, because the state’s wardens competed for “best band” at the annual prison rodeo. His rendition of Stagger Lee kept the Walls Unit at the top of the heap. What the warden didn’t know was that the entire time he was there, he smuggled weed into prison through an elaborate network involving his still-free bandmates.
Following his parole after 11 months, Hattersley returned to Greezy Wheels before going on to manage the iconic Lone Star Cafe (as well as the Blue Note Jazz Club) in New York City along with various capers involving fellow Texas contrarian Kinky Friedman, including an assignment to make Friedman’s announcement that he was running for governor a “big f*cking deal.”
“To spice up Kinky’s grand entrance into Schmuck Kingdom, we were able to get seventy or so of Sweet Mary’s fiddle students to dress up cowboy or Tex-Mex and bring their fiddles to San Antonio. They line the staircase behind Kinky, when he came in (they) played Yellow Rose of Texas.” Cleve Hattersley, Life is a Butt Dial
Now semi-retired in New Mexico with wife and bandmate Sweet Mary, Hattersley’s put all this in a book filled with anecdotes. He also dabbles in digital storytelling. Here’s an excerpt from Cleve’s ongoing collaboration with Extreme Heat frontman Bruce Spelman.
Baby Pour That Gravy On It: Tales from a Rock and Roll Life, Bruce Spelman and Cleve Hattersley.
VACANT STOREFRONTS SEEKING ARTISTS
The Downtown Austin Alliance has launched a space activation program, saying “we’re transforming empty, underutilized spaces and are turning them into a platform for social impact, community connectivity, and inclusive prosperity.”
The program is accepting grant applicants, there’s an emphasis on social gatherings, shared culture and civic pride, as well as strengthening the “sense of belonging and connection.” This feels like a great opportunity for artists to showcase something interesting.
HAPPYIN’ THIS WEEKEND
Cleve and Sweet Mary Hattersley, Evangeline’s Cafe, Thursday 7pm
The aforementioned Cleve and Sweet Mary play an intimate show at this south Austin cajun jewel, where the food will be as tasty as the music. Evangeline’s proprietor Curtis Clarke brought the family recipes with him when he moved here from Lake Charles 30 years ago and the roux is right.
BRAT: A Charli XCX Listening Experience, Cheer Up Charlies, Friday 9pm
Tribute Show for the new Charli XCX album release with Iggy Bank, Ruby Knight, May Magdalene, Ryan, Salem Purchase, Sinful Purchase, Targét & Yvonne D’Amour.
Blue Keys Magazine: Zines & Music & Stuff, Ark Park, Saturday 5:30pm
A zine workshop, vendor market and show. Plus, Happy Heat will be there slinging zines and merch!
Art in ATX: Pride Market, Sunday 12pm
A special pride market by the Gallery ATX with live music by La Morena, Cormae, and Kiko Rico. $30 gets you a shirt and tie dye station access.
Go see something, tell us about it, we’ll share more stories next week.
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