icepickphil

Liberty Hall booked many of the same touring acts that played at Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin. These were performers who could draw at a mid-size venue but not enough to play at the Music Hall or later Hofienz Pavillion at UH.

One difference from AWH though was that Liberty Hall seemed to have more of the classic bluesman play there. I recall a New Years Eve show in around 1974 or 75 that my friends went to...Jimmy Reed performed.

What are the dates on most of these newspaper ads/clippings? My guess would be '70-'72.

I don't know much about Jubilee Hall. Looks like it wasn't around very long. Same with La Bastille.

Awesome, awesome stuff. My guess is that alot of these newsprint ads came from Space City News?

Are the ads for the downtown clothing stores/restaurants from the Market Square area? In the late 60s/early 70s that area had a strong hippie/counterculture presence along with Montrose of course.

I used to have a giant color poster of the KAUM eagle advert. I also liked that Quicksilver ad "a pillow concert". Was it bring your own pillow?

KAUM was a very good station around '72...a competitor of KLOL "Mother's Family".

Vicman--I'd imagine all of the Tanglewood kids are in private schools. The Grady apartment kids must live in the apartment complexes you listed a few posts back.

When Grady was an elementary school in the 60s there were only 2 classes per grade. This was before all of the external "shack" buildings were there. There were 34 kids in my K class...with only one teacher, no teaching assistant.

Is the current student body of Grady bussed in? If the neighborhood is 100% white where do the Grady students come from?

Are the Tanglewood kids zoned for Revere?

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Here's Grady's profile:

* http://dept.houstonisd.org/profiles/grady_ms.pdf

What Katie says about the racial percentages are true... I'll look at the TAKS scores in a minute.

According to the profile - the TAKS scores average in the 80's with low 90's and high 70's. However Math scores took a downturn in 2004-2005, with the lowest number of passing: 64% of 8th graders passed TAKS Math during that school year. The other two grades were in the mid-to-low seventies.

I have an idea on how to make Grady better.

Since the Sharpstown area also needs a new middle school... we could:

1. Bulldoze Jane Long Middle School and build a brand new Sharpstown Middle School in its place (HISD has plans to build a new school in Sharpstown, but currently it is on hold)

2. Move Jane Long to an area in Gulfton and establish it there

3. Rezone parts or all of the Pilgrim Elementary School area (as of 2008) to Jane Long

4. Bulldoze Grady and rebuild it as a full-service middle school

Jane Long currently serves a sliver of eastern Sharpstown, the Braeburn Elementary School zone, a sliver of Maplewood, and Gulfton.

This occured during my senior year at Robt. E. Lee and my memories are a little sketchy. I'd welcome anyone elses memories of this event.

The riots occured in October of '75 in the parking field across from the school on Beverlyhill St.. The field was a drug market where students gathered as early as an hour before school to party. HPD undercover narcotics officers had been "staking out" the field for several weeks since school had started that September. They also placed several undercover (dressed up to look like school students) in the field to purchase drugs--which they did.

Several drug busts were made that October in the field including one bust of a 16 year old boy selling pezz candy LSD. After one of the busts several students began to attack one of the police cars. It had it's windows broken by rocks, etc. Several arrests of students were made.

Ultimately the drug busts succeeded in stopping the drug use and selling in the empty dirt lot parking field. The field is now part of the parking lot for Pappasitos Mexican Restaurant on Richmond.

I went to Grady when it was still an elementary school in the 60s. What's up with the zoning of it now that's the problem?

Now, if they could only fix Grady middle school....

Actually rezoning all those apartments has more to do with the fact that Briargrove was using over flow buildings at the Post Oak YMCA in order to educate all the kids zoned to the school. With the rezoning The School at Post Oak will close and all will go to Briargrove.

A majority of the non-apartment neighborhood families go into private or move to SBISD for 6th grade and up. IF they rezoned Grady, they might stay.

Further research has determined there was a Cinema West in Austin on S. Congress.

http://home.austin.rr.com/michaelwhitworth...lt%20cinema.htm

I'm assuming this was owned by the same guy. The 'Cinema West' logo on the marquee is the same as the Houston theatre.

Two or three years ago I was at the Continental Club downtown and saw they had one of the signs from the Cinema West theatre backstage.

Does anyone remember this theatre? I believe it was an adult theater on Richmond or Westteimer in the 70s (before VHS tapes). Was it a chain of theaters?

What a find! KFMK was the first 'free form' FM rock station of the late 60s and preceded KLOK and KAUM. Check out KILT's special about drugs on Houston's college campuses.

http://vasthead.com/Radio/radio_works.html

Interesting read about these bands Niche. I'm the guy who runs the 1960s Texas Music site.

Through the years there has been an ongoing debate about the role Interantional Artists played in the career of the Elevators. As I see it here are the two points of view:

1. IA contributed to the breakup of the group and it's lack of national and international success (your viewpoint Niche). The group would have been much better off if they had been signed to a nationally recognized label (like Columbia or Warner Bros) that could have properly promoted and have managed them.

2. from this website Elevators FAQ:

"Q: Did the Elevators get ripped off by their record label (International Artists) and/or Lelan Rogers (worked for IA and Kenny Rogers brother)?

A: Hardly. Especially not when compared with the average deal that a semi-national band on a small label got in the mid-1960s. I A kept the Elevators on salary, which was not common, and plowed significant amounts of money into "Easter Everywhere" and the third LP sessions.

Lelan Rogers is often portrayed as a bad guy but was only an employee at I A and not really in the position to rip anyone off. He should receive credit for helping to break "You're Gonna Miss Me" nationally, and band members like John Ike and Stacy have spoken of him in respectful terms later on. The dubious "Live" LP was conceived long after he had left I A."

No doubt International Artists made some significant mistakes when managing the band (as they also did with Bubble Puppy) but Elevators also were able to accomplish alot with IA in their short 2 years of activity.

The 3rd LP "Bull of the Woods" is primarily a solo LP by the guitarist Stacy Sutherland. Roky contributed very little as you've noted.

There are several bands that come to mind, as I've developed a taste for psychedelia. I feel somewhat connected to this era vicariously through my dad, who personally knew and hung out with at least one member from each band listed.

Thirteenth Floor Elevators - Austin, TX

If it weren't for International Artists, a recording company that was in Houston's warehouse district, they'd have been BIG. They were already HUGE in Europe, but IA mismanaged them, so they stayed pretty regional. My dad took me to meet Rocky Erickson, the lead singer and front man, when I was a kid. The fellow wasn't in very good shape, at least during the 1980's. He was mostly incoherent, but my dad and he, neither of which had seen eachother in years, hit it off. I've now got all their CDs and they're one of my favorite bands. The electric jug is genius, albeit overplayed. Rocky wasn't on most of the Elevators' last album, 'Bull of the Woods', although I consider it my personal favorite...very shroomy...good album for rolling down the windows on Houston's summer afternoons and driving around without A/C, letting the humidity soak in. In the late 70's and early 80's, Rocky was with the Aliens; his thing was making horror music to match the horror movies of his own childhood...and probably the horrific experiences from his stay at State hospitals for the mentally ill. Electroshock treatment does weird stuff to people.

When do you think the photo of Market Square was from? Was the night club La Bastille located there in the 70s?

Dig those cats and kitties hanging out in front of Michelangelos. Way cool.

A friend of mine mentioned a kiddie place called Wee Wild West. I went there as a kid (60's) but have no idea where it was. Anybody remember that one?

I went there as a child also for b'day parties. It was located near Yorktown and Westheimer I think. Maybe where they later in the 60s build Western National Bank. It's another bank now.

Anyone remember or have any stories to tell about Liberty Hall which was located at 1610 Chenevert? All sorts of performers played there...Jimmy Reed, Ted Nugent, Bruce Springsteen, NY Dolls, Velvet Underground, Gram Parsons, just to name a few.

I believe it had formerly been a movie theatre.

Went there when it was Cody's also in the 80s.

What's in that space now?

A few more Rice atheletes that went pro throughout the years:

Jose Cruz Jr. (baseball)

Dicky Moegle (football...played for the 49ers and Cowboys)

Tobin Rote (football)

Bill Howton (football)

Buddy Dial (football)

Hugo Hollas (football Saints)

Ricky Pierce (NBA Bucks)

...several baseball players from Rice's nat'l championship baseball team of a couple of years ago were drafted and are in the minor league's now. Look for several to be in the majors real soon...

This info brings up a few questions I have about that area's public grade schools....maybe someone will know about all this...

What is the reason St. Georges Elementary was built in the first place?

I had heard that many Briargrove Elementary students will be relocated to the new St. George's building while their school will be renovated next year. Is this true?

It's unclear to me why Pilgrim Elementary is being relocated or shut down. If the area grade schools are so overcrowded why close one down? Any one know the true story?

I understand Will Rogers Elementary off of Richmond will be closing. I'm asuming that their students who live west of that school will transfer to St. George's. Where will the Will Rogers students that live east of Rogers transfer to?

signed,

Grady Elementary graduate class of '69

"In New York City, all high schools are admission-only. NYC has no high school zoning boundaries. I wonder how that would work out in Houston.

Native Houstonian now living in New York City here. Sad to say the NYC 'admission-only' system for high schools isn't so great either. 8th graders must rank their top five high school choices in the order in which they want to attend. Unfortunately some students don't get into ANY of their choices and they get assigned to some school in another bourough.

One concept the New York City DOE has implemented in recent years is to divide up some of the mega high schools (1,000 or more students) into 2 or 3 three separate schools that share the same building. The idea is that the students won't get lost in a giant school and will receive more individual attention.

At least the private schools in Houston don't cost $26,000 per year like they do here in NYC!

Wondering if the picture at the bottom could have been taken from Rice Stadium? Looks like spectators in coats.

Some more that my Dad took with his Argus C3 camera:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

jb4647 --

Saw some of the Astrodome, Sakowitz, and Joskes pics you also posted in other threads as well. All are fantastic. Please keep them coming!

How did your father get the arial shot of the Shamrock?

Here are a couple of photos that my Dad shot in the early 60's:

1610 Chenevert

Anyone know what's up with the old theatre on Chenevert that used to house the live music venue Liberty Hall in the 70s?