Archive for the ‘Venues’ Category

Willie Nelson and Family at the Austin Music Hall TONIGHT!

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

amh

Janis picked me up at the Austin airport at 11:00 p.m tonight., and she gave me a tour through downtown Austin, which looked very beautiful at midnight, with the rain and the fog softening everything and no traffic.  

mings 

We went by Ming’s Cafe, where Paula Nelson was scheduled to play, but we got there after midnight and they were closed.

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No problem, though, we went next door to Kerby Lane for a late night snack.  The place was packed with young twenty-somethings – where do those young kids get all their energy anyway.

We are so excited about the Willie Nelson and Family show tomorrow night at the Austin Music Hall!  Also scheduled to perform are Paula Nelson, Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel, and Billy Bob Thornton and the Box Masters.

It feels great to be back in Texas, with a couple of Willie Nelson and Family shows to look forward to!

Winchester gets excited for Willie Nelson

Friday, October 16th, 2009

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The Patsy Cline Theater
photo sent by Christian Schweiger

Excitement continues to grow in Winchester, Virginia, as it gets closer to the official dedication of the Patsy Cline Theater and Willie Nelson and Family Concert on October 29, 2009.  

I spoke with Christian Schweiger, one of the promoters of the event, in Winchester, where he is working hard on final touches for the dedication and concert.   The whole town wants to make sure that Willie, his band and crew feel welcome.  “We want to make sure everything is right for the band,’ said Christian.  ”We want the sound to be good, I want to make sure Budrock’s happy with the lighting.’

I asked Christian about how the naming the theater after Patsy Cline evolved. 

 ”We have a big love for Patsy Cline in Winchester, of course,” he said.  “The local high school was built in 1923, and was named after John Handley, a judge from Pennsylvania who fell in love with the town, and gave money to the town.   And they used his money to do a $70 million renovation at the school. 

As they completed different projects, they started naming things, like the athletic fields were named after someone.  Then, when they started on the theater, Patsy’s Cline’s name came up, because she had attended the school, and had performed on the theater’s stage, at different talent shows.  Patsy lived right around the corner from the school, and worked at a drug store nearby.”

And how did Willie Nelson become a part of the dedication of the theater?

“Winchester has a big appreciation of Willie Nelson.  This is not Willie Nelson’s first concert in Winchester — he performed here in 1966, during our annual Apple Blossom Festival.  People in Winchester love Willie Nelson, and they know the nexus between Willie and Patsy, with the song, ‘Crazy’.   For years, for 20 years, people have been talking about trying to get Willie Nelson back to Winchester.  “

“Then, as the dedication was being planned with this beautiful theater,  we thought this was the right time to reach out to Willie and William Morris, and invite him back.  We wanted to let  them know that we had this proper setting, that was fitting for Willie to perform in, we were ready for him and we would like him to come back.  And we are very thrilled that they agreed to it.’

.winchester
Historical Winchester

Christian explained that the dedication ceremony and the Willie Nelson and Family Concert are part of  fundraising efforts for the Winchester Education Foundation, and will help raise funds for academic programs, scholarships, athletic equipment and uniforms and other projects to benefit the students.

 According to Christian,  the dedication ceremonies will include the presentation of the Key to the City to Willie Nelson by Winchester Mayor Elizabeth Minor. 

Patsy Cline’s widower, Charlie Dick, will attend the dedication ceremony, and has prepared a short video of pictures of Patsy Cline from his private collection, set to music.  Their son Randy and daughter Julie were also invited to the event, and are expected to attend.  They will be introduced following the dedication ceremony.

Christian said that the entire school is involved in the dedication events.  “We have an elite choral group here, called the Hill Top Singers, and they are going to open the show with some Patsy Cline tunes.   The kids pitched in and bought tee-shirts to wear that say:  “I opened for Willie Nelson.’  We got them back stage passes, and they are excited about that.   The junior class is running the concession stands.”

It took a village to bring Willie Nelson and Family to town, with residents reaching out to Willie Nelson’s managment, contacting friends who may know Willie, and working to bring him back to Winchester.   A local restaurateur will be preparing smothered chicken, and other traditional regional dishes, and a hotel in town is offering special packages for fans who attend the concert.

When I asked Christian how the ticket sales were handled, he said, ”We gave first priority to Willie Nelson’s fan club.  Then we followed up with a pre-sale for local residents, and announced it on a local country music station, and took a big banner on the front of the local paper.   But the tickets went fast, they went too fast.  I really wanted everyone to be able to come.  We tried to get Willie for another show, but he couldn’t do it.”

The theater accommodates 1,327 people; a cozy venue to see Willie Nelson and Family.  ”I tell you what,” Christian said.  “When you look at all the venues Willie has played, he has played some beautiful places all over the world.  But this beautiful theater is a very intimate setting.”

There will be a special program book given out to people who attend which will include the history of the school with pictures.   Willie Nelson’s merchandising crew, Scooter Franks and his staff, will be selling tee shirts, bandannas and other memorabilia.    “The only thing I asked him not to sell was any pictures of reefer or anything.  This is a high school,” Christian said.

I asked if any pictures of Willie Nelson’s 1966 concert had surfaced, but Christian said none had.  “I’ve been looking and asking for them,” Christian said, “but none have shown up.   I’d really like to meet the promoter who had the juice to bring Willie Nelson to Winchester back then.”

Winchester is located approximately 80 miles south west of Washington DC.  It has a population of approximately 20,000, but it’s surrounding county has a much larger population.  “It’s beautiful here,” said Schweiger.  “We’re in the middle of our apple picking season, and the apples are turning.  The school’s campus is beautiful, too.  It sits on top of a hilltop and overlooks the town.  It’s a showpiece.”

Over the years, the theater has hosted presidents and celebrities, Christian said.  “We had Bob Hope here, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, Presidents Johnson and Ford.  We’ve had a few luminaries on that stage, but the big prize was getting Willie Nelson to come back.”

“The football team is 6 and O.  Willie Nelson’s coming to Winchester.  It’s a good time for our city.”

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Willie Nelson and Family,Naples Philharmonic Center for the arts (10/18/09) SOLD OUT

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

philharmonic

Willie Nelson and Family
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Philharmonic Center for the Arts
5833 Pelican Bay Boulevard, Naples, Florida
http://www.thephil.org

Show is sold out.

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Willie Nelson and Family, at The Gorge (7/4/07)

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

gorge2 by you.

Willie Nelson and Family, at the Gorge, George, Washington, on July 4, 2007.

gorge3 by you.

Beautiful place to hear live music, especially WN&F.  It was very hot, though, don’t let that river and canyons fool you.

Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp in Houston (8/2/09)

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

pavilion

http://blogs.lubbockonline.com

Just returned from The Bob Dylan Show in The Woodlands (outside Houston), and all I can say is WOW. Sometimes, big tours don’t live up to the hype, but this show actually does. Everyone I talked to during and after the show agreed. Three consummate professionals did what they do like their lives depended on it. No one phoned it in, the tempo never lagged, and the packed house at the Pavilion left satisfied and slack-jawed.

Willie led the way with a vintage Willie set: lots of crowd-pleasing favorites and a bunch of boot-scootin’ covers. He still sounds great, and he set a blistering pace with 23 songs in just over an hour. It didn’t seem hurried, though. Just practiced. That man knows how to please a crowd, and he gives it to them in spades.

A few highlights: “Whiskey River,” the opening number, got the party started just right, followed shortly by “Whiskey For My Men, Beer For My Horses.” I also loved  “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” by Kris Kristofferson, “City of New Orleans” by Steve Goodman, three classic Hank Williams songs, and a shout out to Waylon Jennings with “Good Hearted Woman” and “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys.” There were plenty of great Willie standards, too, including “Night Life,” “Crazy,” “On the Road Again,” and “Always on My Mind.”

To read the entire article:
http://blogs.lubbockonline.com/freewheelin/2009/08/03/if-you-ever-go-to-houston/

Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan in concert TONIGHT!

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

 woodland

Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Bob Dylan are performing tonight at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, in the Woodlands, Texas.

www.ticketmaster.com 
$35-$95

Surrounded by a lush forest, The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion is an outdoor amphitheater that provides the Greater Houston region with an array of performing arts and contemporary entertainment in a setting of unparalleled beauty.

George P. Mitchell, former chairman of Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. and founder of The Woodlands, along with his wife Cynthia Woods Mitchell, for whom The Pavilion is named, dreamed of creating a first-class performing arts facility for The Woodlands since the community’s inception in 1974. They envisioned such a facility as a venue for performing arts events as well as popular music.

The dream became a reality when The Pavilion opened with a star-studded gala weekend in April 1990. Since then, it has earned praise from both artists and audiences. The Pavilion presents approximately 75 events every March through November; events ranging in style from rock to classical, jazz to country, and modern opera to contemporary American ballet.

Tim’s Porch, at the Back Yard, getting ready for Poodie’s Picnic

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

I didn’t know what to expect when I got to the Back Yard last weekend, with the trees being removed, etc.  To give you an idea of how the place has been re-configured, the stage is now sitting on the original slab of concrete where the sound board used to sit, as far as I could tell.  Fence moved closer up in back, and there is parking back there, now.  It is cozier, but took some getting used to.  Still a great place to hear music, and there was a lot of great music last Sunday.

Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp Ballpark Tour in Allentown, PA SOLD OUT (7/14/09)

Friday, June 19th, 2009

coke

The Bob Dylan Show at Coca-Cola Park has sold out, officials announced during a news conference this afternoon. The Allentown show, which will also feature Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp, is the first in Dylan’s 21-date ballpark tour to sell out, officials said.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/allentown/index.ssf/2009/06/bob_dylan_concert_at_cocacola.html

Tim O’Connor

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

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Tim O’Connor, Willie Nelson, Darrell Royale (1979)

Tim O’Connor
6/1/2001
by Andy Langer
www.austinchronicle.com

If he hadn’t been driving the getaway car, Tim O’Connor might have punched Willie Nelson.

“I was screaming at him,” recalls O’Connor, nearly 25 years later. “I wanted a fight.”

What O’Connor didn’t know at the time was that many shows at Houston’s legendary Gilley’s dancehall ended with more people onstage than in the crowd. This was one of those nights. Grabbing Nelson’s beloved guitar Trigger, pushing the country music icon into a waiting car, and beating a hasty retreat, O’Connor had no idea that the cowboys rushing the stage were merely fans who loved Willie and wanted to show their appreciation. Berating the singer for letting his encore be overrun, O’Connor began yelling.

“Why I am I here? What do you want me to do? What do you want me to be?”

In those days, nobody in Nelson’s Family had a title: If you had to ask for one, he didn’t need you. If you didn’t know what you were doing there, he didn’t either. And yet, even after being yelled at by $25-a-day roadie, Nelson answered with typical calm.

“What do I want you to be?” Nelson repeated. “I’ll tell you the three things I never want you to be: cold, wet, or hungry.”

Three words that changed O’Connor’s life.

“Something clicked,” says the 56-year-old promoter today. “For the first time in my life I knew I had to put my faith somewhere. I’m not sure if I said it or not, but I knew right then that I was willing to carry this guy’s guitar to hell.” 

Tim O’Connor’s association with Willie Nelson has yielded lots of similarly colorful tales over the ensuing decades, but they’re a small part of his story. As Austin’s most successful concert promoter, O’Connor has earned and lost several fortunes, ridden deals to the edge of bankruptcy, and played chicken with the IRS since his arrival in town during the early Seventies. More to the point, it’s been decades since Tim O’Connor carried anybody’s guitar and worried about being cold, wet, or hungry.

Whether you know it or not, if you’ve seen live music in Austin over the past 20 to 25 years, you’ve likely given money to Tim O’Connor.

Read the entire article at:
www.austinchronicle.com/…/story?oid=oid:81944

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Willie Nelson & Family, in Youngston, OH (5/15/09)

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

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Willie Nelson and Family
May 15, 2009
Chevrolet Center
229 East Front Street
Youngstown, OH 44503
(330) 746-5600

Tickets:  www.ticketmaster.com

Willie Nelson and Family in Flagstaff (4/24/09)

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

pine

Willie Nelson & Family
Pine Mountain Amphitheater
Flagstaff, AZ
Friday, April 24, 2009

Pine Mountain Amphitheater, nestled amongst the rolling fields and tall pine trees near Ft. Tuthill County Park in Flagstaff, Arizona, is Northern Arizona’s newest and largest outdoor amphitheater.

I am going to this show, and I’m excited!  If you are planning on attending, have your people call my people, and let’s get together, ya-ya-ya.

See Willie Nelson and Family in Concert in Salinas, KS (4/21/09)

Sunday, April 19th, 2009

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www.stiefeltheatre.org

Willie Nelson & Family
Stiefer Theater
Salinas, KS
April 21, 2009

Live in Concert: Willie Nelson and Family, Ray Price, and Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters in Stamford, CT TONIGHT!

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

stam
https://tickets.stamfordcenterforthearts.org

Willie Nelson and Family will perform tonight at the Stamford Center for the Arts in Stamford Connecticut, tonight.

Willie Nelson Tickets on sale tomorrow for Effingham, IL show (5/21/09)

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

 

www.TheRosebudTheatre.com

EFFINGHAM, Ill. Willie Nelson is on the road again, and headed to Effingham’s Rosebud Theatre for a concert next month.Tickets for that May 21 performance go on sale Saturday, April 4th, beginning with in-person sales at 9 a.m. CDT (10 a.m. EDT) at the theater at 1325 Outer Belt West in Effingham. Telephone sales begin at 11 a.m. CDT (noon EDT) at (217) 540-2787, with online sales at 1 p.m. CDT (2 EDT).America.

Willie Nelson and Family, the biggest act booked to date at the nearly-new theatre, will perform on May 21. The iconic Texan is the creative genius behind historic recordings like “Crazy,” “Hello Walls,” “Red Headed Stranger” and “Stardust.” His career has spanned six decades. His catalog boasts more than 200 albums.

Willie Nelson to Headline Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga, TN (6/5/09)

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

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http://www.chattanoogan.com

Living legend, Willie Nelson will headline The Coca-Cola Stage at the Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga, TN on opening night Friday, June 5, at 9:30 p.m.

The iconic Texan is the creative genius behind historic recordings like “Crazy,” “Hello Walls,” “Red Headed Stranger” and “Stardust.” His career has spanned six decades, with a catalog that boasts more than 200 albums. Willie Nelson has earned countless Grammy nominations to go with a career that has been recognized with eight Grammy wins, a President’s Merit Award, a Grammy Legend Award and the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also amassed reputable credentials as an author, actor and activist.

Also confirmed for the 2009 Festival is the Emmitt-Nershi Band. They will perform Saturday, June 6, at 7:45 p.m. on the Bud Light Stage.

As the dynamic lead singer and mandolin player with Leftover Salmon and his own Drew Emmitt Band, Drew is a true renaissance man on musical instruments. Playing mandolin, acoustic and electric guitar, he’s a string man to be reckoned with. From the saloons of Telluride to the some of the most sought after venues in America, Bill Nershi has delighted countless fans as a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and founding member of the String Cheese Incident.

A seasoned veteran of flat-picking and a variety of acoustic styles, Nershi adds a unique, colorful perspective to virtually any musical situation he encounters, and his enthusiasm and playful spirit encourage an interactive, participatory experience for musicians and fans alike. The String Cheese Incident has a phenomenal following, and has never appeared before in Chattanooga. These two influential musicians are joined by Tyler Grant and Andy Thorn to forge their latest acoustic adventure: the Emmitt-Nershi Band.

Previously announced headlining artists for Riverbend 2009 are country music duo, Montgomery Gentry, legendary funk and soul artists, The Commodores and legendary music icons, Three Dog Night with the Chattanooga Symphony.

Riverbend 2009 is scheduled for June 5-13, and advance discounted admission pins go on sale in late April at area Mapco Mart locations for just $28.00 for all nine nights of the festival. Reserved Star Seating Tickets are available for most Coca-Cola Stage artists. Call 423-756-2211 to “save your seat”.