I sed Texas

By Bob Ruggiero
Published on October 30, 2003

It's a Friday night at the Continental Club, and an elbow-to-elbow crowd is partying like Nirvana and Bill Clinton never happened. The band on stage rips through an all-the-hits sonic travelogue of the '80s: "Whip It," "Centerfold," "Jessie's Girl" and "Hungry Like the Wolf."

The nominal home of roots music and rockabilly has become the end-of-the-week's hippest happy hour under the auspices of Molly & the Ringwalds, who serve as a de facto live nostalgic jukebox for the decade that brought us Alf, Mr. T, Pac-Man and leg warmers.

"Our band is all about having a good time, and that's what we try to provide," says bandleader/keyboardist Carrie Carter, stirring her tortilla soup at La Mexicana in the Montrose. "Eighties music is a lot of fun, and there's not much serious stuff. How much message is there in a song called 'The Safety Dance'?"

"Everyone is in this band to entertain. We're not trying to make a statement," adds guitarist Jim Dekan. "We're just trying to have some fun."

Many twenty- and thirtysomethings have found the band's repertoire of more than 70 songs -- which includes everything from the decade's massive hits such as "We Got the Beat," "Sweet Child o' Mine" to more obscure bits such as "Cool Rider" from Grease 2 and "Johnny Are You Queer?" -- an irresistible invitation to relive their youth. The fact that Molly & the Ringwalds also are Houston's only '80s cover band also gives them something of a monopoly on memories.

And with nostalgia for the decade on the rise -- VH1's "I Love the '80s" series was one of the channel's biggest successes -- this band has picked the right time to thrill the masses with "Mexican Radio," "Blister in the Sun" and "We're Not Gonna Take It."

The impetus began -- appropriately enough for an '80s cover band -- with greed. Which, as Michael Douglas's Gordon Gekko reminded us in Wall Street, "is good." In 1999, Carter, who also played keyboards for Chad Thomas and the Crazy Kings, was working as a waitress at a cocktail bar, er excuse us, was working at a country club that booked some out-of-town cover bands. "I was shocked at how much money they were getting to play," she says. "I knew I had to start a group."

Carter recruited bassist Christopher Daniello and singers Henry Davis and Jennifer Lowry and the first of a succession of guitar slingers and skin thumpers. Lowry and Carter had attended La Porte High School together but didn't really know each other. Years after graduation, Carter remembered her performance in a school musical, called her up out of the blue and asked if she wanted to be in a band.

Taking their name from the '80s teen queen, their first stab at a song was a ragged version of "And She Was." And it didn't get much better from there. "Our first gig was in July 2000, opening for the Allen Oldies Band at the Ale House," remembers Davis, who resembles '80s icon James Spader. "We sucked." Carter recalls that everyone was playing in a different key during "Walking on Sunshine" and that Allen Oldies guitarist Jim Henkel wryly pronounced their debut "interesting."

Many rehearsals and band members later, guitarists Dekan and Sam Cannariato and drummer Gene Wright were added to the lineup. Cannariato is another La Porte alum. "Sam and Jennifer will go on for days and days with that high school crap," Davis says, rolling his eyes at the table. Dekan, who claims his only friend at Huffman High School was Casey Kasem, joined for more pragmatic reasons. "I started playing guitar so I could get a girl. I'm still waiting for the payoff."

The band members also adopted the same last name of "Ringwald" while finding more gigs and adding new songs. As endless as the quest for new oldies is the drive to add to their stage wear, a retro-perfect combination of new and used Reagan Age clothing including Atari T-shirts, skinny ties and even silver parachute pants.

But for their audience, often the show's highlight is the segment of "Ringwald Karaoke" where budding Billy Idols and Joan Jetts can pick from a list of songs to perform backed by the live band.

Inevitably, one can't help but have a mental flash of each song's accompanying MTV video during the show, and that's fine with the group. "Something I learned from the Allen Oldies Band is that no one really cares about my singing perfectly, they care more about having a good time," Lowry offers. "MTV changed everything, the attractiveness of the performers became much more important, which is unfortunate for us," Cannariato says, grinning. "However, I do feel my rap skills coming out on our version of 'Bust a Move.' "

Describing the appeal of '80s music, the band members point to their often mindless (but excruciatingly catchy) choruses and melodies, along with the heavy doses of synth. In fact, many of their fans today are people in their early twenties who have discovered the music via radio stations like the Point.

But while the life of this band so far has been almost paradise, more recently the Ringwald Family members have not been such shiny, happy people. A few weeks ago, in the culmination of long-standing disagreements about band policies and direction, mixed with intertwining past personal and family histories, original bassist Daniello was told "Goodbye to You." His dismissal didn't come as a shock to anyone.

"No, it wasn't a total surprise, but I was so angry I could barely express it. And I was sad," Daniello says via e-mail. "Most of them wouldn't even look at me, and Carrie had Sam do her dirty work…she's really rather spineless."

The ax fell just before a lucrative gig at AstroWorld. "We were having personal differences and there was an element of professionalism on his part, and we let him go," Carter says bluntly. Davis adds, "It was something that was building over time, it wasn't just one thing…you just reach a point where it's no more."

By his own admission, Daniello was not the easiest person to get along with, but felt it was a "slimy move" to do it just before the gig at AstroWorld, of all places. (Daniello is an amusement park junkie.) Carter and Davis counter that Daniello's bizarre playing and stage antics at recent shows had disgusted the group, and that they didn't want to run the risk of a repeat performance at such a high-profile venue.

The aggro spilled over into cyberspace on Daniello's blog (www.fiercepancake.com) and the bulletin board on the band's site ( www.mollyandtheringwalds.com), where Daniello posted and has since removed a bitter and scathing account of the band's history.

"That shows the world how he really is," Davis says. "We're not going to play those games."

Since Daniello owns the Ringwalds site, the band has been forced to create a new one (www.theringwalds.com), wherein for a while, the band ran an old group photo with Daniello airbrushed out in Stalinist enemy-of-the-people style. Daniello has offered to sell his domain at a price the band turned down, and he declined their counteroffer. The band has said they would take legal action to get it back, a murky and likely expensive legal proposition. There are even accusations of hacking.

Meanwhile, on stage, Dekan and Cannariato are switching off on bass while the band seeks Daniello's replacement. For his part, Daniello is forming a pop group with KPFT DJ Jeffrey "The King of Grief" Thames. (And the rock and roll life goes on for Carter and Cannariato, who want to get their kiss on a few lists. They plan to throw down a "Makeout Challenge" at some future gig, to prove once and for all which of them is the better snogger.)

And what of the real Ms. Ringwald? Her people could render all these cybersquabbles moot, one supposes, by slapping a cease-and-desist on the lot of them. A little modestly or disingenuously, Davis says that he doesn't think she knows about the band, but that she is aware that others including the New Orleans-based Molly Ringwalds are using her name. But just in case the red-headed Belle of John Hughes's Ball ever does show up at Ringwald Karaoke, the band already knows "Pretty in Pink."

Austin, TX — My ass is sore as hell and I could use a cold Lone Star. It's 11:37 p.m. and I just pulled in behind the Continental Club in Austin, TX. It also happens to be the first leg of my first road trip on my new '08 Harley Nightster which I rode vs. driving my Bronco in order to break the 1000 mile mark, the recommended break-in period for the motorcycle. Why I decided to make the 3 hour ride at night is beyond me, maybe due to the name of the bike. But it was a fun ride that evening and not much traffic to deal with, not to mention considerably cooler than it had been just a few hours earlier.

My first objective was to call the Austin Motel to ask if the No Vacancy sign posted was accurate ... it was. So they gave me the names of two other establishments, the first being the San Jose Hotel on South Congress ... No Vacancy. The second was the Embassy Suites Hotel also on SoCo, ummm, not my style. So I'll figure it out later I thought.

I walked around the front and through the door and was greeted with, "It's $8.00". And I replied, "My name is on the guest list." which got me a smile and a "Have a good time." I made my way through the people and up to the bar for my first Lone Star of the evening. The crowd was building but nothing compared to the numbers during the James McMurtry show just days earlier or the SkyRocket show at the Houston Continental Club the night before. However I was interested to see a fairly young crowd present to see the LeRoi Brothers who formed in Austin in 1981. The boys put on a good show complete with their frontman doing repeated pelvic thrusts into the crowd while shaking a pair of maracas. But at the end it became the Charlie Sexton show who had briefly been at the bar before he stepped on stage and stole the show. The tunes filled the air until 2:20 a.m.

By then I was ready to find a room for the night. Welcome to the Village Motor Inn on South Congress. Seemed okay. I parked the bike and went inside the office and rang the bell. A woman soon stepped out rubbing her eyes. I asked how much, "$50", I replied "Are the rooms clean?" of course I got the old "Oh yes, you want to see?". I figured I would trust her. Later I would learn that was a mistake. I went to room 312, the room was sparse and hot from no air conditioning all day. I pulled back the covers to find small stains that seemly looked like blood and a few long black hairs. I pulled the sheets back up and threw my stuff down when I decided to ride back up South Congress to the Magnolia Cafe where I had a great plate of chicken tacos served with chips and salsa. You can never go wrong with the Magnolia ... they're open 24 hours, 8 days a week according to the web site. And if people watching is your thing it's a must.

So back to the Village Motor Inn — I walk into the room and flipped on the bathroom light to prepare for bed. This is when I notice not only had the toilet not been cleaned in, I don't know, I'm guessing months. It had a thick layer of human feces to guard the cesspool of only God knows what below. I quickly packed up my belonging and awoke the night shift manager again, this time being about 4 a.m. As I explained that I thought their hotel was a health hazard I demanded either a clean room or a refund. So I slept in room 208. Not great, but a fairly clean toilet, maybe even cleaner than the one at the Town & Country in Marfa, TX [Next West Texas story coming soon.]. Note, I slept fully clothed on top of the covers and made sure I stayed in the room no more than my required four hours of sleep.

Up early I checked out and went to Las Manitas Avenue Cafe, one of my favorite eateries in Austin. After a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, re-fried beans, corn tortillas, orange juice and coffee I was ready to hit the road and get to Luling for the annual Watermelon Thump Festival.

Luling, a town of 5080 population once known as the "toughest town in Texas" when cowboys drove their cattle herds through the area and when those days ended the town soon became a small oil town. In it's day Luling oil wells produced 11,000,000 barrels of oil per year. Now they're known for the Watermelon Thump ... An annual festival celebrating the popular summer fruit. There you can find watermelon foam hats, watermelon seed spitting contest which resulted in me seeing a man spit a watermelon seed over 44 feet. They also had a classic car show with 1960's Mustangs, lots of Mopar, even a Metropolitan was being shown. Of course they had the usual festival food that involves various meats on a stick, kettle corn, funnel cake, etc, etc. And yes, watermelon.

But being a small Texas town has nothing to do with the quality of their production. It was extremely well organized. Easy to get from one end to the other, plenty of parking, restrooms and even though the June temperatures were pushing high 90's various covered areas with large water cooled fans kept activities very tolerable. Keeping the masses cool wasn't the only impressive thing I saw, how about the live music stage which was massive, complete with stage lighting hung via trusses, two sound boards manned with engineers. It was every bit professional as any big city music venue and I've been to a few. The bands that performed were The Moods and Johnny Dee and the Rocket 88's.

The Moods were a band that originated in Luling in the late 1950s, but rather than explain who they are I found a great short about them filmed for the 'Eyes of Texas' in the 1990s. And since I'm partial to video and that show here it is:

I watched the majority of the Moods until what I'd been waiting for all day finally came about. The watermelon seed spitting contest. Yep. At 4:30 p.m. sharp teams of seed spitting folks were gathering to show all of Central Texas what they had. The individual seed spitting contest happened the prior day as did the parade complete with the Watermelon Queen who was of course present at the seed spitting. The teams comprised of four persons varied from young women, to large farmer type men wearing overalls to a woman in her mid-80s. I saw seeds spit a whopping 8 feet to an astounding 44+ feet. I believe the record was 68 feet but no such luck this day would carry any one seed so far. But all-in-all it has motivated me to start contacting my own friends for a team in next years contest.

After the contest I decided to hit the road and go home. The ride was typical ... flying past 18-wheelers hogging the road, getting beat up by the wind and riding into a soup bowl of sloppy weather once back in Houston. I was glad to get off the bike, tired, sore and wet ... My goal of attending the annual festival in Luling, TX was now accomplished as well I now had over 1200 miles on my bike. Next trip ... Carthage, Texas. I'll be running sound on a horror film shot in the small East Texas town, 183 miles northeast of Houston, just southwest of Shreveport, LA. Personal interest lie in the fact that it'll be the second horror film I've worked on, ties back to Mike Boren of Big Bend, TX [Read West Texas pt. I] and well that much closer to covering all of the Lone Star state by years end.

Reb ... Next year I expect you to be spitting seeds with me, this festival was all your idea anyway.

**NOTE: I don't know how I missed this or forgot rather ... But during the last West Texas trip in May, Rebekah & I stopped at a Buc-ees in Luling and bought half a pound of 'Spicy Venison' meat sticks. That place had the most crazy selection of jerky and other cured meat products I had ever seen. Mind you, my father thinks he's the greatest hunter on planet earth and I grew up eating this stuff. We also bought breakfast here, a great selection of not-so healthy foods to choose from, but great for road trips. If only I had remembered about Buc-ees in Luling.

Del Rio — Hey, a steak house! Let’s stop in and have dinner. Two pounds of steak and an hour of mediocre country music and we were on the road again, only another four and a half hours to go. All week we had talked about eating a West Texas steak … this spawning from the talk of covering the entire Lone Star State by years end and eating a lot of Texas beef. Eventually we’ll be seated at the famous Big Texan in Amarillo, but our first trip of 2008 landed us in West Texas, Big Bend country.
Friday morning we made no hesitation what-so-ever when the alarm clock informed us it was 4:30 a.m. Showered, got dressed loaded the Subaru Baja and headed West by 6:30 a.m. Pushing hard down I-10 we didn’t stop until West of San Antonio, entering Junction, Texas.

A town that had filled me with mystic and allure for years having heard past family members tell tales of relatives living there and once having a family feud that resulted in throwing rocks at one another. While thankfully not crossing any rock throwing feuds, we did happen upon a great local favorite … the Sunny Cafe & Bakery. For about $8.50 you can have the lunch special of the day and dessert. Friday was hamburger steak, mash potatoes, green beans, salad and a roll. Already I was feeling relaxed, the kind of ease only country living can offer. I finished with a huge slice of coconut cream pie and a coffee.

Back on the road we headed into Fort Stockton, Texas. I can’t say either of us were impressed with much of anything here except a ten foot tall road runner in the center of town that lets you know you are in fact in West Texas. We refueled and drove through Alpine, TX and into Marfa. Marfa has a lot of interesting activity to me right now. My first trip there was in October of 2007 during the Chinati Open House weekend where an estimated 3000 outsiders descended upon the small town. Friends of mine exhibited their art during the 21st annual art festival and we were blown away when Sonic Youth performed a free concert that weekend. I plan on being there again in May for a film festival. But most of all my friend David Beebe is converting the old Marfa funeral home into a West Texas style dance hall. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the progress of this project and can hardly wait to step thru the doors on opening night.

It was here we spent our first West Texas night, my second time actually to sleep in the funeral home. The first time was in a sleeping bag on a cold dusty floor, this time in a finished out office space complete with a bed and a heater. A welcomed treat after driving over 600 miles. After settling in we had coffee at the local coffee house on Main St before having dinner at Mondo’s Mexican Restaurant then headed out to see the Marfa Lights.
A lot of people have seen the lights, written stories, told tales and visit the area just for the natural phenomenon. I personally saw what I believe were the Marfa Lights, my partner doesn’t believe she saw anything more than house lights in the distance. Hmmm, floating house lights that blink on and off. Maybe her contacts were fogged from the cold West Texas night air.

Saturday morning took us back to Alpine for breakfast at the Bread and Breakfast Cafe, a great egg, cheese and sausage croissant with a coffee will run you about $6.00. We then headed to Ringtail Records thinking we had found a gem for buying vintage vinyl in West Texas — maybe so, but I’m a bit of a cheapo when buying vinyl. A Velvet Underground LP will run you $50.00 and Daniel Johnson’s ‘Hi, How are You?’ costs $25.00. Other LPs were marked about $5.00 each. True, this was the only record store we came across on our trip, however I can buy vinyl all day long in Houston for less than $5.00 each and in better condition. Nice idea, but I’ll save my money for the next cold Lone Star thank you very much.

After picking up some groceries in Marfa, we made our way to the Chinati Hot Springs. This is a great get away from … well pretty much everything. Known of by the indigenous people of the area for many years, it was opened in the 1930’s to the public as a resort and was once owned by artist Donald Judd. At 110 degrees fahrenheit it was soothing in the cold night of the Chinati Mountains. $15.00 per person will get you a campsite; small cabins are also available and they’ll even shut the entire place off to other visitors for $650.00 if you’d like a private shindig there for your family and friends. A full kitchen, restrooms and an outdoor shower are also available at no extra cost. However, make sure you’re driving a vehicle worthy of taking off-road. Pinto Canyon Road off of Hwy 2810 can be a rough trip; it’s not paved, you’ll drive thru creek beds and a lot of very rocky terrain - your fuel tank should be full as well, no gas stations in sight for many miles but the scenery is worth the trip.

After breaking camp the next morning, we found our way to Hwy 170 towards Ruidosa but curiosity got the best of us after seeing a sign for Candelaria. We spun the Subaru around 180 degress and we checked out the small town. Actually, I’m not so sure it was a town as much as just a plot of land adjacent to the Mexican boarder where a handful of houses spattered the area. Then we noticed something else that caught our eye. A muddy makeshift road covered by a canopy of heavy tress and bushes. Adventure calls … this must be a way into Mexico … it was. A half mile muddy road leading us to a foot bridge over the Rio Grande. Did we cross? Of course we did. Nothing on the other side except some farm trucks and fenced in ranch land, but crossing over so easily with no Border Patrol checkpoint seemed exciting. Fifteen minutes later we were driving towards Ruidosa again.

Ruidosa, Texas. Not a lot there, in fact there’s really nothing there except you’ll want to stop and see the ruins of the Sacred Heart Mission Church on the side of 170 and maybe stop and have a chat with Rusty, owner of the La Junta General Store which sits next to the church ruins. Rusty will gladly show his backyard oasis and his handy work of building walls out of old car tires and adobe. $1.50 will buy you a Mexican Coke with real cane sugar at the store.

Continuing onward towards Presido, TX we made a right hand turn and crossed into Mexico once again. This time the town of Ojinaga. We walked around for about 15 minutes and decided to cross back over the border and make our way towards Terlingua. After 45 minutes of sitting in line at the US Border Patrol, I decided the footbridge was actually more fun. In fact the Boarder Patrol agent laughed at us for the 45-minute wait. Maybe he was laughing with us.

Finally we made it into Terlingua at 9:30 p.m. a little later than expected so we had dinner at Long Draw Pizza just on the fringe of the town and headed into Terlingua deciding to stay in a motel vs. trying to set-up camp at 10 p.m. We opted for the Chisos Mining Motel and $53.96 got us a room in what seemed to be a series of mobile homes that had been fashioned into a motel. Whatever, just a place to sleep; besides we found out via the locals the next day it was the best stay in town. Okay. After settling in, we ventured out to the Starlight Theatre for a drink; not feeling the vibe there we made our way to La Kiva for a beer and a shot of tequila. La Kiva is certainly worth a visit if not only for the decor of rustic woodwork within and the friendly seasoned bartender.

Monday proved to be why this trip was worth all 1675 miles. After checking out of our mobile home motel, we found the Terlingua Springs Market and Coffee House, picked up a couple of lattes and zucchini bread and then stopped at the Terlingua Trading Co. Here I found some gifts for my kids and a book titled ‘Tales from the Terlingua Porch’, they had an impressive Texas book collection to choose from which we could have easily spent the entire afternoon looking through. However, we needed to get into Big Bend National Park to obtain our backcountry permit. But after getting into the car I noticed a man sitting on the porch in front of the store. As the engine started I told my partner I had to take a picture of this guy.

He was a bit weathered looking, sported a cowboy hat and a long gray ponytail … perfect I thought. More perfect than I had imagined. After introducing myself and asking permission to photograph him he smiled and started to chuckle. His first words to me were, “I retired from the Houston Chronicle”. Turns out I was talking to retired Chronicle photographer Blair Pittman. Blair retired from the Chronicle in 1978 and has been a self-employed photographer and writer since. As it would turn out, Blair was the author of the very book I had just purchased. After having him sign our copies of his book, talking for a while about his experiences in Big Bend and exchanging contact information, we headed out for lunch at the Chili Pepper Cafe in Terlingua and then drove to Study Butte for more groceries and gas. Onward into Big Bend, driving thru the basin area into the park was amazing; it’s hard to believe I was still in Texas. Something larger than the cold office buildings I’d seen for too many consecutive years working in downtown Houston. We drove to the park office in Panther Junction and went inside to obtain a backcountry permit. And if it wasn’t Blair standing at the counter talking to one of the Park employees. I walked over and said hello then studied some park maps to decide on a possible campsite.

After Blair left is when it started getting weird. I couldn’t help but notice the name badge of whom I was talking to. It read Mike Boren. I looked at him and said, I have relatives in Fort Worth with the last name Boren. My grandfather was Albert Boren and my grandmother is Jesse Boren … He just looked at me with a blank stare for a moment … “Albert Boren was my father’s brother” he replied. Yep, turns out my cousin, who I wasn’t even aware of, is the Executive Director of History in Big Bend National Park. I think we were both a little stunned. As you can imagine, we talked for a while and shared stories about family members we both knew. If that wasn’t coincidental enough, it turns out Mike knows a fellow by the name of Col. Bob Sholly.

Sholly happens to be a man who fought along side my stepfathers close friend, 1st Sgt. David H. McNerney who received the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1968 for his heroic actions during a battle in Polei Doc, Republic of Vietnam. Google his name if you’re ready for an action packed war story.

After Mike turned me onto a great campsite just at the foot of bear country, we drove to the site and set up camp. The area is known as Nugent Mountain and is set in the desert just below the mountains in the basin area of the park. We camped there for three days and two nights, hiking around the Langford Hot Springs, the Rio Grande and the Window Trail that is about 4.5 mi round trip and will lead you to the edge of a drop-off in the center of the basin.

If you visit Big Bend you’ll want to bring water bottles for the hikes and if you camp in the backcountry as we did you’ll need to be 100% self sufficient meaning you must bring all of your own food, water, lights, camp stoves etc. Beware there are no restrooms, showers or facilities of any kind in the backcountry. So be sure you’re with someone you’re very comfortable with. In the desert there are no trees to hide behind when nature calls, only prickly pear and other thorny plants one would not want to get too close to when taking care of such business. It’s up to you to make sure you have what you need and to leave the area as you found it so others may enjoy it as nature intended.

Wednesday was a relaxing day even with the thought of over 600 miles of Texas highway to conquer. Waking up early enough to watch the sunrise over the mountain range and we took our time cooking egg and mushroom omelets, bacon and coffee for breakfast before packing up and saying our goodbyes to Mike and Big Bend.

Highway 90 was a beautiful drive home … crossing the Pecos River and stopping at Seminole Canyon State Park for a brief walk. Del Rio was the next stop. Once there I finally found what I had been searching for in West Texas. A great Texas steak house; We stopped and had dinner at Wright’s Steak House where a steak dinner, salad bar, two bar drinks and dessert with coffee will run you about $60.00.

It was the first of many Texas steak houses we plan on stopping at over the next year. I can hardly wait to drive to Amarillo next and see what we’ll find along our way. Could I possibly have another unknown relative lurking in the Texas Panhandle somewhere? Maybe. Just goes to show you, you never know what will happen when you combine an appetite for adventure and steak.