Last weekend was interesting...different...Friday night we played a casual gig at the VFW in Santa Fe, TX, it was enjoyable because the folks there are "our crowd" and they partied and danced all night long. It's gratifying to look out into the crowd and everybody is smiling at you. We played the gig for free, it was officially a fundraiser for the VFW post, but at the end of the night after the tip jar got counted out, we left with $115 per man. Saturday night, I rode with Sylvester to the gig we had uptown. Way, WAY uptown. The name of the place is La Colombe D'or, but I always knew it as the Fondren Mansion on Montrose Boulevard. The room we played in is a grand ballroom that was carved by hand in 1715 in France and used as the most elite of party rooms, I'm putting the URL to this place in at the end of this post. It was absolutely fabulous. The folks throwing this shindig are quite well to do, of course, and we only had to play for about an hour and a half. They made sure we were served the same meal the guests had, too...so we rocked 'em. At the end of the night, I was carefully putting all my stuff together and this 20-year-old kid came up to me and he said "I just wanted you to know I'm a guitar player and I watched you all night. You're a great player and you put on a great show." And he shook my hand. I was stunned...I didn't see this guy till right then and he made that special visit to give me a compliment. I really appreciated that. I gave him a card and thanked him. We appear to have landed another high-class gig out of this one. One of the ladies wants us to play at her house. We will enjoy to. Anyway, coming up is Mardi Gras in Galveston. We're playing the Galvez Hotel at a private function Friday night and Saturday night we're playing at the Rooftop Garden on the Strand at another private gig. Both nights, tux. Should be fun! Anyway, the first URL I'm posting is about Walter W. Fondren, a co-founder of Humble Oil Company (later Exxon), whose house is now La Colombe D'or. Mr. Fondren was a great man. He lived the American Dream and once he got on top, he gave a lot of it away. Ya can't take it with you, ya know. I was honored to be in his house. The second is the URL to LCD and shows the ballroom I was talking about. The pictures don't do it justice, though...you walk into that room and you're blown away. Cheers, WC1
Mr. Fondren's story:
http://www.houstonhistory.com/citizens/ ... tory8s.htm
The house as it is now (Le Grand Salon is the ballroom I was talking about...click that link and it gives the history and pics)
http://www.lacolombedor.com/index.html