Date: Tue, 30 Dec 1997 17:37:06 -0500 (EST)
From: RobAndKris@aol.com
Reply-To: about-townes@physitron.com
To: about-townes@physitron.com
Subject: about-townes: Townes Van Zandt Tribute on ACL

Hi everyone!
This is Robert and Kathy.  Now that the holiday hussle is over I thought I
would share a story about the Austin City Limits Tribute - and give you all
some first hand information...     We live in Southern California and we had
been planning a driving tour of Arizona, New Mexico, and you guessed it --
TEXAS!!  We knew we would be in Texas sometime in the first two weeks of
December.  When we heard (through this list - THANK YOU!) that there would be
an ACL tribute filming on Dec. 7th, we knew we would have to be in Austin
during that time.  ACL has a crazy ticketing system and their phone lines
were not working when we left, so we knew that tickets would be a major
problem.  But we thought it would be cool to be in the city when it was
filmed, plus we knew we could tour the studio either the day before or after
the show.  By the time we arrived in Austin on the afternoon of the 6th (we
wanted to get there the 5th for possible tickets).  We thought our chances
were pretty slim.  We were, however, happy to be in Austin.  Kathy wanted
Mexican food for dinner, so I read through the list/descriptions of Mexican
places in the Visitors guide.  One stood out, a family owned Austin
tradition, named "El Azteca."  Turned out to be a great choice - nice
atomosphere and excellent food.  We were talking about the tribute on the way
out the door and how it was too bad we would miss it, when I spotted Guy
Clark on the patio!  I told Kathy but she thought I was joking.  Sure enough,
there he was.  He was very friendly and in a good mood.  We were talking
about California and the Ash Grove, a club in Santa Monica, when Guy says to
the woman across from him, "Nancy, have you ever played there?"  I looked at
the woman and realized it was Nancy Griffith!  Nancy was also very friendly.

 Guy told us that tickets were nearly impossible to get (Jeanene Van Zandt
had told us the same thing) due to the popularity and the number of artists
that were appearing.  We went back to the hotel that night aglow from our
first night in Austin!

 The next day we toured the city in the morning then went straight to KLRU
studios to see what may be up with tickets.  We found out that there had only
been 50 stand-by tickets distributed (on Friday the 5th) and they were gone
by 6:15 a.m.  The guy at the desk was very helpful and told us some ways that
we may still have a chance to see the show.  Basically, just line up with the
stand-by's and hope!  He also told us that this show was so popular and
exclusive that employees of the station we not even allowed to put their
names in for tickets.  Our only hope was that it was raining and he said they
tend to get cancellations in the rain.  I asked if the studio was above us
(in the building) and he said it was on the 6th floor.  He said we could go
up up and look at it - that they were probably doing the sound-check
rehearsal right now.  We couldn't believe it!!!   We just rode up in the
elevator and as the doors opened, we could hear "Tecumseh Valley" flowing out
of Nancy Griffith.  We went around the corner and the doors were open!!!   We
stayed and watched until the woman setting up merchandise saw us and said we
couldn't be there.  Still, we couldn't believe our luck!  When we got
outside, I started doing my Yaki rain dance!!!!  They had suggested we line
up at 6:00, so we got there at 4:00!   There were already about 15 people
there.  The line (all Townes fans, of course, were incredibly cool (as Townes
fans usually are) and two even tried to help us get stand-by tickets from the
line handlers (Willie Nelson had given them passes to the show).  By 5:30,
thanks to our new friends, we had STAND-BY tickets -- and it was still
raining!!!!!!   We were on cloud nine.  The stand-by line was growing to
gargantuan proportions!!  Then at about 6:00, our new friend from the front
desk walked over to us and handed me an envelope saying, "Robert, you got
lucky."  I looked in the envelope and there were two GUARENTEED seats!!  Then
he said, "You need to go to the other line."  So there we were with
guarenteed seats (12th in line) for the ACL Tribute show on our second night
in Austin.  We knew Townes WAS there!!!  We sat at the tables set up right in
front of the stage!!  After the show we got to say a quick hello to Jeanene,
Katie and Will.  Also - That was the only day of rain on our whole 14 day
trip!

Hope I didn't bore you all with that!   Now for the information:  I know you
all know which artists were there but here is the set list (which differs
from the one posted earlier on the list).

***According the Tony Licona, on the night of the Taping, the show will Air
on March 21st, 1998***

Intro - Guy Clark
To Live To Fly -- Guy Clark
No Lonesome Tune -- Peter Rowan w/ Nancy Griffith
Brand New Companion -- Steve Earle
Tecumseh Valley -- Nancy Griffith (w/ her bandleader)
Ira Hayes -- J.T. Van Zandt
Pancho & Lefty -- Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris
If I Needed You -- Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle
Heavenly Houseboat -- Rodney Crowell w/ Emmylou Harris
Flyin' Shoes -- Lyle Lovett
For The Sake Of The Song -- Jack "Cowboy" Clement
Don't You Take It Too Bad -- Guy Clark
I'll Be There -- Peter Rowan
Fort Worth Blues -- Steve Earle
The Highway Kind -- J.T. Van Zandt
Pueblo Waltz -- Rodney Crowell
Lungs -- Lyle Lovett and Steve Earle
White Freightliner -- Whole Group (led by Steve Earle)

We have the ACL program for the night and when I have time I'll type in the
"Celebration of Townes Van Zandt" article that fills it.

Thanks for listening,
Robert and Kathy

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