Armadillo World Headquarters. - Armadillo World Headquarters

Copyright 2017 by Edwin O. Wilson

All rights reserved

First edition, 2017

Published by

TSSI Publishing

6416 North Lamar Blvd

Austin, Texas 78752

Telephone: 512-574-2544

Fax: 512-451-3256

www.threadgills.com

Distributed by

University of Texas Press

P.O. Box 7819

Austin, TX 78713-7819

Telephone: 800-252-3206

Fax: 512-232-7178

www.utexaspress.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without permission from the publisher.

All images are courtesy of the authors personal collection, unless otherwise noted.

All poster artwork is copyright of the respective artist.

All photographs are copyright of the respective photographer.

ISBN 978-1-4773-1382-4 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-4773-1415-9 (library e-book)

ISBN 978-1-4773-1416-6 (non-library e-book)

DEVELOPMENT, DESIGN, AND PRODUCTION

Lindsay Starr Communication & Book Design

COPYEDITING AND INDEX

Abby Webber

PROOFREADING

Lynne Chapman

PRINTER AND BINDER

Four Colour Print Group

Printed on acid-free paper

: Burton Wilson and Sandra Wilson, October 18, 2000. Family snapshot.

FOR BURTON & SANDRA

IT REMINDS ME OF WHAT THE BEAVER TOLD THE RABBIT AS THEY STOOD AT THE BASE OF HOOVER DAM: NO, I DIDNT BUILD IT MYSELF, BUT ITS BASED ON AN IDEA OF MINE.

CHARLES TOWNES

IT IS THE JOB OF ARTISTS TO PUT FEAR IN THE HEARTS OF ADULTS.

JIM FRANKLIN

FAILURE IS THE ARCHITECT OF SUCCESS.

M. K. HAGE JR.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Like all the greatest stories told about the 60s, Eddie Wilsons starts in the 70s It stars a batch of redneck hippies, plus a slew of politicians, an occasional jock, and many others, often involved in nefarious activities, sometimes in alleyways, more often in the statehouse Eddie and his crew set out to change the world, and at the very least, they turned Austin into what it is today, God help us all Eddies story is by turns hilarious, informative, and the living spirit of its age, illuminating a previously under-detected transition point between the psychedelic peace-and-love crowd and a world where Shiner Bockwarm Shiner Bockis the ideal social lubricant Technically, its the story of the joint where Bruce Springsteen found an audience about as far from New Jersey as you can get, and where Don Meredith discovered his true home field But Eddie Wilson serves up even better than that Eddie piles the most unlikely anecdotes on top of one another, creating a land of enchantment and an order of chemically altered consciousness that rescues an era Id thought not so much lost as forgotten Not only am I thrilled Ive read this story and wish I was in it, I wish Id written it

Dave Marsh

April 2016

Ann Richards, AWHQ reunion, 1994. Photograph by Burton Wilson.

PREFACE

I SHARE MY BIG DREAM WITH THE RICHARDS FAMILY

Ann Richards, governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995, made the following remarks when she delivered the keynote address at the South by Southwest festival in 1993

Im delighted to welcome you to Texas in Austin, Live Music Capital of the World. You know, the natives believe that we are the center of the musical universe, and this week, that is literally the truth. We are proud to have all of you and glad that you can experience firsthand what Texans take for granted, and that is that the amount and the quantity and quality of live music that you hear in Austin, Texas, on nearly any night is the best that the country has to offer. Texas music has become much more than what you hear in a bar with the chicken wire stretched between the band and the patrons.

Over twenty years ago, a friend of mine named Eddie Wilson called me and my husband and said that he wanted us to go see a building because he was about to make a dream come true. And so we went with him out to South Austin to this great, big, old, barny place, and it had all the windows broken out of it and it looked like it was about to be demolished in the interest of the health and safety of Austin, Texas. You must understand that these were in the days, as Ray Wylie Hubbard said the other night, before Willie Nelson brought the rednecks and the cowboys together.

So my husband and I walked in with Eddie to this big, old barn, and it was dirty, and Eddie said, Were going to make a music center of the universe right here. And as usual, we thought something was wrong with Eddie, that for one reason or another, his vision had become blurred, but of course that was the beginning of the Armadillo World Headquarters, which indeed was one of the most exciting, and remained one of the most exciting, places in the United States for the years that it was in operation. I saw a little of everything at the Armadillo, and it was one of the great experiences of my life.

I met Ann and Dave Richards in the 1960s when I was a college student in Denton. David, an attorney, was involved in politics, and Ann was known for, among other things, Democratic fundraisers in which she and other women performed their scathing Political Paranoia parodies of Texas politicians.

The Richardses divorced in 1976. Ann died in 2006. Dave is still a good friend. The following was originally published in his memoir Once Upon a Time in Texas: A Liberal in the Lone Star State:

Eddie, who is a true genius and especially adroit at spewing and spinning ideas, came and grabbed us one day to show us his dream project. He had located an abandoned National Guard armory just across the Colorado River in South Austin. He was going to turn it into a music hall and capture the emerging Austin music scene. The place was vast, full of junk, and looked impossible to resurrect. We underestimated Eddies determination and energy. Shortly, the Armadillo World Headquarters burst on the scene and became the embodiment of Austin funk of the 1970s. With Jim Franklin as resident artist and sometime master of ceremonies, the Dillo radiated a deranged quality that defied normalcy and attracted all sorts of people.

The astonishing thing was the wide acceptance of the Armadillo message. Here was a rock-and-roll joint peopled by stoned freaks and hippies that managed to achieve mainstream acceptance. The city of Austin ended up naming its shuttle bus service the Dillo. The Lone Star beer company began a major promotion featuring Jim Franklins armadillo art. Armadillo was the kind of place that would have been regularly raided by the cops in an earlier era, and yet it became a chamber of commerce icon, one of the things you brag about in promotional materials.

All kinds of music came through the place. I saw such diverse performers as Bette Midler, Bill Malone, Ray Charles, and Commander Cody. The rise of redneck rock and the outlaw image was intimately associated with the Armadillo. Its opening somewhat coincided with Willie Nelsons return to Texas and the emergence of an anti-Nashville movement led by Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Jerry Jeff Walker, among others. Although the state abhorred the lifestyles presented by the Armadillo and these musicians, the dont give a shit attitude they personified hit a responsive chord in the Texas psyche. Everyone seemed to share the sentiment from London Homesick Blues of wanting to come home to the Armadillo. So a strange little snuffling nocturnal creature came to replace the longhorn as the states favorite beast