It may seem like we run a video featuring this song once a month, but we can never get enough Sir Doug. Here, of course, is “Mendocino,” this time as performed on the classic TV show “Playboy After Dark.”
This one has a vintage of 1969 … dig those groovy dancers!
The great Flaco Jiménez
We’ve written about this act before, probably too many times, but there is no way around it: the Texas Tornados are a great live act. Anchored by guitarist/singer Shawn Sahm (son of the late, very great Doug Sahm), keyboardist Augie Meyers and the very, very great accordionist Flaco Jiménez, the Tornados bring some Texas thunder every place they play.
Thursday night under a perfect sky, and with Houston’s gleaming skyline in the background, the Tornados played a free show in Discovery Green park that drew one of the season’s biggest and most enthusiastic crowds. Of course, the ladies gravitated to Jiménez – even though he’s 72 years old, he gets his fair share of flirtatious notes and greetings from women. He got his own spotlight, with the favorite “In Heaven There Is No Beer,” the polka warhorse given some Mexican spice by Flaco’s deft accordion work.
Shawn Sahm
One lady held up a sign “Flaco for President,” and Sahm mused how great that would be … peace talks could be held at a Miller Lite brewery somewhere, he said.
Much of the band’s set was dedicated of course to the late Sir Douglas Sahm and Freddy Fender, the powerhouse personalities who founded the Tornados way back in 1989. Singer Nunie Rubio sang Fender’s classic “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” and although no one can match Fender’s singular singing style, Rubio did a fine and credible job. Organ player Augie Meyers held his own with “Dinero,” “Velma from Selma” and his own crowd favorite “Hey Baby (Que Pa So).”
The set featured many of the band’s trademark tunes that fuse rock, country and Tex-Mex, including “Who Were You Thinkin’ Of?” and “Adios Mexico.” This time, though, they dipped a little deeper in the Sir Douglas Quintet catalog and pulled out gems like “Nuevo Laredo,” “Texas Tornado” and the stone classic “Mendocino.” They also played crazy accordion-laced versions of “Wooly Bully” and the Southeast Texas classic “Matilda.” And it wouldn’t be Houston if the band didn’t wrap it with “She’s About A Mover,” the Sir Doug anthem first recorded in Houston way back in 1965.
At the end of the show, after the ovations, Jiménez paused to address the crowd. First he reminded everyone to visit the CD/T-shirt table, and plugged his new solo CD … which he said was going to be his last. “It’s time to hang it up,” he said, and although he didn’t seem to rule out playing live Jiménez made it clear he is ready to slow down.
So let’s wish him well – Flaco Jiménez is a five-time Grammy Award winner who’s recorded with everyone from the Mavericks to the Rolling Stones, and he is a classic Texas performer. Hope we can see him play live a few more times before he hangs it up for good.
YouTube: “Mendocino” by the Texas Tornados (from Antone’s in Austin)
Texas Tornados official website
Augie Meyers, with bassist Speedy Sparks and Shawn Sahm.
YouTube: “Who Were You Thinkin’ Of?” (from Texas Music Scene TV)
Nice night under the skyscrapers of Houston.
Texas Tornados blowin' through Houston's Discovery Green park
No warnings were necessary as the Texas Tornados tore through Houston Thursday night, spawning dance-floor twisters with a raucous Tex-Mex blend of rock and roll. The Tornados are anchored by Lone Star music legends Augie Meyers (Vox organ) and Flaco Jiménez (accordion), who were among the original members of this band, and guitarist/singer Shawn Sahm, son of the late, great Doug Sahm.
This was a free show in the Bayou City’s beautiful Discovery Green park, and the Tornados attracted a sizable crowd that seemed ready to wash away the work week. The Tornados obliged with spicy rockers like “Adios Mexico,” Tejano ballads like “Volver” and stomping country rock like “Who Were You Thinkin’ Of?”
Sir Douglas Sahm was the architect of this type of music, and much of the evening was a celebration of his vision. The Sir Douglas Quintet classic “Anybody Goin’ To San Antone” and Meyers’ “Velma From Selma” are rabble-rousing 
stompers when the Tornados take a whirl through them. Singer Nunie Rubio and guitarist Louie Ortega performed beautifully on their tributes to the fallen Freddy Fender (also a Texas Tornados original member), “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” and “Before The Next Teardrop Falls.”
Naturally the 71-year-old Jiménez got the lion’s share of the spotlight, because he is a walking Hall of Fame. Jiménez, who has played with everyone from Ry Cooder and Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones, teamed up with Rubio for the beautiful “Volver” and later, the goofy “In Heaven There Is No Beer.” And when handwritten notes passed up to the stage weren’t song requests, they were phone numbers or come-ons for Jiménez from various ladies in the audience. One note said “Will you meet me at the Motel 6?” and Jiménez asked, “What number?” Rubio was quick to jump in with “69,” to which Jiménez replied, “My favorite number.”
Meyers took the show into its homestretch with his lively “Hey Baby Que-Pa-So?” and the band wound it up with the rocker “Wooly Bully.” But there was one remaining piece of business, and the Tornados took care of it during the encore: a truly epic version of the Sir Douglas Quintet classic “She’s About A Mover.” Meyers explained, “This song was recorded in 1965 right here in Houston,” and the rockin’ groove and Sahm’s amazing “freaky guitar” fretwork left the crowd happy and satisfied. Friday morning’s trip to work was a shock to my system, because the Texas Tornados jukebox put me in a weekend frame of mind one day early.
When these guys come to your town, do yourself a favor and catch ’em. And if they are not coming to your town, at least pick up the great CD Live From Austin TX, with the original lineup playing the “Austin City Limits” TV show. It’s one of the finest Texas party albums ever made.
Our review of new album ¡Esta Bueno!
Texas Tornados official website
YouTube: “She’s About A Mover” at Sam’s Burger Joint, San Antonio
YouTube: “Velma From Selma” at Sam’s Burger Joint, San Antonio
More than once someone has asked, “If I wanted to throw a party at my house and I wanted that Texas sound, what should I play?” Well if your house is in Buffalo, New York, then you can play the Goo Goo Dolls and probably half the crowd would say “Yeah, that’s Texas.” Hopefully the other half would correctly recognize the Goo Goos are a local band from Buffalo.
And unfortunately that’s sort of the situation here in Texas. This state has many transplants who really couldn’t identify a true Texas artist outside the obvious (Willie Nelson, Dixie Chicks). So I’m stepping up to your service, a native Texan with a working knowledge of our state’s great artists, with a collection of albums made by our native boys and girls. And true to Texas, you can ask someone else from around here and they’ll come up with a completely different list – and want to kick the ass of the guy who came up with this one. So let’s party and forget where you got this list:
1. Texas Tornados Live From Austin TX – Recorded for the venerable TV show “Austin City 
Limits” in 1990, by the supergroup featuring Doug Sahm, Freddy Fender, Augie Meyers and Flaco Jimenez. A brilliant gumbo pot of blues, country, Tejano and rock and roll with memory-tugging versions of Fender’s “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” the Sir Douglas Quintet’s “She’s About A Mover” and a rollicking “96 Tears,” this single CD spans the incredible breadth of Texas music. It’s worth the price of admission just to hear Fender sing “Baby What You Want Me To Do.” This CD is a party all by itself.
MP3: “Who Were You Thinking Of” (live at Austin City Limits) by the Texas Tornados
2. The “Chirping” Crickets – When four Lubbock boys cut this album way back in 1957, they had no idea how much this music would transform the world. Songs like “Oh Boy!,” “Not Fade Away” and “That’ll Be The Day” made their writer and singer Buddy Holly a star and the latter would become a hit. This is the birth of rock and roll as we have come to know it – written and performed by members of a rock band. In fact, the record caught the ears of four young musicians in Liverpool, and in a few more years the world would change yet again.
MP3: “Oh Boy!” by Buddy Holly & the Crickets
3. Texas Flood – Okay, we can’t get too deep into the list without name checking the late, 
very great Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was perhaps no more electrifying than on his 1983 debut. Texas Flood was instantly a success, and one of the most popular blues albums ever recorded, but Vaughan was more than a mere blues artist. His technique and ability on the guitar instantly put him toe-to-toe with legends like Hendrix and Clapton – and since his death in 1990 virtually nobody has even come close to Stevie Ray.
MP3: “I’m Cryin'” by Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
4. Honeysuckle Rose: Music From The Original Soundtrack – Yeah, it’s a soundtrack. And yeah, it has the dreaded “On The Road Again.” But it’s prime Willie Nelson, recorded in 1980 live as the movie was being made. It has the hell-raising energy of Nelson’s best Texas roadhouse shows, as he and his rockin’ band charge through classics like “Whiskey River,” “Bloody Mary Morning” and the whacked-out anthem “Pick Up The Tempo.” Guest appearances by Texas legends Hank Cochran and Kenneth Threadgill are a bonus, and I swear you won’t even notice the songs featuring better-seen-and-not-heard actresses Amy Irving and Dyan Cannon.
On a foggy morning recently, I climbed to the top of Doug Sahm Hill. It was just a few days after a bunch of Austin musicians gathered at Antone’s to pay respect to the late, great Douglas Wayne Sahm. I didn’t go to the concert but I did drop by Austin’s new Lady Bird Lake park and took the winding path up to the top of the hill named after this legendary Texas musician.
Doug Sahm
Not much to see from the top – especially with the fog and all – and the only thing up there is a concrete bench circling a Texas map inlaid in concrete. The only clue that the hill is related to anything about music is the sign you see as you are about to climb the hill (see above). That’s why they had this big show the other night at Antone’s: to raise money for a plaque, a statue or something.
Climb to the top and take a look around. You should have some Doug Sahm music playing in your portable player, because there’s no music to be heard up here. At the right time of year you can certainly hear live music coming from just across the street at Auditorium Shores; a number of live shows happen there, including the big SXSW free shows in the spring.
If there were a Mount Rushmore in Texas of our state’s greatest musical artists, the head of Douglas Wayne Sahm would rightfully be there, next to Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan. “Sir” Doug Sahm is the godfather of Texas music and during his career he brilliantly covered rock and roll, country, blues and of course Tex-Mex. Today’s Austin music scene – in fact all of Texas music – would not be the same without the influence of Doug Sahm. So why isn’t he in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Sahm performed as a teenager on the streets and stages of his hometown San Antonio but in 1965, producer Huey Meaux gathered a motley group of musicians around Sahm and tried to beat the Beatles at their own game. The Sir Douglas Quintet had a hit with “She’s About A Mover” – cut at Meaux’s Sugar Hill studios in Houston – and audiences soon realized the musicians weren’t British moptops at all.
One of the most influential figures in Texas music was the late, great Doug Sahm. Even though he was somewhat underappreciated on a national scale, he nonetheless put together a body of work whose range surpasses even that of Willie Nelson.
Beginning with the seminal Sir Douglas Quintet in the mid-1960s, Sahm’s music encompassed British Invasion pop, Gulf Coast blues and spicy Mexican conjunto to form a joyous blend that resulted in the hits “She’s About A Mover” and “Mendocino.” Later in his career Sahm would show he was equally at ease with country, 1960s psychedelia and big-band blues and pop.
30 Days Out 