On Sunday afternoon, October 6, we will celebrate the opening of my new music pavilion on the slab of my old house/gallery which burned to the ground, exactly 8 years ago today. The slab has been scraped clean, slate tile and nails removed, holes filled, and ground to a fairly even surface. Now, it’s time to party!
The gate will open at 1:30 if you want to visit the Spartan Trailer Gallery or walk about the grounds. Potluck from 2-3, finger foods please and BYOB. Music from 3-5. No need to rush off after the band plays, so feel free to walk about, visit the gallery or watch the sunset.
Classical violinist Javier Chaparro, whose years as concert master of the Brazos Valley Symphony and as guest soloist with orchestras around the world makes a graceful and lovely transition into original songs in a variety of Latin styles. Born in Lima, Peru, Chaparro has lived in Austin since the 1980s and was inspired by the area’s songwriter culture to try his hand at writing his own songs. And, let me introduce this stellar band: Paul Glasse on mandolin (Asleep at the Wheel, Michelle Shocked, Ana Egge) Mitch Watkins on guitar (Leonard Cohen, Jennifer Warnes, Bob Schneider) John Fremgen on upright bass (Christopher Cross, Kat Edmonson, Peter Erskine) and Laura Mordecai on percussion and harmony vocals (Beto and the Fairlanes, Stephanie Urbina Jones, Libby Kirkpatrick) — Chaparro delves into samba, cumbia, waltz, ballad, rumba and Mexican polka and is sure-footed in each.
I will be hosting music and art events from time to time, so please update your email address for me at shadetreepotter.com and let your honorable friends know of our community here. My email list is out of date by 8 years, so lots of emails bounced. Ask friends to sign up via the website, so they are in the data base for future mailings.
My Spartan 1954 trailer remodel was a labor of LOVE.
It’s finally ready to visit and check out not only my new art work, but also the land recovery that has been ongoing for the past 7 years. Feel free to wander the paths after you check in at the gallery. AND WATCH for the CLIFF!
I’ve missed having events, and still don’t have a large indoor concert venue, but we will have live music on Sunday, October 14 from 3-5 to celebrate my new art scene.
Don’t miss the fun, the pots, the photos and the planters. And come back for Sharon Bourbonnais’s solo set from 3-5 on Sunday.
Concert/Potluck/BYOB Potluck at 2, concert 3-5. Reserved Seats! At my Fall Creek house in Spicewood:
Javier Chaparro and Salud—a stellar band with Paul Glasse, Mitch Watkins, Laura Mordecai and Stephen Jarrard.
5645 Fall Creek Rd Spicewood, Tx 78669 (3 miles off Hwy 71 on Fall Creek Rd)
It’s a House Concert, BYOB and a tasty treat to share. Tickets are $20 (all proceeds go to the musicians).
I can’t seat a huge crowd at this venue, so reply asap via email to reserve your place in the party.
QUESTIONS ::: 512/693-7678
Javier Chaparro and Salud will grace the party with their delightful repertoire of original tunes penned with love and performed with passion. They bring a musical style as romantic as Antonio Carlos Jobin and as virtuosic as Yo Yo Ma. Salúd is still relatively new on the musical scene, but the individuals that make up the group are far from novice. Their combined successful careers make for an exquisite feast for the ears and the heart.
Salúd is the songwriting muse of Javier Chaparro. His songs draw from all over the Latin countries and are augmented with flares of jazz and Americana.
Javier Chaparro, a native of Lima, Peru, began his formal study of violin at the National Conservatory in Lima. He has been with the Sinfonica Nacional in Lima, the Fine Arts Theatre Orchestra in Mexico City, the Austin Symphony and currently holds the post of Concert Master for the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra. As a guest artist, he has performed solo and chamber music recitals in United States, South America, and Europe. Over the years, he has built an eclectic musical career performing jazz, gypsy, pop and country western music as a band leader and a sideman.
Javier has been featured as an artist in film and documentary soundtracks including The Alamo, Spy Kids, IMAX’s Ride Around The World, Loaves and Fishes and PBS’s Hansel Mieth. Besides the love for his music and his family, he is an avid horseman and accomplished trainer.
Paul Glasse, originally from Poughkeepsie, NY, Paul was lured to Austin, Texas by his love of Texas Swing. Under the tutelage of the great electric mandolinist, Tiny Moore, of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Glasse immersed himself in the vocabulary and vibe of Texas Swing. He has been inducted into the Texas Swing Hall of Fame, won the International Mandolin Championship, and a host of other awards. Paul is, himself, an accomplished composer and has a number of jazz albums to his own credit. He has recorded and performed with Asleep at the Wheel, Michelle Shocked, Ana Egge, The Flatlanders and many others.
Mitch Watkins, who comes from as far from Poughkeepsie as you can get, and still be in the U.S., migrated to Austin from McAllen, Texas, and proceeded to make his mark as one of the finest touring guitarists today. His rise came when his critically acclaimed jazz fusion group, Passenger, toured with Leonard Cohen. Mitch recently reunited and toured with him again in 2012 and 2013. He has also performed with Joe Ely, Jennifer Warnes, Jerry Jeff Walker, K.T. Oslin and many others. He has produced for and performed with Bob Schneider and Abra Moore, along with many others. Mitch has also released five solo albums.
Laura Mordecai, percussionist and vocalist, spent her formative years playing drums in her father’s dixieland band. and percussion in pit orchestras for musical theatre. She joined her family again years later in the Sentimental Journey Orchestra as a vocalist, singing the songs of the Andrew Sisters. After venturing through various rock and country bands, she moved over to the Latin percussion chair and has performed with Beto and the Fairlanes, The Austin Pops Orchestra, Libby Kirkpatrick, Leticia Rodriguez and many others.
Stephen Jarrard, guitarron player and vocalist, can be credited as Javier’s tour guide into the singer/songwriter world. Friend and bandmate for over 30 years now, it was his country band that welcomed the Peruvian virtuoso to sit in on “fiddle” at their gigs. Later, the two formed Europa Trio, a European gypsy music group where Stephen picked up the guitarron. The rest is history!
Bobby Bridger and John Inmon, in concert at my Fall Creek Rd home. I call it Dot’s Roadhouse, cause my mom lived here, Dot Fowler, and she LOVED house concerts.
Dot Fowler, my mother and the Lake Travis View Columnist who wrote “Over 50, going like 60” until her late 70’s, passed away, peacefully, at our new home in Spicewood on Friday, February 8, 2013 at 11:11am.
She enjoyed autumn and the holiday season with all 20 plus members of her family in what we called our Road House on Fall Creek. We miss her greatly and are thankful that her body and mind have been freed from the grip of alzheimer’s disease. She always wanted meaningful work and to express herself eloquently. Towards the end, she excelled in non verbal communication and she expressed her love and determination until the last day of her full life with direct eye contact and a firm grip as she held our hands and hearts.
We will be honoring Dot with a memorial service followed by a house concert featuring a host of her favorite local musicians: The Austin Mandolin Orchestra, Ponty Bone, Lorrie Singer, Bradley Kopp, Laura Mordecai, and Beto and the Fairlaines and hopefully Madye Kaye, Richard Bowden and Ed Miller.
Mother loved hearing music in the gallery and sharing in the potluck buffet and wanted her memorial to have that feeling of community with joyous music, good food and caring friends.
Please join us to celebrate the life she loved living. Sunday, March 24 from 2-5.
5645 Fall Creek Rd Spicewood, Tx 78669
please, RSVP/830-693-2341 (We NEED a chair count!)
Dot Fowler requested memorials to be donated to HAAM, the SIMS Foundation or towards Alzheimer’s research. We will have a vase for each of these charities should you care to make a donation in her name.
I’m thrilled to be writing to you again, especially with news that I have been back in the studio at last, glazing and firing a group of miniature sculptures which I’ll be selling at the Spicewood Arts RoundUp, October 18 and 19.
These pieces are intimate in nature, minimalist impressions of birds and stauesque plants, sculpted in soft stoneware and glazed in rich bronze and jade tones. I’m very pleased with these jewels.
I missed the birds as much as I missed the trees when I moved to Austin after the fire. In my new home, I follow the meanderings of turkeys, roadrunners, titmice and wrens. I wake to birdsong and catch the morning light breaking behind the mockingbird’s profile and know that I am home again.
I have a new phone number, so please make note: 512/693-7687 that spells 512 693-POTS.
And a note of thanks to the sky above for today’s major soaking rains. Fall begins tomorrow and I am so glad. See you at the roundup! and YES, there will also soon be a musical happening.
