so i played the new casbeers last friday. as some of you know, the old casbeers was a venerable live-music dive on blanco road in san antonio. you know the type--rickety tables and chairs, a fine layer of cheeseburger grease and bar dust on anything above eye-level, walls full of the first publicity stills of any number of well-known musicians, the sketchy-looking PA that always sounded just right, cold beer, great people. like that. it's hard to let a place like that go.

the new casbeers is not like the old in any regard, except for the cold beer and the great people, and not necessarily in that order. the new casbeers is, simply put, already one of the very best acoustic rooms in texas, and once the word gets out, i suspect it'll take its place along with the tin angel in philly or the old mississippi studios in portland, oregon as one of the best, coolest acoustic venues in america.

no, really. between my own solo stuff and shows playing guitar for tish hinojosa and jimmie dale gilmore, i've seen a LOT of great and/or famous acoustic rooms, and this is definitely gonna be one of the great ones. it's a 1912 church with 16 10-seat pews. so it's like a king-size bed: wider than it is deep. there's not a bad seat in the house as far as sightlines go, and acoustically...well, let's just say it was designed for one person to be heard over 160 hand fans stirring the texas air around. steve and barbara silbas (the owners) have added just a touch of dampening and a little PA, but i was able to fill the place for one song with just my guitar and my voice, unamplified. (and those of you who've seen me try that trick before know that i can't project for crap!) they really knew how to build rooms for that kind of thing back then.

i encourage all of you who play to check it out and grab a gig if you can, and all of you who listen to swing by and enjoy the sounds. the casbeers website has a couple of pictures, and of course their calendar. i anticipate a steadily increasing flow of national acts as the word gets out, but i know steve and barbara would appreciate your patronage now as they get everything off the ground.

remember, never take a great venue for granted. they don't just happen, and it's a use-it-or-lose-it proposition, especially in this day and age...mary c