3626 Doniphan, El Paso, TX The Kingsmen Lounge May 9-10, 1969 Deep Green

Cultural information did not travel as quickly in days of yore as it does now. The famous Humbead's Map Of The World, which suggested that Berkeley, CA and Cambridge, MA were right next door to each other, was not so far wrong. Anyone not in that nexus got their information a little bit later.

This ad is from the El Paso Herald-Post of Friday, May 9, 1969, advertises the Deep Green at the Kingsmen Lounge. They are described as "fabulous" exponents of "The San Francisco Steppenwolf Sound." It is easy to look at this from the perspective of San Francisco or Chicago and chuckle at the naivete of local rubes who didn't realize that Steppenwolf were a bunch of Canadians who lived in Los Angeles, who only had a peripheral connection to the so-called "San Francisco Sound," which in any case was some years prior when the band was called The Sparrow.

El Paso wasn't a place for hippies, and the Deep Green were probably the most hip guys in town, with all the latest records and hot licks to boot (Texas doesn't take kindly to second rate musicians in any genre). Its not their fault that the club they played at needed to push the latest California band to make them sound cool. They probably played a smoking version of "Don't Step On The Grass, Sam," which was pretty dangerous stuff for 1960s Texas.

The location of the venue at 3626 Doniphan Drive (at the intersection of Racetrack Dr), is just between Interstate 10 and the Texas-New Mexico border. At the same time, it is just about two miles from the Mexican border, near Jaurez. At the time, it was probably a hopping joint. According to the Google Satellite photo, no buildings are currently visible at the site.

316 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX: Vulcan Gas Company Performance List 1969 (Austin III)

The Vulcan Gas Company was the most memorable psychedelic venue in Austin, Texas. Texas and particularly Austin has a rich rock history, featuring rock bands with light shows in late 1965, contemporary to events in San Francisco. The history of the Vulcan Gas Company is not hard to retrieve, and the posters are very nice and eminently collectible. Nonetheless, from the very narrow perspective of rock prosopography, there is no list of concert performances at the Vulcan.

I am posting this list as an aid to prosopographical scholarship. I am not attempting to write another history of the Vulcan, as that seems to have been covered in various sources, just a list of concerts. I compiled this list almost exclusively from the posters. This means that some weekends may be missing, and other performances may be different than what was actually advertised. I have included events promoted by the Vulcan Gas Company itself even when other venues were used. Anyone with additional information or corrections please put it in the Comments or email me.

Part I-1967

Part II-1968

Part III-1969

January 17-18, 1969   Big Joe Williams
All shows were at the Vulcan Gas Company venue at 316 Congress Avenue in Austin, TX unless otherwise noted.

January 30-31, February 1, 1969  John Lee Hooker/Shiva’s Head Band

February 21-22, 1969  The Fugs/Shiva’s Head Band

February 28-March 1, 1969   Texas

March 7-8, 1969 New Atlantis/Untouchables/Texas Rangers

March 14-15, 1969  Jimmy Reed/Onion Creek
 The calendar is very hard to read in the tiny reproduction.

March 21-22, 1969  Big Mama Thornton/New Atlantis

March 28-29, April 4-5, 1969  Mustangs/Georgetown Medical Band

April 11-12, 1969  Shiva’s Head Band/Sunnyland Special

April 18-19, 1969   Fred McDowell/Texas Rangers

April 25-26, 1969 Muddy Waters/Sunnyland Special

May 2-3, 1969 Shiva’s Head Band/Sherwood

May 8, 1969 Shiva’s Head Band/Sunnyland Special/Mustangs
 Benefit for the Vulcan Gas Company

May 9-10, 1969  Mance Lipscomb/Onion Creek

May 16-17, 1969 Georgetown Medical Band/Sherwood
 The poster says “If you toke, don’t tote,” a sign the venue was under significant pressure from the police.

May 23-24, 1969  Shiva’s Head Band/Texas Rangers

May 30-31, 1969  Big Joe Williams/Georgetown Medical Band

June 13-14-15, 1969 Texas/Fat Emma/Shiva’s Head Band

June 20-21, 1969  Shiva’s Head Band/Georgetown Medical Band/Ramon Ramon and The Daddy-O’s
To my knowledge, this was the last show at the Vulcan Gas Company at 316 Congress Avenue.

This completes my working list of shows at (or promoted by) Austin's Vulcan Gas Company. Anyone who can add additional dates or correct information about which bands played on which nights (as opposed to who might have been advertised) please Comment or email me.

316 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX: Vulcan Gas Company Performance List 1968 (Austin II)

The Vulcan Gas Company was the most memorable psychedelic venue in Austin, Texas. Texas and particularly Austin has a rich rock history, featuring rock bands with light shows in late 1965, contemporary to events in San Francisco. The history of the Vulcan Gas Company is not hard to retrieve, and the posters are very nice and eminently collectible. Nonetheless, from the very narrow perspective of rock prosopography, there is no list of concert performances at the Vulcan.

I am posting this list as an aid to prosopographical scholarship. I am not attempting to write another history of the Vulcan, as that seems to have been covered in various sources, just a list of concerts. I compiled this list almost exclusively from the posters. This means that some weekends may be missing, and other performances may be different than what was actually advertised. I have included events promoted by the Vulcan Gas Company itself even when other venues were used. Anyone with additional information or corrections please put it in the Comments or email me.

Part I-1967

Part II-1968

January 5-6, 1968  Lord August and The Visions of Life/Georgetown Medical Band
All shows were at The Vulcan Gas Company venue at 316 Congress Avenue in Austin, TX unless otherwise noted.

January 12-13, 1968  Shiva’s Head Band/The Lost and Found

(January 16, 23, 30 and February 6, 1968)  movies

January 19-20, 1968  Mance Lipscomb/Conqueroo

January 26-27, 1968  Shiva’s Head Band/Afro Caravan and the Strawberry Shoemaker

February 1-2-3, 9-10, 1968  Shiva’s Head Band/Conqueroo/Lost and Found/Georgetown Medical Band
 The tiny reproductions of the posters make it hard to tell exactly which groups play which shows on the two-weekend posters.

February 14, 1968   Conqueroo/Shiva’s Head Band

February 16, 1968   Texas & Pacific/New Atlantis/Shepherd’s Head/Good Humor
"Benefit for Oleo Strut, A Radical Coffeehouse for G.I.s at Fort Hood” (afternoon show?)

February 16-17, 23-24, 1968   Shiva’s Head Band/Conqueroo/Rubaiyat/Lightning Hopkins

February 22, 1968 Shiva’s Head Band/Conqueroo/Georgetown Medical Band
 “Bust Benefit Dance”

March 1-2, 8-9, 1968    Shiva’s Head Band/Big Joe Williams/Conqueroo/Rubayyat

March 10, 1968  Rubayyat/Austin Suburban Loan Co. 
 “Bust Benefit”

March 15-16, 22-23, 1968  Shiva’s Headband/Space American Eagle Squadron/Conqueroo/Lost and Found

March 29-30, April 4-5-6, 1968   Conqueroo/Bubble Puppy/Shiva’s Head Band/Blues Bag

April 12-13, 19-20, 1968   Shiva’s Head Band/Rubaiyat/Conqueroo/Sleepy John Estes

April 25, 1968  Angela Lewis and The Fabulous Rockets

April 26-27, May 3-4, 1968  Shiva’s Head Band/Bubble Puppy/Angela Lewis and The Fabulous Rockets/Wild Chicken

May 10-11, 1968  Shiva’s Head Band/Canned Heat/Conqueroo

May 13, 1968  Bubble Puppy

May 16, 1968    Conqueroo “Free Gig”

May 17-18, 24-25, 1968  Shiva’s Head Band/Zig Zag Quartet/Liquid Marble/Wild Chickens

May 19, 1968  Zilker Park, Austin, TX Shiva’s Head Band/Stone Axe/Angela Lewis 
 “Gathering of Ye Olde Tribe”
 The handbill, drawn by Gilbert Shelton, includes two of his Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

May 24-25, 1968  Moby Grape/Shiva’s Head Band/Angela Lewis
 This conflicts with the previous poster.

May 31-June 1, 1968  Conqueroo/Bubble Puppy

June 21-22, 1968  Conqueroo/Bubble Puppy

June 27-28-29, 1968   Conqueroo/Bubble Puppy

July 5-6, 1968  Johnny Winter/Bubble Puppy

July 7, 1968   Conqueroo/Winter/Shiva’s Head Band
 Winter was Johnny Winter’s trio.

July 26-27, 1968  New Atlantis/Grits 

August 2-3, 1968   Muddy Waters/Winter

August 16, 1968 Winter/New Atlantis/Zackary Thacks/1948

August 29-30-31, 1968   Stacy and The 13th Floor Elevators/New Atlantis

September 6-7-8, 1968  Bubble Puppy/Zig-Zag Quartet

September 12-13-14, 1968  New Atlantis/Gritz

September 20-21, 1968  Winter/Endel St. Cloud

September 27-28, 1968   Big Joe Williams/Sky Blues

September 29, 1968 Woolridge Park, Austin, TX  New Atlantis/Lavender Hill Express
Although this was not a Vulcan Gas event, they appear to have some involvement. Vulcan Gas artist and Jim Franklin included his first Armadillo on the handbill, later to become legendary at his Armadillo World Headquarters in the 1970s.

October 10-11-12, 1968 New Atlantis/Winter

October 13, 1968 Theater For The Performing Arts, Hemisfair Arena, San Antonio, TX Steppenwolf/Johnny Winter/New Atlantis
 Not a Vulcan Gas event, but Vulcan Gas artist Gilbert Shelton did the poster.

October 17-18-19, 1968  Shiva’s Head Band/Winter

October 31, November 1-2, 1968   Shiva’s Head Band/Grits

November 8-9, 1968   Steve Miller Band/New Atlantis

November 14, 1968   Texas Pacific/Blues Bag  
“Bail Bund Benefit”
 Texas was a dangerous place for pot smokers in the 60s, as indicated by the number of benefits for raising bail.

November 15-16, 1968   Freddie King/Winter 

November 21, 1968 Theater For The Performing Arts, Hemisfair Arena, San Antonio, TX Big Brother and The Holding Company/Winter/Shiva's Headband 
A Vulcan Gas show at a theater in San Antonio. Janis Joplin would leave Big Brother shortly after this.

November 22-23, 1968 Mance Lipscomb/Shiva’s Head Band

November 28-29, 1968 The Children/New Atlantis

December 6-7, 1968  Shiva’s Head Band/Bubble Puppy

December 13-14, 1968  New Atlantis/Texas Pacific

December 20-21, 1968  Winter/New Atlantis

December 31, 1968   Shiva’s Head Band/Winter

Part III-1969

316 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX: Vulcan Gas Company Performance List 1967 (Austin I)

The Vulcan Gas Company was the most memorable psychedelic venue in Austin, Texas. Texas and particularly Austin has a rich rock history, featuring rock bands with light shows in late 1965, contemporary to events in San Francisco. The history of the Vulcan Gas Company is not hard to retrieve, and the posters are very nice and eminently collectible. Nonetheless, from the very narrow perspective of rock prosopography, there is no list of concert performances at the Vulcan.

I am posting this list as an aid to prosopographical scholarship. I am not attempting to write another history of the Vulcan, as that seems to have been covered in various sources, just a list of concerts. I compiled this list almost exclusively from the posters. This means that some weekends may be missing, and other performances may be different than what was actually advertised. I have included events promoted by the Vulcan Gas Company itself even when other venues were used. Anyone with additional information or corrections please put it in the Comments or email me.

Part I-1967

January 7, 1967  Doris Miller Auditorium, Austin, TX 13th Floor Elevators/Conqueroo/Jomo 
Electric Grandmother Presents
Electric Grandmother was a production company that preceded Vulcan Gas.

February 10, 1967 City Coliseum, Austin, TX  13th Floor Elevators/Conqueroo
 Electric Grandmother Presents

February 18, 1967 Houston Music Theater, Houston, TX 13th Floor Elevators/Conqueroo/Jomo Disaster
 Electric Grandmother Presents

April 22, 1967 Doris Miller Auditorium, Austin, TX  Conqueroo/Rachel’s Children
 Vulcan Gas Company Presents

May 6, 1967 Doris Miller Auditorium, Austin, TX Conqueroo/Rachel’s Children
 Vulcan Gas Company Presents

September 24, 1967  “Love-In”, Zilker Park, Austin, TX Shiva’s Headband/Thingies/Circus Maximus/Conqueroo/Black Lace
 Vulcan Gas Company was among the promoters

October 27-28, 1967 Vulcan Gas Company, Austin, TX Conqueroo/Shiva’s Headband
The first Vulcan Gas show at 316 Congress, with a poster by Gilbert Shelton (later of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers). All shows from here on were at 316 Congress Avenue unless otherwise events.

November 3-4, 1967  13th Floor Elevators/Conqueroo/Shiva’s Head Band

November 10-11, 1967  Conqueroo/Swiss Movement

November 17-18, 1967  Thingies/South Canadian Overlflow/Shiva’s Head Band

November 24-25, 1967   Thingies/Golden Dawn

December 1-2, 1967  Lightnin Hopkins/Conqueroo

December 8-9-10, 1967  13th Floor Elevators/Shiva’s Headband/Swiss Movement/South Canadian Overflow

December 15-16, 1967  Shiva’s Headband/Lost and Found

December 17, 1967   Conqueroo/Shiva’s Head Band

December 22-23, 30-31, 1967  Conqueroo/Afro Caravan/Golden Dawn/Shiva’s Head Band

Part II-1968
Part III-1969