Party Up
PlayStation will be the only playing most local bands (and TCB) do Thanksgiving Day, but not Grupo Fantasma. The Latino dance combo will board a plane to Las Vegas for a special holiday show at Prince‘s brand-new 3121 club in the Rio Hotel & Casino. “Our manager is actually old buddies with somebody who works for Prince,” says Grupo guitarist Adrian Quesada. Apparently His Purple Majesty personally approves all 3121 bookings. “We were expecting some kind of feedback, but he was just like, ‘Book ’em,'” says Quesada. “Very Prince.” He doesn’t know if Grupo will have a Very Special Guest in its audience, but Quesada notes the diminutive genius does have a favorable schedule. “We don’t want to set ourselves up for disappointment, but he hosts a jam session there the night before and plays there on Friday,” he says. “We might be eating purple turkey for Thanksgiving.” After several months of steady touring, Grupo’s next Austin show isn’t until Dec. 29 at Antone’s, but they do play next Friday at Lucy’s on the Square in San Marcos and plan to release a new album next year.
Luckenbach Litigation
An interesting and already messy legal battle is taking shape over some of the best-loved songs in Texas music. The trouble started back in January, when artists including the Derailers, Gary P. Nunn, Two Tons of Steel, and Cory Morrow gathered in Luckenbach to revisit Seventies staples like “London Homesick Blues,” “Redneck Mother,” and “Desperados Waiting for the Train.” The results were to be released on Palo Duro Records‘ Viva! Terlingua! Nuevo! last month, but on Nov. 1, Jerry Jeff Walker filed suit against the Tennessee-based label, claiming copyright infringement on the five Walker-written Nuevo! cuts (“Gettin’ By,” “Sangria Wine,” etc.), misappropriation of identity, and false advertising. Palo Duro suspended distribution of the album but fired back last week with a letter from founder Chris Thomas claiming the songs are fair game under federal copyright law’s Compulsory License provision, vowing the label would “aggressively defend itself.” Stay tuned.This article appears in November 24 • 2006.