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Larry Joe Taylor's
14th
Annual Texas Music Festival & Chili Cook-off
By Miss Lana
After you've been to Meridian once (or four times in my
case), you always get this feeling inside that's unlike any other when you're
finally on your way to the next one. It's like the feeling you get when
you're a kid on Christmas Eve and you know that Santa Claus is finally coming to
town. It's an excited anticipation of something good to come. There
is nothing like the sight of thousands of campers with Texas flags flying high
and coolers full of beer being loaded for the trek to the stage.
This year was the 14th Annual and the best one I've
attended yet. Why the best yet? Besides the fact that there is NO
OTHER event that draws a crowd as big as this one, AND it is the one event
of the year (in Texas music) that virtually draws ALL the music lovers from ALL
over Texas and the nation...then there's the music...and much more. This
year, Larry Joe added an extra night to the beginning of the festival keeping
the attendees to 500 for this show. They fed the masses hamburgers as they
arrived, and the acoustic show was started under the Tarleton State Alumni Tent
by Larry Joe Taylor and Davin James. The headliner for this special show
was the songwriting legend, Guy Clark. He was, without a doubt, my
favorite of this festival. I was completely enthralled with him and his
songs and now know why he is called the king of the songwriters in OKOM today.
I mean, I always knew he was great, but after seeing him here up close and
personal, it's almost like a religious experience...I did say almost.
I want to touch on some aspects of this event that
you might not read about in other reviews (or maybe you have). The biggest
aspect, as I see it, is the mix of people that are now attending this event on a
regular basis. There are the old hippies and outlaw crowd, and there is
the younger generation (college and early twenties crowd) that seems to grow in
number every year. As everything else in the world, this festival has
changed throughout the fourteen years of its existence and is continuing to
change. With change comes good and bad, and it's no different here.
With the larger crowds comes more trash, more noise and more "kid
stuff". On the other hand, we must realize that these kids are the
future for OKOM. And for the most part, they are fairly well behaved
considering how much they've had to drink and the party atmosphere that is in
the air. The thing that bothers me the most about it is that there
has been a lot of stealing from camps in the past two or three years, something
that never used to happen in the earlier years. I'm not saying it's the
kids who are stealing, but there seems to be more of it going on now.
There is an occasional fight, usually in front of the stage when its packed full
of kids like sardines in a can. Even one of our local deejays got punched
up by the stage.
But
even with the growing number of people every year, there is still something very
special about Meridian. Getting together with friends, some whom you only
see once a year at this event, sharing what you have with strangers, meeting new
friends, petting a puppy, watching a toddler dance, camp fires and guitars, the
sound of laughter coming from a camp site far away...someone sleeping off the
night before by the river, an abandoned two week old kitten being bottled fed, a
surprise birthday party, getting a sick dog to finally eat something, a
limousine with longhorns on the front and a beer tap coming out of the gas tank,
dune buggies, golf carts, motorcycles, one artist in total awe of another,
couples in love...this festival is all of this and more. With this
festival comes a spirit that is shared by all who are there. This year it
was cited as "The Texas Woodstock", but I think that was already used
for Willie Nelson's picnic. I say we call it "Larry Joe's Big Ass
Party". Whatever we call it...
This event is more than
music...it's three days and nights of sharing and enjoying what Texas, the Texas
music family and living in a free country are all about. It's where the
"to each his own" attitude is adopted by most unless it is considered
harmful to others. Yes, this festival is special, and it always will be no
matter how big it gets. We can always sit in camp and say, "remember
when..." and now it's different, but it's still very special. So many
memories of these festivals will always be a part of me, and I can't wait for
the next one.
Miss Lana
Written by Lana Hughes,
May 2002
The following is an interview conducted via e-mail by Miss
Lana with Larry Joe Taylor in June of 2002. Thanks, Larry Joe, for a great
festival and your talents.
ML: If you had to describe the 14th Annual LJT Festival in
only one word, what would it be?
LJT: "WOW!!"
ML: What was the official attendance this year?
LJT: There were somewhere around 12,000 there over the four days.
ML: Is that a record?
LJT: That is the most people so far.
ML: What was the best thing about this year's festival?
LJT: I thought the music was the best yet.
ML: What was the worst thing?
LJT: I think that under age drinking is a big problem, and I think it was
too crowded around the stage. These are two things that we're working to
correct for next year.
ML: What was the funniest thing that happened at the festival that you
know about?
LJT: I'm still laughing about a joke that Charlie Robison told me but I
can’t tell you what it is.
ML: What would you tell the festival goers if you had the chance, because
here it is (the chance).
LJT: I've always said that there is as much entertainment in the
campground as there is on stage. Anyone who just comes for the stage
concerts is missing a lot. To get the whole thing, you have to camp.
ML: Rumor is that 70+ people were arrested during the
4-day festival and the majority was over 40 years old. Is that true?
LJT: I don't know what the numbers were or what age group. There
were only a couple of arrests on the festival grounds. The rest were
driving related. I wish people would not
drink and drive. That's one reason we started this in the first place so
you could go hear music, camp and not have to drive. The sheriff's dept.
works with us very well. As long as you are in the campground, you can do
pretty much what you want (within reason) but when you get out on the road
that's a different story.
ML: What are your feelings about the older/newer generations that
attending the festival? Is it really creating a problem like some fans are
saying?
LJT: In both groups there are a few that create problems. That has been a
complaint since the first one in Mingus TX. There are some things we will
do to try and make it better for both groups. When we started this thing
14 years ago, there were not very many people who were even aware that there was
alternative music. It was my goal then to turn as many people as possible
on to this music, and that is still my goal. I believe so much in this
concept of "music by the seat of your pants" and the freedoms to
create any type song you want to. We (Texas Musicians) have tried to
create songs that have no musical boundaries. You'll hear influences of country,
jazz, rock, blues and reggae. Older/newer generations have said, "Yes
we like that." We all have worked so hard for so long to find an
audience for this music, and I will not be the one that tells one generation or
another that they can't come and listen to it.
ML: Another rumor is that one of the hard drives used for the live
recording crashed. Was that data recovered and when do you expect to release it?
LJT: Yes, we had a problem with one of the hard drives. It had all
the music from Friday night and all day Saturday on it. We were able to
recover the data. We'll have #14 out around the first of the year.
ML: Tell us how the LJT Fest in Meridian and "Island Time"
differ besides the location. What makes "Island Time" a special event
in its own right?
LJT: This will be the 5th Island Time festival this year in Port Aransas.
I started it because I like the coast so much. It is a much smaller
festival and is more laid back. We do it in several different venues on
the island and there's a lot of time to go to the beach or what ever you want to
do.
ML: What are your plans for the near future? New CD? Anything new on the
horizon for Larry Joe?
LJT: We just completed a live acoustic CD called "Port A to Port
B". We recorded it along the Gulf coast in small listening venues.
I like it because we were able to do a lot of my favorite songs that I've
written that we don't get to do as a band. It will be in stores in August.
I have been doing some writing and have plans to go in the studio in November to
do a new record.
ML: What would like to be remembered most for when you've departed for
that bigger gig in heaven? (weird question, huh?)
LJT: I don't know. I guess I 'd like to be remembered as a good
person.
ML: If you had to name one person in the music industry you admire and
respect the most, who would it be and why?
LJT: There are so many, but I guess the one that sticks out the most is
Guy Clark. Guy helped me a lot songwriting-wise, and I don't guess that he
has ever written a bad song.
ML: What is the most surprising thing about Larry Joe Taylor that most
fans don't know?
LJT: I'm left handed.
ML: Any plans to change the location of future LJT
Festivals?
LJT: Well, we've had five different locations in 14 years so I could see
it happening.
ML: Your staff does a great job of security at the festival, yet there are
still some problems with theft and a few fights that break out. What is your
thought on this and is it getting worse every year?
LJT: We do have a great staff. We have a large
security force of uniform and t-shirt
security, but we also have security that you never see unless there is a
problem. There have always been those problems, and realistically, there
will always be problems. I know that most people would not leave their
lawn chairs and ice chests in their front yard at home unattended, but they do
at the festival. Any time you get 10,000 people together you're going to
have problems. We spend a lot of time every year trying to correct those
problems. We want the festival to be as safe and as fun as it can be.
ML: When you retire, where will you live?
LJT: Retire from what? This is not a job. We just built a new
house on our place in Huckabay so we'll be here, but I can't stay away from the
coast for too long.
ML: Is there a venue you haven't played that you would really like to
play?
LJT: It doesn't matter where I play as long as people listen. I
really enjoy what I do, and I hope it shows. I've already done so much
more in this business than I ever dreamed of.
I am such a student of music and songwriting, so it continues to be fun to
create new music. I don't think I'll ever get tired of that.
***
Editor's Note: Larry Joe Taylor also hosts a cruise
in winter. Visit his website for all the details. Larry Joe Taylor's Web Site
www.larryjoetaylor.com
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