Dallara
05-21-2006, 03:52 PM
For you folks that attended the recent April Texas Hill Country Ride...
I thought you each might be interested in something very nice done for us "behind the scenes" for our group.
For those of you who didn't go on the ride, the last evening that all of the ride participants were together was Saturday night, April 22nd. Most everyone had ridden most or all of the day, and the plan was for everyone to meet up at the "Hill Top Cafe" just north of Fredericksburg for dinner. The "Hill Top" is well known for terrific food, wonderful atmosphere, and really great Texas music. For more info on the "Hill Top" check here:
http://www.hilltopcafe.com/
The "Hill Top" is owned by Johnny Nicholas, formerly of such bands as The Boogie Brothers, Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, and Asleep at the Wheel - of which Johnny is most often associated with. He is one hell of a blues artist, and is always fun to watch and listen to. He is the one you will most usually hear playing at the "Hill Top", but not always. But more about that in a minute... You can read a bit more about him here:
http://www.hilltopcafe.com/johnny/index.htm
If you like the blues, you owe it to yourself to hear Johnny Nicholas if you get the chance.
Now this is where our Hill Country Ride comes in, and the story gets interesting... And where those of us on the ride owe a hardy bit of gratitude...
One of our more recent members of the Cafe', and one whom I, and most of the group, met for the first time on the ride was Bob Neuser - bbneuser here on the board ( http://www.motorcyclistcafe.com/forums/member.php?u=175 ). He is from Beeville, Texas, and good friends with another ride participant - John Breidenbach. Breidenbach has been racing and riding motorcycles for over 35 years, and was a Kawasaki dealer in Beeville for long, long time. He was even a partner in our Indy Car team for a short time, but volunteered a ton of his time to the teamover the years we were in the Indy car series.
Well, as it turns out, John asked Bob to go on the ride, and from the beginning I wanted us all to have dinner at least one night at the "Hill Top". Only problem is the "Hill Top" doesn't really like hosting large groups like the 27 we had eating there that night. It can really put a crap on their Saturday night biz if they can't turn tables quickly. However, not to long after Bob Neuser got on the e-mail list he offered that if I needed any help with reservations at the "Hill Top" he could help out. I needed all the help I could get, so I turned it all over to him, and he performed wonderfully - getting us in there almost exactly at the time I had requested.
When we all got to the "Hill Top" we noticed a rather funny, hastily made billing of the night's music act tacked on the front door. Written out in longhand with a "Sharpie" marker on a bright pink sheet of paper was "Tonight - Joe King Carrasco"... Now I am sure the vast portion of you out there in Cafe'-land have no idea who Joe King Carrasco is, but suffice to say he is a bit of a living legend down in the South Texas music scene, and he has been around it for a loooooooooooooooong, long time. It doesn't hurt that he is one fo the best guitar player's you'll ever see, but he is also funny, entertaining, and can play almost anything you can imagine.
http://www.joeking.com/images/firejoe.jpg
http://www.joeking.com/images/ponchojoe.jpg
Though he looked a bit more like this when we were all at the "Hill Top"...
http://www.acclaimtalent.com/html/carrasco_jk/images/carrasco_jk3.jpg
You can read a bit more about him here:
http://www.joeking.com/
http://www.joeking.com/bio/bio.htm
Well, folks...
I thought we just happened to be real lucky to have Joe King playing the night our Hill Country Ride group dropped in...
Not so...
Seems Bob Neuser's wife, Bitsy, arranged that for us. Apparently she discovered that Johnny Nicholas would be out of town that weekend and wouldn't be able to play for us, and if he couldn't play for us she wanted somebody special. See, Bitsy is real, real good friends with Nicholas and his wife, and so she asked that the "Hill Top" get either Marcia Ball (another Texas blues legend...) or Joe King Carrasco to play in Johnny's absence, and *POOF* - We get Joe King Carrasco!!!
So here. puclicly, I want to express my extreme gratitude and appreciation ot Bob Neuser and his lovely wife, Bitsy, for taking the time, and going way out of their way, to get us some truly special music for our final night ride dinner, and the same goes for the folks at the "Hill Top Cafe" for accommodating them.
To Bob & Bitsy Neuser, and to the "Hill Top", THANK YOU! You made that dinner, and that ride, that much more memorable for me!
Just thought you guys on the ride might want to know...
Cheers!
Allan (Dallara - NAABSCD)
I thought you each might be interested in something very nice done for us "behind the scenes" for our group.
For those of you who didn't go on the ride, the last evening that all of the ride participants were together was Saturday night, April 22nd. Most everyone had ridden most or all of the day, and the plan was for everyone to meet up at the "Hill Top Cafe" just north of Fredericksburg for dinner. The "Hill Top" is well known for terrific food, wonderful atmosphere, and really great Texas music. For more info on the "Hill Top" check here:
http://www.hilltopcafe.com/
The "Hill Top" is owned by Johnny Nicholas, formerly of such bands as The Boogie Brothers, Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, and Asleep at the Wheel - of which Johnny is most often associated with. He is one hell of a blues artist, and is always fun to watch and listen to. He is the one you will most usually hear playing at the "Hill Top", but not always. But more about that in a minute... You can read a bit more about him here:
http://www.hilltopcafe.com/johnny/index.htm
If you like the blues, you owe it to yourself to hear Johnny Nicholas if you get the chance.
Now this is where our Hill Country Ride comes in, and the story gets interesting... And where those of us on the ride owe a hardy bit of gratitude...
One of our more recent members of the Cafe', and one whom I, and most of the group, met for the first time on the ride was Bob Neuser - bbneuser here on the board ( http://www.motorcyclistcafe.com/forums/member.php?u=175 ). He is from Beeville, Texas, and good friends with another ride participant - John Breidenbach. Breidenbach has been racing and riding motorcycles for over 35 years, and was a Kawasaki dealer in Beeville for long, long time. He was even a partner in our Indy Car team for a short time, but volunteered a ton of his time to the teamover the years we were in the Indy car series.
Well, as it turns out, John asked Bob to go on the ride, and from the beginning I wanted us all to have dinner at least one night at the "Hill Top". Only problem is the "Hill Top" doesn't really like hosting large groups like the 27 we had eating there that night. It can really put a crap on their Saturday night biz if they can't turn tables quickly. However, not to long after Bob Neuser got on the e-mail list he offered that if I needed any help with reservations at the "Hill Top" he could help out. I needed all the help I could get, so I turned it all over to him, and he performed wonderfully - getting us in there almost exactly at the time I had requested.
When we all got to the "Hill Top" we noticed a rather funny, hastily made billing of the night's music act tacked on the front door. Written out in longhand with a "Sharpie" marker on a bright pink sheet of paper was "Tonight - Joe King Carrasco"... Now I am sure the vast portion of you out there in Cafe'-land have no idea who Joe King Carrasco is, but suffice to say he is a bit of a living legend down in the South Texas music scene, and he has been around it for a loooooooooooooooong, long time. It doesn't hurt that he is one fo the best guitar player's you'll ever see, but he is also funny, entertaining, and can play almost anything you can imagine.
http://www.joeking.com/images/firejoe.jpg
http://www.joeking.com/images/ponchojoe.jpg
Though he looked a bit more like this when we were all at the "Hill Top"...
http://www.acclaimtalent.com/html/carrasco_jk/images/carrasco_jk3.jpg
You can read a bit more about him here:
http://www.joeking.com/
http://www.joeking.com/bio/bio.htm
Well, folks...
I thought we just happened to be real lucky to have Joe King playing the night our Hill Country Ride group dropped in...
Not so...
Seems Bob Neuser's wife, Bitsy, arranged that for us. Apparently she discovered that Johnny Nicholas would be out of town that weekend and wouldn't be able to play for us, and if he couldn't play for us she wanted somebody special. See, Bitsy is real, real good friends with Nicholas and his wife, and so she asked that the "Hill Top" get either Marcia Ball (another Texas blues legend...) or Joe King Carrasco to play in Johnny's absence, and *POOF* - We get Joe King Carrasco!!!
So here. puclicly, I want to express my extreme gratitude and appreciation ot Bob Neuser and his lovely wife, Bitsy, for taking the time, and going way out of their way, to get us some truly special music for our final night ride dinner, and the same goes for the folks at the "Hill Top Cafe" for accommodating them.
To Bob & Bitsy Neuser, and to the "Hill Top", THANK YOU! You made that dinner, and that ride, that much more memorable for me!
Just thought you guys on the ride might want to know...
Cheers!
Allan (Dallara - NAABSCD)