I love Willie Nelson.  Growing up in Texas, I’m pretty sure I took him for granted, and during my teen and college years I maybe changed the channel if the station played too much Willie.  But I came back to the fold by the time I graduated. 

Because my friends at 21st Street Co-op knew that he was cool and awesome and had influenced a lot of people, we all walked down to Antone’s when we heard that Willie Nelson’s 60th birthday party was happening.  This is when Antone’s was still on the northern end of the Drag, next to the Eckerd’s.  We didn’t have tickets but figured we could hang out outside and listen in… it turned out that a friend of mine who had really good music connections was at the show, and he let me borrow his VIP pass to get in for awhile.  That was awesome. 

Austin and Willie have become so big since then, you would think it might be difficult to get in to anything like that now, but you never know!  Just a few years ago Willie was playing at Stubb’s and we managed to sneak in through the bar area … of course, party crashing happens to be one of my specialties.  And I think Willie would approve… even (or especially) at the ripe age of 75! If you’re a fan of his, definitely check out this tribute to him on the Texas Monthly magazine site, or pick up the current issue.