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The
reason for Woodshock 81' was that Raul's
was
on a month-long legal hiatus and it was
hard
finding gigs, so I decided to have a festival
in
the park. It was actually a follow-up
to my
Backyard
Jamboree that was held on Nueces
Street
earlier in the year. For Woodshock we
had
no trouble finding 9 bands to play (probably
more,
only a few made the poster). I set it up
so
that Jerryskids opened and closed the show ...
then
nobody could whine about those 2 positions.
A
couple of days before the gig, Steve Sonleitner
said
"Woodshock" and the name
stuck. We
had
David Yow put Charles Schultz' "Woodshock"
canary
on the poster with a "doa" tag on his toe.
The
event in Waterloo park was the first "punk rock"
show
at that venue and the first electric show, too.
I
got the permits, signed up the help and the rest is ....
if
not history, a mystery as to how well it went off.
The
city turned the sprinklers on at exactly 10 PM
when
the permit expired. A great time was had by all.
Chris Wing
Before
the sprinklers went off. The Dicks at Woodshock
81'
Woodshock
83' Through 87'
By
Mike Alvarez
And
that's how it started in 1981. There was no intent
at
that
time to have an annual show. In 1982, musician
Mike
Alvarez
met Blaine Hurlbut in a hot check writing class.
You
can go to jail in Texas for writing a $15 check that
bounced.
Blaine was the son of Burt Hurlbut, the property
owner
of the Hays County property that hosted several of
the
famous Willie Nelson picnics in the 70s. Blaine
knew
that Alvarez knew the punk scene and suggested
they
throw a punk concert at The Hurlbut Ranch.
Woodshock
83'
To
get to the Hurlbut Ranch where Blaine wanted to hold
the
concert, you would have to drive on the roughest dirt
roads
you can imagine. In one newspaper article that
reviewed
the first show, the writer
described the drive to
the
ranch as “driving down stairs”
– and that was about
right.
On my first drive to the
ranch, I thought “no way”.
The
car would bottom out, get stuck in deep ridges in the
road – a nightmare. But when
we hit the clearing and
saw
the ranch – it was a beautiful
sight. Furthermore,
there
were the water holes. There
were two water holes,
“Deadman's”
and another smaller
private hole that only
the
Hurlbut family used. It
was a picture out of Heaven.
I obviously didn't care how many people would show up
to
a show there. Those that would come - would never
forget
it.
I
recruited Charles Gunning (“Doug The Slug”) to help put
a
show together. He was a feared thug and club bouncer
at
the time – everyone was pretty much afraid of him. He
had
a thing for Lisa Gamache, my band mate (Max and the
Makeups
lead singer), so he was always around us and I
took
a liking to him. He was working at Dan's Liquor at
the
time and managed to borrow a giant truck from the
store.
We planned to use the truck to store musical gear
during
the show and we used it to move things out to the
sight.
The truck sort of gave us a look of organization though
we
were far from organized. Before I would agree to
do a
show
there, I had Blaine take Doug and I through all of the
caves,
jump off all of the cliffs and danger spots as I knew
the
punks would try anything if it was there to try.
Charles
Gunning building the Woodshock
83'
stage at The Hurlbut Ranch
I
think Jeff Smith got interested early, bringing some San
Antonio
bands, including his band Bang Gang, and a lot
of
the local hard core punk bands to our attention. Local
musician
and professional sound man Johnny Medina agreed
to
bring his sound system to the event and he did so for
five
years.
The
festival would become the world's premiere alternative
music
festival for its time between 1983 & 1987.
The
lineup
for the first show in the hills would include Max
and
The Makeups, The Jitters, Crotch Rot, The Offenders,
Channel
3, The Ideals, Skank, New Torpedoes, Human
Drama,
Bang Gang, Tiger Roos and Pleasure Method.
Woodshocks
83', 84' and 85' were held at The Hurlbut
Ranch,
where concert goers enjoyed spring fed creeks
and
diving plateaus - far from mainstream
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