CRESCENT MOON INCUBATED MUSICAL NIGHT SCENE DOWNTOWN

By Juan Montoya

Before local arts promoter George Ramirez invested his time and money and integrated a musical component into downtown Browntown called the Crescent Moon, about the only place where one could find modern music was in a few jukeboxes at the Sporstman, the Palm Lounge or some other obscure bars.
Chato's (later Norma's) is gone. So are Los Pescadores and El Capitan.
But then, as word got out that a place with an entrance in the alley between Adams and Jefferson on 11th Street featured live rock and roll, jazz and blues got around, a growing group of music fans started to congregate in the area where before crackheads and streetwalkers used to rule.
The musicians congregated in the new venue because local artists like Ben Neece and his Earthmen, Emilio Crixell and his Bluzanos and the Rodriguez boys with The Brew are home grown talent. People still recall the sounds they head when they listened to Ben or Emilio or even Henry Lee, the guitarist extraordinaire launch into an eerily exact rendition of standard blues or acid rock. In fact, JJ, the drummer and ad hoc bartender goes back to the old days when local bands practiced in their neighborhood garages.
As the enthusiasm grew for locally manufactured music sounds,
other businessmen took notice, and Neece and Ramirez saw as a new generation of nigh spots sprouted in and around Market Square. There is now the more upscale Bora Bora Club and the Haven. And for those whose tastes drift toward conventional norteño and Tejano music, El Callejon across the street from Las Cazuelitas Restaurant (the best caldo in town) has opened also to rave reviews.
"That place is packed most nights, especially on weekends," said a local baile aficionado. "Sometimes there isn't even a place to sit."
For those of us who like a good rock and roll riff or some smooth jazz renditions by local players, Wednesdays was the night to go for open mike. On Thursday, Clay Moore's Frontera Jazz Band would take over and on Fridays, the regular crowd would come in and listen to Emilio and the boys do their blues thing.
On any given day you could see Jim and Nena Barton click away on their digital camera, Gilbert Velasquez and Mary Helen Flores discuss the state of local politics (who's stealing elections and how), or see Joe Lee Rubio sip on his goblet of red wine and dive into the free fajitas and ribs botana with abandon.
Even the botana, from El Tejon on the corner of the US 77-83 frontage road on Alton Gloor, was unique. Mike Cisneros and his partner Henry Sanchez (son of the late State Rep. Henry Sanchez and wife Maria Luisa) decided to go back to the basics, even naming their business after the traditional name for Alton Gloor Road. Called the "Original Fajita," it has achieved the sweet taste of mesquite-grilled carnes to perfection with ribs cooked so soft that the meat slid off the bones.
Partners Neece and Ramirez are already working on remodeling the entire front part of the 1880-circa former tannery (former cantina, former ropa de segunda) building which they hope to open as the Half Moon within a few months.
On any given day or afternoon, Ramirez is overseeing and his crew hammering, sawing and painting the high-ceiling building wooden and brick building. Concurrently, the plumbing work is progressing in the old hide yard area behind the building as necessary remodeling continues.
Once done, the partners hope to give not only local musicians a new venue to ply their wares, but also provide local craftsmen (and women) a market for their wares.
If you had the chance to frequent the Crescent Moon, count yourself among the lucky ones who were there at the origin of resurrecting live rock and roll and alternative music downtown. Judging by the evolution of the downtown district, experience has shown that conjunto and rock and roll can coexist just fine, thank you. It took a sliver of a moonbean to prove they could.
See you at the next Half Moon!