Memories of the Frank Erwin Center Part 2

Great memories of the Frank Erwin Center. Let's continue the conversation with John Graham, Jimmy Earl and Liz Land.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, it's Mom Picke and Ihope you're enjoying our memories of the Frank
Kerwin Center. First built in nineteenseventy seven, last until twenty three actually,
and we're going back to our conversationnow with Jimmy Earle, Liz Land,
and John Graham, all three directorsof the franker Win Center. Let's
get back to our conversation right now, memories of the Frankerwin Center. Let's

(00:21):
talk about the Garth Brooks Final.I remember working at the radio stations at
that time. To get tickets,to buy them early, we had to
stand in line get visa bands.You could go to HB and get visa
bands and then you would stand inline. There's got to be some great
stories about people camping out at theIrwin Center just to get those visa bands.
Any stories, Liz, that youcan share with us, Oh about

(00:43):
those visa bands. Well, whatI can share with you is that when
I took a break from the ErwinCenter and I was working at K five
back in the day, and theIrwin Center had just announced that they were
issuing visa bands for you too.I remember hopping in my car driving over

(01:07):
to the building and you could seejust a bunch of people that had parked
and that were just running to stipbe lined. So so I had that
first hand experience, So that wouldbe from outside. Yeah, it from
outside. Yeah, for sure.I didn't camp out though, how about
you, Jimmy, Well, thevisa bands were a phenomenon for that period

(01:33):
of time and that camping had becomeso problematic for not just us, but
for all the venues of major artistswanting to get tickets. You announced the
show we're going to sell. Sometimesit could be four to six weeks in
advance, and from that point onyou'd have people camping out. So the

(01:57):
visa band was a way where peoplecould come and get their number in the
band and they wouldn't have to comeback until their life. But remember Austin
was a much smaller population exactly now, you know, and still we had
you know, the Scalpels were alwaystrying to be steping two ahead of us,
and we we really made it tryto make it as fair as we

(02:21):
could for everyone to you know,have a chance to get the premium or
the prime seats. So we didthings like hide out in the van,
inside the vehicle and drive out andyou know, and try to throw them
off the trail. And we hada we had a you know a lot

(02:43):
of creative ways to do that.But the visa bands were non tamper proof
and they were, you know,a means for us to mitigate the camping.
And this is way before the internet. I mean, the only way
you can buy a ticket you openperst in box office. Well it was
a hard ticket too, Yeah,they were hardy. Now, John,

(03:05):
I remember the first time we hadGarth. Seems like we melted the phone
system down or something, didn't weWell, there were a couple of things
associated with that. Stepping back alittle bit, you talked about the visa
bands. See the visa band announcementthen became it sort of took over the
place of the actual ticket on saleannouncement, so you sort of moved everything
back. So the visa band announcementthen became the next Jimmy suggested, they're

(03:30):
the secret mission, you know,when you were going to announce the visa
bands and have that go out.So for Garth Brooks, I had called
Bob Cole and I said, Bob, I've got I need to come down
and make an announcement because nobody knewit was that we had to keep it
super quiet, particularly for Garth.We knew that that would be high intensity.

(03:52):
So I had had breakfast someplace.I met Bob, I think it's
Zkjas maybe for breakfast. And hesaid, what's what's it going, what's
gonna be? What's the game?Was curious, and I said, we
got to go back to the station. I wouldn't tell him we go in
there, and I said that atten o'clock. Yeah, because if I
he'd have been you know. Yeah. And so we go back to the

(04:15):
to the studio there and when itwas over there on Lamar and they go
up there and I said, okay, Bob, here's the deal. And
so Bob maybe he was suspecting somethingwas coming, but at ten o'clock I
announced to him no, with nono pre information to him at all.
You know, visa bands are goingon now right now, and my guys,

(04:38):
it was like a crazy thing.But to tell you there's uh that
that was a lot of fun.We had had a good time with that
and so many of those great showswe had over the years. Similar.
The funny thing about Garth Brooks wasthe scalpers got mad at us about it.
Ticket broker as they're called now,and they got they got upset about

(04:59):
that. Sometimes they would even callme, you know, we're just trying
to make a living. I said, I know them, but you're making
a living off of me, andthat's off guard. Okay, So what
did visa stand for? I've alwayshad nothing to do with a visa card?
What did visa stand for? Ithink it just has to do with
like your passport. It's a passyou know, or you guys? No,

(05:24):
no, no, that was abrand name. Yeah, that was
the brand name of the company thatmade the bands. Okay, that makes
sense because everybody assumed it at thetime, Visa MasterCard. What is it?
So anyway, yeah, that wasthe name. I wanted to go
back to one thing that I thoughtabout when we were talking about George Straight
and some of the other country shows, and I was I was reminded of

(05:50):
the first time we had a showthat cost forty dollars and it was like
forty bucks. Well, I can'tremember, but I can tell you that
artists were Kenny and Dolly, Kennyand Dolly and the Overage Boys, probably
that big No, it was justKenny and Dolly. But you know,

(06:15):
how are we going to get fortybucks? You know, we never we
never charged more than about twenty ortwenty five, you know, so finally
we justified it. Well, you'regetting two headliners, put it on sale
to sold out in about fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes, so that we never
looked back, what twenty minutes?Whatever the time was. It never took

(06:38):
long. But again you're talking aboutthat, I'm thinking that these are people
actually show up in person again andthis is before the internet. Yeah,
I mean that's impressive. Yeah,well we had I think we had the
ATBs and you know places like that. Just oppose that to a Paul McCartney
ticket. You remember what you paid? No, but it was worth it.

(06:59):
It was worth it. In fact, I wanted to go back the
second night. Yeah, it wasworth it. I mean that it was
a friggin beetle. What are youtalking about? You know, if you
if you had seen the look onJohn's face when I said it was like
relief. What was the most expensiveticket ever for the Iarwin Center for an
act? Who was that besides gettingDolly? I remember? Was it was

(07:21):
it Pavaratti? Maybe Pavarotti was morethan Paul McCartney. I think I think
there were some tickets. There werethree fifty for Pavarotti. Paul was about
three hundred. But I'll remind everyoneI was going through this in in my
episode, this chapter that there's finished. Paul McCartney also sold his soundcheck.

(07:43):
If you'll recall, he sold thesoundcheck and there would be two hundred people
per soundcheck, and there would betwo of those per and they were fifteen
hundred dollars for the VIP experience.Now that included the soundcheck, a ticket
to the show, and you wentto a reception where you got a goodie
bag with uh some some Paul McCartneymerchandise. Didn't get to meet Paul McCart

(08:07):
but you were there for the soundcheck. And during soundcheck he played six
songs that he did not play duringthe concert. He's got this other mini
concert as well. And there wasone individual that I happened to know who
actually owned one of the suites atthe Irwin Center. And I don't want

(08:28):
to mess his name because I hadn'tasked his permission to do so. He
bought four v I P experiences bothshows and he used his suite for both
shows. So there are some dedicatedfans there for Paul McCartney. I find
and they, yeah, they gotto have a couple of dollars to me.

(08:48):
I just pull I just I'm inmy office and I just found this
backstage pass for Shania Twain and itsays on here wear this badge only.
And you we're in this badge onlyif you could be in the front row
for Shania Twain Case Caven one Oone, September tenth, nineteen ninety eight.

(09:09):
So with some kind of front rowdeal upgrade that you could get,
there was a promotion. Yeah that'sfunny. Okay, So the notes from
my friend that he gave to me, writer, he's got Ozzy Osbourne.
John, You're supposed to have agreat story about Ozzy. Well, I
well, I have an Ozzy story, but it's not from the Irwine Center.
Jimmy might have an Ozzy. Worryabout that. I got a great

(09:30):
Ozzie story, Yeah, I knowJimmy does from the Irwin I have one
from Champagne. You know, Ozzyis kind of notorious here in Texas for
various things, well, allegedly,I don't know. If they weren't there,
happened, Okay, I pleaded,but I was there on that show,

(09:52):
and I happened to note that thatshow was on May eighth of nineteen
eighty six. Why does it standout well because my daughter was born on
May ninth, nineteen eighty six.And the it was it was really a
rough show. You know, thepeople were unruly and several had some damage

(10:15):
to the building where yes, thesome seats from the mezzanine unbolted really and
were tossed down below. And youknow, we got we got got the
situation handled. But it was oneof those situations. I remember, you
know, getting home about two thirtyor three o'clock in the morning, and

(10:41):
I really couldn't sleep because you know, you get kind of wound up from
these shows and and I'm going,oh my god, you know, Dean
is gonna kill me, and thisis this is really going to be a
grilled cheese. And I get upto get dressed for and my wife says,

(11:03):
where are you going. I says, I'm going to work. She
says, no, you're not.He says, We're going to that hospital.
We're having a baby. I knowyou remember the date, Yeah,
yeah, so that was a blessing, I guess, you know. And
it's kind of hard to be madat a new dad, you know.

(11:24):
So yeah, so thank goodness thathappened. Was that the rowdiest concert ever?
I mean, I've never heard thatbefore. Of Seeds, I've heard
the story about excuse me, whenSteve Perry was playing, somebody hit him
in the head with a bottle orsomething like that. It was a lighter.
He was a lighter that I actuallywitnessed that. Steve Harry was singing
one of his ballads and it waskind of off to the stage left side

(11:48):
there, and he's crooning away andthis guy stands up and he takes the
lighter and he hurls it at itat him and he hits him with it,
like in the face. And weget the guy and somebody asked him,
why did you do that? Youknow, he says, man,

(12:11):
he was singing to my girlfriend.Well we got the real story behind that.
So yeah, that that that happened. He ended up out of the
building. Well hopefully that didn't makehim leave the band, because I think
it was not very long after that. Boy, I think one of the
rowdiest shows we ever had in therewas Hank Williams or Hank the just from

(12:39):
the crowd or what the whole everything, and it was an extremely loud show.
It was a loud you know,pa type thing. That was.
I mean when he said all myrowdy friends, he wasn't kidding. They
showed up there in Austin and thatwas that. I can't remember which show
was. We had one show.I think we had fourteen or fifteen arrests.

(13:00):
I don't remember what I was.I didn't do Hank Junior in Austin,
but I did do it in FortWorth and it is an experience like
you would not believe the fourteen orfifteen arrest are in one show. That's
crazy. Yeah, it was.Well, they they come in intoxicated and

(13:20):
they continue and so you know,uh, we never did the Grateful Dead
in in in the in Austin,but I did do the Grateful Dead in
Champagne when I was at the AssemblyHall here, and I remember the police
were all concerned the Grateful Dead.Well, everybody in there smoking pot and
so there are no problems. It'swhen the alcohol goes into the into the

(13:43):
system that you have some some crazy, wild issues. So that's uh.
And Hank Williams Junior would would bringthat out. Now, the Airwin Center
didn't originally sell alcohol, if Iremember right, it's true. I was
just about to say, yeah,so when did that? When did that
come to the point? Well,well, but here's what you need to
know about that is that just becausewe didn't sell alcohol, don't mean people

(14:03):
would sneak it in. They powereddrink in the parking lot for an hour
before, you know, wasn't it. I'm sorry, Jimmy. Well,
what I was going to say isthat didn't we start selling beer with a
boxing event? Yes, But thepoint I was going to make is that,
you know, alcohol really takes thiseffect about an hour later, so

(14:24):
you could just about sit your watchabout the time an hour after the doors
open when you start having the issuesand rainbow spills and the fights. And
because people have been powered drinking foran hour in the parking lot, you
know what rainbow spills are, right, I'm afraid to ask somebody using the

(14:46):
restroom that's what I mean. Rainbowspills. Yeah, yes, it's awful.
I think I like the word rainbowspills. Rainbow spill is better.
Women and the neil. I'm ina fan club. Any stories behind that
on this note? Anything does thatbring a I saw Neil Diamond, I

(15:07):
know two or three times now.You know we did Neil Diamond shows for
quite a while, great shows.In fact, we used to do it
almost every December, as I recall, used to used to tour in December.
Yeah, we would have it,but I don't recall any I don't
either throwing items at I have noidea. I mean, I plead ignorance

(15:31):
and it's they can't be as rowdyas a Hank Junior fans. You guys
are talking about absolutely not what Iloved about. Also, uh, you
guys may not even know about this. Anytime you went with the concession stand
and you'd get change, it wasalways a half dollar, which at the
time my kids were losing their teethand so I had half dollars to stick
underneath their pillow for the two ray. That's because it was always a two

(15:54):
point fifty or three. It's right, that's right. You always got a
half dollar for change. So,yeah, you guys didn't know that.
As well as a parent, Iloved it. I can tell you that
see something. You didn't know thateither, did you? John? I
didn't know that they did that,but I think it was all designed to
speed up the change process. Speedup, but it was neat. You
need to have dollar nobody concession.So how loose is that tooth? Okay

(16:18):
in two weeks, Well, Idon't worry. You know, we talked
about some rowdy shows, but weneed to talk about some that went particularly
well. A lot of great showswent way. Yeah. Yeah, And
I mean I don't want to leaveeverybody with the impression that it was debauchery
and no time, because we reallyreally had a we We took pride into

(16:41):
presenting shows in a high level ina profession. Well, it was classy.
It was a class I everything,the staff. I mean, you
guys had a great staff. Imean when you went there, you knew
that you were and it was thetop of the crop that played the Irwin
Center. Yes, it really was. But I also think about some of

(17:02):
the basketball games I remember in particularlywhen Texas was still in the old Southwest
Conference and they would play Arkansas everyyear, and Arkansas fans traveled well at
that time. The coach at Arkansaswas Nolan Richardson, and one of my
great memories was Texas and Tom Penderswas coached then playing Arkansas, and it's

(17:25):
a very close game as they offerwere very competitive. Towards the end of
the game, Nolan Richardson got eithermad at his players or Texas or the
referees or somebody, and he stormedoff the court before the game was over,
and of course the game continued.Arkansas came back. They were losing,
and they came back and the gamewent into overtime, I believe,

(17:47):
and Arkansas won and the house wascompletely full. We had the full seventeen
thousand in the place. I thoughtthis was going to be a full on
riot because when he came back outon the court, the the reaction by
the crowd that at that moment intime was a complete tribute to our events
staff to keep the whole place fromgoing berserk. That was That was an

(18:11):
amazing, amazing moment. And Iknow they run of the basketball game is
very tense. When somebody wins agame on a three point shot or a
last second dunk or something like that, you get a lot of energy in
the building. It was a lotof fun going back. You know,
you mentioning Nolan, but I remembergoing and watching ut basketball games with abe
Lemons because you never knew what Aidewas going to do on court either.

(18:32):
Yeah, he was he was acharacter. One of one of the games
that stands out to me was,you know, the U I L games
were were incredible and there's names inthere now that we hear now that played
there rose like Shaquille O'Neil, KrishBosh and and uh Perkins, Big Perk.

(18:56):
But the game that stands out inmy mind the most was actually a
second round NCAA game between Louisville andArkansas, and there was a player named
us Read. I don't know ifyou recall that name, but it was
one of those games where which theyall are during that time of the year,

(19:21):
very close and very contentious and alot of things going on. So
the clocks winding down and Arkansas getsthe ball and they're down by like one
point and us Reid shoots the ballfrom about ten feet beyond the half court

(19:41):
line and makes it and the crowdjust goes, you know, and it's
like you can see the ball kindof in slow motion and next day you
hear is whosh and it's just absolutelynothing. But those games were incredible.
We had a lot of good games. It was a lot. Was it

(20:02):
more fun setting up for a sportsevent or for a concert? Easier on
the staff? Oh? You know, I'm going to say neither. It's
like I said earlier, it's likedeciding which one is your favorite child.