Howdy Mike and other readers .....
That's a noble thing yer doin' there. I wanted to contribute what I
remember from the mid-70s on the Houston scene. Which I don't remember
so well, cause I was there.
The Cactus Club (the official Liquor Board dba) was owned by Mike Horan,
who also ran Damian's and a few other Montrose rock spots. His family
also operated Birraporetti's, the Irish/Italian restaurant on W. Gray
in Houston, I think. Mike had a partner named Cliff Bone, I believe. Never
was any connection to the Gilley's crowd, but that rumor existed even
then.
Cactus managers in the mid-70s included Greg Stair(?), Connie Ross,
Wes Monteith, Bill Pullen, and myself, Richard Schneider. Between '74-'78
we all held almost every job in the place, at one time or another. I would
have to say it was not a real tightly organized business, pretty smalltime,
we were all winging it. Shoot, Connie & I were like 20, 21, Wes &
Bill a few years older. We all went on to respectable trades after that.
The Cactus Club was actually just a few yards inside the Houston city
limits, not in Pasadena, though half the crowd was from Pasadena. It was
built by a Charlie Battestein (?) as a C&W dance hall, out of surplus
barracks buildings from old Ellington Field after WWII; later he rented
it out to Horan. It was famous in the mid-70s for its $3 beer bust nights.
World-class intoxication there, lemme tell ya. Some nights, 350-400 people
passed thru the door. I saw bartenders run full kegs dry without ever
shutting off the tap, just keep the cups moving. We were friendly with
Cisco at the Boogie Bar, about a mile up the road, and shared a lot of
the same customers.
Some name bands did perform at the Cactus, including Canned Heat and
Bloodrock (in their golden years, one might delicately say). Also Point
Blank once, I think, and Kenny Cordray. I recall Canned Heat drank beer
by the pitcher. Straight from it, I mean, without a glass. LIC was a regular
there, while they were still a rising star. The Electromagnets, Oz Knozz,
Eeze (later Automatic), and Too Smooth were also regulars, and later on,
the BelAirs from New Orleans. Oz played all of Horan's clubs. I think
they lost Richard Heath somewhere in that period and fell out of the scene
some. This would have been '75-'77. (BTW, Oz is still around, Google 'em.)
In '78, a pretty good Elvis act, Rick Sumlin, took over some of the
Cactus management; Mike Horan was looking to get out of it I believe.
Rick tried some alternatives to the Cactus' benchmark rock, such as his
own act, and Vince Vance and the Valiants; I heard that it didn't work
out real well, but I had moved on by then, I never went in there after
fall of '78. Soon the club became the Happy Daze (argghh), a pretty standard
disco. I believe the building's still there, but I don't know what it
is now. A lot of the Cactus crowd, and bands, moved on to the On The Border
club, way out Telephone Rd I think it was, toward Pearland. It was about
twice the size of the Cactus. I know I saw LIC there often, but I don't
recall them having any big names, just area bands mostly. OTB closed in
Sept. '81. They should be in your archive, but I don't have much to contribute.
The later info you have on Seabreeze/Eeze/Automatic, from Ed, is correct.
Mike Horan promoted them all over, I never understood why they didn't
go farther, they sure had the right mix. Larry Sotoodeh was a powerful
percussionist, a great understanding of music dynamics. He did make drumsticks
for several years, while studying to become a real estate broker in S.A.,
where he's been for 20 years. I knew Frank but don't know what became
of him. Kenny Sotoodeh was playing with a band called Legacy recently,
but their website is belly up. Mickey Garza played ZZ damn near better
than ZZ did. Wish I knew where he wound up. Robert Ausmus was a superb
guitarist who leaned toward jazz rock/progressive. I heard he's doing
concert audio production now. Eeze had some original music of their own
-- I still remember a tune called "Jupiter Moon" -- but I think
none of it was ever published.
LIC's drummer, Charlie Izard, was an electrician then and I believe
he's still doing that in Pearland or Dickinson, he was from someplace
down that way. Those dudes had some groupies, man. Does the archive have
a section about that?
Keep up your great work! I sure enjoyed reading the archive. Getting
to that sentimental phase of life I guess. Crap, I'll be watching golf
on TV next.
-- March 2009 --Richard Schneider, Port Angeles, WA