Maverick clubowner Bill Simonson
Maverick clubowner Bill Simonson
Opened Austin's first psychedelic nightclubs, booked folk singer Janis Joplin at the 11th Door and sold beer at movies- all in 1966!
Bill Simonson is best known as the co-owner of Mother Blues (1971-1981), which some consider the greatest music club in Dallas history. Ray Wylie Hubbard sang about it on Letterman and folks are still talking about the aftershow jams with Led Zeppelin, Freddie King, Thin Lizzy and the like.
But Simonson got his start in the club business in Austin as a 21-year-old in 1964, running the id all-night coffeehouse on West 24th near Guadalupe, where Jerry Jeff Walker and Michael Murphy first played in town. Since alcohol was not served- or even allowed- the id was home to afterhours jazz, the beatnik’s favorite.
Simonson’s “folk shows early/ jazz jams late” format moved to the 11th Door on Red River (currently offices for the Austin Symphony), in Nov. 1965. Initially denied a license to sell beer because he’d be open past midnight and (1 a.m. on Saturdays), Simonson took the Texas Liquor Control Board to court and won. Janis Joplin (pre-rock), Carolyn Hester, Bill Moss, Richard Dean and, especially Allen Damron, were regulars. Eric Johnson jammed there as an 11-year-old. Lightnin’ Hopkins once played a 10-night stand in Dec. ‘65 with Cleveland Chenier on rub board and Billy Bizor on harmonica. The 11th Door also hosted the Austin debut of Doc Watson in 1966. Besides giving Janis her first paying gig, the Door made history when Jerry Jeff Walker debuted a song he’d just written at Damron’s apartment called “Mr. Bojangles.”
The 11th Door closed in early ‘68, soon after Damron moved over to Rod Kennedy’s Chequered Flag at 1411 Lavaca.
As folk went to rock, so did Simonson, opening Fred in May ‘66 at the former Library Lounge on San Jacinto. That was Austin’s first psychedelic club, 16 months before the Vulcan, but it was open only two months, shut down by the TLCB for serving beer to ONE minor. The club at 1809 San Jacinto became Club Saracen, until owner Marie Norah moved it to Lavaca in ‘68. Later it was home to the Red Baron and the Hungry Horse.
Remember how cool it was when the Alamo Drafthouse opened on Colorado St. circa ‘96 and you could drink beer and watch a movie? Simonson did that 30 years earlier with the Match Box on San Antonio Street in the back of what’s now the Hole In the Wall. Opening in Dec. ‘66, the Match Box began as a music venue, booking bluesman Mance Lipscomb and psychedelic bands like Conqueroo, Human Factor and the Thingies (transplants from Miami who made a big splash here). But, with less overhead, movies made more money. Or, rather lost less.
Simonson was a busy man. His Night Productions put out a couple issues of Nightbeat magazine in late ‘66/early ‘67, plus he also co-promoted the Love-In at Zilker in September 1967 with Vulcan Gas Company, whose venue would open the next month on Congress Avenue. Simonson had done all of this before he was 26.
And then he made the mistake that lost it all. Simonson went up against the Vulcan in Dec. ‘67, opening the Pleasure Dome at 222 E. Sixth Street (former Yank Theater, future Hard Rock Cafe). It musta cost a fortune to decorate like an LSD den from a Dragnet episode, with the Sacred Mushroom Bar, a psychedelic light show and experimental films with the sound off. The Thingies and Houston’s Starvation Army played the first week. But the Dome didn’t make it much more than a month. Not sure why it was shut down, I mean the official reason, or what Simonson did between ‘68 and ‘71, though I heard he got popped with pounds and went to prison. He reportedly opened Ma Blues with a partner while still incarcerated. After that club closed, Simonson did a longer stint inside, spending almost all of the ‘80s in federal prison in Fort Worth on drug charges. He passed away in 1990 from brain cancer. He was 47.
Simonson was an innovative promoter in the early Texas folk, rock and blues scenes, but little is known of his history, besides that he died in Salinas, Colo., where his folks lived, and was originally from Wisconsin. Who knew Bill Simonson? Tell us his story.
From 86-88 I was incarcerated with Maynard(Bill) Simonson at BOP Texarkana. We sat many nights him telling of his adventures. So yes I know lots of his life public and private.
I knew Bill fairly well when I lived in Dallas. My apartment backed up to Ma Blues, so it was my hangout. This article was fascinating. I had no idea about Bill’s Austin connection, much less how influential he was here. Thanks for writing this story, Corky.