{"id":410736,"date":"2026-08-19T10:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T10:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/410736\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T10:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T10:30:09","slug":"houston-concert-watch-8-19-santana-doobies-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/410736\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Concert Watch 8\/19: Santana, Doobies and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah, the passage of time.\u00a0 \u201cLike sand through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives.\u201d\u00a0 It is with some wistfulness that I consider the just-announced shuttering of the Columbia House Music Club<\/a>.\u00a0 These were the folks who would send you a stack of records (later CDs) for a penny, based on your agreeing to purchase an additional number of units within a certain time frame.<\/p>\n

Columbia House began doing business in 1955 as an arm of Columbia Records, with the aim of introducing long-playing albums to rural customers who might not have easy access to well-stocked record stores.\u00a0 This mail-order model proved to be incredibly successful, encompassing a variety of formats: records, reel-to-reel tapes, eight tracks, cassettes and CDs.<\/p>\n

What made Columbia House work?\u00a0 Primarily its devious strategy which, once a consumer was registered, obligated that consumer to decline a \u201cselected recording\u201d offered each month or be responsible for paying the cost of the record, tape or CD, plus (natch) shipping and handling.\u00a0 So, if you forgot to mail back the post card saying, \u201cNo, I do not want Neil Diamond\u2019s latest,\u201d you were on the hook.<\/p>\n

What killed Columbia House?\u00a0 In two words: the internet.\u00a0 First Napster, then Spotify and other streaming services.\u00a0 Most younger music lovers drifted away from physical media, leaving Columbia House as a quaint relic of times gone by.<\/p>\n

Earlier, I used the word \u201cwistful,\u201d but don\u2019t get the idea that I am unaware of the charges levied (justifiably so) against Columbia House.\u00a0 Predatory business tactics?\u00a0 Yep.\u00a0 Preying on ignorant customers?\u00a0 That too.\u00a0 Not paying artist royalties for the \u201c12 cd\u2019s for a penny!\u201d product?\u00a0 I\u2019m afraid so.\u00a0 No, my conditional sadness springs from the fact that Columbia House put a lot of music in my hands for very little cash outlay.\u00a0 But you had to know how to work the system.\u00a0 I\u2019ll just leave it at that.<\/p>\n

Ticket Alert<\/p>\n

Country music legend Wynona Judd will visit the 713 Music Hall<\/a> on Friday, October 16, as part of a tour supporting the forthcoming album The Hard Truth, her first in ten years.\u00a0 Judd has been keeping a relatively low profile recently, but don\u2019t be fooled.\u00a0 As Elvis Presley said in the early \u201870s, \u201cWell, I may not be Led Zeppelin, but I can still pack \u2018em in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those in the know are already snatching up tickets for Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore\u2019s shows (one early, one late) on Friday, December 4, at the Mucky Duck<\/a>. \u00a0The duo has released two albums so far, and Alvin and Gilmore say there will be more to come.<\/p>\n

Guitarist Sue Foley has been branching out as of late, performing on an acoustic flamenco guitar in addition to \u201cPinky,\u201d her pink paisley Telecaster.\u00a0 Not only that, Foley recently released Guitar Women: Conversations & Life Lessons with Six-String Heroines, a book featuring interviews with luminaries like Bonnie Raitt, Nancy Wilson and Joan Armatrading.\u00a0 Catch Foley live on Saturday, January 23, at the Charles Bender Performing Arts Center<\/a> in Humble.<\/p>\n

And speaking of guitarists, Walter Trout will perform for two nights at Main Street Crossing<\/a> on Wednesday, April 7, and Thursday, April 8.\u00a0 Trout has been in the middle of the blues scene since the \u201870s, when he backed John Lee Hooker, Percy Mayfield, Big Mama Thornton and Joe Tex.\u00a0 After a stint with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Trout formed his own band, which is still in operation today.\u00a0 Lest anyone think that Trout is a stuffy blues purist, let the record show that he recorded a song (\u201cI\u2019ve Had Enough\u201d) with Twisted Sister\u2019s Dee Snider last year.<\/p>\n

Concerts This Week<\/p>\n

Houston musical mainstays the Texas Turbines are back to treading the boards after bassist Billy Cohn was recently sidelined from performing.\u00a0 Hence the billing for tonight\u2019s gig at Under the Volcano<\/a>, \u201cThe Triumphant Return of Dr. Billy.\u201d\u00a0 The band has been dishing out a potent blend of country, soul and rock for over ten years, and word is that the Turbines are currently working on material for a new album.<\/p>\n

If you want a picture of the classic rock concert business these days, take a look at the schedule for this week at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.\u00a0 With ticket prices climbing ever higher, there has been \u2013 if not a return to a \u201cmore value for your entertainment dollar\u201d ethos \u2013 a definite shift toward the pursuit of a surer thing.\u00a0 This being the case, there are two solid double bills on tap, with fellow midwestern rockers Chicago and Styx<\/a> on Thursday and Californians Santana and the Doobie Brothers<\/a> on Friday.\u00a0 Both shows seem to be selling reasonably well, but tickets are still available, and the promoter and bands probably have their fingers crossed for some walk-up \/ last-minute business.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if you want to talk about selling a truckload of tickets, let\u2019s discuss Grupo Duelo.\u00a0 The band, which will perform for three nights this week (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) at Toyota Center,<\/a> has been at it for over two decades, since its formation in Roma, TX, a town along the Rio Grande.\u00a0 The norte\u00f1o powerhouse has sold out the first two nights of its Houston residency, and the third show is not too far behind.<\/p>\n

Alt-rockers (with some reggae and hip-hop thrown in) 311 will be on stage at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion<\/a> on Sunday as part of the band\u2019s \u201cSo Glad You Made It\u201d tour.\u00a0 In another case of \u201cmore bang for the buck,\u201d 311 will share the bill with Dirty Heads, Atmosphere and Rome, meaning that you will need to arrive by 5:30 p.m. to catch all of the action.\u00a0 \u2018Cause Knowledge is Power:\u00a0 The name, 311, is police code for \u201cindecent exposure\u201d and was adopted after a friend of the band was arrested for skinny-dipping in a public pool.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ah, the passage of time.\u00a0 \u201cLike sand through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives.\u201d\u00a0 It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[32521,30824,2945,575,68618,143443,226,56,58,57,117854,278,18173,30539,143444,143445],"class_list":["post-410736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-32521","tag-carlos-santana","tag-chicago","tag-concerts","tag-doobie-brothers","tag-grupo-duelo","tag-homepage","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-jimmie-dale-gilmore","tag-music","tag-styx","tag-sue-foley","tag-texas-turbines","tag-walter-trout"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}