Oral History
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Gary Michaels, 54, is a freelance writer and Dave Allen’s biographer. He lives in Houston. The Dave Allen Trio frequently played in Houston in the mid-seventies. I’d try to see them whenever I could, but one night really stands out in my memory. It was at a club on Jensen Drive that I think was called the Horseshoe Lounge, but don’t hold me to that. It was a regular, run-of-the-mill bar that featured live music, which was a lot more common in neighborhood clubs back then than it is today. Dave was always worth seeing but, for whatever reason, on this particular night he was really on. He had been playing with the McClain brothers for some time and the band was tight. Widdy was a solid drummer before he retired from music and Pat was, and still is I’m sure, a phenomenally gifted bass player. I’m talking about somebody on the same musical level as Jack Bruce. Dave would never announce what song he was going to play next, he would just launch right into it to create a seamless set. I’ve seen him totally surprise other musicians when he did that. It was easy to get caught flat-footed. But Widdy and Pat were always right there with him. Now remember, this was an average Northside joint, nothing fancy. I don’t recall that there was even a cover charge. But on that night, that place turned into a concert hall. Everybody in there, absolutely everybody, even the cocktail waitresses, had their eyes and ears glued on that bandstand all night. No one was even ordering drinks during Dave’s sets. They were cheering, standing up and applauding like I had never seen in a nightclub before. The closest thing I can compare it to in terms of intensity and crowd reaction in a confined area was about ten years later when I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in a relatively small venue shortly before he released his first album. But Vaughan was already a known quantity around Texas at that point. People came out specifically to see him. At the Horseshoe with Dave, I’m not sure how many of those people just happened to be there not knowing that they were about to be treated to this incredible show. A lot of people seemed kind of stunned, including me even though I was somewhat familiar with Dave’s music. It was a very long time before I understood that Dave used to do shows like that almost every night for years on end.