Little, Emma and Harris Perez, Leola 2009-05-24
Emma Little and Leola Harris Perez discuss Keith Ferguson
General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Emma Little and Leola Harris Perez
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: May 24, 2009
Location: Austin, Texas
Interviewer: Andy Wilkinson
Length: 02:26:33
Abstract
Cultural Broker in Keith, Anglo-Mexican line, Sometimes spoke with a Mexican accent, Spoke a little Spanish, Mexican in his heart, Knew how to dance Mexican polkas, Dressed like a “cholo”, Leola met Keith in the early 70s when he was in a band, Emma was introduced to Keith through Big Ricky, Keith had just gotten back from playing in England with Johnny Winter, On his way to Houston, Ricky (nicknamed the guacamole queen) wanted Keith to go to Austin, Keith did not think of himself as white, Had a pair of Jimmy Hendrix’s pants, Background, Emma, Grew up on a Ranch called Lake Way, Lived in Austin, Texas, Used to drive cattle, In High school a home economics class they had to make something to sell, Emma sewed clothes and sold them to various shops including one where Leola worked, Moved away from home to 33rd street, Old west campus houses, Communal living 1969, 9 bedrooms, Boyfriend lived there, Roommate was Artie, Had a business with Doug Breeding called C.C Rider, Fixed motor cycles, Emma started hanging out with them, People did acid, Lost their minds, Armadillo World Headquarters, Emma was one of the first workers, Charged 2.50 to see Bruce Springsteen, Most of the shows were done by 10:00 pm, Would go to the One Night Bar to wind down, Gary Oliver does political cartoons, Cool guy with comic books, Gilbert Sheldon also drew these comics, Jimmy Vaughn, Blues Crowd, Lots of groups of people that came through the Armadillo, Austin was a great play for music, If you were a misfit then Austin was for you, It was either the East Coast the West Coast or Austin, Keith: “Best place to hide is in plain sight”, Leola, From San Diego, Texas, Strange colorful town, One sister, Draw pictures together, Always felt like a misfit, Graduated in 1963, Rock and Roll had started, Texas A&I, Went to UT Austin in 1965 to go to art school, Austin was cutting edge, Huge trees, Beautiful, Invisible baseball, Started dating a big time artist, Jim Franklin, BFA in Studio Art, Class shooting, Doesn’t play music, Started working at a place called Maya, Everyone who worked there was gorgeous, Planning a music festival in the basement of the Maya, Together with her boyfriend for 27 years, never married, Has a survivor’s love of life, Hard to watch a friend slowly killing himself, In Keith’s final times, Leola would only talk to him on the phone, because he wasn’t Keith in person, Emma, would never go in his house anymore, Leola and Keith were best friends, Leola did a lot of drugs, Leola was really paranoid with her daughter, Keith, Emma and Keith would talk about sewing and fabrics, Patterns, “Pangolins”, Keith was brilliant, Funny, Thought about things in a different way, Played bass with the night crawlers, Bill Ham was their manager, Complained, Spirit Guide, Evil demon laugh, Loved having fun at other people’s expense, Prankster, Most adorable evil person, Leola loved him truly and unconditionally, Leola having Connie as a friend was really painful because of all that she knew, Keith was a Junkie, Keith was the perfect child until around age 10, that’s when things started to change, The last three years Keith’s body was just deteriorating, A whole different person, Hard to watch him go down that path, Very paternal, Took in a lot of people, Father ran a Mexican record store, Mother is very cultured, Mother doesn’t have a bigoted bone in her body, Grandmother adored him, Viewed everything as a learning experience, Was a teacher and a father, Best friend, Lost a job with a band, Struggling with his music business, Jimmy Vaughn, The last thing Keith says is to Jimmy, Keith said “I’ve been waiting a long time to see you” then died, It was hard on Jimmy, Spoke at the memorial, It was Jimmy’s 7th year of sobriety, Keith had wanted to see Jimmy for awhile, he wanted to reconcile, Jimmy was the closest person to Keith in the band, Leola didn’t get a chance to talk to him before he died, Denny called Emma to get to the hospital, Keith had gang green, Performed a liver test on Keith and said he wouldn’t make it back out of the anesthetic, Losing Luann was truly devastating to him, Loved Keith, Leola’s daughter called Keith “Uncle Teeth” when she first learned to talk, Years after Keith died Emma had received a CD of Keith’s favorite music, Conjunto music, Keith never threw anything away, Married to Luann, She left him after he ripped her dress, Keith was a committed guy, Keith loved cats, Wrote a postcard to Leola’s cats, Had custom made trousers like the pachucos, Jimmy sold Keith’s guitar, Corry and Mike Keller, Mike plays guitar for the Thunderbirds, Corry plays drums for a band as well, Blue Santa, Keith used to volunteer, Charity drives, Member of low-rider but didn’t drive, Loved to do things on Christmas for the kids, He kept his community service in secret, How people reacted to Keith, He blended in, He never talked down to people, Talked to you about things that would interest you, Respected culture, Was well respected, Knew everything, Emma’s Aunt Lupe, Was a character, Had seven husbands, Ran café’s, The Chow Now, Knew how to survive in the world, Crippled from arthritis, Emma’s daughter Rita loved menudo, Lupe made Keith menudo, Lupe liked Keith, They talked for hours, Chain smoked filter less camels, Every time they left they left with a big gallon jar of menudo, Aunt Lupe had a cat called bonito, Bonito was as big as a dog from eating steaks, Keith loved bonito, Aunt Lupe might as well have been Keith’s grandmother, Keith loved seeing her, Leola, Had her art at a Gala, Thinks there is still a lot of musical talent around, Doesn’t believe in living in the past, Loves de Castillo, Loves hip hop, Loves to dance, Worked on the Alamo in hair and makeup, Did that for about 4 months, Artistic, Newspapers are becoming obsolete, Trying to find her niche, Worked at gardens for a year and half, Loves design, Working on an animation short, Crackerjack, Emma, Camp for about 14 bands, The band has to book a gig, They all end up getting a gig at the same place, Summer recital, Huge night with all of the bands playing, The people teaching them how to play were musicians in the city, Emma works as a Special Ed T.A
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