Lone Star Pride

Who needs Nashville? Texas artists rock the Texas Music Scene stage — and fansfollow

Attracting tens of thousands of eyes and ears to quirky music isn't rocket science. At least not according to Texas Music Scene executive producer Tom Hoitsma, who is enjoying unprecedented success after just one year in business.

"This is ACL 1976. I did not invent this," Hoitsma says, adding that Texas music includes everything from bluegrass to country to rock.

"Nashville doesn't want them," he says. "They aren't country enough. They aren't pretty enough, or skinny enough, and they're losing their hair. There are 100 reasons why they aren't appropriate for country music anymore. Yet fans are going crazy for them."

"I'm not in the business of breaking bands," says executive producer Tom Hoitsma. "You have to work your way into the Texas Music Scene."

He didn't dream up the idea of celebrating Texas artists, but Hoitsma is on his way to perfecting it. His model puts already established local performers on the stage of Texas Music Scene, which is a top-rated syndicated show across the Lone Star State, on 20 channels from El Paso to Dallas.

Each show runs for 30 minutes and has at least two original performances, a backstage interview, and a story from the road or a profile of a Texas music legend. Its genius lies in its intimacy, an experience fans can't get at a concert. The show is hosted by Ray Benson, the front man for Asleep at the Wheel.

"I tried to get Austin City Limits to do this type of show for years, something that’s all about Texas," Benson said in an interview with CultureMap Austin. "The talent here is unlike anywhere else, and we’ve got a lot of it — even if Nashville hasn’t figured that out yet."

Cody Canada has performed on the show with his previous band, Cross Canadian Ragweed, as well as his current group, The Departed.

"I've fallen in love with the whole thing," Canada says. "It showcases artists who don't get a lot, or any, radio play."

Although the bands may not be on the radio, if they make it to the Texas Music Scene, they've already made it big. Many Texas bands are on a rigorous touring schedule, playing five or six nights a week in bars, honky-tonks, coffee shops — basically any venue that will have them.

This kind of face time with fans builds a loyal base. Canada, whose last Texas Music Scene performance aired earlier this year, says that everywhere The Departed plays, at least one person mentions seeing them on the show.

"I'm not in the business of breaking bands," says Hoitsma, who receives about 10 artist pitches a day. "You have to work your way into the Texas Music Scene."

Music legends Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett have committed to doing the show. Lovett takes the stage November 20.

It may sound harsh, but Hoitsma walks the talk. A former door-to-door photocopier salesman, Hoitsma literally walked into the television business while pounding the pavement in New Jersey. His sales territory overlapped with that of television advertising representatives.

"They were young and all looked really happy and well-dressed," Hoitsma says. "I wanted to do whatever they were doing."

What they were doing was selling television airtime, and, after a 10-week course, so was Hoitsma. He's held a variety of jobs in the television business since the '80s, including producing a syndicated jazz show for five years.

Hoitsma, an art major who made a living as a musician before discovering he had "Champagne tastes," combines his love of art, music and televison as execuitive producer of Texas Music Scene.

"I believe that I make I art," Hoitsma says. "What you see on camera, I have dressed and built that set with a crew and my own hands."

Benson had been approached many times through the years about helping to produce a Texas-focused music program, but Hoitsma and his team showed the commitment and the ability to do justice to the artists. Clearly this is a formula that works: Texas Music Scene's Facebook page (dubbed Texas Music TV because the show's name was already taken) boasts nearly 90,000 Facebook fans. Its YouTube channel has around 2.2 million views.

Truly a state-wide effort, the Texas Music Scene stage has been located in Austin and San Marcos, while the production takes place in Fort Worth. By integrating local radio stations, the show is customized for every one of its 20 markets. But this Texas-born and -bred product may soon be showing nationwide.

Hoitsma has had meetings with CMT, the Nashville Network and Palladia. Stars such as Pat Green and Jack Ingram already have appeared on Texas Music Scene, and Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett have committed to doing the show. Lovett takes the Texas Music Scene stage November 20.

"Texas music today is as big as it has ever been," Hoitsma says.

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Watch Texas Music Scene on KTVT / CBS Saturdays at 1 am, KTXA / TXA21 Sundays at 9 pm and midnight, and during Friday night Rangers' game rain delays.

Movie Review

Jessica Chastain drama Dreams stumbles through steamy romance

Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain in Dreams

Photo courtesy of Teorema

Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain in Dreams.

The opening scenes of the new drama Dreams are bracing, fictional sequences that call to mind real-life scenarios. In them, a young Mexican man named Fernando (Isaac Hernández) goes through a somewhat harrowing journey from the back of a semi truck in South Texas all the way to San Francisco. It’s a familiar immigrant story that seems to set the stage for a film with something interesting to say.

It turns out, however, that Fernando has not made the long and arduous trek for a job. Instead, it’s to be with Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain), a rich woman who helps lead a foundation dedicated to multiple things, including funding dance academies. Fernando, a talented dancer, and Jennifer have been in an off-and-on affair for years, with Jennifer wanting to keep their relationship a secret.

Although both are drawn to each other in an inexplicable, lustful way, their bond is tenuous, with each of them dissatisfied for different reasons. Fernando clearly sacrifices much more of himself than Jennifer, who wants for nothing except maybe more affection from her father, Michael (Marshall Bell), and brother, Jake (Rupert Friend).

Writer/director Michel Franco seems to try to inject tension into Fernando and Jennifer’s relationship from the start, an attempt that is only halfway successful. It’s clear from the way they greet each other - not to mention a steamy sex scene shortly thereafter - that they have known each other for a good length of time. Franco is able to get across this familiarity with an economy of scenes, and the intensity of their bond holds for a while.

But as the film progresses and both of them grow disenchanted with their arrangement, Franco starts taking the story in some odd directions. The biggest issue is that it’s never clear at what point in time the story is taking place. Fernando ends up making multiple trips back and forth across the border, with Jennifer doing the same at one point, and Franco’s use of flashbacks muddies the waters, wrong-footing the audience when he should be trying to draw them further into Fernando and Jennifer’s complications.

Revelations in the final act make the story even more confusing, as both main characters start saying and doing harsh things that seem to come out of nowhere. That would be all well and good if Franco actually committed to their changes of heart, but he keeps things wishy-washy for most of the final 15 minutes, resulting in an ending that makes little sense for either character.

Despite the story issues, both Chastain and Hernández give compelling performances. Chastain has been a little under the radar since winning an Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but she keeps this character interesting longer than it should have been. Hernández has limited credits and appears to have been cast for his dancing ability, but he goes toe-to-toe with Chastain on more than one occasion and acquits himself well.

Dreams had all of the ideas to explore a more in-depth story about the complicated immigration policies between Mexico and the U.S., or how wealthy people take advantage of those less fortunate. But Franco never finds the right footing, settling instead for a titillating and somewhat mystifying relationship story that feels half-baked.

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Dreams is now playing in select theaters.

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