Kim Wilson and The Fabulous Thunderbirds will start the party April 22 at The Expo. The popular band is opening for Foreigner. Courtesy photo
By DAVID STONE, Our Town Temple
The big Foreigner concert on April 22 just got bigger.
The Bell County Expo Center announced today that The Fabulous Thunderbirds — known for their 1980s hits “Tuff Enuff” and “Wrap it Up” — will open the concert.
The Fabulous Thunderbirds have been banging out the blues and rock tunes for nearly 50 years. The band started in Austin in 1974 when Kim Wilson and Jimmie Vaughan got together and decided to form a band. The quickly built a following and in 1979 The T-Birds released their first album, “The Fabulous Thunderbirds,” which was primarily blues influenced.
Over the years, the band has experimented with Cajun, soul and lots of rock ’n’ roll.
In 1986, The Fabulous Thunderbirds reached a commercial peak with the album, “Tuff Enuff”. The single of the same name, as well as “Wrap It Up” and “Look At That,” all went Top 40. The song, “Tuff Enuff” was featured in the movie “Gung Ho” starring Michael Keaton.
For the remainder of the ’80s, the band continued to record and tour. Jimmie Vaughn left in 1989 to work on an album with his brother, legendary guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. The album, “Family Style,” was released a month after Stevie Ray’s tragic 1990 death.
After Jimmie Vaughan’s departure, Wilson kept The Fabulous Thunderbirds going, incorporating keyboards into the guitar-driven sound. Kim moved back to California in 1996, continuing to cultivate the T-Birds music.
“The thing about the T-Birds is that we can play both blues festivals and rock venues,” Wilson said. “We’re a diversified band now and everybody’s on the same page.”
“We started as a straight blues band,” said Wilson, who handles the band’s lead vocal and harmonica duties. “We now incorporate a mixture of a lot of different styles. We’re much higher energy than we were before.”
“To be in the T-Birds, you need to understand the different styles of music and different ways of playing,” Wilson comments. “You have to be willing to adopt a more contemporary style. The guys we have now are able to do that.”
Tickets for the Foreigner and Fabulous Thunderbird concert are on sale at bellcountyexpo.com. Ticket prices range from $38 to $100.
“I’D WALK 10 MILES ON MY HANDS AND KNEES…” You know the song. Here it is!
WEDNESDAY | MARCH 30, 2022
TODAY’S BEST BET :
Comedy Open Mic Night at Corkeys. Sign up at 7:30 p.m., Show starts at 8.
Guest food truck at Barrow Brewing: Chock Full o' Cheese at 4 p.m
All Craft and Arts Retreat today through April 3 at Rockin’ R Retreat Center, 5650 Bottoms Road in Temple. Bring your own projects and come create! Retreats and classes are for ages 18 and up, but ages 14-17 may attend with an adult. Details at www.renacotti.com
To include your events in What’s Happening, email information to OurTownTemple@gmail.com. Photos are welcome to for use in the publication as space permits!
In the 1970s, a struggling Temple airport began marketing hangar space to people who didn’t own planes. What kind of vehicles were being stored there?
ANSWER AT END OF TODAY’S ISSUE
To include your events in What’s Happening, email information to OurTownTemple@gmail.com. Photos are welcome to for use in the publication as space permits!
On this day in 1849, the Marshall Texas Republican was established by Trenton A. and Frank J. Patillo. The paper is most closely identified with Robert W. Loughery, who became associate editor in July and editor in November, and two years later bought the paper outright. Under his fiery leadership, the Republican became one of the state's most articulate voices for secession, and his editorials were reprinted around the state. Loughery's support played an important role in the election of his fellow townsmen James Pinckney Henderson and Louis T. Wigfall to the United States Senate, and the Republican was among the staunchest supporters of the Confederacy during the war years. Once the war ended, however, Loughery vigorously advocated conciliation and compliance with the requirements of surrender, though he changed his stance after the imposition of congressional Reconstruction. His last great journalistic fight involved the Stockade Case at Jefferson, in which a number of citizens were held without formal charge and finally tried by a military tribunal. Loughery's complaints about the military's refusal to turn the case over to civilian courts or to release the prisoners on bail came to the attention of President Andrew Johnson, who asked for an explanation from Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds, commander of the troops in Texas. After the Republican ceased publication in 1872, Loughery went on to help found several other Texas newspapers. He died in 1894.
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On this day in 1870, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the act that ended Congressional Reconstruction and readmitted Texas to the Union. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Texas had been in turmoil, first under Presidential Reconstruction and then, beginning in 1867 with the passage of the First Reconstruction Act, under Congressional Reconstruction. The latter required that Texas have a constitutional convention, with delegates elected by all male citizens over the age of twenty-one, regardless of race, color, or "previous condition of servitude." The convention was to write a new state constitution that would provide for universal adult male suffrage. When the constitution had been written and the state had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, Congress would consider the case for readmission to the Union. The convention met at Austin in June 1868 and did not adjourn until February 1869. The constitution it produced differed significantly from previous constitutions by authorizing a more centralized and bureaucratized system of government, with greater power in the hands of the governor. In February 1870 the Twelfth Legislature assembled at Austin to adopt the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments and select United States senators in preparation for readmission to the Union. They quickly approved the amendments and selected Morgan C. Hamilton for a six-year term and James W. Flanagan for a four-year term. This completed the requirements set by Congress for readmission.
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TODAY’S TEMPLE TRIVIA ANSWER: Farm tractors. All those housing developments in West Temple were open fields back then, and many farmers in that area took advantage of the airport’s nice “barns.” It was common to see tractors turning into or out of the airport. There were also a fair number of race cars and boats stored at the airport.
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