"Texas Tales" Unspoken Heroes

chapelgateangel28
Oct 4
6 min read

"Texas Tales from a Lone Star": Dinner @The Island on Lake Travis Part2

I need to take this video and break it up into 30 minute episodes. It's 4 hours long at this moment. I was listening to the song, "Unspoken Hero," which one of my Dreamer Cowboy friends had posted a few days ago on their own page HERE. I shared it immediately and I love listening to it. Scroll my page, it's below, you'll love it. Anyway, the drums reminded me of my co-Producer for Texas Tales from a Lone Star, my friend since 2001, the best drummer God ever put on this earth, OH YES HE IS. Gabriel. Anyway, that made me go to my website to find a video of Gabe, preferably I was looking for one of his Death Metal shows so you could REALLY see him in action. Gabe could whip these drums, "Unspoken Hero," off in about 20 minutes of listening to the song, if it took that long. Without Gabe I would never have been able to produce the level of shows for Texas Tales from a Lone Star that now are on my website and in my files waiting for their editing turns. Like this one.

This was filmed at my home at the time (I love saying that because it is an ISLAND of 14 acres IN Lake Travis, one of our north shore Austin rivers, in Lago Vista, Texas.) I had the idea of creating something similar to what I used to do when I owned my home, "Chapelgate," (www.evinsmill dot com) an hour east of Nashville. It's the setting for my books. I've always wanted to continue my projects I had developed there back when I had turned it into a private hideaway for Contemporary Christian Music primarily independent Singer/Songwriters, with industry on the edges. I'd drive into Nashville twice a month and go to the FCCM Fellowship of Contemporary Christian Ministries open mic they had once a month. Then once a month we brought in Music industry speakers. So, then when I had met enough Singer/Songwriters at FCCM I started bringing them out to Chapelgate and doing the same thing at my old Grist Mill we had restored (see all my stories and books.)

Anyway, that was my idea - to do the same exact thing at "The Island on Lake Travis," where I was living at the time. I had been bringing Gabriel in to help me do this, which he did many times over the past decade. Why? I told you. His skill. I call him Elohim (gods, rulers, judges, in ancient Biblical Hebrew, the way I retranslate it.) I've called him that for 20 years. So, like I said, I went to find one of his Death Metal videos and found this one first.

Here's what the idea was like and the local Austin Singer/Songwriters and industry people (primarily I'm talking about Robert, who owns a Sound Engineering company and produces the gigs of dozens and hundreds of the musicians around Austin) but my friend Teresa was there too, her mom lived there and we met through that and also through my friendship with the late Rick-A-Shay who was Stevie Ray Vaughan's original roadie back in the early Austin years. He was my first speaker, and then my friend, musician Dawn, who is the best female rocker I've ever personally known, and who was my second Speaker at the Island. Dawn and Gabe rock out with drums and her on bass just jamming at the end of this 4 hour video. I had a lot of musicians there, I think I filmed about 20 in all over the course of the dinners. So, here is that video. Enjoy! and thank you, again, and again, Gabriel. xo

Written October 4, 2025 at 3:52 pm

"Texas Tales from a Lone Star": Dinner @The Island on Lake Travis Part2

"Dinner at the Island Part 2"

HERE

I pick Gabriel up at the Austin Airport, drive to see our friend, Robert Brady of Texas Pro Sound. Then we go to Callahan's General Store and buy Gabe his first Cowboy hat, black of course.

Next, it is that night at "The Island on Lake Travis," my home at the time, and the venue for tonight's Dinner. We see Robert setting up all his sound equipment. There is a beautiful restaurant inside the Island, that overlooks Lake Travis. It is night. We've moved the dining tables and chairs out of the prettiest part of the dining room and set up a bar stool chair with a microphone in the middle, backed by the used drums I had recently bought for Gabe's trips so we would have our own. I have episodes wherein Gabe teaches how to turn a cheap $400. set of used drums into professional drums, but I haven't uploaded that one yet. Robert is busy working with wires and speakers and other magical sound hardware all around the drums and chair.

My friend, Austin professional local musician Dawn Maracle is the main Speaker for that night, our 2nd Dinner. Rick-a-Shay was the Speaker for the first Dinner and I've uploaded that episode to my new YouTube channel already. Dawn has brought an entire long table full of her memorabilia from her career throughout the decades she has been performing. You've never seen a musician quite like Dawn. She is a match for Gabe, only in her own way. She writes songs, she is a Christian, she performs in all the best venues around Austin, has one of the best reputations of any musician in Austin, has an extensive professional background, sings, plays acoustic guitar, plays electric guitar, plays electric bass (she has brought all 3), and is a SHOWMAN of the highest caliber. She works with the very best musicians, always. Dawn is our 2nd Speaker, and I was honored at her presence. That just starts the list.

Robert is a professional sound engineer with his own company, Texas Pro Sound, so knows hundreds of the best musicians all around. HE has brought a guy who also performed during the first Dinner, already uploaded, Carson Taylor Alexander, who is another cream of the crop professional local musician, guitarist, songwriter, vocalist. If that's not enough, Robert has also brought Brett McCormick, another of Austin's cream of the crop professional local musicians, who plays guitar, sings, writes songs, and performs at the best of the best venues as well. Then we have someone very unusual that Robert has also brought, a young man, perhaps 10 or 12 years old, Izzy, beautiful blonde hair, big smile, and gunning for Gabe on the drums. He is quite a phenomenon around Austin. At the end of the 4 hours of this particular video I film him at his beautiful home, his dad came with him to the Dinner, in his music room, with his drum kit. Gabriel has been invited to give him a lesson and we get to witness that. He also performs at the Dinner.

Dawn opens as our Speaker, and talks about her career. Then she performs 3 songs with her vocals and acoustic guitar. I thank her and sit down and play one of my original songs, "Chariot of Dust." I then describe what we are doing with the Dinners before handing the chair over to Brett McCormick, Carson Alexander, the kid's father, and then to Gabriel. Gabriel speaks about his career and musical interests and influences.

Then we get to the grand finale of the night. I've flown Gabe in from Orlando just for this moment. I've bought the drums for just this moment. I've invited all these amazing people just for this moment. Gabriel sits down behind the drum kit. Magic. After that Dawn grabs her electric bass guitar and she and Gabe go for it, beat for beat, and you've never witnessed such a feat of sheer skill and majesty. I told you this video was pure gold. Pure gold. The night ends, oh, and Rick-a-Shay, our first Speaker, in the Dinner video I already uploaded is ALSO present on this night and is helping Robert in the background setting up all the sound equipment. Rick-a-Shay did this for a living beginning with the early years of Stevie Ray Vaughn, and then for decades with one major Rock band name you'd immediately recognize after another. Go watch his video I created, the first Dinner at the Island, on my new You Tube channel.

The 4 hour video ENDS back at Gabe's favorite of all places in the world, a Harley Davidson Dealership. This is an amazing video. I'm sure I will eventually cut it into multiple pieces. But this is the 4 hour long raw footage. Think Documentary. I'm documenting. This is what really happened, as it happened. xo Angel

Written October 30, 2024 at 7:17 pm