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Fire in the Water, Earth in the Air: Legends
of West Texas Music
"Indeed, Oglesby's introduction of more
than two dozen musicians who called Lubbock home should be required
reading not only for music fans, but for Lubbock residents and
anyone thinking about moving here. On these pages, music becomes
a part of Lubbock's living history."
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Chris Oglesby
It was the independent, free-thinking environment of the Lubbock High LEAP program of the early-'80s that provided Deanna the milieu to discover her true calling of Drama. Like many intrepid West Texans before her, Deanna had to move on to points over the horizon to blossom into the working artist she is today. After many years on divergent
paths, Deanna & I recently spent an afternoon drinking coffee
and getting re-acquainted. We shared many common emotions and
memories of our wild, free-spirited youth on the High Plains. DS: As we were talking about Lubbock and what’s happened with some of these friends we went to school with…I think that there’s something about Lubbock that inspires certain people to go really bad. [Laughs]. Chris: Oh, Yes. I agree. DS: That whole conservative climate and just the bleakness
- I think, for some people, it’s been pretty destructive.
Really, it’s just intense. It’s almost like being on another planet sometimes. Like when that sun is going down and you’re driving outside of town and there’s no trees anywhere and there’s like this big red ball of the sun…It’s weird! It’s a weird place. For me, when I’m in Lubbock, suddenly all of my head just sort of explodes with creativity! Because there’s so much room there! I lived in Chicago after I left Lubbock; As a Texas girl,
I was watching the way I experienced Chicago - having so much
less space than I ever had in Lubbock, or in Texas in general.
Really, it did something very different to me.
Also the slower life, I guess. But it’s a weird place. It’s a "mixed place," for me. There’s some people I know who have gone on and really used where they came from in very creative ways; And there’s other people who have just gotten caught up in a lot drugs - kind of the smallness of the life - when they’re actually capable of so much more. Chris: I think that what happened with that one person we were talking about earlier was…It had really gotten to the point where so much of his problem was he had a really strong sense of morality; He’s one of the most moral people I’ve ever known, and I think that he saw so much wrongness and hypocriteness and badness, especially around his own particular environment, that he really lashed out in a way that was very personally destructive. DS: Yea. That makes a lot of sense. Coming from a pretty prominent family in that town, where everybody knows your name, everybody knows who you are…That must be pretty difficult, too. ‘Cause it’s the kind of town where the people with the names…I mean, it’s not a tiny town at all but there are those "prominent names." Chris: I think the thing is, he saw so much wrong, I think that nothing was ever gonna be right for him. The "Black & White" thing is very a big deal there in Lubbock. DS: Do you mean racially? Chris: I meant Yin-Yangly; 'This or That" - Duality. DS: "This is Right, and that is Wrong." "This is Good, and that is Bad…" Chris: "God-Satan" kind of thing, Yea. Exactly. Lubbock doesn’t really give you a lot of room to straddle any fences.
[NOTE: Lubbock High is the
academic "magnet" school in Lubbock, featuring accelerated
college prep courses, as well as artistic programs such as dance,
music & theatre; One of the most awarded & academically
recognized public high schools in Texas. Monterey was, at the
time when we were in school, traditionally the more socially
conscious school where good looks and athletic ability seemed
to be valued more than one’s ability to ace the SAT or win
State in orchestra. (Of course, this is the opinion held by Lubbock
High graduates; I'm sure our readers who went to MHS will take
issue. I admit my own bias. LHS Rules!) DS: [Laughing] I remember all the people…I remember the punks; I remember the deaf guy who was a cross-dresser and wore make-up… I traveled in between groups. I hung out with who I guess you would call the "Magnet" kids, the Honor Society… Chris: Weren’t you the President of the Student Council? DS: Yea; In my Junior year. And yet, I had this other
circle of friends who were really more like the Mexican-American
students - who lived in that school district, who didn’t
transfer in so they could be in the LEAP Program. I just think I had more space at Lubbock High. I could be a real chameleon. I tried out a lot of different things.
DS: That was my "first show"; Yea. Chris: What did you end up doing? Tell me about your education experience. DS: After I graduated from Lubbock High, I went to
U.T. to the Theater Department for two years and really hated
it. Now I’m back here in Austin, and I don’t get back to Lubbock much any more. But I really do look at Lubbock as the place where…I mean, if I’d stayed in San Angelo, Texas - where I grew up - I don’t know if I would have had nearly the experience of meeting all these different kinds of people and having a pretty decent theater department at Lubbock High School; doing Texas Tech theater. I really feel like I got a pretty decent high school education.
I worked my butt off. I was this split-personality. I was always
the good student, like I would work really hard. But I would
also be a part of the "party crowd" and try to kind
of keep both lives going at the same time. But I liked the challenge. I still think about Lubbock High. I loved that building. I just thought it was beautiful. That is one of my biggest connections to Lubbock still. Because, as far as "Lubbock music" - thinking about your web-site - I mean, I’ve been exposed to most of those "Lubbock" musicians through living in Austin. I was clueless about all that then. One thing that’s interesting about the conservatism of Lubbock is that, I really do think I ended up reacting to that conservatism by hanging out with certain crowds of people - I don’t know if I should use specific names - But we would go to what they call the Tech Ghetto and find these little clubs that were basically gay bars, what in Lubbock would be very underground, seedy, pretty drug-infested places…But it was great! It was like this whole other world that you could tap into there. Then you come down to Austin and you can find all of that really easily. But there in Lubbock, it was nice to know that there was something else going on. It wasn’t all as conservative as it seemed, or as wholesome as it seemed. Chris: Maybe that intense need to break out is the well-spring of creativity I'm looking for? DS: That town drives you to a certain kind of intensity
that is either constructive or destructive for you. I wouldn’t
go back to raise a family there; But I feel like I can really
appreciate it. Chris: Little things take on a lot of miracles. It was a strange thing for me going to college in Lubbock because once I realized that you don’t have to be in school for eight hours a day…When I realized the concept of "fifteen hours" means there’s only fifteen hours a week that you’re required to be somewhere…I mean, that’s a LOT of free time! … In Lubbock. DS: How do you spend your free time in Lubbock? Chris: It took a lot of energy on my part trying to
work other people up to have the enthusiasm to do as much as
I wanted to do. I mean, I was just pretty much constantly bored.
DS: Yea, ‘cause there really isn’t a lot to do. Chris: You gotta stir it up a lot. DS: Do you go back? Do you go back to Lubbock a lot? I mean, your family is still there. Chris: Yea. I’ve been going back a whole lot more the last couple of years, with all this Lubbock involvement…. DS: Sure. I wonder if it’s changed much? If it feels like it has? Chris: Yea. I mean, everything changes. One, it’s a lot bigger; Two, it’s a little bit "cooler," really. I think it’s gotten a little bit hipper. I think Rock-n-Roll has kind of been around enough, and people aren’t terrified of Black people anymore. DS: Yea. It was a weird place, racially. Chris: I think it’s [the City of Lubbock] a little bit cooler. But it’s still super-gung-ho conservative. I don’t know; I always have a good time whenever I go back. But I don’t have to live there. Tell me what you’re doing in Austin; I hear your name on the radio occassionally.
So I’ve done that type of thing. I’ve done a lot of performance work in the Ph.D. program. Chris: Were you involved in writing The Butcher’s
Daughter? I mean, was this DS: The woman who wrote it - Jennifer Haley- is a good
friend. This was done by a group of artists who all of us are
connected in very weird ways. I know some of the artists through
my college in St. Louis; I know some people from moving here;
there’s this intricate web of people. But it’s a group
of artists who’ve done a lot of work together before. Jennifer
was part of a theater company here in Austin, and had moved to
Seattle. I’ve done lots of other work here, too. I’ve written
some of my own pieces and performed them at Frontera Fest
at Hyde Park Theater [in Austin]. They do Frontera-Fest every year, a big festival
where tons of people can do short performances. I’ve done
several things there. Chris: What’s "weird performance-art work?" DS: Well, I guess I say that because most people have these ideas about performance-art being really goofy and abstract. [Laughs] It’s definitely more experimental than my high school Dames at Sea production. [Laughs]. But just based on some of the stuff I’m focusing on in graduate school. Chris: And then do you have any long term… DS: Goals? [Laughs] Yea, my 5 year plan & my 10 year plan…[Laughs] Chris: I don’t want nail you down to anything but I’m just curious. I mean, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. DS: No, I don’t. I don’t ahve any plans. I mean, everybody thinks that when you get a Ph.D. you’re gonna go teach at a university and do all that. And I’m a little bit suspicious of that ‘cause it’s a very competitive, very high-stress life. So I may try to use it in a less traditional way and teach part-time, and direct and perform. ‘Cause it seems like once people end up going into teaching, they have no time to do artistic work at all, and that’s where my passion is still. So that’s really what I wanta keep doing. It’s just so hard to make a living doing what you want to do. Chris: It is. [Sighs] DS: I’ve never done anything that is practical, that would lead me to a real practical kind of job. Even this Ph.D. is not that practical. Chris: Yea. I’ve done some things that would lead to practical jobs, and I’ve never found a practical job that I really wanted to do, unfortunately. [Laughs] DS: That you could live with, right. Chris: I tried. I was a candidate for practical jobs but I never found one that I liked. DS: Well, what about you, as far as your life in Lubbock? I mean, do you really see yourself being here, or what? Chris: I’ve tried to get away so many times from Austin. It’s always getting so big, and I’m always trying to leave. I moved to California a couple of times. And I tried to go back to Lubbock a couple of times, and every time something ended up happening. I’m just stuck in this unfortunate position of trying
to make a living while trying to be creative. It’s like
working two jobs. It’s tiring but I guess it's going forward
because that’s what I want to do. I don’t really know
what’s gonna happen. I guess some day somebody will appreciate
it. [Laughs] So I just keep trying to go forward with these things
that interest me because I feel like you gotta do what’s…the
stuff that drives me forward. DS: That’s exactly…That’s always been my struggle. And there’s the perception of people around you. Like, "You’re still doing that ‘art-thing?’ You’re still bringing in poverty-level wages? I mean, when are you gonna grow up?" Chris: That is it. It is that. DS: I think being married makes a difference for me.
I mean, there’s this perception of, "Well, okay. At
least she’s married…"|
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| Copyright
2007 Chris Oglesby All rights reserved |
Deanna Shoemaker is a young director,
playwright, & performance artist. She was living and working
in Austin at the time of this interview, and is now a Porfessor
at Monmouth University in New Jersey.
Chris: I
met you the first week of school when you were a Sophomore; And
you changed a lot, after you came to Lubbock High. I remember
a lot of it was you getting into Drama; "Dames at
Sea", I think…
