A History in Pictures

Click here for the the story of the photos.  More photos.

1971... One of the first photos of Reunion in action.	1970s... Sam's perfect horn charts have added to the band's unique sound.	1972... After a gig a the famed UT hangout for hangovers, The Bucket.
1973 The band dolls up for a promo shot.	The '70s... Flyers and mementos from gigs past.	1975... A Hatchett Talent brochure. Reunion members also came from Klick.
1976... Kelly doffs his shirt for this shot which appeared in the college newspaper in San Marcos.	1977... A 'Hatchett gig' was confirmed on a blue contract...the gig sheets for the band followed.	1977... Wearing rented tuxes, the guys make a go of New Years, '70s style.
Over the years... Cards, brochures and trinkets have accompanied the band for more than four decades.	1980s... Reunion played -- and outlived -- many Austin hotspots.	1989... Andrew's home of Bastrop has always been a big backer of Reunion.
1989... Taking a lead from the Three Stoges for a publicity shot.	1990... A song list...and a gig sheet from an earlier era.	1993... The global promo photo, taken at a Barton Creek Country Club event.
1996... Doing an early show at Top of the Marc, located above the famed Katz's Deli.	2000... The tree that almost felled Andrew.	1990-2000... Austin's clubs have always had an ear for Reunion.
2002... Celebrating the holiday at an Austin club.	2006... Cedar Street invents a new logo.

The rest of the story...

1971...One of the first photos of Reunion in action.

The dress was casual, to say the least.  Indeed, Charlie Hatchett, the band's original booking agent, claimed the guys dressed like we "just got off working the Back 40."  Yes, we looked like farmers, and often played like them.  This shot shows the first Reunion that ever actually performed a gig playing at an Elks Lodge for a frat part in South Austin.  What a group is was.  We were all in high school, except for saxist Mike Swinney and lead vocalist Alvin Grant, and we thought we were the coolest.  The Austin A.N. McCallum High School Class of '72 is well-represented here with guitarist Jim Brauer, bassist Paul Hudspeth, trumpeter Sam Jeffrey, trombonist Kelly Hodge, drummer Mark Evans and organist Clinton Barnes. They were all around 18 at the time. 

1970s...Sam's perfect horn charts.

The horn players of Reunion (mostly Sam and Kelly, but in the lastest decade, Stephen and whatever subs occasionally become a member of the horn section) haven't had to guess about their parts.  Sam followed his dad, Ty Jeffrey, in the charting game and quickly became adept at picking out the horn parts on the records Reunion covered and putting them down on paper -- perfectly.  This photo shows horn charts for Blood Sweat and Tears' You Made Me So Very Happy (something borrowed from another band at the time) and Sam's write-ups of Average White Band's Person to Person, Earth Wind and Fire's version of Got To Get You Into My Life, and Chicago's Saturday in the Park. Only the latter is still performed by the band, and that usually happens on Saturdays in parks.

1972...After a gig at the famed UT hangout, The Bucket.

It was loud, smelled of beer, and had the finest babes on campus.  It was called The Bucket, probably because most of the patrons could use a bucket for relief after an evening of no hold partying.  You could dance, play viedo games, and of course, drink to your liver's content.  It was, in effect, a frat party without the geeks, uh Greeks.  Drinking age was 18 at the time so the band imbibed too, as this picture suggests. Here, the beered-up, hairy band gets a casual photo (that became an unlikely publicity pic) after the gig had ended.  The line up included guitarist Rick Gabler, right, and singer Alvin Grant, third from left.

1973...The band dolls up for a photo shot.

What can you say? The disco era was dawning.  Joining the bunch here is Bob Doershuck, right. Bob played the heck out of an organ and was a speed typist at the newspaper. He later would combine both qualitites into an editor-level position at Keyboard Magazine. Sometimes he'd get so carried away while playing that he'd just stop and clap along with the music.  He'll always be remembered in conjunction with a long-gone south Austin hangout, the South Door.  Good times were had by all in that place.

The '70s...Flyers and mementos from past gigs.

Although no actual count of how many gigs the band has played exists, it's well past the thousand mark.  Many of those took place in private surrounding for formals, proms, frat parties and special occasions.  There have been so many such parties in 30-plus years, that they tend to meld -- or melt as the Wonderland poster would suggest -- together. 

1975...A Hatchett Talent brochure.

Reunion formed in 1971.  Soon thereafter the group began a longterm relationship with the Hatchett Talent booking agency, which each year produced a brochure highlighting it top acts.  The brochure was usually followed by a showcase in which the agents invited clubowners from around the state to a local club (like Caesar's or Mother Earth, classic Austin clubs no longer around) where all the bands were given 30 minutes to show their stuff.  Check out the band cater-corner from Reunion.  Klick included, clockwise from lower left, Scotty Crooks, Glen Fukunaga, Steve Oshima, Andrew's cousin Blas Coy, and Mark Evans.  All but Coy would played in Reunion.  Blas would become a lifelong friend of the band's.  Speaking of Mother Earth night club...That club on Lamar, which Reunion played in the '70s, vacated its flood-prone location and a fledgling grocery store soon moved in.  It took on the monkier Whole Foods Market.  The company's world headquarters and 80,000 square foot grocery Mecca is now located a few blocks south of the old location Reunion frequented.

1976...Kelly doffs his shirt.

It was a once-only event, captured without his knowledge by a student photographer at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State, where Kelly's son goes to school) and published in the school's University Star newspaper.  The outdoor school bash was one of many the band played in the '70s, and the only time the trombonist ever played topless.  Kelly's vows that photo -- like the one taken of his mooning the ocean while drunk -- will never be repeated.

1977...A "Hatchett gig" was confirmed on a blue contract.

Almost from the beginning, Reunion was a popular party band.  And when letters arrived with blue contracts it meant someone else would soon have the thrill of having Reunion at their party.  Of course, money was worth more in the '70s, so travelling to Dallas for $750 (less agency commission) seemed like a good idea at the time.  Those contracts resulted in a "gig sheet" which detailed the plans for the band. Frats, for the most part, paid the bills in the mid-70s, Notice the last gig on the sheet: Jan. 6 at Fort Hood.  That was the famed gig with the stripper.  During our opening song, unbeknownst to the band, a stripper danced through the band.   Some of us forgot our music.  No one was listening anyway.

1977...Wearing rented tuxes the guys make a go of it on New Years.

This was at a club in north Austin known, despite its name, as one of the swanky places in town. The Barn was the name of the place.  They served big blocks of cheese and had a night club to boot.  Dinner and dance places were bigger back then.  This was a place the mayor dropped in on to celebrate his New Year. Hence the rented tuxedos.  And still with the hair! But the big show, bandwise, took place out in the moat which surrounded the circular establishment.  It was said that before the night was over, someone would recycle into the moat.  Someone did.  Someone in the band. And it wasn't keyboardist Rusty Lewis or drummer Steve Wilson, pictured second and third from right.

Over the years...Cards, brochures, and trinkets.

You gotta admit it: the web's a whole lot better way of doing it.  But back then, it was paper business cards and trifold brochures.  Andrew's flashy translucent business cards are still in use today.  The band has tried a host of catch phrases including Good Music, Sweet Soul Music, The Music of Your Life, and Central Texas' Finest Party Band.  The all-time most lambasted card, however, is immortalized midway down on the left of the photo.  Evoking the ethereal, it deems Reunion The Disciples of Rock.

1980s...Reunion played -- and outlived -- many Austin hotspots.

These ads put the 1980s in perspective.  Reunion straddled between two types of clubs.  The Gin-U-Wine Oyster Bar exists today in its same location in Bastrop, Texas (see next entry).  When Reunion played there in the '90s, it was a Bastrop event.  Anchovies, on the other hand, rode the '80s Sixth Street blitz and then went away.  It was the hottest club on a hot club street during the 1980s.  During the era, Reunion played such gigs as New Years at Anchovies and Mardi Gras at Fat Tuesday's.

1989...Andrew's home of Bastrop.

The citizenry of Bastrop adopted Reunion when Andrew Coy did, and the relationship between the two has remained strong through the present. This photo and story ran in the Bastrop Advertiser prior to one of the band's frequent Homecoming Appearances.  Reunion continues to play Homecoming festivities each year in Bastrop.

1989...Taking a lead from the Three Stooges.

Publicity photos are such a grind.  Here, the horns take it out on the guys. This shot was never mass produced for publicity purposes.  Imagine that!  This photo also marked the band's highest per-capita mustache ratio in its storied history.

1990...A song list and a gig sheet from an earlier era.

Those are probably the two most common things for a band to have on paper: where we're playing and what we'll play.  The former is usually static; the latter never is.  Some tunes the band has been playing since they were hits.  Others, primarily those of the female persuasion, may be oldies, but they're new to the band (Reunion's first female, Lorrie, joined in the new millennium).

1993...The global promo photo, taken at a Barton Creek Country Club event.

Bands play a lot of country clubs.  This gig was one in which Reunion was the opening act.  Reunion has served as opening act/dance band on bills with artists ranging from Elton John to members of Alabama.  In this case, the "star" act was Flo and Eddie.  Combine an energetic outdoor event with an energetic Photoshop designer, and Reunion went out of this world.

1996...Doing an early show at Top of the Marc.

The club's still there, but under another name.  Reunion played there once.  But that one, happy-hour gig brought out local TV pundit Jim Swift who did a story on the group for his 10 o'clock newscast.  He labeled the boys a "pure Texas party band."

2000...The tree that almost felled Andrew.

On any particular night you don't necessarily have to make music to make the papers.  When Austin's fickle weather downed a branch that nearly downed Andrew, the band made the papers.  We didn't play that night as the storm passed through about 9:20.  Start time was 9:30.  The band still plays Cedar Street -- and it still storms there occasionally.  But the tree is gone now, and the club is better protected against Mom Nature.

1990-2000...The clubs have always had an ear for Reunion.

If you like to dance in a club, you can 't find a better band to do it to than Reunion.  There's a show on stage and rhythms in the air.

2002...Celebrating the holiday at an Austin club. 

Like so many Austin venues, the club where this ho-ho-ho moment was captured is no longer there.

2006...One of Reunion's favorite places is the venerable and popular Cedar Street Courtyard in the heart of Austin's active Warehouse District. The folks at the club on Fourth Street (which in Austin's historic days was known as Cedar Street) put on a great party over there -- and aren't too bad at designing logos, as an Austin Chronicle ad exhibited recently.