New Central Texas Dance Hall

There's a new live music venue in downtown Schulenburg, TX. It is in an historic, restored, two-story building that last hosted live music in the early 1940's. My buddies, Frank & Mark Brauner took me to see Jason Boland and the Stragglers. Boland is one of those "up & coming" Texas singer/songwriters, among the group that includes Stony LaRue, Kevin Fowler, Roger Creager, Cory Morrow, and so many others. His set was brisk and well- received. I had never heard his music before last night, but to be sure, his fans were there, and in full throat. At least two dozen camped right in front of the stage, screaming after every tune. Others mouthed the lyrics as they scooted around the dance floor.

The dance hall is upstairs. The capacity is around 250, so it provides an intimate setting for the bands and the dancers/spectators. They have a full bar and something like 14 different beers on draft. Visit their website to purchase tickets for future shows at http://www.sengelmannhall.com/

The restaurant, downstairs, was packed when we got there around 8:00 pm. For the moment, they have a buffet which is priced at around 20 bucks--kinda steep for locals, but the proprietor is wanting to offer a way for diners to sample all of his Czech and German cuisine at one time. I did not eat, but reports are favorable.

We ran into several La Grange folks. The consensus among them is that they all like the place, but are pessimistic about its future. One guy said, "enjoy it while it's here, cause it ain't gonna be here long". Yep, that's the good ol' Fayette County mentality that greets virtually every new place around here. The hope is that tourists from Houston, Austin and San Antonio will give the new live music venue and other places like it, the bump it needs to survive and thrive.