SAN ANTONIO

Finding the Groove

Augie Meyers is best known for playing groovy Vox organ hooks on songs like “She’s About a Mover” for the Sir Douglas Quintet, the late sixties to early seventies San-Francisco-via-San-Antonio Tex-Mex band.

But Meyers, 73, survived his childhood friend Doug Sahm, who died in 1999, to enjoy a second and even third act.

In addition to playing in the Texas Tornados, the supergroup Meyers formed with Sahm’s son Shawn, Meyers has enjoyed a successful solo career, and performed on Tom Waits’s most recent album, Bad as Me, and also on Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft. “He wanted me on Modern Times,” Meyers said of Dylan, “but I was in Europe so I couldn’t do it.”

Meyers’s legacy will be on display in the posters, photos and memorabilia he pulled from his attic, and one of his box organs, for the exhibition “Kep Pa So,” a reference to his song “Hey Baby Kep-Pa-So,” a phonetic pronunciation of the Spanish phrase “que paso.” Meyers and special guests will attend the Friday opening at the South Texas Popular Culture Center. The space preserves the sounds of San Antonio, among others, under the direction of the founders Margaret Moser, the longtime Austin music critic, who is from there, and Michael Ann Coker.

“They always call Austin the capital city of music in Texas,” Meyers said, “but a lot of groups came out of San Antonio back in the day.”
South Texas Popular Culture Center, August 2-Sept. 29, stpcc.org

GALVESTON

Weed Advocates
One of the last things a beachgoer wants after a refreshing dip in the ocean is to get tangled in seaweed. But the plant life is great for the ecosystem and is a deterrent to beach erosion, a major problem along the Texas coast (a Texas A&M study published in June reported that about 64 percent of the Texas coast is eroding at an average rate of six feet per year).

As a way to neutralize the stigma of seaweed and promote its benefits, the Galveston Park Board has organized the Seaweed Art Contest. Thirty entries composed of seaweed, which is abundant there, will be on display Saturday for the public to judge. The front-runner, on name alone, is “Galveston’s Weed Man Wins Again,” by Don T. Henderson, a 30-by-20-by-33-inch sculpture depicting a man in mid-sprint that is so funny, it makes it hard to get mad at seaweed.
Stewart Beach Pavilion, August 3, 1 p.m., galvestonparkboard.org

AUSTIN 

Accordion and Pigskin
It is almost football season, which means it’s time to start brushing up on official school songs.

Longhorns fans will probably get to practice “The Eyes of Texas” on Sunday when Los Texmaniacs, the Grammy-winning San Antonio conjunto band fronted by Max Baca, the former Texas Tornados bajo sexto player, will play at Antone’s.

The century-old song is on the band’s latest album, Texas Towns & Tex-Mex Sounds, and they play it as an instrumental, which showcases the “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” melody.

The set is part of the Accordion Kings & Queens Live CD release party for an album that features the new and old faces of the accordion—the instrument at the heart of conjunto—with the winners of Texas Folklife’s annual Accordion Kings and Queens Big Squeeze competition for Texas youth alongside the accordion master Flaco Jiménez.
Antone’s, August 4, 7 p.m., antonesnightclub.com

HOUSTON

Gently Down the Stream
A kayak trip down the Buffalo Bayou makes you pay for the views with sweat equity. Starting August 3, the Buffalo Bayou Partnership will offer kayaking adventures to beginners and first-time paddlers once a month through December.

Cover about eight miles around Houston in less than four hours. Start at Allen’s Landing, the symbolic location designating where the Allen Brothers founded the city. Along the way, see the best of the natural and man-made landscapes, from lush vegetation inhabited by egrets, heron and osprey, to landmarks including the bascule bridge designed by the engineer Joseph Strauss years before he designed the Golden Gate Bridge.
Allen’s Landing, August 3, 9 a.m., buffalobayou.org

AUSTIN

Corn or Flour?
The Aqua Olympics is the first official pre-party for the annual Fun Fun Fun Fest music and comedy festival in November, and the offerings are as wide as the festival’s lineup of performers, with a paddleboard joust, a “Revenge of the Nerds” belching contest and the taco cannon, which scored national attention with its first appearance last year.
Fiesta Gardens, Aug. 3, 4 p.m., funfunfunfest.com

SAN ANTONIO

Hero Worship
The Texas Vietnam Heroes statewide touring exhibit defies museum etiquette by allowing visitors to touch, hold and even kiss the 3,417 dog tags representing the number of Texans who died in the Vietnam War.
Institute of Texan Cultures, Aug. 3-25, texancultures.com