Spencer Perskin,  head man behind Austin's Shiva's Headband since the 60's has done so much around our town to help shape it's musical fame including Armadillio World Head Quarters.  The group was the house band at the Vulcan Gas Co., a late 1960s Austin nightclub. The band is credited with a significant role in the founding of the Armadillo World Headquarters. The bands first royalty check opened the club and hired Eddie Wilson as manager. Shiva's Headband was also the first band to perform there. Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, the band played with touring acts such as Spirit, Steppenwolf, ZZ Top, Janis Joplin, Canned Heat and Steve Miller. Austin psychedelic bands contemporary to Shiva's Headband included the 13th Floor Elevators and Conquero.

Spencer has agreed to share some of his experiences with our audience.  There will be a several part series to come!  enjoy....

We were out in california in the summer of 68.  Suzy and i wound up in the haight; the rest of the band were in the fillmore area.  It had its good points.  We practiced at an episcopal church about one street off haight near asbury.  We actually kept our equipment in an unlocked closet in the church and never thought about it getting ripped off. Incredibly it didn’t.  We would set up in the morning in a big main room in the church and we would be surrounded by dozens of kids who had come out to frisco and needed a meal and were being fed by the diggers. The diggers were a group who provided free food in the panhandle part of the park.  They also fed the people at the church in the morning.  They got big bowls of oatmeal with brown sugar; it was pretty good. And we did get to play here and there.  

You know how the clocks fall back in the fall?  Well I know but whose paying attention to that?  We were playing at the vulcan; one of the first shows I guess.  It was October of ‘67.  One of the then main community people was one clark santos, who first brought motorcycle rentals to austin.. He got up between tunes and announced a big free community picnic to be held next day, a Sunday, at pease park.  He needed volunteer help to pull it off, but nobody was volunteering.  I figured if we showed our hands others would too so we did, suzy and me. And I think it may have been the benefit for charlie loving.  He and two others headed to the border to cross a load at a state park in mexico.  We said it sounded like a bad idea. He said it was foolproof; and now we needed dough to get them out of the mexican hooscow.  Before the show I did a bunch of some drug called mda I think. It kinda made you psychedelic and aggressive at the same time.  This cop had sikked his rookie trainee on me at the loading door in the alley.  When that didn’t work he started in on me himself– what are you doin? Etc etc bull.  I told him it was a benefit.  He says o yeah, for who?  I lost my cool a bit and said, you never know, it could be for you.  They got pissed but went away.  So we were playing the gig and when they raffled a hash pipe made from a trumpet mouthpiece and a doorknob, I wound up buying it.  I also bought the van that was auctioned, so volunteering to help a little with the big feed was no great stretch.