Joe King Carrasco & the Crowns at Padre’s Saturday

By JOHN DANIEL GARCIA

MARFA – As people come from all around to celebrate one of our town’s biggest attractions for the Marfa Lights Festival, Padre’s Marfa is having its own celebration within its walls.

To show their thanks for the hard work original manager and co-founder David Beebe put into making Padre’s a destination for traveling bands as well as a place for the masses to hang out and whet their thirsts, this weekend has been designated as the David Beebe Appreciation Weekend.

The weekend-long event honoring Beebe kicks off with a performance by Joe King Carrasco and the Crowns on Saturday and ends on Sunday with David Beebe’s old friends and former band mates Peter & James taking the stage.

“I’m looking forward to playing again in West Texas,” says Joe King Carrasco, who has been living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where his bar and restaurant, Nacho Daddy (which spawned a song of the same title) is located. “I miss it. It’s a great area with a perfect climate.”

Joe King Carrasco & the Crowns performing at last year's Marfa Lights Festival. (photo by ALBERTO TOMAS HALPERN)

Carrasco has been playing in the area since the early ‘90s and this year marks the third time he’s played the Marfa Lights Festival, including last year’s reunion with the original Crowns.

He also played in 2004 as a solo artist and still remembers the exact date and set list.

The Crowns recently released “Que Wow,” their first album of original songs with the original line-up since 1981, on Carrasco’s own Anaconda Records.

The album showcases their signature sound of old-school rock n roll with a heavy Tex-Mex influence with a little Vaudeville thrown in the mix.

Houston lounge-pop duo Peter and James will be closing out the weekend playing top 40 hits and taking requests.

“I’m excited,” said Beebe “I’m gonna have a good time. My plan is to work my ass off during the day and just sit in the back and enjoy Joe King Carrasco and Peter & James.”

Joe King Carrasco plays at 10 p.m. on Saturday and there is a $10 cover. Peter and James play at 9 p.m. on Sunday and there is no cover.