Bigorre-Les Maziaux….a Beautiful Hidden “Hobbit” Village in France

STOP THE TRUCK in Bigorre-Les Maziaux. I can’t believe I have been here 3 times.

My friend. Michel “Mike, the Frenchy” Penard, took our band (STOP THE TRUCK to this village when we made our first trip to Philippe Lafont’s rodeo, Equiblues. It was funny…he said “I don’t think any Texans have ever been here.”..Me:”Why?”..Mike: “Because it’s not on a map!” Seriously, it’s so small you have to know it’s there to find it.

On the way there I always take people by the Dolmen at Les Pennes, a 5000 tomb. You have to know it’s there or you’d never find it. A friend who lives nearby took me there, down a tractor road on a farm, a real hidden treasure!

I can smell and hear this place when I think about it.  

It is a stunning, atmospheres little village…If you blink, you’ll miss it. It’s so quiet here. You just can’t help but calm yourself when you’re here. That is, except when you’re a young woman climbing to the roof of one of the houses…Mild panic. there.

The flat stones on each end of the roof are there so you can lay boards across, end to end, and work on the thatch. They are also a good place to stand when your are throwing buckets of water when they catch fire. The French are very smart!

My daughter, Mina Carter…House climbing.  

My son, Graham Carter, saluting the village. 

I have been there with STOP THE TRUCK (Alan Moe Monserrat, Boomer Norman, Johnny Arredondo, Mike Koetting)

House of Wills Band (Stephen Zirkel, Micheal Stevens, Jonathan Dexter, Kim Miller)

And with Austin Country All Stars (Cam and Tammy King, Patterson and Emerson Barrett, Leeann Atherton, Richard White and his bestie, Peter and Oliver, Emerson’s buddy)

Cam and Tammy King

Oliver

 

Marilyn von Steiger…How One Powerful, Little Woman Changed Our World

Marilyn von Steiger…

She was tiny, funny and a good bit older than us. She was a friend of Mike Koetting our sound man/road manager. He has known her kids since high school. Mike brought her to see our Country Music band, STOP THE TRUCK at Gino’s Italian Grill, our home residence gig for about 5 years where we had a loyal and devoted crowd, every Tuesday night. She was impressed.

Marilyn had worked in the music business for the infamous Huey P. Meaux. She had run some of his publishing.

She started showing us how to be more businesslike and promote ourselves. She sent our Cds to Europe made connections with DJs in France, Spain and Holland and got us some airplay. We even charted in France thanks to Michel “Mike, the Frenchy” Penard.

Thru Marilyn and Mike the Frenchy we got our first gig in Europe at the Rail Theater in Lyon. It was a big venue and I remember us all going “Gee, I hope some people show up.”

To quote Moe (Alan Moe Monserrat)…..”I just remember thinking the hall was going to be big and empty when we got there. But it was sold out! Then when I sang the originals we played, the crowd sang them with me! I was in shock. We’d never been within 3,000 miles of there. They flat out loved us.”

We even got 2 encores that night and this gig started what was to be a decade of great gigs in France, Spain and Holland.

Marilyn, Mike Koetting, our road manager, and Kristine Yoakam, our first, best fan/friend in Lyon. 

How Marilyn did this next part…I’ll never know……

Marilyn had made friends with Djs and promoters, Mike Penard, Luis Sala in Catalonia and, a year later, Kees de Haan in Holland. She wanted to help get us some exposure in Europe so, this tiny 90 lb woman went over there, by herself, and found us some gigs.

Mike Penard told the story of going to pick her up at the train station in Lyon, looking for some young-ish to middle aged woman to get off a train, when up comes this little 78 year old woman, who was smaller than her luggage, asking  “Are you Mike, the Frenchy”?

We played in Lyon, Girona, Spain and The Jambalaya Club in El Masnou, outside of Barcelona and then flew to the beautiful island of Menorca to play at Akelare Club. All because the wonderful woman went out and did the work. It was our first European tour and it was wonderful!

Moe and Marilyn..

Being an elder, we didn’t have Marilyn in our lives near long enough. Moe and I were asked to speak at her funeral when she passed away. Moe did a good job and held it together but I just bawled. I could hardly get the words out. I can’t tell y’all how much this woman changed our lives and I will love her FOREVER………

A note from Hannelore Haakman van de Bergh.

(Hanny and AndreuNel-lo Puigdevall owned The Jambalaya Club, where we played our best gig in Spain…TWICE! We had a die hard following there and made many longtime friends.)

I remember Marilyn very well. She was a beautiful, charming and inteligente lady. At the time we met, my husband and I were running a country music club and she put us in contact with the Stop The Truck Band. We are glad she did. During her visit we talked a lot about my children (2 of them worked in our venue), and her son who lived in Switzerland and she planned to visit him. And even about David Allan Coe, she met behind the scenes when the movie ‘Urban Cowboy was to be filmed She and I we stayed in contact via e-mail and I remember her asking me if it could be interesting if she would write a book about her life and work. I wrote her it seemed a great idea to me, but I don’t think she ever did . At that time she was busy n moving into another house. And the last thing I heard about her was that she had left this world.. I will never forget Marilyn von Steiger, a lovely, charming and interesting lady.

 

The “Queen” herself….

Boomer Norman, Marilyn and Kristine Yoakam