Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel Mora.
Joel, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in Galveston county and began to play music in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I left the area to pursue music because there were no original music venues in Galveston county that I Knew of. I migrated to Houston to play drums in a couple of bands. One of which was influential Texas punk band The Hates. I was their drummer for almost two decades. It was with this band that I discovered The Old Quarter. Wrecks (Rex) Bell hated punk music, but because he sold a ton of beer during those shows, he would allow punk bands to put shows on there. This was in 1999. When I moved back to Galveston county in 2002, I formed a band with some friends from high school the first place we played was the Old Quarter. I then discovered that Wrecks booked acts like Joe Ely, Guy Clark, and Ray Wylie Hubbard. I fell in love with that place and if I wasn’t seeing a show there, I was trying to book my band there. It was always a dream of mine to own a music venue. I decided that if I ever owned a live music venue, I would run it with the best interest of the artist in mind and avoid all the bad things that most venues do to touring musicians. I.E., not paying them properly, charging them for drinks, bad sound, or an angry sound guy, or just treating them with little to no respect.
These are the things I was determined to avoid. I was a recipient of the Old Quarters monthly newsletter, and in 2016 Wrecks sent an email saying he was retiring and closing the club. My wife (Angela Mora) and I decided to ask Wrecks if he’d be willing to sell us the venue. I emailed Wrecks thanking him for all the years of great music he’d brought to the island and explained I would not change anything about the Old Quarter if he decided to sell it to me. Angela and I signed the papers in January of 2017. I was true to my word about not changing anything. Most folks didn’t even realize that Wrecks had sold the club to us. Our only upgrade where a new sound system (P.A.) and we now take credit cards. In the three years we’ve owned it, I’ve gotten tons of new artists to come play the iconic Old Quarter stage as well as keeping many of the veterans coming back.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s actually not been as difficult as I thought it would be. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to book the caliber artists that Wrecks did because I didn’t have the notoriety that he did. But our reputation for treating all musicians and artists fairly and running the place professionally spread pretty quickly and I really haven’t had any problems booking great artist there. I’ve taught myself to run sound and that was a little difficult but I put my heart into it and I believe we have some of the best music in the area. We had some water damage with Harvey but Local musicians and friends pulled together with us and we were up and running in about three weeks. Also there isn’t a lot of money in running this type of venue. It’s a labor of love.
Please tell us about your music.
The Old Quarter is a live music venue. We specialize in listening room shows. Listing rooms are not typical bar type shows. During the artist’s performance, there will be little to no conversations in the room. The artist plays their songs and tells stories and talks about the songs and music. We are and all original music venue. You will not see any cover bands at the Old Quarter. Those two things set us apart from most other venues in the area. We are most proud of the amazing shows we have at the Old Quarter weekly.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
My complete devotion to music, especially live music, is the reason we’ve had success. The fact that I toured as a musician and treated all artists the way I would want to be treated helps with our success. Not putting money first, putting the artist first, that is the reason we have been successful. Everything I have I attribute to God’s grace and that’s why we are successful.
Pricing:
- Tickets range $5 to $50
- T – Shirts $20 at the club
Contact Info:
- Address: 413 20th Street
Galveston Tx. 77550 - Website: www.oldquarteracousticcafe.com
- Phone: 409 762 9199
- Email: jmora125@gmail.com (booking)
- Instagram: @oldquarterac
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OLD.QUARTER.ACOUSTIC.CAFE/
- Twitter: @OldQuarterAC
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