This week, we talk with drummer Chris Thompson of the Eli Young Band concerning the band’s humble beginnings as well as their plans for the future. A class act, Chris is one of the nicest people on tour right now. This is the kind of guy that makes people want to be a fan.

Here’s some history.

The band originated at the University of North Texas in Denton where roommates Mike Eli (vocals) and James Young (guitar) started jamming with roommates Jon Jones (bass guitar) and Chris Thompson. The indie music scene in Denton then was something of a sleeper phenomenon where venues would take place in small bars and peoples’ backyards. It remains that way today. So, it’s no surprise that the band’s first show took place at a little place called the R Bar, a local joint that still offers dollar drafts and free karaoke nights.

They originally played together as a hobby, but the band began attracting fans and getting more gigs. They eventually opened for notable musicians like Jack Ingram, with whom they are touring this year. Chris and Mike were the first to notice this upswing in notoriety, putting themselves all-in for the music, and by the time Jon and Chris had quit their day jobs, it was obvious that something serious was emerging.

Fast forward to this year. For the 2010 tour, the band is flying everywhere from Sacramento to Pittsburgh, New York City, and, yes, College Station. Having just finished their new record three weeks ago, the group is using this tour to get exposure for some of their newer works. Concerning their upcoming album, Chris is both confident and excited.

“It’s the strongest and best material we’ve ever done,” he said.

This new album follows 2008′s Jet Black and Jealous which debuted the band’s most popular song to date. “When It Rains” is a difficult single to follow as it spent thirty straight weeks on the charts as well as “Always the Love Songs” which peaked at #11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs for 2008-2009.

However, not all is rosy. Having lost out two Academy of Country Music awards to Gloriana and the Zac Brown Band, Eli Young is still working to gain more recognition from within the industry.

With those past successes and failures in mind, the foursome is pushing forward this year and plans to put a new song out to radio within a month. So, anyone waiting to see what the future holds for the Eli Young Band will get a taste soon.

“This record takes us in a new direction,” Johnson said concerning their new album.

That direction is exemplified by new songs like “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” a work that the drummer says is, hands-down, his favorite to play at the moment.

“It has an organic sound that represents the direction of the whole album.”

Even though his favorite song changes from week-to-week, judging by the way Chris talks, it seems like “Even If” is one that will stay close to him for some time.

Their new album is as of yet unnamed. The band is aiming for a 2010 holiday release.

Stay tuned.

Want to get a chance to see the band live? Check for available tickets. ZiegFest is Sunday, September 5 at Texas World Speedway.

Fall is football season. Or is it fútbol? For Allen Hamilton and the Texas A&M Men’s Club Soccer team it is definitely the latter.

The senior outside midfielder has been playing soccer since he was six years old, and is entering his third season with the Aggie club team.

“I enjoy being on the club team a lot. I love soccer and I love playing it,” Hamilton said.

While it is their love of playing soccer that brought them together, the team is close-knit and hangs out off the field as well.

“The overall camaraderie with the guys on the team is great. We all go over to one of the guys’ house and play FIFA after practices and games,” Hamilton said.

But for Hamilton and the team it’s about more than just having fun, hanging out, and playing video games.

“We’re pretty relaxed, but we’re all competitive guys and we maintain a high level of soccer,” Hamilton said.

That high level of competition is what propelled last year’s team to a very successful season. They advanced to the Elite Eight in the national tournament before losing to the eventual champions Weber State in a penalty shootout.

Coming so close to a championship has made returning players, like Hamilton, determined to return to the national tournament again this year. That is why while most students are just getting back into the swing of things this fall, for the club soccer team it has been full steam ahead since the middle of August.

The team completed two weeks of two-a-day practices before school ever started, along with several preseason games. All the hard work in the summer heat is not without purpose for these athletes. They are looking to continue the success of last year’s team and further establish themselves as one of the best soccer clubs in the nation. Naturally, the expectations for the fall campaign are high.

“We’re definitely expecting to win the national tournament this year. We only graduated three guys, and we have some new freshmen and transfers who will contribute a lot to the team,” Hamilton said.

The team will play eight regular season games before the postseason tournaments begin, including four home games that students can watch free of charge.

The games are played at the Penberthy Fields adjacent to the parking lot of the Mitchell Tennis Center, and the team’s schedule can be found on their website at msoccer.tamu.edu. The team encourages all soccer fans to come out and support them this fall as they look to have another great fútbol season.

Last week, Maroon Weekly interviewed Thee Oh Sees front man John Dwyer in San Francisco before the band embarks on a US tour in September. Thee Oh Sees will be sharing the stage with the Flaming Lips, Pavement, the Gories, and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion among others. Their new album, Warm Slime, was released this summer.

Thee Oh Sees might just be one of the most prolific bands that you’ve never heard of. In 2009 alone, the band released three full-length records. In the past decade, they’ve released eleven full-lengths, six EPs, seven 7-inches, and they’ve been featured on four compilations (and our count might not be exact, but even they’ve forgotten how many albums they’ve released). The band has also been represented by five or more record labels over the years, including their own, Castle Face.

The four-piece, John Dwyer (guitar and vocals), Brigid Dawson (vocals and tambourine), Petey Dammit (guitar), and Mike Shoun (drums), has been compared to garage punk legends the Gories (recently reunited and touring) and the Oblivions. But Thee Oh Sees catalog of recordings resists simple classification. And their most recent release, Warm Slime, ushers the band into all new territories.

For some, their sound can be challenging. The music can at times sound like tenpenny nails in a blender, and their albums sound like they were recorded inside a Campbell’s soup can. But amidst all the aural chaos and lo-fi experimentation is an orchestrated genius that is finally gaining the band attention worldwide.

MW: Let’s talk about the new album, Warm Slime. It seems like you’ve sped up your sound. Many of the songs on this release are much faster than the past 11 albums.

Dwyer: (Laughing) That sounds really stupid when you say it out loud, but yeah [referring to 11 albums].

MW: Why the new direction?

Dwyer: It seems like the natural progression. I still like making soft stuff, but–live–it seems to go over a lot better if it’s fast. Too fast is bad, so we’re actually trying to slow it down a bit because we’re kind of burning down the new versions of the songs too fast. (Laughing) I’ll look over and the drummer will be suffering–which, believe me, I like.

MW: It’s interesting that you’re getting older and the music’s getting faster.

Dwyer: It’s probably less drugs. I’m not quite sure why. I have no issue with going fast. Our songs are also getting longer, and I don’t know what that’s all about either.

MW: Right. The title track on the new album is around 13 minutes long.

Dwyer: I’m gonna try and keep those not so long from here on out, but, live, we always end up doing a 20-minute version of the stuff. When I was kid, I liked fast punk, I loved long songs. Everything had to be extreme, or it was boring. (laughing) I’m terrified of being boring.

MW: Do you guys have a new album coming out?

Dwyer: I just finished mixing it with Chris Woodhouse, here in Chinatown. But it won’t be out for a bit. I’m really taking my time. I’ve been recording it for the past year pretty much. Warm Slime was done in one day. And this one will actually be a bit mellower.

MW: So you’re going back to your old sound then?

Dwyer: It’s quite different than Warm Slime, for sure. I think it’s gonna flip people out, whether that be good or bad, I don’t know.

MW: Do you have a name for it yet, or…?

Dwyer: Yeah. It’s gonna be called Castlemania.

MW: Will it be out in the next few months or so?

Dwyer: Umm…I’m really not trying to rush it. I’m gonna shop it around. I haven’t picked a label out yet, so I’m gonna see who wants to put it out. I just mixed it and I’m not gonna give it to anyone until I sequence it.

MW: Did you go with analog recording? Are you still staying away from digital?

Dwyer: Warm Slime was recorded on an 8-track machine all live. This new one was recorded tracked, as opposed to live, which is unusual for us. But I’m digging it. And this isn’t a full band. I did this one with a bunch of different people.

MW: Let’s talk about the band’s two guitars and no bass. Sometimes, in your recordings, I can hear a low end. How are you capturing that? Is bass added to your recordings?

Dwyer: No, it’s just Petey. He’s got a bass EQ. It’s like an EQ pedal and he wings it super hard on the bass end so it sounds like a bass. The Gories always had one of those cats that was playing some of that low-end, fake-out bass. And I was really into that.

MW: Now you’re about to go on tour for about a month, right?

Dwyer: Yes. September. I’m real excited. It seems like a long time since we last toured.

MW: You’re sharing a couple of bills with some pretty big bands, like the Flaming Lips and Pavement.

Dwyer: Frankly, I’m just excited about those shows with those bands just to see them. I loved listening to Pavement when I was younger, when I was a dishwasher, coming down off acid at 6am at a catering company. Flaming Lips… I just want to see them play for free. It looks like such a spectacle.

MW: Thanks so much for lending us your time and good luck on your tour.

Dwyer: Thank you! We’re looking forward to it.

By Turner Dawson

As the Aggies get ready for their match up with the Lumberjacks on September 4, many Aggie fans are looking at this game as a glorified scrimmage. SFA is still a Division 1 program, but they simply cannot match up with the athletes that A&M will put on the field.

Offense

The Aggies figure to have loads of success on offense in this one. The Aggies boasted the number 5 offense in the entire country last season and are returning virtually every skill position player. The only question mark is the offensive line, but the Lumberjacks don’t have the athletes up front to really challenge this young group. It should be a great opportunity for them to get their feet wet and hopefully build some confidence.

Look for the Aggies to have a great deal of success both on the ground and through the air. If the Aggies play anywhere near their potential they should absolutely run through this SFA defense.

Defense

This should be the most interesting thing to watch in this game. The Aggies will be unveiling their new 3-4 defense under new defensive coordinator Tim Deruyter. The Aggie defense was less than desirable last season as they finished 105^th in the country in total defense.

It will be tough to read too much into this defense based on how they perform in this game, but based on the way fall camp has gone, I expect the defense to fair quite well in this game. This is big for the defense to get off to a good start and build some confidence in themselves. The Aggies need some success in order to get some swagger back on defense.

Special Teams

This could quite possibly be a point of concern again this season. Randy Bullock was 12-19 on field goals last season and kind of fell apart at the end and he has looked extremely inconsistent thus far in fall camp. Punter is another issue as Ryan Epperson has looked very shaky in fall camp as well. This could be an issue in this game and all of the games this season.

Cyrus Gray and Ryan Swope should be handling the kickoff return duties and both are extremely dangerous there. The punt return job is still up in there air and you could see either Nate Askew, Kenric McNeal, or Terrance Frederick.

Outloook

I predict that the Aggies will have a lot of success in this one with a few blown assignments and mistakes sprinkled in. I think the offense will have a number of explosive plays and Jerrod Johnson should be done playing by the start of the fourth quarter.

The defense has been swarming all fall camp and I expect that to continue into this game. Look for Von Miller to be very disruptive along with a number of other outside linebackers. True freshman Damontre Moore is my player to watch, he has the potential to be really special rushing the passer now.

My prediction is the Aggies will get out to a bit of a slow start on offense, but will then get it in gear and start scoring quickly. Look for the defense to really give SFA problems with all of the pressure they will put on the quarterback and they better be able to shut down SFA’s running game. I look for an Aggie win, 48-13.

A commonality for musicians of any standard, country music performer Kevin Fowler experienced his first musical influences at an early age. The nine year old Fowler, however, was initially intrigued not by music, but rather by football and was forced into piano lessons at his mother’s insistence– a decision for which he now thanks her. As Fowler and his father would listen to the local country music radio stations Fowler took a more personal interest in rock music.

“You have to find something to get your parents mad,” Fowler said mirthfully.

At the age of twenty-one, Fowler found himself attending West Texas A&M, taking business and finance courses, growing averse to the idea of a “real job,” and looking askance at the idea of working just for the money.

After playing regularly in a garage band, he chose to take up music professionally, a proposition his parents were unreceptive to at the outset. Though they believed, as most parents would given the circumstances, that this was nothing more than a naïve phase, they allowed him to pursue this career path, though they also warned him that he would be on his own. Soon after, Fowler moved to Los Angeles, California and enrolled in the Guitar Institute of Technology.

“It was like I was fresh off the turnip wagon. I had never even seen a homeless person. It was just big city life. There was definitely a lot of culture shock there. I learned how to survive and how to make do with ramen noodles,” Fowler said.

After leaving the Guitar Institute, Fowler returned to Texas. He             took little interest in becoming a singer, instead choosing to become a guitar player for hire and working his way through several different, albeit liminal, styles of music- rock with Dangerous Toys and southern hard-rock with Thunderfoot.

He got his start as a singer through what he comically calls “LSD” or “Lead Singer’s Disease,” a condition in which the lead singer of a respective musical group rarely shows to rehearsals. During these times, Fowler would step into the lead role. As he continued to sing and write, he found himself both melodically and lyrically settling into a style more autochthonous to Texas culture.

His first single, Beer, Bait, and Ammo, he recorded and put out himself. He immediately found the work to be a more inauspicious task than he had first thought.

“We were so naïve. We thought you could put it in the mail and a radio station would play it,” said Fowler.

He and his band would drive in his truck to various radio stations across Texas and eventually began receiving airtime. Because of this exposure Beer, Bait, and Ammo, would go on to sell over 80, 000 copies and spawn numerous covers.

“I had no idea of the impact that song would have on my life,” Fowler said. “What’s cooler than having George Jones cutting your song?”

Their success extended beyond the Texas border and began to be played in Oklahoma, Ohio, and Phoenix. This allowed Fowler, who until then had been working as a part-time deliveryman for the Austin Chronicle, to quit his day job and play music as his sole means of income.

But as anyone who takes the slightest interest in music is aware, the nature of the business is a tumultuous one. Fowler is currently on his fourth record label since his first signing.

“There are two things I kill real well, a full bud light and record labels,” he said.

Through persistence, however, Fowler continued his work and developed a lyrical style, which often has a laid back, sometimes comedic, appeal. Even his song Political Incorrectness, which appears as more of a musical jeremiad when reading,  is anything but when paired with its relaxing melodies strung out on his guitar.

“I refuse to take life to seriously. The worst thing for an artist is to take life to seriously. We’re not curing cancer or saving the baby whales, we’re just entertaining people,” Fowler said.

And yet Fowler rarely takes time off and has played live music every weekend save one since 2000.

“The group enjoys playing live,” he said. “I hope I’m like Willie Nelson when I’m 70, still wanting to play live 200 days a year. You really have to love the live element of it.”

Kevin Fowler will be performing at Ziegfest on September 5^th. His entire tour schedule can be found on his Facebook site. His most recent release, Poundsign, is his first to break the top 40.

By Turner Dawson

As the 2010 college football season gets underway on September 4, the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks will have their hands full as the Division 1-Football Championship Series team from the Southland Conference comes to Kyle Field to take on the Division 1-Football Bowl Series Texas A&M Aggies of the Big 12.

The Lumberjacks are coming into this season with high hopes. After winning their third Southland Conference title last season and their first since 1999, they have been picked by both the coaches and the media to repeat as champions.

Head coach J.C. Harper is looking for another big year with 16 starters returning to a team that went 10-3 last season and 6-1 in conference.

Offense

The Lumberjacks are lead on offense by their senior quarterback Jeremy Moses. Moses was the conference’s Co-Player of the Year last season and is on this season’s watch list for the Walter Payton Award.

Moses is already SFA’s all-time leader in completions, touchdown passes, passing yards and total offense. He is on pace to become the Southland’s all-time leader in all four of those categories. He has recorded 18 300-yard passing games, four 400-yard passing games and one 500-yard effort during his career. Needless to say, he will be the player the Aggie defense will be most concerned about.

The Lumberjacks threw the ball more the sixty percent of the time last season and I would expect that percentage to increase as they have lost their two leading rushers from last season.

Sophomore Ramonté Hampton figures to see the bulk of the work at running back after running for 324 yards and 4 touchdowns in his freshman season.

Defense

SFA is definitely known for their offense, but the defense can’t be completely overlooked. The Lumberjacks allowed 346 yards and 23 points per game last season. Those are not very good numbers, but they aren’t necessarily horrible either. Add that to the fact that thus far in their scrimmages in fall camp, the defense has been absolutely dominating the much more highly touted offense. This unit could surprise some people this season.

The defense is lead by their linebackers Devin Ducote and Jabara Williams who were the two leading tacklers off of last season’s team.

Special Teams

The Lumberjacks will be replacing their kicker and it is still unclear who will take that role. It could be filled by returning junior punter Drew Nelson or it also might fall to freshman Thomas Henshaw. Nelson had a solid year last year punting the ball as he averaged 41.5 yards per.

Outlook

This is going to be a very tough game for the Lumberjacks. They have a talented quarterback and a few nice players sprinkled in, but the talent differential in these two teams is astronomical, as it should be between an FBS and FCS team. I expect the Lumberjacks to have some success on offense, perhaps with some missed assignments in the A&M secondary, but I expect the A&M offense to roll over this SFA defense.

“You’ve Been Tagged” is a new campaign by Maroon Weekly. We are looking for you. If you find one of these stickers on your car, your door, anywhere, just log onto our website to claim your prize.

Prizes may include, free food at local restaurants, gift certificates to lots of local venues, concert tickets and more. You don’t want to miss out on this opportunity to cash in.

The Maroon Weekly Street Team will be out in Aggieland looking for the next person to tag. If you are lucky that person may be you.

We are looking for you. We gonna find you. So you can run and tell that homeboy.

Even political cynics, a class not obscure given A&M’s conservative culture, cannot help but note Student Body President Jacob Robinson’s presidential air. Posted February 23^rd, 2010 on YouTube, his campaign video, “A Day in the Life of Jacob Robinson,” commences amidst Lee Greenwood’s rendition of “God Bless the USA” and Robinson asleep, covered to the neck with the American Flag. After waking, he whips off the flag and we find him wearing a well tailored suit – blatant symbolism that he is always ready to lead. After polishing his shoes he folds his Flag-blanket into a triangle, the respectful way to do so, picks up his Twelfth Man miniature towel and exits, the viewer catching another glimpse of an American flag immediately outside.

We then follow Robinson through his day of tough arguments, victories, and disappointments, all the while meeting and greeting fans in various Aggie hotspots and shot in a style reminiscent of The Beatles’ music video for “A Hard Day’s Night.” The campaign video concludes with Robinson, girlfriend at his side, watching an episode of “The West Wing,” the critically acclaimed political drama about the lives of President Josiah Bartlett and his staff.

Robinson was not the first in his family to make College Station his home. When he attended his first A&M football game he was in just the 6^th grade. His older brother was a freshman at the time.

“I sat on the 3^rd deck and through all the sweat and yelling I fell in love with this place,” Robinson said. “My brother bought me a book called Traditions of Texas A&M. I read the book at least 5 times and every aspect of A&M was impactful to me. I loved the environment, the traditions and the family.”

When first stepping onto campus, now-President Robinson had only abstract political interests, yet after hearing about the Freshman Leadership Organization, Fish Aides – a FLO intimately tied to SGA –he decided to join.

By joining Robinson would immediately be thrust into a political role. While a member Robinson was a lobbyist on behalf of A&M and took many trips to Austin and DC. There he worked with numerous lawmakers in an attempt to persuade them to vote on bills that would impact student’s lives positively.

However it was not until his junior year that Robinson first felt the spark of presidential ambition, his previous SGA experience making him a prime candidate.

“It was a combination of prayer, great friends and a few things falling perfectly into place,” he said.

By viewing last year’s debates one quickly discerns why Robinson and his “true dream-team” of a campaign staff were able to rake in 49.896 percent of the 12,000 votes cast during student elections (just short of winning without a runoff).

Robinson mixes idealism with an apparent practical knowledge for bringing his idealism to fruition, all the while delivering his vision with nuance, skills he no doubt acquired as both a member of the SGA and a Leadership Studies major. And yet, he is entirely humble about the campaign.

“We got the percentage we did not because of anything I did, but what [the campaign staff] did as a team. It was a shock to me to have such great numbers, but it was even better knowing we did that with my great friends,” he said.

Even with a near majority the Robinson campaign team worked just as hard during the runoff. Eventually, his work and the work of his campaign staff would result in him being named Student Body President.

The nature of the job is a tense one.

“Meetings with SGA are very different than my meetings with administrators and faculty. SGA meetings are more student focused and student lead,” Robinson said. “These meetings revolve around our committees and things happening at that time. The ‘politics’ side of things are left for the Senate room.”

While it is often said of Washington politics that no one wants to nor should see behind closed doors, Robinson insists that his work is different and that unlike other universities, A&M is unique by being interested in what its students have to say.

As such Robinson will have the opportunity to voice his opinion to administrators, a privilege reserved for a select few.

“My meetings with administrators are lead by them and often I am the only student in the room. I get the great opportunity to voice my opinion at these meetings and actually have the administrators listen to my concerns,” he said.

Perhaps, Robinson’s most poignant and important political view involves what he would fix if he had the power without repercussions.

“I would fix the cost of tuition and books,” he said. “I know many people that are paying their own way through college and that will be following them for a long time. It should not cost that much to get an education. We want our country to be educated but we make it so expensive to do so.”

These are sentiments Aggies surely love to hear coming from their President. But what tangible things can Aggies expect from Robinson this year?

“Students can expect better communication with myself and what SGA is doing for them. We are going to look at dining options and making them more student friendly,” he said. “We are going to be putting on diversity forums for students to educate people about different issues.”

Robinson has long been a fan of baseball but is especially a fan of Aggie baseball as well as Aggie football. He also enjoys being on the lake as well as hunting. His favorite film is the 1986 action film Top Gun staring Tom Cruise. Apparently Robinson is also a southern gentleman. When asked about his political leanings outside of Aggieland he carefully, and with all the smoothness of a well trained politician, responded “I think it is important to know who you are and what you stand for. I have also been taught to never talk about salaries and political parties.”

Now in it’s eleventh year, CARPOOL runs like a well-oiled machine. The ­­­40 plus student volunteers donate their Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights to give Aggies a free, non judgmental ride home between 10:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. Texas A&M provides the student organization use of the Schmidt House to act as the dispatch center and Enterprise Rent a Car provides the vehicles used to pick students up.

When an Aggie calls into CARPOOL dispatch, the student operator takes down the necessary information, including what the caller is wearing, name and location. Then two students, one male and one female hit the road. CARPOOL is a one-way service, meaning the volunteers will only take the patrons home. This also means they will only pick students up once on any given night. On average, CARPOOL provides a safe mode of transportation home for over 200 Aggies a night.

Their lime green shirts and catchy car logos can be spotted on Northgate and at many other popular dance halls and bars offering rides as the establishments are closing. CARPOOL is not just for students who have been drinking; it is also a safe way home if a student finds them self in a situation where they simply need a ride home.

With a quick phone call to the number located on the back of your student ID you can get home safely. This student organization has been recognized nationally for the service it provides to Bryan/College Station. Most importantly, however, they have already made our streets a safer place by providing rides to over 168,000 students.

This unique group was founded by Jeff Schiefelbein ’00, who was the recipient of a DWI after a night of drinking without a safe ride home. After 60 hours of community service, 18 months of probation and a suspended license, Schiefelbein chose to make a positive difference for fellow Aggies. In September 1999, Schiefelbein started “Caring Aggies R Protecting Over Our Lives” (CARPOOL).

CARPOOL is active during fall and spring semesters. Last spring the much valued student organization had to suspended services due to lack of funding. However, after extensive fundraising efforts CARPOOL, like many other student organizations, started an endowment through the Texas A&M Foundation. The student organization is continuing to raise funds to maintain their top notch organization. For more information on donating or becoming a CARPOOL volunteer, visit carpool.tamu.edu.

When Northgate is mentioned, the modern strip of bars comes to mind. However, the bar scene is relatively new to the history of Northgate. In fact, the first bars did not make their appearance until 1974.

Up until 1974 the city of College Station was apart of a dry county, and liquor by the drink was not available.

“When the city was dry, students had to sign up to be members of a club to have alcohol within the city limits,” Anne Boykin of the City of College Station Heritage Program Department said. “The only place in College Station where you could get liquor by the drink was at the Ramada Inn, which is now the Plaza, otherwise you had to go over to the next county.”

The area north of the Texas A&M campus known as Northgate became a busy shopping area long before the town of College Station was even incorporated. In 1912, Texas A&M set aside some land off of campus for businesses. On Northgate, some of the first businesses included Boyette butchers shop, a shoemaker, a tailor, a photo shop and Hollicks boot store Boykin said.

Northgate was essentially the downtown of College Station, and it experienced some of its major growth when Texas A&M opened its doors to women and when the college quit requiring its students to participate in ROTC. But still, the area was predominately a business district. A drug store, Loupot’s book store, A.M. Waldrop men’s clothing store, A&M Grill and CW Varner’s Jewelers joined the mix in the 1930s along with a number of churches.

Some original buildings are still standing and are in working condition Boykin said. Café Eccell, for example, occupies College Station’s historical building marker one. Although it is not still being used for its original purposes, Café Eccell’s building dates back to 1947.

“It was the first city hall building and jail, it was abandoned in 1984 and Café Excell leased it in 1999,” Boykin said.

Being so close to campus, Northgate has always been within walking distance to students living in the dorms.

“Northgate was always meant to be pedestrian oriented,” Lauren Hovde of the City of College Station Planning and Development Department said. “Buildings must face towards the public street, University, and must have a secondary entry.”

Ordinances have been put in place to accommodate pedestrians and to improve the ascetics of the area. Sidewalks have been added or widened, street trees were added when sidewalk were redone, benches and bike racks along the street have also been added Hovde said.

When bars started making their appearance in College Station, the Northgate area made an optimal location not only because of the ordinances in place, but because of special accommodations and exceptions made for businesses in this location.

Fast food chains and restaurants are not allowed to build new buildings on Northgate, but they are allowed to set up shop in already existing spaces Hovde said. And this is just what the food chain FREEBIRDS WORLD BURRITO did.

Freebirds is one of the restaurants the city of College Station is known for. However, contrary to common belief, Freebirds did not originate in College Station. The first Freebirds opened in Santa Barbara, California in 1987, and only came to College Station when the founders separated and one ended up in the Brazos Valley.

Even though it did not originate in College Station, Freebirds has been an icon of the city and of the Northgate area.

“Freebirds first location in College Station helped to propel the brand in generating the first Freebirds Fanatics.  The loyal fanatical following Freebirds now has is over 30,000 Facebook Members large,” Freebirds spokesperson Linda Duke of Duke Marketing said.  “Today the company currently operates 36 restaurants in Texas and plan to have over 50 by the end of 2010. This year is the 20th anniversary since Freebirds came to Texas.”

Every place has a story behind it, and in this case, Northgate has many. Business have come and gone, as they will continue to do, but Northgate’s history will remain and continue to grow.