(upbeat music) - [Krista] Coming up on "Basin Life," do you know how much there is to do at the Music City Mall besides shop?

Well, Greg Morgan, and I will show you the latest fun activities for the entire family, and of course you can browse your favorite stores, too.

One group of Texans are bringing happy hours straight to you.

We will meet the owner of the Texas Tap Company.

And is your dog lonely while you're at work?

Well, The Barking Lot will make sure that your four legged friend will have a tail wagging good time while you're on the job.

Plus of course, we're celebrating kids with a local gymnast who is taking her skills to new heights.

I'm Krista Escamilla, and this is "Basin Life."

(upbeat music) I'm so excited to be sitting here today with my friend, Greg Morgan, who is the mall manager at the Music City Mall.

Thank you so much for being here, Greg.

- Thank you for coming out.

- And of course, we were coworkers, friends forever.

- That's right.

- And now we get to do this.

This is a little more fun than waking up at three in the morning, right?

- I still do that.

- Oh, you do?

Greg, we got to get you some melatonin.

- I haven't figured out how to shut that off yet.

- We have got to get you some melatonin.

But I'm so happy because it's summer, and there are so many fun things to do at the mall besides the bumper cars, which we're going to talk about in a minute.

- Oh, absolutely.

- But what's going on?

- So we've got all kinds of new things.

You know, if you haven't been out, of course, everybody was kind of, you know, stuck inside for a year.

- Yeah.

- So we've got new things.

We've got a rock wall the kids can climb.

It goes all the way up into the skylights here at the mall.

We've got a trampoline, bungees.

We've got a little mall moto cars, kinda look like the tron car that kids can drive around through the mall.

We've got, of course, the bumper cars.

You can always ice skate, just general admission ice skate.

It's the only regulation size ice rink for 300 miles.

It's awesome.

- That's incredible.

And there's a special deal, and I'm so excited to announce this.

Monday through Friday, what happens?

- [Greg] So all summer long, started June 1st, Monday through Friday, 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM, everything attraction wise is half off.

So it's half off the carousel, half off the simulator rides, half off the bumper cars.

Everything's half off for the kids.

- And the bumper cars cost $8 usually?

- Yes, so they'll go to $4 for that 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM timeframe Monday through Friday.

- Moms, moms, you know that is the deal.

- It is.

- This is the only place where you can really take the kids inside and have a variety of things for the kids to choose from on those triple digit days, which we know were coming.

- Oh yes.

- And not break the bank 'cause that's what it's all about.

- Absolutely.

So that's what we really wanted to do is, you know, kind of get everyone to come back out, see there's new stores in the mall.

There's all sorts of things that are going on here.

It's lively, it's fun, and just, you know, give everyone a chance to come out and enjoy it and do so at a value.

- [Krista] I love it.

All right, Greg, let's try these bumper cars out.

- Absolutely, lets do it.

- All right, we're going to have some fun.

Bye!

Uh-oh, maybe.

Here we go.

Watch out, Greg.

I'm coming at ya'.

(upbeat music) - I don't know, Greg.

I'm a little dizzy from the bumper cars.

- They're fun though.

- A little dizzy, so much fun.

I highly recommend.

I was starting to get the hang of it at the end.

- Takes a couple minutes to figure out all the steering and stuff like that, but once you get it, oh man, its awesome.

- It's fun.

Now here's something else that's fun.

The rock wall.

This is a new addition to the Music City Mall.

- It is, absolutely.

Yeah, it goes all the way up 26 feet.

It goes straight to the top of the skylights here.

So you guys can have a lot of fun on it.

And the operators here are really, really cool.

They usually bring in a lot of treats, you know, cotton candy, stuff like that.

So they'll do races out here.

First one to the top wins a prize.

It's amazing.

I love coming out here and just watching the kids have a great time.

- Absolutely.

I love it.

And I also love all the new additions that you mentioned to the Music City Mall, but there's all the traditional ones, too.

Of course, you have these fun little rides that the kids can ride.

- [Greg] Yeah, it's just the coin operated rides, yeah.

- [Krista] The carousel.

- [Greg] Yeah.

- [Krista] It's fantastic.

What do you think is the best kept secret here at the Music City Mall?

- You know, there's too many to mention, really.

I mean, there's all sorts of really cool stuff.

There's even a new store called The Wonder Store where they actually, it's operated by a magician.

They do magic tricks.

And if you like the trick that you see the magician do, they show you how to do it.

You buy the kits.

It's really, really neat.

It's a lot of fun.

- I love The Wonder Store.

And then of course, back to school shopping will be in full swing now until school begins.

Which I know, I'm sorry, kids, I said the word and teachers.

- Yeah, no, yeah.

- They're like, "No, don't say back to school yet.

We're enjoying summer."

But you have a lot of deals that go on during the summertime as well.

- Absolutely.

All summer long, you're going to see multiple tenants.

I mean, just whether it's, you know, going to get in the candles from Bath and Body or, you know, going down and getting the clothes, and everyone needed a new wardrobe, I think, after being inside for the last year or so.

- Could have gone either way.

Either way, you needed a new wardrobe.

- Somebody called it the COVID 10.

I called it the COVID 50, so.

(both laughing) - Well, you look great, Greg.

There's so much fun here.

- Movies have reopened.

- [Krista] Movies are reopening.

- [Greg] I mean, yeah.

There's always so much fun to do.

I mean, every day there's something to do.

Absolutely.

- [Krista] I love that.

And I just want to mention, you know, that we were talking about best kept secret, I'll tell you what I think is the best kept secret here.

You can get a massage at the mall.

How great is that?

So bring the kids, you can eat, you can spend the day here, you can do the rock climbing wall, which I'm going to do in just a minute.

Ready?

- Yeah.

- All right, here we go.

All right, here we go.

You ready?

All right.

- Okay, just kidding.

I'm scared of heights.

- Come on.

(both laughing) These things are so much fun.

- Oh, you can let Greg do it.

Greg, you can do the rock climbing wall.

- I was pretending.

- I know, I was pretending too.

- I'm going to hold it up.

- Final thoughts on why people should come to the mall for summertime fun?

- Just everyday it's fun.

You know when you're trying to find a place to beat the heat, there's no place cooler than MCM Ice.

Of course, we take a lot of time to make sure it's, you know, all the air conditioners are running.

We're really making sure everyone's comfortable when they come out.

Of course, you can also, if you come to the Music City Mall ice rink on weekends, we're still doing the $500 golden tickets.

So all you do show up to the ice rink during public skate, do the bumper cars, you can skate.

And just by coming in the door, you get a chance to win a $500 shopping spree.

We do that twice every Saturday at both sessions.

So that's going to be a lot of fun, too.

- I did not know this.

- Yes.

- This is amazing.

- Yes.

- $500, a chance to win a $500 shopping spree.

- Yeah.

- Well, there you go.

These are just some of the wonderful reasons you should come here.

I'm going to throw in one more.

The Fuddruckers french fries are amazing.

Amazing.

Thinking of going there.

- [Greg] They're really amazing.

- [Krista] I think so.

Well, Greg, it's been fun.

I love spending time with you again.

- Yes, it's so good seeing you.

- And we just want to say hi to all our friends that used to watch us on the morning show.

- [Both] Hi!

- We are friends in real life too, see.

- Yeah.

- I always get asked that.

Y'all friends in real life?

- Yes, of course.

- Not just TV life.

But I'm so glad that you're doing well.

I'm so grateful that the Music City Mall is providing good family fun because that's what we need this summer.

- Live music ever Saturday, Sunday.

Come out.

It's a lot of fun.

- All right, that's it.

We're going to send it back to another great quote to live by.

(upbeat music) - Whether you're hosting a party or trying to draw in customers at a corporate event, today's "Heart of the Basin" is making your job easy.

I recently spoke to the owner of Texas Tap Company.

(mellow guitar music) We're here at Main Street, live in downtown Midland with the owner, one of the owners of Texas Tap Company, David Parkhurst.

Thanks for being with us.

- Anytime.

- We're so excited to hear about your company.

Tell us what it is you do.

- So we are a beer, wine, and liquor cater.

So we just cater to private parties, corporate events, weddings, happy hours, all kinds of stuff.

- Fantastic.

And so someone hires you to come there, you come up in one of these cool trucks.

- Yep.

- Tell us about the cool trucks.

- So I guess it was our buddy, Conner, he's one of the co-founders, his idea.

We'd seen it in California, and we decided to do it in 2020.

And it's just you can't beat the aesthetic of a 1953 pickup, so.

- [Krista] That's a great talking point.

People want to hang out around, drink beer.

- Everybody loves beers and trucks.

- Absolutely.

How did you guys come together for this great concept?

- [David] Were kind of forced into it, really.

So I got laid off last April during the downturn.

- [Krista] COVID.

- [David] And then, yeah.

- [Krista] Thanks, COVID.

- [David] Thanks, COVID.

And then my brother graduated during the downturn, so it was kind of rough going for a little bit, and we decided that we would figure it out, and we had to do something.

So we decided to do this.

- Well, I say everything happens for a reason, and there is a reason that y'all are doing this because this is a really great concept.

- [David] Yeah.

- David, these trucks are so cool.

Are they all original?

- [David] They're all original, both of them, except for this one.

It's got a 12 volt conversion.

- [Krista] Okay.

- [David] Other than that, they're all original.

- [Krista] That sounds fancy, a 12 volt conversion.

What does that mean?

- [David] They're usually six volt, and so somebody converted it to 12 volt to make it easier, but that's the only thing about it that's not original.

- [Krista] Awesome.

Well, it is all about the trucks, and it's all about the beer.

Tell us about the beer.

- The beer comes from Tall City.

this particular trucks carrying Tall City's beer.

And so the other truck, Green Eileen, what we call her.

- [Krista] Green Eileen.

That is Green Eileen over there.

What's her name?

- [David] Scarlet.

- [Krista] Scarlet, I love it.

I love that you name your trucks.

My son names his trucks, so I love that.

- [David] Right.

Well, we carry Tall City, and we promote Eccentric Brewing as well.

So we try and stay as local as we can.

- [Krista] Okay, fantastic.

And do you go anywhere?

You go to any party, any event, any thing?

- Oh yeah.

Texas Tap Company, so we'll be anywhere in the state line.

- All right, show me how it's done.

So they walk up.

They say, "I'll take a," What is this called, a honey?

- A honey blonde from Tall City.

- [Krista] Honey blonde from Tall City.

- [David] Yes, ma'am, we just pour it away.

- [Krista] Pour it, and then the best part is... - [David] You get to drink it.

- [Krista] You get to drink it.

- Yes, ma'am.

- And you have to of course say, "Cheers."

- Cheers.

- Cheers, David.

Much success to you and your partners and your great company.

- Thank you.

- Thanks for coming here to Midland and all over the state of Texas.

How can people find you?

- Facebook, Instagram.

Our handle is @TexasTapCo.

And then we've got a website, texastap.co, so find us anywhere - All right, cheers to trucks and beers.

- Cheers.

- What a great business idea, and that, just like so many others, came out of quarantine.

I just love that, and we wish them all the best.

Keep those stories coming in.

Email us at basinlif@basinpbs.org.

Let's take a look at another great quote to live by.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] This month in Passport on the PBS Video App, you're on demand library for the best of PBS.

- This is the part where you reveal I'm not even human.

- Wow, oh my goodness.

- Mentally, we're extremely fit.

We have this incredible ability to adapt and persevere.

- [Man] What Ballet Trockadero has done over the years is turned ballet kind of on its head.

- [Narrator] These and other shows from your PBS station are available with Passport on PBS Video App.

Download it today.

- [Narrator] Joined Basin PBS and Centennial Park for Movies in the Park every first and third Thursday in June and July at Centennial Park.

Family movies begin at dusk.

Sponsored in part by HEB and Lone Star Abstract and Title.

(dramatic music) - An iconic photograph is indelible.

It always stays with you.

- Music photography is like the music itself.

It's part of our cultural heritage.

It's part of our shared identity as a people.

- These photographs are the most important visual document of these musical artists.

- I feel like I'm documenting musical history.

- What I do is a form of music.

It's just music it from your eyes.

- Best job in the world.

- I'm a rock fan.

I want to see that picture, and I want to hear it.

I want to feel it.

- Cover "Rolling Stone" meant you were something.

- I don't think I'm shooting a picture.

No, I'm drawing with light.

- It's always going to be about music, artistry, and energy.

- It's more than just a photograph.

It's a work of art.

- [Narrator] Join Basin PBS and Centennial Park for Movies in the Park every first and third Thursday in June and July at Centennial Park.

Family movies begin at dusk.

Sponsored in part by HEB and Lone Star Abstract and Title.

- We're sitting here today at The Barking Lot in Midland with the owner, Larry Burdette and my dog, Ivy.

Thank you so much for being with us today.

- Thank you for coming up.

- I'm so excited to hear more about The Barking Lot.

Tell us about this great business for all of us animal lovers.

- Thank you.

Well, we opened up in October, and it was a precarious time to open in the pandemic, but it kind of fell in our lap.

Another young couple came to open this place up, a kennel free pet zone, and their financing fell apart, unfortunately.

So we just, it was leasing from a friend of mine, we kind of picked up the ball and ran.

And it's been difficult with the COVID.

So, but now we're starting to get traction.

- Yes.

- We do a lot of daycares and kenneling that we'll talk about.

And this has been a slow, steady growth that's finally taking traction.

- Well, we're so excited you're here and that you're open.

It's a fun place.

You can tell the dogs are happy to be here.

Ivy is happy to be here.

What are the benefits of doggy daycare?

- Well, a lot of my friends bring their dogs, and like Ivy, is home with you and the kids and Al and your other dog.

A lot of my friends bring dogs to that are never with other animals.

And Caitlin Lynnguard, our general manager, is just a dog whisper.

- [Krista] She is.

- [Larry] She just, the animals love her.

And that you bring your dog in, it's a little bit problematic maybe and difficult in the beginning.

You bring your dog in for an evaluation.

You go online, get all the vet papers because with the distemper outbreaks lately, we had to make sure that all the dogs are vaccinated so everyone's safe.

But you do that, and you come in for an evaluation.

Your dog that may be very timid might be introduced to two or three small, more timid dogs as well.

And then as they become part of the pack.

These dogs come in every day.

Krista, we have eight to 12 half days for $15.

We have two to six o'clock, half days.

15 or 25 all day.

These dogs are fighting to get out of the car, fighting to get in our door because they want to be with their buddies.

- [Krista] I love it.

You could tell they are all having fun out there.

And when Ivy got introduced, they were smelling the new dog.

What's, you know?

But then after a while, she was just out there running with them and having fun.

And I think that's what it's about.

We all want our animals happy like we want our kids happy, right?

We want our animals happy.. - Exactly.

If kids in school can get along so well.

It's just, they get here, and I was just telling you earlier, we have this one big dog and he's a hairless and he's a big dog, but he wasn't social.

He ran off into the corner.

And for two or three days, he just kind of watched.

But now he's got a little pal of his own that's his size, and it's a ridgeback, and they play like crazy.

Each of these dogs find their own little playmates, two or three or four of them.

They get little cliques.

And I've got this one big Siberian Husky, Czar, and Mishka, his little sister.

Czar is the school monitor.

Two dogs getting into a little too much of a scuffle, he walks in the middle (growling) and they both split off, and he just walks on his merry way.

It's fun to watch him.

- [Krista] I love it.

And they really truly are happier.

Like you said, they can't wait to get out here.

It's a good way to introduce animals if you are a stay at home animal that's usually by themselves.

- Exactly.

It's good for them.

It's a good way for them to learn how to socialize.

- Absolutely.

Let's talk about the kenneling because I know it's summertime.

A lot of people are traveling again, thank goodness.

Everyone is traveling again, and the world is opening up.

How can somebody get in on your list?

- [Larry] Exactly.

Again, it's a little bit, you do need to go online, The Barking Lot of Midland.

Get your dog, the vet papers, all squared away.

Come in for you to evaluation.

That's where some people would get kinda mad at us sometimes because they want to come in right away.

Here's my dog.

See you later.

But everything has to be an order.

And especially evaluation is so critical that we know we'll tell you, Tuesday and Thursday, these are the best dogs for your dog to be with and to see if that works out for your schedule.

And then the kenneling, that's where we're really starting to get busy.

The kenneling, just exactly just like daycare, but they just stay overnight.

- [Krista] And finally, what do dogs mean to you?

- [Larry] You know, I love dogs and unfortunately for me, fortunately for me, I play a lot of golf and I travel a lot.

I don't have to have a dog anymore.

I love dogs, but I get up here a few times a week and play and I get all the doggies I want.

Caitlin is just phenomenal with dogs.

- Yes.

- And we're lucky to have Caitlin Lynnguard.

She does a great job.

She does everything from booking them in, the doctor vetting, the evaluation.

She does it all.

But she really teaches these dogs how to behave.

If some have behavioral problems, she works with them in that, but it's just a great spot for you to bring your dog to be social.

And again, but if you are kenneled, we're kennel free play all day long.

They're outside, if the temperature's good, they're outside in the two different playgrounds.

They're inside in the air conditioned playing with one another.

It's a great clean facility.

We do baths.

We clip their nails.

We don't do clipping yet, but maybe one day.

- Well, Larry, thank you so much for sharing with us.

We wish you the very best, and thank you for making the animals in west Texas happy.

That's what we want.

You ready to go play, Ivy?

Go play.

- Bring your dog to The Barking Lot.

It's a tail wagging good time.

- I like it.

All right, we're going to take a look at another great quote to live by, but I liked that one.

(upbeat music) - Well, most of us can do a somersault, maybe a cartwheel, you know, raise your hand if you can do a backhand spring.

Well, how about a double back tuck?

No.

I'm putting my hand down on that one.

That's right, a lot of hands went down.

Well, in today's "Celebrating Kids," we meet one local athlete who is competing at one of the highest levels in gymnastics.

(upbeat music) - I'm Caroline, Caroline Christopher.

I'm a level nine at New Heights Gymnastics Academy.

I started when I was like three, but then I started competing I think after fourth grade.

I've been competing for five years.

I love being there with my team and cheering each other on and just having fun and being able to show off what we can do for in front of other people.

We compete on the floor, the bars, the beam, and the vault.

My favorite skill, I really like tumbling on floor and pretty much just all front tumbling, like front handsprings, front fulls, that kind of stuff.

Off season, which is like when we're not competing, I train about 12 hours a week, and competition season, we train 15 to 17 hours a week.

My goals, they kind of change every so often.

I really want to go to college gymnastics now and be able to compete for a college.

2019, we didn't get to, or 2020, we didn't get to start till like mid summer, and we usually train year round.

So starting mid summer kind of pushed us back so we didn't have enough time to train.

So the competition season was a little rough for some people.

So after 10, level 10, you can get recruited to be an elite, which is, I mean, basically I think a professional gymnast.

So you like compete professionally after level 10.

You start your competition season.

You try to get an all around score of a 36 at our gym, which means every event you start at like a 10.0 start value, and every time like you have a little mess up, you get like points taken off.

So you're trying to get all your scores added up to a 36 to move up to the next level.

You have to be confident with your own skills, and you have to believe in yourself and know that like, you know what you're doing, and you have to be strong and work really hard, like all the time for your goals.

So a normal day at practice, we warm up for about 30 minutes.

Then we have our rotations.

So since practice is three hours, we start our warmup for 30 minutes.

And then our first two, we start at a different event every day, and we'll do about 45 minutes.

And then we'll go to the next event and do another 45 minutes, and the last two events are 30 minutes.

And we just work on like new skills or conditioning or anything that like will make us stronger or improve us.

We have this thing called killer where you go across the floor and you do a forward roll, and then you have to do a ton of ab workouts without touching your feet to the floor.

And if anyone in the whole team touches their feet to the floor, you have to go back and start over.

So no one likes doing that.

I mean, I've had knee problems for awhile.

So a lot of times I'll just get really frustrated whenever I can't do anything, and everyone else will be tumbling and I'll have to sit down and watch and ice my knees.

So that's really hard for me, but lately I've been getting better, and I'm able to do a lot more than past few months.

For gymnastics, it's just, you have to believe in what your skill level is and believe that your coaches know what they're doing.

And start small, but even if you start small, you can go higher and higher and get up to the highest levels as long as you believe in yourself and work really, really hard.

- Oh, she's fantastic.

We wish Caroline the very best in her gymnastics journey.

If you know someone who deserves to be showcased, and we think all kids do so keep those coming in, just email us a basilife@basinpbs.org, and we'll showcase them in another episode.

Today is our last episode of season two of "Basin Life," and I cannot thank you all enough for being a part of this journey.

You, our Basin PBS awesome team, our guests, and those who we highlighted are who make the Permian Basin so wonderful.

I hope the stories have brought you hope, inspired you, and most of all, made you smile.

(upbeat music) - Well, I can't believe we're already closing out season two of "Basin Life," and I cannot thank all of you enough for watching.

And as you know, we've been closing out each episode with some amazing talent that we have here in west Texas.

We've had singers and dancers, Ballet Folklorico, and today we're closing out with the Midland-Odessa Symphony & Chorale, and I want to welcome them right now.

And Caryn Crutchfield will be talking with us today.

Thank you so much, Caryn.

- Thank you for having us.

- [Krista] And crew.

You are all so fabulous.

I've seen you in concert many times, and I just want to say how exciting it is to have you close out our show today.

But how exciting is it for you to be back performing for live audiences?

- It is so nice.

We just had so many months of uncertainty and when will it happen, and how will it happen, and how can we make it happen?

- [Krista] And will it happen?

- Right.

And we knew it would happen eventually.

Just, how long would we have to wait to be playing music back together?

And you can tell there's just a sense of happiness to be back with the orchestra, just in general at our rehearsals.

They just are really happy.

- You've recently had an amazing performance.

"ET", I mean, you just brought me back to the eighties.

- Yeah, I actually watched the movie again last night with my music.

- [Krista] Nice.

- So we played while the movies was showing, we played the orchestra version.

- [Krista] Wow.

- John Williams, really hard.

- [Krista] Oh my goodness.

- Anything with John Williams is really hard.

- I'm trying to think back to the eighties, but I remember that score being pretty incredible.

- Yes, it's amazing.

And I think that it's just a show that everyone enjoyed and anyone could watch, any child could come in and immediately fall in love with "ET" all over again.

- [Krista] Well, thank you so much for doing what you do.

The arts means so much to all of us here in west Texas, and you all are truly just amazing at your craft.

We're going to let you play out the show.

Where are you going to perform for us?

- We have a piece by, the last name is Patterson, called "Blues."

- "Blues," all right, take it away, the west Texas winds with the Midland-Odessa Symphony & Chorale.

Thank you everyone for joining us for season two.

We cannot wait to see you again.

Have a fantastic summer and enjoy "Blues."

(orchestral music) - Hi, I'm Emily, your Basin PBS Membership Director.

You might recognize my name from some of the letters you receive from Basin PBS, or if you've called the station, you've probably talked to me.

Sure, you watch our programs and come to our events, but what actually happens if you don't support Basin PBS?

What's the worst that could happen?

Sure, things might change a little.

There might be some cuts here and there.

We'd probably have to get rid of some of the kids' programming and dramas, some of the news programs and live events, and probably a lot of the arts and culture programming You can't see anywhere else.

But what does it really matter if you don't support Basin PBS?

You'll hardly know the difference.

(upbeat music)