Another cool-sounding event for the holidays -- tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 23rd, that crazy gang known as the Sideshow Tramps and countrified songsters Robert Ellis and the Boys will be leading a crew of Christmas carolers around the Montrose 'hood, singing and marching and partying as they go.

They'll start off at Taft Street Coffee (2115 Taft St.), head down to KPFT to play live on Technology Bytes, then meander back up to Mango's to play an all-night free show with drink specials & whatnot.

While the show's free, btw, in the giving spirit of the season, the bands are collecting donations for the Houston Area Women's Center, which is definitely something worth supporting. And plus, Hank Schyma of the Southern Backtones will be filming scenes for a real-live movie he's making called Honky Tonk Blood.

So get on out, bring a flashlight or three, dress in "freaky/trampy holiday attire," and let your Montrose freak flag fly...

Labels: Arty Shit, Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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Gotta hand it to those Caroline Collective folk -- they always come up with quirky, unique, fun stuff to do. This time out, they're staging what will (hopefully) be their First Annual Gingerbread Build-Off, just in time for the holiday insanity.

You've probably already guessed the idea: teams of up to three (in categories for kids, adults, and real-live architecture or design pros) compete to build the most badass, clever, cool buildings/castles/whatever out of gingerbread. The structures get judged by a panel of experts on food, design, and architecture, and the winners will be displayed at the Architecture Center Houston downtown. Wow. I hear there're trophies, as well, but can't totally confirm that.

The event's tomorrow -- Saturday, December 19th -- and will run from 10AM to 2PM, which, as somebody who's done the generic Target-bought house kit a few times, really isn't all that much time in which to craft your ginger-scented Taj Mahal. Word to the wise: overreaching and running out of time means you don't get any of it done. Just sayin'.

It's $25 per team to enter, and that gets you all the basic building materials -- although you can bring your own extra stuff, so long as it's edible (that's right; none of that Ace of Cakes/Cake Boss fakery going on here, y'all, and I appreciate that). And, of course, there will most likely be some building materials that, um, "accidentally" get eaten.

Even if you don't want to build, this still sounds like it'd be pretty awesome to see; the Collective Website doesn't specifically say people can come by & be spectators, but I can't imagine they're going to turn people away...

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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In the unlikely event that you haven't heard about this before now, yep, the title there is pretty much true. Tonight (Wed., December 2nd) up at DiverseWorks, The Catastrophic Theatre -- several members of which theater-going folk will probably recognize from the sadly-departed Infernal Bridegroom Productions -- is staging a "preview" of its new play, Life is Happy and Sad, which features none other than Bring Back the Guns frontman, awesome songwriter, and all-round cool guy Matt Brownlie in his first acting role.

Brownlie's playing quirky/strange fellow songwriter/musician (and artist) Daniel Johnston in his earlier, college-dwelling years, in a play TCT co-overlord Jason Nodler built around a never-before-heard tape Johnston created and sent to a friend. I haven't heard/seen it, unfortunately, but apparently the tape consisted of the youthful Johnston recording a "conversation" of his own personal thoughts & feelings, plus whatever songs he wanted to share, for his friend, and it sounds like a pretty intriguing glimpse into the man's mind.

The backstory to the whole thing's pretty neat, as well -- check out Joe Mathlete's excellent writeup for the details on that. And I'm told the second part of the play (the first part is a big monologue by "Johnston"/Brownlie) features local glam revivalists Roky Moon & Bolt as, well, the band in the thing, so that's no bad news, either.

In short, I'm hearing good things all around about this. Go, go, go. Tonight's preview costs $50 and includes refreshments & a private party with the cast and crew, and if you'd rather just see the play itself, it'll be running at DW December 3-5, 9-12, and 16-19, all for pay-what-you-can admission.

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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Back in the day, when I had far more disposable cash than I have right at the moment, I was a big, big, big, totally-and-completely comic nerd. Not Comic Book Guy, thank God, but still, I would hit the comic store (and the music store, too, naturally) as soon as I got paid each week and stock up on a dozen-plus different titles I was following at the time, plus whatever back issues I needed to fill the holes in my collection. It used to be a ridiculously large part of my life, self-image, yadda, yadda.

Sadly, these days my longboxes full of comics languish pathetically in a closet in the garage, where I really, truly hope to God they're not being rotted/eaten to shreds by who-knows-what, and my primary exposure to anything comic-like basically comes from visits with the fam when the little brothers are around and I can borrow whatever new they've got lying around. I'm now only a comic nerd by proxy, which at times makes me kind of sad, but hey, that's my economic reality. Gotta have priorities. (Although I do make exceptions for certain stuff, like anything Astro City, any Hellblazer graphic novels I come across at Borders or Half Price, or the awesome, awesome DMZ series...)

The above blather is to explain somewhat why my friend Mike Jasper has managed to become my new "dude, I want to be you" idol. On top of the sci-fi novels he's already published, now there's In Maps & Legends, an online comic Mike's writing (with art by Niki Smith), which is currently the top of the heap at DC Comics' interactive, vote-for-your-favorite Zuda Comics site.

What's up there now is just a snippet, really, but it already looks damn intriguing, in a thoughtful, backstory-heavy, Gaiman-/esque comic-fantasy sort of way -- I'm seriously looking forward to seeing more, and am surprisingly impressed with the interface (not having to wait long for the next page to load is nice, although that may be more of a factor of the connection speed here than anything else).

Now, I'd meant to post this earlier to pester people to vote for Mike's comic, but I think I may've missed the boat -- apparently he didn't need my help, though, since it looks like he's been trouncing the competition and may(?) be the winner. Which means that he & Smith will get to sign a contract with DC to continue the comic the rest of this year, presumably for money & glory & whatnot. Holy shit. If that's the case, congrats, Mike! And to the rest of you comic geeks out there, check out the comic, either way...

Labels: Arty Shit, Cool Web Junk, Public Service Announcements, Things To Read, Things To See

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These things always strike me as being damn cool, I have to say, and this year sounds like it's no different...

Today and tomorrow (Sat., November 21st & Sun., November 22nd), the Center for Hearing and Speech -- a local Houston nonprofit that helps kids who can't hear learn how to speak -- is having its 4th Annual Via Colori Festival. It's a street-painting festival, with something like 200 artists creating awesome murals on the city streets themselves, and it's pretty awesome.

On top of the art, the CHS folks have also recruited a nice lineup of local musicians & bands to rock the place from two separate stages while the artists do their thing. Today they've got Beetle, Spain Colored Orange, Flying Fish Sailors, The Texas Toast, Kristine Mills, Jerk Store, Two Star Symphony, & Stan Crawford; tomorrow there's Buxton, The Wild Moccasins, Grupo Kache, Runaway Sun, Eric Korb, Elaine Greer, John Quintin, & The Smooth Operator. Personally, I'd try my best to catch Buxton, the Moccasins, Kristine Mills, Elaine Greer, Flying Fish Sailors, Spain Colored Orange, & Two Star Symphony, but I think it'll be cool no matter who you're able to see. Check here for the schedule.

The festival takes place in Sam Houston Park, at the intersection of Allen Parkway & Bagby, and it'll run from 10AM to 6PM today and 10AM to 5PM tomorrow. And don't fret about the weather, because the weekend's supposed to be beautiful...

The whole thing's a benefit, btw, but it's free to folks who show up -- the "benefit" part is from companies & people who sponsor the festival, either directly or by sponsoring a specific square on the street that an artist will be painting. Get on out & enjoy it all.

Labels: Arty Shit, Flyeration, Free Stuff, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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This is a cool one... Over the past several years, I've seen some truly amazing show posters floating around, most of 'em created by awesomely talented local H-town artists. Seriously, in all the time I've spent in this scene, I've never seen poster art as good as this, and that's the truth.

So it seems fitting that somebody -- in this case, Matthew Wettergren and Philip Beck of the The Revelry Report on KTRU -- would put on a rock poster exhibition to showcase all the great talent here. They're asking for submissions from any artists who'd like to be in the show, which'll run from November 20th to January 1st at Matthew's Caroline Collective.

The detail for submissions isn't too far off, though; get your posterage in by November 1st. Here're the details, straight from Matthew & Philip themselves:

Exhibition: Houston Rock Poster Art, 2000-2010

Entry Deadline: November 1st, 2009

Curators: Philip Beck and Matthew Wettergreen

Location: Caroline Collective

Website: http://carolinecollective.cc/

Exhibition Dates: November 20th – January 1st

Eligibility: Rock poster art made between 2000 to present

Caroline Collective is seeking rock poster art from the Houston music community over the past 10 years. This show will showcase the trends and diversity of rock poster art in Houston over the first decade of the new century. All mediums of rock poster art (wheat paste, digital offset prints, silkscreens, photocopies, handmade) are welcome and encouraged for submission. All of the work included in this show must be for Houston rock shows occurring between 2000 and 2010.

Houston's musical landscape has been dominated by acts that defy genre classification, innovating outside of national trends, stamping their own mark on the aural template of the city. The collection of these talents has resulted in a vibrant and artistically supportive musical community known for presenting new forms of expression combining disparate genres and styles. Evolving in step with this music and drawing from its creative innovation is Houston's ground breaking poster culture. Some of the world's most renowned rock poster designers call Houston their home, pushing the evolution of the art form itself, locally and internationally. In this exhibit we seek to provide a snapshot of the last decade of rock poster art in Houston covering everything from black and white photocopied collages to the loud mockups by Uncle Charlie.

Submissions in the form of image files may be made via email to Philip Beck and Matthew Wettergreen at "mwettergreen AT gmail DOT com" and "pfbeck AT gmail DOT com".

Houston Rock Poster Art show is presented by C2 Creative and is curated by Philip Beck and Matthew Wettergreen.

Over the course of this decade, Philip Beck and Matthew Wettergreen have worked together to celebrate the talent of Houston's artistic community and engage audiences with their eyes, ears and brains. Events such as Asthmatic Kitty's Unusual Animals series highlighted the contributions of multiple forms of expression, including musicians, filmmakers and artists. KTRU's Outdoor Show brought renowned national artists to Houston to play alongside some of the most talented local artists. Philip and Matthew's weekly radio show, The Revelry Report, with co-host Ian Wells, promotes Houston culture through in studio performances with local musicians, live interviews and coverage of a wide range of diverse events happening in Houston.

C2 Creative is a nonprofit organization born out of Caroline Collective that curates the art shows, educational programs and stages community programming. C2 Creative also provides creative groups, startups, and professionals with the education guidance and resources needed for a successful launch through a 6 month mentoring program.

Going by what I've seen, y'all, this could be downright mindblowing. Enter your stuff, get your poster artist friends to enter their stuff, and let's make this thing incredible.

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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How freaking cool is this? The next two nights (Fri., October 16th & Sat., October 17th), the good people over at DiverseWorks are hosting a music/dance performance piece called Heaven, created by Minneapolis- based choreographer Morgan Thorson, lighting designer Lenore Doxsee, set/costume designer Emmet Ramstad, and -- wait for it -- musicians/composers Alan Sparhawk & Mimi Parker.

The latter, of course, are basically the core of legendary slowcore band Low, whom I've loved & adored literally for more than a decade now, ever since my days as a wee young student and KTRU DJ. Those awesomely delicate, drifting melodies, the heartbreaking duet vocals...they blew my mind back then, and it's still blown now.

I can't claim to grasp the overall theme of Thorson's piece real well, beyond the bit about "transformation," but with Sparhawk and Parker providing all-new original music and "vocal orchestration," it promises to be, well, really freaking cool. And for those who're better-versed in the dance world than yours truly, Thorson apparently is a rising star in the world of choreography

Best of all, if you happen to be short of funds due to our currently horribly variable economy, DiverseWorks is doing a "Pay What You Want" thing for all its performances this year...

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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I know I've mentioned this before, but hell, I happen to think it's very cool, so I think it's worth re-mentioning. Local musician and all-round cool guy Jason Smith, who plays bass/keys in sweet, flat-out rock band Alkari, also happens to be an architecture nerd, focusing on a particular local H-town architect named William R. Jenkins who built a bunch of (some-still-extant) houses down in the Westbury area.

Jason just finished an actual book on the guy, to boot, entitled High Style in the Suburbs: The Early Modern Houses of William R. Jenkins, published by the Houston Mod group, and tonight marks the official (I think?) launch of the book with a presentation and discussion tonight (Thurs., August 20th) at 6PM at the Downtown Houston Public Library (500 McKinney). The library presentation will be followed by a book signing/reception thing at Architecture Center Houston (315 Capitol), around 7PM. Both "parts" of the evening are free, as far as I know.

I've gotten to take a look at the book, btw, and while I'm not the architecture guru Jason is, I was/am mightily impressed. It's been a bona-fide labor of love for him, and that shows. Makes me want to drive around and check out all of the remaining houses profiled in the book, seriously. If this sounds like your thing, get on over to downtown, eh?

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Hear, Things To Read

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Yes, the world of zines (and most other types of printed/self-published art & writing, whatever you want to call it) is a thing near & dear to my heart. And I know firsthand how much of a ridiculous pain in the a--er, labor of love it can be to get a zine from brain to real-live paper. Granted, it's been many long years since I did the print thing, and I have a feeling the tools with which people create zines are much improved from what they were, but still, it takes a lot of commitment, hard work, & vision to pull it off.

Which is why I think the Zine Nite that'll be held next Wednesday, July 29th, at Copy.com on Westheimer (right next to the old Tower Theatre, aka Hollywood Video) is such a cool idea. The event's sponsored by the Copy.com folks (duh) and the hard-working Zine Fest Houston crew, and the idea isn't just to show off one's work but to actually collaborate, share helpful info/tips/etc., and work on your zine(s). The ZFH and Copy.com folks will all be on hand to answer questions, and there'll be room to work, as well as the usual networking and displaying of different zines.

It runs from 9PM to midnight, according to the event invite; check the link for more details... This sounds like a very, very cool deal, truly. Hats off to ZFH and Copy.com for getting it together.

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Read, Zine-Type Stuff

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Not a music-related deal, really, but given the circumstances, I think it's well worth mentioning. Jason Nodler, the founder of the much-celebrated, ultra-indie local theater troupe Infernal Bridegroom Productions and current Artistic Director for (and also founding member of) the relatively-new Catastrophic Theatre, was apparently hit by a taxicab over in Amsterdam right at the end of May. I don't know all the details, but it doesn't sound like he's in good shape, and even though he's healing up, the bills are starting to pile up.

To help Jason out, his friends back here in H-town are throwing a benefit/open house tomorrow night (Sat., July 11th) for the guy at The Catastropic Theatre main office. Here's the specific info & some more background, from fellow Catastrophic player/founder Tamarie Cooper:

Many of you know that Jason was the victim of a serious hit and run accident while in Amsterdam this summer. He has had surgery and despite much pain, is finally starting to heal, very, very slowly.

Although Jason has a basic health insurance plan, there are many medical expenses that are not covered and he is currently in dire financial straits.

Unfortunately, the Dutch authorities are dragging their feet on charging the driver of the cab that hit Jason and, even if he is eventually compensated, it could be years before he recovers any of his expenses.

Jason is also not comfortable asking his friends for help with this matter, so I've taken it upon myself to do so for him.

Any size of financial contribution will greatly help. Please join me in raising these much-needed funds! Whether it's $10 or $100, any amount will help immensely.

In times of crisis, we must turn to friends and family for assistance. Let's help our friend and fearless leader of The Catastrophic Theatre, literally, get back on his feet.

We will be having an Open House/ SAVE JASON! Benefit at:

The new Catastrophic Office, 1540 Sul Ross (on the corner of Mandell & Sul Ross, directly across the street from the Menil Collection) on:

SATURDAY JULY 11th

6pm-11pm

Beer, wine, sodas, cocktails, delicious food, and lively banter will be offered for your enjoyment.

Cash and checks (made payable to Jason Nodler) will be happily accepted at the Benefit.

...

Contributions may also be made with credit cards via PayPal. Simply visit the PayPal website (www.paypal.com) and click the "Send Money" tab.

All you'll need to complete your transaction is Jason's email address: jnodler@gmail.com

Thanks Everyone!

Whether you can make it to the benefit itself or not, help the guy out -- he's been a major part of Houston's theater & art scenes for longer than I've lived here, and he needs our help.

Labels: Arty Shit, Charitable Things, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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This is a cool one; I'd missed it last time out, but apparently the folks at Houstonist are doing a followup photography show to 2007's 600 sq mi: Photos from Houston exhibit, and the idea this time is to get local photogs here in our fair city to come up with pictures of the "hidden Houston" -- the stuff that people might overlook but that is really, truly the best part, to my mind, of this city.

I've always maintained that Houston's a city that goes misunderstood because it's not an accessible place, a place where people can easily jump from one cool thing to another; it sucks to be a tourist here, unless you've got somebody who knows the city showing you around, because the really good things about H-town are the ones that lurk beneath the surface, where a casual glance can't uncover it.

I think the Houstonist's idea of getting Houstonians to expose some of that unknown beauty is excellent, something that needs to happen more often. They're calling this exhibit, appropriately enough, 600 sq mi: Hidden, and here's the gist of it from the Website:

It's a juried exhibition of photographs showing the hidden side of Houston. What does that mean to you? Maybe it's a corner of the city that only you know. One of those glimpses of nature that makes us forget, even for a second, that we live amid a tangle of asphalt and glass. It could be a festival that people don't really know about, or perhaps one of those things that's hidden in plain sight — something wonderful that we usually speed past on the freeway or an architectural detail most people never notice. Big or small, literal or figurative, these are the things that make Houston a great city, and we want to see your take on them.

Entering the show is easy. Just check out the official rules, then get your photos together and submit them using our online entry form. You can submit up to three photos with a flat $15 entry fee, which you send to us via PayPal. Entries are due by the end of the day Monday, July 13, 2009. If you have any questions about the process, the show in general or anything else, read through our FAQ. If you don't find the answer you need there, drop us a line and we'll be happy to help. The show will open in October at Xnihilo Gallery in the Montrose — more details on that later.

Our 2007 show, 600 sq mi: Photos from Houston, featured the work of 39 local photographers and was (we say modestly) a great success. This year's show will be even better. So enter already!

See? Cool deal. If I can get my photographic shit together, I'm tempted to fork over the $15 and give it a shot, myself...

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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A bit early, but after missing Steve Earle at Cactus this past weekend, I do not want to drop the ball on this one, especially since the wife & I had to miss 'em the last time they came through town, back in 2007...

So, here we go with the good news: weekend-after-next, Friday, May 29th, the fine gents who do FOUND Magazine, Davy & Peter Rothbart, are stopping here in our fair city as part of their "Denim and Diamonds Tour". I have no freaking idea what's up with the title, no, but I do know that this tour's to promote their latest FOUND book, Requiem for a Paper Bag, which is reportedly a little different from their other books (which are mostly collections of past issues of FOUND) in that in addition to the usual entertaining detritus, the book also includes essays & short stories by folks like Chuck D & Seth Rogen.

If you're totally in the dark as to the idea behind the mag itself, well, the Rothbart brothers and their loyal, maniacal cadre of collectors/foragers/etc. comb the dumpsters and garbage cans and attics and gutters and backseats of America to gather the weirdest, most intriguing bits of scribbled-down kitsch/strangeness they can find, from painfully-bad love letters to notes from middle school in the '80s to crayon drawings to random signs to, well, look at their Find of the Day section for some examples.

The issues I've seen/read of the mag are utterly fascinating, to me -- the little bits and pieces are like glimpses into the absurd underbelly of modern life, all the stuff people write and think when they think nobody's watching. I dunno what the "live" FOUND show will be like, really (readings from the new book & maybe some recent/good finds, I'm guessing?), but from reports I've heard, past shows have been pretty incredibly cool.

Cooler still, of course, is the venue; just like last time, the Rothbart brothers' appearance this time out is sponsored by the utterly awesome Aurora Picture Show gang, but this time out the festivities will take place at the also-awesome St. Arnold's Brewery.

The price is $10 for Picture Show members and $15 for non-members (21+ only, sorry), and that relatively low price gets you all the beer you can drink, plus all the entertaining FOUND stuff. (And hey, if you've never checked out St. Arnold's, go see the old place before they move on over to their soon-to-be new home at 2000 Lyons.) Doors open at 7:30PM, and the show itself starts at 8PM -- I'd get there early, if I were you.

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Random Rambling, Things To Do, Things To Read, Things To See

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Yeah, yeah, I know -- as if there wasn't already a ridiculously huge pile of stuff to do this weekend? Don't sideline this one, though, because it promises to be damn cool.

This year's edition of Zine Fest Houston will be happening this coming Saturday, May 16th, over at the ever-fun Caroline Collective, and will shine a light on the awesomeness of zines in general and local Houston-based zines in particular. I went to last year's(?) out at The Shady Tavern and had a very cool time talking with the Kirke from Teenage Kicks (who does/did zines, in addition to doing the band thing 'til relatively recently) and (briefly) with the folks who do the very cool Film Monitor zine.

Plus, this year there's some discussion/workshop-type things starting at 2:30PM or so, like a workshop on bookbinding(!), panel chats with good folks like the old Space City News crew, Lauren Trout from Arcade Distro, and Omar Afra from Free Press Houston (does that guy sleep? yeesh...), readings from various zines, and performances by Sew What, Dallas's Texas Red Legs, "improv poet" Larry Lorrack, & others. Seems a bit more "scheduled" this time around, but as somebody who thinks this stuff needs to be highlighted & loved & improved upon, I think that's awesome. Check the ZHF Website for the full list of what's on.

Oh, and the absolute coolest part of the thing, to me, is the zine exhibition they'll be running inside from 2-9PM, displaying tons and tons of locally-made/written zines and publications from, well, it sounds like all eras of this city's zine-making history. And organizer Shane Patrick Boyle and cohort Jo Collier are planning bigger & better exhibitions like this, to boot -- this Zine Fest exhibit is just Stage One for what they're calling their Local Archival Project, the aim of which is to document & preserve Houston's underground-press history. Big, big salute to y'all for that...

It's free to check out the festival, and they're charging relatively cheap prices for table space, so if you've got a zine or something, email Shane at "tables" at "zinefesthouston dot org".

Labels: Arty Shit, Free Stuff, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Read, Things To See

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Absolutely non-music-related, but still, this is amazingly cool. At one not-too-distant point in my life, I went on a seriously heavy travelogue-reading jag, devouring books by smart, quirky people going places nobody in their right mind (or, at least, nobody I actually know) ever goes to. Not all of it was great, I'll freely admit (sorry, Doug Lansky), but some of the travel writers I encountered were/are absolutely, mind-blowingly great: Lawrence Millman, Tim Cahill, Redmond O'Hanlon, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Tim Severin, Tony Horwitz, Freya Stark, & George Packer, for a few.

Pico Iyer, though, was -- at the time, at least -- kind of the top of the top. As a writer, he's intensely thoughtful, able to take a bizarre, incongruous scene like, say, the title-inspiring moment of Video Night in Kathmandu, and transform it into a serious, intelligent, utterly brilliant meditation on the technologization and cultural saturation of society. He writes like Jimi Hendrix played guitar; that is, so jaw-droppingly well it doesn't make you want to necessarily pick up a guitar, since you're unlikely to be able to do what he can do, but just get hold of more of what he does.

That's my feeling about the guy, anyway. Which is why I think it's great that he's in town tonight to promote & read from (I'm assuming) his newest book, The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. I haven't yet read it, sadly, so I'm going to have to point you to John Nova Lomax's excellent interview with Iyer on the subject, over here. It seems at first blush to be an oddball piece for Lomax, it's true, but it comes out really well -- I'd highly recommend checking it out.

And then, of course, going to see Iyer himself. He'll be at the Westin Galleria Hotel (5060 W. Alabama) tonight, Wed., April 29th; doors open at 6:30PM, with Iyer going on at 7PM, and tickets are $5 if you happen to be a member of the Asia Society (who's sponsoring the visit; thanks! although he's for some reason already listed under "Past Programs") and $10 if you're not... Hopefully it's not already sold out, btw; the flyer's got a number to call to RSVP, so get on it.

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Random Rambling, Things To Do, Things To Read, Travel Stuff

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I'll be honest about it: the whole MUNNY thing? I don't get it. Maybe I would've as a kid, back when I was a D&D nerd who loved (but sucked at, frankly) painting miniatures, but these days, eh, it ain't really for me. A totally blank, featureless toy I've gotta paint myself? Why the hell would I want to pay money for that?

Then, though, I see the pictures of what other, significantly more artistically talented folks do with the MUNNYs they get, and, well, I'm pretty damn impressed. Who are these people, and how in the heck do they do that sort of thing. No, I may not get it for me, but it's mind-bogglingly cool to see the end result.

Anyway, if you're similarly curious/fascinated/confused, stop by the DOMY Store today, Sunday, April 19th, for their MUNNY Decorating Party. It's an all-day deal, and you if you show up you get a free mini MUNNY mobile (whatever that may be), plus decorating materials to make it your own.

The decorating party will be held at both the Austin and Houston DOMYs, by the way -- 1709 Westheimer here in Houston (next to Brasil) and 913 E. Cesar Chavez up in Austin. The stores are two of only three places in the whole state holding the parties, so if you're into this stuff...

Labels: Arty Shit, austin, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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For those who like things cinematic (and good, obviously), there's some really, truly cool stuff coming up. Today (Thursday, April 16th, that is) marks the start of the third-annual Houston Palestinian Film Festival, a showcase of movies by Palestinian filmmakers, and it looks pretty great. Here's the overall mission statement, if you're curious:

The second annual Houston Palestine Film Festival brings an honest and independent view of Palestine and its diaspora’s society, culture, and political travails through the art of film. This group of groundbreaking cinematic texts rise above the degrading stereotypes or reductively politicized depictions that are so familiar to Houstonians. A major goal of the Festival is to directly expose our local community to the perspective of artists as a first step toward circumventing the many government and media filters that pollute our understanding of Palestine and the wider region.

The Festival runs across the next two weekends, April 16th-18th and 24th-25th, mostly at the Rice Media Center, and tickets to each night of films run $7 for adults & $6 for kids, students, & seniors, which is pretty much a bargain for the multiple, mostly-short films you get each night. The full schedule's up here, but everything listed looks interesting (to me, at least). I think my favorite's Space Exodus, but that's just because I'm a sci-fi geek.

You can check out a quick glimpse of the festival offerings below:

Damn, almost forgot -- while the festival starts tonight, the kickoff isn't actually a film showing, but a live performance by Suheir Hammad, a Palestinian-American actress who's in fest film Salt of this Sea and is a respected writer and poet who's a veteran of the HBO Def Poetry Jam. She'll be at the El Dorado Ballroom (2310 Elgin) from 7-11PM tonight, along with Salt of this Sea director Annemarie Jacir. (The tickets for tonight, btw, are $10, rather than the usual $7...)

Movie Night at Domy: No, I know it's not exactly new-"new", since Domy has screened various cool films on a regular basis for a while now, but starting tonight they're teaming up with the brainy movie buffs behind Film Monitor, an awesome little (and yeah, I do mean "little") H-town zine that thinks waaaay more about serious film than I do, to spotlight a bunch of classic films, one every Thursday through I-dunno-when.

Check here for the schedule -- thankyew, Free Press folks -- and get your ass on up to Domy some Thursday night. Movies start at 8:30PM, they're free, and the inaugural film in the series is Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast; what the hell else could you want?

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Moo-vies, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Read, Things To See

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I didn't know her, myself, but the tragic death of local artist and Houston Photography Center staffer Leigh Boone has rocked the local arts/music community here pretty hard -- it's awful to see somebody taken so young and in such a bizarre, freak-accident kind of way.

Now, if you want to help out with the family's expenses (because yes, even though you're gone, somebody generally has to foot the bill), you can help out on ChipIn here; just donate what you can. Beyond that, there was a benefit deal scheduled for tonight up at Poison Girl, and while I haven't been able to find out for sure if it's still going on, heck, I'd head on over there anyway. The info's on the flyer to the right.

In a few weeks, as well, the April 25th installment of Danseparc (at Numbers, I believe) will be dedicated to Leigh and will be a benefit of sorts to help ouy her family. Apparently the scheduled Pretty in Pink theme will still be in effect, since it was one of her favorite movies -- wear pink, donate money, you know the deal.

Condolences to all Leigh's friends & family; I'm really, truly sorry for your loss. Damn shame...

Labels: Arty Shit, Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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It'll sound odd, but I really can't express how happy it makes me to see that they're now sporadically showing movies outdoors downtown at Discovery Green. Stupid, I know, but in movies of "cool" cities, the thing that always kills me is when Protagonist & Love Interest manage to end up at an outdoor showing of some classic flick; I can't count the number of times I've though, "dammit, why can't we have that?"

But yes, now we do -- apparently the D.G. folks showed The Triplets of Belleville the other night, which is very cool, and cooler still is today's (Sun., April 5th's, to be exact) tribute to local actor/musician Cary Winscott up at the Green, which'll include a screening of Speeding Motorcycle. The film's the movie version of the musical Winscott starred in, both here and up in Austin, & is a rock opera either written by or based on the music of (I'm not sure which) bona-fide schizophrenic music-maker Daniel Johnston.

Winscott actually passed away back in September of last year, but it's cool to see a tribute like this taking place now, even so. It'll run from 5-10PM, and will feature music by The Catastrophic Theatre Orchestra. Big thanks, btw, to Joe Mathlete for the heads-up on this; it sounds very neat...

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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I'm all for helping folks out when you can, and when it comes to local art institution The Orange Show, that help is well-deserved & beyond. It's a cool place, one of the most unique of H-town's many (no, really) unique things, and on top of that, the upcoming bands they've got scheduled are pretty damn neat (i.e., Beach House, Dan Deacon, Phosphorescent, & wayward local daughter Jana Hunter).

If you feel like I do about the place, then, and you enjoying drinking, you can help keep 'em running by heading on up to Poison Girl tonight (1641 Westheimer), starting at 5PM -- Poison Girl's been doing its "Drink Houston Better" thing for a little while now, where they donate whatever they make in a particular evening to a local arts-related group or organization, and tonight is The Orange Show's turn.

There you go, then; you get to drink yourself into a stupor and feel good about it, 'cause it's benefiting The Arts. How fucking perfect is that?

Labels: Arty Shit, Charitable Things, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Ah, Rad Rich -- man, you amaze me. Not only is he a walking embodiment of H-town skate-punk, but he also comes up with some craaaaazy-yet-entertaining ideas. The latest? He's planning to dress up in his wrestling gear to go see tonight's 10PM showing of (duh) The Wrestler over at the River Oaks Theatre. And he's trying to recruit others to do the same.

So...should you feel so inclined, get your tights & whatnot on and make your way down to the River Oaks tonight around 10 (earlier would probably better, considering the movie just won a Golden Globe & all that). Actually, what the fuck do wrestlers dress like? Are we talking just shorty-shorts and face paint, a la the Ultimate Warrior? When Rad says he's going to get his "wrestling gear," is he talking about Greco-Roman high-school/college wrestling? Got me. I'm fairly sure the movie itself is about a WWF/WWE/Raw/whatever-type wrestler, but hey, variety is good for the soul...

Labels: Arty Shit, Entertainobabble, Moo-vies, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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Again, lots of good stuff going on this weekend. And since I mentioned the microcinema thing, two of H-town's indie-est theaters, the Rice Media Center and the Aurora Picture Show, both have intriguing-sounding films this afternoon & evening. (Damn, I love that picture...)

The Aurora (800 Aurora in the Heights, if you didn't know) is showing the documentary Girl's Rock, which is apparently about a bunch of young girls who go to a "rock camp" that's strictly for girls and have to work through their various problems (a death metal obsession, meth addiction, etc. -- y'know, the usual...gah!) while learning how to unleash their inner rocker from folks like the ever-awesome Carrie Brownstein. They all have to form a band, learn instruments, and write songs, then play those songs live at the end of the camp to a real-live audience. All of which would intimidate the fuck out of me, much less a pre-teen girl. Wow. (Although, for the chance to hang with Ms. Brownstein...)

Anyway, it sounds very cool, and hey, it's an early screening, running from 3-4PM today (as in, um, less than an hr. from now...run!). $6 to get in, it looks like.

Film number two, put on by the hard-charging Houston IndyMedia crew at the Rice Media Center, is Ground Noise and Static: Free Speech Under Attack at the RNC. It's another documentary, this time on the protests, activism, and general mayhem surrounding the most recent Republican National Convention (y'know, the one where they picked the crazy lady and pretty much sank the GOP ship?); the idea was to cover all the stuff going on outside the convention itself, the stuff that barely got lip service from the mainstream "liberal" media. The title apparently comes from McCain's attempt to brush off protestors inside as "ground noise and static" (glad to know that worked out so well for him). Oh, and a whole bunch of activists got arrested for doing nothing beyond exercising their right to free speech and were later exonerated by the courts, but I dunno how much of that the film will go into.

The details on that one: Rice University, Entrance #8 (University & Stockton), 7PM, no idea how much it is (the film site just says "donations appreciated"). If you'd like some added entertainment value, btw, look out for people writing down license plate nos. -- I swear to God, an elderly couple "walking" near the track when the wife and I went to see some environmental-activism films at the Media Center a few years ago stopped behind each car in the parking lot and surreptitiously took down the plates. Just remember, folks -- there ain't nothing illegal 'bout watching a movie.

Get yer film on, y'all. Hell, you can still easily attend both films and still catch the many, many cool-ass shows going on tonight. Do it!

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Moo-vies, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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Of course, it being the holidays and all (not to mention Houston in general; when people gripe about this city, they fail to recognize that in a place this big, there's always something cool going on, somewhere. There's literally a festival every freaking weekend in some part of the city, some film being shown at a microcinema somewhere, some band rocking out to a too-small crowd of hipsters, or some art crew displaying their stuff.

You may have to look for it -- for the art stuff, btw, I'd heartily recommend Spacetaker.org; they list a ton of stuff I'd never hear of otherwise -- and you may have to drive a little bit, but hell, this is Houston. If you're not driving, you're obviously just visiting the neighbors three houses down. We may not be a tourist-friendly town (as the wife's Swedish relatives, who'd come here expecting to be able to tour the city via mass transit -- hah! -- can attest), but fuck that. Who wants a horde of tourists roaming around, anyway? Instead, we get to keep the cool local happenings all to our local selves.

Today, for example, there appear to be a ton of Christmas/art markets going on. There's the Winter Holiday Art Market at Winter Street Studios (2101 Winter Street) from 12-8:30PM (it's also going on tomorrow from 12-5PM), and another, Mistletoe Madness at 548 West 19th from 12PM 'til I dunno when and featuring a caroling contest (& a shuttle to the WHAM). Both sound very cool, and I suspect they're just the tip of the iceberg.

The one that's really caught my eye, though, is the 4th Annual Taft Street Art Market, which is held over in Montrose at Ecclesia/Taft Street Coffee (2115 Taft @ Welch) and runs from 10AM (i.e., right now) to 5PM. There's reportedly piles of arty stuff for perusal and/or sale, from clothes to soap to ornaments to photo prints, all(?) by local artists, craftspeople, & entrepreneurs. I can't speak for everybody, but I've been trying to come up with a cool, artsy gift for the wife (esp. since she keeps telling me not to buy her any jewelry or anything expensive...sigh), and this seems like the perfect place to look. Gonna have to hit it myself in a little while, I think...

Labels: Arty Shit, Charitable Things, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Get, Things To See

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This weekend's pretty much filled to overflowing, so I'm having to kinda pick and choose which events to mention here; this one is obscure as hell but still sounds damn cool, so for the moment, it wins. The 7th Annual Gadabout Traveling Film Festival will be rolling into Houston tonight, Sat., October 25th, around 8PM up at Sedition Books (901 Richmond, just east of Montrose). It's apparently a DIY film festival that features really bizarro indie short films that are reportedly strange, poignant, and funny all that the same time.

Plus, after the films, NY indie-punk band Halo Fauna follow up -- I'm afraid I don't know 'em, sadly, but the fact that they're on Plan-It-X Recs is somewhat promising. There's art, too, a print show of the art of Kristine Virsis of the Justseeds Visual Resistance Artists' Cooperative. And hey, the whole thing's all yours for a mere $5 (voluntary, I think) donation. No booze & no drugs allowed, btw; the venue is drug-free.

Unfortunately for me, I think my evening's already spoken for, but I've been meaning to check out anarchist "infoshop" Sedition Books for years now, particularly since they were hit with a tragic fire in 2007 and finally re-opened at their new location this past July -- they used to be open only sporadic hours (duh: anarchists...), but these days they've apparently got a regular schedule, 12PM-8PM. The place is absolutely unique for Houston, I'd say, and places like that tend to threaten people (again: fucking arson, folks), so visit while you can.

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Moo-vies, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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I don't get out to art exhibits as much as I'd like, but the stuff they have at The Station always grabs me, for some reason; they seem to have a lot of art from downtrodden, oppressed folks, and that kind of thing tends to be stark, raw, and intriguing. (At least to me, anyway.)

So, following in that trend, we got a card yesterday about the next art opening at the place, this time for an exhibit called Iraqi Artists in Exile, and it looks pretty intense and, I'm guessing, utterly heartbreaking. Heck, the poster itself is already haunting me.

The opening's on Saturday, November 1st, right after Halloween, from 7-10PM, w/"music & refreshments" supplied. I've got no clue if it costs anything to get in, so make sure you bring a bit of cash, just to be prepared. The exhibit'll be running after that, of course, and will run through February 1st of next year.

I don't know any of the artists involved, I'm afraid, but seeing as I'm no authority on arty stuff, it's possible you might, right? In case you do, here's the list (taken from the Station's Website):

• Ali Talib Alkayali [Alkayali apparently did the exhibit poster, btw.]
• Abdel Karim Khalil
• Ayad Alkadhi
• Dia Azzawi
• Faisel Laibi Sahi
• Hanaa Malallah
• Himat Mohammed Ali
• Jananne Al-Ani
• Kareem Risan
• Nedim Kufi
• Mahmud Al Obaidi
• Mohammed Al Shammarey
• Rafa Nasiri
• Sadik Kwaish Alfraji
• Shakir Hasan Al Said

There you go...

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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Remember Sugar Shack? I sure as hell do -- I can remember a time when they were the one and only band (that I knew of, anyway) signed to a "big-name," outside- of-Houston label (Estrus), and they were looking like H-town garage rock's Last Great Hope. They were raw, loud, aggressive, angry, and reportedly tough as nails, all while holding together some truly great, white-hot, garage-y punk jams.

Time rolled on, unfortunately, and the band grew up, got married, and evaporated into the steamy Houston night, leaving a ton of depressed fans (local and non-) in their wake. I hadn't heard much about 'em for the past few years, really -- there were rumors that they'd reunite to play the Axiom blowout last year, but sadly, it didn't happen. I'd thought they were dead & gone, for real; no going back, y'know?

Imagine my surprise, then, when I get an email from Stefanie Friedman, the much-revered drummer for the Shack, declaring that they really are reuniting for a very, very special show this coming November 9th at The Continental Club. They're calling it "A Tribute to Johnny Romano," and it's a show/auction/party extravaganza she's organizing to both pay tribute to a young friend who passed on too soon and help his parents take care of the mountain-high stack of medical bills left behind. I can't really paraphrase the point behind the show any better than that, so here's the gist from Stefanie herself:

About 3 years ago a local 10-year old skater/surfer was diagnosed with Leukemia. In May he was hit with some big time infections that caused his cancer to come out of remission. He and his family lived at Texas Children's Hospital for about 5 months. Things got pretty awful for them. The little boy's name was Johnny Romano. His mother started a blog about his illness that has literally captured the hearts of thousands. My family had our first contact with Johnny Romano during a Galveston "grom" (kid) surf competition. My five year old surfed with him and we couldn't believe how great he was. We did not know at the time he had cancer.. no one would have guessed because his smile and his style were the model of health.

Johnny lost his battle on September 23rd, right after Ike destroyed his family's home. There was a benefit planned in Galveston on September 28th to raise money for the family and their unbelievable medical expenses. Because of Ike that didn't happen. That turned out to be the day they buried Johnny.

Sugar Shack has been asked to play a lot of reunions. We have said no. It has been four years since we have played. All of us are now parents. All of us are surfers. We feel so lucky each time we look at our kids and felt that we might be able to raise some money for the Romano family and have a tribute that all of their friends could enjoy. Galveston has had a tough time. Johnny Romano and his family were a big part of the Galveston Community.

I am organizing a big "surf" show blow out on November 9th at the Continental Club and Sig's Lagoon. I have forwarded you a poster with the bands. Teisco Del Rey (Dan Forte) is coming from Austin to play surf guitar. We will have a big surf silent auction with donated pieces from well-known artists from California, Texas and Hawaii.

The surf company Ten Over is bringing a small parade of vintage, re-done, VW buses and surf mobiles for display. There will also be vintage surf boards on display and old surf flicks playing all day. This also the weekend of the Texas Skate Jam, Make A Wish foundation which has now been renamed, Johnny Romano Skate Jam. If you would like to check out the Romano's blog, it is www.j-grom.blogspot.com or johnnykickscancer.com. Both sites will tell you a bit about the family and their little boy who loved and lived life to the fullest.

Man. When I read back over that, I just get this urge to go in and hug my daughter. I get what Stefanie says about feeling lucky to have a healthy kid. I'm unbelievably lucky that I don't have to worry if something's going to happen to them or think about what I'd do if I lost my little girl, at least not like Johnny's parents lost their child. It breaks my heart.

I also feel like I should note that the bands other than the Shack are also fine, fine bands selflessly donating their time to the worthiest cause I can imagine -- the Luxurious Panthers always rock, as do The Neptones (who I hadn't realized were still alive & kicking, actually). Big, big kudos to Stefanie and the Sugar Shack crew, the Continental/Sig's Lagoon crew, Uncle Charlie, all the bands, the whole gang -- this is going to be something special.

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Ah, this is cool -- and just in time for Halloween, too. (I'm guessing that was the general idea...)

If you're up for some weird cinema and eerie music in a tranquil urban-yet-green environment, well, tonight's your night. KUHF is putting on a set of old-timey silent films that'll be set to live music, meaning that there's an actual band/orchestra/etc. playing down there near the stage while the people up on the screen swoon and emote and all that. And tonight they're showing the classic, classic, classic vampire movie (generally recognized, I believe, to be the first vampire movie ever made) Nosferatu.

If you've never seen it, well, it's based on Bran Stoker's Dracula (although apparently the filmmakers couldn't get the rights to the book, so they had to change the names of the characters), it was filmed in honest-to-God Slovakia back in 1922, and it's very strange, very German, kinda creepy, and definitely groundbreaking. (And yes, it's the film that John Malkovich & Willem Dafoe are making in Shadow of the Vampire, which isn't nearly as interesting a movie as this one.) Austin's Golden Arm Trio will be there, too, playing the original score to the film, which means this'll be doubly cool.

Best of all, it'll be outside, up in downtown at Discovery Green, which I still have yet to visit but which I hear is pretty nice for an in-downtown park. The whole deal's free to the public, and it kicks off at 7:30PM -- no clue what the seating's like, so if you're going to go, I'd show up super-duper early...

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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Okay, so this is somewhat of an urgent plea for assistance from local folk artist Cleveland "The Flower Man" Turner, whose house is a bona-fide landmark -- his place is the kind of thing that makes me happy to live in a city where somebody can just let loose their creativity without a worry in the world and be recognized (at least somewhat) for it. Unfortunately, it seems that Hurricane Ike did some serious damage to The Flower Man's house in the Third Ward, and the good people at The Orange Show are organizing a crew to get on out this weekend and help fix the building up.

Here's the details I got from the Orange Show folks:

Saturday October 4th 10am-5pm

Come Help Us Help The Flower Man!

The Good News

The Orange Show monument and The Beer Can House weathered the hurricane with minimal damage. Our staff and crew has cleaned up, repaired and restored both sites and we will re-open for visitors this coming weekend.

The Bad News

Unfortunately, Hurricane Ike did a number on The Flower Man's house and we need help putting it back together! Please join us Saturday, October 4th starting at 10am as we work to help Cleveland "The Flower Man" Turner restore his wonderful Third Ward landmark.

Some of the tasks include: staking up the fences, removing a large dead tree, fixing the leaking roof, repairing the front room ceiling and clearing debris from the yard.

The Orange Show will provide materials for general clean-up and restoration but please bring tools and work gloves, if you have them. In particular, we need pruning shears, at least one chain saw and a shop vac. If you have any additional tools that may be helpful please let us know. We will also have plenty of cold drinks and water available.

The Flower Man Needs Our Help

Saturday, October 4th
10am to 5pm
2305 Francis Street
(two blocks south of Dowling & Alabama)

Please call Wendy in the office if you are able to help.
305.804.8703 (Our internet is still down)

It is not necessary to RSVP!

Feel free to show up on Saturday if you can work for any amount of time. Cleveland needs our help!

There you go; get out & help if you can...

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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Yes, I definitely live in the digitalized-to-hell online world, it's true, but that doesn't mean I don't still keep warm a quiet, soft spot in my heart/soul for things made of paper. Once upon a time I scoured zine racks at SoundEx & Soundwaves, trying to find the coolest, most intriguing, most eye-opening/mind-blowing zines I could dig up, some local and some not (e.g., Punk Planet, I'm Not Afraid, Beer Frame, Cometbus, Brown Paper Sack, Velvet Comics).

These days, well, the realms of zinedom have shrunk considerably, I'm guessing due both to the advent of the Interwebs and cheap-ass blogging technology and the steadily-rising cost of living. I have run across some new(-ish) zine-like things in recent years, but not nearly as many as I used to. Which makes me sad.

One strange benefit of the Great Zine Die-Off, however, seems to be that the survivors tend to be very good. Take one of the newest arrivals, local photo/scene icon Rosa Guerrero's excellent, excellent, excellent Ditchwater photo-zine. Now, I dunno about you, but as cool as things like Flickr can be, I still get a weird thrill when I look at real-live printed pitchers, and with Ditchwater, that's what Rosa serves up -- all pictures, little text, no filler. Seriously, the zine's damn neat; if you've ever wanted a glimpse into the sordid, self-referencing, sarcastically earnest underbelly of the H-town scene, well, you can feast your eyes upon DW's often-candid, sometimes-dirty, always-intriguing Xeroxed pages.

To me, it's especially cool to witness Rosa's evolution as a photographer, which is why I'm totally looking forward to this Wednesday, August 20th, 'cause I'll be attempting to escape the house/couch in favor of the official, real-live, free release party for Ditchwater #2 at Sound Exchange. I'm dying to see the new stuff & how it compares, esp. since Rosa seems to magically appear at every cool show in town, camera in hand. What she's doing is documenting our scene in all its down-and-dirty glory, and that is absolutely the coolest thing, to me.

So, do like I'm going to try to do and get on out. Like I said, the party itself's free (although the zine's not, but that's kind of the point), it runs from 7-9PM, and it'll feature musical guests Chocolate Crucifix, about whom I know zero but a name (okay, and the fact that they're from Pasadena). Oh, and free Smarties will be available to all, in case that's what really gets you motivated.

Additional Memo to Narcissistic Wannabe-Scenesters: while I can't say for certain, I'm guessing pictures will be taken at the party, so if you want to maybe get yourself etched into the photographic record of the most bad-ass music scene currently in existence -- and no, I'm not making fun -- get your ass to SoundEx and somehow make yourself photogenic. Just don't be the annoying person who jumps in front of everybody. Nobody likes that.

Labels: Arty Shit, Musical Crap, Random Rambling, Things To Do, Things To Read

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In somewhat cheerier news: the awesome-sounding Toypunks documentary will be showing tonight & tomorrow night (August 16th-17th) at the Aurora Picture Show. Showtimes are 8PM tonight & 3PM tomorrow.

The film looks at the crazy, Technicolor world of Japanese toys, which these days blend in with fashion, design, and art in general, w/lots of interviews with influential people in the field. Houston-based (I think?) filmmakers Chris Nelson and Carl Wormley will be there to show the movie, and Nelson's doing a talk at the Menil on Sunday at 1PM called "Video Salon: From Superflat to Anime Network to Toypunks". I have yet to see the movie, but it sounds damn cool to me (and no, I'm not a Japanese toy junkie)...

(Thanks, btw, to the Domy folks for the heads-up!)

Labels: Arty Shit, Moo-vies, Random Rambling, Things To Do, Things To See

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Okay, so it seems I inferred incorrectly from a very-very-very brief conversation w/Jacob Calle that he was also doing some kind of organizing for the Creature Comforts Art Show this coming July 12th, and I'm currently feeling like a big ol' idiot. Per more informed sources than me, Jacob's not running the show, but just happens to have some artwork in it...whoops. Just to be clear, I'd like to say that this was totally me drawing incorrect conclusions from a half-garbled conversation in a club, and Jacob in no way tried to claim credit for the show, so please-please-please don't bug him about it. This was me being a dumbass, without any help from anybody else -- mea culpa, y'all.

So, big apologies to the people who are actually behind the Creature Comforts show, the ArtStorm crew, who will hopefully not sneak up on me at some random point in the future and deliver a crushing kidney punch or something to my out-of-shape ass (you know how artists can be, yo). I didn't mean to misinform, and I am a fool -- kids, this is what happens when you frantically speed-blog a bunch of crap up on a site so you can go help your father-in-law lay down vinyl flooring...gah. (Every time I think nobody actually reads this damn thing but me, I swear, it bites me on the ass...)

Here's the actual info, just to clarify things -- the Creature Comforts show's a cool showcase of art & music that features a bunch of excellent H-town artists and music types, as well as Torontoan (Torontoite?) Michael Deforge. Local artists include Eli Sebastian Brumbaugh (who I think is the show's primary organizer, as well), Lisa Marie Godfrey, Rene Cruz, Shane Hillman, and yes, Jacob Calle, and there'll be bands on hand at the opening reception on the 12th (which runs from 7-10PM), like the ever-excellent Young Mammals, Wicked Poseur, News on the March, & L.A. band Hard Place. It'll be over at the recently-opened Caroline Collective at 4828 Caroline (where ArtStorm currently lives), and it sounds like be a good time. If you can't make it, though, the art (although not the music) will be on display 'til August 9th (check the ArtStorm site for hours).

Labels: Admin Stuff, Arty Shit, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Damn...my head's spinning and I really, really need to get to bed, but dammit, this sounds too cool to pass up writing about. According to our inside source over at cool-ass Midtown record store Sig's Lagoon (which is coming close to eclipsing my love of Cactus, I have to say), awesome poster artist Uncle Charlie will be having a show this weekend (Saturday, to be specific, June 21st, from 6PM-midnight) of his artwork.

If you don't know who the guy is, well, trust me -- you may not realize it, but you actually do. The guy practically created the whole bright-colors-and-kitschy-iconography style of poster art that's been the mainstay of show flyers everywhere, and he's like some kind of Godfather to the whole hot rod art scene, I think. After 18 years, the man's a bona fide legend. Oh, and he'll be selling his stuff at the show, too -- everything that's on display, apparently -- so take some of that "incentive" money The Man threw just at you like a scumbal john throwing dollar bills at a cheap-ass hooker and put it to good use buying some capital-and-lowercase-"A"/"a" art. (Hell, if you're feeling extra-special generous, you're welcome to splash out & get some for me, eh? No? Fuck off? Ah, well -- worth a shot...)

Labels: Arty Shit, Public Service Announcements, Random Rambling, Things To Do, Things To Get

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Long-time e-zine/site readers and friends of SCR will probably recognize the name Marc Hirsh -- back in the day, Hirsh was one this site's earliest, best, and most hardworking writers, a guy who also served as the "Bad Cop" in the bugging-you-about-reviews realm. In the intervening years, he's moved up to Boston, attended and dropped out of grad school at Harvard, and somehow managed to make a living actually writing as a freelancer for places like the Boston Globe, MSNBC, NPR.org. If you read stuff on the MSNBC site about American Idol or Heroes, odds are you're reading stuff Marc's written.

On the side, he also does some improv comedy stuff, these days with ImprovBoston crew (mostly on the TheatreSports side, but sometimes in IB shows, as well, I think). Through a very odd set of serendipitous happenings this past spring, he ended up writing his first-ever musical (or, hell, play of any type, for that matter), and the Improv Boston folks wanted to put it on, so...

Well, Marc's first dramatic offering, What Does America Mean To Me, a musical comedy about U.S. history and the lack of knowledge thereof. Now, while Marc's new to the playwriting thing, he's not new to being funny -- he's honestly one of the funniest people I've ever met. No, really. Not to set the bar too high or anything, but it's gonna be good.

Anyway, the show's running a super-ultra-limited engagement up at the ImprovBoston theatre at 40 Prospect St., Central Square, up in Cambridge (duh), this coming June 26th through 29th. Sadly, yours truly will be feebly clawing his way out of the Grand Canyon right then, but if anybody out there is going to be in Boston right then (or really loves musical theater, enough to shell out the $$$ for plane tix), I'd like to encourage/pester you to go, go, go. If you won't do it for Marc, then do it for me, man.

P.S. Congrats, man. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around this, but it's freakin' cool as hell nonetheless.

Labels: Arty Shit, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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I've been very remiss in posting about local faves Sharks and Sailors lately -- sorry about that, y'all -- but as part of my penance, I feel compelled to mention that this member of the "H-town's Most Likely to Succeed" crew will be playing tonight, Friday, June 13th, up at Walter's on Washington. It'll be S&S, headliners Riddle of Steel, about whom I know nada, sorry, and fellow locals Motion Turns It On, whose last release, Rima, is slowly percolating its prog-rock-y way through my consciousness.

Sharks and Sailors are who I think will rule the night, though -- no offense to any of the other bands, but I can't think otherwise, esp. after viewing the band's Teresa O'Connor-crafted video for "Cliffs":

Nice. Nice... I've said before that I sometimes miss the "old" S&S, what with its turbulent, heavy-ass guitars and all that, but damn, seeing this video & hearing this song (again, mind you) makes me drop any reminiscing and prepare myself to crown them the Neu-Gaze Kings & Queen of our fair city. Sleepy-making, yes, but in a good way.

And I do like the video quite a bit, to boot -- Teresa's a very talented lady (and, truth be told, a friend from Ye Olde Band Days), and I love it that it looks like the band's playing in some weird Sleestak cave straight out of Land of the Lost. If you feel the need to check the S&S video out full-size and art-style, you've got until tomorrow, Sat., June 14th, to run by Lawndale Art Center & check it out as part of Teresa's show with Danny Kerschen & Lynn McCabe.

Of course, the video doesn't quite capture the true S&S live experience, so for that you'd better get on out of the house tonight. Show's at 9PM, y'all...

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To See

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Okay, so I just rechecked cool ex-Proletariat person Shawna's initial post about this and saw it listing the party as being on Friday (i.e., last night), not today like I'd thought, and had a brief moment of panic...crap, did I miss another of these damn things?

Lucky for me/you, though, it turns out that tonight -- Sat., June 7th -- is actually the real-live Grand Opening party for H-town's newest artspace, Caroline Collective. It'll be at the Collective itself, naturally (4820 Caroline, in the Museum District), and will run from 7-10PM, with drinks (courtesy of St. Arnold's & Tito's Vodka), food (from chef David Grossman), music/beats, art, and whatever else that happens to be around.

The event's apparently co-hosted by ArtStorm, and will kickoff an exhibit of collage art by a guy named Patrick Turk; and sadly, I know zero about either ArtStorm or Mr. Turk, although the one bit of his collages that's up on the CC site looks kinda neat. (Sorry -- despite being a music guy for many years, I'm still woefully uneducated when it comes to the badass local art scene...)

The Collective sounds pretty intriguing, from the descriptions I've seen... I'm told it's "Houston's first coworking venue," but that's somewhat of a mystifying description, at least to me. Going by what it says on the place's About page, though, it sounds like the idea's to create a place that's both a workspace for artists, tech people, etc., and a cool social atmosphere:

A unique combination of private workspace, public art space, and open collaborative desk space, Caroline Collective provides a place where citizens can work in collaboration or privately, with a conference room and individual desks. Furniture, ample power outlets, secure broadband internet access and the general amenities of an office environment will be provided according to need.
...
Caroline Collective is more than collaborative work space. It’s also a collaborative meeting space. After hours, Caroline plays host to some of Houston’s regular technology happy hours and meet-ups which provide technologically minded people the opportunity to re-up their knowledge base or to provide their services to others who need technology consulting for their non-profit organizations.

Additionally, the space will host movie nights, book club meetings, non-profit events, seminars, salons, art openings, and product launches.

If I were a freelancer rather than an office-bound Company Man, heck, that'd sound pretty enticing to me -- I think I need to forward it on to my freelance/work-at-home friends & see what they think...

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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Spent most of the day either having an impromptu pool party with The Munchkin or driving to & from the in-laws' house, but I managed to make a relatively quick stop at the Zine Fest Houston up at The Shady Tavern (still going on, actually, so stop on byi; check the details here). And while it wasn't packed to the gills, it was relatively well-attended, at least better than the one Secret Saturday Show I'd been to. A random scattering of hipster/scenester folks, some more on the punkish side of the spectrum, plus a heavy dose of Super Happy Fun Land-esque H-town hippies, all happily browsing zines and chatting out in the heavy midafternoon heat.

Picked up a few things, including an awesome issue of Cometbus I'd never seen before -- I've gone a few treasured issues packed away in a box somewhere -- and a cheery old-school photocopier-and-paste zine called Houston Punk, the writer/publisher of which told me, "It's mostly words; I tried to make them smart ones." As good a sales pitch as any I've heard, y'all... Bought a nicely-done zine called Giant Steps from Teenage Kicks frontman Kirke, as well -- he had a bunch for sale, but this one looks like he published himself back in 2006. Another kinda old-school zine, but with a design style that reminds me happily of Russell Etchen's old Cool Beans Press stuff, from back before he transmuted his love of comics and art and whatever else into Domy.

Also stopped at a table manned by a couple of guys from Film Monitor, a cool publication that reviews underappreciated/under-reviewed films (I think both currently in theaters & on DVD). They put out issue #1 back in Feb., apparently, and are working on June now -- good writing, I have to say, and I agree with what I've read about some of the movies they've reviewed (the ones I've seen, anyway). The zine's small, small, small, about the size of a "standard" zine but all printed on one big piece of paper & folded in quarters, but hey, it works. I look forward to more...

As I was meandering around, somebody got up on the stage outside the Tavern and started to tune up, and when I looked, it turned out to be none other than 30footFALL frontman and Texas expat (I think he goes to school in Virginia, these days?) Butch. He played a sweet acoustic set, sounding for all the world like a rough-voiced Damien Jurado, and split the songs between his own originals (both w/30foot and not, I think) and well-loved covers.

I didn't catch the whole thing, but I really dug 'em all, the 30foot songs I recognized reimagined as Pete Seeger-style acoustic ballads (esp. "Fuck Y'all We're From Texas"), the new songs (well, "Jesus, Elvis, and Richard Petty" was new to me, anyway), and the covers, all three. The highlight of latter category for me was Jawbreaker's "Kiss The Bottle," which made me drive home listening to every Jawbreaker album I own on the iPod.

I had to leave too damn soon, unfortunately, but next time I'm going to forcibly drag everybody I know, I swear...

Labels: Arty Shit, H-Town News, Live Reviews, Things To Read

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Been meaning to mention this for a little while now -- with the "on hiatus" nature of things over at Super Not-So-Happy Fun Land, I was really, really worried that the Zine Fest Houston extravaganza was going to get cancelled or postponed indefinitely.

Which would suck, frankly, because zines -- not the digital kind like this one, mind you, although I am somewhat fond of it, but real-live paper ones (as, in fact, this e-zine used to be) -- are totally fascinating to me. I started picking 'em up everywhere I could find 'em while still a wee student, devouring 'em as fast as I could, amazed that those brave, crazy kids could put something out there into the world like that, warts and all. Most were intensely personal, many were intensely obscure, some were out-and-out hysterical, and with a few exceptions, they were almost all entertaining as hell.

When this site first came about, one of the first things I did w/it was start writing up little reviews of all the local zines I came across, lovingly scanning the covers in on the Day Job scanner (didn't have my own, at the time) and slapping 'em up online -- due to time constraints and a heavy dose of nostalgia, some of 'em are still up here for all to see/read. I hit the zine racks at SoundEx, Soundwaves, and Cactus constantly, always looking for a new one I hadn't seen yet. After a while, people were even sending me their zines to check out. It was a blast.

And looking back, I'm not sure this site or e-zine would even have ever existed without me flipping through all those Xeroxed, scissored, & stapled pages. Along with a handful of big-name out-of-town magazines/zines, folks like I'm Not Afraid (who did very cool pieces on Jawbreaker, Celindine, & Spent, among others), Russell Etchen's Smack, The Toilet Papers, Ah Lost Taco, and music/surfing zine Red Flag (which was like my personal Holy Grail of Local Zinedom for many years, because I could never find a damn shred of info about the fucking thing, and I only ever got my hands on one issue) inspired the birth of the long-lived-yet-relatively-sparse print run of the Space City Rock paper zine.

Then, as the '90s ended, I had to sadly watch as the DIY Wave seemed to crest and crash and leave not a whole lot standing but, well, the Internet. Which is cool and all, but I still miss the days when I could pick up a new issue of Dance Party or Out of Order at SoundEx and marvel at Russell's awesome artwork or wonder how in the hell I could ever get some of the records talked about in the other zines. It felt like the end of an era.

Don't get me wrong; e-zines are great, and I enjoy doing this one (most of the time). It's not the same, though, as holding that little stapled-together thing in your hands and feeling how much actual work went into producing the one copy you yourself got. Printing or copying and distributing something is a whole other ballgame, let me tell you. So, given that, I'm very, very heartened to see zine-making alive and well, and like I said, I was horrified to realize that with SHFL being shut down, the Zine Fest might be toast, too.

Thankfully, that didn't happen, and the resourceful Zine Fest folks have found a new home, at least temporarily. They'll be doing their thing this coming Saturday, May 24th, as part of the always-entertaining Secret Saturday Show deal up in the Heights at The Shady Tavern (1206 W. 20th). The insanity starts at 12PM with DJs & such, continues with a handful(?) of super-duper-secret bands playing in the Tavern's open-air space (which looks oddly like my garage, only cleaner), and continues on into the night, finally winding up at 9PM(!).

From 6-9PM, as well, they'll be staging an auction to benefit the beleaguered and aforementioned Super Happy Fun Land. Who, frankly, need all the help they can get, and who in turn we as Houston music/art lovers need to help keep The Scene alive. Oh, and there're door prizes, we're told. Gotta love door prizes...

In addition to the bands/DJs, of course, there's going to be a ton of zines, comix, art, books, and whatever else media-ish you can think of -- it is a Zine Fest, after all. And hey, you can participate, too, although you probably ought to get on it, since I dunno how much space they've got. Here're the details on that from organizer Shane:

Artists, zinesters, organizations, publishers and distros interested in setting up tables can contact "shane" at "zinefesthouston dot org" for more information. Table space is free. Bring your own table.

Zine Fest Houston (formerly known as The Houston Comix and Zine Festival) is an event dedicated to promoting zines, independent/ small press comics, minicomics, and other forms of self-publishing and independent, alternative, underground and diy media & art.

It is also a grassroots attempt to build the local zine, self-publishing and comics scenes and form networks with comics and zine creators in other areas.

Admission is free and free table space is available for zinesters, cartoonists, writers, artists, publishers and distros.

The festival is a new and different experience every time, offering a new crop of zines and comics every year (including many never before seen anywhere else) and other unique sights (such as a live chicken manning one of the exhibitor tables during our first festival).

The goal of the event is for attendees to not only discover new zines, but also to be inspired to create their own diy projects.

So, there you have it -- take advantage of the last gasp of Spring (hopefully?) and hang out under the shady trees whilst perusing handmade/printed/etc. writings and art, listening to cool music, and drinking cold beverages.

Labels: Arty Shit, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Get, Things To See

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I suck, suck, suck. In my frantic rush to post about Record Store Day, I woefully neglected to give even the briefest shoutout to the wondrous, magical Midtown haven that is Sig's Lagoon (3710 Main, if you were wondering). Which is doubly stupid considering that in the past six months or so I've shopped there more recently and more frequently than I have anywhere else. Argh...

Sig's folks, I'm really sorry -- y'all are a fine, fine store, and I truly didn't mean to leave you out; I'm just a scatterbrain, is all. I've learned, btw, somewhat belatedly (been offline since lunchtime, I'm afraid, hanging with a certain midget who loves Shrek, rock music, and ice cream, in that order), that Sig's is participating in the Record Store Day shenanigans, and hey, since the day ain't over yet, and the store generally seems to be open late...why not stop by, eh?

Seriously, if you get a chance, even if it's not today, I'd give 'em a look, 'cause it's quite a place. And if you happen to be in the Midtown 'hood between now & closing time (which I think is midnight, but don't quote me), I'm told Sig's is selling all used vinyl at 50% off and are throwing in some cool promo vinyl, too. I hit Cactus this afternoon, and while it was a bona-fide madhouse, they had some truly neat stuff; I'm guessing Sig's is the same kind of deal.

Sorry again for the miss...but hey, while we're on the subject, it 'pears Sig's is having a bash of its own a little further down the road -- they're hosting the Night of the Living Tiki art show, featuring (duh) tiki/hotrod/exotica/skull/etc.-themed art by Crash (aka Cindy Raschke) on this May 12th from 6-10PM. It's a little ways off, sure, but it sounds cool, esp. as the art I've seen so far is pretty stunning and the music for the event will be provided by Clouseaux, Sig's owner Tomas Escalante's tiki-lounge-weirdness band and a badass crew I don't see playing shows nearly enough these days. They're awesome, truly.

That's it, then -- hopefully I'll get something up at some point on the craziness of today, but for right now I've gotta pack and listen to the sound of my glass courtyard door quietly falling to pieces as the warmth of the day leaves... (Lesson-learned memo to homeowners: if you have a courtyard w/glass doors in it, do not have any yard guys you hire weedwhack in there. Weedwhackers are very, very bad, and glass gets expensive when it's door-sized. Seriously.)

Labels: Arty Shit, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do, Things To Get

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