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Recording | may 2012

May 1, 2012

Barry Coffing of SpringBoardSouth

SpringBoardSouth is a three-day music festival that will be held May 4–6 at CityCentre Houston, off Beltway 8 West and I-10 near the old Town and Country Mall. There will be 45 bands showcased on two stages. Barry Coffing, founder and owner of Uprising Entertainment and MusicSupervisor.com, is the brainchild.

Where did you get the idea for SpringBoardSouth?

You know, I grew up here, went to the High School for the Performing Arts and had bands and I sang stupid Astroworld jingles… I did pretty much everything you could do in Houston and then I traipsed off to L.A. for the last 20 years. And when I came back, I saw that not much had changed. I went out to L.A. reading all the books, and nothing worked like they tell you in the books. So I brought an organization out here called NARIP, which is the National Association of Recording Industry Professionals. About two and a half years ago, I opened up a Houston chapter and what we did was networking events every other month, and on the off-months, I would do a big panel, and I’d bring in social media, radio promoters, managers or professionals in the music industry. Their main focus is educating the pros. And there’re some great people in town, but most of them – you don’t know they’re here! We have some really great people here, but they’re few and far between and they’re spread out.

Don’t you think that’s changing everywhere, though, in recent years?

Well, I’ve been connecting them like a mother. Every time I balance my panels, I would see that there are guys for everybody there. But I got disillusioned with the panels a little bit, because I’d put together these amazing panels and it wasn’t having the effect that I was looking for. Even if you put together a good panel, somebody walks away with three great ideas, you’ve put together a great panel. But it just wasn’t interacting.

So why CityCentre? 

With CityCentre I got the opportunity to do a festival on training wheels, because you’ve got a really upscale great place, they’re willing to not sell tickets – it’s a completely free festival. Now you’ve taken out half of the hassle, promoting it and getting tickets, getting buy-ins and all this – and it’s Cinco de Mayo. They’ve got an art festival on the Sunday. Before we even really start marketing, we’re going to have 50,000 people there over the three days. So – voila! I’ve already solved half the problem. I couldn’t pass on that. And my real vision – what you’ll see this year will be maybe 40 percent of what I have planned. You can only pull off so much in short order. But the idea of SpringBoard was to take artists that are at a certain level, and bounce them to the next level. “Hey man, these guys just need a little push, so let’s see if we can give it to them,” as a community and as a festival and everything.

How is the stage setup there?

Well, they’ve got an outdoor stage that’s beautiful… it’s like a grownup Disneyland. They’ve got these giant fire pits – it just looks incredible. It can hold a few thousand people real easily and comfortably, and then, ringing the stage, almost like a horseshoe, are all these restaurants and bars that have patios with umbrellas and things like that to keep them out of the sun, and you can sit and have a drink and watch the band.

www.springboardsouth.com

 

Interview by Lance Scott Walker | Photography by Anthony Rathbun

Filed Under: Recording

GISH AT THE MOVIES | may 2012

April 30, 2012

NEW HOMES FOR MOVIES

The Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org) is moving to their very own, very cool space at 2442 Bartlett on June 1. It’s the former home of artist Molly Gochman (who is hosting her final event there on 5/11) and is the site where they’ve screened their “Extremely Shorts” festivals the last few years. Their plan is to continue their fine, on-the-road programming but on a smaller scale while increasing in-house screenings and expanding the base of offerings like their summer camps and artist workshops. Film curator Marian Luntz will make an appearance with APS to talk about Robert Frank (5/2), and former APS directress Andrea Grover will paddle over from Long Island for “The Boat Show” (5/12). They round out the month with a “Scoot-In” show (5/19) featuring films by and about bikers and scooterists at Sesquicentennial Park. · The Contemporary Arts Museum (www.camh.org) has transformed their lower gallery into a movie theater during the run of CINEPLEX (on view through 7/8); free screenings will take place every Thursday at 7:30pm. · The film “The Tree of Life” is the focus of “Eternal Paradox,” a class (5/5) and screening (5/4) at the Jung Center (www.cgjunghouston.org). Jungian analyst Diana Heritage leads the class.

 

JACK BLACK AND OPERA

I adore Jack Black so can’t wait to see his turn as a small town Texas boy-turned-murder suspect in the comedy (based on a true tale!) “Bernie,” a collaboration with Texans Richard Linklater, Skip Hollandsworth and Matthew McConaughey, opening 5/4 at Landmark River Oaks Theatre (www.landmarktheatres.com). RO is also screening “Darling Companion” (5/4) with Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline and “First Position” and “Sound of My Voice” (5/18). · The College of the Mainland (http://www.com.edu/

arts-culture/film-series.php) has an ongoing “Great Film Series” and this month they’re showing “Metropolis” (5/4). Fathom Events (www.fathomevents.com) continues their very cool one-night shows of special films with the MET’s “La Traviata” (5/2); “Mayweather Cotto” (5/5); Wagner’s “Dream” (5/7); “Das Rheingold”/Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” (5/9); “The American Life LIVE!” (5/10); and “Die Walküre”/Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” (5/14). · Check the Rice Cinema schedule (http://www.ricecinema.rice.edu/Events.aspx) for the monthly Houston Green Film Series’ (www.houstongreenfilms.org) screening of films about the environment and green living shown on the second Tuesday of every month at the Rice Media Center. Speaking of Rice Cinema, I’m happy to report that the inaugural presentation of Mountainfilm on Tour in Houston (www.mountainfilm.org/houston) made a big splash and filled the house at the Media Center at the end of March. Founders Jack and Shushana Castle say, yep, it’ll be back bigger and stronger next year. The festival is a selection of films presented in past years by Mountainfilm in Telluride (www.mountainfilm.org).

CARS AND KIDS

May brings the Houston Art Car Parade (5/12) and a screening of the fab doc “Art Car: The Movie” (www.artcarthemovie.com) at Discovery Green (5/11). · The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) celebrates Mother’s Day with a screening of the classic adult romp “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” (5/11) proving that mamas still want to have fun! They’re also host to the annual Houston Palestine Film Festival (www.hpff.org) which has films from 5/12 – 5/19; check online for the specific screenings. And it’s an exciting time for Alex Luster: His film “Stick ‘Em Up” screens at the MFAH 5/4 – 5/6 with a special youth screening on 5/5. · Speaking of youth screenings, the Houston Public Library is hosting their annual “Reel Teen Film Festival” (http://mfah.org/ films/houston-public-library-reel-teen-film-festival-201/) on 5/31. This month’s “Community Cinema” (www.houstonpbs.org/events/community-cinema.html) entry is an inspiring film about the determination of a 300-pound wrestling woman, Strong (5/16).

 By Sarah Gish

Filed Under: Gish At the Movies

FOR ART’S SAKE | may 2012

April 30, 2012

Inside the Art Car Parade

May always bring my two favorite things: Mother’s Day and the Houston Art Car Parade! This year is the twenty-freaking-fifth anniversary of that wonder on wheels and the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art (www.orangeshow.org) is celebrating with, of course, the Parade on May 12.  –Sarah Gish

 Mark “Scrapdaddy” Bradford

Years involved in Art Car Parade: 24 years.

How did you get into this? My great-grandfather was an inventor, and I have always wanted to invent cool contraptions…the parade has always provided the forum for me to do this. I love to perform with my latest creations each year in the parade.

Hours on average spent on car? Minimally 1000 hours on most every car I’ve built…I have several.

Car model and year? 1988 Honda Helix 250cc motorcycle, 1987 Honda Elite 80cc, combined to power the three-wheel car.

Do you dress to match your car? My wife Nicole has a spot on each of my cars, and I normally build a costume for her to wear and perform with the car, while I drive it.

What’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked about your car? Regarding Mr. Green, “Is that the Grinch?”

What will your next car be decorated with/as? My next car will more than likely be decorated with stainless steel scales, a trademark of mine.

How much is your car worth?  Priceless…I love it too much!

Does your car have a nickname? Mr. Green pretty much covers it…no need for a nickname! I guess I’ve heard children call it “Monster Man.”

What movie could your car have had a role in? Probably The Grinch. Mr. Green does look kind of like him. Many of my other cars could be in Jurassic Park, as they look like some form of mutant dinosaur.

If your car could talk, who would it sound like? He does talk…he sounds like Tarzan. He has 50 Tarzan car alarms that make the “Tarzan yell” because he’s king of the concrete jungle.

Which car, other than your own, do you admire most? Faith by David Best. David has always been a mentor to me. I also have to really admire Iron Maiden by Kenny Browning.

If 002 had a car, what should it look like?

One that I built…take your pick!

 Robynn Sanders

Years involved in Art Car Parade:

21 dog years.

How did you get into this?

I was hatched into it from a 20-foot tall metal chicken.

Hours on average spent on car? 200 hrs.

Car model and year? 1963 Porsche 365B.

Do you dress to match your car?

Hippies don’t wear clothes…

What’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked about your car?

Why the hell did I copy Janis Joplin’s Karmann Ghia.

What will your next car be decorated with/as? It will be my boyfriend’s 250Z or David’s Bugatti… both are top secret, think unicorns and feathers…

How much is your car worth? 60 cents.

Does your car have a nickname?

Does your mom?

What movie could your car have had a role in?

Pulp Fiction – DICK DALE!!!

If your car could talk, who would it sound like?

Cheech Marin or Bobcat Goldthwait.

Which car, other than your own, do you admire most? Stupid Deloreans and the ’87 Chevrolet Celebrity that parks at the end of my block.

If 002 had a car, what should it look like?

A 1982 AMC Gremlin.

jake goldstein

 

Car Von Tiki.

Years involved in Art Car Parade

Car was first in Houston’s Art Car parade in 2007.

How did you get into this? I saw ArtCarFest at the San Jose Museum of Art in 2003 and thought it was the greatest thing I’d ever seen. I brought the Von Tiki to the same show in 2005.

Hours on average spent on car?

I don’t spend any time on it. I bought it like this one year from a Saks catalog with a really big tax refund check.

Car model and year? 1987 Toyota Van (before there was a Previa, they just called it “Van”).

Do you dress to match your car? Not when I’m going to work or the store.

What will your next car be decorated with/as? My newest car is decorated with Texas-themed stained glass, and is a race car.

How much is your car worth? $20K; for $25K I’ll put a new engine in it for you, though the current one runs pretty well.

Does your car have a nickname? Children, who aren’t familiar with tiki bars, usually call it the “Pineapple Truck.” Children that aren’t familiar with the idea of trucks call it the “Pineapple Car.”

What movie could your car have had a role in?  The Von Tiki was in Paul Wall’s and Baby Bash’s “Lemon Drop” video: DJ in the back, turntables on the bar, and so many dancing girls around it that you couldn’t see the van that well. It was also offered a role in Un Chien Andalou, but we turned it down, which was probably a mistake.

If your car could talk, who would it sound like? Probably me. We spend a lot of time together.

Which car, other than your own, do you admire most? I love a lot of the cars. But I find something new on Kirk Suddreath’s Jesus Monkey Car every time I look at it, plus it’s a daily driver.

If 002 had a car, what should it look like? A tribute to Houston fountains: the Williams Waterwall on the sides, Wortham Fountain in the front and Mecom Fountain on the trunk. With real running water.

Smitty Regula 

Car Hen-a-tron II.

Years involved in Art Car Parade 10 years.

How did you get into this? Mom took me to my first parade in 1986 or 1987.

Hours on average spent on car? Hen-a-tron took about 6 months 336 hours.

Car model and year?

Originally a 1989 Mazda B2000 truck.

Do you dress to match your car?

Previous car “Laundry car,” yes, this one no.

What’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked about your car?

I have had a person ask me if they could sign it. (They had a Sharpie® in hand at a gas station and were ready to write on the car; I let them for I thought it was a strange request. Then I asked if I could sign their car and they wouldn’t let me – I told them that it wasn’t fair!)

What will your next car be decorated with/as? It will be a giant Christmas tree that drives around.

How much is your car worth? I would sell it for $10,000. (The real worth? I have no idea. It hits trees and wires so probably $500.)

Does your car have a nickname?

No, not really, Chicken car.

What movie could your car have had a role in? It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World.

If your car could talk, who would it sound like? It talks; it is usually a smart ass, very quick to insult.

Which car, other than your own, do you admire most? Swamp Mutha.

 Photography by Sofia van der Dys

Filed Under: For Art's Sake

FRESH ARTS SCENE | may 2012

April 30, 2012

Is it possible to be overwhelmed with too many good choices at once – sort of like heading to The Chocolate Bar after a two-week fast? Or a weeklong tropical vacation with the Houston Fire Department after a nunnery stay? An abundance of choice can only be a good thing… so choose your spring art events wisely!

Frame Dance Productions: CONTEXT May 11 @ 8pm | May 12 @ 2pm/8pm | May 13 @ 2pm

This fresh dance company presents a multi-sensory gallery of music, photography, choreography and film in CONTEXT. The cyclical experience begins with a facilitated discussion through the photography and film exhibitions, leading to live dance performance and flowing back into the gallery. The interactive format engages audiences and offers fresh ways of looking at the human body in movement, through work by Sil Azevedo, Lorie Garcia, Lydia Hance, Charles Halka and Frame Dance Productions. Winter Street Studios, Upstairs Gallery (2101 Winter Street)– $15. www.framedance.org photo by Sil Azevedo

Homegrown Houston – 3G: Three Generations of Houston’s Best Jazz Artists May 11 @ 8pm

Houston jazz artists Joe Sample, Hubert Laws and Jewel Brown come together for Homegrown Houston – 3G, benefiting Music Doing Good in Schools’ outreach program, an innovative, interdisciplinary, musical-arts enrichment program for students who want to take their skills to a higher level. As part of Teacher Appreciation Week, performances honor those Houston teachers who are “growing” the next generation of musicians. The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Zilkha Hall– $25. www.musicdoinggood.org

INSIGHT|OUT Festival May 19-20 (various times)

Experience a free weekend of music, movies and motion via performances and events in off-the-beaten-path spots around the city. The event casts top experimental artists against Houston’s unique landscapes for brand new works through the collaboration of three Houston arts groups – the University of Houston’s Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, Aurora Picture Show and DiverseWorks. Locations include Buffalo Bayou Partnership, Project Row Houses and Uptown Houston. FREE! For times/locations: www.mitchellcenterforarts.org

ARC Exhibition: Stephen Kwok | Walled Garden May 19 – June 22 Free public opening reception: May 19, 7 – 10pm

Creating work straddling the boundary between the digital and physical worlds, Stephen Kwok’s installation-based, multimedia exhibition is an exploration of technology, spirituality and our connection to physical goods and the environment. Fresh Arts/Spacetaker

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DiverseWorks ArtSpace presents Luck of the Draw May 18 @ 6:30pm

DiverseWorks’ celebrated annual fundraising event is back! Luck of the Draw features artists from DiverseWorks’ past, present and future who have created artwork especially for the event. Bid on a variety of priceless art experiences such as trips, private tours and studio visits or buy an Art Chance Ticket and select the perfect work for your art collection. For the first time, pieces will remain on view as an exhibition through June 9.  DiverseWorks (1117 E. Freeway). For tickets, visit www.diverseworks.org.

By Jenni Rebecca Stephenson

Filed Under: Spacetaker

GISH AT THE MOVIES | april 2012

April 1, 2012

COMMUNITY CINEMA

War is hell and this month’s “Community Cinema” (www.houstonpbs.org/events/community-cinema.html) film makes that very clear. Hell and Back Again is the story of U.S. Marine Sergeant Nathan Harris, 25, who led a unit in Afghanistan until he was wounded in battle. He returned home to his devoted wife to fight pain, addiction and the terrifying normalcy of life at home. The film screens April 18, 7pm at Rice Media Center (www.ricecinema.rice.edu) and is presented by HoustonPBS (www.houstonpbs.org) and Documentary Alliance (www.documentaryalliance.org). Sundance Cinemas Houston (www.sundancecinemas.com) brings even more indie and small films with “Screening Room Calendar” a program of rotating weekly films. This month’s program includes Natural Selection (3/30-4/5); Young Goethe in Love (4/6-4/12); Salt of Life (4/13-4/19); and This is Not a Film (4/20-4/26). And they’re wrapping up their National Theatre of London film season with She Stoops to Conquer on April 7 at 12:30pm and April 9 at 7pm. Over in the historic Heights, 14 Pews (www.14pews.org) kick’s off this month with a film focusing on the Rwanda genocides, Kinyarwanda, on April 6 and 7 at 7pm; on April 20 at 7pm, they’re screening Man on a Wire – the story of Philippe Petit who danced on a wire illegally rigged between the Twin Towers; and Rejoice and Shout is being screened on April 27 at 7pm, a film chronicling 200 years of gospel history.

 

MFAH

The Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org) folks have come up with yet another clever idea – pop-up cinema in their backyard! They commissioned  the New York-based art collaborative MTAA starting with “Brainstorming, Beer and BBQ” on 4/11 and then the construction of the cinema in time for the Menil Community Arts Festival on 4/14 and an 8pm screening. MFAH (www.mfah.org) is bringing back popular film fest, “Latin Wave: New Films from Latin America,” on April 26-29 as well as what sounds like a fascinating film, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, two weekends only (4/13 and 4/2). It’s the story of Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef, who is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. The “45th Annual WorldFest Houston International Film Festival” (www.worldfest.org) – takes place at  the AMC Studio 30 at 2949 Dunvale; check their website for the final schedule. Landmark River Oaks Theatre (www.landmarktheatres.com) has booked Coriolanus, starring Ralph Fiennes as the controlling Roman general who was ousted by his citizens, and The Deep Blue Sea, a story of a woman’s aching and overwhelming desire for love. Their midnighters this month are Footloose (4/6-4/7); The Room (4/13); The Rocky Horror Picture Show with live cast (4/14); House/Hausu (4/20-4/21) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (4/27 and 4/28).

 

HMNS

Super Happy Fun Land (www.superhappyfunland.com) is hosting a benefit film screening for Treat ’Em Right Rescue (www.treatemright.org) on 4/15, 5pm – not sure what they’re screening, but the cause is good. Houston Museum of Natural Science (www.hmns.org) has several films onscreen – all 3D – Space Junk; Flying Monsters; Ultimate Wave; and Tornado Valley.  Donny Osmond is baaack and looks younger than, well, when he was young. He’s leading audiences in a sing-a-long version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on 4/4, 7pm; check www.fathomevents.com for tickets and more info. The film should be fascinating on so many levels, ahem. Texas Monthly staff writer Skip Hollandsworth has teamed up with Richard Linklater on Bernie (opening wide on 4/29) – it’s the story of assistant funeral director Bernie Teide, who is accused of murder – a convenient crime, considering his occupation. We bid farewell this month to film critic and film lover extraordinaire Regina Scruggs, who is moving to Arkansas to become the Program Director of KLRE-FM, the University’s radio station. Congrats!

Filed Under: Gish At the Movies

FOR ART’S SAKE | april 2012

April 1, 2012

Marina Zurkow’s Necrocracy

Brooklyn-based artist Marina Zurkow will be presenting one of her many works titled Necrocracy, an exhibition that will explore petrochemical production and nature that combines drawings and video animation as well as sculpture. “The title of the show, “Necrocracy,” governance by the dead, alludes to the lives, deaths and resurrection of hydrocarbons, the stuff of fossil fuels that once lived as marine organisms populating the Permian Sea 250 million years ago,” said Zurkow.  The show is composed of seven new animated works and a labyrinth of 50 ten foot high banners of things made out of petroleum plastics. Examples of these include IV bags, flip-flops, rubber chickens, artificial flowers, nylon umbrellas, gas masks, police riot shields, cell phones, skateboard wheels, diapers and even condoms. Zurkow says the animations, which will include some video and some software driven, will look at the petroleum rich landscape of West Texas through a series of lenses: the geological time, larger ecosystem and the interdependence of resources like water and oil. In helping to prepare for this exhibit, in January 2011, Zurkow was able to participate in a two-week research trip supported by DiverseWorks, where Zurkow traveled to the Permian Basin. There Zurkow was able to meet with people who work in the oil industry as well as cattle ranchers and geologists.

Zurkows’ first motivation to participate in this type of art was to do a portrait of a West Texas landscape, as well as work on a series of animated landscapes about human-altered ecosystems. The first was in Northumberland, United Kingdom. “These landscapes each include not only local natural features like plants, animals, weather, but also humans and the things we have brought and changes we have made; in the case of England, which looks completely natural, the earth had been mined and changed for 3500 years, and a lot of mythologies sprung up around it. In the case of Wink, Texas, which is the site of the second landscape in the series, the water-filled sinkhole looks completely natural but was caused by human interventions in the land. As I made my way through the landscape and read about the time it took for the Permian Sea to dry up and migrate thousands of miles to its present position under West Texas, and compress all those hydrocarbons into what eventually became the petroleum we pull up out of the earth, I became progressively more interested in plastic – how it’s made, how much we interact with it, how natural it’s become in our lives, as well as keenly aware of issues like the relationships between resources such as petroleum and water,” said Zurkow. To see this piece, visit www.omatic.com/play/friend/mesocosmWink/.

 Necrocracy will be available for viewing at the DiverseWorks Main Gallery from March 17 through April 21. In addition there will be an opening reception on March 16 from 6-9pm. The exhibition will also feature a short film “NeoGeo” by Marina Zurkow and Daniel Shiffman in the flicker lounge. This event is free and will be open to the public.

Also open to the public on March 18, at 1pm, Zurkow will give a tour of her exhibition, Necrocracy.  The artist will discuss her research trip, ecosystems and technology she created to produce video animations.

Since 2000, Zurkow has exhibited at the Sundance Film Festival, The Rotterdam Film Festival, The Seoul Media City Biennial, Arts Electronica, Creative, The Kitchen, The Walker Art Center and The National Museum for Women in the Arts and Eyebeam, among other venues.  Zurkow is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow, and has been a NYFA Fellow, a Rockefeller New Media Fellow and a Creative Capital grantee. Zurkow is also on the faculty at NYU’s Interactive Technology Program, and lives in Brooklyn, New York, according to the DiverseWorks press release. “Necrocracy” is curated by DiverseWorks’ Artistic Director Sixto Wagan and former Co-Executive Director Diane Barber. For more information on Marina Zurkow, visit www.o-matic.com.

Correspondent: Natalie Epperley

Filed Under: For Art's Sake

SPACETAKER | april 2012

April 1, 2012

Choreographer Mauro Astolfi | Photographer Marco Bravi

This April is simply flooded with diverse and dynamic art to keep you occupied. No life preserver needed for these picks – you’ll leave each floating!

Dance Salad Festival April 5, 6, 7 @ 7:30pm Explore powerful merging of diverse styles in contemporary ballet, theater and music from the Stuttgart Ballet, Semperoper Ballett, English National Ballet and Spellbound Dance Company, to name a few. Each evening features major historical works with some of the most acclaimed choreographers from Europe and South America. Cullen Theater, Wortham Center (501 Texas Ave.)– tickets $20-$50. www.dancesalad.org 

Photographer Marco Bravi

Suchu Dance presents Circle of Perpetual Apparition April 13, 14, 15 & 20, 21, 22 @ 8pm (Sundays @ 7pm) A “circle of perpetual apparition” is an astronomical term: anyplace on a celestial sphere where the polar axis is equidistant to the observer’s latitude and the stars never set. Suchu’s new work is performed in the round, with the audience seated in a simple circle of chairs placed on the stage to define the performance space. The dancing occurs inside and outside the circle, embedding audience members in the performance and allowing a visual connection between all. Barnevelder Theater– tickets $15-$25. www.suchudance.org 

Mills-McCoin Rock ’n’ Roll Circus April 14 @ 7pm Enter into a world conceived by the manic mind of Mills-McCoin where the music never stops. Featuring performances by local rock legends Roky Moon & Bolt, Blackie Dammet, Poor Pilate and The Handshake, the show utilizes all of the whimsical spaces, sounds and lighting of the Orange Show to give you a non-stop evening of music, dancing and drama. Plus a special show by The New Movement Improv Troupe. The Orange Show (2402 Munger St.)– tickets $15 in advance, $20 at door. www.orangeshow.org

Photograph by Adorable Creative

 

Inprint presents former U.S. Poet Laureate W. S. Merwin April 23 @ 7:30pm The Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series comes to a close with former U.S. Poet Laureate W. S. Merwin. During the last half century, Merwin has written more than 20 collections of poetry, nearly as many books of translations and numerous prose works. He has won every major literary prize, including both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for his collection The Shadow of Sirius. Reading followed by an on-stage interview, book sale and signing. Alley Theatre (615 Texas Avenue)– tickets $5. www.inprinthouston.org  Photograph by Shabda Kahn

DiverseWorks presents the 34th School of Art Masters’ Thesis Exhibition  April 27 @ 6pm (on view through May 12) The UH School of Art, Blaffer Art Museum and DiverseWorks present works by Danilo Bojic, Ted Closson, Sebastian Forray, Lisa Garrett, Steve Hook, Chuck Ivy, Rosine Kouamen, Natali Leduc, Emily McGrew, Abi Semtner and M’kina Tapscott. Representing a wide array of media and practices, the exhibition premieres these UH MFA graduates as professional artists emerging to explore new projects. DiverseWorks ArtSpace (1117 E. Freeway)– Free! www.diverseworks.org 

Image credits: Lisa Garrett, Urban Decay

 

By Jenni Rebecca Stephenson

Filed Under: Spacetaker

MUSEUM DISTRICT

April 1, 2012

1. The Menil Collection www.menil.org

Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective, on view thru June 10, is the first retrospective of the artist’s drawings and first major one-person exhibition organized under the umbrella of the Menil Drawing Institute and Study Center. This exhibition, with work from major European and American public and private collections, traces Serra’s investigation of drawing as an activity both independent from and linked to his sculptural practice. Organized chronologically, it addresses significant shifts in concept, materials and scale, and culminates with new large-scale works completed for this presentation.

2. Houston Center for Photography www.hcponline.org

The Power of Now and Other Tales from Home by Julie Blackmon, on view thru April 22. One of her main sources of inspiration in addition to her own life are the paintings by 17th-century Dutch and Flemish genre painters, especially the work of Jan Steen. His use of lighting and humor influenced her to emulate the same mood in many of her photos, but she utilizes digital technology to take her scenes to a new level.

3. The Rothko Chapel www.rothkochapel.org

The Rothko Chapel, founded by John and Dominique de Menil, was dedicated in 1971 as an intimate sanctuary available to people of every belief. A modern meditative environment inspired by the mural canvases of Russian-born, American painter Mark Rothko (1903-1970).

4. Houston Center for Contemporary Craft www.crafthouston.org

Implied Utility, on view April 14. Looking at the work in his show, it’s hard to believe Chris Hedrick hasn’t been carving wood his whole life — the illusion of his pieces is just so good. Using primarily hand tools in the converted garage of his historic Houston Heights home, Hedrick digs into exotic woods to extract amazingly accurate reproductions of everyday objects. This exhibition focuses on his charismatic portrayals of woodworking tools themselves.

5. Lawndale Art Center www.lawndaleartcenter.org

Design Fair 2012: Learn. Shop. Connect, on view April 25-29, the exhibit features vintage modern objects of the 20th century, as well examples of cutting-edge contemporary design. A wide selection of carefully curated items will be available for purchase as part of the Design Fair, including furniture, glass, ceramics, lighting, books, metalwork and fashion.

6. Buffalo Soldiers National Museum www.buffalosoldiermuseum.com

This Museum pays tribute to African-American military history from the Revolutionary War to modern times. During the 1860s, soldiers of the 10th U.S. Calvary were nicknamed “Buffalo Soldiers” for their fierce fighting ability and bravery.

7. Holocaust Museum Houston www.hmh.org

Returning: The Art of Samuel Bak, on view thru August 12. Viewers encounter familiar imagery used in unusual, somewhat surrealistic ways as they are led on an astoundingly complex, beautiful and richly colorful journey to, through and from the Holocaust. Born on Aug. 12, 1933, in Vilna, which is now Vilnius, Lithuania, Bak was recognized from an early age as possessing extraordinary artistic talent. The artist continues to deal with the artistic expression of the destruction and dehumanization, which make up his childhood memories.

8. Children’s Museum of Houston www.cmhouston.org

 

Cum Yah Gullah, on view thru September 8. Inspiring songs, candid folktales and African heritage preserved, Cum Yah Gullah (translated to mean Come here, Gullah) explores the rich West African culture carried to the US in the 1600s and uncovers the roots of millions of African-Americans today.

9. The Health Museum www.thehealthmuseum.org

Cells: The Universe Inside Us, on view thru August 26. The human body is made up of millions of cells that are constantly working. Cells: The Universe Inside Us gives visitors a chance to see what happens inside their body every day. Walk through a giant cell, perform virtual experiments, make protein shapes with your shadow and more!

10. Houston Museum of Natural Science www.hmns.org

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, on view thru September 3, showcases more than 300 artifacts retrieved from Titanic’s debris field. Delicate bottles of perfume, china bearing the logo of the White Star Line and many other objects collected from the wreck site offer poignant connections to lives abruptly ended or forever changed by one of the world’s greatest maritime tragedies.

11. Houston Zoo www.houstonzoo.org

They’re baaaacck! Orkin presents DINOSAURS! beginning May 4. These animatronic dinosaurs move, roar and even spit water. Some of the species were once found in Texas, with all but two found in our region.

12. Rice University Art Gallery www.ricegallery.org

Yasuaki Onishi: New Installation, on view April 13. The Art Gallery commissioned Japanese artist Yasuaki Onishi to create a site-specific installation to coincide with the Grand Opening of the Asia Society Texas Center’s new Houston headquarters designed by Yoshio Taniguchi. In his “reverse of volume” installations, Onishi uses the simplest materials – translucent plastic sheeting, strings of black glue and fishing line – to create monumental forms that resemble mountains or clouds floating in space.

13. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston www.mfah.org

Egyptomania, on view thru July 29, explores the Egyptian Revivals of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries through objects from across the MFAH collections, including Georgian garden sphinxes, 19th-century “Aegyptian” furniture and Art Deco perfume bottles with pharaoh-head stoppers. Egyptomania opens during the run of Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs and also marks the 90th anniversary of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb by British archaeologist Howard Carter, which began the revival of the 1920s.

14. Contemporary Arts Museum Houston www.camh.org

The Deconstructive Impulse: Women Artists Reconfigure the Signs of Power, on view thru April 15,  examines the crucial role of women artists in the development of deconstructivism in the 1970s and 1980s. The deconstructive impulse was propelled in significant measure by women who, through the appropriation of mass media and commercial images, sought to reveal the mechanisms of power present in popular representations of gender, sex, race and class. The exhibit features photographs, prints, paintings, videos and installations by various artists.

15. The Jung Center oF Houston www.junghouston.org 

Founded in 1958, The Jung Center is a nonprofit educational institution dedicated to the continuing education of the human spirit through psychology, the arts and the humanities.

16. Czech Center Museum www.czechcenter.org

The Czech Center Museum Houston works to preserve, record and celebrate the language, scholarship and arts of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slovakia.

17. John C. Freeman Weather Museum www.wxresearch.org

Explore animal habitats in the Interactive Climate Zone, touch a tornado, learn how to make your own hurricane preparedness kit and be a weather reporter for WRC-TV. The museum houses nine permanent exhibits and offers many exciting programs including weather camps, Boy/Girl Scout badge classes, teacher workshops, birthday parties and weather labs.

Filed Under: Museum District

RECORDING | april 2012

March 23, 2012

JusTice AllaH

Tell me about the new record.

Well, basically, the record is called Yesterday’s Eternal Tomorrow Today; Y.E.T.T. for short. You know it’s a good little type slogan, and the whole gist of it is… it’s looking at my life specifically, but you know, I always put things in the perspective of everybody. When you look at your life through that rewind, you always look at it through what already happened, you know?

Yeah.

The experiences of yesterday, and these experiences get burnt into your mind eternally. And then we have this hope that tomorrow, everything’ll be alright and all the shit we done yesterday will be cool. Well, we control that today, so… it just started off as a thought. About my yesterdays, and how I didn’t wanna go and somehow tomorrow, you know not bein’ a hundred percent, all the way, one thousand percent happy.

There seems to be alternating currents, of a sort of regret and hope on the record.

Yeah, well—nah, I wouldn’t say so much “regret” as just… reflection, because in order for me to get to a good tomorrow, then I just have to stop beatin’ myself up and stop goin’ through the bad experience and start to see these as being all good. Because it was a learning deal. It was all just things that you know for sure about now. Can’t nobody school you about certain things versus listening to yourself. I did look at the things as bad, you know, before that, but coming into working on this project, I started lookin’ into it was all good because it helped me to know the things that I wouldn’t do again. The things that, you know, I’m doing right now to make sure that everything tomorrow is gonna be… great.

Right.

It’s like a rhombus. I would say it’s not a circle. We was talkin’ the other night about how we go in 360 circles and end up in the same place you was when you first started out. So it’s kinda like you’re just going from one destination to another, from dissatisfaction to satisfaction.

What did you do different musically this time?

Well, this time, you know, I did a lot of production on the album. And in the past, you know, I kind of sprinkled the production around. This time I kinda dominated the album with tracks that I produced, and I made it a more musical project. It was all really about the music first, before any of the ideas came or concepts or anything, it was all about listening to the music and growing with these tracks is what moved me, and move other people. So I think musically, this album is more rich than the prior projects might have been. You know, they was kinda more lyrically-based and ideal and conceptual in nature. But this album, like I said, it’s pure music. If you just strip the words off, you’d still be able to listen to this and it would tell the same story I feel.

Melodically, did you know what you wanted to do in advance or did you just kind of figure this one out as you went along?

Well, I kinda did have an idea in mind because I’d always wanted to do a project where I took like soul music and just, you know, created the same type emotions that I feel like Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield might have created when they went in and recorded the music that they did. I know it was music-based, and all that music made me feel a certain kind of way, so I did have that idea in mind, to try and create that type of landscape for people, and you know, just came together, and I discovered—well, I ain’t gonna say “discovered,” but I was able to prove to myself beyond the shadow of a doubt that my will is real and that everybody’s will is real, because it’s really just seeing it in your mind and wanting it, and then it all comes together. You don’t know how. And that’s what happened with the project. I really didn’t know how. I just wanted it.

www.the144elite.com

Interview by Lance Scott Walker

Photography by Anthony Rathbun

Filed Under: Recording

GISH AT THE MOVIES | march 2012

March 1, 2012

ROAD TRIPPIN’ IS FUN

Once again, my friends at the Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org) are road trippin’ it. Their first stop is Flickerlounge at DiverseWorks Artspace, with films by Marina Zurkow and Daniel Shiffman through 4/21. Then it’s Market Square for the “49th Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour” (3/2, 6pm) and finally, the Menil Collection Lawn for “Cinematic Graphite” (3/23, 8pm). This year’s 8th annual Houston Jewish Film Festival (www.erjcchouston.org/filmfest) has increased venues and now includes 14 Pews; the Holocaust Museum Houston; the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Studio Movie Grill at CityCentre. It’s onscreen 3/6-3/18, so check their website for the full list of offerings.  14 Pews (www.14pews.com) has a full slate of films this month, including Charlie Chaplin’s Gold Rush (3/5, 7pm) and the charming-sounding Happy Happy (3/23, 7:30pm).

 

MAIS OUI!

Magnifique! This month folks around the world – and Houston – will celebrate “Le Mois de la Francophonie” (“French Cultures Festival”) and in honor of this special event, the French Alliance (www.afdehou.org) and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org) have teamed up to bring back their “Five Funny French Films” series – check www.francophonie-texas.org for deets. Yippee! Animation will be rolling across the screen at the MFAH when they show “The Best of Ottawa International Animation Festival” on 3/16, 7pm & 3/18, 5pm. They’re also screening the documentary Come Back, Africa (3/3, 7pm; 3/4, 5pm; 3/9, 7pm), in which the graphic horrors of the apartheid South African government were secretly captured on film. One of their Jewish Film Fest entries is Mary Lou (3/11, 3pm), about an Israeli drag queen (who knew?!); it’s being presented in conjunction with QFest (www.q-fest.org) and Friends of Ernie (www.ernieontv.com). I’m super happy because Super Happy Fun Land (www.superhappyfunland.com) finally has a screening I can tell you about – DoggieWoggiez! PoochieWoochiez! (3/2) . Check them out, I promise you’ll have a good time in their funky little space.

 MANNERS AND ELECTRIC CARS

The Community Cinema series (www.houstonpbs.org/events/community-cinema.html) offers free sneak preview screenings of upcoming documentaries that will air on “Independent Lens” on PBS. Locally, HoustonPBS (www.houstonpbs.org), Rice Media Center (www.ricecinema.rice.edu) and the Documentary Alliance (www.documentaryalliance.org) team up for these offerings; this month we get to learn more about something I’m very interested in with the film Revenge of the Electric Car (3/21, 7pm). Sundance Cinemas Houston (www.sundancecinemas.com) is going strong and apparently we Houstonians like the reserved seats thing since many of their screenings fill up! They’re continuing their series of  National Theatre of London plays onscreen; this month features Shakespeare’s fabulous “The Comedy of Errors” (3/17, 12:30pm and 3/19, 7pm). Cross-pollination is happening this month when Musiqa (www.musiqa.org) presents “Crossings” on 3/31, 7:30pm, an evening of chamber music performed by Musiqa and special guest, Music from the Copland, complementing films picked out by Aurora Picture Show staff. The College of the Mainland is presenting an ongoing free Great Films Series (http://www.com.edu/arts-culture/film-series.php) and this month’s pick is Operation Petticoat (3/2, 7pm in the LRC Auditorium). I’m going to wrap up my column with a plea for manners. At a recent Rice Cinema screening, I experienced four noisy customers who had brought in their own popcorn AND soda cans, all of which became a secondary soundtrack to the film The Wizard of Oz (no, says director Charles Dove, food and drink aren’t allowed). When I told them 4 times to be quiet…and they weren’t, I was peeved. Just as peeved as I am at theatre texters. Please, please leave your bad manners at home so we can all enjoy movies on the big screen! It’s a shared experience I refuse to let go of, even if I have to kick some butt along the way.

By Sarah Gish

Filed Under: Gish At the Movies
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