Remember those DSO Guild tickets Art&Seek was giving away yesterday for an evening of mingling with SMU’s Meadows Schoo of Arts dean, Jose Bowen? Remember it’s a night of wine and noshing in home of a lovely Park Cities resident? Well, someone already won, but found that they can’t go now. So a pair of tickets are b…ack up for grabs! You know what to do…
Saturday, March 20
Doors at 6 p.m. The Opening of the Kessler Theater
Featuring: DJ Mr. Rid (spinning) – Josh Alan Friedman’s Book signing Black Cracker – “A Photographic History of Music in Dallas” by wicked-awesome photographer James Bland – Performances by Mark Growden – Slam Poet Jason Carney – Josh Alan Friedman Cost: It’s on the house, just bring booze money
Full bar
How about a lively discussion about the arts scene and “rising stars in Dallas?” Even better, how about enjoying this experience in an intimate Park Cities residence and an informal conversation about it with SMU’s Meadows School for the Arts dean, Jose Bowen? Tickets to this event are $50 and limited and include complimentary wine and snacks.
I am a member of the DSO Guild and let me tell you, we have a TON of FUN at our events. We are a small group of only about 60-65 members and the common denominator is our love of music (membership and attendance are open to anyone, no social connections required!).
At our luncheon last week, our guest speaker Richard Rodzinski had members practically rolling on the floor (you know, ROTFLMAO) with his hilarious backstage tales from the Metropolitan Opera and the rest of his fascinating life in arts administration. (Did you know his father, former NY Phil conductor Artur Rodzinski, was packin’ heat at his concerts? Thought not.)
This is not a see-and-be-seen group; it’s an I-love-music-and-oh-cool-so-do-you! group. Being in the Guild gives me so much more pleasure than I can convey here…
The one fundraising project we have is our dinner to support the Performance Prelude lectures–at our ten regular member events we just enjoy each other’s company and learning about music, be it backstage tidbits, delightful salon performances, conversations with composers, you name it. All the fun goes eventually towards making our intimate gala dinner a big success, so that we can provide DSO concertgoers with another full season of free pre-concert lectures!
A couple of weeks back, Salim Nourallah invited me into his Pleasantry Lane Recording Studio for an “artist’s studio tour” for KERA’s Art&Seek. It was nearly 5-years ago that I did the same for Pegasus News. The studio has changed dramatically since then.
I was asked to obtain a copy of the Nourallah Brothers self-titled album, which will go into rotation on Gini Mascorro’s Texas Mix on 91.7 KXT…I uploaded the entire CD and its bonus CD to my laptop prior to handing it over to KXT. I’ve been listening all day and it’s really made me melancholy and wishful that the Nourallah brothers would put their differences aside and come back together to make another record. I think it could be quite brilliant and full of quirky and perhaps dramatic stories about the making of it.
Anyway, the above video was shot and produced by my dear friend Alex Kanakis. I was actually invited to sit in on the planning meeting for the video, but Alex took the ball and ran with it, and a lovely, thoughtful and wonderful video resulted.
Below is the latest studio tour I filmed for KERA/Art&Seek.
I dearly love Salim and his family. In fact, I’d say he’s in the top five of my top five favorite humans on earth. He’s also one of my very very very favorite singer-songwriters.
There’s a very cool intimate concert series that takes place at the Studio by the Lake. Salim will perform on April 3rd, alongside other local greats, Trey Johnson and Ronnie Fauss. It’s a not-to-miss-er…so don’t miss it.
I’ve been laid-up with the “worst case of Rheumatoid Arthritis” my Rheumatologist has “ever seen in her entire career…” as of late, which led to becoming extremely behind at work.
But I’m happy to say that after numerous medications and a series of (ongoing) injections, I’m much better and REALLY excited about the big St. Patrick’s Day party on Greenville tomorrow! I can’t wait!
…not…
…my illness and old age has really magnified my obnoxious sarcasm…burp…
So this 13-year old girl contacts me about getting some booking and promotions advice. Reading through the email, I noted that she did some recording with my beloved Salim Nourallah, which in turn boosted my curiosity.
After checking this kid out, I have one phrase and one phrase only….whooooooolllly craaaaaaap!
It reminded me a little of the first time I heard Maren Morris perform at the ripe old age of about 11 and the first time I heard Sarah Jaffe perform at the ripe old age of about 15. Ya kinda don’t believe these amazing voices are coming out of those little girls.
Anna Thomas has already made somewhat of a name for herself, featured on such indie radio shows as Indies Top 10 and Mevio Radio. Her songs have also graced the charts on Top Ten Pop and Broadjam.
Her voice is mature enough to fool ya into thinking she’s in her 20’s. Her songwriting is good enough to think she’s been writing for decades, not just half a decade. Beautiful voice, beautiful songs.
I’d kill to be able to shoot and edit like the folks at Lucky Rabbit Films. Hell, I’ll probably ask them if I can be their eldest intern (in the history of film) when I move to Austin in the coming years.
The above video is a 2-year old project that captures the band perfectly. It’s a gorgeous piece, rich with great videography and the perfect sounds of Deadman’s music.
I had the great pleasure and honor of doing a Q&A with the great Liz Mikel last week, which is featured today on Art&Seek. Sadly, on January 6, Liz’ condo burned down leaving Liz and her daughter with nothing to salvage. Tucker’s Blues in Deep Ellum is having a weekend-long fundraiser for Liz and her family. Please …join us for 3 great nights of live blues, jazz, R&B and warm welcoming donations to help Liz and her daughter recover from their losses. All information as to attending the show(s) or donating are on the links below.
Tuckers’ Blues is hosting fundraisers for Liz all weekend long, January 8-10. Each night, they’re inviting local singers, musicians and spoken word artists to perform. There will be a $5 cover and they will be giving all proceeds to Liz. They will be also accepting other gifts for Liz throughout each evening, including cash, checks, and gift certificates (made payable to Liz Mikel). We hope you can join us one of these evenings. Show time is around 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday January 8 and 9, and at 7 p.m. on Sunday, January 10.
I got to take a tour of LaGrange in Deep Ellum just a couple of hours before they opened their doors. There are full videos here…and one just as a taste below. Go check out the full tour here.
LaGrange: the opening night musical wrap up. Music courtesy of Slick 57
“Scabby” lost his balls last week. I know it’s wrong on so many levels, but we’ve been posing him as a satellite dish, a martini glass, a plunger and various other things while that stupid thing is attached to his head. No worries. He doesn’t mind. He pretty much adapts to everything in a few secs….
Jason Janik, along with the good folks over at Quick, put together ho…ho…holiday photos of local musicians, personalities and a chef, including Gordon Keith, Tim DeLaughter and the fam, Blythe Beck, Smile Smile and Bowling for Soup, set to a Christmas classic movies theme. You can check out the photos by picking up a copy of Quick, which can be found, like, anywhere. Plus, check out the peek-a-boo videos shot during the photo sessions. Pretty nifty stuff.
