So here’s what happened…the boychild saved up a good deal of cash cuz he wanted to purchase a Pug. One Saturday, several weeks back, he set off to Rockwall to meet with a potential new pup’s owner/seller. He returned home with…well…supposedly this pooch is half chihuahua and half pekingnese…and he had this circular scab from where he’d scratched himself due to an enormous amount of fleas…sigh. So I called him “Scabby” straight out of the chute, and Scabby has stuck…the fleas, however, are gone.
My sister is a really talented pooch photographer, and she gave me this beauty this morning. I give you…Scabby…oh…and ironically, I’ve recently been referring to Scabby as “Boo” Very fitting…
If you are interested in film and video, then you might like to know that the 27th Annual Videofest is just about a week or so away. Click for details. Bart Weiss, director of the Video Association of Dallas, wrote a nice little piece on Art&Seek and I think you should read it…m’kaaaaay…
…This year for the festival I tried something completely different. A few years ago I met with a young filmmaker named Ryan Kline and was very impressed. He had a great attitude and was very ambitious for a kid. (When I first met him he was too young to drive.) I then saw him at the workshops in Maine, where I teach teachers in the summer. He was taking an intensive film (as in not video) workshop. So I thought, why not have him do the intro? It was a bit of a risk, but I was really happy to try it. Ryan needed help, and we got lots of help. Bill Schwartz, one of Dallas’ best directors of photography, agreed to shoot it. And he did way more than shoot it – he arranged for so many people and so much equipment it was amazing. For those who this means something to, it was shot on the Red camera. As we moved along, Bill was impressed with Ryan’s talent and his ability to know what he wanted (something not all directors have).
Quickly this shoot got big, with a crew of about 20, a nice cast and way too much for Bill and Ryan to produce by themselves. So I called Amy Lou Abernathy at AMP Productions, who put Mariana Denke on it, who did a great job. Steve Franko did color correction, Post Asylum edited it and James Neel did the music…READ THE REST.
The, absolutely delightful and charming journalist/director/producer, Sujata Dand, followed five teenaged girls for a year, documenting their love lives, or lack thereof. The result is a wonderfully candid documentary, Boyfriends. This exceptionally well-done documentary had one heck of an award-winning team. The film was directed by Sujata Dand, produced and edited by Linda Stogner, and Rick Thompson served as exective producer.
Boyfriends is a gut-wrenching look inside the lives of these five girls, examining their thoughts, dreams, goals, heartaches and triumphs. As a mother of a 20-year old girl, myself, I’d like to go on record by saying that this documentary is a must-see for every single teenager (and those tweens too) in the country.
Sujata and crew did a magnificent job of really capturing the heart and soul of these precious young women. I felt a true sense of intimacy, caring and even adoration for the girls and their families.
You can watch the video here (including lots of bonus footage), or watch the debut tonight at 9 p.m., on KERA-TV. Oh, and watch it with your age appropriate kiddos…they’ll most likely thank you someday for doing so…
Be sure to tune in to Good Morning Texas tomorrow, Thursday, October 29th, when Dave takes over the show…should be a fun romp with Dave and Rob trading comedic genius..ness..ness…have I mentioned how much I love Dave Little?
So I finally caught up with my BFF Sarah Crisman yesterday at the Taste of Greenville Avenue. I shoved her in front of the mic to chat-it-up with Dave Little…and…accidentally knocked the mic out…sigh.
“Deep Ellum has a ways to go before achieving glory akin to its heyday. But the reopening of rock venue Trees …as well as the draw of hip-hop acts to the Lounge on Elm St. go a long way to help. Art destinations such as Kettle Art and the gleaming new Traveling Man sculptures, as well as the Deep Ellum DART station are also promising developments in the neighborhood’s evolution.”
Other notable picks: the Granada, the Double-Wide, Jack’s Backyard, Adair’s, Good Records, Lee Harvey’s, the Fallout Lounge, and lots more, including a great spread on The Naptime Shake’s debut album, Blood and Panic.
Boo! Kettle Art Gallery presents: Creepshow. It’s a group show featuring unique masks, photos and other paintings pertaining to All Hallows Eve.
This shindig opens tomorrow night and should make for a horror of a time. Get it? Horror…cuz it’s scary.
My boss, along with several other artsy types poured over 420 images at Kettle Art Gallery this week, and narrowed them down to 55 lucky artists who will participate in an upcoming show. I hear-tell that there are some familiar faces in the lot, and several new faces as well.
The unveiling party is on Friday, November 6th at, where else, Kettle Art Gallery.
PAC–What? The Professional Artist Coalition is a flash mob action creating a bright public yellow signal for health care reform. A first for Dallas, and this cause.
PAC-Who? The North Texas art community. This includes thousands of citizens daily engaged in the visual, performing, literary, media, and commercial arts.
PAC-WHERE?Morton Meyerson Symphony Hall – convene under the di Suvero Sculpture ‘Proverb/ Pendulum for preparation of happening.
PAC-HOW? Show up and bring your friend, your coffee and donuts. Nothing will be sold at this event.
~Arrive by 11 a.m.
~Obtain a yellow pancho from distributor (suggested $2.00 donation)
~Choose your preference colored dot to represent your health care view.
~Choose your insignia logo identifying your artistic medium.
PAC-WHY? Because artists of any kind stand with the American people to demand a change to the status quo of a broken health care system. Because artists are unique victims of the health care status quo. Most are independent contractors, uninsured or underinsured. Because artists are fed up with other PAC’s (Political Action Committees) funded by insurance and drug companies that are fighting to care for profits instead of health. Because the North Texas art community realizes that at the very moment that Dallas is celebrating its new PAC (Performing Arts Center), with architects and programming imported from elsewhere, it has no plan to sustain its own creative community. Because artists have been silent and invisible for too long when it comes to the health and care of our society. PAC WE – The Origin of the Concept PAC MAN is a sign of consumption. We often consume health care and culture without thinking about its wider context. We don’t ask why healthcare costs so much or why so many are left without it. We also don’t ask about the livelihoods and healthcare of the artists that are seen as culture providers.
The new job is really amazing. I’ve done things totally out of my box, and have had some wonderful experiences thus far.
This past weekend, I tagged Tiffany Kieran, and we headed down to brave the crowds at the Dallas Arts District’s open-house. We had wine. We had cheese. We had cameras.
Check it here. Also, the real KERA/Art&Seek professional videographer got some really lovely footage here.
I love Sunday mornings. Church? Nope. Big fancy breakfast? Nope. Cleaning and tidying up for the coming week? Nope.
It’s that grand time when the dogs are parked on my tummy, I’m parked on the sofa, and the Food Network is on the tube. I can’t cook. Literally. Ask my kids. No matter how close I stick to recipes, nor how hard I try, I just can’t seem to crank out a decent meal. I’ve actually made myself physically sick from eating my own food concoctions. It’s quite pathetic.
Yeah. I know I’m on the fast track to becoming a really old, really bitter, really cynical, really crabby old woman. But, really? I had to spend a bit of time in “Uptown” today and a bit of time in Downtown Dallas today and the only words that kept shrieking from my mouth was, “TOOLS!!!!” “DOUCHEBAGS!!!!” “DUMBASSES!!!” “WTF YOU MUTHA-EFFIN ASSHOLES!!!”
I hate Texas/OU weekend…with every inch of my cold hard heart….
Yo, so I been real caught-up in my new gig and haven’t had a millisecond to tell yawls to be sure and check out Quick’s Red River Rap Battle, 2009. As usual, Pikahsso and Tahiti are brilliant and they gotsdis kid, VohnBeatz, who almost steals the show.
The Deep Ellum Sustainablity Council invites you to participate in our kick-off meeting. Please join us at Healthcare Art Consulting (2910 E. Commerce) tonight, October 14th from 6-8 p.m. to hear a presentation of all the future project ideas we are putting into action in Deep Ellum over the next couple of years. After the presentation, we will call for volunteers to lead and participate in committees to launch these projects.
This event is open to anyone interested in transforming Deep Ellum into the most sustainable neighborhood in Dallas. We are looking for support and participation from: students, green novices, artists, corporate sponsors, real estate professionals, sustainability professionals, local business owners, gardeners, architects, engineers and anyone with interest in supporting Deep Ellum.
Below is a list of projects we are exploring:
~Green Alleyways
~Building Renovation Task Force
~Center for Green Technologies
~Green Roof Tops
~Green Parking Lots
~Community Gardens
~Carbon Off-Set Fund
Just a little over a year ago, the divine Rich Lopez and I had a sit-down with Paul J. Williams over at Hal Samples crib and had ourselves a time….Click below darlings…
Sunday, October 25th KD Studio Theater
Mental: An Evening of Homo-Neurotic Comedy
Starring Paul J. Williams and author Eddie Sarfaty
7:30 p.m.
Purchase Tickets
Fans can begin asking questions now by replying to A&E Home Entertainment’s Twitter account at AEHomeEnt with a question and the hash-tag #MickeyRaphael. They will be collecting questions which he will answer from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Born and raised in the Lone Star State of Dallas Texas, Mickey Raphael’s career as Willie Nelson’s Harmonica player has spanned almost three decades. His intelligent playing style has become a hallmark of Nelson’s crossover sound, earning him a large audience worldwide.
As a teenager, Raphael gravitated toward the Dallas folk music scene and fell under the spell of legendary harmonica great Don Brooks. “I went to this little coffee house one night and saw him playing and it just impressed me so much,” Raphael recalls. “He had moved to New York and was kind of a legend around Dallas. He sat me down one night after a show and showed me this little lick that went all the way up and down the harmonica, just a little pattern. Right away I just jumped about twenty steps from the little I already knew about the harp.”
Raphael eventually joined singer B.W. Stevenson’s band. One of his most enthusiastic boosters was University of Texas Football coach Darrell Royal, a passionate fan of country music.
One night in 1973, Royal invited Raphael to a post-game party in a Dallas hotel room and asked him to bring along his harps. The resulting informal jam session included Charley Pride and Willie Nelson, who passed around a guitar and took turns singing.
PAC-WHERE? 
