Tim Mcdiarmid and Peter Zubiate have brought to life something quite magical with The Special Projects Socials. Peter designed and built the brilliant tables and benches that offer enough space for the delectable dishes that Tim serves up, yet, he built and designed them with the idea of closeness, conversation and intimacy in mind.

I watched, witnessed and experienced a few dozen folks enjoying food, old friends, new found friends and beautiful conversation last night, all at the gorgeously constructed Zubiate tables and benches, and all over the divine TimTheGirl.com cuisine.

Some of the best of San Antonio were in attendance last night…but why read my ramblin’s…just watch below…

One of the best times of my life, start to finish. I shot. He talked. “We” (meaning mostly he) edited. Janik=Genius on so many levels.

Art&Seek, my favorite place to be…just launched an absolutely fabulous new site just in time for their 2-year anniversary. Alan Melson deserves the medal of A&S….Check it out every single day.

Saturday, April 3
1919 Hemphill in Fort Worth
DFW Punk – a documentary about Dallas punk and new wave in the 80′s and 90′s by Laura Tabor-Huerta
Doors at 7 – Show at 8 p.m.
Read my Q&A with Laura on Art&Seek

Thursday, April 15
Magnolia Gallery in Dallas
The End of the Beginning – An Exhibit by Photographer Dylan Hollingsworth

Just another reason I freakin’ love my job…I get to hang wit’ people like Allan Hayslip. This dude is the real deal…I love him. He shall be mine….

Catch Allan and his rockin’ band, Bonedome at the Kessler Theater on April 8.

…this is now!

Bonus cut…

It’s time…

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

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.

LaGrange: the opening night musical wrap up. Music courtesy of Slick 57

Art&Seek Artist Studio Tour with ArtCon5 Artist Jason Janik

Art&Seek Artist Studio Tour with ArtCon5 Artists Tom Sale and Judy Vetter aka The Tom and Judy Show

Art&Seek Artist Studio Tour with ArtCon5 Artist VET

Art&Seek Artist Studio Tour with ArtCon5 Artists (and artist coordinators) Vanessa Neil and Kevin Obregon

Art&Seek Artist Studio Tour with ArtCon5 Artist Jason Ice

ArtCon 5 – The Day Before – The artists gather to make their art – 9 a.m., Friday December 11

ArtCon 5 – The Day Before – The artists gather to make their art -2 p.m., Friday December 11

ArtCon 5 – Art&Seek was there and they brought glitter, glue sticks and lots of crayons!

Big ups to Tiffany Kieran and Tyler Watson for helping with video and interviews. Lots’o'fun

If you are lookin’ for me, I’m over here…

Shot this for Art&Seek and it still ranks about #1 on anything I’ve ever shot, video-wise….I love Becky and Bill and I love this video of them rehashing….

Yeah, so I know I’ve been all up in the KXT 91.7 launch, but wherever Reid Robinson and Rawlins Gilliland go…I follow. Nuff said.

Tuesday, November 10th
KNON 89.3 FM
Sonic Assembly Power Hour with Hosts Reid Robinson & Allison Gordon
Writer and commentator Rawlins Gilliland will be the guest DJ tonight! He’ll be playing his favorite Latin music choices spanning 50 years, many forms, and several countries. El Grande Combo, Elaine Elias, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and many more…

Whew! KXT 91.7 launched this morning and it’s absolutely music to my ears…literally. It feels like Austin up in here. It’s so fun over-hearing folks ’round KERA talk about Sarah Jaffe and The O’s and all things local and regional. It’s a historic day for the DdFW airwaves…drink it up like a fine wine…hiccup…you don’t even have to get up—listen live from right where you be.

In-studio performances all this week, include Sarah Jaffe, The O’s, Rhett Miller, Little Black Dress and lots more! Check it out here.

Last year…

2009 Promo:

2009 Pre-show interviews:

Tom Currie if Nomad Arts

Mike Crum – M.P.C. Productions

Bri Crum – Art of Skateboarding Chairperson

Saturday, November 7th 2009
South Side on Lamar (Janette Kennedy Gallery)
1409 S. Lamar – Dallas, TX 75215 Tickets/more info at available @ www.theartofskateboarding.org

More Dave Little? Hell yeah!

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?

Well kiddies, I’ve somehow managed to land a real job with my beloved KERA-Art&Seek. Lemme hip you to a few things. Fer one, they are fantastically dedicated to the arts/music/culture communities over there on Harry Hines Blvd. These here are some very very very good folks. They make it really simple to promote your events, but you gotta do a little bit of work yourselves…oh, wipe that look off’o'yo’ face. Just a teeny bit of work on your part.

I’m going to make this really easy on ya…go here and submit your “organization” (which can be your venue, your group, your church, your association, your store, your whatever). There it shall remain forever, unless you want to make changes and you just gotta let us know by clicking on the “Update Page” link on your profile page.

Next, and this is really the easy part, you go here to submit your events (like your shows or exhibits or concerts or acting gigs or whatever). That’s it. It’s my job to take care of the rest.

It’s all free of charge. And there are perks, too. Lots of those great events get featured on the site, and some of ‘em even get featured on Gini Mascorro’s radio feature on KERA Radio.

Help us. Help you. Come on over and play, we’re having a splendid time!

PS – this round of Track by Track is fantastic. Paul put together a sampler podcast this time and it’s brilliantly fabulous. It includes some Bosque Brown, Danny Balis, Doug Burr, Rhett Miller, Robert Gomez, Telegraph Canyon and Trey Johnson. It’s so freakin’ great, go listen. NOW!

Above is part of the Art of the Secret Society and paintings by Michel Nedjar
August 23 – November 8

Art & Seek’s Jerome Weeks is running a lovely story about the Webb Gallery in Waxahachie. I’ve been a longtime, long-distance fan of that joint and Jerome’s piece makes me wanna suck-it-up and make the drive to see this place in person….

…The Webb Gallery specializes in this kind of thing, the funky and the visionary: folk art, outsider art, backwoods Americana, art from self-taught painters and prophets. As collectors, Bruce Webb says that he and his wife Julie are “flea-market trained.” The two native Texans enjoy driving cross-country to scout for things like hand-painted carnival banners from the 1940s, banners hawking freakshow acts like the man with “Two Noses” or “Creation: The World’s Most Amazing Attraction (Children Under 16 Not Admitted).” The Webbs have been doing this for 25 years…Read it all

Click here to read it, baby!

Below is another (of the ongoing) videos in the “Resurrecting the Kessler” videos shot by Jeff Liles. Being former band-geek and drummer, I particularly love this video. It’s a bunch of the kids from Kessler co-owner Lisa Cabaniss’ dance studio drumming with the great Mitch Marine (think Smashmouth, Tripping Daisy, Andy Timmons, Dwight Yoakam)…wicked-awesomeness cubed…

Zac Crain. My love for you has renewed, yet again. Not that it ever left, but it needed a little dusting off.

Zac wrote a simply splendid story on my beloved Bill Wisener and his sorta-kinda-but-not-really-new location over on Lamar for D Magazine and it’s a must-read. No excuses. Stop what you are doing and read it.

Walking into Bill’s Records on a July afternoon gives me the same feeling, I imagine, that people who grew up in Rust Belt towns get when they return home for a visit. It’s a soft punch to the heart, a mixture of guilt and sadness. I hadn’t been to Bill’s in maybe five years, probably more, so I didn’t see its slow slide into near obsolescence at its old super-sized North Dallas location. And I had yet to see its small-scale rebirth in The Cedars, snuggled up next to Poor David’s Pub, in the shadow of the Southside on Lamar loft complex.

Owner Bill Wisener is right where I left him all those years ago, sitting behind the counter near the front door, clad in his uniform of jeans and faded polo shirt. But apart from the young employee lurking near the counter, I am the only other person here, a head count that would have been impossibly small on a sunny summer Friday a decade ago. Back then, and for much of the two decades prior to that, Bill’s Records was sort of a musical clubhouse. It had the best records, and so it attracted the best employees, and the best customers, too. The aisles were choked with people thumbing through cardboard boxes, and the air was thick with debates over this band or that album and more than a little cigarette smoke. Bill’s Records was High Fidelity, but it was even better. It was the only place I wanted to be on a Friday afternoon…READ IT!

I’ve been a stones-throw from the old location on Spring Valley most of my life. I spent time there as a kid, but even more time there over the last decade. I worked for KHYI 95.3 The Range for awhile a few years back, and was front and center at every showcase they hosted on Friday afternoons. And while I have done some live video streaming at the new location (Erykah Badu’s CD Release to name one), I haven’t really spent time there visiting with Bill, as I should have done. Shame on me.

I love that man. I love his quirks, his personality, his genuine love for artists, music, vinyl and his customers. I’m going to visit him this week and thank him for all he’s done to keep me happy.

Thanks for the story Zac. You made my month…

PS – Bill’s Records still hosts the KHYI showcase every Saturday afternoon. Just log on to KHYI.com for more information and line-ups.

What graces the cover of this week’s Quick? Perfectly splendid angels, that’s who…

Hunter Hauk writes..

Summer Ames, Camille Cortinas and Becky Middleton have all found loyal fans in Dallas, without the benefit of constant blog buzz or headlining gigs at high-profile venues. But it’s time more folks found out about these talented singer-songwriters…READ IT ALL!

If you haven’t checked-out each and every one of these extremely talented young artists, then you need to rectify that post haste. M’kay?

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