BOOK: Mary Karr @ 192 Books tonight (7/12)

Texan Mary Karr celebrates the paperback release of her 2009 bestseller Lit tonight with a reading at 192 Books at 7PM.

From 192: Please join us in celebrating the paperback release of Lit, named one of the “10 Best Books of 2009” by The New York Times. In Lit, the long-awaited sequel to he bestselling memoirs The Liars’ Club and Cherry, Mary Karr chronicles her descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness, and her astonishing resurrection. A recollection of her struggle to come to terms with her Christian faith after years as an agnostic that explores the relationship between spirituality and substance abuse and depression, Lit is also about getting drunk and getting sober; becoming a mother by letting go of a mother; and learning to write by learning to live.

RIP Jimmy Dean

FROM CNN: Country music artist and sausage entrepreneur Jimmy Dean died at his home in Varina, Virginia, Sunday evening, police said. He was 81.

Dean, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, was with his wife, Donna, at the time of his death, which appears to be from natural causes, said R.J. Clark of the Henrico County Police department.

Musically, Dean is best known for his song "Big Bad John," which made it to No. 1 on both the country and pop charts in 1961 and was honored with a Grammy. His narrative style of song also produced hits like "Little Black Book" and "P.T. 109" -- a song about John F. Kennedy's command in the South Pacific during World War II.

SCOOP: Scout Designs (part 2)

This week, Scout Designs partner Callie Jenschke joins us for part two of the Scout story:

Q: How long have you both been in NYC?

A: I am about to celebrate my 6th year anniversary come May. I am originally from Fredericksburg, Texas, a super quaint little town in the Texas Hill Country. Like Nicki, I thought I would be in NYC for a couple of years, but this place is like a bug that I can't get over!

Q: How has being from the south influenced your design aesthetic (assuming it has)?

A: Well, southerners are not afraid of color. We definitely love to inject pops of color into each project. Also, being nature lovers, we are huge fans of adding texture and natural elements into a space.

Q: Do you have any fave southern (owned, themed, based) shops/restaurants here in NYC?

A: Nicki called it! We love Hill Country BBQ. I grew up eating at Kreuz's in Lockhart, Texas (the inspiration for Hill Country). Whenever I get a pang of home sickness, that place feeds the soul!

Q: What’s one cool place from back home that you miss (place, thing, experience)?

A: I think people from the south have a connection to the land that most north easterners do not. I grew up on a ranch and love the outdoors. I often pine for those big Texas skies and wide open ranges.

Q: Is there anything else about being “southern in the city” that you’d like to comment on?

A: There is an undeniable attraction to other southerners here in this city. I moved here not knowing many friends. But after 6 years, I have seemed to cultivate a plethora of southerners! I just love folks from the south–especially the ones that love NYC as much as me.

For more info, please check out the Scout Designs site.

STAGE: Babel Tower

Now thru tomorrow! (2/2) @ ArcLight Theater:

In BABEL TOWER the year is 1950. The isolated townspeople of Black Kettle, Texas, have come together to construct a mysterious tower. Jack, an ex-high school football star and gas station owner, stands alone as the voice of dissension. When he discovers that the eponymous tower might actually be a Russian missile, we find out how far he will go to save the town.(source)

STAGE: Blind Lemon Blues

Playing now thru October 4: Blind Lemon Blues celebrates the legacy of Blind Lemon Jefferson and his profound influence upon the development of American popular music. Jefferson was a blind street musician, who played his guitar at the corner of Elm Street and Central Avenue in Dallas, Texas, until a Paramount Records scout discovered him. Between 1926 and 1929, Jefferson made more than 80 records and became the biggest-selling country blues singer in America.

Blind Lemon Blues is set in New York City in 1948 at the last recording session of the legendary Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, and combines elements of traditional blues, gospel, rhythm and blues, soul, doo-wop, and rap to evoke the enduring legacy of Blind Lemon and his contemporaries, Blind Willie Johnson, Lillian Glinn, Hattie Hudson, Bobbie Cadillac, Lillian Miller and Lead Belly himself. (source)

SCREEN: Beeswax + director @ Film Forum this weekend

Director Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation) comes to NYC this weekend with his new film, Beeswax.

Beeswax revolves around the personal and professional entanglements of twin sisters Jeannie and Lauren – played by newcomers Tilly and Maggie Hatcher – living in Austin, Texas. Jeannie co-owns a vintage clothing store with Amanda, a semi-estranged friend who she fears is trying to end their partnership. Lauren leads a looser, less tethered existence and is considering getting out of the country altogether. When Jeannie receives an email from Amanda threatening a lawsuit, she calls her law student ex-boyfriend Merrill for help. Eager for distraction from his own problems, he begins helping the sisters with theirs. "Beeswax" is a story about families, friends, lovers and those awkward moments that bring all of them together. (source)

See ANDREW BUJALSKI IN PERSON at Film Forum on Fri (8/7) & Sat (8/8) at the 7:50 & 10pm shows, and Sunday (8/9) at the 3:15 show.

STAGE: Vanities (the musical)

Yeah, I'm pretty much a sucker for anything having to do with Texas cheerleaders...

"Vanities, A New Musical, spans the turbulent ’60s through the late ’80s and explores how important friends are as one faces life’s defining moments: growing up, getting older and getting over it. Vanities is a funny and poignant look at three women who discover that, even in 30 years of rapidly changing times, the one thing they can rely on is each other.

Based on the smash hit that ran for 5 years, Jack Heifner adapts his time-honored play, David Kirshenbaum writes the tunefully evocative score and two time Tony Award winner Judith Ivey directs. Bob Verini of Variety says 'May well outshine the three-decade prominence of Heifner‘s original.'" (source)

Playing thru August 9 @ Second Stage Theatre.

Hmmm...

If you've ever wondered what the countrified version of "Maniac" or "Hot 4 Teacher" would sound like you're in luck. "The 80s Go South" is live tonight (and every Monday) at 8PM at Hill Country Barbecue. FREE!

SCENE: The 22nd Annual Houston (TX) Art Car Parade 5/9

With the 22nd Annual Houston Art Car Weekend fast-approaching (5/8 - 10), parade fixture and Santa Claus Car owner Bryan Taylor reminisces:

Now of course none of this has anything to do with the temperature aspects of Houston, which by the way for New Yorkers itʼs pronounced HU-Ston, not How-ston like you say the name of the street in Manhattan. I am the first one to admit it can get a tad sticky down here with the humidity and all. Shoot, sometimes the humidity is so bad you have to put a screen on your fish tanks or the fish will escape. This piece is entirely about the nifty, keen, eccentric and not as popularly known sides of Houston.

We are not going to talk about the Dome or Johnson Space Center; this is the semi-silly, somewhat sordid underbelly of the city.

Letʼs start with what is still probably my all time favorite place in Houston...The Orange Show. It is humbly located in small neighborhood just south of the main University of Houston Main Campus and only two blocks off the Gulf Freeway.

The Orange Show still stands as not only a testament to what one man can do when he puts his mind to it but its also considered one of the foremost examples of folk art in the nation.

How does one describe the O Show to people? I usually donʼt and just tell them to go see it for themselves. There is no way a person could reasonably describe the place and then have that individual show up and go, "OhYeah, just like I pictured it".

Jeff McKissack a retired Postman began building his monument to the Orange in the 60s and opened it 1979. Dedicated to concepts such as good health and hard work it is also one of those places in Houston that just attracts a certain type of person. Artists, musicians, actors, and activists of all varieties flow in and around and through mixed in the regular Houston visitor who just wants to see whatʼs going on.

The Orange Show Foundation, which oversees the site and manages the upkeep, programs and folk art studies of other sites worldwide, also produces the annual Art Car Parade in Houston which is the first and best and largest of its kind anywhere in the World.

Each year, dozens of altered, sculpted and painted wheeled wonders drive to Houston in May for the largest gathering of art cars anywhere. Over 250 entries will wind their way down the streets of Houston thrilling hundreds of thousands of onlookers and have done so for over 20 years.

I actually recall, 1989, sitting on the hood of my Vega at the corner of Bell and Travis, waiting for my fellow Orange Show staffers to show so we could begin setting up for the very first Parade.
Not much of a success the first year as there was literally fewer viewers than there were in the Parade.

Not so now as it has become a major institution in Houston. Unlike other major cities, our city government supports art cars, the police support art cars, even the local Visitors Bureau promotes art cars.

Oh yeah, I digress, the Orange Show itself. Built out of items Jeff scrounged from demolished building sites and other things he had accumulated, tractor seats, wagon wheels, railroad spikes, tiles and bricks of every shape and size, he began to fashion this amazing multi- level monument extolling the virtues of his favorite food.

There is even a small Museum that shares odd outlooks on the topics of perseverance and determination. "Keep a Kickin', Keep a Kickin' " If you ever make it to Houston you must go see this place. For more information check out their website at www.orangeshow.org

And If you arenʼt doing anything the weekend of May 9th, I really recommend heading our way for the 22nd Annual Art Car Parade. You will be thanking me for the rest of your life.

Thanks for playing,
Rev Bryan Taylor

For more info on the parade check out Houston Art Car Klub and The Orange Show.

(I also just checked Widipedia and yes, Texas is in the South. - Bryan)

SCREEN: American Violet opens in NYC 4/17

Based on true events in the midst of the 2000 election, AMERICAN VIOLET tells the astonishing story of Dee Roberts (critically hailed newcomer Nicole Beharie), a 24 year-old African American single mother of four young girls living in a small Texas town who is barely making ends meet on a waitress’ salary and government subsidies.

On an early November morning while Dee works a shift at the local diner, the powerful local district attorney (Academy Award® nominee Michael O’Keefe) leads an extensive drug bust, sweeping her Arlington Springs housing project with military precision. Police drag Dee from work in handcuffs, dumping her in the squalor of the women’s county prison. Indicted based on the uncorroborated word of a single and dubious police informant facing his own drug charges, Dee soon discovers she has been charged as a drug dealer.

Even though Dee has no prior drug record and no drugs were found on her in the raid or any subsequent searches, she is offered a hellish choice: plead guilty and go home as a convicted felon or remain in prison and fight the charges thus, jeopardizing her custody and risking a long prison sentence.

Despite the urgings of her mother (Academy Award® nominee Alfre Woodard), and with her freedom and the custody of her children at stake, she chooses to fight the district attorney and the unyielding criminal justice system he represents. Joined in an unlikely alliance with an ACLU attorney (Tim Blake Nelson) and former local narcotics officer (Will Patton), Dee risks everything in a battle that forever changes her life and the Texas justice system. AMERICAN VIOLET also stars Emmy Award® winner Charles S. Dutton and Xzibit. (source)

SCENE/ART: The Orange Show/Houston re-opens 3/14

The Orange Show in Houston, TX will be reopening
from its winter restoration on March 14!!

March 14 - Heartworn Highways @ 7PM

Join us as we open The Orange Show for the season with a special concert benefitting Galveston's Old Quarter Acoustic Café Hurricane Ike recovery. Musicians Robert Ellis, Jon Hogan, Matt Harlan, John Evans and Carley Wolf take turns celebrating the lives and works of legendary Texas songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Blaze Foley.

Other season highlights include:

March 27-29 - Volunteer to help make mini-art cars at the Bayou City Art Festival

Saturday, April 11th - 1 - 3 pm - FREE
The Easter Orange Hunt, an Orange Show tradition!
It's an afternoon of fun for kids and families with hidden candied treats and healthy oranges. So bring your basket and run wild through the colorful maze of The Orange Show monument.

May 8-10 - Orange Show Art Car Weekend
(See the Art Car Pages for more information)
May 8 - 9am Main Street Drag
May 8 - 7pm Sneak Peek/Art Car Symposium
May 9 - 9am Best Art Car Line-up EVER
May 9 - 1pm HOUSTON ART CAR PARADE rolls!
May 10 - 11am Art Car Brunch and Awards Ceremony

FILM: TULIA, TEXAS tonight on PBS @ 10PM

"Tulia, Texas" is the story of a small town's search for justice and the price Americans pay for the war on drugs. The film premeieres tonight (2/10) at 10PM on the Emmy Award-winning PBS series, Independent Lens.

On July 23, 1999, undercover narcotics officer Thomas Coleman executed one of the biggest drug stings in Texas history. By the end of the blazing summer day, Coleman and his drug task force had rounded up and arrested dozens of residents of the small farming town of Tulia. Thirty-nine of the 46 people accused of selling drugs to Coleman were African American.

More than 10 percent of Tulia's adult black population was locked up and Tulia newspapers applauded the drug sting, christening Coleman the "lone ranger" and reporting on the accused using headlines such as "Tulia Streets Cleared of Garbage."

When the first defendants stood trial, Tulia juries handed down guilty verdicts with stiff sentences ranging from 20 to 90 years in prison. Many defendants, despite claims of innocence but fearful of a similar fate, accepted plea-bargains for probation or reduced prison time.

Slowly, striking inconsistencies in Coleman's investigatory work from misidentifications of defendants to contradicting dates on his reports and time sheets began to surface and a 2003 hearing, in the same courthouse where the Tulia defendants had been tried and convicted years before, ensued. Presiding Judge Ron Chapman concluded Coleman "was the most devious, non-responsive law enforcement witness this court witnesses in 25 years on the bench in Texas." Prosecutors immediately pursued felony perjury charges against Coleman.

In August 2003, Texas Governor Rick Perry pardoned all the convicted Tulia defendants. A civil lawsuit resulted in a multi-county $6 million settlement and was shared among the defendants and their attorneys. Coleman was found guilty of aggravated perjury, receiving ten years probation and a felony charge that bars him from ever working in law enforcement again.

SCENE/ART: UPCOMING SOUTHERN ARTS FESTIVALS

Coles Corner Image

The South nabs half the spots on American Style Magazine’s readers’ poll of the top arts festivals in the county (Feb 09 issue, out now):

Kentucky Crafted: The Market Louisville, Ky.

Kentucky Crafted: The Market is something of a hybrid show. The first two days are only open to the trade. Once the weekend hits, the show opens to the public, who turn out en masse to purchase work made exclusively by Kentucky artisans. “It’s well-stocked with a variety of talented artists,” explains attendee Jennifer Escobar of Berea, Ky. “The entertainment is high quality, the city is lovely, and the food is excellent!” Kentucky Crafted: The Market reopens to the public Feb. 21-22 at the Kentucky Exposition Center. For details, visit www.artscouncil.ky.gov.

Bayou City Art Festival Houston, Texas

“The weather is always great, the music is always great, and the art is always great!” says reader Danielle Foulkrod-Chema of Pearland, Texas. The Bayou City Art Festival, held biannually in Houston, seems to be blessed with good weather; many of its supporters specifically mentioned it as a highlight of the festival. Food, atmosphere and children’s activities also earned raves, but the art is what makes this festival a perennial reader favorite. The Bayou City Art Festival returns to Memorial Park March 27-29 and will surround City Hall Oct. 10-11. To learn more, visit www.bayoucityartfestival.com.

St. James Court Art Show Louisville, Ky.

With a backdrop of historic homes almost as picturesque as the art on display, the St. James Court Art Show is among the largest in the country, with 750 juried exhibitors. “The vendors and visitors come from all over the U.S., and you have such a mix of wonderful items to view and purchase,” enthuses local resident Donna Wallace. The festival has grown significantly since its 1957 inception as a clothesline exhibition, and is still produced by a group of five nonprofits. The show returns Oct. 2-4. To learn more, visit www.stjamescourtartshow.com.

Francisco’s Farm Arts Festival at Midway College Midway, Ky.

Another festival earning accolades for its idyllic setting is the still-young Francisco’s Farm Arts Festival, held on the campus of Midway College in Midway, Ky., a 205-acre working farm. “Francisco’s Farm is an outstanding art festival drawing artists and craftspeople from several states,” says supporter Jane Vancee of Versailles, Ky. “It is held in a beautiful setting … as pretty as any place in England!” The fifth annual event takes place June 27-28 in the heart of Kentucky horse country with more than 150 artists working in all mediums. Visit www.franciscosfarm.org for information

Kentuck Festival of the Arts Northport, Ala.

“I make a pilgrimage to Kentuck every year because I am guaranteed to find amazing work, and ninety-five percent of the time I get to meet the artist who created it,” says Ashley Day of Brooklyn, N.Y. “The quality is consistently outstanding.” Few other shows in the top 10 received so many votes from out-of-towners, singling this fair out as a particularly special event. With more than 300 artists in a wooded park, the festival features a wide range of work, from contemporary craft to folk and outsider art. The festival returns Oct. 17-18. For more information, visit www.kentuck.org.

BOOK/SCENE: Yankee Go Home!

In the spirit of the harrowing Appalshop film, Stranger With a Camera, Edra Ziesk's new novel, Trespasser, "captures the struggle of one small community in Kentucky when it is visited by a photographer from New York."

Ziesk is joined by North Carolina author Kate Blackwell at McNally Jackson Booksellers in Soho tonight (1/27) @ 7PM. The reading is part of McNally Jackson's Indie Press Series which honors the work of small independent publishers. Ziesk and Blackwell are published by Southern Methodist University Press. Founded in 1937 in Dallas, it's the oldest UP in TX.

BOOK: Holy Roller by Diane Wilson

In this rollicking memoir, Diane Wilson—a fourth generation Texas Gulf Coast shrimper and the author of the highly acclaimed An Unreasonable Woman—takes readers back to her childhood in rural Texas and into her family of Holy Rollers. By night at tent revivals, Wilson gets religion from Brother Dynamite, an ex-con who finds Jesus in a baloney sandwich and handles masses of squirming poisonous snakes under the protection of the Holy Ghost. By day, Wilson scratches secret messages to Jesus into the paint on her windowsill and lies down in the middle of the road to see how long she can sleep in between passing trucks.

Holy Roller is a fast-paced, hilarious, sometimes shocking experience readers won’t soon forget. It is the prequel to Wilson’s first book, telling the story of the Texas childhood of a fierce little girl who will grow up to become An Unreasonable Woman, take on Big Industry, and win. One of the best Southern writers of her generation, Wilson’s voice twangs with a style and accent all its own, as true and individual as her boundless originality and wild youth. (source)

STAGE: Dividing The Estate

Texas playwrite Horton Foote has a good old family drama brewing this holiday season at the Booth Theatre on Broadway:

The eternally spry Horton Foote does a nimble Texas two-step in Dividing the Estate. Half the play is a leisurely, courtly, astutely observed portrait of cultural and generational change; the other half is a quick, lively comedy of manners and manors in decline. (source)

"Foote, whose upbringing in a small Texas town during the Depression shaped his enduring world view, is certainly not oblivious to the cruel things people can do to one another. He is keenly aware of the failures and frustrations that are the norms in life, and of the sheer pettiness that can be the only revenge of unhappy people. But in a world that more often than not can be cold, cruel and unforgiving, Foote also shows us how human beings can prevail in little acts of kindness, huge efforts of determination and will, and the magical healing powers (and coincident pain) of memory."--Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

In the dark comedy Dividing the Estate, matriarch Stella Gordon is dead set against the parceling out of her clan's land despite the financial woes brought on by the oil bust of the 1980s. In the course of the play, the power of petty self-interest and long-held resentments makes even painful compromise an elusive goal. Widely acclaimed in a 2007 production at Primary Stages, the play will run at the Booth Theatre on Broadway until January 4, 2009. (source)