Summer Fest Commercial #2

FREE PRESS SUMMER FEST COMMERCIAL from mark armes on Vimeo.

Summer Fest TV Commerical

FPH SummerFest 30sec. television commercial from Osker Koronado on Vimeo.

In Search of Marco Ferreri

If Marco Ferreri didn't make films there would be a black hole in cinema history.
Ferreri is likened to directors like Fassbinder or Pasolini or Bunuel and some could even cull up the name of David Lynch, but in a sense that's grasping at straws to associate one director with another because they all use elements of surrealism. One thing for certain is that if there's a cutting edge theme somebody thinks has just come out chances are that Ferreri did it long ago.
For instance Steven Soderbergh uses a porn star in his latest The Girlfriend Experience but Ferreri used Abigail Clayton opposite Gerard Depardieu in Bye Bye Monkey (1978). Bye Bye Monkey starts with Depardieu getting raped by a gang of women in his theatrical troupe. The sex is graphic and the setting is not so much post apocalyptic as future shock. The indelible image of the carcass of King Kong lying on the beach in Manhattan with the twin towers of the newly built World Trade Center is simply cinema architecture supreme. Certainly nobody could have foreseen how this image would play out over 30 years later. (continued)

Award winning illustrator to showcase at The Record Ranch

Get up close and personal with many of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century at the Face the Music exhibition to open at The Record Ranch Gallery inside Cactus Music, 2110 Portsmouth, on August 1st. Award winning illustrator, Robin Kachantones, will be featuring her portraits of famous musicians past and present; including ones of groundbreaking female rockers Patti Smith, Deborah Harry, Annie Lennox and Tina Turner. A series of prints featuring Texas blues legends Blind Lemon Jefferson, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddie King is included as well as work by pioneer rockers such as Iggy Pop, Jimi Hendrix and more.

A reception with the artist, which is open to the public, will be held from 7 – 10 p.m. on Saturday, August 1st. The evening also will include a special live musical performance and a live Rockabilly DJ session by Clint Broussard of KTRU’s Blues in Hi-Fi. Refreshments will be provided by The St. Arnold Brewing Company.

The exhibition is free and runs through October, 2009.

READ ON>>>>>

The Arts at Summer Fest

Distinguishing tastes prevail in cooler climes, but in the thick, humid air of Houston no filter adequately separates the good from the bad, the new from the old, and the kitsch from the art. Fearful of the smell in their armpits and the vines growing in through their windows, arbiters of taste leave the city in droves during the summer, leaving Houston to the rats, the bats and the armadillos. For decades the summer has been a time to celebrate the undercarriage of art in Houston, the rough-and-tumble makers of all things expressionist and unwieldy. We invite you to experience the flavor of the warehouse shows and alleyway installations that mark Houston’s brutal summer in the midst of an all-new phenomenon, an actual summer music festival.

With public and performance art ROAR will work with the environment, the people the park and the heat. Michael Rodriguez seeks to anthropomorphize the world, and here at Summerfest will bring life to the park in his simple, humorous style. Woody Golden’s 24 foot hive will rise out of the crowd, providing a meditative space in the midst of madness. The Performance Art Lab will be out in full force, ambushing unsuspecting passersby with whimsy or terror. Always able to dominate spaces with his scrap and wood sculptures, Patrick Renner will be out with a new installation work specific to Eleanor Tinsley Park. Sisyphean questions about man and technology will not be answered, but thoroughly, exhaustively probed by the collaborative team of Frank Olsen and Johnny DiBlasi. Jonatan Lopez, a summer resident at Project Row Houses, will tear himself away from his site-specific installations to bring his innovative metalwork to the public. Graff king Skeez 181 and his buds will be out enjoying the scenery, painting large works all day. Look to the trees for Daniel Adame, where you may find the artist performing one of his physically exhausting pieces. Nancy Douthey brings her emotional performance art back from the West, where she recently wrapped up a tour of famous Land Art and tourist havens documented on the blog In Search Of the Center. Look for more artists being added in the interim, as we aim to adulterate your concert experience with the weird, wacky and wild art of Houston’s emerging scene.

Daniel Adame

Nancy Douthey

DumpTruck

Woody Golden

Cody Ledvina

Jonatan Lopez

Frank Olson and Johnny DiBlasi

Performance Art Lab

Patrick Renner

Michael Rodriguez

Skeez 181

23rd Annual Watermelon Festival this Saturday at Last Concert Cafe

Keep cool this Saturday at the 23rd Annual Watermelon Dance and Summer Social at the fantastic and most excellent Last Concert Cafe. This yearly tradition will feature ten musical acts on two stages, belly dancers, arts and crafts vendors, tasty Mexican food, refreshing drinks and ice-cold Texas watermelon. And, of course, it is all for the benefit of KPFT 90.1 FM.

Dawn Fudge, owner of Last Concert Cafe, began the festival in 1986 to unite the community through the love of good music and good food. Since then, it has grown in to a fundraiser for non-profit community radio station KPFT 90.1 Pacifica Radio. KPFT is a major supporter of the local music scene in Houston, regularly airing live performances and interviews of local entertainers.

This year the featured performers will be David Fahl, Blue Threads, One Eyed Doll, Opie Hendrix, Los Vertigos, Charels and the 10%, PLUMP, Live Oak Decline, the Hightailers and Potroast. The diverse line up alone will attract a wondrous and varied clientele. The festival will be happening this Saturday, July 25th, from 4 PM to 2 AM at Last Concert Cafe, located at 1403 Nance St., Houston, TX 77002.Admission will be $15, $20 for couples, and kids under 10 will be let in free. Children will be welcome until midnight.


Come beat the heat at the refreshing Watermelon Dance and Summer Social at Last Concert Cafe!
1403 Nance St., Houston, TX 77002

I Love You to Death

Change it!
Manipulate it!
Stretch it!
Reedit it!
Never be satisfied!

“The media is no longer the message, it is how you manage your media diet that defines you today.”
Magsamen + Hillerbrand

Please stop by space125gallery to see the new video channel added to Mary and Stephan’s video installation “I love you to death” which is part of the group show “Interconnectivity”.

space125gallery
3201 Allen Parkway, Houston, Texas 77019
Open M-F, 10:00am to 4:00pm
July 9 – August 14, 2009

Sedition Books Birthday Party 7/19

Sedition Books will be celebrating it's first birthday at it's new Richmond location. The day's events are thus planned:

Noon-6:30 - Tent Sale, free snacks & refreshments

6:30pm - Vegan BBQ!

8pm - Dance Party feat. Urbane Guerrilla Sound System

Come celebrate with Sedition Books and all the people who have poured their sweat in to keeping the doors open! Sedition Books is located at 901 Richmond Avenue
Houston, TX 77006.

What do you want from the next Mayor of Houston?

Join the Houston Area Table and the entire non-profit community for a happy hour as we ask: What do you want to see from the next Mayor of Houston?

We want to hear from you! Five questions will be selected for our Mayoral Candidates’ Forum on August 18th. Various methods will be available for you to submit written or recorded questions, including video, twitter wall, and voting. If your organization is interested in joining our ever growing host committee list for the forum, please contact us at houstonareatable@gmail.com

The Houston area Table is a collaborative of non profits, labor groups, activists and concerned citizens, we meet once a month to net work and discuss different topics and issues affecting the not for profit community. A diverse group of Organizations that work to improve and strengthen communities through multiple areas of social work and activism are represented. If you are not currently employed with a non profit, by choice or otherwise, we welcome you to attend.

Please note HAT meets on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 12:00, this schedule will resume in August for the forum. If you wish to submit questions for the forum or for more info, e mail houstonareatable@gmail.com or call Dee at 713-782-8833.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Mango's
403 Westheimer Rd

FINALLY! Buxton's 7" arrives tomorrow!!!

We're pretty excited about tomorrow nights Buxton 7" release show at Mangos. So much so that we asked them a few questions about their new release and posted in the music blog. You can read the article here (Link)

B L A C K I E in Brooklyn at Afropunk Festival

B L A C K I E - In Brooklyn, NY at the Afro Punk Festival from Christopher Patterson on Vimeo.

Nasty Pictures: Twisted Film from Houston Artists

Saturday, July 11 is Free Film Night at Frenetic Theater, 5102 Navigation Blvd, Houston. Sean Morrissey Carroll has curated Nasty Pictures: Twisted film from Houston artists...

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Chase Hamblin at Cactus Music July 10th

This Friday Chase Hamblin and his band will be performing live at Cactus Music to promote the release of his new EP A Fine Time. There will be no cover, free refreshments provided by Saint Arnold's beer, and A Fine Time will be on discount. Cactus does a great service for bands and fans by having free in-store performances. They are always a good time! Cactus music is located at 2110 Portsmouth, Chase Hamblin and the band will be performing at 5:30.

5 Things I Want From the Next Mayor of Houston

by Jay Crossley

1. Better transportation planning
2. Emphasis on sidewalks
3. Return general mobility funding to METRO
4. RSS feeds
5. The mayor needs to read the Free Press Houston

On November 3, 2009, you will vote for your pick for the next Mayor of Houston. This person will guide the city for the next two to six crucial years in our region’s development into a major global metropolitan region for the 21st Century. Because our city is so young, we have the opportunity to do many things right, to build a city of the future as we grow instead of retrofitting the city of the past. Also, as Dr. Stephen Klineberg at Rice University so eloquently says, we are a microcosm of what America will look like at the middle of the 21st Century, a racial and ethnic (and sexual and political) melting pot. He believes that how we learn to live together and to prosper from our diversity will be a test bed of how the nation changes over the coming decades.

READ ON>>>>>

West Fest Revisited: Houston Photographer releases book chronicling the historic Houston festival

By Shiraz Ahmed
Photos By Charles Tatum

A complete, unbiased account of the history of our city cannot be written with out the inclusion of West Fest, or its' latest incarnation, the Westheimer Block Party. The infamous music-and-art street festival that dominated Montrose twice a year began as an offshoot of the diverse-bohemian-alternative community that called the neighborhood home in the early 70's, and evolved in to what can only be called one of the largest, most exciting street festivals to have ever occurred in Houston. Local, self-taught photographer Charles Tatum II began attending and chronicling West Fest in the mid-nineties and continued through today capturing images at the most recent Westheimer Block Party. Last month he released his first solo-book project, "West Fest: Portrait of a Street Festival," containing over 400 full-color photos featuring the wildness and quirkiness that makes up Westheimer.
“West Fest is a great people-watching event, and four days a year (originally) and two days a year now, folks can come out and see their neighbors,” commented Tatum. “It's a big party, a big celebration.” The book certainly shows the spirit of Montrose and the wilder days of the festival, what Tatum refers to as the “vintage” West Fest photos. Flipping through, these images stand as hallmarks of the old days: a drag queen dressed as Tina Turner, a Pee Wee Herman impersonator, a man balancing a flaming chair on top of his head. “I wanted to create something to bring some of that wild Montrose spirit back to the fore - when high-dollar town homes started moving in, Montrose became a little more bland. I want to see more chicks in leopard-skin clothes. I want to see more spiked green hair.”
The book is a testimony to Tatum’s own talent as much as it is to the festival. Published through Blurb Publishers, Tatum was in complete control of every aspect of the book start to finish. “Everything you see in the book – the cover design, the commentaries, the layouts, the type selection, reviews of hundreds of photos, everything – all that is my work.” The evolution of Tatum’s book from film to final print is to be admired as an artist forging his own path in the world. The collection started out as just “a bunch of photos I took because I was having fun capturing all this wild, wacky color on film.” Long before Facebook and Myspace existed, amateur artists had to find other ways to release their art to the community. Tatum created his own website and then approached neighborhood hangouts to feature his work: Dietrich’s Coffee, Southmore House, 11th Street Café. Eventually, Tatum discovered Blurb Publishers at SXSW, a company that does on-demand publishing where the creation of the book is done entirely online. “I saw samples at their booth at the SXSW trade show and was blown away. I figured, let's do this. It's been much easier and freeing to control every aspect of the book myself. Why should I deal with sleazy hangers-on?”
The topsy-turvy tale of West Fest is well known throughout Montrose. “West Fest: Portrait of a Street Festival,” depicts the rise through community support, the fall due to tighter City control and property owner complaints, and the eventual triumphant resurrection as the Westheimer Block Party by Free Press Houston. The book also serves as a calling to bring the festival back to its former glory. “I guess the thing I've noticed about West Fest since its incarnation as the Block Party is that it's not as wild as it was during the 90's when I went. No drag queens. Almost no guys walking around shirtless. No reptiles. What happened to all that?” The book can be previewed and bought online at www.blurb.com for $94.95. Although the asking price may seem steep, 95% of it goes in to the printing of the actual book, and increased support of the book could lead to wider release. Maybe another small way to support the community and pay tribute to the past? “It's kind of like this: imagine I've taken all these cool photos and put them in a photo album. I give you the photo album to leaf through and you say you really like it. Then I tell you that you can keep the album. That's what this book is; it's a kind of neighborhood photo album covering a very special event.”

Check out Charles Tatum's work at www.ctphotoartist.com, and click here to purchase the book.

Tagore Fest July 10th and 11th

By Sarah Cook

A few hours ago, I had no idea who Tagore was. Or, actually what Tagore was. I guessed (correctly) that it was a noun. However, turns out it's not a food or a place (my first two guesses). It's the name of one of the most versatile and prolific intellectuals of the 20th century, Rabindranath Tagore . He was a poet, novelist, playwright, philosopher, visual artist, social activist, and still managed to maintain a kick ass beard. All of these (okay probably not the beard) made him one of the most important influences on Bengali and Indian culture ever.
This guy was Asia's first Nobel laureate, wrote about 2,230 songs, spent time with Gandhi and Einstein, and rejected knighthood from the British crown in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. This incredible life inspired the Tagore Society of Houston to form in 1974. Since then, they have worked to spread Tagore's teachings to all ages, faiths and backgrounds.
To spread awareness about Tagore and his message of “a Borderless World”, The Tagore Society of Houston will throw Barnali '09, their Second Annual Tagore Fest on July 10th and 11th . The festival will host well known artists and musicians from Bangladesh and India. Rezwana Chowdhury, a Rabindra Sangeet singer who is immensely popular in Bangladesh, will be the featured musician. She will provide her own interpretations of some of Tagore's most popular songs. Jhinook Mukherjee, Bhoomi and Rathna Kuma will also provide artistic interpretations of Tagore's work. To showcase local talent, the festival will also include Rathna Kumar and the Anjali School of Dance and an Art Music Recital of Tagore Poems by Prof. Karim Al-Zand from Rice University. There will also be an Arts and Craft show to showcase paintings, photographs and articrafts by local artists. If that's not enough to get you there, there's a delicious food fest both nights.
The festival will take place at Durga Bari Auditorium, located at 13944 Schiller Road. Tickets for the show are $25/per person for each day, $40/per person for both days, $100+ /per person for VIP seating on both days. Students tickets are $15/day.For details contact: Raja Banga: 281-627-2533, Partha Sen: 713-839-1904, Surajit Dasgupta: 281-265-4105. Or visit www.tagoresociety.org for event updates.

The SportsDesk is now on Twitter

Yao is out for the season (most likely). Tradey McGrady is also (most likely). Ron Artest has signed with the Lakers. So he's a douche bag. All this to ask the question: "Daryl Morey, what are you going to do with your Jedi math skills now?"

Click to find out.

You can now follow the FPH Sportsdesk on twitter @FPHSportsdesk.

Interview: Geoffrey Mueller

By Omar Afra
Photo by Cecilia Johnson

Geoffrey Mueller is a musical chameleon having mastered several instruments such as banjo, guitar, bass, saw, voice, and whatever else you stick in his hands. Playing in such notable bands as Sideshow Tramps, I am Mesmer, Grandfather Child, Chase Hamblin’s band, Perfect Penis, and more, Mueller manages to be everywhere yet not spread himself thin. Frankly, if you spend any night of the week watching live music in this town then you are surely to run into this local musical treasure. In the 90’s as an adolescent he was well known as an amazing pop-and-lock break-dancer and as the front man for local metal band Lower ( I shared a studio with him more than a decade ago when I played in a similarly mook-ish band) . The SceneWiki says “He's embarrassed about this so be sure to ask him about it.” But Geoffrey is one of those rare hyper-talented performers that are just straight up nice guys. He brings smiles wherever he goes and we here at FPH are just smitten with him. He was also gracious enough to answer a few probing questions.
READ ON >>>>

Uneasy Rider: Bicyclist Safety in Houston

By Shiraz Ahmed
Artwork by Michael C. Rodriguez

When I was a boy of eight, I jumped in the cage and joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship. At the age of 12, my parents had to call security because they discovered I had climbed into a pit with eight live tigers; by the time the guards got there only I was alive. I frequently enjoy the company of El Salvadorian MS-13. You could say I'm a bit of a thrill-seeker so much so that the lure of escaping Death's cold, bony hands gives me a rush drugs can't mimic. But recently I undertook a challenge that I'm afraid might be too much for even me to handle: I threw down for a bicycle and took it for a spin in our fair town. I've never really appreciated the value of life until I was run off the road by the SUV on my tail.
It's no secret that Houston is notorious for being a dangerous place for any vehicle not running on diesel. While cycling has been viewed by those whose eyes are hooked on their speedometers as a mere past time or pleasure, growing numbers of commuters and day-to-day cyclists have said "no!" to the gas pump and flooded the narrow bike lanes painted on the sides of streets. Now 1,200 cyclists commute to the Texas Medical Center everyday. Between 1998 and 2000, over a fourth of Texas's bicycle crashes occurred in and around Houston. Growing numbers of riders on two-wheels indicates a need for the right infrastructure to support them and the right legislation to protect them.

READ ON>>>>

Summer Fest Schedule Revealed

Get tix now for only 10 bux!