Best Place to Shop Austin Style for the Holidays

2015 Marks the 15th Anniversary of the Blue Genie Art Bazaar.  Nov. 27th – Dec. 24th at the Marchesa Hall & Theatre (that’s across from Highland Mall) featuring handmade artwork & gifts from over 200 local & regional artists.  A portion of proceeds go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and admission is free!

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Who will be there? Here is their directory.

What can you find there? Paintings, photography, prints, sculptures, jewelry, clothing, accessories, glassworks, ceramics, and more!

artbazzar

You can follow them on Facebook or Twitter for more info.

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Artist Wade Beesley’s Bottle N Soul

East Austin Studio Tour Survival Guide

The first weekend of EAST is over but you have one more weekend to check it out! Perhaps you didn’t get a chance to go or perhaps you went and weren’t able to see all the galleries.  I recommend heading out early to beat the crowds.

Stack out a spot at Sa-Ten, the amazing Japanese fusion cafe inside the Canopy art complex where you can enjoy your cappuccino with a breakfast of smoked salmon with sriracha mayo, nori, mozzarella on toast. That’s just one of many offerings, in addition to everything from oatmeal to allegedly the famed Red Rabbit vegan donuts.  But wait, you say…Red Rabbit vegan collective closed, how is it I can get my vegan donut fix on?  Wheatsville Co-op came through and saved the day. Point is, when EAST is happening you don’t want to spin your wheels elsewhere in town doing brunch, you need to get out into it early.  As the day progresses at Canopy you can enjoy the best teriyaki gluten-free fried chicken with a side of kimchi, and some of the galleries offer free beer (sorry not gluten-free).

This is the 14th annual EAST that Big Medium and the Austin art community have put together.  Featuring 287 artists, 152 exhibitions and 7 happenings there’s more than enough for everyone. They’ve even put out a handful of different guides to curate and help plan your attack.

Taking kids? Check out the events in their family-friendly guide, like Austin’s Tinkering School, Austin’s own Maker Space, for hands-on art-making activities.  Or Creative Action‘s Community Art Sunday on Nov. 22 where you can enjoy dance, music, food, art and inventing.  Or perhaps you and your kids would like to check out kinetic steel sculptures inspired by Jean Tinguely. Your purchases will go to Save Our Springs Alliance at Barry George’s collection at 204 Attayac St.

I went to EAST last weekend and was impressed with what I saw from the following artists.

  • Diana Presley Greenberg‘s delicate abstracts are like viewing a gentle bouquet of flowers through a soft curtain of linen.  Other examples feature bold splashes in complex relationships upon white canvas, bringing to mind Swedish interiors.
  • Gert Johan Manschot produces dramatic works resembling Japanese Zen calligraphy.
  • Alex Diamond‘s work was a personal favorite of mine, for his fantastic sense of texture, line and intensity, with a cartoon/graffiti edge.  He produces woodcuts, photo paintings and installations.
  • Chun Hui Pak creates gorgeous geometric abstract works inspired by the structures of origami.  Her pieces serve as 2-D interpretations of the ancient art of paper-folding.
  • Ann Fleming produces vibrant abstractions with bold punches of color that relate to each other in surprisingly ways.
  • I was blown away by the assemblage work of Janie Milstein.  Inspired by cityscapes her textured work features architectural abstractions, layers of material and an industrial palate that will leave you speechless.
  • Rothko Hauschildt is a budding encaustic artist whose pieces communicate intensity and release.
  • Flip Solomon is an incredible illustrator, her drawings are eclectic and full of wonder.

So get out there and see these and other artists. And if the crowds become too much, escape to the quiet retreat of Zhi Tea on Bolm. If the weather is fair they have a beautiful garden patio under the trees.

Austin’s Conspirare Symphonic Choir & Symphony perform French program

Come this weekend to listen to the heavenly voices of Austin’s Conspirare Symphonic Choir and Austin’s Symphony put on a French program.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Presenting Francis Poulenc’s Gloria and Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. With soprano Mela Dailey

  • FRI, 11.20.15 (8pm) Dell Hall, Long Center, Austin, TX
  • SAT, 11.21.15 (8pm) Dell Hall, Long Center, Austin, TX

Tickets are available through the Austin Symphony.

Tower Documentary – All Things Must Pass

Opening around the country is a documentary on Tower Records. For those of you that remember the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s, you will recall how Tower Records had hundreds of stores across the nation, in many other countries and was the place to go for videos, new LPs, singles, posters, music magazines and t-shirts.

For teenagers it was one of the few places that would hire you if you were a long-haired hippy, dressed punk, goth, or hip-hop. Tower saw you as a genre expert and if you worked hard, were detail-oriented and knew your stuff you could work up to becoming a music buyer and/or manager.  If you moved around, you could transfer easily to a Tower in your new town or get hired based on your experience.

It was a great gig. Didn’t pay a lot, but you would get promo CDs, tickets to concerts, get to listen to music on your shift and as long as you got your work done you could act as goofy as you wanted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBfnQChA9XM

It was one of my favorite places to work as a late teen and early 20’s – I worked at the stores in Berkeley, Las Vegas and Austin, TX.  I kept trying to get a transfer to the Japan store but managers in Berkeley and Vegas kept sitting on my application.  My life would have been very different. Le sigh.

They are also raising money for Sacramento to have a museum, archive and perhaps even a traveling exhibit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sj1J0cT5pc

It’s playing in Austin at the Regal Arbor (November 6th)
Release dates elsewhere can be found here:

 

 

Isabel Allende to read at Bookpeople in Austin

Acclaimed author Isabel Allende (House of the Spirits) will appear at Bookpeople to read from her most recent book The Japanese Lover, a love story between two people whose lives were differently torn by WWII:  one from Polish-Jewish heritage, the other Japanese-American.

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Set in present-day San Francisco, it is a multi-generational story, featuring the love story of another pair from different backgrounds.  The novel promises to share Bay Area history, the inner lives of those in their eighties all captured through a passionate, immigrant lens.

Named one of the most anticipated novels of the year by New York Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Publishers Weekly, The Huffington Post, and more. 

SF Gate has a review of the book here.

Tickets are available at Bookpeople.
Monday, November 16, 2015 – 7:00pm

Broken Spoke documentary – 2 more days on Kickstarter!

The Broken Spoke is one of the few places left where you can sit and enjoy a country fried steak, beer or whiskey, hear live country music and dance the two-step.  Last year they celebrated their 50th anniversary.  Back then they were surrounded by countryside, there are tales of neighbors riding horses down Lamar.   Nowadays they are flanked by towering condos.  Help Blue Yonder Films complete their documentary so that the world can learn the rich history of the Broken Spoke.

When you enter the Broken Spoke it’s like walking into a time-capsule from Texas in the early 60’s.   In one of the rooms they have their own museum of Austin Country music history with photos and artifacts but the entire restaurant itself has changed very little in that long time.  Owners James and Annetta White are still a staple in this legendary place where Willie Nelson, Dale Watson, Ray Benson and Billy Willis all played.

Follow their progress on:

Other media attention on the Broken Spoke:

 

 

Mexican Early Music from Colonial Archives

Discovered in the archives of Latin America was a treasure trove of Colonial works of art, sacred music for the feasts and holidays of the Catholic Church.  After Mexico defeated Spain these Colonial masterpieces from the 17th and 18th century were neglected for over a century but were rediscovered in the 1940’s.

The Austin Baroque Orchestra is holding their forth annual celebration of these musical archives, presenting works from three cathedrals from different regions, Oaxaca, the Hill Country of Northwestern Mexico and Mexico city.  From Oaxaca cathedral you’ll hear the works of Manuel de Sumaya, known as the “Mexican Handel.”  From Durango Cathedral in Mexico’s hill country you’ll enjoy Santiago Billoni, New Spain’s Italian-born maestro. From Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral you’ll encounter the pieces by Ignacio Jerúsalem, Mateo Tollis de la Rocca, and Antonio Juanas.

A sample from last year’s selection of the works of Juan de Araujo can be listened to here. 

Find out more about these concerts here and here.

Saturday, November 14, 2015 – 8:00PM
First Presbyterian Church of Austin
8001 Mesa Drive · Austin, TX 78731

Sunday, November 15, 2015 – 4:00PM
Mission Concepción
807 Mission Road · San Antonio, TX 78210

Gabriel Garcia Marquez archive at the Harry Ransom Center

Please take the time to enjoy one of the Harry Ransom Centers most recent acquisitions, the Archive of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

The HRC has issued a wonderful video giving an overview of this famous writer and his cultural contribution.

The director helps to explain the value of the Harry Ransom Center to our community, the university and the humanities field at large.  The Latin American studies director gives context to the weight of this collection.  One of its professors explains how the archive will be used by those in academia. The archivist discusses the collection and how the materials are being conserved and made available.

What’s in Dave Gahan, New Order & Gary Numan’s bag?

One of the things I miss most about living in Berkeley is going to record stores with my dad…going to Amoeba Music, or Tower Classics back in the day.  Having him teach me about Haydn
or Moondog, telling me his stories of having met Sonny Rollins or Miles Davis decades ago.

These stories and introductions to music helped to shape my tastes, which is why I am delighted with Amoeba Music’s video series ‘What’s in my bag?’ In the absence of programs like old MTV (120 minutes more appropriately), people turn to blogs like Pitchfork…but Amoeba is doing something rare and sorely needed by giving these artists video air-time to share the seminal albums that shaped them as well as the newer works they are impressed by.

[Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links]

It’s Halloween and the Indonesia Rain Forest is on fire – what can I do?

George Monbiot alerts us that: “Indonesia is burning. So why is the world looking away?”

To give perspective on the devastation of this fire:

“it is currently producing more carbon dioxide than the US economy. And in three weeks the fires have released more CO2 than the annual emissions of Germany.”

For those of you who would like to have a Palm Oil-free Halloween, please refer to this list: