Houston
is a very flat, very wet, mostly very hot place. In order to relax here in
Houston, we generally leave town.
Otherwise, relaxation can be found at Rudyard's Pub. They have a lot
of beers, a few queers, but no steers. The best,
loudest bands in the world play at Rudz, also. Ask for Fred or Scottbutt and
tell them the True Artist sent ya.
Other fine Houston bars that bear the True Artist Tales stamp of approval,
but don't necessarily have websites are:
Warren's (best bar all around), Mary Jane's (rock 'n' roll roadhouse deluxe),
The Mausoleum, The Brewery Tap, Notsuoh,
The Aquarium Lounge, Instant Karma, Ernie's on Banks, Valhalla, Cecil's, the
Lone Star Bar, and the Slick Willies in Bayou Place, on lower Westheimer,
and in Stafford. If you'd like to see your bar listed here, please contact
me to make "special arrangements".
If you're planning to come to Houston and want to know about local music and
where to hear some check out
Jeremy Hart's Space City Rock.
Another great source for Houston music and kool stuff info is Ramon
Medina's Worship Guitars record
label
and webzine. Ramon's site gives you a good dose of the Houston art-as-lifestyle
ambience.
TemplO is a performance/spiritualist
"compound" on Houston's near-West side where irregular artistic craziness
is
conducted at regular intervals. I can't really explain it properly, but this
site has the word from the proprietor,
Nestor Topchy, the Jerry Lewis sparkplug of the Houston art community.
Lately I've been working with an artist's collective that has been active
here in Houston for over a decade. Studio X
does a Houston public access cable show featuring different local artists
and musicians, and has organized
publications and musical performances over the years, sometimes with a tasty
Leftist bent.
Artwise, on the other end of the political/economic
spectrum, Houston is also home (god help us) to my old pals,
The Art Guys. The Art Guys (AKA:
Art Guize, Guise of Art, or Nancy Boys) are conceptual/performance art
players who you either love or hate. I've held both opinions, but have to
admit they always try
hard and are almost always amusing.
Also in Houston is the fabulous, almost frightening Orange Show. A "folk art" masterpiece
built by a non-gun toting
mailman that is now a pocket-non-profit industry, the Orange Show is an East
Houston monument to abnormal
activity. A few seconds off the infamous Telephone Road at I-45, the Orange
Show is Houston's most
cost-effective tourist attraction. The homepage for the 'Show features a painting
of the actual structure
done by my old University of Houston schoolmate, Linn Swartz. Take a bow,
Linn.
Of the "established" institutions dealing with Art in Houston, the least objectionable
and most
soothing is definitely The Menil Collection. This is the art collection
of Dominique de Menil and
her late husband. Dominique hung out and partied with the original Surrealists
in Paris back in
1920, so you know she's hip, and she's got some astounding' artwork there
in the
museum. Also, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more graceful, well-lit, and
relaxing
piece of architecture. Particularly the Cy Twombly Gallery (just across the
street from the main museum building) has the atmosphere of a heavenly
dream (and the paintings aren't too bad either).
Another good source for info on Bayou City arts stuff is
Rice University Art Department's RiceArts Houston
Art Scene
page. It's very comprehensive and quick,
give it a whirl.
My old ex-Houstonian (ex-U of H, etc.) pals
David Kidd & Deborah Moore are
doing some insanely
weird things on the net up in Brooklyn!
Dave is a cartoonist too! Plus they got
Pearlie the Wonder Dog!
Please give their pages a thorough perusal.
Speaking of old U of H
schoolmates,my soggy old
pal Noah Edmundson is
a maniacal and offensive
welder/artist who
makes peculiar sculptural
pieces and paintings which
he often sells as "art".His
gallery-provided web-page has
several examples of these
obscene and
smelly objects.