e-culture: Colonial Cities, Support KTRU, Broken Music
November 2, 2000

I hope everyone is having a great time during this Dia de los Muertos season.

To celebrate, we'll have a travel presentation on the Colonial Cities of Mexico and a special altar created by the public relations director from Blaffer Gallery, Lisa Hernandez.

Cities in the central highlands of Mexico are a favorite winter destination for Americans. There are many art and language institutes, as well as cultural museums in the central districts of San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato. We will take a side trip to the pyramids at Tula.

Folk artist Lisa Hernandez will exhibit an altar for El Dia de los Muertos and show photographs taken in Oaxaca during the important Mexican celebration.

7:00pm, Tuesday, November 7 (BE SURE TO VOTE FIRST!!!)
Alumni Center, University of Houston, entrance 15
713-743-9550

There will be a free travel presentation at 7:00pm on the first Tuesday of each month, except for January 2, when we'll be parked on the I-10 elevated over New Orleans, trying to return to Houston.

Here's a list of upcoming events:
Tuesday, November 7 -- Colonial Cities of Mexico
Tuesday, December 5 -- Santa Fe and the Southwest
Tuesday, January 9 -- New Orleans and the Deltaland
Tuesday, February 6 -- Copper Canyon/Chiricahua Mountains
Tuesday, March 6 -- Canyonlands of the Colorado Plateau
Tuesday, April 3 -- Pacific Coast/Yosemite/Crater Lake

For more information and updates:
http://www.houstonculture.org/travel/pres.html

REI presentations continue on Monday nights at 7:00pm:
http://www.rei.com/storelocator/houston/

Here are a few upcoming REI events:
Monday, November 6 -- Nutrition for Performance
Monday, November 13 -- Bicycling in Alaska
Monday, November 20 -- Lost in the Andes
Monday, November 27 -- Hiking the Grand Canyon


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Traditions

Learn more about El Dia de los Muertos:
http://www.houstonculture.org/cr/diade.html

And, what's the story behind spooky Jack o' Lanterns:
http://www.houstonculture.org/cr/pumpkin.html

It's nearly time for Bonfires on the Bayou:
http://www.houstonculture.org/cr/bonfires.html

Here's a tall tale for the approaching winter:
http://www.houstonculture.org/cr/gabby.html


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Support KTRU

The student staff at KTRU needs letters showing community support for its culturally diverse and independent programming. Please don't hesitate to send a letter to:

KTRU-FM
Attn: Programming
P.O. Box 1892
Houston, TX 77251

The eventualities for KTRU are unknown, but one possibility is a shift of programming to a non-student, KUHF-style format. The students at KTRU feel that since that format already exists in Houston, Rice Radio should remain dedicated to independent and eclectic music.

What would independent art be without DiverseWorks? What would independent film be without Rice Media Center and the Aurora Picture Show? What would independent music be without KTRU? Tell the student directors you support them and you support KTRU as a student-developmental organization, a venue for unique and cultural music, and a community asset. When great efforts fail, such as the 30 year history of student operations at KTRU, it is usually due to apathy.

Stay tuned for more news:
http://www.i45south.com/


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At the Picture Show

Broken Music
Curated and Presented by Astria Suparak
Saturday, November 4, 7pm & 9pm, Sunday, November 5, 3pm
Aurora Picture Show
800 Aurora Street
713-868-2101

Breaking records, converting light into sound, making a turntable with dry ice and a guitar out of a turntable... Musical instruments are destroyed and technology is applied in peculiar ways. These de-compositions are made for video by both contemporary and historical figures, with a nod to Jimi Hendrix and the Fluxus movement.

"New York film curator Astria Suparak assembled this wonderful program of videos on experimental music in which a variety of artists put familiar instruments and objects to unusual uses, showing that the seen world is alive with sonic possibilities." --Fred Camper, The Chicago Reader

FEATURING:
Record Players, 1984, Christian Marclay, 4:00 mins.
New York multi-media artist and vinyl saboteur Marclay with a group of almost anonymous players including Zed, Shelley Silver, and Pat Hearn using records as instruments.

Piano Piece #13 (For Nam June Paik), 1999, Sonic Youth, 4:25 mins.
Sonic Youth. performs a Fluxus composition by George Maciunas.

Violin Power (excerpt), 1978, Steina Vasulka, 7:10 mins.
Video Pioneer and co-founder of The Kitchen, Steina's "demo tape on how to play video on the violin".

Ghost (I don't live for today), 1985, Christian Marclay,.4:00 mins.
From a performance at the Kitchen made for video in homage to Jimi Hendrix.

I-Beam, 1995, Barry Schwartz, 15:00 mins.
Schwartz's work incorporates metal, mechanics, computer-controlled hardware, chemically reactive agents, high-voltage electricity, and live video feeds. Creating an auto-electronic environment, he stands in fountains and waterfalls of non-conductive fluid manipulating various mechanical devices. The components generate an audible atmosphere through various types of audio transducers and amplification.

Kick That Habit, 1990, Voice Crack, 43 mins.
This film includes live footage of the Swiss electronics duo playing their signature "Cracked Everyday Electronics". "After years of collaboration, participating in the free music/ free jazz scene on winds, strings, and homemade instruments, the duo of Mˆ slang and Guhl began to move into electronic and synthetic sounds, preferring "the usual and habitual, in everyday utensils from the household, the trades and industry" to commercially built instruments. By the time they recorded the LP Voice Crack, their only instruments were the bits of modern debris that they called, "Cracked Everyday Electronics"; electric and electronic second-hand waste material in the form of microphones, record players, toys, tape recorders, radios, and the like." - Gino Robair

Total Running Time: approx. 80 minutes

For more information on Astria Suparak, see www.astriasuparak.com.

Donation: $5
For more information, see the calendar:
http://www.houstonculture.org/resources/cal.html

Please carpool to the Aurora Picture Show. This will help them tremendously. Here's some background information on the parking situation:
http://www.geocities.com/hifc/aurora.html


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Upcoming Events

Diversity Week
November 13 - 16
University of Houston
Features cultural events, including:
11:30am - 1:30pm, November 13, Opening and Art Festival
11:30am - 1:30pm, November 15, International Food Festival
Free, 713-743-5190

Salome and the Representation of the Femme Fatale in 19th-Century German Art
Presented by Wendy Grossman with two variations of Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils, performed by Kristina Koutsoudas.
Brown Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Sunday, November 19, 2:00pm
Free, 713-639-7300


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Reminders

I hope all of you found time to go out and support the great fall events in Texas -- Festival Tejano, The Houston Grand Taiko Festival, Asian American Festival, Caribbean Festival, Czhilispiel, etc., etc., etc. The artists continue to develop and perform as long as there are audiences.

BE SURE TO VOTE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7

Volunteers needed for Houston Institute for Culture:
http://www.houstonculture.org/resources/vol.html

World Music is on Monday nights, 7 - 9pm, on KTRU 91.7 FM:
http://www.houstonculture.org/world/music.html


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In December e-culture

Holiday Activities
Safe Holiday Travel
Spring Programs Announcement
Spring Traditions and Events


Thanks,
Mark



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M A R K   L A C Y / mark@cultural-crossroads.com

The Houston Institute for Culture
http://www.houstonculture.org

Regional and historical perspectives
http://www.houstonculture.org/cr/roads.html

Travel planning and information
http://www.houstonculture.org/terra/terra.html

Upcoming travel presentations
http://www.houstonculture.org/travel/index.html