Ten Tiny Dances. Photo: Dabfoto Creative
With audio and visual installations, dance performances, theatrical productions, and performance lectures by artists from across the world, CounterCurrent has truly set itself apart from the city’s arts festivals. The annual event — organized by the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts — includes a comprehensive schedule for patrons to experience world-class arts programming like never before. While a large portion of the festival takes place at the Midtown Arts & Theater Center (MATCH), the festival takes place at locations across the city like The Brandon, Post HTX and the Eldorado Ballroom. With such impressive programming scheduled for the festival between April 18 and 23, we’ve compiled a comprehensive guide to the festival’s can’t-miss events.
Ten choreographers present ten short dances over the span of an hour, all executed in a 4′ x 4′ stage. Ten Tiny Dancers showcases a mix of artists from varying disciplines, including contemporary and ballet dancers and choreographers, and is known to be a festival favorite. Co-curated by Nancy Wozny, editor-in-chief of Arts + Culture Texas, the performance takes place on April 19 at Post HTX (401 Franklin) at 8 pm and free tickets are available online.
A theatrical adaptation of an experimental novel by the late postmodern novelist Donald Barthelme, The Catastrophic Theatre presents Snow White, a contemporary take on the classic tale. Snow White is tired of being a bored housewife to seven men, who “only add up to the equivalent of about two real men.” She spends her days drinking screwdrivers, reading communist literature and waiting for her prince. Reworked for stage with the notes of Barthelme, the production will be hosted at MATCH-BOX 3 on April 20, 21 and 22 at 8 pm with free tickets available online.
This video installation leads viewers on the story of three Syrian refugees who fled the country to seek refuge in Munich. One narrowly survived a sinking ship, another walked with their children from Syria to Turkey, and the third was smuggled in a truck. Each refugee was given a discreet camera to record what it was like to live one day in their lives in a refugee camp. The installation, which itself is fitted out with bunkbeds so that the audience can feel as if they are living what they are seeing, will run at MATCH Gallery (3400 Main) from April 18 to 23 from noon to 8 pm each day.
Follow the stories of four Palestinian refugees with this fully immersive experience. Films are projected onto the four walls of a gallery with each following a single person. Headphones in the center of the room provide audiences with one of the four stories told by the refugees, yet with view of all of them at once. The entire space allows the viewer to experience a moment in the Rashidieh Refugee Camp on the coast of Lebanon. The installation will run at The Brandon (1709 Westheimer) from April 18 to 23 from noon to 8 pm each day.
At last year’s CounterCurrent, the Ghana ThinkTank posed the question, “What’s your Houston diversity problem?” The response was largely related to cultural and ethnic identity, and now think tanks in India, Iran, Indonesia, Morocco, Gaza, Serbia and Germany are looking for solutions for Houston’s problems. Through one-on-one conversation and installations, Ghana ThinkTank will introduce audiences to the journey of our city’s diversity problems from here to the think tanks and back again. The Ghana ThinkTank will be travel throughout Houston during the run of the festival, check the CounterCurrent website for location updates.
Incorporating elements of kabuki, flamenco and contemporary dance, this interdisciplinary performance is the work of Argentinian-born Daniel Proietto, trained in kabuki, and 76-year old Shōji Kojima, who moved from Japan to Spain to become a master of flamenco. The two award-winning dancers present a two-hour performance created by Norwegian company winter guests and its choreographer Alan Lucien Øyen. Performances take place through April 18 to 20 at 7 pm each day at MATCH-BOX 2 with free tickets available online.
A site specific sculptural and sound installation at the Eldorado Ballroom (2310 Elgin), which has served the Third Ward as a legendary venue for blues and jazz players from the 1940s through the 1970s, artist Kevin Beasley presents Movement V: Ballroom. Exploring cultural, personal and historical contexts, Beasley will feature sixteen sculptural works to amplify the sounds produced by visitors’ movement, the installation exists only with the movement of people and their physical engagement with the largely darkened space. The installation will be on view from April 18 to 23 from noon to 8 pm each day, and Beasley will also perform and engage with the installation on April 22 at 8 pm.
This performance lecture from Chicano artist-activist Harry Gamboa Jr. revolves around the myth of contemporary society based on the artist’s experiences in Los Angeles and “its subtle layering of codes, rules, and visual markers that contribute to making a sophisticated living space for millions of people.” He will discuss the many works he’s directed with his current performance troupe, Visual Vérité, as well as works he produced with a group of young Chicano artists in the ’70s and ’80s. The performance will take place at the Quintero Theatre at the University of Houston on April 20 at 6:30 pm and free tickets are available online.
Using test, song, costume, film and projections, Lili Taylor performs Suzanne Bocanegra’s most recent lecture on life at her grandparents’ farm in La Grange, existing across the road from the Chicken Ranch, also known as “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” “Through the lens of the farm and the brothel, a story emerges that considers the invention of the pastoral in art, the homesteading movement, hippie communes in the 1960s and the idea of the prostitute in art and theater.” Taylor will perform at MATCH-BOX 1 on April 21 at 7 pm and on April 22 at 3 and 7 pm with free tickets available online. from http://www.freepresshouston.com/countercurrent-returns-with-groundbreaking-arts-programming/
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Genesis Blu. Photo: Jordan Asinas
Houston’s hip hop scene has always been one full of kings, and until now you could say that this city was in need of a queen to sit atop the genre. We’ve had plenty of queens come and go, but one who will stick around is definitely something this city needs. However, on her new track “Local Love,” Houston’s Genesis Blu proves real quick that she is the much deserved queen that this city has been longing for. Featuring Shonnie Murrell, Blu drops love for those who came before her while rapping over a beat that’s as catchy as it hits hard, proving why she could easily reign Houston’s hip hop scene sooner than later. Found exclusively here, the song showcases how strong Blu is on a mic while keeping things close to the chest on a track you’ll want to hear again and again.
The song, found on Blu’s upcoming EP Blumming Season due out on May 5, is definitely a banger. Complete with a catchy beat and a hook you can’t deny, the song could easily become a summertime jam played for years to come. The old school vibe of the backing track while the bass drops like it’s meant to thump from the back of a Cutlass while Murrell and Blu add their catchy vocals in the first verse, only made stronger by the backing vocals of the chorus. Murrell’s signature voice only adds a depth in the chorus, while Blu spits like smooth silk as she’s known for. The hook reminds you of your favorite hip hop songs from past years, but never sounds dated or out of touch. The whole track clocks in at a bit over three minutes, but it’s so slick and the song is so smooth that you should find yourself listening to it on repeat.
You can grab the single or stream it on all platforms when it drops this Friday, March 31. Until then you jam this track and look forward to the EP out May 5, while you start thinking of how you’d like to have Genesis Blu serve as the next queen of Houston hip hop. Because with tracks like this, she could easily take over the whole city, and the rest of the country as well. from http://www.freepresshouston.com/genesis-blu-debuts-near-perfect-hip-hop-jam/ Many films are classified as horror films but few films are actually horrific. Take what are considered modern day horror classics like The Babadook or It Follows. Those films are capable of delivering chills mainly because of the atmosphere they create in their respective depiction of events. Raw is a film that pounces on the viewer because of the very nature of its horrific imagery. A young girl, a vegan her entire life, acquires a taste for meat after entering veterinary school. The storyline aptly presents the dilemma but leaves gives no clue as to the heinous and dreadful situations our heroine finds herself. Even outside the character of Justine from French actress Garance Marillier, played with an amazing depth of insight for her ability to digest both raw meat and the role of an innocent cast into the fire, we witness cruelty inflicted upon other students like a hazing ritual in which everyone is covered in blood. Then there’s a horse that we observe being tranquilized and hoisted in a kind of equine stretcher that allows the animal to be prepared for an operation. Likewise first time writer/director Julia Ducournau finds inspiration in the nausea and bloodlust of her lead character. We see Justine nervously biting her hair as she tries to conform in her new academic surroundings. Justine has one scene where she pulls out a hairball lengthy enough that it could be a wig for Rapunzel. Another scene has Justine being given a Brazilian wax by her sister. When one patch of wax will not give way her sister tries to cut the wax stuck to Justine’s leg with a pair of scissors. Justine freaks out and jumps causing the scissors to cut off one of her sister’s fingers at the first joint, whereupon her sister faints. When sis regains consciousness she see Justine has all but finished eating the finger. This isn’t even the most severe scene in Raw. The plot escalates with Justine and her sister causing car wrecks on country highways so they can feast on the victims. Yet that doesn’t give you a clue as to how the movie ends with a logical although bizarre denouncement. Raw opened exclusively at the AMC Sundance last weekend, and expands to the AlamoDrafthouse Mason Road on March 31. The Last Word proves to be a routine attempt at the familiar story of an old grouch who finds a touch of humility when she starts a relationship with two younger women. Shirley MacLaine can play sullen like a pro, we know that from Bernie. Joining MacLaine are Amanda Seyfried as a newspaper reporter who’s assigned to write an obituary for MacLaine, who by the way isn’t dying but rather wants something nice said about her for once, and AnnJewel Lee Dixon as a foul mouthed little girl that MacLaine takes under her wing mainly because she wants her obituary to include the fact that she mentored an impoverished child. Director Mark Pellington wavers between sentiment and light comedy. At one point MacLaine becomes a radio disc jockey just because she tells the station manager that she likes the Kinks but we only hear one Kinks song. The Last Word opened last weekend in area theaters including the Landmark River Oaks. from http://www.freepresshouston.com/film-preview-raw-the-last-word/
Tortilla chips and salsa, chili con carne, and fajitas are now typical European bar food. Rare is the English pub that doesn’t serve “nachos.” The influence of Tex-Mex on world cuisine fascinates us here at Texas Eats. So when our correspondent, Julia Walsh, moved to Manchester, England in January 2017, we asked her to chronicle Tex-Mex influences on the local English fare. Here is her latest report: On one rainy afternoon while running errands, I stopped for a swift pint at a local Weatherspoon’s, which is a chain of pubs which are known as the destination for “cheap and cheerful”. Imagine my surprise when I saw this paper placemat on the table! Nachos! Quesadillas! I thought I’d hit the Manx-Mex jackpot! But alas, my luck was not to be. I ordered off the Mexican Monday menu on two separate occasions, and I have to say that both experiences were sub-par. On my first attempt, I ordered the BBQ pulled pork and cheese quesadilla. (BBQ pork is not exactly Tex-Mex, but it’s a definite favorite among the English since I see it almost everywhere!) The plate came with “Mexican-style” rice (I think we’d call it Spanish rice. Tomato-y with bits of onion and a hint of cumin), sour cream, salsa, and guacamole. I was pleased to see some good looking grill marks on the tortilla and eagerly dove into my food. The rice was about what you’d expect for mediocre Mexican rice, and the salsa tasted like Picante or a grocery store equivalent, but that was fine with me. The guacamole didn’t disappoint and the pepper slices on it made me smile. But after my first bite into the quesadilla, I knew something was terribly wrong. I opened up the tortilla to see… …no cheese! NO CHEESE! How can they call this a quesadilla if there’s no queso to it?! I checked the menu again to make sure this wasn’t some bastardized spin on a quesadilla, but the text confirmed there was definitely supposed to be cheese on it. I heaved a sigh and spread my condiments over the pieces to try and save it, not wanting to make a scene at the bar to get it fixed. The BBW pork was nice and there was enough in the tortilla, bit a ‘dilla is just a ‘dilla when there’s no cheese. Tune in next week to hear about another puzzling tale of Mexican Monday at Weatherspoon’s!
from http://houstonfoodblog.com/houstonfood/houston-food-blogs/mexican-monday-at-weatherspoons-a-dilla/ Flowers provide one of the most tried and true gifts for those that you love. No matter the reason for sending a large beautiful bouquet of roses, it is hard to go wrong if you are planning to give flowers to someone you love. Flowers are also an excellent gift for those that you do not know personally. Tulips or carnations can be a wonderful way to show a colleague, employee, or supervisor that you appreciate them. Large Bouquets of Pink RosesThough roses are one of the most common flowers that are given for the gifts, it is important to know that there are many different types of roses. A beautiful bouquet of roses can be made not only from blossoms that are red but also from roses that are white, yellow, or pink. One of the trendier types of roses are ones with purple petals rather than the other colors. It presents a majestic appearance rather than the traditional one of crimson. It is important to note where the rose is grown because it will likely impact how crisp and fresh the rose looks and feels to whoever receives it. Locally grown flowers will often have a better appearance as they have not had to go through as long of a transportation link in going from the garden to the florist and then the florist to you. Large bouquets of roses can be completely destroyed if the roses start to wilt prematurely. Instead of a crisp wonderful appearance they will look like an afterthought rather than an effort of love and compassion. Beautiful Bouquets of Roses for DeliveryWhen you are ordering a large beautiful bouquet of roses, they can come in a bundle or in a vase though each has different connotations as to the gift. A bundle of stems will likely signify a gift better suited for yourself or a friend while one in a vase we’ll be more appropriate for interaction that can be more romantic. Floral arrangements can be given as a romantic gesture, and a beautiful bouquet of roses generally can be seen as an appropriate professional gift. Order Beautiful Rose Bouquets from Enchanted FloristRoses are commonly associate with poise, elegance, and grace. They are synonymous with romance and passion, and provide the perfect way to show your feelings to someone that you are romantically involved with. Even a single rose can be a gesture that will make you stand out in someone else’s mind. While many think roses are expensive, it is easy to find a florist that will be able to work with any budget that you have. Roses are not only for the rich though they are often correlated with the wealth. The next time that you go on a date consider purchasing some flowers from your local florist in order to set the tone for the entire evening. If you want to show just how serious you are roses are the way to go. Enchanted Florist 4416 Fairmont #104 Pasadena, TX 77504 (832)850-7677 Find us on: We are located at: large beautiful bouquet of roses, beautiful bouquet of roses, large bouquet of roses, pasadena flowersfrom https://enchantedfloristpasadena.tumblr.com/post/158894252632 Apparently we moms of 3 are the most stressed. I’m not going to argue for or against this study. Moms everywhere have their own struggles; we all go through hard times. Having three kids is the most challenging, most wonderful blessing I’ve been given. Would I hug your neck and cheer, “Go for it!” if you are […] The post What’s One More? {On Deciding to Have a Third Baby} appeared first on Houston Moms Blog. from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HoustonMomsBlog/~3/kbWf1ub8Q7c/ When my oldest child was born prematurely, I dreamed of producing enough breast milk to be able to donate *even a little* to other preemies whose mothers couldn’t produce milk. I pumped around the clock, but in the end was a “just enough” producer and could only provide for my daughter. Then, unfortunately, “just enough” eventually […] The post How I Became A Milk Donor appeared first on Houston Moms Blog. from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HoustonMomsBlog/~3/rFet3P58WoE/ A while back a friend of mine’s daughter wanted to start her own YouTube show about video games, and because I covered GamerGate for Houston Press and was an authority on how bad life for women can be in the online space, she asked me what I thought about it. I sadly told her that unless she wanted to have her daughter harassed and possibly stalked, it probably wasn’t a very good idea. She never made her show. There are few terms that get misused more than censorship, except perhaps free speech. To hear some people talk these days, you’d think there was an actual PC Police storming through the streets trying to shut down the very concept of expressing thought, usually because they think liberals are fragile snowflakes unable to handle bad words. But these folks never seem to question their own unending attempts at censorship that they dub free speech. To return to the GamerGate example, members of that group have literally spent years targeting people like critic Anita Sarkeesian, sending her highly-specific death threats nearly every day of her life, all for the crime of examining tropes in videogames through a feminist lens. The goal was never to rebut her, though her harassment and the harassment of many others was often framed that way to make it palatable to the army of useful idiots whose numbers turn a standard image board raid into a national story. The goal was to silence her and make her go away. The fact that Sarkeesian disables comments on her videos and routinely blocks her attackers on social media, was all the proof those people needed that she was an enemy of free speech and artistic integrity. The real motivation, though, was the weak-kneed fragility of speech that they puff out their chests and pretend to be fighting. There’s no censorship if a critic chooses to highlight expressions of misogyny in a piece of media. It is, in fact, the exact opposite of that, creating more content centered around the medium everyone claimed to love. The doomsday scenario was that publishers and developers would fear dread at angry liberal gamers, and would proceed to pepper their games with content they considered “political.” Often this reached truly ridiculous heights, such as when they began screaming that Virginia was yet another example of this ominous specter simply because the main character is a black woman. That’s the level of cultish outrage that obsesses the absolutist free speech crowd; anything that even hints at diversity, no matter how banal, is treated like a culture war. God knows what nonsense is being spouted in response to three Triple A games this year having trans characters. Discussing things like problematic language or lack of diversity in gamecasts does not promote censorship, even if developers decide to alter future content based on those discussions. Not every artistic idea, especially in something as large and complex as a video game, deserves to be expressed and applauded as beyond reproach. It’s not self-censorship if an artist decides to respond positively to criticism. It’s just another form of free speech. Assigning the label of “politics” to that evolution of the work is silly. There’s nothing inherently more political about wondering why a game doesn’t have more women than there is wondering about its resource management system. We have to be free to criticize things, but that doesn’t include large-scale harassment, especially of marginalized people. I’m a lot less worried about whether the next shooter gets a gender or race change because the makers think it’ll get them diversity points than seeing another Jennifer Hepler get driven out of the industry because a bunch of entitled brats thought she should fear for her life because they didn’t like Dragon Age. God knows I stir the pot myself in my various publications, and the harassment and ease with which it can be done takes a significant toll on my ability to create. When they turn up the volume, it turns mine down, and that is exactly their aim. The problem with most people who have made free speech their raison d’etre is that their conception of it is stuck in the ‘90s, when we had panics that blamed violent media for school shootings. The enduring narrative that stuck around was that any discussion of the effect of media was the purview of the crazed moralists who simply couldn’t handle blood and tits in a video game. It’s a very “you’ll never stop rock and roll” sort of mindset, even though no official censorship of gaming ever came to pass or even really came close. Still, the message was clear; it was cool to be brutal and crass. No, Grand Theft Auto didn’t turn people into spree killers, but the whole reason that the movement ever had any momentum is because there is a science behind it. Cultivation theory is a well-respected part of social science that covers everything from advertising to war propaganda, and whether or not playing a sexist or violent video makes you actively sexist or violent, denying that the media we consume affects our worldview is just silly. There’s been a lot of study on the subject, though people for whom their idea of censorship is Capcom deciding not to show R. Mika’s buttslap animation probably haven’t been keeping up. Those people are predominantly white cishet men, a group accustomed to having their voices heard as a matter of course. They don’t think of their voices as being censorship for others because they don’t get shouted down, and virtually always have a forum to speak. Now they’re finding a lot more empowered groups who want a say in how things are in the world, and they don’t find your insistence on slurs and Nazi jokes to be the daring stab against the man like you thought it was back when JNCOs were a thing. Free speech absolutists worry only about whether they can say something with as little consequence as possible. Calling Leslie Jones a gorilla on Twitter is their proof they are advocates for a cause. And they are; just not the one they think. What they’re advocating for is the silence of any idea that questions their unexamined worldview, and any indication that the ideas they might have about art and themselves might just not be worth much. They’re not worried people will stop making video games because a woman said mildly unkind things about a dead sex worker in Hitman. They’re worried because less and less people find dead sex workers in Hitman to be a desirable feature. Diversity and avoidance of misogyny is simply getting more popular with people, largely because of stellar critical work being done on the art form. In the marketplace of ideas (and I assume the creative minds of game makers wanting to expand their toolbox), the dreaded censorship so many accuse of trying to shut down creation is actually making more of it. Criticism is crucial to the evolution of thought and art, and so are critics. It’s unfortunate that so many have used the wonder of the internet to attack critics, and that popular Twitter users amuse themselves with the forum to try and silence other voices. Often those voices end up muffled out of fear, and the assailant justifies himself by pretending free speech is at stake if he can’t say cunt whenever he pleases. The more vulnerable a person is, the less likely they will have the resources to fight back against an avalanche. Fear for your life should not be the price of speaking up, and the only reason these people don’t understand that is because it almost never comes home to roost for them. If your free speech is only free for you, it’s not actually that free. from http://www.freepresshouston.com/when-free-speech-becomes-its-own-form-of-censorship/ Josh Bosarge. Photo: Uncredited/Facebook
One of the best things about covering a music scene is meeting all of the interesting personalities that make it all up. When you get to know those within it, you should find a bevy of creative people who do more than just be in a band. In Houston it’s definitely no exception that most who make music have other creative endeavors that are worth looking into and exploring. For LACE’s Josh Bosarge, music is just a small part of what he does. With Calico Grounds, he’s published works by established artists like experimental filmmaker Jonas Mekas, to his own writings alongside many others. Bosarge proves that if you’re willing to dig deep into your music scene, those who make it up are usually a wealth of creativity who have more going on than those of the typical day to day world.
Free Press Houston: You’re not technically from Houston, correct? Do you think growing up in a small town shaped who you are today? Josh Bosarge: That’s right. I’m from Needville, Texas, a small country town about 40 miles outside of Houston. I think so, in a way that I knew it wasn’t the place I was interested in spending my time or life. From early on, it had this kind of overwhelming feeling of “this isn’t home.” It was a kind of tight-knit high school football city centralized around a feed store. You could look around and see families who have been there for generations, the father ran the local business, so now they run the local business, and their child will take over after. Seemed very dull, and I used that feeling to make it a point to create and find my own little corner.
FPH: You seem like a very tactile person, like someone who likes physical items over digital, would that be a fair assessment? Bosarge: I would agree with that to an extent. I think the digital format is very important, especially for the punk community. It’s something I took for granted for a while for whatever reason. There is a certain comfort in physical formats to me. I love looking at cassettes on a rack, records on a shelf. I have begun minimizing recently, and trying to embrace having less. Maybe a decision I will regret later on, but I am a revolving door of starting things over.
FPH: For those who don’t understand, what’s Calico Grounds and where does the name come from? Bosarge: Calico Grounds is an independent publishing house I operate. It focuses on small edition runs of booklets, music, prints, and other pieces of work. As for the name, it honestly has no deep meaning. Wish I had a better story. Just something that came into my head one day on a long drive.
FPH: What made you decide to start it up and how long has it been a thing? Bosarge: I was writing quite a bit and John Baldwin, while working at Domy Books, which was like a second home to me, suggested releasing zines of my own. In 2009 I started to work with one of my closest friends Stephen Ashley and began running it as a curated press. I have continued Calico Grounds on my own since 2010. It’s given me the chance to select and feature artists and writers I enjoy, while getting to print their work with design I would be drawn to.
FPH: As someone who publishes books and zines as well as cassettes, how do you decide who you’ll work with and the run of items produced? Bosarge: My decision-making is up in the air. I’ve gotten to debut a few people who have never had any printed matter, and further the collection of some well known artists as well. When it comes down to it though, I publish things that I feel like I would like to see. If you look through my “discography” you’ll see that it varies. Everything winds up somehow being linked to the punk community. Sometimes I get the urge to release something completely out of left field, or challenge an artist to put out a format that they have never worked with, or convince someone who doesn’t write but is full of great stories to finally put pen to paper.
FPH: Has there ever been an artist you approached to release something for but it just didn’t work out? Do you have anything planned for release any time soon? Bosarge: That happens often. For any number of reasons, sometimes ideas don’t pan out. I have never had a negative experience with an artist I have tried to work with. Sometimes the timing isn’t right. Sometimes missed connections lead to beautiful things. I was working on a collective book called “God Is Lonely In His Heavens.” It compiled many different writers into one release. Jonathan Shaw, Ross Farrar, Luc Rioual, Eric Paul, myself, and quite a few more including some Houston writers. There was a filmmaker I am a fan of submitting a story and he wound up becoming too busy for the project. A week before the deadline he got me in contact with Jonas Mekas. Jonas is an experimental filmmaker who started in the late ’40s/early ’50s who is very influential in the film world. Jonas and I would go on to publish “Letters, Etc.”, which is a collection of his personal letters to friends at the turn of the century. It’s very beautifully done and one of the releases I am the most proud of. In the coming future I am toying around with some ideas. A booklet of selected lyrics from Juergen Gleue is on it’s way. Juergen is one half of one my favorite bands, 39 Clocks. This will mark the second time I have gotten to work with him. There are a few more zine/book ideas, as well as some musical releases, however I would like to move on to bigger and loftier things before I bring this thing to rest.
FPH: You’re pretty heavily linked to the punk and post punk scene. What’s the number one thing people misunderstand about punk and DIY culture? Bosarge: This is a difficult question for me, because I feel the DIY and punk communities are becoming more “understood.” The lines between genres become less solid and makes it easier for people to explore. More people are grabbing a microphone for their first time and feeling empowered or oppressed enough to speak their opinion. There is something to learn from every performance. I don’t feel like there is anything new I can add to the conversation.
FPH: You sing in the band LACE, who will drop your proper full length with Seattle’s Iron Lung Records. How did that come about? Bosarge: A series of emails, really. Iron Lung is my favorite contemporary label, and were the first label we sent our demo to. Jensen Ward has been incredibly supportive and was the one to push for a full length. Their roster is unbelievable. Total Control, Diät, Gag, as well as one of the best punk bands I’ve heard this past year, Acrylics. They liked us enough to work with us, which of course is great. It’s very exciting and can’t wait for everyone to hear the LP.
FPH: You seem to really get aesthetic better than most people I meet in music, so much so, that I know a flyer is for a LACE show before I read it. Do you think the fact that you publish things is how you seem to get how something should look better than most? Bosarge: Thank you very much. I’m not sure what it is. I’ve always been a sucker for design, and I’m heavily influenced by old New Directions or Grove Press book covers, because I think it sets a certain mood. Nothing I design is incredibly original, but I would rather create something that I would like to see. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the art of DIY hardcore flyers. Things that are handdrawn to give a nod to the punk community of the past. It’s great, and there are plenty of people out there doing it now and doing a great job of it. I think the aesthetic we use represents us well though.
FPH: I know you’re a big Alan Vega fan, do you think people would be shocked to find out that you’re into him? Bosarge: I would hope not! I hope the influence is plain to see. Alan Vega’s impact on me has been tremendous. He exuded this confidence and intensity that I could only ever dream of. I would watch videos of Suicide performances, and Alan is on stage in a shiny sequined coat or some leather jacket snarling like a caged animal. I love it. One of the smartest and most innovative characters in the music world. His death took a real toll on me. I think people would be more ‘shocked’ by my other influences I could cite. Ask me about my love of Tiny Tim some time.
Bosarge definitely proves that Houston’s music world is made up of creatives who take things further than just the notes of their songs. You can find the releases from Calico Grounds here and the music of LACE here. While visiting both, make sure to catch LACE at Summer Breeze Vol. 1 on June 3 through June 4 at Walter’s. The multi-day punk fest features sets from Dress Code, Amygdala, Army and many more for the all ages event. from http://www.freepresshouston.com/houstonian-tales-josh-bosarge/ My conversation with Danny Boyle starts with him asking me where I am. I am in Houston. Boyle mentions that he was just in Austin, where T2 Trainspotting was the Secret Screening title on Sunday night for SXSW. “You’re going to laugh Danny, but I was sitting twenty-feet away from you at the Saturday night world premiere screening for Baby Driver,” I say. Here we are to discuss Boyle’s latest film. A sequel to the film that jump started his career, his sophomore feature Trainspotting, and the subsequent redo T2 Trainspotting. Instead we’re talking about Edgar Wright and his new film Baby Driver. “It was a blast wasn’t it?” asks Boyle. “He was doing some amazing things with the sound mix, combining the songs on the soundtrack with the sounds of guns and cars,” I reply. “I saw Edgar afterwards,” says Boyle. “I told him I knew so many of the songs he used, it was once the soundtrack of my life.” The conversation quickly sways to Boyle’s use of music in films like the original Trainspotting, which brought new life to Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life,” a song penned by David Bowie who was producing Pop’s second solo album in 1977. Previously “Lust for Life” had been in a couple of low profile films: the 1980 documentary D.O.A. and 1985’s Desperately Seeking Susan. But Trainspotting endeared it to a new generation caught up in the zeitgeist of Boyle’s film about Scottish heroin addicts trying to take back control of their lives. “I can’t claim to having increased its presence,” said Boyle. “Because it was such a great track that we all knew, and it was just wonderful to be able to put it in a film. We don’t really show this but in the original book that the movie is based on the characters are obsessed with Iggy. There was a character in the original book, Tommy who eventually dies, who goes to an Iggy concert in Glasgow, and has a transcendent moment where the rock star looks at him piercingly. Iggy was a big part of the milieu of the film.” T2 features a remix of “Lust for Life” by Prodigy. Yet the movie teases the remix because at the beginning Ewan McGregor puts the needle on a record for a split second before taking it off again. Only we know it’s the first drum beat of “Lust for Life.” Late in the movie the song bursts forth even more triumphant because we wanted to hear it all along. “A guy named Liam Howlett runs Prodigy, they’re an amazing rave techno group from the ‘90s. They’re an amazing band to see live, they still tour. It’s a wonderful remix,” says Boyle. “We were determined that if we were going to use songs from the original movie they had to be different as well as the same,” says Boyle. “And ‘Born Slippy,’ which was another song from the first film was reimagined by Underworld. It was different but a progression, that was the principal we were striving for.” Boyle discovered in doing the sequel that “the amount of time that had passed that allowed us to make something that didn’t feel like a copy of the first one. “When you’re an editor, you’re compressing time, slowing it down, speeding it up, stopping it. It’s an extraordinary process editing. It literally is the art form of time. The audience, when they see a film in the cinema, literally gives you their time. They give you two hours of their lives. Sure, a lot of people look on their phones, but they are there to see what I am giving them for their time. To do a movie that people remember and to add 20 years to it is lovely,” says Boyle. In the time since Trainspotting debuted, the film’s four main players have formed their own fan bases. Ewan McGregor has since been in the Star Wars universe. Robert Carlyle was a Bond villain. Johnny Lee Miller has played Sherlock Holmes in the television series Elementary. Ewen Bremner has been in multiple Woody Allen films and Black Hawk Down. The way these characters reunite conjures up a mixture of synchronicity with the feeling that you can never go home again. T2 Trainspotting brings the four characters – Renton, Begbie, Spud and Simon – while also introducing a new femme Angela Nedyalkova. Whatever baggage the characters were carrying at the end of the last film they still have it attached to their aging personas. Begbie has just broken out of prison, Spud is in a downward spiral of addiction, Renton has returned but has conflicts with how things went down when he was younger and had to quickly leave town. Simon runs the family bar and has replaced heroin with coke. Kelly MacDonald, the femme of the first film, has a cameo as a lawyer who advises her former friends on a legal issue. It’s like Diane was the one character from the first film who got their shit together. “The audience tunes in, you’re not just watching a one-off sensibility. You’re watching something that clearly has to investigate the past. The past is alive in all of us,” says Boyle. “Men are so bad at aging. We deny aging for so long. Women are much more sensible at aging, measuring out time. In movies it’s wonderful to have men aging badly. They’re trying to recreate the old days like when they go into the club. Yet you have the poignancy of realizing what poor fathers they’ve been; there are the two sons we see in film,” says Boyle. “It’s a potent mix.” Both of the Trainspotting films were written by Boyle with John Hodge and based on the novel by Irvine Welsh. Welsh penned a sequel in 2002, Porno. “It was a rehash of the first film,” says Boyle. “We wrote a script at the time but the scenarios we used didn’t look that much different then. At the time it felt too much like a traditional sequel and that’s the one thing I didn’t want to do,” says Boyle. This new version is the way he wants to go. “Hodges and I were much more prepared to do something acute and personal and to admit to the aging process. And then see that through the prism of these characters.” T2 Trainspotting opens this weekend at the Edwards Grand Palace and the AMC Sundance Theater. from http://www.freepresshouston.com/t2-trainspotting-an-interview-with-danny-boyle/ |
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April 2019
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