Today's Events from TodayinAustin.com

Now, everyone can sing with Conspirare

2009-11-11T15:01:07Z

Always dreamed of singing with Grammy-nominated choir Conspirare? Now you can as Conspirare presents its inaugural Rush Hour Big Sing.

The free community event invites everyone — regardless of their musical talents or lack thereof — to join Conspirare’s artistic director Craig Hella Johnson and members of the choir in a group sing.

Johnson will lead everyone through breathing exercises, vocal warm-ups, and short, melodic songs that can be easily learned without reading music. Conspirare Symphonic Choir members will sit among the audience to sing along and provide musical support and encouragement during the one-hour event.

Rush Hour Big Sing
5:30 p.m. Nov. 12
St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, 606 W. 15th St.
Free
www.conspirare.org

Book Review And Bookpeople Reading: Mary Karr's Lit

2009-11-11T20:24:26Z

Notre Dame Review - Stephanie Magdalena White

Mary Karr will be reading from Lit and signing copies at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 12 at BookPeople.

Longtime fans of Mary Karr’s frank, acerbic, and rather beautiful prose may be feeling a bit of shock—maybe even betrayal—by the content of her latest book. Karr’s third in a line of intelligent and delightfully profane memoirs, Lit is her story of motherhood, alcoholism, divorce, recovery, and, quite surprisingly, her conversion to Catholicism (a bit of a trend lately, it seems). For those who know Karr for her poetry as well, 2006’s Sinners Welcome, is as confessional as any of her nonfiction, tipped us off. And while her faith has certainly been no secret, the message boards are lighting up nonetheless. Laments lorikay4, if Mary Karr isn’t “constitutionally incapable of religion, then I don't know anything.”

Luckily Karr has succeeded in making Lit just as readable for a secular audience as her previous volumes. In an interview with Terry Gross, Karr herself compares her earliest drafts as a recent convert to the rhetoric of late-night televangelists—an interesting comparison considering how readily she admits to doing it all for the money. But through great care and diligent editing, the final product is thankfully more Anne Lamott than Joel Osteen.

While her poetic prowess is unavoidably on display in every sentence, she simultaneously manages a conversational ease free of the tragic sentimentality one comes to expect from religious and recovery narratives. It is strangely and casually intimate in places. Karr is quick to parenthetically address the reader—to reprimand her younger self, confess spots and biases in her memory, or catch up those not familiar with the bizarre childhood in East Texas (chronicled in The Liar’s Club), a product of her mother’s severe mental illness and substance abuse.

She is, rather strikingly, completely unafraid. It’s obvious from the first page that Karr wrote this book with advice given to her by Tobias Wolff at the front of her mind: “Don’t be afraid of appearing angry, small-minded, obtuse, mean, immoral, amoral, calculating, or anything else. Take no care for your dignity.” She acknowledges right away (on page 2, no less) in an open letter to her grown son, Dev, the similarities between the evolution of her addiction and depression and that of her mother. The realization is, of course, tremendously unsettling but what follows is a pretty fascinating study of her own family and history, the patterns that emerge as the life she sought apart from them begins to unravel, and the inch-by-inch, nails-in-the-dirt, dragging toward God she experiences in the process. “Drinking to handle the angst of Mother’s drinking—caused by her own angst—” she writes, “means our twin dipsomanias face off like a pair of mirrors, one generation offloading misery to the other through dwindling generations, back through history to when humans first fermented grapes.”

Mary Karr will be reading from Lit and signing copies at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 12 at BookPeople.

THURSDAY NIGHT SCOOT

2009-11-10T17:16:45Z

Looking for something to do this Thursday? Here’s a show I can promise you won’t be annoyed you paid the cover for:

Classically trained pianist and jazz singer, Reggie Watts is one of six living Americans with a full 10 octave vocal range. A definite highlight of Fusebox Festival 2009, his solo performances- layering organic sounds of his own creation in melodic bliss- are beyond description. Recipient of the prestigious Andy Kaufman Award, Watts has performed at countless theaters and venues all over the world.

15$ General Admission
10$ Students and Starving Artists
Avoid the line. Buy your tickets online.

ABOUT FUSEBOX
Fusebox is a contemporary art and performance festival that champions new and innovative work. We present artistic experiences that catalyze audiences, ideas, and conversations.

Art night austin: EAST

2009-11-09T07:38:38Z

Thursday November 12, 2009 | 7:00pm to 10:00pm. Art night austin: EAST is a chauffeured art and culinary trek through Austin’s hottest eastside art spaces. Be the first to preview and purchase works, and enjoy complimentary bites and bevs at each venue. Begin at any participating location and hop on and off continuous transportation. Afterparty to follow at Shangri-La.

Community Conversation on AISD Budget Issues to be Held Thursday, November 12

2009-11-06T08:00:00Z

The Austin School District will hold the first of two community conversations to inform and engage citizens on issues that need to be addressed before the Board of Trustees can approve the 2010-2011 school year budget. The meeting will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 12, in the cafeteria of Anderson High School, located at 8403 Mesa Drive.

Healthy Eating Gluten-Free Store Tour

2009-11-14T14:00:00Z

Saturday, November 12th

11:00 am | Free!

With an ever increasing amount of diseases and ailments being linked to diet, there has never been a better time to choose our food with wellness in mind, especially when you avoid gluten. However with such an abundance of information available about what to eat, what not to eat, how much to eat, and the healthiest way to prepare it, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. Let our Healthy Eating Specialist Mary be your guide. She will lead you through the store, and find the most nutrient-rich foods to best fit your needs and budget. Plus, learn how to prepare these foods and incorporate them into your kitchen routine. Meet at the Healthy Eating Desk in Produce.

Gluten-Free Food and Wine Pairing at the Culinary Center

2009-11-12T14:00:00Z

Thursday, November 12th

6:30-8:30pm | $35

Mary Olivar, Whole Foods Market Healthy Eating Specialist

Jen Powell, Whole Foods Market Wine Team Member

Holiday meal planning can be fun and gluten-free. Let us help you take the guesswork out of creating a wonderful, seasonal gluten-free, dairy-free spread, and take it a step further with wonderful wine pairings. Menu: Raw Crudités with Cannellini Bean Spread and Kale Puree Spread; Walnut Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto; Butternut Squash Soup with Roasted Tomatoes; Shaved Fennel and Apples over Field Greens with Lemon Vinaigrette; Roasted Vegetable Ragout over Creamy Millet; No-Bake Apple Pie with Cashew Cream. To sign up for the dinner, call the Culinary Center at 512.542.2340.

Charity Bash: SafeDate Auction for SafePlace

2009-10-28T17:29:26Z

Thursday, Nov. 12 at The Ranch in downtown Austin, Charity Bash is hosting a date auction to benefit Safeplace. 18 (check them out here) of Austin’s top bachelors and bachelorettes with amazing date packages will be auctioned off. Donate the minimum $20 here. Safeplace exists to end sexual and domestic violence. Nationally recognized for its innovative and effective programs, SafePlace has been providing women, children, and men a place of safety, compassion and empowerment in Austin since 1974. Here are two examples to bid on:

Chad Sakonchick’s package includes 80,000 American Airline miles and a 3 night stay in NYC

Katie Stolp’s package includes a Texas Longhorn football autographed by Earl Campbell, Round of golf at Great Hill’s Country Club, $150 car detail from Cesar’s auto salon, $50 free gas, plus a free oil change and tire rotation from Tarrytown Texaco, $135 to Bird’s Barbershop, $100 to Joie de Vie Salon & Spa, Dinner at Shoreline Grill, 2 tickets to Asleep at the Wheel Holiday show at Broken Spoke, Bar tab at Molotov, and a 1 night stay w/ room service breakfast at Four Seasons Austin.

www.charitybash.org

Review: Chaddick Dance Theater's 'Freefall

2009-11-08T16:01:22Z

Austin-based dancemaker Cheryl Chaddick’s choreography spans a wide range of performance dynamics.

In Friday night’s performance of ‘Freefall’ — the first of a three weekend run at Salvage Vanguard Theatre — the Chaddick Dance Theater presented an evening of Chaddick’s work, including pieces that seemed made for an audience to watch and others that seemed more about dancers on introspective journeys.

Three musical works by The Lyric Quartet framed “Three for Violin,” the most presentational of the evening’s dances. The all-female cast’s smiles contributed to the sense that they relished the opportunity to spin and leap in their metallic, layered dresses, created by costumer Elizabeth Vowell. Dancer April Mackey centered the piece, performing a calm, but strong solo in the work’s second section.

Program closer “The Watchful Sleeping Heart” featured more somber choreography that suggested women on a never-ending journey. Projections shown as backdrop moved from desert sands to rocky mountains to drenched rain forests. Some of the most striking moments occurred when the dancers ran to the wall, their silhouettes etched into the photograph of expansive landscapes.

Chaddick’s quirkiest piece, “I’m Your Lullaby,” was a welcome respite from the more overtly dance pieces. Four characters, named in program notes as Teena “Teenie” Tahtas, Toni Grover, Nutmeg, and Chanteuse cavorted about the stage doing almost unison with shades of character layered on top. Tahtas and Chanteuse were more likely to flounce. Grover and Nutmeg (Chaddick as a rather convincing drug-addled hippie) were more likely to amble. The tiny variations on a theme were sometimes hilarious, sometimes fascinating.

The program also included Chaddick’s “The Gambit” and Cynthia Chaddick’s photographic montage “Faces and Images of India,”

‘Freefall’
8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through Nov. 21
Salvage Vanguard Theater, 2803 Manor Road
$12-$15
www.chaddickdancetheater.com

Clare Croft is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.

Fine Arts Library Art and Art History Collection unveiled

2009-11-10T13:17:33Z

Thursday, Nov. 12, 5 p.m., Doty Fine Arts Building (DFA) 3.200. The College of Fine Arts Library and the University of Texas Libraries invites you to the unveiling of the Art & Art History Collection. The collection was formed in 2005 when the College of Fine Arts acquired some 5,000 artifacts from the Texas Memorial Museum and 60 objects donated by the Boeckman family of Dallas. The most significant holdings in the Art & Art History Collection are artifacts of various pre-Columbian cultures made from materials such as ceramic, stone, metal, textiles, wood and feathers. A rotating selection of items from the collection will be displayed at the Fine Arts Library.

Jazz on the Patio presents talented campus musicians

2009-10-19T14:04:14Z

Thursday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m., Texas Union Patio. Five of the most talented musicians on campus are coming together to make some beautiful music on the Texas Union Patio! Students are invited to sit back and relax as a small group of doctoral students play some jazz on the patio. Free coffee and hot chocolate will be provided.

Poet and critic James Fenton speaks in Harry Ransom lecture event

2009-10-20T10:45:49Z

Thursday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m., Harry Ransom Center. The University Co-op presents a Harry Ransom Lectures event with poet and critic James Fenton, as he discusses "Life-Writing," new approaches to autobiography, biography and memoir. A book signing follows. Fenton was born in Lincoln, England, in 1949 and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won the Newdigate Prize for poetry. He has worked as a political journalist, drama critic, book reviewer, war correspondent, foreign correspondent and columnist. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was Oxford professor of poetry from 1994 to 1999. In 2007, Fenton was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. His "Selected Poems" was published in 2006, and he is the editor of "The New Faber Book of Love Poems" (2008) and "D.H. Lawrence's Selected Poems" (2009). Seating is free, but limited. This program will be Web cast live at www.hrc.utexas.edu/webcast. The Harry Ransom Lectures honor former University of Texas Chancellor Harry Huntt Ransom and highlight the Ransom Center's vital role in the university's intellectual and cultural life. The program brings internationally renowned writers, artists and scholars to Austin for public events and conversations with university students. The lectures are made possible by the generous support of the University Co-op.

Dane Cook performs at the Erwin Center

2009-10-27T07:25:06Z

Thursday, Nov. 12, 8 p.m., Frank Erwin Center. Named a "comedian phenom and icon" by "Entertainment Weekly" and one of the world's 100 Most Influential People by "Time" magazine in 2007, Dane Cook has maintained his reputation as one of today's most prolific stand-up comedians while simultaneously distinguishing himself as a charismatic and versatile actor in a variety of film and television projects. Combining energetic physical comedy, clever wordplay and trenchant observations about human behavior, Cook brings his unique brand of stand-up and accessible guy-next-door attitude to the Frank Erwin Center for one performance only.

Texas Spirits presents Band Jam benefiting Make-A-Wish

2009-09-24T06:55:28Z

Thursday, Nov. 12, 9 p.m., Ace's Lounge on 6th Street. Come out to the Texas Spirit's 14th annual charity concert benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a nonprofit program that grants wishes of hospitalized children. This year's headliner is L.A.X, who will also be playing at ACL in October.

Austin Asian American Film Festival (Alamo South Lamar)

2009-11-12T04:13:28Z

The Austin Asian American Film Festival 2009 starts November 12 and goes through November 15, 2009, at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.

Find out more, see the schedule, get your badge or purchase tickets to individual shows @ www.aaaff.org

AAAFF is an Asian/Asian-American film festival committed to celebrating the best in independent Asian cinema from across the globe. For five years, the festival has highlighted the complexity and vitality of Asian/Asian-American communities through cutting-edge narrative, documentary and experimental films. The festival programmers aim at bringing awareness to important global issues like saving the environment and supporting other causes through the strong impact of media.

Screenings

Thursday, November 12, 2009
  7:00p
Friday, November 13, 2009
  4:00p
Saturday, November 14, 2009
  12:00p
Sunday, November 15, 2009
  12:00p

The Action Pack presents the 1997 Sing-Along! (Alamo Downtown)

2009-11-12T04:13:14Z

Earlier this year we finally brought an idea to life that we'd been kicking around Action Pack headquarters for a few months. "What if," we thought, "we put together a Sing-Along show from a previous decade and then just mixed all of the music together, instead of focusing on Ladies from the 1980s, or Power Ballads, or Pop Rap? What if we made a mix tape of one particular year and just jammed it full of every big hit from that year? What would that be like?" With the 1987 Sing-Along, we found out that it would be AWESOME. This November, we're revisiting that idea and jumping forward a full decade as we celebrate our 1997 Sing-Along. This is the year of Puff Daddy, who had hits with "I'll Be Missing You," "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down," and a bunch of other songs that were really just songs from previous decades that we would rap over. But it's also the year that the Backstreet Boys first asked us to quit playing games with their hearts, when Hanson told us that in an MMmbop they'd be gone (and then stuck around forEVER), the Spice Girls told us what we'd need to do if we wanted to be their lovers (essentially just hook up with their friends, I think), and Donna Lewis promised that she'd love us, always, forever. In other words, 1997 may have been the greatest single year in the history of pop music, and we're actually a little bit surprised that we haven't celebrated it yet.

Screenings

Thursday, November 12, 2009
  10:00p
Thursday, November 19, 2009
  9:50p
Thursday, December 03, 2009
  9:30p

The Way We Get By - Veterans Day TV Premiere Tonight!

2009-11-11T19:11:22Z

Tonight, Wednesday, November 11, PBS commemorates Veterans Day with the broadcast premiere of Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly's acclaimed documentary The Way We Get By. Check out the POV website to find out broadcast times, and to explore resources.

Don't forget, you can also order the DVD - click here for more details. Order a copy for a vet in your life!

Photo from The Way We Get By by Sean Carnell

Weird Wednesday: CONVENTION GIRLS (Alamo Downtown)

2009-11-11T13:36:12Z

presents WEIRD WEDNESDAY!
Get your free membership coupon to I Luv Video at Weird Wednesdays while supplies last.

CONVENTION GIRLS
NOV 11, MIDNIGHT, $1, DIR. JOSEPH ADLER, 1978, 35MM, 80 MIN, R

On the surface this is one of those '70s "group of girls" movies, inspired by the success of New World Pictures' nursesploitation movies. There were tons of films that followed the day to day problems and concerns of a group of shapely nurses, cheerleaders, student teachers etc. Finally the interesting and talented Florida exploitation director Joseph Adler (SCREAM BABY SCREAM) got around to making one about the hookers who populate trade shows and industry functions. That's the starting point, anyway. On a deeper level it's about integrity and the pride of doing a good job. Rather than simply serving as a backdrop for sexploitative highjinks, the toy convention is at the core of the film. The hero of the piece is a dollmaker who refuses to sell out to a dark toy conglomerate, and it's not hard to make the case that he's like a film maker who does the best he can under every circumstance - like Adler himself. The story arcs that illustrate the central conflict of the film are tied together by the prostitutes who attend the convention and weave in and out of the various relationships. It's a really good film, with more similarities to Altman than to the usual flesh pageants of the era. (Lars)

By popular demand: the Weird Wednesday T shirt from Mondo Tees!

Weird Wednesday Facebook Page.

Read more about these films at Lars' Weird Wednesday blog.

Follow Alamo Programmer and Weird Wednesday host Lars at twitter/larsalamo.

Screenings

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
11:55p

COMMUNITY: Science Under the Stars

2009-11-11T13:34:38Z

Swing Dance - Wednesday - November 11

2009-11-05T14:59:00Z

The Jimmy Lee Band (blues and bbq event), 6:30 - 9:00 pm, CENTRAL MARKET (WestGate location)

Albanie Falleta and her Fellas, 9 - 11 pm, VICTORY GRILL

Dale Watson and the Lone Stars (country music event), 9 pm - Closing, BROKEN SPOKE