downloadable press release • right-click to download print-ready photo

Friday, July 17, 2009
Skyrocket! Dance Party at the Double Wide
Doors at 10 pm
Show at 10:30 pm until 1:30 am
Tickets $7 at the door
www.double-wide.com

3510 Commerce St
Dallas, TX 75226
(214) 887-6510

SKYROCKET! returns to Dallas on July 17 after two  recent jam-packed shows at the Double Wide.

This is a wickedly original cover band from Austin, TX that performs a fearless cabaret of Solid Gold-era classics from the ‘70s and ‘80s.  In a city where original music rules, Skyrocket! dares to mix both, performing forgotten radio hits with a creative cast of some of Austin’s finest career musicians (Trish and Darin Murphy, Johnny Goudie, Benjamin Hotchkiss, and The Real Heroes).

Throwing a wrench into the “too cool for school” Austin music scene could only be attempted by its own — a group of recording artists with diverse backgrounds from Americana to Brit-pop to glam. Discovering a common craze for the shamelessly dated but well-crafted songs of the AM-radio “solid gold” era, seven well-known musicians and songwriters united spontaneously in 2004 to form Skyrocket! What started as a lark soon caught on with music lovers and music critics a like. Michael Merschel of The Dallas Morning News wrote that the band is “so good it actually made people feel cool about standing around and listening to covers of the Bee Gees, ABBA and Kiss.”

“What started as a goof among friends has certainly grown,” writes Chris Gray of The Austin Chronicle, “ but hasn’t really changed; it’s still a bunch of friends, who happen to be some of Austin’s most talented musicians, getting together to jam on songs they all grew up on. The songs may be by other people, but what makes Skyrocket! so delicious is that they do them with a style all their own.” Meticulously cherry-picked, studied and performed, the songs come back to life with an eerie sound-a-like precision that still takes a back seat to the fun factor. The band does it all with glee, and their energy is infectious.

Members of Skyrocket! juggle their solo careers with the band’s expanding performance schedule.

Hi-res photos available on request.

VIEW SKYROCKET! ON YOUTUBE:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=T11tfbZHEeY

For more information:
www.skyrockettheband.com
www.myspace.com/skyrockettheband
www.skyrockettheband.blogspot.com

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SKYROCKET/131660570603

=== if you would like to no longer receive these emails, please reply with the word “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the subject line and you will be removed immediately. ===

downloadable press release

The Texas Voices, a professional adult vocal chamber ensemble, is looking for new members for its next season.  Auditions are being held by appointment beginning June 10 through August 7 at the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Plano for both women’s and men’s parts.

Auditions will include one solo, preferably classical; sight reading of a choral part; pitch pattern matching and vocalization to determine range and intonation.

Rehearsals for the chamber chorus will take place Tuesday evenings (time to be determined) at the Church at 1919 Independence Parkway, near West Park Boulevard in Plano. The Texas Voices is a 24-voice chamber chorus, which performs four subscription concerts each year.

To make an appointment, contact artistic director, Alan Dyer, at 972-801-2532 or adyer@thetexasvoices.org. For more information about The Texas Voices, visit www.thetexasvoices.org.

About The Texas Voices
Founded in December 2002, this 24-voice ensemble celebrates the choral tradition with a rich variety of music, from sacred to secular, classic to contemporary. Artistic Director Alan Dyer has gathered skilled singers from a broad range of backgrounds to create the first professional chamber chorus specifically serving North Dallas and Collin County. Dyer brings to the combination a musical sensitivity that places The Texas Voices among the top echelon of choruses nationwide. The chorus performs four concerts each year.

About Alan Dyer, Artistic Director
Alan Dyer has been a choral director, performer, and educator in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for more than 20 years. In addition to directing The Texas Voices, Dyer is a member of the music faculty at Texas Woman’s University, is a music associate at First Unitarian Church of Dallas, and the principal accompanist of the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas. Dyer earned a master of music degree from Southern Methodist University and Bachelor of Arts degree in piano performance from Dallas Baptist University. He also has completed doctoral courses at the University of North Texas. Dyer is active in the American and Texas Choral Directors Associations.

downloadable press release

Winners of the 8th Annual 24-Hour Video Race were announced on Wednesday, June 3 to a packed theater at the Angelika Film Center.

Sixteen winners completed a five-minute film in 24 hours, beginning Friday, May 22 at 11:59 p.m. and ending Saturday May 23 at midnight, in a competition sponsored by the Video Association of Dallas.  A total of 89 teams started the Race, 67 finished on time and 12 late teams were screened but were not included in the judging.

A total of three finalists from each division were awarded first, second and third places. All winning videos will be shown at the 22nd Annual VideoFest November 5 – 8. Due to time constraints, only first and second place winners are guaranteed a screening on KERA –TV Channel 13’s program, “Frame of Mind.” Airtime to be announced.

The winners by category are as follows:

Pixelvision (K-12 Teams)
1. Landdolphins
2. Digital Death
3. Team Swine

Futurevision (Current College/University students and recent graduates)
1. Shoot or Die
2. Siloencer Films
3. View Finder Productions

Auteur (Professional or amateur teams of 1 or 2 members)
1. Elephant & Castle Productions
2. Blocknaw Productions
3. Original Dub Master

Guerilla (Professional or Amateur teams of 3 to 5 members)
1. Monochromatic Productions
2. Curtis Needs a Ride
3. GuD Films

Hollywood (Professional or Amateur teams of 6 or more members)
1.  Whispering Eye (tie)
1. Brownian Motion (tie)
2. Palatia Motion Picture Group
3. The Depth of Fielders

The teams were given four elements, which had to be included in their films. This year the elements were:

Theme: Misunderstanding
Prop: An edible fruit or vegetable
Location: A street or traffic sign
Line of Dialogue: “…the one on the left.”

The 8th Annual 24-Hour Video Race sponsors include Alford Media, The Tape Company, AFI Dallas, The Music Bakery, Dallas Film Commission, Funimation Entertainment and HBO.

ABOUT VIDEO ASSOCIATION of DALLAS:
The mission of the Video Association is to promote an understanding of video as a creative medium and cultural force in our society, and to support and advance the work of Texas artists working in video and the electronic arts.

The Video Association of Dallas (VAD) is a 501(c)(3) organization incorporated on April 25, 1989. It began in 1986 as a weekend event, “Video As A Creative Medium”, presented at the Dallas Museum of Art by independent curators Barton Weiss and John Held. That first event, which included two nights of video by selected local and national video artists, was a great popular success, which led to the founding of the Dallas Video Festival (DVF) in 1987.  Video Association of Dallas presents the 24-Hour Video Race and other programs throughout the year.

For press information, please contact Lisa Taylor at 214-914-1099.

map • scroll to the end for more sharing options

downloadable press release

What can happen with a 24-hour burst of creativity? The 24-Hour Video Race strives to find the answer.  The 8th Annual 24-Hour Video Race, presented by The Video Association of Dallas, will commence at the Angelika Film Center in Mockingbird Station at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, May 22, and end 24 hours later at 12-midnight on Saturday, May 23. The Angelika Film Center is at 5321 E. Mockingbird Ln. For information, visit  http://www.24hourvideoracedallas.com or call 214-428-8700 or email videorace@videofest.org.

The screenings of the work of all the entrants will be Tuesday-Thursday, May 26-28 with the finalists screened on Wednesday, June 3 at the Angelika Film Center.  The winning videos will be shown at the 22nd annual VideoFest in November and also on KERA –TV Channel 13’s program “Frame of Mind.” Team members should bring Race lanyards for admission to the screenings. (This includes teams who did not finish the Race.) Members of the general public can also attend. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under.

Dallas film and video makers of all levels of experience are invited to participate in the race, both creatively and literally.  Teams that do not make it to the finish line at midnight will not be included in the judging, All teams will be assigned four critical elements: one theme, one prop, one location and one line of dialogue.

Anyone with a camera and the willingness to race can participate. Past teams have included elementary school students to professional filmmakers.  Student teams compete against other student teams and adult teams are categorized by team size rather than skill level.

The 24-Hour Video Race’s teams are divided in to five categories:
Pixelvision     K-12 Teams
Futurevision    Current College/University students and recent graduates
Auteur         Professional or amateur teams of 1 or 2 members
Guerilla     Professional or Amateur teams of 3 to 5 members
Hollywood    Professional or Amateur teams of 6 or more members

The 8th Annual 24-Hour Video Race sponsors include Alford Media, The Tape Company, AFI Dallas, The Music Bakery, Dallas Film Commission, Funimation Entertainment and HBO.

In 2008, 96 teams participated and 64 finished on time. Winners included Last Minute Movie Makers, Manamal Productions, WhiteNoise Films, Palatia Motion Picture Group and The Video Mafia. Over 750 filmmakers and crew have raced across the finish line over the history of the race.

ABOUT VIDEO ASSOCIATION of DALLAS:
The mission of the Video Association is to promote an understanding of video as a creative medium and cultural force in our society, and to support and advance the work of Texas artists working in video and the electronic arts.

The Video Association of Dallas (VAD) is a 501(c)(3) organization incorporated on April 25, 1989. It began in 1986 as a weekend event, “Video As A Creative Medium”, presented at the Dallas Museum of Art by independent curators Barton Weiss and John Held. That first event, which included two nights of video by selected local and national video artists, was a great popular success, which led to the founding of the Dallas Video Festival (DVF) in 1987.  Video Association of Dallas presents the 24 Hour Video Race and other programs throughout the year.
For press information, please contact Lisa Taylor at 214-914-1099.

map • add to calendar • scroll to the end for more sharing options

downloadable press release

The Texas Voices, Collin County’s first professional chamber chorus, concludes its sixth season of public concerts with Old Music from the New World on May 17, 2009.

Deeply rooted in the music of their homeland, our nation’s early immigrants brought their musical heritage with them as they forged new lives in the New World. Many American folk songs were inspired by these European and African traditions. This concert includes beloved folk songs such as Steven Sametz’s Shenandoah and Kirke Mechem’s Dan-u-el. And what folk-song celebration would be complete without a rousing rendition of David DaVenney’s The Drunken Sailor?

The 22-member chorus, directed by Alan Dyer, will perform Sunday, May 17 at 6:30 p.m. at Mesquite Arts Center, 1527 N. Galloway in Mesquite.  Tickets are $22 regular, $15 for seniors (65+), and $10 for students and may be purchased online at www.thetexasvoices.org, at the door, or at 214-384-6336.

About The Texas Voices
Founded in December 2002, this 22-voice ensemble celebrates the choral tradition with a rich variety of music, from sacred to secular, classic to contemporary. Artistic Director Alan Dyer has gathered skilled singers from a broad range of backgrounds to create the first professional chamber chorus specifically serving North Dallas and Collin County. Dyer brings to the combination a musical sensitivity that places The Texas Voices among the top echelon of choruses nationwide.

About Alan Dyer, Artistic Director
Alan Dyer has been a choral director, performer, and educator in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for more than 20 years. In addition to directing The Texas Voices, Dyer is a member of the music faculty at Texas Woman’s University, is a music associate at First Unitarian Church of Dallas, and the principal accompanist of the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas. Dyer earned a master of music degree from Southern Methodist University and bachelor of arts degree in piano performance from Dallas Baptist University. He also has completed doctoral courses at the University of North Texas. Dyer is active in the American and Texas Choral Directors Associations.

map • scroll to the end for more sharing options

downloadable press release

The Dallas Architecture Forum is pleased to present its second annual symposium on contemporary design, “Designing for Collections,” with four outstanding speakers, Aaron Betsky, Scott Johnson, Jorge Pardo, and George Sexton, each of whom will share their expertise on how to best design a space for collections on Saturday, May 9  - 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Magnolia Theatre, 3699 McKinney Ave.

Jack Lane, President and CEO of The New Art Trust and former Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, will moderate.  A cocktail reception with the speakers will be May 8.

Individual tickets for the Symposium can be purchased for $50 and individual tickets for both the Symposium and the cocktail reception can be purchased for $100 and can be purchased online at https://payments.auctionpay.com/ver3/?id=w013769.

See www.dallasarchitectureforum.org for more information or leave a message at 214-764-2406.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Aaron Betsky is the Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum and was Director of the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale.  Previously he directed the Netherlands Architecture Institute, the world’s largest architecture museum. A prolific writer and editor, Betsky has authored over a dozen books and is currently writing a major volume on modernism in architecture and design. He has been published in many newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Architectural Record, Architectural Digest, W, Metropolis, I.D. Magazine, and Metropolitan Home.  Betsky holds degrees from Yale and has completed doctoral studies in Architectural History.

Scott Johnson is Design Partner of Johnson Fain in Los Angeles.  His academic studies include Stanford and Harvard Design School,  and he practiced with the Architects Collaborative, SOM and the office of Phillip Johnson.  A number of his best-known and widely published designs include Opus One and Byron wineries, Rincon Center and the MGM Tower.  Current projects include the American Indian Cultural Center, Museum Tower in Dallas, and a wide range of projects in the Far East.  A frequent writer and lecturer, he is the author of The Big Idea:  Criticality and Practice in Contemporary Architecture and Tall Building:  Imagining the Skyscraper.

Jorge Pardo is a LA based artist who blurs boundaries between art, design and architecture.  Recent recognition of his work includes a group exhibition at the Guggenheim New York and the cover of The New York Times T Magazine.  Pardo holds a BFA and has done additional studies in art. His work is in the permanent collections of many museums including New York’s MoMA, MoCA Chicago, MoCA Los Angeles and MoCA Miami. Selected public commissions for his work include the Lever House, the German Parliament, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Dia Center for the Arts.  His work is shown at top galleries around the world.

George Sexton is founder and head of a preeminent lighting and museum design firm.  With a degree in architecture and previous art museum positions, Sexton brings a unique perspective to his work.  Museum projects include New York’s Met and MoMA, Denver Art Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum,  London’s Royal Academy of Arts, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Nam June Paik Museum, Yale’s Center for British Art, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Dallas Museum of Art.  Commercial projects include Hearst Tower, Lever House, and projects for Louis Vuitton.  Selected public buildings include the Library of Congress, Monticello, the National Cathedral, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

ABOUT DALLAS ARCHITECTURE FORUM
The Dallas Architecture Forum provides a continuing and challenging public discourse on architecture and urban design in - and for - the Dallas area. The Forum offers presentations of architecture through public lectures by designers, critics, and historians; through topical discussions; and through occasional study tours to buildings and cities locally and throughout the world. The Dallas Architecture Forum serves as an inclusive arena where people interested in and concerned with the built environment, non-professionals and professionals alike, may interact intellectually and socially. For more information, call 214-764-2406 or visit www.dallasarchitectureforum.org.

scroll to the end for more sharing options

photo provided by GGO

downloadable press release

GGO Architects’ Gary Olp East Dallas home has been selected to be toured by NAHB conference attendees May 8.

GGOArchitects is pleased to announce that the Olp residence, designed by GGOArchitects and built by Ferrier Custom Homes, will be featured as part of the NAHB Green Built Home Tour on Friday, May 8, 2009 from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM (tentative time)

Home features include: Designed on an infill lot to showcase green building systems, including structural insulated panels, insulated concrete forms, spray foam insulation in crawl space, passive solar design, tree preservation, high seer water-cooled HVAC unit, reversible door system with MERV-13 filtration, regionally harvested ash cabinetry and flooring, tankless hot water heater, low-flow plumbing fixtures, preserved native landscaping and pervious driveway.

This home was awarded the 2006 award, Custom Category, Hot, Humid Climate of the Energy Value Housing Award, presented by NAHB Research Center.

Please visit http://www.nahb.org/conference_details.aspx?conferenceID=59&sectionID=121&selectedTab=Overview for more information.

Images are available upon request at 214-914-1099 or lisatmp@swbell.net.

ABOUT GGO ARCHITECTS

GGOArchitects is a highly acclaimed private architectural practice in Dallas, Texas. Recognized for their innovative contemporary designs that feature a sustainable approach, each project represents a commitment to environmental responsibility.

GGOArchitects 5646 Milton St. Suite 910 Dallas, TX 75206 214-328-9091
www.ggoarchitects.org

map • scroll to the end for more sharing options

photo by Mark Gunderson, AIA

downloadable press release

“Frank Welch-The Birthday: What Does It Mean to Make a Texas Modernism” a symposium on architect Frank Welch and his iconic project will take place Friday, April 24 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at Dallas Center for Architecture, 1909 Woodall Rodgers Frwy., Suite 100.

For speakers, schedule, and topics, see: http://www.uta.edu/architecture/symposium2009

Presented by Dallas Architecture Forum and the Oral History of Texas Architecture Program at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture, speakers will include Frank Welch, Mark Gunderson, Max Levy, Lisa Germany, Wanda Dye, Brad Bell, Jane Myers, Monica Penick, Greg Smith, William Palmore, Stephen Fox, and Kate Holliday.

An optional informal reception at an O’Neil Ford residence at 11535 Hilllcrest, will conclude the day from 6-7:30 p.m.

Individual tickets for the Symposium can be purchased for  $40 and individual tickets for both the Symposium and the reception can be purchased for $50. Tickets are available online at https://payments.auctionpay.com/ver3/?id=w013769.

The sponsors of the Symposium are The University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture Oral History Program, The Dallas Architecture Forum, and The Dallas Center for Architecture. The reception is hosted by Ellen Terry and John Janik.

See www.dallasarchitectureforum.org for more information or leave a message at 214-764-2406.

ABOUT DALLAS ARCHITECTURE FORUM
The Dallas Architecture Forum provides a continuing and challenging public discourse on architecture and urban design in - and for - the Dallas area. The Forum offers presentations of architecture through public lectures by designers, critics, and historians; through topical discussions; and through occasional study tours to buildings and cities locally and throughout the world. The Dallas Architecture Forum serves as an inclusive arena where people interested in and concerned with the built environment, non-professionals and professionals alike, may interact intellectually and socially. For more information, call 214-764-2406 or visit www.dallasarchitectureforum.org.

add to calendar • scroll to the end for more sharing options

downloadable press release with all galleries listed

The Dallas Art Dealers Association (DADA) will present its annual Spring Gallery Walk, Panel Discussions and Scholarship Exhibition on Saturday, April 18.  The Gallery Walk features over 30 of DADA’s member galleries, museums, and nonprofit art spaces throughout the Dallas metroplex that will be open from 2-8 pm. for this FREE event that allows art lovers to socialize and roam (in a car) from gallery to gallery all in one day.
The Panel Discussions provide education for artists and members of the public and are $15 each.  Panel 1 will be 10:30-noon and will look at How To Create A Great Artist’s Portfolio.  Panel 2 will be from 1-2:30 p.m. and will offer On-Site Appraisals of paintings, prints, photographs, and sculpture by accredited appraisers. Maximum 3 pieces per person. Tickets can be purchased online at www.dallasartdealers.org or at the door. Proceeds benefit the Edith Baker Art Scholarship. The panel discussions will be held at Dallas Contemporary, 2801 Swiss Avenue.
Norwood Flynn Gallery will present the 2009 Arts Magnet Spring Senior Show, a juried show featuring senior visual art students from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.  100% of the proceeds benefit the student artists and DADA’s Edith Baker Art Scholarship. The opening reception is 6-8 p.m. and the gallery is open 2-8 p.m. The Gallery is at 3318 Shorecrest Drive. The exhibition and reception are free.  Call 214.351.3318 for more information.  www.norwoodflynngallery.com
The Spring Gallery Walk and panel discussions are sponsored by Modern Luxury Dallas, THE Magazine, Banks Fine Art, and WRR 101.1 FM. Maps for Gallery Walk will be available at each location or at http://www.dallasartdealers.org as a downloadable pdf. Hours may vary; please see individual listings. Call 214.943.1099 or email info@dallasartdealers.org.

Special Note: DADA is collaborating with Deep Ellum’s art walk also happening on April 18. It’s all about ART!  “Deep Ellum Enrichment Project (D.E.E.P.) ‘DEEP ART WALK’—A Gallery Walk Promoting Deep Ellum Galleries”  Twenty-plus Deep Ellum neighborhood galleries will showcase national and local artists while partnering with other Deep Ellum retail and bar venues. Saturday, April 18, 6–11 p.m. Visit deepellummedia.com for more information or call 469.767.2986.

ABOUT DADA
The Dallas Art Dealers Association, founded in 1985, is an affiliation of established, independent gallery owners and not-for-profit art organizations in the Metroplex. As a group, DADA is pledged to a high standard of ethical conduct, a devotion to consistent public service, and a dedication to professional integrity. Visit http://www.dallasartdealers.org or e-mail info@dallasartdealers.org for more information.

ABOUT THE EDITH BAKER ART SCHOLARSHIP
To celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2005, DADA created a scholarship honoring a respected member of the Dallas art community and one of its founding members, Edith Baker. Edith owned and directed The Edith Baker Gallery in Dallas for nearly 30 years before retiring in 2004. Proceeds from several DADA events held each year, as well as from collection jars at each DADA member location, benefit the Edith Baker Art Scholarship Fund. The scholarship annually benefits a graduating senior from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts who is planning to attend college and continue his or her studies in the visual arts. Besides a cash award, the finalists and the winner present their portfolios to a jury, and display their works at the Spring Gallery Walk through an exhibition at a member gallery (Norwood Flynn). The winner also has the opportunity to pursue a summer internship and a mentor-for-a-day program with DADA member of the winner’s choice.

map • add to calendar • scroll to the end for more sharing options

downloadable press release • right-click to download print-ready photo

John Allen, aka Johnny Dolphin, author of the recently released Me and the Biospheres: A Memoir by the Inventor of Biosphere 2, the definitive autobiography of one of the most luminous minds of our time, will speak Friday, April 17 at 8 p.m. at the Museum of Nature & Science, 1318 Second Avenue in Dallas’ Fair Park.  Tickets are $15 general admission, $10 students and members of Wordspace and Museum of Nature & Science. Call 254-495-9976 or go to www.wordspacetexas.org for tickets and more information.  This event is produced by Wordspace and is sponsored in part by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs.

Johnny Dolphin is the nom de plume of John Allen–an explorer, author, poet, playwright, scientist and heroic guru of the avant-garde. He has authored dozens of scientific articles, many books of poetry, prose, and plays, including The Dream and Drink of Freedom and 39 Blows on a Gone Trumpet, taught hundreds of actors, and performed all over the world. His latest book, Me and the Biospheres is an awe-inspiring glimpse into a luminous mind and his project-by-project chronicle of man’s potential to sustain the environment while interfacing it with art.

Born and raised in Oklahoma, he left a successful post-Harvard career in New York in the early1960s to live in the Tangiers art scene then ventured through the secret back trails of war-torn Vietnam and Tibet. He began meeting the people who partnered his creation of Synergia Ranch, the Theater of All Possibilities and his historic environmental and cultural projects.  He is the inventor of Biosphere 2, co-creator of the RV Heraclitus Planet Water Expedition, Rainforest Enrichment and Sustainable Forestry Project (Puerto Rico), Pastoral Regeneration Project (West Australia), The October Gallery (London), Les Marrionniers (France), Institute of Eco Technics and Caravan of Dreams (FW).
His conferences and collaborations on culture and science include such diverse members of the world’s intelligentsia as Timothy Leary, the Dalai Lama, William Burroughs, Ralph Metzer, Yvgeny Yevtushenko, Buckminster Fuller and Ed Bass, He is a Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Linnean Society, and the Royal Geographical Society.

The Biosphere 2 project was surely one of the great scientific and technological enterprises of our time. Building a working model of the Earth’s biosphere is essential preparation for the coming era of space travel and manned exploration of other worlds. In this memoir by the multifarious genius inventor/explorer John Allen, we learn how he used his knowledge and experience in engineering, metallurgy, design, ecology, large-scale organizational finance, agriculture (and other fields), to draw together and inspire an extraordinary team of highly skilled and knowledgeable collaborators from a wide range of scientific and technical disciplines. He relates amazing stories from his years of travel in all parts of the world, doing ecosystem restoration projects, building a research ship that (still!) sails the seven seas and co-creating a travelling theatre in which he and his friends explored the mythic and moral dimensions of the multifaceted adventure of life in the biospheres. An astonishing book! Inspiration guaranteed!
-Ralph Metzner, Ph.D., author of The Unfolding Self and Green Psychology

About the Author

John Allen - traveler, author, poet, playwright, and scientist - studied anthropology, classics, writing and history at Northwestern, Stanford and Oklahoma universities. He served in the U.S. Army’s Engineering Corps as a machinist, later receiving his MBA with High Distinction from Harvard Business School and became a Union organizer on Chicago’s south side in 1951-52.

In the late 1950s, Allen headed a special metals team at Allegheny-Ludlum Steel that developed over thirty alloys to product status. He subsequently worked with David Lillienthal’s Development Resources Corporation in the U.S., Iran, and Ivory Coast, giving up his career in 1963 to journey around the planet.

On this journey, Allen contacted the avant-garde and Berber scenes in Tangiers; hitch hiked across North Africa and studied the origins of civilization in Egypt before heading south to explore the origins of humanity.  Meeting with tribal chiefs and shamans from South Sudan to Lake Victoria; he journeyed through Uganda, Kenya, to the sacred Zambezi River; north to Swahili Mombasa, taking third class sea passage with refugees to the Rann of Kutch. Having wandered through the physical and metaphysical realms of Hindu Karma yoginis and Tibetan Lamas, Allen encountered America again working as a journalist and a volunteer with a hospital located on the Ho Chi Minh trail.

Allen has since led expeditions exploring ecology and early civilizations of Nigeria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Nepal, Tibet, Turkey, India, Mexico and the Altiplano. His rich personal history alongside the social history of his many destinations is chronicled through novels, poetry, short stories and plays. Allen emerged as an accomplished author with his trilogy of the sixties, beginning with Thirty-Nine Blows on a Gone Trumpet.

Allen writes his fiction and poetry under the pen name Johnny Dolphin; he has read for audiences around the world in venues such as George Whitman’s Shakespeare & Co., Paris, in New York accompanied by Ornette Coleman on saxophone; October Gallery, London (on occasion accompanied by fellow poets such as Ira Cohen, Sebastian Barker, Jack Hirschman, Pops Mohammed, Taiwo Jegeday, and Aidan Dun); Caravan of Dreams Performing Arts Center, Fort Worth, Texas and City Lights Book Store in San Francisco. His plays have been performed on every continent, from ICA London and Theatre du Soleil in Paris to villages on the Amazon and streets in California. He has set up ten acting studios, instructed some 200 actors and still performs annually with poetry and drama readings.

Of two dozen publications to Allen’s credit, about half are scientific. A fellow of the Linnean Society, Explorer’s Club, Royal Geographic Society and the World Academy of Art and Science, Allen co-founded the Biosphere 2 project - the world’s largest laboratory for global ecology (www.biospheres.com). As Executive Chairman, then Director of Biospheric Research, Development and Engineering, he led the world class science and engineering teams that created Biosphere 2’s materially closed life system and development of spin-off technologies.

He currently serves as Chairman of Global Ecotechnics Corporation, an international project development and management company with a Biospheres Division engaged in preparing to build the second generation of advanced materially closed biospheric systems and ecologically enriched biomes (www.biospheretechnologies.com).  He also chairs the EcoFrontiers Division which operates ecological projects he helped design in France, Australia, Puerto Rico and England (www.ecotechnics.edu), and is director of the non-profit Institute of Ecotechnics whose research ship, the Heraclitus, has sailed over 250,000 nautical miles exploring Planet Water and the ethnosphere (www.rvheraclitus.org).

An accomplished speaker, Allen continues to lecture at international forums on the emerging science of biospherics, the implications of Biosphere 2 for health, environment, science, and culture, the future role of space biospheres and on humanity’s place within the biosphere.

map • scroll to the end for more sharing options

downloadable press release • right-click to download print-ready photo

FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2009
SKYROCKET! DANCE PARTY AT THE DOUBLE WIDE
DOORS AT 10 PM
SHOW AT 10:30 PM UNTIL 1:30 AM
TICKETS $7 AT THE DOOR
www.double-wide.com

3510 Commerce St
Dallas, TX 75226
(214) 887-6510

SKYROCKET! is a wickedly original cover band from Austin, TX that performs a cabaret of Solid Gold-era classics from the ‘70s and ‘80s.  In a city where original music rules, Skyrocket! dares to mix both, performing forgotten radio hits with a creative cast of some of Austin’s finest career musicians (Trish and Darin Murphy, Johnny Goudie, Benjamin Hotchkiss, and The Real Heroes).

Throwing a wrench into the “too cool for school” Austin music scene could only be attempted by its own — a group of recording artists with diverse backgrounds from Americana to Brit-pop to glam. Discovering a common craze for the shamelessly dated but well-crafted songs of the AM-radio “solid gold” era, seven well-known musicians and songwriters united spontaneously in 2004 to form Skyrocket! What started as a lark soon caught on with music lovers and music critics alike. Michael Merschel of the Dallas Morning News wrote that the band is “so good it actually made people feel cool about standing around and listening to covers of the Bee Gees, ABBA and Kiss.”

“What started as a goof among friends has certainly grown,” writes Chris Gray of the Austin Chronicle, “ but hasn’t really changed; it’s still a bunch of friends, who happen to be some of Austin’s most talented musicians, getting together to jam on songs they all grew up on. The songs may be other people’s, but what makes Skyrocket! so delicious is that they do them with a style all their own.” Meticulously cherry-picked, studied and performed, the songs come back to life with an eerie soundalike precision that still takes a back seat to the fun factor. The band does it all with glee, and their energy is infectious.

Members of Skyrocket! juggle their solo careers with the band’s expanding performance schedule.

Hi-res photos available on request.

map • scroll to the end for more sharing options

downloadable press release • right-click to download print-ready photo

The Dallas Architecture Forum continues its 13th season of lectures with distinguished architect and author Juhani Pallasmaa of Helsinki, Finland on Thursday, April 9 at 7 p.m. at the Horchow Auditorium in the Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood St. in downtown Dallas. This is the annual Rose Family Lecture. Lecture Benefactors are Dallas Architectural Foundation and Scott + Cooner. Reception Underwriter is Kathleen + Alan Munoz.

Single tickets, available at the door only, are $20 for general admission, $10 for DMA members, and $5 for students with I.D. Dallas Architecture Forum members are admitted for free. The reception begins at 6:15 p.m.  For more information, call 214-764-2406 or visit http://www.dallasarchitectureforum.org. Images are available upon request via Lisa Taylor at http://www.taylormadepress.org, 214-943-1099 or lisatmp@swbell.net. Season benefactors are: Briggs Freeman Real Estate; MODIA Home Theater Store | Mody & Mody; Museum Tower; SHW Group; The Joule, A Luxury Collection Hotel; and URBAN EDGE developers ltd. Spring Series Benefactors are Jackson Walker LLP and RTKL Associates, Inc.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Juhani Pallasmaa has practiced architecture since the early 1960s and established his own office Juhani Pallasmaa Architects in 1983 after having collaborated with a number of architects for over 20 years. In addition to architectural design, he has been active in urban, product and graphic design.

Pallasmaa has taught and lectured widely in Europe, North and South America, Africa and Asia, and published books and numerous essays on the philosophy and critique of architecture and the arts in over thirty languages.

Pallasmaa has held positions as e.g. Professor and Dean at the Helsinki University of Technology (1991-97), State Artist Professor (1983-88), Director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture (1978-83), Associate Professor at Haile Selassie I University, Addis Abeba (1972-74), and Rector of the Institute of Industrial Arts, Helsinki (1970-71).

He has held visiting professorships at the Washington University in St. Louis (1999-2004), University of Virginia (1992) and Yale University (1993) and taught and lectured at numerous universities, conferences, and symposia around the world. His books include: The Thinking Hand: embodied and existential wisdom in architecture, London, 2009; Alvar Aalto Through the Eyes of Shigeru Ban, co-editor, London 2007; Raimo Utriainen – The Resonant Line, Helsinki 2007; Encounters: Architectural Essays, Helsinki 2005; The Aalto House, Helsinki 2004; Juhani Pallasmaa: Sensuous Minimalism, Beijing 2002; The Architecture of Image: Existential Space in Cinema, Helsinki 2001 and 2007; Alvar Aalto: Villa Mairea, Helsinki, 1998; The Eyes of the Skin, London 1996 and 2005; The Melnikov House, London 1996; Animal Architecture, Helsinki 1995; Maailmassaolon taide [The Art of Being-in-the-World: essays on art and architecture], Helsinki 1993; Alvar Aalto Furniture, Helsinki/Cambridge, Mass. 1987; The Language of Wood, Helsinki 1987, and; Alvar Aalto 1898-1976, co-editor, Helsinki 1978.

Pallasmaa has received three honorary doctorates: University of Industrial Arts, Helsinki, 1993 (in the arts); Helsinki University of Technology, 1998 (in technology), and, Estonian Academy of Arts, 2004 (in the arts). He is also Honorary Professor of the International Academy of Architecture.

Pallasmaa has received several awards: Silver Plaquette of the Museum of Finnish Architecture, 2006; Finland Prize, 2000; The International Union of Architects´ Award for Architectural Criticism, 1999; Fritz Schumacher Prize (Germany), 1997; Russian Federation Architecture Award, 1996; Helsinki City Culture Award, 1993; Finnish National Architecture Award, 1992.

ABOUT DALLAS ARCHITECTURE FORUM
The Dallas Architecture Forum provides a continuing and challenging public discourse on architecture and urban design in - and for - the Dallas area. The Forum offers presentations of architecture through public lectures by designers, critics, and historians; through topical discussions; and through occasional study tours to buildings and cities locally and throughout the world. The Dallas Architecture Forum serves as an inclusive arena where people interested in and concerned with the built environment, non-professionals and professionals alike, may interact intellectually and socially. For more information, call 214-764-2406 or visit www.dallasarchitectureforum.org.

map • add to calendar • scroll to the end for more sharing options

downloadable press release • Print Ready Photo

Undermain Theatre is pleased to announce its next show, The Black Monk by David Rabe, based on an Anton Chekhov story, will be performed April 4-May 2, 2009 at Undermain’s Dallas location in historic Deep Ellum. Previews are April 2-3. Katherine Owens will direct. Designed by John Arnone, Steve Woods and Bryan Wofford. Undermain Theatre performances are Wednesdays-Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. and Fridays-Saturdays at 8:15 p.m. Tickets are Thurs $15, Fri $20, and Sat $25. Undermain is located at 3200 Main Street at Murray Street in Deep Ellum.  Discounts are available for seniors, students and KERA members. Call 214.747.5515 or visit www.undermain.org.

David Rabe brings Anton Chekov’s spiritual mystery to vivid life.  Tony and Obie award winning writer David Rabe is the author of such classic American contemporary plays as Stick and Bones, Hurlyburly, Streamers, In the Boom Boom Room and more. He’s also written screenplays for films such as I’m Dancing as fast as I can, The Firm and Casualties of War. Undermain returns to Rabe’s work after the acclaimed productions of Rabe’s play Goose and Tom Tom, which Rabe attended in 1991.

Kovrin, a young scholar exhausted to the point of madness by his studies decides to visit his childhood friend Tanya on her father’s garden estate. The two fall in love and plan to marry. Kovrin tells Tanya the legend of the black monk whose image has been reflected in mirages for a thousand years and who will soon return in the flesh. One day in the garden, the black monk appears to the young man and holds the key to either enlightenment or total devastation.

The cast for The Black Monk is: Bruce DuBose as Yegor Semyonitch Pesotsky; Jonathan Brooks as Andrei Vasilich Kovrin; Shannon Kearns-Simmons as Tanya; Newton Pittman as The Black Monk; Stefanie Tovar as Nadia; Richard Rollin as Orlov; Maryam Baig-Lush as Varvara Nikolaevna; Ian Sinclair as Mikhail; Parker Hornsby as Yakov; Ryan Lescalleet as ensemble. Musicians will be Ariana Cook and Reynaldo Patiño.
“The late 19th-century storyteller and the contemporary playwright become one. The graceful flow from one to the other, and from the page to the stage, is remarkable. Mr. Rabe has heightened theatrical possibilities by extending descriptive passages into dramatic scenes that catch fire…The Black Monk is a heady event… Don’t miss it.” -Alvin Klein, The New York Times

ABOUT UNDERMAIN
Undermain Theatre, founded in 1984, is a company of artists that performs new and experimental works in Texas, New York, and Europe. The theater collaborates with playwrights, supports a theater archive and operates a theater under 3200 Main Street in Dallas’ legendary Deep Ellum. Call 214-747-2417 or visit www.undermain.org for more information.
Artistic Director: Katherine Owens. Executive Producer: Bruce DuBose. Associate Producer: Suzanne Thomas.

map • scroll to the end for more sharing options

downloadable press release

The Dallas Architecture Forum continues its 13th season of lectures with distinguished engineer Guy NORDENSON, who is currently working with Renzo Piano on the Kimbell expansion, on Thursday, March 26 at 7 p.m. at the Horchow Auditorium in the Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood St. in downtown Dallas. Nordenson was originally scheduled for April 1, so this is a CHANGED DATE.

Single tickets, available at the door only, are $20 for general admission, $10 for DMA members, and $5 for students with I.D. Dallas Architecture Forum members are admitted for free. For more information, call 214-764-2406 or visit http://www.dallasarchitectureforum.org. Images are available upon request via Lisa Taylor at http://www.taylormadepress.com, 214-943-1099 or lisatmp@swbell.net. Lecture benefactor is: David Griffin & Company Realtors. Season benefactors are: Briggs Freeman Real Estate; MODIA Home Theater Store | Mody & Mody; Museum Tower; SHW Group; The Joule, A Luxury Collection Hotel; and URBAN EDGE developers ltd. Spring Series Benefactors are Jackson Walker LLP and RTKL Associates, Inc.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Structural engineering has been both example and partner in the making of modern architecture. In collaboration with designers like Steven Holl, Richard Meier, and Sejima + Nishwara, Guy Nordenson brings a dynamic logic to the physical reality of buildings. He began his career drafting for Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi; later he was with Ove Arup + Partners, and in 1997 opened his own firm. Guy Nordenson is currently working with Renzo Piano on the Kimbell expansion.
Web:    nordenson.com

Guy Nordenson is a professor of structural engineering and architecture at Princeton University and is a faculty associate of the University Center for Human Values. He is active in earthquake engineering, including code development, technology transfer, long-range planning for FEMA and the USGS, and research. Nordenson initiated and led the development of the New York Seismic Code from 1984 to its enactment into law in 1995. He is co-founder of the Structural Engineers Association of New York and organized the inspections by the SEAoNY of 400 buildings in the restricted zone around the World Trade Center after 9/11. In 2004, he co-curated the Museum of Modern Art’s Tall Buildings exhibition at MoMA QNS with Terence Riley. In 2004, Nordenson was the first recipient of a new award given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters for contributions to architecture by a non-architect. Nordenson’s recent publications include the WTC Emergency Building Damage Assessments (2004) and Tall Buildings (2003), a companion to the exhibition at MoMA QNS.

ABOUT DALLAS ARCHITECTURE FORUM
The Dallas Architecture Forum provides a continuing and challenging public discourse on architecture and urban design in - and for - the Dallas area. The Forum offers presentations of architecture through public lectures by designers, critics, and historians; through topical discussions; and through occasional study tours to buildings and cities locally and throughout the world. The Dallas Architecture Forum serves as an inclusive arena where people interested in and concerned with the built environment, non-professionals and professionals alike, may interact intellectually and socially. For more information, call 214-764-2406 or visit www.dallasarchitectureforum.org.

map • scroll to the end for more sharing options

Bang Dang’s winning entry

right-click to download print-ready photo

On March 26, 2009 from 6:30pm – 8:30pm the Dallas Center for Architecture and La Reunion TX will feature a continuation of the Make Space for Art tour with a reception and book signing.  The exhibit will be on display from March 9 – April 9, 2009 in the offices of the Dallas Center for Architecture, located at 1909 Woodall Rodgers Freeway, Suite 100.  The FREE exhibition can be seen Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. Call 214-742-3242 for information or visit www.lareuniontx.org for details.

The Make Space for Art call for entries attracted 68 designers from 19 countries who submitted ideas for a future environmentally friendly facility to be built on a 35-acre site in Oak Cliff.  The jurors for Make Space for Art are Mark Gunderson, AIA of Fort Worth; Dr. Richard Brettell of UT Dallas; Louise Harpman of UT Austin, Max Levy, FAIA of Dallas; and Rick Lowe of Project Row Houses in Houston.

The winners for MAKE SPACE FOR ART are:  First Prize: Bang Dang of Dallas; Second Prize: Michael Panacci of Brooklyn, Ontario, Canada; Third Prize: Ines Fernandez and Lucia Perez of New York, New York; Sustainable Prize: Sofia Fernandes and Tiago Carvalho of Portugal.  Honorable Mentions for MAKE SPACE FOR ART are: Simon Stahl and Emma Melin of Jonkping, Sweden; Delphine Borg of Rotterdamn, The Netherlands; Brandon Woodward of Seattle, Washington; Chris Sano of Dallas, Texas; Michael Hargens, Sophia Razzaque, Teoman Ayas of London, UK; Karl Bengzon of Chester, New Jersey.

Make Space for Art was sponsored by Perkins-Will, Barry Whistler Gallery, Preservation Tree Services, and City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs.  Hardcover catalogs featuring all the plans from Make Space for Art are available for purchase.

About Dallas Center for Architecture
Welcome to one of the nation’s first Centers for Architecture—a lively new convergence of the art and science of architecture—uniting architects and allied professionals with citizens concerned about good design, community sustainability and other key living-environment issues for today and tomorrow.  The Dallas Center for Architecture fills 8,000 square feet of prime urban space at 1909 Woodall Rodgers Freeway, anchoring the north end of the new Woodall Rodgers Park and providing a portal to the Dallas Arts District. Arrive via the freeway, the McKinney Avenue Trolley or the Pearl Street DART Station.

The Dallas Center for Architecture also serves to build collaborative relationships among allied organizations and the academic community; be a center of learning for the public and industry professionals; influence public policy on issues of sustainable community planning and the built environment; and promote the value of architecture and community planning in Dallas and surrounding communities.

About La Reunion TX
La Reunion TX is creating an arts residency in Dallas that will host artists in both new and traditional media for periods ranging from one week to one year. In exchange for short-term living quarters and studio space, artists will be expected to give back to the community through programs, exhibits, performances and installations. Artists working in all media will be encouraged to apply.  The residency will be built on a 35 acre site in Oak Cliff and will be as green and off-grid as possible, modeling sustainable living. In addition, the business plan has an eye toward long-term sustainability not only with the facility but also with the bottom line. La Reunion TX seeks to transform the community through art and create lasting social change in Dallas. See www.lareuniontx.org for more details.

Currently, La Reunion TX offers several programs utilizing both the land and the organization’s gallery space in the Design District of Dallas.  Art Chicas Unidas is a collaborative program with Dallas Art Dealers Association and Girl Scouts of NorthEast Texas that teams high school aged girls with female mentor artists.  Tree Carving is a program to turn dead and dying trees on the 35 acres into decomposing sculptural works.  Scriptwriting for Graphic Novels explores the relationship between writers and illustrators with Dallas’ thriving comic book community.