The Marfa.Org ®@ŋd¤m‡zЄ®

Marfa: Ready for NPR? [Austin Chronicle]
With much hoopla, Marfa Public Radio launched last February, backed by a group of prominent Austinites, including Texas Monthly Editor Evan Smith and KUT general manager Stewart Vanderwilt. Newsman Dan Rather was on hand to ceremoniously flip the switch; the next day Willie Nelson played a benefit concert. For a crowning touch, The New York Times covered the events, focusing on the introduction of public radio to the remote region of West Texas.
But just a few weeks after Marfa Public Radio started transmitting All Things Considered and other programs at low power, the signal was abruptly shut down when it was discovered that the station still didn't have federal approval to broadcast. Ten months later, Marfa Public Radio remains off the air, available only through its Web site, as the Federal Communications Commission continues to review its application, including the premature broadcasts.
Although the project began as a philanthropic effort to bring public radio to an underserved community, local radio veteran Robert Walker, president of Austin-based Matinee Radio LLC, now describes the Marfa experience as something of a nightmare. Matinee is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to establish the station and plans to donate the signal to the nonprofit public radio entity. "It's a purely altruistic endeavor," said Walker, a board member of KLRU-TV and the Austin Film Society. But the result, he says, has been two years of acrimony and FCC delays, capped by the continued focus in Marfa on the aborted launch. full article

Auctions
2 Tickets to Jeff Tweedy Show on eBay
1900s Unused Marfa Power Co. Stock Certificates
Two Volumes: history of Marfa and Presidio County
10 Dollar Bill Issued in Marfa in 1929
According to the auction: This was the only note issuing national bank in Presidio County.

Christmas Brings Business to Permian Basin Wineries
[Odessa American] The Luz de Estrella Winery in Marfa is celebrating it’s first Christmas with the recently released Big Bend Red wine.Winery owner Linda Armstrong said the wine is spicy, with holiday tastes like cinnamon and nutmeg.“Everybody says, ‘Oh my God, this just tastes like Christmas,’ ” she said.

Art in Review: George Ortman [NYT]
Maybe George Ortman will finally get the attention he deserves. He belongs to that small club of erstwhile neglected artists who share the distinction of having been reviewed admiringly in Arts magazine in the early 1960s by the sculptor (and then critic) Donald Judd. Other members include John Wesley and Lee Bontecou, and to some extent Ken Price; the Judd imprimatur wasn’t the only reason they gained visibility, but it helped.
It is easy to understand Mr. Judd’s interest in Mr. Ortman’s work. The four early reliefs here indicate that... full article

$250,000 Effort Restore Ruidosa Mission

Exploration Co. Proposes 103 New Wells in '07
In the Marfa Basin in West Texas, The Exploration Co. has set aside $3 million for one new well and money for a three-dimensional seismic acquisition program.