Houston's David Beebe To Move to Marfa

The Houston musician David Beebe will soon move to town to run the new club, Padre's. Beebe is a popular fixture in the Houston live music scene, playing in such bands as El Orbits and The Banana Blender Surprise. Having performed an estimated 3000 times since his high school graduation in the late 80's, Beebe's vocal chords need the break (they are actually getting surgery.) And during that hiatus Beebe will move to Marfa for about three years to get Padre's up and running.

The Houston Chronicle reports:

"Beebe had the opportunity to build a club from start to finish in Marfa, that odd, little West Texas town known for its Donald Judd installations and its eerie, flickering sky.

"My priest (Rev. William Miller, formerly of Houston's Trinity Episcopal Church) was hanging out in Marfa a lot and he wanted to start a club out there, so he called me. I said no at first, but then I agreed to go out there and look at the building. Man, it's a cool building. It was the right time and the right guy asking me to consider this; my spiritual leader. We built houses in Tijuana together. We went to New York and worked with the homeless together. So I told him I'd do it for three years."

The building is an old funeral parlor. The club will be called Padre's and Beebe expects to have it open by the end of 2007."

Full article here.

Ballroom Marfa Wraps Up a Busy 2006

Ballroom Marfa will wrap up a very busy and exciting year with a performance by harpist/ pianist/ singer/ songwriter Joanna Newsom tomorrow. If you've forgotten just how much the Ballroom accomplished in '06 take a look at this collage - Wow, did that really all happen within the last 12 months? And if that's not enough, they they'll kick it into high gear with a performance by Jeff Tweedy in '07! (Ballroom’s Liberty Hall, Sunday, January 21, 2007). Many thanks, many thanks.

The Marfa.Org ®@ŋd¤m‡zЄ®

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Alan Vannoy Reception Tonight

New work by printmaker and book artist Alan Vannoy will be shown at HWY 90 Gallery in December, launched by a reception at the gallery tonight, December 1.

At his studio in Alpine, Texas, Vannoy uses a flatbed press to create colorful, imaginative prints and hand-made books that incorporate images from an assortment of common objects. “I have a large collection of do-it-yourself encyclopedias and vintage catalogs, dingbats and letterpress catalogs, stickers and unique magazines,” said Vannoy. “I also collect fried pie wrappers and potato chip bags and hot dog wrappers and small toys and fake tattoos and firecracker labels, interesting receipts and food labels.”

Vannoy peruses his collection for ideas inspired by odd juxtapositions and incongruities. Sometimes humorous, light and whimsical, sometimes darkly macabre, Vannoy’s work combines iconic images from everyday life in unusual, evocative ways. “Some of my work is about the simpler things in life: good times, food, and family. Sometimes my work explores more complex ideas: health, sexuality, death, insanity.”

The reception tonight will be from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibit will run through January 1.

Also on display will be work by Marfa artists Gretchen Lee Coles, Martha Hughes, Keith Lymon, and Leslie Wilkes, as well as work by John Adelman, Jenny Bloomfield, Lance Letscher, Mel Lyons, Matthew Riva, Tad Wiley, and Joan Winter.