Mystery Lights, Then Artists, and Now Movies

A whole new wave of people are discovering Marfa due to the success of There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men.

If you find old material on Marfa, you'll note that the author invariably states that the only thing in Marfa is the Mystery Lights. In the last few years, the art has finally started to get top billing. Since the oscar buzz, I've had three writers contact me to talk about the effects of these movies on the lives of Marfans. I've pointed them in the direction of people involved, but I see this new wave of interest as the broadest yet. I wouldn't be surprised to see Blood and No Country fans wander out here in search for the spirit of the films much like Giant fans did 50 years ago.

Here's a slew of articles that's bound to raise some interest.

Marfa, unlikely star of the Oscars
Oscar Town: Marfa, Texas?

Back from the dead: the town that hosted two Oscar hopes

Marfa Plays Picturesque Role In The Movies

Oscar-Nominated Films Find A Home In Marfa

'Blood,' 'Country' bring Hollywood to heart of Texas

Marfa, home of 1 stoplight, 2 movies & 16 Oscar nods

An Old Town Under Hollywood Lights - Interview with Chip Love

Oscar Movies Map: Into the Wild Old Country

You shot that where? Movies use stand-in locations

Coen brothers, where art thou going to put the Oscar?

The Momentum is Unstoppable

Chinati Symposium: The Writings of Donald Judd

This year, don't miss the symposium focusing on The Writings of Donald Judd. This is Chinati's fifth symposium, which will be held on May 3 and 4. Participating speakers include: Allan Antliff, Mel Bochner, Richard Ford, Thomas Kellein, Robert Pincus-Witten, David Rabinowitch, David Raskin, Richard Shiff, Roberta Smith, Karen Stein, Ann Temkin, Nicola von Velsen, and Anne Wagner.

To attend, please call the foundation at 432.729.4362 or email info@chinati.org Seating is limited, and we heard today that about half the seats are already sold. Registration is $150.00. Members and students are $100.00.

History of the symposia: Approximately every two to three years the Chinati Foundation organizes a symposium dedicated to aspects of the museum's mission and permanent collection. The speakers invited to participate include experts in their respective fields, and each symposium has been documented with a subsequent publication.

Golden Boys at Ray's Bar

Austin's Golden Boys, most recently featured on an upcoming SXSW episode of the Food Network show "Rescue Chef," will be on tour from Feb. 23 through March 1, 2008 in support of their newest album "Whiskey Flower"

The Golden Boys, the Austin, TX, psych-country demigods, along with fellow Austin locals The Black, launch into a U.S. west coast tour in support of their newest album "Whiskey Flower" with a kick-off performance at Ray's Bar on Feb. 23, 2008. "Whiskey Flower," released in July of 2007, "set the summer on fire," according to Audra Shroder of the Austin Chronicle and has garnered mentions on "Best of…" lists from the Omaha City Weekly to the New York City-based Matador Records. Most recently, the Boys were featured on the cover of the Austin Chronicle and will appear on an upcoming episode of the Food Network's "Rescue Chef." Formed in Spring Branch, TX in 2003, the Golden Boys are comprised of Matt Hoopengardner (the White Heat), lead vocals and guitar; Wes Coleman, lead vocals and guitar; Bryan Schmitz, vocals and bass; Nathan Arbeitman, organ and trumpet; and Patrick Troxel, drums. Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore has this unwieldy compliment for the boys, "...one of the choicer garage albums of late…They have a very cracked and shakey take on raunch-hootenany-ism recalling members of the In The Red stables, as well of Memphis ' more lop-sided degenerates."

KEREN ANN with DEAN & BRITTA

KEREN ANN with DEAN & BRITTA

Friday 22 February 2008

Ballroom Marfa welcomes worldly chanteuse Keren Ann and gauzy pop duo Dean & Britta (formerly of Luna) to the Goode Crowley theater on February 22 for the second installment of its 2008 music program.

It's fitting that Israeli-born singer Keren Ann Zeidel, who lives and works in both New York and Paris, is bringing her collection of haunting, intimate songs to Marfa. Last summer, in the midst of a flurry of press for her self-titled third album, Keren Ann said that her music – with its spare melodies and haunting, forlorn lyrics about love and despair, sung in a wispy, smoky voice – are perfect for the desert. "My music has all the characteristics of dry, open spaces," she told Black Book magazine. "It puts you in an ethereal mood."

During her childhood in Paris, Keren Ann devoured Joni Mitchell and Serge Gainsbourg, the ghosts of whom are apparent on 2003's understated Not Going Anywhere. That album introduced Keren Ann's dreamy melancholy sound to the United States and was followed up in 2004 with her love letter to New York, Nolita, titled after the Manhattan neighborhood where she lived at the time.

Keren Ann will share the Goode Crowley stage with two longtime members of the indie rock pantheon: Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips. After fronting the seminal minimalist post-punk band Galaxie 500 in the late 1980s, Wareham went on to found Luna with former Feelies drummer Stanley Demeski and The Chills' bassist, Justin Harwood. Wareham's almost-monotone delivery garnered comparisons to Lou Reed, and Rolling Stone dubbed Luna's 1995 album Penthouse one of the essential albums of the '90s. In 2000, Britta Phillips – the former bass player for Babyfat and Ben Lee, and the singing voice of beloved '80s cartoon character "Jem" – replaced Harwood on bass, bringing her sultry voice to Luna's atmospheric rock.

Wareham and Phillips, who had recorded 2003's L'Avventura as a duo, continued playing under the name Dean & Britta after Luna disbanded in 2005, and went on to score Noah Baumbachs' The Squid and the Whale. Their latest offering, Back Numbers, continues the couple's foray into sleepy and sweet psych-pop. In March, Penguin Press will release Wareham's memoir about his time with Galaxie 500 and Luna, Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance.

Join Ballroom Marfa for a night of pure dream pop at the Goode Crowley Theater. Doors are at 7:30 P.M.; the show begins at 8 P.M. Tickets are $20 and are on sale NOW exclusively at frontgatetickets.com.

Andrea Zuill "Concepts of Identity"

Galleri Urbane is proud to present Exhibits 2008.

Beginning on Feb 15th is an artist reception in Gallery 2 featuring west coast artist Andrea Zuill's recent oil paintings. The show Concepts of Identity will be on display thru May 2008.



Ms. Zuill starts a painting without a particular idea in mind, just an image. Trying not to question the image, but to let it take shape. When asked about recent and past work Ms. Zuill replied, "My work refers to how we see ourselves, and how we imagine our place in the world. The constant struggle for identity, beauty and a place in the natural world can be quite unnatural. Images of our physical and spiritual selves have been aggressively twisted lately."

Zuill feels that the media bombards us with ideas on how to live, look, pray and love. What one person considers as beautiful can be challenged by what the world is being told is beautiful. We are becoming a society where beauty and life has only one look. Maybe this narrowing of ideals survives because of our desperate need to fit in. So, Zuill asks, what happens when we can’t fit into the narrow slot of what is normal and beautiful?

As titled, the recent work plays with concepts of identity. It presents various body types, forms of clothing, and iconic body adornment to imply stories, histories, and sometimes, confusion. Some of the images contain contradictory symbols, which are culturally very different. Other ideas dwell on historic importance, cultural acceptance, and class systems. "The recent works by Andrea are rich and textural. After watching Andrea's work over the past 8 years, I can see that the artist is truly coming into her own distinctive style and place in the art world", says gallery owner Ree Willaford.

Also coming up at Galleri Urbane is a group show featuring gallery artist Peter Voshefski, Kate Carr, Munson Hunt, Bale Allen and introducing Ted Larsen. This show opens March 29th 6-8 p.m.

Galleri Urbane is located at 212 E.San Antonio St /Hwy 90, one block east of The Ballroom, Marfa Texas 79843. The gallery is open 10-6 daily or by appointment.

Keep The Christmas Mountains Public

We received this note and thought it worthy of sharing:

Dear friends,
If you love west Texas and Big Bend area, please take a moment to send a message encouraging the Land Board to accept the Park Service's bid for the Christmas Mountains and protect them forever from public development. They meet this tuesday Feb 5, so please send your email today!
https://www.environmenttexas.org/action/preservation/xmas-mtns-decision