Fort Worthology » art

Modern ‘Til Midnight Tomorrow Night

Kevin Buchanan — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:02:04 +0000

A reminder from the Department of Cool Things: Modern ’til Midnight is tomorrow night. Running from 6:00 PM to midnight (obviously), the Modern will be open for one of their always-fun parties/gallery showings featuring live music, cocktails, extended hours for Cafe Modern, special activities, and more.

This iteration’s live music list is the following:

In the lobby: DJ Gabriel and DJ Gwendolyn

Outside:
7:00 PM – Monastary
7:50 – Ben Jones
8:50 – The Orbans
9:50 – Seryn
10:50 – Warpaint

At 8:30 PM, the museum will show the film I Shot Andy Warhol.

In addition, there is a costume contest if you’re so inclined: dress like your favorite ’80s celebrity for a chance to win prizes.

Admission is $15, or free for Modern members.

Amon Carter Museum Library/Archives Spring Open House

Kevin Buchanan — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:20:39 +0000

Here’s a cool event for next week that you might want to put on your calendar: this coming Thursday, April 1st, the Amon Carter Museum will be having its Library & Archives Spring Open House. Guests are encouraged to RSVP by Tuesday. Here’s some info from the museum:

Many may not know that the Amon Carter Museum library and archives is yet another cultural treasure in Fort Worth, and this spring’s open house is an opportunity for the community to have a special peek at our collections and visit some of the behind-the-scenes areas. Over the years the Carter library and archives has developed a national reputation as a destination for researchers working in the areas of American art, photography, and history of the western U.S. Although the collections offer great depth in these areas, visitors may be surprised to discover a much wider range of subjects. Guests will be able to view a staff-curated selection of material from the collections in the reading room and also browse the stacks, which are normally open to staff only. Refreshments will be served outside the reading room in the atrium. The event is free and open to the public, but we do ask guests to RSVP by Tuesday, March 30 tolibrary@cartermuseum.org or 817.989.5040.

Fort Worth Sings For Haiti – This Saturday In The Near Southside

Kevin Buchanan — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:43:22 +0000

Don’t forget – one of the biggest musical events to hit Fort Worth is occurring this Saturday in the Near Southside. Fort Worth Sings For Haiti is a benefit concert for Haitian relief that is drawing some great acts. Taking place at Magnolia Green Park (the site of the First Friday on the Green concert series as well – on Lipscomb between Magnolia & Rosedale), admission to the event is free and all proceeds from sponsorship, merchandise, and food/drink sales will be going to Doctors Without Borders.

The event starts at 12:00 noon and goes to 10:00 PM. Here’s the lineup of bands, along with the time they go on:

12:00 – Chatterton
1:00 – Me and My Monkey
2:00 – Jason Eady
3:00 – Joey Green Band
4:00 – Charlie Shafter & The Gnomes
5:00 – Pablo & The Hemphill 7
6:00 – Holy Moly
7:00 – The Burning Hotels
8:00 – The Orbans
9:00 – Josh Weathers & The True+Endeavours

It’s sure to be a great show, and it’s for a great cause. Come on by the Near Southside (or stick around after the morning’s Joe’s Run) and enjoy.

Spring Arts Goggle Sign-Up Form Online

Kevin Buchanan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:01:34 +0000

Our friends at Fort Worth South, Inc. have got the sign-up form for the Spring Arts Goggle up and running. If you’re interested in being an artist or a venue, head on over and sign up. The Spring 2010 Arts Goggle will be held Saturday, May 15, from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM in the Near Southside. Plenty of other details to come, we’re sure.

Fundraising for James M. Johnston’s new short film, “Knife”

Kevin Buchanan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:56:58 +0000

We’ve just noticed that our friend/local indie filmmaker James M. Johnston is conducting fundraising for his new short film, “Knife “.

By stripping away the dialogue and removing any overbearing plot elements Knife strikes at the core of the Southern Gothic mythos without falling into redundancy. Visually, every composition, every bit of lighting, every movement the character makes will be telling you something.

Fundraising is being done via IndieGoGo, and you can donate any amount. Amounts of $50 and up receive special perks depending on the amount.

Good luck to James and his production team – we hope the level of funding continues to rise.

Drug Mountain Vinyl Available

Kevin Buchanan — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:08:41 +0000

Update: Added the Weekly’s review, plus info that the $15 per record goes through PayPal to addisbritt@yahoo.com.

An FYI for local musicologists interested in the loud and cacophonous – Fort Worth’s own Drug Mountain has their debut release out, a 12″ vinyl out on Mission Co-Op. The recording was produced by noise rock icon Steve Albini and a grand total of 100 copies were made. We hear only around 40 copies are left.

The record’s available through Mission Co-Op:

RV-001 is Drug Mountain’s self-titled 12″. Fitted with an excellent design by DFW screen-print guru Nevada Hill, it represents both the band’s and the label’s first release. You can buy it through email here:

Send $15 per record via PayPal to addisbritt@yahoo.com along with your mailing address and we will get the records right out

Here’s a review from Quick:

The LP rigidly defies accurate classification; disarray is the only element that binds. Everything’s a mesmerizing mess. Tracks thrive on jarring juxtapositions; like making a diptych with Francis Bacon and Jackson Pollock. Drug Mountain paints with slippery, grotesque colors, and then basks like hogs in the resulting filth. Atonal and wonderfully cacophonous, the group pits dueling, vulgar saxophones against precise blasts of schizophrenic drumming and taunting, textural guitars like some sick cult ritual. The deathblow bass slides around like a panicking elephant on the deck of the Fitzcarraldo. The buried, blindly angry vocals stumble in to argue, screaming louder and louder just to get their points across. Songs range from mystifying wastelands of pummeling polyrhythms and rude, raving-like-a-drunk saxophones to grinding — oddly danceable — art-punk lash-outs.

Utterly elusive, but unforgettable, the whole record feels like blacking out. The seven — at least I think it’s seven — songs are over before you can taste what just hit you. The silk-screened album art by local artist — and band member — Nevada Hill looks like it could double as a secret portal to Hell. This is the dirty little record you hide and nourish like a closet addiction. Limited to a run of 100, snatch one up quick. Get dirty.

And here’s the Weekly’s take:

Pummelers with an arty sensibility, the four Fort Worthians (led by Britt Robisheaux, late of Nouns Group) combine minimalist guitar grunt with the crash-and-thump from one or two drummers, overlaid with dual-saxophone skree and shrieks/howls/wails of what must surely be the deepest human suffering imaginable.

Sounding at times like a parade of dinosaurs slogging their way to the tar pits of extinction (much like the men from Yeti in their last live performance), at others like industrial machinery with a madman at the controls,Drug Mountain is some heavy ramalama. The sound is the sort of thing that is generally more impactful in live performance, but listen hard and you’ll discover something: What makes Drug Mountain so effective is the ironclad lock between the guitar and drums. Respect the fundamentals.

Coming Up: “Andy Warhol: The Last Decade” at the Modern

Kevin Buchanan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:23:49 +0000

Running from February 14 through May 16, the Modern will be host to a major new exhibit focusing on the later part of Andy Warhol’s output:

Andy Warhol: The Last Decade is the first U.S. museum survey exhibition to explore the work that this seminal American artist produced during the final eight years of his life. Warhol entered a period of renewed vigor and enthusiasm in the 1980s that resulted in what was arguably the most productive period of his career.

The exhibition includes approximately 55 works lent by private collections and institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, and Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Along with an introduction to Warhol, it is divided into thematic sections based on significant Warhol series: abstract works; collaborations (featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat); black-and-white ads; works surrounding death and religion; self-portraits; camouflage patterns; and a concluding section of the artist’s Last Supper series.

The Modern’s blog has an interview up with Andrea Karnes, the Modern’s curator, about the prep work leading up to the new Warhol exhibit.

Haiti Benefit Concert March 27th in Near Southside

Kevin Buchanan — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:09:30 +0000

There’s going to be a big benefit concert for Haiti in the Near Southside on March 27th. To be held at Magnolia Green Park, Fort Worth Sings for Haiti will donate 100% of all money raised to Haitian relief efforts via Doctors Without Borders.

The artist lineup is being finalized, and will concentrate on Fort Worth-local talent. The organizers met yesterday with Fort Worth South, Inc. and Red Oak Realty and have secured the use of Magnolia Green Park, located on Lipscomb between Magnolia and Rosedale in the Near Southside. Early discussions we’ve heard point to this being a sizable event.

Plenty of details to come – for example, there are some plans for valet bicycle parking for attendees taking advantage of the site’s urban location (we were happy to help get those discussions underway with the promoters). This ought to turn out to be a cool event for a great cause.

Fort Worth Sings can be contacted via e-mail. Their web site currently loads a temporary blog while the full site is put together. The effort is being led by a group of volunteers, led by co-founders Chris Maunder (owner of The Moon bar) and Christopher Lenzini. Additional details can also be found on the organization’s Facebook page.

Portland: A Passion for Sustainability, Tonight at Urban Green Build

Kevin Buchanan — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:00:40 +0000

Just a reminder – Urban Green Build at 1244 College Avenue (2nd floor at College & Magnolia, above the police station and Mamma Mia, across the hall from the Salon Upstairs) will be showing Portland: A Passion for Sustainability, tonight at 7:00 PM. See how Portland, Oregon has adopted strong frameworks to create a sustainable city.

The film starts at 7:00, and is free. It’s also BYOB, if you’re so inclined.

A Walk through the Fort Worth Police and Firefighters Memorial

Kevin Buchanan — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:59:44 +0000

We recently took a stroll through Trinity Park (the part up by 7th Street) and visited the new Fort Worth Police and Firefighters Memorial. The memorial turned out to be more elaborate than we thought – up near the entrance on Stayton/Museum Way, there is a small plaza and monument (there is also a lot of sidewalk and landscaping work going on up here, as the So7 development looks to be adding in some big, wide brick sidewalks to tie into all this). Leading away from the entrance is a path lined with tablets featuring the names of fallen officers and firefighters. This passes near the fountain on 7th and then leads to the statues of a police officer, firefighter, and horse, which are partially encircled by a large memorial wall with the names of police & firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty. It is a lovely and moving setup.

While there, we also noted the fountain on 7th was frozen over but still spraying, and got a few shots of that as well.