Space and the City
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Stepping out of the Alley
May 20th
Being a sudden new glutton for television, having re-acquired cable, I was watching The Daily Show this evening. Fairly certain it was a re-run, I nearly turned to other boob-tube pleasures when I realized I was suddenly watching a Free Press Summerfest TV commercial. In one of the rarest acts of first-time DVR use ever, I actually rewound and watched a commercial a second time.
THE FREE PRESS SUMMERFEST AD from Free Video Houston on Vimeo.
It struck me: folks are stepping out of the alley. Here I am watching a commercial that was just begging for the John Stewart-demographic. And it was by a local, essentially DIY, effort. Air time means money. Advertising during the Daily Show certainly means a good deal of money. And yet here is someone that is making smart, higher-stakes decisions and really going for it. Really stepping out of the alley.
(Aside: There are countless examples of why the Daily Show appeals to the sort of forward-looking people that will ven like a diagram with the attendees of this festival. On a current events note, a much larger percentage of the population than had before learned this week who Ken Salazar is and what the Minerals Management Service does. However, it turns out that, almost exactly a year ago, Salazar was on the Daily Show and talked about the MMS. You can read my take on it here.)
I was thinking about this musically a bit the other day too. Not quite to the same HD extent, but I have been putting more than one march down the record groove on some new black lately. The Energy’s first record is absolutely a treat. The Black Congress and Grandfather Child 7″s likewise. And check out this video of the tour-refined Wild Moccasins:
Some kinda cool video thing for a cool blog thing. Love it. They got a record coming out this week. Friday. Stepping out of the Alley. You can peep the details and maybe score some passes from 29-95.com. So I’m looking forward to this all. I’m not talking about coming out of the woods or anything. Just nice to be noticing it all again.
Fav Local April Fools Tomfoolery
Apr 1st
Back in the day, I used to throw out the occasional April 1 prank post (JANDEK: “It’s Truck Month” is my personal favorite). Of all the goings on locally in that vein, I enjoyed this one over at The Chron’s Bayou History Blog the most.
Also, I would never try to fool anyone with something as cruel as a fake festival headliner.
Further Evidence My Father is Awesome
Mar 24th

I would estimate these pictures were taken around the same time.


