I am moving to Houston

[Damon_Smith]

A re-post of my "Letter of Resignation" (the name of an incredible Twombly drawing cycle" to the Bay Area:

many may have now heard, I am moving to Houston, Texas at the end of July. my girlfriend Melissa is starting the PHD program in Art History at Rice and I am excited to live next to the Cy Twomby Annex at the Menil collection:http://www.menil.org/collection/CyTwomb ... h.phpWhile music remains the primary focus of my own work looking at visual art has become more important in my daily life. Texas has some of the most serious collections in the world and is particularly strong in most of my immediate interests.
It seems like improvised music is in Texas healthy enough but I will miss the Bay Area community - friends, foes & all - greatly. There are too many great musicians to thank so I will just say I am more than thankful the tireless support of Sarah Lockhart, Scott R. Looney and Rent Romus for making it possible to do my live and recorded work with relative ease. As far as Texas goes, short tours and funded concerts seem more possible so that is very exciting. My first concert is a bass duo with Thomas Helton Aug. 8th at Avant Garden. Future work is planned with Dennis Gonzalez and sons. Let's hope I can find a decent espresso there.

[mudd]

http://catalinacoffeeshop.com/

not 100% sure this belongs in IHM, but ok. and i don't drink coffee, that recommendation comes via ryan supak.

there are quite a few people on the board here from houston. myself, for example. i won't be in town on the 8th of august, though.

m

[Damon_Smith]

there are quite a few people on the board here from houston. myself, for example. i won't be in town on the 8th of august, though.

That was more what I was hoping for, but thanks for the coffee rec. that is important. I will be there for a few years at least, so there is time. My girlfriend is from Dallas, so at least she is a proper Texan. It would be great to meet anyone from here and also hear about any interesting things relating to music and more "underground" art - I know the "offical" museums well.

[mudd]

i dunno many real texans.

http://www.namelesssound.org/ would be a start. http://noideafestival.com/ over in austin is near and dear as well.

as for visual arts, carlos (formerly pechuga) could help you a lot more than i could. there are tons of small galleries, there's diverseworks, and of course the de menil collection has quite a bit more than the twombly building.

m

[nhennies]

Welcome to the region. Hope to see you in Austin (or Houston!) sometime soon.

Also, my band The Weird Weeds will be playing in Houston at Mango's on August 29th along with an improvising trio of Thollem McDonas, John Dieterich, and Tim Barnes. I don't think I'll be in Houston before that, but my bandmate Sandy Ewen (who lives in Houston) is quite active in "the scene" lately, I think.

[carlos]

yes- welcome. post a reminder for your august 8 show and i'll try to check it out.

carlos

[Damon_Smith]

Awesome. All good information. I know Dave Dove, I played with Chris Cogburn out here years ago, I hope to reconnect with him. Obviously, I know Thomas Helton.
It would be good to hear a little more about what strains of improvised music is happening in Houston. Is there any EAI, etc.?

[mudd]

there is a healthy noise scene that crosses over into improv comfortably. some of it might qualify as eai, but the local activity levels aren't really high enough for sub-genres to assert themselves.

m

[daviddove]

Hey Damon,

Looking forward to having you in H-Town!

There’s more going on in Houston (and in Texas) for underground music than I have ever seen here before. I went to 4 concerts just last week (and was aware of a few others going on too). I think you’ll find plenty of opportunities to keep busy.

And I think Mudd is right about sub-genres. But I don’t know if I’d entirely attribute the soft-lines separating them to lower activity levels. Artists (and audiences) seem pretty comfortable in traversing those lines. Or . . . it may be even more accurate to say that many players here dwell in the less-defined areas in-between the lines of those sub-genres.

In regards to espresso – This is a pretty intense food/drink town. I’m sure you’ll be able to sniff that out pretty easily.

And art – There’s no shortage of it: on the institutional level, gallery level, grass-roots/DIY level, and street art level.

Let me know if you’d like to discuss over a beer or espresso or some delicious food sometime!

Best,
Dave
david.dove@namelesssound.org

[khalix]

good luck to you!!!
hope everything will goes well..
take care!

[niwi]

it seems like there's more going on in houston than in austin nowadays.

[AnxSnd]

Damon,
It'll be good to have you here down South - I look forward to it.

New Orleans is 6hrs from Houston by car (or a short flight) and the scene is fairly active these days with not only my activities but those of Donald Miller, Bhob Rainey, composer/guitarist Duane Pitre, cellist Helen Gillet, trombonist Jeff Albert and the scene around the Open Ears Music series, and a host of players old + young.

And my esteemed colleagues in Texas - most notably Mr. Dove - will likely be able to keep you busy. And as you may know Ingebrigt is living in Austin these days.

Let's see what kinda trouble we can cook up!
-- rob cambre