Today's edition of my ongoing community-building diary series, "Houston, Texas news you can use" is going to be a little looser and more eclectic. As some of you who've been reading along lately know, I try to cover events/issues/news from the nation's fourth largest city. I usually follow a Community, Business and Nonprofit format, but today, I think I'll just hightlight some of my favorite personal items from the week.
I really appreciate all the good mojo, encouragement, suggestions, thoughts and ideas on what you'd like to see covered from Htown and Southeast Texas. I think I'll start with a quote from Sandra Bernhard, a comedienne, actress, and raconteur, that I first saw live at the Old Tower Theater on lower Westheimer (now Tex-Mex haven El Real no.2) in 1993.
"chag samaech to all the pesach crowd and happy easter to many, enjoy a peaceful weekend moving the world forward and upward."
By day, I'm a nonprofit professional. But I also volunteer and support a variety of other nonproift organizations in Houston. One that's near and dear to my heart is Dachshund Rescue Of Houston
We are a small group of doxie lovers that all happen to call Houston "Home". We love the dachshund breed and can't bear to think of any dachshunds suffering. We have many foster parents and volunteers. If you would like to help, please consider being a foster parent or volunteer.
We have one sole purpose and that is to rescue, rehabilitate and re-home Dachshunds in need of a second chance at life and love. We rescue purebred (and a few mixed) dachshunds from pounds and shelters. Some have had a wonderful life but were dumped by their only family at a shelter for no reason at all, while others have been abused, abandoned, neglected and starved of food and human affection their entire life. We believe there is a home somewhere for every dog rescued, some just take a little longer to find.
All dogs spend at least a little time in foster care to evaluate their temperaments, likes and dislikes of a home setting. This is a vital component to a good, permanent home placement. Foster homes provide good nutrition and an understanding lap. This prepares our precious Dachshunds for life in a world where fear, abuse and starvation are non-existent. After the dogs are healthy, they are posted as AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION on our website with a picture and profile. If you are interested in adopting a dachshund you can read about our adoption procedures.
Now for a little pop-culture sillyness, there's no better channel on YouTube than
Michael Buckley's What the Buck?! show. Michael is a fun, irreverant host who can talk a mile-a-minute bouncing from topic to topic like a gay spider monkey on three triple espressos!
What the Buck is one of the most popular channels of all time on YouTube with 1 million subscribers and 300 million views! Michael Buckley writes/hosts/produces/edits/writes his own bios. He occasionally covers sports and politics but would much rather talk about what happened on X-Factor or Glee.
Comment Questions Of The Day! (Answer Any or All)
1. Were you surprised Taylor wasn't surprised to win the CMA?
2. Do you think Miley is a cutter or totes a rumor?
3. Will you watch Jennie Garth or Shannen Doherty's new show??
4. Who is your fave / least fave on Dancing with the Stars?
5. Who is hotter? Adam Levine? Kris Humphries? Or Zac Efron?
6. Do you think Ryan Seacrest will be a good fit for the OIympics?
7. Hilary Duff's Baby - Hot or Not?
8. Was Mary J. Blige Burger King commercial offensive??
OMG SO MANY TOPICS!! Did you enjoy????? :-)
What else Rihanna and Chris? Yawn! Jessica Simpson is a mom? UHM NOT YETTTTT!
Moving over to sports, locals can root, root, root! for the
Houston Astros this weekend as they open up a three day home stand against the
Denver Rockies immediately followed by three days with the
Atlanta Braves.
And in other Htown sports news, the Houston Chronicle announced The Houston Texans will have new uniforms next season, as Nike has taken over as the NFL's provider of official threads. Check 'em out, and let me know if you like the new look.
New Texans uniforms unveiled: Nike officially unveiled new uniforms for the Texans and the 31 other NFL teams on Tuesday in New York.
And finally, I leave you with a little culture. And while most people think of Austin as the "music capitol of Texas" (which isn't surprising since it is the home of SXSW and Austin City Limits) Houston is also home to an amazing variety of talented music makers, and not just one genre, like country, or hip hop, or Tejano. Many Texas musicians will tell you that setting up shop permanently in Austin is tough, and the music scene is fiercely competitive, so lucky us! I'm here to introduce you to Houston's very own
Two Star Symphony. Two Star Symphony is Houston's most unusual music ensemble. Performing in quartet and octet configurations, Two Star compose and perform original music across a wide variety of genres. Known for their collaborative approach to composing, each member of Two Star Symphony brings a unique background and set of musical influences to their works, creating an original and distinctive style. Two Star Symphony performs on a set of custom matched instruments by master luthier Anton Krutz.
This is Two Star Symphony playing at Walters on 5/26/07 in Houston. Two Star Symphony are Jo Bird, Debra Brown, Margaret Lejuene, Jerry Ochoa. Their CD's can be bought from their website at twostarsymphony.com They were opening for Mary Timony at Walter's and that concert is also on Youtube.
Two Star is also known for their collaborations with artists in all mediums, and for bringing their music to venues and audiences that may not normally listen to "classical" music. In that spirit, they have written dance, film, and theater scores, partnering for performances with groups like the Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, BobbinDoctrin Puppet Theatre, University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance, American Ballet Theatre, and more. Most recently, Two Star performed at SXSW 2010 and were featured speakers/performers at TEDxHouston.