Creative Houston

S I G N A L S

In this column we collect news and evidence of Houston supporting the creative industries and creative professionals.

Houston Blogger Goes Fulltime

TechCrunch: GigaOm Buys A Mobile Blog - One Less Independent Blog In The World. 2008-Jul-22, by Michael Arrington: Blogging network GigaOm will announce the acquisition of the small but excellent mobile-focused blog jkOnTheRun this evening. Founders James Kendrick and Kevin Tofel will remain in Houston and continue doing their thing.[Correction: Kevin Tofel lives near Philadelphia and has been blogging full-time. Now Houston-based James will be able to do the same.] The deal size isn’t being announced, and it’s likely small. But it shows what might be the beginning of something that I wrote about in March - the rollup of the better blogs (subjectively defined) as the space gets hyper-competitive (you gotta love zero barriers to entry).

Beautiful Home in Houston

Houston Chronicle: Houston home featured in House Beautiful, 2008-Jul-18, by Mary Vuong: Houston-based interior designer Randy Powers scored a 12-page spread in the August issue of House Beautiful with his contemporary interpretation of a neoclassical villa. The elegant, neutral space he created for Houstonians Andy and Gayle Singer is lauded for its harmonious spirit, much of which is derived from a neutral palette of soft creams, browns and yellows. Powers calls the home grand and formal, yet unpretentious and inviting.

Young Houston Poets Compete

Houston Chronicle: Houston teens to compete at Washington poetry slam, 2008-Jul-15, by Michelle Casady: Five local high school students who spent much of this summer channeling those experiences into artistic expression are in Washington, D.C., this week to compete at the Youth Speaks Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival.

"It's almost like they were waiting for this," said Emily Sketch, a Lee High English teacher who is the project coordinator. "I had one kid who was a senior ask me where this had been his whole life. The kids are out there, they're writing, and they're thinking about things. They just haven't had the venue."

This is the first year a group from Houston has competed.

Houston Remodels Green

Houston Chronicle: Eco-friendly paints for green consumers, 2008-Jul-11, by Mary Vuong: Today's green paint offerings aren't perfect, but they've come a long way. Those interviewed say low-VOC paints of the past suffered from quality issues. The consistency was too thin. A smooth finish was difficult to achieve. Color choices were limited. Today's choices get high marks from Houston interior designer Donna Vining, who recommends them to clients and colleagues. When asked about their cons, Vining couldn't think of any. "Really and truly," she says, "why didn't they do this before?" These paints are available at New Living, a green general store inside Wagner Hardware in Rice Village, as well as other stores.

Houston Environmentalists Move Prairie off Private Property

Houston Chronicle: Activists, Harris County move prairie to make way for road. 2008-Jul-12, by Liz Austin Peterson: Flo Hannah, a senior sanctuary steward with the Houston Audubon Society, contacted [Harris] county after seeing a for-sale sign on the property she had admired and visited for four or five years. She quickly joined forces with the [Katy Prairie] conservancy and other groups to organize the "prairie rescue" and secure Radack's and the landowner's help and blessing....Rice ecology professor Evan Siemann said small-scale replantings are common, but it is unusual to see organizations pairing with government for such a large-scale effort. "Will they end up with something as good as the prairie they moved them from? Not quickly," he said. "But is it something that has value? Absolutely."

Houston Artists on CURRENT Channel

Houston videographer Primo has posted several videos about the art scene in Houston at the web site for Current cable tv channel, which means they will probably, eventually appear on air. Of course, you can watch them anytime online. Houston grafitti artist Give Up and the artist collective and gallery Aerosol Warfare are interviewed. CurrentTV: Houston, We Have Art, 2008-Jun-20, by Primo.

Sacramento Tests Smart Growth

Wall St. Journal: With Gas Over $4, Cities Explore Whether It's Smart to Be Dense, 2008-Jul-7, by Ana Campoy: Seven years later, with gasoline hurtling past $4 a gallon, Sacramento has become one of the nation's most-watched experiments in whether urban planning can help solve everything from high fuel prices to the housing bust to global warming. "They're really the model," says Steve Winkelman, a transportation expert at the Center for Clean Air Policy.

Growing Golf Stars

Houston Chronicle: Houston area becoming a hotbed for young golf talent, 2008-Jul-5, by Jenny Dial: "I think there are a lot of really great players from my age group that came out of Houston," Fish said. "I think a lot of us are going to be able to do big things in the upcoming years." Lopez thinks this generation of golfers has helped set the tone for the area's future in the sport. "I think we set the bar pretty high, and I hope that a lot more of the best players around are coming from the Houston area," he said. "There are a lot of great courses, great coaches and good talent there. Maybe soon, Houston will be one of the best golfing cities."

Blaffer Gallery Exhibits Houston Area Artists

ArtsHouston: "Houston Area Show", 2008-Jun, by Nancy Wozny: Wit, satire, and biting social commentary rule the walls at the 2008 Houston Area Exhibition at the Blaffer Gallery. Sixteen artists representing both emerging and experienced voices are featured in the show. Through August 2.

Houston Recognized for Smart Use of Renewable Power

Wall St. Journal City of Houston Gives Wind Power a Turn, 2008-Jul-2, by Jeffrey Ball: Other U.S. cities are pursuing renewable energy, but the federal government ranks Houston among the top municipal buyers of renewable energy in the country. ... The power that the city buys won't necessarily come directly from wind turbines. Because wind power is intermittent -- it is produced only when the wind blows hard enough -- the city's contract calls for back-up power to come from conventional sources. But the energy companies will certify that an equal and offsetting amount of power will be produced by Texas wind farms.

...In 2007, Houston signed a contract to lock in wind power at 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour for a five-year period. Since then, power prices have gone up. At today's electricity prices, the city would be spending $167 million for power for the fiscal year that started Tuesday, said Cris Eugster, an official in the Houston mayor's office who also was involved in the deal. The wind-power deal will shave $7 million, or about 4%, off of that bill.

 

Solar Technology Company wants Houston Engineers

Houston Business Journal: Solar technology company opening Houston engineering office, 2008-Jun-20, by Ford Gunter: Solar technology company LXE Corp. is locating its engineering center in Houston to be close to the local talent pool and local companies. Florham Park, N.J.-based LXE provides chemical companies with technology packages for the manufacture of trichlorosilane, or TCS, a chemical used to make polysilicon, the key ingredient in solar panels. "The solar industry is really in the stage of explosive growth -- 50, 70, 100 percent for most of the companies," says George Xiao, LXE chairman and CEO

UH Bauer College of Business Reaches for International Glory

Houston Business Journal: City Beat, 2008-Jun-20, by Casey Wooten: A building named for an alumnus has broken ground in the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business.Michael Cemo, retired president and CEO of Houston-based AIM Distributors Inc., donated $3 million of the $9 million price tag to construct Cemo Hall. ...Arthur Warga, dean of Bauer College of Business, notes Cemo has a long history of contributing to his alma mater. Cemo introduced the college to Houston businessman Ted Bauer, who donated $40 million in 2000. The largest tenant will be Bauer's Global Business Minor Program, which tutors students on today's globalized economy. "It is an important part of our trying to bootstrap off having the most international business school in the country," says Warga.

Waste Management Opens Greenopolis

Greenopolis is a social networking site that develops online relations between everyday people, communities, organizations, schools and businesses. As an environmentally-focused social networking site, Greenopolis was created to engage users on green issues so that they might learn, explore and participate in an open dialogue about the present and future of our environment. Waste Management sponsored the creation of the site to encourage individuals, communities, non-profits and businesses to communicate about green practices, to give users a tool to share ideas and to encourage people to make positive, incremental changes in their daily lives.

Saint Arnold Brewing Co. Moves Near Downtown

Houston Business Journal: St. Arnold drafts former HISD building for brewery, 2008-Jun-20, by Allison Wollam: According to Nielsen Co. data, Saint Arnold's seasonal line is the top-selling craft beer package in grocery stores in Houston. Statewide, both the seasonal line and Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower Beer are among the Top 10 craft beer packages sold in grocery stores. In addition to retail outlets, the products are also sold onsite at the brewery. Established in 1994, the brewery's production has grown an average of 24 percent each year from 2002 through 2007, more than double the growth of craft beer nationally during that period....

Saint Arnold's planned move into the former HISD building will triple its space and significantly increase its brewing capacity. The company will relocate from its current 30,000-square-foot space at 2522 Fairway Park Drive in North Houston into the redeveloped 90,000-square-foot former HISD warehouse, which is located at 2000 Lyons Ave. near downtown. ... Wagner is planning to maintain the brick portion of the historic main building, but plans to remove the existing loading dock and construct a 14,000-square-foot brew house. ... The brewery was recently listed by USA Today as one of the "10 great places to see what's brewing in beer."

Windpower Draws Crowds

Houston Business Journal: Organizers blown away by success of Windpower 2008, 2008-Jun-17, by Ford Gunter:The American Wind Energy Association's Windpower 2008 Conference and Expo drew 13,000 people from June 1 to June 4, shattering expectations and nearly doubling last year's record turnout of 7,000. "We knew (it) was going to be big and we had planned for a lot of growth, but our plans were blown out of the water by the interest in wind energy," said Randall Swisher, executive director of AWEA. "We had to expand the show floor several times." Some 776 exhibitors -- again almost double the number from the previous year -- almost filled up the convention center and helped deliver an estimated $12.8 million boost to Houston's economy.

Houston Welcomes House of Blues

Houston Chronicle: Dan Aykroyd brings the blues to Houston, 2008-Jun-26, by Andrew Dansby: Dan Aykroyd jokes that no expense is spared in the creation of a House of Blues, so the venue won't have much in common with Houston's old blues clubs. Still his visit included a hard-hat-clad Aykroyd shoveling some Mississippi River mud into a hatch at the front of what will be the stage. And among the first acts booked to play the club later this year are Aykroyd's Blues Brothers group, B.B. King and Buddy Guy. Opening Oct. 18, the venue will host approximately 200 concerts per year. Aykroyd says it will be "a house of all music."

Discovering Houston

Culture Scout Blog: Houston, The Energy City A-Glow with Bright Lights, 2008-May-22, by Patricia Martin: My brain is pinging. I have so much to tell you about Houston. Big confession, it was my first visit to the city. To my great relief, no one held that against me. In fact, the Houstonians I met exuded both Southern charm and Southern hospitality. The MetLife RenGen event drew a RenGen crowd...diverse, for-profit/non-profit mix of marketers eager to exchange ideas. ... Among the many surprises: Unbelievable amount of world-class sculpture in Houston. I mean OMG, blow-your-mind quantity and quality! Houston has a great downtown. It's loaded with untapped potential and awaits discovery by people fed up with the expensive, tedious commute into the sprawl that has grown around it.

Houston's Gay Pride Parade Largest in Southwest

Houstonist: 30 Years of Pride. 2008-Jun-26, by Brittanie Shey:

Did you know Houston's Pride Parade is the only one in the country to take place at night? And that it's the largest in the Southwest? Houstonist didn't, but that's never stopped us from enjoying the parade from the patio of Catbirds, beverage in hand. Pride Houston is celebrating it's 30th year serving H-town's GLBT community with festivities all day Saturday. This year's theme is "We Are Family," a fitting motif in the wake of recent events in California. The event is free and open to the public. The celebration begins at 11 a.m. on the corner of Yoakum and Westheimer with shopping, live music, street food and a "Community Zone" where festival-goers can visit with some of Houston's most ardent GLBT supports, from non-profits to businesses. The event is family-themed and appropriate for all ages. There will even be a Kids' Zone.

Houston Sidestepping Problems Other Cities Face

Newsweek: Houston, We Have No Problems, 2008-Jun-21, by Daniel Gross: ...an area that finds itself uniquely situated to capitalize on the longstanding megatrends that are transforming the global economy. ... Exports are rising because Houston has become a sort of Silicon Valley for the global energy industry. "There's hardly any oil and gas production in a 40-mile radius of Houston," says Mayor Bill White, a former energy executive, as he held court in the city's charming art deco city hall. (Think of a much smaller Rockefeller Center, but without the tourists.) "It's the knowledge that has concentrated here that is driving things." In 1981, the oil and gas industry was a domestic, blue-collar one. Today it's an international, white-collar one. ... Urban cowboy? Think suburban geek. Houston has 70,000 engineers and architects (a concentration 60 percent higher than is typical for the United States). The oil boom and weak dollar are boosting demand for their services, and engineering and construction firms like KBR and Fluor are applying their expertise to power plants and sewage facilities around the world.

Houston Builders Know Eco

Houston Chronicle: Houston builders suggest some ecofriendly materials, 2008-Jun-23, by Maggie Galehouse: The building community shares some of its favorite ecofriendly construction materials...

Houston Doctors Tackle Montezuma's Revenge

abc13.com: New patch developed in Houston could stop traveler's diarrhea, 6/20/08: In a laboratory at the UT Institute of Molecular Medicine, Dr. Ferid Murad is working on a solution to a worldwide problem. ... "It will basically block all of the bacterial toxin-induced diarrheal diseases [like] cholera, E. coli, perhaps others," Dr. Murad said. ... Meantime, another UT scientist is tackling a similar problem ... He's developing a patch that targets the E. coli bacteria that causes the illness. ... "Antibodies are developed against that toxin which now protects me against that infection," said Dr. Herbert DuPont with the UT School of Public Health.

In Houston, We're Reordering the Way We Live

National Public Radio, Morning Edition: Houston Mayor Gauges Impact of Traffic, 2008-Jun-20, interview by Steve Inskeep: We need to reorder the way we live. ... Our problem is compounded by growth. ... Mass transit is critical... tremendous demand to live along the tranist lines... Our tools are infrastructure and building codes ... more and more demand for mixed use areas...