The metal-framed photographs of Heather Harris are among the works of 300 artists featured at the downtown Bayou City Art Festival this month. The gift of a Canon Rebel camera prompted her to start creating pictures that combine traditional photographic techniques, computer-aided imagery, and metal sculpture.
Certified personal trainer David Lewis, who previously worked at Fitness Exchange, now trains clients at One 2 One Training Center, located at 6322 Richmond Ave. His 10 years of experience include having served as lead personal trainer at the Body Positive Wellness Center (now part of Legacy Community Health Services).
Ann Bannon channels Nancy Drew! Join Lois Lenz as she defies her parents, goes to the big city, falls in with our kind of girls and solves the mystery to boot. Along the way we visit upscale parties, sleazy bars, and one seriously twisted boss lady. This campy parody of the pulp fiction novels of the 1950s had me laughing out loud. — Review: Angel Curtis
As multitalented hyphenates go, Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh rank high on the list. Their combined CVs include stints as cater-waiters and model/actors in their early years, and have grown to include food-service entrepreneurs, reality-show competitors (and ultimately winners), cookbook authors, and, finally, gay dads. The life partners recently sat down to tell me about their current food-related ventures at their offices of their soon-to-be-opened HBTV site.
Back in early March, I weighed about the same as a beached bottlenose dolphin. It was time for a change. Dusting off notes from a personal trainer/nutritionist I consulted with seven years ago, I designed my own eating schedule of five meals a day (to speed up my metabolism) totaling 1,500 calories a day. I hit the fitness room at my apartment complex every night, spending half an hour a day on an elliptical running machine with a few minutes for warm-up and cool-down on either side. I tried to lift weights a few days a week. Once a week, I’d take a day off and eat whatever the hell I wanted. It was working. I shed 40 pounds in the first two months. A few months into it, my roommate told me he’d be moving. I’d be leaving the convenience of an on-premises fitness room. Time for another change. Find a gym.
J D Doyle, producer/host of the always fascinating monthly Queer Music Heritage segment on KPFT Queer Voices, spotlights early 20th-century tunes on his Monday, October 22, 9 p.m., show. “Queer Blues will focus on pre-Stonewall music,” Doyle says, “so that means Ma Rainey, Bessie Jackson, Ethel Waters, Frankie Jaxon, and others. While not known for the blues, Little Richard did record some music that will fit in quite well.” Get your musical history lesson at 90.1 FM. Details: www.queermusicheritage.org.
Michele Ostrander loves Houston museums, the tacquerias that dot her northside subdivision, and the great outdoors. She enjoys camping in the Hill Country, bike riding, and bird watching, though she adds her partner of nine years, Sofia Aguilar, “isn’t really into birding.”
Happy GLBT History Month! With Pride festivities and celebrations stored in our memories (and probably on some hard drives, as well), October has rolled around to remind us to get a little more serious about our queer heritage. But getting too serious and reflective is potentially boring, so here are some musical suggestions to enhance your observances.
Our community needs more GLBT candidates, local political observer David Arpin declared in an essay he wrote for this magazine in November 2005, following a bruising campaign over the antigay marriage amendment to the Texas constitution. Arpin’s call for candidates (“Win It Forward,” November 2005OutSmart) included this observation:
Last month, D.L. Groover previewed high points in the performing arts for the fall season [“Some Like Art Hot,” September 2007 OutSmart]. This month, we look to the visual arts. Here are some items of particular queer interest:
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