You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Friday on KXT and Saturday on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you.

And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KERA radio’s 90.1 at Night.

• Click the player to listen to the podcast:

• Expanded online version:

Ernesto “Ernie” Caceres was born in Rockport, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1911. As a young man, he performed in San Antonio and throughout South Texas with his brother, Emilio Caceres, and his cousin, Johnny Gomez. The trio’s popularity earned the group an appearance on the Benny Goodman radio show in 1937. Soon, Ernie Caceres began playing the saxophone with some of the biggest names in jazz, including Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Woody Herman. Following a stint in the U.S. Army during World War II, Caceres went on to play with Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars. Drawing from a broad range of musical influences, including Mexican-American, African-American and Anglo-American, Ernesto Caceres joined the many other talented artists from the Lone Star State who helped shape jazz music during the 20th century.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll celebrate a Texan who was born the son of a former slave but went on to become one of the most popular and influential songwriters in American history.

Photo: brokenspokeaustintx.com

Art&Seek presents This Week in Texas Music History. Every week, we’ll spotlight a different moment and the musician who made it. This week, Texas music scholar Gary Hartman looks at one of the state's most famous dance halls.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Friday on KXT and Saturday on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you.

And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KERA radio’s 90.1 at Night.

• Click the player to listen to the podcast:

• Expanded online version:

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll look at a classic Texas dance hall that has become a world famous tourist destination.

On November 10, 1964, James White opened the Broken Spoke on South Lamar Blvd. in Austin. Originally, the Broken Spoke was just a café, but when customers began dancing to the music playing on the jukebox, White decided to expand the building to include a dance hall and stage. A number of legendary country musicians performed at the Broken Spoke in the early years, including Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, Tex Ritter and Ray Price. During the progressive country music movement of the 1970s, a new generation of Texas artists played the hall, including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Jerry Jeff Walker. More recently, Alvin Crow, George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, Asleep at the Wheel and countless others have graced the stage. The Broken Spoke has been featured in National Geographic, on PBS and in several major motion pictures. It continues to offer live music nightly, attracting crowds of local music fans, as well as busloads of tourists from all over the world.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll learn about a Texan who drew from Hispanic, Anglo and African-American influences to become one of the most well-respected jazz musicians of the 1940s and 1950s.

Today, North Texas gets a new public radio station. KXT 91.7 FM will play an eclectic mix of indie rock, alt country and other styles. The station is owned by KERA. So what can you expect to hear on KXT? KERA’s Stephen Becker reports:

Click the audio player to listen to the KERA radio story:

Visit kxt.org for searchable playlists, a live stream and a schedule of this week’s in-studio performances.

"Track By Track" appears every other week on Art&Seek. During the podcast, Texas musicians play their new albums and discuss what went into making them with KERA "90.1 at Night" host Paul Slavens.

You can download and subscribe to the podcast right here.

Paul's previous podcast collected tracks from musicians he's featured on previous episodes of Track by Track. This week, Paul talks with Denton duo RTB2 about its new EP, In the Fleshed.

Click the player below to listen to the podcast:

Also, be sure to check the Art&Seek blog during 90.1 at Night this Sunday as Paul blogs live during the broadcast.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Saturday on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you.

And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KERA radio’s 90.1 at Night.

• Click the player to listen to the podcast:

• Expanded online version:

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll remember an eclectic Texas musician who continues to defy categorization.

Doug Sahm was born Nov. 6, 1941, in San Antonio. He began performing on local radio at the age of 8. Although Sahm grew up listening to country, pop and rock and roll, he also was strongly influenced by R&B, jazz and conjunto. In 1964, Sahm formed the Sir Douglas Quintet. The group released several hit records, including “She’s About a Mover,” “Mendocino” and “Dynamite Woman.” The Sir Douglas Quintet was very much a rock and roll band, but it also incorporated other musical influences, such as conjunto, country, blues and R&B, to give it a distinctly Texas sound. Throughout the 1970s, Sahm continued forging a unique style that blended honky tonk, blues, conjunto, western swing, R&B and rock and roll. By the 1990s, Doug Sahm’s eclectic musical tastes helped form the foundation for his most successful group, the Grammy Award-winning Texas Tornados. Together with Augie Meyers, Flaco Jimenez and Freddy Fender, Sahm helped popularize the Tornados’ uniquely Texas sound throughout the world. Sahm died Nov. 18, 1999.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll look at a classic Texas dance hall that has become a world famous tourist destination.

Art Conspiracy is a grassroots fund-raiser, art auction, concert and all-around heck of a party.  The venue and the beneficiary change every year, and today details were announced for ArtCon 5.

Here's the skinny:

Date: 7 p.m., Dec. 12

Location: A warehouse at 511 West Commerce, Dallas. It will be transformed into a performance space and gallery for the evening.

The Art: 150 artists contribute their work, all created on Dec. 11, just for the event.

The bands:  Telegraph Canyon, The Crash that Took Me, The Boom Boom Box and RTB2

Your host: The fabulous Paul Slavens, of 90.1 at Night, now on KERA radio, soon to be on KXT.

Admission: $10

The beneficiary: Resolana. The group provides rehabilitative arts programming to women in jail in Dallas.

If you are an artist, and want to participate, you need to take action at noon today.

You'll hear a lot more about Art Con here in the coming weeks, because Art&Seek is partnering with the group on this year's event. So stay tuned for more.

Press release after the jump

Art Conspiracy is Turning Five

December 12^th event is equal parts off-the-grid art show, concert and fundraiser

November 3, 2009 – DALLAS, TX – What started off as a “one time only” fundraiser has become one of the most anticipated annual art events in Dallas.  On Saturday, December 12, starting at 7:00 p.m., Art Conspiracy will mark its fifth year of bringing artists and musicians together to “conspire” for good causes.

This year’s Art Conspiracy will be held at 511 West Commerce in Dallas. Once again the Art Conspiracy crew will transform an empty warehouse into a one-night-only art gallery and performance space. The event will feature music from Telegraph Canyon, The Crash That Took Me, The Boom Boom Box and RTB2, video installations from Edward Ruiz, art from 150 Dallas area artists and emcee, Paul Slavens, host of KERA-FM’s 90.1 at Night.

Art Conspiracy differs from other arts fundraisers because the artists do their work on site the day before the event. On the eve of Art Conspiracy, artists work in shifts to fill 150 18 x 18 plywood canvasses. During the actual event on Saturday, December 12, all pieces will be sold in rapid-fire live auctions. Starting bids for all pieces is $20.

“We’ve worked to make Art Conspiracy unique, it’s an event built on creativity but the end game is doing good,” says Cari Weinberg, Executive Director, Art Conspiracy. “Art Conspiracy is fun, fast-paced and accessible to everyone. Over the last five years thousands of people have given us their time, talent and support. The result is a collaborative night showcasing the best of the creative community in Dallas while raising money.”

This year Art Conspiracy has formed a partnership with KERA’s Art&Seek, an online community at artandseek.org where creative people can come together to find, discuss, create and react to art. “Art Conspiracy shows that powerful – and really fun –  things happen when artists come together as a community,” says Anne Bothwell, director of Art&Seek.  “And our Art&Seek community shares so many of Art Con’s values and goals, it’s a natural fit. We’re excited to partner with Art Conspiracy as it continues to grow.”

In 2009, Art Conspiracy will donate the proceeds of the event to Resolana, an organization that provides rehabilitative arts programming for women in the Dallas County Jail and Dawson State Jail in Dallas.

“In an uncertain economy, being the beneficiary of the Art Conspiracy is  a tremendous gift . . . a real godsend,” says Bette Buschow, Executive Director, Resolana.  “Resolana has recently been assigned its own classroom space in the new addition to Dallas County Jail and over the last six months, our programming has grown from six hours of classes per week to 16-20 hours per week.  The funding from Art Conspiracy will make a HUGE difference in our ability to support and sustain this growth and in our ability to serve the women at Dallas County Jail.”

Since 2005, Art Conspiracy has raised over $50,000 for groups including

• Preservation LINK, an organization that teaches audio and visual media to students in South Dallas and Fair Park
• La Reunion TX, an arts residency in the making on a 35 acre urban forest engaged as outdoor studio space and gallery.
• St. Anthony Community Center, a center that offers visual art, music and dance to more than 800 children in South Dallas.

Art Conspiracy is street level philanthropy. Members of the creative community in North Texas pool their talents to create bi-annual fundraising events that support other nonprofit arts programs. Art Conspiracy events are designed to be affordable and offer everyone a chance to purchase original artwork at a reasonable level. Art Conspiracy is a 501c3 organization with IRS nonprofit status (so your donations are tax deductible!) More information is available at www.artconspiracy.org

Media Info:

Art Conspiracy organizers, musicians, and artists are available for interviews. For more

information and/or Art Conspiracy artwork, please contact Cari Weinberg at

cari@artconspiracy.org or call 214-794-3510.

Art Conspiracy Details:

Date: 7:00 p.m., Saturday, December 12

Location: 511 W. Commerce, Dallas, TX 75208

Participants: 150 Dallas Artists, 4 Bands

Admission: $10

Benefiting: Resolana

Art&Seek presents This Week in Texas Music History. Every week, we’ll spotlight a different moment and the musician who made it. This week, Texas music scholar Gary Hartman looks at the life of Mary Austin Holley, a pioneering Texas songwriter.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Saturday on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you.

And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KERA radio’s 90.1 at Night.

• Click the player to listen to the podcast:

• Expanded online version:

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll celebrate a woman who wrote the state’s first known English-language song.

Mary Austin Holley was born Mary Austin on Oct. 30, 1784, in New Haven, Conn. She learned to play piano, guitar and harp and helped organize local musical events. In 1805, she married Horace Holley, a minister. Mary Austin Holley was a cousin of famed Texas entrepreneur Stephen F. Austin. In October 1831, she visited Austin’s colony, which, at the time, was still part of the Mexican province of Tejas.

While traveling on the Brazos River, Holley wrote “The Brazos Boat Song,” the first known English-language tune to be composed in Texas. Published in 1832, “The Brazos Boat Song” became very popular and was included in several plays about life on the Texas frontier. Over the years, a number of other songwriters composed variations of the “The Brazos Boat Song.” Perhaps the best known of these was Texas songwriter David Guion’s 1936 version, which gained widespread popularity as part of the state’s 1936 Centennial celebration. Although Mary Austin Holley was not a prolific composer, she helped launch a rich songwriting tradition that eventually would make Texas world famous for its songwriters.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll remember an eclectic Texas musician who continues to defy categorization.

This is the last in our series of exclusive video interviews with the AT&T Performing Arts Center's architects. You can find the interviews with the Wyly Theatre's designers, Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus, here and here.

Questions for Foster and de Grey from our sitdown interview:

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From the press conference:

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Paul Slavens took in a performance on Saturday at the Winspear Opera House of Philip Glass' scoring of Dracula. He sends along the following review:

Click the audio player to listen to Paul's review:

Text version:

Let me start out with a musicians' joke:

Knock knock:
Who’s there?
Knock knock:
Who’s there?
Knock knock:
Who’s there?
Phillip Glass

If you are familiar with the works of Philip Glass, you will get the somewhat mean spirited humor. And like all good humor, it’s funny because there is some truth to it. Mr Glass has made a career out of music comprised in large part of arpeggios of fairly simple chords. Of course, he takes these fairly simple musical cells and weaves them into complex tapestries of sound. Then on the other hand, these sounds are almost always rigidly metrical and static. Perhaps you begin to see why his music is at once derided by some as simplistic, and at worst boring, and to others as beautiful and intricate and fascinating. If the turnout for his scoring of the film Dracula last Saturday evening at the New Winspear Opera House was any indication, there are plenty of people who love what he does. The house was quite full, and among the concertgoers were more than a few people dressed up as vampires, complete with makeup, reminiscent of a Rocky Horror crowd.

I suppose one could make the case that Philip Glass is about as close to a rock star as there is in classical, art, “serious” or whatever you want to call it music. And the format of a Philip Glass score to a Bela Legosi film added to the juxtapositions of seriousness and playfulness, darkness and levity, action and stasis, pop and art.

I was struck by the way the score was not particularly reactive to the film. Not that it didn’t change and flow with the overall action. For instance, a scene of a storm at sea was accompanied by mad waves of scales and arpeggios that swelled and whipped around like the gales. But even there, Glass is just setting the scene, creating the environment in which the specific actions happen.

Specific events were never accentuated by the music. When Dracula looks menacingly at the camera (like he did about 20 times), Glass never gives you an ominous chord or a dramatic musical gesture (bum-bum-buuum!). In fact, the music rarely, if ever, sounded ominous. It even sounded light and lovely during certain tense scenes. Often the music would pause and some dramatic action would be allowed to play out in silence. The humor in the film, both intended and unintended, was always allowed to play itself out with no sense that the score got the joke. When the humor became broad, it was always to the sound of no music and light laughter.

If these sound like criticisms, they are not. Mr Glass’ idiom is to set a tone, to create a soundscape, to focus your attention, not to grab it.

What the music doesn’t say is often what is important. It shows a great deal of trust in the power of the film. Like many art forms that depend on shock and visual novelty, this film has lost its power to truly frighten. However, it still deals with subjects, and more importantly subtexts, that are obviously very much in our psyches. Witness the slew of vampire products in today’s media world.

So once again, Mr Glass is tapped into the mainstream while still operating very much in the esoteric world of music that gets played in nice places like the Winspear.

Last week, KERA's Bill Zeeble reported on the early reviews of the Winspear Opera House's acoustics. This past weekend, he caught up with the man responsible for the building's sound, Bob Essert. Click the media player below to listen to the interview: