Last night was quite the night for Arts Fighting Cancer. There was lots of food, wine, music and friendly folks supporting a very worthy cause. I’ll let Lynne and Michael tell you all about it in the above video.

GET YOUR LEARN ON: The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History officially opens today. DFW.com has covered the museum extensively in the past week or so, with reports on the museum’s design, must-see attractions, the Cattle Raisers Museum located in the new building, the technology behind the exhibits and the cool temporary exhibit,  CSI: The Experience. And, of course, you can listen to KERA’s radio report produced by yours truly here.

BEHIND THE SCENES: By day, Chris Holland is the Manager of Festival Operations for B-Side Entertainment. The company puts together Web sites for film festivals. By night, he runs the Film Festival Secrets blog, where he talks to some of the people who put on the events. His most recent entry focuses on Dallas International Film Festival Senior Programmer Sarah Harris. When asked to name a recent trend in festival submissions that she doesn’t like, she says, “During 2008-2009, I was seeing a lot of shorts where people were getting hit by cars. It was disturbing at first and then just got really old.” So note to filmmakers: if you’re gonna have someone hit by a car in your next short, it’d had better be for a good reason.

ETC.: Sarah Palin’s appearance at Legacy Books is all sold out. Sounds like its Craig’s List time if you really wanna go. (dallasnews.com) … The Los Angeles Times weighs in on the plans released this week for the George Bush Presidential Center, saying that it carries, “no hint of the swagger, bravado or taste for confrontation that Bush was known for as president.” (latimes.com) … Pete Yorn stopped by the KXT studio yesterday afternoon to play a few tunes and preview his show last night at the House of Blues. Quick was at the show and has a review and the setlist (quickdfw.com) … Speaking of the KXT studio, you can watch video of performers who have rolled through, including 100 Damned Guns, Little Black Dress and many others, on the KXT Web site.

You may have already gotten a little fuzzy on just who Nobuyuki Tsujii is. The name’s a mouthful for Westerners.

But perhaps “Nobu” rings a bell. Classical music fans in Japan have certainly not forgotten how the 21-year-old blind pianist tied for the gold medal at the Cliburn Competition in June (he was one of several blind pianists there and, actually, Tsujii was back in Fort Worth in September to play at Bass Hall).

But in his native country, according to Time magazine, Nobu is enjoying a Van Cliburn-like “mega-stardom” at the moment. Normally reserved Japanese concert audiences hit their feet or burst into tears.

The sales of his first album debut, together with his second album and a live DVD, have sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and the interview requests flooded in. Tsujii, the first Japanese winner of the competition, says he rarely has time to go to his school now, or to meet friends. “The medal is a bit of a burden,” he admits, “But I enjoy playing in front of people, so I try to give a good performance every time.”

The Culture Monster blog for the LATimes reports that tomorrow the National Endowment for the Arts will present a live, daylong webcast of its Cultural Workforce Forum.

[An] assortment of academics, federal bureaucrats, and staffers from private think tanks and research organizations will assemble in Washington, and in cyberspace at www.nea.gov. They’ll attempt to elucidate, ponder and talk about how to broaden and improve the statistical evidence supporting the notion that what composers, writers, painters, et al do is not just fluff and filigree, but part of the dollars-and-cents fiber of the country.

Arts organizations have long tried to play the “it’s good for business” card whenever they’re faced with funding cuts or fundraising for a major new project. In fact, the new NEA chair, Rocco Landesman, has given the endowment a new slogan: “Art Works.”

But there’s also a very specific reason artists and arts institutions might want to check in on some of the panels about economic impact:

Nine months ago, by a vote of 73-24, the U.S. Senate specifically placed museums, theaters and art centers on a blacklist of “wasteful and non-stimulative” enterprises excluded from funding under the national emergency economic stimulus bill then being debated. Ultimately, that amendment got amended, and the NEA received $50 million . . . But it spoke volumes about the political clout of the arts that so many senators with no grudge against arts funding felt free to throw museums and theaters under the proverbial bus in casting that preliminary vote.

Would so many have dared sign on to language excluding, say, the hiring of gym teachers or the construction of high school sports facilities?

NORAH, IN REVIEW: She may not live in North Texas anymore, but Norah Jones is still one of the area’s most successful exports (36 million albums and counting). So when she puts out a new album, we take notice. The reviews for The Fall, called both her break-up album and her rock album, have been good to really good. “Despite its low-key manner, there remain moments of penetrating pathos, oblique references to happiness lost,” Preston Jones writes in his dfw.com review. “Although the University of North Texas alum could easily rake in millions by dumping pale imitations of Come Away With Me upon consumers, Jones isn’t satisfied with plowing well-turned soil.” Meanwhile, the national mags each rate it at 3.5 stars. Rolling Stone calls it, “avant-roots music that rocks, albeit gently,” while Spin says its, “a hot-blooded soul record from the queen of the even keel.” Interested.

BUSH LIBRARY, REVEALED: Plans for the George W. Bush Presidential Center were unveiled on Wednesday. The building, to be located at SMU, sticks with the campus’ Georgian theme and will feature the familiar red brick and limestone. David Dillon analyzed the model and drawings for dallasnews.com, writing, “It makes for a restrained but gracious approach, appropriately scaled and reminiscent of the forecourt of George Dahl’s Meadows School of the Arts, still the best modern building on campus.”

MUSEUM MUSIC: You might think a band named Great American Novel would contain a couple of writers moonlighting as musicians. And you’d be wrong. The three members of the band actually all work at Fort Worth museums – one at the Amon Carter and two at the Modern. And just because these guys’ day jobs are in quiet institutions doesn’t mean the music reflects their work environments. It’s actually the opposite: “We’ve had people tell us everything from Nirvana to Firehouse to even The Who,” vocalist Will Gillham tells FW Weekly. Take a listen on the band’s MySpace page.

The National New Play Network — an alliance of non-profit theaters that champions new plays — will produce six of them that have been selected for staged readings at NNPN’s National Showcase to be hosted in December in Atlanta. (The seven-year-old festival rotates to different theaters/cities — so far, it’s showcased 80 plays, 40 of which were subsequently produced.)

Of the six plays, one — Danny Casolaro Died for You, written by film and video director Dominic Orlando — was submitted by Kitchen Dog Theater. Based on a true story, it concerns a freelance reporter who uncovers a secret center involving a government agency. Dan Day, a founding Kitchen Dogger, will direct the play at Actor’s Express Dec. 5.

IN WITH THE NEW: In a few hours, a ground-breaking ceremony will be held for the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Victory Park (check back here later this afternoon for a report). A lot has been made of architect Thom Mayne’s $185 million building, but for all the fancy design, the most important thing about it may be the fact that it has more space than the current setup. The bones of a 65 million-year-old alamosaurus that were excavated in Big Bend National Park have set in storage for eight years in the museum’s current home in Fair Park. “We didn’t put it together because there was no point,” the museum’s CEO Nicole Small tells dallasnews.com. Sounds like in this case, bigger will almost certainly mean better.

HEADING SOUTH OUT WEST: If you caught Friday’s episode of Think, you saw Jerome interview Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Music Director Miguel Harth-Bedoya about his South American Music project, Caminos del Inka (you can watch the interview here). The maestro’s project collaborated with TCU’s Latin American Music Festival for a concert Tuesday that Chris Shull says “elevated both programs.” You can read his full dfw.com review here.

THEATER BITS: Lawson Taitte says Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays at the Winspear Opera House is a happy-sad experience. (dallasnews.com) … Elaine Liner talks to Level Ground Arts’ Bill Fountain about his new Kennedy assassination play, Crushing Grain, which opens Thursday. (theaterjones.com) … Details are set for a Paul Baker memorial Dec. 7 at the Dallas Children’s Theater. (theaterjones.com).

EARTHLY CONCERNS: Brooklyn artist William Lamson’s show “Automatic,” which closed this weekend at Marty Walker Gallery, earned praise for its simplicity and environmental consciousness. Lamson uses wind and other natural forces to power the tools that create his drawings. Whatever Mother Nature is in the mood to draw that day, that’s what we get. Earlier this month, Art&Seek guest blogger Gail Sachson was amazed by the ingenuity of the process. And now nbcdfw.com reporter Annie Potasznik delivers the above video that shows in further detail how Lamson works.

FINAL FESTIVAL THOUGHTS: The Lone Star International Film Festival finished up its third run over the weekend. I wrote on Thursday about the ups and downs of opening night. And now dfw.com film critic Chris Kelly weighs in on the ups and downs of the whole event. In a nutshell, he says the festival could benefit from a little more focus to help build crowds, but that things are headed in the right direction.

MUSIC BITS: Surely many of you attended Rhett Miller’s CF Benefit Concert at the Granada on Saturday. But how many of you got to see the extra-special VIP portion of the show? If you did, skip ahead. But if you didn’t, check out this video at quickdfw.com … Denton’s Riverboat Gamblers have put out a video for the infectious “DissDissDissKissKissKiss.” You might be cross-eyed after watching it, but at least you had fun. (DC 9 at Night) … Denton’s the Polycorns discuss their debut album with Pegasus News, which they will unveil at a live show on Thursday at Trees. Sneak a listen on the band’s MySpace page.

Toby Pipes is a producer, a musician, a vocalist and one of the most well-known names in the local, regional and national music scenes. Pipes and his co-writer/producer, Nolan Thies formed Little Black Dress back in 2005. The band also includes Brent Elrod (guitars), Earl Darling (drums), Cooper Heffley (electric drums and keys) and Taylor Tasch (guitars). The band signed on with Exploding Plastic Records (an Idol Records project) back in the spring of 2009, and dropped its debut release, Snow in June, this past summer.

I’ve listened to Snow in June, front-to-back, then all over again, and I love the dreamy, swirling waves of guitars and synths mixed with the softness of Pipes’ vocals.

Toby took time out of his busy schedule for an email Q&A with Art&Seek:

Art&Seek: Just looking over the roster of bands that you have produced (and recorded at Bass Propulsion Labs) brings back memories of the past decade of local music. Tell me your thoughts on the local music scene from 2000 to present.

Toby Pipes: The local music scene seems to be in a weird spot at the present time. After the 90’s, there seemed to be more of a quality over quantity thing with the bands. People still went to clubs to watch music, mainly to places like Deep Ellum or Dyer Street where you could park your car and see three or four different shows and walk to different venues. Now it seems to be a bit more spread out. Bands have a much harder time creating a following. It’s very difficult without some sort of built-in crowd, especially with no local radio support to help bands move to the next level. The gap between big band and baby band has grown throughout the decade. It’s almost to the point now that bands are either massive or just play shows to their friends and/or other bands waiting to play on the same bill.

A&S: You practically can’t take a step without tripping over one of the bands you’ve, either produced at BPL, or performed with over the years. Where are you the most content, onstage or producing in your studio?

T.P.: That is a difficult question to answer because they’re both so different. I love being in the studio and working on sounds and song arrangements. It can be a magical thing when a band and the producer/engineer see eye-to-eye and are both striving to make a great recording. But with that being said, there is nothing like being on tour, in the band bubble, where it’s you and four or five of your friends and bandmates moving from town to town playing music for people that you have never met before, and in a place that you might not have ordinarily gone. It’s hard to describe and extremely addictive

A&S: Tell me about Little Black Dress and how the band came together.

T.P.: In the early days of BPL and still to this day, we used to make note of certain musicians who were recording their own projects, and ask them to play on other solo artist’s records. Nolan Thies was one of those guys, and he played bass for us for on ton of our recordings. He was around a lot, got interested in the recording side of things and worked his way up to engineer at the studio after a few years. After awhile, if there was some down time at the studio, we started to record different ideas that we were working on. Three or four years later, we had a bunch of songs that had a certain sound and we thought it might be a good idea to put a band together.

A&S: How would you describe the sound of Little Black Dress to someone who has never heard it?

T.P.: Moody, shoegazey guitar electronica with a pop feel to it.

A&S: What made the band decide to sign with Exploding Plastic Records?

T.P.: We have known Dylan Silvers for years through different bands and friends. He caught a few of our gigs at the Granada Theater. We had a four song EP that we were giving out to people and he asked us if we were ever planning on finishing the record. We told him that we never really had a reason to finish it before and he told us about the new side label he was creating with Erv Karwelis called Exploding Plastic Records. It sounded like a good fit for us, so we finished the record and here we are.

A&S: What’s your favorite venue (past or present, open or closed) that you’ve ever played in Dallas, Denton or Fort Worth, and why?

T.P.: My favorite venue of the past is definitely Deep Ellum Live. It was the most comfortable place to play in Dallas and we really miss it. My favorite venue now is the House of Blues. Everyone there is very professional and their work is top-notch.

A&S: What are your thoughts and expectations of the new KXT 91.7 station?

T.P.: I think that this new station is exactly what Dallas needs! It is great that Dallas will have its own station again, with the freedom to play what it wants. This station could be the catalyst that might get the local music scene going again.

Little Black Dress will perform live in the KXT-91.7 studio today (around 3:45 p.m.) on the afternoon show with Joe Kozera.

The Nasher Sculpture Center has announced its 2010 NasherSALON Speaker Series. The series has previously featured such artists as authors John Updike and Larry McMurtry, choreographer Twyla Tharp, chef Wolfgang Puck and singer-songwriter Art Garfunkel.

This next year’s series will feature actor-director Robert Duvall (Jan. 21), actress-model Lauren Bacall (March 11), singer Gladys Knight (June 17), composer Stephen Sondheim (Sept. 16) and PBS newsman-author Jim Lehrer (Nov. 18). Each salon is held in Nasher Hall, tickets are $65 for adults for each salon. Tickets for the Duvall salon will go on sale online to the public Dec. 6.