Gish Picks: Week of June 16, 2010

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WHAT'S NEW THIS WEEK?

Leah White is so cool! I recently met with Leah to talk about her band, Leah White and the Magic Mirrors, and her new CD, SPRINKLER (her other CDs are A WHITE CHRISTMAS and CAKE FOR DINNER). She’s hosting a SPRINKLER release party at Discovery Green this Thursday, June 16 at 6:30pm with another awesome family music gal, Sara Hickman. If you can’t make the DG party, you can meet up with Leah at other spots around town, including Cactus Music on Saturday, June 26 at 1pm. At my house, we’ve been using the violin tunes on SPRINKLER for daily violin practice!

Cool project alert: Leah and I are creating a CD of songs celebrating Houston history, so stay tuned. We both feel it’s important to preserve Houston’s history and that this mindset starts with our children. GISH PICKS readers will be the first to know when this is done, I promise!

And this is your lucky day! I’m giving away copies of Leah’s CDs – so here’s how to get one: “Like” the GISH PICKS Facebook page and you could be randomly selected to win a CD. Pickup will be at Hollywood Frame Gallery starting next Monday, June 21. I’ll contact you via Facebook to let you know and your CD will be waiting for you with your name on it at the Gallery. Good luck!

SUMMER FILM FUN.

As always, there are kids’ films everywhere this summer – to kick start your summer flick adventure, check out “Marmaduke” and “Karate Kid” and “Shrek: Forever After” – my son Matthew saw all three recently and loved them! For cheap film fun, here are some summer festivals and screenings that I found for you; most of them are showing G or PG films. Check websites for specific dates.

Rave Motion Pictures’ Yorktown 15 Theater is offering free movies on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10am.

The Museum of Fine Arts is offering their free "Family Flicks" on the first Sunday of each month as well as summer matinees in July and August.

Pearland Parks and Recreation is offering their free "Friday Night Flic" series for families with "Planet 51" on July 9th and "Tooth Fairy" on July 23rd at dusk. Movies will be shown on a drive-in size screen in Independence Park at 3919 Liberty Drive. In addition, Pearland Town Center will be showing "The Blind Side" for free on July 25th at 7:30pm at their location at the corner of Highway 288 and FM 518. Be sure to bring your lawn chairs or blankets for all of these events.

For some old-fashioned fun, visit The Showboat Drive In in Hockley or the Santikos Silverado Houston, a “western themed entertainment complex” in Tomball.

The Aurora Picture Show has an especially fun film night planned for families this Friday, June 18 at 7pm (film at 8pm) at Discovery Green: “Supers: Short Films Inspired by Heroes.” Capes are optional.

IMAX® is always rolling at the Houston Museum of Natural Science -- this summer they have “Dolphins and Whales 3D” and “Hubble 3D.”

For unique spaciness, be sure to take the kids to “Sputnik Mania,” screening August 5, 7pm at Rice University’s Sewell Hall room 301.

Happy Viewing!

STUDENT FLAMENCO ON STAGE THIS WEEKEND.

I have never seen kids perform flamenco and belly dancing, so this show caught my eye: the Del Espadin Flamenco and Soraya School of Belly Dance Studios’ student presentation this Saturday, June 19, 3-5pm. The students of both studios will be showing off their steps. Accredited in 1993 by Dance Masters of America, studio founder Maria Del Espadin has 25 years of experience in all phases of Spanish dance including Regional, Classical and Flamenco. She established her company, Del Espadin Baile Español, in 1998 and is dedicated to presenting the various elements of Flamenco and Spanish Dance in a highly traditional and artistic manner. The company endeavors to maintain standards of authenticity through its signature style, technique and repertoire. Soraya School of Belly Dance founder Soraya performs, teaches and choreographs Middle Eastern dance, concentrating mostly on the Egyptian, or Raqs Sharqi, style of belly dance, and flamenco. She has also studied ballet since the age of four.

The performance will take place at 3939 Hillcroft, Suite 160 and tickets are $15/person and $10/kids 11 and under. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis and light refreshments will be provided.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF CIRCUS

It’s not cheap, but I promise you they’re worth it! Cirque du Soleil is returning to Houston with a new production, “Alegría in Cypress,” this weekend (June 16th-20th) at the Berry Center in Stafford, Texas. “Alegría” is a Cirque du Soleil classic inspired by the “alegría,” a Spanish word that means happiness, joy and jubilation. The show features an international cast of 55 performers and musicians from 15 countries and showcases breathtaking acrobatics. Acts include the Synchro Trapeze and the intense and high-energy Aerial High Bars in which daring aerialists fly to catchers swinging more than 40 feet above the stage. The vibrancy of youth is alive in Power Track, a brilliant display of synchronized choreography and tumbling on a trampoline system hidden under the stage floor. In Russian Bars, artists fly through the air and perform spectacular somersaults and mid-air turns, landing on bars perched on the sturdy shoulders of catchers. Cirque du Soleil ("Circus of the Sun") is a Canadian entertainment company that is a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier.

Tickets start at $32 and the show will also be performed at Houston’s Toyota Center November 10-14.

THIS WEEK'S ATTRACTION...ART EXHIBITS FOR KIDS. For more attractions, go to www.gishcreative.com/attractions.htm.

It’s summer, it’s hot, whatcha gonna do that’s cool in more ways than one? I suggest art museums as an alternate to the Children’s Museum and the Houston Museum of Natural Science (both of which are great and you should frequent too!). Art museums offer a quieter approach to family fun and open up all kinds of possibilities for kid exploration. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is full of kid-friendly programs every summer and they have “Family Packs” available at the front desk as well as art detective programs, sketching in the galleries, hands-on art workshops, kid films and much more. The staff at the Blaffer Art Museum promises me their summer shows are kid-friendly (how can you miss with oversized sculptures?!); on view are works by artists Jacco Olivier and Tomás Saraceno. The Blaffer is also hosting "Summer Arts,” their summer camps for kids from June 22-July 2. Rice Gallery features life-size tunnel books (cardboard cutouts in layers) by Andrea Dezsö as their annual “Summer Window” show. As a cool compliment to that show, be sure to catch the wacky movie “Sputnik Mania” on August 5 at 7pm at 301 Sewell Hall (free entry, popcorn provided!). The Contemporary Arts Museum also has a great show for kids this summer: “Hand+Made: The Performative Impulse in Art and Craft.” Head out with pencils, papers, and clipboards and kids can really get arty!

DIVERSEWORKS AND “LUCK OF THE DRAW 9: THE MUSICAL!”

DiverseWorks hosts their 9th annual “Luck of the Draw”, their summer fundraiser, featuring great art that will make your heart sing created by locally and nationally known artists, some of whom have exhibited at DiverseWorks ArtSpace over the past several years. It’s auction by luck – you buy your art chance ticket which gets you a number. Numbers are called at random, and when it's your turn, you grab your art from more than 200 outstanding selections, all available at affordable prices. Click here to check out some of the artists donating to Luck of the Draw; my son (Alex Buchanan) and I are both in the show – woo hoo!

Art chance tickets start at $100 and if you just want to enjoy the party, $25 gets you in the door for food, music, and fun!

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Sarah Gish Gish Creative 1940-A Fountainview, PMB 116 Houston, Texas 77057 phone/fax: 713.482.7065 email: sarah@gishcreative.com web: www.gishcreative.com and: www.thesummerbook.com and: www.saveourlandmarks.org © 2010 Sarah Gish Designed by West of the World