Gish Picks: Week of December 23, 2009


Welcome to this week's "Gish Picks", where I highlight family-oriented cultural events, products or services. Please note that I "highlight" these events, but I don't know if they are appropriate for your particular children, so choose wisely based on age, maturity and interests. I want to take a moment to tell you that I’m honored to still be your guide to cultural activities in Houston – thanks for your continued support of this publication and THE SUMMER BOOK and for telling your friends, families, and teachers about them. The more we can get the word out about cultural activities for children, the more the organizations will be able to present them. Please feel free to let me know about cultural activities and organizations that you find as I can always use more ears and eyes. I know many of you have been or will be celebrating Hanukkah, Christmas, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Al-Hijra, Las Posadas, the Lunar New Year, and much more – I hope you’ve had fun as well as restful times. While you’re at home with family or just taking some time off, don’t forget to get out there and GO FIND FUN! FREE MUSIC! Hey tweet peeps! Follow me on Twitter and be eligible to win a cool kids' cd, such as "The Tortoise and the Hare," "Hot Peas and Butter," and other titles from Sugar Mountain PR and Smart MultiMedia. I'll choose a winner from all followers that "direct message" me TODAY once I announce the contest in a tweet. Follow me and you'll get daily PICKS of fun times in Houston – news you can use. I look forward to being stalked by you!

“THE NUTCRACKER” IS STILL ONSTAGE, THANKFULLY!

The Houston Ballet is busy, busy these days – they’ve brought their classic production of Ben Stevenson’s, “The Nutcracker,” back for its 22nd year, they are building a new building, and spring classes will get underway soon. Are you tired yet???

“The Nutcracker” has shows almost daily through December 27. And don’t think “The Nutcracker” is just for girls – there’s plenty of action for the boys, including the Christmas tree which “grows” to 40 feet, 200 pounds of “snow” falling during the snow scene, and the firing of a cannon onstage. The beloved ballet tells the story of a little girl named Clara who is given a magical nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve. She encounters the frightful King Rat before embarking on a wondrous journey through the Land of Snow and the Kingdom of Sweets. I always love hearing Tchaikovsky’s classic pieces – “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” being my favorite! Tickets for the show start at $34.

After they wrap up their holiday show, the Houston Ballet will get back to dance classes (the spring season starts January 18 and there is an “Academy Spring Showcase” on April 16 and 17) and to their $53 million capital campaign to build their Center for Dance, a new 115,000 square-foot facility located in downtown Houston at the intersection of Smith and Preston Streets. The building is set for completion in the spring of 2011. It’s the ballet’s 40th anniversary season and with its reputation as a world-class dance company, this building is coming none too soon!

“SLEEPING BEAUTY” WITH A TWIST

I love this -- Stages Repertory Theatre is presenting a perfect post-Christmas treat: a comedy/pantomime version of a classic fairy tale in "Panto Sleeping Beauty.” Billed as “an outrageous family musical,” the show is a world premiere for Stages. Through this show, Stages will introduce Houston audiences to the beloved British holiday tradition of Pantomime combined with rousing renditions of the world’s favorite stories – in fact, it’s a storytelling style that gave rise to American. This version of “Sleeping Beauty” finds the damsel happily at home in Houston...except there's a nasty curse on her head, her father is busy running a gigantic oil company, her nanny is a former nun seeking glory on the stage, and the love of her life just left town. Will she find a happy ending or slumber forever? As you can imagine, this show is packed with sharp wit, wild fun, and original music. “Panto Sleeping Beauty” will introduce area audiences not only to the Pantomime form itself, but also to the many cultural traditions that surround it.

Tickets are $35-$45 and the show is on through January 3. There is a special Christmas Eve matinee at 3pm.

FREE MUSIC, LOTS OF FUN!

What better to do after Christmas than go listen to free music? This Saturday, December 26, from 7-10pm, the band Tie-Dye Sky (also known as the Love Street Light Circus band when doing charity gigs) is playing a free show at Bohemeos, located at 708 Telephone Road. The show will be indoors and families are welcome. The music will be entirely from the 60s (ok, they’ve made one exception with a Rolling Stones song from 1971!). The band’s goal is to play songs that they loved growing up but that no longer receive airplay – while avoiding the same tired songs that every other "classic rock" band plays. Some groups they’ll be representing are 13th Floor Elevators, The Band, The Beatles (an entire set of just Beatles!), Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Canned Heat, Cream, Credence Clearwater Revival, Crosby Stills & Nash, The Guess Who, The Hollies, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Rolling Stones, Status Quo, Steppenwolf, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Turtles, The Who, The Velvet Underground, The Yardbirds, and Neil Young.

Get on your beads and GO DIG IT, MAN!

THIS WEEK'S ATTRACTION...THE HEALTH MUSEUM. For more attractions, go to www.gishcreative.com/attractions.htm.

It’s chilly, we’ve got holiday fat, and the kids are driving us crazy. What’s a parent to do? I say take them to the Health Museum, which is indoors, has plenty of information about healthy living (ahem), and lots of ways for kids to burn off that excess holiday energy! The Health Museum is Houston's only interactive science center and a member institution of the world-renowned Texas Medical Center, which is close by. Interactivity begins in the “Amazing Body Pavilion,” which is designed as a voyage through a Texas-sized human body that includes giant models of human organs and dozens of hands-on exhibits and science stations that engage visitors in how each system of the body works. Their latest permanent exhibit (the first one since the Museum’s opening in 1996) is “You: The Exhibit,” which uses the latest multi-media and special effects technology to take visitors on a journey to explore their physical selves, mental selves and their future selves. The sophisticated media nature of the exhibition encourages group interaction and participation in the exhibit, and visitors are able to leave something of themselves behind to change the experience over time. The Museum also features traveling exhibitions (the current one is “Planet You 3D”), 4D film experiences in the McGovern Theater, live science shows and challenging brain teaser stations.

The Museum is located at 1515 Hermann Drive. Tickets are $8/adults and $6/children and seniors. It’s closed on Christmas Day.

HAITIAN INDEPENDENCE GALA NEXT WEEKEND

Buy your tickets now for the Haitian Independence Gala taking place next Friday, January 1 from 7pm-2am. The event is taking place at the Multi-Ethnic Community Center, located at 9819 Bissonnet. This event is celebrating the 205th year of Haitian independence and is organized by the nonprofit group the Haitian Multicultural Association of Houston, and will have a variety of youth and adult entertainment, a special dinner, and keynote speaker. Admission is $40/person and $75/couple. This is a great opportunity to learn about the large, vibrant community of Haitians here and to join them in this special celebration.

For more information or to reserve your tickets, please contact Marie at 832.368.0953 or Roselene at 281.857.9335.

COMMUNITY DOULA PROGRAM

In my travels as a mom and as an “infopreneur,” I not only learn about terrific events going on in our city, I also learn about lots of great organizations doing good in our community. Whenever I have room, I include them in GISH PICKS so you’ll know about them too!

This week I want to highlight the Community Doula Program. The mission of the Community Doula Program is to educate and nurture expectant youth in disadvantaged neighborhoods by cultivating a network of peer Doulas from the community itself. Their primary objective is to provide integrated education, hands-on assistance and support during pregnancy, labor and birth, breastfeeding and early motherhood through Doulas. The second objective is to cultivate a network of trained, peer Doulas from the communities served. The Community Doula Program recruits and trains young mothers to serve as mentors to at-risk pregnant teens and young mothers from their own community. These mentors, called Doulas, help young expectant mothers develop and maintain healthy lifestyles during pregnancy, breastfeeding and early motherhood through in-depth integrated educational sessions and emotional support. It’s a great program that encourages peer support, the best way to sustain healthy lifestyles in a community.

For more about my marketing company, Gish Creative, and the services we offer, please click here. You are on this list because I thought this e-newsletter would be helpful to you or because you signed up for it. However, if you want off this list, click here and you're a goner. Please feel free to tell your friends to subscribe by clicking here.My goal is to serve as an information resource for Houston parents through my various endeavors, including:

GISH PICKS, which is online (www.thesummerbook.com/gishpicks_archive.html) and in the Houston Community Newspaper group (www.hcnonline.com);

THE SUMMER BOOK®: A GUIDE TO HOUSTON DAY CAMPS AND CLASSES FOR KIDS AND TEENS (www.thesummerbook.com) which comes out annually on March 1 and is sold at bookstores all over Houston, including Barnes and Noble and Borders; and

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS, INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS, PRIVATE CONSULTATIONS, and ART PROGRAMS that cover topics such as summertime fun, passion-finding (for adults, children and parents and children together), marketing, historic preservation, art classes, and activism. All of these services can be tailored for any audience and budget.

The purpose of GISH PICKS is to help parents become aware of all the fun things they can do with their children in Houston and the surrounding area, so HAPPY TRAVELS! Please do give me feedback and ideas, as you are out there in the trenches also looking for interesting things for your family and I want to hear what you find. If you are having trouble getting to a website listed here, try hitting the “Ctrl” button and left-clicking on the web address, which should make it “live”.


Sarah Gish Gish Creative 1940-A Fountainview, PMB 116 Houston, Texas 77057 phone/fax: 713.532.1173 email: sarah@gishcreative.com web: www.gishcreative.com and: www.thesummerbook.com and: www.saveourlandmarks.org © 2009 Sarah Gish Designed by West of the World