Before his set at the Houston Improv, we were able to talk with comedian Jo Koy, who has been on Comedy Central, “Chelsea Lately” and “The Tonight Show.” The California native gave us a ring and talked to us about his material, writing and his DJ mom.

The Daily Cougar: It’s a pleasure to talk to you  — lots of people wanted to do this interview, so I had to kill them all to get this.

Koy: Good, I am talking to a murderer. I love it.

TDC: You have been doing this for a number of years, so for your material do you sit down and write it or do you just come up with it on the spot?

Koy: It’s funny because when I first started comedy, I used to jot a lot of stuff down trying to figure out the structure of the joke until the point I was getting comfortable on stage and being more conversational. Then it was like, well, I am talking about my mom anyways, so how hard is that to write about anyway? Then I talk about my son, and how hard is that?

TDC: Most of your stuff then is more autobiographical.

Koy: Yeah. It’s kind of like the stories that my mom or son give me. I will just elaborate a little bit, and I’ll soup it up a bit, but for the most part it’s pretty much my life. It’s pretty much what happens, you know? It’s current and up to date on what’s going on in my family — as dysfunctional as it is.

TDC: In your sets you discuss how your parents were against you doing standup. Would you let your son try it out?

Koy: Oh yeah, in a heartbeat.

TDC: Or he could be a DJ like your mom.

Koy: Yeah. That is crazy that you even know that! Yeah, she is 66 and decided to become a DJ — so go for it, mom.

TDC: Will she be playing Kanye all day?

Koy: Oh, man! That would be hilarious, my mom just playing Kanye all day and some Jay-Z at the same time. (In his mother’s voice) “This is the new track from Kanye West.”

TDC: That would be great, so what’s your most memorable television appearance so far?

Koy: My most memorable one is “The Tonight Show” — that was the one that changed my life. I was already 15 years into standup when I got (it), and I was still working part time jobs everywhere, you know what I mean? I felt like I was going nowhere. Then I did “The Tonight Show” and it was over with. I got gigs on top of gigs; I was working the road; I got a commercial deal, you know? A lot of good things happened because of that. That’s my most memorable TV performance. It can never be topped, that was it.

TDC: Did that land you with Chelsea (Handler) or was that something else?

Koy: Oh, no, me and Chelsea were friends before that.  We met through Jon Lovitz. I met her six years ago and “The Tonight Show” was five years ago. I knew Chelsea back in the day when she knew nobody. Now she’s got all of Hollywood’s money, it’s crazy. She is so powerful now.

It’s great to see that, great to see your friend blow up like that right before your eyes. It felt like overnight, you know what I mean? And now, seeing what it is now, it’s like a well-oiled machine. She is the driver of this machine, and I am happy to be a part of it. I call her the new Johnny Carson and it helps you on the road.

TDC: Do you prefer that or do you still like being on the road doing the standup club gigs?

Koy: Oh, definitely standup. It’s my heart (and) my passion. I love the stool, I love the bottled water, I love the microphone, I love the clubs I get to go to in different cities. The different reactions from different crowds for different jokes you know. I love it man.

I love being creative and spontaneous and being vulnerable. You can only get that from being on stage, you know? I love being self-deprecating and talking about myself. I love it when people relate to my stuff, you know what I mean? I love it when people come up to me and talk about my mom — even though they are not Filipino, they can relate.

TDC: Yeah, my mom is Mexican, but I can relate a lot.

Koy: Yeah, exactly. Everyone gets it, so it doesn’t matter if your mom is Latina or my mom is Filipina, they are still moms and do crazy shit and everyone gets it. Just like my mom playing with the Wii, everyone just comes up to me and says, “Yeah my mom plays the Wii,” or, “My grandma plays the Wii.” It’s the same shit your mom does, and it’s cool to see that, you know?

TDC: So you started with Jon Lovitz. Oh, I heard your Lovitz impression by the way. It is dead on.

Koy: (In his Lovitz voice) “Jon Lovitz.” He made me impersonate him in front of (himself). It was the weirdest thing, like if one of his friends would come to the show, he would be like, (Lovitz voice) “Okay Danny, you have to see him do me. It’s hysterical.”

TDC: I had no idea anyone could do a Jon Lovitz impression.

Koy: Well, that’s my idol, which is so crazy because when I was a kid I used to impersonate him in school because all I used to watch was “Saturday Night Live” — and he was kind of the man (on there) at that time. I used to impersonate him all the time.

TDC: What are things you stay away from during your sets?

Koy: The only thing I never really enjoyed doing was political. I enjoy listening to it, but I never really got into talking about it. It was the craziest thing. When I was younger I would try it, but I never enjoyed it.

The stuff I really like to do is talk about my family. I was really into (Bill) Cosby and Eddie Murphy, and how they always talked about their aunts and their uncles and their children, and I just would sit there and laugh. It’s kind of cool because now I see like 15-year-old kids yell things to me, like “Ting Ting” and “Josep,” and I was like, “Wow, that was me when I was 15 talking about chocolate cake.” It’s kind of cool; it’s like seeing this whole cycle of life. you know?

TDC: You just took credit for the next big comedian.

Koy: No, not at all. When I see those kids, I see myself. When I was 15, I was so into standup and it was cool because that style of standup was relatable at that age, you know? You aren’t really into politics at 15. You want to see a standup comic talk about 15-year-old shit.

TDC: Are you addicted to Twitter?

Koy: Yeah, I am more on Twitter than I am on Facebook. I can’t even remember the last time I opened my Facebook. All my Facebook is attached to my Twitter anyway, so if I use Twitter I link it to my Facebook. It’s kind of crazy, man.

TDC: Then it is you on the receiving end of Twitter?

Koy: Yeah, man, it’s all me. My sister helps me with my Facebook, but Twitter is all me. I do it through my phone, and I am always answering. When I am on the plane I just sit there and reply to people.

TDC: Do you have anything coming out soon?

Koy:  My DVD just came out ( the COMEDY CENTRAL original stand-up special, “Jo Koy: Lights Out”). You get the whole package—my first DVD (“Jo Koy: Don’t Make Him Angry”) and my second one, and a free shirt, and a bag and all kinds of shit.

TDC: Where can people get it at?

Koy: Just go to JoKoy.com

TDC: Thank you so much for your time.

Koy: Oh, dude. It was nice talking to you, man.

arts@thedailycougar.com

The Daily Cougar: How does it feel to be back in Texas?

Reddick: Well, we aren’t back quite yet, but we will be next week. We are in Delaware today but definitely excited to be back in Texas and doing a hometown show and Austin show and Houston show — always a good time to plug for the home state crowd.

TDC: You guys get more air time in the UK than here for some reason. Does that really affect you guys that much here?

Reddick: Not really, I mean the radio was an important part of who we were several years ago, but as of now we have our fan base and you sort of get yourself out there in other ways, like the Internet. You know it is what it is, and you just try to keep yourself out there and in front of people.

TDC: When I heard you guys for the first time it was the intro to (the Japanese anime TV series) “Knights of the Zodiac.” (BFS covered “I Ran (So Far Away)” by ’80s group A Flock of Seagulls, which was used as the intro to the series.)

Reddick: Oh yeah! We didn’t even realize we were on that show! I just found out about that recently. That just goes to show you how well I pay attention.

TDC: You guys have done a lot of things, like that cover of “I Ran (So Far Away)” and then a ’90s mix. With it being 2012 are you guys going to be doing an early 2000s mix?

Reddick: Well, we will think of something, actually I think we did. We did a cover of “Hit me Baby One More Time” for the movie “Freaky Friday,” so we are keeping it real all decades.

TDC: Well, you guys look like you are having fun. For your videos do you guys come up with the idea for humor or does it come spontaneously?

Reddick: No, for the videos we do a lot of planning and babysit it from start to finish. It’s a whole process, but we do have a lot of fun in nearly everything we do. That is the one aspect that we really like.

TDC: Do you have any guilty pleasures?

Reddick: I don’t really know, I like pretty much everything but I guess my guilty pleasure would be I like a lot of the pop stuff. Like I could listen to the band, “One Direction,” without wanting to throw up and that surprises people.

TDC: Since we are a college a paper, what did you listen to in your college days?

Reddick: Uhm, I guess at that point, I was just really getting into punk rock. I was really late to the party, and I was just discovering The Ramones and The Descendants and early Green Day. That is sort of where the idea for Bowling for Soup started.

TDC: With you guys being together for so long do you get tired of each other?

Reddick: Not really, we are still best friends, which is why I think we have been able to keep it together for 18 years. We definitely know when to press each other’s buttons and when to leave each other alone, when to get up in somebody’s face and tell them something. We have a pretty remarkable dynamic that other bands who tour with us are pretty surprised about. We have been going strong for 18 years and still having fun.

TDC: Is it still as fun even though you did your own release for your latest album?

Reddick: It wasn’t really harder, it’s just different. We have been self-supporting and self-sufficient pretty much our whole career anyway. The label has been sort of a source for distribution and obviously fun to make things happen. Luckily it was a successful album for us and we are looking forward to doing it again next year I think.

TDC: On this album you did a cover of “Stacy’s Mom” (by Fountains of Wayne). What is your favorite cover of one of your song?

Reddick: The band Allstar Weekend does a cover of “1985″ that is really good and play it at all of their shows. There is also a UK band that does some songs really well. It’s always cool to hear somebody else’s take on something that you do.

TDC: You have collaborated with a lot of band for vocals and lyrics but now who would you like to work with?

Reddick: I think it would be fun to work with Billy Joel Armstrong or David Grohl, you know somebody like that, that I listen to everyday. I think that would be a lot of fun. Those are my top two living  — dead, probably John Lennon.

arts@thedailycougar.com

Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine star as a dysfunctional couple in Richard Linklater's "Bernie."

Courtesy of Millenium Entertainment

Director Richard Linklater brings the story of one of the most peculiar murder stories ever to befall the small Texas town of Carthage to the big screen with “Bernie.”

Linklater (“Dazed and Confused,” “School of Rock”) teams up once again with Matthew McConaughey and Jack Black along with the addition of Academy Award winner Shirley MacLaine (“Terms of Endearment”) for this dark comedy, which is told through interviews with the actual townsfolk who knew the people involved, but still manages to dramatize the events that occurred.

The story takes place in the 1990s with Black in the title role as Bernhardt “Bernie” Tiede. Black gives one of the best performances of his career as a social and incredibly nice town mortician or “assistant funeral director.” Bernie has an extreme admiration for older women and he soon falls in love with his polar opposite – the rude and possessive Marjorie Nugent (MacLaine).

Tiede’s life becomes a metaphoric imprisonment at the hands of Marjorie, and once it gets to an uncontrollable height, he explodes in the form of four gunshots to the back of his imprisoner, killing her. Bernie, in an effort to make it seem as though Marjorie is still alive, continues to spend Nugent’s money.

McConaughey plays the suspicious district attorney Danny Buck Davidson, who, once Nugent’s body is found, stands in opposition to the townsfolk’s uncertainties about the exact details of the murder.

Nugent was incredibly unpopular, which leads people to think that Tiede did a good thing for the community, especially since he continues to improve it through generous donations.

“Bernie” is a Texan’s movie, being more easily comedic to people from the Lone Star State. Linklater, a native Houstonian, made the film at a modest estimate of $6 million. How that will translate in terms of box office and critical success may not be stellar over all, but Texans will enjoy it thoroughly – especially with the fantastic screenplay, interesting characters, and hilarious performances.

“Only Jack Black could spin this somewhat dark story into a quirky, small town comedy,” Amanda Hughes, a UH painting junior, said. “It’s a great flick for fans of Black’s humor.”

This small independent film from veterans of the craft of filmmaking is a gem. It is also one of the seemingly few films that remain loyal to the “based on a true story” line.

Having actual footage of the people who knew the story first hand talk about it adds a special aspect of truth and comedy. Linklater shows life in small town Texas in the best way possible with an accurate dramatization that turns the tragic into comedy. The cast also includes Richard Robichaux and Larry Jack Dotson, also from Texas.

Also, for the hardcore Richard Linklater fans – be sure to keep an eye out for an uncredited cameo appearance.

“Bernie” is now playing in Houston at Landmark River Oaks Theatre, 2009 W. Gray St., and AMC Studio 30, 2949 Dunvale.

arts@thedailycougar.com

“Kinesthetic Symphony: Ensemble Annual Dance Concert” opened to a large audience on Friday inside the Lyndall Finley Wortham Theatre with works choreographed by faculty members of the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance and performed by members of the UH Dance Ensemble.

The first piece, “On a Circus Theme”, choreographed by Jennifer Sommers, was a quirky and somewhat haunting routine with a circus clown personality.

The second movement, however, was rather poignant—a single dancer was encouraged, forced, and assisted in dancing by a group and individuals from this group. She teetered around initially, unsure on her feet, but with every guiding gesture from the group, she became steadier and more graceful.

This movement appeared to be a commentary on the effects that an individual can have in someone’s development as well as recognition of all the behind-the-scenes people who push and teach an individual, dancer or otherwise.

Several pieces stood out for their use of costumes, including “Tiny Bones in my Hand” by Catalina Molnari, which featured flowing and seemingly hand-dyed clothing in shades of blue on each dancer. This piece also utilized a series of fugues in movement across both the space of the stage and time.

Another work that used vivid costuming was “Dangle”, choreographed by Becky Valls, which used traditional Klezmar music and bright orange-red costumes with chiffon scarves pinned in different places on each dancer’s clothing.

This dance was flirtatious and playfully chaotic, with the dancers exhibiting frivolous mechanical and doll-like qualities. The audience burst into tickled laughter at a few points during the performance because of the lightheartedness and quirkiness of the piece.

“Cancao do Mar” stood out for its music sung in foreign tongues and use of projections behind the dancers; scenes of ships at sea, waves, and dancers on a beach accompanied the movements on stage.

The choreography itself, by Jacqueline Nalett, was a more classical ballet style of modern, and even included a brief pas-de-deux in this traditional style. It was very well danced, and the motions were well suited to the theme and presented a cohesive idea throughout the piece.

Another work that exhibited a true masterpiece of choreography was Karen Stokes’ “Midnight,” a contemporary routine that called to mind some of the dilemma of the fantastical Cinderella, although this was probably accidental.

The dancers were continually checking their imaginary watches and the final movement was rather fittingly a waltz, which seemed to emulate Cinderella’s dance at the ball with her Prince Charming. It was a beautiful medley of blue costumes and unobtrusive sound that captured the imagination and allowed the viewer to create his or her own story while still showing a complete narrative that flowed from scene to scene smoothly.

arts@thedailycougar.com

The Black Keys and Arctic Monkeys performed in Houston on Tuesday at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

As the sun was still out, the Arctic Monkeys opened the concert by playing “Brainstorm” — the track that put them on the charts and defined them as a band.

The song was riveting and so was the adrenaline and rock sound that a band of this caliber is known to deliver to its audience.

Fans of the band were touched by the intensity and power that the Arctic Monkeys delivered with the tracks “Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair” and “If You Were There Beware.”

There were many parts of their performance that were similar to their set seen at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this year.

As their one-hour set came to a close, they played their newly released single “R U Mine?” — which was promoted on this year’s Record Store Day.

The lights dimmed in preparation for the main event of the night — The Black Keys — and the audience snapped into attention as soon as they heard the guitar riff and keyboards introduce the song “Howlin’ for You.”

The set predominately consisted of music from the band’s mainstream career.

The Black Keys performed songs from their Grammy award-winning album “Brothers” as well as tracks from their new album, “El Camino,” which was not a surprise since this is the duos first stadium sized tour.

Though they had to appease their new fans, there were also tracks that only longtime listeners of the band knew such as “I’ll Be Your Man,” which was on the band’s first full-length album.

They also played the singles that made them popular among the blues and rock crowds during the growth of the band.

“Thickfreakness” and “Your Touch” lacked nothing and sounded rugged and formidable in comparison to their album counterparts.

Guitarist and vocalist Dan Auerbach of the duo started singing “Everlasting Light” — a fan favorite from “Brothers”— as a giant disco ball propelled down from the rafters.

Finally, the track from their 2008 album “Attack and Release” that propelled The Black Keys to become more of a household name — “I Got Mine” — was performed.

There was a mellow rhythm after the second verse that was dismissed during this live jam session that was a masterfully crafted build.

As Auerbach strung his guitar, the drums kicked in exploding the sounds through the mounted speakers and onto the audience.

The wailing guitars ended the night perfectly.

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The audience was primarily composed of enthusiastic graduate and undergraduate creative writing students and faculty members.

Wary of the incessant marketing and limitations of publishing through a large press, Almond explained how he chose to start self-publishing his work beginning with “This Won’t Take but a Minute, Honey,” a collection of short stories and mini essays on the nature of writing.

“I was tired of having to deal with the corporate parenting of my publisher and with the availability of technology that’s made the means of book production easier than ever before, it felt like the right decision to do it on my own,” Almond said.

He described the amazement he felt as he watched his first self-published book pop out of the Harvard Book Store’s Espresso Book Machine.

“I was used to the whole 18 month process of putting a book out, with this machine it took 5 minutes. The ink on the book was still wet; it was amazing.”

Since that day, Almond has self-published two other books, “Bad Poetry” and “Letters from People Who Hate Me.”

His distribution model with his self-published books, he said, “is pretty much the same as a drug dealer’s.”

Rather than sell his books through various outlets like Amazon or Barnes and Noble, he prefers to directly distribute his self-published work at readings and at a price even financially struggling college students can afford.

He encouraged listeners to view self-published books as ever-evolving “artifacts” of creativity that can be altered over time rather than as static objects.

After his talk he fielded questions and read a few entertaining pieces from Bad Poetry” and “Letters from People Who Hate Me.”

Though it only lasted an hour, the event was a convincing argument for all artists and writers to focus on creating and sharing their work, and to not worry so much about securing whatever “legitimacy” a large publishing house may offer.

arts@thedailycougar.com

Perched high in the top of the Fine Arts building, the UH Painting Department’s Open Studios and Graduation Party on Friday was a sight to behold.

Nearly 40 artists displayed a semester’s worth of hard work in the show.

Recent graduate and musical guest Jamie Woody’s soulful melodies set a perfect mood for the evening

All ages and backgrounds were represented, as friends and families came out to support their favorite artists.

It was interesting to see such a wide variety of styles and techniques expressed in the paintings.

Andria Nguyen’s incredibly smooth, religious and Gothic-inspired grotesques incorporated beads, crosses and other sculptural elements.

Stacy Smith’s bright, colorful figures and scenes resembled high-definition photographs, while Hillaree Hamblin made novel use of dyed cloth, sequins and twigs.

Artists Voltaire Paredes and David Anderson continued to cover their large canvases in paint throughout the show, much to the delight of passers-by.

Paredes even welcomed those who were interested to pick up a brush and join in.

“If there’s anything to save of the art world, we’ll save it,” he said.

Each studio space offered a completely different environment and provided insight into each artist’s vision.

Bec Cook’s impeccably clean forest creatures and tasty-looking desserts hung not 10 feet away from abstract and process-oriented artists who mixed, poured and smeared other materials with their paint, which resulted in very delicately layered organic shapes.

While some artists listed the titles and sale prices for each piece, others chose to let their work speak for itself.

Stacy Smith’s studio advertised a free charcoal drawing for the winner of a raffle.

Junior Maryam Sohail described her use of dark, sprawling environments interspersed with “Alice in Wonderland” characters as being inspired by surrealism and graphic art, but admitted she had not yet decided on a niche.

“I’d like to continue doing this,” Smith said.

“It was a great night for the arts, patrons, and university students alike; such a talented group of artists is hard to come by. We can expect big things from the 2012 graduating class in the months and years to come.”

arts@thedailycougar.com

The event displayed the works of eleven graduating Master’s of Fine Arts students, spanning all five departments of the program.

Chuck Ivy, the first graduate of the Interdisciplinary Practice and Emerging Forms program, utilized reactive installation and code to create an audio and visual projection.

Ivy’s technological display, “Identified, Detained & Inspected,” included a cartoon of Inspector Clouseau graphically affected by live Houston Police dispatch radios.

Graphic communications student Danilo Bojic’s “Passage,” made of birch plywood, digital print and vinyl, led the viewer through a curling passageway of panels featuring words like “compassion,” “joy” and, going deeper, “challenge” and “independence.”

His work also consisted of jutting color-treated images of well-known local buildings as well along the wall.

Sculptor Natali Leduc’s created a large wooden structure accompanied by other components such as a bike and caution tape titled “Giant Multitron,” made of “wood, more wood, metal, mistakes and time.”

Dressed in a lab coat, Leduc presented her contraption by explaining that the structure was indeed a mechanism intended to launch termites into outer space.

Abi Semter’s work included usage of materials such as a book page, cardboard, cotton thread and a paper bag.

Semter’s work tapped into the elegance and simplicity of raw material, with small punctures and twining.

Sculptor M’kina Tapscott’s displays involved a more colorful presentation that featured draping adoring ornaments and gold chains.

Tapscott’s work with mixed media in “M Theory” was composed of a mysterious mixture of hair and colorful jelly-like substances in a container with a gold top.

Graphic artist Ted Closson put together a miniature comic book convention featuring twelve Texas artists.

“The key of it is to think of comics as cultural objects,” said Closson on the convention he organized for the art space.

Photographer Rosine Kouamen featured pictures of first generation immigrants from Africa in their American living spaces.

Photographs of family memorabilia and personal objects — connecting Kouamen to her birthplace of Cameroon — such as necklaces, sandals and food hung grid-like on the wall.

Sebastian Forray took an unorthodox approach by commissioning five different artists to create works for him.

Each artist’s contribution was titled “Seven Years Luck” with five respective parts.

Along with these works, Forray had a display case of his own called “The Vitrine of Ancillary Failures,” filled with books, buttons, a brochure, a television monitor and vinyl records

The Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition will be on display through May 12 at the DiverseWorks Art Space.

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Held by UH’s Honor’s College Center for Creative Work, the Ekphrastic Art Competition and Agora Festival showcased artwork, dance, music and poetry.

The lounge-like venue started in 2010 and has garnered more competing students each year.

However, these students were not just performing and showcasing their talents for the spirit of competition. They were asked to compose works that coincide with great pieces of literature.

“Ekphrastic means art that responds to art and, in this case, we wanted to honor the Human Situation Great Books course that we teach here at UH,” human situation professor and co-host Gabriella Maya said.

“We’ve asked students to interpret, respond to or against certain pieces of literature or an aspect of that literature.”

The competition was divided into three different categories based on what students brought to the table: dance performances, poetry readings and musical performances.

Each competitor also had to keep in mind the “Travels to the Underworld” theme that tied into the festival.

This theme consisted of images taken from epics such as “The Odyssey” and Dante’s “Inferno” and compounded with deep, vividly gothic scenery that creates successfully executed pieces of ekphrastic work.

Each competitor kept true to the theme.

Senior Tijana Zdravic whose poem, “Hades Visit,” told a story of how her encounter with Hades from the underworld would be like the dance and violin number from freshmen  Thu-Mai Nguyen and Lydia Velasquez portrayed the character of Odysseus’ wife Penelope.

The venue itself, while small in attendance and somewhat limited in space, plays well to the laid back at-home vibe.

Spectators at the event had the choice to sit on the floor, chairs or even on comfortable couches that conveniently had art placed around them.

However, the ambient and tranquil feel that kept for a good hour seemed to turn into a room that is used for meetings and the feeling was lost in the midst of this.

Despite that, the audience was well receptive to what was displayed.

In the end, junior Chad Maydwell took first place for his artwork, “Sirens”.

Seniors Archie Parks and Emilie Catlett took first place for the musical number “Love Knell” and finally Nguyen and Velasquez took home first place for “Penelope’s Lament”.

While each winner may have walked away with $50, co-host Kimberly Meyer noted that the real winners were the old Great Books that were brought back to life to connect with today’s generation.

arts@thedailycougar.com

The festival opens at 2 p.m. May 19 at the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park, near the Galleria.

International award winning artist Stephan Koplowitz presents “TaskForce – Natural Acts in Artificial Water,” a water-themed, site-specific performance that features professional dancers, including some UH students, composer Aaron Hermes and the music of Space City Gamelan. A second performance will take place at 4 p.m. on May 20.

The “Scoot-In,” a greener take on the old school drive-in theaters, takes over downtown’s Sesquicentennial Park, at 8 p.m. May 19.

The festival closes at Project Row Houses, 2505 – 2521 Holman St., with two performances of “Seven in the Third.” Composer Travis Weller created this site-specific chamber music performance to spread across the seven historic row houses.

Performances are at noon and 3 p.m.

All events are free and open to the public.

For more information, visit www.mitchellcenterforarts.org/insightout/.

arts@thedailycougar.com

As far as students here at UH are concerned, finals are the mind killer. But, not to worry: all are invited to start out the weekend on a high note or to just give studying and your left brain an evening’s rest.

The UH Painting Department’s Open Studios and Graduation Party takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. today on the fourth floor of the Fine Arts building.

Visitors are encouraged to come out and celebrate the end of this semester while enjoying the work of and schmoozing with some of the city’s up-and-coming artists.

Graduating seniors include David Anderson, Bec Cook, Isabell Cuenca, Kim Miranda, Nikki Sanders, Stacy Smith, Jenna Trust, Tanja Vaughn and many others.

Guests will also be treated to the musical stylings of recent UH graduate Jamie Woody.

The Fine Arts building is the second building on the right from UH Entrance 16, which is off of Cullen Boulevard.

For more information, call 713-743-3997.

arts@thedailycougar.com

I don’t know about most people, but I enjoy my plays to be less all-over-the-place and with better pacing. Fortunately, I also like my plays funny and well acted.

Over the past couple of days, UH’s School of Theatre and Dance has put on “The Cripple of Inishmaan,” a scattered-brained, 1930’s Irish play by playwright Martin McDonagh. Productions will continue this weekend.

I have some issues with the show, but luckily for the cast and crew, my criticism have nothing to do with their contribution to the performance.

The story begins in early 20th-century Ireland with characters Kate (Kayla Brown) and Eileen (Laurel Schroeder), the overbearing aunts of Cripple Billy (Joshua Kyle Hoppe) who is a persecuted young, Irish lad with a bum arm and leg.

As the story goes on, we find out about the tragedy surrounding Billy’s life and the cruelty dolled out to him by his neighbors.

A film crew comes to cast people away from not-such-a-bad-place Ireland and despite the doubt placed in him by these sneering busybodies, Billy hitches a ride with Babbybobby (Colin David) in his boat for a spot in this movie.

You will need to see the play to find out what happens next. Despite all its issues, it is definitely a show worth seeing.

For students, the acting was phenomenal.

Notables were actress Christine Arnold (Helen) playing the spicy, egg-obsessed girl with a horribly dirty mouth, while seasoned actor Philip Orazio (Johnypateenmike) delighted the audience with his rendition of a male yenta.

Hoppe performed the oppressed, young cripple and beautifully evoked feelings of extreme shock over his treatment.

The Irish accents each character put on were also good.

Director Steve Wallace did a fantastic job at making this a delightful and funny show.

The set design was beautiful, convincing and cozy.

The production staff was even so kind as to supply the audience with your-everyday-guide to Irish slang in addition to the beautiful before-show reception and Irish-folk fiddler.

However, the pacing in the second act was awkward and confusing. It was as if McDonagh decided to make faux-endings to mock stereotypical tragic or romantic endings. If you enjoy roller coasters with so many twists, this is the play for you.

After the second half of the performance, the stage went frequently to black. Then, the lights would come on again as if to say, “Just kidding! The show isn’t over yet.”

Overall, the execution was fantastic and it definitely lives up to the spectacular and high standard that I discovered in the theatre earlier this semester when I attended the showing of “The Crucible.”

But, frankly, I just didn’t “get” or enjoy what McDonagh was doing while crafting this dark, Irish comedy.

For more information on the play, visit www.uh.edu/class/theatre-and-dance/.

Editor’s note: An earlier edit of this article misconstrued the writer’s review of the play, which, overall, was favorable towards the work of the UH cast and crew. The author originally only took issue with the playwright’s work.

Those driving on Calhoun Rd. unexpectedly slowed down during the evening as they passed the Sigma Chi Fraternity house on Friday.

Everything from fire trucks, horse carriages, Indian teepees, and H-1 military Humvees were parked on the driveway of the fraternity house.

“Getting the (fire) truck was a bit of a hassle, but luckily we met some very nice firefighters who came through for us,” Zeta Tau Alpha sorority member Isabella Arnao said. “No other fraternity includes such an entertaining aspect to their philanthropy events.”

The extravagant entrance was just one event in Sigma Chi’s “Derby Days” which pits UH’s six panhellenic sororities against one another in a variety of competitions all-the-while benefitting Children’s Miracle Network.

This year, the brothers of Sigma Chi raised more than $4,000 — more than doubling their proceeds from the previous year. All of the profits raised went directly to Texas Children’s Hospital, located in Houston’s Medical Center.

“To be able to make a difference in a child’s life is an awesome feeling,” Derby Daddy Gabe Salazar said. “Every year, we’re able to go drop off a check, tour the hospital and truly see how we’re making an impact.”

While raising money is the primary purpose of Derby Days, the four-day long event also provides its fair share of competitive nature with the winning sorority receiving the Derby trophy and more importantly, bragging rights.

This year, the ladies of Alpha Chi Omega claimed victory and the previous champion Zeta Tau Alpha took second.

“The competition is so intense,” Alpha Chi Omega president Lorin Foteh said. “There’s so much room for creativity and so many days of activities that girls can prepare for so we get hyped up.”

Derby Days, originally known as “Channingway Derby,” started in spring 1933 at the University of California-Berkley and has since grown into the largest Greek philanthropic event in the country.

“To combine fun events like Queens Entrance, tug-o-war and dodge ball with a worthy cause is a perfect match,” Salazar said. “Every year, we’re out to top the last Derby Days and with the help of all six sororities, we certainly did that.”

“I came up the name ‘Nova’ from Houston’s connections to NASA, I just added a spin and added ‘Pop,’” Guillen said.

Guillen has a strong interest in foreign languages and has declared French as his minor.

“I like reading philosophical text,” Guillen said. “With French I am able to study the art of how people express themselves, it interests me to see how people think and what they believe.”

Guillen is not only a disc jockey who enjoys sharing new music with listeners, but he also has an appreciation for cinematography.

“Foreign films are deeper than typical Hollywood movies,” Guillen said. “I try to explore the understanding of the language.”

The DJ also likes to attend live concerts and music festivals when he is not busy transmitting his favorite audio tunes through Coog Radio.

“I was able to see one of my favorite bands, Astro, at the South by Southwest concert,” Guillen said.

“Pop Nova” features artists and music from the Ibero-American and indie-alternative genres.

Some of Guillen’s favorite artists to stream include the aforementioned Astro, Javiera and Los Rakas.

Guillen’s radio show is not only a chance for him to talk about different styles of music with his audience, but it also gives him the opportunity to offer listeners something new and refreshing to hear.

“When people listen to music, I want them to hear something that hasn’t been played before,” Guillen said.

The show also gives Guillen a chance to promote the do-it-yourself artist and provide them more exposure.

He plays songs from artists who create music from the comfort of their own homes and are underground.

“I put so much enthusiasm in my show, I am very sincere and I honestly hope to spread my ideas,” Guillen said.

The event attracted of crowd of business suits as well as other professional poets.

Merwin began his guest lecture by speaking about Louis Macneice, a fellow poet who has inspired him. He recited Macneice’s poem “Sunlight of the Garden” and described how Macneice’s writings have impacted his work.

“His rhythmic rhymes he has is understood, he rhymes the first syllable with the last syllable,” Merwin said.

The crowd was in awe after Merwin carefully pointed out the basis of how poets go about their work.

As Merwin got more into his lecture, he incited the audience by sharing his personal taste on writing poetry.

He mentioned how poetry is a way of hearing the language instead of actually reading it. Merwin then uses the example of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” as an example.

He explained that Shakespeare grabs his readers’ attention in “Hamlet” within the first four lines of the tragedy. Merwin then emphasized how important it is in poetry to have a subject line.

“If there is no subject, there is no poem,” Merwin said.

The discussion led to Merwin to explaining the difference between poetry and prose. Poetry is much older than prose, Merwin said

Merwin shared one of his life experiences through a painting that depicted a girl pouring milk. He described how there was passion in the women to the audience and how that same passion is also present in poetry.

“Arts are not unique to the human species,” Merwin said.

Towards the end of the lecture, Merwin informed his audience about how language and poetry worked together to established the present formation and rules of English today.

In his philosophy, Merwin feels writing poetry is the best way to express the passion. He said having reassurance and recognition is significant in writing poetry.

Prepare to watch the Honors College commons transform into an ancient Greek agora — or marketplace — from 6 to 9 p.m.

In hopes of extending the beauty that students have created for their fellow classmates, these two professors have joined with Director for the Center of Creative Work John Harvey to create a springtime festival — a Dionysia — for the University.

“The Dionysia is the spring celebration of the ancient-city Dionysia that was held in Athens,” Harvey said. “(It is) a celebration of plays, a celebration of the god Dionysis and a celebration of the city.”

In accordance with this celebration and the play — Aristophanes’ “Frogs” — there will also be an all-encompassing art show held.

“(The ancient Greek agora) is where people met not to just trade and do marketplace sort of deals, but also to talk and philosophize what it means to be a citizen,” Maya said. “We are trying to work with that idea but we are also trying to bring in art. We want to honor the talent of the students here at the Honors College — the artistic talents.”

One of the main ideas of this exhibition is a focus on Ekphrastic art — art responding to art — in addition to a theme of Hades.

“(The art) could be a painting or a book or a dance piece — really anything at all,” Maya said.

“In our case, we have chosen to use the ‘great books’ as those pieces that we want our students to respond to so that they have the chance to think about those books not only academically or philosophically as they might in class, but in a ‘new mode.’ We hope that that helps them see them in a different perspective or to understand them in a different way.”

This year a new twist has been put into the show.

Beginning the Agora is a compilation of scores assembled by Honors College and music student Alex Winkler.

The musical pieces scheduled are not only all creations by music students at UH, but also winners of a competition that Winkler held, said Harvey.

“There is always talent here. We don’t always know from what genre it is going to come,” Maya said. “(People) need to see how talented their fellow students are and because art is good for the soul.”

“The Dionysia 2012: The Agora & Ekphrastic Art Exhibit” is held in conjunction with Harvey’s adaptation of “The Frogs” which will be held April 26, 28 and 29 at the Rockwell Pavilion, April 30 at Fitzgerald’s and May 1 at Khon’s Bar.

arts@thedailycougar.com

Counseling and Psychological Services presented its annual Diversity Institute on Friday at the Rockwell Pavilion inside the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library. The free event, with its theme of “Acknowledging our Similarities, Celebrating our Differences,” focused on promoting and raising awareness of diversity on campus.

The daylong event began with breakfast after which Tamalia Hanchell, Psy.D., a multicultural postdoctoral fellow with CAPS, welcomed everyone and gave an overview of what would happen throughout the day.

Events included a multicultural lunch with foods from countries that included the US, Jamaica and Mexico, a fashion show that showcased fashions from Vietnam, Senegal, Mexico, China, the Bahamas, India and Liberia, and chances for students to win prizes.

Richard Walker, vice president of Student Affairs, opened by acknowledging the progress that the University has made in order for it to become the second most diverse university in the country. He also remarked on the work that is still needed like adding gender identity and expression in the anti-discrimination policy.

An icebreaker aimed at giving the audience a chance to interact with one another and to learn about someone that had a cultural background that is different than their own followed Walker’s remarks.

After the icebreaker, the first panel of the day began.

Entitled “Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say”, based on Dr. Maura Cullen’s book, “35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say,” the panel was moderated by Beverly McPhail, director of the Women’s Resource Center. The panel discussed how saying something that may seem innocent to one person might in fact be very hurtful to another.

Statements such as “I don’t see color,” “That’s retarded,” or “Man up” and how those statements may be hurtful were discussed. Some in attendance stood up and were able to address topics that they felt needed to be discussed like how to be properly addressed, the concept of race, and gender assumptions.

The one thing McPhail stressed was her belief that self-censorship is not the answer—rather, we should ask questions of others in order to learn and educate ourselves.

Keynote speaker of the day was John Roberts, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, who spoke about the historical aspects of diversity and multiculturalism of the country, and how assimilation has now become less the model of American identity.

Roberts also spoke on the need to “break the silence on differences” and that people need to be willing to speak up about them.

The final panel of the day on diversity on campus and ways that the University could further awareness and promotion was moderated by Cecilia Sun, Ph.D., assistant director of training at CAPS.

The panel was made up of representatives of several student organizations as well as UH faculty members. Included in the panel was a discussion on stereotypes, questions from the audience, and ways that student organizations and the faulty could help the University in promoting diversity with the student body.

Though the theme was about acknowledging similarities and celebrating the differences, education was heavily stressed throughout the event since, as many panelists stated, it’s education that really promotes diversity.

The 2012 Diversity Institute was co-sponsored by The Center For Leadership and Fraternity and Sorority Life, The Women’s Resource Center and The Center For Student Involvement.

arts@thedailycougar.com

The FC2 Female Condom is an elusive, semi-complicated device, that when used properly, has only a five percent failure rate.

The condom looks a little freaky at first — it’s bigger than the male condom — and has to be inserted into the vagina with precise calculation. But once in, women are in control — something the male condom greatly lacks.

Beverly McPhail, the director of the Women’s Resource Center at UH says that the condom is important because it provides women with more options.

“If their partner refused to wear a male condom, women have the option of wearing the female condom,” says McPhail. “It provides more choices for women and a sense of empowerment that they can be in charge of their reproductive choices while safeguarding their health.”

An added contraception option

Most traditional methods of birth control fail because they’re typically used incorrectly or inconsistently.

According to the World Health Organization, “withdrawal” typically has a 22 percent failure rate, the male condom has an 18 percent failure rate and birth control has a nine percent failure rate.

McPhail says that women aren’t often aware that skipping pills or taking them at varying times greatly increases their chances of becoming pregnant.

A combination method, for example, using a condom and birth control, is one of the safest ways to be sexually active, McPhail says. And, thus, the female condom open more doors for women.

“Knowing about the female condom provides them with one more option. There is no perfect birth control method — each one has its plusses and minuses, and different failure rates,” McPhail says. “Women need to protect themselves from (sexually transmitted diseases and infections) and pregnancy, so they need to become knowledgeable about the range of options available to them.”

Advantages and disadvantages

The Female Health Company manufactures, markets and sells the FC2 Female Condom, which, according to its website, is the only currently available product under a woman’s control that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The condom was approved by the FDA in 2009. And in 2006, according to the website, the WHO deemed that the FC2 was “acceptable for procurement by United Nations agencies.”

According to literature available inside of the female condom packaging, the condom is not manufactured from natural rubber latex, so the condom is not actually a “rubber.” Admittedly though, some female condoms currently in development are made of latex.

Information found on the Planned Parenthood website states that this is actually a benefit for those who are allergic to latex.

The female condom is wider than condoms for men, but still around the same length — 6.5 inches. It has flexible rings at each end — one to hold the pouch in and the other to keep about an inch of the condom out of the vagina.

Lena H. Sun writes in an article for The Washington Post that the female condom is becoming more popular because of its increase in availability, low cost and pleasure factor.

“The new version is made of a synthetic rubber polymer called nitrile that is a softer material that conducts heat and enhances sensation. Women — and men — have found it more satisfactory,” writes Sun.

The Planned Parenthood site includes other benefits such as that it can be used with both oil-based and water-based lubricants; there is no effect on a woman’s hormones; that it allows women to “share responsibility for preventing infection;” and no prescription is required.

Regarding safety concerns, almost everyone can use the female condom, the Planned Parenthood website states. “In fact, female condoms can be used by just about any woman who can use a tampon.”

As McPhail stated there are no full-proof, problem-free contraception methods. The product literature states that problems that have been reported when using the condom during sex include the complete insertion of the condom into the vagina or the condom slipping completely out; the slipping of the penis to the side of the condom; and condom breaks.

An education

McPhail also stresses that it is important for parents to be open with their children about being sexually active so that their kids know the reality of consequences before it’s too late.

“When we know young people are old enough to drive, parents let them take driver’s education courses or teach them themselves while discussing the risks and responsibilities openly. I wish the same were true for sexual education,” says McPhail.

A pamphlet about the effectiveness of birth control methods from the Women’s Resource Center shows how the most effective methods of birth control are ones that college students are least likely to use, including female and male sterilization, contraceptive implant and intrauterine implant.

Safe, not sorry

People who are sexually active need to have a plan in order to be safe, McPhail says.

“Most college-educated women are delaying marriage until their late twenties, so many women have a whole decade of sexual activity before marriage and they need to be knowledgeable and comfortable taking charge of their sexuality, which includes protecting themselves from STIs and unplanned pregnancies,” says McPhail.

The female condom typically costs around $6.95 for a box of three and is available in many different locations, including CVS and Walgreens.

For more information on the female condoms, visit the Female Health Company’s website at www.fc2femalecondom.com/.

The company also maintains an official Facebook page, which can be “liked” at www.facebook.com/fc2femalecondom.

For more information on the Women’s Resource Center, visit www.uh.edu/wrc.

arts@thedailycougar.com

Her biography of the Riot Grrrl movement, Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution, was the focus of her lecture on April 17, and she did feminism’s third wave awesome justice.

The Riot Grrrl revolution, while 20 years in the making, is rarely a topic in the common conversation on feminism.

The anti-corporation and capitalism movement by girls, for girls, and about girls, which continues to influence music, art, publishing, and fashion, to name only a few aspects of 20- and 30-something urban culture, is regularly misrepresented and misunderstood by corporate media and has been since its organic inception in Washington D.C. in the early 1990s.

This issue of misrepresentation was a central focus of Marcus’ lecture, which also depicted some of the core principles of third wave feminist ideology: anti-sexism, anti-corporatism, anti-violence against women, and anti-media manipulations and false representations of the feminine.

These aspects of a movement encompassing so many ideas, concepts, rebellions, and rights were frequently misconstrued during the first Bush administration into a man-hating, lesbian culture based solely on inherently anti-American values, much as the fight for women’s rights and equality is today.

These girls used their right to fight with and against words like slut, ugly and worse — the same words used to degrade women who stand outside the ever-narrowing social norm today.

Marcus succinctly reinforced this idea by encouraging women in the audience and everywhere to “stick to (their) own guns,” while warning us in our time that “if (a movement) turns into nothing but a meme,” then “it can’t affect change.”

Doing it for themselves

The original Riot Grrrls fought over-simplification and corporatization of their purpose and ideas by calling for widespread media blackouts on their goings-on, from coverage of musical performances to grrrl interviews with journalists.

Instead, the Riot Grrrls became their own media, publishing short magazines known as zines and openly mocking the mainstream-proposed and regularly accepted concepts of girlhood.

A grrrl nation: then and now

The original Riot Grrrls gathered en masse, hosting a nationwide conference in August of ’92, just one year after the idea came into existence, in order to create a nationwide space where an all-grrrl community could teach one another skills and endeavor to create their own personality, body politic, and engage in a loud response to what they saw as a perversion of grrrlhood by the American mainstream.

Marcus further tied the oft-misrepresented movement into contemporary events in the Houston music and culture scenes, particularly the development of Girls Rock Camp and its Houston branch, whose executive director is UH’s own Anna Garza.

The Riot Grrrl movement, while having so much to do with a DIY ethos, political stances, and different bands and musicians, also advanced and relied heavily upon their own faculties as a grass-roots movement created to promote and support women everywhere.

Similarly, while GRC was founded in Portland, Ore. by some original Riot Grrrls there, the movement has spread across the country in order to reach into new generations and bring girls up with a sense of pride and accomplishment in their own work.

The camp allows pre-teen and teenaged girls to come together in the creative and empowering process of making music, much as the original Riot Grrrls did in their own gatherings.

One of the key components of the Austin Girls Rock Camp was a young woman named Esme Barrera, who was brutally murdered on New Year’s day of this year. She was close companions with Garza.

I was introduced to Girls Rock Camp in the summer of 2007 by Esme when I lived in Austin. The positive empowerment of young women that she helped make possible through her time with GRC made her senseless death all the more applicable today.

Keeping the riot going

It is clear that Marcus and Garza continue to promote the necessary ideals of the Riot Grrrl movement in a time when women’s rights and dignity continue to be threatened in the American body politic and public.

This is especially true considering the lack of Republican reaffirmation of the International Violence Against Women Act — created smack in the center of the third wave and Riot Grrrl revolution —  and the recall of aspects of Roe v. Wade. The third wave of feminism stands in ever-greater relief as a necessary component in the conversation about women’s rights today.

Our continuance of what the Riot Grrrl revolution stands for is critical, so that sexual and physical endangerment of women will come to an end, in our world, our country, in Texas and on our campus.

If you aren’t convinced, consider the female UH student who was bodily assaulted off-campus by three masked men just hours after Marcus ended her lecture. That student deserves to walk without fear in our world, and without traumatic memories of the assault that she may bear forever. She especially deserves to walk with high dignity because she successfully fought off three men and escaped.

The Riot Grrrl movement exists to promote the end to such violence, and to support women in overcoming the gender bias that still prevails today.

arts@thedailycougar.com

American sculptor Forakis first finished “Tower of Cheyenne” in the early ’70s; he also played a role in its re-fabrication more than 30 years later in 2004.

“When it was first commissioned, it was intended to be a water feature,” UH Curator of Public Art Michael Guidry said. “Water was going to pour out the ends of the piece, so there was plumbing installed and the ends of all the triangular forms were open.”
When the plumbing did not function properly, the open structure was overtaken.

“Over time, the community of pigeons inhabited it into a high-rise pigeon hotel,” Guidry said. “From living in there, the COR-TEN steel started to deteriorate.”

The COR-TEN steel of which “Tower of Cheyenne” is constructed can be recognized in several works of art around campus.

“It’s an amazing material,” Guidry said. “The first eighth of an inch of the surface is intended to rust andoxidize. So when you see a rusty sculpture, it’s actually intended to be like that.

“COR-TEN was really popular in that era of time.”

arts@thedailycougar.com