CCMAGAZINE

INTERNET CENSORSHIPWHY SOPA amp PROTECT IP

ARENrsquoT ABOUT PIRACY

CROSS THE BORDERMR SMARTY PANTS GOES TO PROGRESSO

GHETTO KLOWNJOHN LEGUIZAMO BRINGS HIS HIT BROADWAY SHOW TO CC FREE

Available

on megaupload

FEBRUARY 2012

Clean BurningEnvironmentally Friendly

Natural Gas is

Clean BurningEnvironmentally Friendly

Natural Gas is

How BIG is your carbon footprintDecrease it by converting your home to

Natural Gas

Clean BurningEnvironmentally Friendly

DomesticAbundant

Natural Gas is

Contact the Corpus Christi Gas Department today and find out how easy it is for you to convert your existing electrical appliances to Natural Gas You may qualify for up to $750 in rebateshellip and you will be doing YOUR part to conserve our planet

4225 S Port Ave CC Tx 78415 (361)885-6910 wwwcctexascomgas

copy Copyright 2011 all rights reserved CC Publishing LLC reserves the right to edit rewrite amp refuse editorial materials and assumes no responsibility for accuracy errors omissions or consequence arising from it CC magazine shall be held harmless indemnified against any third party claims CC Publishing LLC accepts no claims made by agents contributors or photographers Opinions expressed by contributing writers or columnists are not necessarily those of CC Publishing LLC or its affiliates Advertisers appearing in CC magazine present only the viewpoint of the advertisers CC magazine is printed in the USA We assume no responsibility for advertising claims made in this publication All correspondence to this publication becomes the property of CC magazine Publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without express permission of the publisher and author(s)

Samantha Koepp Dale Rankin Georgia Griffin Ronnie Narmour Aletha Eyerman

Lenz Photos Courtesy of Tony Martinez amp thecrushgirlscom Miles Merwin Jan Rankin Dale Rankin Ronnie Narmour

Georgia Griffin Fiddler on the roof photos copy 2010 Carol Rosegg

JEFF CRAFTPublisher

JCRAFTCCMAGONLINECOM

PHOTOGRAPHY

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

I visited with some of the Occupy Corpus Christi protesters at the funeral for democracy protest I counted about 60 people while I was there and they got almost uniformly positive feedback from the people driving by What were they protesting The supreme court last year ruled that corporations are people people have the right to free speech therefore corporations can engage in political speech without limit What this translates to for us down on the ground is unlimited campaign money for the candidates who are willing to ldquodance with them what brung yardquo

I have yet to meet anybody in Corpus Christi who calls this a good idea if yoursquore out there my contact information is on the left side of this page Irsquod love to hear from you So the good people at Occupy Corpus Christi put democracy in a coffin and held a funeral Irsquom always somewhat cynical about these things and I donrsquot know what was accomplished at this event maybe a few people learned what corporate personhood means maybe other people saw the crowd and wonrsquot be so afraid to speak their minds in the future It is hard to be the only person who disagrees with everyone on TV Sometimes just knowing therersquos others out there who see things the way you do makes it easier to speak up I hope so

We welcome a new contributor to this issue Kyle Hoelscher is a local attorney who wanted to chime in on the latest round of anti-piracy legislation While he talks mostly about SOPA donrsquot be fooled into believing that fight is over If past behavior of congress is any guide an identical or even worse bill will pass in the dead of night when wersquore distracted by something else

Mr Smarty Pants takes us down to Progresso hersquos been organizing trips down there and has found the town of Progresso to be welcoming and no more dangerous than it was back in the old days when we all went to Mexico for fun and prescriptions

Oh and John Leguizamo wow He really opened up to Aletha Eyerman in this issue and gave us a lot of insight into how his creative process works a long talk about family and his own personal history and just a little bit of foreskin

Happy February donrsquot forget its a Leap Month and wersquoll see you on the other side

CCmagazine

Jeff Craft

From the Publisher

Occupy Corpus Christi held a funeral for democracy in protest of the Citizens United decision allowing unlimited corporate money in federal elections

12The CanvasldquoWow Teeny tiny pieceshelliprdquo those were

my first words upon looking at detailed photographs of Harvey Crouchrsquos singular woodworking creations Now some may be surprised to find a woodworker as the focus of a column that is about local artists but let there be no mistake about it ndash Harvey Crouch IS an artist and he makes wood sing

26Fiddler on the RoofThe first song ldquoTraditionrdquo welcomed the

entire cast to the stage and the power of those voices was unlike anything I have ever heard Then imagine my surprise to see the beautiful bearded Tevye belt out a version of Gwen Stefanirsquos ldquoRich Girlrdquo

Ok I know better But I had you for a minute right

08 SOPA is Censorship

10 Inside the Center

11 Art Scene

14 STARS Events Page

15 Live Music tonight

18 Dining Guide

21 Night Life amp Club guide

21 Personal Services guide

23 The Lenz

Ghetto KlownJohn Leguizamorsquos new one-man performance Ghetto Klown will be bringing him to American Bank Centerrsquos

Selena Auditorium on Valentinersquos Day John was the perfect gentleman who graciously answered all of my questions did not ridicule my long-handed writing style (he actually said my approach made me part of my writing ndash and he liked that) and he even parted with some great advice So it is only natural that I will now ask myself before I do anything What Would John Leguizamo Do

16

12 26

10

For points of distribution go to ccmagonlinecom

SUBSCRIPTIONSSubscriptions are now available for delivery

anywhere in continental United States

ONLY $2495 per yearPlace your order at 361-443-2137

CONTACT CC 3614432137

505 S Water St Suite 545 Corpus Christi Tx 78401

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Commercial

Ask Mr Smarty Pants

Dear Mr Smarty Pants

I am originally from Ohio but I have lived in Corpus Christi for almost thirty years When my family and friends come down to visit they all ask me if it is safe to go to the Mexican border to fun booze medicine and dental work I tell them I havenrsquot been in a while and I think the tourist industry there is down So is it safe and can my friends from the Great White North safely go there

Pat Lewis

The Island

Well Mr Lewis Mr Smarty Pants has been dropping down across the border for some cultural exchange since he was knee-high to a chimichanga

He is most dismayed at the current state of affairs which makes hitting some border towns and coming back with your cabeza attached a dicey proposi-tion In fact in Progresso the number of visitors from the US is down by about 400000 per year ndash from about 1 million to 600000- since the border trouble broke out in 2008

Election Day Blues

Over the years Mr Smarty Pants has had some harrowing experiences along the Mexican Border He once he had a gnat fly up his nose on live television and his attempt to remove it by instinctively jamming a roving digit in after it became the choice piece of tape at the News Directorrsquos Convention a few months later in San Antonio In the days before YouTube sticking your finger up your nose on a live satellite feed was hot stuff

But most disappointing was a trip to Progresso only a few years ago which as it turned out was on Election Day To his dismay he discovered that the Mexicans close all the bars on Election Day It is true what they say there is truly the Right way the Wrong way and the Mexican Way Why would you close the bars on Election Day when at the time there was only one party to vote for Itrsquos not like you could get drunk and elect the wrong guy Fortunately we found a liquor store owner of weak moral character and ended up sitting in the middle of the street at a metal folding table until sunup with a sober election behind us

In some ways life in a Border Town is what it always was

Belly to Belly

So to answer your question Mr Lewis we did a Gonzo Reconnaissance and headed for Progresso last weekend to see if indeed Ohioans are cleared to cross First of all the best bar there ndash the Belly to Belly with the mechanical bull is now closed Belly up due to fear running off all the nighttime tourists It was sort of like a Saturday night in Aransas Pass after the shrimp fleet has sailed and the cops have put out the word to cut the crap You could stay there and be perfectly safe but there be nothing to do From what we heard the little people are fine in Progresso If you own a business there yoursquore gonna need a bodyguard But if yoursquore just going to get your teeth fixed or your little blue pills yoursquoll be fine

They have good dentists down there and they donrsquot charge a lot If you are getting bridge work done or a new cap yoursquore going to have to make a second trip in a couple of weeks If you are looking to buy prescription drugs then take your prescription with you but shop around On some drugs we found the price to actually be higher than the US prices Yoursquoll find plenty of locals who speak

English ask them where to find the best deals

Park and walk across your car is safe but driving is not worth the trouble Arturorsquos the main restaurant for years in Progresso is open but closes early Just down the street the Red Snapper is a hot spot for Winter Texans where they have a band that plays all afternoon

As always the best advice when visiting is border town is to march to the sound of the accordions If you hear accordion music coming out of a place with a dog sleeping on the porch and no front door then thatrsquos where you want to go Thatrsquos the one thing that never changes about a border town

Weird place to be a dog

The things that make border towns Border Towns are still there Matamoros was always a stink hole (sorry Matamoros Chamber of Commerce but itrsquos true) Nuevo Laredo even in calm times was always one gunshot away from a border war The real loss is Acuna which was the gem of Border Towns and is now off limits

Mr Smarty Pants once saw a dog get hit by a car in Nuevo Laredo and that dog rolled all the way under the car and came out the back side on his feet and started walking away like nothing happened Just looking for his next meal Along came a man pushing a cart selling corn on the cob who ran out in the street and grabbed that dog up by the withers and carried him to the sidewalk where he tried to sell him to a passing lady tourist as ldquothe perro who defeated the angry carrdquo

Life is cheap in a Border Town Itrsquos a weird place to be a dog Or a Gringo

But Mr Smarty Pants must say he was greatly disappointed by the weak attempt at keeping Mexicans from crossing the border without papers The little old piss-ant wall they build is not but about twenty feet high We only want the cream of the crop coming up here looking for jobs and heck anybody can get over a little old fence like that How are we every going to improve the quality of our workforce if our barrier to entry is only twenty feet high Huh Heck American workers could get over that We can do better

It was Billy Joe Shaver who said

There ainrsquot no God in Mexico

Ainrsquot no way to understand

How that border crossing feeling

Makes a fool out of a man

Go the border Mr Lewis Buy the first chiminea you see and carry it around with you the rest of the day because you saved six bucks by buying it in Mexico instead of at HEB Buy a pocket full of chicle and get your boots shined Itrsquos part of the cultural exchange

So close to AmericaSo far from God

He Knows Everything There Is To Know About Corpus Christi

mrsmartypantsccmagonlinecom

Residential

Auto

Commercial

07

08

Before January 18th 2012 very few people were aware that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) or HR 3261 for those so inclined to look up the text had been quietly gaining approval by many Congressmen and Senators Even while both parties fought tooth and nail over mundane budget items they managed to set their partisan differences aside to vote this bill unanimously out of the House Judiciary Committee

Also before January 18th 2012 the bill was going to quietly move on for a vote by the House on January 24 2012 Luckily for free speech the online community including many big internet names such as Google Wikipedia Craigslist and Reddit banded together They held an online protest where all participating websites blacked out their pages and replaced it with information on SOPA and the danger this legislation poses to free speech on the internet

For those that donrsquot know anything about SOPA do not rely on this article for full informa-tion please check the Wikipedia article on the subject For those of you who will not be checking the Wikipedia page this bill was created by the movie and music industry to give them and the government more ways to shut down websites for being associated with content that infringes on their copyrights Now this goal in itself is not so bad of a thing copyrights are good things They reward artists with the exclusive right to market and sell the things they create

The problem is caused by the actual language and tools that will be handed over to private corporations and government agencies These tools will allow them to shut down a website with no judicial oversight and no warning The danger that this bill poses to free speech in this country cannot be under-stated The internet has become a massive engine of free speech activity It has allowed any person no matter who they are to broadcast their opinions to a worldwide audience Almost all of the opinions are as obscure as they would be if spoken on a street corner but the mere fact that one person has the ability to communicate with such a massive audience has never existed in human history The problem arises when people use this massive ability to connect with other people to shares movies and music online

Now enters the music and movie industries (the Industries) They see the internet as a threat to their business models I will use movies as the example but it equally applies to other similar art driven companies The way the movie industry works has not changed

much since the industry was first invented Create a movie sell it at movie theaters then at discount theaters then package it for VHS then DVDs now Blueray and finally sell it to cable TV Enter the internet Now movie companies are seeing their movies being downloaded thousands of times on the internet The Industry has been working off the same model for so long they canrsquot comprehend another way to make money while still creating movies and music

The fact is that downloading is not ever going to stop Right or wrong it will not stop The Industries have two options before them Option 1 They can update their business models to adapt to new technology the way that every business in this country must conform to a changing market The Industries could offer their movies to online viewers in high

quality or in high definition through secure channels The Industries could create a more compelling theater experience There are a number of ways that the Industries can compete to low quality downloads And option 2 Force the entire market to change so that they can keep their old business model intact The Industries opted to lobby government to pass legisla-tion that would allow them to keep their antiquated business models at the expense of the internet

The problem is that very legislation is what we are now referring to SOPA Itrsquos essentially everything that the Industries wanted in order to have control over all aspects of the distribution of their copyrighted material Concerns about internet

freedom and free speech are not addressed in any fashion in the bill Thatrsquos because this bill is not about striking a balance between protecting copyrights and free speech itrsquos about the Industry getting everything it wants so that it wonrsquot have to adapt to a changing environment

It would be a waste of time to discuss every thing that is wrong with this bill or this article would begin to stretch on for many dozens of pages So Irsquoll limit it to just three new powers that the government and the Industries would obtain through this bill and how they make fundamental changes to the internet and censor speech

The first and most dangerous provision is that SOPA allows the US government to shut

Support Of SOPA amp Protect IP Is Support

Of Censorshipby Kyle Hoelscher

09

down entire websites based on an Industry accusation of infringement Thatrsquos right an accusation No proof need be offered No judge need be consulted If the Industries think that you are a copyright infringing website you will be taken down by the US government without notice You will then have the burden to prove that you are not an infringing site before the US government will grant you the ability to have a website again

This is a fundamental change in how copyright law currently works This moves all power over what you see on the internet into government control The current system is that if the Industries believe you are hosting copyrighted material they can send you what is known as a DMCA Takedown Notice This notice specifically says what the company thinks is infringing material why they think this and includes a request to remove the content from the website This system is fully functional It gives offending websites the chance to remove any truly copyrighted material It gives those websites information on why it might be infringing If the website refuses to take down the material then the company that issued the takedown notice can sue the website in court Then a judge gets to decide if something was infringing and awards damages accordingly

Did you notice the checks and balances in the current system Notice is given informa-tion is exchanged and an opportunity to correct content on the website is available with no adverse consequences SOPA removes all of this SOPA makes the Industries the judge and jury with regards to copyright They say itrsquos copyrighted the site will be taken down Not only will it be taken down the US government has the power to force that takedown

That alone should give you a chill but letrsquos take it a step further What if the Industries did not just try to protect their copyright but simply disagreed with what you were saying in the content that they complained about Under SOPA the Industries could just tell the US government to shut down a website the government would do so and then nobody could access whatever the Industry did not agree with Surely a legal battle over this type of takedown would occur but how many people can truly afford legal fees like that to keep their small website up and running

You might be a kind hearted soul who is saying to yourself ldquothe Industries would not do that they are just trying to protect profitsrdquo The truth is that these Industries have already done the very thing which I describe Do a quick Google search for ldquoThe Mega Songrdquo Yoursquoll find a video which is fairly low key but features a number of big name artists These artists got together to support a website called Megauploadcom The movie and music industries do not like Megaupload and are constantly trying to sue them out of existence So when these mainstream artists promoted the site the Industries issued a DMCA takedown notice on the song The problem here the song contained absolutely no copyrighted material not a single frame or sound was from a copyrighted item The takedown was issued for the sole reason that they did not agree with the song Luckily there are checks and balances in the current system so the song remains free to listen to on the internet today Under SOPA that song would be removed from the internet because the music and movie industries did not like what the song said On January 19th US federal prosecutors in the state of Virginia shut Megaupload down and laid charges against its founder Kim Schmitz and others for allegedly breaching copyright infringement laws

The second big problem with SOPA is how far this power reaches The power I discussed above might be reasonable with some checks and balances added and judicial oversight we could knock out sites dedicated to nothing but copyright infringement for profit SOPA would extend the power to take down websites to any website that links to a website that infringes Thatrsquos right One single hyperlink under SOPA is enough for the Industry to have the US government shut down your website It doesnrsquot need to be posted by the website It doesnrsquot need to be posted by the staff of the website It merely needs to be on the website and the entire site could be blacked out to internet users

This is the epitome of guilt by association You could operate a file sharing site in full compliance with the law You could takedown any copyrighted material You could have filters which prevent copyrighted materials from being hosted or posted on your website And if you have a bulletin board where one person posts one link to a website that hosts copyrighted content then your whole website could be taken down by the US government at the request of a member of the movie or music industry Now apply ldquothe Mega Songrdquo incident and extend it to any and every site that might have linked that video You are talking about a sweeping power to black out the internet on the whim of private industry or the US government Got chills yet

Ok if neither of those fazed you how about the third issue that I promised SOPA enhances criminal penalties for copyright infringement I donrsquot agree with current law but it at least makes sense If you make money by pirating software movies or music then you can be charged with a crime and put in jail It makes sense because itrsquos a form of theft You are profiting from anotherrsquos loss SOPA extends these penalties to anyone and everyone associated with copyright infringement If you download a single song you

can be put in prison If you upload a single song you can be put in prison If you host a website with links to infringing material you can be put in prison These prison terms are 3 to 5 years in a federal prison for first offense and up to 10 years for a second offense

And a greater problem we donrsquot know exactly who could go to prison under the language in the SOPA bill The bill was drafted with language so flexible that if your son or daughter had infringing material on your computer then you could be brought to trial over that single issue and face 5 years in a federal prison Itrsquos not likely that the US government would launch a massive arrest campaign to go after small fry copyright infringers but I would not like to live in a country where the government gets to decide when it massively enforces mundane laws The fact is that our Constitution gives all freedom to the people and gives the government certain defined powers that infringe that freedom In the United States freedom does not live at the grace of government the government lives on the good graces of the peoplersquos freedom SOPA switches that for anything to do with copyright

These powers are demanded by the Industries so that they can fight online piracy but these industries already have so many tools available to them to do this same thing They regularly use these tools They simply want more They are not happy with being able to take down any

content on the web they want to shut down sites They donrsquot want to have court cases they want regulatory agencies to do the work for them They donrsquot want to change their business model to deliver what customers want they want to keep their old ways no matter who has to pay They donrsquot care that the way the internet works today will be fundamentally changed by SOPA These Industries are not thinking about the consumer and they are certainly not thinking about free speech

On January 18th 2012 the massive internet blackout raised awareness of SOPA Awareness of this issue was raised to the point that legislators began withdrawing their support over the course of the day The creator of the legislation Rep Lamar Smith even put the vote on hold indefinitely By the end of the day Barack Obama also said he would veto the legislation as written This is not the end of the fight unfortunately There has always been a sister bill that is still getting voted on the PROTECT IP act Itrsquos essentially a SOPA back up bill in case SOPA failed It has all the same bad provisions and must be stopped as well In the end even if both of these bills are defeated the pressure for legislators to roll over for lobbyists remains The music and movie industries are not going to stop pouring money into political campaigns The only people that can stop these acts are the people If you donrsquot do your part to protect the freedom of the internet we will all lose it Once a right is lost it is never regained

Please read further follow links be informed

httpenwikipediaorgwikiSOPA

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPROTECT_IP_Act

Support Of SOPA amp Protect IP Is Support

Of Censorship Megauploadcom after the January 19th takedown or proof that the current law is more than sufficient

If you were storing files on megaupload they are gone Regardless of whether they contained copyrighted material

A Few Items Of Note For December

TH

E

CINSIDE THE enter

by Samantha Koepp

Goddess Earth Controls Forces in Corpus Christi

During Cirque du Soleil Dralionby Samantha Koeppby Samantha Koepp

The forces of Mother Nature are known and felt by all ndash especially in Corpus Christi with the ever constant winds In March Cirque du Soleil Dralion brings the Earth Goddess to human form at American Bank Center through a captivat-ing performance by the main character Gaya performed by African Dancer Dioman Gbou As Goddess Earth Dioman takes care of all the elements on stage She maintains a balance between all forces such as when she mediates the conflict between fire and water

Dioman joined the Cirque du Soleil Dralion tour 10 years ago In 1999 the tour was in West Africa to cast the show and she was called to audition joining the cast 3 months later ldquoI worked on Dralion from 1999-2008 then I went home and missed the show and seeing all the people in the audience and knew I had to go backrdquo said Gbou

The first African dancer of the Cirque du Soleil tour Dioman had danced for 6 years previously with the National Ballet of the Ivory Coast ldquoItrsquos an adjustment being on tour but I love traveling internationally so that people everywhere can see African dancerdquo The Dralion tour travels for 10 weeks and then takes a 2 week break Before the show was restaged for arenas in 2010 the Big Top tours would last a year staying 4-6 weeks at just one location Now they are able to travel to more cities and visit home more often

Dioman says that her character is always evolving through ongoing training and implementing new ideas ldquoI work closely with the artistic director and if I have an idea on how to make the character better I talk with them to see how we can incorporate itrdquo

If she is not on stage Dioman is practicing trying to make her character the best she can be ldquoI enjoy the character and am happy to be on stagerdquo She takes extreme pride and honor in her role and is determined to take character to as many different levels as possible ldquoI feel the character in my body when I am on stage so that people can understand whatrsquos happening People can see the way you are feeling people have to be able to feel the show to understand itrdquo

Dioman most enjoys seeing all the different people who attend the shows and looks forward to their stop in Corpus Christi

Cirque du Soleil Dralion will be at the American Bank Center Arena March 9-11 2012 Tickets are available at all Tick-etmaster outlets online at ticketmastercom or charge by phone at 361-881-8499 American Bank Center is Corpus Christirsquos premier event center providing unprecedented guest experiences For more information visit us online at wwwamericanbankcentercom

Ask Mr Smarty Pants

Dear Mr Smarty Pants

I am originally from Ohio but I have lived in Corpus Christi for almost thirty years When my family and friends come down to visit they all ask me if it is safe to go to the Mexican border to fun booze medicine and dental work I tell them I havenrsquot been in a while and I think the tourist industry there is down So is it safe and can my friends from the Great White North safely go there

Pat Lewis

The Island

Well Mr Lewis Mr Smarty Pants has been dropping down across the border for some cultural exchange since he was knee-high to a chimichanga

He is most dismayed at the current state of affairs which makes hitting some border towns and coming back with your cabeza attached a dicey proposi-tion In fact in Progresso the number of visitors from the US is down by about 400000 per year ndash from about 1 million to 600000- since the border trouble broke out in 2008

Election Day Blues

Over the years Mr Smarty Pants has had some harrowing experiences along the Mexican Border He once he had a gnat fly up his nose on live television and his attempt to remove it by instinctively jamming a roving digit in after it became the choice piece of tape at the News Directorrsquos Convention a few months later in San Antonio In the days before YouTube sticking your finger up your nose on a live satellite feed was hot stuff

But most disappointing was a trip to Progresso only a few years ago which as it turned out was on Election Day To his dismay he discovered that the Mexicans close all the bars on Election Day It is true what they say there is truly the Right way the Wrong way and the Mexican Way Why would you close the bars on Election Day when at the time there was only one party to vote for Itrsquos not like you could get drunk and elect the wrong guy Fortunately we found a liquor store owner of weak moral character and ended up sitting in the middle of the street at a metal folding table until sunup with a sober election behind us

In some ways life in a Border Town is what it always was

Belly to Belly

So to answer your question Mr Lewis we did a Gonzo Reconnaissance and headed for Progresso last weekend to see if indeed Ohioans are cleared to cross First of all the best bar there ndash the Belly to Belly with the mechanical bull is now closed Belly up due to fear running off all the nighttime tourists It was sort of like a Saturday night in Aransas Pass after the shrimp fleet has sailed and the cops have put out the word to cut the crap You could stay there and be perfectly safe but there be nothing to do From what we heard the little people are fine in Progresso If you own a business there yoursquore gonna need a bodyguard But if yoursquore just going to get your teeth fixed or your little blue pills yoursquoll be fine

They have good dentists down there and they donrsquot charge a lot If you are getting bridge work done or a new cap yoursquore going to have to make a second trip in a couple of weeks If you are looking to buy prescription drugs then take your prescription with you but shop around On some drugs we found the price to actually be higher than the US prices Yoursquoll find plenty of locals who speak

English ask them where to find the best deals

Park and walk across your car is safe but driving is not worth the trouble Arturorsquos the main restaurant for years in Progresso is open but closes early Just down the street the Red Snapper is a hot spot for Winter Texans where they have a band that plays all afternoon

As always the best advice when visiting is border town is to march to the sound of the accordions If you hear accordion music coming out of a place with a dog sleeping on the porch and no front door then thatrsquos where you want to go Thatrsquos the one thing that never changes about a border town

Weird place to be a dog

The things that make border towns Border Towns are still there Matamoros was always a stink hole (sorry Matamoros Chamber of Commerce but itrsquos true) Nuevo Laredo even in calm times was always one gunshot away from a border war The real loss is Acuna which was the gem of Border Towns and is now off limits

Mr Smarty Pants once saw a dog get hit by a car in Nuevo Laredo and that dog rolled all the way under the car and came out the back side on his feet and started walking away like nothing happened Just looking for his next meal Along came a man pushing a cart selling corn on the cob who ran out in the street and grabbed that dog up by the withers and carried him to the sidewalk where he tried to sell him to a passing lady tourist as ldquothe perro who defeated the angry carrdquo

Life is cheap in a Border Town Itrsquos a weird place to be a dog Or a Gringo

But Mr Smarty Pants must say he was greatly disappointed by the weak attempt at keeping Mexicans from crossing the border without papers The little old piss-ant wall they build is not but about twenty feet high We only want the cream of the crop coming up here looking for jobs and heck anybody can get over a little old fence like that How are we every going to improve the quality of our workforce if our barrier to entry is only twenty feet high Huh Heck American workers could get over that We can do better

It was Billy Joe Shaver who said

There ainrsquot no God in Mexico

Ainrsquot no way to understand

How that border crossing feeling

Makes a fool out of a man

Go the border Mr Lewis Buy the first chiminea you see and carry it around with you the rest of the day because you saved six bucks by buying it in Mexico instead of at HEB Buy a pocket full of chicle and get your boots shined Itrsquos part of the cultural exchange

So close to AmericaSo far from God

He Knows Everything There Is To Know About Corpus Christi

mrsmartypantsccmagonlinecom

Residential

Auto

Commercial

07

08

Before January 18th 2012 very few people were aware that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) or HR 3261 for those so inclined to look up the text had been quietly gaining approval by many Congressmen and Senators Even while both parties fought tooth and nail over mundane budget items they managed to set their partisan differences aside to vote this bill unanimously out of the House Judiciary Committee

Also before January 18th 2012 the bill was going to quietly move on for a vote by the House on January 24 2012 Luckily for free speech the online community including many big internet names such as Google Wikipedia Craigslist and Reddit banded together They held an online protest where all participating websites blacked out their pages and replaced it with information on SOPA and the danger this legislation poses to free speech on the internet

For those that donrsquot know anything about SOPA do not rely on this article for full informa-tion please check the Wikipedia article on the subject For those of you who will not be checking the Wikipedia page this bill was created by the movie and music industry to give them and the government more ways to shut down websites for being associated with content that infringes on their copyrights Now this goal in itself is not so bad of a thing copyrights are good things They reward artists with the exclusive right to market and sell the things they create

The problem is caused by the actual language and tools that will be handed over to private corporations and government agencies These tools will allow them to shut down a website with no judicial oversight and no warning The danger that this bill poses to free speech in this country cannot be under-stated The internet has become a massive engine of free speech activity It has allowed any person no matter who they are to broadcast their opinions to a worldwide audience Almost all of the opinions are as obscure as they would be if spoken on a street corner but the mere fact that one person has the ability to communicate with such a massive audience has never existed in human history The problem arises when people use this massive ability to connect with other people to shares movies and music online

Now enters the music and movie industries (the Industries) They see the internet as a threat to their business models I will use movies as the example but it equally applies to other similar art driven companies The way the movie industry works has not changed

much since the industry was first invented Create a movie sell it at movie theaters then at discount theaters then package it for VHS then DVDs now Blueray and finally sell it to cable TV Enter the internet Now movie companies are seeing their movies being downloaded thousands of times on the internet The Industry has been working off the same model for so long they canrsquot comprehend another way to make money while still creating movies and music

The fact is that downloading is not ever going to stop Right or wrong it will not stop The Industries have two options before them Option 1 They can update their business models to adapt to new technology the way that every business in this country must conform to a changing market The Industries could offer their movies to online viewers in high

quality or in high definition through secure channels The Industries could create a more compelling theater experience There are a number of ways that the Industries can compete to low quality downloads And option 2 Force the entire market to change so that they can keep their old business model intact The Industries opted to lobby government to pass legisla-tion that would allow them to keep their antiquated business models at the expense of the internet

The problem is that very legislation is what we are now referring to SOPA Itrsquos essentially everything that the Industries wanted in order to have control over all aspects of the distribution of their copyrighted material Concerns about internet

freedom and free speech are not addressed in any fashion in the bill Thatrsquos because this bill is not about striking a balance between protecting copyrights and free speech itrsquos about the Industry getting everything it wants so that it wonrsquot have to adapt to a changing environment

It would be a waste of time to discuss every thing that is wrong with this bill or this article would begin to stretch on for many dozens of pages So Irsquoll limit it to just three new powers that the government and the Industries would obtain through this bill and how they make fundamental changes to the internet and censor speech

The first and most dangerous provision is that SOPA allows the US government to shut

Support Of SOPA amp Protect IP Is Support

Of Censorshipby Kyle Hoelscher

09

down entire websites based on an Industry accusation of infringement Thatrsquos right an accusation No proof need be offered No judge need be consulted If the Industries think that you are a copyright infringing website you will be taken down by the US government without notice You will then have the burden to prove that you are not an infringing site before the US government will grant you the ability to have a website again

This is a fundamental change in how copyright law currently works This moves all power over what you see on the internet into government control The current system is that if the Industries believe you are hosting copyrighted material they can send you what is known as a DMCA Takedown Notice This notice specifically says what the company thinks is infringing material why they think this and includes a request to remove the content from the website This system is fully functional It gives offending websites the chance to remove any truly copyrighted material It gives those websites information on why it might be infringing If the website refuses to take down the material then the company that issued the takedown notice can sue the website in court Then a judge gets to decide if something was infringing and awards damages accordingly

Did you notice the checks and balances in the current system Notice is given informa-tion is exchanged and an opportunity to correct content on the website is available with no adverse consequences SOPA removes all of this SOPA makes the Industries the judge and jury with regards to copyright They say itrsquos copyrighted the site will be taken down Not only will it be taken down the US government has the power to force that takedown

That alone should give you a chill but letrsquos take it a step further What if the Industries did not just try to protect their copyright but simply disagreed with what you were saying in the content that they complained about Under SOPA the Industries could just tell the US government to shut down a website the government would do so and then nobody could access whatever the Industry did not agree with Surely a legal battle over this type of takedown would occur but how many people can truly afford legal fees like that to keep their small website up and running

You might be a kind hearted soul who is saying to yourself ldquothe Industries would not do that they are just trying to protect profitsrdquo The truth is that these Industries have already done the very thing which I describe Do a quick Google search for ldquoThe Mega Songrdquo Yoursquoll find a video which is fairly low key but features a number of big name artists These artists got together to support a website called Megauploadcom The movie and music industries do not like Megaupload and are constantly trying to sue them out of existence So when these mainstream artists promoted the site the Industries issued a DMCA takedown notice on the song The problem here the song contained absolutely no copyrighted material not a single frame or sound was from a copyrighted item The takedown was issued for the sole reason that they did not agree with the song Luckily there are checks and balances in the current system so the song remains free to listen to on the internet today Under SOPA that song would be removed from the internet because the music and movie industries did not like what the song said On January 19th US federal prosecutors in the state of Virginia shut Megaupload down and laid charges against its founder Kim Schmitz and others for allegedly breaching copyright infringement laws

The second big problem with SOPA is how far this power reaches The power I discussed above might be reasonable with some checks and balances added and judicial oversight we could knock out sites dedicated to nothing but copyright infringement for profit SOPA would extend the power to take down websites to any website that links to a website that infringes Thatrsquos right One single hyperlink under SOPA is enough for the Industry to have the US government shut down your website It doesnrsquot need to be posted by the website It doesnrsquot need to be posted by the staff of the website It merely needs to be on the website and the entire site could be blacked out to internet users

This is the epitome of guilt by association You could operate a file sharing site in full compliance with the law You could takedown any copyrighted material You could have filters which prevent copyrighted materials from being hosted or posted on your website And if you have a bulletin board where one person posts one link to a website that hosts copyrighted content then your whole website could be taken down by the US government at the request of a member of the movie or music industry Now apply ldquothe Mega Songrdquo incident and extend it to any and every site that might have linked that video You are talking about a sweeping power to black out the internet on the whim of private industry or the US government Got chills yet

Ok if neither of those fazed you how about the third issue that I promised SOPA enhances criminal penalties for copyright infringement I donrsquot agree with current law but it at least makes sense If you make money by pirating software movies or music then you can be charged with a crime and put in jail It makes sense because itrsquos a form of theft You are profiting from anotherrsquos loss SOPA extends these penalties to anyone and everyone associated with copyright infringement If you download a single song you

can be put in prison If you upload a single song you can be put in prison If you host a website with links to infringing material you can be put in prison These prison terms are 3 to 5 years in a federal prison for first offense and up to 10 years for a second offense

And a greater problem we donrsquot know exactly who could go to prison under the language in the SOPA bill The bill was drafted with language so flexible that if your son or daughter had infringing material on your computer then you could be brought to trial over that single issue and face 5 years in a federal prison Itrsquos not likely that the US government would launch a massive arrest campaign to go after small fry copyright infringers but I would not like to live in a country where the government gets to decide when it massively enforces mundane laws The fact is that our Constitution gives all freedom to the people and gives the government certain defined powers that infringe that freedom In the United States freedom does not live at the grace of government the government lives on the good graces of the peoplersquos freedom SOPA switches that for anything to do with copyright

These powers are demanded by the Industries so that they can fight online piracy but these industries already have so many tools available to them to do this same thing They regularly use these tools They simply want more They are not happy with being able to take down any

content on the web they want to shut down sites They donrsquot want to have court cases they want regulatory agencies to do the work for them They donrsquot want to change their business model to deliver what customers want they want to keep their old ways no matter who has to pay They donrsquot care that the way the internet works today will be fundamentally changed by SOPA These Industries are not thinking about the consumer and they are certainly not thinking about free speech

On January 18th 2012 the massive internet blackout raised awareness of SOPA Awareness of this issue was raised to the point that legislators began withdrawing their support over the course of the day The creator of the legislation Rep Lamar Smith even put the vote on hold indefinitely By the end of the day Barack Obama also said he would veto the legislation as written This is not the end of the fight unfortunately There has always been a sister bill that is still getting voted on the PROTECT IP act Itrsquos essentially a SOPA back up bill in case SOPA failed It has all the same bad provisions and must be stopped as well In the end even if both of these bills are defeated the pressure for legislators to roll over for lobbyists remains The music and movie industries are not going to stop pouring money into political campaigns The only people that can stop these acts are the people If you donrsquot do your part to protect the freedom of the internet we will all lose it Once a right is lost it is never regained

Please read further follow links be informed

httpenwikipediaorgwikiSOPA

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPROTECT_IP_Act

Support Of SOPA amp Protect IP Is Support

Of Censorship Megauploadcom after the January 19th takedown or proof that the current law is more than sufficient

If you were storing files on megaupload they are gone Regardless of whether they contained copyrighted material

A Few Items Of Note For December

TH

E

CINSIDE THE enter

by Samantha Koepp

Goddess Earth Controls Forces in Corpus Christi

During Cirque du Soleil Dralionby Samantha Koeppby Samantha Koepp

The forces of Mother Nature are known and felt by all ndash especially in Corpus Christi with the ever constant winds In March Cirque du Soleil Dralion brings the Earth Goddess to human form at American Bank Center through a captivat-ing performance by the main character Gaya performed by African Dancer Dioman Gbou As Goddess Earth Dioman takes care of all the elements on stage She maintains a balance between all forces such as when she mediates the conflict between fire and water

Dioman joined the Cirque du Soleil Dralion tour 10 years ago In 1999 the tour was in West Africa to cast the show and she was called to audition joining the cast 3 months later ldquoI worked on Dralion from 1999-2008 then I went home and missed the show and seeing all the people in the audience and knew I had to go backrdquo said Gbou

The first African dancer of the Cirque du Soleil tour Dioman had danced for 6 years previously with the National Ballet of the Ivory Coast ldquoItrsquos an adjustment being on tour but I love traveling internationally so that people everywhere can see African dancerdquo The Dralion tour travels for 10 weeks and then takes a 2 week break Before the show was restaged for arenas in 2010 the Big Top tours would last a year staying 4-6 weeks at just one location Now they are able to travel to more cities and visit home more often

Dioman says that her character is always evolving through ongoing training and implementing new ideas ldquoI work closely with the artistic director and if I have an idea on how to make the character better I talk with them to see how we can incorporate itrdquo

If she is not on stage Dioman is practicing trying to make her character the best she can be ldquoI enjoy the character and am happy to be on stagerdquo She takes extreme pride and honor in her role and is determined to take character to as many different levels as possible ldquoI feel the character in my body when I am on stage so that people can understand whatrsquos happening People can see the way you are feeling people have to be able to feel the show to understand itrdquo

Dioman most enjoys seeing all the different people who attend the shows and looks forward to their stop in Corpus Christi

Cirque du Soleil Dralion will be at the American Bank Center Arena March 9-11 2012 Tickets are available at all Tick-etmaster outlets online at ticketmastercom or charge by phone at 361-881-8499 American Bank Center is Corpus Christirsquos premier event center providing unprecedented guest experiences For more information visit us online at wwwamericanbankcentercom

08

Before January 18th 2012 very few people were aware that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) or HR 3261 for those so inclined to look up the text had been quietly gaining approval by many Congressmen and Senators Even while both parties fought tooth and nail over mundane budget items they managed to set their partisan differences aside to vote this bill unanimously out of the House Judiciary Committee

Also before January 18th 2012 the bill was going to quietly move on for a vote by the House on January 24 2012 Luckily for free speech the online community including many big internet names such as Google Wikipedia Craigslist and Reddit banded together They held an online protest where all participating websites blacked out their pages and replaced it with information on SOPA and the danger this legislation poses to free speech on the internet

For those that donrsquot know anything about SOPA do not rely on this article for full informa-tion please check the Wikipedia article on the subject For those of you who will not be checking the Wikipedia page this bill was created by the movie and music industry to give them and the government more ways to shut down websites for being associated with content that infringes on their copyrights Now this goal in itself is not so bad of a thing copyrights are good things They reward artists with the exclusive right to market and sell the things they create

The problem is caused by the actual language and tools that will be handed over to private corporations and government agencies These tools will allow them to shut down a website with no judicial oversight and no warning The danger that this bill poses to free speech in this country cannot be under-stated The internet has become a massive engine of free speech activity It has allowed any person no matter who they are to broadcast their opinions to a worldwide audience Almost all of the opinions are as obscure as they would be if spoken on a street corner but the mere fact that one person has the ability to communicate with such a massive audience has never existed in human history The problem arises when people use this massive ability to connect with other people to shares movies and music online

Now enters the music and movie industries (the Industries) They see the internet as a threat to their business models I will use movies as the example but it equally applies to other similar art driven companies The way the movie industry works has not changed

much since the industry was first invented Create a movie sell it at movie theaters then at discount theaters then package it for VHS then DVDs now Blueray and finally sell it to cable TV Enter the internet Now movie companies are seeing their movies being downloaded thousands of times on the internet The Industry has been working off the same model for so long they canrsquot comprehend another way to make money while still creating movies and music

The fact is that downloading is not ever going to stop Right or wrong it will not stop The Industries have two options before them Option 1 They can update their business models to adapt to new technology the way that every business in this country must conform to a changing market The Industries could offer their movies to online viewers in high

quality or in high definition through secure channels The Industries could create a more compelling theater experience There are a number of ways that the Industries can compete to low quality downloads And option 2 Force the entire market to change so that they can keep their old business model intact The Industries opted to lobby government to pass legisla-tion that would allow them to keep their antiquated business models at the expense of the internet

The problem is that very legislation is what we are now referring to SOPA Itrsquos essentially everything that the Industries wanted in order to have control over all aspects of the distribution of their copyrighted material Concerns about internet

freedom and free speech are not addressed in any fashion in the bill Thatrsquos because this bill is not about striking a balance between protecting copyrights and free speech itrsquos about the Industry getting everything it wants so that it wonrsquot have to adapt to a changing environment

It would be a waste of time to discuss every thing that is wrong with this bill or this article would begin to stretch on for many dozens of pages So Irsquoll limit it to just three new powers that the government and the Industries would obtain through this bill and how they make fundamental changes to the internet and censor speech

The first and most dangerous provision is that SOPA allows the US government to shut

Support Of SOPA amp Protect IP Is Support

Of Censorshipby Kyle Hoelscher

09

down entire websites based on an Industry accusation of infringement Thatrsquos right an accusation No proof need be offered No judge need be consulted If the Industries think that you are a copyright infringing website you will be taken down by the US government without notice You will then have the burden to prove that you are not an infringing site before the US government will grant you the ability to have a website again

This is a fundamental change in how copyright law currently works This moves all power over what you see on the internet into government control The current system is that if the Industries believe you are hosting copyrighted material they can send you what is known as a DMCA Takedown Notice This notice specifically says what the company thinks is infringing material why they think this and includes a request to remove the content from the website This system is fully functional It gives offending websites the chance to remove any truly copyrighted material It gives those websites information on why it might be infringing If the website refuses to take down the material then the company that issued the takedown notice can sue the website in court Then a judge gets to decide if something was infringing and awards damages accordingly

Did you notice the checks and balances in the current system Notice is given informa-tion is exchanged and an opportunity to correct content on the website is available with no adverse consequences SOPA removes all of this SOPA makes the Industries the judge and jury with regards to copyright They say itrsquos copyrighted the site will be taken down Not only will it be taken down the US government has the power to force that takedown

That alone should give you a chill but letrsquos take it a step further What if the Industries did not just try to protect their copyright but simply disagreed with what you were saying in the content that they complained about Under SOPA the Industries could just tell the US government to shut down a website the government would do so and then nobody could access whatever the Industry did not agree with Surely a legal battle over this type of takedown would occur but how many people can truly afford legal fees like that to keep their small website up and running

You might be a kind hearted soul who is saying to yourself ldquothe Industries would not do that they are just trying to protect profitsrdquo The truth is that these Industries have already done the very thing which I describe Do a quick Google search for ldquoThe Mega Songrdquo Yoursquoll find a video which is fairly low key but features a number of big name artists These artists got together to support a website called Megauploadcom The movie and music industries do not like Megaupload and are constantly trying to sue them out of existence So when these mainstream artists promoted the site the Industries issued a DMCA takedown notice on the song The problem here the song contained absolutely no copyrighted material not a single frame or sound was from a copyrighted item The takedown was issued for the sole reason that they did not agree with the song Luckily there are checks and balances in the current system so the song remains free to listen to on the internet today Under SOPA that song would be removed from the internet because the music and movie industries did not like what the song said On January 19th US federal prosecutors in the state of Virginia shut Megaupload down and laid charges against its founder Kim Schmitz and others for allegedly breaching copyright infringement laws

The second big problem with SOPA is how far this power reaches The power I discussed above might be reasonable with some checks and balances added and judicial oversight we could knock out sites dedicated to nothing but copyright infringement for profit SOPA would extend the power to take down websites to any website that links to a website that infringes Thatrsquos right One single hyperlink under SOPA is enough for the Industry to have the US government shut down your website It doesnrsquot need to be posted by the website It doesnrsquot need to be posted by the staff of the website It merely needs to be on the website and the entire site could be blacked out to internet users

This is the epitome of guilt by association You could operate a file sharing site in full compliance with the law You could takedown any copyrighted material You could have filters which prevent copyrighted materials from being hosted or posted on your website And if you have a bulletin board where one person posts one link to a website that hosts copyrighted content then your whole website could be taken down by the US government at the request of a member of the movie or music industry Now apply ldquothe Mega Songrdquo incident and extend it to any and every site that might have linked that video You are talking about a sweeping power to black out the internet on the whim of private industry or the US government Got chills yet

Ok if neither of those fazed you how about the third issue that I promised SOPA enhances criminal penalties for copyright infringement I donrsquot agree with current law but it at least makes sense If you make money by pirating software movies or music then you can be charged with a crime and put in jail It makes sense because itrsquos a form of theft You are profiting from anotherrsquos loss SOPA extends these penalties to anyone and everyone associated with copyright infringement If you download a single song you

can be put in prison If you upload a single song you can be put in prison If you host a website with links to infringing material you can be put in prison These prison terms are 3 to 5 years in a federal prison for first offense and up to 10 years for a second offense

And a greater problem we donrsquot know exactly who could go to prison under the language in the SOPA bill The bill was drafted with language so flexible that if your son or daughter had infringing material on your computer then you could be brought to trial over that single issue and face 5 years in a federal prison Itrsquos not likely that the US government would launch a massive arrest campaign to go after small fry copyright infringers but I would not like to live in a country where the government gets to decide when it massively enforces mundane laws The fact is that our Constitution gives all freedom to the people and gives the government certain defined powers that infringe that freedom In the United States freedom does not live at the grace of government the government lives on the good graces of the peoplersquos freedom SOPA switches that for anything to do with copyright

These powers are demanded by the Industries so that they can fight online piracy but these industries already have so many tools available to them to do this same thing They regularly use these tools They simply want more They are not happy with being able to take down any

content on the web they want to shut down sites They donrsquot want to have court cases they want regulatory agencies to do the work for them They donrsquot want to change their business model to deliver what customers want they want to keep their old ways no matter who has to pay They donrsquot care that the way the internet works today will be fundamentally changed by SOPA These Industries are not thinking about the consumer and they are certainly not thinking about free speech

On January 18th 2012 the massive internet blackout raised awareness of SOPA Awareness of this issue was raised to the point that legislators began withdrawing their support over the course of the day The creator of the legislation Rep Lamar Smith even put the vote on hold indefinitely By the end of the day Barack Obama also said he would veto the legislation as written This is not the end of the fight unfortunately There has always been a sister bill that is still getting voted on the PROTECT IP act Itrsquos essentially a SOPA back up bill in case SOPA failed It has all the same bad provisions and must be stopped as well In the end even if both of these bills are defeated the pressure for legislators to roll over for lobbyists remains The music and movie industries are not going to stop pouring money into political campaigns The only people that can stop these acts are the people If you donrsquot do your part to protect the freedom of the internet we will all lose it Once a right is lost it is never regained

Please read further follow links be informed

httpenwikipediaorgwikiSOPA

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPROTECT_IP_Act

Support Of SOPA amp Protect IP Is Support

Of Censorship Megauploadcom after the January 19th takedown or proof that the current law is more than sufficient

If you were storing files on megaupload they are gone Regardless of whether they contained copyrighted material

A Few Items Of Note For December

TH

E

CINSIDE THE enter

by Samantha Koepp

Goddess Earth Controls Forces in Corpus Christi

During Cirque du Soleil Dralionby Samantha Koeppby Samantha Koepp

The forces of Mother Nature are known and felt by all ndash especially in Corpus Christi with the ever constant winds In March Cirque du Soleil Dralion brings the Earth Goddess to human form at American Bank Center through a captivat-ing performance by the main character Gaya performed by African Dancer Dioman Gbou As Goddess Earth Dioman takes care of all the elements on stage She maintains a balance between all forces such as when she mediates the conflict between fire and water

Dioman joined the Cirque du Soleil Dralion tour 10 years ago In 1999 the tour was in West Africa to cast the show and she was called to audition joining the cast 3 months later ldquoI worked on Dralion from 1999-2008 then I went home and missed the show and seeing all the people in the audience and knew I had to go backrdquo said Gbou

The first African dancer of the Cirque du Soleil tour Dioman had danced for 6 years previously with the National Ballet of the Ivory Coast ldquoItrsquos an adjustment being on tour but I love traveling internationally so that people everywhere can see African dancerdquo The Dralion tour travels for 10 weeks and then takes a 2 week break Before the show was restaged for arenas in 2010 the Big Top tours would last a year staying 4-6 weeks at just one location Now they are able to travel to more cities and visit home more often

Dioman says that her character is always evolving through ongoing training and implementing new ideas ldquoI work closely with the artistic director and if I have an idea on how to make the character better I talk with them to see how we can incorporate itrdquo

If she is not on stage Dioman is practicing trying to make her character the best she can be ldquoI enjoy the character and am happy to be on stagerdquo She takes extreme pride and honor in her role and is determined to take character to as many different levels as possible ldquoI feel the character in my body when I am on stage so that people can understand whatrsquos happening People can see the way you are feeling people have to be able to feel the show to understand itrdquo

Dioman most enjoys seeing all the different people who attend the shows and looks forward to their stop in Corpus Christi

Cirque du Soleil Dralion will be at the American Bank Center Arena March 9-11 2012 Tickets are available at all Tick-etmaster outlets online at ticketmastercom or charge by phone at 361-881-8499 American Bank Center is Corpus Christirsquos premier event center providing unprecedented guest experiences For more information visit us online at wwwamericanbankcentercom

09

down entire websites based on an Industry accusation of infringement Thatrsquos right an accusation No proof need be offered No judge need be consulted If the Industries think that you are a copyright infringing website you will be taken down by the US government without notice You will then have the burden to prove that you are not an infringing site before the US government will grant you the ability to have a website again

This is a fundamental change in how copyright law currently works This moves all power over what you see on the internet into government control The current system is that if the Industries believe you are hosting copyrighted material they can send you what is known as a DMCA Takedown Notice This notice specifically says what the company thinks is infringing material why they think this and includes a request to remove the content from the website This system is fully functional It gives offending websites the chance to remove any truly copyrighted material It gives those websites information on why it might be infringing If the website refuses to take down the material then the company that issued the takedown notice can sue the website in court Then a judge gets to decide if something was infringing and awards damages accordingly

Did you notice the checks and balances in the current system Notice is given informa-tion is exchanged and an opportunity to correct content on the website is available with no adverse consequences SOPA removes all of this SOPA makes the Industries the judge and jury with regards to copyright They say itrsquos copyrighted the site will be taken down Not only will it be taken down the US government has the power to force that takedown

That alone should give you a chill but letrsquos take it a step further What if the Industries did not just try to protect their copyright but simply disagreed with what you were saying in the content that they complained about Under SOPA the Industries could just tell the US government to shut down a website the government would do so and then nobody could access whatever the Industry did not agree with Surely a legal battle over this type of takedown would occur but how many people can truly afford legal fees like that to keep their small website up and running

You might be a kind hearted soul who is saying to yourself ldquothe Industries would not do that they are just trying to protect profitsrdquo The truth is that these Industries have already done the very thing which I describe Do a quick Google search for ldquoThe Mega Songrdquo Yoursquoll find a video which is fairly low key but features a number of big name artists These artists got together to support a website called Megauploadcom The movie and music industries do not like Megaupload and are constantly trying to sue them out of existence So when these mainstream artists promoted the site the Industries issued a DMCA takedown notice on the song The problem here the song contained absolutely no copyrighted material not a single frame or sound was from a copyrighted item The takedown was issued for the sole reason that they did not agree with the song Luckily there are checks and balances in the current system so the song remains free to listen to on the internet today Under SOPA that song would be removed from the internet because the music and movie industries did not like what the song said On January 19th US federal prosecutors in the state of Virginia shut Megaupload down and laid charges against its founder Kim Schmitz and others for allegedly breaching copyright infringement laws

The second big problem with SOPA is how far this power reaches The power I discussed above might be reasonable with some checks and balances added and judicial oversight we could knock out sites dedicated to nothing but copyright infringement for profit SOPA would extend the power to take down websites to any website that links to a website that infringes Thatrsquos right One single hyperlink under SOPA is enough for the Industry to have the US government shut down your website It doesnrsquot need to be posted by the website It doesnrsquot need to be posted by the staff of the website It merely needs to be on the website and the entire site could be blacked out to internet users

This is the epitome of guilt by association You could operate a file sharing site in full compliance with the law You could takedown any copyrighted material You could have filters which prevent copyrighted materials from being hosted or posted on your website And if you have a bulletin board where one person posts one link to a website that hosts copyrighted content then your whole website could be taken down by the US government at the request of a member of the movie or music industry Now apply ldquothe Mega Songrdquo incident and extend it to any and every site that might have linked that video You are talking about a sweeping power to black out the internet on the whim of private industry or the US government Got chills yet

Ok if neither of those fazed you how about the third issue that I promised SOPA enhances criminal penalties for copyright infringement I donrsquot agree with current law but it at least makes sense If you make money by pirating software movies or music then you can be charged with a crime and put in jail It makes sense because itrsquos a form of theft You are profiting from anotherrsquos loss SOPA extends these penalties to anyone and everyone associated with copyright infringement If you download a single song you

can be put in prison If you upload a single song you can be put in prison If you host a website with links to infringing material you can be put in prison These prison terms are 3 to 5 years in a federal prison for first offense and up to 10 years for a second offense

And a greater problem we donrsquot know exactly who could go to prison under the language in the SOPA bill The bill was drafted with language so flexible that if your son or daughter had infringing material on your computer then you could be brought to trial over that single issue and face 5 years in a federal prison Itrsquos not likely that the US government would launch a massive arrest campaign to go after small fry copyright infringers but I would not like to live in a country where the government gets to decide when it massively enforces mundane laws The fact is that our Constitution gives all freedom to the people and gives the government certain defined powers that infringe that freedom In the United States freedom does not live at the grace of government the government lives on the good graces of the peoplersquos freedom SOPA switches that for anything to do with copyright

These powers are demanded by the Industries so that they can fight online piracy but these industries already have so many tools available to them to do this same thing They regularly use these tools They simply want more They are not happy with being able to take down any

content on the web they want to shut down sites They donrsquot want to have court cases they want regulatory agencies to do the work for them They donrsquot want to change their business model to deliver what customers want they want to keep their old ways no matter who has to pay They donrsquot care that the way the internet works today will be fundamentally changed by SOPA These Industries are not thinking about the consumer and they are certainly not thinking about free speech

On January 18th 2012 the massive internet blackout raised awareness of SOPA Awareness of this issue was raised to the point that legislators began withdrawing their support over the course of the day The creator of the legislation Rep Lamar Smith even put the vote on hold indefinitely By the end of the day Barack Obama also said he would veto the legislation as written This is not the end of the fight unfortunately There has always been a sister bill that is still getting voted on the PROTECT IP act Itrsquos essentially a SOPA back up bill in case SOPA failed It has all the same bad provisions and must be stopped as well In the end even if both of these bills are defeated the pressure for legislators to roll over for lobbyists remains The music and movie industries are not going to stop pouring money into political campaigns The only people that can stop these acts are the people If you donrsquot do your part to protect the freedom of the internet we will all lose it Once a right is lost it is never regained

Please read further follow links be informed

httpenwikipediaorgwikiSOPA

httpenwikipediaorgwikiPROTECT_IP_Act

Support Of SOPA amp Protect IP Is Support

Of Censorship Megauploadcom after the January 19th takedown or proof that the current law is more than sufficient

If you were storing files on megaupload they are gone Regardless of whether they contained copyrighted material

A Few Items Of Note For December

TH

E

CINSIDE THE enter

by Samantha Koepp

Goddess Earth Controls Forces in Corpus Christi

During Cirque du Soleil Dralionby Samantha Koeppby Samantha Koepp

The forces of Mother Nature are known and felt by all ndash especially in Corpus Christi with the ever constant winds In March Cirque du Soleil Dralion brings the Earth Goddess to human form at American Bank Center through a captivat-ing performance by the main character Gaya performed by African Dancer Dioman Gbou As Goddess Earth Dioman takes care of all the elements on stage She maintains a balance between all forces such as when she mediates the conflict between fire and water

Dioman joined the Cirque du Soleil Dralion tour 10 years ago In 1999 the tour was in West Africa to cast the show and she was called to audition joining the cast 3 months later ldquoI worked on Dralion from 1999-2008 then I went home and missed the show and seeing all the people in the audience and knew I had to go backrdquo said Gbou

The first African dancer of the Cirque du Soleil tour Dioman had danced for 6 years previously with the National Ballet of the Ivory Coast ldquoItrsquos an adjustment being on tour but I love traveling internationally so that people everywhere can see African dancerdquo The Dralion tour travels for 10 weeks and then takes a 2 week break Before the show was restaged for arenas in 2010 the Big Top tours would last a year staying 4-6 weeks at just one location Now they are able to travel to more cities and visit home more often

Dioman says that her character is always evolving through ongoing training and implementing new ideas ldquoI work closely with the artistic director and if I have an idea on how to make the character better I talk with them to see how we can incorporate itrdquo

If she is not on stage Dioman is practicing trying to make her character the best she can be ldquoI enjoy the character and am happy to be on stagerdquo She takes extreme pride and honor in her role and is determined to take character to as many different levels as possible ldquoI feel the character in my body when I am on stage so that people can understand whatrsquos happening People can see the way you are feeling people have to be able to feel the show to understand itrdquo

Dioman most enjoys seeing all the different people who attend the shows and looks forward to their stop in Corpus Christi

Cirque du Soleil Dralion will be at the American Bank Center Arena March 9-11 2012 Tickets are available at all Tick-etmaster outlets online at ticketmastercom or charge by phone at 361-881-8499 American Bank Center is Corpus Christirsquos premier event center providing unprecedented guest experiences For more information visit us online at wwwamericanbankcentercom

A Few Items Of Note For December

TH

E

CINSIDE THE enter

by Samantha Koepp

Goddess Earth Controls Forces in Corpus Christi

During Cirque du Soleil Dralionby Samantha Koeppby Samantha Koepp

The forces of Mother Nature are known and felt by all ndash especially in Corpus Christi with the ever constant winds In March Cirque du Soleil Dralion brings the Earth Goddess to human form at American Bank Center through a captivat-ing performance by the main character Gaya performed by African Dancer Dioman Gbou As Goddess Earth Dioman takes care of all the elements on stage She maintains a balance between all forces such as when she mediates the conflict between fire and water

Dioman joined the Cirque du Soleil Dralion tour 10 years ago In 1999 the tour was in West Africa to cast the show and she was called to audition joining the cast 3 months later ldquoI worked on Dralion from 1999-2008 then I went home and missed the show and seeing all the people in the audience and knew I had to go backrdquo said Gbou

The first African dancer of the Cirque du Soleil tour Dioman had danced for 6 years previously with the National Ballet of the Ivory Coast ldquoItrsquos an adjustment being on tour but I love traveling internationally so that people everywhere can see African dancerdquo The Dralion tour travels for 10 weeks and then takes a 2 week break Before the show was restaged for arenas in 2010 the Big Top tours would last a year staying 4-6 weeks at just one location Now they are able to travel to more cities and visit home more often

Dioman says that her character is always evolving through ongoing training and implementing new ideas ldquoI work closely with the artistic director and if I have an idea on how to make the character better I talk with them to see how we can incorporate itrdquo

If she is not on stage Dioman is practicing trying to make her character the best she can be ldquoI enjoy the character and am happy to be on stagerdquo She takes extreme pride and honor in her role and is determined to take character to as many different levels as possible ldquoI feel the character in my body when I am on stage so that people can understand whatrsquos happening People can see the way you are feeling people have to be able to feel the show to understand itrdquo

Dioman most enjoys seeing all the different people who attend the shows and looks forward to their stop in Corpus Christi

Cirque du Soleil Dralion will be at the American Bank Center Arena March 9-11 2012 Tickets are available at all Tick-etmaster outlets online at ticketmastercom or charge by phone at 361-881-8499 American Bank Center is Corpus Christirsquos premier event center providing unprecedented guest experiences For more information visit us online at wwwamericanbankcentercom

A Few Items Of Note For DecemberA Few Items Of Note For DecemberA Few Items Of Note For DecemberA Few Items Of Note For DecemberA Few Items Of Note For DecemberA Few Items Of Note For DecemberArtArtArtArtArtArtArtArtArtArt SceneT

HE

K Space Contemporary

415 D Starr StreetCorpus Christi TX 78401 3618876834KSpaceContemporaryorgHours Wed-Sat 11a ndash 5pFree Admission

First Friday ArtWalkFebruary 3rd 2012 530-9 pm (ArtWalk)Main GalleryConstructed Realities Sculptural Works

Joshua Goode amp Lesli Robertson

Hot Spot

Notes to St PeterRicardo Ruiz amp Ricardo V RuizRicardo the Elder will also be doing a live painting performance in the gallery during ArtWalk

Art Star

Claudia Quintero brings us her brilliant paintings on serving platters this month

Art Center of Corpus Christi

100 Shoreline BlvdCorpus Christi TX 78401Tel 3618846406Fax 3618848836ArtCenterCCorgHours 10a ndash 4pEveryday except MondayMonday CLOSEDAdmission is always FREE39th All Membership ShowOpening and Artistsrsquo ReceptionThursday February 2nd 2012 6p to 9p

Annual show featuring works by members of the Art Center Juror Ken Rosier Del Mar College Chair Department of Art amp Drama

Best of Show winner to be honored with a solo exhibition the following yearHarvey CrouchArtistrsquo Reception for Solo ShowThursday February 2nd 2012 6p to 9p

Featuring original wood sculpture by the 2011 winner Best of Show 2011 All Membership ShowCULTURA Y VIDA A Tejano Art ExhibitionFriday February 17th through Saturday March 4th 2012

Organized by Texas AampM University-Kingsvillersquos Art Communications and Theatre Department with support from LULAC Council No 1 of Corpus Christi

Treehouse Art Collective LLC

309 North Water Street Suite DCorpus Christi TX 784013618824822TreehouseArtCCcomHoursTue-Sat 11a ndash 8pSunday Noon to 6pFree Admission Opening Reception First Friday February 3rd 6p to 9pFeatured Artist Norma GaffordNorma creates

brilliant watercolor and colored pencil paintings She also works magic with sterling silver making the most beautiful jewelry of all kinds Be sure and check out her ldquoSunken Treasurerdquo line of jewelry

Treehouse Art Collective LLC will also host a 5th birthday party for ldquoGusrdquo the proud cowboy hunk of a skinny-legged gull and unoffi cial ambassador of fun for Corpus Christi Texas during the ArtWalk

Art Museum of South Texas

1902 N Shoreline Blvd Corpus Christi TX 78401 Tel 3618253500Fax 3618253520STIAorgHoursTues - Sat 10a to 5p

Sundays 1p to 5pClosed Mondays amp HolidaysAdmissionAdults $6Seniors (60 and older) $4Active Military $4Students (12+) $2Free- All members- Children under

age 12- Texas AampM University-CC studentsArt of the Dive Portraits of the DeepJanuary 20th through March 11th 2012

The exhibition features 62 paintings sculptures and photographs by marine painters and sculptors who portray underwater life forms and habitatldquoFan Dancerrdquo copyRonnie Willford 2011Free Day at the Art MuseumFebruary 2nd 2012 from 10am - 5pmFamily Day

February 19th 2012 from 1pm - 3pmCheck the museumrsquos website event calendar for Momsamp Tots and other events throughout the month

Rockport Center for the Arts

902 Navigation CircleRockport Texas 78382Tel 3617295519Fax 3617293551RockportArtCentercomHoursTuesdays ndash Saturdays 10a ndash 4pSundays 1p ndash 4pClosed MondaysAlways Free Admission

Rockport Clay Expo 2012

Reception Saturday February 4th 5-7pFeatured Potter Jim Bob SalazarArtist Demonstration Sunday February 5th 10a ndash 1p

West Texas ceramic artist Jim Bob Salazar returns to Rockport for a solo exhibition and demonstra-tionContemporary WatercolorsReception Saturday February 4th 5-7p

Corpus Christi artist Shelly Porter brings her contemporary watercolors to Rockport

Festival of the Arts

The Merriman-Bobys House1521 North Chaparral StreetCorpus Christi Texas 78401CCFestivalArtsorgBy Appointment OnlyAlways Free Admission

First Friday ArtWalk

February 3rd 2012 6p to 9p

11

Exposing Local ArtistshellipBy Georgia Griffin

Harvey Crouch

CanvasThe

ldquoWow Teeny tiny pieceshelliprdquo those were my first words upon looking at detailed photographs of Harvey Crouchrsquos singular woodworking creations Now some may be surprised to find a woodworker as the focus of a column that is about local artists but let there be no mistake about it ndash Harvey Crouch IS an artist and he makes wood sing

Like many artists Harvey took a lifelong hobby discovered in high school shop class to the next level after retiring Having moved to Padre Island after his last tour of duty during his 31-year career as a USMC pilot he retired as Commanding Officer of Marine Aviation Training Group at NAS Corpus Christi in 1993 and his journey toward artistry began in earnest

After spending some years building custom furniture and cabinetry Harvey took his first steps on ldquothe road less traveledrdquo ndash he bought a woodworking lathe Rather quickly Harvey became addicted to the self-expression available to him through woodturning After he took some workshops with his mentor Malcolm Tibbetts he really began to develop some segmented turning skills Harvey is now the Vice President of the Segmented Woodturners Club a specialized chapter of the American Association of Woodturners Also known as polychromatic turning it has captivated Harvey and become the focus of his serious artwork

ldquoMost of the things that I do now most of the sculptures you make something and then you cut it apart and then you reassemble it Itrsquos hard too I spend a lot of my time thinking about a projectrdquo

ldquoThis is one of my favorites (Donrsquot Fence Me In) therersquos 840 pieces in there Itrsquos 40 inches I go to 2-3 national shows every year and they always recognize it - if it looks like itrsquos from Texas they always recognize that itrsquos my work Itrsquos sort of a joke among my friends I like to think itrsquos art because Irsquom painting a picture ndash Irsquove got a corral here Irsquove got longhorns there Irsquove got barbed wire here ndash Irsquom painting a picture of the longhorns in the southwest

ldquoThere will be the purists who will say ldquoThatrsquos a craftrdquo but you know the potters went through the same thing They went through a lot of years before pottery was accepted as an art Itrsquos just a hard mindset to break Eventually it gets there but itrsquos time it takes time Wersquore still working in it Some people have accepted it and some still havenrsquot And if you go to an art gallery yoursquoll see that reflected in the prices because work like this is not typically priced as art Itrsquos priced as a craft Now I work (in the studio) 5-6 hours a day and Irsquoll have a month in a lot of these projects If I sold them for whatever price

I could get for them I wouldnrsquot be making minimum wage So I keep most of them my children have quite a bit of them and I give some awayhellip I have sold probably a dozen pieces but I sell them more by accident than by designrdquo

I was first introduced to Harveyrsquos work when his sculpture Statement won Best In Show last year at the annual All Memberrsquos Show for the Art Center of Corpus Christi

12

Exposing Local ArtistshellipBy Georgia Griffin

Harvey Crouch

CanvasThe

ldquoWow Teeny tiny pieceshelliprdquo those were my first words upon looking at detailed photographs of Harvey Crouchrsquos singular woodworking creations Now some may be surprised to find a woodworker as the focus of a column that is about local artists but let there be no mistake about it ndash Harvey Crouch IS an artist and he makes wood sing

Like many artists Harvey took a lifelong hobby discovered in high school shop class to the next level after retiring Having moved to Padre Island after his last tour of duty during his 31-year career as a USMC pilot he retired as Commanding Officer of Marine Aviation Training Group at NAS Corpus Christi in 1993 and his journey toward artistry began in earnest

After spending some years building custom furniture and cabinetry Harvey took his first steps on ldquothe road less traveledrdquo ndash he bought a woodworking lathe Rather quickly Harvey became addicted to the self-expression available to him through woodturning After he took some workshops with his mentor Malcolm Tibbetts he really began to develop some segmented turning skills Harvey is now the Vice President of the Segmented Woodturners Club a specialized chapter of the American Association of Woodturners Also known as polychromatic turning it has captivated Harvey and become the focus of his serious artwork

ldquoMost of the things that I do now most of the sculptures you make something and then you cut it apart and then you reassemble it Itrsquos hard too I spend a lot of my time thinking about a projectrdquo

ldquoThis is one of my favorites (Donrsquot Fence Me In) therersquos 840 pieces in there Itrsquos 40 inches I go to 2-3 national shows every year and they always recognize it - if it looks like itrsquos from Texas they always recognize that itrsquos my work Itrsquos sort of a joke among my friends I like to think itrsquos art because Irsquom painting a picture ndash Irsquove got a corral here Irsquove got longhorns there Irsquove got barbed wire here ndash Irsquom painting a picture of the longhorns in the southwest

ldquoThere will be the purists who will say ldquoThatrsquos a craftrdquo but you know the potters went through the same thing They went through a lot of years before pottery was accepted as an art Itrsquos just a hard mindset to break Eventually it gets there but itrsquos time it takes time Wersquore still working in it Some people have accepted it and some still havenrsquot And if you go to an art gallery yoursquoll see that reflected in the prices because work like this is not typically priced as art Itrsquos priced as a craft Now I work (in the studio) 5-6 hours a day and Irsquoll have a month in a lot of these projects If I sold them for whatever price

I could get for them I wouldnrsquot be making minimum wage So I keep most of them my children have quite a bit of them and I give some awayhellip I have sold probably a dozen pieces but I sell them more by accident than by designrdquo

I was first introduced to Harveyrsquos work when his sculpture Statement won Best In Show last year at the annual All Memberrsquos Show for the Art Center of Corpus Christi

12

Harvey Crouch

13

ldquoWhen I won the best of show last year I told the director (Bob Baker) that I was shocked because down there clearly the art center stresses things that are hung on a wall They stress acrylics oils and watercolors I never thought Irsquod see a wooden piece take best of show down there They had a graphic arts guy there last year [Kyle Chaput was the juror] and he appreciated the graphic impact of the piecerdquo

I can understand Harveyrsquos surprise ndash I too was pleasantly surprised that his piece had won Itrsquos an unusual media in general especially since as discussed when competing with the more traditional forms of artwork itrsquos

still treated as lsquocraftworkrsquo Nothing could be further from lsquomerely craftrsquo than the pieces as complex and technically challenging as the sculptural works Harvey creates

ldquoIt does require patience Yoursquore creating like 300 little pieces cutting them and sanding them and gluing them together Therersquos no paint or stain ever used in any of these Most of the wood is from South America or Africardquo

Harvey gave me a very detailed description of the creation process for the piece and man it is intense He shaped by turning on the lathe he cut he glued he cut with a band saw he notched and sanded and assembled disassembled made minute adjustments tweaks and regluedhellip as he describes the process I could see that I should have paid far more attention to geometry trigonometry and the virtue of patience as a kid The end result a complex grouping of gracefully arced tubes of wood balancing in air is just stunning

ldquoThis base was actually my wifersquos idea I said I think a square base is just not going to do it justice and she said just follow the curve through there and the base becomes actually a part of the sculpture And I think that really worksrdquo

Harvey beamed as he showed me his latest masterpiece Crooked Road Ahead ldquoThis is going to be the feature of the art show that I have coming up The only show I enter locally is the All Members Show which Irsquom not going to enter this year since Irsquom going to have the whole back room with the one man show I want to feature this piece and I think it would do very well in the [group] show but I want it back there in my own showrdquo

ldquoBelieve it or not one of the hardest times I had was figuring out how to put this curved dashed line in this curved road It took me a while I had to think about that onerdquo

ldquoYou know the local woodturners club here theyrsquoll go out and spend 3 hours and theyrsquoll make a bowl They canrsquot envision spending a month on a bowlhellip [but] some of them are starting to get into it itrsquos kind of addictive once you start doing itrdquo

ldquoIt does require a different mindset though You canrsquot expect instant gratifica-tion and itrsquos a one-person endeavor I spend at least as much time thinking about the next project and whatrsquos possible as doing it My dog and I walk for 3 miles every day and thatrsquos where most of my projects come from is on that walkrdquo

Speaking of walkinghellip I urge you folks to take a walk through the Art Center of Corpus Christi on Thursday February 9th from 6p to 9p Yoursquoll be treated to two lovely local shows at one time The 39th Annual All Members Show will be taking place and Harvey Crouch will be taking advantage of his prize as last yearrsquos Best in Show winner ndash a chance to have a solo show of the most elegantly turned artwork yoursquoll ever see all assembled from teeny tiny pieces of exotic woods

Events Page

Aurora Arts Theatre ndash

Little Shop of Horrors

running thru Feb 19th

auroraartstheatrecom

Mark your calendarsAt the Art Center of

Corpus Christi on February 2nd from 6-8pm the

Corpus Christi Independent Artistsrsquo Group will be

hosting a wine and cheese tasting

Tickets are available at the Art Center Corpus

Christi

Texas Outdoor Family Workshop

ndash Feb 18th - Feb 19th Goose Island State Park 512- 389-8900 This program will teach you and your family basic camping

skills Equipment supplied Fees apply call for details

2nd Annual Itrsquos Your Life Foundation WalkRun

ndash Feb 11th Heritage Park 800am ndash 1200pm 361-229-5561 Education on making healthy

life choices 2mile walk and 5k run along Corpus Christi bayfront Fees apply call for

details

American Bank Center ndashSpamalot Feb

6th 730pm

Spamalot tells the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they embark on their quest for the Holy Grail Flying cows killer rabbits taunting Frenchmen and show-stopping musical numbers are just a few of the reasons

audiences everywhere

Friday Feb 3 ndash Americarsquos Premiere Doo-Wop Group ldquoThe Alley Catsrdquo and ldquoThe Perfect Gentlemenrdquo keeping the tradition of vaudeville alive will join together for a nostalgic evening of singing and entertain-ment on Friday Feb 3 at 730 pm in

the Performing Arts Center at Texas AampM University-Corpus Christi The show is part of the Furgason Bravo Series Reserved-seat tickets are available at httptamucctixcom or by calling 361825ARTS (2787) to charge by phone Tickets are $36 and $26 with $7 tickets for children and Texas AampM-Corpus

Christi students with SandDollar$ ID

Harbor Playhouse ndash

Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor

Dreamcoat Feb 10- thru March 4th Take a journey into one of the most loved stories of The Bible as told through Andrew Lloyd Weberrsquos tale of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat An inspiring story that travels the highlights of Josephrsquos life telling of the trials and ultimate triumph Brilliantly staged in multiple generes of music and dance this show will remind you that indeed ldquoany dream will dordquo

6th Annual Rise and Shine WalkRun

ndash Feb 18th Whataburger Field 800am 361-533- 4778 Promoting awareness and the inclusion of people with special needs raise funds to support the Rise School of Corpus Christi 1k walk 5k walk and 5k

run Fees apply call for details

Events Page

Aurora Arts Theatre ndash

Little Shop of Horrors

running thru Feb 19th

auroraartstheatrecom

Mark your calendarsAt the Art Center of

Corpus Christi on February 2nd from 6-8pm the

Corpus Christi Independent Artistsrsquo Group will be

hosting a wine and cheese tasting

Tickets are available at the Art Center Corpus

Christi

Texas Outdoor Family Workshop

ndash Feb 18th - Feb 19th Goose Island State Park 512- 389-8900 This program will teach you and your family basic camping

skills Equipment supplied Fees apply call for details

2nd Annual Itrsquos Your Life Foundation WalkRun

ndash Feb 11th Heritage Park 800am ndash 1200pm 361-229-5561 Education on making healthy

life choices 2mile walk and 5k run along Corpus Christi bayfront Fees apply call for

details

American Bank Center ndashSpamalot Feb

6th 730pm

Spamalot tells the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they embark on their quest for the Holy Grail Flying cows killer rabbits taunting Frenchmen and show-stopping musical numbers are just a few of the reasons

audiences everywhere

Friday Feb 3 ndash Americarsquos Premiere Doo-Wop Group ldquoThe Alley Catsrdquo and ldquoThe Perfect Gentlemenrdquo keeping the tradition of vaudeville alive will join together for a nostalgic evening of singing and entertain-ment on Friday Feb 3 at 730 pm in

the Performing Arts Center at Texas AampM University-Corpus Christi The show is part of the Furgason Bravo Series Reserved-seat tickets are available at httptamucctixcom or by calling 361825ARTS (2787) to charge by phone Tickets are $36 and $26 with $7 tickets for children and Texas AampM-Corpus

Christi students with SandDollar$ ID

Harbor Playhouse ndash

Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor

Dreamcoat Feb 10- thru March 4th Take a journey into one of the most loved stories of The Bible as told through Andrew Lloyd Weberrsquos tale of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat An inspiring story that travels the highlights of Josephrsquos life telling of the trials and ultimate triumph Brilliantly staged in multiple generes of music and dance this show will remind you that indeed ldquoany dream will dordquo

6th Annual Rise and Shine WalkRun

ndash Feb 18th Whataburger Field 800am 361-533- 4778 Promoting awareness and the inclusion of people with special needs raise funds to support the Rise School of Corpus Christi 1k walk 5k walk and 5k

run Fees apply call for details

Live Music TonightThe Coastal Bends Most Complete Live Music CalendarCompiled by Ronnie Narmour

Live Music Tonight

15

Sponsored by Hours

Sun Tues-Thurs

1100AM till 1000PM

Closed MONDAY

Fri-Sat 1100AM-Midnight

Live musicFriday Saturday Sunday

Burgers Seafood Salads Sandwiches

Dog Friendly Full Bar520 S Shoreline

Corpus Christi TX 78401361-726-3533

check us out on Urbanspooncom

check us out on Facebookcom

If your venue or show isnrsquot listed let us know wersquoll get your dates in the next issue

The Coastal Bendrsquos Most Complete Live Music Listings

Wednesday Feb 1st

Open Jam w Wolf Jaw Flats Lounge PA Rockers Berniersquos Beach HouseBeer amp Berto Show House of RockCrazy Cats Dr RockitsMedicare Band Moby Dickrsquos

Thursday Feb 2nd

Free Beer Band Tarpon Ice House Fall Shattered Divinity Oh the Irony House of RockPat Green Bri Bagwell Brewster Street Ice HouseAntone amp the All Stars Dr RockitsReely Rotnz Executive Surf Club

Friday Feb 3rd

Artwalk w Bar Nutz House of RockSpazmatics Brewster Street Ice House Another Level Dr Rockits Trysum Executive Surf Club Colin Roche Docrsquos SeafoodAlley Cats Perfect Gentlemen Performing Ars Center TAMUCC

Saturday Feb 4th

Terri Hendrix 3rd Coast TheaterMike Pinto Ugly Lion Flatbroke House of RockFred Andrews amp Honeybrowne Executive Surf ClubMike Milligan amp the Altar Boys Dr Rockits Pear Ratz Pake Rossi Brewster Street Ice House Colin Roche Docrsquos Seafood

Sunday Feb 5th

Open Electric Jam w Rockinrsquo Ricke Tarpon Ice HouseThe Weak Day Boys Dr Rockits Tumble Dry Low Berniersquos Beach House

Monday Feb 6th

Curtis Grimes House of Rock Open Jam w Antone Perez Dr Rockits Monty Python Spamalot American Bank Center

Tuesday Feb 7th

Redbull Schooled ADd Niceguys Kydd Jones Worldwide House of Rock Steven James amp Shakedown Dr Rockits Clarissa Serna Revolution Bar and Grill

Wednesday Feb 8th

Open Jam w Wolf Jaw Flats Lounge PA Rockers Berniersquos Beach HouseRed Giants Dr Rockits Texas AampM Bug Party Shakedown House of RockMedicare Band Moby Dickrsquos Thursday Feb 9th Free Beer Band Tarpon Ice House James Hyland Two Peas in a Pod House of RockAntone amp the All Stars Dr Rockits John Evans Band Executive Surf Club Rock amp Worship Road Show American Bank Center

Friday Feb 10th

Hasta la Tierra Corrupt Bastards Obliterates Jokes on You Mariachi del Inferno House of RockScarecrow People Executive Surf Club John Cortez Dr Rockits

Saturday Feb 11th

The 71rsquos Tommy Luke Toad Cavegirl House of RockSecond Saturday Sing-Along Piano Show Brewster Street Ice House Bus Stop Stallions Executive Surf Club Shelly King Dr Rockits

Sunday Feb 12th

Open Electric Jam w Rockinrsquo Ricke Tarpon Ice HouseFlatbroke Dr Rockits Tumble Dry Low Berniersquos Beach House

Monday Feb 13th

DampS House of Rock Open Jam w Antone Perez Dr Rockits

Tuesday Feb 14th

Open Mic w Rev Matt Martinez House of RockSteven James amp Shakedown Dr Rockits

Wednesday Feb 15th

Open Jam w Wolf Jaw Flats Lounge PA Rockers Berniersquos Beach HouseFlatbroke House of RockForest Wayne Allen Band Dr Rockits Medicare Band Moby Dickrsquos Thursday Feb 16th Free Beer Band Tarpon Ice House Battle of the Bands House of Rock Stoney LaRue Dirty River Boys Brewster Street Ice House Antone amp the All Stars Dr Rockits Shakedown Executive Surf Club

Friday Feb 17th

Philip Thomas Divided Revival House of RockAnother Level Brewster Street Ice House Chris Watson Dr RockitsBushbulit Executive Surf Club

Saturday Feb 18th

Richard Leigh 3rd Coast TheaterBluegrass Festival The GaffBri Bagwell amp Banned Executive Surf ClubRuben V Dr RockitsNot in the Face House of Rock CC Symphony Performing Arts Center TAMUCC

Sunday Feb 19th

Open Electric Jam w Rockinrsquo Ricke Tarpon Ice HouseRanson Jack Dr Rockits Tumble Dry Low Berniersquos Beach House

Monday Feb 20th

Curtis Grimes House of Rock Open Jam w Antone Perez Dr Rockits

Tuesday Feb21st

Open Mic w Rev Matt Martinez House of Rock Steven James amp Shakedown Dr Rockits Sesame Street Live Elmo Makes Music American Bank Center

Wednesday Feb 22nd

Open Jam w Wolf Jaw Flats Lounge PA Rockers Berniersquos Beach HouseBeer amp Berto Show House of RockNeil Edwards Band Dr Rockits Medicare Band Moby Dickrsquos

Thursday Feb 23rd

Supersuckers Spittinrsquo Cobras Executive Surf ClubCasey Donahew Ryan Beaver Brewster Street Ice HouseFree Beer Band Tarpon Ice House Antone amp the All Stars Dr Rockits Voodoo Glow Skulls Authority Zero Skyfox House of Rock

Friday Feb 24th

Hamilton Loomis Executive Surf ClubMatt Haimovitz Javier Caderon Lee Buckner House of Rock The Groove Dr Rockits JR Castillo Brewster Street Ice House American Spirit (Corpus Christi Live) Performing Arts Center TAMUCC

Saturday Feb 25th

Vallejo Executive Surf ClubRosie Flores Dr Rockits

Sunday Feb 26th

Open Electric Jam w Rockinrsquo Ricke Tarpon Ice HouseTumble Dry Low Berniersquos Beach HouseHenry amp the Invisibles Dr Rockits Dance Gavin Dance A Lot Like Birds Decoder Tribal Seeds Fortunate Youth House of Rock

Monday Feb 27th

D$S House of Rock Open Jam w Antone Perez Dr Rockits

Tuesday Feb 28th

Open Mic w Rev Matt Martinez House of Rock Steven James amp Shakedown Dr Rockits

Wednesday Feb 29th

Open Jam w Wolf Jaw Flats Lounge PA Rockers Berniersquos Beach HouseHOBO House of RockJustin Estes Band Dr Rockits Medicare Band Moby Dickrsquos

Voodoo Glow Skulls Authority Zero Skyfox House of Rock

Thursday February 23

16

What Would John Leguizamo Do ldquoI own my life I can talk about it

Unfortunately yoursquore attached to itrdquo

To prep for my interview with the super smooth and talented John Leguizamo I did what any journalist would do exfoliated moisturized deep conditioned my hair and shaved my legs There were a couple coats of mascara along with some really strong foundation garments too Sure I couldrsquove spent some intimate time with Google or Netflix ndashbrushing up on my Leguizamo performance catalog - but I knew that feeling and looking my best (even for a phone interview) were way more important than sounding like I knew what I was talking about

So John Gush Swoon He is that cool and captivating His new one-man performance Ghetto Klown will be bringing him to American Bank Centerrsquos Selena Auditorium on Valentinersquos Day Based on my experiences with his comedy I eagerly anticipated a bit orsquo raunch some swear wordshellip humor that would set my own potty mouth at ease Alas it was not to be (Hersquos saving up for the show) John was the perfect gentleman who graciously answered all of my questions did not ridicule my long-handed writing style (he actually said my approach made me part of my writing ndash and he liked that) and he even parted with some great advice So it is only natural that I will now ask myself before I do anything What Would John Leguizamo Do

The start of something good

John started doing college talks around the country He would ldquoimbibe to loosen up while talking about my career being a comedian an actor all sorts of ridiculousness Irsquod talk about the journey of being a performer and the mistakes Irsquove made successes the little momentsrdquo These talks were the muse for Ghetto Klown Johnrsquos fifth one-man play (his third on Broadway) The show gets its name from the guys who would hang out on the street or at the park the guys ldquolike me who made the time go fast and had nothing but each other to goof onrdquo

After all the films (Carlitorsquos Way Romeo amp Juliet To Wong Foo Moulin Rouge ) and television (The Kill Point ER) John insists that the stage is his favorite domain because ldquoyou just canrsquot fake itrdquo Itrsquos the ldquoOlympics of acting has to be authenticrdquo The stage is where the real boys play And play he does But make no mistake ndash it is work hard work He prepares for his high octane

performance with jogging (ldquoShows are no jokerdquo) and when you see him own the stage yoursquoll understand why

Academy award winning producer actor and old pal Fisher Stevens directs Johnrsquos performance in Ghetto Klown and as John explains ldquoI needed someone who knew me really well and would call me out if I tried to fronthelliphe [Fisher] is a great actor producer just won an Oscar for The Cove He would call me on my bullshitrdquo About his own performance and expectations for the audience he offers ldquoNothing like a live performance [Its] incredible where we can all go with the power of suggestion with mime Itrsquos amazing laughing at our foibles and weaknesses It keeps me goingrdquo

Nothing is really off limits except for the stuff he just canrsquot talk about legally One visit to the showrsquos website ghettoklownonbroadwaycom and immediately yoursquoll hear audio of Johnrsquos voice divulging that lawyers were calling him telling him to cease and desist his family is suing himhellip all over the material in the show What would make his own family sue him ldquoPeople donrsquot like to be portrayed in less than stellar ways I own my life I can talk about it Unfortunately yoursquore attached to itrdquo But family Suing him He claims that his parents are still part of the show but he offers a more mature forgiving portrayal of them ldquoItrsquos not perfect or great but accept itrdquo How does he feel about censorship his orders to cease and desist He obviously canrsquot share that with us (I know about it) but he said of censorship ldquoItrsquos easy to let go of the small storiesrdquo This is going to be a great show

Oh and one more thinghellipI actually did do more than just moisturize in prepa-ration of this interview and I would be remiss if I didnrsquot mention this teeny tiny little thing (or a really big thing depending on whorsquos yoursquore talking about) is a topic of conversation commonly associated with his name in online message boards (thanks to his frank discussion on the matter in Playboy Magazine) Foreskin Letrsquos talk foreskin not because it was a huge part of my conversation with JOHN LEGUIZAMO (we didnrsquot go deep into it we just touched on the tip of it) but because I know my mother is reading this and I know that she will gasp in horror to find out that I Went There Yes I did Momma John is on Team Foreskin though he wonrsquot be discussing it in Ghetto Klown (it was in Freak)

What Would John Leguizamo Do

17

by Aletha Eyerman

bull NEW menu selections - Lunch specials starting at $599bull Spectacular sunsetsbull Scenic view of boats barges and wildlife bull Live music Friday amp Saturday nights by local artistsbull Large ldquosea-levelrdquo patio for parties and events

Intracoastal Waterfront Dining

Open Daily 11AM3619496744

Located on Padre Island Under the JFK Bridge

13309 S Padre Island Drwwwdocsseafoodandsteakscom

Like us on Facebook

Voted Best Full Service Restaurant 2011 Taste of the Island

Dining GuideDining GuideDining GuideLOS CABOSCafe amp Cantina

939-8300 Phone939-8302 FAX9601 SPID

Authentic Mexican Cuisine

Los Cabos Cafe amp Cantina in Flour Bluff serves authentic Mexican cuisine made from the freshest ingredients We have an outdoor patio (smoking allowed) and a full bar

Live entertainment Thursday through Sunday

15 discount for seniors and military with proper ID

Kids Eat Free

Funtrackers

Los Cabos

Flou

r Blu

Driv

e

SPID

With 30+ years of German baking experience and tradition in Germany owners Juergen amp Brigitte Kazenmayer have brought the original tastes aromas and joys of German breads pastries pies and cakes to Corpus Christi Texas Committed to maintaining the highest German standard every product is handmade following age-old German traditions and recipes There are no short-cuts at JBrsquos Every product is made from scratch We want you to experience the best of Germany in Texas

15137 SPIDOn the Island

361-949-5474Open Tues - Sat 7 am - 7 pm

Sunday 8 am - 6 pm

c

Yin Yang Fandango amp Tango Tea Room

The Tango Tea Room brings a taste of Austin to Downtown Corpus Tango serves a variety of Mediterranean and world cuisine including some of the best vegetarian and vegan fare you can fi nd in Corpus We also specialize in vegan and gluten-free desserts cupcakes and muffi ns Come on down and get your hippie on

505 S Water Street in downtown Corpus Christi

361-883-9123Tangofandangocom

Holiday Hours10-3 Monday through Thursday

10-9 Friday amp Saturday

12-6 Sunday

TangoTea Room

LibationsAmusements

18 holes of miniature golfOpen 11 am - 2 am

Kitchen Closes 1 am2034 State Highway 361361 749- Taco (8226)

Town amp Country Cafe has great breakfast and lunch specials every day offering great food at a fair price Town amp Country Cafe is a great location for business meetings and client luncheons and there is no charge for the use of the meeting room

4228 South Alameda

Corpus Christi TX 78412

(361) 992-0360Locally Owned and Operated

Dining GuideDining GuideDining Guide

Coffee Waves Port A1007 State Hwy 361 Port Aransas

361-749-0825Open 6am-Midnight

Live Music Art Shows

Buy One GelatoGet One FreeOnly in Port A

Gi

Snoopyrsquos and ScoopyrsquosSnoopyrsquos Pier was literally a product of the

Redfi sh Wars a battle over commercial fi shing rights in Texas Ernie Buttler realized the Redfi sh Wars signaled the beginning of the end of the commercial fi shing industry in Texas So Ernie decided to give up trying to catch fi sh and shrimp and start cooking them instead In August 1980 Ernie and his wife Corliss purchased a small bait stand and burger joint with a fi shing pier on the Intracoastal Waterway Over time the place was transformed with a lot of hard work and patience into a family-friendly seafood restaurant Special attention is given to providing local harvested quality seafood at affordable prices

Scoopyrsquos was opened by Erniersquos wife and features home made soups salads and sandwiches using only Texas products Scoopyrsquos is proud of their shrimp salad known by locals as the best in town They also have great house made desserts and ice cream by the scoop

13313 SPID Corpus Christi(361) 949-8815 snoopyspiercom

cC Bar

C Bar offers organic gourmet coffees artisan level espresso fresh-baked pastries assorted panini sandwiches frozen fruit smoothies and gelato In addition to Cof-feeWavesrsquo popular menu C Bar has a full premium bar featuring microbrewery beer an extensive wine list and super premium liquor Taking advantage of this unique combination C Bar serves fresh fruit gelato daiquiris and pintildea coladas and coffee Baileyrsquos with gelato C Barrsquos signature drink Martini Floats

361-749-0704165 Social Circle in Cinnamon Shore

5009 Hwy 361in Port Aransas

LibationsAmusements

18 holes of miniature golfOpen 11 am - 2 am

Kitchen Closes 1 am2034 State Highway 361361 749- Taco (8226)

Taste The DifferenceThe Gourmet Pizza

Our famous Padre Pizza dough is handmade daily Our sauces are created from the

freshest tomatoes and seasoned with our own Chefrsquos blend of natural herbs and spices Our lasagna made from scratch daily is the

most tasty and delicious you will ever try and our salad selections are prepared to order

using the freshest produce available

14993 SPIDOn the Island 949-0787

11 am - 4 pmTry Our Daily Specials

18 Holes of

LibationsAmusements

Miniature Golf

361 749- Taco (8226) 2034 State Highway 361

One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite One Bite amp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquoreamp Yoursquore

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Open 11 am - 2 amKitchen Closes 1 am

Located at Ennis Joslin amp Ocean Drive

Featuring a buffet seven days a week twice daily Dine-in amenities include Big Screen TVs Free WiFi Daily Beer Specials Texas AampM Sand Dollars acceptedMilitary Appreciation on Tuesdays Visit pizzastatecom for daily specials and online coupons College Student and Senior Discounts

6133 S Alameda Corpus Christi Tx 78412(361) 993-3283

Located on Padre Island Island Italian has been serving the community since 1987 A family friendly restaurant Island Italian also serves beer and wine and is available for private parties of up to 53 people Flat screen TV and DVD VHS for meetings Delivery on Padre Island after 5pmDaily Lunch and Dinner Specials

Hours of OperationMonday - Thursday 11am to 930pm

Saturday 10am to 10pmSunday 5pm to 930pm

949-7737 15370 SPID- On the Island

All you can eat shrimp Wednesdays

are back

Thursdays Prime Rib with Twice Baked Potato

Night Life

Night Life

Live Music

801 Tarpon Port Aransas

TX 78373Open 2pm to

2am Every Day361-749-1990

Itrsquos not the oldest bar in Port Aransas but it IS the coldest Always entertaining The Flats is where the ldquolocalsrdquo hang out Pool darts juke box and live music on the weekends Itrsquos never too slow and itrsquos never too busy get to know the bartenders by name and yoursquoll never wait for a drink Say hi to owners John and Lynda and meet some new friends

Gi

Club GUideClub GUideClub GUide

Personal ServicesPersonal ServicesPersonal Services

Our goal at The Islandrsquos Edge Hair Salon is to educate our clients The focus will be on enhancing balancing amp maintaining a realistic hair lifestyle Owner Stylist Roni has 19 years experience as a stylist in elite salons and earned 2nd place in a prestigious national color competition

15201 SPID Suite 110On The Island

Call for reservations949-0794

theislandsedgehairsaloncom

Roni OwnerStylist

Gi

NFL Sunday Ticket Big 10 Network on 6 Big Screens

Happy Hour Monday - Friday 3-7pm

Live Music Never a Cover

Book your holiday party birthday or special event now

In Ace Hardware Strip Center

1023 Hwy 361 Ste ApORT aRANSAS tx

361-749-joes

Art of Giving House of Rock

copy2011 Anheuser-Busch Inc Michelob Ultrareg Light Beer St Louis MO bull 95 calories 26g carbs 06g protein and 00g fat per 12 oz

WHATS YOUR ULTRA LIFETELL US AT FACEBOOKCOMMICHELOBULTRA

For some the Ultra life is a friendly game of softball a weekend bike group or searching for that perfect round of golf In the end its all about having fun With 95 calories 26 carbs and one exceptionally smooth taste Michelob Ultra is the superior lightbeer perfectly balanced for your life

Ad Name MU Ultra Life IconicItem PMU201110010

Order 235680

Trim 8 x 105Bleed 9 x 115Live 75 x 10

Closing Date 122111QC LDPub CC Mag

Toys for Tots

Art of Giving House of RockLenz

THE

23copy2011 Anheuser-Busch Inc Michelob Ultrareg Light Beer St Louis MO bull 95 calories 26g carbs 06g protein and 00g fat per 12 oz

WHATS YOUR ULTRA LIFETELL US AT FACEBOOKCOMMICHELOBULTRA

For some the Ultra life is a friendly game of softball a weekend bike group or searching for that perfect round of golf In the end its all about having fun With 95 calories 26 carbs and one exceptionally smooth taste Michelob Ultra is the superior lightbeer perfectly balanced for your life

Ad Name MU Ultra Life IconicItem PMU201110010

Order 235680

Trim 8 x 105Bleed 9 x 115Live 75 x 10

Closing Date 122111QC LDPub CC Mag

Toys for Tots

It Takes Tea

Tango Tea Room505 South Water Street

361-883-9123

To Tango

Real Satisfying food prepared just for you from fresh ingredients

Huge Vegetarian Vegan amp Gluten-Free Friendly Menu Fresh Non-veg stuff too

Ice Cold DrinksSmoothies

Flavored TeasMilkshakes

And other cool treats

LenzTHE

Corpus Christi Ice RaysStars amp Stripes

American Bank Center

25

I have seen many many many musicals over the years but never Fiddler on the Roof Surprisingly I didnrsquot even know what it was

about (It takes immense talent to be this unob-servant) My mother wanted to right this wrong my sister-in-law was horrified They fought against better judgment and let me tag along on their girlsrsquo night out on January 11th I usually do something mortifying to remind them why they never take me out in public and I can honestly say that this time I outdid myself

Let me first say that musicals are not for everyone Yoursquore enjoying a show then all of a sudden people start singing at each other At each other Sometimes the song works sometimes you even sing along sometimes it is just plain awkward Sometimes you canrsquot help but rush the stage and take the lead Which is what I did

In my mind

Fiddler is the story of Tevye (played by the truly glorious John Preece) a poor Jewish milkman and his struggle to support his family and live according the beautiful traditions of his ancestors Throw in his nagging wife Golde (Gerri Weagraff) and five strong-willed daughters of whom the eldest three are shifting further away from their birthright - the traditional Jewish life he wishes them to embrace Oh and the story is set in Tsarist Russia at the beginning of the 1900s Tevye meets resistance from his wife and daughters the Jewish oppression by Russian law and eviction from his homeland Throughout all this turmoil and horror Tevyersquos proud voice never falters

From the first song I was part of that show I was so captivated that I sat on the edge of my seat with the biggest most ridiculous smile on my face As anyone who has ever been to Selena Auditorium knows there is not a bad seat in the house but during the show it felt like I had the best and only seat The first song ldquoTraditionrdquo welcomed the entire cast to the stage and the power of those voices was unlike anything I have ever heard Then imagine my surprise to see the beautiful bearded Tevye belt out a version of Gwen Stefanirsquos ldquoRich Girlrdquo

Ok I know better But I had you for a minute right

For anyone who has never seen this show before you will be amazed at just how many songs you actually can sing along to ldquoMatchmaker Matchmakerrdquo ldquoTo Liferdquo ldquoDo you love merdquo ldquoSunrise Sunsetrdquo With nearly each new number I would blurt out ldquoI know this one Momrdquo Irsquod do a little jig of glee in my seat as my mom and sis-in-law would sink a little lower in their chairs Bottom line I was just that excited to be at the show

Irsquove been to some stellar shows at the various venues around town and seen countless musicals and general shows in several states and in Canada Irsquove been on Broadway and seen Cabaret at Studio 54 Yet without a doubt the best show in all aspects of cast and production was Fiddler on the Roof right here in Corpus Christi

Fiddler on the Roof photos copy 2010 Carol Rosegg

Performance Review

Fiddler on the RoofBy Aletha Eyerman

26

Carpet Cleaning

MarketplaceTHE Writerrsquos Bloc Postmark deadline March 13 2012

Writerrsquos Bloc is the only literary magazine at Texas AampM University-Kingsville Published once a year it accepts poetry short fiction flash fiction one-act plays interviews and essays from the student body faculty and staff of TAMUK and from writers around the nation and the world

For more information visit

wwwtamukeduartscilanglitwriters_blochtml

Mail work to Writerrsquos Bloc MSC 162

Fore Hall 110 700 University Blvd Kingsville TX 78363-8202

Postmark deadline March 13 2012

PRINTINGSHWEIKICOM

ITrsquoS ThaT eaSy

FOR FREE QUOTES amp SAMPLES CALL (512) 480-0860

Carpet Cleaning

MarketplaceTHE Writerrsquos Bloc Postmark deadline March 13 2012

Writerrsquos Bloc is the only literary magazine at Texas AampM University-Kingsville Published once a year it accepts poetry short fiction flash fiction one-act plays interviews and essays from the student body faculty and staff of TAMUK and from writers around the nation and the world

For more information visit

wwwtamukeduartscilanglitwriters_blochtml

Mail work to Writerrsquos Bloc MSC 162

Fore Hall 110 700 University Blvd Kingsville TX 78363-8202

Postmark deadline March 13 2012

PRINTINGSHWEIKICOM

ITrsquoS ThaT eaSy

FOR FREE QUOTES amp SAMPLES CALL (512) 480-0860

make the connectionJOIN THE CO-OP

NEC Retail is a division of Nueces Electric Cooperative You do not have to buy NEC Retailrsquos products to continue to receive quality distribution services from Nueces Electric Cooperative

855-NEC-RD4U | wwwnecretailcom