Mercury Orchestra Blasts Off, with Fun Retro-Space-Age Gala and Supporters Like Lynn Wyatt

Jeff Gremillion

ONE OF HOUSTON'S most prestigious performing arts organizations, the Mercury orchestra, threw a fabulous “Retro-Futuristic” gala at the Post Oak Hotel, complete with a space-themed musical presentation and a top-tier guest list including Lynn Wyatt.

Using Old Photos, Knickknacks and Other Found Objects, Artist Transforms Gallery Into Space 'to Remember'

Chris Becker

“I’M INTERESTED IN the things left behind,” explains found-object and performance-based installation artist Viktor Givens, whose lovingly crafted installation Coffee/Kool Aid and the Tabernacle of (Re)Memory is on view through April 23 at Community Artists’ Collective.

"I'm gonna live forever/I'm gonna cross that river/I'm gonna catch tomorrow now."

Billy Joe Shaver passed away, last month — another brilliant light in a sky filled with stars who have left us, this year — and these words have rattled around in my head ever since.

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THIRTY YEARS AGO, David Foster composed a song called "My Grown-Up Christmas List." And every time the song is played on the radio this season, I cry. The lyrics are so beautiful — they hit home for me. And as wondrous as it feels to give and receive actual presents, isn't it those intangible gifts that are the most meaningful?

In the song, the narrator speaks to Santa, asking him if he remembers him or her from when he or she was a child, sitting upon his knee and writing letters to him with fantasies and wishes. (Kelly Clarkson, Michael Bublé and others have recorded it over the years.)

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