Possibilians with Purpose

What don't you know? TEDx Houston asks that question and many more in itsfrenetic debut

All the Tedx Houston curators and volunteers get a moment on stage.
Rachel Meyer brought some movement to Tedx during Dominic Walsh's talk.
David Eagelman talked about the possibilities of being a Possibilian.
Tedx Houston brought a swarm of activity to the theater.
Brene Brown wants you to embrace your vulnerability.

A mobile lab in a backpack designed by students, a car for under $2,000, Houston as home of the largest urban garden in the country, a mosaic floor crafted from bottle caps — try sleeping on those ideas, and about 75 more like them.

TEDx Houston went off without a hitch at University of Houston's 566-seat Lyndall Finley Wortham Theatre in the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Building Saturday. Gathering a near-capacity crowd of friendly, curious and downright willing to engage folks, TEDx Houston is off to a great beginning and sure to make big TED: Ideas Worth Spreading proud.

KUHF's Chris Johnson did a terrific job introducing each speaker and keeping the whole thing running ahead of schedule. Thinking caps off to Culture Pilot and their team of curators and volunteers who contributed to one polished, proud to be a Houstonian day.

Here are some of those ideas that kept me up most of the night.

Sustainability proved to be a strong thread throughout, starting with Brene Brown's revelatory blast through her research on wholeheartedness. Embrace vulnerability and your imperfections, suggested Brown.

We are worthy. We are enough. Amen.

College students in the crowd are probably switching their majors to social work right now. Dan Phillips of The Phoenix Commotion wants us to love broken and castoff stuff. If you have enough of it, you have a pattern and one amazing looking dwelling. Phillips showed images of his artful homes behind him as he rallied against our disposable perfection-centered culture.

Mark Johnson of Hometta also asks us to consider what makes your house a home. Apparently, our children don't give a hoot about those granite counter tops. The oak tree in the back yard, you bet. David Crossley of Houston Tomorrow brought our minds around the growing population and its impact on the loss of Houston's green spaces.

Cristal Montanez Baylor (a former Miss Venezuela winner) of the Hashoo Foundation preaches a different kind of sustainability. Her foundation teaches women in Pakistan the bee keeping biz as long as they keep their children in school, creating a new generation of learners.

Rick Pal of AirGenerate urged us to consider the concept of Jugaad, which means to do with what you have.

The bio-engineering students — Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum Rice 360: Institute for Global Health Technologies and Marie Oden of Rice's Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen — get Jugaad completely. Their innovations in low-cost incubators, a centrifuge made from a salad spinner, and mobile backpack labs had the crowd cheering with pride for what's possible given a problem, some materials and a room full of hungry-to-save-the-world students.

Innovation and a need for big change in our actions and thinking, often a core tenant of any TED experience, were present big time. Gracie Cavnar of Recipe for Success shared some heartbreaking statistics of childhood obesity. We could be looking at the first generation of children who will not outlive their parents.

Chef Monica Pope reminded us that food is about stories. And if you didn't learn anything from your grandmother (I didn't), it's never too late to start making some family food history.

Also, how about eating at the table for a big idea? Rice University sociologist Stephen Klineberg sees Houston's rapidly changing demographics as a chance to succeed or fail, depending on what we do with the information. All the oldsters are Anglo and the youngsters are non-Anglo. Let's figure this out people before we get left in the dust.

Cary Wolfe, also from Rice, wants to reconsider our place in the natural world in his investigations chronicled in the book What is Posthumanism?

The right sides of our brain got a workout too with Two Star Symphony's collective songwriting and a snippet of their score from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Mat Johnson of University of Houston enlisted his personal narrative as a bi-racial child to become a graphic novelist, giving him a chance to reach a much greater audience than the literary genre. His graphic novel Incognegro investigates lynching in America, a crime and scar on American history too often forgotten.

In The Dying Swan, the elegant Rachel Meyer revealed Dominic Walsh's cunning way of using gesture and nuance to create performances that exist between theater and dance. Walsh described his process, sharing a glimpse of a rehearsal of his delicate ballet, For the Two of You. Walsh invited us to consider the wonder of abstraction. "My job is just to ask the questions," he stated.

No TED event seems complete without an idea that actually hurts to think about, like dark matter, the limits of science, and what's happening in our three-pound brain, which has more connections than stars in the Milky Way.

That's where neuroscientist rock star David Eagleman comes in. Religion and politics are too polarizing, leaving a rich place in the middle empty of serious discourse. Perhaps we need to quit cowboying up to things we don't have the tools to understand and start "geeking out," seeking evidence and better questions. Embrace uncertainty, be a Possibilian (Eagelman's sort of fake religion). He doesn't even care how you spell it.

"We know for sure what we don't know," Eagleman said. "Let us not forget the three most important words in the gospel of science, 'I don't know.'"

Earlier in the day, I turned to the woman next to me to find out what brought her to TEDx. She offered, "I just want to learn everything I don't know."

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washed out

Houston DJs remember pioneering music store that's closing after 50 years

Photo by Craig D. Lindsey

Soundswaves announced its imminent closure on Saturday, April 25.

The parking lot of the Soundwaves on 3509 Montrose was well-populated on Saturday, April 25. Earlier in the day, the record/skate/surf shop announced on Instagram that the store would be closing soon and all the merchandise was 50 percent off. Of course, people showed up to grab as many items – LPs, T-shirts, skate shoes – as they could, waiting in line as longtime owner Jeff Spargo rang up customers one-by-one.

Soundwaves was once Houston’s mightiest independent record-store chain, with locations all over the city (its South Main location was frequented by hip-hop heads like the late DJ Screw and famed producer/ex-employee DJ Premier). It all started in 1970 when a then-19-year-old Jeff Spargo opened the Inland Surf Shop in Westbury. Seven years later, he would open up his first Soundwaves near Hobby Airport. He would later merge surfing and sounds when he launched the Montrose location in 1997. An official closing date has yet to be announced, and CultureMap was unable to reach Spargo for comment.

As the new millennium introduced streaming-music platforms that made physical media almost obsolete, record chains like Soundwaves were on the decline. The Montrose store – once a prime destination for local and visiting DJs, with its overwhelming, eclectic selection of vinyl and CDs – would eventually become the last one standing.

We asked a few of the city’s finest spinners if they have memories of stocking up at that location and/or other Soundwaves spots:

Emdee “DJ Kool Emdee” Anderson: “I used to frequent it very often. I remember when DJ Premier used to work at the original Main St. location. And when No More Mr. Nice Guy [from his hip-hop group Gang Starr] was released, he put copies of the album in the front of every record slot. I joke with him about that when I see him.

“That location was a hangout spot for DJs and producers. I got a number of gigs by helping others with music suggestions.”

Kris Stivers: “I have tons of memories (and spent tons of money on records). I was there all the time – practically every location. I introduced my sister to a buddy of mine who worked there and, now, he’s my brother-in-law. My sister then got a job at the Montrose location. She called me once from the store and put Questlove on the phone. I met Little Brother and other artists there. I miss those days.”

GrandfatherCLOC: “I met Blind Rob and Devin The Dude at the one on Gessner & 59. I still have a Soundbombing II T-shirt from when The ARE was working at South Main.

“The most memorable was meeting DJ Theory from [KTRU radio show] 12" Sub, a few years after it was off the air, at the one on Montrose. I heard one of the employees speaking and was like, that's Theory's voice!”

Jason “Flash Gordon Parks” Woods: “I went to all the locations. One of my fondest memories was finding Roy Ayers Ubiquity’s Starbooty and feeling like Steel in Juice.”

Jason “DJ Burb” Rodgers: “I only went to the one on Main. I used to go there every Tuesday after getting out of class at UH-D to listen to some new releases in the listening booths.”

Jason Graeber: “I remember all the great music lovers who worked there. Chris and Brandon always knew about the new EDM artists that were coming out. Bucky was great at introducing people to new rock and underground music. Before you had online influencers, the kids at the record stores drove what people listened to. I remember walking in and checking the end caps from my favorite employees to see what new music they were recommending. I feel that this is something that is missing and why it is harder for great bands to get traction.”

closings music soundwaves