The KTRU Outdoor Show is coming and this year’s is going to be excellent.

Featuring Ratatat, the Dimes, Despot and 120 Days, the event will be free, all-ages and held at Rice University on Saturday, April 7th. Bring your sunscreen, your shades and your ears and have a good time. Music starts at 3 PM and will be held on intramural fields 2 & 3. For more information, check out KTRU’s website at ktru.org.

konnichiwa!! The Japan Fest this year is Saturday, April 14 and Sunday April 15. On schedule will be plenty of martial arts, music, tea ceremonies and of course food. My favorite is the Taiko drumming show done by Houston’s own Kaminari Taiko.

A little further down, you might want to come watch the promotions happening at Shinkikan. The promotions testing starts at 7:30 on Friday, April 20. Maybe a little far off but well worth the wait.

I’m excited for the Hot Town, Cool City movie to premiere this weekend at MFAH (showtimes here).

On the surface Houston is about big oil, NASA, big medicine, big sports, big freeways, hot summers, and humidity. Behind that facade is a network of Cool– Houston is down to earth but still international, sophisticated, cutting edge, avant-garde and world class. The new documentary, Hot Town, Cool City, attempts to answer the question- Why Houston?

The Hot Town, Cool City site has a great interactive map feature for you to submit your fave Houston spots and comment on others. I’ve grown to really love this city and can’t wait to sit next to other Houstonians and watch the story of our city’s hidden gems and treasures.

So we want to ask you: WHY HOUSTON??

Last night, the Inprint Brown Reading Series hosted a rare joint appearance by 2006 Booker Prize Winner, Kiran Desai, and her mother, author of 14 books, Anita Desai. The best part for me was when Bapsi Sidwa (acclaimed writer in her own right), introduced the duo and afterwards, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (another talented writer and also professor for the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program) finished the night off with a discussion with the Desai’s. The reading itself was great – I absolutely adored Inheritance of Loss and found Kiran to be eloquent and friendly. I really loved seeing so many South Asian heavy-hitters on one stage and the fact that they were all brilliantly intelligent women? Pure inspiration!

I have a bit of an indulgence problem with spas and thought it would be fun to post reviews for you guys about my experiences around town. So normally I adore facials but detest the frou-frou attitude that tends to fester with the employees, but I went to Marbella a few months back for some highlights and had such a warm experience that I decided to give them my business next time I was in the mood for a facial.

The owners, Rosie and Eduardo, are amazingly friendly and will chat you up as if old friends. My esthetician was Karen Randon and I picked the “Marbellous Facial” to experiment with. The room we were in had a cozy, soothing feel to it and I immediately felt drowsy! Karen did a really fabulous job. Not only did she NOT pressure me to buy products, but also offered some great at-home remedies for improving my skin. She also gets bonus points for being the salon’s massage therapist because at the end of the facial, she gave me the most amazing shoulder/neck/face massage ever. My face is still glowing after days and luckily I haven’t had any of those pesky break-outs that sometimes occur after extractions.

Best personal touch: the yummy salve she applied on my lips at the end of the facial. Worst: when someone popped a Lean Cuisine lunch into the microwave down the hall somewhere and the smell wafted through to our room and diminished the ambiance a little bit.
Rating: 4.5/5.0

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }
.flickr-yourcomment { }
.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }
.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

Retro club, originally uploaded by LillaKat*.

Next month is Houston’s 2nd Annual Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), sponsored locally by Da Camera of Houston and held throughout the nation with the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s support.

The month-long event will be kicked off with a free concert at the Miller Outdoor Theater on Sunday April 1.

3:00 PM Project Grad’s City Jazz Kidz
4:00 PM HSPVA Big Band
5:00 PM Young Sounds of Houston
6:00 PM Bill Charlap, piano with University of Houston Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Noe Marmolejo

I really dig this JAM concept, as it encourages music lovers and jazz aficionados to ‘Move Beyond the Concert Hall’ and celebrate the jazz scene all over town. Keep an eye on ArtsHound for more April JAM details.

“P@wn3d” by Chuck Ivy

I’ve currently got some of my photography hanging at copy.com on Westheimer two blocks west of Montrose as part of their “New Media Showcase.” My stuff is more or less straight photography mostly shot around Houston using a combination of digital and traditional techniques, but there’s also some digital art by Tim Chambers, and drawings and paintings by Jennifer Chen and Leesa Leva.

I think this show will only be up until the end of March, so check them out while you have a chance. (and most of the pieces are for sale as well, hint, hint.)

Photo originally uploaded by Wiggin’

The Rothko Chapel has been hosting meditation seminars from around the world and I had the best experience going to one recently. This chapel is such a well-hidden treasure in Houston that you’ll have no trouble getting your zen on while learning about meditation practices from the Sikh, Theravada Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Native American traditions. The meditations take place once a month and are completely free. You can check out more information about the next seminar coming up here.

To commemorate the first day of Spring, Dunkin’ Donuts has made today, March 21st, their Free Iced Coffee Day. Go to a local Dunkin’ Donuts and get your freebie 16 oz double-brewed cup o’ liquid crack – the offer is going on all day.

Although he’s never actually visited Houston, rebel cartographic artist Nikolas Schiller has created some very interesting Houston-based eye candy with the help of USGS topographical maps and radial geometry.

Pretty cool huh? You can read more in the Washington Post here (free login might be required).