Archive - Feb 8, 2010

Westheimer Block Party Fall 2009
Recently, Chris Gray, Editor of the Houston Press Rocks Off blog, asked a panel of Houston music writers and scenesters about what they'd like to see happen to the Houston music scene in the year 2010. Many different answers came out, but one unanimous request was to do anything we can to revive the old Westheimer Street Festival in all its glory. For several years, Omar and the folks over at Free Press Houston have relentlessly worked at reviving it in a new incarnation with the Westheimer Block Party, but without the ability to close the streets surrounding Taft and Westheimer, they were forced to stop having the biannual event after the final one this last fall. Now, many people are working tirelessly to get the neighborhood of Montrose, the City of Houston and Mayor Annise Parker to back the closing of the streets for a properly managed reincarnation of the Westheimer Street Festival.

This is from Mark Martin, free-speech activist, former music promoter and long-time Montrose resident:

There is a serious effort in the works to reconstitute the old Westheimer Street Festival, with a projected launch date in October of this year. An online petition has just been launched, with the intention of gathering enough evidence of community support to convince the powers that be that the issue deserves to be re-addressed. The individuals involved in this effort have little to no involvement in the previous festival and are determined to avoid the management pitfalls and irresponsibility that plagued the old festival. Any help you can offer getting signatures onto the petition is hugely appreciated. If this can happen, it will be a huge boost to the Houston Music Community.

Everyone in Houston that loves live music, and/or the advancement of the arts in our city needs to sign this thing. You can find the online petition here. Do us proud Houston, it's only for the better!