Back Talk Lake Highlands

Student filmmaker contest tonight

Tonight (Thursday), Lake Highlands High School will host the community to see films written and created by Richardson ISD students. The show begins at 7 pm in the LHHS auditorium, and there is a $5 viewing fee at the door. Each film is less than 5 minutes long, and students had to incorporate a scary Halloween costume into the film. In American Idol fashion the audience will vote, so LHHS kids have more chance of winning the $100 cash grand prize if you show up. See you there!

Online auction benefits RISD students

The RISD Excellence in Education Foundation is hosting an online auction, with proceeds set to benefit students and programs all over the district. ("Wild for Cats" is the Lake Highlands version of the foundation, with all money raised in LH staying in LH.) My favorite items in the auction bid book: (1)an "LH Football Package" - featuring tickets to this Friday night's Halloween game against Carrollton Creekview, including sideline passes and dinner in the pressbox, (2) a hot air balloon ride, (3) tickets to the Richardson Symphony Orchestra's "An Olde English Christmas," and (4) a tropical escape to Cancun.

Plays at Bath House Cultural Center

The last thing Larry Randolph wants people to think is that the drama series his company is putting on this month and next is only for old people.

“There’s nothing half baked about these,” says Randolph, one-third of the group behind One Thirty Productions, which is staging Wedding Belles Oct. 29-Nov. 15 at the Bath House Cultural Center. “These are professional looking productions, and we know how to put on a good piece of work.”

One Thirty bills itself as “Dallas' One and Only Matinee Series,” and its reason for being is to offer plays in the middle of the day for people who can’t –- or don’t want –- to go in the evening. It’s supported by the city’s office of cultural affairs for just that reason, and hence the idea that it would only be of interest to the elderly.

But the first season’s plays received pretty good reviews -– no less than the Observer’s Elaine Liner said of Opal’s Husband, which ran last spring: “This is fun stuff, performed lovingly by professional actors, and directed by Marty van Kleeck who has real respect for the target audience.”

This Weekend: what's on near Lake Highlands

BOO! Halloween isn’t here yet, but the freaky festivities get underway this weekend ...

Check out the Moss Haven Elementary Carnival dubbed the “Walk Like an Egyptian Carnival” Saturday October 25 from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Festivities include a haunted pyramid, fun house, games, prizes, dunk tank, food and culminates in a creepy movie night for goblins of all ages. Funds raised at this carnival will help send the entire MHE student body to the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Sat. Oct. 25, 6 p.m.-9 p.m. St. Bernard of Clairvaux school hosts its famously frightening annual Halloween Carnival complete with candy, games, BINGO and a totally terrifying haunted house. Location: 1420 Old Gate Lane.

And, for a little early holiday shopping ...

Oct. 25, 9 a.m.-5p.m. St. Thomas Aquinas October Market offers an awesome variety of gift items, plus  "Mom's Cafe", which will sell fabulous food from local restaurants. At the North Campus, 6255 E. Mockingbird (west of the intersection at Mockingbird and Abrams).

LHHS Peer Helpers reach out

Today, I got to witness first-hand an innovative program which enables Lake Highlands High School students to interact directly with elementary kids, preaching the message of saying no to drugs and alcohol. The fifth and sixth graders at Aikin Elementary were motionless (no minor feat) and riveted to the action on stage. Casey Boland, AP History teacher and sponsor of the Peer Helpers, guided the high-schoolers, but this was their program. They led it, and they answered kids' questions afterwards about the negative effects of unwise choices made in thoughtless moments. All participants onstage did a great job, including Kate Pumphrey, who was outstanding as the girl who turns to alcohol when her boyfriend breaks up (the kids loved LHHS football star Antoine Harrison as the boyfriend). Trevon Starks was excellent at getting the kids involved, and Jake Vines expertly led them toward the message. Trent Gardner on acoustic guitar got them going, and Amy Bradley was especially strong in the small group breakouts, driving home the takeaway - alcohol and drugs will lead you into a downward spiral.

FREE art at the Bath House

I don't know if other cities have fabulous FREE art galleries, but here in the White Rock Lake area we have the Bath House Cultural Center and it always has something fascinating to offer. The stuff around this time of year gets kind-a spooky too, which I like.

Right now, through Nov. 8, catch Twang and Friends, an exhibit by local artist Jose Vargas. Who is Twang, you ask ... Twang is a cigarette smokin', guitar strummin', wailin' colorful bag of bones. You just have to see him to appreciate him. Makes me ponder what Johnny Cash might be doing in the afterlife.  And while Vargas' work is fun in a lot of ways, there is also obviously a deeper level to it that seems to represent the dark underbelly that is so often part of the artist/ musician's life.

Lake Highlands fall choir concert tonight

Tonight, Lake Highlands area choirs will present their annual Fall Concert in the Lake Highlands High School auditorium at 8 pm. This special evening will mark the long-awaited return of Michael O'Hern, the beloved LHHS choir director who has been undergoing aggressive cancer treatment. The entire community is invited, and there is no charge to attend. Students from LH Junior High, Forest Meadow, LH Freshman Center, and LHHS will perform. See you there!

LHHS Varsity Revue this Saturday night at 6

One long-standing tradition at Lake Highlands High is the Homecoming talent show - "Varsity Revue." Produced by the Band Club, a parent organization of music students in all LH area schools, the show annually plays the Thursday night before and the Saturday night after the Homecoming Game. Organized groups, such as the Highlandettes, Wranglers, and cheerleaders perform, as well as informal groups, like neighborhood garage bands and American Idol wannabees. Don't miss my personal favorites from this year's show: Trent Gardner and Chase Bekarian's version of John Mayer's "Why Georgia Blues," the LHHS drumline playing in the dark with glow-in-the-dark drumsticks (how can the sticks move so FAST?!?!), and show-stopper Lauren Barry, singing "Gravity". She'll knock your socks off (make that your cowboy boots). Tickets are $7 at the door or $10 for reserved seating in the LHHS auditorium, and Saturday's show begins at 6 pm.

Artists studio tours Saturday, Oct. 18

The White Rock Lake Artist Studio Tour happens this Saturday, Oct. 18, at studios all around the White Rock area. Now in it's 16th year, the tour is chock-full of funky and fabulous participants — 45 of them. Here is the official list along with a bit about the studio tour tradition, details on this weekend's event and a lot about local art, in general. A must-see on this year's tour: Studio Arts Dallas on Shoreview.

Speaking of neighborhood artists, many of the same artists involved in the studio tour are also part of an awesome art garden at the State Fair this year — the organizer of the State Fair show, Lottie Minick, maintains an informative and spirited blog that follows the art/gardening/etc. scene around the 'hood.

By the way, don't forget that the State Fair ends Sunday, Oct. 19. If you haven't seen Big Tex yet, you'd better get there in a hurry!

Nick Chatham at White Rock Coffee

For our October Lakewood edition of Advocate magazine, we interviewed young Nick Chatham, a high school freshman who's become a tween sensation of sorts in that neighborhood. This Thursday, Oct. 16, Lake Highlands gets a chance to know Nick, as he performs his wholesome rock music at White Rock Coffee Shop beginning at 8 p.m.