Walking Tall

They were good enough for Jaohn Travolta, KISS and Elton John, and if
the Art Guys have anything to say about it, platform shoes just might be making
a comeback. Short — or, in the politically correct vernacular, vertically challenged
— men, take note. Jack Massing of the Art Guys is sporting a pair of custom-made
platform cowboy boots that first appeared in Houston last month and will continue
to pop up over the coming year. The boots are the centerpiece of a yearlong
performance art project called Height Like Mike, commissioned by Lester
Marks. At a height of “five feet 10.625 inches,” Massing developed the habit
of signing Art Guys correspondence as “Jack Massing, the shorter one” during
the offbeat duo’s 17-year partnership. Despite the lofty stature of Mike Galbreth
(six feet 3.8 inches), Massing insists he doesn’t suffer from height envy when
working with his taller partner. “It’s not that I’m short,” he says. “It’s just
that I’m not tall — and we at the Art Guys believe in ‘equal heights.’ Besides,
if your feet reach the ground, that’s all that really matters.” Look for Massing
and his boots at the Art Guys’ exhibitions, keynote speeches and emceeing gigs
in the coming months. For information, visit www.theartguys.com.
— Amy McGee

Grand Theft Tank
A documentary follows
one helluva joyride

As any forty-niner could tell you, gold will make you crazy. So obsessed with
El Dorado was Shawn Nelson that he dug a mineshaft in the middle of his backyard
in Clairemont, California, in search of riches. And, as any junkie could tell
you, crystal meth will make you even crazier. The same Nelson left his backyard
in 1995, stole a tank from a National Guard compound and went on a real-life
rampage through his neighborhood. Garrett Scott’s documentary, Cul de Sac:
A Suburban War Story, chronicles the speed-fueled joyride of this unemployed
plumber and former soldier. Going beyond the newsreel violence, the film asks
the biggest of all questions: Why? The answer, if we are to believe the director,
lies in the social climate of the time. Either that, or the dude was just plain
nuts. 9 p.m. Mondays in May. Dean’s Credit Clothing, 316 Main. For information,
call 713-868-2101 or visit www.aurorapictureshow.org.
$5. — Keith Plocek

THU 5/13

Ask Alice

Perhaps best known for her Pulitzer-winning novel The Color Purple,
which inspired the 1985 Steven Spielberg film adaptation, novelist-poet-activist
Alice Walker has been a quiet force in modern African-American literature for
years. Exposing what she calls the twin evils of racism and sexism through strong
female characters, Walker once noted that a black woman is “the mule of the
world.” She’s currently promoting her most recent novel, Now Is the Time
to Open Your Heart, a story about a woman traveling through the Grand Canyon
and the Amazon jungle on a spiritual quest. Walker’s own quest brings her to
Houston at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 13. Sawyer Auditorium at Texas Southern University,
3100 Cleburne. For information, call 713-521-2026. Free. – Steven
Devadanam

Desert Gallery

Don’t you just hate the vultures in those nature documentaries? The poor baby zebra is lying there — alone, parched, limbs broken — and then those skinny-necked bastards show up. Justice is served at the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s newly expanded Hall of African Wildlife exhibit, a firsthand look at the country’s animals and ecosystem, featuring tropical forests, desiccated deserts, hundreds of rare beasts and a special display just for you, fellow vulture-hater. Opens Thursday, May 13. One Hermann Circle Drive, 713-639-4629. $3.50 to $6. — Steven Devadanam