Project Row Houses, the nationally acclaimed Third Ward-based artists' collective, honors the lasting impact of another Third Warder of note, Lightnin' Hopkins, in its new installation THUNDERBOLT SPECIAL: The Great Electric Show and Dance - Commemorating Sam Lightnin' Hopkins. After the opening reception from 4-7 p.m. Saturday at the El Dorado Ballroom (2310 Elgin, free and open to the public), the participating artists - from such fancifully-named pods like Lone Wolf Recital Corps, Sacred Order of the Twilight Brothers and the Anti-Formalist Reclamation Organization - will salute Hopkins with a multimedia performance touted as an "interwoven variety of music, ritual, spoken word and video."

Alongside Houston artist

's

- a solo exhibit of paintings and drawings depicting urban and social issues, also bowing Saturday -

is scheduled to run through March 9 of next year. Artists

(Professor of Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania),

(Associate Professor, The William Paterson University, New Jersey),

(Program Coordinator, ArtWorks! Mural Art Program, Philadelphia), text/image mingler

and sculptor

will each create a Hopkins-themed installation in one (or more) of Project Row's houses.

They will also draft several proposals for a public memorial to Hopkins - a glaring municipal oversight the Press has pointed out many times. The proposals will be stored in Project Row's archives, where, hopefully, they'll finally come to the attention of someone at the city who can do something about it. - Chris Gray

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