::Art Car Parade Volunteer Orientation:: We know, we know. You've been sooo busy the last few weeks lounging about in the beautiful weather that you missed the first Volunteer Orientation for this year's Art Car Parade. No worries, we gotcha covered. For all you last minute joiners, (no judgement!) stop by Capital One in Midtown tonight for one of the last Volunteer Orientations. You know it wouldn't be the Orange Show without some hoopla, though,......

No, it's not Mardi Gras. And not THOSE oranges. Our friends at the Orange Show need your juice this weekend. (Mind. gutter. pick it up.) The Orange Show is looking for Volunteers to help with the Bayou City Art Festival Downtown this coming Saturday & Sunday, October 13th & 14 th. Volunteers ages 16 and older are needed to man the Orange Show booth featuring a Mini Art Car Workshop for kids and to help......

The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art is kicking off its Fall with a fantastic afternoon for families, children, artists and all very cool persons who enjoy art cars! Saturday, September 29th from 1-4pm, head on over to Munger Street, home of The Orange Show Monument, for food, drinks and the return of the 2006 winner of the Mayor's Cup - Atomic Dog, created by Waltrip High School. Those of you who hit the Art......

Bayou City Arts Festival: Call for Entries The Bayou City Art Festival Downtown (not to be confused with the Sping Festival in Memorial Park) has announced the call for entries for its third annual “Art on Water” floating art competition on the City Hall Reflection Pool at Hermann Square. This year’s theme is “Water in Motion.” "We’re asking local artists to express movement through artwork either stationary or through kinetic nature of sculpture or installation,”......

The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art will soon be conducting a nationwide search for a new Executive Director, as Susanne Theis will be leaving August 31st to become the new Programming Director of Discovery Green, which opens in early 2008. Susanne has been with The Orange Show for more than 20 years. Under her guidance, The Orange Show has garnered international recognition for the world's largest and oldest Art Car Parade and each of......

Today’s Photos of the Day come from flickr users and Houstonist photo contributors, eschipul, deneyterrio, fotolilith and randyman who have all submitted images of this past weekend's Art Car Events. It was a wild weekend with Art Car festivities going on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Did you know Houston has the oldest and largest Art Car Parade in the world? It's true. Be proud to have such a awesome event in your town. Thanks......

Good morning, Houston. So a record high 40,182 Texas high school seniors won't be graduating this spring because they failed all or some of the TAKS test, the standardized exam required to get a high school diploma. Overall, 84 percent of students passed all four parts of the test — math, science, social studies and English — but black and Hispanic students seemed to have the hardest time, with 28 percent of black students......

Saturday marks the "piece de resistance" of Art Car Weekend - The Art Car Parade! Houstonist is singing "I Love a Parade" in our very best Ethel Merman voice in celebration of this event (normally, we stick to "There's No Business Like Show Business"). The world's largest and oldest parade of its kind makes its way into downtown on Allen Parkway for the 20th year to an anticipated crowd of over 200,000 people. This year's......

Art Car Weekend kicks off tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. at the Art Car Museum with an assist from neighboring Aurora Picture Show. Shop Talk! - Dynamic Art Car Presentations is FREE and open to the public! Part of Heights Boulevard will be closed to through traffic and art cars will be parked on the street for your viewing pleasure. The cars will have illuminary-like very special effects and such - like, say a disco ball,......

The Orange Show is looking for volunteer photographers to shoot the 20th Annual Houston Art Car Parade this weekend! The parade starts at 1pm Saturday on Allen Parkway, but photographers are needed throughout the weekend, from Shop Talk at the Art Car Museum on Friday night to the Awards Ceremony and Brunch at The Orange Show on Sunday Afternoon. Volunteers get an Art Car t-shirt, food & drinks, and the chance to see their......

Looking for something to do with all that spare time? We know, we don't exactly have much spare time, either. However, there are some great volunteer opportunities available for those of you who are so inclined. First, we'd like to tell you about a long term, or ongoing commitment where there is a need to fill that serves the community by assisting those less privileged. The Christian Community Service Center's Emergency Services Program needs some......

Tonight, there's a real retro treat at the Continental Club, beginning at 8:00 p.m. (you have time to register yourself as an Art Car Parade Volunteer first). The Aqua Velva, Houston's only BEST B-52's cover band takes the stage at 3700 Main Street at 8:00 p.m. for some amazing '80's dance music. Folks, if you haven't seen them perform, and you like the B-52's even a little bit, you are missing out. Following them up......

The Art Car Parade requires about 400 volunteers, in order to go off without a hitch. The parade is Saturday, May 12th, and the volunteer recruiting is getting off with a bang tomorrow with a Kick-Off Party at the Whole Foods in West University, located at 4004 Bellaire Boulevard @ Weslayan. Essentially, there will be a big parking lot party from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. with food, music, schwag giveaways and some art cars......

Here is a big, big Houstonist "heads up". The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art will re-open this weekend with some fantastic fanfare and events. This event is from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. this Saturday, it is FREE to attend and beer and wine will be available with proper I.D. (have we got your undivided attention, yet?). This marks a re-opening celebration of the Orange Show - plus (so proud of our Orange Show!!!)......

Have you been kicking yourself because you missed this year's fabulous EV1.Net Art Car Parade? Well, it's time to give your leg a rest and prop it up on the coffee table - Tonight on Local 2 KPRC at 7 p.m. will be the first ever prime time airing of the parade and to celebrate there will be a viewing party at Dave & Buster's at Richmond and Fountainview from 6 - 9 p.m.......

The shot from flickr user and houstonist photo contributor cybertoad. An excellent shot from the Art Car Parade, with Heritage Plaza in the background — we love the juxtaposition of funky art-car art and downtown skyscraper. Maybe this car should be parked there all the time? If you would like to join Houston's best photographers in the houstonist photo group, click here.......

Did you make it out to the 2006 EV1.Net Everyone's Art Car Parade this weekend? If you couldn't make it to see all the cars and enjoy the great weather — check 'em out now! (Drum roll, please ... ) Mayor's Cup Grand Trophy & $1500: Atomic Dog. . . One Nation Under Groove by Waltrip High School Students under the direction of Rebecca Bass (Entry #21) Participants Choice Grand Trophy & $1500: Emerge-N-See......

Get your cameras and your lawn chairs to park yourself for the 2006 EV1.net Art Car Parade. This is not just your grandma's Sunday afternoon parade — there are events for everyone all weekend long and it kicks off today with the Main Street Drag. The Main Street Drag will bring over 70 art cars to more than 30,000 people in schools, hospitals, and community centers who might not be able to experience the......

Add one more thing to the list of southeast Houston attractions: a 71-foot-long nuclear missile in a residential neighborhood. Actually, it's not a missile — it's a car disguised as a missile. And it's art. Houston native Mel Chin designed it, along with art students from East Tennessee State University. They call it "WMD - a Warehouse of Mass Distribution". [...] It is an exact replica of a Peacemaker nuclear weapon, 71 feet long and......

The readers of Texas Highways have named Galveston one of the state's top five vacation destinations — barely. The city ranked fifth on the magazine's list of local getaways, after San Antonio, the Hill Country, Big Bend and South Padre Island. Don't feel bad, little sandbar. It's hard to compete with the Riverwalk, beautiful natural scenery and silicone-filled bikinis. According to KTRK, readers said they like Galveston because it's inexpensive and has "famous landmarks like......