Category: Culture

Nottaway, or how the South won the Civil War

So Nottaway Plantation has burned to the ground.

I have some feelings about this. My paternal ancestors came to Texas from Mississippi; there’s a plantation house that had their name on it in downtown Natchez. There’s also a town, by which I mean a collection of mobile homes, 20 minutes away by car, where the working plantation, more correctly known as the farm labor camp of enslaved persons, was. No guesses as to the nominal race of most of the modern residents. Also no guesses about whether they’re my distant cousins. Possibly not all of them, but definitely some of them.

When I was a kid, my parents took me to Natchez for the Natchez Pilgrimage, which is still a thing, though apparently far less of one than it was when I was a kid and my school still used Johnny Reb as a mascot. I went to Natchez again as an adult, about twenty years ago, still interested in the history but noticing much more strongly that the only history told was that of the white enslavers. And I’ve also done some touring around New Orleans, where I have in-laws, though more of the houses there at later dates talk about enslavement in more detail.

I don’t remember going to Nottaway, but I might have. Or I might not have; it’s more about the rental business for events and weddings. I’ve only ever been interested in the historic homes where the history, even the sanitized versions I learned early in life, is emphasized, and not the commercial uses of the homes. Even the houses people are still living in are more interesting than the ones that are primarily wedding venues.

For the record, I got married the first time on my college campus and the second time at a bed and breakfast in Houston. It never occurred to me to get married at a plantation.

But I was raised in the (white) generation where that was an aspiration. There was a lot of history I didn’t learn until adulthood: the “Memorial Park Riot” of 1917, where Black soldiers mutinied after racist abuse and were court-martialed, and 19 were executed; the Tulsa Massacre of 1921; and, as you can imagine from a student at a school still using the “Confederate flag” and Johnny Reb into the 1980s and beyond, a lot about slavery. In other words, our teachers and the adults around us all lied to us, sometimes deliberately, sometimes by omission. Sometimes because they’d also been lied to, and hadn’t listened to Black voices around them, or hadn’t heard them.

So there’s a dual vision there for me: what a beautiful building Nottaway was. And it was built by enslaved persons as part of a labor camp: not a death camp proper but certainly one where people were worked to death. And people still want to get married there! I can’t clap my hands for the burning of it, but I sure can’t be upset about the people who are clapping.

And I hope it’s not rebuilt, but left in ruins. Rebuilding Nottaway as a wedding venue not only continues to sanitize the history of enslavement and white supremacy, it vindicates that history. Black kids learn early about what slavery means. Let’s not lie to another generation of white kids about it.

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Review: Billy Idol & Joan Jett

Billy Idol with Joan Jett opening. Dickies Arena, May 7, 2025.

If you have to go to a big arena to see a show, Dickies isn’t a bad one. It’s fairly new and the seats are big and comfortable. Plus even at the back end of the house, where we usually sit, the view of both the stage and the screens is good.

Joan Jett opened, doing a good job, though the covers and hits were clearly what the early-arriving fans wanted. She’s still engaged with the music, but the Blackhearts are a bar band, which limits what they can do for an arena show. The Dallas Observer review of her part of the show was a little unkind, but for all that she got the crowd warmed up and told some great stories, she was clearly the lesser of the two, which pains my feminist heart. I loved her songs back in the day, and she’s still putting out good music, but it’s very similar to the old stuff.

Billy is pushing 70, but he’s still stomping and snarling and waving his chains and tearing off his shirt just like he did when he was in his 20s. His voice was a little rough in places but he really held the audience with both his stories and his songs. Steve Stevens, his guitarist, did a fantastic job with the guitar on Flesh for Fantasy, which happens to be my favorite Billy Idol song. I was delighted to hear some brand new music; I haven’t followed him closely but I knew he was still releasing EPs and collaborating with other artists. His set was broad, with all the hits, and deep, with some new, some old, and some covers: he did a great Gimme Shelter with one of his singers, which is almost tailor-made for his snarl. By the end he had us really riled up for Rebel Yell, and then went into a four-song encore that included Hot in the City, Dancing With Myself, a new song, and White Wedding.

We danced out of the arena and went back to our hotel, still singing.

Met Gala 2025 – Superfine

I’m not a real fashion observer but I do enjoy the looks served up at the Met Gala every year. Something I didn’t know for many years is that the Met Gala doesn’t just raise funds for the Met’s Costume Institute, but the institute isn’t funded by the Met. The Institute came to the Met in 1946 but was independently run until 1959. (I also didn’t know the Costume Institute was named after Anna Wintour in 2014.)

This year’s theme was Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. What fascinates me isn’t just the wildness of the costumes, which are often as much high art as wearable fashion, but the complex explanations that go with why the outfits are on theme. This year in particular there were a lot of choices that I didn’t have the background to get, but when I read the explanation or saw the comparison photos, I really got it. One example was Megan Thee Stallion’s hair, which was styled after a well-known Josephine Baker look. I’m very interested in Baker, but this look was from the later part of her career, which I know less about. And I know who Andre Leon Talley was, but I’m not conversant enough with his style to catch all the references to him.

This year’s theme was also interestingly tricky for a lot of white celebrities. Black celebs and other celebrities of color went all out, but even white folks working with Black designers had a needle to thread. Men could go for dandyism, but women, who traditionally show the fanciest clothes at the Met, had to consider whether they might be accused of hijacking the spotlight. As it turned out, most of them, even if they were well-tailored, didn’t hold a candle to the Black celebrities.

It’s been a day since the gala so a lot of pictures and commentary are out there now. I recommend TLo and Lainey Gossip for deep dives into some of the costumes if that’s your thing. I’ve also linked some articles I’ve read that I thought were interesting.

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Review: Tamara de Lempicka at MFAH

Tamara de Lempicka, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. April 27, 2005.

De Lempicka is one of my favorite artists, which I realized after seeing one of her works in the Blanton in Austin. Her Art Deco style is infused with boldness and sexuality. I couldn’t have told you for certain she was queer until I saw this exhibit with all its female nudes lined up, but it was no surprise. I also learned that de Lempicka retired to my hometown. In fact, I knew almost nothing about her history until this exhibit, which explained a lot about her personal and artistic origins.

The exhibit brought together a wide variety of her paintings from her active period and contextualized it with Art Deco furnishings, fashion, and photographs. In addition to the art and artifacts, there was also a short film featuring de Lempicka’s family members explaining some of her history, and an additional slideshow demonstrating her influences from Mannerism to Cubism in individual works. It was the kind of exhibit that makes me appreciate a strong practical grounding in art history.

Overall I was educated and delighted, and as always pleased to see a woman artist getting her due as a major influence in a period where she’s been overlooked. I purchased the exhibition catalog, though I haven’t had time to crack it yet, and am looking forward to further acquainting myself with de Lempicka’s work and life.

The exhibit was on the second floor of the Law Building, which is the Mies van der Rohe addition to the original neoclassical museum; it’s been here since my childhood. The mezzanine exhibit space has the Pavia Tapestry exhibit, which we saw at the Kimbell last year and briefly enjoyed here. We missed the exhibits at the (new) Beck Building and the new(er) Kinder Building though I hope to be back before the British Landscape exhibit closes in July. I was excited enough that I bought a membership to the museum to remind myself to come back to Houston more often.

Review: Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk at the Majestic Theater. April 22, 2025. Multimedia tour commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Autobahn.

Between Kraftwerk shows, it’s easy to forget how good their live extravaganza really is. For four guys standing at keyboards in front of a screen, it’s big and overwhelming. They’ve been around since 1970 so if they sound a little dated, it’s because they invented a lot of the musical tricks that have since become cliche. But if you know electronic music, you know most of what you’re going to hear at a Kraftwerk show, and more than they have time for because of the sheer depth and breadth of their back catalog.

Only one of the original members is still with the group: Ralf Hütter, after Florian Schneider died in 2020. Hütter is pushing 80 and you have to respect that he’s still out here pleasing the crowds when he could be home relaxing. The music keeps up with the times too: Radioactivity includes Fukushima on its list of disasters along with Three Mile Island (Harrisburg) and Chernobyl.

If you’ve seen Kraftwerk on recent tours, you have a good idea of what you’re getting into: the four band members at the podiums doing the music in the suits with light bands, standing still for the most part and letting the colored light do the work, with the visuals projected on a screen behind. The suits change colors to match what’s on the screen, which is hard to explain but easy to see. The graphics are for the most part computer animations, some of which clearly date back to earlier periods of Kraftwerk’s oeuvre but some of which are also clearly newer. In some cases they’ve put older and newer graphics side by side during the same song, which is interesting to watch. One song where the band used vintage film is The Model, where the fashion puts the film from the 50s or 60s, contrasting the fluid movement of the women and the clothing with the staccato sound of the synths.

The sound crept up on me in this concert. Usually I’m quick to grab my earplugs for hearing protection, but the bass was strong enough that it was rocking the seats in the Majestic before my husband asked for his. I probably lost a little hearing. It was worth it.

Review: Shanghai Quartet

The Shanghai Quartet at Caruth Auditorium, Southern Methodist Univeristy. Final concert in the Dallas Chamber Music 2024-1025 season.

I’m a season ticket-holder, though I often miss for health reasons, and a dilettante in chamber music. I enjoy the more intimate and casual chamber music and early music concerts over more formal and larger orchestral concerts. My knowledge of Western classical music is limited; I’m familiar with the bigger names, particularly as you recede in music history. Modern classical, besides Glass, is out of my bailiwick.

This concert featured two Beethoven quartets and a more recent Penderecki quartet, plus an encore. Beethoven’s style is recognizable to me and the playing seemed solid and full of verve. The Penderecki was new to me; I was initially inclined to dislike the piece but it developed into something I enjoyed more. Reading up on Penderecki afterwards, I found that his later work had moved away from the avant garde style of his earlier period, which explained some of what I’d noticed.

The players were unsurprisingly skilled and other audience members with more experience than I have were particularly complimentary about the cellist, who drew a lot of my attention as well. They received three standing ovations, one at the end of each piece. Unfortunately I couldn’t hear the name of the encore over the whooping and applause, but they played it with even more gusto than the announced quartets. They really let their hair down: literally, as one of the violinists’ hair was flying loose from the vigor of his movements.

Getting out and listening to live music serves the same function for me as the proverbial touching grass. I commend it to anyone who feels terminally online.