Category Archives: de hustonia

I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life…

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On Friday night, our oldest daughter Georgia marked her 14th birthday. The next night she celebrated with her mom’s pot roast (a favorite), a beautiful cake from our family’s official pastry chef, Fluff Bake Bar, and a sleepover with two of her best friends from school.

She was also surrounded by her Orange and Houston families. They had gathered for another momentous occasion: earlier that day, she had performed with the Region (as in all-region) string orchestra, one of the top accolades a Texan middle schooler can achieve in classical music.

The conductor spoke about how our region, 23, is one of the two most competitive in the state and arguably the most dynamic (thanks to the confluence of three fiercely engaged school districts in its radius).

Georgia was first chair in her section, viola, and performed a beautiful solo in the third piece.

The music was gorgeous, the performance extraordinary, especially when you consider the ages of the musicians.

I couldn’t have been more filled with joy to hear her play.

Maybe it’s just because I’m an unabashedly proud father.

But it’s also because when I see her, a straight-A 14-year-old with a rich network of delightful friends, I see the kid that I couldn’t be when I was her age.

My family simply wasn’t in a place where they could support my cello studies. And the vicissitudes of life had left me precariously adrift among my peers.

A few moments before the concert began, I squeezed Tracie’s hand and told her, I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life. And from the moment she and I decided to get married, every instant has led up to this, I said, this beautiful, graceful child who’s growing into an adult as she explores her creativity and curiosity unyoked from the burden of family trauma.

I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life. Thanks for letting me share it here. Happy holidays.

The worst year of my life, the best year of my life. Holiday blues, open mic at Emmit’s Sat. 12/20.

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Man, it’s been the best of times and it’s been the worst of times.

Losing my mom in October was a crushing blow to my heart this year.

And the heartless way my brothers have treated me and my Texas family in the meantime has left me with an emptiness, a void in knowing that my family in San Diego is now totally gone.

I haven’t felt this alone since Brooklyn, post-9/11.

Watching my children grow this year has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.

Georgia is turning 14 this week and both girls fill me with joy and pride at their myriad accomplishments.

Knowing that they and Tracie will stand by me, even through the helter-skelter and the pell-mell, has filled me with hope and peace in this darkest of times for me.

There’s also something else that I’ve felt this year: I do have a family that loves me, I do have children who are thriving, I do have a partner who lifts me up emotionally and catches me when I fall.

It’s a far cry from the drug-taking, alcohol-guzzling 14-year-old that I was after my family was fractured by catastrophe and my older brother handed me my first hit of weed.

I’ve never felt so much love and support in my life.

My bandmate Bela Adela and I are going to be singing about life’s blues at Emmit’s Place in southwest Houston on Saturday, 12/20, 2-6pm, where we will be hosting our final open mic of the year.

The last event in October was packed and we are expecting a big crowd for our holiday show.

The Rhythmix, the coolest middle-schooler jazz band, will do a set and a ton of people are stopping by for the open mic and jam.

I hope you can join us as we close out the worst of years and the best. Thanks for your support and solidarity.

Please read FIEL director Cesar Espinosa’s op-ed for Houston Press: “The Definition of Courage.”

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Please read FIEL director Cesar Espinosa’s op-ed for the Houston Press: “The Definition of Courage.”

It’s hard to turn on the local news in Houston these days and not see Cesar Espinosa and FIEL in action.

The immigrant-led civil rights organization was not only successful in its campaign to free Emmanuel, the unjustly incarcerated autistic 15-year-old, who spent nearly two months separated from his mother.

It also forced Houston mayor Whitmire to reveal that he was a liar: in fact, his administration had been cooperating with ICE when he claimed it was not.

The mayor tries to write-off FIEL as a for-profit law firm. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

FIEL is a non-profit group that provides discounted legal services for vulnerable and financially stressed community members.

But first and foremost, it is a community leader and builder that advocates for people like Emmanuel and his family and provides educational resources for immigrants in this city (FIEL was founded in 2007 by future DACA recipients and they have never abandoned their founding ideals and aspirations).

I’ve been working with FIEL as a media consultant (pro bono) for nearly a year now. Over that time, I’ve learned something that a lot of people don’t know about FIEL and its director Cesar: not only is he a tireless super hero and champion of human rights; he is also a great writer. I know that because I read everything he writes (I manage the website among other roles I play).

I couldn’t be more thrilled to see his writing published by the editors of the Houston Press. Please read his first op-ed for the weekly: “The Definition of Courage.” Thank you.

Please consider giving to FIEL this holiday season. Their work is more vital than ever.

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“Give to Groups Defending Immigrants From ICE” was the title of a recent opinion by one of our favorite writers for the Times, Michelle Goldberg.

I couldn’t agree more: the work of immigrant aid groups is more vital than ever.

For the last 11 months, I’ve been volunteering for FIEL here in Houston. I run their website and consult on media strategy for them (pro bono).

There are so many compelling stories I could tell about their advocacy and activism. In recent weeks, FIEL and its leader Cesar Espinosa worked to free Emmanuel, an autistic teenager who was wrongly incarcerated and separated from his mother for nearly two months. If you watch the Houston TV news or read the city’s paper of record, then you know that Cesar not only managed to obtain Emmanuel’s freedom, he also proved that our mayor (a democrat) was lying to us when he said that he wasn’t working directly with ICE in our city.

These guys are super heroes, folks. I work with them literally every day and they are tireless in advocating for immigrants’ rights.

But there’s another story I’d like to share with you. Cesar’s brother, Abraham, the group’s education director, recently published an image of Anne Frank on his social media. I immediately called him, I was so moved by his post.

Although so many of us simply drive our cars to work and then come home for dinner each night, there are hundreds of Anne Franks in our community right now, fearing for their lives and their families. Immigrants in this country live in fear each day that masked men in unmarked cars, men armed to the teeth, will snatch them up from the streets. Sound familiar?

As a Jew — as a human! — I cannot turn my back on my people who are facing the same thing our ancestors faced in Europe when my mother was a little girl in South Bend, Indiana.

Please consider giving to FIEL this season. Click here to donate. Thank you.

FIEL co-founder Cesar Espinosa featured in Houston Chronicle. Please consider supporting FIEL by donating or volunteering.

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Please check out this week’s Houston Chronicle feature story on Cesar Espinosa, co-founder of FIEL, an immigrant-led organization that provides legal service and advocates for immigrants in greater Houston.

(Disclosure: I’ve been working for the last six months as a pro bono media consultant for the group.)

I can’t share the entire article here, but here’s a snippet:

    FIEL’s impact is measured not just in legal victories but in human stories. Stories like that of a father deported under one administration, reunited with his family after years of legal struggle. Or the mother who once served Espinosa dinner at a gala, quietly telling him that thanks to FIEL, her son had just graduated from Harvard. He said he still thinks about the young student who approached him after a workshop and said, “Because of you, I finally believe I belong here.” These victories, he said, are what sustain him through the long nights and heavy sacrifices.

Click here to continue reading.

The story of how Cesar, his siblings, and mother faced the challenges of being “undocumented” in this country is as compelling as it is inspiring.

When you read how Cesar and his family began working to help and protect immigrants, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that they are genuine super heroes for our time.

Please consider donating to FIEL or volunteering: FIEL needs people to challenge ICE agents at the asylum court; it needs bodies to show up at protests, rallies, and to populate information fairs. Just following and sharing their media on your own channels helps.

Check donation links and volunteer opportunities on their site.

And stay tuned: FIEL is planning a wonderful event for November 1. I’ll be sharing details here as soon as I have them.

Have a great weekend “on purpose,” as my good friend Annette Purnell likes to say.

Rock out with me Sunday, 2/16, at Emmit’s Place in Meyerland (Houston)! Our first gig in the neighborhood! Please come out and support local music and local businesses.

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I’m super psyched to announce my band BioDynamic’s first gig at Emmit’s Place, a local and historic hub for music in the Meyerland area where we live. Nearly every musician I’ve met in Houston talks about this place and its wonderful owner Susan — a HUGE supporter of local music and our community.

We will be playing mostly 80s and 70s covers from 3-5pm. Another neighborhood band — of 11 and 12-year olds — will be opening for us. They are smoking good!

BioDynamic is Katie White on vocals, Richard Cholakian on drums, Lucky Garcia on bass, and me on guitar.

Please come out and enjoy a beverage and support local music! We are working on food options as well. Hope to see you then! Thanks for the support.

Here’s the Facebook event link for those who would like to share.

Parzen family LOVES Tiny Champions pizza in Houston. Angeleños: I’m presenting a wine dinner and a Christmas wine retail pop up at Rossoblu DTLA next Wednesday.

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My goodness! It’s hard to put into words how much gastronomic fun our family had at Tiny Champions in Houston’s EaDo (East Downtown) district last night.

We were celebrating Georgia’s 13th birthday (an official teenager!).

I didn’t get a shot of it (that’s how fast it went). But Tracie and I were literally spellbound by a dish of broad beans cooked in mushroom broth and then seasoned with dill and lemon.

Outside of Puglia (Le Zie in Lecce), I had never had a vegetarian dish so rich in flavor that you were surprised to discover its purely vegetal origins.

The wine list was fun, Italian-focused, and reasonably priced (we drank COS Ramì).

And the vibe is super welcoming and richly Houstonian. What a wonderful place. We were tempted by dessert but Georgia had her heart set on Amy’s ice cream, a nod to her Austin origins.

She’s having a great birthday btw (she got the combat boots she wanted). She is hosting a small party for her friends this weekend. We love her so much and are so proud of her. This birthday of hers is so meaningful to me, especially when I think what my life was like and what my family was going through when I turned 13. I love her so, so much.

In other news…

I’m presenting a wine pairing dinner at Rossoblu in DTLA on Wednesday, December 18 where my old buddy Chef Steve is making BOLLITO MISTO! This is going to be AWESOME! Steve is Bolognese btw, so this is a hometown dish for him.

And if you need wine for the holidays, I’ll be doing a retail pop up that night AND the night before at chef’s westside place, Superfine. Come by and say hello!

It’s my very, very, very last wine dinner of the year.

Thanks to all for all the support and solidarity in 2024. Happy holidays!

Wim Wenders’ “Paris Texas” restoration had us swooning yesterday at Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts.

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Tracie, the girls, and I had the immense pleasure yesterday of attending a screening of a newly restored version of Wim Wenders’ iconic 1984 full-length movie, Paris Texas. The movie was shown at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, in the same theater where Wenders would view the dailies during shooting.

Read about the film on Wenders’ website here.

It’s hard to explain the outsized role the film has played and continues to play in my life.

I was a junior in high school when it was released and did not see it then.

But by the time I was in grad school at U.C.L.A., it had become required viewing for all aspiring critical theorists on campus. (Yesterday, I learned that the movie had a U.C.L.A. connection by way of production assistant Allison Anders, who also attended U.C.L.A. while I was there although I did not know her.)

One of my professors, a famous Italian philosopher, devoted an entire lecture to the film.

During my grad years when I was living in Hollywood, I shared a water hole — the notorious Coach and Horses on Sunset — with Harry Dean Stanton and would see him there often. A band I played with opened for his band at the Roxbury one time. Man, what a Hollywood night that was!

During those same years, I often saw Ry Cooder, who created the unique score, at a club we used to play and hang out in, Fais Do Do. It was there that I first met his son Joachim, who, years later, thanks to a totally different connection, would make an album with my band Nous Non Plus and tour with us.

And just to make it a truly cosmic connection, Tracie’s long-time hairdresser not only appeared with her band Mydolls in the film. But she and her band also worked as part of the crew. Much of the film was made in Houston and other parts of Southeast Texas where we live.

The film has had such a huge impact on my intellectual arc. The story, the cinematography, the music… It was wonderful to see the gorgeously restored print and hear Mydolls, on hand for the occasion, share their anecdotes and insights into the production.

And this morning as I kissed Tracie before the work day began, it occurred to me: I followed a woman to Texas just like Harry Dean Stanton did. And she led me to Houston…

Check out the film, coming to a Texas town near you soon.

Mouton Rothschild 1999 for my 57th birthday. Thanks for all the wishes and so happy to be back home!

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Heartfelt thanks to everyone who reached out yesterday for my birthday! I finally made it home from Italy and had a wonderful day with Tracie and the girls.

And for dinner, we opened a very special bottle: the 1999 Mouton Rothschild, featuring art by Raymond Savignac (1907-2002).

Wow, what an incredible wine! It was fresh and vibrant on the nose and rich with slightly underripe red fruit on the palate. Tannin was very smooth but this wine could have aged many more years, no doubt. Extraordinary.

The bottle had been given to us earlier this year by the husband of a colleague of Tracie’s with whom we have become close.

When Hurricane Beryl made landfall a week ago, Tracie wrapped this beauty up and took her to her parents’ house in Orange, Texas, where they never lost power.

She then carefully kept it cool but not too cold in a cooler where she had to constantly monitor the ice. It was a heroic effort. We had planned to open it for the holidays with family but after it had traveled under stress, we felt like it was a better bet to open it for my birthday. It was my birthday, after all! I’m so glad we did. Paired beautifully with our favorite Texas BBQ. It had been stored impeccably. It would have been a pity for it to be damaged. But it was glorious! Thank you again, from our hearts, Richard and Elaine! A wine we’ll never forget, a memory we will cherish.

Our neighborhood still looks like a war zone, with fences blown out, felled vegetation lining the streets, and main stop light still out of order seven days after the storm. Nearly 260k people without power still.

Coming home to the girls on my birthday after an arduous journey (stuck overnight at Dulles!) was so sweet for me. For all the challenges we face, it feels pretty good to be 57. I’m so proud of the girls and love them and Tracie so much. So much about our life now heals my soul. Too many blessings to count. Poo poo poo!

Thanks again for all the wishes. And G-d bless former president Trump and his family. I’m glad he’s okay. Maybe this terrible episode will help us all to to tone down the rhetoric.

Stay tuned for notes from my trip. Thanks again! It was a very special birthday for me.

Happy Juneteenth! Browse the Portal to Texas History to see how the holiday has been celebrated over generations in Texas.

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Happy Juneteenth, everyone!

The main street of Houston’s historic Third Ward is known today as Emancipation Avenue. The name is inspired by the Emancipation Proclamation. But it is also owed to the fact that some of the earliest organized celebrations of Juneteenth were held in the Third Ward’s Emancipation Park, a public space created there by local business leaders in the late 19th century. It was intended to give residents a place to honor the date and occasion.

Extreme weather will be keeping most Houston residents indoors today. But our family will be celebrating the national holiday today by reading about its origins and how it was celebrated over the years since its inception.

Juneteenth became a national holiday in 2021 after members of congress from Houston lobbied for its recognition.

This morning, as we browsed the Portal to Texas History, we came across a number of TV news reporting on local gatherings, including one from Fort Worth dated 1989 (we noticed that the balloons in the video read “1987”; it’s possible that the archive date is incorrect). Use the link below to view.

KXAS-TV (Television station : Fort Worth, Tex.). [News Clip: Juneteenth], video, June 19, 1989, 5:00 p.m.; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc903774/m1/?q=juneteenth: accessed June 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.

Until recently, most Americans had no idea that such a celebration was regularly observed by communities across our nation.

Our family was thrilled when President Biden made it a national holiday (we are fortunate enough to live in the city represented in congress by the two congresspeople who proposed the legislation, including our district’s congressperson at the time).

Happy Juneteenth! Check out the Portal to Texas History here. And just enter the search term “Juneteenth.” I bet you’ll enjoy discovering how the holiday was celebrated in the state long before it became a national holiday.