Events for the week

thursday
november 21
Taking Back Our Democracy From Corporate Domination: If anybody thought that the two major American political parties cater to vastly different interests, the snoozefest of a 1996 presidential election should have put that to rest. For all the hullabaloo about race, sex, and other white-hot cultural issues, Democrats and Republicans alike still curry favor from the same monolithic corporations whose interests have, in a high-tech world, increasingly diverged from those of working-class Americans. Following in the footsteps of a turn-of-the-century grassroots movement founded in the Texas Hill Country, a new populist organization known as The Alliance, whose national chapters number 40, presents a three-day founding convention at the Mo Ranch Conference Center in Hunt, Texas, with the theme, Taking Back Our Lives and Our Democracy From Corporate Domination. Attendees include Jim Hightower, Molly Ivins, corporate anthropologist Jane Anne Morris, and Ronnie Dugger, whose 1995 essay in The Nation spurred the group's formation. Registration for the convention is $20-$40; accommodations range from $20 to $40 per person per night; meals are $17.25 per day. For information call (617) 491-4221

friday
november 22
The Boys in the Band: There's an interesting generational split in the gay and lesbian community between individuals born pre-Stonewall and post-Stonewall. Many homo twentysomethings felt like going ballistic after Congress defeated the Employment Non-Discrimination Act; gays who grew up in the extreme legal persecutions that characterized the '50s and '60s were just thrilled that such a groundbreaking piece of legislation made it onto the federal stage at all. It's this large disparity in attitudes that should make the screening of William Friedkin's The Boys in the Band. Sponsored by the Tarrant County Lesbian and Gay Alliance and the Texas Christian University Triangle and presented with a discussion afterward by Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Todd Camp, the studio version of Mart Crowley's play (currently enjoying a very successful off-Broadway revival) about venomous, self-hating gay men is guaranteed to split the room in half. The screening happens at 8 p.m. in the Richardson Room of Brown-Lupton Student Center at TCU in Fort Worth. A $3 donation is requested. Call (817) 877-5544.

Rumillajta and Vision Andina: If complex, profound Eastern rhythms and voices don't float your boat, consider a special performance of international music that most of us are totally unfamiliar with. Although fans of Paul Simon and some new-age instrumentalists might think the traces of Bolivian influence they hear in songs by those musicians represent the form itself, actually very few individuals outside South America have attempted to master the decidedly non-Euro arrangements of quena (Andean flute), charango, panpipe, percussion, and guitar that have come down from pre-Incan empires. Rumillajta, the most famous Bolivian folkloric ensemble in the world today, comes to town for a performance with Vision Andina, a Dallas-based troupe that specializes in South American music from the high Andes. The performance happens at 7 p.m. at Richardson High School, 1250 Belt Line between Coit and Central. Tickets are $15; Richardson students admitted free. For more info call 392-4372.

Sacred Music, Sacred Dance: The Mystical Arts of Tibet: Movie fans might represent the last demographic imaginable attending a concert by a troupe of singing Tibetan monks, but one of Tinseltown's biggest has formed his own production company just to promote these holy crooners. Richard Gere will not be appearing in Sacred Music, Sacred Dance: The Mystical Arts of Tibet, which makes one Dallas stop under the auspices of TITAS (The International Theatrical Arts Society), although his patronage has allowed the men of the Deprung Loseling Monastery to spread their ancient, eerie prayers for both world and inner peace throughout the United States. Not a bad thing; but when a high-paid exhibitionistic actor starts shilling for Tibetan Buddhism, people who know little about the discipline get a little suspicious about its practical applications in the United States. Do movie stars really need an excuse to focus even more of their own energy on themselves? In the end, the ancient sounds prevail. The show opens at 8 p.m. at McFarlin Auditorium on the campus of Southern Methodist University. Tickets are $7-$40. Call 528-6112.

saturday
november 23
Plain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie: As remarkable as it may seem in a contemporary America that sprouts strip malls and factories like malignant tumors, fully one-third of the continental United States was once composed of prairie grasslands. This is the eyeful of imposing blank slate on which was writ concepts like "rugged American individualism" and "manifest destiny"; somebody had to do something with all that empty land. Fort Worth's Amon Carter Museum opens an exhibit called Plain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie that features almost 70 paintings, photos, and lithographs depicting the American prairie from the early 19th century to the present. The question to ponder is, now that American pioneerism has consumed a majority of our country's natural resources, what's left to pioneer? The exhibit runs through February 23 at 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd. in Fort Worth. It's free. Call (817) 738-1933.

La Machina: Teatro Dallas continues its Fourth International Theater Festival by importing yet another internationally celebrated Latino theatrical troupe you'd otherwise probably never get to see. You'll often find that the same theatrical avant-gardism which American audiences once supported has found an urgent home in many Latin countries, where civil strife often produces much bloodier consequences than a nasty quarrel between political factions on a CNN talk show. La Machina is the name of the troupe; it hails from Santander, Spain, and has, with the direct support of Spain's Ministry of Culture, staged productions that employed traditional theatrical elements toward revisionist historical and political ends. La Machina offers two Dallas performances of a play by Francisco Valcarce called El Apprendiz, whose primary goal is a hunt for "our ancestral memory." Performances happen November 22 and 23 at 8:15 p.m. at Teatro Dallas, 2204 Commerce. Tickets are $15. Call 741-1135.