DJ FLASH GORDON PARKS BRINGS THE BEATS
The Houston Cinema Arts Festival is ready to wow audiences with its two main programs — “Moon Landing 50” and “The Yeehaw Agenda” — this weekend. But they also have something that not only ties both sections together, it provides some illustrative, thematic, background music as you’re waiting to view the latest movie.
Titled “The Space Cowboy Mixtape,” this compilation of music will play in front of each festival selection before the audience enters the auditoriums at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Rice Cinema and other locations. According to the festival notes, it’s “an hourlong futurist soundscape that combines ‘Yeehaw,’ ‘Moon Landing 50’ and Houston’s local musical identity.”
This mixtape is the work of Flash Gordon Parks (government name: Jason Woods). A Houston-based DJ and ethnomusicologist, he regularly spins tunes at such spots as Dean’s Downtown, Boondocks and Under the Volcano. He also hosts “The Flash Gordon Parks Show,” a Wednesday-night program at KPFT 90.1 FM where he interviews notable locals in the arts-and-culture scene and, yes, plays music.
Parks got the go-ahead to assemble this collection when newly anointed, HCAF artistic director Jessica Green hit him up about performing and doing a playlist that reflects this year’s fest. “She had seen me DJ a few different events around the city,” says Parks, 39. “So, she wanted me to be a part of it. She said she had multiple things I could probably fit into — you know, with my background, history, etc.”
For an old-school head like Parks, he rounded up the usual Houston legends — Beyoncé, UGK, ZZ Top, Solange — for the mixtape.
But, since we’re also dealing with space and commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, you know he also had to throw in Jamiroquai’s “Space Cowboy,” Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin’ “and Radio Galaxy’s “Space Invaders.”
Parks, who played at the HCAF openingnight after-party at MFAH on Thursday, plans to eventually release the mixtape on social media after the festival. He wants it to be something people will easily take to and even be proud of. Because the music that’ll be playing — the music he curated — will be the music of the city. “I think, for the most part, there will be some familiarity there — definitely things that connect you with the city, like if you grew up here,” he says. “And even if you didn’t, it’s just some common threads. It’s just showing that Houston is a part of the fabric of music as a whole.”
Parks also hopes that he’ll be back at HCAF next year, but as a filmmaker. He’s also working on a mini-documentary about Houston soul crooner Archie Bell. It’ll be a followup to his 2015 doc, “That Thing We Do: Houston DJ Culture Revealed. “That would be great if there’s a spot available for it,” he says.