Services for Kenan are this Saturday, the 28th of April, 2012.

A message that was sent out to the Houston Netsquared Meetup Group tonight in memory of our  friend and colleague Kenan Doyle Branam. He was a debater, optimist, producer, geek, well read, researched, and all around renaissance man. We will miss you Kenan. Even if you challenged us constantly with debates and thoughts Kenan, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. A tip of the hat to you. You will be missed.

April 26, 2012

All,

Sad news….

If you have attended Net2Houston over the last six years, then you know Kenan. His meetup profile says Kenan attended 28 meetings with us, although I think it may have been even morehttp://www.meetup.com/houston-netsquared/members/3125708/

Kenan Doyle Branam was a Netsquared regular who always asked challenging questions from the heart. An optimist, he always found the positive, which was impressive given his posts frequently talked about his growth from being a skeptic to an optimist over time. What a beautiful transition.

I’m sad to say that Kenan passed away unexpectedly last week and his services are this weekend. The official notice is below. If you can attend i know Kenan would be honored as would his family. The official version follows. And I know the family would appreciate help with the costs of the funeral. Please consider the part at the bottom about the fund at Amegy in lieu of flowers, but your presence on Saturday would be a huge tribute as well.

Thanks,

Ed

—————

The Houston Advertising, Media and Production Community lost one of its own in the sudden passing of Kenan Doyle Branam on Saturday April 14, 2012.  Services will be this Saturday April 28th 2012 here in Houston.

Beginning his long career in media, Kenan worked as a cameraman in the local broadcast television station in Tyler. In addition to this his media experiences later included advertising agency client service, corporate communications, point of sale training, and even documentary and music video work. 

Kenan was President of Paradigm Communications, Inc. for 25 years, and most recently worked as a Media Consultant supporting people to show up, be heard, look and feel good about their web presence.  Throughout his long career he was a careful watcher and analyzer of media. He was, in his own words “a philosopher, then an artist, then a media evangelist”

A great number of local organizations were fortunate to have Kenan initiate lively and thought provoking conversations while bringing his gifts of philosophy, kindness, laughter and an artistic sensibility to their gatherings.

A Life Celebration for Kenan will be held

Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 3:00 PMTotal Video at Houston Studios
707 Walnut, Houston TX 77002.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Kenan’s memory can be made (and would really help his family at this time) at any

Amegy Bank for the Memorial Fund for Kenan Doyle Branam.

Kenan Branan

I was drilled for surviving nuclear apocalypse as a “duck-and-cover” teenager, believing that the world might end before I reached adulthood. But I suspect my personal perspective was the biggest factor: I didn’t like the world the way it was and wanted to “figure out” how I could make it better. I was hurting and scared. Survival instinct pure and simple!

It’s taken me 60-something years to transform to a more optimistic state of mind, actually a passionate state of mind. Maybe through the wisdom of my varied experiences and learning, I have not only figured out what a better world can be, but more significantly, through the media of the Web, I have discovered “signs” of a large community of likeminded people. For the first time in my life, I can justify hope and faith in the future of humanity.

- Kenan Doyle Branam (source)

and

“In retrospect, I have always had the temperment of an artist, looking at the world with curiosity and sensitivity—sometimes, so much that the beauty of nature overwhelms me.

Like Pecos Bill, I was raised by a pack of dogs. I thought I was one… until they started to chase, kill, and eat squirrels. I guess I will always be a pacifist. I still love running in the woods.”

- Kenan Doyle Branam

I started going to the Texas Renaissance Festival in either 1987 or 1988 while going to Texas A&M as an undergrad. I can’t recall the exact date. I went many times, but it was college so that might have been three times in one year or two times each year, or who knows. It’s lucky I remember my own name from 20+ years ago.

But I DO remember the texas renaissance festival. We were broke students so we bought the discount tickets from HEB and had to sneak in our own beer because we couldn’t afford the beer inside. In the late 80s my favorite renfest-shows were, in priority order, the falconry show followed by the mud show. The mud show back then was a mud pit in an open field and people who would gather around said pit. Falconry on the other hand, always had the most beautiful arena. But that is probably an artifact of not wanting the birds of prey to perch on small children during the act. I gotta figure being the falconry guy at the RenFest is like being the lion keeper at the zoo; if you say you need something you might bump the queue over the guy who takes care of the armadillos. There’s only so much that can go wrong if an armadillo is on the loose. But a lion? Definite priority. Just sayin’

I love the Renaissance Festival. (Disclaimer, as of a couple years ago RenFest is a client. But that doesn’t change things. I still pay for my ticket and I still take my whole family every year.) I have so many great memories and so many great photos. But this year, a 10 second interchange, stopped me dead on all-hallows-eve. This is what happened:

An ENORMOUS green man was attacked by a small child. Or torpedo-hugged. I don’t know the guy, and I’m not small, but he was larger than me and commanded a presence with his huge frame. And this giant man was reduced to a puddle of love by a child he had never met. Until that moment. That man was Shrek:

Shrek hugged a kid.

Or to more accurately state it, a tiny 3 or 4 year old little girl propelled herself out of her parents arms like an Olympic athlete and flew above the ground like a hydrofoil to Shrek. It was kinda like the “human torpedo” move in WWE.

Shrek knelt down on one knee and caught her. The young’un quickly buried her head against his enormous frame. The giant man, in costume of course, brought her to a safe position and looked up at her parents for approval. Mrs. Shrek right next to him.

The parents of the star of our story 5 feet away nodded approval and smiled. Myself 20 feet away dumbstruck.

And all of us were frozen. We froze watching this beautiful young lady who completely believed not only in Shrek, but that THIS was SHREK. And she loved him. It looked like this photo I took after I snapped out of it.

I can’t really explain it. It was just beautiful. It was respectful. The parents were smiling ear to ear. The actor-volunteer-Shrek was well aware of a responsibility that I had no idea he had; to represent honorably the image of Shrek and the dreams of little kids.

And the child demonstrated a complete lack of prejudice, she charged and jumped into the arms of a 300+ pound green man! How many of us could jump into the arms of a giant green man with complete faith that he in turn was a gentle giant? I fear I have lost the ability to be that child-like and I miss it. I am working on that…

The shrek-hug was the most beautiful thing I have seen all year. God bless you Shrek. And God bless this child and her family for their wisdom to allow her to have this moment. And thank you that I was there with my family to witness it. ‘Cause my kids are pretty awesome too IMHO.

#peace

(this is a cross-post. To comment visit the shrek-renfest-post on chron.com and comment there please.)

Note the sponsor is “Boner Beer” cause that’s just how classy we are. The deets:

View the full gala photo gallery on the orange show site.

Trying to find something interesting to do in Houston tonight? Try these arts calendars. Yes a million different people have tried to make consolidated arts calendars, but until someone figures out how to herd cats get arts people to be more organized, you just gotta hit them individually.

For profit maintained calendars:

1. Houston Chronicle Entertainment Section
2. Houston Press Calendar
3. Facebook – your events (shows ones you said “no” to as well)
4. Houston Public Radio Arts Calendar
5. Meetup Events Calendar for Houston

Arts Organizations Calendars

1. Spacetaker arts calendar
2. DiverseWorks calendar – downtown area
3. ArtsHound events calendar
4. Fresh Arts Coalition – then click “calendar”
5. Discovery Green Events Calendar

Blogs and stuff

1. Glasstire Arts Calendar
2. Caroline Collective Events
3. Chron Entertainment Blog
4. “Tonight in Houston” search on twitter (today)
5. Houstonist Blog
6. do713 blog on events in Houston
7. Culture Map Blog
8. Only in Houston Events Calendar
9. Art League of Houston

Not so big venues that we like

1. AvantGarden Houston Calendar
2. McGonigels Mucky Duck
3. Fitzgerald’s
4. St. Arnold Brewery
5. Block 7 Wine Co

Museums

1. Menil Collection Events
2. Houston Museum of Fine Arts Programs
3. Contemporary Arts Museum
4. Houston Museum of Natural Science Events
5. Rothko Chapel Calendar
6. Lawndale Art Center

Photography

1. Houston Center for Photography
2. Fotofest

Big venues

1. House of Blues Houston
2. Reliant Park Calendar
3. Wortham Center
4. Miller Outdoor Theater
5. Cynthia Woods Pavilion
6. Verizon Theater
7. Blaffer Gallery at U of H
8. Orange Show Center for Visionary Arts
9. Alley Theater

…. DRAFT … let me know what I missed, or misclassified, or where you look for events to do in Houston related to arts and music and I’ll try to get it added.