Creative Time:  Creative Time won the Meadows Prize at SMU a few years back and analyzed the state of the visual arts community in town, providing recommendations to strengthen it.  What are they up to today? This NYT article says Anne Pasternak, the group’s leader, has been preparing a benefit in Brooklyn and staging public art – recently with Nick Cave, the choreographer and costume designer whose work you may have seen in Denton or at the Nasher.

Happy Birthday: Texas legend Willie Nelson turns 80 today. Or tomorrow. (He and records disagree on the date of his birth.)  His birthday bash in Austin yesterday turned into a benefit for the victims of the West explosion.  You can click through the many faces of Willie on this Dallas Morning News ode in illustrations to the singer – 80 portraits.

Best of Big D: D Magazine is embarking on its annual reader poll of Best in Dallas. You can vote for all manner of cultural titles – from best theater to best blog. You can also consider Art&Seek’s Jerome Weeks for best critic and State of the Arts, the DMA/Art&Seek series, for best conversation series.