More Perot Interactivity

Perot Museum visitors can leave their mark at new Recycle Reef exhibit

Officials for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science have touted their green goals from the moment the building was announced, so as the museum moves into its first summer, it's no surprise they're showcasing even more green features. The latest offering is the temporary exhibit Recycle Reef — and they mean "temporary" in every sense of the word.

Located on the lower level in the Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall, the exhibit, open from June 17 to August 25, is made entirely of cardboard — from the walls to the tables to, most impressively, a faux reef with plants, animals and a sunken ship.

Visitors are encouraged to use markers, glue, chalk, repurposed note cards and other materials to create original art, which will be displayed at the museum.

Sprinkled throughout the front area are work stations with markers, glue, chalk, repurposed Perot Museum note cards and other materials. Visitors are encouraged to use these items to create their own piece of art, whether it's based on pictures of marine animals in the exhibit or just something from their own imagination.

Once they're finished, visitors can turn in their creations, which will in turn be displayed somewhere on the reef in the rear of the exhibit. "It's not only a chance for guests to experience the museum, but to shape it," says vice president of programs Steve Hinkley.

So the whole point of the exhibit doesn't get lost, various recycling facts line the walls in order to give people an idea of how much recycling can impact our daily lives. And because there's nothing but cardboard and paper in the exhibit, the entire thing will itself be recycled when it comes to a close.

In addition to this new exhibit, the Plastiki catamaran is on display in the museum's outdoor plaza. The boat was built out of recycled materials and sailed across the Pacific as a way to bring attention to the massive amount of plastic that gets deposited into the world's oceans each year. Plastiki remains on the plaza through September 9.

All of this, of course, fits right in with the museum's green mission. It's already achieved a rating of four Green Globes from the Green Building Initiative, one of only 12 buildings in the U.S. to have achieved the maximum score. Features like a rainwater collection system and solar-powered water heating should lead it to receive two other green certifications by the end of 2013.

The new Recycle Reef exhibit at Perot Museum of Nature and Science is on display through August 25.

Perot Museum of Nature and Science presents Recycle Reef

Photo courtesy of Perot Museum of Nature and Science

The new Recycle Reef exhibit at Perot Museum of Nature and Science is on display through August 25.

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Vinyl Record News

Dallas record store chain Josey Records opens location in Garland

Josey Records

Vinyl at Josey Records

Dallas music maker Josey Records has extended its reach east: The record store chain, whose empire includes one of the largest single independent record stores in the U.S., has opened a location in Garland, at 1005 Northwest Hwy., at the intersection of Centerville Road, where it's selling its trademark assortment of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, turntables, music posters, new releases, and music accessories.

This is the sixth location and the third in the Dallas area, joining the original in Farmers Branch which owners Waric Cameron and Luke Sardello opened in November 2014. They've since opened locations in Plano, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Vidalia, Missouri.

The original location is a giant place with 16,000 square feet devoted to vinyl, 45s, CDs, turntables, and T-shirts. They do a good job showcasing new releases and collector vinyl — they made CultureMap's list of 5 best places in Dallas to buy vinyl records — and are known to host album release and listening parties such as a recent blockbuster celebrating Linkin Park.

They made headlines in June 2020 when they acquired the vast musical inventory of Bill’s Records following the death of owner Bill Wisener; Cameron and Sardello both worked at Bill’s, and knew the sprawling collection first-hand.

"It has taken us years to even start going through it, but in last two years, we've made some headway," Cameron says. "Bill's has its own audience, so we created a specific Instagram account, just for Bill's Records merchandise called @billsrecordsvault."

They chose Garland because they saw it as an area that was under-served.

"There are very few record stores in that area of northeast Dallas, Casa View, Garland, Rockwall, Mesquite," Cameron says. "We have customers who live over there, so it seemed like a good place for a store."

The storefront they're in was most recently The Music Store, which sold and rented musical instruments and accessories; but coincidentally, it's next to an address that was once RPM Records, a hip record store from the '90s.

The Garland store follows the same model as their others: selling new and used records and merchandise, and buying used goods, as well.

"One thing that's cool is that each location takes on its own identity," he says. "We buy used CDs, vinyl records, cassettes — we're a used resale business — and what we buy from our customers dictates what that store becomes. For example, our Plano store has a lot of classic rock. So we're looking forward to seeing what Garland gravitates to."

Garland does have one thing that the other locations do not.

"Right now, Garland has this incredible collection of jazz," Cameron says. "We bought a great collection of jazz records — someone called and wanted to sell it. We get that a lot, we buy major collections from all over the U.S., we even make house calls. So we saved it for the Garland store."