Caravan of Dreams

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For the Canterbury scene band, see Caravan of Dreams.

The Caravan of Dreams was a performing arts center located in the central business district of Fort Worth, Texas during the 1980s and 1990s. The venue was best known locally as a live music nightclub, though this only represented one portion of a larger facility. The center also included a multitrack recording studio, a 212 seat theater, two dance studios, and a rooftop garden.^[1] The center was located at 312 Houston Street, and prefigured the redevelopment of Sundance Square into a dining and entertainment district. Edward P. Bass, whose family has participated in much of the redevelopment of downtown Fort Worth, financed the project, and Kathelin Hoffman served as its artistic director.^[2]

The Caravan of Dreams was self-described as "a meeting place appealing to audiences who enjoy the creation of new forms of music, theater, dance, poetry and film" that was "architected and managed by and for artists."^[3] The name was taken from 1001 Arabian Nights, by way of Brion Gysin, who attended the opening of the venue with William S. Burroughs in 1983.^[4] The opening celebration centered around performances by Fort Worth native Ornette Coleman, both with his Prime Time ensemble in the nightclub, and with the Fort Worth Symphony at the nearby Convention Center. The event coincided with the mayoral proclamation of September 29, 1983 as "Ornette Coleman Day," when Coleman was presented with a key to the city.^[5]

The center operated its own record label, releasing albums by Coleman as well as artists such as Ronald Shannon Jackson, James Blood Ulmer, and Twins Seven Seven. Caravan of Dreams also released films (including Ornette: Made in America, a feature-length documentary about Coleman) and spoken word recordings by William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, John P. Allen (as Johnny Dolphin), and others.

The rooftop garden featured hundreds of cacti and succulent plants, as well as a glass geodesic dome. Several years later, Biosphere 2 would incorporate geodesic domes in its structure, with the involvement of some of the same principals behind Caravan of Dreams.^[6]

Eventually the facility became less geared toward the experimental (though high-profile) musicians, writers, and artists with whom it was associated in its early days. Caravan of Dreams ceased its production of entertainment media, and the nightclub hosted more mainstream performers outside of the jazz genre.

The nightclub closed in 2001, exactly eighteen years to the day after Ornette Coleman Day, and was converted into a restaurant, Reata at Sundance Square.^[7] The theater space continued to be operated as such.

[edit] Notes and references

↑ Liner notes. In All Languages by Ornette Coleman. Caravan of Dreams Productions CDP 85008, 1987.
↑ Litweiler, John. Ornette Coleman: A Harmolodic Life. 1992. New York: Da Capo, 1994. p. 185. ISBN 0-306-80580-4
↑ Liner notes. In All Languages.
↑ Hoffman, Kathelin. Liner notes. Uncommon Quotes by William S. Burroughs. Caravan of Dreams Productions CDPT 85011, 1988.
↑ Litweiler, p. 186.
↑ Litweiler, p. 193.
↑ "Dallas/Fort Worth Blues News 2001." Accessed November 1, 2005.