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Dallas Earth Forum, sponsored by the Coalition for Earth’s Environment, will sponsor a town meeting at the Dallas Convention Center, September 27 and 28, offering citizens direct input to the United Nations conference on the environment next summer in Rio de Janeiro. Beginning at 12:15 p.m. on the 27th, folks will have three-minute blocks of open-mike time to air their views, which will be compiled for the conference. For info, call 352-2410.

DR. JAZZPEOPLE Kevin Cowens, an Oak Cliff-based neurologist, says, “I’d like to beinvolved in helping resurrect South Dallas.”A tall order, but he’s made a start by givingup most of his leisure time, and quite a bit ofhis own money, to reopen the venerableForest Theatre, a former jewel of theInterstate chain, as a showcase for nationaljazz acts. In the process of purchasing thetheater and adjacent property, he also foundhimself owner of the newly vacant GreenParrot Club, a legendary after-hours spotwhich closed this spring. Cowens hopes toreopen it this month. “The Green Parrot isthe only place on the south side of downtownwhere you can sit down, have a decent meal,and listen to good music all night long.” Helaughs as he says this. “But that’ll bring callsfrom people who’ll say, ’come to my place.’”For the time being, you can go down to Dr.Cowens’s other place, the neophyte jazz clubthat has already had some shining stars crossits portals. -Michael Pellecchia

Daytripping Down Memory Lane

getaways Music from the past sings out from odd corners of North and West Texas that make melodiously short daytrips.

Just 45 miles south of Dallas in Wortham, near the white Wortham Cemetery, is a small African-American cemetery. Thai’s where, beneath a modest concrete slab, Blind Lemon Jefferson is buried. He’s a patron saint of the Deep Ellum music scene, predating today’s passing parade by about a half century.

Almost 200 miles northwest of Dallas is Vernon, now known primarily as the location of banker Don Dixon’s failed S&L. But Vernon is also the home town of early jazz pioneer Jack Teagarden and the home of the Red River Valley Museum, dedicated to the trombonist.

For more recent memories, a trip to The Record Shop is in order when in Big Spring, 290 miles west of Dallas. The focus here is a mesmerizing critical mass of long-playing records, 45s, 78s, and 8-track tapes from every era since the late Oscar Glickman founded the place in 1942. Particularly notable are the last gasps of American pop felled under the relentless force of the 1960s British invasion, such as Bobby Vee singing “The New Sounds from England,” and former Motown diva Mary Wells on a 1965 LP singing “Love Songs to The Beatles.” -Michael Pellecchia

The Tejano Wave Sweeps Dallas

LISTENING Tejano, a distinctively Texan style of popular music, is more than a bilingual singer and a backup band. Tejano music combines German polkas, Mexican mariachis, and Latin cumbias with Country and Western, rock ’n’ roll, and even rap. It’s the ultimate expression of a complex subculture that’s fluent in two languages and a dozen musical idioms.

The Grammy-winning Texas Tornadoes are just the best-known of hundreds of artists who perform the bilingual “soul” music of Texas-born-and-raised Mexican-Americans. La Onda Tejana-The Tejano Wave-is sweeping the music world, capturing airwaves and audiences from Mexico City to Michigan.

To hear Tejano locally, tune into KNON (89.3-FM). which boasts an all-Tejano format noon to 2 p.m.. Monday through Wednesday. KNTU (88.1-FM) broadcasts Tejano from 6 a.m. until noon Saturdays. Dallas’s Hispanic radio stations, KESS (1270-AM) and KSSA (1600-AM), currently break from their standard south-of-the-border fare from 8 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday.

-Phyllis Williams and John Trimble

The Home Theater Takes Off

TECHNOLOGY We used to call them living rooms, and the TV occupied only a respectful corner. But with ever-larger screens, ever-larger sounds, and ever-increasing choices for programming, television now lays claim to a space entirely its own. Thus, the term home theater- defined either as a room devoted to total TV immersion, or as the camouflaging of extensive audio-visual equipment to fit a family parlor’s aesthetics.

Sound is the key. Big sound, lots of it, coming from different directions. It began when techno-buffs realized that films on tape also contain the “surround” information used in the theater to give movies depth. Where buffs go, consumers usually follow, so Pioneer and other hi-fi manufacturers began offering receivers and decoders In decipher these sounds for multiple-speaker systems at home. Broadcast TV has jumped on the band* wagon, featuring surround-encoded sound in programs ranging from the newly popular Nothern Exposure to the now-defunct Twin Peaks.

Going whole hog on a home theater can cost as much as $15,000 or more with 50-inch or larger TV screens, but similar results can be attained for a lot less, if you’re willing to use some of your present equipment.

The home theater also serves as a master control center, eliminating the need to duplicate systems in the bedroom or kids1 rooms. According to Ted Paisley of Wavelength Audio Video, he gets involved in the wiring of the house while it’s still in the design stage: “People are beginning to treat entertainment the same way they treat phone and power outlets.. .as an integral part of the home’s wiring.”

Apartment dwellers and those with modest budgets shouldn’t feel left out, says Preston Trail Audio’s Curt Hayes. Specializing in high-end equipment, Preston Trail also puts together an entry-level surround system for under $2,500. “For what people spend on a rack system at a department store, we can give them star fighters zipping across the room,” says Hayes. One benefit: Using your own TV and VCR lets you update your system a step at a time-maybe holding off on a new screen till a high-definition television debuts. Hi-def on the close horizon? Definitely, says Accurate Audio Video and Entertainment Technology. So check out your wallet, and check in with any of the dealers below to assess your needs.

Accurate Audio Video and EntertainmentTechnology, 8511 Manderville Lane.692-6597; Hillcrest High Fidelity, 6309Hillcrest, 528-0575; Home Entertainment,the Galleria, 934-8585; Preston TrailAudio, 17194 Preston, 248-9104;Wavelength Audio Video. 9780 LBJ.341-5800. -David Alex Schulz