{
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    "name": "Free Press Houston"
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  "slug": "thanks-houston-october-2008",
  "title": "Thanks Houston!",
  "deck": null,
  "author": {
    "name": "Free Press Houston"
  },
  "editorName": null,
  "publication": {
    "@id": "https://freepresshoustonarchive.com/#organization",
    "name": "Free Press Houston"
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  "issue": null,
  "publicationDate": "2008-10-12",
  "publicationYear": 2008,
  "sourceDateRaw": "Sunday, October 12, 2026",
  "dateBasis": "Permalink /archive/2008/10/thanks-houston/ establishes October 2008; October 12 fell on a Sunday in 2008. The body thanks the community for \"yesterday\", the Saturday, October 11, 2008 Westheimer Block Party.",
  "bodyYearAnomaly": false,
  "printedPages": null,
  "section": "News",
  "subjects": [
    "Westheimer Block Party",
    "Montrose",
    "Houston music"
  ],
  "entities": [
    "Free Press Houston",
    "Westheimer Block Party",
    "Shelby Hohl",
    "Tim Dorsey",
    "Ramon Medina",
    "Tyler Barber",
    "Brittany Bly",
    "Mills McCoin",
    "Andrea Afra"
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  "body": [
    "Allahuakbaaaaar! That was such a clutch-tastical Block party yesterday! At one point, I really felt as if we opened Pandora's Box when I saw a man with a shopping cart with Christmas lights on it that was surrounded by about 40 people dancing and climbing the Metro stop. There were more people, more great shows, and more joyful/disturbing moments than any Block Party past. For one brief, brief millisecond... it felt like Mardi Gras. We always come up short on thanking people and I am gonna be a touch over zealous here as I want you readers to know the folks in the community that bring you such a great FREE music and arts fest. If you see any of them, I encourage you to extend your gratitude because they do not for fiscal gain but just build community and keep arts and music on the streets of Montrose.",
    "Thanks to:",
    "Mark and Shelby Martin (The Hidden Hand behind the Block Party)",
    "George at GJG Productions",
    "Paul Holzhauer...My Muse",
    "Zero and Wassi",
    "Kerry Melohnson",
    "JD from Secret Saturday Shows",
    "Shelby Hohl Shelby Hohl Shelby Hohl Shelby Hohl Shelby Hohl Shelby Hohl",
    "Jeff Storm Jeff Storm Jeff Storm Jeff Storm",
    "Tim Dorsey",
    "Ramon Medina",
    "Tyler Barber",
    "Brittany Bly",
    "Mills McCoin",
    "Andrea Afra",
    "Amy Simon",
    "Benito",
    "and the rest of the FPH staph",
    "ADR, Dusti Rhodes, Matt Wettergreen, Marlo Blue, Jeremy from SCR,",
    "for helpin' spread that word",
    "Mariana, Rudy, Eduardo, Wes Wallace, Delinda, and all the other property managers",
    "CeePlus",
    "Jacob Calle! Motherfucker!",
    "Giant Battle Monster",
    "Donny Hall for the AMAZING commercial",
    "Alexandre Rosa",
    "Frank Zwee",
    "Copy.com",
    "Chapultepec",
    "Ali Nahhas from Aladdin ( Best hummos in town)",
    "MOST IMPORTANTLY:",
    "The more than 104 bands that came to play for free just because they love to play music. There has been this silly narrative in other publications, on message boards, and blogs about some ostensible lack of the presence of a music scene in Houston. However- Anyone at yesterday's Block Party could NEVER make such an assertion in the face of thousands of people getting down for so many bands. People are hungry! They just need art and music 'contextualized' in the right way.",
    "Anyways, all the bands really WENT HARD and put on grrreat performances and if you see em' on the streets, thank them."
  ],
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      "id": "thanks-houston-october-2008-web",
      "sourceType": "web-live",
      "label": "freepresshouston.com surviving October 2008 home archive",
      "originalUrl": "https://freepresshouston.com/archive/2008_10_01_FPHHomeArchive/",
      "assetUrl": null,
      "retrievalDate": "2026-08-29",
      "confidence": "confirmed",
      "note": "Institutional Free Press Houston byline; the source does not attribute the post to Omar Afra and it is not recorded under his name. A separate, later post also headlined \"Thanks Houston.\" survives from the spring 2009 Block Party and is held as thanks-houston; the two are distinct posts with different text and are not merged.",
      "sourceByline": "Free Press Houston",
      "sourceDate": "Sunday, October 12, 2026",
      "webStatus": "live"
    }
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  "fingerprint": "wbp-2008-10-12-thanks-houston",
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