Email Author John Nova Lomax

2006 Stories by John Nova Lomax

• Bored with Apathy

  published December 28, 2006

  Looking around at the plenitude of punk in and around the city today, it's hard to believe that a mere 25 years ago, the music and the lifestyle... More >>

• Don't Fear the Reaper

  published December 21, 2006

  A few years ago, we started jacking the Greil Marcus Rock Death Meter, the one he invented in his 1979 essay "Rock Death in the 1970s: A... More >>

• That Was the Year That Was

  published December 14, 2006

  Even though it wasn't the same type of feeding frenzy that prevailed in 2005, 2006 was still an insanely great year to be a rapper here. As for... More >>

• Everlasting Sounds

  published December 14, 2006

  This story, as originally conceived, was supposed to be a compilation of the year's best box sets and other reissues. But then it hit us -- in... More >>

• Loony Zunes

  published December 7, 2006

  So Doug Morris, chief executive of Universal Music Group, managed to put one over on Microsoft a while back. Morris, the boss of the largest music... More >>

• A Blighted Slough of Smells, Steel and Chemicals

  published November 30, 2006

  Houston is a sprawling disaster of a city, possibly the most repulsive metropolis I've ever seen." So says "John" from mysterious D.C. punk band... More >>

• H-Town Mixtape Part II

  published November 23, 2006

  Back in 2001, before Tropical Storm Allison, before Enron, before the Great H-Town Rap Boom of 2005, one of the very first columns I wrote was a... More >>

• Fight the Power

  published November 16, 2006

  When you get right down to it, Houston is really just all about one thing -- The Car. Every day, we seem more and more like a city fit only for... More >>

• No Más for the Vatos Rudos

  published November 9, 2006

  For now, it's over -- after 12 years, hundreds of gigs, beers without number and almost as many brawls, and three dozen members coming and going... More >>

• Bad Vibrations

  published November 2, 2006

  Another week, another titanic bummer on the music scene. After months of rumors, it has become official. By the time you read this, Helios, the... More >>

• The Ten Commandments of Rap

  published October 26, 2006

  Unlike every other genre of music, rap is always viewed as something you play. You never hear about the honky-tonk or heavy metal "games" -- those... More >>

• Warfare on Washington

  published October 19, 2006

  The latest in a long line of 100 percent certified bummers to hit the Houston music scene has, in some ways, topped them all. At least when Cactus... More >>

• Stealing the Show

  published October 19, 2006

  Before the first Ninth Ward gangster shot and killed another in the streets of southwest Houston, before Mayor Bill White faced a church full of... More >>

• Leaving the Wolfe Pack

  published October 12, 2006

  So the last couple of weeks have found me in email conversation with maverick Nashville/Austin/Mississippi record producer/songwriter R.S. Field,... More >>

• The Sole of Houston

  published October 12, 2006

  I've read that you can see Westheimer from space. I've also read that it is the longest commercial thoroughfare in Texas. I've always thought of... More >>

• Rants About Stuff

  published October 5, 2006

  Racket is angry this week, my friends. The de-funkification and de-coolifying of Houston continues apace. First Fourth Ward and then Montrose... More >>

• AFRICAN SOUNDS TAPES, CDS AND VIDEOS

  published September 28, 2006

  African Sounds Tapes, CDs and Videos is situated across the street from Bayland Park in a ramshackle strip mall that's home to no fewer than three... More >>

• The Dirty Dozen Brass Band

  published September 21, 2006

  Marvin Gaye's awed and fearful three-word question is perhaps the most natural reaction to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. As we watched a... More >>

• H-Town Zydeco

  published September 21, 2006

  Zydeco is one of the more misunderstood musical genres in the national consciousness. Most people in places like Wisconsin and Boston and, often... More >>

• Ready for Some Football?

  published September 14, 2006

  When I got the press release for the Houston Symphony's "Gridiron Glory: Sights and Music of the NFL" show, I thought it was a prime example of... More >>

• Up in Smoke

  published September 7, 2006

  Health nuts are gonna feel pretty stupid someday, lying in hospitals, dyin' o' nothin'. -- Redd Foxx Here we go again...City Hall is... More >>

• Various Artists

  published August 31, 2006

  "This ain't no history lesson," snarls the opening line to the liner notes of this excellent four-CD boxed set. "It's about attitude! This is... More >>

• Unholy Getdown

  published August 31, 2006

  You know, it has become fashionable in some quarters, even here in Texas and even among some who profess to love the blues, to hate on Stevie Ray... More >>

• Bright Men of Learning

  published August 24, 2006

  Bright Men of Learning More >>

• Starry Lullabye

  published August 24, 2006

  Few Houston-area musicians have had careers as illustrious and seemingly unlikely as La Marque native David Schnaufer's -- a journey that took him... More >>