Email Author Michael Serazio

2004 Stories by Michael Serazio

• Buggin' Out

  published December 30, 2004

  It begins in the stillness of night, as these things often do. The sharp-eyed hunter, squinting and squatting in the shadows of his porch, stuffs... More >>

• Rapping on Heaven's Door

  published December 23, 2004

  In the beginning, Juan James is just a kid. A seven-year-old latchkey kid in his hometown of Philadelphia with a couple of hours to kill after... More >>

• What Price Glory?

  published December 16, 2004

  Dajleon Farr is sitting in a barbershop chair minding his own business when a stranger walks right up, thrusts out his hand and compliments the... More >>

• Gambling on Iraq

  published December 2, 2004

  On the day before all hell breaks loose, the worst day of the American occupation in Iraq thus far, Stephen Heering shouldn't even be making a... More >>

• Chasing Its Tale

  published November 18, 2004

  Between the end of the Republican National Convention and Election Day, the Houston Chronicle spent roughly 50,000 words on President... More >>

• Party Animals

  published October 14, 2004

  You are young, single and unmistakably right. You love Fox News and the Wall Street Journal's op-ed page. You've got "yahoos" for Chris... More >>

• Reefer Madness

  published September 30, 2004

  On an average day -- with good weed -- Clayton Jones smokes eight grams. If he needs to, he can make an ounce last a week. It's a few hours... More >>

• The God Squad

  published September 16, 2004

  Like a cosmic knuckleball, God often works in mysterious ways. The Houston Astros, of all people, should understand that. Twice this season, fate... More >>

• DJ Harry

  published August 26, 2004

  DJ Harry had already scored points for cleverness when he touched up String Cheese Incident in a 2001 full-length remix. Mating jam bands and... More >>

• On the House

  published August 12, 2004

  To the naked eye, San Francisco and Houston don't have very much in common. One smells of salty Pacific air; the other, barbecue. One has been... More >>

• Pot Shots

  published August 5, 2004

  The banging on the door was violent, coming around 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 27. It startled Blair Davis, the landscape contractor who lives in the... More >>

• The Sun King

  published August 5, 2004

  By now, the old DJ cliché is so shopworn that it probably belongs in a museum. It's the one where the music writer asks the DJ to describe... More >>

• Children of Enron

  published July 15, 2004

  When a limousine pulled up to take the family to the airport, Chris Boutcher couldn't quite believe it. It was the summer of 2000, Enron was... More >>

• Center of Gravity?

  published July 8, 2004

  The players may change; the possibility continues to torture some Astros fans, a diamond oddity as curious as it is superfluous. Deep fly ball to... More >>

• Getting Sideways

  published July 1, 2004

  Kevin Darnell, a 22-year-old college student with a Yankees cap cocked at a jaunty hip-hop angle, hops into his maroon Nissan 240SX. "I'm a... More >>

• Off the Deep End

  published June 24, 2004

  The black fence around the perimeter rises up well beyond Yao Ming heights, the rods curling outward at the top like spikes. The bathrooms in... More >>

• The Final Scratch?

  published May 27, 2004

  They call it the Scratch Amp. It's just a little Discman-sized gizmo, round and sturdy, with wires popping out every which way. In the DJ... More >>

• Sudden Impact

  published May 20, 2004

  Fourteen-year-old Roderick Victor arrives at the AMC theater at First Colony Mall on this cold February 6 night with a few friends and no definite... More >>

• House Music Scratches for a New Vibe in Houston

  published May 6, 2004

  On the drunk side of midnight, in a stylish Midtown lounge called Union, the dance floor is chaotic, yet benevolent; the DJs, effusive, yet... More >>

• Secret Ways

  published April 29, 2004

  Maria Narciso, assistant editor at the University of St. Thomas Cauldron newspaper, showed up for the April 15 Student Government... More >>

• So, Did You Hear the One About the Funny Muslim?

  published April 15, 2004

  In a perfectly ordered world, Mirza Baig goes off to medical school, gets a good practice somewhere in the suburbs, settles down with a girl in a... More >>

• Various Artists

  published April 15, 2004

  A 15-track hodgepodge of mellow groove and downbeat lounge, The Sweet Spot was presumably concocted to showcase the vocal talent of several... More >>

• Cry of the Wolves

  published April 1, 2004

  Scavengers took what they could haul away from these isolated 26 acres, starting with the gate that had once protected the rutted dirt entrance... More >>

• Moby for Veep

  published March 25, 2004

  Like it or not, in today's politics, personality trumps policy. As our attention spans have withered, so too have our appetites -- and aptitudes... More >>

• Passport to Nowhere

  published February 19, 2004

  In a gritty arena in southwest Houston, Aaron Navarro, a trainer with tattoos crawling up his neck, scoops out several hunks of petroleum jelly... More >>