Strong Convictions
Richard A. Anderson makes part of his living arguing cases before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, a nine-member panel of elected judges that is the state’s supreme court over criminal cases. In the hallowed halls of the judiciary, deference to those in the black robes often plays out in…
Snippy, Snippy
Esquire magazine can be a smarmy place sometimes — between the “Women We Love” articles 7and the endless ruminations on cigars and martinis — but now it has gone too far. The December issue isn’t on the stands yet, but in a Houston Press exclusive! (Hey, this sweeps-month stuff is…
True Confessions
Dear Press Readers: The jig, as Styx once so eloquently sang, is up. So in the interest of full disclosure, let’s lay it down right here at the top: What you are about to read is entirely true. The cover story of the Press’s November 4 issue, “Taking Back the…
News of the Weird
Lead StoriesEx-policeman Paul Harrington, 53, was arrested in Detroit in October for killing his wife and son, having reportedly confessed that he was having trouble providing for them and wanted them never to be homeless. In 1975 Harrington killed his first wife and their two kids but was found not…
Groping in the Dark
Luis Mota was 15 years old when he first met Raul Caffesse, a friend of his parents’. He would become Mota’s own companion and mentor in his rise up the periodontal research ranks. Both Mota’s parents are periodontists; his father was dean of the periodontal school at Central University Venezuela…
Rotation
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals Burn to Shine Virgin Unlike most guitar heroes, Ben Harper concentrates on his songs — crosses between old blues and classic rock with hints of folk and country — not on his solos. Which makes his solos sound all the better once he starts…
Wipe and Sniff
On the way to her flight, Gerry Belton unshouldered her white tote bag with the blue straps and dropped it onto the security X-ray machine at Hobby Airport. As she passed through the silent metal detector archway, her bag reappeared from the X-ray scan with no apparent problems. But the…
And the Survey Says…
The last time we spoke with the friendly folk at Zagat Survey, we were only one among hundreds of whiners complaining that the on-line version of their populist restaurant guide didn’t include Houston — or any other Texas city, for that matter. “It isn’t a conspiracy,” Jessie Soodalter, then head…
Sarofim II: The Next (De)Generation
It’s hard to imagine a nastier, more alcohol-and-kinky-sex-soaked divorce than that of Houston billionaire Fayez Sarofim’s split from second wife Linda Sarofim Lowe two years ago. It spun off an equally nasty booze-and-sex-permeated suit by Lowe accusing her own attorneys of bilking her out of millions in legal fees. But…
The South Will Re-enact Again!
“It was America’s bloodiest era,” says University of Houston history professor Eric Walther of the Civil War. “More Americans were killed at the hands of other Americans than in any other wars in history combined.” Texas wasn’t even on the winning side of the bloodshed; in fact, our state was…
Rivalry and Requiem
Even though it never claimed to be historically accurate, Milos Forman’s Oscar-winning 1984 movie Amadeus, based on Peter Shaffer’s play, put a juicy rumor into the history of classical music. God-fearing but mediocre court composer Antonio Salieri, made crazy by the divine talent bestowed upon his buffoonish and irreverent rival,…
Foreign Indeed
The first time I stopped by Al Diwan Mediterranean Grill was at lunchtime on a Friday. It was 11:45 a.m., to be exact. I almost ran full tilt into the French doors because I didn’t expect them to be locked, but locked they were. I peered through the glass into…
Tapas Italianate?
If you think pasta just isn’t pasta unless it’s served in a bowl big enough to bathe a small child in, if a serving of beef just doesn’t cut it unless it hangs over the sides of the plate, you need to take your ample waistline somewhere besides Osteria D’Aldo,…
Body Conscious
Terribly silly and wonderfully philosophical, Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus makes for a bawdy night of brazen, British-style theater. And Actors Theatre of Houston is up to the absurdist task, putting together a production that rivals Benny Hill at his scatological best. All about death and sex and the body, the…
Hot Plate
Waffle Wake-up: Kick-start your weekend mornings with the wide-eyed waffles ($5) served at the Heights’ eclectic Kaldi Cafe [250 West 19th Street, (713)802-2246]. Their perky secret? It’s the sultry flavor of dark, fresh-brewed coffee in the cinnamon-scented batter. Deep-pocketed and crisp, these quilted beauties really soak up the maple syrup…
Horseman, Pass By
“The spectre is known at all the country firesides by the name of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow,” writes Washington Irving in his original fantasy. Thanks in large part to the silly, watered-down fun of the animated Disney version, the Horseman and his victim, the gangling and gallant Ichabod…
One For All
When tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet visited his hometown of Houston in 1955, he wanted to make history. Not musically — the brilliant saxophonist had already covered that — but socially. Jacquet, horn in hand, wanted to desegregate Houston music audiences. He did, and the Houston Police Department showed its thanks…
Enough Is Enough
Poor old MGM — the once-golden studio that has been battered and abused by ever-changing ownership and management for nearly three decades now — still has one sure-shot franchise among its assets: the James Bond series, whose longevity is astounding. If nothing else, the series’s overseas popularity keeps the films…
Gare-on-teed Phat
Zydeco, like most folk-based popular musics, may seem to come mainly in two flavors: traditional and not-so-traditional. But zydeco has never really been a static form. Rather, it has been a sonic chameleon for decades, reflecting the influences of its creators. Recently, no artist has embraced this change with more…
Wisconsin Cheese
The world’s demand for minimally talented 30-year-old high school dropouts who believe they’re great poets or great musicians or great movie directors isn’t going to catch up with the supply anytime soon. That won’t keep the strivers from striving, of course, nor will it snuff out their dreams. Case in…
Prolific Pop
It has been a long time since Robert Pollard taught fourth grade. Since his indie rock band, Guided By Voices, started getting noticed about five years ago, he hasn’t had to. “I miss the fact that when you work five days a week you get excited about the weekend,” he…
Life on the High C’s
A tangible sense of sadness and longing hangs over The Legend of 1900, the mesmerizingly beautiful and poetic new film from Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, best known in the United States for his Academy Award-winning Cinema Paradiso. Based on a dramatic monologue by contemporary Italian novelist Alessandro Baricco but filmed…
Viva Japanic!
Lotta people hate Blockbuster. And Starbucks. And Ricky Martin. And anything else “capitalistic” (read: successful). How progressive, especially considering that the dry cleaners down the block probably generates more bucks than the local Blockbuster and Starbucks outlets put together. But when it comes to ideas, are there notions big enough…
Lynch Mob Returns?
Pay attention now, because there seems to be some confusion about this: David Lynch is a serious person — a strange person, yes, but a serious person, and a very serious artist. He is not something cute and adorable, like Alfred Hitchcock, the jovial emcee of our collective nightmares. Nor…
Family Tradition
Hank is a name that stands alone in country music. Same goes for Hank Junior. And now there’s a third: Hank Williams III, otherwise known as Hank III. Unlike his pappy, Bocephus (a.k.a. Junior), Hank III looks like grandpaw, sounds like grandpaw, and damn if the kid doesn’t embody the…
Mix Master
In a conference room at the Doubletree Hotel at Post Oak, Guy Zapoleon sat surrounded by radios. Shortwave. Multiband. Pocket transistors. Every inch of the room was either occupied by radios or swallowed up by the music pumping out of them. For two straight days, Zapoleon and an associate, Dave…
Local Rotation
Houston Jazz Trio LandHo Liquid Phyllis Records No, Houston’s not a jazz mecca, but its small jazz circle boasts some world-class talent. The trio that has dared to name itself after the city is a good example; the Houston Jazz Trio reigns as one of the area’s most inventive bands…