That’s Rich
This year, you want to give more to charity. And stop smoking. And learn how to speak Russian? Sure! Good luck with all that. But come on — seriously. If there’s one thing we all want this New Year, it’s to look good. Hot. Fit. Fly. Jennifer Garner-esque. Of course,…
Souchin’ into Bethlehem
The adventures continue for Houston singer-songwriter Greg Wood. As summer faded into fall, the former Horseshoe front man rolled out of the defunct Spring Branch-area bowling alley he had been calling home and moved back to the Montrose area. During that time he was laying pretty low — he wasn’t…
I Resolve to Get Laid
Sex is like money. When you have plenty of it, you seldom give it a thought. The question is, what does “plenty of it” mean? Chances are, if you’ve just begun a torrid office affair and are shagging in the coat room during the lunch break, in your car after…
Rotation
Nas Street’s Disciple Columbia For Nasir Jones, the stakes are always high. His 1994 debut, Illmatic, consistently appears on short lists of the best rap albums ever, while his next five releases are barely mentioned. With every Nas album, millions of rap fans across the world hope for another Illmatic…
2005 Resolutions Guide Listings
Houston = Fat City! They can call us Fat City all they want. It’s not our fault that Houston is home to some top-notch restaurants where you can find a great meal for under $10 just about anywhere you look. Heck, half those meals come with free chips and salsa…
Hay Ya
FRI 1/21 Deborah Hay has been called “Texas’s grande dame of modern dance,” an apt title for someone who’s been shocking the modern dance community (not an easy crowd to surprise) since the 1960s. This weekend, Hay’s innovation is on display at DiverseWorks. Solo Adaptations, the offspring of her award-winning…
Insanely Guilty
A man shrieks at the top of his lungs: “Please 911 PLEASE I need an ambulance!” Clutching a cell phone and pacing through his house, the man roars with primal anger and pain. “Please help me — hurry — I’m right down the street from the fire station…My wife, I…
Stiff Mussel
Feeling limp? Then perhaps the almejas a la Viagra ($4.25 for six mussels) at Sabor! (5712 Bellaire Boulevard, 713-667-6001) are just the thing to stimulate your taste buds. The whimsical name of this dish at this new Central American restaurant is certainly eye-catching. This house-specialty ceviche is made from finely…
Judging Andrea
The reversal of the Andrea Yates murder convictions drew international media attention, but virtually none of it touched on the controversy over the hard-line judge who wrote the opinion: former Houston police chief Sam Nuchia. The First Court of Appeals justice had been targeted in recent months with recusal motions…
The Fickle Fez
Sitting out on the patio of La Fendee Mediterranean Grill under blue skies on a 70-degree January afternoon, we toasted the perfect weather with iced tea. The cute little cafe with the big wooden deck and the red fez logo is a welcome addition to the long list of alfresco…
Playbill
Keane, the Redwalls and the Zutons Relentlessly melodic and aggressively catchy, Keane brings pure, unadulterated piano pop into the 21st century. Tom Chaplin’s strong, clear voice — at times eerily reminiscent of Freddie Mercury — soars over dominant piano and authoritative drums, making for a mix that’s utterly familiar and…
No Way Out
Listeners of KPFT’s Prison Show have often heard the show’s longtime volunteer sound engineer, Frank Dewey, ridicule the state’s sex-offender registration laws. Dewey, who pleaded guilty to having sex with a 16-year-old female in 1984, has never been shy about what he thinks of having to register with his local…
The School of Hard Yuks
Knock, knock. Who’s there? It’s an overabundant gaggle of the funny and unfunny — all eager to squint in the glare of the cruel spotlight of a secondary stage. You call it 6:45 p.m. on a Monday. At the Laff Stop (1952 West Gray) it’s called sign-up time. And there’s…
Frontier Justice
In the movies, when an aggrieved victim decides to take justice into his own hands, things go great. When Brian Knight of Waller decided to do it, he ended up in the slammer, facing five to life. Knight, 46, who police say owns a car dealership, was pissed that stereos…
Run, Dick, Run
You have to hand it to Sean Penn. Okay, you don’t absolutely have to, and if you’re a Red Stater through and through, you certainly won’t want to, but give him some credit. After being pilloried in the press for visiting Iraq under Saddam’s reign, being torn apart by housecats…
Letters
Go Green, HISD Respect the past: I’m a junior at HSPVA who is very interested in the issue of the new school [“On Shaky Grounds,” by Keith Plocek, December 30]. I am aware that there are a multitude of issues regarding its choice of energy and the possibility of a…
Suddenly This Summer
In her first stab at narrative drama, writer-director Shainee Gabel has managed to assemble a superstar cast and a seasoned technical team. She spent five years on the project, adapting an unpublished novel written by the father of a friend, working with a clarity of vision and an admirable goal:…
“Double” Vision
For artist Annette Lawrence, much of what passes today as “African-American art” is simply too obvious. “Some people say that if a piece of art has the imagery of a black person in it, then it must be black art,” she says. “That’s way too literal.” Black art — and…
Unlucky 13
Assault on Precinct 13, the sluggish remake of John Carpenter’s grungy 1976 movie of the same name, begins with a bang it never lives up to. In a smoky den of all manner of iniquity, Ethan Hawke is trying to close a drug deal. With his girl splayed out on…
This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks
Thursday, January 20 We’ll leave the hot dining tips to Robb Walsh, but should you find yourself at Jenni’s Noodle House this evening, stick around. You’ll be served by members of the Aurora Picture Show staff at the Celebrity Waitstaff Fundraiser. Aurora’s Andrea Grover, Jill Wood, Eileen Maxson and Vinod…
Heads Up
The clowns come out first. They appear in a spot of light in the audience, flitting among the patrons who are still looking for seats. One clown points and silently guffaws at a lady who looks to be toting several glasses of wine. Another dusts off the head of a…
Middle Man
You get the sense from reading his book Middlesex that Jeffrey Eugenides belongs to an upper echelon of writers, and that his novel will be a precious stone to scholars of the future, gleaming amid mangy heaps of chick lit and thrillers. Consider simply that Middlesex won the 2003 Pulitzer…
Capsule Reviews
Doo Wop II the Sequel According to Big Mama in the Great Caruso’s latest musical revue, doo wop was an incantatory musical potion created from “gospel, jazz and four-part harmony.” Of course, as Big Mama (a smooth Samantha Coombs) adds, the biggest influence was the blues. Happily, all those head-bopping…
Hell to the Chief
THU 1/20 For those who voted blue, January 20 will be salt in your November 2 wounds. The feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and futility will return. You’ll fight the urge to reach for a drink, a gun or worse — a “W” sticker for your car. Don’t do it! You…
Where the Art Is
Looking like some sort of fundamentalist-Christian terrorist, a young man wears a ski mask and poses next to an overdecorated Christmas tree. The living room is circa 1970s, and the photograph, titled American Jihad II (2003), is by Marc Montoya — pretty much. You see, Montoya has an extensive archive…
Jottin’ Jocks
FRI 1/21 So you’d assembled the cards of the entire ’76 Reds team (even Don Gullet!) and then your dog, Griffey Sr., went and chewed up Joe Morgan. Not to worry. Morgan, along with three other members of the “Big Red Machine,” will be present at the 19th annual Tristar…
Capsule Reviews
“Jess-Rafael Soto” Jess-Rafael Soto’s work isn’t technically kinetic, but it can certainly make the viewer kinetic. It gets you circling, crouching, standing, doing a box step and bobbing your head up and down like one of the those dashboard dogs. On your retinas is where the real work happens –…
In a Jam
SUN 1/23 Levon Louis was enjoying a cushy career as a cinematic and video-game sound artist, as well as an electronica producer and performer. But when he watched the images of the Asian tsunami, he suddenly had different priorities. “When friends and family got together for New Year’s Eve, we…
Houston Resolutions
For ex-Houston Rocket player and commentator Calvin Murphy: Resolve to get a vasectomy in 2005 He was acquitted by a jury for charges he molested several of his daughters years ago. But perhaps the most shocking fact to come out of the trial was that the diminutive NBA Hall of…
Great Balls of Fire
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Think Thin
Training for triathlons, Delphi Medina ate piles of pasta and potatoes. And she burned off the carbs, no problem. “Now I’m eating carbs and I’m not burning shit off,” she says. “I’ve been such a slacker. I’m supposed to be doing the half-marathon in January. I need to get my…
Take the Skinheads Bowling All Over Again
Camper Van Beethoven appears , at .