John Amar

Reading the track list of John Allen Stephens’ Return to Form is to read a novel’s table of contents, glimpsing into the coming pages’ journey. Chapter Song titles like “Molotov,” “Motorcycle” and “Addiction,” point to autobiographical accounts of...

Summer 2020 may not have panned out the way we envisioned it. Scratch that. Most of 2020 hasn't gone according to plan. A running tab of offenses would include, but certainly wouldn't be limited to, scorching temperatures, social and political unr...

Pride month looks quite different from years past without its annual traditions of parades and festivities in the midst of a pandemic and ongoing social unrest. But cancelled celebrations and concerts haven't yielded lower visibility of Houston's ...

Switched on Pop: How Popular Music Works, and Why it Matters By Nate Sloan & Charlie Harding 224 pp. $24.95 Oxford University Press Think back to Summer 2012. Gotye ached and crooned about somebody he used to know; LMFAO wiggled and party-rock...

It's hard to know exactly what to listen to in a time like this. Do you numb the chaos with mindless lyrics (thank God the "Baby Shark" curve flattened some time ago), or do you embrace it with more challenging fare (Looking at you, Fiona Apple)? ...

Before COVID-19 halted arts and music industries around the world, Garfield Elementary general music educator Abby Veliz was in the process of booking a performance for her students with the Houston Dash. Veliz, an HSPVA and UH graduate, was also ...