Rotation
Superdrag Regretfully Yours Elektra To lend the proper post-punk savvy to their first major-label outing, Knoxville, Tennessee’s Superdrag chose well-connected Bostonian Tim O’Heir of Fort Apache fame to be their producer. O’Heir had done a hell of a job of slapping the right amounts of grinding guitars and proto-pop restraint…
Static
No minor threat… Just in case you don’t get your fill of that pesky punk philosophy at Saturday’s Bad Religion show at the International Ballroom, Fugazi is coming around a few days later to enlighten the daylights out of you. The anti-legendary hard-core quartet will arrive in the Second Ward…
Dave’s World
The David Wilcox success story reads with a predictability that’s damn near awe-inspiring. A student from a small college nestled in North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains, Wilcox settled into a cozy local club where his literate, confessional folk style was admired by a group of loyal regulars. Whether or not…
Press Picks
thursday april 4 Vote early, but not often Be one of the few, the proud … the voters. Today is the last day to cast an early ballot before the April 9 Democratic and Republican primary runoffs. If you voted in the first-round election on March 12, there’s plenty of…
Philadelphia Story
Recently, I’ve found myself obsessed with a particular culinary mission: to find an honest Philly cheese steak. It is, I admit, a mission that might surprise many of the people who know me. After all, I was born and raised in Texas. I’ve never so much as been through Philadelphia…
Lights, Action, History
On the evening of December 28, 1895, two brothers greeted visitors arriving at the basement salon of a popular cafe on Paris’ fashionable Boulevard des Capucines. Louis and Auguste Lumiere, owner-operators of a photographic firm in Lyon, had promised to dazzle their audience of 35 paying customers with a marvelous…
Ana’s Angel
The first time Ana Prieto Canela laid eyes on Jay Hamburger, he told her he was there to be her angel. She thought he was crazy. Six months later, she still does. Carrying a bouquet of flowers and dressed all in white, his Michael Bolton-like blond hair cascading in ringlets…
Shards of Ideas
Imagine a Jewish woman in Brooklyn, 1938, who’s seemingly so paralyzed with fear by what she reads in the papers about Nazi Germany that, even though there’s nothing physically wrong with her, she’s lost the ability to feel anything below the waist and been confined to a wheelchair. Imagine her…
A Tour of Tavernier
In addition to introducing the Lumiere program at the MFA, Bertrand Tavernier will discuss his own oeuvre during his visit to Houston. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, he will take part in a question-and-answer session in the museum’s Brown Auditorium, prior to the Houston premiere of his latest film, Fresh Bait…
Talked to Death
Anyone searching for a definition of the term “canned theater” need look no further than Faithful. Despite some profanely funny dialogue and three strong lead performances, this all-too-faithful adaptation of a stage play by actor/writer Chazz Palminteri adamantly refuses to spring to life as a film. Palminteri, doing double duty…
Farewell to the House that Bud Built
Before the Oilers pack for Nashville, another of Bud Adams’ contributions to Houston may vanish, although its passing won’t cause anywhere near the civic consternation that has accompanied the probable departure of his NFL franchise. In fact, few people outside of the city’s architectural circles will miss the Adams Petroleum…
The Insider
Name That Liar As 180th District Judge Debbie Mantooth Stricklin listened intently from the bench, former grand juror Katherine Corcorran broke her silence Tuesday and denied having called Chronicle reporter Jennifer Lenhart to volunteer that a fellow grand juror with political connections had exercised undue influence to thwart the indictment…
Joel Carmona’s Last Ride
Late on the afternoon of February 19, after the low rider car enthusiasts, the stunned schoolboys on low rider bikes and the somber-faced friends dressed in zoot suits had all paid their respects, Joel Carmona’s widow met her late husband’s colleague to put her name on a contract. The funeral…
Letters
Housebreaking the Lapdog Thank goodness someone has finally painted the real picture of what has been going on in the city controller’s office during the last two months [The Insider, “The Lapdog Eats His Own,” March 14]. Not that the public cares about what happens to city employees, though they…
Cult of Ferocity
Bad Religion bassist Jay Bentley still remembers clearly the look of fear in the guy’s eyes. Below him, the writhing sea of bodies was beginning to appear more and more like a swampy pit of ravenous alligators systematically dragging their prey through vicious underwater death rolls. Funny, then, how it…
Fun Without Pretense
As rock bands go, Echobelly can appear more than a touch pretentious. The multiracial quintet boasts a high-drama guitar pop approach much along the lines of the Smiths, a group in the upper echelon of post-punk’s most notable whiners. Echobelly is fronted by an exotic, self-assured Indian-born chanteuse who prefers…