Latino Heat
It’s difficult to tell from the image on the poster for Take the Lead, but that’s not star Antonio Banderas dancing in blue silhouette. In fact, the movie isn’t even about Banderas dancing — it’s about Banderas teaching teenagers to dance. You’d think that might be a dream come true…
Pandora’s Boss
Most casual music fans have that one person in their life they turn to before they buy new music, a guru who keeps up with the trends, reads the mags, goes to the shows, surfs the ‘Net and has taste that aligns with theirs. It could be a friend, a…
Opera of the Obsessed
There’s a whole theory that our generation is totally self-obsessed. To that we say, “Um, yeah.” This idea is examined in two exhibits opening today at Commerce Street Artists Warehouse. “Because the music he constantly plays says nothing to me about my life…” is a group show featuring various New…
Portrait of an “Old Lady”
In darkness, the soft, plaintive wailing of a cantor is suddenly broken off by bursts of gunfire, flashes of explosions and the deafening drone of jetfighters overhead. The stage lights come up. Hair streaked with gray, legs thick with phlebitis, a dowdy woman sits slumped over the table next to…
Turn Out the Lights, the Party’s Over
It was around midnight on Saturday, and the Cactus Music & Video farewell party was nearing the bitter end. Cactus employee bands the Program and the Jane Frequency had rocked hard; folk-singing hobbyist and Cactus employee Ian Wilkinson had surprised many of his co-workers with his strong singing voice and…
Dogu-Drama
Bob Barker has been reminding us for years: “Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered.” The message apparently hasn’t sunk in, though: In Houston alone, shelters humanely euthanized about 20,000 dogs and cats last year. And fewer than half were strays. Learning ghastly statistics like these…
Capsule Reviews
Ouroboros Tom Jacobson’s Ouroboros might be one of the most richly textured works Main Street Theater has put on in years. The story is told from two points of view in two productions shown on alternative nights. One, A Nun’s Tale, is a comedy; the other, A Priest’s Tale, a…
Chinese Puzzle
The Chinese chicken salad ($8.50) at Barnaby’s Cafe (414 West Gray, 713-522-8898) is an enigma, since it doesn’t appear to contain any Chinese ingredients. Surely the name doesn’t refer to the spicy peanut sauce doused on top of the pyramid-shaped salad. Everyone knows that peanut sauce is Thai, not Chinese…
Line Up for Wine
Happy hours, pub crawls and wine tastings are all catchy ways of saying “Let’s drink.” Wine tasting just means you dress up a little (acting snobby is optional). The Houston Downtown Alliance’s sixth annual Emerging Leaders Wine Tasting: Reds, Whites and Blues is a networking event featuring food and a…
A History of Violence
Photojournalist Kevin Carter was born in South Africa in 1960, the year of the Sharpville Massacre, when the South African police opened fire on peaceful demonstrators, killing 69 people. He gassed himself to death in 1994 after receiving the Pulitzer Prize. Artist Alfredo Jaar’s installation The Sound of Silence at…
Curl Up with Teddy
With his chin-length mop hair, model good looks and raspy voice, Teddy Geiger seemed the perfect new Keith Partridge on VH1’s In Search of the New Partridge Family in 2004. But just before the show’s finale, the 15-year-old bowed out; he’d been scooped by Columbia Records, which recently released his…
Poly Siam
Unless there’s a new twist to HBO’s Big Love that we haven’t heard about, we’re pretty sure that the terms “polygamy” and “family-friendly musical” don’t often overlap in the public discourse. But they come to a glorious union in The King and I, which HITS is bringing to Miller Outdoor…
Capsule Reviews
“Alex Katz” Alex Katz made his name with hard-edged, flattened portraits. But just shy of 80, the painter has loosened up considerably. He’s still interested in flat color and abstracted form, but his work has gotten looser and brushier. His show at Texas Gallery features a lovely collection of small…
Jesus Is tha Bomb
Depicting a religious deity as a violent figure may seem so passé (heard the news from Denmark lately?). But hold everything: There’s some new sacrilege and blasphemy, and you don’t have to Google the hell out of it to check it out. Simply pick a time that’s good for you…
Hunk o’ Hernan
South America’s sole representative on the list of the world’s top 50 DJs is Hernan Cattaneo of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Dude ranks No. 11, but his exotic vibe and exquisite good looks could help push him even further up the list. Which isn’t to say that his music couldn’t do…
Prince
“It’s goin’ down, y’all, like the wall of Berlin,” says Prince during 3121’s opening title track, a slice of funk more wobbly and bizarre than anything he has released this side of that wall tumbling. It’s comforting to know that, like Kate Bush, he still lets the weirdness in. And…
Tainted Black
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: PS2, Xbox
Price: $39.99
ESRB Rating: M (for Mature)
Score: 5 (out of 10)
Curtain Call
Believe it or not, there was once a time when the city wasn’t full of gum-smeared, multi-screen movie theaters; the semi-creepy Movie Fone guy didn’t tell you to “press 2” to find your flick; and climactic love and death scenes weren’t interrupted by cell-phone rings playing Usher’s latest hit. Those…
What, No Doughnuts?
If you missed the opening for the “Heartbreaker” exhibition at Lawndale Art Center, well, then, “it sucks to be you,” according to artist Stephanie Lundy. The decadent fete boasted about 50 dozen doughnuts. “It is worth seeing if you missed the doughnuts, I guess,” Lundy says. “There’s some art or…
Burnside Exploration
Ever since I was a baby critic, I’ve been hearing about how the blues was dying. Allegedly, it died when Wolf passed away, and then again when Muddy went to his maker, and then for a third time, when John Lee Hooker marched on. For every blues-playing so-and-so that left…
Some Kind of Joke
The Mel Brooks Collection (Fox) Talk about taking the good with the bad; how else to describe a boxed set containing Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein (Brooks’ silly masterpieces), and Robin Hood: Men in Tights and History of the World, Part 1 (both overrated, even by people who can’t stand…
Jesus Rocks!
Wait — is that the one with the Technicolor dreamcoat? Or is it Jesus Christ Superstar? Heavens no, you musical heathen: It’s Godspell, the other smash-hit musical based on the Bible, and with lyrics derived from the Gospel According to St. Matthew, it’s probably the most literal interpretation of the…
What a Dromaeosaur
Dinosaurs exhibits are unique in that they stay cool as you get older. Don’t lie: The sight of a T. Rex’s teeth still gives you those “What if it gets me?!” shivers. Stuff both scary and educational is in store at “Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries” at the Houston Museum…
Stephin Merritt
Stephin Merritt has come out of the closet: Of course! You’re a theatrical composer! It must have been so hard passing as a pop singer all those years. The leader of Magnetic Fields and sundry other indie broods slides into musical theater so easily, you have to wonder how he…
Our top DVD picks for the week of April 4
Bee Season (Fox) Best of 3rd Rock From the Sun (Anchor Bay) The Big Question (THINKFilm) Bustin’ Bonaparte (Freestyle) Dawson’s Creek: The Complete Sixth Season (Sony) Dirty (Sony) The Fallen (Anthem) Far Side of the Moon (TLA) Gorillaz: Demon Days Live (Virgin) Judges (Anthem) Little Manhattan (Fox/Regency) Liza With a…
Amazing Height
You may not have heard of Dr. Dorothy I. Height, but she has changed your life. This patron saint of civil rights mentored one Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (You may have heard of him.) Height, who helped brainstorm many protests during MLK’s era, received the Congressional Medal of Honor…
All Your Bass
The frenzied and turbulent world of drum ‘n’ bass requires woofers that won’t pop every time the barreling bass lines and whip-snapping snares hit. Fortunately, the Meridian has the kind of juice necessary to support today’s Bassfest 2006. In Area 001, after Switch and Page get the bodies loosened up,…
Deadboy & the Elephantmen
Dax Riggs has one of those lived-in voices that occasionally makes him sound several decades older than he is. The thirtysomething Louisiana native first gained notoriety as the front man for soot-black cult-metal favorite Acid Bath, where his weathered, world-weary voice added some welcome soul to the band’s acidic thrash…
Caught in the ‘Net
This is a test
Killer Ratings
Love it or loathe it, there’s no denying the impact that reality television has made on the social and cultural landscape. We’ve seen strangers get married, models devour slimy bugs, fat gay guys get naked on an island, and even Ozzy Osbourne cleaning up dog crap. What’s next for the…
The Pacific Ocean Grill
The seafood gumbo I had at Joyce’s Ocean Grill on Westheimer was darker than beef gravy, dense with fresh shrimp and just-cooked oysters, and peppery all the way to the back of my throat. Piping hot, it was better than a fuzzy blanket on a cold and rainy afternoon. Sitting…
Exene Cervenka & the Original Sinners
In a bar somewhere on the West Coast, a presumptuous punk-rock fan approached a woman who looked familiar. “Hey, you look just like Exene Cervenka. What are you doing here?” The woman, taking pleasure in the opportunity to shut down this clueless tool, flatly said, “I am Exene. I just…
Such Nice Kids
Want a concrete example of the old saying “caught between a rock and a hard place”? Look no further than the Houston school district. The “rock” is the fact that the district is largely Hispanic — nearly 60 percent of its 209,000 students, in fact. The “hard place” is the…
Hell on Earth
In the wake of September 11, 2001, putting on a sympathetic face for Afghanistan was difficult for most Americans. But as Osama bin Laden reportedly hid out there, innocent Afghans, already under siege by the Taliban, braced themselves for our assault. For decades, Afghans have faced starvation, disease and the…
Snit’s Dog and Pony Show
They’ve been playing around town a few years now, and Snit’s Dog and Pony Show make no bones about it — originality is overrated. They seem to take as much pleasure in turning the amps to 11 for a rousing version of “Down, Down, Down” from the first Dave Edmunds…
Hold the Salt
Boarding a Boston Whaler docked in Galveston Bay, Sammy Ray, 87, refuses an offer to be lifted in. Instead, he awkwardly sits down on the wooden pier and slides into the fore. The declaration of autonomy, albeit small, is to be expected of Ray, Galveston Bay’s best-known and most fiercely…
“Raiz” and Race
These days, the harsh realities of life in Mexico — namely, its struggling economy and the resulting exodus of citizens seeking work — are widely discussed here. But there’s a facet of Mexican life not often talked about: race. Mexican photographer Jose Manuel Pellicer tackles the issue in his exhibit,…
Get Set Go
At first blush, the song titles on Get Set Go’s CD ordinary world (“I Hate Everyone,” “My Wasted Life,” “Suicide”) make it look like just another slab of overwrought emo self-abnegation. But surprise! Instead, it turns out to be a fine, ambitious, varied, hook-filled, acidically misanthropic garage-pop song cycle that…
Letters to the Editor
Beatle-Bashing A fan steps up: As a big Beatles fan, I finally have to say something. I’m tired of reading all the Beatle-bashing in your letters section [“Boo, Beatles,” Letters, March 23]. Most everybody who loves rock and roll knows the Beatles wrote original songs in the style of great…
He’s the DJ, He’s the DJ…
The classic Smiths album The Queen Is Dead is considered by many to be their best, an essential listen that embodies the mid-’80s Manchester rock scene. But no less than a year after its release, the band went through a rather bitter breakup, and lead singer Morrissey pursued a successful…
Sans Quentin
You may not yet have lost your ardor and respect for the pressure-point hammerblow Quentin Tarantino executed on American movies, but it’s difficult at this late date not to view him as an imperative inoculation with unfortunate side effects: gas, bloating, dizziness, delusions of cleverness. Imitators flock when coolness seems…
Image of the Week
Click here to enlarge this week’s featured image. Everything’s gone, as Cactus Music & Video closes its doors for the final time. Well, almost everything even for 20 bucks, no one wants a poster-sized Peter Gabriel lithograph…
Pea Break
Recently, a picture of Black Eyed Peas’ vocalist/dancer/vixen Fergie, who was sporting a little stain on the front of her pants during a show, popped up online. Rumors everywhere circulated that she had peed herself, though her publicists swore it was sweat. Please, haters! The way Fergie shakes it and…
Misery Train
At the opening of Lonesome Jim, a terrific new film directed by Steve Buscemi, a country song plays behind scenes of small-town desolation. “Good times’r comin’,” it promises, in the movie’s first joke. Nothing about these initial scenes — not the stark Midwestern landscape, not the sole figure running with…
Number of the Beeyotch
Ladies and gentlemen, we give you…the world’s premier all-female Iron Maiden tribute band! Okay, so there’s not much competition for the mantle, but the headbanging quintet known as the Iron Maidens are no mere soft, lovely creatures to trifle with. Together since 2001, these SoCal ladies make keen study of…
Up for the Challenger
Author Stephen Harrigan is ambitious — even by Texas’s “bigger is better” standards. The native (ahem) Oklahoman’s third novel, The Gates of the Alamo, fictionalized Texas’s most legendary battle, to great critical acclaim. He’s now touring in support of his fourth novel, Challenger Park, which takes a whack at another…
Belgian Waffling
Amid brutal competition from A History of Violence, Cach (“Hidden”) and Last Days, the top prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival went to L’Enfant (“The Child”), a Belgian drama about a 20-year-old hustler who sells his infant son like a bag of weed. The makers of this provocative movie,…
The Tits Are All Right
There’s nothing quite like going to a strip club with an ex-stripper. I was in the DJ booth at The Men’s Club of Houston (3303 Sage) when Dallas strutted onto the main stage. White Zombie was pumping, red lights were red-lighting, and suddenly my ex-stripper friend Jenn was going to…
Aw, Shuck!
A few weeks ago, local foodies and Cajuns went into a near panic when it was announced that this year’s crawfish harvest wouldn’t be so hot, thanks to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. So mudbug lovers should get ’em while they can at the Bayou City Crawfish Festival. Benefiting Texas Equusearch,…
Knockoff
We’ve all done it: killed an afternoon drinking in a pleasantly grungy roadhouse somewhere, boozily enjoying the illusion of having fallen off the grid, playing semi-forgotten blues songs on an outdated jukebox, and thinking aloud, See, I should capture this feeling. This should be a movie. Sobered up, we don’t…
Scarface
Shades of Monty Python’s cheese shop: There really isn’t that much Scarface on this Scarface album. Sure, among a couple of other humdrum ‘Face tracks, the album closes with a decent Geto Boys number (“My Life,” complete with a Curtis Mayfield impersonation on the hook), and there’s the rolling-thunder single…
A Fly Little Party
Much like traveling yuppies and road-tripping college students, millions of bats, birds and butterflies make a long trek to warmer, prettier digs each spring. To celebrate this annual jaunt, the Houston Zoo is throwing the fourth annual Migration Celebration and Butterfly Festival. Folks of all ages can learn more about…