Urban (Cowboy) Renewal
“Hell, it’s just a reunion,” says Sherwood Cryer. “All them damn people from Gilley’s come out here and relive what went on, look at each other and see how ugly each other are and all that shit.” Cryer, who once shared the deed to Houston’s historic honky-tonk with singer Mickey…
Talk About Love and Hate
Lots of folks know Wallace Shawn’s acting. He has played everyone from the sardonic whining Vayna in Vayna on 42nd Street to the balding, nerdy high school teacher in Clueless. But as funny as his closet of strange performances is, Shawn’s writing is even better. And Infernal Bridegroom’s riotous production…
Dead Can Dance
Antonio Caido was just walking down the boardwalk one day when he fell into a hole and died. That’s the premise behind the new dance-theater piece by Brazilian-born and New York-based choreographers Rosane Chamecki and Andrea Lerner. It’s not a new thing for choreographers — or playwrights, painters, performance artists,…
Remaining Calm
When the new year began, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing about Y2K. Even daily newspapers and the Red Cross were advising people to hoard water, food and cash. Y2K is closer now than it was then, but most of the daily reminders brought on by the year’s rollover have…
Hot Plate
Lickety-split ribs: Backyard cookout purists may sniff at barbecue-in-a-box, but it’s hard to fault the Honey Jalapeno Ribs served from spotless glass cases at Yapa Kitchen Fresh Takeaway [3173 West Holcombe, (713)664-9272]. Yapa slow-roasts thick slabs of meaty country-style pork ribs, dry-rubbed with a mix of Cajun spices. “It’s the…
Feel-good Fortune
Has any major American director had quite so many career swings as Robert Altman? Maybe not, but if there’s one thing the last 30 years have made clear, it is that it’s never safe to count Altman out. The mid- and late ’90s have been particularly unfriendly to him. After…
The King and Us
There’s always a time and place for the bold orchestral strains of Beethoven’s Ninth or Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.” But to the early-music buff, the advent of the symphony orchestra prefigured the death of certain instruments whose timbres were too soft to stand out amid blasts of brass…
Out-of-Steppers
Steve Martin says he doesn’t want audiences to expect the same old Steve Martin whenever he stars in a comedy. But that means one thing when he’s referring to Roxanne and L.A. Story, two inspired flights of romantic farce (based on his own scripts), and another when he’s talking about…
A Jazz Odyssey
Marshall Allen carries himself like a 75-year-old jazzman from the South. He’s got an easygoing, benevolent and embracing manner so natural that picturesque images of children at the watering hole and families around the porch pop up at the sight of him. So laid-back is his demeanor that you’d never…
Preparing for the Millennium
This is a story about the coming millennium, and it begins in the Texas Hill Country, somewhere west of Austin. It hasn’t rained in weeks, and, though the weather is cool, it is so dry that the hard, white stubble of the rolling landscape is blinding in the bright sunshine…
Boogie Nights
It was early in the morning and everything was in sync. The vibe Zakaos always longs for started to take shape as soon as the DJ played that one song, that one disco-bell reverie with the pulsing bass line. Even two older black gentlemen had noticed how intense he and…
WorldFest: Wild, Mild and Wicked
Get ready, film fans. The indie invasion of Houston is under way. The curtains go up Friday, April 9, on Three Seasons, but it will begin the 32nd season for the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. The opening film, an unexpected classic of moral simplicity and cinematic beauty, marks a grand…
Plain Is Beautiful
Eating out has become strenuous. The chef of the moment unveils the exotic new ingredient of the week, working it into the fusion cuisine of his choice (Pan Asian, New Southwestern, Kosher Indian…). The menu needs a glossary. The waiter spends ten minutes describing the day’s specials, all of which…
For WorldFest, Less Is More
Film festivals usually announce themselves with a slightly hysterical roar. Hey! Eric Stoltz is going to be in town! And maybe Hal Hartley! Parker Posey almost certainly! See this spring’s hottest Miramax titles — a week before they’re released nationally! But WorldFest is easing back into Houston on softly padded…
Backwater Bliss
Housed in a long, low bungalow tucked away on an inlet of Offats Bayou, across the shallows of Galveston Bay from the improbable pyramids of Moody Gardens, Clary’s seafood restaurant has remained a well-kept secret for the better part of 22 years. There’s no Gulf Freeway billboard to lure spring…
TAAS Probe Update
Houston Independent School District last week asked a principal and three teachers to resign for alleged TAAS testing irregularities, which were the subject of a recent Houston Press investigative series [“The Fix Is In” and “Adding It All Up,” by Shaila Dewan, February 25 and March 4]. On April 1,…
My Fart Will Go On
It used to be that come the weekend, one could spend most of his time swinging in a hammock with his headphones on listening invariably to one of several well-exhausted cassingles of “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Then, one would eventually reach a point in which one would need his entertainment…
News Hostage
You see some pieces in print or on the air, and you sit back and wonder, “How’d they ever get that story?” You see some others, and you sit back and say, “Boy, I can almost smell the ink from the press release that spawned this piece of crap.” The…
Blues Brothers
When a music listener is appreciative during a live show, he might do one of several things. He could clap vigorously. Or perhaps snap his fingers like a beatnik. Or even fire up his BiC lighter and wave it in the air (screaming “Freebird” is optional, of course). But when…
Lindsay’s End Run
The Port of Houston Authority is apparently worried about growing opposition to its planned billion-dollar Bayport project. And it has gotten its favorite errand boy to do something about it. State Senator Jon Lindsay, who took a two-year, $120,000 consulting job with the Port after corruption allegations chased him from…
Taking the Heat
Crapitto’s Luck: Last April John Crapitto hit the jackpot when his restaurant, the abysmally named Crapitto’s [2400 Mid Lane, (713)961-1161], was mentioned on the Jay Leno show. This February, though, it looked as if Crapitto’s luck might be taking a sharp turn for the worse when the restaurant caught fire…
News of the Weird
Lead Stories *In March stories by Knight-Ridder news service (in Honduras) and The Wall Street Journal (in Russia), the latest United States disaster relief efforts were revealed to be rife with ill-conceived aid. Honduran hurricane victims still need cooking utensils and medicine but are receiving old clothes, cans of largely…
Letters
Short Term Your article “The Grass Wars” [by Randall Patterson, March 25] shed light on the events but did not change my original shock that Joe Sybille could beat his neighbor with a shovel and receive only a ten-day jail term. What was the jury thinking? If Sybille had beaten…
Pyramid Scheme
It is just before the Canyon Middle School cheerleaders are supposed to take the stage at AstroWorld’s Cheerfest cheerleading competition, and all anyone can think about is their hair. “Honey, come here, you need some real hair spray,” says someone’s mom, pulling out a metal can like she’s about to…
And the Sting Goes On
For a moment last Thursday, the scene in Judge David Hittner’s courtroom had more deja vu than even federal prosecutor Mike Attanasio anticipated. Mingling with the attorneys for the three defendants in the third and most likely final City Hall Sting trial was Ben Reyes’s lawyer, Mike Ramsey. Never mind…
Night & Day
Thursday April 8 Once and for all, where’s Party on the Plaza? Well, the same place it always has been. Thanks to the “urban revitalization” of the Bayou Place area, Jones Plaza was scheduled for a facelift, and the Party was to move a few blocks south to Tranquility Park…