At the Ready
Bill Parmley’s dad was a sheriff, and his granddaddy was one, too, and one thing he learned early in life was the difference between right and wrong. Now a month shy of 50, Parmley grew up in the small South Texas town of Sarco, back when it took hours to…
Cherry on Top
Some art-house programmer would be wise to schedule a double bill of The Aristocrats, Paul Provenza’s talkumentary about the dirtiest joke ever told, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, writer-director Judd Apatow’s near-brilliant movie about a grown-up geek who simply lost interest in trying to get laid. Both offer countless giddy variations…
Brick by Bricks
It’s a moral question that professionals all over the globe constantly face: Are you willing to screw over people to get ahead? And it’s a question that’s gut-wrenchingly posed in Abhijat Joshi’s Bricks and Lyrics, the latest offering by local South Asian stage troupe Shunya Theatre. Bricks centers on Sanjay,…
Streaking Comets
THU 8/18 In the hoops world, the streak can be your best friend. When you’re hot, you’re “unconscious,” a term ballers use to describe their sudden burst of inexplicable skills. You’re faster. You don’t leap, you soar. You display sixth-sense court awareness. And the shots just fall. But there’s the…
This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks
Thursday, August 18 New Orleans-via-California-via-Dallas songstress Kristy Krüger can pretty much do it all, and you can bet she has. She’d been studying and playing piano most of her life (and had even won an award from DownBeat magazine) when she turned her talents toward the singer-songwriter trade, where her…
The Killers vs. the Killers
Hide your women. Hide the children. Glammed-up synth-punkers the Killers are coming to town in support of their platinum-selling Hot Fuss, and there just might be hell to pay. We took a look at how the retro-rockers-of-the-moment compared to some real killers in history, and let us tell you: It…
Hit Maker
F. Scott Fitzgerald once observed that “there are no second acts in American lives.” A more contemporary social observer with a mohawk and gold chains, like, say, Mr. T, might add, “But I pity the fool who says that about Stephen J. Cannell!” Cannell is best known as the creator/…
Geddouddahere
Well, dear reader, you know what they say. All good things must come to an end. Of course, all bad things must come to an end, too. And whether you’ve viewed my shift captaining this column as a refreshing jolt of whimsy or an irritating train wreck, it is, nevertheless,…
Keeping It Reel
The Ann Arbor Film Festival has been doing the avant-garde thing since about 1963, making it the longest-standing festival of its kind on our fair continent. Too generous to keep the cinematic riches cooped up on the Midwestern tundra, organizers send a selection of films on the road each year…
Low-Cost Housing
There’s a charming small house at 2318 Greens Road, almost 2,000 square feet of living space, nice shuttered windows, new-ish roof and a carport. Want it? It’ll cost you….a dollar. Has the infamously dreaded Housing Bubble finally hit Houston? Not exactly. The house on Greens Road is one of 158…
Best Laid Plans
The trouble with pornography is that while it sells itself on the authenticity of the sex act, everything else about it is usually artificial, and very blatantly so. The hair color of the leads, most of the female body parts, and especially the situation — when was the last time…
Hotter than Hasselhoff?
SAT 8/20 Given our lovely foreign policy and the stereotypes about “Ugly American” tourists, life ain’t exactly easy for Europe-bound U.S. travelers. “You’re hoping people don’t pigeonhole you as that,” says Rob Suchan, lead singer and guitarist for Koufax. “It’s like us saying all Germans love David Hasselhoff.” But as…
“I Raq and Roll” vs. “We Can’t Make It Here”
Last Tuesday, the Pentagon announced the “America Supports You Freedom Walk” to honor those slain on 9/11 and the armed forces and, as the military press release put it, to “celebrate freedom.” This coming September 11, in Washington, a march will commence at ten in the morning near where the…
Follow the Music
Thomas Seyr, the central figure in director Jacques Audiard’s kinetically charged new film The Beat That My Heart Skipped, is a young Frenchman torn between a life of crime and a career as a concert pianist. It’s hardly your usual dilemma — and hardly the usual French film, come to…
Live Sex Chat
THU 8/18 Some college kids are getting together this weekend to talk about sex. Shocking, no? But before you “whatever” this one away, note that the dialogue in the play Sex Talk may actually be worth listening to. The producer is 24-year old Reginald Edmund, already a veteran on the…
Don’t Mess With Tex-Mex
There is a table in front of the host’s stand at the Los Tios Mexican Restaurant on Beechnut on which several dinners are displayed. A sign identifies them as the “Manager’s Specials.” As many times as I’ve eaten at this location of the 35-year-old Tex-Mex chain, I’ve never tried any…
Art of Rebellion
A rich family returns to their nice home after a vacation, but something isn’t quite right. The place has been…burgled? No, not quite. The stereo that’s missing — it’s in the fridge. The chairs have been stacked into a tower. And there’s a note attached: “Your days of plenty are…
Complex Cuisine
The three cheese and risotto torta ($11.95) at benjy’s (2424 Dunstan, 713-522-7602) is a study in complexity and intensity. The perimeter of the plate is a ring of color — half green from the creamiest of creamed spinach, half bright red from a tomato-basil ragout. In the middle of the…
Southern Discomfort
Like hundreds of creative southerners before them, Phil Morrison and Angus MacLachlan have Thomas Wolfe in their bones. The media notes for Morrison’s first feature, Junebug, don’t mention Wolfe, and the 37-year-old NYU Film School graduate makes a point of distinguishing between literary inspiration and what he, like Paul Schrader,…
Various Artists
Artist-salute discs make plenty of sense from a business standpoint, since they let labels milk material that was paid for long ago. Problem is, they’re almost always lame — and this homage to Freddie Mercury and friends certainly doesn’t break from tradition. There are lots of ways to go wrong…
Flight Risk
Red Eye may not seem to be your typical Wes Craven movie. It’s not really horror, there are no marketable monsters, and unlike Cursed, Scream 3 and other recent Craven offerings, it’s actually an enjoyable time at the movies. But heroine Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is very much in the…
Various Artists
Hustle & Flow is the feel-good tale of Memphis pimp DJay (Terence Howard) pursuing his musical dreams. It’s a humble film, for the most part, with its street-corner swagger cut with a healthy dose of old-fashioned Hollywood sentimentalism. The soundtrack, however, is the opposite of modest. Dirty South superstars such…
Bird Droppings
Even today, British kids grow up listening to stories about life during the London Blitz and the hardships their parents and grandparents endured during the Second World War. American children, by comparison, would be hard-pressed to tell you what nations fought on which side. It’s one of the many weaknesses…
Hal
Whenever you hear about some unknown band from the British Isles being heaped with mountains of praise, just remember: Things are different over there. Those people are all a bit goofy, what with their penchant for bad food and soccer riots. And if you browse through one of their music…
Go, Shorties
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Capsule Reviews
Anne of Green Gables There’s probably no better fodder for a musical than Lucy Maud Montgomery’s perennial 1908 children’s best-seller. But Sharla Boyce and Cyndi Scarr Crittenden’s adaptation falls flat anyway. An older brother-sister farm couple wants to adopt a boy to help out with the chores. But in a…
Houston Press 15th Anniversary Party, Featuring Hollertronix
Hollertronix DJ Diplo was partially raised in the gator-infested suburbs north of Miami and has since called Philly home. You can hear the sounds of both of those places in his music — the Miami bass, reggae and Dirty South crunk-rap of South Florida and the hipster/retro new wave of…
What’s in a Name?
In 1946, Allen Rankin wrote an article about artist Bill Traylor for Collier’s magazine. “When Uncle Bill Traylor began to paint, he went straight back to his ancestors of prehistoric times,” wrote Rankin. But Bill Traylor was not Rankin’s uncle. And Rankin’s reference to “ancestors of prehistoric times” was intended…
Green Day
Let’s travel back in time ten and a half years. New English wife in tow, yours truly had just returned to America after three years abroad. After getting our first American apartment together in Nashville, we got hooked up to cable and raised the gates of the castle we had…
Capsule Reviews
“Amy Arbus: Rites and Rituals” This show presents work by Amy Arbus, the daughter of legendary photographer Diane Arbus. Diane is a tough act for any photographer to follow, and it has to be even tougher if you’re her daughter. But Amy has taken up the challenge, and she’s been…
Moggs
Forget the Power Trio. That band formation is now passé. Today, the still more minimalist Garage Duo (the White Stripes, the Black Keys, the Raveonettes) reigns, and there’s even a subgenre of romantically involved GDs. With the release of their stripped-down debut, The White Belt Is Not Enough, you can…
Letters
Prime Time Old news: Boy, that was a waste of time [“Past Its Prime,” by Robb Walsh, August 11]. Hasn’t Taste of Texas been pretty average for some time? Let’s get back to finding great places that no one knows about. John Scarborough Houston Getting personal: I am truly sorry…
Thor, with Hognose
While often dismissed as a novelty act, burly Jon-Mikl Thor’s melding of glitter rock and metal has garnered him a devout fan base that counts none other than Henry Rollins as a member. Way back in 1977, after a career in bodybuilding that won him both the Mr. America and…