Twenty Four Count
It’s hard to knock a band for trying, which Twenty Four Count certainly does here. From sensitive balladry to nice-guy rockers, this quintet makes a noise that’s fairly accessible. But unlike the acts that appear to influence them (matchbox twenty, Barenaked Ladies), the members of Twenty Four Count rarely seem…
Sugar & Spice
It’s mid-July, and one of Houston’s most prestigious art galleries looks like a little girl’s bedroom. The walls are pink, with white painted trees. Deer and bunny figurines that might have adorned a dresser have become life-size woodland creatures, arranged in pastoral scenes with fake flowers. There is even a…
Playbill
While all of these are worthy artists, it’s easiest to get psyched up about Tony Levin’s presence on the bill. One of the great bass players, bar none, Levin arrives heavily armed for this gig with the California Guitar Trio and drummer Pat Mastelotto: He’s bringing his Music Man five-string,…
Their First 100 Years
Not a lot of people know about Camp Logan. It was first a national guard camp and then an emergency training center for soldiers during the First World War, situated on a chunk of land largely overlapping property that was later deeded to the city as Memorial Park. Construction of…
Playbill
The vocal rockers with a name like a law firm continue to bear aloft the Original Woodstock Nation banner, seemingly at peace with their elder-statesman status and with one another. The core trio seemed re-energized during its hugely successful 2000 tour with temperamental on-again, off-again collaborator Neil Young (who, truth…
Winging It
As far as greenery goes, the backyard of Jim Blackburn and Garland Kerr will never be a candidate for a Better Homes and Gardens feature. Branches are brushed aside on the entry path, past an antique gate to a less-than-carefully landscaped plot of overgrown vegetation. Worse yet, close inspection of…
Playbill
In a time of eyelinered glam-punk throwbacks like the Black Halos and the no-budget, Detroit garage rock, dance-beat mayhem of the White Stripes, the Blood Drained Cows are a perfect antidote to pretension and self-conscious anachronism. The rambunctious three-piece is led by Gregg Turner, formerly of the Angry Samoans. Their…
Cracking the Club
It’s the most exclusive good ol’ boys club in Harris County, and the members are not about to make it easy for a brown-complexioned newcomer to join their ranks. Last week a stream of Latino politicos cajoled, blustered and threatened the five-member Harris County Commissioners Court in a bid to…
Minibill
Each of these Arabic singers is a superstar in his or her own country. Najwa Karam hails from Lebanon. Ashika, her new CD, is a staple in Arabic clubs both in America and the Levant. Karam’s music fuses Spanish, Arabic and dance beats. Cairene Ihab Tawfic brings Egyptian pop music…
This Modern World
The dispiriting effects of Houston’s August torpor are evident everywhere in the news business. Houston Chronicle columnist Thom Marshall — the Metro-front guy who’s supposed to have his pulse on the city and give us all a sense of what Houstonians are doing and talking about — got a whole…
No Moor
What is it that people get out of Shakespeare’s plays? That’s as relevant a question as it ever was, given the number of updates and reimaginings of his work that show up on an almost weekly basis, not to mention the faithful restagings. Is it the stories? The flowery dialogue?…
Letters
Filling the Gulf Where are the partners? I enjoyed your article very much [“Publishing Gulf?” by Brad Tyer, August 16]. It was cogent, informative and interesting. I wonder what became of SCF Partners’ on-line business after the sale of the book division. Perhaps that would make another good story. Jim…
Safe Sex
Julie Davis’s All Over the Guy is yet another entry in the ever-growing genre of gay romantic comedy. Ten years ago, one would have led off by saying, “It’s a romantic comedy, but with a twist: They’re both men!” or “It’s When Harry Met Solly…!” It’s a step in the…
Courtroom Antics Upstaged
If nothing else, the great state of Texas has made a name for itself with the colorful characters who inhabit the criminal justice system — and we ain’t talking about the criminals. If you want to find the real eccentrics, you have to look to those licensed by the State…
Back to School
Judd Apatow tries not to think of what became of Sam and Lindsay Weir, Neal Schweiber, Bill Haverchuck, Daniel Desario, Nick Andopolis and the other freaks and geeks Apatow knew back at McKinley High School. Those kids were his family, the children born when Apatow and writer Paul Feig created…
Kitschy-Cool
For all their abuses, aristocracies made some beautiful things. Since nobility was interested in purchasing only objects of the finest craftsmanship, artisans toiled as long as it took to produce their best possible work. They left us ornate buildings, furniture and jewelry that are still seen as the ultimate of…
Black Holes
Self-help manuals have never been more popular. A trip to the bookstore will offer up how-to treatises on everything from changing your brake fluid to writing a best-selling novel. Still, though we may indeed be bigger Dummies today than at any other time in history, our desire for self-improvement is…
Aging with Grace (and Science)
The drab industrial decor at Greenbriar Chophouse blends in perfectly with its office-building location next door to Kinko’s, but it doesn’t inspire much confidence in the steaks. Neither do the waiter’s answers to my questions. “Are the steaks USDA Prime?” I ask. “Yes, they are all prime steaks, the very…
Acting Up
Little Tina Denmark is a very bad seed. The blond, blue-eyed pipsqueak, who stands center stage in Marvin Laird and Joel Paley’s Ruthless, will let nothing block her path to showbiz stardom. At eight years old, she’s already willing to kill, literally, for the lead in her school play. Indeed,…
Phuz Tones
Three members of Phuz are drinking café sua da in the Hong Kong City Mall food court when a twentysomething Chinese-American couple tentatively approaches. Although bass player Edwin Casapao and keyboardist Jamie Ruggiero are at the table, the couple addresses Dea, Phuz’s slender, statuesque vocalist. “We saw you perform at…
Oh, Yoko!
An exhibition of work by the widow of John Lennon” is how KUHF-FM led into its report on Yoko Ono’s retrospective, “YES YOKO ONO,” at the Contemporary Arts Museum. More than 20 years after the death of her husband, “the most famous unknown artist” still doesn’t have a name, not…
El Rockero in His Labyrinth
When Juan Esteban Aristizabal woke up on July 12, he was not a rock star. By the time he went to bed that Tuesday night, he was. “It’s completely absurd,” says the 27-year-old called Juanes, while a television camera caresses his face, a newspaper reporter scribbles notes, and a photographer…
Getting Stomped
With its sun-washed stone walls, arched windows and domed bell tower, the headquarters of Haak Vineyards & Winery looks like an old Spanish mission. Behind the building, acres of vineyards encircle a picnic area and patio. The charming winery in Santa Fe, a small town about 25 miles south of…
The Price of Fame
“Nothing has really changed,” said Flickerstick guitarist Rex Ewing, since the band won VH1’s Bands on the Run competition and signed a multi-album deal with Epic. Ewing made the comment on a recent Friday evening as he loaded his plate with free Mexican food and grabbed another drink from the…
Choking the Critic
A.J. Liebling, the New Yorker magazine writer who made the pithy observation back in the 1950s that “freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one,” was also a connoisseur of restaurants. In his book on the Louisiana gubernatorial election that pitted Earl Long, brother of Huey, against…
Racket
Many bands would willingly trade various parts of their anatomy and/or immortal souls for a shot at landing a tune on the score (if not the soundtrack) of a big-time Hollywood release like Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Houston’s Toe Jam is not one of those bands. For the…
August Meals
Houston should seriously consider adopting the siesta. Northern customs, like working from nine to five, are probably inappropriate for our climate anyway. In the major cities of Latin America, as in sunny Spain, people eat a big meal in the afternoon and then take a nap during the hottest part…
Learning to (Pub) Crawl
On a recent Saturday night, Hannah Owen and her cousin Orla sit outside a dance club waiting for their ride. It’s a familiar scene: Two girls ready to call it a night after an evening of rewarding nocturnal entertainment at their favorite nightspot. But there are a couple of things…
Bird Call
Spanish Flower Mexican Restaurant (4701 North Main, 713-869-1706) may have made its reputation with its fresh homemade flour tortillas, but you can’t live by unleavened bread alone (though, God knows, we’d like to try). Meat lovers should flock to the grilled quail here. Two incredibly meaty birds are dusted with…
Robert Cray
Robert Cray is like one of those sluggers who bats .300, knocks 30 homers and steals 30 bases year after year. In 13 albums over two decades, Cray has consistently put up great numbers. He’s given us album after album of clear, precise and emotional modern blues. As with Barry…
Stirred and Shaken
The history of the margarita is as elusive as peace in Chiapas. Some say a Dallas socialite developed the drink during a Christmas party game in Acapulco; others claim a friendly bartender in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, concocted the cocktail for an American showgirl who was allergic to every alcohol except…