Letters
Sight to the Blind After reading the article on the homeless [“Outside People,” November 4, by David Theis], whenever I happened to drive down Main Street, I found myself looking for the area of land you described between Rice University and Hermann Park, looking for that man’s tree. I found…
Dyssing Christmas
By the time you read this, I will have just about had my fill of theatrical Christmas cheer. Even the saintliest soul — among which holy company I scarcely include myself — can endure only so many Christmas Carols without entertaining blasphemy. Or at least without recalling like a sacred…
Once More Unto the Village, Dear Friends, Once More!
Allen Parkway Village, our local monument to social and political gridlock, was the subject of yet another public debate on December 4. This one was presided over by the grand old man of Texas progressive politics, Henry B. Gonzalez, the Democratic congressman from San Antonio. Gonzalez is chairman of the…
End Game
Two end-of-the-year roundups into this job, and I’m finally starting to understand why critics put themselves through this. Nobody tours during the holidays. Sure, all your local faves will be playing their Christmas Eve and New Year’s gigs at whatever haunt has been nicest to them over the past twelve…
The Joy of Color, the Ecstasy of Form
While the Baltimore Museum of Art completes construction of its new modern-art wing, Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts is displaying a selection of masterpieces from the BMA’s prestigious Cone Collection, widely acclaimed as the hallmark of Baltimore’s permanent collection and as one of the most distinguished collections of modern French…
Standing at the Gates of Heaven
Watching Heaven and Earth, I was reminded of Pauline Kael’s quip upon her retirement: “At least I won’t have to see any more Oliver Stone movies,” or words to that effect. At the time I thought the grande dame was being a little hard on Stone; he seems more of…
Pretty Woman, Bad Movie
Woodward and Bernstein, meet Roberts and Washington (as in Julia and Denzel). The 1970s real-life investigative team that Hoffman and Redford play in Alan J. Pakula’s riveting All the President’s Men has been made politically correct for Pakula’s ’90s version, The Pelican Brief, one of the dullest suspense thrillers in…
The Summer House
Not even the legendary Jeanne Moreau can spice up this mild, familiar, domestic comedy-drama about the attempt by a 1950s English girl to escape imminent marriage to a caddish momma’s boy. Margaret (Lena Headey), alternately dreaming of her past romance with an exotic Egyptian and desiring to become a nun,…
Picks
Thursday December 23 Houston Rockets vs. Denver Nuggets Our magnificent boys in maroon and gold take on the team of the future in the Midwest Division. The Nugs have struggled in recent times, but through a seemingly endless list of lottery picks — the latest being power forward Rodney Rogers,…
An American Conductor
Hopefully, Houston won’t have to wait another 14 years for the next guest appearance of Michael Tilson Thomas. The eminent American conductor, who currently serves as principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, last appeared with the Houston Symphony in 1979. He finally returned December 11 to lead the HSO…
Return of the Irish Cowboy
First the good news: Neil Doherty’s back in town. Now the not-so-good news: Once again, this interesting Irish chef holds forth in a big-hotel forum that allows his considerable talents only limited expression. After a stint in the Berkshires, the guy who put the ultra-suburban Adam’s Mark on the Houston…
Beyond the Normal Range
More than a decade ago, rapt New York theatergoers listened to four Jews in a room bitching. That was the opening song — “Four Jews in a Room Bitching” — of a one-act musical as articulate and neurotic and hysterical as its characters. What they bitched about in composer William…