No Boosters Allowed
If you’re expecting another flag-waving book about astronauts, well, Houston, we’ve got a problem. The man who founded Mission Control, Chris Kraft, sets the record straight in his autobiography, Flight. “I think the astronauts wrote books because someone offered them money to do it, and I think Kraft and [fellow…
Legendary Soup
It was a bitterly cold, blustery day in Houston. A large bowl of that legendary tomato-basil soup ($3.75) from La Madeleine French Bakery & Cafe (6205 Kirby Drive, 713-942-7081, and various other locations) would be perfect. Just glimpsing the big black kettle that housed the pink soup produced a warm…
The Feng Shui of Fire
Of the three, Kelly Gale Amen is the hardest to miss. He’s bald, outgoing and likes to tie a sweater around the neck below what his bio describes as a “curiously handsome face and the most heartwarming smile.” The interior designer started building “functional sculpture” when he couldn’t find the…
Noodle-Gazing
The orange redang curry tastes something like the spicy peanut sauce you slather on sate. It’s so thick and oily that you have to be careful when you slurp up a mouthful of the spaghetti-sized noodles that it saturates or they’ll flip around and spray orange stains all over your…
Three-Chord Garage
A strong undercurrent on the pop scene last year was the resurgence of garage rock. A nation reeling before the onslaught of pretty people playing sanitized-for-your-protection pop confections gratefully and thirstily drank in buzzed-about tours by the likes of Midwesterners such as the White Stripes and the Greenhornes, and also…
Color-Coded Rodeo
Take a quick glance at the entertainment calendar for the 2002 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and you might think it’s color-coded. The acts are grouped according to musical genre, which even in the age of rampant crossover musics pretty much translates to race. There was Go Tejano Night, which…
Rocker Robbery
When John Evans came back to his Montrose-area apartment after a recent gig in Victoria, he looked at the spot where his equipment trailer used to be and thought there had been some kind of misunderstanding. “At first I thought maybe the lady across the street had gotten mad and…
Doorman for a Day
In the magical land of nightclubs, when it comes to who wields the most power, the most pull, the most juice, the most chances of getting some at the end of the night, the title has to go to the trusty doorman. The owners, general managers and even the bartenders…
Bad Religion
Bad Religion has written the same song for 20 years. Do not attempt to dispute this. Rather, appreciate that you still listen to that song. Four chords in 4/4 time, buzz-saw guitars, double-time drum action, poli-sci brainiac lyrics. Punk rock for Punk Planet subscribers. This can get old, and it…
Le Tigre
Think of everything Britney Spears is and all that she represents. Now flip it inside out. What you’re left with is Le Tigre, a punk/electronica outfit of women who are pissed off, whip-smart and funny as hell. If they show off their midriffs (and they just might), keep in mind…
Moonstruck
Dave Criswell lay in his grandmother’s guest room, a soft breeze blowing across his body. Diagnosed with a rare kidney disease, he was bedridden. Gazing through the open window, he stared at the moon, listening to his parents discuss whether he was going to live or die. He was six…
Caroline Herring
Caroline Herring may be a throwback in some ways, but she’s a welcome one indeed. While contemporary folk music (often called “new folk”) has become a morass of introspective navel-gazing, Herring harks back to an earlier mode. Her songs play like the tales told by family members on the front…
Fire Ball
All Lonnie Ball wanted to do that afternoon was his job. In this case, that meant cleaning the floor under the large red, white and blue fire truck parked in the Sheldon fire station house. Ball was busy sweeping out the fire house, and it was dirty underneath the $102,000…
Keller Williams
On first listen, it’s easy to dismiss Keller Williams as a novelty act. In addition to being one of the few ten-string guitarists out there, Williams also plays his patented “mouth flugel” (basically puffing out trumpetlike sounds from his lips). And with his recorded takes on the Sanford and Son…
A Real Deli Deal
A deli owner who sued one of the nation’s largest landlords over an eviction has reached an agreement that will allow him to remain as a tenant until December 2004. Daniel Jackson, attorney for deli owner Nadir Foteh, said the settlement was confidential, “but basically he’ll be allowed to remain…
Ben Kweller
Fans of the extinct Metroplex band Radish are keen to know what former front man Ben Kweller is up to now that he’s a grizzled industry veteran. Kweller has since set up shop in Brooklyn. As evidenced by his solo debut, Sha Sha, the 20-year-old is emerging as a songwriter…
Otherworldly
The camera tracks through the house. It flickers past school desks, blue cereal bowls and a dog kennel. There is no sound as it sweeps down a hallway. There’s a brief peek inside a bathroom, a slow pan along a sink, then further in, where the bathtub stands. A boy…
Solid Soldiers
If We Were Soldiers smells at all familiar, perhaps you’re confusing it with the stink emanating from a nearby theater screening Black Hawk Down. After all, on their shiny blood-drenched surfaces, they’re damn near the same movie: Both are based on books that recount true-life battles that claimed the lives…
The Dome and Dylan
The Insider isn’t one for tripping down memory lane very often, firmly subscribing to the old saw that nostalgia is for people who don’t know what to do next. Still, Bob Dylan’s last stand in the Reliant Astrodome last week put two aging structures on mesmerizing display, complete with their…
Nothing to Celibate
For an industry notorious for its test screenings, focus groups and obsession with what will play best in the heartland, the movie business occasionally and spectacularly drops the ball with respect to its mainstream entertainment. Last year, someone decided what the public most wanted to see was America’s Sweethearts, a…
Any Story Will Do
We all know the Houston Chronicle’s been having some trouble covering the Enron story. (Which is kind of like saying Enron’s been having a little trouble on the PR front lately.) The paper’s been running wire stories from The New York Times and Washington Post, and often trying — with…
Small Screen, Big Step
Just last week, the makers of a film called Pendulum gathered in a brand-new Dallas movie theater to screen their picture. The event was a fund-raiser for both the Susan J. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s Race for the Cure and the trust fund for the children of Pendulum co-star Alissa…
The Bust of Kenny Boy
The Bust of Kenny Boy 401KO’ed: There has been a great deal of news coverage concerning the Enron retirement plan [“Up In Smoke,” by Brian Wallstin and Tim Fleck, February 7]. I would like to take a moment to tell you about my retirement plan. I am forced to participate…
Comic But Cramped
Silly and slight, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s Little Shop of Horrors has found a perfect venue in The Great Caruso Dinner Theater. Among the thick prime rib and crunchy white dinner rolls, the show’s goofy songs about sadistic dentists and man-eating plants make a certain kind of carnivorous sense…