Devil May Care
What do Henry Rollins, Sonic Youth and New York City jazz critics have in common? They all dig Matthew Shipp. Shipp has made records for the activist-musician’s 2.13.61 CD label, opened for the art-noise band and convinced the opinion-makers that he’s one of the most important pianists since Cecil Taylor…
Local Rotation
Drunken Thunder Cheap Acceptable Kill Honest Abe’s Custom Records Homegrown garage power rock is Drunken Thunder’s stock-in-trade. Problem is, it’s also pretty damn good. As a matter of fact, Drunken Thunder’s particular brand of twisted, sloppy aggro could stand shoulder to shoulder with that of bands from ¨ber-hip labels like…
Playing with Food
Amazon Grill,
Amplified
Having a logo is as important to pop bands these days as it was to fashion houses some 40 years ago. Since brand advertising is more ubiquitous than ever (see Times Square, an NHL rink, publicity rags masquerading as general-interest magazines), and since competition for that Big Break is as…
Bear Hug
When you go to Cafe East — and you definitely should — make sure to call ahead to find out if it’s open. Here’s the deal: The first time I drove out (way out, it’s located on Wilcrest just off Briar Forest), on a Wednesday night, the place was dark…
Playbill
Bill Graham once called him the best-kept secret in the business. This hidden gem also gave a skinny young singer named Joni Mitchell guitar lessons, co-wrote songs with Donovan, sang with the Beatles on Sgt. Pepper and has released 17 albums over a recording career that spans 35 years. Chances…
Ka-Blam!
Tonight the Stars Revolt!, Powerman 5000’s latest record and second major-label release, comes in some crazy packaging. The title and cover art call to mind 1940s pulp sci-fi: Everywhere are robot men, rocket ships and mechanized destruction. These fantastic motifs makes sense once you understand Powerman 5000 wants people to…
Color Blind
A year ago this month the Ensemble Theatre, Houston’s oldest and largest African-American theater, abruptly dismissed its artistic director, Eileen Morris, claiming the company and Morris had different ideas on how to fill seats and attract new audiences. The move stunned the theater community. The respected Morris, one of only…
Meaningful Pop
About three years ago nearly every major label was chasing Gay Dad in London. Funny thing was, the band had yet to make any full-length recordings or even to be heard by anybody who mattered. The first thing the band ever did was disastrous, a 1994 demo recorded with legendary…
Bard Talk
The first African-American theater group began long ago, when slavery was still a way of life for most black Americans. During the early 1800s, The African Company, a New York City troupe run by former slaves, began producing serious and critically acclaimed work, including Shakespearean plays, for African-American audiences (many…
Rotation
Fu Manchu King of the Road Mammoth Fu Manchu makes low-end, primordial metal, which is growing in popularity (though it’s not going to be the new grunge or ska or swing or polka), if not originality. But the fact that some stuff on Fu Man’s fifth album is louder, faster…
Stand and Deliver
Twice in the last 11 years Houston Grand Opera has taken serious steps to stage Tristan and Isolde, one of Richard Wagner’s most radical, innovative and, frankly, draining works. But each time, the company couldn’t quite bring the production to fruition, let alone the stage. HGO finally reached a public…
Letters
All a Matter of TimingVery simply, your article about Tom Curtis [“The Man Who Knew Too Soon?” by Brad Tyer, January 20] was excellent and thorough writing. Keep up the good work. Cynthia Price Houston Thank you for the story on Tom Curtis. I was acquainted with him years ago…
Victorian Odd Couple
The evening of March 14, 1885, was an auspicious one in the annals of musical theater. Less than four years had passed since the opening of London’s Savoy Theatre, built specifically for the productions of librettist William Schwenk Gilbert and composer Arthur Seymour Sullivan. The partners’ first six works had…
Dish
If he builds it, will they come? If Perry Thomson takes a seemingly cursed site, enlarges it by 1,000 square feet and slaps a sign on it that reads The Field House Restaurant and Bar [4527 Lomitas, (713)526-5260], will sports fans fill the seats that have for so long remained…
That Was Then…
Sharon Stone doesn’t appear on-screen until halfway through this tale of three lives unraveling, but when she does, she makes quite an impression as Rosie, the third player in a horse-racing scam. Adapted from a play by Sam Shepard, Simpatico jumps back and forth in time between the present day…
Hot Plate
Name That Pâté: Blindfold your dinner mate, and the poor dear will never be able to guess the surprising ingredients of the vegetarian version of pâté ($8.50) at Boulevard Bistrot [4319 Montrose Boulevard, (713)524-6922]. Secret ingredient number one: a medley of diced wild and domestic mushrooms, cool and meaty, pressed…
The Man Who Would Be Killed
Director Chen Kaige is best known in the United States for Farewell My Concubine, the most successful Chinese production ever released here. As many pointed out at the time, this Oscar-nominated 1993 epic of modern Chinese history may have been wholly Chinese in both content and viewpoint, but it was…
Drowning on Dry Land
Alex coughed all night. It wasn’t a loud cough, but a dry, consistent one coming every few minutes. Darleen Scope knows that cough; she knows it can mean weeks in the hospital. So she gave her son a breathing treatment. She hooked a clear plastic mask with a purple rhino…
Train In Vain?
If you’re a city or a metropolitan transit authority, there’s something decidedly unglamorous about a bus. Hell, Toledo probably has a bus system. Peoria too. Are they world-class cities? No. These days, if you want to be considered an American city on the go — if you want to be…
Stand Up and Holler
Jay Martel wandered through the pro-death-penalty crowd outside the Huntsville prison on the night of January 24 without arousing suspicion. Wearing blue jeans, a baseball cap and a windbreaker that looked a lot like the state flag, he fit right in. He offered cans of ginger ale, passed out foam…
Tear Down
Watching through the blur of 65 miles per hour, from your car, from the freeway — I45 North, between Tidwell and Parker, specifically — you’d hardly notice the slow roamings of the dull yellow claw-bucketed earthmover on the eastern side of the feeder. It would be swamped by its backdrop:…
Poison Arrow
Beefy, bellicose Kevin Dorsey has long been an FM radio fixture in Houston, first on KLOL and now on its sister station KKRW, 93.7 The Arrow. When he isn’t producing the Dean and Rog morning drive-time show, he gets behind the mike to air idiosyncratic rants about any subject that…
The Insider
One thing you can say for University of Houston Chancellor-President Art Smith: He’s a prolific writer, and he can churn out page after page in his defense, even when the verbiage serves not to bolster his case but rather to drag the school into deeper legal water. Last year Smith…
I’m Crushing Your Head!
A kid in the hall of an elementary school sees a sworn enemy, best friend, cute girl or teacher at the other end of the corridor, raises his thumb and index finger to eye level and slowly squeezes: “I’m crushing your head!” Voila. The comedic genius of Kids in the…