Press Picks
thursday january 23 Houston Job Expo Looking for work? Or already working, but dreaming of something better? Today, more than 50 Houston companies are scouting for employees. Advertising agencies, accounting departments, marketing firms, airlines and more — the most interesting “more” being the Houston Police Department and the Armed Services…
Rotation
Walter Hyatt King Tears MCA A musician’s death, it’s sad to note, often sparks considerable interest in his music. You want evidence? Just look at how Townes Van Zandt’s CDs have suddenly moved from the back of the bin to the front. Similarly, it’s easy to view the reissue of…
All for One?
The last time anyone looked, Counting Crows was still a plural entity — a sextet, not a solo act. Yet if you judged by the stories written about the California band, you might assume it was a one-man operation, that man being photogenic and enigmatic singer Adam Duritz. Such media…
Wicked Rush
Back when responsible adults refrained from using words such as “smart-ass” in the presence of children, a relative of mine affectionately described certain people as “wisenheimers.” And while that expression’s meaning may have been mangled in translation over the generations, I think it’s safe to say that blues bad-boy Bobby…
Static
Minor cause for concern… Over the last few weeks, certain politicians in Austin have been mulling over some new regulations that, if you believe certain Texas nightclub owners and booking agents — not to mention a music writer or two — could have dire consequences for live music in our…
Tangled Hair
It may be a theatrical cliche to say that what goes on backstage can often be more entertaining than what the audience sees, but in the case of first-time producer Michael Farrand’s late-December production of Hair at the University of Houston, the cliche proved itself true. Of course, given that…
A Dose of Dosai
I am not used to being surprised in Indian restaurants. After all, as a native of Bangladesh, I have a pretty good familiarity with what the subcontinent has to offer in the way of food. But surprised I was on my first visit to Madras Pavilion, a new Indian restaurant…
Lonely, Times Three
Stages Repertory Theatre has fixed its attention on a little jewel of a play, Jeffrey Hatcher’s Three Viewings, and ended up with an elegant evening of theater that would serve well as a model for the company’s future. Directed by Mark Ramont (formerly of New York City’s Circle Repertory Company),…
Picture This
Having used this space as an opportunity to grapple with my anxiety over abstract painting, it seems only right to use it to confront my misgivings about figurative painting as well. There is something about such painting that seems to me as obsolete as, say, rhymed poetry — something I…
Animal Crackers
You can bet that at one point or another, some executive wanted the title to this long-awaited nonsequel to A Fish Called Wanda to be A Lemur Called Rollo (since the story does include such a character). That wouldn’t have been the most commercial of names, but then again, neither…
As He Likes It
Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh) is Prince of Denmark. After his father (Richard Briers) dies, his uncle Claudius (Derek Jacobi) takes the throne and marries Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude (Julie Christie). When the late king’s ghost reveals he was murdered by Claudius, Hamlet must decide what course of action to take. Meanwhile, he…
Oedipus Wrecks
In Mother, Albert Brooks plays John Henderson, a science-fiction novelist recently divorced from his second wife who decides he can’t risk another relationship until he comes to terms with his mother. So he does the logical thing: He moves in with her. He hauls all his old high school bric-a-brac…
What Did He Do To Deserve This?
“My sense is that he’s extremely frustrated right now. Things seem to be out of his control. It is hard to control what somebody writes about you.” — Lawyer Ed McAninch on former partner John O’Quinn Around 6:50 on the evening of November 19, HPD officers Jeffrey Anderson and Kirk…
“O’Quinn Is a Miracle …”
Eddie Martinez Jr. was riding on a grass mower when a nearby co-worker’s mower struck a pipeline carrying liquid natural gas, triggering an explosion that sent flames 20 feet into the air and burned Martinez over 90 percent of his body. Two hundred area firefighters were called to the scene…
Sexually Disoriented
Like many of Houston’s topless clubs, the Ritz Cabaret tries hard to offer its patrons a taste of glamour. In contrast to the fast-food restaurants that share its strip of the Gulf Freeway feeder road, the Ritz’s entrance is groomed with finicky precision, garnished with lush vegetation and uniformed valets…
The Insider
Charter Now, Pay Later The University of Houston will unveil its new charter school for 20 kindergartners and first-graders this week, but until recently its administrators have had a distinct problem reading off the same page on the project. A last-minute rush to open the school for its first term…
Letters
Now He’s Appalled… I am quick to admit that I am not a regular reader of the Houston Press, so I don’t know what tone you normally use in commenting on readers’ letters. But your recent comment to Annette Stark — “Did they teach spelling at WORLD FAMOUS KILGORE COLLEGE?”…