Letters
Rice Inc. Fuzzy future: I greatly appreciate the article on the corporatization of Rice and KTRU [“Spin Control,” by Lauren Kern, January 11]. Thanks for your support of KTRU through an in-depth story. Also, thank you for being accurate with your facts. That seems to have been a problem in…
Roadside Attractions
Once an artist makes the fateful decision to work with found objects, he is doomed — doomed to a studio filled with crap, doomed to consider trash cans a place to shop and not waste receptacles, doomed to save every sliver of a broken plate, every burned-out fluorescent bulb, every…
Pop Goes the Menil
While many think of pop art only in terms of Andy Warhol’s soup cans, the 20th century’s arguably most influential art movement (not counting Etch A Sketch) will get its due in Houston. “Pop Art: U.S./U.K. Connections, 1956-1966” encompasses a visual exhibit at the Menil Collection, film screenings at the…
On a Whim
A shaft of winter sunlight strikes the cases of Joya soft drinks stacked five high in the front window of Gorditas Aguascalientes and lights up the colorful fruit sodas and their bottles like a stained-glass window. A Hispanic waitress in a white shirt and black jeans delivers a sope de…
The Ambidextrous Brain
For proof that categorizing people as “right brain” or “left brain” is pure artifice, look no further than Alan Lightman. As a teenager, he built rockets and wrote poetry, and those two interests have changed little in the past 30-odd years. The John E. Burchard Professor of Science and Writing…
Pure Gold
Kaneyama is Japanese for “gold mountain,” the 19th-century Cantonese name for California. Those who know their Japanese cuisine prefer climbing Kaneyama [9527 Westheimer, (713)784-5168], where you can experience this Pacific Rim aesthetic for a relative pittance in the form of Tobin-mushi, or “teapot soup” ($6.95). A little teapot with a…
Take a Number
Last month News Hostage columnist Richard Connelly reported (“Bayou City Beat-up,” December 7, 2000) on an incident involving the Houston Health and Human Services Department, the KPRC-TV news department and a little enterprise called Midtown Bagel and Coffee [2507 Bagby, (713)522-0522]. It was a wonderful snapshot of competing forces in…
Stirred and Shaken
The dark wood bar reaches all the way to the ceiling, while the floor is covered with tiny white octagonal tiles. Each of the booths has a brass coat hook. The elegant, old-fashioned look of the barroom at McCormick & Schmick’s [1151 Uptown Park Boulevard, (713)840-7900] reminds me of another…
Hard Bop
The scene was New York City in the mid-’50s at the legendary Birdland. A twentysomething drummer by the name of Rick Porter was about to experience a baptism by fire as the new member of the Bud Powell Trio. An influential pianist who was instrumental in the development of bebop…
The Fifth Taste
Speaking off the toque: Kanji Okubo, chef at Kaneyama Japanese Restaurant, 9527 Westheimer, (713)784-5168. Q. There are repeated references to the Japanese word umami in the culinary press and even in scientific publications. The scientific articles have suggested that umami is an actual flavor, a “fifth taste,” triggered by monosodium…
The Rock of Aged
Now into his fifth decade of music-making, Levon Helm has come full circle: The drummer and vocalist with one of the greatest rock bands of all time — the generically named outfit that recorded some of the most idiosyncratic music of the late ’60s and early ’70s — is back…
Something from Nothing
When they were middle schoolers, Mike Ibanez and Ricardo Garcia were much like every other preadolescent boy on Houston’s north side — they had fantasies of being rock stars, performing before thousands of adoring fans who would throw themselves at their feet at the drop of a guitar pick. Several…
Birth of the Cool
With a stogie in his hand and a lot on his mind, entertainment director Dave Marcellin makes sure things on stage are as cool as the name of the Red Cat Jazz Café (924 Congress). As a veteran club consultant/keyboardist-for-hire, Marcellin draws on his nightlife experiences to make this new…
Various Artists
The man who produced the acclaimed Civil War and Baseball series has spent the past several years working on a ten-part, 19-hour documentary called Jazz, which should practically be mandatory viewing given Ken Burns’s track record. In conjunction with the PBS documentary, Columbia Legacy has released this five-CD boxed set,…
Rejection Slips
They sat, side by side, outside the immigration courtroom on a row of red vinyl chairs, waiting. Fernando leaned forward in his seat, tapping his right foot quietly. He turned to look at his wife. Marie stared ahead, her arms folded across her chest, her legs bent slightly under the…
Mondoz
There’s something to be said for accessibility; it certainly can pay off in terms of exposure and radio airplay. Such is the case with Mondoz, a local four-piece metal outfit whose commercial sound has helped it land tunes on various TV and film projects (MTV’s T&A tease, Undressed, for example)…
Growing Up’s For Suckers
The panorama, from right to left: A Frosty the Snowman impersonator announcing “Happy birthday!” from inside a basketball-size head outfitted with a corncob pipe and a button nose; four audience members playing “Hands on a Headless Fox,” a taxidermied version of Hands on a Hardbody with prizes that include a…
Playbill
They don’t sing or play guitar, but Joe and Ann Parsons are two of the most familiar faces on the Texas country music scene. Joe hosts open mike shows each Tuesday at the Firehouse Saloon and every Wednesday at Blanco’s. He also ramrods the River Oaks Music Festival. Whether writing…
In the Chops
Martial arts grandmaster Kim Soo sits in his tiny office and spins another of his inspiring tales of success. A tenth-degree black belt and founder of the Chayon-Ryu (Natural Way) teaching method, Kim has overseen the establishment of 29 Texas schools, 24 in other states and five overseas. The day…
Playbill
Though the name originally was applied to the group put together by teenagers Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston, the Wailers eventually became a general description for Marley’s backing band throughout the reggae king’s career. That said, no one is going to question this current ensemble’s claim to continuing…
When Life Gives You Lemons…
The Web sites spring up, all over the state, like mushrooms after a hard rain. Clear Lake’s John Cobarruvias maintains one (users2.ev1.net/~johncoby/ryland/) dedicated to the rotting siding on his still new Ryland home. Janet Ahmad runs the clearinghouse HOBB site (Homeowners for Better Building, www.hobb.org) out of San Antonio, each…
Shotgun Wedding
The Wedding Planner begins with footage of a seven-year-old girl performing a matrimonial ceremony with her Barbies, a fitting opening since the movie that ensues almost could be the result of a screenwriter who simply transcribes a playtime scenario enacted by a small child and her dolls. If you were…
RodeoHouston: Some ‘Splainin to Do
When RodeoHouston released its entertainment lineup last week, the locals were dumbfounded by several of the acts scheduled to perform at the self-proclaimed “world’s largest rodeo.” There’s only one polite way to describe artists like Barry Manilow, Duran Duran and Def Leppard: washed up. The Houston Press was able to…
Going for the Jugular
The doomed are often a remarkably energetic and productive lot, especially when it comes to creating portraits of their personal horrors. Themes vary in intensity from slow self-destruction to grand devastation, but in vampirism the full spectrum of ghastliness may be covered. This is because the imbalance represents so much…
Rough Cut
Jason Morrow’s cadaver was a woman, around 80 years old, who died of lung cancer. Jason was surprised that the dissection began with her anterior chest wall. It seemed like a big place to start. It seemed… personal. He’d expected the anatomy class to go more slowly, to start somewhere…
No Surtitles Required
The last time Houston Grand Opera staged Mozart’s Don Giovanni, in the fall of 1999, audiences were treated to baritone Bo Skovhus’s overly hammy Don Juan. That production, though similar in concept to HGO’s current staging of Così fan tutte, offered a less-than-satisfying experience compared to this Così, the far…
Fixing the Vote
Spring’s just around the corner, and election reform’s a fertile topic. So state senators and representatives gathered for the 77th legislative session are furiously sowing seed bills they hope will germinate into election code laws signed by Governor Rick Perry. Some plans, like banning those now-hated punch-card ballot machines, will…
Getting Hoarse
Dark, dappled light spreads across the white flanks of a beautiful young man, pooling into a soft, marshy gold at his bony feet. He stands center stage, utterly naked, pressing himself against the neck of a mythic-looking man-horse. They are still, erotic and godlike in their majesty, boy embracing equine…