Mad for Art
Being in the presence of madness has an undeniable fascination, and this weird kick is part of the strength of Crumb, Terry Zwigoff’s documentary about underground comic artist R. Crumb and his family. Crumb became famous in the 1960s as the creator of Fritz the Cat and the “Keep on…
Loving the Alien
There are those who may be bold enough to suggest that Dennis Feldman’s Species screenplay is reality-based, simply because there is such a thing as the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project, a.k.a. SETI. Those people are loons. It is indeed a fact that in 1974 we spent our tax dollars…
John Whitmire was on a roll coming into the 1995 Legislature. But how the mighty have fallen. Tim Fleck examines the mounting troubles of the state senator known as “Boogie.”
John Whitmire was riding high back on April 12 when he took to the floor of the Texas Senate for a rare “personal privilege” speech. The legislative battle over auto emissions testing, in which Whitmire had been in the forefront, was at a critical juncture. The veteran senator already had…
The Insider
Oh, Donna From a legal standpoint, you couldn’t call it the best of years for Wayne Dolcefino, and it’s not getting any better: he was recently named in a paternity suit filed by Donna Lynnese Hull. The 36-year-old woman claims the leader of Channel 13’s Undercover Pack is the father…
Order, Please!
The first letter was dated February 21 and addressed to a “Fellow Notting-ham Forest Homeowner.” It looked innocent enough: “I’m sure you’ve been too busy to notice, but some of your neighbors have mentioned to us that your landscaping is not maintained in a neat and orderly fashion, and we…
Letters
Too Many Hugs My husband and I just returned from a yearly trip that we treasure. We spend 18 days around Memorial Day and three days on Labor Day weekend in Kerrville attending the folk festival. It is the safest, most peaceful 21 days we experience each year. Last Saturday,…
Press Picks
thursday july 13 Apollo 13-salute sculling lessons Gene Horton of the Houston Rowing Club is offering free sculling lessons for space fans over the age of 15, one dawn rowing adventure — an adventure that would normally cost $60 — in exchange for a ticket stub from the film Apollo…
Critic’s Choice, The Road to Storyville
Austin’s Storyville hits Washington Avenue so frequently that there may seem to be no particular reason for this weekend’s show to be spotlighted. It’s not unlike the early 1980s, when Stevie Ray Vaughan and two current members of Storyville were playing at Fitzgerald’s so often that it was no big…
Big Band Boon
James Pankow and Robert Lamm, two of the eight musicians who make up Chicago, don’t have to be reminded that they’ve ventured onto touchy ground with the band’s new CD, Night & Day (Big Band). With Night & Day, Chicago focuses on well-known tunes from the big band era, among…
All in the Family
Erich Avinger gives the impression of being everything his father is not. The younger Avinger, a Houston guitarist who has taught virtually every six-string player worth hearing in this town, talks passionately about his dedication to music. He talks about how he has learned to live with the emotional fear…
Rotations
Michael Jackson HI Past, Present and Future, Book 1 Epic Records A bluish gray statue of Michael Jackson stands defiantly on the cover of the Boy Wonder’s latest album, the awkwardly titled HI Past, Present and Future, Book I. It’s a cartoonish figure: a clench-fisted Jackson, dressed for battle with…
Diner’s Notebook
He Smoots to Conquer: Empire Cafe proprietor Smoot Hull — he of the long blond locks and the studied cool — seems to be everywhere of late, plotting and planning and humming that expansion-mode song that every halfway successful restaurant operator loves to sing. He’s busman’s holidaying at the Daily…
No Tex-Mex!
I can’t help smiling when I think about Otilia’s. It happens when I consider this family kitchen’s sopes, each primal, steamy circlet of masa dough pooled with the raw materials of life: green salsa that could double as jet fuel; a flurry of crumbled farmer’s cheese; a scattershot of minced…
Kicking the Gang Attraction
It’s high noon on a torturously hot Saturday at Burnett Bayland Park: dozens of adults cheer in Spanish for a ten-year-old soccer player rushing the goal, a Salvadoran woman approaches carrying a cooler of refreshments on her head and scores of exuberant kids chase soccer balls on five nearby fields…
Marital Bliss, Monkish Miss
The origin of I Do! I Do! is as charming as the hit musical itself. World War II, Holland: a young writer named Jan de Hartog evokes German ire because he won’t register with the Nazi chamber of culture. His books are banned. His friends tell him to go into…
Sugar High
This is an announcement to all the concerned parents who believe that Fox Network’s brain-dead TV fistfest Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is part of a gigantic corporate conspiracy to addict your children to violence and licensed merchandise: Yes, it is. But you should drop your torches, and Twentieth Century Fox’s…