Amplified
Music Awards Update Okay, most of the hard stuff has already been taken care of except … oiling the obligatory promotion machine. This task has fallen squarely on the shapely delts of yours truly, which means not only will my stubby, grubby fingerettes be pounding out band bios and counting…
News Hostage
As the Fourth of July weekend slowly unfolded, we sat back and patiently waited. We waited for yet another rematch in what has become one of the most long-standing — if lop-sided — rivalries in modern times. All the elements were there: there were parades. There was rain. And there…
Mo’ Better Blues
On the title track off Keb’ Mo”s latest record, Slow Down (Okeh/550), the singer tells of growing old. He talks about how when he was younger he hadn’t a care, drinking all night long and chasing women. But the voice in the song also remembers how his mother would warn…
Widening the Waldhauser Net
The investigation into a $15 million insurance fraud, allegedly masterminded by a capital murderer from Houston, has spread to several other states. “We’re talking about a scheme that reaches across the entire United States,” says Dale Barron, an investigator with the Texas Department of Insurance. “The part we took to…
Nonfiction Gospel
At 27 years of age, Joseph Washington Jr. has already seen most of his ambitions, goals and aspirations come to fruition. The Houston native is a graduate of Texas Southern University. Before that, he served for six and a half months in Operation Desert Storm. Today, when he is not…
Media Row on Death Row
It’s hard to get on Texas’s death row these days — if you want to interview an inmate there. According to regulations that cover death row visitations — including those by news media — almost any news organization that isn’t considered mainstream is barred from getting face-to-face with inmates at…
Fresh Princess
Walking outside Camden, New Jersey’s E-Centre before a big show, Tatyana Ali tries to take part in a phone interview. Her words, though, are often muffled by the collective sound of hordes of teenage girls screaming at the sight of their favorite teen heartthrob. (“Omigod! Omigod! It’s the cute one…
News of the Weird
Lead Stories In the course of a June report decrying the Canadian economy’s discrimination against people who do unpaid work, mostly housework, the feminist group Mothers Are Women called on the government to pay wages to women for breast-feeding to bring that activity in line with the production of other…
Playbill
It would have been easy for pianist/keyboardist/producer David Benoit to turn into a formula act. After he’d spent more than a decade on session work and solo albums, his 1987 glossy contemporary jazz release, Freedom at Midnight, soared up the charts. The light jazzy sound was the “in” thing at…
Dish
Like most food writers, I figure, I get a lot of strange e-mail messages. Some threaten me with unpleasant and lasting bodily injury, naturally, or question my (pick one, please) sanity, upbringing or impartiality. Others smugly commend me for agreeing with their own impeccable taste. But the vast majority ask…
Rotation
Ricky Martin Ricky Martin C2/Columbia Jennifer Lopez On the 6 WORK Jordan Knight Jordan Knight Interscope Ricky Martin’s status as a former teen heartthrob has also given his image a hint of live-and-learn credibility. At a time when bubblegum boy bands seem to be popping up more frequently than lawsuits…
Galvan-izing
Irma’s Southwest Grill, 1314 Texas, (713) 247-9651.
Hot Plate
What? No carpaccio?: Sooner or later, those upscale ’90s dining trends had to trickle down to fast food. Surprisingly, almost all of them have appeared in one place: the new mega-Schlotzky’s (Schlotzky’s Marketplace, 2929 Kirby Drive, [713]807-9800). Besides the usual Schlotzky’s sandwiches, the Marketplace offers a full line of snob…
Lightweight Wood
First the good news: The title of the high school comedy/Gen-X nostalgia flick The Wood is not, despite this summer’s rash of double entendres, a dirty joke. The name’s as earnest and literal as the film itself, and simply marks the setting as Inglewood, California, the Los Angeles ‘burb best…
A Big Croc
Lake Placid Directed by Steve Miner, With Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt and Brendan Gleeson. Rated R.
Potent Project
The Blair Witch Project. Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. With Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonard. Rated R.
Sad Finale
Eyes Wide Shut. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. With Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Rated R.
Bundy’s Big Ideas
Stages Repertory Theatre and Unhinged Productions present The Maiden’s Prayer July 16 through August 8. Showtimes are Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. 3201 Allen Parkway, (713)52-STAGES. $10-$25.
Man in the Moon
James Schefter will sign copies of his book Wednesday, July 21, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 1029 West Bay Area Boulevard, (281)554-8224. He’ll also appear at Borders, 9633A Westheimer Road, (713)782-6066, on Thursday, July 22, from 7 to 8 p.m.
Conspiracy Theory
In his smoky, cramped office filled with vintage rifle posters, books on warfare and military bric-a-brac, Al Johnson tells his favorite story. Filled with crooked politicians, drug dealers, international intrigue and, of course, a hero fighting for truth and justice, Johnson’s engaging saga might make a novel or Hollywood thriller…
Superstar Shows its Age
Jesus Christ Superstar runs through July 18 at the Wortham Center, 500 Texas, (800) 678-5440. $16-$57.
The Outcasts
Under normal circumstances, Lucas Gallagher doesn’t attract a lot of attention. He’s a quiet kid, a 16-year-old who walks with his head down and keeps his chin-length blond hair tucked behind his ears. He’s taking speech class in summer school so he won’t have to talk in front of a…
Wilted Maneater
Little Shop of Horrors runs through August 1 at the Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Ave., (713)228-8421. $17-$30.
Tit for Tat
Most folks seem to just love Shelley Buschur’s breast — a detachable foam-and-wire-mesh mammoth measuring 20 inches in diameter and a foot high, mounted to the roof of Buschur’s nurture-themed Karmann Ghia. Elsewhere on the car, painted planets and stars float on a dark blue background, and each fender supports…
The Insider
When you look at the numbers, women executives at the University of Houston seem more and more like an endangered species these days. In the past year, four nationwide searches for academic deans at the UH central campus resulted in the hiring of three white men, and the replacement of…