Announcing the 2007 Houston Press Music Awards Winners
They came, they saw, they got a lot of votes. We’ve got the complete list of winners after the jump, but here’s a hint: You don’t have to say no to drugs to be local musician of the year…
Last Night: Chris Knight at the Mucky Duck
Random impressions of Chris Knight’s full band show last night at the Mucky Duck: Even though the club was packed to the rafters, for Knight it was just another Tuesday night in another town. Little wonder he started the evening with homesick rocker lines like “Man’s gotta do what a…
Houston Press Music Awards Announced Tonight
We counted the votes, ignoring the hanging chads and rolling our eyes at the wacky write-ins, and yes, yes, y’all, we have some winners. Almost 40 of them, actually. Check back here at 10 p.m. tonight for the complete list of the winners and drop by tomorrow morning for in-depth,…
You Didn’t Happen to Attend Any Jazz Shows in 1921, Did You?
Back in the late ‘40s, Houston Post columnist Hubert Mewhinney memorably described Houston as “a whiskey and trombone town.” No doubt the King and Carter Jazzing Orchestra (pictured) contributed to that atmosphere. This picture, taken in 1921, is all over the Internet, but I was unable to find out anything…
Now the Question Can Finally Be Answered Once and for All: Jessica Alba or Jennifer Aniston?
Guy talk has finally come to Houston!! Rejoice!! Or, better yet, change the channel. On Monday, venerable local station KPRC changed formats from right-wing blather 24/7 to a much more nuanced menu, one that seasons the right-wing blather with occasional forays into “guy talk.” This features shows like Walton &…
Pimp C Apologizes
Through his publicist, Pimp C has decided to concede the Atlanta is, in fact, in the South. He stands behind the rest of the baleful comments he unleashed in the now notorious Ozone magazine interview, however. Here’s his statement in full:…
Them’s Fighting Words, Broseph!
The best way for a music news outlet to start fiery online confrontations and bring down [sic]-laden tirades against anyone who disagrees? Publish a list of the best all-time “Insert Anything” in music. It’s a foolproof way to make people hate you and make a fourteen-year old rethink all that…
Galveston Is on the Rise. Until It Sinks.
This week’s Hair Balls column features a chart about the explosion of growth in condos and other developments in Galveston. It’s like an invasion of classiness, if you define classiness as cookie-cutter beachside projects. Linking in hard copy rarely works, but we wanted to draw your attention to this page…
The Musical Event of the Year
Aw shit. No further explanation necessary, or offered. Go ahead and jump. – Chris Gray…
Report Card for All HISD Schools
For the fifth year in a row, Sam Houston High School has been rated “Academically Unacceptable” in the Texas Education Agency’s annual assessment of the state’s schools announced today. The school still will open in the fall, thanks to the reprieve it got in June from the HISD school board…
This Just In: We Are Doomed
So Rascall Flatts has recorded the Beatles “Revolution.” It’s available as an iTunes exclusive – I read that it was supposed to be free, which is much too expensive, but I could only find it for sale there for the normal price of 99 cents…
Mint Condition
Yesterday, the U.S. Congress passed a bill that would authorize the U.S. Mint to begin making gold and silver coins commemorating NASA’s 50th anniversary. The Mint would make 50,000 gold coins worth $50 each and another 300,000 silver coins worth a $1 each…
Coming Up: Which Schools Are Horrible?
Well the accountability ratings are in and at 1 o’clock today we’ll be able to tell you which schools made the grade in the Houston Independent School District and which schools got failing report cards from the Texas Education Agency. Check back here at 1 p.m. — Margaret Downing…
$13 at La Carreta Mexican Restaurant
What kind of meal can $13 buy you in restaurant-crazy Houston? We’re going to find out. Armed with just $13, Houston Press staffers and freelancers are hitting the streets and eating. The rules are simple: It’s $13, flat. Not $13 and change, not just under $14. $13, that’s it. Olivia…
$13 at La Carreta Mexican Restaurant
What kind of meal can $13 buy you in restaurant-crazy Houston? We’re going to find out. Armed with just $13, Houston Press staffers and freelancers are hitting the streets and eating. The rules are simple: It’s $13, flat. Not $13 and change, not just under $14. $13, that’s it. Olivia…
Even a Blind Sportswriter Finds a Fact Every Once in a While
Okay folks, I’ve got a question, and maybe you can help me out. It concerns the Morgan Ensberg trade to the San Diego Padres. As I noted yesterday, the Astros traded Morgan Ensberg to the Padres for cash considerations and a player to be named later – I noted that…
Get Lit: Au Paris, by Rachel Spencer
Rachel Spencer sold ads for the Houston Chronicle after graduating from college, then had a crisis, quit her job, and took a summer position as a nanny for a rich family in Paris. She chronicled the experience in a Chron blog, Au Paris. When she got back, she turned the…
California Might Know How to Party, But Morgan Ensberg Ain’t Gonna Find Good Mexican Food There
Morgan Ensberg likes his trade to the Padres because he can get some good Mexican food. Now, as someone who loves to visit California, who wishes he could move to California, who thinks California gets right so many things that his native Texas gets wrong, I unequivocally state the one…
Remembering Jimmy “T-99” Nelson
Pianist and former Houstonian David Vest has written a remembrance of his friend and musical companion Jimmy “T-99” Nelson on his blog. . Also, he slapped an MP3 of an unreleased recording of him backing Nelson on his MySpace page. Click over quick – Vest will be taking the song…
Oops. Delete! Delete!
Whatever, you smug bastard. This would’ve happened even if we’d used a Mac. So Congressman Gene Green’s media person, Jesse Christopherson, sends out an e-mail to web editor Keith Plocek saying the Houston light-rail system has finally won federal funding. To the tune of $10 million. Which, in the inexplicably…
Mike Robles at the Improv Is Canceled
Comedian Mike Robles isn’t laughing about his August 1 show being canceled. As a matter of fact, he sounds a bit miffed. Robles sent us this note announcing the cancellation and directing fans to call the Houston Improv for more info. He promises he’ll be back to Houston, but not…
News Flash: We Have a Trade. Well, Kinda.
The MLB non-waiver trading deadline has come and gone. And little Timmy Purpura pulled off a trade. Yep, he’s paid the San Diego Padres to take Morgan Ensberg off of the Astros’ hands. That’s right. The Astros paid the Padres to take Morgan Ensberg. That’s the trade…
You Blog What You Is
In my experience over these past 24 years, I have never met a casual Frank Zappa fan. From what I can tell, most hardcore fans sell their children into white slavery for whatever piece of Zappa memorabilia they can get their hands on, be it a signed copy of Hot…
Get Lit: The Sleeping Doll, by Jeffery Deaver
Bestselling author Jeffery Deaver is known for his series of suspense novels starring Lincoln Rhyme, the quadriplegic investigator based in New York City (The Bone Collector, The Vanished Man and The Twelfth Card to name a few). Despite his disability, Rhyme is able to sort through all manner of dastardly…
Quantum Mechanics (and Fucking!)
Surprise, surprise: Fatal Flying Guilloteens are making some noise. Pitchfork reports today that the Houston splatter-punk heroes, who recently put former Octopus Project arm and current Bring Back the Guns triggerman Erik Bogle on the guitarist chopping block, have a new album set to go October 16 on New York’s…
Geography with Pimp C
In the August issue of Ozone, Pimp C. unloaded on Russell Simmons and studio slangers and assorted fake rappers. He also demonstrated a somewhat eccentric view of geography by claiming that Atlanta was not in the South. (After all, he said, it is in the Eastern time zone, which is…
The Night Before Last: The Houston Press Music Awards Showcase, Part Four
Jonathan Welch and the author bury the hatchet. Here’s what the Houston Press Music Awards must look like to downtown’s club owners and merchants: The most dreaded of plagues, a horde of drunk, smelly, and sweaty musicians and their fans heeding the call of beer and loud amplification. Let’s not…
Robb’s Review: On the Menu
This week in Café we contemplate the similarities between the food stalls in the Komart Korean grocery store on Gessner with the street vendors of Asia. Some Asian street vendors’ creations, like tapioca tea, which was first sold from a cart in Taipei, have gone on to become international sensations…
Robb’s Review: On the Menu
This week in Café we contemplate the similarities between the food stalls in the Komart Korean grocery store on Gessner with the street vendors of Asia. Some Asian street vendors’ creations, like tapioca tea, which was first sold from a cart in Taipei, have gone on to become international sensations…
Shelby Sendelbach to Write a Letter of Apology. Love (for Alex) Conquers All.
Looks like the fiasco in Katy – or at least one of them, we’re sure there are others – is over. Shelby Sendelbach, a.k.a. that girl who wrote “I love Alex” on the wall and got sent to an alternative school and wound up being all over the national media,…
This Could Be One Serious Tuesday. Let’s Hope Purpura Doesn’t Do Something Stupid.
Well, it’s possible that today is going to be Milestone Tuesday. Milestones as in Barry Bonds possibly tying Henry Aaron’s home run record. Milestones such as Alex Rodriguez hitting home run number 500. Milestones such as Tom Glavine getting his 300th victory. Milestones such as Tim Purpura once again displaying…
Last Night: The Houston Press Music Awards Showcase, Part Three
Well, I have to say my first-ever Music Award Showcase was a good one, especially watching the youngsters on the Press street team – who deserve big ups for their media blitz on local musicians’ behalf – grind on each other at the late-night DJ showcase, while a few staffers…
Last Night: The Houston Press Music Awards Showcase, Part Two
And the award for “Most Awesome Show Lasting Five Minutes” goes to Insect Warfare at Slainte. Not only did the set last five minutes, it featured noise-maven Austin from Concrete Violin. Glorious sounds of robots dying and various guttural sounds concluded with yours truly briefly thrown to the floor, as…
Last Night: The Houston Press Music Awards Showcase
“I Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.” The Ellington tune is bouncing around my head as I take the train downtown (the A-Train?) for the 2007 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase. I just can’t stay out ‘til two and work the next day like I used to. I was pretty sure…
White Liberal Quilt
When the spectacular “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend” show came to the MFAH in 2002, Kelly Klaasmeyer reviewed it, starting off her piece by describing a denim-and-olive-green quilt made by Loretta Pettway, one of 45 African-American female artists from Gee’s Bend, Alabama whose work was on display. “It looks like…
Tom Snyder, 1936-2007
If you were a punk-starved teen in the early 80’s, The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder, who passed away Sunday from leukemia, was one of the places you could tune in to catch your heroes. Snyder brought us the first TV appearances of “Weird Al” Yankovic, The Plasmatics and U2,…
A Monster in East Texas! Or Something Like That…
The Old Grey Lady doesn’t like to think of herself as sensationalist. She’s the newspaper of record and prefers to stick to sober facts and objective truth when covering a story. Except, of course, when that story takes place in the thick backwoods of East Texas. When writing about Texas,…
Yeah, What He Said
Looks like former Houstoned editor Steven Devadanam is doing good things in this world. He and his wife Amy have adopted a pup most likely used as a bait dog in a pit bill fighting operation, according to the Chron. We’re all about seeing our pals written up anywhere and…
Fighting Inaccuracies When Referring to Norma Gabler
Our jaws kinda dropped over the weekend when we saw the Houston Chronicle’s obit of Norma Gabler. The paper picked up a story from the Longview News-Journal, the woman’s hometown paper, and ran it unquestioningly. Here’s the lede: “Norma Gabler dedicated much of the last 46 years of her life…
R.I.P. Jimmy “T-99” Nelson
Legend of blues, R&B and early rock and roll passes away Sad news from Dr. Roger Wood: Turns out Marvin Zindler was not the only treasured Houstonian to pass away Sunday. Jimmy “T-99” Nelson, the last of the real-deal blues shouters, died of cancer at St. Dominic’s nursing home. Some…
Marvin Zindler, 1921-2007
No doubt that, for many Houstonians, losing Marvin Zindler is like losing a member of the family. A somewhat odd-looking family member, perhaps, but also one whose integrity and genuine concern for the little guy made you feel so good. According to KTRK’s online statement, Zindler was responsible for creating…
The Astros Have a New Utility Player. The Chron Has a Not-So-New Story on Sports Radio.
Before I start in on the Astros, I just wanted to say I hope all of you read yesterday’s Chron, especially its story on Houston sports talk radio. It’s not bad. But I can’t help thinking I’ve read it before. Oh, yeah. That’s right. Richard Connelly wrote the definitive story…
Keeping Dry Down Below with the Tunnel Mole
Don your sturdiest running shoes whilst entering the downtown Houston tunnel system these days. With the chronic rain, the burgeoning population is starting to outnumber the folks who (just like Paris Hilton) “discovered” Jesus in jail. No celebrity sightings down here, however, unless you count an uncanny Bill Maher lookalike…
There Was a Farmer Who Had a Dog and…Whatever
You ever walked into a dilapidated bingo hall and stared at all the old people drinking and smoking and thought, “Hey, this would make for great TV!” Probably not, and that’s why you’re not a big-time TV exec or whoever the hell it was who came up with National Bingo…
The Return of Magic iPod
Time for another round of Magic iPod. You know the drill. I ask my iPod a question, hit shuffle, and interpret the answer it gives me. I ask it a few questions to start, and then, gentle Houstoned Rocks readers, I throw open the floor to your queries as well…
Zach Galifianakis Is King of the Bears
Fat white dudes with beards can do anything. We don’t have to worry about high fashion because nothing that’s truly cool will ever fit. Santa Claus visits our houses first before any of you clean-shaven skinny losers, because he’s one of us. We can easily pass for anyone in a…
So We Don’t Normally Forward Stuff Like This, But…
We were going to digest this article and give you the highlights, but we were too busy reading a very important e-mail from a Nigerian general. Pretty sure it has something to do with how Houston is one of the country’s most “e-mail addicted cities.” And be sure to forward…
Is Purpura Going to Make a Trade? We Hope Not. Not.
Okay, the Chron says Tim Purpura is working the phones and trying to make a deal before Tuesday’s trading deadline. All that I’ve got to say is, Tim, don’t to it. Don’t tear up this juggernaut that you’ve created. Juggernaut? Surely I can’t be serious. Yes, I am. And don’t…
Someone Cut the Wires on Our Space Equipment? Time to Head to the Bar. Unless, of Course, You Were Wanting to Have Sex…
“Sounds like I’m missing all the fun and intrigue down there.” Okay, just to be clear: First there was astronaut sex. Then that little spelling gaffe. Then the drunk astronauts. And now there’s…[wait for it]…[wait for it]….sabotage! NASA is investigating the apparent sabotage of a computer set to be flown…
Get Lit: Interview and Reading with Daniel Silva, author of The Secret Servant
Daniel Silva is among the best spy novelists around these days. His reading and discussion of his latest title, The Secret Servant, at Murder by the Book, will show you why. Intense and electrifying, The Secret Servant follows Gabriel Allon, a sometime officer of Israeli intelligence who stumbles on to…
Radio on the TV: Chamillionaire Debuts New Video
Chamillionaire: “I can’t stand it, I know ya planned it…” Grammy-winning Houston rapper Chamillionaire, who can afford to pay other people to ride dirty for him after 2005’s The Sound of Revenge, starts grinding the promotional gears for Revenge follow-up Ultimate Victory tonight with a video double-dip on BET’s Access…
Wonder If Texas Monthly Will Run a “Drunk Astronaut” Cover
You work for a government agency that’s been involved with one debacle after another. You’re sent on a mission for them. What are you going to do? Get drunk off your ass. Aviation Week is reporting that NASA doctors on at least two occasions cleared astronauts to go up in…
Lynn Wyatt Spotted on the Isle of Capri on Perez Hilton. (No, Not on Him in That Way.)
Attention, gays Lynn Wyatt fans: Your patron saint has turned up on the Isle of Capri with her friend Elton John and his husband, David Furnish. Though we don’t get a full view of her in the photo posted on Perez Hilton’s Web site, we can say that, as always,…
Uncle John Turner, 1944-2007
Legendary Texas roots-music drummer Uncle John Turner passed away today at Austin’s Seton Hospital from complications of hepatitis C. He was 62. Turner was born and raised in Port Arthur, where he first played with Jerry LaCroix. Later he hooked up with Johnny and Edgar Winter, eventually convincing Johnny to…
Cuz Nothing Says “Born Country” Like Rice University
Burt Reynolds has nothing on Rice University’s Damen Hattori. Well, that may not be exactly true, but like Reynolds, Hattori is participating in a similar cross-country, no-holds-bar race like the one in the movie Cannonball Run. Hattori will be featured this coming Friday at 9 p.m. on the finale of…
Just Think of What Would’ve Happened If Biggio Hadn’t Been Playing…
The Craig Biggio Retirement Tour continued last night, as the Astros won a second straight game, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1. However, except for applying a tag on a sliding Jeff Kent, Biggio made no real contributions to last night’s game. Unless, of course, you count the Craig is…
Is Fred Thompson a Real Conservative? And Wouldn’t It Be Cool If These Things Were Still Held in Train Stations?
Yesterday at Hobby Airport a woman fronted Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson (and yes, we know he’s technically a “likely” candidate, but come on now). She was shouting “You’re not a real conservative, sir!” and bringing up his lobbying past when she was not so politely asked to leave by…
Win Butler with the Swish!!
It’s not everyday we see earnest indie rockers playing competitive sports. This is Win Butler, former Woodlands resident and current Arcade Fire frontman, dominating the court in a friendly game of street basketball. I wish I could make more knowing remarks about this, but I know nothing about basketball. Is…
Dog Day Afternoon. Evening and Morning, Too.
A puppy run over by a lawn mower. A stallion shot in the neck. A pit bull puppy with 13 broken bones after being beaten by its owner. Houston has plenty of animal cruelty stories, many of them documented on the Discovery Channel’s Animal Cops: Houston program. The show paints…
Feature Photo
I first saw this guy at the intersection of Fannin and Alabama. Eventually, he saw me photographing him and stopped to ask why. “Is this yours?” he asked. “No, it’s not mine,” I replied. “Then why are you taking my picture? Are you a cop?” “No, I’m not a cop…
5 Wines That Will Blow Your Mind
Recommending wines that people can’t find in stores is pointless, according to Andrew Adams, owner and wine buyer at The Corkscrew Wine Bar (1919 Washington Avenue). Here’s his thoughts on wine criticism and his choice of five wines that will blow your mind. AA: I’ve been thinking about what to…
Red Basil Thai Fusion Cuisine
The beef sushi appetizer at Red Basil Thai Fusion Cuisine on Westheimer was topped with medium-rare filet mignon. It was shaped like the usual raw fish and rice sushi roll, only the colors were all wrong. The sticky rice in the middle was purple, and the rectangle on top was…
“Coniecturae Mysticae”
Who says passion and intellect can’t coexist? G Gallery’s “Coniecturae Mysticae,” which spans from the severe to the sublime, proves the two are compatible with the works of painter Grace Megnet and sculptor Joyce Harlow. Megnet’s oil paintings are dreamlike and richly colored, and her acrylics are inspired by prayer…
Lost in Rotation
So many talented bands and musicians are playing Sunday’s Music Awards showcase, it seemed wrong to feature just one. Instead, the Press music staff rounded up as many of the nominees’ CDs as we could, plus a few singles for good measure. Hopefully next year there’ll be even more. See…
Myles J
If the filet mignon beef tip martini ($8) at Myles J (4304 Westheimer, 713-850-1850) were served on a regular plate, it would be good. But put it in a beautiful, blue-stemmed martini glass, serve it with a spoon and voilà — it turns into something spectacular. In this simple dish,…
Urban Theater Festival
What’s urban theater? Well, according to Urban Theater Festival producer Reginald Edmund, it’s theater that’s more community-oriented. “Once upon a time, theater was a people’s art form, there to connect the community and bring us together to create a universal dialogue, and that is exactly what this series is all…
Kwaidan
Making Kwaidan, director Masaki Kobayashi had his hands full. Tackling major themes such as justice, the importance of history and the ever-changing relationship between men and women in one two-hour anthology of four unrelated stories is certainly ambitious enough. To then incorporate traditional Japanese visual arts, drama, cinema, myth and…
Big Mac Boogie
If you’re free September 25, head over to Austin for the final stop of the “McDonald’s Live” tour, where artists TBA will play a free parking-lot concert at one of the state capital’s many Mickey D’s. (How “America’s Fattest City” let this one get away is a Sphinxian riddle.) “We’re…
Interview
Steve Buscemi the director is nothing like the art-damaged auteur Buscemi the actor played in 1995’s Living in Oblivion. No dry ice and dwarves for the victim of the cinema’s most celebrated woodchipper massacre, who as a filmmaker inhabits tight spaces (an ice-cream truck, a prison cell) and trapped lives…
Kenneth Scott
Singer-songwriter Kenneth Scott has the rootsy-but-accessible style that record companies were eating up a decade ago in search of the next Hootie. Although mainstream tastes have changed, there’s always room for some well-polished folk-pop, and Scott’s been making the rounds of local cafes and coffee shop-ish venues, stirring up crowds…
A.K.A. Nikki S. Lee
A.K.A. Nikki S. Lee is a weirdly eponymous title for a film project by someone known for not acting like herself. In her photography career, Korean-born artist Nikki S. Lee adapts the outfits and mannerisms of various subcultures — rappers, punk rockers, yuppies, skateboarders, exotic dancers, brides, lesbians, rural Ohioans…
Death From Above 1979
This year has been unusually blessed with significant pop anniversaries: 50 years since “Jailhouse Rock,” 40 since Sergeant Pepper’s, 20 since the Smiths broke up, ten since Spice Girls mania, etc. And 30 years ago, John Travolta and the Bee Gees altered the course of music history with a white…
Stage Capsule Reviews
Always…Patsy Cline Ted Swindley, former founding director of Houston’s Stages Repertory Theatre, created this ultimate country-fried jukebox musical in 1988 as a tribute to the late, great Patsy Cline. Even with its meager story line pegged to Louise (Lyndsay Sweeney), a Cline groupie who meets her favorite star for one…
Daniel Silva
Daniel Silva is among the best spy novelists around these days. His reading and discussion of his latest title, The Secret Servant, at Murder by the Book, will show you why. Intense and electrifying, Secret Servant follows Gabriel Allon, a sometime officer of Israeli intelligence who stumbles onto a plot…
Loco Comedy Jam
The original comedy cholo, Mike Robles, is back with the Loco Comedy Jam. Featuring Latino comics, Loco Comedy Jam offers cutting-edge ethnic humor with an insider’s twist. (“Mexican newspapers start every story with ‘You know what I heard?’”) This Houston show includes Robles headlining, Rene Garcia opening and special guest…
West Side Rain
I like a good noir rain. Short of a downpour, angrier than a drizzle. A tomcat is pissing on a hot tin roof, however, when I pull into the Woodlake Pub (9600 Westheimer, 713-787-0099). Tucked in back of a shopping center near Westheimer and Gessner, the Woodlake is a true…
Art Capsule Reviews
“Allison Hunter: New Animals” “New Animals” is a continuation of Allison Hunter’s “Simply Stunning” series, which showed at New York’s 511 Gallery last year. The Houston-based photographer’s recent work concentrates largely on animals, and the images reflect a progression toward emancipating creatures from the worldly environment. Sheep and deer inhabit…
Gian Marco
Latin pop singer Gian Marco first got noticed when he released his self-titled CD in 1990. Seventeen years later, the Latin Grammy Award winner is considered a superstar in his homeland of Peru, and he regularly works with big names in Latin music like Gloria Estefan, Thalía and Marc Anthony…
“Perspectives 157: Xaviera Simmons”
The Contemporary Arts Museum’s Zilkha Gallery has more album covers than a fanboy’s bedroom in “Perspectives 157: Xaviera Simmons.” The walls are plastered with art from albums by some of the best musicians in music history, notable because they are all African-American. The installation, Digital Good Time (How To Break…
Spoon
Britt Daniel wants us to know a thing or two. One, he’s not a particularly good speller; Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga titles include “You Got Yr Cherry Bomb” and “Rhthm and Soul.” Two, he’s perfectly happy to continue lining the pockets of Spoon’s vampy guitar-piano pas de deux with…
Mexican-American Culture
Dear Readers, You love us, you really love us! Mere moments after publishing my July 12 column (in which Know Nothings had their say on the failed Senate amnesty bill), ustedes bombarded the Mexican with letters expressing your disgust toward those pendejos. Space prohibits the printing of all, so let’s…
Nipples to the Wind
Someone should give Paula Coco a big gold star for title writing — Nipples to the Wind has to be one of the best we’ve seen this season. Borrowed from an old Southern saying — loose translation, “full steam ahead” — the title promises a night of silly fun. Over…
Freaked
This week’s Domy Book’s Monday Movie Night features Freaked, a classic cult comedy from the ‘90s. In it, Alex Winter (of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, who also codirects with Tom Stern) is Ricky Coogan, a celebrity spokesperson for a new, and, oh yeah, toxic, fertilizer. Anxious to see what…
Interpol
Enough with the Joy Division comparisons, already! Joy Division was a fancy-pants band that, aside from a few accessible songs, never connected with the masses like New Order — or Interpol. And neither the Strokes nor Arcade Fire writes as deadly serious pop songs as the New York quartet. (There’s…
Christian Bale
Christian Bale is an actor who may be as well known for what he does to his body as he is for his body of work. He’s done extreme things to that body in the name of art. Turning it as hard and sharp as an ice pick for American…
“All Is Well”
There are plenty of professional performance spaces in this city, but does every dance have to be on a rectangular stage, and every piece of art on a white gallery wall? In “All Is Well,” a work in progress, visual artist Cameron Sands enlisted the services of dancer Paola Georgudis…
Houston Shakespeare Festival
As producers of teen sex comedies and FOX network sitcoms know, nothing’s more entertaining than a guy who can’t keep it in his pants. William Shakespeare, just as much a crowd-friendly entertainer as a brilliant wordsmith, realized this and created several plays around the predicament, two of which are being…
Tori Amos
When Tori Amos does a concept album — and hers are all concept albums — she goes all-out, but seldom more so than on the 23-track blast of American Doll Posse. The obsessive laborer assumes five different female archetypes no one should have trouble identifying, but who are illustrated with…
Chow Time Again
Hard Boiled: Two-Disc Ultimate Edition (Weinstein) The Criterion version of John Woo’s masterpiece, about two cops (the overworked Chow Yun-Fat and the undercover Tony Leung) gunning for the Hong Kong Triads, is still the “ultimate” collection. It has a better commentary track (with Woo and Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary,…
SuperLiga Soccer
David Beckham’s arrival to America, along with his wifey Posh Spice, seems to have put soccer back in the news. Well, we’ve got a couple of newsworthy games going on right here in H-town. SuperLiga is the first time the four best teams from the U.S.’s Major League Soccer and…
Kathy Griffin
You’ve seen acid-tongued comic Kathy Griffin grovel on the red carpet. You’ve seen her snap off biting one-liners in her stand-up shows on Bravo. Now you can see the star of the reality show My Life on the D-List up close when she stops off in Houston. Griffin’s humor is…
Bishop Allen
Last year, Brooklyn’s Bishop Allen set out to do the ludicrous: write, record and ship a four-song EP every month. Glitches ensued, predictably, and lead guitarist Christian Rudder even put off his honeymoon, but they did it, landing a deal with new Austin label Dead Oceans. First fruit The Broken…
Mechanical Bull
Publisher: Majesco
Platform: Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Price: $49.99
ESRB Rating: T (for Teen)
Score: 5 (out of 10)
Chris Knight
Chris Knight comes from a working-class background, just like the characters in his songs. Knight writes about the particular breed of violence and desperation one might encounter in small-town America — sad stories about truckers, battered women and barroom miscreants. But even city folk can relate to the feelings of…
“The Big Show, 2007”
Some years, Lawndale Art Center’s annual “Big Show” has made me feel like the end is nigh for Houston’s art scene. Lawndale always selects smart, accomplished arts professionals as jurors, but sometimes, inexplicably, a juror manages to assemble a veritable cavalcade of crap. Not so this year. Juror Rita Gonzalez,…
Pase Rock
As if Lindsay Lohan’s snatch didn’t get enough press, Pase Rock had to go and write a song about it. Singles like “Lindsay Lohan’s Revenge” and “Sexy MF” (featuring Amanda Blank) are what happens when party rap and Baltimore’s sweaty, writhing, deliciously hypersexual club scene have a quickie in a…
Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week
Avant-Garde 2: Experimental Cinema 1928-1954 (Kino) Cashback (Magnolia) The Contract (First Look) Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating (Blue Underground) Five Dedicated to Ozu (Kino) The Host (Magnolia) Live Free or Die (THINKfilm) The Long Weekend (Lionsgate) The Monster Squad: Two-Disc 20th Anniversary Edition (Lionsgate) The…
Bob Schneider
Bob Schneider is the Energizer Bunny of the music business. Not only does he tour almost continuously year after year, he’s got so many musical avenues that he manages to constantly change up his show. Schneider can shift from rapper to singer-songwriter in less than a drumbeat, and he can…
TIME OUT
Fresh in from Austin, Patrick wants something “low-key” (this coming from a guy who was once escorted from a petting zoo). So I take my doraphobic friend to the Time Out Sports Bar (1400 Shepherd, 713-863-8865), a bipolar Heights dive with personality to spare. While the stools are usually lined…
Tokyo Police Club, Ra Ra Riot
The latest tousle-headed guitar band to be the toast of SXSW and the blogosphere before they’re old enough to shave, Tokyo Police Club are weathering a stiff backlash breeze from hipsters who weren’t nuts about the Strokes the first time around, or in any case are soooo over them now…
Mail Call
Wince: The article on the foreskin [“The Fantastic Foreskin,” by Craig Malisow, July 12] reminded me of the 1990 German film Europa Europa, said to be based on a true story. A teenager is taken in by Nazis who believe him to be a war orphan and do not know…
The 10th Annual Festival of Originals
The 10th Annual Festival of Originals at Theatre Southwest represents an enormous labor of what must be a whole lot love. Producer Mimi Holloway got over 300 submissions from across the nation and managed to whittle those down to five 20-minute one-acts. The aspiring playwrights tackle subject matter that runs…
No Reservations
Sadly, No Reservations is not the big-screen adaptation of Anthony Bourdain’s snack-gulping, risk-taking Travel Channel show; you’ll find no monkey brains here, nor any attempts to party down in Beirut whilst Hezbollah and Israel blow each other to smithereens. This is just more of the same from the franchise factory…
Ten Years After the 1997 Houston Press Music Awards
With all the coverage of what’s going on right now elsewhere in these pages, we thought it would be fun to look back at the Press Music Awards of ten years ago and find out what has happened to some of the winners and nominees since then. Back then, the…
“New China”
“New China” is a great companion to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s “Red Hot” Asian art exhibit. The collection at the New Gallery showcases a few artists featured at the MFAH, including the Luo Brothers, who offer works such as a red, candy-coated sculpture of a Chinese baby sitting…
Grease and Guys and Dolls
Except for Masquerade Theatre, what other company this side of the bayou can produce, in back-to-back rep, two so completely different musicals (Grease and Guys and Dolls), yet perform each one to perfection? Both shows boast founding artistic director Phillip Duggins’s directorial flair, unending energy and abiding love for musicals,…
Local Motion
Sound Exchange 1846 Richmond 713-666-5555 1. Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 2. Shellac, Excellent Italian Greyhound 3. Angel Corpse, Of Lucifer & Lightning 4 Jana Hunter, There’s No Home 5. Galactic Zoo Dossier #7 6. Chaos Horde, Demo ‘86 7. Velvet Underground, Velvet Underground & Nico 8. Dungen, Tio…
Lillian Warren: “Urban Realities”
The sight of a driver chattering on a cell phone, or, for the love of Pete, texting, is an everyday irritation. But if you happen to catch sight of a woman wildly snapping photographs while stopped at a red light, relax. She’s probably making art. Lillian Warren’s “Urban Realities” paintings…
Teen Bands
“And I know what you’re thinking / You still think I am crap / But you’d better listen, man / Because the kids know where it’s at” — The Jam, “In the City” It’s almost midnight, and guitarist Cley Miller looks over at guitarist and bassist Carlos and Jose Sanchez…
Werner Herzog
Conveyer of ecstatic truths and filmmaker extraordinaire Werner Herzog’s latest is Rescue Dawn, an action-drama based on U.S. pilot Dieter Dengler’s harrowing survival struggle after being shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War. Herzog sat down to discuss the film. When was the last time you saw Dengler? Shortly…
Vince Neil, Quiet Riot, Slaughter
Would you want to be Vince Neil? Hard to say. You’d get to be in Mötley Crüe, judge the Hooters Swimsuit Pageant in Las Vegas this month and have been married by MC Hammer on VH-1’s The Surreal Life. But there’s a strong possibility Aerosmith’s “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”…
“smART”
The joke’s probably been told a hundred times: “That artwork at the Moody Gallery sure is moody!” Ba-dum-ching. Thing is, it’s true. The current group show, “smART,” swings crazily from the cute and curious to the spooky and dark. If there hasn’t been enough wordplay already, “smART” references Merrilee McCommas’s…
River People
Ann Austin thinks it’s rude when people come up to Lake Livingston and ask why they built there if they knew it would flood. “Of course we didn’t know it would flood,” the wife of Pastor Warren Austin of Riverside Methodist Church says with more than a little exasperation. She…
Kid Koala
Chinese-Canadian turntablist Eric San, better known as Kid Koala, isn’t your regular bread-and-butter DJ. He’s your mom’s favorite DJ. He suffers from carpal tunnel syndrome. With his decade-long tenure in Ninja Tune and lengthy collaboration résumé, it’s easy to understand why some of his best friends are DJs. He’s observant…
Houston Press Music Awards Showcase
Fifty bands plus one afternoon divided by 12 bars equals one hell of a good time. The Houston Press Music Awards Showcase, the city’s annual opportunity to OD on local music, features newbies like Karina Nistal and the Dimes (see “Teen Bands,” page 17), who are creating lots of buzz…
Junior High Kid Goes Big-Time, Zero Tolerance
In the days since we wrote about Mayde Creek Junior High student Shelby Sendelbach — the 12-year-old who faced 120 days in an alternative school for writing “I Love Alex” on a piece of school property — she’s gone big-time. Interviews with Good Morning America and Fox News. Turning down…
Grady
When the Black Crowes opened their highly anticipated 2005 reunion tour in Houston, they damn near got owned before lighting up their first incense stick by their openers, this powerhouse trio. Fronted by ex-Canadian/current Austinite Gordie Johnson, Grady plays a true synthesis of rock, blues and country — a glorious…
2007 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase
“Show, don’t tell.” Writers don’t need to know much more than that to become masters of their craft. Let the story tell itself through dialogue and action, and you’ll rivet your readers every time. The same applies to the music. We tell you about the diversity of the Houston music…
Earl Gilliam Blues Review
If Houston isn’t the home of the blues, it certainly has always been somewhere between a cradle and a halfway house for it. It’s guys like piano man Earl Gilliam who continue to give Houston its blues cred as we speed forward in the 21st century. Yes, Gilliam has changed…