Rotation
American Analog Set The Golden Band (Emperor Jones) It’s got a vintage organ sound, brushed drums, extended quiet passages, droning guitars and simple, repetitive song structures. Great, another indie pop band. But instead of being ho-hum, American Analog Set sticks out because it takes the elementary and common to uncommon…
Public Places, Private Emotions
“Topologies” will be on view at the Contemporary Arts Museum, 5216 Montrose Boulevard, (713) 284-8250 through September 12.
On Thursday, August 7 at 7 p.m., Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision will be screened at the museum.
The Shows of Summer
After a couple of years of competing summer events, Houston’s art dealers (28 of ’em, anyway) are back under one banner. The reunification apparently took so much effort that they didn’t have any energy left to think of a real title, so “ArtHouston” it is. When the event, which is…
Stunted Gypsy
Gypsy runs through August 7 at
News Hostage
Like most everyone else, we were glued to the tube as the news broke about the death of John Kennedy Jr. We sat through the hours of coverage, where the same clips were shown over and over (apparently the only ones available of this thoroughly filmed guy) as reporters struggled…
Reg Revisits Gay ’80s
Sometimes you’ve just got to save the best for last, and that’s exactly what The Little Room Downstairs Theater has done with its season finale production of Kevin Elyot’s My Night with Reg. The Oliver Award-winning play is the best script the theater has come up with this year. The…
Trading Places
Nearly seven years ago, says Larry Duncan, “two odious government pistoleros kicked in my door and put this whole thing in motion.” But finally the oil industry veteran has been vindicated of charges that he illegally shipped a minirefinery to Libya. Duncan had been convicted in late 1996 of violating…
Wasted Wedding
Runaway Bride, the long-anticipated reunion of Pretty Woman stars Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, isn’t a sequel, but it feels like one. In everything, there is a distinct sense of predestination, of events occurring according to some irresistible force of the inevitable. This makes life especially easy for Garry Marshall,…
Shin Splits
Shin Higashiura, whose female shiatsu clients say he gave them “inside treatments” that involved sexual touching and intercourse, has agreed to close up shop, a Texas Department of Health official reports. The department had conducted a lengthy investigation into whether state regulations apply to shiatsu [“Sexual Healing?” by Shaila Dewan,…
Dirty Laundry
Like Gérard Depardieu, French actress Miou-Miou first came to international attention in Bertrand Blier’s Going Places and Ménage. Her intriguing new film, Dry Cleaning, is directed and co-written by Anne Fontaine, but in central ways it resembles Blier’s work: It chronicles a romantic triangle, with Miou-Miou only the apparent apex…
News of the Weird
Lead Stories In July, Birmingham, England, office worker Beverley Lancaster, 44, won about $110,000 in damages from the city because of job-related stress based on her having been promoted to a better job against her will. Lancaster testified that the city insisted she take the higher-paying job, for which she…
Tailer Made
The stylish, low-budget Brit crime film Following opens in both familiar and very odd territory. Its protagonist, Bill (Jeremy Theobald), is one of the furtive outsiders Dostoevsky introduced to the world in Notes from the Underground. After one look at the dingy, disheveled Bill, you’re not surprised to learn that…
Haunting Wanting
Rated PG-13.
View From the Kitchen
To design my first restaurant, I hired an artist. Who shall remain nameless. The Quilted Toque, as he envisioned it, would be a beautiful place, minimalist and colorful, $egrave; la the work of Mexican architect Luis Barragan. I loved the idea. I loved the early sketches. But then, for two…
1999 Houston Press Music Award Winners
People who say awards are meaningless are usually those who a) have never won any, or b) possess such low self-esteem that anything more than a pat on the back stirs feelings of guilt in their stomachs. Hopefully, the winners of this year’s Houston Press Music Awards fit neither such…
Hot Plate
!Ay, arepas! I’d never been much impressed by arepas, those little corn bread disks beloved by homesick Colombians and Venezuelans. Plantains got my attention; chimichurri, the snappy cilantro-heavy green sauce, made me take notice; spit-roasted chicken, with its salty, crispy skin, I adored. And in such company, arepas seemed like…
Landrush
Rarely has the absurdity factor at City Hall been so high as on June 22, when in a public session of the Houston City Council it was revealed that the Galleria has fallen on hard times and is in dire need of some taxpayer-funded economic development. This distressing and, no…
Houston Blues
Joe “Guitar” Hughes and Blues Plus will appear on Saturday, July 31, at The Big Easy, 5731 Kirby Drive. No cover charge. Call (713) 523-9999.
Trash Talk
Four years after Margey Meyer hauled a garbage can full of 6,000 petitions before City Council, she still hasn’t gotten what she wants: payback for city trash services not rendered. Meyer, who runs a company that manages town house and condominium associations, has been dubbed “trash lady” by colleagues. And…
Let’s Order Run Service
The Luxury Collection Hotel, soon to be The St. Regis, is located at 1919 Briar Oaks Lane, (713) 840-7600. The Running Companion service is complimentary for guests of the hotel.
Auto Erotica
The Patsco Ladies Car Wash, at 11203 Jones Road, is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call (281) 970-4033 for more information.
It’s a Family Affair
Willie Nelson’s Family Picnic is Saturday, August1, at the Woodlands Pavilion. Music starts at 1 p.m. Tickets are $35 for reserved seats, $25 for lawn. Call (713) 629-3700 or (281) 363-3300.
The Old and the Restless
Robyn Hitchcock is one of those musicians who are (un)lucky enough to be frequently compared to Syd Barrett. For more than 20 years, Hitchcock has blended rock and folk with picturesque and psychedelic lyrics, much as the former Pink Floyd member and acid casualty did. Though bizarre characters and semi-autobiographical…
Playbill
If it’s true that performers who like to play evil characters are really some of the best-adjusted people, then the members of GWAR are probably church-going, Little League-coaching PTA members. The band’s shtick has something to do with being aliens intent on destroying the Earth, but it’s really an excuse…