Mad Dog’s Demise
At first, the tenants in the office building at 602 Sawyer were puzzled by the tall, heavy-set man with the bald head. He would show up at their offices unannounced, introduce himself as “Mad Dog,” then proceed to grill them on what sort of business their companies conducted and the…
Gay Times
An extraordinary sign of the times, pointed out to me by The Group’s Joe Watts: five plays currently running in Houston reflect a gay conceit and an AIDS concern. Angels in America at the Alley, The Destiny of Me at Theater LaB, The Old Boy at Actors Theatre and the…
A Moving Tale
There is a moment about halfway through the first act of Peer Gynt, the Houston Ballet’s current production, that is quite likely more emotionally affecting than anything else presently being seen on a stage in Houston. It comes when a peasant girl named Solveig (danced on opening night by Janie…
Stupid Is As Stupid Does
The Art Guys: Think Twice looks darn good. Any way you slice it, the banal materials that fuel the duo’s commentary on everyday life are often transformed into visually arresting objects of remarkable iconic power. Upon entering the Contemporary Arts Museum, where the first broad survey of their oeuvre –…
Smoking Out a Story
Paul Benjamin (William Hurt) is a novelist who can’t tell stories anymore, not since the tragic death of his beloved wife in a random act of street violence. So maybe it’s as much out of envy as curiosity that he accepts the invitation when Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel), the owner-proprietor…
Monkey Business
The latest adaptation of a Michael Crichton bestseller is about as realistic, and almost as entertaining, as that other one — what was it? — oh yeah, Jurassic Park. The new Crichton is also about something being preserved from a far past, only this time the item being preserved is…
The Insider
Deja Vu All Over Again When it comes to delinquent tax collections, Heard Goggan Blair Williams is used to getting a little help from its friends. One of the Harris County commissioners who recently voted to give the law firm the county’s delinquent collection business, Republican Steve Radack, is close…
Bad Trip to Kerrville
It’s almost impossible to find a lunatic-free zone in these perilous times, as Katy trophy store owner Chris Williamson learned Memorial Day weekend at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Williamson, fiancee Heather Hill and a half-dozen other Baylor alums from Houston made the four-hour trek to Kerrville in search of a…
Letters
McLane’s Game I am sick and tired of hearing Drayton McLane whine about fans not “supporting” the Astros [“Drayton McLane’s Season of Hope,” by Steve McVicker, May 11]. McLane and other owners of sports franchises operate on a double standard. They ask us (the public) to treat the team as…
Press Picks
thursday june 15 Dueling Josephs Joseph shows up pretty early in the Bible (Genesis 30:24) and has only a coat of many colors (not to mention some fairly jealous brothers). He of the boss threads runs around interpreting dreams and saying cryptic things such as “we were binding sheaves in…
A Pizza Puzzle
I knew better than to start writing my review of The Strand Brewery after a single visit. But the roasted garlic pizza at George Mitchell’s new Galveston brewpub made me lose my head. The glazed, velvety toes of garlic came on like an exalted form of candy; the salty bite…
Diner’s Notebook
Be Afraid: You almost don’t want to know what former governor Ann Richards has been up to lately. Not long ago, she and Hillary Rodham Clinton dropped in for dinner at Galileo, one of the best restaurants in Washington, D.C. It so happened that Roberto Donna, Galileo’s owner and chef,…
All the Colors of Jazz
The saxophone has been a longtime favorite of jazz musicians ever since the early days of great players such as Charlie “Bird” Parker, John Coltrane and Houston’s own Arnette Cobb. Some jazz lovers will even tell you that jazz just isn’t jazz unless it includes a sax. But there are…
The Future of Rock and Roll
The calendar says it’s 1995, but the vibe in rock and roll these days is decidedly mid-’70s. As the Jimmy Page/Robert Plant juggernaut makes its way across the land, we’re reminded that the biggest draws in last year’s fair-to-middling concert season were highly profitable treks by the likes of the…
Rotation
Crazykilledmingus steadyhead * faster Cadillacin Records You simply cannot listen to a track of steadyhead * faster — Crazykilledmingus’ third offering after an eponymous cassette and 1993’s CD Window — without noticing the band’s derivative reliance on the reverb baths and vocal inflections of Jane’s Addiction. It’s a problem –…