The Burial and Resurrection (maybe) of Doug Sanders
Doug Sanders is angry. Well, actually, Doug Sanders is furious. The legendary professional golfer, a man who has been part of Houston’s celebrity scene for decades, a well-known schmoozer with anyone who might be considered part of the high and mighty, a man known for the care he takes with…
Passing the Budget Buck
In a normal world, politicians and public service bureaucrats would be crawling over each other trying to claim ownership of an idea that — at least for now — avoids a tax increase and yet delivers expanded governmental goods and services. Why, then, is there such reluctance among area politicians…
Letters
Don’t Toy with Me, Bird Lover I haven’t ridden a bike in 20 years, but “Panic in Memorial Park” by Steve McVicker [News, May 19] has encouraged my 40-plus bones to mount up. I’ll be riding my 30-year-old (big tire) bike painted Army green. Anyone carrying binoculars could be a…
Press Picks
thursday june 16 SIRE Self-Improvement through Riding Education is a nonprofit group that gives mentally and physically challenged children the chance to rise above ordinary mortals and go riding merrily along, on horseback. The group’s second annual “Run for the Roses” fundraiser features country and western dancing so guests can…
Louisiana Lunch
Talk about sleepers. Every weekday noon, bargain takeout lunches that would do credit to a Lafayette home kitchen can be had in the warehouse limbo northwest of Loop 610 and the Katy Freeway. From a tiny storefront just off North Post Oak, Louisiana Foods — the seafood wholesaler run by…
Hong Kong Calling
All points bulletin: Houstonians who care about Chinese food should put the Imperial Palace at the top of their restaurant rotation list. Midday trays and trolleys piled with the city’s classiest dim sum are just part of the lure at this huge, well-mannered establishment in western suburbia’s lively New Chinatown…
Beck’s Prime
Poor Beck. He ain’t no genius, as evidenced by the fact that everything after the first three songs of his debut, Mellow Gold, trails off into some sleepy-fidget nightmare where you couldn’t remember a hook if Tom Petty held a gun to your head. And no matter what The Single…
Rotation
Sonic Youth Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star DGC Sonic Youth isn’t the original punk band, but they’ve struggled like dogs to take credit, and you can hear the battle continue here. Punk’s not about being young anymore (else where would this thirty-plus crew be?), and it’s not about…
Heaven’s Gatemouth
The Juneteenth Blues Festival commenced last weekend in tribute to the late great Albert Collins, and while there was simply too much fine music to catch it all — I mean, it’s just one of the largest free blues festivals in the free world — I was lucky enough to…
Good Vibes
Mid-afternoon, Houston jazz vibraphonist Harry Sheppard is darting around in an empty corner of the River Cafe, lugging small amplifiers and unpacking his custom-built instrument for another of his regular Tuesday night solo gigs at the swank Montrose eatery. Although Sheppard’s got the short, curly, white hair of a 66-year-old,…
A Night at the Opera
Phantom of the Opera arrives at Jones Hall, via the NationsBank Houston Broadway Series, with inescapable hype. Andrew Lloyd Webber, hit composer of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and the ubiquitous Cats, wrote the music and co-wrote the book. Harold Prince, winner of 16 Tony…
A Shudder of the Soul
The Mexican horror film may well have been the spiritual ancestor of the Halloween and Jason splatter movies of the ’70s and early ’80s. The Mexican movies of the 1960s generally thrived on the same sensationalism and cheap, gory effects that produce more yucks than shudders. In fact, the Mexican…
Surfing Safari
If you know what “gank” means, you’re the target audience for Bruce Brown’s The Endless Summer II. As its title suggests, this movie is a sequel to The Endless Summer, Brown’s modest 1964 film celebrating the then-cult phenomenon of surfing. The original, produced for $50,000 with a single wind-up 16-millimeter…