Goode Comfort
Forgive me my skittishness. Disappointment has ambushed me from behind too many familiar restaurant doors of late. Indeed, those who read this column with any regularity (hi, Mom!) know that I have grown tiresome on the subject of the second law of thermodynamics and its dire effect on treasured eating…
Family Feud
If we have two, or three, or four, or five disgruntled writers,” says Dr. Nicolas Kanellos, head of the nonprofit Arte Pblico Press at the University of Houston, “we’re batting a lot better than most presses.” Kanellos may be right on that point: writing, of course, is a commodity like…
Female Trouble
The absence of good movie roles for women has been bemoaned in the press so many times over the past few years that film critics might as well store a prototype version of such an article in their hard drives and assign it a function key. Clearly, the solution doesn’t…
Jazz Notes
It’s hard to imagine a more mismanaged photo session than the one that took place in New York City in 1958. The upstart graphics editor at Esquire — a relative pup named Robert Benton, who would later sink his teeth into such films as Kramer vs. Kramer — was hoping…
Trey and Mantis
At one point in Mantis, a video project by Houston Ballet Choreographic Associate Trey McIntyre that’s receiving its official debut this week, a character named Titus stares intently at his pet, a praying mantis, as it stalks across its cage. It’s not the only thing that Titus stares intently at…
Dead in the water
Early on a recent June morning, C.L. Standley stood on the deck of his 45-foot-long trawler, the Captain Clyde, and waited expectantly as his deck hand dumped out the contents of a small “try” net for his inspection. To the west, the moon was setting above Dickinson Bayou; west beyond…
Dead in the water
Early on a recent June morning, C.L. Standley stood on the deck of his 45-foot-long trawler, the Captain Clyde, and waited expectantly as his deck hand dumped out the contents of a small “try” net for his inspection. To the west, the moon was setting above Dickinson Bayou; west beyond…
Echo Chamber
Talk radio is professional wrestling without the physical exertion: there’s mock conflict that occasionally and accidentally turns real, easily recognizable good guys and bad guys (Clinton: Booooo!) and a whole lot of volume that somehow always subsides in time for a reassuring commercial break. Unlike professional wrestling, though, talk radio…
The Insider
Little Mac Attack Everywhere the world champion Rockets went, Jim “Mattress Mac” McIngvale was sure to go, as long as there were cameras around. Now, in a different sort of court action, McIngvale is embroiled in a lawsuit against his Gallery Furniture operation filed by former employee Richard Galls, who…
Letters
Bob the Needy Thank you for an accurate article on Bob Lanier [“In Bob We Trust,” by Brian Wallstin, June 1] and the do-nothing-except-say-yes City Council. I voted for Lanier and also for Councilman Joe Roach; needless to say I will not make the same mistake twice. You correctly identified…
Press Picks
thursday june 29 Texas Music Festival Four weeks of feverish, yet fun, study by earnest young professionals and advanced students of music wraps up tonight with a gala concert for the public. The sixth annual Immanual and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival Orchestra closes with a free concert. Ned Battista…
Diner’s Notebook
A moment of silence, please. That slew of Empire Baking Company mailers that slid through Houston mail slots last week made reference to “Real Breakfast … Hot Lunch … Cool Dinner.” But don’t get so excited by the allusions to beef tenderloin in coarse-grain mustard sauce or shallot smashed potatoes…
Critic’s Choice
At times, one must admit, when you’re trying to decide exactly where and how to waste what little available wastable time you have, and what little available wastable income, quality isn’t always the most important factor. Weirdness, instead, may be. After all, the idea is to find something memorable, and…
Full Nelson
In 1978, Newsweek devoted a giant spread to Willie Nelson — “The King of Country Music,” as the headline heralded in huge type. The story celebrated the singer/songwriter’s “good life” — days spent hanging out with celebrities and new-found pals such as then-president Jimmy Carter, nights spent smoking pot and…
Tailless and Grotesque
Two years ago last March, on the boulevard of broken dreams that is every Austin thoroughfare during the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference, Austin’s own Sincola rose above the hoopla — on the strength of a distinctive talent and an enthusiastic hometown press — to grab the brass…
Sound Check
What makes a singer a jazz singer is hard to define. But one thing is sure: it definitely goes beyond just performing standards. The ability to sing jazz also involves stepping away from the formulaic confines of most of today’s pop and R&B music. According to the late, great Carmen…