Capsule Reviews
“Deep Wells and Reflecting Pools” David McGee combed through the Menil’s vast holdings, seeking to create a dialogue between selected works. He chose ancient to modern art and objects related to people of African descent — everything from a fifth-century BC Greek vessel to a certificate from a slave auction…
The White Stripes
“Blue Orchid” is a scam. The White Stripes’ first single from Get Behind Me Satan has fooled thousands of radio listeners with fuzzed-out guitar, falsetto vocals and big banging drums, and anybody who buys the duo’s fifth album expecting another guitar-loaded affair is in for a grand piano-size surprise. Singer…
Dream Child
Robert Rodriguez just keeps cranking ’em out. This hasn’t always been a good thing. Spy Kids 2 and 3 felt rushed in a way that the first one didn’t, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico looked cheap compared to its cinematic predecessor, Desperado. But the more Rodriguez keeps at…
The Fix Is In
It wasn’t all because of Tommy Mae Flakes Ames’s colostomy bag — which jailers routinely refused to allow her to clean. It wasn’t only the shit and blood found on cell bars, mattresses, floors and ceilings. Or the beatings, the cockroaches and obvious fire hazards. But the civil rights case…
Coldplay
In the past, U2’s and Radiohead’s declarative anthems had been the most obvious benchmarks for Coldplay’s grand makeout music, but with X&Y, the band aims for an interstellar majesty that plays like a warmer, less intellectual Pink Floyd. Chris Martin and his mates again display an ingratiating accessibility, building their…
Cat Got Your Tongue?
When catfish is prepared just right — crispy on the outside, moist and juicy on the inside, with no swampy taste or hint of grease — there’s nothing quite like it. The catfish at Soul on the Bayeaux (3717 Dowling, 713-528-0732) is an example of perfection. First, the fillets are…
The Usual Suspect
As if it weren’t hard enough just being a black man among the trailer parks and suburbs ringing Lake Houston, Eddie Nyuke had the nerve to try it with a funny accent. It cost the South African refugee a week in jail, more than a thousand dollars in attorney’s fees…
Gorillaz
Here’s a recipe for disaster: Hide a diverse bunch of well-known musicians (and one comic-book illustrator) behind a goofy cartoon facade while they produce slightly schizophrenic pop. A hokey concept, yes, but against all odds, the Gorillaz’ debut was a superb hodgepodge of breakbeats, indie pop and garage rock. Even…
Psychedelic Peppercorns
A Sichuan peppercorn looks something like a clove. There’s a tiny brown berry on top of four points and a stubby stem. My tablemates and I are eager to see what the rare spice tastes like all by itself, so we fish a few peppercorns out of the kung pao…
On Their Backs
Houston’s suburbs have always been somewhat strange, since the city tends to annex anything that gets too big and prosperous. But as growth continues farther outward, the suburbs around here are becoming more like their counterparts elsewhere — especially when it comes to whoring themselves out to relocating corporations. Take…
Colleen
I was getting ready to play the new Colleen album for my friend and blathering on about how delicate and breathtaking her first album, Everyone Alive Wants Answers, was. Then I put on The Golden Morning Breaks and he said, “It’s nice. It’s like indie New Age music.” And goddamn…
Letters
Capital Ideas Poorly executed: Wow! Are you printing freshman comp exercises from HCC now? That was the weakest thing I have ever read in your rag [“No Pain, No Gain,” by Richard Connelly, May 26]. Kevin Wahl Houston Life-or-death lottery: I am not a fan of the death penalty, but…
Family Show
The 600-year-old Japanese tradition called Noh is virtually unknown stateside. In fact, until recently, the classical theatrical form was practically extinct in its native land. But thanks to the tireless energy of some dedicated artists, Noh is making a comeback. This Friday and Saturday, the Japan Expo Foundation will present…
Of Montreal, Tilly and the Wall, with Spain Colored Orange
The late, lamented pre-Stepfordization Sassy magazine used to sound its “Cute Band Alert” whenever it encountered talented musicians who were also adorable. More than any other active group, Omaha’s Tilly and the Wall would have deserved Sassy’s virtual unicorn-shaped rubber stamp of approval. Everything about this quintet is aw-inspiring, from…
This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks
Thursday, June 9 Who says highbrow intellectuals and other namby-pamby types have a lock on “culture”? Okay, make that “kulture,” as swarms of hot-rodders, chopper-builders and tattoo artists converge on the convention center at the Park Plaza Hotel for the Live Fast: Kustom Kulture Show. The event is an ode…
Louis XIV, with Morgue City
“Derivative” is such a harsh word. You don’t hear amusement-park critics running around every day accusing the new roller coaster of lacking originality. Okay, as far as I know there’s no such thing as an amusement-park critic, but still, when it comes to thrill rides, as long as your stomach…
I, Ching
“I’m the doctor of ching,” raps Portland’s wackest MC, Roger Nusic, who’ll be performing at Sound Exchange this Friday. The relationship between ching and bling in Nusic’s private universe seems to be something like a Northwestern equivalent to the Far Eastern yin and yang. For those out of the Nusic…
Killith Fair: M.O.D., with Crisis and Jacknife
Take one look at a picture of M.O.D. leader Billy Milano, whose band headlines the Killith Fair tour, and you get an immediate impression of what the guy is all about. He’s a big guy, scraggly and rough around the edges, and that cigar only makes him look like a…
Suburban Outfitters
Suburbia’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Sure, it can be a relief to escape the noise and crowding of the city, but what of the sacrifices made in the name of all that tranquillity? For the “Fashioning Arcadia” exhibit at Gallery 1724, clothing designer Mary Slokar and photographer…
Planes Mistaken for Stars, with the Ronin King, Bullet Train to Vegas and Sharks and Sailors
From all accounts, Denver-based screamo/ hardcore foursome Planes Mistaken for Stars flat-out leveled stages on last year’s politically charged Plea for Peace tour, stealing the thunder from headliners Cursive with jackknifing Mack-truck riffs and gone-haywire howls. And their dirtbag, anti-emo pretty-boy looks (they’ve been referred to as “an entire group…
Pigskin Science
With another Houston summer approaching, the most desperate are once again moving those flesh-exposing, net-mesh tank tops to the front of the closet. But maybe you’re over that belly-showin’, tanline-revealing tank. You could go with the tried-and-true mesh football jersey look. From the beaches to the malls, folks are rockin’…
Problems at Home
The consequences of marital discord in Mr. & Mrs. Smith go way beyond sleeping on the couch or maintaining icy silence at the breakfast table. Thanks to a cartoonish premise by British screenwriter Simon Kinberg — and the dictates of the summer-movie marketplace — the battling Smiths of the title…
Legendary Beats
SAT 6/11 Every musical genre has its legend: Rap has Grandmaster Flash, punk has Joey Ramone, jazz has Charlie Parker…the list goes on. Despite being a young genre in the musical spectrum (it’s barely 20 years old), drum ‘n’ bass has legends of its own, like Dieselboy, DJ Dara and…
Quelle Horreur!
About a year ago, buzz started building among horror fans about a French slasher movie titled Haute Tension, about two girls who go to a country house and get terrorized by a maniac in workman’s coveralls. It had been well received in Europe, and horror geeks with Web sites here…
Forecast: Reign
FRI 6/10 Last August, as Prince shook his majestically purple thing at the Toyota Center during his Musicology Tour, Shawna Forney had an epiphany. “I realized how he created a whole genre of music, and how many incredible songs are on the Purple Rain album,” says the DiverseWorks staffer. “We…
Bad Education
Before there was School of Rock, the 2003 movie in which Jack Black awakened a class of subdued elementary school kids with lessons in America’s loudest subject, there was rock school. Students of the Paul Green School of Rock Music in Philadelphia have been worshiping at rock’s altar — and…
When Wild Musicians Attack!
Look out, Houston! Ryan Adams is on his way to town. The troubled troubadour is slated to play the Verizon Wireless Theater on June 15, and early reports of his current tour say that his antics are still up to his Replacements-like standard: disaster one night, sublime wonder the next…
Ball Busters
As everyone knows, home-run king Barry Bonds is a lovable fellow — considerate of teammates and fans, courteous to reporters, invariably modest and selfless. So why in the world would the San Francisco Giants slugger choose to sabotage the efforts of a hardworking, badly paid documentary filmmaker before the guy…
Fookin’-A
, at the
Songs of Himself
In 1975, Edward Kleban was riding high. As the lyricist for a huge Broadway bonanza — a little show about dancers called A Chorus Line — he was the toast of the Great White Way. That year Kleban won a whole slew of awards, including a Tony and a Pulitzer,…
Angular Acid-Glam Gorecore?
So I’m looking through the 288 local bands in the virtual community of Myspace.com, and a couple of things hit me. The first is that there is quite simply a mind-boggling amount of music out there. Probably most of the local bands I’ve heard of don’t even have Myspace pages,…
Capsule Reviews
Done to Death Vermont playwright Fred Carmichael’s 30-plus light romances and murder comedies have been a boon to regional theaters, and his works and patronage have been instrumental in the reputation and success of that state’s Dorset Theatre Playhouse. If you’re acquainted with one of his most performed plays, thanks…
You’re Fired
I’m busted. Not ten minutes into a trip to Boys and Girls Club, the newishly relocated smash hump-day DJ night, I’m spotted jotting down observations in my trusty trade-tool notebook. “What’s the notebook for?” a young, inebriated girl wants to know. My brain slowed by booze, wit temporarily eludes me…
Under “Eyes”
Through June 11 at FotoFest at Vine Street Studios, 1113 Vine Street, 713-223-5522.