Spring Training: Itching for Pitching
Richard Justice has given up on Woody Williams. And if Justice has given up on Woody, then the team has given up on Woody. Justice tells us that the team’s convinced that the pitching staff is the key to last place in the National League Central, and that they’re looking…
Reverberations: The Rippers, Thee Exciters and Brimstone Howl
Last week’s Reverberations was eaten by the beast that was SXSW 2008. Which is a bummer, since I saw the Rippers play a fearsome set at the Mink on Saturday and very few of you were there. I know this because, until Uptown Bums – who played immediately before the…
The Shaft: Red Bull’s “Art of Can”
I don’t remember when or where this happened exactly, but once upon a time I got in a conversation with a gay gentlemen who kept going on and on about his ex-boyfriend’s penis. He kept calling his ex “the guy with the two Red Bull can cock.” I consider my…
Aeros Face Off Tonight Against the Quad City Flames. Bikinis Still to Come.
Another contender for Miss Aero While they’re not sexy like the Rockets, the Houston Aeros return to the ice tonight at 7:05 for another game with the Quad City Flames. The Flames defeated the Aeros 4-2 on Monday night, and while the Aeros are just hanging onto the final spot…
Rockets-Celtics: Requiem for a Streak
Stifling defense. Beautiful ball movement. Timely production from the bench. Passion. Relentlessness. Hustle. Heart. For 22 glorious games, the Houston Rockets incorporated each of those elements into a magical mixture, resulting in the second-longest winning streak in NBA history. Whatever they may have lacked in the talent department, they more…
Last Week: Jason Webley at Notsuoh
Jason Webley Notsuoh Wednesday, March 12 Better Than: Standing in line at SXSW Download: Free mp3s on Jason Webley’s Web site “Tomatoes are nice… Actually, I don’t eat a lot of tomatoes. I drive a tomato.” Or, more accurately, a red Corolla with the word “Toyota” broken and reshaped into…
NCAA Tournament: Forget Mount St. Mary’s and Coppin State; Villanova and Kentucky Need to Slug It Out
I come before you with a modest proposal. A modest proposal regarding the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The NCAA is playing the play-in game tonight in Dayton, Ohio. This game is between two teams from minor conferences, and they’re playing for the right to lose to North Carolina on Thursday…
Aeros Go the Way of the Zamboni. Bikinis Still to Come.
Another contender for Miss Aero I sometimes think those of us in the sports biz go with the metaphor too quickly, too often, and too lazily. But damn it, if the Zamboni breaking down on the ice between the first and second period isn’t the perfect metaphor for describing last…
$13 at Zake Sushi Lounge
Where: Zake Sushi Lounge, 2946 S. Shepherd, 713-526-6888 What $13 gets you: A surprisingly generous portion of fresh, delicious Japanese cuisine in a swank, luxurious setting. Good sushi for $13? Impossible, right? I thought so, too, until I recently wandered into Zake Sushi Lounge, which is set in that same…
Secret Crimes of the Characters from “Gilligan’s Island”
How could you have missed this one, right? We recently learned that Dawn Wells, who played television’s original girl next door as Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island,” is serving six months probation for being caught with a little weed in her car. Our pig-tailed Miss Sunshine gave some pretty hilarious…
John Royal’s NCAA Picks
It’s time to make a public fool of myself again, so I’ve decided to share my picks for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament – and knowing how I am with picks, someone out there should probably be on their way to out Vegas to place some bets. First, a few…
Death on the Highway
The Chronicle’s front-page story on Sunday about pedestrian fatalities offered few great insights – except that sometimes people walking along Houston’s highways and access roads get hit by cars and die, and that the people who accidentally hit and kill them tend to feel not-so-great about it later…
Aeros Win. Bikinis to Come.
The reigning Miss Aero The 6,566 fans at Toyota Center were just settling into the seats Saturday night when the Houston Aeros supposedly scored a goal three seconds into the game against the Rockford IceHogs. And the goal was scored by a line brand new to the team, a line…
Monotonix Rules South By Southwest 2008
As everybody knows, South By Southwest has gotten huge. Overwhelmingly so, if you let it. Every hour, from about noon to two a.m., across a swath of Austin from Cicon in the East Side barrio through downtown and then way down South Congress, there are probably several hundred bands playing…
Bushmills 1608 for St. Paddy’s Day
Another St Patrick’s Day shopping suggestion: Bushmills 1608 super-premium Irish whiskey is a bargain at only $100 a bottle. If Jameson’s Rarest Vintage Reserve was a little too rich for your blood at $250 a bottle, how about Bushmills 1608, another super-premium Irish whiskey at less than half that price?…
Over the Weekend: SXSW, Rockets and Fishnet
What a day. What a day. It’s St. Patrick’s Day. It’s the morning after South by Southwest. And the Rockets, oh, man, the Rockets… South by Southwest Where to begin? We covered the #*$*&% out of the annual Austin music festival. Blog posts galore, with things overheard and a guy…
Batman Forever: Battier Gets His Due
Maybe people will start noticing now. Shane Battier doesn’t put up big numbers. He doesn’t show up on highlight reels with nasty dunks. He’s been called everything from a glue guy, to Mr. Intangibles. But he’s so much more than that. Battier is a sensational defensive player. And after spending…
Rockets-Lakers: McGrady and the Miracles
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. For years the Toyota Center has been little more than a sterile, sleepy home for Rockets basketball. Like so many arenas and stadiums across the country, the game too often plays second fiddle to corporate schmoozing. The suits arrive late and leave early. But this Sunday, Sleeping…
SXSW: Fourteen Bands in Eight Hours
As I set out Saturday night for the last of this year’s SXSW, little was set in stone. My assigned bands were at venues unlikely to be merciful to rock journo trash with only a wristband adorning his arm. Meaning that this night would be one of grazing the land,…
SXSW: Ending on a High Note with Darondo
If I could only make it through the night in one piece, they swore they’d give me my papers and finally ship me home. So after refueling at an East Austin Mexican spot and something we’ll only refer to as the Taco Incident of 2008, I jumped into the back…
SXSW: White Shoes and The Couples Company
Entering The Habana Annex on 6th, I could have as well been traveling back to a cruise ship in the 70s thanks to White Shoes and The Couples Company. Clad in matching attire, the Indonesian outfit looked like it stepped straight out of a scene from The Love Boat and…
A Sojourn in the Enchanted Forest
So my dad hooked up with his network of old hippie buddies, and Armadillo World Headquarters poster artist Jim Franklin turned him on to this place called The Enchanted Forest. Dad went over there on Wednesday night and was thunderstruck by it. So much so that he difficulty explaining what…
SXSW: Flatstock in photos
The American Poster Institute’s Flatstock show sets up shop at the Austin Convention Center each year during South by Southwest. Photographer Mark C. Austin went shopping, and came back with this slideshow, just for you…
SXSW Foto File: Saturday in South Austin
Forgive me, but I’m currently mentally and physically unable to write anything longer than a photo caption. So today I headed south of the river to a couple of parties far from the SXSW madding crowd… Welcome to South Austin, y’all. Your entertainment for this afternoon. And entertaining it was…
SXSW: Spank Rock at Levi’s/Fader Fort
I’ve seen so many conversion vans driving around Austin this week, I’m starting to wonder if there’s a child molester convention going on. Things are getting pretty hectic around here and it’s seriously starting to take its toll on me and everyone else. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve not…
SXSW Photos: The Rachel Ray Party
Mojitos are proof that God loves the hungover and the weary. She was totally not into me taking her picture. Especially after like the sixteenth one. I feel I may have been crossing a line…
Overheard at SXSW
“He’s stick a dynamite in her booty ho. I think he’s a pedophile, he probably pees on her, too.” “Whoa, the smell is intoxicating.” “That’s a stance that may get more kids on Barack’s side.” “You almost poked him right in the eye.” “We are so broken up right now.”…
SXSW: Black Diamond Heavies at Fado’s Patio
Last night at Fado’s Patio, I caught Louisville’s Black Diamond Heavies. Saying “caught” sounds like I sat at an intimate show and quietly took notes. This wasn’t one of the shows. This was a trip into the heart of the Dirty South. And not the South of the medicated syrup…
MP3: The Soundtrack of Our Lives Play New Songs at SXSW
Recorded live at the Village Voice Media Party at Zona Rosa, this clip offers an exclusive chance to hear new material from the band…
Dude, is that…Will Ferrell, Billy Joel and Seth Rogan at SXSW?
No, but with everyone bird dogging celebs, these three dudes were turning mad heads. Granted, the Will Ferrel guy was playing it to the max…
SXSW: Carbon/Silicon, Ting Tings, Santogold, MGMT, The Cribs, White Rabbits, Supersuckers and Robyn
Is it Sunday yet? My lungs are killing me, my feet are simply not speaking to me and if I never have to deal with wireless Internet again it’ll be too soon. You guessed it, I’m ready to go home. Frankly, this all-everything-all-the-time mentality that serves as SXSW’s power plant…
It’s 3:30 a.m., Do You Know Where Your Cock Sock Is?
What were you doing at 3:30 this morning? Yeah, so anyway — I was under the Lamar Street Bridge watching a guy in a cock sock play some kick ass punk rock. That’s right: Mr. Free and the Satellite Freakout gave me the best answer to the standard SXSW question:…
SXSW: The Homosexuals at Spiros
Jesus I’m glad I saw the Homosexuals yesterday. For starters, people have been asking me for weeks now who I was the most excited to see perform at this year’s SXSW. I’ve repeatedly answered this question simply: the Homosexuals. Now to some people that statement made me sound just a…
SXSW Ephemera, Part Deux: More Random Notes from the Field
If you’re trying to drum up support for PETA, you could do a lot worse than a chicken suit. Curious why music still matters? This anecdote from Dallas-based Sony rep Jason Miller should put those nagging questions to bed for good. Seems Miller went to the Austin Music Hall Wednesday…
MP3: Trail of Dead Debut New Song at SXSW
Be sure to listen through to song two from…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. Recorded live at the Village Voice Media party at Zona Rosa…
SXSW: Lessons Learned from Drenched in Blog’s Craig Hlavaty
SXSW 101 1. If you see an unattended gate, just through it. What are they gonna do, kill you? “How dare you see my shitty band for free!” (Sorry Hugh Hefner) 2. If you think that someone you see on the street is famous, theres a 50/50 chance they are…
SXSW: Stomping my feet to British Sea Power
The Village Voice Media party gave me plenty of reasons to stick around La Zona Reasons (i.e. free drinks, free food and The Black Keys) but I finally headed out to see British Sea Power at Mohawk. The sound check seemed to take forever, especially after more than a few…
SXSW: Tomorrow’s It Band: the Virgins
Everything moves so fast at SXSW. Last night’s new “it” band is no longer “it” by today. That’s why I went through every band without an album out, who was playing SXSW, and checked out their demos on Myspace ahead of time. It’s my shameless attempt to be hipper than…
MP3: Black Keys Play Captain Beefheart at SXSW
While we were live-blogging the Village Voice Media Party, we got some choice audio of the Black Keys playing Captain Beefheart. Here it is again, for those who lost it in the mix…
Woody Williams Stats Not So Solid
I hate to keep coming back to the Woody Williams issue, but I can’t take it anymore. I’ve had enough. No matter how many times I say that Woody’s years in San Diego have to be discounted because of the ballpark, someone always goes with the “he had solid seasons…
Houston Aeros: A Very Ugly Game
The Houston Aeros marketing slogan for this year is “Get To Know The Game.” If you were one of the 3,556 in attendance at Toyota Center last night, the Aeros 4-0 loss to the Rockford IceHogs was not the type of game that you actually want to get to know…
SXSW: Health, The Cribs, The Black Keys, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead
…Trail of Dead 5:04 p.m. Time to kick everyone out. We’ll have more photos over here in a bit. 4:45 p.m. Chris Gray sitting in for a bit. Trail of Dead just finished “Caterwaul,” which I always thought sounded like “Immigrant Song” plus When In Rome’s “The Promise” (which is…
SXSW Last Night: Coconut Coolouts, Black Angels, Young Mammals, Tontons, Studemont Project
I think I set a new SXSW personal record yesterday. I managed to make it until almost the stroke of 5 p.m. without seeing any music. True, there was our company’s two-and-a-half-hour music-editor meeting and then another couple hours of hotel-room blogging, but it just goes to show that even…
South By Scavenger Hunt
I might not have seen Moby or Lou Reed or any other notables, but if I were on a scavenger hunt I think I’d be winning. So far at South By I’ve seen:…
SXSW: Iglu and Hartly, How’s Your News?, Boyz Noize and Hanson
My first full evening at SXSW started off by stumbling to the Cedar Door on Brazos, full of TGI Friday’s cheap ass margaritas and the hope that I would see the band Wheatus. Yeah, remember “Teenage Dirtbag”? Those guys are still out there plugging away at whatever dull hope the…
SXSW: Lou Reed. Live. For One Song. Lou Freakin’ Reed.
Every damn year, the people who put on SXSW play the same old game. For some reason, there always seems to be a certain amazing musician in town to give a lecture, screen a film or do something else all together that doesn’t involve them performing live. The game is…
SXSW: The Weakerthans, Something Fierce and Nosapris
“The line for badges starts right here,” said a bouncer and I happily planted myself right in front of his down-turned fingertip. “Dude, it’s packed. They’re not going to let anyone in,” chimed a doubtful by stander. Score! He was wrong. Within seconds Lunchbox and I were holding up our…
Trombone Shorty and Glen David Andrews at Fado
Trombone Shorty and Glen David Andrews are two of the multitude of grandchildren of New Orleans R&B legend Jesse “Ooh Poo Pa Doo” Hill, and they performed back to back at Fado, an Irish pub a little west of Congress. Trombone Shorty’s set was packed, and his sprawling funk jams…
You Know What I Don’t Understand? Andy Rooney
Miss Pop Rocks doesn’t understand a lot, she’ll be the first to admit. But tonight, on her blog, she’ll let you know about something she really doesn’t understand. Andy Rooney. (Now imagine my voice, all whiny like, punctuated by strange pauses. Okay, now read on.) You know what I don’t…
SXSW Extra: What’s In My Pockets (Again)?
Next year I think I might get some of those “cargo pants” everybody seems to love… Another full day and some equally full pants. (Shut up.) Here we go again… * Handbill, the band One-Eyed Doll, appearing at “Texas Rockfest” tomorrow at the Rock City Icehouse Stage in far North…
SXSW: The Weakerthans at Cedar Street
Dusti Rhodes will have a full report later, but here’s some quick audio: — Keith Plocek…
WHY?, The Black and a nice surprise back at the hotel
Things started off on a bad note today (Get it? Music festival… notes… bad… nevermind) thanks to an ’80s hair band I think was called Mella’s Mattice. It was hard to make out the name, as I was too busy trying to chug a free beer and get the hell…
SXSW Street Art
Austin is covered in flyers and bills this week. Cops and cleaners come by every morning and tear down all the crap from the walls and light poles, and street teamers roll back by in the afternoon and put the stuff back up. But this week is also a chance…
Crap, Did I Peak Too Early?
So about a week ago, former Press columnist and Fatal Flying Guilloteens guitarist Brian McManus tipped me off about a band called Monotonix. “They’re like the Israeli Gogol Bordello” were his exact words. Sounded pretty good to me. So we headed into deep east Austin to go catch ’em this…
Random pics from the streets of SXSW
“I missed Motorhead and all I got was this lousy weird-ass iron claw.” This guy came up to me and asked me when Napalm Death played. Do I look like I like Napalm Death? (Sorta):…
SXSW: Moby on Sixth Street
So we’re walking down Sixth when Craig Hlavaty says, “Hey, there’s Moby.” Real funny, I think, expecting to see some random dude with a shaved head and fat glasses. After all, it’s not like the guy has a real original look. Hell, I look like Moby. But it was the…
SXSW: The Line for Vampire Weekend at the Parish…
…is really long. — Keith Plocek…
SXSW Ephemera: Random Notes from the Field
Can’t find a hotel room? Maybe these people will let you crash on their bus in front of Emo’s. Let’s dish about Lou Reed for a minute. He didn’t show up to join Roky Erickson and Okkervil River at the Austin Music Awards last night, as was rumored, because apparently…
SXSW Last Night: Houston Hijacks the Austin Music Awards
Ladies and gentlemen… the Judy’s! Since the ‘60s (at least), the Houston and Austin music scenes have had a thorny relationship too complicated to go into here, but in basic terms, Houston has traditionally provided the raw material and Austin the refinement. But Wednesday at the Austin Music Awards, the…
Spring Training: Time to Give Up the Woody Williams Experiment
Last week, the Astros and various members of the Houston media were telling me that spring stats didn’t count. That the pitchers were just throwing certain pitches and throwing to certain spots. Even after he got beat up last week, Woody Williams said he was happy with his performance, because…
Kaki King does NOT live up to the Hungarian translation of her name
Kaki King lived up to all expectations. The pint-sized songstress and her band led the audience through a live set Wednesday night that was as flawless as their recordings. Live versions of King’s latest hits “Pull Me Out Alive” and “2 O’clock” rang as beautifully through the PAs at Club…
Overheard at SXSW
“I feel like I’m at Lollapalooza or something.” “I looked up and there were all these pirates.” “Hey, we’re from Seattle. Where are the whores at?” “I’ve always just called it ‘Death Metal Pizza.'” “Oh good. A banjo.” — Keith Plocek…
Rockets-Hawks: Where 20 in a Row Happens
We’ve seen these Rockets before. Stagnant movement on offense. Poorly improvised plays with the shot clock winding down. Far too many desperate jump shots. And when the Rockets actually did attack the rim they were often victimized by their own atrocious free throw shooting. Add it all up and you’ve…
Cover Story: The Judy’s Come Back
In honor of Chris Gray’s feature on the return of The Judy’s, we rounded up some greatest hits from YouTube. Just like with any other search of that site, we found the good, the bad and the fairly weird. We’ll start things off with “Guyana Punch,” the 15th greatest Houston…
SXSW: Percee P at Habana Annex Backyard
Attending hip hop shows can be a real drag, no matter if it’s SXSW or not. You got the over zealous DJ warming up the stage, playing the standards. You have the hype men, who come out and attempt to work up the crowd with the same old call and…
Sommore
Comedian Sommore says she loves all men, even if they aren’t, um, well-endowed. “But if the dick ain’t big, don’t talk with a big-dick voice,” the comedian says in one of her bits. She explains how a man who is packin’ can demand to know why she’s been out all…
In Spite of Everything
The three Bay Area spoken word artists known as the Suicide Kings aren’t afraid to tackle difficult subjects: The Kings’ new production of In Spite of Everything takes on school shooters. Jamie DeWolf (who’s in the Kings with Rupert Estanislao and Geoff Trenchard) tells us the premise for Everything: “The…
Gutenberg! The Musical
Who’d have thought that a musical about the inventor of the printing press could become such a hit? But that’s exactly what’s happened with Anthony King and Scott Brown’s comic song-fest Gutenberg! The Musical! The show’s about two guys named Bud and Doug, aspiring writers who’ve put together a backer’s…
Houston’s St. Patrick’s Day Guide
Houston’s got more than cowboys and refineries — we’re also proud of our imported Irish roots. Our annual St. Paddy’s Day parade has been going strong for almost 50 years, and we’ve downed more glasses of green beer than you can count. Go ahead, kiss us: We’re Irish! So in…
“Darfur: How Photojournalists Respond”
The term “must-see” is typically used to describe something enjoyable. But it’s also the only word to describe the heart–wrenching world-premiere exhibit “Darfur: How Photojournalists Respond,” now on view at the Holocaust Museum Houston. Thirty photos from the eight photojournalists who participated in the book Darfur: Twenty Years of War…
Patti LaBelle
We can’t call her the queen of soul (Aretha Franklin gets her panties in a knot every time somebody else uses that title), but we can say Patti LaBelle is musical royalty. With dozens of CDs to her credit, both as a solo artist and as a member of the…
Tour de Houston
The Hardy Toll Road is free today — of cars, that is! It’s also free of charge if you’re on a bike and with the Tour de Houston. The ride, now in its fourth year, highlights different areas of Houston each time it rolls around. This year, the north side…
Sunburned Hand of the Man
Sunburned Hand of the Man will stop in Houston today fresh off a SXSW appearance with Thurston Moore. The band is a good companion for the Sonic Youth co-founder (too bad he’s not coming along to Houston), with droning, oddly timed rock ditties as intriguing as they are calming. Sunburned…
“Decking the Path to Blessedness”
Staring into Barry Stone’s “Decking the Path to Blessedness,” you’d think you were looking at galaxies created hundreds of years ago and millions of miles away, but actually they were made a couple of months ago in Austin. Stone’s six large monoliths, showing as part of the citywide FotoFest, feature…
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
Elvis Presley. Jimi Hendrix. Janis Joplin. It’s a well-known part of rock star lore that the FBI had files on all the big names of the ‘60s, so you might chalk up J. Edgar Hoover’s stack of binders on John Lennon to hippie-era paranoia. Think again, argues filmmaker David Leaf…
McGonigel’s Mucky Duck St. Patrick’s Day Celebration
It’s rare that you might call a St. Paddy’s party a “refined” affair, but relatively speaking, that’s the goings-on at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck St. Patrick’s Day Celebration. Don’t worry: There will be plenty of drinking, but the emphasis is on cultural history and Irish music. Emcee Jim Mackenzie will shepherd…
Tracy Daugherty and Lisa Lewis
Tracy Daugherty knows Houston is worth it. The author graduated from the University of Houston’s Creative Writing graduate program and has kept our city in his literary focus. In 2003, he published Axeman’s Jazz, a novel that explores the history of the city’s racial politics through the story of a…
Lisa M. Robinson
Winter may be departing, but it’s in full force today at the Houston Center for Photography, where Lisa M. Robinson is signing her recent monograph Snowbound. The book’s stark but beautiful images might be especially enchanting to Houstonians, who almost never see their outdoor spaces transformed by blankets of snow…
“Machine Learning”
Artist/curator Matthew Deleget saw current work by abstract artists Henry Brown, Douglas Melini, Gilbert Hsiao and Terry Haggerty, and something clicked. Although each of the four artists were working independently, Deleget saw a connection between their pattern-based work. He saw “Machine Learning,” the newest exhibit at Gallery Sonja Roesch, which…
Richard III
What can you expect at Baker Shakespeare’s production of Richard III? “You can expect an interesting take on a very old story,” says student director Katy Mulvaney. “And a few surprises. We have four different time periods intermixing: medieval, Renaissance, Victorian and modern-day. We also have a pit in the…
The Case of the Grinning Cat
The Rice Cinema Web site describes Chris Marker not as a director or a filmmaker but as a “cinema-essayist.” The description is a little pretentious — and spot-on. Marker, whose The Case of the Grinning Cat is screening today as part of the Tournées Festival of French Film, has used…
St. Patrick’s Day Festival
Griff’s Shenanigans, Houston’s oldest sports bar, is the unofficial headquarters of all things St. Paddy’s. In past celebrations, their five-day St. Patrick’s Day Festival included a lot of kilts, ten-foot-tall leprechauns and, inexplicably, a number of blow-up dolls. In addition to the drinking and ah, more drinking, there’s a golf…
Making Trouble
The documentary Making Trouble highlights the careers of six Jewish women who wanted to make jokes rather than be jokes. In the first half of the 20th century, entertainers loved to parody the stereotypical Jewish woman. She was loud, obnoxious and overbearing, and more importantly, she didn’t object to the…
Pasties
Olympia, Washington’s Pasties are sure to stick with fans of rock, ska, punk, country and fun. The eight-piece, indie-folk orchestra employs guitars, trumpets, banjos, mandolins, accordions and drums to create an undeniable country/folk sound that delves into punk territory thanks to unpolished vocals and a carefree, silly delivery. (Expect sing-a-longs…
“Designed by Architects”
To most people, a coffee pot is simply the first thing you reach for in the morning. But to others, it’s a functional object that could also be a piece of art. Margo Grant Walsh, curator of the exhibit “Designed by Architects: Metalworks from the Margo Grant Walsh Collection,” is…
A Boy and His Dog
A Boy and His Dog, screening today at the River Oaks Theatre, is a post-apocalyptic scenario that could have only come from self-proclaimed “most contentious person on earth” Harlan Ellison. For those of you who aren’t sci-fi geeks, Ellison is a writer extraordinaire. His résumé includes writing gigs for the…
L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love)
Who hasn’t done something wacky in the name of love? In Gaetano Donizetti’s popular two-act opera L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love), Nemorino is a poor peasant in love with the beautiful Adina. Unfortunately, Adina isn’t interested in Nemorino; she’s set on marrying the dashing Sergeant Belcore. Desperate to win…
Lisa Lampanelli
To the soccer moms who come to her shows expecting bits about dating and PMS, comedian Lisa Lampanelli says in a loud, northeast accent: “Shut up ya dirty twat, lick it.” Lampanelli might dress like a housewife, but her crude, often offensive sets have nothing wholesome about them. Often compared…
“Houston Cultura”
Chuy Benitez likes to mess with your mind. At the exhibit “Houston Cultura,” you’ll see how. Benitez took portraits of people representing local Hispanic culture, including community leader Macario Ramirez and singer Karina Nistal. “The portraits have a front view and a back view of the person in the same…
SXSW: The Judy’s at Austin Music Hall
Pearland new-wavers The Judy’s had their triumphant return on Wednesday night at the Austin Music Hall. We’ll have more on that later, but for now here’s some audio to tide you over……
SXSW: Mala Rodriguez at SESAC Day Stage Cafe
Maybe it’s the steady diet of the Geto Boys I was raised on, or maybe it’s that my Spanish is pretty shabby these days, and I don’t speak any other languages. But I’ve never been able to digest hip-hop in other languages very well. Even the phonetically appeasing French lyricist…
A Mexican Riddle
Dear Mexican, Mexicans are angry that the United States might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, stay indefinitely. Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these Mexicans. Let’s say I break into your house. Let’s say that…
The Judy’s Come Back
The Judy’s are rehearsing. Live. Right now. This fact alone should be enough to send a certain subspecies of Texas music aficionado — those who came of age in the late ’70s and early ’80s, when musicians fed up with rock’s bloated arena excess stripped it down into the sleek…
Nile
Everybody together now: “Anoint my phallus with the blood of the FALLEN!!” With that quaint lyric, South Carolina’s Nile officially takes cock-rock to an all-new level. Possible latent menstruation envy aside, you gotta give Nile leader Karl Sanders credit for sticking to his, uh, guns, because straight-ahead death metal with…
Breakfast Enchiladas at Mi Sombrero
Gooey cheese enchiladas topped with two fried eggs — that’s my favorite Tex-Mex breakfast. I usually have to beg the waiter to go ask the kitchen if they will make it. So I was delighted to see old-time “breakfast enchiladas” on the menu at Mi Sombrero, a vintage Tex-Mex eatery…
Black Mountain
Black Mountain is an anomaly among Canadian bands. For one thing, it has only five members, and they don’t play highfalutin chamber-pop that requires the assistance of at least two dozen instrumentalists onstage. You can practically smell the weed of inspiration burning throughout In the Future, the British Columbian band’s…
Pistolera
Brooklyn-based Pistolera describes its music as “latin alt-folklórico,” and sings entirely en español, but don’t let that be a barrier. This quartet is filled with the energy, excitement and attitude that can only come from the border. On debut album Siempre Hay Salida, Pistolera combines ranchera and cumbia with indie…
Tiny Boxwood’s Cafe, Voice at Hotel Icon and Cafe Zol
Tiny Boxwood’s Cafe (3614 W. Alabama) is one of the hottest cafes in town. Greg Thompson, one of the names behind Thompson and Hanson, the upscale nursery in the River Oaks area, explains how it came to be: “We had a piece of land on the property that was only…
Adam Levy
Adam Levy is a man of many talents. Representative of his work as Norah Jones’s guitarist, Levy’s 2007 album Washing Day lightly mixes folk, jazz, blues and pop into thoughtful, smart tunes that hit a sweet spot between James Taylor and Ryan Adams’s pensive side. Supporting Jones’s light pop may…
GUAVA LAMP’S FRENCH MARTINI
The ambience was dark and inviting when I entered The Guava Lamp (570 Waugh Drive, 713-524-3359), and the provocative music videos were a welcome change from the primaries and sports. The place was packed with partiers saying goodbye to one ecstatic dude moving on to San Francisco. Bartender Mikey displayed…
Bayousphere
For someone being passed overhead to one of the political world’s biggest superstars, this is one bored-looking baby. But maybe he’s a superdelegate, wary of making an Obama commitment this early in the game, when there are still promises of toy xylophones and Lunchables to be extracted by a wily…
Cryptacize
Nobody familiar with Chris Cohen’s harried guitar tactics from his Deerhoof days, or his brick-by-brick deconstruction of rock in the Curtains, should be taken aback by the organic weirdness of Cryptacize, yet another of his outfits (or is that outlets?). The big difference here is that Cohen’s girlfriend, Kill Rock…
No Country for Old Men, South Park: Imaginationland, Sleuth, Five Days
No Country for Old Men (Paramount) “A horror comedy chase” is how a grinning Tommy Lee Jones describes No Country for Old Men in the making-of — meanwhile, his fellow actors add to the list such adjectives as “a very primitive ride,” “a rabbit chase through Texas” and “a very…
Gogol Bordello
New York-based self-proclaimed “gypsy punks” Gogol Bordello have been roving the world since 2002, assaulting unsuspecting listeners with one of the most original endeavors to be captured on tape since post-punk was at its peak. A multi-ethnic group of primarily Eastern European immigrants, Gogol Bordello looks, sounds and generally acts…
Not so Bad: “Horton Hears a Who!
Was Dr. Seuss, né Theodor Seuss Geisel, oblivious to his own genius? The allegory of his charming Horton Hears a Who! remains fluid today, and, like its crafty rhymes, ebbs and flows with the times. The conviction of an innocent pachyderm known as Horton to stand up against tyranny and…
What’s the Problem Houston?
So a couple of weeks ago, we received the following plaintive missive/statement of intent in our inbox, from Fitzgerald’s booking manager Frances Tofte: “Houston… Do we have a problem??? Is it oversaturation? Is it lack of interest? Is it lack of talent? Is it lack of promotion? Does the smoking…
Anyone Else But Kimya Dawson
Kimya Dawson looks legitimately terrified. “I’m totally weirded out,” she announces to a sold-out, mashed-in afternoon crowd at Brooklyn’s Southpaw. They’re largely underage and entirely flush with adoration, and the singer both senses and fears this. “It’s great that you’re all here, but treat me normal,” she entreats them. “Please don’t…
Erykah Badu: New Amerykah, Part One (4th World War)
In an election year themed around change, Erykah Badu has chosen the perfect time to release her long-awaited fourth studio effort, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War). Meshing the sounds of Parliament with the political consciousness found in the early days of hip-hop, Badu delivers yet another substantive album…
All in la Familia at Azteca’s Bar and Grill
It’s a scientific fact that old white people love “Mustang Sally,” claims Rich Latimer, of Houston’s conveniently named Rich Latimer Band. “It’s a party song — people know it,” says Latimer, whose band touches down at Azteca’s Bar and Grill (2207 Richmond) when not outside the Loop at Outrigger’s Seafood Grill…
Dan Kennedy’s Office Power Ballad
Anyone who’s ever worked in the music industry is probably aware of the massive difference between the people who release records and the consumers who buy them. However, no one has ever captured this disconnect as irreverently as onetime major-label drone Dan Kennedy does in his memoir Rock On: An…
Goldfrapp: Seventh Tree
Amid the atmospherics of Felt Mountain, the synth-cabaret bombast of Black Cherry and the lascivious Supernature grows Seventh Tree, a massive step in Goldfrapp’s evolution with only a passing resemblance to the English duo’s previous albums. Though Seventh Tree will no doubt spawn some excellent remixes, there are no readily…
Local Motion at Vinal Edge Records
Vinal Edge Records 13171 Veterans Memorial Dr., 281-537-2575 1. Earth, Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull 2. 5ive, Hesperus 3. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular 4. Iron Lung, Sexless/No Sex 5. Goldfrapp, Seventh Tree 6. Seven That Spells, Men from Dystopia 7. Graves at Sea, Documents of Grief 8. Guru Guru,…
MySpaced Out: European Discotheque
Although I previously knew next to nothing about techno, electronica or any other kind of club music, hearing the “Spirit in the Sky” rhythmic base of “Ooh La La” from Goldfrapp’s 2005 album Supernature was like having a head-on collision with an instantly recognizable musical landmark. If I paid any…
Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week
. . . And Justice for All: Special Edition (Sony) Appleseed Ex Machina (Warner Bros.) August Rush (Warner Bros.) Bee Movie (DreamWorks) Black Widow (Fox) Dan in Real Life (Buena Vista) Def Comedy Jam: D.L. Hughley (HBO) Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes Volume 3 (Fox) Hitman (Fox) Housewife, 49 (Acorn)…
Visual Overload at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston
For an exhibition about design, “Design Life Now: National Design Triennial” at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston isn’t very well-designed. Organized by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the original installation apparently took up three of its floors. I didn’t see the Cooper-Hewitt version, but from the catalog images, it…
Pounding Headache with Patapon
You’ll know in the first few minutes exactly what Patapon has going for it. There’s the goofy premise, which casts you as the tribal god Patapon, lord of a band of creatures called, imaginatively enough, Patapons — little savages that are basically eyeballs with arms and legs. Then there’s the…
Shiraz-braised Short Ribs at So Vino Bistro & Wine Bar
Wine and dine: You won’t need a knife to eat the shiraz-braised short ribs ($21.95) at So Vino Bistro & Wine Bar (507 Westheimer, 713-524-1000) — the ribs are marinated in the wine for so long, and they’ve been braised so slowly, that at the slightest touch, every ounce of…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Chantal Akerman: Moving Through Time and Space,” “Death and Shit Like That,” “Tony Berlant,” “A Visceral Valentine,” ” Perspectives 159: Superconscious, Automatisms Now”
“Chantal Akerman: Moving Through Time and Space” This show at the Blaffery Gallery will quietly blow away just about any video installation you have ever seen. Chantal Akerman is a filmmaker who creates video installations filled with cinematic power. She has been called “the most important European director of her…
Bribes in the Soviet Union, Jesus Christ on PBS and Gavin Newsom at La Strada
There may be people who think the oil business is a sedate, classy industry, full of stolid professionals who quietly earn their companies well-deserved billions. Those people probably shouldn’t pay any attention to a recently filed federal lawsuit with several Texas connections. (They probably also shouldn’t ask anyone for the…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Cinderella, Pack of Lies, Regrets Only, Young and Fertle
Cinderella All those little girls obsessed with Disney princess culture should go watch Houston Ballet’s Cinderella. Spoiler alert: Cinderella does not end up with the prince. Repeat, does not get the prince. That’s because Artistic Director Stanton Welch didn’t want her to get the prince; he wanted her to rely…
Archie Bell & the Drells: Tighten Up
In a more perfect pop world, San Francisco label DBK Works’ reissue of Archie Bell & the Drells’ 1968 debut Tighten Up would help the Houston favorites jettison the one-hit wonder status that dogs them everywhere else. In retrospect, it’s an understated precursor to Philly soul and an homage to…
The Funny Games People Play
For the crime of obliterating high culture, for the crime of getting off on vicarious degradation — and, above all, for the crime of sitting through any movie that resembles the one he’s (re)made — Michael Haneke sentences you (me, us) to Funny Games. Scratch that: to a second fucking…
Truckee Brothers: Double Happiness
With amps turned to thunder-and-lightning levels and enough instruments on hand to open their own music store, San Diego’s Truckee Brothers take a blowtorch to everything from stolen elections to pretentious rock stars to the nature of Mother Nature on Double Happiness. Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart live on in…
Barack Obama’s past
We got a mountain of reader mail and online commentary on “Obama and Me,” by Todd Spivak, February 28. Below is just a sampling: Yes we can! You know, I actually enjoyed this story. Nothing in it changes my vote for Senator Obama, however. There seems to be a common…
Love of Language
In the hardscrabble world of Brian Friel’s Translations, language is one of the few beautiful things the people of Ireland’s countryside can claim for their very own. Irish, not English, is spoken with fierce emotion in Friel’s dark portrait of 19th-century rural Ireland, now at Main Street Theater. And the…