Static
Notes from the front… “This your first time here?” inquired the toothy record label rep with a sympathetic grimace that seemed to imply, “I feel your discomfort.” “What a zoo,” came my sluggish response, as if I were programmed to repeat the same three words when the question came up…
Family Style
For now, at least, Breedlove is new enough to the business of rock and roll to be refreshingly oblivious to even the tiniest perks that come with being a band in demand. As four-fifths of the Austin quintet sidles up to the counter at a barbecue joint just around the…
The Cheap Secrets of Harwin
The handbag shop is a long, narrow, shotgun affair, and the first thing I notice is an array of pocketbooks blanketing one wall. From a distance, they resemble purses by Coach, a line of trendy bags especially popular among businesswomen and known for their durability, sleek lines and unadorned look…
A Geek with a Guitar
It was Cracker frontman David Lowery who penned the choice line about the questionable value of yet another geek with an acoustic guitar: “What the world needs now is another folk singer, like I need a hole in my head.” Superficially, singer Edwin McCain fits Lowery’s cynical character study, though…
Guy’s Stuff
As much as I’d like to, I simply can’t recommend that a meal at Guy’s Meat Market is worth the trek to Guy’s modest location on Old Spanish Trail near its intersection with Highway 288. That, however, is only because you can’t eat a meal at Guy’s Meat Market. There’s…
England’s Edge
You’re not to think of proper manners, the Thames, Alistair Cooke or even Hugh Grant. You’re to think, rather, of the Sex Pistols, royalty-mobbing tabloid reporters and How to Get Ahead in Advertising. If you’ve got the notion of a nation where a sunny day is license for misbehavior and…
On the Fringe
The parking lot of a suburban convenience store in the wee hours of the morning is nothing short of a study in vacuous earnestness. That’s the serious, paradoxical joke at the heart of Eric Bogosian’s blistering subUrbia, one of the best American plays of the decade. Theater LaB is so…
Talk It Up
It says a lot about Spike Lee’s creative energy, and his adherence to the American work ethic, that within the space of a decade he’s made nine feature films. And, mind you, that’s not counting all the commercials, music videos and campaign spots he’s dashed off between movies. Even more…
Antonio Times Two
Double your pleasure, double your fun — Antonio Banderas, the sexiest man in movies today, plays two roles, sort of. As Rock Hudson did in Pillow Talk, or any number of comedies produced by the late Ross Hunter, in the new Two Much, Banderas plays a guy who pretends to…
Foreign Affairs
What a difference a year — and several imported American stars — can make. The 1995 Berlin International Film Festival boasted only a handful of U.S. films in its premiere program, and offered a mere smattering of U.S. stars for the paparazzi to devour. Indeed, the most talked-about star was…
The Insider
Spanish Is the Loving Tongue… Houston lawyer John Odam has faced a guy named Morales in both of his runs for statewide office, and the experience has left him an expert witness to the appreciating value of a Hispanic surname on a Democratic primary ballot. In 1990, Odam’s chief opponent…
A Taxing Situation
Nobody, it’s generally agreed, enjoys paying taxes. But what could make the sting of taxation even worse is discovering that you had forked over more than you legally had to — and that the company that got you to pay the extra was arguing that the windfall should be theirs,…
The Money Trail
Anybody who thought that Carolyn Stevens’ ten-year plea bargain and a jury’s decision to put Rose Marie Turford away for well into the next century brought an end to the tale of Houston’s own Thelma and Louise obviously hasn’t been paying close enough attention to what the story has really…
Letters
Deano Updates, Around the Clock I just wanted to thank you for continuing to report on the inside story of the closing of the Houston Post [The Insider, “Stop the Presses,” February 22]. My husband was employed at the Post, and needless to say, the closing was very traumatic. It…
Press Picks
thursday march 21 Senior Olympics For a mere $20, athletes 50 and older can enter as many events as they like. For one full week, a variety of arenas, pools and courts will be crowded with toned old folks playing everything from basketball (free throw and around the world) to…
Ghost of Tamales Past
I wonder what the late tamale-vending Mr. Berryhill of the Heights and Montrose would think of his namesake stand’s new digs in the epicenter of yuppie fashiondom at the Village. I suspect he might think exactly what I do: the expansion of Berryhill’s Hot Tamales into the Village Arcade yields…
Rotation
Lou Reed Set the Twilight Reeling Warner Bros. Because he is who he is, Lou Reed has managed to elevate his relatively patchy solo output to near legendary status. For every misfire in his 24-year post-Velvet Underground career (1976’s toothless Rock and Roll Heart and 1980’s poorly conceived Growing Up…
Porch Music
If you judge a band by the company it keeps, you’ll probably want to get to know the Subdudes a little better. The four-piece — with two members in Colorado and two in New Orleans — is no more than one degree of separation removed from predecessors in the Continental…