Spin City
Last fall, Soundwaves buyer and professional house/downtempo DJ Chris Sill decided something was missing from the Soundwaves store in Montrose. What the nerve center of the whole freakin’ chain needed was a big fat DJ booth parked right in the back of the store. “The main reason for that is…
War on War Songs
War, as it turns out, is good for absolutely nothing when it comes to anti-war songs. At the risk of sounding like Bill O’Reilly (who, no doubt, listens only to Wagner), it’s time to protest the protesters, most of whom are blowin’, all right, just not in the wind. The…
This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks
Thursday, March 27 What does a comedian get if he’s both funny and easy on the eyes? A Taco Bell ad campaign. Daniel Tosh pushes nachos for the fast food chain, flashing his smile and his comedic wit for the cameras. The funnyman made a name for himself with his…
The Tortured Puppet
Through April 12 at the Axiom, 2524 McKinney, 713-522-8443. $12-$16.
Through April 6 at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby, 713-558-2600. $25-$68.
Special Delivery
Patti Smith may have almost single-handedly launched punk rock in the late ’70s, but she originally wanted to be a visual artist. “She really studied as an artist and moved to New York to become a painter,” says Paola Morsiani, associate curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum. “Her work wasn’t…
Fusion Art
Through April 12 at Texas Gallery, 2012 Peden, 713-524-1593.
Living Large
FRI 3/28 Get ready for shrieking: Torrid is coming to Houston. At openings of Torrid stores across the country, plus-size women have flooded in, crying at the sight of alternative clothes that they can actually wear. “We’ve had customers coming in and giving hugs and kisses to store managers,” says…
Chuck E.-nese Cuisine
Taiko Oyster tempura roll: $15.95 House Sapporo steak: $28 Yaki udon: $9 Hibachi shrimp: $18.95 Hibachi scallops: $18.45
Air Raid
Still thirsty for displays of military force? Warmongers, flag-wavers and aviation enthusiasts may get an extra shot of patriotic passion from the Wings of Freedom Air Show. Aircraft built between 1909 and the Vietnam war will be swarming the skies over Ellington Air Force Base. If that’s not enough, for…
In the Garden
Camille Waters is the premier urban gardener of Houston, an earth mother who makes enough money from the lettuce she grows to vacation in Mexico every summer — when it’s too hot to grow lettuce here anyhow. “Camille has shown that an urban gardener can make a fairly decent living…
Poetry 101
Somewhere between your kid’s soccer practice, reading lessons and swim class, there should be room for a little poetry. Prather’s Poetry Jam, an original work by David Prather, draws from the writings of Shel Silverstein, Carl Sandburg and Woody Guthrie. Children will start rapping and rhyming as Prather rides a…
Paella for One
The Spanish dish paella takes its name from the paellera, the shallow, two-handled, iron pan in which it is both cooked and served. The Romans brought this utensil to Spain, while the Arabs brought the rice to go in it — it’s an early example of fusion cuisine. Paella is…
On the Surf’s Side
Everyone likes an excuse to party, especially when it’s for a good cause. The Texas chapter of the Surfriders Foundation is hosting a benefit, Surfstomp, at the Last Concert Cafe to support its work preserving our coast. Revelers will not only dance and booze the day away, they’ll contribute to…
No Haters Here
Here’s some musical food for thought: The OrchestraX concert “Ancient Traditions: A Musical Celebration of Culture” places the works of Arabic and Jewish composers side-by-side. And that’s no coincidence. “The timing of this concert echoes many of the current fears and hopes of the world,” says OrchestraX artistic director and…
Combat Rock
Inscrutable band name Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Randomly chosen by combining words in the Canadian Anarchist Collective Magnetic Poetry set. Put the exclamation point after Emperor! if you want. Sigur Rós: Is that “sugar rose”? “Cy-grrr rahs”? Or “Seger rocks”? Exotic home base GYBE: Montreal, Canada, land of wild moose,…
Fostering Abuse
They call him the boy born without a throat. That’s shorthand for an esophagus that wasn’t hooked up right. Born in Galveston to a juvenile diabetic mother, at age four he weighed 29 pounds and would throw up or choke at meals. His mother died that year. His father is…
Vive le Max!
Max Stalling appears Friday, March 28, at the Firehouse Saloon, 5930 Southwest Freeway. For more information, call 713-977-1962.
Caught Between Iraq and a Hard Place
As the first missiles struck Baghdad last Wednesday, local Democrats were quick to back the troops, but mostly silent on the larger issues posed by the first pre-emptive war in U.S. history. With the clock ticking down on President George W. Bush’s 48-hour deadline for Saddam Hussein to get out…
Hissin’ Dixie.
Country musicians have never been shy about their political views, especially during times of war. Way back in 1945, Red Foley had a hit with a song called “Smoke on the Water,” in which he crooned that “There’ll be nothin’ left but vultures to inhabit all that land / When…
Killing the Leaders
Killing the Leaders Gulf War II didn’t quite start like one of those John Wayne or Ronald Reagan WWII movies where the hero prevails against overwhelming odds — and a cast of thousands of Japanese or Nazis — to secure Democracy and save the heroine. In our newest conflict, the…
Robert Randolph and the Family Band
If the first image your mind conjures when you think of a steel guitar player is a pudgy old white guy in western duds helping a bar full of similar-looking patrons to cry in their Lone Stars, that’s to be expected. That’s everybody’s mental picture. Jersey kid Robert Randolph is…
Without Warrant
Like a lot of Houston motorists, Daphne A. Rambo found out the hard way that her vehicle license tags and inspection sticker had expired in January. A police officer pulled her over while she was driving from work to her Oak Forest home. The cop wrote her two tickets but…
Macy Gray
Macy Gray would like to try this again. Not so long ago everyone was embracing the wild-haired neo-soul pixie and her debut, On How Life Is. Her raspy, hellacious voice channeled both Billie Holiday and Rickie Lee Jones, while her retro wardrobe made you think of both Janis Joplin and…
A Very Good Year
The controversial jailhouse snitch nicknamed “The Rock” has moved one year closer to freedom as his reward for helping to send Ronald Jeffery Prible to death row. Michael Glynn Beckcom, a former steroid-shooting bodybuilder convicted of participating in the execution-style murder of a federal witness, gained a 12-month reduction in…
Pap Fiction
It’s hard to believe they were originally going to release Basic before bombs started falling over Baghdad; if it isn’t the worst movie of 2003 so far, it’s only because Boat Trip hasn’t screened yet. Now, in the shadow of smoke rising from the rubble in Iraq, it’s even more…
Sex It Up
The Houston Chronicle sent a reporter to South Padre Island to cover spring break, which is (ever so slightly) a more thankless gig than you might imagine. Sure, there are drunk, almost naked young specimens of whichever gender trips your trigger, energetically making fools of themselves. But as with any…
Dead-On Dead End
The title Morvern Callar may sound like an Edward Gorey book or a job designation for telephone solicitors, but it’s actually a name — pronounced (roughly) “Mawvin Calla” (like the lily). Although some sources claim that “morvern callar” is Scots for “quieter silence,” the words don’t show up in online…
Letters
Terrorists Among Us Worse than Osama: I agree with Richard Connelly that Houston’s “bad air” and “impassable streets” would make a terrorist attack hardly noticeable here (“Uncivil Defense,” March 13). However, Houston is not nearly “as likely a target as any other major U.S. city,” as experts claim, but luckily…
Dream River
Emerging from Till Human Voices Wake Us, it was easy to overhear some male viewers striving adamantly to put the film’s metaphysical themes in their place, to explain them away, as it were. This is a shame. The source of the story’s mystique is fairly simple and may be obvious…