Early Mex
Here’s a secret I’ve been reluctant to share for fear that crowds would ruin a relative idyll among breakfast spots: Pico’s Mex-Mex serves breakfast, all day, every day, starting at 9 a.m. In true Mexican style, to which Pico’s has stayed loyal, you can get migas con huevo or menudo…
Family Values
Robert Duvall has a couple of moments during the early scenes of A Family Thing that are so emotionally eloquent, so absolutely right, he almost takes your breath away. And the beauty of it is, he never seems to be straining for some big effect. In fact, he doesn’t even…
Fatal Femmes
Purists will doubtless cringe at the very suggestion that you might have fun with Diabolique, Jeremiah Chechik’s Americanized remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s classic 1955 thriller about a cold-blooded crime of passion and a corpse that refuses to lie still. As it turns out, however, the new film has been made…
The Brothers Graham (Part I)
It was about noon on the fourth day of the new year, and Pat Graham was pretending to be someone else while sitting in a car parked outside a restaurant near Greenspoint Mall. The person he was pretending to be was Harold Robert of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,…
The Brother Graham (Part II)
John Ford could only be encouraged by the splendor of the Bankers Capital Management offices on the 69th floor of the Texas Commerce Tower. Mike and Pat Graham’s investment banking firm certainly looked like a place where successful deals were born. The large, comfortable waiting area was drenched in oak…
Static
Dolls on display… Funny how a “Name” can change things. Last time I checked in with the Goo Goo Dolls, they were going about preparing for their first U.S. tour in two years with the sort of levelheaded realism that can only come from being near enough to success to…
Sound Check
The surge of interest in world music over the past several years has resulted in a wealth of tasty options in even the most generic of chain record stores. While not long ago King Sunny Ade, Fela and an anthology or two filled most African sections, discriminating shoppers can now…
Puzzling Out Mamet
Not all 296 seats of the Alley Theatre’s Neuhaus Arena Stage were filled for the opening night of David Mamet’s The Cryptogram. Some that were filled weren’t exactly occupied: a smattering of people left during the performance. These departures were conspicuous: the three-scene, 80-minute play is intermissionless, and the Neuhaus…
The Insider
School Daze HISD trustees are meeting on Friday to call an election on the issuance of almost $600 million in bonds to finance the construction of new schools and repair existing ones. The bonds would require a tax-rate increase of nearly a dime for district property owners over the next…
Victor’s Big Adventure
Driving west on Highway 67 out of Dallas, Victor Morales has the sun at his back and a St. Patrick’s Day parade on the horizon. Early this Saturday morning, the grandson of Mexican immigrants stuck a shamrock in his lapel and a toothbrush in his pocket and set out in…
Letters
The Ultimate in Sexism The mother who felt the sexually explicit wallpaper at Brasil was pornographic does not stand alone [“Sex and Death on the Restroom Wall,” by Brad Tyer, March 7]. I was offended when confronted with it in the women’s room at the Satellite Lounge, and I voiced…
Press Picks
thursday march 28 The Children’s Theater Jim Pirtle, former pre-K teacher for HISD and current performance artist, painter, sculptor, installation artist, video artist and children’s theater auteur has, with the help of his Zocalo friends, put together a children’s show. The theater experience includes magic, circus acts and animals, and…
Dandy Affair
If the Dandy Warhols’ music doesn’t fly in Houston, it won’t be for a lack of good ideas. Back in their home of Portland, Oregon, where the local music scene is divided between earnest post-grunge bands and an earnestly eclectic collection of longtime folkies, the Dandy Warhols’ affectedness must smell…
On the Beat
There’s more to ska than the last 15 years let on. Try to argue that point with Suspects guitarist Bill Grady, and he’ll be happy to walk you through the genre’s last three decades. Go a step further — equating ska’s spirited past with, say, the pop silliness of Madness’…
Strange Phenomena
Some bands prefer a fiery atmosphere in the studio — staying up nights on end, pitting players against one another in a sort of creative caldron of competition. But last April, when the members of Love and Rockets were recording tracks for Sweet F.A., the situation was even more explosive…
Liberty, Fraternity, Gastronomy
It may not surprise some cynics to learn that this town’s criminals, lawyers and reporters have at least one thing in common. They, along with cops, bail bondsmen and others who frequent the municipal courts and HPD headquarters, have made the Avenue Grill an institution. Settle in for a weekday…