Ballads Nuevo
The late 1950s was the true ballad’s last bask in the American sun. Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins each had a gunfighter hit or two, while Stonewall Jackson sang of “Waterloo.” Not to be outdone, Johnny Horton released whole albums full of songs like “The Battle of New Orleans” and…
The Strokes
Truly amazing that this bratty bunch of New York scenesters was able to foresee the future and aptly title its debut. All the hype, all the rumors, the waiting… then a paltry 36 minutes later you ask, “Is this it?” To add to the disappointment, the Helmut Newtonesque album cover…
The Mercury Program
Gainesville, Florida’s Mercury Program explores much of the same post-rock terrain as bands like Tortoise and HiM. “Post-rock” is a vague term, as befits a music that is difficult to describe. It’s something akin to jazz, but not quite jazz, funky yet not funk, rocking yet not rock, and jamming…
Beaver Nelson
For a decade now, Beaver Nelson has been the promising kid on the Texas singer-songwriter scene. And maybe it’s that potential that’s created his toughest hurdle. He’s certainly delivered enough lyrical intelligence, emotional content and melodic appeal to assure us that the promise is still there. But he has yet…
D12
It’s nearly impossible to talk about without mentioning him, you know, Eminem. It’s the curse of every rap clique with an MC who breaks out before they do. They immediately are relegated to “the crew.” They become that bunch of potnas, homies and road dogs patiently waiting for their chance…
Bayou City Body Snatchers
Anyone who reads Harper’s magazine knows one of its mainstay sections is Readings, a chockablock collection of documents culled from various venues — everything from sparkling essays originally published in tiny literary journals to embarrassing leaked memos from the CIA to its operatives. A couple of months ago, Readings ran…
Jimmy LaFave
Jimmy LaFave has been such an integral part of the Texas folk-rock singer-songwriter scene for the past decade that it’s easy to take him for granted. He’s become a part, if you will, of the furniture in Lone Star State listening rooms. But he’s also like a favorite easy chair,…
Down at the Boardwalk
On the first anniversary of his father’s death, David Foreman wanted to visit his mother. As general manager of the three-story Landry’s Seafood Inn on the Kemah Boardwalk, David knew that the Fourth of July weekend in 1997 would be a bad time for him to be gone. But his…
Jenny Toomey
Possessed of much the same richly honeyed and smartly sexy alto that made Chrissie Hynde famous, Washington, D.C., post-punk vet Jenny Toomey has just gone solo with a bang. The musicians’ rights activist and ex-member of Liquorice, Tsunami, Geek and Slack chronicles a breakup with agonizingly detailed élan in her…
City E-mail Endorses Terrorism
On September 12, almost exactly 24 hours after terrorists slammed hijacked jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, an accountant in the Houston city controller’s office sat at his keyboard and typed a gloating e-mail to a friend in the city legal department. “What’s your take on this…
Boo Who?
As the year winds down, breathlessly and apprehensively, the most eagerly awaited releases left on the schedule offer nothing less than whimsy and reveries. We’ve had enough of the real world, for now, so we look forward to leaving it behind and joining the company of Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins…
Doing All He Can
In the wake of September 11, television stations across the country began earnestly parading their patriotism. Anchors sported flag pins on their lapels and blouses; red, white and blue ribbons bedecked station logos, phone banks were set up to handle donations to victims’ funds. KRIV, the Fox station here in…
Beat the Parents
In Domestic Disturbance John Travolta provides a rare recent performance worthy of his fame, and it arrives bereft of the laughable facial hair, flaccid special effects and overwrought speechifying that too often render him paunchy parody. As Frank Morrison, a builder of expensive wooden ships at a time when they’ve…
Fostering Praise, Down on Westbury, TEA Trickery?
Fostering Praise The not so lucky: Thank you so much for your insightful article “Saving Nicholas” [by Brian Wallstin, October 18]. The saddest aspect is that there are hundreds if not thousands of children in CPS custody whose stories do not end nearly as happily as that of Nicholas. Understandably,…
Hell of a Long Day
There cannot be man, woman, child or beast alive who does not know that on November 6, Fox will debut its new series 24. Long before the fall season was to begin, it had already been appointed the most anticipated and beloved show of the year–by critics who had seen…
Rainbow Coalition
If you were one of the many spectators taking in the wet T-shirt contests, pre-op transsexuals, margarita-and-corn-dog bars and discount musical entertainment that was the West Fest a couple of weeks ago, you might’ve noticed some cats passing out flyers for an upcoming art show. The boys of Aerosol Warfare…
Cinderfella
Wearing Coke-bottle glasses and dorky bangs, Guy Rose (Christopher Wright) is the quintessential geek. No wonder his snooty, rich-boy lover, Clarence (Craig Bushey), is so put out when he finds himself stood up at the altar. After all — according to the fantastically silly logic of Bill Solly and Donald…
Poet Without a Cause
So, what exactly does a poet laureate do, anyway? “Well, the main duty is answering that question,” says the latest scribe to hold the post, Billy Collins. “Ninety percent of the poet laureate’s time is spent trying to explain what the poet laureate does, and there’s no answer because no…
Gone with the Wind
Wagner’s Tannhäuser is simply less accessible than Houston Grand Opera’s season opener, Verdi’s popular and tuneful Rigoletto. Even at its most sublime, Wagner’s music lacks the airy, portable quality of arias such as “La Donna e Mobile,” one Verdi melody you’re likely to whistle minutes after leaving the opera house…
That’s offal!
I enjoy watching the look of disbelief on people’s faces when I tell them that I eat sweetbreads and then proceed to explain what they are. After all, their euphemistic name belies the fact that they are neither sweet nor breadlike. Sweetbreads are either the thymus gland or the pancreas…
Starts and Stops
The Little Room Downstairs Theater and Actors Theatre, two of Houston’s most well-established small theaters, have closed their doors recently — both apparently as a result of the high-dollar town-house development taking over their Southampton neighborhood. Richard Laub, the Little Room’s artistic director, will not relocate. Sitting in a space…
Cultural Imperialism
In Paris, Harry’s Bar has provided expatriates like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway a place to sip martinis and manhattans and sidecars since 1911. The Bloody Mary, originally called the Bucket of Blood, was reputedly invented there. Yet while the French have happily adopted so many of our customs…
Fashion Forward
There were naked people (sort of) at the opening of “Fashionistas” at Poissant Gallery. Curated by Catherine D. Anspon, the show features works that address fashion through image, material and attitude. The crowd, however, was not deep-thinking about the connections between fashion and art. They were snapping an unnecessary number…
Reach for the Sky
So, who is the king of pop, these days? That’s the question that comes up while watching the MTV Music Video Awards in the living room of the Hands Up house. The assembled members of Hands Up Houston are perplexed. It’s not Michael Jackson, that’s for sure. Bono? Nah. Dave…
Cafe sans Society
A man in a gray sleeveless T-shirt and striped shorts carries a plastic basket full of neatly folded laundry down the sidewalk in front of my table. That’s something you don’t see in the suburbs. I have just finished a lackluster salad at Café Compliqé on Westheimer. Now I’m sitting…
Alcohol and Salvation
Imagine, for a moment, spritelike bluesy guitarist Carolyn Wonderland in leather, not flannel. Picture her trademark red mop dyed black with peacock-blue highlights. Sprinkle a few dancers behind her on stage. Replace her musicians with a canned track. She’s opening for Madonna. It’s her worst nightmare. Now imagine a real-life…
Fish Fraud
Today’s fish special is red snapper Cancun, says the waitress at Tortuga Coastal Cantina. The moderately priced Tex-Mex restaurant on Kirby is decorated with images of Mexican beaches and giant sea turtles, tortugas in Spanish. Many Mexican tortugas, once highly prized by gourmets, are now on the endangered species list…