Tales from Transit: Deputy Dawg, Robert Plant and Uncle Tom
Interesting train ride home yesterday…I get on a packed car about 5:30 last night, a Zeppelin playlist cranked to 12 on my iPod. I notice a commotion among the other passengers in my immediate surroundings, but I can’t hear what’s going on. Apparently the guy seated near the door across…
Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 12: Lions, Turducken and Bears…
Since it’s Thanksgiving and all, you’re only getting an abbreviated version of my NFL picks column this week. Just try to think of it as quality over quantity. Besides, the only thing you should really be concerned with is the end result. And over the course of the last five…
John Royal’s NFL Picks, Week 12: Forget the Drumstick, Let’s Wing It
A confession: because of the games on Thursday, I’m writing this late on Tuesday night – damn deadlines. So I’m winging it with my NFL picks. I just got home from Amsterdam, so it’s a bit much to expect me to put actual thought into this whole thing. Besides, I…
Slideshow: Thanksgiving Day Parade
Plan on rolling into downtown tomorrow at 9 a.m. for the HEB Holiday Parade? Yeah, us neither. Thanksgiving Eve is just too good a night for drinking. But we did take a quick tour under HWY 59 this afternoon to watch the workers constructing the floats. Click here to see…
Aeros Keep On Keeping On, Beat the Rampage
Momentum is a fickle thing. One moment you have it; the next, it’s gone. There were two moments in the Aeros game last night, two moments when momentum could’ve turned to either team. And the Aeros got the momentum both times. The Aeros defeated the San Antonio Rampage by a…
Drenched In Blog: Being Thankful for JFK Conspiracy Theories
Not only is tomorrow the day before Black Friday, the retail apocalypse, it’s also the 44th anniversary of JFK’s assassination. Yes, it was November 22, 1963, a sunny day in Dallas, when about a million conspiracy theories were born. Some involve the Mafia, the Cubans, the Russians, the military-industrial complex…
Astros Sign Geoff Blum
Luis Castillo. Kaz Matsui. Geoff Blum. Chris Burke. Adam Everett. Eric Bruntlett. Craig Biggio. Ty Wigginton. Morgan Ensberg. Mike Lamb. Mark Loretta. Can someone please explain to me this club’s fascination with mediocre infielders?…
The College Football Preview, Week 13: Nick Saban Is a Turkey
Forget about looking at the AP Rankings for this week. They no longer count. The only number that truly counts is the BCS Ranking. For it’s the placement in the BCS which tells us who’ll play for the mythical college football championship. And after Oregon and Oklahoma were upset last…
Miss Pop Rocks: Pop Culture Items To Be Thankful For This Year
Miss Pop Rocks would like to take a minute and wish you and yours a delightful Thanksgiving. In this time of impending recession, spiraling-out-of-control gas prices, and The War That Never Ends, I know it may be hard to know what to give thanks for. That’s why I’m so grateful…
Slideshow: Texans vs. Saints
We’ve got some photos up from Sunday’s game. Click here for Fred Bennett, Andre Johnson, Reggie Bush, Mario Williams and a bevy of cheerleaders…
The Curious Incident of the Dog on the Internet
So you’re sitting around, chewin’ on ways other than murder or kidnapping to get into Hell, when it hits you: Why not go onto a bunch of pet Web sites and advertise a cute little puppy you have no intention of delivering? Heck, the thing doesn’t even need to exist…
Port Arthur Residents Sue Premcor Refining
Nearly 100 residents of Port Arthur have joined forces in court to sue the Premcor Refining Group, accusing the company of pumping toxic chemicals into the air and harming many of the area’s children. According to the lawsuit filed last Friday in Jefferson County District Court on behalf of 78…
Houston Takes a Stand in the Frozen Yogurt Wars
We all know that historically the coasts have had their beef. Hold on, Texans, think Biggie and Tupac – not flank steak and brisket. But now that rivalry has gotten serious. Yes, I’m talking about the cutthroat frozen yogurt wars – with Tasti-D-Lite and its 100-plus flavors (including things like…
Drenched In Blog: Nirvana’s Unplugged on DVD
Think about all that’s changed in the past 14 years: Music is very much just a few ones and zeroes on a hard drive. Bands give away albums for free. Most artists only get in the business so they can try to sell you their clothing line. In 1993, Miley…
Whither Springsteen?
As posted on Houstoned Rocks literally moments ago, Live Nation announced today that Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band will bring their Magic tour to Houston April 14, 2008. No venue is currently listed for Houston or the April 13 Dallas date, but the other dates on the tour…
Coach Kevin Constantine Talks NHL, AHL, Injuries and Subtleties
I had the chance last week to sit down and interview Houston Aeros coach Kevin Constantine. We met at the Aeros training facility in Sugar Land, and spent about an hour discussing various things involving hockey, Houston and the coach’s life. You can find Part One of the interview here…
Boss Fans Take Note: Springsteen Announces First Local Date Since 2002
This just came across the transom here literally minutes ago, from Live Nation: “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band announced this morning that Houston, Texas will be a stop on their 2008 spring tour as they return to the Bayou City for the first time in over 5 years.”…
Comedian Steve Harvey Sued by Ex-Wife in Harris County District Court
Funny-man Steve Harvey is better known for his stand-up routines than any sort of magic act, but his ex-wife is now claiming in court that Harvey and his lawyer tricked her. According to a lawsuit filed Monday in Harris County District Court, Harvey’s ex-wife, Mary Harvey, claims that both Harvey…
Get Lit: Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America, by Jonathan Gould
At this point, even the most diehard Fab Four fan has to ask: Does the world reallyneed another Beatles book? It seems that amid the hundreds of tomes published about the group, every musical, personal, technical and sociological aspect concerning the Liverpudlians has already been covered, with the possible exception…
Slideshow: Dance Salad Festival, 2007
We’ve got a new slideshow up, featuring photos from this year’s Dance Salad Festival. (And yes, we did go through and pick out the most eroticized ones of the bunch. Thanks for asking.) This Wednesday at 6 p.m. you can check out a free screening of A Touring Taste of…
Drenched In Blog: Hip-Hop Math is Dope
I stumbled across this MySpace profile this past weekend. It’s Ms. Robinson, the rapping math teacher. Imagine if Trina or Lil’ Kim rapped about multiplication tables instead of fellatio and diamonds, and you get the idea. She’s actually kind of abrasive about the whole learning thing. I wonder if there’s…
The Carnicería Connoisseur: Mystery Meats at La Michoacana #3 on Wilcrest
The $1.25 breakfast tacos from Michoacana # 3 on Wilcrest hit the spot on a recent Saturday morning. I like the huevos con chorizo with a heavy hit of the housemade red salsa. Huevos with ham and huevos with potatoes are the other egg tacos – they all come on…
Texans vs. Saints: Why Houston’s NFL Franchise Is a Little Bit Like Ron Paul
Now starting at right tackle… How much did the Texans’ 23-10 victory over New Orleans mean to the franchise? To Bob McNair, it was monumental enough that he felt compelled to make an appearance in the team’s locker room immediately after the game. The Texans’ owner held court in the…
Come See Me Eat Nipples, Eat Nipples: Bollywood in Houston, Aurally Translated
Buffalax is the great YouTube aural translator of Hindi-language music videos – we showed you some of his work here. And now there’s Woodbulb, an auteur from Vancouver, who contributed this re-imagining of “Dilbar Dilbar” by former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen. The clip, which comes from the Bollywood-in-Houston film Sirf…
$13 at Bayou City Seafood & Pasta on Richmond
Where: Bayou City Seafood & Pasta, 4730 Richmond, 713-621-6602 What $13 gets you: A damn fine seafood lunch. Thirteen smackers won’t buy you supper at Bayou City Seafood & Pasta, where even the “small”-sized portions of seafood-filled pastas and fish entrees start at $15.99. Lunch, however, is another story. The…
Yo Si Le Voy, Le Voy al Naranja: Houston Dynamo Keep the MLS Cup
Yesterday the Dynamo became just the second team in history to win back-to-back Major League Soccer titles, taking down the New England Revolution 2-1. After falling behind 0-1, the Dynamo scored twice in the second half, thanks to the quick feet of Joseph Ngwenya and – you know it –…
Miss Pop Rocks: Rev. Run’s Clan v. The Kardashians: There is No Real Comparison
I spent much of this weekend feeling a little under the weather (I think I caught something from a bottle of gin on Friday night). Regardless, the time Miss Pop Rocks spent sprawled on the couch allowed for much consumption of two reality television shows about families. And of course,…
Make It a Funky Weekend
If you’re in the mood for something a little funkier than tonight’s Tool (Toyota Center) vs. Coheed & Cambria (Warehouse Live) prog-off – by the way, C&C opener Clutch’s badass blues-metal stomper From Beale Street to Oblivion is a serious dark horse in my personal album-of-the-year sweepstakes – second-line over…
Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 11: Tough Week, But Take the Texans
During this week’s edition of Long Snaps, Bryan Pittman talks about his team’s belief that they still have a shot at the playoffs this season. Never mind the fact the Texans are the longest of long shots. Athletes, by nature, usually possess a rather myopic view of the sports world…
Drenched In Blog: Van Halen in Houston
Dear Jesus, We come to you in humble reverence. We know that we as a city may not be your favorite, what with our crack habits and red-light cameras. We try hard to please you, though. We have an extremely high church-to-citizen ratio, with places of worship on almost every…
Stay Away from the Katy Freeway
If there’s one thing you don’t want to see when you get an e-mail talking about the Katy Freeway, the West Loop and the Beltway, it’s the phrase “total closure.” But that ominous phrase shows up continually in the awe-inspiringly lengthy list of traffic warnings for the weekend we’ve printed…
Music at the Y, Minus the Village People
For some mysterious reason, most people’s musical knowledge of the YMCA begins and ends with the dance routine depicted here and probably the last wedding you attended. But Houston’s newest outpost of the 163-year-old service organization, located at 5801 West Orem, wants to change that. The West Orem Y is…
John Royal’s NFL Picks, Week 11: Andre Johnson Is Back, But Take the Saints Anyway
Okay, I know, I know, I had another crappy weekend last week. Live with it. I know I’m learning to. When your record is 58-86, all that you can do is just live with it. And this week brings a slate of games that are just, for lack of a…
The Mystery of the Crowne Plaza Hotel Demolition
There’s been a lot of talk this week about the possibility a person might’ve been inside the building during the implosion of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Here’s hoping nothing turns up. Or at the very least, let’s pray it was just Ted Danson in a top hat and tux. –…
The College Football Preview, Week 12: Now with 84 Percent Fewer References to Erin Andrews
Okay, I’ve been informed that the way to get hits is to mention Erin Andrews and Playboy. But that would be wrong. Just wrong. And I don’t do wrong. So, I’m not going to go mentioning Erin Andrews and Playboy. I’m just not going to do it. So let’s put…
Radio Houstoned: Gypsy
Courtesy of Masquerade Theatre Rebekah Dahl and Laura Gray Click the button below for a Radio Houstoned podcast with Rebekah Dahl and Houston Press Night & Day Editor Olivia Flores Alvarez. How do you go from a boyish tomboy to a sexy, sultry burlesque star? Well, it helps if you…
Aubrey Huff Loves the Ladies, Part Two: Now with Video!
Daniel Kramer Okay, I’m beginning to become a huge fan of Aubrey Huff. To recap, Aubrey’s in trouble for calling Baltimore – the current home of the team for which he plays – a horseshit town. And he made this statement on Bubba The Love Sponge’s radio show. He also…
The Carnicería Connoisseur: Celaya Meat Market #4 on Bissonnet
A fellow Carnicería Connoisseur sent me this e-mail on November 16: Robb, Any recommendations for a good one (carniceria) to try in SW Houston? I am a teacher and have a two year old, so I don’t have as much time to try as many new places (alone) like I…
$13 at Zydeco Louisiana Diner on Pease
Where: Zydeco Louisiana Diner, 1119 Pease, 713-759-2001 What $13 gets you: More than enough to leave you happily burping for hours. The day I visited I had the fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread and sweet tea. One friend tried the chicken fricassee, another friend tried the shrimp po’boy…
Miss Pop Rocks: Target v. Wal-Mart, the Battle Royal!
As the holiday season approaches, it’s got Miss Pop Rocks thinking about her favorite store in the whole world, Target, as well as her shopping nemesis, Wal-Mart. While I’ve created a conspiracy theory that some government-paid psychologist designed the Target bulls-eye logo to compel us to shop more (and thereby…
Last Night: The Evens at NoTsuOh
The Evens November 14, 2007 NoTsuOh Better than: Standing around until midnight drinking $5 Lone Star out of a plastic cup in a glorified high-school gym with black walls, while “Running With the Devil” blares at maximum volume from a forbidding wall of speakers. Download: “Shelter Two” or “Pushed Up…
Barry Bonds Indicted on Charges of Perjury and Obstruction of Justice
The breaking news is that Barry Bonds has just been indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. And I suppose my reaction is: After four years, that’s it? That’s the best the feds can do? However, I’m quite confident this is all the Chron’s Richard Justice and Jose de…
Long Snaps with Bryan Pittman: Swimming with Belugas and Dreaming of Playoffs
www.houstontexans.com Houston Texans’ long-snapper Bryan Pittman returns for more thoughts on life both on and off the gridiron. This week, while going one-on-one with Ballz columnist Jason Friedman, Pittman discusses life after football, the perfect Pats and his favorite daydream. JCF: How was your week off? BP: Well, I went…
Graphing H-Town Rap
Inspired by Rob Harvilla’s mathematical dissertation on Mims’s “This Is Why I’m Hot,” and the similar exercises in graphed hip-hop here, I decided to try my hand at graphing some H-Town rap classics. I hope you enjoy them…
Drenched In Blog: Japanese Melody Roads and Songs for Houston’s Highways
My knowledge of Japanese culture is only based on what I see in fashion magazines and the Sanrio store in the Galleria. By and large, Japanese people scare me. They seem to be extremely happy all the time and as far as I know, all the women walk around dressed…
Coach Kevin Constantine Talks Sugar Land, Sharks, Penguins and Aeros
I had the chance this week to sit down and interview Houston Aeros coach Kevin Constantine. We met at the Aeros training facility in Sugar Land, and spent about an hour discussing various things involving hockey, Houston and the coach’s life. The Aeros are the primary developmental squad of the…
Houston Texans Cheerleaders in 360 Degrees
I confess. I don’t spend as much time over at the Texans Web site as maybe I should. Otherwise, I would’ve known of the Web features involving the Texans cheerleaders long before I read about them over at Deadspin.com. What features, you’re asking? Well, did you know that not only…
Coming Up: Turkeys of the Year
Thanksgiving not only means turkeys on the plate, it means turkeys on the page. The Houston Press’s Fifth Annual Turkeys of the Year package comes out next week. And this year it’s completely Sugar Land-free!! No Tom DeLay! No Shelley “Dracula Cunt” Sekula-Gibbs!! (Sorry, Wonkette.) There was no shortage of…
Rockets-Lakers from Press Row: T-Mac Goes Down, Derek Fisher Steps Up
“I wonder if he’s just trying to get out of baby duty. You sprain your elbow, it’s kind of tough to hold a baby at 2 o’clock in the morning.” –Kobe Bryant, jokingly questioning whether the timing of Tracy McGrady’s injury had anything to do with the birth of T-Mac’s…
The Carnicería Connoisseur: HEB’s Mi Tienda in Pasadena
According to the sign out front, Mi Tienda is HEB’s version of a “carniceria.” And at 63,000 feet, it’s a pretty impressive effort. After a tour of the place, I sampled the $5 torta Cubana. This awesome sandwich starts with a fresh bolillo, spread with refried beans on the bottom…
Radio Houstoned: Martin Limón and The Wandering Ghost
Click the button below to listen to Martin Limón reading from The Wandering Ghost. In Martin Limón’s The Wandering Ghost, it’s the early 1970s and a female MP is AWOL from the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Or is she? Maybe she’s been kidnapped. Maybe she’s been raped and murdered. Nobody knows…
Emanuel Ax and the Houston Symphony
Few artists in the classical music world command the respect that pianist Emanuel Ax does. As a young boy, Ax left his native Poland (where both his parents were concentration camp survivors) and settled in Canada before going on to the Juilliard School of Music. Considered one of the greatest…
Santa vs. the Snowman, in 3D
It might be the season to be jolly, but everyone isn’t in the Christmas spirit. In fact, in the movie Santa vs. the Snowman, there’s about to be a beat-down. Of course, it’s Snowman’s fault; he tried to steal a flute from Santa’s workshop. Snowman claims innocence, but Santa’s no…
Houston Art Crawl
Fifteen years ago, Houston’s downtown was in a sorry state: blighted, gloomy and abandoned. Determined to change things, several warehouse district artists threw open their studio doors and invited the public to see their work. The Houston ArtCrawl was born. Today, the downtown area is hot, and the ArtCrawl is…
“Verdura: The Life and Work of a Master Jeweler”
No other 20th-century designer took jewelry from mere decoration to legitimate art form more than Fulco di Verdura (actually, that’s Duke Fulco di Verdura, since he was born a Sicilian duke). In “Verdura: The Life and Work of a Master Jeweler,” the newest exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural…
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka upped the ante for poet laureates. His controversial response to 9/11, “Somebody Blew Up America,” implies Israel and the U.S. had ties to the tragedy. The poem lit a fire under Jim McGreevey, then governor of New Jersey. McGreevey tried to remove Baraka as New Jersey poet laureate…
Friendzgiving
Friendzgiving (that’s Thanksgiving, Young Republic-style) involves food, glitter and pilgrim hats. Never celebrated Friendz-giving? Don’t worry, no one else has either. Arts group the Young Republic just invented the alternative holiday/crafts fair. Here’s how it works: First, a select group of artists gets together at the Joanna Gallery on November…
Jean-Baptiste André
It’s a disappointing moment for many a young professional when you realize that instead of college, you could have gone to circus school. France’s Jean-Baptiste André, who appears tonight at DiverseWorks to perform “Comme en Plein Jour” (“As in Full Day”), attended not one but two of the world’s finest…
The Come Latelys
The Come Latelys are the reason you dwell on a breakup. The Austin quintet’s -country-style tunes are what you want to hear as you put both elbows on the bar and order another beer to fill with tears. Their sound would be best filed under alt–country, as it teeters between…
Rent
Rent’s diverse ensemble of vagabond characters — including Roger, an HIV-positive musician, and Mimi, an exotic dancer who also has the disease — sing and dance their way through struggles with poverty and the yuppie invasion of their beloved East Village neighborhood. The playwright, the late Jonathan Larson, who was…
“November Group Show”
Candice Goodwin, Crystal Owens, Tahamia Spain and Salli Babbitt are among the artists participating in Mind Puddles’s “November Group Show.” The four artists met through their work with the Art League Houston, becoming friends and co-conspirators. Throughout the last five years, the group has been exhibiting together in various combinations…
Via Colori
For the next two days, Houstonians will be able to see the dull, gray streets of downtown transformed into works of art right before their eyes. The annual Via Colori (street of colors) festival at the Sam Houston Park this year features over 175 volunteer artists working in the pastel…
“Seasons of Sharing”
Where can you find Santa Claus, a dreidel, a telescope and a “No Room” sign? At “Seasons of Sharing,” of course. The new Children’s Museum of Houston exhibit explores winter celebrations from around the world. There’s Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, and Las Posadas. There’s also Diwali, Kwanza and the Lunar New…
Salvage Vanguard Theater’s The Intergalactic Nemesis
The creators of the play The Intergalactic Nemesis like to raid the kitchen. “When we originally did the show, it literally was like going through our kitchens to find stuff to make noises with,” says Jason Neulander, a founding member of Salvage Vanguard Theater. “A lot of those original sounds…
Schoolhouse Rock Live!
It’s still great to learn, and knowledge is still power. Doubt it? Then check out Schoolhouse Rock Live!, the musical revue that brings to life all those catchy lessons in math, science, history and grammar from the still-going-strong Saturday morning cartoon from the ‘70s. Sure, the show is meant for…
“Robert Ryman: 1976”
“Robert Ryman: 1976” is certain to provoke discussion. Known as the guy who does the all-white paintings, Ryman has experimented with self-imposed restraint. He chose to use mostly different shades and types of white paint. By limiting himself to a minimalist language, much in the way monks adopt a lifestyle…
Houston Badminton Open
Thomas Isaac wasn’t surprised we had our doubts about the levels of intensity at the Houston Badminton Open. “Probably one of the biggest disservices badminton has in this country is that when people mention [it], the first answer they say is, ‘Yes, I played that in my high school, ‘“…
“Nan Goldin: Stories Retold”
This week’s opening of the exhibition “Nan Goldin: Stories Retold” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston couldn’t be better timed. Goldin is known for her stark depictions of aggressive sexuality and drug addiction. “Stories Retold,” which includes the American museum debut of Goldin’s installation Sisters, Saints, and Sibyls, as…
Festival of Lights/Polar Express in 4D
Moody Gardens’ Festival of Lights features a mile-long trail with hundreds of twinkling lights and decorations. Organizers boast that the festival is the largest event of its kind in the Gulf Coast area, and we believe them. This year there are more than 50 new sparkling displays. Expect the traditional…
Gypsy
How do you go from a tomboy to a sexy, sultry burlesque star? Well, it helps if you have a domineering, fame-crazed mother. Gypsy has that. The true (well, kinda true) story of Gypsy Rose Lee, the Masquerade Theatre’s production stars Rebekah Dahl as Mama Rose and Laura Gray as…
Nights on Blue Bayou: City Soundscapes
“SONA: Wind, Rain, and Trains!” mixes music, video and the outdoors. For today’s performance, part of the Nights on Blue Bayou: CITY SOUNDSCAPES series, video artist Alfred Guzzetti teams with composer Kurt Stallmann and the Enso String Quartet to create a program that combines live music with a series of…
“Little Known Facts”
Local artist Michael Guidry wanted to give art fans a behind-the-scenes view of a few artists. “Most people never get to see that,” says Guidry. “They never get to go to the artist’s studios or their houses — they never get to see the environment that they live in, work…
20/21 New Music Ensemble
Don’t expect music by dead guys at today’s performance of classical music by the 20/21 New Music Ensemble. Sure, the term “classical” implies “archaic” and “outmoded” to many, but it actually encompasses a wide variety of compositions spanning from hundreds of years ago to the present day. The 20/21 New…
Martin Limón
In Martin Limón’s The Wandering Ghost, it’s the early 1970s and a female MP is AWOL from the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Or is she? Maybe she’s been kidnapped. Maybe she’s been raped and murdered. Nobody knows for sure, but Sergeants George Sueño and Ernie Bascom aim to find out. Oh,…
Circle Takes the Square
Atlanta’s Circle Takes the Square isn’t the first hardcore group to feature duo vocals, but the group is one of the few to mix genders. Bassist Kathy Coppola and guitarist Drew Speziale combine their talents for scratchy, on-key screaming laid over their fast-paced, hardcore sound. Breakdowns feature softer sounds as…
Tool
Tool’s appeal has always been about escapism. The seminal four-piece’s alt-metal lurks in the shadows, exploring the darker aspects of society through a calculated mix of complicated rhythms and ambiguous, esoteric lyricism. “There’s a third dimension that we’re trying to evoke by drawing together the imagery and music, a depth…
5 Wines That Will Blow Your Mind
Russell Masraff co-owns the Euro-American restaurant Masraff’s on South Post Oak with his father, Tony Masraff. Tony is all about cigars, and Russell is all about wines. Together, they have created a loyal following. Russell Masraff: “I am not a wine geek, I just love wine. I either like…
Bottomless Pit, Hammer of the Gods
When Silkworm drummer Michael Dahlquist died in a 2005 car wreck, he took one of indie rock’s most consistent and underappreciated bands with him. Now his former bandmates, guitarists Andy Cohen and Tim Midgett, have unveiled Bottomless Pit, so Silkworm is anything but forgotten, and BP shows the same patience…
Insect Warfare
Last year in Mobile, Alabama, my band the Jonx played a show organized by a teenage girl named Alex. Afterward, she was counting the door money and asked where we were from. “Houston.” Little did we expect the pixieish suburban girl’s reply: “Houston? That’s the power-violence capital of the South!”…
Chris Brown
Chris Brown has been well known to the screaming underage masses for a minute now, but he broke out to a wider audience at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. There, he perfectly parroted the Gloved One’s Moonwalk dance, prompting Justin Timberlake to tell the world he felt old. This…
Glass Candy
When Ida No was deciding what to call her glam-inflected, no-wave-channeling, minimalist-disco, shrapnel-shrieking dance floor mindfuck of a band, she must have had an Archimedean moment of epiphany. No and friends took the elements of Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, the anti-everything cacophony of James Chance and Lydia Lunch and Siouxsie Sioux’s…
The Princess Bride, Killer of Sheep, Innocence, La Vie en Rose
The Princess Bride: 20th Anniversary Edition (MGM) As far as anniversary-edition DVDs go, The Princess Bride is crushingly disappointing: no Rob Reiner commentary track, no outtakes, no making-of doc, no nothing, save for a lousy game and a few short interviews with Robin Wright Penn, Mandy Patinkin, Christopher Guest and…
Anne McCue
In her relatively short career, Aussie blueswoman Anne McCue has played all over the world, veering in such seemingly opposing directions as Lilith Fair and the bars and hotels of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. McCue was struck with the blues after watching D.A. Pennebaker’s Bob Dylan documentary Don’t Look…
Local Motion
Vinal Edge Records 13171 Veterans Memorial Dr., 281-537-2575 1. Daniel Johnston, Hi How Are You (LP reissue) 2. Einsturzende Neubauten, Alles Wieder Offen 3. Plastic Idols, Singles. Demos & Live 4. Ween, La Cucaracha 5. Mum, Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy 6. Supersilent, 8 7. Oren Ambarchi, In the…
Little Brother
“I came back from NY, nigga lost his deal. Felt sick to the stomach, almost lost his meal,” raps Phonte on Getback’s first track, “Sirens.” He’s referring to his duo Little Brother’s exit from Atlantic Records after sales from major-label debut The Minstrel Show failed to meet expectations. Getback was…
Feature Photo
Aisle 8 in the Kroger’s at I-10 and Wirt — it’s the go-to place whenever you’re looking for some cock. Cock in a bag, no less. And for 59 cents. Where are you going to get cock for less than 59 cents? (We don’t want to know.) To view image…
Hannah from Heaven
With last week’s announcement of a new Hannah Montana show next March, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo rode in like the U.S. Cavalry to the rescue of many an embittered suburban parent of a tween girl. It’s been a while since there has been such hysteria for any tour…
Stage Capsule Reviews: Fools, The Marriage of Figaro, Over the River and Through the Woods, Rough Night at the Remo Room, The Scene
Fools Community theater gets a bad rap, but Theatre Southwest proves it can be wonderfully charming with its latest production of Fools by Neil Simon. The “comic fable” takes place in a cursed Ukrainian village. The whole town has been made up of fools since long ago, when a count…
Neil Young, Chrome Dreams II
No, you’re not missing an entry in Shakey’s discography. Chrome Dreams II is a sequel to a 1977 record that went unreleased after the notoriously quixotic Young pulled it. Unfortunately, although several numbers from those sessions (“Powderfinger,” “Pocahontas,” “Like a Hurricane”) later became landmarks in Young’s canon, this album is…
No Country for Old Men
“Hold still” — it’s what the hunters say to the hunted in the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men. The first time we hear it, it’s the out-of-work Vietnam vet Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) whispering optimistically to the antelope he spies through his rifle sight while perched on the…
J Dilla and Lupus
As dozens of people take part in Saturday’s Alliance for Lupus Research Walk to Cure Lupus, some of them will be walking not just to support a worthy cause, but to honor the one and only J Dilla. Before lupus complications took him away in February of last year at…
Margot at the Wedding
here are comedies of discomfort, and then there’s Margot at the Wedding, Noah Baumbach’s scalding follow-up to The Squid and the Whale. An immersion in sibling malice and simmering resentment, with one of the most infuriating characters in recent movies holding us under, Margot tramples the commandment that only the…
Political Padre: Raymundo Chávez Vázquez and Illegal Immigration
Raymundo Chávez Vázquez sticks a finger under the collar of his neatly pressed white, button-down shirt, giving himself a little fresh air. He rarely wears his priestly collar anymore. “It restricts my throat,” he says in a scratchy baritone. “Sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe with it on.” With…
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
Midway through the amiable children’s movie Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, there comes a speech that I’ll wager writer-director Zach Helm has been saving for future use ever since he discovered the Bard. As pop philosophy goes, it’s bracing stuff: Paraphrasing King Lear, Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman), a 243-year-old “toy impresario”…
Misfits, a Love Story
I was 16 years old when my older cousin started dating the guy who would turn me on to “punk rock.” This was in a very backward Pennsylvania town during one of my transitional teenage years. By this time, 1996-97, most of the cool kids in my school were in…
Chicago Italian Beef
The Chicago Italian beef sub ($9.25) at Chicago Italian Beef (1777 Airline, 713-862-2828) is a hoagie roll filled with paper-thin slices of beef and dunked in homemade jus. When the server behind the counter asks if you want it “dipped,” meaning with extra jus on the side, say yes. That…
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is less Sidney Lumet’s comeback than his resurrection. Three years after being presented a Lifetime Achievement Oscar, the 83-year-old director comes forth with a violent family melodrama that is his strongest movie in at least two decades. Robustly directed from Kelly Masterson’s bear-trap screenplay…
Dwarves
Dwarves’ Web site brags that their 1990 album, Blood, Guts and Pussy — featuring naked women and a midget drenched in animal blood on the cover, and tales of STDs, prostitution and statutory rape inside — was named by Spin magazine as the “most offensive album of all time.” Sounds…
Jumps Bar and Grill
H-Town’s pollution has its perks. Saturday night, the chemicals in the air created a psychedelic sunset that entertained me as I ventured way the hell out west to Jumps Bar and Grill (13180 Westpark Drive #301, 281-870-8463). This good ole neighborhood bar had a spacious deck, several pool tables, a few…
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Show of hands: Has anyone not heard of Guitar Hero at this point? You sir, in the back row clutching the Ratt cassette — you’re the only one? All right, pal, here’s your recap: Guitar Hero is the most popular music-based game ever made. It comes with a plastic guitar…
Britney Spears, Blackout
Britney has lost her humanity in order to make her best album. Vanished, or rather vocoded and processed, her vocals are just another instrument for Blackout’s cast of top-dollar producers, among them Timbaland protégé Danja, the same Nordic crew that supplied “Toxic,” and Pharrell Williams for sappy closer “Why Should…
“International Discoveries: A Selection of Contemporary Artists from Around the World”
A large color photograph depicts set tables in a rustic, wood-paneled room. Food waits for guests on each plate, and a young girl sits between her parents in her first communion dress, a crown of white polyester flowers on her head. The image, by Przemyslaw Pokrycki, is part of “International…
The Houston Chronicle Cuts, Annotated
As anyone with a passing interest in local journalism knows, the Houston Chronicle announced some pretty stiff cutbacks recently. Famous names either were forced to leave or took a buyout. Editor Jeff Cohen put out a memo explaining it all to the folks who were left. We put the memo…
Coheed and Cambria, No World for Tomorrow
So much about Coheed and Cambria’s work cries out for ridicule: the ’70s-art-rock-derived instrumental wankery, the skyscraping, get-your-Geddy-on vocals… Somehow, though, the act’s fourth album, No World for Tomorrow, works in spite of itself. World represents the final chapter of “The Armory Wars,” the epic tale of Claudio Kilgannon, who…
Art Capsule Reviews: “Ken Little: Heavy Metal, Glow, Bucks & Dough,” “Michael Bise: Birthday,” “Perspectives 158: Kelly Nipper,” “Pompeo Batoni: Prince of Painters in Eighteenth-Century Rome,” “Tom of Finland: Drawings from the ’70s and ’80s”
“Ken Little: Heavy Metal, Glow, Bucks & Dough” Finesilver Gallery is achieving two firsts with its current show. One, it’s the first time Finesilver has committed its three rooms to the work of one artist, and two, it’s the first time some of that artist’s older work has been shown…
Cuervo, Cuervo
Remember when you were little and one week you’d decide you wanted to be a skateboarder, so you’d start saying things like “rad” or “thrash” and pretend like you knew what bearings were? Then, just as quickly, the next week you’d rock some Adidas and say you were a break-dancer?…
Diva
Faded film star Deanna Denninger (Celeste Roberts), the diva of Theater LaB’s Diva, is the first to admit that she “didn’t fuck Harvey Korman without learning a little something about comedy.” Deanna loves to drop names, especially those of her conquests, however fleeting. She learned a little something about lesbians,…
The Astrodome
Our blog, Houstoned, ran a very special guest column by…The Astrodome [“The Astrodome Speaks,” November 2]. Online readers were happy to have a word with the Dome: Orange county: Say it with me…Dynamo Dome! Bonnie Who’s on 8th: Keep the Dome; it was there first. It wasn’t called the 8th…
Is Lou Dobbs Lying about Hospital Closings?
Dear Mexican, Is Lou Dobbs right when he says that close to 80 hospitals in California have been closed down because of the illegals, or is he lying? Cabrones No Necesitamos Dear CNN, Dobbs is right to a certain point, and only in spite of his idiocy. The father of…
Dooney da Priest: “Pull Your Pants Up”
South Dallas rapper Dooney da Priest (real name: Duwayne Brown) has produced two songs of note in the past couple months. The latest one, “Vote No!,” is his foray into politics, a crunk anthem supporting, um, a toll road. Guess writing “Vote no, so the south side of Trinity can…
Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week
The Addams Family: The Complete Series (MGM) Amazing Grace (Fox) Annie Duke’s Texas Hold’em Supercourse (Big Vision) Berlin Alexanderplatz: The Criterion Collection (Criterion) Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition (Sony) Gilmore Girls: The Complete Seventh Season (Warner Bros.) It’s a Wonderful Life: 2-Disc Collector’s Set (Paramount)…
High School Photo Contest
The start of a new school year is rife with expectation, so it comes as little surprise that the latest round of our high school photo contest brought offerings that hinted at action beyond the pictures’ borders. Yasmeen Smalley of Bellaire High School takes home first place for her stellar…
Café Orleans Express
With each bite, the big, fat fried oysters burst into the lettuce, tomato and mayo dressing. The result was a moist, delicious mess in the middle of the poor boy roll. I added a little more Tabasco sauce with each big bite. If you like your oysters juicy, then you…