Kid Wonder
Twenty years ago an 18-year-old violinist whose credentials included being a featured soloist for major symphony orchestras in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit and Boston would have been unusual. Today, while it’s not exactly the norm, it’s not all that unusual either. The child prodigy is the current marketing gimmick…
Bayou Moderne
Chef Greg Webb has been a player in the Houston restaurant scene for many years, but until now, his influence has been more felt than seen. Webb has worked in some of the hottest kitchens in town: at the Sierra Grill with Robert McGrath, in Tony Vallone’s La Griglia, and…
Dish
Dosvedanya Owner Yakov Shteyman of Yakov’s Deli is hopping mad at his landlord and his neighbors in the strip shopping center at 3925 Richmond. “They are jealous of my place; I have so many customers,” he says. “The landlord doubled my rent and tells me if I don’t like it,…
Teenaged Terror
Today’s kids live in a world rich with violent images. Every tot-friendly character, from studly Nintendo kick-boxers to the utterly ironic Itchy and Scratchy, seems to enjoy blowing, cutting or stomping off their opponents’ heads on a minute-by-minute basis these days. Just how much and how deeply these electronic images…
Tired and on a Farewell Tour?
Bearing the cross of “Next Big Thing” since their 1993 debut, Icky Mettle, Chapel Hill, N.C.’s Archers of Loaf have never been able to put it down. Given the timing of their admission into the world and their specific geography, it was assumed by many that North Carolina would ignite…
Home Despots
When I was a student at Rice University, an architecture major designed a house which had a frieze of words going around the high-ceilinged living room. I can’t remember what the words were — a quote from Debord or Deleuze or Bataille, no doubt — but the whole point was…
Rotation
Medeski, Martin and Wood Combustication Blue Note The keyboard, bass and drums trio of Medeski, Martin and Wood have been a favorite on the college jazz circuit for a few years. Blending elements of avant-garde jazz, soul-jazz, rock and funk, they’ve become the crossover jazz band of the late nineties…
Allen’s Landing
Holed up with his Sidney Bechet records, old flannel shirts and dog-eared copy of War and Peace, Woody Allen has made a second career of shunning fad, fashion and fame — and of ostensibly keeping to himself in the most populous city in the United States. No nouveau-grooveau glitz or…
Talk About Speedy Delivery
Anytime a new technology can cause a lawsuit to prevent its being marketed and sold, it raises hopes that something really cool or revolutionary is on the way. With the evolving music format, MP3, and more specifically portable MP3 players, it may be a little too soon to expect greatness,…
Throne Out
Even students of English history may have trouble sorting out the palace intrigues and intragovernmental conspiracies that fill Elizabeth, the handsome new production about Queen Elizabeth I’s ascension to the British throne in 1558. With the bewitching Australian actress Cate Blanchett (last year’s Oscar and Lucinda) in the title role,…
Kontroversy
Only in America could a band like Korn simultaneously be so adored and scorned. Borrowing from a myriad of musical styles and cultures, the Bakersfield, California rap-metal-funk-alternative quintet adopts hip-hop fashion, surfer-dude attitude and heavy metal partying in order to create the most anticipated heavy rock record of the year,…
The Great Sucking Sound
Bart Sipriano sits on the hood of his run-down pickup truck parked outside his shack and takes in a slice of East Texas he’s proud to call his very own. There’s a meadow, flowering weeds and tall grasses rippling in the breeze. There’s an old barn, exposed to the elements,…
Feeling at Ease
Kellye Gray is cool. Not Miles Davis cool, though certainly she has some elements of that. It’s more like your best friend kind of cool. The kind of cool that makes you feel at ease. You want to shoot the breeze with her because she’s engaging, and you’ll laugh your…
The Patron
Before attending a polo match, said Sheri Roane, “the first question everyone asks is, ‘What should I wear?’ I always say, ‘Sporty casual.’ ” As for herself, the marketing director of the Houston Polo Club was dressed in silk and gazing through black Perry Ellis sunglasses. She looked wholly unprepared…
Gergiev the Great
Latecomers to Thursday’s Kirov Orchestra performance at Jones Hall didn’t have to suffer through the first half of the concert waiting outside to be seated after the intermission. The 8 p.m. start came and went while the concert crowd continued to swell. Ten minutes later, the stage was still empty…
A Killer By Any Other Name
Walter Waldhauser Jr., the middleman in one of Houston’s most infamous greed-driven murder-for-hire plots, and who is apparently still attempting to make money off the deaths of others, could soon find himself behind bars again. Following an October 22 Houston Press article [“Making A Killing”], officials with the state Board…
Hot Plate
As the T-shirt exhorts, I’ve been thanking my lucky stars since 1977 — not just for the barbecue served by Goode Co. (5109 Kirby, 522-2530; 8911 Katy Frwy., 464-1901), but also for Jim Goode’s Famous Brazos Bottom Pecan Pie. This impeccable pie boasts a flaky crust, a gooey, sweet-but-not-too-sweet light…
Brother, Can You Spare a Vanity Video?
While he was alive, Houston’s greatest business and political godfather, Jesse Jones, knew better than anyone how to control a municipality while wringing the maximum amount of personal profit out of it as well. Despite a spotty education which ended at the eighth grade, Jones had a natural instinct for…
Vested Interests
Every so often our cup of civic hypocrisy overflows, and The Insider feels the urge to share the bounty with readers and purge it from our computer system. Notables this week include At Large City Councilman Joe Roach, who used his official position to champion a request by the Annunciation…
News of the Weird
Lead Stories *In September a Tennessee appeals court rejected a woman’s challenge to a child custody ruling that she said endangers her 12-year-old son. According to the court: “Record does not support finding that unsupervised visitation with husband puts child in danger. (T)here is not one whisper of anything improper…
Letters
OverPOOPulation Thanks, Darcel Rockett, for publicizing Bill Thompson’s campaign to encourage responsible dog ownership [“Downtown Dumping, Dog-Style,” November 5]. And welcome, Mr. Thompson, to a growing citizenry. Rampant poop and “poop rage” are not problems confined to downtown. This poop winds up in our storm drains and bayous, ultimately polluting…
Edifice Complex
I’ve always been amused by Bob Lanier’s story that he started the Houston Image Group because he discovered, while on a trip out of town, that Houston has a bad reputation. I mean, was it the man’s first time out of the city? And what was Lanier’s vision of Houston,…
Space City
For years, the eyesore of Allen Parkway Village — the now-famous public housing project built during the 1940s — has lingered indiscreetly between Houston’s glittering downtown skyline and the sagging and silent destitution of the Fourth Ward. Many of the site’s buildings have been bulldozed over the last few years…
Night & Day
Thursday November 19 Enough with the patches, the pills, the nicotine gum and those weird little contraptions that punch air holes in your filters. The American Cancer Society claims you can quit cold turkey if you can just get through one day — the 22nd annual Great American Smokeout –…