Re: Dynamo a Go-Go
Photos by Steven Devadanam for HouStoned Images Ltd., Ulmtd. Mayor White pumped up the Dynamo faithful… As promised, Mayor White held his big sendoff for the Houston Dynamo this afternoon at City Hall. Turnout was impressive, especially for Wednesday at lunchtime. The Texian Army was out in full force backed…
Signs, Signs, Everywhere…Oh, You Know Where This Is Going
Courtesy of Signtakers International Hey, you know what you can do with your sign? Now that the elections are over and most of the speeches have been made, we can all take a deep breath and settle back into our daily grinds. One problem: All those damn plastic signs are…
Dynamo a Go-Go
Steven Devadanam for HouStoned Images Ltd., Ulmtd. The Dynamo are *this* close to winning it all. All they need is a visit from you. Really. Quick: Name the Houston professional football franchise that has gone to a championship game in the first year of its existence. (Cue crickets/tumbleweeds) Okay, so…
Democracy Watch
Bell: Kicking it Intercontinental You’ve done your civic duty, and now it’s time to see if your guy or gal is going pull through tonight. If you want to scream for your candidate with like-minded voters, rather than sit through “Decision 2006” coverage at home, you’ve got options after the…
News from the Fighting 478th
Randall Kallinen is running in a *very* Republican district. No prob for the prez of Houston’s ACLU chapter, right? My folks live in the ‘burbs, and since I never seem to stay anywhere long enough to bother changing my voter registration, that means I’m part of the Fighting 478th, deep…
The Bell Hath Told
Photos by Steven Devadanam for HouStoned Images Ltd., Ulmtd. Just a little awkward, media-packed sign-in… It’s probably safe to say that no single voter in Houston will get this much dramatic media attention as he or she contributes to democracy today. Ready to cast their votes, gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell…
Wheel of Fortune
Seems folks in Tom Delay land had no problem with write-in voting. The line was out the door at 7 a.m. today when poll worker Petra Reyes showed up to man her station deep in Tom DeLay land. Stationed at Elkins High School in Fort Bend County, Reyes said by…
Behind the Net
All photos by Steven Devadanam for HouStoned Images Ltd., Ulmtd. The Dynamo started the ass kicking early (note Rapids goalie Cannon sitting in his net in defeat)… Let me preface this by saying I haven’t exactly been the biggest Dynamo fan. Quite frankly, as a die-hard football (American) fan, fall…
Futbol S & M
Photos by Steven Devadanam for HouStoned Images Ltd., Ulmtd. The Dynamo crowd: changed, revitalized and nuts. I was crushed up against a chain link fence and I couldn’t fight my way free. I was yelling: “Stop It!” “Quit it!” “Get Away!” But the gang of pre-teen and teenage boys wouldn’t…
No Tsu Oh – Version 2.0
On November 1, All Saints Day, No Tsu Oh reopened in its old location after a hiatus of three years. Pirtle and Pierce are still hard at work trying to de-sleekify the spot. Clark’s recording studio / dance club, the joint that was in place there between No Tsu Oh’s…
Get On Board
Finally, skaters, an art show for you. It’s art for your daily grind. Tonight Commerce Street Artists Warehouse hosts “Houston, Are You Board?,” a skate deck art auction benefiting Public Use Skate parks for Houston (P.U.S.H.). Up for grabs (get it grabs, it’s a skateboard — never mind) are more…
Caged Heat
Malisow’s on tha mike, y’all… As you’re driving around tonight engaging in various acts of debauchery, we suggest you tune into KPFT ’round 9 p.m. We’re not stumping for the venerable Pacifica station, we’re in fact plugging a guest appearance by our own Craig Malisow on KPFT’s “Prison Show.” Craig,…
A KO for Cuadra
KennethCuadra.com We think Andy Garcia should play Cuadra (right) if there’s every a movie made about this story. We’ve been checking former HISD employee Kenneth Cuadra’s website daily since the news that Harris County dropped their charges against him. It took a while (one assumes the Cuadras were too busy…
Ken Lay and Glenda Dawson: Gone, But Not Forgotten
Supporters say Dawson, while dead, makes for an exciting candidate. Candidates who’re labeled “stiff ” run for election all the time. But “dead?” People in State Representative Glenda Dawson’s district have been receiving mailers touting Dawson’s many achievements. The folks running her campaign are asking voters to support Dawson in…
A Healer Needs Some Healin’
Courtesy of Luther & The Healers We’re pulling for ya, Magic. Magic, bass player for Luther and the Healers, needs some healing of his own these days. Seems he’s laid up in the hospital and should be there for another week or so. While Magic’s condition is serious, it is…
Now That’s Some Gonzo Journalism
The HST music quote is now the equivalent of that e-mail from Nigeria that you’re about to get. Three or four years ago, whenever some Internet message board conversation about some nefarious music business deed would get particularly hot, some wise soul would step back and unfurl what Hunter S…
All of Borat, All of Time
Dammit, with all the Borat hoopla, I can’t get his broken English out of my head. For the last two weeks, I’ve been “laughing on” the comedic stylings of my coworkers John and Rich. I can’t stop excitedly refering to the restroom as a “lav-a-torrrry.” And I’ve developed a new…
Plantain and Simple
Photos by Robb Walsh You can find the truck ’round Westheimer and Fondren. Sabor Venezolano is the name of a taco truck at Westheimer and Fondren that specializes in arepas, meat pies and plantain dishes from Venezuela. A Venezuelan family who had gathered there to eat lunch highly recommended that…
Plantain and Simple
Photos by Robb Walsh You can find the truck ’round Westheimer and Fondren. Sabor Venezolano is the name of a taco truck at Westheimer and Fondren that specializes in arepas, meat pies and plantain dishes from Venezuela. A Venezuelan family who had gathered there to eat lunch highly recommended that…
Candidate of the Year
In a turbulent electoral season full of distasteful political ads — does anyone out there really want to be forced to think about Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s love life? — there is one man who stands as a shining beacon of common sense. He is Steve Hoyland, and he is running…
On the Road
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is funnier than its malapropic title — the audience with whom I saw the movie wasn’t laughing so much as howling — and even more difficult to parse. Eyes wide, face fixed in an avid grin, Sacha Baron…
Country Time
As he tries to pry his beak through his cage, a blue and orange parrot named Chivas offers some background vocals to a twangy Hank Williams, Jr. tune. “All for the love of sunshine… ” croons Hank through the speakers. “Hello,” croaks the parrot. “All for the love of sunshine…”…
What Would Jigsaw Do?
Milestone in Motion Picture History: On Halloween weekend, 2006, Saw III grossed $34.3 million to become the Iraq war-era’s bloodiest chart-topping torture movie whose victims don’t include Jesus of Nazareth. God or Jack Valenti only knows how this work of pure entertainment got away with an R rating “for strong…
Out on a Limb
Taz Bentley and Vaden Todd Lewis found themselves in a bit of a bind in 2002. They had a hit single, but they didn’t have a band. “I had been with [Reverend] Horton Heat and [Vaden] had been with the Toadies,” says Bentley, who, like Lewis, lives in Dallas. “We…
Playing Nice
With music from Leonard Bernstein, lyrics from Stephen Sondheim and a Shakespearian love story filled with melodrama, West Side Story has remained one of Broadway’s most loved musicals. Add in some of the smoothest jazz moves ever performed on the Great White Way, coming from the famed choreographer Jerome Robbins,…
Bad Vibrations
Another week, another titanic bummer on the music scene. After months of rumors, it has become official. By the time you read this, Helios, the king-hell funky music/poetry/dance/art venue on lower Westheimer, will have closed. It will re-open in January, with the live music component scaled back enormously. The culprit,…
Capsule Reviews
A Bad Night’s Sleep This crazy-quilt revue from the loons at Radio Music Theatre is really a show about nothing, but RMT out-Seinfelds Seinfeld — and is much funnier to boot. Although one of the 14 Fertle Family shows, Sleep keeps our favorite family gang off stage until Act II…
Alpha Music by an Omega Male
Australian pianist and composer John B. Levine says his music will do you good. And not just in an ‘aren’t you a cultured jack-ass?” kind of way. He says his CDs, which are sold only through his Web site, www.silenceofmusic.com, can not only help you relax, but can even affect…
Authors of “Authenticity”
In 2005, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston organized “African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection.” With work by 33 artists from 15 countries — all part of one Swiss guy’s collection — the show purported to represent the state of contemporary art from Africa, a continent with…
Getting the V from E.O.D.
E.O.D. Squad East Side rappers Indecent and Arch are nothing if not honest. “Do you play into that whole ‘gotta get shot to get street cred’ 50 Cent school of thinking?” I ask them. “No, not us. We just are ourselves and that’s enough,” says Indecent. “I’m just me, and…
Capsule Reviews
DiverseWorks: J Hill’s Sound Installations You can hear the Sonny Liston/Muhammad Ali fight in the bathroom at DiverseWorks. It’s part of an ongoing series of sound installations by artist J Hill in the arts space’s two public bathrooms. Hill dotted the walls and ceiling of the bathroom with speakers, transforming…
Dream Girl
Two things you need to know before you go to the Red Cat Jazz Caf: Don’t go if you’re not pretty. Don’t go if you can’t jam. The Red Cat (924 Congress, 713-226-7870) has a regular lineup of live music throughout the week, but today, like most Tuesdays, it’s Jokes…
SPECIAL FOUR-PART EDITION
Dear Mexican, A friend says she read somewhere that only 20 percent of Mexican men will go down on their ladies. I don’t believe that. Can you “spread” some light on the subject? El Gabacho Guapo Dear Handsome Gabacho, Let me penetrate the thrust of your friend’s argument by referring…
Buddy Guy
Along with B.B. King, George “Buddy” Guy is perhaps the quintessential modern blues singer/guitarist. Born in 1936, Guy came from the original wave of Chicago blues players that made a major impact on rock ‘n’ roll, establishing himself with Howlin’ Wolf, Koko Taylor and Muddy Waters before going solo –…
Dj Dance
Publisher: Konami
Platform: PS2
Price: $39.99
ESRB Rating: E+10 (for Everyone 10+)
Score: 8 (out of 10)
Pitbull
Pitbull’s newest CD, El Mariel, includes lines like “Welcome to the real Dade County/where we’re soldiers from birth to the hearse/that’s why my childhood included a bulletproof vest,” and “Welcome to the real Miami/where we live to die.” Typical rapper throw-down boasts, yes, but that’s the only thing that’s typical…
Impossibly Passable
Mission: Impossible III: Special Edition (Paramount) On the commentary track, director J.J. Abrams and star Tom Cruise sound like they’ve fallen in love; you might say they complete each other’s sentences, except that’s just Cruise interrupting the Alias creator, who rescued a franchise by streamlining it, lightening it, brightening it,…
Deftones
All right, ten bucks to anyone who can explain how the Deftones have managed to remain salient years after their so-called n-metal contemporaries were either toe-tagged or devolved into shameless parodies of themselves. On their latest effort, Saturday Night Wrist, Chino Moreno and company sound every bit as vital as…
Our top DVD picks for the week of November 2
Baywatch: Season 1 (First Look) The Benny Hill Collection (Music Video Dist.) CSI: Miami — The Complete Fourth Season (Paramount) Down to the Bone (Hart Sharp) Future-Kill: Limited Collector’s Edition (Subversive) Ghost in the Shell SAC: Complete Collection (Manga) The Ghost Whisperer: The Complete First Season (Paramount) Hardcastle and McCormick:…
Danava
While purists continue splitting hairs over “true” heavy-metal style, Danava combs the genre into a weave of fantastic art-rock wizardry that leaves the stick-straight by the wayside. For its full-length debut, Kemado Records’ dark horse moves between kohl-cloaked glam and by-the-misty-bog Zeppelin hallucination fantasies; gargantuan stoner rhythms and high caterwauls…
Primus
You don’t have to be a dork to like Primus, but these days it sure helps. Dismissed by critics and hipsters alike as “cartoonish weirdo wankery” and almost universally named as the scapegoat for the n-metal holocaust of the late ’90s, Les Claypool and company may have a hard time…
Don’t Free SPM
Monster: Your article on South Park Mexican and the “Free SPM” campaign allows the young who only hear of SPM through his music to really see and understand what this monster did [“Ask Another Mexican,” by Olivia Flores Alvarez, October 19]. I commend your article for detailing all the facts…
Social Distortion
Mainliner; Mommy’s Little Monster; Prison Bound; Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell; White Light, White Heat, White Trash; Sex, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll: Mike Ness’s record titles read like a parole officer’s worst nightmare. Ness’s seminal Orange County punk band Social Distortion always took that Elvis “Jailhouse Rock” fantasy and…
The Measure of Kielbasa
At Polonia, the Polish restaurant on Blalock, two glistening kielbasas, topped with fried onions and scored with a knife for easy slicing, came to the table on a hot skillet. Beside them was a pile of fresh-made sauerkraut and a crock of creamy brown mustard. The hot-grease sound effects and…
Red Elvises
Sporting sexy Russian accents and a bass guitar shaped like a giant red triangle (okay, it’s an electric contrabass balalaika), not to mention Euro-rockabilly garb so loud it could shatter glass and the occasional accordion, the Red Elvises are one of America’s most easily recognizable novelty acts. They must also…
SHAY MCELROY’S
There’s an old Irish proverb that says, “A drink always precedes a story.” With this in mind, I stop by Shay McElroy’s Irish Pub (909 Texas, 713-223-2444) to sit down for a story or four. I strike up a conversation with a lovely woman named Maria and ask her what…
Getting Schooled
The rain, on this October Sunday afternoon, is coming down as a near-solid mass, the kind of rain where you wait in your parked car for five minutes vainly hoping for a slight letup. Finally you give in and get soaked as you scramble to the Rice Village campaign headquarters…
Joshua Radin
If you watch prime-time television, you’ve probably already heard of Joshua Radin — his songs are regularly part of the Brothers and Sisters, Scrubs, North Shore and Grey’s Anatomy soundtracks. His mellow, intensely meaningful acoustic tunes are perfect for one-last-look-love affair moments on angsty television dramas and end credits. But…
Getting Schooled: Bombs Away
The biggest concern among residents of the seventh congressional district, according to U.S. Rep. John Culberson, is not the Iraq War, it’s illegal immigration. “And now that I’ve achieved my first goal in Congress, which was to get the Katy Freeway rebuilt ASAP, I am totally focused on securing our…
Hot Pocket
Hot pocket: The zebra pasta ($28) at Sambuca (909 Texas, 713-224-5299) features a huge piece of pasta; one edge of it is turned over itself, forming a sort of large “pocket.” The pasta is multicolored — if it were monotone, it would definitely look boring. The pocket is filled with…