Big Boobs: Breast Implant Lawsuits Aren’t Always Pretty
When Houston attorney Gary Pitts cautioned the Houston City Council in 2002 about appointing former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas and well-known philanthropist and lawyer Arthur Schechter to chairman of METRO, Pitts alluded to something “ethically questionable” that Schechter allegedly did on behalf of former president Bill Clinton. The City…
Lingering Long on Love Street
Before you check out the Black Angels this weekend at Warehouse Live or watch Roky Erickson’s recently taped Austin City Limits episode (featuring special guest Billy Gibbons; scheduled to air January 12), David Adickes will help you brush up on the early days of Texas psych 7:30 p.m. tonight at…
Art Briles Hired by Baylor
Well, it’s now official. Art Briles is off to Baylor. As I said, if he finds a way to win at that program, he’s on the fast track to the big time. If he fails, he’s on the fast track to Division II. What’s going to be interesting to me…
Well, What Do We Have Here?
Houston Press staffer Olivia Flores Alvarez was on the way to work this morning when she saw a caravan of six trucks hauling …uh, well… we don’t know what exactly. They look like something aeronautical but we’re not sure what. What do you think these are?…
Joel Osteen Is a Power Top
Not-gay-in-any-way-whatsoever magazine Details has just released its “Power 50” list, which ranks H-town’s own man of God Joel Osteen at number 16. At first glance, this may sound respectable, but when you see that number one is occupied not by an individual, but a gruesome Hollywood cabal dubbed “Zac Efron,…
Art Briles Leaving UH for Baylor?
The word on the street is that University of Houston football coach Art Briles is interviewing for Baylor’s open head coaching job (various Houston-area sports radio stations are reporting that Briles has actually already signed a contract. I’m going with the Chron’s Michael Murphy on this in saying that Briles…
Calling All Crazies
In our e-mail (and, probably, the e-mail of every other journalist in Houston) comes a letter from a Swedish television producer. She asks:…
Miss Pop Rocks: Boy George Is a Dirty Ol’ Man
Raise your hand if you are totally and completely icked out by Boy George right about now. For you young ones, let me take a minute to explain something. Back in the day, Boy George was the lead singer of a little British pop group called The Culture Club. When…
The Carnicería Connoisseur: Getting Artsy at Mexican Meat Markets
Houston carniceria paintings are an emerging folk art form. Here are a few of my favorites: Meanwhile, back in Guanajuato…..
Drenched In Blog: Bullfighting and the White Stripes’s “Conquest”
Bulls are not to be trusted. They are foul, offensive brutes with no regard for humans. They refuse to man up and allow us to tease them and then stab them with swords. Bullfighting is a noble sport, reserved for only the courageous among us, to attack and kill animals…
Todd Graham, or the Tale of the Douchebag
Okay, let me see if I have this straight: the douchebag head of a mid-major college athletic program contacts the douchebag head coach of a rival college football team about quitting that job and coming to coach at his school. The douchebag coach, knowing of his offer from the douchebag…
An Exclusive Interview with the Neighbor of the Woman Whose Ex-Cop Ex-Husband Held Her Hostage
It’s Thanksgiving Eve, and you’ve got some shopping to do. You step outside your home only to see cop cars swarming the block. Turns out, at the house behind yours, an ex-cop is holding his ex-wife hostage, and the police need your backyard, and your house, to stake him out…
Last Night: Streetlight Manifesto at the Meridian
Streetlight Manifesto Meridian November 26, 2007 Better Than: Hitting yet another quiet, boring acoustic hipster act with zithers and sitars and homemade psalmodicons, standing around basting in your own smug because you think you’re above something as energetic and fun as ska, but really you’re just dead inside. You will…
Miss MASH: Dr. Michael E. DeBakey Awarded Congressional Gold Medal
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison sends over missives on a pretty regular basis – Senator Kay did this, Senator Kay did that. They are usually pretty boring. Today’s press release details the fact that Senator Kay presented Dr. Michael E. DeBakey with the signed bill she pushed through Congress awarding him…
Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: John McClain, Coach Fran and Mike Sherman
So the Aggies went out and replaced Coach Fran with Mike Sherman. I’m not going to get into the coaching merits of Mike Sherman, although I do have to wonder just what it is that colleges see in Texan offensive coordinators. Do they even bother watching Texan games? I just…
Tunnel Mole Drops $13 at Ragin Cajun in Downtown
Click here for more subterranean observations from Tunnel Mole. Where: Ragin Cajun III, Downtown Tunnel, 930 Main St., T-320, 713-571-2422 What $13 gets you: Great bottom feeding for bottom feeders If you’re a hungry tunnel denizen (i.e. a bottom feeder) and have a cannibalistic craving to eat another bottom feeder…
Get Lit: Houston History, Now in Handy Book Form!
It’s hard to fathom a time when Houston was a muddy area bound by the bayou on the north, Walker on the south, Bagby on the west and Caroline on the East. That was 1838. Dr. S. O. Young wrote about how the city came to be back in 1912…
Jose de Jesus Ortiz Is a Turkey
I know I’m about a week late to this whole Turkey of the Year thing, but I didn’t get the memo. So here’s my nominee for Turkey of the Year: Chron beat writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz. The way I see it is that it’s got to be kind of…
Drenched In Blog: Mental Death
Just as my memories of singing “Cum on Feel the Noize” at a dive bar in Friendswood began to fade came today’s news that Quiet Riot lead singer Kevin DuBrow was found dead in his home over the weekend. Score another one for God, I guess. Long a fixture on…
Cal Clutterbuck Levels an Admiral, Gets the Aeros Going
Kicking butt is just part of Clutterbuck’s job. Two magical things happened at Toyota Center on Friday night. The Aeros defeated the Milwaukee Admirals 4-1 to raise their record to the .500 mark. But perhaps of greater import was this: the Aeros scored three goals on the power play. The…
Vinal Edge Now Selling Hunter Ward’s T-Shirts, Vinyl
Vinal Edge records, 13171 Veterans Memorial Drive, began auctioning off the T-Shirt collection of late Houston musician Hunter Ward, who died of a suspected drug overdose this past June, yesterday on eBay. The shirts, over 70 in all, include the Queers, Stooges, Velvet Underground & Nico, Social Distortion, Ward’s own…
Get Lit: Ronnie, by Ron Wood
A band has some kind of amazing longevity if you can still be “the new guy” after 30 years in the lineup. But that’s exactly the case with Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood, who puts down his life story here. Unfortunately, Wood’s recollections consist of precious little about the music…
Over the Weekend: Turkeys, Aggies, Cougars, Rockets, Girls Gone Wild, Swedish Rockers and Gratuitous Drinking
Any mention of postprandial Thanksgiving seems to require a tryptophan reference, so let’s just pretend we made a joke about passing out in grandma’s lap and move on… It was one helluva weekend. There was the H-E-B Holiday Parade. We were way too hungover to make it out, although we…
The College Football Review, Week 13: Why You Gotta Be Hatin’ on the Coogs?
Wow, Missouri versus West Virginia, January 7, 2008, for all of the marbles. That just doesn’t get the juices flowing, does it? Not like USC/Texas. Hell, Florida/Ohio State had more juices flowing last year than does this potential game. But they’re the one and two teams in the BCS rankings…
Q&A with Daryl Morey: Surprise! Rockets Need Better Point Guard Play
Before the Rockets left town for their west coast road trip, Jason Friedman fired a few questions toward Rockets GM Daryl Morey. Among the topics discussed: the team’s streaky start, sketchy point guard play, and struggles down the stretch of close games. You know, all the things fans and critics…
The Carnicería Connoisseur: The Best Barbacoa on the Planet?
BROWNSVILLE, Nov. 24 – The sign out front of Vera’s Backyard B-B-Q in Brownsville advertises barbacoa en el pozo con lena de mesquite (barbacoa pit-smoked with mesquite wood). This morning, I picked up a half a pound of cheek meat for five bucks. The moist, tender barbacoa meat at Vera’s…
The Houston Police Department’s Attack of the Drones
We’ve heard of unmanned drones used for military operations, border patrols and battling wildfires. Now the Houston Police Department is apparently planning to employ the expensive aircraft to take on another menace: speeding drivers…
Miss Pop Rocks: I Do Not Weep for You, Joe Francis
Oh this one is rich. Rich, rich, rich. Do you know who Joe Francis is? He’s the creepy jackass who has made a mint selling false empowerment to drunk college girls with low self-esteem by encouraging them to take off their tops and “go wild” for the cameras. Yeah, you…
NFL Wrap: Losing Teaches Lessons, Except When It Doesn’t
I’d love nothing more than to put on my professor hat right now, step to the lectern, and rhapsodize on the lessons learned from the Texans’ 27-17 defeat at the hands of Cleveland. There’s just one problem: Anyone who’s been watching Houston play pro football this season couldn’t have been…
Aggies Beat the Longhorns, Coach Fran Resigns
A&M beat UT 38-30 this afternoon in a game that wasn’t as close as it sounds. Coach Fran announced his resignation after the showdown. Click here for a narrative slideshow. — Keith Plocek…
A Hell of a Weekend
Just in time for the chilly fall weather, several fire-breathing rockabilly crews descend on the Bayou City tonight. Austin’s Deguello, featuring sometime Fabulous Thunderbird Nick Curran doing his best Eddie Spaghetti, kick off their three-week U.S. tour tonight at Rudyard’s with the devilish Hell City Kings and Hell’s Engine. Not…
Miss Pop Rocks: More Pop Culture Items To Be Thankful For This Year
As promised, Miss Pop Rocks is back with more 2007 Pop Culture Moments To Be Thankful For. So wipe that leftover turkey off your chin and settle in for another round. Dr. Jan Adams Walks Off Larry King: This one is fresh off the Pop Culture pipeline. Miss Pop Rocks…
Long Snaps with Bryan Pittman: Giving Thanks and Praying for Playoffs
Houston Texans’ long-snapper Bryan Pittman returns for more thoughts on life both on and off the gridiron. JCF: Did you ever imagine being .500 could feel good? BP: Yeah, it does. It does feel good. You know, being 5-5, you wouldn’t really think we’d be in the position we are,…
The Squishees
Last year, The Squishees went on hiatus, and 500 Megatons of Boogie was formed. This year, it’s just the opposite. 500 Megatons is currently taking a break, so lead singer/guitarist Erik Westfall has re-formed The Squishees. This really doesn’t change much — both are reincarnations of Westfall’s work with bassist…
No Highway in the Sky
You hear him on the radio: Dr. John Lienhard of KUHF’s Engines of Our Ingenuity. He’s the guy who hosts those segments about science and discoveries and all that. Oh, yeah, he’s also the M.D. Anderson Professor Emeritus of mechanical engineering and history at the University of Houston (hey, we’re…
The Slim Bloodworth Benefit
She may be down, but Slim Bloodworth isn’t out. The local comedian is going through hell as doctors try to figure out what is causing her to, among many other terrible things, die. During a recent show in Canada, Bloodworth was rushed to a hospital where, friend and fellow local…
The 12 Ways of Christmas
Yes, you read it right, we meant “the 12 ways of Christmas.” Never heard of them? Then head over to the Ensemble Theatre to see their latest production, The 12 Ways of Christmas. Directed and choreographed by Patdro Harris, with book, music and lyrics by Carlton Leake, the holiday musical…
Matt Messinger and Martin Simmons
It takes the right atmospheric conditions to transform a small conglomeration of clouds into a hurricane. Well, artistic endeavors require a similar environment in which to gestate. A new gallery in the Heights has weather-sized ambition and is already kicking up a dust devil of activity at its tiny, garage…
Houston Ballet’s The Nutcracker
For ballerinas, the winter holidays mean one thing: The Nutcracker. Every year all over the United States, dancers depict the story of young Clara’s Christmas Eve journey through the Land of Snow and the Kingdom of Sweets. Principal dancer Amy Fote is no exception. She’s performing the role of the…
Annual Veggie Thanksgiving Potluck
At potluck dinners, the question is, will there be too much of this and not enough of that? But the folks at Super Happy Fun Land, who are hosting their Annual Veggie Thanksgiving Potluck today, aren’t worried. The event is in its fifth year, and owner Brian Arthur says too…
Alley Theatre’s A Christmas Carol
As holiday standbys go, a production of A Christmas Carol is about as essential as the tree. Everyone knows the drill: There’s the famed miser, Scrooge, and the triad of ghosts who try to guide him from his greed. There’s the good-hearted Bob Cratchit, who’s trying to scrape together some…
58th Annual H-E-B Holiday Parade
Tom Turkey will take to the skies over downtown Houston today for the 58th annual H–E–B Holiday Parade. In addition to the dozens of floats, hot air balloons, marching bands, cheerleaders, costumed characters and homeless screaming guys, this year brings a “Circus Celebration” theme. That means wagons, animals and magicians…
A Touring Taste of Dance Salad Festival 2007
Just in time for Thanksgiving, A Touring Taste of Dance Salad Festival 2007 reminds us of the advantage of leftovers: You can pick out the best parts. The film features the tastiest bits from the festival, including the now world-renowned performance by Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet’s star dancer, Natalia Osipova, which…
The Warriors
The Warriors, screening today at the River Oaks Theatre, comes off like A Clockwork Orange without the arty ambience. The 1979 cult film, directed by Walter Hill, stars a bunch of people known primarily for their role in, ah, The Warriors. The film is the story of a New York…
Psychedelic Horseshit
Unlike the Shitty Beatles, Psychedelic Horseshit is just a clever name. (Those unfamiliar with Wayne’s World, note: This means the band doesn’t suck.) The Columbus, Ohio threesome’s brand of shoegazer rock is neither psychedelic nor crappy. For those out of the loop, “shoegazer” is a genre characterized by lo-fi distortion…
Warehouse Live Thanksgiving Bash
The Warehouse Live Thanksgiving Bash will get rock and rap fans more juiced up than a turkey baster. Headlining the night is Fat Tony, a.k.a. Anthony Obi, half of the local hip-hop group The Low Ends, who stays true to the slowed styles of Houston but beats them up enough…
Aries Spears
Ask comedian Aries Spears about the difference between white and black people, and he’ll go on for hours. He explains in stand-up routines that Caucasians are far more concerned about anthrax (“Black people aren’t worried about anthrax. Half the time we don’t open our mail.”), and they keep drinking when…
The Achim Kaufmann Trio
Achim Kaufmann, Frank Gratkowski and Wilbert de Joode — try saying that three times fast. Kaufmann and company are probably used to dumb Americans mispronouncing their names. The three men, weird names and all, make up the Achim Kaumann Trio, with its namesake on piano, Gratkowski on saxophone and clarinet,…
“Liquid Light” exhibit by Joseph Marioni
If you’ve ever longed for a simple, straightforward exhibit of contemporary art, it doesn’t get any plainer than the current show at Wade Wilson Art. “Liquid Light” is described as an exhibition of three large-scale, yellow-based paintings by Joseph Marioni. And that’s that. Like the white paintings of Robert Ryman,…
King Solomon Lives: A Nubian Love Story
Apparently King Solomon has a lot to teach us here in the modern age — at least, that’s the premise behind local playwright/director Danny Hodges’s majestically titled King Solomon Lives: A Nubian Love Story. The play (which is Broadway bound, by the way) starts in 1996 with a boy named…
Rice University Faculty Recital
Whoever started the saying “Those who can’t, teach,” never met Robert Moeling, Lynn Harrell and Michael Webster. The Rice University faculty threesome performs in today’s faculty recital. Moeling (piano), Harrell (cello) and Webster (clarinet), all from the Shepherd School of Music, will perform solo and trio works by Bach, Brahms…
Alan Haynes
Being a fairly well-known blues guitarist in Austin, Texas, is like being a retired old coot in Coral Springs, Florida. Who in town isn’t? But Alan Haynes stands out thanks to a tireless dedication to the blues and a résumé that’d make even the most well-established performers in the Live…
Thomas McHenry’s Along the Rails: A Juror’s Journey
Thomas McHenry was hoping he’d get to go home early. One of a hundred potential jurors sitting in a Harris County courthouse, he was more concerned about getting a copy of the newspaper than who was on trial. McHenry had no idea he was about to be selected to serve…
Sister’s Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold
Banking on the success of Late Nite Catechism!, the one-woman show featuring a wisecracking nun that ran throughout the fall, Stages Repertory Theatre opens a sort of sequel called Sister’s Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold. In her latest tale, which stars Amanda Hebert, the good sister, who…
The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose
Yeah, it’s kind of a weird title: The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose, but don’t let that put you off. In case you don’t know, the Holy Modal Rounders is a folk band that started way, way, way back in the 1960s (you remember, before the Internet, Monica Lewinsky…
Circus Oz
As Cirque du Soleil becomes the Starbucks of the cirque nouveau field — its most ubiquitous, mainstream and lucrative name — we suggest you check out the underdogs, the Dietrich’s and Brasils of the people-putting-their-body-parts-in-weird-positions industry. One way to start: Check out Circus Oz this weekend during their two-day stint…
“Blind Philosophy”
“This is 26 different people,” says artist Wayne Gilbert as he points to different works hanging on the wall for his solo exhibition “Blind Philosophy.” “This is 47 different people,” he says of another. Instead of paint, clay, charcoal, graphite, or any other traditional medium, Gilbert uses discarded human remains…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Michael Bise: Birthday,” “Monster Show 2,” “Perspectives 158: Kelly Nipper,” “Pompeo Batoni,” “Rackstraw Downes” and “Tom of Finland”
“Michael Bise: Birthday” Michael Bise’s work just keeps getting better and better. With pencil, paper and a cinematic sense of narrative, Bise records moments from his life. His exhibition “Birthday” focuses on his father’s death — on his 50th birthday. We see an overhead view of his father’s body lying…
Gypsy
One of the greatest of all musicals, Gypsy (1959), by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents, is also one of the most idiosyncratic. There’s nothing like it in the Broadway canon. It has no chorus or ensemble dancing, and it focuses on one solitary character — not a very…
Feature Photo
Inspired by the awesomely compelling plan by Governor Rick Perry to put border-camera video on the Web, Sable the cat has gone high-tech in her never-ending fight to protect her food bowl from raccoons. Here she’s checking her computer, quietly planning her counterattack, in another triumph for Web technology. To…
Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week
Angel-A (Sony) The Batman: The Complete Fourth Season (Warner Bros.) Bill Maher: The Decider (HBO) Broken (First Look) Chappelle’s Show: The Series Collection (Paramount) CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: The Complete Seventh Season (Paramount) Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 (Rhino) Gene Simmons Family Jewels: The Complete Season 2 (A&E) Hairspray…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Christmas Tree-O, Over the River and Through the Woods and The Scene
Christmas Tree-O In a world that seems overwhelmed by ever-encroaching secular progressiveness, it’s refreshing to find Christ plopped firmly back into Christmas at A.D. Players, now showing a triptych of one-act comedies by Jeannette Cliff George, who knows how to preach without being preachy. “The Littleboro Valley Story” is a…
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, Nosferatu: The Ultimate DVD Edition, Live Free or Die Hard and Manufactured Landscapes
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (Paramount) At last available on DVD, Eleanor Coppola’s 1991 documentary about her husband’s tumultuous trek downriver remains, easily, the best film ever about the making of a movie and unmaking of a man. Francis Ford Coppola thought he was going to spend 16 weeks…
2007 Turkeys of the Year
In 2007, Houston — as always, it seems — proved to be what the Army calls “a target-rich environment” for potential Houston Press Turkeys of the Year. We had two candidates running for city council who didn’t really bother to live in the city they wished to lead; one of…
I’m Not There
Something about that movie though, well I just can’t get it out of my head / But I can’t remember why I was in it or what part I was supposed to play. — Bob Dylan, “Brownsville Girl” Literally speaking, Bob Dylan isn’t “there” in Todd Haynes’s staggering mixtape biopic…
Turkeys of the Year: Honor Roll
Revisit our past honorees by clicking on each year: 2006 Turkey of the Year: Shelley Sekula-Gibbs Wild Turkey: Jeff Skilling Sports Turkey: David Carr Turkey Landlord: Weingarten Realty ________________ 2005 Turkey of the Year: Tom DeLay Sports Turkey: Texans coach Dom Capers Turkey Agency: Metro Criminal Turkey: Erstwhile escapee Charles…
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
The unsettling tone is established early in Call of Duty 4, when the president of a Middle Eastern nation is publicly executed on the world stage, and you, the player, experience the deposed leader’s final minutes through his own eyes. Bound and unable to escape, all you can do is…
The Mist
As one of what novelist Stephen King calls his Constant Readers, I was as jazzed as every other monster-lovin’ geek when word came that filmmaker Frank Darabont was making a movie of King’s classic novella The Mist. Cynics suggested that after tanking big time with his Frank Capra homage, The…
Gulf Shrimp and Grits at Vin
In the Low Country of South Carolina, “breakfast shrimp” is a staple of fishermen and locals alike. At Vin (530 Texas, 713-237-9600), this lowly dish has been taken to a new level. Called “Gulf shrimp and grits” ($11), the dish looks more like a Zen garden than something to eat…
Mike Spear, Jordy Tollett, Texas Monthly and Metro
For years, Mike Spear has been one of the leading realtors in Houston, regularly appearing on the Houston Business Journal’s list of top people in the industry. These days, he’s not selling much real estate, seeing as he’s in a federal prison in Bastrop after being convicted of tax evasion…
Charalambides, Likeness
Houston expatriates Tom and Christina Carter of Charalambides are probably among the city’s most prolific non-blues musicians: Their band has averaged two full-length releases per year since they began playing 15 years ago. Still, the volume of their work is less noteworthy than its variety, quality and unbending commitment to…
Catholic Priests, Child Protective Services, Crooked Contractors and Crowded Kasra
The Catholic agenda: The Catholic Church should concentrate its concern and support for illegal immigrants in their country of origin [“Our Padre,” by Russell Cobb, November 15]. This would help keep families together and promote progress in the countries that the illegals take so much pride in. Of course this…
David Byrne, The Knee Plays
Better to burn out or fade away? The current musical tendency to fetishize the past, creating new markets through nostalgia, has come up with a new answer to this timeless rock and roll question: reissue. For the second year in a row, David Byrne has chosen this route, and the…
GRiT Boys, Ghetto Reality in Texas
It’s always a good idea to judge people by the way that they look, right? Well, it turns out that once-infallible methodology may be kind of, well, wrong. At first glance, the GRiT Boys appear to be more of the stereotype-reinforcing thug rappers who are strangling hip-hop’s originality to death,…
Ghostface Killah
Ghostface Killah is a brilliant storyteller and lyricist, the only Wu-Tang Clan member still making relevant solo albums and a prolific, increasingly media-savvy artist who nonetheless seems to constantly shoot himself in the foot commercially. He’s also a crybaby. Recently, word got out that Wu-Tang would release its first album…
The Replacements: All Over but the Shouting, by Jim Walsh
No one likes to piss off a rock god. But oral histories thrill most when they’re packed with gossipy first-person accounts. The author of The Replacements: All Over but the Shouting, Jim Walsh, wrote about the Minneapolis scene in Press sister paper City Pages for years, and has such depth…
Bistro Provence
As the proprietor of Bistro Provence on Memorial approached our table, I started getting nervous. My tablemate had just sent his veal shank back because it was cold in the middle. It was also tough and sinewy, as if it had been insufficiently cooked. The last time I sent the…
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert may be blond, and she did get her big break on a musical reality show (American Idol’s twangier cousin Nashville Star), but otherwise she’s completely out of sync with mainstream country’s current parade of perfectly styled waifs who sound more like Mariah Carey than Tammy Wynette. Lambert’s latest…
5 Wines That Will Blow Your Mind
After 29 years on Buffalo Bayou, the Rainbow Lodge recently relocated to the century-old log house on the banks of the White Oak bayou where Tour d’Argent was once located. The fancy French restaurant never did seem to mesh very well with the rustic location, but it’s the perfect place…
Claude Wampler
The term “performance art” is cringe-inducing for a lot of otherwise enthusiastic art people. Too many performance artists labor under the belief that if something is enjoyable for the audience, it ain’t art. Two recent performances by Claude Wampler at DiverseWorks, “Rehearsed Reversed” and “PERFORMANCE (career ender),” were both art,…
Peter Bjorn & John
There’s absolutely nothing complicated about Peter Bjorn & John. Comprised of three guys named — you guessed it — Peter, Bjorn and John, the Swedes wear this simplicity on their sleeves. That sort of unself-conscious, and very Nordic, unfussiness carries over to beautiful effect in their music. This simplicity does…
Scott Gertner’s Sports Bar Live
I had the brilliant idea to surprise my man with a Brazilian bikini wax. Coming from a generation that was a tad bit hairier, I knew I needed to get liquored up before letting anyone near my hoo-ha with hot wax. Ironically, the closest bar was Scott Gertner’s Sports Bar…
What’s the Deal with Bikini Babes in Car Commercials?
Dear Mexican, What’s the deal with Spanish-language car dealership commercials that feature bikini-clad porn star-wannabes copulating with used cars? I just saw one where three girls were rubbing melted chocolate on each other. Surely, no one in mainstream Caucasian America could get away with such overtly sexual, misogynistic advertising. Does…
Trenchtown in the ‘Trose
Maybe there are taller peaks ahead in the career of Ryan Scroggins, the former keyboardist in Los Skarnales and now the leader of his own band, the Trenchtown Texans. Or maybe the best has already come and gone. Scroggins knows one thing — nothing can take away his most prized…
Felix da Housecat
Chicago-based DJ Felix Da Housecat takes a journey back to disco with his new release Virgo Blaktro and the Moviedisco, navigating through various sonic textures from that bygone era. Felix carefully researched the genre when it was at its highest point circa 1979, and acknowledges its influence on today’s dance…
Avenged Sevenfold, Avenged Sevenfold
In the past, Avenged Sevenfold’s meathead simplicity pretty much excused all its bad behavior and even worse musical choices. It was as if the five members picked up, pored over and appropriated the Metal Band Rulebook before ever learning a single guitar chord. But that’s what California metal is all…
Otep, Hellyeah
Otep Shamaya says “Art is war.” The singer for her namesake L.A.-based metal fusion band considers herself a revolutionary, and makes artistic catharsis via visceral screams and songs that sear into the ears like hot grease. Her lyrics are laden with apocryphal poetics about religion, politics, love and loathing; she’s…
Eagles, The Long Road Out of Eden
Eagles Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit may all love music, but they don’t make it collectively unless there’s a mammoth payday involved. Maybe that’s why their seventh studio LP, released through a profit-maximizing deal with Wal-Mart, seems more inspired by commerce than art. The exceptions…
Balaclavas, Rusted Shut
It’s tempting to refer to the brooding punk of Balaclavas’ two EPs as goth, but the band lacks proper goth’s showiness, melodrama and fashion sense. They better recall the razor’s edge of darkness walked by Joy Division, though without the flavor of imitation that has marked so many recent bands…
Chuck Prophet, Soap and Water
Leave it to the ever-interesting, never-sitting-still Chuck Prophet to begin a record with the wonderfully suggestive line, “I like the way you freckle, I like the way you peel, I love to see your hair in a mess.” Also leave it to the ever-inventive San Franciscan to combine apocalyptic guitar…