Sin-fully Amusing
Inspired in part by The Castle of Perseverance, a little 15th-century ditty about virtue conquering evil, Wendy MacLeod’s Sin is a cheesy though likable New Age morality play in which the playwright reconfigures the ancient everyman character into a thoroughly modern woman. She’s Avery Bly, a radio personality who helicopters…
The Improviser
When Paul English helped establish Cezanne more than a decade ago, he probably had no idea the small club would become Houston’s longest-running and most-respected outlet for jazz. Though his stint as Cezanne’s first artistic director lasted less than a year, if it were not for English, the club likely…
Educating Lala
Lala Levy is positively obsessed. It’s 1939, and Gone with the Wind is about to premiere right in the middle of downtown Atlanta. Never mind that almost every other upper-crust German-Jewish girl in the city is getting ready for Ballyhoo, the single most important social event of the season. Lala…
Picking Away at History
When a friend first heard the song “Mineral Wells,” Tom Russell’s tale about a faded Hollywood starlet and an equally washed-out film critic who seek the fountain of youth in West Texas, he packed his wife into the SUV and headed out to the dusty plains and that place called…
Meet Mr. and Mrs. and Mrs. Jones
It’s bedtime at the Bishop house, and everything inside the pink two-bedroom apartment seems normal. Little Andy, with a thatch of red hair on his two-year-old head and his nightshirt tucked up into his Underoos, has a serious aversion to sleeping. So does six-year-old Alex, who keeps racing out from…
One Last Spin
If you really wanna know how much the late Robert Earl Davis Jr. meant to the Houston rap scene or to the city’s urban (read: bass-loving) culture in general, you need to head straight to the south side. Only the young African-American men and women of that area can offer…
The Private Trial of Donald Davis
The first day of summer was not a good one for Houston police officer Randy Carodine. As he drove to his cousin’s house on Laurel Drive in Riverside Terrace, just south of Texas Southern University, that Wednesday afternoon in June, Carodine knew he was probably too late. He knew what…
Blues Power
Lesson No. 1 at R.L. Burnside’s School of Music: “The blues started all the music.” Burnside doesn’t elaborate on that declaration; in fact, he doesn’t elaborate on much, preferring instead the comfort and brevity of yes and no answers. Then again, he doesn’t really need to explain his blues statement;…
Innocence Lost?
Carlos Lavernia spent 16 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit. Roy Criner lost ten years of his life before DNA evidence exonerated him of the crime. A.B. Butler was falsely imprisoned for 17 years, Ben Salazar for five. It took 12 years for Kevin Byrd’s rape conviction…
Stay Tuned
It was a slow Wednesday night at the retro-chic Polly Esther’s and Culture Club (6111 Richmond Avenue). A small group of patrons convened in the club’s ’80s room, but they weren’t there to admire the Steve Kaufmanesque portraits of period icons like Tom Cruise, Madonna and E.T. — oh, no,…
One Down
In the trial of Clint Shelton, lead prosecutor Toby Shook unveiled a mind-numbing 138 pieces of evidence and presented nearly three dozen witnesses in seven days of testimony. But in the end, there was one simple reason why he was able to convince a jury to convict Shelton of murdering…
The Offspring
The Offspring has made itself tough to love. The group formed legitimately enough in the mid-’80s, when vocalist Dexter Holland and bassist Greg Kriesel got home from a Social Distortion show and decided they had seen the light. Since then, they’ve become hugely successful, selling pop-punk CDs by the tens…
In Ali’s Corner
In his house’s big front room, Lloyd Wells reclines on the unmade king-size bed like a raja, and you pull up a wooden stool beside him. It’s eerie, talking to Wells in his house; you feel you’re at the center of the Lloyd Wells Museum. Dog-eared photos and magazine clippings…
Billy Cook
Perhaps the biggest misstep the folks at Def Souf made in hyping up Billy Cook is not putting his charismatic mug on the cover of his debut album. In its place is a futuristic hommage to the Ernie Barnes-painted cover for Marvin Gaye’s I Want You (Cook co-dedicates Platinum to…
Gentleman’s Agreement
Two years ago Hillary Goldstein came to Houston direct from Queens, New York. In her somewhat larger-than-life persona, Goldstein embraced the Lone Star State. Husband Ira got cowboy boots. She bought a pickup truck. This was the American dream, Texas-style, with all of its history, open spaces and friendly people…
Asian In-fusion
,2810 Westheimer, . Hours: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 11 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.Rickshaw
Calling All Scabs
The friendly folks at the Hearst Corporation, who publish the Houston Chronicle and 11 other daily newspapers, have a labor problem on their hands. Reporters, photographers and other employees are striking against the chain’s Seattle paper. Hearst owns the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which publishes under a joint operating agreement with the…
Letters
Transgender Slap Chanel changers: I read with great interest your article about Chanel [“A Diva in the Making,” by Melissa Hung, November 16], having been involved with her situation for about six weeks now. I thought you did an excellent job of capturing the spirit of the individual and her…
Nuts About the Nut
“I estimate that there are about 400 American ballet companies that operate with a serious degree of professionalism,” said John Munger, director of information services for Dance USA, to The Sunday Oklahoman. “My guess is that out of those 400 companies, probably 375 do a Nutcracker every year.” The ballet…
Music Lessons
A couple of years ago jazz singer Kurt Elling asked, “How many choir boys go out and start shooting people up? If [a choir boy] does it, it’s a freak accident, right? … Look at the kids in the Harlem boys choir. Those kids are going to grow up, and…
Deep-Fried Greenhorn
Texans love a practical joke. The practical joke, after all, is what distinguishes American humor from, say, British humor. Think of the difference between Mark Twain’s The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Most Texans, it is safe to say, would find the Twain short…
Playbill
Like the band or not, you have to appreciate the moxie of the Bloodhound Gang. Of course, that may be the only thing to appreciate about it. As the title of its most recent album, Hooray for Boobies (Geffen), indicates, the Gang designs music custom-made for frat houses and teenage…
Mexican Kiss
If the thought of tongue excites you — gastronomically speaking, that is — then we suggest you try the stewed version at Ruchi’s Taquerias El Rincon de Mexico [2651 Richmond, (713)520-6523, and other locations]. It is available in a taco (99 cents), a torta ($2.50) or a burrito ($2.75). Not…
Playbill
Has power pop run its course? Considering the number of bands specializing in catchy, guitar-driven ditties, the answer very well may be yes. Sure, most of these acts are fun as hell, but can anyone really tell them apart? With independent labels emerging like tampered ballots in Florida, the alt…
Stirred and Shaken
The bride is shaking her groove thing on the dance floor downstairs, and the groom is handing out cheroots in the cigar bar upstairs. Nobody seems concerned that Buffalo Bayou is overflowing its banks right below us. Personally, I’m the very portrait of disaster preparedness, standing there in black tie…
Chaos Theory
The 15th-anniversary reissue of Ran underscores a singular irony: If lives and careers could be plotted as satisfyingly as movies, then Akira Kurosawa’s epic interpretation of Shakespeare’s King Lear would have been the late, great Japanese filmmaker’s grand finale. Even Kurosawa’s most devoted admirers are forced to admit that his…
Sixteenth-Note Snappers
Speaking off the toque: Carl Johnston, executive chef of Sambuca Jazz Cafe, 909 Texas Avenue, (713)224-5299. Q. Have you noted any changes in the dining or drinking patterns of your patrons based upon the style of music that is being played? A. It is interesting to note the differences in…