Life, and How We Live it
British filmmaker Mike Leigh often evidences genuine sympathy, if not boundless affection, for the characters who populate his bleakly comical, harshly realistic dramas. Cyril and Shirley, the working-class bohemians of his 1988 film High Hopes, might seem hopelessly naive in the context of Margaret Thatcher’s England, but Leigh sees something…
Entry Level Movie
When he was 25 years old, Rick Harrington wrote a novel about a time when women have taken over the Earth. No one wanted the book, and so he turned it into a screenplay. No one wanted that, and so 35 years later, he made the movie himself. Now he…
Incubating Problems
At first blush, the huge one-story building near the intersection of Griggs Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard looks like a good place to do business in the middle of a bad place to work. The long facade has the only decent coat of paint for blocks. The giant parking…
The Insider
Swinging for the Fence A recent poll indicates that the interests campaigning for a new downtown baseball stadium have many minds to change between now and the November 5 referendum. Conducted by UH political science department chairman Kent Tedin, the mid-September sample of 400 county voters revealed that opposition to…
You Gotta Have Hope
Everyone in the Wedgewood Room at the Wyndham Greenspoint Hotel knew who Dan Patrick was. For good reason: every year, the KSEV-AM talk-show host treks out just beyond Beltway 8 to speak to the North Houston Greenspoint Chamber of Commerce, and whenever he shows up, he draws a crowd. Normally,…
Letters
Robespierre Hails a Cab The city of Houston is correct in mandating cabdrivers adhere to a minimal dress code [“Crimes of Hygiene,” by Randall Patterson, September 12]. Its legitimacy is not diminished simply because of the intrinsic impossibility of enacting perfect laws and regulations. The American tradition is wisely premised…
Press Picks
thursday october 10 My Fair Lady Had George Bernard Shaw lived a little longer, that rain in Spain may never have fallen mainly on the plain, or at least it might not have fallen in time to music. Shaw, a rather cranky sort even on the best days, hadn’t liked…
Dish
Clashing Caesars Once again, local gourmand Guy Stout has put out the call to chefs across Houston, asking them to gather up their romaine lettuce, olive oil, eggs, anchovies and whatever other fixings they may deem appropriate and compete to see who can come up with the city’s best Casesar…
Collage Cuisine
There are no traditional crostini at Crostini — and that’s good news. It’s telling that nobody in the ambitious kitchen of this self-described “contempo Italian” restaurant located near Westheimer on South Shepherd in the old home of Ari’s Grenouille is slavishly attempting to replicate the Mediterranean heirloom appetizer that demands…
Last of the Hard-core Troubadours
If you’re a long-suffering songwriter pondering how to get yourself one of them fancy-schmancy MTV concert specials, you might consider the Steve Earle plan. This plan consists of the following elements: 1. Write a whole shitload of killer songs. 2. Take them to Nashville. 3. Toil in undeserved obscurity long…
Mining the Mainstream
Screw the whole idea of indie credentials. Deep down, what Stir really wants is to be huge. As Stir bassist Kevin Gagnepain points out, “what is considered these days as mainstream isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” And besides, he notes, Stir has “never been an underground act.” Gagnepain has a…
Rotation
Suzanne Vega Nine Objects of Desire A&M Sheryl Crow Sheryl Crow A&M If the last year or so is any evidence, the ’90s are shaping up to be rock’s “she” decade. The flood of female potential shows no signs of subsiding, with gifted new artists such as Tracy Bonham, Jewel…
Static
Classical rocker… Rock and roll could use more advocates like Christopher Rouse. He’s a world-renowned classical composer, one whose works have been performed by countless orchestras, among them the Houston Symphony. But beneath the strait-laced facade, he’s really a hippie at heart. “I was born in ’49, and my first…
Wins and Losses
What compelled Infernal Bridegroom director Jason Nodler to produce a Broadway musical with a five-piece band in a space the size of a two-car garage? It’s a decision that had something to do with courage. And lunacy. The resulting production of Guys and Dolls at Commerce Street Arts Warehouse has…
Fast Living
In a more honest world, Speedball Baby would be providing the Top 40 soundtrack to a society coming unraveled at the seams. Few bands are better qualified for the task; the quartet hails from one of the craziest places on earth, New York City, and is damn proud of it…
Jailed and Drugged
“I am three face from the planet called the Texas Longhorn.” “My name is up side down I am from the Planet II Face.” “I am victory the black warlord of the Planet Victory we win all wars.” It is with these inked declarations that Henry Ray Clark — a.k.a…
Woman Trouble
Bound promises a lesbian revenge thriller starring quirky actress Jennifer Tilly and she-came-from-Showgirls vamp Gina Gershon. Given that over-the-top setup, the average American woman might reasonably hope for girlie-girl entertainment on par with watching the Miss America broadcast at a drunken slumber party. Cornball, camp and obscenely stupid attempts at…