Hype This
Ho-hum, here we go again. Another sports and entertainment palace opens in Houston, and the Chronicle pulls out all the stops saying it’s the best thing to happen to the sports and entertainment universe since the last sports and entertainment citadel opened in Houston. Fran Blinebury, Dale Robertson, John Lopez…
Gone But Not Forgotten
Mike Nixon knew how to make a big entrance. It can be hard sometimes to upstage the antics at the floating party bar that is Lance’s Turtle Club in Seabrook — where six-figure yachts and speedboats align the dock, handy for partying couples to duck into for a quick whatever…
Triggerfish
This Austin-based quintet formed in early 2001, its members coming from a far-flung variety of backgrounds and their ex-bands more numerous than Mickey Rooney’s ex-flames. There’s nothing Phishy about this aquatically named act — singer Eric Vaughan, guitarists Frank Crone and Nathan Tokarchik, bassist Jeremy Bennett and drummer Scott Rogers…
Letters
Choice Cuts Anti-abortion wackos: I don’t think you will have to worry about anyone accusing you of being “fair and balanced” [“Go, Baby, Go,” by Michael Serazio, October 2]. This article was nothing more than an ad for yet another sick group of people. They fall into the category of…
Paul Van Dyk
If anyone alive could bring legitimacy to the sound of your average nightclub, it’s progressive house mainstay Paul Van Dyk. Though the German producer has frequently and publicly repudiated the term, his work helped validate trance music with an accessible pop sensibility that marries ethereal, minor-key melodies with DJ-friendly tempos…
The Jizz Age
The adult entertainment industry has officially entered the American mainstream. The proof is everywhere. Val Kilmer is on the big screen playing porn icon John Holmes in Wonderland. Jenna Jameson, the Julia Roberts of the skin trade, was recently the subject of an E! True Hollywood Story. Coming soon to…
Peaches
Sticking to her formula of stripped-down, sexed-up beats, Peaches has followed up her 2000 debut, The Teaches of Peaches, with an equally libidinous album. Fatherfucker is full of electro-punk mayhem, overtly sexual lyrics and gender-twisting visual accompaniments. The album intro samples Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” randied up by Peaches’ ranting…
This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks
Thursday, October 16 We all fondly remember the heady days of the fin de siècle economic boom. Only the stupid and non-adventurous were bothering to finish college or stay at secure jobs with blue-chip companies. Even serious media outposts were claiming that the sky could never fall and that Alan…
Hilary Duff
Achtung, baby: I’m one of those soulless cranks who likes Liz Phair’s new record. A few weeks ago I argued elsewhere that the album’s four Matrix-produced songs “demonstrate how much room there is inside radio-pop sheen for actual emotional content” — particularly with regard to “the everyday compromises of single-momhood.”…
Gate Swings Wide
Sometimes I feel myself slipping, but I guarantee you I’ll never fall. I’ll hold my breath up high and wade through water, mud and all. — Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown The story of Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s discovery is a blues legend. Without a dime in his pocket, Brown had hitchhiked to…
The Carlsonics
Out of northern Virginia/Washington, D.C., it comes, a band with malice toward all and goodwill toward none, a mod/neo-garage quintet that kicks more butt than a donkey on a meth binge. Danger leaps from the speakers on every track on their new self-titled CD; abject pandemonium is the second-to-last station…
Plastic Man
Thanks to a new local company, the president of the United States may find himself hanging out in your child’s bedroom, hitting the beach with G.I. Joe or taking Barbie out on a Saturday night. Toypresidents, Inc. has released a George W. Bush action figure just in time for the…
George Duke
George Duke has always been one jolly sumbitch. I recall seeing him in concert several years ago with Rachelle Ferrell and Rahsaan Patterson at the Arena Theatre. As soon as he and his band tore into his funk favorite, “Reach For It,” he hopped off the revolving stage and ventured…
What Goes Around Comes Around
Myth: The boomerang was originally used as a weapon. Myth: The boomerang originated in Australia. Fact: This weekend, the myths and truths about boomerangs will be brought to light at the 2003 Colorado Boomerangs National Expo & US Open National. The grounds of the expo will be dotted with booths…
TSU Homecoming Concert, featuring Tyrese, Mya and Murphy Lee
Hey, it’s homecoming week at Texas Southern University. So that means there will be lot of festivities and fun stuff that, um, will probably happen, um, during that time when the football team plays, um, the other football team and then”Who the hell are we kidding? In all likelihood, many…
A Rare Scare
Halloween is about scary things. And clowns — even friendly burger chain clowns — are pretty scary. So it’s a stroke of marketing genius that the Houston Zoo will host the McDonald’s Zoo Boo. At the event, screaming fruit bats, stalking wolves and pasty white men with bright red hair…
Tsunami Bomb, with the Bouncing Souls, Strike Anywhere
With the mainstream’s full-nelson embrace of pop-punk set to go the way of the economy any day, Tsunami Bomb might be the genre’s last remaining band. The Northern California quartet certainly has all the right moves: fun-loving spirit, an affinity for the road and songs as catchy as the common…
One-Stop Shop
If you’re looking to spend some time in meatspace but aren’t old enough to get into a bar or a club, you’ve got two options. One: Get a fake ID. Or two: Head to Kourage Music & Clothing. On Tuesday and Thursday nights, the store hosts the Kourage Music Club…
Alone, Together
A humorous and touching tale about unexpected friendship, The Station Agent marks the auspicious writing and directorial debut of an actor named Tom McCarthy. It concerns three people who have absolutely nothing in common except for their solitary lives. For Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) and Olivia Harris (Patricia Clarkson), being…
Cancún Cuisine
Cascadas Cantina y Restaurante Nachos frijoles$6
Nachos a Las Cascadas$10
Cheese enchiladas$6
Stuffed avocado salad$9
Alambres (shish kebabs)$14
Fajitas and ribs for two$28
Holmes Fried
If you lie down with dogs, you’ve got to expect to get up with fleas. And when you go to a movie about a coked-out former porn star who was implicated in the grisly murders of four lowlife drug dealers — a case that remains “officially” unsolved to this day…
Sandwich On Demand
Hutchins Street in old Chinatown is one of those thoroughfares that most people drive down only when they’re lost. The street was once home to several little mom-and-pop restaurants, and Jenni’s Noodle House seems to have set off a revival of that tradition. Last May, in the spot where Sal’s…
Roll the Bones
During the hushed opening moments of Craig Wright’s Recent Tragic Events, Stages Repertory Theatre is enveloped in eerie darkness. A “stage manager” walks out and does his spiel about cell phones and season tickets, and then he asks a volunteer from the audience to toss a coin that will decide…
Drinking Canada Dry
Being the anointed one doesn’t always sit well with Canadian alt-country rocker Kathleen Edwards. This past March, at South By Southwest, she bristled when asked about her then-recent Rolling Stone fashion shoot. Reminding her that her debut, Failer, was then the hottest seller in Austin record bins, or that many…
Mo’ Masterpieces
Those blurry slides from second-semester art history survey have sprung to life at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. “The Heroic Century: The Museum of Modern Art Masterpieces, 200 Paintings and Sculptures” presents some of the greatest hits of modern art from the stellar collection of the New York-based museum…
Chock-full of Chocolate
Getting breakfast is about to get easier. Twenty-nine new IHOP restaurants will soon open in Houston, Austin and Dallas. The chain (ten locations citywide; see www.ihop.com) is, of course, the home of the famous Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity breakfast special. But the standout item on the restaurants’ plastic-coated menus…
Putting on Airs
FRI 10/17 Genius? The MacArthur Foundation thinks so. Dance royalty? Well, the French government knighted him. Paul Taylor, the reigning king of modern dance, will grace Houston with his presence this weekend. The choreographer has 119 dances under his belt, and he shows no signs of relinquishing the keys to…
Collision Course
For the members of the Brazosport Bike Club, Saturdays typically meant a 55-mile trek along peaceful rural lanes south of Houston. It was a good three or four hours of exercise, fresh air and — once they got out into the country — friendly banter. Kelton Thomson knew the routine…
The Real Shock Rock
Daniel Partner plays old-school American dance music, and he’s exceedingly particular about how authentically he presents it. Before we proceed, cast out of your mind the vision of a DJ spinning classic Detroit techno records circa 1982 and fussing over the vintage of his Adidas tracksuit. Partner, who grew up…
Attention Deficit
The girl in the film is pretty and funny. She has long, dark curly hair and a great smile. She giggles and kids around. Her family is with her and it’s clear she likes being the center of attention. She’s in a white gown in a hospital bed, so we…
Destroy All Monsters of Rock!
Although it has been a while since Shonen Knife was the rage, the band has certainly never been without style. The Japanese all-girl trio first captured America’s hearts in the late 1980s for the simple reason that they maintain interest today: They’re too entertaining to resist. The American appetite for…
Sage Advice
Is the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority past due for a resident shaman? Consider: During the 1998 construction of what is now Minute Maid Park, a 28-year-old concrete worker fell 30 feet to his death. And the Astros have fallen about as far ever since — post-season as well as that…