They See Dead People
One might think that Houston’s a tough town for ghosts these days, what with the speed at which the city tears down old buildings. What phantasm would want to haunt the latest apartment complex thrown up by the Finger Company? It would seem that ghosts need someplace that’s been around…
High-Tech Spectacle
If there was a downside to the fall of the Soviet Union, it was the loss of spectacle — no more monumental heads of Lenin or towering figures of workers and collective farmers. Retrograde North Korea is the last real bastion of communist spectacle. Remember Madeleine Albright’s stadium visit with…
Wizard of Boz
Like one of his ballad’s gently lolling melodies, William Royce “Boz” Scaggs takes an easygoing approach to recording. Never one to give in to a timetable’s pressure, the pop-soulster drops an album at his own pace. And when his distinct voice returns over the speakers, it’s as welcome as a…
Imagine All the Pitas
Texas is a state that is burdened with a certain widespread reputation for recreational violence. Even the slogan of the state highway department’s anti- littering campaign, “Don’t Mess with Texas,” implies a certain John Wayne-ish threat in what is ostensibly a humorous play on a word. But in reality, Houston…
Be Cool
When author Elmore Leonard decided his character Chili Palmer (of Get Shorty fame) would manage a rock band in his new book Be Cool, Leonard cast his net for a group to use as a model in the novel. Leonard listened to Aerosmith, Alanis Morissette and No Doubt, but none…
Dude, Where’s My Car?
In past years, a life-size race car made out of chocolate graced the lobby of the Houston Hyatt Regency Hotel during Texaco Grand Prix weekend. But this year the giant chocolate car was conspicuously absent. We called Hyatt pastry chef Regina Ruiz to ask her about the missing car and…
School Daze
Weekday performances can be bittersweet for any band whose members have yet to rid themselves of their dreaded, proverbial day jobs. Pot Roast, who has a standing Wednesday-night gig at Last Concert Cafe, is no exception. While the club’s spacious courtyard and mellow vibe benefit the combo’s improv rock, playing…
Road Warrior
In Bellaire’s battle of the burger, victory may be within the grasp of the rebellious Roadster Grill (5210 Bissonnet, 713-432-1800). Boldly opening its drag strip-themed spot on the same plot of land as the revered Bellaire Broiler Burger, the young Roadster peels out with old-fashioned griddle-fried burgers that could leave…
Racket
In 1993 Racket was with his girlfriend (now Mrs. Racket) knocking back a few Pilsner Urquells in a Prague cafe on a gray winter’s day. We fell into conversation with a fortysomething Dutch couple who told us that they had an American vacation planned. I asked where they were going,…
Stirred and Shaken
Maybe it’s all those American flags I see around the city, but I am getting a powerful thirst for something really patriotic to drink. Driving through the Montrose, I see, across the street from my favorite drag bar, a former church now housing Mark’s American Cuisine (1658 Westheimer, 713-523-3800). Chef…
I Want My M(ontrose) TV!
Hey, have you seen that new Britney Spears video yet? Chances are you haven’t. The once-omnipresent music video art form is becoming scarce. Anyone who has seen MTV these days knows that you’re as apt to spot a video there as you are to come across a black dude in…
Kirby Kong
The golden spot sand bass is fried in a crunchy batter with its side fins sticking straight out like wings. Perched on the platter of spicy tomato sauce, it looks like it’s about to fly away. Canton Seafood Restaurant’s fish specialist comes over to our table to perform the deboning…
Playbill
As Neil Young cogently observed in punk’s wake, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” The Butthole Surfers, one of the more anarchic units to Econoline across America in the 1980s, seemed prime candidates for the former. After all, Buttholes singer Gibby Haynes did share a room in…
Playbill
If you think Robbie Fulks is just the court jester of alt-country, think again. There’s nary a funny song on Couples In Trouble, as the title implies. In fact, thematically it’s a rather dour affair. But that hardly prevents it from being one of the most inspired and satisfying American…
Minibill
From George Jones and Tammy Wynette to Richard and Linda Thompson, male-female duets are one of popular music’s most delightful permutations. And the Austin-based duo of Christine Albert & Chris Gage easily slot right in with the best. Their vocals intertwine like two passionate lovers — the two are a…
Saving Nicholas
Except for Alice and Ellery Riha, who chose to be identified, and the health and social workers, the names of everyone in this story, including Nicholas, have been changed. There is nothing about Nicholas to suggest he is anything but a typical ten-year-old suburban kid. He is tall and fit,…
Minibill
It’s fun to set a cross-country car journey to the music of the regions you pass through. John Prine should be played on a loop as you pass through Illinois and Western Kentucky, with “Paradise” cranked in Muhlenberg County. Western Tennessee slides by nicely with the Sun Box for accompaniment,…
Payback Time?
Defense attorney Dick DeGuerin and client James “Smokie” Phillips celebrated the apparent end of a long ordeal in September 1997. Phillips had been fired as a Harris County sheriff’s deputy a year after a federal indictment accused him of protecting local traffickers of the Cali drug cartel. Prosecutors alleged that…
Minibill
Tremolo-laden guitars and crashing cymbals are surf music’s hallmarks, designed to re-create the motion of the ocean and breakers smashing on the sand. Houston’s Magnetic IV have this sound down pat, and they add a few new tricks of their own. The band describes its sound as “unrestrained high-octane reverb-injected…
Fine Arts Fallout
On September 11 the board of the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County planned to approve $7.8 million in grants budgeted for the fiscal year beginning next July. But terrorists had other plans, and CACHH quickly canceled its evening meeting. Instead, roughly 140 organizations that rely on CACHH…
Hollywood Hells
Ask David Lynch, and he will tell you apple-pie America just isn’t what it seems. People behave strangely, sometimes violently, and sometimes they even transform into different people without being polite enough to warn you first. Eerie and freaky, shot through with sporadic bursts of humor and sex, Mulholland Drive…
Taking Aim
In Huntsville recently, the Texas Board of Criminal Justice approved policy changes that eliminate the requirement for guards to fire warning shots. Now, officers may also respond with deadly force, which allows them to shoot at an inmate’s torso instead of the limbs. Under the previous “Use of Firearms” policy,…
Dead Last
Some guys have the kind of face that suggests they’ve been to hell and back. The narrow, steely eyes, graying hair and deep lines crisscrossing the countenance of a James Coburn or Clint Eastwood can practically do all of their acting for them in any role that calls for a…
But Who’s Counting?
The parent was insistent. The dropout problem at his school was huge. Between ninth grade and graduation day, roughly half the class had disappeared. “They’re not doing a good job of keeping these kids.” A call to Heather Browne in public relations at the Houston Independent School District’s mother ship…
Blood Brothers
Here you’ll find madness, mayhem and murder, in no short supply. The Hughes brothers, Albert and Allen, have always had a knack for horror, as evidenced by their edgy gangster flicks, Menace II Society and Dead Presidents, which they’ve said were influenced by the styles of Brian De Palma and…
Letters
Don’t Fault CPS An agency’s agony: I worked for Children’s Protective Services for almost a year. I just wasn’t tough enough to put up with the day-in and day-out horrors we faced. I quit. I have never worked with a more dedicated, less appreciated group of people. They are, as…
Reel War
Two weeks ago, it would have been possible to use the name of the man interviewed below; indeed, it would have been expected, as he is no mere “spokesman,” the only identifier by which he is to be referred. Two weeks ago, it would have been possible to point out…
Opera Is Cool
Born in Siberia and living in London, silver-maned baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky has been dubbed everything from “the Elvis of Opera” to one of People magazine’s sexiest celebrities. Though he’ll deny it, he’s the closest thing opera has to a pop star. “What I’m doing is nothing,” says Hvorostovsky, who will…
Culture Schlock
As cool and swanky as it is, with its fusion jazz sound and its charcoal- and cream-colored minimalist set, Yasmina Reza’s Tony-winning Art is also incredibly funny. Sparkling with smart ideas about art and modern life, the play, translated by Christopher Hampton, joyfully “deconstructs” (as one of the characters so…