Static
Top form… As many musicians age, they find themselves pulled back to their roots — the primal elements of their craft that got them jazzed enough to work 80-hour weeks, travel the country under detestable conditions and, essentially, starve for what they believed in. Well into middle-age, longtime Houstonians ZZ…
Rotation
Pearl Jam No Code Epic Eddie Vedder’s extended vacation from touring — and just about every other responsibility of rock princedom — has given him loads of time to contemplate his navel. And apparently, he’s found a lot of lint in its recesses, most of which made it onto No…
Something Different
Whether they originated in the man or in his myth, stories about George Balanchine are an enduring source of anecdote in American ballet. Noted for his intellectually vigorous choreography and his dedication to a series of long-limbed and fiery ballerinas, Balanchine made more than 400 dances, many of which highlighted…
Crimes of Hygiene
As cabdrivers go, Alice Fountain thought she looked pretty sharp that day in June. She was wearing silk, with stockings and heels, and she was loading up two old ladies at Intercontinental Airport when a voice told her to stop right there. The inspector told Fountain she wasn’t going anywhere…
Hard to Believe
In synopsis, Bogus sounds like something too precious for words and too cute by half. A seven-year-old boy, devastated by the loss of his mother, invents an imaginary playmate. Said playmate provides emotional support as the boy makes a difficult transition from his old life in Las Vegas, where his…
The Power of Pop
Illeana Douglas made an unforgettable impression in her first movie role, but it wasn’t her fault. She played the unfortunate young woman in Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear who allowed herself to be sweet-talked into bed by Max Cady, a sadistic psycho with a hidden agenda. You may recall that Robert…
Field Day
The clouds over Moody Park made the midday ceremony more bearable than the average outdoor summer function. Barely breaking a sweat, Mayor Bob Lanier and wife Elyse arrived all agrin and ascended a set of portable steps to take their usual front-row seats on-stage with the other designated celebrities. Sticking…
Off-stage Drama
May was a good month for the Alley Theatre. Not only had their season ended with a pair of hit plays, but the theater had also been tapped for one of the highest honors in the performing arts — a Tony Award for the nation’s best regional theater. The award…
The Insider
Throw Back the Little Ones … Not every fish that bit on the FBI trotline ended up on the stinger’s stringer. Take Caesar Arizpe, the CEO of an Austin-based subcontractor in the Greater Houston Wastewater Program run by Montgomery-Watson and Brown & Root. After former city councilman Ben Reyes introduced…
Letters
A Loss Deeply Felt What’s happened to the comics? If this loss is permanent, I may have to switch back to the Chronicle. John W. Kellett Houston Editor’s note: No, don’t do that. The absence of the comics page in the August 29 issue was just a temporary outage. Service…
Press Picks
thursday september 12 Ladies cigar smoker reception The Four Seasons Hotel, tired of Amazon fish dinners and men’s smokers, presents an evening for women. A new line of cigars, Cleopatra by Don Diego, will be offered, along with tips on cutting, lighting and smoking techniques and a free pocket guide…
Hogg Heaven?
Because downtown Houston at night has been a culinary wasteland since sometime early in the Nixon administration, the advent of an ambitious new bistro at the edge of the theater district is an event well worth noting. Patrons of TUTS, the Alley, ballet, opera and symphony all have spent decades…
Simply Direct
For a woman raised by show-biz parents, Gillian Welch is a strikingly austere sight on-stage. Dispensing low-key charm to a small crowd at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, the soft-spoken, hard-willed native of Los Angeles projects an image that’s as plain as the day is long — guitar slung awkwardly across a…
Try a Sample
Not so much as a hint of an English sense of order pervades Loop Guru’s pieced-together vision of a world without boundaries. In fact, British colonialism has never seemed so disorderly as it does in the hands of this technologically fixated bunch. Utilizing sampling’s state-of-the-art, splice-and-insert techniques, Loop Guru fits…
The Tesh Touch
I’ve spent a good chunk of time recently mulling over the possible consequences of a 44-year-old man named John Tesh. Maybe you’ve heard of him; for ten years, ending three months ago, Tesh and his hair co-hosted Entertainment Tonight, arguably the biggest piece of celebrity “journalism” ever to destroy the…