Looking for Choucroute in Alsace?
This week’s review of Brasserie Max and Julie prompted a wave of choucroute nostalgia. A story about looking for the best choucroute in Alsace is included in my book, Are You Really Going to Eat That? In it, I describe the choucroute at a Michelin two-star restaurant named Le Cerf…
Looking for Choucroute in Alsace?
This week’s review of Brasserie Max and Julie prompted a wave of choucroute nostalgia. A story about looking for the best choucroute in Alsace is included in my book, Are You Really Going to Eat That? In it, I describe the choucroute at a Michelin two-star restaurant named Le Cerf…
The Secrets of Houston Radio Station Call Letters, Revealed
Did you know that most of the call letters for Houston’s radio stations are acronyms for hidden meanings? I knew a few were, but I sure didn’t know all of them. Luckily, Wikipedia does and here’s a sampling of the better ones, along with a couple of the worst. –…
So Did You Hear the One About How All Those Longhorn Football Players Keep Getting Arrested?
You know your team’s in the news for all of the wrong reasons when you become the punch line of a series of jokes. So, to celebrate all of the criminal behavior going on over at the Forty Acres, comes this, courtesy of a friend in my office — he’s…
Get Lit: Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me by Pattie Boyd
She is perhaps rock’s most famous muse: Pattie Boyd Harrison Clapton. This lithe, leggy, blonde fashion model directly inspired a troika of classic rock’s most enduring songs: “Something,” by the Beatles, and “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight,” by Eric Clapton. Her famous marriages have long held a soap-opera like fascination, considering…
Countdown to the 2007 Houston Press Best of Houston® Issue
Our annual Best of Houston® issue hits the streets on September 27. The theme is hidden treasures, so every day till then we’ll be unfolding a map of what you can expect. Picking the Best Pool Hall wasn’t easy. But we finally made our decision based on a complicated set…
Only 11 Games of Pain Left for Astros Fans. Until Next Season, Of Course.
Because it’s not happening here in Houston, I thought I’d give all of you a little update on the pennant races. Thanks to the Astros failing to arrive at the ballpark last night, the Brewers and Cubs are tied for first place in the NL Central. The Mets have lost…
Book Excerpt: What It Means to Be a Longhorn: Darrell Royal, Mack Brown and Many of Texas’ Greatest Players
Tommy Nobis might have been the greatest player University of Texas football history. Nobis was the last of a breed—he started on offense and defense—and so thoroughly dominated at linebacker that he came in seventh in Heisman voting in 1965. Nobis had a Hall of Fame career in college and…
Miss Pop Rocks: Questions I Have About The Hills
Let me get real and admit I watch The Hills on MTV. And let me admit there are a lot of questions I have about this clique of overprivilged twentysomethings trolling around Hollywood going to places like Les Deux. For example: 1. What do Lauren and Whitney actually do at…
Holland Chaney Is Richer Than You
Trying to figure out how you’re going to eat until your next paycheck arrives? Us too. Here’s a snippet from a Wall Street Journal article that’s sure to make you feel better: “In a collision of the art boom, the wealth boom and the Baby Einstein approach to parenting, galleries…
LCD Soundsystem, Reverend Horton Heat, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Muse, Wilco and Ghostland Observatory: Chris Gray Closes the Notebook on ACL
Click here to see a slideshow of the weekend’s action. Click here for some catty hatin’ on bitches. And click here to see what our pals at the Dallas Observer were doing all weekend. My face is returning to its usual sun-deprived hue, and my legs have finally begun to…
Freshman UT Running Back James Henry Arrested. Sounds Like the Horns Are Gonna Have One Helluva Prison Gang.
And just in time for the big game with Rice on Saturday… In what I am sure will be shocking news to anyone who hasn’t been following the University of Texas football program, freshman running back James Henry was arrested yesterday and booked into the Travis County jail on a…
Countdown to the 2007 Houston Press Best of Houston® Issue
Our annual Best of Houston® issue hits the streets on September 27. The theme is hidden treasures, so every day till then we’ll be unfolding a map of what you can expect. Where’s the Best Place to Meet Single Women? The same place you can meet a rutabaga, of course…
Get Lit: Silence, by Thomas Perry
As Silence begins, Wendy Harper, the co-owner of a high class restaurant is leaving work around 3 in the morning and upon arriving home is brutally beaten by an assailant wielding a baseball bat. She survives and seeks out Jack Till, an ex-cop turned private investigator. He teaches her how…
Last Night: Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys at Verizon Wireless Theater
QOTSA, two days earlier at ACL Fest. Queens of the Stone Age, with the Arctic Monkeys September 17, 2007 Verizon Wireless Theater Better Than: Watching Two and Half Men re-runs with Mom. Download: QOTSA’s version of Tom Waits’s “Goin’ Out West” Some bands stay a single cohesive unit for decades…
A Call for Calls, or Why I Need My Own Radio Show
I saw this little nugget yesterday. ESPN Radio is replacing Dan Patrick with Mike Tirico of Monday Night Football and Stephen A. Smith of the LOUD VOICE. The guy running 97.5, Houston’s ESPN Radio affiliate, isn’t really sure about this combo. He’s taking comment from listeners as to whether he…
Last Night: The Killers and Louis XIV at Reliant Arena
The Killers, with Louis XIV Saturday September 15, 2007 Reliant Arena Better Than: Reruns of Britney at the VMAs. Download: Killers music videos here. Hear Louis XIV here. Saturday night’s concert was an amalgamation of styles. The maddest props of the evening go to 1) the Killers’ production and design…
New General Manager for the Astros to Be Hired Tonight? Time to Pray.
Well, after bringing out the bats on Sunday, the Astros returned to form last night. The Brewers beat the ‘Stros 6-0 last night. And the game wasn’t that close. Matt Albers surrendered five runs in a little less than four innings of pitching. Can you say playing out the string?…
Rick Mitchell Pops His ACL Cherry
Click here for a slideshow of the action. What am I doing here? I haven’t written a concert review in eight years, since I walked out on the Old Gray Lady. Why did I volunteer to spend all day moving, standing and sitting under the hot sun, waiting for Bob…
The Secret’s Out: Texans Are for Real
www.houstontexans.com Do you dare believe? After suffering through five years of the most gruesome form of gridiron torture, are you willing to concede that this Texans team might just be different from all the rest? That is the question facing Houston fans today after their Texans put the wraps on…
Live Shots: Bob Dylan at Austin City Limits Music Festival
The artwork for Bob Dylan’s album The Basement Tapes, recorded in 1967 but not officially released until 1975, features Dylan and the members of The Band playing in a basement surrounded by circus entertainers – belly dancers, fire-eaters, midgets, etc. Just as the album’s music found Dylan rejecting The Voice…
Drenched In Blog: Bob Dylan, Robert Earl Keen, Billy Joe Shaver, Wilco and My Morning Jacket Round Out the Weekend
Click here for a slideshow of Sunday’s action. The last day of Austin City Limits Festival, we began to see the sun’s toll on the mass of the great unwashed. Lots of three-day old beards, starving children running naked in puddles, hippies eating barbeque out of desperation. Humanity was holding…
Why Can’t Carlos Lee and Lance Berkman Get to Work on Time?
Despite what you might think, the race for the worst record in the National League Central is not yet over. The Astros won two of three against the Pittsburgh Pirates this weekend, moving within one game of the Pirates. And after yesterday’s 15-3 thumping, it’s looking like Pittsburgh really doesn’t…
Re: Sunday, Sunday, Sunday: Roller Derby All Star Competition
Daniel Kramer I went to the Texas Roller Derby Governor’s Cup at the Verizon Theater last night. But, do to flu-like symptoms, I left before the matches were completed. I did get to see the Houston Roller Derby all-star squad, Hard Knocks, dominate its match against the Dallas Derby Devils,…
ACL Fest in Photos, Take Four
“That guy right there, the one with the pink hat… No, the one holding a frisbee… Green sunglasses… Yep, that’s him…” Hey, AT&T, thanks for sponsoring more than one stage. But maybe next time your money would be better spent making sure people aren’t cursing your name when their cell…
College Football Review: Week Three
So, was that an exciting weekend of college football? The Cougars won a game. Texas Tech won a game. And UT won the battle but lost the war. I’ve got to start with the Longhorns. I know that when the ratings come out the Horns will probably still be in…
Miss Pop Rocks: Britney Spears VMA Redux
Am I the only person on Earth who actually loooooooved Brit on the VMAs last week? I mean, am I? Because I know that we could have 5,000 conversations/debates about Britney’s performance of “Gimme More” (was she fat, was she on Demerol, is her career now officially over or does…
Drenched In Blog: ACL Fest in Photos, Take Three
Wrong festival. Wrong year. Wrong glasses. Wrong drugs. Wrong parenting. Wrong planet……. Former Houston Oilers Al Del Greco and Bucky Richardson were seen on the grounds, apologizing for the 1992 season. Still kicked ‘em in the balls though…
Drenched In Blog: Arcade Fire, Back Door Slam and Butch Walker Rule ACL Fest on Saturday
Click here for a slideshow of Saturday’s action. I heard from a photographer buddy that the first aid tent was running out of band-aids. Why? Because so many of these buffoons decided to wear brand new shoes to an outdoor festival. When it’s one hundred degrees out and my testicles…
Drenched In Blog: ACL in Photos, Take Two
I wanna take this time out to thank all the pretty young ladies who have graced us with their scantily-clad skinalicious exploits during this sweltering weekend. You women are truly the linchpin to this weekend. For every bikini-top, Jackie-O sunglasses, terry-cloth shorted Jezebel; I salute you and your Texas breeding…
Drenched In Blog: Day One Da Nang
Click here for a slideshow of Friday’s action. And click here to see how things are going in ACL land for our friends at the Dallas Observer. Yesterday saw fires, three of them. One saw porta-potties and cars set ablaze by a propane tank. A speaker at the Bjork show…
Drenched In Blog: ACL Fest in Photos
Someone got the bright idea to pair Paolo Nutini and Ray Benson from Asleep at the Wheel for an artist panel in the media lounge. They ask Paolo what it’s like to tour in Texas, and so he goes off on this weird patronizing reply in his lady-killing Scotch-Italian accent…
ACL Fest: MIA and Björk, Tearing Down the Fourth Wall
Click here for a slideshow of Friday’s action. Speaking of fires at ACL Fest, one of the speakers on the AT&T Stage started flaming up during Björk’s set last night. “I thought they were telling us to exit because the show was over,” says a pretty little birdie who was…
Re: Fire at Austin City Limits
Mark C. Austin Turns out that fire yesterday at ACL Fest injured four people, two critically. — Keith Plocek…
Fire at Austin City Limits
The Dallas Observer’s music blog DC-9 at Night is reporting a massive fire at the ACL Fest. Seems a couple of propane tanks exploded near one of the makeshift taverns in Zilker Park. According to this report in Austin 360.com, two people are critically injured, and multiple others have been…
Pig Your Ride
Look for the Pig-Mobile Every time I drive by the pig-mobile in front of Logan Farms Honey Hams at 10560 Westheimer, I swear I hear somebody squealing my name. So I finally broke down and took a look inside. Who knew that these spiral-cut ham franchises had classy dining rooms…
Pig Your Ride
Look for the Pig-Mobile Every time I drive by the pig-mobile in front of Logan Farms Honey Hams at 10560 Westheimer, I swear I hear somebody squealing my name. So I finally broke down and took a look inside. Who knew that these spiral-cut ham franchises had classy dining rooms…
Memories of ACLs Past: The Halliburton Shirt
As I head out the door to Austin, I’m reminded of ACL Fest 2003, back when the world was young and people actually gave a shit about the Polyphonic Spree. I was living in Houston at the time, writing for the paper version of Houstoned, and I’d come across this…
College Football Preview: Week Three
Welcome to week number three of the college football season. T.S.U.’s already gone 0-3 with a defeat last night, and T.C.U.’s now 1-2 after choking away a game to Air Force. What many would’ve considered, three weeks ago, to be the game of the week is Notre Dame at Michigan…
Drenched In Blog: Goin’ Out West for ACL Fest
So I’ve made the journey out west to discover celebrity gold in them here rolling hills of Austin. On the way here down Highway 71, I saw pretty little Jettas all in a row, with girlies rocking out to the new Rilo Kiley, smoking menthols. I lit a few Camels…
Calling All VJs. Calling All VJs.
You think you’re better than Kennedy? No, not the president, we’re talking about the former MTV VJ with glasses and the annoying voice. (Is that reference too dated?) Anyway, MTV2 will be hosting a VJ search tomorrow at Warehouse Live. “We are on the hunt for one talented individual who…
Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks: Week Two
You’ve got to hand it to the NFL. The league definitely knows how to seize the spotlight. We’re just one week into the season and we’ve already witnessed Kevin Everett’s life-threatening tackle, New England’s attempted espionage and approximately 1.8 million Peyton Manning commercials. That’s more drama than you’d see from…
John Royal’s NFL Picks: Week Two
In honor of my going 7-9 with last week’s NFL picks, I thought that I’d give it another try. (By the way, if I were the President, I’d declare that an overwhelming victory and claim a mandate to run the Press.) Once again, this is for sporting purposes only, no…
$13 at Pronto Cucinino
Did we mention the rolls are delicious? Where: Pronto Cucinino, 1401 Montrose, 713-528-8646 What $13 gets you: Just about whatever your heart desires – in this case, ¼ roasted lemon-garlic chicken breast, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, and two rolls. In the land of Pronto Cucinino, the man with $13…
$13 at Pronto Cucinino
Did we mention the rolls are delicious? Where: Pronto Cucinino, 1401 Montrose, 713-528-8646 What $13 gets you: Just about whatever your heart desires – in this case, ¼ roasted lemon-garlic chicken breast, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, and two rolls. In the land of Pronto Cucinino, the man with $13…
Could Terry Ryan Be a Good Candidate for Astros GM? Maybe. Will He Be? Probably Not.
I’ve been advocating the Astros give up the current dog-and-pony GM search and contact someone from the Minnesota Twins or the Oakland A’s. Yesterday, Twins GM Terry Ryan announced that, after 13 years on the job, he’s retiring at the end of the season. Terry Ryan’s the perfect man for…
Miss Pop Rocks: Pop Culture Dealbreakers
Mr. Pop Rocks and I were up late last weekend watching VH1’s “Classic 120 Minutes,” which in case you didn’t know is a two-hour program showing videos that people of a certain age enjoy…Husker Du, Sonic Youth, early R.E.M., etc. At one point in the lineup, a Depeche Mode song…
The East End Trek
Last week John Nova Lomax and David Beebe took off on another cross-Houston adventure. Click here for a map. You can read about Lomax’s previous urban hikes here and here and here. David Beebe and I intended to start this hike in “downtown” Pearland and proceed forth on what is…
Maker Faire Is Coming to Texas. And No, It Has Nothing to Do with Ren Fest, Although That Extra “E” Did Throw Us for a Sec.
Calling all inventors! Bring your best handiwork to the Children’s Museum of Houston and let a panel decide whether your creation is worthy of inclusion in an upcoming traveling exhibit dubbed “The Woodstock for inventors.” Maker Faire, sponsored by Make magazine, hosted a similar gathering in California this past spring…
Yet Another Longhorn Player Arrested. No, Not Tyrell Gatewood. That’s Old News. This Time It’s Peter Gardere.
Because it’s a cruel thing to do, and because I hate the University of Texas, I’ve got to let you know the Austin police were really busy last night. Not only did they arrest backup Longhorn safety Tyrell Gatewood on drug charges, they also got former UT quarterback Peter Gardere…
Drenched In Blog: A Torn ACL
Shuddup, Dave. We’re tired of your…well, you know where this is going. Pray to whatever god you worship, light a candle or sacrifice a goat, because the Drenched In Blog team is leaving you to cover the Austin City Limits Music Festival in the dirty 512. We’re gonna need all…
Long Snaps with Bryan Pittman: Fantasy Football, Gays in the Locker Room, Michael Bublé and Britney Spears
www.houstontexans.com Houston Texans’ long-snapper Bryan Pittman returns for more thoughts on life both on and off the gridiron. Earlier this week, Bryan went one-on-one with Ballz columnist Jason Friedman and boldly tackled subjects ranging from the NFL’s performance enhancing drugs problem to the exile of David Carr. Now, Pittman’s back,…
You Should’ve Been There: The Mathletes at the Proletariat
I will never stop singing the praises of Joe Mathlete – ever. And last night’s Matheletes show at the Proletariat proves I may never have to. (Well, I guess unless he kills my mom or something.) Joe and his Mathletes (which includes all four Dimes) danced, jumped, joked and rocked…
Fifth Time’s the Charm: Another UT Football Player Arrested
Well, in what is undoubtedly shocking news to anyone who follows the University of Texas football program, backup safety, senior Tyrell Gatewood, was arrested early this morning on drug charges. Gatewood is the fifth member of the Longhorn football team to be arrested this year. I don’t know, but maybe…
ACL Fest: Where the Streets Have No Name
One day Houston is going to have to get over its severe case of Austin Envy — it’s really annoying — but we’ll give y’all a pass at least until Monday. That’s because the Press, along with a shit-ton of our fellow Houstonians, will be soaking up the sun, the…
This One’s for You, Milo Hamilton
So I’m out doing my exercise thing and listening to the Astros on the radio. The game’s about to start and Milo Hamilton starts bitching about Cubs manager Lou Piniella pulling a Tommy Lasorda and changing his starting lineup at the very last minute. Just to screw with Milo. Well,…
Texas History for Pendejos
This weekend is Fiestas Patrias and we’ve asked guest columnist Conchita Maria Guadalupe Maria Hortencia Juanita Maria Garcia Gomez Gonzalez de Smith to write something in honor of the occasion: A Short History of Texas 1. We were here. 2. You came here. 3. We are still here. 4. You…
Get Lit: A Turtle’s Life
Classic rock fans might not recognize the name Johny Barbata, but they’ve heard his drumming on more than 100 albums and 20 hits including Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “Ohio.” He was also a full-time member of the Turtles and Jefferson Airplane/Starship, thumping skins on songs like “Happy Together,” “She’d…
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday: Roller Derby All Star Competition
Major League Baseball aside, most all-star games mean absolutely nothing (and I really don’t think much of the way baseball makes its game count). But that’s not the case with Roller Derby this weekend. The Houston Roller Derby is the host Sunday of this year’s Governor’s Cup, a competition consisting…
David Gilmour
What if Syd Barrett hadn’t lost his mind? What if David Gilmour hadn’t been there, guitar in hand, to pick up the pieces and help save one of the greatest rock bands of all time? The man most capable of answering such questions has invited you to ask them. Gilmour…
Aye, Here’s the Rub
You have to admit, making William Shakespeare sound thrilling and sexy in the 21st century is no easy task. But somehow, -Jennifer Lee Carrell manages to do exactly that. Her debut novel, Interred with Their Bones, starts off with former university professor Kate Stanley directing Hamlet at the famous Globe…
Gulf Coast Film Festival
Pay attention to Nikki and Polly Palomino’s The Rug, because you might see it again on prime-time television. A finalist in this weekend’s Gulf Coast Film Festival, The Rug is also being optioned by Fox. “We’re going to go shoot six additional more minutes to make this short into a…
“Treasures from Shanghai: 5,000 Years of Chinese Art and Culture”
Okay, sports fans, here’s a pop quiz for you: Who invented soccer? The Mayans? The British? The Russians? Wrong! It was the Chinese (okay, it was probably the Chinese; since we weren’t there in 1000 B.C., we can’t say for sure). They also invented gunpowder, writing, paper, the compass and…
“Lessons from Below”
Houston galleries are frothing at their collective mouth for an Otabenga Jones & Associates exhibit. They’ll have to wait. Instead of mounting their own show, the group chose to curate “Lessons from Below” at the Menil Collection. Otabenga Jones member Jamal D. Cyrus says, “One of the main ideas behind…
James Hunter
Any fan of Alan Parker’s movie The Commitments, about unemployed Irish kids trying to form a soul band, should rejoice upon hearing James Hunter. With his 2006 Grammy-nominated People Gonna Talk, Hunter became an overnight sensation. Like most overnight sensations, Hunter had been paying his dues in the streets and…
Lisa Marie Godfrey
A strange combination of national park imagery and children’s book-style otherworldliness inhabits the artwork of Lisa Marie Godfrey, who opens her solo show, “Sawing Logs,” today at Domy Books. “I came across these old hand-colored postcards of Yellowstone National Park,” says Godfrey, “and I really like those images because they…
Ring of Fire-Dances of the Pacific Rim
The third annual Tapestry of World Dance embraces traditions born from island cultures today with Ring of Fire — Dances of the Pacific Rim. The evening includes dances by Houston’s own Tropical Rhythms (Filipino), Pride of the Pacific (Tahitian and Samoan), and Halau Ho’ola Ka Mana o Hawai’i (Hawaiian). Everything…
Carnival II
Carnival II introduces Houston’s swanky night scene to one that’s a little rougher around the edges. The fledging enterprise had a successful debut when it meshed the cushy nightclub scene at Next with Houston’s indie rock and art crowd. This month it will take another shot with local groups the…
Jacqueline Goss
The multimedia artist gets animated Multimedia artist Jacqueline Goss makes her debut at the Aurora Picture Show today with videos that explore “the rules, histories and tools of language and mapmaking systems.” We’re not real sure what that means exactly, but what we do know is that far from being…
Master Pancake Theater presents Conan the Barbarian
“It’s hard to be funny at ten in the morning,” says John Erler, the mastermind behind Master Pancake Theater, as he struggles to wake up for his interview. (Sorry we woke you up, John.) We understand Erler, who was a member of Austin’s popular Mr. Sinus, is used to staying…
The American Sharks
At a past American Sharks show, beer was thrown everywhere, fans ran into the band, the band ran into fans, the group’s keyboard was taken by an audience member who hoisted it into the air and the bassist fell into the drum set…but the music never stopped. It’s doubtful the…
The War
To regular PBS watchers, Ken Burns is a household name. His TV documentaries The Civil War, Baseball and Jazz won Emmys and cemented Burns as the go-to guy for encapsulating the “American experience.” Hell, he was recently the subject of a trivia question on the Discovery Channel’s Cash Cab (that’s…
BooTown’s Grown-Up Storytime
BooTown’s Grown-Up Storytime is like spiked punch — it has just the right combination of naughty and nice. The newly formed theater troupe’s upcoming performance will include six reworked fairy tales. Storytellers and listeners will sit Indian-style in a circle on the magic -carpet, grade school-style, but these naughty narratives…
Gloria Steinem
“It was 30 years ago today.” Okay, that’s not exactly how the lyrics to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” go, but it’s close. And so is the 30-year anniversary (give or take 56 days) of the historic 1977 National Women’s Conference that was held here in Houston, where 20,000…
“Another Shocking Psychological Thriller,” “Sunburn,” “Light Always in Plural”
The Houston Center for Photography is unveiling three new exhibits. The first is California artist Tracey Snelling’s “Another Shocking Psychological Thriller,” an intricate assemblage of miniature sculptures, tiny video projectors and photo collages. With a look evoking a vintage movie set, the pieces come together to tell a noir-inspired tale…
“Art Fetishes Absinthe”
What hedonist in his right mind would host an event called “Art Fetishes Absinthe”? Kurtz, of course. “I want people to enjoy this indulgent experience,” says the artist with just one word for a name. “Come in costumes, celebrate your favorite fetish, drink lots of absinthe.” (No word on whether…
Round Up
Round Up brings out the cowboy in the unlikeliest of candidates. An installation by artists Kurt Mueller and Jamie Wentz, the piece explores “the force of the cowboy identity” and how it is usually too easily assumed. At an artists’ retreat outside of Austin, the pair videotaped volunteers dressed in…
Pablo Montero
Okay, any guy who has dated three — count them, three — Miss Universes has got to be extra-super-mega cool. Well, Pablo Montero is that. Good-looking to the point of almost being pretty, with a successful acting career topped only by his singing triumphs, Montero is nipping at Ricky Martin’s…
Blow-Up
The latest film in the Homage to Antonioni series at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is 1966’s Blow-Up, a film many consider a benchmark in cinema of the decade. Set in hip, cool, swinging 1960s London, Blow-Up is the story of a fast-living, jaded photographer (David Hemmings) who shoots…
Poetic License
The name “Brook Oliphant” doesn’t sound very romantic, but then again, compared to “Ordinary Joe,” it is a bit of an improvement. Or is it? In Houston playwright Carl L. Williams’s Poetic License, which premiered in 2002, Martie is married, living an ordinary life with her regular-guy husband. Ho hum,…
The Birdpeople
What better place to watch a film on nature than in the great outdoors? That’s just what the Aurora Picture Show has in mind with the outdoor screening of Michael Gitlin’s The Birdpeople at the University of Houston. Alternately humorous and touching, Gitlin’s film is a portrait of amateur birdwatchers,…
Dinner Is Served
The pans have been floured, the ballots cast. It’s time to announce the winners for the July and August installment of our photojournalism contest for Houston-area high school students. The theme was food, glorious food. Marielle B. Reiersgard of the Tenney School takes home first place for her absolutely exquisite…
SPECIAL GUEST COLUMNIST EDITION
I am addressing this to both ¡Ask a Mexican! and “Savage Love,” hoping one of you will have an answer to this: Why do Mexican chicks yell for their papi during sex? Daddy del Diablo Dear Readers, Daddy del Diablo sent the above query to both the Mexican and Dan…
Up in Smoke
In a little over one hour, Houston’s indoor smoking ban goes into effect. As a nonsmoker who spends a truly astonishing amount of time in bars and needs only two hands to count the packs of cigarettes he’s smoked, I feel it’s my duty to spend this final hour chain-smoking…
Raul Malo
Former Mavericks lead singer Raul Malo is one of the few reasons to listen to mainstream country music these days, thanks to his choice of top-notch material and arrangements that brilliantly walk the fine line between modern country and pop without the mandatory Nashvegas cheeseball factor. Combining impeccable taste with…
The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker
If you thought Tennessee soul music died with Stax Records, you’re dead wrong. Nashville proves it’s still as funky as ever by melding older soul musicians with enthusiastic younger ones, spawning the Dynamites featuring Charles Walker. Vocalist Walker, who spent the ’60s playing shows at the Apollo Theatre and sharing…
The Rosebuds
Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp, the North Carolina-based husband-and-wife duo known as the Rosebuds, deserve fame and fortune for their indie-pop tunes (heard on their recently released Merge LP Night of the Furies), whose mature, reflective romanticism and synth-heavy inventiveness place them at the head of the couplecore pack. But…
M.I.A.
M.I.A.’s 2005 debut, Arular, struck just the right balance of radical politics, innovative production and round-the-way appeal for critics and clubgoers to go apeshit, and follow-up Kala is likewise a party record with a point of view. M.I.A. cowrote every song, and coproduced most with help from boyfriend Diplo, London…
Magnolia Electric Co.
Musician and painter Jason Molina is one prolific artist. His most recent release, Sojourner — most recent as of this writing, that is; Molina releases albums like some people send e-mail messages — is as alt-country as Uncle Tupelo. On Sojourner songs like “Hammer Down” and “Montgomery,” his vocals are…
Various Artists
The songs of Vee-Jay: The Definitive Collection read like a badass juke-joint jukebox: “Big Boss Man,” “Boom Boom,” “Duke of Earl,” “It Hurts Me Too,” “Every Beat of Your Heart.” At 86 tracks over four discs, this anthology celebrates a premier R&B label that at one time was bigger than…
Zookeeper
Chris Simpson began his musical career with Austin emo legends Mineral, a band as well-regarded (if not quite as widely known) as Jimmy Eat World or the Get Up Kids, and worth a trip to the record store — sorry, iTunes — for anyone with a Fall Out Boy poster…
MULDOON’S
After a long holiday weekend in Fort Worth visiting my boyfriend, drinking with old friends and listening to even older rock and roll, I arrived back in Houston to find rain, more rain and an invite to a family birthday celebration. The weather matched my mood, which was a bit…
Doubt
The Alley Theatre gets a running start on the new season with its opening production. John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt won both a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award after it wowed audiences and critics alike three years ago in New York. The morality “parable” (as Shanley calls it) focusing on…
Welcome to the Machine
Metalheads planning a vacation to the Happiest Place on Earth — that’s Disneyland, not Slayer’s original practice space — might want to reconsider, because Mickey, Goofy and the gang don’t really want you there. According to veteran Oakland thrash band Machine Head’s Web site, last week Walt Disney Properties forced…
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, David Bazan
Hopefully the subtle humor involved in someone calling himself Casiotone for the Painfully Alone playing a happy-hour gig with a full backing band, as Owen Ashworth did with the Donkeys last time through Houston, isn’t lost on the mopey, introverted keyboard plinker’s fans. This time he stays truer to form,…
Lady Chatterley
The raciest thing I ever saw my mother do was read a brown-paper-covered Penguin edition of D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover on the London Underground. She didn’t fool all the other passengers carrying similarly disguised copies, and though I was only 12 years old in that fall of 1960…
Local Motion
Sound Exchange 1846 Richmond, 713-666-5555 1. Obituary, Xecutioner’s Return 2. New Pornographers, Challengers 3. Kinski, Down Below It’s Chaos 4. Tarentel, Ghetto Beats on the Surface of the Sun 5. Aesop Rock, None Shall Pass 6. Fucked Up, Year of the Pig 7. Jana Hunter, There’s No Home 8. Pixies,…
Mouth of the South
To some, 2007 is the year hip-hop kicked the bucket. Nas famously declared the music dead last December, and last month Time published some numbers that bolstered his point. Hip-hop album sales have shrunk 44 percent since 2000, spiraling a full 30 percent in the last year. Seventeen of this year’s top…
“RED HOT: Asian Art from the Chaney Family Collection”
When Robert Chaney and family purchase a work of art, it’s no impulse buy. It’s a carefully considered, business-based decision. In a 12-year period, the Houston wildcatter, oilman and venture capitalist, along with his wife Jereann and 11-year old daughter Holland, have systematically amassed what Museum of Fine Arts, Houston…
Big Robert Smith
The late Big Robert Smith, Third Ward-bred vocalist for everyone from Grady Gaines to Albert Collins during his 50-plus-year career, was a belter, not a singer or even shouter. His foghorn of a voice was pitched something like a baritone sax, and the rotund dynamo with the wavy processed ‘do…
Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week
Andre Rieu: Live in New York (Denon) Away From Her (Lionsgate) Bones: Season Two (Fox) Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (HBO) Casper Meets Wendy: Family Fun Edition (Fox) Charmed: The Final Season (Paramount) DOA: Dead or Alive (Weinstein) Ever Again (Starz) Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes — Volume Two…
Art Capsule Reviews
“Intertwined: Contemporary Baskets from the Sara and David Lieberman Collection” For many, basket weaving is one of those crafts that stereotypically symbolizes the ultimate in boredom; the last bastion of activity when one has nothing better to do. With this exhibit, the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft has effectively shattered…
Motion Turns It On
Motion Turns It On may have the most apt name in Houston: Their instrumental rock is both suffused with joyous motion and profoundly turned on. Rima stretches six songs into 33 minutes, wasting no time as a brief drum roll snappily introduces the title track’s punky opening riff. The rest…
Legs to Spare
The Graduate: 40th Anniversary Edition (MGM) Fifteen years after its last home-video commemorative edition (extras from which appear here), The Graduate once more gets the bonus-laden makeover — and if ever a movie deserved its kudos, its Mike Nichols masterwork. That said, the movie is its own bonus; not since…
Still a P.I.M.P.
No reason to fear 50 Cent, right? I try telling myself that while heading toward Manhattan’s Flatiron District for a one-on-one interview with the much-shot gangsta MC. The man born Curtis Jackson (but Fitty to his fans) has done a video with Dustin Hoffman and a song with Justin Timberlake,…
Stage Capsule Reviews
The Best Man Main Street Theater’s season opener is a political drama filled with the sort of emotional wreckage that hard campaigning creates. Never mind that the show first opened on Broadway in 1960 — the prescient script feels like it was written yesterday. It’s the primary convention for an…
Feature Photo
And the naysayers scoffed at the people who said power lines can emit killer radiation. Tell it to this poor, dead horse, another victim of progress. Or maybe, if you look a little closer, it’s just one desperately horny horse, begging to get some. Or on third thought, maybe it’s…
Cold Case
What was left of her was found in a mound of dead vegetation and trash. Her tombstone was a tire; that’s where the skull lay. Beyond it, her skeleton. The man had pulled over to relieve himself. Standing by a low-slung barbed-wire fence at the end of the road, he…
Eastern Promises
I’ve said it before and hope to again: David Cronenberg is the most provocative, original and consistently excellent North American director of his generation. From Videodrome (1983) through A History of Violence (2005), neither Scorsese nor Spielberg, and not even David Lynch, has enjoyed a comparable run. A rhapsodic movie…
Tofu Village
“Soon tofu” is Korean for “tofu soup.” If you are picturing the miso dishwater they give you at the sushi bar, you are way off. The soon tofu I tried at Tofu Village on Bellaire at the Beltway was a bubbling bowl of fiery funk. The soon tofu’s bright orange…
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
This is a mockumentary, right?” I’ve been asked that question at least a dozen times since The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters made its bow at the Slamdance Film Festival in January. Quite simply, some folks just don’t believe that Seth Gordon’s film about two men vying for…
The Brave One
In the new Neil Jordan movie, Jodie Foster plays New York talk radio DJ Erica Bain, who survives a vicious Central Park mugging and becomes an urban crusader devoted to cleaning up the city — with a Glock instead of a broom. Yes, The Brave One is that movie: the…
Alley Theatre
The Alley Theatre is a cherished, honored Houston institution. Who knew it was also home to some incredibly thin-skinned, petty prima donnas? Houston Press reviewer D.L. Groover took on the Alley’s production of Treasure Island back in May [see “Treasure Island — and Jim Hawkins — is a drag,” May…
The Devil Came on Horseback
For an issue-oriented doc with activist aims, the line between hope and despair — between placating an outraged audience and calling it to action — is a fine one, indeed. Any indie auteur feels tempted to salute grassroots heroism, his own not least, although the promise of “making a difference”…
Atlas Drowned
Typically, first-person shooters are a lot like virtual shooting galleries: Great fun, yes, but not exactly thought-provoking. So it’s nice when an FPS comes along that’s trying to be something more — and even better when it actually succeeds. Sometimes you know it in the first few minutes. Take Half-Life:…
Segari’s
Forget heavy sauces and fancy preparation — some seafood dishes are best prepared and served “au naturel,” like Laura’s sautéed shrimp and crabmeat ($27.95) at Segari’s (1503 Shepherd, 713-880-2470). Three ginormous shrimp and at least a half-pound of crabmeat are sautéed in butter along with spinach, onions, red bell peppers,…
Manda Bala
Killer timing! Manda Bala (Send a Bullet), Jason Kohn’s vivid, lean-and-hungry documentary about São Paulo’s fatalistic food chain of extreme poverty, violence, unmitigated corruption and overwhelming wealth, arrives just as Vanity Fair’s “Viva Brazil!!” issue hits the stands. Can’t we find a new country to fetishize? Trading once again on…
Mail Call
Online readers comment on “Smoked Out,” by Chris Gray, August 30 Discrimination: I know that the antismoking coalition/movement is armed with false information such as manipulated data, targeted surveys and exaggerations. For instance, most smokers die from heart or cancer-related illness. But also most nonsmokers die from heart or cancer-related…
Tapes ‘N’ Tapes
“The making of a great compilation tape is hard to do, and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you gotta take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool…
Insect Warfare
Besides Daniel Shaw’s stunning cover art, Insect Warfare’s World Extermination booklet boasts an equally priceless lyric sheet. As these 20 scalding missives (“Self Termination,” “Armored Virus,” “Necessary Death”) escort civilization straight down the tubes in a little under 23 minutes, blade-twisting turns of phrase like “Make you bite the curb…