How Touching
Sometimes you go to an art show expecting one thing, and you get another. The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston’s “Landscape Confection” is supposedly about works that take a decorative approach to the landscape. Organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts and curated by Helen Molesworth, the exhibition does lean…
Welcome, Neighbors
This is a historic moment for Houston. Never before has any city’s entire music scene — still less one as rich, historic and vibrant as that of New Orleans — been forced to evacuate their hometown, and dozens of them are now in Houston. Here are some ways we can…
Capsule Reviews
“Bill Traylor, William Edmondson and the Modernist Impulse” Bill Traylor and William Edmondson are two African-American artists whose work came to the attention of the art world and the broader public in the late 1930s because of its modern aesthetic. This Menil exhibition explores the modernist aspects of their work…
My Darlin’ New Orleans
“When the riverbanks are overflowing / and the streetcar has seen its day / when all is gone / the plantation, Tremé, Vieux Carré / I’ll be swingin’ to that music on higher ground / where Pops is blowing ‘Walk On’ / Up with Gabriel making sacred sounds / I’ll…
New releases available this week
The Blues Brothers 25th Anniversary Edition (Universal Studios Home Video) Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman’s modern-day revival of the Blues Brothers is less a stroke of comedy genius than a dose of karaoke night at Hooters. Fight off those thoughts and pop in this 1980 classic. John Belushi and Aykroyd,…
Lyin’ Scion
On Tuesday, August 23, Bavu Blakes was just another Texas rapper trying to make it. Granted, the Dallas-bred MC was already on the fast track; he’d built a sizable following in his current home of Austin and had hosted mixtapes with the likes of Paul Wall. But the next day,…
Houston Press‘ top DVD picks for the week of September 6
Barn of the Naked Dead (Koch Vision Entertainment) The Bela Lugosi Collection (Universal) Bruce Springsteen: VH1 Storytellers (Sony Music) Charmed: The Complete Second Season (Paramount) Crash (Artisan) The Deer Hunter: Special Edition (Universal) Dragnet: Volumes 1-3 (Delta Music) Fat Albert’s Halloween Special (Ventura) Fraggle Rock: Season 1 (Hit Entertainment) Greta…
The National
In a rock scene overrun with emo and post-emo bands, maybe it was only a matter of time before stoic-core reared its head. Enter the National, a group of adult Brooklynites who’ve just released their third album of deceptively low-key rock. The guitars on Alligator veer between Smiths-ish picking and…
The Terrorist
The room smells of the laundry soap that still pebbles the kitchen table. The shuttered blinds display the smeared stains of a child’s handiwork, but the Terrorist of Epernay doesn’t dare raise them. He knows the face he will see on the other side. It will be his own, thick…
Bjrk
Heavy breathing. A sultry moan. In the distance, a discordant celesta. No, it’s not an elaborately textured prank call from some hot and bothered musician; it’s “Pearl,” one of 11 tracks composed by Björk for arty beau Matthew Barney’s latest visual tribute to Vaseline, Drawing Restraint 9. Those hoping for…
Keith Sweat, with K-Ci and Jojo and Elvis White
In 1988, R&B’s heartthrob roster included deep-voiced crooners like Guy’s Aaron Hall and New Edition’s Johnny Gill and flutter-voiced falsettos such as the Deele’s Babyface. Thrusting himself into the picture was Harlem-born Keith Sweat, whose bizarre, quivering voice resembled the aural offspring of ’70s singer Steve Arrington and Jello Biafra…
Time to Grow Up
This fall brings a feeling unknown in Houston for more than ten years: Pro football fans actually expect the town’s NFL team to do well. The Houston Texans have gotten a pass through their first three years as an expansion team, but no more. Team members are expected not only…
Esquivel
Juan Garcia Esquivel, known to his highballing fans as simply Esquivel (ESS-kee-bell), was born in the village of Tampico, Mexico, in 1918. After gaining chops and notoriety on a daily Mexico City radio show, he moved to New York to study piano at Juilliard, made the rounds in Hollywood and…
Veda, with the Jonbenet
On Veda’s debut disc, The Weight of an Empty Room, classically trained singer Kristen May launches every chorus into the ether. On record, her awesome vocal arsenal, which includes operatic wide-mouthed screams and Cyndi Lauper-style mid-word hiccups, can overwhelm the uninitiated. Live, though, Veda makes an immediate positive impression. May…
Katrina & The Waves
Houstonians know what it’s like to get hammered by a super-storm, so there were some guilty sighs of relief along with the requisite concern when it became clear Hurricane Katrina wouldn’t be coming our way. As the scope of the disaster and debacle in New Orleans became clearer, though, Houston…
Teairra Mari
Seventeen-year-old ’round-the-way-girl Teairra Mari’s airy but rock-solid soprano and wanton girl-next-door charm have earned her the title “Princess of the Roc” and landed her a spot in Jay-Z’s Midas whip. And for that she can thank her lyricist dudes: They’ve got teen-anxiety zeitgeist down. Teairra tears through juicy jilted-girl anthems…
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
Declaring yourself “the world’s mightiest live funk and soul revue,” as the Dap-Kings have done, bears all the cultural import of being anointed “the world’s fastest horse-drawn carriage.” But the critics and radio programmers who employ the simple refrain of “don’t look back” are missing out on a lot of…
Letters
Almost a Schnook What weasels: I have first-hand experience with Bernard Haldane, since I got laid off thanks to tech outsourcing. I very nearly became a “schnook,” as mentioned in the article [“Fool’s Gold,” by Craig Malisow, August 25]. The price mentioned in my initial visit to their office was…
The Retribution Gospel Choir
An intriguing side project that joins the laconic talents of Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek, the Retribution Gospel Choir would seem to gravitate toward the grayer tones of the color spectrum. Then again, the band only recently formed and hasn’t released a single song together. Still,…
311, with Unwritten Law and Papa Roach
Here’s one of those cases of a band making it purely on perseverance and positive attitude. 311 has come a long way from unsuccessful stabs at studio work in L.A., prodigal-son-like returns to the Midwest, dog-food poverty in Van Nuys, and the great exploding RV incident of ’93. During its…
Kip Ruells!
Any self-respecting fan of Napoleon Dynamite knows that the titular hero isn’t the only one with skills. Napoleon’s brother, Kip Dynamite — and his real-life counterpart, actor Aaron Ruell — have some serious skills, too. A longtime director, Ruell has two short films, a slew of TV commercials and even…
Singing from the Gut
WED 9/14 You never know what you’ll get when you’re front-row at your favorite show. This past summer, an unsuspecting crowd at the Vans Warped Tour watching the punk-prog-rocky, Houston-based Heist at Hand got doused with front woman Bianca Montalvo’s warm, beer-reeking puke. “It was crazy-hot outside and we had…
Store Wars
When one goes to see a movie titled El Crimen Perfecto (literal translation: The Perfect Crime), it might seem unlikely that the title of this Spanish film has been altered for American audiences. But it has. In Spain, the title is Crimen Ferpecto, which makes the crime a general term…
This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks
Thursday, September 8 Art mavens Aimee Jones, Amy Dugat and Mariana Saldaña are putting an artsy spin on what’s essentially squatting by taking over the wooded area between DiverseWorks and FotoFest for their latest endeavor, The Feel Better 4/Ever Club. The ladies originally conceived the event as a silly wink…
Can’t Hold a Candle to It
A few nights ago, I sat down and feasted on a sausage pie at Candelari’s Pizzeria at Washington Avenue and Westcott. It made my eyes widen and my heart race. The dough was swollen here and there along its perimeter, with yeasty bubbles that had been baked crisp in a…
Grizzly Man
Fans of the last two Miramax films from Swedish director Lasse Hallström — Chocolat and The Shipping News — may be happy to know that he has stuck to the exact same formula for his latest, An Unfinished Life. Like its predecessors, this is the tale of an itinerant single…
Walk on the Wild Side
Holly Woodlawn is describing how she missed her own film premiere in New York: “You know why I couldn’t be there? I was in jail.” One of a triumvirate of transvestite performers that included Candy Darling and Jackie Curtis, Holly was cast in Trash, the 1970 Paul Morrissey-directed, Andy Warhol-produced…
Do You Smoke?
One taste of the smoked catfish ($10.75) at Spanish Flowers (4701 North Main, 713-869-1706), and you’ll know you’re tasting something very special. The smoke flavor permeates the tender catfish, so much so that you’ll swear you’re eating a finer fish, like smoked trout or herring. The catfish fillet sits in…
Go to Hell
The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which is based on a true story the same way Harry Potter and Star Wars movies are, is the latest — though certainly not the last — movie of this bloody (awful) year trying to scare the money right out of your wallet. It has…
Stylish Scavenging
THU 9/8 The annual Downtown Stomp Around, presented by DiverseWorks, is a kind of aesthetic scavenger hunt. You plot your course through the gallery map, navigate the urban landscape with optimal efficiency, gulp some free wine and get a little culture. This year, though, the ante has been upped. Buffalo…
Resident Evil
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance hits these shores now in large part thanks to the recent positive reception for Oldboy. Both films make up two-thirds of Korean director Chanwook Park’s “Vengeance” trilogy, with the third, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, due out next year. If you haven’t yet seen Oldboy, which came…
Fandemonium
At a time when thousands are feared missing and dead in New Orleans, thinking about football hardly seems to be in good taste. But as relief efforts continue, people are already talking about the fate of the New Orleans Saints. The team may never again play in their beloved Superdome;…
Call the Cops
The Man isn’t so much a movie as a parody of one, the kind of thing people in movies about the movie business pitch as outrageous, inept ideas when a director’s going for the cheap and quick giggle. Only in movies like The Player or Bowfinger or Christopher Guest’s The…
Fallen Boundaries
FRI 9/9 It’s difficult to combine, say, curry with french fries or a sari with jeans. But it can be achieved — tastefully and stylishly — with a little creativity. Such is the logic behind Urban Indian Beat, a local dance troupe that seeks to reconcile Western dance with classical…
Hello, Stranger
The citizens of Dumpster, Texas, are at it again. Created by a trio of actors at Radio Music Theatre, the wacky Fertle family and all their friends and silly neighbors are now starring in Whatshisname?, a featherweight comedy about a stranger with an eye patch who comes visiting one fine…
Rivers Runs Dry
Tuesday, September 13, at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2025 Lake Robbins Drive, The Woodlands, 281-330-3300.
Capsule Reviews
Doo Wop II the Sequel According to Big Mama in the Great Caruso’s latest musical revue, doo wop was an incantatory musical potion created from “gospel, jazz and four-part harmony.” Of course, as Big Mama (a smooth Samantha Coombs) adds, the biggest influence was the blues. Happily, all those head-bopping…
Fountain of Youth
In a sound-stage-size practice room across from a Viagra warehouse, the next big thing just may be rising to the occasion. Two teenagers from Galveston and another from Baytown are taking what seems like an eternity to get their shiny, new equipment to cooperate. While the band shakes off the…