By Dusti Dawn Rhodes Justin Townes Earle has moved from the front porch to the honky tonk. In his latest effort, June’s Harlem River Blues, the country/blues man traded his folky fiddles and banjos for swinging beats and gospel-style vocals. But this was no sudden switch. Earle’s fans can trace this evolution all the way to his first appearances on stage. “Wanderin’,” his Guthrie-style, self-proclaimed gospel tune, was a crowd favorite before finding it’s way on Blues. The rest of the album slows down or picks it up with definite dance-floor crashers like “Move Over Mama” and “Ain’t Waitin.” Regulars ... Read More »

There are many urban myths about Walt Disney. Some of them are addressed directly in the documentary Walt & El Grupo. As much as I enjoyed this look at the nascent Disney company in the early 1940s it took a while for its lingering images of a corporate journey to South America to settle. Watching the DVD a second time but with the commentary track activated the film became an entirely new experience, highlighted by director Theodore Thomson and film historian J.B. Kaufman providing astute background facts on the time and place. The trip was underwritten by the United States ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz Veteran rock act the Posies are back on the scene with their first album in five years “Blood/Candy” and will be gracing Houston with their presence at Ground Hall on Nov. 27th. The band has gone through many phases since their inception, starting with grunge and becoming and more eclectic as they went on, mixing power-pop, hard rock, and psychedelia to create a satisfying signature sound. The Posies are one of the few rock bands starting in the late 80s grunge scene that truly stand the test of time. They are by no means stuck in ... Read More »

Let me sleep all night in your Soul Kitchen the Doors sung back in the days of vinyl. A new film from German director Fatih Akin, Soul Kitchen updates that mood for today’s Hamburg and twenty-four hour party people coming together in a restaurant that’s likely to be in full rock mode with gourmet cooking. Akin’s previous films are hard hitting reality based confrontational narratives so Soul Kitchen wafts across as a satirical breeze. The tone’s always upbeat even though the various characters have heavy psychological baggage. Even though Soul Kitchen’s an ensemble piece populated by cool hipster chicks and ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz Last weekend, Roger Waters performed the whole Wall at the Toyota Center here in Houston and it was fantastic. The only thing that would have made it better is if Rick Right was alive and Nick Mason and David Gilmour weren’t “back at the hotel”, but the show still managed to be better than I ever anticipated. Besides Waters there was at least one other major Floyd veteran on stage, Snowy White. While white was never a band member, he did play with Pink Floyd on the original wall tour and also contributed some playing for ... Read More »

by Andrea Afra I met George Molho six years ago through his cousin Dora who owns Byzantio, the Greek cafe on West Gray. She had laid a book face down on the counter while she made me a drink. It’s title was Greek Coffee, aptly named for its reader and I jokingly asked what it was about. She told me it was her cousin’s memoir, not a book about coffee so much, and that I should read it, even write a review for the paper if I liked it. I did read it and I interviewed George at the cafe ... Read More »

By Omar Afra Bianca Montalvo is fickle in the best kind of way.  One moment she is this quasi-violent front woman and the next moment she shifts gears into bubbly songstress. Her new album Humans are my Keyboards is a sharp diversion from Heist at Hand; the band she is known for previously fronting. The album is produced by Bob Hoag of The Ataris, The Format fame and is mixed bag of dark pop and lush ditties.  She was kind enough to answer a few questions for us. We remember a more spastic, injured and bleeding Bianca on stage with ... Read More »

If this were the 1950s The Next Three Days would be a fast paced film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis or Fritz Lang. As it is, it’s 2025 and The Next Three Days remains a fast paced  actioner that defies the logic of normal films. As written and directed by Paul Haggis, The Next Three Days constantly displays new characters and situations all throughout the plot, and challenges the viewer to figure out what will happen next. The movie is based on the French film Pour Elle. The Next Three Days is so intellectual that we never actually see ... Read More »

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A long time ago I had the occasion to see a medical film. Medical films are a strange kind of voyeurism. This particular film was an operation on a baby that had been born imperfect. I only bring up such a sub-genre because the experience of seeing 127 Hours, for some people, will be beyond ken. Danny Boyle, the director of everything from Trainspotting to Slumdog Millionaire, has fashioned a once in a lifetime tale out of real life and the ultimate in adventure. It’s no secret that 127 Hours is based on the life of Aron Ralston, the dude ... Read More »