By Jack Daniel Betz It’s been over ten years since post-punk pioneers Gang of Four released their last studio album “Shrink Wrapped” in 1995. Known mostly for their funky and critically acclaimed LP “Entertainment” the band has since replaced their original bassist and drummer and opted for a slower, less funk-driven approach. On “Content” the talents of guitarist Andy Gil and vocalist Jon King still shine are as brilliantly as ever but the tempo has slowed and there is less emphasis on Entertainment-era basslines. The brunt of the musical weight is carried by Gil’s muddy but brilliant guitar work. For ... Read More »

By Ramon LP4 OK, so I know you guys are sick of all the cat talk over the last few days on this music blog but I figure after posting an interview and having the cats take over the weekend preview, you might want to know how the whole show actually went.  Well, let me just say that contrary to what your more cynical instincts might have told you, The Acro-cats and the Rock-Cats were a huge hit over at Super Happy Funland this last week.  We went by on Thursday night to check out the show and were more than pleasantly surprised at how fun ... Read More »

Meeting Donnie Dunagan, a former child actor who voiced the character of Bambi, is an incredible trip through the history of film. Dunagan worked on seven films between 1938 and 1941, and indeed his life in movies is only the tip of the iceberg of his personal story. As I pull out my old school Radio Shack cassette recorder Dunagan sharply begins the interview commenting on the difference in technology of his analog youth and the current digital landscape. Dunagan looks fit and in his late 70s totally in shape. He holds advanced degrees in addition to serving for years ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman Catastrophic Theatre’s years in the making production of Richard Foreman’s Paradise Hotel debuts at Diverseworks on Friday February 11. In the show’s press kit co-director Greg Dean describes the Houston interpretation of the play as “like sitting in on someone’s dream; like a hallucinogenic trip.” He goes on to describe Foreman’s writing as “metaphysical vaudeville or philosophical burlesque.” Neither Dean nor co-director Troy Schulze are new to Foreman’s work, both have previously helmed versions of Foreman’s plays in Catastrophic’s predecessor Infernal Bridegroom Productions. In the 1990s Dean directed Samuel’s Major Problems and Eddie Goes to Poetry City, ... Read More »

by Ramon LP4 Show of the Week The Acro-Cats The Rock-Cats @ Super Happy Fun Land, Wednesday - Saturday A portion of ticket sales to benefit SNAP (Spay-Neuter Assistance Program). Sorry Humans. You’ve been one-upped by a bunch of felines! Check out our interview with trainer Samantha Martin and find out why your band will never be as cool a band of kitties! In fact, we are so excited about this show that we let the cats handle the blurbs for us this week. Take it away kitties…. Thursday 24 February Yellow Fever, Hearts of Animals, Joe Mathlete @ the Joanna ... Read More »

by Ramon LP4 Let me ask you one question, what’s the coolest show in town this week? Wrong! Listen up and I’ll tell you the answer! What if I told you there was a band called The Rock-Cats in town? What if I told you that the band members were cats?! Oh hell yes! You heard me right – a kitty band! Now I don’t know about you but in my world cats are pretty awesome. Put them behind some instruments and you have one irresistible show! Bonus it’s a cat circus with the Acro-Cats too and it’s at Super ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman It seems like something out of a childhood fantasy or a pulp spy novel, a secret CIA facility just outside of a town known for tourist traps like the Riverwalk. However, accoroding to articles recently published in the New York Times and the Washington Post its not something cooked up in an overly excited imagination. Both papers recounted the story of Kevin M. Shipp, 55, a former security officer for the CIA who was posted to a facility that the Washington Post describes as being “in the Southwestern United States.” WaPo’s journalists wrote that they had “agreed ... Read More »

Here are some shots of last week’s dynamite, two hour, Broken Social Scene show at Warehouse Live. -Jack Daniel Betz Read More »

by RamonLP4 Let me just say that there is nothing better than walking into Rudyard’s and hearing Slayer’s “South of Heaven” blasting. Sweet! Sure I missed Keno Sims (who had filled in the slot vacated by the Talk Sick Brats) but watching Krullur set up was kind of its own entertainment. The drum kit was this huge monstrous beast of cherry-red toms rigged with a crazy array of drum triggers. The microphone stands were chains – I shit you not! And, behind them, they unfurled a huge banner with the band’s name on it. The oddest things about Krullur was ... Read More »

The painting in front of me was alive, which is to say it was shimmering. It’s literally awake with motion. I’m standing in from of Renoir’s Pont Neuf, Paris (1872). Pont Neuf’s in the center of Paris and the first bridge built there. The painting’s one of 50 from the Washington D.C. National Gallery of Art on display at the MFAH until late May. I do a double take at the painting, it cannot really be moving. Wrong, Pont Neuf’s unmistakably undulating with the rays of early morning sunlight glimmering off the tops of hats and edges of windows, gleaming ... Read More »