El Paso natives Zechs Marquise, prog-rock extraordinaires melding jazz, funk, and experimental noise, have frequently been compared to the sounds of guitarist Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s project The Mars Volta. And with good reason. Zechs Marquise not only features little brother Marfred Rodriguez Lopez, but also fellow musicians and brothers Marcel and Rikardo Rodriguez-Lopez. Marfred, Marcel and Rikardo play bass, drums and keys respectively, and Marcel plays in the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group & The Mars Volta. We had the chance to speak with bassist Marfred: FPH – What was the psychedelic scene like growing up in El Paso? Rodriguez-Lopez – ... Read More »

This Week’s Featured Shows Album Releases Galore at Fitz!!!! Thursday  June 30 Espantapajaros, Chase Hamblin (tour kickoff!), Nathan Quick (CD release)- Local Pop Psychedelian Chase Hamblin kicks- off a tour and a CD release for Nathan Quick whose music seems to dip into the same sixties era.  What’s the line from Evil Dead?  Oh yeah…Groovy! Friday July 01 Anarchitex (CD release), The Energy, Black Congress, The Delta Block  - This is actually the second record release (the first was at Cactus a few weeks back) but this one has the added bonus of a stellar line up. Sunday, July 3 The Wrong ... Read More »

Oh look outside the window, there’s a woman being grabbed. They’ve dragged her to the bushes and now she’s being stabbed. Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain. But Monopoly is so much fun, I’d hate to blow the game. That paragraph is one of the verses of the Phil Ochs song “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends.” Some have heard of Ochs and probably more have heard of the people that populate the documentary Phil Ochs There But For The Fortune. Personages like Christopher Hitchens, Joan Baez, Peter Yarrow, Paul Krassner, Sean Penn, ... Read More »

A friend of mine who’s watched too many episodes of Ancient Aliens: Season Two was trying to illustrate to anyone who’d listen that the apocalypse is nigh; flooding in the Dakotas, flood waters breech Nebraska nuclear plant, drought in Texas, wildfires in the Southwest. No folks there’s no apocalypse, it’s business as usual. In fact, the apocalypse has been cancelled because this week Hollywood has movies coming out that appeal to each and every American capable of going to the movies on Independence Day weekend. I’m not talking about cool indie films under the radar (no advertising budget) like Submarine ... Read More »

Trollhunter could best be described as a reality based horror film that starts in the tradition of The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, only in Norwegian. A couple of students are making a guerilla film about bear hunters and start stalking one of the more closely guarded hunters. There’s plenty of handheld points-of-view mixed with discovery of something mysterious but not quite crystal clear in the woods. After a cliché but revelatory first act the film changes gears and becomes less like its influences and more of its own animal. The sportsman eventually takes the kids under his confidence and ... Read More »

Some time ago there was a British film called Absolute Beginners. That film was set in a totally different universe than Beginners, opening Friday at the River Oaks Three in Houston. Beginners stars Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer and Melanie Laurent. McGregor plays a milquetoast guy stumbling through his comfortable life when his Dad (Plummer, giddy much of the time) informs him that he’s dying, and that at age 75 he’s coming out of the closet. McGregor manages to hook up with Laurent, herself an actress working in L.A. There’s a dog that has its thoughts revealed to the audience as ... Read More »

When it gets this hot in the summer, city water mains tend to rupture much easier. All of our city water mains are busting and city workers can not keep up. The one on Harold in the Montrose has been seeping water for about 20 days now and the city has failed to get to it because ” this is nothing compared to others.” Nonetheless, creative Montrose residents have managed to find clever efficiencies in this otherwise massive waste. Residents adjacent to the leak have ‘manufactured’ a pump of sorts which redistributes the water to their lawns.  -O.Afra Read More »

If anything Transformers Dark of the Moon is the kind of multi-achieving movie that has a definite beginning, middle and end. I am so digging the Trannies 3. Before I start gushing let me add the caveat about the screening. I feel this following description goes a long way in describing how the movie going experience is being impacted by digital technology. We’re in the time envelope that will see rapid change. But for now the mandate calls for all digital theaters by July 2025, a year from now. The theater where the movie was screened, which I think has ... Read More »

Pixar in the 20th century was the new kid on the block, always offering eye candy animation with an equal payoff for kids and adults alike. Pixar in the 21st century shines but for the most part with a slightly dimmer bulb. Case in point was last year’s lauded Toy Story 3, which I found a dull repeat of the previous TS installments. But a lot of others in the known universe went gaga for TS3 even to the point of listing it on a top ten movies list to the exclusion of really good (non-animated) film like Winter’s Bone ... Read More »

This Week’s Featured Show Saturday, June 25 Prideapalooza 2025 @ Avant Garden/Mango’s with B L A C K I E, Wicked Poseur, Alex English, Mike Rhythm, Tax the Wolf, GRRRL Parts, Senior Jukebox, Damon Allen, Electric Attitude, Panchitron, //TENSE// (DJ set), Speculator, Papaya, Achachay, Boyfriend, Ceeplus Bad Knives, DJ Hyro, Young Girls, Best Legs, Black Transmission, Tyagaraja, Mr. Castillo, La Catrin, Bending Villa, iLL LiaD, Vivian Pikkles & the Sweethearts Über Alles, Fredster, Shawn Rindfuss, Cuba Gooding Jr., Abstract Cannon, Hollywood Floss, ADD, Hit it or Quit it, & dontkidurself - Man this city is so gay.  Mayor – Lesbian.  ... Read More »