Most Popular
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Madagascar Birthmarks at French Riviera Bakery
This fabulous little French Bakery is one of the coolest hangouts in the Galleria
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County Attorney Candidate Vince Ryan Sues Linebarger Goggan
Saying he deserves a bigger piece of the pie, the former city councilman serves up cherry information to his current political opponent
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Hippie Cops and Loan Sharks
No beards allowed at HPD
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The Not Terrible Hulk
In the shadow of Iron Man, the latest from Marvel can't live up to its billing
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Capsule Stage Reviews: bare, Big Range Dance Festival, Electile Dysfunction, La Sylphide and A Doll's House, Present Laughter, The Splasher
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The DREAM Act Might Be Dead, But These Kids' Hopes Are Not (17)
They are American in everything but name. They can go to college in Texas and improve themselves. Doesn't matter. At the end of the day, they're just illegal immigrants without social security numbers or futures.
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Ten Things I Love About the Houston Music Scene (6)
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Houston Has a Bad Reputation with Touring Indie Bands (5)
They'd just as soon give us a miss.
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Machinist and Truck Drivers (5)
The College Question
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Temples of Tex-Mex: A Diner's Guide to the State's Oldest Mexican Restaurants (5)
We took a pilgrimage in search of old-fashioned tamales, chili con carne and cheese enchiladas
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God, Texas and Tom Waits
Tom Waits may not come from around here, but a good chunk of his favorite music does
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The 2008 Vans Warped Tour, with Angels & Airwaves
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Juneteenth Revisited
Two arts organizations attempt a new spin on an old event
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Precisely 88 mph at Etro Lounge
Montrose Throwback
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What Do Shepard Smith and Soulja Boy have in common?
Wack's here to tell you: more than you might expect
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Houstoned Is Not Long for This World
10:58AM 07/09/08 -
Aftermath: Harry and the Potters at Walter's on Washington
11:56AM 07/09/08 -
Twelve Best Sports Books of All Time
06:11AM 07/04/08 -
Be It Ever So at Humble Cafe
10:19AM 07/09/08
What we are writing about
- Altar Boyz
- Backroom at the Mink
- Cactus Music
- Chantal Akerman
- Continental Club
- Cuban immigrants
- Erykah Badu
- Frozen
- Houston art
- Houston local music
- Houston music stores
- Houston theater
- McGonigel's Mucky Duck
- Meridian
- Ornament as Art:...
- PlayStation
- Proletariat
- Roger Clemens
- Rudyard's
- Sig's Lagoon
- Sound Exchange
- southwest Houston
- Sugar Bean Sisters
- The Menil Collection
- There Will Be Blood
- Vinal Edge Records
- Walter's on Washington
- Warehouse Live
- Wii
- Young and Fertle
Recent Articles By William Michael Smith
National Features
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Broward-Palm Beach New Times
Sexual Healing
For Florida's sole remaining sex surrogate, love is a many splintered thing.
By Michael J. Mooney -
City Pages
Your Friendly Neighborhood War Profiteer
It's not just giant companies cashing in on America's defense industry.
By Jeff Severns Guntzel -
The Pitch
Supersizing Sonic
How a throwaway idea at the Barkley ad agency became the "Sonic Guys."
By Justin Kendall
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Alejandro Escovedo's Real Animal looks back over a boisterous life.
Subject(s): Real Animal , Alejandro Escovedo
Most collaborations between two such strong artistic personalities as Alejandro Escovedo and Chuck Prophet would be doomed from the start, but Real Animal is like adding a turbocharger to a Ferrari V-12. Searing rocker "Always a Friend" burns rubber off the starting line, and Real Animal never looks back. The churning "Chelsea Hotel '78" chronicles when Escovedo lived in the legendary New York dive hotel during punk rock's heyday; the central vignette is Nancy Spungen's stabbing death at the hands of Sex Pistol boyfriend Sid Vicious: "Nancy called up to our room, said 'Come and help with Sid,' we went down and looked around, the dealer let us in." Elsewhere, Escovedo and Prophet celebrate fallen comrade Jeffrey Lee Pierce of Gun Club in "Sister Lost Soul" and bow magnanimously toward Iggy Pop on "Smoke." When the duo isn't powering through snarling rockers like "Real as an Animal," they mine a beautiful counterpoint tension with smoldering, soulful tunes like "Golden Bear" and "People (We're Only Gonna Live So Long)." The brilliant tightrope walk of "Nuns Song" — about Escovedo's earliest punk band in San Francisco — is as unforgettable as the Nuns themselves ("It's 1978, we know we're not in tune, we know we'll never be great"). Now a longtime Austin-area resident, Escovedo has made fine records throughout his career, but stoked by Prophet's energy and guitar creativity and David Bowie producer Tony Visconti at the helm, Real Animal is an easy candidate for most interesting, and perhaps best, rock album of the year.
