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Contents

EDITORIAL

VOL. 28 | NO. 15 | APRIL 14-APRIL 20, 2016

STAFF WRITERS Meagan Flynn, Craig Malisow, Dianna Wray FELLOW Leif Reigstad EDITORIAL OPERATIONS MANAGER Richard Hebert CONTRIBUTORS Melissa Anderson, Abbey Bender, Sam Byrd, Brandon

Caldwell, Phaedra Cook, Willie D, Serena Donadoni, Alexandra Doyle, Bilge Ebiri, Kenji Fujishima, D.L. Groover, Steve Jansen, Matthew Keever, Josef Molnar, Amy Nicholson, Alan Scherstuhl, Bill Simpson, Randy Tibbits, Chuck Wilson, A Wolfe WEB CONTRIBUTORS Jeff Balke, Sam Byrd, Ashley Clos, Phaedra Cook, Willie D, Alexandra Doyle, Jef With One F, Catherine Gillespie, Jack Gorman, Nicholas L. Hall, Whitney Hodgin, Alexandra Irrera, Matthew Keever, Erika Kwee, Chris Lane, Kristy Loye, Francisco Montes, Adam P. Newton, Joanna O’Leary, Jeremy Parzen, Sean Pendergast, Mai Pham, John Royal, Bob Ruggiero, David Sackllah, Ericka Schiche, Bill Simpson, Nathan Smith, William Michael Smith, Matt Stieb, Valerie Sweeten, Randy Tibbits, Marco Torres, Brooke Viggiano, Pete Vonder Haar ART ART DIRECTOR Monica Fuentes PRODUCTION PRODUCTION MANAGER Brian Cook LAYOUT EDITOR Mya Dale CORPORATE MARKETING GRAPHIC DESIGNER Natalie Silva GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sarah Wall ADVERTISING RETAIL SALES DIRECTOR Allisen Picos CLASSIFIED SALES DIRECTOR Juan Rojas OPERATIONS MANAGER Dana Donovan SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Joe Espelage, Char Koehler ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Karinn Brenes, Joshua Brettschneider, Joel Cirilo,

Arielle Lipsen, Courtney Mitchell, Jennifer Smith, Leslie Taylor HOUSE ACCOUNT MANAGER Sophie Cole DIGITAL OPERATIONS COORDINATOR Jessica Candler DIGITAL MARKETING AND SALES COORDINATOR Lisa Fegen REGIONAL MARKETING DIRECTOR Jennifer Robinson MARKETING MANAGER Jordan Taylor PROMOTIONS COORDINATOR Colleen Sexton MARKETING INTERN Tessa Chronister

Pardon Me?

Imprisoned Iranian-American Bahram Mechanic, who had long run afoul of U.S. export laws, was given a getout-of jail card by the U.S. government, for reasons that remain as murky as his business activities. LEIF REIGSTAD |

PAGE 9

Featured Stories ▼

Run the World

VOICE MEDIA GROUP

Night & Day Film

Stage Capsules

Art Capsules

Cafe

Music Playbill .................................... 36

MEAGAN FLYNN |

PAGE 6

A Star in Our Midst

Listings ................................... 38

Employment

Medical Research On the Cover:

Photograph by Daniel Kramer/Reuters

DISTRIBUTION

Houston Press is published weekly, 52 times a year, by Houston Press LP, 2603 La Branch, Houston, TX 77004. All rights reserved. First copy of this publication is free. Each additional copy costs $2. Houston Press assumes no responsibility for the care and return of unsolicited materials. Return postage must accompany any material to be returned. In no event shall unsolicited material subject this publication to any claim for holding fees or similar charges.

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The entire contents of Houston Press are Copyright 2016 by Houston Press LP. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the publisher, Houston Press LP, 2603 La Branch, Houston, TX 77004. Please call the Houston Press office for back-issue information: 713-280-2400. Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Rates is pending at Houston, Texas.

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The Houston Press is looking for a Food Editor who will work with our lead food critic and other food writers to craft our restaurant and food coverage both online and in print. Candidates should be knowledgeable about food, write and report well, and be very organized and accurate. Knowledge of photography is a plus. The position is full-time and on staff with benefits. The Food Editor will report directly to the Editor-in-Chief. Interested applicants should email a résumé, cover letter and samples of their own food writing to margaret.downing@houstonpress.com. No phone calls.

Executive Assistant Needed Part-time position available.

The Houston Press newsroom is looking for a part-time executive assistant who will be responsible for a variety of clerical duties and will report directly to the editor-inchief. Applicants should be available to work 20 hours a week, have computer skills, be accurate and organized, and have the ability to work well with both internal and external customers. Interested candidates should send a résumé and cover letter to margaret.downing@houstonpress.com.

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Beyoncé sues “Feyoncé” clothing line, reminds everyone that she’s Queen Bey.

N AT I O N A L A D V E R T I S I N G

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Eating...Our Words ............... 28

NEW MEDIA DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT Kevin Spidel DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING Stuart Folb WEB SUPPORT MANAGER Michael Uchtman NATIONAL DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIST Jenna Corday

VMG Advertising 1-888-278-9866, www.vmgadvertising.com SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Sue Belair SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES OPERATIONS Joe Larkin FOR GENERAL INFORMATION, CALL: 713-280-2400 FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION, CALL: 713-280-2410 FOR CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING, CALL: 713-280-2800 FOR NATIONAL ADVERTISING, CALL: 888-278-9866

Houston News

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BUSINESS BUSINESS MANAGER Joseph Ferrara FINANCIAL ACCOUNTANT David Huffman STAFF ACCOUNTANT Abrahán Garza PUBLISHER Stuart Folb

I N F O R M AT I O N T E C H N O L O G Y CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER Gerard Goroski DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS SYSTEMS Brian King DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL PRODUCT MANAGEMENT James Hamilton INFRASTRUCTURE DIRECTOR Dave Marcon OPERATIONS MANAGER Brian Heimert NETWORK SUPPORT MANAGER David Fearn

6 21

COMPUTER SYSTEMS SYSTEMS MANAGER Larry Parks

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Christine Brennan EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE EDITOR Andy Van De Voorde EDITORIAL DIGITAL DIRECTOR Kelsey Whipple DIGITAL DESIGN DIRECTOR Darrick Rainey EDITORIAL DESIGN DIRECTOR Tom Carlson NATIONAL CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Curt Sanders CORPORATE CONTROLLER Beth Cook LEGAL COUNSEL Steve Suskin CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Jeff Mars CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Scott Tobias

Daniel Kramer/Reuters

Cover Story ▼

EDITOR Margaret Downing MANAGING EDITOR Michael Barajas WEB EDITOR Cory Garcia ARTS EDITOR Margaret Downing FOOD EDITOR Margaret Downing MUSIC EDITOR Chris Gray NEWS EDITOR Michael Barajas MUSIC LISTINGS EDITOR Tex Kerschen NIGHT & DAY EDITOR Susie Tommaney

4/12/16 5:05 PM

Broken SyStem Foster care, dead children

and Governor GreG abbott’s coGnitive dissonance. CRAIG MALISOW

hen it comes to protecting children, Greg Abbott just doesn’t get it. According to emails obtained by the Texas Tribune, Abbott took a personal interest in the January 2015 murder of a twomonth-old girl who had been removed from her mother by Child Protective Services and placed temporarily with a family friend. Justice Hull was drowned in a bowl of water by the family friend’s 14-year-old daughter, who told authorities she didn’t want her mom to adopt the child. “In the days following the infant’s death, Abbott’s aides sent dozens of emails to executives at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services,” the Trib reported,

VISIT HOUSTONPRESS.COM FOR MORE BREAKING NEWS AND FEATURES “seeking to understand how Child Protective Services had allowed Hull to live in a home where she would be murdered, and trying to determine how many other children might be at risk.” Hull’s was just one of three CPS-related deaths in as many months. The Trib also reported that Abbott emailed department officials after the accidental shooting death of four-year-old Codrick McCall, and the death of three-year-old Audrey Torres, killed in a car accident caused by her drunk-driving dad. The Trib reported: “The governor wrote a critical letter to Texas Department of Family and Protective Services head John Specia ordering the agency to get its act together. Unlike Hull and McCall, Torres was not in a parental child safety placement, but Abbott’s message was clear: He wanted no more tragedies.

“‘Abuse or neglect of our most vulnerable Texans — our children — is intolerable, and it is especially unacceptable when it happens to a child under the care umbrella of the State of Texas,’ he wrote.” It was as if, for the first time, Abbott had been made aware of problems in the state foster care system. But his emails belie the fact that, as attorney general, Abbott vigorously fought a class-action lawsuit that was filed expressly to minimize the risks that thousands of foster children deal with while in the state’s custody. The state lost in December 2015, when U.S. District Court Judge Janis Jack ordered the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to address problems that had been dodged for decades. That lawsuit was ABBOTT filed in 2011 by the AND HIS New York-based adCREW HAVE vocacy group ChilClOAKED dren’s Rights, after THEMSElVES state officials decided IN PlAUSIBlE to take their chances DENIABIlITy. in court rather than let out-of-towners tell them the best way to fix physical, sexual and psychological abuse in the foster care system. Among other things, Abbott’s office argued in 2012 that children in its care do not have a “federal constitutional right to reside in foster group homes that are compliant with ‘accepted professional standards.’” In fighting the Children’s Rights lawsuit, Abbott’s team of lawyers did everything to shirk responsibility for children who were raped, beaten, placed in dilapidated trailers, and hog-tied and thrown in closets to suffocate. Abbott’s team worked their hardest to find any loophole, statute, precedent and exemption that would relieve the state of the apparently overwhelming burden of protecting children. The lawsuit even turned up an internal review showing that department heads knowingly left children with their abusers. That review was promptly buried. While Abbott and his crew did what they could to cloak themselves in plausible deni-

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ability, the Department of Family and Protective Services’ own witnesses did whatever they could to help — one impeached himself on the stand, another fudged caseworker data. For four years, Abbott tried to preserve the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ status quo as attorney general, and he’s continuing as governor. Last week, officials filed a motion against Jack’s court-appointed special masters, who are tasked with nailing down the details of Jack’s broadbrush demands. In a rather bizarre argument, the state contends that Jack — the judge whom the state vehemently disagrees with — knows the particulars better than the special masters, so she should come up with a plan of her own. Paul Yetter, the Houston attorney who worked on behalf of Children’s Rights, told the Houston Press, “The judge wants the very best advice she can get, and the state should welcome that, if they’re serious about fixing the system.” But the real kicker is this: The state also argues that Jack applied the wrong constitutional standard when it comes to how much the state owes the children in its care. Simply put, officials argue that Jack placed the bar too high — demanding too much safety for foster children. Jack’s standard called for these kids to “be free from an unreasonable risk of harm,” but here’s what Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton are more comfortable with: The state only owes foster children the “right to personal security and reasonably safe living conditions.” The state also takes issue with Jack’s apparently bananas definition of “harm,” arguing that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is not “strictly liable for the psychological well-being and emotional development of every child in foster care.” These kids are already so damaged, the state argues, that officials shouldn’t be expected to address the psychological and emotional trauma of every last one. John Wittman, a spokesman for Abbott, told the Trib in an email that the governor “will continue to work aggressively with other leaders in Texas to improve the services DFPS provides to the vulnerable children entrusted to the care of the Lone Star State.” Given Abbott’s track record thus far, and the state’s continued insistence on lowering the bar when it comes to these “vulnerable children,” that statement is not only risible; it’s baseless. The words are as shallow as the bowl of water used to drown Justice Hull. At trial, in 2014, an attorney ad litem for an eight-year-old child named in the Children’s Rights lawsuit testified about visiting her client in a residential treatment center. He was the youngest kid there. Anna Ricker said the boy was “in a room with a bed in the middle of the room, and the walls were cinderblock and white. And in his closet were winter clothes. And it was summer. And the only thing he wanted from me was a hug and a photo of his sister…He said, ‘They won’t touch me here. They can’t touch me here.’”

Based on years of motions filed by Abbott and Paxton, on behalf of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, that boy has it good enough.

run the World beyoncé sues “Feyoncé” clothinG

line, reminds everyone that she’s Queen bey. MEAGAN FLYNN Last week Beyoncé filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against a Texas company that has been selling its own “Feyoncé” brand of clothes and merchandise.

Queen Bey’s lawsuit claims that Feyoncé has capitalized on the fame of both Beyoncé’s trademark name and her famous song “Single Ladies” to sell T-shirts and coffee mugs emblazoned with the fiancée/Beyoncé misspelling. This has apparently caused the otherwise fierce and unstoppable celeb “irreparable harm,” and so she is seeking an as-of-yet-undetermined amount in monetary damages from the punny entrepreneurs behind the San Antonio-based Feyoncé. The suit also asks that they cease their business immediately. To make the copyright infringement case, Beyoncé’s New York lawyers give the Manhattan-based judge a quick primer on just how famous Beyoncé really is. They refer to her as “one of the most successful artists in the world,” an “international fashion icon and influencer” and the “source of widespread unsolicited media attention wherever she goes.” Equally important, the lawsuit argues, is the fame of “Single Ladies,” a song her lawyers say is “considered by many critics as one of the best of the decade.” They note that the song’s music video has more than 468 million views on YouTube “and is regarded as one of the best videos of all time because of its intricate choreography.” The lawyers even liken it to Arethra Franklin’s “Respect” and Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” Because of the song’s fame, the lawyers say, whenever someone hears “Put a ring on it,” they think of Beyoncé and “Single Ladies.” Put another way, how dare anyone else create merchandise that reminds people of that song? The lawyers describe Feyoncé’s actions as “malicious,” saying “defendants’ deceptive conduct is harming the public in addition to harming Plaintiffs and their brand.”

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ahram Mechanic sat in downtown Houston’s federal detention center, suffering from myriad ailments his attorneys felt were inadequately addressed by generic jail drugs: bladder cancer, Type II diabetes and a weak, frail heart. The 69-year old Iranian-American had been incarcerated while awaiting trial for nearly nine months. Over the course of a two-year investigation, federal agents surveilled Mechanic and monitored his emails, and in April 2015, they froze Mechanic’s multiple bank accounts, searched his electronics manufacturing business in northwest Houston, raided his $2 million penthouse apartment and arrested Mechanic for allegedly violating federal export regulations, accusing him of covertly shipping military-grade electrical equipment to Iranian government agencies, including a nuclear energy organization and the state police. Now, he faced the possibility of spending the next 20 years in prison. This was not new territory for Mechanic. In April 1985, he was arrested on similar charges of breaking export laws. That arrest resulted in a criminal conviction, but Mechanic somehow managed to avoid jail time. In 1997, the federal government again sought to criminally prosecute Mechanic for his allegedly illegal exporting, but the investigation was dropped in favor of civil litigation. Mechanic settled and agreed to pay a fine. Later, the fine was significantly reduced. Mechanic promptly pled not guilty to the 2015 charges. He hired a well-known local defense attorney, Joel Androphy. In the bond hearing before trial, federal prosecutors argued Me- >> p10

April 14 - 20, 2016 MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 Daniel Kramer/Reuters

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Houston attorney Joel Androphy (center) embraces Bahram Mechanic’s wife, Tahereh, as the 69-year old (far left) was released from a federal detention center downtown. Pardon Me? from p9

chanic was a threat to national security, and maintained they had a “very, very strong case.” The judge seemed to agree, denying bond for Mechanic, whose fortunate streak of avoiding harsh punishment for his shady business operations appeared to be nearing its end. Then came the list. While Mechanic awaited trial, Iran was negotiating a nuclear deal with the United States. During these diplomatic discussions, the topic of prisoners frequently came up — Iran had in its jails some Americans the United States wanted back, and there were Iranians incarcerated in American prisons that Iran wanted released. If the two countries reached a nuclear agreement, they would almost certainly figure out some sort of prisoner exchange, too. In September, Iran reportedly sent the United States a list of 19 prisoners it wanted freed from American jails. Androphy read about the list in the newspaper, and so did Mechanic and his wife, Tahereh. Mechanic desperately wanted to know: Was he on the list? In an interview at his office in Houston’s midtown area, Androphy said he had already struck up a relationship with Fairborz Jahansoozan, the head of legal affairs in the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the de facto Iranian consulate housed under the Pakistani embassy in Washington, D.C. Androphy said he planned to take a fact-finding trip to Mechanic’s other electrical manufacturing company, in Tehran, so he reached out to Jahansoozan in August for guidance. When Androphy later called Jahansoozan about the list, the Iranian official was noncommittal. Jahansoozan dangled the possibility that if there was a list, Mechanic could perhaps be on it — if, of course, he was interested. Mechanic was worried the exchange would force him to permanently leave this country (Androphy says

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Daniel Kramer, Reuters

Mechanic wasn’t against going back to Iran, but he just didn’t like the idea of being told what to do). Jahansoozan was unsure what the specifics of the exchange would be, which led Androphy to believe the deal might never happen. On January 5, Androphy received a vague but urgent call from Jahansoozan. He was coming to Houston right away to meet with Androphy and Mechanic, and he wouldn’t say why. When they

tion center at 5:15 the next morning. He packed his golf clothes and clubs, and figured he would be on the green by 7 a.m. He never made it. Androphy and Mechanic waited in the detention center’s conference room. Mechanic changed out of his prison clothes and into the warmup suit his wife brought him. He waved to her from the window of the second-floor room while she waited in her car, parked outside in

ter. Again, they were told to wait: ten more minutes, ten more minutes. Finally, at 4:30 in the morning, the warden appeared in the conference room with the pardon. Mechanic signed it, and the warden wished him good luck. But Mechanic was already lucky — he was freed from the criminal justice system before a jury had a chance to determine his guilt or innocence. The federal government’s evidence against Mechanic remains sealed. We may never know whether Mechanic is guilty of any charges. We may also never know why the U.S. government would agree to free a man it believed to be a threat to national security, or why a man who left Iran for good more than 30 years ago was on Iran’s prisoner exchange shortlist in the first place. Attempts to find answers have only raised more questions. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Attorney’s Office both declined to talk about Mechanic’s case and pardon, and the Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment. The Iranian consulate’s Jahansoozan did talk briefly in a phone interview, but was of little help. “I don’t know why he was on Iran’s list or why the U.S. selected him from that list,” Jahansoozan said. “He was indicted and in jail for allegedly violating so-called sanctions, and Iran did not see that it was a proper punishment for him and wanted him to be released. That’s the basic information I can share with you. I don’t know the details.” Jahansoozan also declined to provide a spokesperson or Iranian official who could fill in the details. Androphy said he doesn’t know for sure exactly why Mechanic was pardoned, and he doesn’t really care to know, either. “It’s like winning the lottery. You don’t ask how you won it; you just won it,” Androphy said. He does, however, have a speculative theory that the federal government fabricated its case

“The Iranians were telling us to keep it a secret, and so was the Department of Justice.” met two days later in the federal detention center’s law library, Jahansoozan told Androphy that what was before a possibility had become a probability: Iran wanted Mechanic released. A week later, Androphy was in New Mexico working on a separate case when he got another urgent phone call — this time, from his office secretary, who relayed a message from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston: “Call immediately. The President of the United States wants to do something with your case.” When Androphy returned the call, he was told Mechanic would be offered a pardon. The next morning, on Thursday, Androphy called Mechanic and told him the news. He quickly accepted the offer. “The Iranians were telling us to keep it a secret, and so was the Department of Justice,” Androphy said. “We told Mechanic and his wife, and they were getting prepared. But we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into.” When Androphy returned from New Mexico on Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office told him to go to the jail early on Saturday. Androphy said he was told Mechanic would be released once the American prisoners in Iran left the country’s airspace. Androphy arrived at the deten-

the drizzling rain, alongside a few TV news trucks. Androphy shifted from the conference room to the couch in the warden’s office next door, where two NFL playoff games came and went. Mechanic was still no closer to being released. Meanwhile, the pardon sat within Androphy’s reach on the warden’s desk, signed, sealed but not yet delivered. “We kept being told by the warden, ‘Just ten more minutes, ten more minutes,’” Androphy said. “They wouldn’t release him until they got approval from the State Department. We felt we were being jerked around.” The delay was caused by a mix-up 7,000 miles away in Tehran, where the wife and mother of one of the American prisoners, Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, were detained and could not leave with him on the plane. By 8 p.m., Mechanic had still not received his pardon, so the warden walked him back to his cell and told Androphy to come back the next day. After some last-second negotiating by Secretary of State John Kerry, Rezaian’s family were allowed to leave, and the American prisoners finally boarded the plane and lifted off. At 12:30 a.m., the warden called Androphy at home and told him to hurry back to the detention cen-

against Mechanic and kept him in jail as “trade bait” for a prisoner exchange. The multimillionaire remains largely an enigma, and he apparently prefers to stay that way. Androphy said Mechanic told him he would decline all interview requests, and Mechanic did not respond to our multiple phone calls and electronic messages.

he basic, indisputable facts of Mechanic’s life are unremarkable, other than that he appears, on the surface, to embody the American dream. Mechanic had his own electrical manufacturing business in Tehran, called Faratel, and shortly after immigrating to America, he opened a second manufacturing company, in Houston in 1984, IEPS Electronics, which was later renamed Smart Power Systems. Since then, according to Smart Power Systems’ website, the company has “manufactured and developed power protection products including uninterruptible power supplies, computer grade filters and automatic voltage regulators.” The website says the company has a 103,000-square-foot facility in Houston and a manufacturing plant in >> p12

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Houston Press April 14 - 20, 2016 12

Federal agents raided Smart Power Systems, Bahram Mechanic’s electrical manufacturing company in northwest Houston, in April 2015.

a good heart…helps a lot of needy people…” and is “well-respected in the community.” Alex Forrest was the only character witness for Mechanic who agreed to talk to the Houston Press. Forrest, a personal injury attorney in Houston, said Mechanic is “easy to love.” Forrest remembered that about a decade ago, Mechanic came to visit Forrest after he had heart surgery, but he could not recall any other specific examples showing Mechanic’s good character. “He has a big personality and a kind heart,” Forrest said. “He’s been good to a lot of people in our Persian community, so I’ve really grown to respect and like him. He’s very willing and ready to give his time and his emotional and financial support. Are there any specific examples? No. But I can just remember at parties, if

Pardon Me? from p10

Taiwan. It does not, however, mention Faratel, of which Mechanic remained majority owner while in America. Mechanic owns a handful of patents for various surge protectors and power filters — Androphy describes him as a “tinkerer” — and he apparently struck it rich in the electrical manufacturing industry, because he resides with his wife on the top floor of the 40-story Four Leaf Towers apartment complex in the Galleria area, where he owns two units worth a total of more than $2 million. Federal prison was a stark drop from his normally lavish lifestyle. But Androphy said Mechanic never complained — except that he always talked about how badly he craved a crabmeat dinner. According to Androphy, Mechanic even gave away his commissary and all the personal items in his cell to “his friends in jail.” Although Mechanic is childless, Androphy describes his client as“grandfatherly.” “He’s a very jovial, friendly guy,” Androphy said. “I sized him up from day one. He has a nice smile, a nice mannerism about him, an honest demeanor. Some people, they tell a story and you question them just from the way they tell it. They look dishonest or devious. It’s the opposite with Mechanic. Everything about his mannerisms portrayed that he was an honest, law-abiding individual that was trying to do the best he could to survive. He’s very loyal to his employees. He was very worried while in jail that his business may not make it and his employees would not be able to take care of their families. It was never ‘Woe is me’; it was always ‘Woe for my employees.’” We reached out to more than 20 current and former employees of Mechanic, and those who chose to respond characterized Mechanic entirely differently from the way Androphy had. “I’m surprised to hear him described that way,” said one former Smart Power Systems employee, who requested anonymity, saying he feared retribution. “Jovial? Hell no. He was a very hard person to work for. He was not someone I considered the kind of boss who really cares much about the people who work for him. You dreaded going to talk to him. His interaction with employees was mostly taken care of by a personal assistant. He was a mean guy. But he paid me well.”

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Top: Leif Reigstad. Bottom: Screenshot, YouTube.

The former employee said Mechanic was “known for his rants and raves,” and his angry yelling reverberated throughout the manufacturing facility. He also said Mechanic was prone to rash firings (the employee said he left the company on good terms). Another former employee, Howard Sandler, corroborated those claims. “Mechanic was like a tyrant,” said Sandler, who said he worked as a sales representative for Mechanic’s company for 18 months before leaving in 2013. “He’d smile and be nice when he needed you for something, and if you did anything wrong, made any little mistake, he would chew you up one side and down the other like he was some kind of a god and you should bow to him.” Sandler said he was unsurprised when he read Mechanic had been arrested. “He was finally where he belonged,” Sandler said. “Somewhere he can’t act like a god, where he was told what he could and could not do all the time. He was getting what he deserved because he treated people so bad for so many years. It was payback.” During Mechanic’s bond hearing last spring, the defense brought forward seven witnesses to vouch for Mechanic’s character. They were plucked from Houston’s elite Persian community: wealthy entrepreneurs, oil and gas CEOs, doctors and lawyers. They spoke of playing tennis with Mechanic and socializing with him at dinner parties, and they testified that Mechanic was honorable and philanthropic. One witness testified that he has known Mechanic since 1986, and vaguely asserted that Mechanic once paid for someone else’s funeral and started a college fund for a student. Another testified that Mechanic is “very charitable…has

someone had a heart attack or had passed away, he was there asking if anyone needed anything.” According to court documents, when Mechanic applied for citizenship in 2006, some of the same character witnesses sent letters to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, acknowledging his “deep care for this country” and “outstanding moral character and trust.” The Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, UNICEF and MD Anderson Cancer Center also sent letters “exemplifying [Mechanic’s] various charitable contributions.” But immigration services denied his application. Citing Mechanic’s prior run-ins with export violations, immigration services decided Mechanic was not “of good moral character,” and claimed that Mechanic’s letters of reference were “self-serving at best.” Mechanic reapplied and was later granted citizenship, although it’s unclear why. A Freedom of Information Act request seeking more documents from Mechanic’s citizenship application was rejected. While the federal government’s evidence against Mechanic is also confidential, prosecutors were able to lay out much of their case at the bond hearing, which Mechanic’s original attorney said resembled a “mini-trial,” according to transcripts. The prosecutors quoted from intercepted emails and business documents, including invoices, that allegedly detailed Mechanic’s export scheme. According to the federal government, Faratel employees would email Mechanic requesting certain parts. Then, Mechanic would allegedly contact a company in Taiwan and together they would attempt to source the parts. They allegedly created fake invoices from the Taiwanese company to make it look as though

the shipment were destined for Turkey. However, a Turkish company would then create another invoice to ship the parts to Iran, where Faratel would assemble and sell the parts to the clients had who requested them. According to the indictment, Mechanic wrote in an email to a Smart Power Systems colleague that shipping orders to Iran was “inappropriate in this side,” and allegedly decided to change the Faratel logo to “FA” on the shipments so as not to reveal that the Iranian company was the intended recipient. The indictment also quoted emails between Mechanic and the Taiwanese company, describing the need to act covertly in order to evade export regulations. To receive payment, Mechanic allegedly laundered money through Asian banks and third-party food produce distributors — he got more than $1 million in wire transfers from China and Singapore, coming from “basically fake companies,” prosecutor Mark McIntyre said in court. Between 2010 and 2015, Mechanic allegedly made about 250 transactions to Iran worth a total of more than $20 million. FBI agent Crosby Houpt testified during the bond hearing that some of the parts Mechanic exported could be used in missile guidance systems or as uninterruptible power supplies for “critical factories, command posts or headquarter buildings,” and he said he believed Mechanic would be a “risk for danger” if he were to be released on bond. Prosecutors said they had a client list for Faratel that showed it sold parts to “26 Iranian entities… designated for some sort of national security reason or executive order,” including an Iranian energy company associated with nuclear procurement, and NAJA, Iran’s state police force, which has been cited by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for “grave human rights abuses.” Another FBI agent, Brady Olson, testified that the bureau had intercepted an email from a Faratel employee requesting Mechanic’s approval of an invoice for a NAJA order of more than 600,000 U.S. dollars worth of “uninterruptible power supply-like systems.” In one email Olson cited, Mechanic’s communications with his Faratel business partners allegedly included an invoice detailing a $289,000 sale of about 3,000 batteries to Iran Electronics Industries, a state-owned subsidiary of Iran’s Ministry of Defense. Iran Electronics Industries was added to the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of blocked entities in 2008. “Mr. Mechanic has been in business in Iran for years and years and years,” McIntyre said, according to court transcripts. “He sells to governmental agencies. He sells to military forces. He sells to police forces. The government has determined that they believe Iran is a supporter of international terrorism, and that they’re seeking to develop some sort of nuclear weapon. It’s a national security case, whether he’s selling blue jeans or oil field equipment or nonmilitary things. The point is to starve the Iranian economy and make them come to the table or quit supporting [terrorism] and developing nuclear weapons.” But according to Androphy, the government’s case was “built on lies.” “It was all bullshit,” Androphy said. “The government portrayed my client as a 69-year old James Bond.” Androphy claimed the government “misinterpreted” Mechanic’s emails and invoices, and that Mechanic was not deeply in-

4/12/16 12:35 PM

breaching export law by shipping goods to Iran through third-party countries. A federal indictment unsealed in 1998 outlined a scheme nearly identical to the one the federal government alleged in 2015. According to the indictment, Faratel would send a purchase order to Mechanic at his Houston facility, and Mechanic would source the goods through an Asian broker — the same Taiwanese company Mechanic was accused of working with more than a decade later — and then ship the products to Faratel in Iran. Federal customs agents seized business papers, including faxes, letters and invoices, that allegedly ensnared Mechanic in the act. The indictment alleged that in November 1996, Mechanic’s sister-in-law, Mary Akers Mechanic, who held a high-ranking position in the Houston company, said in a phone conversation that Bahram Mechanic was “always trying to get around the Iranian embargo.” But the criminal investigation was dropped in favor of civil litigation. According to a 1997 letter from then-U.S. attorney Eric Holder, there was “strong evidence that violations of sanctions occurred,” but unspecified evidence had developed late in the investigation that apparently made it “extremely difficult to prove beyond a

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Along with nine credit cards, multiple passports and $100,000 in different national currencies, Mechanic kept pill bottles containing 156 grams of cocaine and 4.4 kilograms of a black, tar-like substance that tested positive for opiates.

tlas was referring to Mechanic’s history of entangling himself in international trade restrictions, which the prosecution briefly brought up in the bond hearing. Mechanic had two prior transgressions that were eerily similar to his most recent case, in two important ways: that he violated export regulations, and that he received lenient punishments. In the late 1990s, Mechanic was the subject of a federal criminal investigation for allegedly

reasonable doubt that Mechanic possessed specific criminal intent.” Mechanic settled with the federal government in 2000, and, without admitting guilt, agreed to pay a fine. The Treasury Department initially set that fine at $329,739, but it was reduced to a lump sum of $100,000. According to court documents in an earlier case, in 1984 a sales rep for Hughes Aircraft Company received a phone call from Mary Akers Mechanic requesting a price quotation for a sweep generator, a piece of equipment used to test electric frequencies. Akers Mechanic told the sales rep that she wanted to use the generator for a beeper system at Mechanic’s Houston facility, which made the sales rep suspicious because the sweep generator was incompatible with the beeper system. He contacted a higherlevel employee at Hughes, who found that Mechanic had ordered a sweep generator once before and shipped it to Switzerland. Hughes Aircraft sold the generator to Akers Mechanic, but also contacted U.S. Customs, which installed a tracking device before the package was sent to Houston. Federal agents put Mechanic and his facility under constant visual and electronic surveillance. Peeking through his office building’s windows, agents testified, they observed him repackaging the generator into a secure black trunk. When he took it out of the original Hughes box, Mechanic saw the tracking device fall onto the floor, and agents testified that they saw him intentionally stomp on it. Later that night, agents observed Mechanic acting suspiciously. They said he drove in circles around his suburban neighborhood, speeding up and slowing down, as though he were conducting “heat runs” to see if he was being followed. That same night, agents saw him peering through his living room windows with binoculars (in court, Mechanic’s attorney claimed he was merely nervous because his stepdaughter had not come home yet). >> p14

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in Iran.” And the cocaine? “His brother passed away, and his family gave him a bunch of stuff and the cocaine was in there,” Androphy said. “It was never his. He’s not buying cocaine on the street, but his brother used for some reason. He’s not a drug dealer.” By the end of the bond hearing, the federal prosecutors had painted Mechanic as a serious threat to national security. In pointing out his significant financial assets and lack of close family tying him to Houston, they also argued that he was a risk to jump bail and fly to Iran. The judge ruled to deny Mechanic bond. According to court transcripts, Judge Nancy F. Atlas found that there was “substantial evidence” against Mechanic. “The lack of respect for the law the defendant has demonstrated by having drugs in his home are in my mind a demonstration that the defendant does not believe he has to follow the law,” Atlas said. “Mr. Mechanic has repeatedly violated export laws, and it’s not about the punishment, it’s about him understanding that these laws are to be followed. The United States government has prosecuted or pursued Mr. Mechanic twice. You would think Mr. Mechanic would learn and get himself into a separate line of work. But he chooses not to. He deals with agencies in Iran that are of prohibited nature in the heart of what the embargo is about.”

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In a separate email, Christina Garza, a spokesperson for the FBI, which conducted the investigation, also declined to comment, claiming, “Department of Justice guidelines prevent us from providing more information about this matter.” But Garza did provide a statement saying the FBI uses “appropriate, reasonable and lawful methods to conduct investigations.” We reached out to the Justice Department directly, but got no response. In the bond hearing, Androphy sought to downplay the government’s claims against Mechanic. A private investigator testified for the defense that he was able to find the parts Mechanic was accused of selling on the shelves of local retailers. Androphy said in an interview that Faratel wasn’t even permitted by its own government to do business with Iranian government agencies, which, he argued, rendered the U.S. government’s allegations impossible. But, according to Faratel’s website, it has received a few awards from Iranian government ministries, which would be strange if it were truly blacklisted. Androphy also planned to argue that Mechanic’s role in the transactions was not prominent enough to warrant criminal action. “We were not going to disagree with a lot of what the government had to say,” Androphy said in another interview, signaling a somewhat precipitous drop from his original claim that the federal government’s case was all bullshit. “We were going to say, okay, if that happened, then he just didn’t intend to do it wrong.” Androphy produced a letter from 1997 that he said was sent by Mechanic’s trade lawyer, Robert Givens, requesting advice from the Treasury Department regarding Mechanic’s business operations with Faratel. Givens said he never received a response from the government. The non response was interpreted as a sort of green light going forward for the legality of Mechanic’s actions. Androphy said Mechanic tried to follow the

“confusing” trade laws, and acted only on the advice of his attorneys. If the government could not prove Mechanic acted with willful intent to break the law, then, Androphy said, it could not convict Mechanic of a crime. “His [trade] lawyers were finding loopholes for him to deal with trade regulations,” Androphy said. “A loophole is not a violation of law; it’s just a means of avoiding direct violations of regulations. This is part of American culture. Is everybody a crook? No. People are just trying to take advantage of what the rules are.” More difficult to defend was the bounty of illicit drugs the feds found when they raided Mechanic’s apartment. In a safe, along with nine credit cards, multiple passports and $100,000 in different national currencies, Mechanic kept pill bottles containing 156 grams of cocaine and 4.4 kilograms of a black, tar-like substance that McIntyre testified had tested positive for opiates. According to Harris County court records, Mechanic was charged with “possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver,” but the charge was dismissed in May, last year. Androphy said in an interview that “opiates [are] an Iranian tradition for treating back pain… and Mechanic had a prescription from a doctor

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volved in Faratel’s operations, even though he is the majority owner of the company and the chairman of its board of directors. He said the emails showing Mechanic approving sales to NAJA did not exist, and that there were no Iranian government agencies on Faratel’s client list. “This sounds a little conspiratorial, but I think the U.S. started arresting people here for trade sanctions violations that were not serious, just to use them as trade bait later,” Androphy said. “I think Mechanic fell into that trap. They wanted to keep him in jail to make it look like he was being aggressively prosecuted. It sounds crazy. I don’t know if that’s the case, but I’ve thought about it. Was he a pawn in the government’s plan to exchange prisoners? I’ll never know. But it’s not unrealistic.” In an email, Angela Dodge, the spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston, which handled the prosecution, said the office would not be commenting on Mechanic’s case “for a variety of reasons,” though she refused to explain what those reasons were. However, referring to the court filings from the bond hearing, Dodge did say, “We will let the record stand as it is.”

4/12/16 12:26 PM

Mechanic contacted a man named Eugene Krug, and offered him an “all expenses paid” trip to Switzerland — all he had to do was take the black trunk along with him. On April 16, 1985, agents observed Mechanic and Krug loading the sweep generator into a Cadillac parked outside Mechanic’s business. The pair shook hands, and Mechanic went back inside, while Krug departed for Houston Intercontinental Airport. Federal agents followed. When he checked his baggage, customs agents opened the black trunk and found the sweep generator inside. Krug bought a ticket destined for Zurich, but was arrested before he boarded the flight. Krug did not have the required license to export the generator. He was also found with a sign that read “Mr. Hans.” After Krug was arrested, federal agents raided Mechanic’s facility in Houston. There, they seized a number of documents, including a key telex sent from Mechanic’s company to a man named Hans Wirth, a business partner at Cosmotrans AG, a freight forwarding company based in Zurich. Cosmotrans had links to the Bulgarian intelligence services and had been indicted for allegedly diverting equipment from the U.S. to the Soviet Union. The telex read: “Please meet our man in the airport at 11:00. He has the paper written, ‘Mr. Hans’ on it in his hand. Please just take your parcel. He doesn’t know anything about it.” The telex was signed “Regards, Mr. B.” Bahram Mechanic, Mary Akers and Krug were all indicted and charged with conspiring to violate export regulations. Mechanic was visiting Iran at the time, and flew back to Houston voluntarily. He was arrested as soon as he deplaned at Intercontinental. Mechanic appeared to have been caught red-handed, but he pled not guilty. His defense attorney offered what would become a familiar defense, claiming Mechanic did not knowingly violate export regulations and did not intend to break the law. But prosecutors produced a document from Hughes Aircraft that had notified the Mechanics that they needed a license to export the sweep generator before they made the purchase, and the government attorneys had found

a handful of half-completed license applications in Mechanic’s office. In his closing arguments, prosecutor Philip Hilder said the defense’s arguments were “nothing but smoke,” and Mechanic was convicted by the jury. Hilder recommended the judge sentence Mechanic to nine years in prison. Instead, the judge decided to give him only five years of probation. Hilder said in an interview later that he felt it was a surprisingly lenient punishment. He was even more surprised when, 30 years later, he opened up the newspaper and read that Bahram Mechanic had again been arrested for violating export laws. According to Hilder, white collar criminals tend not to cycle back through the criminal justice system. “To get prosecuted by the U.S. government is a very physically and emotionally disruptive procedure for a defendant,” said Hilder, who left the U.S. Attorney’s Office and now runs a private practice white collar criminal defense firm in Houston. “Mechanic is very fortunate that the judge saw it fit not to give him prison in the first prosecution. His luck has obviously followed. Getting a pardon at that stage of the proceedings is akin to winning the Powerball lottery.” Why would Mechanic continue to put himself in a position that could land him in prison? He doesn’t appear to be politically motivated to support the Iranian government’s cause — public records show Mechanic contributed to George W. Bush’s presidential campaign, even though Bush infamously included Iran in his “Axis of Evil.” Perhaps the best theory for explaining Mechanic’s behavior comes from the sentencing memorandum Hilder submitted in 1985. Hilder wrote: “Though we do not know for certain the force motivating Mechanic’s criminal conduct, it would appear that greed is the culprit.” Androphy, however, said the case against Mechanic in 1985 was “probably all lies,” too, and disagrees that greed is the motivation behind Mechanic’s repeated run-ins with the law. “That’s unfair,” Androphy said. “It wasn’t greed; he was just supporting the families of his employees. If that’s what the government calls greed, then that’s greed. But I think Mechanic cared. He had a burning desire to help

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Pardon Me? from p13

ndrophy says Mechanic is trying to rebuild his business. When Mechanic was arrested in April last year, local and national news outlets reported that he led an “Iranian nuclear procurement network operating in the United States.” Smart Power Systems hemorrhaged both employees and clients while Mechanic was imprisoned. “The government instilled an atmosphere of terror that frightened everybody into thinking Mechanic was a threat to national security,” Androphy said. “Once the skunk is in the box, you can’t extricate it. The lingering fear of people is not going to be vaporized.” It is certainly possible that the government irresponsibly labeled Mechanic a “national security threat.” The phrase conjures up imagery of explosive vests and beheadings rather than misleading invoices and money laundering. But there is also a strong argument that Mechanic is just a more nuanced national security threat than we are used to, and it is naive to claim his alleged attempts to evade export regulations were harmless. While the United States lifted some sanctions against Iran as a result of the nuclear agreement, many restrictions remain in place. It is unclear if Mechanic plans to continue to operate his business as usual. “Some of exporting is quite bureaucratic, but export regulations have been set for a reason,” Hilder said. “No one wants to see unregulated flow of our technology out of the United States. It must be regulated. It’s part of doing business, and it’s also a part of national security. If you aren’t willing to follow or learn the law, you will run afoul of the law.” Androphy said he views the pardon as a “total exoneration.” “You have the leader of the free world nullifying these charges,” Androphy said. “To me, that says to the world that there was not enough evidence to charge these guys from the beginning. It’s coming from the President, one step below God — well, maybe a few steps below God. But God only has jurisdiction in Heaven. This was the highest vindication on Earth.”

In reality, however, the pardon is not a vindication in any jurisdiction. Two former pardon attorneys for U.S. presidents — John Stanish, who was the pardon attorney for three years under Jimmy Carter, and Margaret Love, who was the pardon attorney from 1990 to 1997 under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton — both said in interviews that a pardon is not at all a proclamation of innocence, unless it is specifically stated so in the pardon letter. Mechanic’s pardon letter contains no such language. “A pre-trial pardon is unusual and extremely rare,” Stanish said. “Generally, pardons are done after a conviction, and they’re given to someone basically to forgive them of the crime. That’s all it is, a forgiveness.” Regardless of what the pardon actually meant, Androphy rode the wave hard. As soon as he returned home from the federal detention center following Mechanic’s receipt of the pardon, he was bombarded with interview requests. His face and name showed up on CNN and PBS and in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Washington Post. Even Iranian TV news stations wanted interviews. Androphy went to Washington, D.C., and to New York City, where he visited with Iranian diplomats and talked politics over tea and pistachios. He was invited to the Iranian consulate’s celebration honoring the 37th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. Androphy said he still wants to travel to Iran, and hopes to meet the minister of foreign affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif. Androphy said he’s also added a few more Iranian clients, including one who told him he wants Androphy to secure him a pardon. “I can go to Iran probably and set up shop now,” Androphy joked. Immediately after his release from jail, Mechanic went back to his $2 million condo on the top floor of the Four Leaf Towers, with its dramatic, sweeping view of the city’s sprawling skyline — there, it was as if he were untouchable. He quickly satisfied his long-awaited craving for a crabmeat dinner. He may have spent the past nine months in prison, but in the end, just as he always has, Bahram Mechanic got exactly what he wanted. leif.reigstad@houstonpress.com

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BILL SIMPSON

April 14 -onth 20, 2016 Month XX–M XX, 2014

What’s your personality type? If you’re a think-outside-the-box, adventurous deep thinker who can’t sit still and obsesses about reincarnation, then this one might just be up your alley. Jörg Karrenbauer, co-director of the artists’ collective Rimini Protokoll, is asking groups of 50 to put on headphones, meet him in a cemetery and — for the next two hours — walk or take public transportation as directed by the soundtrack. He says the idea behind the whole audio play is to ask the question “What will happen with all our knowledge and all our experiences after our death,” and to explore how technology might one day extend our lives by preserving these experiences. “We start in a cemetery and start the tour from the death, and go back to the city and go back to the living,” says Karrenbauer. “Remote Houston” is part

If your family’s video collection leans heavily toward Disney titles, then Disney in Concert: A Tale as Old as Time is a must-see for your whole family, with four Broadway-style singers joining the Houston Symphony in song. “There’s nothing like hearing your favorite Disney songs performed by fantastic singers,” says Ted Ricketts, producer of the program. Vocalists Deidre Donovan, Stephanie Gerson, John De Lisa and Andrew Johnson perform a one-night-only, two-hour show that features some 38 songs from everyone’s favorite Disney movies. “[They] combine their singing and acting skills together to make a performance you won’t forget. There are film clips from Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, Fantasia, Dumbo, Tangled, Mulan, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, The Jungle Book, Hercules, The Princess and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Frozen.” We might see a few Elsas and Ariels in the audience, too. 7:30 p.m. Friday. Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana. For information, call 713-224-7575 or visit houstonsymphony.org. $15 to $85.

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and pushes the 60-year-old into the depths of the left-of-field, it’s the subject matter in his songs, based on what he says are reallife experiences. “In 1980, I had a close encounter of the first kind of meeting two extraterrestrials,” says Hart about his experience outside La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. “These were real experiences of meeting extraterrestrial people face to face.” Hart, best known for his jittery singing and puppetry appearances on Adult Swim’s Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, says that his alien meetings inspired him to write songs like “Korendian Honk,” which is about a spaceship-sent extraterrestrial woman. “She looked like Bettie Page and Lynda Carter from Wonder Woman and she told me that she was from outer space,” says Hart by phone from his Los Angeles home. “At first, I didn’t believe her. Then she pulled off her high-heeled shoes and she had one toe in the middle instead of on the sides like we humans have. She had three tits where human women only have two. They had more fingers than we did.” Good to know in case we run into a three-breasted polydactyl. 8 p.m. Thursday. Warehouse Live, 813 Saint Emanuel. For information, call 877-987-6487 or visit warehouselive.com. $12 to $15. STEVE JANSEN

“We’ve had a really good start for the season. We’ve set an MLS record, including a 5-0 win over our rivals Dallas in midMarch,” says Matt Pederson, senior communications manager for the Dynamo. He says we’ve traded for Andrew Wenger and Cristian “Chaco” Maidana and we’ve got Will Bruin, who already has three goals.

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The heavy-hitting SFJAZZ Collective has tackled the songbooks of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock and Thelonious Monk. Arguably, none have been as massive, varied, hit-making and luminary as Michael Jackson’s. “Most of the people in the band see him as a musical icon,” says Robin Eubanks, the trombonist in the eight-member group that currently includes tenor saxophonist David Sánchez, vibraphonist Warren Wolf and Sean Jones on trumpet. Every year the collective, a performance arm of the nonprofit SFJAZZ that also presents the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, rearranges and performs the works of a famous musician. Aside from Stevie Wonder, the all-star jazz ensemble usually dives deep into the output of an illustrious jazz composer. Eubanks says part of the reason for the change of pace was to expand the reach of the band, which is in its 12th year. The explosive octet, which found ways to work in improvisation sections within the tight pop formulas, doesn’t perform only King of Pop-era chart makers like “Thriller” and “Smooth Criminal.” “This Place Hotel,” from the underrated The Jacksons period, and original compositions by SFJAZZ members are also on the set list. 8 p.m. Saturday. Wortham Theater Center, 500 Texas. For information, call 713-524-5050 or visit dacamera.com. $37.50 to $67.50. STEVE JANSEN

running WiTh ’gaTorS

Fear not; there has never been an alligator attack during the Brazos Bend 50, a running event that spans between ten kilometers for beginning runners and 50 miles for advanced athletes, or so says Race Director Rob Goyen. The event, which is held at Brazos Bend State Park, provides the ideal setting to experience natural wildlife while running the trails — and that includes alligators. “Runners usually see eight- to ten-foot alligators walking on the same trail or banks, or laying on the trails. It’s a really unique experience,” says Goyen. Hosted by Trail Races Over Texas, “it encourages everyone to be able to run. There are hardcore runners as well as families who have kids. It helps us to get families out, and it also encourages health and wellness,” says Goyen. As a perk for nature lovers, proceeds from the run benefit Friends of Brazos Bend State Park to help preserve the area. 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. 21901 FM 762, Needville. For information, call 832-472-4453 or visit trailracingovertexas.com. $70 to $110. SAM BYRD

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MoverS anD ShakerS

The day has come to recognize our city’s quirky, creative culture and its movers and shakers. In what’s shaping up to be part art exhibit, part entertainment, the Houston Music and Arts Hall of Fame is recognizing 16 Houstonians who have cultivated the arts — either onstage or behind the scenes. Custom-made portraits will be unveiled for each honoree, but

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they’re a bit irreverent; artists have placed headpieces on their heads that are supposed to represent their craft. “The headpiece was just a conceptual idea,” says Hannah Bull, the hall’s founder and event curator. “Just to add a little zest to the portraits.” Inductees are Anat Ronen, Andrew Youngblood, Black Cassidy, Brigette Yawn, Chase Hamblin, Dusti Rhodes, FLCON FCKER, Gio Chamba, Jermaine Rogers, John Mills-McCoin, Kam Franklin, Mark C. Austin, Omar Afra, Tifa Tittlywinks, Traci Lavois Thiebaud and Y. E. Torres. The Suffers’ Kam Franklin hosts, and carnival renegade presenter Mills-McCoin serves up a selection of entertainment. Stick around for a digital cumbia fiesta with Gio Chamba and Coffee Guzman and, of course, food and beverages. 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday. Karbach Brewing Co., 2032 Karbach. For information, visit facebook.com/ HMAAHallofFame. Free. SAM BYRD

coSplay in The park

You’ll definitely see a few Lolitas at this year’s “J-Fest,” but it won’t be easy to snag those round-trip tickets to Japan; cosplay judges Cosmic Empress, Hushy Plushy and KARA are enforcing all the rules: Stunts must be performed in slow motion (at 3/4 speed), costumes can’t be offthe-rack, and nothing R- or Xrated is allowed. “Everything in the contest has to be handmade,” says Justin Cooper, president of the Japan-America Society of Houston. “These costumes are the most elaborate you’ve ever seen.” There are awards for youth, performance, group, craftsmanship and best in show for the outfits based on characters from video games, anime, manga, television, movies and books. From taiko to dance, martial arts to Japanese street fashion, there’s something for every Japanophile at this year’s Japan Festival of Houston, now in its 23rd year. The event brings together food vendors, authentic Japanese music, and dozens of shows and entertainment, including Chii Sakurabi (a J-Pop singer), Miyuki Matsunaga (a Japanese dancer) and the requisite kids’ corner. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Hermann Park, 6201 Hermann Park Drive. For information, call 713-963-0121 or visit houstonjapanfest.org. Free. JOSEF MOLNAR

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opera hauS

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There have been shows in laundromats, inside old bomb shelters and parking garages and water tunnels, and, with the aid of a gaspowered generator, at a cemetery. Prima Volta, a local classical-music organization, is also about taking a concert out of the hall and off the bandstand and into an uncommon venue. “We love the idea of having concerts in nontraditional spaces. Our directors are all craft-beer lovers, so it was only natural to combine our passion for beer with our passion for music,” says Prima Volta founding

member Anna Diemer about Brindisi!: An Evening of Beer and Song. The opera program of

drink/drank/drunk-centric songs takes place at Saint Arnold Brewing Company, and includes a two-hour window of unlimited beer with the price of admission. The singers, who include graduates of the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, will present songs such as “Brindisi” from Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata, “The Champagne Song” from Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus and “The Tipsy Aria (Ah! quel dîner!)” from Jacques Offenbach’s La Périchole. 7 to 9 p.m. Monday. 2000 Lyons. For information, visit primavolta.org. $20. STEVE JANSEN

TUE

4/19

you, only BeTTer

Nineteenth-century portraitist Franz Xaver Winterhalter knew how to keep a secret. His ability to paint the rich and the royal “the

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TWilighT oF The goDS

It’s the crucial turning point, the time when the gods’ power starts to diminish and Siegfried, a demigod, rises to re-forge his father’s sword and find his future bride (and sister), Brünnhilde. Rather than hand the all-important ring over to anyone else, Siegried keeps it for himself. And singing the title role in Houston Grand Opera’s production of Siegfried is Jay Hunter Morris, known internationally for taking on the role for the New York Met in 2011-12, with his performances broadcast worldwide. Morris, who lives in Georgia and grew up in Paris, Texas, calls his character “a 16-year-old boy, fearless, half-god. He is trying to find his destiny.” Of course, to get through this journey, audiences can expect the usual Wagner marathon. Clocking in at four hours and 50 minutes with two intermissions, HGO’s co-production with Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia, and Maggio MusiThe Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents “High Society: The Portraits of Franz X. Winterhalter.”

Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

way they wanted to look” was how he nailed those prestigious commissions, but he was asked back for more than just artistic talent. “He was very tactful; he was very pleasant to be with during the hours they had to pose; he never abused his access to these people. He never tattled; he never gained any favors,” says Helga K. Aurisch, curator of European art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. “They looked terrific, dignified, beautiful, very often very serene.” Forty-five of his paintings are on view in “High Society: The Portraits of Franz X. Winterhalter,” many on loan from Windsor Castle. “Queen Elizabeth was very generous in lending to us,” says Aurisch. Don’t miss Winterhalter’s portrait of “the ravishingly gorgeous Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria, nicknamed Sisi, considered by many his grandest of any imperial or royal sitters.” Opens April 17. Regular viewing hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m Fridays and Saturdays, 12:15 to 7 p.m. Sundays. Through August 14. 1001 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-639-7300 or visit mfah.org. Free to $15.

cale, Florence, promises elaborate costuming, gorgeous, powerful music and some of the best current voices in the operatic world. The sensational Christine Goerke returns in the Brünnhilde role, Iain Paterson is the Wanderer (actually the god Wotan), and HGO artistic and music director Patrick Summers conducts. It’s time for the third opera in the Ring cycle. Sung in German with projected English translation. 6 p.m. Wednesday and April 16, 23, 28; 2 p.m. May 1. Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas. For information, call 713-228-6737 or visit houstongrandopera.org. $20 to $281.75. MARGARET DOWNING

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sue date to Night+Day Editor Susie Tommaney by e-mail (calendar@houstonpress.com), online (houstonpress.com/submit-event), phone (713-280-2483) or mail (Houston Press, 2603 La Branch, Houston TX 77004). Resubmit continuing items monthly. Search our complete listings online.

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No, Really, It’s Good

BY BILGE EBIRI

The latest Barbershop is a cut below. BY MELISSA ANDERSON

he effortless charisma of Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer, the headliners of the first two Barbershop movies (released in 2002 and 2004), helped keep those over-plotted comedies buoyant. Cube and Cedric are back as Calvin and Eddie in Barbershop: the Next Cut, but even their enormous appeal can’t rescue the third installment in the franchise. Nor can director Mal-

“We gotta fix our problems ourselves.”

colm D. Lee, who’s overseen an impressive number of breezy productions: The Best Man (1999) and its 2013 sequel, The Best Man Holiday; Undercover Brother (2002); and Roll Bounce (2005). Scripted by black-ish creator Kenya Barris and Tracy Oliver, The Next Cut is glutted even more than its predecessors with ancient fellas-versus-females debates, ungainly sociopolitical commentary and top-40 superstars trying to diversify their brands. “Lately, we’ve been having trouble,” Calvin, the owner of the South Side shop that bears his name, says in voice-over in the opening montage — a sunny, Earth, Wind & Fire-scored paean to Chicago glories like deep-dish pizza and Oprah that soon turns into a disaster reel of the gun violence that has plagued the city. Calvin is determined to stay in the battle-weary neighborhood, though; to keep solvent, he has expanded his onetime all-male sanctum to include a ladies’ salon overseen by greenringleted Angie (Regina Hall). Yet the coed space only intensifies the Mars/Venus divide: “The only man you can trust is the man upstairs,” fumes stylist Bree (Margot Bingham), one of several lines suggesting a T.D. Jakes homily. Chuck Zlotnick The intragender feuds are just as fractious. Bree often

The Jungle Book Directed by Jon Favreau. With Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, Neel Sethi and Christopher Walken. Rated PG.

clashes with coworker Draya (Nicki Minaj), a weave specialist who must also contend with some serious side eye from Terri (Eve, whose acting career was launched with the first Barbershop but may end with the third). The reigning hip-hop queen appears contractually obliged to say fleek, if only to provoke old-timer Eddie’s grumpy lecture on neologisms. The smack talk is much sharper and funnier between the gray panther and One-Stop (J.B. Smoove), whose innumerable side hustles — VD testing, dental work, counseling, real estate — prove the freshest gags. But the film too often relies on rote sermonizing when tackling the city’s scourge of shootings, a grave topic that The Next Cut is simply too feeble to examine with any real depth or meaning. (Though wildly uneven, last year’s Chi-Raq, directed by Lee’s cousin Spike, at least pulses with unalloyed fury and pain about the metropolis’s rising death toll.). After trying to keep his 14-year-old son on the straight and narrow, Calvin concludes, “We gotta fix our problems ourselves.” The declaration typifies the boot-strapping conservatism that dominates all of the Barbershop movies, but, offered as a solution to an intractable problem, sounds especially glib.

Barbershop: The Next Cut Directed by Malcolm D. Lee. With Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Regina Hall, Anthony Anderson, Eve, J.B. Smoove, Common and Nicki Minaj. Rated PG-13.

April 14 - 20, 2016 MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014

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Bob and Weave

Disney

itude in the middle of a massive jungle, but never indulgent or gratuitous. At one pivotal point, Shere Khan kills a major character by biting into and then quickly casting the body off a cliff. It happens swiftly, suddenly and without any melodrama: You can imagine that the filmmakers and the studio don’t want to upset younger viewers by focusing too much on death. And yet, the offhand cruelty of this character’s speedy dispatch has a real sting, too. If only all blockbusters could be this exciting, engrossing and beautiful.

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ere’s about as convincing an argument as I can imagine for the existence of the modern Hollywood blockbuster. Disney and Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book reinvigorates an oft-told tale with star power, technology and calculated charm. It’s been billed as a live-action remake (it’s too good to be called a “reboot”) of the 1967 Walt Disney animated classic based on Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 stories. Of course, Disney has already given us a live-action version, in 1994, with Rudyard Kipling’s the Jungle Book, an Indiana Jones-ified take that bore little resemblance to either the animated film or the original tales. And perhaps the best Jungle Book out there might still be Alexander and Zoltan Korda’s magical and odd 1942 film starring the young Indian actor Sabu; that one was even less faithful to Kipling. Over the years, there’s been a Russian adaptation, an anime series, a Chuck Jones cartoon, plus a brace of sequels and sorta-sequels. Oh, and apparently Warner Bros. is at this very moment working on its own iteration, due in 2018. In other words, there’s no real need for another Jungle Book, which makes this new one’s job even harder. The story itself isn’t too dramatically different from the familiar Disney animated film. Our hero, Mowgli (Neel Sethi, delightfully vivacious and chatty), is a young boy who’s been raised by a family of wolves ever since the black panther Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley) found him abandoned in the woods. Living as a wolf isn’t easy: Mowgli grows up slowly, can’t resist the temptation to use tools and has to make into instinct the things that wolves just know, like never to stray from the pack. Togetherness is the wolves’ mantra: They gather to recite the Law of the Jungle (“The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack”) in the evening, and Bagheera’s voice-over tells us, “If he was going to survive, he was going to need a people — a people to protect him.” That’s not people, but a people. Superheroes be damned, this is a communitarian blockbuster. That communal impulse is threatened when loner tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) arrives and demands that Mowgli be turned over to him, or else. The tiger’s vendetta is personal: “Does my face not remind you of what a grown man can do?” he sneers, displaying his scarred mug. To protect the wolves, Bagheera agrees to take Mowgli back to a distant human village. Along the way, Mowgli runs into Kaa the python (Scarlett Johansson), Baloo the bear (Bill Murray) and King Louie (Christopher Walken), a gigantopithecus lording over a small army of monkeys. In keeping with the spirit of Kipling, the structure is largely episodic. That choice could result in tedium onscreen, but it works

here, giving us ample opportunity to luxuriate in the cast’s star personas. Murray’s bear is a riff on his usual scheming layabout; JohansFun for the kids, gritty son’s snake vamps it up for the grown-ups. as she slithers and hypnotizes; and Walken gets to be a goofily inHe does something similar here. As Mowgli timidating mob boss. (Louie was a character invented for the 1967 Disney version, and was runs through dense fields and forests, the camera often stays so close to the boy’s point of view memorably voiced in that film by Louis that we don’t always see what’s pursuing him — Prima.) We even get some songs: Walken rea classic tactic Favreau and others probably prises a revised version of the classic “I learned from its most brilliant practitioner, SteWanna Be Like You” and Murray of “The ven Spielberg. But the film has a stirring, storyBare Necessities.” book grandeur as well, particularly in its But the true wonder of The Jungle Book lies in what might be called its very blockbuster-ness rhapsodic portraits of animal togetherness, — the way it fully immerses us in this world, uti- which in turn helps sell all that dialogue about unity and the power of the pack. lizing state-of-the-art effects (the talking, emotThese franchise movies usually have to be ing animals look amazing and real) and juggling levity, menace and sweep. As a director, Favreau all things to all viewers: fun for the kids, gritty for the grown-ups, snarky for the teens. Very has over the years proven himself adept at stayoften, that results in an inchoate sprawl of ing close to the action while still finding brief competing tones and set pieces. But The Jungle moments of pictorial grace; that’s one reason Book is fast and light. It manages to be just why his Iron Man set the tone for the Marvel scary enough to make us feel the danger of solmovie-verse.

In The Jungle Book, Disney builds a better blockbuster.

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The First Monday in May — At one hectic point in Andrew

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Rossi’s The First Monday in May, a documentary outlining the production of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s hugely popular “China: Through the Looking Glass” exhibition, Chinese film director Wong Kar-wai declares, “Seeing too much is seeing nothing.” Wong is one of many creative consultants on this exhibition, and his words serve as an apt critique of this stylish but troubling film. It’s produced in part by Condé Nast Entertainment, which has created a glossy advertisement for itself, with Anna Wintour as a key figure overseeing the increasingly stressful exhibition planning and celebrity wrangling with characteristic hauteur. Some issues arise. The real possibility of the exhibition coming across as imperialistic is briefly addressed, but everything gets too quickly resolved to be revealing. Still, the documentary is not without its pleasures: The peeks at sumptuous couture layered with sequins and tulle, and handled delicately by a team of women in lab coats and gloves, bring to life the textures of seemingly untouchable clothes; a visit to the Yves Saint Laurent archive is catnip for those interested in vintage fashion. Early on, the curators in the Met’s costume division talk passionately about fashion as art, and the clothes speak for themselves. It’s frustrating, then, when the final 15 minutes essentially become a game of spot-the-celebrity, lavishing so much attention on celebrities we see too often to begin with (Kim Kardashian! George Clooney! Rihanna!). Rossi provides an attractive overview of the exhibition for those who did not attend it, but we are left feeling something like Wong, seeing a lot of pretty things surrounded by vapidity. Rated PG-13. (Abbey Bender) Sing Street — Score one for going home again. After misfiring with Begin Again, writer/director John Carney has turned back to the striving Irish of Once, his breakout hit. He’s also hearkened to the pop of his youth, setting this boisterous tale of a Catholic-school garage band in 1985 and letting his 15-year-old singer/songwriter Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) adopt the sounds and personae of that era’s synth-pop heroes. Carney’s Dublin is troubled and hardscrabble, but this is an aspirational musical from a born crowd-pleaser, so don’t expect an unflinching look at poverty — and don’t expect the characters to ever stop looking like they’re trying to prove it’s 1985, with their frosted tips and denim pantsuits. But Sing Street pleases, all right, and even occasionally hits on truth: At first Conor’s band apes Duran Duran. Then his stoner older brother (Jack Reynor) hips him to more daring fare, and soon Conor shows up at school in full Cure regalia, even once smearing on a faceful of makeup. That doesn’t go well for him, but Carney and Walsh-Peelo emphasize the character’s strength rather than his occasional victimization. He’s always defiant in the face of attacks on whichever self he’s currently trying on. Carney is smart about how much creative kids draw on the cultural material around them as they will themselves into being; he’s also smart about musical numbers. Sure, the songs (written by Gary Clark and Carney) sound too confident, too fully composed. But their borrowings are bold, sometimes comic, and the lyrics are perfect youthful notebook scribblings: “She’s standing on the corner/ like an angel in disguise” kicks off the priceless pastiche “The Riddle of the Model.” Rated PG-13. (Alan Scherstuhl)

ONGOING

April 14 - 20, 2016

City of Gold — Halfway through Laura Gabbert’s documen-

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tary City of Gold, a salute to Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize–winning food critic’s brother Mark reveals a dark family secret: Gold grew up devouring iceberg lettuce and orange Jell-O. Every day, we eat. It’s a must. And those meals tell a story: the peanut sauce Grandma invented, the Korean tacos that signify L.A.’s mash-up culture and even that Jell-O, a shorthand for a childhood in South Central, where Gold’s father, a probation officer who dreamed of being an English professor, cared more about filling his sons’ heads with high culture than he did about filling their bellies with fancy food. He fed them right. Gold doesn’t just judge a black mole — he compares it to sculpture. In his reviews, the merits of a bowl of pho spill over into opinions on punk rock, gentrification and the American

Dream. Food is vital, interpretative and alive. Every small restaurant represents someone’s homeland and hope. As Gold tells the camera, “Taco should be a verb.” Fittingly, Gabbert’s doc spends much of its running time in the passenger seat of Gold’s green pickup truck watching Los Angeles whiz by. Gold takes the filmmakers on a greatest-hits tour of the restaurants he promoted into phenomenons: Jitlada, Guelaguetza, Meals by Genet, Mariscos Jalisco. Their owners tell her how Gold’s reviews changed their lives. And we see how, in writing about food, Gold is writing the history of immigration in Los Angeles, from the Salvadorans selling pupusas on Pico Boulevard to the dignified tea-drinking men re-creating Tehran in Westwood. Rated R. (Amy Nicholson) The Clan (El clan) — When everything’s a game, it’s easier to forget the wrongdoing perpetrated during play. We see this in sports, but we also see this in war, young men and women coping with stress by envisioning their targets as the bad guys in a first-person shooter. In Pablo Trapero’s bleak but occasionally cheeky family-crime drama The Clan, the game is played out in devastating ways. Billed as a thriller, The Clan doesn’t quite thrill but instead instills a slow-building dread of the inevitable. As the camera follows closely behind Arquímedes, wandering through the house, calling their clean-cut family to dinner, a final door opens, revealing the bathroom, where a yelping, hooded man lays shackled in the tub. While Alejandro knows of his father’s kidnapping business, and even plays small but crucial parts in the abductions, it is as if the other children in the house — two girls and a boy — cannot hear the whimpering of a strange man in the adjacent room. They simply carry on with their homework and chores. This blatant ignorance of wrongdoing is the crux of the story, and at one point, Alejandro, while calming his younger brother about a rugby match, hits an epiphanic note and advises that it’s just a game, better not to make it about life and death. The Clan explores a side to the Dirty War we rarely see, that of the regular humans who got caught up in the evil, unable to escape the game, even after the power got cut. Veteran Argentine actor Guillermo Francella and newcomer Peter Lanzani, as Arquímedes and Alejandro, respectively, deliver surprisingly restrained performances. Rated R. (A Wolfe) Darling — Mickey Keating’s fourth horror feature, Darling, screams Roman Polanski all over. Like Repulsion, it centers around a woman (Lauren Ashley Carter) — only ever referred to in the film as “Darling” — who’s haunted by an unspoken sexual trauma and gradually goes insane as she stays indoors by herself and cares for a large New York City house. There’s an added supernatural layer to

VisiT HOusTONpRess.cOm fOR aDDiTiONal film cOVeRaGe the psychological horror — it’s strongly suggested that the hallucinations Darling experiences could be the result of a haunting, a Gothic angle that recalls the other two films in Polanski’s “apartment” trilogy, Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant. Darling’s derivative feeling isn’t helped by Keating’s decision to shoot the film in black-andwhite and include anachronistic period details (note the old-school rotary telephones). Still, there are distinctive touches to give this passing interest. Most are technical: Cinematographer Mac Fisken’s ominously atmospheric use of the house’s yawning, wide-open spaces, Giona Ostinelli’s brooding electronic score and editor Shawn Duffy and mixer M. Parker Kozak’s expressionistic sound design all invite us into Darling’s damaged headspace. There’s also Carter’s impressive lead performance, with the actress conveying much of her fear and anger simply through her body language (her trembling hands as she washes the blood off a knife is a remarkable bit of physical acting). Keating’s most notable variation on the Polanski-esque elements, however, comes in the form of an ambiguous reveal: What lies behind a forbidden white door suggests Darling’s horrified reckoning with her inner evil. Not Rated. (Kenji Fujishima) I Saw the Light — Writer/director Marc Abraham’s life-of-thelegend drag I Saw the Light (starring Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen) makes no big deal of Hank Williams’s songs, or their composition, or of what hard study of Americans mores and vernacular it would take to craft them. It suffers, I expect, from Hollywood’s post-Walk Hard fear of committing to howler clichés in the musician biopic. Jake Kasdan’s towering 2007 comedy stands as

I Saw the Light

one of the most conseque last 10 years: It killed dea eschews not just cliché bu Hank never exhibits any straight-and-narrow, bu singalong of “I Saw the L ous Christian piety. How did he feel about not liv that song’s title does no is only dramatizing the f life filled with sin.” Hiddle as the film passes. I found reels, when he’s turned m left him and he’s bouncin The second of Abraham’ Audrey to tend to him, H he’d never be so gauche out loud, just as he won’ his music reaches people One More Time — Robert E Time opens with the sou pers descending in unis a crooner’s voice promis Lipman (Amber Heard) change the album. He d Jude’s father, Paul Lom Sinatra knockoff whose Jude is a passionate bu stuck in the shadow of he dinner that her birth na his 1980s hippie period of the Blind) uses that qu out of step with the tim that no one in the Lomb is a recklessly unaware b indulging old grievances Paul. Walken does his bli arrogant selfishness whil as exemplified by upsta of the incredibly awkwa “Somethin’ Stupid.” The backstories that constrict with Heard especially w indecision (and a too-lon earnest as Paul’s comeba Again” (the film’s origin phrases that pleasantly d wreckage. Not Rated. (S Watermark — Watermark is a both beautiful and wren disappointment. In her M filmmaker Jennifer Ba methods of renowned la Burtynsky. For Waterma the world to document and water. Aided by cin the filmmakers aim thei rounding the world’s gr humans who live in and to the construction of th join in a gathering of Hin

4/11/16 5:29 PM

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April 14 - 20, 2016

one of the most consequential works of film criticism in the last 10 years: It killed dead the genre it parodied. Abraham eschews not just cliché but also context and even meaning. Hank never exhibits any religion, and he never walks the straight-and-narrow, but the film ends with a communal singalong of “I Saw the Light,” a song vowing a life of joyous Christian piety. How did Hank come to write it? What did he feel about not living up to it? The film that bears that song’s title does nothing to earn it. It’s like Abraham is only dramatizing the first line: “I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin.” Hiddleston grows gaunt and wild-eyed as the film passes. I found him more convincing in the late reels, when he’s turned mean and antsy after Audrey has left him and he’s bouncing between potential next wives. The second of Abraham’s ideas seems to be that, without Audrey to tend to him, Hank became ever more lost. But he’d never be so gauche as to have a character say that out loud, just as he won’t show us Hank discovering that his music reaches people. Rated R. (Scherstuhl) One More Time — Robert Edwards’s wan drama One More Time opens with the sounds of fumbling in the dark: zippers descending in unison, a needle dropping on vinyl, a crooner’s voice promising romance. That’s when Jude Lipman (Amber Heard) demands that her latest pick-up change the album. He doesn’t know that the singer is Jude’s father, Paul Lombard (Christopher Walken), a Sinatra knockoff whose LPs have become hipster kitsch. Jude is a passionate but unfocused singer-songwriter stuck in the shadow of her star father, who jokes at a family dinner that her birth name (Starshadow) resulted from his 1980s hippie period. Writer/director Edwards (Land of the Blind) uses that quip to show how Paul was always out of step with the times, but misses the biggest joke: that no one in the Lombard family sees it as ironic. This is a recklessly unaware bunch, inflicting the same hurts, indulging old grievances and circling the attention-seeking Paul. Walken does his blissed-out best to humanize Paul’s arrogant selfishness while playing up his competitiveness, as exemplified by upstaging Jude during a performance of the incredibly awkward Frank and Nancy Sinatra duet “Somethin’ Stupid.” The characters are overburdened by backstories that constrict rather than inform their behavior, with Heard especially weighed down by Jude’s flailing indecision (and a too-long pink wig). They’re as clunky and earnest as Paul’s comeback song, “When I Live My Life Over Again” (the film’s original title), a collection of well-worn phrases that pleasantly distracts from a thoughtless man’s wreckage. Not Rated. (Serena Donadoni) Watermark — Watermark is a documentary filled with images both beautiful and wrenching, yet the film as a whole is a disappointment. In her Manufactured Landscapes (2006), filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal explored the working methods of renowned landscape photographer Edward Burtynsky. For Watermark, the two co-direct, traveling the world to document the complex interaction of man and water. Aided by cinematographer Nick de Pencier, the filmmakers aim their cameras at the landscapes surrounding the world’s great waterways, as well as at the humans who live in and around them. We bear witness to the construction of the Xiluodu Dam in China and later join in a gathering of Hindus seeking to bathe away their

8-17. For information, visit worldfest.org. Thursday, April 14, 7 and 9 p.m.; Friday, April 15, 7 and 9 p.m.; Saturday, April 16, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m.; Sunday, April 17, 1, 3, 5 and 7 p.m., $7.50 to $600. AMC Studio 30, 2949 Dunvale, 713-977-4431, www. amctheatres.com/movie-theatres/amc-studio-30. Big Hero 6: A brilliant robotics whiz (Hiro Hamada), along with his tech-savvy friends and robot companion (Baymax), fights to save the high-tech metropolis of San Fransokyo from criminals in this Disney Animation’s adaptation of the Marvel comic. Friday, April 15, 8 p.m., free. Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park Drive, 281-823-9103, milleroutdoortheatre.com. Blade Runner: See Ridley Scott’s sci-fi noir thriller with extended scenes and previously unseen special effects. Stars Harrison Ford,SeanYoung,RutgerHauer,EdwardJamesOlmosandDaryl Hannah. April 15-16, 11:59 p.m., $10.50. Landmark River Oaks Theatre,2009WestGray,713-866-8881,landmarktheatres.com. FotoFest at MFAH: The museum screens recent films addressing the environmental themes of the FotoFest 2016 Biennial. LifeRaft Earth is April 9; Racing Extinction is April 9-10, Watermark is April 15 and Ice and the Sky is April 16. Fri., April 15, 7 p.m.; Sat., April 16, 7 p.m., $9. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Brown Auditorium Theater, 1001 Bissonnet, Houston, 713-639-7515, mfah.org/films. The Last Circus: This twisted tale of love, revenge and psychopathic clowns begins during the Spanish Civil War when a circus clown is recruited into the militia and massacres an entire platoon. A love triangle ensues when both a sad clown and a happy clown compete for the affections of a beautiful acrobat. Free with purchase of $5 food and beverage voucher. Thursday, April 14, 7:30 p.m., $5. Alamo Drafthouse - Vintage Park, 114 Vintage Park Boulevard, 832-559-5959, drafthouse.com/ houston/vintage_park. Lebanon: Of Wars and Men: Explore the history of the civil war within Lebanon (1975-90) through this three-part documentary. Narrated in English, the film includes testimonials and archival footage. There will be a post-film discussion led by Jean-Pierre Filiu, historian, professor and Arabist. Sunday, April 17, 4:30 p.m., $9. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Brown Auditorium Theater, 1001 Bissonnet, 713-639-7515, mfah.org/films. Leopardi (Il giovane favoloso): Once a month the Italian Cultural and Coummunity Center shows Italian movies with English subtitles; snacks and beverages are included with the suggested donation. This historical drama tells the story of 19th-century Italian poet and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi, who was afflicted with blindness, bone deformation and unrequited love. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 20, 7:15 p.m., $5 to $10. Italian Cultural and Community Center, 1101 Milford Street, 713-524-4222, www.iccchouston.com. RobertoDevereux: CelebratethetenthanniversaryoftheMetropolitan Opera’s The Met: Live in HD. The broadcast of Donizetti’s opera is presented live on April 16, followed by an encore presentation on April 20. Sondra Radvanovsky plays Queen Elizabeth I, forced to sign the death warrant of the nobleman she loves, Roberto Devereux. Price varies by location; visit fathomevents.com for participating venues. Saturday, April 16, 11:55 a.m.; Wednesday, April 20, 6:30 p.m., $28.15. Edwards Houston Marq’e Stadium 23 & IMAX, 7620 Katy Freeway, 713-263-7843, regmovies.com. Wheels on Reels: The Italian Job: The “Sculpted in Steel” exhibit makes us nostalgic for classic cars and classic movies. This week, MFAH shows the 1969 film about career criminals and MINI Coopers in Turin, Italy. Michael Caine is the suave, skirt-chasing robber,andNoëlCowardplayshisincarceratedaccompliceinone of the biggest international heists in history. Saturday, April 16, 2 p.m., $9. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Brown Auditorium Theater, 1001 Bissonnet, 713-639-7515, mfah.org/films. You’re Next: Alamo’s Mondo x Chiller is a horrifying tale of a family dinner turned horribly wrong when home invaders play a nasty game of cat-and-mouse. Friday, April 15, 10 p.m., $9. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - Mason, 531 South Mason Road, Katy, 281-492-6900, www.drafthouse. com/houston.

Houston Press

strongly suggested that iences could be the result hat recalls the other two trilogy, Rosemary’s Baby ative feeling isn’t helped t the film in black-andc period details (note the Still, there are distinctive erest. Most are technical: ominously atmospheric wide-open spaces, Giona score and editor Shawn k’s expressionistic sound g’s damaged headspace. e lead performance, with her fear and anger simply her trembling hands as fe is a remarkable bit of t notable variation on the ever, comes in the form of behind a forbidden white d reckoning with her inner a) arc Abraham’s life-of-therring Tom Hiddleston and deal of Hank Williams’s or of what hard study of lar it would take to craft m Hollywood’s post-Walk er clichés in the musician 2007 comedy stands as

Center

F i l m - Re p e r to r y a n d S p e c i a l S c re e n i n g s

h horror feature, Darling, r. Like Repulsion, it centers ley Carter) — only ever ng” — who’s haunted by nd gradually goes insane and cares for a large New ded supernatural layer to

Family

sins in the Ganges. The footage is often alarming, as when the chemical waste from a Colombian leather factory is tracked to a nearby river from which families draw water. Visually, Watermark is exquisite, but as a narration-free documentary, it’s a thematic muddle. Trying to grasp a narrative thread amid the constant continent-hopping proves wearying, and if this is a film about water, why stop to watch Burtynsky pore over the proofs for his latest book? Are we meant to fear for the natural world, or stand in awe of the man taking the pictures? Not Rated. (Chuck Wilson)

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ive and alive. Every small s homeland and hope. As ould be a verb.” Fittingly, f its running time in the n pickup truck watching kes the filmmakers on a urants he promoted into guetza, Meals by Genet, ell her how Gold’s reviews how, in writing about food, migration in Los Angeles, upusas on Pico Boulevard men re-creating Tehran in olson) ng’s a game, it’s easier to ated during play. We see his in war, young men and nvisioning their targets as hooter. In Pablo Trapero’s family-crime drama The devastating ways. Billed te thrill but instead instills nevitable. As the camera edes, wandering through ut family to dinner, a final hroom, where a yelping, he tub. While Alejandro g business, and even plays uctions, it is as if the other s and a boy — cannot hear an in the adjacent room. omework and chores. This ng is the crux of the story, hile calming his younger its an epiphanic note and etter not to make it about a side to the Dirty War we mans who got caught up in ame, even after the power r Guillermo Francella and químedes and Alejandro, restrained performances.

4/11/16 5:29 PM

April 14 - 20, 2016

Houston Press

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| Stage CapSuleS |

Stage

Capsule reviews by D.L. Groover The Birds Written in 414 B.C., just prior to the tumultuous defeat of

godlike smug Athens in the Peloponnesian War, The Birds is a scathingblackcomedyaboutman’sinsatiablelustforpower.Filled withtopicalreferences,aswerealltheGreekplays,it’sirreverentand smutty,asitpitsmanagainstthegods.Aristophaneshitsthemark timeandagain.TwocitizensfedupwithfranticlifeinAthenssearch forabetterplace.Asineverycomedysince,thetwoaremismatched, oneastraightman,theotherhisfoil.Allgreatcomedyteamsgoback tothisoriginalgoofyduo,PisthetariusandEuelpides(LuisGalindo andJuliaTraber).Ledintheirsearchbytwobirds(puppetsontheir hands),theguysarelookingfortheGreatHoopoe(CarlMasterson), aformerkingwhoturnedhimselfintoabirdandapparentlyknows all. He will tell them what to do and where to find happiness. What they find instead is the land of the birds, which is as dysfunctional asthecitytheyjustleft.(ThewingedensembleincludesGregCote, LindsayEhrhardt,JovanJackson,CourtneyLomelo,BenMcLaughlin, and Lyndsay Sweeney.) The two travelers become birds after a fashion, while arrogant Pisthetarius comes up with a screwy idea tomakehimselfkingovereveryone.Thebirdswillrebelagainstthe uselessgods,stealingtheirburntsacrifices,renderingthemimpotent throughstarvation.Thebirdsbuildagreatfortressinthesky,Cloud Cuckoo Utopia, but during the “erection,” men intrude upon their paradise:apoet,ascientist,asoothsayer,apolitician.Theyallwant something for their service to this new city but are quickly chased awaywithastingingslapstick.Thegodssendemissaries,too.Stuffy Poseidon,dimwittedHercules,andoneveryancient(andfrightfully funny) god, Triballian, seek peace. Director Philip Hays leads his merry band of players through what looks suspiciously like New York’s East Village in the ‘60s. Macy Lyne’s psychedelic costumes are a veritable trip in themselves. Oh, the colors, the colors! Ryan McGettigan’slayerednestofaset–thebettertoperchupon– looks appropriatelyhomespunandislashedtogetherwithstripsofcloth. Butthebestcolorofallisinthecast,richandvibrant.Nopastelshere. They peck ravenously at McGettigan’s scenery, being immensely sillyandcluckingwhennecessary.Theyareallwonderful.Through April 24. Classical Theatre Company, 4617 Montrose Boulevard. 713-963-9665. — DLG Miss Teen Yes, the new play by Michele Riml, presented at Stages Repertory Theatre, might be a world premiere, but my question is: exactly in what century was it written? In the old days, when the world was depicted in black and white, this would have been knownasa“women’spicture,”aweepie,oneofthosedirectedby George Cukor or Richard Cromwell, that starred Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, or Barbara Stanwyck as the strong mom who’ll stop at nothing to see her daughter succeed and get ahead in life. Mom is noble, self-effacing, and fairly fake. Like this play. Would that Miss Teen had a musical score. It cries out to be sung. Obvious cues are built into it. “Our luck is turning,” “Those legs will get you places,” “Work your smile,” “Outside the city limits,” “I’m the mother of somebody,” and “Memories of May Queen” are tailor-made for the musical stage. Inherently, this is no Gypsy, but much lesser stories have been turned into Broadway gold. Teen Margaret Biddle (Emily Neves, much too old to be a teen queen)hasbeencrownedMissTeen,anaccoladebestowedupon her from the local mall. Mom Coco (Elizabeth Ann Townsend) is ecstatic, a fulfillment of her own failed young dreams. Younger sister Nicole (Morgan Starr, no more a convincing pre-teen than Neves is a convincing teen) is outwardly blasé and terribly introverted. Both these marshmallows are hardly daughters of hard-living,hard-drivingCocowhoalreadyhasherhandsfullwith anex-husbandinthenextroomdyingofpancreaticcancerandan ex-boyfriend who’s just moved out, if he ever actually moved in. Mom’s desperate for Margaret to plow ahead and be all that she can be. Nothing that follows is the least interesting or exciting. Margaret’s “manager” Dusty (Elaine Robinson), working out of temporary quarters at the mall, is a former Cheese queen or Miss Teen herself; but who cares, it’s all so rote and by the numbers. The men in the women’s lives are talked about obsessively but never seen. When dad rings his cowbell to summon a morphine fix for his pain, sometimes the women move quickly to help him, sometimestheycontinueplayingthescene.Poordad.Hesurvives the play backstage. We’re not as lucky, we’ve got to watch it. The only real thing in this play is the Belasco-like set by Kirk Domer, an ‘80s kitchen to die for, if you were restoring a HGTV dream home fromtheearlyReaganadministration.Youhalfexpectactualwater to gush out of the faucets. The braid rug under the kitchen table is well-nigh perfect, as is the linoleum floor. The cast is too good for the material. Sparkling and obtuse, Neves was a spectacular Marie Antoinette for Stages last season, and she’s got charm and nervefordays,butplaywrightRimlgiveshernodepth.Townsend

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is a whole other animal. Her resonant mezzo supplies another character. She plays with the timbre of a line, twisting it, spicing it up with a glance or a little movement, always giving it more than what’sthere.DirectorKennMcLaughlindoeshisprofessionalbest to divert our gaze from the script’s shortcomings – that braid rug will revolve as the platform for Margaret’s parade float – which is slight-of-hand stagecraft of the highest order, but there’s no ultimatesaviorforaplaythat’sdateduponarrival.Anyoneknowa good composer? Through May 1. Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway. 713-527-0123. — DLG Oliver! Lionel Bart’s one-and-only hit musical (1960) started the Broadway British invasion when it opened in New York two years after its phenomenal London premiere. This surprisingly tuneful adaptation of Dickens’ classic novel of orphan Oliver Twist and his lowlifeadventuresamongagroupofslumpickpocketsneverstops singing. The grease and grim of Saffron Hill, the lair of criminal

rousingVictorianaofpub-songs“Oom-Pah-Pah”and“It’saFine Life;” Fagin’s snarky “Reviewing the Situation,” with its sneaky Sephardic harmonies. This TUTS production, directed with flash by Bruce Lumpkin, with its atmospheric movable wooden bridge of a set by Dennis Hassan and colorful rag costumes by Colleen Grady, is fleshed out by a prime cast. Dickens supplies iconic characters, as usual: Fagin, Nancy, Bill, undertaker Sowerberry, the Artful Dodger, and our eponymous hero, little Oliver. The panoply of squalid London is tunefully etched by Broadway vets andsomeofHouston’sownmusicalvets.JamesLeoRyan(Annie on Broadway, national tours of Peter Pan and Les Miserables) overlays Fagin with oily charm. If he’s a bit sweeter than Dickens’ grasping pseudo-molester, he’s a warmer comic light in the sooty Victorian gloom. He prances through “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two” like an old pro from vaudeville. Our own Kathryn Porterfield(TUTS’BonnieandClyde)isastar-turningNancy,giving heralltohersignaturepowerballad. Nathaniel Hackman (Broadway’s Les Mis and Beauty and the Beast) makesaterrifyingSykes,spittingout his “My Name” with unbanked fury and desperation. You don’t want to cross him in a dark alley, that’s for sure. Undertaker Sowerberry is picture-perfect Dylan Godwin (a Houston Press Houston Theater Award winner). Lean as a coffin nail, he sparkles through his sardonic “That’s Your Funeral,” telling apprentice/slaveOliverwhathisduties asprofessionalchildmournerwillbe. Caleb Donahoe, as spirited Dodger, turns this resourceful petty criminal intoatruesong-and-danceman,effortlessly inveigling himself into the audience’s good graces. A current Christian Brown 6thgraderattheAwtyInternational Barbara Marineau as Widow Corney, Brian ray Norris as Mr. School, young Christopher Wolff, with his crystalline boy soprano, Bumble and Christopher Wolff as Oliver is most sympathetic as put-upon bossFagin,vibrantlycomesalivethroughBart’smusichallsetting Oliver. Alone among the coffins, his plangent “Where Is Love?” where everybody has a song or two to let us know what they’re cutstotheheart.Obviously,hisstudiesattheHumphreysSchoolof thinking.Itmovesfast.Fromtheshow’sfirstnumber,theexuberant Musical Theatre are paying off handsomely. I’d be remiss if I didn’t curtainraiser“FoodGloriousFood,”beltedoutbytheweehungry congratulate the other little ones in the ensemble, all students at orphans as they bang metal dishes in syncopated rhythm, we’re TUTS’ HSMT. These little troopers strut about the stage like tiny in fine capable hands. Songs include: Nancy’s bluesy anthem Peters and Orbachs. They are a wonder to watch, and I wouldn’t to her sadistic lover Bill Sykes, “As Long As He Needs Me;” the be surprised if, years from now, many of them will be opening on

| art CapSuleS |

Art

Capsule reviews by Randy Tibbits and Susie Tommaney “Canon” As a child, Peru-born Juan José Barboza-Gubo witnessed

the brutal beating of a trans woman and it made him wonder, “Whynovalue?”Fast-forwardmanyyearsandacademicdegrees later to the man, now an artist with years of teaching experience, who has found a way to return dignity to these fringe dwellers of Lima’s society. At McClain Gallery, he and collaborator Andrew Mroczek are displaying 11 portrait tableaus and two costumes inspired by Spanish Colonial paintings from their “Virgenes de la Puerta” series, as well as three haunting landscapes from their “Fatherland” series that document the locations of hate crimes or murder. The portraits are beautiful, textured compositions that invoke symbols of the Catholic Church and culture that shunned these trans women: crown of thorns, beaded cape, halo, offering plate and braided hair. The artists worked with local craftsmen to create the traditional costumes, including a gown made of hundreds of embroidered flowers, a 25-foot hand-crocheted veil,andcrownsofsilverandgold.Whilesomeofthemodelswere insecure,lonelyandostracized,othersfeltconfident,empowered and radiantly beautiful. Most of the images were taken using an eight-by-ten view camera, with the women partially clothed or nude, and at different stages of transition. The vignettes that introduce architecture are most stunning: as in Carol, where the model in hoop skirt basks in the sunlight, surrounded by heavily carved doors with tinted windows; and Lucha, holding a flag in what could be the ruins of an old church with broken stained glass at her feet; and Janny & Nuria, seated in an ornately carved gilded alcove, crossed legs entwined, with their breasts echoing thedesignontheIoniccolumns.ThroughMay14.2242Richmond, 713-520-9988, mcclaingallery.com. — ST “Deco Nights: Evenings in the Jazz Age” Listen. It’s the bounce of a jazz beat through the shimmer of a 1925 night — not the meandering,

languorous stuff from later on, but jazz with verve and rhythm. JazzthatdemandsyoudanceanddrinkChampagnetilldawn.You can almost hear it as you walk into “Deco Nights: Evenings in the Jazz Age” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, a glittering little show intended to give a sense of what it was like — the look and the feel — in those wild, romantic days of flappers and bobs and headlong living. It’s not by any means a major exhibition: only 20 or 30 beautiful objects made in Europe and the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, but it sparkles nonetheless. It may be the dresses,byhautecouturelegendsJeanPatou,PaulPoiret,Lanvin, Fortuny and others, that are best. Or is it the perfume bottles, tiny sculpted marvels of elegance and vanity, with names likeFête de Nuit,CeSoirouJamais,LesAilesdeParis(FestivalofNight,Tonight or Never, Wings of Paris)? Or maybe the photographs by Brassaï, Aaron Siskind and André Kertész, whose “Satiric Dancer” is an angled, upended marvel? No, definitely the dresses. But no need tochoose.They’reallhereandmore.Theshowisagreatreasonto rereadF.ScottFitzgerald’sTheGreatGatsby—Fitzgeraldgavethe nametoTheJazzAge—andtore-watchWoodyAllen’sMidnight in Paris. And watch out as you head over to MFAH: You may get a glimpse of Gatsby’s fatal yellow roadster as it flashes by through the shimmering night to the sound of jazz on the way to another midnight party. Through June 5. 1001 Bissonnet, 713-639-7300, mfah.org — RT “IntheWake”We’restilltalkingabout2010’sBPoilspilldisaster—the massiveblowoutthatkilled11peopleandsentmillionsofbarrelsof crude oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico — resulting in the largest marine oil spill in United States history. One of the photographers at the scene was Madrid-born, Seattle-based Daniel Beltrá, who photographedthedisasterfromtheair,capturingboththebeautyof thedeepblueoceanandthehorrorofthewideswathsofredpollutantspreadingoutfromitstoxicsource.Forthatwork,hewasnamed 2011WildlifePhotographeroftheYear,anawardgivenannuallyby London’sNaturalHistoryMuseum.FivepiecesfromBeltrá’s“Spill” seriesareondisplayatHoustonCenterforPhotographyinagroup showexploringourimpactonwater,aswellasourattemptstomake good on the damage done by humanity. The Stockholm-based artist duo Bigert & Bergström, known for their large-scale public works, have four UV-printed photographic sculptures from their

Broadway. Until then, there’s plenty of work in Annie, Matilda, and Spring Awakening to look forward to. The only downside to this lively production is the atrocious sound design. It’s work enough for the cast to put across the heavy Cockney accents, but most of Bart’s lyrics are rendered unintelligible. The orchestra is too loud, while the voices are terribly muffled. Are the mikes the wrong type? Is the sound board full of bugs? Is the operator deaf? This isn’t the first time a TUTS show at the Hobby sounds like it’s being broadcast from the moons of Saturn. This, really, has got to be fixed. It does no one any favors – Dickens, Bart, the wonderful cast, or, most importantly, the audience! But plenty of Oliver!’s wonders peak through the murky sound. There’s no tamping down this show’s abundant bounce. Please, sir, I want some more. Through April 17. Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby. 713-558-2600. — DLG OrfeoedEuridice ChristophWillibaldGluck’sOrfeoisablastoffreshair. It will always be. It’s a classic of its kind, albeit an early exemplar, butaclassicnonetheless.Itissimpleandpure,ravishinginitspure melody and pure expression. Opera in the Heights produces a lovely rendition, formal and clean, updating the antique but not making it too cluttered to harm the old opera’s impact. OH, under LeslieSwackhamer’scompresseddirection,turnsGluckintogold. Under maestro Eiki Isomura, the orchestra has never sounded so focused. The woodwinds, especially flutist Wendy Bergin, who has that iconic solo in the famous “Dance of the Blessed Spirits,” arecleanandimmaculate.Andthelovelypassagethatintroduces the “Elysian Fields” interlude is especially striking in its delicate shimmer of bird calls and rushing water. Down the line, this is ensembleplayingoffinecaliber.ChoreographerKrissyRichmond overlays the opera with an ease of movement that befits Gluck’s refined classical style. The evening belongs to mezzo Laura Coale, formerOHchorusmember,who sings Orfeowithstunningclarity andemotionalheft.Coaleisphenomenal,blessedwithapowerful, expressive,radiant,andunfetteredvoice.There’snotafalter,waver, quaver, quiver to her. A lovely actor to boot, she looks great in a tuxedo.HerEuridice,sopranoYunniePark,whilenoOscarwinner, has a rich, smooth finish to her voice, like delicious hollandaise. She makes the most of her glorious Act II temper tantrum, when she chides Orfeo for not looking at her. Little does she know that Orfeo, under Love’s command, may not glance at her as he leads her out of the Underworld or else she will go back from whence she came. Amore, the only other leading role in the opera, is slyly portrayed by soprano Julia Fox. Foxy she is, as she vocally winks at us as she expounds Love’s deepest meaning while looking at us askance. OH ends its 20th anniversary season on a particularly high note. Bravo all! April 14 and 16. Opera in the Heights, 1703 Heights Boulevard. 713-861-5303. —DLG “The Drought” series in the show; the trio of multifaceted acrylic sculptures that glow from within would make a puzzler proud. Anaïs Tondeur has an interesting short film about the mysterious disappearance of the volcanic island Nuuk; we know it existed in 2012 and it has since completely vanished beneath the ocean surface. Also on view are works by Caleb Cain Marcus, Leah Dyjak, LoriHepner,ConstanceHockadayandIanvanColler.ThroughMay 8. 1441 West Alabama, 713-529-4755, hcponline.org. Free. — ST “William N. Copley: The World According to CPLY” at The Menil Collection is the first Copley retrospective in an American museum. The works included — paintings, drawings, prints, assembled pieces — cover the period from the 1940s to the artist’s death in 1996. Cartoon-like, colorful, erotic and funny, they emerge from a mind well founded in art history, particularly Surrealism, but with an eye seeing in a way of its own. Copley, who lived in France for many years, includes enough homages to French art to make even diehard art Francophiles happy. References to Surrealist painters abound, understandable since Copley was an early dealer and collector of their work through his gallery in Los Angeles. And lust courses through the galleries. One painting is even titled Trust Lust (1988). Which accounts for the cautionary

VISIt HOuStONpreSS.COM FOr aDDItIONal art aND Stage COVerage notice at the entrance: cautionary at the door; missionary inside. But maybe it’s also a self-deprecating humor in the work, as well as Francophilia and lust, that makes his art appealing. And a bit of befuddled uncertainty. Copley gives us none of the religiosity of RothkoorthecerebralnatureofBarnettNewman,tonameacouple ofthehigh-priestexhibitionswe’veseenlately.He’sjustdevilishly blundering through. And inviting us to join the serious fun. Here’s what he has to offer: color and fun; biting satire and dark humor; something erotic, something serious, something sinister; weird, weirdly wonderful, just plain wonderful. And finally, voilà: Bliss. Through July 24. 1515 Sul Ross, 713- 525-9400, menil.org. — RT

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Cafe

Selling the Sizzle

By Phaedra Cook

pepper paste. A plate of cool, fresh Boston lettuce leaves is served alongside in case diners want to make wraps. We called for small bowls instead, filled them with rice and topped them with dabs of hot and salty sauces, kimchi and warm meat, reloading as needed. The diner next to us at the bar stared enviously at our wealth. “That looks amazing,” he said. “I’ve been coming here for months and have never had that.” On the other hand, we

holders, it’s a marvel that the wood-topped tables don’t all get marred with burns and scars. A hot cast-iron bowl, though, is the key for serving proper dolsot bibimbap. The bottom of the bowl is covered with a thick layer of broken rice, and bibimbap is best when it gets nice and brown on the bottom. On top of the rice are a sunny-side-up egg; slices of tender beef that spend time marinading in soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic before hitting the grill;

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and inspired dreams of soju Bloody Marys. The pineapple infusion was simple but good. The flavors of the other two were rather offensive. here hasn’t been much buzz about The prominent flavor in the lemon-ginger was republic diner + Sojubang since it of bitter white pith. The mixed-berry soju was emerged in the space that once most reminiscent of liquid cold medicine for housed Witchcraft Tavern & Provikids. There’s commercially bottled, neutral soju sions. Witchcraft Tavern closed in here as well — Chamisul and Jinro 24. These October, and Republic Tavern opened after a are reliable but not exciting. short transition phase under the same owners, Beer seemed by far the most fitting partner Delicious Concepts. It’s the same company for the hearty, spicy dishes. Two that’s behind Pink’s Pizza, ShepKorean beers are offered: Cass herd Park Draught House and Lola. and O.B. Premier. Both are pale laThe neighboring residents, gers — Korean equivalents of though, apparently know all Lone Star or Pabst Blue Ribbon. about Republic Diner and love it. There’s also Asahi and Sapporo On a Thursday night, the place from Japan and a goodly number was packed, and we felt lucky to of American craft breweries repsnag two seats at the bar. Maybe resented, including Deschutes, the locals just don’t want everyAvery, Victory and Houston’s own one else to know about it so their Saint Arnold, Karbach and Brash. favorite watering hole and Korean Good beer also goes great diner won’t get more packed than with a burger, and Republic it already is. Diner has an exquisite one. The Outside is a covered patio KO burger is a thick patty lightly where folks relax on picnic glazed with teriyaki sauce and benches, sipping pints of beer and topped with cabbage kimchi and enjoying casual bowls of bibimbap a fried egg. The spread is an aioli and kimchi fried rice. Loyal dogs that includes the sweet-hot and lie next to their masters’ and misslightly pungent fermented soytresses’ feet, hoping a french fry or bean and pepper paste known as two might come their way. gochujang. It’s a monster of a Inside, the atmosphere is a mix sandwich, and there’s no shame of dive bar and short-order grill. In at all in splitting this with a fact, the flattop grill, oven and friend. The hand-cut fries that burners are set up in a corner right come with it are just right, too: behind the bar. The minute guests crispy on the outside and soft on walk in, they’re hit with the intoxithe inside, with just the right cating scent and sound of sizzling Troy Fields amount of salt. meat. It is a warm welcome that inRepublic Diner + Sojubang is a cites instantaneous hunger. Wang galbi: The tender, sliced short ribs, grill-marked and with slightly charred edges, are served on a hot rustic, down-to-earth gem, and That tempting meat ends up cast-iron pan. it’s fantastic to have authentic on many of the classic Korean lightly pickled carrots; sprouts; and wilted had already noticed his fine bowl of bulgogi, Korean food in the Heights. Finding available dishes. The marinated rib eye is destined for spinach. It’s a bit of an achievement to both and that’s a sensible meal for a lone diner. parking and seating is a challenge on busy bulgogi, bibimbap and japchae, a dish of crystal Chef Jordan Asher consulted on Republic mix the contents to cook the egg and disturb nights, so the best bet for newbies is to visit noodles made of sweet-potato starch that inthe bottom as little as possible, thus ensuring a Tavern’s Korean menu, a natural fit considSundays through Wednesdays when the cludes stir-fried meat and vegetables. Chicken nice brown crust. ering he’d just parted ways with now-closed place isn’t already packed with regulars. Of is seasoned, crispy-fried and served in a dish Republic Diner + Sojubang falters when it Dosi Restaurant & Soju Bar, which also course, it’s likely that army of regulars is just called yangnyeom chicken with rice, kimchi comes to the second part of its name. Sojubang served a Korean menu. However, Delicious going to keep growing. and braised radish greens. means “soju room,” and unfortunately, some Concepts didn’t have a dire need for Asher’s For a full-fledged Korean meal, bring a services — at least not in that capacity. When of the infused soju was not very good. Soju is a friend and order the $24 wang galbi (or “king republic diner + Sojubang spirit similar to vodka that is distilled from one we interviewed Asher about his work at Reribs”). The tender, sliced short ribs, grill1221 West 11th, 832-649-3601. Kitchen hours of a variety of sources, such as rice, barley, public Diner last fall, he said that Delicious marked and with slightly charred edges, are (bar stays open later on some nights): 11 a.m. wheat or sweet potatoes. Concepts co-owner Ken Sheppard “is half served on a hot cast-iron pan. The flat bones to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays; 11 On a shelf behind the bar are five big glass Korean and is really knowledgeable of the are stacked underneath the pile of meat, a a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. jars. Four of them are filled with soju and one of cuisine. It seems fitting for me to be a part of nicety in case there are any nibbles still clingfour ingredients or combinations: lemon and it, but he has the vision and recipes already.” ing to them. Alongside is a well-fried egg, with ginger; cucumber and mint; raspberries and (It turned out that where Asher was actually a golden yolk innocent and unmarred on a Mandu ( fried dumplings) $6 blueberries; and pineapple. The contents of the needed was at the helm of forthcoming Ritfield of an opaque, brown-edged white. Sundubu jjigae $10 fifth jar tend to vary. On our visits, it was a comThen the server sets down dish after dish of ual, in the old El Cantina Superior spot at Dolsot bibimbap $11 bination of bell, jalapeño and serrano peppers. 602 Studewood.) the small sides collectively called banchan: KO burger $12 The infused soju is available as a flight of As with the wang galbi, food is often served spicy cabbage kimchi, black beans, marinated Wang galbi $24 four, and we tried all except the cucumber and in searingly hot cast iron. Even when the bean sprouts, seaweed, pickled daikon, a big Infused soju flight of four $20 mint. By far, the hot pepper soju was the best dishes are ensconced in protective wooden bowl of white rice, and sambal oelek, a spicy O.B. premier beer $8

| |Contents NEWS | Feature | Night+Day | Film | Stage | Art| Cafe | Cafe| |musiC Music| | ClassiFieD Classified || Contents| |HOUSTON Hair Balls | Feature | nigHt+Day | Film | stage | art

republic Diner + sojubang offers casual, authentic Korean fare in the Heights cooked up on a flattop grill.

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April 14 - 20, 2016

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In addition to running The Lucky Fig wo Houston restaurants had reason to truck, Manfè also runs a catering business be extra-proud last week. At the ancalled Dinner With Luca and does the occanual Houston Press Menu of Menus® t sional pop-up dinner. Extravaganza, chef Lyle Bento of Southern Often, the dishes rolling off The Lucky Fig Goods won the Iron Fork Chef competition in look as if they’d be much more at home on fine an extraordinarily close match at Silver Street china than in a disposable food box. Spinach Station. Out on the floor, CityCentre restaupappardelle pasta the color of emeralds is dotted rant Texas de Brazil won attendees’ hearts The Lucky Fig Food Truck boasTs with creamy smoked ricotta and fennel purée (and their voting tokens) with chimichurri a MasterChef winner. Phaedra Cook flank steak and horseradish mashed potatoes. any Houstonians might not realize that and adorned with edible flowers. On top is a piping-hot helping of braised lamb shank meat. The dozens of participating restaurants there’s a MasterChef winner in their Other times, classic Italian staples are selfthat handed out food samples to attendees midst. Luca Manfè won Season Four of represented a wonderful cross section of culthe competitive cooking show in 2013. Now he’s consciously modified for the grab-and-go food truck world. Such is tures. There was Pakistani cuisine from Bisthe case with a help- millah Restaurant & Cafe, Mexican from ing of polenta fries Arnaldo Richards’ Picos and Cyclone Anaya’s, bolstered with a and Chinese from Mala Sichuan. dose of good ol’ There were creative takes on Cajun food cheese sauce. as well. Harold’s In The Heights served an inMuch of the teresting peanut butter and jelly take on food reflects Manbread pudding, and no one could complain fè’s upbringing about the battered catfish and dirty rice balls with wholesome being served outside at the Frenchy’s booth. ingredients. The The Cajun Stop doused slices of French bread Lucky Fig even with spicy crawfish étouffée. serves a few differPrestige Oysters represented the Texas ent vegetable Gulf Coast in the purest of ways as it manned dishes. On the day an oysters-on-the-half-shell booth. All those Photo by Chuck Cook Photography of our visit, there dishes are just a tiny representation of the was cauliflower dozens that could be sampled at the event. Luca Manfè, winner of MasterChef season four, in his Houston food that benefited from Up on the Whole Foods-presented Iron truck, the Lucky Fig the inclusion of Fork stage, Bento engaged in culinary battle naturally sweet raisins, lots of deeply with worthy and well-matched competitor serving lovely, handmade Italian cuisine, even roasted pine nuts and shavings of real ParJean-Philippe Gaston of Izakaya. The alcomplex pasta dishes, right here in Houston migiano-Reggiano cheese. ways-entertaining chef Chris Shepherd of from a food truck called The Lucky Fig. It wasn’t much of a stretch to guess that Underbelly was emcee, taking over for his In some ways, it was remarkable that Manfè is destined to someday run his own friend chef Randy Evans, who now lives Manfè won on MasterChef, since most of his brick-and-mortar restaurant here in Houston, near San Antonio. restaurant experience was in the front of the and he confirmed that he is indeed hopeful of Shepherd was not just the emcee, though. house, not the kitchen. On the other hand, he having one open by the end of the year. It will Part of his role was to be the thorn in the was raised by a family of avid, skilled home be a delight to dine on his homespun Italian competitors’ sides. First, he challenged them cooks amid the natural culinary wealth of the fare from a real plate with real silverware. In with the secret ingredient of asparagus. Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Cooking the meantime, it’s a lot of fun watching The Then, Shepherd threw another ingredient at is in his blood. Lucky Fig break even the highest expectations them: crawfish tails. Worst of all, though, Manfè moved to New York City in 2005. of what gourmet food truck fare truly can be. was the twist ingredient: triggerfish. It has He was working as a restaurant manager at notoriously tough skin, is very difficult to Per Lei, a casual Italian restaurant on the Upcut and is not what you want landing on the per East Side, when he applied for season judges’ plates. three of MasterChef. He was turned down, Speaking of judges, there was a tough started working at Michelin one-star restautrio to impress: four-time Iron Fork chamrant A Voce and spent another year practicing pion chef Kevin Naderi of Roost, Houston his cookery. When he returned to apply for Press food critic Phaedra Cook (that’s me) season four, the judges were impressed with a new iron Fork cheF is crowned and Susan Stillson of Whole Foods. >> p30 how far he’d come. As the saying goes, the as Thousands waTch. Phaedra Cook rest is history. The big win on the show led to his cookbook, My Italian Kitchen: Favorite Family Recipes. It was published in 2014. It’s filled with wholesome, earthy, uncomplicated Italian recipes, many of which came from his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. He keeps a few hard copies in The Lucky Fig truck for fans who come by and want to buy one for $25. Of course, it’s great to have the author on hand to sign it, too. Manfè and his wife, Cate, came to Houston to visit family, but soon realized the city was ideal for other reasons. Manfè said, “We needed a place that was going to make it easier to raise a family. We have family here, and we came to visit four times in the past two years. We liked the city. Then we looked into real estate prices for residential and commercial and we liked Houston even more! It’s one Photo by Chuck Cook Photography of the fastest-growing cities in the country, if not the fastest — especially the restaurant From left to right: iron Fork emcee chef Chris shepherd of underbelly, newly crowned scene. And there is always a place for some iron Fork champion chef Lyle Bento of southern goods and worthy contender chef Jean new vibrant Italian concepts, no?” Philippe-gaston of izakaya.

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April 14 - 20, 2016

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Bento and Gaston were so evenly matched that even after all three judges’ scores were totaled, Bento won by just five points — a score that was only about 3 percent higher than Gaston’s. After his win was declared, Bento agreed to return next year as the new Iron Fork defending champion and remarked that the competition was much tougher than he expected. It will be interesting, indeed, to see not only who Bento’s challenger will be but also to see if next year’s overall lineup of restaurants beats last night’s delectable, multicultural lineup.

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elen Greek Food & Wine was undoubtedly one of the best new restaurants of last year; it was even a semifinalist in the James Beard Awards’ Best New Restaurant category. Hot on the heels of that opening, the same team is already planning a new restaurant called Arthur Ave Italian American, which will be located at 1111 Studewood and should open this summer. The newest concept from Eatsie Boys’ Matt Marcus and Hospitality USA’s Pablo Gomez, Restless Palate at 2643 Commercial Center in Katy, is now open. In contrast to the scrumptious-but-oh-so-greasy fare you might find on the Eatsie Boys food truck, this restaurant is all about eating richly and healthily, with offerings like herb-grilled salmon with kale and quinoa. There are a few indulgent items on the menu, though, like a chocolate cake with cheesecake balls inside. Cullen’s American Grille & Whisk(e)y Bar at 11500 Space Center has announced its immediate closure, in part due to the passing of general manager Ryan Roberts last fall. The owners have decided to repurpose the space into a health-care facility. Popular brunch destination Dish Society is bringing its farm-to-table goodness to Memorial; the eatery has announced that it will open another location, at 12525 Memorial in

the Memorial Green development, sometime around spring 2017. Management also has plans to open three additional locations by the end of 2018. Harold’s Restaurant, Bar and Terrace has announced a new addition to the restaurant. Harold’s Tap Room, a relaxed bar and lounge to be located beneath the second-floor eatery, will be opening sometime this summer in the former Heights General Store space. The drinks will include boutique wines, craft beers and infused cocktails, and there will be a food menu of light, Southern-style bites. Another announcement this week was the eminent arrival of Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar, a Dallas-based eatery that serves modern American fare and whiskey cocktails. Whiskey Cake reportedly bought property in Katy after a deal for a Hughes Landing location fell through. Enoteca Rossa Ristorante Italiano began celebrating its grand opening at 4566 Bissonnet on April 11 with four weeks of freebies. For the first week, you can get a free, freshly baked pastry with any coffee or espresso purchase. Texas’s favorite cookie delivery service, Tiff’s Treats, will unveil its location at 1620 Research Forest on Saturday, April 16. On opening day, cookies will be $5 per dozen, and proceeds will go to the Connor Man Foundation, which seeks to end a rare type of cancer that affects children. Food truck OffBeat Eatz is now serving an offbeat twist on burgers, pizza, fries and other classic American fare, according to the truck’s website. You’ll find the truck’s calendar on the site as well, which includes a few upcoming stops at No Label Brewing and 777 Post Oak. Last week, we reported on the unfortunate closure of another food truck; the Los Dos Vaqueros taco truck was stolen from its home at 1234 Sheldon in Channelview. This week, we’re happy to be able to tell you that the owner’s Go Fund Me page has raised enough money to allow her to rent a truck and get back to business. However, she’s still below her goal of $5,000, which would allow her to purchase a new truck to replace her old one, so if you haven’t yet, consider chipping in a few bucks for a fellow Houston foodie. As the Houston Galleria’s Saks Fifth Avenue moves to its new home next door

April 14 - 20, 2016

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Eating...Our Words from p28

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this beef carpaccio champignon is from one of the much-anticipated restaurants opening this week. Hint: its initials are E.r.

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(also in the Galleria), it will be taking its restaurant, 51fifteen, with it. Both the restaurant and the store will close at the original location, 5115 Westheimer, on April 20 and open in the new location, at 5175 Westheimer, on April 28. And, no, the restaurant’s name will not change to accommodate the change in address. Hughes Landing in The Woodlands has a new tenant; Truluck’s Seafood Steak & Crab House, a national brand of top-notch seafood restaurants that prides itself on sustainable seafood, opened its first Houston location at 1900 Hughes Landing this week. Calamari’s Bar, at 5111 Washington, has closed, but Saul Obregon isn’t going to let the space go to waste for long; the owner of La Macro Food Truck, which currently resides at The Raven Tower, 310 North, will be opening a brick-and-mortar of his popular truck in the space, including a beer and liquor bar. He also plans to keep the restaurant open until 4 a.m. each day to appeal to the late crowd on Washington Avenue. There’s no exact opening date for the new concept, but Obregon says it will be open very soon. Yelpers have reported that Houston newcomer Anju, 510 Gray, has already closed and the phone number is disconnected; the Japanese eatery opened less than six months ago. The Yelp-o-sphere also says that Hong Kong Chef, at 5112 Bissonnet in Bellaire, is closed as well, almost certainly because of the enormous H-E-B that will soon be taking up the land that Hong Kong Chef sits on. 713-Juice-Bar is open at 14520 Memorial and offering unusual smoothies and juices, like “Graham Slams” and peanut butter and jelly. Robby Cook of Barringer Bar says that the empty bar space at 114 Main, formerly Copa Cabana, is undergoing renovations to become a new club, which will be owned by the same folks as Capitol Bar at 2415 Main. The opening is tentatively set for sometime in the next few weeks. After several closures of various Prince’s Hamburgers locations, a new Prince’s in the final stages of construction has been spotted by Swamplot at 3425 Ella. As promised, 1970s favorite Hamburgers by Gourmet is now open at 1360 NASA 1 Parkway in a former KFC spot, and a reader tip tells us that Moe’s Southwest Grill opened two locations this week, one at 7072 FM 1960 and the other at 14060 FM 2920. We have a few bar and pub openings to share with you: Murdoch’s Backyard Pub at 18541 Mueschke, which specializes in gourmet burgers, and Up & Down, a new self-titled “ultra lounge” at 4105 Washington in the former Fig & Wasp spot. Two Houston restaurants have added brunch options to their already popular offerings; Tony Mandola’s, at 1212 Waugh, now offers brunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, and newcomer Ginger & Fork, 4705 Inker, kicks off Sunday brunch this week from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Finally, here are a few sundry openings around town: Maison Crêpes at 4803 Main, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream at 14131 Mueschke, Mystic Dessert Bar at 13837 Southwest Freeway in Sugar Land, Filipino Cuisine at 10950 Bissonnet and Papa Amadeus cafe at 25602 I-45 North in Spring.

4/11/16 5:29 PM

houstonpress.com April 14 - 20, 2016

Houston Press

HOUSTON

4/29 The Ruby Review Burlesque Show – On Sale Now 6/15 Sunflower Bean – On Sale Now 4/18 Dave East with Nick Grant & Doeman 5/13 Max Frost with The Vanity

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4/11/16 5:29 PM

| rocks off |

Music

Silver WingS RemembeRing meRle HaggaRd,

LIVE MUSIC EVEry NIght!

houstonpress.com

Merle Haggard in Houston, february 2010

countRy-music icon and fRiend of tHe woRking man. CHRIS GRAY

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his biggest hits, songs like “The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad),” “Mama Tried,” “The Fugitive” or “Branded Man.” Haggard’s vast catalog spans both sides of WWII, a deep knowledge of country pioneers like Jimmie Rodgers and Bob Wills, popular legends like Bonnie and Clyde, the prisoner’s dying wish of “Sing Me Back Home,” and “Okie From Muskogee,” maybe the most misunderstood song in country-music history. Though it was often taken as satirical (it wasn’t), his taking a “square” point of view in counterculture-dominated 1969 resulted in a song that helped define an era and remained one of Haggard’s most popular long after the Vietnam War ended. But whether or not Haggard based a particular song on his own personal experience, only a handful of other artists in this country’s history have spoken up for the bottom rungs of American society as consistently and convincingly as he did. Even on 21stcentury songs like “That’s the News” and “I’ve Seen It Go Away,” he continued holding the wealthy and powerful accountable when most of his fellow musicians were simply trying to join their tax bracket. And few entertainers have been more acutely aware of the steep cost of their chosen profession, as he is in “Footlights.” I live the kinda life most men only dream of I make my livin’ writin’ songs and singin’ them But I’m forty-one years old and I ain’t got no place to go When it’s over So I hide my age and make the stage and Try to kick the footlights out again. But Haggard, who was married five times (the last one for the past 23 years), also spoke equally eloquently and memorably about a subject people of all economic stations and political positions can relate to. His love songs could be angry (“I’m Gonna Break Every Heart I Can”), confused (“I’m Looking For My Mind”), controversial (“Irma Jackson”) or downright lonesome (“Silver Wings”). Or, as on “Let’s Chase Each Other Around the Room” or “It’s Been a Great Afternoon,” they could be downright whimsical. On “Today I Started Loving You Again,” the tempo and tenor are much more in line with one of Haggard’s heartbroken ballads,

but nothing could be further from the truth; it’s the same switcheroo his old bandleader Buck Owens pulled in “Together Again.” And as a crooner, as he was on “Easy Come, Easy Go” and “I Always Get Lucky With You,” among many others, The Hag was one of the best that music has ever seen. I keep two strikes against me Most all of the time And when it’s down to a phone call I’m minus the dime There’s been good days and bad days But when the day is all through Hey I always get lucky with you This has not been an easy year; the music world alone has already lost David Bowie, Glenn Frey and Earth, Wind & Fire’s Maurice White in short order, and now The Hag. It’s only April. One day even the Stones will finally exit the stage for good, too. It’s hard to look around and see anyone out there who might one day take their place, because the kind of cultural values and work ethic that allowed someone like Haggard to become a star just don’t exist anymore. If anything hurts even more than losing a legend like The Hag, it’s that.

Fri, apr 22 The Mighty Orq

sat, apr 23 Tony Vega

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Back again Houston RockeRs lost element

Sat 04.16.16

Nick Gaitan’s Tune Parlor presents: Bandulus, Los Nahuatlatos, Mas Pulpo

Mon 04.18.16

Open Mic Comedy Night Doors@7:30 Show @8pm: FREE!

Tue 04.19.16

Bootown presents Grown up Story Time 8pm show & 10pm show

Hope to make a splasH witH new ep Stereo Dream. MATTHEW KEEVER native Houstonian, Brian Barett returned to the Bayou City after college. It was here that he reunited with an old high-school friend and band mate, guitarist Trace Sisson. That same year, Barett and Sisson met Omar Lopez, and the three decided to play music together. Bassist Kenneth Conlon and keyboardist Frank Vasquez were then added to the ensemble, freeing up Lopez to focus on his vocals and developing the showmanship of a front man. Six years and three albums later, the band is finally seeing some success. Lost Element was formed in 2010, and the group spent its first year writing and cutting its teeth on what Barett calls “crappy shows.” But in 2011, the band released its de- >> p34

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APRIL 14 - 20, 2016

Haggard’s gifts as a storyteller went well beyond barrooms, though. He needed look no further than his own background for some of

Jason Wolter

HOUSTON PRESS

Could be holding you tonight Could quit doing wrong, start doin’ right You don’t care about what I think I think I’ll just stay here and drink

Fri, apr 15 sat, apr 16 Memo Gonzalez Sandy & Holland K Smith Hickey

ast Monday, Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood told The Guardian the band had been back in the studio, mostly recording old blues and R&B tunes by artists like Little Walter and Howlin’ Wolf, but some new stuff too. They could have a new album out by the end of the year, Wood said. Seems the septuagenarian rockers have locked into a pretty good groove from all the touring they’ve been doing, and are on something of a roll. Besides the prospect of the first new Stones album in 11 years (even if it is mostly or all covers), the subtext was pretty clear: These guys are probably going to keep going until they drop. So did Merle Haggard, until he was sidelined by the pneumonia that ultimately took his life on April 6, his 79th birthday. Even though he was in his late seventies, there was every reason to believe The Hag would get better; his scheduled June 16 date at Houston’s Arena Theatre stayed on the books right up until he was gone. Haggard also opened some Stones shows back in 2006, a time when some people were already suggesting that both acts might be better off hanging it up. That was a decade ago. The touring combination was odd enough to earn a spot on an Ultimate Classic Rock list of “Strangest Rolling Stones Opening Acts” in 2013, although it shouldn’t have. Haggard was a survivor, just like the Stones are. He lived to play music, with no real ulterior motive than just that, and kept doing it until his body gave out on him. We should all be so lucky. Along with Bakersfield compatriots like Buck Owens and Wynn Stewart, Haggard helped open a Western front in country music. The beer joints and honky-tonks where they played were loud, and the electric guitars and drums they used in order to be heard created a stark alternative to the prevailing Nashville sound at the time, which was dominated by strings and other suffocating production. The energy that crackled through the songs also appealed to many rock fans, including the Beatles. The people Haggard and his fellow musicians met there were often down on their luck and either ignored or outright shunned by respectable mainstream society; his sympathy with them is obvious in songs like “All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers” (which gave his longtime backing band its name) and “Swingin’ Doors.” Haggard’s gift was in how he could make a song like “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down” or “Think I’ll Just Sit Here and Drink” sound poetic in just a few lines.

4/12/16 12:27 PM

“Man, what the fuck is this shit? What the fuck is this? They gon’ send me this garbageass motherfuckin’ trash can-ass beat? To rap with Jay Z?!” It ended up being a freestyle, one of the most glorious in Southern-rap history. And until his brand-new Mercedes hit Miami for the “Big Pimpin” video, there wasn’t gonna be a video.

houstonpress.com

Lost Element

April 14 - 20, 2016

Houston Press

His 2000 Arrest at Sharpstown Mall is Still Bullshit: Though it isn’t mentioned in exten-

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sive detail, the 2000 incident at Sharpstown Mall that led to his four-year stint in jail is briefly brought up. We lost Pimp C to statemandated bondage all because a woman instigated a fight between her and Pimp, saying he pulled a gun on her when he didn’t. More than 15 years later, we’re still looking back at one of the more inconceivable moments in Texas rap history.

thursday april 14th kirko banGz

Pimp’s First Mission Once He Got Out of Jail: Squashing Citywide Beefs: “How is y’all trip-

friday april 15th Drive by Truckers CO5 Media

Rocks Off from p33

saturday april 16th Dawes

sunday april 17th Penny & sParrow

Wednesday april 20th curren$y

friday april 22nd Thao & The GeT Down sTay Down

but EP, Back Again, which caught the ear of local radio star Rod Ryan. “He took the time to come speak with us and tell us he thought we had something,” Barett says of 94.5 The Buzz’s morning DJ. “We instantly clicked with Rod, and more than anything, we liked him as a person.” With Ryan’s help and influence, Lost Element was presented with a number of opportunities they would not otherwise have been exposed to, namely the radio personality’s tenyear reunion show and four stints at The Buzz’s annual Bud Light Weenie Roast festivals. “When you’re a band that pours your blood, sweat and tears into this for years, it really means a lot to have someone there like Rod that believes in you,” Barett says. “It’s important that you surround yourself with good people in this industry, and Rod is exactly that.” Back Again even won Lost Element “Best New Band of the Year” honors from The Buzz. Hoping to capitalize on the spark, the band spent the next two years touring the world and honing its sound, which Barett says was discovered in 2014 when the Houston natives began working with producer Bryce Bordone. Though 2016’s Stereo Dream is technically the group’s third EP, Lost Element prefers to consider it a fresh start with a refined sound. It’s only seven tracks, but Barett says that somewhere between 20 and 30 songs were written during the three or four taken to craft it. “There were quite a few ‘transition’ songs written that, even though they didn’t make the album, played a key role in transitioning our sound into what it is today,” Barett says. “The last song that was written on the EP was written over a year ago, so most of the tracks have been written for a while.” But the time was well spent, and the finished project sounds big. It’s the kind of pop that builds into epic, uplifting choruses that implore listeners to sing along and sway their heads back and forth. And at its heart, Stereo Dream is an album about chemistry — the chemistry shared by the band and communicated to fans.

“Each one of us was inspired at one point by a band that mesmerized huge crowds in arenas and large pavilions,” Barett says. “These experiences are unforgettable. They stay with you and allow you to relive the wonder of that day, even if for a moment, and we strive to create these very experiences for our fans, old and new alike.” Lost Element performs Wednesday, April 13, at Warehouse Live’s Greenroom, 813 St. Emanuel. Doors open at 8 p.m.

Something good Just a taste of wHat’s in tHe new

pin?” Bun B paraphrases for his brother. The 2006 Pimpalation track put names on everybody who had a beef at the time: Paul Wall/ Chamillionaire, Slim Thug/Z-Ro, T.I./Lil Flip. For the massive XXL cover shoot in 2006, Pimp declared that everybody at the shoot would eventually go on tour, all in the name of the South. “You know young Pimp, I’m like Jesse Jackson down here,” he says. I’m sure his Rainbow Coalition would have been a little different. Bun B Delivers the Best Quote In the Entire Documentary: “When you lose someone like

Pimp C, you lose a cultural bulletproof vest. You lose somebody that was actually willing to stand up and take the bullet for the culture. That was willing to be honest and say the things that people were afraid to say or that people didn’t want to hear. If judgment comes from that or retribution comes from that, then so be it. But somebody had to say it. Nobody was louder than Pimp.”

pimp c documentaRy, Long Live the PimP. BRANDON CALDWELL

Bending the ruleS if you’Re dRunk wHen you cHeat,

ip-hop has started cranking out documentaries about its mythical figures the same way Hollywood is dipping into comic-book mythology. It’s a necessary achievement for the medium; the constant exploration of what were the building blocks of what we have now. The more we hear stories about Atlanta’s Organized Noize or have podcasts and shows dedicated to excavating the story of hip-hop, the better off we all are. Last week, Complex and Mass Appeal teamed to reveal Long Live the Pimp, a documentary that shares its title with last December’s posthumous album, on which Lil Wayne, Juicy J, Nas and others offered guest verses on Pimp C (a.k.a. Chad Butler) tracks thought long-buried. Here’s a brief cheat sheet to the 30-minute film, directed by Marcus A. Clarke.

Dear Willie D: I went to a party a few weeks ago and drunkcheated on my boyfriend. I took six tequila shots and had two beers with a group of friends. One of the friends and I have been friends for three years. We didn’t do anything sexually before that night. I felt so guilty that I called my boyfriend right after it happened and confessed. Of course he was angry, but he forgave me. The problem is he won’t stop bringing up my infidelity. I have told him a million times that I was sorry, but he won’t let it go. I realize that I’ve broken his trust, but I still love him and want things to return to normal. If you were him and your girlfriend drunkcheated, what might she say or do to convince you that she can be trusted again?

Chinara Butler, Pimp C’s Widow, First Met Him in Elementary School: This is dope for a

does it count? WILLIE D

number of reasons. One, Chinara discusses a baby Chad Butler. Two, she mentions his being a musical genius who was still shy. I have now immediately swapped out Anthony Michael Hall for Pimp C in every John Hughes movie that AMH starred in.

Drunk Cheater: If my girl drunk-cheated on me, there is nothing she could do to mend the relationship, because being drunk only allows a person to do what he or she doesn’t have the guts to do sober. As such, I would bounce. Once the trust is broken, the relationship is over.

Timbaland’s beat. In the words of Mr. Lee,

Ask Willie D appears Thursdays at houstonpress.com/music.

Pimp Owns the Most Legendary Verse on “Big Pimpin”: Let’s put it like this: Pimp hated

4/12/16 12:27 PM

houstonpress.com

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4/12/16 12:27 PM

Music

Hayes Carll

8 p.m. Thursday, april 14 aT Cullen TheaTer, WorTham CenTer, 501 Texas, 832-4877041 or housTonfirsTTheaTers.Com.

Hayes Carll

Nearly all the great songwriters have a “divorce album,” a memoir of a failed relationship that in many cases is also an artistic masterpiece: Dylan’s Blood On the Tracks, Willie Nelson’s Phases and Stages and Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love, to name a few better-known examples. The record just came out last month, but the probability is high that Hayes Carll’s Lovers and Leavers will belong on that list someday. As the Houston-raised musician enters his forties, the rakish air of KMAG YOYO and Trouble In Mind has receded in the face of Carll’s recent experiences, but the clever and frank wordplay that emerged on the earlier Flowers and Liquor and Little Rock is intact. Sparely produced by studio ace Joe Henry, Lovers and Leavers sounds like a lonely guy on a barstool who could sure use another round…and perhaps a friend. Chris Gray

Kurt Vile & the Violators

WiTh purlinG hiss, 8 p.m. Thursday, april 14 aT house of Blues, 1204 Caroline, 888402-5837 or hoB.Com/housTon.

Now 36, Kurt Vile has more than earned a spot in the conversation about the finest indie-rock songwriters under 40. Some would argue the laconic Philly native, whose songs tend toward the meandering and dreamlike, arrived at that plateau with Wakin’ On a Pretty Daze. That album, released in 2013, fulfilled and probably surpassed the lofty expectations set by 2011’s Smoke Rings For My Halo. Then last year’s b’lieve i’m goin down inspired no less than Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon to write this in Vile’s bio: “Kurt does his own myth making; a boy/man with an old soul voice in the age of digital everything becoming something else, which is why this focused, brilliantly clear Jacob Blickenstaff and seemingly candid record is a breath of fresh air.” Guess that settles that, then. Chris Gray WiTh poon, GianT KiTTy and WhiT, 7:30 p.m. friday, april 15 aT saTelliTe Bar, 6922 harrisBurG, 713-425-6669 or saTelliTehTx.Com.

Blue-collar Beaumont has quietly developed a respectable music scene over the past few years, thanks in no small part to the not-soquiet band Purple. The young trio throws down a catchy and fun brand of big-guitar Technicolor rock that adds a neat little twist or two, like some pretty dope rapping skills (their cover of Devin the Dude’s “What a Job” kills). Purple has steadily been winning fans across the Gulf Coast since at least 2014’s 409, but when songs from latest LP Bodacious began circulating ahead of its April Fools’ Day release, suddenly their circle of admirers got a lot bigger. Alternative Press recently premiered

8 p.m. friday, april 15 aT Warehouse live, 813 sT. emanuel, 713-225-5483 or Warehouselive.Com.

Once mandatory in any great rock act’s catalog, live albums are all but extinct nowadays, something nobody told the Drive-By Truckers. The Athens veterans’ latest, It’s Great to Be Alive, is not only a live album, but a double live album. Its 35 tracks span 1998’s “The Living Bubba” (about a friend who died of AIDS) to the sprawling “Grand Canyon,” a highlight of 2014’s uneven English Oceans. Entering their third decade this year, the Truckers remain virtually unique within rock and roll thanks to their tandem of A-list songwriters, Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, and a lineup as heavy-duty as any of the Southernrock greats of yesteryear. The Truckers just happen to be as informed by the tradition of William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor as the one established by Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers, but their true element will always be on the stage. Chris Gray

Local Brews, Local Grooves

Houston’s recent craft-beer boom is a nearexact reflection of our music scene’s resurgence, and Saturday House of Blues lets us enjoy the best of both worlds. While fans enjoy suds from some of the state’s best breweries, a dozen bands will rock all three HOB stages, starting with INXS-ish Austin rockers The Vanity in the big room alongside H-Town party boys Another Run, DEF. (formerly Def Perception), Space Villians*, Deep Cuts and Race to the Moon. The Bronze Peacock welcomes another Austin buzz band, Duncan Fellows, alongside roots-rockers Second Lovers, Ranson Bandits and Fox Parlor; down at the Crossroads (stage), trip-hoppers Bang Bangz and garage-pop trio Young Girls whet some appetites. At a single dollar per band (beer sold separately), it’s hard to imagine a tastier way to spend a Saturday. Chris Gray 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, april 20 aT Cullen performanCe hall, 4800 Calhoun (universiTy of housTon), 832-842-3100 or enTerTainhousTon.Com.

April 14 - 20, 2016 Sig 2 35-42.indd 36

Drive-By Truckers

Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair

Todd V. Wolfson

the “Pretty Mouth” video on its Web site, while NPR’s All Songs Considered declared, “We would follow Purple to the ends of the Earth” during the trio’s recent SXSW blitz. It’s not hard to see why. Chris Gray

3 p.m. saTurday, april 16 aT house of Blues, 1204 Caroline, 888-402-5837 or hoB.Com/housTon.

Purple

Houston Press

houstonpress.com

| PLAYBILL |

Purple’s bodacious new album is drawing a lot of buzz for the Beaumont trio.

Let’s all hope Billy Corgan, or should we say Smashing Pumpkins, gets into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one day; not only because then Corgan will finally stop saying he should be in, but because he probably deserves to be anyway. It’s been a while since the Pumpkins have released a truly great album, although their last two, 2012’s Oceania and 2014’s Monuments to an Elegy, have at least made a strong case for Corgan as rock’s comeback artist of the 2010s. Not hurting his legacy at all is this acoustic-ish “In Plainsong” tour, which aims to strip back the crushing volume of the Pumpkins’ catalog to reveal the intricate songcraft at the core. A rare Houston date from opener Liz Phair, another of the ‘90s greatest alt-rock songwriters, is pretty much worth the ticket price regardless of your opinion of Corgan. Chris Gray

4/12/16 12:27 PM

presents

Drive-By Truckers 4/15 @ Warehouse Live

$15 RIB EYE $18 FILET COMES WITH 2 SIDES: GARLIC PARM FRIES, BACON ‘N BROCCOLI, MASHED POTATOES, LOADED BAKED POTATO, SALAD

Eleanor Friedberger, Icewater

4/22 @ The Raven Tower

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, Seratones Susto, Keeton Coffman 4/23 @ Rudyards

5/29 @ The Lawn at White Oak Music Hall

•

C M U S I

•

Saturday

4/22 @ Warehouse Live

Memorial Day Blowout w/ The Flaming Lips, Lucero, Title Fight, and more

4/21 @ The Raven Tower

EVERY MONDAY

Aubrie Sellers, Ruckus

STEAK NIGHT O

Being As An Ocean, ‘68, Capsize, Listener, Movements 4/18 @ Warehouse Live

april 30, 2016 1971 W T C Jester Blvd, Houston, TX 77008

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Music listings are offered as a free service to Press readers and are subject to space restrictions. Send listings information by e-mail (musiclistings@houstonpress.com), fax (713-280-2496) or mail (2603 LaBranch, Houston, TX 77004). To change an ongoing listing, call 713-280-2486. Deadline is noon Thursday for the following week’s issue. Listings rotate regularly, as space allows. Our complete listing of shows is available online. For addresses, phone numbers and descriptions of venues, see our online listings at houstonpress.com/directory/clubs.

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Market Tragedy, A New Horizon., Fri., May 6, 8 p.m., $10 to $12. Scout Bar, 18307 Egret Bay, Houston. Bidi Bidi Banda (Selena Tribute): With Los Guerreros de la Musica., Sat., April 30, 8 p.m., TBA. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Broncho: With Winter., Thu., May 26, 8 p.m., $10 to $15. Rudyard’s, 2010 Waugh, Houston. Carson McHone: Tue., June 7, 7:30 p.m., $20 to $22. McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, Houston. Chubby Checker: Sun., Jan. 15, 7:30 p.m., $88 to $148. Dosey Doe, 25911 I-45 N., Spring. Counting Crows and Rob Thomas: Sun., Sept. 25, 7 p.m., TBA. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins, The Woodlands. Cretin Hop: With Black Flag by Black Coffee, The Misfits by Forced Fem,, The Ramones by Kemo For Emo, The Jabbers by Ballistics,, Minor Threat by members of Color Tonite Red, The Medicine Years and Broken Satellite., Sat., May 21, 8 p.m., TBA. Eastdown Warehouse, 850 Mckee, Houston. David Bazan: With Michael Nau., Tue., Aug. 9, 7 p.m., $14 to $18. White Oak Music Hall, 2915 N. Main, Houston. Death Valley Girls: With Massenger., Sat., April 30, 8 p.m., $7 to $10. Walters Downtown, 1120 Naylor, Houston. Sturgill Simpson: Tue., May 10, 7 p.m., $28 to $30. White Oak Music Hall, 2915 N. Main, Houston. Echo & the Bunnymen: Fri., Oct. 14, 7 p.m., $30-$49.50. House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston. Explosions In The Sky: Sun., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $25 to $27. White Oak Music Hall, 2915 N. Main, Houston.

CLUBS LISTINGS ROCK Acadia Bar & Grill: 3939 Cypress Creek, Houston. The Share Fire,

with Vanilla Whale, The Caveman., Thu., April 14, 8 p.m., $5 to $8. Brainstorm for Tuesday, with Roshambo, A Good Rogering, Brumes., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., $8 to $12. Mach 4, Sat., April 16, 9 p.m., $8 to $12. AbandonShip, with Navajo, Your Greatest Obsession, With Bright Lights, The Vanity Affair., Sun., April 17, 8 p.m., $10. BFE Rock Club: 11528 Jones, Houston. Wayland, with Shaving Susie, Arsis Thesis, Underage., Fri., April 15, 7 p.m., TBA. Twelve Years Driven, with Saturate, Torrid Complex, Broken Valor, Daylight Down, Driven with Insanity, Kevin Langford & Michael MacSherry, Jesse Avila, Ryan Nave, Jon Pittman., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., Free to $12. Big Top Lounge: 3714 Main, Houston. Phantom Royals, with King Pelican., Fri., April 15, 10 p.m., Free. Snit’s Dog and Pony Show, Sat., April 16, 10 p.m., Free. Continental Club: 3700 Main, Houston. Nikki Hill, Thu., April 14, 8 p.m., TBA. Cullen Performance Hall: 4800 Calhoun, Houston. Smashing Pumpkins, with Liz Phair., Wed., April 20, 7:30 p.m., $65 to $75. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion: 2005 Lake Robbins, The Woodlands. BuzzFest 35, with Cage The Elephant, The Offspring, Blue October, Toadies, AWOLNATION, Fitz & The Tantrums, Everclear, The Struts, The Joy Formidable, Nothing But Thieves, Andrew Watt, Big Data & New Beat Fund., Sat., April 16, 1 p.m., $44.50 to $175. Fitzgerald’s: 2706 White Oak, Houston. The Bath Salt Zombies, with Blackgrass Gospel., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., $15. House of Blues: 1204 Caroline, Houston. Kurt Vile & the Violators, with Purling Hiss (solo)., Thu., April 14, 7 p.m., $22.50-$35. Local Brews, Local Grooves-Houston’s Ultimate Craft Beer &

Music Fest, with Another Run, Young Girls, Second Lovers, Ranson Bandits, Bang Bangz, The Vanity, Def Perception, Duncan Fellows, Deep Cuts, Race to the Moon, Fox Parlor, Space Villains*., Sat., April 16, 3 p.m., $12. Gungor, Sun., April 17, 6:30 p.m., $20. The Darkness, Tue., April 19, 7 & 8 p.m., $25 to $45. Umphrey’s McGee, with Tauk., Wed., April 20, 7 p.m., $25. Midtown Bar & Grill: 415 W. Gray, Houston. Chill Vibes Featuring: The Black Holes, Jeffer Thomasson, Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., TBA. Moon Tower Inn: 3004 Canal, Houston. Roasted: Third Annual 4/20 Party, with Pleasure 2, Birthday Club, Get A Life., Wed., April 20, 7 p.m., Free. The Nightingale Room: 308 Main, Houston. Deep Cuts, with Get A Life., Thu., April 14, 9 p.m., Free. Fiddle Witch and the Demons of Doom, with Tribe Hill., Fri., April 15, 6 p.m., Free. Kam Franklin presents the Catch Up, with Rex Hudson, Rob Gullatte, Lita Styles, Mark Drew, DJ Jay Tovar., Tue., April 19, 7 p.m., Free. Notsuoh: 314 Main, Houston. Jazz Radio, with Kimia, The Glass, Torpedoed Heart., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., $5 to $10. Mantra Love, with The Red Legs, Fan Club., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $5. Numbers: 300 Westheimer, Houston. Leaether Strip, with Ludovico Technique, Spit Mask, DJ Morbid, DJ Enigma., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $10 to $15. The Pub Fountains: 12720 SW Freeway , TX 77477, Stafford. Faster Pussycat, Thu., April 14, 8 p.m., $12 to $25. Raven Tower: 310 N., Houston. Operators, with Bogan Via., Fri., April 15, 7 p.m., $12 to $16. Revention Music Center: 520 Texas, Houston. Generation Axe Tour, with Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt., Mon., April 18, 7 & 8 p.m., $49.50 to $79.50. Rudyard’s: 2010 Waugh, Houston. The Dirty Seeds, with Switchblade Jesus, Vermillion Whiskey, Mr Plow., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., TBA. Nick Gaitan’s Tune Parlor presents Bandulus, with Los Nahuatlatos, Mas Pulpo., Sat., April 16, 9 p.m., $8. Satellite: 6922 Harrisburg, Houston. Desert Mountain Tribe, with Pilot, Carmeci, Whale Bones., Thu., April 14, 7 p.m., TBA. Boss Battle, Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., TBA. True Widow, with Omotai., Sun., April 17, 8 p.m., TBA. Vulgarnaut 4/20 tape release show, With Ganesha, Funeral Horse, Funeral Shroud., Wed., April 20, 8 p.m., Free. Scout Bar: 18307 Egret Bay, Houston. Shaman’s Harvest, with Aranda, Failure Anthem, American Swindle., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $14 to $17. One Eyed Doll, with Eyes Set To Kill, Open Your Eyes., Tue., April 19, 8 p.m., $11 to $14. In Da Skies, with A Vow Unbroken, Carranza, Houston Vape King, 3 Wise Men & a Lil Lady., Wed., April 20, 8 p.m., $5. Studio @ Warehouse Live: 813 St Emanuel, Houston. Being As An Ocean, with ‘68, Capsize, Listener, Movements., Tue., April 19, 7 p.m., $14 to $16. Super Happy Fun Land: 3801 Polk, Houston. Buried For A Day - Find Enne Tour, with And Then Suddenly, Kairos Theos, Emiliana, Along The Lines Of., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m.-1 a.m., $7; Buried For A Day, Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., TBA. The Young Step, with Dinosaur Daze., Mon., April 18, 8 p.m., TBA. Cornish Game Hen, with Dream Version, Connor., Tue., April 19, 8 p.m., TBA. University of Houston: 4800 Calhoun Rd., Houston. Ben Folds, Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $29.50-$69.50. Walters Downtown: 1120 Naylor, Houston. La Urss, with Gast, Cop Warmth, Substance., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., TBA. Bane, with Burn, Axis., Mon., April 18, 7 p.m., $20. Run River North, with the Lighthouse and The Whaler., Tue., April 19, 7 p.m., TBA. Warehouse Live: 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Dawes, with Hiss Golden Messenger., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $20 to $23. Evans Blue, Sun., April 17, 5 p.m., Free.

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Firehouse Saloon: 5930 So

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Continental Club: 3700 Main

Friday of every month, Rock, Sun., April 17, 8 p.m The Flat: 1701 Commonwealt with Noey Lopez, Patric 9 p.m., Free. Flight 1701 10 p.m., Free. The Butt Tomahawk Bang., Sunda Stereo Live: 6400 Richmon Ben Gold & Protoculture Electric Foam, with Surain Thompson DJ RN., Fri., A Claw, Sat., April 16, 9 p.m DRAG

House of Blues: 1204 Caroline

POP Studio @ Warehouse Live: 813 St Emanuel, Houston. Sugar Joiko

& Friends, Mon., April 18, 7 p.m., $12 to $15.

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| listings |

Music

T H I S J U ST I N Oceans of Slumber: With Green As Emerald, Hydrilla, Black

Market Tragedy, A New Horizon., Fri., May 6, 8 p.m., $10 to $12. Scout Bar, 18307 Egret Bay, Houston. Bidi Bidi Banda (Selena Tribute): With Los Guerreros de la Musica., Sat., April 30, 8 p.m., TBA. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Broncho: With Winter., Thu., May 26, 8 p.m., $10 to $15. Rudyard’s, 2010 Waugh, Houston. Carson McHone: Tue., June 7, 7:30 p.m., $20 to $22. McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, Houston. Chubby Checker: Sun., Jan. 15, 7:30 p.m., $88 to $148. Dosey Doe, 25911 I-45 N., Spring. North MainSun., Street Counting 6412 Crows and Rob Thomas: Sept. 25, 7 p.m., TBA. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Houston, TXPavilion, 770062005 Lake Robbins, The Woodlands. Cretin Hop: With Black Flag by Black Coffee, The Misfits by ForcedHEIGHTSHEAD@GMAIL.COM Fem,, The Ramones by Kemo For Emo, The Jabbers by Ballistics,, Minor Threat by members of Color Tonite Red, www.heightsheadsmokeshop.com The Medicine Years and Broken Satellite., Sat., May 21, 8 p.m., TBA. Eastdown Warehouse, 850 Mckee, Houston. David Bazan: With Michael Nau., Tue., Aug. 9, 7 p.m., $14 to $18. White Oak Music Hall, 2915 N. Main, Houston. Death Valley Girls: With Massenger., Sat., April 30, 8 p.m., $7 to $10. Walters Downtown, 1120 Naylor, Houston. Sturgill Simpson: Tue., May 10, 7 p.m., $28 to $30. White Oak Music Hall, 2915 N. Main, Houston. Echo & the Bunnymen: Fri., Oct. 14, 7 p.m., $30-$49.50. House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston. Explosions In The Sky: Sun., Aug. 21, 8 p.m., $25 to $27. White Oak Music Hall, 2915 N. Main, Houston.

832.998.9948

Music Fest, with Another Run, Young Girls, Second Lovers, Ranson Bandits, Bang Bangz, The Vanity, Def Perception, Duncan Fellows, Deep Cuts, Race to the Moon, Fox Parlor, Space Villains*., Sat., April 16, 3 p.m., $12. Gungor, Sun., April 17, 6:30 p.m., $20. The Darkness, Tue., April 19, 7 & 8 p.m., $25 to $45. Umphrey’s McGee, with Tauk., Wed., April 20, 7 p.m., $25. Midtown Bar & Grill: 415 W. Gray, Houston. Chill Vibes Featuring: The Black Holes, Jeffer Thomasson, Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., TBA. Moon Tower Inn: 3004 Canal, Houston. Roasted: Third Annual 4/20 Party, with Pleasure 2, Birthday Club, Get A Life., Wed., April 20, 7 p.m., Free. The Nightingale Room: 308 Main, Houston. Deep Cuts, with Get A Life., Thu., April 14, 9 p.m., Free. Fiddle Witch and the Demons of Doom, with Tribe Hill., Fri., April 15, 6 p.m., Free. Kam Franklin presents the Catch Up, with Rex Hudson, Rob Gullatte, Lita Styles, Mark Drew, DJ Jay Tovar., Tue., April 19, 7 p.m., Free. 817314 Durham, Houston, Texas Notsuoh: Main, Houston. Jazz Radio, with Kimia, The Glass, Torpedoed Heart., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., $5 to $10. Mantra | fuegossaloon.com (713) 384-4541 Love, with The Red Legs, Fan Club., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $5. Numbers: 300 Westheimer, Houston. Leaether Strip, with Ludovico Technique, Spit Mask, DJ Morbid, DJ Enigma., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $10 to $15. The Pub Fountains: 12720 SW Freeway , TX 77477, Stafford. Faster Pussycat, Thu., April 14, 8 p.m., $12 to $25. Raven Tower: 310 N., Houston. Operators, with Bogan Via., Fri., April 15, 7 p.m., $12 to $16. Revention Music Center: 520 Texas, Houston. Generation Axe Tour, with Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt., Mon., April 18, 7 & 8 p.m., $49.50 to $79.50. Rudyard’s: 2010 Waugh, Houston. The Dirty Seeds, with Switchblade Jesus, Vermillion Whiskey, Mr Plow., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., TBA. Nick Gaitan’s Tune Parlor presents Bandulus, with Los Nahuatlatos, Mas Pulpo., Sat., April 16, 9 p.m., $8. Satellite: 6922 Harrisburg, Houston. Desert Mountain Tribe, with Pilot, Carmeci, Whale Bones., Thu., April 14, 7 p.m., TBA. Boss Battle, Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., TBA. True Widow, with Omotai., Sun., April 17, 8 p.m., TBA. Vulgarnaut 4/20 tape release show, With Ganesha, Funeral Horse, Funeral Shroud., Wed., April 20, 8 p.m., Free. Scout Bar: 18307 Egret Bay, Houston. Shaman’s Harvest, with Aranda, Failure Anthem, American Swindle., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $14 to $17. One Eyed Doll, with Eyes Set To Kill, Open Your Eyes., Tue., April 19, 8 p.m., $11 to $14. In Da Skies, with A Vow Unbroken, Carranza, Houston Vape King, 3 Wise Men & a Lil Lady., Wed., April 20, 8 p.m., $5. Studio @ Warehouse Live: 813 St Emanuel, Houston. Being As An Ocean, with ‘68, Capsize, Listener, Movements., Tue., April 19, 7 p.m., $14 to $16. Super Happy Fun Land: 3801 Polk, Houston. Buried For A Day - Find Enne Tour, with And Then Suddenly, Kairos Theos, Emiliana, Along The Lines Of., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m.-1 a.m., $7; Buried For A Day, Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., TBA. The Young Step, with Dinosaur Daze., Mon., April 18, 8 p.m., TBA. Cornish Game Hen, with Dream Version, Connor., Tue., April 19, 8 p.m., TBA. University of Houston: 4800 Calhoun Rd., Houston. Ben Folds, Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $29.50-$69.50. Walters Downtown: 1120 Naylor, Houston. La Urss, with Gast, Cop Warmth, Substance., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., TBA. Bane, with Burn, Axis., Mon., April 18, 7 p.m., $20. Run River North, with the Lighthouse and The Whaler., Tue., April 19, 7 p.m., TBA. Warehouse Live: 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Dawes, with Hiss Golden Messenger., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $20 to $23. Evans Blue, Sun., April 17, 5 p.m., Free.

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CLUBS LISTINGS ROCK

Acadia Bar & Grill: 3939 Cypress Creek, Houston. The Share Fire,

with Vanilla Whale, The Caveman., Thu., April 14, 8 p.m., $5 to $8. Brainstorm for Tuesday, with Roshambo, A Good Rogering, Brumes., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., $8 to $12. Mach 4, Sat., April 16, 9 p.m., $8 to $12. AbandonShip, with Navajo, Your Greatest Obsession, With Bright Lights, The Vanity Affair., Sun., April 17, 8 p.m., $10. BFE Rock Club: 11528 Jones, Houston. Wayland, with Shaving Susie, Arsis Thesis, Underage., Fri., April 15, 7 p.m., TBA. Twelve Years Driven, with Saturate, Torrid Complex, Broken Valor, Daylight Down, Driven with Insanity, Kevin Langford & Michael MacSherry, Jesse Avila, Ryan Nave, Jon Pittman., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., Free to $12. Visit HOUstOnPREss.COM Big Top Lounge: 3714 Main, Houston. Phantom Royals, with FOR ADDitiOnAl MUsiC King Pelican., Fri., April 15, 10 p.m., Free. Snit’s Dog and COVERAgE Pony Show, Sat., April 16, 10 p.m., Free. Continental Club: 3700 Main, Houston. Nikki Hill, Thu., April 14, 8 p.m., TBA. POP Cullen Performance Hall: 4800 Calhoun, Houston. Smashing Pumpkins, with Liz Phair., Wed., April 20, 7:30 p.m., $65 Studio @ Warehouse Live: 813 St Emanuel, Houston. Sugar Joiko & Friends, Mon., April 18, 7 p.m., $12 to $15. to $75. 2600 a HOUSTON, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion: 2005TRAVIS Lake Robbins,ST The WoodToyota Center:TX 151077006 Polk, Houston. Carrie Underwood, Tue., lands. BuzzFest 35, with Cage The Elephant, The Offspring, April 19, 7 p.m., $46 to $76. Blue October, Toadies, AWOLNATION, Fitz & The Tantrums, Everclear, The Struts, The Joy Formidable, Nothing But AMERICANA Thieves, Andrew Watt, Big Data & New Beat Fund., Sat., Cactus Music: 2110 Portsmouth, Houston. Gal Holiday and The April 16, 1 p.m., $44.50 to $175. Fitzgerald’s: 2706 White Oak, Houston. The Bath Salt Zombies, Honky Tonk Review, Sat., April 16, 2 p.m., Free. Cullen Theater at Wortham Theater Center: 500 Texas, Houston. with Blackgrass Gospel., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., $15. House of Blues: 1204 Caroline, Houston. Kurt Vile & the Violators, Hayes Carll, Thu., April 14, 8 p.m., $46 to $75. with Purling Hiss (solo)., Thu., April 14, 7 p.m., $22.50-$35. McGonigel’s Mucky Duck: 2425 Norfolk, Houston. National Park Radio, Thu., April 14, 7:30 p.m., $20 to $22. Mike Stinson, Local Brews, Local Grooves-Houston’s Ultimate Craft Beer &

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Sat., April 16, 9:30 p.m., $20 to $22. Shake Russell, Sundays, 6 p.m., $25 to $30; Dustbowl Revival, Sun., April 17, 6 p.m., $25 to $27. Re:HAB Bar on the Bayou: 1658 Enid, Houston. CowJazz, Fri., April 15, 9 p.m., Free. The Green Room — Warehouse Live: 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Grizzly Band, Sun., April 17, 8 p.m., $5. Under The Volcano: 2349 Bissonnet, Houston. Texas Turbines, Wed., April 20, 8 p.m., TBA. Warehouse Live: 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Drive-By Truckers, Fri., April 15, 9 p.m., $25 to $27. COUNTRY Dosey Doe: 25911 I-45 N., Spring. East Texas Ramblers, Thu.,

April 14, 8:30 p.m., $15 to $20.

Firehouse Saloon: 5930 Southwest Freeway, Houston. JB &

The Moonshine Band, with Randall King., Fri., April 15, 9 p.m., $12 to $15. Fitzgerald’s: 2706 White Oak, Houston. Austin Vela, with Marcus Latrill., Thu., April 14, 8 p.m., $10. Main Street Crossing: 111 E. Main, Tomball. Wayne Hancock, Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $15 to $20. Sam Houston Race Park: 7575 N. Sam Houston Parkway W., Houston. Parmalee, Sat., April 16, 5:30 & 8 p.m., $7 to $20. BLUES Dosey Doe: 25911 I-45 N., Spring. Delbert McClinton, Fri., April

15, 8:30 p.m., $108 to $168. McGonigel’s Mucky Duck: 2425 Norfolk, Houston. Nathan Quick, Thu., April 14, 9:30 p.m., $15 to $17. Lisa Morales, Sat., April 16, 7 p.m., $20 to $22. Al Staehely, with The Evelyn Rubio Band., Tue., April 19, 7:30 p.m., $20 to $22. Shakespeare Pub: 14129 Memorial, Houston. The Mighty Orq Solo, Fridays, 6 p.m., Free. Sparetime Murray & the Honeymakers Blues Jam, Sundays, 9 p.m., Free. The Eazy Three with Matt Johnson and James Wilhite, Mondays, 9 p.m., Free. The Big Easy Social and Pleasure Club: 5731 Kirby, Houston. Luther and the Healers, Thursdays, 9:30 p.m., Free. John Egan, Mondays, 8 p.m., Free. The Big Easy Quartet, Tuesdays, 8 p.m., Free. Big & Easy Blues Jam, Wednesdays, 9 p.m., Free. SINGER- SONGWRITER Anderson Fair Retail Restaurant: 2007 Grant, Houston. Kierston

White and Camille Harp, Fri., April 15, 8:45 p.m., TBA. Jeff Black, Sat., April 16, 8:45 p.m., TBA. McGonigel’s Mucky Duck: 2425 Norfolk, Houston. Sara Hickman, Jon Vezner, Don Henry, Fri., April 15, 7 p.m., $25 to $27; Seth Walker Trio, Fri., April 15, 9:30 p.m., $20 to $22. Phoebe Hunt, Sat., April 16, 7 p.m., $20 to $22. Studio @ Warehouse Live: 813 St Emanuel, Houston. Penny and Sparrow, Sun., April 17, 8 p.m., $16 to $19. DJ Continental Club: 3700 Main, Houston. A Fistful of Soul, third

Friday of every month, 9 p.m., Free. Dilla Day with Pete Rock, Sun., April 17, 8 p.m.-2 a.m., $10 to $15. The Flat: 1701 Commonwealth, Houston. The Kitchen Thursdays, with Noey Lopez, Patrick Drew, Brotha Jibril., Thursdays, 9 p.m., Free. Flight 1701, With DJ Sun & Friends., Fridays, 10 p.m., Free. The Butterfly Effect, with Angelo, Eriko, Tomahawk Bang., Sundays, 4-8 p.m., Free. Stereo Live: 6400 Richmond, Houston. Lazertrance featuring Ben Gold & Protoculture, Thu., April 14, 9 p.m., Free to $10. Electric Foam, with Surain, Albert Fix, Vance Lawrence, Sam Thompson DJ RN., Fri., April 15, 9 p.m., Free to $10. Yellow Claw, Sat., April 16, 9 p.m., $30 to $35. DRAG House of Blues: 1204 Caroline, Houston. The Divas of Drag, Sun.,

April 17, 8 p.m., $35 to $75.

ELECTRONICA Walters Downtown: 1120 Naylor, Houston. Machinedrum, with

Josiah Gabriel, Wrestlers, Division., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $15 to $17.

FESTIVAL Eastdown Warehouse: 850 Mckee, Houston. Homegrown

024 Festival, with Green Jelly, Je Phoenix Tres Blondie, Kalila Atchley, Black Orchid Ritual, Brother Boyer, Tabline, Savant Haze,, 72 Down, Black Kennedy, Dr Green Dreams,

Justin Joel Tracy, Aggressive Vibe, Key Flight Captains, Jacob Minter, Bloodsucking Fiends, The Blackout Vipers, Control, Lead, Mezzanine, Cannibalistic Pineapples, The Glass, Clay Melton band, Scubadiver, Washed-up, Summer House, Black Water Mountain, HK’S, Indaskies, Chaz & The Plastick Flask, A Return to Beauty, Beyond Oblivion, Yung Crusay, 12 Gauge Awakening, The Killer Beckys, Alone on the Moon, PowerRage, Shadow Council, Demonic Hen, Tribe Hill, Tom Turner Band, Vincent’s Betrayal, Unknown Brothers, Shrey., April 16-17, noon, $10 to $12. 420 Sixteen, with B L A C K I E, Free Radicals, MC Lyro, Biz, Pitter Patter, S4TF, DangFoo, The Blue Bonnet Bomber, Metanoia, S4TF, Ark of Believers, Buddha Deerhead, Pitter Patter , Beeyouteefull L. Wicker, MC Lyro, Offisir God., Wed., April 20, 5 p.m., TBA. Hermann Park: 6001 Fannin, Houston. 2016 Japan Festival, April 16-17, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., TBA. Karbach Brewing Co.: 2032 Karbach St., Houston. Houston Music and Arts Hall of Fame, with Chase Hamblin & The Roustabouts, FLCON FCKER, Gio Chamba, Andrew Youngblood, Dusti Rhodes, Traci Lavois Thiebaud., Sun., April 17, 1-7 p.m., Free. FUNK The Springbok: 711 Main St., Houston. Tightn’ Up, with Mind

Shrine, Bayou City Funk., Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., $5 to $8.

HIP-HOP Arena Theatre: 7326 Southwest Freeway, Houston. Migos, Fri.,

April 15, 8 p.m., $29.50 to $49.50.

House of Blues: 1204 Caroline, Houston. Dave East, Mon., April

18, 7 p.m., $15.

Raven Tower: 310 N., Houston. Children Of The Sun Release

Show, with Guilla, Bizzythowed, Kyle Hubbard, Mojave Red, illfaded, Mark Drew., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., Free. Studio @ Warehouse Live: 813 St Emanuel, Houston. Kirko Bangz, with X.O., Thu., April 14, 9 p.m., $20 to $35. Larry June, Fri., April 15, 8 p.m., $15 to $20; Larry June, Fri., April 15, 11 p.m., $15 to $20. Super Happy Fun Land: 3801 Polk, Houston. Kausing, with Kausing, Da Madness, Yung Mijo, Gulf Coast with Casso, Grey, Sees, Illspenati, Joey Hippy, Diamond Cut, Urs X Kamplife., Sat., April 16, 5 p.m., TBA. The Green Room — Warehouse Live: 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. The It’s Just Rap Show, with JC Seals III, H2, Sin, LuxurySwaggLB., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $10 to $15; The It’s Just Rap Show, with JC Seals III, H2, Sin, LuxurySwaggLB, Tramaine Machine, Matic Jonez, Buff Gudda, J. Taylor., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $10 to $15. Warehouse Live: 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Curren$y, Wed., April 20, 10:30 p.m., $30 to $40. INTERNATIONAL Arena Theatre: 7326 Southwest Freeway, Houston. La Salsa

De Ayer, Hoy Y Siempre VII, with India, Eddie Santiago, Guayacan Orquestra, Porfi Baloa Y Adolescentes., Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., $40 to $125. Miller Outdoor Theatre: 6000 Hermann Park Dr., Houston. Kenny Endo Contemporary Ensemble, Sat., April 16, 8 p.m., Free. METAL Concert Pub (North): 2470 FM 1960, Houston. Grim Reaper, with

Helstar., Fri., April 15, 9 p.m., $20.

House of Blues: 1204 Caroline, Houston. The Noise Presents

Amon Amarth, with Exmortus, Entombed A.D., Fri., April 15, 7 p.m., $27.50-$35. Rudyard’s: 2010 Waugh, Houston. Night Demon, with Visigoth., Thu., April 14, 8 p.m., $8 to $11. Walters Downtown: 1120 Naylor, Houston. Intervals, with Plini, Angel Vivaldi, Save Us From the Archon, Agamemnon., Sun., April 17, 7 p.m., $15 to $18. PUNK Super Happy Fun Land: 3801 Polk, Houston. Chemical X, Sun.,

April 17, 8 p.m., TBA.

Union Tavern: 435 El Dorado Blvd., Webster. Zeroheros, with

Screech of Death, 500 Megatons of Boogie., Sat., April 16, 9 p.m., Free.

REGGAE Scout Bar: 18307 Egret Bay, Houston. Katchafire, with Mystic

Roots., Thu., April 14, 8 p.m., $18 to $22.

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ERP Business Analyst III The Methodist Hospital in Houston TX seeks ERP Business Analyst III to plan & guide PeopleSoft ERP HCM projects. Requires Bachelor's degree in CS, Programming, Business Admin or related field with 5 yrs. exp. using PeopleSoft ERP HCM suite version 9.1 & above in Compensation, HR, Payroll, Benefits admin. & security modules with a full life cycle PeopleSoft HCM upgrade along with business systems analysis utilizing SQL, RDMS & MS tools. May travel to different Methodist Hospital locations in Fort Bend & Harris Counties, TX. Please apply on-line at www.houstonmethodistcareers.org and reference Job ID #22338. The Methodist Hospital is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, status as a protected veteran or other characteristics protected by law.

System Process Engineer The Methodist Hospital in Houston TX seeks System Process Engineer to be responsible for coordinating development of integrated systems for managing patient health care & safety w/project team members in Kaizen/Lean environ. or Sentinel event improvement activities as well as in simulation of care environment for health care industry. Requires Master's in Indus Eng., Process Eng., Appl. Science or related field + 5 yrs. exp. in quality engineering/process improvement implementing Lean/Six Sigma processes incl. 3 yrs (w/in 5) in health care environment. May travel to different Methodist Hospital locations in Fort Bend & Harris Counties, TX. Please apply on-line at www.houstonmethodistcareers.org and reference Job ID #22625. The Methodist Hospital is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, status as a protected veteran or other characteristics protected by law.

167 Restaurants/Hotels/Clubs Operation Research Analyst -Requires master degree in business management and six months experience as accountant. Mail resume to C&W International Fabricators, LLC job site at 5855 Cunningham Rd., Houston, TX 77041. Attn: Mr. Y. Wang.

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ENGINEER POWER Testing and Energization, Inc., 509 North Sam Houston Parkway East, Suite 200, Houston, TX 77060 seeks Department Manager, Engineer V to manage testing and commissioning of Medium and High Voltage electrical distribution, generation, and transmission projects with voltage levels ranging from 480 V to 500 kV. Requires Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. Foreign degree accepted. Requires 6 years experience as Electrical Engineer in the Electrical Field Testing Industry to include 2 years experience as Project Engineer, Project Manager or related occupation in the Electrical Field Testing Industry. Will travel domestically to field sites 3 times per month for periods up to 7 days and internationally to field sites 1 time per year for periods up to 14 days. For a full description of job duties and requirements and to apply go to www.powereng.com

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LegaL Notices Suddath Relocation Systems of Houston, Inc. 815 S. Main St., Jacksonville, FL 32207 ADVERTISEMENT OF WAREHOUSEMAN’S LIEN SALE Suddath Relocation Systems of Houston, Inc. will conduct a warehouseman’s lien sale, as authorized by state statute, at 9:00 A.M. on Saturday, April 30, 2016 at SUDDATH RELOCATION SYSTEMS OF HOUSTON, INC. 5301 POLK BLVD, SUITE 14, HOUSTON, TX 77023. Notice is hereby given that beginning on Saturday, April 30, 2016, inspection and review will be held from 8:00 A.M. to 9:00 A.M., and bidding shall start at 9:00 A.M. and continuing from day to day until all articles have been sold. The name(s) of the storage depositors whose property will be sold to the highest bidder and a description of the property to be sold, as set forth on the warehouse receipt/ storage contract and inventory, are as follows: Barbara Brooks whose belongings are one queen size bed, one dresser, one armoire, one dresser mirror, one sectional sofa, two end tables, one coffee tables, and two lamps; Alicia Jones whose belongings are various household goods and personal items;Angela Bell whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Allen Khatib whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Alma Broussard whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Andre Lindley whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Cheryl Carter whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Angela Bell whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Doug Catlett whose belongings are fourteen boxes, one christmas tree box, one lamp stand, and one button board; Death to Life Ministries whose belongings are various home and office goods and personal items; Carolyn Lopez whose belongings are three boxes, three plastic bags, four tote bags, eight plastic containers, one child’s rocker, one motorized scooter, one wooden rocking horse, one office chair, one tree stand, one black trunk, one dress, one yellow and orange duck, and one small bird cage; Brenda Moorer whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Charles Munnell whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Beverly Revels whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Cedric Ho whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Ethel Turner whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Elise Huyen whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; George Kaminski whose belongings are eventeen boxes, one file cabinet, one security box, two vacuums, one tackle box, eight chairs, one backpack, one water jug, one shower curtain rod, one fire extinguisher, one lawnmower, two trash cans, one ironing board, one garden hose, one wheel barrow, one spreader, one work bench, one suit case, one small grill, one broom, one bird feeder, and one plastic bag; Heleace Eason whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Irekka Clark whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Jackie Fontenot whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Jason Borders whose belongings are one queen size bed, one dresser with mirror, and twenty boxes; Jim Vickery whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Jocelyn York whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Julie Jackson whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Kenya Theus whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Leon Kirk whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Linda Anderson whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Lisa Martin whose belongings are twenty two boxes containing various household goods, four tables, one queen bed, one double dresser, one microwave, four chairs, one bookcase, one sofa, and two wardrobes; Marilyn Johnson whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Marilyn Thorton whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Mary Alice Williams whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Michael Beeler whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Michael Clay whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Michelle Baxter whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Mischeal Webster whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Natosha Ballard whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Ozzie Pagan whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Patricia Howard whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Phyllis Mcallister whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Rachel Bautista whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Richard Hexter whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Rick Kean whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Rosemary Simmons whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Scott (Shlomo) Wollins whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Sharon Kirksey whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Stephen Starensier whose belongings are forty seven boxes, one red ice chest, one dish pack, one wicker rocker, one area rug, one dress mannequin, one corner sectional, three blocks of wood, two ottomans, two sectionals, one plastic bag, and one black iron stand; Tamara Hall whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Tracey Bagley whose belongings are one sofa table, one dining table, five dining chairs, one china cabinet, forty two boxes, one computer, one computer desk, and three TVs; Tracy Howard whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Tracy Rodriquez whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Virgil Lee whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Yolanda Lee whose belongings are various household goods and personal items; Carlos Aboytes whose belongings are ne dining table, fourteen chairs, two armchairs, and thirty boxes containing various household goods; Ramajita Adkins whose belongings are various hosehold goods and personal items; and Brittnay Olsen whose belongings are various household goods and personal items.

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CITATION BY PUBLICATION THE STATE OF TEXAS County of Harris CAUSE NO. 2015-52543 NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC, Plaintiff v. JAMES HUGHES AND DIANE HUGHES AND THE HEIRS AT LAW OF JAMES HUGHES, DECEASED, Defendants RE: 10327 SAGEGATE DRIVE HOUSTON, TEXAS 77089

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF

HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS

61st JUDICIAL DISTRICT

NOTICE TO DEFENDANT: “You have been sued. You may employ an attorney. If you or your attorney do not file a written answer with the clerk who issued this citation by 10:00 am on the Monday next following the expiration of 42 days after the date this citation was issued, a default judgment may be taken against you.” To: THE HEIRS AT LAW OF JAMES HUGHES, DECEASED YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED to appear before the 61st Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas in the Courthouse in the City of Houston, Texas at or before 10:00 o’clock A.M. Monday, the 11th day of April, 2016, being the Monday next after the expiration of forty-two days after this citation is issued, and you are hereby required then and there to appear and file written answer to the Plaintiff’s First Amended Petition, filed in said Court on the 9th Day of September 2015, in suit numbered 2015-52543 on the docket of said court, wherein Nationstar Mortgage LLC, Plaintiff, sued James Hughes and Diane Hughes and the Heirs at Law of James Hughes, Deceased, Defendants. The Petition seeks an order to foreclose the lien on the property and assert a claim to the property located at 10327 Sagegate Drive, Houston, Texas 77089, and legally described as: A TRACT OF LAND CONTAINING 0.210 ACRE BEING ALL OF LOT TWENTY-NINE (29) AND THE SOUTHERLY 1/4 OF LOT THIRTY (30), IN BLOCK THIRTEEN (13), OF SAGEGLEN, SECTION TWO (2), ACCORDING TO THE MAP OR PLAT THEREOF, RECORDED IN VOLUME 246, PAGE 34 OF THE MAP RECORDS OF HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS, AND BEING MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED BY METES AND BOUNDS IN EXHIBIT “A” ATTACHED THERETO. GIVEN UNDER MY HAND AND SEAL OF SAID COURT at Houston, Texas this 4th day of March, 2016. Issued at the request of: Keith A. Taylor State Bar Number: 24088511 Address: 13105 Northwest Freeway, Suite 1200, Houston, Texas 77040 By:__/s/ Brianna J. Denmon___

The property to be sold is presently stored in the Suddath Relocation Systems of Houston, Inc. warehouse located at 5301 Polk Blvd, Suite 14, Houston, TX 77023.

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houstonpress.com

ARE YOU A CIGARETTE SMOKER? You may be eligible for a research study at Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center involving e-cigarettes and virtual reality cues.

For more information call 877-228-5777 or email sarp@bcm.edu

Research Volunteers Wanted •Are you at least 18 years old? •Are you a smoker who does not want to quit? •Do you want to participate in research? There is no cost to you. If eligible, you will be compensated for your time.

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Are you 18 years of age or older?

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April 14 - 20, 2016

To learn more call: 832-967-7568 Southwest Clinical Trials 7777 Southwest Freeway Ste. 620 Houston, TX 77074 southwestclinicaltrials.com

Call 713-561-3045 to participate. All calls are conndential.

Houston Press

Researchers are evaluating an investigational medication among people with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation. You may qualify for a research study if you experience any of the following: • Infrequent bowel movements • Abdominal pain or discomfort • Hard or lumpy stools

Have you been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for at least 90 days?

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Study will take place at Michael E. Debakey VA Hospital. 47

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houstonpress.com

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Houston Press

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Buy Harris Bed Bug Killers/KIT Complete Treatment System. Available: Hardware Stores, The Home Depot, homedepot.com (AAN CAN)

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MASSAGE - Package Price, $28/hr!!

Student Spa Treatments Now Available!! Courtesy of Phoenix School of Massage Students. SW & NW locations. Call Today, 713-974-5976.

Are you a cigarette smoker? You may be eligible for a research study. Please see our medical research ad in the classified section.

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April 14 - 20, 2016

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