First of a series (see Part II: "Pumped Dry," November 2) Gus Taxiarchou built a thriving business at his Exxon station on Aldine Bender at I-45. The prototypical service...
The Joshua Tree, California, home of Victoria Williams and her husband, former Jayhawk Mark Olson, is not easy to find. Situated on ten-odd acres, a mile or so off the main...
A Six-Part History of Tex-Mex Part IV of a six-part series. In the good old days, Texans went to "Mexican restaurants" and ate "Mexican food." Then in 1972 The Cuisines of...
Although it must have been a no-brainer to make a sequel to The Blair Witch Project, it was hard to imagine an intelligent follow-up to a film that culminated in the apparent...
Jeff Stryker is huge, in every sense of the word. Just ask the guys in the back room of Lobo bookstore on Montrose Boulevard. He's one of the biggest porn stars in the...
The Turn of the Screw, Henry James's famous ghost story, is filled with gorgeous gothic images: lonely veils of moonlight, long rustling petticoats, dark spiraling staircases...
Getting into the gas business used to be a simple proposition. A prospective dealer would hook up with a brand, go to training school, buy out another dealer or maybe even be...
To look at Max Cavalera -- his wild dreads, his loose-fitting clothing -- you can believe the Soulfly front man listens to Bob Marley. Cavalera apparently listens to so much of...
Dylan Murray is bringing it all back home. Born 29 years ago in Houston's Hermann Hospital, Murray left town 11 years ago after graduating from Lamar High School. First he...
The stark simplicity of A Time for Drunken Horses, one of the few films that has slipped out of postrevolutionary Iran to the West, does nothing to obscure its emotional power...
University of Houston creative writing professor Mark Doty first turned from his poetry to try his hand at a memoir because he no longer felt the limited vessel of a poem could...
Carmen is one of those rare, familiar operas that ranks as high among die-hard opera buffs as it does among those who couldn't care a whit about the art form. The story is set...
Oil company officials are fond of saying that their lessee dealers continue to have a role in the market. And they're equally emphatic in denying any deliberate effort to get...
Clubs have personality as much as performers. Take McGonigel's Mucky Duck: The breath of a thousand Anglo-Irish pubs hangs in the air at the modest Norfolk Street venue,...
Speaking off the toque: Ronnie Berman is the owner of Maxim's Restaurant and Piano Bar [3755 Richmond Avenue, (713)877-8899]. In keeping with the restaurant's French-inspired...
Any moviemaker who ventures into the sewers of New York City corruption will find Sidney Lumet's wet footprints. In classics like The Pawnbroker, Serpico and Q&A;, this...
If you were to think of, say, the 100 most exciting premises for an exhibition, aerial photographs of Houston would probably rate No. 99, right above "The History of...
Tamara Maschino did not know everything about her prospective neighbor's past. What she did know scared her. The chemical giant Elf Atochem was seeking permits for a new...
Name an alternative lifestyle, any alternative lifestyle, and you're likely to find it somewhere on lower Westheimer. Pizza and (ironically) alternative music don't necessary...
Those who think of salad as just another side order will have to reconsider their opinion after sampling the Thai eggplant salad at Thai Gourmet [6324 Richmond Avenue,...
