Arts & Culture

These days, holiday observance has given way to social fun, and this weekend is no exception. You’ll be likely to find more people celebrating outside with an egg hunt than inside a church (for one of the two days of the year that they actually attend a service). How “He…

There’s a myth floating around that humans only use 10 percent of our brains. (Personally, I have allocated about 3 percent to daily use while the rest is filled up with 26 years of song lyrics.) Does each of us have a large chunk of unused, untapped gray matter? Scientists…

Native Americans make some damn fine storytellers. I mean, when you go through the type of crap they have as a people, it’s hard not to end up with a juicy tale or two. Choctaw author and storyteller Tim Tingle has told one such tale with Crossing Bok Chitto, the…

Neil Simon’s Rumors would be a hell of a lot cooler if he had just added a ‘u’ to the title and written it about Fleetwood Mac. Now there’s a play I would see. Messy break-ups. Rock and roll excess. Stevie Nicks practicing witchcraft while a roadie blows the devil’s…

If we didn’t need children to give Walt Disney a marketing demographic, thereby employing thousands of people, I could do without the little turds. They smell bad, and they ask way too many questions. But I’m not about to get all King Herod on the collective child ass and call…

Chances are, if you’re a New Balance shoe owner interested in fun run bulletins, you already know the drill—pay a small fee for charity, run a 5K with a bunch of people, get an award if you lead the pack. But this one’s called the Bunny Boogie Fun Run, and…

“Women cannot complain about men anymore until they start getting better taste in them.” Bill Maher, in his own words. Love him or hate him, you can’t help but, at the very least, muse upon his irreverent humor and fiendishly provocative social and political barbs. But speaking of “better taste,”…

There are some words that just sound dirty, no matter what, even if they’re not actually dirty words. Like “ficus.” You don’t want just anyone putting their mouth on your ficus, do you? And “phalanges.” If someone touched your phalanges without your permission, wouldn’t you feel violated? Or “Orangina,” which…

When Indian musicians Sushmit Sen, Asheem Chakravarthy, Amit Kilam and Rahul Ram come together onstage, the result, according to a Wikipedia profile, is “Indo-rock fusion with jazz-spiced rhythms that integrates sufism, shlokas, environmentalism, mythology and revolution.” We like it because it has a beat you can dance to. Catch their…

Living the Christian life is certainly no walk in the park. Combined with the struggles of adolescence, the spiritual challenges can be daunting to say the least. Take it from a preacher’s kid who took a bumpy, circuitous route to the Lord. So, my hat is off to the young…

Living the Christian life is certainly no walk in the park. Combined with the struggles of adolescence, the spiritual challenges can be daunting to say the least. Take it from a preacher’s kid who took a bumpy, circuitous route to the Lord. So, my hat is off to the young…

Guidance counselors would have you think they know everything about everyone. The principal’s secretary probably has a golden stash of rumors. But the person who truly knows everyone and holds their fate in her steaming ladle: the lunch lady. Paul J. Williams examines this theory in his one-man show, Dishing…

Some girls grow up to become Miss America, and some girls grow up to become low-rider beauty queens. That, more or less, is the subject of Latino playwright Cristobal Beal’s new comedy, Miss Hell on Heels—Low Rider Queen. The play tells the story of two girls, Mona and Nita, and…

Del Castillo, named “best traditional Latin band” at the recent Austin Music Awards, is anything but. Consider that they’ve also won “Best Contemporary Latin Band,” “Best World Music Band” and, simply, “Best Band of the Year” in years past at the same event. Brothers Rick and Mark del Castillo play…

Funny isn’t exactly the term that springs to mind when I hear the words “feminist musical revue.” Instead, I have to admit I instantly typecast and imagine a stage full of DiFrancos—with perhaps a braless L7 or a protesting Baez thrown in for good measure. Hence, the Contemporary Theatre of…

One of the only good things to come from Hurricane Katrina was a renewed appreciation for the art and culture that the city of New Orleans has always provided, whether we noticed it or not. The booze and beads were fantastic, but the blues and jazz were the main event…

If I picked up a paintbrush, dipped it in a can of black semigloss and painted a square on the wall, would that be art? Obviously not, even if I were extra careful not to drip. So when Russian artist Kazimir Malevich painted a black square on canvas in 1915,…

While it’s debatable whether the zany cornball gags of Mel Brooks’ comedies are still truly funny in today’s climate of hyper-cynical jaded irony fests, there’s one staple of Brooks’ comedic oeuvre who’s undeniably a timeless laugh riot: the late, great Madeline Kahn. Sure, she was typecast as the shrill brazen…

I tend to stay away from artist receptions. I went to one once, enjoyed the free drinks and canapés and even pretended to like the art while I was at it. I don’t think I’m being a snob about it—there were already too many at the event I went to…

Isn’t laughter supposed to be the best medicine? (Well, penicillin, then laughter, then a lot of morphine…) For a doggy in dire straits, your laughter could mean the difference between life and death. Comedian Todd Glass is on hand to deliver the laughs; you might remember him as the guy…