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Contents

EDITORIAL 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

VOL. 28 | NO. 16 | APRIL 21-APRIL 27, 2016

STAFF WRITERS Meagan Flynn, Craig Malisow, Dianna Wray FELLOW Leif Reigstad EDITORIAL OPERATIONS MANAGER Richard Hebert CONTRIBUTORS Sam Byrd, Phaedra Cook, Willie D, Alexandra Doyle,

Bilge Ebiri, Abby Garnett, D.L. Groover, Steve Jansen, Erika Kwee, Josef Molnar, Sean Pendergast, David Sackllah, Alan Scherstuhl, Bill Simpson, William Michael Smith, Katie Sullivan, Randy Tibbits WEB CONTRIBUTORS Jeff Balke, Sam Byrd, Ashley Clos, Phaedra Cook, Willie D, Alexandra Doyle, Jef With One F, Catherine Gillespie, Jack Gorman, Clint Hale, 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, Eric Smith, Nathan Smith, William Michael Smith, Matt Stieb, Katie Sullivan, 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

Terror Trap

Federal authorities say Michael Wolfe tried to help jihadists. They should know – they’re the ones who came up with the plan. CRAIG MALISOW |

PAGE 11

Featured Stories ▼

Curious Cruelty

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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

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

Art Credit

Cover Story ▼

The mystery of three Aggie bros and a dead, bodily-fluidcovered dog.

Grand Aspirations

48 48 51

CRAIG MALISOW |

PAGE 6

Bistecca has an attentive staff, not inconsequential prices and an ambitious menu, but the Friday prix fixe luncheon may be its best option. PHAEDRA COOK |

Capsules ................................. 25

Art

Capsules ................................. 30

Stage

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Cafe

Eating...Our Words ............... 34

Music

Playbill .................................... 42 Listings ................................... 44

Real Estate Rentals Employment Medical Research On the Cover:

Illustration by Andrew Nilsen

PAGE 33

Got to Get Our Kens Straight

In last week’s print edition our review of Republic Diner + Sojubang (by Phaedra Cook, April 14, 2016), confused our Kens. Ken Sheppard is the CEO of Delicious Concepts and is not half-Korean. Ken Bridge is halfKorean and is the vice president of design and marketing. The Houston Press apologizes for the error.

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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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. 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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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Houston Press, 2603 La Branch, Houston, TX 77004. Subscriptions may be purchased for $80 (one year) for third-class mail in the United States. Payable in U.S. currency. Mail to: Subscriptions/Houston Press, 2603 La Branch, Houston, TX 77004. Delivery may take one week.

Food Editor Opening 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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MOORES SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Curious Cruelty The mysTery of Three Aggie bros

And A deAd, bodily-fluid-covered dog. CRAIG MALISOW

hree Texas A&M Corps of Cadets students have been charged with illegal dumping after they admitted to slapping a baseball cap on the bloodied carcass of a dog and propping it up on firewood on the university band’s drill field in early March. Sterling Hampe, Garrett Kale and Atticus Johnson, all 18, told TAMU police they found the dog — already dead — on a road in Bryan, according to a police officer’s affidavit provided by the Brazos County Attorney’s Office. The men face up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine (wink, wink).

VISIT HOUSTONPRESS.COM FOR MORE BREAKING NEWS AND FEATURES The affidavit reveals a startling lack of curiosity on the part of the university police, who seemed to have immediately bought the men’s stories that they did not kill the dog, although they could not remember the name of the road where they said they’d found it. There’s also little explanation for why a hanger was placed around the dog’s neck; why a ball cap duct-taped and signed with the

tape. The dog also had a coat hanger around its head/neck area. The dog was covered in blood and dripping bodily fluids. The dog smelled and looked as if it had been dead for several days or longer. It was unclear on how the dog was killed.” Our favorite part, though, is when the second officer arrived. This diligent investigator mentioned that, the day before, he had noticed a vehicle in a campus parking garage “with a suspicious black tarp” on the roof, concealing something that “smelled like death.” The officer stated that “at the time, [I] did not have a reason to look into the tarp.” As it turned out, the vehicle — sans tarp — was parked in the same garage the morning the dog’s body was found, and police were able to trace it to Johnson. Meanwhile, Corps of Cadets lieutenants received an email from an unidentified source naming all three men as possible suspects, and the email was forwarded to TAMU police, according to the affidavit. The affidavit also states that Johnson told university police on March 23 that he and his bros “had all just gone out to eat in Bryan... They then observed the dead dog laying on the side of the road...All 3 subjects were unsure of what road they were on.” We can sorta understand that. Barely a day goes by without us just rolling up on a dead, semen-and-or-urine-and-or-snot-covered dog carcass festooned with a coat hanger.

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initials “BQ” was placed on its head; and why it was dripping in unspecified “bodily fluids.” University police discovered the dog’s body after a witness reported seeing two people placing the dog on Joe T. Haney Field in the early morning hours of March 7, and then walking quickly away. Here’s how the first responding officer described the scene: “I observed a white and brown in color dog weighing approximately 40-50 pounds laying in the middle of the field. The dog was propped up on several pieces of firewood. The dog also was dressed up with a Texas A&M baseball cap on, this hat is commonly issued [to] freshman students in the Corps of Cadets. On this hat was a piece of duct tape with the letters BQ written in sharpie on the

Like, if we only had a nickel, you know? No way we could ever remember exactly where we’ve encountered such a common item. We’ve been unable to reach Messrs. Hampe, Kale and Johnson — a woman who answered the phone at the Hampe residence said we’d have to speak with the lad’s lawyer, but she would not provide a name. Then she hung up. We were unable to turn up attorney information for Kale or Johnson, nor have we been able to contact them or any family members. The Corps of Cadets has not commented to any media outlets Good to know that the possibility of animal cruelty is being taken so seriously by campus and county authorities. Way to send a strong message.

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Who’s GaminG Who?

texas bans fantasy sports betting, when it runs its own gambling establishment with a state lottery.

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or nearly two decades, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association has been in existence, advocating and charting policies for an industry that continues to explode exponentially in popularity. Twice a year, its several hundred members convene in person to exchange ideas and collectively absorb the state of the fantasy sports union. January’s semiannual meeting had originally been scheduled to take place in Las Vegas, but when Nevada legislators suddenly opted to make the FSTA’s (and a big chunk of America’s) beloved Daily Fantasy Sports games illegal in their state without a gaming license, the decision was quickly made in protest to move the convention-style gathering to Dallas. “Why bring our convention business to a state that prevents us from doing the precise activity about which we convene?” went the trade group’s sensible line of thinking. Unfortunately, just one day before the meeting was set to begin in Dallas, the choice of Texas as the event’s venue turned suddenly ironic when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion similar to Nevada’s that Daily Fantasy Sports games should be considered gambling and, therefore, illegal in his state, as well. That put Texas on a growing list of states, a list that also includes monsters like Illinois and New York, that are telling their residents to find another way besides DFS to enjoy their fantasy sports. Appropriately, the FSTA’s keynote speaker at that January meeting was Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, a billionaire who knows from personal experience what it’s like to be under the government’s microscope from his run-ins with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Not surprisingly, the tone of Cuban’s speech was subdued anger over his and other states’ iron hands coming down on a relatively harmless and exceedingly popular pastime, one that has contributed greatly to the explosion in television ratings and further popularity of Cuban’s league, the NBA, and the other major sports leagues in the United States. “Seeing politicians just do something for skins on the wall, to try to make a name for themselves, that pisses me off, as much as anything,” Cuban told the audience of about 400 members. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here right now supporting you, because it’s wrong. It’s absolutely wrong.” To understand where this DFS battlefront is headed, you first have to understand how it began and where DFS fits into the fantasy sports universe. In 2006, the federal government passed a law called the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, which, as one of its secondary corollaries, deemed fantasy sports a game of skill, not a game of chance, and therefore, not subject to federal gaming laws.

contest on FanDuel in the same week that he accidentally posted inside information on player usage rates on the DraftKings website. While legally there was nothing wrong with Haskell’s playing in a contest on a competitor’s site, and while in theory, the usage information he posted had no ties to FanDuel, the optics on Haskell’s victory looked shady, the term “insider information” got thrown The images of real people winning big money have been a huge part of around and Haskell Daily Fantasy Sports’ allure. was made out to be “As such, the business practices of a few some sort of DFS version of Gordon Gekko. Inspecific companies actively cross the line bestead of Blue Star Airlines and Anacott Steel, tween fantasy sports and illegal gambling,” Haskell was dealing in Aaron Rodgers and wrote Paxton. “To be clear, your traditional Adrian Peterson. fantasy league, where the participants either The spotlight on Haskell’s win led to Draftdo not gamble money or they split the entire Kings and FanDuel forbidding their employees pot, is — as a general rule — legal. It’s when to play in any DFS contests, regardless of prothird parties get a cut of the pot that they get vider, but it was too late. The state of New York into dangerous legal ground.” had a seemingly salacious current event whose Seeing the writing on the wall, FanDuel re“hot button” notoriety far outweighed its accently promised the state of Texas that it tual harm, and the state launched an investigawould close down paying contests by early tion into both FanDuel and DraftKings. It May, and offer only free contests until the state determined that DFS was illegal and should be resolves DFS’s legality. DraftKings is not going shut down, and that money should be returned nearly as quietly. They are suing the state of to all losing contestants. Currently, the case is Texas for the right to continue to conduct payon appeal until September, but in the court of ing contests in the state. public opinion, the damage was done. Illinois All of this leads back to a fundamental followed suit in December, and then in January question — if a key function of the governcame Paxton’s opinion on the matter. ment is to protect its citizens, what exactly is the banning of Daily Fantasy Sports protecting Texans from? At its core, the ability to achieve superior results in Daily Fantasy Sports is tied to the same central principles that allow people to make money in the stock market, something Texans do freely and unencumbered every day. Success is not merely based on chance, but a combination of research, skill and, yes, a little luck. “I’ve spent over a decade proving that there are objective ways to gain an edge over the competition in DFS,” said Bessire. “To me, having a degree and background in finance, I view DFS and sports wagering just as I would any financial market.” Conversely, there are activities deemed perfectly legal by the state government, such as the state-run lotteries and scratch-off tickets, whose payouts are literally based entirely on chance, and at far worse payout odds than in any DFS contests. Apparently, the wall of money the government can build from its cut of the action is tall enough to hide from the hypocAround 95 percent of the Daily Fantasy Sports market is owned by two companies — risy of its stance on DFS. FanDuel and DraftKings (pictured). That legal opening was the impetus for the creation of New York-based FanDuel in 2009 and Boston-based DraftKings in 2012. Together, these two companies control 95 percent of the DFS market. The key difference between DFS and the yearlong fantasy leagues that your friends and neighbors likely discuss so much is that DFS allows contestants to assemble a lineup of players using a salary-cap system and to win money based on the daily performance of the players they choose. The key is that contestants can play whenever they want, for as long as they want, with no season-long commitment. Fantasy sports, as a whole, saw more than 56 million Americans participate in 2015, a quantum leap from 32 million just five years earlier, and DFS has been easily the highest-growth subset of fantasy sports. “We literally quadrupled the amount of content that we added to our site in order to support daily fantasy games,” said Paul Bessire, founder of PredictionMachine.com, a resource website for fantasy players. “Previously, we had published high-level, ‘boxscore’ projections for games, but now we allow users to dig into the stats, data and our projections output on every single player in many different ways to help them build the best rosters.” So how and why did DFS operate freely for roughly half a decade before the state governments decided to bring their draconian hammer down? Certainly, the massive growth of FanDuel and DraftKings in the last couple years, accentuated by nonstop television advertising campaigns, called attention to an industry that had previously flown under states’ radars. Perhaps the biggest and most unfortunate turning point for the DFS industry, though, occurred back in Week 3 of the 2015 NFL season, when a DraftKings content manager named Ethan Haskell won a $350,000 NFL fantasy

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If legislators are looking to the major sports leagues themselves for support and to treat DFS in the same taboo way that they’ve treated regular sports gambling through the years, they are barking up the wrong tree. In the last two years, the NBA has entered a four-year sponsorship deal with and taken a minority stake in FanDuel, while the NHL, MLS and MLB have all invested to varying degrees in DraftKings. Networks like FOX and ESPN have also aggressively partnered with both companies as both investors and advertising partners. Dozens of professional sports teams run FanDuel and DraftKings banner ads in their stadiums during games. Hell, even American Pharoah crossed the finish line at the Belmont Stakes wearing gear emblazoned in the DraftKings logo! Just look at television ratings, though, and you can see why professional sports owners are so eager to support DFS, particularly in the NFL, which is far and away the most popular league for DFS players. FOX, CBS, ESPN and NBC all enjoyed ratings for NFL games that were among their best (for CBS and NBC, they were the best) in nearly three decades. “It would be blind to ignore the impact daily fantasy sports may have had on ratings,” said Sports Business Daily assistant managing editor Austin Karp in an interview with Sports Illustrated. Karp covers television ratings for SBD. “Football is just so well suited for fantasy in general, and the rise of DFS only helped.” In a down economy, stymieing an industry that drives television ratings and, in turn, stimulates advertising spending is gross fiscal malpractice, yet that’s precisely what Paxton and his peers in other states around the country are doing, all in the name of either grandstanding or exacting their pound of flesh. In Texas, unfortunately, none of this will get resolved until 2017, at the earliest, the next time the legislature convenes. Many of the states that have enacted a ban will be keeping an eye on the appeal in New York — a hearing is scheduled for September — which is seen as a tone setter on this topic by those close to the DFS industry. One silver lining in the various DFS shutdowns is that they have accelerated the conversation about sports gambling legalization, as a whole, something the major sports leagues seem to be more open to than ever before. “If this leads the charge to…define what gambling really is, without nuanced definitions depending on what state you’re in and who’s reading it, then that’s a good thing,” Cuban conceded. “If this leads to gambling being legalized and brought above ground, that’s a good thing.” Either way, Daily Fantasy Sports players in Texas and around the entire country will be waiting anxiously for the legalization of their beloved pastime, like bar patrons waiting for legalized scotch whiskey before the repeal of Prohibition. Fantasy players, hardcore and casual, will not be chased off. “They’ve surveyed fantasysports players and asked ‘When do you expect to quit?’” Nigel Eccles, FanDuel’s founder and CEO, told Bloomberg News earlier this year. “And the average response is ‘Never.’”

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had been on her mind for some time. What if Melissa and Melissa’s husband, Rasheed, the very people who encouraged Furr and Wolfe to sell all their belongings and relocate halfway around the world to assist these refugees, weren’t who they said they were? What if Furr and Wolfe were walking into a trap? Wolfe had reassured her that Rasheed and Melissa were good, godly people. For the past ten months, the North Carolina transplants had been close friends. But even for the sake of argument, Wolfe said, he and Furr weren’t doing anything wrong. They weren’t breaking any laws. Furr’s support for her husband outweighed her skepticism. Since they had both adopted the Muslim faith two years earlier, she had seen her husband grow into a responsible, confident, empathetic man. He had given up the drugs and

crawled out of that hardened, protective shell. She loved him more than ever. But he was still a guy. And Furr knew that sometimes guys have to learn on their own. So she was just going to sit back, keep her mouth closed, and wait for the Itold-you-so moment. And now here she was, being paraded through the terminal like a circus animal. At least she wasn’t wearing her hijab. A petite white woman with strawberry-blond hair, Furr didn’t look the part of a stereotypical terror suspect. She was the spectacle, but she wasn’t dressed the part. In an anteroom, separated from her children, Furr was told that Wolfe was being arrested. They didn’t say why. For five hours, they grilled her about her husband’s intentions. They asked her what she knew. She said she >> p12

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As far as Furr knew, she and Wolfe were going to Turkey to help Syrian refugees fleeing President Bashar al-Asaad’s brutal regime. By that time, June 2014, tens of thousands of civilians, including children, had been slaughtered. U.S. officials and aid workers on the ground claimed al-Asaad was using chlorine gas on his own people. Syrians were fleeing by the millions — nearly 1.5 million alone to Turkey, according to the U.N. But now, with a quick, sinking feeling, Furr knew what had happened. Her family was never meant to make the flight to Toronto and on to Turkey, where they were planning to stay, indefinitely and rent-free, with their wealthy friend Melissa. Two days earlier, as the family drove from Austin to Houston, Furr asked a question that

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ordan Furr and her family were in Bush Intercontinental Airport, just about to board the plane to Toronto when federal agents barreled down the jetway and changed their lives forever. As one agent threw her husband, Michael Wolfe, against the narrow tunnel’s steel wall and slapped on the cuffs, two other agents pulled the couple’s infant son out of Furr’s arms and grabbed the stroller holding the couple’s daughter. Furr, 22, screamed for her kids as an agent escorted the 23-year-old Wolfe to the gate and out of the terminal, to God knows where. The agents who grabbed the couple’s children handed them to Children’s Protective Services officials; Furr was handcuffed and escorted through the airport, on full display.

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knew about humanitarian aid and refugees. They said she was lying, that there was no way she couldn’t have known about what Wolfe was really going to do. The following day, national headlines announced that the FBI had foiled another terrorist attack. Wolfe was going to Syria for jihad; he had pledged allegiance to ISIS, officials said. He was one of dozens of homegrown “lone wolf” extremists arrested in recent years — a record 56 in 2015 alone — and one of more than 200 who have traveled or attempted to travel abroad to support a terrorist organization, according to FBI officials. And the problem was purportedly mushrooming: In 2015, FBI Director James Comey stated that the bureau had roughly 900 open investigations of homegrown extremists across the country. As the prosecutor in Wolfe’s case says, “We are in an epidemic situation right now in this country.” But it’s unclear how much of the epidemic is of the FBI’s making. As is the case with many, if not most, of these arrests, Wolfe’s “terrorist” plot was largely instigated and planned by the FBI itself — thus making it easy for agents for thwart. Civil rights advocates have criticized the use of so-called “preemptive prosecution,” accusing the FBI of manufacturing, and then entrapping, criminals — often low-hanging fruit who can be easily swayed — for the sole purpose of inflating statistics and maintaining billions in counterterrorism funding. But authorities say these measures are vital to national security, and that prosecuting someone after they’ve already carried out an attack doesn’t make anyone safer. Federal prosecutors have real power over defendants like Wolfe; with enhancements, a violation of the law prohibiting the lending of material support to terrorists can lock a perpetrator away for life. Most often, the accused don’t have the means to defend themselves at trial, so they take pleas in exchange for lighter sentencing, and the bulk of whatever evidence

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And, after its ten-month sting, the FBI believed that Wolfe was a real threat. An agent’s affidavit supporting Wolfe’s arrest warrant stated that Wolfe went so far as to join an undercover agent in CrossFit workout sessions, a clear sign, in the agent’s view, of military training. He had also bought a pair of glasses so that he could see better on the battlefield. At Wolfe’s sentencing, in June 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks voiced his opinion about the FBI’s methods: While Wolfe was guilty, Sparks said, “I’m always concerned in these cases as to the role of the confidential informants who guide these people like Mr. Wolfe to conduct what, in all probability, would have never happened in the first place.” The FBI agent’s affidavit in support of Wolfe’s arrest warrant states that Wolfe referred to Al Qaeda afCourtesy of Jordan Furr filiates in Syria as “righteous brothers.” It states that Furr said Wolfe was “ready to die for his [religion]… prosecutors have against them — if any — is He’s ready to die for someone; for something.” never introduced into court. But two years earlier, when Wolfe converted In most cases, all the public has to go on is a to Islam, there did not appear to be any talk sufficiently vague arrest warrant and a blustery about dying. According to those closest to him, press release from the U.S. Department of Justhat didn’t happen until the FBI got involved. tice. It does not matter if, like Wolfe, the defenIn a letter from prison, Wolfe claims that “the dant never expressed any harm or hatred toward idea for jihad came up gradually,” after Rasheed Americans, domestically or abroad. If, say, a desaid that he was planning to move to Turkey and fendant planned to give $100 and a pair of boots then cross into Syria to fight against al-Assad’s to a guy in Jaysh al-Islam, so that that guy can go forces. Soon, Wolfe couldn’t resist the cause. fight a guy in Jaysh Tahrir al-Sham, it’s still ter“My reason for this, to fight and possibly die, rorism, and you can still be locked up for a very was for the betterment of my fellow man,” he long time. The scenario’s the same if an underwrites. “I wanted to fight against...a government cover agent provides the money and boots. that turned it’s guns on it’s own men, women, As an added measure to clamp down on the and children [sic]…While our government release of any actual information — as was the case in this story — prison officials can deny interview requests under the guise of “security.” With defendants, their families, and many in the Muslim community largely scared into silence, it can be difficult to gauge just how much an undercover operative may have influenced or induced a suspect into a terrorist plot. What seems evident, though, is that the first steps of Wolfe’s journey to that jetway in Houston began when, out of nowhere, two special people who claimed to be Muslim turned up in Austin, looking for friends and a faith-based connection. And, wanting to be good Muslims, Wolfe and Furr let them into their lives.

early two years after Wolfe’s arrest, it’s unclear just what he was planning to do in Syria, and what the United States government prevented from happening. “I don’t have a crystal ball to tell you that,” federal prosecutor Gregg Sofer told the Houston Press. And, he explains, that’s sort of the point: The idea is to see what a suspect is capable of and then stop him before he can do it. The operation was necessary, Sofer explains, because Wolfe’s clique “was of great concern to law enforcement here in Austin for a variety of different reasons, and for the public safety, that organization was investigated.”

Michael Wolfe was arrested at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport in June 2014.

pussyfooted around the issue, the Syrian people were taking the fight to Bashar’s doorstep.” Before then, Wolfe’s interest in Islam was strictly life-affirming. It seemed to bring to Wolfe a sense of accountability and direction, and some formal guidance that might have otherwise come from a father. Wolfe’s father abandoned him shortly after he was born, moving to Houston and eventually starting a new family.

Growing up, Wolfe had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. When Wolfe was a little boy, his grandmother Jeannie Jaques told him he could give his absent father a nickname. “He nicknamed him ‘Asshole,’” Jaques says. It was the only curse word she allowed in the home. Wolfe was raised primarily by his grandparents. Jaques says she and her husband, Karl, tried their best to make up for Wolfe’s absent father. Sometimes, Wolfe wasn’t receptive. He had a bad temper and fell in with a drug-abusing crowd. In 2008, when he was 17, he was charged with pot possession and for shoplifting from Walmart. The following year, he was convicted of assaulting a family member, a misdemeanor. Jaques says the charge stemmed from a row between Wolfe and his mother. Wolfe’s mother did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In high school, Wolfe dated Furr off and on. She went to a different school, and she had difficulties of her own. She spent a lot of time in foster homes, longing for stability. She looked for it in religion. When she was still in her early teens, she lived in a foster home with a Jewish girl, and Furr temporarily embraced that faith. After high school, Furr’s interest in religion seemed to work its way into Wolfe. Furr says Wolfe began to read as much as he could about different religions. Islam was just one of many he looked into. Of course, being only fitfully employed, Wolfe had plenty of time. He couldn’t afford a gym membership, but he found a facility just down the road from his grandparents’ home, and a manager there let him work out for free in exchange for odd jobs, Jaques says. Someone there started talking about Islam, and told him about some introductory classes at the North Austin Muslim Community Center. Wolfe and his friend Josh checked it out. Josh eventually stopped going, but Wolfe stuck with it. “Each time he would go, I could see a difference in Michael,” Jaques says. There were no more saggy pants and backwards baseball cap. One day, he asked her if she would buy him a crisp white button-down shirt. Jaques was floored. The turnaround in attitude and wardrobe was enough for Jaques to overlook the one attribute she didn’t care for in her grandson’s new devotion. The child simply did not look good with facial hair. “I don’t know where Muhammad came up with, you know, you’ve gotta have a beard,” Jaques says. “But whatever.” Furr recalls, “He was just so wonderful to be around. I just saw a complete 180 in his character. I didn’t even know this person was possible in Michael…He was always just such a shell of a person, you know, because he had been hurt so bad.” Jaques says Wolfe’s grandfather wasn’t crazy about Wolfe’s new interest, but, for the most part, it was not an issue. Jaques kept the peace, telling the man, “We still only believe in one god. He just has a different name.” Things changed, Jaques says, when Wolfe kept coming back from classes with two of his fellow Muslim brothers who seemed to keep a tight grip on him. Jaques thought of them as pushy recruiters, not just study buddies. Other recruiters, she says, were even talking to Wolfe’s younger brother, Trevor, still in high school. After a few months, they were joined by a few more men from the mosque, and they’d sit in the living room and watch videos on a laptop.

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The feds have a long history of ignoring probable cause in the name of national security

new apartment paid for by the Muslims and their little circle. For about a year, Wolfe did not see his grandparents. Jaques felt like the recruiters were keeping both Wolfe and Furr away from her. “That’s when I started feeling like it was a cult,” she says. Furr herself wasn’t crazy about some of the converts Wolfe seemed drawn to. One in particular seemed a little extreme. Wolfe and Furr met “Ali” and his wife, fellow white converts about the same age, at the mosque one day. (None of Wolfe’s friends or family interviewed for this story disclosed “Ali’s” name, out of concern that he is still under investigation) Furr says she and her husband “tried to give them the same beautiful welcome that we had when we came to the community.” Ali was just the type of boisterous convert that raised eyebrows; the kind who insists on blathering on about conflict overseas, and about his dubious understanding of “the J.” Jihad. He talked about spreading Shariah law. When brothers like Ali talk about jihad, imams — who are well aware of the potential of FBI informants or undercover agents in their mosque — get nervous. It’s the last kind of attention they need.

As Furr explains, “I was told from the day I became Muslim that I should always watch what I say, how I carry myself and what I do around the mosques or around anyone, because...there are several informants in our community.” Guys like Ali were informant-magnets. She still liked him, but she was concerned for him. She knew him as a harmless loudmouth. But other people might not feel the same way. Furr says, “This brother would talk about sort of more controversial issues at the mosque that you don’t talk about, because they have little microphones everywhere and people that are dressed up with...the whole hijab on, that are wired to the teeth, just waiting for you to say something like that.” Ali, she says, became persona non grata among Austin’s mainstream Muslim community. “The imams at the masjid [mosque] were like, ‘Dude, don’t bring this to my front door... don’t mess with my mosque.’” One imam was so concerned, Furr says, that he wouldn’t even speak with Ali. Once, she says,

Ali tried to engage the imam, who wouldn’t bite. The imam just grabbed a dry-erase marker and wrote on the big whiteboard at the head of the main prayer room, making sure he wrote large enough for the security cameras to see. “So that way, nothing could be misconstrued,” Furr says. After a while, Furr began to notice that Ali’s stink was rubbing off on her and Wolfe. She didn’t feel they were as welcome at the masjid anymore. Ali didn’t mean to, but he seemed to be alienating this group from the rest of the community. But, to other young, mostly white newcomers, he was incredibly charismatic. He turned a lot of people on to his interpretation of the Koran. To this day, Furr and other friends of Wolfe’s believe that Ali was the FBI’s initial target. After all, he was extremely vocal and influential. Court documents indicate that Wolfe was not the FBI’s initial target, but do not state who was. “The FBI put it to me this way,” Furr says. “The reason they want to take him out >> p14

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he FBI affidavit for Wolfe’s arrest warrant mentions one of those videos, Syria: Stories of Conquest, which was part of a series called “The Light Revelations.” The series seemed to begin benignly enough, with discussions of how scientific discoveries backed up the Koran, before veering off into proof of Illuminati takeovers and shameless ISIS propaganda. In the video cited in the affidavit, ISIS personnel are depicted as part freedom fighters, part Red Cross aid workers, bringing comfort and food to hungry children and toothless old people. One night, in the kitchen, Wolfe got into a heated argument with his friends Josh and Karl “over, of all things, Jesus Christ,” Jaques says. Wolfe believed that the Koran stated that Jesus was a prophet, not the son of God. Karl and Josh disagreed. Josh took things further, calling Muhammad a pedophile. Wolfe’s bad temper came back; he took out his frustration by throwing cans of food around the kitchen. He pulled off his shirt and invited Karl to step outside. “Sure as shit, they get to the door, Michael goes outside...And Karl just closes the door and walks back in,” Jaques says. Soon after that, his recruiters helped Wolfe move out of his grandparents’ house and into a

Courtesy of Muslim Legal Fund of America

Richardson-based Muslim Legal Fund of America recommends that people offering tips about possible extremists exercise caution and make sure their own rights are protected.

Whether it’s called “domestic investigation,” as the FBI prefers, or “pre-emptive prosecution,” as critics term it, the bureau’s undercover counterterrorism effort harkens back to the notorious COINTELPRO operation spearheaded by J. Edgar Hoover. Born of the apparent need to stamp out the spread of communist moles infiltrating the highest ranks of government, COINTELPRO later expanded to blanket surveillance and stings of any individual or group deemed a threat to national security. This included Martin Luther King Jr., whom agents, in an especially unenlightened bit of bureau strategy, tried to goad into suicide. The program inserted informants and agents provocateurs into the American Indian Movement, Vietnam War protest organizations and other groups with a whiff of political dissent. The program was exposed in 1971, when eight hippies who couldn’t come up with a cooler name than “The Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI” broke into a bureau field office in Pennsylvania and stole reams of classified documents. The group leaked the papers to the press, effectively driving a nail in COINTELPRO’s coffin. In 1976, U.S. Attorney General Edward Levi issued guidelines for how the FBI could conduct future domestic spying. Perhaps most importantly, the guidelines required that agents have “specific and articulable facts” pointing toward an individual or organization’s violent activities. They also called for cautious and sparing use of informants. With these guidelines, the FBI proceeded to launch one of the most dubious operations in its history: ABSCAM. Posing as wealthy Arab investors looking to launder money through city, state and federal officials, agents sought to stamp out corruption. “After ABSCAM, Congress got pissed,” says Charles Swift, attorney and director of the Richardson-based Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America. “Congress changed the law [and] said the FBI couldn’t initiate one of these sting operations unless there was probable cause to believe there was ongoing crime. After 9/11, that got changed for national security involving Islamic terrorism – so you don’t need any probable cause.” — CRAIG MALISOW

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is not in fear that he will hurt anyone particularly, but that he will influence minds so much so that someone may go out and do something.” One day in 2013, after Ali came back from visiting some family in North Carolina, he introduced Wolfe and Furr to some new friends he said he just happened to meet at the airport. Fellow Muslims named Rasheed and Melissa (or, as they’re referred to in the FBI affidavit, Undercover Employees 1 and 2). They had all talked on the flight back to Austin. They were new in town and didn’t know anyone. They deserved a warm welcome.

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asheed looked to be in his mid-30s, a towering, muscular African-American, who said he was a security consultant for military contractors overseas. It paid well. He drove a black Escalade and seemed to have money to burn. He said he was from New Jersey, but he had met his wife, Melissa, in California. He was a recent convert; Melissa was a previously lapsed Muslim from a wealthy family in Turkey. She didn’t have to work. They both traveled a lot; Rasheed disappeared for weeks at a time, often to Jordan, and Melissa spent a lot of time in California caring for an elderly aunt. Or maybe it was a cousin. It wasn’t always clear. They had an immaculate two-bedroom apartment on Riverside, just south of the North Austin Muslim Community Center. Furr noticed that every time they went over for dinner, nothing ever looked out of place. Nothing had moved out of place between visits. It was as if no one ever lived there. Before long, Rasheed and Melissa were spending time not just with Wolfe and Furr, but with another convert couple, Jason and Rebecca. (This couple asked that their names not be used, so as not to attract further scrutiny from the FBI.) The couples would visit each other’s home, staying up until three or four in the morning, drinking coffee, playing games. Rasheed and

Trevor may have harbored reservations, but it was hard to dog a guy who was into pizza and cage-fighting. Trevor’s issue was the timing of Rasheed’s entrée into his and Wolfe’s world. Looking back on it now, he believes it happened shortly after one of the strangest encounters he’d had at the masjid. He was a recent convert, brimming with “the pride you take when you feel like you find the truth you’ve been missing your entire life.” And then one day at prayer, a brother walked up to the Wolfes and introduced himself as a member of the Austin Police Department. The man seemed friendly enough, but then he started commending the brothers on how fine and decent they looked, and what fine police officers they would make. Had they ever considered a career in law enforcement? The more conspiracy-minded of the two, Trevor felt a slight shock. “When I heard that...my heart dropped, because that’s not something anyone would ever ask you normally,” Trevor says. “You never have a cop walk up to you and just go, ‘Well, wow, you look like a fine person — you ever consider joining the police force?’” From there, Trevor says, it only got weirder. The guy “immediately started talking about like, you know, ‘Do y’all like guns, do y’all like shooting, do y’all like hunting?’” For Trevor, this line of questioning was a bit of a conundrum. As a country boy from Texas, he liked to hunt. “My neck is redder than the back of the sun,” he says. But if you’re a Muslim who liked to go out into the woods with a rifle — that was different. Trevor says he never heard anymore from the friendly neighborhood officer, but it was shortly after that that Ali turned up, talking about extremism and “the J,” and generally making Trevor uncomfortable. He just didn’t want to be around the guy. And then came Rasheed. “Picture in your mind a six-foot-six or -seven black man with biceps larger than your head, with a build that literally reminds you of a tank,

plete societal collapse. Trevor suddenly realized that Rasheed was teaching them military “bugout” maneuvers. “It started to kind of click to me at that point what was going on,” Trevor says. “OK, OK, he’s got us out in the middle of the forest, he’s ex-military, he’s talking about foreign invaders. He was trying to get us to say, you know, like, ‘We should perform military tactics.’ And then I was like: ‘Oh my God. Oh shit.’” Trevor’s concerns were only magnified when Rasheed disappeared for weeks at a time without any explanation. On one occasion, Trevor asked Ali where Rasheed had gone. Only after much prodding did Ali relent: Rasheed, he said, had gone to Jordan. When Trevor asked why, Ali said he couldn’t tell him. After that, Trevor kept away from both Rasheed and Ali. Moreover, others in their little group started making noise about Rasheed and Melissa possibly being FBI. Furr says that Ali became convinced the couple were spies. Ali and another brother came to Furr and Wolfe’s home one night, pulled Wolfe out of bed, took him outside, and told him he needed to be careful. “When my husband came back inside and talked to me, he said he couldn’t believe it,” Furr recalls. “…He couldn’t call this man a liar. He couldn’t put this man down.” Wolfe’s friend Jason says that the line was drawn one night at study session, when Wolfe stood up and chastised his brothers for “backbiting” — for violating the Koran by calling Rasheed a liar without proof. Wolfe said he had no reason not to trust his brother Rasheed, nor should anyone else. Jason puts it this way: “Once [Wolfe] stood up in front of everybody and, like, basically proclaimed his trust for this brother and was completely appalled and offended that anybody would think he was a spy, the FBI was like, ‘Bingo. Here’s our guy.’” Later, after Wolfe was arrested, Trevor was visited by an FBI agent who broke the news. Trevor was incredulous. He described his

Trevor Wolfe: “Something super-wrong has happened, and someone has been tricked very bad.” Wolfe, it turned out, had similar taste in music and movies. They just clicked. At least once a week, the brothers would get together for study sessions; the sisters would hit Target. Melissa was maybe 30 and beautiful, with flawless skin. When the women got together at someone’s house, they’d take off their hijabs and let their hair down. While everyone else’s locks were tangled from being scrunched up all day, Melissa’s were in mint condition. Jason said that during the guys’ time, Rasheed like to talk about current events. He was always traveling abroad, sometimes going to places suffering heavy conflicts, so he was often interested in various warring factions. He’d toss names out to Wolfe. Often, Jason says, Wolfe would say that he’d been reading up on the groups that Rasheed liked to talk about. “He would be like, ‘Well, these people are freaking crazy,’” Jason says. Rasheed was a fitness fanatic who liked to invite Wolfe and Wolfe’s younger brother, Trevor, over for pizza-and-UFC-match nights. Trevor saw how quickly his brother took to Rasheed.

and the first thing he says to you is that he is exspecial forces,” Trevor says. “And then come to find out he’s one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Or so you think.” When Rasheed asked the Wolfe brothers if they wanted to work out with him, Trevor jumped at the chance. This guy was the definition of cut. Rasheed took the brothers out to the woods near Walnut Creek and started a workout routine that took Trevor by surprise. He told the Wolfe boys that he wanted to teach them some things he’d learned overseas. Like reconnaissance; like how to best navigate the terrain; like how to make a compass out of twigs and a rock. While this was going on, Trevor says, Rasheed asked how they would feel in a Red Dawn situation, referring to the movie about enemy forces invading the U.S. All Trevor could think to say was, “Man, that would fuckin’ suck.” But to Rasheed, it was more than just a passing conversation. It seemed like he truly wanted to know how the Wolfes would react to a com-

reaction like this: “You’re going to tell me that my brother just went out, out of the blue, with his two children and his wife, to a different country to go fight and sacrifice his life?… Something super-wrong has happened, and someone has been tricked very bad.” Trevor had some understanding right away of how much trouble his brother was in, but it didn’t really hit Jaques until she visited him in the Caldwell County Jail, in Lockhart, where he was being held after his arrest. Waiting to see her grandson, she had a chance to speak with an attorney from Austin, who was there to visit a client. “You could tell he was a bigwig, too, just by his boots and his belt buckle and all that shit,” Jaques says. The attorney said he wouldn’t defend Wolfe for less than $50,000. “Right then and there I knew we were in deep shit,” she says. Later, Jaques says, an FBI agent told her that things could be much worse. If this had all been real, the agent said, Wolfe would probably be dead now. Simply put, the FBI >> p16 had saved his life.

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“He said as soon as they got to Turkey, they would’ve been shot and killed,” Jaques recalls. “And [Furr] would’ve been raped and tortured... and I was going, ‘Oh my God.’ And you know, at a point, he had me believing it. I actually thanked the motherfucker.”

fter 9/11, the rules on how the government can spy on its citizens changed. The U.S. Attorney General Guidelines that kept domestic surveillance in check were revised to explicitly state that FBI agents were not prohibited from going to mosques to conduct investigations. By 2008, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey’s guidelines stated that the FBI’s “central mission” was to prevent domestic terrorist acts. Therefore, agents no longer needed “any particular factual predication” to spy on Americans. As Sofer, the federal prosecutor in Wolfe’s case, explains, “Prosecuting a completed terrorist attack is...in some senses…a loss for the government. Our goal is to prevent, not pick up the pieces after someone has successfully harmed American citizens.” He adds, “To the notion that we don’t know what these people would do…How many San Bernardinos do we need to see to determine what they’re willing to do? That’s a case in which clearly people will say that [the] government didn’t do enough.” The FBI’s newfound focus on counterterrorism was brought to the forefront in large part by a 2011 Mother Jones story describing how “federal law went from a focus on fighting crime to preventing crime.” As reporter Trevor Aaronson put it, “Instead of accountants and lawyers cracking crime syndicates, the bureau would focus on Jack Bauer-style operators disrupting terror groups.” Around the same time, a reporter for Wired got a hold of embarrassing FBI documents that seemed to describe an inherent terroristic bent to Islam as a whole. Reporter Spencer Ackerman turned up training manuals that excerpted the most militant verses of the Koran, identifying them as key “drivers” of the Islamic faith, and buttressed these with truly weird graphs and charts showing how Islam was operating in a sort of primordial, violent stage that Judaism and Christianity had long surpassed. As one graph illustrates, fundamental followers of the Torah and the New Testament started mellowing out by the year 610, while, for believers in the Koran, “this moderating process has not happened.” Bureau officials later said those training materials were only used briefly, and had been discontinued even before they were leaked. For these counterterrorism efforts, the bureau was given billions. This was more than enough to spread around to some 15,000 informants. Nearly all of the most publicized “terror plots” since 9/11 were designed by FBI operatives. One of the most notorious involved the arrests of four men in 2009 for plotting to bomb synagogues in the Bronx and fire Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles at military cargo planes near an airport in Newburgh, New York. At trial, it was revealed that the ringleader, a middle-aged anti-Semitic Walmart stocker named James Cromitie, was largely induced by an FBI informant, who provided nonfunctional bombs, and the promise of $250,000 and free luxury vehicles. The informant, Shahed Hus-

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FBI leadership says that the bureau discontinued the use of training materials that illustrated Islam’s alleged terrorist leanings.

sain, was facing immigration charges for slipping into the U.S. with a fake British passport. Instead of sending him to jail, the FBI sent him to New York mosques to troll for extremists. He was paid $100,000 for his work. At trial, Judge Collen McMahon found Cromitie guilty, rejecting his claims of entrapment. But she also called his plans “a fantasy terror operation,” saying, “Only the government could have made a ‘terrorist’ out of Mr. Cromitie, whose buffoonery is positively Shakespearean in its scope.” John Mueller, a Cato Institute fellow and political science professor at Ohio State University, who has written extensively about pre-emptive prosecution, contrasts the FBI’s counterterrorism efforts with how the Secret Service deals with disgruntled yahoos who rant about killing the president. “They do not insinuate an encouraging informant into the ranter’s company to eventually offer crucial, if bogus, facilitating assistance to the assassination plot,” Mueller wrote in April 2015. “Instead, they pay the person a Meaningful Visit and find that this works rather well as a discussion device...It seems entirely possible that this approach could productively be applied more widely in terrorism cases.” Of course, some experts argue that lonewolf terrorists are greater in number, and instead of targeting an individual, they crave a maximum body count. One must only turn to the study of lone-wolf terrorism that George Washington University’s Program on Extremism published in December 2015. The study examined 71 individuals charged “with ISISrelated activities since March 2014.” Fifty-six were arrested in 2015 alone. In it, Lorenzo Vidino and Seamus Hughes state that “ISIS-related mobilization in the United States has been unprecedented. As of the fall of 2015, U.S. authorities speak of some 250 Americans who have traveled or attempted [to travel] to Syria/Iraq to join [ISIS].” The study does not criticize FBI undercover operations, but suggests that other tactics, such as “intervention to help sway individuals from the path of radicalization,” also might be effective. However, the authors also write that some organizations “would like to implement coun-

ter-ISIS messaging online, yet worry that their activities might inadvertently attract the attention of law enforcement.” The authors specifically relate that “American Muslims consulted for this report expressed willingness to engage ISIS supporters online, yet hesitated to do so for fear of falling onto the FBI’s radar by engaging in dialogue with radicals.” For many Muslims, the FBI’s interest in what goes on in their mosques and in their communities is a sensitive area. The Press reached out to imams in Austin for their perspective on the use of undercover operatives in their houses of worship, but we didn’t hear back. Abeer Syed, who attends the North Austin Community Center, where Wolfe and Furr formerly prayed, says that while some imams may be reluctant to speak candidly with reporters, they and others in the community want to educate children and young adults about the dangers of both religious extremists — who target the young and naive both online and in person — and undercover operatives. “All we can do is inform our community and say, ‘Hey, listen, entrapment is real,’” Syed says. “What happens is, they’re going to come in to the new converts, and they’re going to try to feed them extremist thoughts and see if the new con-

verts, you know, take the bait. Unfortunately, some of them do.” And unfortunately, some religious leaders are so scared of being FBI targets that they do their best to expel the young, misguided converts with extremist bents, when the better solution would be to bring them into the fold and explain how their bizarre interpretations are a perversion of the Koran. Syed says, “We are aware that we have crazies within our own community; it is not a topic that is ignored…We want our children to come to the mosque regularly to dispel misunderstandings and confusions about [Islam], to give knowledge so that the children know that this is not a[n] Islamic cause…We recognize that there is a problem, just like any other community has a problem…This can be easily fixed if they attend the mosque regularly and integrate into the community.” Syed looks at it as a three-step program, saying, “You need to first educate your kids about the message of love the Koran gives. Second, you need to protect your children from online recruiting. Third, you need to protect your children from entrapment cases, because it’s real.” Syed describes her mosque’s relationship with the FBI as a “one-way street.” Agents secretly attend mosques to spy on congregants, but unlike other law enforcement personnel in Austin, they won’t give talks or talk about extremism in public. The FBI appears to prefer snitch-oriented communication, rather than open dialogue. Recently, the bureau launched a fancy online tutorial to help high schoolers learn to identify — and turn in — “extremists.” Titled “Don’t Be a Puppet,” it’s both an educational and a fun way to turn in a suspected terrorist: The user clicks on a series of boxes with titles like “What is Violent Extremism?” and “Who Do Violent Extremists Affect?” “Free the puppet in each section and make all of the boxes turn white,” the web page states. “Then you will earn an FBI certificate.” Every year, the North Austin Muslim Community Center hosts a Ramadan open house and invites members of the FBI and other authorities, Syed says. Cops have spoken. Firefighters, too. “We’ve only had one FBI agent show up one time, and I want to say that was like three years ago,” Syed says. “And he did not speak at the event.” This would not surprise Charles Swift, attorney and director of the Richardson-based Con-

The FBI’s “Don’t Be a Puppet” campaign offers an educational and entertaining route to becoming a snitch.

4/19/16 12:12 PM

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n a faint phone connection from Pollock Federal Prison, near Alexandria, Louisiana, Wolfe only has a few minutes to answer questions. It is, by design, an inconvenient way to gather information. Because the prison continually denies media requests, Wolfe has been relegated to a bit player in his own story. Was he going to Turkey or Syria to conduct “violent jihad,” as the government says? Was he going there to help ISIS expand the caliphate? “Islam is not spread by the sword, so never once in my mind did I agree or accept the fact that I’m going over [t]here to force people out of their house and home in order to accept Islam or spread Islam by violence,” Wolfe says in a softspoken voice. “In my mind, it was always that there are Muslims...over there who are being persecuted, and they need to be helped.” He adds, “Anybody, whether they’re Muslim or not, comes to you for aid and assistance — if they come to you for protection, you have to give it to them, whether they be Christian or Jew or whatever…” If things go as planned, Wolfe will remain in prison until 2022. His children will be nine and eight when he’s released. Furr has been scrambling to stay afloat. She says she’s lost four jobs since Wolfe’s arrest. She stopped wearing her hijab to work, to cut down on the attention, but it never took long for a new employer to Google her. “There may have been a flaw in my husband’s thinking at the time,” she says. “And there may have been a time where he wanted to go across seas and help people that were getting killed by their government. But…I did not — nor did he — ever understand or think that it could ever come to this…that your own government would do this to you.”

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read about this budding ISIS movement, that maybe they weren’t fighting for freedom, she was rebuffed. She wanted to wait and see how things played out. Furr says that when she came to Rasheed and Melissa about the subject of medical care — what might happen if one of the kids got sick over there — they got a call from a family, supposedly in Turkey, who lived near Melissa’s relatives. The dad was a doctor. Top-notch medical care would not be an issue, he said. Wolfe, Furr says, was particularly appalled at the idea of Muslims killing Muslims. He did not want to be involved in any kind of extremist, territorial squabble. This hesitancy, Furr claims, only made Rasheed ramp up the rhetoric. “The reason why Rasheed was saying ‘Push, push, we need to do this now,’ and the reason we didn’t put it off for another year,” she says, “was because he said ISIS is starting to get a lot of bad flack, and we need to get over there...so we can start to make their name better.” It seemed to work. In a letter to the Press, Wolfe writes, “The fact that I [chose] to join the Islamic State is almost irrealevent in this issue [sic]. At the time, they were the most humble and inviting of all the groups in Syria. This was before all the infighting began to take place. I explained to Rasheed that I wanted no part in the pointless killing. My only goal and intent was to fight the Syrian government. Not the Syrian people, not the American people. The Tyranical Syrian Government [sic].”

ccording to Wolfe’s friend Jason, Rasheed and Melissa repeatedly told Wolfe and Furr that things would be better for them in a majority Muslim community. Wolfe’s criminal record would not matter there, they said. He could find steady work. “They’ll realize that you’re not that same person that you were,” Jason says the couple told Wolfe. And they could live with Melissa’s family. Jason says it was Rasheed’s idea for Wolfe to use the family’s tax refund to subsidize travel costs. Rasheed seemed to have an answer for everything. Looking back on it now, Jason’s wife, Rebecca, remarks on how sincerely Rasheed and Melissa came across in wanting the best for their friends. “It could not have been all fake,” she says. She remembers one time when Rasheed had to go out of town as usual, “and he picked up one of [Wolfe’s] kids, and he was hugging the kids and then started to cry….He seemed very genuine, like he genuinely cared about the family. Now, it kind of makes me sick to my stomach.” As it got closer to the departure date, Rasheed and Melissa weren’t around as much. Rebecca says Melissa would never return her texts, but she’d always respond to Furr. And always from a different number. Rebecca and Furr now think Melissa’s purpose was to keep the women distracted while Rasheed plied the initial target, and then Wolfe. The more one-on-one time Rasheed had with Wolfe, the more isolated he could get him, the more he could influence him, they feel. Plus, it would be less suspicious for a couple to work their way into a social group and build trust than a single man. This alone time — be it working out, watching UFC, or talking about the Koran — cemented the bond between target and agent. Furr noticed that nearly every time Wolfe returned from his

guy-time with Rasheed, he would be talking about “the J.” Furr says of her husband, “This is a guy who didn’t have a dad, who barely had a mom, who was just looking for something to call home. Looking for friends, looking for a new way of life, looking for a way to provide a life for me and our children together, and wanting to get away from dumb kid stuff. So of course, he latched onto a 30-year-old man [sic] who was interested in all the same things as him, all of a sudden, coincidentally, liked all the same movies, music, every single thing down to the T.” The problem was, the couple didn’t have the money to follow Rasheed’s plan. At the time, Wolfe was unemployed, and Furr worked as a home health-care assistant. They sold everything they owned and used their tax refund to buy the plane ticket and passports. Wolfe even volunteered to be a guinea pig for a medical study to further stretch the family’s budget. The saving grace was that they believed they had a free place to stay in Turkey — a nonexistent home promised by one of the two undercover agents working Wolfe’s family. The FBI affidavit attached to Wolfe’s arrest warrant states that nearly up until the day of departure, in June 2014, Wolfe harbored reservations. He “struggled with whether to stay or go.” He was concerned about in-fighting among the groups in Syria, among other things. Rasheed suggested that Wolfe man up, telling him, “We are not going for a holiday,” the affidavit states. Rasheed also suggested a sort of fraternity pledge-week program: If Wolfe at least flew to Turkey, he would be close enough to examine the various groups himself and figure out which one was best for him. The bottom line was, Wolfe had to decide quickly — if he waited too long, he wouldn’t be able to refund the family’s tickets. Sofer, the prosecutor, says, “Mr. Wolfe signed up for this. Nobody put his arm behind his back. Nobody put a gun to his head. This was, at the time, something that he wanted to do, and, in fact, he took tremendous steps to do that.” And, Sofer adds, “What the United States is most concerned about is these people coming back. Now you have the United States passport. Now you’ve engaged in the brutal violence that’s taking place overseas, receive[d] training from these organizations, and come back into the United States. That is a nightmare for us…for the citizens of Austin, for the citizens of the country.” Those closest to Wolfe say such a scenario was never in the cards. And domestic terrorism did not seem to be part of Rasheed’s sales pitch. But somewhere along the way, she says, lines may have gotten blurred. Rasheed hammered home the awfulness of Muslim brothers — children, even — being slaughtered every day, and how they needed more than just blankets and food. “The way that it was all played out, and the way that it was put into our hands, was, ‘You need to get your ass up, get over there and help these people,’” Furr says. Rasheed said he was only saying what the Koran demanded. Furr says Wolfe may have thought “the biggest part of being a man was to go over there and physically defend people and help them, and help lead this revolution, which in that time… wasn’t the evolution of ISIS; it was the revoluition of the people, you know. The revolution of the oppressed.” She adds that every time she went to Rasheed with concerns about things that she’d

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stitutional Law Center for Muslims in America, who says that in Texas, the FBI has “one community liaison agent who is responsible for most of Texas and a large part of Oklahoma,” but at least 50 operational agents working on counterterrorism working out of the Houston, Austin, Plano, and Dallas-Fort Worth field offices. Swift calls this dichotomy the bureau’s twin programs of “show and dough.” “For show, the FBI community liaison officer tells the community leaders that the FBI wants to work with the community to counter violent extremism,” Swift says via email. “At the same time, the operational agents are going for the dough by inserting informants into the community with directions to recruit anyone they can to violent extremism. When the operational agents succeed in overcoming the efforts of the community, the story is the FBI stopped another terrorist attack, and that is what gets the dough.” Instead of catching an actual terrorist, Swift argues, the tactic just drives a wedge between law enforcement and mainstream Muslims. “The successful terrorist does not talk to anyone,” Swift says. “They read the papers, and they know how the FBI operates. Not only does the FBI not catch these lone [wolves], they admit they have little chance of ever doing so. Instead, the FBI continues to catch the stupid and misguided — who were not a threat and could have easily turned away from terrorism with help. All this does is [alienate] a community and further educate the real person who’s going to attack you. Brilliant.”

4/19/16 12:12 PM

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FRiDay

SUNDay

Sean Patrick Flanery signs debut novel at Blue Willow.

The big reveal is Friday for fashion inspired by artists.

Magic happens when ink and paper meet a streamroller.

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Feeling lucky?

Hearing the phrase “cold hard cash” got our attention, but some of the other prizes for Blanket Bingo at Market Square Park are pretty nifty, too: gift certificates, annual memberships, a onenight stay at a downtown hotel, a private boat ride and the aforementioned cash. “We begin selling tickets at 6 p.m. and then bingo begins at 7,” says Angie Bertinot, Downtown District’s director of marketing. “Last year we sold out within 30 minutes.” She says they have a great emcee and DJ who have kept things hopping for almost three years now. Local businesses donate the prizes, and they usually play about nine games – with the last game netting one lucky player $500 in cash. Feeling extroverted? They’re always looking for volunteers to hold up letters and numbers, too. Bring a blanket (duh!), plus food and nonalcoholic beverages. But don’t worry – Niko Niko’s is nearby plus they’re setting up a beer and wine tent. 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday. 301 Milam. For information, call 713-223-2003 or visit marketsquarepark.com. $10. BILL SIMPSON

Finding your unicorn

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Land, graduated from Dulles High School, and attended the University of St. Thomas before heading west for a successful career in television and film. Now he’s returning home, in the form of a debut novel referencing his experiences growing up in the Houston area. A character in Jane Two is based on his Grandaddy Charlie, a deputy sheriff who has much to say about life, love and manhood. Flanery says it’s a collection of things that he has long wanted to write about. “This is something that’s been ruminating in my head for a long, long time, and there are a number of things that caused me to write it,” he says. “There are things that happen to you that make you want to share them.” One of those things is first love, and how that powerful first taste sets the bar, often leading us on a lifelong chase to recreate the often elusive feeling. 7 p.m. Thursday. Blue Willow Bookshop, 14532 Memorial. For information, call 281-497-8675 or visit bluewillowbookshop.com. Free. JOSEF MOLNAR

FRI

Make it Matisse

w w w . h O U S t O N P R E S S . c O m / c a l E N D a R

and architecture professionals. Organized by the International Interior Design Association (Texas Oklahoma chapter), each team is assigned a hard and soft good – think fabric, tile, carpet and finishes – as well as a unique theme. Kristina Lopez, who co-produces along with Jennifer Brugliera, says that teams are paired with a specific art movement and artist, including Vermeer, Botticelli, Pollock and Klimt. Garment judging took place April 14 and the big public reveal is Fri-

VISIT HOUSTONPRESS.COM FOR ADDITIONAL EVENT COVERAGE day night. “There are typically 12 awards that the team can win, [including] best crowd favorite, best runway performance,” says Lopez. After months of work, she says that the energy is intoxicating the night of the show. 8 p.m. Friday. Revention Music Center, 520 Texas. For information, call 713-230-1600 or visit iidaproductrunway.com. $25 to $50. SUSIE TOMMANEY

4/22 not so Merry-go-

“Make it work.” When Project Runway’s Tim Gunn uttered those infamous words, we all knew the struggling designers were sweating some left-field curve ball, like being given a budget of $20 or having to sew corn husks into wearable fashion. Now it’s time for a similar challenge, though this time it’s called Product Runway 2016 and competitors are interior design

round

Millworker Julie Jordan and carnival barker Billy Bigelow meet and as a result of their instant infatuation, both lose their jobs. They marry, but the happily-ever-after is tarnished when he starts hitting her. Meanwhile her best friend Carrie Pipperidge marries fisherman Enoch Snow who dreams of being rich and having lots of children. It’s Carousel, the Rodgers

and Hammerstein second collaboration (after Oklahoma) in 1945 and Houston Grand Opera’s musical theater offering this season. Australian tenor Alexander Lewis (replacing Norman Reinhardt who was released from his contract by HGO after he was offered the role of Tony in West Side Story in Salzburg) grew up in musical theater (although his parents were both opera singers) and seemed a natural to play the Enoch Snow role. “The Enoch Snow character can be a very lighthearted character and his relationship with Carrie is trying to set up the stereotypical perfect couple to kind of counter the somewhat more flawed relationship of Julie and Billy,” Lewis says, adding that the story is rendered in “a grounded reality and realism that I think will relate to the modern world.” And then, of course, there is the music: “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” “June is Bustin’ Out All Over” and “If I Loved You,” are just some of the musical’s memorable songs. 7:30 p.m. Friday and April 27, 29-30 and May 6-7; 2 p.m. April 24. Wortham Theater Center, 500 Texas. Sung in English with projected English text. For information, call 713-228-6737 or visit houstongrandopera. org. $18 to $302.25. MARGARET DOWNING

SAT

4/23

this one’s For the girls

Adventurous ladies who like to get muddy, foamy, sandy and wet will have a blast at Galveston’s Gritty Goddess – an all-female Broadway at the Hobby presents Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Wednesday.

Houston Press Houston Press

From scrambling naked across the floor as an Irish vigilante in The Boondock Saints to zapping machines as a telekinetic albino in Powder, actor-producer-director Sean Patrick Flanery tends to go for the more interesting roles. He also has Texas roots: he was raised in Sugar

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thURSDay

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5K pitting women against 30 different challenges before reaching the finish line. Bring stretchy, comfortable, weather-appropriate clothing and some shoes that can tolerate a good beating because this event is sure to get messy. The obstacle course has runners climbing walls, crawling under netting, walking a plank, running through a wave pool and taking part in a litany of other physical challenges. It’s all in the spirit of sisterhood says Race Director Audra Tassone. “There are a lot of coed races, so we wanted something for women. They can make it a women’s weekend. Girl power!” Costumes are encouraged, and so is tailgating – sans grills – per the Fire Marshall. Be sure to check out the big white tent after the race for complimentary beer and ice cream as a reward for all the hard work. Proceeds benefit Girls On The Run and The Rainbow Connection. 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Moody Gardens, 1 Hope Boulevard, Galveston. For information, call 203-314-3059 or visit grittygoddess.com. $75 to $80. SAM BYRD

SUN

4/24

dragons and such

You don’t have to be overly familiar with campaigns and polyhedral dice to enjoy the regional premiere of Qui Nguyen’s play, She Kills Monsters. In fact, hardcore Dungeons & Dragons gamers might quibble with a few dramatic licenses, but all will be forgiven with the fast-paced action, courtesy of University of Houston’s new Aerial Laboratory. Adam Noble, associate professor of acting and movement (who is directing the play for UH’s School of Theatre & Dance), says that he and his wife Melissa (lecturer in theater and dance) have spent the past decade or so exploring aerial wire work (tight rope, low flying trapeze, corde lise, fabrics and silks). He says the play deals with loss, gender and identity issues, and the escapism found in the fantasy realm of gaming. “Really it’s quite an entertaining romp. This is not hard to swallow theater. Not Chekhov, not Shakespeare,” he says. The set itself is bare bones, allowing movement, dancing, fighting and puppetry to command the stage. Noble

Gritty Goddess is Saturday at Moody Gardens.

Courtesy of Gritty Goddess

head oF the class

William Shakespeare’s head is missing beneath the shallow grave where he’s buried. No, it’s true (or might be), according to archaeologists who recently radar-scanned the Bard’s burial site in Stratford-uponAvon and found that his skull appears to have gone poof. (According to 18th century news reports, grave robbers may have nabbed the dude’s noggin in the later 1800s.) Dark. Also dark – and fun and amusing – is Out Brief Candle: A Celebration of Death Scenes. On Shakespeare’s 400th death anniversary, actors from the Houston Shakespeare Festival and University of Houston theater students are performing woven-together monologues and soliloquies of some of Shakespeare’s most memorable peace-out-from-Earth moments. “It’s great to see people geek out over somebody who remains vital to this day,” says Benjamin Rybeck of Brazos Bookstore, which is continuing the momentum built from last year’s successful Summer of Shakespeare with a handful of one-off events this year. 2 p.m. Saturday. Brazos Bookstore, 2421 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-523-0701 or visit brazosbookstore.com. Free. STEVE JANSEN

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has a spoiler alert, too. “There might very well be a dragon at the end of the show, with a 35-foot wing span, covering the Wortham Theater.” 2 p.m. Sunday. Continuing 8 p.m. April 22-23 and 28-30, and 3 p.m. May 1. 3351 Cullen Boulevard. For information, call 713-743-2929 or visit uh.edu/class/theatre-and-dance/buytickets/2015-2016. $10 to $20. SUSIE TOMMANEY

Pressure Packed

Magic happens when ink and paper are smushed underneath a steamroller. Typically, a printing press can deal with a carved block that’s measured in inches, but once a block or board approaches a foot or feet, forget about traditional printmaking means. “The steamroller acts as a makeshift printing press as most printing presses cannot accommodate a block as large as the ones our artists are carving,” says PrintMatters president Katherine Rhodes Fields, who adds that some artists in the annual Rockin’ Rollin’ Prints event are carving woodblocks that measure three-by-five and three-by-four feet. This year more than 50 Texas artists are participating, including Leamon Green, Monica Villarreal, Eileen McClellan and Andis Applewhite. The fair includes art vendors, food trucks and a chance to view the prints, which move to Williams Tower for a juried exhibition in June. “I think, conceptu-

ally, it’s a great theme for our artists in that [the] phrase ‘under pressure’ takes on a lot of meanings and can manifest some interesting image making,” says Fields. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Saint Arnold Brewery, 2000 Lyons. For information, visit printmattershouston.org. Free. STEVE JANSEN

MON

4/25

gerMan Virtue

Italy doesn’t have a monopoly over pretty, sweeping and technically perfect violin music. “Typically, people associate violin virtuosity with Italian music, and names such as Vivaldi, Tartini, Corelli, etc. are well known. This is not so much the case with German violin music of that period, but our program [at The MATCH] will show that [Johann Jacob] Walther, et al. wrote pieces that are beautiful and ‘flashy’ as well,” says violinist Sean Yung-Hsiang Wang who, along with cellist Barrett Sills and harpsichordist Matthew Dirst, are about to release a Houston-recorded, first-ofits-kind album devoted to the German Baroque violin player and composer. Walther (1650-1717) brought “the technical level of violin playing in seventeenth-century Germany to a new height,” reads the liner notes of the group’s album on Centaur Records that was engineered by Houston-based Ryan Edwards. Additionally, Walther’s collections, Scherzi da violino solo and Hortulus Chelicus (Little Garden of the Violin) from 1688 “contain some of the most difficult pieces written for the violin up to that point in time, employing almost all of the known techniques and effects,” Wang writes in the liner notes. The group also will perform works by Johann Georg Pisendel, Johann Paul von Westhoff, Johann Christoph Friederich Bach and Johann Sebastian Bach when Ars Lyrica presents The German Virtuoso. 7:30 p.m. Monday. The MATCH, 3400 Main. For information, call 713-521-4533 or visit arslyricahouston.org. $30. STEVE JANSEN

serendiPitous sonata

Their professional relationship began with one of those oh-no-what-do-I-do-now moments, when Klára Würtz’s violinist was a no show at a concert. The pianist jokingly asked around backstage if anybody could play Beethoven’s “Spring” sonata and, a friend of a friend later, Kristóf Baráti stepped in with no rehearsal. The celebrated Hungarian duo, who have gone on to perform and record together numerous times, are closing out Da Camera’s season with backto-back concerts at The Menil Collection. “They’re playing three different Beethoven violin sonatas,” says Leo Boucher, director of marketing and audience development for Da Camera, who says the Beethoven Sonatas programs are different for each night. “Monday night is a chance to hear works from the early and middle periods. [It] includes one of the most famous ones, nicknamed the ‘Kreutzer’ sonata; it was dedicated to one of the best violinists of Beethoven’s time, so that is one of the most famous and most favorite violin sonatas,” says Boucher. “One of the notable things about Tuesday is that they’re playing one of the most famous and popular sonatas, nicknamed the ‘Spring’ sonata.” 7:30 p.m. Monday and April 26. 1533 Sul Ross. For information, call 713-524-5050 or visit dacamera.com. $40. SUSIE TOMMANEY

TUE

4/26

changing the Word

We begin with Pastor Paul, who started with a storefront church. Ten years later he and his evangelical Protestant congregation have grown into a mega church, bigger and better in every way packed to the brim with true believers. The complication: The minister is about to say something from his pulpit that will upset the various underpinnings of their faith and what it takes to go to Heaven. Visiting actor Richard Thieriot, who plays Pastor Paul, says, “I think he has the absolute best of intentions. But he doesn’t handle this transition well. He just assumes that his personal charisma is going to pull people through this very complicated philosophical issue.” Not a comedy, nor a satiric send up of faith, this new play The Christians by Lucas Hnath presented at Alley Theatre is an examination of religious values and what happens when they change. Alley Company member Jeffrey Bean plays Hay, a church elder, Melissa Pritchett, a church congregant and Emily Trask the pastor’s wife. Shawn Hamilton returns to the Alley to play the associate pastor in the play directed by Alley Artistic Director Gregory Boyd. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Continuing 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturday, April 23; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Through May 15. Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. For information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $26 to $67. MARGARET DOWNING

the good liFe

Philanthropist, patron and collector of the arts, Ima Hogg was both cursed (the future governor of Texas, “Big Jim,” had a wicked sense of humor when it came to naming his only daughter, even if it did come from a poem) and blessed (just like the Clampetts, the family discovered oil on their land). Miss Hogg eventually became the primary resident of the Hogg family mansion – which we know as Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens – amassing an impressive collection of early American art and antiques. In 1957 she gifted her 14-acre estate to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, who opened it up to the public in March of 1966. Bayou Bend is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and, with Sip & Stroll, invites us to walk the same magnificent gardens and manicured grounds as “The First Lady of Texas,” wine glass in hand, letting go of life’s worries. “People tell me they can feel the workday melt away as they get to this beautiful estate,” says Bonnie Campbell, Bayou Bend’s director. “You feel like you’ve walked back in time to a more charming, quieter time.” Admission includes beer or a glass of red or white wine, plus cheese, pretzels and assorted seasonal fruit. “It’s become a popular tradition and attracts a younger crowd who are looking for [in-town] things to do after work,” says Campbell. 5 p.m. Tuesday. Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, 6003 Memorial. For information, call 713-639-7300 or visit mfah.org. $18. BILL SIMPSON

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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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Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, is celebrating 18 years of successes in the East End – including the launch of a festival SOCIETY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS and radio show – with an 18th Anniversary Bringing the World’s Best to Houston spahouston.org Showcase. The line-up includes founding members Alvaro Saar Rios (his play, Luchadora!, was penned after he discovered his grandmother was a masked wrestler) and AsHPress_4.7292x5.4167_ailey.indd sociated Press reporter Russell Contreras. Expected to sell out, the event features a strong line-up of writers, including several local poets. One of those readers is Houston native and Rice University alum Leslie Contreras Schwartz (Russell’s sister), who is reading from her first volume of poetry, Fuego, about endurance across a number of situations, from pregnancy to long-distance swimming to immigrants. “This organization has welcomed and nourished me throughout the years as an emerging artist,” she says. “I started reading with them when they first started when I was a freshman in college. Tony Diaz, the founder, has shown me that it’s possible to push through stereotypes of Latinos and focus on craft and the important questions art can confront.” Contreras Schwartz says that the city’s diversity exposed her to different perspectives, giving foundation to her writing. “This specific book focused on the nature of people’s resiliency, what it’s made of, how it remakes us.” 6 p.m. Wednesday. Talento Bilingüe, 333 South Jensen. For information, call 713-867-8943 or visit nuestrapalabra.org. $20 to $50. HOLLY BERETTO

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grows four inches to 6’7” on stage, but the pieces that he wears on his face transforming him into the Beast aren’t confining. “They still allow me full mobility and facial expressions. At this point in the tour, it’s become second skin.” Broadway at the Hobby is bringing back the modern classic Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, the story of two people finding each other’s inner beauty and integrity. Both are seen as outsiders in their own society: Belle, who’s viewed as odd because she’s always daydreaming with her head in a book, and the Beast, because of his monstrous appearance. Hartley, who’s on his first national tour, also sees it as the story of his character who makes a horrible mistake in judgment as a young man, but does he really deserve to be ostracized and punished forever? Historical note: Beauty and the Beast premiered in Houston in 1993 in a co-production by Theatre Under The Stars and Disney Theatricals. With music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and book by Lind Woolverton, the musical went on to become a worldwide success. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and April 28; 8 p.m. April 29; 11 a.m., 3:30 and 8 p.m. April 30; 1 and 6:30 p.m. May 1. Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For information, call 713-315-2525 or visit thehobbycenter.org. $25 to $135. MARGARET DOWNING

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Film

The Alien films resonate by attacking humanity itself.

BY BILGE EBIRI

The Alien adventure begins.

Reiser), the company representative, is trying to find a way to transport the alien species back to Earth. Like Ash, Burke is happy to dispense with everyone else in order to fulfill his mission. Unlike Ash, Burke is not a pre-programmed android — just a sniveling, ambitious yuppie — so movie morality demands that he get chewed up by an alien for his sins. In the breathless Aliens, the grimy, somber elegance of Scott’s film is replaced with the macho bluster of muscle, steel and technology, a frequent obsession of Cameron’s. Ripped and gungho, his soldiers are one with their machinery, in love with their firepower — and the director allows us to revel in their machismo even as he makes sure to undercut it. In the extended cut, the mouthy Private Hudson (Bill Paxton) assures Ripley before they land that he and his “army of badasses will protect you.” So it’s the ultimate cosmic joke that once a small army of aliens lays waste to the soldiers, Hudson becomes a whining, hysterical coward. Stripped of the guns, the wisecracks and the military chain of command, he realizes that he and his army of badasses are helpless in the face of an unfeeling universe and its remorseless creatures. Both Alien and Aliens embody the tension between a relentlessly hostile environment

No, Queen!

The great actresses in The Huntsman: Winter’s War get too little to play. BY BILGE EBIRI

areful what you wish for. When it was announced that Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt would be joining Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth for the follow-up to 2012’s humdrum action-fairy-tale Snow White and the Huntsman, many filmgoers, myself included, got unduly excited. The original film, while a hit, had not been memorable; its main

against a surreally desperate and hopeless situation. Perhaps its most touching moment is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it bit involving two secondary characters, who’ve hated each other all along, deciding to die together by mutually grabbing hold of a grenade. Finally, there’s the alien, or xenomorph, itself. As Ash puts it in the first film, this beast is “the perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. Unencumbered by conscience, remorse or delusions of morality.” It’s also, as designed by the Swiss artist H.R. Giger, a nightmarish collection of bodily urges and horrors: an oozing, shedding skeletal giant with two sets of teeth, a creature that is at once phallic and vaginal, reminiscent at times of a scorpion, and sometimes an octopus. You could see the whole series as the story of a sleek corporate machine, with its self-guided ships and sentient androids and its merciless focus on the bottom line, trying to own this perfect, grotesque organism. A merger of technology and impulse, with no need for anything that has a soul. The humans in between — with their wisecracks and complaints, with their machismo and their fear — are an inconvenience at best.

and the all-too-human characters struggling to survive it. For a film that’s so claustrophobic, so filled with dark, cold spaces, Alien is surprisingly intimate. Watch how Scott focuses on Lambert’s (Veronica Cartwright), nervous face, smoking a cigarette, while Ash and Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) discuss the inhospitable atmosphere in the background. Or the way he allows the movie to briefly wander into a discussion of labor policy as Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) and Parker (Yaphet Kotto) protest over their “bonus situation.” Or Kane talking about how he wants to get some real food when the mission is over — right before a baby alien bursts out of his chest. There’s a ruthlessness to all that everyday life — the sadism of a film that fleshes out its characters only to kill them in the most gruesome ways imaginable. But the film’s mournful tone matches its subject. Watching Alien is like watching the last gasp of the human race. Speedy and explosive, Aliens also works this contrast. The characters are not unlike the diverse cross-section of society you might find in an old combat movie, but they’re also defined by human traits — abject fear, pathological toughness, weary cynicism, even tenderness. It’s a movie boiling over with emotion and humor, set

Alien and Aliens play April 26 at Alamo Drafthouses.

claim to fame was probably the public discovery of an affair between star Kristen Stewart and very married director Rupert Sanders. The second one, sans Stewart or Sanders, and featuring an entirely new story, seemed to presage a new beginning. And the idea of three of our finest actresses — performers who can truly go broad, like the finest onscreen divas — hissing and bellowing and making those wavy-magic-handgesture thingies at each other while decked out in elaborate medieval fantasy regalia … well, it seemed like it might be something special. Campy, perhaps, but special. Something you might want to yell, “YAASS QUEEN” at. Funny story: It appears that the makers of The Huntsman: Winter’s War had the same idea, because the film absolutely delivers on the scenery-

chewing front. And yet, the movie is still hollow and joyless. The story is both prequel and sequel. It begins years before the events of the first film, opening on the beautiful Ravenna (Theron) seducing and killing her way to the throne of a new kingdom. Her sister Freya (Blunt), however, isn’t quite as ruthless; at the coronation, Ravenna sees her making doe eyes at a handsome young vassal. Soon enough, the new queen engineers a harrowing heartbreak for her sister. This both puts Freya in touch with her secret power — she can instantly transform the people and things around her into ice — and turning her against the very idea of love. She seizes a kingdom in the north and begins raising an army of stolen children. Among them are young warriors Eric and Sarah, who will grow up to be >> p24

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early every Alien movie begins the same way: in the vast loneliness of space, in a ship that’s running on its own. In the first film, Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979), the camera slowly glides through the dark, lifeless corridors of the commercial towing vehicle Nostromo before locating the sleeping bodies of its crew, cocooned in their cryogenic pods. In James Cameron’s Aliens (1986), we see a stray, frozenover escape ship drifting aimlessly through space, before it’s discovered by a salvage vessel; inside is the sleeping body of Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the first film’s sole survivor, dormant for 57 years. Both Alien and Aliens (screening as part of Drafthouse’s “Alien Day” double bill this week) are humanist films about an inhuman, or maybe post-human, world. In the first, the Nostromo (controlled by its onboard, all-powerful computer “Mother”) heads to the planet LV-426 without informing its crew, and then forces them to investigate the strange, wrecked alien ship they find there. The settings of the film — from the ruined ship itself, with its immense, fossilized skeletal remains, to the storm-swept and “almost primordial” environment of LV426, to the operatically cavernous Nostromo — belong to a universe where humans are quickly becoming an afterthought. That is the fundamental sadness at the heart of Scott’s film, and it’s also the root of the hysteria in Cameron’s sequel. (Meanwhile, in David Fincher’s deeply flawed Alien3, which isn’t showing as part of this tribute, we find what may be the most resonant expression of this series’ fondness for blasted hellscapes: Ripley crashlands on an abandoned, lice-riddled prison planet whose sole human inhabitants are a small group of convicts belonging to an apocalyptic millenarian sect — “a bunch of lifers who found God at the ass-end of space.”) The series’ humans are being pushed out on a narrative level, too. In Alien, after the creature is brought onboard (using the doomed, fragile body of John Hurt’s Kane as a host) and starts to kill off the crew, we learn that the danger has been partly engineered by Ash (Ian Holm), the ship’s medical officer, who turns out to be an android. The massive, faceless corporation that owns the Nostromo, Weyland-Yutani, wants the alien for bioweapons research. (As their computerized transmission puts it: “All other priorities rescinded. Crew expendable.”) Something similar happens in Aliens, which follows a group of Marines who return to LV-426 to rescue a group of missing colonists. In that film, we discover that Burke (Paul

| |Contents NEWS | Feature | Night+Day | Film | Stage| ART | Art| |CAFE Cafe| |MUSIC Music || CLASSIFIED Classified || CONTENTS| |HOUSTON HAIR BALLS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | FILM | STAGE

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No, Queen! from p23 Hemsworth and Chastain. Very illegally in love, the two fall afoul of Freya, and let’s just say it doesn’t end well for them. At this point, the film actually jumps forward seven years, to a period following the events of Snow White and the Huntsman — a misstep, since I’m not sure anyone actually remembers what happened in that movie. Ravenna has allegedly been vanquished and killed. (Yeah, right.) Eric is enlisted by Snow White, now the queen, to find Ravenna’s magic mirror, which possesses an evil, seductive power — and which has gone mysteriously missing. (We don’t actually see Snow White, mind. Stewart’s not in the film.) He sets off on his quest, accompanied by a small coterie of dwarves (don’t ask). Meanwhile, Freya also has her sights set on her sister’s mirror, and she’s raising an army to invade the kingdom of Everybody’s acting up a storm in Huntsman. Snow White. Anyway, it’s like cality makes up for their unfortunate pseudo-ScotFrozen meets Tolkien meets Brian De Palma’s Sisters, tish accents. Theron sneers and sniffs and slithers but not nearly as good as that sounds. with abandon. Blunt is brittle, vulnerable, angry — Winter’s War was directed by Cedric Nicolasand when she breaks, it can be glorious. The cosTroyan, who worked on the special effects for the tumes are ornate, imaginative and ravishing, and the first film. He has a facility with the storybook-like viuncommonly beautiful cast looks great in them. suals, and a nice handle on the actors. Even pitching So what’s the problem? Nothing seems to have their performances at an absurdly high level, the cast any weight or consequence. Stewart’s absence mostly fares well. Hemsworth and Chastain’s physi-

E FR

Huntsman: Winter’s War Directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan. With Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt, Nick Frost, Sam Claflin, Rob Brydon, and Jessica Chastain. Rated PG-13

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shouldn’t be a problem; she’s an entirely different type of performer, and would be totally out of place in this heated, histrionic atmosphere. But I missed her, or at least the idea of her. We keep hearing of Snow White’s kingdom, her armies and what’s going on with her — but we never really see any of it, which really becomes a problem in the climax, which is all about saving said kingdom.

Meanwhile, Freya’s backstory, about how she became an ice queen and learned to despise love, never has much bearing on the actual tale. In Frozen, Queen Elsa’s inability to control her powers led to her exiling herself to an ice palace of solitude and regret; the movie turned on her sister’s belief in her fundamental goodness. Here, Freya’s heartbreak is dropped in at the beginning and the end; in between, she’s mostly just a standard-issue villain with unclear aims. There’s nothing in Huntsman to hold its pieces together. Everybody’s acting up a storm, but nobody expresses any urgency or aspiration or desire — and, what’s worse, none of those great actors have been given any memorable lines. It’s a quest narrative where nobody cares about the quest. It’s a war movie where nobody cares about the Giles Keyte war. It’s a fantasy where nobody cares about magic. And sadly, the more they all snarl and shake and shout, the more we notice that there’s very little for anyone to get worked up about.

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Film

OPENING Elvis & Nixon — What Elvis thought — who Elvis was —

ceptance before the internet? Joseph Castelo’s The Preppie Connection posits that then, as now, you could get a lot of mileage from drugs. Its blasé narrator is Toby (Thomas Mann), a working-class kid in 1980s Connecticut who lands a scholarship to his hometown prep school and quickly falls in with a cadre of vain, supercilious youths, casting aside the straight-laced Colombian student, Fidel (Guillermo Arribas), who befriends him on the first day. Fidel later unknowingly facilitates Toby’s first trip to Cartagena, which he visits

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in July of 2015, The Barber of Seville is sung in Italian and presented with English subtitles. Directed by Vittorio Borelli, the cast includes Chiara Amarù as the beautiful Rosina, Marco Filippo Romano as the wooing Don Bartolo, and Roberto de Candia as Figaro. Tuesday, April 26, 7 p.m., $15. Landmark River Oaks Theatre, 2009 West Gray, 713-866-8881, landmarktheatres.com. Francofonia: Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov, who filmed the Hermitage in one take in Russian Ark, this 2015 release focuses on the history of the Louvre. In French with English subtitles. April 22-23, 7 p.m.; Sunday, April 24, 5 p.m., $9. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Brown Auditorium Theater, 1001 Bissonnet, 713-639-7515, mfah.org/films. Heathers (the movie): Get in the mood for the upcoming TUTS Underground production of Heathers - The Musical by watching the cult classic film starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. Bring your own snacks or grab dinner from local food trucks; lawn chairs are recommended. Friday, April 22, 6:30 p.m., free. Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby, 713-315-2525.

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VisiT HOusTONpRess.cOm fOR aDDiTiONal film cOVeRaGe Renoir: Revered and Reviled: Fathom Events, in partnership

with SpectiCast and Seventh Art, offers a big screen look at renowned artists and world-class museums in Phil Grabsky’s “Exhibition on Screen” series. The film begins in Philadelphia’s The Barnes Collection, which has more Renoirs than any other gallery in the world, and explores the artist who helped create the Impressionist movement and later rejected it. Price varies by theater; visit fathomevents.com for participating venues. Thursday, April 21, 7 p.m., $16.24. Edwards Houston Marq’e Stadium 23 & IMAX, 7620 Katy Freeway, 713-263-7843, regmovies.com. Spring Family Film Night: Bring lawn chairs and blankets to view these shorts from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, USA, India and Australia: Decorations, By Your Side, Switch Man, Johnny Express, Afternoon Class, Hello from Malaysia, Ravi and Jane and Zero. In the event of rain, the films will be screened indoors. Friday, April 22, 8-10 p.m., free. Asia Society Texas Center, 1370 Southmore Boulevard Suite 205, 713-496-9901, asiasociety.org/texas. TUTS Film Series: Kind Hearts and Coronets: Enjoy this black comedy about an heir to dukedom who sets out to kill the eight people in line before him, all played by Alec Guinness. It ends with a touch of irony, and is a great way to get in the mood for TUTS’s upcoming production of Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Monday, April 25, 7 p.m., free. Sundance Cinemas, 510 Texas, 713-223-3456, sundancecinemas.com.

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NOT YET.

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remains one of the great American mysteries. The strained, sour comedy Elvis & Nixon offers up the simplest of answers: He was a clown. “Elvis Presley decided his country needed him,” deadpans a title card, and the film then tracks, with snickering distance, his December, 1971 efforts to arrange a meeting with president Richard Nixon — and to offer himself as some sort of undercover narc. All that really happened, of course, and the famous photo of Tricky Dick shaking hands with a resplendently collared King might be a magnet on your refrigerator. Liza Johnson’s film, nudged along by ersatz “Green Onions” riffing, is itself a sort of souvenir tchotchke, a product whose only clear goal is getting the two men in the room so we can giggle: at the president’s awkwardness and grievance-airing, at the singer’s polite bad manners, at the ways that the men connect, a little, by hating on the Beatles. Kevin Spacey, bejowled in prostheses, makes a fine sketch-comedy Nixon, and Michael Shannon, while lacking the beefy handsomeness the part demands, insists upon playing Elvis as a person, honoring his tender neediness, his swaggering enthusiasm, the way his titanic self-regard edged into existential doubt. But Shannon’s more interested in Elvis than the filmmakers are. They never bother engaging with why Elvis arranged this meeting. They just invite us to giggle that he did. They even strain credulity in the big moments: Elvis performs feats of karate for Nixon, his fists coming just inches from the president’s face. What God-fearing, flag-loving Southern boy would pull that stunt? Rated R. (Alan Scherstuhl) A Hologram for the King — Don’t hold it against Tom Tykwer’s A Hologram for the King that its best scene is also its first. As Alan Clay (Tom Hanks) strides down a suburban street singing a modified version of the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” (“You may find yourself … without a beautiful house … without a beautiful wife … “), the world around him — the house, car and yes, the wife — vanish into CGI smoke. He wakes up in an airplane, surrounded by pilgrims headed to the Hajj in Saudi Arabia. It’s wild, disorienting and unlike anything else in this otherwise contemplative film. But Tykwer likes that sort of thing: grand, stylized, cinematic gestures in pursuit of the subtle and the symbolic. It’s fitting that he’s taken on Dave Eggers’ existential 2012 fable about a fiftysomething American businessman preparing to present a new 3D teleconferencing technology to the Saudi monarch. The King keeps not showing up, so the salesmen and his young tech-heads are stuck with nothing to do in an empty stretch of desert where a proposed city of the future is to be built. The film remains mostly faithful to Eggers’ story, showing us Alan splitting time between the desert and Jeddah, where he befriends driver Yousef (Alexander Black), Danish consultant Hanne (Sidse Babett Knudsen) and female Saudi doctor Hakim (Sarita Choudhury). We see the languid despair of the country’s youth, the self-destructive hedonism of expats and the sly ways that cosmopolitan elites get around this society’s strict regulations. It’s a fragmented world, and Tykwer revels in the all-consuming unease, sublimating what Eggers made explicit: the joblessness, the debt, the isolation. He captures these themes in flashes, which ironically gives them new power. Rated R. (Bilge Ebiri)

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with the sole purpose of scoring a refill of cocaine for his new friends. Despite his nervous fumbling (“Do you know where I could find … cocaína?”), Toby locates an enthusiastic supplier (Hemky Madera.) That Toby is able to smuggle cocaine without Customs batting an eye is one of a few creative liberties in Castelo and Ashley Rudden’s screenplay, which frequently emphasizes the irrational hormonal behavior underlying its conceit. Toby’s school is a stand-in for the real-life Choate Rosemary Hall, which weathered a similar scandal in the early ‘80s (though that student flew to Venezuela, not Colombia — a less likely destination now that audiences have seen so many movies referencing Pablo Escobar). But with little time spent on developing these characters, Toby and co. come across as a pale, anti-intellectual imitation of the college-aged friends in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History — a novel that explores the roots of its characters’ moral recklessness rather than just chalking it up to teenage feelings. Toby’s eventual comeuppance feels as preordained and empty as the preppie/townie dichotomy regurgitated here from so many outdated teen-media artifacts. Rated R. (Abby Garnett)

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Try This On

The Winterhalter exhibit at MFAH offers magnificent portraits of 19th century’s rich and famous — and may inspire you to buy a dress.

By Randy TiBBiTs

t’s enough to make even a butch guy like me want to put on a dress — one of those voluminous, flowing ones with miles of satin and silk, ribbons and lace — and waltz till dawn in the flicker of candlelight. This is all pure fantasy, of course. I’ve never put on dresses in my life (at least I hope there are no photos). But if putting one on might get me a portrait as beautiful and lush as those now on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in the exhibition “High society: The Portraits of Franz X. Winterhalter,” curated by Helga Aurisch, MFAH curator of

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Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Lydia Schabelsky, Baroness Staël von Holstein, c. 1857-58, by Franz X. Winterhalter

painting that I actually remember seeing, after many visits to that museum during my brief time as a Baltimoron 30 years ago. Even then I thought it was divine, and I still do. Unfortunately, the painting called in the catalog “Winterhalter’s masterpiece” (though that may be something of an understatement), Empress Eugénie and Her Ladies-in-Waiting (1855), a huge group portrait almost 10 x 13 feet, was too huge to make the trip to Houston. We’ll have to go to France to see it (undoubtedly worth the trip). But we can get an idea of what it’s like from another grand, similarly composed multi-figure group that did come here. Florinda (1852), bought by Victoria as a present for Albert, depicts a harem’s worth of semi-nude beauties swaddled in sumptuous fabrics, set in an idyllic landscape — being spied on by one man back in the trees. Perhaps, after all, Victoria wasn’t quite the prude we thought we knew. What becomes a Winterhalter sitter most? A gown by Worth, of course. That would be Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895), an Englishman who moved to Paris in the 1850s and founded haute couture fashion. The two foreigners worked in tandem, if not quite hand in hand, to give royalty (and wealth in general) a look befitting its status. A number of creations by Worth and others are interspersed among Winterhalter’s portraits. Though none of the gowns in the galleries are actually in these paintings, the spirit is there; and what a nice reunion that they’re being shown cheek by jowl in

the exhibition. It’s worth noting that a Spanish Empress, a German painter and an English dressmaker gave the look to the French Second Empire. Just goes to show that globalism isn’t anything new. Of course, not everything was paradise even for the demi-deities Winterhalter and Worth made so beautiful. Albert died and Victoria spent half a century in black. The Empire fell and Eugénie lived out her life in English exile. Even Winterhalter himself, forced by the Franco-Prussian War to leave the Paris where his fame had been made, died shortly after returning to his native Germany. But the glorious paintings remain, and for a little while we have the chance to see them here in Houston. The exhibition is expansively and beautifully installed in the ballroom-sized Upper Brown Pavilion in the MFAH Law Building. Surrounded by exquisite paintings on jeweltoned walls, you may find that you too have the urge to slip into one of Worth’s gowns and waltz though the galleries. Or is that just me? On the rating scale of beautiful-old-things exhibitions, this one comes in at a strong Antique Ivory Handmade Lace. If it’s already your kind of show, you’ll know what that means. If you don’t, go see it and find out. “High society: The Portraits of Franz X. Winterhalter” Through August 14. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet, 713-639-7300, mfah.org

Month XX–Month XX, 2014

European art, I have only one thing to say: Cinch up the corset, I’m squeezing into that gown. Now, as we struggle to expunge that image from our minds’ eyes, let us try to move on to the more exalted world of Winterhalter. Though he didn’t start out as what you’d actually call exalted. Franz Xaver Winterhalter was born in 1805, into a slightly upwardly mobile family in the remote village of Menzenschwand, deep in the countryside of the backward Grand Duchy of Baden, a scrap of deforested Black Forest land in the not-yet-unified Germany. For that slight upward mobility, the family owed thanks to Winterhalter’s grandmother, and a dalliance on the wrong side of the blanket, quite likely with a monk from the nearby monastery. Granny was able to give the family a leg up, as well as a leg over, because not just a child resulted from the transaction, but also the resources to build a house in the village. (I’m not making this up; it’s all in the exhibition catalog.) Perhaps not the most immaculate background for the man who would one day paint the most regal crowned heads of Europe — and in the process, define what it looked like to be royal. His was the same old story: talent recognized early; a steady rise through apprenticeship, art academies, patronage by the petty nobility; and then the breakout moment when royals, especially Queen Victoria of England, took a liking to his likenesses. Over 20 years, beginning in 1838, Winterhalter painted 120 commissions for Victoria and her family. Some are in this exhibition, including The First of May 1851, on loan from the current Queen. It shows the young Victoria as monarch, mother and wife. She holds her son, Prince Arthur, on his first birthday, her dashing and adored husband, Prince Albert, behind them as the Duke of Wellington presents a bejeweled gold cask — a somewhat flattering, lovely image of her Majesty, years before she became the stout, stern looking, black-clad widow-in-perpetualmourning more familiar to us from later on. Winterhalter wielded an almost magical brush, able to make the, as some might say, plain Victoria, if not beautiful, at least charming. It was an ability which made him much in demand in all of the royal courts of Europe.

Considering the extent of Victoria’s patronage, the death of Albert in 1861, and a subsequent decline in commissions for English royal portraits, might have been almost as much of a blow to Winterhalter as to the widow herself. But by then he’d been embraced in Second Empire Paris as enthusiastically as in Victorian London. Many of his most spectacular and important paintings came from his time as virtual court painter to the Emperor Napoleon III and his beautiful Spanish Empress, Eugénie. Everybody who was anybody wanted to be painted by him, but he’d reached such heights that only those who really were somebody got their wish. Winterhalter joined a rare group of ultimate portraitists that includes Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Velázquez and, more recently, John Singer Sargent and maybe Andy Warhol — artists whose portraits defined their age. I wanted to dislike these paintings. Oh, how I wanted to dislike them, in part because most are portraits of people depicted only because they were lucky enough to be born at the very top of a system in which most peoples’ places were fixed for life, often in poverty. Since Winterhalter was so good at what he did, his portraits were a pillar of the propaganda machine that kept the system standing. But that’s politics, and it’s remote enough now that it takes actual work to find out about it. Looking at the paintings only as paintings, no backstory considered, I can’t dislike them. As paintings — only paintings — they’re magnificent. Look at the gossamer film of white lace over blue in the baby dress in Hélène-LuiseElizabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Duchess of Orléans, and Her Son, the Count of Paris (1839). And the tender way the count clutches the bow at his mother’s bodice — an echo of myriad Madonna and Child paintings, including the MFAH’s own Virgin and Child (c. 1395-1400) by the Master of the Straus Madonna, on view in the Beck Building across the street. Winterhalter was well schooled in the old masters, but also forward looking. Some of his effects are even proto-impressionistic. See, for instance, the fabulous froth of fabric in the skirt of Lydia Schabelsky, Baroness Staël von Holstein (ca.1857-58). Even Houston’s own Empress Eugénie (1854), a fairly recent addition to the collection, which may have been the inspiration for bringing this show here, though one of the less grand paintings, is a dream: The Empress sits in a foam of white lace, accented with white camellias, and with swaths of rich fabrics in lavender, emerald green and wine red. It’s an intimate, almost floating-on-air, portrait that hung above the desk of her husband, Emperor Napoleon III, at the Château de Saint-Cloud. For me it was a particular thrill running into Princess Kotschoubey (1860) from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. It’s the only Walters

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Germany’s Golden Boy

Jay Hunter morris is resplendent in the title role of Siegfried at Houston grand opera.

By D.L. Groover

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Month XX–Month XX, 2014

bout to lead the Italian premiere of Richard Wagner’s Siegfried at Milan’s La Scala Opera, legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini was stopped backstage by a very nervous tenor who was singing the title role. “Maestro, how do you think it will go?” Never one to miss a beat, the fiery conductor looked him up and down. “Who knows? Too many beasts. There’s that bear, that dragon, that bird, those dwarfs…then there’s you!” The marvelous third opera in Wagner’s titanic The Ring of the Nibelung, referred to as the mighty cycle’s “scherzo” movement, is all about young Siegfried, and it’s a killer role. A production can withstand a less than stellar Mime, Alberich, Fafner, Erda, even Wotan or Brünnhilde, but without a riveting heldentenor in the part, there’s no opera. He’s the reason for the show, its drive, impulse, heart. There’s no other role in all of opera as demanding as this “stupid boy” who doesn’t know fear. Houston Grand Opera has nothing to fear, either. Not only does it give us a dream cast for all the sundry characters — human, god, beast — with which this opera’s packed, but it gives us a dream Siegfried in Jay Hunter Morris. He may have lost a bit of his stentorian oomph from seasons past and at times disappears under Wagner’s swirling orchestral maelstrom instead of riding over it, but he remains the most competent surfer in the international opera world. He’s the best Siegfried there is today, and that’s saying everything, because Siegfrieds don’t come around every generation. Sometimes they skip decades. Riveting, Morris is prime. I said this was a killer role, and most heldentenors dread the challenge. Not only do you have to pretend you’re some young dumb hunk — the übermensch, Nietzsche’s Superman, Germany’s Golden Boy — but you also have to sing full out for almost four solid hours. You’ve got to be lyric, heroic, a little boy lost, an intrepid warrior, a lover of nature, an impetuous fool and, during the half-hour finale, the most ardent of lovers. Let’s just say this role isn’t easy for anyone to pull off, even someone versed in Wagner’s particular, idiosyncratic vocal style. A complete stage artist, Morris pulls off this prestigious feat with the dexterity of Gypsy Rose Lee. If you’ve ever wondered what J.J. Watt might look like as an opera singer, come see and hear the robust Morris. He’s alive onstage, a solid guy quick on his feet. He can sit on the floor with legs splayed like a kid playing jacks, then spring into action on a dime. If there were tires onstage for football drill practice, Morris could probably bound through them like a ga-

zelle. Although saddled with the most god-awful costume — greasy blond dreadlocks, some torn and ragged leather straps for a tunic, with a comic Lynn Lane wolf’s tail hanging from his ass — he’s a pictureHouston Grand Opera gives us a dream Siegfried in Jay Hunter Morris. book avatar of youthful around, all while Wagner’s magnificent chroBrünnhilde awakes to some of Wagner’s strength and boy’s adventure comic. Best of all, matic music tries to catch up. Disney cartoon most incandescent music, scored with ethehe never tires or loses steam. He gathers more flowers swirl through the evocative “Forest real strings and harp arpeggios. She hails the strength as the long night progresses. At the Murmurs,” lessening his radiant tone painting sun, the light and this curiously timid savior. It end, with former warrior goddess Brünnhilde of nature in bloom. As a youth, Siegfried is supwithin reach (a radiant and rock-solid Christine is poetry in music. The virgin goddess begs not posed to be all alone in the world, except for to be sullied, but she’s lost her godhead under Goerke, pretty picture-book herself ), his eyes Mime, never having seen another person. Now the spell, so that argument doesn’t fly anydid truly gleam. He has found his match, an he’s surrounded by comic lab technicians who equal partner in a fiery love that will bring down more. Anyway, she’s destined for the big lug scamper and bobble everywhere, sweeping up, and had prophesied he would be the one to the gods. Embracing, they laugh at the coming unplugging electric cords, lighting the forge. walk through fire to get her. Destruction will conflagration. During his curtain call, the audiEverywhere, the overall scenic effect is all surely come later, but now it’s time to party. In ence rose as one to burst into clamorous ovawrong. It’s also so disrespectful. a stirring blast of high C, the two matchless tion. He deserved it. The 3-D pictorial design is awesome in its lovers laugh at the thrill of passion. Wagner In case you need a primer, although the opway, high tech to the nines, but it’s way too era backtracks the story for us, as happens in ev- brings down the curtain in a rhapsodic rush. simple and one-dimensional. If someone sings Other major players in the tale include ery one of the Ring series, Siegfried is a bastard about that bloody ring, you know it’s going to Mime’s brother, the evil dwarf Alberich orphan. His dad, a son of randy king of the gods show up on the scrim. If someone says birds, (scene-stealing baritone Richard Paul Fink), Wotan (a sonorous and superb Iain Patterson), there they are, animated and swooping in murwho started the cycle in Rhinegold and ordied in combat during previous Walküre, but muration behind the singer. All-seeing Erda is dained the gods’ end by stealing the gold of the not before he got his sister Sieglinde pregnant. Rhinemaidens. Fink sings magnificently, much just that — a giant eyeball in film negative. She dies in childbirth. Found by evil Nibelung When the visual equivalents are less speas he recently did as the Water Sprite in HGO’s dwarf Mime (an oily and creepy Rodell Rosel), cific, they work best. The rising passion belast production, Dvorak’s Rusalka. Then the child is raised in the hope he will eventually tween the lovers is shown against what looks there’s all-wise, all-knowing earth mother kill dragon Fafner (great bass Andrea Silveslike a lava lamp on steroids, but the bubbling Erda, summoned from her subterranean sleep trelli), the giant who built Valhalla for the gods, and colliding globs at least hint at sexual subwho guards the golden treasure, which includes by Wotan, portrayed with Wortham-shaking text without being so damned literal. Fafner’s deep-dish contralto by Meredith Arwady. that all-powerful ring everybody in the cycle dragon is a clever origami creation that the Now we know where Brünnhilde, a.k.a. Ms. desperately desires. Brought up in the forest, Menil would be proud to display, fueled by pisGoerke, gets those rumbling lows and rich, the fearless boy, a true son of nature, hates his tons and geegaws. It’s hardly terrifying, so the creamy highs. She’s Erda’s daughter — by you stepfather and intuitively knows this ugly little fight to the death consists of Siegfried walking know who? Wotan, of course. He’s not called thing is not his father. around this pneumatic parade float as the orThe Wanderer for nothing. The familial vocal When Mime reveals his father’s broken chestra pumps up the volume. Unfortunately, relationship is uncanny. sword, Siegfried forges the pieces anew (the HGO’s stuck with this dismal Eurotrash proTo be charitable, the physical production is stunning, athletic “Forging Scene” that closes duction, and we’ve got to live with it, too. One a horror. Overseen by the former Spanish Act I on a high), slays the dragon, reaps the left to go, Götterdämmerung next spring. avant-garde street theater group La Fura Dels treasure, kills Mime and, heeding the Forest Fortunately, maestro Patrick Summers goes Baus, directed by Carlus Padrissa, this is video Bird (a precise and twittery Mane Galoyan), game as IMAX opera. Giant projection screens about his business — I hope with his eyes rushes to the mountaintop where Brünnhilde closed — and delivers a mighty interpretation, are pushed about, on which are all manner of lies in her deathless sleep, to be awakened by a regardless of the hideousness of the visual eye-popping CGI action. Mime’s forest cave is hero who “knows no fear.” concept. The HGO orchestra has never now some mammoth industrial factory, someBarring the way is Granddad himself, sounded so lush, so much in love with the thing out of late-’20s constructivist Russian whom Siegfried doesn’t know. The old god score. We may not like what we see, but what propaganda movies. I expected to see Eisentries in vain to stop the boy, but he knows it’s we hear is sublime and glorious. Wagner stein’s cream separator from Old and New hidfruitless. Siegfried shatters Wotan’s staff breathes deep and true, and that is a rare show ing somewhere among the pistons, gears and (make of that what you will), and the impotent by itself. Morris, Goerke et al, lead the way Soviet machinery. The background’s so busy god shambles off stage. Stepping through the with banners unfurled. Siegfried triumphant! and distracting, we strain to hear the music it’s flames, he discovers what he thinks is a fallen ineffectually depicting with so much Sturm warrior. He unlashes the breastplate and reund Drang. When Wotan journeys to summon coils. “That is no man,” he cries in one of opSiegfried Erda, we’re subjected to a Sound of Music panera’s never-fail laugh lines. The impetuous April 23, 28; May 1. Houston Grand Opera, oramic travelogue of arctic mountain ranges youth experiences fear for the first time. Not 500 Texas. For more information, call that we zoom and twist through, over and knowing what to do, he kisses her. 713‑228‑6737 or visit houstongrandopera.org.

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| art capsules |

Art

Capsule reviews by Randy Tibbits and Susie Tommaney “Airport” As recently as two years ago, Sergey Prokofiev

International Airport in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine was a modern and viable airport, with several new buildings constructed for the 2012 UEFA European Championship. Now the airport is almost completely destroyed, the result of a 242-day battle between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian militants. Former Los Angeles Times correspondent and photojournalist Sergei L. Loiko has been covering the conflict in Ukraine since 2013, and he spent weeks at the airport with Ukrainian troops as they defended the structure against Russian-backed rebels. Photographs from his coverage are on view now at Russian Cultural Center Our Texas in Loiko’s “Airport” exhibit, showing gritty, somber scenes from the burned and bombed area of what was once a thriving transportation hub. Those interested in the tools of war will be fascinated by up-close looks at machine guns, tanks and grenade launchers. The exhibit also includes scenes from the neighboring villages of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, where everyday life coexists with the revolution. The bright green grasses of the countryside are punctuated by heavy, black tanks rounding the bend on a dirt road in one photograph. In another, a local woman herds her goats across a street and, in the background, a defensive barrier wall has been erected using abandoned tires and debris. Loiko has taken care to photograph the faces of these young Ukrainian soldiers as they wait anxiously for the next onslaught. There is one brutal image in which the

| 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 scathing black comedy about man’s insatiable lust for power. Filled with topical references, as were all the Greek plays, it’s irreverent and smutty, as it pits man against the gods. Filled with word play and bad puns, stuffed with bawdy cock jokes (this is about “birds” after all) and silly sex references, this antique antic retains its humor down through the millennia. Aristophanes hits the mark time and again. Two citizens fed up with frantic life in Athens search for a better place. As in every comedy since, the two are mismatched, one a straight man, the other his foil. Think Burns and Allen; Laurel and Hardy; even Vladimir and Estragon from Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. All great comedy teams go back to this original goofy duo, Pisthetaerus and Euelpides (Luis Galindo and Julia Traber). Led in their search by two birds (puppets on their hands), the guys are looking for the Great Hoopoe (Carl Masterson), a former king who turned himself into a bird and apparently knows 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 as the city they just left. (The winged ensemble includes Greg Cote, Lindsay Ehrhardt, Jovan Jackson, Courtney Lomelo, Ben McLaughlin, and Lyndsay Sweeney.) The two travelers become birds after a fashion, while arrogant Pisthetaerus comes up with a screwy idea to make himself king over everyone. The birds will rebel against the useless gods, stealing their burnt sacrifices, rendering them impotent through starvation. The birds build a great fortress in the sky, Cloud Cuckoo Utopia, but during the “erection,” men intrude upon their paradise: a poet, a scientist, a soothsayer, a politician. They all want something for their service to this new city but are quickly chased away with a stinging slapstick. The gods send emissaries, too. Stuffy Poseidon, dimwitted Hercules, and one very ancient (and frightfully funny) god, Triballian, seek peace. Pisthetaerus outwits them, gaining Zeus’s sexy consort Sovereignty in the bargain. She is a blow-up doll. For what it’s worth, the gods concede, and greedy, power-hungry Pisthetaerus reigns, master of all. Director Philip Hays leads his merry

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remnants of a Ukrainian tank crewman are being boxed up in a crate. It’s not even a body — just some meaty tissue — but his fellow soldiers are salvaging what they can for the deceased soldier’s family. Through April 30. 2337 Bissonnet, 713-395-3301, ourtx.org. — ST “Canon” As a child, Peru-born Juan José Barboza-Gubo witnessed the brutal beating of a trans woman and it made him wonder, “Why no value?” Fast-forward many years and academic degrees 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, and crowns of silver and gold. While some of the models were insecure, lonely and ostracized, others felt confident, 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 the design on the Ionic columns. Through May 14. 2242 Richmond, 713-520-9988, mcclaingallery.com. — ST

“Statements: African American Art from the Museum’s Collection”

visitors of all races at all times: Art changed history, right here in Houston. Though the artists in the show are from all over the country, an exciting aspect of “Statements” is that so many Houstonians are included — it must approach a third of the 37 represented — and that the curators have often explicitly mentioned their Houston roots in the wall text of the exhibition. It’s proof positive that art of value has been, is being and (by extension) will be made by

African-American artists, in Houston as well as elsewhere. What a great message for MFAH to give viewers of all ages, races and places in the way that it can do best — by showing the art. And just in time for Black History Month. Through April 24. 1001 Bissonnet, 713-639-7300, mfah.org. — RT “We Chat: A Dialogue in Contemporary Chinese Art” The Cultural Revolution is “so last week,” at least as far as the young (born after 1976) artists featured at Asia Society Texas Center are concerned. For these creatives, the (recently lifted) one-child policy was the norm, the skyline of their cities is continually evolving and Mao Zedong was a Communist Party leader from history books. No Man City, a massive 25-foot-wide sculpture of white Tyvek on acrylic, is sublime perfection. Morphing from a three-tiered symmetrical city to a deconstructed and geometric inverted cone, it’s all shadows and light. Artist Jin Shan has a great back story (he once installed a life-size fountain, a replica of himself, standing and peeing into a canal); this piece is decidedly more traditional, paying homage to his father, a classically trained painter who made backdrops for Chinese opera. Liu Chuang dabbles in conceptual art, and for his Love Story (1) installation, the artist was moved by the loneliness and longing found in the migrant workers of Chenzhen. At a street corner lending library, Liu discovered that people wrote all kinds of things in the margins of romance novels. The books are displayed on a table, with color-coded rocks giving clues to the translated-into-English messages written on the wall. Graffiti-esque pieces by Sun Xun feature anthropomorphic animals as allegories (a movie camera represents government surveillance, while a gas mask references Beijing’s pollution); and Ma Qiusha’s video reveals a razor blade in her mouth, symbolizing her pain at being labeled an artistic talent in kindergarten, and the ensuing years of rigorous training. There’s a talk with artist Liao and guest curator Barbara Pollack on Sunday, April 24 at 2 p.m. Through July 3. 1370 Southmore, 713-496-9901, asiasociety.org/texas. — ST

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’s layered nest of a set – the better to perch upon – looks appropriately homespun and is lashed together with strips of cloth. The background wall is a wash of clouds. But the best color of all is in the cast, rich and vibrant. No pastels here. They peck ravenously at McGettigan’s scenery, being immensely silly and clucking when necessary. They are all wonderful, but Sweeney in the nonsense role of Triballian is a definite highlight. In fuzzy wig with Brünnhilde helmet, she spouts gibberish like an Oscar recipient. Low-rent but a social satirist who gave Athens the bird, Aristophanes knew what he was doing. His play received second place at the festival, no doubt because he cut too close to the bone. Hays & Co. has given us a Birds to be proud of. Through April 24. Classical Theatre Company, 4617 Montrose, 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 known as a “women’s picture,” a weepie, one of those directed by 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. Musicals have this archetype, too. The Jule Stein/Stephen Sondheim Gypsy is the ultimate prototype. 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

pre-teen than Neves is a convincing teen) is outwardly blasé and terribly introverted. Both these marshmallows are hardly daughters of hard-living, hard-driving Coco who already has her hands full with an ex-husband in the next room dying of pancreatic cancer and an 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, sometimes they continue playing the scene. Poor dad. He survives 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 an HGTV dream home from the early Reagan administration. You half expect actual water 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 nerve for days, but playwright Riml gives her no depth. Townsend 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’s there. Director Kenn McLaughlin does his professional best 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 ultimate savior for a play that’s dated upon arrival. Anyone know a good composer? Through May 1. Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway. 713-527-0123. — DLG “Thom Pain (based on nothing)” Life sucks. That’s not a direct quote from the eponymous “hero” (George Parker) of Will Eno’s tantalizing 75-minute monologue Thom Pain (based on nothing), but you get the idea. Brought to searing life through Catastrophic Theatre, Pain — or should I say playwright Eno — is too smart to be so prosaic, too snarky to be so mundane. This is stream of consciousness as stand-up, an angst-filled comedy rant via Lenny Bruce channeling the Great One, Samuel Beckett. Existentialism has never been more fun, more exfoliating or, in Pain’s most-used description, more fearful. Eno hurls words the way Jackson

Pollock tossed paint. He splatters everywhere, seemingly at random, but the pattern and design are clearly there. If you saw Catastrophic’s poignant Middletown last season, you know this playwright’s sadistic, dark undertones. He swamps you in language. Sporting black horn-rimmed glasses and dressed in a shapeless black suit with white pocket handkerchief, Parker, as Thom Pain, is the epitome of anonymity. You wouldn’t look at him twice walking down the street, and his facelessness is his ultimate defense and his ultimate cry from the heart. Notice me, he shouts, but then quickly turns away when you do. Life is a mess, life is wonderful, life is hell. “I strike people as the man who just left,” he says with sly downward wink and, yet, complete self-deprecation. He knows where he is, which is nowhere. How did he get here? That’s the gist of the play. We soon realize, which Eno dramatizes in language fragrant and hurtful, that he’s not alone. He’s no different than we are. We’re just like this schlub. We are this schlub. “When did your childhood end?” he asks with wicked smile. Eno smacks us in the face. His juicy, precise language jabs like a hypodermic filled with sodium pentothal. As if witnessing, or maybe attending, some AA meeting, Parker commands the stage with this rambling tour-de-force monologue. Non sequiturs abound as he leads us — shoves us, actually — through this quasi-bio. He dissects his unfulfilled heart with clinical panache and sorrowful glee. Are these traumas he’s living through, or just the dead horse of his life? What better venue than the former church at 14 Pews for this intimate/universal confession? The sad, lonesome little boy grows up into a sad, lonesome little man. Both are lost. Life is gritty: vomit, cum, blood, sweat, tears. Pleasure is fleeting, but the telling can be hilarious. We slip on the blackest of bile as easily as on a banana peel. Monologues are in vogue this season. Witness Grounded at the Alley, The Other Mozart from Lott Entertainment, Wiesenthal at JCC. Pain’s in excellent company. Darker and more insidiously entertaining, it throttles with a joker’s determined grin. You may not feel fingers around your throat, but without warning, the air’s gone. Fear, depression, frustration, humiliation, failure, you name it, this is what we have to deal with. Eno exalts in capital letters and quotation marks. Raw and unfiltered, Pain is the life force, or as close as we’re going to get. Sure, life sucks, but, as Eno (mesmerizing), Parker (spectacular) and director Jason Nodler (precise) encapsulate, the alternative is so much worse and nowhere near as frighteningly sardonic. God help us...somebody help us...anybody? Through April 24. 800 Aurora, 713-522-2723. — DLG

VIsIt HOustONpress.cOM FOr aDDItIONal art aND stage cOVerage 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) has been crowned Miss Teen, an accolade bestowed upon 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

It isn’t often that you get the chance to see in person a work of art that changed the course of history, but you can see one now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The work of art is The Cradle, a 1950 drawing of an anguished mother cradling her children in her emaciated arms, by John Biggers, founder of the art program at Texas Southern University. When Biggers, who was black, won the top prize for the drawing in a competition at the then segregated museum, he wasn’t allowed to attend the celebration to receive his prize. That shameful episode became the vehicle for opening MFAH to

Photo by Gordon Parks, Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

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with triangles of pecorino. The flavors clashed like a Hawaiian shirt paired with tuxedo pants and golf shoes. Nothing seemed to fit. When the ovenroasted prime rib arrived, though, the salad mishap was easily forgiven. The slab of tender beef was a beautiful shade of red, with the Phaedra Cook edge baked to a crusty brown. It was tender, the oven-roasted prime rib, part of a three-course prix fixe lunch, is fabulous. with a good balance of consistency. It was on the venison dish and fat. A light sauce made with the meat juices raucous laughter. reappeared in disconcerting excess with the pooled to one side of the platter and there was Not every part of the dinner was disapherb-crusted beef tenderloin. There should even a little pitcher that held extra sauce. pointing, though. The $18 beef tartare service be some kind of warning so diners can avoid Green spears of haricot vert jutted up over one is incredibly fun. The components, which inthis gooey interloper. side of the steak and were cooked to an ideal clude raw, chopped steak, capers, chopped The sauce didn’t make an appearance with a state of not-too-soft and not-too-hard. The pored onion, Worcestershire sauce and hard$39 duck dish. Unfortunately, that might be the tatoes were whipped into buttery satin. boiled eggs grated to a fine yellow-and-white nicest thing that can be said about the meat. It Most impressively, this slab of beef — only fluff, are wheeled out on a cart. The server was a breast accompanied by a leg, but the dark one course in a $28 three-course lunch spemixes the flavorings into the chopped beef, meat proved superior thanks to its natural fatticial — was almost an inch thick. Many steakthen hands a tasting spoon to the diner who ness and dusky flavor. The breast meat was houses would have charged at least another ordered it. The diner can direct adjustments served skin-side down, so instead of being $10 just for the prime rib. as needed, such as “extra capers” or “more crispy, it was limpid. The sides were better this That brings us to the main problem at Worcestershire, please.” So, there’s no blamtime around, though. Halves of bok choy, Bistecca. As an Italian steakhouse, they ing the restaurant if the end result isn’t good. braised and heavily adorned with pecorino, charge typical steakhouse prices at dinner, The diner is steering the ship. were tender and savory. There was a fine rendiand the execution does not always validate Bistecca is situated near some of the most tion of au gratin potatoes on the side as well. the cost. It’s easy for two people to rack up a well-regarded restaurants in Houston. After Bistecca’s grand aspirations as a fine-dinbill that is more than $200 and still be dissatreceiving their $200 bill, diners will surely ing establishment are apparent even in the ar- wonder what they could have eaten for the isfied with the food. chitecture. The building was constructed on In fact, the entrée prices are so expensive same price at Underbelly, Da Marco, Hugo’s the foundation of a former flower shop. The that Bistecca has painted itself into a corner. or even Sorrento. Flabby duck breast and interior looks like a graceful art gallery, with When the price tag for venison chops is $49, small, expensive venison chops are not going austere white walls and sweeping high ceilnothing but exemplary execution will do. to steer Bistecca to where it needs to go. For ings. There’s a pretty, colorful painting in the The venison chops weren’t top notch, now, diners should immediately check out entrance as if to acknowledge the resemthough. To have come from such a grand Bistecca’s prix fixe lunch on Fridays to make blance. Inside, abstract shapes with edges beast, the two-bone rack seemed paltry. It their acquaintance with the menu and the painted in bright yellow and pink are may have weighed six ounces, total. Perhaps wonderful, attentive staff. At dinner, though, mounted high on the walls. Those angular Bistecca was serving meat from a younger treading carefully and selecting just a few buck. Older bucks don’t make for good eating. wall mountings are clever as well as artsy, as dishes for a test run is the way to go for now. an observant dining companion realized that Still, it seemed like a puny serving. The acthey are made of soundproofing material. companying pear risotto was acceptable, alBistecca houston ristorante Unfortunately, there aren’t enough to sufthough not as good as the version topped 224 Westheimer, 832-804-8064 fice. Because of the tall walls, hard floors and with goat. The extra broccoli rabe ordered on Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. high ceilings, loud voices bounce from one the side was another failure—so bitter and Mondays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and end of the room to the other. It was hard to unseasoned that it went uneaten after a test 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays; 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturdays. bite. The server noticed and graciously took it have a dinner conversation with a tablemate sitting a mere three feet away. off the bill, even though nothing was said The one part of the room that seems really about it. The entrées may be inconsistent, but Broccoli Rabe $10 out of place is the heavy, black floor-to-ceiling service at Bistecca is outstanding. Beef Tartare $18 shelving behind the bar area. It weighs down The kitchen often sauces meat with an Capretto Risotto $26 one side of the space like the anchor of a odd, unidentified berry reduction. It’s not Three-Course Prix Fixe Lunch (Fridays only) $24 cruise ship. Sometimes, the patrons in front listed as part of the description on the menu Herb-Crusted Beef Tenderloin (lunch) $28 of the bar act a bit like sailors, leaning on each and it’s an unpleasant surprise when it turns Duck Breast $36 other and filling the dining room with their up. As the sauce cools, it takes on a jelly-like Venison Chops $49

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hef Alberto Baffoni has been a bit nomadic over the last few years. His first restaurant in Houston was the acclaimed Simposio, which opened in 1997 and closed well after his departure in 2011. His follow-up, Sappori, didn’t last quite as long. In 2012, he turned up at Mezzanotte in Cypress, left, then re-emerged at Mascalzone in early 2015 after a stint at The Briar Club. Now, he’s at Bistecca houston ristorante, an Italian restaurant that quietly opened in the Montrose across the street from the nowclosed Georges Bistro. It’s a new endeavor from Abbas Hussein, who owns another Italian restaurant, Sorrento, which is a scant distance further on Westheimer. Is this going to be a long engagement? Who knows? No one’s taking bets. In the meantime, though, Baffoni’s signature is quite clear. A blindfolded diner familiar with his work might recognize the risotto by taste and texture alone. Baffoni is one of the few Houston chefs who repeatedly execute an excellent version composed of creamy grains of rice that are firm, but yielding. One rendition is topped with capretto, or young stewed goat. It’s a warm, comforting dish, the kind that shines through a rainy day. In order to experience the best that Bistecca has to offer, it is important to check out the $28 three-course prix fixe lunch, which is only offered on Fridays. It is such a bargain that it almost seems unfair to take advantage of it. Any CheCk pangs of conscience out the will evaporate and be $28 threereplaced by pangs of Course hunger, though, after prix fixe you take a look at the lunCh, only menu. One recent lunch began with a offered on pear and arugula fridays. salad, moved on to a fabulous oven-roasted prime rib with green beans and mashed potatoes, and concluded with a dessert sampler. The little plate of sweets included a square of a respectable three-layer chocolate cake and an indulgent chunk of creamy cheesecake. The prize on the plate, though, was the lemony panna cotta, so stable yet supple that if someone wheeled out a giant version, people would line up and beg to just sink into it as if it were a silken bed. Of the three courses, the pear and arugula salad was the only one that wasn’t excellent. The red wine-soaked pear slices were soft and the arugula leaves were of the older, more bitter variety. The greens were garnished

Bistecca has an attentive staff, not inconsequential prices and an ambitious menu, but the Friday prix fixe luncheon may be its best option.

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ike searching for the best chocolate chip cookie in Houston, finding the best doughnut in Houston proved a tricky, highly subjective task. Personal preferences between airiness and the squish factor, chewiness vs. cakiness and the glaze-todough ratio all played a huge role in determining the ultimate doughnut. Though the majority of the tasters never expected to meet a doughnut they didn’t like, this side-byside tasting brought a multitude of surprising new preferences to light. After aggregating scores across 10 doughnut lovers, we were able to confidently crown the top doughnuts in terms of their crowd-pleasing factor and overall execution quality.

Methodology

Doughnut shops were selected to maximize saturation of all options in the Houston area. However, we acknowledge that there are some glaring omissions in the final 13 locations selected, including, but not limited to, Krispy Kreme, Southern Maids, and Doughmaker Doughnuts (the latter of which was unavailable due to mechanical problems the day of the tasting). All doughnuts were picked up the morning of the tasting to maximize freshness. Each doughnut shop was rated along two categories: their glazed doughnut and then their best specialty doughnut, which was selected at the suggestion of the shop employee. Each doughnut was randomly assigned a number and subsequently rated during a blind taste test for flavor and texture—on a scale of 1-10—and appearance, on a scale of 1-5, for a total of 25 points. All points were added up for an overall score out of 275 points in each category. Results are broken down into least popular, middle of the road, and top three winners in each category.

Results: Glazed Least popular: Dunkin’ Donuts (142 points),

B&B Donuts (141 points) and Glazed (131 points) received the lowest overall rankings for their renditions of the classic glazed. Dunkin’ was my personal least favorite; compared side-by-side alongside all other doughnuts, there was a funky flavor to their oil and the exterior was a little tough. B&B was also infused with a particularly greasy flavor that was slightly off-putting, and though Glazed had a delightfully crisp exterior, it was generally marked down for a subtly bitter taste. Middle of the road: Lee’s Fried Chicken and Donuts (173 points), Le Donut (173 points), Fresh & Best Donuts (172 points), Hugs & Donuts (165 points), River Oaks Donuts (156 points), Bakery Donuts (150 points). Hugs & Donuts, Lee’s and Le Donut were my personal favorites of the middle of the road doughnuts. Hugs & Donuts’ glazed doughnut is a notably airy specimen with a pleasantly toothsome bite similar to Christy’s. Lee’s

Photo by Erika Kwee

we taste-tested doughnuts from 13 shops around Houston to find the ultimate glazed and specialty doughnuts.

doughnut was remarkable for its slightly crunchy glaze, a nice chew and overall pleasing clean, yeasty flavor. Le Donut also had a particularly crackly glaze and fell into the very pale, squishy category of doughnut which proved divisive—I loved it, but others did not. Fresh and Best had a tight crumb relative to other doughnuts and was slightly drier and breadier. River Oaks was very squishy and airy: a solid, standard glazed doughnut. Bakery Donuts was dubbed too sweet by several tasters, and though the doughnuts come draped in a pleasingly crackly glaze, they were a little tough to bite into and small in size, for those who care about such things. Third place: Tie between Shipley’s DoNuts and Queen Donut (183 points) Who are we to deny the nostalgic lure of Shipley’s? No one, apparently. The iconic golden, airy Shipley’s ring, pronounced too sweet by some, still proved its mettle against many other doughnut shops to tie with Queen Donut’s pale, almost cakey-soft doughnut iced in a crackly, drippy glaze for third place. Second place: The Grove Do-Nutz & Deli (196 points) With one of the most photogenic doughnuts, The Grove snagged second place thanks to a golden, well-crisped exterior and uber fresh-tasting, fluffy interior. While I wished for a slightly thicker glaze to stand up to the voluptuous, bready interior, this was an undeniably well-executed doughnut. First place: Christy’s Donuts (203 points) The magic moment for me with these humbly simple-looking doughnuts is the sinking of your teeth into the sea of a slightly doughy bready barrier, just breaking through the slightest resistance of the gently crisped crust. The pillowy, snow-white interior is perfectly yeasty with a tighter, cakier crumb than Shipleys that contrasts brilliantly against the slightly crackly glaze. At 55 cents per glazed doughnut, it doesn’t get much cheaper for a first-class winner like Christy’s. Results: Specialty Doughnuts

Certain doughnut shops had a significant

leg up over other shops in this category. Ultimately, only a few doughnuts really had standout specialty doughnuts, but we still discovered some gems from the more standard doughnut shops. Least Popular: Shipley’s Do-Nuts (155 points), Christy’s Donuts (154 points), B&B Donuts (142 points), Dunkin’ Donuts (133 points), Bakery Donuts (132). Establishments like Shipley’s and Christy’s serve up excellent renditions of the classics: it was hard for their scant offerings to stand up against other more inventive creations. Christy’s chocolate-glazed lost points for lacking in flavor and even Shipley’s rich chocolate icing couldn’t stand out in the crowd. Dunkin Doughnut and B&B’s both competed with plain cake doughnuts: Dunkin’s had just a faint lemon flavor that couldn’t compensate for its dry and monotonous texture that lacked any kind of crisp contrast; B&B’s doughnut also lacked flavor and textural contrast. Bakery Doughnuts was unfortunately marked down for a very cakey cinnamon crumb contender that tasted both stale and dry. Middle of the road: Queen Donut (178), Lee’s Fried Chicken and Donuts (175), River Oaks Donuts (174), Fresh & Best Donuts (174). Queen Donut missed tying for third by just 2 points with an exemplary chocolate glazed doughnut that, like its glazed counterpart, had a lovely bite and plush texture topped with a crackly chocolate glaze, but was marred by a slight bitter undertone. Lee’s Mexican chocolate doughnut was an intriguing concept, though the cinnamon didn’t quite harmonize with the chocolate glaze, and the flavor of the doughnut underneath the glaze was somewhat lacking. River Oak’s white glazed, sprinkled doughnut was heavyhanded on the glaze; simply a soft and very sweet doughnut with not much else going on. Fresh and Best’s apple fritter was peppered with fresh apple chunks and crispy edges, but lacking in flavor. Third place: Tie between Hugs & Donuts and >> p36 Glazed (180 points)

4/18/16 4:20 PM

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April 21 - 27, 2016

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Hugs & Donut’s blueberry doughnut was divisive: some found the blueberry flavor a bit fake and on the dry side. Others found the flavor delightful, particularly draped under a light glaze. The caramel and chocolate-glazed Glazed doughnut was a giant and aesthetically pleasing contender; the deeply fried, crispy exterior and elaborate topping was appreciated, though again there was a bitter note to the dough. Second place: Le Donut (196 points) The dark horse of the category, the unassuming Le Donut took second place with an uber-tender blueberry cake doughnut that the shop owner pronounced her second favorite after the classic glazed. Once again, this doughnut fell on the cakey side of the scale—but since it’s a cake doughnut, the soft texture swathed in a crunchy glaze was deliciously appropriate. First place: The Grove Do-Nutz & Deli (256 points) The Grove was the runaway winner of this category (and overall tasting favorite). We scored The Grove in the specialty category using their strawberry cheesecake cronut, which was a marvel of textures: creamy globs of cheesecake infused flaky, crispy doughnut layers; the entire thing is topped with a pink glaze and a glazed strawberry. Notable mentions need to be made for other specialty doughnuts that managed to sneak their way into the box of Grove goodies: namely, the maple bacon doughnut that one taster dubbed “the only bacon doughnut [I’ve] actually liked.” One taster and regular customer called their banana cream pie doughnut (graced with a thick layer of banana pudding, whipped cream and a nilla wafer) a strong contender for her new favorite. A doughnut topped with cookie batter and pretzels was also swiftly dismembered even after the tasting had concluded. Conclusion

For an excellent classic, no-frills doughnut, Christy’s is a cheap and crowd-pleasing gem in the Montrose area, though Queen Doughnut and Le Donut were two of my new favorites to come out of the tasting for classic doughnuts. All of these locations excel in a very soft, excellently fluffy doughnut with a good balance of sweetness.

Hugs and Donuts, Lee’s and Glazed deserve commendation for creativity and generally excellent execution, though if you’re willing to make the trek out to Richmond, Grove is hands-down the champion of over-the-top inventive doughnut creations that excel in both the look and taste departments. It’s worth noting that prior to the tasting, Doughmaker’s Doughnuts food truck was my reigning favorite doughnut purveyor in the area (even though they veer far from my above demonstrated squishy doughnut preferences, venturing into the very bready realm with deeply fried and crispy exteriors), so if you feel so inclined to conduct your own personal doughnut tasting, I strongly recommend throwing them into the mix.

OpeningS & clOSingS sToked Tacos & Tequila finally opens alExandra doylE

After much ado, Stoked Tacos & Tequila is finally open at 2416 Brazos and serving unusual Mexican-street-food-style dishes, like guacamole with pumpkin seeds and radishes on top, as well as mashed potato taquitos with pickled veggies. The spot also has a large covered patio and a walk-up taco window for those of you on the go. Houston’s first food hall, Conservatory, is open at 1010 Prairie, right next to its sister concept, Prohibition Supperclub. Imagine a cafeteria-like space with different counters, each of which serves food from a different restaurant, and that’s the basic idea of Conservatory. The featured counters are Myth Café, El Burro & The Bull, Melange Creperie and Samurai Ramen. For more details, check out Phaedra Cook’s first look article; also, don’t expect to see the food hall on street level, because it’s entirely underground. From the folks that brought you Little Woodrow’s now comes Kirby Ice House at 3333 Eastside, just a few blocks from Kirby. The concept only serves beer and features a large backyard with games and plenty of spots to lounge with friends. The Whitehall Hotel at 1700 Smith, formerly known as the Crowne Plaza Downtown, has

April 21 - 27, 2016

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Melange Creperie finally has a permanent, stationary home in Houston’s new underground food hall.

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April 21 - 27, 2016

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been renovated and re-opened, and it has a new restaurant inside called Edgar’s Hermano. The fare is Mexican-meets-American-South, and it looks like the drinks might be pretty good, too. As anticipated, Kiran’s at 4100 Westheimer closed this week. Stay tuned; owner and chef Kiran Verma intends to reopen the restaurant in a freshly-built location in Kirby Grove, 2525 Richmond. The previously mentioned Fajitas A Go Go, brought to you by the same mastermind as Tacos A Go Go, is now open at 5404 Kirby. The restaurant specializes, obviously, in fajitas, and it’s geared toward takeout, although there is some space to dine there, too. Food truck Bop Bowl is on the road and serving up bowls filled with your choice of meat, plus rice, lettuce, noodles, carrots and onions. The menu also includes sides like kimchee fries and dumplings. Anonymous Artisan Bites & Coffee Bar, 9920 Highway 90-A in Sugar Land, is ready to serve you fresh pastries, cakes, cookies, spinach or cheese pies and, of course, coffee. The food menu consists of mostly Greek dishes, such as walnut spice cake, Greek donuts drenched in honey and spanakopia; we’re pretty interested in the Greek coffee, too. There’s a new German restaurant in Texas City because Stuttgarden Tavern opened this week. The tap list is quite respectable, and the menu is full of traditional German offerings and pub fare like Jaeger pork schnitzel, a wide assortment of burgers and house-made bratwurst. Favorite bubble tea haven Teahouse Tapioca & Tea has a new location at 16801 El Camino Real in Clear Lake. Express Rolls, a grab-and-go sushi and Asian fare eatery, opened its sixth location on April 20 at 4848 Beechnut. Folks in Cypress have a new dessert eatery to try out; Angels’ Churros N Chocolate is open at 7168 Barker Cypress. Reviewers have raved about the coffee, gelato and Japanese-style ice cream, too. Here are a few sundry openings for you: The Cajun House at 6015 Hilcroft, Singapore Cafe at 3149 Highway 6 in Sugar Land, Strings Noodle at 9889 Bellaire and Yoyo’s Hot Dog, a nights-only hot dog stand at 2306 Brazos. Finally, here are some restaurants that are coming soon. Goode Co. will have a self-described “Texas BBQ, Kitchen + Cantina” eatery in the new Six Pines III development at 8865 Six Pines in Shenandoah near The Woodlands. Fast-food burger joint Checkers has announced plans to open a dozen Houston locations in the next year. Astros star Craig Biggio is partnering with the Marriott Marquis (the gargantuan, extravagant hotel coming soon to 1777 Walker) to create Biggio’s, a double-decker sports bar inside the hotel that will serve craft brews and classic bar food. Check out Eric Sandler’s CultureMap article for more details. Eater Houston reports that San Antonio’s The General Public will expand to 797 Sorella in CityCentre; the concept features fancy, hip food and an expansive craft cocktail program. Last week, we reported a new bar coming soon to the former Copa Cabana spot at 114 Main; a reader tip tells us that the bar will be called Red Sparrow and the owners are putting in another bar, The Study, just down the street at 110 Main in the Raphael Building.

4/19/16 12:13 PM

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arlier this month, the announcement of this year’s lineup for Float Fest indicated that the August festival in San Marcos has really stepped its game up. Between Future Islands, Rick Ross and Bone Thugs N Harmony, the festival’s lineup is a great showcase of modern rock and rap alongside some key legacy artists. It pairs nicely with Free Press Summer Fest, a festival on a larger scale that provides that same bit of variety, designed to appeal to a wide audience. In the fall, we’ll get the third installment of Houston Whatever Fest and Untapped Festival, which aim to achieve similar aspirations albeit in varying degrees of size. The only problem with having so many festivals is that after a while, they all seem to look the same. It’s no secret that Houston, and Texas as a whole, is entering a period of oversaturation when it comes to music festivals. It may have been a one-off event, but the addition of this month’s March Madness Music Festival was another example of this formulaic lineup showing up again (albeit with a more popradio-friendly twist thanks to spon- >> p40

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the sultry groove of “Whatta Man” is a way for us to temporarily forget his moral turpitude and embrace the Huxtable myth. In 2016, the price of oil has dipped precariously close to $30 a barrel and For Sale signs pop up in front of houses like genital warts: unwanted, and unavoidable. Of course we spend obscene sums on ‘90s reunion tours; they briefly let us indulge in the fantasy that our local economy isn’t an offshore rig just waiting to explode. Artists, for their part, are generally content to pander to the fantasy, playing a comforting selection of old hits to keep the lie alive (case in point: when They Might Be Giants came into town on April 1, they dedicated an entire set to their 1990 album Flood). Some don’t even bother with the pretenses of an album; Salt-N-Pepa’s last one was released in 1997 and received tepid reviews and circulation. Those who dare unfreeze themselves from their moment in time risk literal evisceration by pitchforks; Free Press Summer Fest 2016 artist Violent Femmes’s new album — their first in 16 years — was recently panned as “a pale Silly Putty copy of their still-beloved selftitled record.” New music dismantles the fiction that time has not marched on; of course the reaction is righteous indignation. But march on it has, and bands, like it or not, have marched on with it. Smashing Pumpkins no longer play grimy, sold-out

HOUSTON PRESS

ship stories, we might find a lineup similar to that of the next few months: Smashing Pumpkins. The Cure. Salt-N-Pepa. That’s right, Houston. This is the summer of the nostalgia tour. The nostalgia tour has a simple and powerful anatomy. Take a few bands whose music is sealed in the amber of a vaguely memorable decade. Dig up a handful of earworm hits that we still, for some reason, know all of the words to. Stitch in a few charming, dated technological references and cheesy catchphrases and then shock the whole lot with a bolt of sentimental electricity. The nostalgia tour — it’s alive! But be sure to check the balance on your credit card; you might have to shell out upwards of $1,000 on tickets to one of these shows. Most people warp nostalgia’s meaning, misconstruing it to be a mere sentimentality for the past. Under this definition, the nostalgia tour is just a formalized excuse to sing “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” at the top of your lungs while wearing butterfly clips in your hair. But its roots, the Greek “nóst,” meaning “return home,” and “algia,” meaning pain, suggest that the draw of nostalgia comes from trying to revisit a home you can’t quite return to, and trying to seize a moment that you can’t quite get back. Musically, the ‘90s are that home we can’t return to. Smashing Pumpkins harken back to

Monthly Beer Dinner featuring Oasis Brewing Company April 28th

he summer concert calendar for 2016 is a facsimile of a different time. Indeed, it’s a facsimile of a time when we actually knew and used the word “facsimile.” If we dug through the Houston Press archives from the 1990s, tucked between the yellowed Zima advertisements and Rockets champion-

shows at The Vatican because they can’t — it’s been closed since 1993. Even if they could, trying to recapture that moment too perfectly would send us into an uncomfortable uncanny valley. We might not feel so alive and liberated in that rugged, underground punk venue. The sound might be too blistering, too loud. Our backs might start to hurt. We might feel old. As an audience, we will have to try our best to salve ourselves with the facsimile, the readymade version of the past that we are ready to consume, and hope that will suffice. Smashing Pumpkins and Liz Phair perform 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 20 at UH’s Cullen Performance Hall, 4800 Calhoun. See entertainhouston.com for tickets and more information.

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a time when the label “alternative” still had a cache of meaning and the radio played music with grit. Salt-N-Pepa are a lighthearted, sexy antidote to the gritty realities of rap music now informed by the Black Lives Matter movement. The Cure left such an indelible mark on this city that the Numbers documentary is named after one of their songs. Nostalgia tours aren’t just a way for those creeping towards 40 and beyond to revisit their fleeting youth for an evening. They’re a desperate attempt for young and old alike to fend off the sense of homelessness that comes from an increasingly unstable world. Think about it. In 2016, Bill Cosby is an alleged serial rapist, not a beloved, besweatered father to the nation. Listening live to

4/19/16 12:13 PM

sors Coca-Cola and the NCAA.) For those who aren’t averse to making road trips throughout Texas, you could hit up a festival nearly every weekend between now and June with Levitation, Untapped and JMBLYA in Austin, Untapped in Fort Worth, Neon Desert in El Paso and FPSF here. While many of those fests attract similar audiences and are put on by or in assistance with related entities, the fact remains that patrons are only willing to go to so many fes-

his teenage babysitter. WILLIE D

sunday april 24th Danny WooD (In The STuDIo)

sunday april 24th Janeane Garofolo (In The Ballroom)

Houston Press

wednesday april 27th The fronT BoTTomS

wednesday may 4th memphIS may fIre

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festivalgoers would agree that fests are a more fun experience for everyone when the attendees are mostly dedicated fans committed to make the trek out specifically to see certain bands rather than others simply browsing. There’s also nothing wrong with festivals like FPSF or Houston Whatever Fest, which serve a purpose, bring some great bands to the city and serve as great musical touch-points for the city. From a business standpoint, maybe the more broad festivals do better; this is an industry, after all. It’s just that as more festivals pop up, they may want to keep in mind what makes them different from the rest, and finding a niche and developing a strong identity is one way to do that.

risk MaNageMeNT a reader is having an affair with

tuesday may 3rd monSTer Truck

the upcoming Levitation festival in Austin at the end of the month or our own Day For Night in December. Both fests have a wider range of what fits in their lineup, encompassing a larger style rather than a specific genre. For Levitation, that’s “psych,” but that can mean fuzzed-out garage rock, spacious electronics, or slow doom metal. It’s a collection of disparate genres, but the underlying connective tissue is strong enough that they seem to fit in a clear design rather than appearing to be haphazard. The same can be said for Day For Night, as classical

Friday april 22nd Thao & The GeT DoWn STay DoWn

April 21 - 27, 2016

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Rocks Off from p39

Julian Bajsel

Happy crowds at float fest

tivals. With all this competition, the question becomes what makes one festival stand out from another. Location and timing play a factor, of course, but the big differentiating factor comes down to the lineup, and as so many of the lineups are giving a sense of déjà vu, a strong case can be made that specialization and focus are the key elements that can help festivals to stand out from the pack. With the plethora of festivals that seem to be popping up on a daily basis, having a niche is an important aspect that can help a fest rise above the others. There are many different approaches to this, such as focusing solely on one genre or presenting a theme that a fest adheres to. This can be a hyper-focus on a small scale, as we’ve seen in Houston with smaller hardcore fests like Fallcore or the slightly larger but now-defunct Bad Ass Weekend, though one of the founders explained in a Facebook post that he’s working on a different idea for the city in fall of 2017. Festivals like these don’t have a widespread appeal, but that’s not their point. What they lack in a larger draw they make up for by offering a fine-tuned lineup that brings in acts from other countries that rarely come to Texas or showcasing reunions. These may not be festivals that bring in casual fans, but by offering lineups that differ from the norm, it creates a destination that may bring in more diehard patrons willing to make a trip to see bands they can’t find in other places. Fests don’t have to be that small or centralized to have a clear identity. Just look at

composers like Philip Glass, experimental cult favorites like Psychic TV, and superstars like Kendrick Lamar can all exist within the same umbrella. With a focus on electronic, rap, and jazz, Day For Night was able to contain the pop of Shamir with the furtive noise-electronics of Health in a way that felt highly curated rather than arbitrary. These two festivals both show an example of how you can built a larger festival with big name acts that appeal to many while also developing a strong personality. There’s nothing wrong with acts like Modest Mouse or Lil Wayne, but those artists frequent the region regularly, making it not such a special occasion to catch them. Conversely, when a fest books a big name like Brian Wilson celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pet Sounds or New Order’s first Houston date in more than 30 years, it helps to make the weekend truly feel like a special occasion. Not every niche festival has to stand out by bringing in obscure international artists or cult favorites, too. Electronic dance music festivals like Euphoria or Something Wicked may not have a lot of crossover appeal, but at least they know their audience and cater to them. Then there are smaller ones like JMBYLA (which hits Dallas and New Braunfels but, maddeningly, not Houston) that focus on building a strong rap-centric bill focusing on newer Southern artists like Future, Rae Sremmurd, and Kevin Gates. There are plenty of ways to build focused lineups that fill a niche without alienating audiences. Additionally, most

Dear Willie D: I’m a 39-year-old widower who’s been having sex with my kids’ 17-year-old babysitter for the past year. My kids are toddlers, so they are too young to know what’s going on when we go into the room and shut the door. Although she is gorgeous, this is not something I planned. She is the daughter of a friend. Her dad inquired about buying an old car of mine for her. So he suggested that I let his daughter babysit and drive the car while she worked for the money to earn it. The first couple of times she babysat and I came home, things were normal. We hugged (as we always do in front of her parents), I paid her and she left. But the third time, I don’t know what it was, but we hugged a little longer and tighter, and it happened. We started kissing and had sex. Although she paid the car off months ago, her parents aren’t suspicious because she told them she is now working to have her own money. They think I get off work at a later time, which gives us time to be together during weekdays in addition to weekends. This is not a fling. I’m in love with her. The thought of going to jail for having sex with a minor scares the hell out of me, but I don’t know how to reverse my feelings. What should I do?

Sex With A Minor: Because the girl is 17, depending on the state you live in, you might be in the clear to have sex with her legally today, but that doesn’t mean Johnny Law won’t go back to when the girl was a minor and charge you with statutory rape. If she is still a minor, you need to think about your kids because the state will remove them from your home and lock you up. Even if the girl is of age, she is still a child. She may be great in bed, but she’s not ready for a grownup relationship, and you know that. And what if her dad, your friend, catches wind of the true nature of your relationship with his little girl? When you love something, sometimes the best thing you can do is set it free. Set her free, man. It’s not worth it. Ask Willie D appears Thursdays at houstonpress.com/music.

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Music

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Aubrie Sellers

7 p.m. Thursday, april 21 aT raven Tower, 310 norTh, 832-925-7585 or ravenTower.neT.

Country music has been gifted with several young women lately who have simultaneously aligned with and rejected Nashville’s old-guard traditions: Kacey Musgraves, Ashley Monroe, Margo Price and now Aubrie Sellers. Daughter of Texas-born superstar Lee Ann Womack, which is evident as soon as Sellers opens her mouth to sing, Sellers co-wrote 12 songs on her debut, this year’s New City Blues, and wrote the other two outright. Produced by Nashville Alister Frank Liddell, who happens to be Sellers’ stepfather, New City tackles smoldering country-blues (“Light of Day”) and blazing rockers (“Living Is Killing Me”) alongside more traditional numbers (“Losing Ground”) to make a striking statement that should ensure Sellers has a long career. Despite obvious singles like “Magazines,” most of New City is way too ambitious for country radio; luckily, it’s perfect for the outdoor-festival circuit — where Sellers will return to Houston at Free Press Summer Fest in June. Chris Gray

Tony Vega Band

9 p.m. saTurday, april 23 aT The BiG easy soCial & pleasure CluB, 5731 KirBy, 713-523-9999 or TheBiGeasyBlues.Com.

Admired by Billy Gibbons, set on his chosen path by a long-ago chance encounter with the late Albert Collins, Tony Vega is a stalwart of the local blues scene. The guitarist and singer has been fronting his eponymous band since 1997, a time span that has carried him through several albums and trips to Europe. Vega is back in the new-release racks with Black Magic Box, an album named after the 1947 Allister Ann black Gibson guitar Vega found at Houston’s Rockin’ Robin. Recorded and mixed in just two days, Vega’s first studio LP in about five years is an engaging spin through popular blues and R&B styles from the 1940s through the ’60s, the time of T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. Chicago-blues lovers’ eyes will light up at Bob Reed’s “I’m

work in the ’80s, but let’s not split hairs. It’s just nice to see Salt-N-Pepa in something besides a GEICO commercial. Chris Gray

Duran Duran, Chic

7 p.m. saTurday, april 23 aT CynThia woods miTChell pavilion, 2005 laKe roBBins drive, 281-363-3300 or woodlandsCenTer.orG.

As iconic an ’80s act as U2, Madonna or Prince, Duran Duran injected arena-rock ambition into suave New Romantic synth-pop with enough style that they can still headline major venues 35 years after their self-titled 1981 debut. Bottoming out with 1995’s massive all-covers misfire Thank You (which still has a high point or two), the group’s recent albums have been hit-or-miss affairs, but they arrive in The Woodlands on a high note thanks to last year’s Paper Gods. Tweaking the classic sound that spawned megahits like “Rio” and “Hungry Like the Wolf” with the help of “Uptown Funk” mastermind Mark Ronson, their 14th studio album shows Duran Duran has still got it where it counts. Also making this show a must-see is opening act Chic, the ’70s discorock deities whose founder Nile Rodgers both co-produced 1986’s Notorious with the band and reappears to do the same on Paper Gods. Chris Gray

Duran Duran still headlining.

Calliope Musicals, The Tomes

wiTh a Girl named TiGer and The Glass, 7:30 p.m. saTurday, april 23 aT saTelliTe Bar, 6922 harrisBurG, 713-425-6669 or saTelliTehTx.Com.

Somewhere along the way, “jam band” became a pejorative term, not a very nice way to treat groups whose only misdemeanors include playing unusual instruments, using elastic time signatures and (often) smoking lots of weed. Acts like Houston’s the Tomes are doing their best to reclaim jam bands’ good name; a spicy hash of folk, alt-pop and classic rock, most of the songs on their 2016 debut The Importance of Being Shackleton cram so many idiosyncrasies into less than four minutes it would take most jam bands twice that time. If songs like “Hakeem Olajuwon” — a great H-Town anthem in the making, to be sure — put you in mind of Cake, the laconic California band turned unlikely ’90s alt-rock superstars, you wouldn’t be far off. Saturday, the Tomes should make a fine chocolate-and-cheese pairing with Austin’s Calliope Musicals, whose new album Time Owes You Nothing threatens to steer traditional ’80s-influenced pop somewhere much more dangerous. Chris Gray

Stephanie Pistel

Leaving You,” while locals will delight in both Vega’s down-home take on Lyle Lovett’s “Penguins” and “Moody Park,” a Los Lobosish slice-of-life tribute to his native Near Northside. Chris Gray

I Love the ’90s Feat. Salt N’ Pepa 6:30 p.m. Friday, april 22 aT CynThia woods miTChell pavilion, 2005 laKe roBBins drive, 281-363-3300 or woodlandsCenTer.orG.

“I Love the ’90s” is here to meet all your nostalgia needs with a hip-hop package tour that already looks like a hell of a lot more fun than that Full House reboot. Along for the ride are Salt N’ Pepa; Rob Base (R.I.P. DJ E-Z Rock); All-4-One (“I Swear”); Tone Loc (“Funky Cold Medina”); Color Me Badd (“I Wanna Sex You Up”); Young MC (“Principal’s Office”); and Kid ’n Play (the House Party movies). Arguably, Kool Moe Dee (“Wild Wild West”); Rob Base (“It Takes Two”); Young MC (“Bust a Move”); Kid ’n Play (“Rollin’ With Kid ’n Play”); and Salt-N-Pepa themselves (“Push It”) did their most significant

Javier Escovedo

8 p.m. wednesday, april 30 aT under The volCano, 2349 BissonneT, 713-526-5282 or FaCeBooK. Com/underThevolCanohousTon.

The younger brother of punk pioneer and Austin icon Alejandro Escovedo, Javier Escovedo has recently relocated from California to San Marcos just in time to drop his second solo record, Kicked Out of Eden, on Jeff Smith’s Saustex label. A veteran of legendary California punk band the Zeros as well as his collaboration with Alejandro and Jon Dee Graham in the short-lived Austin sensation True Believers, Javier has held hard to the rock-til-you-drop New York Dolls ethos throughout his career. Backed by Thierry Le Cos (Eve Monsees Band), Michael “Cornbread” Traylor, Hector Munoz and Henri Herbert, Escovedo stands a good chance of rocking Under the Volcano as hard it has ever been by artists like Chuck Prophet, Barrence Whitfield and the Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra. This should be a true rock and roll freefor-all. william miChael smiTh

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Music

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.

T H I S J U ST I N 27th Annual Accordion Kings and Queens: With David Lee Garza,

Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, The Magnolia Sisters, Czech Melody Masters., Sat., June 4, 7-11 p.m., Free. Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park Dr., Houston. Alice Cooper: Tue., Aug. 23, 8 p.m., $29.50-$79.50. Revention Music Center, 520 Texas, Houston. Erykah Badu: Sat., May 28, 8 p.m., $69.50 to $99.50. Arena Theatre, 7326 Southwest Freeway, Houston. G-EAZY & Logic: With Yo Gotti, YG., Wed., June 29, 7 p.m., TBA. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins, The Woodlands. Madness on Main: With Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Los Skarnales, Another Run, Say Girl Say, Doeman, The Houston Craze, Kelly Doyle Trio, Keeton Coffman Music, Sphynx, Dollie Barnes, SAnD DUNES, Dead To The World, Trippy Cholo (feat. GIO Chamba), AF the Naysayer, Linus Pauling Quartet, The Skatastrophics, Knights of the Fire Kingdom, Us., SoulofSherif, Daed, Color Gravity, Glass the Sky, A Sundae Drive, Camera Cult, Since Always, Vodi, The Broken Spokes, Tony Badd, Killem Collective DJs., Sat., May 7, 8 p.m., $17.50 to $25. Continental Club, 3700 Main, Houston. Quiet Riot: Thu., June 30, 8 p.m., $20 to $50. The Pub Fountains, 12720 SW Freeway , TX 77477, Stafford. Taake: With WolvHammer., Wed., June 1, 7:30 p.m., $15 to $20. Studio @ Warehouse Live, 813 St Emanuel, Houston.

C LU B S L I ST I N G S ROCK Cactus Music: 2110 Portsmouth, Houston. Linus Pauling Quartet,

Sat., April 23, 1 p.m., Free.

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion: 2005 Lake Robbins, The

Woodlands. Duran Duran, with Chic featuring Niles Rodgers., Sat., April 23, 7 p.m., $25 to $134.95. Notsuoh: 314 Main, Houston. G2P The Band, with Pilot., Thu., April 21, 8 p.m., Free. Concrete Robot, with Hear You Me, Super Robot Party., Fri., April 22, 8 p.m., TBA. Darwin’s Finches, with Atticus Brimmstone., Sat., April 23, 8 p.m., Free. The Receiver, with Bell & Tom., Tue., April 26, 8 p.m., TBA. Raven Tower: 310 N., Houston. Jason Kownslar’s BBQ And Benefit Show, Sun., April 24, 2 p.m., $1 to $10. Half Moon Run, with Jesse Mac Cormack., Wed., April 27, 7 p.m., $15 to $19.

Houston Press

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| listings |

Visit HOUstOnPREss.COM FOR ADDitiOnAl MUsiC COVERAgE

April 21 - 27, 2016

Rudyard’s: 2010 Waugh, Houston. The Mad Doctors, with the

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Guillotines, Giant Kitty, The Killer Hearts., Thu., April 21, 9 p.m., $8. Susto, with Keeton Coffman., Sat., April 23, 8 p.m., $8 to $10. Satellite: 6922 Harrisburg, Houston. Dr. Boogie, with Modfag, Audacity, Hormones, Silver Blueberry., Thu., April 21, 8 p.m., TBA. Quiet Company, with Catch Fever., Fri., April 22, 8 p.m., TBA; Glass the Sky, with Only Beast, Major Grizz., Fri., April 22, 8 p.m., TBA. Calliope Musicals, with A Girl Named Tiger, Tomes Music, The Glass., Sat., April 23, 8 p.m., TBA. The Receiver, Tue., April 26, 7:30 p.m., Free. Bent Shapes, Wed., April 27, 7:30 p.m., TBA. Studio @ Warehouse Live: 813 St Emanuel, Houston. Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, with the Seratones., Fri., April 22, 8 p.m., $15. Danny Wood, Sun., April 24, 8 p.m., $25.

Walters Downtown: 1120 Naylor, Houston. Red Jumpsuit Ap-

paratus, Thu., April 21, 8 p.m., TBA. Otenki, with DJ Four, Portal Frame, Ari & The Skeletones, Hotmagandhi., Fri., April 22, 8 p.m., $10 to $15. Laura Stevenson, with Crying, Chris Farren., Sun., April 24, 6:30 p.m., $12 to $16. Studded Left, with SSPS, Miguel Flaco, Maramuresh, John Calero, Bill Converse, Tiago Varjao., Tue., April 26, 8 p.m., TBA.

AMERICANA Continental Club: 3700 Main, Houston. The Bellfuries, Thu.,

April 21, 8 p.m., $12. James McMurtry, with The Mighty Orq., Sat., April 23, 10 p.m., TBA. McGonigel’s Mucky Duck: 2425 Norfolk, Houston. Matt the Electrician, Thu., April 21, 7 p.m., $20 to $22. Shake Russell, Sundays, 6 p.m., $25 to $30. Sister C, Tue., April 26, 7 p.m., $20 to $22. Raven Tower: 310 N., Houston. Glenn Paulk, Wed., April 27, 6 p.m., Free. COUNTRY Continental Club: 3700 Main, Houston. John Egan, Fri., April

22, 7 p.m., Free.

The Dosey Doe Music Cafe: 463 FM 1488 Rd., Conroe. John Con-

lee, with Chuck Jones., Fri., April 22, 7:30 p.m., $88 to $148.

McGonigel’s Mucky Duck: 2425 Norfolk, Houston. Stephanie Urbina

Jones, Thu., April 21, 9:30 p.m., $20 to $22. Three Women And The Truth, Sat., April 23, 7 & 9:30 p.m., $32 to $35. Raven Tower: 310 N., Houston. Aubrie Sellers, Thu., April 21, 7 p.m., $10 to $13. Redneck Country Club: 11110 W Airport, Stafford. Ray Wylie Hubbard, Sat., April 23, 7 p.m., $15 to $25. Abbi Walker, Tue., April 26, 7:30 p.m., TBA. SINGER- SONGWRITER EQ Heights: 1030 Heights Blvd, Houston. Sophia Vidales, Fri.,

April 22, 8 p.m., Free.

McGonigel’s Mucky Duck: 2425 Norfolk, Houston. Greg Trooper,

Fri., April 22, 7:30 p.m., $25 to $27.

Raven Tower: 310 N., Houston. Eleanor Friedberger, with

Icewater., Fri., April 22, 7 p.m., $10 to $13.

E X P E R I M E N TA L Richmond Hall: 1500 Richmond, Houston. Maggie Nichols,

Fri., April 22, 8 p.m., Free.

FOLK Dosey Doe: 25911 I-45 N., Spring. Tom Paxton, Sun., April 24,

7:30 p.m., $68 to $108.

FUNK House of Blues: 1204 Caroline, Houston. George Clinton &

Parliament Funkadelic, Thu., April 21, 7 & 8 p.m., $29.50.

HIP-HOP Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion: 2005 Lake Robbins, The

Woodlands. I Love The 90s with Salt-N-Pepa featuring Spinderella, with Kool Moe Dee, All 4One, Rob Base, Tone Loc, Color Me Badd, Young MC, Kid N Play., Fri., April 22, 7:30 p.m., $40 to $65. House of Blues: 1204 Caroline, Houston. Cypress Hill, Sun., April 24, 8 p.m., $25 to $35. Super Happy Fun Land: 3801 Polk, Houston. J.O., with Carlos Christian/Young Dafi, Sor Live, Klutch, Kannon Baldino., Thu., April 21, 8 p.m., TBA. PUNK Eastdown Warehouse: 850 Mckee, Houston. M.D.C., with Death-

wish, Khobretti, The Ballistics., Thu., April 21, 8 p.m., TBA.

Fitzgerald’s: 2706 White Oak, Houston. Houston Underground Punk

Festival #4, with Bottom of the Food Chain, Brumes, Calvin and the Shit Punks, Carter, Commie Hilfiiger, Crowded Isolation, Dance Floor Cartel, Dandruff, Dead Weight, Fat Mannequin, Fiasko, Four Letter Language, From Parts Unknown, Giant Kitty, Hans Gruber & The Die Hards, Hogs of War, Jason Guy Smiley, Kemo for Emo, Mugrero, Poor Dumb Bastards, PRP, Shut Out, Skeleton Dick, Some Nerve, The Bad Drugs, The Hates, Yikes., Sat., April 23, 2 p.m., TBA. Wired Up (Modern Conveniences): 1318 Telephone, Spc 1, Houston. Step For Change, with The Real Cost, Dress Code, Skourge, United Races, Hired Gun., Fri., April 22, 8 p.m., $6.

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The Moms in your life will love this beautiful green linen-style gift box filled with our best seasonal cookies and finished with a Happy Mother’s Day ribbon. Enjoy 12 each of Lemon Daisy, Raspberry Blossom and Tangerine Swirl shortbreads. USE OFFER CODE: FORMOM212 ACCESS THE DEAL AT: DancingDeer.com/ForMom (some restrictions apply) CALL: 800.712.1785

CEMEX, Inc. is seeking an Operations Coordinator in Houston, TX, to assist w/ routine analytical & date collection activities under close supervision of deptmtl mgr. Must have Bachelor's degree in Engnrg or a rltd field or foreign equiv, plus 1 yr of post-baccalaureate exp in Database info extraction in SQL lang; ERP, SAP & Grafoper / Diaoper Production Programs; Visual Basic; Inventories & Cost analysis & Budget consolidation; PIMS System; & Grafoper Data Analysis Production & Maintenance Monitoring. Reqd exp must incl wrkg in the cement plant industry. Send res, cvr ltr & copy of ad to Rania Sinha, HR Generalist at CEMEX, Inc., 929 Gessner Rd, Ste 1900, Houston, TX 77024; No phone calls or walk-ins, pls. EOE.

MANAGEMENT / PROFESSIONS Vice President - Field Services Sanchez Oil & Gas Corporation - Houston, TX Dev. Co.'s Petroleum Services Division (“PSD”) bus. by managing daily operations & directing field operations; lead all petroleum services operations, incl/ing effectively managing team of seven degreed professionals reporting to Petroleum Services Mgr; drive, dev. & implement plans for operational infrastructure of systs., processes & personnel designed to accommodate internal service obj.’s, incl. long term services contracts & other strategic alliances; ensure reporting channels operational based on market dynamics & shortcomings, incl. issues rel. to joint operator rel/ships; incorporate PSD into overall explor. & production bus. services of Sanchez, incl. minimizing competing obj.’s or isolated initiatives; resp. for efficient operations of PSD, incl. assisting in integration of new petroleum acquisitions & businesses; examine opportunities avail. in petroleum services sector & lead bus. dvpmnt. efforts presenting bus. planning, projections & recommendations to Sr. exec.; carry out timely & accurate reporting on PSD; & oversee regulatory & compliance matters, incl. HSE, for PSD. Reqs 15 yrs progressively resp. oilfield exper. in upstream O&G fld. operations to incl. project mgmt. &/or fld. leadership exper. consisting of labor force mgmt. Resumes to HR Dept., Sanchez Oil & Gas Corp., 1000 Main, Ste. 3000, Houston, TX 77002.

Missionary Coord.: Church on The Rock Katy, Inc.; Houston, TX 77094. Create goals, eval & devlp strategies for mission ministry of the Church. Spanish language reqd. Est. missions edu. for church ministries. Int'l travel 2X/yr. Dom. travel 2X/yr. Bachl's from Accrd Uni. Email CV: rocakaty@aol.com

Orthodontics Instructor & Consultant (Houston, TX): Duties involve dvlp, prepare course material in orthodontia; teach courses in orthodontics in classroom envrmt & remotely. DDS deg or its foreign educational equiv reqd with 3 yrs exp in job or as orthodontist. Mail resumes to The Dentists at 650 Heights, PLLC, Attn: A. Valentini, 650 Heights Blvd., Houston, TX 77007.

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150 Medical/Dental/Health

Project Manager (Houston, TX) sought by Utilities co. with experience in managing, assembling and maintaining electromechanic equipment for underground utilities, sewer taps and storm sewer taps. Also requires experience installing electronic pipeline technology. Electronic Engineering MA+1 or BA+5. Send resumes by postal mail only to: Soraya Daniel, Vice-President, Safe Flow Utilities, Inc., 5380 Anderson Road, Houston, TX 77053

TopCare Medical, P.A. d/b/a Clinicas Mi Doctor is seeking a Family Practitioner. Must have M.D. or foreign equiv., and completion of Fam. Med. Residency Training. Must be BC/BE in Fam. Med., and possess or be eligible for a Texas med. license. Locations: Houston & Bellaire, TX. If interested, mail resume to Eduardo Barajas, CFO, TopCare Medical, P.A. d/b/a Clinicas Mi Doctor c/o Federico Cornejo, VP, Business Development, 222 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Suite 2000, Irving, TX 75039.

Senior Developer, Enterprise Integration (Houston, TX) Deliver tech solutions to complex, global, enterprise level projects w/ specific responsibility for the delivery of system integrations on TIBCO Business Works enterprise integration platform. Edu and Exp req’d. Send resume & cvr ltr to Danielle Williams (Code: SS-SDEI) at Tailored Shared Services, 6380 Rogerdale RoadHouston, TX 77072.

167 Restaurants/Hotels/Clubs

Senior GIS Application Developer is responsible for software coding to best practices, database implementation, and overall application development projects. Requirements: Master’s in Computer Science or related field, 3 yrs exp. and expertise in the Esri desktop and server technology suite. Fwd resume and references to Todd Buehlman: todd.buehlman@ logicsolutionsgroup.com

Sr. Business Analyst sought by Ruchi's El Rincon de Mexico #9, Inc. in Houston, TX. Candidate must have Master's deg in bus. mgmt or related field OR Bachelor's deg in bus. mgmt or related field & 2 yrs of work exp in the field of bus. admin. &/or mgmt. Technical education will be beneficial to maximizing ability to analyze our business's operational processes, even in their most technical & industrial aspects. Submit resumes & work references to Ruchi's El Rincon de Mexico #9, Inc. at 6410 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX 77057, Attn: President.

Exp'd Barbers Wanted $30/hr or MORE! Upscale shop seeks EXP'D Barbers. Vacation, bonuses & 401(k) after 1 yr. Excellent customer service skills, strong work ethic. Bellaire, Katy, Pearland. E-mail resume to john.santanella@ regisfranchise.com

IM LOOKING to hire 25 sharp guys and girls. You will be representing magazine companies by presenting the latest Fashion,Sports,Health and childrens publications. Must have a Valid I.D. A good attitude and a willingness to learn. Contact Ms. Nicholson 202-853-4041

527 Legal Notices

185 Miscellaneous

The isMelting Pot looking for Experienced Servers

DELIVERY DRIVER Delivery driver/warehouse help needed for Liquor Distributor in 610 / 225 area. Must be over 21 with clean TDL. Call 713-472-1400.

Flexible schedules in a fun and unique environment. Accepting applications every day after 12PMNoon. 6100 Westheimer Rd. (Briargrove Plaza)

WAREHOUSE HELP/DELIVERY DRIVER needed for Liquor Distributor in West University area Call 713-520-9777 Fax 713-520-1024 CHEF AND SOUS CHEF WANTED - We have an openings for a talented chef and sous chef full-time for local nightclub. Call Mitch or Brian at 713-629-6200 weekdays. The pay rate for these two positions is $10.00 to $18.00 per hour.

COUNTER SALES / CASHIER Need a friendly, outgoing person for a bakery/deli. Full Time. Day Shift. Apply in person. 2518 Kirby Dr. at Westheimer

PANERA BREAD NOW HIRING DELIVERY DRIVERS Email resume to PaneraDrivers@gmail.com, or apply online at www.panerapeople.com/jobs

NOW HIRING EXPERIENCED -Bartenders -Hostess -Waiters -Pastry Chef

170 Retail

NOW HIRING

Montrose Novelty & Smoke Shop Looking for someone to work nights & weekends. Email resume to montroseretail@yahoo.com. Must provide references, only emailed resumes will be accepted.

CALL NOW 713.471.3870 3963 Kirby Drive, Houston, TX

DATE OF SALE: Saturday, May 7, 2016 At 11:00 AM BEST STORAGE 1810 N. FRY RD. CONTENTS: FURNITURE, APPLIANCES; ELECTRONICS; LUGGAGE; LAMPS; HOUSEHOLD GOODS; TOOLS; SPORTING GOODS; TOYS; & MANY MORE MISC. ITEMS ENRIQUE JUAREZ, TERENCE JONES, MARIA GARCIA,GWENDOLYN NASH, KATY CLEMONS, GABRIELA GUZMAN, JAMES KING, SHARON HARRISON, TRAVIS COLLINS, SHERRY ANNETTE FINCHE, KARIM ABUARAFA, SHARON HARRISON, DANIEL MIRANDA.

WANTS TO purchase minerals and other oil & gas interests. Send details to P.O. Box 13557, Denver, Co 80201

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. 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.

April 21 - 27, 2016

WAITSTAFF & BARTENDERS Experience preffered. Apply in person, 7807 Longpoint, Ste. 235, 77055. 832.232.8710

193 Employment Information

LEGAL NOTICE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY Proposed Flood Hazard Determinations for the City of Houston, Harris County, Texas, Case No. 16-06-1652P. The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) solicits technical information or comments on proposed flood hazard determinations for the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), and where applicable, the Flood Insurance Study (FIS) report for your community. These flood hazard determinations may include the addition or modification of Base Flood Elevations, base flood depths, Special Flood Hazard Area boundaries or zone designations, or the regulatory floodway. The FIRM and, if applicable, the FIS report have been revised to reflect these flood hazard determinations through issuance of a Letter of Map Revision (LOMR), in accordance with Title 44, Part 65 of the Code of Federal Regulations. These determinations are the basis for the floodplain management measures that your community is required to adopt or show evidence of having in effect to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program. For more information on the proposed flood hazard determinations and information on the statutory 90-day period provided for appeals, please visit FEMA's website at www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/bfe, or call the FEMA Map Information eXchange (FMIX) toll free at 1-877-FEMA MAP (1-877-336-2627).

WANTS TO purchase minerals and other oil & gas interests. Send details to P.O. Box 13557, Denver, Co 80201

Houston Press

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193 Employment Information

SERVERS

Stone Mill Bakers Sr. SAP RE/FX Consultant (Houston, TX), Understand/implement best biz processes in SAP environment part of overall SAP program; Responsible for method & processes to translate biz reqmnts into solution; Collaborate w/ biz in identifying functional reqmnts for process groups, & create corresponding tech specs; Lead biz reqmnt & blue printing sessions w/users; Mng all aspects of biz mapping & blueprinting process & gap analysis to standard SAP functionality; Lead design/configuration streams in complex SAP solutions; Advise clients in implementing modules of integrated SAP solutions w/special focus on SAPs Flexible RE Module (RE/FX); Utilize ABAP Ianguage tools, BAPI (Business Application Prog Interface), BADI (Business Add In), & BDT (Business Data Toolset) to dvlp functional specs & work w/tech dvlprs. Bach deg in IT, Comp Sci, Engrg, or Biz + 5 yrs rel. exp reqd. Job location is Houston, Texas. Mail resumes to HR Dir. Margin 10 Consulting Services LLC, 11205 Alpharetta Hwy, Ste. G4, Roswell, GA 30076

177 Salons

145 Management/Professional

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE Pursuant to Chapter 59 of the Texas property code the goods stored at the listed facility bellow will be sold to satisfy a landlord's lien. Sale will be held on the designated time and address. Goods will be sold to the highest bidder. Seller reserves the right to refuse any bid and to withdraw any item(s) from the sale.

530 Misc. Services

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527 Legal Notices

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houstonpress.com

EXAS COMMISSION NVIRONMENTAL QUALITY TexasTC ommission onONeEnvironmenTal QualiTy

NOTICE APPLICATION AND INTENT TO OBTAIN NOTICEOF OF RECEIPT RECEIPT OFOF APPLICATION AND INTENT TO OBTAIN AIR PERMIT AIR QUALITY STANDARD PERMIT REGISTRATION RENEWAL PROPOSED AIR QUALITY PERMIT NUMBER 108358

AIR QUALITY REGISTRATION NO. 79744L001

April 21 - 27, 2016

Houston Press

APPLICATION FRP Storage Solutions Co. has applied to the Texas Commission on

APPLICATION WilliamsQuality Brothers Construction Co., of Inc. applied to theNumber Texas Commission onwould Environmental (TCEQ) for issuance Airhas Quality Permit 108358, which authorize construction a Fiberglass Products Manufacturing Plant 13805 Standard IndustrialPermit Environmental Quality (TCEQ) forofrenewal of Registration No. 79744L001, forlocated an AiratQuality Harriswould County, Texas 77015. This operation link to an of electronic mapbatch of the site located or for ConcreteRoad, BatchHouston, Plants, which authorize continued a concrete plant at the general location is Dixie provided as a public courtesyHarris and not part ofTexas the application or link to intersection facility's of Interstate 45 South and Farm Road, Houston, County, 77546. This notice. For exact location, refer to application. an electronic map of the site or facility’s general location is provided as a public courtesy and not part of the http://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/hb610/index.html?lat=29.7533&lng=application or notice. For exact location, refer to application. http://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/hb610/index. 95.18485&zoom=13&type=r. The facility will emit the following contaminants: particulate html?lat=29.585&lng=-95.183888&zoom=13&type=r. The existing facility or is authorized emit the air matter including particulate matter with diameters of 10 microns less and 2.5to microns orfollowing less, contaminants: particulate matter and including (but air notpollutants. limited to) aggregate, cement, road dust, and particulate matter organic compounds, hazardous with diameters of 10 microns or less and 2.5 microns or less. This application was submitted to the TCEQ on February 20, 2013. The application will be

available viewingto and TCEQ the TCEQ Houston regional for office, This application was for submitted thecopying TCEQ at onthe March 29,central 2016.office, The application will be available viewing theTCEQ North central Channeloffice, Branch Wallisville Houston, Texas, and copyingand at the theLibrary, TCEQ 15741 Houston regionalRoad, office, and theHarris ParkerCounty, Williams Branch beginning the Boulevard, first day of publication of this notice. facility’s compliance file,the if any Library, 10851 Scarsdale Suite 510, Houston, HarrisThe County, Texas, beginning firstexists, day ofis available for public review in the Houston regional office of the TCEQ. publication of this notice. The facility’s compliance file, if any exists, is available for public review in the Houston regional office the TCEQ. Theofexecutive director has determined the application is administratively complete and will conduct a technical review of the application.

The executive director has determined the application is administratively complete and will conduct a technical review of thePUBLIC application. Information in the application thatsubmit this permit renewal would not COMMENT/PUBLIC MEETINGindicates You may public comments, a result in request foremissions a public meeting, contested to the Office of an increase in allowable and wouldor notrequest result inathe emissioncase of anhearing air contaminant not previously Chiefmay Clerk below. The TCEQ willfurther consider all public comments in emitted. Thethe TCEQ actatonthe thisaddress application without seeking public comment or providing an a final case decision on theifapplication. The are deadline opportunitydeveloping for a contested hearing certain criteria met. to submit public comments is 30 days after newspaper notice is published.

PUBLIC COMMENT You may submit public comments, or a request for a contested case hearing to the The purpose of a public meeting is to provide the opportunity to submit comments or ask Office of thequestions Chief Clerk theapplication. address below. Themeeting TCEQ will consider all public comments developing aboutatthe A public about the application will be held ifin the a final decision on thedirector application. The deadline to issubmit publicdegree comments is 15 days after executive determines that there a significant of public interest in thethe final newspaper application notice is published. Afterby thea deadline for public comments, theisexecutive director will prepare a or if requested local legislator. A public meeting not a contested case hearing. response to all relevant and material, or significant public comments. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic If only are comments received on the application, the response comments, along with notice safety, and zoning outsideare of the TCEQ’s jurisdiction to consider in thetopermit process. of the executive director’s action on the application, will be mailed to everyone who submitted comments or isison the mailing for thisdirector application. After the technical review complete the list executive will consider the comments and prepare a response

to all relevant and material, or significant public comments. If only comments are received, the response to The executive director will complete the technical review, issue a preliminary decision on the comments, along with the executive director’s decision on the application, will then be mailed to everyone who application, and a Notice of Application and Preliminary Decision will be published and mailed submitted public comments is on thelistmailing for this application, unless the application to those who are or onwho the mailing for thislist application. That notice will contain the final is directly referred to adeadline contested hearing.public comments. If a hearing request is timely filed in Response to this forcase submitting OPPORTUNITY FOR A CONTESTED CASE HEARING You may request a contested case hearing. The applicant or the executive director may also request that the application be directly referred to a contested case hearing after technical review of the application. A contested case hearing is a legal proceeding similar to a civil trial in state district court. Unless a written request for a contested case hearing is filed within 15 days from this notice, the executive director may act on the application. If no hearing request is received within this 15-day period, no further opportunity for hearing will be provided. According to the Texas Clean Air Act § 382.056(o) a contested case hearing may only be granted if the applicant’s compliance history is in the lowest classification under applicable compliance history requirements and if the hearing request is based on disputed issues of fact that are relevant and material to the Commission’s decision on the application. Further, the Commission may only grant a hearing on those issues submitted during the public comment period and not withdrawn.

CITATION BY PUBLICATION THE STATE OF TEXAS County of Harris 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 EDWARD VEGA AND RITA VEGA, DECEASED YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED to appear before the 151st 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 9th day of May, 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 Original Petition, filed in said Court on the 27th day of May, 2015, in suit numbered 2015-30187 on the docket of said court, wherein Bank of America, National Association, Plaintiff, sued Edward Vega and Rita Vega and The Heirs at Law of Edward Vega and Rita Vega, Deceased, Defendants. The Petition seeks an order to foreclose the lien on the property and assert a claim to the property located at 324 Cole Street, Webster, Texas 77598, and legally described as Lot Four (4) of Silver Lake Condominiums, a Subdivision in Harris County, Texas, According to the Map or Plat Thereof Recorded Under Film Code No. 380068 of the Map Records of Harris County, Texas. GIVEN UNDER MY HAND AND SEAL OF SAID COURT at Houston, Texas this 21st 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/ Wanda Chambers___________ Wanda Chambers, Deputy Clerk

A person who may be affected by emissions of air contaminants from the facility is entitled to request a hearing. If requesting a contested case hearing, you must submit the following: (1) your name (or for a group or association, an official representative), mailing address, daytime phone number; (2) applicant’s name and permit number; (3) the statement “[I/we] request a contested case hearing;” (4) a specific description of how you would be adversely affected by the application and air emissions from the facility in a way not common to the general public; (5) the location and distance of your property relative to the facility; (6) a description of how you use the property which may be impacted by the facility; and (7) a list of all disputed issues of fact that you submit during the comment period. If the request is made by a group or association, one or more members who have standing to request a hearing must be identified by name and physical address. The interests which the group or association seeks to protect must also be identified. You may also submit your proposed adjustments to the application/permit which would satisfy your concerns. Requests for a contested case hearing must be submitted in writing within 15 days following this notice to the Office of the Chief Clerk, at the address below. Following the close of all applicable comment and request periods, the Executive Director will forward the application and any requests for contested case hearing to the Commissioners for their consideration at a scheduled Commission meeting. The Commission may only grant a request for a contested case hearing on issues the requestor submitted in their timely comments that were not subsequently withdrawn. If a hearing is granted, the subject of a hearing will be limited to disputed issues of fact or mixed questions of fact and law relating to relevant and material air quality concerns submitted during the comment period. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and zoning are outside of the Commission’s jurisdiction to consider in this proceeding. MAILING LIST In addition to submitting public comments, you may ask to be placed on a mailing list to receive future public notices for this specific application mailed by the Office of the Chief Clerk by sending a written request to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below. AGENCY CONTACTS AND INFORMATION Public comments and requests must be submitted either electronically at www.tceq.texas.gov/about/comments.html, or in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087. If you communicate with the TCEQ electronically, please be aware that your email address, like your physical mailing address, will become part of the agency’s public record. For more information about this permit application or the permitting process, please call the Public Education Program toll free at 1-800-687-4040. Si desea información en Español, puede llamar al 1-800-687-4040. Further information may also be obtained from Williams Brothers Construction Co., Inc., P.O. Box 66428, Houston, Texas 77266-6428 or by calling Mr. Marcus B. Anderson, Environmental Director at (713) 668-6788.

Notice Issuance Date: April 12, 2016

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NEW STUDY MAY BE ABLE TO HELP

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. *Participants must be willing to visit the clinic 4 times.*

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

Have you been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for at least 90 days? Are you 18 years of age or older?

To learn more, please contact Dr. Zeeshan Shaikh 832-967-7568

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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 All study-related care will be provided at no cost. Insurance is not needed. To learn more call: 832-967-7568 Southwest Clinical Trials 7777 Southwest Freeway Ste. 620 Houston, TX 77074 southwestclinicaltrials.com

April 21 - 27, 2016

If you answer is yes to these questions, then you may qualify for a Diabetes Clinical Trial PIONEER 3.

Having trouble going to the bathroom? Don’t be embarrassed - explore your options

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

Houston Press

Are you currently treated with Metformin alone or Metformin and sulfonylureas?

Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation

Call today: 713-561-3045 All calls are conndential.

DO YOU SUFFER FROM OPIOID OR HEROIN DEPENDENCE?

houstonpress.com

Medical ReseaRch

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

4/19/16 5:07 PM

Houston Press

EARN YOUR HS DIPLOMA TODAY - For more info call 1.800.470.4723 Or visit our website: www.diplomaathome.com

WANTS TO purchase minerals and other oil & gas interests. Send details to P.O. Box 13557, Denver, Co 80201 DELIVERY DRIVER - Delivery driver/warehouse help needed for Liquor Distributor in 610 / 225 area. Must be over 21 with clean TDL. Call 713-472-1400. PANERA BREAD NOW HIRING DELIVERY DRIVERS Email resume to PaneraDrivers@gmail.com, or apply online at www.panerapeople.com/jobs

Katy Wild West Brew Fest

Sample some of the best beers around! Respect the beer, April 23, 2016. www.wildwestbrewfest.com

CHEF AND SOUS CHEF WANTED - Openings for a talented chef and sous chef full-time for local nightclub. Call Mitch or Brian at 713-629-6200 weekdays. The pay rate for these two positions is $10.00 to $18.00 per hour.

The Melting Pot is looking for Experienced Servers. Flexible schedules in a fun and unique environment. Accepting applications every day after 12PM-Noon. 6100 Westheimer Rd. (Briargrove Plaza)

FINE MINERAL SHOW

FREE ADMISSION. April 22-24 at the Embassy Suites, 2911 Sage Rd. (Galleria area). www.finemineralshow.com

EARN YOUR HS DIPLOMA TODAY - For more info call 1.800.470.4723 Or visit our website: www.diplomaathome.com

WANTS TO purchase minerals and other oil & gas interests. Send details to P.O. Box 13557, Denver, Co 80201 THE OCEAN Corp. 10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a new career. Underwater Welder. Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance. Financial Aid avail for those who qualify 1.800.321.0298

Enjoy Free Movie Premieres all yearlong! Join the Houston Film Society www.HoustonFilmSociety.com

April 21 - 27, 2016

HEIGHTS-- brand NEW interiors, 1-1 $1075, 1 + DEN $1188, stainless, granite,H/W tile, gates call Agt 24/7 ask for SPECIALS 832-881-4594

Custom Interior Services Auto/Boat/Commercial Upholstery Superior Interior 832-770-9075

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

HAIL to the RAIL---MED CTR /MIDTOWN -NEW 1-1 $1470 6 wks FREE 2-2 $2448 8 wks FREE stainless,H/W,granite,Amazing fitness & pool --- call Agt 24/7 832-881-4594

PANERA BREAD NOW HIRING DELIVERY DRIVERS Email resume to PaneraDrivers@gmail.com, or apply online at www.panerapeople.com/jobs

The Melting Pot is looking for Experienced Servers. Flexible schedules in a fun and unique environment. Accepting applications every day after 12PM-Noon. 6100 Westheimer Rd. (Briargrove Plaza)

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