Covering Music, Film and Pop Culture
Travel is often considered broadening, giving one panache, polish and a proper perspective on world events. Alas, the scandalous price of oil, the expense of mountain-climbing Sherpa guides and yaks, combined with the reality...
This is the tale of two bands. One’s country. The other, rock ‘n’ roll. Both are from Austin and both played ACL Fest on Saturday. The sultry heat made Zilker Park feel like a...
When my mother was 6, she was bitten by a rattlesnake. The Boy Scout next door tied a tourniquet around her ankle and whisked her to a Houston emergency room. Sixty-odd years later, she...
This summer, I’ve seen the pirate flag, the jolly roger, more often than I’ve seen the Stars and Stripes. The distinctive black flag usually includes a white skull with swords, or bones, crossed underneath....
Like numerous other women across the globe, I spent July preparing for the “Miss Universe” pageant. As the contestants were practicing keeping a straight face while wearing one of those overspangled, Vegas-inspired “national costumes,”...
The Fourth of July is our most patriotic holiday. It’s a time of nationwide flag flying, backyard barbecuing and fireworks. June’s pallid Flag Day hardly makes a dent in comparison. On this 230th anniversary...
If America is a classless society, why has the Geico gecko on the telly suddenly developed a working-class British accent? Although geckos are the only lizards with a voice, this accent seems odd to...
Like many people who move to Austin to attend the University of Texas, I didn’t know a soul when I arrived. It was the fall of 1988, and I didn’t have a single friend...
Radio waves are all around us. They penetrate into buildings and travel through car windshields. Unfortunately, if you turn on the radio, those radio waves often magically transform into yelling. Much of the time,...
Everyone needs a deep, dark secret. For years, mine was NBC’s supernatural soap “Passions.” In the early part of the decade, I was faithful to it, never missing lunch with its characters, closely following...
