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    Hollow New Fame

    Hotel lawsuit shows that humorless Erin Andrews still hasn't found what sheneeds

    Chris Baldwin
    Jul 17, 2010 | 4:50 pm
    • Erin Andrews filed the lawsuit she had to file against the hotels, but she'sclearly not relishing any of this.
    • A harmless question about her partner Maks set Andrews off in a Vanity Fairinterview.
    • Do you really think getting on Oprah was worth this devastation for Andrews?

    It's hard not to root for Erin Andrews.

    The ESPN sideline reporter turned Dancing with the Stars fascination suffered a horrific invasion of privacy by a stalking pervert. Any thought that Andrews is recovered from being filmed in hotel rooms through altered peepholes should be dismissed now though. It's clear that Andrews is still struggling — still hasn't got anything satisfying out of her increased fame.

    Andrews filed a lawsuit against Marriott International Inc. and Radisson Hotels International late this week. This is something Andrews absolutely had to do. The fact that the stalker, divorced dad Michael David Barrett, was able to get hotel rooms right next to Andrews' rooms by simply asking is one of the more startling aspects of the case. It's not like Andrews stayed at cheap, run-down motels off the side of the highway. She was in respected business-traveler brands (95 percent of the sportswriters and sportscasters I know are obsessed with staying at Marriotts because of the chain's reward points).

    And it's not like Andrews was an unknown when Barrett started hotel trailing her. Even before this case and Oprah, she was the most well-known female sideline reporter in America, the subject of countless fawning and sometimes creepy Internet photo gallery "tributes."

    Barrett never should have been given such an easy path to play peeping Tom. Most media outlets missed the significance of the date of the lawsuit's filing though. Friday was July 16, a year to the day that Andrews says she first found out that naked videos of her shot through peepholes by Barrett were online. Andrews is clearly still thinking about the ordeal, still struggling with all the anniversaries of her new life and sense of security changing.

    You can argue that Andrews never would have gotten on Dancing with the Stars without the attention brought about this case (it's a questionable argument though considering Andrews already had sex-object fame and ABC/Disney ties). But even if that's true, what exactly did Andrews get out of her DWTS appearance?

    She certainly wasn't able to turn the increased fame into some type of breakthrough new job. Andrews is returning to ESPN and College Gameday and while she'll do some more studio hosting — and some nebulous, undefined, occasional appearances on Good Morning America — she's basically going back to what she did before. Any idea that Andrews widely benefitted with increased profile by being stalked (and this cruel argument's been made in numerous spots) is laughable.

    Andrews doesn't seem to be enjoying her new profile either. Take her recent Vanity Fair interview. While Andrews clearly feels compelled to do things like talk to Vanity Fair when given the chance, it comes across like a dentist's visit (something you do because you think it will be good for you or in this case your career) rather than a joy.

    George Wayne — whose persona centers around asking celebrities funny, awkward questions — conducted the interview. Andrews had to know that these types of questions would be coming if she or her team did any type of research whatsoever.

    Yet, when Wayne posed them, she reacted with indignation.

    Wayne asked about Andrews "long spindly legs" (which were on full display in the accompanying photo that Andrews posed for), he inquired if she had freakishly large feet like Paris Hilton (the answer: no) and wanted to know the one thing Andrews would take if she was constipated.

    "Are you really going to write about that?" Andrews replied. "I'm not going to comment on that. That is kind of weird and I don't feel comfortable answering that question. I have gone through so much in the last year."

    What being video stalked has to do with constipation is debatable, but Andrews at least had a point. The question was strange. But again, that's why he's George Wayne. He's not going to ask you what your favorite food is.

    Andrews' outrage over a later question revealed a deeper truth though.

    When Wayne asked, "What gets me to the vomitorium is that faux romance between you and that cheesy ballroom-dancing partner of yours. What was with this tabloid fake romance?"

    Andrews shot back, "Do you know him?"

    Wayne replied with the perfectly brilliant, "I don't need to know him to find him cheesy, honey."

    If Andrews cannot handle a funny question about her boyfriend Maks Chmerkovskiy, she probably shouldn't be doing interviews with Wayne or anyone else. It's sad to see, but Erin Andrews is still very clearly struggling to come to grips with her rocked reality.

    A year later, she's still reeling. Andrews mostly came across as damaged and hurt in that Vanity Fair interview. That's as powerful an argument as anything against the insidiously devastating effects of stalking.

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    Houston's interdimensional art exhibit books 4 local acts for summer concerts

    Jef Rouner
    May 12, 2025 | 5:37 pm
    The four members of Swimwear Department hugging
    Photo provided by Meow Wolf
    Swimwear Department is heading to Meow Wolf

    Things are heating up this summer at Meow Wolf as they host their first ever summer concert series. Four hometown bands will take the stage at the immersive art complex for a series of shows in June and July.

    “Houston’s music scene has always been bold, genre-defying, and deeply original, so it felt natural to bring that same energy into our Radio Tave world,” said Aaron Johnson, general manager of Meow Wolf Houston. “This concert series is about celebrating the artists who define Texas' sound and give guests a new reason to experience Meow Wolf in a whole new way.”

    Ever since Meow Wolf first opened during Halloween last year in Fifth Ward, the collection of artistic spaces has wowed, delighted, and sometimes confused audiences. Cowboix Hevvven, the venue's "dive bar" with possible links to extraterrestrials, was designed by fifth generation Texan Cole Wilson and features a jukebox of 30 original songs Wilson created in collaboration with other Texas artists. Radio Tave, Meow Wolf's name for the exhibit as a whole, has been a huge critical and popular hit for Meow Wolf, winning two Webby Awards last month.

    It's also the perfect place to show off some of the more esoteric bands that make up the Houston sound. The odd four-piece rock band Swimwear Department burst onto the scene in 2023, winning over audiences with their songs about pools and malls as well as a series of stellar music videos shot around the city. Their potent mix of quirk and early-alternative music has made them one of the best novelty acts in Houston.

    Meanwhile, The Mighty Orq and Mango Punch have been mainstays for more than a decade. Orq is swamp blues royalty, and always adds a sense of the strange to his concerts thanks to his near-mystical aura. Mango Punch is almost custom built for Meow Wolf thanks to a hectic swirl of Top 40, disco and cumbia.

    The schedule for the concerts is below with links to tickets.

    • Swimwear Department, June 6, 8 pm
    • Night Drive, June 20, 8 pm
    • The Mighty Orq, July 11, 8 p.m.
    • Mango Punch, July 25, 8 p.m.

    Though Houston has never hurt for places weird bands can play, wedding the popular immersive art space at Meow Wolf with concerts is an opportunity to reframe music as performance art rather than just something to listen to while having a drink (though you can still do that at Meow Wolf). Should the summer concert series prove a success, it could quickly become one of the prime venues in the city, at least for groups looking to be a little out there.

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