So, I have been in Houston on business now for 3 days, which looks like it will turn into 4, for the closing of the sale of an NYC-area energy business to a Houston-based buyer. Would I rather be anywhere but here? Not exactly. First, a deal like this comes with meaningful fees for my colleagues and I. Given that almost nobody buys physical records anymore, and the piddling sums one might (someday) see from the streaming music services, deals like this are what give me the extra cash flow to keep making and distributing music (without my wife divorcing me). Second, Texas – in comparison to the rest of the USA – often feels like an independent country.
I’ve always felt at home here, where people still seem to understand that America was built by people who work and produce, not by people who prefer to suck on the government teat. Still, there are things about a city like Houston – indeed, so many cities in America – that make me pine to be back in New York City or someplace comparable (London, Paris, Rome ).
The recurring thing that makes me want to get out (and I remember this same feeling when I was first here and in Dallas during the 1980’s) is that, when you go out to dinner, even to one of the finest restaurants in town, the odds are shockingly high that you will find yourself pulling into what looks like a run-of-the-mill, somewhat tired strip mall. In these cities that are nothing but urban sprawl, that is where too many of the best restaurants are located. Not in grand old hotels or other landmark buildings. Strip malls. There is something very wrong about that kind of fine dining experience. Just one man’s opinion.
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