Eastern Europe

The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: JD McPherson, Drew Ireland Benefit, etc.

JD McPherson Continental Club, March 1 Tickets are already getting scarce for one JD McPherson, who is rapidly rising out of obscurity via Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. McPherson came by his bopping R&B/rockabilly sound honestly, by studying vintage labels such as Vee-Jay and Specialty, and then working ... More >>

Rick Perry Has An International Ally For His (Possible) Secession Plan: The Brutal, Civil-Rights-Crushing Government Of Belarus

The campaign to have Texas secede from the U.S. has been a long struggle with little to show for it so far beyond helping to torpedo Rick Perry's presidential hopes, and as it turned out Perry was entirely capable of doing that himself without any secessionist torpedoing. But now -- just as it seem ... More >>

Houston Rockers Pitch In to Help Some Ukrainian Kids Learn English

Houston native/musician Drew Ireland is currently volunteering in Kryzhopil, a small village in the Ukraine, teaching young kids English as a second language. Ireland is need of updated supplies, and some of his friends here in the Bayou City are putting on a show to help him out. The benefit show ... More >>

2nd Annual Gulf Coast Reads Closing Celebration: Jonathan Safran Foer

Euro 2012: How to Fake a Conversation on Europe's Huge Soccer Tournament

Wait a minute, your American red blood-soaked brain might be thinking, wasn't there just an international soccer tournament? World...something? And didn't we win that already? Are we going to kick ass in this one, AGAIN? In short:a) two years ago, b) Cup, c) no and d) no, because this tournament is ... More >>

Back to the Classics

The Russian artists of "Perestroika" turn the past into something new.

Keep It Up: 5 Songs For Viagra

It was on this day in 1998 that your email inbox was changed forever when the FDA OK-ed the use of Viagra for use in treating erectile dysfunction, the first pill in the United States approved to do so. The drug was originally researched as a treatment for angina, but doctors noticed that while it w ... More >>

Health Department Roundup

Starting with an update from last week - no, Juan Mon's is not closed. In fact, the sandwich shop now has an "international bar." Which sounds like a backstreet den in Kiev where, if you don't get a $200 drink-slash-prostitute, you get a free walk to an ATM in the company of some enthusiastic local ... More >>

''Revelation: Major Paintings by Jules Olitsk''

Overlooked and Underrated: Finding Bonnie's in South Houston

​It spent nearly 25 years in the hands of a woman who started as a bar owner when she was only a few years short of senior discounts, and upon her death, it was passed on to her beautician because she didn't have any blood family, though she seemed to have the other kind in spades. Bonnie's ha ... More >>

Hunger Games Filmed in Appalachia, Music Recorded in Europe

​For most musicians who aren't playing in orchestras or as session musicians, a musicians' union is about as useful a roadie who can't lift anything over 20 pounds on doctor's orders. But, for the thousands of musicians who do work in the film, television and recording studio industry, they re ... More >>

Michael Giventer: Sudden-Stop-Accident Scammer Arrested For Bankruptcy Fraud

A simple accident -- or was it?​Michael Giventer owed State Farm Insurance $8.6 million after losing a civil suit where the company proved he had been scamming the company for years through false claims stemming from "sudden-stop" accidents. he also had been convicted of criminal fraud for st ... More >>

The 6 Worst Air-Show Disasters: A Video Collection, Just In Time For Wings Over Houston

Things can go wrong​Next time you go to an air show, take a look at the fine print on the ticket. Besides the usual stuff about acts of God and "Promoter not responsible if the frontman doesn't show due to injecting Drano into his balls," there's something else. It says they're really, really ... More >>

Vintage Postcards and Ancient Ukrainian Art: Gallery Openings and Closings This Weekend

Courtesy HMNSAncient Ukrainian bracelet​The summer's coming to an end, which means this is one of the last weekends to catch the many exhibitions in town. In fact, this is the last weekend to see two of the Houston Museum of Natural Science's popular exhibits: "Ancient Ukraine" and "Texas! The ... More >>

Berlin Wall at 50: Five Iconic Moments

Just another brick in the wall​Fifty years ago today, East German construction crews were in the last stages of preparation for building the Berlin Wall. On August 13, they began, instantly giving an incredible propaganda tool to the free world. The Wall has been down for 22 years and will so ... More >>

10 Politician Photos Sexier Than Anthony Weiner's Shots (NSFW)

If you've ever had any curiosity about how photogenic Anthony Weiner's crotch is, you're having a great week or so. (The answer, by the way, is "Not one-on hundredth as photogenic as he seems to think it is.") Weiner, who's taken a leave of absence from the U.S. House of Representatives to deal wit ... More >>

Teen Encounters

For all their similarities, teens separated by geography and culture can be very different, as these photos show.

“Ancient Ukraine — Golden Treasures and Lost Civilizations”

Slamdance on the Road

What the Hell Is a Churkey?

bbc.comMy, those little turkens sure do look delicious!​What has the body of a chicken, the head of a turkey, and is bred for its skills in magic? Okay, so that last one's a rip on Napoleon Dynamite, but there really is such a beast, originating in the far corners of Eastern Europe. Recently ... More >>

The Human Resources Manager

WikiLeaks: Texas Company Helped Pimp Little Boys To Stoned Afghan Cops

DynCorp: WikiLeaks is not kind​Another international conflict, another horrific taxpayer-funded sex scandal for DynCorp, the private security contractor tasked with training the Afghan police. While the company is officially based in the DC area, most of its business is managed on a satelli ... More >>

Preserving the Sanctity of Marriage Through Ted Bundy and NAMBLA

Even South Park supports NAMBLA​With a closet Muslim in the White House and gay teachers recruiting our innocent children, it's no wonder that American values have crumbled to the point where four out of ten people say marriage is obselete. We can thank Time and the Pew Research Center for th ... More >>

Blake Newman Wants To Know: Can You Play A Meyerland Stripper With A Heart Of Gold?

A young girl's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk​If there's one thing everyone knows about strippers, it's that they have the ability to change people's lives. And that magic is the basis for the indie film Meyerland, whose creators have been scouring Houston to find a young actress to p ... More >>

"Absolution: Photographs from Eastern Europe"

Roman Loran gives audiences a visual sanctuary

Houston Poetry Fest 2009

Poet Valzhyna Mort is the first to verse in English and Belarusian in U.S.

Defending the Polka

Manena's Magic

The Argentinean deli serves great sandwiches and empanadas — but leave room for dessert.

Oh, Christ: Original Limp Bizkit Lineup to Reunite

Because things aren't already bad enough out there right now, the original lineup of crotch-rocking mooks Limp Bizkit annouced today they are reuniting. Here, according to a joint statement by the band's Fred Durst and Wes Borland, is their reasoning: "We decided we were more disgusted and b ... More >>

Golem

Confessions of a Superhero, The Hunting Party, Adrift in Manhattan, Sex and Breakfast

“Chantal Akerman: Moving Through Time and Space”

Blaffer Gallery hosts the first major U.S. museum exhibition for the filmmaker and video artist

The Cancer Researcher Who Went In To The Cold: Remembering (and Possibly Tracking Down) the Lockshin Family, Reagan-era Houstonians Who Defected to the Soviets

Roberto Fonseca

Zamazu

God Save the Queen

A talented rapper narrowly survives another lousy movie

Letters to the Editor

Gogol Bordello

East Infection

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Fests of Fury

Alex Lozano trumpets a 420 soiree and the return of the Westheimer Street Festival to its old home

Gypsy Caravan II

Sunday, November 11

Treasure Hunter

Chris Strachwitz's 40-year journey through ethnic music deserves an arhoolie of its own

Educating Lala

An alternative to usual Christmas fare

Fusion on the Other Side of the World

Speaking off the toque: Michael Potowski

Life's Even More Beautiful

Train beats the earlier holocaust film's humor and horror

Press Picks

Children on a Train

A Night in Old Moscow

Svetlana offers a taste of Mother Russia -- in more ways than one

Art with Heart

Director Krzysztof Kieslowski made highbrow films with feeling

Post-Cold War Crazies

A Cultural Question

Jewish Worlds is back after two years. It should have waited a third.