French Quarter

Houston's Best Concerts This Week: Robin Kirby, C.J. Chenier, The Suffers, etc.

Robin Kirby Last Concert Cafe, June 18 Singer-songwriter Robin Kirby entered the Houston music scene in 2008 after leaving her band Robin & the Hurricanes behind in Dallas. Since then she's been constantly on the go, offering a stripped-down and honest style that sounds absolutely timeless. Kirby' ... More >>

Dinner and a Show: Houston's Top 10 Restaurants for Pre-Theater Dining

Chances are that if you're heading downtown for a night out at the opera, or the symphony or the Alley, you're not simply grabbing McDonald's on your way -- you want to make an evening of this, as well you should. Many restaurants have done away with theater menus, meaning you'll have to order judi ... More >>

10 Fun Food Festivals Coming Up This Spring

News of Houston's first big barbecue festival was announced yesterday, and fans have already begun buying up tickets to the appropriately-named Houston Barbecue Festival. Scheduled to take place on March 24, the festival has already booked such popular local smokers as Pizzitola's Bar-B-Cue, CorkScr ... More >>

Bizarre Acting Roles by 20 Famous Musicians

It's a toss-up whether actors or musicians will go to greater lengths to make rent, but some musicians have even found themselves so hard up they've been forced to take an acting gig. Such is the case with the haystack-sized Sleepy LaBeef, who in 1968's The Exotic Ones appeared as the "Swamp Monster ... More >>

Jazz Fest Scores With Willie, John Mayer, Frank Ocean, Fleetwood Mac, Patti Smith, etc.

Well, I never thought that I would have John Mayer and Patti Smith together in the same headline with Willie Nelson and Frank Ocean, but that's why I kinda love New Orleans Jazz Fest 2013, whose lineup was released earlier this morning. Rewind: A Texican in New Orleans: Lessons Learned from Jazz F ... More >>

Generationals

Rouxpour: Gumbo and Bros

Despite rowdy crowds and inconsistent cooking, Cajun joint shows real promise.

Texans-Saints: Five Things To Watch

Every even-numbered year since I got into radio in 2007 (and perhaps even before that, I just wasn't paying attention), the Houston Texans would travel east on I-10 in mid-August (actually, to be more accurate, they probably flew charter) to practice for the entire week against the New Orleans Saint ... More >>

Brian Downing: Alleged Alabama Teabagger Pleads Not Guilty (w/ VIDEO)

On the evening of January 9, 2012, the Alabama Crimson Tide beat the LSU Tigers in the BCS National Championship Game. They beat them like a drum to the tune of 21-0. The game was so lopsided that LSU amassed a grand total of 92 yards in total offense, five first downs and didn't cross midfield unti ... More >>

Better Off

A '90s alt-rock band that has stuck together and even ended up in the black.

Last Night: Atmosphere & Evidence At House Of Blues

Photos by Jody Perry​Atmosphere, Evidence House of Blues September 22, 2011 Aftermath is pretty sure that this indie/hip hop genre is the next big thing. Here's why: Firstly, it's much catchier and original than most of the rap you'll hear on the radio; secondly, it incorporates live musician ... More >>

Lady Gaga Sings The Big Easy Blues

Photos by Annelia WililamsEugene Moody​Rocks Off woke up to Lady Gaga on Good Morning America this morning. It looked like she was having a little trouble with her zipline. The reason Rocks Off woke up to Lady Gaga on Good Morning America this morning, instead of Channel 13's Eyewitness News ... More >>

NCAA Sweet Sixteen Central

What the hell happened to Leslie Visser?​It's generally accepted that the first two full days of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament provide the greatest two-day watching/gambling/drinking/eating experience annually, for obvious reasons: 1. Whether by illness, approved vacation, or planned s ... More >>

On the Menu: A Good OMG at Sabine River Café

​I recently sampled some of Sabine River Café's newest menu items at a media dinner. The restaurant is now offering seven new entrees and three desserts. Some of the additions include the Monterrey Chicken, King Ranch Chicken Casserole, Steak Laffite, and French Quarter Praline Cheesecake. I ... More >>

Cover Story: Connecting H Gallery to Three Prominent Recent Art Scams

​This week's feature is the account of an alleged art heist conducted by an art gallery in the Heights. Over a dozen local and Texas artists claim that Heidi Powell-Prera and her mother Sandy Bernstein, the owner/operators of H Gallery on West 19th Street, have been scamming artists for the la ... More >>

Comment of the Day: My Boobs Shall Not Be Denied

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

For Richer or Poorer

The po-boys at Zimm's Little Deck come up short.

Vintage Cocktails: The Fine Art of the Daiquiri

It's a fine art indeed.​The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks is a hard-to-find but indispensable cocktail manual first published in 1948. My barstained copy (it was stained before I got to it) came from a southside Houston thrift store and was marked down to $9.95. The out-of-print book now goes on A ... More >>

Ingredient of the Week: Chicory

StimpsonJCat ​What is it? Chicory is a versatile, edible, flowering plant. The leaves are used for salad, and the roots can be found in coffee as an additive (or a substitute in some cases). With Houston's proximity to New Orleans, we usually think of the famous coffee at Café du Monde just ... More >>

Mo's Knockout Grill & Mediterranean Food

GAME TIME: Texans-Saints -- 5 Winners, 5 Losers

Oh, what the hell...go ahead and panic.​I keep trying to tell myself that the results of the Texans' trip to New Orleans last week didn't really count. Texans fans everywhere (and my liver) seem to disagree. New Orleans is one of a handful of places on earth that embodies the "too much of a ... More >>

On the Road in New Orleans

Shrimp and grits from Surrey's.​With the economy in the dumps and airline companies being more annoying than ever, more and more people are choosing to spend their summer vacation at closer, drivable locales. One popular destination is the Crescent City. With its old-world charm, plethora of g ... More >>

New Orleans Dining on the Cheap: Daisy Duke's

​Shockingly, most restaurants in or around the French Quarter of New Orleans area close at 10 p.m. during the week. The drunks are left to choose from Lucky Dogs or greasy pizza. But if they stumble slightly out of the Quarter to 121 Chartres St., they'll happen upon this 24-hour establishment ... More >>

Telling New Orleans

The Wire's creator moves south in Treme on HBO.

Bobby Heugel's Weekly Cocktail: The Vieux Carre

​People often ask bartenders what their favorite cocktail is, but a good bartender draw out patrons to find out what they like. Still, if there was ever a time for one cocktail to be noted above others, it would be now - following the Saints' Super Bowl victory, Mardi Gras, and the ongoing nationw ... More >>

I Wanna Be Your Dog (Or Cat): Oh, For A Muse Of Fire (Hydrants)

Animals wind up at the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care for all sorts of reasons. Regular readers know all too well of the existence of douchey owners who surrender cats and dogs for idiotic reasons. But today's dirty half-dozen are all stray. They've been out there in that cruel world all ... More >>

Where The Hou-Dats Will Be For The Super Bowl: Ragin' Cajun, Big Woodrows Or I-10

​There are a ton of New Orleans Saints fans in Houston, and the number grew after Katrina rocked Louisiana.They call themselves "Hou-Dats," and they are making big plans for Sunday. The two biggest HQs in town for Saints fans: the Ragin' Cajun on Richmond and  the Big Woodrow's on Chimney Roc ... More >>

The Magical World of New Orleans's Central Grocery

​We recently visited New Orleans. A friend requested we bring back a bottle of olive spread from a little Italian convenience store located at 923 Decatur Street. We had never visited Central Grocery, but we promised to come back with the spread, assuming we could locate the iconic store soone ... More >>

Donut Patrol: Chez Beignet

​The French doughnuts at Houston's Chez Beignet are up there with the beignets at Café Du Monde in the French Quarter, Morning Call in Metairie or any other Louisiana donut stand. And they come with a mug of chicory coffee au lait, if you like them that way. An elderly German couple named th ... More >>

Jesse Dayton - Sorry, "Captain Clegg" - on Rob Zombie and His Role In Halloween II

Jesse Dayton's star just keeps rising. You have to give the former Beaumont lad credit, he works at it steadily, and these days has his finger in writing, performing, producing, and acting as well as operating a label. As anyone who checks Facebook knows, Dayton posts something about every twenty m ... More >>

Soul Rebels Brass Band/Rebirth Brass Band

The Valentine's Day Minefield at Central Market

2nd Anniversary of the Poison Pen Reading Series

Monthly Literary Installment Marks Two Years with Poison Girl

Memories of Brennan's

A Houston institution burns; will it be back?

Irma Thomas: Simply Grand

Bayou City Cajun Festival

Will it be eat first and dance later, or vice versa, at this zydeco party?

Alas, alak, Alaska!

Eerie lullabies to settle your case of the Mondays

H-Town Zydeco

Dr. Roger Wood and James Fraher serve up another heaping helping of Houston music lore

Au Revoir, Chauncey

The goat and his two humans go home to New Orleans

Underwater Dance Club, For Reals

New Orleans husband-and-wife duo Quintron & Miss Pussycat cheat death and struggle to keep their freak scene from going under

Tremé, Texas

The soul of New Orleans lives on in Houston, especially at Sammy's on Main

Pan-Louisiana Fusion

Call it Cajun, Creole, zydeco or whatever you want, it's all good at Soul on the Bayeaux

Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes

Thursday, May 5, at the Continental Club, 3700 Main, 713-529-9899.

Turkeys Fly

Houston actually pulls off one crazy week

Best Landlord

Ted Callaway

Squeeze City

Mark Halata hopes his Texavian strains can be heard in a town full of accordions

Press Picks

On the Road

Crowded and confusing Dixie's Red Hot Roadhouse may be. But, oh, what a fryer.

Static

A Different Desire

Tennessee Williams' Streetcar comes to a stop at the Alley