Kleenex Tissues

Billy Joel: Still Kicking Ass (First Leg)

One Sunday morning a few weeks ago, my wife and I watched the Billy Joel concert documentary The Last Play at Shea. When my daughter stumbled into the den to ask about breakfast, we were soiling Kleenexes and wiping tears from our eyes. "Did you take your meds this morning, Dad?" she asked. I trie ... More >>

National Tour on Minimum Wage Tosses Houstonians Between Rocks and Hard Places

Qvtaive Harris is 20 years old. He's slender, with knobby elbows and a small afro, wearing sharp white pants and a teal shirt from the Texas Organizing Project. He's sitting, surrounded by a half-dozen mothers, another half-dozen reporters, and a small woman from the Department of Labor. The women ... More >>

The Best Beer Labels

The most iconic and creative on Texas shelves.

Pinot Grigio Nation

"Soon as we walk through the door," sang Mariah Carey in her 2008 hit, "Migrate," "Fellas be grabbin' at us like yo / Tryin' to get us going off the Patron / We sippin' Grigio... slow." These lines came to mind last night when the day's umpteenth press release caught my eye from an over-saturated i ... More >>

30 Seconds With Fat Tony

Do you know anyone that doesn't like Houston's master MC Fat Tony? If you do, they might be a damned lizard person because no hot-blooded human could hate his new album Double Dragon. That album kicks ass like Billy Lee. What could we learn from such a man in 30 seconds? Let's find out! Rocks Off: ... More >>

Forget Blue-Eyed Butcher: Casting Lifetime Movies About Felicia Moon, Victoria Osteen & 3 Others

Blue-Eyed Butcher was Lifetime's take on the Susan Wright case. It certainly wasn't the first TV movie to be based on a Houston case, and it won't be the last. In fact there are plenty of Houston stories just begging to be made into Lifetime movies. Like these five: 5. Trail Ridin' Dirty: The Feli ... More >>

Wine Time: Know Your Champagne from your Chamat

Antonomasia is the figure of rhetoric whereby a proper name becomes a common name. In the U.S., we say Xerox for photocopy. Kleenex for tissue paper. FedEx for courier (as in I FedExed a package). And here in Texas, we say Coke for nearly any kind of sparkling soft drink. But when we call a Prosec ... More >>

Sichuan Bucket List

You'll want to try everything on the menu at this new Bellaire favorite.

Capsule Stage Reviews: A Fertle Farewell, I Do! I Do!, The Miracle Worker, The Pearl Fishers

Spring Break Overnight Kits: Women's vs. Men's

Ready for any and all eventualities​Spring Break, whether it's in Galveston, South Padre, Florida or even one of the alternatives we suggested earlier, always brings with it the enticing possibility of a hook-up. You never know when that magical combination of Jell-O shots, beer bongs and Jay ... More >>

Celebrate International Hot & Spicy Food Day This Weekend

How better to celebrate International Hot & Spicy Food Day than with chicken and joy?​Did you know that Sunday, January 16, is International Hot & Spicy Food Day? Look at it this way: It's definitely not the stupidest of the arbitrary food days/months (I mean, January 16 is also National Fig N ... More >>

Capsule Art Reviews: "Alex Rubio: A New Journey," "The New Black: Contemporary Concepts in Color and Abstraction," "Quantumdada Phase 2," "William Betts: New Mirror Paintings"

Capsule Art Reviews: "Danny Rolph: Multiverse," "The New Black: Contemporary Concepts in Color and Abstraction," "Quantumdada Phase 2"

Capsule Art Reviews: "Kiki Smith," "The New Black: Contemporary Concepts in Color and Abstraction," "Quantumdada Phase 2"

Lindsay Lohan: Five Celebrity Courtroom Meltdowns Better Than Hers

​Turns out the Mean Girl wasn't so mean after all. Former child star and current cautionary tale Lindsay Lohan broke down in court after receiving a 90-day jail sentence for probation violation: "Are you serious?" she sobbed to her attorney as she furiously plucked Kleenex out of a tissue bo ... More >>

Something's Gotta Give

Nancy Meyers can't keep making the same movie over and over again.

Send Lawyers, Guns & Money: Nine Non-Boring Songs About the Work Attorneys Do

Rocks Off's local watering hole is frequented by a lawyer named Eugene Lawley, whom we always refer to as our Walker Percy. Lawley has more than a small literary bent - we hardly ever mention a book he hasn't read - and has a fine ear for song lyrics. His sister wrote themes for television and movi ... More >>

Cheerleader Calendar Season Begins: Do's And Don'ts

If it's November, it must be time for professional sports teams to start pimping cheerleader calendars.The Houston Texans cheerleaders are doing a promo tonight to launch sales of the 2010 calendar. The Texans calendars are not exactly known for their raciness, as befits the "good guy" philosophy of ... More >>

Top 7 Couples' Costumes for Halloween

Halloween is coming, and that means many, many costuming mistakes will be made by normally sane adults. To help stop this scourge, each Thursday we will be offering tips and analysis of what to avoid, or possibly what to do. Check out past entries here, here and here. There's one thing -- or should ... More >>

Nutella® vs. Gianduia vs. Kroger Hazelnut Spread

Photo by J.C. Reid​Nutella, for those who've never tasted it, is the "original creamy, chocolaty hazelnut spread." Popular in Europe (it's made in Italy), Nutella is mainly eaten at breakfast or for dessert by smearing it on bread or a croissant, or folding into a crepe. "Nutella" is a brand n ... More >>

Pruning The Twitter Tree

(Note: We're starting a new occasional feature on social media and its emergence in both business and personal relationships. And the blogs themselves will be much more entertaining than that description, we promise.)  It all started out so innocently. "We're from the same hometown!" "We m ... More >>

Craig Newmark speaks at victim's memorial in wake of Craigslist killings.

Can't Get It Out of My Head: Kleenex-Core with Justin Townes Earle's "Mama's Eyes"

I will be the first to admit that when it comes to music, I get misty at points. I guess it's the sentiment of a song, if it lines up with something that I could never intimate to someone else. Love, death, remorse, all the biggies that get that lacrimal gland going in our everyday lives. I have ev ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: The Altruists, ...and L.A. Is Burning, Cav/Pag, The Strangerer

Capsule Stage Reviews: The Altruists, ...and L.A. Is Burning, Cav/Pag, The Strangerer

The Mars Volta take Manhattan

Bedlam at Terminal 5

Show Me Yours

Finesilver Gallery goes voyeuristic -- in purses and bathrooms

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

How Low Can You Go?

Let's see with the last installment of our guilty-pleasures project

One for the Girls

Traveling Pants is an ill fit for the screen, but teens and tweens will love it

Sunday Bloody Sunday

The Nightfly takes in a big day game at a few sports bars

Prison Break?

Critics wonder if massive TDCJ cuts will be a prelude to privatization

Brady Brock

Thursday, December 26

Mama's Ya-Ya's

Divine Secrets delves into mother-daughter issues with a Southern twist

Set in Stone

Bobby Schlitzberger adds a little life to the grave-marking business

RV Xmas

In which our intrepid reporter goes searching for the heart of America on a trailer pad. And finds disappointment, isolation, kindness and a great way to cook himself a turkey.

1998 Houston Press Music Awards Winners

Cher Thing

The Zydeco Louisiana Diner doesn't stand on ceremony

The Trophy Son

When Kyle Rutherford scored a touchdown, his parents cheered. When he threw a strike, they dreamed of college glory. And when he was benched, they took his high school to federal court.

Space Case

Derrel Sims, chief investigator for the Houston UFO Network, says he's hot on the trail of evil, implant-toting aliens. The mystery is why anyone believes him.

Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me - Kill Me?

How a Montrose romance turned into memories of the CIA, things that go bump in the night ... and an eternal commitment.