Turkey

Top Five Houston Sports Figures Who Should Champion Our Music Scene

Linebacker Connor Barwin, late of the Houston Texans, recently traded a solid music scene for a better cheesesteak by defecting to the NFC's Philadelphia Eagles. He began his professional football career in Houston and parlayed nearly 15 sacks over the last two seasons into a six-year, $36 million c ... More >>

Better Know Your Muslim Music Genres

In 2010, writer and producer Javed Mohammed decided to get the ball rolling on World Day of Muslim Culture, Peace, Dialogue and Film. The internationally recognized holiday annually celebrated on March 15 is meant to spotlight the peaceful contributions followers of Islam make to society, and to art ... More >>

Weaponized Bacon Unofficial Theme at Rodeo's 2013 Gold Buckle Foodie Awards

Yesterday afternoon, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo held its annual Gold Buckle Foodie Awards in which the dozens of carnival food vendors enter their yearly over-the-top culinary creations to be judged by a ravenous pit of on-air media personalities and journalists. "I've been doing this five ... More >>

An Animal Roars Again: The Eric Burdon Interview, Part 1

As lead vocalist for the '60s British Invasion band the Animals, Eric Burdon fronted what was perhaps the toughest R&B-influenced group from the era (sorry, Stones fans), and had a second incarnation exploring psychedelic music. In his collaborations with War, Burdon pushed the boundaries of impro ... More >>

The Humble Deli Sandwich

Houston's top 10 versions.

Madonna's Top 5 MDNA World Tour Transgressions

Madonna's Sex book turned 20 years old this week. The literary capstone on pop music's most frankly sexual career (sorry, Prince), the glossy collection of softcore smut managed to shock even the Material Girl's most ardent fans, crossing a few lines that many weren't entirely aware existed. Gay se ... More >>

Top 10 Restaurants in Rice Village

We're tackling the city's neighborhoods one by one now that the Best of Houston issue is out. First was Montrose, then the Heights and now Rice Village, an area that's absolutely saturated with great restaurants. One of the best things about the saturation in Rice Village is how easy it is to park ... More >>

T for Textbooks

A new doc explores the Texas Board of Education's fight against science, history.

The Real Deal at Taqueria La Macro

Taqueria offers al pastor-style meat cooked on a classic trompo.

In Photos: Trompos de Mexico

In this week's cafe review of Northside restaurant Taqueria La Macro, which specializes in tacos de trompo, we take a brief look at the history of the trompo itself, which I was excited to find in Houston proper: And sure enough, sitting right there in the open kitchen surrounded by sanitation-main ... More >>

DVDs & Blu-rays for the Cinephile: 12 Angry Men and a Thanksgiving Day Special

12 Angry Men stars Henry Fonda, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden and Jack Klugman; Sidney Lumet directs. The Setup: Sidney Lumet made his directorial debut in 1957 with 12 Angry Men. The film takes place almost entirely inside a hot, stuffy jury room. An 18-year-old Hispanic man is on trial for killing ... More >>

Ingredient of the Week: Greek Yogurt

Photo by John SuhFalafel with garlic yogurt dip​What is it? Greek yogurt is a strained yogurt that has been filtered to remove whey, which means it has twice as much protein but less carbohydrates than regular yogurt. In addition to protein, it is a good source of probiotics, calcium, ribofl ... More >>

2011 NBA Draft -- A Reminder of the Rockets' Purgatory

NBA Draft: Do Rocket fans have anything to look forward to?​In the second season of The Sopranos, after getting shot in the abdomen and nearly dying, Christopher has dreams while in a coma about going to a place where people die every day the same painful way they died on earth. Convinced that ... More >>

DeLay Guilty of Money Laundering

Sad Tom DeLay is sad...and guilty​ For five years, the case against Tom DeLay for money laundering through his Texans for a Republican Majority PAC has been seemingly trapped in the Texas courts facing pre-trial appeals. On November 1, it finally made it to trial and today the verdict is in: g ... More >>

Runner-Up Turkey of the Year: Debbie Riddle

Debbie Riddle -- You've been out-wingnutted!!​We're just days away from the 2010 Turkeys of the Year issue, where we honor what is best in Turkeydom for the past year. This will be our eighth edition of the awards, and as always competition is stiff. Building up to the grand announcement of th ... More >>

Runner-Up Turkey of the Year: Gary Kubiak

Gary Kubiak loses something? Un-possible!​It's a week or so away from the 2010 Turkeys of the Year issue, where we honor what is best in Turkeydom for the past year. This will be our eighth edition of the awards, and as always competition is stiff. Building up to the grand announcement of the ... More >>

Turkey Of The Year Runner-Up: Bill White

Bill White loses another race​It's a week or so away from the 2010 Turkeys of the Year issue, where we honor what is best in Turkeydom for the past year. This will be our eighth edition of the awards, and as always competition is stiff. Building up to the grand announcement of the winners, we' ... More >>

No Shame

Dr. Dog shrugs off faint praise.

iFest President & CEO Jim Austin Stepping Down February 1

Festival not booking Justin Beiber, interim replacement says GroovehouseGeorge Clinton at iFest 2010​Speaking of festivals... The Houston International Festival announced earlier today that Dr. James Austin will retire as president and chief executive officer of the Houston Festival Foundati ... More >>

Who Knew There Are So Many Songs About Rabies?

Centers for Disease Control Library​Monday night, as the crickets sang sweet songs into the early fall air, Rocks Off hung a wreath made of rubber bats on our door, and wrapped up copies of Old Yeller and Cujo to surprise our young daughter with when she awoke the next morning. Ahhh, is there ... More >>

David V. Herlihy: The Lost Cyclist

Athlete Frank Lenz went on an über-outing

World Cup: Is It Worth It, Rooting For The Americans?

The left-back spot is the Americans' Achilles heel​So the FIFA World Cup is only days away, and you have no idea what to make of Team USA's chances. Sure, they teased us a little last summer with their second-place finish at the Confederations Cup, beating then 1 ranked Spain, then having Brazil o ... More >>

Announcing Our Musical Turkey of the Year: You, the Concert-Going "Fans" of Houston

​Rocks Off was looking at a tour schedules recently when we realized that two artists we love, Danish band Mew and Swedish songstress El Perro Del Mar were planning trips to Texas. Trips that included stops in Austin, of course, and Dallas, and even San Antonio. But not Houston. Sometimes our favo ... More >>

"My Son Is the Lizard King, and I'm an Admiral": Successful Rock-Star Parents

​Late Thursday, word came across the ticker that legendary comedian and TV star Soupy Sales had passed away at age 83. After a stint in the military and on radio, Sales went on to be one of the major pioneers of televised sketch and children's comedy. In 1965, he pulled a stunt where he asked his ... More >>

Heroic Iraqi Refugee On His Deathbed As Family Struggles to Obtain Temporary Visas to Be At His Side

Photo courtesy of Dario Lipovac​Houston's Iraqi refugee community is saying a painful goodbye to one of its most valued members. Now Marwan Hamza's friends are scrambling to help his family do the same. Hamza, 22, is on his deathbed at Memorial Herman hospital after crashing his car earlie ... More >>

Aftermath: Robert Earl Keen at House of Blues; Dash Rip Rock at the Continental Club; Hayes Carll at Warehouse Live

Photos: Hayes Carll/ Craig Hlavaty; Dash Rip Rock, Robert Earl Keen/ Chris Gray On their 1996 self-titled debut LP, Hee Haw-loving Nashville ironists BR5-49 cut a song called "Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts)." Anyone who has read either the paper or this site in the past few weeks wi ... More >>

Get Lit: Gay Travels in the Muslim World

The Edge of Heaven Can Wait

Storylines and cultures crash in this German/Turkish import — and isn't it arty?

Judas Priest's Screaming Seer Rob Halford

Master of Metal

Healthy For a Day (or Two): Marathon Dining at Ziggy’s and Field of Greens

Miss Pop Rocks: Kellie Pickler is Dumb But So Haaaawt, Y’all

Balkan Grill & Market

Try the hearty soups and stews at this fancy new Bosnian restaurant, or just hang out and drink Turkish-style coffee

Q&A: Loreena McKennitt

Online Fun

You, too, can patrol our borders

Pluck Off

That's not the sky falling, just Disney's Chicken Little

Bully for You

The legislature offers a solution to playground problems

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Hotel Envy

Greenspoint says it's just as good as the Galleria, darn it

An Evening of Torture

The Amnesty International production "Torture Watch" isn't out to entertain

Sorrow's Child

Atom Egoyan tells a personal story of the Armenian genocide in Ararat

Peter Murphy

Thursday, May 30

Living in Harmony

Global Groove's Wednesday-night jam puts the hump back in hump day

Humor on the Orient Express

HGO rescues Mozart's Abduction

Imagine All the Pitas

Houstonians have broad minds, and stomachs

From the Mouths of Babes...

Horses focuses on the children whose actions speak volumes about the persecuted Kurds

Venus Envy

Walking Man

Richard Long treads lightly on the earth -- and his audience's imagination

Press Picks

Press Picks

Have Your Money Ready

It costs to get in the International Festival, but the smokes are free