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The Bizarre Ride of Kickback Sundays, Pt. 3

For being a boutique that happens to aid others with ticket sales for bigger shows, the owner of SF2 looked at the bottom line for sales for its own show, dubbed Raw Talent, and scoffed. Rewind: The Bizarre Ride of Kickback Sundays, Part 1 "We only sold two tickets," Suzie Rivera explained. "The ... More >>

Texans-Jets: The 10 Best Rapper Tweets From Monday Night Football

Houston has a professional football team, called the Houston Texans. A lot of people like them; some are rappers. The Internet has several forms of social media; one is called Twitter. A lot of people use it. Some of them are rappers. Like last week, we perused Twitter during Monday night's game a ... More >>

Texans-Titans: The 10 Best Rapper Tweets From Sunday's Game

Houston has a professional football team. They are called the Houston Texans. A lot of people like them. Some of those people are rappers. The Internet has several forms of social media. One of them is called Twitter. A lot of people use it. Some of those people are rappers. We perused Twitter d ... More >>

Six Custom License Plates For UH's Horrendous 2012 Start

The 2012 football season promised to be a tough one for the UH Cougars -- their coach had moved on to greener pastures, their record-setting quarterback graduated to the NFL, a lot of adjustments had to be made -- but we're not sure anyone thought it would be this tough. An opening-day loss to a p ... More >>

My Mom's Broccoli Salad

Going from enjoying wonderful meals made by my mom all summer to microwaving frozen dinners to fit the hectic schedule of being a college student has been difficult. I miss coming home to a kitchen filled with comforting smells. So, whenever I get homesick, I make something that reminds me of home. ... More >>

My First Taste of Bernie's Burger Bus

What's bright-yellow, has four wheels, and could be mistaken for a school bus at a quick glance? In Houston, that would be the ultra-gourmet burger joint by the name of Bernie's Burger Bus. And if you haven't yet tried it, you're seriously missing out. I'd heard great things about Bernie's, but wha ... More >>

Drunk Melon Balls: The Labor Day Party Must-Have

Although it'll stay hot here through at least the "fall," Labor Day weekend is traditionally the last big pool party and/or barbecuing weekend of the year. And nothing goes better with swimsuits and/or smoked meats than cool, refreshing, healthy fruit. That's been saturated with booze. Drunk waterm ... More >>

5 Sports Figures Who Follow Absolutely Nobody On Twitter And Why

Someday, if they ever come up with a graduate degree in social-media forensics, I'm going to back to school and get my Ph.D, because I am of a firm belief that you can learn a lot about a person by the way they utilize and conduct themselves on Twitter. For example, if you have, say, 4,359 follower ... More >>

How To: Ice Cream Cupcakes

With the summer heat at its peak, we are all trying to find ways to keep cool. Ice cream is my go-to treat to fight the heat. While making a whole ice cream cake can be a tedious and, many times, unsuccessful task, decorating cupcakes with ice cream is so much easier. Here is a simple guide to asse ... More >>

Please To Kindly Eff Off: Texans Apparently Both Polite and Potty-Mouthed on Twitter

One side effect of social networking that is rarely discussed by the public at large is the massive amounts of data gathered every day about our habits online. Every time you publish something on Twitter or Facebook or, God help you, MySpace, it is cataloged, not by some evil secret government (that ... More >>

Digital Endorsement: 10 Artists Who Will Gladly Mention Your Business On Twitter

As a culture it appears that we've stopped caring about the idea of selling out. Whether it's because we've learned that record sales don't always pay the bills, have started seeing artists as humans instead of paragons of creative integrity, or simply stopped caring, artists saddling up with corpor ... More >>

Death Be Not, Uh... True: The 8 Most Asinine Musician Death Hoaxes

Why do people perpetrate death hoaxes? Why would someone deliberately set out to spread rumors of a famous person's demise that they know simply aren't true? Is it some kind of Munchausen-By-Proxy thing, where they hope to absorb some of the residual sympathy and outpouring of goodwill? Is it a mad ... More >>

Without a Face's New Video Is Not Without Awesome

8:53: The lead singer is extremely entertaining. At one point he removes his shirt to expose his frail white body and angrily hollers into the mic, "Are you ready to rock, Chicago?!" That's from a review I wrote more than four years ago. It was the very first thing I ever did for the Houston Press ... More >>

Ground Is Broken On The City's New Sobriety Center; Should Be Open In Time For New Year's Rush

Ground has been broken on the grandly named Houston Center for Sobriety, the alternative drunk tank for partyers who'd rather not get tossed in with the general jail population after a night on the town. The new facility, located near the Star of Hope mission downtown, is a renovation of an existin ... More >>

A (Very Nearly) Comprehensive Guide to Houston's Food Trucks

Last week, one of our Twitter followers made a special request: a guide to all the nearly 50 food trucks currently roaming around town that use Twitter -- along with their Twitter handles. So @sarahnoid, this list is for you. Food trucks are sorted alphabetically, along with their primary type of c ... More >>

B(r)and Awareness: 5 Easy Tips to Maintain Your Web Presence

Doing research on famous bands is easy. If you're famous enough to have your own Wikipedia entry, then you're big enough to have dozens of pages on the Internet about you filled with the most interesting and boring bits of minutia. Anything a blogger needs to know to interview, write about, or make ... More >>

Complaints and the Media

A Quiet Moment With the Very Loud B L A C K I E

See also Craig Hlavaty's review of B L A C K I E's new album GEN. To go with the Houston Press Music Awards issue, this week's feature story is a profile of B L A C K I E (all caps, with spaces), a noise musician that's a little too rap to be classified as a noise musician and way noisy to be class ... More >>

Houston Music Showcase: A Semi-Talk With B L A C K I E

See also Craig Hlavaty's review of B L A C K I E's new album GEN. This week brings us the Houston Press Music Awards and the feature story is a profile of B L A C K I E (all caps, with spaces), a noise musician that's a little too rap to be classified as a noise musician and way noisy to be classi ... More >>

Pitt Fans Hijack #AskASU Hashtag To Express Their Hatred For Todd Graham

There aren't many things that college football fans can universally agree on, but one immutable truth unequivocally unifies all of us -- everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, hates Arizona State for now head football coach Todd Graham. That's because Graham's act leaves scorched earth and jilted players ... More >>

Follow This: 5 Brutally Honest Reviews For 5 Bands Who Did

Up until recently I've remained fairly indifferent to the number of followers I have on Twitter. After all, if my ego was dependent on the number of people following me I would just drop the $5 necessary to buy a few thousand and call it a night. Ever since I started writing here at Rocks Off I've ... More >>

Flaming Young: 10 Food-Related Words You Need to Stop Misspelling

We've already covered 20 food words you need to stop mispronouncing. And then 20 more words after that, since apparently people still stumble over the fact that there is no "x" in espresso. And espresso is definitely one of those words that people -- even people who work in coffee shops -- misspell ... More >>

Michael Jordan's Son Smiles Pretty For His Mugshot

Michael Jordan was having a pretty good week. The owner of the Charlotte Bobcats stayed out of the way of his team's draft just long enough for them to actually make the correct pick with the number two overall selection (Michael Kidd-Gilchrist), the first step on the long road to mediocrity (a HUGE ... More >>

The 2012 Houston Web Awards

The Houston Press rides the wave to the next group of winners.

The Rest of the Best: Houston's Top 5 Restaurant Playlists

The only times I notice the music in a restaurant is when it's really bad (Christmas music playing year round at Sichuan Cuisine), really out of place (Nine Inch Nails blaring out of the speakers at now-closed Tony Vallone joint Ciao Bello or Cannibal Corpse washing over the line of patrons at Amy's ... More >>

Wild Game Burger Friday at Rainbow Lodge

What goes into an eight-ounce burger? At the Rainbow Lodge, every Friday yields a new mix. One week it may be antelope, venison, wild boar and pork belly. Another week, it may be nilgai, lamb, venison and lamb belly. Forrest Gump's mama would say that it's like a box of chocolates: "You never know ... More >>

Last Night: One Direction at The Woodlands

One Direction Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion June 24, 2012 Ahh! OMG... Eek! I love you guys! Now repeat that a million times and it will somewhat sum up Sunday night's show. Along with my little sister, I arrived to the sold-out show in astonishment. I did not expect to witness what I saw: Handma ... More >>

Last Night: Santigold at House Of Blues

Santigold, Charli XCX House of Blues June 7, 2012 Watching Santigold onstage, you'd have almost no idea that the 35-year-old former punk singer had a hand in developing the careers of some of the biggest pop starlets in the last decade. That is until you break down that her costume changes, the way ... More >>

Know Your Local Media: Isiah Carey on YouTube Celebrity, Homebodies and How the Devil Is Busy

Each week, we will profile an esteemed member of the local media and ask them five questions, for better or worse. Name: Isiah Carey Employer: KRIV Fox 26 Title: Investigative Reporter Fox 26 investigative reporter Isiah Carey is a YouTube celebrity, an often dubious distinction and a source of em ... More >>

Celtics-Heat Postgame Fun-Fest: Crazy KG, D-Wade's Hipster-ish Fake Glasses, and "Good Job, Good Effort!" Kid (w/ VIDEO)

I love NBA basketball, but I'll be the first to admit that I am oftentimes more compelled by what goes on after the games -- in the press conferences, in the locker room, on the set of TNT -- than I am in the games themselves. I'm the guy who is rooting against LeBron not because I hate him, but be ... More >>

Nominate Your Favorites for the 2012 Houston Web Awards

If you love food and you live in Houston, chances are you follow at least one food truck on Twitter, one restaurant on Facebook or one beer blog (remember blogging? People still do it, and in more than 140-character bursts). The 2012 Houston Web Awards are fast approaching, which means now is the t ... More >>

Five Dumb Reasons to Hate Social Media: Stand Up For Twitter & Facebook!

There are lots of annoying things about the various social networks that exist and plenty of reasons to think they are stupid. I've enumerated a number of those reasons on this very blog. But, with all things, there are people who will hate just to hate and sites like Twitter and Facebook often make ... More >>

2012 NFL Draft -- Live Blog

I made an analogy on my radio show this morning on 1560 The Game that the NFL Draft tonight is like Christmas Day for many NFL fans. Air of anticipation, excitement of the unknown, food, it's all there. (My co-host, John Granato, compared it to Hanukkah because it's played out over several days, but ... More >>

App of the Week: Houston, Texas Emergency Radio

App: Houston, Texas Emergency Radio Platform: iPhone, iPad Web site: Facebook Page Cost: Free Monday night, after Kentucky had dispatched Kansas in the NCAA national championship game, there was a surge of posts on Twitter about the riots taking place in Lexington, mainly because the firefighters' ... More >>

Top 5 Old Musicians Actually Using Twitter

Like youth itself, Twitter is wasted on the young. But not everyone over 35 has completely tuned it out -- after a recent upgrade to a smartphone, even I'm using it now after years of Twitterphobia. (Hit me up at @ThePhantomTX.) Since I've been on, I've learned that most musicians have handed off t ... More >>

Your HISD Condom Poster of the Year

The Sharpstown International School is a magnet for grades 6-12 that prides itself on its worldly view. That would naturellement include sex, mais oui? In the heart of abstinence-only-lovin' Texas, SIS has been sporting a hallway poster that tells teens that condoms are cheaper than squalling babi ... More >>

SXSW: Shitty Is Not Here -- For Real

Shades of Cheech & Chong. Rocks Off saw this sign posted outside the Dirty Dog bar Friday afternoon and knew we had to post it. We have no idea who "Shitty" is, but he was definitely not in the building. But why?

Who Are You? The Weird World of Twitter Bios Reveals Politics, Marital Status and Justin Bieber Love

It's a very odd thing to have a 140-character bio. Any person in marketing will tell you that good ideas require an "elevator pitch," meaning you could pitch your idea in the time it takes to travel a few floors on an elevator. Really great ideas, some say, can be boiled down into a few words. But w ... More >>

Hubcap Grill's Ricky Craig on Twitter Outbursts and Axl Rose Rants

This past Tuesday around 10 p.m., anyone who follows Hubcap Grill owner Ricky Craig on Twitter could tell that he was having a bad night. Craig is well-known for voicing his opinions -- often stridently -- on Twitter, but Tuesday was different. "Ewan MacDonald get out of Houston and GO BACK TO DALL ... More >>

To Ke$ha, With Love: A Plea For Sanity At Age 25

Dear Ke$ha: Happy birthday. If 18 and 21 are the "good" birthdays, and 30 and 40 are the "bad" birthdays, what do we make of turning 25? I like to look at the positive side of things: You're old enough to have grown up responsibilities, but young enough to still party hard and get away with it. Fo ... More >>

Keep on Truckin': Kurbside Eatz

Houston's mobile food scene is still going strong, as evidenced by the crop of new trucks like Ladybird, Pad Thai Box, Happy Endings , and my new favorite, Kurbside Eatz. You can find every type of cuisine on wheels now, but Kurbside Eatz fills a void for what they like to call comfort food with an ... More >>

Eating Our Words Burger Bracket: The 2012 Judges

​March Madness is upon us, and you know what that means, EOW Nation: It's Burger Bracket time. Katharine Shilcutt put out a call for judges last week, and after careful, admittedly capricious, consideration, we've chosen the teams. Without further ado: Team Burgerteers, for managing to work ... More >>

Odd Pair: Pizza and Champagne (Socialism)

Photo by Jeremy Parzen​Champagne socialist, noun depreciative (originally and chiefly British): a person who espouses socialist ideals but enjoys a wealthy and luxurious lifestyle; confer limousine liberal noun. -- Oxford English Dictionary In this day and age of the 99 percenters, there's no ... More >>

The Five Best Times to Stay Off Twitter

Twitter can be a really engaging tool. It provides a great way to benignly interact with people and is rapidly becoming the best source for breaking news media. But it has its pitfalls and I'm not just talking about those people you follow who always post their workout information. There are certai ... More >>

This Week in Deliciousness

Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where the rules are all made up and the points don't matter. We started the week off right by fantasizing about who we'd most like to eat lunch with. My pick? Summer Glau. And the fantasy lunch would be maybe a couple oysters, and then str ... More >>

Unfollow: The Five Fastest Ways to Get Spammed on Twitter

Oh, I BET you want me to click that link!​Over the past week or two, I've conducted a kind of experiment to see who will spam me when I post things on Twitter. I have been baiting spammers into sending me replies to my blatant requests for information about iPads or sex. It's really kind of hi ... More >>

Late Night Pie Burns Down Overnight

A fire that started 45 minutes after Late Night Pie closed last night at 3 a.m. burned the pizza joint nearly to the ground. ABC-13 reported that the restaurant had suffered major damage as a result of the fire, which the Houston Fire Department battled for three hours. Public reaction to the news ... More >>

Tale of the Tape: LeBron James's Alley-Oop vs Blake Griffin's Facial (w/ VIDEO)

I wake up at about 4:15 a.m. each weekday morning to head to the studio and do my radio show on 1560 The Game (also, shameless plug, simulcast on television on Comcast 129), so many nights I go to bed before the sports world has shut it down for the evening. My tool to catch up on things when I wak ... More >>

Shut Up! Four Ways to Temporarily Block People You Follow on Twitter

There are times when we all want people to just shut the hell up. This is even more true online, where people often seem to say things we could never imagine them saying in person. The problem is magnified when your list of "friends" expands from the people you actually hang out with to the long lis ... More >>

The Five Most Cringe-Worthy Social Media Status Updates

​We all know that certain people just overshare. These are people for whom the acronym "TMI" was invented. They walk into a party and immediately begin telling anyone who will listen about their violent ex or their bowel issues. The good thing about these people is that you can walk away from ... More >>