United Kingdom

Happy Birthday, Proclaimers! 5 Songs That AREN'T "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"

It's likely that all you know of The Proclaimers is their single American hit, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)." Not that that is necessarily a bad thing. After all, that song is completely awesome, and if it's good enough to send off David Tennant from Doctor Who, then it is good enough for the likes of ... More >>

The Best Concerts In Houston This Week

The Helio Sequence Walters, January 15 The Helio Sequence's indie cred was secured when affable hipster tastemaker Fred Armisen (SNL, Portlandia) recently named last year's Negotiations to his Top 10 list, alongside albums by Bob Mould, Guided by Voices and Dirty Projectors. Only the Portland duo's ... More >>

Keane

John Lydon: "You Can't Hold Prejudices To Brick And Mortar"

On Wednesday morning I had the pleasure of speaking with one John Lydon, the founding member of Public Image Ltd and the lead screamer of punk legends the Sex Pistols. PiL -- that's what he calls it, never the full name -- released a new album This Is PiL earlier this summer. It's been getting gre ... More >>

Iron Maiden

Readers' Poll: Does Music In The Workplace Make You More Productive?

A recent blog on the Bloomberg Businessweek site detailed a UK study that was done dealing with music in the workplace and its effect on worker productivity. 77 percent of surveyed businesses said that it boosted morale and made output soar. The rest of the 33 percent probably own sweatshops. Now I ... More >>

People

Pizza Hut Appeases Disgruntled Fans with Limited Release of Cheesy Bites Pizza

"Just. Can't." So went fellow EOW blogger Christina Uticone's response to my post about the exclusive release of Hot Dog Stuffed Crust Pizza in the UK, Pizza Hut's latest creation. She wasn't alone, either. But apparently, according to a press contact at Pizza Hut, "American pizza fans are furiou ... More >>

The Embargo Act of 1807, And 5 Artists We'd Miss If It Was Still Here

​We're living in a globally connected world right now. Goods of all kinds are available from anywhere in the world in days, or in cases like music and films instantly. Our favorite expression lately is, "Living in the future is awesome," and if anyone argues with you punch them in the face and ... More >>

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Like the Obamas Wanted to Go to Your Stupid Royal Wedding Anyway

The invite the Obamas -- and you -- didn't receive​Despite having cast off the shackles of the British monarchy over 230 years ago, our great nation has yet to free itself of the embarrassingly colonial obsession with all matters concerning the Royal Family. A cursory scan of Google News yest ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Those Crazy Brits

​The things you can learn from reading the comments section on EOW. Joanna O'Leary wrote about five fascinating nursery rhyme foods, and commenter Trisch chimed in with the weirdest tidbit we've seen all day: On a recent transpacific flight, I watched a show where blackbird pie was on the men ... More >>

Study Finds Women Think About Food Almost as Often as Men Think About Sex

blogs.dallasobserver.com​On Monday The Daily Mail reported on a recent study of 5,000 men and women conducted by UK based Shape Smart that found that while men are thinking about sex (36 percent fantasize every half hour), women are focused on food--nearly a quarter of female participants repo ... More >>

Ashes To The Clash: Vinyl Junkies Find Ultimate Resting Place

​As a vinyl nerd, Rocks Off has been reduced to childlike, almost feral, giddiness by the mere entry into a record store or, God help us, a record convention. There's something about the round multi-colored spinning things that gets our motor running. Now a company in England, And Vinyly, ha ... More >>

Top 5 Fine Food Arts

Japanese Bento Box "Mona Lisa"​Art created from food has a uniquely universal appeal and a certain whimsy that you don't always find with other media. But food artists are often dismissed as "novelty," despite the powerful reach of their work and the fact that it's often crafted out of some of ... More >>

Game Time: 2010 World Cup -- I Am Darth Soccer

"Luke!! I am your bad-luck charm!!"​If ever there were a sporting event that was tailor-made for watching in a sports bar with a room full of diehard fans, it's World Cup soccer.It's the one sporting event that takes a pretty easily graspable concept for the casual fan (put ball in goal -- and in ... More >>

Recipe: A Different Scone

​I am constantly disappointed with the scones I get in coffee shops and bakeries. Scones in England are a thing of beauty: soft and sweet, creamy yet flaky, dense yet fluffy. Most of the scones I've tasted in America seem to be made from some sort of bastardized biscuit recipe that probably t ... More >>

Spotlight On: The Mangosteen

​A couple months ago, I ventured out to 99 Ranch Market and saw some fresh mangosteens parked in the middle of the fruit section. Although I was curious about how they tasted, I was put off by the price ($8.99/pound) and the fact that they looked pretty tired in comparison to the surrounding a ... More >>

World Cup 2010: These Teams Will Make It Out Of The Group Stage. Guaranteed

Now THAT was a USA World Cup squad​The 2010 edition of the FIFA World Cup is finally here. Thirty-two teams made it to the big dance to see just who is the best in the world. Realistically though, only a handful of teams have a shot of winning the cup. It's all going to come down to matchups ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Craig Mallinson of The Red Lion

​Eating Our Words recently caught up with Yorkshire native Craig Mallinson, owner of the Red Lion Pub. He talked about why he opened the Red Lion and gave us a brief history of pubs. EOW: So what made you want to open an English pub in Houston? Mallinson: Well, before moving to Houston, I ha ... More >>

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 >>

Texas Traveler Tries Curling

Photos by Brittanie Shey​Sometimes it's a bad idea to watch the Olympic Games in a bar. When someone shouts over the broadcast of the biathlon "Hey, I could do that," you might not want to challenge them, especially since this is Texas and that bar patron probably already has one half of the s ... More >>

SPECIAL LONG-LETTER EDITION

Exterminated

Houston's grindcore provocateurs (and HPMA nemises) Insect Warfare reunite for a brief U.K. tour.

Cutout Bin: Censored and "Recalled" Album Covers

The Beatles, Yesterday and Today (1966) We start with perhaps the best-known example of a "recalled" album cover. When advance copies were sent to stores and DJs, there was an immediate uproar over the cover, showing the band covered in baby parts and bloody meat. All copies were ordered to be re ... More >>

St. Patrick's Day Special: Flogging Molly, "Fuck You I'm Drunk"

Fun Fact: Before he found Irish-punk religion in L.A., Flogging Molly frontman Dave King sang in front of ex-Motorhead and UFO members in '80s UK hair-metal also-rans Fastway.

"Knitta, Please" Lives On And Goes International

It's been three years since we first wrote about Knitta, the Montrose artistes who were pioneering the art of guerrilla knitting.Since then the phenomenon has spread worldwide, according to today's UK Telegraph."Knitters turn to graffiti artists with 'yarnbombing'" is the headline.You'll have to ima ... More >>

Robb's Oyster Book

My new book Sex, Death & Oysters: A Half Shell Lover's World Tour was released January 1 and is now selling on Amazon. I'll make the rounds of Houston bookstores this week signing as many copies as I can find. It was a 2004 cover story by the same name in the Houston Press that got the ball rollin ... More >>

Today Is A Holiday, Dammit

Boxing Day - the day after Christmas -- is on most of our calendars, usually with the caveat that it has something to do with Canada. If Americans ever stop to think of it all, most of us grow up thinking it is related to the sweet science.It doesn't. Instead, it's a holiday with its origins in the ... More >>

It's Vacation (And Work) In Uganda For A Houstonian

Best of Ottawa International Animation Festival

This Is England

Shane Meadows lovingly re-creates his Thatcher-era England youth, but loses perspective

(White) Girl Power

Side Show

We are Siamese, if you please

Are They the New Beatles?

Nope. But the Arctic Monkeys might be the next Who

All Your Bass

See Also: Vexing

V for Vendetta delivers less, not Moore

Diaspora Jammin'

The best underground black music from the United States, Brazil, the UK, the Caribbean and Africa

Marrying the Mainstream

White men learned to dance, and the emoting was as thick as the eyeliner on the year's best pop-rock records

Marrying the Mainstream

White men learned to dance, and the emoting was as thick as the eyeliner on the year's best pop-rock records

Follow Your Snows

The Final Straw breaks the camel's back of Snow Patrol's obscurity

The Prodigy

Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (Maverick/XL)

A Fable

The Streets take on rap with a British accent and deliver a modern morality play

Lilys, with Of Normandy, Need New Body and One Version Aversion

June 13

Goat Doughnuts Go Global

The Hot Breads franchise serves unique pastries to a worldwide audience

Important Imports

The U.K.'s Travis is big in Europe really

Slaughterhouse Five

The Gut Girls

News of the Weird

Into the Groovy

Raving about Simon Reynolds's techno-historical treatment, Generation Ecstasy

Souls Shaken, Minds Stirred

Kula Shaker's got what you need -- or so they say