West Africa

World Beat: The Music of iFest

Performers from New Orleans to Zimbabwe enliven this year's Brazilian-themed Houston International Festival.

Nerds Herd: Five Things You Should Be Glad Geeks Handle for You

Tech junkies can be really annoying. They are often condescending, consistently frustrated and they sometimes even smell a little funky. I certainly don't condone condescension and admittedly stinky people are no fun, but there are plenty of times geeks have every right to be frustrated with you. Yo ... More >>

MKT Bar: Tale of an Unexpected Hotspot, Act 5 (Finale)

CHARACTERS The Manichean; apparently intoxicated gentleman; our narrator; assorted children up past their bedtime SCENE 1 A breezy Saturday. 8:55 p.m. Tonight, we're told, is MKT's "Vinyl Night," sponsored by Heights Vinyl. This week's vinyl group is Justice Tirapelli-Jamail and Cory Sinclair of T ... More >>

Move Over, Jeff Bagwell! Brian Cushing's House Is For Sale, Too!

Maybe after the tidal wave of a sports week that we all enjoyed/endured last week, we needed a bit of a breather. After Manti Te'o's phony baloney girlfriend, Lance Armstong's phony baloney apologies, the Patriots' and Falcons' phony baloney Super Bowl aspirations, a slow sports week leading up to ... More >>

Manti Te'o Fake Girlfriend Saga: How Fake Twitter Accounts and Digital Trickery Fooled America

Lots of people have been fooled online. Some have had entire relationships with people only to find out they weren't the person they thought they were...some not even the right gender. It is as disturbing as it is frustrating to imagine that anyone you speak with on the Internet might not be who the ... More >>

Lucy: Making Ethiopian Food Look Good

One of the complaints I've always heard leveled against Ethiopian food is that it isn't "pretty," or that it doesn't photograph well. The latter may often be true, because the texture and consistency of many Ethiopian dishes has a tendency to get lost in translation when photographed. A lovely, well ... More >>

Is One Halfway Decent Thanksgiving Pop Song Too Much to Ask For?

Not so long ago, Rocks Off was wondering why there has never been a decent pop song about Thanksgiving. Not despairing, just wondering. Apart from all the complete shite, you could fill an entire wing of your iTunes library with quality tunes about Thankgiving's yuletide neighbor, but Turkey Day its ... More >>

Some Real World Techie Advice for Petraeus, His Wife, His Mistress and Cheaters in General

I'm no Dear Abby (she's shorter than me), but reading the sordid details of the David Petraeus affair and how the whole thing blew up in his face causing him to resign from the CIA helped to confirm the fact that way too many people do not understand technology and need some help. Oh, sure, my first ... More >>

Allegedly Penis-Devouring Piranha Relative Hauled Out of Texas River

A pair of west Texas fisherman hauled in an authentic Jeremy Wade-certified river monster. According to the San Angelo Standard-Times, two area men were casting for catfish in the Concho River late last week when instead of a mudcat, the men landed a 21-inch, 7.95 pound red-bellied pacu, a piranha- ... More >>

Dogs Seized From Spindletop Need a Loving Home, So What's Your Deal?

A dozen dogs seized from the Spindletop Dog Refuge last month are still at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter and in need of forever homes. So what the heck are you waiting for? They all vary in breed, age, and temperament, but they're all the same in one crucial way: they've all languished in th ... More >>

Dustin-Prestige, The Niceguys Help Us All Grow Cooler

Here's a way to say some new rap music is good without talking directly about it: There are a few different categories that emails from rappers/friends of rappers pretending to be publicists/publicists are separated into. As it is: Category 1: Yeah Fucking Right Reserved for aggressive spammers ... More >>

Wait a Minute! Who Is That? Top 10 Videos With Famous Actor Cameos

When you are an actor, you take basically whatever will feed you just as long as you get to perform. Many actors either got their start in music videos or they will appeared in one after they got famous. Oftentimes, they are pretty memorable.

Texas AG: Don't Fall For the Utility Payment Scam

The Texas Attorney General's Office is warning folks about yet another identity theft wave that's been separating people from their money: the so-called utility bill payment scam. The AG's Office writes that "using in-person solicitations, social media, fliers, phone calls and text messages, scamme ... More >>

Bayou City Art Festival

Ask A Rapper: Jack Freeman Nerds Out With R&B Hits

The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place -- lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good -- so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Something you always wanted to ask a rapper? E-mail sheaserrano@gmail.com. ... More >>

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80

We Heart Houston -- and All of Its Food, Too

What's not to eat in Houston? That's the question we pose in this week's cover story, "We Love Food." The answer -- in case you hadn't already guessed -- is very little. There is virtually no cuisine you can't find in Houston, and most of what you find is very good. With 8,000 restaurants and count ... More >>

5 Surprisingly Sexy Dinners for Valentine's Day

So you've decided to buck the traditions this year and take your sweetheart somewhere for dinner that won't be an overpriced, overcrowded mess of boring pasta dishes and flourless chocolate cakes. Good on you! Valentine's Day -- or any good date night -- can be much more romantic when you mix it up ... More >>

Nigerian Child Witch Hunter Visiting Houston for "Marathon Deliverance"...and Folks Are Pissed

Former steamrolling NFL running back Christian Okoye isn't The Nigerian Nightmare, according to folks like Deana Holmes. Self-proclaimed witch hunter Helen Ukpabio is. "Not sure that we need to have this crap where little kids are accused of being witches that need to be prayed over and exorcised," ... More >>

Tinariwen

Oasis in the Desert: Casablanca Brings Moroccan Food to Houston

Photos by Troy FieldsSee more photos from Casablanca in our slideshow.​When it opened late last year, Casablanca Couscous & Grill became only the second Moroccan restaurant in Houston. And the truth is, for a city that prides itself on being such a melting pot of ethnicities and cuisines, ther ... More >>

Friday Night: Slim Thug, Z-Ro, Devin & Friends At Warehouse Live

Photos by Marco TorresMouths of the South (L-R): Z-Ro, Slim Thug, Devin the Dude​Slim Thug, Z-Ro, Devin the Dude, Afroman, Fat Tony, Killa Kyleon, Jack Freeman, UZOY, Mezou Warehouse Live August 5, 2011 9:08 p.m.: Oh my. So, the show tonight - Slim, Ro, Devin, Afroman and openers - is mostly ... More >>

This Week in Deliciousness

The Brisket House rules their brisket with an actual iron fist.​Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we kind of want our old pizza delivery job back just so we can hang out in the walk-in freezer. Yes, it's hot as balls here in Houston, and that's why we started t ... More >>

Why Do Mexican Farmworkers Take a Shit in the Fields?

And why aren't more Mexis part of the middle class?

This Week in Deliciousness

For some reason, this picture of the wine festival at Brenner's makes us very excited about the commencement of filming on The Hobbit.​Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where our constant tinkering in God's domain is about to pay off with the imminent discovery of a ... More >>

Sampler Plate: This Week in Food Blogs

Each week, we put together a sampler plate of the most interesting links from both local and national food blogs. Know a blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. Chili Bob's Houston Eats: "Bissonnet is one of our great food streets with a ve ... More >>

Jessica Tata: Feeling the Hate on Facebook

Jessica Tata is not loved on Facebook​No local Houston figure in recent memory has become so hated so quickly as Jessica Tata, the fugitive owner of the day care where four children died in a fire last week. Believed to be in Nigeria, Tata, who lied about her juvenile record on her regist ... More >>

Jessica Tata: DA Pat Lykos Says Don't Blame Me for Her Getting Away

Jessica Tata is in Nigeria and is wanted​District Attorney Pat Lykos had an afternoon press conference today to rebut claims that her office did not act quickly enough in the case of Jessica Tata, who owned a daycare where four kids died in a fire, allowing Tata to escape to Nigeria. "Suggest ... More >>

Jessica Tata, Owner of Daycare Where Four Kids Died, Escapes to Nigeria

​The Houston Fire Department says the owner of the daycare where last week's heartbreaking fire killed four kids has escaped the country. Jessica Tata, 22, is in Nigeria, HFD tells the Houston Chronicle. Tata has been charged with reckless injury to a child involving serious bodily injury, b ... More >>

Sweet Potatoes Versus Yams: The Real Story

Now that's a yam. ​Sweet potato season is upon us. And though most Southerners, such as ourselves, correctly refer to the orange root vegetable by its rightful name "sweet potato," some people (i.e. Yankees) insist on calling them yams. Intrigued by the various appellations, I set out to dis ... More >>

The Lyrical Crimes Of Nickelback's Chad Kroeger

Photos by Craig HlavatyNickelback at Toyota Center, April 2009​Today is Chad Kroeger of Nickleback's birthday. Huzzah. For years, Nickelback has been like those Nigerian bank scams; Dangerous, annoying and, frankly, not something anyone can do just a whole lot about. However, anti-Nickelback ... More >>

Faces of Ife

"Dynasty and Divinity" gives us the art of ancient Nigeria.

Planet Houston: Country Cooking

An around-the-world guide to the foods of Planet Houston

Openings & Closings

Photo by Robb WalshOyster season is permanently over for Shuck Daddy's.​Lasting only a little over a year, the not-quite-Hooters seafood spot Shuck Daddy's (1511 Shepherd) has shucked its last oyster. With Mak Chin suffering a similar fate in the same location in 2009, could it be that Houston ... More >>

Black Crowes Pull the Plug

Band celebrates album's 20th anniversary by going on hiatus.

Remember Nosaprise's Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades?

Houston's history is dotted with albums that, fairly or un, have been swept aside. We'll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. Nosaprise Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades (self-released, 2010) ​For a while, it appeared that th ... More >>

Primordial Gumbo at Finger Licking Bukateria

It only looks like the underside of a giant scarab beetle; it's just the midsection of a catfish.​If you try to order primordial gumbo at Finger Licking Bukateria (9817 Bissonnet), they obviously won't know what you're asking for. Our waiter on Saturday night was completely befuddled when I tr ... More >>

New-School Pirates Are No Longer After Your Buried Treasure

We miss the old-school pirates​Being a pirate on the high seas isn't what it used to be. The rum-swigging, foul-mouthed, unkempt groups in search of buried treasure have evolved in the 21st century. Their new concern: Fueltrax systems. How's Disney supposed to make a movie around that plot line? ... More >>

Giving Up the Greens

​If you had been a devout vegetarian (or even a pescatarian, or a vegan) for the past decade of your life, what would be the first meat you'd want after deciding to revert back to your carnivorous ways? That's the question currently being pondered by my significant other, who's decided to ret ... More >>

World Cup 2010 -- What's The Future Look Like For Team America?

Is Coach Bob Bradley staying?​Now that the US has been eliminated from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it's time to play a little Monday quarterback, futbol style.Even though the US won its group for the first time in this millennium, and even though they made it past the first round (this was the team's ... More >>

Capsule Art Reviews: "Claire Ankenman: Phase", "Hand+Made: The Performative Impulse in Art and Craft", "Round 32: eco, xiang, echo: meditations on the african, andean & asian diasporas", "The White Album"

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 >>

Chevron Protests Result In Arrests Downtown

Photo by Liana Lopez Carted away in comfort​ At least four protesters were arrested this morning at a demonstration outside a Chevron shareholders' meeting downtown. The protesters moved past temporary police barricades and sat on the ground after they were refused entrance into the buildin ... More >>

iFest Closes To An Afro-Cuban-Reggae Beat

Eggs/ breakfastontour.comBaba Maal​ If the first weekend of the Houston International Festival felt like a detour down Canal Street, the second evoked the festival's emphasis on "Spotlighting the Caribbean." Summer picked this weekend to descend two months early, as it tends to do, resulting in in ... More >>

George Clinton To Play Extended iFest Set For King Sunny Ade

​The Houston International Festival has adjusted its schedule to accommodate the cancellation of Nigeria's King Sunny Ade & His African Beats, who scratched their tour after talking drummer Gabriel Ayanniyi and percussionist Omo Olope were killed in a car accident on their way to a video shoot ... More >>

"Perspectives 169: Odili Donald Odita"

This artist creates one-of-a-kind colors for his dynamic work

Caged

Web exclusive!

“A Modern Patronage: de Menil Gifts to American and European Museums”

From Warhol prints to African artifacts, the de Menils stocked museums around the globe

Hell and Sebastian

Various Artists

Love's a Real Thing