Washed Out Rode a Chillwave into White Oak Music Hall Sunday Night
Georgia based singer, songwriter, and record producer Ernest Weatherly Greene Jr., known professionally as Washed Out, returned to Houston to play an evening of beautiful, dreamy music Sunday night at White Oak Music Hall.
Top 10 TV Shows of 2018
It was a terrible year in so many ways, but onscreen, with shows including Sharp Objects, My Brilliant Friend, Better Call Saul, The Americans and Atlanta, it sparkled
Top 10 Films of 2018
The art houses and Drafthouses again pull more than their fair share of the burden of quality, but my No. 2 (and many people’s No. 1) is a straight-up Netflix production, already available to watch on your phone
This Week in Houston Food Events: Recover from New Year’s Eve with a Hangover Brunch
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, December 31 and Tuesday, January 1 New Year’s Eve and Day Dining Guide Looking for New Year’s plans? Enjoy a special meal at one of one of Houston’s finest restaurants. Our New Year’s Eve and Day Dining Guide covers everything…
NFL Week 17: Texans 20, Jaguars 3 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
In a performance that was part affirmation of Deshaun Watson as the unquestionable cornerstone of the Texans’ franchise and part affirmation that the Jacksonville Jaguars, offensively at least, are an inept dumpster fire, the Houston Texans defeated the Jags by a score of 20-3 to clinch their third AFC South…
Weather Week: 2019 Rings In with Some Chilly Weather
As promised, the last weekend of 2018 was a pretty gross one. Highs hovered in the upper 40s and low 50s both Saturday and Sunday with drizzle and overcast skies. This week will offer a little bit of everything from the cold and wet to the sunny and mild. But,…
New Book Coming from Christian Kidd of The Hates
Christian Kidd, the legendary singer and guitarist from Houston’s oldest and most celebrated punk band The Hates, has announced that he has completed his second memoir. If you read only one book about life in the Houston music scene then it should be Kidd’s first book Just a Houston Punk…
Playwright Robert Askins is Back at the Alley With Another Irreverent Comedy: The Carpenter
Playwright Robert Askins who grew up in Cypress “where 290 meets Huffmeister” and went on to Baylor University says he finds its best to write about things he knows. His plays aren’t autobiographical exactly, but they are based on similar things he’s experienced. And, he says dryly, he’s got a…
Last Night: The Black Angels Remain The True Psychedelic Revivalists of Texas
The Black Angels at White Oak Music Hall, December 27, 2018. With a noise-heavy approach that expands the classic sounds of 1960s acts like Roky Erickson, The Black Angels have ushered in a new era of Texas psych rock that was evident throughout Thursday night with impressive sets from up-and-comers Holy Wave, and El Lago.
10 Concerts We’re Excited to See in Houston in 2019
Sure, it’s the end of the year and a review of the best concerts Houston hosted in 2018 might be in order and certainly would be easy to draw up; but, why not look ahead? Here are ten shows we’re excited to scribble onto our calendars for 2019. Some are…
The 10 Biggest Houston Pro Sports Stories of 2018
It would be fair to consider 2018 a rather disappointing year in Houston sports on a number of fronts. While 2017 felt inspirational with the Astros winning their first ever World Series, particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, 2018 felt more anticlimactic. There were near misses and close calls…
The Houston Press Picks For Best Movies Of 2018
I’m going to drop a top 10 list on you (in no particular order), and you’re going to disagree with some or all of my choices. This will seem like a big deal until you realize all art is subjective and you should just lighten up.
Openings and Closings: Hank’s Crab Shack is Coming, Gyro King is Here
Hank’s Crab Shack, 1955 North Fry, is shooting for a mid-January opening, just in time for crawfish season. The family-owned company also operates four other Hank’s restaurants including Hank’s Cajun Crawfish in Bellaire and Hank’s Cajun Grill and Oyster Bar on Westheimer. The Vu family emigrated from Vietnam in 1979…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Close Out 2018 at The Hay Merchant
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Brunch Series at Weights + Measures Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Monday and Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 2808 Caroline. Brunch your way out of 2018 and into 2019 with a…
NFL Week 17: Jaguars-Texans — Four Things To Watch For
Things would have been much, much easier if the Texans could have gotten a defensive stop in the last two minutes against the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday. That would have set up the ultra simple “win and you’re the 2-seed” scenario that felt so good for a week. Now, the…
5 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: Joke Riot, Winter Chill and Owl Prowl
Whether you got the gifts you wanted this holiday season, or gave the performance of a lifetime upon receiving hideous neckties or redundant gadgets from the As Seen On TV line, it’s that awkward time of year sandwiched between holiday cheer and New Year’s Eve bashes. Good news is that…
A Toast to 2018, the Year Movies Roared Back
The movie experiences I treasure most from this year found me sharing moments and laughs and tears with strangers who, just before and after the house lights dimmed, I might have been arguing with on Twitter
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Get Tix for Saint Arnold’s One Pot Showdown
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Say goodbye to 2018 and ring in 2019 with tasty festivities at one of Houston’s finest restaurants. Our New Year’s Eve and Day Dining Guide covers everything from Champagne-fueled dinners to day-after recovery brunches. Pluckers Wing…
Welcome to Marwen Crashes Into the Limits of Hollywood’s Imagination
At times, as it dissolves between scenes of its cast as literal toy dolls machine-gunning Nazis in the made-up Belgian town of Marwen, Zemeckis’ movie seems an inquisition into the limits of the director’s own imagination
Weather Weekend: Rainy and Cooler
We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, albeit a warm one. With temperatures in the 70s, it certainly didn’t feel like a traditional, cold holiday, but the rain stayed away, so that was nice. For the weekend leading into the end of the year, temperatures will gradually begin to slide…
Tales From The Top Shelf: Nocino
A whiff of Amaretto will bring you to your knees. Nocino, on the other hand, has you grabbing a change of clothes and off to the airport buying tickets to Vegas on the way. This walnut liqueur is that good and it just so happens to be the best time…
College Bowls and NFL Week 17 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
We are heading into the heart of bowl season this week, complete with two oddly placed College Football Playoff semifinal bowl games this Saturday, two days and change before New Year’s Day hits on midnight Monday. We are also in Week 17 of the NFL season with some de facto…
Go Global: Five World Music Artists to Soothe Your Soul
What is world music? According to Dictionary.com it is, “ traditional music from the developing world.” In a much broader sense, it is any and all music incorporating different styles from around the globe. It has been popularized in Western culture through pop stars such as Sting, Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, and George Harrison.
Another December Signing Paying Dividends for the Rockets
Last December, with the Rockets facing a spate of injuries, GM Daryl Morey signed Houston native Gerald Green, who had been at home waiting to sign on with a team since the summer. Less than a week later, he scored 27 points in a win over Orlando and solidified himself…
First Look: La Corona Mexican Restaurant
Most diners in Houston have more than a handful of favorite Mexican restaurants in their dining out rotation. In our booming city, one can find the upscale, creative cooking of James Beard-award winning chef Hugo Ortega, the handmade tamales of someone’s abuela and a multitude of Tex-Mex joints ranging from…
Top 10 Houston Texans Storylines From 2018
No sport is more like episodic television than professional football. The weekly ebb and flow of the regular season, the player movement of the offseason, and the sport’s place on the top shelf of the sporting landscape all lend itself to a fantastic storyline-laden package. In a perfect world, this…
Houston Concert Watch 12/26: The Revolution and More
When you woke up this morning and brushed the sleep out your eyes, that didn’t just mean that you lived to see another day; it meant that you survived the holidays, and all the stress that comes along with it. Congrats to you for not letting the associated stress that…
Cirque du Soleil Makes it Rain in Houston with Mexico-Inspired Luzia
It’s impossible to get bored during a Cirque du Soleil show, but there’s a strong chance of missing one of the many “wow” moments in the action-packed light, sound and FX performance extravaganza. “I find every time I watch our shows I see something different. Especially with the turntables, no…
Late Night at Love Buzz Pizza Pub
Condoms, rolling papers, cigarettes, an iPhone charger, Big League Chew—it’s two in the morning, what more could you need? “Like a bodega in a box,” Sam English, owner of Love Buzz Pizza Pub, says of his thoughtfully curated vending machine. They even carry the big nose, mustache, eye-glass disguise sets,…
Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk Does James Baldwin Proud
Baldwin’s central story, dialogue and time-jumping narrative structure are all in place, but so, too, is a sumptuous visual style that serves to deepen the novelist’s themes of racial injustice and the powerful countering force of love
Houston Arboretum to Start Charging For Parking in 2019
Once all the signs are up sometime in early 2019, visitors to the Houston Arboretum can expect to pay for their parking at the nature facility — except on Thursdays when parking will continue to be free. The park and its trails are still free, but for anyone other than…
Christmas Music To Plug Into Today
We couldn’t think of anything better to do for you on Christmas Day than to direct you to some of the best Christmas music on YouTube. You can watch it, but you don’t have to. Just sit back with some hot chocolate, egg nog or whatever your preferred drink is,…
Author Warns That Solar Superstorms Could Lead to Extinction Level Events
With so many things to worry about these days, do we really need another? If it’s not ISIS heading north from Honduras or Chinese hacking or Russian tampering, there are still plenty of natural disasters to cause angst in the Bayou City, hurricanes and flooding being at the top of…
What’s With Houston’s Insane Amount of Food Bloggers?
We Houstonians love to take pictures of our food. We love to talk about our food, write about our food, and we love to know what other people are saying and writing about their food. We love it all so much that food blogging/food posting has become its own micro-industry…
Weather Week: Warm Christmas on Tap for Houston
As discussed last week, Houston is not known for white Christmases. In fact, we’ve essentially never had a snowy Christmas Day. Truth be told, we’ve only had a couple white any days. We are in the south after all. And when it comes to Christmas, we are in good company…
NFL Week 16: Eagles 32, Texans 30 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
With the injured bodies piling up on both sides of the football, with the wide receiving corps down to DeAndre Hopkins and a bunch of young castoffs and injured hammies, and with the Texans’ recent complete inability to both run the football and stop teams through the air, the reality…
Beyond Roma: Here Are 4 Other New Netflix Films as Good as Anything in Theaters
Hollywood now begrudgingly must honor a company committed to upending the business model of theatrical distribution, but it’s hard to gainsay Netflix’s strategy in this instance
Vice Can’t Make Sense of Dick Cheney, but It Can Give You a Headache
Don’t look to Vice for psychology or even a sense of presence; McKay uses the Cheneys’ grim unknowability as an excuse not to bother going for either
Grocery Store Hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Around Houston 2018
In case you’re in need of some crucial ingredient or have nothing else to do or hope to pick up a last minute present for the food lover in your family, here’s a list of the grocery/convenience stores that will be open in and around Houston this Christmas Day. OPEN CHRISTMAS…
The Revolution Continues its Tribute to the Purple Reign
Prince’s most celebrated backing band, the Revolution, continue the show celebrating his music that’s both mournful and celebratory.
This Week in Houston Food Events: Sip Pappy at Eight Row Flint
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, December 24 Christmas Eve Elf Dinner at Georgia James Georgia James, 1100 Westheimer, is carrying on Underbelly’s tradition of a themed Christmas Eve dinner, with this year’s theme featuring food from the movie Elf. Guests can enjoy courses from “Spaghetti…
Maybe Life is Strange 2 Should Have Been a Movie
We finally got a release date for Episode 2 of Life is Strange 2, which will be available on January 24. We also got an unexpected treat in the form of a live-action trailer which stars Gonzalo Martin, the voice of Sean Diaz. Unfortunately, the trailer sort of makes you…
Playboi Carti Shines the Lights on the Crowd at Revention Music Center
About 15 minutes into Playboi Carti’s set at Revention Music Center last night, he instructed fans on the balcony to film the audience on the floor instead of his own performance. “Show everyone how they’re going crazy,” said Carti. And crazy they went. The diverse crowd of 17 – 22…
Ben Is Back Pits a Dazzling Julia Roberts Against the Opioid Scourge
With the quickest blink or nervy glance, Roberts communicates to us both what her character, an ordinary woman named Holly Burns, has convinced everyone around her to think she’s feeling but also all of her secret doubts, fury and anguish
Eight Things to Try Before Dumping Facebook
With new allegations that Facebook opened portions of its platform, including private messages, to large business partners like Microsoft, Amazon and Netflix, it might be tempting to finally pull the plug on your involvement with the social media monolith. But, is that necessarily the best option for you? Discussing this…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Aquaman
The undersea realm here is, ironically, more vibrant and colorful than anything in the Snyderverse, and Arthur’s big epiphany moment is delivered to a sea monster living at the Earth’s core voiced by Julie Andrews.
Year-End List: Albums You Might Have Missed
2018 is coming to an end, and with that is the inevitable overload of year-end lists from entertainment publications far and wide. However, rather than beat you over the head with the obviously great releases found on the hundreds of countdowns out there, the purpose of this list is to share a few of my…
Openings and Closings: Pacific Poke Debuts, Siu Lap City Renews
Pacific Poke, 5549 Richmond, softly opened December 17. Owner Andre Mercado is bringing the trendy poke and some of its fellow Hawaiian dishes to the Galleria area. A grand opening is still in the works, according to the restaurant’s Facebook page. Poke started out as a Hawaiian fisherman’s snack and…
Your Chance to Be the First to Hear the Names of RodeoHouston Entertainers for 2019
We already know that Texas singer-songwriters Robert Earl Keen and Lyle Lovett will open for George Strait in his March 17 close-out performance at the 2019 Rodeo Houston. But on January 3, the long-awaited unveiling of what other stars the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is bringing to town for…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: One Good Year at Goodnight Charlie’s
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: 3rd Annual St Arnold’s Naughty List 32 Tap Takeover at Conservatory Friday, 11 a.m. to midnight 1010 Prairie Saint Arnold brews will be taking over the taps at Conservatory for this all-day holiday event. Get tastes from the Hogmobile (Art Car…
NFL Week 16: Texans-Eagles — Four Things To Watch For
So, as we get you ready for the Texans’ penultimate regular season game in 2018 (SIDE BAR: I love being able to use the word “penultimate” in a sentence!), I want to congratulate the four Houston Texans that were named to the 2018 Pro Bowl. In case you missed it,…
6 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: Yoga, Art, Real Snow and Holiday Cheer
Affordable art, yoga with dogs (or goats) and real snow? Sounds like a typical winter weekend in the Bayou City. GONZO247 also is hosting an art and dance party that celebrates female artists and, because the holidays aren’t very fun for kids whose parents are incarcerated, we’ve got a chance…
Lettuce Funks Up the Jam Band Scene
Part of the appeal of having SiriusXM satellite radio and its scores of music channels (with even more on the app) is that pretty much every single band or performer past or present will be played on at least one station. For the Boston-bred Lettuce, that channel is Jam On…
The Story of Blood Bros. BBQ
Blood Bros. BBQ opens today in Bellaire, a significant opening for a variety of reasons. The first is that it’s the first brick and mortar location for what had hitherto only been a pop-up barbecue concept. The second is that it’s the first craft barbecue joint in Houston where the…
Sarah Grace Joins Her Mentor Hamilton Loomis for A Bluesy Homecoming This Weekend
Houston blues belter Sarah Grace completed her run on NBC’s singing competition The Voice this week. Her formidable talents as a singer and musician led her to the series’ semi-finals and showed music fans everywhere the talent hailing from Houston these days. To hear her tell it, she owes some…
Brantley Provides More Flexibility for Astros
When the Astros signed outfielder Michael Brantley to a two-year deal this week, it wasn’t the huge splash someone like catcher J.T. Realmuto would make. And it didn’t fill any noticeable hole like a starting pitcher might. But, it did create something for the Astros that they needed last season:…
Decorations Gone Wild: The Wacky Tree Trimmings of Houston
Need a little funk in your holiday decorations? Take a tip from these pros, and go wild…or at least outside the box.
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Brunch Out Of 2018
Shake Shack will open the doors to its newest Houston location in Montrose, 1002 Westheimer, today, Thursday, December 20 at 11 a.m. As part of Shake Shack’s mission to Stand for Something Good, the Montrose Shack will donate 25 percent of its proceeds from opening day, as well as 5…
No, Feminists Do Not Prefer Sexists Over Woke Men
Over at Psychology Today David J. Ley has written an article that is sure to be a hit on the various Men’s Rights and Pick Up Artists boards called Feminists Think Sexist Men Are Sexier than “Woke” Men. He’s not just saying that like so many potatoheads in various comment…
Weather Weekend: A Green Christmas for Houston
Despite classic Christmas tales being told in snowy covered settings, most of the world is decidedly warmer than Charles Dickens imagined. In Houston, it’s tough to know what weather will be this time of year. The average high on Christmas is 63. If you are a fan of cold holidays,…
Ramones Drummer Gabba Gabbas About His Time in the Band
I Know Better Now: My Life Before, During, and After the Ramones By Richie Ramone with Peter Aaron 324 pp. $29.99 Backbeat Books Part of the deal of being in the Ramones was that you could only appear onstage in the band’s uniform: leather jacket, T-shirt, torn blue jeans, and…
NFL Week 16 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
On my radio show, we’ve had a running joke over the last few NFL seasons — when trying to guess where the Texans rank statistically in certain areas, we would always just guess 16th, because it would probably be within a spot or two of being correct. The Texans, up…
Tales From The Top Shelf: Port
“Why’s it so hard to get our drink on?” the English wondered in the 1600s. The French didn’t want to be best friends anymore, in fact, they had become enemies, which meant no more Bordeaux. It was too cold to grow their own grapes, make their own wine. They could…
Even With a Delay, The Council is a Good Game
My review on The Council comes late because of the unexplained delay allowing those who have bought the episodes one at a time to buy Episode 5: Checkmate on the PlayStation Store. The normally responsive official Twitter account for the game was curiously unwilling to answer players who asked why…
Aquaman Proves Superheroes Are Better Down Where It’s Wetter
Not incidental to Aquaman’s pleasures is its vision of a mixed-race hero, played by a mixed-race actor, fighting to protect and understand clashing aspects of his heritage
Handel’s Messiah, Helmed by Leading Ladies of Music, Brings Holiday Fanfare
Hallelujah, the holidays are in full swing, and it wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Houston Symphony for Handel’s Messiah, running Dec. 21 – 23 at Jones Hall.
Houston Concert Watch 12/19: Trans-Siberian Orchestra and More
This week is capped off by Christmas, which means after this we’ll be back to regularly scheduled, holiday-free concert options, for better or worse. This week we have no choice but to lean into the phenomena of holiday concerts, as this is another week packed to the gills with them…
A Capitalist’s Guide to Wine Gifts for Christmas
For those of you enjoying Champagne Socialism this holiday season, here’s a follow up with gift ideas for your favorite Capitalist wine lover (just in case you happen to know one). Few readers are old enough to remember the gag from Steve Martin’s stand-up career in the 1970s when he…
Digging Into Bill O’Brien’s Incredible 31-1 Record When Leading At Halftime
After three 9-7 records (and roughly a billion starting quarterbacks) during his first three seasons as head coach of the Houston Texans, Bill O’Brien’s fourth version of the Texans, the 2017 team, bottomed out at 4-12, largely due to a spate of injuries that was unprecedented in franchise history. As…
See Amazing Cats, Kittens and Feline Agility at Houston’s Charity Cat Show
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But, believe it or not, you can teach cats not only how to do tricks, but also how to navigate a complicated obstacle course. To prove the point, and to drum up interest for the upcoming 66th Annual Charity Cat Show, Houston…
Late Night at The Rice Box
First things first, does everyone know that a rice box can be unfolded to serve as a plate? (Crickets.) Go ahead, divide your friends into two categories now: those who knew, and never told you (JUSTIN) and those who are also just now crawling out of the cave. So there…
Emily Blunt Rules, and Mary Poppins Returns Is Not at All Atrocious
True to the spirit of the chipper, somewhat aimless live-action Disney day killers that inspired it, Rob Marshall’s Mary Poppins Returns gets better the further it wanders from its actual story.
Harden at MVP Level As Rockets Win Fourth Straight
In his postgame press conference Monday night after the Rockets beat the Utah Jazz 102-97, coach Mike D’Antoni was asked about yet another stellar performance from James Harden. “I know he’s the MVP and everything,” he said, “but this level the last three or four games are really out there,…
Laugh or Cry: Reviewing the 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees
This past weekend, the 2019 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame inductees were announced. Congratulations to The Cure, Def Leppard, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Radiohead, Roxy Music, and The Zombies. Condolences to Todd Rundgren (who had the third best fan vote), Rage Against the Machine, Chaka Khan, and a handful…
OscarGate is About Reactionary Politics, Not Homelessness
“What is OscarGate?” you ask, Dear Reader, as you justifiably plot my violent death for introducing another pointless “gate” into the popular lexicon. It’s what I’m calling the reaction to Sesame Street’s homeless Muppet, Lily. Lily, first introduced on the show in 2011, has always been a character used to…
America’s Got Talent Comic Vicki Barbolak Humbly Embraces Being “The Biggest Bumpkin In Comedy”
“What do I like? I like believing in things working out. I like believing in the underdog way of living. I like silly things. I like things that don’t make sense!”
Tracking Texan Playoff Scenarios With Two Weeks To Go
Week 15 of the NFL season brought the Texans to an intriguing fork in the road. In what’s been a wild season for parity around the NFL — to wit, a team that started the season 0-3 is now among the half dozen or so top contenders for the Super…
My 2019 Sandwich Eating Resolutions
At the start of a new year, many of us like to make resolutions. Some choose diet and exercise. Others plan to give more time to a charity or spend more time with family. All those are great, but will someone please think of the sandwiches? Over the past year,…
10 Goth Christmas Carols Part 2
Back in 2011 I looked at some of the Christmas tunes from various goth and goth-adjacent artists in order to darken up the holiday a little. It’s been a while since then and I thought it was time for an update. Here are ten more songs to keep things spooky…
Houston Film Critics Society Announces 2018 Awards Nominations
There are difficult choices to be made in every category, except for Best Song, where “Ashes” from Deadpool 2 is the clear winner.
Weather Week: Partly Cloudy and Cool The Week Before Christmas
This past weekend was one of the nicest our area has seen in quite some time. Sure, it was a little on the cool side in the evening, but you can’t beat daytime temperatures in the 60s in mid December under sunny skies. This week, our temperatures will remain relatively…
Where to Dine in Houston on New Year’s Eve 2018 and New Year’s Day 2019
Say goodbye to 2018 and ring in 2019 with these special New Year’s Eve dinners and bubbly-fueled midnight at these Houston bars and restaurants. Ready to keep the party going? We’re also including festive brunches on New Year’s Day: New Year’s Eve ARA restaurant and Axis lounge at Royal Sonesta…
Houston Artists on the EP vs LP Debate
I go out of my way to review local music as often as I can because I feel it’s very important to get the progression of the Houston sound in releases down on the record. For all that people love to say not to listen to critics, regular reviews of…
Boxing Day Events in Houston: Soccer Matches and Christmas Crackers
Across the pond Boxing Day means deep discounts for shoppers, a top-grossing day for stores, and a chance for postal carriers, errand runners and servants to ask for a “Christmas box” of gifts or cash on December 26. Here in Houston we carry on the tradition of Boxing Day but,…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Whiskey, Santa and Holiday Turkey
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: New specials LTO Holiday Turkey Sandwich at East Hampton Sandwich Co. East Hampton Sandwich Co., 907 Westheimer, 4444 Westheimer, is now serving its LTO (limited-time-only) sandwich, The Holiday Turkey. Made with cinnamon spiced black cherry chutney, fried razor onions, hot roasted…
Former Apollo 20 Head Researcher Roland Fryer Faces Harassment Accusations
Interesting story tucked inside the Houston Chronicle on Sunday. On page A-41, the paper carried a New York Times story stating that Dr. Roland Fryer, a prestigious Harvard professor, has been accused of fostering “a work environment hostile to women, one filled with sexual talk and bullying.” Nowhere in the…
A Year In Review: My Three Favorite Concerts
Due to our gargantuan scope, Houston is a haven for live music. As the nation’s fourth largest city, we have become a destination for touring acts by default — It certainly isn’t because of our collective reputation as an audience — and 2018 saw plenty of great performances in the Bayou…
NFL Week 15: Texans 29, Jets 22 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
With 3:18 left in the second quarter of the Houston Texans’ 29-22 win over the New York Jets on Saturday night, the Jets were facing a 3rd and 3 at their own 24 yard line, trailing 16-3, and essentially floundering in every aspect of NFL football. At that particular juncture…
Cities Roll, Fight and Eat Each Other in the Otherwise Meh Mortal Engines
The film plays as if a three-hour epic has been sliced down to size in the editing, but only the scenes establishing character and context have been cut
What Now For the SOS Effort by HISD After Last Night’s Vote Against Partnership Proposals?
“Separate is not equal. Separate is not equal.” An irreverent crowd pelted members of the Houston ISD school board last night with that and other less polite expressions – “Sell out. Sell out,” they chanted at Sergio Lira who’d Skyped in for the meeting – as they opposed the district…
Openings and Closings: Sweet Paris Highland Village and Blanco Tacos Galleria
Sweet Paris Creperie and Cafe, 2701 Drexel, opened December 8. The new Highland Village location makes the sixth since the creperie began in 2012, founded by husband and wife, Allison and Ivan Chavez. The duo have traveled the world and are on a mission to revive the art of eating…
Beauty and the Beast Boasts an Indelible Cast of Supporting Characters
Of all the world premieres produced by Theatre Under the Stars over its 50-years run, only Beauty and the Beast remains the golden goose. I don’t think Chaplin, Phantom, Sir Jack!, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, or Zorro, the Musical have added anything substantial to TUTS’s bottom line, but…
Darwin’s Finches Soar On Good Morning Creatures II
Darwin’s Finches is a Galveston band with a strong Houston legacy. Since its inception in 2006, it’s existed in various iterations, but the one constant has been the far-out genius of its front man and songwriter, Justin Clay. Clay is inside the shadowy confines of Little Dipper a week ahead…
In Mary Queen of Scots, Great Women Face Hard Truths About Wielding Power
The actresses share only one scene in the film, but Mary Queen of Scots sets them up in counterpoint, two divergent approaches to the question of how women who wield power can actually govern the men around them
5 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: Rusty Riders, Crafty Cats and GoT Crawl
It seems like an eternity waiting for the final season of Game of Thrones but, until that happens, we can all channel our alter egos in this weekend’s Winter is Coming Pub Crawl. We’ve also got a bike ride to see the holiday lights, a sing-along at Discovery Green, and…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Five Years at Fat Cat Creamery
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Annual Wine Sale and Customer Appreciation Event at 13 Celsius Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 3000 Caroline To say thank you for 12 wonderful years, the fan-favorite wine bar has scoured the market to find the best wines for you…
NFL Week 15: Texans-Jets — Four Things To Watch For
Let’s just call this Texans-Jets game on Saturday afternoon what it is — this is a game in which the Texans, ESPECIALLY off a loss to the Colts, should go up to New York and take care of things in a very business-like fashion against a rookie quarterback. This Jets…
Blondie’s Chris Stein Switches Out His Guitar for a Camera
Though he’s best known as the guitarist and a co-founder of Blondie – a well as co-writer on such hits as “Heart of Glass,” “Rapture,” and “Dreaming,” Chris Stein has been an avid and serious photographer just as long as he’s been a musician. With his lens, Stein has captured…
Last Night: Lee Ving and Fear Uphold Their Legendary Reputation
Fear at Warehouse Live, Wednesday, December 12, 2018. Despite the toned down physicality of their once machismo-dominated live show, Lee Ving and Fear showed out to be a group still plenty capable of hitting their musical mark, still with plenty to say, and still with plenty of good times to dish out.
Rockets Next Ten Games Could Make or Break the Season
The NBA schedule is a long, grueling one. Lots of things can happen. But the Houston Rockets are teetering on the edge of a lost season if they are not careful and the next ten games are likely to reveal just how good or bad they will be in the…
Watching My Daughter Clap for Spider-Gwen
My daughter is one of the few nine-year-olds with legitimate press credentials thanks to the fact that she tags along with me on a lot of assignments, often as my official photographer. So, when I got invited to a press screening of Into the Spider-Verse she assumed that her services…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Seasonal Specials and Brunch with Santa
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: New winter menu items have dropped at Relish Restaurant & Bar, 2810 Westheimer. Warm up with cioppino, a tomato fennel white wine broth with snapper, salmon, scallops, mussels, shrimp, fresh herbs and grilled bread; get cozy…
Weather Weekend: Chamber of Commerce Weather Ahead
Houston’s roller coaster weather has continued unabated. Over the past seven days, we’ve seen unseasonably warm temperatures, heavy rainfall and downright chilly mornings near freezing. We have a bit more of that in store beginning Thursday, but the payoff should be spectacular. Thursday morning will be wet. A frontal boundary…
Steve Hackett: At the Edge of Light and in the Thick of Prog
Guitarist and songwriter Steve Hackett doesn’t shirk from the term or his categorization as a “Prog Rock” artist. That’s perhaps not surprising, given his tenure with Genesis in the ‘70s, as well as the possessor of a discography inching toward 30 solo albums in addition to other collaborations of intricate…
Tales From The Top Shelf: Genever
Smoke lazily escapes his mouth as he reaches down to casually check the silver watch attached to his vest. Flicking the thin cigar over and over again he leans long against the wall. He isn’t a hipster, he’s old fashioned and maybe he’s brooding because he’s all alone or maybe…
Houston Film Critics Society to Name the Best of the Worst at Movie Awards
Is it just too Mean Girls to label a film “the worst?” Members of the Houston Film Critics Society debate whether or not it’s too hateful but, by a narrow margin, the category stays in and the winner will be announced at the upcoming 12th Annual Movie Awards. “We actually…
College Bowls and NFL Week 15: This Weekend’s Best Bets
So we went 3-3 for a second straight week last weekend, and I complain about that because I’m someone who strives for perfection, or at the very least, strives for greatness. However, just about the time I start pissing and moaning about going .500 last weekend, I think of the…
Austin Simmons and Manabu Horiuchi: An Incredible “Collaboreight” Pop-Up Dinner at Cureight in The Woodlands
Amazing collaboration dinners happen all the time in Houston. But sometimes, the stars align and the synergy works out to where the sum of the parts end up being greater than the whole, and that’s what happened last night in The Woodlands. For the first time ever, executive chef Austin…
Amanda Pascali Invites Listeners to Follow Love, Resistance and Truth on Still It Moves
Maybe you don’t recognize it, but Amanda Pascali says there’s a love song at the heart of any good political song. “I like to think of my music, especially the political songs, as more of an internal journey than an external one. A lot of folk musicians think they have…
Rest, Rejuvenate and Get Grounded at Houston’s Winter Solstice Self-Care 2018
Melisandre and the followers of the Lord of Light didn’t get it quite right in Game of Thrones. Come December 21, the Winter Solstice, the night will be long and possibly full of terrors. Better safe than sorry and, on the shortest day of the year, avoid any brushes with…
Theatre Southwest Set to Present Neil Simon’s Farcical Barefoot in the Park
When you’re euphoric and giddy with love, you want everybody to feel just as happy. And so after a six day honeymoon it’s no wonder newlyweds Paul and Corie want to play matchmaker. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans; they never seem to work out as…
10 College Football Bowl Games With Big Motivation Disparity
It’s highly appropriate that bowl season in college football coincides with the holiday season, because it truly is the MOST wonderful time of the year! There’s college football on television, day and night, for a nearly two week period, and sure, many of those games mean absolutely NOTHING in the…
Late Night at BB’s Tex-Orleans
Not ready to call it quits at 9 p.m. every day? We’re looking at the best places Houston has for late-night sustenance. Just like a big-breasted grandmother, BB’s Tex-Orleans welcomes patrons with a warm hug and a po’boy or two. When all other Montrose joints close early—maybe it’s cold, maybe…
Houston Concert Watch 12/13/18: Ministry, Brian Setzer and More
Although this week is not without a bit of Christmas spirit, the next seven days really belong to the rebels. Just because we’re mere weeks away from Christmas doesn’t mean that everything has to be pure holiday cheer. Treat yourself this week to the times that are a bit rougher…
Champagne Socialism for Christmas and New Year’s 2018 (A Sparkling Wine Guide for the Holidays)
“The Champagne socialist,” wrote George Cary Eggleston in 1906, “wants everybody to be equal upon the higher plane that suits him, utterly ignoring the fact that there are not enough Champagne, green turtle, and truffles to go round.” The former Confederate solider, self-described rebel, and memoirist from Indiana was right about…
Houston Actors Share War Stories About When Things Go Wrong On Stage
Seán Patrick Judge was in the middle of an important monologue when he felt a tickle on his cheek followed, by a horrified scream from the audience. The tickle was a cockroach. One who had been previously been hiding out on a jacket Judge put on as part of his…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Steak Hoagie at Pete’s Fine Meats
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! “We shave the ribeye every morning,” the man at the register informed me as I paid for my Steak Hoagie at Pete’s Fine Meats (5509 Richmond). Moments earlier, another gentleman taking my order confirmed…
Houston’s Eleven Nogs of Christmas
In our last eggnog episode, we discussed grocery store eggnog. Now, we’re going uptown, downtown and all around to find some of Houston’s most creative eggnog beverages. With so many talented and creative mixologists in the fourth largest city in the nation, it’s not an easy feat to narrow it…
Breaking Down Houston Texans 2018 Playoff Scenarios
If you’re a Texans fan, the bad news is that your team’s nine game winning streak ended on Sunday afternoon, as the Texans fell to 9-4 on the season, still good enough for a comfortable two game lead in the AFC South, but a tough blow in an AFC where…
A Lot of Male Protagonists in Final Fantasy are Dead Weight
The PlayStation 4 has three big remasters in the Final Fantasy series, specifically IX, X and its sequel and the Zodiac Age version of XII. I’ve been on a kick where I’m playing and replaying this era of the series back-to-back, and I’ve just finished X-2. My conclusion is this:…
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” Selections from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
There’s been all kinds of buzz lately about “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” a 75-year-old song. The song’s lyrics are viewed as either sexist and promoting rape culture or harmless and quaint, depending on who’s addressing them these days. The examination of pre-boomer art from the perspective of the current American…
NFL Week 14: Colts 24, Texans 21 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Well, that’s that. The Texans franchise record winning streak ended on Sunday afternoon at nine games in a 24-21 loss to the team against whom the streak began, the Indianapolis Colts. Hey, it was bound to end at some point, and most certainly it was fun along the way, watching…
Houston’s Christmas Theater Offerings This Season, Part II
Hansel and Gretel German composer Engelbert Humperdinck was Richard Wagner’s protege. He helped stage the premiere of Parsifal at Bayreuth, the theater Wagner built for himself, and even wrote some connecting music for the “Transformation Scene,” when the set couldn’t be changed quickly enough. Humperdinck was also Wagner’s most devoted…
Weather Week: After the Rain, a Lovely Week Ahead
As December rain storms go, Friday night’s heavy rainfall was pretty substantial. Parts of the city got more than five inches as a cold front barreled through and interacted with a low pressure system. There was some street flooding and a few bayous that came out of their banks, but…
Jim Henson TV Holiday Specials Sleigh Ride to the Big Screen
In terms of quality and legacy of entertainment for children (and adults), the late Jim Henson’s resume runs deep. That’s in both TV (Sesame Street, The Muppet Show) and film (The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth) and even drilled down to Christmas specials featuring chart-topping singers Kermit the Frog and John Denver…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Wintry Fare and a’Bouzy Brunch
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: New Specials Seasonal menu at a’Bouzy Just in time for the holiday season and cooler weather, a’Bouzy, 2300 Westheimer, has rolled out all new menus for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. Guests can kick off their meal with starters such as…
Trigger Warning is a Paranoid Right-Wing Laugh Riot
If I ever want an unfiltered look into the mind of the average paranoid right-wing American all I have to do is unblock the president on Twitter. I don’t do that because it’s like watching grammar being trapped in an abusive relationship. Better written but containing no fewer nuts or…
The Christmas British (Book) Invasion: Queen! Beatles! Stones!
Queen: Album by Album By Martin Popoff 224 pp. $30 Voyageur Press The insanely prolific music journo Martin Popoff (nearly 8,000 record reviews and many, many books) must be running out of performers to write about. Because in this latest installment in his Album by Album series, he tackles the…
Elton John Bids Houston A Fond Farewell At Sold-Out Toyota Center
Elton John Toyota Center December 8, 2018 “It was very difficult to choose a set list,” Elton John said of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which visited Houston’s Toyota Center Saturday night. “There are so many songs I’d like to play, but then I’d be here for five or six…
National Museum of Funeral History Gives Glimpse Into Presidential Burials
Presidential funerals are something that require great detail and planning. Who better than Genevieve Keeney, COO and president of the National Museum of Funeral History, to speak about what goes into these types of affairs?
Hallmark’s 2018 Holiday Films Reviewed Using Only the Descriptions
Once again we are presented with a feast of holiday schmaltz from our good friends at Hallmark. Much like the greeting cards they produce, these flicks are superficially sweet (and totes adorbs) but have a depth that is about the thickness of the flap on the back of a Christmas…
Openings and Closings: Hopdoddy Opens in Baybrook, Aqui Closes
Hopdoddy, 820 Bay Area Boulevard, will open December 17. This will be the fifth Houston area location for the burger chain, which began in 2010 and made its first Houston appearance in 2016. Its physical address is Webster, but is also considered the Baybrook and Clear Lake areas. Beats me…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: The Favourite
Davis has deliberately and adroitly subveted the idea of men as prime plot movers and women as otherwise disregarded window dressing.
NFL, Week 14: Colts-Texans — Four Things To Watch For
This is a big week for the Luck family — XFL commissioner Oliver and his son, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew — having some sort of effect on the city of Houston. On Wednesday afternoon, Oliver Luck announced that Houston, along with seven other major cities in our country, will be…
Serious Flooding Threat Friday Night
Proceed with caution. That should be the words of warning all Houstonians should keep in mind if they have to be on the roads Friday night. The combination of a cold front mixed with a strong low pressure system to the west of the area will combine overnight Friday and…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Saint Arnold Beers and Cheers
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Tomball German Christmas Market in Old Town Tomball Friday, 6 to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 201 South Elm The Tomball German Christmas Market returns to Old Town Tomball all weekend long…
Doug Clifford Drums Up Memories of CCR on Massive (Vinyl!) Box Set
While it’s easy to assume that the Year in Rock 1969 was wholly dominated by English acts like the Beatles (Abbey Road), the Rolling Stones (Let it Bleed), the Who (Tommy), and Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin II), there was heady competition from an American band who were at the peak…
5 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: Boat Parade and Gingerbread Houses
Gingerbread works quite well if you’re a cackling witch trying to fatten up lost, unsuspecting children. But it also seems to be a sturdy construction material. This spiced baked good turns up in both Rec Room’s Hansel and Gretel and the Annual Gingerbread Build Off. The weekend also includes holiday cheer…
Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma Is a Masterpiece of Memory
The writer-director shot Roma in chronological order, without showing the cast the script, unveiling it to the actors the same way it is for the audience, piece by piece, a chance to marinate in each moment as it plays out
With Mowgli, Netflix Has Its First Blockbuster
This time, though, the lessons are urgent, the jungle threatened by man, the wicked tiger Shere Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) a true terror vowing to one day taste that boy’s blood
Chris Isaak Shines Bright on Holiday Tour at House of Blues Last Night
Chris Isaak, sequined suit and all, returned to Houston last night to play House of Blues and promote his first Greatest Hits album. It’s been four years since the singer last played H-Town at Arena Theater and 33 years since he released his first studio album with Warner Bros. in…
Into the Spider-Verse Is the Best Superhero Movie Since The Dark Knight
It sets a host of alternative Spider-folk running amok in the New York City of Brooklyn teen Miles Morales, the mixed-race Spider-Man (his father is black and his mother Latinx) invented for the comics in 2011 by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli
Houston’s Christmas Theater Offerings This Season: Part I
I’ve been Scrooged! A lot. Dickens’ miserly oyster prowls center stage, as usual, this Bayou Christmas season. He, along with fellow traveler The Nutcracker, are theater cash cows, invoking cheer and good will as well as a much needed boost to a company’s bottom line. Naturally, this season brings a…
The Simplest Reason People Defend “Baby It’s Cold Outside”
I don’t know about you, but one of my Christmas traditions is reading endless hot takes on the song “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” In fact, I was going to write a “Top 5 Hot Takes on ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’” article as part of my quest to see if I…
Asia Society Texas Center’s Gift to the City: Free Admission This December
Make a list of everybody who has had an impact on your life: the third grade teacher who jumpstarted your fascination with science, the bully who made you vow to never be a victim again, the relationship that opened your eyes to a whole different way of thinking. Multimedia artist…
Rockets Playing Let’s Make a Deal This Week
At 10-11, the Rockets are not where they expected they would be coming off a 65-win season and a trip to the Western Conference Finals. It should come as a surprise to exactly no one that they want to upgrade their roster, particularly with GM Daryl Morey pulling the strings…
The Most Ridiculous Defense for Loot Boxes
The Federal Trade Commission is finally investigating loot boxes in video games for their connection to gambling, and there have been some truly ridiculous defenses against that. For those who aren’t gamers, loot boxes are a concept in gaming that are extremely controversial. They are generally power-ups or cosmetic features…
Disney’s Live Musical Beauty and the Beast Returns to Where it Started With TUTS
Keith Hines has played proud characters before. “I’ve played Lancelot. I’ve played Thomas Jefferson. “But none of them are as misogynistic as Gaston” in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, he says, laughing. “It’s the same kind of prince-like pride, shoulders back, chest high, but Gaston is just extremely full of himself.”…
Tales From The Top Shelf: Calvados
You don’t need a mustache or even a parlor to enjoy a glass of Calvados— this is America, we do what we want. It’s interesting, most people don’t like Calvados; they love it. When the subject is broached, often times a Calvados lovers will reveal themselves by groaning aloud and…
Slowhand — A Biography of Eric Clapton and His Many Ups and Downs
Slowhand: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton By Philip Norman 448 pp. $30 Little, Brown & Co. Among music book scribes, Philip Norman stands near the top in terms of influence and skill. His 1981 Beatles tome Shout! set the stage for the modern rock bio (as well as…
NFL Week 14 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
Ok, we recovered all right from our 1-4-1 heartbreak of Thanksgiving weekend, scraping out a .500 week last week. That’s better, but still losing juice. There are some nice nuggets on the NFL board this weekend, so let’s get right into it with six good NFL plays, as we await…
Weather Weekend: Heavy Rain, Possible Flooding Coming
Temperatures cooled off noticeably this week after a fairly strong cold front pushed through the region on Sunday. Lows in the upper 30s were common and highs barely made it out of the 50s on Tuesday. As we move toward the weekend, we could see our most significant rainfall in…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Holiday Sweets and Afternoon Teas
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Ooh La La Dessert Boutique, 23920 Westheimer, 20155 Park Row, 770 West Sam Houston Parkway North, will be offering holiday specials this month, including new Grinch cupcakes, toffee, peppermint bark and vanilla snowflake macarons, gingerbread molasses…
Savory Chef Flynn Reveals the Promise and Price of Being a Teen Wonder
… It’s a mother’s story, with Yates following not just Flynn but also Meg McGarry, a filmmaker herself, who has been documenting for years her son’s culinary blossoming — and her encouragement
Grocery Store Eggnogs Go Noggin to Noggin
It’s the most wonderful and stressful time of the year. Some of us have already put up the tree, sent out our cards and wrapped gifts. Others are scrambling to find the perfect gift for crabby Aunt Bertha or wading through a mountain of junk in the garage to find…
Unconventional Places to Catch a Holiday Flick in H-Town
“Let’s All Go to the lobby” is almost as catchy an earworm as “It’s a Small World After All,” but what happens during intermission when there is no lobby? When it comes to catching a flick in Houston this holiday season, the answers can be quite surprising. Head out to…
Houston Concert Watch 12/5/18: Elton John, OneRepublic and More
The tree is up. The lights are hung. Red and green are everywhere. The holidays are in full swing, but if you’d rather put off shopping for another week, live music is a pretty good alternative when it comes to things that will destroy your feet. Here’s a look at…
One Big Reason To Savor the Texans In 2018 — Their 2019 Schedule
For the first seven games of this recent Texans’ winning streak, it felt like every win came with caveats from large portions of the fan base and local media. Against the Colts, Cowboys, and Bills, they needed catastrophic coaching or passing errors by the opponent to open the door to…
Late Night At Better Luck Tomorrow
Not ready to call it quits at 9 p.m. every day? We’re looking at the best places Houston has for late-night sustenance. Getting warm and fuzzy at Better Luck Tomorrow is a solid late night move because apart from the creative cocktail list, their soulful menu has something for everyone…
Stand-Up Great Brian Regan Likes To Throw Himself Curveballs
Many in show business pride themselves as being multi-hyphenates: they’re not just actors, they’re actor-singer-writer-producer-superhero-billionare-philanthropists. And while Brian Regan may possess many skills to show, he is 100 percent a stand-up comedian. And if you’ve caught him after a good 25+ years in the public eye, you know he’s a…
Meet Houston’s Truffle Queen
Diane Roederer has been importing European delicacies to Houston for the past four years. In that short time her company, DR Delicacy, has become the city’s premiere, direct-source supplier of French, Spanish, and Italian truffles, mushrooms, and caviar, along with a growing inventory of luxury food products. Four years ago,…
Hip Hop Producer Trakksounds Prepares to Release New Album PDA
“Ironically the hardest one to say on here is Houston.” Garrett Brown, an Angleton native known to Houstonians as hip hop producer Trakksounds, has a talk box tube in his mouth and his hands on a keyboard. He tries forming the H at the beginning of Houston but admits that…
Doctor Who: The Talking Frog Was Perfect
Warning: Massive spoilers for “It Takes You Away” Just to give all the folks who might have clicked on this room to click away without seeing spoilers, here’s a terrible joke. Q. Knock knock A. Who’s there? Q. Tenth Doctor A. Tenth Doctor Who. Q. Knock knock I am not…
College Football Playoff: What Would An Eight Team Playoff Look Like?
In the end, there were really no surprises over the course of conference title weekend in the world of college football this past weekend. The favorites all won, and most of them won big, with Clemson, Oklahoma, and Ohio State all winning by double digits and covering the spread. The…
Houston Symphony’s Very Merry Pops Will Make the Days Merry and Bright
The Houston Symphony is presenting a feast for the ears guaranteed to please those from one to 92 with Very Merry Pops Dec. 7 – 9 at Jones Hall.
Fastball Celebrate Two Decades Since Breakthrough Album and “The Way”
The members of Fastball are in a pretty good mood these days. The Austin-based band have just released a 20th anniversary reissue of their breakthrough album All the Pain Money Can Buy that includes the original album’s 13 tracks, plus 9 more rarities, demos, and outtakes. “We wanted to mark…
Rating the New Rockets Acquisitions at the Quarter Pole
As crazy as it may seem, the Rockets have already gone through 25 percent of their games this season. It’s particularly frustrating when you consider just how rough those games have been. Despite a couple recent wins, they remain in the lower tier of the Western Conference and a distinct…
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Where to Dine in Houston on Christmas Day 2018 [UPDATED]
‘Tis the season of holiday cheer, wining and dining, and giving yourself the gift of not cleaning up any dishes whatsoever. Enter our 2018 Christmas Day Dining Guide. From splurge-worthy holiday feasts to family-friendly brunches, here is where to dine on Christmas Day in Houston: ARA restaurant and Axis lounge…
The Wild West of Wells Fargo – Where the Employees Were Just as Hard at the Outlaws
Shotguns and Stagecoaches: The Brave Men Who Rode for Wells Fargo in the Wild West By John Boessenecker 368 pp. $29.99 Thomas Dunne Books Anybody who’s seen an old western movie knows how a stagecoach robbery went, right? A desperate driver pushes his galloping horses across the open prairie while…
Queen and Adam Lambert on Their Way to Houston Next Summer
Good news for fans of Queen: Thanks in part to renewed interest in the group because of the recent movie, Queen will be hitting the road again next summer and Houston is on the list of stops for the Rhapsody Tour. The band will again be joined by singer Adam…
The A.D. Players’ It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play an Instant Holiday Classic
A beloved holiday comes to life in the A.D. Players’ production of It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.
Weather Week: Potential of Heavy Rains After a Beautiful, Cold Week
If you spent any time outside this weekend, you may have noticed all the brilliant sunshine, but also the rather warm temperatures. Fortunately, it was dry, but it felt a lot more like mid-April than the first of December. All that changes early this week. In fact, there are some…
NFL Week 13: Texans 29, Browns 13 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
The Houston Texans needed a game like this one. On a short week, an emotional week with the passing of Bob McNair just nine days ago, the Texans needed a game where they choked out their opponent early, and kept them at arm’s length for most of the afternoon. On…
First Look at Lúa Viet Kitchen
I’ve driven past Lúa Viet Kitchen on West Alabama dozens of times during its construction phase and through its opening, but it wasn’t until I was struck by a craving for tofu vermicelli and it was an easy four minute drive away that I finally stepped inside. Given that I already have…
My House was a Very, Very, Very Fine House
Becoming an adult is hard. I’ve been working on it for nearly half my life now, and I still struggle. There are a lot of milestones along the way, markers for the journey, by which we measure our travels, our successes and our failures. Not everyone takes the same route,…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Buy One Get One Poke
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Seasonal Special Wings and a Pitcher at Hooters All participating Hooters locations in Texas are offering a special combo now through January 1. Guests can get a 15-count of its world-famous boneless wings and a 60-ounce pitcher of domestic beer for…
UHD With the Help of the Houston Food Bank Fights Food Insecurity Among its Students
Carlos Rodriguez doubled back to the cooler that held a few shelves of water bottles, some milk, and other drinks. “I’m going to be good to myself today,” he said, grabbing a low-calorie, grape-flavored Gatorade. He returned to the checkout desk to continue filling out the FEMA Commodity Distribution sheet;…
Rachel Maddow’s Bag Man Zeroes in on Spiro Agnew’s Time in Government
Spiro Agnew is not well remembered in American history. He’s seen as a bit player in the Watergate Scandal that brought down the Richard Nixon administration, a sideshow. In reality, Vice President Spiro “Ted” Agnew was nearly as much of a constitutional crisis as his boss was, and Rachel Maddow’s…
Things Come Full Circle as Waterparks Arrive Back Home
Waterparks Warehouse Live December 12, 2K18 “This is the most important venue in the world to us.” Those words — or something close to them at least — come from Waterparks frontman Awsten Knight, standing on stage in the big room at Warehouse Live. He explained how the band had…
The Game is On in 4th Wall Theatre Co.’s Pride and Prejudice
4th Wall Theatre Company presents Kate Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice.
Gary Clark Jr. Captivates Houston with a Wide Variety of Sounds
Gary Clark Jr. live at Revention Music Center, Friday, November 30, 2018. Though Clark’s reverence for blues giants like Hendrix and King is still plenty evident in his music (and live show), he showed Friday night that he now has the freedom to tap into influences beyond the confines of traditional blues, and give the…
Former President George H.W. Bush Has Died
Former President George Herbert Walker Bush died Friday night in Houston, the city where years before he began his political career. His death follows that of his wife Barbara who died in April. He was 94 years old. Accolades poured in almost immediately. Mayor Sylvester Turner pointed out both what…
Netflix’s Exquisite Happy as Lazzaro Asks: What’s to Live for After a Life of Toil?
This time, we meet the sharecropping peasants of the remote village of Inviolata, living lives of seasonal toil, lives that look — except for the occasional radio or lightbulb — like they might have a century or so ago
You’re Better Off with a PlayStation 3 than a PlayStation Classic
The PlayStation Classic legacy system is all set to be a big Christmas gift for the nostalgia gamer in your life. For $100 it’s a miniature version of the iconic system and comes with twenty games. Unfortunately, you’re probably better off with a used PlayStation 3 than buying what already…
Do-Over Cinema: Open Up And Say “Zig-A-Zig Ah” For Spice World
But there’s a sincerity to its artifice, if that makes any sense, and watching this 20 years after its US release reveals a lot about the world of 1998.
Openings and Closings: Dish Society Adds Two, Raising Cane’s Adds Three
Dish Society, 712 Main, will open in the new Finn Hall December 3. This will make the fourth location of the Houston restaurant from founder Aaron Lyons. A fifth location will open January 21, 2019 in the Heights. The Finn Hall venue will be a condensed version of the original…
NFL Week 13: Browns-Texans — Four Things To Watch For
It’s getting down to it in this 2018 NFL season. It seems like just yesterday, the weather was sweltering outside, and everyone wanted Bill O’Brien’s head on a spit after the Texans 0-3 start. Now, the calendar flips over to December, and we are vetting various playoff scenarios for the…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Eat Pizza and Support Dogs
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Pups, Pies and Pints at Cane Rosso Montrose Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 4306 Yoakum The Neapolitan pizzeria is kicking off the holiday season with friends, family, Pups, Pies and Pints this Saturday, serving up dog-inspired pizza pies, drinks, holiday…
10 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: Hot Cars, Cool Lights and a Ghost
We shelter inside air-conditioned spaces all summer long, just trying to find respite from the heat. Now that Houston finally has some cooler weather, there’s no shortage of fun things to do in and around town. We’ve got celebrations in Galveston, Levy Park and downtown, new performances with the Houston…
At the Quarter Pole, Rockets Are a Mess
Twenty games into the 2019 season, the Rockets are currently 14th out of 15 teams in the Western Conference. The team that finished the 2018 season with a franchise record 65 wins and the best record in the entire NBA looks worse than a lottery team and it’s difficult to…
James McMurtry Ponders the State of the Union
Since the events of the last U.S. Presidential election, there’s one regular social event that has gotten a lot more, um, interesting. And that’s the family gathering! I mean, what could possibly go wrong when you throw together in one confining house relatives who may not have seen each other…
HBO’s United Skates Takes a Thrilling Spin Through Roller-Skate Culture
And much of the present-day free-skate footage, shot at what have come to be known as “Adult Nights” at skating rinks, also proves invigorating, an invitation to relish the momentum, the joy and the peacocking pride of grown-up skaters
College Football, Week 14 and NFL, Week 13 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
Well, we all know the old saying — gambling is a game of inches. (Actually, that saying is usually attached to every sport on which we gamble, so tangentially, I consider it to be about gambling itself.) A few weeks ago, I went 1-4-1 ATS, and my four losses were…
Potted Potter Returns to Houston at the Hobby
Seven books in 70 minutes — that’s the promise of Potted Potter a parody that condenses all of J.K. Rowling’s books about Harry Potter into one frenetic play. There’s even a Quidditch match in there. The Hobby Center’s Zilkha Hall will play host to the return engagement and demand is…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Go Back in Time with a Repeal Day Old-Fashioned
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Now through the end of February, all locations of JINYA Ramen Bar will be offering its newest Chef’s Special. The flavor-packed bowl is prepared with chicken broth, spiced beef meatballs, bean sprouts, green onion, bok choy,…
5 Things To Do on World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day is December 1. Here’s a short list of ways to get involved now.
Trip the Rodeo Disco Light Fantastic With Houston’s Dream Machine 2018
Somebody fed the Dream Machine after midnight. In year three of this audio-visual installation event, the immersive technology has become more than just a single exhibit; it’s taken over the whole venue with 11 different installations from Texas-based artists. Remember when the Input/Output Digital Lab lit up the BE SOMEONE graffiti…
A New Book Tells the Story of the Led Zeppelin’s Manager Peter Grant
Bring It On Home: Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin, and Beyond – The Story of Rock’s Greatest Manager By Mark Blake 304 pp. $27 Da Capo Press As any Led Zeppelin fan who has thumbed through Hammer of the Gods, seen the concert film The Song Remains the Same, or flipped…
Tales From The Top Shelf: Meletti Cioccolato
Winks work, but perhaps the best way to get someone to smile is with chocolate. Pulled over and about to get a ticket? Chocolate. Lost your credit card, ID, and are at the DMV to take a new picture on your Wednesday lunch break? Chocolate. Can’t get out of bed…
Weekend Weather: Rainy Start to a Nice Weekend
So, it’s a regular weekend. Unless you took vacation, you aren’t getting a big four-day holiday, maybe not even a three-day breather. So, at least you can look forward to some nice weather when you are off work right? Well, yes and no. It was a rather chilly early part…
J.J. Watt Named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 12
In many ways, amidst the sadness of the passing of Texans’ founder Bob McNair, Monday night was a magical evening, a tremendous football story of a team putting together its most impressive performance of the season in a tricky spot against an ironic opponent, the franchise that vacated Houston and,…
SNL Helped Dan Crenshaw Pretend to be a Statesman
Just prior to the election, Pete Davidson went on the Weekend Update segment of Saturday Night Live and made one of his increasingly frequent punching down jokes, this time aimed at Texas District 2’s newest Republican representative Dan Crenshaw. Davidson accused Crenshaw — who wears an eyepatch — of looking…
A Rockets Book For the Diehard Fan in Your Life, or You
100 Things Rockets Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die By Jonathan Feigen 304 pp. Triumph Books $16.95 This volume, written by Houston Chronicle Rockets beat writer Jonathan Feigen, offers a unique insight on the individuals, teams, and moments that shaped the franchise as we know it today. Whether…
Late Night At Vinny’s
Not ready to call it quits at 9 p.m. every day? We’re looking at the best places Houston has for late-night sustenance. “U-S-H-E-R R-A-Y-M-O-N-D, now baby tell me what you wanna to do with me.“ Swaying to slow jams and crushing pizza at 2:30 a.m. is kind of the best…
Final College Football Playoff Rankings Before Selection Sunday Released
Damn, 13 weeks go by way too fast. It seems like just yesterday, we were getting ready for a slew of opening weekend college football games, and now here we are, preparing for 24 hours of conference title game overload this weekend. Before we get to all of the speculation…
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Christmas Village at Bayou Bend
Hop on board the Santa express and hitch a ride to holiday fun. One of the coolest activities at Christmas Village at Bayou Bend With Santa and His Reindeer is the scavenger hunt. In front of Ima Hogg’s historic mansion, visitors will come upon Santa Claus’s crashed sleigh, with gifts tossed…
Come For the Trains, Stay For the Geology at HMNS’ Trains Over Texas
Visitors needn’t be railway enthusiasts to appreciate Trains Over Texas, an indoor “O” scale model railroad exhibit at The Houston Museum of Natural Science that’s as large as a tennis court. Built and designed by the traingineers over at TW TrainWorx, the tabletop islands are separated by region, allowing for better viewing as…
Brian McCann Ends Run with Astros, Signs with Atlanta
It was widely reported this week that catcher Brian McCann signed a deal with the Atlanta Braves, his hometown team. McCann was an unrestricted free agent after the Astros declined to pick up the one-year option on his contract this fall. McCann started his career in Atlanta where he played…
Brew Blog: Prairie Double Dunk
FO(A)MO. Fear Of (Alcoholic) Missing Out. It’s a predictable part of the beer distribution cycle, and it’s always at its most formidable when we’ve just gotten a new, coveted product in the market. There’s always something we can’t get, and we want it. Then, it arrives. Reports from the field pop…
Houston Concert Watch 11/28: Waterparks, Gary Clark Jr. and More
Whether you stuffed yourself rotten, caught up on your naps or did some power shopping, here’s hoping your holiday week was everything you hoped it would be. Most of us are back on the grind this week, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take some time out for live music…
Creditor Steve Harter Levels Some Big Allegations About Omar Afra’s Dealings With Free Press Houston and Day For Night
Since the allegations of sexual misconduct by Omar Afra involving two women first surfaced last August (when as a result the creditors of Day For Night removed Afra from the organization he founded), there have been many questions about what would happen next, not just for the alleged victims and…
NFL Week 12: Texans 34, Titans 17 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
With the passing of their team’s founder and late owner, Bob McNair, as the backdrop last night, the Houston Texans went out and played as close to a complete game as they’ve played all season in a 34-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans, functionally ending any chance the Titans have…
Houston’s Festival Future Uncertain After a Wild 2018
The view from the 22nd floor of the 1415 Louisiana building is not bad, which is good because the conversation taking place in a conference room of the Pagel, Davis & Hill, P.C. law firm is pretty dry. It’s all talks of shares and equity, and if you’re not a…
The Conners is Proof Racists are Replaceable
I started watching The Conners, the Roseanne spin-off minus Roseanne Barr herself, who was ousted from the show after her racist tirades on Twitter became too toxic for ABC to put up with no matter the ratings. Barr was given the boot, and the show carried on without her by…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: 6 Quick Stops When You’re On the Go
During the holidays, there are lots of errands to be run, things to be done, events to plan and attend. Sometimes, you don’t have time to stop for a full meal, but grabbing a burger through a drive through seems kinda gross, right? (Well, for the most part.) Sandwiches are…
Rockets Injuries and Lack of Bench Creating Issues
When the Rockets signed Carmelo Anthony this summer, it was expected that he would help contribute to what could be one of the best and deepest benches in the NBA. After all, they still had former sixth man of the year in Eric Gordon and a pair of new young…
The Cabin: A Witchy Short at the Short Film Showcase
Houston horror is the gift that keeps on giving, and there’s an excellent new offering coming to the Short Film Showcase courtesy of Amanda Dianne and Joe Grisaffi. Warning in advance: it is not an easy watch. The Cabin is a simple tale about two young lovers who wander off…
American Aquarium Dips Their Toes into Political Waters
Like about half the people in the country, BJ Barham and his wife went to bed late on the evening on November 8, 2016 a bit shocked in how the U.S. Presidential Election was trending, but confident the tide would change when the final results came in. When that didn’t…
Template Dinners to Tame Your Tuesday
Sometimes, I just don’t want to think about dinner. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to make dinner, I just want to do it on autopilot. The thing about autopilot, though, is that it works best when you have a bunch of destinations already programmed in. That way you don’t wind…
12 Days of Classical Music Makes Houston’s Holiday Season Very Merry
The weather outside is frightful, but inside Houston’s concert halls it’s quite delightful. ‘Tis the season for holiday music and our classical line-up caters to every taste. We’ve got an Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble, whale sounds, an a cappella chorus, a showcase by rising opera stars, TSO’s The Ghosts of Christmas Eve…
The Nutcracker, An Imaginative Spectacle for the Houston Ballet
Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch’s spectacle, The Nutcracker returns to the Wortham for the holiday season.
Smart Crowd Gives Thanks for the Gift of Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson & Family Smart Financial Centre November 25, 2018 Last week, we reserved an entire day to show gratitude to those who’ve made lasting and favorable impressions on our lives. When Thanksgiving Day ended, we started searching for gifts to celebrate those we honor. Getting to see Willie Nelson…
NFL, Week 12: Titans-Texans — Four Things To Watch For
The atmosphere in NRG Stadium on Monday night will certainly be unique. With the passing of Texans’ founder and owner Bob McNair on Friday, it should be a combination of sadness mixed with celebration, celebration of a life well lived that affected the lives of so many millions of others…
Vegans Will Be Protesting This Friday At The Mayor’s Holiday Celebration and Tree Lighting
“What if you were forced to lay an egg every single day?” Dani Alexander, an activist for the vegan lifestyle and PETA prophet, said passionately. Sitting around her, a flock of others like-minded nodded. They had a point— what would you do? Probably be bewildered, and then upset. Sunday at…
4th Wall Theatre Company Presents Pride & Prejudice As Re-Imagined by Kate Hamill
It is the classic story of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, as re-imagined by playwright Kate Hamill complete with anachonisms (is there a Beyonce song in there somewhere during a scene change?) while still sticking true to the premise of the original. There’s pride and prejudice galore from Elizabeth Bennet…
Weather Week: Chilly Early, but Warming Up
One of the wonderful things about living in Houston is getting to watch friends to the north dig themselves out of show banks while we bask in mild temperatures. This past weekend was a perfect example with temperatures from Thanksgiving through Sunday hanging between 50 and 75 degrees. It was…
Texan Players React To Passing of Owner Bob McNair (1937-2018)
If you were putting together a list of the most important sports figures in the history of the city of Houston, if Bob McNair’s name isn’t at the top of that list, you certainly don’t go more than a couple of names before you get to him. When you consider…
5 Cool Ways to Volunteer This Holiday Season in Houston
On the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday (November 27) kicks off the season of charitable giving. Even though the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act threw a wrench into the works, meaning fewer people will be itemizing deductions this year, nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status still need our help…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Get Your Hands on a Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Mac ‘n Cheese Burger
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Limited-time/seasonal specials Field Trip Specials at Bernie’s Burger Bus Bernie’s Burger Bus, 5407 Bellaire, 2643 Commercial Center, 2200 Yale, is dropping limited-time specials on Tuesday, November 27 and running for at least a few weeks. Pop by to try the Field…
Writer Says He Tweeted Deadpool/Princess Bride Idea to Ryan Reynolds in 2017
Once Upon a Deadpool is one of Hollywood’s weirder ideas. It’s a recut of version of Deadpool 2 that puts the famously raunchy franchise in more Marvel Cinematic Universe-friendly PG-13 territory. A new trailer has just dropped, and even if you’re not a big fan of the Merc With a…
Holiday Cheer is Great but Christmas Albums are Awful
Few headlines make me shiver the way “Billy Corgan wants to make a Smashing Pumpkins Christmas album” did. This is not to say that I’m not somewhat interested, on a conceptual level at least, at what a Smashing Pumpkins Christmas song might sound like. I’m not even opposed to them…
The Big Bad of Doctor Who Series 11 is Us
Warning: This post contains mild spoilers for the season thus far. When Chris Chibnall started talking about Series 11 – his first season as showrunner and the debut of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor – he made it clear that there would be no returning villains and that there…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Pair Doughnuts, Beer and Brunch
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Beer and Donuts at Holler Brewing Co Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 2206 Edwards Holler Brewing Co will be teaming up with Morningstar for a special Black Friday Beer and Donuts event. The brewery will be opening early and popping…
10 Things the 2018 Houston Texans Have To Be Thankful For
I hope all of you are having a happy and safe Thanksgiving weekend. As I drown in a sea of football, stuffing, wine, and tryptophan, I began to think about all of the things I’m thankful for during this weird, fun 2018 Houston Texans football season, which in the tapestry…
5 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: Holiday Lights and Celtic Christmas
If too much family togetherness has given you cabin fever, or you’re so weighed down by starchy foods and tryptophan that you feel like The Nutty Professor, then keep being thankful but get up and get going because it’s another great weekend in Houston. Several holiday traditions are kicking off,…
Openings and Closings: Joy Love Expands, Krab Queenz Opens
Joy Love Burgers, 13150 FM 529 opened October 26. This is the fourth location for the family-owned small burger chain and a drive down Barker-Cypress near Highway 290 shows an upcoming fifth location. I know this, because my son and I excitedly drove into the strip center to find it…
DJ Andrew Bayer in Houston With Trance Music for the Whole Family
For better or worse, contemporary electronic music culture is unlike its underground and occasionally illegal origins. The original superstars were DJs brilliantly mixing vinyl records on a pair of Technics 1200 turntables. Producers were seldom celebrated, and a line was drawn between creators and selectors. Now that line is blurred…
Weekend Weather: Mild Weather for Shopping’s Biggest Weekend
Despite the explosion in online shopping, the few days after Thanksgiving remains retail’s biggest weekend of the year. Fortunately for shoppers in Houston, this weekend looks to be nice weather for maxing out your credit. It has been a pretty glorious week so far with mostly clear skies and just…
Emma Stone and The Favourite’s Royal Women Scheme Deliciously
It’s the early 18th century, there’s a war on with France, and the persistently ill, somewhat childish Anne struggles both to assert her authority and to preserve her kingdom and her crown
Cocktail Therapy: Jace VanHoozer of Reserve 101
At 40 years old, Jace VanHoozer has been bartending for half his life. “That makes me 127 in bar years,” he said sitting on the tip of the dark leather seat, in the back room of Reserve 101. Eleven years ago, Mike Raymond had approached him about a whiskey bar…
College Football, Week 13 and NFL, Week 12 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
Well, I promised you that I would get back on track last weekend, just in time for holiday shopping to begin, and I came through with a 67 percent winning percentage week, going 4-2, with a tidy 2-1 ATS record in both college and NFL selections. Now, here comes the greatest…
Houston Hip-Hop Head Turned Metalhead Finds YouTube Stardom
Alex Hefner’s YouTube metal music reaction channel has quickly become popular.
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Seasonal Flavors and Holiday Tamales
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: For a limited time, Lupe Tortilla locations will be adding tasty seasonal offerings to its menu, including Pumpkin Spice Flan with caramel sauce; breakfast-only Pumpkin Spice Pancakes made with pumpkin puree-infused batter and topped with roasted…
The Stars Are Brightly Shining With The Music Box Theater’s Holiday Cabaret
If you’ve had a hard day’s night, you’re full of misery and dreading the taxman, or it’s all too much, then you need something much stronger than cowbell. Our prescription calls for one part music of The Beatles, one part Christmas cheer, mixed together well with the talented vocalists over…
4 Reasons to Be Thankful, Houston Traffic Edition
First, let’s preface this by saying NO ONE is happy about traffic. Not us, not you. Nobody. It’s one of the worst characteristics of a city that is, otherwise, pretty damn awesome. Having said that, there are some reasons to feel good about where the city is going when it…
Houston Area Grocery Stores Open on Thanksgiving
In case you’re in need of some crucial ingredient at the last minute, here’s a list of the grocery/convenience stores that will be open in and around Houston this Thanksgiving Day: Aldi: Closed on Thanksgiving Day Central Market: Open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. CVS: Open normal hours (check individual…
Turkey Day Pro Tips with Gnar World Order’s Pete Hesher
You’ve got mere hours left to get the Thanksgiving meal on the table for your family and friends and maybe you need a little 11th-hour help. Martha Stewart is unlikely to waltz into your kitchen, so we’ve asked the next best person to step in and help save the day…
Vince Guaraldi’s “Thanksgiving Theme” is the Only Song You Need for This Holiday
As a music fan, it’s easy to overlook Thanksgiving. Halloween is a bag stuffed with creepy goodies like “Thriller,” “Monster Mash,” “Ghostbusters,” and a personal fave, “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” (co-written by Childish Gambino!) Christmas’ selections are too numerous to count – though we can clearly all agree none is greater…
Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate Invites Us to Look Through Van Gogh’s Eyes
Probing the painter’s senses as he tramps about the south of France, Schnabel’s film is drunk with light, a little touched in the head itself, giving over to van Gogh’s perspective through gorgeously disorienting POV shots …
Houston Ballet and Karina Gonzalez Return to the Wortham With The Nutcracker
Besides all the other enjoyable aspects of returning to the Wortham Center (the comfortable seats! the acoustics! the length and width of stage!), a special note has to be made of the return of Principal dancer Karina Gonzalez. Gonzalez, who took time out to have a baby, will be taking on…
Diverse Dance Music Descends on Houston Over Thanksgiving
This extended Thanksgiving weekend brings a stylistically diverse group of electronic artists and producers to the Bayou City. Various genres from artists across the globe are performing starting Wednesday through Sunday. This provides and excellent opportunity to get together with everyone who has come back into town and sweat on…
Texans 23, Redskins 21: How To (Almost) Lose a Game In Five Plays
In his Monday media availability, Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien put perfectly the spirit of the topic on which I am about to write. When asked about his team’s seven game winning streak’s imperfections, he responded with the following: “I do think that that’s a good thing when you’re…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Ralph Breaks the Internet
Along the way, we learn familiar lessons about the true meaning of friendship and that you should always follow your dreams. And that eBay is apparently still a thing.
Perfect Pairings: Black Friday Breakfast With a Swedish Touch
I’m just saying, all these Thanksgiving dishes getting all this attention— let’s pop a shifty on the holiday and throw a little Black Friday Breakfast. Something to make Aunt Mindy low key nudge you for the recipe. For this, we’re calling in the Swedes— those sexy devils. Swedish Pancakes are…
Houston Concert Watch 11/21: Willie Nelson, Blue October and More
Did you get all your Thanksgiving shopping knocked out already? Best wishes to you if you haven’t. Make sure if you’re heading out to put on your game face and be ready to make sacrifices if you need to; no one will know the pie is store bought if you…
Giving Thanks for Houston Pro Sports
Being thankful for sports can be a tricky thing in Houston. Depending on the year, we might have a city full of teams all vying for championships or the literal opposite. We can be pleasantly surprised or wildly disappointed. It is heavily reliant upon timing. In 2018, Houston pro sports…
Brew Blog: Omission Ultimate Light Golden Ale
My wife and I have been on the Keto diet. It’s been a while. I don’t want to talk about it. OK, so I definitely want to talk about it. It’s kind of all I talk about. It’s like I just got really into CrossFit. I don’t have much of…
Horse Head Set to Perform The Flick, a Play about Nothing and Everything
If television’s Seinfeld can eke out a successful nine-year run with its theme of nothing, then it’s not much of a stretch to believe that Annie Baker’s The Flick can keep audiences riveted in spite of its almost three-hour length. “It could be billed as a play about nothing if…
The Latest Robin Hood Robs From the Past to Give the Present Nothing
The actual 2018 Robin Hood remains a haphazard action thriller taking place sometime during the Crusades, with Taron Egerton basically reprising his breakout Kingsman role as a scrappy normie getting recruited and trained for skilled combat
Creed II Follows Up a Classic With (Sigh) an OK Rocky Movie
The story concerns sort of a play date between the kids fathered by the first generation of Rocky boxers: Creed versus the son of Dolph Lundgren’s Ivan Drago, who in Rocky IV was built up as pretty much the most devastating weapon in the Soviet nuclear arsenal
The Day After Thanksgiving: Making Good Use of Leftover Turkey with These Sandwiches
Several weeks ago I called my aunt to invite her to Thanksgiving dinner. We decided to take on the tradition at our house this year and merge both our families in the process. She happily accepted but with one small request. “Do you think there will be enough leftover turkey…
Five Social Media Trends We Didn’t See Coming
In 2008, Ben Parr at tech super-site Mashable wrote about the 5 Ways Social Media Will Change Recorded History. His focus was primarily on how we will look back at social media after the fact and the lasting record it would leave behind. But there was certainly some prognosticating in…
Regrettes Release an Anti-Kavanaugh Track, Raise Money for RAINN
Here’s one definition of the term privilege: the idea that the radioactive nightmare around Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court by Donald Trump is over. It ain’t. The noise is over, sure. The event is over. However, as Zoe Quinn once said about GamerGate, August never ends. In the…
Facebook Should Tell People When and How You Were Banned
I’m in a week-long timeout on Facebook for saying men are trash. I’m not here to whine about censorship like some alt-right dink crashing a White House press briefing to ask a legitimate presidential administration about what horrors will be unleashed if he loses his verified checkmark on Twitter. The…
Black Friday Food and Drink Specials in Houston: Brunches, Happy Hours and Deals
From extended happy hours and Friday brunches to tap takeovers and gift card bonuses, take a break from the shopping and take advantage of these local Black Friday specials (Friday, November 23): Ambrosia, 2003 Lexington Seek refuge from Black Friday crowds at this cozy Pan-Asian gem, where you’ll find happy…
Axl Rose, Like so Many, is On Twitter and Mad at Trump
Do you remember that weird period of time a few years back when the “social media is killing the rock star mystique and that’s a bad thing” hot take was going around? The idea was that we were losing something by having people in bands become more relatable through the…
Survivor: College Football Playoff Edition, Version 8.0
We’re heading into Week 13 of the 14-week college football regular season, and we still haven’t experienced that late season shakeup that seems to happen, to some degree, every year. The top portion of the College Football Playoff rankings have been holding serve steadily for three weeks now, and after…
Christmas Cheer is Coming to Queensbury Theatre in Elf The Musical
The things we do (and eat) for art. Actor Marco Camacho has taken the Buddy the Elf spaghetti challenge, eating sugary sweet mouthfuls of noodles dripping with syrup, but he says it’s totally worth it. Camacho, who has been cast in the title role in Queensbury Theatre’s upcoming production of…
How to Eat Like a Mexican This Holiday Season
It’s the holidays, amigos. That magical time of year when we binge eat for two continuous months under flimsy pretenses and layer up to hide our shame. While this season means turkey, eggnog, and creme bru-lattes in America, it comes with its own unique set of culinary traditions south of the…
The Rolling Stones Return to Houston in 2019
And so it turns out that the rumors that have been swirling around over the past few days are true: The Rolling Stones are returning to Houston. As a press release that just landed points out, it’ll be The Rolling Stones first trip to this part of Texas in over…
Last Night: Musician and Zen Monk Otto Liebert Brought His Nouveau Flamenco to Dosey Doe
Nouveau Flamenco guitar player Ottmar Liebert and his band Luna Negra came to The Woodlands Sunday night for an intimate show at Dosey Doe. The 175-year-old building originated as a tobacco barn in Kentucky and is now considered by some to be acoustically “perfect”, as its 300-600 year old oak…
Rockets Can Make Up Ground As Schedule Softens
There is no point in pulling punches. When the Rockets opened their season 1-5, they were a bad basketball team. They couldn’t stop anyone on defense and couldn’t score on offense. But, just a few weeks later, they are 8-7, having gone through one of their toughest stretches of the…
Rosamund Pike Dazzles, but A Private War Puts a Reporter Before Her Reporting
Pike’s Colvin is haunted by visions of carnage she has seen, sometimes imagining that her London home is a bombed-out shell of itself, that a little girl she once saw die is lying in her own bed
The Real Renaissance Festival Party Happens In The Campground
The Texas Renaissance Festival After Dark nightclub hosted a Time Travelers Ball last Saturday night. Ghostbusters helped escort costumed guests from all era’s into the pop-up club that has hosted night time adult-themed parties since 2014. Dainty cheese platters greeted VIP guests in their reserved alcoves, and bottle service was…
Weather Week: Short Holiday Work Week, Complicated Weather
It’s a short work week for most of us with Thanksgiving this Thursday. But despite the length, the early part of the week will be packed with changes for us in Houston. Looking back at the weekend, it wasn’t all bad. Saturday was actually rather pleasant outside and we even…
Pink Princess and Jello With Mayonaise: The Wild and Wonderful Foods of Thanksgiving
Local food folks share the dishes that grace their traditional tables, sometimes loved, occasionally loathed, but longed for either way.
5 Tips When Your Family Works on the Holidays
Like a lot of Houstonians who work in the Medical Center, my wife is on a rotation when it comes to holiday shifts. Last year she worked Christmas Eve and Day, this year it’s Thanksgiving and the day after. Then there’s me, a journalist. I work from home most days,…
A.D. Players Brings It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Complete With SFX
There is no better movie to illustrate the ripple effect than It’s A Wonderful Life, with its core message that we each have value, that our own life matters and that we can make a difference. But we’ve all seen Frank Capra’s 1946 drama so many times that, when playwright…
NFL Week 11: Texans 23, Redskins 21 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
On Sunday afternoon, the Houston Texans ran their franchise record-tying winning streak to seven games by defeating the Washington Redskins, 23-21. It was yet another game that came down to a field goal attempt on the final play of the game (well, virtually, the final play — the Texans took…
Arian Foster to Perform His First Live Show as Bobby Feeno at House of Blues
Just over eight years ago, a 24-year-old Arian Foster rushed for 231 yards and three touchdowns in the Texans’ season opener against the Colts. It was an unforgettable performance by a player who barely made the roster the year before as an undrafted free agent — the first of many…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Holiday and Thanksgiving Delights
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Seasonal special Thanksgiving treats at CRAVE CRAVE Cupcakes, 5600 Kirby, 1151 Uptown Park, 2501 Research Forest, will be offering holiday-inspired treats, from the not-so-traditional Pecan Pie Cupcake (available in-store and online in limited quantities through year’s end) to seasonal flavors such…
Travis Scott Delivers in Astroworld Festival’s Inaugural Year
Astroworld Festival 2018. As a number of music festivals throughout the country continue to consolidate into similar events with interchangeable lineups and offerings, the inaugural Astroworld Festival, with the help of Travis Scott, proved itself to be a distinct Houston event with a singular identity.
Ars Lyrica Delivers a Magnificent Production of Handel’s Agrippina
Agrippina, where have you been all my life? And Ars Lyrica? I think I love you. Ars Lyrica, Houston’s preeminent early music ensemble, under the sparkling direction of Matthew Dirst, has staged an utterly magnificent production of George Frideric Handel’s first international smash hit: his baroque opera seria Agrippina (1709)…
Conan Proves He’s the Late Night Host of the People
Conan O’Brien is solidifying his reputation as “late night host of the people” on his current 18-city tour, which stopped in Houston last night. Traveling with a quartet of proven comics, all of whom have received career boosts from performing on O’Brien’s TBS talk show, the tour is billed as…
Go Back to the ’90s with Catastrophic Theatre’s First Suburb
The Catastrophic Theatre’s resident playwright Chana Porter returns with a ’90s-centric play, First Suburb.
Travis Scott Reveals Complete Lineup For Astroworld Festival
After staying quiet about lineup details since the announcement of Astroworld Festival back in August, Travis Scott has revealed the lineup for the inaugural Astroworld Festival, including performances from himself, Post Malone, Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Rae Sremmurd, Gunna, Sheck Wes, Trippie Red, Smokepurpp, Tommy Genesis, and DJ’s Metro Boomin and Virgil Abloh.
With Buster Scruggs, the Coen Brothers Fully Commit to Cheery Meaninglessness
In typical Coen fashion, most people in the movie meet ironic or wry deaths, but this time the Coens seem to be actively eschewing any deeper emotional connection between the audience and the characters
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Feast at the Houston Turkish Festival
Paella Experience at Arnaldo Richards’ Picos Saturday, noon Kirby. Chef Arnaldo Richards will be offering a one-of-a-kind Paella Experience, beginning with a demonstration and outdoor cooking show with wine, sangria, and signature cocktails for purchase. Richards will be making Valencian surf-and-turf paella for approximately 80-90 people and a turf paella…
More Headaches for Houston Drivers on 290 This Weekend
For seven years, we’ve all been forced to endure one of the more frustrating road construction projects in Houston history. And even as the bulk of the heavy lifting along the Northwest Freeway (US-290 for you naming sticklers) begins to wind down, there are still interminable construction projects and road…
Metallica’s Gloomy Masterpiece Only Works Because They Ditched the Bass
Early in the assortment of riffs, demos and works-in-progress versions of the songs that would become Metallica’s …And Justice for All, part of the new box set celebrating the record’s 30th anniversary, is a clip of what, in time, would become “One.” Played on acoustic guitar by James Hetfield, it’s…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
The movie is book-ended by Grindelwald’s fairly incoherent escape from New York (“Credence Barebone, I heard you were dead.”) and the climactic battle beneath Père Lachaise Cemetery, but that leaves a whole lot of twitchy Redmayne and leering Depp to sit through.
NFL, Week 11: Texans-Redskins — Four Things To Watch For
I’ll admit it, I was shocked when the betting lines came out for this weekend’s NFL games, and the Houston Texans were posted as a 3-point favorite over the Washington Redskins. (It’s since moved down slightly to the Texans laying 2.5 points.) If you assume that the Redskins’ and Texans’…
Houston All-Stars Pay Tribute to the Texas Tornado
The name Doug Sahm would not make any list of the Top 20 Most Famous Texas Musicians. Nor would it likely appear on a Top 50 roster. But among diehard fans of Texas music, his name and influence ranks far higher. After all, this is the guy who wrote “Texas…
Openings and Closings: Kolache Shoppe Expands, Jack and Ginger’s Opens, The Harp Closes
The Kolache Shoppe, 1301 Heights Boulevard, is expected to open in early December. This will be the second location for the kolache bakery. The original is located at 3945 Richmond in the Greenway Plaza area. It opened in 1970 and was owned by Erwin Arhens, until Randy Hines, who started…
5 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: Scrooge, King of Pop and an ArtCrawl
There’s nothing traditional about the holidays here in Houston. We’ve got a staging of A Christmas Carol that just might shock English author Charles Dickens, a Broadway-style musical tribute to Michael Jackson, a chance to wear that ugly Christmas sweater, and the last stop of the year for The Great…
Rockets Officially Move On from Carmelo Anthony
For years, the Rockets pursued Carmelo Anthony, hoping he would become an important part of a championship roster. The tried to woo him when he was in Denver and fought to no avail to trade for him prior to last season. This summer, with the Thunder waiving the 10-time All-Star,…
Weather Weekend: Warming Up Slightly for the Weekend
We know there were plenty of you out there complaining about the warm weather. It nearly hit 90 a week ago and it is November after all. Well, you got what you wanted and then some in the form of freezing overnight temperatures and even a trace of snow (yes,…
Explosive Widows Dares to Be So Much More Than a Heist Flick
This thoughtful, textured story — though brutal at times — stands as one of the clearest depictions of turmoil, racism and nepotism in local politics that’s ever been drawn onscreen
Concerts During Business Hours? Why Not?
Having been both a music journalist and a performing musician, I can understand why we do so much of this business in the dark. It’s romantic and it adds to the sense of rebellion and mystery. I’m kind of starting to wonder if there’s any reason for assuming night concerts…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Sippin’ Santa at Lei Low
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Now through Friday, December 21, Peli Peli, 5085 Westheimer, 110 Vintage Park, 23501 Cinco Ranch, will be running a “Bobotie for Blankets” blanket drive for Houston’s homeless. Drop off a new or used blanket at any fine-dining location…
Verlander, Cole and… Three Options for the Astros Rotation in 2019
On Wednesday, it was announced that Justin Verlander was just edged out in the Cy Young voting for the 2018 season, coming in second to Tampa Bay youngster Blake Snell. Verlander led one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball, a lineup that included Gerrit Cole, Dallas Keuchel,…
College Football, Week 12 and NFL, Week 11 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
Hideous. Embarrassing. Forgettable. There are a hundred adjectives that I can drop on you to describe my handicapping performance last weekend, a wretched 1-4-1 ATS performance, in which my one win (thank you, Colts!) was by a half a point, and my four losses all missed by double digits, including…
Music We’d Like to Hear at the Conan & Friends Stand-Up Show
Tomorrow night, Conan O’Brien visits Houston with a group of comics for a night billed as Conan & Friends: An Evening of Stand-Up and Investments Tips. Between the show’s namesake — now the longest-reigning late night TV host after a quarter-century on the job — and the comedians he’s tabbed…
Cocktail Therapy: Cayla Herns of Hawg Stop
Initially, it would be easy to classify Hawg Stop as a biker bar—because it is. But really, Hawg Stop feels more like a place than a bar; a campfire where all are welcome. While the live music, hawg-friendly atmosphere, and in this case, for Veterans day, a free barbecue cookout,…
Cindy Lou Who Looks Back and Panto Heads for the Stars at Stages Repertory
Omne trium perfectum, or everything that comes in threes is perfect, and we’ll see that proven this holiday season when Stages Repertory Theatre gifts Houston audiences with a trio of comedies. The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged) and Who’s Holiday!, an adult-themed How the Grinch Stole Christmas parody told in Seussian rhyme, are…
Wines for a Purple State Thanksgiving
Texas didn’t exactly experience the “blue wave” that many Democrats here had hoped for this holiday season, although two congressional districts here, one in Houston and the other in Dallas, swung left for the first time in recent memory. Despite the Dems’ disappointment, they still have something sweet to celebrate…
Ben Rector brings Magic to Houston
On the cover of his latest album Magic, Nashville based singer-songwriter Ben Rector defies gravity with a Juno keyboard in tow. What kind of keyboard? A heavy one. It’s a fitting portrait of the man currently hauling his piano around the country, performing some musical heavy lifting in support of…
Five Signs the Rockets Might Be Turning Around Their Season
On Tuesday night, the Rockets went into Denver to play one of the hottest teams in the NBA. They left with their second straight quality win 109-99. Over the last seven games, the Rockets are 5-2 with wins over the Pacers twice and the Nuggets. That comes after an awful…
The Delicious Alchemy of Consommé
I’ve always been obsessed with the alchemical nature of cooking. There’s a transformative aspect to the process of applying heat to food that feels almost like an enchantment. It’s not without cause that the lore of witches and wizards is riddled with potions, concoctions and cauldrons. Of course, as with…
Die Hard Is Not A Christmas Movie (But It May Be the Perfect Valentine’s Day Film)
The holidays are nigh and with their return resurfaces the most absurd argument in filmdom, which is whether Die Hard is an action flick or a Christmas movie. The film is playing in select theaters nationwide this week to commemorate its 30th anniversary. It concludes its limited run with showings…
Houston Concert Watch 11/14: Astroworld Festival, The Internet and More
There’s a chill in our bones this week, but the good news is that it’s only temporary. The better news is that most of our concert picks this week are indoors. Enjoy the cold for what it is, and try not to be jealous of our neighbors across the state…
Perfect Pairings: Marcona Almonds and Don Zoilo 12 Year Oloroso Sherry
The magic of sherry-drinking occurs when you’re a few sips in, on an empty stomach, and that warm, happy feeling washes over the senses. That’s because it’s a fortified wine—which means it’s had a distilled spirit added to it— which means it’s stronger. Turn the music up y’all, this is…
Comparing the Houston Texans’ 6-3 Start In 2018 To Their 6-3 Start in 2016
Two years ago this week, the 2016 Houston Texans were putting the finishing touches on a 24-21 win over the then-wretched Jacksonville Jaguars. In many ways, it was the classic 2016 Texans-style win — they got a lead, they got a couple turnovers, Brock Osweiler threw up a paltry 99…
Flora and Fauna Come to Life in Rare 17th Century Garden Carpet at MFAH
A very rare and incredibly cool 17th century Persian carpet has touched down at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. It was rediscovered in the late 19th century in Istanbul, Turkey, and is one of only three surviving garden carpets from that era. It’s the jewel in the crown in…
![Ready or Not, Travis Scott’s ASTROWORLD Festival is Coming to Houston [UPDATED AGAIN]](https://i0.wp.com/www.houstonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/travis_scott_may_2017_rmc_marco_torres.webp.webp?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1)
Ready or Not, Travis Scott’s ASTROWORLD Festival is Coming to Houston [UPDATED AGAIN]
For better or worse, Travis Scott has become an ambassador for Houston hip hop. That idea may irritate a lot of local rap fans, but it’s true. Scott’s latest release debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 back in August, and his star has only risen with every passing day…
Survivor: College Football Playoff Edition, Version 7.0
After a few weeks of anywhere from moderate to significant shakeup (beyond the three Power Five undefeated teams), this past weekend entailed very little movement in the College Football Playoff race. Honestly, the only result that should affect shuffling within the top ten would be LSU squeaking by Arkansas at…
Le Butcherettes and Death From Above Deliver A Great Concert in Houston
Heads Up! Is Now Tour November 12, 2018 Warehouse Live The cold front rolled in and brought drizzly rain causing Houstonians to break out heavier jackets and hoodies. Certainly immune to the chilled weather were Death From Above as witnessed by vocalist and drummer, Seb Grainger performing shirtless and barefoot…
Fell In Love With The Guys At the Talk Show: Good Charlotte Gets Chatty with Houston Fans
You know those shows where the band you love comes to town, offers a perfunctory “What’s up, Houuuuston?!” then rolls through its set with nary another word to the audience? Last night’s Good Charlotte show at House of Blues was exactly not that. The Madden brothers – Joel on lead…
Stan Lee’s Immortal Message About Politics in Pop Art
Stan Lee, the celebrated co-creator of Black Panther, Spider-Man, the X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, and more, has passed away at the age of 95. The man who will always be Mr. Marvel to me, was responsible for a great big chunk of the…
The Alley Theatre Presents A Christmas Carol Once Again
More than a couple years ago, I brought my three children — then ages 5, 7 and 8 to see A Christmas Carol. It was their first time at the theater and I was well aware that it might not hold their interest and that we could be staging a…
Green Book Marks the Unwelcome Return of the Cute Racism Movie
The film is based on a true story, and its title comes from the guidebook Lip carries, which lists the hotels and motels where black people were welcome back then
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Saucy Sub at the Brooklyn Meatball Company
The Saucy Sub at the Brooklyn Meatball Company is classic New York in downtown Houston mall food court. We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
Barron Studios Elevates Houston’s Hip Hop Community
In 1998, Chris Macek and a friend made an album titled “Why?” on Chris’ computer in Rockport. They made some CDs and handed out copies of the homemade effort around their high school. The album’s liner notes said “Recorded at Barron Studios.” “The studio started as a joke,” says Chris…
Blackwood Educational Land Institute: A Perfect Autumn Day
The fall temperatures have finally arrived in Houston and it’s time to savor the brief, but wonderful autumn days while we can. Early this month, we started to see a break in the humidity and heat, even if it continuously varies from day to day. I found myself on a…
Hood and Nevelson: Pioneering Artists Who (Probably) Never Met, Until Now
If cinema magic can put Forrest Gump in the same frame as JFK then there’s no reason that museum curators can’t put pioneering Houston artists Dorothy Hood and Louise Nevelson in the same room. They certainly were active during the same period, had similar influences and — maybe, just maybe…
In 1969, Stan Lee Told Angry Readers That Comics Must Stand Up for Civil Rights
From Lee and Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and John Romita and many more came the great flowering of ‘60s superheroes, the ones who seemed like human beings in ways that Superman or Batman didn’t
Making Shots Changes Everything for the Rockets
For all the talk of their struggling defense early in the season, the Rockets held four straight opponents under 100 points. It helped to push the struggling team up to 18th in defensive rating after beginning the season nearly dead last. And before you say 18th isn’t great, it matches…
Weather Week: A Couple Days in the Houston Deep Freeze
It wasn’t the most beautiful weekend in Houston. With highs only in the 50s and mostly cloudy skies (along with some rain Sunday), it was a pretty gloomy few days overall. The good news this week is that the sun will shine. But don’t expect temperatures to moderate. In fact,…
Anti-Nazi Punk Band Gen Why Drops Video, EP
Gen Why received a lot of acclaim this year when singer and guitarist James McDowell II broke up a white supremacist invasion at a White Oak Music Hall punk show. Though McDowell was certainly not the first in the Houston music scene to make a stand against the rather obnoxious…
Starting With His Own Stories, Houstonian Luke Brawner Has Assembled a Podcast Network
Three and a half years ago, Luke Brawner was commuting to work from Tomball to the Heights. As a worship leader and long time musician he was hearing more than enough music at work every day. The Fort Worth native needed something else to pass the time during the hour-long…
This Week in Houston Food Events: A Whole Hog Charity Double Down
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Seasonal Special Holiday Shakes at Shake Shack In celebration of the holidays, Shake Shack, 6205 Kirby, 5015 Westheimer, will be launching three festive shakes to pair with its re-launched Hot Chick’n sandwich, beginning Tuesday, November 13. Treat yourself to the Chocolate…
Streaming Ushers in a New Golden Age of Music Box Sets
Art is a luxury. Perhaps it shouldn’t be, but capitalism does what capitalism does. With no say in what speaks to our soul, it’s all down to chance whether or not that which moves your spirit is within your financial grasp. Some can be fulfilled with the free days at…
NFL, Week 10: The Titans Will Not Go Away Quietly — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Each week on Wednesday, betting website Bovada sends out an email (courtesy of their public relations guru, the great Jimmy Shapiro) with updated odds for a litany of categories of NFL wagering. Included each week are updated odds on each team’s chances of making the playoffs and winning their division…
Frittata: The Leftovers Workhorse You Never Knew You Never Knew
Anyone who’s followed my writing — or my cooking — knows that leftovers are kind of a thing for me. I love them on their own, but I love tinkering with them even more. Over the years, I’ve developed a sort of mental workflow for cooking with leftovers, a branching…
Time For Bed Races, a Secret Party and Albert’s Whimsical Whisker Revue
The Dickens Victorian Bed Races are one of the most popular events at Dickens on The Strand, and it looks like the team from Tall Ship Elissa is the one to beat. The returning champs found glory again during last year’s race, finishing at a very strong 59 seconds. “Last year…
Opera in the Heights’ Production of Cosi fan tutte is Filled With Bounce, Charm and Great Music
Viennese court composer Antonio Salieri was never Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s scheming nemesis (sorry, Peter Shaffer with your delightfully wicked Amadeus) so much as he was Mozart’s unwitting irritant. He certainly never tried very hard to help out the genius, but he actually did do one thing which was sublimely right…
The Phantom of the Opera Haunts the Hobby in a Decadent New Production
The Phantom of the Opera haunts the Mischer Neurosciences Broadway at the Hobby Center series as a new production opens in Houston.
Harris County GOP Blames Straight Ticket for Losses and “Communist” Votes
Though Ted Cruz held onto his Senate seat for a second term, Republicans in Texas and the Houston area in particular saw tremendous losses in the 2018 elections. The Harris County Republican Party blamed straight-ticket voting for the “Beto Wave” in a recent statement. “I am mad,” says Communications Director…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Overlord
Despite being fairly predictable, Overlord is tense and gory enough to satisfy all but the most fascist of Nazi zombie horror fans.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Katy’s Favorite Sushi Restaurant Pops Up in the Loop
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Saturday Morning Bake Sale featuring chef Kevin Kobayashi at Fluff Bake Bar Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon (or until sold out) 314 Gray Set your alarm for the Saturday Morning Bake Sale at Fluff Bake Bar, when Ramen Tatsu-Ya chef Kevin…
Traffic Mayhem Unleashed This Weekend on the West Loop and 290
Construction always seems to make a mess of Houston roadways. We still aren’t sure why scientists don’t study the near constant highway renovations here. We think it could be the basis for the world’s first perpetual motion machine. But even if scientists are immediately dispatched to Houston to solve the…
That’s Fun! Your Guide to the Five Best Wurstfest Polkas
It’s the final weekend of Wurstfest, the New Braunfels-based annual festival which celebrates German food, beer and, of course, music. The festival began as a single-day event in 1961, an homage to that most delectable meaty treat, the sausage. Ed Grist, the city’s meat inspector, founded the event from those…
The Best Place to Hear Live Music and Other Nominations You Can Make in the Best of Houston® Readers’ Choice Awards
Got a favorite live music venue, large or small? Who do you think has the best karaoke going, is the best dance club, is the best singer? Well now’s the time to unburden yourself and let us know. The Houston Press is offering its readers the opportunity to nominate deserving…
NFL, Week 10: Texans Bye Week — Four Non-Texans Things To Watch For
The bye week is here for the Texans, so there is no game to preview in this space. Instead, let’s go through the short checklist of bye week action items for Bill O’Brien and the Texans: – Get Demrayius Thomas fully fluent in the playbook – Get proper injury treatment…
Openings and Closings: Pokeology Returns, Finn Hall Opens Next Month
Pokeology, 2313 Edwards, will open November 18 at Sawyer Yards. The brick and mortar for this poke restaurant, which used to operate out of Doc Holliday’s in Rice Village, has been a long time coming, since it shuttered its operation at the back of the bar last May. The new…
5 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: Spinal Tap, CineSpace and a Battleship
Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. This weekend in Houston we’ve got a vintage fashion show and a throwback screening of the world’s greatest mockumentary. For the new, Opera in the Heights has a completely different concept from when it last presented Mozart’s most controversial work. More than 250 filmmakers…
Weekend Weather: Big Changes in Store
The old adage if you don’t like the weather in Texas, just wait, will be readily apparent this weekend. This week has brought stifling heat and humidity to the Texas Gulf Coast as we await a pair of approaching cold fronts that will change the weather pretty dramatically by Friday…
Houston Eateries Offering Free Meals and Specials This Veterans Day
These Houston restaurants and sweet shops will be honoring the U.S. military this Veterans Day (Sunday, November 11), offering freebies and specials to veterans and active-duty members: Ambrosia, 2003 Lexington Ambrosia is offering a free menu item from its “raw & rare” offerings (salmon crudo, gulf catch tiradito tostada, ribeye…
Can Lizzie Fletcher Unmoor METRORail?
In one of the more stunning defeats of incumbent Republicans on Tuesday night, Lizzie Fletcher beat out long-time Congressman John Culberson in the Texas 7th District. It is the first time this seat has been held by a Democrat in more than 50 years. While Fletcher campaigned primarily on inclusiveness…
It’s Time To Nominate Your Favorite Movie Theaters, Costume Places and More in the Best of Houston® Readers’ Choice Awards
Have a favorite movie theater? How about a museum that fills your heart with joy or just plain entertains you? Where do you pick up your costumes. And don’t forget your favorite place to people watch. Please share and spread the good news. The Houston Press is offering its readers…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Celebrate Friendsgiving
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Central Market, 3815 Westheimer, will host chef Aarón Sánchez for a special cooking class on Thursday, November 15. The Elevate Your Entertaining class will demonstrate how to take your holiday entertaining skills to a new level,…
College Football, Week 11 and NFL, Week 10 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
You know it’s been a solid month of picks when my bad weeks are 3-3, and that’s what last week was — a 3-3 week that still keeps us a healthy 16-8 ATS over the last four weeks. My apologies to all of you on one thing — a couple…
Cocktail Therapy: Mason Clark of Twin Peaks
Mason Clark has the confidence part down. At 4 p.m. on a Wednesday, her bar has slowed to a trickle. Give or take 20 guests linger around; most with giant “29 degree” frosty mugs in front of them. Dressed in a uniform of black lingerie for Halloween, it’s just a…
Houston Via Colori Plans 50 Foot Chalk Drawing at 2018 Street Painting Festival
Sure, we’re all bummed that the Houston Astros were eliminated in the American League Championship Series, but if there’s any team that can rebound it’s our beloved ‘Stros. Until next season, though, we’ve got a chance to see pitcher Chris Devenski showing off a different set of skills. He’s been named…
Monday Night Shows Aren’t Automatically Doomed to Fail
What did you do last Monday night? Did you invite all your rowdy friends over to drink cheap domestic beer and cheer on the hapless Dallas Cowboys as they dropped a Monday Night Football game? Maybe the weekend’s time change fooled your body clock into a way-too-early bedtime and you…
Netflix’s Outlaw King Is Just Beardo vs. Beardo in Scotland’s Mud Pits
One lord scowls with even more surliness than the rest: Chris Pine is Robert the Bruce, a Scot who will, eventually, declare himself king of his country and wage guerrilla war against Edward
Got a Favorite Sports Star, Bike Shop, Tattoo Artist? Nominate Them in Best of Houston® for a Readers’ Choice Award
Got a favorite sports star? Maybe a bike shop that’s gotten you shipshape again after every one of your wrecks. Or maybe you know a good deal on where to buy hard-to-find plants, or the tattoo artist whose precision and creativity is head and shoulders above the rest. Now’s your…
Get Ready to Nominate Your Favorite Restaurants in the 2019 Best of Houston® Readers’ Choice
Do you have a favorite restaurant, a favorite dish in Houston that you believe deserves accolades and applause? Well now is your chance to share that discerning knowledge with the rest of the city and beyond. And make some people and businesses very happy in the process. Starting today, the…
The 2018 Midterms in Texas: Significant Change With More Than a Dash of Status Quo
As results came in Tuesday night, it became clear that hopes for a blue wave overtaking the state of Texas were not going to be realized. Incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott defeated Lupe Valdez and in the most watched race not only for Texas, but in the nation, Republican Senator Ted…
The Front Runner Exposes the Hart of a Political Sex Scandal
… This is less a film about Gary Hart — who, as played by Jackman, remains something of an enigma — than one about the operatives and volunteers and journalists swirling around his candidacy
Houston Concert Watch 11/7: Billy Gibbons, Death from Above and More
This week’s introduction takes the form of a Choose Your Own Adventure story. Did you have a good election night? Proceed to letter A. Did you have a bad election night? Proceed to letter B. A: Congratulations! Your fellow Texans went to the poll and you came out on top…
Twenty One Pilots Take Fans On A Journey Through Dema At A Sold-Out Toyota Center
Twenty One Pilots Toyota Center November 6, 2018 Imagine a city. A city surrounded by stone walls that reach all the way up into the heavens. A city that seems impenetrable from the outside and inescapable from within. Can you see it in your mind? Because that’s exactly where the…
Beaujolais Nouveau— Why You Should Care
They’re unveiling the latest crop of Beaujolais Nouveau and why should you care? Because it’s a big French party, that’s why silly. The French know how to let their curls down, so why not follow suit? And as it happens to fall on Thursday November 15, a week before Thanksgiving,…
Polar Bears, Penguins Find Common Ground at ICE LAND: Pole-to-Pole
What’s up is down, what’s wrong is right, and — in what must certainly be an alternate universe — polar bears and penguins have finally met in the middle. It’s a “cool” concept on the part of Moody Gardens, theming ICE LAND: Pole-to-Pole so that the Arctic polar bear and the…
Astros Lose McCullers to Surgery for 2019 as Pitching Depth Grows Thinner
The Astros announced on Tuesday that staring pitcher Lance McCullers, Jr. would miss the entire 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. The team said they expect the 25-year-old to make a full recovery. McCullers started 22 games for the Astros in 2018. He finished the…
The 10 Most Valuable Houston Texans of the 2018 Season
So something weird happened in the Texans’ 19-17 win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday afternoon, something I never, ever thought would happen. It occurred on a benign, throwaway play in the second half of the game. The end result of the play itself isn’t all that important, what I…
Perfect Pairings: Mezcal, Sal de Gusano y Naranjas at The Pastry War
Sal de gusano is salt made from moth larvae— and it’s delicious. Paired with Mezcal it’s like a back-in-the-day spend the night party, N64 and all. These two literally grew up together. To make sal de gusano, the larvae that grows on agave is toasted, ground, and then mixed with…
Watch the Ice Chips Fly as Reverend Butter Kicks Off a Season of Ice Skating
Armed with nothing but chainsaws, gloves and their imaginations, “Arctic lumberjack” Reverend Butter and DLG Ice Factory have created ice sculptures that have won competitions around the world and garnered commissions for pro sports events (Super Bowl LI for the NFL and Houston Astros’ World Series win). They’re returning to…
Nine Polling Places in Harris County to Remain Open Till 8 p.m. Today
A temporary restraining order, signed by Judge Fredericka Phillips of the 61st District Court means that nine polling places will be open late tonight in Harris County. Phillips’ action came as a result of a lawsuit filed by the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Texas Organizing Project who alleged the…
The Corny Wiki-like Biopic Bohemian Rhapsody Can’t Dim Freddie Mercury’s Star
It’s one of those biopics where everything significant that happened to a famous person happens all at once, in the couple of seconds of any given year that we see dramatized
The Quiet Man: A Great Idea Gone Terribly Wrong
I really wanted to like The Quiet Man when I first heard about the game. I’m surprised and delighted that video games incorporating live-action film have made a comeback after dying an ignoble death in the ‘90s. Some of them, like The Bunker, are incredible. The mixture of live-action and…
5 Big-Picture Issues Behind the AT&T, Dish Network and HBO/Cinemax Feud
Last week, right around the time substantive news about the final season of Game of Thrones was hitting the web, Dish Network customers found that HBO and Cinemax had gone dark on their platforms. The reason? Well, as they sometimes say in relationships, it’s complicated. In short, AT&T, which owns…
Do You Ever Get the Feeling Ted Cruz Doesn’t Even Like Music?
The music of Texas is vast and contains multitudes. Like the many cultures that make up our various food scenes, Texas music is a complex patchwork that includes everything from Houston hip-hop to Texas country. It’s produced some of the greatest riffs in rock history and included punk that’s both…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Smoked Turkey at Hobo’s Sandwich Shop
For the Smoked Turkey at Hobo’s Sandwich shop, the bread’s the thing. We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
Survivor: College Football Playoff Edition, Version 6.0
And then, there were ten. Once again, the weekend of college football we just experienced, while it may not have lived up to the hype in terms of in-game drama (aside from West Virginia-Texas, which was epic theater, on so many levels), it did deliver what we’ve come to expect…
The Girl in the Spider’s Web Reduces Its Heroine to a Meh James Bond
By and large, this latest entry in Lisbeth’s adventures … offers a drab genre piece that’s more like an attempt to establish a James Bond-like franchise for Lisbeth than a compelling exploration of the character
With the Help of a Sold Out Crowd, Dawes Did It All Last Night at The Heights Theater
Dawes live at The Heights Theater, Sunday, November 4, 2018. Nearing a decade as a band, Dawes has gone from what seemed like a Los Angeles counterpart to the fashionable roots-rock revival of the late-’00s (occupied by Mumford & Sons and the Lumineers) to a consistent songwriting stalwart and torchbearer of timeless folk-based rock & roll.
Vote and Get These Election Day Freebies and Specials in Houston
Election Day is Tuesday, November 6, and these Houston-area restaurants and bars want to reward those that have chosen to exercise their right to vote. From complimentary lunch to free fries and whiskey-soaked parties, here’s where to celebrate Election Day in Houston: The Classic All Day, 5922 Washington Guests can…
The Beans Get Together Again to Put Out an Album and Break Up
The Beans are back together. They are breaking up. Five years after releasing their self-titled debut album, they returned last week with their on the nose titled sophomore effort The Beans Breakup. A day after its arrival, band drummer Brendan Hall spent his day delivering vinyl editions of the project…
NFL Week 9: Texans 19, Broncos 17 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Sometimes, the football gods smile on you, and after the Houston Texans escaped Denver with a 19-17 win on Sunday, thanks to a Brandon McManus miss on a 51-yard potentially game winning field goal, it certainly feels like we are in the midst of such a time here in Houston…
Weather Week: Spring-like Weather a Prelude to Winter
For the second straight weekend, it was beautiful in Houston, Texas, USA. With temperatures mostly in the low to mid 70s under sunny skies and breezy conditions (particularly on Sunday), it was damn near perfect. One visitor from Chicago who we dined with on Friday night couldn’t believe the weather…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Fall Brunch and a Sushi Pop-Up
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long Fall Into Fig at Fig & Olive Every Saturday through November, Fig & Olive, 5115 Westheimer, will host “Fall Into Fig” — a special weekly brunch event from noon to 4 p.m. featuring mimosas, bellinis, live DJs, door…
Frank’s Pizza Owner Solves His Own Small-town Mystery in New Book
Eddie Love might be the most reserved successful business owner you’d ever encounter. Although he runs one of downtown Houston’s most beloved spots, Frank’s Pizza, and its popular neighboring watering hole, Frank’s Backyard, he’s the last to seek out the spotlight for these booming ventures. So, it may be a…
![Where to Dine in Houston on Thanksgiving Day 2018 [UPDATED]](https://i0.wp.com/www.houstonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/butternut_squash_bisque_a.webp-scaled.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Where to Dine in Houston on Thanksgiving Day 2018 [UPDATED]
Skip the hassle of Thanksgiving Day cooking and cleaning and have these local restaurants do the work for you. From family-friendly buffets and traditional turkey plates with all the fixin’s to extravagant holiday prix fixes, here’s where to dine in Houston this Thanksgiving: Artisans Restaurant, 3201 Louisiana, 713-529-9111 For $80…
Boost Your Social Media Feed With Dino Selfies at Magical Winter Lights
Selfie alert. Magical Winter Lights® is returning to the Houston area with the largest festival of its kind in the United States, filling 20 acres with a candy-colored wonderland that comes to life each evening during the holidays. Visitors take a self-guided, self-paced tour of the eight themed sections — including landmarks…
This La Boheme Slows When It Should Race, But Pureum Jo Shines as Musetta
The Parisian cold water garret that the four young Bohemians share in Giacomo Puccini’s evergreen opera La Bohème, snoozing through its run at Houston Grand Opera, isn’t the only thing without heat. The entire production is lukewarm, glacially paced, and lacks ardor, not the qualities one wants in any Puccini…
Ed Sheeran Brings His One-Man Show To Minute Maid Park
Ed Sheeran Minute Maid Park November 3, 2018 About halfway through his performance at Minute Maid Park Saturday night, Ed Sheeran stopped his show to thank the two percent. He has a theory, he told the crowd of approximately 40,000, that about 98 percent of the people who come to…
Christina Aguilera Returns to Houston Area with a Vegas-Ready Love Fest
Christina Aguilera, Big Boi Smart Financial Centre November 1, 2018 Love yourself. As platitudes go, it’s simple to say, much harder to do. Christina Aguilera told an adoring audience last night at Smart Financial Centre it’s not just one which bears frequent repeating, but it’s been a central theme of…
In Silence Macbeth Muet Speaks Volumes at Main Street Theater
Under the category of things we’ve never seen before onstage in Houston, I present: 1. A hockey glove and an oven mitt having rambunctious doggy-style sex 2. Paper plate father and son playing catch, running piggyback and affectionately horsing around 3. Raw eggs that provoke feelings of parental sweetness and…
Texans Trade Brings Back Oilers Memories
When the Texans traded for wide receiver Demaryius Thomas this week from Denver, most of the interest was centered on what the veteran wideout can do for this Texans team, particularly in the wake of the season-ending injury to Will Fuller. But for Houston sports fans, it might conjure up…
Explore the New Menil Drawing Institute, at the Intersection of Zen and Cool
The late philanthropist and art collector Dominique de Menil had very strong opinions, and wasn’t afraid to share them. But were she here to see the unveiling of the new Menil Drawing Institute — the fifth art building on the 30-acre campus — our bets are that she would declare…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Enjoy a Day of the Dead Brunch
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Grand Opening Celebration at The Rustic Friday through Sunday 1836 Polk Located next to the George R. Brown Convention Center, Dallas import The Rustic will bring its live music, comfort eats, and Texas soul to Houston starting this weekend. The epic…
Five Ways Our Online Interactions are Different Than 25 Years Ago…and How It Changed Us
I began making friends online before the world wide web existed. Back then, it was America Online and usenet bulletin boards that only hard core nerds really read. Soon, bulletin boards and chat rooms would begin to take over, still more than a decade before social media would make its…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Bohemian Rhapsody
“Adequate” is a pretty accurate assessment of Bohemian Rhapsody itself, and you really couldn’t ask for a more damning indictment of a movie about the greatest rock singer of all time.
Incest, Murder and Power: Egyptologist to Discuss Rise of Ancient Female Rulers
Dr. Kathlyn (Kara) Cooney has traveled around the world and back in time, on archaeological excavations in Egypt, investigating ancient burial practices and documenting almost 300 coffins, including those found in Cairo, London and Vatican City collections. But it was her knowledge about the 19th and 21st dynasties of Egypt,…
Great (Bon) Scott! It’s the Early Years of AC/DC!
AC/DC 1973-1980: The Bon Scott Years By Jeff Apter 256 pp. $24.95 Jawbone Press For a band that many think is nearing the end of its lifespan, AC/DC sure has been in the news the past few years. Mostly for personnel changes. Drummer Phil Rudd was cut loose in 2015…
Openings and Closings: Agricole’s EaDo Trio Opens, Kitchen 713 Closes
Agricole Hospitality is bringing three new concepts to East Downtown. The buzz has been humming along since early 2017. Each restaurant will be its own independent space, style and menu, but the three concepts are also a collaboration from co-owners Ryan Pera, Morgan Weber and Vincent Huynh, with executive chef…
NFL Week 9: Texans-Broncos — Four Things To Watch For
We’ve talked plenty about the NFL trade deadline in this space over the last few days, both speculating on what MIGHT happen, and then breaking down what DID happen. Here in Houston, we know what ended up happening — the Texans acquired wide receiver Demaryius Thomas from the Denver Broncos,…
Alley Theatre Announces Its New Artistic Director
After a six-month search, the Alley Theatre has announced its new artistic director: Rob Melrose, a freelance director who formerly was the artistic director and co-founder of Cutting Ball Theater in San Francisco. Melrose, who has been working in theaters across the country, has directed at The Public Theater, The…
Hip-Hop Satire Bodied Hits Hard Until It Goes All Serious in the End
Director Joseph Kahn (who cowrote the script with actual battle rapper Alex “Kid Twist” Larsen), a man who directed many a hip-hop video in his time, knows exactly what cliches and tropes need to be mocked
College Football, Week 10 and NFL, Week 9 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
The sports calendar has many twists and turns, but unequivocally, I love this time of year. First off, Halloween is now out of the way, which means it will be 364 days until kids are ringing my doorbell after 8:30 p.m. looking for candy. (Parents, control your kids, man! 8…
Video Game Review: Call of Cthulhu
I’ve been looking forward to Call of Cthulhu since the second it was announced. The game looked gorgeous, and it was coming from Focus, who’s excellent episodic title The Council is doing some very interesting things in the adventure game genre. In practice, Call of Cthulhu is a mixed bag…
Four Fairly Serious Concerns Very Early in the Rockets Season
It’s early in the Rockets season…like really early. But they are 1-5, getting pummeled at home by an average of 17 points and looking completely overmatched in nearly every way possible. You may say it is too early to panic, but remember that the Rockets fired then coach Kevin McHale…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Honey-Glazed Pork Banh Mi and a Whole Hog Roast
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: You’ll find four new sandwiches and one entrée salad on the menu at East Hampton Sandwich Co., 907 Westheimer (Montrose), 4444 Westheimer (River Oaks District), along with a seasonal dish that will change monthly. First up…
Cocktail Therapy: Stuart Humphries of Tongue-Cut Sparrow
These days on the block of 300 Main, it’s hard to tell which law offices are actually inhabited by lawyers and which serve drinks— but that’s half the fun. On first try, it took a moment to realize the server with her headset on and not now finger in the air…
Twenty One Pilots Gave Me Something To Hold On To
In March 2013, a good friend of mine died of suicide. His name was Jared, and he was one of the kindest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. My friends and I were stunned. Jared was well-liked, gainfully employed and always came across as a genuinely happy guy…
5 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: Bikers, Graffiti and Zombie Apocalypse
Bikes, bands and bikinis are transforming historic Galveston into a motorcycle wonderland with this weekend’s Lone Star Rally. Closer to home we’ve got anime-style cosplay at Insomnia, a zombie apocalypse disguised as a 5K, the 15th anniversary of Doomsday Wrestling and a leisurely bicycle ride past Houston’s best murals and…
Weekend Weather: Glorious Fall Returns
When it comes to mother nature, Halloween in Houston was more trick than treat. The skies opened and dropped quite a bit of rain across the area as a cold front pushed through in the evening hours, amid a tornado watch. Hopefully, no one’s candy got too soggy, but it…
Happy Stormy Halloween and What to Do With Your Leftover Candy
Last Halloween, we Houstonians and other nearby residents, north and south, were still cleaning up our homes, businesses, and lives from that muthaflipper, Hurricane Harvey. My family was spared as the rain stopped just as the water was lapping the front door of our home. Many of our neighbors and…
Houston Texans Trade For WR Demaryius Thomas — Four Thoughts
Even with the injury issues at wide receiver before Will Fuller’s season ending knee injury, specifically the odd spate of hamstring injuries suffered by that group (including Fuller before his ACL injury), you could argue that Texans GM Brian Gaine should have been looking for some wide receiver depth via…
Boy Erased Exposes the Cruel Stupidity of “Gay Conversion Therapy”
It documents with an incisive drabness the group sessions, garbled sermons and general shoddiness of Love in Action, the program that 19-year-old Jared (Lucas Hedges) gets enrolled in by his parents, played by Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe
Houston Concert Watch 10/31: Ed Sheeran, Christina Aguilera and More
Happy Halloween! Sure, you may have your plans locked in for tonight — good luck with the weather — but Halloween is not the end of the world. Before you get to the business of this evening, make some concert plans for the next week. And hey, stay safe out…
Houston Symphony’s Sinfully Delicious Show Will Take Houston By Storm
The Houston Symphony will put on a parade of mortal pleasures with Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, running Nov. 2 – 4 at Jones Hall. Vocalist Storm Large will portray the main character of Anna in a satirical story of one woman’s travels across seven cities in America in pursuit of the American deem,…
Your Halloween Costume Might Need to Include an Umbrella
Halloween in Houston is always a crap shoot. The record high on October 31 is 88 degrees (that happened four times) and the record low is a frigid 29 back in 1993. In 2015, we got over five inches of rain while others have been bone dry. Ideally, when trick…
Seven Houston Sandwiches You Gotta Try for National Sandwich Day
All year, I’ve been writing about Houston’s Best Sandwiches. I’ve been eating sandwiches like there is no tomorrow, all for you, my dear readers. There have been a LOT of good sandwiches make the list. We have a lot of great food in Houston and what’s not to love about…
Find Bliss With These Flavorful Recipes for Cooking With Cannabis
While food world insiders are all abuzz about cooking with pandan, timut pepper, berbere and the memory enhancing nootropics, the editors of MUNCHIES have been fine-tuning the 1,000-year-old practice of weed consumption. According to Rupa Bhattacharya, MUNCHIES Editor-in-Chief and one of the collaborative editors for the new book Bong Appétit: Mastering the Art of Cooking…
Perfect Pairings: Tinys Cookie Dough To Go and The Best Milk In All The Land
With cookie season upon us, Tinys Milk & Cookies and Kalona SuperNatural Organic Whole Milk make it easy to be a hero in your home. Crispy on the bottom, warm chocolate chunks in the center; Tinys’ box of ready-to-bake cookies is a breeze from start to finish. Kalona SuperNatural, the…
Houston Texans 2018 Midseason Report Card
Before the season, in this space and many other spaces, both written and auditory, I predicted a 10-6 season for the Texans in which they regain their title in the AFC South. So, mathematically, I’m looking pretty good at the season’s halfway point. The Texans are 5-3, and they’re leading…
Houston’s Kathryn Hallberg Makes “Lightning” After Six Years Gone
Kathryn Hallberg is one of Houston’s best singer-songwriters. It’s been six years since she released her EP Nocturnal, and I figured that she’d hung up her guitar for good. Then out of the blue, I got a note from her that she’d released a new song, “Lightning.” It’s the harbinger…
Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith Talks Dedicated Fans and Dirty Dishes
No matter the city they inhabit, fans of a band like to believe they’re the band’s favorites, the most beloved from other crowds just like them world-over. The things the band Dawes has said about or done in Houston might give local followers the impression we have a special relationship,…
Houston Texans Trade Deadline Guide — Four Burning Questions
If there is one underrated development in the NFL over the last couple years, for roster-contract-transaction nerds like me, it’s this new wave of thinking that in-season trades are not only acceptable, but encouraged. Through the years, the NBA and MLB have made their trade deadlines a happening, while the…
By This Point, Johnny English Movies Pretty Much Are Bond Films
Called back into active duty after a cyberattack reveals the identities of all current MI7 agents, the decidedly out-of-date English uses his old-school knowledge to track down Volta and unplug him from the world’s power grid
When Joel Met Jonah: MST3K Generations Collide with 30th Anniversary Live Show
“The Brain is an adorable Canadian horror movie with a flesh eating brain in it. He doesn’t so much eat flesh as he does gobble them down whole. I think it’s a brain – he looks more like a mad ball.”
Pinwheels Keep on Turning in Discovery Green’s Interactive Light Show, “GUST”
The artists at Cocolab have climbed a pyramid at Teotihuacan (draping it in a Mesoamerican light show), built scale models of more than 50 of the world’s historical monuments (Rome’s Colosseum dwarfed London’s Buckingham Palace) and christened the opening of Mexico City’s 50-story BBVA Bancomer Tower with an audiovisual and pyrotechnic light show…
A Tour Through Chinatown’s Dun Huang Plaza
There are a handful of special places in this city that make you stop and ask yourself: “Am I still in Texas?” Dun Huang Plaza is one of those places. The booming shopping center at the intersection of Sam Houston Tollway and Bellaire has become the hottest place in town…
Gary Lewis is Still a Playboy
It’s fairly unusual for a band to hit No. 1 on the charts with their very first single – and especially considering they had never even gone on a tour before. But that’s exactly what happened in February 1965 when the debut by Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the tale…
Melissa McCarthy’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? Lets Fascinating Forger Off the Hook
The more prickly and belligerent Israel becomes — and McCarthy never burdens her with likability — the more Holofcener and Whitty soften her choices with extenuating circumstances, imbuing their subject with a zeal for artistic purity at odds with her actions
Weather Week: More Beautiful, Warm Weather with a Front on the Way
This past weekend may have been the nicest weather we’ve experienced in Houston since spring. With highs hovering around 80 and lows dipping into the 50s combining with blue skies and a light breeze, if you weren’t outside, you must have been sick or have an aversion to sunshine. For…
Sabrina is Great, But…
I’ve been watching The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix every chance I get. Since we didn’t get Stranger Things Season 3 this Halloween it serves as a nice spooky substitute. I loved the Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa re-imagining of the teenage witch that is the primary source of the new show,…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Halloween Tricks and Treats
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long (November) Sip and Shuck at The General Public The General Public, 797 Sorella, is celebrating the arrival of fall by offering an oyster and champagne special. Guests can indulge in six freshly shucked Prince Edward Island oysters paired…
Pumpkin Spice Latte—Try These Instead Houston
While it would be great to blow up the Pumpkin Spice Latte— turns out they’re actually quite delicious. Regardless, here are a few creative PSL alternatives that can be found around our awesome coffee circuit in HTX. Note: Houstonians love coffee, and because most shops are proud of the beans…
Survivor: College Football Playoff Edition, Version 5.0
With each passing week, we are seeing at least a couple schools having their complete hopes and dreams dashed by a regular season loss before the month of November arrives. And you know what? I LOVE that about the current system! A four-team playoff is the absolute best, because not…
Incredible AstroWorld Memorabilia Possibly Coming Up for Sale
When AstroWorld closed down in 2005 to the dismay of all Houstonians, Maria Mendeles bought up a ton (literally) of fixtures and merchandise from the theme park. For years it’s sat in various warehouses, but it looks like the Emiliano’s owner might actually be looking to sell off some of…
Judy Collins & Stephen Stills Rekindle Relationship of the Musical Kind
As musician couplings go, the romantic tenure of singer/songwriters Stephen Stills and Judy Collins was fairly brief – less than two years in the late ‘60s, as both of their careers were in sharp ascension. She as a folksinger and he about to launch Crosby, Stills and Nash. Though their…
Houstonians Strike Gold At Tacolandia— Again
As the clock struck 4 p.m. the bulls were released into the breezy Water Works event space at Buffalo Bayou Park. It felt exactly like the streets of Spain, except there were several bulls, all holding paper trays, and running to get out of the way were thousands of helpless…
Guitars, Raps and a Sell-Out Crowd: Another Lovely BuzzFest is in the Books
BuzzFest 2018 The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion October 27, 2K18 It’s a little funny that festivals with bigger buzz — think Something Wicked, Middlelands and Day for Night — make a big splash only to disappear after a few outings while somehow BuzzFest continues to roll on year after year…
Last Night: Roy Orbison Hologram More Cool Than Creepy
In Dreams: Roy Orbison in Concert – The Hologram Tour features an amazing visual effect.
Ease on Down to The Wiz, A Campy Spectacle at TUTS
Theatre Under the Stars presents The Wiz, William F. Brown and Charlie Smalls’s re-imagined version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
NFL Week 8: Texans 42, Dolphins 23 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
It says something about just how storyline-laden Thursday night’s Houston Texans 42-23 win over the Miami Dolphins was when you consider that the return of Brock Osweiler, arguably the least popular player in the history of the franchise, was about the fourth or fifth item people wanted to talk about…
Openings and Closings: The Rustic Rolls In, Raffa’s Reopens
The Rustic, 1836 Polk, will celebrate its grand opening November 1 with an invitation-only VIP party early in the evening and a performance by country artist Pat Green. The restaurant/bar/music venue will open at 10 o’clock that night to the public, so if you’re out on the town, you might…
Rockets Appear All In on Deal for Butler
In 2015 after only 11 games, the Rockets fired coach Kevin McHale. On Valentine’s Day in 1995, fresh off the city’s first championship, the team traded Otis Thorpe for Clyde Drexler. Robert Horry and Sam Cassell were shipped to Phoenix for Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen was signed as a…
Keira Knightley’s Colette Storms Paris and All the Rules of Sexuality
As her marriage opens up, and Colette begins to take lovers of her own, Knightley summons up a moving sense of both relief and recklessness
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Get Unlimited Tacos at Tacolandia
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Chef Series and Fall Festival at Urban Harvest Farmers Market Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon 2752 Buffalo Urban Harvest is launching a quarterly Chef Series at its Saturday Farmers Market, beginning this weekend. Chef Olivier Ciesielski from Avondale Food & Wine…
Do-Over Cinema: 1984’s C.H.U.D. Taught Us All To Trust The Government Again
The usual excuses that the cover-up is in the name of “public safety” ring kind of hollow in NYC, however. This is, after all, the city that faced off against King Kong, the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (another by-product of nuclear shenanigans), and Billy Martin.
5 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: AfriFEST, Booze and Return of No-Tsu-Oh
Feeling festive? Well so are those zany actors over at 4th Wall Theatre Company. Mix, mingle and witness the drama up close and personal at their cocktail shindig this Friday. But that’s not the only “spirited” fun to be had this weekend: the irreverent Montrose Crawl is back, Heritage Society…
Holograms — Like Roy Orbison — are the Shape of Concerts to Come
I only think of Roy Orbison in black and white. I know I’ve seen video of him in color, but when he comes up, I imagine him behind a microphone, playing his guitar, in the black and white era that seems impossibly far away even though it really isn’t. Orbison…
NFL Week 8: Dolphins-Texans — Four Things To Watch For
A month ago, the Texans were picking up the pieces from a third straight loss to start the season. Not just any ol’ loss, either. It was a loss to the New York Giants, a team that is selling off its players like spare parts this week, and whose only…
On the Comedy Diamond, Jay Larson is Hitting for the Cycle
Jay Larson has lots to discuss ahead of his show here Saturday night at The Secret Group. He’s saying goodbye to a beloved podcast and hello to a new one. His stand-up special, Me Being Me, is available for purchase on his website. He’s got a role in the recently…
College Football, Week 9 and NFL, Week 8 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
Last week, we followed up our first undefeated week of the season with a thoroughly average and unremarkable 3-3 week, which included a couple of my worst handicaps of the year (Memphis +10.5 against Mizzou, 49ers +11 against the Rams… yuck.) So this week, we try to get back to…
Chalamet, Carell Face Cycles of Addiction in Tender Beautiful Boy
For Nic and his family, rehab becomes sobriety becomes relapse, a pitiless cycle of hope and disappointment too many of us will experience at one time or another, either as addict or loved one
Rockets Struggle with Injuries, Chemistry Early in the Season
The Rockets fell 100-89 to Utah on Wednesday night, by far their worst offensive effort of the season. They were missing Chris Paul to the second game of his suspension for the fight in LA and James Ennis was out with a strained hamstring (more on that in a second),…
Weekend Weather: After Willa, the Sun Returns
Former Hurricane Willa blew through Texas Wednesday night and into Thursday. Areas along the coast were hardest hit with rain and some strong thunderstorms dropping 2-3 inches of rain. Most of the rest of the Houston area got between half an inch and an inch. But by early Thursday morning,…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Oysters, Brews & Blues
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: On Thursday, November 1 from 6:30 to 9 p.m., Goode Co. Armadillo Palace, 5015 Kirby, is celebrating the return of oyster season with its Oysters, Brews & Blues event. The Gulf Coast collaboration will benefit the…
Ready, Set, Shop! Nutcracker Market Has All the Gifts You Want and Need
Well, maybe you don’t need a Christmas ornament in the shape of a toilet and plunger, but that was one of the hottest ornaments flying off the shelves at last year’s Ornament Barre, one of the booths at the shopping paradise Houston Ballet Nutcracker Market. And perhaps the perfect gift for…
Cocktail Therapy: Lacy Williams Of Might As Well Lounge And Boozenasium
“Bar ghosts are the best because they just want to hang out.” Lacy Williams would certainly know having bartended nine years at Houston’s most haunted bar, Warren’s Inn. A man’s voice, chairs moving, glassware flying; lifelong regulars just trying to get a little attention. “It felt like that patron that…
Who Knew the ’80s Pop Scene is Thriving in Houston?
It’s a Thursday night in 2014. Downstairs at Fitzgerald’s, electro-pop trio BLSHS removes all vowels from their name and replaces them with an electrifying set filled with 808 drums, dark synthesizers, and keytar-playing, hair-flipping lead singer Michelle Miears. A short year later at Day for Night’s 2015 inaugural outing, Children…
Houston Cinema Arts Festival Dives Into Next Gen Filmmaking With VR
Walk into a room, sit in a chair, don an Oculus headset and bam: you’re in the back seat of a car driven by the parents of a gay man who has died. Part video game, part short film, Queerskins: a love story is a 15-minute virtual reality experience where…
Despite Its History, Fidlar Didn’t Shy Away From Alcohol and Drugs in its Songs Last Night at White Oak
Fidlar White Oak Music Hall October 23, 2018 Storming the Los Angeles rock scene in 2011 with their aggression-fueled brand of “skate punk,” Fidlar wasted little time in solidifying a reputation for must-see live shows, a hedonistic party-centric lifestyle, and a wildly devoted following of rabid, angst-ridden kids that seem…
Spoilers And Slightness Lessen The Impact Of The Visit
“We run from grief because loss scares us, yet our hearts reach toward grief because the broken parts want to mend.” The ever-insightful University of Houston research professor/best seller/TED talk Phenom/Oprah bestie Brené Brown sure knows how to present our emotions to us in clear, digestible aha-moment packages. Her messages…
Houstonian Buys Castle, Casks Of Rare Whiskey— Now His Family Brand Makes Irish Single Malt On The Market
Fifty years ago, Houston oilman and Assistant Secretary to the Navy, Mark Edwin Andrews bought an Irish castle with his architect wife; they brought it back to life. Along with the collector’s item real estate, rare barrels of triple distilled Irish whiskey were also available for sale; he bought those…
A Bold New Suspiria Stands Alongside the Original — but Next Time Let a Woman Direct
There are some evergreen horror concepts, where the bare bones of the story are strong enough that they can be adapted and made over in multiple generations to express whatever fears and frustrations of the times in which they’re made
The 4th Annual Houston Press Tacolandia Returns to Buffalo Bayou
It’s that time of year again, folks. The leaves are green, the temperatures are falling to a bone chilling 75 degrees, and pumpkin spiced everything is everywhere. It’s officially fall in the Bayou City and we all know what that means, it’s time for the 4th annual Tacolandia festival. On…
Perfect Pairings: Nirav Sweet Lemon Pickle, Amul Ghee, and Toast from Pondicheri Bake Lab + Shop
If you want to feel like Maria-doing-spins-on-the-mountain during breakfast, than this toast, butter, jam combo is a good bet. For toast, sub the whole wheat sesame seed loaf from Pondicheri Bake Lab + Shop, 2800 Kirby, Suite 240 (available by pre-order); for butter, Amul Ghee; and for jam, the Nirav brand…
Houston Concert Watch 10/24: Buzzfest, Freaky Deaky and More
While not everyone is on board with the gloomy weather we’ve had recently, I’m loving it. With the fall festival season well under way, the last thing I want to get right now is a sunburn. If you’re spending the day at one of the big outdoor events happening this…
Survivor: College Football Playoff Edition, Version 4.0
Its funny, every year at about this time, there are four or five remaining undefeated teams in college football, and every year, we hear analysis that basically centers around the possibility of all those teams remaining undefeated. “Who will get left out of the College Football Playoff, if these five…
Halloween ComicFest Brings Free Books and a Costume Contest to Houston
Welcome to Riverdale where Jughead is a werewolf, Reggie has fallen victim, and Betty is a werewolf hunter. This ain’t your grandpa’s comic book, and you can pick up a free copy of Jughead The Hunger #1 at participating stores during Halloween ComicFest on October 27. Organizers also have announced…
Pork Belly Burnt Ends, Brisket Tamales and Branzino: An Uchi Houston and Killen’s BBQ Collaboration Dinner
Last night, Killen’s BBQ’s famous pork belly burnt ends made an appearance at Uchi Houston. The second course of a special one night-only collaboration dinner between the two restaurants, for many — including three patrons sitting just to my left at the communal dining table setting — it was the…
Rock-Climbing Doc Free Solo Thrills and Terrifies
The filmmakers capture Honnold’s 2016 and 2017 attempts to complete the first “free solo” climb of these granite cliffs, and the suspense is thrilling, agonizing, perhaps indecent
Puccini’s Genius Shines in La boheme Returning to the Wortham With Passion to Spare
An important point not to overlook in Puccini’s La bohème, the four-act story of a group of starving artists in Paris, according to Italian tenor Ivan Magrì is that these young people have decided to live in poverty, seeing it as part and parcel of the artistic experience. Of course that same…
Kanaloa Is Mixing Up Mini Vacations at Market Square Park
Tyler Barrera is prepping for his second grand opening in less than a year. The 26-year-old bartender turned bar owner just opened Kanaloa, at 311 Travis, the latest craft cocktail bar and first tiki bar in the trendy two block radius around Market Square Park. After a month-long soft opening…
Martin Amis’ London Fields Is Now a Movie Crafted to Make You Hate Martin Amis’ London Fields
Finally onscreen after years of legal disputes, Mathew Cullen’s calamitous film adaptation plays like my friend’s hazy recollection of the book, an incomprehensible jumble of misogynistic claptrap
An “Amped-Up” Production of The Phantom of The Opera Comes to the Hobby Center
The Phantom of the Opera returns to Houston once again, this time in a new production by Cameron Macintosh but with the same Andrew Lloyd Webber classic music. Eva Tavares will be singing the role of Christine, the beautiful orphan who has transitioned from her role as a dancer in…
Zapruder Analysis Of Texans Fan Getting Sucker Punched By Jags Fan
There was a time, a few years ago, when my girlfriend Amy and I used to travel to a couple Texans road games each year. The venues we visited ranged from docile (San Diego) to frigid (Chicago) to intimidating (New England) to downright scary mean (San Francisco). Even in the…
Houston Astros Free Agency 2019: Who Returns and Who Is Gone?
Articles like these are being written about two weeks earlier than any of us anticipated or hoped for heading into the 2018 MLB Postseason. In a perfect world, the Houston Astros would be closing out either the Dodgers or the Brewers in the World Series a week or so from…
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Who He Is: Roger Daltrey’s Life of Leather Lungs [UPDATED]
Thanks a Lot Mr. Kibblewhite: My Story By Roger Daltrey 259 pp. $30 Henry Holt In the realm of the Who, it often seemed like lead singer Roger Daltrey was the only adult in the room for much of their bombastic career. Despite a penchant back in the day for…
Houston’s Best Sandwich: Rotisserie Chicken at Rhotey Rotisserie
The Rotisserie Chicken sandwich at Rhotey Rotisserie is perfectly balanced, rich and absolutely delicious. We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
Explore Ghostly Galveston with Tours of Cemeteries, Ships and Victorian Homes
October is that eerie time of year when ghost hunters, paranormal experts and fans of the macabre pack up their EMF meters, night vision cameras and audio recorders and head down I-45 towards Galveston. Haunted Mayfield Manor is open year-round; the attraction was built in the same 1867 building that…
The Sisters Brothers Upends the Masculine Codes of the Western
Ultimately a story about brotherhood, friendship and the insecurity of life in a violent place, the film injects a sweetness and innocence into the genre, mostly through one stellar performance by John C. Reilly
10 Good and Bad Things About the Houston Arcade Expo
The annual Houston Arcade Expo this past weekend was just delightful. It’s a chance to celebrate the long history of gaming in a tactile, hands-on setting. I took the family there on Saturday and had a wonderful time. I’ll definitely be going back next year. Let’s look at the things…
Hidden Spots Around the Bay That Will Help You Keep Your Fitness Goals
The cooler weather has reached Houston and people are already daydreaming about the delicious holiday treats to come. This time of year is one of the toughest times to stay on-track with a healthy diet. But with a little assistance from passionate health enthusiasts who love helping people reach their…
Rockets Fight LA, Leave with Split Decision
Sparks always seem to fly in the Staples Center, and we’re not talking about the Lakers WNBA counterpart. Last season, there was the infamous tunnel incident where Rockets players allegedly tried to enter the locker room of the Clippers after a game in LA. This year, it was the same…
Weather Week: Another Cold, Rainy Week Ahead Houston
Did you enjoy Sunday? If you slept through it, too bad. It was glorious, the first really beautiful day of autumn in Houston. Unfortunately, the one day of sun is about all we’ll get as rain returns to the forecast this week and the cold weather sticks around. There may…
NFL Week 7: Texans 20, Jaguars 7 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
For the last three weeks, the Houston Texans have been winning football games, three in a row, but they’ve come with caveats. Against the Colts, it was Frank Reich’s going for it on a risky fourth down in his own territory in overtime that opened the door for a Texans…
Doctor Who: “Rosa” Is the Episode We Need Right Now
When it was announced that Doctor Who would be traveling back to 1955 Montgomery, Alabama to meet Rosa Parks, there was cause for concern. Would the interventionist nature of the show remove the agency of the legendary civil rights activist in the name of a good story? Would the racism…
Don’t Be a Jerk to Kids from Other Neighborhoods Trick ‘r Treating
I ran across this sign on Facebook the other day. It’s been making the rounds since last year, though no one seems to know the original source. It’s possible that it’s a hoax, but the sentiment that children shouldn’t be allowed to cross neighborhoods to trick ‘r treat is pretty…
Fall in Love With West African Fabrics at 2018’s Quilt Festival Houston
It’s easy to see why artist and teacher Hollis Chatelain fell in love with the colorful fabrics she discovered during her 12 years working with humanitarian organizations in West Africa. The repeating prints of spirals, geometrics, flora and fauna, all rendered in bright, happy colors, are enough to put a…
This Week in Houston Food Events: $2 Pizza Night and Tacolandia
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, October 22 $2 Pizza Night at Cane Rosso Montrose In celebration of its two year anniversary at the Montrose location, Cane Rosso, 4306 Yoakum, will be slinging $2 marinara pizzas, $2 margherita pizzas and $2 focaccia bread appetizers (plus 3…
How Stax Records Merged the Music and the Message in 1968
As both the history books and an endless stream of 50th anniversary documentaries have taught us, 1968 was an Especially Important Year in the United States. It was a time of particular upheaval with civil rights and jobs issues, the Vietnam was spiraling out of control and sparking protests, sharp…
HGO’s The Flying Dutchman Shows Off Its Soloists, Orchestra and Chorus
How grand it is to have Houston Grand Opera back where it belongs – in its own home, that glorious aural cocoon that is the Wortham Theater. It’s been an entire year since Hurricane Harvey devastated the downtown theater, and while we applaud HGO’s pluck and ingenuity in carving out…
Shooter Jennings Played Some Great, Boundary-Pushing Music at The Heights Theater Last Night
Shooter Jennings The Heights Theater October 18, 2018 Given his well-known pedigree of being the only son of country mammoths Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, it was almost predetermined that Shooter Jennings would find himself wrapped up in the music business. However, rather than coast through the Nashville machine on…
Robert de Niro, Nobu Matsuhisa and Friends Host Nobu Houston Inaugural Sake Ceremony
It was just after 7o’clock last night when celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa, one of the most famous Japanese chefs in the world, and the man behind the worldwide chain of Nobu Restaurants, took the stage at Nobu Houston in the Galleria. “We are here tonight because this is number 39,”…
The Houston Press attempts the “Wine and Eggs” Diet From 1977 Vogue Magazine
If I was going to throw up before service got busy, now was the time. With only three women in the restaurant, all in the beginning stages of enjoying their meal, it was either now or the parking lot, and a cardboard produce box isn’t as glamorous as a restroom…
Astros Eliminated 4-1 in the ALCS: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
We have an entire winter to dissect what happened in the American League Championship Series and figure out what the Astros will do with a longer offseason than they had last year. We will, no doubt, spend plenty of time grousing over the poor performance by umpires that led to…
In The Wife, Glenn Close Has Had It Up to Here Standing in the Shadow of Jonathan Pryce
This is a portrait of a decades-long partnership coming to a head but also of the American literary community reckoning with what so many know to be true: Women are still not seen as “serious” writers or contenders for major prizes
The Future of Adventure Games: 5 Suggestions
Telltale Games has been raked across the coals since they announced their shutdown thanks to their terrible (and sadly, not unusual) practices regarding their employees. Long hours, no severance pay and the perennial culling of talent after each title ships have earned them well-deserved ire. Underneath all that, though, is…
NFL Week 7: Texans-Jaguars — Four Things To Watch For
Two weeks into the 2018 season, the Houston Texans were licking their wounds from an inexcusable 20-17 loss to a depleted Tennessee Titans squad, and the Jacksonville Jaguars were strutting and cutting after thumping the New England Patriots by double digits. Put simply, the Texans were 0-2, and the Jaguars…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Brats and Biers at King’s Oktoberfest
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: King’s Oktoberfest at King’s BierHaus Friday through Sunday 2044 East T C Jester King’s Oktoberfest is coming to a close at King’s BierHaus this weekend. Party goers can partake in fun events like the Bavarian Strongman Competition, Oktoberfest photobooths, a beer…
5 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: Big Trucks, Naughty Hotties and a Bar Crawl
If you think you’ve spotted a Kevin Hart lookalike in the bars and clubs this weekend, it might not be a doppelgänger. The most famous stand-up comedian in the world is in town for a two night run of his Irresponsible Tour. The tour’s title might be a reference to last year’s…
Openings and Closings: SING Debuts, Bonjour Bisou
SING, 718 West 18th, will celebrate its grand opening on October 22. The new Asian fusion restaurant comes from the team of chef and food writer, Cuc Lam and restaurateur, Jerry Lasco of Lasco Enterprises. Lasco is best known for Max’s Wine Dive and The Tasting Room. Lam was formerly…
How About a Holographic Pop Star For The Next Version of A Star is Born
The movie and music worlds are buzzing over the latest iteration of A Star is Born. This one stars Bradley Cooper, a fine and versatile actor, and Lady Gaga, who has proven to be an all-around entertainment threat – brilliant on record, electrifying in concert and award-winning as an actress…
Rockets Lose to Pelicans, Have Lots of Work to Do
The New Orleans Pelicans are going to be good, but not 131-112 good, which is exactly what they put on the hometown Rockets in the first game of the season Wednesday night. Calls from pundits suggested the losses the Rockets had in the offseason would make them a worse defensive…
Houston ISD Trustees Make It Official and Put Grenita Lathan Back in Charge
As expected, Houston ISD trustees officially and unanimously took back their hiring of former Superintendent Abe Saavedra and demotion of Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan at a special 8 a.m. meeting today. A couple of the trustees couldn’t resist getting a few last licks. Elizabeth Santos read from a speech she’d…
Exploring Amigo the Devil’s Dark Library
Danny Kiranos, the musician who performs as Amigo the Devil, says he is an avid reader. He loves books but he’s interested in more than dust-covered tomes. He reads people, too and he’s interested in those whose chapters are filled with challenging and frightening moments. Reading them has made Kiranos…
TUTS Eases on Down the Road With a New Production of The Wiz
It is a retelling of a classic story, set in modern African-American culture that for many people is as important as its origin material. It’s Dorothy and Toto and Auntie Em and a Kansas twister that sets a young girl off on a great adventure in which she finds herself…
Is Beer or Laughter the Best Medicine? Try Both, Says Dr. Anna Lepeley
Dr. Anna Lepeley has a message to deliver and no matter where she goes to deliver it, the message remains the same and is almost always welcomed: beer is good for you. This Friday, the Florida-based lecturer and comedian is delivering the message to beer-drinkers and health nuts at Vollie…
Robert Redford Twinkles as The Old Man & the Gun’s Career Crook
Each beat of this plays out with exquisite delicacy, as does the exchange where the crook lays out, with exacting detail, how he’d rob this diner if it were a bank — and then takes it all back, letting her think he was joking
Weather Weekend: Light at the End of a Long, Gloomy Tunnel
For fans of the Pacific northwest, this week must have seemed fantastic. With overcast, dreary, cold days, it did feel quite a bit more like Portland or Seattle than Houston. As we head into the weekend, the rainy part of the forecast probably won’t change much, though it will be…
Astros Robbed on Controversial Call, Down 1-3 in ALCS
It will undoubtedly be one of the most talked about calls in the history of the Houston Astros. The name Joe West will quickly rise through the ranks as one of the most hated among Houston baseball fans. And, given the razor-thin margin of the game four loss for the…
Meet Master of Horror Mick Garris At Horrorthon 4 This Sunday
Can you pass up a chance to see Critters 2 on the big screen? I think not.
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Wine and Dine at Carmelo’s Cucina Italiana
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Carmelo’s Cucina Italiana, 14795 Memorial, has launched a trio of new specials in response to the on-going construction on Memorial and in the Energy Corridor area along with the restaurant’s renovations. Guests can enjoy the three-course…
Cocktail Therapy: Jose Miguel of The Original Ninfa’s on Navigation
Jose Miguel was ten years old when his sister came home to Etla, Oaxaca and brought him a shirt with a strange emblem on the breast pocket. A colorful macaw, with the word “Ninfa’s” spelled across. “Funny story,” he remembers the moment now at 33, dressed in a fitted navy…
College Football, Week 8 and NFL, Week 7 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
After going 2-4 a week ago, and bringing my overall record for the season precariously close to .500, we finally got that elusive perfect week this past weekend. 6-0! The underdogs ruled the day, as Iowa State (+6.5 over West Virginia), Oregon (+3 over Washington), and LSU (+7.5 over Georgia)…
Artist Draws a Line in the Sand at IAH Against Human Trafficking
When people and individuals start being described as “other” or “them,” that’s when artist/activist Molly Gochman steps up to the plate with her massive trenches — about three feet wide and hundreds of feet long — filled with red sand in the shape of international borders. “When you think of…
HGO’s The Flying Dutchman Begins Friday at the Restored Wortham Center
The Houston Grand Opera returns to the Wortham this week after more than a year’s absence due to Hurricane Harvey floodwaters, opening its season with a new production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. Wagner’s version of the story of a ship captain doomed to wander the seas on a ghost…
The Hate U Give Gives Powerful Voice to a Young Woman’s Outrage
The Hate U Give takes time to focus on the nuances of Starr’s life, on the ways Williamson has split her consciousness, on the effort of code-switching, on the layers of self that Starr must sort through in everyday interactions
Astros in Trouble Down 1-2 in ALCS Against Boston
All of last postseason Astros manager A.J. Hinch dealt with a less than ideal bullpen situation. Scraping by on recycled starters and questionable relievers, he helped lead the Astros through a complex postseason to their first ever World Series championship. On Tuesday night, with one of the league’s best bullpens…
Houston Concert Watch 10/17: Symphonic Prince, 88Rising and More
Not every week can be packed with living legends and current megastars, but that doesn’t mean these lower key weeks are anything to be upset about. In fact, this week, in particular, should prove to contain some rather interesting experiences you aren’t likely to find elsewhere, and you should embrace…
Top Illustrator Pokes Bear With Satirical Works at Russian Cultural Center
It’s been a little more than 100 years since Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Red Guards stormed Petrograd, an uprising that led to the execution of the abdicated Tsar Nicholas and the Romanov family and paved the way for five years of Russian Civil War and the creation of the…
Contrary to Popular Opinion, the Rockets Will Be Good Defensively This Season
The popular narrative especially among national writers is that the Rockets have taken a step back this season. The reasoning is simple. While the Rockets may have been an injury away from the NBA Finals, they lost key members of the team that made them the sixth best defensive squad…
Why Are Some Calling Old Town Spring the “Sixth Most Haunted Town”?
With centuries of history and no shortage of tragic events, including the Great Storm of 1900, Galveston has a lock on being the ghost capital of Texas. But this side of the Mississippi we’re also hearing reports of hauntings coming out of Old Town Spring, a historic town with Victorian-style…
Ace of Cups Deliver Their Debut Record…50 Years Later
Here’s a quick challenge: Discounting the mostly-singing girl groups of the ‘60s, name an all-female rock band. Go! Most people will cite the Bangles or Go-Go’s. Or maybe the Runaways. Music nerds might even pull out Fanny or the Shaggs. But pre-dating them all was the five-member Ace of Cups,…
Perfect Pairings: MSG and Potstickers from 99 Ranch Market
The next morning, like a zombie, I crawled out of bed, grabbed a fork, and began finishing off what remained in the jar of Spicy Chili Crisp and the last of the potstickers. Seriously, what the hell did they put in this stuff? Moments later while reading the ingredients— oh,…
Survivor: College Football Playoff Edition, Version 3.0
As college football Saturdays go, this past week was set up perfectly for a shakedown and weeding out of pretenders and contenders in the top ten of the sport’s rankings. Three of the top seven teams were on the road as favorites against either ranked or spunky unranked (what’s up,…
Jonah Hill’s Mid90s Takes an Honest Plunge Into the Millennial Past
The depictions of drug and alcohol use, sex (Stevie getting it on with an older girl) and violence (both self-inflicted and by others) are difficult to watch, as Hill brings a fly-on-the-wall candor to his depiction of youth and the film’s era
HISD Trustees Perform a Mass Mea Culpa, Apologize and Welcome Back Grenita Lathan
With pledges of transparency, with acknowledgement they have let down the community, and with vows to do better, the nine members of the Houston ISD school board lined up Monday night to announce that they are reinstating Dr. Grenita Lathan as interim superintendent. “As we move forward we cannot change…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Cubano at Flor de Cuba
The Cubano at Flor de Cuba is like a classic cubano served on delicate garlic bread. We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
10 Acoustic Goth Concerts Houston Needs
If you ask me, the monthly Thorn and Moon events at Avant Garden are the new home of Houston goth. If you haven’t been, it’s a mostly outdoor event that caters to pagans, artists and goth DJs that takes place the first Friday of every month down the street from…
Emmy-Nominated Comedy Writer Neal Brennan Isn’t Hiding Behind-The-Scenes Anymore
“Stand-up is the absolute hardest because you get NO help. You have to have the idea, you have to have the cap, you have to do everything by yourself, every step of logic. You can go to NYU film school, but you can’t go to NYU joke writing school!”
Between Two Caves Shows Tenderness and Humor With Conspiracy Theory Believers
Let’s talk about what we don’t get a lot of in the Houston theater scene. Premieres of local playwrights. Shows set in, and about, our city. Site-specific theater. Purposefully intimate/small audience productions. Shows that embrace racial and sexual diversity not as badges of honor, but as simple and not always…
Jamie Lee Curtis Rules, but the New Halloween Works Against Her
We meet Laurie in her super-sealed woodsy compound, almost 40 years to the day after the murders that took place in 1978 — this film negates all the previous Halloween sequels
NFL, Week 6: Texans 20, Bills 13 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
I guess this is just how it’s going to be all season for the Houston Texans, for their fans, and for anybody looking to avoid a heart attack at a sporting event. To that end, the Texans need to start attaching a warning label to the game programs that these…
Last Night: Bob Dylan at the Smart Financial Centre
BOB DYLAN & BAND AT THE SMART FINANCIAL CENTRE OCTOBER 14, 2018 First off, there are a few things that the audience member – or reviewer – needs to know about a Bob Dylan show in 2018. That the set list will not be an easy audience-pleasing greatest hits rundown…
Weather Week: Get Your Sweaters Out of Summer Storage
Walking around outside on Sunday was a confusing experience. On one hand, the skies were a brilliant blue and there was a brisk breeze that, while in the shade, felt almost pleasant. On the other, the minute you walked into the sun, you immediately forgot it was mid-October. With temperatures…
Astros Split Trip to Boston, Head Home Tied 1-1 in ALCS
Starting any series on the road means it only takes one win to swing home field advantage back in your directions. The Astros needed a split in Boston to accomplish that and they got it taking the first of two games against the Red Sox, and now head back to…
It Appears HISD’s Decision is No Longer Operative and We’re in the Middle of a Do-Over on Interim Superintendent
Later today, on the very day that former Superintendent Abe Saavedra was to take over the reins once again of the Houston ISD, trustees are expected to take back their decision on demoting Grenita Lathan as interim superintendent and replacing her with Saavedra. A 5 p.m. press conference has been…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Seasonal Specials, Including One for the Astros
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Astros Specials Houston Astros Homerun Sandwich at Kenny & Ziggy’s Kenny & Ziggy’s, 2327 Post Oak, 5172 Buffalo Speedway, is returning with its World Series-winning Houston Astros Homerun Sandwich. Working its way around all bases, the sandwich has Kosher salami as…
Honor Deceased Family and Friends With Dia de los Muertos in Houston
The best way to honor loved ones who have died is by keeping their memories alive. We’re approaching that time of year when it’s believed that the heavens open up and the spirits are allowed to come down to visit family and friends on earth. It does take some prompting, which is…
Damien Chazelle’s First Man Tracks the Small Steps Behind That Giant Leap
A tense, terse drama that plunges us headlong and handheld into the high-risk world of the space race in the 1960s, the film spares few moments for reflection or reverie
Interview: Ace Frehley On New Solo Album, Possible KISS Reunion
We talked to original KISS lead guitarist, Ace Frehley about his new solo album and a possible KISS reunion.
Lily Allen Swings Into H-town (Sans Trapeze)
Lily Allen House of Blues October 13, 2018 Last night, Lily Allen seemed pretty thrilled to be in Houston, or “H-town” as she correctly referred to this locale. She was literally glowing (okay, it was just her neon bright, glow-in-the-dark eye shadow). She was in the friendly and familiar confines…
A Minimalist Arctic Monkeys Entertains at Revention Center
Arctic Monkeys Revention Music Center October 12, 2018 The Arctic Monkeys won’t overwhelm you with their live performance. That’s not to say they’ll underwhelm you either. You’ll probably leave perfectly content with what you saw and heard. It’s even more likely that you’ll find yourself humming the band’s incredibly catchy…
Here’s What Happened When the James Beard Foundation Celebrity Chef Tour Came to Houston
The James Beard Foundation blew into town on Thursday evening as part of its Celebrity Chef Tour series, which brings the foundation’s famous Beard House dinners in New York City to more than 20 cities across the country each year. Thursday’s dinner, hosted by chef Jon Buchanan at Third Coast…
Root, Root, Root for the Home Team with these Game Day Astros Specials
From all-day happy hours and game day screenings to Astros-themed sweets and sandwiches, check out these Houston Astros food and drink specials around town: Ambrosia 2003 Lexington Altuve fans with a love of Southeast Asian flavors can head to Ambrosia on game days, when the restaurant will be offering happy…
HISD Trustees Replace Interim Superintendent Amid Charges the Board is Racially Divided
It was ugly to watch and listen to. It was the Houston ISD trustees meeting at their all time dysfunctional worst, with some trustees exploding with heated accusations of duplicity and racism at others. And it was an official acknowledgement by African-American trustees that there is a racial divide between…
Circling Twenty Mondays on the Calendar Once More
At its pinnacle, the Houston alt-pop band Twenty Mondays found itself rubbing elbows with the likes of Julian Lennon, Fleetwood Mac and Wendy and Lisa from Prince’s legendary band, The Revolution. In 1990, the band was signed to Spindletop Records and spent some time in studios inhabited by these artists…
Houston Producer Makes His Mark on Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter V
In a low-key studio space in the center of East Downtown, Steve O Valdez and Raymond A are working on new music while the muffled sounds of a drum lesson fill the building. The space has a certain charm. Perhaps it’s the charm of an independent studio built by a…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: First Man
First Man avoids mythologizing Armstrong and is the most riveting space movie since, uh, Spaceballs.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Eat Up at the Houston Korean and Italian Festivals
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Houston Italian Festival at the University of St. Thomas Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. 3800 Montrose The Italian Cultural & Community Center will host the 40th Houston Italian Festival on the grounds…
Patrick Myers Embodies Freddie Mercury in Killer Queen
Easily one of the most iconic, dynamic, and unique vocalists in the history of rock and roll, Freddie Mercury, fronted Queen for just over two decades until his 1991 AIDS-related death. So it comes as a surprise – even to Patrick Myers – that Patrick Myers has embodied Mercury onstage…
Openings and Closings: Shun Japanese Will Stun, Georgia James Opens
Shun Japanese Kitchen, 2802 S. Shepherd, is expected to open October 16. The new restaurant will offer second-generation Japanese cuisine from chef/owner Naoki Yoshida, who began his culinary career cooking at his family’s Nippon Restaurant in Montrose at the age of 15. Now 33, the same age as Nippon, Yoshida…
5 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: K-Fest, Mutt Struttin’ and Hangar Bash
We’ve got several cultural milestones this weekend in Houston. The Houston Italian Festival turns 40 (read more from our food writers) and the Korean Festival marks its tenth anniversary this year. And while the dogs will be strutting their stuff to save shelter animals, the divas from RuPaul’s Drag Race are…
NFL Week 5: Bills-Texans — Four Things To Watch For
The dark clouds of the Houston Texans’ 0-3 start are pretty much gone now. Thanks to the combination of some grit, some clutch kicking, and some really questionable coaching decisions by the opposition, two overtime wins have the Texans back to 2-3, and the only thing standing in between them…
Three Good Reasons the Rockets Should Not Aggressively Pursue a Deal for Jimmy Butler
The rumors have been swirling for weeks around Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star wing man Jimmy Butler. It has been widely reported Butler wants out of Minnesota and notified the team of his feelings over the summer. His coach (and former Rockets assistant under Jeff Van Gundy) Tom Thibodeau has been reluctant…
Chris Shepherd Opens Georgia James Tonight
Houston restaurateur, chef and all-around wonder-boy, Chris Shepherd, is opening his highly-anticipated steakhouse, Georgia James tonight. Yes, this very evening. The James Beard Award-winning Shepherd opens the new restaurant in the space which formerly housed his flagship restaurant, Underbelly. He closed that restaurant in March, much to the grumblings of…
Fanciful Twelfth Night Prances Across the Alley Stage
William Shakespeare’s mistaken identity rom-com Twelfth Night comes to the Alley.
College Football, Week 7 and NFL, Week 6 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
Well, my 8-2 ATS streak betting college football ended last week. On paper, it ended with a thud, and unfortunately, in gambling, on paper is all that matters. The fact of the matter is that I missed Baylor by 1.5 points (-4.5, won by 3), and lost Vanderbilt by a…
Astros vs. Red Sox ALCS: Four Things to Watch For
In 2017, the Astros and Red Sox met in the American League Division Series. The Astros won in four games thanks to a hot start against ace Chris Sale and home field advantage. This postseason, the stakes are higher as the two teams meet in the ALCS beginning Saturday night…
Alice Cooper is Out on the Road and Feels Better Than Ever
“You’re in Houston? Is it coming toward you at all?,” asks Alice Cooper, on the road, headed toward Charlotte, North Carolina, about Hurricane Michael. The man behind one of rock’s first villains, one of rock’s great boogeymen, wants to know if we’re under any threat. The question is charming, and…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Shake Shack’s Limited-Time Hot Chick’n Returns
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Shake Shack, 5015 Westheimer, 6205 Kirby, has officially re-launched its fan-favorite Hot Chick’n sandwich in all Texas Shacks as a limited-time menu item. The Hot Chick’n is a crispy chicken breast dusted with a guajillo and…
Cocktail Therapy: Katelin Suter of Goodnight Charlie’s
Most bartenders will say the key to thriving in this thread of the Industry is finding balance. For Katelin Suter, balance comes in the form of a wide-range of activities, but along the lines of, “let’s go ride bikes at this alligator park, see if we can see alligators-for fun.” Suter,…
A.D. Players Academy Presents The Barefoot Children in The City of Ward
Violet has entered a new city, one filled with other children who go on great adventures. In fact, the city has only children in it. A young writer, she doesn’t say a lot as she tries to figure out the rules in this new place. And every day they go…
Weather Weekend: Hello, Autumn!
“It seems like years since it’s been here.” – Here Comes the Sun, the Beatles George Harrison may have been singing metaphorically and, in his case, about an end to winter, but in Houston, Texas, it’s all about cooler weather, not warmer. “It’s been a long, hot, lonely summer” is…
Survivor: College Football Playoff Edition, Version 2.0
Let’s rewind to Labor Day weekend, Week 1 of the college football season, and let’s focus on two specific schools. First, we have the University of Texas. That weekend, they were busy gifting Maryland a win for the second straight season, a Maryland team that was in turmoil with an…
Houston Concert Watch 10/10: Bob Dylan, Alice Cooper and More
Could this be the final week of the year where outdoor shows are made less fun by brutal heat? It’s possible that Fall might finally arrive. Until then, enjoy this week’s lineup of Hall of Famers and guys that were in other bands you like. Pick of the Week: Bob…
Houston’s Best Halloween Bar Crawls, Fright Nights, and Tricks or Treats
‘Tis the season to treat yourself to tricks or treats, boos and booze, and plenty of Halloween fun. Get into the Halloween spirit with holiday sweets, special drinks, costume parties, bar crawls and more at these Houston-area restaurants, bars, food trucks and bakeries. Now through October 31 Halloween treats at Ooh La…
Dodging the Big Injury the Most Serious Concern for Rockets
It’s been a popular refrain. All through the summer and into the Rockets preseason, the phrase has been repeated over and over by fans, member of the media and even the team’s owner: just a hamstring away from the Finals. When Chris Paul went down with an injury in the…
Fire, Wild Parties and Rule-Bending Museums Shaped Houston’s Art Scene
Now we’re not saying that James Surls and Bob Graham burned down the University of Houston’s Art and Architecture building in 1978 when sparks from their welding torch went awry, though those who knew the chainsaw-wielding sculptor and his protégé think otherwise. As reported by The Cougar, a lightning strike shorted the…
Perfect Pairings: Mussels, Belgian Fries, Aioli, Duvel at Cafe Brussels
Breaking news— this is the first time we’ve featured a foursome; because every once in a while it’s kind of fun to add a couple. The first sign that Cafe Brussels was worth a pop in was when I pulled on the wooden door at 4:30 to feel the lock…
All You Need to Know About Collecting Music in Whatever Format You Desire
The Ultimate Guide to Vinyl and More: All You Need to Know About Collecting Essential Music, From Cylinders and CDs to LPs and Tapes By Dave Thompson 304 pp. $29.99 Backbeat Books Have you heard? Vinyl is BACK! While it’s not the most surprising record format to have a resurgence…
Texans QB Deshaun Watson Day To Day With Chest Injury
If you’re looking for injury news to significant players in the National Football League, Houston got a lesson on Tuesday morning — follow the smoke from the gambling community. Tuesday morning, bettors had to check and make sure they weren’t still drunk from Sunday night, as several sports books drastically…
Zapruder Analysis of a Knockout Fan Brawl At FSU-Miami
For the life of me, I’ll never understand the concept of fans getting into fights over sporting events, and let’s be honest, there are degrees of absurdity in this behavior. It’s one thing to start a brawl and risk assault charges over perceived disrespect of your professional team, standing up…
In Search of the Most Mundane Thing You Don’t Know About Lily Allen
Lily Allen’s been in the news a lot lately. Competing articles about the pop songstress attempt to out-muscle each other with eye-grabbing headlines about sex with female prostitutes or mile high club encounters with fellow rock stars. Allen, who visits Houston’s House of Blues this Saturday, has openly written about…
Astros Sweep Indians, Head to ALCS — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
The Astros swept the Cleveland Indians 11-2 on Monday afternoon and will face either the Yankees or Red Sox, two teams they beat on their way to a World Series last season, in the American League Championship Series. New York and Boston are locked in a 1-1 tie as the…
First Look at Sweet Bribery
On humid nights, condensation may fog the front doors of Sweet Bribery, lending an air of time-traveling mystique as you step into the modernized throwback to a retro ice cream parlor. The new ice cream shop on W 19th was barely a week old when we visited, though people still…
Project Row Houses Brings Night Bakery, Pics For Prison Moms and Chill House
Feeling stressed about 24/7 technology or worried about pharmaceutical consumption? Stop by artist Lisa Harris’s “House of Practice” installation at Project Row Houses to unplug from social media, chill out with some calming colors, and learn how to “just say no” to Big Pharma. Harris is one of…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Smoked Brisket at Pop & Pan
In a town where barbecue is king, you better come correct if you are making a brisket sandwich and the Smoked Brisket at Pop & Pan does just that. We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
Despite “State of Readiness,” Texans Should Not Worry About Hurricane Michael
We get that everyone is on their guard when it comes to hurricanes. If nothing else, Hurricane Harvey taught us that we need to be prepared (even if it didn’t teach us that we shouldn’t build in the flood plain apparently). And even though Texas is generally beyond the time…
Disney Princesses Are Hosting The Most Magical Party In Town At Houston Improv
“The idea of Princesses extends both Broadway and Live Action Role Players,” says Egan.”I think we should throw them a party, give them another place to wear their dress!”
Simon & Garfunkel are Reunited. Sort Of!
While it’s been pretty big music news that Paul Simon recently played his last-ever show as a touring musician near his hometown borough of Queens in New York City, “Paul Simon” will continue to tour. And miraculously appearing decades younger and with his estranged partner (and similarly fresh-faced) Art Garfunkel…
NFL Week 5: Texans 19, Cowboys 16 (OT) — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
If NFL games were played in and decided by the crux of the volume stats in a box score, how well a team moved the football and how well they kept the opposition from moving, and there were no acknowledgment of the pesky little nuance of the ultimate outcome of…
Rap Quotes Ride-Along: Touring Houston’s Rap-centric Sites with Jay Shells
Treasures, the Galleria-area strip club, is a strange place to be at 8 o’clock on a Sunday morning. It’s my first time there ever and it’s quiet, whatever iniquitous behavior it may have housed mere hours ago now in its rear-view mirror. In my rear-view mirror, I spot a rental…
The New Doctor Who Is Big on Nostalgia
One of the most surprising things about the first adventure of the first woman to assume the role of Doctor Who is how oddly backwards-looking it was. “The Woman Who Fell to Earth” is more than a clever title. Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor quite literally falls through the roof of…
Weather Week: Autumn is Coming…Finally
Walking around the Houston Arboretum on Sunday morning, it didn’t feel like fall. There was a vague hint of something — it was breezy and, in the shade, felt milder than normal. But, the sun beat down and the humidity, as has been the case for weeks around here, was…
British Royal Portraits Come to MFAH in Fascinating One of a Kind Exhibit
Forget last month’s New York Fashion Week: Our style prediction for this fall in Houston is that we’ll be seeing more fascinators, tilted hats, beaded clutches and Wellies, those classic Wellington boots so popular in Britain. Royal fever is upon us again, but this time it’s not our collective nation…
This Week in Houston Food Events: New Happy Hours and Flights of Gumbo
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: New Specials Happy Hour at State Fare State Fare, 947 Gessner, has a new happy hour menu with news bites and the frozen cocktail changing over to the Cranberry Surprise. The cocktail and bites are $6 each, with options ranging from…
Astros Take Two Game Lead in ALDS. Let’s See What Happens Today.
In the 2017 playoffs, the Astros relied heavily on a revved up offense and masterful management of an extremely think bullpen by manager A.J. Hinch. So far in this postseason has been a little different. The first two games of the 2018 ALDS have featured two of the best pitchers…
The (Steven) Marshall Plan to Make it in Music
It was a Saturday evening at the Ranch Bar + Kitchen in the north Houston suburb of Cypress. Steven Marshall sat alone on the small stage, dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt, just him and his acoustic guitar. The crowd was fairly sparse at the time—it was still fairly…
The Return of Sherlock Holmes With Classical Theatre Company Provides Comfy Shivers
It’s never cool in Houston during October – is it ever really cool any time of year? – but I know a place where you can kick back, relax, and chill. It’s at Classical Theatre Company on Montrose Boulevard, where The Return of Sherlock Holmes envelopes you in comfy shivers…
Swimming while Drowning Earns None Of Its Emotion
Is there anything worse than listening to bad spoken word poetry? The kind with lines kinda like, “You are my Picasso, I am your muse. Even though you’re difficult, you’re the one I would choose.” Poetry about tigers in a cage, a cage full of rage and skies turning from…
Like Its Alien Goo, Venom Is at War With Itself
This alien being, which helpfully calls itself Venom, is a fairly terrifying creation: a many-fanged, slobbery, snake-tongued monster that loves to eat people’s heads
J Balvin Brings Latin Flavor To Smart Financial Centre
Colombian musician J Balvin is considered one of the top entertainers on the planet, a new generation style of superstar who effortlessly blends rhythms, fashion, charisma, and something that he calls “Vibras”.
NFL Week 5: Cowboys-Texans — Four Things To Watch For
Much like presidential elections, the Olympics, the World Cup, and my getting on a workout kick, the Texans playing the Cowboys in the regular season is something we only get once every four years. To that end, for just the third time in the history of both franchises, the Texans…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Kick Off King’s Oktoberfest
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: The Original Greek Festival at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. 3511 Yoakum Celebrating 52 years, The Original Greek Festival…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Venom
Sony either believes fans are willing to attend a “Spiderverse” movie without the wall crawler in it, or Tom Hardy playing a ghoulish thyroid case with Gene Simmons’ tongue is enough of a four-quadrant draw to to pull in even non-Spidey fans.
Country Blues are a Big Damn Deal to This Musical Preacher
Call the Rev. Peyton a “throwback,” and he’ll likely take it as a compliment. Looking like he stepped out of a 1930s kinescope about rural mountain people (or a “Popeye” cartoon), the singer/guitarist/songwriter gets both inspiration from and is a practitioner of the kind of acoustic fingerpicking country blues that…
Four Reasons the Rockets Will Be Really Good This Season
Preseason. It’s always time for optimism in sports. Most decent teams think that if things break right for them, this could be their year. Good teams expect to go far. As the saying goes, hope springs eternal. Such is the case for the Houston Rockets. We are barely into the…
A Book on Iron Maiden With Plenty of Input From Journalists and Other Metal Musicians
Iron Maiden: Album by Album By Martin Popoff 256 pp. $30 Voyageur Press Martin Popoff might be the most prolific rock journo of all time. But here – as in his other “Album by Album” books on bands like Pink Floyd and Rush, he doesn’t go it alone. In addition…
5 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston: TexRenFest, Lawn Jazz and Art Fair Fever
It’s shaping up to be a perfect weekend in the Houston area, with a nice mix of refined and lowbrow entertainment — some outdoors and others inside (just in case it rains) — with a healthy dose of culture added in. There’s a fantasy costume contest that will bring out…
Openings and Closings: Eunice Debuts, Gorgeous Gael Says Slan
Eunice, 3737 Buffalo Speedway, opened October 1. The modern Cajun-Creole brasserie comes from New Orleans-based BRG Hospitality. Formerly known as Besh Restaurant Group, CEO and celebrity chef John Besh stepped down in October 2017 amid sexual harassment allegations, as reported by The New York Times. BRG Hospitality has a new CEO,…
Heading to Galveston This Weekend? It Might Be Slow Getting Home
The one (and perhaps only) advantage to how long it is taking to get some fall weather in Houston is the extended ability to get in some beach time. October isn’t typically thought of as a time for splashing in the surf, but water temperatures remain in the 80s right…
J.J. Watt Wins AFC Defensive Player of the Month for September
When an NFL team that went 4-12 the year before has aspirations of winning the AFC and going to the Super Bowl, the questions most certainly abound as to how exactly they intend to get that done. The Houston Texans were a team (maybe still are) who had a ton…
The Texas RenFest King Drops By to Highlight This Weekend’s Offerings, Rain or Shine
The 16th Century in the form of the King of the Texas Renaissance Festival dropped by the Houston Press offices on Wednesday with food from The Greek Agora (always appreciated) as well as word of what’s coming up as we enter the second of nine weeks of the festival. The…
Saint Arnold Looks Back On 25 Years of Trailblazing
In the mid 1980s Brock Wagner was an undergrad at Rice, learning from his RA how to brew beer in a dorm room. A decade later he quit his job in investment banking and recruited his friend, Kevin Bartol, to start one of the first, and now the oldest, craft…
Positive Affirmations: Houston Music Edition
We’ll just cut to the chase here: sometimes it’s difficult being a musician. We could list the reasons why, but you already know them and we just vowed to get to the heart of the matter, which is that hardships may abound for musicians. Maybe they’re minor irritations or, sadly,…
College Football, Week 6 and NFL, Week 5 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
Football is a weird sport, and betting on it can be even weirder sometimes. Sure, college football and NFL football are not EXACTLY the same sport, but they’re pretty damn similar, and actually, with the advent of more college spread offense concepts in the NFL, they’re getting more and more…
Astros vs. Indians in the ALDS: Four Things to Watch For
It’s October and the Astros are back in the ALDS once again trying to defend their World Series title. They open up the best-of-five-game series against the Cleveland Indians Friday at Minute Maid Park with a 1:05 p.m. start — that’s what happens when the other game that day is…
Weather Weekend: Hot and Ugly
If you feel like summer will never come to an end, you’re not exactly alone…or wrong. By this time each year, Houston has typically had at least one decent cold front push through the area. This year, nothing yet and, unfortunately, there isn’t anything definite on the horizon. And while…
Texans DE/OLB Jadeveon Clowney Wins AFC Defensive Player of the Week
Give Jadeveon Clowney credit. After all, when the media began swirling after two nearly invisible performances in his first two games of the 2018 season, each sandwiched around a game missed due to injury (a game in which he STILL managed to get a 15-yard penalty in street clothes), the…
Twelfth Night at the Alley Rounds Up the Gang and Adds in Some New Faces
Gender bending abounds as well as love felt desperately, but not returned by another. And, of course, there are disguises. It’s William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and once again Houston audiences are about to embark on the tale of a shipwrecked young woman who presents herself as a page boy and…
Cocktail Therapy: Josh Alden of Mongoose Versus Cobra
“I’ve been bartending for six years—and actually caring about it for half,” 28-year-old Josh Alden admits matter-of-factly. Originally a server, he remembers noticing how the bartenders at Lucky Strike bowling alley seemed to have more fun. After he landed a spot behind the bar, Alden immediately recognized the sensation of…
Conservative Punks Must Die (Metaphorically)
About ten years ago, when I was in The Black Math Experiment, I made a prediction As a band we used to dress in shirts, slacks and ties. When we handed out flyers, we did it as mock moral majority protesters with menacing nonsense slogans on our signs. I remember…
Bram Stoker’s Blood Relative Unearths True Story of Indescribable Evil
Imagine the excitement when, in digging through the texts, notes and drafts left behind by Gothic novelist Bram Stoker, it’s been discovered that the author’s first 100 pages never made it into the published version of Dracula. Like literary detectives traveling back in time, first time collaborators J.D. Barker (author…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Celebrate Food and Culture at the Houston Italian Festival
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Every Monday, all month long through October 29, customers who order through the Grubhub app and use the promo code TXMONDAY on any order of $15+ will receive $7 off. One redemption limit per diner. The…
First Look: Flower Child Uptown
It seems like we Houstonians are always skirting around construction, whether we be in Downtown, Midtown, Uptown or south of town. The suburbs aren’t much better. From my home, I can grab the Sam Houston Tollway toward the Galleria and be flying along at 70 miles an hour, then hit…
Rock Out With Mariachis and Bonnie Blue at Bayou City Art Festival
Get ready for a rockin’ good time when the 2018 Bayou City Art Festival takes over downtown Houston. The strolling troubadours, Tino and Jose – The Rock ‘n Roll Mariachis, will be serenading festival-goers with their fusion sound and, over in the Children’s Creative Zone, art car legend and weird house…
Perfect Pairings: Taste Da Island at Nu Cafe
If you’re into eating clouds, Snowflake Ice is the snack to try. However, it’s recommended you set aside two to three hours to complete the steps involved in taking this treat to the next level. The first step is to get really full on Dim Sum, shellfish or whatever in…
Houston Concert Watch 10/3: Bun B, J Balvin, BROCKHAMPTON and More
After a weekend that featured some of the biggest names in music rolling into town, there’s no letting up when it comes to live music in Houston over the next seven days. Besides, as long as it feels like summer, you might as well go to shows like it it…
Survivor: College Football Playoff Edition — Which Four Schools Would Go Today?
There are a lot of things that college football has gotten wrong through the years, and the correction for those things are typically done, at best, at glacial speed. The advent of the College Football Playoff, implemented in the 2014 season, is certainly among those things, but there is no…
Dance, Jive, Have The Time Of Your Life With The Music Of ABBA
Dance, jive and have the time of your life as the Houston Symphony presents “The Music of Abba” Oct. 5 – 7 at Jones Hall.
How To Lose A Game In 10 Plays — Indianapolis Colts Edition
We’ve now had a couple days to digest what I thought, at the time it was made on Sunday, was a cataclysmically horrible decision by Indianapolis Colts’ head coach Frank Reich to go for it on fourth down in his own territory in the waning moments of a tie game…
Always Wanted to Write About Music Professionally? Now’s Your Chance.
The Houston Press is looking for freelance music writers to grow our ranks. Needed are people who are passionate and knowledgeable about the Houston music scene and are willing to report on it while meeting deadlines. The pace of the job varies. Concert reviews are due the morning after the…
Weird Homes Tour Houston Showcases Stained Glass and High Water Homes
For one glorious day each year, creative Houstonians roll out the red (or fur-lined or whimsical) carpet, inviting us inside their rule-breaking homes and work spaces to give us an eye-popping look at what it means to color — and live — outside the lines. This year’s Houston Weird Homes Tour®…
Toto’s Steve Lukather Holds to No Line in Wild Memoir
The Gospel According to Luke By Steve Lukather with Paul Rees 352 pp. $26 Post Hill Press Toto’s singer/guitarist Steve Lukather was sure that the song was going to be a stinker and hurt the band’s career. I mean, who could relate to a number about a continent that the…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Lobster Grilled Cheese at East Hampton Sandwich Company
The Lobster Grilled Cheese at East Hampton Sandwich Company packs a cheesy, spicy punch. We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
#MeToo Asks So Little of Men, But We Still Won’t Give It
It’s pretty safe to say that the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court has been the ultimate acid test of the #MeTo movement. The backlash to the extremely credible allegations of sexual assault on his part backed by corroborating evidence of his own calendars and witnessed behaviors is…
Watsky Welcomes New Houston Fans to the Family
Watsky White Oak Music Hall September 30, 2018 Family outings,…they can be painful, right? Either you’re cornered by some sauced-up uncle who wants to explain why, no really, just hear me out, the earth is flat from end-to-end; or, you’re stuck with a bunch of folks shying away from any…
NFL Week 4 Miracle: Texans 37, Colts 34 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
When you cover an NFL team that goes 315 days without a win, along the course of all those losing Sundays, you begin to wonder “How will it feel when this team finally wins again? What will be my prevailing emotion?” Exhilaration, happiness, relief — these were all at the…
Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born Earns Every Tear It Jerks From You
To fall in love with A Star Is Born is to embrace these paradoxes and, to quote a song Gaga sings in the film, go “off the deep end” and submerge oneself “far from the shallow.”
Weather Week: Summer Holds on For Dear Life
If you ever have a conversation with someone who isn’t from the south, they talk about autumn like it is a death knell. They lament the end of summer desperately. And they do it in September. Here in Texas, we tend to beg for the merciful end to the heat…
Astros End Regular Season with Big Numbers All Around
The Astros went three of four in their final series of the season against Baltimore over the weekend, including the sweep of a Saturday double header, to end the season with a franchise record 103 wins. The 1998 squad had 102 and the team last year had 101. But, the…
Bayou City Haunts: The 2018 Halloween Events Guide
With Halloween around the corner, Houston is full of spooks and sweets, frights and fangs, and boos and booze. Keep track of all the pumpkin patches, costume parties, and tricks or treats with our 2018 Houston Halloween Guide: Now through Sunday, November 4 Annual Halloween Haunted House at the National…
First Look at Pizza Motus
If you weren’t one of the millions of visitors to Italy this summer, you’re in luck because Pizza Motus, the new Roman-style pizza shop in West U, may do a decent job of temporarily transporting you. Roman pizza is a relatively novel addition to Houston. Pizza al taglio (by the…
What Happens to Houston Cemeteries in Hurricane Season
I recently got a chance to tour the new History of Cremation exhibit at the Nation Museum of Funeral History. Various urns make up a significant part of the collection. One in particular is eye-catching, set off to the side. It’s an urn that was rescued from the basement of…
Ches Smith Gets Meta with The Author Is Dead
This summer, I read an advance copy of The Author Is Dead, the new darkly comic novel by Houston writer Ches Smith. Well-crafted characters and biting humor make it the best book I’ve read this year and one I believe most fiction fans would enjoy, though Smith says readers with…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Brunch Tacos and Oktoberfest
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: New specials All Day Brunch Taco Menu at Velvet Taco Velvet Taco, 4819 Washington, 907 Westheimer, locations have rolled out brunch, with four new menu items available all day. Brunch tacos include the Chicken & Waffle with crisp chicken tenders, peppercorn gravy,…
Lauryn Hill Postpones Her Houston Performance: A Fan’s Perspective
It was mid-April when I received the text from my wife: “Lauryn Hill is coming!” she said. “Can we go?” She’s a big Lauryn Hill fan, you see, and 1998’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is on heavy rotation in our household. It’s one of her favorite records. We had a bit…
Drake & Migos Light Up Toyota Center
Drake & Migos Toyota Center September 29, 2018 It was a night that many in Houston have been anticipating for months. This would be the last celebration of the summer, the final soirée before the holidays. A night that was special enough to debut that killer outfit you’ve been saving…
Taylor Swift Takes the Throne Atop Pop Music
Last time I saw Taylor Swift in concert, it was ten some-odd years ago, I was living in San Antonio, and Swift was sort of on the way up in country music circles. What a difference a decade makes. Swift, once the darling of country music, is a full-fledged pop…
Curse of the Starving Class Showcases Sam Shepard’s First Major Off-Broadway Hit
Today’s theater world is a fallow place. There are no recent playwrights whose work commands respect and opening-night buzz like those of theatrical Rushmore icons Edward Albee, Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Christopher Durang. August Wilson, Sam Shepard, even Neil Simon. Granted, Durang and Stoppard are not yet Old Dead Playwrights…
Ozzy Osbourne May Not Be Eternal, But He’s Still Pretty Fun Live
Ozzy Osbourne, Stone Sour The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 28, 2K18 There’s a video that kicks off Ozzy’s set on this run of dates known as No More Tours 2. In it, we see clips from the various stages of his career. It’s an interesting glimpse at how though…
Second Cruz/O’Rourke Debate Postponed Because of Kavanaugh Votes
The second debate between Texas Senatorial candidates Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke, previously set for Sunday night, has been postponed, the University of Houston announced Friday. Rather than taking on his challenger for another hour, Cruz will remain in Washington to participate in Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination process over…
Annual Caesar Salad Competition Returns to UH After Being Sidelined by Harvey
After having cancelled last year’s event in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the Food and Beverage Managers Association of Houston was back this year to reinstate one of the city’s longest running culinary traditions. The 34th Annual Caesar Salad Competition took place last night at the Hilton University of Houston…
Night School Is Hilarious When It Actually Lets Its Stars Go Wild
The idea practically sells itself: Kevin Hart has to take night classes to get his high school degree, and Tiffany Haddish plays his suffer-no-bullshit teacher
Evil Dead Entertains Its Audience in All Its Stupid, Gory Glory
There are certain musicals that are immune to criticism. Hamilton, for one, because it’s brilliant, and Evil Dead, because it’s so…well, stupid. (Holy Ziegfeld, I can’t believe I’ve actually mentioned Hamilton in the same sentence as Evil Dead.) A send-up of a send-up, this Grade B musical (2003), spawned from…
STRFKR Celebrates Ten Years of Indie Rock in Drag at White Oak Music Hall
STRFKR White Oak Music Hall September 28, 2018 It’s been ten years since STRFKR released its first album. Their sound was inescapable in 2008, and it wasn’t even theirs alone. Plenty of other indie bands were capitalizing on the genre’s popularity at the time: MGMT, Vampire Weekend, Ratatat and Cut…
Donald Trump is Front and Center in Life is Strange 2
Life is Strange has never shied away from political statements and social issues as a franchise, but the first episode of Life is Strange 2 (“Roads”) makes the racism of the Donald Trump presidency a major part of the story. In this new series of five episodic narrative adventures, players…
This 2018 Fall Movie Preview Will Help Distract You From Our Modern Hellscape
Mike and the Mechanics once proclaimed “every generation hates the one before.” The extended version of that song also explains why every generation gets another version of A Star Is Born.
NFL Week 4: Texans-Colts — Four Things To Watch For
While you may have been trying to block it out of your mind for the last five years (and if you’ve been successful, by all means tell me how), the 2013 season happened for the Houston Texans. I was there. Five years ago, it happened, and they went 2-14. The…
Folk-Punk Fans Remind Us That Jim Croce Was a Musical Giant
When I was a kid, one of my dad’s favorite musicians was Jim Croce, so, by proxy, he was one of my favorites, too. I remember sitting on our living room’s orange shag carpet (it was the 1970s) and singing along to “Operator” with Dad while I strummed mindlessly at…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Get Bottomless Brunch Bites at The Morning After
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: The Morning After Brunch Event at Bayou City Event Center Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. 9401 Knight Get unlimited brunch and booze samples at our annual bottomless brunch event, The Morning After. The epic afternoon will feature brunch bites from…
Road Closures Coming This Weekend for 290, 288 and I-10
Most of us were wading through work this week blissfully unaware of the wretched hell that will be foisted upon us along the Houston highways this weekend. Sound dramatic? Probably. But, you will definitely want to watch out for these construction “Hot Spots” as Houston TranStar refers to them. For…
The Sheepdogs Paint Their Colours of Classic Rock
Hailing from up north in the mailing label-straining town of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, the Sheepdogs spent the early part of their career doing a lot of touring in the country. But as bassist Ryan Gullen notes, it turned out a bit different than if they had started out in the…
Openings and Closings: Slainte Jack and Ginger’s, Klaus and Fire Ant Brew
Jack and Ginger’s Irish Pub, 2416 Brazos, is slated to open October 25.This will be the second location of the Irish-American sports bar and restaurant from the Union Venture Group owned by Jeff and Darren Van Delden . The original location is in Austin. The space will be a modern…
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Something Old, Something New With Da Camera’s 2018/19 Season [UPDATED]
Da Camera’s 2018-2019 season brings a little something old, a little something new, and a 25th anniversary of Artistic Director Sarah Rothenberg.
Exit Strategy Takes On the Plight Of Public Education In Unexpected Ways
Picture a story about a poor school, in a dangerous neighborhood, populated by students of color, most of whom are failing. Their teachers are a mixed bag: some are jaded, a few well-intentioned, and several suffer from the type of selfishness conjured by years in the educational trenches. Now throw…
College Football, Week 5 and NFL, Week 4 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
After two weeks of winnings (4-1-1 three weeks ago, 4-2 two weeks ago), we evened out at 3-3 last week, and unfortunately, we were one bad beat away from another winning week. Thanks for nothing, Northern Illinois extra point team! Yeah, NIU almost got me the backdoor cover on a…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Save the Date for Tacolandia
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Kenny & Ziggy’s, 2327 Post Oak, 5172 Buffalo Speedway, has brought back two seasonal comfort foods just in time for fall. The Hungarian Shepherd’s Pie and colossal Chicken Pot Pie are available to eat at the…
A Cautionary Tale of Hitler’s American Friends
Hitler’s American Friends: The Third Reich’s Supporters in the United States By Bradley H. Hart 304 pp. $28.99 Thomas Dunne Books It was a nice summer picnic in 1937 with a lot of the trappings you might find at any gathering with hundreds of families, food and drink, patriotic speakers,…
Family Dysfunction Meets Deathbed Wish in Houston’s Turkish Film Festival
Family dysfunction is a universal theme: there’s always one sibling who outshines the others, one who finds a suitable mate, and an underachiever who can’t crawl out of slackerdom. But look behind the facade of even the most successful families and it’s obvious that just about everybody is dysfunctional in…
Astros Are Better Than Last Year Despite Struggles to Clinch AL West
Late into the night Tuesday, the Astros learned their magic number to win the division had dropped to zero. On the postgame show after their second straight win in Toronto, Alex Bregman all but predicted they’d be “popping corks” soon after. With that win and an A’s loss, the Astros…
Cocktail Therapy: Kevin Kleman of La Lucha
Kevin Kleman’s favorite place to enjoy a cocktail is in The Woodlands; in his living room or backyard. While we’re all probably not invited just yet, you can catch him stirring drinks in the Heights at newly opened, La Lucha. Ask any bartender what his favorite drink is and watch…
Long Hair Does Care: Talking Fashion and Family with Watsky
George Watsky’s longtime fans will spot a noticeable change about the rapper when he visits their respective hometowns on his current tour. He’s sporting a new ‘do, a scalp full of long, luxurious locks that would have even Samson a bit envious. “I had basically one haircut in various lengths…
Weather Weekend: Dreary, Muggy Weather Continues
If you are wondering when Houston normally gets its first cold front of the season, it is understandable. We are a bit overdue. Typically, the third week of September brings that first decent cool front through town. The cool weather rarely sticks around, but you do feel a difference. While…
The Unfortunate 2018 Tale of the Houston Texans’ 2017 Rookie Class
The list of things to be excited about if you’re a Texans fan is not a long one right about now. J.J. Watt appears to be back to 100 percent, which is actually, unspeakably huge, if it didn’t look like he was going to be doing it in largely meaningless…
Houston Concert Watch 9/26: Ozzy, Taylor, Drake and More
Did you know Childish Gambino broke his foot during his Dallas concert? This is why you should go to Houston concerts instead, and this week you can say goodbye to a metal icon and party with the current king and queen of pop music. Pick of the Week: Ozzy Osbourne…
When The Decemberists and Crowd Come Together, It’s Magic
The Decemberists, Kacy & Clayton White Oak Music Hall September 25, 2K18 Colin Meloy has a hard face to read. Between his facial hair and mike placement, it’s hard to tell if he’s having a good time, filled with righteous fury, or wondering what his post-show meal is going to…
Les Misérables at the Hobby Soars Amid the Darkness
Is there no sunlight in France? This touring production of Les Misérables, presented by Mischer Neurosciences Broadway at the Hobby, attains an epic grandeur unrivaled in musical theater since the days of Florenz Ziegfeld and Billy Rose. It remains the best musical of the ’80s and just might be the…
There is Something Special in Bill Murray Stories
Bill Murray (Ghostbusters, Caddyshack) has been the subject of a million internet legends over the last decade. He appears from nowhere like a Dadaist Doctor Who, does something wonderfully strange and leaves confused but delighted fans in his wake. Just another day on the internet. They probably aren’t even true…
Today Only. Flash Sale for This Saturday’s Brunch Event The Morning After
Today is National Pancake Day and in celebration of this historic moment, the Houston Press is offering a one-day-only flash sale for General Admission tickets only to its annual brunch event The Morning After this Saturday. The Press is offering a $15 discount off the price of the $40 General…
Improvised Musical Podcast OFF BOOK Hits Trill Fest Without A Net
“So if you know improv, you basically making everything up on the spot and in addition, we also make up melodies and rhymes and lyrics and plot: all on the spot!
ElectroLuv 2018 Celebrates All Things Jam Band
“We live in the best time in the history of this planet for music,” Hank Lamb enthuses. “Because everything you’ve ever heard is in play now. And it’s being played as well as ever, if not better, and by more people than ever before. Music has really taken off.” That…
Perfect Pairings: The Baguette from La Table and Grayson Cheese from Houston Dairymaids
The Houston climate is well-suited for two things: keeping your skin fresh and young-looking and properly temping cheese in your car. Thirty minutes around high noon should do the trick; any longer and the glorious stink of cheeses like Grayson evaporate entirely, haunting the family sedan for hours, sometimes days…
Astros’ Osuna Accepts Peace Bond, Charges Withdrawn in Domestic Assault Case
On Tuesday with the Astros in Toronto for a series against the Blue Jays, closer Roberto Osuna appeared in Canadian court for a hearing on the charges stemming from an alleged domestic assault earlier this year between the player and the mother of his daughter. The Crown (as they refer…
Catastrophic Explores American Dream Myth in Sam Shepard’s Curse
Much has happened since The Catastrophic Theatre produced Sam Shepard’s Buried Child in 2016. We lost the American playwright last year and, only a month later, our region was kicked to the curb by Hurricane Harvey. Very few of us are doing better than we were two years ago. The…
Houston’s Restaurants: Here’s Your Last Chance to Join Us at Tacolandia
Just like a bartender signaling for last-call drinks, the Houston Press today wants restaurants in Houston to know that they can still join in one of the city’s premier taco events in the Houston Press Tacolandia scheduled for Saturday, October 27. As usual, festivities will be held at The Water Works…
Chemistry, Culture Front and Center at Rockets Media Day
Veteran Houston Rocket players had messages for new acquisitions to the team: Know your role. “If they don’t fall in line, that’s what I’m here for,” Gerald Green said at Rockets media day. “I’ll make sure they get in line.” When asked about how the team would get guys to…
The House With a Clock in Its Walls Is Just the Right Kind of Scary
Roth’s film is a funhouse throwback, a scare-the-kids goof with a top-shelf cast, an antique shop’s worth of creepy windup dolls and more heart than you might expect — and, like those jack-o’-lanterns, it’s got more teeth, too
Carnival Brings the Vista and All it Has to Offer to Galveston
The amazing things we’ve created as a society quickly become mundane, and that’s a shame. Cruise ships stand out as a prime example of this. How do you look at these behemoth hotels on the water and not feel a little awe? Even if you think cruise culture is dumb,…
The Houston Texans History With 0-3 Starts To The Season
If you believe the raw statistics, and if you had aspirations of being part of the postseason, the Houston Texans’ 2018 season is likely over. The team fell to 0-3 on Sunday following an inexcusable 27-22 loss to the less-hapless-than-the-Texans New York Giants at NRG Stadium. The numbers are daunting,…
A Look at Florida Transplant Billyracxx’s Unique Brand of Hip Hop
In an empty lot on Westheimer, on an overcast Friday evening, Billyracxx is on the phone. He is speaking to the owner of a hydraulically modified slab that Billy coordinated for his video shoot that day. The owner tells him the car ran out of gas on the way over…
Houston Chamber Choir Passes the Torch in Season Opener
Parker Elementary School’s Advanced Chorus, under the direction of Marianna Parnas-Simpson, joins the Houston Chamber Choir for their 23rd season opener.
It’s Voter Registration Day, Are You Registered To Vote? Are You Sure?
I don’t presume to speak for our nation’s veterans, but I bet most of them are less insulted by someone kneeling for the National Anthem than they are by people not exercising the right that so many of them fought and died to preserve.
There Will Be Blood When Evil Dead: The Musical Takes Over Obsidian Theater
Evil Dead: The Musical is going to be messy. First of all, there will be blood, lots and lots and lots of blood. “There is blood shooting out of sprayers, we’ve got props rigged up to explode with blood and actors rigged up to be shooting blood out of their…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Day After Thanksgiving at Lola
The Day After Thanksgiving from Lola is everything you could want in a “leftover” turkey sandwich, even in the dead of summer. We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
The Predator’s Pretty Smart About Being Such a Dumb Movie
This latest entry, directed and co-written by onetime wise-ass action screenplay wunderkind Shane Black (Iron Man 3, The Nice Guys), wears its self-aware humor as a talisman against the predictability of its plot and the gratuitousness of its carnage
Weather Week: The First Breath of Fall, But Still Soggy
Did you notice anything different on Sunday? If not, you probably didn’t go outside. Dew points dropped into the 60s on Sunday morning as a weak cool front managed to push through the region leaving behind ever-so-slightly cooler weather and north winds. It wasn’t exactly a blue norther, but it…
NFL Week 3 Disgrace: Giants 27, Texans 22 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
After Sunday’s infuriating 27-20 loss to the New York Giants in the Texans’ home opener, I am running out of words to describe this team and their start to the 2018 regular season. Stop me if you’ve heard this before — the Texans started slowly Sunday, fell behind 20-3, and…
The Ragged Road of the Replacements…Featuring Reptiles in Houston!
If you made a list of the most hazardous and patience-testing job descriptions in the history of rock and roll, “Road Manager for the Replacements” would certainly rank toward the upper echelon. The brilliant, but notoriously self-sabotaging and wildly-behaving alt-rock band were not known for their refined manners. Or trying…
Killen’s TMX to Open in Pearland in November
There’s this silly debate in Houston about where to find the best barbecue. It’s silly because there is no debate. Ronnie Killen has made sure of it. Granted, one could make the argument that Killen’s Barbecue should be placed in its own category; a lone heavyweight in a crowd of…
5 Arguments Against the New She-Ra Trolls Use
The teaser trailer for She-Ra came out recently. The upcoming Netflix series is just the latest in another pop culture reboots that has got geekdom acting like entitled douchebags once again. I’ve written before about how making media consumption a core part of your identity turns people in strange monsters,…
Some Genuine Tips For Hunting Snakes in Texas
I understand why people hunt. I might not agree with it, but I’m not going to do that condescending thing where I pretend not to understand the motivation behind it because I’m so intellectually elevated. If LARPing that you’re some sort of animal tracking superhero is your jam, I’m not…
Maroon 5 is a Perfectly Fine, Trusty, Mundane Half Time Show Pick
The Super Bowl Halftime Show does not exist for music fans. While it’s almost certainly the most watched music performance of the year, and thus an important piece of American pop culture, it’s not produced with music lovers in mind. It’s really not even produced for people who just sort…
Classical Theatre Deconstructs Sherlock Holmes in World Premiering Adaptation
Lightning just might strike twice. When J.J. Johnston first donned the velvet smoking jacket of the eccentric but highly astute Sherlock Holmes, accompanied by the mustachioed Andrew J. Love as the faithful foil Dr. John Watson, the resulting The Speckled Band: An Adventure of Sherlock Holmes went on to become…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Celebrate The Morning After with Brunch
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings All week long ‘Passport United Kingdom’ at Central Market Now through Tuesday, October 2, Central Market, 3815 Westheimer, will host its Passport event, with this year’s theme being ‘Passport United Kingdom.’ Stop by the market to find traditional products and dishes…
The Book of Will Finds and Saves Shakespeare, in Fine Fashion
Legendary film mogul Samuel Goldwyn (the G in MGM) once famously said that he didn’t want to see any more movies where people write with feathers. Sorry to be contrary Mr. Goldwyn, but these are the films and plays I most want to see. I’m done with kitchen-sink drama –…
Childish Gambino is Saying Goodbye at the Height of His Powers
Childish Gambino, Rae Sremmurd Toyota Center September 22, 2K18 A lot of acts have jumped on the “please put down your cellphones and enjoy the show” train, although most don’t give a compelling reason why you should. How we experience life has changed, and most of the time this request…
La Fille du Regiment Sparkles at Opera in the Heights
If there’s a more sparkling little bauble in opera’s crown than Gaetano Donizetti’s 1843 powder puff operetta La Fille du Regiment (The Daughter of the Regiment) I’d like to hear it. This winsome piece, bubbling away at Opera in the Heights, might be the most French opera not written by…
‘da Kink In My Hair Pushes the Salon Genre
Alright Houston, you’re gonna have to permit me some cross-border patriotism here for a minute when it comes to ‘da Kink in My Hair, now onstage at Ensemble Theatre. I’ll get it over with quickly…. TORONTO IN DA HOUSE!!!! See the thing is, you couldn’t grow up in Toronto and…
Do-Over Cinema: Fandango Celebrates A Series Of Foolish Acts
When Fandango arrived in theaters in 1985, it made less of a splash than a half-empty bottle of champagne hurled into the Rio Grande (spoiler). Even so, it was hailed as a “notable debut” for director Kevin Reynolds, and no less an authority than Quentin Tarantino called it “one of…
k.d. lang Isn’t Complaining About 25 Years Of Constant Cravings
k.d. lang will perform the hits from her mega-successful album Ingénue as part of its 25th anniversary.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Whiskey, Jerk Chicken, and Bao
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Saint Arnold Midtown Pub Crawl Saturday, 2 to 6 p.m. The Saint Arnold Pub Crawl is heading to Midtown, stopping at Front Porch Pub, 217 Gray, Christian’s Tailgate, 2000 Bagby, 3rd Floor and Pub Fiction, 2303 Smith, Irish Cowboy, 2300 Louisiana,…
Openings and Closings: Hobby Center Debuts Diana, Maba Closes
Diana American Grill, 800 Bagby, will open during show weeks at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. The debut of the restaurant, named for Texas philanthropist and academic Diana Hobby, features an elegant menu from James Beard award-winning chef, Robert Del Grande, best known for his Houston restaurant Cafe…
Nobody’s Girl Launches Country-Folk-Pop Band of Sisters
In the comic book world, a familiar storyline move is to put heroes who have established their own books and storylines together at some point to form a super team (think the Avengers or Justice League of America). When it comes to Texas-based contemporary folk and country bands, three of…
Round Rock Express Become Astros Triple-A Affiliate Again
On Thursday, the Astros announced that they would enter a contract with the Round Rock Express to become the team’s Triple-A minor league affiliate. The Express had been the Rangers Triple-A team since 2011. Prior to that, the Express had been with the Astros since their inception in 2005. The…
Fahrenheit 11/9 Aims for the Easy Target, Not the Urgent One
But 11/9 plays not like a much-needed blast of truth but like an all-purpose Michael Moore sequel, a self-congratulatory follow-up to several of his films, with Parkland material in the Bowling for Columbine vein, references to Sicko and even excerpts from 1989’s Roger & Me
College Football, Week 4 and NFL, Week 3 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
Before we get to this week’s Best Bets, I like to use the little preamble here to opine on some prop bets or random gambling minutiae before getting to the picks. This week, first, I want to congratulate Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was one of my “Winners” in the Monday recap…
Sweet Nightmares: A KPFT Show That Delivers The Metal
Sweet Nightmares is a KPFT Show that has delivered extreme metal music for 30 years now.
5 Things the PlayStation Classic Desperately Needs
Following in Nintendo’s footsteps, Sony is finally putting out their own legacy system. The PlayStation Classic will release in time for Christmas, costing $100 and having twenty games pre-loaded. Only five titles have been announced so far: Final Fantasy VII, Tekken 3, Ridge Racer Type 4, Jumping Flash, and, hey…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: When Ramen and BBQ Collide
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: On Wednesday, September 26, Ramen Tatsu-Ya, 1722 California, will once again collaborate with TRUTH BBQ’s Leonard Botello IV on a special bowl of ramen, available from 5 p.m. until sold out at the ramen shop. The…
NFL, Week 3: Giants-Texans — Four Things To Watch For
There was no shortage of expectations for the Houston Texans coming into the 2018 NFL season; expectations for the coaches and for the players, and I think it’s safe to say that none of them, and very few in the city of Houston, expected the Texans to be 0-2 after…
Löwin Is On the Prowl Again in Houston This Week
For the record, Sara Houser is okay with observers calling her band, Löwin, a female-fronted act; but, she says, there’s no need to overstate the obvious. Doing so means missing out on a lot and there’s a lot to like about the Austin band, which visits Notsuoh this Friday. “For…
Weather Weekend: Rain Returns Just in Time for the Weekend
Summer was back earlier in the week as sunny skies and drier conditions returned to Houston for the first time in a couple weeks. High pressure was in control, pushing temperatures back into the 90s and keeping all but a stray shower around. That should change this weekend. If you…
290 Closing Saturday and Sunday Eastbound Near the Beltway
For a long time (seven years to be exact) it seemed like nothing but bad news came out of the U.S. 290 corridor. There were perpetual construction issues, horrible traffic and plentiful numbers of accidents. Then, the sun began to break through the clouds. First, some of the inbound lanes…
Taylor Swift’s Next Move is Both Necessary and Logical
Failure is a relative term. For the Astros, falling short of a second-straight World Series title would be a failure for a team that, ya know, won the thing last year. Failure is when a Marvel or Pixar film doesn’t do half-a-billion dollars at the domestic box office. Failure is…
Major Garrett Chronicles the Lasting Effects of Trump’s Legacy in New Book
Books about President Trump’s term in office are being cranked out faster than unchecked tribbles on a starship. But with so many anonymous and outright allegations and a revolving door of miffed exes (lovers, staffers) looking for a book deal, it’s hard to know which pointed finger to believe. Enter…
Cocktail Therapy: Kassidy Motal of Axelrad Beer Garden
Watching Kassidy Motal ping pong from one end of the bar to another is a lot like how she’s hopped from one lillipad to the next in terms of careers; while always in the background was the bar. “It’s fun, I mean I’ve been doing it since 2005 and still…
Top 6 Songs Celebrating Life is Strange
The second installment of Dontnod/Square Enix’s Life is Strange comes out this month. The episodic narrative adventure game involving young people who develop strange powers is by far my favorite video game ever, and I’m very much looking forward to how it develops with a new cast of characters. Anticipation…
“Owning the Libs” is Not a Political Ideology
The nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court has been an interesting microcosm of the American political identity crisis. The vote on him has been delayed after Christine Blasey Ford came forward with allegations he attempted to sexually assault her at a party back in high school, with medical…
Evaluating Jadeveon Clowney’s Future As a Houston Texan
During Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans, Texans outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney, in street clothes and on the inactive list, did one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen a football player do — in a game in which his team had just seized momentum and their first lead…
Perfect Pairings: Big Shrimpin Bao and Beer at Winbern Mess Hall
The Big Shrimpin Bao comes two to an order and costs $7; save yourself the trouble and just get four. Quite simple really, a pillow-y bao bun cradles a single tempura shrimp, garnished with a small blob of avocado and finished with sweet chili sauce and cilantro. Partner that with…
Find Turkey Legs, Cosplay and Folks Gettin’ Hitched at TexRenFest 2018
Hearing that it’s almost time for Texas Renaissance Festival creates a Pavlovian response of sorts: We start drooling at the thought of ridiculously oversized turkey legs, we begin to shout Huzzah! and prefix all of our sentences with “Ye Olde,” and we rummage through our cosplay wardrobes for those popular…
A Way-Too-Early Set of 25-Man Playoff Roster Predictions
It’s still a couple weeks before the playoffs and the division race hasn’t even been settled yet, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t start digging into the possible 25-man roster for the Astros. Will they take 13 pitchers or expand the lineup? What young guys might get into the playoffs…
Houston Concert Watch 9/17: Childish Gambino, Andrew W.K., Thrice and More
When it comes to concerts, this week you’ll have the option to hear the most important song of the year live, see a hidden gem in the flesh, and have your spirits lifted through the power of music. Here’s what’s on the horizon. Pick of the Week: Childish Gambino 9/22…
Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen Added to the Big George Strait Rodeo Show
A George Strait show basically sells itself. He’s the King of Country music after all, and you could probably sell 10,000 tickets to see him tune his guitar and sing a line and a half during a soundcheck. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, however, is a little more giving,…
Houston Texans: The Five Worst Losses of the Bill O’Brien Era
Shocking. Disgraceful. Deplorable. Dreadful. These are all adjectives that Ive seen describing the Texans’ 20-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday afternoon. There are even those out there contending that the loss, which occurred at the hands of a Titans team missing its four most important offensive players, is…
5 Vegetarian Dishes to Eat Right Now Houston
From a dish prominently featuring mock meat at a high-brow Galleria restaurant to a creative sandwich that combines avocado toast, burrata and a croissant, here is your irregularly scheduled reminder that vegetarian food is delicious too. Vegetarian chicken from Yauatcha: More than one eyebrow at the table was raised when…
Rockets Suffer Another Defensive Loss with Retirement of Bzdelik
Between the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons for the Rockets, they went from a mediocre defensive team to one of the league’s best. Yes, they added Chris Paul and P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute, but at the core was the instruction and scheme of associate coach Jeff Bzdelik. While…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Porchetta Sandwich at The Dunlavy
The Porchetta Sandwich from respected Buffalo Bayou-adjacent breakfast/lunch spot is an interesting twist on the classic Italian holiday meat staple. We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
Who is Drummer Kenney Jones? A Face…Both Small and Regular
Let the Good Times Roll: My Life in the Small Faces, Faces and The Who By Kenney Jones 368 pp. $29.99 Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press While his name and face may not be familiar to the casual classic rock listener—partially due to the fact that his visage was usually…
Ted Cruz Campaign Donation Requests Made to Look Like Legal Summons
Residents across Texas have been receiving what some consider threatening mail from the campaign of Republican Senator Ted Cruz recently. The letters arrive in tan-colored envelopes with the words “SUMMONS ENCLOSED – OPEN IMMEDIATELY” printed in all-caps across the front. The letters inside ask for contributions to the campaign of…
Bourely, Fisher, Manalo and Sayed Take Top Honors in Lawndale’s “The Big Show”
The odds were in everybody’s favor when Lawndale Art Center announced the winners of 2018’s “The Big Show.” Not only was there less competition this time around — only 53 works by 44 artists — but the prize money was just a little bit sweeter. Taking home the win were…
Weather Week: Heat Returns as the Skies Clear
One of the benefits of nearly two weeks of cloudy skies and rain is cooler temperatures. Even without a fall cool front, it has felt at least a bit more like autumn around here for a while. That will change, at least for this week, as we see sunny skies…
Astros Go Up 4.5 on A’s After Series Win Against D-Backs
For as hot as the A’s have been the last month-and-a-half, the Astros have been better. On Sunday with the A’s losing at Tampa Bay, Justin Verlander was striking out 11, matching his season career high in strikeouts with 269. He also went over 200 innings pitched for the eleventh…
What Some Men Do When Women Leave
Stories about broken hearts are the fodder for plenty of barroom confessions and country songs. In reality the men who feel they have gotten the short end of the stick in a relationship are often dangerous. Some men have a drink and a good cry to ease the pain, but…
NFL Week 2 Disaster: Titans 20, Texans 17 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
As optimal conditions go, it’s hard to concoct a better scenario than the one the football gods cooked up for Bill O’Brien and the Houston Texans in Nashville on Sunday afternoon. Aside from the venue and finding out a couple hours before kickoff that Jadeveon Clowney would be sitting this…
Jeff Coffey Departs the Chicago-Bound Train to Resume Solo Career
In 2016 when Jeff Coffey became only the third bassist/vocalist for the band Chicago in their nearly 50-year career, he knew he had some big shoes to fill. Though he was technically replacing Jason Scheff—who had held the spot since 1985—most of the general public on tour would be comparing…
Busking the Streets of Houston
It is often argued that buskers can play an important role in contributing to the cultural life of a city. Of course, it’s fun to unexpectedly come across something beautiful. But even more, buskers can reinforce our romantic notion of a city. I don’t know how common bucket drummers really…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Burgers, Beer and Banh Mi
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, September 17 Rodeo Goat and Flying Saucer Burger Beer Dinner at Rodeo Goat Houston Burger and beer fans can reserve a spot to the Flying Saucer Burger Beer Dinner at Rodeo Goat Houston, 2105 Dallas, at 7 p.m. The event…
Women Can Shape Houston’s History Through Space Travel, Politics and More
It’s the year of the woman, or at least it seems that way in the Bayou City as Houston History Alliance shines its beacon on influential women from the past (Agnese Carter Nelms, the “Margaret Sanger of Texas”), the present (Anoushe Ansari, astronaut and social media pioneer in space) and future…
Around the World in Eighty Days Sparkles in an A.D. Players Production
Mark Brown’s zippy adaptation of Jules Verne’s adventure novel Around the World in Eighty Days, now delighting all at A.D. Players, is a grand example of meta-theater. We, the audience, are taken out of quotidian reality and plopped firmly in the lap of good old-fashioned playacting. We’re kids again, running…
Beyoncé’s Star Outshines Jay-Z at NRG Stadium
The Carters, OTR II NRG Stadium September 15, 2018 OTR II was billed as a co-headlining tour, a promotion of Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s latest musical endeavor. It was, after all, the duo’s first tour together since the release of Lemonade and 4:44, which chronicled HOV’s infidelity and Queen B’s righteous…
TUTS and Houston Ballet Produce Oh What a Beautiful Evening in Oklahoma!
If Oklahoma!, the first-ever collaboration between Theatre Under the Stars and Houston Ballet, is a tantalizing harbinger of things to come, bring it on! Once you experience the glories of this re-animated Broadway classic, can you imagine the double-whammy of these two Houston powerhouses if they ever joined forces on…
NFL Football, Week 2: Texans-Titans — Four Things To Watch For
So the Texans are one of 15 teams sitting at 0-1 right now, which means two things — we’ve heard Bill O’Brien’s response to a Week 1 loss for the third time in his tenure as Texans head coach (“Hey, there are 15 other head coaches who are mad about…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: A Rain-Or-Shine Screwed Up Sunday
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Boutique Wine Tasting at the Italian Cultural & Community Center Friday, 7 to 9 p.m. 1101 Milford As part of its “Come Wine with Us” series, the Italian Cultural & Community Center will host a wine tasting featuring boutique, low-yield wines…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: The Predator
Shane Black’s The Predator often feels like a movie from another time, with all the good and bad that entails.
Dance By the Light of the “moonGARDEN” at Discovery Green
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore. But when 22 gigantic glowing spheres park themselves at Discovery Green, that sends us over the moon. It’s not the first time that Montreal art collective Lucion has installed illuminated spheres around the world, but it’s certainly…
We Were Promised Jetpacks Are Back in a Big Way
Typically when bands are having success, time off isn’t really an option. However for Scotland’s We Were Promised Jetpacks, it was the only choice they had to continue as a band. “We started to write the new album and it just didn’t feel right,” admits guitarist and lead singer Adam…
Openings and Closings: Killen’s TMX is Coming, Del Frisco’s Grille Kirby Departs
Killen’s TMX, 9330 Broadway, is slated to open in Pearland’s Silverlake Plaza this November. Social media and various online publications have been floating the rumors for months of chef and restaurateur Ronnie Killen’s plans for venturing beyond his steakhouse and barbecue empire and into the already dense Tex-Mex landscape of…
Traffic Death Toll in Houston No Shock to Veteran Drivers
Recently, the Houston Chronicle published an extensive report detailing the danger on Houston highways, and it is staggering, probably worse than many thought. The death toll is the equivalent of three fully-loaded 737s crashing each year at Houston’s airports, killing all aboard. Losing that many planes and passengers would lead…
Riveting Skeleton Crew Opens Alley’s New Season
The Alley Theatre opens their 72nd season with the third play in Dominique Morisseau’s “Detroit trilogy,” Skeleton Crew.
Rise Against Didn’t Quite Lift Us Up the Way We Hoped
Rise Against, AFI, Anti-Flag Revention Music Center September 12, 2K18 I believe if you put their 10 best songs up against any modern rock band of the past 15 years, Rise Against would come out on top most of the time. They’re a great band, and at times a vital…
Amazon’s Houston Footprint Grows: Inside the New HOU2 Facility
Houston, being the size that it is, is no stranger to business expansion. It’s likely that there’s not a single week that goes by in the city that at least a few businesses upgrade their facilities or open new outposts as their business continues to grow. What is rarer in…
College Football, Week 3 and NFL Football, Week 2 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
Now, THAT’S more like it! After a first weekend betting all college football with no prior 2018 data off which to work, as treacherous as it gets, we bounce back in Week 2 of college football and Week 1 of the NFL season with a nice 4-1-1 card against the…
The Devil is in the Details at Treacherous Leches
Far as I can recall, I’ve never had a bad piece of tres leches. As opposed to a lot of desserts out there, it’s pretty forgiving when it comes to its creation and, as someone whose last name is Garcia, I’ll confess to being a little more forgiving when it…
Pick of the Litter Is a Good Dog Doc, Yes It Is, Yes It Is
The pups, named Primrose and Poppet and Phil and Potomac and Patriot, get dispatched from the organization Guide Dogs for the Blind to the homes of families dedicated to raising them for the first half of their training
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Taste an Oktoberfest-Inspired Das Brat Burger
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 5510 Morningside, 4444 Westheimer, 142 Vintage Park, is celebrating Oktoberfest by offering the Das Brat Burger, available now. The German-themed burger includes a brat and potato patty with a Bavarian-style apple/cabbage slaw, lingonberry…
Weather Weekend: Rain Continues as We Watch Florence from Afar
It’s been a great week, if you like rain. If you are near the coast, you better really like it because much of the upper Texas coastline has gotten quite a lot of rain throughout the week. Unfortunately, that trend will continue right through the weekend. The farther south you…
Perhaps It’s Time For Another Look at Muhammad Ali’s Message of Peace
It’s been said that timing is everything. The 2016 death of legendary boxing champion Muhammad Ali dealt a knock-out punch, and not just in the world of sports. His work in the areas of philanthropy, humanitarian causes and civil rights ensured that the loss was felt all over the world…
Groovfest Brings the Sounds of the ’60s to Tomball
The Inner Loopers of Houston often have their pick of different music festivals and events, and have for decades. But further up north outside of 610 – and actually, outside the Beltway – another series of shows with a different flavor have been growing in popularity almost under the radar…
Cocktail Therapy: Bert Garay of Cuchara
And just like that after a positive first interview, Bert Garay was roped back into the industry. Yee-haw. While having spent the year prior teaching kids how to swim as well as coaching a soccer team on the Eastside of Houston, Garay says there was something about the place, something about…
The Gloriously Lurid Mandy Knows Just What to Do With Nicolas Cage
Cosmatos delivers (as fans say) on the blood and guts, on cathartic slaughter, on the disreputable pleasure of watching a bereaved hero regard a new weapon and envision nasty uses for it
Perfect Pairings: Croissant Kolache and Yellow Mustard from Christy’s Donuts
Kolaches are great and all, but when an institution like Christy’s Donuts, wraps their weenies with kinda-sorta croissant dough? Well, I choose you, Pikachu. There’s nothing better than scooping up a box of croissant kolaches and a fistful of mustard packets from Christy’s to take back to whoever may or…
Astros Continue Road Dominance in Detroit
Most good teams in sports try to win about two-thirds of their home games and around half their road games. This is typically a formula for success no matter what the league. Winning on the road is tough, so the more home games you win, the better, and anything you…
A Well Known Voice In The Houston Restaurant Industry Retires Today
Around midnight tonight, somewhere in Houston an exhausted sous chef will place his last order for the day, while on the other end of the line, Brian Homeyer will punch in his last order, after more than 30 years with the Chefs Produce Company. Each workday for years now, Homeyer…
Matt Costa Tour Hits Houston Area Living Room This Week
Storytelling is more than jigsawing a pile of words into place until they reveal a compelling picture. A good storyteller knows the environment in which the story is delivered can make the tale more fascinating and memorable. Matt Costa is that sort of storyteller. His recent album, Santa Rosa Fangs,…
5 Things Mobile Games Desperately Need
I play a lot of mobile gaming these days. Marvel Strike Force is my current favorite since Capcom shut down Puzzle Fighter, which was for my money the single best classic game update to mobile ever made. When I’m watching the news every night, fiddling with a game on my…
Lucky Number 5: ECHO Accents Season With Special Programming, Performers
The Energy Corridor of Houston Orchestra’s 2018-19 lineup features a nod to the organization’s five year anniversary, a New Year’s Eve concert, an a special appearance at St. John Vianney Catholic Church.
2017 Houston Texans Offensive Line — Where Are They Now?
As we sift through the aftermath of the Texans’ loss (I promise, I will begin to look ahead to the Titans tomorrow), and try to find positives, there are a few things to feel pretty good about. Tyler Ervin looked like he might pop one or two big ones this…
Ball and Chain: The Best Houston Music of The Week
This week Houston has options from Social Distortion, Rise Against, Fat Tony, The Crystal Method, First Aid Kit, Owen, The Daphne Blue, and The Hates. Tonight you could catch the punk sounds of Chicago’s Rise Against over at Revention Music Center. These guys have been going hard for a good…
BCN Taste & Tradition Restaurant and A Tale Of Fideos
As a native Texas Mexican, I was delighted to encounter the authentic, iconic, Spanish pasta dish, fideo, on a recent visit to Chef Luis Roger’s BCN Taste & Tradition restaurant in Houston. I took the first bite and it immediately brought up memories of another authentic, iconic fideo, one that…
Miguel and The Ascension Tour Provide a Solid Show at Revention Last Night
Miguel, dvsn, Nonchalant Savant The Ascension Tour Revention Music Center September 10, 2018 Certain artists just “get it” and Miguel, for as often as he comes to Houston is one. That “it” is the ability to tie stage craftsmanship with very few theatrics to enthrall a crowd. Although he was…
A Trip to the Job Fair Means it is Almost Texas RenFest Season
As the weather shifts between annoying hot and annoying soggy, it’s easy to forget that we’re just under three weeks away from RenFest season. The Texas Renaissance Festival is something everyone has to experience at least once if for no other reason than to marvel at the size of the…
Patriots 27, Texans 20 — How To Lose a Game In Ten Plays
It takes an entire afternoon to win or lose a football game. Both are processes that ultimately take the full 60 minutes worth of game clock. However, in most games, you can point to a sequence of plays, or perhaps multiple mini-sequences, that ultimately prove to be the most pivotal…
White Boy Rick’s Heart Is in Family, Not the Crack Game
White Boy Rick has reams of story to tear through, but at heart it’s a family drama, one more concerned with the Wershes than with crack, the feds or Detroit itself
The Verve Pipe Bring Renowned Show to The Heights Theater
Brian Vander Ark’s opinions of his band’s most famous song have changed over time. When he wrote The Verve Pipe’s “The Freshmen” as a young man in the ‘90s, the song came from a place of real pain and emotion. Writing, recording, releasing and performing the track – which made…
First Look at Shabu Zone, The New All-You-Can-Eat Shabu Shabu Restaurant in Asiatown
If buffet is your thing, you’ve probably already hit the popular standard all-you-can-eat (AYCE) joints around Asiatown by now: Little Sheep Mongolian for hot pot, Jin Korean BBQ for Korean barbecue, 75 BBQ and Hot Pot Buffet for Korean barbecue and hot pot, and Kim Son for their for Vietnamese…
5 Reasons to Already Love Jodie Whittaker as Doctor Who
We have a release date for Series 11 of Doctor Who. Jodie Whittaker will debut as the 13th and first female Doctor on Sunday, October 7 in the series premiere episode “The Woman Who Fell to Earth,” written by new showrunner Chris Chibnall and directed by Jamie Childs. In addition…
Teen Blues Rocker Ally Venable is Nobody’s Puppet
A couple of weeks ago marked the anniversary of the death of Stevie Ray Vaughan in a helicopter crash. But in the nearly three decades since, the Texas blues legend has continued to inspire musicians—including those not yet even born for nearly another decade after that tragic event. That category…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The River Oaks at The Sandwich Shoppe
The River Oaks at The Sandwich Shoppe in Alvin is a good, solid sandwich without the house-made condiments. With them, it’s one of Houston’s best. We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
What You Need to Know About The Tropical Disturbance Nearing the Gulf
The National Hurricane Center has designated a ball of showers and thunderstorms west of the Yucatan Peninsula as Invest 95L. They have given the tropical wave a 50 percent chance of developing into a depression or tropical storm in the next five days as it moves across the Gulf of…
Explore the Ancient Rite of Cremation at the National Museum of Funeral History
If we pay attention to the signs, popular culture will prepare us for just about any sort of discussion. HBO’s Six Feet Under got us talking about death and dying and Game of Thrones certainly followed through with fiery notions about how to best usher our dearly departed into the…
Weather Week: Lots of Rain With Some Tropical Concerns
As we suspected, the weekend turned out to be a bit of a soggy one. Plenty of moisture in the atmosphere turned into daily storms that became pretty widespread both Saturday and Sunday. Alas, the same is forecast to be true for much of the week. Before we dig into…
NFL Week 1: Patriots 27, Texans 20 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Ten long months, we’d waited for real football to return. Not that Tom Savage-led muck that was trotted out there after Deshaun Watson tore his right ACL, but the competitive, scintillating, high-octane offense that gripped us for those six Watson starts. Actually, this version of real football would be even…
Ozzy Says Goodbye To Houston in Late September
The time has come for The Prince of Darkness to hang it up. Recently announced, the No More Tours 2 will have Ozzy Osbourne trekking across the globe well into 2020. Covering five decades of music with Black Sabbath and as a solo performer, his Houston date will touch down…
The Other Side of the Spider-Man Proposal Story
You might have seen a headline recently like “Wedding Proposal Hidden In Spider-Man Becomes World’s Saddest Easter Egg.” Apparently one Tyler Schultz asked Insomniac Games via Twitter if they would include a proposal for marriage to his girlfriend, personal trainer Madison Gamble, inside the latest Spider-man game. Touched, the company…
King of the Road Puts Contemporary Spin on the Legacy of Roger Miller
Among his classic country peers, you’d be hard pressed to find an artist more universally respected and admired than Roger Miller (1936-1992). As both a performer of his own material and as songwriter for others, the Texas-born singer/guitarist/actor is best known for tunes like “Dang Me,” “England Swings,” “Chug-a-Lug,” and…
A Houston Noodle Tour
Houston, we are noodle folk. Broth runs deep through our veins. It’s time to get to know some of the essential Houston noodle houses. From piping hot, Sriracha-loaded pho to slurp-worthy ramen bowls, Houston is the stateside mecca of noodles. From the endless strip malls of Chinatown, to the OG…
Find Poop Emojis, Mysticism and More at NKOTB Winston Contemporary Art
For its opening foray onto Houston’s art scene, new kid on the block Winston Contemporary Art wants to strike up a conversation or two, and it has done just that with the image-laden collage paintings of S.G. Starr in “New Paintings.” There’s much to ponder in If It Walks &…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Pig Out at the Texas Taco Music Fest
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long Specials of the Moment at Tacodeli Tacodeli, 1902 Washington, has debuted two new Specials of the Moment — one breakfast and one lunch — for September. The “My Morning Taco” features organic scrambled eggs topped with tender belly housemade…
Yo La Tengo Bring A Calm To The Riot
Getting to create art without worrying about who buys it, is a world that few artists can enjoy. Though, for close to 35 years, that’s been the world that New Jersey’s Yo La Tengo has been able to call home. “We’ve never placed much importance on commercial success, we’ve kept…
Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train is Hypnotic Theater, Well-Served by an Electric Joseph “Joe P” Palmore
Right now in Houston is there any actor more alive, more fresh, more electric than Joseph “Joe P” Palmore? He plays – no, inhabits – Lucius, a notoriously vicious serial killer entombed in NY’s infamous Riker’s Island correctional facility, where he awaits extradition to Florida and his inevitable execution. He…
Queensbury’s Season Opens with a Violet in Bloom
Queensbury Theatre opens their season with a trip across country in search of a miracle in Violet.
Michael Nesmith Remains a Houston-Born Treasure
Michael Nesmith and the First National Band Redux The Heights Theater September 7, 2K18 I’ve learned not to expect honesty from the artists standing on stage. Honesty isn’t exactly rare, but you sit through enough rehearsed patter and you soon realize that just because they claim your town has been…
The Moors: A Funny and Strange Homage to the Bronte Sisters
“How bracing!” I can hear the call echoing over England’s bleak Yorkshire moors. It’s the cry from a Brontë, of that I am certain. But is it Emily’s soulful plaint from Wuthering Heights, Charlotte’s innocent plea from Jane Eyre, Anne’s adamant door slam from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, or…
NFL Week 1: Texans-Patriots — Four Things To Watch For
As we embark on the fifth season of the Bill O’Brien Era as Houston Texans head coach, the question isn’t really “What is the signature win of the Bill O’Brien Era?”, but “Does the era even have a signature win at all?” In his four seasons as Texans head coach,…
Lots of Action in the Tropics. Should We Be Worried?
The statistical peak of hurricane season is less than one week away and the Atlantic is as busy as you might expect this time of year. After what felt like a rather quiet summer, a line of potential storms is lining up. Where they will go is the important question…
Like Blaze Foley Himself, Ethan Hawke’s Blaze Won’t Pander to Anyone
It is to Hawke’s credit that he has invested what clout he has gathered in his industry into this study of an artist who never gathered much clout at all — and that the resulting film has the warm, weary rhythms of Foley’s own songs
The TUTS production of Oklahoma Features Colorblind Casting
If there was one thing Sam Simahk knew, he’d never be cast as Curly in that most white American of musicals, Oklahoma! But he went to the New York City auditions anyway and was selected for the lead role in the Theatre Under the Stars production about to come to…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Peppermint
Former Alias star Garner is stll capable of kicking ass, so maybe the unbelievable part was that she was a soccer mom to begin with.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: International Smoke Debuts Brunch
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Booze Bazaar at The Cottonmouth Club Saturday, 2 to 6 p.m. 108 Main The Cottonmouth Club will be hosting its first Booze Bazaar this Saturday, an epic monthly tasting featuring world-renowned spirits professionals, an array of fine spirits from around the…
Judas Priest Guitarist K.K. Downing Screams (Sort of) for Vengeance in New Memoir
Heavy Duty: Days and Nights in Judas Priest By K. K. Downing with Mark Eglinton 288 pp. $28 Da Capo Press As one of the founding guitarists in Judas Priest, Ken “K.K.” Downing could be rightly credited as one of the head cooks in the sonic stew of the genre…
Openings and Closings: Postino Will Hit Montrose, International Smoke Does Brunch, Lunch
Postino WineCafe, 805 Pacific, is slated to open in the first quarter of 2019. The wine and nosh bar will occupy the building which originally housed Montrose Mining Company, the longest operating gay bar in Houston, since 1978. It closed nearly two years ago in September 2016. This will be…
Fred Thomas Speaks To Those Who Chose Art Over Commerce
Fred Thomas might not be a name you know, but he’s singing to anyone who chooses art over commerce. Known for his work in acts like Saturday Looks Good To Me and City Center, he’s been dropping solo records over the past 15 years and his last two have gained…
MOMIX Brings the Beauty and Wonder of the Sonoran Desert In Opus Cactus
We imagine the audition process to become a dancer for MOMIX goes something a little like this: How do you feel about slithering across the stage costumed as a gila monster? What about setting your feet on fire? Are you at all intimidated at the prospect of performing in the…
Winona (Talks) Forever, with Keanu, in Destination Wedding
Ryder and Reeves spend the entire movie preoccupied only with one another, despite their characters’ intimate associations with the betrothed couple
Weekend Weather: Mild Temperatures With Lots of Gloomy Skies
Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall on Tuesday night near the Mississippi-Alabama border bringing loads of rain and gusty winds to the northern Gulf Coast. While there was virtually no impact in Texas from Gordon, we remain in a rainy pattern that will persist for the foreseeable future thanks to the influence…
We Don’t Have to Give White Nationalists a Booth in the Marketplace of Ideas
Arguably the worst trend over the past few years has been the weaponization of stupidity when it comes to the subject of free speech. Free speech is a complicated issue, one that has been and forever will be ever-shifting, but rarely are the people crying about their perceived lack of…
Jesse Wells Says Reports of Rock’s Death are Greatly Exaggerated
Jesse Wells, one of rock music’s promising young stars, spent the afternoon before our interview doing what apparently comes ridiculously natural to him. “I just got done recording (a song), actually,” said the prolific front man and namesake of the band, Welles. “It’s nothing earth shattering but you just kinda…
Another Omni Employee Was Trapped in Elevator During Flooding 2 Years Before Jill Renick Died, Amended Suit Says
The civil lawsuit accusing Houston’s Omni Hotel and Otis Elevators of negligence in the death of Jill Renick who during Hurricane Harvey in 2017 was trapped in an elevator and ultimately drowned in the hotel basement, has been amended to include an earlier similar incident. On September 4, an amended…
3 Things That Worry Us About the Astros and 3 Things That Don’t
In the last few weeks of the season, the Astros remain ahead in the division race and don’t have an overly difficult schedule to close it out (save a trip to Boston this weekend). But, for anyone hoping for a repeat of 2017, there are certainly some concerns. There are…
Gabriel Iglesias Is Giddy To Be “Netflix’s Little Baby Right Now”
Netflix is pampering Fluffy more than a lot of the comic’s old flames. A pretty solid trade-off for the 42-year-old funny man who inked a massive deal with the streaming giant to not only produce the comic’s next two stand-up concerts, but also green lit his multi-cam sitcom, Mr. Iglesias…
Grand Old Grizzly Returns Ready To Growl
There’s so much more to country music than acts who remind you of Waylon, Willie or Hank Sr. Houston’s Grand Old Grizzly have always tread a path between old country and the newer pop country that dominates the airwaves as they show on their new album Pure Country Pyrite. Opening…
Cocktail Therapy: Rikki Feezor of Present Company
Chandeliers in bird cages, David Bowie in the bathroom; Present Company takes the experiential factor and packs it tight. Open a little over a month now, the Royal Oak re-wash, is definitely the favorite child in the Houston bar scene right now. Beverage director Rex Nielsen puts the transition simply,…
College Football, Week 2 and NFL Football, Week 1 — This Weekend’s Best Bets
I think Week 1 of this college football season may have forced me to an executive decision, a decision which will affect content over however many more years that I continue to make weekly picks. I believe I may now wait until at least Week 2, if not longer, to…
Ensemble Spices Up Season With Feel Good Musical, ‘da Kink in My Hair
Setting a play inside a hair salon isn’t new: we’ve seen Southern charm in Steel Magnolias, intrigue in Shear Madness, an exploration of masculinity in Barber Shop Chronicles and murderous psychopathy in Sweeney Todd. Yet playwright and comedian Trey Anthony gives us something new in her first theatrical play, ‘da…
Paper Gliders Get Emotional on New EP
Certain bands are fairly easy to quantify. Many of their songs sound the same. The music lineup is set, and everyone has a defined role. There is nothing wrong with positioning a band in this way; hell, bands like Green Day and 311 have made a mint off that very…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Get Your Tickets to King’s Oktoberfest
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Tickets are now on sale for King’s Oktoberfest, which kicks off Friday, October 5 through Sunday, October 7 at King’s Biergarten, 1329 East Broadway, and Friday, October 19 through Sunday, October 21 at King’s BierHaus, 2044…
Five NFL Season Win Total Best Bets
Obviously, in wagering, there’s no such thing as a completely safe bet. Everything comes with risk, it’s just that some risks come in different packages. Some of us enjoy the night to night, week to week thrill of betting on individual NFL games. LOTS and LOTS of individual NFL games…
John Rich of Big & Rich is My New Favorite Snowflake
Socks have always struck me as being slightly more expensive than I’d like. I’m not even talking about the fancy socks you hear advertised on podcasts, but the regular bag of socks you might pick up at a Target. I buy them, of course, because my feet have earned them,…
How Shakespeare’s Work Was Saved For All Time in The Book of Will
The world almost didn’t have many of the works of William Shakespeare. Back in the last part of the 16th and early 17th Century (and for a long time after), playwrights weren’t quite so scrupulous about keeping copies of their original works. And then there was the small matter of…
Eric Lindell Calls for a Revolution, But Not the Kind You’re Thinking
These days on the streets, on TV, and in comments sections of thousands of social media platforms, there’s a lot of call for revolution. But for seasoned Americana artist Eric Lindell, that sort of change—or at least as he sees it on a personal level—needs to come from a different…
Perfect Pairings: Smoked Atlantic Salmon Candy from Whole Foods and the 2012 Wilhelm Bergmann Eiswein Rheinhessen
Here’s a curveball. Oftentimes in the name of balance, we juxtapose flavors on the plate; so, for giggles, let’s pair two deliciously sweet items together. Smoked Atlantic Salmon Candy and ze’ Eiswein. And since half of you are in Ketosis, nein for you! Nein!!! Typically produced in Germany, Austria, Canada…
Willy Wonka Comes to Town With Two Golden Ticket Winners in Tow
In the world of pop culture, there are only a handful of things that Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials can all agree upon for their level of sheer awesomeness. One would be the music of the Beatles, and another is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Equal parts children’s…
How Long Does Houston Realistically Have Left Before Hurricane Season is Over?
Sitting in the middle of the busiest part of hurricane season, it feels like the end is a pretty good distance away. The statistical peak of hurricane season is September 10, but the season doesn’t officially end until December 1. Waters in the tropical Atlantic can stay warm enough to…
Tainted: The Best Houston Music of The Week
This week Houston has plenty of choices from Alina Baraz, Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite, Miguel, Ruiners, Birthday Club and Moth Wings. On Wednesday you should find yourself downstairs at White Oak Music Hall for the bluesy twang of Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite. While from the outside these two…
Weather Week: Rain Remains in the Forecast, But Less of It
Rain descended on Houston over the holiday weekend as a low pressure system just off the coast of Texas spun slowly through the area. Hardest hit were areas along the coastline. Galveston saw widespread flooding and some spots in and near the island received 10 to 12 inches of rain…
Five Reasons This Could Be a Super Bowl Schedule For the Houston Texans
Analyzing a team’s chances at a championship in any sport begins with the roster. Having the “Jimmys and the Joes,” as great coaches like the legendary Lou Holtz like to say, is a must in order to compete, and make no mistake, the Houston Texans enter their 17th season in…
Chris Robinson’s Bonds of Brotherhood
Somewhere near Santa Cruz, California, Chris Robinson is in a car hurtling down the road en route to play a gig with the Green Leaf Rustlers, his side-project classic country cover band. And he hopes that he can keep the connection. “If I lose you, I’ll call you back!” the…
Houston Filmmakers Tackle Tough Subject of OCD in New Short
Where’s your happy place? Whether it’s gardening, dance, art or volunteering, those lucky enough to find that passion also get respite from office drama, money worries or life’s travails. But what happens when your paintbrush or gardening trowel grows fangs and bites you instead? Such is the premise of Sky,…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Mortadella at 13 Celsius
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! Remember that baloney and cheese you had as a kid? The Mortadella at 13 Celsius will make you weep for your youth.
Inventors Suing InventHelp Want to Know Why George Foreman Represents the Company
Etta Calhoun of Spring, Texas is a lovely, gracious, soft-spoken woman who as a devout Christian believes in the word of God and its power. She has lived her life by Biblical principles; they give her comfort and hope. One day she came up with an idea: Why not share…
The Fault in Jordan Peterson’s Self-Help
Jordan Peterson has been called “the most influential public intellectual in the Western world.” I mostly think of him as “that guy the alt-right uses to pretend to be smart.” A psychology professor at the University of Toronto, Peterson rocketed to fame by insinuating Canada including trans people under civil…
The Sadness of a Shock Jock’s World on Talk Radio at the MATCH
Have you ever driven late at night somewhere not necessarily near home and turned on AM radio? Chances are there will be a talk show, or four, on the dial. In the wee hours when most people are asleep, you discover a whole other world – alien encounters, a lot…
Six Thoughts On the Houston Texans’ 53-Man Roster
It has now been announced, the crew of 53 that the Houston Texans will take up to New England this weekend to bring home one of the most important upsets in franchise history. On Friday afternoon, the Texans announced a slew of cuts, some pretty noteworthy, to get down to…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Enjoy a’Bouzy Labor Day Brunch
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, September 3 Labor Day Brunch Weights & Measures, 2808 Caroline, will be extending its brunch to Monday, September 3, with hours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feast on Oaxaca scrambles, avocado toast, fried chicken and cake donuts, and roasted…
The Historically Inaccurate George Washington in The Council
I gave The Council another try after Jim Sterling reviewed the game positively, comparing it to old White Wolf tabletop RPGs like Werewolf: The Apocalypse, which I used to enjoy a lot as a young goth. For those who haven’t had a chance to play it, it’s a narrative game…
The Tender Offerings of First Aid Kit
“We had no aspirations when we started,” remarks Klara Soderberg, one half of Swedish duo First Aid Kit. The two piece started young, and after more than a decade of performing, they’ve grown beyond their folk leanings creating a sound that’s as harmonious as it is infectious. Beginning in 2007,…
Labor Day Weekend Fun at Houston Restaurants and Bars
You’ve worked all through the summer while your Facebook page lit up with your friends’ travel photos from white sandy beaches or European bistros. Well, Labor Day is here and it’s time for those who labor to take a three day weekend for themselves. You don’t want to sweat it…
Journey and Def Leppard are Two Different Tastes That Mostly Work Well Together
Journey, Def Leppard Toyota Center September 1, 2K18 The mixture of Journey and Def Leppard isn’t quite oil and water, but it’s not quite peanut butter and jelly either. Sure, there’s a common thread of memorable hooks, those moments of genius that are spread out among both band’s catalogs, but…
One-Fifth Mediterranean Opens Saturday
Chris Shepherd, chef, restaurateur and Renaissance man, will open One-Fifth Mediterranean, September 1, in keeping with the other incarnations of his concept of five different restaurant concepts in five years, in the same building. It started with One-Fifth Steak in January 2017. Though the plan had always been to open…
NFL Preseason, Week 4: Texans 14, Cowboys 6 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Last year, the preseason felt like a long preseason. Admittedly, that was due almost completely to the fact that Mother Nature decided to plunk a hurricane down right in the middle of the proceedings, cancelling the fourth preseason game in the process. This year, the preseason has felt even longer,…
Rockets Trade Ryan Anderson to Phoenix for Brandon Knight in Four-Player Swap
There we were just minding our own business, sulking in the aftermath of an Astros loss to the Angels Thursday night. The Texans played their final (boring) preseason game. It was a pretty ho-hum sports night in Houston. Then, NBA first-to-every-story reporter Adrian Wojnarowski dropped this patented Woj Bomb on…
Rooftop Cinema Club Announces First Wave of Houston Programming
Although there are few things as beautiful as the Texas sky, it’s not the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to watching movies. While there are a few drive-ins left in the world, and more than a few places around town do outdoor movie screenings, watching movies…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Drink Up at the BrewMasters Craft Beer Festival
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: BrewMasters Craft Beer Festival at Moody Gardens Hotel, Spa and Convention Center Friday through Sunday, times vary 7 Hope Moody Gardens Convention Center will once again host Galveston’s finest three-day craft beer festival. Get tickets for individual events — including Friday’s…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Watching 2001 on the 50th anniversary of its release elicits feelings of both wonder and disappointment.
There Are Very Few Reasonable Excuses for a Concert to Start Late
Few things make you feel old like caring about set times at the concerts you attend. When you’re young, you’re a slave to the music, going along with whatever ride an artist has planned for you. Then one day you find yourself Googling set times from other cities and checking…
Anti-Flag Stays Political All These Years
The members of Pittsburgh’s Anti-Flag have always been unapologetic about being a political punk band. “I’m entertained when people say we’re cashing in on being political, but if I were cashing in I’d write pop songs,” says founding member and lead singer Justin Sane. The band, going strong since the…
UH System’s Head Honcho for Public Art Vows to Make Works More Accessible
María C. Gaztambide, Ph.D., the new director and chief curator for Public Art of the University of Houston System, won’t be embarking on any major shopping trips, at least not yet. A moratorium on commissions remains in effect for at least one more year, but that isn’t stopping Dr. Gaztambide from introducing…
Openings and Closings:Vibrant Opens, Original Beaver’s Closes, Spaghetti Warehouse Rebrands
Vibrant, 1931 Fairview, opened August 27. The new health-focused concept from first-time restaurateur, Kelly Barnhart features a menu designed by wellness expert and blogger, Alison Wu. For now, the restaurant is serving breakfast and lunch, with dinner service to begin in September. The restaurant is housed in the old McGowen…
Questions Answered for the Potential Tropical Threat in the Gulf Next Week
For a little more than a day, forecast models have been hinting at the possibility that a low pressure system situated currently near Puerto Rico might drift west into the Gulf of Mexico and develop. This would mark the first legitimate threat to the U.S. coastline since Subtropical Storm Alberto…
Astros Take Two from the A’s, Lead AL West by Two-and-a-Half
Unlikely heroes. It was one of the marks of the Astros’ run to the World Series in 2017. Sure, there was Jose Altuve and George Springer. Justin Verlander came along late in the season too. But, there were also big moments from guys like Mike Fiers and Cameron Maybin and…
Vibrant Opens in Montrose
Not long ago, Kelly Barnhart was an assistant curator at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Today, she’s the owner, designer, and creative director of Montrose’s newest dining concept. Part restaurant, part art gallery, Vibrant opened its doors to the public this week with high hopes for its health focused,…
Miriam Hakim Adds Houston Attitude to Philadelphia’s YallaPunk Festival
Last year at this time, Miriam Hakim was set to attend the inaugural YallaPunk Festival and Conference in Philadelphia. As a co-organizer of the event, which spotlights creatives from Middle Eastern, North African and Southwest Asian descent, she developed and coordinated the conference’s panels, which touched on everything from religion…
Every Day I Take a Picture of My Daughter Before School in Case She is in a Mass Shooting
My morning ritual with my daughter is simple and banal now that she’s back in school. I pack her lunch or check her school account to make sure there’s money in it if she wants to buy. We argue about how brushed her hair is because she’s inherited my feral…
Cocktail Therapy: Tate Drennen of Sterling House
Tate Drennen spider-armed his way through the bartending world, collecting any and every bit of intel he could. “What’s a bar back and do they make money?” That was the pill the new-to-Houston Ohio native took, and down the rabbit hole he went. Ten years later he’s putting his stamp…
Weather Weekend: Break Out the Umbrella for the Holiday
The high pressure dome that was holding back the rain and keeping in the heat finally receded this week making way for raining conditions and more on the way. For the early part of the week, we saw some modest heat and sunshine, but the clouds slowly began to filter…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Get a First Taste of La Lucha and Superica
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: The Art Colony Association will be hosting a Cultured Cocktails drinks and conversation event at Bar Boheme, 307 Fairview, on Thursday, September 6. A portion of the proceeds from all drink sales during the 5 to…
NFL Preseason, Week 4: Cowboys-Texans — Four Things To Watch For
In our business, the business of opining on and watching sports (great gig, if you can get it, by the way), the fourth preseason game in the NFL is seen as more of a nuisance than it is a coverable event. What is there to be learned from watching our…
Take Two for Fandemic in Houston Brings Smallville, Walking Dead Stars
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman! And now it seems that super-fans of the Man of Steel have even more to get excited about when Fandemic Comic Convention Tour makes its Houston debut. The convention’s first attempt last year was interrupted by, ahem,…
Ruiners’ Typecast is Anything But Typical Punk
By all accounts, the gentlemen of Houston’s Ruiners look like nice fine boys, the kind who would take their grandma’s groceries in from the car. That is, until they perform. Whether it be in person or on their latest album Typecast, the four piece quickly turn into rabid punks who…
George Carlin’s Commemorative Box Set Expertly Covers His Last 30 Years
At 40, when Carlin recorded his first concert film in 1977 for HBO, he was already coming off the high of a blossomed second act renaissance. They offered the freedom not to return to the tight-fitting blazer of late nights on the big three and instead, their tape captured Carlin as he was in performance:…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Operation Finale
Weitz didn’t need to Argo this up for us, but that’s pretty much what he does.
Check Out the Latest Restaurants That Will Be at The Morning After Brunch Event
We’re heading for the home stretch for The Morning After, the annual brunch event from the Houston Press with an updated list of restaurants that have signed on to be there. Tickets are available online. On Saturday, September 29 from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. the event presented by Whole…
Alice in Chains Was the Best (and Most Underrated) of the Grunge Era
I never cared much for the term “grunge,” though I certainly understood its appeal. “Grunge” was a way of defining a cadre of similar-sounding bands from a fairly concentrated geographic locale. These bands dressed alike. Drug issues ran rampant throughout grunge culture. In short, it was easy to cast a…
Since Harvey, Here are 8 Things People Learned About Houston
It’s been a year since Hurricane Harvey unleashed the country’s worst flooding across the region. Maybe you’ve heard about it? After all, it is the subject of approximately 10,000 stories spread across media from here and around the globe. They seem to come in a variety of flavors: sympathetic, frustrated,…
Perfect Pairings: 12- Piece Dark at Frenchy’s Chicken and a Bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s
That’s right, Mrs. Butterworth’s. Not malt liquor, or champagne, or even the tasty little Austin cider I set out to pair Frenchy’s Chicken with. All of those are good, the first being classic, but this isn’t good pairings, it’s perfect pairings and if the Houston Press didn’t sift through all…
Best Bets for Labor Day Weekend: A Luau, Astros’ Dog Day, and Big Bambu
We’re officially counting down the days until a much-deserved three-day weekend, but that’s no excuse to hole up and binge watch Netflix. There’s too much fun to be had in and around the Houston area: Dog lovin’ sports fans can bring their pup to the Astros game on Sunday, Wet’n’Wild SplashTown…
Without You: The Best Houston Music of The Week
This week there’s a holiday but there’s plenty of music on tap from the likes of Journey, Def Leppard, GGOOLLDD, Bad Bunny, Yelawolf alongside locals like Bun B, texture:yellow, MIEARS and HAHA! Tonight you can get down with ohGr upstairs at White Oak Music Hall. The industrial act formed by…
College Football, Week 1: This Weekend’s Best Bets
The long wait is over, football season is officially here, with the first big weekend of college football kicking off this weekend, and the NFL just around the corner. One of the residual effects of the four team College Football Playoff has been a trend in which more teams are…
The Latest Nick Hornby Movie Winds Up Ditching the Usual Nick Hornby Dude Protagonist
Peretz could have given each potential pairing equal time in the story, but he sticks with the most evocative of the two; Juliet, Naked has its charms, and they are named Rose Byrne and Ethan Hawke
Revisiting That “Harvey Will Be Catastrophic” Screenshot Everyone Said to Ignore
Like many of you, I still think about Hurricane Harvey on a regular basis. It’s hard not to when you live next to a neighborhood that was particularly hard hit by the flood waters. Every day I drive by houses that have been rebuilt, houses that are still in a…
Graham Nash Reveals What “Teach Your Children” Was All About in a New Video
Of all the hits that Graham Nash has written in his 50+ years as a professional musician (and there are a lot of hits), his defining and most popular one is likely “Teach Your Children.” Clocking in at just under three minutes, the gentle ode to intergenerational education and the…
Les Misérables Returns to Houston in a New Broadway Production
Described as “a re-imagined version of the show that everybody knows and loves” by baritone Josh Davis who plays Inspector Javert, Les Misérables will once again be arriving in Houston in a few weeks, but this time there’s no turntable. Instead, a very flexible set will be employed to move…
Republican Voter Registration Challenge Has Several of Houston’s Homeless Shelters On It
A detailed look at the list of challenges to the voter registration rolls filed by Harris County Republican Party Ballot Security Committee Chairman Alan Vera reveals that individuals using facilities dedicated to the homeless as residency addresses were among the 4,000 people targeted. The challenges were filed by Vera on…
Houston Press Singles Club: Buxton, Grand Old Grizzly, The Daphne Blue
This week in the club we’ll see new tunes from Buxton, Mike Stinson, Grand Old Grizzly, Pecos Hank and The Daphne Blue. While we appreciate you listening to these tracks and subscribing to the playlist, we ask that you check these acts out at their shows and purchase their music…
Houston Texans 53-Man Roster Prediction, Version 3.0
The long, slow grind of the NFL’s preseason is almost over. Week 1 of the regular season, which means a trip to New England for the Houston Texans, will be here soon. Until then, the only thing standing in between now and roster cut-downs is a game this Thursday pitting…
Harvey One Year Later: Lessons Learned From Pets Loved and Lost
After Hurricane Harvey the Harris County Animal Shelter* gave respite to nearly 1,000 displaced animals and even lengthened the stray hold window to 30 days so that owners would have a better chance of being reunited with their pets. But those were the lucky ones. “Unfortunately we’ve heard a variety…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Ham & Eggs at Ploughman’s Deli and Cafe
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! The Ham & Eggs at Ploughman’s Deli and Cafe is not at all what I expected and, frankly, thank God.
#MeToo at the Opera, the Samuel Schultz Story
Former Rice University Shepherd School of Music graduate, baritone Samuel Schultz, dropped a sandbag upon international countertenor David Daniels, one of opera’s most honored and distinguished tenors and a professor of music at the University of Michigan. He has accused Daniels and then boyfriend (now spouse) Scott Walker, of drugging,…
The New Papillon Makes Its Break With Greater Intensity and Emotion
This new version, directed by Danish filmmaker Michael Noer, brings to the story a refreshing intensity and sweep, and even a sense of adventure
Astros Offense Resurfaces as A’s Come to Town
The Astros completed a sweep of the Angels on Sunday 3-1. It was the first game since Jose Altuve returned from his stint on the DL where the team didn’t reach double digits in hits. But, the bats have legitimately come back to life as players like Altuve and Correa…
Best Popular Movie is Fine, but These are the Awards the Academy Needs
Unlike a lot of critics, I’m here to tell you that the decision by the Academy to create a Best Popular Movie Oscar is not the end of the world. It’s a dumb decision, but it’s a harmless one. Yes, it’s a naked play for attention from the masses, but…
Weather Week: Rain Reenters the Forecast
This past week saw some of the warmest temperatures of the summer with highs getting into the triple digits midweek. The arrival of a “cool” front early in the week didn’t actually cool anything down. Instead, it simply ushered in high pressure, which brought with it drier air and increased…
The Fifth Beatle Gets Massive Bio. Again!
Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Later Years 1966-2016 By Kenneth Womack 576 pp. $30 Chicago Review Press With music biographies, it’s not common to see one about a record producer, even a well-known one. It’s even rarer to think about one sporting nearly 500 pages…
The Tiny Dreams of Angel Olsen
“That’s been my number one rule, I only wanna’ write a song that makes sense,” remarks Angel Olsen over the phone last week. Olsen has been making critics’ top lists since she dropped her debut release Strange Cacti in 2011. She’s made the rounds of the late night talk shows…
HGO Comes Home, ROCO Plays Games and Yuja Wang Kicks Off Houston’s Classical Music Season
The strings have been tuned, the brass has been polished and, after a long hot summer, Houston’s classically trained musicians are ready to roll out a season of wonderful. It all begins with Mercury’s free concert at Miller Outdoor Theatre, a battle of the bands between Vivaldi and Paganini. But which…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Go Back to School with CRAVE
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday through Friday Celebrate Back to School with CRAVE All locations of CRAVE will be celebrating the beginning of the school year by offering a Carpool to CRAVE promotion. Buy one item and receive a second of equal or lesser value…
NFL Preseason, Week 3: Rams 21, Texans 20 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
There’s sort of an “it is what it is” attitude when it comes to preseason football in the NFL. More and more, the games are becoming backdrop to the hardcore evaluation that goes on in practices, inter squad and otherwise. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the Texans’ 21-20 loss to…
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Republican Party’s Challenge Scheme Includes Handpicking Ballot Review Board Members [UPDATED]
Alan Vera, the Chairman of the Harris County Republican Party’s Ballot Security Committee, admitted in a personal Facebook post that his challenge of 4,000 voter registrations in Third Ward and other areas with high minority populations involved using Republicans he appoints to the Ballot Board to review provisional ballots resulting…
NFL Preseason, Week 3: Texans-Rams — Four Things To Watch For
Kids, gather around and let me tell you about a time when the third week of the NFL preseason was actually sort of a big deal. Ok, maybe not a BIG deal, but kind of a medium-sized deal, in which the head coaches would actually play their starters into the…
Get Ready For a Searing Ride With Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train at 4th Wall
Joseph “Joe P” Palmore is used to being cast as the young, good person. But in Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train the role he really wanted was that of Lucius Jenkins, the veteran felon and serial killer who says he’s found Jesus. “All his words just came off the page…
Michelle Wolf Was Never Gonna Be Your Jon Stewart, America
At its best, the show was a canny deconstruction of contemporary late-night comedy, which has been swamped with political satire since Stewart, the former Daily Show host, turned Bush-era liberal outrage comedy into its very own TV genre
Astros Hold Onto Slim Lead in AL West
It looked like a laugher. Charlie Morton who, at times, has been the Astros best pitcher this season, was cruising. The offense had racked up 9 runs and looked poised to crush the Mariners in their final game in Seattle of the year. That’s assuming they don’t meet in the…
Computer-Screen Thriller Searching Is a Strong Argument for Logging Off
… I imagined how whatever scene I was watching might have been staged and shot and acted out in a more traditional film — and I was inevitably disappointed by what has been lost …
Got Weird? Houston’s Weird Homes Tour Needs a Few More Stops
Is your home creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky? Has your personal collection surpassed curated and fallen deeply into the abyss of compulsion or obsession? Then it’s possible that your oddities might just be strange enough for the organizers of the Houston Weird Homes Tour®. This year’s self-driving tour sees a…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: The Houston Black Food Truck Festival
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Downtown Hotel-Only Bar Crawl Friday, 6 to 10 p.m. Four Downtown hotel bars are teaming up for a deluxe hotel-only pub crawl, complete with luxury transportation and a drink and light bites at each stop. The crawlers will go to The…
“Bregman Attitude” Home Run Pose Catches on with Harris County Constables
All season long, Alex Bregman has been staring down the camera in the dugout after a home run. On Wednesday, the Astros took that to a new level when many of the players in the dugout, along with Bregman, turned to the camera after a home run. The result is…
Anything Goes and Anything Can Happen at the Houston Fringe Festival
Tired of the same ol’, same ol’? Well the answer isn’t that we need more cowbell, we just need more Fringe Fest. Rebounded with vigor and vim after last year’s flood-soaked season, the line-up for 2018’s Houston Fringe Festival is hard to define but easy to explore. The first weekend…
Openings and Closings: Original Ninfa’s Expands While Mama Ninfa’s is Planned
The Original Ninfa’s Uptown Houston,1700 Post Oak, is planned for a late spring 2019 opening. Legacy restaurants announced that a second location of the Original Ninfa’s will open in the space vacated by the shuttered restaurant, Peska, in 2017. Aside from seating for 180 guests in the interior dining area,…
Test Cases for Addicks, Barker Flooding Are Moving Through the Courts
One year after the controlled release of the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, flooded homeowners and businesses located both upstream and downstream of the dams are seeking relief in court under the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment, which states that private property shall not be taken for public use without…
River Revival Is Ready To Flex
No matter what you think a music festival should be, it is after all a gathering of like minded individuals. The River Revival Festival organized by Houston’s Splice Records,is now in its fourth year, stretched from two days to three, and from a handful of bands to more than double…
Shakira Shakes Houston During El Dorado World Tour
Shakira returned to Houston to perform to a sold out crowd at the Toyota Center on Wednesday night in the middle of the international pop star’s Texas run of the El Dorado World Tour. Originally scheduled for January the concert was postponed due to a vocal cord injury that required…
The Scots Have Landed in Texas, Let’s Give Them A Proper Welcome
Last night, at Bosscat Kitchen & Libations, a sardine-esque room of people were some of the first in the world to taste Fistful of Bourbon; the newest project from acclaimed William Grant & Sons distillery. Their portfolio includes flagship, Glenfiddich, one of the best selling single malt whiskies in the world,…
Violet: A Story About a Journey Seeking a Beautiful Salvation
A father is chopping wood while his daughter stands nearby. In a freak accident the ax blade flies off its handle and hits her in the face. She’s left with a disfiguring scar and this makes life almost unbearable for the main character in Violet, about to go on stage…
JCI Grill’s New Dog Proves Not Everything Should Be Chicken Fried
As someone who was born, raised, and has only lived in Texas, perhaps the most heretical opinion I have is that not everything needs to be chicken fried. While I certainly believe that chicken fried steak would make a much better state food, and I’ve certainly eaten my fair share…
We Recommend Watching The Happytime Murders But Only a Couple of Decades From Now
Happytime Murders, though, demands that we take its world somewhat seriously, that we invest ourselves in the tensions between people and puppets, that we buy into its by-the-book serial-killer narrative …
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Plan Your Labor Day Weekend
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Ginger & Fork, 4705 Inker, will be hosting its second beer dinner with 8th Wonder Brewery on Monday, August 27 at 6 p.m. For $88 per person, guests can enjoy five paired courses, including Boss Beer…
Chart Battle: Is Nicki Minaj Right About Travis Scott’s Number One Success?
It’s a tale of two modern music stars, both with new albums out, battling it out on the charts, one riding the highest of highs and the other having a less than ideal album rollout. Sitting at the top of the charts is Travis Scott, whose new album Astroworld is…
Road Closures on 288 and I-10 This Weekend You’ll Want to Know About
Last week, we told you about the closures to 288 over the coming weekends. That is one of two major traffic issues Houstonians will need to deal with this weekend. To recap, the entire 288/610 interchange will be closed from 9 p.m. on Friday until 5 a.m. on Monday morning…
Cocktail Therapy: Frankie Saenz of Voodoo Queen Daiquiri Dive
“This is my favorite bar, they treat you like family,” Ozzy Hernandez, guitarist for local Deathcore band, Await the Desolation, said as he described the time he found a glass of water and a po’boy in front of him instead of another drink…and how the next time he came in…
Weekend Weather: Will the Full Heat of Houston’s Summer Finally End?
There is no getting around it. It has been brutally hot in Houston this week. It is, after all, the peak of summer around here, so no real surprise, but it came in a rather odd way. This heat was precipitated by a cool front. It a cruel twist of…
Start Walkin’, Always … Patsy Cline is Coming to Miller Outdoor Theatre
There is no way, no how, that the story behind Always … Patsy Cline could ever come true today. With celebrities being stalked by the paparazzi and no shortage of Google-happy fans with misguided intentions, the bold-faced set have to shield themselves behind oversized sunglasses, walls of bodyguards and very tall fences…
Cut Worms Coming to Houston In a Great Old Style
Max Clarke of Cut Worms has been writing songs since the age of 12, and it’s obvious that his music has grown leaps and bounds since then. “I don’t know what those songs were about, I was just trying to write pop songs. Discovering different styles and imitating what those…
So, What Was 2018’s Song of the Summer?
Sometimes, declaring the “song of the summer” for any given year is a fairly easy call. See last summer, when “Despacito” lapped the field, and deservedly so. The song is slickly produced, catchy as hell and, simply put, sounds like summer. As for 2018, it wasn’t quite that simple, mostly…
The Story of War is Brought to Light in a New Book By Classic Rock Writer Bob Ruggiero
The classic crossover band War had a surprising system for bringing hits like “The Cisco Kid” and “Low Rider” to life according to Bob Ruggiero. The veteran music journalist and longtime Houston Press writer has authored the first and only biography of the influential rock, funk and soul band. “The…
Skeleton Crew: When the Job You Knew is Disappearing Right Before Your Eyes
The year is 2008 and for factory workers at the last automobile stamping plant in Detroit, it is not a good time. The Great Recession has just started and these people must decide what they’re going to do with the rest of their lives if the factory closes. As Alley…
![Republican Party Challenge to Voter Registration in Minority Areas Deepens [UPDATED]](https://i0.wp.com/www.houstonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/fox26.webp.webp?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
Republican Party Challenge to Voter Registration in Minority Areas Deepens [UPDATED]
The Harris County Republic Party is under fire at the moment following allegations that they targeted voters in areas populated by minorities for challenges to their voter registrations. By challenging these locations under the guise of rooting out voter fraud, the party has effectively suspended the voting rights of people…
What’s The Regret Factor Of The 11 Teams Who Passed On Deshaun Watson?
The body of work is only six starts, but I think it’s safe to say that for NOW, in the moment, Deshaun Watson is viewed in Houston and around the NFL, as one of the future torchbearers at the quarterback position. Now, things can go wrong, whether through injuries or…
Perfect Pairings: Tasca d’Almerita Fondazione Whitaker Grillo 2016 and Fritto Misto at Coppa Osteria
Let’s go back to Italy, yeah? Sicily in particular, and to narrow it down even further, a tiny island less than half a square kilometer located off the western coast of Marsala. It’s here on the Island of San Pantaleo, Mozia in particular, that the Grillo grape is grown into…
Witness to the Holocaust: “A Blind Man Would See What Was Going On”
We’ve learned about the Holocaust through photographs, archival footage, Hollywood cinema and oral histories. But one story rarely told is that life-changing moment when soldiers walked through the gates to free the Jews, homosexuals, Roma gypsies and others held prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Now,…
Hard Piano: The Best Houston Music of The Week
This week there’s performances on tap from the likes of Pusha T, Wiz Khalifa, Tony Bennett, Two Tons of Steel, Carolyn Wonderland, and sets from locals like Velveteen Echo, Flower Graves, Vodi, and The Hates. Tonight you can begin at Dosey Doe for the country tunes of Doug Supernaw. The…
Hickory Hollow Set to Close Heights Location Next February
The other day, a post popped up in my Facebook timeline discussing the weirdness that is restaurants closing out of the blue, with neither a word of warning for their customers or their employees. That sort of thing is always a bummer because it makes the whole thing feel extra…
We’re Gonna Die Makes Us Feel Oh So Collectively Alive
And the award for best audience participation moment goes to We’re Gonna Die at Horse Head Theater Co. Wait, where are you going? Come back, the review’s just started! But you hate audience participation? The whole forcing the viewers to take part in the show thing. Well, no one can…
Forget Guns, 3D Printing Should Be All About the Mundane
That people want to use 3D printing to make guns is maybe the least surprising thing in American history. It’s a debate I can’t wait to watch play out, as watching people do the mental gymnastics of trying to explain why being able to make your own gun is somehow…
Hulu’s Drama Safe Harbour Presents It as News That Muslims Are People, Too
Secrets get exposed, cultural barriers get smashed and re-erected, and every apparent villain will prove heroic and every hero something of a villain
NobleMotion Dance Celebrates 10 Years With Ships, Mirrors and Drones
NobleMotion Dance celebrates their tin anniversary with an evening of world premieres.
Planning on Getting Your New Phone with the iPhone Upgrade Program? Some Things You Should Know.
Over the weekend, my wife and I decided to replace our iPhones. Her phone was in disarray for reasons that aren’t worth discussing here. We were both switching cell phone plans from AT&T to TMobile (for many reasons), so it was just time. Both of our existing phones were unlocked,…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Pork Tenderloin at Picnic Box Lunches
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! The Pork Tenderloin from Picnic Box Lunches is like the sandwich your grandmother made you if she happened to be a chef.
Texas Opens Year Two Of Herman Era At Number 23 In AP Poll
The first Saturday of college football season is ten days away, and you can cut the anticipation in the air with a knife. In the state of Texas, the ante has now been sped to ridiculous levels in the coaching arms race, as Texas A&M has chased the University of…
Tick Tock for Tacolandia Tickets. Prices Increase This Friday.
Been thinking about Tacolandia at the end of September? Well if you buy your tickets now instead of waiting, they will be $10 cheaper. As of this Friday, August 24, the general admission tickets will increase from $25 to $35. VIP tickets which get you in an hour earlier (3…
From Beyond Adds Machines To Their Metal
On their new album The Band From Beyond, Texas’ From Beyond prove they’re making more than metal music, coming up with sounds closer to heavy blues mixed with machines. Opening with gloomy and dark sounds on the instrumental track, “Invocation,” they set the stage for what’s to come. They follow it…
McDonald’s Serves More Than Fries In EaDo Corridor With Art Installation
McDonald’s’ signature symbols and those oh-so tasty fries now adorn a wall in EaDo at 1538 St. Emanuel Street as part of a mural brought about by McDonald’s Houston.
Third Ward Voters Receive Incorrect Voter Suspensions After Republican Challenge Campaign
Harris County residents keen to vote in the upcoming midterm elections should be very careful about checking their mail. Recently, some residents of Third Ward received letters informing them of an address change they had not actually filed and which, if not answered, would put their franchise into suspension. It…
Tobe Nwigwe Puts On a Spectacle at White Oak
Something special happened last night at White Oak. Tobe Nwigwe has been on a seemingly unstoppable upward trajectory for just over a year. Beginning sometime in the summer of 2017, the ex-football star and amateur rapper from Alief with a trademark baritone flow began generating mild interest online with a…
Weather Week: Cool Front, but No Cooler Temperatures
Entering the third week in August, temperatures remain at right about normal for this time of year. That is to say it is hot and humid throughout the area. But, the first inklings of fall in the form of a late August cool front are in the forecast this week…
Verlander Gets 200th Win As Astros Stave Off Sweep in Oakland
The Astros entered this weekend’s series against Oakland just two games up in the division. They leave lucky to still have a lead, even if it is only by one game. On Sunday, they racked up five home runs to help Justin Verlander, who wasn’t exactly his sharpest, finally get…
Announcing the 2018 Houston Theater Awards
The 2017-18 theater season began underwater. Literally. In late August, 2017, Harvey roared through our Bayou City and lived up to its biblical plague prediction. The monster storm dumped more than 50 inches of rain on us, and the effects are still being felt in our theater community. Wortham Theater…
Twisted Love is the Latest Asiatown Ice Cream Sensation
Created with an Instagram generation in mind, Twisted Love, a new ice cream shop by the owners of Coco’s Sweets in the Hong Kong City Mall, is taking social media by storm with its picturesque, colorful creations set against the shop’s adorable decor. Debuting a couple of weeks ago in…
Kusama, Zombies and Mike TeeVee: Houston’s Art House Films for September
The polka dotted cherry on top of this month in Houston film has to be the new flick about Yayoi Kusama. But there’s plenty more decadent goodness to be had, beginning with a just-added Isle of Dogs screening that benefits the ASPCA and serves up Trash Island Shakes, a throwback…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Bar Crawl Through Downtown Hotels
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, August 20 Blackout Dinner at Henderson Heights Guests are invited to a Blackout Dinner at Henderson Heights, 908 Henderson, at 8 p.m. The Dining in the Dark experience will challenge the senses of taste, smell, touch and sounds in total…
Interpol Come In Hot On Marauder
Four years between albums isn’t the norm, though for New York’s Interpol, it seems to be right on their schedule. “I dunno if hiatus is the term, we put our last album out in 2014, toured it in 2015, and we needed time to tour properly, catching the entire globe…
NFL Preseason Week 2: Texans 16, 49ers 13 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
In my estimation, there are four quarterbacks in the NFL with cemented legendary status, who all four continue to perform at a high to elite level currently — Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, and Ben Roethlisberger, maybe even in that order. They’ve all won Super Bowls, and they’ve hoarded…
New Quote Painted on Houston School Wall to Replace the Girl Shaming One
This just in from the Houston Independent School District: A new quote has been painted to adorn the hallway at Gregory Lincoln, attributed to Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. Children at the school this year will be reading Malala’s book, “Malala’s Magic Pencil.” To recap, on Friday word and photos…
![Marilyn Manson & Rob Zombie Are Twins of Evil Separated at Birth [UPDATE]](https://i0.wp.com/www.houstonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/080182018_robzombie_hou_jackgorman-57.webp-scaled.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Marilyn Manson & Rob Zombie Are Twins of Evil Separated at Birth [UPDATE]
Twins of Evil, The Second Coming Marilyn Manson & Rob Zombie Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion The Woodlands Pavilion was hot and muggy Saturday on a night when the two of the world’s biggest shock rockers brought Twins of Evil, The Second Coming to perform for a nearly sold out venue…
![Let’s Start the Year By Girl Shaming, a Houston School Decides [UPDATED]](https://i0.wp.com/www.houstonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/39331361_10217032922197515_4126211262071701504_n.webp.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Let’s Start the Year By Girl Shaming, a Houston School Decides [UPDATED]
Well the reaction to a photo making the rounds on Twitter Facebook this afternoon has been fast and furious. As school gets ready to start again, Gregory-Lincoln PK-5 School girls will be greeted with the message that as long as they behave, the boys will stay in line. Unless wiser…
Tales of Rehab Get the Soap Opera Treatment in Fly on the Windshield
About 45 minutes into Shabach Enterprise’s production of S. Denise O’Neal’s, Fly on the Windshield, we’re treated to an over the top yet humorously on the nose re-enactment of a soap opera climax. It comes to us courtesy of Vincent (Omar Lewis), a young man in a strict 90 day…
NFL Preseason, Week 2: 49ers-Texans — Four Things To Watch For
The San Francisco 49ers have been in town for two days of inter-squad practice with the Houston Texans, and according to Texans head coach Bill O’Brien, there has been plenty of productive work getting done in advance of Saturday’s preseason game between the two teams. Unfortunately, for fans with tickets…
Remembering The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin
For any artist fortunate to have had a career as long as or touching as many genres as Aretha Franklin’s did, music nerds will forever debate their career as to when their “best” work was. Early on the scene? Mid-life maturation? Surprise latter days revival? But make no mistake. In…
Jody Seabody and the Whirls Brings That H-Town Swagger to Hawksamillion
It’s not cockiness or arrogance, but there’s a certain swagger about Jody Seabody and the Whirls. Many bands would be fraught with nervous excitement the week of an album release, but these Houston music veterans possess a confidence that is allowing them to fully enjoy the moment. The new album,…
Mike Reno of Loverboy Works for the Weekend. And All Other Days.
While personal relations between the United States and Canada are at an all-time low, and there’s a lot of talk about who can and can’t cross borders, American classic rock fans could probably come to a consensus on this immigration policy: Let Loverboy in whenever they want! The group that…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Party, Eat, and Repeat at Houston Food Fest
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Tree House Happy Hour and Sunday Supper at The Grove Friday, 4 to 7 p.m. (Happy Hour): Sunday, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. (Sunday Supper) 1611 Lamar Head to the beautiful Discovery Green to enjoy a Tree House deck happy hour at The…
Hannibal Buress Is Ready To Bring Laughs To Houston
“How do you define “break,” asks comic Hannibal Buress over the phone. The Chicago native has been making his rounds for over a decade and is easily one of the top comics currently performing. Buress has, in so many ways made the world of comedy feel a lot looser with…
Openings and Closings: Superica, La Lucha in September, Pizza Motus Now
Superica and La Lucha, 1801 N. Shepherd, will open September 10. The dual concepts from restaurateur Ford Fry will occupy a 9,000 square foot property in the Heights as Fry’s popular Houston restaurant, State of Grace, is approaching its third anniversary. He first introduced his take on Tex-Mex with Superica…
Something Else Are Ready To Make A Splash
Houston’s Something Else is a band that really doesn’t fit into a genre, though they’re not off-beat sounding either. On the new single “Don’t Want It,” from the band’s upcoming album An Entire Album About My Ex-Girlfriend, they take notes from bands like The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand without really becoming a…
Astros Reach the Most Pivotal Series of the Season Thus Far
If in May someone told you the Astros would have a critical series in mid-August, you would probably guess Yankees or Red Sox or Indians or Angels or Mariners, right? Very few would have said it would be against the A’s. Hell, two months ago, no one would have told…
The Mousetrap Offers Solid Summer Chills at the Alley
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap comes to the Alley Theatre for summer chills.
HISD Avoids a Takeover and HISD Board Members Get to Still Be in Charge
Heavy equipment growled and screeched and construction workers hollered as they hustled about outside but there was no way they could be louder than the exaltations and exhuberations at the press conference/pep rally/prayer meeting that played out inside Worthing High School Tuesday morning. Houston ISD had dodged a bullet. The Texas…
Zapruder Analysis Of DeAndre Hopkins’ Fight At Practice On Wednesday
As both a wide receiver and a trash talker, DeAndre Hopkins is an unequivocal football artist, and through the years, he has done some of his best work at preseason inter-squad practices. Who can forget the famous sequence from Hard Knocks in 2015 when Hopkins told the Redskins bench that he…
Twelve Rules for Grocery Store Shoppers
On Wednesday, I took aim at sackers because, quite frankly, they’ve been messing up my groceries lately. But to be fair, they do have a pretty tough job. And when you need to deal with the general public all day, anyone might slack off a little. Still, it was worth…
Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie Deliver More Than Nostalgia
I think we can all agree that the heyday of shock rock is over. In the era of the internet, with some seriously demented stuff just a click away, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie – the co-headlining acts of this weekend’s Twins of Evil, the Second Coming tour – are…
J. Cole Continues His Reign as Hip-Hop’s Most Underrated Superstar
Jay-Z couldn’t do it, though his buddy Eminem got close. DMX was able to pull off the feat, and of course, the human chart-topper that is Drake had no trouble notching such an achievement. Each of these artists is considered among hip-hop royalty, the best of all time. So where…
Go Ahead and Prepare Yourself for a “Trump is Actually Racist” World
Sometimes the only thing you can do is speak the truth into the air, so let’s get to it: almost everyone, no matter their political affiliation, is hoping there’s a tape of President Donald Trump saying something explicitly racist. It’s the kind of bleakly hilarious scenario you’d only find in…
Jefferson Airplane Co-Pilot’s Bio Sometimes Wanders Off Course
Been So Long: My Life & Music By Jorma Kaukonen 368 pp. $29.99 St. Martin’s Press As a band, the Jefferson Airplane were right at the epicenter of San Francisco’s Summer of Love and its hippie culture. Just hearing a snippet of “White Rabbit” or “Somebody to Love” (especially in…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Taco Deals and Chef Collaborations
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings On Saturday, August 18, Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen, 6401 Woodway and 1140 Eldridge, will celebrate National Fajita Day by meeting you half way. Buy any order of chicken or beef fajitas for lunch or dinner for half…
Alone On The Moon Riffs Hard On Spectra
Houston’s Alone On The Moon have always played heavy music without overclocking things, and the result is their latest release Spectra. The music is all instrumental which at times makes you want vocals. The songs all seem to take the principle of starting slow and building to epic levels. This…
Cocktail Therapy: Bryan Wayne of Poison Girl Cocktail Lounge
Bryan Wayne, a native Houstonian, began bartending at Poison Girl eight years ago, well, he began as a bar back, but just like caterpillars that turn into butterflies, so do bar backs turn into bartenders. (The process is almost exactly the same.) Poison Girl holds a special place in everyone’s…
Gettin’ Batty With Alley Theatre’s Costumes and Sets from 2014’s Dracula
The sets, costumes and wallpaper from Alley Theatre’s 2014 production of Dracula, The Original Vampire Play would lend themselves very well to a macabre round of Where’s Waldo? or an obsessive hunt for hidden Mickeys. Only instead of mouse ears players would be looking for bats. Lots and lots and…
Weather Weekend: More of the Same, But That’s Not All Bad
Not to freak anyone out, but we are deep into the month of August and…it hasn’t been awful. These are the dog days of summer and they are typically the hottest of the year for us here in Houston. As the guys at Space City Weather pointed out Wednesday, is…
If Day For Night Wants to Be the Fest of the Future, it Should Book More Women
There are certain uncomfortable truths we have to accept how we as a society deal with accusations of sexual assault. One of them, unfortunately, is resounding indifference from the public at large, especially in cases where the accused is behind a beloved event. Because of this, I feel pretty confident…
The Lost Art of Sacking Groceries: Five Rules for Sackers
It almost never fails. You do your big shop, maybe on a Sunday. You bring your reusable bags because you’re good with the earth like that. You line up everything on the little conveyor belt at the checkout stand to make it easy to separate: produce, boxes and cans, cold…
Ethan Hawke’s Blaze Tells Turbulent Tale of the Duct Tape Messiah
Ethan Hawke loves music. And he enjoys being in Houston, having filmed large portions of the movies Reality Bites and Boyhood here. But sitting onstage recently at Rockfeller’s nightclub for an invite-only concert/fireside chat/Q&A about his new movie, he does have an issue with film biographies about musicians. Which is…
Get Ready for Some Crazy Closures on SH 288 and the South Loop
SH 288 (the South Freeway for those in the know) has been a bit of a mess lately. It’s part of a fairly substantial redevelopment plan that will add capacity via toll lanes running from 59 all the way to the Harris County line. As per usual, it has left…
“Seeing Harvey” Shows How Texas and Its People Were Changed By the Storm
Very few of us survived Hurricane Harvey unscathed. Texans lost their pets, homes and even their lives. Weeks later, after the rains had dried up and West Sam Houston Parkway started to not look like a river, there still were tears: sadness from losing treasured photographs and family heirlooms, anguish…
Kevin’s Heart: The Best Houston Music of The Week
This week there’s more than enough to keep you entertained with performances from J. Cole, Clairo, Lupe Fiasco, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Hayes Carll, Tracy Byrd, and Roky Erickson while locals like Flower Graves, Jody Seabody and the Whirls, and more will be on hand. Tonight you can start off…
Perfect Pairings: BCN Gin & Tonic and Ibérico Ham and Toasted “Pa Amb Tomaca” at BCN Taste & Tradition
It’s the bread, it’s the bread, it’s the bread. No, it’s the perfectly seasoned tomato that barely wets the surface. Or perhaps, it’s the house Gin & Tonic that escorts this combination to a place only gin knows where to go. Or maybe… the Ibérico de Bellota, king of all…
Where Do The Texans Stack Up In Pro Football Focus’ Position Group Rankings?
In football, the previous season shapes the public’s perception of a team heading into the next season, and if perception is reality, then the local expectations that we have for the Texans, and that the oddsmakers have for the Texans (a robust 16/1 to win the Super Bowl) may be…
Fitzgerald’s Sells Property
It’s finally happened, the longest running live music venue in Houston has been sold. Fitzgerald’s, on the corner of White Oak Boulevard. and Studemont in the Heights, is now owned by an investment group. After more than 40 years in the live concert business, what the future holds for the…
The Meg Only Triumphs When It Accepts Its Full Silliness
… It’s a hero-dude adventure movie based on a Michael Crichton-esque paperback techno-thriller, which means we hear more science talk than is strictly necessary, get a tour of a gleaming research facility and meet a billionaire finder (Rainn Wilson) who just might have ulterior motives
El Tiempo Cantina Should Have Known Better With That Jeff Sessions Photo
My father instilled a very specific work ethic in me: if you have a job, it doesn’t matter what’s going on in the world, you get up and go to work. That’s not to say you don’t pay attention to what’s going on in the world — you’re still a…
Narrative on Carmelo Anthony, Rockets Frustrating but Not Surprising
On Monday, the Rockets did what they set out to do in 2014 and again in 2017. They signed Carmelo Anthony. This time, it was for one year at the veteran minimum and with little fanfare — a phone pic from GM Daryl Morey via Twitter was all we got…
What’s Happening at Those Museums You Never Visit
Let’s face it, art scenes can be intimidating. Beyond the high profile museums you only visit with your out of town relatives (the ones who don’t day drink), the deeper trenches of this, or any city’s art community often feel as though they’re inhabited by an impenetrable club of bohemian…
Theater District Open House Celebrates 25 Years With Free Day Of Entertainment
TransCanada Theater District Open House’s 25th anniversary takes place Sunday, August 26 from 12 – 5 p.m. The second largest theater district in the country promises a day filled with performances, artful adventures, backstage tours and some of the deepest discounts for the upcoming performing arts season.
Surprise! There’s a New Asmodeus X Album Out Now!
Houston’s premier darkwave act, Asmodeus X, is easily my favorite local band of all time. Back when I was dipping my toes into the city’s goth scene, it was their super-charged appearances at Numbers that powered me. I had more or less assumed that Paul Fredric and company had hung…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Grilled Cheese at Classic All-Day
Way more than a simple grilled cheese, this version at the new Classic All-Day includes some interesting twists. We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
5 Weird Ways to Keep Cool When the A/C Goes Out
At this point our air conditioners have been chugging along, nonstop, for months on end. Which means there’s an increased chance of something going awry. If the a/c does go out here are some tried and true methods for beating the heat and, when your HVAC repairperson does show up,…
What Is J.J. Watt’s New Ceiling?
For J.J. Watt, the last three seasons have all ended in the same way — with some portion of his body in tattered ruins. If it feels like J.J. Watt has had more surgeries than sacks over the last two years, it’s because he has. In 2015, he limped off…
Houston Press Singles Club: Tee Vee, Lera Lynn, So, so
This week the club gets richer with new tracks from Tee Vee, Secret Sands, Lera Lynn, From Beyond and So,so. While we appreciate you subscribing to this playlist, we remind you to visit these artists in their respected artist shops or when they perform so that they can keep the…
Crazy Rich Asians Is the Latest Non-White Rom-Com That Basks in and Subverts Old Clichés
Scandal ensues when the charming Nick Young (Henry Golding), secretly heir to a wealthy Chinese-Singaporean real estate fortune, brings his accomplished, lower-class Chinese-American girlfriend, Rachel Chu (Fresh Off The Boat’s Constance Wu), home for his best friend’s wedding
Omar Afra Ousted From Day For Night Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Omar Afra, who founded the music festival Day For Night, has been booted from his own creation after allegations surfaced last week of sexual misconduct with two women. On Sunday, Day for Night posted notice of this on its Facebook page. The posting read: “The creditors of Day For Night were…
Astros’ August Shaping Up Like 2017…Almost
In 2017 during the month of August, the Astros went 10-17. Their nearest division opponents gained four full games on them. The main issue for the squad in 2017 was pitching. Lance McCullers, Jr. was on the DL, Dallas Keuchel was not pitching well, the bullpen seemed gassed and they…
Houston Texans 53-Man Roster Prediction, Version 2.0
The Texans’ annual trip to the Greenbrier is over, and one preseason game and one practice back in Houston are also in the books, so now we have some data off which to work in predicting who exactly makes this Texans team out of training camp. Evaluating some positions is…
Idris Elba Definitely Will Or Won’t Be Your Next James Bond
Elba would be a fine Bond, and his casting would have the added benefit of sending a certain category of dipshit fan into a spluttering frenzy not seen since The Last Jedi.
MC5’s Wayne Kramer Testifies about Music, Drugs, and Not Being “Revolutionary” Enough?
It’s hard to fathom today that the FBI would be interested in the daily activities of, say, the Foo Fighters, Imagine Dragons, or Fall Out Boy. Nor would the Feds likely be tapping band members’ personal phones, sending undercover agents to shows, or monitoring their comings and goings. But that’s…
This Week in Houston Food Events: A Revival Market Reunion
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long The Generous Pour at The Capital Grille Now through September 2, guests are invited to a special guided wine tasting experience at The Capital Grille, 5365 Westheimer, 840 South Sam Houston Parkway West. The Generous Pour will feature…
Velveteen Echo Releases Debut EP With Submarine
There are so many stellar new bands in Houston that it reminds you of the ’90s Pavement lyric, “music scene is crazy, bands start up each and every day.” Houston’s Velveteen Echo are releasing their debut E.P. Submarine, in which the four piece echo the likes of bands like The…
Weather Week: Heating and Drying Up
Temperatures around the Houston area the last few days have been almost mild considering normal summer weather thanks mostly to cloud cover and occasional spots of rainfall. Not everyone saw precipitation, but a widespread area saw between 1 and 5 inches of rain over the last seven days according to…
Lego People, Gravity-Defying Art and More: Houston’s Must-See Art Exhibits
Technically not new; we’ve already seen more than a few H-Town selfies taken with these whimsical Lego® people. But Nathan Sawaya’s sextet of monochromatic “Park People” moves to Houston Center for another week or so, giving us one last chance to boost our social media feeds. Don’t miss this Insta-worthy art before…
Jeff Lynne’s ELO Is Practically a Religious Experience for Rock ‘N’ Roll Disciples
Jeff Lynne’s ELO and Dawes Toyota Center August 10, 2018 Not to blaspheme, but there was something positively messianic about last night’s Toyota Center show starring Jeff Lynne’s ELO. Something about long awaited returns and zealous disciples congregating to be uplifted, we suppose. It’s probably just a coincidence that Lynne…
This One’s For the Ladies: Lambert, Little Big Town Wow The Woodlands
Until Friday night, I’d never seen Miranda Lambert in concert, and this is a shame. Not only does Lambert boast one of the most impressive catalogs in country music over the past decade-plus, turns out she’s one hell of a performer to boot. She proved as much before a packed…
Travis Scott Announces Astroworld Festival
Typically, when festivals get announced in today’s world, it’s done by a giant corporation and not an artist. However, with the newly announced Astroworld Festival from Travis Scott, it’s clearly something different. Set to take place on November 17 at NRG Park, Scott and Scoremore as well as LiveNation concerts…
NFL Preseason, Week 1: Texans 17, Chiefs 10 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
October 29, 2017 was the last time that we saw Deshaun Watson on a football field, in a competitive game, and therefore, by definition, that was the last date that we saw watchable football out of the Houston Texans. Once Watson went down with a torn ACL a few days…
A Preview of Ford Fry’s Upcoming La Lucha
La Lucha, a brand new concept by Atlanta-based restauranteur and Houston native Ford Fry, is set to debut in the upcoming weeks. Taking over the space that formerly housed Hunky Dory in the Heights (and adjacent to sister restaurant Superica, which will go in the former Bernadine’s space), La Lucha,…
The Wall May Be an Important Record, But It’s Not a Great Pink Floyd Album
There are a lot of people out there who, usually upon reaching college age, have gone through a Pink Floyd phase. Sure, someone younger might appreciate Floyd at a more immediate wow-these-songs-are-good/singing-”we don’t need no education”-is-fun level, but they’re not going to do that deep dive into the catalog. They’re…
Hard Rock Heavyweight John Corabi Wants to Bring You Dead Flowers
Singer and guitarist John Corabi has been in some bands. A lot of bands. Ratt, Brides of Destruction, ESP, Union, Angel City Outlaws, Twenty 4 Seven, and the Cardboard Vampyres. He most famously replaced lead vocalist Vince Neil in Mötley Crüe for a number of years in the early ‘90s…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: The Meg
You don’t need Crank or even Spy quality Statham, but give the guy more to do than mug for the camera and utter one-liners that wouldn’t have made the final cut of an 80s Schwarzenegger movie.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Eat for Charity
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Houston Restaurant Weeks All weekend (and month) long Houston Restaurant Weeks is back, running now through Monday, September 3, and raising money for The Houston Food Bank. More than 250 area restaurants are expected to participate…
Openings and Closings: The Lounge at Field and Tides, The Classic All Day
Field and Tides, 705 East 11th, has expanded its footprint by adding the 1940s vacant gas station next door as a lounge extension. Chef Travis Lenig and business partner Chico Ramirez opened the newly renovated building, which lay dormant for more than a decade, to serve as a lounge and…
ADULTRY KIDDING Is Worth Getting To Know
For some people, electronica music is all the same, though Houston’s ADULTRY KIDDING waste no time in proving that’s not the case. On their recently released album Psalm 91, they keep what you might know about the genre, and add their own twist to it. Opening with the varying synth…
Who Owns Your Work Social Media Account?
Social media seems like a straightforward thing. Your tweets and ‘grams and posts are your own words — most of the time — and thus, belong to you. But, what if you work for a company and you post to social media in support of that entity? What happens when…
The Shared Superhero Universe No One Is Talking About
Once upon a time, what every studio wanted was a Lord of the Rings. More accurately, they wanted a Harry Potter they could squeeze eight surefire hits out of. That’s not the case anymore. Now, it’s all about shared cinematic universes. Marvel is the undisputed king, of course, with Disney…
Alone on the Moon Invites Listeners on A Thrilling Journey With Spectra
There’s a theme to Alone on the Moon’s debut album, Spectra, which gets the celebratory release treatment this Friday night at The Secret Group. The 11 songs on the band’s first full-length concern epic journeys. Members of the instrumental post-rock act say the motif is natural for a group of…
Despite Injuries, This Astros Team is Better than 2017 So Far
“You are what your record says you are.” It’s a popular axiom, especially among coaches. It means that any excuses for a losing record are just that, excuses. At the end of the day, every team has to face adversity on the field and off. In the case of the…
Fewer Weeks Might Make For a Better Houston Restaurant Weeks Experience
It’s Houston Restaurant Weeks season in Houston, a time for foodies and non-foodies alike to get out, eat, and raise some funds for a good cause: the Houston Food Bank. It’s one of the most buzz-heavy months of the year for Houston food, a time when social media and Reddit…
Cocktail Therapy: Caitlin Vann of Lei Low Rum & Tiki Bar
It seems to be a common theme how bartending grows from a flexible money-maker to a way of life for so many. “Why would I do anything else, I love this, I’m so happy,” Caitlin Vann thought ten years ago while taking a college semester off to figure it all out. Years…
5 Reasons to Keep Buying Physical Media for Video Games
One of the ways that I justified the expense of a Playstation 4 was that it would ultimately save me money thanks to its large storage capacity and cloud-based marketplace. Digital games tend to be cheaper than buying discs. Heck, many of my favorite games were both free thanks to…
NFL Preseason, Week 1: Texans-Chiefs — 4 Things To Watch For
A quick aside on this season of HBO’s award-winning series Hard Knocks to begin this post, and it will circle back around to the Texans, I promise. This season, chronicling the rebuilding of the 0-16 Cleveland Browns, debuted on Tuesday night. It appears to have the makings of some compelling…
John Allen Stephens Delivers On Debut
When a producer makes music for others, he can bring so much to the table that the hope is that he will make those artists shine. When a producer makes his own music, that’s not always the case. However, for Houston’s John Allen Stephens, his debut album Radioclub.Lp, proves real…
Weather Weekend: It Will Rain, but It Won’t Be Blazing Hot
In Houston, we accept weather trade offs. We accept the humidity and heat in the summer in exchange for stellar winter weather. While others are shoveling snow, we’re running around in shorts. We also accept the rain because it is great for our local plant life and the steam that…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Houston Food Fest Returns
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: The Dunlavy, 3422 Allen, will host its next Chefs + Brewers Dinner on Thursday, August 16 at 6:30 p.m. The dinner will feature a meal paired with craft beers from Saint Arnold Brewing Company for $75…
Discovery Green’s Fall Season Heralds Art, Fitness, Food and More
Celebrating its 10 year anniversary, Discovery Green celebrates Houston’s culture by providing free arts, entertainment and activities for everyone to explore. Running September 1 through November 15, events include art, movies, music, fitness classes, youth education and culinary experiences.
How Come the Left Never Had an Alex Jones of Their Own?
If you’ll indulge me for one moment, I have a conspiracy theory I’d like to share with you: Alex Jones knows his banning on social media platforms is the best thing that could have happened to him. Oh sure, when the camera turns on he’ll play the role of the…
10 Reasons Alex Jones Lost his Platform THEY Don’t Want You to Know About
In case you hadn’t heard, Alex Jones, the king of all conspiracy theorists and head of Info Wars, has been booted from the largest tech platforms. Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Facebook and more have deleted his accounts with millions of followers after years of spreading hate speech, violating terms of service,…
Oliver Penn Reveals His Promise on Hideaway
The rejuvenating lifeblood of any music community comes from its young audiences. In Houston, rap and indie rock acts draw fresh-faced followers. Oliver Penn says he’s encouraged to see Houston blues getting its own youthful transfusion. He’s in a position to know as one of the exciting performers delivering a…
Four Stretches of Houston Highway to Avoid At All Times
There always seems to be some kind of road construction going on here in Houston. It’s something we are all forced to endure. But, there are also portions of freeway that are untenable at nearly every hour of every day, construction or not. They are the four stretches of road…
Galveston’s 32nd AIA SandCastle Competition Time Shifts to August
By day architects work hard to make sure buildings are structurally sound, aesthetically pleasing and tick off boxes for sustainability, environmental impact and functionality. But when it comes to the AIA SandCastle competition, it’s time to let loose, take a few more chances and possibly win the coveted Gold Bucket…
College Football Is Awesome, But Its Lunatic Fringe Is The Worst
Let me preface this post by saying that I love college football. I will probably always love college football, and there’s nothing that the sport could do, as unsavory as pockets of it can be at times, to drive me away as a fan. I went to a school that…
Telephone Line: The Best Houston Music of The Week
On deck this week, plenty of entertaining options from Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Vacationer, Ski Mask The Slump God, and Walker Lukens will all be on hand while locals like The Prettybads, Alone On The Moon, and Gio Chamba will round things out. Tonight you can begin with the folk pop…
Perfect Pairings: NOLA Desire and The Sweet & Spicy Pig Ears at The Hay Merchant
Ahoy! Next time you saddle up to the bar at The Hay Merchant, be sure to order yourself a bag of the Sweet & Spicy Pig Ears with a pour of the NOLA Desire Sour Ale, because this combination checks all the boxes. When the bag hits the table try…
Last Chance to Get The Morning After Brunch Tickets Before Price Increase
If you’re thinking about going to the Houston Press brunch event, The Morning After, on September 29 at Bayou City Event Center Pavilion and you want to save some money, then buy your tickets now. Because as of this Friday, August 10, all ticket prices will increase. General admission tickets…
Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman Is Every Kind of Movie It Can Be
Based on a crazy true story (or, as an opening title puts it, “some fo’ real, fo’ real shit”), BlacKkKlansman follows the efforts of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), an African-American detective in the Colorado Springs police force
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Shorty at Kraftsmen Baking
The shredded short rib is all good, but the fried pickles on The Shorty from Kraftsmen Baking…lordy. We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
Astros Latest Injuries to Springer, Altuve, McCullers Hit and Miss
On Monday, the Astros were in San Francisco. Unfortunately, some of their best players were in Texas. Carlos Correa is close to returning and is completing a rehab stint in the minors. Catcher Brian McCann is still a few weeks away from getting back to baseball and reliever Chris Devenski…
Houston Texans Training Camp 2018: Five Camp Crushes
Despite the fact that the Texans are nearly two weeks into training camp, you’d be surprised how limited the opportunities are for players who aren’t locks to make the 53-man roster to make an impression on the coaching staff. Between the mandatory off days and the inclement weather limiting the…
Five House-Rocking Concerts on the Hill at Miller Outdoor Theatre this August
It’s a rush to see a favorite band live in concert: the anticipation, the merch, the energy and “buzz” from the crowd. But after too many stops on a tour the musicians will start to change up the hits, veering just enough from what was immortalized on vinyl (now digitally)…
Luchador Libre Creates Happy Indie Pop
If you’re making pop music, you can either get your beats in order, get your hooks ready, or go do something like no one else is doing. The last one, is the route that Kingwood’s Luchador Libre has taken on his debut album, Bit By Bit in which he mixes…
First Look: Ranch Bar + Kitchen in Cypress
When we moved to the Cypress area ten years ago, we noticed a place called The Vintage Pub within a ten- minute walk from our house. We thought maybe we would have a new “local” as the Brits say where we could walk in and be saluted a la Norm…
Have You Heard? Something Magical is Happening in the Third Ward This Fall
Psst. Have you heard? In a modern twist on an old telephone game, three magical pay phones with mysterious properties have popped up in Houston’s Third Ward. The magic isn’t that they’re free, though that part is cool. Walk up to one phone, press the handset to ear, push a…
Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
In a summer for the National Football League that has centered largely around futile attempts at resolving the protest-during-the-national-anthem issue and an unwieldy new helmet rule designed to make the game safer (that will only make the game more infuriating), the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on Saturday…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Happy Hour, Lunch and Date Night
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: New Specials Happy Hour at International Smoke The hot new restaurant from bestselling cookbook author and lifestyle expert Ayesha Curry and celebrity chef Michael Mina has introduced happy hour. Head to International Smoke, 800 Sorella, on Mondays through Fridays from 4…
Tobe Nwigwe’s The Originals May be the Most Creative Project in Hip Hop
“Labels are calling us now,” Jeff Idehen explains, “asking how we manage to put these videos out every week, ” Jeff is Tobe Nwigwe’s childhood best friend. Though the pair would say they’re brothers. Idehen, a Rice Business grad who quit a promising career in finance to work with Tobe full-time,…
Injuries Mounting for Astros; Is It Time to Phone a Friend?
On the day that Roberto Osuna was activated from his 75-game suspension for a domestic abuse charge, his return to baseball (and his activation with the Astros who traded for him at the MLB trading deadline) wasn’t the big story. Considering that the Astros statement regarding Osuna’s activation sounded more…
Ramen Tatsu-Ya’s Sake Based Cocktail Menu is a Thing of Beauty
Sake is a tragically misunderstood drink. It is not a spirit, as the infamous sake bomb would have you believe. Nor is it technically a wine, although it is commonly referred to as one. The process of making sake is perhaps most closely related to brewing beer. Though beer remains,…
Say It With Ink: Houston’s Best Tattoo Artists and Parlors, 2018-2019 Edition
A tattoo tells the world where we’ve been, who we’ve loved and honors those who no longer walk among us. It speaks to family: sometimes it’s the one we were born into, more often it’s the tribe we found along the way. But it should always be meaningful, original and…
Lord Huron Bring Back Their Infectious Folk
Lord Huron has always evoked change, and on their latest release Vide Noir, they change things up in the most interesting way. The Los Angeles-based band that mixes folk with indie pop lead by Ben Schneider got their start a far way from what they are now. “I was in…
Weather Week: Rain Chances Increase
The dry pattern that has persisted in our area the last couple weeks thanks to dominant high pressure began to come to an end last week with a couple damp days including Saturday. With high pressure remaining off to the west, Houston will see chances of rain increase throughout the…
Caduceus Theater Arts Company Answers the Question Why in Porcelain
The new kid on the theater block, the Caduceus Theater Arts Company, presents its second production, Chay Yew’s Porcelain.
Panic! At The Disco Brings Reinvigorated Sound To A Sold-Out Toyota Center
Panic! at the Disco Toyota Center August 3, 2018 It may be hard to believe for those of us who remember their humble beginnings, but Panic! at the Disco is bigger now than they’ve ever been. In fact, the emo outfit from Las Vegas that formed as a blink-182 cover band…
Suspect in Doctor’s Shooting Death Kills Himself as He’s Confronted by Houston Police This Morning
Joseph Pappas the 65-year-old suspect in the shooting death of Dr. Mark Hausknecht, a Houston cardiologist, shot himself and died this morning as Houston police closed in on him, Police Chief Art Acevedo said in a news conference today. According to the chief, a city parks board employee who’d been…
The NFL’s New Helmet Rule Is Going To Be A Big Problem
Greetings from a very, very wet White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, as I await the decision from the Texans on how (or perhaps, if) they will conduct practice amidst Mother Nature’s rainy scorn on a Friday morning. By and large, this week has featured its fair share of rain up…
Coheed and Cambria Captivate Fans at Smart Financial Centre
The Amory Wars are ongoing. Spanning a few dozen graphic novels, eight studio albums and a full-length novel — so far — the narrative behind Coheed and Cambria’s lyrics is a dense one. It tells the story of a husband and wife who are fighting to protect Heaven’s Fence, a universe…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: White Linen Night in the Heights
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Houston Restaurant Weeks All weekend (and month) long Houston Restaurant Weeks is back, running now through Monday, September 3, and raising money for The Houston Food Bank. More than 250 area restaurants are expected to participate this year — including longtime…
Dissecting the Mystery of Houston’s Loop Freeways for the Uninitiated
Recently, we tried to provide some semblance of understanding of our freeway system to those who weren’t overly familiar with it We stuck with the big highways. But, understanding Houston driving is about more than figuring out the roads that take you to and from the center. Knowing the roads…
Artists Critique the Horrors of Mass Incarceration in CAMH’s Group Show
America will never regain true greatness as long as it remains the title-holder for having the largest prison population in the world. Along with those mass incarcerations come a litany of sins, including abuse of power, injustice, prejudice and broken families. In assembling the “Walls Turned Sideways: Artists Confront the…
Corrosion of Conformity Bring Their 35 Years Of Metal To Houston
Corrosion Of Conformity have been around for 35 years, but you wouldn’t know that by catching them perform. Minus a six year hiatus, bassist and metal legend Mike Dean has been with the band for 30 of those years, performing their intense music nightly. “I don’t really have any regrets,…
Weather Weekend: Keep an Umbrella Handy
This week brought us our first decent rain in what seemed like a couple weeks. A very weak cold front pushed through the Houston area on Tuesday and brought with it some widely scattered rain and thunderstorms. Most of the city got between a half to an inch-and-a-half of rain…
Openings and Closings: Kau Ba Saigon and Indigo Debut
Kau Ba Saigon Kitchen & Bar, 25028 Dunlavy, had its grand opening July 31, according to Houston Food Finder. Chef and restaurateur Nikki Tran became known to American foodies after her restaurant, Ca Ba Quan in Ho Chi Minh City, was featured on the first episode of David Chang’s Netflix…
The Darkest Minds’ YA Dystopia Isn’t as Compelling as Its Excellent Young Adults
An assemblage of TV clips sets the stage: Ninety percent of all children have died within the space of a month, with the survivors gaining a variety of superpowers that the government catalogs in a color-coded chart ripped right from the Bush administration
Ameripolitan Artist Whitney Rose is the Queen of Heavy Mettle
Burn-through-your-boots summertime Texas heat. Raucous honky tonk nights. Packing everything up and moving from the comfort of home to a completely unfamiliar place. Sharp objects. Success. This is a brief list of things which do not intimidate Whitney Rose, a list we compile over just 20 minutes of phone interview…
Houston Texans Training Camp: Seven Takeaways From Wednesday’s Practice
After Bill O’Brien’s assessment of the Texans’ Tuesday practice as subpar and lacking in energy, you knew two things to be true regarding Wednesday’s practice before it took place — (a) it would be a fully padded practice, with lots of hitting (well, trying camp style hitting, with nobody really…
This Saturday, Houston’s Synth-Pop Scene Gets Its First Look At Etro Lounge’s New Location
In 2009 a young fan of underground ‘80s synthpop had a dream. Robert Ehlinger wanted to create an environment where Houstonians with similar tastes in music could gather, and soon he premiered “The New Beat”, his personally curated club night at the medium sized Etro Lounge in Montrose. Over the…
Perfect Pairings: Vin Santo and Biscotti at Giacomo’s Cibo e Vino
Want to look super cultured the next time you dine at an Italian restaurant? All right, all right, I got you; and it’s a win-win too because the pair happens to be delicious. Ask your server if they offer Vin Santo by the glass, and then ask if they happen…
The Daphne Blue Make Presence Known on Debut
When a band re-brands themselves, they can be in for an uphill battle. When you’re in a band with Jeff Perales, you need to buckle in for the ride. With his new endeavor The Daphne Blue, the guitarist and singer took the helm and has done a solid rebuild. On…
Unlock Private Misery and Celebrate Life With Horse Head’s We’re Gonna Die
Horse Head Theatre Co. has beckoned us into the belly of the beast with The Whale: or, Moby-Dick, body slammed us in a collab with Stages and Doomsday Wrestling in The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, and now beckons with another out-of-the-box production in We’re Gonna Die. “I’ve been describing…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Sandwiches, Hatch Chiles and Unlimited Tacos
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: B&B Butchers & Restaurant, 1814 Washington, has rolled out an extravagant new menu item, a Japanese sandwich dubbed the A5 Wagyu Katsu Sando. On special now through Houston Restaurant Weeks, and then making its way onto…
A 20-Year Grudge Appears to be the Motive in the Shooting Death of Houston Cardiologist
Houston police have identified a suspect in the shooting death of Dr. Mark Hausknecht. In a press conference this afternoon Chief Art Acevedo said police work with help from the community led them to Joseph James Pappas, who remained at large at the time of the afternoon announcement. Acevedo asked anyone…
Breaking Down the ACL Festival 2018 Daily Lineups
The time is not quite here for the tough decisions of which stages you’ll be at when two of your favorites are playing at the same time, but the 2018 Austin City Limits Festival schedule did become a little clearer this week as the festival announced which acts were playing…
Houston Texans Training Camp: Tuesday Practice Report — What’s Changed?
The Houston Texans had essentially what amounts to a vacation day on Monday, an off day in the midst of training camp, free to do whatever they want. In those situations, all a head coach asks is that they come ready to practice the next day. Unfortunately, judging by the…
The Trailer for Jonah Hill’s Directorial Debut, Mid90s, is Out and We’re Kind of Stoked
Last week we finally got to see the trailer for Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, Mid90s. The project, which Hill wrote and directed, is the Superbad star’s homage to skateboarding culture and growing up in the ’90s. At two minutes and twenty-one seconds, the trailer gives us three crucial pieces of…
Celebrating the Simple and Rough Genius of The Offspring’s Smash
With the benefit of hindsight, so many of the great records of the past look inevitable. You put them on to give them a listen, knowing how their story ends, and it’s easy to nod your head as songs come and go and think, “yes, this record was destined for…
Cocktail Therapy: Morgan Mansur of La Vista 101
“In high school I worked at a pizza place…tried to get away from it, then a diner… tried to get away from it… but I always kept coming back.” The tell-tale signs of a lifer. Morgan Mansur, a fast talker, fast thinker, can rattle off the R & D or…
Start Over: The Best Houston Music of The Week
On hand this week: Sets from Imagine Dragons, Panic At The Disco, 311, Lil B, and Lucinda Williams while locals like John Allen Stephens, Velveteen Echo, and The Mighty Orq, among others, will round things out. Tonight you can get going at White Oak Music Hall downstairs for the guitar…
Will the Astros Not Landing a Bat at the Deadline Cost Them?
For all the talk about the Astros adding Roberto Osuna, who comes to the team with a big arm and a load of baggage, there was an actual trading deadline that passed Tuesday afternoon. The Astros were fairly active over the past week adding Osuna, catcher Marin Maldonado and reliever…
Houston: Try Out These Foods in August
Despite triple digit temperatures and hellish humidity, we Houstonians still like to eat well and we’re not sticking to salads. While there are some great cold dishes to be had, you’ll still see Bayou City foodies tucking into pho, ramen, or ghost pepper wings despite the heat. We’re crazy like…
Elvis, The Dude and Bergman: Houston’s Best Art House Films This August
Whether your idea of a great movie-watching experience is in the darkness of an air-conditioned theater or the more social “blanket and lawn chair outdoors” variety, August is shaping up to be a strong month for art house films in Houston. This month we’ve got odes to musical greats (Elvis,…
The Spy Who Dumped Me squanders Kate McKinnon’s Kate McKinnon-ness
McKinnon has for a couple of years now been on a collision course with just this sort of role, one that, in order to fulfill the dictates of programmatic movie plotting, demands she surrender much of what audiences love about Kate McKinnon
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Love at First Bite at Kenny & Ziggy’s
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! The Love at First Bite at Kenny and Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen is huge and messy and wonderful.
Taco, Taco, Got to Taco. Tacolandia Tickets on Sale
If a late afternoon/early evening devoted to eating tacos appeals to you, then the fourth annual Houston Press Tacolandia at The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park is where you’ll want to be on October 27 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale now through ticketfly and more…
Snowed In (a Claustrophobic’s Horror) — Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap — Returns to the Alley
Talk about a really bad first day. Mollie Ralston and her husband Giles have just opened their bed and breakfast and they get hit by some really bad weather. By the next day they and all their paid guests are snowed in. Meanwhile, they’ve heard a radio report that a…
Trump is President, Where’s My New Sisters of Mercy Album?
There aren’t that many upsides to an America where Donald Trump is president. Every single day there’s a new headline about an innovative awful hard-light construct brought forth by Trump’s Orange Lantern ring. I feel like the United States needs a safety word and should have started yelling it against…
Astros Deal Ken Giles for Suspended Blue Jays’ Closer Roberto Osuna
There are a lot of Astros fans who have no love lost for reliever Ken Giles. While solid at times in his career in Houston, he has often been shaky and, most recently, was caught on camera dropping an expletive in the direction of manager AJ Hinch after a subpar…
Houston Freeway Traffic: A Primer for Newbies and a Refresher Course For the Rest of Us
Hey, welcome to Houston! You’ll love it here…once we get to October. But, there are some things you should know, particularly about Houston’s ungodly traffic. Recently, a gentleman emailed us from Canada saying he was moving to Houston (to the far northwest side, to be specific) and had questions about…
The Offspring Have Had One Awesomely Weird Career
Entertainers don’t often change course mid-stride. Well, at least not successfully. Jose Altuve isn’t all of a sudden going to become a .250 hitter who rakes in 50 homers a year. James Harden isn’t going to become a defensive stopper. Imagine Dragons aren’t all of a sudden going to become…
Houston Press Singles Club: Jason James, Jesse Dayton, Cactus Flowers
This edition of the Singles Club will add plenty of tunes to get your head boppin’ and your feet tapping. Tracks from Jason James, To Whom It May, Jesse Dayton, Max Flinn and Cactus Flowers will all get added. While we appreciate that you check out these acts and subscribe…
Houston Texans Training Camp: Five Position Battles To Watch
Today is my first day at Houston Texans training camp in West Virginia, and aside from my excitement over temperatures that are about 15 to 20 degrees cooler than those in Houston, I am very excited to visually make my way around the practice fields for the first time in…
Blindspotting Will Make You Uncomfortable and Everyone Needs to See it
It took lifelong friends Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal nine years to write and release Blindspotting. Between Digg’s role in Hamilton and his burgeoning stardom in film and television, the writing partners found little time over the past decade to work on their passion project. Whatever circumstances, whatever the roadblocks,…
Astros Injuries, Slump Come at a Bad Time
No matter how good you are in sports, injuries are the ultimate equalizer. For the first time this season, the Astros are being equalized. While Carlos Correa and Brian McCann remain on the DL, now MVP Jose Altuve has joined them with soreness in his right knee. The hope is…
The Moors: a Dark Comedy Inspired by the Lives of the Bronte Sisters
Two unmarried sisters live alone on the moors in a manor house with a dog and a maid. A governess and a crash-landing moor hen arrive. And then there’s the useless brother. Using the Brontë sisters’ lives and writing as a stepping off point, playwright Jen Silverman has crafted a black…
Weather Week: Rain Chances Should Bring Slightly Cooler Temps This Week
As we have seen over the last couple weeks, it has been hot outside. Combined with very little if any precipitation and high humidity, heat indexes have approached (and sometimes even eclipsed) 110 degrees. Additionally, nearly every day has had an ozone alert attached to it thanks to virtually no…
Panic! at the Disco: Emo Rockers Turned Stadium Headliners
The music industry tends to be a fickle beast. It’s a relentlessly changing landscape where entire sub-genres can disappear almost overnight. Remember emo? It was inescapable ten years ago but you’d be hard pressed to find many artists relying on its sounds in the late 2010s. In 2005, near the…
John Allen Stephens Leaks Impeccable Pop Jam
If you’re making dance pop, you can’t do it much better than Houston’s John Allen Stephens. Stephens, on the verge of dropping his debut album radioclub.lp, seems to have a lock on what we all want to hear in our pop jams as evidenced by his latest single, “Speck” found…
Houston’s Italian Center Showcases Rich Arts and Culture Year-Round
Operating out of a nearly 100-year-old house in Montrose that has been both a private residence and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, the Italian Cultural and Community Center’s décor is a throwback to the mid-20th century. When I comment that that a lot of the furniture and huge china cabinet is…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Houston Restaurant Weeks Returns
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long in August Houston Restaurant Weeks Beginning Wednesday, August 1 and running through Monday, September 3, Houston Restaurant Weeks is back, offering 34 days of meals and deals raising money for the Houston Food Bank. More than 250 area…
Duane Brown Finally Gets Paid With $36.5 Million Extension In Seattle
Nine months after ending his 2017 holdout to play one final game with the Houston Texans, ironically against the team he would be traded to days later, Duane Brown finally got the contract extension he was looking for. On Saturday, Brown inked a deal with the Seattle Seahawks that will…
Finally, Some Good News: Netflix’s Like Father With Kristen Bell, Kelsey Grammer Worth Your Time
… Like Father, it turns out, is an emotional, heartfelt depiction of what it’s really like to reconnect with a loved one after they’ve hurt you irreparably, but with some solid laugh lines and none of the melodramatic sap
The Robin Williams Doc Is Moving But Far From Illuminating
Overall, the film plays more like a survey of Williams’ life, an ordered and abridged history that allows fans to say, “Oh, I remember that,” as a clip from one of his more notable films plays
Eaglefest with Steve Miller Band & Peter Frampton. July 28, 2018. Smart Financial Centre
These two classic rock guitar titans had such a swell time last year touring together, that this summer brings a sequel. As Steve Miller explained during a charming onstage interlude when the pair appeared together, they first met 50 years ago when Miller was at London’s Olympic Studios recording his…
Comedy of Errors Delights at Houston Shakespeare Festival
Mistaken identity goes to the next level in the second of Houston Shakespeare Festival’s 2018 productions, Comedy of Errors.
Revenge Takes Center Stage in Houston Shakespeare Festival’s Hamlet
Hamlet, playing in repertory with Comedy of Errors, kicks off the 2018 Houston Shakespeare Festival with a revenge tragedy for the ages.
Unfriended: Dark Web Kills Its Horror Fun by Believing in the Trolls
As with most horror films, the cast gets whittled down one by one by the killer, in this case, a cabal of folks in black hoods capable of showing up at the characters’ homes at a moment’s notice — they’re maniacally smart, always 10 steps ahead of the gang
Tacolandia is in Pre-sale Mode, Here’s Your Chance to Access It
For those of you who want to make sure you get your tickets to Tacolandia 2018, the presale is going on now through July 30, 2018. This will be the fourth year for Houston’s largest taco festival. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketfly and you should use promo code: HOUMENUS. As of…
Debra Granik’s Edge-of-Society Thriller Leave No Trace Quietly Blows Minds
… As we see the propane tanks and apple boxes and tarps that father and daughter have gathered, we don’t need to be told that these two are not just out camping; they live in the woods
Profoundly Human Eighth Grade Teaches More Than Actual Junior High Does
Part of Eighth Grade’s charm comes from a refusal to go for easy confrontations or humiliations; it keeps threatening to become a cringe-fest, but pulls back, as Burnham opts instead for something more human and realistic
Astros Add Catcher Maldonado in Trade with Angels
Just this week, a story on this website said that the Astros, despite their continued success, have a few holes to fill before the postseason. The two areas mentioned were infield depth and bullpen help. A very close third was catcher, but with Brian McCann not too far off from…
Cancel Everything, It’s National Chicken Finger Day
The seduction of Raising Cane’s begins at the drive-thru when the car window rolls up, hot boxing the scent of what’s to come. I like to hold off until I get home, prolong the pleasure if you will, and once I make it through the front door, attack everything inside…
Comedian Bill Burr Keeps it Real at Revention
Bill Burr’s success lies in his ability to be a common man while not actually being one at all. Burr has had roles in Breaking Bad and Chappelle’s Show, two of the most influential television programs of their time. He has sold out clubs and other venues for years upon…
Weather Weekend: More Heat and Sun Before a Change
High pressure combined with normal summertime conditions has made for some pretty miserably hot weather in Houston over the past week. If you are a fan of the sunshine and high temperatures, you were no doubt thrilled with highs in the upper 90s all week including a couple of days…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Fajitas, Whiskey, and Sunday Supper
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Houston Fajita Festival at HCC West Loop Campus Saturday, 1 to 8 p.m. 5601 West Loop The third annual Houston Fajita Festival is free to attend, offering live entertainment, live art walls, taco, watermelon and jalapeño eating contests, kids playground, Doomsday…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Mission: Impossible – Fallout
The IMF has gone from relatively innocuous objectives like obtaining a list of secret agents to preventing shadowy cabals staffed soley by mustachioed Euros in designer suits from ending civilization as we know it.
Who Wants to Tell Ted Cruz He’s Never Going to Be President?
Despite how he may seem online at times, I have no doubt in my mind that Ted Cruz is a smart man. Unlike those people, in an effort to hold on to their sanity in the face of a world making increasingly less sense by the day, who claim Donald…
10 NFL Training Camps That Would Be Fun To Attend In 2018
I am leaving on Sunday morning for West Virginia to cover Texans training camp for the subsequent seven days, getting on that big bird to Charlotte, and then driving four hours through the backwoods of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia (an area of the country quite replete with roadside…
Openings and Closings: Saint Arnold’s Beer Garden Opens, Vallone’s Closes
Saint Arnold Beer Garden and Restaurant, 2000 Lyons, officially opened July 23 right next door to Saint Arnold Brewing Company. Taking its cue from its patron saint of beer, the interior has nooks or “chapels’ that have been decorated with murals from local Houston artists like GONZO247 (a former SA…
Only Beast Releases an Unconventional Video
Houston’s Only Beast doesn’t fit the conventional ideas of what the music industry loves. Essentially rock music, the trio uses blistering vocals, snappy drums, and piercing guitar to create and shape the tone of their music. On their latest release Again, they proved that they could wow anyone who took…
Houston Artists and Musicians Come Together to Make Things Right for Ella Marie Goode
Last year, Ella Marie Goode made a pivotal decision about her life. “I came out as a trans woman just over one year ago at age 37, a ‘late bloomer’ one might say,” she notes. Goode expected some challenges but believed those closest to her would stand by her side…
Netflix’s The Bleeding Edge Exposes the Horrors the FDA Approves From Medical Device Makers
The film, which premieres on Netflix on July 27, traverses the spectrum of medical devices but opens and closes on one particular item, Essure, a metal coil that’s inserted into the fallopian tubes for sterilization purposes
In Addition to Libraries, Let’s Rally Around Public Gyms Too
It’s always nice to see the Internet rally against a spectacularly dumb idea. Such was the case last weekend, when Panos Mourdoukoutas, writing on Forbes.com, suggested in a post that libraries were bad and could easily be replaced by Amazon. I would love to link you to said post, but…
Doctor Who: In Defense of Three Companions
San Diego Comic Con heralded a lot of tantalizing looks at Series 11 of Doctor Who and our new Doctor, Jodie Whittaker. In addition to the revamped sonic screwdriver, the trailers appear to confirm that we will have three full-time companions for the series, Mandip Gillas Yaz, Tosin Cole as…
Cocktail Therapy: Lee Wagner of OKRA Charity Saloon
Twenty-five people walk into a bar. That’s it. That happened. All at once. As Lee Wagner calmly checked every box for every customer; he charges an iPhone, pours ten mixed shots, he looked over at the Houston Press with a big grin, “so, do you have a curfew?” In five…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Baja Life and Wurstfest
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: All 146 locations of Fuzzy’s Taco Shop will be channeling the beaches of Baja with summer-inspired menu items available now through Sunday, September 2. The Baja Life menu features a Mango Mahi Taco ($3.99) drizzled with…
To Whom It May Finally Drops Debut Album
There’s hard rock and then there’s Galveston’s To Whom It May. Opening with the blistering track, “Bypass,” on their debut album The Great Filter, there’s an immediate distinction between what these guys do and what the bulk of their genre does. There’s a notation of progressive music mixed with metal and…
Houston Texans 53-Man Roster Prediction, Version 1.0
Predicting a team’s 53-man roster 24 hours into training camp is obviously an exercise fraught with inherent inaccuracy risk. Certainly, injuries can undermine the accuracy of what you’re about to read, but history also tells us that there will be a couple names about which we have zero clue right…
Mission: Impossible – Fallout Might Restore Your Faith in Action Blockbusters
A cinematic centrifuge of acrobatic stunt work, breakneck chases and immersive action, Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a perfectly calibrated piece of filmmaking that plays the viewer like a drum right from the start
5 Underground Houston Rappers You Should be Listening to
This may be the city of candy paint, sippin’ lean, and bangin’ screw, but the nature of art is progress, and the nature of progress is change. Houston’s hip hop community today is dynamic, multi-layered, and light years beyond its original “chopped and screwed” aesthetic. Its artists range from old…
Doris Metropolitan Rises on the Spot That Once Held Chef Ryan Hildebrand’s Triniti Dreams
Mediterranean blues, yolky yellows and curvy Middle Eastern wall patterns cloak the dining room interior as a small crystal chandelier hangs in a room walled by glass. Inside that room, slabs of tagged meat perch upon shelves, some with a dusty hue, some more fresh-faced. The bones of 2815 Shepherd…
The Five Best Trailers From SDCC 2018
Not all of us are fortunate enough to make the trek west to enjoy the excitement of Comic-Con International: San Diego, better known as SDCC. For those of us stuck elsewhere, the con means keeping a close eye on our Twitter feeds waiting for real-time updates on the various panels…
Astros Have a Few Small Holes to Fill Before the Postseason
The Astros remain one of the best teams in baseball, behind only the Boston Red Sox for best record in the majors and still five games ahead of Seattle in the AL West. It could easily be argued that the Astros are both better (on paper) than last season and…
Rediscover Our City’s Lost History Through the Eyes of Early Houston Artists
Houston’s architecture isn’t designed to last forever. We wax nostalgic about the Shamrock Hotel with its star-studded opening fête and immense swimming pool, watch anxiously as the Astrodome and Magic Island flounder in architectural purgatory, and are grateful that the 1915 Texaco Building has been transformed into a luxury high-rise. Even the flood-prone Spaghetti…
Perfect Pairings: Icy Melon Mint Hookah and Persian Tea at Cafe Layal Midtown
Maybe it’s the smoke, or maybe it’s the smoke, but kicking back with a hookah and a pot of Persian tea at Café Layal is a pretty chill way to go about your day. Life slows down as relaxation sets in and when you tag on a warm caffeinated beverage,…
Last Girl: The Best Houston Music of The Week
Sets from Soccer Mommy, Turnpike Troubadours, Royce Da 5’9″, Rich Homie Quan will be in Houston this week while locals like Mockingbird Brother, Astragal will round things out. Tonight you can get started at Spruce Goose when the psych pop of Austin’s Food Group swing by to perform. These guys…
Texans 2018 Training Camp Begins — Four Things To Watch For
The Texans begin training camp in West Virginia today, and I’ll admit that it’s still an adjustment adapting to their heading out of town for cooler temperatures to start the preseason. I will be headed to the Greenbrier this coming Sunday morning, and I will be there all week next…
The Equalizer 2: Denzel Thinks Globally, Kills Locally
All that lashing wind and rain, and Fuqua’s sometimes haphazard storytelling, deny us the grim pleasures of Denzel’s methodical slayings, which often take clever advantage of whatever tools happen to be handy
10 Things to Try at Michael Mina and Ayesha Curry’s International Smoke
International Smoke, the new restaurant by celebrity chef Michael Mina and Ayesha Curry — and arguably one of the hottest openings of the year — debuted at CityCentre Houston in Memorial City the day after July 4th. Taking over the space previously occupied by Straits Asian Bistro, the exciting new…
5 Things to Know When Your Kid Gets Into Sports
My daughter has been enrolled in various sports programs since she was five, and even before that her daycare provider was also a karate teacher by night and added basic karate as a freebie to the class. Like most parents, over the years I’ve compiled a list of things that…
Houston Rescue Group Teaches Dogs to “Just Say No” to Snakes
Whether you mark the seasons as a hunter — doves in September, quail in October and ducks in November — or you’ve got a big enough patch of grass that snakes can be a slithery problem, everybody can agree that it’s best for dogs to stay clear. The venomous snakes…
Ruiners Take a Comically Dark Look at the Afterlife In New Video
Houston’s Ruiners continually prove that they’re one of the best bands to come out of this city in recent years. In their new video for the track “Outside,” the four piece emits notes of emo tinged punk. The video directed by Houston photographer and videographer Derek Rathbun, is a comically…
Why Does Bovada Hate Deshaun Watson?
The Texans begin training camp in the next 24 hours, and thus will officially begin the Deshaun Watson Hype Train for 2018. No NFL player is averaging more magazine covers and television segments per 2017 start than the Houston Texans’ franchise quarterback. He is the future of this franchise, and…
Will Carmelo Anthony Fit With the Rockets?
On Monday, New York Times sports writer Marc Stein reported that Carmelo Anthony intends to sign with the Houston Rockets for the veteran minimum after his trade to and subsequent release from the Atlanta Hawks occurs. That process could take up to a week to complete while the various teams…
Float Fest Keeps Upping its Game in Year 5
MARTINDALE – Float Fest is one of those festivals that always sounded like a better idea in theory than in actual practice. We take tens of thousands of partiers, have them camp on spacious ranch grounds for a couple nights and shuttle them to the river for a little floating…
James Gunn Was Fired For Old Tweets Because Disney Listened To The “Pizzagate” Guy
James Gunn, director of the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, was fired by from GotG Vol. 3 by Disney last week after tweets Gunn wrote several years ago were brought (again) to light by conservative Twitter crusaders led by Mike “Pizzagate” Cernovich. Gunn has since released a statement (on Twitter, of…
Weather Week: “Cooler” Weather? Kind of
This weekend, Houston reached 100 degrees for the first time this year. A few areas around town, nevermind all the ubiquitous shots of car thermometers on social media, may have even gotten a bit higher than that, but the official high recorded at Bush Intercontinental Airport was 100 on Sunday…
Jason Heller’s New Book Details Cosmic Links Between Sci-Fi and Rock and Roll
Metaphorically speaking, Denver-based author Jason Heller has his feet planted on two different worlds in the literary cosmos. One is ground in music/entertainment journalism, where his work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and Entertainment Weekly. The other rests in the realm of science fiction as a novelist, short story…
Jadeveon Clowney States He Is Ready For Training Camp
Coming off of a season in which they led the NFL in players placed on injured reserve, the ironic thing about this Texans’ offseason, OTA’s, and minicamp, has been the fact that the one player whose physical well being has been most cloudy and most discussed is the one star…
Houston Shakespeare Festival’s Comedy of Errors Casts Two Actors as Both Sets of Twins
Lovers of slapstick, fast-paced plots involving repeated instances of mistaken identity and the bard himself have a chance to see a classic as the Houston Shakespeare Festival presents Comedy of Errors. Racheting up the farce and confusion factor is that in this production, two actors — Andrew Garrett and Crash…
Houston, Home of the Drive Through Animal Shelter and Low Cost Vets
Pet homelessness isn’t new, but what is new is that now residents of Houston can go through the drive through line to drop off unwanted dogs and cats. It sounds crass but it’s actually designed to save lives. The staff will vaccinate the animal in your car (for free), ask…
Road Trip: Famous and Infamous Graves of Texas
This summer we’re taking a look at interesting, odd, historic and just plain worth it road trips in and around the Lone Star State. We know where the bodies are buried. Texas is the eternal resting place for Bonnie and Clyde, Freddie Fender, Howard Hughes and perhaps even a space alien…
This Week in Houston Food Events: 75-cent Wings and $1 Beers at Pluckers
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All week long 23rd Anniversary Week Celebration at Pluckers Wing Bar Pluckers Wing Bar, 1400 Shepherd, will be celebrating its 23rd anniversary with week-long specials, including $1 Bud Lights and 75-cent wings on Monday, $5 Fried Cheese on Tuesday, $4 fried…
Au Naturel: Natural Wines Are Pouring Into Houston
“They were a hard sell, sometimes even hard to give away.” Adele Corrigan, general manager and sommelier of Midtown wine bar, 13 Celsius, recalls the early days of selling natural wine in Houston. The movement started by independent French winemakers in the early 1980s took decades to make its way…
Vacationer Returns With New Music and a New Live Show
Chillwave doesn’t have to be about being chill, which is best proven by Philadelphia’s Vacationer. “I have been making music since I was 14, mostly loud rock music and I wanted to give my voice a break. I caught LCD Sound System and I was blown away at how they…
Here’s Your Chance to Win Florence and the Machine Tickets From Live Nation Houston
To celebrate the Florence and the Machine show at the Woodlands Pavilion on September 30, Live Nation Houston is giving fans a chance to win two tickets to the show. Get to the mural, share it on Instagram with the hashtag #FlorenceSweeps, and you’re in the running for the ticket…
Smile Till Your Face Hurts at Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
The film’s half-baked story about a girl trying to live out her slutty, wonderful, deceased mother’s dream of operating a hotel on a Greek island (all set to the music of ABBA) is so thoroughly entertaining and ridiculous that the cast members can’t help but crack into dumb grins at what they’re doing
The First Female Hamlet in This Year’s Houston Shakespeare Festival
Shannon Hill, a 2013 graduate of the University of Houston theater master’s program, will be the first woman to play the title role in Hamlet in the Houston Shakespeare Festival. Her background in many ways makes her a natural for it since when she was in grad school she achieved…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Drink Up at the Viva El Tequila Festival
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Viva El Tequila Festival at Cadillac Bar Friday, 7 to 10 p.m. 1802 Shepherd The third annual Viva El Tequila Fest will feature tequila pours, signature cocktails and beer, plus tasty tacos and more. Tickets are $60 ($50 for Landry’s Select…
Houston Astros Second Half of 2018 Season — Four Things To Watch For
There hasn’t even been a real Major League Baseball regular season game played yet this week, and yet this has been a pretty damn good week to be an Astros fan. Alex Bregman was one of the featured stars on Home Run Derby day on Monday, and even gave eventual…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: The Equalizer 2
Denzel Washington doesn’t do a lot of equalizing in his first ever sequel.
Heart’s Ann Wilson Turns Archaeologist for Immortal
Some day in a distant future, maybe archaeologists will happen upon the modern hieroglyphics of our favorite classic rock songs. What might they learn about us from The Beatles’ “Let It Be” or Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven?” It’s a notion that’s crossed the mind of Ann Wilson. The Heart…
Playwright Holly Charles is Still A Woman, Hear Her Roar
All these factors point out that we should not be ashamed of things that are culturally specific, there is nothing wrong with us. We do the best we can with the resources we are given, with our culture and all these other constraints. I just want to remove the shame.”
BODEGA Brings Their Acclaimed Art Rock To Houston
Typically, art rock bands don’t gain traction on a national level. However, if you mix in post-punk elements and have an intense live show, you can get plenty of attention like Brooklyn’s BODEGA has. “There’s certainly a post-punk influence in our music. But that may be more intellectual spiritual than…
Openings and Closings: Ciao One-Fifth Romance Languages, Lyle Bento Returns
One-Fifth Romance Languages, 1658 Westheimer, will close July 31 to make way for its next concept, One-Fifth Mediterranean. For folks wanting to bid adieu, the restaurant will host a family meal the last evening. There will be no set menu, so open your mind and your taste buds and let…
Rockets May Be Close to Adding Anthony After OKC Trade
The NBA rules when it comes to trades, buyouts and signings are complicated. Such was the case when, on Thursday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder agreed to trade forward Carmelo Anthony to the Atlanta Hawks for a pair of players. The Hawks are expected to release Anthony making him an…
Sam Smith’s Heartbreak Anthems Belie His Persona At Toyota Center
Sam Smith Toyota Center July 18, 2018 You wouldn’t know it by his music, but Sam Smith is actually a pretty happy guy in concert. In front of a nearly sold-out crowd at Houston’s Toyota Center, the 26-year-old singer/songwriter tempered his otherwise melancholy set with charming anecdotes, plenty of thank-yous…
Cocktail Therapy: Jessica Johnson of Wooster’s Garden
Jessica Johnson picked up bartending as a second job to her fashion retail career. And that was all it took. “I love it when it’s busy, I think you have to love it.” Certainly so, and especially true at Wooster’s Garden, the high-volume Midtown bar with the widest-ranging beverage menu…
U of H Phenom Ed Oliver’s Preseason Accolade List Is Crazy
In 44 days, the 2018 college football season will begin for the University of Houston Cougars, and thus will begin one of the potentially most decorated regular seasons for an individual player, not only in U of H history, but in the history of college football. But that’s how it’s…
How Gibson and Its Guitars Could Turn Things Around
Guitars aren’t overly complicated, and as such, the business of making them shouldn’t be either. So when it was revealed that legendary guitar maker Gibson was in financial ruin earlier this year, to some, it was shocking. However, to anyone who’s owned one of the many Gibson masterpieces over the…
Vote Houston Press Best Funnel Cake At Wet’n’Wild SplashTown
Wednesday, the Houston Press competed in a funnel cake competition against Maria Mendez of Univision and Cake & Confetti blogger, Meredith Staggers, for the chance to win a personalized funnel cake creation that will be featured at Wet’n’Wild SplashTown for the duration of the summer. And it’s a good thing…
5 Ways to Combat the Next Election Propaganda Wave
I am sick of reading the phrase “that’s how Donald Trump will win a second term.” Not because I’m not worried about that, but because virtually nobody saying it is ever addressing the very real likelihood that America will once again be under attack from a Russian psyop based on…
Weather Weekend: Some Like It Hot…They Better
Summer is here and it is asserting itself with a vengeance. If you love the heat and sunshine, you are going to absolutely love the forecast because there will be plenty of both. We would take this forecast day-by-day, but the truth is that every day is going to be…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: One Last Meat at One Fifth Romance Languages
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: UB Preserv, 1609 Westheimer, will be hosting a Houston Bourbon Consortium Maker’s Mark Private Select Dinner on Monday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m. Enthusiasts can enjoy a five-course dinner from chef de cuisine Nick Wong, featuring…
Bill Burr Isn’t Here for the PC Crowd
Like many a high-profile industries, stand-up comedy is perhaps under a greater microscope than ever. Between social media, 24-hour news and the like, people are more easily offended than ever, or at the very least, far more vocal about it. Bill Burr, one of the hottest comics in the stand-up…
A Decade In, Turnpike Troubadours Still Going Strong
A lot of bands form with no real plan, well, other than writing, playing and (hopefully) recording some music. That wasn’t the case for country outfit Turnpike Troubadours, now ten years into their existence. “This really was our plan, to make a real go of this band,” said RC Edwards,…
Astros Are Remarkably Clutch for Their Age
It seemed only fitting on Tuesday night that, with the game tied in extra innings, it was a pair of World Series champs due to the plate. In a game that set the record for home runs in a midsummer classic, the two most important came in the tenth inning…
Andrew Lloyd Webber Works Wonders With The Phantom Sequel, Love Never Dies
Broadway mavens have always had a field day trouncing Andrew Lloyd Webber. He’s had his share of clunkers – Starlight Express, The Woman in White, By Jeeves, The Wizard of Oz – and he’s had plenty of middling hits – Aspects of Love, Whistle Down the Wind, Sunset Boulevard. But…
Smashing Pumpkins Put on a Shiny and Oh So Very Long Show at Toyota Center
Smashing Pumpkins, Metric Toyota Center July 17, 2K18 It’s a bit surprising when Billy Corgan walks down the stage, guitar slung over his shoulders, and kicks off a headlining set with “Disarm.” It’s a beautiful song, one of the best in the Smashing Pumpkins catalog, but you expect an arena…
MLB All Star Game: AL Knocks Off NL 8-6, Bregman Named MVP
From 2003 through 2016, the Major League Baseball All Star Game decided home field advantage in the World Series. Logically, it made no sense, the complete “cause and effect” disconnect between the two best teams in baseball playing in October and an All Star game being decided by random backups…
It’s Sadly Kind of Perfect That New Season of GLOW Is Stolen by Marc Maron
In Season 2, that tension gathers over Sam and Ruth (Alison Brie), a GLOW wrestler/cast member and veteran of discouraging, often humiliating Hollywood casting calls
First Look at Wanna Bao
I was in the middle of microwaving a sad desk lunch in my office breakroom when my coworker dropped two phrases that caught my immediate attention. They were “xiao long bao” and “Midtown.” There is no shortage of moments in which dumpling cravings hit me, but there is a woefully…
Welcome to the Most Boring Week in Sports
It happens every year. Maybe people in the world of sports want a vacation. Maybe it’s just timing. But, in mid July, the world of sports (at least in America) come to a screeching halt. And it’s boring as hell. The undisputed most exciting time in sports is October. Baseball…
The Gavel Comes Down, the Curtain Goes Up, and It’s Showtime in Houston
The bar is set fairly low for the lawyers and judges who pony up fat stacks to get on stage and sing, dance and rap during this annual production that benefits local charities. The big surprise here is that some of these legal eagles are actually quite talented. “The audience…
Sacha Baron Cohen and Armed Teachers Aren’t Enough to Save Schools
Provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen has done it again, duping the likes of Sarah Palin, Roy Moore, Joe Walsh and Dick Cheney with his impersonations and pranks while filming Showtime’s Who Is America?. But it’s his first look interview with gun rights advocate Philip Van Cleave where Cohen’s alter-ego, anti-terror expert Colonel Erran Morad, suggests…
Midnight Train: The Best Houston Music of the Week
This week while we brave the heat there’s more than enough entertaining options happening around town. Sets from Sam Smith, Counting Crows, Blue October, Beach Fossils, Ricky Skaggs and more will be here while locals Swimwear Department, Get A Life, Yaupon and more round things out. Tonight you could get…
Perfect Pairings: Crispy French Fries and Vanilla Milkshake at Beck’s Prime
There are moments in your life, and we all have them, when you just have to say screw it… I’m doing something for me today. Nothing satisfies that moment more than hot fried potatoes dipped in cold dairy. Wendy’s, yeah, McDonalds, maybe, but if you get the opportunity to splurge…
The Essential Blindspotting Insists That People, Cities and Movies Can’t Be Reduced
The film, like Oakland itself, is forever evolving, always becoming some new thing just when it at last seems to have revealed its full self
Hotel Transylvania 3: the Right Kind of Disposable Fun
Van Helsing is a distant memory by the time we reach Dracula (aka Drac) in the present day, feeling lonely at Hotel Transylvania, his secret resort run by and for monsters, where demonic creatures and other surreal abominations of nature are allowed to vacation free of human meddling
White Balls & White Lines: The Wild Story of the Making of Caddyshack
Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story By Chris Nashawaty 304 pp. $26.99 Flatiron Books Today, Caddyshack is a beloved cinematic institution – even among non-putters – and a cult classic watched endlessly by its dedicated fans. There’s even a Twitter account dedicated just to espousing its much-quoted dialogue…
A Beginner’s Guide to Float Fest 2018
Float Fest has really emerged as a player on the Texas music festival scene, and this is no surprise. After all, the summer festival – taking place July 21-22 at Cool River Ranch in Martindale – truly showcases what summertime in Texas is all about. Patrons can float the river…
Philadelphia Tried to Swipe Daryl Morey from the Rockets
According to a report from Marc Stein of the New York Times, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey was recruited by the Philadelphia 76ers to fill the vacant general manager job left by Bryan Colangelo after the “burner” Twitter accounts scandal. The news came a bit out of nowhere on what…
Potato Corner is Not the Fried Potato Spot of Your Food Court Dreams
Even in our nicest malls, eating at the food court feels like something of a gamble. That’s not to say that your average food court meal is awful, it’s just that it rarely ranks higher than OK. Food courts serve their purpose, and we know what we’re getting ourselves into…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Washington Avenue at B&B Butchers
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! The stuffed Washington Avenue at B&B Butchers has exactly what you’d expect from a working butcher shop: lots of delicious meat.
Houston Press Singles Club: Black Kite, Rome Hero Foxes, Perseph One
In this edition of the Houston Press Singles Club, we’ll get to experience plenty of new songs while also looking at some tracks that may have been overlooked. New bangers from Black Kite, MiddleChild, Rome Hero Foxes, Funeral Horse, and Perseph One will all get added to the list. While…
Theatre Southwest’s 21st Festival of Originals Is For The Dogs (In A Good Way!)
“This is a GREAT play. A German Shepard and a Maltese have a ‘park reunion,’ where they start off playing and having fun. But as the play progresses, this turns into a story of how to say good-bye.”
Ranking J.J. Watt’s Television Commercials
When you’re stack ranking the countless remarkable feats that J.J. Watt has accomplished in his seven year NFL career, on the field and off the field, certainly among them is the fact that he has maintained not just relevance, but high profile relevance during the last two years, two years…
Boy George and Friends Help Us See No Shame in Our Game, ‘80s Fans
If you lived in the 1980s, as practically everyone at last night’s Smart Financial Centre show featuring Boy George and Culture Club did, you might look back on the era with some remorse. You may occasionally cringe at photos of yourself in parachute pants. What compelled you to religiously record…
Weather Week: Summer for Real Descends on Houston
If you recently moved to Houston and thought to yourself, “Holy crap, it’s hot here in the summer.” Well, congratulations for your first Houston lesson. We hate to burst your bubble, but what you’ve seen isn’t quite summer yet. Oh, sure, it’s been hot as hell, but the peak of…
Astros Join Growing List Denouncing Papa John’s Founder in Wake of Racial Slur
It’s no secret that America exists in a polarized atmosphere politically and socially. And sports are not immune to the winds of change within the world around them. The act of kneeling during the National Anthem in protest has dominated headlines in and out of sports, and racially charged statements…
Don’t Compare Scarlett Johansson to Tim Curry in Rocky Horror
One of the current uproars in pop culture news is that Scarlett Johansson will be playing a trans man in an upcoming biopic. Johansson will be portraying Dante “Tex” Gill, a gangster who owned massage parlors, did the standard tax evasion gimmick of all discerning criminals and once threw a…
Smart Financial Centre is One of the World’s Best-Selling Theaters
“Our expectations were we were gonna sell 250,000 tickets in year five,” Smart Financial Centre President Gary Becker tells me when I ask him about expectations versus reality at the Sugar Land venue. He continues, “and we sold 326,000 tickets in year one.” Opening on January 14, 2017, Smart Financial…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Tree House Happy Hour at The Grove
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, July 16 Eureka Heights Beer Dinner at Flying Saucer Sugar Land Flying Saucer Sugar Land, 15929 City Walk, Bird Dog Saint and Eureka Heights Brew Co are teaming up for a beer dinner from 7 to 9 p.m., pairing five…
The Evolution of Walker Lukens
If you look at the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, it doesn’t fit with the rest of their catalog, says Walker Lukens. He uses this example as a way to make his point about any artist’s evolution. “I think what makes artists evolve is that they have to,” says the Houston…
Neat: A Best Cocktail Tour of Downtown Houston
Get in loser, we’re going downtown. You’ve been working all week, and this is your night out. Maybe it’s a birthday or an anniversary. Maybe it’s just Thursday and Friday was taking too long. Whatever the occasion, whatever the excuse, you’re going out. You’ve got more than a few good…
Offensive Line Rebuild Continues As Texans Release Guard Jeff Allen
The financial ecosystem in the NFL can be a strange thing. With a rookie wage scale depressing salaries for players in their first four seasons, the majority of the money required to be spent under the salary cap winds up going to veterans in free agency. Some of those veterans…
Big Rivers Almost Open in Houston + Road Tripping the Waterparks of Texas
This summer we’re taking a look at interesting, odd, historic and just plain worth it road trips in and around the Lone Star State. The wait is almost over and the long-anticipated Big Rivers Waterpark is getting closer to opening in New Caney, less than 35 miles from downtown Houston. Their June…
Houston Restaurant Weeks 2018 Website Goes Live
The website for the 2018 Houston Restaurant Weeks is now live. Would be diners can now scroll through the preliminary list of this year’s participating restaurants, browse menus and meal options, and learn more about the year’s largest fundraising event for the nation’s premiere food bank. Established in 2003 by…
Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash Sizzles at Stages
Johnny Cash comes to life in Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash at Stages Repertory Theatre.
Buyer & Cellar at Main Street is a Rollicking, Funny and Preposterous Story
Tony Kushner may subtitle his epic drama Angels in America a “gay fantasia on national themes,” but playwright Jonathan Tolins in Buyer & Cellar, deliciously staged at Main Street Theater, delivers a much more down-to-earth, approachable fantasy. It’s also much funnier. Admission into the Gay Boy’s Club requires only one…
Cactus Flowers Turns a Dream Deferred Into Dreamy Rock
Jessica Murillo grew up in a creative household where family members were encouraged to pursue their artistic passions. Early on, it was clear hers was music. She learned violin as a kid and worked her way to guitar as a teenager. In college, she put her first plugged-up band together,…
Rockets-Clippers Game 6, 2015 — Where Are They Now?
More than any other sport, the NBA lends itself to the retroactive “what if” scenarios that fuel debate television and summer sports radio. There are probably multiple reasons, but to me, I feel like the nature of the sport of basketball, where a single player can have huge impact on…
The Prettybads are Ramonescore and So Much More
“Be authentic. Be awesome. And playing fast is much more interesting.” These are the lessons taught by the iconic punk band, the Ramones. They are tenets that have passed down to bands that have followed, creating a subgenre of punk called “Ramonescore.” And one of the most exciting acts practicing…
No One, Especially Abusers, is Owed A Dream Job
For every famous and semi-famous person accused of doing something wrong, there’s a small army of people who don’t know them willing to defend them. Call them fans, call them stans, call them trolls, but whatever label you choose to give them, they’re the ones ready, willing, and eager to…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: The Feast of Saint Arnold
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: 713 Day at Axelrad Friday, noon to 11 p.m. 1517 Alabama Join Axelrad in showing some H-town love at its 713 Day celebration, showcasing an all-star lineup of Houston bands and DJs, beers, music, cocktails, vendors, and food. Craft beer barons…
Openings and Closings: Bonjour La Villa Saint Tropez, Cheerio Queen Vic
La Villa Saint-Tropez, 4315 Montrose, softly opened July 4 and has been serving dinner for the past week. It officially opens July 15 for Sunday Brunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Co-owner Vincent Sinard is also part of the team behind Victor, the swanky French cocktail lounge that opened in…
Rockets Sign James Ennis, Wait on Carmelo Anthony
On Wednesday, the Rockets signed free agent forward James Ennis to a two-year deal worth a little over $2 million. The second year has a player option. The move was clearly an effort to help replace the losses of Trevor Ariza, who took a one-year deal in Phoenix, and Luc…
Houston’s QFest Entertains With Thought-Provoking New Films and Shorts
One look at this year’s QFest line-up and it becomes apparent that mainstream blockbusters are woefully lacking when it comes to variety and plotlines. Instead of CGI enhanced fight scenes that run a little too long, we’re being treated to international films that are both entertaining and cerebral. “I just…
Songwriters From Defunct Golden Sombrero and Race To The Moon Combine to Make Yaupon
When bands go away it’s always sad, though when Houston lost two bands in Golden Sombrero and Race To The Moon, it only seemed natural that the two principal songwriters from each would join forces. The result is Yaupon, a band that goes further into folk rock. On their debut…
Three Decades In, 311’s Nick Hexum Gets Reflective
What do U2, Radiohead and 311 have in common? On the surface, not a lot. Sure, each band is a respected mainstream outfit with a bevy of hit songs, but to classify any of those bands into one particular silo would be an odd fit. Turns out, if any particular…
Houston Gets a New Halloween EDM Festival in 2018 That’s Freaky Deaky
Most festivals end on an optimistic note. Provided nothing has gone catastrophically wrong, it’s easy to believe, even before the last fan is out the gates, that the festival will be back a year later, and most aren’t afraid to call their shot on social media. Take Something Wicked, for…
Zapruder Analysis of Pacman Jones In An Incredible Airport Fistfight
When we look back at the first couple decades of football in the 2000s, there will be numerous improbable happenings that we will recap. The brief rise of the “Greatest Show on Turf” in St. Louis (which actually began in 1999), Eli Manning winning two Super Bowls, and Jon Gruden’s…
There’s a New Gin In Town
True, there’s nothing like a little gin in the morning, but to be fair, it was noon. Night owls of the service industry equipped with excellent senses of humor, colorful tattooed arm sleeves, and some with freshly waxed mustaches, arose early yesterday to convene and create at Heights Bier Garten,…
Weather Weekend: The Heat and Dust Cometh
Weather in many cities can be monotonous. Phoenix is hot and dry. Seattle is gray and drizzly. And while Houston may not have that level of consistency to its weather, there is a rhythm that anyone who has lived here a while recognizes, particularly in summer. It goes something like…
It’s a Purple, Purple, Purple World and James Brown Just Lived in It
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.” That is exactly what Prince was about. I remember during the Super Bowl this question between my brother and myself first came up, though it is a bit of a silly question. “Prince or James Brown?”…
Cocktail Therapy: Beto Suarez of Oporto Fooding House & Wine
Reggae tracks waft lazily in the bar-by-the-sea space marked with terracotta tile and rope basket lanterns. Rain or shine, when entering the Midtown location of Oporto, it sets you down right by the ocean instead. Whether it’s a riff off the Brazilian classic Caipirinha or a simple G & T…
Maybe All Theater Audiences Shouldn’t Have to Shut the F Up?
“OMG, have you read the theater etiquette article yet?” “You totally need to read this awesome article.” “YAAAASSSS to everything she says in this piece.” These were the messages I was bombarded with via email and social media two weeks ago when TimeOutNew York published writer/performer Amanda Duarte’s article, Sit…
H-E-B Has Become the Newest Art Gallery in H-Town
It’s easy to get buried under the life-changing news that H-E-B has just announced beer and wine delivery in under an hour, making deciding to wear pajamas all day long a possibility. But more than a few did pick up on the fact that the Texas-based grocer has also entered…
LYTA Adds Her Name To Houston’s Electronic Scene
The chances are high that you’ve never heard of Houston’s LYTA. The up and coming electronic artist hasn’t played more than a handful of shows, and she’s only dropped a song in the past year. On her debut E.P. ID, she mixes R&B with electro-pop in the most inviting way,…
The Ken Giles Era is Over
“F*** you, man!” It wasn’t like it was Ken Giles’ first implosion on the mound this season or his first post-collapse outburst — you’ll recall this is the guy who literally hit himself in the face when leaving a game earlier this year. But, when Giles dropped the F-bomb on…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Get Your Beef On at B&B Butchers & Restaurant
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: On Tuesday, July 17 beginning at 5 p.m., Izakaya, 318 Gray, will be hosting a fun bar-top event featuring three top-of-the-line Kyoto beers. Reservations are required ($20 per person plus tax and gratuity) and include three…
All Shook Up: an Evening of Elvis Music With a Story (Loosely) By Shakespeare
Even before the annual Houston Shakespeare Festival, Houston audiences are getting the chance to hear Shakespeare — of a sorts — with Theatre Under the Stars’ presentation of All Shook Up described as a juke box musical with music by Elvis Presley with a plot loosely based on Twelfth Night…
Astros Win In Most Bizarre Walk Off You’ll Ever See
No sport embodies the “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” cliche more than baseball, so I will try not to make too much of what amounts to, in the standings, just one win, but the Houston Astros’ glorious, bizarre 6-5 walk off win against the Oakland A’s on Tuesday night…
Heart Surgeon Bud Frazier Sues Houston Chronicle and ProPublica Over Story
Renowned heart transplant surgeon Dr. O.H. “Bud” Frazier has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Houston Chronicle, ProPublica and the two reporters from those publications who reported and wrote a May 24, 2018 story entitled “A Pioneering Heart Surgeon’s Secret History of Research Violations, Conflicts of Interest and Poor Outcomes.”…
Who Cooked That: Houston’s Service Industry Thrives Thanks to Latino Immigrants
In 2016, at the height of the Trump campaign media storm, the late Anthony Bourdain said of immigrant workers, “If Mr. Trump deports 11 million people or whatever he’s talking about right now, every restaurant in America would shut down.” A long time defender of Hispanic immigrants, Bourdain spoke often…
Brown Over Purple: Why James Brown Was Greater Than Prince
My brother Adrian and I recently debated a simple, unanswerable question: who was greater, James Brown or Prince? We agree that arguing who is “greater” – more influential, more charismatic, more musical, more everything – between James Brown and Prince is like bickering about whether Jordan or LeBron is the…
The Race to Save the Romanovs and How It Fell Apart
The Race to Save the Romanovs: The Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue the Russian Imperial Family By Helen Rappaport 400 pp. $28.99 St. Martin’s Press This month marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most notorious and shocking political-related killings of all time. That’s when Tsar Nicholas…
Like Most Films, Hearts Beat Loud Should Focus More on Its Women
The main character, this time named Frank (Nick Offerman), like (High) Fidelity‘s Rob, owns a record store and lectures women about music as if they don’t have opinions — or ears — of their own
Idle Worship: The Best Houston Music of The Week
There’s plenty of happenings around town this week while we all brave the hot weather. Performances from Paramore, Deafheaven, The Donkeys and more will all be here while locals like Deep Cuts, Bombon and more will round things out. Tonight you can get started at The Secret Group when Philadelphia…
Five Reasons We Are In Love With Gerald Green
Rockets guard/forward Gerald Green signed the one-year deal agreement with the Rockets he agreed to last week on Wednesday. There was little doubt he would be back. He spent half of last season sitting around waiting for someone, anyone to give him a call. It turned out to be his…
Presale Tickets for The Morning After Brunch Event
This year’s The Morning After, the annual brunch event the Houston Press puts on, won’t be until Saturday, September 29 but you can buy your pre-sale tickets starting today. This will be the third year for the event held at the Bayou City Event Center Pavilion form 11:30 a.m. to…
Perfect Pairings: Thai Phanaeng Curry and Dr. Loosen 2015 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese
Appreciating Thai food with Riesling is like one, long, seamless thought. Which makes us wonder, in which bar and where in the world did a Thai meet a handsome German and what song was it they slow danced too… I’d like to think it wasn’t something by Ed Sheeran. People…
Ashley Olivier: Bringing the Wasp to Life in Marvel Universe Live
Right now Marvel fans are in in the long, dark time period between installments of Infinity War and the culmination of the massive story began way back in 2008 with Iron Man. If you can’t wait until next year to get your mega-crossover event action fix, then Marvel Universe Live…
Rob Reiner’s Shock and Awe Takes on Bush’s War and The New York Times — and Wins
Shock and Awe is a 90-minute liberal told-you-so, a polemic that, like a long Rachel Maddow segment, is more cheery than thunderous, even as it names the names that must be named
Skyscraper Sure Has a Lot of Mass Shootings for a Family-Time Adventure Movie
Skyscraper is a family-bonding adventure film starring Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell and two elementary-aged children who are as good at appearing darling (in the early scenes) as they are at playacting the role of traumatized hostages (in the later scenes)
The Trump Presidency is the Best Worst Thing to Happen to the United States
Even though we live the age of information, it’s surprisingly difficult to keep tabs on the state of America. If you feel like every time you open up your browser there’s some bit of weirdness going on, you’re not alone. Sometimes it’s small stories, like members of Mar-A-Lago getting tours…
Ed Kowalczyk on Live’s Past … and its Future
Ed Kowalczyk is well aware of his band’s place in the pop-rock pantheon. Live is a band that once charted three consecutive Platinum records, including one that did so eight times over, has moved upwards of 15 million records worldwide and has charted nearly 20 singles on the Billboard Alternative…
Astros Sign New Lease at Ballpark That Spurred Downtown Growth
On Monday, the Astros agreed to extend their lease at Minute Maid Park through 2050. The lease signed with the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority created little in the way of fanfare, but was critical not only in keeping the Astros in Houston beyond the 2030 season, but in continuing the…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Meatball with Cheese at Mandola’s Deli
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! It’s not easy to find a great meatball sub in Houston, but the Meatball with Cheese at Madola’s Deli is mama-mia good.
Whitney Soars When It Lets Its Subject Speak and Sing for Herself
At first, Whitney gives off the unpleasant whiff of dirty laundry being aired, as the members of Houston’s inner circle, speaking alone in front of the camera, dish on the family’s secrets
Road Trip: Texas Museum Trail
This summer we’re taking a look at interesting, odd, historic and just plain worth it road trips in and around the Lone Star State. For a true collector, it can be a slippery slope between hoarding and a museum-quality attraction. We’ve got a few who made that leap with toys,…
Free Freeway Towing Has Arrived for Houston-Area Motorists
Stalled cars result in an awful lot of traffic headaches on Houston highways, adding to an already difficult and frustrating commute for drivers. As an answer to that problem, the Houston-Galveston Area Council announced a Tow and Go program already underway. The program provides free tows to motorists on Houston…
Houston Symphony Brings Wham!-Factor With George Michael Concert
The Houston Symphony’s Summer Series at Jones Hall includes a tribute program to pop superstar George Michael, whose popular music dominated the music charts in the ‘80s and ‘90s. During this Texas premiere, the orchestra along with a guest vocalist, will pay homage to the artist’s most iconic tunes like “Faith” and “Careless Whisper” to…
Tag Is Often Pretty Gloriously Dumb, So Too Bad It Also Seems to Want to Be More
Several grown men have been playing the same game of tag for the last three decades, spending one month each year doing everything they can to avoid one another, while also doing everything they can to secretly find and touch one another
The Suffers Don’t Play It Safe On New Record
The Suffers are easily the most successful act to come out of Houston in the past five years, and on their second record Everything Here, they build upon their jam infused sounds by venturing into other genres, including some baby steps into gospel. They open with the Paul Wall featured…
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and Mr. Rogers Insist Humanity Can be Better Than This
Through archival footage of Rogers both on and off the set of his iconic show, as well as interviews with his family, friends and former crew members, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? draws a flattering yet complex portrait of its subject, who died of cancer in 2003
Uncle Drew Scores One for All the Old Dudes
Jay Longino’s sap-filled script turns Drew into a mythological Zen master, dispensing words of wisdom after living a life of solitude and regrets when he’s not chasing after buckets
Purge Series’ New Prequel Makes Previous Episodes Look Subtle
… There’s an urgency and an anger this time around that helps paper over some of the story’s messiness, as well as some of the awkward drama of trying to explain where this whole crazy Purge idea actually came from
Five Houston Astros Selected To MLB All Star Game
One year after sending six players to the 2017 MLB All-Star Game, the Houston Astros will again have a heavy presence at the Midsummer Classic, after the announcement Sunday evening that five Astros have been selected to the 2018 All-Star Game, which will be played next Tuesday night at Nationals…
Andrew Zimmern’s Weekend In Houston
Celebrity chef and Travel Channel host Andrew Zimmern was seen all over H-town this weekend as he went on a non-stop, two-day eating spree for an upcoming episode of his show, The Zimmern List. While we’re not sure of his exact itinerary, we did a bit of detective work on…
Houston’s Best Mezcal Cocktails
It has taken over cocktail menus across the country. That smoky and polarizing cousin of tequila, once found on only the most authentic of Mexican menus, has taken hold of the American drinking palette. Mezcal, the earthy and peaty fermentation of the agave plant, is the lesser known agave spirit…
Do-Over Cinema: Thank Deep Blue Sea For The Current Glut Of Shark Movies. Or Don’t.
Sick of shark movies? Blame Deep Blue Sea.
Houston Weather Throws the Warped Tour One Last Curveball
For the Warped Tour, chaos is a feature, not a bug. 95 percent of the concerts you’ll go to in your life will be fairly straightforward. You’ll know the basics: who is playing and in what order, where you’ll purchase merchandise, where to go to pick up your tickets, and…
Summer of Melo II: The Potentially Annoying Sequel
Last summer, the Rockets added Chris Paul, Luc Mbah a Moute and P.J. Tucker, but by the end of the offseason, some fans felt a sense of disappointment at the team’s inability to land New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony to the fold. Anthony, who was parting ways with the…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Get Your Tickets to Southern Smoke
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long Four Year Anniversary at Cacao & Cardamom Cacao & Cardamom, 5000 Westheimer, turns four this month. As a thank you for the ongoing support, the chocolatier will be giving away chocolate prizes all month long, including 48-piece boxes,…
Cool Moon Hinders Sleep In New Video
With emo leanings and alt rock tendencies, Houston’s Cool Moon got on everyone’s radar last year with their debut album Postparty Depression. Just a hair over a year after releasing that full length, the three piece is back with a new E.P. called Sleep and a new video for the title…
If Your Protagonist is a Person of Color Your Book Cover Might Get Whitewashed
The old phrase is that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but if that were true a significant chunk of the marketing industry wouldn’t exist. We absolutely judge books by their covers, and when it’s a question of the race of your main characters, there’s a good chance…
Weather Week: Things Begin to Dry Out
Since Independence Day, rainfall totals throughout Houston have ranged from a 3 to 9 inches with higher amounts south of downtown. More widespread showers and thunderstorms Saturday and Sunday continued to bring precipitation to many of the same spots, particularly along the coast, but not with the ferocity of July…
Not Loving I Love You Because?
Things suck right now. So what can theater do in times like this? On the one hand, it can tackle what ails us with heady, provocative drama meant to agitate. Or, theater can act as a pleasing salve to our wounds, soothing us with a bit of frothy fun. The…
The Bosstones Give Houston a Mighty, Mighty Expert Show
Mighty Mighty Bosstones House of Blues July 6, 2018 These days, everyone and no one is an expert. For example, those who currently govern the nation have no more credentialed experience for the job than the insufferable blowhards around the water cooler at your workplace. The only difference is your…
We Didn’t Know How Good We Had it When Touring Festivals Ruled
The thing about Golden Ages is that you rarely realize that you’re living in one. Sure, we all know that right now is a Golden Age for television, but how many of us have made the connection that we only realize this because we’re also living in the Golden Age…
Google Maps an Example of Tech That Helps, But at a Cost to Privacy
The news is filled every day with stories about privacy breaches and concerns of sharing of personal data. Most of these stories center on outside forces plotting to steal our information and feed us fake news to influence our views on politics or shopping habits. But, here’s the thing no…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Ant-Man And The Wasp
The success of the first Ant-Man allows Peyton Reed to loosen the reigns, and the results are much more self-assured this time around.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: One Year at King’s BierHaus
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: National Fried Chicken Day Dinner at Lucille’s Friday, seatings at 4, 6 and 8 p.m. 5512 La Branch The Southern eatery will host a National Fried Chicken Day family-style dinner with three styles of fried chicken — including coconut milk-battered Thai…
Is “Piano Man” The Greatest Song Ever Written?
Yes, “Piano Man” is the greatest song ever written. The subject of Billy Joel’s breakthrough hit and signature song, and the question of whether it is, in fact, the greatest song ever written, was broached recently by a friend on Facebook. Within minutes of his fun-spirited post (he later admitted…
Ring of Fire: the Music of Johnny Cash at Stages Repertory Theatre
In 2002, Johnny Cash wanted no part of any musical about his life, says actor/musician Ben Hope. But when a new approach was offered, namely that of being based on his songs rather than on his biography, he was more receptive. Cash died before the show went on Broadway in…
Bask Makes Fuzzy Pop Sound So Inviting
On their latest release Cask, the Houston band Bask quickly prove that fuzzy pop infused indie rock can sound great. Opening with the catchy sounds of “Just Another Day,” the band employs a gurgling bass and distorted vocals, snapping through the song with a solid verse. This continues with the grunge…
Openings and Closings: Fusion Eats is Coming, Ivy & James Closes
Fusion Eats, 9 Greenway Plaza East, opens July 10, starting at 7 a.m. this Tuesday. Owners Julia Sharaby and Chef David Grossman also own Fusion Taco at 470 North Main.The new concept will serve as an extension of the Fusion Taco brand and include a number of its signature and…
Astros and Rangers Developing Legit Rivalry
For a very long time, there was no contest. The Rangers owned the Astros. From 2001 until 2012, it didn’t really matter. The two teams met only a handful of times each season, typically two series, as part of inter-league play, the Astros still in the National League and the…
Books Go Deep Digging into Warren Zevon, the Clash, and Steely Dan Excavations
Outside of musician/band biographies, autobiographies, picture books, general histories and memoirs, there’s one subset of Rock Lit only the die-hard fan delves into. These are the tomes that give an album-by-album or song-by-song account full of trivia and often author analysis. So if you are only cognizant of “Werewolves of…
5 Things Houstonians Do During Floods Despite Being Told Otherwise
There are certain things you can count on when it comes to Houston and its citizens. When it starts to get hot out, people will post pictures of their ridiculously over-inflated car temperature readouts as if that is the real temperature outside. Rockets fans will always think the refs are…
Relish Restaurant And Bar Debuts New Happy Hour Menu
The Houston food scene has been growing so quickly in recent years that it’s almost impossible to keep up. Case in point, when Relish Restaurant and Bar debuted in Upper Kirby in October 2016, I heard about it. Sadly, I never made it in. And, because it’s been sitting there…
Buster Shuffle’s American Revolution
This week, we celebrate the nation’s independence. The U.S. of A. was founded by descendants of English settlers who saw opportunity in America. So, it’s fitting that a new band of Brits searching for good fortune is making its way across the country and into Houston this week. Buster Shuffle…
Neil Simon’s God’s Favorite: Tribulations Galore, Yes He’s a Modern-Day Job
Joe Benjamin is a modern day Job, loyal to his God and about to be tested to his limits in his faith. God’s Favorite was written by Neil Simon after the death of the playwright’s wife to cancer and according to Braden Hunt, who is directing, it brings up all…
Houston’s Dog Show Has Dancing Dogs, Frisbees and an Agility Course to Try Out
We’re pinning a blue ribbon on the Houston World Series of Dog Shows. There’s so much for humans to see and explore: a creative grooming contest where a dog can be transformed into a lion, the canine Frisbee™ exhibition, the dancing dogs, and designer doghouses created by local architects and…
Virgil Wolfe Drops Another Gem
When you’re looking at the fresh faces that make up who’s dropping solid rhymes in Houston lately, you can’t overlook the mike skills of Baytown’s Virgil Wolfe. With intriguing beats that stick with you for days, his latest four song release with STRCOLCTR, Unlimited TV Dinners proves that the new…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Celebrate Bastille Day
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Brennan’s of Houston, 3300 Smith, is hosting a Date Night Cooking Class on Friday, July 13 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. This month’s class will focus on Texas, with dishes including sweet tea brined chicken tortilla…
Houston’s Weather Weekend: Wet but Improving
Well, July 4 certainly was interesting. Parts of the area received as much as 8 inches of rain while most of the city ranged between 3 and 5 inches. The high rainfall rates (some reported at 3 to 4 inches per hour, particularly inside the loop and on the southwest…
CITGO Freedom Over Texas Calls Off All But the Fireworks Today Thanks to Flooding
Today, as predicted, heavy rains came through the Houston area — including as much as 7 inches in some spots — accompanied by street flooding. CITGO Freedom Over Texas scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. today was canceled, although the fireworks will still go off at 9:35 p.m. According to…
Astros Won’t Be Sewing Things Up Early Like Last Year
Seattle will not go away. As the Astros entered their softest part of the schedule a month ago a game behind the Mariners in the American League West, most believed things would change. After all, Seattle was on pace to win a record number of one-run games and had lost…
In Case of a Downpour, Abandon the Grill and Cook Your Brisket and Steak Inside. Here’s How.
With all this talk about the possibility of heavy rain on July 4th, the Houston Press thought it would be public service to again remind you that you do not have to be tied to a grill under an umbrella to produce award-winning brisket and steak on July 4. We…
SI Writer Who Predicted the Astros’ World Series Win Digs Deeper in New Book
The Astros are the most dominant team in Houston sports history and we’re still riding high from their captivating World Series win last year, our euphoria buoyed even further with strong hopes for another great season. But it wasn’t that long ago that the Astros had become the worst team…
Sky Walker: The Best Houston Music of The Week
This week you’ll be able to catch performances from Miguel, The Mighty Might Bosstones, Gouge Away and more while locals like Wild Moccasins, Middlechild and more round things out. Tonight you can start off at Eleanor Tinsley Park for the CITGO Freedom Over Texas 4th of July celebration. This year the…
Cocktail Therapy: Kristi Lea Sides of El Big Bad
What’s a better Band-Aid for 100-degree weather than margaritas? And what better place to suck them down than at the world’s largest infused tequila bar, El Big Bad. Herbal, spicy, savory, sweet; they’ve got their bases covered with more than 70 different varieties highlighting traditional, seasonal and off-the-wall ingredients. A…
Good News Houston: Atlantic Hurricane Season Gets a Downgrade
In weather on Monday, we mentioned that this was the first time in a few years we had gone without a named storm in the Atlantic in the month of June. Of course, we had subtropical storm Alberto in May, but anything after Hurricane Harvey in terms of a quieter…
5 Good Reasons to Not Shoot Fireworks in Houston This Fourth of July
Fireworks stands are ubiquitous twice each year. The first time is right around Christmas leading up to New Year’s Eve. The second is right now, just before the Fourth of July. Apparently, people take the whole Rockets red glare thing in the national anthem literally. The problem is that they…
In Buyer & Cellar a Struggling Actor Works in Barbra Streisand’s Basement
As soon as he read Jonathan Tolins’ Buyer & Cellar, actor Doug Atkins knew he wanted to do this play about a man living in Barbra Streisand’s basement, taking care of the dolls, memorabilia and other objects the mega star collected there. In real life, Streisand really did have a sort…
Let 2018 Be the Year We Stop Pretending Everyone Needs to Drop an Album
With his new album Scorpion, Drake set all sorts of new records when it comes to music streaming. I’m not going to recap them all, but the one that stood out the most to me was that at one point it was being streamed 10 million times per hour on…
The Caves is the Doctor Who Rock Opera You Didn’t Know You Needed
I’m a fan of Trock (Time Lord Rock), but as much as I adore bands like Chameleon Circuit I am hard-pressed to think of any that I felt really transcended the genre into being something greater. That all changes with The Caves by Minneapolis-based The Sevateem. It’s not just an…
Which Houston Texans Will Make Their First Pro Bowl In 2018?
Houston Texans training camps roughly three weeks away — start date, July 25, in case you’re wondering — and there has never been a Texans season with more anticipation than 2018. We’ve listed the reasons in this space ad nauseam, so no need to rehash for at least five or…
Houston Press Singles Club: Space Kiddettes, Pearl Crush, Ashley Toman
The Houston Press Singles club is back this week, with new jams from Space Kiddettes, Small Chair, Pearl Crush, Adultry Kidding, and Ashley Toman. With this list, as any other, we invite you to subscribe to the attached playlist, but to also consider visiting these artists in their respective digital…
Perfect Pairings: Bagel and Cream Cheese At The Hot Bagel Shop
Where would cookie be if it never found milk? What would melon do if Prosciutto never wrapped itself around it? Let’s face it, some things are better together and Houston is home to a hotbed of delicious duos. The Houston Press decided to explore some popular pairings: The Hot Bagel…
Rockets Keep Paul, Green, Lose Ariza in First Weekend of Free Agency
July 1 marks the start of free agency in the NBA and, as usual, it was a busy first day. In addition to the news last week that LeBron James would opt out of his deal with Cleveland and subsequent report of his signing with the Lakers, Paul George, who…
Weather Week: Rain May Return in Time for the Holiday
Weeks with holidays in the middle are always weird, particularly when that is a single day and it falls on a Wednesday. What the hell are we supposed to do? Our guess is plenty of people will schedule a nice five-day weekend either ahead of or after July 4 this…
Want to Spend July 4 With a Whole Lot of Music, People and Fireworks Houston?
Music and fireworks. It’s time for CITGO Freedom Over Texas again, the city’s fourth of July celebration and this year boasts new live music acts on four stages. There’s lots of music, activities for kids and, if all goes as planned, a good time for all. This year kicks off with…
Tipping Point’s Jonathan Wicks Competes in James Beard Burger Competition
Chef Jonathan Wicks of Hotel Zaza Memorial City’s Tipping Point, enters his blended burger creation into the James Beard Blended Burger Project for sustainable beef practices.
James Harden Should Be Glad LeBron Isn’t Coming To Houston
In July 2010, LeBron James made his first seismic free agency decision by conducting a made-for-television thirty minute special to plunge the knife into the back of Cavs fans, taking his talents to South Beach (his exact words). In July 2014, his return to Cleveland was significantly more subdued, penning…
Road Trip: 50 Best Water Holes Near Houston
This summer we’re taking a look at interesting, odd, historic and just plain worth it road trips in and around the Lone Star State. It’s blistering hot outside and we’re looking for any way to cool off. From lakes, rivers and spring-fed pools to the Gulf of Mexico — we’ve…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Celebrate Independence Day, Houston-style
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Tuesday, July 3 Batter Cluck Tomorrow at Better Luck Tomorrow Better Luck Tomorrow, 544 Yale, is hosting day-before Independence Day bash, complete with pre-July 4th Fried Chicken from chef Justin Yu. Guests can get fried chicken buckets (one whole bird per bucket)…
No Thanks Billy Corgan, We’ll Wait For An Actual Reunion
Twenty five years ago, when someone handed me a copy of Siamese Dream it felt like an essential item for any angry and angst driven teen. Its lyrics dealt with feelings of isolationism, betrayal, and a world who didn’t seem to get anyone. A couple of years later that continued with…
Houston Embraces Weezer and Pixies Like Old Friends
Friday night at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, fans continued to roll to their seats and pack the lawn as the Pixies set began. The summer’s day cooled into the evening as temperature became blistering onstage. The band that has inspired so many others, played whatever they wanted from their expansive…
LeBron James Opts Out Of Contract, Houston Rocket Dream On Life Support
The buzz for LeBron James possibly coming to Houston as been a thing for practically a year now. Very tiny seeds were planted the day that Daryl Morey pulled off the acquisition of point guard Chris Paul, a card-carrying BBFOB (Banana Boat Friend of Bron), and they have since steadily…
Ant-Man and the Wasp Doesn’t Quite Stomp Out Ant-Man‘s Pleasures
Reed and Rudd deliver plenty of the goofy antics we’ve now come to expect from Ant-Man: size-change cock-ups, charming incompetence on the macho bluster front, etc.
Trixie Mattel Showcases Barbie-Realness, Comedy and Live Music
Trixie Mattel is promoting her music and comedy during the Now With Moving Parts tour at 7 p.m. on Saturday at House of Blues, 1204 Caroline.
Congratulations, Houston! Since 2014, You Are America’s Most Valuable Sports City!
By practically any measurement, we are in the midst of a golden age of Houston sports. In baseball, the Astros are the defending World Series champions. In basketball, the only thing standing in between the Rockets and a title was some deficient soft tissue in the back of Chris Paul’s…
Christian Teens in Houston Protest Immigrant Family Separation
More than 30,000 teenagers and youth leaders from across the country have arrived in Houston for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Youth Gathering. The meeting, which takes place every three years, brings high school students together for a week of faith building, learning, Bible study, as well as service…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Sicario: Day Of The Soldado
Without Emily Blunt’s moral compass, Sicario: Day of the Soldado is even more dispiriting than its predecessor.
Violent Femmes: These Daddies Haven’t Gone Anywhere
Brian Ritchie says that he gets asked a certain question often. Maybe somebody sees him with his long blond hair. Or that he’s carrying a guitar case, which precedes this inevitable exchange: Somebody: You look like a musician. Are you in a band? Ritchie: Yes, I am. Somebody: What band?…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Hit the Montrose Cultural Crawl
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Tiki Night at Ladybirds Friday, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. 5519 Allen Get tikified at neighborhood hangout, Ladybirds, where Tiki Night will feature Keanu-inspired cocktails and tasty eats from all-star chefs Adam Dorris (formerly of Pax Americana) and Anthony Calleo (formerly…
My Response to All Those Accusations of White Guilt
One of the things I get in my mailbox a lot is accusations of white guilt. That is, that I am driven to write social justice articles by a self-loathing brought upon by my own race’s mistreatment of other races. White guilt is a thing. The concept goes all the…
Openings and Closings: International Smoke This Week, Phat Eatery Now
International Smoke, 800 Sorella Court, will make its Houston debut July 5, adjacent to the Hotel Sorella at CityCentre. The San Francisco concept comes from owners Ayesha Curry and James Beard award-winning chef, Michael Mina. Curry is known for her best-selling cookbooks, her Food Network celebrity and of course, much…
The U.S. Has a Long History of Ripping Minority Children From Their Mothers
I am sure by now that the world is divided over the upheaval the president has caused with his snatching children from their mothers. However, I tend to take the side of some of the social media posts I’ve seen that remind the United States that this is not new…
Rome Hero Foxes Avoid The Sophomore Slump
It’s hard to believe that Katy’s Rome Hero Foxes are already dropping their second album, as it seems like just yesterday that they were playing their first shows. Their new album 18 Summers deals with growing up and time passing without getting too schmaltzy in the process. Due out in…
Holmes and Watson More Than Elementary at the Alley
Three years after being presumed dead, three patients in an asylum claim to be the late Sherlock Holmes in the Alley Theatre’s production of Holmes and Watson.
Captain Spirit: A New Kind of Video Game Dread
There is no game I am more excited about than Life is Strange 2. The first game was a marvel that I’ve played over and over again, and remains one of my favorite titles ever. The second installment featuring an all-new storyline has finally been announced for release on September…
There’s No Place Like Home for Maryanna Sokol
Which city would you prefer to be in at this moment if you were an independent musician with a new (and rather lovely, we might add) collection of songs to share: Houston or New York City? Maryanna Sokol’s lived and worked in both and she says today, right here and…
Houston’s Best Middle Eastern Street Food
The best dives, hole in the walls, and food trucks for Middle Eastern and Mediterranean street food in Houston
Cocktail Therapy: Lisa Alexander of the Hotel Galvez Bar & Grill
I don’t know about you, but when I sit down at a bar and the bartendress addresses me as “baby child,” it’s going to be a good day. That’s what Lisa Alexander does; shakes drinks and makes smiles. In a word, the bar located in the lobby of the historic…
Going High Didn’t Win an Election and It Won’t Make America Great
Thing about rules is that they only work if everyone agrees to abide by them. You sit down to play Scrabble with the assumption that the people you’re playing against aren’t going to cheat to get better tiles for higher scores. You step onto a baseball diamond assuming that the…
Micah Nelson Doesn’t Have Time For Free Time
There’s a host of questions I’d like to ask Micah Nelson. What was it like growing up the son of country legend Willie Nelson? What’s it like to play alongside the old man? How did he adopt his Particle Kid stage moniker? How does he balance such a busy schedule?…
AMC Wants You to Forget MoviePass, Starts Its Own Subscription Service
There are plenty of reasons not to see a film at a movie theater: ticket prices are expensive; many theaters are run down or just plain gross; you don’t trust other patrons not to ruin the experience for you; streaming services are so much more convenient. While it’s true that…
Deshaun Watson Among Heavy Preseason Favorites For 2018 NFL MVP Award
If any player in NFL history made a more favorable impression over just six games than Deshaun Watson in 2017, an impression that has everyone ignoring two knee injuries and hailing him as a conquering hero, I need you to name names right now. I defy you to find one…
Black Kite Leaks New Track
Houston’s Black Kite does everything on her own terms. Album cycles, single drops, even down to what’s considered a full length and an E.P. don’t faze the producer and singer. However, on her latest song “The Threat,” Black Kite treads new territory while her haunting vocals remain. Opening with dark…
Milk Wars Does a Young Animal’s Body Good
I have to admit that I never really got sold on the DC Young Animal line. I tried very hard to get into it starting with Shade, The Changing Girl, and every time I threw up my hands in boredom. The crossover of that line of books, Milk Wars, has…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: East Hampton Sandwich Co. Opens in Montrose
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: East Hampton Sandwich Co. will open its new Montrose location, 907 Westheimer, for dinner service (6 to 9 p.m.) on Thursday, June 28. Known for its signature lobster rolls and signature sandwiches, the first 100 guests…
Harden and Morey Finally Break Through, Take Home NBA Award Hardware
Heading into Monday night, with the NBA Awards show just a few hours away, the question that we posed on my radio show on SportsRadio 610 was “Who is more overdue for their respective award — James Harden for league MVP, or Daryl Morey for NBA Executive of the Year?”…
Chef Chat: Jonathan Jones Back At Beaver’s
With 32 years in Houston’s restaurant scene, Jonathan Jones has touched a lot of palates. The eloquent chef observes how the needs of his community have changed over the years and with his return to Beaver’s, it feels a little bit like he’s coming home. It’s undeniable that Beaver’s off…
Ranking Houston’s Mainstream Hard Rock Shows of Summer 2018
The best metal show of the year took place a few days before summer officially kicked off. While there are an ample amount of shows for you to raise your devil horns up left in the year, it’s hard to imagine any of them being quite as strong as the…
We Should Have Adult Summer Reading Programs
I spend a lot of time at Half Price Books (as the picture above should illustrate). I go at least once a week, even if I don’t buy anything. In addition to being a great place to pick up media and presents on a budget, it feels like a temple…
Living Up to Uncle: The Life and Reign of Napoleon III
The Shadow Emperor: A Biography of Napoleon IIIBy Alan Strauss-Schom 512 pp. $32.50 St. Martin’s Press You think people like Julian Lennon, Hank Williams Jr., or Carrie Fisher had pressure when they decided to enter the family business after a well-known relative? Imagine being Napoleon III, taking up the same…
Jose Altuve Continues Overall Lead In MLB All-Star Balloting
Over the weekend, the Astros won their 51st game of the 2018 season. The win moved their record to 51-27 at the time, which might not seem very significant, as we all exist in this age of constant Astros success. It felt like just another win. However, just five seasons…
5 Dishes to Switch it Up With This 4th of July
Forget the burgers and brats, cook one of these 5 dishes this 4th of July to switch it up and celebrate independence day with some culinary adventure.
Happy Hour: The Best Houston Music of The Week
This week sets from Weezer and Pixies will be here in town as well as Shakey Graves, Stars, Gouge Away, Dirty Projectors and Geoff Tate, while locals Cactus Flowers and Rose Ette will round things out. Tonight you can begin with the orchestral and well crafted pop of Canada’s Stars at…
The Last Five Years at Obsidian Theater Shows Its Age
The Last Five Years, a musical about the utter breakdown of a relationship, nowadays elicits not tears, but annoyance and disappointment.
HISD Trustees Approve 2018-19 Budget in Record Time
In the mere blink of an eye — at least when you put it in the context of historically long- winded Houston ISD board meetings — the same trustees who voted 5-4 against the administration’s proposed 2018-19 budget, endorsed it wholeheartedly in an hour-long meeting Monday morning. In a 9-0…
Toby Keith Looks Back on 25 Years
Toby Keith came up in a vastly different musical era than the ones many modern-day acts are accustomed to today. Some three decades ago, if an artist wanted to make it big, he or she shopped demo tapes and played showcases in hopes of landing a record deal. Even those…
Soccer Mommy Returns to Houston Behind Her Strongest Album to Date
In high school, Sophie Allison tried to write happy songs, but that didn’t really work out for her. “I could think of a lyric or a chorus, but not a whole song. I’m not inspired by happiness and I don’t think most people are happy all the time anyway,” said…
The LeBron James Countdown Is On, Where Will He Go?
It’s not really written down anywhere, but the NBA calendar is divided into distinct sub-seasons. From September into mid-October, there’s the preseason. Then, for the next six months, there’s the regular season, followed by a couple months of the postseason. We get a small break for draft season, about a…
Love Never Dies: The Sequel to The Phantom of the Opera Arrives
Like the second act of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods — the part where all those happily-ever-afters get disrupted — Love Never Dies takes the sweeping romanticism of the ending of The Phantom of the Opera and says, well, not so fast. It’s ten years after the Phantom has fled…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Chopped Ribeye Bánh Mì at Roostar Vietnamese Grill
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston!
Predicting the Order of Tonight’s Top 10 Players In the NFL’s Top 100?
In the football world, we are all thankful for the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players poll each summer. The players are thankful for it because it gives them a gauge of how their peers feel about their skills (and one more reason to put a gigantic chip on their shoulders…
Weather Week: Welcome Summer One and All
Last week brought the rain and some remarkably “cool” temperatures for June in Houston. But, all the fun (and anxiety and umbrellas) will disappear and summer will reassert itself with significant force. Houston is sitting on the edge of a high pressure system and all the rain has made the…
How the “Lastros” Got the Last Laugh at Baseball’s Biggest Game
Liftoff! The Tank, The Storm, and the Astros’ Improbable Ascent to Baseball ImmortalityBy Brian T. Smith 256 pp. $25.95 Triumph Books The tale of the Houston Astros storybook 2017 season that culminated in a World Series win seems like it came from…well…a storybook. After all, it hadn’t been that long…
Where to Watch Fourth of July Fireworks in Houston and Surrounding Areas
The Fourth of July means a midweek day off from work (for most), a celebration of our nation’s independence and a chance to get together with family and friends. In the Houston and surrounding areas we’ve got fireworks displays, patriotic music, a bikini foam party and much more. But don’t…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Celebrate Halfway to Christmas at Axelrad
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All week long Beer Pairing Menu at The General Public The General Public, 797 Sorella, Suite 118, is teaming up with Saint Arnold Brewing Company to launch a special beer pairing dinner, which will be available for $25 per person from…
Behind the Bone Statues at Death by Natural Causes at the Museum of Natural Sciences
Hopefully by now you’ve had the chance to check out the fascinating Death by Natural Causes exhibition at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I previously recorded my thoughts on the showcase of deadly nature in an article, but today we’re going to explore the origin of one of the…
Canada’s Stars Bring Their Well Crafted Pop Back To Houston
Closing in on 20 years together, the six piece Canada’s Stars mixes orchestral sounds with heavy crafted pop and their latest release There Is No Love In Fluorescent Light sounds as fresh as when the group dropped their debut. The Houston Press chatted with singer Amy Millan ahead of the band’s…
Truth Is Given Compelling Consideration In Caught
Caught, the Obie Award-winning play from San Francisco playwright Christopher Chen, serves up truth on a silver platter, smashes it to bits and rebuilds it anew, only to tear down our belief yet again. It’s at once curious, vexing, cerebral, funny, revealing, provoking and in this superb production by Landing Theatre, it’s the kind of…
Houston Ballet Soars in Stanton Welch’s Swan Lake
Stanton Welch’s Swan Lake takes the Jones Hall stage as the final production of the Houston Ballet’s 2017-2018 season.
SuperFly Is Silly, Pandering and Full of One-Note Fools
Right from the opening scene, where Priest shakes down/humiliates a drug-dealing rapper and his crew, SuperFly establishes that no one can ever be as cunning and crafty as him
Road Trip: Traveling Through Texas in the Footsteps of Presidents
This summer we’re taking a look at interesting, odd, historic and just plain worth it road trips in and around the Lone Star State. We’ve got a few outside chances at putting another Texan in the White House come 2020: there’s Julián Castro, Mark Cuban, Jeb Bush (born in Midland) and the…
Ice Cube Stops By Youth Clinic Hosted by Big 3 Basketball, Thursday Was a Good Day
The Big 3 hosted a youth basketball clinic at the Boys and Girls Club, complete with virtual reality games, food trucks, and a chance to learn from some of the NBA’s best. The first game of the season kicks off Friday night at the Toyota Center and will feature a free performance by Ice Cube…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Though occasionally uneven and often repetitive, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom finally fulfills the promise of the first movie (and Michael Crichton’s novel).
Houston Astros Dominate the 2018 ESPY Nominee List
There was a time when I really enjoyed watching the ESPYs, and at the risk of sounding a little old for the second consecutive post — yesterday, I made a killer Seinfeld reference! — it was much closer to the time of the annual awards show’s inception than the present day…
Houston’s “Joris Laarman Lab” Exhibit Demonstrates One Giant Leap for Artists
The artist’s toolbox just got bigger. Exponentially so. Dutch designer Joris Laarman and filmmaker Anita Star, co-founders of the Joris Laarman Lab, have dominated the relatively new field of 3-D printing and together — along with a team of coders and craftspeople — are reinventing functionality to create objects at…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Celebrate Pride with a Drag Queen Brunch
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Battle Royale With Cheese at Bernie’s Burger Bus Friday, 9 p.m. 2200 Yale Slow Dough Bread Co, Houston Dairymaids, Saint Arnold Brewing Company and Eureka Heights Brew Company are collaborating for the Battle Royale With Cheese throwdown at Bernie’s Burger Bus. The…
Openings and Closings: Shell Shack Will Boil in July, Beaux Coo is Cool Now
Shell Shack, the seafood boil restaurant with six locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, is bringing its concept to the Bayou City. The first Houston area location is planned for July at 2412 Washington, in the former Social Junkie space. The new build-out will feature two patios, two bars and…
The Cult Are Set To Bring Their Mysticism Back To Houston
There aren’t too many bands who can make their own rules, who can craft their own sound, and still top charts. However, when you look at British rock group The Cult, you’re looking at a band that’s always done all three. Since their beginnings, they’ve had success while dropping music…
Houston’s Best Non-Mexican Latin Eateries
A diner would be hard pressed to find better stateside Mexican food than in the Bayou City. Sure, San Antonio and Austin put up a good fight, but are they home to Hugo’s, Xochi, or Cuchara? Can any city claim to hold a candle to Houston’s roster of genre defining…
Big 3 Basketball Has Arrived in Houston, See Some Retired Greats at Toyota Center
The Big 3 basketball league has finally made its way to Houston, providing fans with an opportunity to witness former NBA greats such as Rashard Lewis, Amar’e Stoudemire, and University of Houston’s own Andre Owens, as they go head to head in exciting games of 3-on-3 basketball. The league, which…
Tour Manager Recalls “Brilliant Wreck” of Ryan Adams and Whiskeytown
In 1997, Thomas O’Keefe got a call from the management of a rising alt-country band Whiskeytown, asking if he’d be interested in taking on the job of the group’s road manager. He was at something of loose ends professionally at the time. And as the bassist for the punk group…
Nate Bargatze’s Success Was Worth the Wait
In many ways, stand-up comedy is a young man’s game. Throughout history, the biggest stars – from Eddie Murphy to Amy Schumer to Dave Chappelle – were household names by their early 30s. Even folks like Conan O’Brien, Rosie O’Donnell and Jimmy Fallon had their own late-night programs by their…
Pearl Crush Gets into Deeper Sounds on the new E.P.
When Houston’s Pearl Crush first released music, the elements of bedroom pop and electro-pop were all over her debut release. On her new E.P. Coax Me Out, all of that has changed. Mixing 808 beats with tropicalia notes, the singer takes what you knew about her sound and goes to…
Cocktail Therapy: Jerry Jones of George
Jell-O shots are great year-round, but especially fun in the summer. If you find yourself in the Montrose area, a pit stop at George is a must. Six jell-O shot “syringes” will run you $20, or they’re $4.25 a pop; a great way to taste the rainbow and just in…
A Pup’s Tale: What Happens After “Take Your Dog To Work Day”?
With the 20th anniversary of “Take Your Dog To Work Day,” we’ve compiled a list of things to consider before bringing a new furry friend into the house.
Former Rocket Dwight Howard Traded To Fourth Team In Four Years
“She does stink and she should quit. But I don’t want it to be because of me. It should be the traditional route; years of rejections and failures till she’s spit out the bottom of the porn industry.” — Jerry Seinfeld, from the Seinfeld episode “The Cartoon” My brain works in strange…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Go on a Cultural Crawl of Montrose
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: The General Public, 797 Sorella, Suite 118, is teaming up with Saint Arnold Brewing Company to launch a special beer pairing dinner, which will be available for $25 per person on Monday, June 25 through Sunday,…
Celebrating the Summer Solstice Around Houston
Pagans or not, humans throughout the Northern Hemisphere mark this Thursday as the Summer Solstice, the day marking the longest day and the shortest night they’ll have in all of 2018. (Of course if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere the complete reverse is true and you’re really waiting for the…
Mayor Turner Wants No Part of Baby Jails in Houston
Mayor Sylvester Turner did not mince words Tuesday afternoon at City Hall, where he held a press conference to inform Houstonians about the proposed East downtown Houston detention center intended to house immigrant children separated from their families at the Texas border. In recent days, reports surfaced that officials intend…
A Lot of Somebodies Love Jose Altuve in All-Star Voting
We literally love Jose Altuve. Apparently, so does everyone else. Altuve took the overall lead in votes for the All-Star game over Boston Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts by fewer than 400 votes. The Astros infielder was already leading all AL second basemen and is on his way to his…
It’s A Man’s Woman’s World With The Houston Symphony This Summer
The Houston Symphony is wasting no time in showcasing the talents of the leading ladies of music who are getting things done starting with the ExxonMobil Summer Symphony Nights presentation of Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” symphony, led by the well-credentialed Elim Chan, at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, June 22 at Miller Outdoor Theatre.
The Only Morals That Matter to Spotify are the Ones That Make Money: XXXTentacion
It’s a truth across all mediums: when an artist dies, interest in his or her work skyrockets. When it comes to music, that used to mean that their albums and CDs would fly off shelves. Then it meant that downloads of their work would spike. Now it means having their…
Houston Texans’ Madden ’19 Scores Beg Question — Do The Game’s Programmers Watch The NFL?
There are two largely subjective measurements that NFL players care about way more than some of them may let on. One is the NFL Network’s Top 100 players, which we’ve covered in great detail in this space over the last several weeks. In fact, two nights ago, Texans wide receiver…
Simit & Poacha Brings a Taste of Turkey to Houston
When I visited Istanbul in 2016 with some friends, we essentially ate our way through the city. Our Turkish classmate introduced us to Turkish breakfast, featuring strong black tea, mild cheese, olives and tomato-y menemen; we ate warm, elastic gözleme, spinach-stuffed hunks of borek, and thin pizza-esque lahmacun. After we…
Is 290 Opening to Five Lanes Next Week?
If you have to head westbound on 290 this weekend for any reason, you probably need to rethink that plan. All westbound lanes of the constantly-under-construction Northwest Freeway will be closed from 34th to Hollister (including the connector from the North Loop) from Friday evening until Monday morning. No breaks,…
Houston Offices Are Going to the Dogs on June 22, and That’s a Good Thing
There’s nothing worse than looking into the soulful eyes of your dog as you’re headed out to work in the morning. Your pup certainly knows how to push those buttons and make you feel guilty for so cruelly abandoning him or her (even though they’ll probably end up napping most…
Good Old Days: The Best Houston Music of The Week
Performances from Kesha and Macklemore, Dio, Robb Bank$, Cold Cave and more will be rolling through Houston this week while locals like Pearl Crush, Buxton, Tee Vee and more will all fill in the gaps. Tonight you can begin at White Oak Music Hall with the indie folk of Philadelphia’s…
Chef Chat: Sarah Grueneberg on Being Adopted By The Italians
Initiate tractor beam to try and get chef Sarah Grueneberg back to Houston for good. The highly accoladed Chicago chef returns home to cook an Italian dinner with chef Chris Shepherd on June 27 at One Fifth. Pretty cute actually, after the eager Art Institute student repeatedly called Shepherd, who was…
Weather Panic Appears to Be Houston’s New Normal
On Friday, June 8, reports began floating around the internet, particularly on social media. A weather forecast model used to predict hurricane track and intensity showed a hurricane off the coast of Texas in ten days. It was a single model run among dozens of that single model and none…
Astros DH Evan Gattis Wins American League Player of the Week
With an All-Star foundation that includes reigning American League MVP Jose Altuve, along with fellow All-Stars outfielder George Springer and shortstop Carlos Correa, generating offense has not been a big problem for the Astros the last couple seasons. So when some of the guys in the lower half of the…
Josh Ward Started From the Bottom; Now He’s Here
Josh Ward is on a bit of a roll as musical success stories go. His latest album, More Than I Deserve, debuted at No. 5 on the iTunes Country Albums chart and logged more than 250,000 streams in its first month alone. Ward has landed ten straight singles atop the…
Jeff Lunhow Named President of Baseball Operations, Gets Contract Extension Through 2023
The Astros called a rather mysterious press conference on Monday afternoon at Minute Maid Park before the game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The only two attendees were owner Jim Crane and general manager Jeff Lunhow. In the end, it may have been the most anticlimactic mystery in Houston sports…
What to Know as the Alamo Drafthouse Heads West to LaCenterra
Thursday, June 21, marks the final day for the Alamo Drafthouse at its Mason Park location. Mason Park has been their home in Katy for 13 years, and the only Houston Drafthouse location since the Vintage Park location closed about 18 months back. Local movie fans who consider the Drafthouse…
View Michelangelo’s Genius Up Close and Personal With Houston Exhibit
Even for those who’ve ventured to Rome and waited patiently in the block-long queue to see the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel in person, it’s a completely different experience to view Michelangelo’s paintings up close, at full size no less, and without all the awkward neck cramps. “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition”…
The Astros Are the Most Dominant Team in Houston Sports History
On Sunday, the Astros wrapped up a 10-game road trip. They won all 10. When you count the win in the final game of their last home stand, that’s 11 straight, one shy of their franchise best streak of 12. They also set a record for best road trip in…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Pesto Chicken Salad at Barnaby’s Cafe
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! The Pesto Chicken Salad sandwich (with artichoke hearts) at Barnaby’s Cafe is as beloved as the cute little inner loop chain that created it.
Houston Press Singles Club: Eimaral Sol, John Allen Stephens, Walker Lukens
This week in the club we’ll add new jams from Eimaral Sol, D. Kosmo, Walker Lukens, Daze, and John Allen Stephens.The Singles Club reminds you to visit these artists in their respected web stores, to purchase their wares from their shows, and to buy their material from local record shops…
Green Velvet Exhausts Houston on Father’s Day
For more than 20 years, Curtis Jones has blessed the dance scene with house music that is beloved and even cherished. Whether creating music under the moniker Green Velvet, Cajmere or another alter ego, Jones is a house music hero, staying at the forefront of the genre. It was only…
As Good as They’ve Ever Been, Slayer is Going Out in a Blaze of Glory
Slayer, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Behemoth, Testament Smart Financial Center June 17, 2K18 You know that theory that there are an infinite number of alternative realities, and thus an infinite alternative versions of you out there? There are realities where maybe you’re an astronaut or a pro wrestling manager or…
Weather Week: A Hard Rain is Gonna Fall…and End Eventually
Much has been made over the last week about a tropical disturbance that has steadily moved across the Gulf of Mexico toward the Texas coast. On Sunday, we got our first glimpse of the rainfall as much of the Houston Metro area got between a half and one-and-a-half inches of…
The Alley Offers Holmes and Watson Set 3 Years After Sherlock Died
The story begins three years after Sherlock Holmes died in his fall off Reichenback Falls while battling with the evil Professor Moriarty. A wire arrives for Dr. John Watson saying that three patients in his asylum are claiming to be Sherlock Holmes. This year’s offering in the Alley Theatre’s Summer…
The Dunlavy Summer Dinner Series
If you’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a date night at The Dunlavy, now’s your chance. This summer, The Dunlavy is expanding its breakfast and lunch service to include dinner service on select Wednesdays and Thursdays through September. Every other Wednesday night, the restaurant will offer…
Incredibles 2 Blinks in the Face of Its Greatest Challenge
Now, a slick young billionaire (voiced by Bob Odenkirk) has a plan to make superheroes popular (and legal) again by televising their exploits, and chooses Elastigirl over Mr. Incredible as the face of this new campaign …
SNAP Needs Our Help, But We Need Them More to Battle Pet Homelessness
The S.O.S. distress flag went up earlier this month for Spay-Neuter Assistance Program, Inc. You don’t kick a dog while it’s down and the network of mobile and stationary veterinary clinics can’t take much more. An idiot arsonist set fire to his own business, killing one firefighter and forcing its strip mall neighbor,…
John Allen Stephens Drops Pop Banger With Tee Vee
Some people have an ear for great hooks, a pop sensibility that’s unparalleled, and a voice that could melt butter. While it’s true that some people have one of those traits, Houston’s John Allen Stephens has all three. On his latest single “Crystal Tokyo (Feat. Tee Vee),” he takes all…
Four Thoughts On Bernardrick McKinney’s 5-Year Contract Extension
My apologies in advance on giving you my take on Monday for something that actually happened late last week, but I was without a computer for a few days, and apparently getting data moved from an old laptop to a new laptop is a three day process for some. Like…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Get Refreshed on National Martini Day
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All week long Ten Year Anniversary Throwback at CRAVE CRAVE, 5600 Kirby, 1151 Uptown Park, 2501 Research Forest, will be celebrating its ten year anniversary by featuring a different top-selling throwback cupcake each week through Sunday, August 12. This week’s throwback…
Mayor Turner’s Juneteenth Parade Rolls Through Acres Homes
Mayor Turner’s Annual Acres Homes Juneteenth Parade took place early Saturday morning in Northeast Houston. The annual celebration memorializes the day when African-American slaves in Southern states received the news of their emancipation. Despite slavery officially ending on September 22 with President Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation, the news…
The Eagles Prove They’ve Still Got Plenty of Life in Them in Houston
Eagles, Chris Stapleton Minute Maid Park June 15, 2K18 The “unexpected reunion” tour. The “we still know how to record good music” tour. The “we’re celebrating our decades in the business” tour. The Eagles might not have been working from a set playbook, but everything they’ve done since they reunited…
Post Malone Flexes Rockstar Muscles at a Sold-Out Woodlands Pavilion
Post Malone Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion June 15, 2018 Last October, following Post Malone’s sold-out performance at House of Blues Houston, some friends and I walked across the street to Reserve 101, where we struck up a conversation with one of the bartenders. When we told her how much fun…
Alden Ehrenreich Soars, But War Drama The Yellow Birds Is Earthbound
… Young soldiers Bartle (Ehrenreich) and Murphy (Tye Sheridan) face the unceremonious cruelties of deployment; through flashbacks and time shifts, we know that only Bartle returns and that he may be somehow responsible for Murphy being classified MIA
HISD Trustees Reject “Frankenbudget” But Clear the Hurdles for Cesar Chavez Day
By a 5-4 vote, Houston ISD trustees rejected what board member Sue Deigaard called a pieced-together “Frankenbudget,” concerned that they would be delving too deeply into their rainy day fund even with all the cuts they’ve already made in their 2018-19 budget. Voting to send the budget planning back to…
The Charms of Guys and Dolls Shine Through This Re-Imagining at the Hobby
Call me prehistoric, but why turn the Frank Loesser/Abe Burrows/Jo Swerling classic musical comedy Guys and Dolls (1950) into In the Heights-lite? Why pretend this perfect work is set in NYC’s barrio? This is either political correctness gone amok or community outreach gone awry. Bravo to TUTS for hiring a…
Cabernet Grill With 100 Percent Texas Wines Named to 100 Best Wine Restaurants List
Away from any urban center, a Fredericksburg restaurant has been named to a top list put out by Wine Enthusiast magazine every year. Perhaps more amazingly, it did it with a wine list that is 100 percent Texas wines. Cabernet Grill was named one of America’s 100 Best Wine Restaurants…
Will Soccer Ever Become a Popular Spectator Sport in America?
The World Cup, which began this week, is the most popular sporting event in the world. That includes the Olympics and any American sporting event we could offer including the Super Bowl. Yet, it remains relatively unpopular as a spectator sport in America. When ranking sports Americans love to watch…
290 Is Getting Closer to Completion, What About 288?
It has become a favorite pastime of Houstonians to complain about the ongoing construction on US 290. After all, the project has been underway for seven years. It also hasn’t helped that the city’s near and not-so-near northwest side has grown rapidly over the last decade. TxDot would argue that…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Incredibles 2
Incredibles 2 mix of superpowered action and family angst is a mostly winning combination.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Dine with Dad this Father’s Day
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: National Lobster Day Specials Friday Chow down on a butter poached lobster taco with avocado, mango salsa and serrano chili at Fusion Taco, 4706 North Main, available only on National Lobster Day. At Le Colonial, 4444 Westheimer, guests can find an…
Funeral Horse’s Psalms Is the Captain’s Log From Walter Carlos’ Long, Strange Trip
Café TH is a quaint Vietnamese restaurant where lunch patrons may not normally discuss divorce, destruction and death over bowls of pho. But, at least for today, those are the Lazy Susan items on our table because we’re dining with Funeral Horse’s front man, Walter Carlos. We’re discussing the band’s…
Setting Expectations For Each Houston Texans Core Veteran Player
Speaking in generalities about the upcoming NFL season, the Houston Texans will go as far as Deshaun Watson, their second year quarterback, will take them in 2018. That much was evident last season in 2017, when they went 3-3 (could have, SHOULD have been 5-1) in his six starts with…
Openings and Closings: Grub Burger Bar Goes West
Grub Burger Bar, the popular fast casual import from College Station, will be going into two new locations on Houston’s west side, according to an announcement from Capital Retail Properties, a commercial brokerage and development firm. Plans are for a 3,690-square-foot space between Memorial City and CityCentre on Interstate 10…
Bill Frisell: The Guitar Player’s Guitar Player Focus of New Doc
While he’s not a household name, among guitar players and fans of contemporary jazz, Bill Frisell’s reputation – like his playing – is clean, impeccable, and adventurous. That he also plays in other genres like classical, avant garde, Americana, rock, and world music only adds to his sonic pedigree. In…
A Wish List For Day For Night 2018
In its first year, Houston’s Day For Night hosted Kendrick Lamar and New Order alongside some insane digital art installations, making a definite statement. Year two boasted Aphex Twin and OneOhTrixPointNever, and year three had Tyler the Creator, Nine Inch Nails, and Solange. In December, we’ll be coming up on…
Evan Gattis is Revitalizing the Astros Offense
About a month ago, even Evan Gattis himself would probably not argue that he was a drag on the Astros lineup. The designated hitter couldn’t actually hit. Gattis has never been a hitter for average. He hit .263 in his best seasons, 2014 and last year, but he generally hovers…
Where Does Case Keenum Go In a Re-Draft of the 2012 NFL Draft?
It goes without saying that Case Keenum, in his six year NFL career, has proven his doubters wrong. That’s an obvious take. When you, as an undrafted free agent quarterback, take a team to the NFC title game, there’s no longer an argument about overachievement or proving naysayers wrong. It’s…
Houston’s Best Bars to Watch the World Cup Starting Right Now
Even if you’re not into soccer, the World Cup is a spectacle to behold. That holds particularly true in a city like Houston, a city rich in diversity, and thus, a city rich in a number of fanbases for any number of countries vying for the World Cup. So, even…
See 2001: A Space Odyssey In All Its 70mm Glory This Weekend
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is considered one of the most groundbreaking movies of all time, influencing directors from George Lucas to James Cameron. It was a rare combination of visionary cinema and box office smash that is studied and revered to this very day. One of those filmmakers inspired…
It’s a Wonderful Day For Talking Basketball and Music with Dicky Barrett
The afternoon we chat with Dicky Barrett by phone, he offers sports condolences. “You’re calling me from Houston? Another deflated basketball city?” he asks. Barrett is the animated and busy front man for ska punk giants, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. He’s on a break at his day job as announcer…
Cocktail Therapy: Zach Churbock of Ninja Ramen
Like a baby’s rattle, the rhythmic clack of his shaker quietly commands attention. Zach Churbock is quick and calculated, his movements mesmerize as he measures, dashes, and strains with grace. “Boozy or refreshing?” “Whisky.” He smiled boyishly, “I got cha.” Stepping up into the space off Washington, Ninja Ramen is…
Weather Weekend: Get Out the Umbrellas and the Rain Boots
If you are a dude with some bad ass, heavy duty waders or a lady with some adorable rain boots, pull them out of the closet and dust them off because you will need them this weekend. With a tropical wave forecast to move in our direction, the atmosphere should…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Dive into the Sea Monster
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Chef Lance Fegen has introduced the Sea Monster, a colossal seafood tower that can be found at both Liberty Kitchen & Oysterette, 4224 San Felipe, Liberty Kitchen at the Treehouse, 963 Bunker Hill Road. Price at…
Did Texas Prison Guards Drive Marinda Griggs to Kill Herself?
On a late September day in 2015, Inmate No. 1455104 was supposed to be standing quietly in line for a midday prison count in the women’s unit at a Gatesville prison. But Marinda Griggs, a longtime epileptic, could feel a seizure coming on and asked to go to the medical…
Funeral Horse Follow Their Own Path On Psalms For The Mourning
If you think the best metal coming out today isn’t coming from the South, you might want to look around. Aside from acts that have the best live sets and some of the strongest riffs, it’s obvious that the southern states are producing some of the most intriguing and prolific…
Turbocharge Creativity at Houston’s Newest High Tech Multimedia Lab
Houstonians now have access to some of the hottest software and multimedia technology available and, believe it or not, it’s completely free at the Houston Public Library. For kids still trying to work out whether they want to grow up to become Paul Wall, Gina Gaston or a Studio Ghibli animator, HPL’s…
Chris Stapleton is Country’s Resident Utility Player
As it pertains to the current state of pop music, plenty of artists have commercial impact. Consider the likes of Taylor Swift, Drake and Luke Bryan, each of whom reigns atop their respective genres. Plenty others have cred. Think folks like Sturgill Simpson and Logic. A select few have both…
Jose Altuve Leads Astros in AL All-Star Balloting
For the fourth straight year, it looks like the Astros will have at least one familiar name from their lineup starting this year’s midsummer classic. Jose Altuve leads all AL second basemen by a pretty wide margin in early balloting. Yuli Gurriel (fifth), Carlos Correa (fourth), Alex Bregman (third), Brian…
I’ve Made My Peace With Post Malone
My past with Post Malone is well-documented. I wrote a piece in the fall detailing how Post Malone was simply yet another in a line of passing musical fads. This got back to Post, who had some unkind words for the Press on his Twitter page. Shortly after, the Press’s…
5 Signs You’re a “Soft” White Supremacist
A bit ago I wrote a piece called “5 Questions I Want to Ask the White Supremacists Who Vandalized the Rothko Chapel” in response to the dumping of white paint near the Broken Obelisk sculpture dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. and the distribution of flyers proclaiming “it’s okay to…
Dear Houston: About The Tropical Weather Coming This Weekend…
We mentioned it in our weekly weather update, but thought it deserved a little more discussion here given some of the more recently updated forecasts. No need to bog down in a bunch of technical, weather nerdery. Let’s instead focus on what is forecast and what is likely to happen…
Chef Chat: Christine Hà Sees Things Quite Clearly
The world might get a lot more done if we all had just a little sprinkle of Christine Hà on us. She’d make a great general because she’s good at assessing, dividing, and conquering; like her own fears. Looking back, a phone interview was a great way to get to know her,…
Reign in Blood: The Best Houston Music of The Week
As hot and muggy as it’s been lately, it might get cold when hell freezes over for the final tour from metal mainstays Slayer, when the tour makes its way through Houston this week. There’s also sets from acts like The Get Up Kids, John Doe, Nipsey Hussle, Post Malone…
Five Bay Area Restaurants Kids and Parents Will Both Love
School is out for the summer and parents are looking for places to let the kids run wild while they catch up on adult conversation. Since wild children are frowned upon in most restaurants, here is a list of a few places in Houston’s bay area where kids laughing and…
Awash in Estrogen, Ensemble’s Sistas Prepares to Travel Down Memory Lane
Sistas: The Musical ticks off all the boxes for a light, fun evening of theater. Chock-full of chart-topping hits through the decades — ranging from Billie Holiday to Beyoncé — trunks filled with period costumes and a quintet of powerhouse singers, it’s a show that’s sure to have audience members bopping…
Jadeveon Clowney, Aaron Donald, and Khalil Mack All Want New Contracts — Who Flinches First?
We are now into the month of June, and for the activites on the NFL calendar, there is one adjective change that flips the script on every player attendance issue. Up until this week, the offseason activities were VOLUNTARY (in name, at least). Players could stay away with no ramifications…
Goodnight Hospitality to Open Three New Montrose Concepts
In the same way that the announcement of Goodnight Charlie’s seemed somewhat sudden and surprising, yesterday via press release, it was announced that the Goodnight Hospitality team — master sommelier David Keck and partners Felipe Riccio and Peter McCarthy — have huge plans for the future. How huge, do you…
Weather Week: More Heat, but Tropical Rain Chances by the Weekend
First, I want to urge you to not buy into the hype. What hype you ask? Well, a number of weather forecasters, including some of our local weather guys, have tweeted over the weekend about the possibility of a tropical storm or hurricane hitting the upper Texas coast next weekend…
DeAndre Hopkins Will Be Among Top 20 Players On the NFL Top 100
You could forgive DeAndre Hopkins if he is feeling a little slighted as the 2018 NFL season draws closer and closer. After all, most of the discussion surrounding the Houston Texans with training camp looming centers around two players returning from injury, and sure, Deshaun Watson and J.J. Watt are…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Thorin Oakenshield at Hobbit Cafe
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! Vegetarians have plenty of options around Houston, but for decades, their best bet was Hobbit Cafe and the tabouli-filled Thorin Oakenshield remains one a classic.
Cloak & Dagger is Marvel’s Latest Marvel
When I first heard that they were going to make a series out of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger I thought, “Dear God, why?” My memory of the team is mostly jumbled up with their appearances in Spider-man comics back in the ‘90s and a whole lot of drug analogies that…
No Gods, No Masters, No Border Walls: 10 Spanish Punk Songs Dedicated to Donald Trump
Punk rock raises fists and voices against dubious rule. With each passing, befuddling day of this current American governance, with every new, outlandish Tweet authored by its chief of state, there’s a response roiling up from punk’s current ranks. Over the weekend, there was a two-day Punk Against Trump festival…
8 Best Vegetarian Dishes in Houston Lately
Stumped for exciting vegetarian options? We’ve got you covered with these eight options that will take you on an exciting tour for your tastebuds inside the loop. Eggplant from Maba Pan-Asian Diner: Those who hate eggplant should give it a second chance at Maba Pan-Asian Diner, where Japanese eggplant is…
Deep Cuts Take Chillwave To A New Place On New Album
Chillwave might be a genre you’re not familiar with, and that’s okay. The truth is, that there are so many sub-genres of it, that it can become dizzying to keep up with. With that said, when you find great chillwave music, it’s undeniable. On the new E.P. from Houston’s Deep…
Road Trip: African Americans in Texas History Tour
This summer we’re taking a look at interesting, odd, historic and just plain worth it road trips in and around the Lone Star State. Estevanico, from northern Africa, was resourceful, intelligent and a survivor. Life gave him more than lemons but this victim of enslavement — first by the Portuguese…
When the Church May Not Be Enough For Mental Health Issues Among African Americans
Mental illness is a real issue which haunts many people; however, there is one particular demographic that is consistently overlooked—those who are African American. Many African Americans have created a culture where they are taught to keep your business to yourself, and if you need help, then talk to your…
You’re Welcome To Talk About Comedian Ryan Hamilton’s Very Happy Face
“It’s stuff I’ve been working on my entire career, there might be jokes in there that are 7 or 8 years old. That was the plan. All that material takes time…”
The Grateful Dead’s Long, Strange Trip
Fare Thee Well: The Final Chapter of the Grateful Dead’s Long, Strange Trip By Joel Selvin with Pamela Turley 288 pp. Da Capo Press $27 When Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia died on August 9, 1995 from a heart attack, it probably seemed inconceivable even to diehard Deadheads that the…
ZOMG! 290 Southbound is Open to Five Lanes!!!
Late Saturday night, something wondrous and unexpected occurred. After all the lanes of U.S. 290 from just north of Pinemont Drive had been closed for the entire day creating the typical sinking feeling we’ve all had about this much maligned Houston highway over the past seven years, it re-opened, but…
![Treat Dad to a Meal Out in Houston This Father’s Day [UPDATED]](https://i0.wp.com/www.houstonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/cruwinebar.webp.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Treat Dad to a Meal Out in Houston This Father’s Day [UPDATED]
Father’s Day is right around the corner, on Sunday, June 17. Celebrate Dad by dining out. From family-friendly brunch buffets and prix fixe dining experiences to a few freebies, here’s where to celebrate Father’s Day in Houston this year: Alice Blue, 250 West 19th, 713-864-2050 Celebrate Dad with a steak for brunch…
Texans Safety Andre Hal Diagnosed With Hodgkins Lymphoma — Impact and Reaction
Andre Hal was a seventh round pick for the Houston Texans in Bill O’Brien’s first draft with the team, back in 2014. Drafted as a cornerback, Hal eventually made the move over to starting safety in 2015, and was ultimately rewarded with a second contract — three years, $15 million,…
Wild Moccasins Return With A Force on Look Together
Sometimes, a band can go away and never return even if they release something new. It’s been four years since we heard a new album from Houston’s Wild Moccasins. On their latest release Look Together, the four piece turns things up a notch by mixing synth pop and dream pop…
Ocean’s 8 Barely Bests a Tricky Problem: How to be Familiar and Surprising
Simply put, the clockwork heist that Ocean’s 8 promises (and, by its end, dazzles with) limits the film’s ability to offer what you might actually want from it: the chance to relish this cast
Solve a Murder like Sherlock at HMNS
The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes at the Houston Museum of Natural Science is a whimsical, if deeply macabre interactive exhibit now open to the public. Visitors are invited to try and solve a grisly murder just like the famed literary hero. If you’re wondering how many artifacts you can…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Dollar Pizza Night at Cane Rosso
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long June Charitable Menus at Etoile Cuisine et Bar For June, Etoile Cuisine et Bar, 1101-11 Uptown Park, is turning its monthly charitable efforts to the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation. Chef Philippe Verpiand has created two prix-fixe menus,…
It’s the Sisters Who Are Spectacular in Lea Thompson’s The Year of Spectacular Men
Thompson and screenwriter Deutch center their young women’s choices, desires, mistakes, disappointments and work in a welcome parody of Hollywood’s treatment of young women
Houston Ballet Comes to Play in Final Mixed Rep of the Season
The Houston Ballet celebrates triumph and resilience in their final mixed repertory program of the season.
Fans Show Overwhelming Love for Travis Scott and Police Shut Shoe Launch Down Early
Thousands stood beneath the hot Houston sun in downtown Houston for hours Friday, hoping to snag a pair of the coveted shoe collaboration between hometown favorite Travis Scott and Jordan Brand. The “Cactus Jack” Jordan 4’s, which refer to Scott’s nickname as well as well as the title of his…
Penn & Teller’s Greatest Hits are Some of Magic’s Best
Forty three years is a long time for any creative partnership to last. Most bands cut out way before then, and any still kicking around rarely include the full “classic” lineup. A director might have some constant crew over the course of his career, but not an entire staff. No,…
New Jurassic World Is Better Than the Last Yet Still Somehow Not Good
The calamities come with accelerating speed, and everything happens so quickly that you don’t even have time to wonder if you’re having fun or not
Why We Should Care About the Passing of Anthony Bourdain
Back in 2010, I saw Anthony Bourdain speak at Jones Hall. I was already a huge fan, captivated by his eloquent writing, his spirit of adventure and his flair for all things food. I liked that he seemed to see through all the bullshit and especially that he advocated for…
Mary Shelley Biopic Explores the Nature of Monsters
There’s an old joke that goes, “Intelligence is knowing that Frankenstein ISN’T the monster. Wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein IS the monster.” Director Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Mary Shelley is the perfect expression of that joke. Written by Emma Jensen and starring Elle Fanning in the title role, the film follows a…
Our Ears Are Still Ringing From Last Night’s Harry Styles Show
Harry Styles, Kacey Musgraves Toyota Center June 7, 2K18 Harry Styles is at his best when he lets himself go. Lost in the music, he pumps his arm and flashes that smile and you understand why the Toyota Center was packed front to back, top to bottom, for a rare…
Art Stolen by Nazis Resurfaces on Naked Human Canvases in Houston
The Third Reich looted and plundered hundreds of thousands of pieces of artwork and treasure during World War II, destroying not only the culture of occupied countries but the histories of notable families in the form of ancestral portraits. While the Allies were able to recover a considerable number of…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Ocean’s 8
Hell, this movie almost makes James Corden tolerable.
We Are Family: Astros Draft Familiar Names in Late Rounds
The Major League Baseball Draft is a laborious, ridiculous behemoth. It’s 40 rounds long. Yes, 40. By the time teams get to the later rounds, they are drafting what seems like pretty much anyone. At one time, it was even longer. As one sports radio host pointed out Thursday, Mike…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Close out Wine and Food Week
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Wine and Food Week in The Woodlands Friday through Sunday The annual Wine and Food Week is closing out its week in The Woodlands with a bang, offering big events like Friday’s Sips, Suds & Tacos throwdown and The Wine Rendezvous…
Openings and Closings: A Nestlé® Toll House® Café by Chip® in Houston
Editor’s note: Our usual Openings and Closings correspondent took some time off this week so please bear with us until she returns. In plenty of time for Father’s Day, Nestlé® Toll House® Café by Chip® opened June 7 in the mall at 303 Memorial City Way in West Houston. Strategically…
Houstonian Scores Acting Gig With Facebook’s Newest Streaming Service
Houston-raised actor Trey Curtis has landed a role on Facebook Watch’s newest show Five Points.
The Get Up Kids Are Back In Full Force
Twenty years ago, so many things got called emo, or emo core, or second wave emo. Those are just words, and honestly they mean nothing when it comes to describing a band like Missouri’s The Get Up Kids. Since the mid ’90s , these guys have been touring and releasing…
If Oddsmakers Are Right, These 10 College Football Head Coaches Might Be Miserable This Fall
Across the Power Five conferences in college football, salaries for head coaches have been an upward spiral into the fiscal stratosphere over the last two decades, to where, in many states, the highest paid government employee is that state’s big-school head football coach (or one of them, in states with…
Swathed in Buttercream, The Cake Balances Religious Rights With Same Sex Marriage
Workshopped last year at the Alley All New Festival, Bekah Brunstetter’s warm, somewhat fragrant The Cake is certifiably ripped-from-today’s-headlines. How timely is it? So prescient that its impact is already muted. On Monday, June 4, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of a Christian Colorado baker who refused…
Queensbury Theatre Announces its 2018-19 Season
Travel in search of self, healing or fame seems to be the recurring theme in Queensbury Theatre’s selections for its 2018-19 season. A woman whose face bears the scar of a tragic childhood accident journeys across the country looking for a minister to heal her. Violet, the first offering of…
Five AstroWorld Videos to Give You That Sweet Glow of Nostalgia
We know that the 50th anniversary of the opening of AstroWorld has stirred in you a variety of feelings. Sadness that it’s gone, bitterness at how Six Flags for how they ended it, and the joy that’s associated with your memories of the park. Sure, the anniversary on June 1…
Sire Records Honcho Tells Tales of Ramones, Talking Heads, Pretenders, and Madonna!
Siren Song: My Life in Music By Seymour Stein with Gareth Murphy 352 pp. $28.99 St. Martin’s Press As co-founder of Sire Records in 1966 – and still active in the industry today – Seymour Stein has seen a lot. Just a partial list of artists he’s discovered, scouted, signed,…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Hereditary
What you suspect is going on will probably turn out to be exactly that, but it’s how Aster and company get there that makes the movie so brutally effective.
Weather Weekend: Hope You Like It Hot
We hope you are in the mood for some more hot weather. You are? That’s just swell. The work week certainly has not spared us from what has felt more like July in Houston than early June. And that isn’t going to change this weekend, though we could have a…
Setting Expectations For Each Houston Texans Fourth and Fifth Year Player
They say that one of the silliest things that we do in covering football is applying letter grades to draft classes the week after the players are selected (and several months before they’ve even played their first snaps). Logically, I agree with this. However, logically, I also agree with the…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Poitín Launches Brunch
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Three Brothers Bakery, 12393 Kingsride, 4036 South Braeswood, 4606 Washington, is celebrating Pride Month by offering a seven-layer rainbow creation, complete with eye-catching layers of lavender, dark purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Decorated with…
Loose Nukes Keep Things Harsh On E.P.
What’s considered punk rock is often a topic of discussion in many circles. Who lives up to the old standard or even the new standard, what punk rock is as a topic can overshadow the music more than anything. When it comes to hardcore, there’s no mistaking it when something…
Death by Natural Causes at HMNS Brings a Dose of Dark Reality
There’s a wonderfully morbid bent to the Houston Museum of Natural Science lately, and it’s reached a delicious acme (so far) with Death by Natural Causes. The temporary exhibit on the already dark and somewhat spooky third floor of the museum is a celebration of all the ways the world…
Bernie Pink Invites You to Gaze Upon “My New Face”
“While the real you may not be the best you, it is the only version of you that has the ability to become the best.” This wisdom comes courtesy of Stefan Ridding, whose band, Bernie Pink, is playing Madness on Main this Saturday. The fifth annual version of the single-day…
Much More Than a GIF, Upgrade’s Betty Gabriel Is Ready to Work
Because one pivotal Get Out close-up displays Gabriel’s astounding emotional range in just three seconds, the actor’s face has become memorialized in GIF-dom
iPic Gets Into the Magic Game with Pretty Good Results
When it comes to touring magic shows, big rooms are the name of the game. Whether it’s David Blaine sewing his mouth shut at Smart Financial Centre, Penn & Teller breaking the magician’s code at Jones Hall, or The Illusionists bringing a Broadway-sized spectacle to town, odds are if you’re…
Former Houston Sports Authority CEO Oliver Luck Named XFL CEO, Shows Vince McMahon Is Serious
Many of you are familiar with the story about how WWE chairman Vince McMahon decided to expand his empire into the football realm in 2001 by starting up an eight-team league called the XFL. If you’re familiar with the story, then you also know what the XFL was all about…
Grading the Rockets 2017-18 Season
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. That quote may be nearly as overused as “Houston, we have a problem,” but it’s apt when it comes to the Rockets. They led the league in wins and their best player will be named MVP of the…
Reality Mentality: The Best Houston Music of The Week
It’s definitely too hot for many things, but that doesn’t mean that the music won’t get things hotter in Houston this week. Performances from Joan Jett, The Coathangers, Justin Townes Earl, and Madness On Main Street Fest will all take place while locals like Tears On Tape, India Tigers In…
Surf’s Up at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston With the Immersive Big Bambú
When it comes to this summer’s surf-tastic exhibit over at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, we almost didn’t become the next chapter in the continuing story of Big Bambú. Artist brothers Mike Starn and Doug Starn are so hot right now that they can barely stop to catch a breath. They’ve…
Chef Chat: Jean-Philippe Gaston Is Devoted To His Craft
If Jean-Philippe Gaston were a pirate ship captain I’d gladly swab the decks. The charming chef likes all the fun things; like motorcycles and martial arts and whiskey. While at the same time, dead serious about the food he puts out. In order to introduce dumplings and ramen to the…
Jodie Foster Rules Over the Talky, Scattered Crime Drama Hotel Artemis
… While John Wick is all action, no talk, Artemis is the polar opposite, Pearce stretching out the will-they-won’t-they (kill each other) tension as long as possible, until every violent criminal is trapped in this hotel
Voodoo Fest a Mixed Bag for 20th Anniversary
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Voodoo Music + Arts Experience. That is somewhat strange, considering it feels like Austin City Limits Music Festival outpaces Voodoo in terms of longevity, when in reality, ACL is three years younger than its Louisiana counterpart. Point being, Voodoo Fest – in light…
The Movies’ Fixation on the End Times Can’t Be Good For Us
Apocalyptic stories (as well as post-apocalyptic ones) have been with us forever; as a species, humans are uniquely fascinated with our own annihilation
Dating Apps Are Changing The Way We Think
Maybe it’s the 80-year-old man in me talking or maybe it’s the collective voice of frustrated 30-somethings, but dating apps aren’t where it’s at. What has happened to smiling and eye-contact being our only tools? In an age of swiping left, right, romantic, platonic, I wonder if the habit is…
Fuel’s ‘Sunburn’ Still Holds Up
Truth be told, Fuel – anniversary or no – likely would have drawn a good crowd for its afternoon show at Proof Rooftop Lounge this Saturday. Sure, the band – in celebration of the 20th anniversary of its full-length debut, Sunburn – is playing the album in its entirety this…
MLB All-Star Ballot Is Out — How Many Astros Make The All Star Game?
We all have certain things that we “dork out” for harder than others, whether they are TV shows, leisure time activities, video games, whatever. I think most of you know mine by now — WWE, Sopranos, Star Wars, gambling, and trivial knowledge of the names of every Playboy centerfold from…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Big Apple at Liebman’s Wine & Fine Foods
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! The Big Apple at Liebman’s Wine & Fine Foods is part classic pastrami, part bistro sandwich.
Houston Press Singles Club: Bombon, Jamie Paige, Oceans of Slumber
The Houston Press Singles Club is back and the playlist of Houston music is nearing 100 songs. This edition is pretty off the chain with new jams from Bombon, Mystery Loves Company, Jamie Paige, Michael Haaga, and Oceans of Slumber. While we love that you subscribe to this list and…
Road Trip: Texas Oddities
This summer we’re taking a look at interesting, odd, historic and just plain worth it road trips in and around the Lone Star State. Clark Griswold didn’t want to fly because he instinctively knew that all those National Lampoon road trips were the best way to reconnect with the fam…
Catch This Mrs. Robinson in Dirt Dogs Theatre Co.’s Production of The Graduate
If you ever need a tutorial about how to act drunk (trust me, there will be a time) then turn your gimlet gaze toward Malinda L. Beckham, who gracefully stumbles, shambles, and all but traipses the light fantastic, as cougar Mrs. Robinson, through Terry Johnson’s adaptation of The Graduate, via…
Poison Defies The Elements And Obsolescence At The Woodlands
Bret Michaels personifies at least part of Mike Damone’s 5-point plan: wherever he is, that’s the place to be.
These Summer Movies Might Actually Be Good, Or “How to Keep Hope Alive as Everything Blows Up”
… Here are our picks for the most promising movies due in the Memorial Day-to-Labor Day frame that was responsible for keeping Hollywood solvent, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away
Houston Weather Week: Hot Hot Heat
Chances of rain in the immediate Houston area on Sunday mostly petered out as storms associated with a sagging front spun up north of the city, And while parts of town got a thunderstorm associated with some blustery winds and lightning,there were no significant accumulations and the storms moved through…
Could Hurricane Season Be Quieter Than Originally Expected?
It is understandable that many Houstonians remain on edge now that hurricane season is officially underway. And while we don’t encourage people to be nervous, we do think that being prepared is critical to any summer along the upper Texas coast. We do get tropical storms from time to time…
Guys & Dolls At the Hobby With a Latin Flair
Based on Damon Runyon short stories of the 1920s and ’30s, Guys & Dolls has always seemed a most New York City kind of musical, roiling with that city’s underworld even as updated to the ’50s with ’40s era zoot suits. Now the story of Nathan Detroit, Sarah Brown, Adelaide…
Ashlynn Ivy Lets Her Voice Do The Talking on Debut
Sometimes, you can hear an album that almost melts your heart. For a good while now, Beaumont’s Ashlynn Ivy has been making the kind of music that reminds you of the past, without sounding antiquated. Her vocals come from an era where singers weren’t using a computer to correct pitch,…
Mission K9 Rescue Helps Military Working Dogs Get Their Ride Home
When people and countries go to war, there are all sorts of reasons: resources, territory, religion or to settle a dispute. But for dogs that serve on the front lines — whether they’re hunting bombs, drugs or weaponry — there’s a completely different motivation. “They’re not trying to find a…
Justin Verlander Named American League Pitcher of the Month For May
Well, it was an interesting Saturday for Houston Astros’ ace Justin Verlander, a Saturday that came with some good news and some bad news. First the bad news — Verlander pitched six innings of two-run baseball against the Red Sox and left the game with a 3-2 lead. Now, you’re…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Summer Lobster and Wine and Food Week
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Summer Special Summer Lobster Celebration at The Palm The Palm, 6100 Westheimer, will celebrate the season’s best catch with the return of its Summer Lobster specials. This year’s offerings include a four-pound jumbo lobster split for two and a “Just for You”…
Ten Thousand People, Maybe More, Bid A Houston Farewell To Paul Simon
It’s sad to think — absent the odd solo appearance or a (highly unlikely) reunion with Art Garfunkel, we’ll never have the chance to see Paul Simon perform again.
Book Club’s Cast Is So Strong It Makes You Forget, at Times, the Premise of Book Club
This story revolves around four successful women in a monthly book club who start reading E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, which inspires them to rekindle their own love lives
Solo Doesn’t Quite Got It Where It Counts, Kid
Like Rogue One, the other standalone Disney Star Wars film that suffered a famously troubled production, Solo has a just-finish-the-movie quality to it, an uncertainty about the pacing and seriousness of developments in its own story
Seeing the Worst Coming Only Makes Hereditary More Terrifying
The horror of Hereditary lays not just in scary images but in creeping sense that free will is a joke, and bad luck can be as inescapable as a family curse
Former Texans OL Brandon Brooks — Playing For O’Brien Was “Miserable”
I don’t know how much Houston Texans’ head coach Bill O’Brien cares about the opinions his former players have about him. My guess is that he cares mostly, if not solely, about the opinion of the 90 or so guys in the current locker room (assuming he cares what his…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Go Vegan at Vegandale
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: National Donut Day Wine Dinner at Brenner’s on the Bayou Friday, 7 to 10 p.m. 1 Birdsall Head to Brenner’s on the Bayou for its second annual National Donut Day Wine Dinner, featuring five courses of inspired doughnuts — think fried…
Maybe We Should Stop Putting School Shooting Survivors on TV Immediately
There’s this idea that gets floated out every time there’s a mass shooting in this country, and it’s become as much of the ritual of mass death as performative outrage, anti-gun protests, and “thoughts and prayers.” The idea is that we shouldn’t speak the name of those who commit these…
With June Comes Pride Month. And A Host Of Celebrations in Houston.
Houston will celebrate June’s Pride Month with a litany of celebrations. This is the short list of all the places you’ll want to be.
The Latest Upheavals in Houston’s Sports Talk Radio Ratings Tactics
As major cities go, Houston is relatively sleepy with regard to its diehard sports fandom. Sure, people get up for the Texans, and the Rockets and Astros draw in the playoffs, but on the whole, the city doesn’t compare to big-city brethren like Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston on the sports…
Openings and Closings: La Vista 101 Debuts, Krisp Bird and Batter Richmond Closes
La Vista 101, 1805 West 18th, officially opened May 29. The reinvented restaurant from Greg Gordon has been quietly back on the scene with a soft opening the past week. Gordon opened the original La Vista nearly two decades ago, serving Italian favorites to the Briargrove area residents who appreciated…
Hear Music Made Famous in 2001: A Space Odyssey at Texas Music Festival
It’s amazing that composers who existed long before The Space Age were able to pen music that so fittingly embodies the mystery and wonder of cosmographic exploration. Listen to the opening fanfare of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey — the futuristic tale of mankind’s self-awakening that premiered 50 years ago in May…
So, so Drops Debut Single and It’s Lovely
if you’re in a band nowadays, there’s a pretty good chance that at least a half or a third of the band is in multiple projects. It’s a reality of the music industry today with the ease of recording. While every member of Houston three piece Astragal is barely old…
Before Taylor Swift, There Was Shania Twain
Taylor Swift is about as big as it gets with regard to modern-day pop royalty. She’s moved millions of albums over the past decade and sold out arenas around the world. Hell, she’s such a big deal that Swift is now playing stadiums, including a date at NRG Stadium in…
Slug in the Sun Explodes With Raw Debut Album
“Chaotic” and “anti-melodic” are the ways that Slug in the Sun describes itself as a band, and they are pretty on-point terms. Those who seek the red end of the volume both aurally and emotionally will find a lot to love in their album Memoirs of Misfortune. It’s a high-octane…
A Catwalk To Remember At The Houston Arboretum
From public pools to the High Line in New York City, even that time Tommy Hilfiger crafted a makeshift lagoon; the creativity of the fashion world trickles from the catwalk to the art of the show surrounding. Houston, you’re up. Manuel Reuter, and his newly formed production company, When Worlds…
Bryan Colangelo Twitter “Burner” Scandal a Lesson in Technology
Bryan Colangelo has been making denials like a politician. The Philadelphia 76ers president has been alleged to have used multiple Twitter “burner” accounts to post player health information, troll former GM Sam Hinkie and praise himself in a fascinating story by The Ringer. The gist is that Colangelo supposedly had…
Cautionary Lessons Learned by Houston Actors About Fueling Up Before a Show
Chelsea Ryan McCurdy (most recently seen in Godspell at A.D. Players), has learned the hard way that for her, it’s better not to eat before performing in a show unless it’s an emergency. “I came to this conclusion after the third month of a nine-month run where I made the…
Bayou City Funk Misses The Mark On New Album
Funk music is a tough egg to break into. Actually, it isn’t but as far as a genre goes, it is tough to step into the shoes filled by Parliament, The Isley Brothers, and Bootsy to name a few. For me, I want funk to have elements of soul, pain,…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Soft Shell Crabs Are Back in Season
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Arnaldo Richards Picos, 3601 Kirby, has soft shell crabs coming in by the dozens. The beauties are prepared chef Arnaldo Richards’ way: al mojo de ago, gently dusted with a blend of flour and then pan…
Houston’s Weather Weekend: High Pressure Means High Heat
The opening weekend of June (and hurricane season) is going to feel more like August. High pressure, the kind that blankets the state of Texas at times during the summer months, is in control and the result will be a brutally warm weekend for southeast Texas. Last week brought rain,…
Crunk Witch Believes in Love, Turns the Beat Up
There is music that just makes you happy to listen to it, and Crunk Witch’s self-titled fourth album is definitely on the list. I’ve been a fan on and off for a few years of the husband-wife electro duo, who are coming to town this Sunday at Neil’s Bahr to…
5 Things That Cost the Rockets a Trip to the NBA Finals
A day after the Rockets lost to the Golden State Warriors in game seven of the Western Conference Finals, there are plenty of people in the media and across social media pointing to one thing that cost the Rockets a trip to the NBA Finals. In truth, it was a…
Alex Riddle on Fairy Tales, Redemption and Love
Less than two years removed from his last release, Happy Daggers, Houston native Alex Riddle has returned with a collection of new tracks, reimagined tunes and live recordings for his fans. Split into two halves, Snow White consists of three studio tracks and three live recordings. “This EP builds off Happy…
Houston’s Hottest Mid- and High-Rise Rentals With Amazing Pools
Everybody wants to know, “How can I swim in the tallest pool in Texas?” Access to luxury rentals like Market Square Tower is as simple as signing a lease — that is, if you have the means, references and credit rating. Long-established rental properties tend to have mature trees and…
Kodachrome: The Best of The Week in Houston Music
This week there’s plenty to beat the heat rolling through Houston. With a final performance from Paul Simon, the insane energy of A Place To Bury Strangers, the sweetness of Peach Kelli Pop and more coming here while locals like Narcons, Alex Riddle, Arthur Yoria and more will fill in…
Chef Chat: Martin Weaver on Learning From the Smart Ones
Chef Martin Weaver is someone who people like to take under their wing. But really, he makes himself someone worth mentoring. He’s a hard worker who’s not afraid to take a few on the chin, while quick to credit those who have helped him along the way. In a business…
Heads Up Houston: Hurricane Season 2018 Begins This Week
It’s difficult not to be a little disturbed by the start of hurricane season in Houston, particularly after the year we had in 2017. And yet, every June 1, we deal with it again. The start of this season has been punctuated by Subtropical Storm Alberto, which dumped a bunch…
The Winners and Losers of Roseanne’s Cancellation
If you pay even minimal attention to the business side of television, then you know that ABC’s revival of Roseanne was one of the biggest winners of the 2017-18 season. Hell, it was one of the only winners of the year. Sure, the ratings slid as its season went on,…
Deshaun Watson Named 50th Best Player In 2018 NFL Top 100
We’ve discussed many times in this space just how well respected Houston Texans’ quarterback Deshaun Watson is among his NFL peers, more than any rookie that I can remember in all of my time watching football. When asked questions seeking superlatives, questions that would normally elicit a “Well, he’s a…
Rockets Season Ends in Game 7 Loss to Warriors: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
In what looked a lot like a replay of game six (at least for three quarters), the Rockets fell to the Golden State Warriors 101-92 in game seven of the Western Conference Finals at Toyota Center on Monday. The Rockets led by as much as 15 in the first half,…
Ray LaMontagne on Being Part of the Light and Staying Positive Through Dark Times
Earlier this month, Ray LaMontagne released his seventh studio album, Part of the Light. Comprising just nine tracks and clocking in at 46 minutes, there’s not an ounce of fat on it. The singer-songwriter’s voice alternates between soaring as high as ever on “As Black As Blood Is Blue” and…
Stanton Welch on Houston Ballet Taking It on The Road With Play and Swan Lake Yet to Come
A year from now, when they look back at this season, members of the Houston Ballet may not believe what they have done. But they can’t think about that now, says Artistic Director Stanton Welch. They have to keep moving forward with the mixed rep program Play and a crescendo…
Astros Great Through a Third of the Season and Tough Stretch in the Schedule
Since May 14, the Astros have taken two of three games against the Angels and Indians, swept a two-game series in San Francisco against the Giants, taken two of four in Cleveland (which would have been three if not for a crazy, fluky extra-innings game in game four) and beat…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Jamón y Queso Sandwich de Miga at Manena’s
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! Much like the boloney sandwiches of my youth, the Jamon y Queso Miga at Manena’s is simple with white bread, fresh salty ham and creamy white cheese.
AstroWorld’s 50th Anniversary: A “Magical Time” for the Park’s Employees
AstroWorld, Houston’s biggest and best theme park, opened to the public on June 1, 1968. Fifty years later we’re checking in with former staffers to hear about their experiences working for the coolest employer in town. The Leaders of Tomorrow(land): Maureen Mantrop-Utterback remembers applying for a job at AstroWorld in…
Jimmie Dale Gilmore Reveals All Ahead of Houston Performance
Who is the best rock n’ roller, who has the strongest stage presence, these are questions that are difficult to answer, no matter who you ask. However those in the know when asked you is one of the greatest songwriters ever, will undoubtedly name Texas’ Jimmie Dale Gilmore. A native…
Weather Week: Sunny Skies and Alberto
The end of this week marks the start of hurricane season and we’ve already got some action in Gulf, but while Alberto churns towards a date with the northern Gulf coast, we will remain firmly planted in the heat of summer. We’ll discuss the onset of hurricane season in greater…
Setting Expectations For Each Houston Texans Offseason Veteran Acquisition
The relationship between a city and its head football coach is a pretty simple one, based on one thing — winning. Qualifying and correlating like and dislike for a head coach generally comes down to how often the head coach emerges victorious on Sunday. The relationship between a city and…
Why Don’t Video Games Get More Novelizations?
Many Triple-A videos games rival major Hollywood blockbusters in terms of storytelling, scope and public impact. That’s why it’s weird that one of the staples of the blockbuster is still largely missing when it comes to gaming: novelizations. To be clear, I’m talking about straight novelizations of the in-game story,…
Can Houston Shut Up?
We live in a great time, in many ways. If you love live music, this is a great time to be alive. Because there are fewer albums being purchased, it means that there are more artists touring now more than ever before. This also means that acts, that may have…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Memorial Day Specials and Chefs for Paws
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Mondays all summer long Ooh La La, 23920 Westheimer, 20155 Park Row, 770 West Sam Houston Parkway North, will showcase Macaron Mondays, beginning on Memorial Day and running through Labor Day, Monday, September 3. All summer long, guests can get French…
Rockets Routed by Warriors to Set Up Game 7: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
The Golden State Warriors, facing a rare elimination game, rallied after a sluggish first half to bury the Rockets 115-86 and send the Western Conference Finals to a decisive game seven on Monday. The Rockets were without Chris Paul who missed the game after injuring his hamstring in the fourth…
Stages’ Replica a Sci-Fi Original With Heart
Stages Repertory Theatre hosts the world premiere of Replica, a play that examines the moral and ethical questions around a woman creating a copy of herself to take her place when she dies.
Comicpalooza 2018 Begins and Fans Are Out in Force Be With You
Talk about a takeover. Beginning at noon today Comicpalooza 2018 took over the George R. Brown and so far so good, everybody seems pretty happy about it. You can still buy one- or three day tickets to see celebrities such as actors Tom Holland, John cusack, Krysten Ritter, Charlie Cox…..
Celebrate Memorial Day in Houston with Brunches, Burgers, and Specials
From boozy three-day weekend brunches and patio parties to tasty specials and discounts honoring our military, here’s where to celebrate Memorial Day in Houston: a’Bouzy, 2300 Westheimer Close out the three-day weekend in style at a’Bouzy; The happening bubbly bar and restaurant will feature its new brunch menu from 10…
Steely Dan & The Doobie Brothers, May 24, Smart Financial Centre
Houston’s first Classic Rock Co-Headlining Package Tour of the (almost) summer season arrives with this two-fer under “The Summer of Living Dangerously” banner. And both bands have much in common: a heyday of the 1970s, names derived from slang for questionable recreational items (marijuana and dildos), and super manager Irving…
Rockets Take Game Five, One Game Away from Finals: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
For the second straight game in this series, fans got a nail biter. Fortunately for folks in Houston, the Rockets got the win 98-94 and are one game away from the NBA Finals. It may have come at a high cost, however, because Chris Paul went down in the fourth…
What’s With All the Privacy Notices and Website Cookie Notifications?
You may have noticed your inbox filling up with privacy notices and pop-up windows on your favorite websites alerting you to cookies they are using. You’re not alone. We are all seeing it. The question is why? If you live in the United States, you may never have heard of…
Ol’ Blue Eyes Was The Blueprint: Houston Music Remembers Sinatra
This week, Houston plays host to Justin Timberlake. The popular singer is in town for multiple shows at Toyota Center and he’s a hot ticket because he is an all-around entertainer. He’s an actor who is especially good at comedy. He’s got good looks, a famous wife and frequently hams…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Solo: A Star Wars Story
Ehrenreich does his best, but his best efforts only make us miss Ford that much more.
10 Biggest Rivalries College Sports Realignment Has Crushed
When the book on college football this decade is written, with the good, the bad, and the ugly all outlined, anything and everything having to do with realignment of conferences should be filed, best case, under “bad” with plenty of it qualifying as “ugly.” Sure, it’s been good for some…
Minus The Bear Gears Up For Planet Of Ice Set In Houston
Music is a funny place, where sometimes your past can come back to haunt you. However, if you made an album that your fans want to hear more often than not, your past can be a beautiful thing. With Seattle’s Minus The Bear, their past holds more than just the…
Openings and Closings: Nobu Nears, Jenni’s Noodle House Richmond Turns Tacos
Nobu, 5115 Westheimer, will open in the Galleria, June 1. The highly-anticipated and long-awaited restaurant from Japanese celebrity chef, Nobu Matsuhisa is part of the worldwide restaurant empire of chef Matsuhisa, who was working in a Tokyo restaurant as a young man in the early ’70s when he was asked…
The Sound of Music on Tour Features Houstonians in Cast and Creative
Houston audiences got their first look at the Jack O’Brien-directed touring production of The Sound of Music two years ago at The Hobby Center. Our reviewer had high praise for the libretto by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, declaring it both a triumph and the best version since the iconic original…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: A Three-Day Weekend Brunch
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Moët Ice Summer Soirée at The Dunlavy Friday, 5 to 9 p.m. 3422 Allen Join The Dunlavy and Moët & Chandon for a Moët Ice Summer Soirée, featuring Möet Ice by the glass and bottle dressed up with strawberry and shishito…
JT’s Man of the Woods is a Man of the People
Say all you want about Justin Timberlake’s new record, and God knows many have. Overstuffed. Empty. The hits go on. Timberlake’s latest record – Man of the Woods – has been met with reviews that can safely be labeled “mixed.” This isn’t entirely fair, as Man of the Woods is…
Life Insurance Lottery Films This Weekend in Houston & Is Looking For Extras
Some of Houston’s most celebrated local filmmakers are having a party this weekend, and they’re inviting Houstonians to join in as extras to complement their already local-heavy cast. Life Insurance Lottery is the latest film from Courtney Sandifer (More Than Human, Haunted Trailer) and Chuck Norfolk (Conjoined, Jacob). It’s the…
Weather Weekend: Some Rain, Some Sun and a Tropical Disturbance for Memorial Day Weekend
You may not have noticed the decreased temperatures outside over the last few days because whatever heat there was, mixed with the moisture in the atmosphere, made it feel rather jungle-like. If you were in the mood for a steam treatment, you need only walk outdoors. If you are into…
For Kountry Wayne, Clean Comedy Just Might Put a Georgia Boy on Top
“Kountry Wayne is going all the way – they let me in the door and they ain’t kicking me out.”
Houston Texans Organized Team Activities Are Underway — Four Things To Watch For
Hey, Tuesday was a damn good sports day around these parts! The Astros won a nice, easy, non-nail biter against the San Francisco Giants by a score of 11-2, the Rockets notched their biggest playoff win in a couple decades, and … drum roll, please … Deshaun Watson returned to…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: A Menu Refresh and the Return of Wine & Food Week
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Bosscat Kitchen & Libations, 4310 Westheimer, has freshened up its menu, offering new appetizers, salads, seafood, pastas and steak. The River Oaks whiskey bar and restaurant also recently added a 1,300-square-foot private dining space with seating…
Skip the Plastic and Help Save the Planet on World Oceans Day 2018
Global warming skeptics and climate change deniers can go to the back of the room. For the rest of us on planet Earth, World Oceans Day 2018 (June 8) is our chance to give props to our oceans, say we’re sorry for letting our plastic trash invade its space, and…
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It Seems Turbonegro Was Probably Racist After All [UPDATED W/Turbonegro Response]
In rock n’ roll, you can make plenty of dumb mistakes as a band, and your fan base will undoubtedly forgive you no matter what. I never ask fans typically, what they think of their favorite band, because they’ll almost certainly love whatever the band does. However, when I heard…
Is This the End of the Road For Principal Bertie Simmons and HISD?
Legendary Furr High School Principal Bertie Simmons, put on leave from her job since last October by the Houston ISD, has been told she won’t be working for the district much longer, her lawyer Scott Newar says. In a statement released Tuesday, HISD said it was unable to comment on…
Big Flavors At Taste of The Nation Last Night
Think about the last time you were hungry, but really hungry, and had to wait what felt like an eternity to eat. And as you slowly became more and more full, and the red began to fade, you relaxed back in your seat to sigh, all better now. All better…
Rockets Win Nail Biter in Oakland, Tie Series 2-2: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
No team has lived the adage “it’s not how you start, but how you finish” more than the Rockets on Tuesday night in Oracle Arena. The Rockets didn’t score for the first five minutes of the game and went down by 12, but the held the Warriors to 12 points…
The Magnum, P.I. Reboot Looks Bad, Will Probably Be A Huge Hit
There’s no reason to think aging audiences that have stuck around from a gazillion seasons of NCIS won’t welcome this new Magnum with open arms
Monthly Comic Book Titles Are Just Too Much Money/Hassle
I used to run a monthly column here at Houston Press in conjunction with 8th Dimension where I would review various single comic issues of note monthly. I loved that column, and it introduced me to a lot of great books I still read today, but more and more I…
Chef Chat: Otto Sanchez On How to Make the Perfect Bread
“It’s a Breton. It’s my favorite cookie, comes from Brittany. I thought I’d make strawberry basil tarts today.” He looked down at my plate. Only crumbs and a few smears of pastry cream remained. Chef Otto Sanchez walked out of the wine room and back into the kitchen. He had…
Releasing Jon Singleton Ends One Wager That Jeff Luhnow Lost
The Astros have spent the last three seasons making trades where they were on the receiving end of the biggest names in the deal, dishing out prospects by the handful along the way. However, there was a time, not all that long ago, where the shoe was on the other…
Morning Light: The Best of The Week in Houston Music
Houston is definitely heating up both figuratively and literally. With tours from Iceage, Justin Timberlake, Steely Dan and more rolling through town while locals like Flower Graves, Velveteen Echo, The Flamin’ Hellcats and many more will fill in the gaps. Tonight you can start off at the lawn at White…
The Cake Explores Seeing the Whole of Someone, and Still Be Able to Love Them
Jen is a young bride-to-be dreaming of a perfect wedding in her Southern home town. But her perfect plan is significantly disrupted when the cake maker she has selected — a close family friend — finds out that the groom is instead another bride named Macy. And Della the baker…
Good Times DYN-O-MITE Star Jimmie Walker Coming to Joke Joint & Comicpalooza
“You know, we didn’t have computers or cell phones. Things change! There’s a lot of stand-ups around, so you watch [other] guys to see what’s new.”
Justin Timberlake Isn’t What We All Want, and That’s OK
In a way, I almost feel bad for Justin Timberlake. Well, inasmuch as you can feel bad for a handsome, charming, uber-talented multimillionaire with a famous wife, beautiful family and legion of diehard fans. To show pity for Timberlake is grading on a curve, to be sure. It’s akin to…
5 Questions I Want to Ask the White Supremacists Who Vandalized the Rothko Chapel
One of Houston’s most beloved cultural institutions, the Rothko Chapel, was the target of vandalism early last Friday. Paint was spilled near the entrance and in the reflecting pool surrounding the famous “Broken Obelisk” sculpture by Barnett Newman that is dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The ground was…
Replica Asks What if You Were About to Die, Would You Make a Copy of Yourself?
What would you do if you knew you were going to die, leaving behind your children? In Replica, a play by Mickey Fisher, the main character decides to undergo an experimental procedure to try to create a clone of herself so that her children don’t have to grow up without her…
Houston Press Singles Club: Khruangbin, Ashlynn Ivy, Really Red, etc.
The Houston Press Singles Club is back this week with plenty of jams to tickle your ears. Tunes from Khruangbin, Really Red, Ashlynn Ivy, RYMNA, and Sherita Perez are all making their way onto the playlist. While we appreciate you checking out this re-imagined playlist, and we really love when…
Setting Expectations For Each Houston Texans Third Year Player
When you begin to dissect the third year players on an NFL roster, the hope that there are future foundational names begins to get very acute and very real, because for many of these players, the upcoming 2018 season will be the front office’s referendum on whether or not to…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Reuben at Roegels Barbecue
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! The reuben at Roegels Barbecue is a goddamn masterpiece of a sandwich, which is probably why they only serve it on Thursdays.
Wanda, Daisy And The Great Rapture Suffers From an Overstuffed Plot
In the program for Alexis Schaetzle’s new play, Wanda, Daisy and the Great Rapture, Director David Rainey explains that it was the universality of the story that drew him to the work. We are all adrift in life, he says, just trying to figure out where our place is. And…
Daddy Long Legs Tells a Sweet, Albeit Slow, Musical About Young Love
In the perfect Broadway musical world, voice become character. Who can ever imagine cleaver-wielding Mrs. Lovett of Sweeney Todd and not picture Angela Lansbury? Or stage mother-deluxe Mama Rose of Gypsy and not be blasted by volcanic Ethel Merman? Or Evita without Patti LuPone? Definitive voices make definitive characters. As…
Weather Week: Finally, Some Rain in the Forecast
For all of the heat we’ve all had to deal with over the last couple weeks, Sunday afternoon and evening felt decidedly cooler. It was also a lot wetter. Parts of Houston, particularly north and west of the city, received 3-4 inches of rain in just a few hours as…
Warriors Destroy Rockets, Go Up 2-1: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Bouncing back from a game two drubbing in Houston, the Golden State Warriors handed it to the Rockets Sunday night in Oracle Arena 126-85. The 41-point loss was the worst loss in Rockets postseason history, the largest loss by a team that won 65 games or more in the regular…
The Actors Were Valiant But Shakespeare in Vegas Falters Mightily
One of my favorite lines from any Broadway musical occurs when Man In Chair introduces actress Dame Beatrice Stockwell in the deliriously loopy The Drowsy Chaperone (2006). “Now, Beatrice Stockwell was famous for her rousing anthems. She entertained and inspired the troops in every major world conflict up to and…
Learning to Cook An Incredible Meal From a Former Syrian Refugee in Houston
When I arrive at my friend Judy’s house—the site of our Syrian cooking class for the night—Wafdiya has already assigned my friend Isabel to sorting through a large pile of parsley, bunching the stems into a neat bouquet. Bags of rice, cartons of dairy, packets of spices, seeds and nuts,…
Advice for Dudes Who Get in Trouble for Offensive Jokes
This subject came up recently thanks to Richard Ned Lebow, a professor of international political theory at King’s College in London. The professor was in a crowded elevator with colleagues at an academic conference when someone asked what floor he needed to get off on. Lebow responded, “ladies lingerie.” The…
Road Trip: The Painted Churches of Texas
This summer we’re taking a look at interesting, odd, historic and just plain worth it road trips in and around the Lone Star State. Hear the words “Painted Churches of Texas” and it’s easy to become intrigued. And so it went for Austin-based television and radio host Tom Spencer (we…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Get a Taste of the Nation
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, May 21 Food Happy Hour Launch at Conservatory Houston’s first food hall is adding happy hour bites to its boozy happy hour offerings. On Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m., beat the heat and head underground for specials…
ICEAGE Reveals What They Have Planned Ahead of Houston Date
There are plenty of bands that I could tell you to check out, or bands that I’d suggest that you should catch while they’re in town on tour. But, at the top of the list of indie bands that’ll be here sooner rather than later, I’d definitely have to place…
Johnny Manziel Is Headed To The Canadian Football League
A saga that, two years ago, looked like it was going to end in an obituary, is now going to be extended with a (possibly) triumphant return to a football field, albeit a field that is much larger than the one Johnny Manziel is accustomed to. As announced by Manziel…
Tash Sultana Lights Up the Stage With Her Music and Smile and the Fans Turned Out in Droves
I want to begin with a confession. Before last night I had never heard of the Australian singer Tash Sultana. Though after Saturdays’s performance at White Oak Music Hall I immediately rushed home (okay, perhaps there was a quick detour at Tacos Tierra Caliente for some barbacoa tacos) and began…
Kendrick Lamar Takes His Victory Lap
Donald Glover is having a heat-check month. His hit how, Atlanta, just wrapped up a critically acclaimed second season. He’s starring in the new Star Wars film. And his latest single under the Childish Gambino moniker, “This is America,” is the most-played song in America. In short, it’s good to…
Poe, Artaud and Trump Collide in Catastrophic’s Jim Lehrer and His Double
The Catastrophic Theatre presents the second of the “Lehrer Plays,” Jim Lehrer and the Theater and Its Double and Jim Lehrer’s Double, playing rep with The Strangerer.
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Shooting Reported At Santa Fe High School [UPDATED]
A school shooting has been reported this morning at the Santa Fe High School and accounts from various sources say that at least eight people are dead and others are injured. The Santa Fe ISD police department is in charge of the investigation and says on its website it will…
Surrealism Takes the Presidential Debate Stage in The Strangerer
The Strangerer marks the second of three Mickle Maher plays Catastrophic is staging this season, this time taking an absurd look at the first Bush-Kerry debate of 2004.
UT Head Coach Tom Herman On Texas A&M Arrogance: “Bro, I Got TV Cameras On Me”
There are 104 days from now until the beginning of the 2018 college football season, but for head coaches, the sales process is a 365 day gig, so when you’re University of Texas head coach Tom Herman, and the chance to pimp your Longhorn wares in your old stomping grounds…
Few Can Rock The Pavilion the Way Kenny Chesney Can
Kenny Chesney, Old Dominion The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion May 17, 2K18 Six songs into his set, just after the wildly popular “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems,” Kenny Chesney was drenched in sweat. It’s a song that exists to put you in a particular type of laid-back mindset, but…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Say “Opa!” at Houston Greek Fest
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Houston Greek Fest at St. Basil the Great Greek Orthodox Church Friday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1100 Eldridge The 23rd annual Houston Greek Fest returns, offering a taste of…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Deadpool 2
Though threatening to collapse under all the in-jokes, Deadpool 2 is almost worth its weight in chimichangas.
5 Playstation Games for the Hurting Inner Child
I like to haunt the deals and PS Plus free games sections of the Playstation Store. It’s through these that over the years I’ve amassed what I call my sad inner child collection. They’ve come to mean a lot to me, especially as I’ve navigated a lot of therapy over…
Openings and Closings: True Food Kitchen and Flower Child Bring the Green
True Food Kitchen, 9595 Six Pines, officially opened May 16, in The Woodlands. Co-founded by Dr. Andrew Weil, the best-selling author and integrative medicine guru, the restaurant’s menu leans toward grass-fed steak, sustainable fish and creative twists on vegetable offerings. The menu also marks the items that are gluten-free, vegetarian…
Velveteen Echo Leak Catchy New Single
In music, there will always be bands that are alluring, bands that we find intriguing, and bands that are engaging from the first time we see or hear them. When Houston’s Velveteen Echo first came around and started performing, they felt like most new bands in that they needed to…
5 Reasons We Should All Literally Love Justin Verlander
When Jose Altuve said, “I literally love Justin Verlander,” everyone’s hearts melted just a little. But, in fact, he had good reason to say it. We all do. Not since Randy Johnson pitched briefly for the Astros did a pitcher come in and make the kind of impact Verlander has…
She’s Female, She’s Asian and She’s Houston Grand Opera’s New Principal Guest Conductor
Patrick Summers, the artistic and music director of Houston Grand Opera was making a lot of trips to Vienna around 2014 when he came across the Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim and was entranced by her talent. Now, HGO is announcing that Kim will be their principal guest conductor starting in…
Picasso at the Lapin Agile Is All Skit But No Substance
So a pre-famous Picasso and Einstein walk into a bar, argue loftily about who’s talent has more merit, and the result is a B minus level SNL skit stretched to fill a one-act play. You know the kind of skit I’m talking about, sure there are funny bits, clever ideas…
Documentary About Ruth Bader Ginsberg RBG Is Heaven-(Dis)sent
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a remarkable woman in so many different ways that chronicling her life seems almost impossible, though directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West certainly give it the best shot anyone could in RBG. It is a conventional documentary about a very unconventional subject. The film follows…
Weather Weekend: Still No Rain in Sight for the Bayou City
It has been hot this week, real hot. In fact, it bumped up against some record highs. This weekend might be slightly “cooler” if you want to use that word for it. But, the humidity will increase as well, so we’ve got that going for us. Thursday and Friday will…
Rockets Crush Warriors to Even Series 1-1: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
In what felt like a complete reverse of game one, the Rockets blew out the Golden State Warriors 127-105 in game two of the Western Conference Finals Wednesday night evening the series 1-1 as the teams prepare for game three in Oakland on Sunday. The Rockets led went up by…
The Houston Symphony Goes Digital with Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring 3D
The Houston Symphony has ganged up with Klaus Obermaier and Ars Elictronica Futurelab for an innovative and visual performance May 18-19 at 8 p.m. and May 20 at 2:30 p.m. that is just as much a spectacle for the eyes as it is for the ears.The Rite of Spring 3D is an ambitious 21st-century staging of…
Setting Expectations For Each Houston Texans Second Year Player
There are a lot of things in this upcoming Houston Texans’ season that I am looking forward to — Deshaun Watson and J.J. Watt returning from injury, Tyrann Mathieu in a Texans uniform, and Romeo Crennel returning to his post as defensive coordinator. However, there is one thing in particular…
Tears On Tape Make Sad Pop Sound Hopeful
If you’re starting a band in today’s crowded music world, your best bet to get any traction is to start as soon as possible, and to do something that no one else is really doing. While there are plenty of dreampop bands performing on the regular, there aren’t as many…
Project Row Houses Celebrates 25 Years With a Tour of Iconic Public Art
To everybody else it was just a row of rundown shotgun houses at the corner of Holman and Dowling (now Emancipation) in the heart of Houston’s African American community. But for seven visionary artists, they saw real potential where others only saw poverty. And the idea for what would become Project…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Cheer on the Rockets with these Clutch City Specials
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: BCK Kitchen & Cocktail Adventures, 933 Studewood, is getting into the playoff spirit with a Clutch City Burger — made with two beef patties, crispy fried onions, bacon, pickle, and Rocket Sauce (a blend of bbq,…
Deadpool Will Laugh at Anything, Except the Sanctity of Superhero Movies
Here’s what you need to know: This is less Deadpool 2 than Deadpool Squared, a studio and its star (Reynolds is credited as co-writer) committing to hyper-violent self-referential comic-book buffoonery
Everclear’s Legacy, for Many Reasons, Lives On to This Day
Everclear was never the biggest band in the mainstream rock game. The band only had one album reach the Billboard Top 10. Everclear didn’t have the longevity of fellow ’90s acts like Foo Fighters and Green Day, bands that exploded in that decade but are still more than relevant today…
Driver Excuses for Cycling Deaths in Houston Need to End
Houston has never been a bike friendly city. It is unlikely, given the sheer size, it will ever be a place where bikes will be an everyday means of transportation for the vast majority of Houstonians. But the spate of recent deaths, nearly all caused by hit-and-run accidents with vehicles,…
Do-Over Cinema: Bloodsport – Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Greatest* Movie Turns 30
Do-Over Cinema takes a look back at the not so classic films of yesteryear.
James Brown: Hard Working, Hard to Work For
Working for the Man, Playing in the Band: My Years with James Brown By Damon Wood with Phil Carson 320 pp. $26.95 ECW By almost every written account by journalists and band members, the Godfather of Soul was a hard nut to work for, and guitarist Damon Wood knew that…
Do the Hustle with Storm Large and Houston Symphony in One-Hit Wonders
The idea, to do a night of one-hit wonders, had been rattling around inside the head of Storm Large (The Balls, Pink Martini, Rock Star: Supernova) for quite some time. Steven Reineke, Houston Symphony’s Principal POPS conductor, had been thinking about it too and when he realized the dream was…
King’s Dead: The Best Houston Music of The Week
This week Houston slows down a bit but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a ton of solid acts rolling through town. Performances from Hayes Carll, Vagabon, Kendrick Lamar, FEA, and the return of The Great Texas BBQ Festival hopefully, and more will be here alongside locals like ImposterBoys, Pearl Crush,…
J.J. Watt Is a Lock For 2018 Comeback Player of the Year
There’s never a bad time to win an award. Awards are cool, and we all love trophies. Most awards are the result of good old fashioned hard work and netting a result better than your peers. However, certain awards come with a necessary path that can be downright painful, mentally…
Chef Chat: Erin Smith and Patrick Feges of Feges BBQ (ATTN: Liam Neeson, Tilman Fertitta)
If chefs Erin Smith and Patrick Feges were chef chat Barbies, they’d act more like the Black Widow and G.I. Joe, who on top of kicking ass in general, also just opened a barbecue restaurant. Erin’s all, “hear me roar!” while Patrick smiles at her mischievously saying something like, “I…
Stages at the Gordy Breaks Ground and Sally Edmundson Exhales
Stages at The Gordy moved a huge step forward Tuesday when official groundbreaking ceremonies began on the new home for Stages Repertory Theatre. On display were hopes and aspirations that this will mean not only a vast improvement for the theater but an accompanying revitalization of the entire neighborhood. A…
George Strait, King of Country, is Returning to RODEOHOUSTON
After the 2018 RODEOHOUSTON ended, there was the expected post-Rodeo chatter. Who put on the best show? (The second Garth show was amazing, but I still lean toward Luke Bryan.) Who put on the worst show? (Little Big Town was the only show I heard anyone complain about after it…
Placido Domingo Coming to Houston To Celebrate HGO’s Return to the Wortham
Tenor Plácido Domingo will return to Houston after to present a night in concert along with soprano Ana Maria Martinez in celebration of the Houston Grand Opera’s return to its repaired Wortham Center Home and as a fund-raiser for Houston Grand Opera, post Hurricane Harvey. The concert, scheduled for September 26,…
If You Like Little Women, Check Out Daddy Long Legs at Main Street Theater
A teenager is rescued from the orphanage where she has grown up and a very uncertain future by an unknown benefactor who thinks she has writing talent and offers to pay for her college education. There are two stipulations: she must never know the name of her benefactor and she…
Rockets Drop Game One to Warriors: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Home court advantage is overrated, right? The Rockets will find out after they dropped game one of the Western Conference Finals at Toyota Center on Monday night 119-106 to the Golden State Warriors. It was a tie game at the half and it looked like it could turn into a…
Houston’s Best Bars to Watch the NBA Conference Finals
Since the start of this NBA season, it felt almost inevitable – the Rockets would face the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Now, the inevitable has come to fruition, as the Rockets-Warriors series is underway. The winner will be an overwhelming favorite to win the NBA title…
“The Ice Queen” Sue Foley Returns With Some Texas Blues All Stars
Growing up in Canada, Sue Foley found herself compellingly drawn to a type of music that emanated from her land mass neighbor to the south. She just didn’t know quite what that type was just yet. “I was born in the late ‘60s. I just turned 50, and I grew…
How Kathy Griffin Keeps Her Chin Up, and Her Head Attached
“The irony is the photo that almost took me down is the photo that’s letting me truly tour the world for the first time…”
Bill O’Brien Confirms On Good Morning Football: “Watson On Schedule For Training Camp”
Deshaun Watson’s healing powers were never in question. Back in his college days at Clemson, he played a game on a torn ACL in his left knee, and then, once surgery was performed, he was back on the field in near record time that subsequent spring. The magic of Deshaun…
Civil War Era Rifles and Cannon Balls Found in Buffalo Bayou, Then Lost
This story is more Cold Case Files than clickbait. Archaeologists really did find more than 1,000 Civil War era objects and munitions dumped into Buffalo Bayou under the Milam Street bridge. The thing is, the objects were found in the 1960s and then seemingly disappeared. “In the archaeology community they…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The California Chicken at Beck’s Prime
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! The California Chicken from Beck’s Prime may be just a chicken sandwich, but it’s no basic bitch.
What The Cancellation of FYF Fest Means For Festivals
I’d love to say it’s begun, but it’s been happening for a while now, festivals are dying on the vine. In this month alone, there are something like 37 festivals occurring here in the United States. What’s that mean? It means that the once hallowed grounds of the music festival…
Dr. Dog Brings Devoted Following to White Oak Music Hall
Dr. Dog White Oak Music Hall May 13, 2018 Some bands are just better live. If you’ve heard any of Dr. Dog’s music, which spans ten studio albums recorded over the past decade and a half, there’s a good chance you enjoyed yourself. But attending one of their concerts is…
Heavy Metal Could Use a Few More Acts Like BABYMETAL
BABYMETAL, Skyharbor Revention Music Center May 13, 2K18 This show started with what I think was an invocation of a dark power. The keyword in that sentence is “think” because I’m not well versed enough in the greater lore BABYMETAL—whom I’ll be referring to as BabyMetal moving forward in this…
4 Keys for the Rockets in Game One of the Western Conference Finals
One of the most hotly anticipated series in the last decade of NBA Playoffs begins Monday night at Toyota Center featuring arguably the two best teams in the league and a pair of high-powered, historically good offenses. The Warriors are the defending champs, a near dynasty with four likely Hall…
Top 10 Doctor Who Parody Videos
With Season 11 still months away from airing and my budget for Big Finish audio stories all tapped out, I’m forced to look elsewhere for my Doctor Who fix. Today, we’ll be taking a look at some of the best parody videos out there in the world. If you can’t…
Weather Week: No End in Sight to Hot, Dry Weather
It was a lovely, if warm, Mother’s Day weekend with only a few stray showers around, mostly on Saturday. The humidity began to increase in earnest, particularly on Sunday, and it will continue throughout the week. But, it doesn’t look like there is going to be much if any rain…
This Week in Houston Food Events: The Karbach Cook-Off Returns
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All week long and through Sunday, May 27 Royal Wedding Cupcakes at CRAVE Inspired by the royal couple’s wedding cake, CRAVE, 5600 Kirby, 1151 Uptown Park, 2501 Research Forest, will be offering a limited time Royal Wedding flavor, made with a…
Predicting When the NFL Rookie Quarterbacks Will Be Starting
The NFL Draft is a few weeks in the rear view mirror, and NFL teams had their first chance to welcome a sea of rookies into the building this past weekend, as rookie minicamp was all the rage around the league. (And by “all the rage,” I mean the youngsters…
Tightn’ Up! Prove That Funk Isn’t Dead
It feels like forever ago when Craig of Heights Vinyl invited me to watch a band called Tightn’ Up! practice at his shop back when it was on White Oak in the Heights. I remembered him saying, “they’re a crazy funk band,” making me wonder how crazy they really were…
Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, the Mariachi Opera, Returns to Houston
Really, the pairing of mariachi and opera music was a natural in many ways, says baritone Efrain Solis, who will sing the role of Mark when Houston Grand Opera returns Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (To Cross the Face of the Moon) to Houston this week. Both work without…
Stevenson Middle School Renames Gym To Honor Author Steven “Shea” Serrano
A Houston area middle school renamed the school gym after Steven “Shea” Serrano…
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Ensemble is a Scorcher of a Play
Much like the Hollywood studios during the Golden Age, Houston theaters have their own particular style, a uniqueness all their own. When Main Street performs a Noel Coward comedy, it will be presented iced cold, brittle and bracing. Catastrophic has a patent on its in-house iconoclastic playwright Mickle Maher; no…
Speakers Call For HISD Board President to Step Down. She Disappoints Them Once Again.
It was not Rhonda Skillern-Jones’ night last night but anyone sitting through the six-hour meeting hoping that at the end she would do as they demanded and step down as president — and there were a lot of speakers in that camp — was ultimately disappointed. Finding the calm that…
Wet’n’Wild SplashTown’s New Food Offerings
OK the water slides and rapids are great and all and the main reason you go to a water park. But if you stay long enough you’re going to get hungry. Here’s the latest offerings from Wet’n’Wild SplashTown that recently opened for the summer. Here’s the new items you can…
Five Reasons the Astros Will Regain Their Championship Form
In certain respects, the Astros have been disappointing thus far in 2018, which is remarkable considering they sit atop the AL West and have the best starting rotation in baseball. Series losses to teams like the Yankees and Diamondbacks will do that even if they are somewhat soothed by the…
Headbanging at Howie’s For Heavy Metal Sundays
Pass through the doors of this small drinking establishment in a nondescript shopping center off 2920 in Spring, and you’re transformed into a low-lit Polynesian wonderland of art, paintings, sculpture, and a large bar with the ingredients to make any of the more than 135 cocktail variations on (and off)…
Houston Chamber Choir Invites You to Celebrate as Lenny Turns 100
The Houston Chamber Choir celebrates “Lenny @ 100,” Leonard Bernstein’s 100 birthday, by bringing his daughter Jamie to town for an evening of personal stories and great compositions.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Treat Mom This Mother’s Day
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: For the Love of Food Trucks Festival at White Oak Music Hall Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. 2915 North Main After missing a year due to Hurricane Harvey, this fun and tasty food truck festival returns. The 2018 lineup will offer…
Get Your Dumpling On and Celebrate Culture with AsiaFest’s Giant Block Party
Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day but our advice is to skip it, just this once, before heading out to AsiaFest 2018. The Pondi Cafe at Asia Society Texas Center will be open — that’s Pondicheri’s satellite restaurant — plus their strong line-up of food vendors…
Openings and Closings: UB Preserv Opens, Gus’s WF Fried Chicken Arrives
UB Preserv,1609 Westheimer, opened May 8 rather quietly and without much fanfare, though Food and Wine magazine already gave them a shout out this week. Chris Shepherd’s newest restaurant concept aims to represent and celebrate the Bayou City’s culinary and cultural diversity with its ever-changing demographics and immigrant communities. It’s…
Guess Genes Take Their Sound Beyond The Norm on Debut
The odds are high that if you thought you were going to start a music project that was different from everyone else’s, you’d be hard pressed to do so. Whenever someone tells me they have something different, I figure that it’s already been done, even if I’ve never heard of…
How Do the Rockets and Warriors Match Up Ahead of the Western Conference Finals?
The Rockets cruised through their two first round series with relative ease as did the Golden State Warriors. They are now on a collision course in the Western Conference Finals, a series basketball fans have been waiting for since November. Their clash has been so anticipated, some are calling it…
An Enraged Alleged Shoplifter Attacks the Two Shoe Store Employees Who Tried to Stop Her
Two employees of a Famous Footwear Store in west Harris County who tried to stop a suspected shoplifter from leaving the store with the shoes she had in hand, really really did not have a good day back in late March. According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, three alleged…
Harris County DA’s Office Charges Man With Making a Terroristic Threat at HCC
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has charged a 21-year-old man with making the terroristic threat that shut down the campus for two days earlier this week. Luis Antonio Rivera allegedly said on Facebook that he would attack everyone on the Central campus in Midtown on Monday May 7, according…
Main Street Theater Announces its 2018-19 Season, With Encores
Taking a page from the book of its own successes, Main Street Theater will be presenting another work by playwright Lauren Gunderson whose play Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley was such a hit for the theater this past season, and expanding upon its relationship which the Prague Shakespeare Co. whose…
Comicpalooza 2018 Adds John Cusack to its Line-up
Mr. High Fidelity himself, John Cusack (Say Anything) is the latest addition to the Comicpalooza 2018 lineup, The actor who most recently played Beach Boys songwriter and performer Brian Wilson in Love and Mercy will be in Houston over Memorial Day Weekend along with several other well known faces. Spider-man…
Culture Wars Is Taking a Fearless Walk Toward Success
Metathesiophobia is the fear of change. It’s a phobia members of Culture Wars apparently do not suffer. In fact, the Austin-based band’s surging success might give metathesiophobics everywhere some hope. At the very least, the band would give them some fresh, captivating electro-rock to dance away their anxieties. The flourishing…
Weather Weekend: Sunny and Warm for Mother’s Day
If you are planning on spending some time outside this weekend, you’ll either feel really good about the forecast or really not so good. It all depends on how much you like the heat. This week, we got our first taste of summer weather with highs reaching into the 90s…
Nothing More Embodies the Value of Patience
A lot of bands struggle before hitting it big. Quite common are tales of playing in empty bars for beer money, of cutting a demo and attempting to get it in the hands of someone (anyone!) with the clout to make something happen. Many bands don’t make it. Others struggle…
Joey D and Van the Man Come Together in a Jazz/Blues Summit
Sometimes, a musical collaboration between two artists making a record together involves years of planning, fraught prior negotiations, and in-studio conflict. And sometimes…not. The latter seems to have been the case for multi-faceted classic rocker Van Morrison and Joey DeFrancesco, contemporary master of the Hammond B-3 organ. The pair’s new…
Houston’s Peter James Haviland Helps to Recover Lost Memories, Lost People
In a moment, an event so jarring can be completely inaccessible. Witnessing murder, experiencing rape, the last time you saw someone; our mind protects us whether we like it or not. Peter James Haviland helps those who struggle with fear and the loss of memory that comes along with it…
Giant Kitty Sends A Message With Powerful New Video
We live in a time where there’s plenty of mindless music, and that’s okay. Music has always had the power to help us escape and take us away from the everyday. However, music can also send a message, and that should be heralded as well. In a time when we…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Go Greek at Houston Greek Fest
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Ibiza Food and Wine Bar, 2450 Louisiana, invites guests for a special wine dinner with Robin Shay of Allegrini Wines, named Italy’s Winery of the year, on Tuesday, May 15 at 6:30 p.m. Chef Charles Clark…
Zapruder Analysis of a Charity Cornhole Tournament Brawl
As a radio host, I attend my fair share of charity events. Some of them are lavish and amazing, and some of them are a little more pedestrian and slow. That’s OK, they’re always held on behalf of some great cause (or else I wouldn’t be there). One thing I…
Sparkle Like a Markle and Celebrate the Royal Wedding in Houston
With an American about to become part of “The Firm,” there’s a definite buzz stateside as we get ready for the upcoming May 19 nuptials between Miss Meghan Markle and Henry “Harry” of Wales at Windsor Castle. Over at the British American Foundation of Texas, they’re time-shifting their Royal Wedding…
Ghost Rocks Revention Music Center With Ease
I don’t get to see that many rabid fans anymore. But when I attended Ghost last night at Revention Music Center, I knew they’d be out in force. What I wasn’t prepared for was not only how solid the Swedish group was in a live setting, playing before a room…
Rockets Finish Off Jazz, Head to Western Conference Finals: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
The ridiculous, overplayed narrative about how Chris Paul had never made it out of the conference semifinals was a popular talking point for TNT color commentator and former NBA player Reggie Miller on Tuesday night. Whether or not that was weighing on Paul, he certainly brought his A game for…
Houston Music’s Best “Marquee Match-Ups”
This Saturday, Continental Club hosts the unhinged energy of The COPS and their criminally-good gig mates, The Suspects. That’s right, Houston. In one bill, you’re getting the live music equivalent of a Law & Order episode. The show works for lots of reasons, most notably because both bands are pretty…
Caalo Xan Offers Houston Great Sci-Fi Radio Plays
I consume a LOT of science fiction and surreal radio plays, mostly Doctor Who stuff out of Big Finish but also things along the Welcome to Nightvale line. So when I heard that there was a homegrown radio play entering its third season right here in Houston, I jumped in…
Oddsmakers Love The Houston Texans’ Chances Of Going To the Super Bowl
I’ll caveat everything I am about to discuss in this post with two simple words — it’s May. Indeed, it’s extremely early in the NFL’s offseason (rookie minicamp starts tomorrow, for God’s sakes!), but dammit, in Houston, we had to endure a 4-12 season last year, so I am going…
Scorpion Breath: The Best Music of The Week in Houston
Well, the summer tours are rolling in even though it’s not yet summer. While we’ve lucked out with weather that’s been pretty enjoyable lately, this week will heat up with sets from Mastodon, Helmet, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and Unknown Hinson will all roll through town. Of course, that doesn’t mean…
Don’t Miss Houston Ballet’s Don Quixote in Miller Outdoor Theatre’s 95th Year
It’s a rare performance that evokes such joie de vivre that audience members leave the venue humming and snapping their fingers. After last month’s production of Houston Ballet’s Don Quixote, our reviewer described the joyful trip back to cars: “Men in street shoes en pointe, women doing scarves dances, children…
Chef Chat: Rebecca Masson on Snowboarding and Louis Vuitton
Couch Potato, Star Crossed Lover, Unicorn Bait… where is this land and how may I travel there? It’s easy to see at 314 Gray, that chef Rebecca Masson has fun in her work. Fluff Bake Bar, open late for those looking, is the long-awaited brick and mortar from the pastry…
Waterloo Fest Drops Groovy First Year Lineup
If you’re starting a music festival today, you better stand out a bit. Now with festivals hosting many of the same names across multiple cities, it’s hard to tell one from the other. However, with the newly announced Waterloo Fest, Austin will get a little closer to how the city…
Fleet Foxes Serenade a Quiet, Receptive Audience at Revention Music Center
Fleet Foxes Revention Music Center May 7, 2018 A Fleet Foxes performance doesn’t require much. Not really. The band doesn’t do much onstage. Theatrics are minimal, absent of any swinging microphones or cannons that shower the crowd in confetti. Instead, the Seattle-based indie darlings focus solely on their musicianship, making…
What Ever Happened to StarTropics?
Here’s an unpopular opinion: In the classic NES era, StarTropics was a better game than The Legend of Zelda. For those who might need a reminder, StarTropics was a first-party title released by Nintendo in 1990. It followed a boy named Mike Jones who was on a quest to find…
Mastodon: The Metal Band That Really Isn’t All That Metal
Mastodon has sold out arenas and festivals around the globe. Its last three records have peaked inside the Billboard Top 10. Mastodon even brought home its first-ever Grammy Award earlier this year. By any measure, the Atlanta-based quartet is universally regarded among the preeminent metal bands on the planet. This…
Ranking the Level of Urgency for the Astros Bottom of the Order Bats
The Astros have the best starting rotation in baseball. They are also a plus-level defense (outside of the catcher spot) and have a solid, if unspectacular bullpen. While their top six guys in the batting order aren’t exactly tearing the cover off the ball and aren’t on pace to be…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Lobster Roll at Maine-ly Sandwiches
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! The Lobster Roll from Maine-ly Sandwiches is not much more than lobster and bread, but when the ingredients are this good, it doesn’t matter.
Setting Expectations For Each Houston Texans 2018 Draft Choice
Up until this week, the NFL’s offseason calendar has been practically all roster-building activities — free agency signings, draft evaluation, the actual draft, with a few weight room (sorry, SPORTS PERFORMANCE CENTER) sessions mixed in. Now, this week, the Texans’ rookie class arrives to NRG Stadium to allow the coaching…
10 Locally Owned Spots for Food and Fun Steps Away from the Kemah Boardwalk
After what felt like Houston’s longest winter, the sun has finally arrived. Spring is here and summer is right around the corner. Couples are looking for waterfront fun and parents are looking for fun with the kiddos. Many Houstonians are making the trek down south to enjoy the waterfront carnival…
Bank Taps Lynn Lane’s Dance Photos for Stunning Lobby Experience
It’s hard not to get excited by Lynn Lane’s images. A master at capturing those perfect moments of motion, often in difficult lighting, the often-booked photog stays busy with his work for the Alley Theatre, Houston Grand Opera and Cirque du Soleil while knocking our socks off as artistic director of Transitory
Houston Press Singles Club: Hearts of Animals, Hiram and MyDolls
The Houston Press Singles Club is back this week and it’s filled with jams that you’re sure to get down to for days. New music alongside bangers from Hearts of Animals, Hiram, Tame, the Aspiring Me, Guess Genes, and Mydolls. While we appreciate you subscribing to this playlist and jamming these tracks,…
Coralie Fargeat’s Ferocious Revenge Is a Pulp-Thriller Knockout
In the most pivotal, unforgettable scene, Jen holes up in a cave to engage in a ritual you know from almost every movie ever made about violent heroism: She has to patch herself up
Weather Week: The Heat is On Houston
Welcome, summer. We may be in early May, but this week should provide us with our first 90-degree day of the year and the end of the pleasant spring weather we’ve been enjoying the last few weeks. We managed to get a little rain over the weekend as a front…
Rockets Take Two in Utah, Lead Series 3-1: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
After dropping game two in Houston and losing home court advantage to the Jazz, the Rockets went into Salt Lake City and pounded Utah Saturday 113-92, in a game that wasn’t even remotely as close as that. They then fought through a tough shooting night on Sunday, winning 100-87 in…
Poison Promises Nothing But a “Good Time” on Summer Tour
It’s often said that any rock band has years and years to come up with the material for their first album and just months go do the same for their second. That’s the situation that glam metalers Poison found themselves in during 1988 when faced with the challenge of following…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Smash Burgers at Eight Row Flint
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Tuesday, May 8 Teachers + Nurses Appreciation Day at PDQ For Teachers + Nurses Appreciation Day, PDQ locations will thank those dedicated to bettering our communities with 50-percent off their total check (valid ID required). Outdoor Cooking Series: Burger Throwdown at…
The Lost, Lonely Chapel of Nancy Adleman
Houston is a deep city. It’s a place that can offer up some strange wonders if you’re willing to get off the freeway and wander about in the bits that aren’t necessarily recommended for wandering. That’s how I found the lost, lonely chapel of Nancy Buquoi Adleman. It’s a beautiful…
Brian Posehn, on His Way to Houston, Makes Nerdom Look Great
In the world of stand-up comedy, anyone who manages acts or books them, would tell you to make your act as universal as possible. While that idea was probably great at one time, being who you are and speaking to an audience who mirrors you doesn’t mean you’re left to…
6 Delicious Spins on Classic Cocktails in Houston You Should Get to Know Better
Bartenders around town are taking some original, and totally irresistible, new directions on traditional cocktails, involving everything from smoked rum to grapefruit beer. You’ll find the cocktail’s main components in all of these versions, but with a little something extra. Here are six spins on classic drinks you’ll want to…
Blues Belter Marcia Ball Wants to “Shine Bright” in Troubled Times
It’s a little difficult to hear the official 2018 Texas State Musician of the Year on the other end of the phone. There seem to be a lot of voices and activity going on in the background, and Marcia Ball sounds surprised about the pre-arranged call when she answers. “Well,…
Watson, Hopkins, Clowney — Where Will They Finish In The NFL Top 100?
I’m not going to lie, I love lists, and if you say you don’t love lists, then you’re lying. Admit it, you like them. Love them, maybe! And you NFL fans out there, you at the very least, pay attention to, if not debate and discuss, the NFL’s Top 100…
Sum 41 and Their Houston Fans Have Their Cake and Eat It Too
During its set at House of Blues last night, Sum 41 unleashed balloons into the audience. Flumes of smoke shot feet into the air, reminiscent of cake candles standing tall and burning wildly out of control. There was even a birthday sing-along, though the archaic tune was shoved aside like…
Overboard Returns With a Great Cast But That Same Horrifying Premise
At their core, both Overboards are traditional rich-person-learns-how-to-be-a-real-person farces, the kind of films Frank Capra and Preston Sturges used to direct in their sleep
HISD Trustee Santos Calls For Board President Skillern-Jones to Exit Stage Left
Well that rollicking band of elected officials known as the Houston ISD Board of Trustees, took it to another level of legendary moments Thursday when new trustee Elizabeth Santos publicly called for embattled school board president Rhonda Skillern-Jones to step down as president. Santos did this in the form of…
What’s Next For Stages Repertory Theatre in the 2018-19 Season
When Stages Repertory Theatre announced its 2018-19 season a few things were immediately clear: it is not backing down from its commitment to Latinx plays, it’s still going to take chances on new sometimes edgy works and it holds its returning standards like Always … Patsy Cline and Panto holiday programming…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Cinco de Mayo, Derby and Star Wars Day
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Galactic “May the Fourth” Celebrations at Cane Rosso Friday, 5 to 10 p.m. 4306 Yoakum; 1835 North Shepherd Both the Heights and Montrose locations of the Star Wars-obsessed pizza joint will be offering themed food and cocktails to fans. Nosh on…
Spruce Goose: Social Flyers Club Takes Flight in Houston
According to Whitney Andrew, the legendary tycoon Howard Hughes and Houston grocery pioneer Henry Henke are buried a few plots apart in Glenwood Cemetery. And now they are neighbors again, in a manner, in a historic downtown property where Andrew and some fellow Houston music veterans have opened a new…
4th Wall Theatre Company Announces its 2018-19 Season With Houston Premieres Galore
In its eighth season, the revitalized 4th Wall Theatre Company is offering four Houston premieres from Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train about a young bicycle messenger awaiting trial for murder who is befriended by a serial killer in jail to a fast-paced adaptation of Pride and Prejudice which will include…
Turnaways Change Direction On New Album
It’s not a popular opinion, but I’ve always felt that the best bands are constantly evolving. While we all think we want our favorite bands to rehash their older material in a regurgitive manner, it’s not always the best move. Every now and again, a band can change direction and…
Kinetic Artist Carlos Cruz-Diez Wants to Play With Your Perceptions at the Cistern
We’ve never seen the Cistern like this before. Sure, last year’s “Rain: Magdalena Fernández” was quite impressive and a fitting start for Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s public art program inside the cavernous, underground city reservoir. But now iconic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez — who dabbles in color theory, precise engineering, architecture and motion — plans to…
Openings and Closings: Poitin is Coming, Charivari is Going
Poitin, 2313 Edwards, is opening May 14 at Sawyer Yards. The highly anticipated restaurant and bar from Balls Out Burgers owner Ian Tucker will make its debut in the Washington Avenue arts district with Dominick Lee as executive chef. For an in depth look at Lee’s culinary background, check out…
How 2017’s Sports and Weather Reports Showed Heart and Hell of Houston
Hurricane Season: The Unforgettable Story of the 2017 Houston Astros and the Resilience of a City By Joe Holley 272 pp. Hatchette Books $26 In his regular gig as the “Native Texan” columnist for the Houston Chronicle, Joe Holley usually spills his ink looking back upon the state’s history, memorable…
A Place To Bury Strangers Return Stronger Than Ever
If you play guitar, you should know that there’s a space between the feedback and the notes you can create in feedback that exists, though few ever really take those notes and do anything with them. Anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention would call that space noise, but for…
Weather Weekend: There Will Be Mugginess
It’s been so pleasant around here lately, it’s easy to forget we are already in May and summer is closing in fast. The reminders have been here this week, however, and they will only continue to increase as we move deeper into the month. That starts this weekend with a…
Ghost Stories Brings Existential Dread to Houston
Ghost Stories is a good film. I mean that quite literally. It is a well-crafted movie with a gripping pace, good visuals and a fantastic cast that also happens to be scary. In a genre that seems to always be trying to overcompensate that’s rare enough to seem novel. Based…
Rockets Cough Up Game 2, Head to Utah Tied 1-1: Four Winners, Four Losers
The Rockets put forth an uninspired effort in the first half, allowing the Jazz to jump out to a 19 point lead before rallying in the third. Ultimately, a series of bad shots and Utah runs cost Houston their first loss of the season, 116-108. They now head to Salt…
Taking the Long Road: Fleet Foxes Return with New Album, Tour
Five years ago, Fleet Foxes were the ultimate success story. Seattle-based indie darlings that rose to prominence on the famed Sub Pop Records. Two Gold records, both of which were critically acclaimed. Prime slots on major festivals. Credibility within their musical circle. The band, seemingly, had it all. Then…gone. By…
Our Favorite Houston Adopt a Drain Names
We admit that we love the idea of Houston’s Adopt a Drain program. If you haven’t heard, you can adopt one of the city’s ten thousand trillion bazillion (that’s an estimate) storm drains and agree to keep it clear of debris at least four times per year, particularly before it…
Incels Want Gender Terrorism, Not Sex
After Alek Minassian killed ten people in Toronto it was found that he identified with the incel movement, and thus was born a hundred mainstream news outlet think pieces on defining the term. I get that. A lot of people have managed to not wade into the more toxic aspects…
Which NFL Teams Will Be QB Shopping In 2019?
The scramble to find a franchise quarterback in the NFL has never been at a higher fever pitch, and it’s making teams do extremely risky things. That insatiable thirst for finding something — ANYTHING — that resembles competence under center is what makes teams spend $20 million a year for…
Bush 43 Gets Scary and Jim Lehrer Is Spoofed With Catastrophic’s Maher-Fest
The Strangerer, Mickle Maher’s riff on that famous George W. Bush-John Kerry debate, doesn’t dabble in conspiracy theories about whether or not that bulge in Bush’s coat was hiding a radio receiver. The play actually gets much weirder than that. Before it’s all over Bush tries to murder the moderator,…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Mother’s Day Specials for a Cause
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: New Downtown spot The Cottonmouth Club, 108 South Main, is preparing special $6 cocktails for “May the 4th Be With You”, Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby. On Friday, May 4, guests can enjoy Star…
LiveNation Has $20 Tickets, Here’s Who to Go See
Being a live music junkie can be expensive. Between paying for parking, drinks, and merch, a night out can really do a number on your wallet, and that’s after buying a ticket, which is never just buying a ticket. Sure, the taxes are no surprise, but the additional fees that…
Jack White Forces Immersion at Revention Music Center
Jack White Revention Music Center May 1, 2018 In this era of never-ending connectivity, many of us find ourselves wondering if there might be something better going on when we experience even a hint of boredom. Personally, I’m inclined to check my phone every few minutes, even though doing so…
The Rockets Are a Bad Matchup for the Jazz
At one point on Sunday afternoon, James Harden was matched up above the three point line with Utah center Rudy Gobert, the odds on favorite for defensive player of the year in the NBA. Gobert is an imposing figure on the floor and the best shot blocker in the game…
The Great American Trailer Park Musical All Spiffed Up and Ready For a Return Engagement
According to U.S. Census figures released in 2013, an estimated 20 million Americans live in mobile homes. Millions more think about mobile homes and their occupants whenever a severe thunderstorm, tornado or hurricane blows through a town. So with such an ubiquitous piece of Americana (there’s a BBC story expressing…
4th Wall Theatre Co. Presents the Comedy Shakespeare in Vegas
It all began when she and some others were hired to write a 10-minute play by The Drilling Company in New York. They were all given one word to build the play around: theft. Playwright Suzanne Bradbeer (The God Game) started by thinking of all forms of theft. “What about an…
Don’t Say You’ve Been Hacked Unless You Can Prove It
MSNBC host Joy Reid has been embroiled in a scandal since December involving an old blog and allegations of homophobia. Apparently, posts on a now-defunct blog by Reid were found and contained numerous anti-gay mentions, many surrounding former Florida governor Charlie Crist. Just last week, Reid claimed that, after consulting…
5 Deliciously Frosty Cocktails We’re Crazy About Right Now in Houston
Nothing cuts through the Houston heat quite like a frosty cocktail. And we’re not just talking daiquiris and margaritas. From a bourbon-forward drink to a spin on an Orange Julius, we can’t get enough of these five fabulous frozen drinks. Holman Draft Hall, 820 Holman You won’t go thirsty at industrial-chic Holman Draft…
Rosewood Thievz Pour Up a Tasty “Drink or 2”
I’ve always loved music, I mean ever since I was a pre-teen. Back then, I picked through stacks of my parents’ records to build my music appreciation. I have a distinct memory of Mom taking a Barry White album from eight year-old me and saying something like, “Maybe not this…
Spend the Night on Battleship Texas, WWI’s Most Powerful Weapon on Earth
Most slumber parties involve too much junk food, a rowdy pillow fight and a few pranks on whoever falls asleep first. But wouldn’t it be infinitely cooler to bunk on the Battleship Texas, check out the gun turrets and get a leg up on the siblings? The USS Texas was commissioned as…
Chef Chat: Omar Pereney On Where It All Began
Twenty-three years old and chef Omar Pereney has checked off A LOT of boxes. The Venezuelan’s beginnings are nothing short of amazing, all a testament to his curious nature and eagerness for work. For him, it’s simple; he just loves to cook. Quick to bat down any reference to being…
Witch Image: The Best Houston Music of The Week
Now that the summer tours are almost in full swing, the past couple of weeks we’ve had plenty of entertaining acts roll through town. This week is no different with performances from Ghost, Franz Ferdinand, Superchunk, Red Elvises and more will be here while locals like Buxton, Slow Future and…
Rating the NFL Teams Eligible To Be Chosen For Hard Knocks
As Ferris Bueller once said, “The NFL calendar moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.” Actually, I believe Ferris was talking about life in general, but it doesn’t change my take that it feels like just yesterday that I…
The ACL Lineup is the Most Interesting Major Festival Lineup of the Year
Before we really dig into what ACL is and isn’t, we have to address the elephant in the room. So, let me tell you a story about Metallica. A few years back, when the X Games were a thing that took place in Austin, they had the good sense to…
Yes, Infinity War Goes on Forever, but Thanos Makes It Worth the Time
This epic, the first of two final Avengers films, finds the Class of ‘12 — the core Avengers — getting together for one last rager, joined by select newbies and spazzes from the ranks of sophomores and freshmen
ACL Fest Takes a Step Back in 2018
First, the basics. Austin City Limits Music Festival, Texas’ premier music fest and one of the more noteworthy on the national scene, released its 2018 lineup on Tuesday morning. The festival, taking place over two weekends in October – October 5-7 and 12-14 – certainly features a diverse list of…
How Good is the Astros Pitching? Historically Good
Early in the season, it can be tempting to turn into “on pace” guy. George Springer hit a home run in his first game, he must be on pace for more than 100 home runs! But even with the long season looming before them, the Astros pitching staff is doing…
Ranking (All) the Marvel Comics Movies (UPDATED)
A “definitive” ranking of all 48(!) Marvel movies.
Hearts of Animals Get Heavy on Human Size
In all of the years of reviewing records, the one I didn’t get to would haunt me for what seemed like forever. When Houston’s Hearts of Animals dropped the 2014 album Another Mutation, I was sad that I never got around to giving it a proper review. I walked around…
290 Finished in 2019? No One Believes It, But It Probably Is True
KTRK-TV recently posted a link to a story about how TxDOT is scheduled to complete the massive 38-mile U.S. 290 construction project within about a year. This includes a bridge currently being constructed to go over the freeway at SH-6/FM 1960. The responses on Twitter were predictable, most of which…
A Soupçon of Houston’s Fringe to Tide Us Over Until Fall
Like a small boat drifting precariously upon a vast ocean, the resilient Houston Fringe Festival persevered last September, but not without taking on some water. The timing couldn’t have been worse. Houston traffic was a nightmare with many roads still impassible, arts organizations and venues were only just beginning to…
Texans Bring Back RB Alfred Blue on One Year Contract
It’s impossible for an NFL team to address every need in the draft, especially when the needs abound like they do for the Houston Texans. None of the eight selections that Brian Gaine made in his first draft as general manager was at the running back position, a mild surprise…
Journey’s Jonathan Cain: Still Believin’ in Music and Other Higher Powers
You could practically hear the piercing screams of millions of HBO viewers across the land on the night of June 10, 2007 as they were all wondering the same thing: How could the cable TV cut out now?? That’s when we last saw New Jersey “sanitation engineer” Tony Soprano at…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Chicken Philly at Pappa Geno’s
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! The Chicken Philly is what you might imagine: ground chicken, grilled with onions, with mayo and melted provolone cheese. But, it’s that bread that makes the sandwich.
Weather Week: Humidity, Temperatures on the Rise
The first week of May should be the first real reminder of the fact that we are inching ever closer to the heat of the summer. Over the weekend, however, we saw beautiful weather with sunny skies and mild afternoons. It was clear and dry with low humidity and light…
Rockets Beat Jazz in Game 1 of The Semifinals: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
The Rockets took game one in the Western Conference semifinals from the Utah Jazz 110-96 on Sunday afternoon. James Harden had 41 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Chris Paul added 17 points, 6 assists and 4 steals. The Rockets led 64-39 at the half and never looked back despite…
Sum 41 Heeds the Call, Celebrates Its Past
Admittedly, Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley isn’t one to dwell on the past. I don’t truly understand this, because if I was a member of one of the biggest rock bands in America around the turn of the century, rest assured I’d dine out on that for years to come…
Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile Comes to the Alley Theatre
Picasso at the Lapin Agile is the brainchild of actor, musician and playwright Steve Martin who imagined what it might have been like had Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso both met in a bar in Paris when they were young men before they became famous. Visiting director Sanford Robbins (he…
Slow Future Change Things Up On New Single
The number of bands in Houston that have been around for a minute who haven’t gotten written about has always been staggering. Look around, there’s a great chance that you know band members who have been playing around Houston for a while who have never had two words written about…
Where to Dine in Houston This Mother’s Day 2018
Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday, May 13; and what better way to celebrate all the moms in your life than with a tasty meal that you don’t have to clean up? From kid-friendly brunch buffets to chic hotspots offering prix fixe dining experiences, here’s where to celebrate Mother’s…
This Week in Houston Food Events: There’s A New Brunch in Town
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: New Brunch Brunch at BCK Kitchen & Cocktail Adventures BCK Kitchen & Cocktail Adventures, 933 Studewood, has officially launched brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dine on items like the Sloppy José with chorizo and fried…
My Family Doesn’t Do Funerals
About ten years ago my family began a strange tradition that has become the norm. We don’t do funerals anymore. At all, and I think it’s wonderful. It started with my grandfather, who had been ill for a very long time before he passed away in 2009. It was a…
Four Observations On The Houston Texans After the 2018 NFL Draft
The 2018 NFL Draft is in the books, and if the ratings on the draft are any indicator, perhaps the regular season dip in television ratings we’ve seen the past couple seasons is just temporary. According to a press release from the league, the first round of the draft, which…
Bellini’s Beauty Somewhat Dulled in This HGO Production of Norma
Vincenzo Bellini’s masterpiece should never play second fiddle to a grilled sandwich. It happened right in the middle of Act I of Norma (1831), when Druid priestess Norma confronts her best friend, virgin-in-waiting Adalgisa, about her fling with Norma’s boyfriend Pollione, the Roman general who’s conquered the Gauls and fathered…
Bad Samaritan Throws Back to (But Pales Before) the Thrillers of the Clinton Era
… Bad Samaritan — with its title sounding very Grisham — tells the story of a low-level thief who breaks into a fancy-schmancy house and discovers a woman being held captive in a plastic-lined, camera-surveilled room
2018 NFL Draft: Houston Texans Nab Stanford Safety Justin Reid In Early Third Round
I have to admit, Thursday night’s first round of the NFL Draft was kind of fun, given the fact the Texans had no first round pick. The Texans’ absence yielded a much more relaxed viewing experience. That said, by Friday night, I was ready for the Texans to begin adding…
P!NK Brings Strength, Style and Substance to Toyota Center
P!NK Toyota Center April 27, 2018 One day, P!NK’s daughter Willow came home from school, visibly upset. The other kids had been mocking her for looking too much “like a boy.” Alecia Beth Moore, the Grammy Award-winning artist better known as P!NK, wasn’t happy. She wondered to herself what the ramifications would…
Eric Church Makes It Worth the Wait in The Woodlands
Eric Church April 27, 2018 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, The Woodlands Eric Church was originally supposed to play Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands last September, but then a storm named Harvey came along and pressed pause on those plans. Friday night, Church more than made up for the…
Westworld Is Smarter and Better, but It Demands Bloody Price
The new season finds Maeve (Thandie Newton), the host who played madam to Westworld’s bevy of robot whores, scouring the park for the daughter she was given in a previous “narrative” … and who continues to haunt her dreams
Vida Is Stellar Series About American Identity
Told through the unique lens of this Latinx family, Vida is a statement on upward mobility and the privilege of being able to outgrow your home
Jack Johnson Returns to Houston and Serenades Old Friends and the Newly-Engaged
Jack Johnson Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion April 26, 2018 Jack Johnson told the devotees who met him at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion last night that his wife made the trip to Houston with him. He said she was strolling the Pavilion grounds before the show and witnessed a marriage proposal…
2018 NFL Draft, First Round — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
As NFL Drafts go, the 2018 edition came in with more hype than any in recent memory, and by the time the dust settled, it largely lived up to said hype, I suppose. The night began with a Heisman Trophy winner as the first overall pick, Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield to…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Sip Suds at Kemah Craft Beer Fest
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Saturday Morning Bake Sale at Fluff Bake Bar Saturday, 10 a.m. until sold out 314 Gray Fluff Bake Bar continues its Saturday Morning Bake Sale series with chef Ryan Hildebrand of FM Kitchen and Bar. Come early if you want first…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War is as much a cacophonic culmination of a decade’s worth of world-building as it is a vehicle designed to ensure your butt’s in the seat for the sequel.
Tobias Forge of Ghost Opens Up Ahead of Houston Date
There aren’t too many times in music when a secret can be kept, yet for more than a decade, the members of Swedish metal act Ghost have kept their identities secret while offering some of the most anthemic sounds to come from the genre in a long time. After blowing…
Ira Glass Turns the Tables to Tell His Own Story During Houston Stop
For those of us who keep the radio tuner locked on News 88.7, there’s an art to planning road trips around those sweet spots in programming. Saturdays are always a high point with their back-to-back trifecta of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, This American Life and The Moth Radio Hour…
Openings and Closings: Sweet Paris in April, B. Good in Spring
Sweet Paris, 23501 Cinco Ranch Boulevard, opened April 9, at La Centerra in Katy. This is the third location of the creperie in Houston from couple Allison and Ivan Chavez. There is also a location in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. There are three more future locations planned for the surrounding Houston…
Five Pretty Cool New Gmail Features Rolled Out by Google
Google rolled out a significant update to the Gmail platform on Tuesday that includes some pretty interesting new features available to online and app-driven Gmail users. Some changes were adapted from features offered by popular email software titles, while others are pretty unique. And for anyone who uses the actual…
Hamilton in Houston Proves That Greatness Can Go On the Road
The day before Hamilton opened in Houston, a number of my colleagues and I discussed our fantasy critique for the production. The review we all wish we could hand into our editors and call it a day. It would be one sentence long and go something like this: Yes the…
HAIM, Lizzo Bring Unique Brands of Girl Power to Revention
HAIM, Lizzo Revention Music Center April 25, 2018 Femininity comes in many forms. Some women are petite; others are curvy; all of them are beautiful in their own way. Music isn’t all that different, really. Some songs are soft and romantic while others are loud and boisterous. Which is why,…
Kanye West Doubles Down on Donald Trump and Finally Breaks the Internet
On Wednesday afternoon, it felt like the world stopped for a few hours. Hot sports takes were put on the backburner, crime junkies temporarily forgot about the arrest of the Golden State Killer and the hype over Infinity War briefly went silent. For that window, it felt like everyone, everywhere…
Rockets Close Out Minnesota, Head to Round Two: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Ultimately, there wasn’t a ton of doubt. Despite a hiccup in game three, the Rockets were clearly the better team in round one and they finished off the Timberwolves 122-104 to move on to round two. But, the Wolves played well, leading much of the first half, but as the…
Fallon Franklin’s Got Talent and an Inspiring Story To Share
If you watch those network television talent programs, it’s easy to believe a gifted singer, especially one whose pretty voice and face help them advance in the competition, is on the fast-track to fame and fortune. As viewers tune in and build an affinity for the performer, we begin to…
2018 NFL Draft, Round One — Four Things To Watch For
The weird thing about tonight’s NFL Draft is that (a) I can’t remember the last time I was this excited to sit down and watch the first round, and (b) the team I cover, the Houston Texans, doesn’t have a pick until sometime in the middle of the evening on…
Sawyer Yards Gets a Little Bigger With New Sabine Street Studios
Sabine Street Studios joins the eight other renovated industrial buildings that make up the core of Sawyer Yards, one of the nation’s largest artistic communities.
Cosplay and Star Wars-Inspired Art Dominate Houston’s May the 4th Festival
Sometimes good things come out of bad puns. “May the Force be with you” segued to “May the fourth be with you” — dating back possibly to 1979 when Margaret Thatcher became prime minster. Here in Houston we can proudly boast that H-Town is home base for one of the…
Weather Weekend: Awesome Weather for the MS150
If you are a cyclist and plan on hitting the road this weekend for the annual MS 150 to Austin, you are going to love this forecast. Like, love love. And even if you are just going to laze around the house this weekend, you’re going to love it as…
Turnstile Proves Hardcore Can Exist On a Major Label
Twenty years ago, if you were a punk band and you signed to a major label, you were called a sellout. Not much has changed in the punk underground in regards to that sentiment, but when you look at a band like Baltimore’s Turnstile, the phrase sellout shouldn’t enter your…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Behold the Smoked Cheddar BBQ Bacon Burger
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Just in time for May’s National Burger Month, Shake Shack will introduce its new Smoked Cheddar BBQ Bacon Burger, Chick’n and Fries, available at all three Houston locations. The specials will be available from Tuesday, May…
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Do You Hear the People Sing HISD? Guess You Did. [UPDATED]
Well never let it be said that Houston ISD and its administrators can’t read the tea leaves. An HISD press release has just announced that HISD trustees will not be voting on any partnership for its ten troubled campuses. As we reported this morning, residents lined up Tuesday night to…
Eric B & Rakim took Houston back to the Golden Age of Hip-Hop
After a 26-year hiatus, it really did seem like Eric B & Rakim hadn’t lost a step. They effortlessly took the crowd back to the Golden Age.
Raised Voices and Protesters Dragged Away. Who Says HISD School Board Meetings Are Boring?
Last night, Houston ISD had a fight and in the middle of it a meeting broke out. OK that’s a variation on an old joke but any idea that the community would be happy about the school board and HISD administration’s latest set of plans to handle its most troubled…
Norma Comes Complete With Druid Priestesses and Fiery Deaths
Let’s see. There’s the title role of Norma, a Druid priestess who has broken her vows of chastity with a proconsul, part of an invading Roman force. She has two young sons by him who are hidden away. Somehow her father, the high priest Oroveso (Peixin Chen), doesn’t know about the…
Remembering Bob Dorough, Hip Conductor of Schoolhouse Rock
It was widely reported yesterday that Bob Dorough passed away this week. The news whisked me directly back to my parents’ den, circa 1974. I could picture nine year-old me sitting cross-legged on the linoleum floor, with Apple Jacks-tinted milk dribbling down my chin. Through a mouthful of cereal, I…
Toned Down But Not Gone, White Oak Music Hall Outdoor Stages Will Live On
When White Oak Music Hall opened in August 2016 to the delight of local music fans, all sorts of optimistic statements were made by its business partners that their near Northside residential neighbors would come to love their big, bold, outdoor venue and the jobs it offered the locals. Ah,…
Ash vs. Evil Dead Is A Better Show Than The Walking Dead But None Of You Ingrates Watched It
The Walking Dead going over the same narrative ground for a full one-quarter of its run is perversely impressive. It’s not “CBS procedural” repetitive, but still fairly remarkable.
Where to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Houston
Commemorating the Mexican defeat of a French Empire at the Battle of Puebla, Cinco de Mayo may not be widely celebrated in Mexico, but sure is in Houston, where it’s become more of a way to honor Mexican-American culture (and a way to enjoy a margarita or two). This year’s holiday…
Jason Boland on One-Night Stands and Lifelong Companions
If you stay in the game long enough – any game, really – you’re going to experience some ups and downs. Jason Boland & The Stragglers are no exception. For the better part of two decades, the band has created a unique brand of country music. Hailing from Oklahoma but…
2018 NFL Draft Selections To Watch — Big QB Trades Finally Get Real Players Attached
The NFL Draft begins Thursday night, and make no mistake, there are plenty of storylines to follow. How do the top four quarterbacks shake out? Is the size of Josh Allen’s hands really going to be the reason Cleveland drafts him with the first overall pick? Where does Saquon Barkley…
Dog’s Mind: The Best Houston Music of The Week
Last week this city saw plenty of entertaining options and this week is no different. Performances from David Byrne, Judas Priest, Chastity Belt, Melvins, Sextile, The Residents, Joey Bada$$ and more will roll through town while sets from locals like Only Beast, Astragal and more will fill in the gaps…
Chef Chat: Dominick Lee, a Southern Gentleman
While describing the way he sees the world with determination and clarity, all embellished in a charming New Orleans drawl with twinkling eyes to match, Dominick Lee is a little bit philosopher. The calculated chef embarks upon his first gig as the dude with the opening of Poitín set to…
Watch the Dragons Fly Across Houston’s Buffalo Bayou
The tragic tale of drowned Chinese poet Qu Yuan (340-278 BC) is remembered with the sounding of a Chinese gong to mark the beginning of the Houston Dragon Boat Festival. Yuan could not be saved by the fishermen who paddled as fast as they could to rescue the beloved poet,…
Christopher Titus Wants to Unite Us All
Christopher Titus is painfully honest, and this is simultaneously refreshing, uncomfortable and cathartic. Titus rails on his ex-wife and the current state of affairs, and this is refreshing because, well, it’s nice to hear someone shun PC culture and tell it how it is, or at the very least, how…
Rockets Drop 50 in Third Quarter, Go Up 3-1 on Wolves: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
For 14 quarters, the Rockets searched for their offense. Despite being up 2-0, winning easily in game two, the vaunted offense that dominated the NBA sputtered. They couldn’t hit three pointers, they missed layups. Gone were the trademark spurts that left opponents in the dust. It was their defense that…
Not Your Mother’s Vampire Ball at Avant Garden
In case it slipped your mind, Houston is full of vampires, and this weekend at Avant Garden they’re having a ball. Houston has been without a proper Vampire Ball for a while now, though they used to be all the rage when our city was a big blip on the…
Rating The Houston Texans Eight 2018 Road Trips
The NFL schedule was released last week, as we covered here, and Houston Texan fans should be enthused for a couple of reasons. First, as I conveyed in said post last week, the schedule is actually very conducive to a bounce back season, with all three prime time games at…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Pechuga Torta at La Tapatia
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! Much like the Vietnamese bánh mì, the Mexican torta (the common name for a sandwich) is one of Houston’s unofficial sandwich ambassadors (greatest job ever!). It doesn’t get quite the respect of the other popular…
Houston Press Singles Club: Ape Drums, Virgil Wolfe, Robert Kuhn, etc.
The Houston Press Singles Club is back this week with plenty of tunes to help steer you into the following days. Tracks from Ape Drums, Venomous Maximus, Virgil Wolfe, The Hates, and Robert Kuhn will all make their way onto the playlist. While we appreciate anyone who subscribes to the…
The Care and Feeding of a Nurse Working 13-Hour Shifts
I wrote a while back about the unique challenges of living with a night shift worker. Luckily, my NICU nurse wife was able to transition to a regular day schedule and now lives mostly like a normal human. That doesn’t mean that my role as a caregiver has ended. If…
The DC Superhero Films Need More Mortal Kombat
Let’s get some Band-Aid’s ripped off first, okay? Justice League did not perform as hoped. That’s not to say it was bad or that I didn’t like it. It was, I did, but it wasn’t The Avengers. We can quibble the box office numbers until the end of days, but…
Rockets Drop Game 3 in Minnesota: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
It’s never easy. Any coach will tell you that winning is hard, which is why it is so prized. For the Rockets, they got a lesson on Saturday night when the Timberwolves, down 0-2, bounced back with a resounding 121-105 win. It was a painful reminder for fans that the…
New Books See the Beatles in a Whole New Way and Ponder the End of Classic Rock
Visualizing the Beatles: A Complete Graphic History of the World’s Favorite Band By John Pring and Rob Thomas 288 pp. $26.99 Dey Street Books With hundreds of biographies published over decades, there can’t possibly be a completely different way to tell the well-worn story of the Fab Four, right? Wrong…
Weather Week: A Beautiful, Sunny Spring Week Ahead
The weather turned a tad hostile on Saturday night as a cool front pushed through the area. Between around 9 p.m. and midnight, rain was falling at around two inches per hour and there was some hail sighted. After the front, however, temperatures cooled down and Sunday was a banner…
Don’t Worry About Cooking on April 26. Instead, Dine Out For Life
On Thursday, April 26, more than 40 Houston-area restaurants will donate a portion of the day’s proceeds for the annual Dining Out for Life, a fundraiser to support AIDS Foundation Houston.
10 New Happy Hour Deals in Houston
When the work whistle blows, what better way to cap off your day than with refreshing après-office drinks and bites? Here are 10 new happy hour specials you’ll want to know about. Night Heron, 1601 West Main Happy hour enthusiasts can’t go wrong at Montrose’s Night Heron, the latest concept…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Dining Out for Life
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All week through Sunday, April 29 Houston Black Restaurant Week Houston Black Restaurant Week is back to celebrate the flavors of African-American, African and Caribbean cuisines via a fun event line-up and restaurant menu specials. The lineup of restaurants offering specials…
Astros Address Early Concerns In Resounding Fashion
I’ve been doing this sports talk radio and writing thing for over a decade now, and I’m four decades into my general sports fandom, so maybe I should have known better before doing a post in which I rated seasonal Astros concerns last Tuesday, 17 games into the season. After…
Superchunk Returns To Houston, Full of Vigor
It’s hard to believe that North Carolina’s Superchunk will have been together 30 years next year, but it’s the truth. When you look at the band’s back catalog you’ll find a slew of catchy melodies, tongue in cheek references, and what many have called the blueprint for modern indie rock…
The Age of Exploration Continues With Havel Ruck Projects’ Open House
The age of exploration isn’t over, and local artists Dan Havel and Dean Ruck are embarking on their latest adventure right here in Houston. As the dynamic duo behind Havel Ruck Projects, they’ve already summited uncharted territories with their architecturally up-cycled Inversion (2005), Give & Take (2009), Fifth Ward Jam (2010)…
The Lilies of the Field Bloom for A.D. Players at The George
The A.D. Players at The George bring The Lilies of the Field, an inspirational tale about an unlikely partnership between a group of Catholic nuns and a black Baptist from South Carolina, to the Houston stage.
HGO’s West Side Story Offers a Well-Sung, if Less Than Edgy Tony
When the posh denizens of Manhattan’s upper east side need a gang leader, let it be tenor Norman Reinhardt. Never has the role of Tony in the Broadway classic West Side Story (1957) sounded so fine, been so lovingly sung, been heard to such advantage. In Houston Grand Opera’s co-production…
Clear a Path to the Riotous Loss-of-Virginity Comedy Blockers
Though written by two men, Blockers smartly confronts the gendered double standards that have littered the genre for generations, as well as homophobia and other vehicles for predictable jokes
These Improbable Beasts (and the Rock) Deserve a Wilder Film Than Rampage
… This is a movie where everyone in Johnson’s radius accuses his character of hating humanity, when the actor himself can’t help ingratiating himself to everything …
In I Feel Pretty, Amy Schumer Defeats, Discovers Herself
The problem with I Feel Pretty isn’t that it’s offensive but that it’s often plodding and unfunny, almost as if its creators are afraid to have too much fun with such a loaded premise
Foo Fighters Welcome All to Their Family Reunion
Foo Fighters Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion April 19, 2018 Foo Fighters held a family reunion at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion last night, one complete with long lost relatives finally arriving for the party and a genuinely touching moment between the band’s frontman, Dave Grohl, and the “son” he never knew…
Houston Texans Open 2018 Regular Season At New England
The unveiling of the NFL schedule has become one of the more underrated events on the NFL’s calendar over the last few years. With the time and place and sequence of games becoming nearly as important as the actual opponents, the schedule release gives us our first REAL chance to…
Openings and Closings: Leibman’s Reopens, Pepper Twins Expands
Leibman’s Eatery, Market and Gifts, 10100 Katy Freeway, opened April 16, as the new location of what was once Leibman’s Wine and Fine Foods. Ettienne and Ralph Leibman emigrated from South Africa to Houston and opened the original shop in 1979, selling hard to find South African foods and deli…
Eric Church’s “Mr. Misunderstood” an Overlooked Classic
Eric Church is an interesting case as far as the modern country scene goes. On one hand, Church is the type of roguish country outlaw, in the vein of a Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton, who is thriving in today’s ever-altering musical landscape. On the other, and like the aforementioned…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Celebrate 420 with the Ultimate Munchies
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: 420 Special at Freebirds World Burrito Friday, all day long All locations In honor of the stoner holiday known as 420, Freebirds World Burrito locations will be giving away one free Pot Brownie with the purchase of a Monster Burrito all…
J.J. Watt Named To TIME 100 Most Influential People List
For the better part of eight years, we in Houston have known that J.J. Watt’s sphere of influence ranged well beyond the 100 yards of gridiron he defends on Sundays. His charitable works and superhero episodes with regular, everyday people are legendary. Ironically, though, in a two year period in…
Parquet Courts Return To Houston Wide Awake
If you’re making records that get plenty of praise from critics, you’re probably well ahead of the curve in today’s music landscape. While 20 years ago, that wasn’t the case, anyone who’s caught New York’s Parquet Courts perform would say that praise and acclaim is well deserved. Now, with their…
Comics, Batmobile and Cosplay: Free Comic Book Day Heads to Houston
Houston traffic gets just a bit more interesting come May 5, when exotic cars zoom out to select Bedrock City Comic Company locations to celebrate Free Comic Book Day. There’s a DeLorean, Wonder Woman’s Jeep and even the Batmobile. But “th-th-that’s not all folks,” because #FCBD18 at Bedrock City also features…
Chromeo Impress Small, Energetic Crowd at House of Blues
Chromeo House of Blues April 18, 2018 Stage presence is a difficult thing to master. Most acts spend years working on it, and they’re only able to make it seem effortless after lots and lots of practice. Harder still is commanding the stage as a duo, especially when one of the two…
Weather Weekend: At Least Friday and Sunday Look Nice
In the ever-changing world of Houston-area weather, spring is perhaps the most frustrating. Do we need a jacket or a T-shirt? Do we bring an umbrella or sunscreen? Will I walk outside and be burned to a crisp within three seconds of stepping out the door or will I be…
A Memorial Lineup for Comicpalooza 2018 in Houston
Comicpalooza 2018 continues to add to its lineup with its latest announcement that Tom Holland (Spider-Man) will be on hand during the Memorial Day Weekend event this year at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Other stars who’ll be joining the con now in its tenth year include Marvel Comics…
Rockets Beat T-Wolves in Game 2 Romp: 4 Winners 4 Losers
It was only a matter of time. For the Rockets, that time was just over five quarters. In all of game one of the first round matchup with Minnesota, the Rockets could not shoot straight. The first quarter of game two, they were worse, hitting only 20 percent of their…
Star Cross’d Debuts With Online, Short Form Opera
Filming all over Houston, Houston Grand Opera has taken up the usual operatic themes of romance, heartbreak and sacrifice, and employed them in a new area: streaming videos. The first episode will air this Friday and it, like all the others to come, is based upon a true story. Star…
The Perfect Doctor Who Story for the Age of Trump
Warning: major plot spoilers ahead As I’m writing this, the weird alternate dimension that we currently inhabit is continuing to get more and more surreal in year two of the Donald Trump administration. Rassilon only knows what shenanigans will have happened by the time this piece actually runs, but recently…
Snap, Crackle and Pop to the Electrifying El Jumbotron
We were at Houston Undrgrnd for a show recently when the venue’s sound engineer, Eric Christian, asked whether we’d ever seen the band that was onstage killing it for an enthralled audience. I told him we hadn’t. We consulted the event page and learned the band was El Jumbotron. Christian,…
Houston 911 Operator Who Hung Up on Thousands Gets Justice
Crenshanda Williams, the 911 operator who famously didn’t have time to talk with Houston residents trying to report emergencies and hung up on them had her day in court and was not a winner. Apparently the judge that heard the three-day trial was not impressed by the 44-year-old woman who…
Shadow Puppets Tell the Story of Ancient Persia in Feathers of Fire
A 10th-century Persian epic comes to life in the shadows in Hamid Rahmanian’s Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic.
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Houston Black Restaurant Week is Here
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Houston Black Restaurant Week is taking place now through Sunday, April 29. For two weeks, the city will celebrate the flavors of African-American, African and Caribbean cuisines via a fun event line-up and restaurant menu specials…
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Houston Get Ready for Three Two Festivals in One Weekend [UPDATE]
It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes multiple festivals bring plenty of music for you to enjoy at the same time. With festivals becoming the norm in today’s society, it’s shocking that this doesn’t occur more. You see, this weekend you’ll have three festivals grace Houston on the same weekend with…
Houston Sports World Mourns Loss of Barbara Bush (1925-2018)
In the world we live in now, where it feels like politics is shrouded in a distinct “you’re either with us or against us” vibe, where bipartisanship is pretty much out the window, it’s hard to find people tied to politics where everyone seems to agree that “Hey, he or…
Texans DE J.J. Watt: “We Need To Hold Up Our End of the Bargain”
On Tuesday, the most highly anticipated season in the history of the Houston Texans (I don’t think it’s a reach to say that) began with a series of press conferences from some of the stars of this team. It was nice to see that J.J. Watt has two working legs…
The Tornado Chaser Who Died and the Journalist Who Wrote a Book About Him
In 2013, freelance journalist Brantley Hargrove wrote a cover story for the Houston Press about Tim Samaras, a tornado chaser who became known as a brilliant storm chaser. All right up until the time that he pushed too hard. Hargrove, with a lot more work, has expanded upon that story…
Celis White Returns to Houston in all its Fluffy White-Headed Glory
The story of Celis White has all the trappings of a sweeping cinematic epic. There’s a lone genius and his long-shot rise to fame. There’s the evil empire that seeks only to consolidate its power. There’s loss and turmoil. There’s redemption. Then … more loss. There’s a lost family secret…
How Bad Luck Harpooned the Career of ’60s San Fran Rockers Moby Grape
What’s Big and Purple and Lives in the Ocean? The Moby Grape Story By Cam Cobb 320 pp. $22.95 Jawbone Press No matter how talented a band is or the high quality of their music, sometimes a positive career trajectory just comes down to sheer luck – or lack thereof…
A Quiet Place and the Case for Universal Subtitles
I’ve been excited for A Quiet Place since I recognized Wonderstruck’s Millicent Simmonds in the trailer. The young actress absolutely killed the former, and the promise of a horror film based around using ASL to avoid sound-sensitive monsters was intriguing. By all accounts, horror fans and other filmgoers agree. The…
Chef Chat: Matt Staph On Using Kenny Loggins To Motivate The Team
He had quietly begun to tackle the case of favas when the Houston Press entered into the low-ceiling kitchen at One/Fifth. “Want some help?” “Sure. Want a Topo or something?” Chef Matt Staph has a calm thoughtfulness about him; a demeanor that is, interestingly, very attracted to the fire. Like…
Houston’s Indie Booksellers Celebrating Their Day With Beer, Booze and Books
Protests come in all shapes and sizes. From organized marches (often with debatable head counts) to picketing to online campaigns gone viral, there’s more than one way to make your voice heard. Independent Bookstore Day on April 28 is our chance to say up with indie booksellers in Houston, and down…
Wide Awake: The Best of The Week in Houston’s Music
The weeks lately have been lush with plenty of music from locals and touring acts. This week is no different when we’ll see sets from Parquet Courts, The Breeders, Eric B.& Rakim, Lee Ann Womack, Homeshake and more while locals like Ancient Cat Society, Cool Moon, and many more will…
Hamilton is Upon Us and There’s Still Time To Enter the $10 a Ticket Lottery
In 2013, Nicholas Christopher was asked to come in and do a couple of readings for Hamilton. “Back when it was supposed to be just a mix tape,” he says. Involved in other projects, he wasn’t in the original Broadway cast that opened two years later but eventually was brought…
Four Signs from Game One the Rockets Will Finish the T-Wolves Quickly
No one in the Rockets locker room will want to look at the tape of Sunday’s nights 104-101 win, except maybe James Harden and Clint Capela. There were a lot of ugly moments. Chris Paul said he looked like “the Bad News Bears” on the floor, pre-Kelly Leak, we assume…
Somehow, Foo Fighters Remain Underrated
Foo Fighters easily rank among the most beloved, respected and accessible rock acts of their era. The band has produced hits for days for the better part of 25 years, which has created one of the bigger fanbases of the modern era. And yet, Foo Fighters still very much play…
Rating My Four Way-Too-Early Houston Astro Concerns
Before the Astros began the process of defending their 2017 World Series title in this year of 2018, I told myself that if things went a little sideways early in the season, I wasn’t going to freak out… and I’m hear to tell you that, I am most assuredly NOT…
Houston’s Pot & Plot Takes a “High”-Minded Approach to Film Review
We’re an hour into our conversation with Stephanie Fisher and Josh Rollins when they make an unexpected announcement. “We’ve been out of weed for about a week,” Rollins says. “And we’re going to buy more after this,” Fisher informs us. “I was real irritable from like Wednesday of last week…
Where to Dine Out for Graduation in Houston
It’s cap and gown season, a magical time of reflection, opportunity and celebration. And if there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that after years of painstaking exams and ramen noodle study sessions, the graduate has earned a good meal! So we rounded up ten spots that offer the…
Houston Press Parent Company Announces Partnership With Herban Planet
One of the nation’s most forward-leaning media companies and one of the internet’s best cannabis guides are joining forces to give consumers and marijuana businesses greater access to a national platform of online resources. Voice Media Group owns and operates the Houston Press along with an array of other iconic…
ECHO Is Young-At-Heart With Teenage Soloists, Concert Lineup
The Energy Corridor of Houston Orchestra is debuting the winners of their inaugural Young Artists Concert Competition at its April 20 show, which will feature music written by youth or inspired by youth.
Marfa Myths Defies Expectations
Marfa, Texas is an interesting place. Locked in the desert, the town has a few spots to eat, all with odd business hours and more art galleries per capita than possibly anywhere else in Texas. It’s a town where everyone knows everyone but few call home. Over the weekend, one…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Croque Monsieur at Cafe Brussels
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! Leave it to the French to take the concept of a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and try to elevate it into something artful. It’s ham and cheese. It can’t be that difficult right?…
Weather Week: Sunny, Quiet Spring Weather on Tap
Spring typically brings pretty tumultuous weather for the Houston area. There are periods of beautiful, even cool days, much like we saw over the past weekend. And there are times when you think Noah might come sailing by on his ark. We saw a little of that Friday night. This…
This Production of The Government Inspector May Be Too Zany For its Own Good
Anyone know the Russian expression for “¡Ay, caramba!” How about, “What were they thinking!” There are many different ways to stage Nikolai Golgol’s classic satire The Government Inspector (1836). I’m not convinced Classic Theatre’s production is one of them. The story itself is simple in structure, genius practically. Accompanied by…
Houston Chamber Choir Brings Home Award for Chorale Excellence
The Houston Chamber Choir has been awarded the 2018 Margaret Hillis Award for Chorale Excellence, which recognizes a professional chorus that has achieved a high level of artistic quality, financial stability and a commitment to outreach and education.
Rockets Beat Timberwolves in Game One of the NBA Playoffs: 4 Winners and 4 Losers
The one-eight NBA playoff matchup is generally supposed to be a cakewalk for the No. 1 seed. For the Rockets, the expectation was that they would do what they have done all season to Minnesota, namely mop up the floor with them. But things don’t always go as expected and…
Houston We Have Crawfish. Here’s What You Want to Do With It.
Folks we’re deep in to crawfish season now. It’s pretty obvious in Houston with chefs, cooks and whoever else setting up for it almost everyday. You find them at popups, cook offs, backyards and various establishments. A lot of things are happening when it comes to crawfish in Houston. Some…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Cease and Desist at Blacksmith
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, April 16 Wear Your PJs to Work Day Special at Lupe Tortilla To celebrate National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day, Lupe Tortilla will offer one FREE taco per pajama-wearing guest at any participating Lupe Tortilla location from 8 to…
Houston Artists Serving Up Artsy But Empty Bowls to Fight Hunger
Houston artist John Slaby always adds a touch of surrealism to his photorealistic oil paintings, finding creative ways to explore religion, metaphysics and the human condition. For his contribution to Archway Gallery’s upcoming Empty Bowls Invitational Exhibition, Slaby painted a vessel that’s cracked and broken but that also suggests a…
Lee Ann Womack Returns Full Circle To Houston
If you grew up listening to country music, then there’s a good chance that you won’t recognize what gets called country music today. Acts like Bob Wills, George Jones and even Bill Monroe don’t really occupy the airwaves anymore, only to be replaced with a new form of “pop country”…
Houston Texan Players Begin Dez Bryant Recruitment Effort
On Friday, in one of the poorer kept secrets of the NFL offseason, the Dallas Cowboys finally acted on their desire to end the Dez Bryant Era, releasing the mercurial wide receiver after eight seasons in Dallas. On pretty much every level, the move made perfect sense. On paper, Bryant,…
Want to Lift Your Spirits? Hurry to Houston Ballet’s Don Quixote
Houston Ballet welcomes back former artistic director Ben Stevenson’s Don Quixote after a 12-year absence.
Opera in the Heights Works its Magic With Candide
There are so many glories to be gleaned from Opera in the Heights’ spirited production of Leonard Bernstein’s “operetta” adaptation of Voltaire’s masterpiece Candide (1956) that it seems almost churlish to point out its faults. But the show, however so splendidly produced and sung, remains a mash of Voltaire’s patented…
Matt and Kim Keep Fans Dancing at White Oak Music Hall
Matt and Kim White Oak Music Hall April 13, 2018 Some bands are disappointing. You buy their album, fall in love with a few songs and attend a show only to discover that they just can’t replicate the studio magic. It’s a discouraging experience, one that most concert-goers encounter from…
The Truth About Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare Is Pretty Sorry
Fresh ideas are rare in the horror game, so it’s not surprising that Truth or Dare quickly devolves into a riff on the Final Destination films, which had Death wittily and methodically hunting those it failed to nab in plane crashes and other disasters
The Revisionist Crawls Along To Its Climax
Family means different things to different people. For some, it’s a commodity to be used when needed. For others, it’s the most precious thing imaginable, the centering point of life. So what happens when two people who have different feelings about the value of family come together? This is the…
A Study in Decadence: Obsidian’s Cabaret
Broadway chroniclers rate Cabaret (1966) as one of the essential ’60s shows: the first musical to digress from Rodgers and Hammerstein, the first to go dark, the first to have an overall concept, the first subversively sexy show, the first to affront an audience and make it squirm. It this…
Rockets Will Face Minnesota in Round One: How They Match Up
The Rockets finally found out who their first-round opponent in the playoffs will be when the complex set of variables that set playoff seeding for the Western Conference played out on Wednesday night. Minnesota, who finished their season with a win over Denver, locked up the eight seed and knocked…
Houston Weather Weekend: Storms Ahead of a Cool Saturday, Sunday
If you aren’t quite ready to put your sweaters away, you’re in luck because the weekend forecast might find you needing one, but not before we get some more rain and potentially thunderstorms. The week behind us brought some stunning spring weather with highs around 80 under sunny skies. But,…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Rampage
Rampage won’t stretch your critical thinking abilities, but it’s harmless fun.
Texans Release Derek Newton Who Files Grievance Against Team
Earlier this week, we did a fairly extensive breakdown on how the Texans’ offensive line slowly degenerated from a competent, respectable unit to open 2014 to the Swiss cheese debacle they trotted out there in 2017. Duane Brown, Chris Myers, Brandon Brooks, Ben Jones, Derek Newton — those were the…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: The Houston Barbecue Festival Returns
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: First Annual Chili Dog Cook Off at Good Dog Houston Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. 1312 West Alabama Good Dog Houston is hosting its first annual Chili Dog Cook Off, featuring chili from Saint Arnold Brewery, 8th Wonder Brewery, Platypus Brewing,…
Get Ready to Revel in the Absurdity That is Candide
It’s one of the most mixed-up librettos ever written, the subject of countless revisions through the years, but set that aside for the moment and think of the music — catchy, surprising and living somewhere in the crossover zone between musical theater and opera. Candide, the operetta about to be…
Radio Galaxy Adds Their Stamp On Houston Hip Hop
It’s safe to say that Houston’s hip hop scene is flush with talent. It’s always been that way and it definitely still is. While it would’ve been cool to see the vanguard acts reach out to the up and comers like what happened in Atlanta, that didn’t happen here and…
Openings and Closings: Les Noo’dle Opens Softly, Pappa Charlie’s Returns
Les Noo’dle, 1717 Montrose, began its soft opening this month, according to Eater Houston. The new pho restaurant takes the place of Cat Huynh and Angie Dang’s former Vietnamese restaurant, Les Ba’get, which will reopen in a new space in the Oak Forest area this summer. Pho-natics can dine on beef,…
Six Takeaways from the Mark Zuckerberg Congressional Hearings
Whatever you may think about politics, Facebook or its uncomfortable founder Mark Zuckerberg, there is no doubt that his appearance before Congress to discuss internet privacy in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, there is no doubt that the two days of hearings were delightful political theater. They were…
Alley Theater Hosts a Visiting Latin American Production, But Let’s Not Talk About It
Hey Houston, did y’all hear that the Alley Theater has invited a Mexican company to come perform the first ever show done entirely in Spanish (with live English translation) on the Alley stage? Did you know that the show, Gorguz Teatro & Universiteatro’s Misa Fronteriza (Border Mass), is a satirical…
Cleo at the Alley Doesn’t Match the Epic Content of its Source Material
By his own account, playwright and Pulitzer-Prize winner Lawrence Wright (for the mesmerizing non-fiction account of the rise of Al-Qaeda, The Looming Tower) had written 87 drafts for Cleo, now having its world premiere at the Alley Theatre. He needs to write No. 88. Cleo is a somewhat fictional account…
Travis Meadows’ Life One Long Country Song
To call Travis Meadows’ path in life tragic is a disservice to both Meadows and the overall notion of tragedy itself. This is a man who, as a youth, watched his brother drown. Who began using drugs at age 11. Who battled (and beat) cancer at age 14, only to…
Celebrate the Big 4-Oh with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago brings a “small snapshot” of their 40-year existence when they travel to Houston courtesy of the Society for the Performing Arts.
Less Than Jake Returns to Continue Its Connection with Houston
Vinnie Fiorello is hoping for clear skies when he visits Houston next week. That’s because his band, the veteran ska punk act Less Than Jake, is performing on an open-air rooftop. But our conversation with Fiorello, the band’s drummer, lyricist and founding member, is focusing heavily on storms, both the…
What Does Luc Mbah a Moute Missing the First Round Mean to the Rockets?
While there was no official announcement at the time of writing this, it has been reported that Luc Mbah a Moute, who dislocated his right shoulder for the second time this season in Tuesday night’s game against the LA Lakers, is likely to miss at least the first round of…
The Breeders Return To Houston Refreshed & Reborn
When you look at what bands of the ’90s are up to nowadays, there aren’t a whole bunch you can point to. Music is fast paced today, bands that aren’t dropping releases like clockwork can sometimes get lost in the mix. However, if you look at Dayton, Ohio indie rock…
The Ten Most Interesting Parts Of Arian Foster’s Podcast With Andre Johnson
Content can come from so many places in 2018, and if you’re a Houston Texans fan or media member covering the team (or both, if you’re like me), we’ve arrived at a perfect storm for former players’ perspectives on our favorite team. First, the proliferation of podcasting has given former…
Strut Your Pup at the Houston Humane Society’s K-9 Fun Run and Walk
“Bark! Bark-bark! Bark!” What is it, Lassie? What are you trying to say? No, Timmy hasn’t fallen into the well. Lassie, Fido, Rover and Spot are all trying to tell their humans that it’s time to get the leashes out for the 37th Annual K-9 Fun Run and Walk. At 37…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Start Your Day With A Breakfast Burger
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 4444 Westheimer, 5510 Morningside, 142 Vintage Park, has created its first-ever Breakfast Burger, available now through Wednesday, April 25. The burger special features an Angus beef, breakfast sausage and smoked ham patty topped…
Menu of Menus Celebrates Its Sweet 16
Boozy bundt cakes, popsicles galore, what more could you ask for at the 16th annual Houston Press Menu of Menus? Well. Maybe a car. But that’s a little ridiculous to be giving away cars like they’re chicken fingers, even for a sweet 16 celebration… The crowd wafted up and down…
The Last O.G. May Be Best Thing Tracy Morgan Has Ever Done
… What makes O.G. so fresh and appealing is how, while it’s a laugh riot, the characters are both written and portrayed as grounded, fully realized folk
Seriously, Netflix’s Lost in Space Reboot Is a Family-Adventure Triumph
Lost in Space is nearly Steven Spielberg airy, telling the story of a super-smart family selected to populate a Utopian space colony but who get lost somewhere along the way
“Andre The Giant” Documentary Strikes Emotional Chord — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
If you grew up a professional wrestling fan in the ’70s or ’80s, you remember the first time you saw Andre the Giant. You remember the first time you heard Andre the Giant. You remember the first time you paid for a ticket to see Andre the Giant. For me,…
Texas Millennials Ranked Last on Insurance Coverage But At Least They’re Not Depressed About It
In the latest wonky rating by our friends at WalletHub, in which the lives of millenials living in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia were compared, Texas had the highest percentage in the country of this 20s to early 30s age group with no insurance. That’s sad and…
Pulitzer-Prize Winning Texan Looks at Texas…and It’s Not All Wright
God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State By Lawrence Wright 368 pp. $27.95 Alfred A. Knopf The writing of Lawrence Wright is all over the map. Novelist. Playwright. Screenwriter. Journalist. A correspondent for both Texas Monthly and The New Yorker. And author of Important…
Big Bank: The Best of The Week
This week Houston will have plenty of decisions on what to do. With performances from The Sword, Big K.R.I.T., Mike Barfield, Bruce Cockburn and more while a one off set from Sugar Shack, as well as sets from Gio Chamba, Frog Hair and more will fill in the gaps. Tonight…
Classical Theatre Updates Gogol’s Farce About Russian Political Corruption
Political corruption in Russia was a hot enough topic more than 180 years ago when novelist Nikolai Gogol wrote The Government Inspector. The satirical play about greed, stupidity and general doofishness has stood the test of time, inspiring operas, movies and even an episode of Fawlty Towers. “It’s definitely the…
Chef Chat: Ryan Lachaine Loves Him Some Dill
Ryan Lachaine is exactly the guy you want on your right during a dirty service. The squawking printer, the tickets pooling at the bottom of the station; the split second you can’t afford to lose when noticing it all…that now is gone. His brain moves twice as fast as he…
Jon Hamm Shines as Desperate American Entangled in Beirut
Brad Anderson’s talky-smartish thriller Beirut, like the first half of Million Dollar Arm, sets Hamm’s sharpie loose in a country — in this case a fractious Lebanon — where the rules aren’t his
BARC Has a Nasty Cough, Suspends Intake For 7 Days
The City of Houston’s Animal Shelter won’t be taking in any more strays or formerly beloved but now unwanted pets starting today and continuing through April 16 while it works to treat a higher than normal number of animals who are sick with upper respiratory problems. It will also be…
Ron White Isn’t About to Slow Down
Most casual fans assume Ron White wasn’t truly successful until he toured alongside such comedic heavyweights as Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy some 15 years ago as a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. This is true to an extent, in that the tour – which raked…
Some of the Best Houston Band Tracks to Work Out To
Recently, my doctor told me that I needed to start adding daily exercise into my life. It turns out that sitting in the dark staring at a blank MS Word document until blood comes out actually isn’t a good replacement for 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical. This was…
Concerns Over Astros Bats Are Unnecessary
During the first ten games of the Astros season, there have been rumblings online about the state of their bats early in the season. No one is worried that much about wins and losses because their starting rotation is 8-10 on quality starts and leads the majors with a ridiculous…
Houston Ballet Dances Don Quixote For First Time in More Than 10 Years
For the first time in more than ten years, former Artistic Director Ben Stevenson’s choreography for Don Quixote will be performed by the Houston Ballet. The short run offers only four chances to see the ballet which will be staged at one of the ballet’s regular homes away from home: the…
Siren: The Werewolf of the Sea
My house is a place where mermaids are constantly on display. We have mermaid prints, statues, T-shirts, you name it. My wife’s favorite fairytale is The Little Mermaid, and you can tell she means it because there’s a 20-minute rant about how Ariel sucks that goes with it (she, like…
Houston Texans Offensive Line Rebuild — How Did We Get Here?
In 2018, for most of you reading this (since it’s digital, and likely at some point in the morning), what used to be the walk to the front door to get the paper and skim the sports page has now morphed into grabbing your phone off the nightstand and finger-whisking…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Barbecue Pork Bánh Mì at Cali Sandwich
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! In February, I wrote an ode to the lady at Cali Sandwich. Today, I offer praise to the very sandwich I mentioned in that story (and the one that started the ball rolling on…
Houston Press Singles Club: Wild Moccasins, Radio Galaxy, John Evans, etc.
The Houston Press Singles Club is back this week, adding to the playlist and giving you plenty of new Houston acts to get into your ears. This week we’ll add a pop banger from Wild Moccasins, an R&B infused jam from Radio Galaxy, a stripped down rock tune from Turnaways,…
Weather Week: Winter’s Last Gasp?
The old saying, “If you don’t like the weather in Texas…wait,” was on full display over the weekend as temperatures both Saturday and Sunday didn’t make it above the low 60s for most of the region and lows dipped into the 40s. The Sunday Astros game, which began at 57…
Johnny Manziel Returns To Football In Spring League Loss
December 27, 2015. That was the date on which Johnny Manziel had last played in a competitive football game, before this past weekend. it was a 17-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, and the latest in a string of uneven performances for Manziel, as he went 13 of 32…
8 Best New Brunches in Houston
Weekends should be lazy, and include a long late-morning meal. These restaurants make it happen. From a Galleria-area seafood spot to a chic eatery in The Woodlands, read one for eight restaurants with new brunch offerings. Willie G’s Post Oak, 1640 West Loop South It’s hard to choose from the…
Why White Men Desperately Need Gun Control
The terrible upside to writing about gun control is that if you fall outside the publishing window of a current event (like the Parkland, Florida shooting), just wait a while and another one will come up (like the San Bruno, California shooting). While this keeps me in paychecks and Baconators,…
Marfa Myths Will Keep West Texas On Its Toes
Music Festivals are in many ways, becoming the norm in today’s music world. Now that corporations have gotten involved, there aren’t too many festivals that are worth the trek to make it to nowadays. Of course, when you look at the heavy curation behind Marfa Myths, you’ll notice that it’s…
Hurricane Hype Needs to End, Especially For Houston
Last Thursday, Phil Klotzbach and Michael Bell of Colorado State University released their early season predictions for the 2018 hurricane season which opens June 1. This is obviously of particular interest to those of us along the Gulf Coast who are vulnerable to tropical weather and especially given Hurricane Harvey’s…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Chow Down at Menu of Menus
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, April 9 Truth Barbecue Collaboration at Ramen Tatsu-ya Ramen Tatsu-Ya, 1722 California, will welcome Truth Barbecue owner and pitmaster Leonard Botello IV for his first-ever collaboration in Houston. Guests can enjoy Smoked Shoyu Tonkotsu Ramen (pit-smoked shoyu, silky and rich…
From Mumbai to Miller Outdoor Theatre, Houston’s Got Bollywood
Bollywood insider Mahesh Mahbubani knows about those big dance finishes that make Hindi cinema so much fun to watch. Having logged a dozen years choreographing commercials and movies — including dancing with former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the film Taal — Mahbubani was ready for his next step. The choreographer has…
If There’s A Trophy for Outstanding Basketball Musicals Not Really About Basketball, Small Ball Is Your Champion
By the time in the musical, Small Ball, where Pippin (named after famed Chicago Bulls baller Scottie Pippen), the Assistant Basketball Coach of the Lilliputian Existers (yes, Lilliputian as in Gulliver’s Travels) is standing on the post-game media conference table singing, “Do we want to have sex with giants?” while…
The Alley Theatre Announces its 2018-19 Season
Today, James Black the interim artistic director of the Alley Theatre, announced the theater’s 2018-19 season calling it a mix of the familiar and the new. So along with The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, there will be a world premiere. All this during…
Crashing John Cleese’s Den for Home Movies
John Cleese Smart Financial Centre April 5, 2018 John Cleese invited a bunch of Houstonians to his den for home movies last night. At least that’s what the comedian’s tour stop at Smart Financial Centre felt like. He spent part of his Thursday evening perched in a tall chair, with…
UH Tackles A Bottleneck in Senior Class Sign-ups in Communications Classes
It’s the law of unintended consequences. Administrators at the University of Houston main campus wanted to improve graduation rates. Too many seniors were getting to the home stretch and finding out at the last minute that they weren’t going to graduate after all, that they lacked a crucial course or…
The Masters: “Keep Your Corporate-Sponsored Drollery Out Of Our Elitist Sporting Event”
We’re shocked, shocked to find that the Masters is run by stodgy old farts.
Texas Mod Crushers Keep Rock Alive On New Single
There are those in the music industry who keep trying to keep rock n’ roll down. All the time you’ll read that rock is going the way of the buffalo or that rock just doesn’t track like it used to. The truth is that you can’t keep a good band…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Blockers
Familiar jokes aside, Blockers is a funny and improbably mature teen sex comedy.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Get Cheesy at the Houston Mac and Cheese Festival
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Sugar Land Wine & Food Affair Friday through Sunday The 15th anniversary Sugar Land Wine & Food Affair is expected to be the largest in its history, with a lineup of award-winning talent, from master sommeliers and mixologists to a roster…
An ’80s Prom Comes to Life in Frame Dance Performance
Frame Dance cordially invites you to an immersive, ‘80s-themed dance and music performance called My Beloved … meet me at prom.
Houston Texans Sign Another QB, Bring In Joe Webb III
When the Houston Texans signed Brandon Weeden as the backup quarterback last week, the general reaction was “Well, okay….”, and then people went back to whatever it was that they were doing. The thought of Weeden as Deshaun Watsons backup is generally underwhelming, a signing that has the “Hey, he…
Openings and Closings : Rodeo Goat Is here, Postino Opens This Week
Rodeo Goat Ice House, 2118 Lamar, opened March 26. Originally opened in Fort Worth by restaurateur and prominent Dallas native, Shannon Wynne, he and his partners Keith Schlabs and Larry Richardson have landed the third location of this uniquely Texas burger joint in a renovated warehouse in EaDo. The second location…
“Weird Al” Gets Ridiculously Self-Indulgent on Current Tour
Anyone who has seen “Weird Al” Yankovic (and yes, the quotation marks are part of the official billing) in concert knows what to expect: A string of his insanely catchy parody songs (i.e. “Eat It” “Like a Surgeon” “Smells Like Nirvana,” “Amish Paradise,” “Gump,” “Tacky”), a huge video screen, crazy…
Zapruder Analysis Of Golfer Finau Dislocating Ankle Celebrating Hole In One
The 2018 Masters begins Thursday morning, and most of the buzz surrounding this year’s tournament is being generated by the return to form of Tiger Woods. In his last two tournaments before a three week, pre-Masters hiatus, Woods was in the mix until the very end on Sunday. That stint…
Where to Get Some Real Dining Deals During the Astros Season
Can’t make it to an Astros game? No need to settle for a measly sofa and microwave popcorn. Get up off the couch and head to the hotspots below, all offering season-long specials fit for a World Series Champ. Here are eight restaurants to catch the ‘Stros while enjoying a…
Jesse Eisenberg’s The Revisionist Explores Isolations and Reconnections
A young American Jewish writer, with writer’s block, goes to Poland to meet his much older cousin. a survivor of the Holocaust. David is, to put it mildly, something of a jerk and yet the 75-year-old Maria searches for the good in him as she seeks to reconnect with family…
Western Conference Playoff Picture Still Unclear
With only a handful of games left in the NBA regular season, the Western Conference playoff seeding from four through eight is still up for grabs, with six teams within a game-and-a-half of one another. On any given day, the seeding can change, sometimes dramatically. For Rockets fans, this seeding…
Revels Get a Big Assist on Their Debut EP
Revels is and has always been a trio, but in some key ways it’s a quartet. When the band releases its first recorded music this weekend, you’ll hear its silent member on the tracks, in a sense. He won’t be onstage or in the crowd, but his presence will be…
Weather Weekend: A Little Rain, A Lotta Sun
If you were fortunate enough to be outside for even a few minutes on Wednesday, you may have wondered where you were or what time of the year it was. With high temperatures hovering the lower 70s with breezy conditions and blue skies, it felt more like early November in…
Aaron Watson on the Astros, Case Keenum and, Oh Yeah, Country Music
Aaron Watson and I are scheduled to talk country music, and we’ll certainly get to that, but first, more pressing matters arise. “I’m not even a football guy, but I’ve watched Case Keenum play since high school, and he’s got that Tom Brady thing – didn’t get a lot of…
Kathryn Casey Turns True Crime Focus on Kaufman County Murders
It was a crime that shocked the proverbial small town of Kaufman, Texas in 2013. County Chief Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was shot to death at close range by a black-clad assassin right outside the courthouse. District Attorney and close friend Mike McClelland vowed to find the killer. But…
The Five Best Non-WWE Wrestling Shows Happening Mania Weekend
With New Orleans less than, on a good day at least, six hours away from Houston, it’s no surprise that more than a few wrestling fans from Space City will be heading east over the next few days to take in the sights of the Big Easy for Wrestlemania weekend…
Bill Murray Segues From Cheesy Lounge Crooner to Concert Hall Headliner
There’s nothing worse than being saddled with a nightmare seatmate on a trans-Atlantic flight. The thought of being trapped for hours with an armrest hogger, chatty Cathy, snorer or fidgeter can ruin just about any trip. So imagine their surprise when German cellist Jan Vogler and actor/comedian Bill Murray discovered…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: When Ramen Meets Crawfish Boil
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Now through the end of May, Ramen Tatsu-ya, 1722 California, will be dishing up Crawmen, a flavor-packed soup made with crawfish, seafood miso, tonkotsu broth, crawfish and andoullie wonton, ajitama (marinated and seasoned half boiled egg),…
With Human Condition, Lace Redefines Punk & Post-Punk
In so many ways, those who are living in today’s world, see very little promise as to what the future holds. If you’re making happy go lucky punk rock in 2018, you’re probably a rich rock star who isn’t dealing with the harsh realities of being an artist in today’s…
Miguel Brings His Voice to a Packed Warehouse Live Last Night
Miguel, SiR, Nonchalant Savant Warehouse Live April 3, 2K18 The show starts with a voice in the dark on a loop. It cycles over and over, sounding almost majestic as it rolls over the crowd. The voice on the loop belongs to Miguel, and it does a good job of…
You Get a Data Breach and YOU Get a Data Breach!
It seems like every time you zip through the news online, there is a story about another data breach affecting potentially millions of people’s personal and financial information. Most of us know about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica’s data mining that has gotten the social media giant in hot water. But,…
West Side Story in All Its Gritty Splendor by Houston Grand Opera
The rival gangs the Sharks and the Jets will be back on a Houston stage. Maria and Tony’s love story will still not have a happy ending in this classic based upon Romeo and Juliet. But there will be some changes beyond the use of operatic voices when Houston Grand…
Emo Nite Makes the Most of a Genre’s Nostalgic Moment
As the more dedicated, energetic members of the crowd rushed to jump on stage, my roommate leaned over to me and said, “They’re babies!” She wasn’t exactly wrong. A few of the sweaty mass, amped up after only a handful of songs, might have looked like they had learned some…
Hot Steam: The Best of The Week in Houston Music
This week, Houston will have plenty of entertaining options. With performances from Nashville’s Thelma and the Sleeze, Virginia’s Turnover, Battalion Fest, and so many more rolling through while locals like Ruckus, Paper Gliders, Tears On Tape and more will fill in the gaps. Tonight you can begin at the foundation…
Texans Should Make a Call To Test Gronk Trade Waters
If we are doing a state of the union on the Houston Texans’ roster, as things currently stand, I would say it boils down to a few things: * Signing Tyrann Mathieu put some last minute shine on what was largely a “wait and see” bargain hunt in free agency…
Chef Chat: Mary Cuclis Of Pondicheri Is A Pro At Filling In The Gaps
Finding the type of employee that will dive to catch the tricky hits is lucky. It’s even more rare when they’re happy doing so. Mary Cuclis, who serves as Anita Jaisinghani’s right hand at Pondicheri, is exactly the kind. Cuclis helped open the popular Indian eatery seven years ago. Now…
Patty Waters Sings Again, Scheduled to Make Her Texas Debut
Patty Waters’s back catalog isn’t all that impressive when viewed in a perfunctory manner. Two records, entitled Sings and College Tour, in the 1960s for the ESP-Disk label. Then absolutely nothing for basically 30 years. But she’s a legend. One of the greatest in jazz and free-jazz history. And not…
Astros Starting Rotation is Going to Be Brutal for Opponents
The Astros completed the first pass through their starting five rotation players with Charlie Morton, the World Series game seven hero, going six shutout inning against Baltimore. That wasn’t a huge shock. The Orioles have yet to score a single run against an opposing starter in 2018. Still, when you…
Tyler Perry’s Acrimony May Let Taraji P. Henson Down, But the Crowd Still Cheers Her On
Acrimony establishes that Robert is a cheating, lowdown dog and that Melinda has anger management problems that make the Hulk seem docile
Houston Astros Unveil World Series Banner, Pound Orioles 6-1
When we last saw the Houston Astros playing baseball in Minute Maid Park, Derek Fisher was scoring the winning run in the tenth inning of one of the greatest World Series games of al time. It’s been a long few months, but there was finally a baseball game played at…
HISD Decides To Dial Back on Significant Change to its Funding System
It’s like watching your favorite TV show and all of a sudden an entire plot line that you’ve been following for weeks just disappears and the characters are acting like it never happened. Did you miss an episode? Run to the bathroom at the wrong time? Just not understand the…
These Songs Perfectly Sum Up Your World Champion Astros
It’s a great time to be a Houston sports fan. Not only do the Rockets hold the best record in basketball, but the Texans – assuming DeShaun Watson returns to full health – may very well make some noise this upcoming season. Most importantly, however, is the fact that Houston…
Seven Ways to Protect Yourself on Social Media While Still Using Social Media
Most people enjoy being social online. It’s a good way to connect with people you aren’t always able to see, keep up with what’s going on in the world — nearby and far away — and a place to share your opinions. But there are pitfalls. From internet trolls to…
Rest vs. Rust: Rockets Wrestle with Remaining Schedule Rotation
“Everybody wants rest, rest, rest. Well, they’ve got to play. Otherwise, we’re going to lose the advantage of what we worked for for 80 games, and it’s scary times for us. You’ve got to bring it and you’ve got to bring it every day.” After the Rockets blowout loss to…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Egg Salad at Nielsen’s Delicatessen
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! A spork. There inside my white paper bag, mixed among the deli paper-wrapped pickle, deviled egg and sandwich was that silly plastic fork-spoon combination. I realized within seconds it would come in handy. For…
Taxes Aren’t Due Till April 17, So Time to Enjoy Houston’s Wackiness on Wheels
Wallflowers and shrinking violets have no business in this annual spectacle. The Houston Art Car Parade is a place for extroverts to shine in a colorful art-meets-engineering display of just about anything that rolls. Sure, many entries started life as factory issue automobiles, but we’ve also seen bicycles, unicycles, skates,…
How Out Of Touch With Reality Is Jack White?
Twenty years ago, the groundbreaking New York based blues outfit The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion dropped the groundbreaking album Acme. While most who read this won’t remember that record, the trio mixed blues, trip hop, and hip hop with ease in a swirl that made the record hard not to…
With A Quiet Place, John Krasinski Has Crafted a Horror Great
… The ground rules for this desolate new America: Make any sort of sharp, unexpected sound and a mantis-like alien creature will zoom out of nowhere to swoop you away to an instant, grisly death
How to Get Around Downtown Houston With Today’s Astros Home Opener
Ready to go to the home opener for the Astros today? Ready to try to negotiate your way around it? The Houston Downtown Management District has put together a few tips. PARKING Downtown Houston is home to tens of thousands of parking spaces, including on-street spaces, garages and surface lots…
A Chat With Monty Python’s John Cleese
Given the chance to chat with John Cleese, the famed actor, writer and co-founder of Monty Python, we began with something completely different: has there ever been, to his knowledge, a porn parody of Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Like a fellow who’s quick-wittedly determined that the parrot he’s…
Four Things We Learned From The Astros-Rangers Series Over the Weekend
The defense of a World Series crown is new territory for Houston fans and, more importantly, Houston baseball players. However, if the first weekend of the 2018 season is any indication, the Houston Astros seem to be picking up right where they left off when Jose Altuve gobbled a ground…
Weather Week: Summer in Fits and Starts in Houston
Did you enjoy the weekend? You didn’t? Were you in Houston? Were you breathing? Were you ill? If you answered yes, yes, no, then what was going on? It was absolutely stellar weather all weekend, the first in a while. But, alas, you missed it. We all feel sorry for…
Celebrating Women of Classic Horror at 14 Pews
Classic horror films over the history of cinema are full of towering men like Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and others. Women, though, also made their mark on the genre during the pre-slasher era, sometimes in startling ways. Houston author and horror scholar Frank J. Dello Stritto (Vampire Over…
Where to Eat Near Minute Maid Park and the World Champion Astros
If you’re a fan of World Series Champs the Houston Astros (who’s not?), you’ll want to start mapping out your game-day eating plan. Whether you need a snack before game time or a celebratory meal after, these restaurants are standing by ready to serve you. From an upscale steakhouse to…
Ready Player One: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Set of References
The movie follows Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), an orphaned teenager living in Columbus, Ohio, in 2045, who spends pretty much all his time, along with everyone else in this world, inside a virtual universe called The Oasis …
2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Title Game — Four Things To Watch For
The set up for this Final Four on Saturday was seemingly perfect, with a compelling Cinderella in a “David vs Goliath” type matchup in the opener and a battle of blue bloods in the nightcap — Loyola of Illinois versus Michigan and Villanova versus Kansas. What we got in actuality…
Finley’s Massive Sky Dance Brings Energy and Color to Downtown Houston
Inspiration can strike at any moment and for Gregory Armstrong, president and CEO of the WEDGE Group, his eureka moment happened when he came upon The Divine Feminine, a massive mural of a geometric nude by international artist C. Finley. “He was visiting his son at USC and he happened upon…
Forever Forward: An Interview With WIRE
Influence and being influential is an interesting thing. As the saying goes, “the innovators don’t always get paid,” the artists who influence art are always the ones who seem like they’re continuously innovating. When it comes to British post-punk pioneers Wire, the four piece has always been about three steps…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Celebrate the Astros Home Opener
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long The Thread Alliance Blue Plate Special Launch The Thread Alliance will launch the 6th Annual Blue Plate Special, a month-long campaign encouraging Houstonians to stand up for child abuse prevention and dine out at participating Blue Plate Special…
Fictional Add Ons Get In the Way of Daisy’s Impact
In an era when political messages come to us as targeted partisan propaganda via social media and where our own personal data is being used to manipulate the way we vote, it’s downright quaint to think of a time when electoral attacks ads were considered unethical. A time when denigrating…
Houston Artists Round Table Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of the greatest comedies ever filmed and if you disagree, “I don’t want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!”…
Party on the Plaza Kicked Things Off in Upbeat, Strange Fashion With Poppy
As much as I enjoy the many fine places (people pay a lot of money to hold conversations) to see a concert in this city, I’ve got a soft spot for outside the box places to catch a show. Be it at a movie theater, in a post office or…
Rockets Potential First Round Match Ups Present Different Challenges
By Friday night, it is likely the Rockets will have clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and home court advantage throughout the entire playoffs including the NBA Finals, were they to make it that far. They hold a six-and-a-half game lead on the Warriors who seem…
Wendy’s Released a Mixtape and It’s Pure Fire
Down is up, ya’ll. The best music I’ve heard all month is a hip-hop EP released by Wendy’s. Yes, that redhead with pigtails is apparently a rapper now, too. The fast food chain’s first mixtape, We Beefin?, pulls no punches against rivals like McDonald’s and Burger King. It all started…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Ready Player One
Ready Player One functions adequately as a basic adventure yarn, but is mostly weaponized nostalgia.
Astros Humble Rangers 4-1 In Opener Behind Verlander’s Gem
If you were trying to cobble together and define the quintessential Astros win, a win that contains all of the relevant elements that embody this team, what would that win contain? Well, probably a home run from George Springer, some general offensive chicanery from Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa chipping in…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Easter Sunday Brunch
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Anniversary Crab & Crawfish Boil Presidio Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. 911 West 11th Celebrate one year at Presidio with a crab and crawfish boil featuring live music by The Mighty Orq, Sara Van Buskirk, John Egan, Frank Freeman, Western…
Openings and Closings: Blue Onyx Opens, Pappy’s New Location, Egghaus Coming
Blue Onyx Bistro, 4720 Richmond, began its soft opening March 27. Co-owner and executive chef, David Chang’s newest restaurant will offer steaks, seafood, and sushi with the menu being influenced by Chang’s experience in Chinese, Japanese and French cuisines. Chang immigrated to the United States from Taiwan as a young…
Guilla Returns With Fresh New Release
The Houston rap game has recently seen many artists leave this town for the sunny side of Los Angeles and beyond. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t plenty of rappers calling Houston home, but it’s a fact that’s existing. It’s hard not to look at the kick up in exposure…
Court of Appeals Rules Against HISD in Case of 5-year-old Who Had His Jaw Broken at School
The attorney and father of a young boy who had his jaw broken in 2016 when being carried to the principal’s office got good news Thursday. The Texas 14th Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the Houston Independent School District cannot hide behind sovereign immunity to refuse…
Weather Weekend: After the Downpour, A Beautiful Easter Weekend Ahead for Houston
As predicted, midweek was soggy and came with a rather spectacular early-morning sound and light show. Most of the region received at least two inches of rain with some northern suburbs getting as much as four inches between midday Wednesday and early Thursday morning. The main line of thunderstorms rumbled…
Small Ball: A Musical About What it Means to Be Human, Played Out on a Basketball Court
Start with basketball-obsessed artistic director of a local avant garde theater. Put him together with the general manager of his favorite professional basketball team, known for employing mathematical analytics to the game, who just so happens to be a huge musical theater fan. And for the final coup de gras…
Five Great MLB Season Win Total Bets (Including an Astros Prediction)
If we are reading the signs properly, it would appear that we are on the verge of a sea change in sports wagering legalization, possibly as soon as the next time the Supreme Court convenes, which is this coming Monday, April 2. This means that the floodgates will open, and…
Badfish Pays Homage to the Greatness That is Sublime
The original Sublime only lasted about five years before frontman Bradley Nowell succumbed to a drug overdose. The band has since re-formed and experienced a career second wind with the addition of singer Rome Ramirez in the aptly-titled Sublime with Rome. The reconfigured outfit has even put out a couple…
A 10-Year Trip Down Memory Lane With the Magical Art of Discovery Green
When we heard that Discovery Green was throwing a Tenth Birthday Celebration on April 15, we got just as misty as Doug Hollis’s The Mist Tree. From permanent works of art like Jean Dubuffet’s Monument Au Fantome, Margo Sawyer’s Synchronicity of Color and Hollis’s Listening Vessels, to temporary installations that…
Arthur Yoria Comes Full Circle New Full Length
If you’re a solo artist in today’s music world, and you’re looking to make a name for yourself, you’re in for quite the battle. In a time when we’re seeing such acts embrace genre mixing, culture marketing, and other tricks to grab someone’s attention; the traditional route of busting your…
The Future of News Involves Robots, Like It Or Not
It’s amazing how quickly a new phrase can enter the zeitgeist only to be rendered meaningless. Look no further than the phrase “fake news.” Now, what is true is that there is plenty of fake news out there, and you don’t have to go far to find it; one only…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: The Sugar Land Wine & Food Affair Returns
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Uchi Houston, 904 Westheimer, has updated its Sake Social menu, with new chef de cuisine Chris Davies putting his own spin on the local favorite. Classics like the Sake Crudo and Walu Walu are still available,…
Texans Bring Back QB Brandon Weeden To Back Up Watson
Well, the pickings were slim in the NFL’s backup quarterback market, we knew that. In fact, we firmly established it last week in a post in this space. Names like Sanchez, Moore, and Gabbert dotted the landscape. (NOTE: Gabbert signed with Tennessee on Tuesday, and we can only hope the…
Bill O’Brien Backs Players On Social Stances, Praises McNair
As my colleague Jeff Balke outlined earlier this week, the last six months or so have been a rough go for Houston Texans owner Bob McNair, largely due to the reaction from his comments back in October at a meeting between owners and the Players Coalition (“inmates running the prison”)…
Heavy Rains Forecast Across Much of the Houston Area Wednesday
As we suspected, some heavy rains will be moving through the entire region throughout the day Wednesday. The National Weather Service is predicting up to 3 inches of rain in some areas, though most should see less than that. A slow moving cold front is sagging across the state colliding…
I like Vinyl Records More In Theory Than In Practice
Vinyl records, both new and used, have become increasingly popular over the last several years and though I own a turntable and a modest vinyl album collection, I rarely actually play any of them. I don’t have any kind of expertise at all when it comes to sound but I…
10 Ingredients That Make Chopped TV’s Best Self-Help Program
There’s a slew of current television programs designed to make us ponder our human condition and maybe improve it. For example, NBC’s The Good Place quirkishly weaves philosophical and theological ideas into very funny half-hour installments. This Is Us is a poignant, tear-seeking drama about the ties that bind us…
Side Effects: The Best Music of The Week in Houston
Now that SXSW is over, this city will get a little back to normal with plenty of shows rolling through town. This week we’ll see performances from Ty Dolla $ign, Maxo Kream, Chrome Sparks and more will all be here while locals like Killer Hearts, Brand New Hearts, Will Van…
Trip the Dark Fantastique with Juxtapose Arts’ The Other Side
Ghosts, zombies and spirits run amok in Juxtapose Arts Collective Company’s mixed rep program The Other Side.
The Mixed Emotions of Daniel Bryan’s Unretirement
Last week’s episode of WWE Smackdown ended with brand General Manager Daniel Bryan taking a powerbomb from Kevin Owens on the apron on the ring. This is a particularly brutal maneuver for those watching, as fans have been told time and time again that the apron is the hardest part…
Chef Chat: Charles Clark, An Experience Guy
Charles Clark rolled up to his first tasting interview for a chef position, first cooking interview for that matter, with his knives, a boom box, and a tape of the Gypsy Kings. The task was to cook dinner for 12 people. Fresh out of culinary school he moved like a…
Bob McNair’s Defense of Jerry Richardson Pretty Hard to Defend
For as mild mannered and relatively soft spoken as Texans owner Bob McNair tends to be, when he does say something, it often makes headlines. Back in October at an owner meeting, he voiced his concerns over players protesting during the National Anthem saying, “We can’t have inmates running the…
When ‘Hee-Haw’ Meets Metal: John 5 Goes Solo
John 5 is most noted for his work alongside major hard rock acts like Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson. He has been lauded by Slash as a “mind-blowing” metal guitarist. Dude wears face paint and is covered in tattoos. In short, I’m about to interview John 5, and I’m expecting…
Six Great Player Prop Bets For The Astros’ 2018 Season
I know the games still don’t count, but there’s something nice about having the Houston Astros back home at Minute Maid Park for a couple of exhibition games against the Milwaukee Brewers the first couple days of this week. It’s the final message that the regular season, and the defense…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Memphis and Duck Baos at Fat Bao
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! One of the great things about those spreads they put out at happy hours and luncheons is you can choose little bits of a lot of things. Sure, I might stand right next to…
Galveston Hosts Tall Ships, Nautical Tattoos and Crazy Mustaches this April
The Gulf Coast is going to see a lot of action this April, with the Tall Ships Challenge® 2018 Series kicking off in Galveston before racing to Pensacola and doubling back for a big New Orleans finish. It’s an immersive experience with plenty of bells and whistles, including sailing trips on…
Houston Press Singles Club: The Cops, Kristal Cherelle, The Broken Spokes, etc.
While this year is full of promise, there’s plenty of music coming out of Houston worth getting into your ears. In this edition of the Singles Club, we’ll hear some tongue in cheek punk from The Cops, a chillwave jam from Teenage Wildlife, a pop banger from Kristal Cherelle, an eclectic…
It’s a Miracle: This Atheist Critic Kind of Likes Paul, Apostle of Christ
… the film is dedicated to “all who have been persecuted for their faith,” which means that in today’s world, it’s pretty much dedicated to everybody
Harris County Sheriff’s Office Investigating Deputy Who Shot and Killed an Unarmed Man
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has just announced it is investigating the March 22 shooting death of 34-year-old Danny Ray Thomas, an unarmed man, by Deputy Cameron Brewer. While on patrol traveling southbound on Imperial Valley, Brewer spotted Thomas in a dispute with another man at a Greens Road intersection…
Wes Anderson Considers the Nature of Evil — in a Puppet Puppy Movie
A splendid jewel box of a movie about rather grisly matters, the filmmaker’s latest represents another example of the clash between his playfully self-aware aesthetic and his growing obsession with our inhumanity
Eighth Day of the Week at Ensemble Has a Special Charm
It smells good at Ensemble Theatre these days where Prester Pickett’s dramedy Eighth Day of the Week embraces us with cozy family values. During intermission, the aroma of home cooking wafts through the house. Someone behind me thought somebody had brought in a Happy Meal. But the smell’s more substantial,…
In Bloom Impresses In Year One
First year festivals can be anything but smooth. Back when I worked Free Press Summer Fest, there were definite growing pains as we learned while we went. However, now as the re-branded, rescheduled, and re-invented FPSF turns into In Bloom, the year one festival ran on time even with attendance…
Rockets Win Total at 60 and Climbing
The Rockets have reached rarified air for the city of Houston. On Saturday, they slogged through their worst offensive performance of the year, but still managed to beat the Pistons in overtime, notching their franchise record best 59th win. On Sunday, still short handed with both Chris Paul and Luc…
Houston’s Weather Week: Rain Coming Midweek
Despite the sometimes gloomy conditions around Houston, we have managed to stay mostly rain free. Drizzles here and there, and a few stray showers always happen this time of year, but it’s been a while since we’ve had a real legit chance of some consistently heavy-ish rain until this week…
RED ALERT: Rishi Singh Is Back at Boheme and He’ll Be Cooking At Menu of Menus
Tell me you’ve been to Boheme and had the Bangkok fries. Or the Margherita lavash pizza at least. And when you’ve halfway cleared a board of either, tell me the one thought that goes through your mind is why do I really go anywhere else? Stepping into Boheme is like…
AMC’s The Terror Is a TV Horror Masterpiece
This Terror, developed by David Kajganich and certainly the best of AMC’s prestige-TV horror series, is always suspenseful, superbly acted, shrewdly paced and committed to the summoning up what the experience of Arctic isolation might actually have been like
A Lara Croft This Good Deserves a Higher Class of Tomb to Raid
Uthaug’s film, like the recent reboot of the video-game series, gives us a grittier Lara Croft, one stripped of the advantages of her wealth and all bruised up from the rigors of her adventure
Cristóbal Toral Explores Time Travel and Immigration in Houston Exhibit
Wait, Picasso wasn’t even born when Velázquez, Vermeer and Rembrandt were having their heyday. Art history majors might have to suspend belief, but this time traveling vignette of a 17th century collector eyeballing the surrealist’s Nu couché et homme jouant de la guitare illustrates the wicked sense of humor of Spanish artist Cristóbal…
Fear Factor: Concern Level Ratings For Each Houston Texan Returning From Injury
The Houston Texans were 4-12 in the 2017 regular season. Heading into 2018, the Texans are in the top ten to win the Super Bowl on most odds boards, and at the Mirage’s sports book, there were only six teams with shorter odds. Most of the time, the two sentences in the…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Spring Has Sprung
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Seasonal Specials Spring Menu Items at Snooze, an A.M. Eatery Snooze, an A.M. Eatery is getting a Spring refresh at locations around town, welcoming three new morning cocktails and four new breakfast/brunch plates. Sip a Goin’ Green Bloody Mary or bourbon-infused Kentucky…
![HISD Trustees Name Grenita Lathan As Acting Superintendent [UPDATED]](https://i0.wp.com/www.houstonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/grenita_lathan800.webp.webp?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1)
HISD Trustees Name Grenita Lathan As Acting Superintendent [UPDATED]
A holdover hire from Terry Grier’s days as Houston ISD superintendent will be the new acting superintendent of the largest school district in the state effective April 1. Chief Academic Officer Grenita Lathan has built her reputation on being able to help schools find a way to improve themselves out…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Celebrate Spring with Kolache and Crawfish
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Tomball German Heritage Festival in Old Town Tomball Friday, 6 to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 201 South Elm Held near the Historical Train Depot Plaza, the Tomball German Heritage Festival celebrates…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Pacific Rim: Uprising
Youthful angst is a poor subsititute for robot fighting in Pacific Rim: Uprising.
Houston Texans Hold Private Workout With QB Lamar Jackson
In case you missed it, I wrote a post yesterday in this space in which I attempted to nail down some semblance of a short list of backup quarterback targets for the Houston Texans. It’s a spot on the roster that Bill O’Brien has been forced to use extensively, much…
Everybody’s Invited to Discovery Green’s Tenth Birthday Celebration on April 15
Discovery Green, our city’s own Field of Dreams, has exceeded just about everybody’s expectations since it opened ten years ago. No, the 12-acre park didn’t bring Shoeless Joe Jackson, but it has brought world-class artists, Super Bowl LIVE, NCAA Final Four, concerts, aerialists, ice skating, art cars and even Pokémon, though…
An Author, a Poet Don’t Relent On New Album
The genre of metalcore must have skipped me. I remember it starting up, and bands I’d never heard of dropping albums, but until I started seeing the slew of bands that tour in the genre in the past decade, I wasn’t really that plugged into the genre’s world. That being…
5 Reasons You Should Either Quit Facebook or Quit Complaining
Let me start by saying that I am IN NO WAY defending Facebook’s botched handling of user privacy as it relates to Cambridge Analytica. What they did was stupid, shortsighted and they deserve whatever is coming for them. Also, I’m not going to tell you how to fix your privacy…
Openings and Closings: BuffBurger Opens in Montrose, Feges is Now Open
BuffBurger,1540 West Alabama, opened March 11. This is the second location of the popular burger restaurant for owners Sara and Paul “Buff” Burden.With the tagline, ” Better in the Buff”, the Burdens are delivering tasty burgers and salads using beef from 44 Farms and buns from Slow Dough Bread Co. The…
The Death of Stalin May Make You Choke With Laughter
It’s fun stuff, but in a deeply corrosive way — daring to suggest that people engaged in a soul-sickening endeavor will find, well, their souls sickened
This is the Best Rockets Regular Season Team Ever and It’s Not Really Close
The Houston Rockets had won 50 games five times in franchise history before this season. Four times, their winning percentage was above .600, once above .700. The best of those was clearly the 1993-94 team that won 58, a .707 winning percentage. That team, featuring league MVP Hakeem Olajuwon, also…
Who Will The Texans Get To Back Up Deshaun Watson?
If there’s one spot on the Houston Texans’ roster that recent history has shown will be needed at some point during the regular season, it’s the backup quarterback position. In 2014 and 2015, O’Brien shuffled quarterbacks and watched enough of them go down with injuries, to where he started a…
Weekend Weather: Enjoy All That Cool Clear Houston Weather? Great, It’s Over.
If you haven’t been holed up in a windowless room this week, you know that it has been positively gorgeous outside. Our friends over at Space City Weather said Wednesday might have been one of the nicest days of the year. We can’t argue. With highs mostly in the low…
First Look at Alfred’s Burger House
In the fall of 2016 we knew just Where to Find the 5 Best Burgers in Houston’s East End. Well, now there’s a new burger joint in town, Alfred’s Burger House. Originally from Floresville, Texas, Alfredo Lopez has been in the neighborhood for more than 20 years. He recently decided to…
Tinsley Ellis lives on Blues Power and…Porn?
While it might not have as many users or generate as much income as many other adults-only online ventures, bluesman Tinsley Ellis does have an idea that would make any self-respecting gearhead salivate: Guitar Porn! In the credits for his new album, Winning Hand, the singer/guitarist lists which axe he…
Quid Pro Quo, Clarice: Explain Stormy Daniels To My Kids And I’ll Explain Gay Marriage To Yours
Won’t someone please think of the children? That’s what I’m here for.
St. Paddy’s Day in Boulder: Drinkers Vs. Smokers, Who Had the Better Party?
Last weekend, circumstances created an unusual travel opportunity for me. It’s a long story, but it involves catching a red-eye to Boulder, Colorado for a day’s stay before heading back to Houston by car. A day isn’t much time to devote to as nice a destination as Boulder, but I…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Enjoy Wine and Bites on the Bayou
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Houston Food Finder is teaming up with Peli Peli Kitchen, 9090 Katy, for a Casual Wine Dinner on Monday, March 26 from 7 to 9 p.m. The event will explore the world of South African wines…
The Voodoo King of Houston Has the Fix For What Ails You
For those suffering from bad luck, carrying around too much bad energy or just in need of a traditional cleansing, Absolem Yetzirah, Houston’s own “Doc Mojo,” just might have the fix. Absolem, whose grandmother was a curandera, says he was initiated by Priestess Miriam Chamani, co-founder and Mambo (Mother) of the…
EL LAGO Will Bring Their Magical Sounds To In Bloom
There are only a couple of times a year you can see a band that makes you wonder where they came from, why you haven’t heard of them before, or how are they not a bigger band than they are. However, the first time I caught EL LAGO, those were…
Albert Hammond Jr & Hinds Came To Get Down Last Night
Even the most devout fans of The Strokes couldn’t deny the amount of energy in the room at White Oak Music Hall last night when Albert Hammond Jr, guitarist for the band, stopped by to support his latest solo record Francis Trouble. Hammond Jr burned through his set of old and…
The YouTube Saga Of Houston Texans Safety Tyrann Mathieu
I’ll admit that before he became a Houston Texan via verbal commitment last Friday, I wasn’t totally aware of Tyrann Mathieu’s entire life story. I knew about all of the things that had happened with him, beginning with his freshman year at LSU, both good and bad — the Heisman…
Broken Social Scene Aims to Help a Houston Festival Rebrand
Broken Social Scene is no stranger to the festival circuit. Hell, the Canadian musical outfit is playing Bonnaroo and Pickathon this summer. Broken Social Scene is also among the headliners of the inaugural In Bloom Music Festival (previously Free Press Summer Fest), scheduled for this weekend at Eleanor Tinsley Park…
The Lasting Ramifications of the Daisy Ad and What it Says About Voting Today
It’s known as the Daisy Ad. In 1964 as President Lyndon Johnson was facing off against Republican Barry Goldwater, he wanted to send out a message that would activate more people to vote for him. In it, a young girl pulls the petals off a daisy, counting as she goes,…
Dear Life: The Best Music of The Week in Houston
This week is definitely full of options, considering that we’ll see acts like Martin Garrix, Beck, Lil Uzi Vert and more at this year’s In Bloom Fest, as well as plenty of tours rolling through town as well. Performances from Jeezy, Talib Kweli, The Mark Austin Birthday party and more…
Astros Sign Altuve, But Tougher Deals Ahead
Jose Altuve deserved every penny he got from the Astros and despite the massive price tag of more than $160 million, it ‘s a reasonable deal considering Altuve’s age and skill level. He could, by the end of this deal, be the best player in Astros history since this cuts…
Chef Chat: Lance Fegen On Finding His Authentic Self
His eyes smiled genuinely as he turned to walk away and I was reminded of Ben Harper’s wailing moments in Amen Omen, the song Lance Fegen had sung just moments ago. While restaurant warriors get a little bit of a “hot mess” reputation, somewhere along the way, Fegen was able…
Boycotting Anime Matsuri? Here Are 12 Other Things to Do Easter Weekend
It seems that the Internet has become the front line for some battles, and there’s a lot of social shade being thrown by advocates of Anime Matsuri, Boycott Anime Matsuri, Boycott Boycott Anime Matsuri and Boycott the Boycott Boycott Anime Matsuri. Now that’s meta! We’ve reported in the past about how…
True Broadway Babies: Broadway at the Box 2018
The Fab 5 who rule over the Music Box Theater are consummate entertainers. They sing, act, even dance a bit. Their sparkling revues, now in the Box’s seventh year, are refreshing, intimate shows that show off their prodigious talents, their warm camaraderie among each other and with the audience, and…
Houston’s Best Bars to Experience March Madness 2018
You watched the selection show. You studied all the ins and outs. You ignored Dick Vitale. Then, you filled out a bracket. Odds are, by now, that very same bracket has gone kaput, thanks to top seeds like Xavier and Virginia bowing out early, not to mention Cinderella stories like…
Lorde Finally Arrives in Houston to Give Fans the Catharsis They Need
Lorde, Run The Jewels, Tove Styrke Toyota Center March 19, 2K18 I’ve seen great songs die a death live. You wait all set, knowing a song is coming, and when it drops you expect rapture only to get the bare minimum of enthusiasm. Sometimes the room is just bad, sometimes…
How the Epic Story of “El Padrino” and the Cuban Mafia Started with…the Lottery
The Corporation: An Epic Story of the Cuban American Underworld By T.J. English 592 pp. $28.99 William Morrow There is perhaps no better modern chronicler of organized crime and criminals than T.J. English. Combining the research of a historian with the narrative flair of a novelist, he’s chronicled bad men…
Sticky’s Chicken Will Be At Menu Of Menus…And Other Exciting News
“I can do better than that,” Ceferino Vivares or “V” as he’s known around town, said matter-of-factly to his children Patsy and Benson as they sat in a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant 15 years ago. V has proven himself a man of his word. The wow factor of Sticky’s Chicken wings…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: The Original at Antone’s
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! There are certain things all Houstonians identify with Houston. The Astrodome, traffic, Tex-Mex, Beyonce and the Antone’s Original. I picked up my Original at the Antone’s on Bellaire. There is a rather complicated history…
Four Thoughts On Jose Altuve’s 5 Year, $151 Million Extension With Houston Astros
Friday was a great contractual day for Houston sports fans, in two very different ways. We covered the Houston Texans giving a beyond reasonable one year, $7 million contract to Tyrann “The Honey Badger” Mathieu late Friday night, a signing which set off Twitter celebrations throughout the city. Earlier in…
Jeremy Carswell Drops The Worst Record of 2018 So Far
When you write about music, especially if you cover one particular area of the country, you typically know when albums come out. A simple search of Bandcamp with a city as the keyword will usually pick up new releases quickly. After Houston’s Jeremy Carswell sent me his latest E.P. Everyday…
Spin That Record, Babe! Just Dance Live Comes to Houston
Interactive, choreography-copying music video game Just Dance makes the jump from screen to stage with Just Dance Live.
The Betrayal of Dana Scully: The X-Files Has Been Terrible to Its Lead for a Generation
… it’s worth reconsidering The X-Files’ feminism today, especially when so much of the series’ fan goodwill is based on the quietly political leaps it made in the last century
Atlanta Is the Only TV Show That’s Honest About Strip Clubs
Making it rain has long been mainstream, but the FX show presents a more novel sight: average Atlanta residents, reckoning with what often gets treated as a national rite of passage
Rockets Put Two More in the Books with Wins in New Orleans, Minnesota
As the Rockets exited the All-Star break, it was clear the next 20 games on the schedule would be tough. The first five would be difficult, but the next ten featured seven road games against eight teams vying for the playoffs and multiple back-to-backs with travel in between. They came…
![Cougars Lose Heartbreaker to Michigan in NCAA Tournament [UPDATED]](https://i0.wp.com/www.houstonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/img_4535.webp.webp?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1)
Cougars Lose Heartbreaker to Michigan in NCAA Tournament [UPDATED]
The last time the University of Houston men’s basketball team won a game in the NCAA Tournament, it was the final game before the championship against NC State. In that now infamous title game, the Cougars Phi Slama Jama team featuring Akeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler lost on a last…
Garth Closes Out RodeoHouston in the Finest of Fashions
In a sense, RodeoHouston is the best and worst venue for a Garth Brooks show. On one hand, the abbreviated set time, as Garth would acknowledge early in the show, doesn’t really allow for the banter and theatrics for which Brooks is so famously known. On the other, as the…
Weather Week: More Spring, More Pollen in the Forecast
If you blinked (and lived south of The Woodlands) you might have missed the rain Houston received over the weekend. It wasn’t much, but we were blanketed with clouds that kept it relatively cool albeit pretty muggy. This week will be similar to last week, but slightly warmer. Still, there…
Cleo: When Elizabeth Taylor Met Richard Burton and the World Gasped
Lisa Birnbaum grew up thinking, as many people did, that Elizabeth Taylor was the most beautiful; woman in the world. “Everybody loved her. She was so glamorous.” Now, Birnbaum, who holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, has taken on the daunting task of playing Taylor in Lawrence Wright’s…
Did The Houston Texans Answer All Of Our Free Agency Questions?
NFL free agency can be a weird deal. The last time the Houston Texans went into free agency with ample salary cap space, before this offseason, was two years ago. That Texans free agency class was highlighted by Brock Osweiler, Lamar Miller, Jeff Allen, and Tony Bergstrom. It was largely…
The Wiggins Return With An Engaging New Song
Jonathan Read of Houston’s The Wiggins has never done things like anyone else, which is refreshing. As an artist who creates some of the coolest art around town, Read has always seen things differently. In The Wiggins, Read hasn’t taken to doing things like everyone else either, and that’s created…
METRORail Accidents Made Worse by Stupid Houston Drivers
On Friday night, I was sitting with my wife and some friends on the front porch of Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge along Main Street near Alabama. We were enjoying a cool evening and celebrating the birthday of a friend. The METRORail was zipping by with frequency, often carrying cowboy…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Fire Up the Grill at Eight Row Flint
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Tuesday, March 20 Outdoor Cooking Series at Eight Row Flint Eight Row Flint, 1039 Yale, continues its Outdoor Cooking Series with a barbecue plate chef de cuisine Marcelo Garcia. Beginning at 5 p.m., Garcia will be firing up the grill to…
The Houston Black Film Festival Looks at Love, Black Panther and a Comedy Fest
Love is in the air at the 2018 Houston Black Film Festival, though there are several twists and turns with this year’s offerings. The festival’s opener, Love by Chance, features a pair of South African actors who meet while trying to break into Hollywood; One Bedroom toys with finding love and…
In the Middle of One of RodeoHouston’s Biggest Weekends, Brad Paisley Didn’t Get Too Serious
Brad Paisley NRG Stadium March 17, 2K18 Think about all the technology needed to pull off a RodeoHouston performance. From the hundreds of lights around the stadium to the multiple cameras set up at different distances to the massive sound system, it’s a complex operation requiring a tremendous amount of…
Racial Politics and Self-Reflexivity Highlight Stages’ We Are Proud to Present …
Stages Repertory Theatre’s production of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s 2012, We are Proud to Present …, is a tough watch about a genocide, but would you expect anything less?
Chris Stapleton Takes RodeoHouston to New Heights Musically
Chris Stapleton NRG Stadium March 16, 2K18 The day they unveiled the new RodeoHouston stage, I was lucky enough to stand on the enhanced platform right in the middle of NRG Stadium. I saw all the new lights up close, rode up on one of the star points, and generally…
Shame Rules Houston With Energetic Set
A Friday night in Houston can typically mean that there are plenty of local and touring bands rolling through town. Last night, because we’re in the midst of SXSW in Austin, the beginning of a slew of acts to come rolling through began at Satellite Bar. With an opening performance…
Houston Texans Finally Make A Splash, Sign Safety Tyrann Mathieu
On Thursday afternoon, the Texans introduced four new players, all signed in free agency, to the assembled media (and via their web stream, to their fan base), and despite the additions of four new names all signed by a new general manager, those Texan fans with their default set at…
Mental Ward Thriller Unsane Is So Tense, Our Critic Wanted to Flee Theater
The film tells the story of a terrorized woman in a mental hospital who’s trying to convince the staff and patients that she shouldn’t be there and is being held against her will
Rise Just Doesn’t: NBC’s Musical Theater High School Drama is Friday Night Lite
… Everything about the series, from plotting to character development to tone, feels contrived, with every speck of subtext hauled up and nailed down to the show’s slick surface
Keith Urban Had Almost All the Right Moves at RodeoHouston
Keith Urban NRG Stadium March 15, 2K18 Keith Urban could never be an A-level popstar, even though he has all the tools necessary to be one. He’s got the looks, the charm, and the musical chops—everything you could hope for, really, to make it in the modern music industry—but the…
Houston Sees Red with Wins for Rockets, Cougars
It’s been a really long time since Houston has had a winning college and pro team in the same sport at the same time. On Thursday night it was basketball as the Rockets dispatched the remarkably tenacious LA Clippers 101-96 at Toyota Center. And in round one of the Men’s…
Times Have Changed For SXSW, But You Should Still Go
Night falls on Austin and 6th Street is organized chaos. Music seems to pour out of every single building that’s open after the sun is gone, many of them featuring burly dudes standing outside doing their best to hustle the constant stream of people into their establishments. Lights flash, both…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider’s biggest problem might be that it takes itself too seriously.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: St. Patty’s Day Eats and Shenanigans
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Saint Patrick’s Day Eats and Festivities Friday through Sunday From green beer-soaked shindigs to a New Year’s Eve-style “leprechaun drop”, find out where to celebrate at our 2018 Houston Saint Patrick’s Party Guide; and for the lowdown on where to get your…
Openings and Closings: Victor Debuts, Kukuri Shutters
Victor, 4321 Montrose, is adding a little savoir-faire to the Bayou City’s repertoire of urbane and stylistic hotspots. The concept, named for French author Victor Hugo, is decidedly French and there are plans to make the new bar/lounge a destination spot for Francophiles, music aficionados and uber-chic cocktail drinkers. Owner Vincent…
Vodi Will Bring Their Soft Rock To In Bloom
If you had told anyone ten years ago that soft rock would have a place in the music world again, they’d probably have laughed at you. However, when you look around the music industry today, the softer side of rock seems to be all over the place. Whether it be…
NFL Free Agency: Texans Bring Back CB Johnathan Joseph, TE Fiedorowicz To Retire
As the Houston Texans continue to fight the good fight in free agency this week, they were able to get a deal done with the player who, by any measurement, represents the most successful free agent signing in team history, as they re-upped with cornerback Johnathan Joseph on a two…
Bright StarRoars Like a Freight Train Right Down that Track
Remember the porch swing? Summer evenings when you caught fireflies in jelly jars? Remember a juke joint off the back road with forbidden hooch and hot-to-trot customers? How about misty blue mountains that roll on forever in the background? Sundresses, straw hats, and sensible shoes? Remember teen pregnancy? Eudora Welty?…
Behind the Scenes Movers and Shakers at RodeoHouston
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is in no short supply of superstar moments. This year alone, Houstonians have seen the resurgence of Garth Brooks, the adorable Muttin’ Bustin, and those lip-smack-worthy turkey legs. There’s one behind-the-scenes superstar many might not know about, though, who makes the entire rodeo experience…
Chef Chat: Travis Lenig Is Settling In Nicely At Field & Tides In The Heights
If Bourbon had a voice, it would sound a lot like Travis Lenig. And not because he drinks Bourbon, he drinks gin, but because the articulation of his voice is strong, laidback, everyday practical, and just a little bit sweet. Lenig’s first restaurant as executive chef and owner, Field &…
NFL Free Agency: Texans Re-sign WR Ellington, Swing And Miss On LT Solder
Free agency in the NFL officially began when the clock struck 3 p.m. Houston time on Wednesday, but it was a couple hours before that when the Texans’ new general manager Brian Gaine officially had his first perceived — and that is a very key word here, PERCEIVED — crisis…
Weather Weekend: Spring Break Should Come to a Dreary End
Have you just loved this weather? Especially if you’ve had the week off? What about the pollen? Well, as Meatloaf said, “Two outta three ain’t bad.” The weather this week has been absolutely stunning and should remain the same through Thursday. Then, things, as always, change. It has been a…
When Already Being the Largest Water Park in Houston Just Isn’t Enough
It’s 80 acres filled with rides, slides and rivers and restaurants, but during the coming months Wet’n’Wild SplashTown will expand its facilities over 30 additional adjacent acres that it already owns. Already the largest water park in Houston, Wet’n’Wild SplashTown’s leadership decided there was room for more family fun at its facilities…
Ben Jarrad Impresses With New Single
Music is a funny place, in that you can watch a band and have no idea how accomplished each individual member is on his or her own. That’s what I’d guess would happen with anyone who caught Ian Moore live, as his bassist is an accomplished artist in his own…
The Bell Tolls For Today’s Little Monsters at Art Factory in Houston
Long before Lady Gaga and her rallying cry for acceptance, love and respect for all little monsters, French novelist Victor Hugo — in his own fashion — spoke up for the disenfranchised and misunderstood. Both The Hunchback of Notre Dame (with its grotesque bell-ringer and ostracized gypsies) and Les Misérables…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Get Your Menu of Menus Tickets Now
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Third Coast, 6550 Bertner, 6th floor, will be hosting a Tasting Series: Irish Whiskey on Wednesday, March 21 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The restaurant’s award-winning sommelier, David Cook, will teach this course, as guests enjoy…
Broadway At The Hobby Announces its 2018-19 Season
If somehow living in Houston you’ve missed your chance to see Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, The Phantom of the Opera, Rent or (incredibly) The Book of Mormon, then you are going to love Broadway at the Hobby’s upcoming season. Because they’re all coming back — albeit in new productions for…
NFL Free Agency: Texans Agree To Terms With CB Aaron Colvin, Two Others
Driving home last night, I was listening to my good friend John Harris on “Texans All Access” on SportsRadio610. It was a rare show where John was able to take some phone calls from listeners, and on the eve of the day on which free agents can begin officially signing…
Harold’s In the Heights Is Coming In Hot To Menu of Menus
Harold’s returns to the Houston Press Menu of Menus for the third year, and this time chef Richard Knight is cooking up something special. The seasoned Houston chef joined forces with owner Alli Jarrett just weeks ago, but they jell like they’ve worked together for much longer. Call it the…
Music Fans Invited to Groove & Vibe to Visionary Noise’s New Vision
Trial periods — they work for magazine subscriptions and services like Hulu, but can they also apply to music festivals? The organizers of one of Houston’s established, ongoing and free music gatherings is hoping music and art lovers will attend this weekend’s Groove & Vibe to try it before they…
Lebanese Comic Nemr Aims For Deeper Political Satire Than Simply “Screw The King!”
Even with all the resources and opportunity at our disposal, it takes a lot to make a career in comedy in America. Now: try making it in land when there are no clubs, no open mikes, no other stand-ups on your side of the globe. That’s the situation that a…
Social Media Gets Baked Into the Experience With New Plays at Ensemble
Houston’s storied Ensemble Theatre isn’t letting any grass grow under its feet. In fact, the cultural institution seems to be firmly entrenched in the fast lane with its line-up of alternative performance pieces. From salutes to visionaries to a focus on Texas playwrights to an exploration of hip-hop, Ensemble’s “Celebrating…
Political or Not, Correa’s Decision to Skip White House Trip Sends Message
Carlos Correa decided to skip the Astros visit to the White House on Monday to instead spend the day arranging relief efforts for the people of Puerto Rico where he was from. Correa and Ken Giles, who was attending to family matters, were the only two Astros not to attend…
Where to Brunch in Houston on Easter Sunday 2018
Easter is a bunny hop, skip and jump away (it falls on Sunday, April 1) and Houston restaurants are ready to celebrate. From to quick, casual breakfasts and family-friendly brunches featuring the Easter bunny to luxurious multi-course affairs, here’s where to dine on Easter Sunday in Houston this year: Backstreet…
Static Buzz: The Best of The Week in Houston Music
Now that we’re in full swing around SXSW, this week our city will see a ton of talent roll through town. Sets from Snail Mail, Lorde, Dashboard Confessional and more will be here while Greg Cote & the Real Life Friends, The Satanic Overlords of Rock N Roll, and many…
NFL Free Agency: Case Keenum To Sign With Broncos, Texans Looking At O-Line
If there was a theme for the 2017 NFL season, aside from rampant angst over protests during the national anthem, it was the massive spate of injuries suffered across seemingly all 32 teams. It was an absurd trend with which we in Houston became all too familiar — Deshaun Watson,…
We Are Proud to Present a Presentation… About Genocide at Stages Repertory Theatre
Between 1904 and 1907 an African genocide occurred that saw some 24,000 to 100,000 Herero and Nama tribal people killed in what was then the former German colony called South-West Africa which later became modern day Nambia, Most people don’t know about this, which is exactly why playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury…
Zac Brown Band Bring Some Laid-Back Vibes to RodeoHouston
Zac Brown Band NRG Stadium March 12, 2K18 There was a long pause before the Zac Brown Band began their set. They were there on stage, in the purple glow of the lights that fire up in between songs during RodeoHouston sets, but they didn’t seem to be in too…
4 Reasons Auto Play Videos on Most Websites Are Universally Hated
There are plenty of annoyances associated with the internet, from trolls and fake news to hackers and spam. It’s not all that surprising that the information superhighway is clogged with garbage after more than 20 years of operating unabated. It is why finding good, quality content is so rare and…
We Can’t All Get to Rome, But Don’t Miss MFAH’s “Michelangelo and the Vatican”
Rule No. 1 when dealing with visionary Renaissance artist Michelangelo was that criticism would not be well-received. When the Papal Master of Ceremonies Biagio da Cesena — the 16th century version of Tipper Gore — complained that the excessive nudity in The Last Judgment was unsuitable for the Papal chapel, it…
The South Rises Again on Dixie Dregs Reunion Tour
It’s been just a week since the Dixie Dregs launched their reunion tour when guitarist Steve Morse is on the line. The trek called “Dawn of the Dregs,” marks the first time that the classic mid-‘70s lineup which released the band’s first two albums The Great Spectacular (1976) and Free…
The DIY Podcast Collective Giving Houston an Alternate Voice
Mocking Bird Network launched in January 2016 and since then has given a voice to Houston comedians and cultural commentators from a diverse range of backgrounds.
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Grilled Cheese at Tout Suite
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! Grilled cheese is one of the most uncomplicated sandwiches that exist. It’s bread and cheese. That’s it. Sure, you can throw tomato on there (hard pass for me, but if it floats your boat)…
Houston Press Singles Club: Stephanie Rice, Moth Wings, Warlung, etc.
The Houston Press Singles Club is back this week with a whole set of songs we think you’re sure to love. This week we’ll add a soulful tune from Stephanie Rice, a psych pop gem from Mantra Love, we’ll add our first band for a second time with Moth Wings,…
After Injury, Barrel Racer Jackie Ganter Gets Back on Her Horse in Houston
There’s a certain amount of risk involved in any sport, but the risk involved in rodeo sports feels amplified. Humans can only be responsible for themselves, after all, and adding animals to the mix means a whole host of variables being added to the equation. Every time someone gets on…
Calibre 50 Filled the Seats at RodeoHouston And Go Tejano Day Set Another Record
Calibre 50 NRG Stadium March 11, 2018 There’s a lyric section of the track “Corrido De Juanito” by Calibe 50 that just gets me every time. The song recalls the experience of a hard working Mexican immigrant who loves and misses his family, works long back-breaking hours to survive, and…
O.J. Simpson (Basically) Confesses To Double Murder On National Television
Well, it took 12 years and a ratings cattle prod from, ironically, the reprise of its own creation, American Idol, on a competing network, but FOX finally aired the 2006 interview that Judith Regan conducted with O.J. Simpson, at that time titled “If I Did It” but now appropriately labeled…
Weather Week: A Cool, Beautiful Spring Break on Tap
The only predictable thing about weather in Houston is its unpredictability. It has been a remarkably up and down winter with temperatures ranging from freezing to 80-degree days leaving all of us to bring a sweater or jacket just about everywhere just in case. This weekend was no exception. Saturday…
A$AP Ferg Reps Trap at House of Blues
Trap music is all the rage these days, and this is hard to deny. The fairly new brand of hip-hop – or, at least, one that has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years – ably blends synth and drum beats in creating a somewhat atypical musical experience. From…
Rockets Start New Streak as a Rough Week-Plus Gets Rolling
The Rockets NBA season high 17-game winning streak came to an end on Friday in Toronto. It was only the second loss of the season when James Harden, Chris Paul and Clint Capela were all in the lineup. Toronto, which has the best record in the Eastern Conference, led by…
Devoted to the Manhattan Subway, a Transplant Learns to Drive in Houston
When I moved to the Houston area from Manhattan right before the summer of 2016 started, the sweltering heat was no bother, the moving truck being two weeks late was only a temporary sigh, because nothing could beat the anxiety and annoyance in the pit of my stomach of having…
Where to Eat and Drink in Houston This St. Patrick’s Day
From traditional Irish breakfasts and corned beef and cabbage plates to Jameson flights and green-colored sweets, here’s where to eat, drink and at least pretend to be Irish this St. Patrick’s Day. Brasserie 19, 1962 West Gray Brasserie 19, Veuve Clicquot and Ruinart Rosé are teaming up for a Pink…
Get Your DIY On With New Downtown Workshop Series
The Downtown District and Pop Shop America bring the do-it-yourself movement to Houston with new DIY Downtown series.
Tove Styrke Brings Her Minimalist Pop To Houston
In pop music, standing out can be a difficult endeavor. Music, as crowded as it is today, doesn’t leave much space for artists attempting to crack into the upper echelon of the industry. However, once you hear the music of Sweden’s Tove Styrke, you should almost immediately become a fan…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Meet the O’Doddy Burger
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, March 12 Courtyard Social Crawfish Boil at Brennan’s of Houston Brennan’s, 3300 Smith, is hosting a Courtyard Social Crawfish Boil from 6 to 8 p.m. The rain-or-shine event costs $25 per person, including crawfish and two beers. Tuesday, March 13…
Five Burning Questions For The Houston Texans As Free Agency Begins
Here is the crux of a discussion that ensued on last Friday’s edition of my radio show “The Triple Threat” (weekdays, 2 to 6 p.m. on SportsRadio 610) between me and Ted Johnson — if there were a way to quantify good feelings about a city’s sports teams, would Houston…
The Exonerated Gets a Thrillingly Relevant Staging
Issue plays, plays that concern some type of problematic and troubling social concern, don’t always age well. Times change, moral lines move, technology/science/knowledge increases, generational norms shift and suddenly the issue, once so fist-poundingly urgent, flickers dimly like the last embers of a once mighty fire. But what if the…
Charming Love, Simon Expands Hollywood’s Vision of What America Is
Here is a movie made for and about the people who believe they are the essence of American normalcy, a movie that dutifully flatters and celebrates them even as it works to expand who that normalcy actually includes
Can Roseanne Make Roseanne Great Again?
Already the show’s producers have revealed, perhaps unsurprisingly, that Roseanne and Dan Conner (Barr and John Goodman) voted for Trump, which has created a rift between Roseanne and her sister
Corteo from Cirque du Soleil Soars This Weekend in Houston
There’s this magic moment in most Cirque du Soleil shows where they show you someone doing something incredibly athletic and skillful, yet entirely in your realm of understanding, then that person takes that skill and takes it to another, almost superhuman level. In Corteo, taking place at the Toyota Center…
Sorry Garth, RodeoHouston Belongs to Luke Bryan
Luke Bryan NRG Stadium March 8, 2K18 Exactly four years and two days ago, Usher took the stage at RodeoHouston. I do not remember much about the actual performance — I remember his entrance being particularly spectacular — but I’ve always remembered what happened as soon as it ended. As…
HISD Still Has a Long Way to Go In Special Ed
Put on the spot at last night’s school board meeting and asked to rate how Houston ISD continues to handle its special education students and programs on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (we presume super duper), an independent auditor basing her comment on the “ideal” gave the district…
Bright Star Arrives at the Hobby With Music From Steve Martin and Edie Brickell
Comedian, musician and actor Steve Martin got together with singer songwriter Edie Brickell to create Bright Star, now on a national tour and making its way to Houston in a courtesy of Theatre Under the Stars. The result is a musical filled with Americana, bluegrass and country influences that received…
Food Delicacies Of The RodeoHouston Carnival
As I am so generously given a media rodeo pass, I frequently frequent the rodeo for lunch. Because if you’re into corn dogs like I am, that’s the best time to get them. Oh, and every single time I ate by myself. It was glorious. Listed below are a few…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: A Wrinkle In Time
Where DuVernay and writer Jennifer Lee do succeed is in the larger message that Meg is deserving of love and respect.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Score Free Meatballs from Helen
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: National Meatball Day at Helen in the Heights and Helen Greek Food and Wine Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 1111 Studewood; 2429 Rice In honor of National Meatball Day, both Helen in the Heights and Helen Greek Food and Wine…
Birthday Club Is Ready To Bring Joy To In Bloom
Music is an interesting space, in that it’s filled with all sorts of characters. When a band forms, it can usually be the efforts of a group writing together, though more often than not, the band is made up around one person’s vision. Over the years, I’ve gotten to know…
Openings and Closings: Underbelly is Closing Soon, Feges BBQ is Coming
Underbelly, 1100 Westheimer, Chris Shepherd’s acclaimed restaurant is closing March 31. Underbelly was a critic’s darling when it first debuted six years ago, thrilling patrons and gourmands alike with its intense focus on locally sourced ingredients and inventive cuisine inspired by Houston’s cultural diversity. Shepherd, who won the James Beard…
Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park is a Walkable Feast of Culture and Art
Green Acres’ power couple, Oliver Wendell Douglas and Lisa Douglas, couldn’t seem to agree on anything. On the popular ’60s television show he longed for the great outdoors while she wanted to be in the big city, but even they would have found common ground with the popular Bayou City Art Festival…
The Strangers: Prey at Night Leaps From Grim to Goofy to Save the Day
The Strangers: Prey at Night … has a slow and rather grim first half, but then, in the home stretch, takes a welcome turn into the seriously silly
New Death Wish Left Me With One Question: What’s Wrong With Us?
Kersey is the everyman, and Roth’s movie, whether he likes it or not, is the good-guy-with-a-gun propaganda the NRA is just lapping up straight out of the toilet
BFFs Plan the Perfect Murder in the Gloriously Dark Thoroughbreds
Thoroughbreds’ best trick is to convince us, through the aching stillness of its stars’ eyes, that it might not actually be a twisty, twisted thriller inspired by the likes of Strangers on a Train
Rockets Streak Reaches 17 with Back-to-Back Wins Over OKC, Milwaukee
Winning two games in early March against a pair of teams hovering just over the .500 mark wouldn’t normally seem like that big of a deal. But when they represent wins 16 and 17 of a season-long winning streak and they happen to come against two fairly dangerous teams on…
FOX To Air 2006 O.J. Simpson “If I Did It” Interview This Sunday Night
Over the last three or four years, the television industry has seen the beginning of a sea change in which consumers, led by millennials, are cutting the cord with cable, and in turn, driving down television ratings. Separately, there has also been a trend over that time of an attempt,…
Weather Weekend: Sunshine Gives Way to Rain Chances on Eve of Spring Break
If you found yourself wondering, “Why didn’t I bring a sweater with me today?” on Wednesday, you weren’t alone. Despite all the warm, humid weather the past week, we never got out of the 60s. Thursday shouldn’t be much different, but a change is coming as we head toward the…
An Art Lover’s Guide to 2018 RodeoHouston
Art aficionados can expect the unexpected during this year’s RodeoHouston, with a new custom art piece by pioneer GONZO247 (Mario Figueroa Jr.), tons of selfie stations and some amazing work by established and next gen artists. Titled The Four Pillars of Rodeo, GONZO247’S four-sided art piece pays homage to western…
Meet the Contenders for RodeoHouston’s 2019 Resident Pop Act
RodeoHouston is no stranger to hosting pop stars. If anything, the Rodeo has played host to some of the most famous pop icons of their respective eras. From Elvis to the Black-Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys to Boyz II Men, RodeoHouston has certainly hosted its share of pop stars. Some remain…
Texans Staff Donates to Help Houston Sports Writer After Car Accident
Pat Starr, a popular local sports writer covering the Texans through his blog State of the Texans, remains in intensive care after a car accident two weeks ago that tragically took the life of his father, Emilio Colon. The GoFundMe page for his father’s memorial, which also is contributing to…
RodeoHouston’s Most Challenging Year for Junior Marketeers
For most of us in the Bayou City, our Hurricane Harvey stories revolve around catastrophic flooding, toxin-laced waters and overflowing reservoirs. But further down south, just inland of where the Category 4 hurricane first plowed into Rockport at 130 miles per hour (also known as ground zero), their nightmare also included…
Bike Tour de Houston, Grab a Gonzo247 T-Shirt, and Help Reforest H-Town
Houston’s “Wellness Weekend” is looming on the horizon, and the timing is perfect for those lapsed New Year’s resolutions, Netflix binge-watchers and anybody who’s got cabin fever after our incredibly long rainy season. Tour de Houston Presented by Apache Corporation (a bike ride) and Bayou City Classic (10k and 5k…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Unlock a Taco Deal with Your Rodeo Ticket
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Throughout rodeo season, guests can bring their same-day HLSR tickets to Goodnight Charlie’s, 2531 Kuester, to receive three tacos and a beer for $10. Peli Peli Galleria, 5085 Westheimer, has launched a new happy hour feature,…
Mockingbird Brother Drop New Jam
The best bands it seems, are prolific. In today’s crowded music landscape, dropping a steady stream of new music isn’t necessarily a bad thing by any means. Where the album cycle has gone from two to three years, nowadays you’re doing yourself a disservice to not put out as much…
A Wrinkle in Time: Ava DuVernay’s Humanity Is Worth More Than Any Effects Budget
The film sends the simultaneous messages that it’s futile to coddle children but also that it’s OK to feel the icky stuff that you feel, because even your weaknesses can be transformed to strengths
Big Turnout, Some Glitches, in the Primaries Across the Houston Area
In a day punctuated by large crowds at polling places with subsequent polling machine glitches and long line waits at some locations, thousands upon thousands of voters turned out to make their selections known for the elections in the fall. A lot was status quo. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (85.34…
The Fans Help Jason Aldean Rally Late at RodeoHouston
Jason Aldean NRG Stadium March 6, 2K18 Because this is the United States 2018 and not ancient Rome, I must admit I’ve never been one for portents, but after last night’s RodeoHouston performance maybe I should be. It was a night of extremes before Jason Aldean hit the stage, and…
“Wish Upon a Star” at Insomnia Gallery’s Disney Fan Art Show
The “Wish Upon a Star” Disney fan art show at Insomnia Gallery will feature 45 artists putting their own twist on familiar Mouse House properties.
Famed Italian Winemaker Gaja Here and Gone In A Day
“We’re going.” Brian said as he flicked the promotion card at me excitedly while I polished stemware. “I need to check my schedule, but…” I inspected the flyer more closely, “…oh, we’re going.” Gaia Gaja, eldest daughter of legendary Italian winemaker Angelo Gaja, was in Houston Tuesday and kept a…
Luke Bryan is Good at Getting Serious
Luke Bryan’s appeal is fairly evident. Bryan is handsome and charismatic, a guy who really personifies stage presence. Even for those who don’t get the bro-country movement, it’s hard to deny Bryan as one of the best country entertainers of his era. Bryan and his team write catchy tunes, and…
Houston Texans Ramifications For Each NFL Franchise Tag Decision
If the start date NFL free agency (which is 3 p.m. Houston time on March 14) were an airport, then the wheels just touched down on the runway and we will be taxiing over the next seven days, amidst a ton of illegal tampering and rumor mill manipulation by player…
Houston’s 2018 St. Patrick’s Day Guide: Parties, Concerts and Irish Shenanigans
As luck of the Irish would have it, Saint Patrick’s Day falls on a Saturday this year; but the good times start well before the holiday. From Irish whiskey dinners and Celtic rock shows to pre-Paddy’s Day shenanigans and green beer-fueled patio parties, there is no shortage of ways to…
Double Vision Delves Into the Lives of John and Dominique de Menil
Hear the name de Menil or Schlumberger and thoughts immediately turn to philanthropy, wealth, power and the Renzo Piano-designed cypress, steel and glass museum over on Sul Ross. So perhaps one of the most surprising scenes in Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil…
Yr Throat: The Best of The Week
Now that 2018 is in full swing and SXSW is inching closer and closer, this week we’ll have plenty of music to catch. Sets from Jeff Rosenstock, Bad Bunny, Agent Orange, and more will grace us while locals like Loose Nukes, Deep Cuts and the Chris LaForge benefit show will…
First Look: Taco Casa Makes it to Houston
In a state that treasures its tacos and has appropriated Mexican cuisine from our south of the border neighbors, it’s a wonder that many Texans still opt for the drive-thru at a fast food taco chain instead of stopping at one of the many taco trucks offering Abuela’s authentic recipes…
Mayor Says ‘Enough on Carranza.’ Let’s Move On and Take Care of Those Kids in HISD
Did you ever have that one true love in high school? The one that you thought you’d be with forever? The one you were so in sync with until he called you up one day and said it was over and all you could do was stare at that cold…
Chef Chat: Kevin Naderi Is Off To Hollywood To Pursue Acting… Just Kidding, But Maybe.
I know, I know, I know, we’ve done plenty of articles on Kevin Naderi, but he’s just an interesting guy. Authoritative, cocky, hilarious, thoughtful. Randomly running into Naderi is an absolute joy, like when you’re slow to get up at the movie theater and they hit you with that bonus…
Farewell, Houston: Kyle Hubbard Says Goodbye
In any music community there’s bound to be attrition. Houston’s no different. Artists establish themselves and appreciate their H-town followers but always hope to spend less time here and more entertaining audiences elsewhere. Some succeed. Others decide to chase these fortunes from different zip codes. And a lot defer their dreams…
Ed Oliver Announces Intentions To Enter 2019 NFL Draft
Over the last few seasons, as the medical and financial welfare of college football players has become a bigger and bigger issue, experts have surmised whether or not it makes sense for certain ELITE players to sit out their collegiate junior seasons and wait for their NFL-mandated three year post-high…
Four Significant NFL Combine Performances That Could Impact The Texans
When the Houston Texans traded their 2018 second round pick to Cleveland for them to take on the contract of Brock Osweiler, we were ecstatic. When they traded their 2018 first round pick to Cleveland for the right to select Deshaun Watson, we were euphoric. Then when we saw Watson…
How the Age of Ike Extended Well Beyond the Fabulous ’50s
The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s By William I. Hitchcock 672 pp. $35 Simon & Schuster We all know Ike, right? Had that famous campaign slogan. Hero and leader U.S. forces in World War II. Avuncular, grandfatherly type whose blandness was a trademark and who…
High Waisted Ride the Wave from NYC to H-Town
While Houston has nothing comparable to Austin’s SXSW Festival, local music fans do benefit greatly each March with plenty of “run-off” shows. These are local gigs by bands in town with sort of an added regional date to their main SXSW showcases. One of those shows will feature the New…
Astros Rotation Depth a Hedge Against Injuries
The rich got richer this offseason and, for once, that included the Astros. The addition of Gerrit Cole to an already deep pitching rotation that will hopefully include a full year from Justin Verlander gives the ‘Stros, arguably, the most formidable rotation in baseball. Getting Cole certainly bolsters a talented…
18 Interesting Photos to Discover at the FotoFest 2018 Biennial
FotoFest offers a region-wide showcase of photography beginning with “home base” — a celebration of India and new media in the Washington Avenue Arts District and Asia Society Texas Center — plus satellite exhibits at dozens of participating spaces (galleries, coffee shops, museums, schools). We’ve selected a few interesting samples…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Smoked Turkey at Onion Creek
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! Getting a turkey sandwich for lunch is like having eggs for breakfast. It’s plain, boring even. If it were fashion, it would be normcore. It’s the basic bitch of sandwiches. But it doesn’t have…
Eight Tips for Voting in the Tuesday Primaries
The 2018 primaries are upon us and Tuesday is D-Day if you intend to get out there and exercise your constitutional right. If you are heading to your polling place on Tuesday, here are a few things that might help you get through it a little more efficiently. Use the…
Hinds Is Ready To Prove They’re a Force In The Music World
A couple of years ago, I was handed an album with the preface, “Here’s a band you need to check out.” The album was Leave Me Alone from Spain’s Hinds, and needless to say, I was glad I had a copy to place on repeat for the next couple of…
The Mariachi Superintendent Dumps HISD, Heads for New York City
Richard, we hardly knew ya. Richard Carranza who has only been superintendent of the Houston Independent School District since August 2016, is leaving Houston and heading for New York City to be the chancellor of the public schools there. He leaves behind a cash-strapped district, threatened with state takeover action…
Houston SaberCats Announce New Temporary Home
The Houston SaberCats announced that they will play the remaining matches of their inaugural season at Dyre Stadium. The announcement was made at Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday prior to the exhibition against the Ontario Arrows. The first match at Dyer Stadium will be on April 21 when the SaberCats…
Alessia Cara Stays in Her Lane For a Fine RodeoHouston Performance
Alessia Cara NRG Stadium March 4, 2K18 Sunday evening’s RodeoHouston performance did not end with the star of the night riding in the back of a pickup truck past her adoring fans and into the Texas night. While I’m sure it’s happened before, I can’t recall anyone ever skipping that…
What’s The Sales Pitch To Kirk Cousins From Each Of His Four Finalists?
Over the last several years, the NFL quarterback contract market has been one of the more easily dissected and controlled ecosystems in all of sports. Quite simply, when someone fitting the category of “franchise quarterback,” quantified largely subjectively by “you know it when you see it,” got to contract extension…
Rain to Start Week Gives Way to Cooler Houston Weather
Coming off an absolutely lovely weekend (nevermind the cloudy conditions Sunday afternoon), spring in Houston continues in earnest this week. A cool front is expected to move through Monday night or early Tuesday, but that should be the only significant weather feature we see much of the week. Expect some…
Food Biz is Booming in Houston’s Bay Area: What’s Changed?
The food scene in Houston’s Bay Area gets more exciting every month. New restaurants are popping up and the local foodies love sharing and learning about the latest restaurant news. It hasn’t always been this lively down south with regards to dining out. Why has the food scene changed? The…
Flogging Molly’s Dave King Is a Man of the Times
One might mistakenly peg Dave King as sentimental. After all, his band, Flogging Molly, has more than 20 years of successful moments on which to wax nostalgic. Lyrics in songs such as “If I Ever Leave This World Alive,” one of the group’s most popular tunes, do convey a romantic…
Houston Author’s Tragicomic Memoir About Her Late Brother, Comedian and Writer Harris Wittels
When we talk with Stephanie Wittels Wachs, it’s a Friday morning. She apologizes in advance for the cartoons which might seep into our interview from the background. She’s turned on the television for her 4-year-old daughter, Iris, who already knows how to operate the Roku and has to shush her…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Earn 11-Cent Burgers at Burgerim
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All week long Bacon Fest at Central Market Central Market, 3815 Westheimer, will be hosting Bacon Fest now through Tuesday, March 13, offering more than 75 types of specialty bacon as well as bacon-inspired items like bacon-wrapped meats, bacon guacamole and…
Rockets Win 15th Straight Over Boston, Head Into Toughest Stretch of the Season
Only three other teams in Rockets franchise history have won more than 15 straight games. The 1992-93 Rockets won 15 straight as did the 1993-94 team (that opened the season on the road to an NBA title). In 2007-08, the Rockets won a remarkable 22 straight before an injury to…
The Future of Indie Rock Is Safe In Snail Mail’s Hands
I’m not sure what you were doing when you were 18, but Baltimore’s Lindsey Jordan is in the midst of possibly the biggest year of her life. The singer, guitarist, and principal song writer for the band Snail Mail, has a pretty full plate including her debut release on Matador…
Ron Pope Shows He’s Ready For Bigger Things At White Oak Music Hall
Touring in support of his latest album, singer-songwriter Ron Pope played an accomplished, savvy set.
Leon Bridges Proves He’s a “Better Man” Than RodeoHouston Controversy
Leon Bridges NRG Stadium March 2, 2018 The question was never whether Leon Bridges would perform well, but if that’s one you need an answer to, then just know he was solid. He and his band delivered an hour’s worth of throwback soul music at RodeoHouston last night that thrilled…
Swooning Over Fresh Talent in Love/Sick at Obsidian
Ah, romantic love. Will we ever get tired of obsessing about you? How to get love, how to keep love, fear of its loss, fear of its hold, wishing it never happened, figuring out how to move past it and then how to find it all over again? No matter…
Satchmo at the Waldorf Doesn’t Do Louis Armstrong the Justice He Deserves
Louis Armstrong is divided in three parts. Or rather, it’s Terry Teachout’s one-man play, Satchmo at the Waldorf, about America’s incomparable musician, that is trisected. None of these three pieces add up to any sort of satisfying portrait with any depth or much riff of empathy. Adapted from Teachout’s book,…
DA Ogg Finds Email Evidence That Prosecutor Did Know About Phone Records in Alfred Brown Case
In a late on Friday announcement, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg says that new evidence shows that former Harris County prosecutor Dan Rizzo knew about the existence of phone records that would corroborate Alfred DeWayne Brown’s alibi, but failed to provide them to defense counsel or the jury. Brown,…
A Penguin Walked Into My Office Today and No This Isn’t the Start of a Joke
So what did you do today? I had a penguin come to my office. A live one. A 3-year-old male penguin that jumped and waddled and enthralled everyone at the Houston Press who all came over to see him. In a genius marketing move as part of a promotion of…
Houston Ballet Combines Rock, Roll & Tutus in Mixed Rep
The Houston Ballet presents Rock, Roll & Tutus, their mixed repertory program, at Resilience Theater.
Dropkick Murphys Promote Charity, Brewery Collaboration on Annual St. Patrick’s Day Tour
Known for their frantic live performances, Celtic punk rock legends the Dropkick Murphys will visit Houston this weekend on their annual St. Patrick’s Day tour. Fans can expect a sordid, sweaty affair brimming with positivity and Boston pride. Ahead of their visit, drummer Matt Kelly found time to speak with…
Who’s Ready For Some Oscar Predictions? Well Here They Are Anyway.
Gary Oldman is going to win Best Actor for his ‘just fine’ performance in a movie that otherwise looked like a cheap BBC miniseries
Blake Shelton Battles the Flu to Give Houston What It Wants
Blake Shelton March 1, 2K18 NRG Stadium This was not the first time that the reigning People’s Sexiest Man Alive had come to RodeoHouston; back in 2014, the Adam Levine and the boys in Maroon 5 hit the revolving stage while he held the title. So maybe Blake Shelton didn’t…
What Are The Odds On Houston Texans Retaining Each Of Their Free Agents?
With the NFL Combine underway and free agency looming in a couple of weeks, the NFL’s 2018 calendar is indeed in full swing, and here in Houston, that means the Brian Gaine Era has begun. I can’t begin to express how strange it feels to begin an offseason that does…
James Harden Ruins the Clippers with a Single Crossover
James Harden possess some of the most ridiculous one-on-one moves in the NBA. He remains, by a wide margin, the best isolation player in the league and nothing could define that domination more directly than what happened Wednesday night against the LA Clippers. To set the stage, recall that in…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Death Wish
This isn’t trash, because trash is something you can enjoy on a visceral level, even if you find secretly find it embarrassing.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: ‘Tis the Season to Suck Down Mudbugs
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Greater Heights Crawfish Festival Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 411 West 20th The Heights will be hosting its annual family-friendly mudbug fest, beginning with a parade at 10 a.m. Festival gates open at 10:30 a.m., with crawfish plates available for…
Pearl Crush Gears Up For In Bloom
As far as first year festivals go, In Bloom seems to have a pretty robust lineup of locals performing on the four stages of the grounds at Eleanor Tinsley Park although few of the groups have played a traditional upper scale festival prior to their appearance at this festival. Pearl…
Houston’s Weather Weekend: Get Outside While You Can!
On Thursday, we began to see some weather that most of us barely recognized. There was this big bright orb in the sky, the air was almost dry and it felt downright pleasant. Get used to it for at least a couple days because Houston is primed for some killer…
Openings and Closings: Fig and Olive Galleria Debuts Soon, Velvet Taco Houston Adds #2
Fig and Olive, the upscale Mediterranean hotspot, is opening March 2 in the Galleria space once occupied by Saks Fifth Avenue. The restaurant was founded in 2006 and has eight locations from New York to Los Angeles. This is the first Texas outpost. With its coastal Mediterranean cuisine and a…
Explore Buffalo Bayou Via Kayak, Surf Ski or Canoe at the 2018 BBP Regatta
Ahoy there, matey. It’s time to put last year’s trillion-gallon nightmare in the rearview mirror and fall back in love with our own Buffalo Bayou, and there’s no better way than during the 46th Annual Buffalo Bayou Partnership Regatta presented by Gillman Subaru. Whether you want to be a land-lubbing…
I-10 Eastbound at Shepherd Closed All Weekend
Beware, fellow travelers. There is danger afoot in Houston this weekend. If you plan to traverse the inner loop region along Interstate 10, you may be in for a bit of a delay. Turns out, I-10 from Shepherd going east to I-45 just before downtown will be completely closed from…
Monument Quilt Blankets Rothko Chapel for International Women’s Day
Rothko Chapel brings The Monument Quilt and FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture to Houston for International Women’s Day.
You Wanna Ride? A Look Into The Carnival’s Scariest Rides
Valentine’s day has come and gone and the real opportunity to prove yourself to your significant other has arrived… at the carnival. Oh yes, if you’re into feeling vulnerable, the carnival makes for a great first date, that or a rowdy playground for you and your friends. “I’m not here…
A Peek Into The Champion Wine Garden At The Houston Rodeo
The Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition enters its 15th year with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and has expanded the Champion Wine Garden, nestled at the base of the Astrodome, to fit thousands. The Garden provides a shady respite from the sensory overload that is the rodeo, beckoning guests…
J.J. Watt Announces Charity Softball Game Postponed For 2018, Back In 2019
In the movie Jerry Maguire, there’s a funny scene in which an NFL player is on Roy Firestone’s interview show on ESPN, a 1996 television staple, and the player is crying, literally crying, that people “don’t realize the pressure that playing for $37 million comes with.” It’s a hilarious scene,…
Touring Play Takes Us on C.S. Lewis’s Journey from Unbelief to Belief
Not all travels involve planes, trains and automobiles, and award-winning actor Max McLean has found a way to take audiences on a theatrical ride through the intellectual mind of C.S. Lewis, British novelist and Christian apologist, in C.S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert. “It is definitely a journey of the…
Want to Get Rid of METROrail Crashes? Eliminate the Cars
Houston Public Media transportation reporter Gail Delaughter did a story recently on METRO’s efforts to educate drivers when it comes to driving near the METRORail system. You might think the problem is pretty simple. After all, METROrail travels on tracks. They can’t weave in and out of lanes and they…
Dirt Dogs Looks at True Cases of Those Sent to Death Row, Then Exonerated
It’s the stuff of nightmares. Imagine being charged with a capital crime you didn’t commit and, no matter what you say or do, you’re found guilty by a jury of your peers (though that’s a whole other subject) and locked away on death row. How would you survive? Husband and…
Howard and the Nosebleeds Get Weird on Debut
Preston Dow, lead guitarist and singer for the band Howard and the Nosebleeds is just 24 years old. Let that sink in a bit, because it’s important. On their debut record Get Psychic!, the four piece carves their own path in a genre that’s seemed to follow the same path…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Rodeo Bites and Maki Making
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Through Sunday, March 18, Crave Cupcakes, 5600 Kirby, 1151 Uptown Park, 2501 Research Forest, is getting into the rodeo spirit by offering the Barnyard Box — an assortment of red velvet, dark chocolate, and vanilla cupcakes…
Yuli Gurriel to Miss Six Weeks After Hand Surgery
The Astros suffered their first blip of the new season (assuming you aren’t counting the Forrest Whitley suspension) when it was announced that first baseman Yuli Gurriel would miss six weeks after hand surgery. The injury, which the Astros believe was preexisting and made worse by swinging a bat, is…
Deshaun Watson Getting Huge Respect From Vegas Oddsmakers
I’ve spent the last four days in Las Vegas (in case you’ve been missing me), and over that time I’ve learned a few things. First, there are several casinos on the strip that are now paying 6 to 5 odds on getting blackjack, when the traditional norm has been 3…
Rodeo Fans Trying to Get in to Garth Brooks Stalled By Long Lines
The social media universe lit up last night on opening night of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with star entertainer Garth Brooks on the schedule. Photos abounded on Twitter from fans unable to get into the NRG stadium quickly. People lined up well before the 6:45 p.m. rodeo start…
I Am Not The Worst Celebrity Goat Milker in Houston, And That’s a Win For Me
Were I the type of person who kept a vision board, dead center in it would be the phrase “Dream just the right amount.” See, at 35, I’m still optimistic that the good things in life can still happen for me, but honest enough with myself to know that the…
There’s No Better Performer To Kick Off RodeoHouston Than Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks NRG Stadium February 27, 2K18 I’ll never truly get Garth Brooks, studio musician. Ahead of his return to RodeoHouston, I spent the early afternoon driving around listening to No Fences. For those of you who don’t know, No Fences sold 17 million copies back when albums were still…
Achievers Unite at the Houston Lebowski Bash
The fourth Houston Lebowski Bash will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the film with a costume contest, trivia, music, and an outdoor screening in Smither Park.
Fozzy Takes Chris Jericho’s Focus Outside the Ring
Chris Jericho is a realist. He understands that he will always be predominantly known as a professional wrestler, despite not being a full-time wrestler in nearly a decade. Jericho is okay with this notion for a couple of reasons. One, he’s universally regarded as one of the greatest pro wrestlers…
Astrodome Renovation’s Only Misstep is Timing
On February 13, Harris County decided that the Astrodome deserved one last shot at redemption, approving a $105 million plan to turn the decaying stadium into an exhibition hall despite voters voting down another plan in 2013. State Senator Paul Bettencourt, a long-time tax hawk for the GOP, called it…
Remind Us, Why Are We Still Building Things in the Reservoir Flood Pool?
If Hurricane Harvey should have taught us anything, it is that building in flood prone areas is not the smartest thing to do. Sure, you could build on blocks, but it’s still a massive risk that costs not just the owner of the property, but taxpayers who have to bail…
Find Turncoat Spies, Paranoia and More at the 2018 Houston Jewish Film Festival
Soviet intervention, trigger-happy world leaders, computer-hacking and the threat of global annihilation? With today’s headlines the scenario may sound all too familiar, but it’s actually the plot behind 1964’s paranoia-driven sci fi thriller, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Leah Gross, the chair…
Neon Baby: The Best Music of The Week in Houston
Things around town are starting to feel a lot like our friends from Austin will be enjoying SXSW soon. Tours will roll through town from the likes of Cuco, Noel Gallagher, Big Business and many more while locals like Moth Wings, Oceans of Slumber, Camera Cult and more will fill…
Chef Chat: Did You Know Ronnie Killen Is Also A Bull Rider?
When it comes to “bests” in Houston, Ronnie Killen comes to mind. The Pearland-based chef operates on all cylinders with Killen’s Steakhouse, Killen’s Barbecue, Killen’s Burger, and now in Houston, Killen’s STQ. Since opening his steakhouse in 2006, he and his restaurants have received copious awards and landed on several…
A Million Ways to Win in the West: Rockets Pick Up 13th Straight Over Utah
With James Harden, Chris Paul and Clint Capela in the lineup, the Rockets are 30-1. With just Harden and Paul in the lineup they are 32-3. Those are both ridiculous statistics. But consider these from Monday night in Utah. The Rockets had zero fast break points, the first time that…
Hopdoddy Burger Bar Will Move on Into CityCentre Next Fall
Hopdoddy Burger Bar, the Austin based burger and booze operation which already has locations in Vintage Park, Rice Village and River Oaks in Houston, has decided to set up another outpost, this time in West Houston at CityCentre. The westside location will open in early fall 2018. Hopdoddy’s menu includes…
A New Book Tells the Story Behind The Wire
The inside story of one of the greatest TV shows ever made, The Wire, has been chronicled in a recent book. Fans of the landmark series are quickly devouring All the Pieces Matter, an oral history based on interviews with most of the cast and crew. It didn’t seem like…
Riding the (Cocaine) Rails with an Eagle and His Lady
Rock Monster: My Life with Joe Walsh By Kristen Casey 352 pp. $25.95 Rare Bird Books Of all the rock and roll wild men of the ’70s and ’80s, Joe Walsh was one of the wildest. That he exuded a goofy charm through many of is booze-and-drug fueled escapades (why…
The Results Are In For the 2018 Gold Buckle Foodie Winners at the Houston Rodeo
…And we’re back sugar-shock, fried oddity, foods-on-sticks lovers. There’s plenty to look forward to this year in the magical land of rodeo cuisine. The 2018 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is officially open and for most of us what used to feel like yay funnel cakes now feels like yay…
Houston Press Singles Club: Kam Franklin, ABRY, Flygerwoods, etc.
This week in the Singles Club, we’ll get treated to plenty of music that should stir emotions and get your feet moving as well. A sultry remake of a new metal song from Kam Franklin, a country twanger from Charlie and the Regrets, a pop banger from ABRY, a feet…
Now an Empty Nester, Arsenio Hall Returns to the Road
Arsenio Hall is about to have lunch with Eddie Murphy, but first, he wants to talk stand-up comedy. This is fitting, considering Hall began his career as a stand-up comic while Murphy easily ranks among the most popular and influential comedians in the history of the game. “I’d been trying…
Astros Opening Day Ticket Prices Surprise Some Fans
On Monday, the Astros began offering single game tickets to season ticket holders. One of them posted a snapshot of the cost of tickets for opening day and let’s just say it was a tad higher than last year. Others began weighing in on Twitter almost immediately, some with outrage,…
How the Beatles Got ‘Tooned in to the Times
It’s not often that an artist has his work denigrated by the very subject of it and can laugh about it decades later. But that’s exactly what has happened to animator Ron Campbell, the director of “The Beatles” cartoon series. The Saturday morning show ran from 1965-69 and featured clean-cut,…
Discover “Werewolf” Cats, Sphynxes and the Cat-Next-Door at This Houston Show
If you’ve got a family member (like I do) who’s always texting pictures and videos of their cat, then you might want to point them to the Evangeline Country Cat Fanciers Cat Show. This international cat exposition has all of the usual fancy-schmancy cats — long-haired, short-haired and all-breeds —…
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: “Crunchy Chicken” at Local Foods
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! Fried chicken is amazing. Crammed between two pieces of bread, it’s downright transcendent. But, only if you feel like consuming approximately eleventy billion calories. On a weekday at lunch, this is a recipe for…
Five Tech Questions About the City of Houston’s Stolen Laptop
Late Friday, the city of Houston revealed a laptop stolen from the car of a city employee on February 2 may have contained sensitive personal information including heath care data of city employees. It went by as a relative blip on the Friday evening radar. After all, it’s the weekend…
Should We Arm the Kids as Well as the Teachers?
It’s only February, but there have been eight school shootings in America this year. Children get shot in public schools so often that “It’s safer to stay home” could be a legitimate excuse for a kid to miss a day of school. But the aftermath of the slaughter in Parkland…
Dave Mason is Still Feelin’ More Than Alright
While Dave Mason was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 for his co-founding and on/off again membership in Traffic, his solo career has long been underrated. From debut Alone Together though It’s Like You Never Left and Let it Flow, his songwriting is solid, and…
The Best Queso in Houston
I truly can’t say whether this taste test was born out of a scientific curiosity around queso, or just an unquenchable, gluttonous thirst to exist in a room with 20 containers of hot, creamy cheese. I suspect the latter, but if this specific brand gluttony was going to happen, at…
RodeoHouston Shows Off A Bigger, Brighter New Stage For 2018
There are a lot of things about RodeoHouston that are massive: the stadium where the Rodeo is held; the amount of money they hand out; the Ferris wheel; the corn dogs. With no disrespect to a workhorse that served well over the past 30+ years, what was not massive was…
App of the Week: Timehop Brings Back Memories…for Better or Worse
App: Timehop Platform: iOS/Android Website: https://timehop.com/ Cost: Free Long ago, before the advent of digital technology, there was a things called diaries and photo albums. No, they weren’t posted to Facebook. These were literal books with paper in them. Did you just ask what paper is? Ok, good, I thought…
Riverdance Returns to Houston in a 20th Anniversary World Tour
With flying feet, incredibly upright postures and not a whole lot of hand movement, the 35 dancers of Riverdance are on their way back to Houston as part of a 25th anniversary world tour. Returning to the Hobby Center in a limited engagement, Riverdance— The 20th Anniversary World Tour features…
Dashboard Confessional Returns To Houston Refreshed
In 2001 when someone handed me a copy of The Moon is Down by Further Seems Forever, I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little blown away by the sheer energy on the album. It would be later that year when I’d come across The Swiss Army…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Welcome to Rice Village, Shake Shack
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Tuesday, February 27 East Hampton Sandwich Co. Pop Up at Kirby Ice House The soon-to-open East Hampton Sandwich Co. will be popping up at Kirby Ice House, 3333 Eastside, on Tuesday, February 27 from 6 to 9 p.m. The popular Dallas…
Weather Week: Holy Crap, is That The Sun?
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been clear Here comes the sun Here comes the sun, and I say It’s all right George Harrison seems like he acutely understood the pain of Houstonians in recent weeks. In fact, it is said that Harrison wrote the opening lines to…
Red Sparrow Suggests Spycraft Is About Nothing More Than Turning Dudes in
The film gives only the most paltry consideration to geopolitics, to relations between the U.S. and Russia or America’s own corrupt operations
Best Thing About the Not-Bad Annihilation? It Doesn’t Spoil the Book
It’s often inspired in its cutting and composition, and Garland (Ex Machina) has crafted sequences of strange splendor, including a too-short cosmic light show
Here Are the Winners From Last Night’s Bar-B-Que Championship at the Houston Rodeo
At the end of three days of competition Saturday night, the Houston area Buns-N-Roses Cook Team was named the Overall Grand Champion Team at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo World Championship Bar-B-Que. It was the second win for the famous Jamie Greet who has been in the barbecue business…
City of Houston Employees’ Health Plan Data Exposed to the World?
Wow this just in at 5:13 p.m. (have a lot of people gone home already?) A gigantic oops has occurred in which city of Houston employees’ health plan data probably has been accessed through a laptop theft. And it took the city just (let’s count) 21 days AKA three weeks…
Memphis the Musical Will Not Leave You Alone
It’s a plot filled with predictable twists and turns whose main claim to fame is that it is (very) loosely based on the life of Dewey Phillips a real life white DJ in Memphis in the 1950s who championed the cause of so-called race music. In so many ways it…
Local Filmmakers Will Rock Around the Clock at Vegas Festival
For most music subcultures – be they Deadheads, EDM Ravers, or Juggalos – there is an annual festival that also serves as a gathering of the tribes. A chance for at least a weekend to be among like-minded souls and enjoy a shared enthusiasm with each other. And for rockabilly…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Beef Up at the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest at NRG Park Friday and Saturday The fan-favorite event continues through Saturday, kicking off the upcoming Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo season and offering a barbecue contest with more than 250 teams, live music, smoked meats and…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Annihilation
Annihilation is many things, but is it “too complicated?”
Anova Skyway Hits the Highway
Nothing about Anova Skyway suggests caution. The veteran Houston progressive rockers create music that challenges listeners to ponder heavy issues. The band performs their technically-precise music without abandon live. But, lately it has taken a measured approach to taking that music to listeners outside the Houston area. That changes this…
Get A Life Gets Ready For In Bloom
If you’re going to start a band in today’s crowded marketplace, you’re doing best by standing out a bit. For Chase DeMaster of the band Get A Life, that’s what this is all about. DeMaster owns and operates his own label through French Kiss Label Group with #VeryJazzed; he’s a classically…
10 Monumental “What If’s” From Houston Texans History
For a player who made one Pro Bowl and, if we are all honest with each other, had only two really good wire-to-wire seasons, Brian Cushing’s career has undergone quite a bit of digesting over the last few days. I get it; his legacy is not an easy one to…
Openings and Closings: Local Hits the Heights, Pokeworks Meets Montrose
Local Foods, 714 Yale, joined with a number of other restaurants and businesses making the Heights Mercantile a destination for food and shopping. The fifth outpost of duo Benji Levit and Dylan Murray’s popular from scratch sandwich restaurant opened February 16. The restaurant uses local purveyors and farms to source…
Get Ready to Apparate to The Secret Group for the Roast of Harry Potter
The Secret Group and Htx Comedy kick off a new series of fictional character roasts with everyone’s favorite boy wizard, Harry Potter.
In Case You Forgot (Or Haven’t Been Introduced), This Is Ze
What’s in a name? That’s the underlying question to “This is Ze,” the new track by Brian is Ze. The former Houstonian, who now resides and performs in Seattle, might be better known to local music aficionados as the infamous gender-bender word-blender, Biz Vicious. The artist stopped being Vicious some…
Satchmo at the Waldorf Presents a Louis Armstrong You’ve Probably Never Known
Terry Teachout was a kid playing in his big backyard on a Sunday night in 1965 when his mother called him into the house. “My mother said there’s somebody I want you to see on the television because I want you to remember him when he’s gone. And it was…
Another Weekend Ruined by Rain? Unfortunately, It Appears Likely
Early this week, there was some hope that maybe…just maybe…we might see some sunshine for the weekend. We don’t mean to whine too much, and maybe it is just the seasonal affective disorder kicking in, but it feels like we are living in Seattle at the moment. With all due…
TUTS Artistic Director Explains the New Local Focus of Next Season
Relying on musical theater classics, mounting home grown productions instead of hosting touring shows, and incorporating more of the Humphreys School of Musical Theatre students in their professional productions will both restore Theatre Under the Stars to its original community engagement mission and enable it to become a nationally recognized…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Get a Sneak Peek at East Hampton Sandwich Co.
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Chef Hugo Ortega is welcoming Spring at Backstreet Cafe, 1103 South Shepherd, which celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2018, is known for its special offering with a special Crawfish and Artichoke menu. Guests can dine on…
Shame Brings Their Intense Post Punk To Houston
It was only about 30 years ago when bands like P.I.L., Wire, and The Fall were ruling the world with their post-punk sounds. Since then, post-punk as a genre has quieted until the last couple of years when bands like Protomartyr and Ought started making us remember the genre. Of…
Ostriches, Camels and Arabians: SHRP Hosts the Amethyst Jewel in Houston
Talk about wild mood swings. One of the most sensitive and intelligent of horse breeds, the Arabians, are set to race on the same track as ostriches and camels over at Sam Houston Race Park in early March. The ostrich and camel races are sort of a palate cleanser between live…
The Biggest Rule Problems in the Three Major Pro Sports
Major League Baseball is proposing rule changes this year to help speed up the pace of play during games. As my colleague Sean Pendergast reported, Astros pitchers don’t sound too thrilled with the idea. In fact, there are plenty of players around Major League Baseball who find the proposed attempt…
Astros’ Blue Chip Prospect Forrest Whitley Suspended For 50 Games
On Wednesday morning, Houston Astro fans got their first bit of bad news during 2018’s spring training as the organizations’s top pitching prospect, right handed starter Forrest Whitley, received a 50 game suspension for violating minor league baseball’s drug policy. The suspension was first reported by ESPN.com’s Buster Olney on…
St. Vincent Sticks to the Music in Her Return to Houston Last Night
It’s been close to 11 calendar years since St. Vincent dropped her debut album Marry Me, yet throughout that time she’s maintained a subtle complexity to her sound and her live show. Last night at House of Blues, she kept all of that mystery intact as she performed admirably in…
Houston Astro Pitchers Sound Off On New MLB Pace of Play Rules
If you’re one of the folks who’s been complaining about baseball games taking too long, and not having nearly four hours of free time to spend at a ball park on a school night, then I have some good news for you. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred hears your…
Some of Garth Brooks’ Best Weren’t Even His Biggest
Garth Brooks is opening (February 27) and closing (March 18) this year’s Rodeo Houston concert lineup, and you are no doubt aware of this because, well, Garth Brooks is unequivocally the most successful and noteworthy artist in country music history. Because of that, tickets for both of Garth’s Rodeo Houston…
6 Things I Realized While I Got In Better Shape And Lost a Ton of Weight
A year ago, I was in terrible shape. I sat in my doctor’s office after my yearly physical, with a look of dazed bewilderment on my face. I’d weighed in at staggering 272 pounds, a number that seemed impossible to me. I’d been a thin guy most of my life,…
Five Small Blessings We Wish for in Everyday Houston Traffic
We live in Houston, which means we live with traffic. It’s not a matter of avoiding it. There is no such thing. It’s mostly about accepting our fate and doing deep breathing exercises (winding up at a bar doesn’t hurt either). But, every once in a while, there is a…
A Night of Oscar’s Best Songs, Just in Time for the 2018 Academy Awards
Our love affair with movies is unwavering. From the early days of Hollywood to present day indies, shorts, documentaries and over-the-top blockbusters, we can’t get enough of these cinematic stories that make us want to laugh, cry or even start a revolution. It truly does take a village to make…
Cold Feet: The Best of The Week
This week shows how diverse this year is shaping up to be, and not just the weather patterns. Performances from Above & Beyond, NF, Xavier Wulf, Hayes Carll and more will grace our city while locals like King Finn, DaggerHead, Mockingbird Brother and more will be around to fill in…
Chef Chat: Roshni Gurnani Has Just Been Invited To Cook At The James Beard House
“Food is a journey, not a destination,” Chef Roshni Gurnani stated matter-of-factly while explaining her travel-some life. At the young age of 32, the Toronto native has checked off some pretty big boxes in her 17 years working as a chef. Besides cooking in all sorts of different kitchens around…
Can the Astros Repeat? 4 Reasons Why and 4 Reasons Why Not
As the full squad reports to spring training this week, there appears to be a sometimes not-so quiet confidence with this Astros squad. Justin Verlander believes the road to the title runs through Houston and has tweeted as such. The team has adopted the slogan “Never Settle” for the season,…
Game Night Is the Comedy Knockout We’ve Been Waiting For
The chemistry between Bateman and McAdams explodes in every scene and only grows stronger when, over the course of one very long and dangerous night, their characters get caught up in conspiracy
Ten Names I Ridiculously Omitted From The Houston Sports Hall of Fame
Posts like the one I did last Friday on the “32 No Brainers For The Houston Sports Hall of Fame” are where you really get the true feeling for the difference between a quick hit post and, say, writing a long form feature or penning a book. The latter two…
App of the Week: Houston Parking Made Easy with Parkmobile
App: Parkmobile Platform: iPhone, Android Website: http://us.parkmobile.com/ Cost: Free (not the parking though, obviously) A few years ago I was in Miami and I found myself face to face with a parking meter and no change in my pocket. On the side of the meter, I noticed there was an…
Ella Vos Finds Therapy Through Music
Therapy comes in any number of ways. Some opt for the more direct route via a counselor, psychologist or various other licensed professionals. Some internalize and don’t do much at all. Others turn to drugs or alcohol. Others, meanwhile, find healing in constructive avenues like exercise or volunteering. Ella Vos,…
Tactical Shit Removes “Gun Owner” Star of David Patch From Store. It’s Still Horrible.
A few weeks back an image started making the rounds on social media. Tactical Shit, a company out of St. Peters, Missouri, was selling the above patch, a yellow Star of David with the German word for Jew replaced with the words, “gun owner.” The patch was clearly meant to…
Houston Astros Place Eight Players In MLB Top 100 Now
Ah, the joy of rooting for a World Champion! Yes, you get the roller coaster emotion of every inning during the month of October, and you get the sheer joy of the final out in early November. You get the parade two days later, and you get the bragging rights…
Moth Wings Give You All The Feels on Open Swim
It was about two years ago when I saw Houston duo Moth Wings play to no less than about 100 people at each of two shows in one week. For a while now, the younger crop of new musicians in Houston have been doing things their own way, booking their…
Positive Keyboard Activism Through Wikipedia at The Menil
The Menil Collection will host a Wikipedia edit-a-thon to address the lack of non-male voices on the popular online reference site.
Houston’s Best Sandwiches: Honey Ham and Brie at Carter & Cooley Company
We are in search of Houston’s best sandwiches because we love sandwiches and we love Houston! There aren’t many legit delicatessens in Houston. In New York City, you might trip on them the way you stumble on a taqueria here every 20 feet or so. But, delis are harder to…
Sally Edmundson Supplies the Tartness and the Heart in Ann at Stages
Well, shoot, little darlin’, if this one-woman bio play about Texas governor Ann Richards isn’t the cutest pick of the litter. Soft and cuddly with those twinkly eyes and fluffy big white fur, this little puppy with boundless energy nips at you with a twangy bark that brings a nostalgic…
Killen’s Emerges Victorious at the 2018 Rodeo Uncorked! and Best Bites Competition
Surprise, surprise. Killen’s and Killen’s STQ slayed the competition taking home three first place awards. They won the People’s Choice and Lone Star Entree for their Beef Ribs and the Two-Steppin’ Dessert award for their Maple Bacon Bread Pudding. I’m a little crushed that I wasn’t able to taste either…
Houston Texans Will Release LB Brian Cushing Before March 14
On paper, it was one of the more obvious moves to be made this offseason, but considering how the Houston Texans had handled Brian Cushing the last few years — no salary reductions, open arm “welcome backs” after a ten game PED suspension — nothing is a given. However, on…
Lights Reminds Houston That We Can Be Giants
Lights is one of those artists who has been hitting a hardcore tour schedule and selling gold records for a decade, but I only recently became aware of her through her latest album, Skin and Earth. For that I have my wife to thank. I haven’t seen her form such…
Breaking Down the Final 25 Games of the Rockets Season
Despite a rash of injuries, ups and downs in the schedule and the addition of players like Gerald Green and Joe Johnson to the lineup, the Rockets entered All-Star weekend with the best record in the NBA at 44-13, percentage points (and a tiebreaker) in front of the Golden State…
Falling In and Out of Love Can Be Funny With the Houston Premiere of Love/Sick
Quick, what’s your relationship status? Actor/playwright John Cariani (Law & Order’s Julian Beck) dials through every possible combination in the nine vignettes that make up Love/Sick, including first love, marriage, pregnant (or not), infidelity and divorce. It’s labeled a dark comedy but Kelsey McMillan (Becky Shaw), who is directing the…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Sip Margs for National Margarita Day
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, February 19 President’s Day Brunch at The General Public The General Public, 797 Sorella, will extend its weekend brunch to Monday (10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.) in honor of President’s Day. Guests can enjoy Treat options like Cinnamon French Toast,…
ImposterBoys Don’t Let Up on Debut Album
Over 20 years ago, I shared a cab with these nice women from an L.A. punk band called Red Aunts during SXSW. I remember their set the day before, and it was one of the most intense shows I’d seen up until that date. It doesn’t happen often, but every…
Cloudy, Wet Week Ahead in Houston Weather
First, the good news. There is a decent chance that we will have our first (mostly) dry weekend in quite a while at the end of the week. That is still a bit up in the air, but chances are looking better that we could have only modest chances of…
Un Ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball) is a Tad Bumpy But Looks Good and Moves Well
If you want a foolproof diet, turn to Giuseppe Verdi. Mr. Opera knows what works best: no fat. No other composer so mastered the art of shedding superfluous pounds. He lived for sleek, and his masterpieces are models of speed and concision. There’s nothing added, padded. No filler. It’s all…
Queensbury’s Unlock’d A Bright and Bubbly New Musical
Queensbury Theatre stages Unlock’d, a new musical about the quest to cut one woman’s hair.
Touch(ed) Takes An Incredulous Look At Mental Health Issues
To enjoy a play, we the audience willingly engage in several suspensions of disbelief. Those people up there on stage? They really are the characters they portray. The lighting that dims, darkens or shines brightly? Well that’s just the atmosphere. Same for the music that fades in and out or…
Fanning the Flames About Leon Bridges and Rodeo Houston at Saving County Music
Leave it to Kyle Coroneos to get accused of being a racist for coming to the defense of an African-American musician. Coroneos, who hails from the Dallas area and lives in Austin, operates a website called Saving Country Music, where he regularly flambés big-name bros like Luke Bryan and Florida…
National Margarita Day is February 22: Are You Ready to Rita?
In Texas, we’re not quite sure why there needs to be a National Margarita Day. Most every day can qualify as a perfect day for drinking our favorite mixture of lime, tequila and orange liqueur. Though its origins may be debated and its recipe tweaked and twisted, we know in Houston…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Celebrate the Lunar New Year
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Saint Arnold White Oak Pub Crawl Saturday, 2 to 6 p.m. White Oak The Saint Arnold Pub Crawl is returning to The Heights, hitting the bars along White Oak. Start at any of the first six stops between 2 and 3…
Kemo For Emo Ends A Picture Perfect Romance
“To make something of this scale starting with only a single camera and a script was overwhelming. So starting two years ago and finally publishing the final video was invigorating.” That’s Larry Fenix discussing the work he, his band Kemo For Emo and a group of dedicated actors and local…
Astragal Hopes To Keep It Short and Sweet at In Bloom
Festivals are now just a part of the music landscape, whether you accept that or not. Now that FPSF, formerly Free Press Summer Fest, has been re-branded, renamed, and rescheduled to In Bloom, it’s time to start looking at those who make up the local side of the festival. In…
Who Are The No-Brainer Future Houston Sports Hall of Famers?
As celebrations for a city go, the Houston Sports Awards last week was top notch, and it was capped off with an announcement that will further weave the city’s rich sports history into its fabric as the Houston Sports Authority announced the formation and construction of the Houston Sports Hall…
Openings and Closings: Bonjour Cafe Poetes, Arrivederci Arcodoro
Cafe Poetes, 122 West Gray, began its soft opening February 9, just in time for le jour d’amour, Valentine’s Day. The French cafe serves a unique variety of eclairs, such as vanilla lavender as well as the more traditional chocolate covered pastry. The menu also offers savory versions like salmon artichoke, for an…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Black Panther
In which a middle-aged white guy tries to explain why this movie is important.
Celebrate Chinese New Year at Yauatcha Houston
The lunar new year, popularly referred to as Chinese New Year, takes place this Friday, February 16. While there are a myriad of ways that you can celebrate — spending time with family, handing out red envelopes filled with money to young ones, or watching a lion dance — Chinese…
Book Takes You on the Smooth Sailin’ Seas of Yacht Rock
The Yacht Rock Book: The Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the 70s and 80s By Greg Prato 296 pp. $22.95 Jawbone Press Of all the “retro” music movements that have seen songs and musicians gain newfound popularity decades after their initial day in the sun, Yacht Rock…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Get These Rodeo Season Specials
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Third Coast Restaurant, 6550 Bertner (sixth floor), will be hosting a Pinot Noir Tasting on Wednesday, February 21, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Guests will explore how the wine came to be and how American varietals…
Four Thoughts On Johnny Manziel’s Signing With Spring League In Austin
After rumors of negotiations with the Canadian Football League and after a public relations tour on television and podcasts over the last few days, it appears as though the comeback season — wait, sorry… the ComebackSZN! — of Johnny Manziel is happening. As reported in a statement provided by Manziel…
Staying Out of Cycle: An Interview with Jeff Rosenstock
It was early 2015 when John Baldwin of Walter’s asked me, “have you heard this new Jeff Rosenstock record?” That record, We Cool?, would end up crashing the SideOneDummy website when it dropped, and thus made me a longtime fan of the indie rocker. I had already been a fan…
Puttin’ On the Glitz: Dancing with the Stars Live! Shines Its Light on Sugar Land
Sure, there’s a bit of schadenfreude watching the first few episodes of each season’s Dancing with the Stars. It’s fun to watch celebs — many of whom have excelled at singing, sports, comedy and other arenas (hello, Rick Perry) — discover they’ve actually got two left feet when it comes…
Here’s How to Get Your Tickets to Hamilton in Houston
It has just been announced that tickets for Hamilton will be on sale as of Friday, February 23 at 10 a.m. in Houston. The tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster Verified Fan® in a system “that allows pre-registered fans to unlock access to tickets without competing against scalpers and bots,” according…
Houston, Not Surprisingly, Has Feelings About Astrodome Restoration
This is a fact: on February 13, 2018, Harris County commissioners approved a plan, scheduled to cost over $100 million, to renovate the Astrodome. In any other story about any other building in any other city, this would be seen as a historic moment where a community found the money…
Man Wearing ‘F*ck Trump’ Shirt Gets Kicked Out of Texas Restaurant
Andy Ternay, a bearded blacksmith from Garland, went to brunch on Sunday wearing a shirt displaying the words, “Fuck Trump.” Employees at First Watch in Richardson, TX asked him to leave and someone even called the police. That same day, Ternay made a post on his Facebook account that went viral. Ternay begins his…
Five Intriguing Astros Storylines As Spring Training Begins
As off-seasons in sports go, Major League Baseball’s is one of the shorter ones, and when your team is playing baseball all the way into early November, then the offseason is REALLY short. That’s what we were treated to last fall, a magical journey into early November that ended with…
Black Panther Proves Soundtracks Still Matter
Black Panther arrives in theaters this weekend, and you are no doubt keenly aware of this fact. This is for a few reasons. One, Marvel’s marketing push has been both brilliant and strong. Two, the film boasts a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes (no easy feat for a comic-themed affair)…
2018 AIDS Walk Rocks With Free HIV Testing, Concert With Local Superstars
AIDS Foundation Houston is ready to rock the 2018 AIDS Walk. The organization’s signature event, scheduled on Sunday, March 4 at noon at Sam Houston Park, will feature a concert afterward with legendary Houston artists Bun B, Paul Wall, Las Skarnales and DJ Gracie Chavez.
App of the Week: Two Weather Apps For Everyday Users
App: Accuweather Website: https://downloads.accuweather.com/ Platform: iPhone/Android Cost: Free App: Wunderground Website: https://www.wunderground.com/download Platform: iPhone/Android Cost: Free There is no perfect weather app, free or otherwise. For all the apps we’ve tried over the years (and we’ve tried a LOT), nothing quite covers everything one would need. There are great specialty…
The Five Podcasts Everyone Should Listen to at Least Once
Whether it’s looking for something different as the new year began or visual entertainment burnout, I’ve noticed an uptick in “I’m new to podcasts, what should I listen to first?” posts going around on social media. The responses to these posts, while well-intentioned, are pretty hit and miss. Podcasts are…
A Short Tour Through ALDI: Is It For You?
Many people love ALDI, a few people dislike ALDI, and many just don’t understand ALDI. By the end of this article, many folks should have a better idea of whether or not ALDI is a spot worth checking out. ALDI is a close relative to Trader Joe’s, literally. Owned by…
Contemporary, Classical and Cacti at Rock and Roll & Tutus From Houston Ballet
Chun Wai Chan was promoted from First Soloist to Principal dancer by Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch on December 23 right after his performance as the Nutcracker Prince. Chan called it “the warmest gift for this Christmas.” Now he’s getting ready to perform in three of the four programs…
Brass Beam: The Best Music of The Week
Now that we’re moving steadily into 2018, there’s plenty of acts visiting Houston ahead of the big push so many will make next month surrounding SXSW. This week we’ll get visited by the likes of Waxahatchee, Pedro The Lion, St. Vincent and G-Eazy while locals like Only Beast, Crawler, The…
You Might Think These Songs are Romantic; You are Wrong
Valentine’s Day is upon us. You may now use this reminder as an opportunity to see which flower companies offer same-day delivery. With regard to Valentine’s Day, celebrations certainly vary. Some couples, particularly those in the honeymoon stage of the relationship, will use the night as an opportunity to indulge…
Looking for More Than Boobs and Beads at Mardi Gras! Galveston
The kid from Oklahoma provided a succinct and stark reminder why some people don’t like Mardi Gras. He stood next to me on the balcony of a building at 23rd and Strand overlooking a handful of Mardi Gras! Galveston revelers. Oklahoma Kid said this was his first-ever excursion to the…
Johnny Manziel Reveals He’s Bipolar, Admits Mistakes on Good Morning America
Since Johnny Manziel won the Heisman in 2012, I think it’s safe to say that no outlet in the Houston area has cobbled together more Johnny Football-related content than us here at the Houston Press, and more specifically, me, Sean Pendergast. Whether it was oversleeping for practice, another trip to…
Houston Marks First Stop for Traveling Tour of Royal Treasures of India
Between Meghan Markle’s engagement to the most eligible bachelor in England and Netflix’s binge-worthy The Crown (Did Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, really step out on Queen Elizabeth II?), there’s a renewed American interest in the British royal family. So perhaps it’s time to cast that net a bit wider…
The Houston Press Singles Club: Giant Kitty, Dpat, Lace, etc.
The Singles Club is back this week and it’s a doozy. Everything from a rock rager from Giant Kitty, an easy going tune from Nick Gaitan & The Umbrella Man, a distorted rocker from Narrow Head, a sexy and chill banger from Dpat, to an intense song from Lace, it’s…
Still Homeless Six Months After Harvey: A Look Back at Those Damned Dams
There’s no need to visit Glassdoor.com to realize that some of the worst places to work this past year were at the Harris County Flood Control District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. While Hurricane Harvey was whomping Houston and southeast Texas with trillions of gallons of water, the engineers, meteorologists, scientists, surveyors and other…
Chef Chat: Robert Del Grande of Café Annie on Gin, Love and Rock & Roll
Chef Robert Del Grande was gifted with the curious mind of a scientist. With a James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest and two nominations under his belt, you can see why he’s been successful by the calm way he deduces the details laid before him, particularly the scent of…
Peter Rabbit Sparks With Reinvention — But Not to Original Tale’s Detriment
… While the film does insist on its own irreverence a bit too much at the outset — it opens with a group of birds inspirationally singing, “You’re only as small as your dreams,” before they get abruptly knocked out of the sky — it offers plenty of lively fun once it settles down …
Alternatives to Driving…Even in Houston
Houston is a car city. There is really no changing that mainly because it is huge and the easiest way to get around is on a freeway in a car. That doesn’t mean all of us can’t find ways to avoid getting behind the wheel for the benefit of traffic…
An Enemy of the People at Classical Theatre is Ibsen at His Boldest
It’s no surprise that a quill pen slashes through Classical Theatre’s logo. Is there another Houston company that produces, reveres, celebrates theater’s greatest writers? Shakespeare, Chekhov, Gogol, Strindberg, Aristophanes, Ibsen. There is much to be learned from these antique teachers. Our very being derives from their insights. Modern western civilization…
Meat-Free Fridays: Where to Eat in Houston For Lent 2018
After the decadence of “Fat Tuesday,” the 40 days of Lent begin. Though Lenten season is a time of prayer, atonement, and sacrifice (traditionally in the form of meat-free Fridays), that doesn’t mean you need to give up on flavor. From Friday night-only bouillabaisse to sloppy cheese enchiladas, these local…
Five More NFL Free Agents DeAndre Hopkins Needs To Recruit On Social Media
It was a rough week last week for soon-to-be-former New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler. Three years ago at this time, he was being celebrated as the next in a long line of New England sports heroes after his goal line interception sealed Tom Brady’s fourth Super Bowl win. Last…
Everyone can Get on Board With Men On Boats at Main Street Theater
Ahoy, ye hearty and hirsute brave men of daring. Let’s go adventuring! Here’s the best by far – Jaclyn Backhaus’ Men on Boats, careening through Main Street Theater in the theatrical event of the season. You will find thrills on a mammoth scale, meet Indians, kill snakes, and, of course,…
The Cops Drop Their Arresting Punk On First Offense
If you’re making punk music today, you could easily blend in with the youths that are dropping pretty consistently at any given time. If you’re a band that wears outfits, the same could be said. When I first heard Houston’s The Cops, I was pretty shocked that a band that…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Treat Your Valentine (and Yourself)
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Tuesday, February 13 All-You-Can-Eat Fat Tuesday Pancakes at Ousie’s Table Ouisie’s Table Restaurant, 3939 San Felipe, is going to go pancake crazy on Fat Tuesday, offering all-you-can-eat pancakes all day long. From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., guests can get all…
Ladies’ Man and Author of the Macabre Edgar Allan Poe Inspires New Dance
Jerry Lee Lewis, rock and roll’s first great wild man, garnered plenty of downvotes when he married his 13-year-old cousin, once removed. Shocking as it may have been, American writer Edgar Allan Poe still gets top honors in the creepy old man department, having married his 13-year-old first cousin when…
Another Week, Another Round of Gloomy Houston Weather
If you were hoping for a sunny and maybe even warmer forecast for the week ahead, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. It has felt more like Seattle around here lately than Houston and, sadly, you may need an extra jolt of caffeine to reign in the seasonal affective disorder…
Lana Del Rey Sticks To Her Guns With a Chill and Charming Arena Performance
Lana Del Rey, Kali Uchis Toyota Center February 10, 2K18 I won’t pretend that I know who Lana Del Rey is. There’s a persona that comes through on her records, one that’s sad and nostalgic in equal measure. With the slick production of her songs, the whole package works really…
Leap And The Net Will Appear Roars At Convention With Catastrophic Theatre
By the time our main character Margie is snarling on all fours around the bedroom of her sleeping ex-husband as if she was a lion ready to attack, while her abandoned son is speaking to some kind of sooth saying bonobo in a transported alternate rainforest reality, and her lover/pretend…
Phoebe Bridgers Plays Her Heart Out To a Chatty Houston Crowd
Whenever you go to see an artist perform, you should be on your best behavior. Whenever bands skip Houston while on tour, and people here ask why, I can point to this show last night as one of the biggest examples. The show, upstairs at White Oak Music Hall, was…
Fifty Shades Freed: A Woman Relinquishing Power Is Supposed to be Sexy?
The only fantasies Fifty Shades Freed convincingly fulfills are those of boutique publishers who would like to believe that a debut novel can acquire 250,000 preorders and that a local glossy can employ upwards of 50 full-time staffers, both of which occur in this film
Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther Isn’t Just Good — It Marks a New Reign
Here’s the Marvel movie even non-Marvel fans are prepared to root for, the rare black superhero film, one boasting not only an almost-all black cast but helmed by a black director as well
New Houston Sports Hall of Fame Unveiled At Inaugural Houston Sports Awards
The stars were out in downtown Houston Thursday night, and a spectacular evening built around the first public appearance of Houston three 34’s — Hakeem Olajuwon, Earl Campbell, and Nolan Ryan — in the same place publicly for the first time ever finished with a bang with the announcement that…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: The Karbach Cookoff Heats Up
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Beers, Bugs & Blues Mardi Gras at Willie’s Grill & Icehouse Friday through Sunday (plus Fat Tuesday) 17492 Northwest Willie’s Grill & Icehouse is celebrating Mardi Gras with a lively, Cajun-style party. Running all weekend long, and of course, on Fat…
Amid Flurry of NBA Trades, Rockets Stand Pat…and for Good Reason
In the fourth game of a four-game road trip in Miami Thursday night, no one would have faulted the Rockets for losing. The Heat are a tough matchup for Houston and the Rockets got into Miami early Wednesday morning after playing in Brooklyn the night before. They were clearly tired…
Memphis Explores Race, Love and Secrets
Set in the 1950s South, the Tony Award-winning musical Memphis tells the story of a white DJ who falls in love with a black singer. And no, this does not prompt everyone to break into the Hallelujah chorus. Wrong place, wrong time and not destined for success. But bolstered by…
Find Big Dresses and Bigger Style at the Houston Quinceañera Expo
Planning and pulling off the perfect quinceañera is a huge gamble, full of peril and pitfalls. Get the right dress, cake, band, venue and photographer and you’ll be the envy of all, but one wrong move and you could end up a meme gone viral and social media’s latest whipping…
Openings & Closings: Frank’s Backyard Opens, Snooze Wakes Up the Heights
Frank’s Backyard,413 Travis, had its soft opening January 30, celebrating its debut, appropriately enough, with a pizza party, according to the Houston Chronicle. Deborah and Eddie Love own Frank’s Pizza downtown and decided to expand their enterprise by adding a comfortable neighborhood beer garden in the space abutting their pizza…
Velveteen Echo Reveals Their Plans For In Bloom Festival
New festivals seem to be popping up as soon as there’s a space and a city to house them. For In Bloom, the former festival known as FPSF and before that, Free Press Summer Fest, things look promising for year one. With headlining sets from Beck and Martin Garrix, the…
Soggy Weekend Means You Might Want to Stay Inside
At the risk of completely abusing an already overused phrase, winter is coming…to an end. We are closing in on springtime here in Houston and the end result is often turbulent and schizophrenic weather patterns. Cold fronts are making their last gasp passes through the area, battling with warmer air beginning…
America, Leave the Light On for Motion Hotel
Motion Hotel plays a hometown set tonight at White Oak Music Hall. It’ll give Houston listeners their first taste of all-new music from the group, and it will set in motion a schedule that will have them bunking in hotels in a half-dozen states as they take their brand of…
Dear Tarantino: If She’s 13, It’s Your JOB Not to Have Sex With Her
There was a bit in Jezebel recently where famed auteur Quentin Tarantino defended also-famed auteur Roman Polanski. Polanski, the director of many important films, fled to Europe following allegations he had sexual relations with 13-year-old Samantha Gailey. Since then he has continued to have a storied and celebrated career involving…
An Ode to the Cali Sandwich Lady
I honestly don’t even know her name, but anyone who frequents the midtown Vietnamese joint, now inside the old Crave Sushi spot on Travis Street, knows who I mean. She is always behind the counter, taking orders and barking them back to her staff. She is the beating heart of…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Celebrate Fat Tuesday with Pancakes
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 4444 Westheimer, 5510 Morningside, 142 Vintage Park, and Girl Scouts of America have teamed up to offer the ultimate nostalgic treat once again. The Thin Mint Shake ($6) will be available now through…
Without A Face Drops New Banger
The way hip hop in Houston has always worked, is that there has always been a steady stream of new rappers in the wings ready to fight for the throne. Since Soundcloud has become its own sub-genre of the hip hop world, the waters have become muddied with rapper who…
Data Shows That Houston is Either Very Romantic or Not Romantic At All
Some think Houston is very romantic. Others think we’re about as unromantic as you can get.
An Insider’s Guide to 2018’s RodeoHouston
Whether you’ve got a section of the closet devoted to pearl button shirts, oversized belt buckles and cowboy boots made with all sorts of exotic leathers, or you’re a newbie to H-town and this truly is your first rodeo, there’s plenty to get excited about with the annual Houston Livestock…
Here’s All the TV to Cling to This February
I’m Time’s Up-invigorated and ready to BURN IT ALL DOWN, so please take all my recommendations with a grain of salt, because if it stars a white man, I’d like to see it in the garbage can
The Timberlake Takedown is In Full Effect
The pop culture consuming public is an interesting case. As much as said public enjoys building up its icons, it enjoys tearing them down equally – if not more – so. Case in point, Tiger Woods. Once arguably the most popular athlete on the planet, Tiger’s fall from grace was…
In Touch(ed) Rogue Productions Starts Season 2 With a Play About Family and Mental Health
Founded by co-artistic directors Rachael Logue and Chelsea Ryan McCurdy, Rogue Productions emerged with a bang on the Houston theater scene in 2016. Their inaugural production of Matt & Ben received Houston Theater Awards’ Best Actress nominations from the Houston Press for both Logue and McCurdy and their co-produced staged…
Houston Sports Fans May Be Apathetic, But At Least They Aren’t Crazy
When Bruce Springsteen wrote “I was bruised and battered, I couldn’t tell what I felt,” in the song Streets of Philadelphia, I’m not sure he had smashing store windows and ripping down light poles in mind. But had The Boss been in the insane post-Super Bowl crowd that swallowed up…
Motion Sickness: The Best Music of The Week in Houston
The new year has certainly been full of surprises, and this week should be no different. While shows are moved in the wake of the closing of Walter’s, there’s still plenty of entertaining options that’ll be here around town. Performances from Phoebe Bridgers, BORGORE, Fetty Wap, Wild Child, and Sleigh…
Mydolls, MIEARS and “Women Rock” on Behalf of Mildred’s Umbrella
“Women Rock,” an inaugural fundraising concert on behalf of Mildred’s Umbrella, takes over Rudyard’s for an evening of rock and punk music.
Chef Chat: Felipe Riccio Gets Called Out By Massimo Bottura… In The Best Way Possible
Chef Felipe Riccio is the master of his own education. The inflection of his speech, when he describes his experiences, his philosophy, is eagerness in the purest form. He’s not afraid to try. He’s not afraid to ask the question, whatever it may be… because to him, what is the…
Four Thoughts on Robert Brazile Being Named to Pro Football Hall of Fame
One of the very best parts of the week leading up to the Super Bowl is the unveiling of the Pro Football Hall of Fame class for that calendar year. Say what you will about all of the dark clouds swirling around the NFL at the moment — anthem protests,…
A Woman Who’s Really a Lion at Heart in Leap and The Net Will Appear
Margie is a bit lost. She’s good looking; people talk about her looks at lot. At the start of the play she’s living with her parents. “She’s attractive; that’s like her big ticket to get to another place. She doesn’t really put any energy toward finding something in the world…
Kid Rock Wouldn’t Let Us Review His Show, So Here’s What We Assume Happened
Kid Rock performed at the Toyota Center last Saturday, but you won’t get to read about it here. Last week, Rock’s publicist informed the Press (and presumably other outlets) no media would be allowed to review the show. It’s uncertain how much of this is in response to the unfavorable feedback…
The Hates’ Christian Kidd Honored in ROCO Commission Legendary Love
ROCO will world premiere composer Dan Visconti’s Legendary Love as part of their annual conductorless concert.
Sleigh Bells is a Serendipitous Pop-Rock Story
Every relationship, no matter how mundane, has an origin story. Some professional types begin with the simple apply-interview-accept progression. Others of a more personal nature may range from a chance meeting at the park to a prearranged date via any number of online dating sites. Some of these relationships succeed,…
What The Closing Of Walter’s Says About Houston
The music world is changing so fast, that it’s almost difficult to keep up with. The way things were 20, ten, and even five years ago in music have since changed in ways that most people can’t begin to imagine. Sixteen years ago, Walter’s opened on Washington Avenue, and changed…
Car-Crushing Monster Jam Brings Destruction (and Mohawks) to Houston
So what exactly did happen with the estimated 500,000 cars that were flooded in Houston during Hurricane Harvey? We expect some made it over the state line to try to sell to unwitting buyers, some were crushed, and yet others were sent to the salvage yard. And who knows, we…
App of the Week: Marco Polo is Snapchat for Old People
App: Marco Polo Platform: iPhone/Android Website: MarcoPolo.me Cost: Free The title of this story is not an insult. As interesting as Snapchat can be with its funny filters and disappearing Snaps (supposedly protecting your nudes from the world at large – you know you do that, so don’t deny it), that…
King Cakes Hit Houston for Mardi Gras 2018
It’s time for the Mardi Gras and there’s no better way to celebrate the excess of pre-Lenten festivities than a traditional King Cake. Okay, maybe a couple of Pat O’ Brien- style hurricanes and some spice-loaded, boiled crawfish would be preferable, but for many Louisiana transplants and East Texans who identify…
Super Bowl LII: Eagles 41, Patriots 33 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
See, America? THAT was why I couldn’t go out on that limb with you two weeks ago, and root for the Jacksonville Jaguars against the New England Patriots merely because “Hey, we are all SO TIRED of the Pats in the Super Bowl!” I said it after New England beat…
All the Men on Boats at Main Street Theater Are Women
It’s the true-ish story of a ten-man expedition played on stage by ten women. It’s an epic journey along the rivers that run through the Grand Canyon, perhaps the last great mapping expedition in the United States. And led by a one-armed Army major who lost his right arm in…
Drop Trou for Cupid’s Undie Run, Houston’s Hottest Mile(ish) Fun Run
We’re not exactly sure what the weather’s going to look like this weekend, but there’s a 100 percent chance of distracted driving when Houstonians drop trou for Cupid’s Undie Run. And if the thought of stripping down to your tighty whities or bra and panties makes you a little bit…
Rockets Rolling As They Head Toward the All-Star Break
In the Rockets’ dismantling of the Cavs in Cleveland Saturday night, Chris Paul was plus-47 in 27 minutes of play. Ryan Anderson was plus-37. This was in Cleveland against LeBron James with James Harden somewhat limited by foul trouble early and still missing both Eric Gordon (sore back) and Trevor…
Ripe Cuisine Opens Storefront in the Heights
Since the closure of Radical Eats, I’ve been on the hunt for another go-to vegan restaurant in Houston. The purely vegan restaurant scene around town is woefully scant, but Stephanie Hoban is on her way to remedying this with a long-awaited storefront for her popular vegan food truck, Ripe Cuisine…
Wild Child Raises Expectations Ahead of Album’s Release
Music evolves, or at least it should. Great bands are always adding to what they do while expanding their sound without deterring from their initial intent. That’s what Austin’s Wild Child has always seemed to do at least. With each release they’ve added more members, expanded on their intense live…
Six More Weeks of Winter, But Probably Not for Houston
Punxsutawney Phil, the seer of seers, prognosticator of prognosticators, emerged from whatever hole he lives in last Friday and predicted six more weeks of winter. In the south, there is often a silent cheer that erupts because six more weeks of winter here means we put off the brutal heat…
7 Things About Nazi and Edgelord Humor
Yeah, you saw that right. Nazi humor on a Doctor Who page. A show that literally had an episode called “Let’s Kill Hitler” apparently still spawns fans and admins that think “blerp bloop gas chamber LOL.” What the hell these people get out of the show is a mystery to…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Get Your Whiskey and Chocolate On
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long Valentine’s Sweets at Ooh La La Dessert Boutiques Ooh La La Dessert Boutique, 23920 Westheimer, 20155 Park Row, 770 West Sam Houston Parkway North, will be offering special Valentine’s Day treats this month, including the Valentine’s Hostess Cupcake,…
J.J. Watt Wins Prestigious NFL Man of the Year Award
If you’re looking for the perfect way to encapsulate Houston Texans defensive end and franchise icon J.J. Watt, it happened on Saturday night. Following a season in 2017 in which he missed the final eleven games, a season which followed a season in which he missed the final thirteen games…
Netflix’s The Ritual Offers a Great Creepy Forest, but Its Story Won’t Let You Get Lost
The Ritual finds a quartet of British lads/drips hiking through the deserted woods of northern Sweden, a labyrinth of ancient trees with trunks that stretch up forever
The Great Society Covers the Wounds, Scars and LBJ ’60s
“My fellow Americans, I am Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States. Baby Boomers ridicule me, having lived through the turbulent ’60s during my presidency (1963 – 1968). To Gen-Xers and Millennials I am ancient history. They’re much too young to remember, if they even care about…
Saturday Is National Missing Persons Day
The event hopes to encourage families and friends of missing persons to speak out by providing them a safe, judgement-free platform to tell their story.
Super Bowl LII — Four Things To Watch For and the Final Best Bet
The hype is nearly over, and the game is almost here, and soon I can stop being shamed for saying that I am GLAD Tom Brady and the Patriots are back for an eighth Super Bowl of the Brady/Belichick Era. To be clear, I am not a Patriots fan, but…
Experimental Folk Rap Artist Ceschi Brings Broken Bone Ballads to Houston
Few people are as qualified to wax philosophical on the concept of freedom as Julio Francisco Ramos, the musician and independent record label operator known as Ceschi. His adult life has pendulumed between having many personal freedoms stripped away by the state (unfairly so, he adds) to having an abundance…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Make it a Super Beef Sunday
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Kick-off to Mardi Gras Galveston Friday through Sunday The Strand The 107th Mardi Gras! Galveston is taking over the island from Friday, February 2 though Tuesday, February 13 (Fat Tuesday). In addition to parades, balcony parties, concerts and plenty of beads,…
Openings & Closings: Leeland House Debuts, Bacon Brothers Depart
Leeland House, 2119 Leeland, opened in January. The Southern-inspired eatery offers breakfast and lunch, with plans to extend to a happy hour and dinner service in the future. The newest concept from owner and restaurateur, Cheryl Crider, of Neighborhood Hospitality, will have a coffee bar with beverages like flat whites…
Four Good Reasons to Dislike Musicals
A couple weeks ago, my wonderful mother treated my wife and I to Kinky Boots at Jones Hall. As sweet as this gift was, musicals are not really my cup of tea. Having said that, we had fun and it made me want to watch the film, which I still…
Giant Kitty Ups The Ante on Rampage
Punk music has changed a lot since its inception 40 years ago. If you’re a definitive punk band, you’re bound to change with each and every release, while hopefully growing your sound in the process. That seems to be what Houston’s Giant Kitty is up to with their second release…
Social (Media) Responsibility: Do Amazon, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube Owe The Public Anything?
In today’s world of technology, it seems there is always a new controversy. They crop up in an instant and spread rapidly. Some, like the #MeToo movement, affect tremendous social change while others (cough…#TidePodChallenge…cough) seem to only set us back. But, what exactly is the responsibility of the companies that…
Houston Musicians Recall Wild Nights During Walter’s Waning Days
There was a punk show Tuesday night at Walter’s and, for the most part, those in attendance clung to their sneers, beers and assorted semblances of toughness. It wasn’t until you asked someone about the suddenly imminent closing of the venue that they got a bit verklempt. It didn’t get…
Reasons To Root For (and Against) Each Former Houston Texan In Super Bowl LII
Another year, another year without the Houston Texans in the Super Bowl. I won’t get snarky and call it a “tradition like no other” because making the Super Bowl is a very difficult thing to do. Someday, it will happen, and with Deshaun Watson as the franchise quarterback, that day…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Celebrate Good Fortune at Yauatcha
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: This February, dim sum teahouse Yauatcha, 5045 Westheimer, will celebrate its first Chinese New Year in Houston with a festive food and art activation, commissioning two leading London artists to create innovative Chinese lantern art installations…
James Harden is the NBA’s Most Valuable Player. Period.
Over the last two seasons, there was an argument to be made. Rockets guard James Harden put up gaudy numbers, historic numbers, but there were caveats. In 2015, Steph Curry led perhaps the best team in NBA history that didn’t win a title, wiping out the Rockets in the process. And…
MyDolls Leak Intense New Song
The Houston punk scene has always seemed to foster growth and creativity more than any other genre represented here. While there are subsets of the genre that have haters in it, the original punk bands are the acts that seem to keep growing with each and every release. So, it’s…
Invest in AppleCare Before Illusionist Adam Trent Comes to Houston
To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Illusionist Adam Trent just might ask to borrow an iPhone when his tour stops in Houston, but don’t be surprised if he gives it a whack with a hammer, throws it in an industrial-strength blender (sporting a Microsoft logo, no less), adds water,…
School of Rock Amps Up the Fun at the Hobby
BBVA Compass Broadway at the Hobby Center presents School of Rock – The Musical, the classic tale of one man and a group of kids sticking it to the man through rock ‘n’ roll.
Here’s How to Keep Seeing Posts From the Houston Press With Facebook’s Latest Update
As most of you know, Facebook has made a recent update to emphasize posts from friends and family in your news feed and a lot fewer posts from well, websites and professional pages like the Houston Press. Why should you care? Well on a day like today, that might well…
Six Things We Learned From Tom Brady’s Facebook Documentary
I arrived late Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis, and aside from roughly 90 percent of the media members dealing with some degree of system-shock because of the sub-freezing temperatures during the day (and sub-zero temps at night), the biggest storyline so far this week has been the world’s reaction to Tom…
Our Proposed Rule Changes For The New XFL
It’s pretty clear McMahon is pitching this alternative league to that segment of the America public who felt silent protests and on-field hijinx disrespected the NFL’s military fetishism and laughable stance on domestic violence.
Houston’s Best Bars to Watch the Super Bowl
The Super Bowl buzz in Houston is a bit tempered this year, considering our city isn’t, ya know, hosting the thing. Nevertheless, the NFL’s championship game is the biggest TV event of the year, and as such, is something to be celebrated. Some choose to host a viewing party. Others…
Will Houston Have Another Freeze Before Winter is Over?
Over the past 12 months, Houston has seen more than its fair share of anomalous weather. From Hurricane Harvey’s record flooding to an early-December snow to a January freeze that kept temps below 32 degrees for around 36 hours and left frozen rain intact on shadowy roof gables for several…
“The Truffle Lady” Impresses Again With Fourth Annual Truffle Masters Competition
Diane Roederer, owner of DR Delicacy, kicked off her fourth annual truffle competition, The Truffle Masters, at the Astorian Monday night. The event benefited Casa de Esperanza, “The House of Hope for Children.” Twenty-two chefs were given a pound of French or Spanish truffles to play with, and by the…
Moody Center for the Arts Looks to the Cosmos for its Spring Show
Take one spoonful of mid-century modern, mix in a healthy dose of multiverse theory, add a soupçon of algorithms and finish it all off with man’s triumph over wood and you’ve got an out-of-this-world spring show over at Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts. Josiah McElheny’s Island Universe gives a…
Faded Heart: The Best Houston Music of The Week
The weather in Houston is changing almost hourly in this new year it seems, just like the dizzying array of music options that’ll swing through town over the next seven days. While famed independent music venue Walter’s will close their doors this weekend, performances from Borns, They Might Be Giants,…
One More Time For Our Review of the Grammy-Winning Wozzeck by the Houston Symphony
As announced this past Sunday, for the first time in its 104-year history, the Houston Symphony has won a Grammy Award. It won for its live recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck under the director of Hans Graf, the symphony’s former music director. The recordings were made during concerts in 2013…
Believe it or Not, the Pre-Sale for Menu of Menus Starts Today
The pre-sale for this year’s Menu of Menus® Extravaganza starts today at 10 a.m. and ends on February 2. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketfly. Menu of Menus, one of Houston’s largest food and wine events with more than 40 area restaurants along with wine, beer and cocktails is presented…
Mike & Molly Star Billy Gardell Loves The Good Medicine of a Hard Laugh
After six years of swapping laughs with comedy superstar Melissa McCarthy, Billy Gardell is getting more time to put back into his first love: stand-up comedy. “I knew from 9 years old, watching the stand-ups on Johnny Carson with my grandmother,” the now 48-year old funny man explains. “I just…
Margo Price Leads the Female Country Revival
Female empowerment is certainly a popular topic of conversation these days. Between the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, coupled with a slew of assault and harassment allegations in Hollywood and involving some of the most powerful men on the planet, women are increasingly (and rightfully) having their voices heard. And…
Jadeveon Clowney’s Agent: Contract Extension Is “Achievable”
Four years into his NFL career, Jadeveon Clowney has become kind of a big deal. He just finished up his second Pro Bowl season, and perhaps more importantly, just finished up his first season in which he played in every game, no small nuance considering the Texans’ next two best…
Houston Press Singles Club: Guilla, Jerk, Get A Life, etc.
The second installment of Singles Club this year is here and it’s a doozy. Aside from the fact that two of the tracks listed were released this year, it’s also a list of bangers that are as eclectic as our city itself. Starting off with a new banger from Guilla…
Chef Chat: Story Time With Monica Pope and Jamie Zelko
You’ve probably heard of James Beard nominated Monica Pope (most recently T’afia, Sparrow Bar and Cookshop) or Jamie Zelko (Zelko Bistro, Heights Honey Bee Project, The Ivy & James), maybe eaten at their restaurants and perhaps even seen them on television a time or two. These modern-day Amazon warriors continue…
Trump Thinks the Media is the Enemy of the People, But Ibsen Got There First
President Donald Trump is known for labeling the press the “enemy of the people,” but he’s not the first to coin the phrase. Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, penned in 1882, took a critical look at the ignorant mindset of the sheeplike masses. Ibsen, a social…
Kevin Hart Coming to Houston in October
It’s going to be hard for Kevin Hart’s coming year to top his previous one, considering he starred in two hit movies, one of which (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) ruled the holiday season box office. Nevertheless, arguably the biggest stand-up comedian in the world today is going to give…
Fetch Clay, Make Man Explains Why Muhammad Ali Needed Stepin Fetchit
The oddest bromance you’ll see any time soon heats up Ensemble Theatre in Will Power’s Fetch Clay, Make Man, an entertaining, if a trifle rote, piece of arcane Americana. The two guys in question in that garbled title are the iconic, reviled, washed-up Golden Age Hollywood black actor Stepin Fetchit…
Stages Repertory Theatre Readies Itself For a Big Move
The plan was to keep it simple. Stages Repertory Theatre’s board and directors, like most thriving mid-size operations, had stayed solvent all these years with a mix of audience favorites and daring, edgier works while keeping a careful eye on the purse strings. They knew they needed a redo to…
Six Things Vince McMahon Clearly Learned From the XFL Failure In 2001
Last week, in a video stream embedded on the website for his new company, Alpha Entertainment, WWE CEO Vince McMahon announced that he will be reprising his alternative football league to the NFL, the XFL, with a targeted start date in 2020. The rumor mill had been bubbling for some…
Phoebe Bridgers Opens Up About Playing Texas
In recent years, singer songwriters in many cities can feel like they’re a dime a dozen, but it doesn’t feel like that’s the sound that’s coming from Los Angeles. You could’ve said that statement for a long time until last year, when Phoebe Bridgers released her stunning debut album Stranger…
’60s Star Dennis Tufano’s Resurgence Is Anything But “Kind of a Drag”
You would think that a band whose members were barely out of high school – but had the No. 1 song in the entire country – would be able to celebrate without restriction. That achievement happened for the Buckinghams in February 1967 when their two-minute-and-seven-second infectious slice of pop, “Kind…
App of the Week: H-E-B Delivers with a Top Notch App for Shoppers
App: H-E-B Grocery Store App Platform: iPhone/Android Website: HEB Mobile Cost: Free Grocery shopping is a joy for some and torture for others. There have been numerous apps come out to try and make the process easier from list-making tools to grocery delivery services. H-E-B is the undisputed king of…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Super Bowl Eats and Mardi Gras Fun
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Super Bowl Specials Super Bowl To Go at B&B Butchers & Restaurant B&B Butchers & Restaurant, 1814 Washington, is offering a Super Bowl takeout menu, featuring options like assorted sandwich platters, charcuterie and cheese boards and Texas Wagyu hot dogs. Call…
Burger King’s Advertising Brilliance on Net Neutrality is Profound
What a time to be alive. Last week, Burger King released a commercial as profound as any of the films that were just nominated for Oscars. Turns out a subversive fast food commercial could have saved net neutrality, folks. If only it had been on time. With over a million…
Dennis DeYoung and Night Ranger, January 27, Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land
As the co-founder, principal vocalist/songwriter, and keyboardist for classic rock warhorse group Styx, it was a shock to fans when Dennis DeYoung was ousted from the group in 1999 for (take your pick) medical, personal, and/or creative reasons. But he wasn’t about to give up performing much of the same…
Alma en venta Not as Magical as It Would Like to Be
Magic realism rears its shaggy head in Philip Boehm’s Alma en venta (Soul On Sale), the lodestar production to lead off Stages Repertory Theatre’s Sin Muros Festival in February, a salute to “Latina/o” artists. The comprehensive “Without Walls” jubilee features the world premiere of Josh Inocencio’s Purple Eyes, readings of…
Rossini’s Wickedly Funny Barber Struggles With Too Many Distractions
There’s an opera hidden inside Houston Grand Opera’s Resilience Theater at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Can you find it? It’s a masterpiece; that’s a certainty. It’s also wickedly funny. Written by opera’s buffa genius, Gioacchino Rossini, The Barber of Seville is the finest prosecco: fizzy, flavorful, potent. You…
The Killers Keep It Rolling in Sugar Land
The Killers are an interesting band as it pertains to the modern-day scene. They aren’t exactly current enough to get lumped in with bands like Imagine Dragons or The War on Drugs, nor are they some throwback nostalgia act looking to cash in on good records past. In fact, the…
Star Daniela Vega Ensures That A Fantastic Woman Lives Up to Its Title
In the tense but hearty Chilean drama A Fantastic Woman, actress Daniela Vega plays a transwoman, Marina, who must navigate life after the death of her lover
Red Shirts Worn To Protest Alleged Continued Abuses and Cover Ups At Alley Theatre
Wear something red in silent protest. That was the action taken by several Alley production and general staff members at today’s 11 a.m. company-wide meeting that promised to finally address what’s been going on in the wake of the sudden retirement of Artistic Director Gregory Boyd and the sexual misconduct…
Alley Managing Director Apologizes For Not Being Transparent About Boyd’s Departure
Dean Gladden, managing director of the Alley Theatre, issued a surprising statement just now, apologizing to the Alley staff, the theater’s patrons, the press (wow!), donors and to the entire city for how it has handled news information about the recent departure of Artistic Director Gregory Boyd. Whether this is…
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enough Deserves A Better Production
Sometimes bad productions happen to good plays. Other times bad productions happen to stellar casts. In the case of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, a script and a cast offering nothing short of greatness, a bad production takes what could have been one of…
Hey! Ho! Let’s Go! To the Tribute Show with Joey Sedated
Accept no substitute goes the advertising adage. It may be true for the soda you sip or the soap you lather, but when it comes to our favorite music, the slogan’s been proved wildly wrong by the wild success of tribute acts. For the uninitiated, a tribute act is a…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Hostiles
Maybe this Manifest Destiny thing wasn’t such a hot idea after all.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Saint Arnold’s Pub Crawl Heads to The Woodlands
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Australia Day at Platypus Brewing Friday, noon to midnight 1902 Washington Celebrate Australia Day at Houston’s favorite Aussie brewery, Platypus Brewing. The all day party will feature a special Plum Gose with Murray River Salt beer release, live music and Aussie…
Last Reflections By John Royal
I have decided my time at the Houston Press is at an end. Thank you all for reading over the past several years. It’s been something that I’ve enjoyed doing, but sometimes, things just have to end. Before I go, however, I just had a few things I wanted to…
NFL Head Coaching Hiring (and Retaining) Report Card
The NFL, like all sports, has its own set of sub-seasons within its own year. There are the prominent sub-seasons like the draft, training camp, the regular season, and the postseason. Beyond that, there are the smaller events or calendar windows, such as the NFL combine, free agency, and my…
Having A Reverbnation Account Only, Isn’t Good For You or Your Music
In the music world today, there are plenty of ways to take the wrong step. You mix an album incorrectly, take unflattering photos, or just not spend enough time honing your songwriting. There’s one step that might feel like a no brainer, but where you release your music is an…
Openings and Closings: Caswells Depart Oxbow , Holman Draft Hall Opens
Holman Draft Hall, 820 Holman, opened January 19, as reported by CultureMap Houston. The large, light-filled beer hall from the Kirby Group will feature a wide variety of beers and wines on tap, with a three-zone cooler keeping the kegs at optimum temps of 32, 45, and 55 degrees, depending on…
It’s Party Time on the Island With 2018’s Mardi Gras! Galveston
They sure know how to throw a party in Galveston. From alt-rockers Everclear to country crooner Kevin Fowler to the thumping beat of EDM’s Made Monster, this year’s Mardi Gras! Galveston has almost two weeks of non-stop revelry before Ash Wednesday brings it all to a screeching halt. But we’re…
Getting a Li’l Yachty With Houston Musicians
Here’s an admission: we love yacht rock. The music is sometimes called “chillwave” or, more commonly, “Adult-Oriented Rock.” Its easy, breezy tunes – songs like Steely Dan’s “Hey Nineteen,” Rupert Holmes’ “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” and the Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes” – created a commercially successful genre…
2018 Baseball Hall of Fame: Roger Clemens Closes Gap, But Will He Ever Get In?
One of the more underrated sports aspects of the month of January, amidst all of the playoff football and NBA basketball, is that it’s truly the front half of Hall of Fame season in baseball and football, the half where the new classes are unveiled and announced. For baseball, it…
Houston Theater Community Angrily Reacts to Greg Boyd’s Enormous Payout
$383,000. That’s the amount that the Alley Theatre Board paid out to former Artistic Director and alleged sexual harasser/toxic bully Gregory Boyd, according to a recent Houston Chronicle story. The severance payment was a result of Boyd negotiating his retirement, according to Nancy Sims of Pierpont Communications, a public relations…
Marilyn Manson Brings Stripped-Down Performance To A Sold-Out House Of Blues
Marilyn Manson turned 49 this month. He didn’t made a big fuss about it during his sold-out performance at House of Blues Wednesday night, but it’s worth mentioning. Because in recent years, the singer-songwriter has been criticized for his stage presence, or lack thereof, compared to his heyday. But for (anti)…
Keeshea Pratt Band Brings Home A World Title
Last weekend, Houston’s own Keeshea Pratt Band took the blues music world by storm and earned the top honors at the 2018 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. It was Tuesday evening when the Houston Press caught up with Pratt, the band’s namesake, vocalist and freshly crowned queen of the blues…
Unlock’d at Queensbury Theatre Explores the People Behind Their Masks
Belinda is the little sister everybody didn’t want. That’s how Shanae’a Moore who plays the role in the Queensbury Theatre upcoming production of Unlock’d describes her character. “She’s the one who wants all the attention and needs all the attention and finds ways to get it when people aren’t looking at…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Celebrate One Year at One Fifth
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: One Fifth Houston, 1658 Westheimer, will be celebrating its one year anniversary on Monday, January 29. The evening will feature a special a la carte menu with house favorites from both One Fifth Steak and One Fifth…
In Case You Missed It: K. Campbell With Pure Pop For Jaded Punks
If you had planned to release an album of punk infused pop songs, you’d probably call it pop punk. Just like you’d do the same if you had planned to release a record full of pop infused punk tracks. However, when you listen to Houston’s K. Campbell, his music isn’t…
Mass Incarceration Through Dance and Plexiglas in Pilot Dance Project’s Twenty-Five
Jaime Frugé-Walne’s Twenty-Five is an interactive, intimate exploration of the effects of mass incarceration.
Houston Symphony Announces its 2018-19 Season, Cue the Violins
When music-struck parents envision their lessons-taking children as one day soaring to great heights playing the violin, surely Joshua Bell and Itzhak Perlman play prominent roles in those dreams. Fortunately for us all, the Houston Symphony has signed both on for appearances in its 2018-19 season, which is being announced today. In…
2018 Heisman Odds: UH’s Ed Oliver Is The Lone Star In Texas
To say that, long term, the condition of college football in the state of Texas is at a crisis level would probably be overstating things. After all, the two linchpin programs in the state, Texas and Texas A&M, in the last 14 months have hired Tom Herman and Jimbo Fisher…
The 2018 Grammys: Who Will (and Should) Win
Football is taking a break this weekend (no, the Pro Bowl doesn’t count), which makes Sunday night a fitting time to honor some of the best and brightest in mainstream music. The 60th Annual Grammy Awards emanate from New York City, and performers include Bruno Mars, U2, Kendrick Lamar, Sam…
Astros Singleton, Deetz Suspended for Substance Abuse
In what has quickly become one of the biggest bust stories in Astros history, infielder Jon Singleton was suspended 100 games for his third bust of an illegal substance. Additionally, right-handed AA pitcher Dean Deetz got dinged for 80 games for use of performance-enhancing drugs. First, Deetz was drafted in…
School of Rock The Musical: A Few Adults and a Whole Lot of Kids Onstage
Rosalie Mullins is the principal of a prep school, tightly wound and devoted to her career. Enter substitute teacher Dewey Finn a struggling rock musician who discovers that some of the kids he’s teaching have real musical ability. Dewy, in need of money, decides to enter the kids in a…
Anything Can Happen When Amazing Acro-cats Perform Live in Houston
Getting a dog to fetch, sit or roll over is so last week. But compelling a cat to do tricks? To paraphrase Hollywood’s legendary anchorman Ron Burgundy, “That’s kind of a big deal.” But overachiever Samantha Martin, chief executive human and trainer for The Amazing Acro-cats, isn’t content with even…
Don’t Let Insurance Companies Put Your Claims on Ice, Houston
Houston Winter Weather Week 2018 was all hot cocoa under a warm blanket while binging on that Netflix series about a psychopath teenager and his intended-target girlfriend. It was all making tiny snowmen with the kids in the backyard, when you were able to pull them away from that Netflix…
Made Man: The Best Houston Concerts of The Week
Hopefully there’s no more ice on the road while we’re closing out the first month of the year. This week we’ll see sets from Marilyn Manson, Wolf Parade, Prawn, Big Boi and more while locals like Football, etc., Forever Miles, Grand Old Grizzly and others will fill in the spaces…
Chef Chat: Jaime Salazar of Brasserie 19 is Hungry Like The Wolf
As a present, when Jaime Salazar graduated high school (with perfect attendance) his parents gave him the choice of a car or a 30-day trip to Europe. His brother chose the Chevrolet El Camino. Salazar chose Paris. In Paris, he tasted escargot for the first time, sat in on a…
After the Cold and Rain, the Sun Emerges in Houston
Haven’t we all had pretty much enough winter already? OK, some of you may like the cold, but most Houstonians would like to see the temperatures moderate for a bit and maybe even warm up somewhat. For that group, Mother Nature appears to have heard your pleas. It’s not going…
Rockets Roll to 3-0 Home Stand with Win Over Heat
The Rockets finally managed to put the entire band back together on Monday night and the results were similar to what they managed in the previous two games, a 99-90 win over a banged up Miami Heat team. The win gave the three straight wins in all three games on…
They, Who Sound Experimental Music Returns, and Now It’s at Lawndale
When Nameless Sound founding director David Dove informally put together the first version of They, Who Sound in 2008, he wasn’t expecting a whole lot. Neither, apparently, was the to-remain-unnamed Midtown bar who hosted the weekly concert series. On the Sunday afternoon of the third show, Dove and his friends…
While You Were Away: The Killers Still Rock
It’s rare that a band’s finest work ultimately signals the end of its commercial heyday; in fact, this seems almost the opposite of what happens with most successful bands. With regard to bands of the past two decades, think Foo Fighters. Think Green Day. Hell, venture into individuals artists and…
First Look at SusieCakes in the Village
As a dessert fiend, I know where to get cake in Houston. For an airily-crumbed yellow cake with fudgy chocolate frosting, Empire Cafe is the ticket (preferably on a Monday, to take advantage of half-price cake day). For thick layers of a densely-sprinkled vanilla slice with pure white frosting? Sweet…
Giant Kitty Is Ready To Rampage With New Single
Punk rock has always been a genre that’s more defined by those who play it than those who deem it worthy or unworthy. In the punk world, it seems like nowadays there are more than enough people trying to prove what punk is or isn’t. However for Houston’s Giant Kitty,…
Where Does The AFC South Stack Up Heading Into 2018?
With all but two teams done for the season, and more importantly, with all of the head coaching positions in the division now filled (assuming we believe Josh McDaniels will wind up in Indianapolis once the Patriots’ season is over), it’s time to look at the state of the union…
Get Ready For Fun at HGO’s The Barber of Seville AKA Opera 101
Sofia Selowsky has been singing the arias and performing selected scenes from The Barber of Seville for several years. But later this week when the Houston Grand Opera unveils its latest production of the Rossini classic, it will be the first time she performs the music on stage in a…
![Alley Theatre, Already Mired in Scandal, Got More Bad News From New York Today [UPDATED]](https://i0.wp.com/www.houstonpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/alley_theatre_homepage800.png.png?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Alley Theatre, Already Mired in Scandal, Got More Bad News From New York Today [UPDATED]
As allegations of sexual misconduct and toxic bullying by former Alley Theater Artistic Director, Gregory Boyd, continue to mount and continue to go publicly unaddressed by the company, it seems a new crisis is set to hit the already wounded company. Today, following a New York Times article, Long Wharf Theater…
NFL Playoffs: Conference Title Games — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
This has been one of the stranger NFL seasons, with a slew of injuries to marquee players and eight brand new playoff teams compared to 2016. Here we are, though, 266 games of NFL football in the books, with only the biggest one remaining, and when the dust settled, it…
Taste Test: Three Brothers Bakery Pie
Pie day is Tuesday, and no, I don’t mean PI Day. National Pie Day has its own dedicated 24 hours in January, and it’s meant to be a celebration of the baked creation—according to Google, “a day for all to bake or cook their favorite pies.” In the off chance…
Harvest Day Arrives For A Texas Medical Marijuana Company
“When we got our provisional license on May 1, we basically won that provisional license on an application that was just 300+ pages of dreams,” Compassionate Cultivation CEO Morris Denton tells me Friday morning, standing outside one of the flower rooms at CC’s medical marijuana facility. There’s an excitement in…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Get Ready for a One Pot Showdown
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday, January 22 Basque Country Dinner at Uchi Uchi, 904 Westheimer, will be expanding its multi-cultural twist on Japanese cuisine with a one-night-only menu exploring the flavors of Spain’s Basque Country, offered from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Created in partnership with…
Because Nobody Asked, Here Are Our Predictions For The Academy Award Nominations
The nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be released tomorrow morning. Maybe you’re a big awards fan and waiting with bated breath, maybe you’ve been too busy dealing with work and the kids to pay much attention, or maybe the events of the last 12 months have crushed your…
I Don’t Care If Aziz Ansari is Sad
Over the last few weeks there’s been a long discussion regarding a blog post detailing a sexual encounter between a woman named Grace and actor/comedian Aziz Ansari. Ansari’s actions, as described by the author, have prompted a lot of speculation where the line between sexual assault and just bad sex…
Where to Dine on Valentine’s Day 2018 in Houston
Romance is in the air and Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so now is the time to make reservations for the special day. From decadent, prix fixe meals for two to a la carte affairs offering complimentary bubbly and chocolate-dipped strawberries, these Houston restaurants are ready to bring…
Narrow Head Returns With Killer New Track
Twenty years ago there was a time when fuzz infused rock seemed to be everywhere, and you couldn’t really escape it. In today’s crowded music climate, the bands that are making distorted guitar rock are few and far between, but the ones who are making it are doing it better…
Cougars Shock Shockers, Defeat Wichita State 73-59
It was 50 years ago Saturday that the Houston Cougars hosted the UCLA Bruins in the so-called Game of the Century. The first major college basketball game played in a domed stadium before a packed crowd and televised on national television, the game saw the second-ranked Cougars bring down the…
Chaos And Comedy Come Together In The Superbly Quirky Well
It’s close to impossible for a theater company to hit it outta the park every production. This is true regardless of the theater’s size, budget, mandate or creative team. It is certainly true of Mildred’s Umbrella, a small company that doesn’t always elicit critical praise in these pages. But, what…
Texans Defensive Coordinator Mike Vrabel Accepts Titans Head Coaching Position
After Bill O’Brien was given a four year contract extension and significant input into choosing Rick Smith’s replacement as Houston Texans’ general manager, it felt like Texans’ ownership was essentially ignoring the team’s 4-12 record in 2017 and giving O’Brien and his staff a mulligan. In other words, injuries outweighed…
Houston Women’s March Attracts Thousands
In more ways than one her face and body had been kissed by age; she sat patiently waiting in her wheelchair for the second Houston Women’s March to begin. At 87 years, her light green eyes shone bright with purpose. The daughter of immigrants who had just barely escaped Germany…
Elektra and its Tale of All-Consuming Blood Lust Has Blockbuster Power
The only thing missing from Houston Grand Opera’s superlative rendition (via Chicago Lyric Opera) of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s titanic Elektra (1909) is the orchestra. In a telling, but apocryphal, tale from the Dresden rehearsals, Strauss berated maestro Ernst von Schuch: “The orchestra’s not loud enough, I can…
Houston Iranian Film Festival Touches on the Cultural Taboo of Premarital Sex
There’s an underlying theme that seems to connect most of the films in the 25th Annual Houston Iranian Film Festival: coming-of-age stories, young adults trying to find their way in the world despite long-held traditions and — believe it or not — sex. Which doesn’t always go over well with…
12 Strong Is the Rare U.S. Desert-War Movie to Tell the Story of an Unambiguous Victory
It’s a somewhat boisterous adventure, a war movie where you cheer not just for the boys to make it home but for them to complete the mission
For Better or Worse, Den of Thieves Gives Gerard Butler 140 Minutes to Ham It Up
Christian Gudegast’s Den of Thieves comes in a cut above the usual trash that Gerard Butler stars in (Law Abiding Citizen, Olympus Has Fallen), which is to say it’s a cut above movies that themselves are already passably diverting …
Londale Braves the Quiet Thoughts on It’s a Different World
Why do we fall asleep to the babbling television? What’s the point of rabidly scrolling through your social media feed like a junkie searching for a fix? Why do we frequent cacophonous bars filled with loud talkers and clinking glasses? These questions aren’t specifically addressed by the new EP from…
The Cast of Best of Enemies Makes the Unbelievable Believable
When in doubt listen to The Godfather’s Michael Corleone, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” Both protagonists in Mark St. Germain’s theater adaptation of Osha Gray Davidson’s non-fiction Best of Enemies do this with a pungent sniping that’s mighty hard to swallow. Based on a true story set…
Rice’s Sam McGuffie Aims to Medal at the Winter Olympics
Sam McGuffie was a do-everything offensive threat for the Rice Owls. A Rice Owl from 2009 to 2012, McGuffie primarily played running back, but he also spent lots of time in the slot and at wide receiver. He finished his career with 2,299 all-purpose offensive yards, scoring a total of…
Marilyn Manson is Best When Showing His Softer Side
Marilyn Manson rose to fame as America’s favorite shock rocker. With his profane lyrics, drug-fueled persona and attire that can safely be labeled provocative, Manson thrived in the pre-social media age. Yes, there was a time when a rock star could legitimately scare people, something Manson proved during his late…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Eat Your Weight in Chili at the Chili Quest and Beer Fest
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: H-Town Shakedown at Mongoose Versus Cobra Friday, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. 1011 McGowen The fan-favorite Midtown craft beer and cocktail bar will be closing out 8th Wonder Brewery’s H-Town Shakedown once again. Stop by to enjoy beer cocktails, including the…
Joel McHale is On the Neverending Tour
Joel McHale has starred in big-budget movies and headlined one of the most critically-acclaimed television comedies of its era. He regularly pops up on late-night talk shows to banter with the host. He has hosted ESPN’s ESPY Awards. With a quick wit and charm to match, it’s no wonder McHale…
ABRY Makes Herself Known On Debut Single
The dance pop world is a tough one to break into, no matter how good you are. As a music journalist, you tend to get messages from all types of artists who have new music out or music that’s coming out. While sometimes you can’t get to all of those…
NFL Playoffs: Conference Title Game Best Bets
If the goal of the postseason were to create a metaphor or symbol of an NFL’s regular season, this year’s playoffs is doing a hell of a job. In a season where television ratings dipped (significantly, in some weeks), players protested during the anthem, player and owner conflict amped up,…
Houston Choreographers Inspired by Reality TV and Early Punker Valeska Gert
It’s not often that hip-hop, ballet, game shows and tap can share the same stage but, when it happens, you just know that things are going to get interesting. This year’s choreographer’s showcase serves up a veritable smorgasbord of delights, with literally something for everyone on the program in Houston…
Openings and Closings: Welcome Back Fluff Bake Bar and Los Tios
Fluff Bake Bar, 314 Gray, is celebrating its reopening January 20 with a bake sale starting at 10 a.m. In conjunction with 44 Farms, there will be dishes like Prime Rib Benedict Sammy and brisket with pimento cheese on a pretzel roll. The bakeshop closed temporarily on October 22 after…
Houston Grand Opera Announces its 2018-19 Season to Be Performed at the Wortham
Houston Grand Opera today announced its 2018-19 season complete with a world premiere, two new productions of classics and perhaps most important of all to many opera goers, a return to its home at the Wortham Center. Of course, you’ll have to wait until October 2018 for all the Harvey…
Theatre Under the Stars Announces its 50th Anniversary Season Very Carefully
Theatre Under the Stars announced its 2018-19 season today, outlining a line-up that leans almost entirely on the tried and true — shows boasting long runs on Broadway and years of national tours — with little evidence of the “edgy” that TUTS once offered along with the “classic.” The first…
Houston Texans Unveil Brian Gaine as New General Manager
The Houston Texans introduced Brain Gaine as their new general manager on Wednesday afternoon, and I have to say, the whole thing felt weird. To be clear, I was not in attendance, I was on the air on my radio show and we were carrying the press conference and watching…
Come Together Right Now with Peace and the Chaos
If there’s a band name more in-step with the times than “Peace and the Chaos,” I’m unaware of it. Yes, the opposing yins and yangs of life are eternal. There have always been differences between the left and the right, betwixt the haves and have-nots, among women and men. But…
First Look at Harlem Road Texas BBQ
In Texas, there is plenty of BBQ to be had, but not all of it is good and distinct. Traditions and known methods are reliable but putting a twist on them and adding style along with elements from another culture goes a long way. A certain BBQ brand was doing…
Houston Women’s March Steps Up For 2018 Rally
The second Houston Women’s March will take place Saturday, Jan. 20 from 9:30 a.m. to noon, starting at the Buffalo Bayou Waterworks Building, 105 Sabine Street and concluding at City Hall, 901 Bagby Street. Guests include DJ Gracie, Kim Franklin of The Suffers and several guest speakers, including former Mayor Annie Parker and other community representatives.
Rockets Could Be Back at Full Strength for the Timberwolves, Warriors
A game broke out during the fight between the Rockets and Clippers on Monday night. The Rockets appear to have lost both the battle and the war falling in the game and then being made fun of relentlessly for a postgame sojourn, reportedly through a secret passage, into the Clippers…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: The Truffle Masters Returns
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Basketball and burger fans can head to Brasserie du Parc, 1440 Lamar, which is rolling out a new Burger and a Beer special whenever the Rockets are playing in Houston. For $10 plus tax and gratuity,…
Dan Workman Takes The Next Step In Houston Music History
The music world is full of engineers and producers, many of whom make their marks and then seem to disappear. Houston’s Dan Workman, the producer, engineer, musician and artist, is still making plenty of waves in and out of the music world. As a member of the seminal experimental band…
HISD Will Resume Classes Thursday as it Considers the New Normal
Houston ISD and other local school districts will be back in full session Thursday — barring any unforeseen damage done to any property due to the ice storm (burst pipes anyone?) Colleges are resuming their classes and nighttime events are no longer being canceled throughout the area as most of…
A Nashville Star Learns What Really Matters in the Too-Obvious Forever My Girl
Where the movie occasionally locates some surprise and resonance is in the tiny exchanges, when Wolf allows her characters to breathe, free of the demands of a schematic narrative
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Houston Restaurants on Wednesday: Some Open, Some Closed, Some Special Hours [UPDATED]
A few are getting a bit of a delayed start, but several Houston restaurants who closed or cut short their hours yesterday will be back in business today. So when you’re ready to venture out stazrting at midday today, they will be there. CLOSED for the day: Treebeard’s Le Peep…
Hey 19: Deep Freeze Brings Temps in the Teens, Icy Roads to Houston
If you went to bed last night and happened to take a look at the temperature as we did, you saw something in the neighborhood of 25 or 26 degrees. For us, that was around midnight. Honestly, we weren’t all that shocked. The whole day had been below freezing after…
Elektra is Sure to Shake the Rafters at the George R. Brown
It’s a grim and bloody tale propelled by the music of Richard Strauss, a retelling of a Greek tragedy with enough dysfunctional family elements to fill out several seasons of any soap opera. Mom and her lover have killed Dad, the king. Daughter No.1 wants revenge on Mom, daughter No.2…
A Hard Freeze Kind of Wednesday Morning for Houstonians
No school again today. Colleges are shut down for day two also. The area remains under a hard freeze warning, wind chill advisory and winter weather advisory until 10 a.m. Municipal courts are closed for the day. Metro is taking a break until the afternoon. The Houston Chronicle asked for…
Eat This: Short Rib Soup at Ohn Korean Eatery
I don’t go to Ohn Korean Eatery nearly as often as I should. The cool Korean joint opened by chef and restauranteur Mike Tran (who also owns Aka Sushi House, Tiger Den, Mein Chinese Restaurant, Night Market Thai, and Laki Fish) earlier this year, I think of it as more…
Fetch Clay, Make Man Shows the Unlikely Friendship of Two Media Icons
Say what? Playwright Will Power had to do a double-take when he first saw the photograph of heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali with Stepin Fetchit, a 1930s Hollywood actor who parlayed a dim-witted, lazy, jive-talking character all the way to the bank. It just didn’t seem to make sense. “Ali is strong;…
Simple Fix: The Best Music of The Week in Houston
The new year is shaping up nicely and this week is a great example of that. In the next seven days Houston will be treated to the enchanting sounds of Aimee Mann, the psych garage rock of Night Beats, and The Moody Blues will all be here in town. Of…
2018 College Football Coaching Hire Report Card
You look at Kevin Sumlin’s 2017 season at Texas A&M, and the way that it ended, and at first blush, you feel badly for Kevin Sumlin. You do, don’t you? I mean, in the very first week of the season, his team blew a five touchdown lead in a little…
Spread the Love at The Cheese Bar For National Cheese Lover’s Day
Award-winning Mac & Cheese: check. Beer Cheese Soup: check. Grilled Cheese: check. Poutin: check. Check. Check. Check. The Cheese Bar at the Boardwalk at Towne Lake in Cypress, Texas should be a destination on every cheese lover’s checklist, and just in time for National Cheese Lover’s Day, January 20. It’s…
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HISD Will Stay Closed on Wednesday [UPDATED]
HISD has just released a statement that all schools and its offices will be closed Wednesday. Describing it as “a precautionary measure because of inclement weather and the related potential for dangerous road conditions,” a press release from the district said that the expectation of continuing icy road conditions on Wednesday…
HISD and Other Local School Districts Will Decide Later Tuesday Whether to Close Wednesday
In his previous superintendency in California, Houston ISD Superintendent Richard Carranza never had this many weather days to contend with while running a school district. This school year, between the flooding and destruction from Hurricane Harvey and today’s unexpectedly harsh ice storm has put him through a fast course in Texas…
Is the Thai Hot Pot at Vibe Lounge the Best Hot Pot in Houston?
Baby, it’s cold outside. In fact, it’s been pretty cold outside in general this month, and when it’s cold outside I crave hot pot. Hot pot, for the uninitiated, is when you have a bubbling pot of broth in the middle of your table with uncooked proteins and vegetables that…
Snowpocalypse II: Checking in at Mid-Day to See What’s Next for Houston?
The first half of Snowpocalypse II lived up to the hype with freezing rain and sleet falling across the region as temperatures plummeted below freezing. As of writing this just after noon, most of the area is continuing to be pelted with a wintry mix turning gradually into snow. The…
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Houston Restaurants Shut Down For the Day in the Face of Today’s Ice Storm [UPDATED]
Faced with dangerous streets, the possible loss of power and people’s unwillingness to venture out today, Houston restaurants are starting to announce that they are closed for today. This is our list so far: The Original Ninfa’s on Navigation — Closed all day 2704 Navigation Antone’s Famous Po’ Boys —…
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Freezing Weather Beginning to Shut Down Area Highways [Updated]
Large stretches of area highway HOV lanes have already closed down for the day as frozen precipitation falls across the region. From I-45 South up U.S. 69 North to I-10 and portions of U.S. 69 south, the first signs of the latest winter storm are showing on area roadways before…
The Ice Storm Cometh: With Winter Storm Warning in Effect, Here’s What to Expect
The last time we dealt with winter weather, it was almost idyllic. Many of us woke up to a blanket of white on our rooftops and Christmas decorations. It was before the holiday and everyone felt positively giddy. Think of Tuesday as that day’s sloppy, drunk cousin still hungover from…
The Eight Most Important Action Items For New Texans GM Brian Gaine
The press release is out, and at some point here, there will be a press conference to announce Brian Gaine as the Houston Texans’ third general manager in franchise history. That day can’t come soon enough, as there is plenty of work to do on this roster, work we’ve covered…
The Thorn And Moon Magickal Market Offers Magic for the Daring
For the first Friday of the last couple of months, a very special marketplace has been open to visitors who are drawn to experiences that break from the expected and mundane. The people responsible are a creative coven of witches who also run their own occult and magical supply business…
Waxahatchee Opens Up About The Importance of Being Southern
Katie Crutchfield has had no problem proving that she’s one of the best new songwriters coming out of the indie rock world. From her pop punk leanings with her and her twin sister’s now defunct band P.S. Eliot to the subtle beauty of the 2015 Waxahatchee album Ivy Tripp, Crutchfield…
Chef Chat: Austin Waiter Talks About His Tasting Menu and Working With Tony Vallone
Six years ago, you could have pointed out Austin Waiter from the bleachers of a Merrimack University lacrosse game. Fast forward and you’re more likely to spot him orchestrating dinner service through the massive window into the kitchen at Tony’s restaurant, 3755 Richmond. At the age of “the big 25”…
Smart Luggage That Follows You Around Coming to an Airport Near You
Recently, we told you about how airlines were banning smart luggage due to concerns over the fire safety of the batteries they used. Now, we are hearing about a new EXTREMELY smart piece of luggage that literally follows you around like a puppy dog, introduced at the Las Vegas Consumer…
Houston Lecture Discusses the Role of Early Women in Shaping Civilization
Well it seems that he-peating — a man taking all the credit for an idea first suggested by a woman — isn’t anything new. Over the past two decades archaeologists have looked past hard artifacts like spears and arrow heads, instead focusing on perishable objects like baskets, weaving and ropes,…
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Snowpocalypse II: The Sleetening is Coming. Here’s the Latest [UPDATED]
As we mentioned this morning, a wintry mix is on tap for most of the region tomorrow with temperatures forecast to remain below freezing all day and into Wednesday morning. What has changed slightly about the forecast is the timing. The most recent forecasts are calling for the first precipitation…
Yes, Taraji P. Henson — and Cinematographer — Are Better Than an Iffy Proud Mary
It’s a sad day when the cinematographer carries the full burden of storytelling, but in this instance it’s also at least a wonderful opportunity to marvel at Laustsen’s work
Liam Neeson’s The Commuter Is Anything but Routine
Like many a Collet-Serra protagonist, Michael endures much punishment throughout The Commuter — some of it, as with one close-quarters battle involving a guitar, presented in spectacular extended-take fashion
As The Scandal Widens, What’s Next For The Alley?
Joy Yvonne Jones appeared on the Alley stage in 2015/16 as an ensemble player in As You Like it and a fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, both of which were directed by Alley Artistic Director Gregory Boyd. Even before she set foot in the rehearsal room, she was warned…
Antifolk Hero Jeffrey Lewis Makes a Rare Houston Visit Tonight
Jeffrey Lewis’s adventures as a musician and comic book artist have taken him lots of places over many years now. Plot a point on the globe and there’s a pretty good chance the New Yorker has visited to perform there as a headliner or touring alongside contemporaries like Devendra Banhart,…
Chris Paul Returns to LA as Rockets Look to Go 4-0 This Week
With James Harden and Luc Mbah a Moute still at least a couple weeks from returning to action (and Nene and Tarik Black recently sidelined), it was looking like a pretty tough stretch over the past week, but Chris Paul happened. The Rockets point guard led the way—along with the…
Houston Press Singles Club: Young Mammals, Pearl Crush, Mojave Red, etc.
Now that it’s a new year, The Houston Press Singles Club is going just as strong as we did when we began. This week we’ll have an indie rock jam from Young Mammals, an emo tune from Donna Hayward, a pop infused track from Pearl Crush, a fun punk infused…
Snowpocalypse II: Jack Frost’s Revenge Could Be on the Way for Houston This Week
You know that thing where you get your winter jacket dry cleaned and hang them in the back of the closet because, even though its only January, you know that it is highly unlikely you’ll need the “big coat” again this year? Oh, sure, you keep the sweaters at the…
NFL Playoff Miracle: The Case Keenum Play — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
In a way, this season’s NFL playoffs have been the ultimate irony. In a season which has been embodied by declining television ratings, national anthem protests, mistrust between the players and owners, and woefully half-baked concussion protocol, these NFL playoffs have been (from a drama standpoint, at least) exactly what…
Luhnow Does It Again, Gerrit Cole Traded To Astros
On Wednesday this past week, Houston Astro fans everywhere were teased by afternoon reports that the Pittsburgh Pirates had traded former All-Star starting pitcher Gerrit Cole to the Astros. Some reports even got as specific as to say that the package going back to the Pirates included outfielder Derek Fisher…
The Great Society is “a Primal Play About the Human Ego”
For more than the last year, actor Shawn Hamilton has been playing Martin Luther King Jr. in various plays in theaters around the country. Houston audiences last saw him in that role in Robert Schenkkan’s All the Way and now he is returing to the Alley Theatre stage to play…
10 Houston Concerts We’re Looking Forward to in 2018
If the first weekend of 2018 is any indication, Houston’s concert future looks bright. With the power duo of Big Freedia and Boyfriend opening things up and Carly Rae Jepsen (who was kind enough to take Katy Perry on the road with her) shutting them down, it was a mighty…
Photogs of the Future Document Houston’s Highs and Lows in MFAH Show
We can’t exactly break out in song with “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades,” but it’s not all fire and brimstone for Houston, either. High schoolers across the region turned their cameras on the Bayou City this past year, documenting the roller coaster ride that we called 2017, and…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Warm Up with Seasonal Eats
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long National Steak Month at Roka Akor Roka Akor, 2929 Weslayan, is celebrating National Steak Month with two exclusive Wagyu flights and a 28-day dry aged ribeye during the month of January. Guests can experience the Japanese Wagyu flight…
10 New Year’s Resolutions for Houston Drivers
Happy New Year, Houstonians! It’s a new year, a new you and time to solidify those resolutions. For the benefit of all of us who take to the roads each day (and take our lives in our own hands), may we suggest a few for the drivers out there? Our…
Houston Texans Make GM Hire and O’Brien Extension Official
On Saturday afternoon, the worst kept secret in the history of the Houston Texans’ franchise became a press release, and soon it will become a press conference — Brian Gaine is the new general manager of the Houston Texans, and Bill O’Brien has received a contract extension as the head…
Alley Theatre Circles the Wagons Some More
The Alley Theatre, clearly feeling under siege this week with the abrupt departure of longtime artistic director Gregory Boyd and the ensuing allegations about a toxic environment involving bullying and butt pinching as reported by the Houston Chronicle, is not being particularly forthcoming with the media or public. In an…
Houston Symphony Names New Executive Director and CEO
Are California and Texas like BFFs? At least it seems that way given today’s announcement that John Mangum, who most recently served as president and artistic director of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and who before that was director of artistic planning for the San Francisco Symphony is the new…
The Alienist’s Old New York Is Thrillingly Alive — but Its Serial Killer Plotting Is Too Last-Century
The first two episodes each build to a set piece in the city’s bowels, one in a factory’s attic and the other in a brothel catering to men who prefer boys dressed as women
That Escalated Quickly: Cold Front Roars Through with Rain, Hail Leaving Gusty Winds
So, funny things happen with weather in southeast Texas sometimes. Such was the case on Thursday just before evening rush hour, naturally. First, in the early afternoon hours, a line of fairly strong storms passed through ahead of a cold front. While these gave us a nice soaking, they were…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: The Commuter
Does $100,000 pay a double mortgage in Tarrytown?.
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: A Gumbo Smackdown
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Gumbo Smackdown at Sugar Land Town Square Saturday, noon to 3 p.m. 2711 Plaza Houstonia’s fifth annual Gumbo Smackdown will take place at Sugar Land Town Square. Chefs will compete for the city’s best gumbo as festival goers taste, vote, sip…
Astros Almost (Kind of Maybe) Pulled off a Big Trade for a Starting Pitcher
Gerrit Cole is a 27-year-old starting pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. For a few brief, glorious minutes on Wednesday, it was nearly universally accepted that Cole was a 27-year-old starting pitcher for the Houston Astros. Multiple reports had the trade for Cole as being a done deal, the hold up…
Bob Schneider’s Not Dead Yet
The life of many singer-songwriters isn’t one necessarily tailored to a long lifespan. Between the long hours, late nights, travel, and those booze-filled smoky nights, it’s a profession that certainly lends itself to an early grave. At one point in his career, Austin’s own Schneider figured he too would join…
Lisa Kron’s Well Gets All Meta, Breaking the Fourth Wall at Mildred’s Umbrella
Tony Award-winning playwright Lisa Kron (Fun Home) gets all meta in her comedic memory play about mothers and daughters, so it comes as no surprise that Bree Bridger, who is directing Well for Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company, decided to do the same. Bridger doesn’t just break the fourth wall, she’s…
NFL Playoffs, Divisional Round: This Weekend’s Best Bets
Much was made during the College Football Playoff about how we wound up with an all-SEC final, and how regionalized the playoff had become. All four semifinal participants were, more or less, in the southwest quadrant of the country, and the two finalists were driving distance from the finals venue…
Openings and Closings: Night Heron is Coming, Cafe Azur is Changing
Night Heron, 1601 W. Main, is expected to open this February, as reported here in the Houston Press. Located in the spot recently vacated by Lowbrow, the newest restaurant from Agricole Hospitality will have a light and airy design inspired by the Gulf Coast. The restaurant will have seating for 60 inside…
Bogie and Bitcoin: A Classic Film’s Take on the New Gold Rush
“…when the piles of gold begin to grow, that’s when the trouble starts.” So pondered Howard, a grizzled, astute and fictitious prospector in Tampico, Mexico nearly 100 years ago. The old man urged those listening to heed his advice on how sudden riches might change any person fortuitous enough to…
We Know Our Country — Well at Least Some Folks Think So
The Houston Press got some good news Wednesday that Vivid Seats, which describes itself as “the largest independent ticket marketplace for concerts, theater and sports, had included our online music site in an article highlighting the top sites that country music fans should know for 2018. Talk about music to…
HISD Cuts Down on its Starts and Stops
Starting in the 2018-19 school year, Houston ISD schools will have one of two standardized start and end times, it was announced Wednesday. Elementary and K-8 campuses will start at 7:30 a.m. and end their day at 2:50 p.m. Middle schools, high schools and campuses with grades 6-12 will go…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Feast Before a Night at the Opera
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: The annual Valentines for Veterans event will be held at Saint Arnold Brewery, 2000 Lyons, on Monday, January 15 from 6 to 9 p.m. The event combines local beer, local food and caring Houstonians who will…
Football, etc. Take Their Sound To Japan
There’s a concept in the music world that a band needs a manager, that a band needs an agent, and that a band needs a ton of extra personnel. However, for a long time now, there have been a ton of bands who tour the globe without any of that,…
The Five Best and Five Worst Contracts of the Rick Smith Era
It was not my intention for this space this week to turn into a de facto instruction manual on what the Houston Texans’ next general should and should not do once he takes over the team’s personnel decisions, but that’s kind of how this thing has evolved over the last…
Houstonians Have the Inside Track When it Comes to The Price is Right Live
We hear the expression, “Come On Down” and, no matter what our age, all thoughts instantly go to smooth game show hosts, flashing neon, clanging bells, and a chance to spin The Big Wheel. The popular television show The Price is Right is now in its 46th year, and it’s a…
The Acting and Singing Are the Best Parts of The Color Purple
Who, in their right mind, would dare call Adrianna Hicks, playing Celie, “ugly,” as does every character in John Doyle’s revisionist The Color Purple? OK, maybe “powerhouse,” “incandescent,” even “lovely,” that I would agree with, but “ugly”? No way on earth or any stage this side of the Great White…
Don’t Fall For The Wobbly Wheel Scam
Recently, Houston has been the feeding ground for a slimy type of predator, cruising our roads like sharks looking for wounded prey. But unlike sharks, which are only doing what comes natural to them, and who are part of a beneficial cycle, the predators working Houston’s Southwest side, are a…
Ranking Rick Smith’s Eleven Houston Texans NFL Draft Classes
Yesterday, we tried to quantify the magnitude of the roster-build that the new Houston Texans general manager, whoever he will be, is undertaking. It’s not going to be easy. One thing, though, that the new Texans’ GM won’t have to worry about is living up to an unattainable standard from…
Chef Chat: Anthony Russo Talks the Importance of Ingredients and Keeping it Fresh
It’s hard not to fall a little bit in love with Chef Anthony Russo’s genuine, engaging excitement. Maybe it’s that New York, Italian twang he still possesses, even though his family moved to Galveston when he was 12. Maybe it’s that his eyes light up when he smiles, or, maybe…
Last Comic Standing Champ Rod Man Ain’t Never Met a Stranger
“When people have paid to see you, its very different from them just showing or getting free tickets. I’m learning I gotta be the event, like it’s the Rockets playing tonight or that Rod Man is playing over at the Improv.”
Doing Good: The Best of The Week
The year is going strong so far, and this week is no different. Sets from touring acts like Milky Chance, Duel, and Dirty Fences will all be here while locals like Mojave Red, Pyreship, Killer Hearts and more will fill in the spaces between. Thursday you can start off with The…
Plan to Bundle Up for the Houston Marathon
Houston has enjoyed a slightly more mild weekend and start to the work week despite a cool front that moved through Sunday night bringing with it some occasionally heavy storms including hail and an abundance of lightning. Raise your hand if your dog was freaked out. While we won’t actually…
Talk About Short Notice. Gregory Boyd Leaves the Alley Theatre.
The longtime artistic director of the Alley Theatre has just announced he is leaving effective this Thursday, January 11. In two days? Huh? Did anyone have time to plan a party? An accolade-filled announcement was released at 6:02 p.m. and attempts to reach the contact people at Pierpont Communications and…
Ups and Downs Continue for Harden-less Rockets
The adage “live by the three, die by the three” has been bandied about in NBA circles since the three point shot became a part of the game. But, the Rockets, a team that shoots the long-range shot in greater numbers than any team in league history, may be better…
What Coachella’s Lineup Reveals About Festivals in 2018
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival – or Coachella, for brevity’s sake – is the premier, or at least the most noteworthy, annual music festival in the United States. Taking place over two weekends in April, it’s also one of the earlier festivals on the calendar, meaning it sort…
Stages’ Alma en Venta Asks, “Can You Survive a Dance With the Devil?”
How far would you go to get ahead in your craft? The myth is that legendary bluesman Robert Johnson went to the crossroads and met the devil at midnight to sell his soul in exchange for mastery of his guitar. But can that deal ever be broken? Author and playwright…
Texans Final 2017 PFF Scores Quantify Challenge For New GM
The Houston Texans are in the process of hiring a new general manager, we all know this. The search took a bit of a hit over the weekend when at least three candidates — Joe Douglas of Philadelphia, and Nick Cerasio and Monti Ossenfort of New England — were blocked…
The Cops Debut New Song “Hot Pursuit”
Typically speaking, anytime you catch a band playing in some sort of stylized garb or matching outfits, you should figure that the gimmick will outweigh the music. There have been exceptions to that rule in bands like Rocket From The Crypt, but few have been is solidly done as Houston’s…
Please Stop Telling Poor People to “Just Cook” to Save Money
There’s a meme making the rounds again comparing the amount of food you can get from KFC for $20 and the amount of food you can get from the grocery store for the same price. The implication is that stupid, poor and lazy people are throwing their hard-earned tuppence away on…
2017 College Football Playoff Title Game — Four Things To Watch For
I have no idea what America as a whole is going to think of tonight’s college football national championship game, but if I’m concocting the perfect football LIVE EVENT for January 8 in Atlanta, Georgia, I don’t know that I could come up with anything better than Georgia versus Alabama…
NFL Playoffs: Wild Card Weekend — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
When the Texans season ended so ignominiously in Indianapolis on New Year’s Eve, we thought we could turn the page and never have to think about 2017 ever again. in so many ways — injuries, results, Tom Savage fumble sacks — it was the most grueling season in Texans history…
Katy Perry Proves Why She’s a Star At Toyota Center
If you’re the type of person who looks at artists like Katy Perry and you’re baffled as to why she has such a rabid fan base, why she has such a rising star power, and why she sells as many albums and tickets as she does; then all you need…
The Subtle Misogyny in Anti-Goth Makeovers
Last month Transformed explored my least-favorite trope in makeover shows: the “goth to normal” look. Or, as they call it this time, Goth to Gorgeous. Pardon me while I throw up a bit. Nicole Guilbault, a self-described Victorian goth, decided to change up her look after prompting from her godbrother,…
Cougars Go All-In on the Baylor Way of Winning Football Games
The Houston Cougars decided to go all in on the #MeToo movement this weekend, announcing the addition of former Baylor assistant coaches Kendal Briles and Randy Clements to the football team’s coaching staff on Saturday morning. Of course, UH is going all in on the movement by hiring two men…
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Why Houston Celebrates With Two Parades
Each year we ask the same question: Why does Houston have not one, but two, different Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parades and why does it have to be so confusing? So this was the year we decided to get to the bottom of things and find out if the…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Eat and Cheer on the Houston Marathon Runners
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All week long Back to School at Cane Rosso Cane Rosso, 1835 North Shepherd, 4306 Yoakum, is helping teachers and students ease back into the grind by offering 50-percent off one pizza for guests who show a school I.D. The offer is valid…
A.J. Croce Stirs Up a Soulful Stew. But Don’t Call It a Throwback.
The soul music of the ‘60s that was laid down in recording studios like Stax in Memphis, Tennessee and FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound in Muscle Shoals, Alabama has inspired a lot of artists in the ensuing decades. And many of them have tried their own hand at recreating that…
10 Places Houston Insiders Take People Visiting Town
Houston, unlike other major cities in the United States, doesn’t really have an iconic spot for out-of-town visitors. Sure, there’s NASA and its rather disappointing tour. There is the much-hyped shopping at the Galleria or the historic views of the city from the San Jacinto Monument. None of these things…
Just in time, Paddington 2 Reminds Us to Celebrate Human/Bearish Decency
In Paddington 2, the emigre bear (again voiced by Ben Whishaw) appears to be the glue holding the Browns’ diverse, colorful neighborhood together
At Duck Donuts You Are in Control of Your Own Creation
Duck Donuts has arrived. Doughnuts in Houston have been popular for a while, so, what makes this doughnut any different than the rest? Based on a visit this morning, It’s the puppy-like excitement you feel that begins with ordering, watching the batter plopped in the fryer, getting it iced and…
Sessions, Rescinding Cole Memo, Goes to War With Legal Marijuana
On Thursday, Jeff Sessions rescinded the Cole Memorandum, ending an understanding between federal authorities and states with legal marijuana. The move raised fears of an impending crackdown and further cements Sessions’s reputation as an anti-pot crusader. While marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, the Cole memo, issued by Deputy…
An Iliad Takes the Epic And Makes It Modern
By now we’ve been so endlessly bombarded with listicles that you’d think any thematic naming off of one thing after another would barely catch our attention let alone stir any emotions. But just watch what happens when a nameless narrator, the solo actor on stage, tries to remember which tragically…
Managing Modern Tech Makes Today’s Parents The Greatest Generation. Sorry, Grandpa.
Every generation of parenting brings its own particular horror, ours is technology.
The 20 Best Houston Rap Tapes Of 2017 (5-1)
05. ROB GULLATTE, Gullactic Vision Five years is a long time between projects. Rob Gullatte swore that he was retired, that he was done rapping but no rap retirement indeed rings true. He’d been preparing Gullactic Visions under watchful eyes, waiting for the moment to arrive to let it go…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Sunday Brunch and Galveston Restaurant Week
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Indie Chefs Week Friday through Sunday 3201 Louisiana Founded by Foreign & Domestic, Indie Chefs Week brings together the nation’s hottest up-and-coming chefs for a special dinner series. On Friday and Saturday, a set of ten different chefs will each take…
Cougars Lose 81-63 to 9th-Ranked Wichita State
Wichita State has been one of the best mid-major basketball programs for many years. But tired of not being treated as a major player in college basketball, the school made the leap during the off-season, joining the American Athletic Conference, perhaps the best of the mid-major conferences. The Houston Cougars…
Big Freedia Bounces To Town With Booty-Shaking Show
Big Freedia, the queen of bounce music, will perform in Houston on Dec. 6 at White Oak Music Hall.
Five Things Mainstream Music Needs in 2018 … and Three Things it Doesn’t
As the calendar turns on yet another year, that certainly provides a chance to look back on what we witnessed on the pop music landscape in the previous year. Alas, it’s a lot more fun to look ahead and speculate than it is to look back and pontificate. The coming…
Openings and Closings: Carmelo’s Returns, Duck Donuts Debut
While many Houstonians bade a tearful farewell on Christmas day to Carmelo’s,14795 Memorial, plans were already made for its continued survival. According to The Cleverly Food Talk Radio Show, Carmelo Mauro has sold his namesake restaurant to a local restaurateur, Benjamin Berg. Berg owns B&B Butchers and Restaurant, 1814 Washington,…
NFL Playoffs, Wild Card Round: This Weekend’s Best Bets
Off the top, I want to share with all of you my New Year’s Resolution for 2018, and it is this — I will not be doing a “Best Bets” post for Week 17 of the NFL season or any of the non-playoff bowl games this year. Yeah, I know…
Take a Look at the Stacked RODEOHOUSTON 2018 Lineup
Ever since the announcement that Garth Brooks would not only be returning to RODEOHOUSTON but opening and closing the event, we’ve known that this was going to be a huge year for the Rodeo. Now we’ve got the rest of the 2018 entertainment lineup, featuring some of the biggest names…
The 20 Best Houston Rap Tapes Of 2017 (10-6)
10. KYLE HUBBARD, All Good Things Come Kyle Hubbard wrote his masterpiece of an album mostly in the front seat of his car. It’s been covered time and time again, but Hubbard’s flow, that of a yeoman clocking in and clocking out from a bullshit nine-to-five is endearing. All Good…
Why the Idea of Wreck-It Ralph in the Internet in 2018 Terrifies Me. Really.
Wreck-It Ralph 2 finally got a teaser trailer this month. I’m not going to lie, Wreck-It Ralph is legit my favorite Disney film. I’ve been tapping my feet like a Sonic the Hedgehog idle animation for a sequel since the credits rolled on the first film. Now that Ralph Breaks…
Nathan Quick Comes Full Circle On The Other Side
Nathan Quick is an artist. You need to let that sink in, as he’s always been the guy who drops a record, and the response you’ll hear most is that “he’s a nice guy,” or “he’s a productive guy.” However, on his latest release The Other Side, he bears his…
From Bank to Bar: Brews and Boos in Burton, Texas
Retirement plans come in all shapes and sizes. Some folks plan to travel, others decide to take up playing bridge, but for Stephen and Melissa Russell — who must have been the coolest couple around — they decided to take their popular house concerts one step further by opening up…
If Bill O’Brien Is Sticking Around, He Needs To Become Better
When you consider that the Houston Texans have spent the early portion of January in each of the last two seasons playing in actual postseason games, it’s really saying something when I contend that this is easily the most intriguing January of the Bill O’Brien Era. It’s actually saying TWO…
How Katy Perry Can Get Back on Track
Katy Perry is one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. She has toured the world, sold millions of records, logged hits for days, made millions of dollars, and in the process, became an absolute pop culture phenomenon. Point being, it’s good to be Katy Perry, who brings her…
When Getting Cash For Your House in a Quick Sale Might Not Be the Worst Idea
Maybe it’s because your elderly aunt who just died was something of a hoarder, didn’t see well and spent her days outdoors rather than inside vacuuming and dusting. And you just can’t face sorting through the decades of decaying memorabilia and cigarette butts you’ve inherited along with the house. Or…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Hot Sake and a Bubbles Brunch
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings: Etoile Cuisine et Bar, 1101-11 Uptown Park, creates two special prix fixe menus each month, one for dinner and one for weekend brunch, and from each sale, a portion goes to a designated monthly charity. For…
Ryan Pera and Agricole Hospitality Head For Montrose
Agricole Hospitality will open Night Heron at 1601 West Main this February in the space formerly known as Lowbrow. According to a press release the menu will offer, “small plates and shareables… explore cuisines from around the world… beers on tap, a 75-bottle wine list with strong by-the-glass offerings, and…
Walking Brooms and Disney’s Fantasia Come to Life with the Symphony
The magic of Disney and the beauty of music will merge when the Houston Symphony presents Disney Fantasia – Film with Live Orchestra Jan. 5 – 7 at Jones Hall. The musicians will play the iconic score to selections from Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 while the movie plays on a screen above the orchestra.
Deshaun Watson’s ACL Rehab Progressing Ahead of Schedule
It appears as though Texans head coach Bill O’Brien will be back for the upcoming 2018 season, although in a cryptic 25 minute press conference yesterday, in which he deferred about half of the answers to Bob McNair (who has not spoken publicly in quite some time), O’Brien essentially left…
The 20 Best Houston Rap Tapes Of 2017 (15-11)
15. EASY YVES SAINT, Don’t Panic Rapping ass Yves makes it a personal mission to be a step ahead of the next bar that comes out of his mouth. It is proficiency of the highest order and unlike Eminem meticulously peeling away how to rhyme words with orange, it’s actually…
Analyzing the Rockets Schedule Without James Harden
The Rockets’ annual New Year’s Eve game turned into a thrilling double-overtime win, the first win in the previous six games for the Rockets against the team who started their losing streak, the Lakers. The 148-142 final delivered a win for a team going through a rough patch, but it…
First Look at Nancy’s Hustle
The universe wanted me to find out about Nancy’s Hustle. A new neighborhood bistro and wine bar in EaDo, the eatery opened in early December and hadn’t been on my radar until I watched — interest piqued — an Instagram story in which my friend enticingly poured cream into perfectly…
Bitter Cold Descends Upon Much of the U.S.
We in Houston tend to think we have it rough when temperatures hover around the freezing mark as they have early in this first week of 2018. But, for those who have not had to live through the kind of brutal cold gripping parts of the United States since New…
Swish Swish: The Best of The Week
Now that 2017 is in the books, we can start looking forward to a promising new year, resolutions most of us won’t keep, and plenty of entertaining options in the slowest time of year for concerts. But even with that being the case, there’s more than enough happening around town…
Hard Freeze Coming Tonight for Entire Houston Area
The record temperature for January 3 is 25 degrees. We’re not gonna lie, 25 degrees is damn cold for Houston, Texas, USA. When friends who are from more northern climbs laugh at our suffering, we just remind them to check with us in August. But, don’t be surprised if we…
The Vikings Ride the Arm of Case Keenum to the NFL Playoffs
The NFC’s No. 2 seed for the playoffs is the Minnesota Vikings with a 13-3 record. Not many predicted the Vikings would end up in this spot. Especially not after starting quarterback Sam Bradford was essentially knocked out for in the first game. And especially not when Bradford’s backup was…
The 20 Best Houston Rap Tapes Of 2017 (20-16)
Last year either felt like the longest year ever or the shortest one, depending on your deposition. In the last four months alone, the city of Houston has witnessed a 500-year flood, a World Series win, a franchise quarterback arrive and a snow day. We also may have had the most…
You’re Invited To The 11th Annual Houston Film Critics Society Awards
The Houston Film Critics Society is the only regional film critics organization to hold an awards ceremony. Take that, Cleveland.
2018 New Year’s Day, College Football — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
In its short four-year history, the last time there was as much hand wringing as we’ve had this season over whether or not the committee chose the right team to occupy the fourth and final spot was in the playoff’s first season, in 2014, when Ohio State’s 59-0 win over…
Houston Press Singles Club: Tee Vee, Birthday Club, T2 The Ghetto Hippie, etc.
This week in the club, we’ll add plenty of tracks to get you going in the new year. An electro-pop banger from Tee Vee, a bedroom pop chiller from Hearts of Animals, an indie rock jam from Birthday Club, a chill hip hop groove from T2 The Ghetto Hippie, and…
Breaking Down the Blockbusters of 2018, Trailer By Trailer
While movie theaters struggle with the question of how to get audiences to fork over $10 a ticket, Hollywood rolls on with another year of big budget, CG heavy spectaculars that’ll we’ll all have 24 hours to see before the spoilers start littering up our social media feeds. The year…
First Look: Southern BOI Café Brings Down Home Spice to League City
Crispy fried okra, homemade banana pudding and crunchy catfish topped with stewed okra and tomatoes over creamy grits are just a few of the Southern-inspired dishes served at League City’s newest eatery, Southern BOI Café. Hidden behind a gas station in a small shopping strip just off FM 518, this…
Eartha Kitt Made the First Lady Cry, Probably, and Paid For It Dearly
Whether entertainer Eartha Kitt actually made Lady Bird Johnson cry at that fated 1960s White House luncheon remains the stuff of legend. What we do know is that Kitt’s suggestions to the First Lady and her shocked guests that the Vietnam War contributed to juvenile delinquency made her persona non…
Chef Chat: Stephanie Hoban on Food Truck Life and the Ripening of Her Business
Move over image of Teva-wearing, almond butter brandishing vegan and make way for designer pumps and jackfruit carnitas. Stephanie Hoban, the 30-year-old owner of Ripe Cuisine, graces the winter cover of Houston City Book fiercely chomping into one of her signature iced vegan donuts. Certainly, veganism never looked that good…
Are We Nearing the End of Music Ownership?
Many of us were criminals at the end of the 20th century. You can dress up any argument you want about why you got into file sharing in the first place, but if you were one of the millions who downloaded and used Napster and the similar apps that followed,…
Fight Me Drops Debut That Doesn’t Disappoint
When bands release their debut albums, many attempt to do so with plenty of fanfare, and try to get the word out as much as possible. That’s not really how Houston’s Fight Me does anything, but that’s not a bad thing either. So, while this album came out a couple…
NFL Football, Week 17: It’s Over, Texans-Colts — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
As the fourth quarter clock slowly churned down in the fourth quarter of yesterday’s 22-13 Texans loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the Texans were huddled up for a third down. That huddle included the following players — wide receivers Braxton Miller and Chris Thompson, tight end Stephen Anderson, quarterback T.J…
This Week in Houston Food Events: A New Year, A New Burger
Here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long Salad Swap Challenge at Snappy Salads Beginning Tuesday, January 2 and throughout the month, both Houston locations of Snappy Salads, 19111 Katy and 1920 Fountain View, will be offering a “Salad Swap Challenge”. Guests who dine at other…
The 10 Biggest Houston Sports Stories of 2017
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” could describe virtually any year in Houston sports, but perhaps none quite as dramatically as 2017. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat was in full effect around here. In reality, the good outweighed the bad…
Transmutative Artist Deredia Celebrates Spherical Perfection in Houston Exhibit
Sometimes even the longest journeys come full circle, with the answer having been there all along, even from the beginning. And so it went for Latin American artist Jorge Jiménez Martínez who, at the young age of 22, traveled to Italy on a study grant where he explored Europe and Renaissance history. Those…
