The Curious Incident of the Dog on the Internet, Part Two
Back in November, we told you about a woman named “Mary Hernandez” who’s selling non-existent dogs online. We’re not sure how many people are involved in this thing, but he/she/them is now using the name “Regina Berry.” We just heard from a couple near Boston who shelled out $1,150 and…
Is Jose Cruz a Terrorist?
I’ve got a confession to make. Apparently, I’m a terrorist. I say “apparently” because I sometimes exchange fist bumps with friends, and according to Fox New Channel’s E.D. Hill, the fist bump is actually a terrorist fist jab. You see, it seems that Barack Obama and Michelle Obama exchanged a…
A Blast From Calexico’s Past Blasts Into Space
Space, the final frontier, will be transformed into Calexico’s “Crystal Frontier” Friday morning. Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle will be shaken from their slumber to the mariachi-rock of the Widescreen Remix of Calexico’s classic cut from their 2001 EP Even My Sure Things Fall Through. And to celebrate, the Arizona…
Astros-Brewers: Just What Will It Take for Cecil Cooper to Bench Miguel Tejada and Carlos Lee?
Coming into last night’s game with the Milwaukee Brewers, the Astros had lost four straight series, and their record had dropped down to the five hundred mark. And things didn’t look promising when Brewers lead-off batter Corey Hart started off the game with a double, then advanced to third with…
NBA or WWE?
The NBA Finals are finally interesting. To absolutely no one’s surprise, the Los Angeles Lakers benefitted from a winning combo of home court and healthy desperation to dispatch Boston 87-81 last night; cutting the Celtics’ series lead to 2-1 in the process. And if, while watching, you started having flashbacks…
Last Night: Adam Carroll & John Evans at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
Adam Carroll & John Evans McGonigel’s Mucky Duck June 10, 2008 Better than: Any Tuesday night at a bar in Waco with a bunch of Ball Cap Nation frat geeks singing along to “Wave on Wave” or “George’s Bar.” Download: For a vicious poetic vignette of drug culture, try Carroll’s…
I Spend Too Much of My Life Hating Heidi and Spencer And It Needs to Stop!
Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt. I fucking hate these two. I fucking hate them! I hate that, based on luck alone, they grew up totally privileged and rich, and now reports are surfacing that last year, these two spawn of Satan earned an additional $3 million. I hate that Heidi…
Back in Business at Kozy Kitchen
Driving down Lockwood the other day, I was delighted to see smoke billowing out of the chimney at Kozy Kitchen. I stuck my head in the back door and had a chat with owner Bill Taylor who was getting ready for the Saturday lunch rush. Taylor is also the guy…
The Chicken Salad Sandwich at French House
The comments feature on our Web site is malfunctioning. Sorry for the inconvenience. Here are some comments we received via e-mail from readers about the French House review: “The story we heard was that many years ago the owner was a French woman who enjoyed a big success with her…
$7 at Cecil’s on West Gray
Where: Cecil’s, 600 West Gray, 713-527-9101 What $7 gets you: A slightly less painful hangover We haven’t always been kind to Cecil’s over the years, but we can’t quit the place, mainly because our buddy has a dog that does well there, and also because of the pool tables. Not…
Viagra and Roger Clemens: New Information Pops Up, er, Arises, er, Reveals Itself, er…
So let’s say you are an All-Star pitcher. You’ve won multiple Cy Young Awards, and many people consider you to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Let’s say you have a woman stashed in every city you play — including a 15-year old. Let’s say that you need to…
The Origin of Liberty White
I was reading John McClain’s latest ode to the greatness of Bob McNair the other day, and it reminded me of a story about McNair and the Texans that I’m sure most of you have never heard. So I thought I would share. I’m not sure how many of you…
Jim McKay, R.I.P.
“They’re all gone,” Jim McKay said that September night in 1972. And we all knew – even my six-year-old self – that the Israeli Olympic athletes were dead. The statement was short, declarative. To the point. And it told us all that needed to be said. Jim McKay died Saturday…
Jason Friedman Wins Big
Pardon us while we take a quick sec to pat ourselves on the back. The Lone Star Awards were handed out this weekend, and our very own Jason Friedman took home some hardware. He got third place in the statewide contest for sports story with “Rocket Science,” his tale of…
When’s George Clooney Going to Go into Therapy?
Poor George Clooney. I mean that honestly, sincerely, truly. I think even if I were a man, I would be saying it. Poor George Clooney. The man cannot commit. The 47-year-old dapper actor recently broke up with his twentysomething girlfriend Sarah Larson after one year of dating, and for the…
Over the Weekend: Capone’s, Tipsy Clover, Deco, Caroline Collective and Astros
We’re sure plenty of stuff happened in the daylight this weekend, but we were too busy carousing to take note. Check out the evidence below. Grand Opening of the Caroline Collective The creative professionals were out in full force on Saturday night for the inaugural event at this co-working environment…
Astros-Cardinals: Back Down to Five Hundred
The strangeness that makes up this season’s meetings between the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals continued this weekend. There have been four series thus far, and the Astros have won the first game of every series and then lost the next two. The Astros offense came to life…
To Do: Jeannie Ralston Signing The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming
Remember Green Acres, about a chic New York wife who gets carted off to live in the country? The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming is like that, but without Arnold the pig. Oh, and Lavender Queen is true. Jeannie Ralston ended up in Texas Hill Country as…
Get Lit: A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties, by Suze Rotolo
To Bob Dylan fans, she is The Girl on the Cover. The brunette with the wide eyes, long brown hair, and infectious smile forever immortalized on the arm her boyfriend on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. It’s the record that really launched Dylan’s career and legend with self-penned…
Get Lit: No Regrets: The Best, Worst, & Most #$%*ing Ridiculous Tattoos Ever, by Aviva Yael & P.M. Chen
The tattoo is the result of a bet. A dolphin with a tribal tattoo props its fin up on an old La-Z-Boy while it smokes a bong. It’s a meta-tattoo, and it’s hilarious. Or, as the caption in No Regrets: The Best, Worst, & Most #$%*ing Ridiculous Tattoos Ever, by…
Krazy George Just Won’t Go Away
Were you one of those lucky 50,000 people who, back in the late-70s and early-80s, had Houston Oilers season tickets? Do you remember that crazy old guy who walked around the Dome banging on his drum and demanding that we all shout HOUSTON OILERS at the top of our lungs?…
Small Town Sausage at Krolczyk Meats
Once you start talking about small town sausage makers in Texas, you are in for an endless discussion. I like to buy a few pounds of jalapeño sausage whenever I see one these little meat markets and take it home to throw on the smoker or the grill. I keep…
Frightened Rabbit Cancels
Just got word from the band’s publicist — Frightened Rabbit will not playing tonight with French Kicks at Walter’s. The band hopes to schedule a make-up date, but none as yet has been announced. No reason for the cancellation was given. — John Nova Lomax…
Muxtape #3: Freaky Friday Edition
So I tore down the greatest hits of H-Town rock Muxtape this morning and scoured the weirdest and wildest corners of my Mp3 library for some oddities I hope will shock and awe you. Link and track listing after the jump…
Cheap Move: Astros Draft Jason Castro
I want to give Bobby Heck the benefit of the doubt. Really I do. He seems to have done wonders with finding players for the Milwaukee Brewers, but damn, Jason Castro? Is he really the best the Astros could do with the tenth pick of the amateur draft? An American…
Kolaches! (Way Outside The Loop)
Some homemade kolaches to get you in the mood… Fancy a day trip? Head out to East Bernard next Saturday (June 14) for the all-day Kolache-Klobase Festival. You can get your mitts and mouth on plenty of sausage, barbecue chicken and real kolaches (unlike those silly doughnut things you see…
Astros-Pirates: Time to Bench Carlos Lee and Miguel Tejada?
Let’s go for the good news from last night’s Astros game against the Pirates. The Astros broke their streak by scoring three runs, their first time to do so in eight games. Now for the bad news. Brandon Backe gave up four runs and the Astros lost. Again. 4-3. Here…
I Am Going to Buy New Kids on the Block Tickets
Donnie Wahlberg is 38 years old. 38. And I think Danny Wood is even older. I don’t know why I should be so shocked. After all, I’m thirtysomething, too. I’m thirtysomething, and I’m going to buy New Kids on the Block tickets and go see them when they come through…
Slideshow: Discovery Green in Downtown Houston
We’ve just loaded up some photos from last weekend at Discovery Green, in case you needed inspiration for this weekend’s plans. – KP…
Red Wine and Homegrown Tomatoes for Breakfast
I pulled the cork on a California Cab yesterday morning. Then I had a big glass of red wine and some homegrown tomatoes for breakfast. I had never felt better. The idea that red wine is good for you isn’t new. But scientists now think red wine is gushing from…
This Just In: Texas Education Commissioner Orders Sam Houston High School Closed
The much beleaguered Sam Houston High was ordered shut down by the Texas Commissioner of Education because it failed to make enough academic progress, the Houston Independent School District’s press office is announcing this afternoon. However, HISD Superintendent Abe Saavedra has an alternate plan for the school, or as the…
The Five Worst Trades in the History of Houston Sports
There’s one thing worse than not making a trade, and that’s making a bad trade. And Houston sports fans have witnessed a lot of bad trades. Here, in my opinion, are the five worst. 5. Houston Astros closer Billy Wagner questioned owner Drayton McLane’s commitment to winning. On November 5,…
More Houston Strippers Busted
Bruce Springsteen said it’s hard to be a saint in the city, but dude didn’t know the half of it: It’s even harder being a stripper in Houston. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office arrested 18 boob-oriented entertainers during a May 29 raid at the St. James Cabaret, which is one…
Race and Baseball: The Stories of Josh Hamilton and Darryl Strawberry
I’m sure most of us have heard of the story of Josh Hamilton, the former number one draft pick of the then-Tampa Bay Devil Rays who, following a car wreck, spiraled into a world of alcoholism and drug abuse; who was suspended multiple times by both the Rays and Major…
Q&A with Brazilian Musician Djavan
Click the button below for an interpreter-assisted conversation between Djavan, who plays tonight at UH, and Night & Day Editor Olivia Flores Alvarez…..
Country Paws Rescue Closes Down
Hey you – yeah, you. You know what you need? A dog. Or a cat. Or a few of each. Pets kick ass, and they make you live longer, too. And right now, there are a bunch of loveable critters who need your help. Country Paws Rescue, a Hempstead animal…
Astros-Pirates: Houston’s Hitters Gunning for 1991 Numbers
I tend to dwell a bit too much on the negative. So, even though the Astros lost 5-2 to the Pirates last night – their seventh loss in the last ten games – there was some good news. Neither Roy Oswalt nor Oscar Villarreal gave up home runs last night…
Finally! NBA Finals Begin Tonight
Since the NBA playoffs ended about a week ago, I guess it’s long past time for me to deliver my 2007-2008 awards column. Wait, what’s that you say? The playoffs aren’t over yet, the league simply decided to stick an interminably long, momentum-draining week of inaction between the end of…
Hanging Out in the Food Court at H-Mart Korean Grocery Store
The brand new H-Mart Korean Grocery Store (1302 Blalock) features a food court with five dining choices. My current two favorites are Sobahn Express and China Factory Mini. China Factory Mini has my new favorite dish: noodles with black soy bean sauce ($6.00). A combination of stir fried onions and…
Get Lit: Good Advice from Lauren Weisberger’s Chasing Harry Winston
Sex and the City overkill aside, the chick lit phenomenon is far from over. Books with pink-accented covers seems to arrive at our offices every day. The Devil Wears Prada author Lauren Weisberger gets two classic images on the cover of her newest novel, Chasing Harry Winston – three enormous…
To Do: Southern Fried French Food at Central Market
Hungry? Literate? Virginia Willis, author of Bon Appétit, Y’all, has – you guessed it – an interest in both French and Southern cooking, having grown up on Southern food and been trained as a French chef. Her new book combines both types of recipes with photos, stories and cooking tips…
Dust
Marc Fox draws his stuff. For Dust, his self-described “meditation on ownership,” Fox drew over a thousand items sitting around his studio. Furniture, art supplies, toys, cameras, knickknacks, eating utensils and musical instruments were all rendered in detailed ink prints and displayed on several backgrounds. This month, the installation is…
“Deeply Rooted”
It’s always a pleasure to see a young troupe take its place in the Houston dance pantheon. Today, Urban Souls Dance Company officially arrives with a presentation of new works meant to proclaim the company’s mission: the fusion of urban life with dance theater, with an emphasis on the African-American…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Bright Lights, Big City, Present Laughter, Time of My Life, The Splasher, Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens
Bright Lights, Big City In 1984, Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City, a narrative about the bacchanalian, cocaine-snorting world of New York City in the early ’80s, became a New York Times notable book. Told in the second person, the iconoclastic novel runs through a week in the life of…
Eddie Izzard
Eddie Izzard isn’t cross-dressing these days. (Hence the name of his latest tour: Stripped.) The legendary transvestite comedian has decided to drop the ladies’ clothing and most of the makeup for his current trek around the U.S. Arguably one of the best in the business, the two-time Emmy Award winner…
Electile Dysfunction
Celebrating the most exciting election year in decades, Radio Music Theatre’s come up with a brand new comedy called Electile Dysfunction, featuring a whole new cast of wacky characters. Hailing from a make-believe Houston neighborhood called “Precious Trees, the most planned planned community,” the family at the center of the…
Mat Johnson
Mat Johnson admits readings aren’t easy for graphic novelists…especially at a park. “We’re trying to see how to do a PowerPoint presentation outside,” says Johnson. The UH Creative Writing Program faculty member will read from his graphic novel Incognegro today at Discovery Green. He says if worse comes to worst,…
“African American Battlefields of the Civil War: Contemporary Photography by William Earle Williams”
After President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, more than 180,000 African-American soldiers fought in the Union Army, in regiments and battalions that often, unsurprisingly, drew the most thankless and unpleasant assignments, with little to no credit or recognition. They get some of their due in “African American Battlefields…
“Scholar’s Eye: Contemporary Ceramics”
The world of ceramics, to many, starts with teacups and ends with saucers. But those who see “The Scholar’s Eye: Contemporary Ceramics from the Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection,” featuring 30 select pieces from the art scholars’ collection, will get a broadened view of ceramics’ range and significance…
The Accordion Kings and Queens
You’ll find a little bit of zydeco, a little bit of Tejano, some swing and a whole lot of polka at the 19th annual Accordion Kings and Queens concert. Step Rideau & the Zydeco Outlaws, who neatly mix their zydeco with blues and rap, and La Tropa F, the Grammy-nominated…
Polka Party
Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland: It’s amazing that countries with such gray weather could come up with something as colorful and joy-infused as polka (maybe it’s all the beer). Whatever the reason, polka is a musical force to be reckoned with, and it will be on display today at…
48 Hour Film Project Screening
We can’t tell you what you’ll see at the 48 Hour Film Project Screening — no one can. That’s because the films are being created right now, maybe even as you read this. On Friday, June 6, local filmmaking teams were given two days to make a seven–minute movie. There…
Grand Canyon Adventure 3D
People thought filmmaker Greg MacGillivray was crazy to carry expensive and delicate movie equipment, including a 350–pound IMAX camera, onto the rough and racing Colorado River. But that’s what he did to capture the images in Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk 3D. For four wet and exhilarating weeks, MacGillivray…
First Thursdays
Join fellow film lovers at this month’s edition of First Thursdays at Dean’s. Among the shorts screening will be the 13-minute film Capture Claus by Chris McInroy, which follows a little boy who wants to not just meet Santa, but catch him in one of the many elaborate booby traps…
The Splasher
The second offering from the brand-new Catastrophic Theatre Company is an original in every way. Created by company member (and Houston Press contributor) Troy Schulze, The Splasher focuses on a real-life guy who ran around New York City vandalizing graffiti as a political statement against art. Schulze says that when…
DJ Tiësto Hits the Decks
Tiësto knows what it’s like to command a crowd. The Netherlands-based DJ became the first turntablist to appear onstage at an Olympic Games opening ceremony, at the 2004 Athens Games. But that was no big deal: The trance master routinely plays before European masses of 20,000 to 30,000, teeming cauldrons…
In Seclusion
When artist Aisen Chacin visited the slums of Latin America, she couldn’t help but feel guilty. “My tour only lasted four hours,” her artist’s statement says. “Theirs last forever.” The experience prompted Chacin, a Venezuelan artist who resides in Houston, to put together a collection of photos and videos of…
Poi Dog Pondering
It takes 12 people, and sometimes more, to bring Poi Dog Pondering frontman Frank Orrall’s patchwork quilt of rock, folk, funk, soul and techno to life behind his probing, spiritual lyrics. Poi Dog began in Orrall’s native Hawaii in 1985, then passed through Austin for the Columbia albums Wishing Like…
La Sylphide/A Doll’s House
The Houston Ballet features a war to end all wars…in Mattel terms. The dance company closes its season with the world premiere of A Doll’s House, a ballet that pits teddy bears against action figures and Barbies against Kens in an all-out battle to be King (or Queen) of the…
“Kaleidoscoptical Super Revolution!”
“Kaleidoscoptical Super Revolution!” is a show of works by one of Houston’s most meticulous artists. Patrick Turk spends hours cutting out inch-size pieces of paper to create his collages. He uses small pictures of bodies, body parts, sushi, snakes, lines, everything — to create larger pictures that resemble the view…
“A Problem of Courage”
Kara Hearn’s exhibition at DiverseWorks, “A Problem of Courage,” includes a video installation starring the artist as herself and some 20 other characters. The piece moves from one awkward, slightly tragic moment to the next — with Hearn doing all the acting. “I think I wanted it to be a…
Vinyl Ranch’s tribute to Urban Cowboy
Vinyl Ranch’s tribute to Urban Cowboy celebrates 28 years of hard-hat days and honky-tonk nights. Leon Lounge’s monthly country-music installment will feature screenings of the classic film. John Travolta (and his Wrangler-clenched butt — yee haw!) stars as Bud, a young buck who finds work at an oil rig in…
John Alexander, the Mediocre
John Alexander is one of those iconic Texans. He’s irreverent, opinionated, proud of his Gulf Coast roots and, as evidenced by the work in “John Alexander: A Retrospective” at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, a mediocre painter. Alexander grew up in Beaumont. He got his BFA from Lamar University…
French Kicks: Swimming
For a former garage band, French Kicks have gone remarkably ethereal on their new offering, and it suits them: The New York quartet seems poised for a breakthrough with this hypnotic, heartbreaking disc. From Swimming’s opening moments, you know something new is up. Over guitar licks recalling R.E.M.’s “Finest Worksong,”…
Bayousphere
Peter Dinklage decided not to reprise his star-making role for the sequel to The Station Agent once he learned it was going for more of an action-adventure feel. Auditions for Station Agent 2: Toss Hard were held at All Stars Men’s Club recently. Because, apparently, you need some good dwarf-tossing…
Tino Ortega’s Matagorda Island Discs
This week’s installment finds bassist-singer Tino Ortega of local cumbia funkestra Chango Man waxing both wildly eclectic and utterly indecisive. “This is the list. I have comments for every CD, since I own all of them and have listened to all of these 1,000 times. But this is NOT my…
Vocational Students, Truck Drivers and Grateful Artists
A Different Course Kudos: Thank you so much for your article “College Immaterial” [by Todd Spivak, May 15]. I am a product of HISD and attended Houston Technical Institute, which is now called Barbara Jordan High School for Careers. I had dropped out of another school during my ninth-grade year when…
The Children of Huang Shi Is an Epic Bore
Loath though I am to carp about any director who’s devoted chunks of his career to bringing the nonwhite world’s suffering to Western attention, Roger Spottiswoode’s The Children of Huang Shi — a drama based on the life of an Englishman who saved an orphanage full of boys from Japanese…
Austin City Limits: The Unforeseen
For those growing up in weatherbeaten West Texas, someone says early in Laura Dunn’s The Unforeseen, “nature becomes God.” A God that hands out abundance at times, to be sure, but also one who snatches away crops, farms and livelihoods in a single wrathful whirlwind. To master one’s plot of…
Castle of Shikigami III tests the bounds of Wii loyalty
John Edwards might see Two Americas, but this simpleminded little game enthusiast is more preoccupied with America’s Two Wii Owners. One is the Nintendo fan: the cat who bought a GameCube, Nintendo 64, every incarnation of the Game Boy — and anything Nintendo releases with a “Mario” or “Zelda” in…
Empire Strikes Back in Mongol
You want a history lesson? Take a class. You want clanging swords, sneering villains, storybook romance and bloody vengeance? Here’s a brawny old-school epic to make the CGI tumult of 300, Alexander and Troy look like sissy-boy slap parties. Mongol, alias Genghis Khan: The Early Years, may compress, elide and…
There’s a Morning-After Drug to Prevent HIV Infection
At 9:30 p.m. on Friday, April 18, Michelle Lee (not her real name) left a swimming pool party at an apartment complex in The Woodlands, strolled a couple blocks to her SUV wearing only flip-flops and a two-piece bathing suit with a towel wrapped around it and opened the driver’s…
Flowers to Hide: Down the Stairs EP
Since the Beatles, British rock bands have always held a certain mystique in the U.S. While it’s no surprise that American bands keep churning out albums that mimic their counterparts from across the pond, it’s puzzling how the lesser-known stateside bands are often better. Maybe it’s because their music is…
Dax Riggs
Fat Possum Records’ business model would give second thoughts to anyone who thinks the proverbial deal with the devil is as much a musty museum piece as Muddy Waters’ hat or Elmore James’s slide. As the crotchety old folks like R.L. Burnside, T-Model Ford and CeDell Davis who originally gave…
A compendium of Cure-related information
Since forming in 1976, the Cure has weathered punk, disco, new wave, five presidential administrations (soon to be six) and more lineup changes than former Astros skipper Phil Garner. Their sound — most often thickly knotted layers of despairing guitar and keyboard that builds from a whisper to a roar…
Ladytron, with Datarock
Despite being one of the world’s leading electropop stylists since they started in 1999, Ladytron don’t have the typical cold and robotic sound you might expect. That’s partly because the coed Liverpool quartet go to the trouble of using vintage analog equipment, which gives the music a warmer, dreamier feel…
Natasha Bedingfield, with Kate Voegele and the Veronicas
It doesn’t get poppier, perkier or cuter than this triple-header featuring Brit Bedingfield, Australian twins the Veronicas and Cleveland singer-songwriter Voegele. Bedingfield’s Pocketful of Sunshine practically bubbles over with happy: “Sticks and stones are never gonna shake me / I got a pocketful of sunshine!” she chirps in the luminous…
Here’s the soundtrack to your future unemployment!
We’re knee-deep into Depression 2.0. We’re running out of jobs, and we’re overwhelmed with the amount of people looking for them. You’re unemployed — or if you aren’t, then there’s a good chance that you will be, because your job can be combined with the guy in accounting and the…
Fast Food at the French House
The hot ham and Swiss cheese sandwich with sweet hot mustard on a crusty baguette with a cup of cold cucumber soup on the side may be the best thing I tried at the French House, an odd little breakfast and lunch operation on Westheimer at Fountainview. The sandwich usually…
Denny’s Adopts Rock Bands
Standing in a weirdly calm commercial kitchen and looking both bemused and amused, Taking Back Sunday frontman Adam Lazzara grabs a tray with two Polish sausages. Then he delivers an important message to the YouTube audience: “Make sure you check outDennysAllNighter.com!” Lazzara, you see, has just scored a coup. Taking…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Drawing in Space”
“Drawing in Space” For his drawing/performance, Marker Head Marker at Lawndale Art Center, Daniel Adame encased his head in a giant chunk of plaster shaped like a huge piece of chalk. He then made a drawing on a blackboard hung on the gallery wall. The piece is a part of…
Hairpiece in the Middle East: You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
Behold Adam Sandler, in a passable Israeli accent and outsize codpiece, as Zohan the Mossad super-heavy: catching barbecued fish in his butt crack on a Tel Aviv beach, repelling bullets with his nostril, sculpting hand grenades into toy poodles for delighted Palestinian children while making mincemeat of an Arab terrorist…
ConocoPhillips, Art Car Shenanigans and Concrete Canoes
Thanks to the eternal vigilance of Banjo Jones, Brazoria County’s most dedicated refinery watcher, we learn that ConocoPhillips has been fined $228,900 for various pollution-related infractions. Andrea Morrow of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality confirms the news, saying a “routine inspection” by TCEQ caught the energy giant in seven…
Extreme Prejudice, Chained Dogs and Mixed Marriages
Dear Mexican, First, it was the Native Americans, then it was the blacks, then the Japanese. For a while, Muslims. Now, I fear that American prejudice will soon overwhelm Mexicans. It’s one thing to get called a dirty Jap or border hopper, but tell me: is it possible that America…
Bootlegging Dr Pepper
Ask any Dublin Dr Pepper bootlegger what the fuss is all about. They’ll tell you that the top-shelf, premier cru of Texas soda pop is selling for eight bucks a six-pack in some stores — when you can find it. Back in the 1970s, when soft drink bottlers across the…
High Gas Prices Still Hurting Touring Bands
Two years ago, when gas prices briefly topped three bucks a gallon for a few weeks, we wrote in this space that the tab for touring bands was downright astronomical. Touring musician David Beebe said then that anybody of his ilk who was in it for the money was a…
BRIAN O’NEILL’S IRISH CAR BOMB
After the obligatory family Memorial Day barbecue, I met up with my nephew Matt and his beau David for a nightcap at Brian O’Neill’s Irish Pub (5555 Morningside, 713-522-2603). After a few beers, I decided to the leave the lovebirds on the deck and chat up the Irish lads at the…
The Defenestration Unit
It’s hard to preview a show by a group of musicians like the frequently expanding and/or contracting sextet that calls itself The Defenestration Unit. Were this band assigned that task, they’d likely shrug the whole thing off as missing the point. Besides, they probably only have a slightly better idea…
Various Artists: Nigeria Rock Special: Psychedelic Afro-Rock & Fuzz Funk in 1970s Nigeria, Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump
Finding out that Nigeria had thriving psych-rock and funk scenes in the ’70s is akin to discovering Yemen harbored a killer ice-hockey league in the Phil Esposito era. But several bands in the Lagos area were absorbing the Anglo-American funkadelic zeitgeist and putting distinctive spins on freaky groove construction, largely…
Shula’s Steakhouse
Don Shula, the ex-coach of the Miami Dolphins, has had as much success with his steakhouses as he did with his team. The new Shula’s Steakhouse (1200 Louisiana, 713-375-4777) in the Hyatt Regency downtown is No. 18 in the chain and the first in Texas. So there, Dallas. “The restaurant is…