New President, Same Sheila Jackson Lee
Photos by Steve OlafsonWe know this is getting old. For years now we’ve tuned in to the annual State of the Union address to make sure that U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Tx, of the Fightin’ 18th Congressional District in Houston, gets up next to the President, be he Democrat…
H-Town Hangman Addendum: Blaggards Prize Still Unclaimed
Well, despite being so easy Bob Ruggiero a caveman could do it, it appears as if the world premiere of H-Town Hangman still couldn’t manage to deliver on the prize front. Or, rather, the first Hangman winner didn’t stick around long enough to claim his(?) spoils. Rocks Off is a…
The Pride Of Spring, TX, Doesn’t Blow It For Halo Fans
Stephen Rippy grew up in Spring, and unless you’re into gaming you’ve probably never heard of him.But if you are into games, perhaps obsessively, then you’re familiar with his work — he provides the soundtrack for such titles as Age of Empire and Age of Mythology.But that was peanuts compared…
BARC Down To Its Last Vet
Veterinarian David Rundell resigned today from the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, spokeswoman Kathy Barton confirmed. Nicole Sica at the Houston Examiner was the first on the story. Rundell was suspended with pay three weeks ago for allegedly treating a sick dog with Valium he brought into facility. Rundell, who…
Aftermath: Son Volt at the Continental Club
“Now and then it keeps you runnin’, never seems to die…” The opening line to Son Volt’s soothing elegy “Windfall,” which closed out Tuesday’s main set at the Continental Club – just like almost every other SV set since the band’s 1995 debut Trace – goes a long way to…
One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Four, Let’s Have Some Tequila, Then More, More, More
The scene last night was the wine vault at Voice in the basement of the Hotel Icon, 220 Main Street, and the occasion was a tequila cocktail pairing dinner for members of the media. Voice Chef Michael Kramer served up his usual magic with a dinner that started with a…
Hearst Breaks Out The Ax In San Antonio; Houston On Deck
Photo by WhisperToMeYesterday we noted that Hearst, the private company that owns the Houston Chronicle, was threatening to shut down the San Francisco Chronicle if union concessions weren’t forthcoming.Today brings word of major cuts at another Hearst paper, the San Antonio Express, and ominous rumblings about Houston.Hearst is cutting 75…
For The Person Who Has Everything – A Double Wall Stainless Steel Tiffin
I discovered Payal at 5615 Savoy (just off of Harwin near Hillcroft) a few years ago when I went in search of some Indian stainless steel cookware. The Indians do spectacular things with stainless steel: dishes, cups, teapots, pressure cookers…you name it. And when I walked into Payal for the…
Guantanamo’s Final Days, For Better Or Worse
Our sister paper, the Miami New Times, has done an in-depth look at the last days of the prison at Guantanamo Bay.A reporter was there for the last hearing at the camp — involving the youngest detainee — and when the order to close it came down the next day.The…
Tonight: Maggots Unite – Slipknot at Verizon Wireless Theater
Remember to wear something you don’t mind getting covered with booze, blood, vomit or feces, and probably all four… Slipknot’s promo announcement of its current tour. Charming as ever, guys…..
Sex Education In Texas: What The Hell Are They Teaching?
Sex education in many Texas public schools is about as effective as an open-ended condom, according to a report just released by the Texas Freedom Network.Written by a professor and assistant professor of health education, the report claims that “classroom instruction is plagued by errors of fact mixed with misleading…
What’s Twitter Giving Up For Lent In Houston?
If you were awake this morning, you saw the Houston Press ask its Twitter followers what they’re giving up for Lent.What, you’re not following us on Twitter? Too bad, you could have wound up in this article, although knowing you, you just would have said “religion” or “Lent” as so…
Artist of the Week: Guitars
Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group “Artist of the Week,” bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn’t awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com. Look, the last thing we want to do…
Tonight: The Chieftains at Jones Hall
As Rocks Off mentioned in last week’s print article, Chieftains founder Paddy Moloney is a bit of a talker. Furthermore, his lilting Irish brogue is so enchanting it’s easy to get lost in it and forget whatever you asked him in the first place – and he rambles so much…
Weird Incident Has NoTsuOh Owner Thinking It’s Time To Retire
As usual for one of Jim Pirtle’s parties above NoTsuOh on Main near Allen’s Landing, this one extended beyond the night and into the morning. Local musician Greg Wood was there, upstairs near one of the windows. Sometime between five and six AM Sunday, he heard a commotion coming from…
25 More Random Facts About the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
Okay Mr. Connelly, I read your post from yesterday about the “25 Random Facts About the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.” So I consider myself tagged, and will now do my 25 Random Facts About the Rodeo, derived from the way too many years I worked that damn thing as…
25 More Random Facts About the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
Okay Mr. Connelly, I read your post from yesterday about the “25 Random Facts About the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.” So I consider myself tagged, and will now do my 25 Random Facts About the Rodeo, derived from the way too many years I worked that damn thing as…
Free Tickets for Charlie Robison at House of Blues… Almost
Charlie Robison has been around. He was born right here in Houston, but grew up alongside equally (if much differently) gifted songwriting brother Bruce in the South Central Texas ranching town of Bandera. In the ’80s and ’90s, he spent time in two of Austin’s best-known and longest-running country/roots ensembles,…
A Taco Truck with Carhops
The taco truck called “Taqueria Hecho En Mexico 2,” is parked beside a vacant lot on Blalock just south of Campbell. When you pull into the dirt parking lot, a carhop in a uniform approaches the driver’s window of your car with an order pad at the ready. Taquitos here…
Statewide Smoking Ban For Bars: Coming Soon?
It’s been tried before, but this time there may be some possibility of a statewide smoking ban in Texas.Two bills address the subject, (one by Houston’s Rodney Ellis) and the Texas Restaurant Association has announced it can support a ban.Although the TRA says it has “some concerns” with the bills,…
Houston: One Of The Worst Cities To Raise A Family
Congratulations, Houston– you’re one of the 10 worst cities in which to raise a family.Don’t feel so bad, though — it seems just about every Texas city made this list, put together by Quality Health News (Motto: “Generic Name News was taken first”).The listmakers said they looked at graduation rates,…
Jumping Through Immigration Hoops For Houston’s Dancers
At first glance the title seems to be a mistake — “Immigration and the Performing Artist Workshop,” with Maureen Donovan. What, are there lots of singers being smuggled into the country? Dancers buying counterfeit green cards?Well, no. And yes.The problem isn’t that performing artists are being brought into the US…
Local Pakistani Sues Continental Airlines Over Treatment
A Houston man is suing Continental because he ended up spending time in a London jail and can never fly with the airline again, all because — his lawyer says — he didn’t know how to work his new cell phone.Saquib Fatah, who lives here with his wife and son,…
Good Lord, The Chronicle’s Owner Is On A Paper-Killing Rampage
Here’s some shocking news, if you’re a journalist — the Hearst Corporation, owners of the Houston Chronicle, are threatening to shut down the San Francisco Chronicle.Sure, it sounds like posing in relation to upcoming union negotiations, but who knows these days? The privately held company sure sounds like it’s playing…
YouTube Commercial for Westheimer Block Party March 28
This hilarious clip features cameos by John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, the cast of Mortal Kombat (the video game, not the awful movie), a bunch of low-riders and some bangin’ techno beats. Thanks to our pals at Free Press Houston. You know, the more Rocks Off thinks about it – remember,…
Virgil Grotfeldt, 1948-2009
Photo courtesy Wade Wilson ArtArtist Virgil Grotfeldt died today from cancer. Born in Illinois in 1948, he was part of the Houston art community for many years. “I’ve always thought of him as a terrific painter, one of the best in the city,” longtime friend and HBU Gallery Director Jim…
Three Screamin’ Ladies: Karen O, Brody Dalle and Lisa Rieffel of Killola
What a week last week was for three of rock and roll’s preeminent screamin’ ladies. In a few short days, our heroines have unleashed major news and two new singles. Let’s recap. Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs): Last Tuesday, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs posted new single “Zero” to their blog and…
The Stimulus Bill’s Benefits: Coming Soon To An Unemployment Check Near You
The Texas Workforce Commission announced this afternoon that they’re upping the weekly payments to people getting unemployment checks, thanks to the Obama stimulus bill.The checks will increase by $25 a week starting mid-March, for everyone receiving benefits as of February 22.Twenty-five bucks a week — a couple of years ago,…
Devin the Dude, Inadvertent Virtual Realtor?
We were idly trolling around the Houston Association of Realtors Web site the other day and came across this, um, as a real estate agent might put it, “near North Side charmer” at 417 Bishop St. The house itself is less than amazing, but the soundtrack Muzak on the “virtual…
Chalk One Up For The Blogosphere: Houston’s Plan To Pay Off Debts For New Homeowners Is Dead
That didn’t take long.The Chronicle reported this morning that city council (i.e., Mayor Bill White) was considering a plan to pay debts to help first-time homebuyers purchase houses.You can imagine how well that went over once it hit Drudge.Any subtlety — and there was some — got buried under outrage…
Stop Whatever You Are Doing.
At 2:45 P.M. on Fat Tuesday, 2009, Pableaux Johnson, New Orleans food writer and raconteur extraordinaire, sent Houstonians this message: “Whatever you are doing, stop it right now and take the rest of the day off. It’s Mardis Gras people! You have a whole lot of drinking to do if…
If There’s No Money for Textbooks in Texas Next Year Can We At Least Do Away With the State Board of Education and Its Fights?
In Texas, the Permanent School Fund is used to pay for new textbooks each year. With the economy in the dumpster, the fund’s reserves are too low to pay for new textbooks, it has been concluded by those charged with such things. This is especially a shame since the State…
SXSW 09 Will Be a Groover’s Paradise
A few weeks ago, Rocks Off could barely contain his enthusaism when he opened the mail – a momentous enough occasion in itself – and found an advance of Vanguard Records’ Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm. He put it on as soon as he got home (his piddly…
Wayne Dolcefino Brings Art People Together (Really)
Wayne Dolcefino, friend of the Houston art world?That seems unlikely after his reports late last year ripping arts funding in town, which took the tone of “Do you know what crazy so-called ‘art’ your tax dollars are paying for?” (It also, to be fair, exposed some boondoggly stuff.)But the reports,…
Lost Tuneage: Sea Level
Who Dat? When the 1976 lineup of the Allman Brothers Band dissolved in a haze of drugs, solo careers and Cher, members Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson (drums), Chuck Leavell (keyboards), and Lamar Williams (bass) quickly formed this group after adding guitarist Jimmy Nalls. The trio had already been opening Allmans…
The Rodeo Festivities Begin At City Hall, Sloppy Joes Included
Maybe the homeless didn’t get the memo, or maybe the Houston Police Department officers standing around the periphery kept them away, but today’s Downtown Rodeo Roundup at City Hall was full of button-down freeloaders. Long lines led to free sloppy joes, and free bandanas abounded. There was also the chance…
Sonidos y Mas: Carnaval with Brasil Brazil
Formed by veteran Brazilian singers Ana Gazzola and Sonia Santos, Los Angeles-based band Brasil Brazil celebrates the music of their native country with an elaborate show that includes several standards and original songs – a formula they devised when they first started the project over a decade ago as the…
The Houston Chronicle: Now Proudly Featuring Fart Jokes
So it’s come to this: In the never-ending battle to make themselves relevant to Teh Kidz, the Houston Chronicle has resorted to fart jokes.You know how Apple has, like this kind of phone thing, and there’s ads that show all the crazy stuff you can do with it? (Note for…
Tonight: Son Volt at the Continental Club
No doubt we’ll hear this, a highlight from the band’s most recent album, 2007’s The Search… “Methamphetamine,” live at Fort Worth’s Main Street Arts Festival, April 2008…
25 Random Facts About The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is coming to town this week, the sign that spring can’t be far behind.We’ve promised ourselves for weeks that we would never, ever succumb to the “25 Random Things” meme, or phenomenon, or whatever it is, but we have received in the mail a…
New Poll Shows Wide Support For Slot Machines In Texas; Surprisingly, Poll Was Done For Slot Supporters
Supporters of slot machine at horse tracks and Indian casinos have done two things this morning: released a poll showing what they call widespread support in Texas for their issue, and introduced us to an awful, awful new word: “racinos.””New Poll Shows Massive Statewide Support for Racinos” the headline on…
Texans Looking to Trade Sage Rosenfels to Minnesota
Sage Rosenfels had that awful end in the game against the Indianapolis Colts. And Rosenfels wanted to be traded before last season. None of that should matter. Not when Matt Schaub, the Texans so-called number one quarterback, makes Tracy McGrady look like the Cal Ripken of the NBA. When the…
Texans Looking to Trade Sage Rosenfels to Minnesota
Sage Rosenfels had that awful end in the game against the Indianapolis Colts. And Rosenfels wanted to be traded before last season. None of that should matter. Not when Matt Schaub, the Texans so-called number one quarterback, makes Tracy McGrady look like the Cal Ripken of the NBA. When the…
What We Missed Because Of Judge Kent’s Plea Deal
About the only time Judge Samuel Kent’s courtroom behavior was not booming or sarcastic or cruel was yesterday, when he barely whispered “guilty” to charges of obstruction of justice.He made the plea in order to escape a trial on charges of sexual harassment of his female employees, but in doing…
All Grimaldi’s Pizzas Are Not Created Equal
A coal-fired pizza oven operates at extremely high temperatures. It cooks the pizza very quickly and gives it a slightly smoky flavor. If you make a pizza crust of an average thickness, the hot floor of the brick oven will char the bottom of the crust by the time the…
That Fiesta At 14th & Studewood May Be Going, Going, Gone
Via Swamplot comes word that the Fiesta supermarket near Woodland Heights, and the land around it, is for sale.The property at 14th Street and Studewood is a prime location for a Starbucks, a cel-phone store, a bank branch and a Wingstop, if Houston history is any indication.The Fiesta has been…
Bawitda-Brew
If there’s one thing that comes to mind when I’m craving a cold beer, it’s a greasy, stringy, overrated singer from Detroit with a penchant for wifebeaters, sloppy seconds and further denegrating popular music. The Michigan Brewing Company apparently feels the same way, as they’ve just invested $7 million in creating a…
How Not To Feed The Hungry Cheaply
Public relations people like to send the media swag with their announcements. Why? To bribe us, of course. Which is why last week, when several Houston Press employees received a fairly large box in the mail, we thought maybe there were some cookies in there, at least.But it turned out…
Classic Rock Corner: Ted Nugent’s ’80s Albums Reissued
Though he’s known almost as much today for his right-wing political views, expert bowhunting, and reality-show participation, let’s not forget that ol’ Uncle Ted was at one point the screaming Motor City Madman whose primary focus in life was shredding. And like any other musician of longevity, his career has…
Depart From Me! I Never Knew You, Eaters of Bacon
…by eliminating bacon from your diet. Wait…what?Did you know that Joel Osteen is kicking it old school now? And by old school, I mean Old Testament. Straight outta Hebron! The new-agey motivational speaker preacher at Lakewood Church took a bizarrely old-fashioned approach recently when he advised his congregation against eating both pork…
Lonesome Onry and Mean: Ben Mallott at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
With its outrageous cowboy boots and fringed pant legs, the cover of Sugar Land native Ben Mallott’s Look Good, Feel Good had just enough of the bells and whistles to make me think this could be another Texas music wannabe floating along on his Undecided/General Studies degree and daddy’s money…
Mardis Gras Specials: Mudbugs and Beads
The sign in front of the Mardis Gras Grill at 1200 Durham reads, “Every Tuesday is Fat Tuesday at the Mardis Gras Grill.” So what happens there when it really is Fat Tuesday? I asked GM Renee Evans. She told me that the restaurant is celebrating its namesake day with…
War Breaks Out At A Houston Charter School, Obama (Possibly) Embarrassed
There’s trouble brewing at the Girls and Boys Preparatory Academy, a small charter school on Houston’s southwest side. A little background: the academy received its charter in 1995, making it one of 19 original charter schools to open in Texas. Carroll Salley, the school’s founder, was working at HISD but…
Over the Weekend: Dean’s on Fairview, Boheme, Lola’s, House of Blues, Rockets, Aeros and Bingo
We’ll get to the usual ogle-friendly galleries here in a sec, but we just wanted to talk about bingo real quick. Yep, bingo. In particular the action at American Legion #586. We went there yesterday, looking for fun. We bought some cards and plopped down. A couple of nice older…
Aftermath: Loretta Lynn at Arena Theatre
Loretta Lynn came to the stage Saturday night swathed in a baby-blue evening gown the likes of which haven’t been seen in country music since before Taylor Swift was even in a twinkle in her father’s eye. At age 74, the “Blue Kentucky Girl” still packs a room, and her following is…
Abstinence Education In Texas To Take A Hit
Hey kids, break out the condoms!! All those millions of dollars in abstinence education — as we all know, the only thing keeping you from having sex — is going away!Not all of it, to be honest. But more than half.The Legislative Budget Board told a House committee in Austin…
The Nickel: A Musical History of the Fifth Ward, Part 4
[Note: Click on the numbers for parts 1, 2 and 3.] Fifth Ward music mogul Don Robey was so taken with Gatemouth Brown’s talents that he built his entire Peacock label around him. Robey already owned the Bronze Peacock night club and various other business interests, but it was his…
Depart From Me! I Never Knew You, Eaters of Bacon
…by eliminating bacon from your diet. Wait…what?Did you know that Joel Osteen is kicking it old school now? And by old school, I mean Old Testament. Straight outta Hebron! The new-agey motivational speaker preacher at Lakewood Church took a bizarrely old-fashioned approach recently when he advised his congregation against eating both pork…
So Much For That Big Trial Of Judge Samuel Kent
History was waiting to be made in a Houston federal courtroom this morning, when US District Judge Samuel Kent of Galveston was scheduled to go on trial for sexual harassment and obstruction of justice.In a move that was a crushing blow to observers hoping to hear of a drunk (allegedly)…
Turning the Screw: Kyle Hubbard, Rihanna, Diddy, T.I., MF DOOM, 50 Cent, Flo Rida, Mims, Luke, Lil Flip and More
Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off’s weekly rap post. It probably won’t rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: “My Girl Likes To Drink,” Kyle Hubbard Wire To Wire After two weeks of silence, Rihanna issued a statement…
R.I.P. Texas, Says Best-Selling Author (A Non-Texan)
Texas, your day is done.That’s according to Bryan Burrough, the Vanity Fair contributor and author of The Big Rich, a best-selling look at the oilmen who ruled the state and beyond for much of the 20th century.Burrough writes in an op-ed column in the Washington Post that, with the farewell…
Can’t Get It Out of My Head: “It’s Only Rock N Roll”
Live in El Lay, July 1975 Sometimes you can just tell it’s going to be a good week. Rocks Off heard “It’s Only Rock N Roll” – the prize of the Stones’ interregnum between Exile on Main Street and Some Girls (sorry, “Angie” fans) – on the way home last…
Kurtis Foster: One of the Team
We press guys walked into the Houston Aeros locker room on Saturday night and saw a happy bunch of guys. Sure, they had just defeated the Iowa Chops. And sure, the team had just won its sixth straight game. The win was a thriller, a 2-1 Aeros win in the…
Kurtis Foster: One of the Team
We press guys walked into the Houston Aeros locker room on Saturday night and saw a happy bunch of guys. Sure, they had just defeated the Iowa Chops. And sure, the team had just won its sixth straight game. The win was a thriller, a 2-1 Aeros win in the…
Most. Boring. Oscars. Ever.
Ugh! The only interesting thing about the whole damn show was the realization that Goldie Hawn looks like Mickey Rourke. Stop with the work, lady! Seriously. God love Hugh Jackman, but this is not the Tonys. Could that Beyonce “Best of the Musicals” number been any more cheese ball? I…
Rockets-Bobcats: Yao-Artest Form Improved Dynamic Duo
At some point during the will he, won’t he saga of Tracy McGrady’s ongoing knee problems, the heart and identity of the Rockets shifted from a Yao Ming and McGrady-led team to one led by Yao and Ron Artest. So far, the Rockets seem all the better for it. Artest…
Rockets-Bobcats: Yao-Artest Form Improved Dynamic Duo
At some point during the will he, won’t he saga of Tracy McGrady’s ongoing knee problems, the heart and identity of the Rockets shifted from a Yao Ming and McGrady-led team to one led by Yao and Ron Artest. So far, the Rockets seem all the better for it. Artest…
Trainsmash Burger at Out of Africa
Trainsmash is a South African tomato and onion sauce–a trainsmash burger comes slathered in the stuff. This one also had lettuce, fresh tomato and mayonnaise. I liked the condiments alright, it was the burger patty that was the problem. Out of Africa, the South African restaurant at Sugar Creek and…
Donate Your Body To A Science Exhibit, Get Free Tickets
You no longer have the chance to stand on line to see the “Body Works” exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science…but some people never had to.There are six people in the Houston area who got to skip the line – the donors. (Anyone who has legally agreed to…
Guys With Metal Detectors: Heroes Or Pillagers? And, Um, Should We Care?
Robbie Morin of Houston is a man with a cause.A cause that maybe not so many people care about, but that doesn’t matter to him.Morin wants the world to know that people who use those dish-on-a-stick metal detectors, looking for coins and other treasure on beaches and in parks, are…
Taking Stock of Galveston’s Restaurants
Driving along Broadway on your way into the heart of Galveston, it would appear that the island has finally sprung back to life five months after Hurricane Ike passed directly over it. Stores and restaurants are open, medians are planted with fat clumps of flowers, traffic — even on a Thursday –…
Spring Is Here at MAX’s Wine Dive
Photos by Katharine Shilcutt Chef Michael dei Maggi of MAX’s Wine Dive Colorful tattoos, handlebar mustache and calm but vivacious energy, Chef Michael dei Maggi holds court at MAX’s Wine Dive like the king and the court jester all at once. As he excitedly delivers plates of food then recites the dishes and…
Rockets-Mavs: Brooks Delivers Opening Statement
Aaron Brooks knows what many of you think. You fear the Rockets’ new starting point guard is too small to defend big guards, like Dallas’ 6-foot-4, future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd on Friday night. You expect him to be worked over in the post. You wonder if he’s too…
Rockets-Mavs: Brooks Delivers Opening Statement
Aaron Brooks knows what many of you think. You fear the Rockets’ new starting point guard is too small to defend big guards, like Dallas’ 6-foot-4, future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd on Friday night. You expect him to be worked over in the post. You wonder if he’s too…
Rockets Fast Break: Adelman Stresses Consistency at Point
To Rockets coach Rick Adelman, consistency trumps contrast. When fans initially heard the Rafer Alston trade Thursday afternoon, much of the immediate reaction was negative. In addition to questioning the team going forward without an experienced starting point guard, many wondered why the team would trade away Alston’s size for…
Rockets Fast Break: Adelman Stresses Consistency at Point
To Rockets coach Rick Adelman, consistency trumps contrast. When fans initially heard the Rafer Alston trade Thursday afternoon, much of the immediate reaction was negative. In addition to questioning the team going forward without an experienced starting point guard, many wondered why the team would trade away Alston’s size for…
Tonight: …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead at Walter’s on Washington
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is a new band. Sort of. The Austin prog-punks apprenticed on legendarily freaky Central Texas label Trance Syndicate (Pain Teens, Ed Hall, Crust) after founders Conrad Keely and Jason Reece to the Texas capital from Olympia, Wash., in 1994, then went overground…
Miguel Tejada Connected to A-Rod’s Trainer
Are the Astros about to get caught up in the Alex Rodriguez mess? Not that anybody’s making a big deal about it, yet, but the New York Daily News has a big story out about a trainer Alex Rodriguez has been involved with. The trainer, from the Dominican Republic, is…
Miguel Tejada Connected to A-Rod’s Trainer
Are the Astros about to get caught up in the Alex Rodriguez mess? Not that anybody’s making a big deal about it, yet, but the New York Daily News has a big story out about a trainer Alex Rodriguez has been involved with. The trainer, from the Dominican Republic, is…
No More Dumpstaphunk; Free Show Instead
Rocks Off has learned that Ivan Neville’s bus broke down en route to his band Dumpstaphunk’s scheduled show at House of Blues tonight and, needless to say, forced the group to cancel. The venue is offering a refund at the box office or no cover for the two riddim-riding openers,…
Z-Ro Is, In Fact, Not Dead
It’s been a busy month for fake deaths among the Houston rap community. A couple of weeks ago, rumors abounded that Houston’s finest lyricist, Scarface, had passed. Turned out that the super clever title of a Source magazine article (“Scarface Is Dead”) was to blame, and Mr. Face, thankfully, was/is…
A Gift For The New Sheriff: A $5 Million Lawsuit Over An Alleged Jail Beating
Looks like the county’s new sheriff has a $5 million jail lawsuit on his hands — the first of his tenure, which began last month — with a Dallas woman claiming she was beaten by two deputies during her lock up at the Harris County Jail. Jeanne Greer was arrested…
Free Cooking Classes: Monica Pope is Plum Crazy
And I mean that in the best possible way, of course. In addition to creating one of the more popular farmers markets in town, Monica Pope — head chef at locavore paradise t’afia — is now offering free cooking classes every Saturday morning at the restaurant, located at 3701 Travis in Midtown…
Cost Cutting: Dan Patrick Says Drop Those Caps On Elementary Class Size
Just in time for the 25th anniversary of the landmark Texas House Bill 72, Senator Dan Patrick has pre-filed a bill to amend it in several ways — no, he’s not touching No Pass, No Play — but he is fiddling with the cap in place on the number of…
Culinary Schadenfreude Comes to Houston
scha·den·freu·de [shahd-n-froi-duh]-nounsatisfaction or pleasure derived from the misfortune of others I’m going to get to the point of this post right now: My life as a food lover is better because the economy is in a recession. There I said it. And before you label me as some kind of…
Rice Students Win That MTV Contest And Head To The Oscars
And it’s Rice FTW!!!Sure, the basketball team sucks, the football program’s a perpetual work in progress, and even the baseball team ain’t what it used to be. But the Owls have DOMINATED the MTV contest to send people to interview celebrities on the Academy Awards red carpet!We told you about…
WTF Island: Jackson Five, Kid Rock, Glenn Danzig, Rock Camp and Assteroids
Even as our economy continued to go up in flames like the Toyota Center, the carnival of WTF kept trolling along this week. It seemed that every day we saw something so asinine and foolish that we couldn’t keep up. Jackson Family slavery museums, rock and roll fantasy camps, Kid…
The Census Bureau Is Counting On You — To Apply For A Job
Looking for a job? The US Census Bureau is looking for you. And it’s not waiting for any lousy stimulus funds. It’s hiring now.There are 3,000 slots in the Houston area for work connected to the 2010 Census, which is ramping up as we speak.Much of the work involves walking…
Lonesome Onry and Mean: Gurf Morlix and Last Exit To Happyland
What a beautiful world we’d be living in if Joel Osteen or Pat Robertson or Rush Limbaugh used Gurf Morlix as musical director. His new Last Exit to Happyland is full of aching songs full of deep humanity and decency as well as head-shaking social accusations and knife-to-the-throat post-love observational…
A Slight Amendment to Born Liars Column
Update: Rocks Off sees what happened now. The Liars and Outsiders will lay waste to Rudz March 20. So at least he wasn’t completely imagining things. Rocks Off must have got his wires crossed somewhere, because he could have sworn he saw somewhere that Born Liars were playing Rudyard’s with…
ArtStorm Goes Underground
ArtStorm, the 2008 Best of Houston winner for Best New Gallery, no longer has a gallery.In what they call the LAST PRESS RELEASE EVER! (FOR A WHILE), the owners announced that they’re vacating the buiding at 4828 Caroline St.: Due to high overhead expenses and a desire to keep things…
Tonight: Carnaval Houston at Planeta Bar-Rio
Carnaval, the four-day festival that precedes the beginning of Lent for Catholics, is probably Brazil’s biggest Holiday. During this period (which officially ends at noon Ash Wednesday – people need their sleep), revelers take the streets and dance to the beat of the Afro-inspired drums of samba, Axe (pronounced a-shE),…
Suggested Names For NASA’s New Space Station Module
Photo courtesy NASANASA is asking for the public’s help in coming up with a name for the newest module on the International Space Station.The module will be “the world’s ultimate observation deck”: Eight refrigerator-sized racks in the Node 3 module will provide room for many of the station’s life support…
Album of the Week: Pretenders, Break Up the Concrete
Pretenders Break Up the Concrete www.thepretenders.com Old punk rockers – or, in this case, post-punks – never die, they just go country. On the Pretenders’ first album since 2002’s barely-registering Loose Screw, Chrissie Hynde confronts middle age by revisiting the musical styles of the mid-20th century. After a woozy three-chord…
Scott Hochberg, Back From The Wilderness
One of the big winners in the aftermath of the revolution that overthrew House Speaker Tom Craddick is Houston’s own Scott Hochberg.After six years of exile from the powerful Appropriations Committee, he’s not only back on it but chairing the sub-committee on education.He got the appointment Tuesday morning, and held…
Chris Baker’s Show Is Returning To Houston, Not Chris Baker
We mentioned yesterday that KPRC-AM was bringing back right-wing looney Chris Baker to the Houston airwaves.One thing they’re not doing — bringing right-wing looney Chris Baker back to Houston. Baker will be doing his show from Minnesota, where he has another radio gig.Baker’s being touted as someone who will do…
Esmailyn “Smiley” Gonzalez, Say Hello to Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo. Oh, You’ve Already Met?
Since he has been traded to the Houston Astros, Miguel Tejada has been fingered as a steroids user. It was discovered that he lied about his age – he’s two years older than he told everyone – and the name on his birth certificate doesn’t quite match the name he…
Esmailyn “Smiley” Gonzalez, Say Hello to Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo. Oh, You’ve Already Met?
Since he has been traded to the Houston Astros, Miguel Tejada has been fingered as a steroids user. It was discovered that he lied about his age – he’s two years older than he told everyone – and the name on his birth certificate doesn’t quite match the name he…
Five Spot: 25 Lighters for Fat Pat
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we’ll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it’s either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. February 3 marked the 11th anniversary of the legendary Screwed Up Click MC Fat Pat’s passing. (Soooo not brilliant.) As such, we’ve been on…
Mardi Gras Road Trip: Liuzza’s on Bienville
Should you find yourself hungry and thirsty in between Mardis Gras parades in New Orleans this weekend, try Liuzza’s at 3636 Bienville in Midtown. Louisiana food writer Pableaux Johnson introduced me to this traditional New Orleans Italian spot. First, he ordered us a couple of Liuzza’s famous giant frosted schooners…
An American Idol From Jasper
We’ve had our Aggie American Idol. Now we have one from Jasper.Michael Sarver, according to those who watch American Idol, has gotten himself into the finals, or the semi-finals, or whatever it is that’s a step beyond the comic-relief idiot tryouts.As the Beaumont Enterprise reports, Sarver is ready to proudly…
The Drug Sweeps Are Ending At HISD (For One Reason Or Another)
The Houston school district is coming under heavy fire for its “no-tolerance” drug-dog searches of school parking lots, mostly because they nabbed a popular West U teacher who is very likely to be proven innocent.West U residents, when they get up in arms, tend to get results. HISD superintendent Abe…
Reverse Discrimination — Against White Republicans — At Prairie View A&M, Suit Claims
Grimes County District Clerk Gay Wells is playing the race card — the white race card — in a lawsuit against Prairie View A&M, saying she was fired for running for public office in 2006.Minorities at the school had run as Democrats and not been fired, she says; she’s white,…
Bacon Burn-out? Try Pastrami
I had pastrami and eggs at the Carnegie Deli on 7th Avenue for breakfast one day last week and while I was sitting there thinking about what a unique New York food experience this was, it dawned on me that I could eat pastrami and eggs in Houston anytime I…
The Judicial Conduct Commission Actually Moves Against “Killer Keller”
No one gave State Rep. Lon Burnam much of a chance with his call to impeach Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Sharon Keller — they still don’t — but he may have spurred some action.In what is either the biggest coincidence of all time or, well, the biggest coincidence of…
The Nickel: A Musical History of the Fifth Ward, Part 3
[Note: Part 1 of The Nickel is here, and Part 2 is here.] Almost as forgotten as Hersal Thomas, Goree Carter was a Fifth Ward guitarist who was credited by late New York Times pop critic Robert Palmer with being the creator of the very first rock and roll record…
Wilshire Village: More Bad News For Residents
We’ve been keeping you updated on developments at Wilshire Village, that semi-decrepit, yet somewhat charming, Montrose apartment complex at Alabama and Dunlavy.Maybe we should take the “semi-” out of that description: the West University Examiner is reporting that the Fire Department has put “fire hazard” warnings on the place and…
Tempers Flare At The Metro Board Meeting
Some important things could have been resolved at today’s Metro board meeting, particularly the absence of a contract between Metro and an outside company to design and build four proposed light-rail lines, the cornerstone of future mass transit in Houston.Instead, we got wife-beating. It started when anti-Metro-zealot Tom Bazan told…
Avery Cask-Conditioned Ale at the Petrol Station
Running errands last Sunday took me past the Petrol Station on Wakefield at Golf, in the gently tree-lined neighborhood of Oak Forest. The Petrol Station is a popular watering hole — with both freshly-roasted coffee and freshly-poured beer — that serves a satisfying mix of English pub fare and burgers…
BP Pays Big (Kinda) To Settle Texas City Pollution Claims
Good news and bad news for Texas City: The good news is that BP will be spending $167 million to reduce pollution in its plant there.The bad news is that they were polluting the area so bad it’s going to take $167 million to do something about it.The Environmental Protection…
iFest Unveils Complete Lineup
Since we’re already playing hangman today, here’s another riddle: What do America’s finest genre-hopping Latino band, Houston’s best Guinness-chugging rockers, a daughter of the nation’s premiere gospel family, a perennially unsung honky-tonker who sounds like the ghost of Hank Williams, a bayou-born boogie-woogie piano queen, a Grammy-winning Tejano godfather, two…
You Are Now Free To Pahk Your Cah In Boston Yahd
Southwest Airlines is taking another step in its plan to stop being thought of as “that airline that flies only to airports no one’s heard of.”The airline announced today it will begin service soon to Boston’s Logan Airport. Up to now, travelling to New England via Southwest meant landing in…
H-town Hangman: Guess the Band, Win a Prize
All right, all you kids out there, time to test your mettle. Rocks Off knows you know what’s up. We’ve seen you at Walter’s, Rudz and all those other hallowed haunts that make up this little “scene” of ours. You can probably rattle off a dozen or so favorite local…
Diet A Whole Lot And You’ll Live A Lot Longer, Some Say
Everyone knows that cutting calories can make you healthy.But really cutting calories, even if you’re not fat, may make you live longer.That’s what some Texans claim, and our sister publication the Dallas Observer examines those claims in this story.So-called “calorie restrictors” say that eating very little helps release anti-aging elements…
The Houston Food Bank’s Peanut-Butter Problem
If you think tossing out all the potentially tainted peanut products in your pantry sucks, imagine having to pitch two tons of the stuff.That’s what the Houston Food Bank has been up to for the past month. Thanks to the salmonella scare, the organization has been forced to get rid…
A New Way to Crawl
Any Houstonian who’s fond of beer is familiar with Saint Arnold, our hometown hero microbrewery. And anyone familiar with Saint Arnold has been on at least one of their famed pub crawls through Rice Village, Galveston, Midtown or any number of other locations (even Austin!). As of late, the pub…
Tonight: Kathryn Hallberg at Main Street Crossing
I hate Kathryn Hallberg. I hate the fact that she is, at just 14 years of age, already a mature songwriter, guitarists, and singer of undeniable skill and exquisite appeal. I hate that her debut EP, No Surprise, produced by Harold Ruben and Kyle Hutton at Red Tree is four…
Where The Stimulus Jobs Will Be, By Congressional District
The winners and losers of Barack Obama’s stimulus plan can be figured out — to a degree — by a new study by the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors.It breaks down by congressional district how many jobs will be created or saved by the act; the big loophole there,…
Idol Beat: The Final 36, Group 1 Results
When contestants on romantic/superficial reality shows are sent packing – when Flav withholds a clock, Tila Tequila declares that you’ve lost your shot at “love,” or whatever – it’s tough to empathize with the teary-eyed rejects, because by now the audience recognizes their exile as temporary, a stepping stone to…
Jack Valenti, Gay Blade?
Was the late Jack Valenti — famous Houstonian, former Lyndon Johnson aide, former head of Hollywood’s MPAA, namesake of the Valenti School of Communications at UH — as gay as a Sondheim song?We don’t care one way or the other, but it appears the FBI did.The Washington Post reports this…
Astros Spring Training Not Without Its Ups and Downs
You might not realize this if you’ve only been watching ESPN or paying attention to the national sports media, but the New York Yankees aren’t the only team with players reporting to spring training, and Alex Rodriguez isn’t the only player in baseball. So I thought I would help out…
Astros Spring Training Not Without Its Ups and Downs
You might not realize this if you’ve only been watching ESPN or paying attention to the national sports media, but the New York Yankees aren’t the only team with players reporting to spring training, and Alex Rodriguez isn’t the only player in baseball. So I thought I would help out…
Trae’s Son Lil Jared Joins tha Family Business
This iced-out lil’ playa is Lil Jared, 8-year-old son of Houston rapper and Assholes by Nature ringleader Trae tha Truth. By his own admission, Jared has been “wreckin’ the mic ever since I was two,” and even has his own adorable little Assholes by Nature chain. Although he’s already appeared…
Oh Lord, Chris Baker’s Coming Back To Our Airwaves
Chris Baker is coming back to Houston. Ummm, rejoice?Baker, a erstwhile stand-up comic who had an often inane political talk show on Clear Channel’s AM stations here, a show where he blustered and bloviated and did the typical right-wingnut radio shtick.Clear Channel AM head Michael Berry has announced he’s coming…
Flavors of the 5th: Meat and Music
Once called the Harlem of Houston, the Fifth Ward a.k.a. “The Nickel,” was the center of black culture in the Bayou City back in the days before desegregation. In this week’s Café review we visited two Fifth Ward institutions that carry on that neighborhood’s proud culinary tradition. Meanwhile on our…
Why Robert Downey, Jr. Will Not Win for Best Supporting Actor
I finally saw Tropic Thunder this past weekend on DVD, and my God, it was hilarious. Fantastic, funny, full of Hollywood-stabbing humor, and Tom Cruise completely won back all of my respect with his part as Les Grossman. SO, that said. Robert Downey, Jr. needs to win for Best Supporting…
Larry Wilmore
Larry Wilmore may be known as the “old guy” on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, but he’s not that old. “I’m actually the exact same age as Barack Obama — not to compare myself to him,” says Wilmore, a.k.a. the show’s Senior Black -Correspondent. Once an award-winning writer for…
Hungry’s Gallery Third Annual Silent Art Auction
Emerging Texas artists have a friend in Hungry’s Gallery. Not only does the exhibit space/cafe provide up-and-coming artists with the opportunity to show their work, it also awards yearly grants (translation: much-needed cold, hard cash). This year the grant money will be raised during Hungry’s Gallery Third Annual Silent Art…
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Author Ian Fleming created James Bond — and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Before you say the two characters had nothing in common, remember this: James Bond had a flying car; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a flying car. See, much closer than you thought. The Broadway musical Chitty Chitty Bang…
“Altered Realities”
The “Altered Realities” art exhibit at Elder Street Gallery features a piece by a certain mustachioed master, but the surrealistic show focuses primarily on Houstonians’ contributions to the fantastic genre. In addition to a signed offset from Salvador Dalí, original paintings and collages by nationally respected locals Bert Long, Jesse…
“Creating Space City, USA”
From its beginnings, NASA has had a special relationship with the city of Houston. Back then folks called us Space City — a claim that was proven true when the first word ever heard from the moon was “Houston.” (Apollo 11’s Commander Neil Armstrong said, “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The…
Houston Brazilian Carnaval
Can’t get to Brazil for carnaval? You don’t have to — Houston Brazilian Carnaval is coming to you with samba dancers flown in direct from Rio, nonstop music from Brazilian band Sambajah, local openers Grupo Conexao, and television feeds from Brazilian carnaval street parties. 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Planeta…
Janet McAdams: Feral
All animals fall somewhere between feral and domesticated, but what about humans? In her book Feral, poet Janet McAdams asks why we simultaneously fear and long to be wild, why we need to tame ourselves and others. She questions our inherent nature by exploring the imagined worlds of wolf girls,…
Holy Mole! Cooking Class
Even long-time Mexican food cooks will learn a few things at Holy Mole!, a hands-on class with Chef Kathy Tauber. The owner of Great! Gatherings, Tauber will walk you through preparing Puebla-style mole with roasted chicken, boracho beans, lemon-cilantro rice and a jicama/carrot/sprout salad with chile lime vinaigrette. Handmade tortillas…
Monday Movie Nights: Blacula
One of the films that established blaxploitation as a genre, Blacula is the story of a cursed African prince who becomes a vampire. After being put in a coffin for 200 years, Blacula is released, and modern-day Los Angeles makes the perfect feeding ground for him. But Blac finds more…
CINEMATHEQUE: Latin American “Third Cinema”
The two films screened in curator Margarita de la Vega-Hurtado’s CINEMATHEQUE: Latin American “Third Cinema” program at Rice University’s Media Center are classic examples of agitprop filmmaking at its best and/or most blatant. Shot between 1966 and 1972, Chircales (Brickmakers), by noted Colombian filmmaker Marta Rodriguez, is a not-too-subtle indictment…
2 x 2
It’s not all just powdered opera wigs and oboes at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, as you’ll see today when AURA — the school’s contemporary chamber music ensemble — kicks off its 2009 concert season with 2 x 2, an Irish-tinged modern folk music program. The evening’s…
Buffalo Soldier Mutiny: Houston, 1917
Riots, racism, police beatings, mob vengeance, political corruption, murder! No, we’re not talking about Watts in the 1960s, but the most inglorious event in Houston history — the 1917 Riot. Five policemen, four soldiers and at least 11 private citizens were killed during the violence. Sparked by the unfair treatment…
Etan Boritzer: What is God?
The Torah, the Koran, the Bible and the Sutras — as different as they are on the surface, some truths are common to them all. If learned adults are confused by those differences, how confusing are they for kids? In his book What Is God?, children’s book author Etan Boritzer…
The Orphans
James Prideaux’s comedy The Orphans opens with the Spangler sisters, Lily and Catherine, having spent the last 25 years living in seclusion in their hotel room. Their only visitor is their lawyer, who brings the sisters heaps of cash (the profits from a steel mill they inherited). Over the years,…
Bon Appétit, Y’all
Chef Virginia Willis has found success by blending her Southern palate with French cooking techniques. Using recipes from her cookbook, Bon Appétit, Y’All, Willis will show you how to make a menu of strictly Southern grits with corn and Vidalia onion, and French-inspired La Varenne Gougères/Vidalia onion confit on garlic…
Movies Houstonians Love: Kingdom of Heaven
Jim Hackett is, among other things, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. He’s also a director for Halliburton and Fluor Corporation, and Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Oh, and he’s a movie lover. He’ll share one of his favorite movies…
The Pie Dialogues
Eight scenes, each examining a different point in the character Pie’s life, make up Joseph Lauinger’s The Pie Dialogues, which is seeing its world premiere at Main Street Theater. By looking at the relationship between Pie’s parents, Sean and Dawn, Lauinger reveals Pie’s life, from the time she’s a toddler…
Seen and Unseen
Each year, the Sandra Organ Dance Company celebrates Black History Month with a performance featuring tales of both hardship and inspiration. This year, the program, called Seen and Unseen, will include a new piece, Invisible No More, which celebrates President Obama’s recent inauguration and draws on Ralph Ellison’s classic novel…
bobrauschenbergamerica
Imagine abstract artist Robert Rauschenberg as a playwright, and you start to get at what Charles Mee was after when he wrote bobrauschenbergamerica. Rauschenberg’s new way of seeing the world and art, and the resulting mind-blowing work of “combines,” collages and strange mixing of materials, was considered revolutionary. Mee, too,…
Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps
Scott Turner Schofield sums up his life with a deceptively simple sentence: He’s “a man who was a woman, a lesbian turned straight guy, who is often called a fag.” Easy to read, sure, but tougher to comprehend, so the Atlanta-based performance artist has created Becoming a Man in 127…
Star Party
See the stars with new clarity at the Moody Gardens Star Party. The Johnson Space Center Astronomical Society and the Galveston Star Gazers host the party, providing large, powerful telescopes that allow visitors to zoom in on the stars. Dusk to 10 p.m. Moody Gardens, One Hope Boulevard, Galveston. For…
The Man Who Came to Dinner
It’s the 1930s, and Sheridan Whiteside, a larger-than-life New York City theater critic and radio personality, is The Man Who Came to Dinner. Much to the chagrin of anyone unlucky enough to spend any time with him, Whiteside is always right, always in charge and always demanding more — of…
Brian Posehn
Comedian Brian Posehn, who describes himself as “farts in man suit,” has a comically menacing presence. With his six-foot-six frame, bald pate, black-rimmed glasses and wily beard, Posehn literally looks like the world’s scariest nerd. But he’s one of the nicest guys in alternative comedy today. Since coming out of…
Slipknot
I have two memories that will always stand out from my time spent at Slipknot shows. The first time I saw them, I was struck by the utter fury surrounding me on all sides. Sure, metal is angry and all, but there’s usually some exuberance that counteracts all the blunt…
Twilight Walk on the Wild Side
The Twilight Walk on the Wild Side Tour is a rare look at the nighttime habits of jaguars, cougars and bears (oh my!). Armed with just a flashlight and an animal expert, you’ll visit the Houston Zoo’s largest carnivores and see what the big cats are up to after dark…
River Oaks Midnight Movie: Amélie
Filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s whimsical comedy Amélie asks one basic question: Can you take your own advice? A lonely 23-year-old waitress, Amélie spends her time making other people happy, anonymously and from a distance. She plays matchmaker for a co-worker, persuades her father to tour the world and convinces a woman…
Pirate Radio USA
Armed with homemade mini–broadcasters and little else, the underground DJs of Pirate Radio USA are on a mission to scuttle corporate domination of the airwaves. The 2006 documentary offers a look at illegal stations where radio pirates “microcast” their programming at ultralow frequencies, FCC regulations be damned. Filmmakers Jeff Pearson…
Tyler Perry’s The Marriage Counselor
Let’s get to the important stuff first: Tyler Perry does not appear in the play Tyler Perry’s The Marriage Counselor. Yes, having his name in the title of a show in which he does not appear is a little misleading, but the six-foot-six writer/actor best known for his character Madea…
Horror Remix: Dummy Edition
Witness five killer dolls in two hours at the Horror Remix: Dummy Edition! Haven’t heard of a horror remix? That’s where some very considerate person (who apparently has way too much time on his hands) takes a horror film, like, oh, say Black Devil Doll from Hell (we kid you…
An Evening with Renée Fleming
For opera lovers, An Evening with Renée Fleming is a once-in-a-lifetime event. (It comes with a once-in-a-lifetime price tag, but we’ll get to that in a minute.) Perhaps the most captivating singer since Maria Callas, the Grammy Award-winning Fleming’s intimate performance, a fund-raiser for Rice University’s School of Opera, includes…
Bubblin’ Crude at Drillers
If you’re headed to Drillers(15135 North Fwy., No. 800) anytime soon, know this: Diana Rivas will not tolerate your disorderly attitude. The 27-year-old dental assistant is a regular at the north Houston lounge and dance club and, by all accounts, a gem of a person. But when a patron recently…
Funeral Party
With East L.A. (working-class Whittier) disco-punk fever, these lads crack dance-floor doldrums with clanging cowbell, bass licks that make hips flicker, fidgety syncopated drum patter and swerving, glitter-decked funk guitar. Combining one dollop of Eastern Euro post-punks Sunshine with a style manual torn from the inventive pages of hallucinatory renegade…
Lucinda Williams, with Buick 6
Lucinda Williams goes so far back into Houston’s rich musical history it’s almost a shame we have to keep writing about her to keep her in the public consciousness. Everyone who’s into good roots music should just know by now. I was looking at the artwork — an Anderson Fair…
Antony and the Johnsons: The Crying Light
Antony Hegarty, the man behind New York City’s Antony and the Johnsons, is nothing if not enigmatic. He rarely tours, almost never takes pictures and the interviews he gives are either stilted conversations lacking in substance or, well, nonexistent. Hegarty has successfully cultivated an image of mystery consistent with the…
Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel: Willie and the Wheel
The late Jerry Wexler, who passed away last August at age 91, was best known as an advocate and producer for top R&B and soul artists like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett. But Wexler was also a huge fan of country music, dating back to the days the…
She Almost Killed Stump!
Texas A&M vet Katherine Snyder saved the life of Stump — Houston’s most famous dog — about four years ago. The first time she saw the dog, he was close to death, “lethargic and depressed,” and had already spent a week in a Houston clinic. “We all talked about it,…
Mark Olson & Gary Louris: Ready for the Flood
Minnesota’s Jayhawks — co-led by singer/songwriter/guitarists Gary Louris and Mark Olson — were one of the finest bands to come out of the No Depression movement, carried aloft by the duo’s trademark rough-hewn high harmonies. So when Olson flew the coop in 1995 (mostly to collaborate with then-wife Victoria Williams),…
Son Volt
Jay Farrar doesn’t really sweat fickle musical tastes. The Son Volt founder and front man shrugs them off during “6 String Belief” on 2005’s Okemah and the Melody of Riot with a dense, roots-rock guitar crunch, his potent-as-undiluted-vinegar singing and the simple pronouncement “Palates will ebb and masses will flow.”…
Follow the Ruhl in Eurydice
The keening ache of loss and death is at the center of Sarah Ruhl’s extraordinary Eurydice, now playing at the Alley Theatre. But there is so much more to this magically theatrical story, in which the young playwright, who has already been nominated for a Pulitzer (for The Clean House)…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Disturbance of Distance,” “Donald Baechler — Recent Paintings and Collages,” “Hedwige Jacobs — New Drawings,” “Museum of Unnatural History,” “PRISMATTAK”
“Disturbance of Distance” Box 13’s current show, curated by Eleanor Williams, brings together a handful of artists for a site-specific exhibition in its two main gallery spaces. While not necessarily linked by a specific theme, each work bears something of an organic or chemical matrix representing growth or consumption. Leslie…
Here Come The Chieftains
Chieftains tin whistler and Uilleann pipe-master Paddy Moloney is either the easiest interview in the world or the hardest. A simple “How are you?” and he’s off to the races about his Houston-dwelling son getting his Ph.D. in nanotechnology at Rice while working on NASA’s Mars project (“the first Irish…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Legally Blonde the Musical, The Man Who Saved New Orleans, The Odd Couple, Puttin’ on the Ritz
Legally Blonde the Musical Elle Woods, the bubbly blond who discovers that a girl can be both fashionable and smart, rides again. This time, she’s pretty in pink in a Broadway musical that is as frenetically energetic as a group of cheerleaders at halftime. In Houston thanks to Theater Under…
Kelly Reichardt’s Modest But Cosmic Wendy and Lucy
Sometimes, less really is more. Modest but cosmic, Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy is a movie whose sad pixie heroine, Wendy (Michelle Williams), already skating on thin ice, stumbles and, without a single support to brace herself, slides into America’s lower depths. Introduced calling for her dog, Lucy, Wendy loses…
Calorie Restrictors Stay Hungry in Hopes of Living Longer
In a windowless, climate-controlled chamber on the third floor of the Dedman Life Sciences building at Southern Methodist University, 15,000 fruit flies are on a diet so someday you won’t have to be. The crumb-sized insects, weighing just one milligram each, live in slim glass and plastic tubes — 100…
DJ Sun: Para EP
DJ Sun has been the DJ laureate for Houston at large for almost two decades. His KPFT radio show Soular Grooves was required listening for all electro heads through the ’90s, and in the process made him a pioneer of sorts. He single-handedly helped created an electro scene in H-Town…
Pinche Child Molesters
Dear Mexican, What is the deal with Mexican denial when it comes to dealing with child sexual abuse? I know counselors who tell me that it’s a big problem trying to get Mexican families to admit and confront this. In my own experience, I have seen my Mexican relatives be…
High School Debate
Intrepid students: The Hair Balls section of the Houston Press has never been known for its journalistic excellence, but Margaret Downing has brought it to a new low with her recent wanton attack on the intrepid students of Klein ISD, who, unlike her mainstream journalism pals, are not afraid of…
The Born Liars Set Sail
The Born Liars aren’t even four years old, but they already deserve a good-size chapter in the Big Book of Houston Rock and Roll Urban Legends. (Which, by the way, someone needs to write.) Some of the stories circulating about the glammy garage-rockers make even noted wild men like the…
Flavors of the Fifth at Davis Meat Market and Burt’s Meat Market
There were enough falling-apart-tender beef tips in thick brown gravy over rice in the Styrofoam container to feed a medium-sized family. Jim Sherman got the sweet orange mashed yams and the cooked-to-death cabbage as his two sides from the steam table at the back of Davis Meat Market. I was…
Missy Higgins
Although singer-songwriter Missy Higgins is a star in her native Australia, she’s little known in the U.S. So prior to the stateside release of On a Clear Night, a CD that’s already successful back home, she relocated to Los Angeles — and the move has required some adjustments. In Melbourne,…
Benjy’s On Washington
Benjy Levit has opened a second location of his famed Benjy’s, called Benjy’s On Washington (5922 Washington, 713-868-1131). “After 13 years, we finally figured out what we’re doing, and now we’re ready to reproduce,” he told Dish. “We had some great people who were ready to take on a new challenge.”…
Loretta Lynn
Where to start with Loretta Lynn? Whether it’s her Grand Ole Opry heyday in the ’60s, 2004’s Jack White-assisted crossover Van Lear Rose or the mighty heap of controversy and country smashes in between, everyone feels a connection to some song or era of hers. Even casual listeners must remember…
Flavors Foster Landry’s
When the ice cream that fills the two crepes of the bananas Foster ($7.99) at Landry’s (8816 West heimer, 713-975-7873) begins to melt, it mingles effortlessly with the dessert’s generous portion of whipped cream, slices of banana, and chocolate and caramel sauces drizzled over the top. All these flavors blend…
Living and Dying with Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor Over Sundance
“Life’s a funny old dog.” — Dan Jenkins So there I was. About 30,000 feet high over the beautiful snow-covered Rocky Mountains, and headed for the most important destination of my life — the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The event: the premiere of the movie version…
Punk en Español
Hispanics have helped shape punk rock since the Zeros and the Bags fomented a brown shade of musical resistance in the late 1970s. Years earlier, though, garage rockers paved the path, sending tunes like “Jump Jive and Harmonize,” an East L.A. slab of teenage cool by Cramps fave Thee Midnighters…
