Jill Wood: “Debut”
With a gallery that’s only 11-by-20-by-13 inches, curators Michael Guidry and Robert Ruello have to be very careful about the artists they invite to show their work. Jill Wood and her exhibit “Debut” seem to be a perfect fit. That’s because Wood works with moths and butterflies, creating what seem…
A Fertle Holiday
A Houston holiday tradition comes to an end when Radio Music Theatre closes its doors forever next April. After working in Minneapolis and then Houston’s comedy scene for seven years, Steve Farrell wrote the original comedy A Fertle Holiday in 1985 about a holiday gathering gone wrong, and the Radio…
Comment of the Day: The Authenticity Wars
Commenter Kendra was dismayed to hear about plans for a revamped menu at Mai’s from Katharine’s Shilcutt’s post on “Restaurants We’re Excited About for 2011.” But commenter Thanto wasn’t buying it. Kendra says: Mai’s will have an “updated menu”? Oh, no. I hope they don’t become another Kim Son with…
Southwest Airlines Is Headed To Newark, Baby
Houstonians, your low-fare dreams have come true — Southwest is about to start non-stop flights to Newark. Yes, as in New Jersey. It may be on the other side of the Hudson, but getting into the city from Newark can be — not always, but it can be — less…
Mastering the Cookie with Alice Medrich at Central Market
One of my favorite holiday traditions is baking cookies to pass out to my friends and family around Christmastime. This year, I decided to get a little help along the way by taking a cookie baking class at Central Market. Alice Medrich, dessert goddess extraordinaire, recently published her eighth cookbook,…
Sleigh Bells: Not Just For Christmas Anymore
Christmastime: A time for family, for giving, and much to the displeasure of many, a time for incessantly grating holiday music. Christmas spirit frozen in cheesy songs monopolizes radio stations and relentlessly stalks our every step. A key component of much holiday music is often the percussive addition of ever-festive…
State Rep Debbie Riddle’s Magnum Opus (Of 96 Pages)
Debbie Riddle, the state rep from Tomball who camped out in order to pre-file an Arizona-like immigration bill, and who is one of a triumvirate of Texas politicians to look utterly foolish being interviewed on CNN, has become a published author. Taking Back Your Country, Your Community and Your Kids…
Recipe: Mom’s Christmas Fudge
My mother is known for many things, but chief among them are her Christmas baked goods, including this family recipe for fudge. Each year, lucky friends and family make out with a tin or two. And until my grandfather passed away a couple of years ago, she would always make…
Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, and the Power of Masks
This past Halloween, when kids got to dress up as their favorite cartoon character or superhero, two of the biggest selling costumes for girls and women were Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj. In societies across the globe, people put on wigs, make up, and all manner of costume to transform…
A Much More Detailed Demographic Map To Play With
Last month we told you about maps of big cities with dots representing races and ethnicites, so you could see how separated or mixed different groups were. Now The New York Times has improved on that map, offering the ethnic breakdown of “every city, every block” in America. Here’s Houston…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Rebecca Masson of Fluff Bake Bar
Rebecca Masson is one of Houston’s top pastry chefs and proprietor of Fluff Bake Bar, her online pastry shop. This petite woman’s fiery energy and drive has taken her far and wide, from Wyoming to Paris to New York to Houston. This week we’re chatting with her about her famous…
Top 10 Houston Breakout Acts Of 2010
These ten Houston artists opened our eyes and made us roll off the couch or out of the cubicle to go see them this year, health or sleep be damned. Craig’s Hlist’s two favorite things are sleeping and drinking, and thankfully these bands play where alcohol is served. It’s been…
In Burn the Floor, Mark Ballas’ Pecs Look Great (Like Everyone’s On Stage)
The Setup: Their chests glisten, their hair whips around and sticks to sweaty foreheads, their legs scissor across the stage in blurring beats, they exude sex — and that’s just the guys. The gals are pretty much the same, except their chests are covered and they wear spangled skirts and…
So You Want To Be The University of Texas Offensive Coordinator…APPLY HERE
As a resident of the great state of Texas, it pains me to see our tax dollars being wasted. Case in point, somewhere in Austin there is a person who had to spend a couple hours of his or her day posting the offensive and defensive coordinator positions for the…
Sam Houston State: Bomb Threat Evacuates Library
Sam Houston State has evacuated the Newton Grisham library after a note was found containing a bomb threat. “-A note was found at the Newton Gresham Library indicating a bomb was planted on the third floor of the building,” the school announced on its web page. “The building has been…
Stirred & Shaken: Leon Lounge’s Gin, Cucumber and Basil Rickey
After a few months worth of repairs, Midtown stalwart Leon’s Lounge (1006 McGowen, 713-659-3052) reopened a couple weeks ago. I was hoping the new owner, who also runs Under the Volcano, hadn’t changed much beyond bringing the space up to code. As I was walking down Fannin toward the bar,…
Delma Pallares: Whistleblower Helped Feds Catch Guy Who Ripped Off Troops Is Still Fighting
“Jipped,” this week’s cover story in the Houston Press, explores the case of American Grocers, Inc., a Houston-based company that exports food to the Middle East (working, in part, off military contracts), and its owner, Samir Itani. About five years ago, the government launched an investigation, alleging, among other things,…
Island Of Misfit Christmas Albums: Teen Pop Meltdown
It happens like this: You are in charge of a major teen-pop act who can sell anything with their face or voice on it, be it training bras, shaving cream, or caskets. You have a week off in the summer from touring. Do you let the talent go home and…
Tree of Life Trailer Finally Online
Last night before a screening of the unsettling and outrageous Black Swan, Art Attack witnessed the trailer for Terrence Malick’s new film The Tree of Life, which was partially shot in and around Houston. And today, Apple released the trailer online, along with the poster image at right. As usual,…
A Prix-Fixe Dinner at an East End Banh Mi Shop
If blog entries could have a deck in addition to the headline seen above, in this case the deck would be: “Plus: The Best Red Velvet Cake Outside of My Mother’s House.” I continue to be amazed — stultified, even — by what chef and owner Minh Nguyen is doing…
Sugar Land Baseball Stadium Name: You Think You Hated Skeeters?
The people behind the new minor-league baseball team in Sugar Land — fresh off annoying many people with their choice of “Skeeters” for the team name — have announced the name of their new $30 million stadium. Fun at the ol’ ballpark will now officially take place at….StarTex Power Field…
Shiftwork Bites: Guest Chef Edition
In the comments section of my last Shiftwork Bites post, reader Maria opined that my coworkers had better be sufficiently grateful for my efforts in the kitchen(ette). Usually, their thankfulness is displayed by their willingness to do our actual job while I go about the task of feeding us. Once…
Strippers Hit Hard By Fee Increases; How Will They Pay Their Grad School Tuition?
City Council has approved a boatload of fee increases in an attempt to close the budget gap, and among the hardest hit will be those dedicated single mothers earning money for a graduate degree by asserting their feminist rights by entertaining lonely businessmen. The license fee for a new “gentlemen’s…
DeAndre Wright, R&B Star On The Rise
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 sheaserrano@gmail.com. Sometimes when you meet someone, you can automatically…
Give the Gift of Maximalism
See a slideshow of the tiny, temporary bookstore and the signing at Tootsie’s. Yesterday we suggested you gift your loved ones with a tribute to the virtues of austerity and contemplation. Just in case any of you weren’t buying that, today we’re going the other way. Curate, the Paper-City-sponsored pop-up…
Houston Texans 2010 — ….And Boom Goes The Dynamite
“I told them that we’re playing for our pride these next three weeks, and there’s a hell of a lot of pride in that room. We will play well. We will work hard and we will play well.” — Gary Kubiak after Monday night’s 34-28 loss to the Baltimore Ravens…
Bread People
If you want a quick tutorial in the breads and pastries of the world, look no further than Bread People on Tumblr. If you have ever wanted to sound cultured about chewy and flaky carbs at the next food event, just picture some of these famous faces in your head…
Apathy For The Devil: Adrift In The Snowblind ’70s
Apathy for the Devil: A 70s Memoir By Nick Kent Da Capo Press, 416 pp., $17.95. While Cameron Crowe’s wonderful but fictional Almost Famous told a sanitized story of music-journalist-meets-bands in the ’70s, Former New Musical Express writer Nick Kent’s memoir is a warts/coke spoons/social disease-and all tale of the…
Cal-Maine Egg Farm: Don’t Look At This Video While Eating Breakfast
You don’t wanna knowIf it’s been too long since your last undercover-video-of-ghastly-animal-abuse fix, then check out the footage cited in this lawsuit concerning the Cal-Maine egg farm in Travis County. The Animal Legal Defense Fund is suing the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Department of State Health Services,…
Aaron Scheerhoorn: Suspect Arrested In His Montrose Death
HPD says they have the man who very publicly stabbed Aaron Scheerhoorn to death outside a Montrose nightclub last weekend. Lydell Grant, 33, has been charged with murder. Police got his identity through a Crime Stoppers tip and he was arrested without incident during a traffic stop near the South…
The Perfect Christmas Gift: Goode Company Pecan Pie
Need a gift that is outrageously Texan that you can send to an out-of-stater without having to do much more than click a mouse? My choice, beyond all others, is a Goode Company pecan pie. You don’t even really have to be a thoughtful person to send one. Say what…
Heidi Jones, Former KTRK Weather Star, Falsely Claims Rape, Cops Say
Heidi Jones, for seven years a perky weathercaster on KTRK before she left in 2004, is in trouble with New York City cops for filing what they say was a false rape report. Jones, 37, who now works for WABC, has been charged with the Class A misdemeanor of filing…
Houston Film Critics Society Recognizes the Best (and Worst) of 2010
Why the film industry continues to label Houston as a marginal, unimportant market is beyond comprehension. We may be a long way from Hollywood, but we’re still the fourth largest city in America (dammit). This frustration was one of the driving forces behind The Houston Film Critics Society (HFCS), a…
HOB Hosts Gingerbread House Workshop
The gingerbread house is an iconic Christmas image that conjures up warm feelings of holiday nostalgia. Though I have seen many gingerbread houses of all shapes and sizes, I have never actually made one. So when I heard about the House of Blues Gingerbread House Workshop, I was beyond excited…
Five More Severely Depressing Christmas Songs
Last year, we rounded up quite a collection of depressing Christmas songs to darken your mood just in time for the holidays, but – as many people were quick to point out – we left a few off the list. Well, we’re nothing if not thorough, and this year we’ve…
The So-So Year In Cougar Sports: 25 Things From 2010
Since I’m taking a look at the sports year that is about to come to an end, I thought I would focus on the Houston Cougars, one of the teams that I cover for the Press. So… 1. The men’s basketball team shocked the students, alums, administration, fans, C-USA, and…
Top 10: Underrated Christmas Movies
Right around now, we get sick of hearing about Elf (yes, we said it), It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle On 34th Street, and sometimes even A Christmas Story. The all-day screenings of the latter on one of Ted Turner’s channels doesn’t exactly make us clamor for it other times of…
Comment Of The Day: Transgenders, Child Molesters, What’s The Difference?
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Michael Lee’s Magical Mythical Metal Is No Flashback
Too much is too much, but way too much is perfect. Michael Lee is way too much. Lee’s made his name as an editor and Emmy-nominated producer on everything from E! True Hollywood Story to Super Bowl post-game wrap-ups, but the San Antonio native was suckled at the teat of…
The Ladies Strike Back, Actually
Rocks Off is following our sister Houston Press blogs into the choppy waters of “Comment of the Day,” choosing a comment or a handful of comments from the previous day we find especially enlightening, infuriating or just plain hilarious. We’re glad our readers have opinions, whatever they are, about what…
Measure Of America: Houston Lags Behind
The American Human Development Project, which sounds like something you’d donate to for Festivus, has completed a survey ranking the top 10 metropolitan areas in the nation on their well-being. Coming in 10th place: Us. “Measure of America” looks at health, educational and income factors to determine just how well…
10 Worst Robbery Neighborhoods In Houston
Last week we gave you the 10 worst neighborhoods in Houston for burglaries. This week, just in time for Christmas shopping, it’s the worst neighborhoods for robbery. As we cautioned before, HPD doesn’t suggest comparing this raw data from neighborhood to neighborhood. Some beats are more densely populated than others,…
Sampler Plate: This Week in Food Blogs
Each week, we put together a sampler plate of the most interesting links from both local and national food blogs. Know a blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. Dallas Observer: The big Texas dining news last week came out of…
The Five Creepiest 2010 Christmas Ads
The Christmas ads this year seem to be creepier than ever. Maybe it’s the recession. But what used to be a joyous collection of sledding electric razors and wide-eyed kids running to the tree has turned into something bizarre and cruel. The five worst offenders: 5. Phillips Senso Touch 3D…
Your Meme of the Week: Bread People
If I haven’t eaten in a while, and I laugh too hard, I get this weird throbbing pain on both sides of the back of my head. It’s like I’m wearing a really tight motorcycle helmet (or listening to Vampire Weekend). Thanks to Bread People on Tumblr, my head is…
ExxonMobil’s Baytown Refinery Sued For Being So Damn Leaky
Following in the footsteps of Shell and and ChevronPhillips, ExxonMobil has been sued by environmental groups who say its refinery routinely violates clean-air regulations and doesn’t really do anything about it. The Sierra Club and Environment Texas announced their lawsuit today at ExxonMobil’s Baytown refinery, the largest in the country…
Comment of the Day: Sucky Presents Edition
Today we had a few dissenters to Kevin Shalin’s “Top 5 Worst Holiday Food Gifts,” specifically from within the pecan community. We also had some suggestions for other sucky presents, like this one from commenter ckariec: “A Hickory Farms basket of fake cheese and salty meat is the gift that…
All I Want for Christmas Is…Ah, Hell, I Know Nobody’s Spending: Top 5 Cheap Kitchen Gadgets
Last week, Lauren Marmaduke threw out a few not so subtle hints for her friends and family, regarding what she’d like to find under her Christmas tree this year. I took one look at her excellent list, and decided right away that nobody in my family likes me enough to…
Today’s Lesson: How To Lose $27K And End Up In Court
Lately Rocks Off’s readers have been getting a steady stream of what not to do when it comes to booking and promoting shows. Last week we learned that when an artist scheduled to play your venue shows up for their gig, it’s a good idea to have enough money -…
Gary Kubiak Deathwatch: The Needle Drops Precipitously
If you’re going to throw from your own end zone in OT, you’re going to open yourself up to a game-ending pick-six. If you’re the Texans, that is. Coach Gary Kubiak was on the verge of piloting the Texans to one of their most entertaining wins ever — of course,…
Wendy’s New French Fries
If it ain’t broke, then why fix it? A tired phrase, to be sure, but it all I could think about as I ventured to a local Wendy’s the other day to sample the new French fries. As the ads have tirelessly told us, they are fresh-cut with skin and…
Houston Represents (Of Course) On New Obesity Reality-TV Series
Ticket to early death, or reality-TV stardomWhen Tom dropped out of high school and was no longer the football star, his weight increased with his depression. By the time he was 37, he packed 638 pounds onto a 5-foot-nine frame. Jodi, also 37, recently suffered a stroke — an especially…
What’s So Damn Controversial About Cleaner, Safer Food?
The plant was filthy and infested with vermin, with holes as large as 2 ½ feet in the ceilings leaking water and runoff from the air conditioner units onto the finished product stored below. Records posted on the web by attorney Bill Marler show that executives at Peanut Corporation of…
David Adickes is “Movin’ On”
Sculptor David Adickes, known for his big-ass president heads and the big-ass Sam Houston statue in Huntsville, has sold his long-time studio Sculpturworx to “(TRY to) simplify my life and start a new chapter,” as he wrote in a email we received today. The three-acre, east Washington Ave.-area property will…
iLL LiaD: Greek Tragedy Is Gangsta
The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place – lots of times, you’re even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good – so once a week we’re going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Have something you always wanted…
Houston Area No Longer “Judicial Hellhole,” Says Group Who Hates To See Corporations Sued
You might have thought “tort reform” had long ago decimated a plaintiff’s right to get justice against huge corporations in a Texas courtroom, but you’d be wrong. From the viewpoint of huge corporations, that is. The Harris County area was still officially considered a “Judicial Hellhole” for companies who got…
Rep. Aaron Pena: GOP Gets Its Supermajority In Texas House: Now It Begins
The upcoming legislative session in Austin might get pretty wild and entertaining — if not beneficial to anyone who fears the GOP/Tea Party agenda — thanks to a move today. State Rep. Aaron Pena, a Democrat from Edinburg, is about to announce he is now Aaron Pena, Republican from Edinburg,…
Give the Gift of Minimalism
Can’t make it out to starry Marfa for a conceptual, hip holiday? You can stay here and think about minimalist art. That’ll be just as much fun, right? It will if Santa brings you the new book Chinati: The Vision of Donald Judd. The truly gorgeous volume is hot off…
Updated:Terry Grier’s Rightsizing May Mean Adios For Some Teachers and HISD Schools
Update:HISD Spokesman Jason Spencer says there are 66 not 69 underpopulated schools and that designation has nothing to do with “capacity.” See below. Superintendent Terry Grier, while “trying not to be Chicken Little,” brought Chief Financial Officer Melinda Garrett in to today’s media roundtable to try to explain the possible…
Restaurants We’re Excited About for 2011
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, right? Well, for all the new restaurants that disappointed us in 2010, there are many more coming in 2011 that we’re awaiting with baited breath. Whether they be old favorites revived or entirely new restaurants, whether they be from established…
David Joseph Latta: Drunk, Possibly Pee-Filled Man Stars In Hilarious Security-Cam Video
It was a night of horror in the lobby of the Beaumont Enterprise. At least for one guy who apparently broke in trying to take a leak. The paper’s blog reports that David Joseph Latta, of Lake Charles, was “feverishly searching for a urinal” when he broke into their lobby…
10 Music Stories We Wish We’d Ignored This Year
We in the alternative media – not necessarily the Houston Press and/or Rocks Off, not all the time – enjoy calling out our mainstream brethren. Whether it’s ten books that didn’t make The New York Times’ “Best of 2010” list, or “10 Stories Our Print Version Accidentally Overlooked,” us “underground”…
Yvette Morales: Dupes Grad Student Into Thinking She Is Ailing, Lovelorn Anchorwoman
Despite being smitten with Kingsville TV reporter Katia Uriarte, her suitor just couldn’t take any more. The unidentified Texas A&M-Kingsville grad student penned a sorrowful break-up e-mail and sent it to her Facebook inbox.While he was still in love with her, he wrote, he simply could not afford to keep…
CTRL Gallery Show is Elegant, Riveting and…Icky?
It’s dueling painters at CTRL Gallery, with work by Emilio Perez in one half of the gallery and Myungjin Song in the other. Working in slightly muddied, gray and mauve hues, Perez offers up ironic gestural abstractions. At first glance, they appear to be a lot of bravura brushstrokes, until…
Wine of the Week: Colonia Las Liebres 2008 Bonarda
One way to drown the sorrows of a horrible Monday Night Football game featuring the disappointing Texans, is to open up a sample bottle of Bonarda direct from Argentina, and pretend that I’m no longer in Houston, but in the cellar of a mysterious and romantic winery down South America…
Nancy Shank To Be Buried Today, Her Son Remains In Jail
Nancy Shank, the River Oaks- area mom who was stabbed to death by her mentally disturbed son, is being buried today; the funeral service is at St. John the Divine on River Oaks Boulevard. While it’s going on, her 20-year-old son will remain in a Harris County jail cell, under…
Real-Life Da Vinci Code Hidden in Mona Lisa’s Eyes?
It sounds a little too much like a plot from Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. But Silvano Vinceti, president of Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage assured London’s Daily Mail that he is confident the microscopic letters and numbers he discovered in the Mona Lisa’s eyes, too small to…
Dio’s Last Stand: Heaven & Hell Live In Europe
Heaven & Hell Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven & Hell Live in Europe Eagle Vision, 150 minutes, $14.98. When Black Sabbath 3.0 got together a few years back to record some new material for The Dio Years compilation, neither Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, nor Vinny Appice…
A Different Chicken Soup at Pho Ga Dakao
Chances are that if you’ve eaten pho, the popular Vietnamese soup, you’ve only eaten pho bo. That is, you’ve only eaten beef pho. There are many reasons why beef pho is more popular than its counterpart, chicken pho, but the long and short of it is that chicken pho is…
Upcoming: Avett Brothers, David Allan Coe, Moody Blues, Etc.
Adema: Wed., Jan. 12. Scout Bar Clear Lake. Against Me!, Cheap Girls, Fences: Tue., Jan. 25. Warehouse Live. Andy Bell (DJ Set): Sat., Jan. 15. Numbers. Avett Brothers: Thu., April 14. Verizon Wireless Theater. Big Freedia: Fri., Feb. 11. Fitzgerald’s. Brent Nettles & The Texas Tea Party, Finnegan, Castle Lights,…
Comments Of The Day: Murder In Montrose
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Assassination in Jellystone
Holler if you wanna see Boo Boo shoot a resigned (and valuable) Yogi Bear in the back of the head with a shotgun inside a forest ranger station. That’s what I thought. This video started circulating yesterday afternoon on all the cool-kid websites like Film Drunk and Gorilla Mask, depicting…
Twitter Reacts (Not So) Calmly To Matt Schaub’s OT Pick-Six
Daggers to the heart don’t come much more suddenly than the one Matt Schaub’s pick-six delivered to Texan fans last night. Reliant Stadium was trembling on its foundations, a comeback for the ages was on its way, the playoffs were still a possibility, and…..3.5 seconds later it was all stunned…
Can Rap Be Blamed For Teen Prostitution?
Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday (or thereabouts) that isn’t a national holiday, Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. This Week’s Panel: Roderick Thornton, Preemo, Kyle Hubbard, Brad Gilmore, Renzo, Thurogood Wordsmith Not Invited: Teenage girls from the…
Be a Part of Unsilent Night (It’s Very Flaming Lips)
Matt Brownlie is organizing a Houston performance of composer Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night and he needs YOU to participate. No musical training is necessary to be a part of this outdoor roving sound sculpture. The performance will take place December 23rd from 7:30 to 8:30 pm at a location in…
Top 5 Worst Holiday Food Gifts
5. Thanks for nothing Have you ever gotten a $25 gift certificate to HoneyBaked Hams? Do you have any idea what $25 will get you there? I’m guessing half a pig’s scrotum. Sorry for singling out this fine cured-meats establishment, but you get my drift. I can’t stand receiving cheap…
Where Are WikiLeaks’ Media Friends? (UPDATED)
From Michael Lacey, executive editor of Village Voice Media Holdings: Updated: Here is the link to the full story of the media’s betrayal of WikiLeaks. Where are the First Amendment’s establishment warriors as government-spooked businesses try to shut down Wikileaks? Hackers with computers, not hacks with press passes, have been…
Jony Josue Benitez-Lopez, 26, Bayou Body Count No. 288
A man was found dead in the street on the northeast side Friday morning, and the police suspect foul play. A driver passing by saw a body in the road at the 5400 block of Caplin and called police. Responders found the body of Jony Josue Benites-Lopez, 26, and pronounced…
New on DVD: Exit Through the Gift Shop, The A-Team, Cyrus, The Town, Micmacs, The Other Guys
(Capsule reviews by Aaron Hillis, Brian Miller, Nick Pinkerton, Ella Taylor and Robert Wilonsky.) Exit Through the Gift Shop Exit Through the Gift Shop is not just the definitive portrait of street-art counterculture, but also a hilarious expose on the gullibility of the masses who embrace manufactured creative personas. Though…
Williams-Sonoma Butterscotch Babies
My lovely sister Margaret recently sent me a Butterscotch Babies baking mix. She knows that while I usually bake from scratch, I’m a sucker for gourmet mixes. In spite of my unreliable oven, I’ve had good experiences in the past with other Williams-Sonoma packaged mixes; for example, the giant sandwich…
Top 10 Christmas Movie Soundtracks
No doubt you have all been chin-deep in Christmas movies since you undid your belt on Thanksgiving evening. Rocks Off made sure to steal a copy of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation from our folks’ house before the calendar even hit December. Unlike other blogs, we don’t hate all Christmas music…
One Guy’s Thoughts On The Sports Year: 25 Things To Remember
So with the end of the year fast approaching, I thought I would take some time to revisit some of the highlights, and lowlights, of this past sports year. Your list is probably different, but these are the things that caught my attention this year. 1. Brett Favre retired. Again…
10 Sequels That Don’t Need To Happen
For those who’ve been pining for the return of the “Blue Steel” and the “Magnum,” your patience is about to be rewarded: Ben Stiller is dead in the middle of promoting “Little Fockers,” out Dec. 22, but he’s already got his eye on yet another sequel: “Zoolander 2.” Stiller and…
Turbo Fruits: Now That’s A Band Name!
Rocks Off likes Turbo Fruits a lot. It’s a loud, rock-roll-icky, semi-glam group out of Nashville that is more than capable of using sick sounds to seduce your mom and making you watch. Frankly, that image – using various mothers – is all that runs through our head listening to…
Wu-Tang, Meridian, Numbers, Etc. Put In Perspective
Rocks Off is following our sister Houston Press blogs into the choppy waters of “Comment of the Day,” choosing a comment or a handful of comments from the previous day we find especially enlightening, infuriating or just plain hilarious. We’re glad our readers have opinions, whatever they are, about what…
10 Sequels We Won’t Want To See
Your reaction to this news will depend on how much you’ve been anticipating a return of the “Blue Steel”: Ben Stiller is dead in the middle of promoting “Little Fockers,” out Dec. 22, but he’s already got his eye on yet another sequel: “Zoolander 2.” Stiller and “Fockers” cohort Owen…
UPDATED: Stealing Metal From Cemeteries: Pretty Damn Low
If you’re looking for nominees for the Asshole of the Year award, a good place to start is the class of criminals who mess with graveyards. Remember those kids a couple years back who dug up a grave and smoked pot out of a human skull? Winner! This year, just…
Where Are We Drinking?
No, seriously. Where are we drinking? Because I don’t recognize this place at all. Maybe one of our readers will and can clue us in to where the scene below took place. In the meantime, I’ll be tracking down the Flickr photographer to find out for myself. Leave your best…
Ravens 34, Texans 28: It’s Not Remarkable, And It’s Not A Near Miss
If the Texans franchise has any hope for the near future, owner Bob McNair had better not frame Monday’s stunning overtime loss to Baltimore as more evidence that the team is “close”. That was the rationale in 2009, when the Texans finished 9-7, but were allegedly two-to-three plays from 11-5…
NASA’s Monkey Experiments: Looks Like They’re Officially Over
Last week we told you of PETA’s victory announcement in the battle against having NASA conduct radiation experiments on monkeys, a controversy that had been building and to which we devoted a cover story. In response to our questions, NASA pointed us to a statement that the Brookhaven Labs, which…
Comment of the Day: Tell Us How You Really Feel Edition
We love you guys when you’re sweet, wishing our writers a Merry Christmas and all. But we also love it when you get bitchy. Commenter Clement, you told us how you really feel about some of the changes to our city’s restaurant scene, detailed in a post by Katharine Shilcutt:…
The 24-Pound Ham
Two weeks before Thanksgiving, I had my normal dividing-up-Thanksgiving duties with the father-in-law. After picking the side dishes, he asked me if I could make a second main dish meat to go along with his turkey. No problem, I thought, so I offered to make a lamb roast. “Can you…
Ebony M. Murrell, 17, Bayou Body Count No. 287
There’s not much information at all in the Friday shooting death of 17-year-old Ebony M. Murrell on the southwest side. Police say they received a call about a shooting in the 10100 block of Sapling Way about 7 p.m.; when they responded they found Murrell lying on the ground, injured…
Willie Nelson’s Tour Bus: An Inside Look
As we reported to you Friday, Nashville writer, singer and bon vivant Marshall Chapman spent four days on Willie Nelson’s tour bus two years ago as she gathered material for her book They Came To Nashville. As we flipped the pages, we couldn’t wait to find out what kind of…
Brent Green’s Gravity Is Wonderfully Wonky
Kentucky hardware store clerk Leonard Wood was a man obsessed. When his wife Mary was diagnosed with cancer, he began building, trying to turn their house into a kind of machine to heal her. She died anyway. But Wood kept on building for the next 20 years, maybe hoping to…
NFL — (Really F-ing Weird) Weekend In Review
Admittedly, on Sundays when the Texans are playing, I tend to get engrossed in whatever it is they’re doing. I do a radio show in Houston, I talk about Houston sports, and therefore it is most important that I’m well versed in what Houston did on the field and the…
The Top 10 Google Searches for 2010: Food & Drink Edition
On a particularly creepy episode of Conspiracy Theory — yes, the one with Governor Jesse Ventura and the Blond Ponytail of Better Days — a cornered spokesperson for a government Fusion Center told producers and Gov. Ventura that the Fusion Centers don’t track people, they “track trends.” Weaseling your way…
Kistin Cordova, 19, Accused Of Sexually Assaulting 13-Year-Old Girl, Twice
KHOU is reporting that a Pasadena woman named Kistin Cordova is in jail for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl she had met at a skating rink. We can’t find the court documents on the case, but the station says Cordova befriended the young girl and then sexually assaulted her when…
Jason Merksamer: Houston Juggalo And Accused Robber Is Facebook Moron Of The Week
It goes without saying that it’s not a good idea to commit another violent felony — specifically, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon — while you are already on probation for a violent crime. And you would think it would also be inadvisable to broadcast still more crimes on your…
Five Alternative Uses for Candy Canes
During the holiday season I am always inundated with candy canes. Friends, family and co-workers offer them as snacks, affix them to presents and, in the case of my mother, send them to me in the mail. I can’t possibly consume this stockpile, and nor do I wish to, as…
Friday: Yo Gabba Gabba At Hobby Center
Yo Gabba Gabba, feat. Leslie Hall & Biz Markie Sarofim Hall, Hobby Center December 10, 2010 Yo Gabba Gabba, the children’s TV show currently touring as a live stage production, has plenty of positive messages for young kids: It’s okay to be different. Be sure to eat your fruits and…
Ashley Michell Barnett, 21, Bayou Body Count No. 286
Intoxication manslaughter charges have been filed against a man who drunkenly rammed into two cars while speeding on the Eastex Freeway Saturday night, police say. Oscar Javier Sanchez in is custody in relation to the death of a 21-year-old female, Ashley Michelle Barnett, who was killed. The viictim’s identity is…
What a Crock: Italian Beef
The Rundown I’m guessing a certain Houston Press writer might enjoy making this recipe. I too became a fan of the classic sandwich on a recent visit to Chicago. The rump roast is a perfect cut of meat for the crock pot. I found a recipe that got great reviews…
Slideshow: Neopopstreetfunk’s “Boarded Up” Surf/Skate Art Show
A wave of gallery goers crashed the Heights’ M2 Gallery last weekend for “Boarded Up: The Art of Surf and Skate.” Presented by Neopopstreetfunk, the show featured over 250 skateboard decks and surfboards painted by over 100 local and national artists. All proceeds benefited the Surfrider Foundation, a grassroots charity…
Hardeep Puri At Bush Intercontinental: Leading Indian Diplomat Tamps Down Outrage
India’s leading ambassador to the U.N. is reacting to outrage about his security check at Bush Intercontinental by telling the media in his native country it wasn’t as bad as reports indicated. India’s top diplomat to the UN Hardeep Puri today sought to downplay the incident involving him at the…
Ally ASL Keeps Fighting Corporate Ignorance
One of the most delightful acquaintances Rocks Off has made this year is Allyson Townsend also known as Ally ASL. A Baylor graduate of now teaching deaf children in Dallas, Townsend carved quite a bit of fame for herself after she began her quest to translate modern pop hits into…
Health Dept. Roundup
Last week, city health inspectors uncovered three big-ticket violators and a clump of lesser foes. We bring them to you now on Health Department Roundup: A December 6 visit to Tabaq Grill (15210 Highway 3) found a whopping 14 violations, among them that some food was not safe for human…
Slideshow: East End Xmas at the Orange Show
The Orange Show was the perfect environment for a folk-art East End Christmas Party Saturday night. Airbrushed low-riders and art cars lined Munger St., and glue-gun-armed partygoers created custom ornaments while the Sideshow Tramps provided a bluegrass soundtrack. Admission was free with donation of an unwrapped toy. And of course,…
Neil “Bigmista” Strawder Returns to Texas for a Good Cause
“My momma told me the church was gonna have a celebrity barbecue,” recalled Neil “Bigmista” Strawder as he stood heads and shoulders above everyone else in the St. Augustine Episcopal Church’s sunny kitchen on Saturday afternoon. “I said, ‘Oh, yeah? Who?’ And she said, ‘You!'” Strawder roared with laughter. “‘I’m…
Texas License Plates Now Have Hearts! Check Out The Possibilities
The folks at myplates.com are always looking for new ways to get people to buy vanity license plates — new designs for the most part, but also new ways for your vanity plate to impart information. Like a “heart” symbol, so you don’t have to spell out the word “love.”…
Last Night: Wu-Tang Clan At Numbers
Wu-Tang Clan Numbers December 12, 2010 Sunday night’s Wu-Tang Clan show ended around 2:30 this morning, after five or six openers and more than five hours on our feet. By the time the group went onstage, at around 12:50 a.m., the crowd had waited almost one hour in place, only…
Great Gifts from the CAMH
When our initial write-up on holiday gifts from the museum gift shop ran earlier this month, we received a comment pointing out a glaring omission: “Why on earth is there no mention of the [Contemporary Art Museum, Houston] gift shop in this article? It’s the best place in Houston to…
Ingredient of the Week: Tasso Ham
What is it? Most people think quinoa is a grain, when it’s actually a seed. Another surprise: Tasso ham is not actually ham. The cut of meat comes from a boneless, thin piece of pork shoulder, and not the leg of a pig like a traditional ham. Tasso is cured…
Miranda Lambert Added To Rodeo’s 2011 Lineup
Trace Adkins, Martina McBride, Hideout schedule also announced Miranda Lambert, the Lindale native currently nominated for five Grammys, including four for her album Revolution, will return to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo March 16 at Reliant Stadium, the rodeo announced this morning. Lambert made her rodeo debut in 2008…
Six Things To Do if the NFL and NBA Have Lockouts Next Year
There’s been a lot of talk of a lockout in both the NFL and the NBA next year. There’s no way to know whether stadiums and arenas will sit quiet and empty or if they’ll go with replacement players and still sit quiet and empty. With all this uncertainty, Hair…
Ma Po’s Bean Curd at Classic Kitchen
It’s no secret that the Taiwanese restaurant Classic Kitchen is a wonderful place for a Chinese-style breakfast, with a wide variety of buns, dumplings, pancakes, and snacky items, many of which, in China, are only available from street vendors and storefront takeaways. (Note that the breakfast part of the menu,…
Red Light Cameras: Judge Won’t Let Activists Join In Suit
The city of Houston, which really doesn’t want to give up red light camera revenue, will be the only party trying to convince a federal judge to stop the red light camera program as soon as possible. The people who really want red light cameras gone — Francis and Randall…
Tricky’s Mixed Race: A Mix-Tape “Murder Weapon”
In a political climate that curses creativity and perpetuates fear of anyone who isn’t white and male, Tricky’s Mixed Race is a much needed dose of sanity even if (or maybe because) the music is mirroring a world that is chaotic, unfamiliar, and – as Jamaicans say – “gully.” Tricky’s…
Pomegranate Martini at The Davenport
I’m usually all about a glass of red wine, but the holiday season and end-of-semester madness has gotten me in mood for good mixed drinks (plural intentional). Sidecars and cosmopolitans are usually my cocktails of choice, but lately I have been venturing into the world of martinis. And by “martini,”…
Friday Night: Batusis At Mango’s
Batusis feat. Sylvain Sylvain and Cheetah Chrome Mango’s December 10, 2010 “Everything was as it always had been … the years were a mirage and there had been no years,” E.B. White once wrote, describing the collapse of time. This is what Batusis effortlessly evoked at Mango’s, that ever-shifting building,…
Comment Of The Day: Probable Cause
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Roadrunners Speed Past Cougars
That the Houston Cougars (6-4) played a basketball game on Saturday night was not too surprising. That none of the so-called Cougar fans could be bothered to come by Hofheinz Pavilion for the game was not too surprising either. In fact, there was nothing too surprising about the Cougars 68-63…
Larry Sanders Joins Mike Terror; Stays In Kemo For Emo
Last week saw a humongously satisfying show by ICP, the most hated band in the world. Opening for the clowns was Mike Terror, featuring Kemo For Emo vocalist Larry Sanders, who was asked to guest as rhythm guitarist for the gig. Apparently Sanders’ inclusion has really given the band a…
The Week In TV: Terriers Put to Sleep, the Walking Dush, The Closer Closes
Despite the warm weather, I spent part of the weekend watching The Muppet Christmas Carol and doing my best not to cry when Scrooge watches his younger self get dumped. (I lost.) This was the week in TV Land: • Well, the inevitable has come to pass: FX has canceled…
“DOPENESS”: Much Love For Kyle Hubbard
Rocks Off is following our sister Houston Press blogs into the choppy waters of “Comment of the Day,” choosing a comment or a handful of comments from the previous day we find especially enlightening, infuriating or just plain hilarious. We’re glad our readers have opinions, whatever they are, about what…
Ron Paul: This Is Your Moment, The New York Times Says
The New York Times has officially announced it is time to stop laughing at Ron Paul, the Sage of Brazoria County, and pay attention to his vindication. The paper writes that Paul’s detractors must eat crow now that the Tea Party and Libertarians have raised him up as someone to…
Where Are We Eating?
A table full of color, chaos and chopsticks. Does this scene look familiar to you? Think you know where we’re eating this week? Leave your best guess in the comments section below…
Aaron Scheerhoorn, 28, Bayou Body Count No. 285
A very public stabbing in Montrose Friday night is being described by police as a crime of passion. Aaron Scheerhoorn, 28, as stabbed in front of witnesses standing outside of Club Blur on Pacific, the heart of Montrose’s gay clubland. Police told reporters that it was not a hate crime…
Crips & Bloods: DA Gets Her Civil Injunction Against Them
The Harris County District Attorney’s office announced last month they would be seeking civil injunctions against gang members operating near a northeast side apartment complex, and late this afternoon a judge granted the first such one in Harris County. The temporary injunction issued by Judge Alexandra Smoots-Hogan “bans members of…
Texas Is Selling Your Baby’s Blood Without Consent, Lawsuit Says
A lawsuit’s been filed by lawyers at the Texas Civil Rights Project because, allegedly, for the last seven years, the state’s Department of State Health Services has “deceptively and unlawfully sold, traded, bartered, and distributed blood samples” taken from babies. If “What the hell?!,” was your reaction, you are correct…
Comment of the Day: Burning Lady Edition
Jus’ Mac seems to have a few fans, including one Christopher Keeble, who really, really disagreed with the mac and cheese establishment’s inclusion in Katharine Shilcutt’s “Most Disappointing Restaurant Openings of 2010” blog entry, writing, “I don’t have enough words to say how wrong the Press is on this.” But…
This Week in Deliciousness
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we’re already rigging our rooftops up with traps and buying ingredients for our famous reindeer chili. We started the week off like we do most days around the holidays: with a big-ass box of wine. No, YOU’RE making…
M.D. Anderson Making Mice Babies WITHOUT MOTHERS. That’s Gotta Be Gay, Right?
Researchers at M.D. Anderson have created mice from two fathers, the Wall Street Journal reports. That has to be the gayest thing we’ve heard since sing-along Project Runway. Which we actually haven’t heard of, but we can dream, right? The scientists “first engineered a female mouse whose eggs held DNA…
Sergio Corona: Owner Of Sea Shell Store Put In Fake $28K Claim Over Gulf Spill, Feds Say
Sergio Corona sells sea shells down by the sea shore — or so he’d have the federal government believe. Corona is the first person indicted in the Southern District of Texas for fraud in connection with the Deepwater Horizon spill. Prosecutors said he put in a claim for $28,400 to…
Wu-Tang Clan’s Best Pop-Culture References
Rocks Off can’t rightfully remember the last time the whole Wu-Tang Clan was ever in Houston, if they ever have been. For some reason, we keep wanting to think they came once with Rage Against The Machine around 1997. In 2007, they came to Dallas on the Rock The Bells…
Upcoming Events
Head down to Galveston this Saturday, December 11, to raise money for a very good cause and meet a ‘cue-lebrity at the same time. Neil “Bigmista” Strawder, contestant on TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters and owner of nationally acclaimed Bigmista’s Barbecue in California, will be coming home to the island he was…
(Update) MFAH Director Peter Marzio Dead
Update 3:43pm: MFAH acting director Gwen Goffe offered her thoughts. Her comments after the jump. Update 1:17pm: Bill Arning, director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, shared with us his thoughts on Marzio’s passing. His comments after the jump. We are stunned after the news of Museum of Fine Arts…
Abandoned Baby’s Blanket May Be Key To Finding TV-Obsessed Parents
Do you know anyone who loves TV so much they’d buy a baby blanket designed to look like a remote control? Would that person be the kind of person who’d leave their newborn infant on a doorstep? Then Galveston County officials want to talk to you. The 10-day old boy…
Meridian Wu-Tang Tickets Worthless; Hundreds Left For Numbers
Rocks Off has good news and bad news about Sunday’s Wu-Tang Clan show. First, the bad news: We have heard reports of people who bought tickets when the show was scheduled for Meridian calling and going down to that venue looking for refunds, as have people with tickets to David…
Weekly Time Waster: Love & Loneliness
The emotional responses typically associated with video games are fairly limited: excitement, fear, frustration…aggression? A player is rarely driven to jump over fireballs because of a true empathetic love for “the princess” (or maybe we’re just the heartless exception). The whole “video games as art” argument has placed some emphasis…
Friday Juvenile Time Waster — Live TV Cussing Videos!
Since getting into radio a few years ago, my biggest fear hasn’t been a “dear in the headlights” moment (I prepare pretty meticulously), it hasn’t been a guest or caller sending the show sideways. The one thing I’m still most fearful of is accidentally cursing on the air. You’d think…
Happy Hour Scene: Americas – River Oaks
The Place: Americas — River Oaks2040 West Gray832-200-1492www.cordua.com/americasThe Hours: Monday through Friday, 11 a.m – 7 p.m.The Deals: Beers are $3 and wines (by the glass) are $2 cheaper than normal, starting at $4. The Scene: About an hour before happy hour at Americas ended on Thursday night, waiters started…
Ride the Wave to the Best Christmas Lights in Town
In Houston we know better than to dream of a white Christmas, but winter wonderlands are still within reach thanks to the Christmas Lights Tours on The Washington Wave. For the next three Tuesdays in December Houston’s jitney bus service will pass through the Bayou City’s finest luminary displays, including…
Stevie Victoria Brown-Crever: Pot Bust Stems From Michigan Plates?
The Montgomery County Police Reporter is a just-the-facts publication; here’s one of their latest stories: Sunday evening approximately 7:00P.M. Deputy Juan Chapa and his partner Porter [a dog, by the way] were on routine patrol along US 59 near Creekwood when he spotted a black Ford 500 traveling northbound with…
Bartender Chat: Michael Wells of Marfreless
Michael Wells has lived an eclectic, fun life. He was born in New Orleans, moved to Houston as a child, and later did a six-year stint at The Hard Rock Café in Honolulu. After his father died, he asked his manager in Honolulu for a transfer to The Hard Rock…
The Mink Celebrates Five-Year Anniversary With Young Girls
Goodness, it’s been a while since our last MCM update, but we’re back. Rocks Off is scouring the Internet for every tidbit of Houston music news we can find, and reporting it all back every Friday. If you’d like to facilitate our hunt, feel free to drop a line to…
Richard Tabler: Sorry, Senator, For Threatening From Death Row To Kill You
You may remember Richard Tabler, the Death Row inmate who really, really likes his smuggled cell phones. He called State Senator John Whitmire of Houston from his cell on the thing, which is either the ballsiest or stupidest move ever. When Whitmire, who chairs the Texas senate’s committee on prison…
All I Want for Christmas Is a KitchenAid K45SS Classic 250-Watt 4-1/2-Quart Stand Mixer
Still using your grandmother’s split-pea-green handheld mixer (the one that smells like burning and shoots the attachments across the room when you hit eject)? Kitchen appliances have come a long way, and thanks to an economy in recession, many of the most popular brands are offering huge discounts for the…
Why I Wrote A Book About The Bottom Of The Music Biz
Let’s drop the royal we for a second, okay? This is Jef, and I’m here to shamelessly plug my book signing at Cactus Music from 12-3 p.m. tomorrow (beverages provided by St. Arnolds; music by Giant Princess). I also want to explain why the book exists at all. I’m prone…
Ricardo Coulston: Blowjob In Kiddie Flick Lands Lufkin Teen In Jail
When you think of movies that could inspire people to commit acts of public lewdness, Megamind, the new Will Ferrell-, Brad Pitt- and Tina Fey-voiced animated children’s superhero flick doesn’t immediately spring to mind. But a Lufkin couple — 18-year-old Ricardo Coulston and an unnamed juvenile female — apparently were…
Shiftwork Bites: Cassoulet
Shiftwork Bites is all about flexibility. Sometimes, that just means altering a cooking method to suit my circumstances. Occasionally, it means taking liberties with the specifics of a recipe. Such was the case over the weekend when I decided to make a batch of cassoulet for my coworkers. This classic…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted:The Fighter
Title: The Fighter Is This The Movie Christian Bale Lost All That Weight For? Well, this or The Machinist. How Come When Bale Loses A Bunch Of Weight For A Movie, He’s Taking His Craft Seriously, But When Mila Kunis Or Natalie Portman Do It, They’re Setting A Dangerous Example…
December 4-10: The Week in Photos
Each week, we take a dip into the Houston Press Flickr pool and see what our talented photographers have been up to. Be sure to post your holiday pics to our photo group — we are especially interesting in stunning photos of decorations. and kids, adults and pets sitting on…
Openings & Closings
More great news for the Heights this week as it was announced that D’Amico’s Italian Market has set its sights on White Oak Boulevard for its second location. The popular restaurant has been operating at 5510 Morningside in Rice Village since 1996 and has never expanded until now. Citing the…
Mark Ballas Burns For You (In Song) UPDATED
Updated: Mark Ballas is singing for sure and more than once, see update below. Chances are good that multi-talented heartthrob Mark Ballas of Dancing With the Stars fame won’t just be dancing in Burn the Floor — he’ll be making his singing debut in the show on opening night in…
Nasty Nique EP Has The Heart Of A Champion
This year, the New Houston Collective has really become a force. In no particular order, their attendance sheet: Fat Tony, Propain, B L A C K I E, Hollywood FLOSS, Preemo, Eskabel, Hubbard, Nosaprise, hasHBrown, Thuro, H-Kane, Delo, Les, Roderick, The Niceguys, John Dew, Montana, Virgo, Dirty & Nasty, Kirko…
NFL & College Football Best Bets — How Ebenezer Scrooge Saved Me
I went to the Alley Theater last night and saw A Christmas Carol. Fantastic production and actually my first time ever seeing it in any venue, let alone the Alley. For the completely un-Christmased of you out there, Carol is a tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, a grumpy curmudgeon of a…
White Versus Yellow Cake
Let’s talk about color. Specifically, white versus yellow, with regards to cake. I’ve always thought the latter to be vastly superior, but I seem to be in the minority these days. Most wedding, birthday, and cupcakes feature the former, perhaps as a foil to decadent, more complex frosting flavors? That…
Marshall Chapman’s Phases And Stages With Willie Nelson
The final chapter of Marshall Chapman’s new book, They Came to Nashville, is probably as close as most of us will ever get to riding on Willie Nelson’s tour bus. Chapman, who has known Nelson since meeting him at a party in Nashville in 1973, hooked up with the Red…
MFAH’s Peter Marzio Dead From Cancer
The Houston art world was stunned this morning to hear the news of Museum of Fine Arts director Peter Marzio’s death from cancer. He had been extremely private about his battle. The news was first reported by CultureMap. Marzio was an internationally-known art figure, having helmed the MFAH for 28…
The Week In Art Photos
Each week, we scour the Houston Press Flickr Pool and see what kinds of art shots our talented photographers have added. If you think you’ve got a good eye, drop your pictures in the pool and every Friday we’ll post the most eye-popping shots. (Be sure to enable the HTML…
A Houston Rockets Christmas: Rating The Unlistenable
The Houston Rockets like to put out Christmas videos in which the players mangle carols, to the general merriment of all. It’s a good idea in theory. In practice? Cover your ears. 4. “Let It Snow” No one gets close to being in tune, but this is worth it if…
Community: Abed In Wonderland
“This isn’t going to be fun, easy, or safe.” — Abed There’s an extent to which Community is the new Arrested Development, trafficking in hypertextuality and inside jokes that only grow more rewarding with repeat viewings. But episodes like last night’s “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” also owe a debt to Scrubs,…
Comment Of The Day: DynCorp Edition
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Robert Del Grande of RDG + Bar Annie
This week I have been chatting with Robert Del Grande, the chef behind one of the most famous restaurants in town, RDG + Bar Annie, formerly known as Café Annie. The experience actually has me thinking about food in a different way. The important things: buy the best ingredients you…
Fiskadoro’s Christmas Of The Damned
Peace on Earth and good will towards men? We’ll have none of that happy hippie horseshit here, thank you very much. Listening to Fiskadoro is like the cuddle session after a brutal orgy, and we do love every damn minute of music they infect our iPod with. Their latest release…
Kids These Days…
Rocks Off is following our sister Houston Press blogs into the choppy waters of “Comment of the Day,” choosing a comment or a handful of comments from the previous day we find especially enlightening, infuriating or just plain hilarious. We’re glad our readers have opinions, whatever they are, about what…
Rhett Stringer & Morgan Pratka: Breaking Into Mailboxes For Profit
If you’re going to be a thief, it’s best to have a specialty. And for Rhett Stringer, 32, and Morgan Pratka, 28, that specialty was breaking into mailboxes looking for money orders. Their purview was vast: over a dozen collection boxes, outside post offices in Memorial, Katy and Tomball, among…
Breakfast with Santa Claus at Yale Street Grill
As mentioned earlier this week, Yale Street Grill (2100 Yale, 713-861-3113) is one of my favorite places to grab a low-key breakfast. But not just for chicken fried steak. I can still remember the first time my father took me to Yale Street as a child. That first visit was…
The 12 Really Most Annoying Things About Christmas Shopping
It’s getting to crunch time. You gotta buy gifts. You could do it online, but no, you want to get into the spirit of things and mingle with your fellow revelers. You will regret this decision. We asked you to give us examples of what you find most annoying about…
Curtis Doss: Tax Collector Pleads Guilty To Misusing Public Funds, Keeps Job
Curtis Doss is the Tax Collector of Burleson County. Curtis Doss pleaded guilty last week to misapplying public funds. Curtis Doss will not be losing his job as Tax Collector of Burleson County. Why? The wily Doss misused public funds in his other political job, that of Tax Assessor. Oh,…
Comment of the Day: WTF Edition
Today Kevin Shalin posted his top 5 food WTFs, which stirred some debate in the comments section. We were partial to Bruce R’s contribution to the conversation: Thank you, Kevin. In order to assist with your effort in avoiding these terms I’m offering some replacements: Gastropub–>Grub-n-chug Flight–>Menagerie Artisan–>Uppity Deconstructed–>Exploded Aioli–>Grease…
Real Bacon Bits or Fakin’ Bacon?
Loving bacon is almost as cliché as making jokes about Kevin Bacon being in movies with a lot of different actors. But where’s the love for defatted soy flour? What, you mean you don’t have a T-shirt proclaiming your love for it? In case you are wondering, defatted soy flour…
Mario Elie, Former Rocket, Still Part-Time Houstonian, Busted For Drunk Driving
Mario Elie, the popular former Houston Rocket who’s married to KTRK news anchor Gina Gaston, got busted early this morning for suspicion of drunk driving, the Associated Press reports. Elie, now an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings, was picked up in downtown Sacramento, such as it is, at 1:15…
Pik N Pak: Great Buzzes, Angry Skinheads, Uncle Jesse…
Last week, when Rocks Off posted our blog about this weekend’s Pik N Pak reunion at Rudyard’s and Groundhall, we asked people to email us their stories about the bygone Montrose icehouse. We’re happy to say we got several responses, some quite short, others rather lengthy. We edited the emails…
Chef Monica Pope Goes to Jail (Okay, Not Really)
But that’s the status update that more or less freaked out half of the Houston food community when they saw it posted on her Facebook wall earlier today: Thought I’d send the lunch menu from jail (long story, blame the health dept) but I’m free! Fri lunch will be yum…
December 9, 2013 Headline: Hunter Pence Signs With Pirates For 7 Years, $168M
Most major league baseball owners are billionaires or, at the very least, incredibly wealthy leaders of investor groups. And I’m pretty sure you have to be smart to become a billionaire (although I am admittedly very smart, and I regularly get excited when I have enough spare change to justify…
Send Us Your Funny Holiday Photos
Know any bad Santas? Got invited to one of those “sexy” holiday shindigs? Like to dress your pet in outrageous and embarassing holiday costumes? Dogs wearing antlers? Something juicy going on at the office Christmas party? Have your cameras ready, ’cause we want to see! Drop your photos in the…
Remember Kyle Hubbard’s Tomorrow in Retrospect?
Houston’s history is dotted with albums that, fairly or not, have been swept aside. We’ll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. Kyle Hubbard, a 23-year-old MC with his feet firmly planted in the firmament of the New Houston rapper movement,…
Paratha and Parrots (Yes, Parrots) at Alfa Capri
Before meeting a friend to get dahi puri at Bansuri for Battle Dahi Puri — it’s only a snack, you know, not meant as a whole meal — I decided to grab a bite of “real” dinner down the street so that I wouldn’t be starving again at 10 p.m…
Sarah Palin Somehow Comes Up In Red Light Camera Hearing
If there’s one place we expect to be safe from Sarah Palin and her reality TV exploits, it’s a courtroom in a federal courthouse during a hearing about red light cameras. We are wrong. Sarah Palin’s Alaska received at least three mentions at a hearing earlier today, starting with David…
David Allan Coe Camp Disputes Meridian’s Cancellation Story
This isn’t exactly a surprise, but earlier this afternoon Rocks Off got a phone call from David Allan Coe’s management company contesting the account of why last Friday’s show at Meridian did not happen. Both over the phone and in a press release he faxed to Rocks Off, Coe’s agent…
ēT Premium Grill in the Tunnels
ēT Premium Grill, located underneath the JPMorgan Chase building, is just under a mile away from my office by surface routes, which means it’s just over a mile away when winding through the tunnels. It’s a small shop, dominated by the open “kitchen” and its glass enclosed grill in the…
Good Lord: Are The Texans About To Make A Playoff Run?
Nothing hurts our head more than calculating NFL playoff scenarios, with the possible exception of getting hit directly on the skull by a 50-pound block of ice. So we will leave those calculations to more-obsessed people, but we do know this: If the Texans win out, they may make the…
Yo Gabba Gabba!’s Greatest Hits
A year ago, in honor of Sesame Street’s 40th birthday, Rocks Off brought you a list of the beloved television program’s 10 Best Musical Appearances. But 41 years ago, Nickelodeon didn’t exist. Now the network is known for its retro-cool vibe, thanks to bringing back shows from the golden age…
WikiLeaks: DynCorp Responds To Dancing Boys Scandal
In the wake of our story about DynCorp’s ill-fated Afghan dance party, DynCorp’s vice president of communications Ashley Vanarsdall Burke has sent in an official response. The company says that there was no truth to the allegation made in the headline “Texas Company Helped Pimp Little Boys To Stoned Afghan…
Ella Russell of E-dub-a-licious Treats
Galveston-born, Bellaire-based Ella Russell is 36 years old. She has two boys, 14 and 9, and works full-time at AT&T as a service rep. She is also studying at the Art Institute. (She’s going back in January after taking the fall quarter off to spend more time with her kids.)…
“Neopopstreetfunk” Takes On the Art of Surf and Skate
According to founders Kevin Sechelski and Nicky Davis, “Neopopstreetfunk” was an idea born from a late night in a garage with large quantities of Lone Star beer: “We are artists, striving to throw the biggest and best art shows Houston has ever seen.” They seem to be on the right…
PETA Says NASA Ending Monkey Experiments (UPDATED with NASA response)
PETA is proclaiming victory in their ongoing battle to stop radiation experiments on monkeys that had been planned by NASA. Well, folks, you did it. After scores of protests and more than 100,000 letters, phone calls, and e-mails from PETA supporters–including some high-profile allies, such as Sir Paul McCartney, Bob…
Funky Winkerbean Comes To Houston, For Better Or Worse
Funky Winkerbean is an awful, awful, so-bad-it’s-good comic strip, one that tries vainly to impart depth by having every character suffer from cancer, post-traumatic stress, alcoholism, loss of limbs — the list goes on. Everything gets handled in the end with a lame pun that shows brave humor in the…
Food Fight: Battle Dahi Puri
I have come to terms with my current obsession: dahi puri. It was sparked by the review I did of Sweet n Namkin some weeks ago and has only been growing stronger as I find more and more places around town in which to indulge my chaat tooth. How I’ve…
Texas Police Pimp Their Rides With Trunk Rumblers
The next time you hear a boom box roaring thunderously at the traffic light, listen closely before cursing under your breath. It could be a patrol car trying to squeak by. Channel 11 News reported this week that a new emergency vehicle siren making noise down in Alvin emits the…
The Year in Static Memes
As with video memes this year, the static exploitable memes moved just as fast in and out of our subconscious. Luckily we, the Internet-proud and vigilant, kept on top of them for you. With a little help from Keanu Reeves, Michael Cera, Leonardo DiCaprio, and an asshole deity, 2010 was…
Brew Blog: Victoria Beer Comes to Houston
Last week a buddy of ours who lived in Mexico for a while (and did a fair amount of drinking there) excitedly spotted a billboard for Victoria beer, which he demanded we immediately try to find…
Deyna Carabajal: HPD’s Anti-Honduran Facebook Ranter Gets Suspended
KPRC, which has owned the story of HPD’s strange anti-Honduran Facebook ranter, Deyna Carabajal, is reporting that the officer has been suspended without pay for 10 days. Carabajal’s Facebook page was the home for such endearing notices to Hondurans as “Zero tolerance 4 yall today. Y’all look at me wrong…
The Nutcracker, Now With Karen O And Conor Oberst
Have you ever seen The Nutcracker? It’s pretty weird. We can’t think of another story in which the main plot gets resolved in the first half and the second half is just one big-ass party. Seriously, the conflict is resolved so thoroughly by the end of the first act that…
Manuel Lopez-Mendoza: Guilty In Brazen Attempted Heist Of Giant Pink Bunny
Thieves around the world are often noted for their sleight of hand, their ability to conceal what is not theirs and spirit it away to a place of safe-keeping undetected. Some are true masters of the art. Fifty-year-old Manuel Lopez-Mendoza of the East Texas town of Diboll is not one…
Houston’s Elusive Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie
One of the few downfalls of my cozy hovel of an apartment is the unpredictable and unreliable gas oven. Which is tragic because baked goods, specifically moist, chewy chocolate chip cookies, are among my very favorite foods. Having so far failed to produce satisfactory cookies, I have been forced to…
Top Five: Ways to Celebrate the Rothko Chapel’s 40th Birthday
Come 2011 the Rothko Chapel will be turning 40 and the chapel’s foundation has been hard at work planning a year’s worth of stuffy events to celebrate: high-brow concerts, solemn spiritual ceremonies, formal rededications, and so forth. While we’ve enjoyed such offerings in the past, we imagined things a bit…
Top 5 Food WTFs
Enough is enough. These food terms are overused. I’m tired of seeing them on signs and reading them on menus. Gastropub Here’s the evolution of this word–first it was pub, then bar, then bar and grill, then bar and grille, back to pub, and now it’s gastropub. Got it? Must…
Today’s High Schoolers Shrugging Off New Music
During this part of the year, your humble narrator treks from school to schools selling contest music to bands and orchestras. It’s a good gig, and it enables us to get a good gander at what the next generation of musicians look like. However, after several years of doing it,…
Comment Of The Day: Pwned On The Marfa Lights
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Cinema To Fall Asleep To
As a rule, I try not to fall asleep in movies. Home viewing is one thing. There’s a certain satisfaction one derives from bravely refusing to remain conscious through an entire screening of The Break Up, for example. Some would regard it as a feat of endurance to stay awake…
What Movies Have You Fallen Asleep To?
As a rule, I try not to fall asleep in movies. Home viewing is one thing. There’s a certain satisfaction one derives from bravely refusing to remain conscious through an entire screening of The Break Up, for example. Some would regard it as a feat of endurance to stay awake…
The Most Disappointing Restaurant Openings of 2010
This week, we start our countdown of 2010 restaurant openings and closings, counting down the restaurants that opened in 2010 after great advance buzz only to fall flat or — worse — end up dead in the water. Sabetta 2411 S. Shepherd This Italian restaurant from Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio would have…
Five More Heavy Metal Christmas Carols
Last year’s unholy Christmas metal list was so popular, we decided to reach back into our quasi-Santanic bag and find five more songs for you to blare while trimming the tree and wrapping presents. We made our list too late to catch Rob Halford’s Christmas album, Winter Songs. Otherwise it…
Comments… How Do They Work?
Rocks Off is following our sister Houston Press blogs into the choppy waters of “Comment of the Day,” choosing a comment or a handful of comments from the previous day we find especially enlightening, infuriating or just plain hilarious. We’re glad our readers have opinions, whatever they are, about what…
The Five Sexiest Old Actresses Who Died In 2010
As in every year, people died in 2010. Famous people. Sexy people. Or people who were, at one time, both famous and sexy. While they may have been elderly by the time they went to join the Great Majority, it is as they were in their prime that they should…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Robert Del Grande of RDG + Bar Annie
Yesterday, EOW sat down with Houston Chef extraordinaire Robert Del Grande at his beautiful Galleria-area restaurant, RDG + Bar Annie. After having fun exploring his musical aspirations and scientific background, we tried to get him to share some culinary wisdom. Eating Our Words: Previously, we spoke about cookbooks and how…
Nancy Shank, 52, Bayou Body Count No. 284
A woman was stabbed to death by her son in an exclusive neighborhood near River Oaks Wednesday afternoon, Houston police say. John Shank, 20, was arrested shortly after the incident. He is charged with killing his mother, Nancy, 52, at his family home in the 3700 block of Overbrook Lane….
Best Christmas Pageant Ever
The Country Playhouse has a different take on the holiday comedy Best Christmas Pageant Ever – they’ve moved it to the California coast, added palm trees and turned those little old church ladies into Housewives of Orange County wannabes. They’ve also reset it to 2010 and tweaked some of the…
Lights in the Heights
For those of us fed up with jammed shopping malls and overpriced must-have gifts, the holidays have lost some of their charm. Happily, the good citizens of the Woodland Heights, one of the loveliest neighborhoods in town, have found a way to recapture that ol’ time festive feelin’ with Lights…
Venturing Out: Far and Wi(l)de
Choreographer/dancer jhon r. stronks happily admits that the Wilde referenced in the title of his latest showcase, Far and Wi(l)de, is Oscar. Much of stronks’s work is based in queer theory, so it seems appropriate. “But it also has ‘wide’ in there,” he points out. “So it’s open to everything,…
A Very Merry Pops
Jingle bells, Santa Claus and … a piano juggler? Okay, so two-thirds of A Very Merry Pops is classic holiday fare and the other third is … ah, not. Michael Krajewski will lead the Houston Symphony and the symphony chorus through classic hits, including “Sleigh Ride,” “O Holy Night” and…
A Queer Carol
The main gist of A Queer Carol should be obvious from the title — it’s a gay-themed retelling of Dickens’s tale, for GLBT theater-lovers or anyone who’s just plain over Tiny Tim and his stupid little crutch. But this is a retelling that does more than just tweak gender roles…
Christmas Belles
Meeting a sister they never knew about isn’t the Christmas present the Futrelle sisters were hoping for this year, but in Christmas Belles, that’s what they get. Of course, an extra sister doesn’t stop the oft-married Honey Raye, jail bird Twink and pregnant Frankie from going about their usual holiday…
City Dance Company’s Edge Dance Concert
There will be multiethnic dancers ranging in age from teens to more than 60 years old onstage during City Dance Company’s Edge Dance Concert. Set to the words of Maya Angelou’s poem Phenomenal Woman and music by percussionist Ilya Kolozs, the works will include contemporary pointe pieces as well as…
Gay and Gayer
It’s taken almost two years for the bonkers, exhilarating same-sex romantic comedy I Love You Phillip Morris to finally reach theaters. Premiering at Sundance in January 2009, the movie was a near-casualty of nervous-nellie U.S. distributors — more comfortable with innocuous gay genres like the homosexual weepie or the martyr…
Museum of Dysfunction III: A Showcase of Shorts
Local alternative theater fans have seen two previous incarnations of Museum of Dysfunction, a series of short stage works loosely centered around a theme. For this year’s Museum of Dysfunction III: A Showcase of Shorts, the theme is dysfunctional relationships. “The works range from two-minute monologues to 20-minute plays,” says…
Burn the Floor
It’s a Broadway show on tour with no lines — as in, no lines spoken onstage. Two percussionists and two vocalists add a bit here and there, but otherwise it’s just 20 dancers pounding the boards for two hours at a time. It’s Burn the Floor, the Gexa Energy/Broadway Across…
Three Bags Full
At the center of the farce Three Bags Full are, you guessed it, three bags. One is filled with money, one with diamonds and one with women’s bloomers. The play runs at breakneck speed, with lots of doors slamming and mistaken identities. There’s a young couple in love (every farce…
NANO Reading Series: Ryan Dilbert and Irene Keliher
In his novel Time Crumbling Like a Wet Cracker, Ryan Dilbert fuses together seemingly mismatched eras, characters and locales. A time-traveling heroine aims to rid the world of infamous evildoers like Osama bin Laden, Hitler and Stalin, only time doesn’t move in the rational way she expects, resulting in humorously…
Marwencol
Jeff Malmberg’s documentary Marwencol, a prize-winner wherever it has screened, captures a bizarre true story of artful fantasy and fantastic art. In the World War II-era Belgian village of Marwencol, Nazi storm troopers have captured an American soldier. They string him up in the church and begin to slice his…
The Calling
Seven idealistic young Americans set out on the path to become spiritual leaders in the documentary The Calling. The film, an unblinking look at modern religious traditions, follows each through years of study and training, then into their individual practices as religious professionals, documenting their struggle to lead an “I’ll…
Jill Moser: “Editions”
The core of Jill Moser’s exhibit “Editions” is The Introvert, a 50-page artist’s book that mixes poems by Charles Bernstein with her handpainted works on printmaking paper. “An artist’s book is something that you hold and read,” says Moser, whose work hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. “So…
Milton T. Burton: Nights of the Red Moon/ Mortal Remains
With a background as a cattleman, college professor and political consultant, Tyler resident Milton T. Burton is the perfect person to write the Bo Handel series of Texas-based thrillers. “My background has given me access to a lot of diverse people. So I know some things that other people don’t…
A Tuna Christmas
It’s been a few years since Joe Sears and Jaston Williams, the creators (along with Ed Howard) and actors of the Greater Tuna series, brought the Tony Award-nominated show A Tuna Christmas to Galveston, but the wait will be worth it. The 1989 Christmas show about the third-smallest town in…
A Christmas Story Party and Feast with Peter Billingsley
At today’s A Christmas Story Party, actor Peter Billingsley (he played Ralphie) will be on hand to eat, drink and make merry along with the audience. There’ll be a four-course Christmas dinner, with special beer pairings, raffles, games, prizes like an autographed Red Ryder BB gun and a Peter Billingsley…
Die Hard
This is our kind of holiday flick – one with guns. And we’re not talking just on screen; at this special screening of Die Hard, everyone in the audience gets a cap gun to shoot along with the hero. Die Hard stars Bruce Willis as NYPD cop John McClane, who’s…
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
You knew National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation entered the wider pop culture vernacular when people started referring to suburban men who go just-a-bit overboard on the outdoor holiday decorations as Griswolds. The 1989 film follows the hapless-but-well-meaning patriarch of the Griswold clan (Chevy Chase) as he tries to create the perfect…
Santa has a problem in the children’s musical Santa’s Magic Time Piece, presented by UpStage Theatre: There have been so many good boys and girls that he just doesn’t have time to deliver all the presents. That’s where Tink, an awkward elf, comes in. He figures out a way to…
Princess Christmas
The mean girls learn a lesson in Princess Christmas, with a little help from Cinderella, Jasmine and some other fairy tale characters. When Gabriella enters a new school, she soon finds out that it’s the mean girls, or so-called little princesses, who rule the social pecking order. The little princesses…
Christmas Cookies on Stage
Christmas treats this season come in all shapes and sizes, some full of wonder when unwrapped and some sooty around the edges. To be fair, like Santa, the sampling is in alphabetical order. In past productions, Patdro Harris (director/choreographer) and Carlton Leake (composer) have always brought unparalleled sass to Ensemble…
Barfly Revisited
Even if no one could ever agree on how to spell its name, and often couldn’t quite remember what had gone on there the previous evening, the long-demolished Pik N Pak stands as one of Houston’s most iconic music venues ever. A parking lot today, the icehouse across Waugh from…
Obliviously Plump
SPACED CITY Starring My Wife CultureMap loves to cover a co-owner’s wife By Richard Connelly In many ways, a recent post was a typical CultureMap item: Headlined “Becca Cason Thrash, Scott McClelland, Gina Gaston & more share their living lean strategies,” it was a hard(ly)-hitting look at the holiday diet…
Stanton Moore feat. Anders Osborne Trio
Unless you are from New Orleans or are the kind of music nerd who reads drum magazines — who knew, right? — chances are Stanton Moore isn’t exactly on the tip of your tongue. But among drummers, the jam-band community and New Orleans music aficionados, Moore is a giant. A…
Slaid Cleaves
Since 2000’s Broke Down vaulted him to national prominence, Slaid Cleaves has released a handful of soulful albums. Good as they are, though, none have ever quite captured lightning in a bottle the way that one did. Be that as it may — who can predict when an artist will…
Scott Miller
Besides the band’s freewheelin’ guitar lines, snide lyrics like “this beer is colder than the shoulder you would give me if I told you the truth” are one of the hallmarks of roots-rockers Scott Miller & The Commonwealth. Before Miller started up his Commonwealth gang, he was involved in the…
Papa’s Punch
At one end of the specialty cocktail list at Reserve 101 (1201 Caroline, 713-655-7101), there’s a drink called a Hemingway, and at the other end, a drink called a Bubble Gum Martini. I’m not all that macho, but I know what side of that scale I’d rather slide to. As…
Party at the Moon Tower
Check out more photos of the hot dogs and horseshoes that make Moon Tower unique in our slideshow. The first time I pulled up to Moon Tower Inn — and saw the solitary, softly glowing sign that reads only “No. 3004” jutting up from a curb on Canal Street —…
Barcadia
Brooke Humphries of Dallas, the owner of Barcadia (2600 Travis, 713-523-2525), has been in the nightclub and bar business for 20 years. “I opened Barcadia in Dallas, and when we came across a great building in Houston, we decided to expand there,” she says. The place has arcade games along…
Blissful Ecstasy
If you stake all of your reputation on just one dish, you’d better make sure it’s the best there is. This is definitely the case at the recently opened Jus’ Mac (2617 Yale, 713-622-8646), which specializes in the ultimate comfort food, mac and cheese. The best of the best here,…
Capsule Art Reviews: “B-Sides: A Dialogue with Contemporary Photography,” D-17
“B-Sides: A Dialogue with Contemporary Photography” “B-Sides” was curated by Jennifer Ward, FotoFest’s exhibitions coordinator, and it’s filled with interesting and unexpected work, all of it relating in some way to “themes fundamental to the current state of affairs in the U.S.” In photographer Richard Mosse’s 2007 video Fraternity, ten…
Batusis Is No Throwback
Twin ambassadors of punk-tinged rock and roll history, Cheetah Chrome and Sylvain Sylvain intertwine rootsy soul, finger-lickin’ agility and mucho attitude in their new project Batusis. It’s the duo’s joint devil child. Batusis treads the familiar turf of their former bands the New York Dolls (Sylvain) and the Dead Boys…
Dance Dance Revulsion
A near-irresistible exercise in bravura absurdity, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan deserves to become a minor classic of heterosexual camp — at the very least, it’s the most risible and riotous backstage movie since Showgirls. Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake has had a spooky quality at least since Tod Browning appropriated a few…
Life on Narnia
A massive project, taken up lightly by Disney in the giddy post-Lord of the Rings atmosphere and dropped upon failing to return the requisite billions, this third adaptation from C.S. Lewis’s seven-volume (!) Chronicles of Narnia comes underwritten by a new studio, 20th Century Fox, and with a new director,…
Montrose Murder
Last August, Nancy Rodriguez held a letter in her hand that she believed, if true, would shatter the carefully crafted image of her son’s murderer as a man who’d been rehabilitated in prison and deserved early parole. Rodriguez had the misfortune to be the mother of the victim of one…
Rich Man’s Recession
Tracking the parallel trajectories of three employees laid off from cushy corporate jobs at the same Boston-based manufacturing conglomerate, The Company Men is transparent in its ambition to capture The Way We Live Now from a sensitive, equitable — rather than a withering and satiric — point of view. Writer/director…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Bluefinger: The Fall and Rise of Herman Brood, The Heidi Chronicles, The Nutcracker
Bluefinger: The Fall and Rise of Herman Brood Catastrophic Theatre’s magnificent world-premiere production, written and directed by Jason Nodler and featuring a blistering performance by Matt Kelly in the title role, could easily be the next smash hit on Broadway. It’s got dysfunction in spades since it’s based on the…
Top It Off
There’s a difference between being enthusiastic about something and being snobbish about something. The distinction between the two is subtle, but fundamental. Enthusiastic people are eager to share their joy with anyone who will listen, even when those people are not listening intently. Snobbish people, conversely, hoard their joy, even…
Pardon the DeLay
Don’t DeLay Online readers comment on DeLay Guilty of Money Laundering,” Hair Balls blog, by Jeff Balke, November 24: Star turn: Dancing with the convicted felons? No TV in the big house, Tom. Wheels of Justice Gag: You can tell by the smile on this punk’s face that he doesn’t…
Wu-Tang Clan
From the slums of Shao-Lin, Wu-Tang Clan strikes again! Maybe. With scheduled hip-hop shows here canceling with some regularity over the past year or so, it’s still hard for us to believe this is happening. But at least as of this writing, Houston will get a performance from the mostly…
Don’t Feel Turbulence
Dear Mexican, Why can AeroMexico Airlines fly through any kind of weather conditions to get to and from the United States, but any kind of little ice sprinkle or heavy wind and domestic airlines in the U.S. cancel two days worth of flights? For two consecutive winters, I’ve had Chicago-to-Houston-to-Leon,…
