Rod Stewart And Stevie Nicks Set To Tag-Team Toyota Center August 9
Ms. “Leather And Lace” meets Mr. “Hot Legs” on August 9 as Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks’ current “Heart & Soul Tour” makes a stop in Houston at Toyota Center. The pair have been touring together the past few years in spurts. This is first time the duo has hit…
Comcast SportsNet Houston To Bring Today Show-Like Studio to Downtown
If you’ve ever wanted to be seen on TV waving furiously and holding a sign outside a studio window like on the Today show, today is big for you. Mayor Annise Parker and a bunch of business types announced that Comcast SportsNet Houston, which is going to be the TV…
Jason Jefferson: HPD Seeks Info on Death Outside Rich’s Nightclub
Houston police have put out a special call for more information in the death of Jason Jefferson, 39. Jefferson was involved in an altercation outside Rich’s, at 2401 San Jacinto, early in the morning of February 17. He was hospitalized with a serious head injury and died February 27. HPD…
Orents Stirner: The Improvised Hall Of Beauty
Orents Stirner is a local experimental-rock act that has crafted one of the oddest and most ambitious music videos that we’ve ever come across. “Collect My Sunshine” is a seven-minute journey though a bizarre, Muppetish hall decorated with lyrics, slogans, and bric-a-brac. A small troll doll dances through its interior,…
Wine Has Terroir; Oysters Have “Merroir,” and We’ll Pay More For It
“We had a vastly more sophisticated oyster culture 100 years ago than we do now,” said Robb Walsh over a plate of six Gulf oysters yesterday afternoon. Walsh was speaking on a panel of winemakers on pairing white wines with oysters, but the lost history of Texas oysters was proving…
Steampunk Dildos: How We Came to This (NSFW)
The world of steampunk is under this particular writer’s purview because no one else on the Houston Press contributor list accepted Final Fantasy VI as their personal savior in their formative years. We’ve covered some pretty sweet crafts and art in our time here, but now we’ve gone straight through…
Amazing New Close-Up Look at Apollo 11’s Lunar Landing Site
For a bigger version, click and then click again. NASA released a picture today from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera as it passed just 15 miles over the landing site of Apollo 11. The pictures clearly show the bottom part of the Lunar Module that served as the launching pad…
John Mayer, Cowboy?: 6 WTF Moments Of Musical Reinvention
Oh, you hadn’t heard? At some point between his extended hiatus from singing and the recording of his newly announced album, Born and Raised, ol’ big-mouth Mayer seems to have stumbled on some old Willie Nelson CDs and raided the nearest Cavender’s in a transformation Rocks Off can only assume…
Nationally Acclaimed Coreanos Food Truck Has Landed in Houston
Coreanos food truck’s overwhelmingly tasty offerings made their first Bayou City appearance on Saturday, March 3. The restaurant on wheels, which offers an exciting hybrid of Korean and Mexican ingredients and cooking styles, was recently named the No. 1 food truck in Texas and No. 8 in the nation by…
Ashley Billasano: Her Final Thoughts, Before Suicide, Shared in Tweets
The day she killed herself, Ashley Marie Billasano tweeted about sexual abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her father. The 18-year-old Rosenberg high school senior had complained to Child Protective Services, and had tweeted her despair over CPS being unable to find enough evidence to go forward. To…
Rocks Off’s Ultra-Hip Rodeo Concert Guide: Blake Shelton
Date: March 7 Name: Blake Shelton AKA: “Mr. Miranda Lambert” Genre: Cheatin’ country…
Reality Bites: My Strange Addiction
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. We’re all of us addicts. Often it’s fairly innocuous, like caffeine or tentacle porn, but some of us dunk our heads rather than dip our toes in the River Lethe…
Montrose Welcomes Nabi to the Neighborhood
When chef Ji Kang moved to Houston from Dallas, he didn’t know what to expect. By his own admission, Houston was a last resort. The Austin native and Dallas-trained chef hadn’t planned on moving here, but — as he said in this week’s cafe review of his new restaurant, Nabi…
Jordy Tollett, Former “Mister Downtown,” Charged with DWI, Again
Webster PDJordy Tollett, looking like he’s living a Hank Jr. song.Former Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau honcho Gerard Jay “Jordy” Tollett, currently the Pasadena Convention Center general manager, has had yet another alcohol-related setback. This time, it’s a DWI bust, courtesy of the police in the sharp-dressed political wheeler-dealer’s…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Amanda McGraw of Brasserie 19
Amanda McGraw not only has work ethic, but loyalty. Over the last year, she’s been the woman behind the kitchen of the glitzy, hugely successful Brasserie 19, withstanding early kitchen shake-ups and emerging as the de-facto Chef de Cuisine, where she is responsible for menu development and training. More recently,…
Last Night: Dante Higgins At Warehouse Live
Dante Higgins Warehouse Live March 6, 2012 In the grand scheme of things, any time an artist is holding an album-release concert you know the crowd will be eating out of the palm of his hand while dismissing the offers from everyone else. You know this, I know this. There’s…
UH Prof Nick Flynn on His New Movie Being Flynn, and His Dad Being “Underwhelmed” by Robert De Niro Portraying Him
For most people, it would be an honor to be portrayed on film by Robert De Niro. But then, Jonathan Flynn isn’t most people. As his son Nick Flynn, a creative writing professor at the University of Houston, recounts in his fascinating memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Jonathan…
The Rick Perry Comeback Continues: A Shocking Update to the Chart Mitt Romney (& Abortion-Lovers) Doesn’t Want You to See
The pundits have declared that there was no clear winner Super Tuesday, except for President Obama. This so-called “analysis” ignores the reality that yesterday’s vote demonstrates: The Rick Perry Comeback continues to soar. We showed you the amazing chart indicating Perry’s dramatic momentum after the Michigan and Arizona primaries, and…
Wine Time: Houston Native Wine Celeb Ray Isle Talks Texas Wine
“I grew up in West University, and later in the Braeswood/Meyerland area,” said Food & Wine executive wine editor Ray Isle when he and I chatted over email yesterday. “I left Houston after college — I went to Rice, which is also where my dad taught — and moved to…
Fredrick James Black Jr., 26, Bayou Body Count No. 31
A man was found shot to death in his car at a southwest-side apartment complex Monday night, police say. Fredrick James Black Jr., 26, was found dead at the Royal Pine Apartments in the 8700 block of Gustine Lane about 10:10 p.m. Police were called to the location on a…
Last Night: Enrique Iglesias At Reliant Stadium
Enrique Iglesias RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 6, 2012 The last time Enrique Iglesias was in Houston, he rocked Toyota Center with the help of his buddy Pitbull in a show that resembled a New Year’s Eve extravaganza. Tuesday night at the Rodeo, with the time restraints and the PG-13 requirements,…
On Pinterest? Follow These Houstonians
By now you’ve surely heard about Pinterest — the self-curating social site that turns everyone into a magazine features editor. It’s often thought of as the lazy man’s Tumblr, or, more accurately, Tumblr for chicks, thanks to all the pins devoted to wedding planning, DIY crafts and baking. And while…
Pete Townshend’s Operatic Highs… And Lows
Won’t Get Fooled Again: The Who from Lifehouse to Quadrophenia By Richie Unterberger Jawbone Press, 300 pp., $19.95 Following the release of The Who’s ambitious rock opera, Tommy, Pete Townshend was faced with the inevitable question of any band cresting on a massive success: What’s next? As ambitious, erudite and…
Comment of the Day: What Actor Should Play Hand Doctor Michael Brown
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…
Have You Ever Wondered What Your Favorite Literary Characters Look Like?
Have you ever wondered what your favorite literary characters would look like if you saw them on the street? The Composites, a Tumblr site created by Brian Joseph Davis, uses law enforcement composite software and the literary descriptions of characters in fiction to fashion sketches of everyone from Ignatius J…
Sundae Sundays: St. Patrick’s Day Sundae
Well, I couldn’t let the holiday of my homeland go by and not mark it with a sundae. While some local scoop shops are offering St. Paddy’s ice creams, nary an establishment near me is proffering a full-fledged themed sundae. The closest thing I found, sadly, is the McDonald’s Shamrock…
Houston Blues Legend Big Walter “The Thunderbird” Dies At 97
Big Walter “The Thunderbird” Price, the elder statesman of Houston blues who continued performing well into his nineties, died overnight, according to a Facebook post by local blues musician Steve Krase of Steve Krase & the In Crowd. Price was 97 and had been in a nursing home in north…
Best Thing I Ever Ate: French Fries
I’ve been exploring The Best Things I Ever Ate around town. Because they are practically a staple at any and every restaurant, this time I searched Houston’s food scene for something we all know and love: Good ‘ole American French Fries. Friends, I bring you: The Best French Fries I…
Sarah Ruhl’s The Vibrator Play Comes to Stages
Imagine a world with no Internet, no YouTube, no therapists or books willing to discuss what constitutes an orgasm, and think about how you would find out what was happening to you — or not — without those sources of information. It’s the 1880s, electricity and the just-invented lightbulb are…
Cowboy Diaries: Cory Solomon — Ditched His Hoop Hopes for Cattle Dreams
True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they’ll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will spotlight one person with enough…
Damesha Traylor: Rare Woman on DPS Most Wanted List Is 5-4, 270 Pounds with a “Sexy D” Tattoo
It’s been more than ten years since a woman has made the Texas Department of Safety’s Ten Most Wanted List, but we don’t think anyone is going to tell Damesha Roshun Traylor she doesn’t deserve the honor. Traylor is a 5-4, 270-pound ball of “Sexy D,” according to one of…
5 Characters They Killed Just to Make Children Cry
Look, sometimes children’s entertainment involves death, and most of the times those deaths are necessary. Take Old Yeller, for instance. Sure, the shooting of the beloved family pet after he contracts rabies is heartbreaking and traumatizing, but that story is about the responsibilities we take on, even if it involves…
Houston Texans Re-Sign Their Long Snapper — The Jon Weeks Game Lives!
“Best job ever.” There are certain jobs in the world of sports where we often apply those three words. I’m not talking about the highest-paying, highest-profile roles like quarterback of an NFL team, point guard of an NBA team or cleanup hitter for an MLB team. Those really are the…
100 Creatives 2012: Antone Pham
You have probably seen Antone Pham’s artwork in your travels around town. His pieces have a very distinctive “classic meets modern” feel, wildly colorful, yet invoke a feeling of “way back when.” The places that you may have seen Pham’s work were most likely on someone’s arm or leg, perhaps…
Sampler Plate: This Week in Food Blogs
Robb Walsh: To promote his new book, Texas Eats, Robb Walsh will be appearing all over Texas throughout March. Whether you catch him at Vargo’s for the big Foodways Texas crawfish boil or at the Oysters, Blues & Brews event at the Armadillo Palace or even just at Blue Willow…
Controversial Noise Ordinance Leads To Lively New Facebook Group
There is no more contentious issue within the local music community right now than the City of Houston’s stricter new noise ordinance, which many venue owners, sound engineers and even everyday music fans view as unreasonable and even draconian. Since the ordinance passed Houston City Council nearly unanimously in October,…
Christina Hendricks, Olivia Munn, Scarlett Johansson: 22 Famous Leaked Cell Phone Pics That Stopped All Office Productivity
This past Sunday, naughty cell phone pictures of both Mad Men’s redheaded bombshell Christina Hendricks and television personality Olivia Munn leaked onto the Internet. No, they weren’t together in the photos — Dear God — these were separate leaks. Two of the most lusted after female celebs, Hendricks for ya…
Reza Kheshtnia, 39, Bayou Body Count No. 30
A gunfight on the far west side resulted in the death of a 39-year-old man, police say. Reza Kheshtnia was driving home from work about 5:20 a.m. Monday when another car “blocked him in” in the 2700 block of Ashford Oak Drive, police say. “There was an exchange of gunfire…
Woman on Way to Work Finds Corpse in Car, Bayou Body Count No. 29
Heading into work on a Monday morning is difficult enough. You really don’t need to be discovering dead bodies on the way. But that’s what happened to one northwest-side woman as she left for work about 7:30 a.m. Monday, Houston police say. The woman “noticed a red 1991 Toyota Corolla…
Oreo Turns 100 Years Old: Our Favorite Flavors Through the Years
If you thought the 500th episode of The Simpsons made you feel old, consider this: The Oreo cookie has been around since before TV even existed — and back then, it was made with lard. In the 100 years since its invention, Oreo has become the representative cookie of modern…
A Rush Limbaugh Playlist: What Else Could Upset Artists Like Peter Gabriel?
There are a lot of people upset with Rush Limbaugh. If you’ve heard what Limbaugh had to say about Georgetown student Sandra Fluke, then you can guess which parties are upset with him. Even a professional troll faces repercussions for calling a 30 year old college student “a slut”. It’s…
Rick Perry’s War with Planned Parenthood Goes Too Far, Texans Say In Poll
Rick Perry’s plan to bar Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from the state’s Women’s Health Program may be red meat to the religious right stirred up over the current contraception wars, but it’s not too popular with Texans, a new poll shows. Public Policy Polling’s new survey shows 55…
Glenn Sorvisto, Co-Founder Of Local Punks The Hates, Dies Of Cancer
We were deeply saddened to hear that one of the founding members of Houston’s most legendary punk act, the Hates, recently lost his battle with cancer last month. Glenn Sorvisto died in Washington D.C. on February 24. “I am sorry that he is gone from this world, because he has…
A Bunch of Good Beers, One Great Burger at The Hay Merchant
On the website for The Hay Merchant, the burger is advertised as “the cheeseburger we’d give you at our house.” I want to live in that house. The Hay Merchant would stand on its own two feet for any number of the awesome things it offers: great service, a fan-fuckin-tastic…
iCan’t: 4 Reasons Why Even the iPad 3 Won’t Cause Me to Buy One
In April of last year, I wrote about whether I should buy an iPad. After a few musing paragraphs, I came to the begrudging conclusion that the iPad was likely part of my technological future. Well, it’s nearly a year later and still no iPad for me. With the release…
Rocks Off’s Ultra-Hip Rodeo Concert Guide: Enrique Iglesias
Date: March 6 Name: Enrique Iglesias AKA: “What happened to your mole?” Genre: Music to throw panties onstage to…
Tuesday March 6, 2012 Deals of the Day
Do you crave fresh, innovative, affordable sushi? Don’t miss today’s Voice Daily Deal, which nets you over half off ($12 for $25) of rolls, sashimi, and more at Crave Sushi. Crave was listed as one of the Houston Press’s 2011 Top Five Sushi Restaurants, and its modern take on sushi…
Upcoming: Jane’s Addiction, Ted Nugent, Yanni, Spoon, David Allan Coe, Doobie Brothers, Garbage
Adelaine, Kameron, The Blackout Heist: Mon., April 2. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Anders Osborne: Wed., May 9. Dosey Doe Coffee Company, 25911 I-45 N., Spring. Another Run, The Suffers, Mantis, Tax The Wolf: Sat., March 31. Fitzgerald’s Band of Skulls, Balam Acab, Superhumanoids: Fri., March 16. Fitzgerald’s Bob Schneider:…
Comment of the Day: Internet Explorer Fans Bite Back
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…
DVDs & Blu-rays: The Universal’s 100th Anniversary Edition
Universal Studios is reaching into its vaults and releasing new editions of many of its popular titles on DVD/Blu-ray through the year. Today’s releases are an especially varied bunch, from 1933’s Duck Soup with the Marx Brothers to the 2010 Despicable Me. Let’s start with Duck Soup, a gem that…
Hospitality Reigned Over Hate at Hubcap Grill’s Yuck Felp Party
Hubcap Grill’s Anti-Yelp party, held this past Sunday, had everything a stellar party should have: delicious food, a fantastic beer selection, beautiful people, excellent music, gorgeous weather, and a couple of visits by the police. Hipsters, foodies, and fun-loving adults traveled from far and near to revel in Hubcap Grill’s…
Last Night: Eli Young Band At Reliant Stadium
Eli Young Band RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 5, 2012 Texas country fans ain’t your average, run-of-the-mill country fans. We’re not referring to country lovers who live in Texas, either. When we speak of Texas country, we’re talking about the strain of country music that’s reared on the small-town farms of…
Allen Stanford Guilty on 13 of 14 Counts
A federal jury has found Allen Stanford guilty on 13 of the 14 financial fraud counts he was facing, according to tweets from reporters at the federal courthouse. The verdict ends a long trial against the onetime kingpin Houston financier, who spent millions on cricket and Caribbean resorts but who,…
Springsteen Stumbles On Pedestrian New Album Wrecking Ball
Today sees the release of Bruce Springsteen’s newest album, the compact and confounding Wrecking Ball, his first since 2009’s Working On a Dream. Recorded and inspired partly by the recent Occupy protests, with most songs coming before the movement was even a physical thing, in any other year it could…
Cowboy Diaries: Kaley Bass — Strike a Pose
True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they’ll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will spotlight one person with enough…
Annie the Musical with a Real Dog Who Likes His Time Onstage
Bill Berloni was going to be an actor. In 1976, he was offered a big break: find a sandy dog to play opposite Annie in a Broadway musical, train it and you’ll get a part, too. He went to an animal shelter, found the requested dog “of indistinguishable breed” and…
How Influential Was Houston In the Development of Mexican Food In the U.S.?
Not influential enough, it would seem. At our sister paper in Orange County, “Ask A Mexican” columnist Gustavo Arellano has compiled a list of the “most influential cities in the development of Mexican food in the United States.” Spoiler alert: Dallas and San Antonio are on there, but not Houston…
Unidentified Male, 51, Who “Fell on His Knife,” Bayou Body Count No. 28
A man has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of his roommate, even though he told cops “the victim fell on his knife during an argument.” Hilario Soliz, 44, has been charged with the murder of a 51-year-old man whose name has not been released. The incident happened…
St. Patrick’s Day Food Trinity #2: Cheese, Oatcakes, and an Irish Blonde
As a warm-up to St. Patrick’s Day, I am going back to my Irish roots and preparing three mini-meals consisting of three Irish items of food and drink. A trinity of trinities, you might say. Some dishes will be more or less authentic than others; all will promote mirth and…
Seussical the Musical Is Colorful Entertainment
The setup: The well-loved characters from Dr. Seuss cavort and romp across the Berry Center’s vast stage, populating it with animals, strange shapes, happy children and some talented performers. The execution: There are some tender moments in this musical extravaganza, but the emphasis is on a circus-like atmosphere, with children…
Echo Lounge Weathers Lonely Downtown Nights
If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in the downtown area on a Friday night, you’re bound to notice a few things. First, there’s an inordinate amount of horse-drawn carriages riding back and forth across McKinney Street. Does anyone know why this is necessary? But second, and more importantly, the area…
To Selena, With Love: A Conversation With Widower Chris Perez
Do you remember when and where you heard the news about Selena? I do. I was riding the school bus when a classmate, listening to the radio on his Walkman, shouted “Selena was shot!”. “How terrible”, I thought to myself, thinking that maybe she was just wounded, but for sure…
Fashion Star Premiers on NBC Tuesday, March 13
One can only describe the enthusiasm surrounding the premier of Fashion Star as “lukewarm.” After all, this is a poor man’s Project Runway, is it not? Elle Macpherson is doing the heavy lifting as far as women’s fashion cred goes, but compared to heavy-hitters like Nina Garcia and Michael Kors,…
Molecular Gastronomy and More: Modernist Cuisine, Volume 1
Modernist Cuisine is not your grandmother’s Joy of Cooking. It establishes a new language by which chefs can communicate the complexities of their intellectual work. Authors Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young and Maxime Bilet have produced a beautiful and fascinating cookbook that explores the possibilities of the latest scientific advances in…
Unidentified Male Killed Over Stolen Rims, 22, Bayou Body Count No. 27
A man whose tire rims were stolen confronted the man who did it and ended up dead, police say. HPD says the 22-year-old man, whose name has not been released, had his tire rims stolen Sunday by Demontrion Terrell Albert, 24. “Investigators determined Albert stole the male’s car earlier in…
Forget Blue-Eyed Butcher: Casting Lifetime Movies About Felicia Moon, Victoria Osteen & 3 Others
Blue-Eyed Butcher was Lifetime’s take on the Susan Wright case. It certainly wasn’t the first TV movie to be based on a Houston case, and it won’t be the last. In fact, there are plenty of Houston stories just begging to be made into Lifetime movies. Like these five: 5…
John Waters Pitches His “Oral Sex for Literacy” Program to Houston
Editor’s note: John Waters is not known as The Pope of Trash for nothing, so if you tend to be offended by raunchy statements, you might not want to read all of this post. “Are you calling me from jail?” That’s how our phone call to John Waters (Hairspray, Pink…
CUTE ALERT!! Rodeo Babies & the Kids Who Pet Them: 10 Winning Pictures
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a place where animals are born and some are sold off to die. But we’re all about the happy part here. The rodeo lets you see newborn babes just making their first steps into the world, and it lets little kids from the…
Fetish Fuel: 5 Musicians Who Put Their Fetish In Song Form
Ed. Note: This article is about some of the more unusual, but perfectly legal, forms of behavior some people choose to do in the boudoir. Sensitive readers might want to keep that in mind. Everyone’s got a fetish. Some are kinkier than others, but everyone has something they like about…
5 Video Game Characters Named After Jewish Mysticism
Who knows where the names of video game characters come from? Most of the time you don’t even pay attention, you just process the information for identification and move on with your quest. Well, a fair amount of them actually come from Jewish mysticism, and some of them might surprise…
Where Are We Drinking?
I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve been hoarding my few cans of Southern Star’s Le Mort Vivant, breaking it out only on special occasions like a recent birthday dinner for a friend at this restaurant. It’s only open for dinner on Thursday and Friday nights, but it’s still one…
Playing the Over/Under Game on Twitter: 8 Bets to Consider
I don’t really do any gambling. It’s not really because I don’t enjoy the thrill of a good game of chance. It’s more because I like the little money I earn to not be flushed down the toilet. If I did gamble, I’d have to take a class on sports…
Edward Jorodge Gladney, 27, Who Began Raping Boys and Making Child Porn at 17, Pleads Guilty
A 27-year-old man who began at 17 seducing young boys and using them for the child pornography he sold on the Web pleaded guilty today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says. Edward Jorodge Gladney entered a guilty plea to the charge of producing and advertising child pornography, the USAO says. He…
Justice Served, Arian Foster Gets Paid (5 Years, $43.5 million)
The details have not yet surfaced on everything the Texans have done behind the scenes in the way of reworking other players’ deals in order to get Arian Foster signed to a new contract extension. We don’t know what the Texans’ next moves entail and just how much, if at…
Fried Red Velvet Cake and Pterodactyl Wings: Over-the-Top Eating at the Rodeo
“That looks like a pterodactyl wing,” laughed Harry Miller, a committeeman on the Commercial Exhibits Committee, as he regarded a giant slab of unidentifiable meat that was making its way to a judging table. Miller emcees the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo’s Gold Buckle Foodie Awards competition each year, and…
Saturday Night: Luke Bryan At Reliant Stadium
Luke Bryan RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 3, 2012 Luke Bryan is the Ernest Hemingway of country music, in the same way that Hemingway is Subway’s Cold Cut Trio of literature. Sure, it’s a little simple – almost too simple, really – but it’s got everything you need for a satisfying…
Lance Taylor: Accused of Biting Off Most of Roommate’s Nose in Saturday Morning Fight
A 24-year-old Trinity, Texas, man was arrested after turning the apartment he shared with his 18-year-old roommate into a scene from a zombie flick. Police there say that early on Saturday morning, the male victim got up to go to work but instead got into an argument with Taylor, who…
Fast Times: Whataburger Chicken Fajita Taco
I am starting to love Whataburger so much, I might even feel a y’all coming on… … nope. Not yet. Regardless of whether a spontaneous y’all ever falls from my lips (or keyboard), I am certainly a confirmed Whataburger fan. The burgers are juicy, the chicken dishes are quite good,…
Rocks Off’s Ultra-Hip Rodeo Concert Guide: Eli Young Band
Date: March 5 Name: Eli Young Band AKA: “The band that performed the worst rendition of the National Anthem since Roseanne.” Genre: Bummer country…
Proposals Isn’t the Best of Neil Simon, But There’s a Pleasant “Memory Play” Inside
The setup: Ex-wives, ex-boyfriends, ex-husbands — everyone, it seems, who knows the Hines family — shows up at their vacation home in the Poconos one memorable weekend. Neil Simon goes soft and wispy in this uneven comedy from Country Playhouse. The execution: During his latter career, funnyman Neil Simon (The…
Wine of the Week: An Albariño That Really Delivered
Some people tend to drink more red wine than white during winter. At our house, we tend to drink more white than red — year round. And it’s not because we have an issue with red wine. In fact, some of our best friends are red wines. On Saturday nights…
Friday Night: Shellee Coley Album Release At Warehouse Live
Shellee Coley, The Hems Warehouse Live Green Room February 23, 2012 Houston singer songwriter Shellee Coley’s fans packed Warehouse Live’s Green Room Friday to celebrate her brand-new, just-released album Where it Began. Performing before an audience of family, friends, old fans, and new fans of all ages, she brought a…
Unidentified Motorcyclist, 42, Killed By Sunday-Afternoon Drunk Driver, Bayou Body Count No. 26
If there’s any time when you think you’re safe from a drunk driver, 1 p.m. Sunday would seem to be it. But a 42-year-old motorcycle driver found out otherwise, when a drunk driver plowed into him as he sat on his ride on a highway shoulder talking on his cell…
The Houston Beer Experiment: It Takes Grit(s) to Win
The buzz in the air at Fitzgerald’s on Sunday could be attributed to more than just the $4 Brooklyn drafts: the Houston Beer Experiment had arrived. Seventeen teams were lined up and ready to compete — whose beer-infused recipe would win the grand prize trip to New York City to…
The Weirdest Wikipedia Pages Ever
It was a few days ago that I discovered that the distinct ’80s American phenomenon of the wet T-shirt contest has its own Wikipedia page. Don’t ask how I stumbled upon the page, because it’s not like I didn’t know how they worked — hey, I grew up with late-night…
Top 9 Comments On Summer Fest 2012: Where’s The Women?
As most of Houston and the surrounding area knows by now, Free Press Summer Fest announced its 2012 lineup in the wee hours this morning. By now Rocks Off has had a few more hours to reflect on the festival, entering its fourth year at Eleanor Tinsley Park June 2…
Iman Academy: Texas’s Private-School League Asks Muslim Schools Why They’d Play with Christians
The New York Times took a look at the story of the Beren Academy, a Jewish school that was initially going to have to forfeit its playoff run because the schedule conflicted with the Sabbath. The organization making that decision was the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, which…
Help Us Find the Worst Barbecue in Houston
It’s generally agreed upon that unless you have a fancy-pants tent ticket for the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest (a.k.a. The Cookoff), the three-day-long ‘cue contest isn’t worth the price of admission. A poor, benighted visitor to Houston may think that The Cookoff — and official kick-off to what is essentially…
Rodrigo Rodriguez Carranza, 31, Bayou Body Count No. 25
A Greenspoint robbery turned into murder Saturday night, police say. Rodrigo Rodriguez Carranza, 31, was sitting in a car with his brother at an apartment complex at 90 Northpoint about 10:15 p.m. “when they were approached by two male suspects who attempted to rob them,” HPD says. “During the robbery,…
Luck 1.6: “Is This Your First Earthquake?”
Were the naysayers right? Persistent complaints about David Milch’s Luck (not counting the inaudible dialogue) have been of the “nothing happens” variety. Early episodes featured what felt like a lot of table setting, interspersed with the occasional well-shot horse horse race. Anticipation kept building for Ace’s coup de grace against…
Friday Night: John Legend At Reliant Stadium
John Legend RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 2, 2012 With a soft smile, seducing glare, and smooth voice, John Legend hit the Rodeo Friday night with his brand of neo-soul, hip-hop and R&B for HLSR’s Annual Black Heritage Day. The Springfield, Ohio native, nee John Roger Stephens, looked very convincing in…
Steely-Eyed Mounted Cowboys Killing Balloons — Here’s the Video
There’s nothing more Western than a determined cowboy on horseback shooting a pistol. The Mounted Shooting competition has quickly gained a lot of fans at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, with its thundering hooves, echoing gunshots and balloon explosions. Here’s video of this year’s event by Allison McPhail:…
Brew Blog: Jester King Thrash Metal Farmhouse Strong Ale
While seemingly every other beer-loving person in the City of Houston was packed into The Hay Merchant a few weeks back, I was alternately stuck at work reading through pages of boring technical documents, or helping my kid with math homework. I’m not complaining, exactly, but I must admit that…
Petal Formations at Barbara Davis Gallery
It’s difficult to label Joe Mancuso’s work by any traditional means. Is it sculpture? Painting? Installation? All of the above seem appropriate in the Houston artist’s latest show at Barbara Davis Gallery, “Anodyne.” These art vocabulary-defying conundrums begin with the piece “Bouquet.” It’s a careful arrangement of polywood, with flower…
What’s Cooking This Week?
My Italian menu last week really felt like home. Luckily, I have a bunch of visitors coming in the next couple of weeks to keep the feeling alive. Since I’ll surely be taking them to the Rodeo and eating way too much food, this week I’ll be making lightened up…
Friday Night: Megadeth At Verizon Wireless Theater
Gigantour: Megadeth, Volbeat, Lacuna Coil Verizon Wireless Theater March 2, 2012 Check out our slideshow of the Gigatour. No, Motorhead didn’t play in Houston Friday night at Verizon Wireless Theater, but the rest of the 2012 Gigantour bill of Megadeth, Volbeat and Lacuna Coil made it to the Bayou City…
Barry Carter Scores Champion Work of Art at the Houston Rodeo, Taylor Power Takes Reserve Spot
Proving once again that the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has room for all kinds of champions, HSLR picked its top two winners among student artists for this year’s competition. The title of Grand Champion Work of Art went to Barry Carter, a senior from Magnolia ISD, this weekend for…
Cowboy Diaries: Nick Guy — Doesn’t Want to Break a Leg, in the Literal Sense, Again
Steve JansenNick Guy, steer wrestling True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they’ll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will…
Arsalan Kazemi Chases Refs, Shoves Security Guard: Chaos Reigns Supreme As Coogs Stun Owls
The Rice Owls didn’t just lose a basketball game on Saturday night. They lost a home game by the score of 76-75. They lost to their crosstown rivals, the Houston Cougars (15-14, 7-9 in conference). They lost while having a one-point lead and the ball with 5.2 seconds left and…
Theatre Southwest Can’t Quite Overcome a Weak Script with An Act of the Imagination
The setup: A successful mystery-genre novelist finds unexpected twists in his own life as a series of surprising events unfold. The execution: Playwright Bernard Slade wrote the huge hit Same Time Next Year, a charming romantic comedy, so expectations were high for this work, perhaps unrealistically so. The good news…
Comment of the Day: The Cellmate of “Blue-Eyed Butcher” Susan Wright Weighs In
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…
The Dedicated Gamer’s Guide to Video Game Lamps
“Without lamps there would be no light.” -John Bender Lamps are not the most exciting thing in the world, but Bender is right. Bender is always right. For the dedicated gamer looking to light up a room in a unique way, there are several different options to choose from. So…
Where Are We Eating?
Sometimes, when life in Houston gets to be just a little too much, I like to retreat to this corner spot and pretend that I’m in Paris. Yes, it requires a LOT of drinking beforehand. And yes, the brosephs across the street are a little distracting when the football games…
30 Years Later: 9 Songs For John Belushi
Thirty years ago today, we lost John Belushi, one of the most brilliant comedic actors of his time. He was a member of some of the best seasons of Saturday Night Live in the mid to late ’70s, and starred in the classic comedy Animal House. He was one of…
Five Reasons You Should Quit Using Internet Explorer
For more than ten years, I’ve been assisting companies in building and maintaining their Web sites and Web applications. There are lots of things that can be frustrating about this process, most of which have to do with a lack of knowledge on the part of my clients, which is…
Flaming Lips Return To Summer Fest With Avetts, Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, Descendents & Many More
Under cover of darkness, Free Press Summer Fest announced its 2012 lineup around 5 a.m. Monday. We’ll get right to it: The Avett Brothers Snoop Dogg Willie Nelson Afrojack Primus The Flaming Lips (Performing Dark Side of the Moon)…
Last Night: Radiohead At Toyota Center
Radiohead Toyota Center March 3, 2012 See more photos from Saturday night in our slideshow. Radiohead just doesn’t add up. The band has effectively turned its back on the music business, pioneering alternative methods of distribution of its music to fans (most of it online), short-circuiting the traditional promotional apparatus…
SPA Brings in Men Wearing Tutus, Anthony Bourdain, Itzhak Perlman, Lily Tomlin and More in a Something for Everyone Season
One of those scavenger hunt competitions ought to set as a challenge the goal of attendance at all of the Houston Society for the Performing Arts’ offerings in one year. As its lineup for the 2012-13 season, released today, shows, SPA is wide-ranging in its approach, profound one moment and…
This Week in Deliciousness
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we’ve just discovered the wonders of Biscoff Spread and now it’s all over, as far as losing weight is concerned. And I thought Nutella was addictive, holy shit. It straight-up tastes like cookies, y’all. I’m dead. I’m so…
Sheriff’s Deputy Eleazar Gongora Arrested for Sexual Abuse of a Child
Bad day for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. One longtime deputy was arrested for pretending to work, and another has been taken to jail for the far more serious crime of sexual abuse of a child. Eleazar Gongora is an 11-year vet and is assigned to the Mental Health Unit…
6 Musicians Who Messed With Texas
Today, March 2, is Texas Independence Day, the day a bunch of old white politicians and landowners declared this part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas to be its own sovereign republic in a cabin near Washington-on-the-Brazos. For some inexplicable reason, Rocks Off does not have the day…
Former Astro Luke Scott Hates Boston and Is Not Afraid to Tell You
Sometimes, it takes years to evaluate a trade and determine which side got the better of the deal. In 2007, when the Astros traded five players to Baltimore for shortstop Miguel Tejada, it was widely thought that the barometer for whether or not the Astros got the better of the…
Jimmy George: Sheriff’s Deputy Arrested for Pretending to Work
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a 15-year veteran because he reported he was working a crime scene when he actually wasn’t. Deputy Jimmy George was charged with the felony of tampering with a government record and has been fired from the force, the HCSO announced. “My deputies are…
Robert Ellis’ Whiskey Wednesdays Returning… In Austin
Rocks Off thought we had written everything about Robert Ellis & the Boys’ Whiskey Wednesday shows there was to say. After all, the weekly beer-soaked no-cover night of Texas-heavy vintage honky-tonk covers ended back in April. So we were a little intrigued when someone forwarded us this link earlier this…
Unidentified Male, Bayou Body Count No. 24
Very little is known about a man found shot to death at a southeast-side apartment complex, Houston police say. The victim, whose identity has not been released, was found about 8:30 p.m. Thursday in the 10900 block of Tanner Park Court. Police got a call about a shooting, and officers…
Rocks Off’s Ultra-Hip Rodeo Concert Guide: John Legend
Date: March 2 Name: John Legend AKA: “Smoove J”* Genre: Music to take your pants off to * Fine, we made that up…
Why Do We Always Expect Our Favorite Bands To Reunite?
John Hammond, the billionaire CEO of InGen and the curator of Jurassic Park found out the hard way that sometimes things from another time and place don’t mesh well with different surroundings. A guy even got eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex while he was taking a dump, and one of…
Upcoming Events: Beer, [Crawfish] Boils and Burgers
It’s shaping up to be a busy couple of weeks around here as “Spring” “comes” to Houston. God, shoot me now. I can’t make it to August like this. Ahem. Tomorrow, get your hands dirty at the 2012 Crawfish Festival in the Heights. Admission is free and Dr. Gleem Car…
Rush Limbaugh & His Sandra Fluke “Slut” Comments: Advertisers Madly Try To Tweet It Away (UPDATED)
College student Sandra Fluke had the guts to testify to Congress about her sex life, all in the name of defending common sense when it comes to contraception. For that, Rush Limbaugh called her a slut. (President Obama, on the other hand, phoned her with encouragement.) Limbaugh said of her…
Project Runway All-Stars: The Designers See the Lights
This week on PRAS: Innovation and technology are the theme of this week’s challenge, with just five designers left in the competition. This week’s challenge is a mix of new and old — it’s another avant garde challenge, but this week’s look will be illuminated by black light during the…
Kevin McStravick Will Listen To Every SXSW Artist This Year… Why?
Kevin McStravick has vowed to listen to every act performing at SXSW this year – more than 2,000 artists, by our last count – and review them all for his Web site. Yes, you read that correctly. Each and every one. You can track McStravick’s progress at operationeveryband.com. Rocks Off…
Bartender Chat: Christopher of The Flat
This week, I paid a visit to The Flat, and no, not your European friend’s apartment. I’m talking about the cozy hidden gem in Montrose. I grabbed a spot at the bar and was immediately greeted by the friendly barman, Christopher. We talked about music, some of the great veggie…
Comment of the Day: The Rick Perry Comeback Bandwagon’s Getting Crowded!
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…
Photowalk: The Week in Photos
It’s time again to check out the Houston Press Flickr Pool and see what kinds of art shots our talented photographers have added. We love street art, unique perspectives and beautiful photos of Houston’s creative community. If you think you’ve got a good eye, drop your pictures in the pool…
Thursday’s Best Justin Bieber Social-Media Birthday Wishes
Yesterday the world awoke to wish Justin Bieber a happiest of 18th birthdays. Born March 1, 1994 — a little over a month before Kurt Cobain died, quashing any reincarnation fantasies — the young man celebrated in high style on the Interwebs, announcing a new song and receiving a $100K…
Odd Pair: What Wine Do You Pair With Salad?
Anyone who’s ever traveled to Italy or France knows that the romance Europeans eat their salad after the main course. In the French and Italian view, fresh lettuces, bitter chicory (like radicchio veronese), delicate white endive, and vinegar-based dressings are intended to cleanse the palate after the main course. But…
Cowboy Diaries: Kanin Asay — A Bucking Bull Is His Podium
Steve JansenKanin Asay, bull riding True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they’ll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will…
It’s Employee Appreciation Day, 5 Movie Characters Who Need a Raise
Today marks the annual Hallmark holiday, Employee Appreciation Day. It’s a day to celebrate your overworked, underpaid employees with Hoops and Yoyo cards and Mylar balloons. The Web site Recognition Professionals International, which exists, by the way, is encouraging all employers to open their office doors and celebrate their hard-worked…
Openings and Closings: The Non-Montrose Edition
We had a few comments last week bemoaning the fact that the week’s restaurant news was all out of Montrose. “Montrose – within a 10 minute drive for only 14% of the Greater Houston Metropolitan area, and yet it gets a least a third of the restaurant coverage in the…
Acoustic Devils Go Flogging On The Road With Molly
When Pete Bernhard received a package postmarked from Lynchburg, Tenn., he may have felt his mouth watering. That particular point of origin is the well-known home of the Jack Daniels distillery and indeed, inside the singer/guitarist for The Devil Makes Three found inside a little “thank you” from the whiskey…
Cougars Ending Hoops Season on a High Note
It’s been a tough season for senior Houston shooting guard Darian Thibodeaux. The team’s been a disappointment. And coming into Wednesday’s home finale against the Tulane Green Wave, he’d been mired in a slump that saw him having gone six games without hitting a field goal while having missed his…
St. Patrick’s Day Food Trinity #1: Soda Bread, Butter, and Breakfast Tea
As a warm-up to St. Patrick’s Day, I am going back to my Irish roots and preparing three mini-meals consisting of three Irish items of food and drink. A trinity of trinities, you might say. Some dishes will be more authentic than others; all will promote mirth and therefore be…
Last Night: Lady Antebellum At Reliant Stadium
Lady Antebellum RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 1, 2012 Someone should put Lady Antebellum on TV every week. Let ’em guest-coach an episode of The Voice. Better yet would be a series like The Partridge Family or The Monkees (RIP Davy) that would blend concert footage and “behind the scenes” moments…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: Undefeated
Title: Undefeated What, That Sarah Palin Movie? God, no. Dealing with that atrocity once was enough. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Four torn ACLs out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: Win-deprived high school football team starts winning. Tagline: “Character will be revealed.” Better Tagline: “LIke Friday Night…
Kenny & Ziggy’s Haute Couture T-Shirt Contest
When you think “New York-style delicatessen” you think fashion design, right? It’s a classic pairing, like peanut butter and jelly, Lucy and Ricky, or strawberries and champagne. If combining your love of fashion design with your love of deli meat is a lifelong dream, you have no choice but to…
Jennifer Grassman: The Doors A Slashed Wrist Will Open
Jennifer Grassman has a voice like an angel. This is not meant as a compliment. “Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell,” someone said. It might’ve been Shakespeare, or it might have been Kain. The point is that the voice of an angel is an agent of the Word,…
Screw Heinz! How to Make Homemade Ketchup
I’ve looked countless ketchup lovers dead in the eye, proudly exclaiming “I don’t like ketchup, I just don’t get the hype,” and smiling sinisterly as their jaws dropped. I know you Texas bunch would agree with me (at least on the burger front). But the truth is, I actually do…
Turn Your Browser and Cough: The Top 15 Health Care Web Sites
Lt. Reginald Barclay was a character on Star Trek: The Next Generation. By trade, he was an engineer, but he was well known on the show for being a massive hypochondriac. On one episode, Dr. Beverly Crusher advised Reg not to look through the Star Fleet medical database anymore because…
Week in Photos: Rodeo Time!
Each week, we take a dip into the Houston Press Flickr pool and see what our talented photographers have been up to. We’re looking for pictures that represent the best of Houston, from food to art to events, to secret hidden spots of beauty. Just drop them in our Flickr…
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss and Our Top Ten Favorite Seuss Books
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! On March 2, everyone’s favorite master of rhyme would have been 108 years old. Dr. Seuss passed away in 1991, but his legacy will forever live on. In fact, right now his legacy is as strong as ever with the March 2 release of The Lorax…
Seven Utterly Disgusting, Possibly Cute, Animal Births
Recently the net became somewhat viral with gross pictures of a roach giving birth. It resulted in comments like “Dude, I can look at photos of eye herpes and browse gore websites ALL DAY LONG, but I cannot make it past 0:16 of this video. So, so foul.” And yet…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 5 Enchiladas
For the next 20 weeks, we’ll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year’s winner is no easy task. We’ll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants…
100 Creatives 2012: Susie Silbert
Susie Silbert has made quite a long journey to get where she is today. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, she later moved to North Carolina, where she attended the Penland School of Craft and discovered her passion. Years later she moved to Houston, where she worked at the Museum…
Exit Music (For A Film): At The Movies With Radiohead
While they have notoriously barred the use of their songs in advertising campaigns and initially resisted selling their music on iTunes, Radiohead has been more than willing to lend their vast brooding catalog to filmmakers, exposing mainstream culture to what might have otherwise remained a marginally popular band. At every…
Blue-Eyed Butcher: Lifetime’s Susan Wright Movie, Viciously Reviewed by One of Her Attorneys
Susan Wright is the Houston woman who tied her husband to their bed and stabbed him 193 times. Kelly Siegler is the prosecutor who re-enacted that scene in court, bringing in a bed, tying a fellow prosecutor to it and then fake-stabbing him 193 times for the jury’s sake. Lifetime…
So They Have a World Record for Paper-Airplane Throwing? Yes. Yes, They Do. (w/ VIDEO)
I don’t know if I’d count this as a sign that we are evolving or regressing as a society, but in the last decade or so, it seems like we’ve become strangely fascinated with the mundane. What were once considered nondescript vocations and mindless pastimes are now the foundation for…
RIP Kiva, the Houston Zoo’s Longtime Giraffe
For 15 years visitors to the Houston Zoo have been entertained by Kiva, a Masai giraffe. Now he’s gone to that great Serengeti in the sky. He was euthanized this morning after zoo staff and vets decided painful degenerating arthritis in his front hoof joints could not be fixed. “Follow-up…
Why The Monkees Should Be In The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
The death of Davy Jones Wednesday isn’t just the end of one man’s life. For fans of the Monkees, it means the end of a lot of things. It means no more reunions. It means no more movie and TV cameo appearances. It means no more new music It means…
George Clooney Visits the Wortham Center May 3
A female friend of mine and I were talking at lunch the other day about handsome male actors. Being of the gentlemanly persuasion myself, I was comfortable weighing in on my gender, which I can appreciate despite finding it unappealing on the whole. As Elaine said once on Seinfeld, the…
They Don’t Have Tacos In the Suck, Part 4
This is the last installment of a four-part series: They Don’t Have Tacos In the Suck, which chronicles an afternoon taco truck crawl with my best friend from college, an Air Force EOD sergeant whom I hadn’t seen in 10 years. Read Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part…
Rocks Off’s Ultra-Hip Rodeo Concert Guide: Lady Antebellum
Date: March 1 Name: Lady Antebellum AKA: “Starland Country Band” Genre: Elevator twang…
Say What You Will About the Rockets, at Least They Aren’t the Clippers
We all learned yesterday that the Rockets have fallen to the bottom of the heap when it comes to local television ratings, worse than all but three woeful NBA franchises despite having a winning record now halfway through this lockout-shortened season. In fact, their ratings dropped a whopping 40 percent…
Free for All: Art Without a Price Tag
Have a great time this weekend and enjoy some great entertainment without spending any money at all. We’ve found three very cool events to attend with zero admission fees. On Friday, we’ll be front row at Amber Benson’s reading/signing of her new book, How to Be Death. Benson has built…
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme…And Mint, Marjoram, Oregano, Chervil…
Simon and Garfunkel apparently only had four herbs in their garden, but you should have much more than that in your backyard. It is herb and vegetable planting season in Houston. Our terribly cold winter (haha) has passed, and the weather is perfect for gardening. It’s a great time of…
DJ Brett Koshkin Talks Final Dirty Honey And Moving To NYC
DJ Brett Koshkin has spun old soul and R&B 45s the first Saturday of every month at Boondocks since the bar first opened in summer 2007. In what has become a Boons rite of passage, he got his first noise ordinance ticket early last month. His monthly “Dirty Honey” sets…
Health Department Roundup
There are no inspection reports available from February 23 to 29, but there are dozens of reports from February 22, Ash Wednesday. We’re not sure about the significance of that. But it is important for restaurants to remember that they art dust, and to dust they shalt return, just keep…
Trae Tha Truth Signs With T.I.’s Grand Hustle Label
Wednesday, Trae Tha Truth, protagonist in one of rap’s perpetually involved narratives, announced that he’d joined with multiple Grammy winner T.I., signing to T.I.’s imprint Grand Hustle. Trae alluded to making a “big announcement” on Twitter the day before, though many expected it’d relate to either his new app he’d…
Sheila Jackson Lee: Smartest Person in Congress, Vocabulary Study Says
Because (we guess) someone had to do it, a guy named Dan Kozikowski took to his Tumblr account to announce the results of a massive study of the vocabulary used in floor speeches by current members of Congress. He judged them by the “word diversity,” which he defined as “how…
Roller-Blade Dancing Guy: What’s His Story? (w/ VIDEO)
Check out the magnificent video below of a lone middle-aged roller-blader shaking his ass on the corner of Allen Parkway and Waugh. What’s this guy’s story? Wayward Urban Animal trying to relive the salad days of Houston’s 1980s? Weird one-man flash mob? Viral marketing gone awry?…
Robert Franz, Houston Symphony Conductor Extends Contract Through 2014
Associate Conductor Robert Franz signed a two-year extension to his contract and will remain with the Houston Symphony through the 2013-2014 season according to a press release. Franz, in his fourth season with the symphony, leads programming for the David Dewhurst Student concerts and is the front person for the…
Last Night: Kid Rock At Reliant Stadium
Kid Rock RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium February 29, 2012 Kid Rock is now ensconced as this generation’s rap-soul-blues-rock-pimp for the next 40 years: Equal parts Rock N Roll Jesus, Bob Seger, Bocephus, and maybe all in that order. Whether he’s attacking a pair of turntables with a glass of Jim Beam…
SaveOnBrew.com Goes Mobile to Help You Find Deals on Beer Nearby
I’m going to start this entire post by saying something that might cause you to stop reading: I’m not a big beer drinker. In fact, I rarely drink the stuff. But, what I am is someone who buys a ton of apps for my iPhone, and this isn’t really so…
Unidentified Male, Bayou Body Count No. 23
A man was found shot to death in a southeast-side apartment complex early this morning, Houston police say. The man, whose identity has not been released, was found shot in the face about 2 a.m. in the 4100 block of Broadway, near the Gulf Freeway. KPRC reports the killing appears…
Hans Erni Retrospective Underwhelms at Museum of Printing History
Hans Erni has one impressive resume. He’s one of Switzerland’s best-known artists, with his work displayed as murals, posters, sculptures, and even on stamps. He was a contemporary of Picasso, Kandinsky and Mondrian at one point. Over the decades, he’s worked in lithography, digital technology, and everything in-between. And, at…
Farmhouse Delivery Brings a New Kind of CSA to Houston
Traditional community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs have been evolving and maturing over the years, adapting to the changing needs of consumers who are spoiled for choice at grocery stores and farmers markets. Houston’s own Utility Research Garden designed its CSA to be as accessible as possible, offering a drop-off location at…
Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia Talks Gigantour, Dark Adrenaline
Conventional wisdom used to be that the hyper-masculine world of heavy metal would never fully embrace a female superstar, but that was before Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia hit the scene. Armed with a soaring contralto and a humble attitude that belies her striking beauty, Scabbia has converted more than a…
Your Stay in the Liberty County Jail Includes Nightly Porn Movies
Inmates at the Liberty County Jail finagled with the cable system and treated themselves to nightly viewings of a porn channel, KPRC reports. Some jailers noticed and didn’t care, other jailers noticed and reported it to supervisors who didn’t care, the station said. Another recent inmate, who also said he…
Baseballs, Wieners and Ketchup
Spring training is just around the corner. The players are oiling up their gloves, creasing their brims and preparing to chew, spit and rearrange themselves through another 162 games. I love baseball. I don’t care that it is the slowest and most idiosyncratic of all professional sports. The only game…
Jason Cassidy’s 10 Country Songs You Should Hear Before You Die
Tonight traditional country upstart Jason Cassidy headlines Big Texas Dance Hall & Saloon out in Clear Lake. The strip-center venue, known for it’s pretty girls with painted-on jeans and copious amounts of trucks in the parking lot and a Bud Light in every hand, has been host to Cassidy many…
Who the Hell Is Watching CBS? Oh, Just About Everyone
Each week, I eagerly look forward to the television ratings wrap-up (I like Nielsen ratings, leave me alone). And each week I am blown away that CBS has once again overwhelmingly kicked every other network in the rear. And then each week, I ask myself the same question, “Who in…
Best Comics in February Part 2: Houston’s Own Superhero and a Stephen King/Joe Hill Team-Up
Yesterday we brought you part 1 of our monthly series. We’re back with six more comics from February you shouldn’t miss! All Star Western #6 Aside from his appearance in Batman: The Animated Series, we’ve just never been all that into Jonah Hex. We thought that having him teamed with…
A Month of the Irish: 31 Ways to Get Your Paddy On
It’s the Month O’ The Irish. Well, the Irish-Americans, that is. We’ve previously brought you A Month of Oatmeal and 29 Ways to Indulge in Chocolate, so in honor of Irish American Month, we’ve searched the town for its greatest Irish bevvies and the best spots to grab an after…
To Ke$ha, With Love: A Plea For Sanity At Age 25
Dear Ke$ha: Happy birthday. If 18 and 21 are the “good” birthdays, and 30 and 40 are the “bad” birthdays, what do we make of turning 25? I like to look at the positive side of things: You’re old enough to have grown up responsibilities, but young enough to still…
Comment of the Day: The Price of Breast-Implant Stupidity
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…
Cowboy Diaries: Caleb Mitchell — Tomball High Grad Still Hearts Houston
Steve JansenCaleb Mitchell, team ropingTrue cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they’ll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will spotlight…
Pop Rocks: Snooki’s Having a Baby — Five Other Signs the End Is Nigh
Being a horror and sci-fi movie fan, the eventuality that I would witness the end of the world has always been a foregone conclusion. The only question was whether our ultimate fate would be handed down by rogue asteroid, genetically engineered supervirus or towering inferno. Now it seems there’s precious…
The Old Meth-in-the-Vadge Trick: Two Trinity County Women Try to Pull It in Two Weeks
A text-message sent to an undercover led to the arrest of two meth suspects at the gates of the Trinity, Texas, suburb called Hawg Heaven on Monday. Trinity County Constable Woody Wallace told KTRE that when he and Trinity police arrived on the scene, Brittany Williams, 22, and Shaun Calhoun,…
Top 10 Funniest Novels Ever Written
Finding funny novels is very, very hard. Every publisher describes any book with even a single joke as “funny,” and being funny in print is much more difficult than being funny on film where you have sight gags and timing to aid you. That’s why when we find a genuinely…
Shellee Coley: Where It Began Is Everything Linda Chorney Isn’t
Your humble narrator has mostly stayed out of the Linda Chorney/Americana-Grammy scandal. A Slytherin at heart as well as a fellow musician, it honestly didn’t matter to us whether she gamed the system for the nomination or whether her music was worthy of the nod. A Taste of Honey beat…
The Road Goes On Forever, But Top Chef: Texas Definitely Does End
Here it is: the finale. It feels like it’s been a longer time than it really has. Is that just me? But instead of drawing out the entire season in a long recap, as I thought the show would, we’re instead plunged straight into the action. The elimination challenge: cook…
The Rick Perry Comeback: The Chart Mitt Romney Doesn’t Want To See
The GOP is still stumbling about, looking for someone to run against President Obama. After vastly outspending his opponent, frontrunner Mitt Romney managed to eke out a victory in his home state. And it was over an all-but-demonstrably certifiable opponent. That’s not good. So the “GOP Establishment” is looking for…
Red
The driving force in John Logan’s play Red is the question, “What do you see?” As it’s artist Mark Rothko (played by Scott Wentworth) who’s asking, that seemingly simple inquiry takes on epic proportions. Red is billed as a two-character drama, with only Rothko and his assistant, Ken (Jay Sullivan),…
Come Back, Africa
Apartheid had many enemies. One of them was Lionel Rogosin. Determined to bring the oppression of South African Apartheid to light, Rogosin set out to film a musical in 1959. Well, actually, we should say, pretended to film one. A World War II naval veteran, Rogosin filmed Come Back, Africa,…
unBlocked
Video, photography, installation and sculpture make up unBlocked, a group show by the f/16 Collective. The Aurora Picture Show’s Mary Magsamen, who curated the exhibit, was happy to see the variety among the work submitted for the show. The f/16 Collective is made up of the students of the University…
”Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective”
Houston is the last stop on an American tour for the exhibit “Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective.” Organized by The Menil Collection, the show is the first-ever overview of the artist’s abstract work. Serra is credited with changing the practice of drawing through his use of new techniques, incorporating uncommon media,…
”Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads”
Houston is getting a visit from contemporary Chinese artist, architect and social activist Ai Weiwei’s “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads,” a large-scale outdoor art project. Weiwei’s works are monumental bronze sculptures set on pedestals (each weighs 1,000 pounds and stands ten feet tall). The work is a reinterpretation of 12 animal…
blacktino
It’s easy to describe Stefan Daily, the lead character in the teen comedy blacktino: He’s a biracial computer nerd. Being raised by his black grandmother in Austin and attending a mostly white high school, Stefan doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere until he finds a haven in the school’s drama…
Houston Jewish Film Festival
This year’s Houston Jewish Film Festival kicks off with Kaddish for a Friend. Director Leo Khasin pits Alexander, an 84-year-old Jewish man determined to maintain his independence rather than be sent to a nursing home, against a Palestinian teen named Ali who vandalizes his apartment and destroys many of the…
Ann Arbor Film Festival
It’s a night of artist-made film shorts at the outdoor screening of The Ann Arbor Film Festival. One of the highlights of the program is Michael Robinson’s These Hammers Don’t Hurt Us. Robinson’s 13-minute short combines Michael Jackson’s Remember the Time music video with clips of Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra,…
The 5 Browns
No one could ever accuse the classical piano-playing Brown siblings of traveling light. Ryan, Melody, Gregory, Deondra and Desirae Brown, known as The 5 Browns, travel with five Steinway grand pianos. The three sisters and two brothers have been attracting international attention since 2002, when People magazine dubbed them “The…
2012 Houston Modern Home Tour
Get a peek into some of the city’s most impressive homes during today’s 2012 Houston Modern Home Tour. The peeking party includes tours of eight contemporary and mid-century residences around the city built and designed by well-known Houston-based architects including François de Menil, Tom Rusnak and Ronnie Self. One sure-to-impress…
New Play Reading Series: (Scattered) Arranged
Phil Edel and Victor Abraham test the bounds of friendship in Michael Weems’s stage comedy (Scattered) Arranged. The two men, lifelong friends, long ago made a pact to tie their families together by marrying Phil’s daughter, June, to Victor’s son, Alex. The trouble is, they haven’t told anyone about the…
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
When Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater hits the stage today, it will be bringing a new electricity along with its beloved traditions (yes, Revelations will be included in every performance), new director Robert Battle promises. Battle, only the third director the dance company has ever had — after founder Alvin…
Paul Mooney
Paul Mooney: provocative, controversial. There, we’ve met the editorial requirement to pair the African-American comedian’s name and the two words most used to describe his brand of humor. Interestingly enough, Mooney, who co-wrote with Richard Pryor and worked with Redd Foxx early on, has often said he’s not trying to…
The Gold Rush
Modern silent films like The Artist and Call of Cthulhu have proven that there is still life in the medium, but one man remains the most famous and daring of all the practitioners of the craft: Charlie Chaplin. The film he most wanted to be remembered for is The Gold…
Robb Walsh: Texas Eats
We admit we have a soft spot for cookbook author Robb Walsh; he was the Houston Press food critic for several years before striking out on his own as a full-time author and restaurant owner. But even if we didn’t know him and his award-winning writing (Walsh has three James…
Shearwater
Other bands may be content with chasing women and flirting with rehab, but Shearwater’s ambitions are considerably loftier. Often aided by a core of trusted contract players, the Austin trio sometimes seems like a classical chamber ensemble masquerading as a folky art-rock band. Or maybe both. Leader Jonathan Meiburg started…
Golden Salvage
By the final scene of the third installment of Tom Stoppard’s magnificently rich triptych of 19th-century Russian revolutionaries, Coast of Utopia: Salvage, our hero, Alexander Herzen (Joe Kirkendall), grizzled and now living in exile in Geneva, has been branded as dead by the new guard, who mock his zeal and…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Dinner with Friends, Late Nite Catechism, Oscar in the Box, Whatever Happened to the Villa Real?
Dinner with Friends Donald Margulies’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, seen here in Stark Naked Theatre’s finely tuned hands, begins as the dissolution of a ten-year marriage between Beth and Tom (Kim Tobin and Drake Simpson) and then turns into an affecting, abiding portrait of another ten-year marriage between their best friends…
Toxic Holocaust, The Casualties
When some people think of contemporary Portland, Oregon, the first thing that comes to mind is IFC comedy series Portlandia, full of dearly indie-rock characters in shawls and eyeglasses, doing macramé at a vegan coffee shop. When we think of Portland, we think of Relapse Records’ raw-sewage-expelling Toxic Holocaust, now…
Blake Shelton
People have forgotten that besides being Mr. Miranda Lambert and one of the hit-making stars of NBC’s runaway smash The Voice, Blake Shelton is a damn fine country singer. He’s been on the scene a lot longer than most mainstream listeners would think, hitting the Nashville circuit in 1993 at…
Leslie & the LYs
As a rapper, gem-sweater museum curator, children’s-television star and overall Internet phenom, Leslie Hall covers quite a few bases. But when flanked by her crew, the LYs, the Iowa-bred diva becomes an audience-commanding, plus-size powerhouse, unfurling tales of Maury Povich not-the-fathers, minivan rides to the club and other facets of…
Banning Books in Arizona
Dear Mexican, Aunqué soy Boricua, mi corazón está al lado del pueblo mejicano, aquí en Arizona. ¿Porqué no hablas contra “La Bruja Mala del Oeste” Gobernadora Jan Brewer, “El Leon Cobarde” Ex-Senador Russell Pearce, “El Hombre Hecho de Lata” Alguacil del Condado Maricopa Joe Arpairo, “El Hombre Hecho de Paja” Abogado…
They Were Kings for a Moment
When you’ve turned nothing into something once already, you tend to feel you can do it again. There’s faith your luck will turn. Perhaps it’s delusion. But for a professional poker player, self-confidence is essential. So it is for Walter Wright, who now finds himself in Costa Rica. He left…
A Carnivore’s Paradise
Take a trip behind the scenes and see the journey the meat at Pampa Grill takes from asado to parrillada in our slideshow. If you’re a red meat fan, there’s very little in town that beats a parrillada for two at Pampa Grill, which should rightfully be subtitled: A Carnivore’s…
The Dante Higgins Story
Last year, Houston experienced a proper rap renaissance, likely its most inspired year since the paradigm-shifting exploits of 2005. Standing near the center of this “New Houston” wave of young talent was the adenoidal Dante Higgins, a college football player turned rapper who had built up significant buzz by releasing…
Keep Us on the Road
Motörhead’s most natural habitat is on the road. The British speed-metal trio has been almost constantly on tour since its inception in 1975. No offense to Bob Dylan, but front man Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister and his henchmen have been putting Dylan’s so-called “Never Ending Tour” to shame for two decades…
Seeing Double
Sailing to more immediate shores, but on a journey no less fascinating, Me, Myself & I, the newest work from Edward Albee, the dean and bad boy of American playwrights, arrives from Edge Theatre and director Jim J. Tommaney, and this, too, is cause for celebration (Tommaney is also a…
Welcome to the Neighborhood
Ash Kay is confused. “I’m not drunk…” she says. “Yes I am.” The crowd gives a small laugh. Kay is onstage at the new Walter’s (1120 Naylor), located on the industrial northern edge of downtown behind DiverseWorks (1117 East Fwy.) and a few paces over from the University of Houston-Downtown (320 N. Main)…
Michael Berry’s Bad Week
POLITICAL ANIMALS Michael Berry’s Bad Week Cops and a gay bar By Richard Connelly KTRH’s Michael Berry, a right-wing radio screamer, had himself some week. TV station KPRC (Channel 2) reported that he was under investigation for a hit-and-run incident in January. No charges have been filed, but what raised…
Robert Glasper Experiment
Missouri City native Robert Glasper is already a seasoned veteran, but now he may be urban music’s next great hope. He’s already been touted in those “Faces to Watch” kind of features in Billboard and the L.A. Times this year, and the push behind his new Blue Note album Black…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Berlin, Potsdamer Platz,” “Hate Expo,” “lights, camera, action,” “Love Man,” “New Paintings: Geoff Hippenstiel,” “Perspectives 177: McArthur Binion”
“Berlin, Potsdamer Platz” Magda Boltz-Wilson’s current collection features an abstract succession of block prints, some monotone, others with striking swipes of colors. Potsdamer Platz is one of the most noted intersections in Germany. It has been at the center of decades of history for the country, from its total destruction…
