Odd Future Coming to Houston December 4
Hip-hop bad boys Odd Future are coming to House of Blues on December 4. The group of youthful miscreants, which was bathed in ridiculous showers of hype in 2011, has never been to Houston. REWIND: Odd Future’s Roof-Jumping Antics at the Scoot Inn They were last in this part of…
Felipe Hernandez-Ortiz Charged in Toddler’s Traffic Death: Bayou Body Count No. 186
Twenty-year-old Felipe Hernandez-Ortiz has been charged with “accident involving injury or death” in the traffic death of a 20-month-old child. The child’s mother, Antonia Sanchez Soto, who left the toddler in the care of the girl’s six-year-old brother, has also been charged with child endangerment in the case, Houston police…
Sonia Whitford Charged in Shooting Death of Her Husband Troy Whitford: Bayou Body Count #185
Houston police say Sonia Whitford, arrested today in the early morning shooting of her husband at 6521 Jackwood, has been charged with manslaughter in his death. Police arrested the 48-year-old woman in the shooting that occurred around 2:25 a.m. October 24. Her husband, Troy Whitford, was 43 years old…
Top 14 Words Used By Cybercriminals
We here at Hair Balls have gotten pretty good at recognizing e-mail scams when we see ’em. For example, we don’t give our checking account info to just any Olatunde, Abimbola or Harry who says he’s a Nigerian prince — we make sure they prove it to us by getting…
Unidentified 41-Year-Old Man Shot to Death During Robbery: Bayou Body Count No. 184
Several men forced their way into a home at 1936 Dolly Wright and during the robbery that followed, a 41-year-old man was shot to death, Houston police say. The robbery/shooting occurred about 7 a.m. Tuesday, October 23…
Cover Story: Houston Babylon, a Collection of Houston’s Creepiest Tales
After my editor assigned me to write up a collection of some of Houston’s creepiest tales for this week’s cover story Houston Babylon, I took to Facebook for some group-sourcing of ideas and leads. That thread ballooned into an 158-post beast. Far too many good stories came in for me…
Scott Tycer Serves Comfort Food in a Comfy Setting at Kraftsmen Cafe
New York Times food critic Pete Wells recently issued a warning against over-ambitious restaurants serving tasting menus that feature double-digit courses, comparing the experience of a marathon dinner served in 20 fussy courses to being “nibbled to death.” In an interview just yesterday with Anthony Bourdain, the chef called Wells’s…
Reality Bites: Breaking Amish
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. “Nah, come on man; some straight like you, giant stick up his ass, all of a sudden at age – what – 60? He’s just going to break bad?” -…
HCSO Seeks Alleged Killer of Iraqi War Vet Alexander Segura
Harris County Sheriff’s Office homicide investigators are looking for Keith Dewayne Dillingham, who they say is responsible for killing Alexander Segura, an Iraqi War vet. According to investigators, deputies responded to a 3 a.m. shooting at an apartment complex at 9001 Jones Road in northwest Harris County on August 6…
What Should Madonna Do In Houston This Week? (Besides Show Us Her Ass)
Pop grand dame Madonna is in Houston for two shows this week at Toyota Center that are close to selling out. They are sold out, right? I figured that was why she was here two nights in a row, unless she just loves Houston that much. Rewind: Madonna’s Top 5…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Johan Schuster of Charivari, on Count Dracula, Transylvania, and Foraging for Mushrooms
Johan Schuster Charivari Restaurant 2521 Bagby 713-521-7231 www.charivarirest.com This is Part 1 in a three part Chef Chat series. Look for Parts 2 and 3 in this same space on Thursday and Friday. Fifteen years ago, Transylvania-born chef Johan Schuster decided to leave Europe to open a restaurant in the…
Raw Bar & Muscadet: If It Grows with It, It Goes with It
“If it grows with it, it goes with it.” If you’ve been following along here at Wine Time, you’ve heard me chant New York legend Danny Meyer’s mantra over and over again. No matter what food I’m pairing with wine, I always look to traditional pairings for inspiration. Whether it’s…
Nero Returns to Make Halloween Something Wicked
Even if you didn’t realize it, you’ve probably heard Nero’s single “Promises.” From the original being used in an HP commercial to the Skrillex remix that’s garnered a bunch of spins on the radio and in the clubs, it’s been one of the biggest EDM songs of the year. Rewind:…
From My Mother’s Mother: An Opera About the Korean Immigrant Experience in Houston
University of Houston Ph.D. candidate Janine Joseph specializes in poetry. She’d never written an opera libretto, never thought of writing one, but when the opportunity presented itself, she grabbed it. Although it wasn’t as if she didn’t have other qualifications for the job. A talented writer, she’d attracted the interest…
Hey Kids, Stop Drinking Monster — You Could Ruin It for Adults
Headlines this past week have been screaming — okay, raising their voices slightly — once again about those dastardly energy drinks. Which you could be drinking right now as you read this, depending on the time of day and your occupation. This time it’s Monster Energy drinks, those 24-ounce jobs…
Translucent 3-D Magic at Anya Tish Gallery
There is an inspired pairing up at Anya Tish Gallery right now with Orna Feinstein and Carlos Zerpabzueta. Both multimedia artists traffic in works that are optically playful and vibrantly colorful, making for a show that is dizzyingly fun to experience. Feinstein, a Houston artist from Israel, has shown at…
Anthony Bourdain on Hipsters, Food Critics, Tasting Menus, the Death of Fine Dining and a Religious Experience with Texas Barbecue
The biggest problem with interviewing Anthony Bourdain is not the crackly phone connection between Houston and New York City, nor is it the general trepidation that comes with talking to someone who’s notoriously, forcefully honest. The problem is that Bourdain is so interesting — has traveled so extensively and has…
Last Night: Rodriguez at House of Blues
Rodriguez House of Blues (Bronze Peacock Room) October 23, 2012 Ouch. You have to wonder how Houston has managed to produce and nurture as many great songwriters as it has over the years, because it’s amazing any of them could ever keep their guitars in tune. Tuesday night our city’s…
Comment of the Day: Dierdorf’s “Over the Top Slathering”
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 or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
5 Simple iPhone Apps Often Used, But Easily Taken for Granted
I recently bought an iPad and as I was going through the apps on my phone to see what I might want to download for the iPad, I noticed a number of apps that would have thumb wear marks on them if that were possible. These were small, simple apps…
A Taste of Texas Wines at Sullivan’s
Last week, Sullivan’s Steakhouse played host to Messina Hof founders Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo for a wine dinner showcasing the Texas-based winery’s award-winning wines. I was invited to attend, not only to reacquaint myself with the Messina Hof’s wines, but also to sample the specialty menu created by newly promoted…
Video Game Atlas: Onett
Once a week Art Attack will offer you a handy little travel guide to the fictional worlds of video games. Name: Onett, Earthbound (Mother) series Population: 3,500 Government: Mayoral democracy You might have noticed that your humble travel guide has been absent the last couple of weeks. Well, long story…
5 Great Songs By Psy Besides “Gangnam Style”
Sometimes it’s hard for Americans to believe, but there is, in fact, a whole world outside of the United States. No, I’m not just talking about Alaska and Hawaii. There are whole other countries out there and not just ones that are either a) our cute friends (England, Japan) or…
Rocks Off’s Something Wicked Mini-Guide: Bass Massacre
Saturday, something very strange is about to go down at Sam Houston Race Park when Something Wicked, billed as “Texas’s first ever large-scale Halloween electronic dance music festival,” takes over the grounds, subdivided into three nebulously named areas: “Shadow Field,” “Bass Massacre” and “The Experiment.” To help our readers –…
Halloween Reads 2012: 6 New Books We Like
Halloween, the holiday that keeps on giving. Scares, frights, giggles, gore and bloodshed abound. We thought we’d take a look at some of the new books that celebrate horror. Here are six new books we like. 6. Set in a haunted German village, Stefan Kiesbye’s just released Your House Is…
Houston Babylon: Dean Goss, Houston’s Jackie Gleason, Houston’s Bluebeard or Both?
Houston Babylon, the feature coming out this week, dissects a few of the creepiest and most chilling events in Houston history. In coming up with four of those tales, we stumbled over many more — too many to fit the print edition. All this week we’ll bring you some extra,…
60-Second Brownies…In a Mug
Oh my gosh, you guys — I just discovered the best thing ever. I really don’t know how I’ve gone this long without it. It’s fast, it’s easy, it’s delicious… It’s microwaved mug brownies. Yes, I made brownies…in a mug…in the microwave. See also: What’s Cooking on Pinterest? Nutella Mug…
100 Creatives 2012: Justin Cronin
What he does: Former Rice Professor Justin Cronin is a novelist and self-proclaimed book nerd. Once an East Coaster, Cronin was raised in both New England and New York. He earned his BA in English from Harvard University and later his MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. He taught for…
Houston’s Island of Misfit Bands Briefly Resurfaces
While the hallowed ground of Fitzgerald’s has remained steadfast, becoming a seemingly permanent fixture in Houston’s indie, punk and metal communities, other clubs have receded into the dustbins of history. Fortunately, the fecund eras of two – the Axiom and the Island – are being celebrated during November. As the…
Tony Makes Some Authentic Thai
When we talk about Thai food in Houston, people generally point to Vieng Thai or Asia Market. Everyone seems to overlook the Thai food out on Bellaire Boulevard, which, while not as ubiquitous as Chinese or Vietnamese, can definitely be found. One of my favorites has been Tony Thai, not…
Much Cooler Weather Arrives in Time for Halloween
There is no doubt temperatures have been working their way downward since the start of October. Every year around this time, we all get antsy in Houston thinking that this heat (80s instead of the 90s of September anyway) will never end. It’s easy to forget when that first really…
Zapruder Analysis of This Delightfully Awkward Interview With Tiger Woods
Can we spell anguish? Blindsided?One thing I’ve learned in my five years or so of doing radio is that very few (stress VERY) athletes enjoy doing interviews. Most barely tolerate the process and treat it like it’s a nuisance, something that’s just part of the deal when you sign on…
Top 10 Stephen King Movie Adaptations
This past weekend, AMC was having a Stephen King mini-marathon, airing some of King’s scariest books-turned-movies. I caught the end of Christine and the first hour of Pet Sematary. I have to admit that it’s been years since I watched Pet Sematary, and remember it being a terribly frightening movie…
Madonna’s Top 5 MDNA World Tour Transgressions
Madonna’s Sex book turned 20 years old this week. The literary capstone on pop music’s most frankly sexual career (sorry, Prince), the glossy collection of softcore smut managed to shock even the Material Girl’s most ardent fans, crossing a few lines that many weren’t entirely aware existed. Gay sex, interracial…
This Week in Food Blogs: Spicy Nuts and Tennessee-Style Barbecue
From the Gutt: Does every wine drinker’s palate matter? That’s the question posed this week by local wine blogger Tom Gutting, who writes that it’s “silly to think that an ‘expert’ taster’s opinion, such as that of Robert Parker or James Laube or James Suckling, should be given dictatorial deference.”…
Sheriff’s Office Asks for Help in IDing Dead Victim Wearing Smurfette T-shirt
A woman whose dead body may have been inside a garbage bag for a month before discovery was wearing a Smurfette T-shirt and Harris County Sheriff’s deputies hope this will lead to her ID. According to HCSO, the garbage bag was found in the 12500 block of Walters Road in…
Vince Ryan Scores a $2 Million Judgment for County Against Drycleaners, in River Oaks No Less
Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan announced today that a lawsuit he filed against a dry-cleaning company, accusing it of contaminating groundwater with a solvent it used in the cleaning process, has resulted in a $2.175 million settlement. Labeling it the “largest judgment ever in a dry cleaner pollution case” involving…
Jenny Roberts: Federal Prosecutor’s Wife Accuses Cops of Beating Her; Cops Say Her Husband Did It
The wife of a federal prosecutor formerly based in Houston has accused Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputies of beating her so severely she suffered permanent brain damage, while the County Attorney says her husband is the one who beat her, and the couple conspired to cover up domestic abuse by blaming…
HPD Investigates Officer-Involved Shooting
A Lakeview Police Department officer, working a second job at a jewelry store, fired her gun at a suspect after he pepper-sprayed her. Houston police did not identify the officer who was working at a jewelry store at 19335 Gulf Freeway about 1:30 p.m. Monday, October 22. The officer was…
Rocks Off’s Marilyn Manson YouTube Video Contest
OK, the big Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie “Twins of Evil” tour hits Houston and Reliant Arena on October 30, just one short week from now. No doubt if you are a big fan of the boys, you have already got your tickets in your paws in sweaty anticipation. That’s…
Coogs for the Cure: Great Sports, Great Cause This Weekend
The University of Houston Athletics Department’s Coogs for the Cure is giving you a chance to have fun while raising money in the battle against breast cancer this weekend. Come cheer your favorite team, whichever one it may be, when UH takes on Rice in volleyball and soccer, and then…
Be a Prima Donna, Pre-Madonna, at Quattro
So, you may have heard that Madonna is coming to town this week. If you were lucky enough to get tickets to her performances at the Toyota Center tomorrow night or Thursday night, you may now be wondering where to park and where to grab dinner or drinks before the…
Special K Flatbread Breakfast Sandwiches: Quick & Tasty
I love Special K products. The cereals, snack bars and chips are always tasty. While shopping at Walmart, I came across a new product in the frozen section — breakfast flatbreads, all less than 250 calories. I decided to give them a try. With choices from sausage, egg and cheese,…
Shemekia Copeland: Never Count Out the Blues
She’s never lived here, but Shemekia Copeland is Houston blues royalty all the same. Her late father Johnny Clyde Copeland was one of the guitar princes of the Third Ward scene from the ’50s to the mid-’70s, lighting up clubs like Shady’s Playhouse alongside Albert Collins, Joe “Guitar” Hughes, Johnny…
Top Five Houston Halloween Parties: 2012 Edition
Houston’s going to be busy this Halloween season and with so much to choose from, we thought we’d give you a hand in picking which events to attend. Here, in our actually not too humble opinion, are the top five Halloween parties: 5. The Washington Avenue Block Party: The Washington…
Trailer Park: Iron Man 3, YO!
Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark is back for the third Iron Man film, after joining forces with Captain America, Thor and those other dudes in this past summer’s Avengers flick. Iron Man Part Tres hits theaters on May 3, 2013. Sadly, they couldn’t have released on March 3, 2013, to…
HISD Doesn’t Win Broad Prize, But Being a Runner-Up Means $150K in Senior Scholarships
Bad News/Good News: Houston ISD didn’t win the prestigious Broad Prize this year honoring the country’s top urban public school districts. But just by being one of the finalists, it receives $150,000 in scholarships that it can hand out to its graduating seniors. The fifth time (as a finalist) was…
Upcoming: Maroon 5, Jamey Johnson, Smokey Robinson, FallCore, Reagan Youth, Etc.
10th Annual Christmas Bash With The Handsomes, Thunderado: Tue., Dec. 25, 9 p.m. Continental Club, 3700 Main, Houston. Adventure Club, Fredster, Pharmer: Sat., Nov. 10, 8 p.m., $15-$25. Stereo Live, 6400 Richmond, Houston. B.J. Thomas: Sat., Feb. 9, 5:30 & 9:30 p.m., $78-$118. Dosey Doe, 25911 I-45 N., Spring. Black…
Where Are We Drinking? Clue: Kickin’ It
This popular Heights coffee shop serves more than just caffeine: Its breakfast tacos and fried egg croissants are excellent, and the beverage case has options like Maine Root soda and locally brewed Kickin’ Kombucha (which would still be my favorite brand of the fermented beverage even if it wasn’t made…
DVDs & Blu-rays: The Halloween Edition, Part 1 (The Early Horror Classics)
Lon Chaney stars in the scary silent The Penalty. He’s Blizzard, a ruthless gangster who had his legs mistakenly amputated as a child. The tragedy has driven him mad and he hatched a twisted scheme to exact revenge on the doctor who crippled him. He intends to kidnap the doctor’s…
Three Mixed Shows in One at Barbara Davis Gallery
The current show at Barbara Davis Gallery is actually three, as three different artists present their own exhibitions to mixed results. The first will be very familiar to regular 4411 Montrose gallery goers. Ruth Shouval’s unique relief prints in “Settle” continue a series last seen at Barbara Davis a couple…
Top 5 Pumpkin-Flavored Grocery Store Foods
In years past, I’ve had much fun scouring Houston for pumpkin dishes at local restaurants. Many are available again this fall if you’re intent on going out to get your squash on. For homebody pumpkin lovers (or just people fascinated by seasonal products), I offer these top five pumpkin-flavored foods…
Zombie Video: How to Make a Gory Prosthesis (Part III)
This video was shot and edited by Norma Vasquez. It’s the third of three we’ve posted on consecutive Tuesdays. Check out the first part in our series and the second part. In our final installment of our series on zombie makeup, we’re going to help you learn how to create…
The 5 Worst Cover Albums of All Time
I think when they’re just starting out, every musician dreams of making a cover album at some point down the road. We all have our favorite songs that we wish we had written and we all fantasize about singing and playing them ourselves. It’s why karaoke bars exist. Of course,…
Daniela Barcellona Makes Her HGO Debut in The Italian Girl in Algiers
Growing up in Trieste, an Italian city in the northeast of the country, Daniela Barcellona was going to be a concert pianist. Yes, she sang. She sang in church and at school and as she got older, at weddings. But it was precisely because of its ordinary qualities — “After…
Party Like It’s 1799: The Rienzi Punch Party
When I was first approached with the opportunity to cover the MFAH’s second annual punch party, I had my doubts about the quality of the libations. As a card-carrying Victorianist, I’m pretty much professionally obligated to scoff at the so-called merits of other historical eras in favor of promoting the…
The Length of a Song Should Not Dictate the Length of Its Music Video
I review a lot of music videos here on Rocks Off because I remain completely fascinated with them, since the days when I was a kid glued to MTV trying as hard as I could to understand exactly what was the meaning behind Metallica’s “Unforgiven.” I still believe that short…
Pop Rocks: Your Official 3rd Presidential Debate Recap…As Seen (Once Again) on Twitter
Last night was the third and final Presidential debate, in which incumbent President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney attempted to sway the opinions of the seven people left in this country who haven’t decided who they’re voting for. The election is two weeks away. Did last night’s verbal shenanigans…
The Eating Our Words 100: Dale Robertson, a Populist Among Wine Writers
Eating…Our Words has embarked on a project to profile 100 Houston culinarians of all fields, practices, careers and backgrounds. This isn’t a Best of Houston® list, it’s not a 100 Favorites list and it’s not in any particular order. Instead, the Eating…Our Words 100 is a way to introduce our…
The Rocks Off 100: Bill Fool, Punk Lifer, Dad, Good Guy to Know
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. “Bill Fool was born in Chicago, Illinois and spent his entire youth living near…
How Should You Spend Your Houston Texans Bye Week?
Folks, we have reached the first bye week of the Houston Texans 2012 season. Our band of heroes will not be seeing action. Not on Thursday, Sunday or even Monday. No, they will be taking a well-deserved few days away from their usual schedules to relax and store up energy…
Reviews for the Lazy Gamer: The Unfinished Swan
Game: The Unfinished Swan Platform: PSN Publisher/Developer: Giant Sparrow/Santa Monica Studio Genre: First-person puzzler Describe This Game in Three Words: Beautiful beyond belief Plot Synopsis: Monroe is a young boy recently orphaned. His mother left behind more than 300 paintings, not a single one finished. He took his favorite one…
Look at What One of Our Writers Has Gone and Done
Provided they’re not making us wish them bodily harm (kidding), Rocks Off is proud of each and every one of our writers. But sometimes one of them up and does something that makes us give them an extra pat on the head and a biscuit to go along with it…
Early Victorian Houston and Texas: Suicide City for the Elite
Houston Babylon, the feature coming out this week, dissects a few of the creepiest and most chilling events in Houston history. In coming up with four of those tales, we stumbled over many more — too many to fit the print edition. All this week we’ll bring you some extra,…
What’s Cooking on Pinterest? Mini Sweet Potato Donut Holes
You definitely don’t need a donut maker or donut pan to make these wonderfully sweet breakfast treats. The original recipe I found on Pinterest uses a donut maker. The blogger tells you how to make these treats that way, but with a little more research, I discovered you can make…
Houston Texans Twitter Fun: The Seven Stages of Hating Dan Dierdorf (w/ MANY Tweets)
Television announcers in 2012 are oftentimes in a pretty thankless position. In this day and age where we can rewind everything, pick apart every word and then cackle about it with our friends on social media, the television gig (while WELL paid) comes with crazy scrutiny. Add in the extreme…
Henry Tanner, Retrospective of the African-American Artist at the MFAH
There are members of the art history world who, despite their significant contributions to the field, are sadly underrepresented. Henry Ossawa Tanner is one such artist. His name may not sound familiar; however, his achievements were vast, and the retrospect of his work at the Museum of Fine Arts aims…
Top 10 Restaurants on Washington Avenue
After last week’s Top 10 Restaurants in Rice Village kerfuffle, we’ve made extra-double sure that this week’s list is wholly and completely intact. Now, that doesn’t mean your favorite restaurant necessarily made the cut — that’s a whole other conversation for the comments section. What did make the cut this…
Gothic Council Decides If Steampunk Is Goth
Having just spent an afternoon absorbing the new kung-fu steampunk masterpiece Tai Chi Zero, I got to wondering on what the official gothic position was on the steampunk phenomenon. After all, we share an awful lot in common with the steampunkers, like a love of classic gothic literature, ornamentation, a…
Benjamin Becke, Gunshot Victim, Bayou Body Count No. 183
A 30-year-old man was found shot to death at 2016 Dunlavy early Sunday morning after a fight with a neighbor, Houston police say. Benjamin David Becke of Huffman died on the scene about 2 a.m. after witnesses said he had fought with a neighbor…
Glenwood Cemetery’s Avenging Angel: A Shooting Victim’s Family’s Vengeance Plot Fails
Houston Babylon, the feature coming out this week, dissects a few of the creepiest and most chilling events in Houston history. In coming up with four of those tales, we stumbled over many more — too many to fit the print edition. All this week we’ll bring you some extra,…
Pirates and Steam Punks: Cute Kids at Ren Fest 2012
This past weekend at the Texas Renaissance Festival was dedicated to the pirate’s life, with tons of swashbucklers of all sizes and ages making the trip in to the woods near Plantersville to show off their costumes. It was a hot one this weekend, too, but that didn’t dampen the…
The Fabulous Baker Boys: Trailer Park Fracas Lands Three Brothers in Jail
Three Corpus Christi brothers and an unrelated man spent the weekend in the Nueces County Jail after a trailer park donnybrook involving a gun, a baseball bat and an assault of a police officer. According to a CCPD press release, cops were summoned to the Christy Mobile Home Park Thursday…
Saving Lives at the Sweet & Savory Dinner
When pastry chef Rebecca Masson teamed up with her friends to host a fundraising dinner for Lucky Dog Rescue three years ago, she sold 40 seats and raised $3,500 to help forgotten and unwanted Houston dogs find homes. There were three savory courses and three sweet courses at Masson’s first…
Kidney Trouble Forces Rapper P.O.S. to Cancel Tour
Rapper P.O.S. — real name Stefon Alexander — has canceled his anticipated fall tour because of health reasons; namely, he says, his need for a new kidney. In a YouTube video released this past week, the Minneapolis-bred artist got fans up to speed on his trials, saying he’s been on…
666 Park Avenue: Don’t Open That Suitcase!
Don’t you just hate when you tell a lie and out of nowhere that lie becomes a real person hell-bent on murdering you? This week’s 666 Park Avenue opens with obit writer/lying sack Annie tied to a chair, her face a bloody mess. The obit she fabricated about a Russian…
Evil Dead at Country Playhouse Transcends Civilized Objections
The setup: There are actually some shows that are immune to criticism, this Evil Dead being one of them. A send-up of a send-up, this Grade B musical, spawned from Sam Raimi’s wildly successful horror flick trilogy, which started with Evil Dead, spewed forth Evil Dead II and finished mercifully…
Saturday Night: ZZ Top at Constellation Field
ZZ Top Constellation Field October 20, 2012 ZZ Top has been writing and performing music for nearly 45 years. Now, granted, there are a handful of other artists that have been around that long too, but most of them have a lot of baggage, the stuff of VH1 documentaries and…
$14 Italian White Delivers Quality & Authenticity at Kroger
As for brand names like Valpolicella and Chianti, U.S. consumer perception of the Northern Italian Soave appellation was tainted in the 1970s by market saturation and a tide of low-quality wines that no longer resembled the wines traditionally produced there. To most Americans in my parents’ generation, Soave (the name…
15 Best Pieces of the 2012 Texas Contemporary Art Fair
“I assume you don’t want me in the picture,” a man said to me as I stood extra still, in position to release my camera’s shutter to photograph one of the pieces at the Texas Contemporary Art Fair. He had clearly stopped himself in his tracks so as not to…
Dominic Walsh Choreographs to Japanese Mythology in Uzume
The setup: This past weekend, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater presented the world premiere of Uzume, a collaboration with Asia Society Texas Center that showcased the talents of taiko master Kensaku Satou and DWDT staples Domenico Luciano and Hana Sakai. The execution: Uzume is inspired by the Japanese myth of how…
Where Are We Eating? Clue: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Although this sushi joint didn’t make our recent list of Houston’s 10 Best Sushi Restaurants, it’s still one of my personal favorites. One of the reasons is the casual patio, and another is the creativity shown in rolls like the rainbow roll. This traditional roll is served in a straightforward…
Saturday Night: Norah Jones at Bayou Music Center
Norah Jones, Richard Julian Bayou Music Center October 20, 2012 “Miriam/ That’s such a pretty name/ I’m gonna say it when/ I make you cry.” — Norah Jones Despite its name, Norah Jones’ newest album, Little Broken Hearts, is a mild departure from her melancholy debut, Come Away With Me…
UH, Rice: Is College Football Season Over Yet?
The Houston Cougars were destroyed on Thursday night. The Rice Owls blew a game they should have won on Saturday. The Owls loss is not surprising. The Cougars loss isn’t really surprising, either, though the magnitude of the loss is. The Cougars (3-5) lost to the SMU Mustangs by a…
Frankenstein at Country Playhouse: It’s (Sort of) Alive!
The setup: Thunder cracks. Lightning flashes. Electricity arcs. The sound of a heartbeat reverberates eerily. Under its bloody sheet, the creature stirs and grabs the arm of nearby young Dr. Frankenstein. The audience screams. In the most thrilling scene in Country Playhouse’s epic production, Frankenstein, the classic Mary Shelley gothic…
Texans-Ravens: The 10 Best Rapper Tweets From Sunday’s Game
Houston has a professional football team. They are called the Houston Texans. A lot of people like them. Some of those people are rappers. The Internet has several forms of social media. One of them is called Twitter. A lot of people use it. Some of those people are rappers…
10 Oyster Dishes to Try in Houston: No. 6, Pearly Whites Po-Boy at BB’s Cafe
You know what I love about SeptembeR, OctobeR, NovembeR and DecembeR? It’s oyster season! During these months, oysters are at their peak. For the next few weeks, I’ll be sampling the most memorable and tasty oyster dishes in Houston. No. 6, Pearly Whites Po-Boy at BB’s Cafe Don’t get me…
Season Finale: Copper Survives “A Vast and Fiendish Plot”
We’ve reached the end of the first season of Copper, a show that raised my interest this summer for its Gangs of New York-style setting, and then bewildered me for the past few months of my life with meandering episodes. But I am still a true Copperhead and I have…
La Bohème Continues to Sing at Houston Grand Opera
See our interview with Katie Van Kooten. The setup: La Bohème, Puccini’s eternally fresh opera (1896), never shows its age. Among the world’s most beloved and performed works, this radiantly romantic tearjerker set among a community of struggling artists in Belle Époque Paris (poet Rodolfo, painter Marcello, musician Schaunard, philosopher…
What’s Cooking This Week? Weeknight Chili & More
I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don’t make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredients I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter…
Saturday Night: Red Hot Chili Peppers at Toyota Center
Red Hot Chili Peppers Toyota Center October 20, 2012 The Red Hot Chili Peppers have stuck around long enough — through drugs, overdoses, creative strife and changing musical tides — to have 30 years of hits they can knock out into the nosebleeds at any given live show. Saturday night’s…
Jeremy Geffs, “Street Pharmacist”: Tomball Hustla and Rockin’ Facebooker, in Jail Again
There ought to be a Failbook-like website for knuckleheads like Jeremy Geffs: oft-convicted criminals who continue to advertise their shenanigans on Facebook for all the world to see. With a criminal record as long and impressive as Geffs’s, you’d think he’d try to keep things a little more on the…
Texans 43, Ravens 13: Adjustments Spark Beatdown of Longtime Nemesis; Five Reasons Why
Check out our slideshow of the Texans beating the Ravens for the first time in franchise history. The final score doesn’t come close to showing it, but there were tense moments Sunday. Three early possessions resulted in three Houston punts, with only a single first down to show for it…
Friday Night: Louis C.K. Kills It at Jones Hall
There are few comedians who have ever been in Louis C.K.’s place. The guy can basically do no wrong. His FX show, Louie, has been going strong for three years now despite its cult appeal and often irrational plot lines. He just took home an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for…
Top 5 Rockers Who Overcame Stammering
Recently, I became somewhat concerned as my formerly flawlessly articulate three-year-old daughter began to stammer whenever she tried to talk. It was a very sudden onset that is still occurring, and I wondered if this was the first sign of a serious problem that she would have to work to…
Top 10 Caramel/Candy Apple Toppings
I’m pretty sure my mom was the coolest mom in the neighborhood when I was little. Along with candy, she would pass out caramel and candy apples on Halloween. Yeah, you hit the jackpot if you came to my house to trick-or-treat. Each year we always put together fun and…
Vince Ryan Takes on the Crips and Bloods in Court Again, Including Trae The Truth’s Alleged Shooter
Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan has established a new battleground in his fight against the Bloods and the Crips. The arena’ s still the same — a civil courtroom where his office seeks an injunction — but the target is yet another apartment complex. Ryan has sued over complexes in…
Joe Stark of Brasserie 19 Gives Us a Veteran’s View from Behind the Bar
Finding a bartender for this week’s article proved far harder than usual. After visiting three bars in a row manned by — in this order — a bar back, a first-day waitress and, finally, no one at all, I began to wonder if I had finally succeeded in my goal…
20 Years Ago in TV; the Good and the Bad
I was flipping through channels yesterday and stumbled upon an episode of Barney; you know, the purple dinosaur. It’s been a long time since I had any reason to watch Barney, but I could have sworn I had seen this episode before. More likely, all Barney episodes involve songs about…
Your Halloween Playlist: Don’t Play That, Play This
Recently Rocks Off told you how to put together a solid party playlist. We’re coming up on the time of year when people start throwing Halloween parties, so now it’s time to get a little more specific. Don’t be content to throw on the old 30 Spookiest Halloween Hits album…
Texans — Ravens: 4 Winners, 4 Losers (Including J.J. Watt, Arian Foster & Connor Barwin)
Check out our slideshow of Battle Red Day at Reliant Stadium. “It’s just one game.” “Nobody would have beaten Aaron Rodgers tonight.” “Hey, if someone had told you before the season they’d be 5-1 going into the Ravens game, you’d have taken it, right?” Those are just a few of…
Candy Corns and Cordials: A Halloween Cocktail Duo
It’s never too early in the day to talk booze. Especially if you’re prepping for a Halloween party — you only have ten days left! And that’s if you’re actually holding it on Halloween. If you’re having a party this weekend, you’d better get cracking on the decorations, booze and…
The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: October 22-25
Rodriguez House of Blues, October 23 Had he not fallen victim to slow sales in the early ’70s, Detroit-born rocker Rodriguez could have been one of the biggest acts of the decade. After releasing two sturdy, Dylanesque albums, 1970’s Cold Fact and Coming From Reality the next year, Rodriguez left…
Halloween Costumes for People Who Hate Halloween Costumes
For someone who loves to shop, get dressed up and play with makeup, I have an almost irrational hatred of dressing up for Halloween. It amazes even me, the degree to which I dislike all aspects of the Halloween costume — from conception, to planning, to execution. It’s not just…
Texans Romp Over Undermanned Ravens 43-13 As Records Fall
Check out our slideshow of the Texans vs. the Ravens at Reliant Stadium. They weren’t the boldfaced, awe-inspiring ever-dreaded Baltimore Ravens of old — too many injuries, and old age, have ravaged that lineup — but they are still wearing the purple and black that has intimidated NFL offenses for…
Francisco Sanchez, 53, Bayou Body Count No. 182
Police have a suspect in the case of a man who was punched to death in Fort Bend County and later died in a Houston hospital. Francisco Sanchez, 53, was punched by two men in his driveway about 8:30 p.m.September 27 in the 5300 block of Castlecreek Lane, witnesses told…
14 Brand-New Houston Bands You Should Know About
Thursday night in New York City, Houston promoter The Convoy Group and several other companies (including Brooklyn Vegan’s Austin bureau) co-sponsored “The Texas Takeover,” an evening of all-Lone Star music at Chelsea drinkery Rebel NYC, part of the famous emerging-talent festival CMJ. On the bill were Houston’s Tontons, New York…
Big Tex: We Offer Our Six Replacements, Starting With Willie Nelson
As you’ve no doubt heard by now — or, if you’re a Texan, felt like a great disturbance in the force — State Fair’s Big Tex burned to its frame today. The icon for generations of fairgoers was taken down by an electrical short, so at least we don’t have…
Pflugerville ISD Gets Its Earful on Same-Sex Health Benefits
As we noted yesterday they planned to do, the citizens of the Pflugerville school district made their voices heard about a new policy giving gay employees the same couples benefits that straights get. Hill Country media reports said the PISD hearing room was standing room only, even though the new…
Travis Ammons Nails the Role of Sadistic Psychopath in Texas Rep’s Suspenseful Drama When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?
The setup: In Mark Medoff’s award-winning play, a sleepy roadside diner in southern New Mexico awakens with a bang when invaded by a sadistic psychopath. The execution: The action begins in a deceptively desultory fashion as Angel (Lyndsay Sweeney) arrives six minutes late for her shift, replacing the night-shift operator,…
Talking to James Moody, Co-Captain of HMS Fun Fun Fun Fest
In Texas, only a few major music festivals cater to the punk and indie subcultures. Houston’s own Free Press Summer Fest, Chaos In Tejas, 35 Denton, maybe the free and freaky day parties of SXSW, and Fun Fun Fun Fest, put on by Transmission Entertainment in Austin. REWIND: Fun Fun…
This Week in Deliciousness: Waiter, Another Bundle of Newspapers for the Trash Can Fire, Please
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating…Our Words, where it looks like we’ll be missing yet another Halloween without getting our razor blade-shaped hard candy patented. Everybody’s just too damn sensitive these days, that’s the problem. Although the Jolly Razors actually did turn out quite sharp. We started…
Spot-on Performances Make UpStage Theatre’s Much Ado About Nothing Must-See Theater
The setup: For its second foray into Shakespeare, Theatre UpStage presents much-loved comedy Much Ado About Nothing, in which romantic misunderstandings lead to delightful conflicts and much confusion. The execution: UpStage Theatre shares its space at Lambert Hall with Opera in the Heights, which is having a full season of…
Texas A&M Has a Bomb Alert (UPDATED, Classes Canceled)
These are becoming common enough to invite a blasé feeling, but like hurricanes, it only takes one. Texas A&M officials have issued a Code Maroon alert after receiving “a campus-wide” bomb threat…
5 Other Uses for Pumpkin Pie Spice Besides Pumpkin Pie
First things first: It’s not like pumpkin pie spice is saffron-level expensive. An ounce of the stuff at Penzeys is only about $4. On the other hand, pumpkin pie spice is — to me — the spice equivalent of a unitasker in the kitchen: a tool that serves only one…
Top 10 Dirt Cheap Rock Star Halloween Costumes
Yep, it’s that time again. Almost Halloween, and you with no costume. There’s no time left to execute some grand vision that might impress people you’d like to sleep with. (Unless you want to try these, from our sister blog Art Attack.) That leaves you with only a couple of…
Downtown: The Week in Art 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…
Whaaat!?!?! Big Tex Burns! Apocalypse Sign Number Four!
Dramatic photos are coming in from the scene in Dallas where Big Tex, the 52-foot-tall mascot of the State Fair, has done gone ahead and caught himself on fire. The blaze, which left just a skeleton frame on the dude, began this morning at about 10:30, KHOU reports and our…
Mario Gallegos’s Final Words: “Fuck Vouchers”
You can say whatever you want about State Senator Mario Gallegos — and there was plenty, good or bad, to say about him — but the man apparently knew how to make an exit. As he was on his deathbed, he had one message left for his final words: “Fuck…
Sister Act Krewella Knows “Texas Rages Really Hard”
By now we’ve all heard it a dozen times or so: DJs are the new rock stars, pop stars, and icons. Big-name DJs and producers like David Guetta and Avicii are taking their fame across genre lines into the world of pop and becoming more famous in the process. In…
Person of Interest: Masquerade
A few things stand out about this week’s Person of Interest. There was very little time jumping, the series regulars seemed to be working hard on being friends with each other, a few of the plot lines seemed a little too predictable although there were a couple of change-ups at…
Houston Wine Blogger Community Grows
One of the things that I love the most about wine blogging is the community it creates and the way it brings together people from different corners of society and all walks of life. After all, I fell in love and decided to move to Texas after I met my…
Upcoming Events: Hoppy Hours and Halloween Dinners
Whatcha doing tonight? Nothing? Well, now you’re doing something: coming to the Houston Press Craft Beer Hoppy Hour at MKT Bar inside Phoenicia. Hoppy Hour kicks off at 4 p.m. and runs through 7 p.m., featuring beers from Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co. and food to go with it. Flights are…
Gordon Oehmig: Former St. Thomas High Wrestling Coach of the Year Nabbed for Child Porn
A former Prep Coach of the Year from St. Thomas High has been arrested after authorities found 1,500 digital images and 500 videos of child porn on his computers, court documents show. Gordon Daniel Oehmig, 29, is no longer at the school, but coached there from from 2009 to 12,…
20 Reasons to Buy 2013 Astros Season Tickets (No, Really)
You’ve probably forgotten about baseball by now. The Astros season ended a long time ago, and unless you live in St. Louis or New York, the odds are that nobody really gives a damn about the Cardinals and Yankees. It might be nice if the Detroit Tigers make the World…
Tickets for Muse’s March Prog-stravaganza On Sale Now
Toyota Center already has a trio of big pop shows on the books for 2013 in Lady Gaga, P!nk and Rihanna, but starting right now (at this link) you can buy three English dudes whose production promises to be so immense it will crush those three ladies like a bug…
Sneak Peek of the Texas Contemporary Art Fair
Oh art, how lovely you are? Let us count the ways… Last night kicked off the second annual Texas Contemporary Art Fair filling the George R. Brown with so much lovely art work, it was almost overwhelming — in a good way! We will have plenty of coverage throughout the…
Clay Walker, Percy Sledge Sing to Help Fight MS
“Welcome to Texas, y’all,” mimicked the auctioneer at the Clay Walker Gala, held Thursday evening at the House of Blues. The auctioneer, a New Yorker, said he knew he landed in Houston by the sound of the stewardess’ recognizable Southern twang. A stereotypical assumption, but all in good fun. The…
Your New Obsession: Vadouvan
I wasn’t joking when I mentioned that I had become somewhat obsessed with vadouvan. It’s an easy trap to fall into, so beguiling is the heady array of flavors and aromas running through the stuff. It’s one of those flavors that are immediately arresting and gratifyingly delicious, but also has…
3 Films That Clearly Take Place Only in Characters’ Minds
It’s an overused trope, I’ll give you that. The idea that an entire movie is merely a delusion or dream of a certain character’s mind is at least as old as The Wizard of Oz, and can be as explicitly stated as Fight Club or as subtly hinted as Taxi…
Week in Photos: Courthouse
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…
10 Great Autumn Bikinis Not on St. Baart’s
Our list of 25 Best Reasons to Love Texas in the Autumn was, we were told, a little skimpy on the babes. Not that there’s anything inherently sexy about fall (although some dudes go nuts over the boots-with-dresses look), it’s just that some folks think any listicle must include skimpily…
Porn Star Stormy Daniels Talks Feature Dancing and Getting Odd Requests from Fans
You probably know porn star Stormy Daniels from her quick scene in Steve Carell’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin as Andy’s fantasy fodder. She also has a handful of mainstream credits, mostly playing herself or some fictionalized version of herself. She was also featured on HBO’s behind-the-scenes series Pornucopia a few years…
Catching Up With Kickback Sunday’s Raw Talent Crew
Last week, we pushed a story about SF2’s weekly Kickback Sundays event and its Raw Talent showcase. As long as the series was, certain things got left out on the cutting-room floor. Here are a few odds and ends since the conclusion of Kickback’s season 2. Rewind: The Bizarre Ride…
My First Taste of Guru Burgers
My first taste of Guru Burgers wasn’t perfect. For me, the Ukulele Burger, which I thought would taste like a Hawaiian burger, was a bit underseasoned. I would have liked it with some teriyaki sauce, and will know to ask for it next time. But one element made up for…
Aggies, Texans, LSU: Football! This Weekend’s Best Bets, Helping Impoverished Greek Soccer Teams
Ironically, I lead into this weekend’s football bets with a story of a poor Greek soccer team trying to stay afloat financially. Courtesy of the Soccernet area on ESPN.com: Players on a cash-strapped Greek soccer team now wear pink practice jerseys with the logos “Villa Erotica” and “Soula’s House of…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 5 Hip-Hop Venues
5. Grooves of Houston Grooves is an apropos name for this Third Ward hot spot: It’s groovy. Besides hip-hop and R&B, the club also also plays jazz, which probably accounts for the mixed bag of ages found here. One word of caution, though: Get there early, and dress to impress…
100 Creatives 2012: Mark Ivy, Actor, Emotion Coordinator
Mark Ivy has always known that performing was his calling. As an energetic and boisterous boy, he walked around the house singing all the time, leading his mom to sign him up for the Fort Bend Boy’s Choir. He started acting classes in middle school, and really began participating in…
Health Department Roundup: Downtown, Midtown, Trader Joe’s vs. Whole Foods
Like so many homeless people and recently released inmates, we’re going to stick mostly around downtown and Midtown this week. And we’ll start with a citation — Deli Deluxe (1600 Smith/tunnel) got a ticket after an inspector found half a dozen violations. Two were new: employee eating in an unapproved…
Texans-Ravens: NEW BATTLE-DRINK Bingo Drinking Card (a.k.a. “Jacoby’s Revenge”)
I think you probably realize that when I put this Battle-Drink card together each week, many of the entries are done with tongue firmly planted in cheek. I don’t expect B.J. Raji to eat Toro, or for Toro to crash his four-wheeler, or for Jon Weeks to get a tackle…
Openings & Closings: Coastal Crossing Crosses Over
Two of our favorite late-night destinations have been split apart from one another, thanks to the sale of the strip center at Westheimer and Locke Lee Lane: Genji and Friends Pizzeria. Genji moved a few weeks back to a new location at 11124 Westheimer (near Wilcrest) and is still the…
Last-Minute Halloween Costumes: 7 Quick, Horrifying Ones Sure to Satisfy
We are now about a week out from the Halloween weekend, which means two straight nights of party, puking and smudged makeup for some, and stress and heartbreak for others who procrastinated and can’t figure out what to be for the increasingly ridiculous holiday. BOO!: Top Ten Totally Lame Last-Minute…
8 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: October 19-20
Matt & Kim House of Blues, October 19 Infectious pop, bright-eyed wonder and criminally catchy hooks have made Matt & Kim one of the best live acts to emerge out of the Aughties. The duo — keyboardist Matt Johnson and drummer Kim Schifino — feed off the energy of the…
Aggie-LSU Game, Freeway Closures Will Mean Traffic Heck On West Side This Weekend
It won’t be pleasant driving on the west side this weekend — but you’ve been warned. First, A&M is continuing its surprisingly positive introduction to the SEC by taking on LSU at Kyle Field. Houston is loaded with Tiger fans, as anyone who’s gone by a shrimp-and-oyster joint on a…
Free for All: The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tweens Read Book Fest and “In Residence”
Matt Damon plays Tom Ripley, a bisexual psychopath in The Talented Mr. Ripley, which screens on Friday at the Market Square Park as part of the Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Road Show series. Jude Law is his target, Dickie, with Gwyneth Paltrow as Marge, Dickie’s girlfriend. Writer/director Anthony Minghella (The English…
Pflugerville Will Speak Out on Same-Sex Benefits Tonight (Maybe)
In the midst of Middle East unrest, a presidential election, a possible slip-and-fall in the Texans’ stroll to Super Bowl glory, the world has been asking one question: What does Pflugerville think of same-sex benefits? Tonight the world will find out. The smallish Hill Country school district — where much…
Farmers’ Market Spotlight of the Week: Daikon Radishes, Locally Grown by Congolese Refugees
Cooler temperatures mean that the City Hall Farmers Market is open once again and that more Houstonians will be heading out to enjoy the many other excellent farmers’ markets across the city. Each week, we’ll be spotlighting a produce pick from the Urban Harvest network of farmers’ markets by showing…
13-Year-Old Girl Stops Home Invasion with Butcher Knife; Cops Seek That Thwarted Robber
Houston police are looking for the man who made a determined effort to home-invade a northside house this month, only to flee when the 13-year-old-girl inside tried to stab him with a butcher knife. The robbery attempt happened about 8:35 a.m. Saturday morning, October 6, in the 3500 block of…
Notes on Nashville: The Finer Points of Sex and “Songwriting”
There’s a saying in the music business that you have your whole life to make your first album, and a few months to make your next one. The second episode of a new TV show isn’t quite the same thing (production schedule, for one), but it is just as useful…
Game-Day Food: Pepperoni Pizza Monkey Bread
Monkey bread is definitely not just for a sweet breakfast on Christmas morning. You can make it a savory treat as well. When I came across this blogger’s recipe multiple times online, I just knew that it would be the perfect snack for watching a football game. Who doesn’t want…
Angela Buchanan: Posing As Gynecologist, She Tricks Woman into Months of Sex and a Civil Union
We’ve heard some strange cases of online impersonation, but this one, as the Brits say, takes the biscuit. Last night Jessica Cooley of the Lufkin Daily News broke the story of Angela Buchanan, a 30-year-old woman evidently smitten with a 51-year-old lady. Buchanan and the woman had been messaging each…
Kung Fu Goes Steampunk in Tai Chi Zero
It’s one of the strangest films I’ve ever seen, but Tai Chi Zero is also without a doubt one of the absolute best. Director Stephen Fung and action master Sammo Hung give us the story of Lu Chan Yang (Yuan Xiaochao), a kung fu prodigy from birth who is slowly…
Hear We Go Again: Facebook Changes Algorithms, Bands Go Crackernuts
Almost four months ago, my musician-filled newsfeed on Facebook was inundated with the picture you see on the right as outraged artists called Mark Zuckerberg every foul name under the sun for “hiding” their posts from fans. It was malarkey, as Uncle Joe says, but since Ogilvy reported that Facebook…
Halloween Cocktails: The Brain Hemorrhage
Halloween is still more than a week away, but because it’s my favorite holiday, I’ve been celebrating for, like, the past month. Although I usually just indulge my All Hallows’ Eve fixation by consuming enormous amounts of candy and seasonal baked goods, this year I’m branching out into cocktails. I…
Actress/Artistic Director Kim Tobin on Emotional Honesty in Stark Naked Theatre Company
No each show isn’t done in the nude. Kim Tobin and her husband and co-founder and co-artistic director Philip Lehl wanted to emphasize their belief that the best acting is open and honest. That’s why they named their company Stark Naked Theatre Company – it’s supposed to show emotional forthrightness,…
Comment of the Day: Hey Mitt, About That Binder
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 or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
Rob Zombie, Lord of Salem, Now a Twin of Evil on Tour
Rob Zombie’s career has played out like a good horror movie: A surprise at every turn. His ’90s band White Zombie put a firm tongue in cheek (and a whole lotta metal) into Alice Cooper-style theatrics, and after 1996’s Supersexy Swingin’ Sounds, exited stage left as one of the most…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Sandwiches
For the next 20 weeks, we’ll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2012 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. For…
Last Night: Skeletonwitch, Havok & Legion at Walters
Skeletonwitch, Havok, Mutilation Rites, Legion Walters Houston October 17, 2012 Wednesday night’s Skeletonwitch show at Walters was one I’d been looking forward to since it was announced. The speedy Ohio metallers nearly eviscerated a Warehouse Live crowd back in April opening for Nile and Black Dahlia Murder, but that was…
American Horror Story: Asylum: Soooooo…. Aliens. OK, Cool.
Even though American Horror Story Season 1 ended on an extremely “meh” note last year, I was very eager to have a chance to watch Asylum from the beginning this season. The first season may have failed at times in terms of its execution, but the idea of a regular…
Rodney Pearson: Jasper’s First Black Police Chief (Now Former Chief) Sues City
The first black police chief in Jasper, Texas — the East Texas hamlet best known for the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. — didn’t last long. In fact, according to the federal lawsuit he just filed against city officials, and the city itself, he was forced out of his…
Pop Rocks: For Your Halloween Viewing Pleasure, The Four Best (And Worst) Horror Remakes
Autumn is (almost) in the air here in Houston. That means the tantalizing promise of sub-90 temperatures, pumpkin spice everything, and Halloween. You may regard Halloween as a kids’ holiday, and you’d be terribly, terribly wrong. Sure, going door to door and asking demanding handouts like the little ones might…
The Six Dumbest NASA Covers Time Magazine Ever Put Out
Yesterday we wrote about how Houston and Russia are getting together to honor Yuri Gagarin and John Glenn (we listed five awesome Gagarin paintings Houston should have received in place of the artwork it did end up with), and that stirred up a bit of NASA nostalgia. Face it, the…
The Rocks Off 100: Spike the Percussionist
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. Who? The man they call Spike is the rhythmic heart of Houston goth, with…
The Eating Our Words 100: Denman Moody, Author of The Advanced Oenophile
Eating Our Words has embarked on a project to profile 100 Houston culinarians of all fields, practices, careers and backgrounds. This isn’t a Best of Houston list, it’s not a 100 Favorites list and it’s not in any particular order. Instead, the Eating Our Words 100 is a way to…
Mitt’s Binder Speaks!!
The takeaway moment from Tuesday’s second presidential debate came from Mitt Romney, who bragged about having “a binder full of women.” He meant, we think, a list of potential hires to help him balance out gender inequality in the office of the Massachusetts governor, but really, when you’re introduced to…
10 Oyster Dishes to Try in Houston: No. 7, Fried Oysters & Deviled Eggs at BRC Gastropub
You know what I love about SeptembeR, OctobeR, NovembeR and DecembeR? It’s oyster season! During these months, oysters are at their peak. For the next few weeks, I’ll be sampling the most memorable and tasty oyster dishes in Houston. No. 8, Fried Oysters & Deviled Eggs at BRC Gastropub BRC…
Venomous Maximus Readies Beg Upon the Light For Wide Release
This Saturday night at Fitzgerald’s, Houston’s Venomous Maximus releases what is the best metal album to come out of Texas in a long, long time. Maybe too long. Beg Upon the Light has already begun to wash upon the metal music press in the past few weeks. This is the…
4 Most Ridiculous Groups Waging a War on Halloween
We’ve all been told there is a war on Christmas, and if there is it would be perfectly understandable. After all, the last thing we saw increasingly annexing this much territory every year was Nazi Germany. I’m not trying to compare a holiday to the Holocaust or anything, just that…
AFC Playoff Projections, Week 7: First One onto the Colts Bandwagon!
When Peyton Manning and the Broncos stormed back with 35 unanswered points in the second half of their 35-24 Monday night win against the Chargers this week, they accomplished a few things: 1. They tied an NFL record for the largest comeback win by a road team in NFL history…
Houston’s 5 Best Live-Music Venue Web Sites
If you are reading this on the Houston Press Web site, you automatically understand the value of the Internet to deliver information. It’s important if you have a business to do your best to get information about your business to people online and communicate yourself clearly. I have worked in…
Texans Tailgate Thursdays: The Blue Crew on Charity Work, Pinatas and BullPen Crack Weenies
It’s well known that the Houston Texans have one of the greatest tailgating traditions in the country, a fact made more impressive by the team’s relative youth. On Thursdays during football season, we’re spotlighting groups that make Texans tailgating the pride of Houston. The Blue Crew Tailgate is one of…
Is Tom Hanks the Most Overrated Actor in Hollywood?
Last week it was announced the Tom Hanks was headed to Broadway. The revered actor will be making his debut on the Great White Way in the late Nora Ephron play Lucky Guy. Ephron loved Hanks; she put him in two of her films Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got…
Bayou City Boo!
Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year, which means most of your partying will have to happen in advance. Don’t worry, though, there’s still plenty of spooky fun to be had, and with this summer’s superhero movies and celeb gossip fresh in mind, you should have no trouble finding something…
Why Won’t My Mexican Mom Accept My Gabacha Girlfriend?
Dear Mexican, As a college educated Mexican-American, I had my fair share of Chicanas in college…all of whom my jefita considered putas with books. But now that I’ve graduated, I’m going out with a gabacha for the first time. She’s nice, bilingual, tall, skinny, educated and a liberal with liberal…
Keren Cytter’s “Video Art Manual”
I was introduced to Keren Cytter before the opening of her solo show, “Video Art Manual.” She was standing on the loading front of DiverseWorks and asking who had given that “I have a dream” speech. I told her “Martin Luther King.” “Really?” she replied, “I thought it was this…
Rodriguez
Had he not fallen victim to slow sales in the early ’70s, Detroit-born rocker Rodriguez could have been one of the biggest acts of the decade. After releasing two sturdy, Dylanesque albums, 1970’s Cold Fact and Coming From Reality the next year, Rodriguez left rock and roll behind. Little did…
The Rise of Found-Footage Horror
This week’s Paranormal Activity 4 continues the story of an extended American family whose members own a lot of surveillance cameras, camcorders, smart phones, baby monitors, Web cams, Talkboys and other consumer electronic devices with which they record the haunting of their nice suburban tract homes by a terrifying demonic…
Carax Express
“This film was born out of the rage of not being able to make other projects,” Leos Carax says of Holy Motors, an anomaly in the French director’s oeuvre as its production was relatively stress-free. Speaking at a hotel bar in New York, Carax says, “It was imagined very quickly,…
ZZ Top
ZZ Top, that Little Ol’ Band From Right Here, has just released La Futura, their first album of new material since 2003’s Mescalero, after this past summer’s Texicali EP whetted our appetite for the band’s mean and lean blues-rock growl once again. This is only ZZ’s second true headlining gig…
Norah Jones
Still not yet 35, Norah Jones has had a most interesting career. Daughter of sitar master Ravi Shankar, Jones was a star herself in the jazz program at Dallas’s Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (where Erykah Badu also went). After a spell at the…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Ariane Roesch: Simple Machines and Simple Dreams,” “CraftTexas 2012,” “Dieter Balzer: Objects,” “Endless Disharmony and Telltale Ashes,” “Flyaway: New Work by Aaron Parazette,” “Texas Eclectic”
“Ariane Roesch: Simple Machines and Simple Dreams” For the past several years, Houston artist Ariane Roesch’s work has been cleverly at the intersection of people and technology, and the multimedia artist continues to explore that dynamic in this well-crafted solo show at Redbud Gallery. Roesch presents three distinct series that…
Matt & Kim
Infectious pop, bright-eyed wonder and criminally catchy hooks have made Matt & Kim one of the best live acts to emerge out of the Aughties. The duo — keyboardist Matt Johnson and drummer Kim Schifino — feed off the energy of the crowd, and usually end up in some sort…
HPD vs. Food Trucks
Highlights from Hair Balls Crime HPD vs. Food Trucks The hassling goes on. Terrence McCoy Houston police spokesperson John Cannon has trouble not laughing when he hears about the food truck Oh My Gogi. It’s not their complaints, or their food, or the owners. It’s the name. Oh. My. Gogi…
Skatestock
Musicians, artists and hundreds of local skateboarders come together Saturday for the second annual Skatestock to honor the late Morgan Moss, a Houston artist, photographer and active member of the local skateboard community. Besides an impressive lineup of local punk, rock, metal and DJs — Something Fierce, Hell City Kings,…
Capsule Stage Reviews: 2 Pianos, 4 Hands, Death of a Salesman, Jekyll & Hyde, Life Is a Dream, Missionary Position
2 Pianos, 4 Hands Richard Greenblatt and Ted Dykstra, both talented Canadian pianists and actors trained for careers as classical musicians, have created a play with music that defies description. It uses humor, musical ability and insightful memories of childhood piano lessons to delineate a world of ambition, frustrations, hard…
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Now all hovering around their early fifties — save new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer — the Red Hot Chili Peppers are modern-rock graybeards, the last vestiges of a bustling and profitable music scene in the late ’80s and ’90s. At this point the band can boast almost three generations of fans,…
The Rest of the Best
Top 10 It wasn’t too terribly long ago that most Houstonians found sushi to be a terribly exotic and occasionally daunting meal. My first sushi dinner was had at Cafe Japon on Kirby early in high school, with my worldly mother as my guide. It was terrifying and exhilarating, this…
Borgore
We wish you could see the poster for Borgore’s “Bakery Tour” that stops at Stereo Live Saturday…it’s delicious. (Check the club’s Web site.) The young Tel Aviv-based death-metal drummer turned DJ and producer, who brings an old-school rap swagger to dubstep’s coarse glitches and swirls, is either a complete lout/typical…
The Tea Party Democrat
Lloyd Oliver wants toilet paper. Of the many troubling issues assailing his considerable girth and loosening composure at this precise moment, it is toilet paper, he concludes, that may grant him some modicum of sanity. It’s all gotten to be too much. For starters, Lloyd can’t breathe beyond a wheeze…
Study: Free Press Summer Fest Brought Houston $14 Million
Only in Houston According to the results of a University of Houston economic study released October 5, Free Press Summer Fest brought in more than $14 million to the local economy this year. The study was conducted by Steven G. Craig and Evert Crawford, a professor in the UH Department…
Fit for a King
Check out pictures of the colorful interior of King’s Biergarten in our slideshow. From a distance, the polka music galumphing out into the night air from the open-air patio at King’s Biergarten could easily be confused with banda, conjunto or norteño music — all styles of Mexican music deeply influenced…
Birds of Chicago
Americana is getting crowded with young male-female duos such as Shovels & Rope and the Civil Wars, but there’s always room for one more, right? Yes, especially since JT Nero and Allison Russell were already longtime collaborators before they made it official as Birds of Chicago. Their brand-new eponymous debut…
