Boy Scouts Selling Camp Strake, and It’s Likely to Become Master Planned Community
I was never a Boy Scout. I didn’t have anything against it, personally, but it was just never my thing. But friends I knew who were all went to Camp Strake at some point in their childhoods. The sprawling 2,100-acre property along I-45 in Conroe is apparently quite beautiful and…
Metal Thieves Busted, Literally and Otherwise
A trio of thieves were caught in the act of attempting to steal copper wire from a building on FM 1960 late Monday night. The break-in was reported by a CenterPoint employee who was working in the area. One suspect was arrested immediately, while the other two were caught trying…
Upcoming: Miranda Lambert, Hall & Oates, Public Enemy, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.
.38 Special: With Kansas, Blue Oyster Cult., Fri., May 31, 8 p.m., TBA. Arena Theatre, 7326 SW Freeway, Houston. Attack Attack!: With The Plot In You, Get Scared, Dangerkids, Closer to Closure., Thu., May 16, 6 p.m., $13.50/$17.00. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Bret Michaels: Sat., June 22, 8 p.m.,…
Today’s DVDs & Blu-rays: A Les Misérables DVD Give-away and Reviews of The Other Son, The Big Picture and Lost Angels
UPDATE: Congratulations to John K, the winner of our Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy combo of Les Misérables. Enjoy! Admittedly Les Misérables was a vehicle for Hugh Jackman (who played Jean Valjean) and Anne Hathaway (Fantine), but there were several other performances that deserved recognition as well, including Samantha Barks…
Great Deals on Meals at Nazif’s, Cold Cove Bar, Tango & Malbec and More
Enjoy half-off ($13 for $26) with today’s Houston Press Voice Daily Deal on the tempting, traditional Turkish fare at Nazif’s Turkish Deli & Grill. Chef Nazif Farsak and his authentic Turkish fare are no longer the best-kept secret in Houston — our own Katharine Shilcutt recently raved about the restaurant’s…
Five Ways the Inaugural Mass Is Different from the Presidential Inauguration
Pope Francis had his inaugural mass in the Vatican Square and, much like a presidential inauguration, a bunch of people came from all corners to bear witness. In some ways, the two inaugurations are not that dissimilar. There is singing. There are speeches. There are glimpses of the new pope…
Last Night: Alicia Keys at Toyota Center
Alicia Keys Toyota Center March 18, 2013 In concert, Alicia Keys projects such focus and command over her domain, the stage, it can be intimidating to witness up close. One would hate to be a backup dancer and step out of line. But she can also perform with an exquisite…
Is Ed Reed the New Carlos Beltran? Not Really
Since the Texans have signed no free agents that weren’t with the team last year and have seen Glover Quinn, James Casey and Connor Barwin all leave for other destinations, the recent flirtations with Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed have been all Texans fans have to talk about. Never mind…
Country Divas Ashley Monroe and Kacey Musgraves Have a Need for Weed
This week — today, in fact — the Golden, Texas native Kacey Musgraves finally releases her eagerly-awaited debut album, Same Trailer, Different Park. Indeed, it’s fitting that she’s from a town named Golden, as the new album is but the most recent example of some serious Solid Country Gold that’s…
Chaos on the Rocks Cocktail Little More Than Souped-Up Kool-Aid
Look, I think I’ve made it clear that I’m not a huge fan of Bethenny Frankel despite the fact that she invented an admittedly very palatable low-calorie premixed cocktail. So when I spotted a competing “light” cocktail, Chaos on the Rocks, that was a full $2 cheaper, I bought a…
Dance Theatre of Harlem: 40 Years of Firsts Comes to TSU
How do you immortalize dance? The movements are fluid and transitory, like condensation rolling down the side of a glass of iced tea in the hot sun. Will a camera do? The multimedia exhibit, “Dance Theatre of Harlem: 40 Years of Firsts,” on view since February 8 at The University…
Diana Quinn: You’re Once, Twice, Three Times Convicted (of DWI)
This past weekend was St. Patrick’s Day, one of the drink-iest “holidays” of the year. And while we did not drink green beer, we did celebrate with green-ish margaritas because there is no better place to be on St. Patrick’s Day than a Tex-Mex joint, just as there is no…
The Best Hip-Hop at SXSW 2013
I remember going to SXSW a few years ago without a place to sleep, less than $100 to spend, no agenda, badge, wristband, or RSVP. I bar-hopped up and down Red River, made friends, snuck into Stubb’s, ate cheese pizza and drank Lone Star. After years of busting my ass…
This Art Show Is A Hot Mess (In A Good Way)
At Lawndale Art Center’s “Big Show” last summer, Katie Wynne’s piece stood out from the nearly 70 others in the exhibition. The installation consisted of just a motorized tie rack and blue satin, but the rack was turned on so that it was constantly turning and catching the cloth in…
First Look at the Second Location of Hollister Grill, a New Direction for a Spring Branch Standard
As the club scene along Washington Avenue fades into obscurity, I’ve been glad to see that the restaurant scene has done the exact opposite. Stalwarts such as Laredo Taqueria and Los Dos Amigos have remained in business while pioneers like Max’s Wine Dive and Molina’s — two of the first…
Clanton Lands on His Cleats at 790 After Being Fired from 1560
All in all, it didn’t end up so bad after all. Nearly two weeks ago, Adam Clanton was fired from his position at 1560 AM as the station shuffled its lineup yet again. Clanton had only been on the air with broadcast partner John Wessling for a few months when…
Don’t Bring Your iPad or Tablet to a Woodlands Pavilion Show
Here comes some venue news that most everybody will be able to get behind this coming summer concert season. While updating the Houston Press’s online concert calendar with new listings for the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, I discovered that the venue now bans the use of iPads and other tablet…
Guy Roberts, Last Year’s Bad King Richard III is This Year’s Good King Henry V at Main Street Theater
Update: The run of Henry V has been extended to April 28. Actor/ Director Guy Roberts was going to be a painter until he saw Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet when he was 15. “I literally had something like a religious conversion on the spot,” he says. “Because there was this…
East Texas and Butcher Knives: Two Great Tastes That Go Great Together
East Texas is known for many things: the piney woods, beautiful lakes, white supremacists, meth dealers and girls named Crystal immediately come to mind. But apparently you may soon be able to add butcher knife to that list. Two separate reports detail the use of butcher knives in recent crimes…
Pop Rocks: Celebrate Bruce Willis’ 58th Birthday With Your Favorite Bruno Flick
Walter Bruce Willis was born on this date in 1955 in West Germany. A mere 30 years later, he was introduced to America as “that balding wiseass on Moonlighting,” and the rest is mostly exploding history. Since his David Addison days, Willis has become one of the biggest movie stars…
The Rocks Off 100: Angela Jae, Renaissance Artist
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. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? Angela Jae is someone…
The Eating…Our Words 100: Yilmaz “Jim” and Deanna Dokuyucu, Husband-and-Wife Owners of Turquoise Grill
Who they are: Turquoise Grill has received many awards for its Turkish cuisine over the years. It was chosen as the Best Mediterranean in Houston by the Houston A List and was recently named as one of the top 10 restaurants in the Upper Kirby area here at Eating…Our Words…
Five Reasons No One Should Use BangWithFriends.com (sNSFW)
Seriously, I don’t even know where to start. Let’s just start by saying there is a Web site called BangWithFriends.com (I’m not going to link to it because I’m not) and the purpose of this site is to allow you to tell it what Facebook friends you would like to…
Bow Down to Beyonce’s Potty Mouth, Bitches
Ooh, Beyoncé! I see your potty mouth, and I kinda like it. Sunday evening, Queen B released a new song on Tumblr, “Bow Down/I Been Down,” and there’s a mass hysteria a-flowin’ from the general public over it, as one would expect. It’s freakin’ Beyoncé. I mean, who doesn’t love…
Here, Eat This: A Beginner’s Guide to Indian Cuisine
Say you’ve decided to be spontaneous and embark on a new culinary adventure, sampling a brand-new cuisine for the very first time. Good for you! You deserve a virtual high five. But what do you order? This is a common concern among people who’ve either decided to try something new…
Armed Suspect Fatally Shot During Traffic Stop After Wounding HPD Officer
Just after midnight on Monday morning, Officer W. Fikes and Officer J. Dodson made an attempt to stop a vehicle driving erratically on the north side of Houston. The suspect, Jared Albert Alvarez, 32, refused to stop and drove down Saddle Rock into a cul-de-sac. In an attempt to evade…
Top 13 Hardcore Ravers at Ultra 2013 In Animated GIF!
Ed. Note: This hot mess originally appeared on our Miami sister paper New Times’s music blog Crossfade. Photo by Jacob KatelWelcome to Ravetopia.Society got the best of ya? Go to Miami’s Ultra Music Festival and leave the normal world behind. Here, you can feel free to get half-naked, customize your…
Houston — and Texas — Well-Represented Going into 2013 James Beard Award Finals
The finalists for this year’s James Beard Foundation Awards were announced in several categories today that spanned the breadth of the food world from culinary writing to cooking. And just as Houston was well-represented in the semifinalist round, we also secured some big-name finalists in advance of the awards in…
The 5 Movies All Politicians Should be Forced to Watch
Hidden amid all the sex toys, video games, and Doctor Who references that make up roughly 113 percent of my output here in Art Attack, you might have noticed some recurring notes of despair. That’s to be expected from a pissy little goth, of course, but lately it’s less theatrical…
UPDATED: Weather Week: Lurching Into Spring
Update: Well, sir, turns out those clouds I predicted burned off and we did indeed get up into the upper 80s today (87 so far). Hooray? Original post: We haven’t had any seriously warm weather since last fall. It looked like that could change today with temperatures originally predicted to…
Tasting Saint Arnold’s Divine Reserve 13, a Belgian Quad, on Release Day
It’s Divine Reserve release day once again and from the looks of traffic on Twitter, the madness is only growing. Lines were forming early at H-E-B locations as trucks began arriving around 8 a.m. New to Saint Arnold’s Divine Reserve bottling this year are large-format bombers — which will arrive…
Holi Bollywood, Batman — It’s Texas’s Biggest Festival of Colors!
It’s only Monday, but Hair Balls is already stoked for the Holi Festival of Colors celebration March 24 in Rosenberg. If, like us, you weren’t intimately familiar with this awesome Indian tradition, here’s a highlight: It involves thousands of people eating, dancing and — the best part — throwing colored…
The Complete SXSW Overflow Festival 2013 Guide: Week 2, Part 1
Ready for another week of the SXSW Overflow Festival 2013 at Super Happy Fun Land? Check out the first half of the second week’s musical acts! MONDAY, MARCH 18 Embers in Ashes: Their single, “Then You Came,” connects a metallic, thrashing chorus to a surprising series of mildly sung verses…
The Good News-Bad News for the Rockets as They Drive for the Playoffs
Last night was a frustrating night for the young Rockets squad. They had their worst offensive output of the season, scoring just 78 points (ten in the first quarter) and getting it handed to them in the most lopsided loss of the season against the team directly ahead of them…
Welcome to The Good Life
I’m not sure if co-owners Jeff and Darren Van Delden were inspired by Kanye West’s song “Good Life” when they named their new Midtown bar, but I can’t say the name of their spot without singing the hook and wanting to make it rain. If you have been to the…
Last Night: George Strait at Reliant Stadium
George Strait Reliant Stadium March 17, 2013 Sunday night, George Strait wrangled 80,020 fans into Reliant Stadium for what is sure to be just one of his first “farewell” shows here in Houston. This glut of country fans — only a few thousand short of the total population of Santa…
Judge Finds State at Fault for Whooping Cranes’ Deaths, But Abbott Seeks Stay
In the mid-1940s, only 16 Whooping Cranes remained in the wild. Hunted for their cream-colored plumage, shot and killed for pure sport, the largest bird in North America stood all but extinct. Presaged by Passenger Pigeons and the Carolina Parakeet, it seemed that American frontiersmen would once more eliminate one…
Last Night: The Zombies at Fitzgerald’s
The Zombies, Elephant Stone Fitzgerald’s March 17, 2013 There’s something about The Zombies that has always set them off from the other bands of the British Invasion. Maybe it’s the orchestral, minor chords, or the ethereal breathiness of singer Colin Blunstone’s delivery, or the impeccable timing of all those psychedelic…
SPA Showcases Brazil with Grupo Corpo
The Setup: The Houston International Festival Spotlighting Brazil may still be a month away, but Brazilian dance and rhythm was on full display at the Wortham Center’s Cullen Theater on March 14 and 15. The Society of the Performing Arts presented Grupo Corpo, the second Brazilian contemporary dance company the…
An Emotionally Exhausting “Executive Lunch” at The Grove
Whether you are a typical office worker with a strict 60-minute lunch break or a lady who lunches, executive lunches are an excellent mid-day meal option. Simply put, they’re quick and easy and usually designed to give you a decent amount of bang for your buck. In this series, we…
Friday Night: Local Natives at Fitzgerald’s
Local Natives, Superhumanoids Fitzgerald’s March 15, 2013 So…I was one of the three Rocks Off writers sent to cover Local Natives when the band first played Houston in April 2010. On one hand, my perceptions of the band haven’t changed much since then; I supremely dig how tight harmonies, rock…
NFL Free Agency 2013: “Dead Money” Overview
As a concept, the NFL salary cap is a fairly easy one to understand. Unlike the NBA, with its myriad of loopholes, exceptions, and fine print that allow teams like the Lakers and, well, almost everyone else to zoom past the artificial “cap”, the NFL is a simple hard cap…
10 Best Websites to Maintain Your Sanity
The online world is a magic land were everyone whips out their genitals, writes every single half-assed opinion they have on them, then lovingly rubs them on the screen so you can get an eyefuckful. Politics, religion, conspiracy theories, people refusing to shut up about weed saving the world… it’s…
The 10 Worst Things at SXSW This Year
This year Rocks Off and DC-9 at Night, the music blog at our sister paper Dallas Observer, teamed up to bring you only the most unfortunate moments from last week’s SXSW madness. Security and Cops Gettin’ Wild: Look, I get it. Every drunken dickhead in town “knows someone” or thinks…
Purple Hull Peas in Season: Get Yours at Canino’s and Make an East Texas Feast
One of my favorite springtime rituals is finding purple hull peas at Canino’s — the massive farmers’ market complex on Airline at Loop 610 — and picking up the ingredients for a good, old-fashioned East Texas supper. Canino’s has those peas in right now for a very reasonable price: $5.99…
Saturday Night: Luke Bryan at Reliant Stadium
Luke Bryan Reliant Stadium March 16, 2013 Sorry, Kenny Chesney, but we’re through. I’ve found myself another cowboy, and this one’s a little dirtier and a little more ass-shaky. In other words, he’s a man after my own heart. Luke Bryan closed out the rodeo portion of RodeoHouston Saturday night,…
National Tour on Minimum Wage Tosses Houstonians Between Rocks and Hard Places
Qvtaive Harris is 20 years old. He’s slender, with knobby elbows and a small afro, wearing sharp white pants and a teal shirt from the Texas Organizing Project. He’s sitting, surrounded by a half-dozen mothers, another half-dozen reporters, and a small woman from the Department of Labor. The women had…
The Best Shows at SXSW This Year
This year Rocks Off and DC-9 at Night, the music blog at our sister paper Dallas Observer, teamed up to bring you only the choicest moments from last week’s SXSW madness. John Fogerty: Creedence Clearwater Revival survivor John Fogerty gets overlooked as a riff-happy rocker, with most people concentrating on…
Julie & Julia Redux: Top 5 Cookbooks I’d Work My Way Through Besides MtAoFC
I admit, I’ve got a bit of a copycat streak in me. When I first read Julie and Julia, I was so intrigued with the project I wanted to try it myself. (Me and one million other foodies. Here’s hoping Powell believes imitation is the sincerest form of flattery). But…
We Dare You Not To Like This Art
Fresh Arts’ latest exhibition wants to let you know right off the bat that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Titled Cats, Bunnies, and The Surface Value of It All, the two-person show is just as it sounds — a lighthearted look at art that prominently features cats and bunnies…
Cougars and Owls Finish Very Disappointing Basketball Seasons
March Madness begins on Tuesday and gets into full swing on Thursday. And for the first time in probably forever (technically since 1977), not one single Texas college was invited to play in the NCAA Tournament. No UT. No A&M. No Baylor. No Rice, UH, Sam Houston State or SFA…
The Terrifying Scent of Curry: Confessions of a Formerly Picky Eater
I am seven years old, clutching my shoes to my chest and crying hot tears as I try to escape the scent of curry emanating from every carpet fiber and fleck of paint in my friend Bharat’s house. In the doorway, my harried mother is apologizing profusely to Bharat’s concerned…
How To Make Clerks 3 Not Suck
Last week, writer/director Kevin Smith posted on Facebook that he had begun writing what he claims will be his magnum opus, Clerks 3. The director came to fame with the original Clerks, which will soon have its 20th anniversary (don’t you feel old?). In what will perhaps be a statement…
Saturday Night: Eric Clapton at Toyota Center
Eric Clapton, the Wallflowers Toyota Center March 16, 2013 As the house lights went up on the near-capacity crowd at the Toyota Center, there was an audible collective gasp. Thousands of concertgoers looked at each other with wide, stunned eyes. Could this be possible? Was it a cruel joke? Would…
Latino Educational Group Charges Dan Patrick With Limiting Ethnic, Gender Studies at Texas Universities
When representatives from Librotraficante, a Houston-based organization best-known for its work smuggling Latino texts into Arizona last year, visited Austin on Thursday, they met with one of Sen. Dan Patrick’s aides. According to Tony Diaz, Librotraficante’s lead organizer, Patrick’s aide informed the contingent that while she studied at one of…
What’s Cooking This Week? Baked Crab Cakes & 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 ingredient’s I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter…
Company: A Funny X-ray of Modern Marriage at Texas Rep
The set-up: Bracing and potent as a vodka stinger, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s multiple Tony Award-winning mordant “musical comedy” Company with its observations on marriage, commitment, and New York City is the ultimate That ’70s Show. The musical (1970), dry and abrasive as sandpaper, ushered in the decade and…
Friday Night: Blake Shelton at Reliant Stadium
Blake Shelton Reliant Stadium March 15, 2013 I want to like Blake Shelton. I really do. But damned if he doesn’t make it nearly impossible. Shelton might make a decent country singer if he didn’t look so pleased with himself, and if his music pushed the needle on the give-a-damn…
The Best Concerts In Houston This Week: Alicia Keys, Maroon 5, RiFF RaFF, etc.
Alicia Keys, Miguel Toyota Center, March 18 Alicia Keys just keeps rising. The Harlem-raised soul singer and pianist has reached the peak of her profession, exuding a retro vibe and flashing her classical training while becoming a fashion-forward style trendsetter. Along the way, Keys has gone multiplatinum without sacrificing any…
Burgers Off the Beaten Path: Poppa Burger
There is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene in Brewster McCloud — the movie set in Houston that wasn’t Reality Bites or Terms of Endearment — in which you can spot a multicolored billboard on the side of Main Street for Poppa Burger. The building on the other side of the street is…
Your Guide to Doctor Who Sex Toys (NSFW)
I am very proud of the fact that some of my most-read articles here on Art Attack have to do with my endless fascination with Doctor Who, and all the frustrated fanboyishness that I channel into prose as the series returns on March 30 and the 50th Anniversary gets that…
The Elvis Dumervil Fiasco: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Up until Friday afternoon, NFL free agency had been the usual fare of crappy teams overspending (what up, Miami and Cleveland?), great teams laying back and waiting for bargains (what up, New England and Green Bay?), and the Texans possibly getting played by Ed Reed (what up, Rick Smith?). There…
The Tangled Web We Watch: A Bizarre Episode of Father-Son Bonding in the 21st Century
Unlike many fledgling web series that use broad comedic strokes to up the laughs per second, faux-vlogging gem My Bastard Son combines the naturalistic acting of shows like The Office with absurd circumstances and very specific characters. The grainy, five-minute video shows James Urbaniak (American Splendor) trying to connect with…
Once Again, SXSW Really Stands For Sex By Southwest
“All the single dudes put up your phone. Now all the single ladies put up your phone. Turn to the nearest person with a phone up. Now type in your phone number. Now you have something to do after this.” That was Chuck D, talking from the Doritos Main Stage…
The 10 Dumbest Things Overheard at SXSW This Year
For every insightful conversation I have heard or had at SXSW over the years, whether it was talking to Matt Pinfield while walking the streets of Austin discussing David Bowie, or telling The Clash’s Mick Jones that he was, in fact, in The Clash, I have overheard a thousand awful…
I’m Rubber, You’re Glue: CSN Houston Fires Back at DirecTV
If you caught my story yesterday on DirecTV’s shot at negotiations with CSN Houston (if not, click the link), the television home to the Rockets, Astros and Dynamo, you know it is becoming more and more clear that the fight to get the local teams into more than the current…
North Forest ISD Makes One More Appeal to State to Stay Alive
The flagging and beleaguered North Forest Independent School District argued for one more reprieve before the Texas Education Agency on Friday morning, naming a nonprofit educational management organization led by KIPP founder Mike Feinberg as the new savior for the failing district. As is typically the case in rounds with…
State Rep Debbie Riddle to Breastfeeding Hordes: Hey, “I Breastfed” Too!!!
As we noted yesterday, State Rep Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) smacked open a hornet’s nest of angry breastfeeding moms when she posted on Facebook her reasons for opposing a bill increasing breastfeeders rights. Riddle said the bill would make it easier to sue business owners who interrupted women breastfeeding in their…
A Paean to the Pogues, for St. Patrick’s Day
What does it mean to be Irish? Red hair? The gift of gab? A drinking problem? The itch to fight? Of course not. All you need to be Irish is a deep and abiding affection for the Pogues. When I was probably 15, a freshman in high school, I started…
People We Wanna Party with at SXSW
We’ve all been in the position where our party friends crap out on us at SXSW. Someone gets too drunk, too sober, has a fight with his girlfriend, her boyfriend, or, worse than anything else, runs out of cash. Art Attack found some people at SXSW that you should seek…
Rocks Off’s Rodeo Concert Guide: Blake Shelton
The Rocks Off Rodeo Concert Guide is our annual helpful(?) primer for those of you unsure about your HLSR music choices for the big event at Reliant Stadium. Date: March 15 Name: Blake Shelton AKA: “Mr. Miranda Lambert”…
Come Celebrate The REAL Kind of Undocumented Aliens in Edinburg’s UFO Conference This Weekend
If you’re into aliens, and you’re not too busy being rectally probed by some little gray dude with huge eyes, you might want to check out the Out of This World! UFO Conference and Festival in Edinburg this weekend. The extraterrestrial extravaganza will feature bigwigs like Stanton Friedman, who, according…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Jeff Axline of Brooklyn Athletic Club and a Taste of Americana
This is the third part of a three-part Chef Chat series. If you missed the previous posts, you can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. This week, we chatted with Jeff Axline of the new Brooklyn Athletic Club (BAC) on Richmond. We learned about his experiences, how he’s…
Better Know Your Muslim Music Genres
In 2010, writer and producer Javed Mohammed decided to get the ball rolling on World Day of Muslim Culture, Peace, Dialogue and Film. The internationally recognized holiday annually celebrated on March 15 is meant to spotlight the peaceful contributions followers of Islam make to society, and to art especially. In…
Sky Flyer: 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…
Gabino Silva: Final Defendant Who Barricaded Bar Before Setting It on Fire Gets 15 Years (w/VIDEO)
The April 2012 arson at La Estrella won’t be forgotten by those who’ve seen the security video of the event. The video shows two men who’d been kicked out of the crowded eastside bar calmly barricading the doors to the place, trapping the patrons still inside and then setting fire…
An Open Letter to the Texas Craft Beer Industry
A lot of news has been made of the recent legislation that exited committee earlier this week regarding the Texas beer industry. I addressed the basics of these bills earlier today. While generally positive, reactions in the craft beer community have been noticeably and understandably mixed. See also: – New…
Mississippi-Bred the Weeks Hope That You Know Bo
When the Beatles were signing acts to their Apple Records label, it proved to be both advantageous and not so much for Badfinger. For while that band got great exposure, they were also tagged as the “Baby Beatles” for their somewhat similar looks and musical styles. It’s a situation that…
The Top Five Seven Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Grupo Corpo, Thread, The ABCs of Death, Buffalo Bayou Regatta and More
Friday is the second night of a two-day run by Grupo Corpo. In 1988, choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras had a career-defining moment: “I started thinking about what it would be like to make a dance that would be more inside our body.” Grupo Corpo, now making its Houston debut courtesy of…
Cowboy Diaries 2013: Sherry Cervi, Awesome Shopper
Shery Cervi, Barrel racingTrue 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 of Interest: All In
This season, Person of Interest has really been up and down as Pete Vonder Haar has been reporting. Filling in for him last night, I had hoped I’d be seeing one of the better ones, making him regret taking the night off, but no such luck. Which isn’t to say…
Upcoming Events: Get Your Meat at the Houston Barbecue Festival and Your Veg at Brennan’s
If you haven’t had a chance to check out the new Frank’s Americana Revival yet, next Friday, March 22 is your chance for a two-fer: Dan Garrison of the famed Garrison Brothers Distillery will be on hand for a special evening of Texas bourbon sampling from 6 to 8 p.m…
Last Night: Pitbull at Reliant Stadium
Pitbull Reliant Stadium March 14, 2013 Pitbull, for those of you who don’t know, used to be a rapper. In fact, he was a pretty good one. In the early 2000s, he even joined the Anger Management tour alongside Eminem and 50 Cent, performing crass hits like “Dammit Man,” “Back…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: The Call
Title: The Call Finally Ran Out of Police and Firefighter Ideas, Huh? While I would never minimize the difficult job 911 operators have, I was a bit disappointed the movie wasn’t a feature-length re-enactment of the infamous “911 Western Cheeseburger call.” Rating Using Random Objects Relevant to the Film: Two…
Community: Changnesia and the MacGuffin
It’s back! And all of you doubting Debbies out there didn’t want to think it could happen, but it did. With this week’s episode, Community has (pretty much) returned to form. The plot was right out of season three and the reactions of all the characters, including Jeff, were spot…
10 Signs Your Band Won’t Make It at SXSW
Being a successful musician really has to be a slice of heaven. And of course the chicks are great. It’s why from the beginning of time, men (and women) have taken up instruments, for the chance that they will be played in front of many, many others, some of whom…
New Texas Beer Legislation: What It Could Mean for You
In case you didn’t know, we here in Texas are so far behind the curve when it comes to alcohol laws, we might as well be your grandmother trying to work The America Online. Other states literally look to Texas as the textbook example of how not to do things…
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Houston Activists Say New Recycling System Is Not the Way to Go
A day after Mayor Annise Parker jubilantly announced the city had won $1 million by being a finalist in a municipal-improvements contest, experts held a press conference to say the city’s winning “One Bin for All” recycling project is bad for the environment. Experts like Tyson Sowell of the Texas…
County Commissioners Once Again Fail to Act on the Astrodome
Last August I wrote the following about the County Commissioners, their continued inability to figure out what to do about the Astrodome, and whether a plan for the future of the building should be put on the ballot: And then when a decision needs to be made on whether to…
Your First SXSW 2013 Fashion Report
Wednesday was the first official day of music at SXSW here in Austin, with a black cloud of denim, beards and loafers overtaking the city from the Interactive nerds. This also means that the fashion scene got a whole lot easier on the eyes, or more questionable, depending on your…
First Look at Nobi Public House: Craft Beer and Vietnamese Fusion in Clear Lake
Tookie’s and Stomp’s aren’t the only Clear Lake-area spots I visited recently. I finally made it out to Nobi Public House last weekend, after near-comically exaggerated exhortations of “How have you not been yet?!” from my beer-loving friends. How indeed? Nobi is smashing. If it were closer to my house,…
Opening for Clapton Makes the Wallflowers Glad All Over
When listeners first heard the hypnotic, disco-inflected “Reboot the Mission,” the first single off the Wallflowers’ recent Glad All Over CD, they could probably be forgiven for the momentary shock. But upon closer listen, the song’s roots were more firmly planted in Clash numbers like “The Magnificent Seven” and “This…
We’re Still Having These Fights? Local Teen Wants to Wear Dress to Prom, But School Says It Knows What’s Best
The assistant principal shouldn’t have been surprised. When Tony Zamazal, a senior at Spring High School, approached the administrator in a school hallway a few weeks ago, Zamazal had already been wearing women’s attire since October. Following the holiday break, he figured it was time to bust it out at…
100 Creatives 2013: Cheryl Schulke, Handmade Leather Pursemaker
What She Does: Along with her partner Paul Forde, Cheryl Schulke has a leatherworking shop called Stash set up in the historic Haynes Mattress Factory, which was purchased by her grandparents in the middle of the last century. Schulke first got into working with leather after receiving a cowhide in…
Houston’s Top 10 Band Names
For years now I have made a personal study of delving into the murky and sometimes macabre monikers our local bands have chosen. Now we shall have them compete for our pleasure. Here are the ten best band names in the city. 10. Holy Fiction Evan Lecker’s spiraling, philosophical explanation…
NFL Free Agency 2013: Assessing the Texans’ Damage
“Wheels up! GM Rick Smith is on his way to pick up free agent S Ed Reed in #Texans chairman & CEO Bob McNair’s private jet!” — @HoustonTexans, Thursday morning The Texans’ Twitter proclamation about Rick Smith’s early morning travel schedule on Thursday served a dual purpose, providing a symbolic…
The Best Concerts in Houston This Weekend: Blake Shelton, Tegan & Sara, etc.
Blake Shelton Reliant Stadium, March 15 After more than a decade of climbing country music’s ranks to become one of its most successful and charismatic male vocalists, Blake Shelton found himself taking a little heat not long ago when comments he made about certain “old farts” clinging to country’s past…
Openings & Closings: Coltivare Trying to Cultivate Community Support
Two new establishments looking to make a positive impact in the Heights have been stymied by the same foe in the last few months: variance request issues. Both the upcoming Coltivare from Revival Market team Morgan Weber and Ryan Pera as well as the under-construction brewery Town in City Brewing…
From Celes to Lara Croft: The Evolution of Sexual Assault in Gaming
I recently had the chance to review the new Tomb Raider game, a title I put roughly four hours of play into before penning the article because that’s what happens when you get it the day before release. The game was steeped in controversy over a brief scene where a…
Debbie Riddle’s Facebook Page Gets Tsunami’d by Pissed-Off Breastfeeding Moms
You don’t mess with moms. Especially if it’s about breastfeeding. The Texas legislature is once again taking up the ticklish subject of whether moms should be able to breastfeed in public. Representatives like Jessica Farrar (D-Houston) are backing a bill that would allow business owners to be sued if they…
According to Latino Educational Group, Dan Patrick Hopes to Limit Ethnic Studies at Texas Universities
If any state has set the lowest bar in recent years in regards to racial and ethnic relations, Arizona may stake the best case. Between the Minutemen patrolling the southern border and the manic let-God-sort-’em-out attitude of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, amongst the increased hardening of Sen. John McCain and the…
The Complete SXSW Overflow Festival 2013 Guide: Week 1, Part 2
This year Rocks Off would like to help our readers get a handle on all the acts playing Super Happy Fun Land’s SXSW Overflow Fest, an event that is longer than SXSW itself, with almost as many bands. There are nine nights left to go, and “season passes” are still…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Jeff Axline of Brooklyn Athletic Club, on “Americana”-Style Food, His Menu, and How the Houston and Austin Food Scenes Compare
This is Part 2 of a three-part Chef Chat series. You can read Part 1 here and Part 3 in this same space Friday. EOW: Tell me about Brooklyn Athletic Club. JA: This was originally Shepard’s idea. He’s had the idea for a long time, but it was hard to…
Debra Jean Eyerly: Gets 25 Years for Child Porn Starring Family Member, But at Least She Got to Marry Her Child-Porn-Producing Boyfriend
Debra Jean Eyerly is going away for 25 years on child-porn charges, but the last few months haven’t been totally bleak for the 54-year-old sicko: At least she got to marry her boyfriend, who’s as much into producing child porn as she is. Because people like her deserve happiness, you…
Rocks Off’s Rodeo Concert Guide: Pitbull
The Rocks Off Rodeo Concert Guide is our annual helpful(?) primer for those of you unsure about your HLSR music choices for the big event at Reliant Stadium. Date: March 14 Name: Pitbull AKA: “Armando Pérez”…
When Beer PR Goes Flat: A Review of Crazy Mountain’s Beer Lineup and Its Less Successful PR Strategy
Does anyone actually enjoy watching athletes get interviewed? The answers range anywhere from the all-too-common scripted response or — more typically — wander into completely nonsensical banality. If you’re truly lucky, the interviews will go beyond the latter into the sound bite-ridden ramblings of a lunatic. You can find just…
This Day In History: A Jack Ruby Playlist
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot down by Lee Harvey Oswald as he was being driven through the streets of Dallas. Two days later, Oswald himself was killed at the hands of nightclub operator Jack Ruby as he was being transferred to a county jail. There…
DirecTV Drops Gauntlet on CSN, Sports Networks and Fans
DirecTV, considered by many to be the linchpin in negotiations to get Comcast SportsNet Houston on cable system providers other than Comcast, is apparently digging in its heels when it comes to sports networks in particular. On a Web site — DirecTVPromise.com — it has an entire section dedicated to…
Sad You Aren’t at SXSW? Here’s What You Could Be Missing…
Awwwww, I know it is a shame you aren’t here with us at SXSW in Austin. I can only imagine the aching and longing in your heart for walking aimlessly and standing in long lines for no reason, and sweating through your cardigan to see a band you heard on…
Get a Swag VIP Table at Menu of Menus and Ball Hard with Your Friends…for Half the Cash
Now that all of that is out of my system, seriously: VIP tables at Menu of Menus are awesome. Today only, you can purchase a VIP table for 10 for $750. This is a discount of 50 percent — those tables are normally $1,500 each. Get 10 of your friends…
The Rest of the Best: Top 10 Parks in Houston
The drought over the last few years has devastated many parts of Houston’s parks and green spaces, but thankfully, there are still plenty of beautiful spots to enjoy. We’re listing the best of them here. (Before someone starts yelling about the fact that gems like Bell Park and Market Square…
Cowboy Diaries 2013: Chet Johnson, All About Randy Travis
Chet Johson, Saddle broncTrue 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…
Last Night: Bad Religion at House of Blues
Bad Religion, Polar Bear Club, Dead Rabbits House of Blues March 13, 2013 At this point, part of Bad Religion’s appeal is their utter reliability. Tour after tour and album after album, the consummate L.A. punks have trained audiences thoroughly to know what to expect from them: chainsaw guitar riffs,…
Cafe Pita: Pedestrian Name, Food with Panache
Katharine Shilcutt’s list of the Houston Restaurants Every Out-of-Towner Should Visit should go to 11. Because if you come to Houston and do not visit Cafe Pita, you are not just missing the opportunity to try Bosnian food (period), you are missing your opportunity to relish terrific Bosnian food (exclamation…
The Americans: “I’m Sorry I Didn’t Kill You; That’s My Apology.”
It was comforting to see so much adherence to the traditional husband-wife dynamic in last night’s episode of The Americans. Elizabeth went about wrangling the kids (and threatening loan sharks, it ain’t Ozzie and Harriet) while Phillip was on a “business trip.” Meanwhile Sandra dutifully prepared dinner for her FBI…
Ask Willie D: Trying to Be a Good Stepmother; Undercover Freak
Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off’s advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, “funny, serious or unpredictable.” Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! TRYING TO BE A GOOD STEPMOTHER Willie D, I wanted to know your thoughts on how…
Your Own Custom Book of the Month: Brazos Bookstore’s Inu-chan
It’s called Inu-chan and it is a program, now in its second year, brought to the community by Brazos Bookstore. Inu-chan is a very customized book club, more or less, where customers sign up to receive surprise books each month, based on their personalities. Brazos developed the idea last year…
Houston Wins $1 Million Grant for “One Bin for All” Innovation, Captain Planet Pleased
Captain Planet and Mayor Annise Parker thank you. Last month, the city of Houston was selected by the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge for their “One Bin for All” innovation, which would allow citizens to put all of their trash in one bin, and from there, a sorting facility (which is…
Pop Rocks: In All Fairness, Ed Asner Probably *Is* Exhausted
First ,Valerie “Rhoda Morgenstern” Harper, now Ed “Lou Grant” Asner. What is striking down the stars of The Mary Tyler Moore Show? Oh right, old age: The Emmy-winning actor was hospitalized Tuesday night in Gary, Ind., after having trouble speaking during his one-man show, FDR. A rep for Asner was…
Islam, Communism and Black Panthers Are Indoctrinating Texas Children — Fingers Crossed!
One of the best courses I took in high school was an elective entitled “Islam and the West.” Examining the cultural, political and literary borderlands between the two spheres, the course provided some of the most educational and edifying lessons of anything I’d found at my school. Those lessons, now…
The Eating…Our Words 100: Dan Tidwell of Treebeards on Downtown Houston’s Past, Present and Future
If you’ve set foot downtown at any point in the last 30 years, there’s a strong chance you’ve eaten at Treebeards. Ever since it opened on Market Square in 1978 between what its Web site calls “a peep show arcade and a rowdy bar,” Treebeards has served some of the…
The Rocks Off 100: Shellee Coley, Voice of the Northern Woods
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. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? Shellee Coley is a…
Pope Francis I: Who Could the Name Really Be Honoring? Five Possibilities
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio surprised a lot of people yesterday when he chose the name he’d be using as leader of the Catholic Church: Pope Francis I. As the “I” indicates, he’s the first to ever use Francis, and there have been a hell of a lot of popes before…
Cruzar la Cara de la Luna: The Mariachi Opera Returns to Houston After a Trip to France
Growing up in Hermonsillo , Mexico, Octavio Moreno entered a couple mariachi contests when he was in junior high and high school, and even made it to the regionals one year. But he never thought of singing as a career – he was going to be a physicist or poet…
30 Seconds with Pentatonix’s Mitch Grassi
Ever since Pentatonix won the third season of Sing Off, the group has only gotten better and better. We sat down with Mitch Grassi to see what we could learn about him in 30 seconds. Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Mitch Grassi: “Cyclone” by Baby…
You, Too, Can Shop for Groceries by Light Rail!
When I tell people that my husband and I share a car, and have for the entire three years we have lived in Houston, we get a lot of funny looks. It’s true that the logistics don’t always work out, but we almost always make it work. Note the “almost”…
Cabo 2013: Your Johnny Football Spring Break Update!
On Monday, I compared the Houston Texans in free agency to the Wheel of Fortune shopper that scooped a meager, one-letter-remaining puzzle for a few hundred bucks. That description would imply that the Texans are at least doing some shopping. In reality, thus far, they’ve been more like the dude…
Nail Polish Fatigue: Getting Duped with Seasonal Collections
A funny thing happened on Instagram during New York Fashion Week. Designers began posting behind-the-scenes photos of their fashion shows, and they were including lots and lots of details about the models’ manicures. The idea, naturally, was cross-promotion with the brands they were using. Essie was big, as were Deborah…
So Delicious, a Caveman Could Eat It: 10 Paleo-Friendly Restaurant Menus in Houston
It’s reader request time around here, and this week’s reader request was for a list of paleo-friendly restaurants around Houston. (See, you do love our lists. Yes you do.) Although I don’t adhere to the paleo diet, many of my good friends do. Here’s an explanation of the nutritional regimen…
Today’s 10 Most Predictable Acts to See in Concert
There’s nothing quite as soul-crushing as a disappointing concert. We’ve all been there; shit rolls downhill the minute the dude behind you dumps his beer on your girl’s shoes, or the security bro doesn’t find your umpteenth “Freebird” request to be quite as funny as you did. It’ll ruin the…
In Top of the Lake, Peggy Olson Goes to Hell
Elisabeth Moss’s face is far from the only reason to savor Top of the Lake, Jane Campion’s smart, bracing, hugely enjoyable mystery rural noir Top of the Lake, which premieres on the Sundance Channel on Monday, March 18. But that pale-to-radiant instrument of hers — a mouth that suggests her…
What’s in a Name?
Dear Mexican, I would be most interested in hearing your point of view regarding our raza always voting for someone with a Latino last name, without even considering if the vato/vata is qualified for a particular office. Often I hear comments like, “If he is Latino it makes up for…
Breaking Bad: Digital Drug Sales, Analog Drug Deaths
Charles Carlton was in Katy 1,400 miles away when a 17-year-old kid named Elijah started foaming at the mouth from the drugs Carlton had sold online. In June 2012, Elijah Stai and his friend Adam Budge were in Budge’s home in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, mixing a white powder called…
Taking Risks, Making Provisions
Take a tour through the warm dining room and bustling kitchen at Provisions in our slideshow. As I sit in the sunshine on the simple shaded rear patio at Provisions, surrounded by aluminum pots of rosemary and a few barely blossoming lime trees, it’s easy to see what chefs Terrence…
Chain of Command
Audiences may know Aaron Sorkin best from television’s top-rated and Emmy-winning The West Wing, but he blazed across Broadway’s theatrical sky with his 1989 drama A Few Good Men, sold to a film producer before the play even opened. When it was filmed in 1992 with Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson…
Reimagining The Rite of Spring
Even if a fledgling dancer or a budding dance enthusiast has never seen a production of The Rite of Spring, he or she has heard the Igor Stravinsky music and the fabled account of its 1913 premier. Choreographed by the young wunderkind Vaslav Nijinsky for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, the…
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Steve Carell’s gift is for men who might drown in their own obliviousness. Like his Daily Show reporter or The Office’s Michael Scott, his 40-year-old virgin lives in terror that someone might catch on to the fact that he knows nothing about subjects he purports to have mastered. When his…
St. Paddy’s Day Celebrations
Prepare to see a world awash with green — St. Patrick’s Day is at hand once again. With this year’s national inebriation celebration falling on a Sunday, the hard stuff may have to be done the day before, but don’t worry; there are plenty of pubs and parades to help…
Crazy for Crawfish
Top 10 We’re at the part of the crawfish season when peeling becomes less laborious,whenminiature-lobster-sized crustaceans replace the teensy mudbugs that filled your bucket just weeks ago. This is the perfect time to strap on a bib and stock upon moist towelettes for high-yield shell peeling. Since our local fare…
Wonders Never Cease
Only in Houston About six months ago, Rocks Off wrote an article expressing our surprise and disappointment at the paucity of musical content on the City of Houston’s tourism site, visithoustontexas.com, the Texas-friendly smiling face it officially presents to the Web and thus the world. There wasn’t much at all,…
Capsule ARt Reviews: “Cruz Ortiz: I Speak Lightning,” “Farewell Ruins: Julia Haft-Candell and Julia Kunin,” “Janice Jakielski: Constructing Solitude,” “John Cage: Prints, Drawings, and a Music Box,” “Jonathan Leach: Time Does Not Exist Here,” “Lisa L
“Cruz Ortiz: I Speak Lightning” Cruz Ortiz is known to work in wheat paste murals, video, street sculptures and guerrilla AM radio broadcasts. His latest solo exhibition is just gouache on paper and panel, but that doesn’t make it any less quiet. “I Speak Lightning” at David Shelton Gallery is…
The Doctor Is in (Jail)
Highlights from Hair Balls Texas Courts Former hand doctor and TV-ad star Michael Brown had himself a busy time the week of March 4, including getting arrested and testifying in his defense trial. Some of our coverage: Things got downright weird during Michael Brown’s testimony March 6, with attorney Robert…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Broadway at the Box, The First Church of Texaco, Man of Destiny and Dark Lady of the Sonnets
Broadway at the Box The Music Box Theater is a repertory group of three women and two men — they sing, they dance, they act, they reminisce about their childhoods, they do solos and they do ensemble numbers, all this with such a sense of togetherness, of fun, of personal…
