Tequila & Tamales 2013: You Voted, and the Winners Are …
Tuesday night’s third annual Tequila & Tamales at Pearl Bar was a great success, with more than 200 people showing up to taste tamales and tequila cocktails from five restaurants. Every single tamale I tried was delicious and worthy of a spot on your Christmas Eve dinner table (or a…
12 Things In Houston ’93 You’d NEVER See Today
If I learned anything from the NFL Network’s A Football Life: Houston ’93 documentary about the 1993 Houston Oilers, it’s that sometimes you need to look to the past to realize that our perspective of the present may be a tad warped. All season long here in Houston, the narrative…
This Week’s Cafe Review: The Sweet Stuff at Mamak Malaysian Restaurant
In my experience, you don’t really go to an Asian restaurant with dreams of magnificent desserts at the end of your meal. I happen to love fortune cookies, so I’m always pleased to find those at Chinese restaurants. In Korea, I ate a lot of jelly candy and sweet rice…
Labor Department Forces Houston Clinic to Pay Employee’s Back Wages
The U.S. Department of Labor has cited Houston Ear, Nose & Throat Clinic, LLP, for screwing an employee out of their rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act, and has ordered the clinic to pay $17,390 in back wages and other expenses. The investigation found that, when the employee…
Why Is It So Many HISD Kids Can’t Read on Grade Level (& It’s More Than You Think)
Dr. Billy Reagan is 83 years old and even though his days as superintendent of the Houston ISD are long behind him, he still keeps a careful watch over the largest public school district in the state. According to Reagan, who bases his conclusions on analyses of HISD scores on…
Reality Bites: Party On
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all. One at a time. I was pretty jazzed when I saw the TV listing for Party On last week. “Wow!” I thought, “I can’t believe E! picked up that show, though I wonder how…
Eating My Feelings for Christmas: Surviving Galleria Shopping (While Dining With Aplomb)
In an effort to kick Christmas’s ass, I have been doing a lot of shopping during the past two weeks; before that, we spent about three weeks shopping for furniture for our new house. My point? I’ve been spending a lot of time in the Galleria lately, and have discovered…
Start Your Morning Off Right With This Video of Rice Accepting a Liberty Bowl Bid
To college football fans and media members, looking at the list of bowl games in early December each year can be a rather impersonal exercise wherein we get lost in making snarky remarks about the sponsors or faux-lamenting the lack of intrigue in several of the matchups. The truth of…
The Great Man Theory of History: Nelson Mandela Edition
The collective media genuflection began the moment Nelson Mandela died. Everyone, it seemed, was in agreement: this was a great man, a giant of history, etc. etc. This is partly true, and partly media narrative. For example, South Africa is not, despite Mandela’s efforts, in great shape: The scene illuminated…
This Week in Food Blogs: Better Brisket at Corkscrew BBQ and Cranopeno Jelly
The Pancake Princess: Looking for the perfect dish to bring to a holiday party? Erika made baked brie with a homemade pie crust and it looks absolutely divine. Who doesn’t love warm, gooey cheese inside a flaky pie crust? She starts by making the dough for the crust with flour,…
19 Reasons Retail Workers Hate the Holidays
I have not worked retail during Christmas is almost six years, but I still get a chill down my spine at the sound of a code being called over a loudspeaker. I wear my wounds proudly. As the holidays roar on, so does the continued suffering of retail workers. It…
Pastors Call on City Council to Repeal SOB “Deal With the Devil”
There are lots of things not to like about so-called Sexually Oriented Businesses (SOBs) in Houston. They are seedy. They are promoting an atmosphere that is certainly not conducive to quality treatment of women. Then there’s the general “ew” factor that accompanies anything of that nature. But they are legal…
Rest of the Best 2013: Houston’s Top Five Mexican Bakeries
Our 2013 Best of Houston® winners have been announced, and in most cases picking the best item in any category was no easy task. In order to show off all the culinary greatness Houston has to offer, we’ll be rounding up the “rest of the best” in some of our…
James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell on Their Latest Release: Innocent Blood
Vampire fiction got a new twist when James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell, both bestselling authors, collaborated on The Order of the Sanguines series. The first installment in the series, The Blood Gospel, introduced a trio of unlikely heroes: Erin Granger, an archaeologist; Jordan Stone. a soldier; and a priest, Father…
Ted Cruz Part II: The Tea Party Is Going to “Primary” Senator Cornyn
Senator John Cornyn is no one’s idea of a liberal. Senator Cornyn is no one’s idea of a RINO or a squish. Indeed, the non-partisan Nation Journal ranked Cornyn the second most conservative member of the U.S. Senate. As Talking Points Memo reports on Cornyn’s conservative bona fides: He has…
It’s Time to Fight Back Against Elves on Shelves
Dear Parents of Small Children, We realize how cute you think these Elf on a Shelf things are. We get it. It’s what, the zillionth year that you’re going to spam our Facebook timelines with notifications about what your naughty little elf is using to torment your child with today?…
A Brief History of Crab Rangoon (Is Cream Cheese Native to Burma, or London?)
One of my guilty pleasures is American-Chinese food. Although a recent trip to Beijing and Shanghai afforded me the extended opportunity to eat “real” Chinese food (which I heartily enjoyed), I still have a soft spot for General Tso’s chicken and chop suey. My absolute favorite American-Chinese dish, however, is…
The 20 Worst People of 2013
Featuring threesome seekers, cokehead judges, hockey dads from hell and, quite naturally, Wells Fargo…
100 Creatives 2013: Michael Wooten, Painting Power to the People
What He Does: It all started out pretty simply for Michael Wooten. One day in the sixth grade, he and his friends were tracing comics out of the newspapers when Wooten decided to see if he could replicate them without tracing. Of course, his first work was terrible, and the…
2013 Holiday Gift List: Molly Dunn’s Top 10 Presents for Foodies
The holidays are upon us, and that means it’s time to show your buddies you care by buying them things they probably don’t need. But there’s no reason to shell out for an expensive, ugly Christmas sweater that he’ll never wear, or a tchotchke that will sit idly at the…
Beyoncé at Toyota Center, 12/10/2013
Beyoncé Toyota Center December 10, 2013 The easy way to go about saying you went to a Beyoncé show is to gawk at the way people surrounding you interact with one another, how they smile, wave, twist and contort to every move the 32-year-old Houstonian performs onstage. How they attempt…
Did the Rockets Learn Their Lesson in Consecutive Losses?
The Rockets were on a roll. They were winners of their last five (8 of 9 total) including an impressive victory in San Antonio. Despite some nagging injuries to Chandler Parsons and James Harden, and an injury that would sideline Jeremy Lin until this week, they seemed to be clicking…
Charities Duke It Out for OKRA Charity Saloon’s December Proceeds
This month, The Original OKRA Charity Saloon is trying something a little different to determine which lucky charity will be the recipient of the bar’s December proceeds. Usually, the bar picks four local charities per month and offers drinkers and diners the opportunity to vote for the organization they most…
Vote or Die: The Last VJ’s Top 5 Videos of the Week
Welcome back to The Last VJ, music fans. While the rest of the world still reels from Kanye’s latest failure in the realm of music videos as well as the unfortunate return of Rebecca Black, less egocentric artists are out there putting on little video plays that blow his completely…
Naming Your Kids After Television Shows: Probably Not the Best Idea
Who wants to name their kids after fictionalized television drug dealers? Apparently, lots of folks. Last week, The Independent reported that there has been a surge in baby names based on popular television shows. According to the report Breaking Bad’s Skyler and Jesse are in the top 100 baby names…
Mexican Music Is Violent. So What?
America’s liberal class and MSMers are abuzz right now over Narco Cultura, a documentary about Mexico’s horrific drug war and the musical movement that has risen around it. These libs (and more than a few conservatives) are telling each other and the two Mexicans they know about how Mexican music…
You’re Fired! Five Songs Based on a True Story
The woman who was seconds away from becoming my ex-boss looked at me like a math problem she’d never fucking figure out. She asked for my security badge. Why not have me lop off a finger and toss it over? That’s how much the badge and all it led to…
Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine Hopes You’re Still Buying
When Megadeth founder/singer/guitarist Dave Mustaine was growing up, the troubled teen — like a lot of his own fans would later — found an escape from a shitty life and comforting solace in hard rock and heavy-metal music. “It was the one thing I could always count on to make…
Insane Clown Posse Is the New Beavis and Butt-Head
It turns out the murderous, crazed clowns from Insane Clown Posse have a side gig that we weren’t aware of. Apparently, in addition to catching them holding court and downing Faygo at the yearly Gathering of the Juggalos, you can also catch them heckling the more “controversial” mainstream videos on…
2013 Heisman Finalists Named, How Did the Preseason Oddsmakers Do?
Despite the arctic (for Houston) temperatures outside, September feels like it just got here yesterday, because in the blink of an eye, the 2013 college football season is now over. With all but one (salute Army, salute Navy) of the regular season games now behind us, the next item on…
Houston Leads the Nation in Armored-Car Robberies
You may have seen The Town, a Ben Affleck-directed movie about a crew of armored-car robbers from Charlestown, a Boston-area neighborhood known for producing armored-car robbers. Houston, it seems, has become the new Charlestown. As the New York Times reports, the Houston metropolitan area has seen a recent spate of…
100 Favorite Dishes 2013: No. 60, Patata e Funghi Pizza at Pizaro’s
This year, leading up to our annual Menu of Menus issue, Kaitlin Steinberg counts down her 100 favorite dishes as she eats her way through Houston. She’ll compile a collection of the dishes she thinks are the most awesome, most creative and, of course, most delicious in town. It’s a…
Five Anchorman 2 Promotional Gimmicks We’d Like to See
I didn’t see Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy until several years after its theatrical run. It wasn’t because of any particular dislike for Will Ferrell (Land of the Lost and Bewitched notwithstanding), but because I have three kids. I may play a Big City Movie Critic on the Internet,…
Get Your Dude-Dog Neutered While Letting Him Keep His Cojones
Montgomery County residents on public assistance can have their male dogs non-surgically neutered for free December 22, thanks to a partnership among Montgomery County Spay Neuter Project, Texas Litter Control, Ark Charities, and Precinct 4 Commissioner Ed Rinehart. That’s right — thanks to a drug called Zeuterin, vets can sterilize…
Baker Spotlight: Dylan Carnes, Owner and Vegan Baker of Sinfull Bakery, Wants to Go National
Not many people wake up and say they want to be a baker when they have never baked a single thing in their entire life, but Dylan Carnes is one of those people. And she didn’t decide she was going to be a regular baker — she chose to be…
Weather Week: Freeze Avoided, But Still Cold
Old Man Winter isn’t someone who visits Houston with regularity, certainly not over the last couple of years. But this year it appears he has decided to come and stay awhile. While we haven’t had a freeze in the metro area over the past week, we did shatter our maximum…
Killen’s Barbecue Pop Up and Syrahvolution at Paulie’s and Camerata Wows the Crowds
Houstonians must be doing something right, as the barbecue gods have been really generous to our city as of late. A couple of weeks ago, Q for a Cause brought Austin-based barbecue legend John Mueller, his pits, his food, and his team to Cottonwood. This past weekend, Killen’s Barbecue was…
Report: Federal Prosecutors Trample Constitutional Rights in War on Drugs
The 7th Amendment to the Constitution allows for the right to a jury trial. The 8th Amendment prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments.” A new report by Human Rights Watch shows that federal criminal defendants, especially those charged with drug crimes, are having their constitutional rights arguably stymied by aggressive federal…
Long-Distance Relationships Are Better Than You Think, According to New Research
Many of us have, at one point or another, given a it a go with a long-distance relationship (LDR). You met this great person on a trip to visit your friends in x city and the sparks flew. Texts, emails, telephone conversations, Gchats and Skyping ensued. The inevitable road trip…
Making the Case(-ing) for Dunkin Donuts’ Spicy Smoked Sausage Breakfast Sandwich
It was my husband who spied the sign as we pulled through the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru. “New Smoked Sausage Breakfast Sandwich–have you had it?” Josh asked. We had just finished a workout, and were still in our sweaty sweats–what better time to zip through a fast food joint “just for…
Pop Rocks: 5 Reasons I’m Looking Forward to a Very Duck Dynasty Christmas
There are plenty of reasons to hate reality TV. A valid argument could be made that reality television hasn’t existed — at least not in the truest sense of the word — since that first season of The Real World. Back then, people who wanted to be famous didn’t preen…
Ted Cruz Has His Own Coloring Book (And It’s Glorious)
Sen. Ted Cruz is the gift that keeps on giving. Yes, he’s usually out there spouting some Tea Party-infused dogma or doing things that you know must make some of the more mainline Republicans want to smack their heads on the table, but Cruz occasionally does things with a twist…
Where to Dine Out in Houston on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2013 (No Dishes to Do!)
Eliminate some of the holiday stress this year by letting some of the best Houston chefs serve you and your family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. After you’ve finished shopping, decorated the house and welcomed all of your family members into your home, you deserve a scrumptious meal prepared…
The Rocks Off 200: Flash Gordon Parks, DJ as Funky Professor
Welcome to The Rocks Off 200, 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 previous entries in the Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? If you…
Jadeveon Clowney Gets Speeding Ticket, Texans’ NFL Draft Big Board Thrown Into Disarray
For a seemingly benign Thursday night game in early December between two bottom-feeding NFL teams, the Texans-Jaguars game last week wound up having some far-reaching ramifications. First, the end result (and certainly the penalty-littered path leading up to that end result) was the trigger event for Gary Kubiak’s termination on…
UPDATE: SPIKE TV’s Frankenfood Casting Call Comes to Houston: Cook Up Something Weird and Win
Update: The casting call date for Houston has been moved to January 12. Do you love to cook strange dishes with uncommon ingredients? Or do you love to think out of the box when creating new recipes? Well, SPIKE TV’s new show Frankenfood is for you, and on Sunday, December…
Not Hideous Holiday Sweaters: A Shopping Guide
So, here’s the thing — I like holiday sweaters. Sorry, but I do. It’s a holdover from the life I used to live — one that involved owning more than two sweaters. My Yankee yearnings for wearing heavy knitwear are rarely satiated here in Houston, so recent cold-like temperatures have…
Mexico’s Oil Industry Makes First Move Toward Opening Up After 75 Years
Once upon a time, Mexico was more than a land of cheap tequila, drug violence and border issues. Back in the day, it was oil country, and oil industry types from all over the United States and the rest of the world flocked to Mexico because of all the slick…
Couple’s Collection of French Impressionism Makes Rare (and Unplanned) Stop at MFAH
As one of the heirs to the Singer sewing machine fortune, Robert Sterling Clark (1877-1956) didn’t have to spend nights awake and worry about laboring to keep the lights on or bringing food to the table. And while the stylish and reserved gentleman spent time as a soldier and explorer…
Top Ten Houston Culinary Scandals of 2013: Lawsuits, Rude Restaurant Staff and Rats
As the year comes to a close, we’re taking some time to look back fondly on some of our favorite memories from the past 12 months. There were wonderful meals, exciting openings and heartwarming stories from some of our best chefs. And then there were all the scandals, the shocking…
Creating Bun B’s Ultimate Trill Album
In a way, hearing the words “Bun B” joined together with “new album” should make people throw rice in the air. It doesn’t necessarily meet with the same amount of fanfare in 2013 as it would have in 2005, say, but that’s only because the idea of Bun B in…
Mixed Emotions: When CD Compilations Create “Feelings”
I recently received an e-mail from my nephew, Orlando, inviting me to join something called the “Mix of the Month” club. The correspondence detailed how 12 members of this group would each have an assigned month to create a mix CD to send to the others. Original, creative cover art…
Upcoming: Lady Gaga, Dar Williams, Kings of Leon, Riverboat Gamblers, 2 Chainz, etc.
2 Chainz: With Pusha-T, August Alsina., Friday, March 14, 8 p.m., $37.50, Bayou Music Center, 520 Texas, Houston, 713-230-1600. Bob Schneider: Thu., December 26, 7 & 9:30 p.m., $28 to $30. McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, Houston, 713-528-5999. Bruce and Kelly: Thu., December 12, 7 & 9:30 p.m.; Fri., Dec…
Top 10 Spoken-Word Pieces On Music Albums
You know what I love? Soliloquies! Nothing is more awesome to me than when an album pauses in all the music and has a track where someone suddenly takes the mike and starts talking. Done well, it can be a hell of a powerful piece, but I respect the courage…
Group Says Bull Run Promoters Don’t Have Proper Permit
The promoters of an upcoming bull run outside Baytown don’t have the proper permit to hold their event next month, according to an animal welfare group that has sent letters to Chambers County officials. The Animal Legal Defense Fund says The Great Bull Run LLC, does not have a Texas…
Zapruder Analysis of Bob McNair’s Press Conference to Address the Firing of Gary Kubiak
We all knew that Gary Kubiak’s firing was coming eventually, but very clearly we didn’t all know when it was coming, because the assumption was that Texans owner Bob McNair would wait until after the season to drop the news on Kubiak that his services would no longer be required…
Half-off Tickets to VIP New Year’s Eve at Lucky’s Pub, Plus Dining Deals at Majorca, Angus Grill, and More
Act fast to save 51 percent off ($49 for $99) on your ticket to SportsMonkey’s tenth annual BLT New Year’s Eve Party at Lucky’s Pub, Warehouse Live, and Mojeaux. Houston’s biggest and best New Year’s Eve party theme–“BLT”–stands for black tie, lingerie, or toga–themed dress is encouraged, but not required!…
The Slow, Steady Decline of Evangelical Christianity
Just over a decade ago, evangelical Christians were ascendant. After the legwork of Falwell’s Moral Majority and Ralph Reed’s Christian Coalition, an evangelical Christian was in the White House, George W. Bush, whose favorite philosopher was “Jesus Christ.” Indeed, even as late as 2004, the media told us that “values…
The Great Debate: Is the Fruitcake Worth Eating, or Is It Nothing But a Doorstop?
Ah, fruitcakes. You either love them or you hate them. There are very few in-betweens when it comes to this sweet bread filled with nuts and candied fruit. Though gifting fruitcakes around the holidays is not as popular as it used to be, the baked good has been a part…
FrenetiCore Dance Theater Pays Tribute to the Late Essayist David Rakoff
The Set-up: For there is no answer as to why me: A Dance Tribute to David Rakoff the FrenetiCore dancers perform to audio clips by the late essayist and frequent NPR contributor David Rakoff; a variety of videos are projected onto a backdrop that hangs across the back of the…
It’s Liberty Time For The Rice Owls
The Rice Owls went out Saturday on a cold, dreary afternoon and demolished the Marshall Thundering Herd, capturing the Conference USA title with a 41-24. Rice stormed out to the lead, didn’t let up on the gas, and controlled the action for the entire 60 minutes of the game. It…
Saying Goodbye to the Old West at G Gallery
There is an old western proverb that says, “If you’re riding ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.” It may be the herd that has wandered off, or it may be the Old West itself that has morphed into…
Just the Sweet Menu, Please: Top 5 Houston Restaurants to Visit Just for Dessert
I think we’ve all been there before, that moment where we’re done with dinner and we’re not quite ready to go home or maybe dinner was great but the dessert menu just didn’t speak to you. This happens to me quite a bit, and there is something about the festive…
Baby-Animal GIFs Review R. Kelly’s Black Panties
Note: In his column Serrano Time, Houston’s award-winning scribe and goofball Shea Serrano writes about his life and times. Here’s what you need to know about Robert Sylvester Kelly: He’s the fucking best. At singing. At wearing masks. At making videos of himself having sex. All of it. And so…
[Video] The Astrodome Ramps Get Imploded
Way back in 1989, the Astrodome received a small makeover. To make sure that the Dome was all good with the upcoming Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, four towers were added to the Dome to serve as giant ramps that folks could use to get in to the 8th…
What’s Cooking This Week? Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, Flank Steak, & More
I love cooking for my fiancé and planning meals for us, but cooking for two often 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…
Fallcore 13 at Walters, 12/7/2013
Power Trip, Die Young (TX), Afflictive Nature, etc. Walters December 7, 2013 It may have been cold as hell outside in downtown Houston on Saturday night, but it was hot and sweaty as all getout inside Walters. Scene kids from all over the city and state packed into the club…
Elf Offers Christmas Magic, Sort Of
The set-up: You know that feeling on Christmas when you open a rather dull-looking present and what’s inside is even duller? You half-expect a sweater not in your style or a book by an author you vowed never to read again, and, yes, there they are, some bulky cable-knit processed…
Pregnancy and Abortion: New Study Shows Some Encouraging Numbers
A Centers for Disease Control report on pregnancy and abortion has some interesting and good news about both subjects. First, pregnancy rates, birth rates and abortion rates among teenagers are down, precipitously so for abortions. Indeed, the abortion rate among this cohort has dropped over-one half since 1990, and the…
10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Final Fantasy VII
Ever since its release in 1997, the first of the Playstation Final Fantasy games is equally considered one of the best role-playing game ever made, or a completely overrated piece of crap that hogs the spotlight from more worthy entries. There’s not a lot of middle ground among gamers. Regardless,…
Margarita Afternoon: Tia Maria’s Cantina and Mexican Restaurant Mixes a Fine One
Tia Maria’s is famous for the frozen margaritas, and deservedly so.
We Need To Talk About Driver Privilege
Houston has seen at least three vehicle-bicycle accidents in the past few months, including two fatalities. The city is making small strides towards improving cycling infrastructure, but driver awareness of bike-related traffic laws remains low compared to other cities. And driver aggression remains high. This is nothing new. In a…
Houston Presents: Top 10 Locally Produced Food and Drink Gifts
The holidays are upon us, and that means it’s time to show your buddies you care by buying them things they probably don’t need. But there’s no reason to shell out for an expensive, ugly Christmas sweater that he’ll never wear, or a tchotchke that will sit idly at the…
Museum of Dysfunction VI Covers Erotica, Death and Everything in Between
The set-up: Mildred’s Umbrella Theatre Company presents its sixth annual presentation of short plays, this time in collaboration with Wordsmyth Theatre, under the collective title Museum of Dysfunction VI. Week One has ten short plays, and Week Two a different set, with these winners having been culled from more than…
2013 BCS Shakeup: Who Would Be The Four Teams In A College Football Playoff?
The BCS Title Game matchup is set and while it wasn’t the matchup that was the most highly expected going into Saturday afternoon, it’s a matchup between what most college football fans and experts see as the two most deserving teams in the country. As expected, Florida State played a…
5 Reasons Toys Is a Secret Holiday Classic Film
Everyone has his or her favorite holiday film that serves as a tradition. Some people go with the staples like em>It’s a Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Story, while other branch out with more off-the-cuff fare like Die Hard and Scrooged. For me it’s Barry Levinson’s 1992 flop Toys, starring…
Cheap & Good Eats: Top 5 Budget Lunch Spots in Pearland
We’ve been rounding up our favorite budget lunch spots in different neighborhoods around town (See the complete list at the end of the post). Today, we’re here to tell you why Pearland is more than worth the drive for you inner-loopers. Here is our list of the best cheap (less…
Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Bars of 2013
Houston has dozens of bars that are not also something else (restaurants, coffeehouses, etc.), just places designed for people to who want to shirk their responsibilities while someone else plots to take over the world at the next stool, and the couple at the table in the back is on…
Five Singers Who Totally Changed Their Styles Over the Years
As someone who likes to sing along to my favorite songs a lot despite my limited vocal capabilities, I think a lot about people’s voices. After you listen to particular singers for a long enough time, I find you start to get a real feel for their cadences, tics, quirks,…
When Parrotheads Attack: Exile in Margaritaville
Photo by Tony NelsonActual Parrotheads at last week’s Jimmy Buffett show.One night last week, I embarked upon a foolhardy and ill-fated mission to spend 24 hours straight converting myself into the biggest Jimmy Buffett fan in the Twin Cities metro area. For the uninitiated, Jimmy Buffett is the undisputed champion…
The Best Concerts In Houston This Week: Beyonce, Cat Power, Bruce & Kelly, etc.
John Egan The Big Easy, December 9 Solo bluesman John Egan sings in a tone that suggests someone is constantly walking over his grave, and his lyrics are loaded with bad mojo like nature gone haywire and apocalyptic visions. All he needs live is his National Resonator, one of those…
The Top Five 2013 Dance Concerts in Houston
I was filling in my calendar for January and February, making note of the dance concerts I wanted to make sure to cover when I realized it’s the start of the final month of the year. 2013 is about to close, which ends another chapter in my book of dance…
Kanye West at Toyota Center, 12/7/2013
Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar Toyota Center December 7, 2013 Kanye West built a mountain. He may not have built it with his own two hands, but he was able to pull together the resources that took the mountain out of his imagination and into arenas across the country. The mountain…
College Football: What If This Weekend Were The Last One Before a 4 Team Playoff?
It’s conference championship weekend, which means that we have a handful of teams still vying for spots in the BCS Title Game and BCS bowl games. As best I can tell, we are down to five teams who still have a reasonable to remote chance to get into the title…
100 Favorite Dishes 2013: No. 61, Old Fashioned Frito Pie at Armadillo Palace
This year, leading up to our annual Menu of Menus issue, Kaitlin Steinberg counts down her 100 favorite dishes as she eats her way through Houston. She’ll compile a collection of the dishes she thinks are the most awesome, most creative and, of course, most delicious in town. It’s a…
It’s Back to the Future as the Rice Owls Seek a Conference Title
The Americans had yet to get into space the last time the Rice Owls football team won an outright conference championship. Ike had yet to warn the world of the menace of the military-industrial complex. JFK was just another senator. U.S. tourists could still travel to Cuba. The Astrodome was…
Weekend Weather: You Ready for Some Cold Weather? I Don’t Think You Are
A lot of Houstonians appreciate the cold weather when it finally comes. It’s a nice change of pace from the brutally hot weather we are forced to endure during the late summer months. This past week, the muggy, warm conditions felt more like late spring than mid-autumn, but all that…
The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical: Enter at Your Own Risk
The set-up: The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical is the holiday show that should come with a warning label. Or perhaps, retitled as the Great American Trailer TRASH Christmas Musical. To give you a heads-up of sorts, the signature number in this sad-sack production is the Act I closer,…
Let the Housecleaning Begin: Gary Kubiak Fired by the Texans
You knew it was only a matter of time, but after 11 straight losses (including 2 to the Jacksonville Jaguars) the Texans finally pulled the trigger and fired Gary Kubiak. In the meantime, Wade Phillips will serve as interim head coach. The Texans say the search for a new permanent…
Santaland Diaries Returns With a Glorious Todd Waite as Crumpet the Elf
The set-up: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Christmas wishes do come true. Especially this year at the Alley, where grumpy protesters stomped their feet and demanded that Crumpet the Elf, beloved star of David Sedaris’s Santaland Diaries (1996), be resurrected. Lo, it has come to pass; beloved star…
UPDATE: Gary Kubiak Fired: The Kubiak Era Is Finally Over
UPDATE: Many Texans fans will rationalize their exuberance over another person losing his job today as “hey, it happens”-type collateral damage, and as one very large step back to “football fan happiness” for most of us. No tears should be shed for Gary Kubiak. He made a lot of money…
Neal Robbins: Serving Life for a Homicide — Only Now There Is No Official “Homicide.”
In 1998, a Harris County associate medical examiner ruled that 17- month old Tristan Rivet died as a result of homicide, and a Montgomery County jury decided that Neal Robbins killed her. In 2007, the same medical examiner decided she made a mistake, and that the cause of death should…
December Amy Tan at Brazos, Plus Sarah Jio at MBTB, Ree Drummond at Blue Willow, and More
My People (nerds) don’t need a reason to visit a bookstore, but if you are not one of My People, and you need enticing, here are my top reasons for why you should get thee to an indie bookstore and pry open your wallet: It’s almost Christmas, and you need…
2013 Holiday Gift List: Top 10 Foodie Presents for the Discerning Canine and Feline
The holidays are upon us, and that means it’s time to show your buddies you care by buying them things they probably don’t need. But there’s no reason to shell out for an expensive ugly Christmas sweater that he’ll never wear, or a tchotchke that will sit idly at the…
Is It Time for a Constitutional Convention? University of Texas Law Professor Thinks So
University of Texas law professor Sandy Levinson (he’s also a visiting professor at Harvard) is one of the most respected constitutional law scholars in the country, and, increasingly, one of the most iconoclastic. Levinson’s scholarly crusade been calling attention to the Constitution’s “hard-wired” features (e.g., the Senate, life tenure for…
Tequila and Tamales Return! Mark Your Calendars (December 10) and Come Hungry
It’s that time of year again, folks. Across the country, Christmas trees are going up, lights are being hung and cookies are being baked. And here in Texas, we’re enjoying one of our favorite holiday traditions: tamaladas! For many of us here in Houston, December isn’t December without tamaladas, or…
Doctor Who: The Problem of Getting to Know the Eighth Doctor
If there was one clear winner from the hoopla surrounding the 50th Anniversary celebrations of Doctor Who it was Paul McGann. In a surprise short episode, the Doctor often listed as one of the least favorite for his one-time appearance in a mediocre television movie, made a triumphant return to…
You Can’t Look Away: The Worst Movies Of 2013
It’s awards season. Critical organizations have already started giving out their annual “best of” accolades (including some to movies that weren’t even screened by the organization in question), and your very own Houston Film Critics Society will be presenting their awards on January 4. But none of that explains why…
Free Tommy! New Lawsuit Argues Chimpanzees Have Human Rights
Yale law professor Jack Balkin is credited with coining the term “off the wall” legal arguments and has written how “off the wall” arguments can become accepted as mainstream or obviously correct. Some examples: it would have been “off the wall” for an antebellum Southern lawyer to argue that slaves…
Die Young Resurrects and Returns for Fallcore 13
Go ahead and start limbering up, because Fallcore, Hatetank Productions’ annual festival celebrating the best in Texas hardcore, windmills back into Walters Downtown tomorrow. It’ll be the 13th iteration of the hard-hitting fest, headlined by Dallas thrashcore kingpins (and local favorites) Power Trip, fresh off a European tour. It’s the…
TUTS Underground Unveils a Season Ticket Holder Plan
When Theatre Under the Stars launched its TUTS Underground venture this season it had no way of knowing whether the premise of edgier fare in the smaller 500-seat Zilkha Hall at the Hobby Center had worked. Based on the reception to Lizzie and the fact that several shows are sold…
‘Sugar Hooker’ Hopes to Break Houston’s Kickstarter Curse by Raising 50K for Bakery
After three years of operating a sizable baking business on an eight-foot table in the kitchen of Kraftsman Baking, Rebecca Masson was ready for a little more elbow room. She’s the creator and owner of Fluff Bake Bar, a company that makes cakes, cookies, cupcakes and other baked goods, and…
This Weekend’s Best Bets: Tim Tebow’s TV Career Odds
Unlike virtually any other vocation, professional sports has a very finite, and for most players a very short shelf life. This makes post career planning (and saving money) a crucially important life skill. What will I do for work? How will I pay the bills? For numerous athletes, this transition…
Dead Milkmen at Walters, 12/5/2013
Dead Milkmen, Radioactivity, Muhammadali, Skeleton Dick Walters December 5, 2013 Nothing is more frustrating than falling in love with a band only to discover that you’ll almost certainly never get to experience its music live and in person. For years now, that’s been the niggling blemish on my relationship with…
Six Oscar Hopefuls You Should Know About in December
December is here and, other than cold weather, holiday shopping traffic, and egg nog, that means it’s time for the movie studios to start rolling out their Oscar hopefuls. Sure, films like 12 Years a Slave and Gravity have already been in theaters and will likely grab their share of…
The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: An UnChristmas Party & a Benefit for My Dee Dee’s Pie Shoppe
1st Annual BrewHumbug UnChristmas Fiestakkah @ The League of Extraordinary Brewers Friday, 6 p.m.-1 a.m. 907 Franklin St., Ste 150 This isn’t your typical Christmas party. The folks at The League of Extraordinary Brewers invite anyone and everyone to their first BrewHumbug UnChristmas Fiestakkah featuring a white elephant beer bottle…
How Will NASA Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before With Slashed Funding?
Once traveling at light speed was the kind of thing you’d only hear about right before or after William Shatner said, “Beam me up, Scotty,” but physicist Harold White and a NASA team at the Johnson Space Center are working on making the warp drive a thing that will actually…
Searching for a Real New Orleans Experience in Houston
Generally, Nightfly doesn’t see grown men order a drink simply by pointing at the menu, heads hung in shame. But from a rickety chair at Voodoo Queen (311 Milby) recently, we giggled in amusement at how often it was happening. Gentlemen beware. The frothy pineapple goodness of the bar’s cheeky…
100 Creatives 2013: Shawn Hamilton, Actor
Shawn Hamilton didn’t start out to be an actor. He studied music at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, then at the North Texas State University. Hamilton went on an acting audition on a lark. “A buddy of mine went to audition for grad school and I…
Upcoming Events: Holiday Home Tour, Gingerbread Competition & Dinner With Santa
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston welcomes the public to take a Holiday Home Tour at Rienzi, the house museum in River Oaks featuring European art, on Wednesday, December 11, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Take a guided walk through the home to see how beautifully decorated it is for the season…
Jags 27, Texans 20: So Close and Yet So Schaub
In what has got to have been one of the worst match ups in the history of Thursday Night Football, an already God awful concept the NFL concocted to keep fans interested in the middle of the week, the Texans and Jaguars — arguably the league’s two worst teams (and…
Openings & Closings: Another Pie Shop Shutters and Highly Anticipated Restaurants Open Softly
Even though the week began with a devastating fire-forced closure of a Houston pie shop landmark, the rest of the week has been filled with openings and announcements of future openings. But, let’s begin with the sad news, shall we? Just two days after Thanksgiving, another pie shop caught on…
Voice Champ Danielle Bradbery Lights Up City Hall Tonight
This time last year, Danielle Bradbery was a 16-year-old student at Cy Ranch High School who loved dancing and riding horses and hadn’t done much singing outside her own bedroom. Then her family entered her into the Dallas auditions for NBC’s high-rated singing show The Voice — without asking her…
Top 5 Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: “The Gun Show,” the Gerald Clayton Trio, and More
Once a year, the Art Car Museum holds an open-call exhibit. This year’s event, “The Gun Show,”, our first choice for Friday, centers on firearms. Selecting a rather polarizing topic isn’t really a surprise, since the museum regularly pushes the envelope with its shows. A combination of emerging and professional…
Houston’s Top 10 Day-Drinking Bars
As our sister blog Eating…Our Words does, from time to time Rocks Off will be giving your our picks for the top taverns in various Houston-area neighborhoods. Of course, the lines can be porous, but here anything with a TABC license that cannot reasonably be considered either a restaurant, coffeehouse…
The Dead Rabbits Run Amuck in “Feelin’ Regret” Video
Last month, I attended the video shoot for The Dead Rabbits’ “Feelin’ Regret.” I and others who follow the local Celtic punk-rockers were enticed to attend by the band’s Facebook event page, with its promise of free barbecue and beer. Good thing we showed up. We ate a bunch of…
The Best Concerts in Houston This Weekend: Less Than Jake, Alejandro Escovedo, Kanye, etc.
Less Than Jake Scout Bar, December 6 Any band cool enough to admit an obsession with that chalk-like candy Pez has our devotion. Less Than Jake’s “Pezcore” focus, along with their enduring ska-punk style, makes it worth the lame five-year hiatus between albums. We’re stoked that they’ve finally put out…
Justin Timberlake at Toyota Center, 12/5/2013
Justin Timberlake Toyota Center December 5, 2013 In a few years, people will write about pop music between the years 2007 and 2012 and talk about how worse off it was because Justin Timberlake wasn’t an full-time musical force. This will be revisionist history — pop music is ultimately bigger…
Sweet Relief: Houston Chefs Rally Together to Support My Dee Dee’s Pie Shoppe After Fire
A beautiful thing about the Houston restaurant scene is the love and support that is shown to those going through difficult times. On November 29, My Dee Dee’s Pie Shoppe was engulfed in flames. Bella-Katherine Curtis has been the owner of the place for the past 22 years, and has…
Chef Chat Part 2: Restaurant Cinq’s German Mosquera Talks Land, Art and Working a Grill
This is the second part of a two-part Chef Chat with German Mosquera of Restaurant Cinq. You can read Part 1 here. EOW: How old are you? GM: I turned 28 this year. EOW: Tell me about your background. GM: So, I was born in New York, grew up in…
Zapruder Analysis of New York Jets Fan Spewing a Fountain of F-bombs
I’m not sure that Houston NFL fans who are parents of young children who want to bring their kids to a game know how good they have it here. Other than the Bullpen section of Reliant Stadium (which comes with an actual rowdiness warning on the ticket and in actuality…
Report: People of Texas and Houston Driving Less
According to a report from the TexPIRG Education fund, people in Texas (and, yes, this does include Houston) are ditching the glut of freeway traffic in favor of public transit and biking in greater numbers, a trend that follows other cities and states across the country. The biggest change, not…
BATTLE-DRINK, Week 14: Thursday Night Self-Mutilation Edition
In Houston Texans seasons past, the running joke was that each season would have around two or three [sarcastic exaggeration font enabled] “biggest games in the history of the team.” Hell, even 2013 had a couple of them early in the season with the home loss to Seattle and the…
American Horror Story: Coven: Senseless Death
I was quite keen to get back to American Horror Story after the Thanksgiving break… mostly because being around that much family really helps a guy appreciate torture and murder. Joking aside, this season has been at times terrific and at others terrible, but it is always compelling enough to…
Family Coming Into Town for the Holidays? Here Are 10 Super-Size Breakfast Recipes
Seriously, y’all. Christmas will be here before you know it, and family members will be knocking on your door as you welcome them over for the holidays. Soon your home will be filled with aunts, uncles, children, grandparents and everyone else in between. Yes, having a bunch of family members…
Help Us Raise Money for Former Chronicle Critic Eric Harrison’s Funeral
As you may recall, I wrote two weeks ago about the sudden passing of Eric Harrison, former Chron critic and writer for the Los Angeles Times. I may have also mentioned how he was one of the first professionals I met in the movie writing biz, and his assistance was…
Help Us Raise Money for Former Chronicle Critic Eric Harrison’s Funeral
As you may recall, I wrote two weeks ago about the sudden passing of Eric Harrison, former Chron critic and writer for the Los Angeles Times. I may have also mentioned how he was one of the first professionals I met in the movie writing biz, and his assistance was…
A Deluxe (Inexpensive) French Brandy Choice for Drinking and Cooking
Brandy-drinking weather may be blasting into most of the country, but I’d be hesitant to declare any sort of brandy season in subtropical Houston. Still, there seems enough colder air coming deeper into the heart of Texas to demand at least one bottle of the spirit per winter, and in…
Galveston Ranked One of the 10 Destination Cities on the Rise by Website
For Houstonians, Galveston is a great weekend getaway, even a day trip. Sure, it’s a bit seedy and the water, thanks to silt from the Mississippi River, is not exactly like a tropical island unless the island is surrounded by dirty river water. But, they have some great places to…
Pop Rocks: Houston. We Have a New Dating Website
Of all the breakfasts of champions, a nice chewy bagel and a cup of Joe can really hit the spot. There is just something about the combination of those two items that screams – dating website! Wait, what? Yep. In case you haven’t had your fill of all of the…
The Rocks Off 200: DJ Main Event, Kratez Crew JumpOff Man
Welcome to The Rocks Off 200, 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 previous entries in the Rocks Off 100 at this link. One of H-Town’s…
Taste Test: Battle Low-Fat Egg Nog
Thank God egg nog rears its delicious head only around the holidays. Although I’d struggle if you asked me to drink a cup of heavy cream straight, I have no problem with guzzling an entire pint of egg nog. My cardiovascular and digestive systems, however, do not benefit from so…
It Was Inevitable: House Republicans Start Talking Impeachment
Let’s start with this: there is no chance President Obama will actually be impeached. Well, to be completely accurate, there is a very slim chance that the House, on a party line vote, impeaches the president, but there is no chance the Senate, controlled by Democrats, will vote to “convict”…
2013’s Most Memorable On-Screen Villains
2013 was a good year to be bad. This year’s best villains weren’t just goons with guns — although there were a few great examples of those. (Here’s looking at you, Sean Penn.) We also hissed at slave-owners, inventors, seducers, producers, and a couple amazing women who left an impression…
Influential California Chef Judy Rodgers Leaves Behind a Legacy of Simple Perfection
People who knew Judy Rodgers called her a fighter and a force of nature, so much of the California Bay Area food scene was shocked and saddened to learn that the 57-year-old had succumbed to a rare form of cancer on Monday, December 2. Rodgers is often mentioned in the…
Billionaire Tom Steyer Supports Obama, Hates the Keystone
Back in June, President Obama made a big environment speech at Georgetown. He tackled the Keystone XL Pipeline in said speech, proclaiming that he will only approve the pipeline if pipeline supporters can prove it won’t accelerate climate change. Well, some might have seen that speech as the president using…
100 Favorite Dishes 2013: No. 62, Korean Spiced Brisket Plate at Revival Market
This year, leading up to our annual Menu of Menus issue, Kaitlin Steinberg counts down her 100 favorite dishes as she eats her way through Houston. She’ll compile a collection of the dishes she thinks are the most awesome, most creative and, of course, most delicious in town. It’s a…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Nineteenth Century Buildings
We tend to tear buildings down here in Houston. Sadly, new construction seems to win over preservation most of the time. There are a few buildings that have stood since the 1800s in the downtown area. Some are standing empty, but several are occupied and home to offices, restaurants or…
Five Musicians You Probably Didn’t Know Are Straight-Edge
Here at Rocks Off we talk a lot about alcohol. We’ve celebrated the great drunken moments of rock stars and taken a look at those who sell their own brands of booze. There’s a reason for that old sex, drugs, and rock and roll cliché. It doesn’t apply universally. though…
Early KISStory Not All Flash Pots and Groupie Polaroids
Nothin’ to Lose: The Making of KISS (1972-1975) By Ken Sharp with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons It Books, 560 pp., $29.99 If a 500-plus page oral history about a band which only covers the period before their first hit sounds like it’s over the top, it doesn’t when you…
Gerald Clayton Trio
A fast-rising star on the jazz scene, the Netherlands-born/California-raised pianist Gerald Clayton cites his father, bassist/bandleader John Clayton, and piano great Oscar Peterson as musical influences. The three-time Grammy nominee was voted as Rising Star — Pianist in the 2010 Down Beat Critics Poll. He’ll be performing in Houston fronting…
British Arrows
Given the impact and influence television commercials have on both popular culture and product sales, it’s no wonder that directors and writers put as much thought and care into those 60-second messages as they do feature films. The British in particular produce some wildly creative spots each year, and the…
Dickens on the Strand
Galveston Island’s annual Dickens on the Strand has been a Gulf Coast holiday tradition for 40 years; that makes the island’s venerable holiday street festival older than many of the characters featured in the Charles Dickens novels it emulates. “It’s a completely different festival, 40 years later,” says Will Wright,…
Mongoose vs Cobra Reading Series
Curators/hosts Shafer Hall and Kristin Kostick wanted the Mongoose vs. Cobra Reading Series to offer bar patrons a chance to hear some of the ever-expanding poetry scene in Houston, all while being near plenty of cold beer. Poets on the podium this month include Shane Lake, a Massachusetts native pursuing…
OK Buckaroos: The Life, Music and Good Times of Jerry Jeff Walker
Patrick Tourville’s documentary film OK, Buckaroos: The Life, Music and Good Times of Jerry Jeff Walker chronicles the career of the musical maverick. In the late 1960s, Walker scored a huge hit with “Mr. Bojangles” (it’s been covered by dozens of singers from Harry Belafonte to Nina Simone to MC…
David Eagleman: Possibilianism
What to do when being an atheist, believer or agnostic doesn’t quite cover your belief system? Enter the movement of Possibilianism , a temperament based in science that allows one to hold — gasp — multiple views of life and afterlife. David Eagleman lays it all out with the talk…
My Girl Had Sex With Her Cousin. Help!
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! CLASHING WITH MY LAZY, ENTITLED BROTHER Dear Willie D On Thanksgiving Day, I got into it…
“The Gun Show”
Once a year, the Art Car Museum holds an open-call exhibit. This year’s event, “The Gun Show,” centers on firearms. Selecting a rather polarizing topic isn’t really a surprise, since the museum regularly pushes the envelope with its shows. A combination of emerging and professional (and local and national) artists…
Gus Van Sant’s Psycho Just Turned 15 — and Is More Fascinating than you Remember
Fifteen years ago (December 4, 1998) an unusual movie was released, and roundly rejected: director Gus Van Sant’s off-puttingly faithful remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Fresh off the critical and commercial success of Good Will Hunting, Van Sant could’ve tried for another feel-good hit or a high-profile for-hire gig. Instead,…
Touring Taste of Dance Salad
Christina Levin describes Touring Taste of Dance Salad Festival 2013 as “nine hours of festival footage edited down to a one-hour-long screening.” “Even in that [short amount of] time, the feeling of the Dance Salad Festival really comes through very strongly and the movie becomes a work of art that…
there is no answer as to why me: A Dance Tribute to David Rakoff
Immerse yourself in writer David Rakoff’s controversial wit and watch his stories unfold in dance, words, music and film when FrenetiCore remembers Rakoff in there is no answer as to why me: A Dance Tribute to David Rakoff. “I wanted to present a show in December that offers audiences a…
Museum of Dysfunction VI: A Showcase of Shorts
In the case of Mildred’s Umbrella’s Museum of Dysfunction VI: A Showcase of Shorts, focusing on lives gone astray just goes with the territory. The annual showcase drew from some 200 short-play submissions. A total of 20 selected works will be presented during its two-weekend run (two different sets of…
Elf, The Musical
Elf the Musical, which has just hit the regional theater market after making a ton of money in New York, tells the story of Buddy, a human child who accidentally ends up at the North Pole after crawling into Santa’s bag one Christmas. His discovery that he’s not just a…
The White Christmas Album 2
The warmth and laughter and holly jolly times of the holidays are accompanied by big-time stress. For many revelers, there’s too much food, too much drink, and way too much emotion and expectation for naughty and nice alike. In a realistic turn, The Music Box Theater’s The White Christmas Album…
The Jew Who Loves Christmas
It always seemed a little odd to Abby Koenig that her family celebrated Christmas, when her Jewish heritage indicated Hanukkah would be more appropriate. “I grew up in a fairly Jewish neighborhood and none of my Jewish friends celebrated it like we did. I always thought that made us ‘special’…
“Russian Romances from Glinka to Rachmaninoff”
Be swept away by the music of Russia when Elena Nikulshina-Fray (soprano) and Olga Zastrelkina-Szelc (piano) perform “Russian Romances from Glinka to Rachmaninoff.” Nikulshina-Fray, a native of St. Petersburg, and Zastrelkina-Szelc, who hails from Yekaterinburg, will perform a program that includes Tchaikovsky’s “Ja tebe nichego ne skazhu” (I will say…
Vote or Die: The Last VJ’s Top Five Videos of the Week
Welcome back to The Last VJ, music fans. The world continues to spin to a close as the year approaches its end. Yet even as the nights grow darker the light of the screen still beams in the best cinematic interpretations of songs at all hours of the night. Let’s…
Going Beyond the Beads at Voodoo Queen and Big Easy Social & Pleasure Club
Generally, Nightfly doesn’t see grown men order a drink simply by pointing at the menu, heads hung in shame. But from a rickety chair at Voodoo Queen (311 Milby) recently, we giggled in amusement at how often it was happening. Gentlemen beware. The frothy pineapple goodness of the bar’s cheeky…
Christian Bale and Casey Affleck Almost Save Out of the Furnace
The life of Russell Baze, a steelworker in a Pennsylvania town just outside of Pittsburgh, may be drab and dreary, but he’s a good, hardworking man with a loving girlfriend. His younger brother, Rodney, has it tougher: A war vet suffering from PTSD, he hasn’t been able to readjust to…
Topless & Dancing Those Laps
Highlights from Hair Balls Spaced City According to the Twitter feed of Janice Evans, the director of communications for Mayor Annise Parker, the city signed a deal last week that will allow “gentleman’s” clubs to go topless again and allow lap dances previously prohibited by the three-foot rule. The deal…
Too Much 77006
Only in Houston Rocks Off loves Houston’s adorably scruffy, formerly sketchy hipster ‘hood long ago known as “Neartown,” but sometimes you just have to venture beyond Allen Parkway or 59. We asked our writers exactly when they know that. • You envy the comparatively walkable sidewalks of Fallujah. • You…
Time Magazine’s ‘Gods of Food’ Feature Ignites Debate
Food Fight Time magazine recently published a feature on the 13 most influential people in the food world. The list actually included 15 people and a company, but it wasn’t the fact that Time editors seemingly can’t count that had readers, chefs, restaurateurs and just about everybody else in the food industry commenting…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Antonio Berni: Juanito and Ramona,” “Calaveras Mexicanas: The Art and Influence of Jose Guadalupe Posada,” “Funnel Tunnel,” “Nice. Luc Tuymans”
“Antonio Berni: Juanito and Ramona” Antonio Berni (1905-1981) was Argentina’s greatest 20th-century artist, a greatness recognized far beyond Argentina during his lifetime. Since his death his fame has faded, especially in North America. The exhibition “Antonio Berni: Juanito and Ramona,” on view at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is an…
Capsule Stage Reviews: A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration, Djembe and the Forest of Christmas Forgotten, Hamlet, Marie and Bruce
A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration It’s very earnest down by the banks of the Potomac on Christmas Eve, 1864. Extremely earnest. In this musical from Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive) and Daryl Waters, who arranged the numerous period carols, war anthems and pop…
Coffee and Immigrant Style
Dear Mexican, I find myself at odds with my peers because I don’t like coffee or coffee drinks. I need to find a substitute beverage that will be tasty yet somehow hip. I’ve heard that Mexicans have magical chocolate drinks called atole, champurrado and chocolate, but I don’t know what…
Real Horror: Local Filmmaker Brings the Horrific Crimes of Dean Corll to the Silver Screen
A rusty red toolbox hits the floor; the metallic instruments of torture crashing inside can barely be heard over the sounds of screams, of begging, of crying. On a large plywood board flat to the ground, two teenagers are handcuffed; ropes and other restraints snake through holes drilled in the…
Real Horror: The Players
Joe Grisaffi — Grisaffi has been on big-budget Hollywood sets like Pirates of the Caribbean and Austin Powers, but his real contribution to the world of acting is as a dedicated and constant presence in Houston as part of the local film scene. He is the director of his own…
At Ciao Bello, Eggs and Flour Combine to Create Dishes of Perfection
I knew I was in the right place. I’d come here for a reason. When I’m having one of those days that only warm carbs and cheese can solve, I seek out the best pasta in town. And Ciao Bello never disappoints. Sure enough, in a matter of minutes, the…
