Top 10 Restaurants in the Galleria Area
The Galleria has more than 26 million visitors per year. While a significant amount of those people are tourists — what wouldn’t we give to visit a city just to shop there! — many are Houstonians who gravitate toward the Uptown Park area of town for an afternoon of walking…
You Get Promised Thousands Of Wild Hogs To Kill, You Get Tame Pigs Instead
It may be difficult to believe that some internet advertising claims are exaggerated, but Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott insists such is the case in an action filed today. Worse, the victims of the alleged false claims are Texas hunters. It’s almost sacreligious.All the hunters wanted to do was nail…
Antonelli’s Cheese Shop
Specialty shops are not dead. Just ask Kendall and John of Antonelli’s Cheese Shop in Austin (4220 Duval Street). On February 11 of this year, they opened Antonelli’s Cheese Shop in the city’s famous Hyde Park area. Not to worry, Hyde Park Grill and Dolce Vita fans. Antonelli’s Cheese Shop…
Sampler Plate: This Week In Food Blogs
Each week, we put together a sampler plate of the most interesting links from both local and national food blogs. Know a blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. Flavour Boulevard: We were introduced to a new(ish) Houston food blog this…
Don’t Start A Band, Unless You Have Some Clue How To Market Yourself
Rocks Off has been bad, very bad. In our last two “Don’t Start a Band” blogs, we ragged on our bassist, our drummer and our guitarist. We meant it all in good fun, but we have yet to rag on ourselves, and that’s just not fair. So here’s to equality…
Game Time: What If Gordon Hayward’s Shot Goes In?
As sports fans, I think we probably let single events define players and coaches more than we should. In this era where we want to evaluate things quickly and neatly, it’s always easier (and oftentimes, lazier) to just let one play on a big stage define somebody. It’s clear, it’s…
Recipe: Juicy Spare Ribs
Since we had a ton of leftover barbecue sauces from our top 5 barbecue sauces post, we were eager to make something to get rid of most of these. Here is a recipe for some juicy spare ribs, made on a standard, double-burner, two-tier back-porch gas grill. We love real…
Songs We Play When We Play With Guns
After almost 27 years, Craig’s Hlist has found himself immersed in gun culture. It’s not so much a masculine phallic thing (believe us, we have questioned it), as much as it is a family bonding experience. It’s easier to go to a gun range with our family out in Pearland…
Unions Take to the Barricades For Old Teachers
Both the local AFL-CIO chapter and the Houston Federation of Teachers are urging a huge turnout at Thursday night’s Houston ISD board meeting to protest planned layoffs of teachers and other district employees in an attempt to stop what one union leader calls “this insane idea” of Superintendent Terry Grier.Richard…
Top Ten Places to Pick-up Picnic Provisions
Why does taking one’s food outside to eat it on a blanket elevate its relevance and romanticism so dramatically? Who knows, but as Houstonians, we truly relish these fleeting moments when the weather allows us to have a picnic. Here are our suggestions for ten great places to get delicious…
Alleged Aggie Doctor Brags Of Firing Obama-Voting Employee
The TexAgs political message board is probably not the best place to go for nuanced, sophisticated discussion of the day’s issues, unless you think Fox News is fair and balanced.But things can get lively. Like recently, when a poster named dermdoc put up an item headed “Laid off my first…
Blaggards Do Ireland: The Old Dublin Neighborhood, Free Drinks In Killarney
Houston Celtic rockers – “stout” Celtic rockers – the Blaggards are back on Texas soil after a weeklong tour of Ireland, where the band mixed sightseeing with a few gigs here and there. Rocks Off asked bassist Chad Smalley if he’d share a few of the band’s experiences on the…
Texas Rebate Program A Frustrating Bust
Today’s much-ballyhooed Texas Trade Up appliance rebate program is pretty much a bust for thousands of frustrated residents trying to sign-up for a chance to get money back for upgrading their home electronics for newer, more energy-efficient models.The state got $23 million in stimulus money to encourage people to get…
Buffalo Grille Migrating; Has H-E-B Become The New Bad Guy?
As reported earlier this week by the West University Examiner and Swamplot, the Buffalo Grille will be leaving its longtime location at 3116 Bissonnet. The popular restaurant has been a staple in the West University community for more than 26 years, serving simple American fare and excellent breakfasts. The news…
Yet Another Phi Slama Jama Connection For Yates High
When the Houston Press was looking for a photographer to take pictures of the Yates basketball team for this week’s cover story, “Third Ward High,” we found the perfect guy: Bryan Williams, a member of the University of Houston’s famed Phi Slama Jama basketball team. Williams played for the team…
The Hot Seat: Athena Anesti, Houston Entrepreneuress And Five-Star Chick
Writing on hip-hop, we see lots of hip-hop videos, so we see lots of video girls igniting our manly senses, but few make us want to know more about them. They’re hot. They serve their purpose. Game over. But Houston’s Athena Anesti took our damn breath away. When we recognized…
Robb Walsh’s 100 Favorite Houston Dishes #68: Indonesian Deviled Eggs at Rice Bowl II
Over the course of the next few months, I’m counting down 100 of my favorite Houston dishes. I chose some because they are such quintessential Houston creations, others for their cultural or historical significance, and others because they are just so damn tasty. Share your own nominations in the comments…
A Preview Of The 2010 WorldFest, And A Chance To Win Big And See Stuff For Free
The 43rd annual WorldFest kicks off this Friday. The “fiercely independent” film festival is one of the oldest international fests in the country, and the oldest independent festival in the world. Many directors you may have heard of received their first awards here, including Steven Spielberg, John Sayles, and the…
Tron Carruth, 30, Bayou Body Count No. 79
Sheriff’s detectives are investigating a murder that occurred near a grocery store in northwest Harris County.It happened Monday night along the 14100 block on Tomball Parkway, in the parking lot of Primos Food Store. A gun was involved, possibly two shooters, and of course, one dead body, formerly 30-year-old Tron…
Cross-Dressing In The Women’s Room? You’ll Need These Songs
God-fearing men of Houston: Mayor Annise Parker wants to banish your micturitions back to the Stone Age: “Houston’s first openly gay mayor is now being accused of opening up the women’s restroom to cross-dressing men. On Tuesday morning, the Houston Area Pastors Council issued a blistering condemnation of Mayor Annise Parker…
Ode to an Immersion Blender
In the spirit of brevity, here’s a simple list to extol the praises of the best kitchen appliance ever (at least for the price). 1. A decent one costs merely $20. Other things you could buy for $20: two combo plates (3 veggie, one meat) at Aladdin, 20 “I heart…
Sarah Vowell Comes To Beaumont (Of All Places)
Something about the idea of Sarah Vowell, that This American Life star, regular NPR contributor, droll historian, frequent Jon Stewart foil, voice of Violet of The Incredibles and all around Person Who White People Like coming to Beaumont was utterly irresistible.It seemed like the exact inverse of seeing Larry the…
Key And Kashmere Schools Got Really Creative In Faking Their Dropout Rates, HISD Says
Houston ISD is investigating more than 70 cases of falsified records in which students were recorded as transfers when they were actually dropouts, Superintendent Terry Grier told Hair Balls this morning. “It appears as if some folks were involved in fabricating requests for student records,” he said.The district has already…
Filipino Rockers Channel K Discover How To Get A Write-Up: Hurt Our Feelings
Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group “Artist of the Week,” bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn’t awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com. “I’m gonna be completely be honest and admit…
The Aeros Matt Kassian: Enforcer On The Ice, Humanitarian Off It
It’s no secret that the season has long been over for the Houston Aeros. And a March slump all but eliminated the team from the playoffs when just one short winning streak might have kept them in contention. But there have still been games to play, and after last night’s…
The Basics: How to Roast Garlic
Properly roasted garlic is a thing of beauty: golden, caramelized cloves densely packed into nature’s own suitcase and glistening with a faded sheen of olive oil. Simple, straightforward, breathtaking. But even more important than the stunning exterior is the strapping flavor. Whether spread simply on bread or glazed over meats…
Idol Beat: Lennon-McCartney, Weak
There was no mentor this week on American Idol, though I find myself pining for one when I realized that that meant this week’s taped bits would be the kind of cheesy and unfeeling montages in which the contestants talk about how much they love each other and try to…
American Idol: Lennon-McCartney, Weak
There was no mentor this week on American Idol, though I find myself pining for one when I realized that that meant this week’s taped bits would be the kind of cheesy and unfeeling montages in which the contestants talk about how much they love each other and try to…
West Texas Town Runs On Batteries. Actually, Just One Very, Very Big Battery
Outside of changing them in our car or our Fleshlight, Hair Balls never spent much time thinking about batteries. But the folks in the tiny west Texas town of Presidio owe their lives, more or less, to a gigantic, house-sized battery.Until the advent of BOB (Big Old Battery) the only…
Stirred and Shaken: Downing Street Pub’s Downing Street Draft
If you’re on a scavenger hunt and anti-Obama bathroom graffiti pops up on your list, try Downing Street Pub (2549 Kirby, 713-523-2291). The place is how you might imagine The Wall Street Journal as a bar — lousy with white collars, cigars and masculine wood (the stained kind). There’s even…
Roy Head, Sir Douglas Quintet Help SugarHill Swing Into The Psychedelic ’60s
Ed Note: All this week, to celebrate the release of Dr. Roger Wood and Andy Bradley’s new book House of Hits: The Story of Houston’s Gold Star/SugarHill Recording Studios and preview this weekend’s related festivities at Sig’s Lagoon and the Continental Club, Rocks Off and Lonesome Onry and Mean are…
The Tale Of The AstroSafari Theme Park, Revealed
A new edition of the Houston Press hits the web today, so at last it can be revealed — last week’s cover story, on the county’s plans to turn the Astrodome into a Tilman Fertitta-owned safari hunt club, was tied closely to the publication date of April 1.A lot of…
That’s One Happy Looking (Alleged) Child Molester
Doesn’t Crystal Polanco look cheery in that mugshot?Why, it’s almost like she just got finished giving alcohol to a 13-year-old kid and then sexually assaulting him.Crime Stoppers said Polanco and her husband Aaron were definitely down with the youngsters, and that’s why police on the lookout for both:”Aaron invited [the…
Two Upcoming Benefits Well Worth Your Time And Money
Magnolia City Mixtape has already reported on actor/vodka mogul/sunglasses model/blues aficionado Dan Aykyroyd’s impending visit to Houston, where he’ll serve as grand marshal in the 2010 Art Car Parade and host a night of local blues at House of Blues’ Bronze Peacock Room Saturday, May 8, a couple of times…
Yelp Announces Changes ― Are They Enough to Satisfy Class-Action Plaintiffs?
Are lawyers in the class-action suit against Yelp smelling victory? Yesterday, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman announced the user review giant would drop the “Favorite Review” feature and let readers see the reviews that would otherwise have been filtered out by its automated review filter. “Now you can take a look…
Alley Theatre’s Corin Redgrave — Yes, Of Those Redgraves — Dies At 70
Corin Redgrave, who has been a part of Alley Theatre for years, died today at the age of 70, the Alley announced.He was the son of Sir Michael Redgrave and the brother of Vanessa and Lynn RedgraveAlley chief Gregory Boyd said of Redgrave: Corin Redgrave was one of the great…
The Shameless Chef: Lemons, Lemons Everywhere
You’ll want to jam this out as you cook. It’ll make everything taste better. I had a bit of a quandary this week. I was considering two dishes for the column, but both were too simple. Yes, there is a such a thing as “too simple,” even for me, so…
Booking Mix-Up Forces Psychedelic Horsesh*t To Cancel Notsuoh Show
Antagonistic folk-punkers Psychedelic Horseshit (right) had to cancel their appearance at Notsuoh tomorrow night with Eat Grapes, The Caprolites and The Wiggins due a miscommunication with their booking people and the Houston promoter. Booking agents, you should probably tell a band, being Psychedelic Horseshit, if you have booked them a gig…
Hey, Broadway Across America Subscribers — You Might Be Getting Crummier Seats This Year
Subscribers to the Broadway Across America series began getting their renewal notices for the 2010-11 season this past weekend, and at least one of them isn’t happy.”I’ve had the same seat for four years, and now I find that I’m getting moved eight rows back,” says Valerie Gordon. “It’s not…
Earth Day Festival at Discovery Green
Earth Day came a little early for Houston this year. A festival was held at Discovery Green this past Saturday to celebrate all things environmental. The promise of free trees and farm-fresh treats lured us downtown during the day despite our mild hangover. We knew we were in for a…
Odd Pair: Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs
A peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich. That’s the way our wine guru described this week’s Odd Pair. You may be scratching your head, thinking, “How can wine and candy taste like a sandwich?” Well, surprisingly, it can. This week, we’re pairing leftover Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs with wine. Arguably…
Game Time: Mark Down “April 6,” Because I’m About To Talk Nice About Duke
With 7:10 left in last night’s men’s college basketball championship game, Duke senior guard Jon Scheyer hit two free throws to put the Duke Blue Devils up 56-51. I turned to the person next to me at the establishment where I was watching this instant classic unfold and said, “Well,…
Quickest Way To Become A Local Celebrity? Have Your Stuff Ripped Off
They say any press is good press, but Marc Brubaker might beg to differ. The Rocks Off photographer, Houstonist editor and Prairie Cadets front man who recently lost several thousand dollars in computer equipment in a burglary – but recovered his desktop the next day after tracking it down on…
The Other Menu at 888 Chinese
When we first went to 888 Chinese (403 Winkler Drive, 713-644-8888), we got vegetarian entrees, Chinese eggplant in garlic sauce (extra spicy – $8.50) and mixed vegetables with bean curd in a clay pot ($8.50). The eggplant was stellar – soft and spicy, with a hint of sweet. When we…
New On DVD: The Yes Men Fix the World
Depending on your world view, The Yes Men Fix the World, out on DVD today, is either very, very funny or really, really not funny at all. But humorous or not, it is entertaining and should be required viewing for anyone who doubts that big business is out to screw the…
Robb Walsh’s 100 Favorite Houston Dishes: #69 Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Bar at La Paletera
Over the course of the next few months, I’m counting down 100 of my favorite Houston dishes. I chose some because they are such quintessential Houston creations, others for their cultural or historical significance, and others because they are just so damn tasty. Share your own nominations in the comments…
Discount iFest Tickets Through KPFT; GaGa On Sale Next Friday; Husk Blows Away; Free Ani D Tickets & Poster Show
The 40th anniversary of iFest is coming up next weekend, and this year music from the Caribbean will be spotlighted, with headliner and President of Funkadelia George Clinton (right; no relation to that other President). KPFT is also turning 40 this year, and for a limited time KPFT listeners can…
A Jury Of Billy Joe Shaver’s Peers
Jury selection began this morning in the aggravated assault trial of country legend Billy Joe Shaver, who was charged after he shot a man in the face outside of a Lorena bar in 2007. Shaver’s attorney, Dick DeGuerin, maintains Shaver shot Billy Bryant Coker in self-defense. All Hair Balls knows…
What’s Going On In The Champagne Room?
Cha isn’t quite “officially” open yet, but that hasn’t prevented the new champagne bar from experiencing its share of issues already. A shakeup from top to bottom (the fallout from which you can read about in some rather dismal reviews on Yelp) has resulted in the upscale bar hiring on…
Rick Perry Goes After All Those NASCAR Voters Who Are Torn Between Him And Bill White
Governor Rick Perry, in a bold about-face, has decided to no longer court the Tea Party, flag-wavin’, non-Constitution-understandin’ white-man hordes, and has instead to go after the NASCAR vote.His campaign is sponsoring Bobby Labonte’s car in this weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway (the Perry campaign claims the Speedway “dds…
Recipe: Easy Bake Pulled Pork
While some have the yard, patience, knowledge and cash for a nice smoker, most will have to do it the boring, non-authentic way in the oven. This recipe is for the latter group. Once you get the recipe down, the hardest part is shopping for meat…that’s what she said. It’s…
Chandra Belton, 40, Bayou Body Count No. 78
It was drizzling in northwest Harris County when sheriff’s deputies pulled into the parking lot of the Big H Auto Auction at about 4:50 p.m. on Sunday. And it didn’t long to find what they were looking for.There, sprawled out on the blacktop, was a woman. She had been shot…
Blaggards Do Ireland: First Stop, The Guinness Factory And Phil Lynott Statue; Three Encores At First Dublin Gig
Houston Celtic rockers – “stout” Celtic rockers – the Blaggards are back on Texas soil after a weeklong tour of Ireland, where the band mixed sightseeing with a few gigs here and there. Rocks Off asked bassist Chad Smalley if he’d share a few of the band’s experiences on the…
Pastors Warn Houstonians: Ladies, Get Ready For All Those Men In Your Restrooms
An “inter-racial, inter-denominational” coalition of Houston-area pastors is sounding the alarm that Houston women will soon be facing a barrage of penises in their public restrooms.The culprit, of course, is Mayor Annise Parker, who they say they just knew would do this kind of thing, and didn’t take long doing…
Easter Durians
Since we were having a small Easter barbecue, we decided to change things up a bit for our adventurous friends. We’ve had durian before, but we always pick up a frozen fruit to share. Frozen durians smell kind of like watermelon jolly ranchers, and there is a window while they…
“Hood Politician” Delo Chooses A Cabinet Of H-Town Rappers
The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place -lots of times, you’re even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good- so once a week we’re going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Have something you always wanted to ask…
Pop Rocks: Five Fictional Pedophiles Who Could Teach The Vatican A Thing Or Two
It’s hard out here for a priest. The sex-abuse scandals rocking the Roman Catholic Church refuse to go away, with more cases coming to light and casting doubt on the actions of those in the highest offices of the Vatican, including Big Pope-a himself: Critics have charged that Pope Benedict…
Dinner at the New Brennan’s
The best restaurants — like the best old friends — change over time and are always there when you need them. When Brennan’s was destroyed by fire in 2008, it was as if we lost a confidant, a warm soul that had been a part of our Houston family since…
Distant Early Warning: Colbie Caillat, Cyndi Lauper, Delta Spirit, Jerry Jeff Walker, Knitters, Nas, Supersuckers, Etc.
America: Fri., June 25. Stafford Centre. American Sharks, Scorpion Child, Betaplayer: Thu., April 22. Boondocks. Cyndi Lauper: Thu., Aug. 12. House of Blues. Colbie Caillat: Fri., Aug. 27. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Delta Spirit, David Vandervelde, The Romany Rye: Wed., July 16. Mango’s. “Down Home Texas Blues Harmonica Festival” With…
Metro Employees Go To Court Over No-Overtime Rules
The lawyer representing two Metro employees in a pending lawsuit believes that the agency has cheated hundreds of its workers in the last couple of years, not paying them for the work they do. Now he wants those employees to come forward. “I could win this lawsuit nine ways to…
Coogs Stumble As Rice Begins To Find Its Footing
It’s a good day to be a baseball fan in Houston. The Astros are hosting the Giants at Minute Maid Park, the University of Houston is hosting Sam Houston State at Cougar Field, and the Rice Owls are hosting Dallas Baptist at Reckling Park.It’s tempting to recommend the major league…
Where Are We Drinking?
The drinks below might not look alcoholic, but that’s where you’d be wrong (and where you might also end up being booked into the Mykawa substation that night after consuming too many of these and trying to walk naked down the light rail line — not that this has happened…
SugarHill (Actually Gold Star) In the ’50s, The Decade It Became A House Of Hits
[Ed Note: All this week, to celebrate the release of Dr. Roger Wood and Andy Bradley’s new book House of Hits: The Story of Houston’s Gold Star/SugarHill Recording Studios and preview this weekend’s related festivities at Sig’s Lagoon and the Continental Club, Rocks Off and Lonesome Onry and Mean are…
Still Recovering From Ike, Galveston Ponders A $35 Million High School Stadium
Illustration courtesy GISDThe residents of Galveston Island, still trying to recover from Hurricane Ike, have a decision to make: whether a $34.9 million new multipurpose stadium is worth an approximate 11 cents pday tax increase.The new stadium, proposed by the Galveston Island Independent School District, would replace their current 61-year…
Leftover Eggs Three Ways
If you’re like us, you may be finding yourself with an abundance of hardboiled eggs now that Easter is over. We went to the trouble of using organic, cage-free eggs, dying them naturally, and keeping them refrigerated as much as possible, so now that the little ones (and some bigger…
You Can Fight City Hall Over A Parking Ticket, But It’s A Pain In the Ass
Gordon Ducoff was taking a quick trip to the doctor on Binz street southwest of downtown for a blood test. He put enough in the old-fashioned meter to cover an hour and a half.He came out 20 minutes later to find he had a ticket.Bad enough, but then he started…
Aftermath: VNV Nation Cry Victory, Not Vengeance, At Wired Live
When two skanks are grinding on each other in the front row, and the audience cares not at all because they can’t take their eyes off the band on stage, that’s a good show. VNV Nation is an act that has been fermenting a strange and heady vintage of electronica…
Game Time: Prediction Monday — Men’s Hoops Finals And The Astros’ 2010 Season
NCAA MEN’S HOOPS FINALS (Butler vs Duke, 8:21 PM tip-off)When I ranked the list of NCAA Finals permutations from “Most Compelling” to “Least Compelling” in this space last week, I had Butler vs Duke ranked as the most compelling. The figurative “Cinderella” (although let’s not forget that Cinderella was favored…
Recipe: Banana Bread
Last week, Becky Means shared her mom’s recipe for banana bread. This week, we try something different. Anne Byrn, better known as the Cake Mix Doctor, has been helping people turn box cake mix into homemade goodies for over ten years. She has almost a cult following, with roughly 3…
The Opening Day Street Festival Is in Full Swing
It’s not just a nice day out — it’s a nice Opening Day. And the street festival in front of Minute Maid Park is already in full swing.A ton of Clear Channel radio stations are on hand, there are interactive games, Junction Jack is walking around, and later this afternoon…
Neil Young Said To Be Playing Jones Hall June 4 With Folk Legend Bert Jansch
UPDATE (12:32 p.m.): Now Rolling Stone is reporting Houston has been added to the tour, so it MUST be true. UPDATE 2 (3:17 p.m.): Confirmed via press release from Young’s label, Reprise Records. It’s definitely happening. Ticket on-sale date still TBD. USA Today’s “LifeLine Live” blog reported Monday morning that…
The Ron Paul Minions Get Greedy
FLASH ALERT from the Lew Rockwell blog, home to all things libertarian: Ron Paul, the Thomas Jefferson/John Adams/Solomon of our benighted day, needs your help.Warmonger Michael McCaul is gaining on Ron Paul in the final bracket of the Houston Chronicle’s online poll to determine the most effective congressman in Texas…
Cashville Latino Anthem Makes a Cultural Statement; Dat Boi T Has A “Cracc Flow”
Whether they know it or not, the recently released “Cashville Latino Anthem” music video by the Seis Uno Cinco, ten Latino hip-hop artists out of Nashville (yeah, we said Nashville), could make a bigger statement outside the 615 area code, than the self-proclaimed impact of a “movement that is bound…
Gluten-Free Mac & Cheese
This is the last of the gluten-free posts — at least for a while. I still have a few random GF products laying around my pantry, but as they’re just some standard bags of rice pasta, I’m not too worried about how they’ll turn out. Anyway, when I cover them…
Slide Show: Alicia Keys And Robin Thicke At Toyota Center
If time is indeed money, occasionally the amount of time reviewers can spend waiting for artists’ management to approve our requests for tickets and photo passes can add up to more than if we’d actually paid for them ourselves. That’s what happened over the weekend, as Rocks Off waited (and…
The Weirdest Astros Videos On The Net, Starring A Drunk Charlie Kerfield And Phil Garner Hawking Burger King
As Houstonians, we have all grown accustomed to encountering each new Astros season with a slight cringe, all the while keeping our fingers crossed behind our back. There is always a chance that this could be “our” year, but we know better than to put all our chips in with…
Post Race Bonanza: Four the Park Fun Run
The Four the Park fun run is certainly not the most challenging race I’ve ever participated in, but the four-mile run, now in its second year, does go towards a good cause — the $30 registration fee benefits the Memorial Park Conservancy. But my motives for running in the race…
For Opening Day: The Worst Pregame Renditions Of The National Anthem Ever
You can be forgiven for not realizing Opening Day for baseball season was here already (yesterday, in fact). Maybe you’ve been too busy cursing the guy in your NCAA tournament pool that filled out his brackets using the coin-flip method and ended up with Butler in the championship. Maybe you’re…
Rice Village’s Variety Fair To Shutter After Six-Plus Decades
After 61 years on Rice Boulevard, the Village’s Variety Fair 5 and 10 is closing. Co-owner Cathy Irby tells Hair Balls that she hopes the store will be empty by June 30, when their current lease runs out.”This is something that we’ve been on the fence with for many years,…
Giving Bob’s Another Go
Last week, I was — to put it mildly — disappointed with the way my gluten-free pancakes had turned out after testing out a Bob’s Red Mill GF pancake mix. I tried (and failed) at explaining that out of curiosity, I’d decided to cut gluten out of my diet for…
ZZ On NPR — Everyone In Houston Has A Story About Them
A few weeks after they taped the show when it came here, you can listen to the bearded ones of ZZ Top as they play “Not My Job” on NPR’s Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me.”Were three guys; we know three chords,” Dusty Hill says of recording the group’s new album.”Everyone…
Aftermath: Reborn Punk Rock Karaoke Is Promising, Perhaps At Another Venue
Friday night’s live-band Punk Rock Karaoke renaissance at Notsuoh on Main didn’t draw a ridiculously large crowd, but it did show incredible promise. The night had been on hiatus for the better part of a decade but has made a return to the Houston stage just in time for what…
Robb Walsh’s 100 Favorite Houston Dishes: #70 The Big Adrian Burger at Adrian’s Local Café, 1730 Jefferson
Over the course of the next few months, I’m counting down 100 of my favorite Houston dishes. I chose some because they are such quintessential Houston creations, others for their cultural or historical significance, and others because they are just so damn tasty. Share your own nominations in the comments…
More Breaking Touring News: Vans Warped Tour 2010 Houston Stop Includes Andrew WK, All-American Rejects, Etc.
Earlier today, Sam Houston Race Park announced the Houston date for this year’s edition of the Vans Warped Tour. The long-running punk-rock/emo summer tour hits the northwest side July 2. Start hydrating now. The festival has been humming since its initial regional start in 1995 in Southern California. Today it…
Two Unidentified Men, 24 & 30, Bayou Body Count Nos. 76 & 77
At a little before 11 p.m. on Thursday, two men were sitting in a car in southwest Houston. What they were doing there or what they were discussing is unknown, but they were about to be rudely interrupted.Out of the darkness of night, a pair of men with guns crept…
Random Ingredient of the Week: Farofa
What is it? Toasted manioc flour used as a condiment in South American and West African cooking. It is very popular in Brazilian cuisine. Manioc is also known as tapioca, yuca, cassava or casaba. What is it used for? Farofa is typically used as an accompaniment to Brazilian home cooking,…
Everyone’s Packing Up Their U-Haul And Moving To Houston
Houston is the top U.S. city for people relocating with U-Hauls, the company announced today.Last year we were second to Atlanta, but that city has dropped off the face of the earth, probably because it has too many Braves fans, coming in only seventh this year.More than 1 million U-Haul…
Aftermath: Black Joe Lewis And Little Joe Washington Steam Up Walter’s
Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears played Walter’s Friday night, fresh off half a dozen gigs at SXSW last month, including a high-profile show with soul father Smokey Robinson. The Houston gig was smoky in its own way, with Lewis and band debuting a few new songs and openers Grandfather…
The Official 2010 Astros Preview, And It Ain’t Pretty
So it’s Opening Day today, a day generally reserved for baseball optimism. Unless you live in Pittsburgh or Kansas City, or…Houston. I know that Lance Berkman thinks that this team can compete, but seeing as how the Big Puma is starting the season on the disabled list with a balky…
Happy Hour Scene: Brixx
It wasn’t too long ago that we decided to stay away from Washington Avenue for a while, but for whatever reason, last week we were there, driving around for 30 minutes until, defeated, we spent $10 to park. But the reason for the return, we thought, was a good one…
Slim Thug, Texas Takeover, Bun B, Mack 10 Vs. Ice Cube, Rappers on Twitter, Erykah Badu, Z-Ro, Freck Billionaire, Etc.
Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off’s weekly rap post. It probably won’t rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: “Callin’ My Phone,” Slim Thug feat. Slim Wire to Wire Texas Takeover is doing an NCAA-style bracket pairing Houston…
The Week In TV: The Walking Dead (The New Series, Not Charlie Sheen)
I’m slightly sunburned, spoiled by three-day weekends, and trying to figure out whether I want an iPad. This was the week in TV Land: • So, the iPad came out, as you have heard about from every news outlet imaginable, and several TV apps have already been announced. Yahoo’s entertainment…
House of Hits’ First Hit: Harry Choates’ Cajun National Anthem “Jole Blon”
All this week, Lonesome Onry and Mean will be blogging about House of Hits, the new book by Dr. Roger Wood and SugarHill Studios engineer Andy Bradley. A complete and well-annotated history of Gold Star/SugarHill, the oldest continuously operating recording studio in the U.S., the book is a trove of…
Where Are We Eating?
Houston has so many burgers and so many burger joints — how can you tell one burger from another? Here are some hints for you today: This burger is served with barbecue sauce, bacon and your choice of cheese. We chose cheddar for ours, and subbed the regular fries for…
For Opening Day: Five Terrific Baseball Movies, None Of Which Star Kevin Costner
Opening Day is finally here, and we can once again try to resolve our love/hate relationship with the Houston Astros.As of this writing, they are undefeated, so — so far, so good.Baseball, for all its problems, has long had an unbreakable hold on Americans. So have movies. So here are…
Who Needs The Hill Country? Check Out Houston’s Wildflowers
The Texas Hill Country has arrived in Houston — at least in the form of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes. Patches of wildflowers can be spotted in green spaces along highways and in parks throughout the city.Volunteers of the City of Houston seeded 50 acres of land last September in the…
Fails Of The Week: Glastonbury “Ice Ice Baby,” Sony “No Beyonce On YouTube,” Fat Mike The Peeing Clown And… Bono
If you’re reading this, you’re either on the Internet, or else you’ve mastered multi-dimensional thought-projection processes that would make Michio Kaku cry like a little girl. We’ll assume the former, and just in case you don’t already know, the Internet has decided that the word “failure” is too long by…
This Week in Deliciousness
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, the only food blog on the Internet that bothered to stencil obscene words onto our dyed Easter eggs. If you care enough, you put in the work, people. This week started off with a “bleh” as we sampled some…
Upcoming Events
Here’s your chance to not only taste some of the best bourbon cocktails and bourbon-infused dishes in the city, but to meet — yes, face-to-face — the recently departed Robb Walsh. The long-awaited Bourbon Throwdown is this Monday, April 12, at Branchwater Tavern starting at 5 p.m. The fifth such…
Brujeria: Dammit, We Should Have Paid More Attention In Spanish Class
Have you ever noticed how extreme music with vocals in another language sound way more menacing than they do in boring old English? The English version of Rammstein’s single “Du Hast” pales compared to the original German one. In English, it’s just another whiney nu-metal love song, but in its…
Stages Theatre: Playing a Drama Queen in Speech & Debate
What Ashtyn Sonner likes about playing drama queen Diwata in Speech & Debate now playing to all-round good reviews at Stages Repertory Theatre is that it “nice to see someone dealing with the issues we’re actually dealing with.” The Sam Houston University senior said she got the part by responding…
Wine of the Week: Easter Wines
Easter is only a few days away. We know observant Catholics cannot wait to re-indulge in what they sacrificed for Lent, whether it’s dessert, alcohol or Facebook. Easter can’t come fast enough for some. And since they’re probably not thinking straight with all the sacrificing, we’ve taken the guesswork out…
A Man’s Meal at The Rockwood Room
Rumors have been swirling for weeks of The Rockwood Room’s imminent demise. Yet a dinner at the swanky, Rat Pack-y joint on Wednesday night left me not only curious about the basis of these rumors, but also pleased by a meal fit for Frank Sinatra. The first time I tried…
Go On & Do Your Thing Saturday With Scott McCurry & The Mercenaries
After David Gray last month, Rocks Off has a newfound appreciation for blue-eyed singer-songwriter soul. So if Midlake is a little too fey for you, and Alicia Keys a little too pricey, allow us to introduce you to North Texas’ Scott McCurry & the Mercenaries, whom their hometown daily The…
Game Time: Yeah, My Bracket Blows, But At Least I’m Not This Guy
Sometimes I forget that the cushy little sports world I live in is not the end-all and be-all. For the better part of the last two weeks, it has felt like everything was crashing down around me as housewives and receptionists everywhere had outpicked me on their March Madness brackets…
Always Hungry Hits Houston
When Jeff Zalaznick came up with the name for his blog-cum-restaurant search engine, he christened it the fitting “Always Hungry.” The New York City-based website aggregates the best that the city’s restaurants have to offer, culminating in useful sections like “Top 5,” where Zalaznick and crew have listed the best…
HISD Trustee Manuel Rodriguez Sends Out Letter Defending CEP
Houston ISD board member Manuel Rodriguez has sent out “an open letter to the Taxpayers of HISD” in which he defends the private firm Community Education Partners’ operation of its two alternative schools in Houston.HISD Superintendent Terry Grier has proposed ending the contract with CEP, saying it costs the district…
Your Chance To Star In A Movie About The Demise Of AstroWorld
AstroWhirled by David Morris Purdie. It’s a taste of what you’ll see at his upcoming screening/shooting. Come be a part of a movie screening in which you are the star. Local filmmaker David Morris Purdie is hosting a screening of scenes from a yet-to-be-completed documentary about the demolition of AstroWorld,…
How Ex-Runaways Manager Kim Fowley Stole The Mayor Of The Sunset Strip
The Runaways opens nationwide next Friday and one of the things Hollywood Shuffle is most looking forward to when the film hits Houston theaters is how delicately director Floria Sigismondi will treat the character of Kim Fowley, whom HS likes to refer to as the Creepiest Man in Hollywood. Hey!…
Feds Sue Houston Maker Of Egg Rolls For Health Violations
Chung’s Egg Rolls of Houston says their egg rolls are of “gourmet quality,” but now they’re being sued by the federal government over claims of unsanitary conditions at their plant.Chung’s is one of the major makers of frozen egg rolls in the country, but the Food & Drug Administration is…
A Living Dead Doll And Her Pentatonic Pirates: Meet Silenced Within
Rocks Off is on a continued quest to inject as much local music into Gothtopia as possible, which is why we’re please to announce the return of Ex-Voto. Larry Rainwater and Spleen, who make up two-thirds of Ex-Voto’s death-rocky goodness and who were married last Halloween, have moved back to…
The Best Roadfood of All…
This past weekend a few of us took to the streets to savor the Roadfood Festival over in New Orleans. What is it? Roadfood spotlights the fantastic regional dishes found along our American roads and highways — in small towns, along railroad tracks, and in our neighborhoods. The festival brought…
Havin’ Fun With Killin’ Jesus: Five Movies To Celebrate Your Good Friday
If you noticed a lack of traffic today and wondered why, you’re a heathen.It’s Good Friday, man. You should be out celebrating. Celebrating the sadistic killing of some guy who did nothing wrong, except maybe violate some liquor laws by turning water into wine.The Crucifixion (and subsequent Resurrection) has long…
Robb Walsh’s 100 Favorite Houston Dishes: #71 Paella at Rioja on Kirkwood
Over the course of the next few months, I’m counting down 100 of my favorite Houston dishes. I chose some because they are such quintessential Houston creations, others for their cultural or historical significance, and others because they are just so damn tasty. Share your own nominations in the comments…
Aftermath: Steel Panther On The Hair-Metal Prowl At House Of Blues
As this morning has progressed, Aftermath is starting to slowly piece together exactly what Steel Panther did to us last night at the House Of Blues. Thank God we brought a camera. For one, we can’t hear really well, which is a sign that the music was nice and loud…
Bartender Chat: Mike Kurth of Cork Soakers
Six weeks ago, the owners of Lucky’s Pub on St. Emanual opened Cork Soakers wine bar across the street from Lucky’s. A wine bar opened by sports bar owners? Yeah, we were curious, too. “The owners wanted to open a laid-back, unpretentious wine bar where people could come in wearing…
Unidentified Man, Bayou Body Count No. 75
It’s another verse to the same ol’ song: A man was shot to death in Houston and no one seems to know who done it.At about 7 p.m. on Wednesday, someone near MacGregor Park flagged down a patrol officer and said that a man has been killed at a nearby…
Aftermath: Wild Moccasins Hit The Highway At Full Speed At Walter’s
It’s no longer acceptable to call the Wild Moccasins “cute.” The Houston quintet still does cute things, like toss wads of paper back and forth with the crowd and shower them with Silly String during their set, but they no longer have to get by on charm and enthusiasm alone…
FotoFest: Untitled by Rodolfo Hernandez
Weird, isn’t it? It looks like a person that’s been taken apart and then reassembled incorrectly. It’s Untitled by Houston photographer Rodolfo Hernandez and currently on display at Talento Bilingue as part of their FotoFest 2010 Biennial show, “OPUS Autonomia.” One of the best things about FotoFest is discovering a…
Punk Rock Karaoke Returns Tonight At Notsuoh
If you have ever dreamed of being in a punk band, or at least dreamed of embarrassing yourself in front of people you may be trying to sleep with, Notsuoh has you covered tonight, hosting the resurrection of live-band Punk Rock Karaoke. About six years ago, PRK was in full-swing…
Recipe: Cordero Andaluz
What’s an Easter meal without a little baa? If you’re looking to change it up from the traditional roasted lamb dish, try this recipe for Andalusian Lamb, which has an incredibly robust, unique flavor. It pairs perfectly with the Moros y Cristianos recipe we posted yesterday. Be adventurous and serve…
Worst Dad Ever (Featuring Beyonce)
Watch this video (via entertainmentweekly.com). If you’re at work and YouTube is blocked, bookmark it and watch when you get home. OK, here’s a synopsis: Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” comes on the radio. Kids in back, including boy toddler in car seat, love it and begin…
Dynamo Win On Penalty Kicks, Lose Brian Ching
The Houston Dynamo came out victorious Thursday night in another weird game against Real Salt Lake. Brad Davis knocked down two penalty kicks just three minutes apart to give the Orange a 2-1 win against the defending MLS Cup champions.In the 52nd minute, RSL defender Jamison Olave took down a…
One Man’s 2010 Baseball Predictions (Cover Your Eyes, Astro Fans)
The major league baseball season officially starts this weekend with two so-called major league teams playing on Sunday night (New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox). I was going to try and do a little Astros preview for today, but they’re still trying to figure out who exactly is healthy…
Grammatically Impaired Commenters Defend “Scareface” From Perez Hilton
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we’ll examine a recent bit of music news and, albeit sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. On Monday, we linked to a video of Scarface talking with MTV.com about his forthcoming mixtape, a fairly noteworthy…
Health Dept. Roundup: 77072-77076
This week on Health Department Roundup, we trek through zip codes 77072-77076, a scattered area including Alief, the area around Houston Baptist University, and pockets near Hobby and Bush airports. A March 20 pre-opening inspection at the Maxim Club (11360 Bellaire Blvd. in 77072) found insects were not prevented from…
Docket Call At The Criminal Courthouse: Double Whammy Nightmare
The daily docket-call clusterfuck at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center is an old story. It’s been pretty bad ever since the new building opened, but some attorneys are saying that the situation is now worse than ever. It’s actually not one but two clusterfucks. The first roils outside the…
What? The Fort Bend School District Is Looking At Cutting Back On Instruction Days?
If there’s one thing Houston school district superintendent Terry Grier likes to do, it’s hold meetings. Marathon meetings.At today’s get-together with the school board, a whole slew of various subjects came up.As he was talking about budget cuts and how HISD plans to deal with them, Grier took some time…
Play Ball! Baseball Songs Even A Non-Sports Fan Can Love
Sports aren’t really She Said’s thing, though she does like to watch games where there’s a lot at stake emotionally (Super Bowl XLIV) and she nearly always roots for the underdog. Mostly, she really enjoys the speed of college basketball, and the nostalgia of baseball. She Said’s dad is by…
UH Fans Welcome (To A Degree) New Hoops Coach James Dickey
Well, Houston Cougar basketball fans. It’s official. The new head coach of the men’s basketball is James Dickey, former head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and for most of this past decade, either an assistant coach to Eddie Sutton at Oklahoma State or doing TV analysis work.The announcement…
Bobby Heugel’s Weekly Cocktail: The Last Word
Murray Stenson is arguably America’s greatest bartender. The man is a legend not only in Seattle, where he mans the bar at Zig Zag Café, but across the country. While the classic cocktail movement has gained in popularity and attention over the past few years, Murray has been making classic…
Recipe: Mom’s Banana Bread
This is Mom’s banana bread, which she created when she was craving sweet things while on Weight Watchers. It has a nice, dark texture versus store-bought banana bread, and it keeps you fuller longer because of the extra fiber. The recipe, after the jump…
Lawyers Who Filed Racism Suits Against Dillard’s Owe The Company $143K, Court Rules
Local attorneys Cletus Ernster III and Damon Chargois were in the forefront of lawyers suing the department store chain Dillard’s on claims of racism, a story we wrote about back in 2004.They said their black customers were unfairly targeted by store security, and treated roughly in any incidents. Some customers…
Play Ball! Songs That Distract Us From The Astros’ Impending Disappointment
This week’s He Said She Said is brought to you by the Houston Astros and the letter “D,” which stands for disappointment. No other thing in He Said’s life, other than a woman, has brought more sadness and dysfunction. But at least the Astros have never broken off an engagement…
Headed to Round Top?
Best known for its twice-a-year Antiques Fairs — the largest of which takes place this weekend — Round Top is a tiny pinhead on the Texas map, a laid-back country town with a picturesque square and sweet-as-pie people. There’s even a sign posted (at Royer’s Round Top Café) that says…
Pre-K In Danger, Tax Rolls Down, HISD Looks For The Rabbit In The Hat
Houston ISD’s tax rolls look to be down 4.32 percent in the next year, with a loss of almost $5 billion in assessed values for 2011 over 2010. Most of the lost money is coming from lowered commercial property values, with the least decrease among residential property owners.Things could be…
Wowee Zowee! Summerfest and Pegstar Do It Again!
Since the Summerfest 2010 announcement in February, Houston has been abuzz about the festival’s line-up, heading up the Flaming Lips and Girl Talk. Word came down last night that another name has been added to the list of headliners. Let’s just say that you summer babes may have to cut…
Recipe: Moros y Cristianos
My family is very fond of this dish, which is simply black beans and white rice cooked up together with a bunch of Latin spices. We have served it on many holidays, and have decided to include it on Easter brunch menu this year. Growing up, I didn’t much care…
Game Time: Cheer Up Coogs Fan, There’s Still A Chance Mack Rhoades Just Has A Killer Sense Of Humor
Today is the first day of the Shell Houston Open. If you remember, last year the first day had to be postponed because of some nasty winds that had blown into the Houston area. Suffice it to say that if there is a strong breeze in the Houston area on…
Robb Walsh’s 100 Favorite Houston Dishes: #72 The Basil Inferno at Thai Bistro
Over the course of the next few months, I’m counting down 100 of my favorite Houston dishes. I chose some because they are such quintessential Houston creations, others for their cultural or historical significance, and others because they are just so damn tasty. Share your own nominations in the comments…
Allergic To Myself: Songs Guaranteed Not To Make You Sneeze
If you’re new to Houston, you may be wondering what all that yellow crap on your car (and on the road, and in your hair…) is. Well, it’s oak pollen, and along with sweltering humidity, infuriating traffic, and the occasional hurricane, it’s one of the things that makes living here…
HISD’s Very Own Blackboard Jungle
Fondren Middle School is “a blackboard jungle. The efforts that are required there are Herculean…The kids at Fondren have to learn how to come to school and where the school is located.”Trustee Larry Marshall, not known for mincing words when he considers something unacceptable (famous Larry Marshall mantra heard at…
Wine of the Week: Joan D’Anguera La Planella Montsant 2007
The other week, we attended a wine tasting at Houston Wine Merchants. That Friday, they were featuring Priorat wines from Spain. If you haven’t heard of the Priorat wine region, you’re not alone. This was our first time tasting them, too. However, we didn’t leave Houston Wine Merchants with a…
Get In The Ring: How 7 Wrestlers Match Up With Their Rock-Star Lookalikes
While rock stars wrestle with their inner demons, the performers of the WWE wrestle with other people. A rock star may cut himself because he just needs to feel something; a wrestler will cut himself because it’s the championship pay-per-view event and needs to look more intense. The rock stars…
Man Sues Over (Allegedly) Finding A Rat’s Head In His Beer
Probably the worst thing that could happen when you’re knocking back a cool, refreshing Tecate Light is to suddenly realize you mistakenly grabbed a Milwaukee’s Best. Probably the second-worst thing would be to find a rat head floating at the top.It’s the second scenario that Everett Johnston of Colleyville said…
Note To Thieves: People You Rob Use Craigslist Too
Wednesday morning, we told you about Rocks Off photog Marc Brubaker, who was the victim of a robbery at his Denver Harbor home. In the robbery he lost two Macs and a printer, all three things that he uses to do photography for us at Rocks Off and his own…
Shrimp and Grits, Mexican-Style
I passed a very pleasant lunch hour at Yelapa Playa Mexicana on Wednesday afternoon, drinking iced tea at the bar and lingering over my dish of shrimp and grits, one of the newest additions to the pan-Mexican menu. One of Robb Walsh’s 100 favorite dishes in Houston is the shrimp…
Desmond Alexander, 25, Bayou Body Count No. 74
Some homicides are simple. And sometimes the cops don’t know that much, so there’s not a lot of info. This is both. At about 2 a.m. on Wednesday, 25-year-old Desmond Alexander was shot dead along the 9000 block of Edgar in south Houston near Sunnyside. Patrol officers simply found him…
Y’all Musta Forgot: Big Mello’s Bone Hard Zaggin’
Houston’s history is dotted with albums that, fairly or not, have been swept aside. We’ll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. Big Mello Bone Hard Zaggin’ (Rap-A-Lot/Priority, 1992) Big Mello is a throwback Rap-A-Lot act, most famous for repping Hiram…
Keith Olbermann Apologizes For His Melanie Lawson Clip
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economyAs we noted before, at least one viewer was highly upset when Fox News aired a clip that was all over the net showing KTRK anchor Melanie Lawson falling off her chair. She demanded an apology; this site, which…
Top 10 Foods to Use to Dye Your Easter Eggs Naturally
This time of year, the stores are inundated with tons of egg coloring kits containing all sorts of artificial dyes and decorations to delight our whimsical fancies. These kits can be tons of fun and often impart great uniform color to the eggs. However, it seems that lately more and…
Astros Opening Day Lineup: Who The Hell Are These Guys?
Next Monday brings the Opening Day of baseball season, and while Astro hopes aren’t high, as announced previously we’ve decided to take a sunny — some would say Panglossian — attitude towards the whole thing.That may be tough to do, given what were told is a reliable guess at that…
Idol Beat: Release The Kraken!
Last night’s American Idol results show was present in association with Warner Bros.’ Clash of the Titans, and the intro featured — I swear — movie footage and text like “Heroes are not born, they are made,” as if these kids aren’t just trying to land a record contract but…
American Idol: Release The Kracken!
Last night’s American Idol results show was present in association with Warner Bros.’ Clash of the Titans, and the intro featured — I swear — movie footage and text like “Heroes are not born, they are made,” as if these kids aren’t just trying to land a record contract but…
SWEET MOTHER OF GOD!!!
We know, we know. Freaky, huh? That ain’t an April Fool’s joke either – it’s real. When a friend emailed us that picture Wednesday, Rocks Off knew we had to share it with you, but it took a while for us to come up with the proper musical context. Although…
Mochi Waffles with Lemon- and Ginger-Scented Maple Glazed Walnuts
Mochi (pronounced mo-chee) is a traditional Japanese food made from a special short-grain sweet brown rice. The rice is steamed and pounded into a nutty, chewy dense square that can then be baked or pan-fried. After being inspired by Alicia Silverstone’s Vegan Bible: The Kind Diet, I decided to try…
Pop Rocks: Just Create A Sex-Tape Channel Already
The celebrity world was rocked yesterday by news that country singer Mindy McCready’s sex tape was about to hit the streets. Okay, maybe “rocked” is the wrong word. How about “briefly distracted from Kate Gosselin’s behavior on Dancing with the Stars?” Time was, a sex-tape scandal was cause for much…
UH Makes An Odd Choice For Its Basketball Program
When Tom Penders resigned last week, University of Houston Athletic Director Mack Rhoades made it clear that he was looking for more than just a head coach of the basketball team. He was looking for a partner. Somebody who would not only turn the team into a winner, but would…
“Perspectives: An Intercultural View on American Values”
Photographer Joe Baraban went window shopping for the works he presents in “Perspectives: An Intercultural View on American Values.” Literally. Baraban says, “For the past two and a half years, I’ve traveled around the state looking at and photographing old windows…” Baraban says he’s less interested in the architectural details…
The Pot That Juan Built
You’ve heard of the story This Is the House that Jack Built? Now it’s time to see The Pot that Juan Built. Based on the story of Juan Quezada, one of the most well-known artisans in Mexico, who changed his poverty-stricken village into a prosperous artists’ community, The Pot that…
Easter Orange Hunt
Lore has it that we have the Zoroastrians (a religious sect dating back to 5 BCE) to thank for instigating the phenomenon of gathering eggs at Easter. They collected and painted them to celebrate spring. If any organization can actually introduce a new angle to a tradition that old, it’s…
The 2010 New Play Reading Series: The Road to Home
Based on the book by the same name, Vanessa Del Fabbero’s play The Road to Home is the story of two South African women who share some time in a hospital ward. Monica, a white woman, is a journalist who was wounded while tracking down a story; Ella, a black…
“Manipulation”
In case you haven’t made your plans to celebrate Asian Heritage Month, here’s a suggestion: the “Manipulation” art exhibit currently at the JPMorgan Chase building. Beth Secor, a Houston native and popular local artist, curated the show, which includes charcoal drawings from Chinese-born, now Houston-based Stephen Sumrall Orsak, who, at…
David Corbett: Do They Know I’m Running?
Roque Montalvo is about as unlucky as he can get in David Corbett’s new novel Do They Know I’m Running? The 18-year-old has lost both his parents and is living in California with an aunt who cares for his brother, an ex-Marine who was seriously injured in Iraq. When his…
Edward Hirsch: The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems
The latest work by Edward Hirsch, The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, was released less than a month ago and has already won ardent fans. With pointed lines like, “Forgive me, faith, for never having any,” it’s easy to see why. His narratives discuss relationships (often his own, failed…
In the Heights
New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood called Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2008 In the Heights a “scrappy little musical about chasing your dreams and finding your true home.” The winner of four Tony Awards, the play is set in Manhattan’s mostly Hispanic neighborhood of Washington Heights and tells the story of…
Lisa Lutz: The Spellmans Strike Again
Industry magazine Publishers Weekly called author Lisa Lutz’s four Spellman novels “a series that keeps getting better.” The books, which are as well known for their bright, sharp comedy as for their stylish, fun attitude, have an off-beat premise Ñ that the Spellman family is made up almost entirely of…
Houston 48 Hour Film Showcase
Read in deep, movie guy voice: In a town full of aspiring filmmakers, one contest determines who among them can work best under a deadline. Stop. The 48 Hour Film Project gives local camera-heads a weekend to write, act and edit a short film. The best entries – as determined…
Dance Salad Festival 2010
For those who believe the mind needs as much nourishment as the body, the Dance Salad Festival 2010 is about the most well-rounded cultural offering in town. Now in its 15th year in Houston, the three-day performance series unites troupes as disparate as they are extraordinary, including the Norwegian National…
Andrew Karnavas & Nick Gaitan
A few weeks before the proper album release party for his solo Film Noir (April 24, Continental Club), Runaway Sun front man Andrew Karnavas debuts some of the album’s tunes upstairs at Rudyard’s. Helping out on bass will be Nick Gaitan, who also added his magical rumblings to Noir in…
White Mice
Out of all of our SXSW discoveries this year, nothing was as batshit insane as Rhode Island’s White Mice. Bridging the gap between the Locust and Ministry while donning garish, zombiefied mice costumes, the electro-metal trio trots out a relentless wall of noise, actually adding hooks where some of their…
2nd Annual Earth Day Houston Festival, 5K & Green Expo
The outdoor 2nd Annual Earth Day Houston Festival, 5K & Green Expo starts with a 5K fun run at 8 a.m. and ends with the heart-thumping Latin rhythms of the Norma Zenteno band starting at 4:15 in the afternoon. In between, you can shop the farmers’ market, peruse the AIA…
Screen on the Green: Reality Bites
You might think you’re seeing double as you watch Reality Bites, this week’s installment of Screen on the Green, since you’ll catch glimpses of Houston both on screen and in the background. The irreverent comedy stars Ethan Hawke, Steve Zahn, Winona Ryder and Janeane Garofalo as a slacker, a closeted…
The Red Shoes
A love story like few others, The Red Shoes is considered by many to be one of the best dance movies ever made. The film follows Vicky (played by Moira Shearer), a ballerina in love with both young composer Julian (Marius Goring) and dancing. Her director Boris (Anton Walbrook) promises…
A Little Day Music: Sarah Rothenberg
Like a great many of her contemporaries, pianist Sarah Rothenberg divides her time between performing and tending to administrative duties as the head of a nonprofit performing arts company. A much-in-demand performer, Rothenberg is also artistic director of Da Camera of Houston. During today’s A Little Day Music: Sarah Rothenberg…
Telling New Orleans
“Price was twelve, bruh.” “Them twelve hundred was for eight pieces.” A deal’s going down, yeah. But not the sort we’re used to witnessing between black men on a television show set in an American city. Certainly not a David Simon drama on HBO. Yet before even a word of…
Houston Indie Book Festival
While the word “indie” is frequently tossed around in the film and music industries, it also applies to books, as you’ll see at the Houston Indie Book Festival. Now in its third year, the festival will offer books and magazines from more than 40 mostly Texas-based publishers, magazines and booksellers…
Dogging the Dome
Houston has had some problems since the turn of the 21st century, it’s safe to say — hurricanes, Metro cost overruns, Tom DeLay on Dancing with the Stars — but none has been so oddly vexing as what to do with the old, abandoned Astrodome. For years it’s just been…
Mussels Mania, Volume 2
When Cafe Montrose split up, one party, Catherine Duwez, went to The Broken Spoke on Washington, and the other party, Jeannine Pettas, opened up Jeannine’s Bistro. Having recently reviewed Broken Spoke [“Mussel Mania” November 26, 2009], I decided to give Jeannine’s a shot. Because Cafe Montrose had a semi-cult following,…
Not So Fresh
A revival of Neil Simon’s 1963 whipped cream of a play, Barefoot in the Park certainly sounds delicious. After all, the 1967 film version still buzzes with the comedic zing that Simon and his one-liners are famous for, chronicling the struggles of two newlyweds in New York City: Robert Redford…
TONY’S CORNER POCKET’S BANANA SPLIT
I might not have agreed to visit Tony’s Corner Pocket (817 West Dallas, 713-571-7870) if I’d known I would end up with my head tilted back dentist-chair style and my appearance examined with a gay-tooth comb. You could say that Sean, the bar’s resident Frank Billingsley look-alike, did not mince…
Capsule Art Reviews: “2010 Glassell Core Exhibition”, “Dirty Secrets from the Cataract Cinema”, “Iron: Forged, Tempered, Quenched”, “Whatever Was Splendid: New American Photographs”
“2010 Glassell Core Exhibition” It’s rare (and maybe impossible) that an annual Core Exhibition fires on all cylinders. There’s always great anticipation and excitement leading up to the opening, followed by a kind of anticlimactic dud. But perhaps that’s the nature of the Core program. It’s a wide spectrum of…
Black and White
The calamares en su tinto ($13.50) at Lemon Tree (207 Gray, 713-655-0430) are certainly dramatic-looking, with their contrasting purplish-black sauce, made of squid ink, and timbale of brilliant white rice on the side. There is so much sauce, it looks like a soup, and it obscures the perfectly round slices…
Capsule Stage Reviews: La Bohème, Our Late Night, Speech and Debate
La Bohème Giacomo Puccini’s evergreen opera, perhaps the world’s favorite musical work, receives a loving revival from Opera in the Heights — so loving, it borders on reverential, and you want to kick-start maestro William Weibel to get the whole thing moving. He conducts this most buoyant, springtime work as…
Ruggles Grill
Bruce Molzan has reopened Ruggles Grill (903 Westheimer, 713-527-9400) after being forced to close due to Hurricane Ike. “It’s my baby — my flagship,” he says. “I’m emotionally attached to the place where I’ve spent the past 25 years, plus I own the property, so what else was there to…
Wild Moccasins
Before their first full-length LP, Skin Collision Past, hits the street May 21, Houston’s Wild Moccasins hit the road for a month of East Coast and Midwest dates from Tulsa to Brooklyn. The new album was recorded at Houston’s famed SugarHill Studios over the better part of the past year, and…
Alicia Keys
In the eternal pantheon of R&B divadom, there’s a hierarchy and a history. The rank and order of things, though, is something that will be debated forever by full-time fans and casual critics, so we’ll just step away from that messy, brutal battle. Instead, let’s speak to the chronological record,…
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears’ gutbucket soul and high-energy R&B sounds like it’s been ripped straight out of a ’50s Third Ward juke joint, but they’re a thoroughly modern band. Since bursting onto the Austin music scene in 2007, Lewis and the Honeybears have wasted no time in making…
White Mice
Out of all of our SXSW discoveries this year, nothing was as batshit insane as Rhode Island’s White Mice. Bridging the gap between the Locust and Ministry while donning garish, zombiefied mice costumes, the electro-metal trio trots out a relentless wall of noise, actually adding hooks where some of their…
VNV Nation
VNV Nation has never been content with simply making dance music. Yes, the duo’s dense discography is laced with an innate electronic groove, but Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson don’t create sounds just to entertain the body. Since banding together in 1994, the pair of London-to-Hamburg transplants has dipped into…
Go-Go Girl
Dressed in her miniskirt and Nancy Sinatra go-go boots, hair bouffed to the max, Southern Culture on the Skids bassist Mary Huff is the ultimate rock and roll bad girl. So much so, we were almost too intimidated to interview this queen of all things Southern white trash, whose anthem…
SPECIAL MINUTEMAN PROJECT EDITION
Dear Readers, In honor of April Fools’ Day, I turn this column over to Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project movement, to answer your preguntas. Enjoy! Dear Mexican, I’m a white, college-educated, liberal, democrat, socialist U.S. citizen. I don’t have any problem with Mexicans coming here to get a good…
The Domino Effect
Milo Cordell and Robbie Furze of The Big Pink are huge soul fans, citing Otis Redding and various Stax Records alumni as regular sources of inspiration. Not that you’d know it from listening to A Brief History of Love, the London duo’s highly touted first album. Released in September 2009,…
No Sparks
The script, costumes and props of The Last Song work hard to establish Miley Cyrus’s dramatic-role bona fides as the 17-year-old crosses over from G to PG: Her character, constantly sneering high school grad Ronnie Miller, sports a tiny nose stud, stomps on the beach in Doc Martens, believes meat…
Eyes of the Dragon
“Neighborhood bar” and “Midtown” aren’t terms that have been used in conjunction with one another too often. But that’s probably because too many people, besides Midtown residents, don’t know about Komodo Pub (2004 Baldwin). Komodo is a neighborhood bar tucked down the block from Front Porch Pub (217 Gray). It’s…
Man Vies to Be Sickest Child Molester of All
Man Vies to Be Sickest of All Molester also wanted to direct Pampers ads By John Nova Lomax You know what they say. If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. That was what residents of rural Jasper County thought in January of 2009 when poorly…
A Dog’s Death
A Dog’s Death Online readers comment on “Keiko, The Injured BARC Dog, Gets A Second Opinion,” Hair Balls blog, by Craig Malisow, Friday, March 19: No resources: She died today after they performed the surgery at BARC to remove her eyes. She started to crash and they did not have…
