The 2013 Tommy Tune Award Winners
The hills were alive with music last night – or at least the Hobby Center was – as the TUTS (Theatre Under the Stars) 11th Annual Tommy Tune Awards were graced by the presence and performance of none other than Tommy Tune himself, Houston native and multiple Tony Award winner…
The Top 10 Car Models in Desperate Need of a Redesign
Car years are like dog years. They age much faster than we do. The average life cycle of a car is getting shorter and shorter as automakers compete to have the latest and greatest redesign on the block. In between redesigns, many automakers try to trick you into thinking that…
Houston Metropolitan Dance Company Explores Sight and Sound in The Vessel
The Setup: On April 11 and 12, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company presented The Vessel, a three-piece program, on the Wortham Center’s Cullen stage. The dances by Peter Chu, Jason Parsons and Resident Choreographer Kiki Lucas explored the senses of sight or sound or both. The Execution: The Vessel is also…
A Surprising Amount on the Line Tonight for the Rockets in LA
It’s always amazing that after 81 games, it can come down to a single contest between two teams. Such is the case tonight in Los Angeles as the Rockets face the Lakers in the final game of the season. For both, a win is paramount but for different reasons. The…
Diplomas for Everyone! Sen. Patrick Wants New School Curriculum Even If the Classes Don’t Exist…Yet
Sen. Dan Patrick continues to emphatically insist his new plan for accountability and high school diplomas will produce rigor; it will just be a different kind of rigor. Patrick, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, has been slammed in the national media for stepping away from the 4×4 curriculum, which…
Son Volt’s Travel Guide to Five Bizarre Tour Stops
Son Volt is heading down the highway with a new album in tow, Honky Tonk, but instead of lamenting still waters and beatnik poets, Jay Farrar and company have gone strictly Bakersfield, even naming a track after the legendary country-music mecca. Yep, Farrar has gone back to his roots mixing…
Cover Story: HCAD Allegedly Running an “Enron Style” Scheme by Shifting the Property Tax Burden from the Rich to the Poor
In 2012, the Harris County Appraisal District valued Robert Mandala’s modest Spring home at $59,500. The property-tax agent who represented Mandala said HCAD, while establishing a value, purposely ignored the lower priced homes in the neighborhood and grabbed sales numbers from the most expensive properties. Mandala, a Houston area construction…
Reality Bites: World’s Worst Tenants
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. There’s a reason landlords tend to be venal and lazy, it’s because doing the job right is an incredible pain in the ass, so most don’t even bother. I know…
Bill Evans Leads UH Students On a Jazz Odyssey
“Jazz is a language,” Grammy Award-winning jazz saxophonist Bill Evans said to a small crowd gathered inside the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music Opera House green room Tuesday evening. He and Noe Marmolejo, the band director, were prefacing a night of music performed by the UH Jazz Ensemble…
Banana + Nutella Is a No-Fail Combination: Our 13 Favorite Examples in Houston
I’m willing to bet any American who’s tasted Nutella can tell you all about the first time he or she encountered the addictive product. Most of us didn’t grow up on the sweet hazelnut spread as so many of my European friends did — including a girlfriend from England who…
Genovevo Salinas: Supreme Court Weighs Fifth Amendment Rights in Houston Murder Case
Prisoner Genovevo Salinas’s silence during an early interrogation for a double-murder at a Houston apartment complex back in 1992 will be the subject of arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. Salinas is serving out a 20-year sentence for the shooting deaths of brothers Juan and Hector Garza after…
Eric Fischl’s Breathtaking Bodies in Bronze, Glass, Resin and Watercolor
There is great range in Eric Fischl’s “Cast & Drawn” show at McClain Gallery in both subject matter and material. All figurative works, they convey bodies that are muscular, fat, ordinary, and sensual done in bronze, glass, watercolor and pigment inks cast in resin. The impressive skill on display almost…
5 Hard Cider Cocktails to Try
By itself a good hard cider is a wonderfully refreshing, mildly intoxicating beverage that is a terrific summer brew alternative for non-lovers of beer (me). Add a little this, a little that, and you have a cocktail with some extra zing, more flavor dimensions and enough volume for multiple large…
Why Greatest-Hits Albums Matter, and 10 Greatest-Hits Haikus
A solid album, to me, is what I have dubbed a “Front-to-Back.” I have two definitions for Front-to-Backs: 1) albums that are structured to listen to as an entire piece of artwork (like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, or Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane…
State Rep Wants to Force Universities to Allow Faculty to Research Intelligent Design, Thousand-Head Giants and Earth-Creating Ravens
The current legislative session has been, as far as we can tell at Hair Balls, a series of marginal victories for the state’s education system. The voucher system state Sen. Dan Patrick attempted to create — the same kind that’s beset Georgia with corrupt conflicts; the same sort that’s hollowed…
This Week in Food Blogs: What Is E. Coli?
Eater Houston: It’s Burger Week around the national Eater circuit, and all of the Eater city blogs have posted their favorite burgers to eat right now. In Houston, editor Eric Sandler has compiled a list of 12 must-try burgers around the city including the lunchtime burger at Nosh Bistro, which…
Second-Guessing Snoop Lion’s Comments on Hip-Hop and Homosexuality
Snoop Lion (formerly known as Snoop Dogg) is a legend in the rap world. Everyone, even grandma, knows who he is. In the past 20 years, the rapper has branded himself well enough to be a household name. In a recent interview with UK publication The Guardian, Snoop shares his…
Texas Attorney General Thinks Nuclear Annihilation of Austin Still Preferable to State Turning Blue
There aren’t terribly many things that can actually threaten Texas. Mexico hasn’t put up much of a fight in nearly two centuries. We’ve sufficiently assimilated into the non-slave states from which we once broke. Global warming and environmental degradation may present some cause for concern, but, according to at least…
The Basics at Golden Hunan, One of My New Go-To Chinese Takeout Spots
There are tons of amazing restaurants in our city, but sometimes I want nothing more than some good old-fashioned (Americanized) Chinese food. When you’re craving an egg roll, you’re craving an egg roll; you know what I mean? On a recent Friday night, my fiancé and I needed a quick…
10 Things That Would Have Made BioShock Infinite Perfect
The honeymoon is over, and while I still say that BioShock Infinite is not only the game of the year, but probably of several years to come, The Brother With One F and I sat down and honestly critiqued what could have made this amazing game unstoppable. Here are the…
Har Mar Superstar Brings Bye Bye 17 to Mango’s Tonight
Har Mar Superstar hits Mango’s on Wednesday night a week before his newest album, Bye Bye 17, hits physical and digital shelves. The collection of songs are heavily-influence by vintage soul and R&B, but still have his cheeky, lovelorn swagger going for them. He recorded the album in Austin at…
Boston Bombing: Social Media Rumors Swirl Around Pages Allegedly Created Before the Attack
This is how rumors get started. Take a Facebook page or Indigogo campaign started days or even weeks ago, change the name of it and what it is about on the day of the attack on the Boston Marathon and let the conspiracy theories fly. In at least two cases…
100 Creatives 2013: Patrick Renner: Sculptor of the Abstract and the Esoteric
Who: Patrick Renner is a sculptor specializing in geometrical and architectural creations, mostly from recycled colored wood. He began his career with LEGO as a boy, but developed his talent with wood at the hands of his grandfather, a skilled carpenter. His pieces are fairly abstract objects and installations ranging…
Billy Joel: Still Kicking Ass (Second Leg)
Here are my Top 5 Billy Joel songs that take names, after Tuesday’s post that ran down the songs that do that other thing that comes before taking names. Rewind: Billy Joel: Still Kicking Ass (FIrst Leg) 5. “All For Leyna,” Glass Houses Kicks Ass Because: It Rocks…
Healthy, Fresh Food for Less: Discount Grocery Stores Near You
As nice as it is to buy healthy foods — especially organic produce and boxed items — it is unfortunate that the price can be much higher than with ordinary food products. Organic produce tends to be more expensive than regular produce. In an effort to feed an entire family,…
Pat Summerall, the Voice of Football (1930-2013)
Every age group of sports fans has a precious few announcers whose voices serve as the collective narrator of their greatest sports memories (which, as I’ve stated many times, for various reasons, typically take place between the halcyon ages of 16 and 28). For us fortysomethings, virtually every NFL memory…
Houston Food Trucks Featured on Eat St.: We Compile Our Own Houston-Centric Episode
Although the Cooking Channel was ostensibly created to air the kind of cooking-oriented shows that the Food Network used to air — remember those shows where chefs actually showed you how to make food? — it can’t help itself from presenting more Food Network-y shows like Eat St., which describes…
Today’s Musicians Have All Lost Their Damn Minds
It seems that there’s something in the musician water lately, and it’s causing an epidemic of WTF-inducing choices that are just begging to be written about. Headlines are popping up daily about abandoned pet monkeys, pixelated photos, and Skrillex hair, and this shit’s getting weird. But rather than bombard you…
Five Questionable Fashions from Coachella Artists
Ed. Note: This blog comes to us from our friends at OC Weekly. Timothy NorrisThis look could catch on one day, right?We all know Coachella is a textbook study in the desire to wear things that no human should. That typically applies to the crowd who come decked out in…
Texas and Indiana Attorneys General Go After Alleged Houston Fraudster-Spammers (“Frammers”?)
Hair Balls was crestfallen to learn that unsolicited faxes and e-mails from travel agencies offering luxury vacations at bargain prices might not always be 100 percent legit: Lawsuits filed by attorneys general in Texas and Indiana are accusing at least four Houstonians of defrauding folks with bogus travel offers. The…
FBI Flips Script, Asks People for Photos, Videos from Boston Attacks
Over the years since 9/11, photographers have not enjoyed the best relationship with law enforcement officials. While there has never been any legitimate evidence suggesting terrorists used photos of buildings or targets to assist them with their plots, law enforcement casts a wary eye towards anyone behind a lens seen…
Keep Houston Beard: Rockets Fans Create Meme, T-Shirt in Support of Team
Rockets fans have, at times, been criticized for their lack of fervor. Outside of the Red Rowdies, the Toyota Center can be a staid place, even during critical games. But much of that is owed to the fact that the most expensive seats — the seats often occupied by corporate…
Today’s DVDs & Blu-rays: Dragon, A Monster in Paris and Escapee
Seems we’ve been deluged with fight films lately and today’s release is among our favorite lately. Action star Donnie Yen plays an unassuming peasant who just happens to be an expert fighter in hiding in Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s wuxia flick, Dragon (Wu Xia). The film is a reworking of David…
5 Ways to Lighten Salad Dressings
Salads can be excellent additions to a diet — but if your salad is filled with low-calorie and highly nutritious toppings, adding too much dressing (especially creamy and fatty ones) can turn that salad into a diet villain. Of course, you could opt for the light or low-fat options found…
Officials Say Chronicle “Just Wrong” in Story on Future of Astrodome
A report came out in last week’s Houston Chronicle purporting to detail a “vote on an unspecified plan concerning what to do with the Astrodome.” According to John McClain, the board of the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation was set to approve the plan and shuffle it to the…
Texas Wine Blogger Alfonso Cevola Honored at Italian Wine Fair
You could hear a Texas twang at the 47th annual Italian wine trade fair last week in Verona, Italy: Organizers of the behemoth event, Vinitaly, awarded the prestigious Vinitaly 2013 International Prize to Dallas-based Italian wine blogger and journalist Alfonso Cevola, author of On the Wine Trail in Italy, for…
Strange Encounters: Five Great Metal Songs About Aliens
In the metal pantheon, lyrical subjects go in and out of style almost as fluidly as fashion and whether a song should have breakdowns or not. It seems almost a guarantee that every few years the entire scene will shift to a new fixation. Just a few years ago, everyone…
Keep Calm and Carry on Twittering: Social Media Returns to Form After Tragedy
Less than 24 hours after the worst bombing on American soil since 9/11, one of my friends posted on Facebook a picture of Darth Vader riding a unicycle wearing a kilt and playing bagpipes. I scroll through my Twitter feed and see the familiar jokes, memes, posts about food and…
We’re Bringing Sexy Beer and Food Pairings Back, This Friday at Phoenicia’s MKT Bar
Craft Beer Hoppy Hour, our limited-run series of beer and food pairings at Phoenica’s MKT Bar downtown, were so well-attended this past winter that we’ve brought them back once again by popular demand. Our first round of Craft Beer Hoppy Hour kicks off this Friday, April 19 at 4 p.m…
Behind the Buzz at Spring Street Studios
Nicola Parente has a way of getting your attention. Four years ago, it was with giant mushrooms made of peat moss that sprouted from Art League Houston’s patio. The piece, a collaboration with Divya Murphy, was in response to a New York Times article that named Houston the worst recycler…
The Unsent Letter to Art Garfunkel I Found In a Record Sleeve
This past weekend I went digging for records at some thrift stores near my parent’s house in Pearland. Yes, the fella who wrote a blog about needing to pare down his record collection went looking for more to add to his pile. Rewind: Liquidating Your Record Collection Is Harder Than…
Houston Texans Tout New Video Board Construction at Reliant Stadium
When Houston Texans fans return to Reliant Stadium in August for preseason action against the Minnesota Vikings, they will be looking at two brand-new video boards in the stadium, each 277 feet wide and 52 feet tall. Reliant Stadium will now have the largest in-stadium HD video displays in the…
Upcoming: Steely Dan, Selena Gomez, Alt-J, Adam Ant, LL Cool J, Metric, etc.
Adam Ant: Sat., July 27, 8 p.m., $28-$300. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Air Supply: Thu., May 9, 8:30 p.m., $158-$218. Dosey Doe, 25911 I-45 N., Spring. Alt-J: CHANGED With Lord Huron., Fri., Sept. 27, 8 p.m., $30/$35. Bayou Music Center, 520 Texas, Houston. The Appleseed Cast: With Life…
Update: An Easter Pie Worth Waiting for
A few weeks ago, I bemoaned the fact that that there appeared to be no Italian Easter Pie sold in Houston. I had hoped my forlorn post would prompt a series of responses rebutting this claim and directing me to multiple sources. Or maybe even some amateur cook would offer…
“The History Channel” Is Being (Poorly) Written By the Victors
For the past few weeks, I have been examining the evolution of cable television channels. Some channels have amped up their game, while others have fallen into the depths of despair. But no channel that I’ve stumbled upon, thus far, has completely lost its original sense of identity while still…
Run with the Bulls….IN BAYTOWN?
This December 7 in Baytown at the Royal Purple Speedway, you can run in sheer, pants-shitting terror from raging bulls just like they do in Pamplona, Spain, each summer. The Great Bull Run’s organizers urge participants to “grab life by the horns and experience the rush of a lifetime as…
Pop Rocks: Sleepless in Seattle Is 20, and Here Are Five Other Movies Where the Wrong Guy Got the Girl
This years marks the 20th anniversary since the release of Sleepless in Seattle, the second rom-com pairing of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (and a distant second to their most enjoyable outing, Joe Versus the Volcano). The plot is familiar, and disturbing: Recent widower Sam Baldwin (Hanks), with the help…
The Rocks Off 100: Billy Dorsey, Grammy-Winning MARATHON Runner
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? It is apt that…
The Eating…Our Words 100: Seth Siegel-Gardner & Terrence Gallivan, Chefs and Owners of The Pass & Provisions
Who are they? Siegel-Gardner: I’m a Houstonian born and raised who’s getting to run a restaurant in my hometown. Gallivan: I’m a cook, I’m a husband and I’m learning how to be a business owner…
Weather Week: Feels Like Spring in Houston
Spring in Houston is a complicated business. In more northern parts of the country, the weather is starting to warm a bit, blooms are showing up on flowers that have lain dormant for months and people are starting to don light jackets instead of winter coats. Here, the weather has…
The Power of Italia with Il trovatore at Houston Grand Opera With Marco Berti
When he was four years old, Marco Berti’s mother took him to his first opera. “I liked the first act,” the Italian tenor recalls. But by the second he wanted a Coke. Still, he remembered the atmosphere, the lights and the feeling of magic. And he continued to go. So…
Billy Joel: Still Kicking Ass (First Leg)
One Sunday morning a few weeks ago, my wife and I watched the Billy Joel concert documentary The Last Play at Shea. When my daughter stumbled into the den to ask about breakfast, we were soiling Kleenexes and wiping tears from our eyes. “Did you take your meds this morning,…
PSA: This Rat Fetus Was Not Found in Timmy Chan’s Fried Rice
The Original Timmy Chan’s on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (a.k.a. Timmy Chan’s Chicken & Rice) may have only been inspected by the City of Houston Health Department once since November 2010, but that inspection didn’t turn up anything that we’d call remotely offensive. And that Timmy Chan’s on MLK…
Boston Bombing: Former New England Patriot Joe Andruzzi Was Rescuing People Yesterday
As is tradition on the third Monday every April, thousands of Bostonians and Boston visitors took the day off to celebrate Patriot’s Day. On paper, Patriot’s Day serves as a tribute to the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first two battles of the Revolutionary War, but above and beyond…
Top 10 Zack Morris-Inspired Items on Etsy
I was a passionate fan of both Good Morning, Miss Bliss and Saved by the Bell. Especially the latter, and it’s all because of the fact that lead character Zack Morris was a crazed, megalomaniacal psychopath who could stop time. Seriously, he was such a bizarrely charming yet dangerously powerful…
Here, Eat This: A Beginner’s Guide to German Cuisine
Modern-day Texans may not see much German influence when they look around, but the indirect effects of decades of German settlement still linger in large pockets of the state. The first waves of German immigration began in the 1830s ahead of the European Revolutions of 1848 that sent floods of…
Speed Rack Nationals: Wild Card Voting
Talented women shaking up classic cocktails at obscene speeds is already fun, but throw breast-cancer fund-raising into the mix and you’ve reached another level of intoxicatingly good karma. While San Antonio bartender Karah Carmack won Miss Speed Rack Texas this past January, it’s not too late to see a Houston…
Following Boston Bombing, Some Houston Media Outlets Shirk Duties
After two bombs exploded at today’s Boston Marathon — with a third reportedly detonating at JFK Library minutes ago — Houston’s local media scene has attempted to gather the facts of the fast-breaking story. However, instead of doing the traditional legwork that, you know, delineates the media’s responsibilities and activities,…
UPDATED: Rich’s Abruptly Shuts Down Again, Under Another Cloud of Mystery
UPDATE (Monday, 5:45 p.m.) Cade Michals is a spokesman for Rich’s Sacred Ground, not a partner. No doubt this is not the way Rich’s wanted to celebrate its 30th anniversary this year. The most recent tenants of the long-running and equally star-crossed Midtown dance club closed their doors Friday with…
Tonight’s Rihanna Show Postponed
Pop star Rihanna’s concert scheduled for tonight at Toyota Center has been postponed due to “illness,” according to an announcement Rocks Off recived moments ago from promoter Live Nation. “Unfortunately, as a result of illness Rihanna is unable to perform this evening at Houston’s Toyota Center,” the statement said. “Fans…
Ribs and Ramen Reign Supreme at the 2nd Annual Go Pig! Or Go Home! Suckling Pig Throwdown
There are pig parties, and then there is Go Pig! Or Go Home! The second annual charity throwdown event last night at Kata Robata was every pig lover’s dream — and then some — with Houston’s top chefs throwin’ down everything from traditional roast suckling pig to cochinita pibil to…
Now That We’ve Decided to Arm Fetuses, How Do We Get ‘Em the Weapons They Need?
It’s been a few days since we checked in with Rep. Steve Stockman’s belief that the only way to prevent abortions is to provide zygote Uzis and fetal firearms. You can apparently obtain one of his now-famous bumper stickers, pictured right, with a donation of only $10 to the Congressman’s…
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Music Box Theater Is W-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l
The setup: Spell eudaemonia. What’s the definition? From the Greek, the state of being happy. Please use it in a sentence. Music Box Musicals’ production of William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee put me on cloud nine, where I experienced a definite sense of eudaemonia…
Friday Night: Rain, Beatles Tribute Band, at Bayou Music Center
Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles Bayou Music Center April 12, 2013 Apparently the Beatles began when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 — four fully formed lads from Liverpool in moptops and nifty dark suits. That is the premise behind Rain, whose five-man touring company…
5 Things We Learned from the Dynamo Breaking the Home Unbeaten Streak
That was the last time the Dynamo tasted defeat in the city of Houston during any competition. Since that 2-0 loss to the Columbus Crew at Robertson Stadium, the Dynamo have gone a league record 35 games unbeaten in the Bayou City in all competitions. That’s victories — and the…
Game of Thrones: “All Men Must Die, But We Are Not Men.”
I don’t have a lot of flowery introductory BS this week, thanks to a sick kid. The third episode of season three, “Walk of Punishment,” sets the table for some big doings and transpirings in the coming weeks. Daenerys is finally about to get her hands on an army, while…
Mike Rice (Insane Ex-Rutgers Coach) Is Maniacally Coaching 7th Grade Girls
Anyone with kids who play sports is familiar with the age-old question — any time it’s revealed that a coach of a collegiate sport engages in some degree of borderline (or in many cases, over-the-borderline) abusive behavior, we debate with our kid-having friends and debate it even more intensely in…
How to Make Homemade Ginger Ale
I am what I eat, figuratively, at least since I both self-identify as a Ginger and I adore all things ginger-flavored. I sprinkle ground ginger in my tea, order anything vaguely laced with the spice on Asian menus, and once even took two large bites off a piece of the…
The Night of the Iguana at Theatre Southwest Is Complex But Exciting
The setup: The Night of the Iguana in 1961 was Tennessee Williams’s last real success on Broadway, starring Patrick O’Neal as a lascivious, disgraced minister, Bette Davis as the lusty owner of a cheap tourist hotel in Mexico, and Margaret Leighton as the caring granddaughter of an aging poet whose…
The Worst of Coachella, Weekend One
Ed. Note: Can’t have a Best of Coachella without a worst, right? Thanks to our (tired) Southern California friends at West Coast Sound and Heard Mentality. Screenshot of the Daft Punk commercial at the Main StageThe Daft Punk Fake-Out Friday and Saturday, all anyone could talk about was if Daft…
Clearing Up the Western Conference Playoff Picture
I always find it amazing that after an entire season, spots in the playoffs and seeding can come down to the final few games. This year in the Western Conference, it is no different. The east has been settled for over a week and there is only limited jockeying for…
The Best of Coachella, Weekend One
Ed. Note: Rocks Off proudly presents to our readers coverage of Coachella’s first weekend courtesy of our sister papers LA Weekly and OC Weekly. Photo by Christopher VictorioKaren OKaren O’s Outfit Karen O’s wardrobe on Friday night was bad-ass. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs front woman appeared on the main stage…
Kimberly Akimbo and the Race Against Time at Country Playhouse
The setup: “Quirky” might be one’s first reaction to David Lindsay-Abaire’s impressionistic view of modern family life, but give it time. Time is also what all the characters want, because they’re fast running out of it. None more so than heroine Kimberly, whose sixteenth birthday may be her last. The…
Burgers Off the Beaten Path: Shuttle Burgers and Space Age Memorabilia
Inside the shady dining room at Shuttle Burgers, inflatable space shuttles and cartoonishly fat airplanes twirl slowly at the end of fishing wire suspended from the mottled ceiling tiles. In one corner, a crackling television set’s handwritten paper sign implores guests: “Don’t change the channel! This is the only one…
Fetch Me a Shrubbery: Build-A-Bar Goes N/A
I’m a terrible Catholic. Every year, I try to make up for that fact during Lent, vowing to give up television or meat or stringent usury. Depriving myself of creature comforts for 11 percent of my life seems like a fair trade-off for sleeping in on Sundays, and I never…
Friday Night: John Digweed at Stereo Live
John Digweed Stereo Live April 12, 2013 Last Friday night, I left an EDM show feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, and simply happy. This was because I had been brought back to a musical place I hadn’t been in years, a place where I was discovering something I loved for the first…
Astros, Cougars, Owls and Problems with Starting Pitching
It’s always about the pitching. No matter how good the offense, no matter how good the defense, if the pitching lets down, a team will eventually start to lose. Because offenses will cool down and defenses will miss plays. But if the pitching is solid, a team can overcome the…
Five Do’s & Don’ts for Tax Day 2013, Including Watching Lots of Sitcoms
Another April, another (goddamn) Tax Day. The annual rite of paying taxes has been buffed up to a science by the media — on no other day will you hear the term “Uncle Sam” used so often — and all the people who have somehow forgotten this day was coming…
Doctor Who: A Copy of a Copy of a Copy
In general I am a big fan of Mark Gatiss’s writing. I’m actually reading his Second Doctor novel The Roundheads now. It’s very likely that when Steven Moffat hangs up his hat as showrunner, it’s Gatiss who will step forward as the heir apparent. That’s a good thing, but I…
What’s Cooking This Week? Pork Meatball Banh Mi, Cauliflower Fried Rice and More
I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don’t make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient’s I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter…
What You Need to Know About Cops, Drugs & Big Music Festivals
Ed. Note: This post from L.A.’s West Coast Sound was written expressly about Coachella, but could just as easily apply to Houston’s upcoming Free Press Summer Fest or ACL, except for the whole medical-marijuana thing. Read closely; learn something. Timothy NorrisThis dude’s actually drug free. But he still knows his…
The MySpaceification of Facebook: Do I Need a Smiley to Tell People How I Feel?
A funny thing happened last week in Facebook world. As a means of, I suppose, helping people better identify their moods or what they are eating at the moment, Zuckerberg Inc. added a new feature to status updates. They had already changed “Say something” to “How are you feeling?” in…
Houston’s 10 Sweetest 420 Shows and Festivals
I’m not going to launch into some long diatribe as an opening to this blog; there’s no need. All that needs to be said can be summed up in one word — weed. That’s right. This is a blog about all the sweet 420 festivals and events around Houston to…
Chef Maurizio Ferrarese Offers Cooking Classes and Comedy at Quattro
I’ve been to plenty of cooking classes and cooking demonstrations over the years, but none as enjoyable as the one I attended last week Quattro. Much of this is attributable to the genial Maurizio Ferrarese, executive chef at the Four Seasons’ in-house restaurant and a natural teacher who blends humor…
Ryan McKinny Has Spent Years Getting Ready for Tristan and Isolde
How does a person get from Pasadena City College to Juilliard to become a Houston Grand Opera Studio Artist, go on to the Met in New York City as Lieutenant Ratcliffe in Billy Budd and then return to Houston to sing in one of the toughest operas in history? For…
A-Rod Might Be (Okay, Probably IS) Fibbing AGAIN (w/ Steroid Denial Video Montage)
Sports is big money, and for every $100 million contract where a team sees a return on their investment and then some, it feels like there’s five where a team walks away with some serious buyer’s remorse, if not right after the signing, certainly by the time the contract has…
The Best Shows In Houston This Week: Rihanna, Suzanna Choffel, Wavves, etc.
Rihanna Toyota Center, April 15 Rihanna has combined her athletic stature, formidable vocals, down-for-whatever attitude and some alarming life choices to become a flashpoint pop star, a lightning rod for controversy that even Lady Gaga would have trouble rivaling these days. Musically, the Barbados native kneads her Caribbean roots into…
The Buyer’s Guide to Badass Toilet Paper Holders
Nothing quite defines us like our bathrooms, and no one wants to be defined by a pedestrian toilet paper holder. No, it should be worthy of attending to the cleanliness of our marvelous selves. Get out your credit card, kid, because I’m about to awesome up your pooping time. You…
Urban Harvest’s Eastside Farmers Market to Run All Weekend Long
For all of the wonderful things that our Houston farmers markets offer, a consistent daily location isn’t one of them. On one hand, it’s incredibly convenient that there are farmers markets spread all over town for those who can’t drive downtown on Wednesdays to catch the City Hall farmers market,…
UPDATED: Roots Bistro Makes Tasteless Domestic Violence Joke on Marquee to Sell Beer
UPDATED: The sign outside Roots Bistro today, Monday, carries the following apology: “Sorry a million times over, Houston.” See next page for more. The last time anyone found a domestic violence joke funny was during an episode of The Honeymooners, and those were dark times, America. However, one Houston restaurant…
Last Night: New Order at Coachella
Photo by Oliver ScherilloNew OrderNew Order Coachella April 13,2013 While over at the main stage the bulk of the Coachella crowd was enduring Phoenix with the hope that Daft Punk would come out — they instead got R. Kelly — a smaller but perhaps more enthusiastic crowd got a first-rate…
Coachella: A Tale of Two Bros
Ed. Note: Another Coachella post from our friends at West Coast Sound. It may be a bit early, but Coachella 2013 seems to be the Year of the Bro. For the ladies, it’s business as usual, but the bros are really bringing it, from humorous neon T-shirts to costumes to…
Daft Punk Rumors Abound at Coachella
Ed. Note: This one comes to us from our friends at LA Weekly’s West Coast Sound. Screenshot of the Daft Punk commercial at Coachella last nightNo, Seriously, Is Daft Punk Playing Coachella? This is, so far, the burning question of this festival, being asked everywhere from the campsites to the…
Horror for Bath-Salt Buffs: DEA Acts Against Synthetic Stimulants Used in Vanilla Sky, Bliss, Ivory Wave & Purple Wave. Oh, They Acted Against Fake Weed, Too
The Drug Enforcement Administration took steps today against synthetic stimulants and cannabinoids So if that little froggie pictured above used synthetics to get the sly semi-smile look some drug users get when they finally figure out the world (only to eventually forget what it was that had occurred to them),…
Steve Stockman Wants Zygotes as Armed as the Rest of Us
After vowing to impeach President Obama and inviting Ted Nugent to this year’s State of the Union address, it’s clear that Steve Stockman is just the gift that keeps on giving. And now, it seems it’s your turn to give someone the gift that Steve Stockman, and the rest of…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Jonathan Jones of Monarch at the Hotel Zaza and His Beautiful Spring Menu
This is Part 3 of a three part Chef Chat series. If you missed our previous posts, click here to read Part 1 and Part 2. Oftentimes, hotel restaurant menus are boring, safe, predictable. Where independent restaurants can take liberties with their menus and be as cutting edge or as…
Top Five Things to Do in Houston Sports This Weekend: The Upper Crusty Edition
The above image is exactly what we imagine you say when you see the weekly headline announcing the best things to do in sports this weekend. You’re all, “FUCK YEAH, MOTHER EFFER! IT’S TIME FOR SPORTS! WOO!” Then you read about the things we have to offer and you’re all,…
I’m from Texas: The Week in Photos
It’s time again to check out the Houston Press Flickr Pool and see what kinds of art shots our talented photographers have added. We love street art, unique perspectives and beautiful photos of Houston’s creative community. If you think you’ve got a good eye, drop your pictures in the pool…
Free Press Summer Fest Adds More Performers, Unique “White Noise” Beer
Free Press Summer Fest has added about a dozen artists, many of them local, to the lineup of this year’s festival taking place June 1 and 2 in Eleanor Tinsley Park near downtown. For the first time, it will be offering a festival-specific beer to help wash them all down…
This Week in Craft Beer: Petrol Celebrates 4/20, Drink of Ages at The Hay Merchant and More
Every week we try to harvest all the news in local craft beer and serve it up so that you don’t miss out on events that may have slipped past you each week. From brewery events to pub crawls and breaking craft beer news, if something is going down, we…
Wild Moccasins Tapped to Open Of Montreal’s Spring U.S. Tour
Houston’s Wild Moccasins have been hand-picked by Of Montreal to be the main support act on their Athens-based friends’ three-week spring U.S. theater tour, New West Records announced Thursday. The two indie-pop bands have developed a similar sound — drawing on elements of psychedelic ’60s pop and ’80s New Wave,…
Upcoming Events: A Five-Year Feast at Feast
It won’t be much longer before Lower Westheimer restaurant Feast closes for good. But first, it’s celebrating its five-year anniversary to really drive the point home that goddammit we’re going to miss the place. Its upcoming 5th Birthday Celebration dinner will take place on Tuesday, April 23 at 6:30 p.m…
Top Five Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Bobby Lee, Shifting Spaces, Midtown Art in the Park and More
Bobby Lee, our favorite queer Korean–American stand-up comedian who isn’t Margaret Cho, hits Houston this week and is one of our picks for Friday. Proudly teasing on Twitter recently that he’s “a koi fish farmer and a sexual deviant,” the veteran of an eight-year hitch on Mad TV as well…
This Here’s Lil E, Wanted for a Fifth Ward Murder
The man on the right looks like someone who’s contemplating his future and realizing it just might not involve the best of all possible worlds, as Dr. Pangloss would say. He’s Lil E, a much more street-friendly name than the one he was originally given, which is Emanuel Babineaux. His…
Just Be ‘Cos’: Eight Music Artists Perfectly Suited for Cosplay
Cosplay, short for “costume play,” is the art of normal, everyday people going balls-out to depict themselves as their favorite fictional characters from comics, movies, video games and television. It’s hugely popular, thanks to ComicCon and our obsession with all things pop-culture. Cosplayers gather at conventions and contests where defense…
Community: Muppets Take Greendale
Thanks, Pete, for covering last week while I got that Ted Nugent song out of my head. Sometimes there are concepts so brilliant they are destined to fail. In a way, you have to give the idea-makers credit for even trying, but then you sort of wish they hadn’t because…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: Trance
Title: Trance So, Nudity? You people. Fine, there are a couple lingering James McAvoy butt shots, and he has a lengthy shirtless scene. All of which pales before the majesty of full frontal Rosario Dawson, however. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Three and a half Goyas out…
How Does the 2013 QB Class Stack Up According to the “Parcells Rules”?
A few months ago, former head coaching great Bill Parcells was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, slated to be inducted this summer. If you’re looking for the reasons why, there are obviously plenty — twice named NFL Coach of the Year, twice a Super Bowl winner, three…
Sergio Mendes Opens iFest With a Charge to “Enjoy Life”
The 43rd Annual Houston International Festival kicks off its Brazilian-themed, two-weekend affair this evening with an opening gala at the Hobby Center featuring Grammy Award- winning pianist and musician, Sergio Mendes. Opening for Mendes will be Casa Samba, a samba school located in New Orleans. Bookending the concert will be…
Aeros One Step Closer to Playoffs, One Step Closer to Des Moines
John RoyalThe Aeros celebrate a goal in last night’s game.Lost in the talks of the Houston Aeros relocation, of the vitriol being spewed toward Les Alexander, of the jobs being lost, the families uprooted, is one simple thing. The Aeros are still playing hockey. And with four games left in…
TruTV Was Court TV; Now It’s TruTV But Should Be Court TV
My mother has been calling me every day to keep me up to date on the ongoing Jodi Arias murder trial. The court proceedings have been airing live and she is totally sucked in; she won’t answer the phone while it is on nor go to the bathroom. Then she…
The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Yaki Snack Attack, Arepas at Revival, East Montrose Tour of Homes and Bugs with Brews
Still haven’t made plans for the weekend? It’s not too late. It’s never too late. Carpe diem and whatever else Robin Williams yelled at his English class in that movie where they all stood on their desks as the whitest act of defiance you’ve ever seen on-screen. Yaki Snack Attack…
Five Great Violent Hip-Hop Songs (for Lupe Fiasco)
Lupe Fiasco used to be a talented, socially conscious rapper known for putting out really good hip-hop albums. Since he hasn’t done one of those in a while, he’s more well known these days for criticizing President Obama and espousing conspiracy theories about 9/11. Recently he was back in the…
Nerds Herd: Five Things You Should Be Glad Geeks Handle for You
Tech junkies can be really annoying. They are often condescending and consistently frustrated, and they sometimes even smell a little funky. I certainly don’t condone condescension, and admittedly, stinky people are no fun, but there are plenty of times geeks have every right to be frustrated with you. You heard…
Health Department Roundup: Sparrow, Napoli, Bismillah and More
There’s something inspiring about seeing Sparrow Bar + Cookshop (3701 Travis) written up yet again for “unapproved eggs used.” It’s good to know there’s a restaurant owner out there who sticks to her guns in the face of what in some cases might be arbitrary regulation. Meanwhile, the inspectors continue…
100 Creatives 2013: Tomas Glass, Abstract Artist and True Blood Musician
Who: Tomas Glass is an artist and musician gaining some serious ground here in Houston. His visual work is mostly abstract, focusing on a series of off-balanced geometric shapes that tend to hover just above a recurring edge of blackness underneath. Many of his pieces have the uncomfortable feeling of…
Top 10 Bars, Clubs & Ice Houses In Montrose
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…
Uh-Oh, Royce White May Have Knocked Up Another Groupie #BeWell
The NBA’s D-League’s playoffs begin this week and, for interested Rocket fans, just know that your Rio Grande Vipers are taking on a bunch of things called the Maine Red Claws (presumably with Mr. Krabs as their mascot). Barring a last-minute wager (Can you wager on the D-League?), the extent…
The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Travis Tritt, Adam Bricks, John Digweed, etc.
Good Job Underground Fitzgerald’s, April 13 Spring’s Good Job Underground has been one of the most underrated rock duos of the past few years around these parts. If you have an El Ten Eleven itch that needs scratching, or miss prime Helmet, here’s your band. Straight-ahead, low-fat metal riffs without…
Openings & Closings: And Every One Was a Woodrow’s, Woodrow’s
The week so far has been full of good news, bad news and idle speculation. In other words, buckle up for a bumpy ride of a round-up. First is news from B4-U-Eat that Portugallia — the city’s only Portuguese and Angolan restaurant — closed quietly last week. The restaurant we…
The Easiest Way You Can Make the Internet a Better, Less Misogynistic Place
This video kicks more ass than magnetic boots in a room full of Cybermen. Just in case you’re in a place where watching videos isn’t an option, we have a young guy and a girl who is clearly passed out on his couch. The guy sets up a camera to…
Capsule Art Reviews: “A chain of non-events,” “Jonathan Leach: Time Does Not Exist Here,” “Maxim Wakultschik: FaceTime,” “New Work: Drawings, Collages, and Tiles,” “Plain Sight,” “Territorial Pissings”
“A chain of non-events” At Lawndale Art Center’s “Big Show” last summer, Katie Wynne’s piece stood out from the nearly 70 others in the exhibition. The installation consisted of just a motorized tie rack and blue satin, but the rack was turned on so that it was constantly revolving and…
Eyes on Texas
Highlights from Hair Balls Texas North Korea, that mysterious country of Photoshopping experts, is once again rattling sabers. So who cares if they’re shaking some ancient cavalry weapon, you ask? Well, the sabers North Korea rattles are intercontinental nuclear missles aimed at New York, L.A., DC and Austin. Austin? Yep…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Dollhouse, Henry V, Mauritius, Waiting for Godot
Dollhouse Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play A Doll’s House remains hugely popular, and Chicago’s Goodman Theatre commissioned Rebecca Gilman to create an updated version. The parallels to Ibsen’s play are strikingly successful and brilliantly integrated, but this is a sparkling contemporary comedic drama that stands on its own hind legs and…
Roger Ebert: Why There Can Never Be Another
A common sentiment recurs through the abundance of eulogies and obituaries penned by film critics in the wake of his death late last week: Roger Ebert was an inspiration. It’s easy enough to be encouraged by another’s success — to regard an esteemed elder colleague with a combination of admiration…
Police Protection: Speeding While Silent
To help illustrate the dangers posed by driving at high speeds, a Houston Police Academy lesson plan on driving safety states the following: A 4,200-lb. vehicle — the approximate weight of a Ford Crown Victoria patrol car — traveling 55 miles per hour has 423,500 foot-pounds of kinetic energy to…
Bismillah Cafe: Let’s Chaat
See how Inam Moghul makes his ten-spice chicken wings and more in this week’s cafe slideshow. “¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás, amigo?” This is not the greeting you expect to hear inside a Pakistani chaat house in Little India. But Bismillah Cafe is not your average chaat spot — a casual cafe…
Space City Beat Battle: No Contest
Ryan Rayford is what the word “demure” was created for. He is sitting at a table in a cafe in the early evening of a slow weekday, tapping at a cell phone with no real intent beyond tapping at a cell phone. His dress shoes are subtle and clean. His…
42: The Brooklyn Museum
A likable hagiography as nuanced as a plaque at the Cooperstown Hall of Fame, Brian Helgeland’s Jackie Robinson bio 42 finds a politic solution to the challenge Quentin Tarantino faced last year with Django Unchained: How to craft a crowd-pleasing multiplex period piece whose villain is, essentially, “all white people”?…
The Place Beyond the Pines
The Place Beyond the Pines opens with a close-up of Ryan Gosling’s chiseled abdomen — surely one of the more salable quantities in movies today — and heavy breathing on the soundtrack (or was that just the person next to me in the screening room?) Then in a single, five-minute…
Here, Eat This
On the Menu Nigerian food is some of the most accessible “ethnic” food out there — or at least it will be for anyone who grew up eating Cajun, Southern or soul food. I’m looking at you, Houston. Nigerian cooking is the mother of many American cuisines. Tina Edebor —…
Westheimer Babylon
Gothtopia Not long back, I had the opportunity to explore the origin of the name of my favorite Houston club, Numbers. My source explained to me that the name originated from a late-’70s slang term indicating a hot guy or girl during the club’s original disco days. The upstairs area…
Papi Knows Best
Dear Mexican, We’re in state testing this week at the high school I teach at. After the students finish a section, they can only sit and read or just sit. I did an experiment: I chose the cholo-est, tatted, pierced non-readers and dropped your book on their desks. Students who…
Police Protection: Using Discretion
In 2011, after both the Etubom and Medrano lawsuits, the Houston Police Department revised its policy on how officers should respond to calls of service, depending on the calls’ urgency, or “priority.” At issue in both cases was the standard response for a priority two call. Attorneys for the plaintiffs…
