Huey Long
Happy Birthday Huey Long! ! ! Born in Sealy on April 25,1904 guitarist Huey Long’s career began in 1925 with the Frank Davis’ Louisiana Jazz Band in Houston. By 1933, he was working with Texas Guinan’s Cuban Orchestra in Chicago. Over the next few years, he worked with Billy Eckstine,…
Anything’s Better Than That Damn “Y’all Ready for This” Song
We’re guessing this image hasn’t been cleared by the copyright lawyers. From local rapper Pitre (whose name, we’re assuming, is pronounced like that of the middle Brady boy) comes a completely unofficial official Houston Rockets theme song: “Make Way for the Rockets.” Click on “Listen” below to hear the antics…
That Girl Is Top Eight Material
Man, this is some genius marketing. Check out Houston rapper Kenika’s MySpace page and listen to the first song. You know you want to add it to your profile. We love the chorus: “Why you all on my MySpace / looking at my pictures? / I wish I had a…
But We Thought It Was Duck Season
Robb Walsh sure is a charmer. He recently had the Homesick Texan in his kitchen, where he cooked the biscuit-loving gal some rabbit stewed in red chile sauce and inspired her to offer up these words about his latest book, The Texas Cowboy Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos:…
But We Thought It Was Duck Season
Robb Walsh sure is a charmer. He recently had the Homesick Texan in his kitchen, where he cooked the biscuit-loving gal some rabbit stewed in red chile sauce and inspired her to offer up these words about his latest book, The Texas Cowboy Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos:…
Oops. My Bad. Bummer. Won’t Happen Again. Or Maybe It Will.
First, a confession. I don’t listen to, or watch, every inning of every Astros game. So I missed the bottom of the eighth inning of the Monday loss to the Phillies. So I missed Brad Lidge pitching. I just assumed that since the score was the same as when I…
Yahoo Lyrics Link
According to USA Today, Yahoo music (Music.Yahoo.com) is supposed to be adding lyrics search to artist pages and top song lists. A free search engine will find song lyrics for users who enter a phrase or song title. Trouble is we can’t find the search box. Oh, little search box,…
Houston in Black & White
Photography book covers city from 1856 to 1970 A horse with a docked tail stands patiently in front of his cart outside the Veterinary Hospital. Coming out of the building itself are two men and a youngster in a car. It’s 1910 Houston in a post-turn-of-the-century, two-worlds-collide moment. Historic Photos…
Texas Nominees for the Blues Music Awards
Nominee Marcia Ball Ten Texans snagged nominations for the Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Awards. They are: Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year Marcia Ball Instrumentalist-Horn Calvin Owens Instrumentalist-Other Sonny Rhodes – Steel Guitar Soul Blues Album of the Year Frankie Lee -…
Wednesday is CFS Night in Stamford
Robb Walsh The regular CFS at the Cliff House Restaurant in Stamford The Cliff House in Stamford is famous for its chicken-fried steak. I tried a regular one last Saturday night and it was excellent. “Come back on Wednesday,” the waitress told me. That’s the night they offer their “Chicken-fried…
Wednesday is CFS Night in Stamford
Robb Walsh The regular CFS at the Cliff House Restaurant in Stamford The Cliff House in Stamford is famous for its chicken-fried steak. I tried a regular one last Saturday night and it was excellent. “Come back on Wednesday,” the waitress told me. That’s the night they offer their “Chicken-fried…
Live Shots: The Houston International Festival, Take Two
Ba Cissoko and their koras, perhaps the most phallic instruments on earth: Malcolm X look-alike dances to the New Birth Brass Band: Trombonist Glen David Andrews and trumpeter Kenny Terry, aka “the most disgusting man on earth”:…
Cop Couture
Lookin’ good! Montgomery County has finally been recognized as the fashion capital we always knew it was. The Sheriff’s Office received a best-dressed award from the (presumably) prestigious National Association of Uniform Manufacturers & Distributors. (Sure, the award was actually handed down last year, but your fashion-backwards correspondent at HouStoned…
Dropping Today
Keiko Matsui’s Moyo is being released today. The contempoary jazz pianist recorded the CD in Japan, South Africa and the U.S., joined forces with drumer Akira Jimbo, legendary trumpeter Hugh Masakela, and saxophonist Gerald Albright. Click listen to hear Moyo’s title track. Artic Monkeys’ sophmore effort Favourite Worst Nightmare also…
Take Five: David Martin
Six months into his marriage David Martin found the phone number for a divorce attorney in his wife’s coat pocket. Ouch! What’s a guy to do? Writing a CD of love songs for your wife might be a good idea. You can get the whole “awwww, isn’t that romantic?” backstory…
Skin Bin
FOUND Magazine publishes odd, hilarious notes, shopping lists, Polaroids, drawings, greeting cards and the like, all found and sent in by readers. But they don’t print everything. “We try to keep FOUND PG-13-ish, you know, something I can share with my grandma,” says editor and co-founder Jason Bitner. “So we…
Dear Diary
Once upon a time, I thought mock drafts were the cheapest trick in the sports blogger’s repertoire. Out of ideas for a column? Just whip up a new mock draft. But then I discovered the running diary. What an ingenious invention. Simply pick your event of choice, make fun of…
David Halberstam, R.I.P.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Halberstam was killed in a car accident Monday in Menlo Park, California. He was on his way to interview a former football player for a book he was writing on 1958 championship game between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts, according to the New…
Astros, Say Hello to Five Hundred. Five Hundred, Say Hello to the Astros.
The Astros lost to the Phillies last night to return to the .500 mark. But saying that the Astros lost last night is to insult the word lost. The Astros didn’t just lose last night. The Astros were demolished by a score of 11-4. There is some good news. Craig…
And Don’t Get Us Started on Junction Jack
When they were building Minute Maid Park, it was said and written that Drayton McLane had them take lots of ideas from Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles and the first of the retro-style ballparks that have since swept through baseball. I have never liked…
Take Five: Angelique Kidjo
Click the Listen button for a Take Five podcast with Angelique Kidjo, one of the dozens of artists that performed at the Houston International Festival yesterday…
Pop Quiz
Question One: Craig Biggio’s just hit a grand slam in the top of the ninth to put the Astros up 6-2 over the Brewers. For the bottom of the ninth inning, you: a. Go with your closer, Dan Wheeler – that’s his job; b. Go with your set-up guy, Chad…
Hot Wheels
Dan Dalstra/The Brazosport Facts This was Frankie Muniz in December. To imagine him today, just add some facial hair and a faux-hawk. The walk to the Grand Prix of Houston was hot; a barren expanse of parking lot. Off in the distance, the whizzing of the open-wheel cars around the…
Live Shots: The Houston International Festival
Didn’t get a chance to go to the Houston International Festival today? Here are a few shots of what you missed…
And So It Begins…
Drivers were revving up their engines left and right today at the Houston Grand Prix. The morning started out with teams getting their practice runs and feel for the track. In other words, it wasn’t very exciting, which is probably why the only other people there at 10 a.m. besides…
Revving Up
Dan Lanigan, Mammoth Photography HouStoned will be at the Grand Prix of Houston for the next three days, sending back tales of rubber and exhaust. Keep checking back for updates and, no doubt, plenty of punny references to gentlemen starting their engines and getting their motors running and crossing the…
Which Texas Team Will Take Home the Title?
Finally. After 2,460 regular season games, the NBA playoffs are here. We were treated to a ridiculously entertaining postseason last year (ten overtime contests and four Game Sevens), so it will be interesting to see if we’ll be similarly spoiled this time around. At the very least, we know Rockets’…
The Nuge, Special to HouStoned
As the nation reels over the Virginia Tech tragedy, as we look to our leaders for guidance and answers, one voice has remained conspicuously silent – until now. Today, for what might be the first time in history – but should not be the last – the words “By Ted…
Out With the Old and In With the New
Stephanie Schmitt The winners have been announced for last month’s photo contest for high school students. Congrats to Stephanie Schmitt, Willie Xu, Meghan White, Whitney Pavlas and Mariah McWhorter. You can see the winning photos here and in the paper version of the Houston Press. The deadline for sports photos…
We, Um, Always Knew Lidge Could Do It
Forget about the Red Sox, the Astros should be talking to the Cincinnati Reds about Brad Lidge. The Reds bullpen blew leads in each game, giving up five runs in the eighth inning of each game. The positives, besides scoring late to win both games, were the Wednesday performance of…
Playbill: Quintron and Miss Pussycat
Quintron and Miss Pussycat Joel Orr, Houston’s preeminent purveyor of adult puppet theater, has confessed that Miss Pussycat is the inspiration behind his local group, Bobbindoctrin. The New Orleans-based artist and her partner Quintron have been titillating audiences for what seems like over a decade now with their high-energy happenings…
Abort Mission
The Supreme Court announced Wednesday it will uphold a law banning late-term abortions. It is clear that everyone has an opinion on the matter, especially women, because they have a right as well – to live. The law does not create an exception when the mother’s health is at risk…
Live Shots: Joshua Radin
Joshua Radin and 200 of his closest friends were at Warehouse Live last night. Radin, complete with tossled curls and shy grin, performed beautifully. Backed by an upright bass, cello, guitar, percussionist, and background singer (and opening act Schuyler Fisk), Radin spent an hour performing tunes from his last CD,…
King Britt
“Oh my God, are you serious? I gotta look this up,” says King Britt when I ask him if he’s seen “Deep House Dish,” the recurring talk-show parody that appears on that late-night comedy institution, Saturday Night Live. This running sketch features cast member Kenan Thompson as flamboyant host DJ…
George Clinton
Funk master George Clinton started off in the 1950s singing doo-wop. A couple of months ago, he was in the studio with rapper Scarface. Fifty-something years is a long time to stay relevant in the music business, but that’s what Clinton has done. Part musical genius, part social commentator and…
Hot Fuzz
For all the huzzahs deservedly heaped upon 2004’s Shaun of the Dead, in which it took a good long while to discern the living from the walking deceased, the zombie-flick spoof was little more than an extended sketch taken, oh, 19 minutes beyond its breaking point. But the movie, created…
17
Pulled pork is common at barbecue restaurants, but you can also find it at the upscale 17 (1117 Prairie, 832-200-8800). There, the pulled pork sandwich ($14) is served on a submarine roll smeared with spicy mustard, with sweet and hot pickles as garnish. The sandwich comes with tostones — unripe…
Houston International Fest 2007
You’ll remember that just three years ago, the Houston International Festival was in dire straits. Exiled by a pissing match with City Hall’s fees to Reliant Park’s sterile wasteland, the scaled-back fest was then drenched by rains for half or more of its four-day run, and it was with a…
Black Book
Holland’s gift to world cinema, Paul Verhoeven can be a very bad boy and a very good filmmaker. Any of his movies could have been titled Basic Instinct — not least his epic World War II thriller Black Book, in which a Jewish chanteuse who has watched her family massacred…
Tapes ‘N Tapes
n early 2006, previously unknown Minneapolis indie-rockers Tapes ‘N Tapes found themselves riding high on a proverbial tidal wave of hype. Enthusiastic music bloggers had gotten the band so much attention that indie megalith Pitchfork took notice by slapping an extremely positive 8.3 rating on the band’s debut CD The…
Ada
Remember cheesy B-movies? Set in exotic locales, feebly constructed out of pasteboard and duct tape, these camp quickies were shot on the run (usually without retakes, which were too expensive) and acted in a broad, pantomime-driven style. Houston Grand Opera’s new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s immortal grand opera Aïda revives…
Play Our Dating Game
Introducing tonight’s bachelors, in no particular order. One is a don in the Puerto Rican Cosa Nostra. Another is a one-time rap star who likes to call himself “The Snowman.” Our final bachelor is proud of his resemblance to his daddy and always rolls with cash money. Take our blind…
Stage Capsule Reviews
Corpus Christi Unhinged Productions presents a play that, in 1998, inspired both American Catholic condemnation and a London-based Islamic fatwa — it was pronounced blasphemous before either group read or saw it. But Terrence McNally’s gay-based life-of-Christ tale is far from being either controversial or sacrilegious. It’s no more threatening…
Cred Sheet
Cinematic Trivia The imdb.com headline “Sinbad Dismisses Death Reports.” Unconvincing. Exquisite Song Selection The Subway restaurant on Broadway blasting Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” during the lunch rush. Your requests for extra green peppers thus drowned out by “Fuck you, I won’t do what ya tell me!”…
Retinal Redux
There’s some optically supercharged work currently on view in Houston. Sicardi Gallery presents “Carlos Cruz-Diez,” an exhibition of work by the 83-year-old veteran of optically kinetic art. Meanwhile, Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery is showing “William Betts: Interference,” new paintings by the artist that look like over-caffeinated versions of ’60s…
Gonzales
Solo Piano has Gonzales, a Canadian-born musician whose past résumé includes production work for Feist and Peaches, as well as his own electronic albums, sitting alone, meditating over his piano. It’s almost a set of études. They sound like they could be sketches, with only a few hours practice on…
Art Capsule Reviews
“Allison Hunter: New Animals” “New Animals” is a continuation of Allison Hunter’s “Simply Stunning” series, which showed at New York’s 511 Gallery last year. The Houston-based photographer’s recent work concentrates largely on animals, and the images reflect a progression toward emancipating creatures from the worldly environment. Sheep and deer inhabit…
Blonde Redhead
After nearly a decade of steady growth, Blonde Redhead established itself as one of the most distinctive voices in indie rock with 2000’s Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons. From the beginning, the band’s music had an alien quality, partly derived from No Wave, that was balanced with fragility and vulnerability;…
Mexican-American Culture
Dear Mexican, Have you seen the e-mail flying around, allegedly from country rock star Charlie Daniels? What’s your reaction? The Mexicans Went Down to Georgia Dear Gabacho, I love it. For ustedes readers who don’t know what we’re talking about: In April 2006, one-hit has-been Charlie Daniels posted an essay…
Nine Inch Nails
Leave it to Trent Reznor — one of the few musicians who probably doesn’t need to hype his art by this point — to trump every other viral marketer with the Internet-heavy promotional campaign for Year Zero. (It’s a concept record; think the Big-Brother-is-controlling mentality of George Orwell’s 1984 combined…
Cooking Mama
Publisher: Majesco
Platform: Wii
Price: $49.99
ESRB Rating: E (For Everyone)
Score: 7 (out of 10)
Waking Ashland
Waking Ashland’s front man and keyboardist Jonathan Jones says he wants to combine the emotion of piano-based singer/songwriters like Elton John and Billy Joel with the edginess of the Pixies, all without sounding like any of the three. He generally succeeds. Waking Ashland is often called piano rock, and for…
What Garry Didn’t Know
Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show (Sony) The greatest boxed set ever — not so much for the made-up irritainment as for the real thing, which this collection serves up by the ton. There are 23 brilliant episodes of the HBO show here, but they pale in…
Matt Lemmler
Hurricane Katrina scattered New Orleans musicians across the country. Many have returned to the Big Easy, but others are rebuilding their lives elsewhere. A former Ninth Ward resident, pianist Matt Lemmler is settling in Houston. Lemmler grew up just blocks away from Fats Domino’s house and studied with Marsalis family…
Los Straitjackets with Big Sandy
Surely one of the strangest Nashville musical outfits ever, the Mexican-mask-wearing Los Straitjackets have been wowing audiences with their musical virtuosity and carnival-barker weirdness for more than a decade. This time around, in support of their latest release, Rock En Español Vol. 1, they’re traveling with the leader of Big…
Don’t Take Your Guns to Town
It just doesn’t get much more country than one witness’s account of the Billy Joe Shaver shooting, which took place a couple of weeks ago near Papa Joe’s Saloon just outside of Waco. Several witnesses say that Shaver and his victim — Billy Coker — had been chatting amiably until…
Paul Rodgers
Paul Rodgers has one of classic rock’s most distinctive voices. He can be heard on a slew of familiar radio/bong-party hits from legendary bands Free and Bad Company, as well as the Firm, his ’80s collaboration with Jimmy Page. He was also invited to front “Paul Rodgers + Queen” with…
KENNEALLY’S IRISH PUB
“Never challenge a bartender,” Sanchez tells me as we walk into Kenneally’s Irish Pub (2111 S. Shepherd, 713-630-0486), “because the bartender will always win.” Between beers and cigarettes, Sanchez, a former bartender, tells me about the time four frat boys challenged him to get them shit-faced, a feat they thought…
Taking Care
After three months, six court hearings and nearly $30,000 in attorney and nursing home fees, 77-year-old Margie Hill has finally escaped the grip of Harris County and returned to live with her devoted son Marvin Evans. “I cried so much in that nursing home; I hated it,” Hill says. “I…
Lucero
You can call Lucero’s music Southern rock so long as you put the emphasis on rock. Lucero certainly does. The quartet has been called Memphis’s answer to Bruce Springsteen, and there are definite echoes of the Boss in their guitar-driven anthems. They’ve been “the next big thing” for a few…
The Choking Game
Levi Draher is clinically dead. The 15-year-old’s body is positioned with the knees on a stack of mattresses, the torso slumped forward with the neck pressed into a black nylon cord he had tied between two bed bunk posts. He’s in an empty bedroom in his company barracks at the…
Snap Big Shots
Last month we kicked off our yearlong photography contest for Houston-area high school students and received more than 100 photos of animals. After close to 300 votes online and a review by our in-house judges, it’s time to announce the winners. First place goes to Stephanie Schmitt of Taylor High…
Darden Smith
During the last 20 years, singer/songwriter Darden Smith has gone from folk to country to pop and back again. Along the way, he recorded ten albums. His debut was the 1986 release Native Soil, which featured Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith, then also newcomers, on background vocals. He’s based in…
“New Animals”
Photographer Allison Hunter wants you to fill in the blanks. In her exhibit “New Animals,” barnyard creatures are placed in one-tone environments, allowing the viewer to imagine the backdrop. For example, a lonely pony stands bottom corner of Untitled #7 with blackness surrounding it. Is it lost, or waiting to…
Locked & Unloaded
Keith Patton of Katy has become an unlikely hero of both the National Rifle Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, and you’d think that’s not easy to do. In Patton’s case, though, it actually was easy enough to do, if not to endure. He bought a gun in February…
Wines
Wine is supposed to be relaxing, not anxiety-inducing. So how do you pick a wine from all those pages and pages of foreign names on the wine list and all those mysterious labels on the shelf at the wine store? And how do you know when it’s a good value?…
Grand Prix of Houston
In February’s Texas Monthly, Michael Hall described the “inland sea of beer,” mountains of litter and fortresses of merchandizing booths that surrounded the Texas Motor Speedway — a former cow pasture outside of Fort Worth that became the eleventh-largest city in the state during November’s Dixie 500. If this enthusiasm…
Mail Call
Greatest Show on Earth? Online readers respond to ” [HouStoned blog, by Olivia Flores Alvarez, March 28], about his July concert with the Houston Symphony. Real treat: A concert with Clay is NOT to be missed. It truly is a great experience for people of all ages who appreciate wonderful…
Fracture
This week’s generically titled studio suspense thriller, Fracture, has the good sense to begin where last week’s generically titled studio suspense thriller, Perfect Stranger, ended — with the solution to that tedious riddle: Whodunit? The answer this time is Anthony Hopkins as Ted Crawford, an aeronautical engineer whose pockets of…
Yatra Brasserie
The first time I ate lunch at Yatra Brasserie, the cool new Indian restaurant on Main Street, I was delighted to see an innovative “wrap” on the lunch menu. It sounded good, but the flour tortilla roll-up turned out to be stuffed with a sort of rectangular veggie burger that…