Arian Foster Talking Crazy Madden Ish To You (w/ VIDEO)
I was probably as happy as anybody, maybe even more so, when Arian Foster’s hamstring injury that he was dealing with appeared to have been fully healed on Saturday night. I haven’t mentioned this in this space yet (I think), but Foster and I are scheduled to do some radio…
Comment of the Day
Today Stacy Zane shared five ideas for low-calorie cocktails. Commenter Andyphifer had his own suggestion: Gin and Diet Tonic is my skinny drink. An absolute life saver when you want to diet and enjoy a night out at the same time. Thanks for that, Andy. Question, though: Do most bars…
Sticky Notes and Archival Photos: Gallery Openings and Closings This Weekend
Opening August 25 Architecture Center Houston kicks off its retrospective on 175 years of Houston’s building history today at 5:30. Opening August 28 East End Studio Gallery opens its exhibit of sticky-note art with a reception from 4 to 7 p.m. Closing August 26 Art League Houston shuts down two…
Jeffrey O’Neil Ran Father-Son Debt-Relief Scam, Feds Say
The feds have arrested Houstonian Jeffrey O’Neil and his son Nathaniel (a.k.a. Nathaniel Chilo) for what they say was a nationwide scam which involved convincing people to send them money to settle their debts via a Senate banking committee and other very unlikely avenues. The two defrauded investors of $617,000…
Does Lindsay Lohan’s Pitbull Lawsuit Stand A Chance?
Rocks Off remembers, distinctly, when our father told us as a young boy, “Don’t shit where you eat, son.” That phrase stuck with us for over a decade. Dad gave lots of off-the-wall advice to us while he was alive. He once compared driving a stick-shift to making love to…
100 Favorite Dishes: No. 30, Oyster Stew at Danton’s
This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston issue, we’re counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston’s cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least once…
September 11, Ten Years Later: Granta Magazine and Brazos Books to Host Reading
For Americans, September 11 was and remains a deeply personal event. Like few that came before it, the attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. are the kind of events where you will always remember exactly what you were doing and where you were when you found out. Nearly…
Texas Oilmen Are Flooding the Harrisburg (PA) Airport
All of a sudden, people who work at Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania are seeing a whole lot more cowboy hats. The oil business has arrived, and it’s coming from Texas. Statistics show a huge jump in the number of passengers from here over the past year: An increase of…
Keep on Truckin’: Party Fowl
Party Fowl is the new truck in town, debuting just this Tuesday, and the guys behind it are familiar faces in the food truck scene. The guys of The Modular Trailer have rolled out a second venture serving strictly chicken wings, but not just any old chicken wings. In their…
Attention, Fashionistas: Simon Fashion Show Now Coming to Houston Galleria
By now you guys know that we love a good runway show, so imagine my excitement when this little gem popped up in our e-mail — the Houston Galleria is hosting a three-day fashion event in September. Yes! And, yay! The Simon Fashion Show Now® event is scheduled to coordinate…
Project Row Houses 2011 Summer Studios
The Third Ward Community takes center stage with Project Row Houses’ (PRH) summer student installation, and last night, the studio held a special slide show presentation of the seven artists and their work inside and outside of the Summer Studios. Art Attack stopped over to check out the scene and…
New Trend in Pill Dealing: Using the Homeless As Mules
Hydrocodone: A job creatorDid you ever wonder how someone could make a living peddling Xanax or hydrocodone? Sure, it seems easy to sell a pill here or there, but if you want to get into the longer green, you need to be able to get the pills in bulk, and…
50 Years Of Billy Ray Cyrus: A Life In Haircuts
Today marks 50 fabulous years of William “Billy” Ray Cyrus, the man who gave us 1992’s smash single “Achy Breaky Heart,” and spawned from his loins naughty teen sensation Miley Cyrus, star of Disney sitcom Hannah Montana and secret folder on many men’s hard drives. Her 2009 hit “”Party In…
Brew Blog: Brooklyn Sorachi Ace
Earlier this summer, while my brother and his girlfriend were visiting from NYC, I arranged an impromptu tasting session. There was no master plan or theme, I just grabbed a handful of bottles I knew and loved, or which seemed interesting. It worked out pretty well, with an accidental theme…
Sneak Peek: Check Out These Playful Toyist Paintings, on Display at Koelsch Gallery Next Month
It sounds like the most fun you can have in art, but Toyism, according to the movement’s web site, “is a serious style that, upon closer inspection, often deals with subject matter that may be anything but cheery or humorous.” It’s hard to say whether Toyism is a collective or…
Retired Shuttles: Houston Even Finished Behind McMinnville, Oregon
NASA’s Inspector General has issued a report that found no political interference with the decisions on where to send the retired space shuttles for display, decisions which of course shut out Houston. “We found no evidence that the Team’s recommendation or the Administrator’s decision were tainted by political influence or…
Kinky Friedman Endorses Former Rival Rick Perry
Kinky Friedman, who told Rocks Off “let’s have term limits – exhibit A is Rick Perry” in 2009, and that his dog could run Texas better than Perry had, has now decided that the best way to get his former rival out of the governor’s mansion is to put him…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Kim Ly of Café Shoppe Talks Thai Pirates, Plunder, Hitting Icebergs and Coming to America
Kim Ly is owner and chef of Café Shoppe — not to mention, a total charmer with the customers. See part one of our chef chat here. The food is awesome at Cafe Shoppe, but the place is worth a visit just to hear Ly’s coming-to-America story…. EOW: Tell us…
HISD Trustees Get Picky About Magnet Schools
Magnet talk is never easy.Houston ISD trustees picked at a proposed policy and each other this morning in a workshop review of possible changes to the way the district handles its magnet schools and the students who hope to go to them. During one particularly excruciating part of the more…
10 Artists Aaliyah Would Collaborate With Today
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the tragic death of R&B singer Aaliyah. Only 22 when she died, she was dearly adored by fans and fellow artists, and her style has influenced many of today’s prominent R&B songbirds. The Brooklyn-born, Detroit-bred songstress passed away when her plane crashed in the…
Riding the Heat Wave: 10 Movies to Keep You Cool
Raise your hand if you’re tired of getting burned on that small section on your back between your shirt hem and your belt every time you get in your car, if you’re tired of getting up so damn early to go for a run, or if you’re tired of eating…
What Exactly Is a Gastrocantina?
Remember back in June when we told you that a tequila bar would be replacing the closed-down Heights West on Ella? Our reliable sources were as reliable as always: tequila bar and “gastrocantina” El Gran Malo is opening to the public this Friday, August 26, at 2307 Ella, as Ginny…
Queens Post-Rock Duo Takes Lakewood Church To Court
Queens duo The American Dollar would rather their own dollars not come from Lakewood Church. As our sister blog Hair Balls reported this morning, Richard Cupolo and John Emanuelle have filed suit against the Greenway Plaza megachurch and its founders, evangelism power couple Joel and Victoria Osteen, claiming Lakewood is…
Health Department Roundup
No citations or closures in the past week, at least according to the Health Department’s site. But the local restaurant scene has not devolved into an orgy of unpunished dirt accumulations and poorly maintained/designed utensils. Actually, we’ve got a new record this week. The unfortunate distinction goes to the Dimassi’s…
Joel Osteen Sued By Musician Who Says Lakewood Using His Song Will Alienate People
Joel and Victoria Osteen and Lakewood Church have been sued by two songwriters over the church’s use of a song called “Signaling Through the Flames” in TV ads. Richard Cupolo and John Emanuele say they had a one-year licensing agreement with Lakewood but it expired and was not renewed. The…
Eight Actors Turned Musicians, Best To Worst
This past week, actor Jeff Bridges decided to take the ill-advised plunge that far too many of his thespian brothers and sisters have before him: He released a record. Produced by his Crazy Heart buddy T-Bone Burnett, Bridges’ self-titled album sold about 13,000 copies its first week, coming in at…
Abe Lincoln, Drawn By Lightning
Yes, many areas of Houston got hit by a relatively unknown substance that old-timers used to call “rain.” Storms knocked out power to about 80,000 homes, a small price to pay for some wet stuff in this scorching historic drought. Oh, and Abe Lincoln dropped by to check things out,…
Home Cooking: Glazed Grilled Salmon
If you’re like me, the grill is your quick-meal best friend. Take a piece of meat or fish and some veggies, sprinkle with seasoning, and voila, a meal that is on the table in no time. But, sometimes you need a recipe that steps it up a little and is…
Remember Chamillionaire’s Badazz Slow-Mixes?
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. Chamillionaire Badazz Slow-Mixes (Self-released, 2011) Chamillionaire, everyone’s favorite globetrotting recluse, held a contest on his Web site back in…
Miss Representation: Repeating the Cycle
Miss Representation is directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. It would be easy to dismiss Miss Representation, which focuses on the effect of the predominantly sexist media on girls, as another alarmist documentary that’s basically preaching to the choir (An Inconvenient Truth, anybody?). It seems more than a little ironic that…
Top 5 Skinny Cocktails
You can say the low-calorie cocktail trend all started with Real Housewife Bethenny Frankel and her Skinnygirl cocktail line, which earned her a reported $120 million when Fortune Brands’ Beam Global acquired it earlier this year. While she certainly made “Skinnygirl” a household name, it’s not like low-calorie drinks are…
Amy Winehouse & 5 Others You Might Think OD’d But Didn’t
When Grammy-winning singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her home on July 23, there couldn’t have been very many people, even among her most fervent fans, who doubted that her death would ultimately be ruled as the result of an illegal drug overdose. Facebook and Twitter were flooded with…
Comment of the Day: When Sex Toys Are Lost Forever
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
30 Years After Beauty And The Beat, Life Lessons From The Go-Go’s
There are girl bands and girls that play in bands, and then there are the Go-Go’s. The group hit the L.A. music scene in 1979 with a sugary, pop-infused version of punk that would come to define the New Wave era of music in the 1980s. Thirty-two years later, they…
Pop Rocks: 5 of Our Guiltiest TV Pleasures
As we continue our countdown to the start of the fall TV season, it behooves us to prepare for the inevitable discussion of shows with the potential to become breakout hits and critical darlings. What will be the next Mad Men? The next Modern Family? Will any of this season’s…
Pop Rocks: 5 Guilty TV Pleasures
As we continue our countdown to the start of the fall TV season, it behooves us to prepare for the inevitable discussion of shows with the potential to become breakout hits and critical darlings. What will be the next Mad Men? The next Modern Family? Will any of this season’s…
50 Reasons Texas Is the Best State in America
Gawker has been stirring things up by putting out a list of The Worst 50 States in America, with Number One being the worst of the worst. (Amazingly, Manhattan-based Gawker picked New York to be least worst.) We expected Texas to be Top Three material at least, but instead the…
100 Creatives: Marilu Harman
What she does: Marilu Harman makes a living by getting Houston to dance, whether in the Houston Press parking lot on National Dance Day or out on the sidelines. Harman is the coach of the Dynamo Girls, where she choreographs and drills routines…
Hatch Chile Specials Hatching Around Town
Each year around the dead hottest time of the summer, a silver lining appears throughout the Southwest: Hatch chile season. As long as it’s blistering hot outside, why not blister some chiles on the grill, too? The harvesting of Hatch chiles begins in the small town of Hatch, New Mexico…
Don’t Mess With Texas? Ten Other State Slogans Turned to Romance-Novel Titles
Romance writers are up in arms because Texas is suing one of them for using Don’t Mess With Texas as a title for a book the state finds too steamy. The Texas Department of Transportation says the phrase is trademarked and they have to take steps to protect it; romance-novel…
