Good News For Metro! A Political Speech!
Light-rail fans in Houston were on tenterhooks this week. As Rad Sallee of the Houston Chronicle put it Monday: The U.S. transportation secretary will announce “good news” regarding expanding transit in Houston Tuesday, a spokeswoman said. Metro has asked the agency to pay for half of two planned light rail…
Lou Dobbs, Henry Cejudo and Usain Bolt: More Notes on the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
I’ll be honest. I thought Lou Dobbs was full of crap. I thought all of his anti-immigrant ranting was just the standard hot air bloviating used merely for the purposes of higher ratings. I didn’t really think he meant any of that crap. I thought he was just espousing this…
Taste-Testing the St. Arnold Brewing Company’s Divine Reserves
In anticipation of the upcoming release of St. Arnold’s Divine Reserve number seven, I participated in a vertical tasting of the six previous St. Arnold’s Divine Reserves yesterday. And what a wild ride it was. These quirky beers were manufactured as a creative outlet for St. Arnold’s brewers without much…
Annoyed Parent Wants Wii Out Of The Children’s Section Of The Library
Sarah Gish recently took her eight-year-old to visit Houston Public Library’s revamped Central Library. They headed for the children’s area, where there were kids playing the Wii. “You can’t do the Wii,” she remembers telling him. “You need to read.” Problem was, she says, “We were trying to read, and…
Texaco Gets A Little Closer To Oblivion
The marginalization of Texaco, once the proudest of Texas oil companies, continues. Since it merged with California-based Chevron in 2001, Texaco has lost a lot of luster. (Of course, it also lost a lot of luster by losing the world’s biggest civil suit and the country’s largest racial-discrimination suit and…
Slideshow: Creepy Classic Rock Lyrics
In honor of Steely Dan’s show at the Verizon Wireless Theater tonight – it’s sold-out, but there should be plenty of sketchy-looking dudes hanging around just waiting to sell you a ticket – Rocks Off decided to put together a list of some of classic rock’s more unsettling lyrics, sometimes…
Artist of the Week: Hell’s Engine
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 introducingliston@gmail.com. As our regular readers know, we experienced a…
Feds Uncover Reason For Plant Explosion
The federal Chemical and Safety Hazard Investigation Board says it has probably zeroed in on what caused the fatal June 11 explosion at a Goodyear plant here: a blocked pressure-release valve. Investigators have made two week-long visits to the site. Their work continues, but they’ll be focusing on the valve…
TUTS Brings Back Les Miz, Yet Again
Theatre Under the Stars has dropped its production of Meet Me in St. Louis for the time being. Apparently, it’s just not as big a deal as the opportunity to put on Les Miserables. Again. TUTS is one of only a few companies recently granted permission to stage the musical,…
Tonight: James Jackson Toth and The Dutchess and the Duke at the Mink
Quiet is the new loud at the Mink tonight, when two of the more interesting names in under-the-radar folk-pop peddle their tuneful wares. Southern Gothic troubador James Jackson Toth (above), formerly of offbeat acoustic duo Wooden Wand – whose 2007 LP James and the Quiet featured members of Wilco, Deerhoof…
If Only I Had Bashed Houston, I’d Have Been President
Michael Dukakis now knows how he could have won the 1988 presidential election: Dump on Houston. Dukakis, the epitome of a wonkish Democrat with zero charisma, was handily defeated by George H.W. Bush, partly because of the heinous “Willie Horton” political ad, which blamed Dukakis for a convicted felon committing…
Tonight: Ditchwater ‘Zine Release Party at Sound Exchange
Photos by Rosa Guerrero Rosa Guerrero walks up to where I’m sitting at Under the Volcano. “Stick out your hand,” she says. I palm up to her demands, and she sinks a heavy single-lens reflex with flash into my hand. “That’s what I carry around every night,” says the photographer…
Aftermath: King’s X at Meridian
Photos by Chris Gray King’s X has to be one of the great mysteries of rock music from the past two decades or so. Caught in the teeth of the social transition between hair-metal and grunge, the Houston trio – the same lineup of Doug Pinnick (bass/vocals), Ty Tabor (guitar)…
Happy Gringo at Perico’s Mexican Restaurant
Sunday was a good day for food exploring. Gasoline was down to $3.45 a gallon and I decided to venture down 290 between 610 and Beltway 8. I passed the Crazy Cajun restaurant but didn’t stop (maybe some other time) and that got me to thinking about how comfortable these…
Minnesotans Somehow Go Nuts Over Sonic
A suburb south of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota is preparing to deal with new traffic surges at some points in the day. Streets will be clogged, cars will be backed up, frustrations will rise. Why? Because the town is getting a Sonic Drive-In restaurant. As one commenter to the Star-Tribune put…
Astros-Brewers: All Hail the Fonz
Did you ever just have one of those nights when nothing goes right? When no matter what you do, the answer is wrong? When no matter what help you offer, it’s always the wrong kind? Well, the Astros didn’t have one of those night. I had one of those nights,…
Like, Russia Is So Totally 80s Right Now!
Like, ohmigawd, Russia. You are acting so totally 80s right now! I’m, like, having a USSR flashback, swear to God. Like, everything about you is so classic 80s Russia. Or should I call you the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? Like, really. Where’s that freaky red flag with the hammer…
We Read The Small-Town Police Blotters, So You Don’t Have To
I love reading small-town newspapers. It’s not just that virtually everything in them is new to me as an outsider. No, it’s also that more of the human drama, or comedy, as the case may be, is deemed worthy of coverage. Here are a few examples of what Paulie Walnuts…
Battle of the Bunnies: METRO vs. Bellaire
Bellaire city council was happy about the new Bellaire Route No. 2 Quickline service that METRO will be inaugurating later this month – until it saw the street poles and street signs that came with it. As part of the service, there were supposed to be banners announcing the service…
Big Plans in Little Sugar Land: Pro Baseball and Concerts Coming to the Brazos?
It’s a prominent national trend: sterile but affluent suburbs all over strip-mall and cul-de-sac America scramble to retro-fit with culture, fun, a municipal center. You know, one of them-there “downtown” thingies. The Woodlands has already done so. Lisa Gray at the Chronicle wrote about the sylvan suburb’s charms in Zest…
Black Sabbath: The Rules of Hell Box Set Reviewed
Fairly or not, when a band loses a charismatic frontman, they’re left with a hole that’s both more obvious and difficult to fill than, say, keyboardist or drummer. Rock history has shown that bands can actually become more popular (AC/DC, Van Halen) or spend the rest of their careers hoping…
Slip Inside This House: MP3s from S.J. and the Crossroads and the Six Pents
S.J. and the Crossroads, “Get Out of My Life Woman” The history of white garage rockers influenced by black soul screamers and blues guitarists is as deep as the ocean: Elvis, the Rolling Stones, Zeppelin all made their mountains of cash off of black music, and most of them laid…
Please, Don’t Bury Me…In A Knock-Off Chinese Coffin
The Bay Area Citizen is reporting that four area funeral homes have been named in a lawsuit alleging the funeral homes have been selling knock-off coffins. A Pittsburg, Texas (Update: It’s Pittsbugh, PA) casket manufacturer, the York Group, filed the lawsuit and obtained a temporary restraining order against the homes…
Border Patrol Officer Pleads Guilty To Jack Bauer Imitation
A Border Patrol agent who went all Jack Bauer on some illegal aliens has been convicted of violating their civil rights, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Houston announced today. Santiago Perez, 26, of Edinburg, plead guilty to the use of excessive force on two undocumented visitors, or people-without-papers, or night-time…
In the Air Tonight: Phil Collins Headed to the Cleaners
Don’t be too surprised if Phil “Sussudio” Collins heads into the stu-stu-studio to make a new album soon – maybe another Disney soundtrack a la Tarzan – or calls up his old Genesis mates for an encore to last year’s “farewell” tour. Its 13-date North American leg skipped Houston anyway,…
Another Day, Another 1,300 Pounds Of Benzene Accidentally Released
My old man, may he rest in peace, worked all his life for Humble Oil, which later became Exxon, which later became ExxonMobil, and during the course of his long career, the family became vaguely aware that often there were problems with compressors and turbines and other things that hummed…
Houstonian Will Be Doing Whatever It Is They Do On “Amazing Race”
Do people still watch the reality show Amazing Race? They do? OK. Then here’s a news tip for you — H-Town will be in the house for the 13th season of the award-winning series, which begins September 28. The producers have announced the 11 two-person teams that will be competing…
Carl Lewis > Michael Phelps (At Least for Four More Years)
So now for the question of the moment: Is Michael Phelps the greatest Olympian ever? He’s won more total gold medals than any other Olympian, and he’s won more gold medals in one Olympics than any other. So, how about it? The guys at the Yahoo! Sports blog have decided…
Astros-Brewers: Corey Hart Still Looking Good
So I see Randy Wolf has been getting his pitching advice from Wandy Rodriguez and Brandon Backe. He once again failed to get the magical quality start, forcing the Astros bullpen to go into overdrive once again. And while Jim Deshaies may have spoken about how Wolf’s stat line was…
UH Phone System Swamped
The University of Houston’s phone lines are in gridlock this morning – at least the ones going to the all-important Admissions Office which is where you check to see if your financials are all in order. And today’s the day UH says you have to settle up your bill or…
The Waterways of Harris County
That ours is a city of many gas stations, nail salons, cell phone boutiques, and chain drug stores is well known to even the most casual of Houston explorers, be they afoot or aboard an automobile. Other aspects are revealed only to the most dedicated of adventurers, a category in…
Caribbean Cuisine Jamaican Patties at Emanu El Memorial Cemetery
I recently joked to some friends that, at the current lot valuations by the Harris County Appraisal District, not to mention that I like having a real front and back yard, I’m effectively paying $26 a square foot for grass. Which I guess is why many builders around town cut…
College Presidents To Freshmen: Get Your Beer On!
Finally, college presidents do something every student can endorse — they’re fighting to lower the drinking age to 18. Something called the Amethyst Institute, obviously named by a drunk 18-year-old, has gotten more than 100 college presidents — including those from Duke, Ohio State, Dartmouth and Whittier — to sign…
Hypocritical Outrage Over the Spanish Basketball Photo?
I linked to a story on the Spanish Olympic Basketball Team photo in one of the Olympic posts last week, but I didn’t do anything else with it because I just didn’t feel up to it. Why waste time on it when Michael Phelps is just blowing away the world…
Art Rock: Extreme and King’s X at Meridian
Yes, THAT Extreme. That King’s X too, for that matter. – CG…
Art Rock: Death By Texas and the Watermarks at Boondocks
I realize it’s almost actually time for the show – well, sort of (10 p.m.) – but this poster is so cool I had to post it anyway. – CG…
Ballz Is Looking to Expand Its Roster
Think you’ve got what it takes to cover the Texans or the Rockets? Drop us a line and send us a link to your blog or make up your own post on the spot. We’re not looking for cheerleaders. (Unless you happen to be a real cheerleader for one of…
Katy Freeway’s Torture of Commuters Delayed
Katy Freeway commuters, you have received a one-week reprieve. The huge-pain-in-the-ass changes on that heavily traveled highway were scheduled to take place August 25; now, says project spokeswoman Tanya McWashington, they won’t occur until September 1…
Finger Furniture Stores Flip Houston The Bird
Great furniture — and cheesy TV ads — will no longer be “At Your Fingers!!!!” Because there ain’t going to be any more Fingers. The company announced today they’re abandoning the family name in order to concentrate on the Ashley Home Stores they run. “Ashley”? Sounds pretty damn sissified to…
HISD Decides Not To Decide About CEP
HISD faced a tough decision on whether to renew its $18 million annual contract with Community Education Partners, the outfit some critics have accused of warehousing troubled students instead of helping them. The school district had a deadline of August 15 to notify CEP whether they planned to renew the…
New Video and Album Update from Karina Nistal
Here’s “Viviendo,” the latest video from Houston’s Karina Nistal & Rebel Crew, which recently premiered (inter)nationally on Spanish-language music channel MUN2: Taken from Nistal’s previous album, Nistyle, “Viviendo” was made completely in-house and on the cheap, Nistal says. “We used resources our friends provided us – their time, cameras, locations,…
Lower-Income HISD School Gets Prestigious Program
A fourth HISD elementary school has been approved to offer the highly thought-of International Baccalaureate program, and it’s not like any of the others. Right now only three HISD elementaries offer the IB Primary Years program, and they’re the kind of schools you would imagine would be associated with it:…
Texans-Saints: Where’s the Andre Johnson Jersey?
Photo by Mark C. Austin Click here for a slideshow from last season… I tried watching the Texans again this weekend, but seriously, when Michael Phelps is busy making Lance Berkman eat his words, and the Arizona Diamondbacks are making Brandon Backe look like a Little League pitcher, a preseason…
Tunnel Mole Surfaces, Discovers SUV Assholes
Finally realized why traffic flows so smoothly in Houston — in the Downtown Houston Tunnel System (patent pending), that is: There’s no friggin’ SUVs!!! The pedestrian equivalent, large people, don’t populate the tunnels so much — or maybe it’s that all the walking at an intense clip has whittled everyone…
Aftermath: Heybale! at the Continental Club
Photos by Matt Smith Per our recent blog pondering the slow death of honky tonk and the wisdom of pursuing that genre as a career path, after Heybale!’s masterful show at the Continental Club I think it’s safe to assume that honky-tonk is still alive, even if only as a…
Artichoke Inspirations from Mint Cafe
Mint Cafe on Sage is the subject of this week’s Cafe review. After eating the appetizer called ardishawki there, I immediately bought some artichokes and started experimenting with the Middle Eastern dish myself. It’s a cooked, trimmed artichoke dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic and chopped cilantro–sort of…
Turning the Screw: Nosaprise, (More) Trae vs. Mike Jones, Slim Thug & Devin the Dude, Jin, The Game, Kanye, GZA and More
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 Nosaprise (above), “All In The Family” Wire to Wire Trae > Mike Jones Slim Thug and Devin the Dude…
It’s Official: San Francisco Giving Us 276 Recycling Bins, Superior Attitude
The final tallies are in: Thanks to Jonathan Franzen, some local musicians and a band — but apparently not Hair Balls, even though we did our part — San Francisco’s Progressive Reading Series will be donating 276 recycling bins to the hapless city of Houston. It’s been a tough road…
Astros-Diamondbacks: Ugly Weekend for Houston
As I’ve been saying, just because the Astros were able to rip off a streak of wins over the Reds and Giants didn’t mean that they were any good. Good pitching shuts them down. Makes them look bad. And such is what happened on Friday and Saturday nights against the…
More Women Complain Of Being Harassed By Brazoria Judge
The list of women who say they’ve been subjected to the unwanted sexual advances of Brazoria County Judge James Blackstock is getting longer. Brazoria County Clerk Joyce Hudman and two other women have told District Attorney Jeri Yenne they too were groped and kissed by Blackstock, who was indefinitely suspended…
Aftermath: Nine Inch Nails at Toyota Center
Photos by Mark C. Austin Let’s get the obvious complaints out of the way. At 43, Trent Reznor has been selling angst since the late 1980s. It’s not exactly a revolutionary formula, and there probably were probably some original fans in the audience; think over-the-hill Goths wearing 20-year-old tour T-shirts…
Zack Morris is a Lawyer, Yeah Right
Is anyone else having a good time watching the TNT television promos where Zack Morris from “Saved by the Bell” pretends to be a lawyer? What happened, did he get tired of hanging out at the Max and frenching Kelly Kapowski underneath Mr. Belding’s desk? Are we actually supposed to…
Michael Phelps, Dara Torres, Usain Bolt and Empty Seats: Notes on the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
So what more can be said about Michael Phelps? He just went out and did what he had to do, which was to win eight gold medals in eight swimming events. Something that has never been done in one Olympics. He did it by smashing world records and running away…
Over the Weekend: Marquis II, Blanco’s and Elvis
Anyone else getting a little tired of Michael Phelps? No, sure, the dude is awesome. The best. For real. But we don’t see why he and his mom keep getting interviewed over and over again. We know it feels great for them. We know she’s proud. We know he plans…
Fight Obesity By Sitting Around Playing A Computer Game
Some Houston obesity researchers are hoping that overweight people using the Internet will at least visit their virtual clinic to exercise and diet online. If that’s tough to understand, it’s probably because it doesn’t make sense. Actually, Second Life is apparently very popular and virtual people doing virtual stuff is…
Texas Horror Movies: The Top Five
We Texans live with our share of horrors: fire ants, Rick Perry, residents of Plano, but this entry was still something of a challenge. After all, coming up with Texas horror movies without invoking the one that actually has the name of our state in the title is harder than…
Texas Road Food: Houston
A classic. — Robb Walsh…
Remembering Elvis
On this day 31 years ago, Elvis Presley’s heart gave out in the throne room of the King’s Memphis mansion, Graceland. A moment of silence, then, for the hips that once shook the world. Thankyaverrahmuch… Elvis has trouble remembering the lyrics… “The Elvis Files” investigates the King’s “alleged” death… Lots…
Weekend Music: Nine Inch Nails, Lyle Lovett, the Gougers, Arthur Yoria, Studemont Project and More
Bow down to Nine Inch Nails at Toyota Center tonight with A Place to Bury Strangers. You’re going to get what you deserve… Nine Inch Nails, “Dead Souls” (Joy Division cover), live at Woodstock ’94 Austin rootsmiths the Gougers fire up the forge at the Mucky Duck… The Gougers, “To…
A Review of Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed The World
The 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome were fraught with change and significance. It was a time of racial struggle in the United States. The Cold War between the USSR and the United States was heating up. New countries were coming into being throughout the world. The world of the amateur…
Triple Decker Burger at Hubcap Grill
Ricky Craig has just opened Hubcap Grill (1111 Prairie, 713-223-5885), with a little financial backing from his dad. “I did this for my son,” says Richard Craig of Craiganale’s Italian Deli Café, which has long been a favorite spot downtown for homemade Italian food. “You know, I had to get…
No Smoking Ban In West U Bar (Note Single, Not Plural)
With the passing of Houston’s smoking ban last year, smokers in the Village area were driven to a single sanctuary, a bar that harkens back to a simpler time when frat boys were frat boys and everyone’s hair smelled like cigarettes after a good night out. Location is everything at…
Kirbyjon Caldwell Loves Bush, Hates McCain
Kirbyjon Caldwell, the Houston pastor who presided over Jenna Bush’s wedding, has made it clear his love of Republicans doesn’t extend to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain. Speaking to reporters yesterday, Caldwell let it rip, breaking out the hate just because McCain attended a biker rally in South Dakota and…
Houston Developer Won’t Rebuild San Diego’s City Hall
San Diego is considering a massive project to replace its City Hall complex, and for a long time it was thought that Houston developer Gerald Hines had the inside track for the job. No longer. Hines issued a press release today saying they are pulling out of the competition to…
The Bright Side Of Pollution
If Marvin Zindler came back to life on TV and covered the Houston refinery scene instead of rats and roaches in restaurants, he might be tempted to bellow, “It’s hell to run an environmentally responsible refinery!” But Marvin, sadly, ain’t coming back, so we’ll say something similar, “It must be…
HISD’s Terry Abbott: The Top Five Moments
The Houston Chronicle’s education blog mentioned that the HISD board bid a fond farewell yesterday to longtime spokesman Terry Abbott, who is leaving at the end of the month to become a consultant. “[A]s board member Natasha Kamrani put it: ‘Terry Abbott is a junk-yard dog. He will stand in…
WTF? Lance Berkman Doesn’t Think Michael Phelps Is a Real Athlete?
Six events, six world records, six gold medals. Michael Phelps continues to amaze. Especially in that he’s not just winning his events, he’s dominating his events. I think that’s impressive; I’m sure most of you think it’s impressive. But Lance Berkman, he doesn’t think so much of it. “Anybody can…
Tonight: Riff Tiffs, Cex, Max Stalling, Heybale! and More
Fresh off their appearance at last night’s Recession Thursdays at Numbers, atmospheric Houston rockers the Riff Tiffs headline a free warehouse party 9 p.m. tonight at 2220 Commerce with the Wild Moccasins and the Eastern Sea… Riff Tiffs, “Nightmare,” live at Super Happy Fun Land Baltimore laptop cut-and-paster Cex glitches…
FLDS Son Cuts Deal With Prosecutors
A teenage son of Warren Jeffs, the leader of the FLDS church, has reached an agreement with authorities to avoid any punishment relating to his arrest during the April raid of the church’s YZF Ranch. Levi Jeffs, 19, was arrested after state troopers stopped the car he was driving through…
Former TV News Stuntman Now A Chicago Anchor
If you were in Houston a dozen or so years ago and watched Channel 2 News, you might remember Rob Johnson. He was the reporter who submitted himself to any manner of peril for your TV enjoyment, including plunging himself via car into a bayou to demonstrate how to properly…
Thyme Syrup and Grapefruit Dust
In the August 14th Stirred and Shaken column, I referred to “thyme syrup” and “grapefruit dust” used in the Thyme After Lime cocktail at Reef. In case you were curious, here are the recipes and instructions for those two rather novel ingredients, straight from Reef’s head barman, J.M. Erben. Thyme…
St. Joseph’s Nurses Told: “No Naps For You!!”
The idea of being allowed to sleep at work might seem absurd to most people, but to nurses at St. Joseph’s Hospital, it’s no laughing matter. “I’m not talking about people sleeping at their desk,” says one Behavioral Medicine nurse who says she can’t reveal her name without getting fired…
I’m Not The Kind Of Guy Who Uses A Real-Life Skull Bong
One of the teenagers accused of smoking pot out of a stolen skull said he wasn’t part of the group that dug up the grave. Kevin Jones, 17, talked to Hair Balls from Harris County Jail, after being convicted of using a stolen credit card and sentenced to six months…
Cheeburger Cheeburger Onion Rings
The onion rings at Cheeburger Cheeburger were fried fresh to order in pure peanut oil. (So were the hand cut fries.) You can get a monster basket of rings that feeds four to five people for five bucks. You can also get a big “Basket of Both” which includes fries…
Five Spot: Five Reasons Not to Mess With Trae
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we’ll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it’s either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Monday, Mike Jones tried to test Trae’s gangster at the 3rd Annual Ozone Awards. He must not have heard that Trae…
Black Pepper Laden Onion Rings at Somerville’s Country Inn
Speaking of onion rings, some of the best I have come across are served up by the Country Inn in Somerville. The place isn’t afraid to spice ’em up with black pepper the way I like ’em. — Jay Francis…
Allen Parkway Development Moving Forward
The bold new development that will revolutionize Houston — or, at the very least, replace the old Allen House apartment complex on Allen Parkway — may be one step closer to reality. Developers for Regent Square have applied for final plat approval from the city’s Planning Department. So start planning…
Astros-Giants: Any Day Now Cecil Cooper Will Be Starting Brad Ausmus at First
The Astros came from behind to defeat the San Francisco Giants 7-4 yesterday. This was the 8th straight victory for the Astros, but I’m not jumping on the bandwagon, especially since the victories have come over two of the worst teams in the league – Cincinnati and San Francisco –…
Open Season on Pit Bulls’ Genitals
OK, let’s face it, pit bulls have a certain reputation and it’s not a good one. Yes, they’re loyal, strong, intelligent, but you have to balance that with the possibility that if your 2-year-old smart-talks them, they may rip his throat open when you step out of the room. For…
I Heart Carson Kressley
Okay, okay, okay. So I totally get the fact that Lifetime’s “How To Look Good Naked” is kind of a cheesy, mostly obvious self-empowerment show that is built upon the sad and horrible truth that our American culture glorifies extreme thinness and does not acknowledge that women come in all…
Weekly WTF: Dude Bathes in a Burger King Sink
Figured it’s Friday morning, so everyone could probably use a laugh. Just try not to spit your coffee all over your monitor. Too late. I bet you $100 this guy is in a band. Hey, it is his birthday. Shout out to Byron Crawford, the wrongest blogger in the whole…
Texas Road Food: Houston
Flaming chile atop a Tex-Mex sign on Federal Road. — Robb Walsh…
The Osteen Trial: The Greatest Upset Ever (Didn’t Happen)
“This is like David and Goliath, and Victoria is not David,” Reginald McKamie said in the closing argument of the trial he lost this morning. A more accurate comparison would have been “This is like a pretty incompetent attorney with an extremely flimsy case…and Goliath.” Perhaps the most astounding thing…
You Can Ignore Evolutionary Theory In Texas
Turns out Texas parents can opt out of having their children learn anything about evolution. All they have to do is send the kids to science classes at “virtual school” through the Texas Virtual Academy program offered by the charter school Southwest Schools in Houston. Like lines from the old…
Tonight: Joe Ely and Joel Guzman at Dosey Doe in The Woodlands
Northsiders listen up: Lubbock legend Joe Ely and his accordion-squeezing compadre Joel Guzman bring the Southwestern twang of this year’s Live Cactus! to oversized coffeehouse Dosey Doe in The Woodlands tonight. (Tickets, with dinner included, are $64 and $54.) Among many other things (Flatlanders, “The Road Goes on Forever,” etc.)…
HISD Teacher: Put My Grandson With “Good White Neighborhood Boys”
Joyce Dauber, principal at generally respected Mark Twain Elementary, has been reassigned pending allegations she made racist comments. HISD has now released a copy of the complaint that originated the investigation. Part of the complaint stems from Dauber’s insistence that her grandson be placed in a class with “good white…
Osteen Trial: Victory For Victoria!
That didn’t take long. After a little more than two hours of deliberation, the jury came back unanimously in favor of Victoria Osteen just now, forever cementing the right of rich white preachers’s wives to big-time flight attendants all over America. We’ll update later with more details, but just know…
Will HISD Re-Up With Controversial CEP?
Tomorrow is supposed to be the big day — will the Houston school district begin the process of cutting its bonds from Community Education Partners, the controversial company that gets $17 million a year to (supposedly) teach troubled students? The current contract has a clause stating that if HISD decides…
Wax Museum: MP3s from the Americans of ’71 (and ’72), Bobby Bland and Bobby & the Premiers
The Americans of ’71, “The Cancer Stick, Part 1” And you thought it was only in the ‘80s when people got all self-conscious and started with the anti-smoking rhetoric – but Houston’s the Americans of ’71 were doing it back in, well, 1971. This talented local group probably had the…
Coming Soon: The Anglo Minority In Texas
The U.S. Census Bureau released a new report today saying that minorities will become the majority in America in the year 2042. There was no state-by-state breakdown (that will be released in a few months), but we talked to the State Demographer of Texas to find out when Anglos in…
Beijing 2008: Local Swim Stud Lorin Koszegi Discusses Michael Phelps
It seems to me that there is always controversy involved with every Olympics, but it just seems there’s been a lot of issues with the Beijing Games, starting back even before the Games began when the promised press access was denied. There have been all of the issues with the…
Seven Things We’d Like To Be Tax-Free This Weekend
Are you absolutely psyched about the fact that coming up is the tax-free weekend? Are you positively giddy at the thought of trying to cram your way into a Target, elbow your way down the aisles, push away slow grandmas and clumsy toddlers just so you can wait on an…
Plague Of The Nicknamed Bandits
Paper? Plastic? Or Denim? Last Thursday, a Sterling Bank location in Kingwood was robbed by a man with a gun and some extra room, um, down there. The “Bagless Bandit” (as he’s being dubbed by the FBI) walked in, asked the teller to cash a check and then pulled a…
The Osteen Trial: World’s Worst PowerPoint
The Osteen case is finally in the hands of the jury, 12 noble and true citizens of Harris County who had to sit through days of sometimes mind-numbing testimony. There was one last bit of torture this morning, though — Reginald McKamie, attorney for flight attendant Sharon Brown, gave a…
Never Mind the Blackface. What About When Robert Downey, Jr. Played Jesus?
Robert Downey, Jr. definitely has caused some Internet chatter with his blackface performance in the movie Tropic Thunder, currently out in theaters, but an exhibition on view at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston reminds us of a simpler time, way back in 2001 when he played Jesus for artist Sam…
Ornery, Possibly Horny Brazoria Judge in Trouble
The first indication something was rotten at the Brazoria County Juvenile Probation Department arose last year, when a probation officer was charged with trading sex with a 16-year-old girl in exchange for not revoking the kid’s probation. He copped a plea bargain and got probation. Now, the chairman of the…
Cheeburger Cheeburger Comes to Texas
This impressive half-pound burger came from Cheeburger Cheeburger, a new “gourmet hamburger” chain location in the Vintage Park Shopping Center off Louetta. We ordered ours cooked medium (they don’t allow medium-rare) with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, mustard, mayo, pickles, onions and jalapeños. The completed sandwich was held together with an…
StubHub: Houston is America’s 17th “Most Rockin’ City”
Radiohead in the Woodlands/photo by Mark C. Austin Well, here’s yet more grist for the “Is Houston a good touring town or not” mill. (I know; just what you were waiting for. Me too.) Yesterday online ticket-swap site StubHub.com released its annual survey of “America’s Most Rockin’ Cities,” and Houston…
Should The Feds Help Save Galveston’s Beaches?
Maintaining Texas beaches is a costly proposition. We’re not talking about litter; we mean erosion. But a new study by the director of research and development for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says we better get on the job. Writing for the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association, which…
Tonight: Lowell Thompson at Rudyard’s
jmwimages.com Burlington, Vermont, singer-slinger Lowell Thompson has that angst-ridden delivery that screams “this is alt-country.” A pointed No Depression/Jeff Tweedy-ness abounds on Thompson’s 2004 EP Turn, which is full of steel guitar and generic but pleasant middle-of-the-country-road strumming. Even with smart lines like “Please don’t kiss him just to prove…
Astros-Giants: Milo Hamilton Must Be Stopped!!!
Gene Elston If it’s possible for me to be shocked by an Astros game, then last night it happened. Who would have thought that with home run magnets Randy Wolf and Barry Zito starting in a game that, going into the sixth inning, the Giants would be winning the game…
Bad Blood At The Roller Derby
If you attended last Sunday’s Houston Roller Derby bout you likely saw a beat-down. The HRD invited a South Side Roller Derby team to their turf and, frankly, kicked their ass. The score: 193 to (get ready for it) 12. For those not familiar with derby, that’s bad (and uncommon)…
Not So Great News from the Health Department
We scanned the Houston Department of Health and Human Services reports for the week of July 28 and found these popular restaurants among the offenders. The Breakfast Klub (3711 Travis) got its hand slapped during an August 7 visit, racking up seven violations. Employees were mishandling food; equipment and service…
Houston Sports Movies: The Top Five
Houston likes to fancy itself a sports town, and we have a few championships to prove it. The Rockets won back-to-back NBA titles in ’94-’95, the Comets four-peated in ’97-’00, while the Dynamo took the MLS Cup in ’06-’07 (and lest we forget, the Aeros won in ’99 and ’03,…
Art Rock: Recession Thursday at Numbers
[Update: Hot tip from the Skyline Network – there will be a new PA in the house for this show.]…
Harvest Grand Finale Vintner Dinner
Messina Hof Winery celebrates the end of this year’s grape harvest with the Harvest Grand Finale Vintner Dinner. For weeks now, both workers and volunteers have been picking and stomping grapes to create the 2008 Messina Hof ports. You may not have been able to peel yourself away from your…
Third Coast Comedy Theater Second Anniversary Celebration
Third Coast Comedy has a big bash planned in the Third Coast Comedy Second Anniversary Celebration. Things start off with a wine tasting by Galveston’s D’ Vine Wine on the Strand and some jazz music. Then it’s time for the show, Crossroads, an improv-style comedy about a small town in…
“Left Alone”
ArtStorm is picturing loneliness. The gallery’s latest exhibit, “Left Alone,” features photography focusing on isolation and introspection. Rachel Hewlett snaps her shutter just after someone flees the scene. “There’s a lot of remnants, sort of, a memory of a person being there,” says curator and ArtStorm co-founder Monte Large. “Whether…
FrenetiCore Fringe Festival
Houston is adding more fringe. After the success of BooTown’s Fringe Festival, other artistic types are rising out of the underground and onto the stage. The FrenetiCore Fringe Festival starts its three-weekend run of local theater, dance, film and music today. Bliss is a comedic play about the pursuit of…
“In the Soil: Nicaragua”
In April of this year, photographer Ryan Booth and some fellow coffee shop hounds went to Nicaragua with a simple mission: Meet the people on the other end of the supply chain and buy coffee direct from the farmers. Booth documented the trip in “In the Soil: Nicaragua.” More than…
Rock the Lockup: 2008 Prison Reform Film Festival
The big house is moving to the big screen. Rock The Lockup: 2008 Prison Reform Film Festival features flicks about life behind bars. The fest kicks off today with the story of its curator. Citizen Provocateur: Ray Hill’s Texas Prison Show chronicles the life of the former inmate. An advocate…
The Gougers
The Gougers are equal parts Texas twang and indie rock. The four-piece group has three shows today, so you’ll have no excuse for missing them play “oldcrow / scarecrow” and other favorites from their soon-to-be-released A Long Day for the Weathervane. This afternoon, you can grab a free Saint Arnold…
“CINCO IV”
Bering & James’s latest exhibit, “CINCO IV,” is made up of five works created just for the show by each of the gallery’s artists. All in all, there will be more than 150 pieces on display. “It’s a fun summer exhibit,” says Cali Alvarado, gallery manager. “They’re all brightly colored,…
How to Draw a Bunny
Like The Devil and Daniel Johnston and Neil Young: A Heart of Gold, 2002’s How to Draw a Bunny is that rarest type of documentary, the kind about an artistic person that’s enjoyable even if you’re not a fan. In this case, the subject is pop artist Ray Johnson. Perhaps…
Dan Kopp and Jay Davis
With a perfect balance between eye candy and food for the mind, CTRL Gallery pre-sents works by two Brooklyn-based artists. Dan Kopp deals in the space between figurations and abstractions; some of his vivid works portray a painter at work, and others are fragmented bits of color bursting across the…
Toypunks
Toy-meets-world in the mesmerizing documentary Toypunks, a fast-paced chronicle of Japanese punk culture that touches on music and fashion but focuses mostly on toys. The film, which is the first in a series, includes interviews with the major makers of designer toys for kitschy Japanese tastes. Interviewees include former underground…
House of Blues Changes Houston’s Live Music Landscape Before Even Opening
In about two months, people who grumble about Houston being relegated to the touring-circuit sidelines are going to have a harder time than ever making their case. Last week House of Blues, the nationwide restaurant/music-venue chain (partially) owned by Houston-based behemoth Live Nation, announced the first round of bookings for…
Joe Lansdale
In Leather Maiden, Joe Lansdale’s lead character Cason Statler has big troubles. He lost his last job in Houston because of, ah, shall we say, ill-advised love affairs (with both his boss’s wife and daughter!). He’s gone home to the oh-so-glamorous Camp Rapture, Texas, to lick his wounds, but he…
Classic Cinema Comedies
Find your funny bone at Miller Outdoor Theatre’s three-night run of Classic Cinema Comedies. Tuesday, it’s 1934’s The Thin Man with William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, a high–society couple who find time to solve mysteries between martinis and dinner parties. The film spawned a slew…
La France
War movies and pop music: They’re not the most common of bedfellows, but leave it to a French filmmaker to bring the two together in 2007’s La France, screening today at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The story is straightforward enough: It’s wartime, and a young wife receives a…
Labor Day Show
Cinema Bomar is getting to work early with its Labor Day Show. Weeks before our official day off, the collective will screen a round of vintage filmstrips about the daily grind. Two Factories: Japanese-American is a 1974 documentary strip comparing transistor radio factories in Japan and the U.S. that fueled…
Chris Grabenstein
Chris Grabenstein’s character John Ceepak has a simple code: “I will not tolerate those who lie, cheat or steal.” Needless to say, Ceepak is a cop. And in Hell Hole, he’s looking into the apparent suicide of Corporal Shareef Smith. This is the third Ceepak mystery Grabenstein has written; he’ll…
“Rediscovered Gems: A Concert of Masterpieces from Opera, Broadway, and the Great American Songbook”
Audiences never tire of the great music numbers presented in “Rediscovered Gems: A Concert of Masterpieces from Opera, Broadway, and the Great American Songbook” by the Houston Ebony Opera. The selections, performed by HEO soloists and its chorus, represent more than 100 years of musical history, and are largely by…
“The Black List Project: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and Elvis Mitchell”
Colin Powell, Chris Rock, Al Sharpton and Serena Williams. What do they have in common? Just this: They are black in America. Oh, and they’re included in “The Black List Project: Timothy Greenfield–Sanders and Elvis Mitchell.” Greenfield-Sanders, considered one of the best portrait photographers of our time, joined forces with…
Milana
With singing, dancing, India’s lush environs and, most importantly, a schmaltzy love story, the hit film Milana has all the Bollywood hallmarks. Things are going great for a young radio DJ (Puneeth Rajkumar) until his wife (Parvathi Menon) tells him, immediately following their wedding, that she wants a divorce and…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Comic Books: A Visual Journey,” “Drapetomania: A Disease Called Freedom,” “The Joannaversary: Parachutists Are the Loneliest People,” “Sterne and Steinberg: Critics Within”
“Comic Books: A Visual Journey” Richard Evans of Bedrock City Comics has lent his personal collection to the Museum of Printing History for a survey of comic book history. Eight chronologically arranged vitrines break down major periods since the dawn of mass media. There are the early comics, with thick…
Bitter:Sweet
“Lounge music” was once a pejorative term: It called to mind blowsy has-beens warbling off-key Peggy Lee covers while slumped against a baby grand at the airport Ramada. That changed last decade, when the increase-the-beats approach to dance music birthed the chill-out room, where revelers could recharge in advance of…
Now Open: Rizzi’s Pizzeria
Mike Rizzi is fanatical about the quality of his food. “It’s all about the ingredients,” says Rizzi, who just opened Rizzi’s Pizzeria (2865 Dulles Ave., Missouri City, 281-208-1800). “We don’t want to be just another pizza joint, so we need to stand out.” What makes Rizzi’s stand out? “First, the…
Sick Puppies
Although viral marketing has improved Sick Puppies’ condition, the cure may not be permanent. The Aussie band’s attempts to break in the States were going nowhere when singer/guitarist Shimon Moore combined footage of performance artist Juan Mann, who offered “Free Hugs” to passersby, with a power ballad called “All the…
Fever Tree Rising
Forming near the tail end of Houston’s prolific psychedelic era, Fever Tree brought a Doors/Jim Morrison brand of dramatic theatricality almost unparalleled by any other Texas band to its songs and shows, primarily on the strength of vocalist Dennis Keller’s voice. I was a high school senior when the group…
Faith-Based Initiative: “Neo HooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith”
There are certain plants, such as the Jiak tree, bear grass and the Tulepa Africa, that grow back stronger than ever after the most devastating fire. The artists in “Neo HooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith,” like those hardy, fire-resistant plants, prove that no matter how much the colonizers tried…
CSS: Donkey
“Your mouth is stuck to a thousand fags,” cheerfully raps the CSS member known as Lovefoxxx at the end of the song called “Jager Yoga.” And Donkey is Cansei de Ser Sexy’s serious album. No, really — the next song’s about spousal abuse. No one really knows what to do…
Poor Treatment of Returning Veterans
Online readers respond to “A Soldier’s Story,” July 31, by Margaret Downing. Troubled vet: As an Air Force veteran, I am troubled about the lack of investigative journalism used by you the writer and the editor of the Houston Press. It is not the base or the National Guard that…
Apocalypse Whatever: Tropic Thunder
Early buzz out of Hollywood pegged Tropic Thunder, directed and co-written by star Ben Stiller, as the end-all and be-all of movie-biz parodies — a savage beast with a rough touch featuring Tom Cruise in a career-resurrecting role as bald-headed, big-gutted, foul-mouthed studio boss Les Grossman, who does the fuck-you…
World’s Most Dangerous: Southern Fried Throwdown
It’s no accident this fearsome foursome of Houstonians and New Orleans expats contracts to WMD. Debut Southern Fried Throwdown rocks with the kind of two-fisted, double-barreled, metal-edged frenzy that should make the boys in ZZ Top swell with regional pride and Mötorhead’s Lemmy look nervously over his shoulder. As with…
Army of One in Alexandra
Spare yet tactile, a mysterious mixture of lightness and gravity, Alexander Sokurov’s Alexandra is founded on contradiction. Musing on war in general and the Russian occupation of Chechnya in particular, this is a movie in which combat is never shown. The star, octogenarian Galina Vishnevskaya, is an opera diva who…
Steely Dan
For a band that once famously rejected live gigging in favor of holing up in studios to create meticulously crafted records, Steely Dan has surprisingly become late-career road dogs. On “Think Fast,” SD’s fifth tour this decade alone, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker and their crack band will plow — smoothly,…
Towering Cinema in Man on Wire
Even as the first girders were laid in the mid-1960s, something about the World Trade Center — that twin-pronged erection jutting from the loins of Western commerce — inspired fantasies of lustful conquest. As James Marsh’s documentary Man on Wire tells it, a mischievous French teenager was sitting in a…
Nine Inch Nails: The Slip
A mere two months after unexpectedly unleashing the murky instrumental collection Ghosts I-IV, Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor one-ups even himself by releasing a new studio album The Slip via nin.com — for free. This quiet appearance stands in direct contrast with the promotional hubbub surrounding NIN’s last proper…
San Francisco Wants to Help Us Recycle
The Progressive Reading Series is a monthly event in San Francisco, where book authors, comedians and musicians get on stage, do their thing and raise money for a good cause. The $1,000 to $2,000 raised each month usually goes to a political candidate, a drive to register voters, or any…
N.E.R.D.: Seeing Sounds
N.E.R.D.’s third album is the compact-disc equivalent of an ad campaign trying to appeal to the Red Bull/BlackBerry generation. “We gotta make it passionate,” you can almost hear Pharrell telling the guys in the studio: “And retro! And political! You know, some really fucked-up crazy awesome nuts shit!” And so…
BayouSphere
It’s 100 degrees, humid as a sauna and you’re waiting for the bus. You can whine about it all, or you can lie back, get some hat-shade and chill out to tunes. The bus will get here eventually, and you’re not going to sweat to death. To view image larger,…
All That Glitters at Anita’s Bar and Grille
A new restaurant has opened up in the Montrose area called Anita’s Bar and Grille — Anita being a well-known drag queen Anita Bump, who made a name for herself hosting drag queen shows at Rich’s. Anita has her name on the old Vietnamese restaurant in the Hollywood Super Center…
Houston Turns Back to Tap Water
Erica Campbell doesn’t want to die from drinking tap water. She doesn’t trust Houston’s public water system, and as a homeopathic doctor, she says she doesn’t believe in the supposed benefits of the fluoride contained in city water and wants nothing to do with the chlorine used to treat it…
Mighty Aphrodites in Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Perhaps this review should begin with a disclaimer: Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Woody Allen’s 39th film as writer-director, will do little to endear itself to the happily-ever-after crowd or those who consider acts of infidelity punishable by impeachment. Leave it to Allen to make a romantic comedy in which all the…
REEF’S THYME AFTER LIME
Last Thursday, I tried out a new beverage at Reef (2600 Travis, 713-526-8282). The head bartender, J.M., had concocted his latest creation just the day before in anticipation of an upcoming cocktails contest. After auditioning several names, his team settled on “Thyme After Lime,” after the thyme-infused syrup used in…
Lightsabers and Tits Don’t Quite Hide Soul Calibur IV’s Lack of Ideas
You hear the same words used over and over to describe Soul Calibur IV, words like forced. Jarring. Anachronistic. But to me, the word that describes shoehorning Darth Vader and Yoda into a game about sentient swords, Renaissance-era combat and plucky female martial artists is simply desperate. That’s not even…
Conductor’s Masterpiece at Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille
The “symphony kabob” ($39.95) at Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille (9827 Katy Fwy., 832-358-9000, and other locations) is a combination of flavors and ingredients that together create the perfect harmony. Half the fun of this dish is its dramatic presentation. A stainless-steel stand arrives with a 15-inch skewer, and the waiter…
String-Scraping Rock Stars Two Star Symphony
When the Rice University Theater kicks off its 2008-09 season with the multimedia laser light show production Synesthesia, Two Star Symphony, the local string quartet commissioned to compose and perform original music for the production, will be a long way from its humble beginnings. “We actually started doing this to…
Garlic-Chomping Reggae Royalty Toots Hibbert
Traveling across the U.S. as a reggae star has its pluses and minuses. With a recent album, Light Your Light, on record-store shelves, there’s no doubt that Toots Hibbert, charismatic frontman of legendary Jamaican band Toots and the Maytals, doesn’t mind the exposure. His band is a crowd favorite in…
Madness abounds in The Bacchae
The young god Dionysus is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. He’s on a rampage and the city of Thebes is his ground zero. Its proud, rational king Pentheus refuses to worship this interloper, this minor god newly arrived from Asia, whose celebrants lose themselves in…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Always…Patsy Cline, Company, Electile Dysfunction, Smoke on the Mountain: Homecoming
Always…Patsy Cline Stages Repertory Theatre’s favorite cash cow is back and as much fun as ever. Created by Ted Swindley, the Stages founding artistic director, 20 years ago, Always…Patsy Cline is one of the theater’s biggest crowd pleasers. With the current two-woman cast, which includes the hilarious Susan O. Koozin…
Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears
One look at this Austin-based blues band, who played Lollapalooza in Chicago a couple weeks back, and you know they’re cool. Black Joe Lewis, a throwback to soul shouters like James Brown, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding, hangs front and center, surrounded by a whip-ass combo and three-piece horn section…
Anchor Babies and Mexican Garages
Dear Mexican, As a Mexican, I’m always ashamed of the fact that a lot of Mexican women just come to the U.S. to have babies and to utilize this country’s welfare. I know a lot of them that just keep having children and they do not pay a dollar for…
