Sure, Let’s Remake The Rocketeer, Why Not?
Do you ever get the feeling that movie studios announce remakes or reboots just to make people angry, and that they go into production sarcastically, laughing at a sea of nerds taking the whole thing seriously as the directors and actors and the entire crew giggle at the comments sections…
24 Arrested, 14,000 Pot Plants Seized in Three-County Illegal Growing Operation
Two dozen people have been arrested and close to 14,000 pot plants seized in a crackdown on a three-county growing operation, federal officials announced today. Investigators raided nearly 60 properties in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties Tuesday, two-thirds of which contained active hydroponic marijuana grow houses, the U.S. Attorneys…
Lubbock County Judge Tom Head: Raise My Salary, Or Face Wrath of Obama’s UN Minions UPDATED: with Judge Head’s “Clarification”
Panhandle politicos. Just when you think they can’t get any crazier, they keep talking. Case in point: Lubbock County judge Tom Head. On Monday night, flanked by Lubbock County Commissioner Mark Heinrich, Head went on Lubbock’s FOX TV affiliate and warned the flatlanders of the dire consequences of their possibly…
Galveston’s Historic Elissa to Get $1.4 Million in FEMA Repair Funds
Hurricane Ike can seem like a lifetime ago, but the feds are still doling out the cash to deal with the devastation along the Galveston waterfront. Some of that devastation involved the Elissa, the historic tall ship that has long been giving island visitors a taste of Galveston’s past in…
100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 27, Brisket and Turkey at CorkScrew BBQ
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…
Micheal McCleary: Aggieland Judge Apologizes for Referring to “Nasty-Ass Body” of Cop-Killer
An Aggieland justice of the peace has taken out a newspaper advertisement to apologize for comments he made in the wake of a shootout that left a constable dead. After the August 13 incident, in which Thomas Caffall III was killed shortly after he shot constable Brain Bachmann to death,…
In Photos: Trompos de Mexico
In this week’s cafe review of Northside restaurant Taqueria La Macro, which specializes in tacos de trompo, we take a brief look at the history of the trompo itself, which I was excited to find in Houston proper: And sure enough, sitting right there in the open kitchen surrounded by…
Houston Hipsters Weigh In On Pitchfork’s “People’s List”
This week Pitchfork released the results of its nearly year-long project, “The People’s List”, gauging which albums released from 1996 to 2011 were the most revered amongst it’s audience. This wasn’t made up from the brains of the Web site’s writers and freelancers, it was made by the people. They…
The Old 97’s Rhett Miller: “Then the Stage Gets a Lot Bigger”
Music Feature: Streets of Where I’m From This is an exciting time to be an Old 97’s fan. Out of nowhere, almost, the Dallas quartet is now one of the longest-tenured and most successful Texas bands of its generation. All four original members are intact, they never “took a break,”…
Houston Theater Awards Presented by the Houston Press Are Here
August marks the start of the 2012-13 Houston theater season, so we at the Houston Press thought there would be no better time to reflect on the past season. And so, in this week’s issue of the Houston Press, we are inaugurating the Houston Theater Awards. Winners and finalists were…
Reality Bites: Hillbilly Handfishin’
I was about a third of the way through watching this week’s Reality Bites entry when I realized I might be accused of skewing too much toward…rural interests in recent weeks, what with that show about the redneck pageant kid and now the show about the rednecks who stick extremities…
Houston Going Greener With Expanded Electric-Car Sharing Program
Houston will be expanding and upgrading its use of electric vehicles through a ride-sharing program featuring Zipcars, officials announced today. Under the proposed “Houston Fleet Share” program, officials say, “50 city-owned fleet vehicles — including 25 Nissan Leaf EVs and other plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles — will be outfitted…
Pinot Grigio Nation
“Soon as we walk through the door,” sang Mariah Carey in her 2008 hit “Migrate,” “Fellas be grabbin’ at us like yo / Tryin’ to get us going off the Patron / We sippin’ Grigio… slow.” These lines came to mind last night when the day’s umpteenth press release caught…
Texas Appeals Court: Longneck Bud Bottles Just Fine for Whomping Someone Over the Head with, Thanks
In an august decision that will shine in the annals of beer-related jurisprudence for as long as bar patrons whomp each other over the side of the head, a Texas state appeals court has ruled that Anheuser-Busch cannot be sued just because their longneck beer bottles are so damn handy…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Bill and Matt Hutchinson of Pizaro’s Pizza Napoletana
Pizaro’s Pizza Napoletana 14028 Memorial Drive 713-855-0085 www.pizarospizza.com This is the first of a three-part Chef Chat series. Look for parts two and three in this same space Thursday and Friday. Tucked away in the back of a nondescript strip mall at Memorial and Kirkwood is a tiny little hole-in-the-wall…
Cheer up: 10 Films to Get You Through a Bad Day
Hard times are, well, hard. That’s why movies exist — to provide an escape. They can cheer us up and show us that things are not as bad as they seem. Take for example Bridesmaids. The reason that film did so well was because men and women not only liked…
So Chad Kroeger and Avril Lavigne Are Engaged: How Should You Feel?
So the lead singer of Nickelback and a punk-lite pop-star from the early ’00s walk into a bar… Stop me if you have heard this one before. You won’t, because you haven’t, because no one expected that Chad Kroeger and Avril Lavigne would ever get married in a million years…
Comment of the Day: Maybe Don’t Run to Judgment on Jeffrey Guzman, Alleged Teacher/Sexter
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 or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
Dine Out at Home: 5 Easy-to-Make Flavored Butters
No matter how good the meal is, one of my favorite parts of the restaurant experience is the bread service. And while the bread itself is usually the star, it wouldn’t even make an impact without a killer butter to smother all over it. But the euphoric bread and butter…
ZZ Top Playing Sugar Land’s Constellation Field October 20
Rewind: What Happened to That ZZ Top Show In The Woodlands? ZZ Top Returns to Espanol for September’s LA FUTURA Apparently Roger Clemens wasn’t enough. Now everybody wants to play. According to its Web site, ZZ Top will play Constellation Field, the home of the Sugar Land Skeeters, on Saturday,…
Video Game Atlas: End of Time
Once a week Art Attack will offer you a handy little travel guide to the fictional worlds of video games. Name: End of Time, Chrono Trigger Series Population: 2 permanent Government: None As you might have guessed, compiling this weekly travel guide to video game worlds involves a lot of…
Restaurant Weeks Dinner at Backstreet Cafe Derailed By Lobster Addiction
I had my choices all picked out before I even stepped foot in the restaurant. Backstreet Cafe was offering FOUR different Restaurant Weeks dinner menus, and I had a lofty goal of sampling two or three of them (on separate occasions). When a friend requested Backstreet as the location of…
“Glass Graphica” Shines at the HCCC
Glass is a substance that so easily appears beautiful. It is shiny and smooth, and conjures connotations of “pretty” things, like baubles, Christmas ornaments and stylish perfume bottles. To turn glass into something conceptual, difficult and perplexing, is a skill not known to many. This skill is understood, however, by…
Digital Endorsement: 10 Artists Who Will Gladly Mention Your Business On Twitter
As a culture it appears that we’ve stopped caring about the idea of selling out. Whether it’s because we’ve learned that record sales don’t always pay the bills, have started seeing artists as humans instead of paragons of creative integrity, or simply stopped caring, artists saddling up with corporate sponsors…
Houston, Get Ready for Your West Nile Virus Spraying
Houston has seen what’s going on in Dallas and decided it is no time to mess around with the West Nile Virus. Three Houston-area deaths from the mosquito-borne disease have been reported, with the victims all being older than 55. Dallas County has declared a state of emergency after nine…
Rick Perry: Whatchya Gonna Do With All That $$$?
Since Gov. Rick Perry abandoned the fetid remains of his failed presidential bid last January, he has socked away $1.94 million in political contributions, bringing the total amount of ching deposited with Texans for Rick Perry, his political action committee, to $3.4 million, according to recent campaign contribution reports. This…
Pakistani Singer Riffat Sultana Breaks with Tradition, Sings in Public
Riffat Sultana is the first woman in her family to sing publicly. Ever. Given that the men in her very conservative Muslim family have a 500-year history of making music, it’s safe to say that music is in her blood. Tradition prevented Sultana, the daughter of the late classical singer…
New Book Gives Session Aces the Wrecking Crew Their Past Due
The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll’s Best-Kept Secret By Kent Hartman Thomas Dunne Books, 304 pp., $25.99. Motown had the Funk Brothers, Nashville had the A-Team, and Stax/Volt had their Memphis men, but gold-record-for-gold-record, no group played on more hits in the ’60s and ’70s than…
New Taco Bell Cantina Bell Salads Hit the Mark
I had had my eye on the Cantina Bell™ menu at Taco Bell for several weeks, and finally had the opportunity to try something over the weekend. The menu features three “Cantina bowl” salads — chicken, steak and veggie — as well as a Cantina Burrito, and “chips and sides”…
Please to Kindly Eff Off: Texans Apparently Both Polite and Potty-Mouthed on Twitter
One side effect of social networking that is rarely discussed by the public at large is the massive amounts of data gathered every day about our habits online. Every time you publish something on Twitter or Facebook or, God help you, MySpace, it is cataloged, not by some evil secret…
Gonzo Artwork and Lone Star Labels on the Rise: The 10 Best Beer Labels in Texas
Last week, we took a look at some of the very worst labels you can find on a bottle of beer. To counterbalance all that artistic vomit, we gathered some of the most iconic and creative labels on shelves today — labels that feature artwork as original and important as…
Kidd the Great: Why You Should Go See a Rapper You’ve Likely Never Heard Of
A few years ago, fellow Houston Press writer Rolando Rodriguez and I conspired to create a bilingual underground Houston rap version of those “Pass The Mic” videos that were popular for a very brief period. In retrospect, it may have been the most niche-est thing of niche-y things: We attempted…
100 Creatives 2012: Rebecca French, Choreographer and FrenetiCore Co-founder
Rebecca French, choreographer, dancer and the co-founder of FreneticCore, has a simple philosophy: “Dance theater can be powerful, if you commit to it and have a good idea, with good talent onstage.” What She Does: French doesn’t have one pat answer when she’s asked what she does. “It depends on…
Roger Clemens Joins the Skeeters, and You Know What That Means? PROP BETS!!
“I’m going out there to have fun, try and stay healthy and see where it goes. I’m not going to be too far away from the game of baseball.” — Roger Clemens, 8/21/12 And just like that, Roger Clemens is back in our lives. For the last four years, the…
Catching Up With The First Two Webisodes Of Fleshlight’s Searchlight Contest (sNSFW)
A few weeks back I told you about Fleshlight’s Searchlight web series, a reality series that pits three porn stars against each other to become the next Fleshlight model. To bring you up to speed (begin clutching pearls now) Fleshlight makes real-life molds of the vaginas, anuses and mouths of…
This Week In Food Blogs: Lunfast, Roznovsky’s and Pop-Up Opium Dens
Weapons Grade: Justin Vann, sommelier at Oxheart, continues to write some of the most interesting and enlightening prose-poetry about what it means to work in the service industry. “Tell me what I’m tasting in this pourover.” “Can you believe who they hired for their sous?” “Why don’t you do another…
Danger Zone: 5 Great Tony Scott Film Soundtracks
Tony Scott, one of the greatest action directors of all time, committed suicide by jumping off a bridge near Los Angeles this past Sunday. He was 69 and thought to have an inoperable brain tumor. Many of Scott’s films also had great soundtracks, due in part to Hans Zimmer and…
Can Silver Snakes Beat Indiana Jones’ Ass?
It’s a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we’re trying hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. There’s an underlying animal theme to this column you may or may not have noticed. I’m always interested when bands attach themselves to lions,…
Grading Ted Cruz on Meet The Press: Meh
In his first national, mainstream media appearance since the Republican Senate nominee won the runoff election late last month, Ted Cruz displayed on Meet The Press yesterday what propelled him past Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst last month in the runoff: An ability to say pretty things and make everyone remember…
Roger Clemens to the Sugar Land Skeeters: Who’s His Host Family?
The Sugar Land Skeeters have been drawing decent crowds to Constellation Field in their inaugural season, but they no doubt will be turning away fans in the near future on some days. Word has leaked out, first via the indefatigable Mark Berman (as far as we can tell, at least)…
Martin Franklin, 52, Shot in Home Invasion, Bayou Body Count No. 134
A man was shot to death in a home invasion on the southwest side of town about dawn Saturday, Houston police say. Martin Franklin, 52, was home in the 15800 block of Ironside Hill Drive about 5:30 a.m. Saturday when two armed suspects entered the house and demanded money. They…
100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 29, Dirty Burque at Green Seed Vegan
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…
Phyllis Diller Dead At 95 — Last Of The Great Pioneering Female Comics
Today it was reported by TMZ that comedian legend Phyllis Diller passed away at the ripe age of 95. The comedienne helped pave the way for countless female acts, and was able to go to toe to toe and insult to insult with likes of Don Rickles and others. Diller…
Comment of the Day: Torturing Cats
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 or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
Robert Plant: Former Honeydrippers Front Man, Current Texan Is 64 Today
Today is Robert Plant’s 64th birthday, and hopefully the adopted Texan — he lives near Austin with maybe-sorta-“wife” Patty Griffin — is spending it the way a good Texan should, covered in barbecue sauce, listening to Lightnin’ Hopkins on his turntable and wearing nothing but a pair of cowboy boots…
It’s National Lemonade Day: 5 Fruits to Kick Up Lemonade
Lemonade is one of the best thirst-quenchers of the summer. Blending the tart drink with sweet fruit makes this cool and refreshing drink so much more delicious. Balance the tartness with more sweetness for a wonderful twist on this classic. Here is my top-five list of fruits to pair with…
Silversun Pickups, thelastplaceyoulook, Toadies Top BuzzFest 29 Lineup
Today the lineup for the fall 2012 edition of 94.5 The Buzz’s BuzzFest 29 leaked onto Pollstar and the rock station’s Web site. The fall fest is headed up by Silversun Pickups, Lit, Eve 6, Toadies, Three Days Grace, 10 Years and thelastplaceyoulook, who will be coming home from a…
An Apology: On Bikers, Helmets & Jeremy Choate
We recently posted an item discussing the fact that lighting designer Jeremy Choate was not wearing a helmet when he was hit by a car and killed while riding a motorcycle. We also argued that if he had been wearing a helmet, he might have survived, and so he did,…
Texas Wine Blogger Alfonso Cevola Wins Top Honor
Yesterday, the organizers of the Wine Blog Awards announced the 2012 winners, including Dallas-based wine blogger Alfonso Cevola (above), who won for the “best single subject wine blog” category. Now in their sixth year, the Wine Blog Awards are widely considered the highest accolades in the world of contemporary wine…
First Episode: Copper Begins With The Requisite Amount Of Sex, Blood, And Violence
Sunday night’s series of Copper was heavily-touted by BBC America for weeks and months. Last week the cable channel was showing Gangs Of New York, and offering glimpses into the world that producer Tom Fontana was building with Barry Levinson for his new series, 1864 New York. Last night’s first…
Nathaniel Jackson, 44, Allegedly Shot By Wife in Argument Over 22-Year-Old Daughter, Bayou Body Count No. 133
A northwest-side woman has been charged with murder in the killing of her husband Saturday night, police say. Dedra Jackson, 46, got into an argument with her 22-year-old daughter about 7:40 p.m. Saturday in an apartment in the 1500 block of Big Bend, HPD says. The argument “then escalated into…
El Gran Malo Wins the LaB 5555 Mixology Contest at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
At first, I wasn’t sure how a drink containing both gin and coconut milk was going to work out. The creamy base is terrific in curries, but in cocktails? Although I watched as 150 people lined up to taste the creation, I remained unconvinced of the Rangoon Social Club that…
Falling Skies: “A More Perfect Union”
Regular Falling Skies reviewer, Pete Vonder Haar, has once again recruited me to wrap up last night’s episode. I am highly honored by his faith in my television annotation abilities; as fans of the show are aware, last night was the season finale! (Although, I think that my stand-in had…
Magic Johnson Riding to the Rescue of Houston Pavilions
The company partly owned by LA Laker and Rocket-killer Magic Johnson has purchased the semi-troubled downtown Houston Pavilions, according to an announcement today. Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds will take over the project, which covers three city blocks and includes the House of Blues, Forever XXI, McCormick & Schmick’s and Lucky Strike…
Saturday Night: Cafe Tacuba at House of Blues
Cafe Tacuba House of Blues August 18, 2012 Imagine for just a second that Fishbone, the raucous L.A. band that threw all sorts of music into a blender with minor success in the late ’80s and early ’90s, grew to an award-winning, arena-size act that could draw tens or even…
Mommy Porn: The Aftermath of Fifty Shades of Grey
Some women, according to Jenny Pedroza, manager for the marketing and public relations department at The Writer’s Coffee Shop, don’t want to be seen buying a sexually explicit book such as E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey. They want to read it, they just don’t want to be seen standing…
Where Are We Eating? Clue: Not Your Momma’s Tex-Mex
The beef enchiladas shown below didn’t come from your average Tex-Mex joint. In fact, they didn’t come from a Tex-Mex joint at all. And although you can find them on the regular menu, the short rib-filled enchiladas are also one of the courses on offer at this Galleria-area hotspot during…
Texans 20, 49ers 9: Five Things We Learned (Including Linebacker Controversy?)
Photos by Marco TorresBig night for the Big D.Check out the rest of our photos from this weekend’s preseason Texans game. It was brief and incomplete, but Saturday offered the first glimpse of how the Texans (2-0) may stack up with the league’s elite. Houston starters played for essentially a…
Real Ale Gone Wild and Firkins Everywhere: A Talk with Stewart Martin of Hay Merchant
The name seems almost inescapable this year: Hay Merchant. The eight-month-old bar, seated on the curve of Westheimer just West of Montrose, has been described as everything from a new trend in bars to Houston’s Mecca for beer to snobbish and inaccessible. It’s strange that a place specializing in something…
UpStage Theatre’s Third Annual Festival of Comedy: Light Summer Fare with Some Laughs
The setup: For the third year, UpStage Theatre presents a Festival of Comedy, for which they read 200 scripts, narrowed them down to 11 finalists, then selected four for production. There is the limiting stipulation that the plays submitted for consideration be “family-friendly comedy” — I’m not quite sure what…
You Won’t Get Into Heaven Listening to Christian Dubstep
Driving home the other night, I thought I had come up with the perfect get-rich-quick scheme: Christian dubstep. Roll your eyes if you’d like, but one thing I’ve noticed is that going to an EDM show is a lot like going to church: They both feature music, alcohol and standing…
Calling all Visual Artists in Harris County Texas: It’s Artadia Time
Application Announcement for Artadia Awards 2012
Saturday Night: Iron Maiden at The Woodlands
Iron Maiden, Coheed and Cambria Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion August 18, 2012 Rewind: Iron Maiden Gets Superfan Treatment in New Coffee-Table Book 10 Iron Maiden T-Shirts Sure to Prove Your Metal Cred With 15 studio albums and at least as many world tours now under its belt, Iron Maiden is…
Show Me the Curry From The Woodlands
Love Indian food? Have an Indian food cookbook? Want to cook it at home, but it just all seems too complicated? There are two women in The Woodlands who would love to show you how to make everything Indian and more. ShowMeTheCurry.com is an online cooking show with videos of…
Astros Put Fans Out of Their Misery and Fire Brad Mills
So the Astros bloodletting continued this weekend. Manager Brad Mills, hitting coach Mike Barnett and first base coach Bobby Meacham were fired after Saturday night’s embarrassing loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The firing of Mills was expected (as was the firing of most of the coaching staff), though most thought…
Hugo Bethancourt Kills Dog, Burns House to Mess Up Stepfather’s “Perfect” Life, Cops Say
Hugo Bethancourt thought his stepfather’s “life was too perfect” and so he took steps to change that — he killed the family dog and set fire to his mother’s house, according to prosecutors in court documents. Bethancourt, 27, faces charges for the incident, which happened earlier this month on the…
(UPDATED) Director Tony Scott Jumps To Death In California Suicide
Tony Scott directed some of the most maligned, loud, and alternately irresistible films Hollywood has ever seen. On Sunday evening it was reported by the Los Angeles Times that he committed suicide by jumping off a bridge in San Pedro, California. He was 68 years old. UPDATE: Word is now…
Undergravity Goes Extra-Funky On Enjoyable New Single
“We are choosing to up the funk.” — Mac Undergravity is an anachronistic rap duo maybe most easy to appreciate when calibrated within the context of last year’s positively perfect summer record “Southside Summertime” with Dante Higgins. Where most (all?) new-era Houston rap acts have either a) ignored the sound…
What’s Cooking This Week? Caprese Baguettes, Grilled Shrimp & 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 ingredients I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter…
Pro Football’s Birthday: The Oh-So-Manly Hupmobile, A Star Named “Pudge” And Drafting Off Baseball’s Heat
For an incredibly high-profile operation like the NFL, the league’s beginnings are somewhat murky. A loose collection of teams, players, schedules and shifting alliances, the early days of the league bear almost no resemblance to the streamlined corporate machine that dominates the current sports landscape. Most scholars peg August 20…
People You Don’t Need To Follow On Twitter (Because Everyone Retweets Them Anyway)
I have been in the Twitter biz since March 2008 (hangs head in shame), and for nearly five years I have seen trends come and go. Follow Fridays, Overheards, John Mayer, Charlie Sheen, the rise of porn stars tweeting their bare asses before bedtime, you know, fun stuff. Every update…
Classic Vietnamese: Duck and Bamboo Noodle Soup (Bun Mang Vit)
So many Vietnamese restaurants try to be all things to all people, with gargantuan menus that are pages and pages long covering everything from appetizers to noodles to rice plates and everything in between. Not so at Bun Mang Vit Thanh Da, which specializes in a traditional Vietnamese soup consisting…
7 Disney Characters Based On Pop Musicians
One of the interesting things about Walt Disney films is the way they borrow from or hold up a mirror to popular culture. Along with great storytelling and good songs, this is quite possibly why people like them in the first place. In fact, it’s how some of us get…
Houston Texans: Preseason Week Two, 4 Winners and 4 Losers
Check out more of our pictures from the Texans vs 49ers. When we last saw the Texans play football in our fair city, they were putting the finishing touches on a 31-10 beatdown of the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL playoffs. A week later, the magical ride would come to…
True Blood: Flailing Blindly
Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He’s lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood — which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. If I had to describe…
How Do You Improve a Big Mac? Let Chef Randy Evans Make You a Big-H Burger
How do you improve upon a Big Mac? That isn’t a sarcastic question; I’m a sucker for a McDonald’s hamburger. Blame it on nostalgia or perhaps my family history of diabetes. But it’s rare that I feel an upscale restaurant can tackle a fast-food dish and improve significantly upon the…
BBC America: Please Play More British Sitcoms
Lately, it seems as if the BBC America channel has turned into the Top Gear and Gordon Ramsay Channel, with a little Doctor Who thrown in just for kicks. It’s appalling. Though reality television is increasingly popular, there are some who still like fiction. Watching British sitcoms is like stepping…
The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: Lindsey Buckingham, Etc.
Recently Rocks Off noticed our VVM sister paper in Phoenix has been running a list of their picks for the upcoming week’s best shows first thing Monday morning. We thought, “Hey, our readers speak the same language(s) as theirs do, so why not try it ourselves?” As far as Fleetwood…
Sarah Combs, 2 Others: Ran $27 Million “Black Market Peso” Money-Laundering Scheme, Feds Say
A Dickinson woman and two other people have been charged with running a $27 million “Black Market Peso Exchange” money-laundering scheme, federal prosecutors announced today. Sarah Combs, 48, appeared in court here today; Willie Whitehurst, 44, of Houston will be arraigned next week and Enrique Morales, 42, of Houston and…
Unidentified Male, 25, Bayou Body Count No. 132
A man was shot to death in a southwest side apartment Wednesday evening, and police say they have little to go on in terms of solving the case. The name of the 25-year-old victim has not been released pending notification of family members. Police say the man went to an…
Comment of the Day: The Need for Motorcycle Helmets, Dammit
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 or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
Ashley Nicole “Babygirl” Richards, 21: Two Accusations of Vile Animal Cruelty Round Out Eventful Summer
Ashley Nicole Richards has been a busy lady this year. Back on the Fourth of July, the 21-year-old southwest Houston resident was arrested in connection with a riot that erupted on the Brazos riverfront after Waco’s annual fireworks display, and now she has been charged here with savagely torturing a…
County Attorney Vince Ryan Sues Apartment Complex for Harboring Crime
Harris County attorney Vince Ryan is asking a court to force a southwest-side apartment complex to beef up its security measures because it is currently a hazard to residents. Ryan’s office has filed against the owners of the 251-unit Point at the Southwest, in the 11500 block of Keegans Ridge…
We’ve Got Our Breathless DVD/Blu-ray Combo Winners
Congratulations to Jay B., T.T. and Brian B., our three lucky readers who each just snagged a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack of Jesse Baget’s new dark comedy Breathless starring Val Kilmer, Gina Gershon, Kelli Giddish and Ray Liotta. (See our interview with Baget here.) The film, set in a small Texas…
This Week in Deliciousness: Lousy the Leprechaun Drinks to Forget
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating…Our Words, where we keep looking for the profession of “food truck dispatcher” to become a thing, but sadly so far it hasn’t. Which is a shame, because I feel like I would knock that shit out of the park on a…
“NASA” Does LMFAO: Oh, No…
It’s Friday afternoon, and you could either use a good laugh or else you just don’t care anymore. Either way, do we have something for you. Riding high on the wave of good PR and general swag of the unmanned spacecraft Curiosity’s successful landing and ongoing exploration of Mars (yes,…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: ParaNorman
Title: ParaNorman Oh, I Get It; It’s Because His Name Is “Norman” And He’s Dealing With Supernatural Shenanigans. Yes, it’s all a rich tapestry. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Four copies of Brian Lumley’s Necroscope out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: Young loner with the ability to…
Stewart’s Mansion: 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…
Friends Question Whether Shawna Huebner Really Killed Herself While in Police Custody
When Shawna Huebner got drunk, which happened frequently, she could get confrontational, violent and obstinate — but depressed? Suicidal? Her friends say they’d seen her in the throes of inebriation countless times, but never once had the 29-year-old been sad. That’s why they’re convinced the Houston police are lying when…
Iron Maiden Gets Superfan Treatment in New Coffee-Table Book
Rewind: 10 Iron Maiden T-Shirts Sure to Prove Your Metal Cred Maiden Nation is counting the hours before Saturday night’s gig up north at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, but any self-respecting Iron Maiden fan should have been cuddled stoically studying Neil Daniels’s new tome Iron Maiden: The Ultimate Unauthorized…
100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 30, Fried Chicken at Barbecue Inn
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…
Museum of Dysfunction V: a Showcase of Shorts — Group Two Showcases Many a Theatrical Treasure
See our review of Museum of Dysfunction V: a Showcase of Shorts — Group one. The setup: The actors and director are locals, but the playwrights can come from anywhere in this program (Group Two) of Mildred’s Umbrella’s fifth annual tour of novel and exciting short plays. The execution: There…
The Trick to Examining Color and Opacity in Wine
The color of wine can be one of the wine lover’s greatest pleasures. And whether the old-man piss of an orange wine or the Bologna red of a Nebbiolo (like the Barolo in the image above), the hue of wine not only delivers aesthetic reward but also serves as a…
Erica Venegas, 36, Shot at Close Range By “Boyfriend,” Bayou Body Count No. 131
Police have charged a man with murder in the killing of his long-term girlfriend last month, and are on the lookout for him. Erica Venegas, 36, was shot in the head at close range by Edwin Salinas, 23, with whom she had been “in a dating relationship the past five…
Artful Thursday Unleashes Your Inner Romantic
Apparently the place to be on Thursday nights is the Museum of Fine Arts for their monthly event Artful Thursday. The Brown Auditorium was packed last night, with people even sitting on the floor. During a standard Artful Thursday, the museum collaborates with “dance groups, musicians, singers, authors and artists”…
Here Come the Trishas, Texas’s 4-Part Harmony Queens
Does anyone else miss the Dixie Chicks? Is it even okay to say that in Texas? We hope so, because a week or two ago, Rocks Off stumbled across “Tonight the Heartache’s On Me” again and have been on a serious Chicks kick ever since. But as the song says,…
If You Boycotted the Astros, Would Anybody Notice? Would It Make Any Difference?
Listening to sports talk radio yesterday afternoon, I heard a caller demanding that the fans boycott the Astros. First, it’s pretty evident from the lack of attendance this season that many of you are already boycotting the ballclub, but secondly, just what it is that you want the Astros to…
10 Iron Maiden T-Shirts Sure to Prove Your Metal Cred
According to the unwritten laws of concert etiquette, it’s generally unacceptable to wear a band’s T-shirt to their performances. It just makes you look as if you’re trying a tad too hard. A notable exception to this rule, however, is the legendary Iron Maiden, who just so happen to be…
Liar, Liar: The Imposter Spins an Impossible Tale
The Imposter features Frédéric Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Beverly Dollarhide and Nancy Fisher; Bart Layton directs. Filmmaker Bart Layton’s 2012 documentary The Imposter tells an almost unbelievable story about a Texas family that embraced the brown-haired, brown-eyed 23-year-old Frenchman who claimed to be their missing blond, blue-eyed American teenaged son. In…
Upcoming Events: Mix It Up Tonight and Help Clean Out Rudz’s Cellar
Been waiting for the perfect Friday night to check out the new LaB 5555 series at the Houston Museum of Natural Science? Grab your soft-soled museum shoes, because tonight is that night. Tonight, four of Houston’s best bartenders will be shaking things up as they compete to make the best…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Killer Joe
Title: Killer Joe NC-17? I know, right? It’s as if the MPAA anticipated an outcry over full frontal nudity and someone getting beaten near to death with a can of pumpkin filling. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Three-and-a-half delicious fried chicken drumsticks out of five. Tagline:”Murder never…
5 Non-Rap Acts We’d Like to See Chopped Not Slopped
Here’s a confession: I’ve never really understood chopped and screwed music. Because of this, I’ve never had an opinion on it, and filed it away with Reggaeton and Texas Country in my “genres not for me” mental file folder. Then I heard OG Ron C’s take on Girl Talk’s All…
Hope Is Not a Plan, It’s an Eating House
We’ve been teased for days with gorgeous photography and cryptic but beautiful words. Monica Pope was up to something, and she let it out of its cage on Tuesday. Sparrow Bar + Cookshop is her latest culinary invention, and in a way a personal revolution. Other than the address and…
Sick of Shopping?: Arty, Fun, Family-Friendly Tips for Spending Texas’s Tax-Free Weekend Away from the Mall
Unless you are a bazillionaire or have decent credit, the tax-free weekend in Texas is a nightmare of screaming babies, white people and spilled Icees on the floor of Target. It’s a three-day orgy of buying shit you don’t need for a 1 percent discount, in cramped and packed stores…
App of the Week: Apps That Helped on My Vacation…and a Few That Didn’t
A few weeks back, I took a two-week vacation that saw me visit three states and travel by plane, car, shuttle and even by boat for a few minutes. It was all within the U.S., but I found my need for technology surprising. Because I work for myself, I did…
Week in Photos: Astrodome Mini
Each week, we take a dip into the Houston Press Flickr pool and see what our talented photographers have been up to. We’re looking for pictures that represent the best of Houston, from food to art to events, to secret hidden spots of beauty. Just drop them in our Flickr…
10 Pieces of Film History That Would Be Cool to Own from SyFy’s Hollywood Treasure
If you haven’t watched Hollywood Treasure on SyFy, you are missing out on seeing some of the greatest Hollywood memorabilia of all time. The definitive version of Antiques Roadshow for film and pop culture junkies, it makes owning pieces of pop culture history seem more doable if you have the…
Health Department Roundup: Two Very Different Clubs, and More
The Houston Club and the Plaza Club, two private social organizations, announced earlier this year that they planned to merge, maintaining the Houston Club name but moving to the old Plaza club location. We bet the Houston Club is glad the transition to the upper reaches of One Shell Plaza…
7 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: Fiskadoro, BT, Hickoids, The 71’s, Etc.
Patently unclassifiable locals Fiskadoro (“post-punk”…maybe?) welcomes synth-punk act mnttaB all the way from Melbourne, Australia to notsuoH Friday night. Check out mnttaB’s Bandcamp page; it’s definitely the closest you’ll get to seeing Suicide in Houston (this weekend, anyway…we hear Suicide is back together at the moment). Since a couple of…
Because It’s Friday: 10 Great Photos of Obama with Kids
The presidential campaigns are ramping up, even though the heavy action doesn’t come until after the conventions and Labor Day. But while we still have time, perhaps it’s best to take one last look at White House activity that doesn’t include attack ads, policy positions or focus-group polling. Let’s look…
100 Creatives 2012: Kiki Neumann, Found Object Folk Artist
It was 15 years ago this week that Kiki Neumann, a then newly unemployed salesperson, launched her career as a found-object folk artist using discarded wood from a torn-down fence. “After losing a corporate job, my mother said, ‘Don’t pick up a gun, pick up a hammer and build something.’…
Top 5 Cheeses on Pizza
As a child, I always ordered my pizza with just cheese, nothing else. I love the stringy, melted stuff on every single slice; sometimes I would order my pizza with more cheese and less sauce. What can I say? I love it. Unfortunately, it took me until my twenties to…
1965: Remembering Houston’s Summer of Beatlemania
Forty-seven years ago this week, full-scale Beatlemania descended upon Houston in all its glory. On August 19, 1965, the Fab Four played their only Houston concerts — one in the afternoon and one in the evening — at the Sam Houston Coliseum downtown. The completely hysterical response to the Beatles…
Houston Texans Knock Out 2013 Shopping Early, Lock Up Duane Brown (6 Yrs, $53.4M)
“Wanna again thank the @HoustonTexans front office and staff for believing in my ability and extending this contract.” — Texans left tackle Duane Brown (@DuaneBrown76 on Twitter), 8/16/12 Left tackle, pass rusher, quarterback. Not only are they the most pivotal positions on the football field (along with shutdown cornerback and…
Death Be Not, Uh…True: The 8 Most Asinine Musician Death Hoaxes
Why do people perpetrate death hoaxes? Why would someone deliberately set out to spread rumors of a famous person’s demise that they know simply aren’t true? Is it some kind of Munchausen-By-Proxy thing, where they hope to absorb some of the residual sympathy and outpouring of goodwill? Is it a…
Openings & Closings: t’afia Becomes Sparrow Bar & Cookshop and The Broken Spoke Breaks Down
After being closed for only two short weeks, Monica Pope’s t’afia has already been transformed and reopened as Sparrow Bar & Cookshop. The new concept opened its doors this past Tuesday, August 14, with what’s being described as “a free-flowing and easily sharable menu.” That menu is somewhat interactive: You…
Dazed and Confused: Top 10 Movies About Pot (sNSFW)
As noted in Craig Hlavaty’s salute to classic midnight movies, this Friday and Saturday at around midnight, the River Oaks Theatre will be screening the cult classic film Dazed and Confused. The movie, which was directed by Houston’s own Richard Linklater, takes place during the last day of high school…
Explaining Classic Rock Bands to Kids
This past Sunday, The New York Times ran a piece by Paul Greenberg where the author explained how important the Beatles were to music and pop culture to his five-year-old son. The child didn’t know that the band had albums, but only knew the Fab Four from iTunes playlists. “When…
Robber’s “Never Mind My Bandanna, I’m Just Here to Shop” Ploy Works (w/Video)
Police are looking for help in tracking down a guy who robbed a convenience store after hanging around it while wearing a bandanna, apparently waiting for customers to clear out. The man, described as “a Hispanic male, 26 to 28 years of age, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and…
Antwone Betters Arrested for Murder of Camille Ross in Alleged Drug Deal Gone Awry
After two months on the run, the main suspect in the killing of an Austin woman near Gallery Furniture has been arrested. Antwone Jermaine Betters, 25, was arrested without incident in northwest Harris County yesterday and faces capital murder charges. Prosecutors say he was one of three men who had…
Happy Meal: Sunday Ogbonu’s Stomachful of Heroin Weighs in at Two Pounds, Three Ounces
Ah, the glamorous life of a Customs and Border Protection agent: waiting around for someone to crap out the kilogram of heroin they’ve ingested in order to get the junk into the U.S. Most recently on the bowl was Nigerian citizen Sunday Okechukwu Ogbonu, 47, who arrived at Bush Intercontinental…
Girls’ Nightmare Out Tour: Marta Acosta and Her Scary Friends Come to Houston
Fantasy novelist Marta Acosta is coming to Houston as part of the Girl’s Nightmare Out tour with fellow fantasy/horror novelists Lisa Desrochers and Kendare Blake. She’ll be signing and discussing her latest young adult release, Dark Companion, along with titles from her Casa Dracula series. “It was a complete fluke…
Ground Is Broken on the City’s New Sobriety Center; Should Be Open in Time for New Year’s Rush
Otis would like the new digs.Ground has been broken on the grandly named Houston Center for Sobriety, the alternative drunk tank for partyers who’d rather not get tossed in with the general jail population after a night on the town. The new facility, located near the Star of Hope mission…
Cinemark’s Fall Program to Reintroduce Six Hollywood Classics to the Big Screen
Cinemark Theaters is rolling out their “Fall Classic Series” starting on August 23 across the country, reintroducing six award-winning pictures to modern movie audiences. Those who have never seen the destructive power of Jaws or the romance of Doctor Zhivago on the big screen will get a chance over six…
Free for All: “Glass Graphica,” O Bem Amado and Daniel Wolff
Glass artists Moshe Bursuker and Miguel Unson, one-time teacher and student, come together to present “Glass Graphica,” an exhibit meant to convey “the possibilities of glass to convey graphic punch.” The exhibit opens on Friday. One of the pieces in the show is Unson’s She Won’t Look at You. The…
100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 31, Pineapple with Chile en Polvo at Canino’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…
ACL Festival Expanding to 2 Weekends in 2013
Rewind: Five years of Rocks Off ACL Fest coverage The Austin American-Statesman is reporting that the Austin City Limits Music Festival will expand to two weekends starting next year, echoing California’s Coachella, which presented identical lineups on successive Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays this past April. The Austin City Council approved…
Arlon Wayne Hough: “Great Dad” and Accused Spouse Abuser, Poses for Year’s Most Ironic Mugshot
Rumors of irony’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Case in point: 47-year-old Arlon Wayne Hough. The Crockett man is currently in Houston County Jail, charged with aggravated assault of a family member. Police there say there was an incident in the rockingly named town of Austonio involving Hough, his wife,…
The MFAH Will Play Host to The Prado, One of Europe’s Most Renowned Art Museums
In December of last year, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston appointed internationally recognized curator and scholar Gary Tinterow as its new director. A year later, he has secured an exhibition loan from one of the most magnificent European museums. Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado will visit Houston…
10 Lobster Dishes to Try in Houston: No. 4, Lobster Enchiladas at the Original Ninfa’s
One of the many things that intrigues me about the Victorian era was how the general overabundance of shellfish meant foods like lobster were more fare for the hoi polloi than the aristocratic minority. This year, a bumper crop in the Northeast has once again made lobster cheaper for the…
The Anatomy of Mookie Jones’s Mack
In the annals of Houston rap, there have been plenty of pimps, gangsters, players and anything in between. But few actual macks. Yes, Max Julien has been the blueprint for many a player who wondered where the hell did Lil Keke get a longhaired Samoan from, but Mookie Jones takes…
Abuzuike O. Ukabam: Humble Officer Bilked Army Through Overpayments in Iraq, Feds Say
The feds have arrested a former Army officer from Humble who they say inflated invoices from contractors in Iraq and pocketed the difference. Abuzuike O. Ukabam, 34, was an artillery officer in Iraq in 2006 and was also “a pay agent with responsibilities to receive receipts and invoices from Iraqi…
BBC America’s Copper Picks Up Where Gangs of New York Left Off
Sunday night sees the premiere of BBC America’s first original scripted series, Copper, starring Franka Potente, Tom Weston-Jones, Kevin Ryan and Ato Essandoh, and created by Tom Fontana, the brain behind Homicide: Life on the Street, Oz and St. Elsewhere. Barry Levinson is also an executive producer. Great pedigree, plus…
Soma Sushi Offers an Amazing Deal During Houston Restaurant Weeks
There are several restaurants offering four-course dinners during Houston Restaurant Weeks instead of the traditional three-course dinners, and I’ll admit that this is the main reason I chose Soma Sushi for dinner with a friend last Saturday night: the opportunity to eat four dishes for only $35 (factoring in extra…
King’s X Back on the Road After Drummer’s Heart Attack
Rewind: King’s X Drummer Jerry Gaskill Has Heart Attack King’s X Marks The Spot: Three Bands Spawned by Houston’s Hard-Rock Power Trio Houston progressive hard-rock band King’s X will return to the road this fall, its first tour since drummer Jerry Gaskill suffered a heart attack in February, the trio’s…
Hamza Raza, 18, Alleged Drug Deal Gone Bad, Bayou Body Count No. 130
A Sugar Land teenager was shot and killed shortly after midnight today in an alleged drug deal gone bad, Houston police say. Cops say Hamza Raza, 18, was attempting “to purchase an unknown type of narcotics” from “a male known only as Dookie'” in the 13100 block of Carvel about…
Five Artists to Keep You Cool at Front Gallery
With its current show, “Drawings & Air Conditioning, ” Front Gallery wants to lure you out into the summer heat and into the Montrose bungalow space with the promise of two basic things. During August in Houston, air conditioning is pretty necessary when you venture out into the heat to…
Copycat Recipe: Go Animal Style with an In-N-Out Double Double
We may not have an In-N-Out Burger in Houston yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take a walk on the wild side at home. Check out how to make the juicy, oozy, gooey, mustard-grilled and secret-sauce-topped Animal Style Double-Double burger. (Hopefully, this can tide us over until one shows…
Last Night: Crosby Stills & Nash at The Woodlands
Crosby Stills Nash Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion August 15, 2012 As a trio, duo, solo, in their previous bands, or with that Neil guy dropping in once in a while, there’s no doubt that David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash have collectively baked a respectable slice of the Classic…
10 Reasons to Hate Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road”
Twenty years ago this week, a slick R&B ballad appeared at the top of the charts and simply refused to go away. One of the most successful songs of the ’90s, Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” ruled the Billboard Hot 100 for 13 weeks, setting a new record…
Bring on the Hatch Chiles: Central Market’s 17th Annual Festival
The 17th annual Hatch Chile Festival is currently in full swing at Central Market, featuring specials throughout the store, Hatch chile classes at the Central Market Cooking school, Hatch chile prepared goods in the cold prepared-foods section and weekend lunch cookouts with live music and Hatch chile grill items. It’s…
A Salute to Classic Midnight Movies, from Rocky Horror to Eraserhead
One of the best parts about growing up in Houston and finally having friends that could drive, or being able to drive yourself, was attending midnight movies at Landmark River Oaks Theatre. This weekend’s feature on Friday and Saturday is Dazed and Confused. You don’t have to go, but it…
Comment of the Day: Redskins & NFL Logo Faces
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 or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
Carthage, Texas, Hometown of Bernie, Now Gets Fanciest High School Football Scoreboard in the World
Score another coup for the newly famous East Texas town of Carthage: the town Richard Linklater, Jack Black and Sonny Carl Davis put on the map for its eccentric views on punishing murderers now has scoreboard on the entire state — nay, the whole entire world of high school athletics…
Pop Rocks: The Trailers for Red Dawn and Jack Reacher Make Me Want to Punch America in the Nuts
Two trailers “dropped” — as we say — recently. Both were exasperating, but for different reasons. Before we begin, let me say I’m not one of these guys who rends his garment every time another remake comes along. I’d have run out of shirts in 1998. But we all have…
How To: Eggs Benedict & What I Wish I Had Known
Making the perfect eggs Benedict is pretty difficult, I’m not going to lie. Not only do you need to poach two eggs, but you must create a hollandaise sauce, toast an English muffin (unless you’re making your own) and griddle two slices of Canadian bacon. I’ve seen Food Network stars…
Without a Face’s New Video Is Not Without Awesome
8:53: The lead singer is extremely entertaining. At one point he removes his shirt to expose his frail white body and angrily hollers into the mic, “Are you ready to rock, Chicago?!” That’s from a review I wrote more than four years ago. It was the very first thing I…
Why Houston Artist Jeremy Choate Really Died (Wear Helmets, For Crissake!)
This article has generated important discussion — and criticism — which is worth reading and pondering below. Last Sunday, after the din of sirens had quieted, and after one of Houston’s most recognized artists, Jeremy Choate, had died following a horrific traffic accident along Studemont, the public conversation turned to…
Love Dominique: The Anti-Hate Dominique
Some weeks, 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? E-mail their particulars tosheaserrano@gmail.com. It’s been a bit since we’ve had an R&B…
Who Watches Maury? 5 Types of People, According to the Commercials
I love Maury. He’s the best. I don’t know how he sleeps at night, but I would imagine quite comfortably on mattresses stuffed with crisp $50 bills and pieces of real moon rock. The only real issue I have with his show is the lack of variety. You used to…
Drawn by Drunken Seven-Year-Olds: The 10 Ugliest Beer Labels in Texas
I can admit it: I am a packaging whore to some extent. A nice label is bound to catch my eye, be it laundry detergent, gin, beer, heroin…By the same token, bad marketing can turn me off of what may very well be a great product. Beer is a notorious…
The Firing Of Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, Caught On Video And Zaprudered
As promised in my Monday post wrapping up the previous weekend, a weekend that saw Dolphins wide receiver Chad Ochocinco Johnson become former Dolphins wide receiver Chad Ochocinco Johnson, I did tune in to Hard Knocks on Tuesday night to watch Johnson’s final episode on the show. As I watched…
Craft Beer & Crepes: First Look at Guru Burgers and Crepes in Sugar Land Town Square
Out of all the “town square” developments that have cropped up in Houston suburbs over the last few years, Sugar Land’s Town Square has been one of the most successful. Along with Market Street in The Woodlands and CityCentre in Memorial, these neo-urban centers in traditionally suburban communities bring a…
Video Game Atlas: Kakariko Village
Once a week Art Attack will offer you a handy little travel guide to the fictional worlds of video games. Name: Kakariko Village, Legend of Zelda Series Population: Around 50 Government: Royal protectorate of the Hyrulean monarchy Located at the foot of Death Mountain where the Gorons live and near…
A No-Holds-Barred Look at Insane Clown Posse’s “Chris Benoit”
Rewind: Insane Clown Posse Incites Spiritual Debate, Asks “Where’s God?” Here’s a Video of the Entire Geto Boys Show From Saturday’s Juggalo Gathering It’s been a pretty good week for both the Insane Clown Posse and Juggalos across the country. Aside from an argument that led to a Texas ninja…
The Coolest and Uncoolest Songs About America’s Coolest City (Us)
Above is Dean Martin doing “Houston” on his television show. Epic fail, but nice outfit. As you may have read, Forbes magazine recently determined that, by their measurement criteria, Houston is now America’s coolest/hippest city. Of course, while the rest of the world has looked down its nose for years…
Capsule Stage Reviews: KOOZA, Mr. Marmalade, Steel Magnolias, Tamarie Cooper’s DOOMSDAY REVUE (the greatest musical ever), The Wrong Side of the Law
KOOZA In KOOZA’s loose narrative, a shy, foppish character known as The Innocent discovers a world of magic, acrobatics and illusion. He’s not only awed by the fantastic, but also finds a sense of self and purpose. If that story doesn’t sound compelling, that’s because it’s really not. There has…
Greg Ginn & the Royal We
Since Greg Ginn settled himself and his SST catalog into Taylor (outside Austin) a few years ago, we’ve been seeing him a lot more around Texas. The former Black Flag guitarist even played Coachella this year, on the same day of Tupac’s hologram, which fits at least two decades of…
$8 Million Jury Award Overturned by Courts
The first blessing, her father will tell you, is that she never saw it coming. If she’d been tensed up, it would have only been worse when the 18-wheeler with no brakes on the drilling rig load it was carrying ran a red and slammed into 19-year-old Michelle Gaines as…
New York City Queens, Featherface
This time last year, very few people outside the members of New York City Queens and Featherface’s families had heard either name, so that both local groups are playing upstairs at Fitz on a weekend night really says something. Besides certain musical similarities — both groups play tuneful rock and…
No Sanctuary at Spindletop
Clarification March 25, 2013 Zandra Anderson, Leah Purcell’s civil attorney, says she wants to make it clear that she (Anderson) never showed or bred dogs. Check out our photos of the rescue and evacuation effort at the Spindletop Dog refuge. When authorities served a warrant at the Spindletop Dog refuge…
More Than Just Nolan Ryan
ON THE ROAD In the past, I’ve been criticized by some readers for focusing my restaurant research on establishments inside the Loop. And while it’s true that I don’t regularly travel very far for my food, I recently found yet another excuse to go way outside my ZIP code. Alvin,…
Cafe Tacvba
Some quipsters who coin their musical thumbnails with a kernel of truth have taken to labeling Cafe Tacvba the Mexican Radiohead, because there’s simply no American band with the same combination of artistry, populism and a powerhouse live show to emerge in the past two decades. (Wilco…maybe.) Named for the…
Fang Island
Brooklyn’s Fang Island somehow ably marries the crunch of techy indie-metal groups like the Fucking Champs and Jeff the Brotherhood with the twee-pop of Local Natives; the latter sound is a good way to reel in the babes. That’s the impression we got after spinning Fang’s latest, Major, released late…
Special Best Of Edition: Why Do Mexicans Put Stickers Honoring the Dead on Their Car Windows?
Dear Readers, The Mexican is currently smuggling mescal out of Oaxaca and into hipster bars nationwide, and thus gives you two oldies-but-goodies. But I do want to give a shout-out to Olympic silver medalist Leo Manzano, a former undocumented immigrant who’s turning out to be the greatest American long-distance runner…
Maggie Rita’s Takes Over Ninfa’s
“But I don’t want to go to Maggie Rita’s,” my friend Kyle complained from the backseat of my truck one Friday night as we rattled across the railroad tracks and down Shepherd on our way to the Tex-Mex restaurant. “Why would anyone want to go to a Carlos Mencia restaurant?…
Rebecca Laird, Mojo Girl
With blazing ringlets of curly red hair, girl-next-door good looks, a calm stage demeanor and hot guitar licks, Rebecca Laird, only 20, has already heard enough of “you remind me of Bonnie Raitt.” But with her recent win at Guitar Center’s Battle of the Blues regional finals, which brought her…
Screaming “Silence”
In the natural world, silence can mean all the other herd animals are frozen in fear and your oblivious grass-munching ass is about to get eaten. In the human world, we link silence to things like tranquil contemplation, mourning and spirituality. The exhibition “Silence” at The Menil Collection presents a…
Six Market Blvd. Shakes It Down
While they are from Texas, Stephenville-based four-piece Six Market Blvd. have glued together the rootsy, rockin’ sound of Oklahoma Red Dirt with twangy Texas country, a vibe that resonates well with fans on both sides of the Red River. The numbers just don’t lie. In May the band’s sophomore album,…
Celeste and Jesse Forever
In Celeste and Jesse Forever, the titular, newly-separated female protagonist’s un-flamboyant queer co-worker (Elijah Wood) tells her “it’s time get your fuck on,” and then immediately apologizes: “Sorry, I was trying to be your saucy gay friend.” Co-written by and starring Parks and Rec straight-woman Rashida Jones, Forever is a…
Lindsey Buckingham
When he’s not co-fronting one of Fleetwood Mac’s sporadic touring spurts with Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham manages to turn in sturdy solo records. In September 2011, he self-released his sixth solo effort, Seeds We Sow, 11 tracks chock-full of the dizzying guitar picking (“Stars Are Crazy”) that has become his…
Capsule Art Reviews: “A Golden Time of Day,” “James Turrell: Holograms,” “Kyle Farley: Countenance,” “Layover,” “New Prints: Gallery Artists,” “Six Apart,” “UNIT”
“A Golden Time of Day” There is a great little photograph of Sammy Davis Jr. up at McClain Gallery now. It’s pop perfection — the musician is decked out in a red vest and shoes, his arms out to his sides and his left foot kicked up in a freeze-frame…
Annise & the Kiss-In
Highlights from Hair Balls POLITICAL ANIMALS Annise & the Kiss-In Why did the Chick-fil-A protest sputter? By Terrence McCoy It seemed like the perfect mixture for a successful display of civil disobedience: There was apparent bigotry against a robust community by a very conspicuous company. But still, August 3’s kiss-in…
Iron Maiden
The summer of 2012 has been good to Houston metal maniacs. Acts like Slayer, Anthrax and Germany’s fire-happy, leather-clad Rammstein have lit Bayou City venues ablaze, so Iron Maiden should be a worthy final salvo to what has been a stellar season. The blokes from London may be a New…
