Notes from Hog Heaven
Todd Spivak These hogs weren’t harmed in the story — just fattened up for the rodeo. Todd Spivak may be back from horsing around for his hog story, but his heart’s still in rural Texas. It was my first time on a horse. We rode for eight hours, till five…
The Day After Maddenoliday…
EASports.com Hope your Maddenoliday was bright. The call came from my brother Wednesday morning as expected: “Dude, what the hell are you doing at work?” “I was off yesterday.” “You don’t take the day before Maddenoliday, off, you moron. You take Maddenoliday off.” I’m guessing many conversations such as this…
Re: Breaking News: Death to the Dogs
The dogs are still for sale. But to whom? Yet another update to this seemingly unending story of the 320 pit bulls in Liberty County. Courtney Frank of the Houston Humane Society says her offices have been fielding angry calls and e-mails about the fate of the pit bulls after…
Taco Truck Disappears, Reappears
Photos by Robb Walsh Taqueria Tacambaro behind the Farmers Market on Airline. Houston artist and French-born gourmet Bernard Brunon was so impressed by the tripe and sweetbreads at Taqueria Tacambaro, the taco truck behind Caninos Produce on Airline, that he went back a few days later. He called me in…
Taco Truck Disappears, Reappears
Photos by Robb Walsh Taqueria Tacambaro behind the Farmers Market on Airline. Houston artist and French-born gourmet Bernard Brunon was so impressed by the tripe and sweetbreads at Taqueria Tacambaro, the taco truck behind Caninos Produce on Airline, that he went back a few days later. He called me in…
Fun with City Council
Will Mayor Bill ever give the president the time of day? From our pals at bloghouston, a gem from a memorable Houston City Council meeting’s public session. Seems City Council was visited by the president. Quoth el presidente: “City Council Chambers, I am president Joseph Charles of royalty. I’m also…
Re: Dissecting the Dirty Dozen
Courtesy of UT Sports Information That familiar ass is gone, Mack. We’ve gotten some terrific responses to our Big 12 preview. Now, Richard Connelly offers his two cents: It’s great to see that John Nova Lomax, a UT fan, has picked the Longhorns to win the Big 12 this year…
Dissecting the Dirty Dozen
Courtesy of UT Sports Information If Colt’s the real McCoy, we think UT can repeat. And now, music editor John Nova Lomax drops the CDs and offers up a little college football prognosticatin’… This year’s Big 12 season is shaping up to be a microcosm of college football in general…
HouStoned Theatre Presents…
This one definitely calls for the orange lights. And now HouStoned Theatre presents a Jorge Luis Borges-inspired conversation between Keith Plocek, staff writer for the Houston Press, and Keith Plocek, student at the University of Texas at Austin, circa 1998. Old Keith: So did you hear about the news? Young…
Talk About Some Balls
You don’t need a kung-fu grip to crack that whip. We’re through being cool Eliminate the ninnies and the twits Going to bang some heads Going to beat some butts Time to show those evil spuds what’s what – Devo, “Through Being Cool” One of the most unfortunate misconceptions about…
Snakes in a Lobby!
“Ssssave me a sssseat. (Ssssorry, couldn’t help it.)” Not sure if you’ve heard, but there’s a movie called Snakes on a Plane that stars Samuel L. Jackson. It opened this week. It’s quite popular. So popular, in fact, that the folks at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema are planning a little tie-in…
Bush-whacked fo’ Sho
Courtesy of USC Sports Information Yes Reg, we know: You could be doing this here… It’s Friday, and I’m already dreading the upcoming Monday Night Football game betwixt the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints. It’s not just that the thought of having to hear Joe Theismann deftly work…
Some Love for AGlove
Celebrate Ashton this weekend Sure we love the photos of the day and the recipe for Chess Pie. But we think our buddies at Houstonist are especially cool for hyping the upcoming memorial concert for Ashton Glover, the Sugar Land teen who was murdered in July. The event, which features…
Good Place to Chase Tail
The Learning Company “When the humans aren’t around, I also work on foreign policy.” After yesterday’s crappy dog story, it’s nice to see some good news regarding Houston mutts. People for Ethical Treatment of Animals — you know ’em as PETA — has announced their list of Top 10 Dog…
Breaking News: Death to the Dogs
Houston Humane Society Things just got worse for some unlucky dogs. The Houston Humane Society’s Courtney Frank just called us with a ruling on the pit bull case, and it ain’t pretty. Liberty County judge Phil Fitzgerald has ruled that all the dogs over sixth months old must be euthanized;…
Bees on a Plane!!
New Line Cinema “Forget about the damn snakes! We got bees up in this bitch!” As the countdown to the most hyped horror movie this summer begins, there’s news that there may be a greater threat to airline passengers than Snakes on a Plane… Bees. Yesterday’s WSJ reported that angry…
Re: A Buncha Bull
Houston Humane Society The fight over the 320 pit bulls begins today. There’s an update to the unfortunate story of the 320 pit bulls that were recently confiscated in Liberty County. The widow of Thomas Weigner Jr., the dogs’ owner who died after being shot in a home invasion, came…
White Whale
White Whale doesn’t quite qualify as an indie supergroup, but members of the combo have some noteworthy credentials: Guitarist-vocalist Matt Suggs previously performed with Butterglory, bassist Rob Pope was one of the Get Up Kids, and so on. Their know-how informs WWI, an uncommonly accomplished debut, with a minimum of…
Dogs of War
Publisher: Sega
Platform: Xbox 360
Price: $59.99
ESRB Rating: T (for Teen)
Score: 8 (out of 10)
Ween
Ween fans already know what to expect with Shinola, Volume 1: Gene and Dean Ween (a.k.a. Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo) take another stab at the music world’s fat underbelly. This time out, the Weeners mix jazz, underground, grunge, British pop, house music, Jewish prayers, grind music, R&B grooves, obscene…
Smells Like Victory
Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier (Paramount) It’s all here, more or less: the 1979 theatrical cut of Francis Ford Coppola’s harrowing and still-hypnotic Joseph Conrad-in-Vietnam adaptation, the 49-minutes-longer-but-feels-24-minutes-shorter 2001 Redux edition, Marlon Brando’s entire 17-minute “The Hollow Men” monologue, even more “lost” and deleted scenes (including a spooky-shocking one, in…
Cut Chemist
Deep underground, in his secret lab, Cut Chemist has been experimenting with his new set of sinister scratches and samples. The mad turntable tactician, consummate record collector and DJ-producer for Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli has just released his debut solo disc of sample-based songs, The Audience’s Listening. Twelve slices of…
Our top DVD picks for the week of August 15
Benito (Lions Gate) Cape of Good Hope (New Yorker) Clark Gable Collection, Volume 1 (Fox) Don’t Tell (Lions Gate) The Hard Corps (Sony) Hong Kong Phooey: The Complete Series (Turner) Hoot (New Line) James Stewart: The Signature Collection (Warner Bros.) Land of the Blind (Bauer) Lemming (Strand) L’Enfant (Sony) Machined…
Bobaflex
Marty McCoy, of the Virginia McCoys, who famously feuded with another family, the Hatfields, in the 1800s (the two spent 30 years trying to kill each other off), comes from the small town where Mothman supposedly appeared and catfish reportedly grow to be the size of cars. With that kind…
Retro Food
The traditional Swiss cheese fondue ($14) at The Melting Pot (6100 Westheimer, 713-532-5011) transports diners back to the ’70s, when fondue parties were all the rage. The waiters at the Pot prepare this dish for two tableside. They pour a cup of white wine, a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic…
Stadium, Damiera, Spirit of the Stairway, Radio Pioneer
Fans of experimental indie, hardcore and modern prog-rock will have a field day with this lineup, which features two up-and-coming Houston underground acts, along with a couple of harder, more experimental out-of-town groups. Stadium’s music is similar to Rival Schools and Miranda Sound — guitar-based and not overly poppy, but…
It’s Your Birthday
Don’t ask KPFT DJ Rad Rich how old he’ll be this week. “I don’t answer that question,” says the host of Rad Rich’s Rock and Roll Revue. “That’s one of the mysteries about Rad Rich. Next question.” Ah, whateva! But Rich will disclose that today’s “Rad Rich Birthday Back 2…
Girl in a Coma
Phanie D and Jenn Alva tried starting a band back in 1993, when they were still in junior high school. That didn’t work out. The pair had to wait until Phanie’s little sister, Nina Diaz, got out of elementary school in 2001 to try again. By then, Nina had had…
Resurrecting Ophelia
Shakespeare in 45 minutes — that’s what Lyndsay Sweeney of Theatre Collide promises with her one-woman show Shakespeare’s Women: Gnawing at My Soul. Featured at the 2006 Australia New Zealand Shakespeare Conference, this innovative adaptation combines speeches from tragedies and comedies alike to create an entirely new story. At the…
Parish Predators
Oh, could he sing. At St. Francis de Sales, where he sang in choir, they called him Pavarotti. He performed at church concerts and weddings, and even with Houston Grand Opera. A dark-skinned Costa Rican with a goatee and eyes set widely apart, German Rojas Moreno was everyone’s friend. He…
Throwdown
The title track to Throwdown’s 2005 CD, Vendetta, says, “This is war / This is pure hostility / This is a vendetta.” Since Throwdown lists pirates, rattlesnakes and Vikings as their influences, along with Pantera and Slayer, it seems these guys have a bit of a rage issue. And don’t…
A Glowing Revue
Maybe money can’t buy love, but it can buy an enjoyable interpretation of it. The Great Caruso Dinner Theater presents I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, the off-Broadway hit musical revue that explores the hilarious, wacky, tender world of love, dating and marriage. The show’s cast of four will…
Losing It
“Well, ya got a little lost, but ya made it, huh?” The grinning, welcoming Gary adjusts his glasses and scratches the silver hair on his mostly bald head. The deeply tanned sixtysomething is wearing ankle-length tube socks and sandals. On this hot, breezeless day, the socks appear to be a…
A Simple Plan
The waiter at Pic. was doing just fine, confidently reciting each of the specials in exquisite (some might say excruciating) detail. But somewhere near the home stretch, between praising the braising for the curried short ribs and trumpeting the plum compote upon which the Swedish meatballs would be served, his…
Fear Factor
Survivor guilt, mob ties, a miracle psychiatric drug and a witness protection program gone wrong are the plot pieces that make up Austin mystery writer and Rice University grad Jeff Abbott’s ninth suspense novel, Fear. How does the best-selling author and three-time nominee for the Edgar Allan Poe Award come…
Bragging Rights
The Port of Houston, those folks who bring you splashy commercials telling you how wonderful they are — because that’s something you need to know, apparently — are really crowing about themselves now. They’ve just spent more than $120,000 on publishing 15,000 copies of their annual report, titled “Simply the…
The Illusionist
If, at this remove, we can imagine Vienna in the late 1890s, we behold a great imperial capital in ferment. Gustav Mahler is not only reinventing the harmonic structure of serious music, he is getting his head seriously shrunk by Sigmund Freud. Arnold Schöenberg takes painting lessons from eroticist Richard…
“Waves” of Destruction
Having forced more than one million people to evacuate, Hurricane Katrina is second only to the Civil War in number of citizens displaced by a single event in American history. Many evacuees found a new home in Houston, but doors were flung open nationwide, including those of the Lower Manhattan…
Letters to the Editor
Remains of the Dead Service workers: It was refreshing to see the interest in crime scene remediation [“Without a Trace,” by Keith Plocek, August 3]. I work as a public relations director for a company out of Ohio, and I have encountered extreme resistance to not only any type of…
Quinceañera
A winning tale of sex, real estate and more or less immaculate conception, Quinceañera, as you might expect from a white-made drama about Latino life in L.A.’s Echo Park, threatens at first blush to be all about a pregnant teenager and a prodigal cholo in the ‘hood. Yet this saucy,…
Weird Science
Think of them as the Power Rangers, only animated and even more inexplicable to adults. Japan’s Science Ninja Team Gatchaman has battled the evil Berg Katse, a hermaphrodite mutant and agent of an alien overlord, in four anime series during the last 30 years. At the bird-themed superhero group’s disposal…
Image of the Week
Venus Williams, at the Westside Tennis Club August 5, offers the only answer possible when asked how the hell she ever got talked into playing for the World Team Tennis league. Although if she’s ever seen either of the Omen movies, she should be more worried about that white spearlike…
The Oh in Ohio
So, you know how Parker Posey nearly always plays a sarcastic, uptight smoker? In The Oh in Ohio, she finally stretches a bit: Here, she’s a sarcastic, uptight career woman…who doesn’t smoke! Also, she wears her hair down, whereas it’s usually pulled back into some kind of tightly wound style…
Re-ska-citation
Every time you think ska is dead, another revival tour rolls into town, much to your delight or disappointment, depending on your affinity for peppy horn sections and incomprehensible vocals. The Voodoo Glow Skulls, who headline the Summer of Ska Tour today, will no doubt have skankers in a frenzy…
Big Ben
Breaking Benjamin founder and front man Ben Burnley says the group’s name isn’t an indication of his emotional state. He’s not being broken by the music industry. “Breaking Benjamin got its name from me breaking a microphone,” he laughs. “I used to go out and do these open-mike-night performances under…
Coochie Coup
When grown women finally get around to talking about sex, they can out-nasty any group of pimply-faced pubescent boys. Just look at the gals in Wayne DeHart’s Coochie Conversation, now running at The Ensemble Theatre. After a couple of shots of vodka, they’re ready to talk about everything from their…
The White Coat Club
It was supposed to be only an evaluation. Cathryn Blue was being treated under the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation for three herniated disks. In late 2001, her orthopedist referred the 42-year-old to a neurologist for an evaluation to determine the extent of her injuries. She was referred to Philip…
The Houston Slide
I’m at Helios on a sweltering Monday night, and the funky old lower Westheimer mansion is packed. Old punks next to young punks, black guys with scraggly beards and dreads tucked into doo-rags, white girls who look like they got lost on their way home from The Social, a wine-sipping…
Capsule Reviews
The Great American Trailer Park Musical This frothy bubble of silliness now running at Stages Repertory Theatre requires absolutely zero brain power to get through. Cobbled together out of stereotypes and a sitcom-like plot, the featherweight bit of camp by David Nehls and Betsy Kelso celebrates white-trash ladies and the…
Sour Cherry Martini
My girlfriend and I arrive at The Office (310 Main, 713-222-9900) fairly early on a Saturday evening to meet up with Shaun and Sarah, two huge fans of hip-hop and R&B who wanted to check out this brand-new downtown club. We grab some cherry martinis and quickly finagle our way…
Buzz Killer
I caught the commercial for Buzz Ballads the other day, a whopping 32-track opus with the likes of Vertical Horizon and the Verve Pipe. When did this happen? Are we nostalgic for Bush and Filter already? Can’t be. Has the hipster irony-clock been set forward too far? I was just…
Twin Peaks
A work of visual art naturally possesses a mystery. Most likely, you weren’t there when the artist created it, and depending on the artist, the work offers more or less information about the influence and impetus behind it. For some artists, mystery isn’t merely a trapping; it’s the entire point…
Moshing in Montrose
Surely you’ve heard of Classic Numbers night at Numbers nightclub (300 Westheimer). What? You haven’t? Well, I guess most people refer to it as ’80s night at Numbers. But Numbers calls it Classic Numbers night, and says it’s “the original & most authentic & attended ’80s night in town.” I…
Capsule Reviews
“The Big Show” Groups shows are almost always problematic — uneven, schizophrenic, overloaded with information — and Lawndale Art Center’s annual open-call, juried exhibition never seems to escape these peccadilloes. With no frame of reference besides one or two pieces by each artist on the wall, it’s just too easy…
New York Dolls
Inventing punk was a dirty job. You had to make up new rules for the guitar, cram your hairy appendages into ladies’ pumps and lingerie, get hooked on hard drugs and squeeze Howlin’ Wolf and the Shangri-Las into the same three-minute songs. That routine shortened the lives of two New…
Why Do Mexicans Take Their Children to Horror Flicks?
Dear Mexican, The last two movies I attended were rated R. Sitting around me were Mexican families with very young children. Why do Mexicans bring their eight-year-old kids to see a movie like Hostel? Do Mexican parents just not give a shit, or can they not afford a baby-sitter? Plus,…
