Shameless Pub Plug
Beer and Bob, anyone? Most of you make your happy hour plans before lunch. But if you’re scrambling for a place to make a drunken fool of yourself relax after work, you might try Pub Fiction (2303 Smith, 713-400-8400). Yep, the Midtown watering hole is the site of the good…
Lotsa Zeroes for O
MLB.com Party at Roy’s house! It can never be good news when the Astros send a non-game-related press release at 11:29 p.m. But lo — last night, the news was indeed good. Your Houston Astros have inked slinger Roy Oswalt to five-year, $73 million contract extension, which runs through the…
A Lesson in Irony
“Today we’re going to talk about creative deductions…” You gotta wonder how many students at TSU are doing a double-take at their class schedules: ACCOUNTING — INSTRUCTOR: SLADE Yeah, Priscilla Slade. The same P. Slade who, with three of her aides, was ousted for (allegedly) spending school money on personal…
Katrinavision
Big-hearted Hil is helping out in N.O. Today’s TV coverage of the one-year anniversary of Katrina ranged from gushing (GMA’s Robin Roberts waxing poetic about her hometown) to downright refreshing (the “glib” Matt Lauer tearing ex-FEMA head Mike Brown a new one for his Katrina fumbling on Today.) Brown actually…
Will Shave for Sex
Gibson.com So, Houston ladies, you’re saying this ain’t sexy? H-town has been making all kindsa’ lists lately. And now it seems that damn, we’re smoove. Proving that in America, anyone can start an organization about anything, we have word from the National Organization of Social Crusaders Repulsed by Unshaven Faces…
Okay, Now We’re Back…
Miss us yesterday? We missed you. We’re back, and playing catch up today. Thanks to IT Guy for resurrecting our state-of-the-art technology. The Management…
Adventures in Computering
Ah, lovely technical difficulties… Thanks to those of you who’ve offered up your “WTF?” e-mails. It’s not that we’re slacking, it’s just that there’s a snag in our state-of-the-art technology. We’ll be back in full force soon, sez our intrepid IT guy… Thank you, The Management…
H-town…It’s Crunk
How about “Keep Houston Screwed”? So by now everybody knows about the state capital city’s “Keep Austin Weird” T-shirt, bumper sticker and Internet campaign, wherein our neighbors maintain that Austin is still as strange as they seem to think it is. What you might not know is that all the…
Lightnin’ in the Park
Why wouldn’t you name a park after this guy? With his usual style, aplomb and right-on-the-moneyness, mysterious local blogger Slampo — the Mike Royko of the local blogosphere — has taken up yet another pressing issue: The City Hall-sponsored contest to name a new downtown park. “We’re sure the winning…
Re: Re: Dissecting the Dirty Dozen
Last time these guys won anything… So, I turn my back for one day and I find this, wherein (cough) Notre Dame fan (cough) Rich Connelly has taken issue with my belief that the Texas Longhorns will win the Big 12 football championship. Connelly seems to believe that the Horns…
They Got Next
Daniel Kramer Seems like yesterday that young Haf was crashing local prom parties… Journalistic powerhouse USA Today has an interesting story today about the young people. Seems TV’s Judy Woodruff and a team from MacNeil/Lehrer Productions are traveling the country, hoping to speak to and learn something about this “millennial…
Starry Lullabye
Few Houston-area musicians have had careers as illustrious and seemingly unlikely as La Marque native David Schnaufer’s — a journey that took him from a middle-class childhood in a tough little refinery town on the Gulf Coast to the rugged hollers and hills of West Virginia to a burgeoning career…
Why Don’t Mexican Women Like to Mamar Vergas?
Dear readers, My August 10 column advising Enamorada Gabacha to improve her relationship with the Mexican who invaded her heart by giving him “an old-school blow job” drew many letters — starting with Gabacha in Love herself. Dear Mexican, Well, of course I thought of a good old-school blow job,…
Four Women Walk into a Bar…
It’s another muggy night and there’s nothing to do. “Why don’t we go out?” my wife asks. “Where?” I yawn. “Downtown, maybe?” she asks hopefully. I’ve lived in Galveston for a while now, but I’ve never checked out the downtown nightlife. All the tourists in neon bathing suits, driving giant…
Get a Clue
Veronica Mars: The Complete Second Season (Warner Bros.) Any concept along the lines of “high school hottie solves crimes” is bound to make for watchable TV, but who would have expected this? Equal parts 90210 teen soap, murder mystery, and comedy, Veronica Mars pulls you in with its sharp writing,…
Cursive
With Happy Hollow, Cursive proves that a band can evolve without completely overhauling its sound. On 2003’s The Ugly Organ, Cursive added cellist Gretta Cohn as well as an organist to its usual four-man lineup. For Happy Hollow, the quartet has added a full horn section, accordion and piano, making…
Glacial Profiling
Publisher: Square Enix
Platform: PSP
Price: $39.99
ESRB Rating: T (for Teen)
Score: 7 (out of 10)
Powerman 5000
One of these days, Mike Cummings is going to be in the right place at the right time. Powerman 5000 earned the requisite face-time on MTV in the late ’90s after its first two CDs were released and a small hard-core group of fans got into PM5K’s punk-driven, hybrid sound…
Our top DVD picks for the week of August 22
The Apartment (Lions Gate) The Bill Cosby Show: Season One (Shout! Factory) The Blue Light (Pathfinder) Conviction: The Complete Series (Universal) Dances With Wolves: Extended Cut (MGM) Film Geek (First Run) House, M.D.: Season Two (Universal) Invasion: The Complete Series (Warner Bros.) Just My Luck (Fox) The Maid (Tartan) On…
Bright Men of Learning
Bright Men of Learning
Taco-Truck Gourmet
Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
Sweetbreads taco: $1.50
Tripe taco: $1.50
Quesadilla: $2
Gordita: $2
Drinks: $1
Rollins Band/X
All hail the venerable punks of late-’70s Los Angeles. Yes, it’s been a good 20-something years since Penelope Spheeris’s Decline of Western Civilization documentary gave an incontinent nation its first glimpse of the West Coast “hardcore” scene. Now, against all notions of conventional wisdom, the middle-aged denizens of that fertile,…
Gimme Seven
Don’t be shocked when you see the famous “seven finger pork chop” ($23.95) at Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille (2115 Town Square Place, 281-565-2727), which stands a full seven fingers tall on the plate before the server carves it up tableside. It takes five days to make this dish, with the…
Steve Forbert
Like Popeye and Jonathan Richman, Steve Forbert is what he is. In 28 years of playing sun-dappled heartland rock with the occasional sidelong glance of cynicism, he’s only gotten to sound more like his own earnest self. But then, you don’t expect a lot of shape-shifting from a Mississippi kid…
Hog Wild
Pickup trucks haul yapping mutts in crowded trailers through the woods in a long, tedious procession, taking an hour to travel seven miles of cratered red-dirt road. Homemade signs posted on trees point the way to a large grassy field where a woman wearing high-waisted Wranglers, scuffed cowboy boots and…
David Allan Coe
He’s lived in caves, worn Lone Ranger masks on stage and made records that have sent legions of the politically correct running for the “stop” button. But despite the cartoon outlaw image that has grown up around Coe, it’s his myriad accomplishments as a songwriter, performer, author and actor that…
The Edge of the Spotlight
Perhaps it shows the Continental Club’s sense of resignation over sparsely attended Wednesday-night shows that they’ve booked Chris Knudson, the eternal opportunist who wrote that ham-fisted Kinky Friedman-for-governor song “Stand Up and Be Counted.” Knudson seems willing to attach himself to any artist or cause — from Kinky to the…
Godsmack
Drummer-turned-front man Sully Erna has two rules for Godsmack’s live shows: Everybody has to be loud, and nobody can sit down. But most Godsmack crowds already know that. Longtime fans also know to show up wearing all black, preferably with a few piercings and a couple of tattoos. No matter…
Pomegranate Martini
Where I come from, making healthy eating choices means switching to Bud Light and holding the chili on the chili cheese fries. But one Wednesday, I decide to give Ziggy’s Healthy Grill (2202 West Alabama, 713-527-8588) a chance. And I’m pleasantly surprised by the menu of tasty-sounding burgers, sandwiches and…
Invincible
Low, which is to say no, expectations can be a wonderful thing; expect nothing, and maybe you’ll get that little outta-nowhere sumpin-sumpin that turns an otherwise unfulfilling occurrence into a vaguely rewarding experience. It’s not like Invincible boasts the most promising of credentials: a first-time filmmaker (Ericson Core, the cinematographer…
Snakes on a Plane
Snakes on a Plane represents the ideal of contemporary major-studio filmmaking — which is to say, major-studio marketing. Who needs word-of-mouth screenings or critics when you can sell the four-word pitch as written on a napkin? It points to a future that takes all the guesswork out of moviegoing. A…
$50K Between Friends
Normally, when an organization like LULAC gets word of a $50,000 gift, members don’t ask many questions beyond how soon the check will clear. That’s not the case these days at LULAC District VIII. Community Education Partners is making the large gift — up to five years of annually giving…
Idlewild
One of the weakest and most ridiculous aspects of popular culture is its narcissistic now-ness. There’s often no then or later, and without past experience or the messy knowledge of life, modern entertainment media often seems poached in a neurotic teenage brainpan, entranced with its own ignorant tunnel vision. A…
Camera Action
As he trolls storefront to storefront on the strip of lower Westheimer known as the Curve, Jacob Calle is slowly muttering to himself. “Gotta find a hottie. Gotta find one now.” He spots two young punk rock girls in a tattoo shop, one of whom is bending over. “Oh, damn,”…
Imperfect Ten
Besides writing a full-length play, the most difficult task in the theater is to write a short work. It’s a lot longer than you think. Not only do you have to have all the criteria of the long form in place — theme, character, dialogue, tone, structure — you also…
Letters to the Editor
Belly Laugh To the Mexican: I just wanted you to know that I really enjoy reading your Q&As. I love how you dispel the rumors and stereotypes about Mexicans. I am black/ Hispanic, and I love Mexican men — beer bellies and all! It’s nice to have a man whose…
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…
Image of the Week
A baby giraffe learns his first lesson: Mama has one helluva huge tongue. Gene Simmons, you ain’t got nothin’ on Tyra, a Masai giraffe seen here welcoming her as-yet-unnamed newborn (143 pounds, 71 inches) to the Houston Zoo. Click here to enlarge…
Blanket Statements
“The Quilts of Gee’s Bend” became the little exhibition that could. Organized in 2002 by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the show of 70 quilts made its second and last scheduled stop at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York, where a Times critic called the comfy…
The Amazing Side
Matthew Pryor, front man and founder of the New Amsterdams, has to get hit over the head sometimes. By a song, that is. “I have 20 songs already written for my next album, and I’m just getting started,” he says. “I write a lot of songs, to find those few…
Capsule Reviews
“The Big Show” Group 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…