Comments of the Day: Restaurant Temperature
Here on Eating Our Words, the commenters absolutely make the blog, and our Comment of the Day honors the best of the bunch. Every day, we read you guys and pick the commenter, or commenters, who made us laugh, cry, salivate over something delicious, or think about things in a…
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Snubs Rush…Again
A couple years ago, I was sitting on the back porch at the Continental Club talking music with a fairly well known music writer who seemed to believe that anything with a big hook or the slightest inkling of musicianship beyond the garage band aesthetic was utter garbage. If he…
Denise Gonzales: Admits Running Amok with Children’s Museum Credit Cards
MyspaceDenise Gonzales: Says hard times made her do it.Former Children’s Museum of Houston assistant gallery director Denise Gonzales used the nonprofit’s credit cards to fund over $13,000 in illicit purchases, court documents say. According to a criminal complaint, Gonzales, 41, was issued two company-owned Chase MasterCards for business purchases. Gonzales…
First Look at Local Foods
Let’s get one thing out of the way first: Stop blaming benjy’s for Antone’s demise. I’m the first to say that I miss the old Antone’s in Rice Village like I miss Elvis. So come on now: We can all agree that Antone’s closed before its time and that it…
Trailer Park: First Look at the New Snooki-Stained Three Stooges Is Harmful to Pregnant Or Nursing Women
Today the trailer for the Farrelly Brothers’ long-gestating Three Stooges feature film dropped online. Dropped is a good word, because it evokes pain, injury and feces. Okay, strike that. Any trailer that features nubile lingerie/bikini model Kate Upton as a nun in a two-piece lace habit isn’t so bad. But…
Let’s Play “Connect the Freckles”: Lindsay Lohan’s Playboy Cover Has Been Revealed
Today gossip sites began posting this picture of Lindsay Lohan’s upcoming Playboy cover, the inside of which is reported to feature either all the good stuff, none of the good stuff or only one or two of the three good things. Seriously, if you haven’t already pieced together a mental…
That Purple Bastard and D-Risha Plumb Houston Rap for Gold on “Ebonics”
Earlier this year, rapper D-Risha released a mixtape called Big Trouble in Houston, Texas. On it was a song called “Ebonics,” the stand alone best track because it somehow managed to be accessible while being meta (which is like being tall and short at the same time). Here’s what was…
From Lancaster to Affleck: Pearl Harbor at the Movies
Today marks 70 years since Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. With each passing year, more survivors of that awful day seven decades ago die and the world loses a piece of living history. Most of the men who were on those ships in the harbor that…
Rockets Announce 2011-2012 Schedule — 6 Things You Need to Know
My excitement for the upcoming NBA season was moderately brimming before yesterday (due in large part to a $50 prop bet I placed a couple months ago on the season starting on or before Christmas — CHA-CHING!), but two things happened yesterday. First, I got a nice letter from NBA…
Slinging Ink Reading at Big Star Bar
Tuesday was the premiere evening of Houston’s latest reading series, Slinging Ink. Presented by DiverseWorks and hosted at Big Star Bar, the event features four writers who have submitted pieces of fiction, nonfiction and any riff in between that address a certain theme. Initial selections are made by a blind…
Top 5 Gifts for Wine Lovers
If you’re ever invited to dine in someone’s home in France, please don’t bring a bottle of wine. Nothing will spur a French host to recoil in abject dishonor and displeasure than the gift of a bottle of wine (like carrying coal to Newcastle, bringing owls to Athens, or selling…
What’s in a Name?: The Year End Dictionary Update
Just as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary constantly adds new words, so does Rocks Off enrich the English language through our explorations in the meaning behind band names. Below are the entries that made it into our lexicon in 2011. Art of Dying (n) 1. The reverse of suicide 2. Upbeat, hard…
Wanted: Spring 2012 Photography Interns
Calling all photo students! Village Voice Media (the Houston Press parent company) is recruiting undergraduate photo students for its Spring 2012 internship program. By “student,” we do not mean “a student of life;” we mean “currently enrolled in college” student. There’s no cash offered with this gig, only college credits…
Grand Opening Party at Torchy’s Tacos
As of 7 a.m. today, Houston officially had a branch of Torchy’s Tacos, the Austin-based chain of eateries known for their creative taco fillings (e.g., fried avocado) and tongue-burning Diablo Hot Sauce. But yesterday, some lucky Torchy’s fans, including yours truly, got to attend the private grand opening. Doors opened…
Cover Story: Uncle Charlie Is Houston’s Poster Boy
Uncle Charlie isn’t just a Houston legend. Ask anyone in the poster-art scene the world over, and they’ll know his work. Charlie Hardwick, the subject of this week’s cover story, designs posters advertising some of the biggest names in music – from Wilco to Green Day to The Decemberists. But…
RIP “Drift Away” Singer, Native Houstonian Dobie Gray
Pop/Soul/Country singer/songwriter Dobie Gray passed away today after a long, respected career as a silky crooner and songwriter, who achieved moderate success in the ’60s and ’70s. He had his biggest hit with “Drift Away,” in 1973 and re-emerged in 2003 when Uncle Cracker recorded the song and had him…
Christmas Gift Guide: Three Ideas for the Fashionista
Are you pulling your hair out at the thought of Christmas shopping? Some people are hard to buy for, especially fashionable fashionistas who have a tendency to know exactly what they want. We’ve scoured the Internet looking for some of the best gifts we can imagine getting, and a few…
El Gran Malo es La Mas Gran y La Mejor de Gastrocantinas
Of course, it’s also the only gastrocantina in town. So there’s that. But should there eventually one day be many gastrocantinas in Houston, El Gran Malo will still be the Big Bad and the granddaddy of them all. El Gran Malo’s upscale-downmarket amber-hued tequila dive bar concept may be difficult…
The A380 Superjumbo Jet Coming to Houston
The double-decker Airbus A380, the largest commercial jet in the world, will begin making regular landings in Houston next year. Bush Intercontinental will be the first Texas airport, and only the fourth in the U.S., to have flights from the massive jet that began regular service six years ago. Lufthansa…
Black Keys Not Licensing New Record to Streaming Services
There’s been a furor brewing among people who love streaming music services like Spotify and Rdio over bands like Coldplay denying licensing to those services for new releases. Older albums are available, but bands have essentially delayed the release to streaming services. That was all well and good when it…
Anna Bella Eema from Catastrophic Theatre: A Startling Piece of Theater
The setup: Like fine jewelry, the world of the surreal and the real is fashioned into bold theatrical relief by playwright Lisa D’Amour, composer Chris Sidorfsky, a trio of superlative actors and the backstage wizards of sound effects (Chris Bakos), lighting (Kevin Holden) and creepy set design (Jodi Bobrovsky). Under…
Cute Alert: Lucky Dog Rescue’s 4th Annual Gingerbread Doghouse Fundraiser
Some events just make you go “Aww,” or in the case of the Lucky Dog Rescue Gingerbread Doghouse Charity Competition, “P-aww.” The popular fourth annual event took place this past Monday night in the Hotel Icon Lounge, drawing dog lovers and families in the spirit of giving and Christmas cheer…
U Can’t Sing This: When Office-Party Karaoke Goes Very, Very Wrong
Via our pals at the Bayou, we have found slam-dunk evidence that it is always a bad idea to participate in karaoke at your office Christmas party. A clip of a Beaumont party includes what might be the world’s worst rendition of “U Can’t Touch This,” and that is a…
No Surprises: Rock Hall Set To Induct Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys
This morning (well, it leaked last night) the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced their 2012 class of inductees. Included on the list are Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Donovan, Laura Nyro, Freddie King, The Small Faces/ The Faces, Don Kirshner, Cosimo Matassa,…
Adventure and Trust: Umami Dinner #3 at Kata Robata
Writing about event dinners can sometimes come across as a bit of a tease, i.e. “I ate all this awesome stuff that is never going to be served again and you didn’t get to have it.” Fortunately, this isn’t one of those types of articles. The Umami dinners held at…
Postcards from Skyrim: Horse thieves and Barrel Rolls
Art Attack isn’t playing Skyrim because, well, we like being married. However, the Brother With One F has trekked deep into the game and is happy to send us postcards from the vast world. All right, I just finished some Chick-fil-A and decided to play some Skyrim. So I was…
You Want to Be a Houston Press Intern, Don’t You?
There are internships where you sit around and do a whole lot of nothing, internships where you actually do a lot, but “a lot” is confined to coffee runs and making copies, and then there’s a Houston Press internship. No matter what you’re looking to get into — reporting, photography,…
DVDs & Blu-rays: The Giveaway Edition
We’ve got DVD/Blu-ray combo copies of two of this week’s releases as giveaways for readers, The Help and Cowboys and Aliens. All you have to do is send an e-mail to Olivia.Alvarez@houstonpress.com. Include the title of the film you would like to receive in the subject line and at 5…
DEFCON Dining: Bootsie’s Heritage Cafe
It had been a long time since I’d made the trek out to Tomball. I think the last time I was there was back in the summer, when I spent a couple of days slaving working at Bootsies’ Heritage Cafe for Randy Rucker, as a stagiere, just before he closed…
Six Songs We Bet You Didn’t Know Were Written by Burt Bacharach
A number of years ago, Rocks Off went to see Burt Bacharach perform with the Houston Symphony. We knew a little bit about his music and were familiar, or so we thought, with many of his bigger hits like “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “Raindrops Keep Falling…
Five Legitimate Reasons Not to Pay Your Restaurant Bill
As I child I remember catching the tail end of a conversation between my parents and one of their friends about a particularly wretched dining experience: “…so I just walked out and left them the bill.” Weren’t you worried about getting arrested?, I remember thinking. Well, the short answer was…
Comment of the Day: The Trifecta from Hell
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Getting to the Bottom of Those Red Dots Around Montrose
“Anyone know about these red dots painted around Montrose,” a poster recently asked on the local music forum Hands Up Houston. “Keep seeing them, have always wondered.” The question included a link to a Google Maps street view of one Montrose-area dot. Another poster said he’d heard the artist painted…
Nicole Griffin Chance: Claims Woman Posed As Lawyer to Get Yoga Secrets
If you’re hiring a lawyer, you have to be careful and consider all factors. If, for instance — just spitballing here — someone says she’s a lawyer and will represent you in your divorce in exchange for yoga lessons, maybe you might want to think twice. According to a lawsuit…
Tenderina from FrenetiCore: Plenty of Confusion, Not Enough Striptease
When I heard that Tenderina, a new production by FrenetiCore, was a play, a dance performance, a film work, a poem and a striptease, I was skeptical. This sounded like a show with an identity crisis. And it was, with a bit of psychosis thrown in. From what I could…
Pearl Harbor Day: The Nitpickiest IMDb Nitpicks for Tora! Tora! Tora! and Pearl Harbor
Today is the 70the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Greatest Generation’s 9/11. Since then the Day of Infamy has shown up in many movies, most notably 1970’s Tora! Tora! Tora! and 2001’s Pearl Harbor. Any such movie subjects itself to the eagle eyes of “rivet-heads,” the experts…
Classic Christmas: The Carpenters’ Christmas Portrait
Over the holidays, we’re looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. In the ’70s, there was a smoothness to the music. It was cool and mellow and as sensitive as a bear skin rug and a glass of Burgundy. And…
Elizabeth Taylor: The Legendary Jewels Evening Sale at Christie’s
When the press release for the upcoming Elizabeth Taylor auction arrived from Christie’s, we hovered our cursor over the link as our breath caught in our chest. There is no jewelry collection on Earth that is more famous or more opulent; each piece a museum-quality show-stopper. Taylor didn’t play by…
Sampler Plate: This Week in Food Blogs
The Loop Scoop: TLS has some choice words for D’Amico’s, which recently invited the Chronicle’s Alison Cook to eat in the restaurant with a chalkboard sign meant as a counterpoint to a sign banning the critic at Liberty Kitchen. Dude, You Going to Eat That?: Just because the whole city…
Hey Kids! See the 10 Most Tasteless X-Rated Christmas Ornaments! (NSFW)
Christmas season is a time of warmth and love, especially if it concerns two leathermen engaging in sweaty doggie-style buttsex. At least that’s the thinking among people who enjoy X-rated Christmas-tree ornaments, and we can only assume those people don’t have a lot of little nephews and nieces over for…
Packers 16-0, Colts 0-16: A Wagering Public Service Announcement
It’s Christmas shopping season, and as someone who has had to “overbuy” presents for years now, I understand the phenomenon of those Christmas bills showing up a couple weeks after December 25, and your asking yourself, “How in the sparkly, tinsel hell am I going to pay these?” (“Overbuy” is…
The Six Creepiest Food Commercials of 2011
Food commercials have been unintentionally (or, in some cases, intentionally) creeping us out since the original Ronald McDonald was introduced to audiences in 1963. That’s him over there to the right, providing what would eventually become the template for John Wayne Gacy’s “Killer Clown” get-up. Who wants a Happy Meal?…
Taking Apart Yesterday’s Facebook Music Screed
Yesterday, about a half-dozen of my Facebook friends forwarded a gloom-and-doom listicle from a site called Buzzfeed entitled “12 Extremely Disappointing Facts About Popular Music.” Now up to over one million hits, the doom-and-gloom piece is subtitled “This is the saddest thing you’ll read all day!!! You let this happen!…
Three Meals a Day for Texas Prisoners: The Petition Campaign
The daughter of a Texas inmate is getting thousands of people to sign a petition demanding the state resume feeding its prisoners three times a day seven days a week. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced this fall that budget constraints were forcing them to feed prisoners at some…
How To: Make Your Own Gingerbread House
Downstairs, Central Market hustles and bustles, as shopping carts collide with one another in a bumper-to-bumper race to the checkout line. Upstairs, however, it’s a completely different story. In an almost hidden alcove, the store’s gingerbread house-decorating class is being held. The class, which began November 27, will be held…
LBJ Museum’s Big Renovation About to Start
The LBJ Presidential Library & Museum in Austin is not one of the best of its kind — it was built before the era when presidential libraries went big-time and devoted more resources to attracting and wowing tourists rather than assisting bookwork scholars. A large-scale renovation intended to bring the…
Top 5 Gifts for the Baker
It’s that time of year again – when we get give gifts to the ones you love. But what do you get for the baker who has everything? Check out our list for the top 5 gifts for that special baker in your life. If you play your cards right,…
Get Nutted: Your Guide to the Nutcracker
This town has gone nuts! It is officially Nutcracker season in Houston! The Houston Ballet’s production of Tchaikovsky’s renowned ballet is a holiday staple, but HB isn’t the only toe shoe in town. The city and surrounding areas are filled with places to catch the evil Mouse King and the…
Still Thirsty And Still Miserable: Black Flag’s Damaged Turns 30 Years Old
Every modern punker has a story relating to Black Flag’s Damaged, which turns 30 years old today. Some hate it, some love it, some blame it for the everything good or bad that happened in their lives since they first heard it. For Houston scene vet Bill Fool, it was…
Tuesday December 6, 2011 Deals of the Day
Warm up from the inside out with today’s VOICE Daily Deal from the Houston Press, good for 50 percent off ($12 for $24) spicy Vietnamese fare from Kim Chau. Owner Kim Tang showcases the flavors of the city of Hue, Vietman, such as her popular Bun bo Hue–a rice noodle…
Ask A Rapper: Teenaged Rapper Lil Chris On Lils’ Bow Wow And Romeo
The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place – lots of times, you’re even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good – so once a week we’re going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Something you always wanted to…
Art League Decks the Halls and Walls with Nearly 200 Pieces in “Gambol”
Mary McCleary certainly had her work cut out for her. As the curator of Art League Houston’s second annual juried exhibition, “Gambol,” the renowned artist was tasked with wading through the more than 400 submissions, ultimately whittling them down to 39 pieces from 31 artists. Then, it got even more…
Drought-Ravaged Texas Parks Need Money & Visitors, State Says
The crippling drought of 2011 left Texas parks under-visited and in need of cash to make up a budget shortfall, officials are saying. The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is putting out a call for people to come to the parks (and therefore generate revenue via admission fees) and also…
Six Examples of Really Bad Mixtape Cover Art
When Das Racist came to Fitzgerald’s this past October, we got to chat with the subject of this Frida Kahlo knockoff painting: Lakutis. While standing on the upstairs balcony before they went on stage, the group’s hypeman’s hypeman told us that MishkaNYC was putting out his very first mixtape. (Peep…
First Look at The Capitol at St. Germain
I had a date with two friends to see the Santaland Diaries at the Alley last week, and suggested checking out the new live music venue/restaurant next to the Flying Saucer — The Capitol at St. Germain — for dinner. It ended up being a great suggestion. Perhaps too great:…
Schmatta: A Collective at the Collective
Christmas and culture make for friendly fellows — particularly in Houston. Where the city’s art scene usually has distinct lines of demarcation throughout the year — art lovers can go to galleries, fashion lovers can go to trunk shows, film lovers can go to the recently opened Sundance Cinemas –…
Me and the TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission)
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is not as scary as it sounds. In fact, its mission extends beyond the regulation of alcohol in our state: It also creates, administers, and promotes awareness of programs that encourage the safe and responsible application of alcohol in our communities, large and small, from…
Chron‘s Richard Justice Leaves for New Job
Richard Justice, the Houston Chronicle sports columnist who might have the highest profile at the paper, is leaving after 11 years to write for MLB.com, the online service of Major League Baseball. “MLB.com made me a great offer. It’s a place of such energy,” he told Hair Balls. “I’ve been…
Distant Early Warning: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Steve Aoki, Mountain Goats, Heartless Bastards, Voodoo Glow Skulls
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Janelle Monae: Thu., March 8. Toyota Center, 1510 Polk, Houston. Agent Orange: Tue., Feb. 21. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. “Burned Out” With Chase Hamblin, The Literary Greats, The Sideshow Tramps: Sat., Jan. 21. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Calvin Harris: Fri., Jan. 27. Stereo…
A Lovely Little Show: “Toni LaSelle: Climate of the Heart: Paintings from the 1950’s” at Inman Gallery
I’m a sucker for Toni LaSelle’s 60-year-old abstract paintings. Characterized as a pioneer of Texas Modernism, LaSelle studied with the legendary Hans Hoffman. She was a woman artist during the swaggering machismo of the abstract expressionist era and apparently one of the first Texas artists to fully immerse herself in…
Friday Night: Art, Beats, and Lyrics at Warehouse Live
The music performers included the Houston Press Music Awards Nominee Jack Freeman, who wooed the ladies with his silky voice and charming confidence. Mr. Freeman provided tunes from his recently released effort called “Lynnie’s Juke Joint.” Fellow HPMA nominees and Best Rap Group winners The Nice Guys also performed to…
Comment of the Day: The Pain of Playing Penn State
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Five Things Madonna Should Avoid For A Successful Super Bowl
Long rumored, now confirmed, Madonna will be the featured halftime performer at Super Bowl XLVI: She’s also only the second major female artist (besides Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas) to grace the Super Bowl halftime stage in eight years. And Madonna is somewhat of a risque choice, as she’s…
Brew Blog: John John Juniper
This is probably a bad idea, but I must admit that this review is the direct result of a recommendation from Bruce R. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t give him credit (kidding, Bruce), but I feel he earned it. In the making of this particular recommendation, Bruce waded through a sordid personal…
Edge Theatre’s The Grand Manner a Bumpy But Lovely Production
The setup: As a teenager, playwright A.R. Gurney (Mrs. Farnsworth, The Cocktail Hour, Sylvia) once met the legendary actress Katharine Cornell backstage after a performance of Antony and Cleopatra. He was so enthralled with her and the power of theater that he memorialized it in this, his latest play (2010),…
Pop Rocks: A Few (Updated) Non-Pokemon Speeches for Herman Cain
It was fun (to watch) while it lasted, but Herman Cain officially “suspended” his Presidential campaign last weekend. The former Godfather’s CEO had long been dogged by accusations of sexual harassment (to say nothing of his unfamiliarity with the Libyan crisis or how to pronounce “Uzbekistan”), but the final nail…
Pop Rocks: For Herman Cain, Some Non-Pokemon Inspirational Speeches
It was fun (to watch) while it lasted, but Herman Cain officially “suspended” his Presidential campaign last weekend. The former Godfather’s CEO had long been dogged by accusations of sexual harassment (to say nothing of his unfamiliarity with the Libyan crisis or how to pronounce “Uzbekistan”), but the final nail…
Last Night: Kanye West, Jay-Z and the Watch the Throne Tour at Toyota Center
8:08: You know what’s just never a slick move? Red wine in a plastic cup. Just an FYI, ladies. “Oh, you’re drinking red wine? That’s classy. Wait. Is that a plastic cup? Never mind. I forgot this was the Walmart break room.” 8:58: Ooh, neat. There’s a guy here wearing…
Houston Ballet’s The Nutcracker: A Magical Production
Even if you’ve seen The Nutcracker 100 times, you’ve probably never seen it like this. This is the choreography of Ben Stevenson, former dancer with the Royal Ballet and artistic director of the Houston Ballet from 1976 until 2003. The choreography is noticeably different from Marius Petipa’s original version, and…
The Modular: Blowing Up Boundaries with Big Bones and Burgers
Some of the best food to be had in Houston is happening in a small kitchen at Grand Prize, and a trailer in front of Liberty Station. The Modular (as reported on previously by Minh Truong and Mai Pham) is the brainchild of Joshua Martinez, formerly the General Manager at…
Marcos Juarez’s Killers Drove This Truck
The killers of 18-year-old Marcos Juarez in a drive-by shooting November 20 were in the truck pictured above, Houston police say. The suspects — “described only as three Hispanic males and one white or Hispanic female with curly blond or brown hair” — were “last seen in a 2002 to…
5 Things We’ll Miss About Community
Community is about to disappear from NBC’s lineup, and no one’s sure when it’s coming back. It’s been reported that all 22 of this season’s ordered episodes will be shot and aired, and I (like others) am hopeful that the show will return for another season, even a shortened one,…
William Gammon, Influential Homeowners Association Attorney, Gets Four Years For Child Porn
William Gammon, an attorney who has been instrumental in getting Texans’ homeowners associations power to wield over nonconforming residents, has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for possession of child porn. Gammon, who entered a guilty plea to the charges in May, must also pay $375,000 in restitution…
All The Gothic Council Wants for Christmas is Its Two Front Fangs… And Monster High Dolls
“Yo,” hollered Ramon Medina at us from his El Camino as we were quietly walking down the street listening to Iggy Pop’s Preliminaries. “Is there such a thing as a goth Christmas tree?” Then he laughed and sped away. The answer is yes, Medina, there is a goth Christmas. Every…
Where Are We Drinking?
Although the sign behind this beloved bar offers Guinness on draft — and, indeed, is the drink of choice here — it was a Full Sail IPA we were after instead on a recent, somewhat balmy night. Does the scene below look familiar to you? Think you know where we’re…
Top 10 NES Games We’re Buying This Year
Art Attack went on and on and on about the new Game Over store, a haven where you can pick up pretty much any system, any game, any thing to do with video games regardless of how old it is. This year our Christmas present to ourselves is that we’re…
Aida Hillen: Lobbed Christian Pamphlet at Kid She Ran Over, Then Drove Away (Allegedly)
FacebookAida Hillen: Christian of the YearWhat would Jesus do if he hit a youth with His car, asked the kid if he was okay and got “no” for an answer? If you answered, “Toss him a book about Himself, peel out and haul ass like the Dukes of Hazzard,” you…
Comment of the Day: $1,000 Is a Lot of Money to a Lot of People
Here on Eating Our Words, the commenters absolutely make the blog, and our Comment of the Day honors the best of the bunch. Every day, we read you guys and pick the commenter, or commenters, who made us laugh, cry, salivate over something delicious, or think about things in a…
Texans/Falcons & the NFL Weekend — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
This time last season, in the aftermath of a Week 13 Michael Vick-administered beatdown on a Thursday night in Philadelphia, the Texans began preparation for a Week 14 Monday night game with the Baltimore Ravens in Houston. We all know how that Ravens game went. The Texans battled back furiously…
Bulls on Parade: Ten Songs for Ten Texans Players and One for the Team
This past weekend, not only did the Texans roll to yet another improbable win over the Atlanta Falcons, they seemed to find a battle cry in the song “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine. The song was played over and over inside Reliant Stadium and seemed to fire…
Unpaid Tips and Wages in Restaurants: How Common Is It?
This past Saturday night, the waitstaff and general manager at Ruggles walked out and shut down the restaurant, alleging non-payment of tips over more than a year’s time. That came after news that Brasserie 19 is being sued by a former employee for alleged non-payment of wages over a five-month…
Splendora Cops Seeking Two Butt-Dumb Burglars
Have you seen these two men? Splendora cops would like to know. That’s because they say these two geniuses swiped the digital camera on which these photos were taken (along with a laptop, TV and a Wii) and then pawned it in Houston. Unfortunately for these two brainboxes, they forgot…
Rap Round Table: What Is The Best Song You Have That Was Inspired By Another Human?
Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Each week Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. This Week’s Panel: Bun B, Young Sensation, Fat Tony, Hollywood Floss, O.N.E., hasHBrown, Kyle Hubbard, Yung Redd, Medicine Girl, A.D.D., Tha Centop, Chane, Preemo, Mac Not…
No-Dance Dance Party/College Night Wednesdays at Christian’s Tailgate Midtown
What if they gave an “all-night” dance party, and a bunch of people came, but no one danced? Christian’s Tailgate Midtown throws one every Wednesday. Last week I went to see what a Midtown weekday dance night looks like because sometimes I make bad decisions. I don’t have a macho…
Smoking & BBQ Ban Lifted for Most City Parks
Just in time for the freezing weather, the city of Houston has voted to lift the drought-induced ban on smoking and barbecuing in all but a dozen municipal parks. The bans will remain in effect, though, in two of the city’s main parks, Memorial and Hermann. So grab a parka…
Last Night: Big Sean at Warehouse Live
G.O.O.D. music artist Big Sean’s I Am Finally Famous tour stopped in Houston at Warehouse Live last night. Of course a little rain couldn’t stop the abundant number of teenagers who came out to see Big Sean. Most of the teens were out on dates and others were clustered together…
5 Ridiculously Cute Kitchen Gifts
If you know a home cook whose kitchen looks like Pee Wee’s Playhouse or someone who might actually wear a pink, polka-dotted apron, these ridiculously adorable gifts for the kitchen are just the thing. 5. Scrubber Duckie When only having a rubber duckie in the bathtub is not enough, your…
Houston Heights Holiday Home Tour
To get a better look at all the homes on the tour, go to our slideshow. George Henry Burnett came to the Heights after losing his family in the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. This past Friday and Saturday, people attending Deck the Heights, the 2011 Houston Heights Association Holiday Home Tour,…
Heather Daughdrill: Busted for Sexing Teen Boy She Met at Bible Camp (w/ Video)
A 28-year-old Lake Charles-area woman faces a bevy of charges after Louisiana police said she repeatedly had sex with a 13-year-old boy who she met at the Bible camp where she was a teacher/aide. According to the Sulphur Daily News, Heather Daughdrill initiated the relationship in June and it continued…
Montrose Winter Social: Festival of Sound Checks
For more pics from the inaugural Montrose Winter Social, check out our slideshow. The years spent organizing and attending a number of live music events have taught us several valuable lessons: 1) the line-up will inevitably change the second after being finalized and sent to print, 2) musicians — especially…
Absurdity of Texas Wine Shipping Law Reaches New Heights
On Friday, one of the most bizarre press releases I’ve ever read found its way to my inbox. “The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has issued a Winery Permit to a new Wine.com location in Houston, Texas. This permit authorizes Wine.com to begin selling and shipping wine directly to consumers…
Friday Night: Opera Vista Gives Us a 101 in Christmas
Friday night, Art Attack took in a cup of cheer over at Boheme for Opera Vista’s monthly series “Opera 101” — holiday edition. For the past three years, Opera Vista has been hosting “Opera 101,” an opera-educational workshop of sorts at the popular Montrose wine bar. During a standard “101,”…
Last Night: Dir En Grey at House of Blues
One could be forgiven for not immediately recognizing that a dark, avant-guard metal band from Japan would hold tremendous appeal for the fairer sex. After all, Dir En Grey’s precise, downtuned riffage sounds more ideally suited for misfit burnouts unaccustomed to a woman’s touch. When the quintet took the stage…
Ruggles Waitstaff Walks Out Over Allegedly Getting Stiffed on Tips
Saturday night at Ruggles was busy. There were nearly 200 customers packing the restaurant at Westheimer and Montrose, with a skeleton crew of only five waiters out of a normal ten-man crew. And at 7 p.m., all five of those waiters — as well as Ruggles’s general manager — walked…
Alexis Granwell and Carrie Scanga at Lawndale Art Center: Some Works Are More Successful Than Others
I’m not so jazzed about the 2D works in Alexis Granwell and Carrie Scanga’s “Ballast/Break” in Lawndale Art Center’s project space but there is some pretty nice 3D stuff going on.
Ruggles Waitstaff Stages Walk-Out, Alleging Non-Payment of Tips: UPDATE
Update: Bruce Molzan says that he has “three auditors” and a new manager going through files and payroll records as of today, admitting that Ruggles does owe the waitstaff back wages. “It’s about $14,000 or $15,000 to catch everybody up,” Molzan said. “This whole thing has just been blown out…
Coogs to Aid Penn State’s “Healing Process” in TicketCity Bowl
See more pics of the Cougars journey to the TicketCity Bowl in our slideshow. One of the more ridiculous things to come out of the entire appalling Penn State child-rape scandal is the notion of football as part of the Healing Process. The Healing Process, which must be capitalized, is…
Playlist for the Missing: 5 Songs for the Bermuda Triangle
66 years ago five U.S. torpedo bombers dubbed Flight 19 disappeared during a navigation training exercise in the area known as the Bermuda Triangle, claiming the lives of 14 airmen. It is commonly assumed that the flight became disoriented and lost, ran out of fuel, and then ditched in the…
Barside Dining at Felix 55
I’m always a bit wary about dining and drinking at Rice Village establishments. I love my students, but there’s something about being spotted wolfing down a plate of cheese fries or slurping an over-sized cocktail that lessens your professional credibility. My friends, however, had been raving about Felix 55, and…
Teens Not Sexting Photos: Go Back to Worrying About Vodka-Soaked Tampons, Parents
The shocking surprise news of the morning — today’s teenagers don’t spend every waking minute sending nude photos of themselves to each other. This new study flies in the face of a much more highly scientific method of research, which is bogus journalistic trend stories like “Five Signs Your Child…
What’s Cooking This Week
Last week’s Broiled Halibut and Skirt Steak Chimichurri really hit the spot. This week I’ll be dabbling in the world of fusion cuisine with a pizza made on naan and an Italian stuffed meatloaf with garlic snow peas. Just be thankful I’m not making Chicken Tikka Lasagna…actually, that sounds delicious…
Miley Cyrus Has Company: Some Surprising Pot Smokers
Miley Cyrus’ 19th birthday party was taped and the video revealed her admission that she is a stoner. On her 18th birthday, Cyrus was filmed smoking salvia. This upset fans, but it especially upset parents. No parent wants to see their child’s Disney idol bragging about puffing the magic dragon…
The Week in TV: Louis C.K. Returning to Parks and Recreation
• Louis C.K. had a great arc on Parks and Recreation a couple seasons back as Dave, the sweet but simple cop who fell in love with Leslie but ultimately moved to San Diego. Now that Leslie and Ben are together, though, there’s comedy to be mined in the reintroduction…
Houston Ballet Jubilee of Dance: A Tribute to Cecil C. Conner Jr.
I’ve learned that as a general rule with the Houston Ballet, “one-night-only performance” means go, or you’ll wish you would have. Jubilee of Dance was every bit the rule. The performance honored 69-year-old Houston Ballet Managing Director Cecil Conner Jr., who will have been with the company 17 years when…
Friday Night: Yo Gabba Gabba Live! At Verizon Wireless Theater
Yo Gabba Gabba Live! Verizon Wireless Theater December 2, 2011 Check out our picks of DJ Lance Rock and friends at Yo Gabba Gabba Live!. As a parent, Rocks Off can tell you firsthand about the sacrifices involved in child rearing. Most of us know going in that there are…
Fast Times: Montrose H-E-B a la Carte Sushi Bar
My grocery store of choice is H-E-B, and my go-to store since moving to Houston has been the Buffalo Speedway location — a little out of the way, considering my Museum District home base, but makes sense when you factor in my Saturday-morning shopping trifecta: Urban Harvest Farmers’ Market, H-E-B…
An Excellent Museum of Dysfunction IV from Mildred’s Umbrella Leaves Us Wanting More
The setup: Here’s an enticing little Christmas present from Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company — an evening of short new plays — that doesn’t even require batteries, they’re already supplied. Nor do you have to think about how suitable the gift is; some part of it will fit everybody, so there’s…
Comment of the Day: The Hell of Highland Village
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
UPDATED: The Art Guys’ Controversial Plant Attacked By Suspected Vandals
Update: We just got word from the Menil that oak tree, despite its dramatic injury, will indeed live. “The aborist says that the tree, though severely injured [and] cut down to an eight-inch stump, will survive,” said Menil spokesman Vance Muse. On the down side, eight years worth of growth…
Saddest Christmas in Hyde Park: Neighborhood’s Tree Stolen
If this was a Lifetime movie, it would all end with everyone learning the true meaning of Christmas. And maybe it still will. But as of now, there are still plenty of commercial breaks to go before the story ends. Sunday was supposed to be the day to celebrate the…
Top 10 Gifts For Your Gamer
Hey there parents, significant others, coworkers, and friends. As Houston Press’s resident video game expert, equity deputy, and boil lancer, we thought we’d pass along some gift suggestions to help you shop for the gamer in your life. Since trying to pick out a video game someone would like is…
Turn Out the Lights, the Party’s Over, the Coogs’ BCS Dreams Are No More
See more pics of the Cougars game against Southern Miss in our slideshow. It’s easy to blame the dual distractions of the BCS and Kevin Sumlin’s future when trying to explain the Houston Cougars’ (12-1) 49-28 loss to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles (11-2) in the C-USA Title Game on…
The Ten Best (Non-Houston) Rap Albums of 2011
A deal, then: Let’s pretend like this was some really clever, insightful preamble; ideally, when you finished reading it, you would’ve immediately said, “Dang. That was a really clever, insightful preamble.” Let’s pretend it had some sort of neat underlying agenda, something that directly discussed the year’s biggest stories (probably…
Why a Flight of the Conchords Movie Would Be Better than Arrested Development
Since Arrested Development went off the air in 2006, the hearts of fans have leapt with every new rumor that a comeback might happen. Needless to say, it was big news when co-creator and executive producer Michael Hurwitz officially announced a 10-episode and movie reboot slated for 2013. But another…
Where Are We Eating?
At this cozy burger joint, all the burgers come on Slow Dough buns and the tater tots are best dipped in the spicy jalapeño ketchup served on the side. Thirsty afterward? The owners are opening their own icehouse soon, adjacent to the burger joint itself. Think you know where we’re…
Texans 17, Falcons 10: The Day Gary Kubiak Won the City of Houston
See pics of the Texans’ win against the Falcons in our slideshow. One of the major criticisms of Gary Kubiak has been an alleged lack of guts. From his turning away on game-winning field goal attempts to generally conservative playcalling when ahead, Texans fans wondered over the years if he…
RIP Hubert Sumlin, Legendary Blues Musician
Hubert Sumlin, former guitarist with Howlin’ Wolf and member of the Blues Hall of Fame is dead at the age of 80. Sumlin was ranked at number 65 in Rolling Stone’s greatest guitar players of all time and has been cited as an influence on a wide range of blues…
The Santaland Diaries at the Alley Theatre: No Christmas Is Complete Without It
The set-up: The Joe Mantello adaptation of David Sedaris’s recounting of his stint as Crumpet the Elf, a holiday job at Macy’s in New York City, returns to amuse us with the underside of the Christmas Spirit. The execution: The set is a square, anchored at one corner by a…
This Week in Deliciousness
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we’re currently taking bets on how many Jack Sparrows it will be possible to see in one day at Dickens On the Strand. Our guess: 14. Not counting the parade. We started the week off right with some…
Texans/Falcons — 5 Things to Watch
Over the last two seasons, Texan fans have been conditioned to spend the first half of the season basking in a decent start (5-3 and 4-2 the last two years, respectively) and then spend the remainder of the season waiting for a safe to drop on our collective heads. Soul-crushing…
White Oak Hike & Bike Trail Getting a Detour at the Loop
The White Oak Hike and Bike Trail along T.C. Jester is gonna have a hitch in its get-along starting Monday morning. At 5 a.m. that day, the trail will be closed where it goes under the 610 Loop as part of road repairs, TxDOT says. It will stay closed at…
Introducing Break Dem Boyz Off, Only Five Years After They Should’ve Been Introduced
The video above, that’s by Break Dem Boyz Off, an enjoyable fescennine rap conglomerate that’s somehow been functioning since 2006. Members include DJ Young Samm (the figurehead, it appears), Hoodstar Chantz, King Rashee, Lil Boom, II D.E.E.P, K.Carter, Rob Smallz (R&B) and Tiaramy (R&B). They released a new album earlier…
Half-Off at t’afia: Start Your Holiday Shopping Now
Do you have friends or family who’ve never managed to eat at t’afia? Despite chef/owner Monica Pope’s well-deserved stint on Top Chef: Masters And the fact that the restaurant helped start the local food movement here in Houston? And despite the fact that it’s still one of the city’s best…
Tanya “Lil’ Bit” Martin: ETX Woman Facing Felony Charge in Pumpkin Heist
In our second example of East Texas pumpkin-related mayhem this week, Hair Balls brings you the story of Tanya Lanea “Lil’ Bit” Martin, a pint-sized Tyler-area woman in a heap of crap over a $3.99 gourd. Earlier this week, Martin was formally indicted on a felony robbery charge for an…
Happy 30th, Britney! Maybe Now You Can Finally Put These Performances Behind You
Where were you in…’81? Rocks Off was in junior high, spending long, solitary afternoons in his bedroom listening to Moving Pictures and Dark Side of the Moon and wondering why no girls seemed to be interested in playing Squad Leader. But 1981 also saw several key musical milestones. Billy Idol…
Upcoming Events: Tequila & Tamales and Green Beans & Guacamole
At this weekend’s Eastside Farmers Market, Urban Harvest will be hosting a citrus tasting in advance of its yearly fruit tree sale. More than 30 different varieties of citrus trees grow in Houston, and you’re invited to taste them all this Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. If you find…
DJ Christopher Lowe: Recruited Neighborhood Boys for Child Porn
A “stay-at-home dad” who often watched over neighborhood kids used them to produce child porn, federal prosecutors say. DJ Christopher Lowe, 37, pleaded guilty today to eight child-porn counts. Police discovered him through an investigation of a child-porn user in Italy, and when they raided his Houston home last year,…
The Most Overused Expressions in Music Critics’ Twitter Feeds: An Epic List
It is impossible to overlook this peculiar trend any longer: A few choice words and phrases seem to be dominating many of 2011’s music critiques, particularly on Twitter. Seemingly forcibly wedged into friends’ and journalists’ 140-characters-or-less makeshift tweet reviews, the following words and phrases are, in our opinion, played out…
Chicken Quesadillas at Taco Milagro
More often than not I find inspiration for dinner while watching movies. This has led to some unorthodox evening meals, including blueberry pie with cheese (Taxi Driver) and diner eggs and potatoes with Pinot Noir (Sideways). Most recently I was viewing clips of Napoleon Dynamite on YouTube, specifically the scene…
State Rep Scott Hochberg Retires (and Slams Astros’ AL Move on the Way Out)
Scott Hochberg, the Democratic state rep who’s widely recognized as a guru on public-education issues, won’t run for re-election, he announced today. The man who represents a southwest-side district says it’s time to move on. “My decision should not be thought of as any commentary on the current political environment,…
Amanda Billiris: Police, Relatives Say She Spent Turkey Day Raping 15-Year-Old Relative
Last week Hair Balls came up with a list of the 10 worst things you will face at your family Thanksgiving. One that didn’t make the cut: walking in on an adult woman having sex with an underage relative. Police in Montgomery County say that scenario unfolded at a family…
Musical Microwave Sings When Your Food is Ready
All modern inventions have one thing in common: They fix things. They spot a dilemma, figure out what’s wrong and make it right so we can go on living a beautiful and joyous life. Take the musical microwave, for instance. It eliminates the problem of enduring annoying beeps. Dilemma: Annoying…
Chef Chat Part 3: Vanessa O’Donnell of Ooh La La Dessert Boutique
The last two days, we’ve been chatting with Vanessa O’Donnell, the pastry chef and owner of Ooh La La Dessert Boutique, about how she got started in the industry and how she successfully turned an operation with a 600-square-foot kitchen, into a profitable business with three locations within the span…
Last Night: Overtone Singer Stuart Hinds at Lawndale
At first, Christie Blizard’s centerpiece installation from her “from the tipi project” exhibit at Lawndale Art Center seemed to be a fitting three-dimensional backdrop for Thursday night’s Stuart Hinds concert. Hinds, a musician and composer, is as an overtone singer whose repertoire includes Native American ritual songs. However, a closer…
What Gary Tinterow’s MFAH Appointment May Be Saying About Houston
Dare we say Houston — and not New York City — is the place to be for visual art? Yesterday, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston announced the selection of Gary Tinterow as MFAH director. Tinterow is the latest New Yorker — much like Art League Houston’s Glenn Weiss and…
Five Reasons Kevin Sumlin Should Not Go to A&M
Even as Cougar fans are trying to enjoy their first BCS run, eagerly anticipating a CUSA title tomorrow, they are worried. Texas A&M has fired coach Mike Sherman, and rumors are rampant that the Aggies will go after Sumlin as their next man. You really can’t blame Sumlin for moving…
Mirror Hood: 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…
30 Seconds With Rachael Yamagata
If there is a sexier sound in the world than Rachael Yamagata singing “Starlight” then we haven’t heard it. We fired off an email to her awesomeness to see what drops of illumination we could collect from her in 30 seconds. Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the…
Openings & Closings: November 2011
Remember how busy of a month October was for openings and closings? November was a little slower, but not by much. In upcoming restaurants, one of our favorite bloggers reports that Calliope’s is opening a second location of its popular po-boy shop. This one will be located in far southwest…
The X Factor: Two More Contestants Beat It
Did you really think I could let Michael Jackson tribute week go by without a “Beat It” reference on results night? C’mon, now. The show opens with a musical and sartorial homage to the late King of Pop. The costume department did not hesitate to make every possible costume reference…
Operation “No Tacos” – ¡Si Se Pudo!
They said it couldn’t be done. But “they” were wrong. I made it. And now, ten pounds lighter, I’m back and hungry as ever. Thinking back, the premise was so simple. Can a Houstonian go 30 days without Mexican food? The simple answer is “yes, of course!” But the reality…
Suchu Dance’s Shchelkunchik: Dancing You Won’t See Anywhere Else
It’s officially Nutcracker season, the time of year when everyone and their mouse jumps aboard the Sugar Plum Express, but can’t actually tell you what a sugar plum is. The production is so widespread in the U.S. that nobody even asks anymore. This year, Suchu Dance pays hilarious tribute to…
Football! Baylor-UT, NFL: This Weekend’s Best Bets
“College football is March Madness every week!” — Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the Bowl Championship Series Ah, the battle cry of the BCS apologist. Specifically, the battle cry of the BCS executive director, Bill Hancock. It’s what he and his minions tell the right-thinking people who believe a college…
Marc Benno Remembers Badass Doyle Bramhall
The unexpected passing of Doyle Bramhall of heart failure November 12 has caused Lonesome, Onry and Mean to revisit the man’s career. And while Bramhall is probably best known for his association with Stevie Ray Vaughan, who cut several of Bramhall’s compositions and copped his singing style, Bramhall’s greatest musical…
Odd Pair: Ice Cubes and Chardonnay (Water and Wine)
Back in the 1990s, when a new awareness of fine wine began to emerge in the U.S., the combination of “ice cubes in your Chardonnay” became a sort of litmus test, a line in the sand dividing those who knew and appreciated fine wine and those who didn’t. Even today,…
Winter Might Not Be as Dry and Warm as Previously Thought
The folks at AccuWeather have done some additional forecasting and, as it turns out, we might not have quite the dry and/or mild conditions this winter that were previously forecast. Looking at the map at the top of this post, you can see we are still in the “mild and…
Rocks Off Lists Our Favorite Downloads of 2011
It’s getting to be that time of year, when the temperature drops and the lists start rolling in. Read any blog, magazine or newspaper and you’re bound to run across at least a handfull of year-end lists, particularly when it comes to music. We all like to talk about the…
Community: Foos on Parade
Halfway through its third season — and just a week away from what will be its final episode for who knows how many months — Community is at something of a crossroads. It’s not just that the show is struggling to find a lifeline at NBC and bring in a…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: Shame
Title: Shame What Is He Ashamed Of? Not walking around naked, I tell you what. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Four JFKs out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: NYC sex addict’s life of meaningless fornicating is interrupted by the arrival of his possibly unhinged sister. Tagline: None…
Review: Jett I. Masstyr vs. hasHBrown on Break Something
A declaration, resolute and firm and unassailable: Jett I. Masstyr is a better producer than hasHBrown is a rapper. If Break Something, the year’s second offering from hasH, serves no other purpose, it crystallizes that. For mostly all of the album, (or all of hasH’s discography, for that matter) his…
Bartender Chat: Marcus Gausepohl of CHA Champagne & Wine Bar
I had passed CHA Champagne & Wine Bar on Waugh across from Whole Foods so many times but hadn’t stopped in until this week. I was in a celebratory mood because I’d gotten 90 percent of my Christmas shopping done on Cyber Monday and felt I deserved a pat on…
Comment of the Day: Fondly Remembered Mall Stores
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Week in Photos: The Health Museum vs. the Sky
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…
Dude Looks Like a Lady: Hottest Movie Cross-Dressers
Glenn Close is finally getting her dream of playing a man on the big screen. Her upcoming movie Albert Nobbs, now slated for wide release on January 27, features Close portraying a woman who dresses as a man in 19th-century Ireland in order to get a job as a butler…
Coogs Versus Southern Miss for All the Marbles
The distractions are there for the 12-0 Houston Cougars, the number six team in the BCS standings. Distractions like which BCS bowl game they’re playing. Distractions like which team they’re playing in that BCS bowl — current projections being Michigan in the Sugar. Then there are the distractions about head…
Thriller Turns 29: Five Reasons It Rocked
Yesterday marked the twenty-nine-year anniversary of the release of Thriller, which broke basically every record in the book. It remains the best selling album of all time with over 10 million in total sales. It not only solidified Michael Jackson as one of the biggest pop stars of all time,…
Free for All: Art Without a Price Tag
Houston gets a visit from architect Hermes Mallea who is dropping by Brazos Bookstore on Friday to sign his book Great Houses of Havana: A Century of Cuban Style. The book features wonderful photographs of some of the most beautiful homes in Havana. One shows a courtyard, glowing in the…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Coffeehouses
For the next 20 weeks, we’ll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year’s winner is no easy task. We’ll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants…
The Five Most Stressful Places to Christmas-Shop in Houston
Christmas shopping — you either get into it or you don’t. Since we tend to hate any kind of shopping, period, we don’t especially look forward to the holiday season. It’s bad almost everywhere you go, but some places in town turn the stress and frustration and annoyance up a…
Comments of the Day: We’re Not into You Either, Top Chef: Texas
Here on Eating Our Words, the commenters absolutely make the blog, and our Comment of the Day honors the best of the bunch. Every day, we read you guys and pick the commenter, or commenters, who made us laugh, cry, salivate over something delicious, or think about things in a…
Kevin Sumlin Has Been Contacted by Arizona State, No Wait, He Hasn’t…
The Internet is awesome. Only on Twitter can you get a reporter (in this case, Doug Haller of The Arizona Republic) to definitively state that University of Houston coach Kevin Sumlin has been offered the Arizona State head coaching job, and then have literally dozens of other journalists line up…
Slim Thug, Bun B, and Paul Wall Agree the Cougars are Kind of Awesome
Well, this is weird. There’s an undefeated team in town. And with the 12-0 Cougars hosting Southern Miss this Saturday, H-town loyalty is understandably high. We now have the perfect anthem for this weekend’s conference showdown, thanks to a triumvirate of Houston hip-hop titans…
Messina Hof Has the Best Wine in Texas, According to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
This year, more than 2,500 wines were entered into the annual Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo’s International Wine Competition. Of those entries, 736 were from Texas wineries. And of those Texas wineries, Messina Hof swept up 20 medals and the coveted title of Top Texas Wine for its 2004 Solara,…
Carlos Diaz de Leon, Others Can Sue El Paso for Alleged Cop Harassment over Gay Kiss
What’s wrong with a little PDA? If you’re in El Paso — and gay — it may get you threatened with arrest over a nonexistent law, a group alleges in a suit. A trial court ruled the four men, led by Carlos Diaz de Leon, could not sue the city…
Ten Songs We Want to See Mike Tyson Cover Besides “Girl from Ipanema”
Former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson has been everywhere over the last few years, trying to re-invent himself and rehabilitate his image. From his impersonation of Herman Cain on Funny or Die to his hilarious turn in The Hangover, Tyson has been doing a pretty good job of making people laugh…
Holiday Breakfast: The Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Baked French Toast
A houseful of Cajuns who’ve just downed a few bottles of champagne usually doesn’t make for a quiet house, but somehow, this baked french toast casserole-type thing from The Pioneer Woman induced absolute silence amid the hustle and bustle on Thanksgiving morning. It was shocking. All eight of us were…
Last Night: Brennen Leigh at Under the Volcano
Austin singer-songwriter Brennen Leigh broke country hard on an initially smallish, talkative crowd at Under the Volcano last night. Opening with “Paint Myself Blue” as a teaser/warmup, she immediately jumped straight into “I Only Drink On Special Occasions” and the crowd was hers. It’s one of those songs you don’t…
Female Skeleton Found Near Highway, Bayou Body Count No. 188
Here’s something you don’t want to stumble upon if you’re clearing out a vacant lot: a human skeleton. Work crews did just that Wednesday afternoon, finding the partial skeleton of a woman about 1:30 p.m. near the Eastex Freeway and the Loop. The crew was there to clear vegetation from…
Brew Blog: Deschutes Jubelale
I would like to specifically point out that this edition of Brew Blog was not, in fact, inspired by Bruce R’s comment on my recent post about Brooklyn Winter Ale. Just kidding, Bruce. Not really. What? The truth is, I probably would have tried Jubelale on Bruce’s recommendation, but I…
Five Curiosities from the Grammy Nominations List
The Grammy nominations were officially presented last night. Not surprisingly, Adele, who is considered a front runner in nearly every category she is nominated in, cleaned up with six nominations for her album 21, but was beaten out by Kanye West who had seven, though curiously not among them a…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Vanessa O’Donnell of Ooh La La Dessert Boutique
Yesterday, we chatted with Vanessa O’Donnell, the pastry chef who owns Ooh La La Dessert Boutique, about how she got started in the industry. Today, she tells us how she started her business and what it’s like being an owner of multiple locations. EOW: It’s been a crazy week for…
Enron Field: 10 Odd Items for Sale on eBay
Tomorrow is the tenth anniversary of Enron’s bankruptcy filing. How do you plan on celebrating? You could run up huge charges on your credit card, act like you’re rich and then keep making the minimum monthly payments with new credit cards until the whole scam falls apart. Ken Lay and…
Jeremiah Clarke: Why You Shouldn’t Play “Trumpet Voluntary” at Your Wedding
Today is the 337th birthday of composer and organist Jeremiah Clarke. You have heard his most famous work dozens of times in your life and never really thought about it. Clarke composed the “Prince of Denmark March,” which is usually called “Trumpet Voluntary.” Due to a mix up in a…
American Horror Story: Have the Maid Prepare the Shark
“Is that the sound of someone jumping a shark I hear?” said the Wife With One F after this week’s episode of American Horror Story, and though we don’t think the show is airborne just yet, they are approaching a ramp at high speed. Simply put, this episode tried just…
Why Texas Should Reopen Its Horse Slaughterhouses
It’s been five years since the nation’s last horse slaughterhouse was shut down. The Cavel horse slaughterhouse in DeKalb, Illinois, closed after Congress banned USDA inspections of horse meat — effectively ceasing operations at the few abattoirs in the United States that dealt in horses. If the meat couldn’t be…
Cynthia Stewart: School Counselor Sent 30 Nude Pics to 15-Year-Old Boy, Allegedly
A school counselor has been fired for sending sexually explicit texts and nude pictures of herself to a 15-year-old boy, the San Antonio Express-News reports. Cynthia Stewart, 43, was fired by the Judson school district, even though initial federal charges of online solicitation of a minor have been dropped. The…
Dig This: Cavernous, Harts Of Oak, Folk Family Revival, Chemistry, and Drifter
The current volume of local music is staggering. New Houston bands are born daily, and all too often pass away just as quickly. Rocks Off wants to help you (and ourselves) keep up. As we stuffed ourselves silly last week on turkey and dressing and all the other assorted fixings…
How To: Make Fresh Mozzarella
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I’m obsessed with cheese. I eat it, I buy it, I sample it (anyone else circling Whole Foods every Saturday morning?), I dream about it, I crave it, I cook with it, and now…I make it. I’ve already mastered homemade ricotta,…
The X Factor: A Poorly Timed Michael Jackson Tribute Episode
Steve Jones emerges to “I’m Bad,” which is undeniably appropriate. When the music stops and the backup dancers freeze, Steve welcomes the audience and then booms into the microphone: “THANK YOU VERY MUCH SEXY DANCING PEOPLE!” I can’t tell if it’s “Thank you very much! Sexy dancing, people!” or “Thank…
Comment of the Day: Joel Osteen’s Reality Show
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
World AIDS Day: Artists Who Have Contributed to the Cause
Today is World AIDS Day. The theme this year is “Getting to Zero,” focusing on zero AIDS related deaths. In hopes of achieving this goal, there has been many a celebrity to endorse AIDS awareness and various charities around the world. Quite a few musicians have used their celebrity status…
A Tale of Two Cocktails: Early Evening Libations at Saint Genevieve
It took me three drive-bys to realize that Saint Genevieve was inside the retail-residential complex at the corner of Kirby and Westheimer. “They really should put up a sign,” I thought, as I made my way up the stairs to SG’s second-story location. Two cocktails later, I felt a bit…
The Revival of the Silent Film and 7 Movies We Would Like to See Without Words
In a big step forward, or step back, however you would like to think about it, the silent film The Artist was just named the best film by the New York Film Critics Circle. This comes on the heels of the stunning response it has already received from the festival…
Health Department Roundup
Mediterranean, Mexican, barbecue, Italian – pretty diverse this week. And not a single hole-in-the-wall Americanized-Chinese restaurant! Just doing our part to combat stereotypes. We’ll start with good news. Gatlin’s (1221 W. 19th), which some of us think is pretty good, had only two violations after an inspection Tuesday. Those were…
From Hayes Carll To Cults: Rocks Off’s Top 50 Albums Of The Year
It’s that time of year again when we add our two cents to the cyber-orgy that are year-end best-of lists. Music blog Paste and British mag Q threw down with their top 50 earlier this week, so why not Rocks Off? These things just keep starting earlier and earlier each…
Biggest Loser v 4.0 — Jeff Toole (a.k.a. “UtayAg”)
As someone who both writes a periodic piece in this space and hosts a moderately listened-to radio show in several markets around the country, I get that criticism comes with the job. People will not only disagree with you, but some will grow to dislike you (despite the fact that…
The Return of James Van Der Beek and other ’90s TV Stars
It should only be a few weeks now before the mid-season James Van Der Beek vehicle Apartment 23 debuts on ABC. Now that Muppety head shapes are back en vogue, the time has come for a Van Der Beek resurgence. In the sitcom also starring Breaking Bad’s Krysten Ritter, Van…
Pop Rocks: Why the Long Face? Eight Famous Horses We’d Like to Eat
Were you thinking horse meat was going to stay off the menu in American restaurants indefinitely? Neigh: Horses could soon be butchered in the U.S. for human consumption after Congress quietly lifted a five-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections, and activists say slaughterhouses could be up and running in…
Pop Rocks: The “Mane” Course — Eight Famous Horses We’d Like To Eat
Were you thinking horse meat was going to stay off the menu in American restaurants indefinitely? Neigh: Horses could soon be butchered in the U.S. for human consumption after Congress quietly lifted a 5-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections, and activists say slaughterhouses could be up and running in…
Chess King, J Riggins & Merry-Go-Round: 10 Classic Mall Stores That Are Gone Or All But Gone
It’s Christmas shopping time, so chances are you’ve got a mall in your future. And chances are that mall won’t be anything like it was. Back in the day, every mall seemed to have at least a few of the same stores in it. They may have been stores you…
World AIDS Day Footwear: Is This What It Takes for a “Holiday” to Stand Out?
Yesterday during an e-mail exchange, a coworker opined, in reference to this week’s World AIDS Day, that there are “so many causes to care about that it’s easy to lose track.” This may change her mind and/or that of anyone who is fashionable/hipster-y…
RIP Ken Russell: The Best WTF Moments In Tommy
This week the film and music world lost Ken Russell, the director of the film adaptation of The Who’s Tommy, Altered States, Women In Love, and The Music Lovers. He also did some weird, soft-core stuff you would see on late-night cable. Our first taste of Russell was Tommy ,…
Dallas Makes a Damn Fool of Itself on Top Chef: Texas
Thoughts: Is it really a “Healthy Choice” when so many of your frozen dinners are laden with preservatives and other chemicals? With that, we’re hitting the road to Dallas, better known these days as a “dining nowhereville.” Great choice, Bravo! Enjoy that! “When I think of Dallas, I think of…
Print Industry Troubles, As Analyzed by Chronicle Street Vendors
The newspaper industry hasn’t been in the best of shape for a while now, and layoffs and buyouts and declining subscriptions are common. Besides the employees directly affected, hard times have also hit the people who will sell you the Houston Chronicle while you’re waiting at intersections across the city…
Maurice Brown
His music has been called a marriage of bebop and hip-hop. Trumpeter Maurice Brown navigates through both genres easily, and he’s making his first Houston appearance ever, along with his band, the Maurice Brown Effect, as part of the Da Camera Jazz Series. An instrumentalist, bandleader and composer, Brown is…
Dear Santa
Theatre Suburbia gives Houston an early Christmas gift with the family comedy Dear Santa, by Norm Foster and Steve Thomas. Set in Santa’s North Pole workshop, the story follows the elves, who cope with a number of production problems. Santa apparently uses the “just-in-time” method of inventory control, as a…
Shchelkunchik
This year Suchu Dance gives dance fans an exciting alternate to the traditional Nutcracker with Shchelkunchik. It’s a contemporary dance interpretation of the original version of the story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, but one that’s so twisted and complicated it reeks of absurdity. Unlike its ballet counterpart, this Nutcracker is true…
Cirque du Soleil: Dralion
Don’t worry if you’re not in the mood for Scrooge, Santa or the Nutcracker, Cirque du Soleil: Dralion, an excellent family show, arrives in Houston just in time for the holidays. The story this time around is beautifully inspired by Eastern philosophy. The gorgeous music and breathtaking acrobatic moves narrate…
Brentano String Quartet: Fragments: Connecting Past and Present
To celebrate their twentieth anniversary, the Brentano String Quartet embarked on Fragments: Connecting Past and Present, an ambitious project to build a bridge between the great composers of yesterday with some of the best of the 20th century. The project was co-commissioned by Da Camera of Houston and features new…
Christoph Eschenbach Returns
The maestro is back! During today’s Christoph Eschenbach Returns concert, one of the most popular musical directors of the Houston Symphony will once again take the podium to lead the orchestra. This time, it’s Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 5. Eschenbach, a well-known interpreter of Mahler, has called the composer “the…
Stephen Hunter: Soft Target
It’s Black Friday and America’s biggest mall is jammed with 10,000 shoppers — and 12 terrorists. In Soft Target, the new thriller by Pulitzer Prize (for film criticism) winner Stephen Hunter, just three men stand between certain death for the shoppers and any hope at rescue. There’s Ray Cruz, a…
Winter Wonderland
Enjoy Winter Wonderland, an over-the-top musical comedy that’s the perfect holiday gift to theater lovers. The lovely Ice Queen, who lives in a palace made of snow and ice, has invited her friends to the annual Winter Wonderland Ball, an out-of-control bash. Of course, her friends are a little out-of-control,…
Magnolia Brewery Tours
Beer is big in Houston. During the holidays, there are Magnolia Brewery tours of the historic building, constructed by Hugh Hamilton in 1893. Visitors will be led through the national landmark, one of Houston’s oldest buildings still in use, and view its impressive collection of early 20th century brewing memorabilia…
Man Sues Over Stolen Sperm
COURTS Man Sues Over Stolen Sperm It’s lawsuit time! By Craig Malisow Hair Balls is familiar with people stealing cars, money and jewelry, but a civil suit filed Monday alleges the theft of perhaps an even more precious commodity: semen. Joe Pressil is accusing a Houston fertility clinic, Advanced Fertility,…
Touring Taste of Dance Salad Festival
Nancy Henderek has a great gig: The artistic director of Dance Salad Festival, which is now in its 17th year, she travels the globe in search of the most innovative companies and, each year, brings them to Houston to perform. Henderek’s discoveries usually end up onstage, but today they’re bound…
Jubilee of Dance
Every year, Houston Ballet serves up Jubilee of Dance, a sampler of some of the company’s finest works, both revivals and sneak peeks at upcoming premieres. This year’s performance is in honor of HB Managing Director C.C. Conner. The Gentlemen, a world-premiere piece choreographed in light of Conner’s upcoming February…
MFAH Film Spotlight on World Cinema: Taiwan
The weekend series MFAH Film Spotlight on World Cinema: Taiwan offers us three contemporary Asian films. First up is Juliets (Zhu li ye), a film in three parts by three directors. One follows a disabled girl who works at a family print shop and gets involved with a student group…
River Oaks Chamber Orchestra: Messiah for Kids
The River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and Houston Chamber Choir have joined forces to present the world premiere of Messiah for Kids! Children can enjoy a special version of Handel’s classic, created just for them by composer and Shepherd School of Music faculty member Karim Al-Zand. As if in a football…
Hands-On Experience
Sergeant Vince Ariaz liked what he saw in 15-year-old “Maggie.” Eager to please, in awe of police work and seeking a trustworthy authority figure in her life, the shy brunette was an ideal fit for the Brownwood, Texas, Police Department’s Explorer program. With nearly 2,000 law-enforcement Explorer posts and upward…
Special Mexicans Are Racist Edicion
Dear Mexican, Having been called a “gabacho” by “Mexicans” much lighter than I and “wetback” by those whose parents (or who themselves) crossed several rivers as they west migrated to California, I’m curious as to which group you believe I should hold in the greatest disdain. While Anglo wetbacks are…
Spinning the Black Circle
After growing at a steady clip for the past few years, vinyl sales hit a milestone last month, crossing the three-million mark for the first time since Nielsen SoundScan started keeping track in 1991, according to numbers the company released to our sister paper Seattle Weekly. With just weeks left…
Patron Saint
From the crowd, a collective “OOOWWWHHHHHH!” The sound is unmistakable and exciting; something either really awful or really kickass has just happened. In this case, it’s both. Sprinting out of the backfield for what should’ve been a two-yard gain, Rob Gronkowski, the six-foot-six rhinoceros with a human head that plays…
John Fullbright
For anyone who has seen young Oklahoman John Fullbright sing his smarty-pants common-man songs and play guitar, accordion, harmonica, mandolin and about anything else he puts his hands or lips on, it won’t come as too big a surprise that the favorite son of Okemah (Woody Guthrie’s hometown) counts master…
Crooked Fingers
After a ten-year run fronting Chapel Hill indie luminaries Archers of Loaf, Eric Bachmann and company stepped away from the limelight at the height of the band’s popularity. Now, having spent just as much time creating music as Crooked Fingers, it would seem that Bachmann is pretty comfortable in his…
Devil Makes Three
With a down-home sound and a good-time attitude, the Devil Makes Three will make you think of the buddies you drink with deep into the night, only to pick up where you left off the next afternoon until you’re all face-down in the gutter again. Fans of such debauchery flock…
Big Sean
Big Sean’s naughty summer single “Dance (A$$)” could be heard in clubs and bars across the country, crossing all scene and racial boundaries, making freakum dress-clad urban girls bounce and even eliciting a few torrid dance floor blunders from your stray wallflower bachelorette party-goer. Two thousand eleven was good to…
Dir En Grey
This Japanese metal quintet has existed on the fringes of the mainstream heavy stuff here in the States, playing to a devoted crew of fans on this side of the world since breaking here about five years ago with an appearance on MTV’s new-model Headbangers Ball. Call them a Japanese…
Watch the Throne: Jay-Z and Kanye West
Jay-Z and Kanye West are arguably the two biggest, baddest rap stars on planet Earth. So when they Team America-ed up for the opulent, plush, very good, but not immediately classic, Watch The Throne earlier this year, naturally, it shook a little. The album was mesmerizing, praised by some critics…
U.S. Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots Program Fundraiser
The annual Marine Corps sponsored Toys for Tots benefit at Mucky Duck always presents a great and varied lineup, and this year is no exception. Artists include old can’t-go-wrong standbys Patrice Pike, Jack Saunders, Kimberly M’Carver and John Evans. It’s also an opportunity to catch Mike Stinson, one of the…
Petrol Station
A massive drawing of George Bush hangs at one end of the long, long gallery, and a massive drawing of Barack Obama is at the other. In between them is a whole lot of crude oil. It snakes through networks of thick, transparent plastic tubing that runs the length of…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Book Report,” “New Formations: Czech Avant-Garde Art and Modern Glass from the Roy and Mary Cullen Collection”
“Book Report” As the electronic word slowly usurps the printed word, books are becoming increasingly fetishized. “Book Report,” organized by Kinzelman Art Consulting in the lobby of the Bank of America building, brings together a host of book-related works. Given all the recent bank bailouts (and my personal animosity towards…
Casual Coppa
Coppa’a interior has been described as “Sophia Loren meets Louis Prima.” See it for yourself. “Oooh, I can smell the sardines,” my dining companion remarked, as a broad smile broke across her face. The distinct scent of hot clay, lightly charred pilchard and lemon juice drifted past us as the…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Cinderella, A Contemporary American’s Guide to a Successful Marriage @ 1959, Dear Santa
Cinderella The Ensemble Theatre’s take on Cinderella gives the fairy tale a lively, rollicking treatment. There are moments of poignant beauty in this production, but broad humor and even broader acting take center stage. Cinderella is portrayed by Teacake, reprising the role she played a year ago, and she brings…
