Houston’s Five Best Electronic Singles of 2015
Houston’s electronic scene is bursting at its seams, which means it is time for these technological savants to have their own column: Future Sounds of Houston. During my conversations with many of these musicians, a sense of community has emerged distinctly tied to this city’s incredible diversity. Filled with brilliant…
Houston’s Top Five Experimental/Noise Records of 2015
Houston’s esteemed history of experimental artists continues to develop, gifting this city some of the most adventurous sounds to date. These five recordings best captured this adventurous and often transgressive spirit in 2015. 5. AK’CHAMEL, The Man Who Drank God The third-eyed, chain-smoking, bedeviled character peering menacingly into the listener’s soul…
Three Lessons Annise Parker Can Teach at Harvard
We were excited when we learned that outgoing Mayor Annise Parker may be teaching at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. It’s a prestigious two-month fellowship where she’d be able to share the knowledge she’s learned after three terms as mayor, and from earlier experience on City Council and…
Why Do We Love Sad Songs So Much?
“Sad songs are nature’s onions.” This silly quote from Mr. Show with Bob and David doesn’t mean much on the surface, but the general joke of the sketch (among others) is that every song nominated for the fictional “Teardrop Awards” is a sad, sad song that appeals to listeners with…
Where to Dine Out in Houston on New Year’s Eve 2015
Whether you want a nice meal before ringing in 2016 at home or an extravagant feast with the champagne flowing, here is your 2015 Guide to Dining Out in Houston this New Year’s Eve: Note: Don’t forget to make your reservations quickly, as these spots are bound to fill up!…
Day for Night Local Spotlight: Josiah Gabriel
Josiah Gabriel is the truth. Few artists possess the talent to converge technical expertise with mystical splendor. His music reaches into perilous depths where shadows lurk and light disappears. People dance around his makeshift altar, featuring a traditional set up that appears underwhelming. Yet, what he can do with so…
Houston Record Store Staffers Pick the Best Music of 2015
Cactus music GM Quinn Bishop keeps hearing it: “Dude, you’re getting Adele?” Bishop is pretty certain that, once he tallies up Adele’s sales for her latest, 25, she’s going to “squash” the rest of the artists that he has on his shelves. But as for Bishop’s own personal favorites from…
Dude Shuts Down Gulf Freeway to Propose to Woman Six Months After His Divorce [UPDATED]
A bunch of tools shut down the Gulf Freeway Sunday for a marriage proposal, and Houston media so far are treating this dangerous, self-aggrandizing stunt as a cute love story. We’d like to correct that. Vidal Valladares, 24, proposed to Michelle Wycoff, 23, according to oddly un-critical stories by the…
Texans QB Brian Hoyer Suffers Second Concussion Within A Month, Doubtful For Sunday’s Game
In a month where the concussion issue in the NFL is about to get unprecedented scrutiny due to the upcoming Christmas Day release of the movie “Concussion” starring Will Smith and based on the life’s work of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the discoverer of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and public enemy…
100 Favorite Houston Dishes 2015, No. 25: Morning Thali at Pondicheri
Phaedra Cook is eating her way through Houston and counting down her 100 favorite dishes of 2015. It’s a collection of personal favorites that is also indicative of Houston dining. It’s a scene where a vast range of dishes coexist: highbrow and lowbrow; local and international; cheap and expensive; modern…
Ted Cruz: Big Data, Small Government, Big Politics
Sen. Ted Cruz is all about keeping “Big Brother” government off of people’s backs, but it turns out he has absolutely no problem nosing through people’s information for his own purposes. On Friday the Guardian broke a story that the junior senator and GOP presidential contender’s campaign has been using…
This Week in Houston Food Blogs: Holiday Entertaining Ideas
This week, we’ve got several ideas for your next holiday get-together, plus an exciting new gourmet burger in an unexpected place and so much more! If your punch recipe has been the same for the last few parties you’ve hosted, it’s time for something new, and we found just the…
Too Poor To Bail Out? Tough Luck In Harris County.
When you get booked into jail in Harris County, you have the opportunity to leave nearly as soon as you arrive. That’s thanks to the bail schedule that’s been in place since 1979—a set of bail amounts automatically assigned to a defendant based on the alleged crime. This way, you don’t…
Five Houston Dishes Worth the Splurge this Holiday Season
Ah, the holidays. Time for pictures with Santa, decorating Christmas trees, ugly sweater parties and, of course, eating. If your loved one is an avid gourmand, ’tis the season for extravagant expenditure. Here, we suggest five Houston dishes that are definitely worth the splurge. 5. State of Grace Seafood Tower at…
Where to Find More Holiday Spirit on Houston Stages
I don’t know if it’s the eggnog, the martinis or the constant stream of Christmas productions, but I’m feeling a trifle woozy…but in a good way, still full of good cheer. Amply expressing the holiday season, the following shows augment last week’s compendium. Does any city sprout as many Christmas pageants…
#NewHoustonRap: Fat Tony’s Trip to “MacGregor Park” & More
FAT TONY, “MacGregor Park” Aside from picking sushi with Asher Roth, 2015 was a rather quiet year for Double Dragon, RABDARGAB, general Houston rap impresario Fat Tony. Sure, he threw parties and had plenty of fun, but 2015 looked more like a year of relaxation than hard work. Hell, the…
Eating Well at SaltAir Seafood Kitchen Is Surprisingly Simple
My wife tends to order scattershot, practically leaping from apps to dessert without missing a beat, skipping back over for a salad or a misplaced side. SaltAir Seafood Kitchen, the new-ish temple of seafood from the Clark/Cooper group and helmed by executive chef Brandi Key, is perfect for her. On one visit,…
The 2015 Houston New Year’s Eve Guide: Where to Ring in the New Year
This can be a rocky time of year, with visiting relatives, expanding waistlines and the endless holiday Muzak that seems to have been playing since Labor Day. But all is forgiven when it comes to New Year’s Eve, the most happening night of the year for celebrating with friends both…
Upcoming: The B-52’s, Chic, Duran Duran, Ms. Lauryn Hill, K-Rino, Megadeth, Ra Ra Riot, Tigerlily, Young Mammals, etc.
1st Annual TXHC FEST: Day 2: With Bloodhound, Mind Kill,Chipped Teeth, Reinforce, Sketch//Driven, Seventh Realm, Khobretti, Privilege Abuse. Sat., January 9, 7 p.m., TBA. Walters Downtown, 1120 Naylor, Houston, 713-222-2679. 1st Annual TXHC FEST: Day One: With Lesser Degree, Choke Chain, Supremacy, Dislocated, Torment, Scorn, Blunt, Bitter Taste. Fri., January…
NASA is Now Taking Astronaut Applications (This Gig May Require Travel)
If you’ve been dreaming of being an astronaut, now’s your chance to see if you have, you know, “the right stuff.” No, seriously. On Monday NASA opened up its online application program. Would-be astronauts will have until February 18 to submit their applications for the program. In typical NASA fashion,…
Tipping Point: In Huntington Village, the Community Association has All the Power
Most of the time Ebony Washington is able to pretend everything is fine. She even waves when Huntington Village Community Association deed restriction inspectors pause near her house to record another infraction. Washington puts up a good front throughout the day. She’s in the middle of a divorce, struggling to…
Wheeler Walker Jr. Crosses Country’s Fine Line Between Satire and Stupidity
If there has ever been a time that country music has needed to step back and poke fun at itself, it is now. For the past several years, music snobs have happily cast the genre aside as bro-country and songs about trucks confirmed everything those snobs already knew about the…
The 25 Best Houston Concerts of 2015
REPUBLIC OF TEXAS TOUR FEAT. GT GARZA, DOEMAN, DUSTIN CAVAZOS & DRO FÉ Fitzgerald’s, 2/8/2015 From Houston to Dallas and the Rio Grande Valley, this group of hungry young artists put on a passionate and energetic show as they traveled around the state. These guys are rappers who just happen…
NFL Week 14: Patriots 27, Texans 6 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
We’ve had ample experience this season with the Houston Texans losing games by twenty or more points, having sat through viewing the debacles in Atlanta and Miami earlier in the year. Those games were a God awful affront to football, and to effort, and to everything that makes our country…
Worst of the Weekend: Justin Bieber, the K-Pop “Sex Slaves” & More
Perhaps Monday is the wrong day to point out the errors in judgment and straight-up malfeasances that can plague music. It’s already the sorriest day on the calendar, so why pile on? The short answer is: because we can. And, further, we must, especially when the misguided and wrong that’s…
100 Favorite Houston Dishes 2015, No. 26: Pho Ga at Pho Ga Dakao
Phaedra Cook is eating her way through Houston and counting down her 100 favorite dishes of 2015. It’s a collection of personal favorites that is also indicative of Houston dining. It’s a scene where a vast range of dishes coexist: highbrow and lowbrow; local and international; cheap and expensive; modern…
Adele, AC/DC Both Headed Our Way Next Year
Two of 2016’s biggest tours were announced in the wee hours of Monday morning within minutes of each other. The acts could not be more different from each other aesthetically, but both are on their way to Houston. First up, bulletproof Australian hard-rockers AC/DC return to Toyota Center on February…
Music’s Man of the Year, The Weeknd, Kills It at Toyota Center
The Weeknd, Halsey, Travi$ Scott Toyota Center December 13, 2015 “The Hills” is an incredible song, perhaps even the best song of 2015, but it’s status as “arena anthem” is kind of weird. It’s easy to understand why songs like “Shake It Off” and “Uptown Funk” become popular; even if…
Flor de Caña Sugar Producer Responds to Allegations of Poor Working Conditions
Last week, we published an article entitled, “Rum To Die For: Plight Of Sugar Cane Workers Leads Bar Owners To Dump Popular Brand.” It details how some bar owners are no longer carrying Flor de Caña rum due to a Vice Munchies exposé. The Vice article reported on abnormally high…
This Week in Houston Food Events: DIY Buche de Noel
Monday, December 14 Winter Warms Drive From now through December 18, you can bring new or gently used blankets, coats, hats and other cold weather gear to either Antone’s Famous Po’Boys location or The Original Ninfa’s at 2794 Navigation for their Winter Warms Drive, which will benefit SEARCH homeless services…
With Rice Basketball, It’s All About Believing in the Process
This is not your father’s Rice Owls basketball team. Okay, the team has a losing record (3-6), and it’s look outclassed at times when playing some of the tougher teams on it’s schedule so far. Yet it’s possible to look at this team and see athleticism and speed. There’s a…
New Sculptures Come in Candy Apple Red, Festive Green and School Bus Yellow
Free spirit Michelle O’Michael, a self-described steel diva, is so prolific that she sorts her finished sculptures into monumental, taller-than-you, maybe-as-tall-as-you, and wall and pedestal sizes. Her pieces on display now in the “Being at the Speed of Life” exhibit at Nicole Longnecker Gallery fall into the latter category. For…
NASA Is Spacing Out, Ditching the International Space Station
After years of working on the International Space Station, NASA officials recently announced that they won’t have anything to do with the ISS, or low-Earth orbit, after the next ten years. It’s a gamble on NASA’s part. NASA has flown on the ISS for 15 years and all that…
Eat the Best Holiday Cookie in Houston
Though I will always be the first to volunteer to bake something for any event, even I’ve found myself too crunched for time to bake during the holiday season. With upcoming holiday cookie swaps, parties and gift-giving on the horizon, it seemed like high time to explore Houston’s landscape for…
15 Reasons No One Comes to Your Gigs
In all fairness, there could actually be many reasons you and your bandmates consistently find yourselves playing to an empty room. And while no band wants to listen to their own echo instead of the shouts of fans, there may be some very specific reasons why you find yourselves staring…
Pee, Rape, Hypnosis and Jessica Jones
Warning: Spoilers for the first two episodes. Better writers than I have already gushed about how great Jessica Jones is, and praise be upon them because they are largely the reason I started watching it recently. Specifically a lot of has been written about how the show baldly deals with…
The Star Wars Saga’s Six Biggest Rock Stars
With Star Wars fans about to get a new installment in the series later this week, older fans are eagerly hoping that the new films are better than the much-despised prequels — and really, how could they be any worse? — while a whole new generation is about to get…
Sylvester Turner Wins Runoff By Razor-Thin Margin
Sylvester Turner, who represented Houston in the Texas House for more than a quarter century, will succeed Annise Parker as Houston’s next mayor. Turns out the analysts and last-minute polling that predicted a close race were right on the money: with all precincts reporting late Saturday night, Turner was ahead…
HISD Board Incumbents Keep Seats
Incumbents in any political office are generally assumed to be bullet-proof, especially in down ballot races but this year’s Houston ISD board elections upended that maxim with the ouster of one incumbent and two others being forced into Saturday’s runoffs. Current board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones won the District II spot in a…
Mock Mass-Shooters Met by Farts, Dildo-Wielding Santa at UT
A tiny group of gun rights advocates quietly spilled some ketchup and played with chalk on a small section of sidewalk in front of a church on UT’s campus Saturday during a controversial “mock mass shooting,” while more than a dozen counter-demonstrators soaked up most of the media attention by…
Texas Railroad Commission Chairman David Porter Is Too Soft on Energy? Really?
After weeks spent doing all the things a politician does when gearing up to run for re-election, on Thursday Texas Railroad Commission Chairman David Porter abruptly announced that he wasn’t going to run for another term after all. Porter made his unexpected announcement with the Monday filing deadline just around…
College and NFL Football: This Weekend’s Best Bets
There’s never a good time to go into a tailspin, but when it’s December, and the monthly budget includes not only the usual suspects like food, water, clothing, heat, light, and a roof over my head, but also gobs and gobs of Christmas gifts, well, let’s just say that my…
Report Details How Teenagers Managed to Escape Jail Undetected
No one at the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department had realized that three juveniles had escaped from the detention center until they found a guard lying unconscious in a cell with some of his teeth punched out. That’s according to a detailed synopsis of a report on the incident given…
Patriots-Texans — Four Things to Watch For
It was three years ago yesterday the last time the Texans and the Patriots played a regular season game with as much on the line as there will be on Sunday night at NRG Stadium. And dammit, a lot has happened since that fateful Monday night Patriots stomping back in…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Legend
Title: Legend Describe This Movie In One Simpsons Quote: Louie: “Should I shoot him gangland style or execution style?” Fat Tony: “Listen to your heart.” Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Two-and-a-half hedgehogs out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: Brothers Doug and Dinsdale Piranha rule 1960s London using brutal violence…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Hit an Egg Nog Bar Crawl
12ish Days of NogsMas @ Treadsack Establishments Friday, December 11 through Saturday, December 26 Bernadine’s, 1809 N Shepherd Hunky Dory, 1809 N Shepherd D&T Drive Inn, 1307 Enid Down House, 1801 Yale Foreign Correspondents, 4721 N Main Johnny’s Gold Brick, 2518 Yale Friday is the first night of Treadsack’s 12ish…
UH Basketball Is Still Evolving, and That’s a Good Thing
For the Houston Cougars this basketball season, it’s all about evolution. The team fans are seeing now won’t necessarily be the same team the fans see in January, and if all goes according to plan, it won’t be the same team the fans see come the end of the season…
Ted Cruz Knows Less About Climate Change Than a Kindergartner
Maybe Sen. Ted Cruz has mastered some of the other skills of kindergarten, like tying his own shoes and coloring in the lines. But according to a crew of scientists, the average kindergartner knows more about climate change than Cruz. Based on Cruz’s behavior this week, we’re inclined to say…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Holiday Feasts & Anniversary Treats
To celebrate its 4th anniversary, Roost, 1972 Fairview, will be offering its Famous Fried Cauliflower dish – topped with bonito flakes, miso dressing, scallion and pine nuts – for just $4 (originally $9) from Saturday, December 12 through Saturday, December 19. Gr8 Plate Hospitality’s Rollin’ Kitchen is turning into the Rollin’…
The Christmas Songs That Make Santa Say Ho, Ho, Ho
Dear girls and boys, you probably never get to read this blog because it is always filled with grown-up stories about grown-up stuff, like what metalheads think of your moms and sisters or why that man with the funny hair is saying all those crazy things. But today, we’re writing…
Openings and Closings in Houston: So Long, Te House of Tea
One of Houston’s go-to hangouts, Te House of Tea at 1927 Fairview, announced via Facebook that the restaurant is closing on December 24 because of concerns regarding the health of owner Connie Lacobie. They will continue to sell teas online, and they are also hoping to bottle their much-sought-after chai…
Music Fans Don’t Have to Let Domestic Violence Stand
Whether you saw the story or not last week, Chris Brown’s appeal of the Australian government’s visa denial was rejected. Specifically citing his 2009 arrest in the assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna just hours before the Grammy Awards, Australian officials said they felt like Brown’s very presence is unbecoming to their country…
What J.J. Watt Should Do With His Cast
It wasn’t a major surprise seeing J.J. Watt on the injury report earlier this week. After all, it was quite clear in the Texans’ 30-21 loss to Buffalo on Sunday that J.J. was moving a tad gingerly while nursing a groin injury, keeping in mind that “a tad gingerly” for…
The 5 Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: ConciertOh, Lights in the Heights and More
Octavio Moreno has performed many times with Opera in the Heights, but the ConciertOh! De Invierno concert hits a personal note, and is our pick for Friday night. The Latin American zarzuelas (opera-like, with both sung and spoken sections), boleros and música navideña (Christmas music) on the program are the…
Houston’s 10 Best Bars Even Designated Drivers Will Enjoy
Drinking and driving is definitely not cool, so if you don’t feel like paying for a ride home after a night out on the town via a cab or Uber, always assign a designated driver who will remain sober and get you home safe. But designated drivers want to have…
Mainstream Country’s 10 Worst Songs of 2015
As much fun as it is to complain about country music, there is no shame in loving this entirely American genre that has produced such talents as Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash. Country music is, at its best, the best music in the world. At its worst, though,…
12 Houston Records From 2015 Worth Shouting About
Nothing teaches the passage of time more than scrolling through your iTunes library to refresh your memory which local records were released over the past year. And nothing will teach you exactly how much time has passed – as in Good Lord, I’m getting old – than scrolling through an…
HISD Officer Gives Slideshow on Islamic Prison Gangs to Concerned Parents
If you see a tattooed person speaking Arabic, you might want to call police. That’s the message an HISD police officer told a group of parents at Eastwood Academy Thursday morning during a bizarre discussion about prison gangs and school safety, according to a flabbergasted parent. Christie Hammond told the…
Black Dahlia Murder Lords Over Mosh Central at Warehouse Live
Black Dahlia Murder, Goatwhore, Iron Reagan, Entheos, Artificial Brain Warehouse Live December 9, 2015 How much metal is too much metal for a Wednesday? The good people over at Warehouse Live have always been good about asking the right questions. To find some answers, they hosted this winter’s rippingest tour…
Former Texans Safety Tweets at Wade Phillips to Sign Him, So He Does
Participation on social media can be a slippery slope if you’re spending a lot of time there. Loved ones and people who are, you know, ACTUALLY RIGHT THERE WITH YOU IN PERSON tend to get a little upset if you’re spending an inordinate amount of time on Twitter or Facebook…
Judge: Texas’s Decision to Ban Refugees Based on “Speculative Hearsay”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton apparently can’t make up his mind. The AG, who’s facing prosecution for no less than three felony counts of securities fraud, reversed course on Wednesday and again asked a federal judge to issue a restraining order to block nine Syrian refugees who are scheduled to…
Galveston Rapist Receives Harsh Sentence of Probation
What do you call a guy who stalks a woman, hits her repeatedly in the face, forces her to the ground, and rapes her? In Galveston County, you call him “probationer.” You don’t call him “prisoner.” That’s according to an astonishing press release we received yesterday regarding the outcome of…
Houston Astros Trade Four Players to Phillies for Closer Giles
Last offseason, the Astros sent the message that they believed the worm had turned with their organization, and they began making deals that a team would make on the road to contention, as opposed to the previous five years of drudgery on the road to rebuilding. They made deals like…
100 Favorite Houston Dishes 2015, No. 27: Veruca Salt Cake at Fluff Bake Bar
Phaedra Cook is eating her way through Houston and counting down her 100 favorite dishes of 2015. It’s a collection of personal favorites that is also indicative of Houston dining. It’s a scene where a vast range of dishes coexist: highbrow and lowbrow; local and international; cheap and expensive; modern…
Unique Food Park Brings Some of Houston’s Best Trucks to the North Side
People who live north of Houston, including The Woodlands, Spring and Cypress, can no longer say that the good food trucks never come out to them. Now, several are in the area permanently. Bernie’s Backyard, a food truck park that opened earlier this year at 22314 I-45 North in Spring,…
Experts Urge Texas Not to License Immigration Lockups As “Child Care” Centers
Child welfare experts, immigrant rights advocates, former immigrant detainees and even a woman born behind barbed wire in a Japanese internment camp are urging Texas not to license federal immigration lockups as “child care” centers. Officials with the Texas Department of Family Services heard some three hours of testimony Wednesday…
Gun Buffs Want to Pretend to Shoot and Kill People at UT
A few gun rights groups plan on playing out their action-hero fantasies this weekend by conducting a mock mass shooting just off campus at the University of Texas at Austin, complete with fake blood, “gun noises” amplified by bullhorns, cardboard weapons, and regular-Joe “rescuers,” the Austin American-Statesman first reported. After…
Sorry, Boys: This Year Country Music Belonged to the Ladies
Earlier this year, an out-of-touch old country executive infuriated female country artists and fans everywhere by suggesting that if radio stations want to make money, they should keep women on the air to a minimum. Understandably, everyone from Miranda Lambert to Lee Ann Womack was a little peeved at the…
Can Hollywood Survive the Reality of Gun Violence?
It is only a matter of time before someone livestreams his mass shooting here in America. Guns aren’t particularly hard to get and cellphones make sharing our lives easier than ever, so this sort of escalation in attention-seeking violence is unavoidable. Whether it’s a lone wolf with a bone to…
50-Year-Old Tony’s Owes Its Success to Owner’s Exacting Standards
The restaurant industry is known for grueling work, long hours standing and heavy competition. Imagine not only staying in this industry for more than 50 years, but doing it at such a high level that your restaurant is still regarded as one of the finest in Houston. That is exactly…
Day For Night Wants to Be a Festival No One Has Ever Seen Before
When the Grammy nominations were announced earlier this week, Houston’s biggest winner this year could well have been Day For Night, whose Sunday-night headliner Kendrick Lamar led all nominees with a cool 11. Add to that Saturday-night closer New Order, the UK alternative-music legends who will be making their only U.S…
Mojave Red Dreams Up Brilliant Psychedelic Electronica
Mojave Red is the sounds of ghosts haunting the present. The 13th Floor Elevators meander within the hazy samples. Quieter moments hide within the murky psychedelic dreams originally born of bright minds like Syd Barrett and Robert Wyatt. In the same way acts such as How to Dress Well, with…
I Caught My Sister’s Man Cheating. Help!
I CAUGHT MY SISTER’S BOYFRIEND CHEATING. SHOULD I TELL HER? Dear Willie D: So I’m bypassing the drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant with one of my coworkers, and lo and behold who do I see? My sister’s boyfriend at the window with another girl in the passenger seat. I told…
Baroness Packs a Big Sound Into the Small Space of Rudyard’s
Baroness, Earthling Rudyard’s December 8, 2015 When it was announced a few months back that Pegstar was bringing Baroness to Rudyard’s, the cozy Montrose pub/hidey hole, it was only natural to wonder how in the hell they’d even fit in there. Certainly, a sellout was all but assured: As one…
Donald Trump Is the Best Thing to Happen to American Politics
Running for President of the United States is an exercise in using the right words. It’s about saying the things your base wants to hear in a way that doesn’t put them completely to sleep in a way that won’t come back to bite you in the ass when your…
What Mayor’s Race?
The horse race for Houston mayor has been crawling this year. Which is disappointing considering that at the outset it looked to be such promising political theater. The first competitive, incumbent-less mayor’s race following the historic election of Annise Parker, the first openly gay mayor of a major American city,…
Houston Coach Tom Herman Named Finalist For College Football Coach of the Year
If the University of Houston could bottle up all of the positive things that have been happening for the program, on the field and off the field, over the last month or so, they could sell it for millions to all of the other Group of Five level schools. Aside…
Let Them Eat Steak: Waller County Sheriff’s Car Robbed Of Guns During Steakhouse Luncheon
While Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith cleaned his plate inside Saltgrass Steakhouse for lunch on Saturday, thieves rolled up to the parking lot out back and ripped a total of ten guns from Smith’s truck and a second vehicle belonging to Waller County Precinct 4 Commissioner Justin Beckendorf. As Fox 26…
Feeling Nostalgic? Here Are 6 Youth Culture Films That Capture a Decade
Coming of age films are hit and miss – The worst of them are heavy handed and maudlin, sappy tear jerkers and bittersweet tales of young people going through heavy changes in their lives, but handled clumsily enough to be a cautionary after school special. Every once in a while,…
Where to Dine on Christmas Eve and Day in Houston 2015
Christmas will be here before you know it. We’re sure you’re busy with all of the holiday mayhem, so why not knock one thing all off of your to-do list by letting these Houston restaurants take care of Christmas dinner for you? From elegant multi-course feasts to buffets the kids…
A Buffet of New Houston Mixtapes Worth Going Back For Seconds
BEATKING & NEPHEW TEXAS BOY, TexAtlanta Remember when I said that Houston had basically ventured to Atlanta after Chedda Da Connect’s Chedda World mixtape? BeatKing took that to the next level, grabbed Nephew Texas Boy and decided to head down I-10 East to rap over 14 (!) Atlanta rap beats…
The Six Best Houston Bands to See On a First Date
Dating season is quickly approaching, so in our continued efforts to be incredibly useful and not just wildly entertaining (or, given to self-serving hyperbole), we feel compelled to assist all of you who may soon be planning first dates. If you were unaware, Match.com crunched numbers from its own database…
Anti-HERO Council Member Calls Request for Emails “Bullying”
When does a public information request veer into harassment, intimidation and “bullying” of an elected official? If you’re Houston City Councilman Michael Kubosh, it’s when people demand to see any emails you might’ve traded with the gaggle of homophobic, hard-right conservative Christians that clamored for the death of a non-discrimination…
The Black Dahlia Murder Are Still Metal Fanboys at Heart
Due at Warehouse Live tonight, The Black Dahlia Murder is busy covering the map of North America (indeed, the world) promoting their September 2015 release, Abysmal. Sponsored by indiemerchstore.com, the tour’s second half kicked off just over a week ago. With all the different bands and sounds on the same tour,…
Kent Jones’s Hitchcock/Truffaut Is Best When It’s Practical
They could have called it Hitchcock/Truffaut/Scorsese/Fincher. Less an adaptation of one of the great books about film than a feature-length recommendation, Kent Jones’s documentary take on François Truffaut’s exhaustive career-survey 1966 interview with Alfred Hitchcock is an arresting précis, sharply edited and generous with its film clips — it’s a…
Little Girl Blue: The Performances Rule, but This Doc Robs Janis of Her Agency
Yes, Janis Joplin made a hell of a record out of Rodgers & Hart’s “Little Girl Blue,” but you’re right if you winced to learn that Amy Berg’s new documentary feature about Joplin takes that song as its title — and as its dismal argument and organizing principle. “I want…
At Last, a Film Macbeth to Sink Into
Justin Kurzel’s is a Macbeth stripped of lit-class ponderousness, stage-bound declaiming, Ren Fest cosplay, and prestige-film pomposity. It is the essence of this cruelest of plays, the blade unsheathed — and, as a blade would be after hacking through all these Scottish wars, its edge is blunt, rough, a thing…
In the Heart of the Sea Isn’t Moby Dick, But It Isn’t Bad
Years after Moby-Dick was a flop, Herman Melville visited an old ship’s captain named George Pollard. Both men had seen better days. In their youth, both had sailed the seas with some success. Melville had written novels about his adventures with island girls, and Pollard had once helmed one of…
The Big Short: Adam McKay Takes on the ’08 Crash – and Crashes
Fueled by impotent, blustery outrage, Adam McKay’s The Big Short, about the grotesque banking and investing practices that led to the 2008 financial collapse, is about as fun and enlightening as a cranked-up portfolio manager’s rue-filled comedown after an energy-shot bender. Based on Michael Lewis’s 2010 bestselling book of the…
