Sex Assault and Child Porn Charges Facing Taylor McClain, Atascocita High School Tennis Coach
According to an arrest affidavit, it all started with a trip to the Phobia Haunted House on the Northwest Freeway on the night of November 6. Sixteen-year-old “Julie” was in the backseat of Atascocita High School English teacher and assistant tennis coach Taylor McClain’s car and 15-year-old “Heather” was in…
Bad Idea: 14-Year-Old Houston High Schooler Brought a Loaded Gun to School with Him Today
Houston police arrested a 14-year-old student who brought a loaded handgun to Sterling High School today. The gun was confiscated and the boy was taken “into custody without incident” about 10:48 a.m., according to a Houston Independent School District press release. The boy’s name was not released. Sterling High is…
Last-Minute Christmas: Ten Odd Gifts from CVS to Solidify Your Standing as Resident Black Sheep
Every year a whole bunch of you (you know who you are) wait until the last minute to buy Christmas gifts. You scramble and go crazy trying to get everything done just in time to see the disappointed look on the faces of your relatives as you reveal your latest…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Sylvia Casares of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen, On Her Home Economics Degree, and Going into the Restaurant Business as a Woman in Her 40’s
Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen 6401 Woodway Drive Tel: 713-334-7295 www.sylviasenchiladakitchen.com Earlier this year, Sylvia Casares, owner of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen, was shot in the stomach and air-lifted to the hospital. It’s not an experience that anyone would be expected to recover from easily, but Sylvia Casares is no ordinary woman. In…
Last Night: The Sword at Fitzgerald’s
The Sword, American Sharks, Gypsyhawk Fitzgerald’s December 18, 2012 I’m glad that bands like The Sword still exist to lead impressionable metal kids down endless paths of boogie and stoner-rock. Since they started coming to Houston — playing the now-shuttered Walter’s on Washington, mostly — I have seen a lot…
Ole Henriksen Promises to Give Your Eyes a Lift as the World Is Coming to an End
That damn Mayan calendar prophecy was bad enough when it was just the world exploding or being swallowed by a black hole or whatever. But when Ole Henriksen, maker of fine rejuvenating eye care products (and name for Ikea entertainment centers), among other things, discovered that December 21 was also…
Quentin Tarantino and Our Year in Movies 2012
Quentin Tarantino, the director who took on the Nazis in Inglorious Basterds, rewriting history to better suit him, brings us the Christmas Day gift of Django Unchained, another violence-filled, challenging film that takes a tough look at slavery. Writer Karina Longworth did a sit-down with the 49-year-old Tarantino, who insists…
Small Plates the Right Way at 1252 Tapas
This past summer, long before he was raising Guy Fieri’s frosted tip hackles, New York Times food critic Pete Wells was lashing out against the continuing “small plate” trend and its tendency — as Wells put it — to lend “the sensation of having eaten a delicious meal without feeling…
Listen, Listen: What Is Ben Godfrey Up to Now?
Houston folk-rockers listenlisten have been pumping out some of the best local records in Houston since the release of their self-titled 2007 EP. We here at Rocks Off are big fans, not just because they’re from Houston, but because they bring a solid new angle to the indie-folk scene, a…
Reality Bites: Finding Bigfoot
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. To quote Fox Mulder, “I want to believe.” The world, in my opinion, would be much improved by the existence of monsters. And I don’t mean asshole monsters like vampires…
[VIDEO] Woman Suing Texas State Troopers After Roadside Body Cavity Search
I get that cops have a difficult job. I really do. But when two women are pulled over on a Texas highway and have their body cavities searched because the officer said the car had the “aroma” of marijuana, something is just wrong. According to the report from the Dallas…
Aboard the S.S. Coachella, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker Is a Popular Bloke
Note: Liz Tracy, Music Editor of our sister paper Broward-Palm Beach New Times, is aboard the S.S. Coachella cruise this week while Houston continues waiting around for winter. No one’s really interested in reading about the actual performances taking place on this musical ship of contradictions, the S.S. Coachella, amirite?…
‘Tis the Season for Spirits and Cheese: Scotch Whisky Edition
This holiday season, turn the tables on the traditional “wine and cheese” combo by pairing cheeses with your favorite hard alcohol. In this special series, I’ll be investigating which fromages go best with distilled spirits as well as offering tips on how to construct a tasting without breaking the bank…
Houston Airports Have New Artwork and Ways to Help You Avoid Travel Woes
I was driving out to Bush Intercontinental Airport one night last week and noticed those really odd lit displays that sit at the entrance to the area on JFK Boulevard, and I wondered why exactly the lights were moving the way they were. Then I realized they were supposed to…
This Week In Food Blogs: There’s Someone Out There for Everyone, Maggie Rita’s
29-95: It’s a New Year’s Day must to indulge in a restorative brunch after a night of festivities. 29-95’s Syd Kearney has an excellent list of places to do so, including plenty of favorites in and out of the Loop. Eater Houston: Speaking of…here’s another very handy list, this one…
Fitz Navidad’s Bands Lay Out Their Favorite Christmas Tunes
Thursday night, a heavenly host of Houston’s brightest and best musicians will spend a night playing Christmas music to celebrate the holiday season at Fitzgerald’s. We decided to catch up with some of the musicians and find out what their favorite Christmas songs are, and why? Austin Smith (A Sea…
Buyer’s Guide to Steampunk Christmas Ornaments
If you’re like me you’ve waited till the last minute to put up the tree, but in case you were thinking about having a very steampunk yule then there are plenty of ornaments to help take your tree in a more gentlemanly direction. Let’s start off with the headman himself…
Five No-Nos on an Airplane That Have Nothing to Do with Terrorism, Bomb Jokes, Mile High Clubs or Alcohol
People do a lot of traveling during the holidays. From Thanksgiving through the beginning of the New Year, the airports are packed with people going home to see their families or just trying to get home where they left their eight-year-old boy alone to fend for himself and set up…
The 12 Biggest Food News Stories of 2012: The Year In Twinkies, Go-Go Juice and Guy Fieri
From eating like cavemen to redneck sketti, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest food happenings of 2012. 12. Singapore Serves Mashed Potatoes…From A Vending Machine? The internet was abuzz when a photo of a mashed potato vending machine surfaced. Eventually, the viral picture was traced to…
Video Game Atlas: Sanctuary
Once a week Art Attack will offer you a handy little travel guide to the fictional worlds of video games. Name: Sanctuary, Borderlands series Population: 320 Government: Anarchy Pandora is a bit rough for my taste in planets, personally. Especially after spending time in a commune of pacifist monsters like…
That’s a Big Twinkie: A Soundtrack to the Apocalypse
The last shipment of Hostess Twinkies was supposedly delivered last Tuesday, as Hostess indeed filed for bankruptcy. Twinkies were also linked to great destructive forces in the movie Ghostbusters. This all falls very close to December 21, which marks the end of the Mayan Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar and is…
The Five Best Houston Neighborhoods for Viewing Christmas Lights
I’ll admit I’m a sucker for a good Christmas lights display. When my parents were not terribly interesting in stringing lights from the house, I made plans. I used graph paper to map out the entire house and figure out what lights would go where. This was a big deal…
This Art Show About Boredom Is Anything But Boring
When an art show about boredom begins with the warning, “Viewer discretion is advised,” you can rest assured it’d be anything but boring. In “Staring at the Wall: The Art of Boredom,” the main show currently up at Lawndale Art Center, curator Katia Zavistovski brings together six artists who address…
Dearly Departed: Bands We’ll Miss Who Broke Up In 2012
Every year has its fair share of births and deaths, even when speaking of bands. They form, reform, and break up. We talk a lot about reunions, but many bands fade out and break up with barely a whisper. It’s unfortunate because some of these bands were old favorites at…
Sugar Land Sicko Donald C. Hernandez Jr.: Decades Behind Bars for His Bizarre Kidnap/Rape Ordeal
A previously convicted sadist who got off lightly for a twisted crime in Houston ten years ago was not so lucky last week in Trinity County, where a country jury gave him ten presidential terms behind bars. Donald Christopher Hernandez Jr. was convicted of both aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault…
E.S.P.: Animal Totems in the Machine in “627”
L.A.’s E.S.P. only have a single and an EP to their name, but they’ve already managed to build something pretty amazing in their short time together. The Matsumiya siblings and their friend Bobby Evans are crafting the best electronica this side of Sweden, adding Japanese themes and a serenity to…
Tips for Giving Great Holiday Gift Cards
As the holiday vise tightens and our gift-giving options close in, many of us of will be turning to gift certificates in place of actual, wrapped presents for friends and family. Great in a pinch if you have exhausted all of your brain power on other gifts or you are…
College Football: Bear Bryant Award Finalists Revealed (Aggies Will Be Happy)
If you’re a prominent, successful college football player or coach, it is usually necessary to block out the second week of December. This is when most of the college football awards are handed out, the week after the regular season ends. For many, it’s an exhausting, circuitous journey across the…
Our 10 Favorite Affordable Luxuries: Treat Yourself This New Year
Most of our readers will hopefully remember Robin Leach’s signature sign-off at the end of each episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous during the show’s decade-long run: “Champagne wishes and caviar dreams.” As far as sign-offs go, the phrase is no Walter Cronkite’s “…and that’s the way it…
Five Best Christmas Cartoon Villains
There are few things that I enjoy more around this time of the year than watching Christmas cartoons and drinking eggnog made out of soy. Every December, I set my DVR to record any and every animated moment of television that has anything to do with Christmas. There have been…
Brace Yourselves, the End of the World Parties Are Coming
Here in Houston, we shouldn’t need an excuse to throw great parties, but I suppose the so-called Mayan Apocalypse is a pretty good reason to get shit-housed and listen to local bands. This Friday almost everyone seems to be throwing an “End of the World” show or mini-fest — if…
“Why Am I Getting Amber Alerts on My Cellphone?” Asks Social Media
If you have Verizon Wireless cellphone service in the Houston area, today you have no doubt gotten about three AMBER alerts texts to your phone, about an hour apart from one another, alerting you to look out for a 2002 Chevy Blazer and to consult local media. The alerts came…
Deftones Hitting Bayou Music Center March 30
Uber-popular long-running rock act the Deftones are coming back to Houston after a two-year layoff from the Bayou City. They will be playing the Bayou Music Center on March 30, where they will be closing out this upcoming mini spring tour. Rewind: Last Night: Deftones At Verizon Wireless Theater The…
WOW: “Please Help Us Petition the White House to Begin Building a Death Star”
Since everyone it seems discovered a few months ago that you can petition the White House to do stupid things, nearly every week there has been a new oddball petition on the WH Web site. Today comes the petition to get President Barack Obama and the White House to “secure…
Flying Champagne Corks: You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out, Kid!
It’s there, lurking in your kitchen this time of year, an innocent-looking bottle of champagne that, if not handled properly, can be a brutal instrument used to maim, or even kill. Or at least that’s what the Texas Ophthalmological Association told us in a press release yesterday — a press…
The Top 10 Texas Beers of 2012
Taking a look back just four years to former Houston Press food critic Robb Walsh’s list of Top 10 Texas beers from 2008 shows what a difference a few years make. While the list holds some very solid selections, like Pale Moon and Live Oak Pilz — as well as…
Upcoming: Loretta Lynn, Cradle of Filth, Eli Young Band, Matt Costa, Andre Williams, Etc.
Adolescents: With Youth Brigade, The American Heist., Sun., Dec. 30, 8 p.m., $15/$17. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Aly & Fila: With DJ Shogun., Mon., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., $20/$30. Stereo Live, 6400 Richmond, Houston. American Fangs: With Bury The Crown, Sanctus Bellum, Carry the Storm, Muhammad Ali, Dollyrockers, Hell…
UPDATED: Instagram to Users: Starting January 16, We Can Sell Your Photos
According to multiple reports, Instagram “clarified” its position that no user photos will be used in ads or sold. In what has got to be one of the dumbest moves by a social media outlet to date, massive photo sharing service Instagram has updated its property policy so that beginning…
Fast Times: CDE (Christmas Dessert Edition)
We’re packing our bags and checking ’em twice (once on United, then again on Alaska Airlines) which means we aren’t doing an awful lot of Christmas cooking or baking at our house. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, myself, but this time of year I really start craving…
Austin Noodle House Owner Flips Out on Facebook Over Sandy Hook Tragedy, Ultimately Apologizes and Goes to Church
The owner of the Thai Noodle House is in hot tom yum gai after he dropped some particularly heinous statements about the Sandy Hook shooting on his Facebook page. Eddie Nimibutr’s rant about how no one cares about minorities being shot has made national headlines and the backlash has caused…
Five Alternate Fireworks Options in Texas This New Year’s Eve Thanks to the Drought
The drought ruins EVERYTHING! If I sound like a petulant ten-year-old, it’s only because I TOTALLY AM! As a kid, I lived just outside the city limits. As a result, my friends and I would blow up every mailbox, pile of rocks and ant bed in a one-mile radius of…
Is Funding Your Album on Kickstarter Insulting and Wrong?
CORRECTION (12/21, 1:15 p.m.): Kickstarter uses Amazon’s payment system to process its transactions, but it is a privately owned company, not a division of the publicly held Amazon. I do a monthly Kickstarter round-up on Art Attack because I really do think that crowdsourcing is a great way to get…
Perfection and Value in a Bottle: Syrah Rosé from California for $16
I’m just going to go ahead and blurt it out: The 2011 rosé from Syrah by Santa Barbara, California winery Ampelos is my favorite discovery for 2012 and it’s my number one wine for the 2012 holiday season. It’s one of those rare wines that fire on all cylinders. It’s…
Today’s DVDs & Blu-rays: Hermano and a Ken Kesey/Paul Newman Find from the Vault
See our interview with Hermano director Marcel Rasquin. Soccer, poverty and gang violence are the backdrop to filmmaker Marcel Rasquin’s Hermano. Fernando Moreno and Eliu Armas star as Daniel and Julio, adopted brothers who live in one of Venezuela’s most dangerous slums. The two are among the best athletes in…
Rockets Rout Knicks in Lin’s Return to Madison Square Garden
The center of the Linsanity and basketball universe saw the prodigal son return and Jeremy Lin and the Rockets faced the Knicks for the second and final time Monday night, routing New York 109-96 in a game that blew open after a 27-11 second quarter from the Rockets. Lin stepped…
Watch Your Beer! You’ve Wandered Into the Best Mosh Pits of 2012
A dump-truckload of fun punk and metal shows threatened to stomp Houston flat(ter) in 2012, from the gritty environs of the White Swan to the high-priced hill in the Woodlands Pavilion. Which one was the best? That depends on your perspective, naturally. It’s kind of hard to compare doom metal…
Top 5 Portal Fan Films
I have a confession to make. Much as I love Doctor Who and obsessively talk about it here in the art blog, it’s honestly just a cover for the fact that I am not getting another Portal game anytime soon. Even when I do, I’ll probably have to convert to…
3 Ways to Use Ready-made Pizza Dough for Dishes Other Than Pizza
There are less than two weeks until Christmas, and I’m done. Exhausted. Beat. I’ve baked cookies, bought and wrapped and shipped presents, made travel arrangements, made dog-boarding arrangements, and gone shopping and wrapping and shipping again. I’ve gone over the edge, and I don’t mean Lady Gaga’s Edge of Glory…
Is It Time to Ditch Cable for Streaming Digital Video? Six Questions to Help You Decide
Lately, a number of my friends have asked the question: Should I get rid of cable? Ten years ago, the answer would be yes only if you didn’t watch any cable network television shows, at which point you could simply go back to an antennae. With the advent of digital…
7 Songs About Hobbits NOT By Leonard Nimoy
I’m keen to catch The Hobbit soon. If nothing else, the Seventh Doctor apparently goes full-on wizard battle against the Witch-King in it, and I would have paid just to see that scene alone. The rest of it looks cool too, though. In the meantime, I have to wait for…
Battle of the Zucchini Pancakes
Zucchini pancakes are pretty high up on my list of perfect foods. They are simple to make, so tasty and delicious, and perfect for any meal or just a snack. They also freeze beautifully, so they make a wonderful way to use up a bumper crop of zucchini–a person can…
Notre Dame-Alabama: Jimmy Clausen Fires the First Salvo and Shows Why the World Hates Him
I have to say that for a potentially historical battle between two behemoth football programs with the two most bruising, physically pounding defenses in the country, the lead up thus far to the January 7 BCS Title Game between Notre Dame and Alabama has been proceeding rather softly. The captains…
Pop Rocks: The Least Anticipated Movies of 2013
A movie writer person’s work is never done. Even as we put together our lists of the year’s best films and prepare to congratulate ourselves on recognizing the genius of Ben Affleck, we must look forward to the coming year. The year 2013, of course, will likely be just like…
The Rocks Off 100: Dremaceo Giles, Lotus Effect’s Bad Rudolph
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. Who? Back in 2010 Lotus Effect was on top of the world as Houston’s…
Top 10 Restaurants in Spring Branch
Houstonians like to tout our city’s vibrant ethnic tapestry, especially when it comes to food. Chinatown. The Mahatma Gandhi District. Little Nigeria. All areas in which various cuisines cloister tightly together, affording the opportunity for a dumpling crawl across Bellaire Boulevard or a chaat sampling down Hillcroft. But the real…
A Very Pawny Christmas: What Pawn Shops Buy and Sell Around the Holidays
So you’ve got a million Christmas gifts to buy for family, friends, acquaintances, acquaintances’ cousins, the mailman, Roger Clemens (we’re not the only ones to send the Rocket a gift each year, are we?), and various and sundry pets. You have a limited budget and a limited amount of time…
Bruce: New Springsteen Book Is the Boss of Them All
Bruce By Peter Ames Carlin Touchstone Books, 512 pp., $28. Let me start by saying that Carlin — who has also penned books on Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney — has written the definitive Springsteen straight-bio here with Bruce, an engaging, thorough, and compelling look at the man and his…
A Geek Answers Your Children’s Questions About Santa Claus
Editor’s note: First published on December 11, 2011, we return this reader favorite. If there is any one aspect of being a parent we have been avidly preparing for for years, it’s how to explain the concept of Santa Claus to our child. The world of science and pop culture…
FFL Highlights (Fan Fighting League) — Special Turkish Wheelchair Basketball Exhibition Bout
Much has been made over the last decade or two of the rise of popularity (and skill, quite frankly) in international basketball. Many trace it back to the 1992 USA Dream Team’s ceremonious romp through the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Ask any international star today between the age of…
Forget Kate Middleton’s Maternity Designer, We Want to Know Who Will Dress the Royal Foetus
Move over, Suri Cruise! Your reign as the world’s most fashionable child is coming to an end. It’s only fitting that you are being deposed by actual royalty. Some of us are pretty excited about Kate Middleton’s pregnancy, while others are not. Those of us who are excited have the…
UPDATED: The 10 Best New Houston Restaurants of 2012
Note: An earlier version of this article accidentally listed Coppa Ristorante Italiano among the top 10 new restaurants. While we love Coppa, it was on last year’s list of top 10 restaurants and is therefore, obviously, excluded from this year’s list. We apologize for the error. If I had to…
Music’s Biggest Douchebags: 2012 Edition
The music world is bound to have a lot of douchebags. It’s just an inevitability, considering that it’s essentially a profession for man-children. Peter Pan syndrome? No problem in the music business. That’s why you see so many rock stars going through growing pains sometime in their mid-forties. Remember Metallica:…
Nine Dead in Fatal Car Accidents Over the Weekend
The roads in Houston aren’t exactly beyond Thunderdome, but they can be dangerous, particularly when they are wet and slick with rain, as was the case this weekend when nine people lost their lives in six separate accidents on the streets and freeways of Houston, according to multiple reports. One…
National Growler Day: Go Get Your Fill
Created in 2010 by Beermapping.com, National Growler Day celebrates those handy refillable jugs we in the craft beer world have come to love so much. Because nothing quite matches the taste of a beer fresh off the draft, growlers have become a popular way to take the taste of fresh…
Rocket Roller Coaster Continues with Wins, Losses and a Trip Back to NYC for Lin
Check out pictures from the Rockets-Celticsgame in our slideshow. Ah, youth. I’ve probably written that before about the Rockets, but it bear repeating. The same team that can take the San Antonio Spurs to overtime and beat the Lakers can be crushed by the same teams and lose to the…
Saturday Night: Brian Setzer Orchestra’s “Christmas Rocks” at Arena Theatre
Brian Setzer Orchestra Arena Theatre December 15, 2012 Within the taxonomy of rock and roll, rockabilly (bless its hot rod heart) can get dismissed as a one-trick pony with a ducktail for a mane and flames painted on its haunches. At least it can by people who see only kitsch…
A Christmas Tradition: Mom’s Best Fudge
As our own Brooke Viggiano pointed out last Friday, often the best Christmas present you can give is something you made yourself. This is especially true with friends or family members who “have it all.” My mother is known for many things, but chief among them are her Christmas baked…
An Open Letter to Political Extremists: You Are Your Own Worst Enemies
Dear Political Extremists, I’m going to imagine you’ve been bound and gagged for a few minutes because I assume if you were not, you would run roughshod over my attempts to speak with you in a reasonable tone. You talk (and type) a lot, you know that? And this is…
Old News: Paul McCartney Could Have Been In Them Crooked Vultures
If you have seen and heard Paul McCartney’s collaboration with the surviving members of Nirvana this past week, then you no doubt have entertained the thought of a tour or at least an album by the super group. As of now of course, they have only publicly released one track,…
‘Tis the Season for Spirits and Cheese: (Reposado) Tequila Edition
This holiday season, turn the tables on the traditional “wine and cheese” combo by pairing cheeses with your favorite hard alcohol. In this special series, I’ll be investigating which fromages go best with distilled spirits as well as offering tips on how to construct a tasting without breaking the bank…
What Does the Future Hold for the Rice Owls?
It’s been a so-so year for Rice sports. The baseball team didn’t make it past the NCAA Regionals. The men’s basketball team self-destructed. And at one point the football team was 1-5. But then in mid-October, the football team took off, and they won five of their six games to…
Getting Reacquainted with Amazon Grill
When there was still an Amazon Grill on Gessner near Westheimer, I ate lunch there — on average — once a week. It was an easy choice to please a pack of picky co-workers, as it offered everything from fun South American food to “diet” food (gross, guys) and hamburgers…
The Rocks Off Interview: Country Legend and Animal Lover Ray Price
Ray Price is a Texas music legend and a former roommate of Hank Williams. Rocks Off reached him by phone on his tour bus somewhere between Wisconsin and Nashville to talk about satellite radio, his love of stray dogs, and his show this Tuesday at Conroe’s Crighton Theater. Rocks Off:…
Amahl and the Night Visitors Exemplifies the Holiday Spirit
The Setup: On December 15 and 16, Earthen Vessels, The Sandra Organ Dance Company presented its holiday production Amahl and the Night Visitors at Houston Ballet Center for Dance’s Margaret Alkek Williams Dance Lab. Adapted from the 1951 NBC telecast, Amahl combined opera, ballet and American Sign Language for a…
Lawyers for Alleged HGO Rape Victim Speak Out
Lawyers for a woman who claims she was raped as a minor while working on a production for the Houston Grand Opera are bewildered by a grand jury’s decision not to indict the accused rapist last year. “We feel that the ball was dropped,” says Rick Prieto, who represents Amber…
First Look at Witchcraft Tavern and Provision Co.: Ken Bridge Brings More Craft Beer to the Heights
I was shocked when someone told me Dragon Bowl had been around for seven years. It was always one of those places I figured I would get to eventually, but that was not to be. In the past six weeks, owner Ken Bridge has shuttered Dragon Bowl and quickly revamped…
MFAH’s “Portrait of Spain:” An Exquisite Overview of Spanish Art History
The Prado museum of Spain is comparable to France’s Louvre, Florence’s Accademia di Belle Arti or New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The name Prado may not be as familiar to the everyman, but its collection is more than on par. Where the Prado differs is in its focus on…
Texans-Colts: The 10 Best AFC South-Clinching Rapper Tweets
Houston has a professional football team. That teams is called the Houston Texans. A lot of people like them. Some of those people are rappers. The Internet has several forms of social media. One of those forms of social media is called Twitter. A lot of people use it. Some…
Twitter’s Homage to Jeff Van Gundy After Bryan Braman’s Touchdown Against the Colts
It’s always kind of fun when worlds collide in the professional sports world, when we get crossover of a sports personality commenting on or participating in some way in another professional sport. It’s like Reese’s peanut butter cups — “Hey, you dipped your NBA into my NFL!!”…”No, you spilled your…
“Parenthood”: The next generation of (embarrassment-free) family television
Every so often I indulge my nostalgia for old and embarrassing television series. Case in point: For the past few months, I’ve been addicted to reruns of — don’t judge until you read on — 7th Heaven, which air every day on GMC. The Camdens weren’t the Waltons or the…
Jerry Jeanmard Creates Collages From Society’s Paper Debris
Jerry Jeanmard has an eye. The longtime Houston resident has worked as an interior designer for nearly 30 years for the firm Wells Design/Jerry Jeanmard. He’s also made his name as an illustrator; his claim to fame is one of his earliest jobs — the Blue Bell Ice Cream logo…
What’s Cooking This Week? Butternut Squash Lasagna & More
I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don’t make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient’s I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter…
Friday Night: Hamilton Loomis at Dan Electro’s
Hamilton Loomis Dan Electro’s December 14, 2012 It never quite feels like Christmas until the kids come home. That seemed to be the sentiment behind the Christmas show at Dan Electro’s on Friday, which brought Galveston native Hamilton Loomis, the ex-wunderkind guitarist who was jamming with Bo Diddley at 16,…
Could You Get All of Your Christmas Shopping Done at Buc-ee’s? Probably
If you travel anywhere in Texas, you have no doubt been to a Buc-ee’s super gas station, home of clean restrooms, cheap gas, crack-like Beaver Nuggets, cutesy Texas trinkets, hunting gear and, at peak traveling hours during weekends and holidays, groggy and zombie-like humans hungry for beef jerky and coffee…
The Best-Selling Albums On Our Top 30 Texas Albums List
One thing you will notice about our Texas 30 list is that not everything that made the cut was a best-seller, though the albums have been heavily influential and may be in everyone’s private collection. Just look at all the satellite blogs we have written around the Texas 30 mentioning…
Fake Apocalypse Slap Fight: Ronald Reagan vs. Australia’s Julia Gillard
Two heads of state have pulled off some shenanigans when it comes to the end of the world. On the one hand we have the recent video put out by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard telling her constituents that the Mayans were right and the end is indeed nigh. She…
Texans 29, Colts 17: Back-to-Basics Approach Nets AFC South Title, Renews Playoff Hopes
Check out our slideshow from the Texans/Colts game. It seems evident that Matt Schaub isn’t going to win a shootout with the likes of Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers. Perhaps not with Andrew Luck. But if the team’s other components execute the way they’re designed to, he shouldn’t have to…
Happy Saturnalia! 5 Songs for the Original Holidays
Why do we celebrate the birth of Christ in December? There’s no solid date on the actual birth date of Jesus, but you have to pick a day. Why that one? Well, a lot of it has to do with the festival of Saturnalia, which begins today. Saturnalia was one…
The Anatomy of the Lifetime Holiday Movie
Of the many television channels that take programming advantage of the holiday season, my all-time favorite is the month-long schedule on the Lifetime channel (this includes LMN). Their entire lineup changes from movies about women in transition who need a good man to women in transition who need a good…
Texans-Colts: 4 Winners, 4 Losers, a “Back Home Again (for Press Box Cake)” Edition
See more “pics” in our slideshow from the Texans/Colts game. The Texans returned home Sunday for their first game in Reliant Stadium in what felt like about a year. Seriously, the last time the Texans played a game at Reliant, we were less than 24 hours removed from Kansas State…
10 Most Skippable Doctor Who Episodes
Between the Christmas Special, the second half of Series 7 including the return of Neil Gaiman and the Cybermen, and all the magic of the 50th Anniversary special(s) that I can dream about, Doctor Who has left little room in my brain for anything else. So to tide me over,…
The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: December 17-20
Marina & the Diamonds, Icona Pop Warehouse Live, December 17 Somewhere between Katy Perry and Lana Del Rey on the 2012 girl-pop scale, the Welsh-bred Marina & the Diamonds make big-budget icy synth-pop that you can afford, without the candy-coated gimmickry. Perry comparisons will abound, but singer Marina Lambrini Diamandis…
The Top 10 Eating…Our Words Posts of 2012
Last week, we began wrapping up the year in review. We looked at the most notable restaurant closings of 2012, the restaurants we’re most excited about for 2013 and our most popular Top 10 lists of the year. This week, we’re looking at the best new restaurants of 2012 and…
Harris County Attorney’s Office Goes After Club La Cave
The Harris County Attorney’s Office has filed a suit to shut down an after-hours club that prosecutors say is a haven for crime, including a murder earlier this week. Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan stated in a press release that the owner of La Cave, 4714 FM 1960 West –…
Rocks Off’s 10(ish) Favorite Local Albums of 2012
Continuing with our year-end panorama, Rocks Off asked our contributors a simple question with a not-so-simple answer: What was your favorite local album of 2012? ALEXA CRENSHAW: Whatever I say here, I’m going to want to take back shortly because there’s so much good stuff out there, y’all. Although they…
Dallas Beer Scene: Revolver Brewing Gets Serious in Granbury
It’s been a big year for craft beer in Texas. One of the biggest stories, however, is news that hasn’t quite made its way down to Houston. Dallas is currently experiencing a boom in breweries as big as, if not bigger than, the expansion Houston and Austin have seen in…
HISD Releases Statement in Wake of Connecticut School Shooting
The devastating news that a gunman or gunmen terrorized an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, Friday morning killing reportedly as many as 20 people including children has left an entire country reeling. School shootings are rare even if they feel all too common, but one that involves elementary school children…
Holiday Gift Guide: 5 Homemade Gift Ideas
Every week this holiday season, we’ve been posting our favorite food-centric gift ideas. We’ve already featured Useful Kitchen Tools Under $30, Holiday Gifts That Nobody Actually Wants, Top Gifts for Kids, and more. While store-bought gifts are wonderful (consumerism! Americuh!), homemade gifts have that extra special touch. They’re perfect for…
Proud UH Alum Larry Gatlin: If You Don’t Like His Songs, “I Still Wrote Them”
Rocks Off reached native West Texan and proud UH alumnus Larry Gatlin, of 97.1 Country Legends mainstays Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers Band, first by phone at his hotel in Colorado, then again by phone the next day in San Antonio. Gatlin plays the Dosey Doe’s “Big Barn” in…
Top Four Things to Do This Weekend: “Portrait of Spain”, NSFW, HBO Boxing Championship and A Beatles Holiday
We’re going to do this a little bit out of order and start with our suggestion for Sunday first. the not-to-be-missed exhibit “Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado” opens to the public this Sunday (museum members get a sneak peak on Saturday.) Spain’s Prado has been called “not so…
Person of Interest: Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Vault
Even Men in Suits have to take a holiday break, and as Person of Interest slouches towards its mid-season hiatus, that “hunted by the authorities” thing is getting more and more serious. In another flashback-free episode, we find the Agent Donnelly-led Feds closing their noose around Mr. Reese, while a…
Looking Forward to the Astros in 2013
With 2012 coming to an end, let’s kiss this lost year of the Astros goodbye and take a look at what’s coming in 2013. The key word is “new,” as in new uniforms, new logos, new TV network, new broadcasters, new players, new manager and coaches, and on, and on,…
Giraffe: The Week in Art 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…
Sweet and Easy Christmas Cookies: Chocolate-Chip Coconut Macaroons
Every Christmas I always look for new cookie recipes or sweet treats to bake. A few years ago I came across a Martha Stewart recipe for coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate. I decided to scatter miniature chocolate chips throughout each little cookie instead of dipping them because I wanted to…
The Texas 30: Texas’ 10 Best Rap Albums
Texas rap has played no small part in hip-hop’s history. More specifically, Houston (and of course P.A.) rap has played no small part in hip-hop’s history. (There are other cities in Texas, I hear, though with the exception of Dallas’s brief swag-based blip, they’ve, to this point, remained largely invisible…
Daryl Morey Fires Off A Kurkjian Style Stat Dork Tweet To Defend Jeremy Lin
By any real measurement, the first season for Jeremy Lin as a Houston Rocket has been fairly pedestrian. Statistically, he has struggled shooting the basketball (.399 field goal percentage) and seen his minutes scaled back in recent weeks. Purely to the human eye, Lin has had trouble meshing with backcourt…
Come See My Dead Person LP Whistles Past the Boneyard
Come See My Dead Person is one of those bands people have constantly tried to get me into over the years, but the time never seemed right. Well, the release of their new self-titled album should be a good enough place to begin, I thought, and I’m very glad I…
The Room’s Tommy Wiseau Will Have the Last Laugh
If you have heard of the cult-classic film The Room, then you are very aware of its director/writer/producer/star, Tommy Wiseau. Wiseau is known for his “interesting” persona and his attitude towards the film that he put his heart and soul into. For those not familiar with the 2003 film, it…
Upcoming Events: 17-Course Dinners and End of the World Wine Tastings
If you haven’t yet done your holiday shopping, 13 Celsius is here to help. This Saturday, the wine bar is hosting an incredible End of the World Tasting and Annual Wholesale Event starting at 1 p.m. During this one-day event, you’ll find unique wines at ridiculously low, wholesale prices. First…
Five Ways the DPS Could Improve Their Drivers License Mega Centers
If you need your drivers license renewed — or have a kid getting his for the first time, God help us all — you know what you are in for. The lines, the angry people, the smell, MY GOD THE SMELL! Ok, not all DPS offices smell bad (I’m looking…
Top 10 Creepiest Pokemon
There’s a lot of popular things I just don’t get… things like pro football, the genius of Led Zeppelin or why a person of any age would watch My Little Pony. Even in the realm of video games where I hide from the light of day throwing out articles so…
A Gingerbread House Decorated Cannot Stand
My first attempt at constructing a gingerbread house occurred during elementary school, and I’m happy to report it was successful. (Probably because “construction” simply involved gluing stale graham crackers to a milk carton and tossing a few sprinkles on top.) And though I recognized that making a gingerbread house can…
The Texas 30: Texas’ 6 Best Latin Albums of the Past 30 Years
As I was reviewing the list of The Texas 30, in the back of my mind I kept thinking one thing… “Where my brown people at?!” Rewind: The Texas 30 (cover story) Slideshow: The Texas 30 album covers Listen To Our Texas 30 Picks On Rdio and Spotify Right Now…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Title: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Azog? Radagast? Galadriel? What The Hell Is Going On Here? You don’t make a trilogy of three-hour movies without giving ample screen time to characters either not found (Azog and Galadriel) or briefly mentioned (Radagast) in the original source material, you know. Rating Using…
MyPlates.com Releases Fan Selected Rockets-Themed Plate; If Only They Had an Alternate Uniform Like It
For years since the re-design of the Rockets logo and uniforms, fans on message boards like ClutchFans.net have been clamoring for an alternate uniform design with a red and black color scheme. They’ve had throwback jerseys (ah, ketchup and mustard), but no alternates. Even the Texans have a Battle Red…
Health Department Roundup: Del Frisco’s, Sylvia’s, Underbelly and More
Underbelly and Hay Merchant (1100 Westheimer) apparently get two-for-one deals because they share a butcher shop and their kitchens touch. (Touch more like this, less like this.) Either way, an inspector turned up just one violation during a visit last week – food stored in unclean or uncovered containers. Also,…
The Top 25 Music Videos of 2012, Nos. 5-1
Never before have I agonized so hard over the picks for best music video of the year because never before have I had the kind of selection that 2012 offered. The art form is alive and well like never before, and we are entering a new renaissance of cinemaudio. Today…
Football! This Weekend’s Best Bets
Before we get to this week’s picks, a quick stock check on the “Houston Texans win the Super Bowl” prop bet. What exactly did the Patriots’ 42-14 beatdown of our hometown team do to their wagering street cred? Well, prior to the game, the Texans and the Patriots were tied…
First Look at the Eatsie Boys Cafe and Its Matzah Ball Pho
Why hadn’t it ever occurred to me to drop matzah balls in pho before? I mused to myself as I sat mesmerized by the giant, stainless steel mug of matzah ball pho sitting in front of me at the new Eatsie Boys Cafe yesterday morning. The pairing is almost a…
Jamie Foxx Playing a White Supervillain Isn’t New, But Racists Tend to Forget Such Things
It’s been confirmed that Jamie Foxx will be taking on Spider-Man in the Amazing Spider-Man sequel that starts filming in February. Foxx told his daughter, a big fan of Spidey (You’re raising that one right, good sir) that he would be playing Electro when he took her to visit the…
30 Seconds With Kinky
Rocks Off burned a few Internet wires to see what we could learn about Monterrey, Mexico’s Grammy-nominated rocktronica veterans Kinky in 30 seconds. Rocks Off:What is worst song in the world, and why? Kinky: Macarena” is the worst song because it was so ‘F-ed’ out… or maybe “Mambo #5″… yuck!…
Buried Kid Found Alive in Car Driven By Allegedly Smashed Mother
A Kingwood woman has been arrested after police caught her behind the wheel of a car while allegedly intoxicated on a cornucopia of substances, all while an eight-month-old baby was buried alive under clothing and a skateboard in the back seat of the trash-filled vehicle. Montgomery County Precinct 4 Deputies…
Our 100th 100 Creatives 2012: Gary Tinterow, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Houston might be his hometown, but that doesn’t mean that Gary Tinterow, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, doesn’t get turned around every once in a while. Tinterow left Houston in 1972 to attend first Brandeis University and then Harvard and Columbia University. He went on to…
Houston’s Top 5 Alternative Venues
5. NUMBERS Numbers fell off. Numbers ain’t what it used to be. No one goes there anymore. Blah, blah, blah. Sure, the venue may be a far cry from what it was during its heyday, when the likes of Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins were stomping through town and nearly…
Top 5 Easy Christmas Appetizers
Tis the season to host Christmas parties and tis the season to get easily stressed out from all the tasks that come with preparing for many guests to visit your home. Not only do you need to invite the guests, clean the house and decorate it with Christmas cheer, but…
Texans-Colts: NEW BATTLE-DRINK Bingo Drinking Card, “Andrew Luck Comes Home” Edition
Heading into this past Monday night, there was about as wide a chasm as there could possibly be riding on the outcome of the Texans’ game with the New England Patriots. With the Colts having knocked off the Titans 27-23 the day before, the possible consequences of Monday’s outcome were…
Openings & Closings: The Proof Is In the… Rooftop
I’ve long said that Houston doesn’t have enough cool rooftop spaces, especially close to downtown. That’s finally changing with the opening of two fun new spots… The first opened several weeks ago at the Houston Pavilions: the reincarnation of Scott Gertner’s Sky Bar on Montrose, which is now — appropriately…
Let’s Break Down 2012’s “Most Googled Women in the World List”
First off, the most confusing thing about this “Most Googled Women in the World” list for 2012 is that Kate Upton, Christina Hendricks and Kat Dennings are nowhere to be found. I thought they were really popular chicks with men and women, or is that just on Tumblr? I mean,…
10 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: December 14-16
Kinky December 15, the Engine Room In the same class as Cafe Tacuba, Kinky is a Mexican alt-rock band no stranger to electronic music and hip-hop. The group formed in Monterrey in the late ’90s and has seen its star steadily rise, headlining Central Park’s SummerStage this past July during…
Internet Commenters Joke About Homeless Man Crushed in Trash Compactor
Just the other day, I wrote about a man who commented up to 70 times per day on the Sacramento Bee Web site and how he wouldn’t even make the top 20 on the site, according to the paper’s managing editor. Internet commenters are a strange and fascinating breed, to…
Five Sports Radio Calls That Should Be Banned from the Airwaves
I have always listened to a lot of sports talk radio. I’ve written about it over the last few years here as well. On the whole, I find it to be interesting, informative and rather entertaining. My fiancée will sometimes ask on a Sunday afternoon when the car radio gets…
Free for All: Emma Richardson Cherry, Children’s Film Fest and Jon Read
After spending some 50 years in storage, a large cache of paintings by Houstonian Emma Richardson Cherry have gone on display at the William Reaves Fine Art gallery. The exhibit is our recommendation for Friday. A leading figure in Texas art from the time she moved to Houston in the…
Great Savings on Turkish Fare at Nazif’s, Plus FREE Bernie’s Burgers
There are too many delicious deals on the menu for us to deliver just one deals roundup this week, plus with the holidays coming we’re probably all a bit overextended. So save a few bucks but impress your taste buds with today’s Houston Press Voice Daily Deal, good for half-off…
Top 10 Heartbreaking Holiday Covers
Last week we took a look at some of the most holiday spirit-dampeningly awful songs ever recorded. We aren’t quite done ruining your holiday spirit just yet however, as this week we have compiled ten of the saddest holiday cover songs ever recorded. Rewind: The 10 Worst Holiday Cover Songs…
Oscar Predictions: Who Has a Shot at Best Costume Design?
Do you ever wonder what Edith Head would think about the state of costume design in film today? No? Just me? Edith Head holds the record for most nominations — and most wins — in the category of “Best Costume Design” at the Academy Awards. (Eight wins, 35 nominations, in…
Reliant Stadium Could Get Jerry Jones-Sized Hi-Def Scoreboards
I know, I know, we like things big in Texas. That tired cliché is repeated ad nauseam and is almost as bad as “Houston, we have a problem.” Almost. At least with the whole idea of things being big around here, there is occasionally some truth to it. This is…
Remember Jenni Rivera, Even If You Didn’t Know Her
I almost dismissed the life and death of 43-year-old Jenni Rivera, the “Diva of Banda” who died in a plane crash early Sunday, as another headline not applicable to me. Rewind: Fans Mourn Popular Mexican-American Banda Singer Jenni Rivera’s Death A Facebook post in my timeline changed that. “R.I.P. Jenni…
American Horror Story: Asylum: The Rabbit Died
I sat on the floor of my living room watching this week’s Asylum, the last until January 2. I’d checked on my three-year-old daughter before beginning to make sure she was sound asleep and wouldn’t overhear the show. She was snoring gently in monkey footey pajamas clutching a stuffed rabbit…
Dallas Beer Scene: Lakewood Brewing Brings Its A Game
It’s been a big year for craft beer in Texas. One of the biggest stories, however, is news that hasn’t quite made its way down to Houston. Dallas is currently experiencing a boom in breweries as big as, if not bigger than, the expansion Houston and Austin have seen in…
Civil Suit Filed in Alleged Rape at Houston Grand Opera (UPDATED)
Some readers have commented on our use of the full name of the plaintiff, who is no longer a minor. We should have offered more context in the initial report as to why we included Dewalt’s name, and why she and her attorneys chose not to file under her initials…
John Stevens Presents a Gripping A Christmas Carol As a One-Man Show
The setup: Charles Dickens loved the theater. As the richest, most famous author in Victorian England, as well as that era’s most beloved and admired writer, he couldn’t get enough of the stage. As a young man floundering for a career, he was granted an audition for the renowned Charles…
Bring Crave’s Christmas Cupcakes to Your Holiday Luncheon and Bask in the Love and Adoration of Your Coworkers
I think it’s well-established by now that we all love Crave Cupcakes. Yes, there are other cupcakeries around town and we love them, too. But people go completely nutty for Crave in a way that would suggest Crave had hidden the secret to eternal life somewhere in the fondant atop…
The 10 Best Metal & Punk Albums Too Rough for the Texas 30
So, the Texas 30 has been revealed at last. And it’s a good list, too: Well-considered, fair and complete. Even if a lot of the records that got picked tend to be a little… well, pussy, I guess is the word I’m looking for here. Rewind: The Texas 30 (cover…
Abby Wambach Nets a Brace as U.S. Women Rout China
Check out pics from the USA-China women’s soccer match in our slideshow. There’s something about the Houston air that brings out the best in the US Women’s National Soccer Team. Wednesday night, in front of 15, 643 fans at BBVA Compass Stadium, the ladies routed China 4-0. And if there’s…
Does Anybody Really Care About Psy’s Anti-American Rap?
When we all first saw “Gangnam Style” on YouTube and fell in love with South Korean sensation Psy, none of us could have imagined that a few months later we’d find out that he rapped in 2004 about killing Americans. Rewind: Why Psy and the Innocence of the Muslims Guy…
Video Game Atlas: Monstro Town
Once a week Art Attack will offer you a handy little travel guide to the fictional worlds of video games. Name: Monstro Town, Super Mario series Population: 42 Government: Collective run by an elder Having spent more time than I really cared to in Hope surrounded by violent, gun-happy ruralites,…
The Most Versatile Cookie in the World (Thanks, Rose Felice!)
If you and I have had a conversation about baking, we have likely talked about this cookie. In fact, I’ve already shared this recipe with you guys in a piece I wrote last summer about the Silpat baking mat. Rose Felice’s Magical Italian Cookies™ are quite simply the most perfect…
Ten Gifts for the Houston Sports Fan They Are Bound to Love
When you have a sports fan in your life, I mean a serious, hard-core fan, it can be tough to buy for them. Some of them seem to spend entire paychecks on sports gear and stuff related to their teams. Most have tickets to games and probably have a lot…
Our Top 5 Online Food Gifts for Christmas
Deciding what to send your loved ones living in other states is a difficult task. But there are online companies that will ship delicious food all over the country, and your friends and family are sure to love them. Here is our top-five list of online food gifts you can…
Craig Hlavaty’s 10 Best Houston Albums of 2012
It’s that time of year — or at least it has been since, like, November — for rock writers to show everyone else how cool they think they are with their year-end best-of lists. How obscure can you get? How controversial can you be with your choices? “If only Honey…
Oh! And a Second, Better Man of Steel Trailer? Yes, Please
Look, I was probably never not going to see Man of Steel next summer. I even sorta-kinda liked 2006’s Superman Returns, which seemed like a necessary evil. Hey man, Brandon Routh was almost too frat-house white to play Superman. Fun seeing Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, though. REWIND: Pop Rocks:…
Pop Rocks: Raising Daughters in the Wardrobe Malfunction Era
I want to congratulate Anne Hathaway, recent Screen Actors’ Guild nominee for her performance in Les Miserables, for breaking our long national drought of celebrity upskirt shots. It seems like only last month when one could count on a Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton or Ciara to flash us on an…
NBC Completes Move to the Dark Side as Comcast Steals Peacock
Having all these massive mergers of giant cable and entertainment conglomerates is confusing. It’s getting to be that it’s almost impossible to know who owns what anymore. In the world of journalism, it can get messy. There have been numerous reported instances of the big corporations behind the media companies…
The Eating…Our Words 100: Ellen Schwartz, Culinary Instructor & Private Chef
Who she is: Ellen Schwartz, better known as Chef Ellen, has been in the kitchen for as long as she can remember. A native Houstonian, she and her family have a long history in the food industry. Her father and grandfather — a butcher — owned the Riverside Market grocery…
The Rocks Off 100: Breye “7x” Kiser, Pillar of Houston Electrogoth
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. Who? Breye “7x” Kiser is best known as the driving force behind Provision, one…
Four-Year-Old in Critical Condition After Accidentally Shooting Self
A four-year-old boy is in critical condition at Memorial Hermann Hospital after accidentally shooting himself at around 11:40 p.m. Tuesday night, according to police. Reportedly, the boy was at home at 3201 Laura Koppe when he climbed onto a tall piece of furniture to reach a handgun that was hidden…
Is Gossip Girl an Existentialist Masterpiece?
This week the CW aired the second to last episode of its long-winded teen drama Gossip Girl. For six years now, the crème-de-la-crème of the Upper East Side of Manhattan have lived through some of the most ridiculous and absurd plots to ever appear in prime time. The show’s anti-heroes,…
The Top 25 Music Videos of 2012, Nos. 10-6
Now we’re getting into the real works of incredible genius that hit the Web this year, including one of the few major acts I deign to include on these lists (The art of mainstream music video production being all but dead after all). It’s a distinctly sexier set of selections…
Mac ‘n’ Cheese-Stuffed Egg Rolls at Muiishi Makirritos: The Day You’ve Been Waiting for Has Come
Admit that you were just waiting for the day when someone stuffed macaroni and cheese into an egg roll and shoved it at you through the window of a food truck. That day has come, my friends, and that egg roll can be found (and shoved into your mouth) at…
Trail of Slime: Tommy Tuberville Bolts Texas Tech for Cincinnati, Skips Out on Dinner Tab
This past Saturday night at the Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony in New York, ESPN host Chris Fowler was interviewing Notre Dame senior linebacker and Heisman finalist Manti Te’o about his mostly amazing, sometimes tragic senior season. Ever the positive thinker, Te’o at one point in the conversation gushed about how,…
The Biggest Surprises From the Texas 30 Ballots
Perusing the final ballots for the Texas 30 with a few highlighters this past week was a blessed odyssey into the past three decades of all things Texas music. For as many no-brainers as there were, there were plenty of head-scratchin’ exclusions. Rewind: The 30 Best Texas Albums (cover story)…
Blech the Halls: The Best/Worst Christmas Movies That We Can’t Stop Watching
Cable channels have been playing Christmas movies since the night after Halloween, and they won’t stop until New Year’s Day. Yes, I love Scrooged, Christmas Vacation and Bad Santa with all of my candy-coated soul, and I can even stand marathons of Elf and A Christmas Story, but sometimes I…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 French Fries
Guys. Hey, listen. We need to talk. It’s about the annual Best of Houston® issue. I think you know what you did. But the problem, you see, is that you keep doing the same thing almost every single year. Something has to change. Y’all keep voting for McDonald’s as “Best…
Let’s Get Greasy
Top 10 Fried chicken may be a Southern staple, but here in Houston we put our own unique twist on even the most basic of foods. That’s why our Top 10 list includes everything from Korean drumsticks to Middle Eastern wings — and, of course, a few classics to round…
Slouching Toward Erebor
Welcome back to Middle-Earth. It has been nearly a decade since writer-director Peter Jackson last set foot on J.R.R. Tolkien’s hallowed ground, signing off on a spectacular trilogy of films adapted from the British author’s Lord of the Rings novels. There were box-office billions and well-earned Oscars aplenty and then…
The Name Of That Paul McCartney/Nirvana Song Is “Cut Me Some Slack”
If you were watching the long, long, long Hurricane Sandy benefit on Wednesday night with The Who, Chris Martin, Kanye West, Billy Joel, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and Alicia Keys, then you more than likely stayed up late to see Paul McCartney play with the surviving members of Nirvana…
The Sword
Austin heavyweights The Sword released new album Apocryphon this past fall, further establishing their rep as one of the most influential metal bands of the past decade. As the Sword has progressed from 2006’s career-defining Age of Winters, their recordings have grown all the more challenging. Whereas Winters was pummeling…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Flying Solo,” “Gilad Efrat: Negev,” “Jonathan Faber: Surface,” “Peat Duggins: Wreaths”
“Flying Solo” One of my first reactions to seeing the names involved in “Flying Solo,” a new group exhibition at Art League Houston featuring Houston artists who aren’t represented by a commercial gallery, was surprise that so many of them aren’t represented. The seven artists included offer such unique, distinct…
Meet the Grinch
Highlights from Hair Balls Education MEET THE GRINCH Teacher tells kids there is no Santa. John Nova Lomax A few days ago, a five-year-old girl came home from Austin’s Pease Elementary School with a question for her dad. “Daddy,” she asked her father, “is Santa real?” Dad said yes, and…
Kinky
In the same class as Cafe Tacuba, Kinky is a Mexican alt-rock band no stranger to electronic music and hip-hop. The group formed in Monterrey in the late ’90s and has seen its star steadily rise, headlining Central Park’s SummerStage this past July during New York’s annual Latin Alternative Music…
Trish & Darin
Sunny folk-pop siblings Trish & Darin (Murphy) were one of Houston’s most popular local acts in the early and mid-’90s before being bitten by the Austin bug. They still visit about once a month in super-popular ’70s/’80s cover band Skyrocket!, but around the holidays revive Trish & Darin for some…
Capsule Stage Reviews: It’s a Wonderful Life, Kimberly Akimbo, Sanders Family Christmas, Sylvia, Viv!
It’s a Wonderful Life Old-time radio drama gets a nostalgic analog tune-up under Texas Repertory Theatre’s shrewd adaptation of Frank Capra’s Christmas-friendly movie (1946). In Joe Landry’s stage version, we’re the 1940s audience during a live radio broadcast of NYC station WBFR’s “Playhouse of the Air,” like something out of…
Sunrise & Ammunition
Sunrise & Ammunition’s new album Tesseract is one of the most amplified local albums of 2012. The trio, a self-described “mutation in the suburban gene pool,” benefits from production and mixing by NY-based producer Jesse Cannon (Menzingers, Man Overboard), who streamlines the harsher elements of S&A’s last two EPs into…
Special Navidad Gift Guide Edition
Dear Readers, Behold your favorite Mexican’s annual Christmas gift guide, where I give shout-outs to some of my favorite books that deserve your money this holiday season! And for once, I won’t recommend my books — ¡Ask a Mexican!, Orange County: A Personal History and Taco USA: How Mexican Food…
Clockwork Angels
Live Shots Most bands could never manage to come up with a concept album, let alone more than one. And certainly, any band that did have the chutzpah to make a concept album for their nineteenth release wouldn’t think of doing it nearly in its entirety on tour. Most bands…
The 30 Best Texas Albums
Enough about Townes Van Zandt already. No disrespect to the Fort Worth-born singer, who kick-started his career as an existential poet-musician in the folk clubs of Houston in the late ’60s and early ’70s and died 16 years ago next month. Van Zandt’s songs could be harshly realistic, achingly poetic…
Cuchara: Montrose Mexican
For more photos from Cuchara’s colorful interior, check out our slideshow. I realized a funny thing during my last visit to Cuchara, on a drizzly Tuesday night spent catching up with an old friend at the bar: Whether or not you like the food at Ana Beaven and Charlie McDaniel’s…
Houston’s Theater Scene a Very Stuffed Stocking
Once you’ve had your fill of Sugar Plums, Messiahs and Scrooges, there’s always room for more presents, so… Panto Mother Goose The latest installment of Stages Repertory Theatre’s annual Christmas “pantomimes” has a nimble score by David Nehls, but top-heavy book (though far nimbler lyrics) by Stages’ artistic director, Kenn…
David Chase Achieves His Rock-‘n’-Roll Dreams
David Chase looks like he wants to whack somebody. Not just anybody, mind you, but the middle-age guy with the bad dye job a few tables away from us in the Library Bar of the Regency Hotel. “Hiya!” bellows the dye job into his phone. “I’m sittin’ here watchin’ the…
Brian Setzer Orchestra
For the past few holiday seasons, Stray Cats front man Brian Setzer has been on the road playing hepped-up Christmas standards with his rockabilly orchestra. He even manages to work “Stray Cat Strut” into a slinky version of “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” while also paying homage to Chuck…
New Orleans Suspects
If you think New Orleans music can’t show you something new, or that the Neville Brothers, Meters, and the Radiators have funkdafied you as much as they can, give the New Orleans Suspects a try. As many N.O. musicians’ do, the five Suspects’ résumés can get a little lengthy and…
Marina & the Diamonds, Icona Pop
Somewhere between Katy Perry and Lana Del Rey on the 2012 girl-pop scale, the Welsh-bred Marina & the Diamonds make big-budget icy synth-pop that you can afford, without the candy-coated gimmickry. Perry comparisons will abound, but singer Marina Lambrini Diamandis is far sultrier and more scuffed-up than the California gurl…
