This Ubiquitous Santa-Worship Shall Not Keep Us From Posting!!
Sometime over the next two days, you’re going to feel the need to take a break from the relatives, get some alone time and turn on a computer.We’ll be here for you.No matter how boring your uncle’s stories might get, no matter how many intrusive questions your married cousin asks,…
O Pioneers!!! Roll Bus While On Tour in California
We got word early this afternoon through Punknews.org and our Twitter page that local indie-punkers O Pioneers!!! got into a van accident yesterday. The van rolled a few times on Interstate 80, which runs through the northern half of the US. No life-threatening or serious injuries were reported, but lead…
Hans’ Bierhaus Asks: “War (Huh) Yeah: What Is It Good For?”
You may not have known it, but a war has been brewing for five years between the residents of the Robinhood Condominums and the owners/patrons/performers at Hans’ Bierhaus, a bar with a big patio just outside Rice Village. Or, to hear Bierhaus owner Bill Cave tell is, it’s not so…
Gas Station Chicken
The gas station food trend is sweeping through Texas. Last week, Katharine Shilcutt tried gas station sushi on the corner of Jefferson and Hamilton. This week, we tried gas station chicken in Austin, Texas. The El Pollo Regio we visited is on the Northeast side of town near 290. It…
Sampler Plate: This Week In Food Blogs
Each week, we put together a sampler plate of the most interesting links from both local and national food blogs. Know a blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. Greens and Beans: Randy Rucker has announced yet another of his popular…
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
For our annual Houston Press Holiday potluck lunch, I decided to invent a new dish called “Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes.” I baked the sweet potatoes, and scooped them out of the skins just like you do when you’re making twice baked potatoes. But instead of sour cream and all that,…
2009 Concert Rewind, June: Roky Erickson, David Byrne, Heartless Bastards, Santigold, Clapton & Winwood, the Jenny Lewis Shushing and ’90s Alt-Rock Back from the Dead
New York Dolls, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, House of Blues, June 4: “What we got last night at the House of Blues was an hour-long set of sporadic and confounding re-workings of their bedrock material, and a whole helluva lot of middle-of-the-road bar rock from two dimming heroes…
Gettin’ Kinda Crowded — Texas Grows More Than Any Other State In Past Year
Further proof that we’re not being hit as hard in the Great Recession as some — Texas added more residents in the past 12 months than any state in the union, the Census Bureau reported today.Texas added 478,000 residents in the previous 12 months, beating out California, which added almost…
Pig Nipples, Part 1
We have been going to the Houston Farmers Market in Rice University on University Blvd. and Greenbriar almost every weekend since it started. Besides the best cup of coffee Houston has to offer, some amazing Indian food and organic fruits and vegetables, you can order some really fresh and flavorful…
In the Mix: DJ and Dance Music for the New Malaise, Part 1
The past year brought the worst economy since the malaise of the 1970s, and like that era, it also saw dance music sweep the nation. Lady GaGa, the Black Eyed Peas, Beyoncé and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs all dabbled in the sound. Even Michael Jackson was said to be working…
Christmas At The Bus Station Ain’t Exactly Like IAH Or Hobby
Photos by Paul KnightThe cab drivers were restless, sitting in their cars and vans along the street next to the Greyhound Bus Station near downtown. “This is the slowest Christmas I’ve ever seen,” Joseph Keener, a cab driver, told Hair Balls. “We’re sitting out here talking about stuff that happened…
Extra Fat and Zippy Meatballs
Did you know that you can request extra fat with your pho? A Pho Binh regular let me in on this secret recently. I tried it at Pho Binh, and the waitress knew exactly what I was talking about. She brought me a small bowl with green onions soaked in…
American Central Dust: The Americana Class of 2009, Part 2
5. Great Lake Swimmers, Lost Channels (Nettwerk) Great Lake Swimmers frontman Tony Dekker has written his fair share of heartbreaking, reverb-soaked ballads in the past, but Lost Channels finds him and his band also dabbling in Waterboys-style folk rock. What results is the Swimmers’ most varied and accessible recording to…
Game Time: Cranking Up The Skank-O-Meter, Your 2009 Boggsies
It’s December 23, and thus ’tis the season of “Best Of…” lists and “[fill in noun here] of the Year” rundowns. Bonus points for any year ending in the number 9 because that means we also get (drum roll please)….DECADE LISTS!! I am a total sucker for stuff like this;…
Eating Out on Christmas Day? What’s Open
There will be plenty of things open on Christmas Day besides just presents. So don’t despair if the Bumpus hounds eat your holiday turkey, you don’t feel like cooking dinner or you simply don’t celebrate a completely arbitrary day chosen as Christ’s birthday simply because it fell on a convenient…
8 Songs Guaranteed To Get Those Damn Relatives To Leave Already
But if I really say it, the radio won’t play it, Unless I lay it between the lines! – Peter, Paul and Mary, “I Dig Rock and Roll Music” We know, we know. It’s late Christmas evening, you’ve had a few too many glasses of nog. That turkey is starting…
Recipe: Granola
Instead of baking cookies or giving ornaments during the holiday season, we like to give little packs of granola. Everyone eats it, even if they’re on a diet, and it’s good to keep in your desk. This particular version uses raw honey to help with pesky seasonal allergies, as well…
Today’s Forecast: Cloudy With A Chance Of God-Awful Rap
We have seen some white rappers in our time. But they don’t come much whiter than Nick Kosir, morning weatherman on Beaumont’s Fox station. This apparently is Kosir’s third rap weathercast (Follow his tweets where he pimps himself heavily here.) It’s about on the level of some slightly tipsy Junior…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Ryan Pera of the Grove
Yesterday, we started a conversation with Chef Ryan Pera of the Grove. As promised, today we finish it up, even asking him about a pesky rumor we’d heard and shamelessly questioning him about his personal life. Eating Our Words: We have heard a little rumor about the burger recipe at…
Broadcast News — Press Members Attempt To Rock
You probably thought you were watching a Josie & the Pussycats remake last night on 39 News. Instead, it was the Houston Press Rocks Off Lego Rock Band party, with our Katharine Shilcutt, Craig Hlavaty and John Gray — along with a random audience member — attempting musical greatness…
It Was Hard Out Here For A Pimp. Latino Rap Made It Easier to Deal with the Decade.
If we had to pick one song to define the decade, we’d have to choose “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” by Three 6 Mafia. It was a hard decade for the people of this country. You had September 11, the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina and the financial crisis…
Pho Binh on Beamer
In this week’s Cafe review, we visit the funky trailer in South Houston that everybody who loves pho raves about. The front room only has three tables, but it’s a good place to sit because when no one is looking, you can sneak into the kitchen, which is right behind…
Artist of the Week: Our 10 Favorite Interviews of 2009
Out of the five weekly columns we’re responsible for writing each week, Artist of the Week is definitely one of our five favorites. Aren’t we clever? We get to talk/trade emails/Google Chat with all kinds of interesting, and sometimes uninteresting, people. Here we’re rehashing our ten favorite interviews of the…
A Report From The Houston Film Critics Awards
Last Saturday at the Museum of Fine Arts’ Brown Auditorium, the Houston Film Critics Society (of which yours truly is a member) held its third annual awards ceremony. It was a star-studded affair, if you consider the presence of one star sufficient to use the term.Here’s a list of the…
Saint Arnold’s To Offer Weekday Tours
Are you one of those poor people whose social calendar is just far too busy on Saturday afternoons to make the weekly Saint Arnold tours, but — for some reason — have weekday afternoons free? Then the brewery boys have great news for you! Starting in 2010, the brewery will…
How Many Times Will Otters Delay Houston Flights Before Something Is Done?
If we had a nickel for everytime we had to write an “Otter Delays Flight At Bush Intercontinental” story, we’d…be able to buy whatever costs five cents these days. (Answer: A shiny new nickel. Or an old one.)But believe us — we are going to be keeping an eye on…
Rocks Off On The News, And Not For Getting Arrested (This Time)
If you didn’t make it out to our Lego Rock Band party last night at Khon’s, you missed a hell of a good time. Did you know that a Lego Iggy Pop doesn’t look nearly as strung out as the real Iggy Pop? This truly is family-friendly entertainment. Check…
Brandon Rogers Makes A Move For The Aeros
The Aeros didn’t have many returning players, or veterans, when this season started. But there was one key player that returned, defenseman Brandon Rogers. Rogers has never been the flashiest of players for the Aeros, but he’s generally been a calming, steadying influence on those he’s been out on the…
Be Careful Handling The Books In The Clute Library
They’re pissing on the library books in Clute.KTRK reports that vandals have been hitting the library recently, and residents are scratching their heads about it all.”It just shows you where we are in the world today,” one patron said.The station offered no information on exactly which books were pissed on,…
Get Lit: Queen – The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock by Phil Sutcliffe
Coffee-table books on rock bands usually fall into one of two categories; either they’re chock-full of great visuals with very little textual information, or the book looks like the U.S. tax code with a few snapshots thrown in. Thankfully, music journo Sutcliffe got it right both ways with this work,…
Learning to Share
When you order the molcajete especial ($10.95) at Taqueria De Jalisco (408 Old Galveston Rd., 713-378-0059), you get two serving dishes, one a plate with guacamole, Spanish rice and refried beans, the other a molcajete — the traditional pestle used to grind spices in the Mexican kitchen — holding the…
79-Year-Old Woman Says HPD Gave Her A Beating
It was a steamy hot day in mid-August when 79-year-old Tillion Thomas was driving home after a church function. Suddenly, she saw police lights in her mirror. A cop was pulling her over for allegedly speeding.It was, however, anything but a routine traffic stop, claims Thomas. The retired school teacher…
All Of Sharpstown Mall’s Problems To Be Solved With Name Change
You know what’s been holding the Sharpstown Mall back? Its name.Which actually is “Sharpstown Center,” but no one we know calls it that. The almost-50-year-old mall has long hit hard times, with people convinced it’s not safe, or has any shops worth visiting.That will all change soon, when its owners…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Ryan Pera of the Grove
Eating Our Words recently stalked Ryan Pera, executive chef of the Grove, while he was shopping for fruits at the market, and now we’ve decided to bombard him with some questions. Rumors cleared, history revealed, and kitchen help praised: Eating Our Words: Could you give us a quick history of…
More Allegations Of Sexual Harassment And Abuse At The Houston Humane Society
In the wake of a sexual harassment lawsuit against Houston Humane Society Shelter Director Edward Perez, former HHS employees have told Hair Balls they were driven to quit because of Perez’s verbally assaultive behavior, condoned by Executive Director Sherry Ferguson and at least one board member.Describing Perez’s physical stature and…
Bar-B-Que Done Right
Tender ribs and spicy African-American-style beef links were the main attractions at the Bar-B-Que Done Right trailer on Saturday afternoon. Homemade pinto beans with lots of pork and peppers and an awesome creamy mashed potato salad were the outstanding sides. Gregory Carter, the proud proprietor of the shade tree barbecue…
2009 Concert Rewind, May: No Doubt, Dave Matthews, Fleetwood Mac, Steve Earle, Fischerspooner, Bob Log and, Um, BuzzFest
Dave Matthews Band, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, May 1: “It’s hard to label what exactly they do, but it can’t be called ‘jam.’ As limitless and expansive the bands who get stuck in that genre may be, folks like String Cheese Incident, O.A.R. and Dispatch cannot hold a flickering lighter…
Andalucia Tapas & Taverna
We felt pretty smart nabbing a spot near the kitchen for the standing-room-only grand opening of Andalucia Tapas & Taverna last week. The waiters had to get through us to reach the rest of the crowd (the poor suckers by the door surely went hungry). The cavernous restaurant, in the…
HoustonPress.com Throughout the Years
Thanks to the magic of the Wayback Machine (a.k.a. the Internet Archive, but we like saying “Wayback Machine” instead because it sounds like we actually traveled through time to bring you these images), you can see what just about any website once looked like at just about any given point…
Giant Watermelon Radishes
Here’s a radish that you could snack on for a few days. It’s called a watermelon radish. The first time I recall seeing one was at Soma, the upscale sushi restaurant on Washington. Here’s what I said about it in the review: “The salad came on a glass plate with…
Ask a Rapper: A Bunch of Local Rap Types Pick Their Best H-Town Songs of the Year
The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place – lots of times, you’re even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good- so once a week we’re going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Have something you always wanted to…
Game Time: My Plea To In-N-Out Burger…Let Me Speak For You
I host a sports talk show for a living, four hours a day, five days a week. That’s a lot of air time to fill, so you can imagine the number of hotly debated topics that arise during a regular twenty hour broadcast week. Just over the last few weeks…
Bronzing the Garbage: Good Reviews of This Decade’s Worst Albums
You’ve no doubt surmised this from previous articles, but poking around Metacritic is one of Rocks Off’s favorite ways to kill time. Recently, we had a look at their list of all-time lowest scores, and were surprised. We like to call music critics assholes, but we use the term “asshole”…
Bartender Chat – Nick Leone of Komodo’s
It has officially been two years and two weeks since Nick Leone moved to Houston. He’s not really a big-city type of guy, but he moved here after the economy in Florida started going downhill. “For a big city, Houston is a great town with really friendly people,” Leone told…
Survey Of Top Pop Culture Dogs Proves Aggies Have Skewed Priorities
The American Kennel Club is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, as you no doubt are well aware. (We’re still discussing how best to celebrate this momentous event; “ignoring it entirely” is the current leading option.)No such anniversary can be reached without marking it by some silly survey that includes…
How To Make The Perfect: Fudge
Note: This is a rerun of a popular post from last Christmas. We’d be remiss in not sharing our favorite fudge recipe this time of year. Enjoy and good luck in your fudge endeavors. My mother is known for many things, but chief among them is her famous Christmas fudge…
Mommy’s Little Monster: Songs To Remind You That Children are Inherently Evil
Like you, as Rocks Off grows older we have to come to terms with the fact that many of our friends are having children. Usually we can just scroll quickly past the offspring-related Facebook updates or send those 12-MB emails containing brood photos into the Trash folder unread. No harm,…
The Shameless Chef: Happy Holiday Uncookies
Happy Holidays! And no, that’s not just political correctness talking; there happens to be plenty of holidays besides Christmas in December, including St. Stephen’s Day and the Emperor’s Birthday. Whatever you’re celebrating, you’ll enjoy these simple dessert treats you can make with the kids… although you probably shouldn’t let them…
American Central Dust: The Americana Class of 2009, Part 1
We spent 2009 sorting through piles of folk and Americana releases, revising this list in our heads till the bitter end and failing repeatedly to understand the hype behind the Avett Brothers in the process. While a year of listening brought no shortage of pleasant surprises, our hands-down favorite release…
Business Is Booming In The DWI-Arrest Industry
It might not be as helpful as a huge increase in retail sales, but the Harris County DA’s office is reporting a big spike in DWI arrests last weekend. (We guess it could be considered “helpful” if you were driving on the same road as some of those arrested.)The second…
First Look at Canopy
Another new restaurant, another Sunday brunch “preview” in its opening days. This time, we landed at Canopy, Claire Smith’s latest culinary endeavor (her most well-known being Shade, on 19th Street in the Heights). And landed is certainly an apt way to put it.The interior of what used to be Salud!…
Sexy (We Guess) Cell Phone Pictures Land Tomball Teen In “Alternative Education”
Jennifer Mendoza of Tomball doesn’t mind that faculty at Klein ISD confiscated her daughter’s cell phone for using it during school, but she cares a great deal that school officials searched through the phone afterward, potentially violating her daughter’s civil rights.In a federal lawsuit filed earlier this month in Houston…
Coogs’ Shooting Touch Returns
All that it took for the Houston Cougars to recover from their last-minute loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon was a phone call and a little trap. And recover the team did nicely, defeating The Citadel last night 81-58.The phone call in question was placed by one…
Distant Early Warning: Fiery Furnaces, Keb’ Mo, Merle Haggard/Kris Kristofferson, Warped Tour and the First iFest Names
Billy Joe Shaver: Thu., March 11. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Cody Canada, Kyle Hutton: Tue., Jan. 26. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons, Dawes, Jason Boesel: Fri., March 5. Rudyard’s. David Knopfler: Fri., May 7. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. The Fiery Furnaces: Fri., Jan. 29. Walter’s…
Pop Rocks: Your George Bailey-Free Christmas Viewing List
Christmas, Christmas time is here. Time for ulcers to bleed freely and the roughly 22 percent of the U.S. population who identify themselves as “other than Christian” to smile through clenched jaws and wait for the adult contemporary stations to stop playing Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.”It’s…
My Organic Dirt Patch: Egyptian Onions
I finally got some greenery into my new organic garden by transplanting some Egyptian onions. Jim Sherman had too many of them in one of his gardens, so he gladly gave me some. Egyptian onions are more or less idiot-proof, which makes them perfect for a neophyte gardener such as…
Aftermath: Stryper Shout At The Devil at the House of Blues
This year, Aftermath has seen all strains of metal: From Slipknot and Mastodon’s metallic beatdowns at Verizon Wireless Theater, to The Sword’s kindly menacing sludge jams at the inaugural Summerfest, to the force of power that is Motorhead at Warehouse Live, and all the way back to Walter’s on Washington…
You, Too, Can Be a Successful Cyberstalker!
In the age of Brightkite, transparency and TMI, anyone can wrangle and fulfill his or her aspirations of becoming a stalker. Just showing up in the right uniform to the game of life can freak plenty of people out, depending on what’s hanging out or strapped onto your person. But…
Do’s & Don’ts For The (Alleged, ALLEGED) “High-Priced” Hooker Getting A Mugshot
Houston cops recently arrested a group of what the media described as “high-priced call girls” at a private event at a Midtown club.”This is a party that was organized on a Web site that caters to mainly prostitution,” said Lt. C. Vasquez with HPD’s vice division. Police said they managed…
Get Lit: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D. G. Kelley
Though his stature as an icon of jazz is secure today, for much of his actual performing life, pianist/composer Thelonious Monk was not always so well-received by jazz critics or general fans. His personal eccentricities – the hats, the dancing, the attacking piano keys – and odd/unprofessional behavior (whether real,…
Where Are We Drinking?
This intimately melancholy and desperate scene looks straight out of a Hunter S. Thompson book, if Thompson lived in Houston and drank Lone Star. Can you guess in what shell of civilization we were drinking this week? Leave your best guess in the comments section below…
Valley Of Viagra And Vengeance: Did Septuagenarian Sex For Pay At Edinburg Adult Day-Care Lead To Two Deaths?
Maybe there’s a little too much Viagra coursing through the Rio Grande Valley these days. How else is there to explain this crime of passion at the Pride and Joy adult day care center last week in Edinburg? A 76-year-old man who shot a romantic rival at an adult daycare…
Texas High School Rock Off Deadline Extended to December 30
…at midnight. Everything else you need to know is here; you just have more time to practice now…
Wrongly Imprisoned For A Decade, He’s Free And Wants Restitution
Ever wonder how much almost 11 years of your life might be worth? If you’ve been wrongfully thrown in prison for a crime you never committed, the number comes out to a little more than $850,000, or $80K a year. At least that’s how much Richard Sturgeon is seeking in…
Beer, Pizza and Monster Truck Racing at Spaghetti Western
We were on North Shepherd last week and stopped into the Spaghetti Western Italian Cafe to start off my day. We began with a house-made bellini — vodka and peach schnapps is a great way to get things going. We spotted the Italian nachos — fried wonton chips covered with…
Aftermath: The Jonbenet Goes Out In a Fine Frenzy at Walter’s
Saturday night saw the last show from Houston via Sugar Land’s The Jonbenet, who quite nearly tore apart Walter’s on Washington with a 15-song set covering the band’s history from 2003 on. Lead singer Michael Murland whipped the crowd into a fine frenzy, with the pit churning and dripping with…
Beer Nerds Rejoice
Typically we would never celebrate a prominent distributor of Anheuser-Busch beers (or even mention that dreaded name), but we can make an exception for something this cool. Fort Worth-based Ben E. Keith Beverage, the nation’s third-largest beer wholesaler, has partnered with other distributors to launch what will surely become every…
Cold-Case Arrest Of An Obvious Suspect Might Solve 29-Year-Old Murder
Photo courtesy HCSOOn March 26, 1980, Glen Clary reportedly took up a game of pool with a guy named Wilmer Joe Nichols at an east Harris County bar called the Maverick Club. Nichols had been flashing a wad of money. The two men allegedly left the club together, and Nichols’…
Donut Patrol: Dim Sum Sesame Rolls
Hot sesame balls, with their chewy pastry exterior and sweet gooey sweetened bean filling, taste like Chinese jelly doughnuts. We often ask for two orders of hot sesame balls when we first sit down at the table for a dim sum brunch. The sweetened bean-filled sesame balls are so popular…
Wine of the Week – Texas Hills Vineyard
2009 was not a great year for the Texas Hills Vineyard crop. With three weekends of 80 degree weather in January followed by a hard freeze, Texas Hills lost all its crop for 2009. Not to worry, though, they still have plenty of wine to sample and buy at their…
R.I.P., Legendary Laff Stop: Saturday Was The Day The Laffter Died
The Laff Stop is closed … forever. On Saturday, the legendary club — that gave rise to national names such as Sean Rouse, Brett Butler and Ralphie May — ended it’s nearly-three-decade run of comedy in Houston. In other words, it’s now The Laff Stopped. (What? Too soon?) But seriously…
2009 Concert Rewind, April: Springsteen, Jandek, Morrissey, The Faint, iFest, Cake… and Nickelback
Kevin and Dustin Welch, McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, April 2: “Dustin (son of Kevin) Welch stunned the sparse crowd at the Duck last night from the first note of “One False Move,” the brilliant opener to his new album, Whisky Priest. While the graying crowd had mostly come to hear the…
Game Time: Brett Favre’s Record Is 1-2 This Season…Look It Up!
“Chain of command is very important in our thing.” — Tony SopranoIn the fifth season of The Sopranos, a bunch of old-time gangsters are released from prison back into the wild of North Jersey and the greater New York City area. Feech LaManna (played beautifully by gravely voiced silver-screen vet…
Reminder: Rocks Off’s Free Lego Rock Band Party at Khon’s Tomorrow
Tomorrow night at Khon’s, Rocks Off lets you open up your first Christmas present of the season, our brand new copy of Lego Rock Band. We promise that you won’t have to kiss any of us on the cheek afterwards or write a detailed thank-you note like your Mom would…
Kitchen with a Revolving Door
Simposio chef Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio has resigned after three months on the job. Manager Roberto Militello says Simposio will continue with its existing kitchen staff for now and that owner Vasco Luti may look for a new chef after the first of the year. When I reviewed Simposio in January of…
Texas Traveler: The Battle of Galveston
As you’re nursing your New Year’s Hangover, take a moment to think about the soldiers who, 147 years previous, were fighting their brethren on both land and sea in the early part of the Civil War. The Galveston Historical Foundation will host a handful of tours on the weekend following…
Low Points Dominate the Decade for Houston’s Latino Rappers
Sunday, Rocks Off crept down Little York on the “Nawf” side of H-Town to scope out Northside rider Big Cease’s video production of “So Off the Chain,” featuring Dat Boy X of Dallas and Houston’s Lucky Luciano (above). Sure enough, Houston’s underground scene was in full effect to provide support…
Gingerbread Architecture at Caroline Collective
This has been a year for non-traditional gingerbread houses in Houston. The gingerbread dog houses at Voice kicked off the season earlier this month, and Caroline Collective all but finished it off with its first annual Gingerbread Build-Off. The concept came from Caroline Collective co-founder Ned Dodington, who works with…
The 10 Biggest Non-Bummers Of The Decade In Houston
We recently took a look at the 10 Biggest Bummers of Houston’s Decade; in the spirit of equal time (and the season), we now offer the 10 Biggest Non-Bummers of the Oughts.This being Houston, some of these happy developments have a not-so-happy side, but that’s to be expected, we suppose.Are…
Manchego & Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
So what do you do when your recently unemployed boyfriend brings home a 10-pound wheel of manchego cheese that was given to him as a parting gift by the now-defunct restaurant that he used to bar-manage? Well, we were recently forced to answer that question, and the answer basically entails…
What Would Jesus Jam? Christian Bands Who Found Secular Success
Save for a few modern screamo bands like Underoath and the rap-rocking P.O.D., few Christian rock bands have had has as much an impact in mainstream secular music than the Bible-flinging Stryper. In the mid to late ’80s the band was the premier Holy Ghost-filled metal band during a time…
Most Menacing Fugitive Ever On The Loose In Area: Really, Don’t Try To Apprehend This Dude On Your Own
A lot of times when you read a report about a fugitive, that part about how “the subject should be considered armed and dangerous: do not attempt to apprehend” seems like a mere formality. That is decidedly not the case when it comes to 41-year-old Montgomery County parolee David McIntyre,…
Turning The Screw: Our Five Favorite Rap Storylines of the Year
Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off’s weekly rap post. It probably won’t rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. For the past year, every Monday we’ve tallied the week’s most relevant happenings in rap (rappenings?) and packaged them nicely here for you…
Houston Gets Three Spots In The Decade’s Pantheon Of Great New York Post Headlines
Even if you have no idea what Phil Mushnick and Andrea Peyser have in common (answer: they’re both New York Post columnists), you’re probably aware of the great and noble tradition of tasteless, eye-grabbing headlines written by the New York tabloid. “Headless Body in Topless Bar” and all that. The…
Purple Kohlrabi
I grabbed some fresh purple kohlrabi at the Last Organic Outpost community garden last Saturday. There’s lots of kohlrabi in the farmer’s markets this time of year. It’s a cold-weather vegetable that’s related to cabbage and much beloved by Eastern Europeans (my people). Kalarabeleves is the name of a traditional…
Lonesome Onry and Mean: Looking Ahead to Jonathan Richman, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Scott Miller and Lots More
While doing our usual hunt for interesting acts coming to Houston in the next few weeks, Lonesome Onry and Mean came across some great stuff coming to Continental Club and McGonigel’s Mucky Duck. The brainy, always quirky Jonathan Richman will be at the Continental Saturday, January 29. An origianl member…
Coogs Lost Their Shooting Touch This Weekend
The bench did not show up for the Houston Cougars Saturday afternoon. Their three-point shooting ability took the afternoon off. Kelvin Lewis and Adam Brown struggled from the field the entire day. And Aubrey Coleman had a flash back to the days of Phi Slama Jama where making a free…
Ay, Mami – Ponche de Leche Cubano
Cubans are people who know what they want: sugar and booze made from sugar. Well, and maybe a little dead pig, but more on that later… When we mentioned the possibility of having contracted a slight case of H1N1 to our mother, it really should have come of no surprise…
Aftermath: Billy Bob Thornton’s Boxmasters, and Special Guest Billy Gibbons, at Fitzgerald’s
A sad part of being a major celebrity and starting a rock band on the side is that inherently people will show up out of nowhere to see your band and ignore your music because they just want to see “you.” Sometimes the music somehow ends up overshadowing the celebrity…
The Week in TV: We Can Only Mock the Living
It’s almost Christmas, I’m tired of shopping, and I keep yelling “sharkfarts” at everyone. This was the week in TV Land: • Most of the major shows and networks were in repeats this week, which threw my viewing habits off a bit. It’s not like I only watch the big…
Where Are We Eating?
Last week’s Where Are We Eating was a bit of a stumper, so hopefully this week’s will prove slightly easier. Can you guess where the hot little pile of noodles below came from? Bonus points if you can guess the dish… Leave your best attempt in the comments section below…
Eyeballin’: Little Feat and Meat Loaf Via Rockin’ German TV Show Rockpalast
We can blame the Germans for a lot of things. World War I…World War II…”99 Luftballoons.” But classic rock fans can at least thank them for Rockpalast. Running on German TV and broadcast throughout much of Europe since the mid-’70s, “Rockpalast” has presented concert-length shows from hundreds of performers in…
Texans 16, Rams 13: Staying Alive
It’s often noted how the difference between the 7-7 Texans and an 11-3 powerhouse is two Kris Brown kicks and two conversions of a single yard. Turns out, the difference between 7-7 and 1-13 isn’t all that great, either. As the Texans seem to do in late-season road games where…
The Best and Worst Christmas Specials of All Time
Every winter brings the onslaught of family tension, shopping, and that most American of pastimes, the Christmas special. They’re typically half an hour, though they can be longer, and they often take characters from an already-established world and run them through the gauntlet of festivities surrounding the holidays. The best…
At Last, Saint Arnold Reopens for Tours
After a nearly two month delay caused by inspection holdups, Houston’s biggest microbrewery is up and running for tours in its brand new locations. Saint Arnold’s new facility at 2000 Lyons is bigger and better than the old warehouse location off Highway 290, which means it can accommodate even more…
Last Call For Art: Photos From Around The World; Daniel Johnston
Wendy Watriss, artistic director for FotoFest, sums up the “International Discoveries II” exhibit nicely: “It forces our attention on the single image, an object or a single moment in life,” she says. “Against the currents of instant replay and digital animations, “International Discoveries” gives voice to … the beauty of the paper-based…
Openings and Closings
Two long-awaited restaurants have finally opened in the past week, just in time for the not-so-busy Christmas season. Here’s your chance to check them both out before the masses pack into them come January. Canopy (3939 Montrose) is Claire Smith’s second restaurant. She currently owns and runs Shade, and Canopy is…
Online Stuff You Gotta Do After Being Dumped
He was the sun in your sky, the cream in your coffee, the spring in your step. When you awoke, your first thought was of his embrace, whether you were tangled in it or not. Every evening before you slumbered, he was the last image to cross your weary mind,…
This Week in Deliciousness
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we’ve decided to keep all these sausage and cheese Christmas gift baskets for ourselves. Jane Catherine Collins certainly helped us get this week started off right with her top 5 holiday hangover cures. After spending a late night…
2009 Concert Rewind, March: Erykah Badu, Britney, Billy Joel & Elton John, A Baybrook Beatdown and A Whole Lotta Rodeo
Rascal Flatts, Reliant Stadium, March 3: “It’s almost devious how much these guys sweetened and tune their songs up, close to the point of an almost automaton-like perfection. Each song is custom-built like a souped-up hot rod, with almost no flourish or guitar vamp going to waste.” Craig Hlavaty Alan…
Arguably the Best Oyster in the World
When I compared a Totten Inlet Virginica (left), a Galveston Bay select (middle) and an Apalachicola oyster (right), I had to agree that the Totten Inlet oyster from Washington was the sweetest and saltiest of the three. Jon Rowley, the Washington State seafood marketing guru who masterminded the Copper River…
Bad Santa: Clear Lake Shores Saint Nick Accused Of Indecency With Child
Last week 45-year-old Glenn Roy Klusendorf was Santa Claus at a Clear Lake Shores farmers market. This week, he is an inmate in Galveston County Jail, where he sits charged with indecency with a child, sexual contact and sexual exposure.Klusendforf, who was arrested at the Clear Lake Shores home he…
The Music of True Blood, Episode 1.10: Cowboy Junkies and a Brief Lesson In Murder Balladry
Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He’s lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood – which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. With Season 2 just completed,…
A New Menu at Pagoda?
In July, Robb Walsh got a huge authentic Vietnamese lunch for only $13 at Pagoda Vietnamese Bistro & Bar (4705 Inker St.). But since Robb last visited, the menu has changed – now it’s more tapas-style. So we decided it was time for another visit to figure out what Vietnamese…
Game Time: Texans’ Playoff-Rooting Manifesto 2.0
“So you’re saying there’s a chance…” — Lloyd ChristmasA couple weeks ago, when the Texans were sitting at 5-6, I spent the better part of about four hours constructing an easy-to-follow guide for Texans fans to know whom to root for in games throughout the balance of the season in…
Mexican Marmalade
My friend Ed Cooper is a financial consultant. I was hoping for a hot stock tip for Christmas, but instead he gave me Mexican fruits. Ed grew up in Brownsville eating these Conserva Valdez conserves. They are fairly unusual-looking, but quite good. The orange conserves contain big pieces of orange…
What’s In a Name? Psychobilly Undertakers 13 Black Coffins
It’s a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off, we’re trying hard to decode Houston’s oddest monikers in order to find a little meaning. Psychobilly is a genre whose entire purpose, in our opinion, is to achieve maximum delinquency, like a grindhouse trailer…
Do Yo Time: Willie D Pleads Guilty to Wire-Fraud Charges
The Willie D iPhone international fraud case is over, and the rapper has pled guilty. This morning the Geto Boys MC and Dirty South pioneer went before District Court Judge Gray Miller at a hearing and confessed to posing as an electronics salesman and using eBay to establish his credibility…
He’s Not a Gentleman: Willie D Pleads Guilty In Wire Fraud Case
The Willie D iPhone international fraud case is over, and the rapper has plead guilty. This morning the Geto Boys MC and Dirty South pioneer went before District Court Judge Gray Miller at a hearing and confessed to posing as an electronics salesman and using eBay to establish his credibility…
Recipe: Hanukah Miracles
Hanukah Miracles are a traditional Jewish German Hanukah recipe. They are crispy and soft little fried biscuits that are a little dry by themselves, but tasty with coffee or tea or with honey. These are not the most typical Hanukah food, but they invoke nostalgia for those familiar with them…
Friday Night Noise: The 10 Best Noise Records of the 2000s
Here are Friday Night Noise’s favorite ten 00s noise albums, in no particular order. Was this an easy list to make? Fuck no. 1. Various Artists, Women Take Back The Noise (UBUIBI) Roughly 10,000 noise compilations were issued in the 00s, but how many came with a noise-making device? How…
Coog Basketball Fever! Catch It For Free! With Food, Drinks & Sean Pendergast
The Houston Press has a suite at Hofheinz Pavilion, and we feel like sharing the love.So we’re giving away 10 tickets to the UH-UTEP basketball game January 13. You not only get the tickets, you not only get free food and drinks, you not only get to marvel at Tom…
Texas Traveler: P. Terry’s Burgers, Austin
I put the car in reverse and started backing up through the drive-through lane at P. Terry’s in Austin. The guy behind me honked his horn. My traveling companions screamed, “Watch out!” But I didn’t care. “These fries are cold,” I told the guy in the drive-though window, handing him…
Dan O’Bannon, R.I.P. (Yes, You Know His Work)
Dan O’Bannon passed away yesterday. Who? You may be asking, like the ignorant hipsters you are. O’Bannon got his start writing the screenplay and designing the F/X for Dark Star, one of John Carpenter’s first movies. Doesn’t ring a bell? He also worked on the computer effects for a little…
Five Spot: We Beat Down a Burglar, and New Music From Paul, Jay’Ton, Devin, Bun, Pimp and Coota
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we’ll examine a recent bit of music news and, albeit sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. It’s five videos and occasional cussing. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. I caught somebody trying to break into my house Wednesday. And I punched…
Coffee Bean Review: El Salvador Santa Rita Peaberry
Cuvee Coffee, a local roaster out of Spicewood, Texas, sent us a Salvadoran coffee to try, and it is exemplary. The Santa Rita peaberry coffee was a gift from farmer Jose Antonio Salaverria to Cuvee for years of support on his farm. He went through more than 6,000 pounds of…
The DA’s Victims Rights Division Becomes A Victim Itself
A year ago, the Houston Press looked into restitution in the state parole system and discovered that in 90 percent of the cases, victims never get all the money that was owed to them.While we can’t vouch for the percentage, it looks like victims counting on the Harris County District…
Rob G: Houston’s Great Brown Hope
Step into the hip-hop elevator of the Dirty South with Rocks Off. We’re going on a field trip. Don’t worry. We’ll let you “press the button.” Right now we are on floor “B,” which stands for basement…more like rap basement, where Houston’s Latino rap underground is bubbling with heat ready…
Laredo May Become Country’s Largest City Without A Bookstore
The dusty border town of Laredo is losing its B. Dalton bookstore, like a lot of other cities across the nation.The thing is, the B. Dalton is the only bookstore in Laredo. And the Associated Press says that will likely make the city the largest in America without a bookstore.Schoolchildren…
Late Night Scene: Saint Dane’s
We could probably tell you every bar inside the loop that serves Miller High Life, the champagne of beers. We’re happy to report that Saint Dane’s (502 Elgin) is one of these bars. But it also serves shots in plastic cups, which is a personal peeve of ours. We mean,…
The Other Winners And Losers Of The 2009 Election
Every election cycle, there are winners and there are losers. 2009 is no different. Here is a list of winners and losers and brief reason why.WinnersGarnet Coleman — He was one of the few African-Americans that supported Annise Parker when she began her career. He stuck out his neck once…
The Man Comes Around: Top Ten Big-Deal Musical Deaths of the Decade
This past decade saw the passing of an innumerable amount of musical icons and pioneering giants. Not only did we lose the second coolest Beatle, but we lost two of the best dancers and performers the world will ever see. Punk rock and metal saw some of their best and…
$7 at Yia Yia’s Roadster Grill
Where: Yia Yia’s Roadster Grill, 5210 Bissonnet, 713-432-1800 What $7 gets you: A fat, sloppy Avocado ‘n’ Swiss burger ($5.50) with fries or onion rings ($1.25, if paired with a sandwich), or a Philly steak sandwich ($6.95). Tucked in the confusing tangle that is the Bellaire/Bermuda triangle, this bright-blue establishment…
Eyeballin’: The Zombies, Odessey and Oracle: The 40th Anniversary Concert
Here’s a Classic Rock Math Query: Which British Invasion band, if you took the length of their career and amount of recorded output and juxtaposed it against the overall quality of their material, would end up as the “best” group? With all due respect to fans of the Beatles, Stones,…
The Week in Photos
Christmas is nearly here, which means Houston has wound down for the holidays. But the talented photographers in our Flickr pool have been as busy as ever, capturing our winter scenes and the holiday cheer. For more information about a picture, including its subject and photographer, simply click on it…
Tough Stretch For UH Begins This Weekend
The Cougar basketball team is taking on the Mississippi State Bulldogs tomorrow afternoon, and it’s this game, probably more than any other non-conference game, that head coach Tom Penders has been pointing his guys toward. This is the game he discussed the most in off-season chats, and it’s this game…
Last Chance for Free Wine Tasting Tickets
As promised, we’re giving you one more chance to win a pair of tickets to this weekend’s highly anticipated Holiday Wine Tasting bash at Sonoma, taking place on December 19 from 6 to 11 p.m. The tickets are a $90 value and include samples of 40 different beers, wines and…
The Last Day of Giftmas: Fashion
Sick of corporate Christmas? Try shopping local. Hair Balls presents a 12-part series highlighting ideas for holiday gifts made and sold in Texas.So the Twelve Days of Giftmas are winding down and you only have one more week to shop for your Christmas / Hanukkah / Muharram / Solstice /…
Food Fight: Battle Hot Chocolate
Lately, our food fights have been both adventurous and, well, about food. It’s been a while since we focused on comfort food and even longer since we focused on drinks. And with the horribly drizzly and cold weather this past week, Eating Our Words has wanted nothing more than a…
2009 Concert Rewind: SXSW 09 Revisited, Broken Arm and Everything Else
Balaclavas: “On the way to see Houston’s own Balaclavas at the Independent to debut new stuff off the soon-to-be released Roman Holiday, I abruptly hit a curb with my bicycle. Luckily my elbow took one for the team. Well, it ended up getting fractured and I have all kinds of…
Making Your Own Tamales?
Masa from fresh nixtamal is getting hard to find, but there’s nothing like it for making your own tamales. Here’s a video on how it’s made and where to find it…
Transvestites Are Robbing Banks In Wharton. Wharton?
The FBI usually tries hard to come up with a catchy nickname or description for the bank robbers they seek, but this time the robber did all the work himself.We’re guessing — and we freely admit we could be wrong — that the population of black transvestites in the sleepy…
What Constitutes a Killer Show? Six Personal Case Studies
Rocks Off is going to suck it up and go on the record as saying we had a great time at the Lady Gaga drag karaoke event last Sunday at Guava Lamp. Perhaps it was just the impaired judgment induced by the holiday cheer we’d imbibed at the Christmas party…
The Italian-Cuban Sandwich
While the Akaushi burger at Logan Farms didn’t knock my socks off, a new sandwich there called the “Cuban pesto” did. It’s not hard to imagine that a roast pork, ham and cheese sandwich would taste pretty damn good with the Italian paste of garlic, basil, pine nuts and olive…
Recipe: Noodle Kugel
Noodle kugel is part sweet noodle pudding dessert, part side dish. This is not fried, but it’s still a staple (you’ll see it at pretty much any potluck you will ever go to at a synagogue), and something we still make nearly every Hanukkah. This version is significantly less sweet…
Investigation Into HFD Scandal Conducted Improperly, Lawyer Says
The case of the two women firefighters who claimed that over the summer they discovered sexist and racist slurs written on the walls of their fire station is heating up again. And this time it involves accusations about a judge, an assistant district attorney, and a potentially improper secretive court…
Someone Is Driving Around In a Cherry El Camino That Does Not Belong to Them
From Hands Up Houston this morning: Someone stole Kirston Otis’s sweet red-and-white vintage El Camino (license BB77SD) from in front of his house last night. You may remember this particular car from the last two Westheimer Block Parties – it’s the one we’ve been running sound out the back of…
Happy Hour Scene: Ruby Tequila’s
The large group of drunk people on the patio at Ruby Tequila’s somehow managed to open the garage door that separates the bar from the outdoor area, and when they threw it open, letting in a cold blast of air, another large group of drunk people inside yelled in unison,…
Angry Residents Trash-Talk Clear Lake-area Civic Association President
Residents of the Bay Oaks subdivision (in the Clear Lake area) are fed up with their community association and they aren’t gonna take it anymore. Over 300 showed up last Wednesday at an impromptu meeting at the Bay Oaks Country Club that was called after a petition had been signed…
News You Can Use From Ye Olde House of Blues
Back around Labor Day, you may remember that the Tontons played a free show in House of Blues’ Bronze Peacock Room that the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau filmed for a promotional video. Bless their hearts, the GHCVB is trying to “change the world’s perception of Houston”… good luck…
Sampler Plate: This Week In Food Blogs
Each week, we put together a sampler plate of the most interesting links from both local and national food blogs. Know a blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. Dude, You Going To Eat That? Dr. Ricky has been quite prolific…
Suck It, Dallas: The Rodeo Outdraws The State Fair
The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo was the nation’s biggest fair in 2009, an industry publication has declared.Carnival Warehouse, which sounds like the kind of place that has cheap late-night advertising for kuh-waaazy prices on merry-go-rounds, but is actually a publication that tracks the fair industry, said the Rodeo had…
He Said She Said: Music From the Past Decade of Our Lives, Part 2
She Said remembers being a little kid, thinking to herself, In the year 2000, you’re going to be 20 YEARS OLD. Thinking of how old that would feel like and how far away it seemed. In truth, She Said feels no different today than she did ten years ago, but…
Wine of the Week: Discount Wines
Here at Eating Our Words, we drink a lot of wine. Probably too much, to be honest, but who’s watching? Unfortunately, it can take a toll on our wallets. So, until we win the lottery or find an aging billionaire to support us, we will keep buying our discount deliciousness…
Game Time: Five NBA Games That Need “Dollar Beer Night”
Back in the day, Arco Arena in Sacramento used to rock pretty good. Even when it was hosting a perennially lottery-bound squad, and the Sacramento brass was drafting the likes of Pervis Ellison first overall in 1989 and Bobby Hurley in the 1993 lottery, fans would still show up and…
Sammy’s at 2016 Main Announces Partial Closure Until June
Rocks Off received an e-mail late Wednesday afternoon detailing the temporary partial closure of venerable downtown nightspot Sammy’s at 2016 Main coming after the club’s New Year’s Eve festivities with Sammie Relford and Faye Robinson & the Mid-City Players. The venue, open since 2005, sent out a press release titled…
Worst Impersonation Of A Police Officer, Ever
The police pull you over because you’re swerving “all over the road.” Fair enough.But this wasn’t your typical DWI. For one thing, the arrestee was riding a bicycle. For the other, he got charged not only with public intoxication, but with impersonating a police officer — all because the thrift-shop…
In the Little Stalls Behind Canino’s: Tejocote
Mexican hawthorn is the English name of the fruit called tejocote in Mexico. I had never seen them before I ran across a bunch in the stalls behind Canino’s. When I picked one up and tried to eat it, the owner of the produce stall looked horrified. You don’t eat…
Cutout Bin: France’s Biggest Rock Star in Fight For Sa Vie
The world’s biggest rock and roll star you’ve never heard of is now in an L.A. hospital, recovering from botched surgery. Johnny Hallyday is one of the most famous men in the French-speaking world. He rose to stardom in the early 1960’s doing Francophone covers of American rock and roll…
Aeros Fight Fatigue To Gain In The Standings
The Houston Aeros were playing their fourth game in six nights — their third game in four nights — and they were a tired team. For some teams, that’s a bad thing.But the Aeros aren’t most teams. Kevin Constantine-coached teams play better when they’re tired. And last night, a tired…
What the Oughts Brought: Top 10 Innovations and Trends
What funny food trends have marked the last decade? And what innovations do we hope carry us into the middle ages of the millennium? Here are a few things that have kept our tongues wagging. Innovation: Molecular Gastronomy Molecular gastronomy seeks to use scientific principles to understand and improve food…
He Said She Said: Albums From the Past Decade of Our Lives
When this decade began, He Said was but 15 years old, bored, jobless and chubby. It ends with him 26, overworked, overstimulated and chasing away his self-imposed demons with too much of everything and too little of most things. But the one constant has been the power of music to…
Jay Rusovich Goes InsideOut To Get His Photos
Hair Balls recently spoke with photographer Jay Rusovich by phone. The New Orleans native now lives in Houston and he’s released a new book, InsideOut. There’s an art exhibit of the same name currently at the Deborah Colton Gallery. Rusovich talked us through a few of the photographs viewers will…
Bayou Body Count: A Man’s Apartment Is His Castle
If you’re going to rob someone in their home at gunpoint in good ol’ gun-toting Houston, you better know what you’re doing, and you better be prepared to die.At least that’s the lesson one would-be-robber learned last Friday evening.According to police, a man forced his way into an apartment at…
Brew Blog: Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale
This week’s adventure into a random beer (Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale from North Coast Brewing Co. in Fort Bragg, Calif.) has one key justification. This past Sunday, December 13, was the day in 1789 on which the Austrian Netherlands declared independence as Belgium, starting the history of a…
The H-Town Countdown, No. 6: Scarface’s Mr. Scarface Is Back
Roughly 84,000 rap albums have been released in Houston since 1989. We’re counting down the 25 best of all time every Thursday. Got a problem with the list? Shove it. Just kidding. Friendship. Email it to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Scarface Mr. Scarface Is Back (Virgin, 1995) There’s this phenomenon referred to as…
Pop Rocks: Yoiks and Away
When (if) you think of Robin Hood, you probably recall the devil-may-care outlaw in Lincoln-green tights who fought the forces of medieval oppression with a longbow and a band of merry men. If you’re lucky, you’ve caught Errol Flynn’s definitive performance in 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood, or Douglas…
I Hate the Holidays Cabaret
I Hate the Holidays Cabaret celebrates all the moments we most want to disassociate from the merrier memories. The group’s sketch-comedy/cabaret revue rocks its way through original and borrowed tunes, including Phoenix Artistic Director Ilich Guardiola’s ditty about running into old friends at Best Buy. “I was trying to hide…
Houston Film Critics Society
The Oscars might have a better red carpet, but the Houston Film Critics Society’s Award Ceremony is a lot closer (and actually lets noncelebs in on the fun). Critics from around the Gulf Coast have cast their votes for all the usual categories: There’s Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and…
Elf
There are two reasons to see holiday flick Elf: Bob. Newhart. Sure, Will Ferrell is hilarious as the innocent, lovable Buddy the Elf, a human accidentally raised by elves in Santa’s North Pole wonderland. And yes, James Caan has some brilliant bits as Buddy’s reluctant newfound dad. Even Mary Steenburgen…
Kids and Christmas 21st Annual Holiday Pops Concert
Calling all Grinches. We’ve got the antidote for your sour Christmas soul. The Houston Children’s Chorus will sing away your seasonal blues with their Kids and Christmas 21st Annual Holiday Pops Concert. According to Founder and Director Stephen Roddy, the show will feature “a small orchestra and choreography.” The kids…
Campfire Christmas
Discover your inner cowboy at the George Ranch Historical Park’s Campfire Christmas. Costumed re-enactors, including Civil War soldiers, 1890s ranch hands and a farm family, will be on hand for Q&As and demonstrations. Visitors can tour the 1830s Jones Stock Farm and the 1860s Ryon Prairie Home, which is decorated…
Les Contes d’Hoffman – LIVE
The story of one man and the three women he loved and tragically lost, Les Contes d’Hoffman is performed live by the Metropolitan Opera with Joseph Calleja in the title role, Anna Netrebko as Antonia and James Levine at the conductor’s podium. Tickets are almost sold out for today’s performance…
The Graduate
We’re not sure if it’s a happily-ever-after ending for Mike Nichols’s landmark film The Graduate. First, an aimless Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman in a star-making role) comes home from college, annoyed and uncomfortable with his family’s constant pressure to conform to their expectations (read: attend graduate school and date a…
Seasons of Sharing: Christmas
The Children’s Museum of Houston’s annual “Seasons of Sharing” exhibit and activities focus on Christmas this week. Kids can turn a paper bag into a reindeer or learn about LED-lit Christmas trees. They can get into the science of the holidays while making snow from polymer and water, and investigate…
It’s A Plus: Café Pita +
At Bosnian restaurant Café Pita + (10890 Westheimer, 713-953-7237), when you order the cevap — pronounced “che-vap,” it’s Slavic for kebab — sandwich ($6.99), you get finely minced, hand-formed beef sausages prepared on a charcoal grill, which imparts a wonderful smoky flavor. Approximately five of them fit on the lepinja,…
Star of Bethlehem
Was the star that led the three wise men to the infant Jesus a miracle or a normal astronomical event? Like many other planetariums, the Houston Museum of Natural Science has been telling the story of the Christmas star for years, exploring the possibilities that it was a comet or…
Breakfast with Santa
Okay, so there are just a few more days before Santa flies through town and drops off presents for all the kids, but if your little one can’t quite wait that long, try Breakfast with Santa at the Downtown Aquarium. Actually, that should be Breakfast with Santas, plural. There’s Scuba…
Shen Yun Performing Arts
Artists such as South Korean native Seongho Cha, who studied at New York University and was a member of Anaheim Ballet, and Cindy Liu, who was born in Beijing and was with the Lotus Arts Troupe, will grace the stage during today’s colorful, spectacular Shen Yun. Considered one of the…
Alley Theatre Young Performers Winter Studio
Got a budding thespian on your hands? Well, future actors ages three to 12 can spend their school holiday in the Alley Theatre’s Young Performers Winter Workshops. Little kids will develop their imaginations and storytelling skills in Child’s Play, while early elementary school students will create and perform an arctic…
The Evil that Men Do…The Stage Play
According to The Evil That Men Do, written and directed by Valentine Ekweanua, religious leaders, like the rest of us, come in all shapes, sizes and, it seems, moral persuasions. Ekweanua’s play shows pastors who advance their own greedy, power-hungry agendas at the expense of their followers as it follows…
Amahl and the Night Visitors
Move over, Nutcracker, there’s another Christmas ballet in town. The Sandra Organ Dance Company’s Amahl and the Night Visitors tells the story of the three kings who go in search of the Christ child, as seen through the eyes of poor shepherd boy Amahl. The boy is “lame, and so…
Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge
Think Ebenezer Scrooge married to an alcoholic Mommy Dearest with a brood of 21 kids, and you’ve got some idea of the musical Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge. A parody of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, Mrs. Bob Cratchit is an alternative for all of us who don’t really…
Handel’s Messiah
This time of year, turning off the Mariah Carey and heading out to hear a live performance of Handel’s Messiah is the equivalent of turning in your shiny aluminum Christmas tree for an evergreen. The Baroque composer’s 1741 masterwork cuts to the biblical core of the holiday, detailing, in song,…
Festival of Lights
Get ready for wattage envy at the Moody Gardens Festival of Lights. A hundred displays (with sound and animation, of course) line a mile-long trail with – get ready all you “my house is the brightest one on the block” wannabes – more than one million twinkling lights. The festival…
Merry Christmas, George Bailey
The Town Center Theatre puts a slightly different spin on a familiar tale with Merry Christmas, George Bailey. A takeoff of It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey is the story of a man so down and out, he’s about to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. Luckily, his guardian angel steps…
The Man Who Saved Christmas
During WWI, the U.S. government thought it would be a good idea to ban the sale of toys during Christmas (a misguided effort to encourage parents to give kids war bonds instead – yeah, like that was gonna happen). The musical comedy The Man Who Saved Christmas is loosely based…
The Gift of Christmas – Live
Mix up the old dinner-and-a-movie routine with The Gift of Christmas – Live, a dinner theater variety show at Moody Gardens. The centerpieces of the evening are a new work by Cuban-American artist Rolando Diaz – which he’ll paint onstage alongside singers and musicians – and a new original song,…
Greg Giraldo
As a newly single father (read: divorced), comedian Greg Giraldo is faced with a new challenge on the stage. “I’m at a crossroad for what I am going to talk about,” he says. Giraldo’s sets (as seen in two half-hour specials and one full-hour special on Comedy Central) normally dealt…
Money Isn’t Everything
The money is on the screen in Avatar, James Cameron’s mega-3-D, mondo-CGI, more-than-a-quarter-billion-dollar baby, and, like the Hope Diamond waved in front of your nose, the bling is almost blinding. For the first 45 minutes, I’m thinking: Metropolis! — and wondering how to amend ballots already cast in polls of…
Capsule Art Reviews: “A Room of Her Own”, “Carlos Cruz-Diez: Crosswalk”, “Cy Twombly: Treatise on the Veil”, Damascus Gate (Stretch Variation III), “Hypnopomp: Britt Ragsdale”, “Tierney Malone: Third Ward Is My Harlem”
“A Room of Her Own” Group shows of women artists are exceptionally patronizing when the only connection between the works presented is that they were all made by someone with a vagina. That’s the organizing principle behind “A Room of Her Own” at McClain Gallery. The title is pretty awful…
Destination Unknown
There is something oddly familiar about Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air, in which George Clooney plays a commitment-phobic business traveler with no use for meaningful human interaction. Could have sworn we’ve been here before. When was it? And where? Oh, yes, of course: Joel and Ethan Coen’s Intolerable Cruelty,…
Capsule Stage Reviews: A Christmas Carol, Miracle on 34th Street, The Nerd, The Nutcracker, O Little Town of Bagels, Teacakes, and Hamburger Bun, Panto Sleeping Beauty
A Christmas Carol Since 1988, the Alley Theatre has gently reminded Houstonians of the true meaning of Christmas with a lovely rendition of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. This year’s dark and moving production, adapted and originally put together years ago by Michael Wilson, stars Jeffrey Bean as the meanest…
Agnès from O to 80
The cinema, social theorist and sometime filmmaker Edgar Morin argued, is the model for our “mental commerce” with the world. Even awake and in the street, Morin wrote, we walk in solitary daydreams, “surrounded by a cloud of images…The substance of the imaginary is mixed up with our life of…
Asian Lust, Roofers and Weight Control
Dear Mexican, I’m an Asian female, and for some time now I’ve been fascinated by the Mexican culture. I find Mexican males to be very attractive. Their food, language and music are just amazing! How much of a chance do I have dating a Mexican hombre if I’m Asian? Muchacha…
Credit, Perry and Shundrekia’s Story
No Solution An online reader comments on “Credit Repair,” by Craig Malisow, December 3: A horrible experience: This article couldn’t have been written better. I purchased this “debt invalidation program” from The Credit Card Solution and Credit Collections Defense Network more than a year and a half ago. My experiences…
LMFAO
By all accounts, we shouldn’t even be talking about LMFAO. This electro-hop duo — the son and grandson of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy — has too many strikes against them. Their songs of endless, hedonistic partying, all captured on aptly titled debut Party Rock, attract the kind of audience…
If You Don’t Know Them by Now
Andre Smith is a smart, enterprising man. But he’s got this all wrong. Smith’s family is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The last three generations ran the kitchen of a truck stop. However, Smith was born and raised in Yellowstone, right off 288 on the southern edge of Third Ward. Five…
Rooney
When Rooney’s self-titled debut appeared in 2003, this young, well-connected (singer Robert Carmine is Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew) and well-groomed (drummer Ned Brower is a former Gap model) L.A. quintet looked like a label-created, garage-rock boy band: a kind of Cobrasnake take on the guitar-driven “The” outfits then swaggering in…
BODEGAS TACO SHOP’S HIBISCUS MARGARITA ON THE ROCKS
A contractor I knew as Cowboy once told me the margarita was named after singer Peggy Lee in the late ’40s at Galveston’s storied Balinese Room. (He also told me that Frank Sinatra, a fixture at the former waterfront hotspot, refused to touch his own penis; he had hired hands…
The Boxmasters
Billy Bob Thornton has been so busy with his band the Boxmasters this year, it’s getting a little hard to remember the erstwhile Mr. Woodcock is also an actor. The Internet Movie Database only lists one 2009 credit for Thornton, a comedy we never heard of called Manure. However, click…
Merche Restaurant
“I am working in one of the best-equipped kitchens I’ve ever worked in,” says Joel St. John of the new Merche Restaurant (21208 Northwest Fwy., 281-949-5999), which just opened adjacent to the North Cypress Medical Center. “Merche” is the nickname of Mercedes, the wife of owner Robert Behar, who’s passionate…
Stryper
Before bands such as Relient K made Jesus Christ sound like a mall-punk pansy, Christian metal group Stryper was singing the Lord’s praises with air-bludgeoning guitars. Their signature saccharine power ballad, “Honestly” (off 1986’s To Hell with the Devil), allowed the holy rockers to sell over a million copies —…
Banh Cuon and Bug Juice
Carl Han ordered spicy snail soup, three kinds of banh cuon, and Hanoi grilled pork at Thien Thanh restaurant on Bellaire. Then he prepared several bowls of dipping sauces. For the meat-stuffed banh cuon, he mixed chile peppers with the nuoc cham (fish sauce and lime juice mixed with sugar)…
Cory Morrow, Roger Creager, Jason Boland
Like beauty or good taste, Texas’s Red Dirt scene is a lot harder to define than identify. Siblings sharing the same bunk beds, this cadre of hard-touring artists from Oklahoma and Texas kept crossing paths, and developed a camaraderie over the past decade-plus that’s led to them sharing concert bills,…
Uprising
Noise used to look forward to toting up our favorite albums each December the way we once looked forward to Santa Claus. Then we got an iPod. Suddenly all that “death of the album” talk Noise refused to listen to (we’re stubborn like that) made perfect sense. We cycled new…
It Was What It Was
:/ For you non-texters out there, this emoticon more or less means “meh.” Indifference. That’s the kind of year 2009 was for rap. There were good things that happened, and there were bad things that happened. But mostly it was a whole bunch of :/ . On the national landscape,…
Damaged
Jon Read is an artist and a musician. With his band, The Wiggins, he makes a loud, hissing mix of idiosyncratic garage-punk, surf-rock, blues and country cut deep with blown-out bass lines taken from carny rides and gangster rap, burnt-out guitar licks and a voice coming from somewhere between Son…
Debating Dario
Artist Dario Robleto has made it big nationally. The San Antonio native was chosen for the 2004 Whitney Biennial, his work has been included in acclaimed exhibitions like “The Old, Weird America” and “NeoHooDoo,” and in 2008 it was the subject of a ten-year survey, “Alloy of Love.” Robleto has…
A Quiet Hell
It was just after dawn along the Houston Ship Channel when all hell broke loose inside the Valero oil refinery. What had begun as a small fire in a storage tank quickly sparked an explosion, sending 3,461 pounds of sulfur dioxide into the air and five workers to the hospital…
A Quiet Hell: Game Time
The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, made up of 12 state legislators, is in the process of examining TCEQ from top to bottom. The commission, which evaluates all state agencies every 12 years, will make a recommendation during the next legislative session whether to renew TCEQ or abolish it and start…
An Historic Night in Houston
Political Animals An Historic Night in Houston By Richard Connelly Annise Parker made headlines all over the world with her convincing win in Saturday’s runoff election. And not just because she was a Rice graduate, as she joked in her victory speech. The George R. Brown Convention Center room was…
