Cover Story: Texas’s Seven Deadly Crime Sins
When staff writer John Nova Lomax set about his review of the crimes committed in Texas in 2012, he rapidly discovered that the Bible had a lot to say about them. Yes, all manner of crime that had evaded other groupings seemed to fall right into place once the Seven…
Doctor Who: Damn, You Moffat!
I was rewatching “Asylum of the Daleks” again recently when I noticed something I missed the first time around. Right around the end, just before the girl we know for a fact is slated to become the new full-time companion (Who turned out to actually be a Dalek) self-destructs herself…
Harlem Harold Lewis: Man Charged in Christmas Eve Slayings of Bellaire Cop, Good Samaritan
Murder charges have been filed against a 21-year-old man suspected of killing a Bellaire police officer and a man who came to his aid Christmas Eve. Harlem Harold Lewis has been charged with capital murder and murder in the shooting deaths of Bellaire Police Corporal J.D. Norman, 53, and Terry…
Louis Vuitton Obsession: Domain Seizure Reminds Us of Five Things You Shouldn’t Buy Online from Random Websites
As part of the continued crackdown on counterfeit merchandise websites, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations announced in a release that it seized 89 Internet domain names last week. Of those 89, a whopping 78 were related to Louis Vuitton, the high-end handbag seller. This was all part…
The Demise of Cereal Box Toys?
When I was home in Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving, I started rifling through some old boxes of my childhood ephemera to see if there was anything worth transporting back to Texas. On this trip down material memory lane, I came across one of my favorite doodads, this neon plastic action figure…
Robert Earl Keen’s “Christmas” Present That Keeps Right On Regifting
For many people, the Christmas spirit fades as soon as the last trash bag bulging with wrapping paper hits the curb. Texas singer-songwriter emeritus Robert Earl Keen is counting on goodwill toward men lasting at least through the end of his “Merry Christmas from the Fam-O-Lee” tour that stops at…
Reality Bites: Ice Loves Coco
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. I should point out I started writing this before I learned of the “scandal” involving pictures of Ice-T’s wife Nicole “Coco Marie” Austin getting snuggly with rapper AP.9, who in…
Rockets 120, Bulls 97: Offensive Juggernaut Routs Another Defensive Powerhouse
Don’t look now, but the team no one can see on Houston TV is looking pretty damn good right about now. Winning their fourth game in a row, which included routs over the Knicks and the Grizzlies, the Rockets beat one of the best defensive teams in the league, the…
George Ducas Itching to Get Back Out on the Blacktop
Before releasing his six-song EP, Volume Up, Windows Down, in 2010, Texas country singer/songwriter George Ducas had taken a break from performing and had mainly concentrated on writing hits for country artists such as Garth Brooks, George Jones, The Dixie Chicks, Gary Allan, Trisha Yearwood, Sara Evans, the Randy Rogers…
This Week in Food Blogs: Robb Walsh Road Trips and an Introverted Wine Meant for Greatness
29-95: Opening today is Brooklyn Athletic Club, the new restaurant from Shepard Ross and chef Jeff Axline that took over the spot where Zimm’s Little Deck once stood. Greg Morago has a preview of the space, which features two spaces in one: “The Clubhouse, a 45-seat, diner-style, full-service restaurant, and…
7 Things You Are Allowed to Do in Houston When It’s Actually Cold Outside
It is so rarely cold in Houston. Houston only sees about 18 days per year where the temperature reaches the freezing point. We almost never get snow or ice, which is good since everyone seems to go absolutely bonkers when we do. Our winters are exceptionally mild. Hell, I had…
Post-Holiday Diet Cleanse: Leek Soup
As the year winds down and all we have left to celebrate is New Year’s, everyone says they will start their “New Year’s Diet.” It usually starts with cutting out sweets and trying to work out in some capacity each day, but let’s be honest, that effort quickly dies and…
Artwork That’s Fit for the Bathroom and More at Gallery 1724
Going to Gallery 1724, a salon-slash-gallery in the Museum District, you can never be too sure what’s the newest artwork for display and what’s just business as usual. So in the space’s current show, curated by artist and proprietor Emily Sloan, if you find yourself wandering into the bathroom, don’t…
Upcoming: Flogging Molly, Maserati, H20, Black Pistol Fire, Pinback, Etc.
Adam Hood: Fri., March 22, 9 p.m., $12. Firehouse Saloon, 5930 SW Freeway, Houston. The Allen Oldies Band: With Thrill, Mike Stinson., Mon., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., Free. Continental Club, 3700 Main, Houston. Anberlin: Sat., Feb. 23, 6 p.m., $20/$25. House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston. Asleep At the Wheel:…
Randi Zuckerberg and the Irony of Facebook’s Privacy Wars
In case you hadn’t noticed, the world is becoming increasingly connected and it’s not because of some powerful government or corporate entity forcing us to share. We do it voluntarily. From online diaries to the deluge of personal photos and videos we post online every day, we are rendering any…
My Love Affair with Liverwurst
There are certain foods deemed inherently gross by popular culture, and many people — myself included — grow up “hating” them without ever having tried a single bite. Growing up, I remember knowing certain foods, whether I’d tried them or not, were “not good.” High up on that list was…
Gothic Council’s New to Goth FAQ
As head of the Gothic Council, a position I take as seriously as I take being known as an expert on video-game farts, one of my jobs is aiding those who seek the spooky side of life enable the transition. Now, goth is kind of like the Judaism of subcultures…
Video Game Atlas: C-Island
Once a week Art Attack will offer you a handy little travel guide to the fictional worlds of video games. Name: C-Island, StarTropics series Population: 57 Government: Tribal society run by Chieftain Having spent a bit too much of my time, and money, in the fleshy den of sin that…
10 Reasons to Be Pissed Christmas Is Over
Is there anything more depressing than hearing a Christmas song the day AFTER Christmas? It makes me want to punch Nat King Cole in the face. When we reach the moment that is literally the furthest away from Christmas we will get every year, there’s a sort of resigned melancholy…
The (Overlooked) Chocolate Chip Cookie at Baby Barnaby’s
A few weeks ago when my list of the Top 10 Chocolate Chip Cookies in Houston ran on EOW, a few readers protested the absence of Baby Barnaby’s chocolate chip cookie from the list. Eric Sandler of Eater Houston notably remarked: While Tiny Boxwoods is a totally logical choice for…
6 Ancient Classic Rockers You Didn’t Know Put Out Music In 2012
We live in an era of classic-rock revivalism. We go crazy for reunions, we buy as many tickets as we can, and sometimes we even pay attention to the new records these bands put out, even though the general consensus is that no reunited band will ever put out a…
Art Attack’s 2012 Arts Roundup
Two thousand twelve has been a great year for Houston art. From theater to dance to visual arts, Houston has seen its fair share of brilliant artistic moments. As this is the time of year when everyone and their mom likes to put out their art and culture “best of”…
10 Reasons to Be Thankful Christmas Is Over
After a full-blast Christmas season, most of us are worn out to the point of exhaustion. The time spent with family, the commercialism, the “sounds of the season” and the gluttonous embarrassment of feasting are enough to drive anyone to drink, which you probably also did too much of this…
5 Post-Holiday Juice Cleanses You Can Make at Home
So you’ve made it through the piles of stuffing and gravy at Thanksgiving, the heaping plates of fried latkes and donuts at Hanukkah, and the 18 trays of Christmas cookies your aunt made. Now you have to fit into that now super-tight-fitting outfit on New Year’s Eve. Shit. Well, don’t…
By Land, Air & Sea: Five Playlists For Any Travel Occasion
Whether it’s a 24-hour road trip to visit family, hopping on an airplane to kill off personal days at work, or avoiding the holidays by taking a cruise a lot of people choose to do their travelling in December. Once things are sorted out at the office, arrangements have been…
Today’s DVDs & Blu-rays: Rian Johnson’s Looper
Let’s just go with a full disclaimer right up front: we like Bruce Willis. The fact that we grew up on Die Hard movies is, no doubt, to blame. Anytime he hits the screen we’re hoping to like him, wanting to like him. Rian Johnson’s sci-fi thriller Looper gives us…
NFL Playoff Scenarios: A Guide to This Sunday
Week 17 of the NFL season is upon us this weekend, and while there are still plenty of moving (or potentially moving) parts left to be slotted, the one thing we are sure of is that in the NFC the Atlanta Falcons will have a first round bye and home…
5 Guitarists Who Got Started on Christmas Presents
Odds are those of you reading this are music fans, and if not, congratulations on having been driven here by reading everything else online! It’s also possible that you’re musicians yourselves, and since any instrument besides your voice, hand claps, and armpit farts is generally a major purchase, I’ll bet…
Why The Super Nintendo is Still the Best Christmas Present I’ve Ever Gotten
First, and apology to the Wife With One F because her gift this year was awesome as it is always. With her about to be in school full-time money’s tight, but she managed to track down a Doctor Who Cybermen Factory Character Building set on the cheap. They’re basically LEGO,…
Christmas Past: The Lost Sinatra Group Christmas Episode
While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait… resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 22, 2010. Through the magic of Christmas, Rocks Off has received a copy of the transcript of the…
Christmas Past: Top 5 Christmas Rap Songs
While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait… resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 20, 2010. Show us one hip-hop head who isn’t obsessed with corny Christmas sing-alongs and we’ll show you…
OKRA Charity Bar Opens for Good Tomorrow
Technically, the OKRA Charity Bar had its debut this past Sunday, when it opened its doors to the public for the first time since its open house in August. (Has it really been that long?) But then, because of Christmas and all, Charity Bar was closed yesterday and today. But…
NBA Season Jump Starts with Spate of Christmas Day Games Including the Rockets
In 2011, Christmas Day was the literal start to the NBA season thanks to a lockout that kept the season from starting for nearly two full months. Most every other year, the season starts in October, but for the casual fan, it doesn’t really get going until Christmas Day. With…
How To: Eggnog Martinis
Eggnog is a signature holiday drink. To some, it’s not the holidays without eggnog, especially if there isn’t alcohol combined with it. Here’s a simple recipe that you can make today for all your assembled friends and family: eggnog martinis. And it’s pretty easy: Just make your own eggnog and…
Christmas Past: Top 10 Christmas Movie Soundtracks
While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait… resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 14, 2010. No doubt you have all been chin-deep in Christmas movies since you undid your belt on…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Les Misérables
Title: Les Misérables What Does That Title Mean, Anyway? For those who don’t parle Français, “Les Misérables” is French for … “The Miserables.” Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Four silver candlesticks out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: Ex-prisoner eludes dogged investigator for years, raises prostitute’s kid, everybody…
Christmas Past: 10 Christmas Songs That Are Really About Drugs
While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait… resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared October 26, 2011. Halloween is right around the corner, so you know what that means: Time to start making…
Your Stress-Free Holiday Dining Guide: Where to Eat on Christmas Day 2012
The presents are unwrapped, the place is destroyed and the pine needles from the Christmas tree have formed a fine carpet throughout the house. The last thing you want to do is dirty up a bunch of dishes cooking after all that. So why not let one of the many…
Christmas Past: Our 5 Favorite Punk Rock Christmas Songs
While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait… resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 11, 2009. Aside from the heavy metal Christmas songs we threw your way earlier this week, Rocks Off…
Christmas Past: Happy Gothmas! Top 10 Goth Christmas Songs
While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait… resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 23, 2011. “Dude, religious Christmas is pretty macabre. All kinds of scandal, sex with a ghost, strangers bringing…
Elusive White Christmas Evades Houston Again, But Cold Weather On the Way
In 2004, Houston recorded snowfall on Christmas Eve in the rarest of rare circumstances for our city, an actual white Christmas. It didn’t stick, and ultimately it was just damn cold, but for a brief moment, we were living the dream, assuming your dream is a cold, snowy Christmas. For…
Christmas Past: 15 Odd Christmas Gift Ideas for Musicians
While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait… resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared November 21, 2011. As the timeless tale of the Little Drummer Boy reminds us, there is no greater gift…
A Geek Answers Your Children’s Questions About Santa Claus Part 2
Last year I penned a very helpful guide for using geek pop culture to explain away some of the more questionable aspects of Santa’s yearly visits. The sleigh uses Time Lord technology to hold all the presents, he can visit everywhere at once because it is equipped with an improbability…
Feliz Año Nuevo: Toy Selectah On the Mayan Apocalypse, DJ Screw & the Beauty of Cumbia
His name is Antonio Hernandez, but the world knows him as Toy Selectah. The producer/DJ is one of the most influential figures in la musica Latina, constantly creating sounds and rhythms for almost 20 years. He enjoyed success with the pioneer Rock en Español group Control Machete, served as an…
I Ate My First McRib, and I Regret It
I made it through 32 years without tasting a McRib. Over three decades spent tasting and eating all other manner of offensive foods — yet a McRib had never passed my lips, until last Thursday. I can’t say I regret my meal. It goes deeper than that: a sense that…
Saturday Night: Los Lonely Boys at House of Blues
Los Lonely Boys House of Blues December 22, 2012 In the very Texan tradition of “rocking the fuck out!”, Los Lonely Boys spent their last show of 2012 at House of Blues this past Saturday. The trio of brothers brought with them the perfect mix of sweet love songs, intense…
5 Facts About School Shootings and Video Games the NRA Needs to Look At
So, by now you’ve undoubtedly seen the statement from the National Rifle Association regarding the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Conn. In it, Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre suggested armed guards at the entrance of every school would ensure the safety of schoolchildren. He also managed to blame pop culture,…
Kitchen Improv: Stovetop Smoking
If there’s one thing Shiftwork Bites taught me, it’s how to improvise. From poaching eggs in a coffee maker, to the space-management required to cook in 25 square feet, I learned how to make do with what limited resources, both in terms of space and equipment. I try to incorporate…
Dear Santa, All I Want for Christmas in Houston Sports Is…
It’s Christmas Eve, which means there are just a few hours left to submit your Christmas wish list to Santa Claus. I want to think that I’ve been good this year, and that Santa will get me everything that I want. So Santa, here’s my list. I’ll see you tonight…
What’s Cooking on Pinterest? Christmas Tree Pancakes
Are you looking for a fun breakfast to make on Christmas morning? Pinterest is here to help you find the cheeriest breakfast your kids (and you) will love. It’s a simple Bisquick pancake recipe with an extra addition of green food coloring. Turn your plain pancakes green and stack to…
Friday Night: Pallbearer, Power Trip, etc. at Fitzgerald’s
Pallbearer, Venomous Maximus, Power Trip etc. Fitzgerald’s December 21, 2012 When Fitzgerald’s changed ownership a couple of years ago, some of us worried that the days of mondo metal shows at the storied club might be over. But as has often been the case of late, Fitz was once again…
Work That Spreads Like a Doily Virus Across Lawndale’s Walls
Putting it mildly, fiber is a big source of inspiration for Laura Nicole Kante. The artist, who’s based out of McKinney, Texas, has three distinct works all involving and experimenting widely with woven forms currently up at Lawndale Art Center’s Cecily E. Horton Gallery. The most prominent piece spreads through…
R.I.P. Texas Metal God Mike Scaccia
The Texas metal community lost a major creative force over the weekend when Ministry/Rigor Mortis guitarist Mike Scaccia passed away in Ft. Worth. He was 47. Scaccia collapsed onstage at Metroplex metal haunt the Rail Club early Saturday morning, where he was performing as part of a 50th birthday celebration…
Your Stress-Free Holiday Dining Guide: Where to Eat on Christmas Day 2012
The presents are unwrapped, the place is destroyed and the pine needles from the Christmas tree have formed a fine carpet throughout the house. The last thing you want to do is dirty up a bunch of dishes cooking after all that. So why not let one of the many…
Stephen Petronio’s Underland: A Journey From Darkness to Light Set to Nick Cave’s Music
Back in the early 2000s, the Sydney Dance Co. commissioned dancer/choreographer Stephen Petronio to develop a dance work. Using the pop music of Australian Nick Cave, the American Petronio came up with Underland, which he calls a journey from darkness to light. In 2011, Sydney released its rights to the…
Gary Kubiak Won’t Be Coaching for His Job Next Week, But He Should Be
Check out our slideshow of the last Texans home game for the regular season. The narratives for the first two Texan losses wrote themselves, even if they weren’t completely accurate. Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady are Hall of Fame quarterbacks and played extremely well. The Texans (12-3) had a few…
Doctor Who: Is The Doctor Gay, Straight, Bi or None of the Above?
The BBC recently did a study on the portrayals of LGBT characters in TV, and came to the conclusion that such roles need to be diversified beyond simple “gay” storylines. Much praise went to Doctor Who, which has always been extremely astounding when it comes to treating LGBT characters as,…
Your Stress-Free Holiday Dining Guide: Where to Eat on Christmas Eve 2012
Shopping for family, sending gifts to loved ones afar and decorating the house with an obnoxious amount of holiday decor tends to build quite a lot of stress each Christmas. So, we all love anything that eliminates some of the holiday stress. Let some of your favorite restaurants around Houston…
Friday Night: Red Bull Thre3style Massive at Stereo Live
Check out photos from the RedBull Thre3style event in our slideshow. Red Bull Thre3style Massive feat. A-Trak, Toy Selectah & RL Grime Stereo Live December 21, 2012 Right around the time that EDM became the catchall phrase for any and all dance tracks, “DJ” became the label for anyone who…
What’s Cooking This Week? Christmas Eve Spinach Loaf, Savory Bread Pudding and 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…
5 Most Heartbreaking Moments in Final Fantasy You Can Totally Miss (Easter Eggs & More)
When you’re talking about the damn near Biblical scope of Final Fantasy as a franchise, then you know there are plenty of scenes that will be forever burned into your mind. Things like Palom and Porom sacrificing themselves into stone statues to keep Cecil’s party from being crushed to death…
Friday Night: Dwight Yoakam at Arena Theatre
Dwight Yoakam, Mike Stinson Arena Theatre December 21, 2012 When most of us are sick and fighting seasonal flu and cold systems, we retreat to a warm bed with cold pillows and Netflix. Few of us could go onstage in skintight blue jeans and shake our asses for two hours,…
Texans-Vikings: 4 Winners, 71,688 Losers
Check out our slideshow of the last Texans home game for the regular season. There were 71,688 (mostly) Texan fans in Reliant Stadium on Sunday. It’s been a while since they’ve trudged back out to the Blue Lot feeling like they did on Sunday after the Minnesota Vikings’ methodical 23-6…
The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: December 24-27
Christmas at Fitzgerald’s Fitzgerald’s, December 25 We hardly ever get snow, so instead Fitzgerald’s has instituted its own Yuletide tradition of talking ’90s punk heroes 30footFALL into reuniting for a little “Oi! to the World,” decking the halls with boughs of Converse and slipping a little MD 20/20 into the…
All 52 Restaurant Reviews of 2012, Broken Down and Mapped Out
View 2012 Restaurant Reviews in a larger map. In 2012, I reviewed 50 restaurants. Jeremy Parzen and Mai Pham graciously stepped in when I went on vacation two weeks, filling in for me and each writing a full restaurant review of their own. Together, the three of us wrote one…
Free Christmas Movies And TV Specials — Classic And Not So Classic — You Can Watch On YouTube
If you have a cruel boss who is still keeping you in the office today, Art Attack is here to help you pass the time with a collection of random Christmas videos you can find free and in full on YouTube. Maybe you never seen the Star Wars Christmas special…
An Open Letter to the A-Hole Who Sent a White Powdery Substance to Franklin Elementary School Today
Dear Jerk-Off, As you know, a bunch of parents already rattled by last week’s tragedy had to receive a letter from Franklin Elementary Principal Jilliane Raphiel today notifying them that “a white powdery substance arrived on campus through the U.S. mail.” Of course, “testing on the envelope and the powdery…
Saturday’s Lone Star Bazaar Releases Vendor List, Food Truck Offerings
Christmas is just what, three days away, and I know some of you (even me) still have holes in our shopping lists. Damn you for having so many dear friends and relatives that you want to spoil with gifts. As reported late last month, the one-day Lone Star Bazaar at…
Rolling Stones Let Psych Flag Fly On ’67’s Their Satanic Majesties Request
The Rolling Stones’ 1967 album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, turns 45 today. The album’s subject matter and oddity make it a strange holiday release, but hey it was the ’60s. Best-known for the saccharine “She’s a Rainbow” and oft-covered “2000 Man,” the album gets lost in the Stones’ greater late-’60s…
Last Night: Better Than Ezra at House of Blues
Better Than Ezra, Papa Grows Funk House of Blues December 20, 2012 About 30 minutes into Better than Ezra’s set, vocalist Kevin Griffin, clad in a black button-down and jeans, wiped a bit of sweat from his brow and told the crowd, “This is the second track off our album…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Sylvia Casares of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen and the Reason People Call Her Houston’s Enchilada Queen
Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen 6401 Woodway Drive Tel: 713-334-7295 www.sylviasenchiladakitchen.com This is Part 3 of a three part Chef Chat series. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. This week, we became acquainted with a woman who plunked down all her life savings on a restaurant at the…
Eyes On Fire: The Week in Photos
It’s time again to check out the Houston Press Flickr Pool and see what kinds of art shots our talented photographers have added. We love street art, unique perspectives and beautiful photos of Houston’s creative community. If you think you’ve got a good eye, drop your pictures in the pool…
What Does 2013 Have in Store for the University of Houston Cougars?
This is a year the Houston Cougars would probably prefer to forget. It started with a bang as the Cougars demolished Penn State on January 2 at the TicketCity Bowl in Dallas. But the football team wasn’t quite the same after the departure of Case Keenum and his receiving corps…
Six Songs That Should Be On Nine Inch Nails’ Greatest-Hits Album
Recently Trent Reznor announced the reactivation of Nine Inch Nails as an active studio project, along with a greatest-hits record scheduled to be released in 2014 with two new tracks. Of course, as a major NIN nerd, this is exciting news. NIN hasn’t released one single compilation CD in Reznor’s…
5 Stocking Stuffers for the Foodies in Your Family
I don’t know about you, but stocking stuffers are always last-minute gifts. It seems like we all forget about those little things until a few days before Christmas. But, if you’ve got a few foodies in your family, here are the perfect stocking stuffers to satisfy their love for cooking,…
Twitter Cautionary Tales: College Football Player Drops the N-Word On Obama During Sandy Hook Memorial, Gets Booted From Team
There’s never a right time to be racist. There’s also never a right time to be insensitive to a recent tragedy. And there’s really never a right time to be both, especially in a social media forum like Twitter. So let’s just say that now former University of North Alabama…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Jack Reacher
Title: Jack Reacher So…How Badly Does Tom Cruise Screw Things Up? He doesn’t. I’ll get into this more later, but the problems in the film aren’t Cruise’s fault. He can’t help it that he’s short, y’all. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Three-and-a-half Martin Riggs happy face targets…
Health Department Roundup: 59 Diner, Taco Milagro, Catty Corner and More
Right now we feel like Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. We could have told everyone this disaster was going to happen. Maybe not as quickly and drastically as it did, but with so many butterflies flapping their wings in Peking, plus what we witnessed when we worked there in college,…
Bonus Rocks Off 100: Asli Omar, The Tontons’ Indie-Rock Siren
Who? It’s hard to argue that any local band is more on the way up than the Tontons, and a lot of that can be credited to the incredible sounds that come out of singer Asli Omar’s mouth. Smooth as silk sheets, but with a pop-princess kind of power that…
I Almost Started a Militia Because Stray Dogs Prevented My Mail from Being Delivered
I got a really strange note this week. It was in an Express Mail envelope with my street address written in sharpie on the outside and crammed into my mailbox. I recently moved into a new place with my fiancée and so some of the mail we get is a…
Top Four Things to Do This Weekend: MFAH Mixed Media, Ezra Washington, Under the Streetlamp and More
December 21, according to the Mayan calendar, is supposed to be the end of the world. Or at least the end of the world as we know it. And if there’s only time for one more party, it better be a good one — like the MFAH Mixed Media Designed…
A-Trak: “I’m Happy to See DJs Make Weird Music”
One of the most viscerally exciting things in life is competition, and music is no exception. While we are more apt to talk about battling in terms of MCs, it’s just as important when it comes to DJ culture. Friday night Red Bull Thre3style Massive brings some of the rising…
Upcoming Events: New Year’s Dining Options Outside the Loop
It’s nothing but New Year’s right now, as Houston restaurants and bars throw elbows to get you to spend that special night with them and them alone. The Four Seasons Hotel is offering one of our favorite packages this year in case you want to get all glammed up to…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: This Is 40
Title: This Is 40 Well, Is It? Your mileage may vary. Happily, my own 40th did not include an endless series of sniping arguments with my wife. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Two little blue pills out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: Couple handles milestone birthday with…
Football! This Weekend’s Best Bets, One Final Crack at Christmas Spending Money
The NFL schedule is a weird one this weekend. Virtually every game on the schedule has some sort of meaning, but many of them have true meaning (read: playoff hopes/seeding riding on the outcome) for only one side. Currently, 19 teams have either clinched a playoff spot or remain alive…
Nixon Meets the King: The White House Tapes Revealed
Forty-two years ago today, one of the trippier meetings in the annals of U.S. music and politics went down when Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll and a global icon of the youth movement, paid a friendly White House visit to President Richard Nixon, that same movement’s sworn…
Dudes We Wish Would Make Out Who Are Not Matt Damon and Michael Douglas
In the January/February issue of Playboy magazine, actor Matt Damon talks extensively about his role in the new biopic Behind the Candelabra, which is about the legendary gay musician Liberace. Damon plays the role of Scott Thorson, Liberace’s longtime partner, and Michael Douglas portrays the eccentric performer. Apparently, there’s lots…
Ring in the New Year: Where to Eat on New Year’s Eve and Day 2012
Yes, Christmas isn’t here yet, but it’s time to start making plans for New Year’s Eve and Day. Houston restaurants are opening their doors for you and your friends and family to celebrate the end of 2012 and beginning of 2013 with a delicious meal and champagne toasts at the…
Infamous Last Words: Some of the Strangest Final Utterances from Death Row
“Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel.” Those were the last words of one George Appel, a cop-killer electrocuted by the state of New York back in 1928, and it might just be the greatest such utterance of all time. Not that Appel hasn’t had some competition…
Your Stress-Free Holiday Dining Guide: Where to Eat on Christmas Day 2012
The presents are unwrapped, the place is destroyed and the pine needles from the Christmas tree have formed a fine carpet throughout the house. The last thing you want to do is dirty up a bunch of dishes cooking after all that. So why not let one of the many…
Get Out of the Van: thelastplaceyoulook Celebrates a Huge 2012
Last time Rocks Off caught up with the guys in thelastplaceyoulook, they were trying to get a new van. Like any other automotive purchase, the van wasn’t going to be cheap so they turned to Kickstarter. That turned out to be a smart, albeit controversial, choice. Some $10,000 later, the…
Teen Steam: Here Is Alyssa Milano’s Creepy Teen Workout Video from the ’80s
This Wednesday, Alyssa Milano turned 40. Let that sink in. Milano has been a perennial crush object since Who’s The Boss premiered in 1984, and American men grew up with her as she turned into a foxy young lady. During most any conversation about Milano, someone will bring up her…
Last, Last-Minute Christmas Shopping: Five Gifts from the Gas Station
You pop out of bed on Christmas morning. You’ve been asleep for a couple of days thanks to that crazy ass holiday party at the office. You crawl out of bed and remember that you need to be at your mom’s house in a couple hours for lunch and merriment…
Houston’s Top 5 Jazz Clubs
5. RED CAT JAZZ CAFE Admittedly, Red Cat has its hits and misses, but for a jazz neophyte looking to make his or her debut into the world of Fitzgerald and Armstrong, this “cafe” is a good place to start. Its relatively new Franklin Street address places Red Cat at…
Your Stress-Free Holiday Dining Guide: Where to Eat on Christmas Eve 2012
Shopping for family, sending gifts to loved ones afar and decorating the house with an obnoxious amount of holiday decor tends to build quite a lot of stress each Christmas. So, we all love anything that eliminates some of the holiday stress. Let some of your favorite restaurants around Houston…
Updated: Top New Year’s Eve Parties in Houston: Ring in 2013 with Style
See our New Year’s Eve 2012 Guide and expanded NYE listings. Yes, we admit it, we’re starting this post off with a little shameless self-promotion. The best way (in our really not very humble opinion) to welcome 2013 is at our New Year’s Eve Bash. And because just one party…
Texans-Vikings: New BATTLE-DRINK Bingo Drinking Game Card, Egg Nog Edition
Well, this week’s game card should be the final Battle-Drink Bingo card of the 2012 season. Assuming the Texans win this Sunday against the Vikings, that means the final game against the Colts would hold no meaning (possibly for either team), so cobbling together a Battle-Drink centered around the exploits…
Which Video Game World Has the Strongest Currency?
Money is a weird thing. You can throw it at people and they’ll give you just about anything if you throw enough of it at them. On the other hand, you can go to different places in the world and that magic pile will shrink or expand depending on exactly…
UPDATED: Openings & Closings, Heavy on the “Closings”
Update: We erroneously reported that The Davenport had closed, which owner Duane Bradly was surprised to hear. “We’re still open after 15 years,” says owner Bradley. “Still the same awesome martini bar that we’ve always been.” The confusion arose when The Davenport’s number was disconnected for over a week, its…
5 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: December 21-23
Dwight Yoakam, Mike Stinson Arena Theatre, December 21 Hard to believe it’s been more than a quarter-century since Dwight Yoakam turned Nashville on its ear with the hard-charging Hillbilly Deluxe. You have to hand it to him: He’s not one to rush things. It had been seven years since 2005’s…
Guns in Schools: State Representative Debbie Riddle, Armed Teachers = Safe Schools
Hair Balls had been withholding our decision on the whole “should teachers bring guns to school” debate until we heard from State Rep. Debbie Riddle, who we’ve always considered a spiritual guide; a moral compass who always points to logic and reason. And now that she’s announced her intent to…
Former Spring Branch Administrators Face Investigations, Prison Time After Cheating Scandal in El Paso Area School Districts
Lorenzo Garcia and Damon Murphy led distinguished careers in the Spring Branch Independent School District. Now both are linked to a cheating scandal in the El Paso Independent School that has left Garcia serving a 42-month sentence in a federal prison and Murphy resigning in disgrace from his job in…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Sylvia Casares of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen, On Her Signature Dish and Thoughts That Go Through Your Head When You Come Close to Death
Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen 6401 Woodway Drive Tel: 713-334-7295 www.sylviasenchiladakitchen.com This is part two of a three-part Chef Chat series. You can read Part 1 here and Part 3 in this same space Friday. Yesterday, Sylvia Casares talked about leaving the corporate world to start a restaurant business in her forties…
Robertson Stadium Goes Boom as UH Releases Renderings for New Football Stadium
After 70 years, this is what has come of fabled Robertson Stadium. The photo above was taken on Wednesday as crews demolished the University of Houston campus football venue to make way for a brand-new stadium in its place that will look something like this: The new facility is scheduled…
Outback Steakhouse’s Gingerbread Martini and Los Tios’ Ramos Gin Fizz: Two Perennial Cocktail Favorites
Every year around the holidays, it happens. Like clockwork. For as long as I’ve worked for or at the Houston Press. The Outback Steakhouse gingerbread martini article crawls out of the netherdepths of the Internet like some ink-stained zombie as people across the United States scour search engines for the…
Free for All: “The Art of Boredom” and Two Chances for a Zydeco Christmas
Clayton Porter’s pieces in the group show “Staring at the Wall: The Art of Boredom” come with a Viewer Discretion advisory (more on that in a minute); the exhibit is our recommendation for a Friday visit. The works have a backstory that need to be shared to really resonate and…
Sanctus Bellum Summons Pentagram for a Not-So-Silent Night of Metal
Nothing sucks worse than having a birthday in late December. It’s not really even a debate at this point. Year after year, Christmas is all anybody cares about, and you wind up with a gross gingerbread cake and birthday presents under the tree. Nobody’s trying to celebrate your ass. If…
Waze, Echofon, Chrome: My 12 Favorite Apps of 2012
It’s been a crazy year in apps. Apple released the iPhone 5, complete with larger screen and new OS, as well as the iPad mini, aka Jumbo iPhone. There were scores of updates from manufacturers and, as usual, thousands of new apps on the market. I wrote about my favorite…
The Smothered Pork Chops at Prince’s Diner
When I first heard that Prince’s Diner offered smothered pork chops, I’ll admit I let out a rather nasty laugh. Because when I hear “smothered pork chops,” I picture a piece of pig meat sleeping peacefully in a little bed, a rival cut of meat approaching with a large pillow,…
On the S.S. Coachella, a Wine-Tasting With LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy
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. Photos by Ian WitlenOld punk guys and fancy wines: Two things that make sense together only now, mere days before the end…
Houston Artist Natalie Irish Appears on Conan, Paints a Coco Portrait (W/VIDEO)
Social media was all a-buzzin’ last night as Houston lip print artist Natalie Irish appeared as a special guest on Conan, painting a portrait of a virile, masculine Conan O’Brien cradling a guitar, natch. The Pearland-bred Irish was the subject of a cover story for us here at the Press…
Nerd Humor: NASA Gets Clever with “Why the World Didn’t End” and Gangnam Style Parody Videos
Nerds have a sense of humor and when those nerds also have cool toys and a desire to get people more interested in their world, they can come up with some pretty damn clever concoctions. In this case, the nerds in question are at our own Johnson Space Center, where…
“Rap Up” MC Skillz Talks Retiring, Ghostwriting and “Popcorn Music”
Skillz may not be a household name, but he’s had a crazy interesting career in hip-hop. He’s shared the mike on a track with Dave Chappelle, written songs for some of rap’s biggest names, and beefed with Shaquille O’Neal. Had YouTube existed in 2002, Skillz may have been one of…
The Cajun Stop: Calliope’s Po-Boy Has a New Name, But the Same Great Cajun Food
After shedding its former name — Calliope’s Po-Boy — in the wake of a legal battle, the little Cajun restaurant in EaDo had been going by a handful of different names in the last few months: LC’s Poboys on Facebook, in which the LC stood for owner Lisa Carnley’s initials…
[PHOTO] JJ Watt Tweets Photo with Actual S.W.A.T. Team
JJ Watt is batting down balls on the football field at a record pace for a defensive lineman, earning him the obvious nickname JJ “Swatt.” Yesterday, he tweeted out a photo of himself in full riot gear with members of the Houston Police Department S.W.A.T. team near downtown with the…
What’s Cooking on Pinterest? Gingerbread Truffles
My friends and I always wind up making Oreo balls for anything we go to. Whether it’s a birthday party, a social event for our sorority or just because we want to, we always make Oreo balls. For those unfamiliar with Oreo balls, they are super simple. Just mash an…
Matthew Halls Promises Us a Dramatic Messiah
Renowned conductor Matthew Halls promises us that this year’s performance of Handel’s Messiah with the Houston Symphony and Houston Symphony Chorus “is positively bursting with drama from the first note until the last.” What’s more, he says the three performances this weekend won’t be simple repeats of each other. “I…
Riff Raff and the Year of the White Rapper
Riff Raff is misunderstood, and that’s completely understandable. His stream of consciousness is more like a river of codeine, and floating in it are fragments of screw-tape freestyles and designer brands. Neverthelless, Raff had a great 2012 and has put out a final mixtape, called Hologram Panda, to celebrate the…
Pop Rocks: The 10 Most Annoying Things About Love Actually
Love Actually, Richard Curtis’s epic-length Brit rom-com, was released almost ten years ago. It enjoyed respectable box office and middling reviews and by rights should have dropped off our radar like other films of similar vintage (Bringing Down the House, How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days). But that…
Vouchers on the Front Burner: New Texas Senate Education Committee Chair Talks “School Choice”
New Chair Dan Patrick is making his mark on the Senate Education Committee early, putting his goals for school choice front and center on his agenda. The clamor over school choice will likely drown out many of Patrick’s other goals for the session: expanding career and technology courses; dropping the…
Apocalypse Chow: What We Want to Eat Before the End of the World
As the Mayan Apocalypse is upon us, we polled, well, ourselves, to find out what we’d want our last meal on Earth to be. From local favorites paired by Houston’s finest to a seven-course meal ending in a dessert of opium, here’s what our EOW bloggers had to say: John…
The Rocks Off 100: The Vocal Force That Is Kam Franklin
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. This Saturday night, Houston’s The Suffers play the Continental Club with the Bandulus and…
Ever Wonder If Your Kid’s Teacher Runs a Puppy Mill in Her Spare Time?
A former grade school teacher has been charged with animal cruelty after sheriff’s deputies and SPCA workers seized 106 abused and neglected dogs from her East Texas home Monday. The dogs were allegedly “forced to live in their own filth inside a feces-filled, urine-soaked home on the property” near Athens,…
Christmas Ornaments Out of Everyday Household Items: DIY For Sure
As any adult knows, it takes quite a few years to amass a good amount of Christmas ornaments, and if you are newly out on your own, this may come as news to you. That first Christmas after leaving mom and pop’s pad is something of a shock. Christmas ornaments…
Breakfast on Christmas Morning: Monkey Bread Muffins
My mom has made monkey bread for breakfast on a few Christmas mornings. There is nothing better than waking up to the sweet sugary smell of monkey bread baking in the oven. It’s sticky and sweet, and each little bite melts in your mouth. Making monkey bread from scratch can…
Better Than Ezra’s Long-Running Love Affair With Houston Fans
“Houston is a city we’ve been playing since the very beginning,” says Better than Ezra bassist and backing vocalist Tom Drummond. “I even think we may have sold more records there than anywhere else.” A lot has changed since Better than Ezra’s inception more than two decades ago, but Drummond…
The Top 10 Houston Sports Stories of 2012
Sports in Houston is always an adventure. Whether it was the Luv Ya Blue Oilers being robbed of a trip to the Super Bowl, the Astros losing a world series or the Rockets going back to back in NBA titles, Houstonians have learned to expect the unexpected. This past year…
Reviews for the Lazy Gamer Flashback Edition: The Hobbit
With the new Hobbit movie out, I thought I’d look back on a classic that never got its due. Still easily available for $1.50 and up! Game: The Hobbit Platform: PS2, Game Boy Advance, Windows, GameCube, Xbox Publisher/Developer: Inevitable Entertainment/Vivendi Universal Genre: Action-adventure Describe This Game in Three Words: A…
Look for Gulf Appellation Oysters After the New Year
Wondering where all the Gulf appellation oysters are this year, after the big to-do over Pepper Grove and Ladies’ Pass oysters in 2011? Not to worry, says Jim Gossen of Louisiana Seafood, one of the area’s largest oyster suppliers. They’re right around the corner. Gossen — along with noted oyster…
The Top 10 Houston Music Stories of 2012
Looking back over the major music-related stories around Houston the past 11 and a half months, 2012 was light on the kind of headlines you’ll usually see in a year-end “music scene” recap: Obituaries, arrests, venues closing down, malfeasance, bad behavior, that sort of thing. There was some of that,…
On His Majesty’s Secret Service
It’s dispiriting that a film about the romantic life of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who cultivated a small coterie of mistresses, should exhibit so little interest in what so engaged its hero: the women’s individual hearts and minds. Instead, Hyde Park on Hudson quickly introduces us (and FDR) to the president’s…
Modern Prematurity
Once comic actors reach a particular career stage, they often choose one of two paths: A) They stop being funny and start being all Hallmark heartwarming, i.e., by growing a beard and playing a psychiatrist. B) They accept unambitious, work-for-hire roles in mass-market family comedies about some combination of dogs,…
Where to Eat on Christmas Day
Season’s Eating The presents are unwrapped, the place is destroyed and the pine needles from the Christmas tree have formed a fine carpet throughout the house. The last thing you want to do is dirty up a bunch of dishes cooking after all that. So why not let one of…
Los Lonely Boys, Alejandro Escovedo
Los Lonely Boys became the latest group to learn it’s good to take care of your voice when doctors sidelined bassist/vocalist JoJo Garza this past spring after finding some lesions on his vocal cords. They probably could have used the rest, because ever since 2004 debut Los Lonely Boys, Texas…
Special Navidad Edition: Why Do Mexicans Return to Mexico for Christmas?
¡ASK A MEXICAN! Gustavo Arellano Dear Mexican, Many of my friends think I’m loco for playing with my dad the way I do. See, mi padre is now retired and living in Mexico, and is very worried that I am now 30 and not married yet, so he wants me…
New Year’s Eve 2012 Guide
See even more events in our Voice Places New Year’s Eve 2012 calendar. Between conspiracy theories about the Mayan calendar and political promises of apocalypse if the other side wins, it’s about time we had a reason to celebrate the future, even if only for a night. So, this New…
Radioactive Duo
WE WANT THE AIRWAVES! As of Friday, December 7, longtime Houston morning radio duo Walton and Johnson were no longer airing on 93.7 The Arrow. The Houston-based, regionally syndicated talk show’s page on the Arrow’s Web site has also been scrubbed. Additionally, Houston media blogger Mike McGuff reported that Clear…
Strange Sculptures and Endless Words
Two solo shows at Devin Borden Gallery present work from established artists with very particular and ongoing fascinations. In “I like that very much a lot,” Sharon Engelstein continues her surreal explorations of biomorphic forms. And in “Continued Conversation,” Matthew Sontheimer offers another chapter in his longstanding preoccupation with text…
Christmas at Fitzgerald’s
We hardly ever get snow, so instead Fitzgerald’s has instituted its own Yuletide tradition of talking ’90s punk heroes 30footFALL into reuniting for a little “Oi! to the World,” decking the halls with boughs of Converse and slipping a little MD 20/20 into the eggnog. Joining them are the always-dangerous…
This Is 40
Sadly, country songwriters stand as nearly the only entertainers in our popular culture who craft memorable art on the subject of marriage, the state in which just less than half of Americans spend the majority of their lives. A few years back, Brad Paisley, one of Nashville’s best, wrote and…
Films of 2012: Getting Better and Better
More than ever, boiling this concluding year down to the 10 “best” movies feels both arbitrary and reductive. Ideally, I’d have 25 unnumbered slots. I’d cite another five, formally varied nonfiction films: Tchoupitoulas, Detropia, The Ambassador, Only the Young, and How to Survive a Plague. And were I crafting this…
Dwight Yoakam, Mike Stinson
Hard to believe it’s been more than a quarter-century since Dwight Yoakam turned Nashville on its ear with the hard-charging Hillbilly Deluxe. You have to hand it to him: He’s not one to rush things. It had been seven years since 2005’s Blame the Vain, but he took the time…
Films of 2012: The Ultimate Review
Quentin Tarantino has been Googling himself, and it’s starting to become a problem. The filmmaker, whose eighth feature, Django Unchained, opens on Christmas Day, is famously an analog evangelist: He writes his scripts in longhand; he bans cellphones from his sets, and hasn’t had one of his own in years;…
Cathy Rigby Flying High
From the magical moment when Cathy Rigby catapults through the Darling nursery room windows, trailing glittering pixie dust in her jet stream, she’s the epitome of J.M. Barrie’s immortal boy who wouldn’t grow up. She gives this mythic world-renowned character a feisty all-American can-do spin, flip and handspring, making Master…
Films of 2012: Ten Best Films of 2012
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, not Christmas/Hanukkah/Festivus, but Top 10 list time, when a year’s worth of cinematic output is condensed into easily digested capsules for consumption by those of you too lazy to do your own research. I kid, because I know you’re busy people…
Better Than Ezra
New Orleans trio Better Than Ezra is one of the few ’90s alt-rock bands to have stuck around through music-industry ups and downs, coming out the other end as a group of independent artists in charge of its own career path. It has paid off in spades, because the band…
Tapas with Substance
See more photos from 1252 Tapas in this week’s cafe slideshow. The main breezeway in Uptown Park has soaring, three-story-tall arches flanked near the tops of the gently curving ceilings by windows with an almost Moorish latticework design. Giant lanterns swing softly in the wind, suspended from the arches by…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Demiak: The Big Blow,” “Flying Solo,” “J. Todd Allison: Unresting,” “Jonathan Faber: Surface,” “Peat Duggins: Wreaths”
“Demiak: The Big Blow” Maarten Demmink was born in the Netherlands, honed his craft at art schools in the Netherlands and currently lives in the Netherlands. But the multimedia artist’s work is anything but provincial. In a solo show currently up at Redbud Gallery, the artist, who goes by the…
Pallbearer
If this week is really our last gasp before the Apocalypse (dumb Mayans), then you can at least bid adieu to normalcy with a giant metal show upstairs and downstairs at Fitzgerald’s. Headliners Pallbearer hail from Little Rock, Arkansas, and play slow, glacial metal, and this year’s five-track Sorrow and…
The 2012 Village Voice Film Critic’s Poll
Squeaking by with an Obama-size victory margin, Paul Thomas Anderson’s thrillingly strange The Master tops this year’s Voice Film Critics’ Poll, ahead of Kathryn Bigelow’s electrifying hunt–for–bin Laden procedural Zero Dark Thirty. Although set some 60 years apart, both films offered portraits of a traumatized America trying to reassert itself…
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
You know, it’s not really the holidays in Houston until the Trans-Siberian Orchestra comes around to play some bombastic, prog-rocking Christmas music. TSO have been annual regulars around these parts for a while now, playing once (or even twice) each December at the Toyota Center. Get your fill of metal…
Tom Cruise Reaches
In his 2005 novel One Shot, writer Lee Child lays out nine rules for surviving a five-against-one alley fight, a challenge his hero, the ex-Army cop Jack Reacher, is about to face. These include “Be on your feet and ready.” “Identify the ringleader.” “Don’t break the furniture.” Rule number nine…
Political Animals: Abortion Politics
Highlights from Hair Balls Governor Rick Perry couldn’t have made it any clearer during a press conference at a Christian-based health clinic Tuesday: “My goal, and the goal of many of those joining me here today, is to make abortion at any stage a thing of the past.” Perry was…
