If Santa Couldn’t Stop Our Posting, Then New Year’s Doesn’t Have A Chance
Tomorrow is probably one of the days when the least work gets done — all eyes are on the clock from the get-go. Recognizing this, we’ve been given Thursday and Friday off.Recognizing your need for diversion, however, we will not be going dark.Look for posts tomorrow and Friday. As you…
Sexy Comfort Food
The waiter at Two Saints restaurant at 12460 Memorial described the fare as upscale comfort food. I sampled the macaroni and cheese for lunch the other day. Sometimes the mac n’ cheese here is seasoned with truffle oil, but that day it was studded with big chunks of crispy bacon,…
In Aggieland, The Landlord-Tenant Disputes Can Involve The Bomb Squad
Many folks have landlords they don’t get along with, whether it’s because landlords are sometimes sticklers for “rent money” and may not be impressed by certain flashes of interior redesign, such as punching your hand through a wall.But we’re not used to a tenant being so pissed off as to allegedly send…
A Decade of Landry’s
Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t escape them — not even if you leave Houston. Over the past ten years, Landry’s has become a household name. Besides owning such well-known restaurants as Saltgrass Steak House, Aquarium, and Vic and Anthony’s, Landry’s has dabbled in the hotel and…
At Home at Bocado’s
A renovated residence, Bocados feels homey inside, with pastel paints, wood trim, brick work. A stained-glass panel separates the bar area from one of the dining rooms. When we visited, the food had a similar family feel to it, a very “homestyle” vibe, as if grandma made it. Part of…
Please Pass the Peas
In this week’s Café Review, we visit Family Discount Food Store, a salvage grocery store in the Fifth Ward with a soul food buffet restaurant in the back. The place will be open New Year’s Day, and it serves black-eyed peas and cabbage along with the other traditional New Year’s…
2009 Concert Rewind: Backtracking to Free Press Houston Summerfest
Craig Hlavaty: “The two-day concert reminded us of a fun-size Austin City Limits Festival, with the best bits of Westheimer Block Parties of yore thrown in for good measure, with sprinkles of Houston’s best and brightest personalities sprinkled throughout. The biggest treat was the seemingly vegetarian crowd, meaning there was no…
Top 5 Most Painful Foods to Regurgitate on New Year’s Eve
Planning on doing some heavy drinking on New Year’s Eve? Then you’ll want to be mindful of the following foodstuffs, which will beat you up from the inside out if you have a pay a visit to the porcelain prince later on that night. Tortilla chips and salsa: They might be…
Lonesome Onry and Mean: This Is Not (Really) a Best-Of-2009 List
Lonesome, Onry and Mean saw a great comment from Dave Alvin on Facebook recently that went something like this: “I do not do Best of lists or End of the Decade lists, the only lists I do are ‘crap I have to do’ lists.” We gladly second that, Dave, as…
Please Make Obama Eat Some Cabbage
I am worried about whether or not Barack Obama will be eating black-eyed peas and cabbage on New Year’s. As everybody knows, you have to eat black-eyed peas for good luck and cabbage for prosperity on January first. I am not sure they have black-eyed peas in Hawaii (if that’s…
The 30 Craziest People In Houston: An Official HPD List
Travis Bonser learned how to shoot heroin from his mother. It happened when he was 14, after his mom became too fat to tie her own arm or leave the house to pick up the dope from her dealer. It wasn’t long before Bonser was an addict. Bonser, now 30,…
First Look at Haven
It can’t be easy for Randy Evans right now. Once the executive chef at Brennan’s — one of Houston’s most perenially popular restaurants — and now the man behind what is easily the most anticipated restaurant opening of the year, Evans is carrying a weighty set of expectations upon his…
The Incredible Truth: The Best Southern Rap Albums (and Mixtapes) of 2009, Part 1
Yeah, it stirred the Yankees to the World Series championship, but was there a more boring album this year than Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3? Perhaps it was a geographic thing; with a few exceptions like Raekwon and Kid Cudi, most of 2009’s exciting, innovative rap records came from Southern artists…
Game Time: 2009 — A Celebration In….Death?
Every year around this time, it’s not uncommon to stumble across a retrospective of some sort that pays tribute to those who have passed away, typically those with some modicum of celebrity status. I’m always amazed at actually how few deaths there are most years. I mean, I’m no actuary,…
Get Lit: Paul McCartney: A Life by Peter Ames Carlin
Rocks Off understands that this effort is meant for a more general audience and not a Beatles obsessive like himself who owns a bookcase stocked with 93 Fab-related tomes (we counted). And on that level, A Life is a fine if surface summation of the life and career of Sir…
Spicy Onion Party Pretzels
Last night, we had the craving for some tasty dill pretzels we’d tried at a recent potluck. Lo and behold, we had an opened bag of now-stale pretzel sticks. But after Googling for about 20 minutes, we realized we didn’t have the main ingredient. So we scoured the pantry, and…
It’s A Good Time To Be Apartment-Hunting In Houston
It’s a great time to be looking for an apartment in Houston, assuming you have the money to do so.O’Connor & Associates reports that vacancies are up and rents are down across Houston. November “marked the fourteenth consecutive for declining occupancy, while rents on both a per unit and per…
El Arte de la Elegancia: The Best Latin Records of 2009, Part 2
5. Los Amigos Invisibles Comercial (Nacional) It’s been 14 years since the Amigos’ 1995 debut, and contrary to what the title of their latest album implies, the group remains as dedicated as ever to their initial mission of being Venezuelan antiheroes in a scene dominated by rock and salsa. Of…
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. Owing to all the food blog activity over the last few weeks,…
Coogs Come Out Flat-Footed Against La. Tech
The Houston Cougars (7-4) lost 99-94 to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (12-2) last night in what UH head coach Tom Penders called a “rock-em-sock-em up-and-down great basketball game.” And despite the loss, it was one of the more exciting games played inside Hofheinz Pavilion this season. Yet the Cougars lost.It…
Last Call for Texas High School Rock Off Entries
The deadline is midnight tonight. See all the information you need here…
It’s The End Of The Tracy McGrady Era In Houston, And Rick Adelman Feels Fine
One lonely, awkward 4×6 picture with Bill Worrell. A Christmas card, two pieces of junk mail and a pair of tube socks. That’s all that appears left of Tracy McGrady in Houston.Sure, fights followed by kiss-and-make-up sessions are nothing new to McGrady in six seasons with the Rockets. He’s gone…
Recipe: Mac and Cheese
This recipe for mac and cheese is gluttonous and everything our diet stands against. However, we’re pretty sure we’d get thrown out of our family’s holiday gatherings without it. This is a thick cheese-with-noodles-floating-in-it pudding, and it is ridiculously good. It’s also really simple and requires minimal prep time. The…
Coast: Not a Beach, Not a Rapper… Just Damn Good Music
COAST “I CAN’T COMPLAIN” MUSIC VIDEO from G Films on Vimeo Our mother once told us that whenever she went to the coast during life’s crossroads, she felt closer to God. That’s because people often take their problems to the coast, because whether they are conscious of it or not,…
The Five Most Entertaining City Council Members Of The Decade
Thanks to term limits, turnover among Houston city council members is fairly regular, and institutional memory be damned. But an ever-fresh supply of new meat means that at least some of that meat will be highly flavorful.This decade didn’t disappoint when it comes to that aspect of council-dom, so herewith…
If Dallas Can Sponsor Their Landmark Implosions, So Can We
Hair Balls was excited to learn that Kraft Foods (specifically Kraft Macaroni & Cheese) is a frontrunner in the race to sponsor the implosion of Texas Stadium. Actually, we were first awestruck to learn about it, because we didn’t think you could sponsor the destruction of buildings unless you lived…
Stirred and Shaken: Howl at the Moon’s Tennessee Tea
The musical act is the main draw at Howl at the Moon (612 Hadley, 713-658-9700), a dueling-piano bar in Midtown (and in Scottsdale, Charlotte, Baltimore, etc.). The bar features a stable of multi-instrumentalists whose job it is to work the crowd while plunking out up-tempo versions of predictable stuff. (Interactive…
Artist of the Week: Tim Qualls, Not the Local Cable Host, But He Does Know “Thong Song”
Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group “Artist of the Week,” bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn’t awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com. It is completely possible to understand that someone…
We Unrepentantly Love Hot Chicks. And So Do You.
Admit it. And we can’t help but notice when we’re culling photos for our slideshows from weekend events, club nights, bikini car washes, burlesque shows (yes, we have a terribly difficult duty to perform here), etc. that Houston is home to some absolutely gorgeous women. And in honor of those…
The Shameless Chef: Mock Stroganoff
I know I usually celebrate the major holidays by cooking something related, but I couldn’t think of anything for New Year’s that didn’t involve some kind of horrifying corned beef / black eyed peas / boiled cabbage combination, so I finally settled on a much simpler type of stroganoff. Normal…
Yuca Frita con Mojo
This Christmas we decided to combine the best parts of traditional Cuban and American cuisine for our big dinner. While the flavors ended up working perfectly with one another, one dish was such an unexpected hit with everyone that we’ve decided to make it again for our New Year’s Eve…
Party Like It’s 2009
Before you peruse our exhaustive guide to the best New Year’s Eve parties in the city, we suggest you flip through our top 15 party pics of 2009 to give you guidance and inspiration. And for your New Year’s Resolution? Party even harder, Houston…
Odd Pair: Black-Eyed Peas and Castelvero
This was a hard one for us because black-eyed peas are not our idea of a delicious dinner. They pretty much have to be smothered in vinaigrette or cooked with mounds of bacon before they resemble anything worth eating. But, we wanted to know what pairing wine with the authentic,…
Archie Bell, Roy Head Tapped for Free Mayoral Inaugural Concert at Discovery Green
Houston mayor-elect Annise Parker’s office announced Wednesday afternoon that ’60s soul stars Archie “Tighten Up” Bell and Roy “Treat Her Right” Head will be part of a free evening concert at Discovery Green next Monday, January 4. Parker is scheduled to take the mayoral oath earlier that day at the…
Annise Parker To Tighten Up & Treat Her Right At Inaugural
Mayor-elect Annise Parker’s swearing-in ceremony Monday over the weekend will be private, but after that on Monday it’s an eclectic mix of events and personalities for the public to share in.It includes a Discovery Green concert featuring two Houston performers who had hits a long while ago: Archie Bell of…
Braving The Crowds On New Year’s Eve? Here’s Where To Do It
So you’ve decided not to take any of our advice to stay home on New Year’s Eve and cook a nice, memorable dinner. You’re either brave or foolhardy and have somehow come to the conclusion that it’s an awesome idea to ford the river of amateurs and drunks that will…
Game Time: Try As You Might, No One Can Take Down Tiger Woods
I start this post with the premise that we all love attention. We crave it. Even if you don’t openly admit it, there’s a small part of you that likes it when you’re recognized for, as J. Peterman would say, a “job….done.”It’s not often in the sports world that one…
Pennywort: Secret to Longevity or Lawn Pest?
Four dollars a pound is pretty pricey for an herb. So when I saw this stuff called pennywort at Hong Kong supermarket, I wondered what it was used for. One internet source said that pennywort is a name given to lots of plants, including the dollarweed that suburban home owners…
El Arte de la Elegancia: The Best Latin Records of 2009, Part 1
It’s been a year of surprises in Latin music. Reggaetón continues fading, albeit slowly, and the industry’s mainstays aren’t garnering the attention they used to. Case in point: Don Omar’s summer release iDon (no relation to your phone), which remained quiet after its first single, “Virtual Diva.” Some big names…
The Great Green Room In the Sky: The Grim Reaper’s 2009 Musical Roll Call
Thankfully, 2009 was a sorry year for the Greil Marcus Rock Death Meter. Aside from the not terribly unexpected (but still weird) demise of the King of Pop, few bona fide legends went on to the Great Green Room Beyond the Sky. The Rock Death Meter rates rock deaths on…
A New Year’s to Rave About: Part Three
Have we convinced you to fly under the radar for New Year’s yet? Now that you have a handle on some delicious drinks and enchanting eats to serve at your low-key, low-expectations New Year’s bash, it’s time to discuss dessert. The easiest thing to do is to pick it up…
Your DWI Arrest Shall Be Tweeted About
Do you like to be tweeted about? Do you like driving drunk? If you answered “yes” (or just gave a drunken head-nod) to both, then you’re in for a treat: Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon is tweeting the names of folks charged with DWI this holiday season.”The number one…
The South’s Gonna Do It Again In Galveston
We’re coming up on the anniversary of the Battle of Galveston. Each January 1 Americans all over the nation celebrate the day by watching football and gorging themselves on leftover party snacks, in memory of the Union and Confederate soldiers who lost their lives.It wasn’t exactly Gettysburg out there on…
Monoliths & Dimensions: The Best Metal Records of 2009, Part 2
5. Immortal All Shall Fall (Nuclear Blast) These Scandinavian black-metallers get ridiculed for their excessively KISS-like corpse paint and pro-wrestling poses in promo pics, but one listen to this astonishing comeback album, their first release since 2002, will call a halt to any and all snickering. The production gives them…
Comparing Imperial Stouts
On this day in 1916, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, a Russian mystic who entranced the czar’s wife, was assassinated by aristocrats wary of his growing influence. It’s an intriguing tale and a fitting historical excuse to sample Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, an offering from North Coast Brewing Co. We also…
Troy Ward, The Aeros’ Man Behind The Scenes
Houston Aeros fans hear his name announced every night. They sometimes see and/or hear him interviewed by Joe O’Donnell during pregame or one of the intermissions. Yet ask most fans about assistant coach/assistant GM Troy Ward, they probably won’t be able to tell you too much about him.Many Aeros fans…
Coffee Review: Fusion Beans’s Guatemala Finca Vista Hermosa: El Eden
We recently received a package of the latest offering of local roaster Fusionbeans.com, Guatemala Finca Vista Hermosa: El Eden. The farm and farmers of Finca Vista Hermosa are an institution in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Edwin Martinez Senior oversees the farm, Edwin Martinez Jr. oversees the production, and Edwin Martinez III is…
Aftermath: Robert Earl Keen and His Touchy-Feely-Talky Fans at House of Blues
Aftermath hasn’t completely coughed up all his holiday goodwill yet, so we’re going to try really hard to keep this review from turning into a rant against the audience that showed up to see Houston’s own (by way of Bandera) Robert Earl Keen Monday night. But in order to do…
The Top 10 Bangable Men in the Texas Technosphere
It’s the end of 2009, and, ipso facto, Top-X-Number-slash-Best-Of lists are suddenly what’s for dinner. Everyone’s eager to take you on a trippy DeLorean ride back through the sands of the first decade of the century (or the last year of the decade, take your pick). Because, you know, the…
A New Year’s to Rave About: Part Two
Now that you have a handle on some delicious drinks to serve at your low-key, low-expectations New Year’s bash, you’ve got to have some food to go with them. After all, foodgloriousfood is what brings us together and keeps us from passing out before midnight. We’re big fans of the…
T-Mac, We Hardly Knew Ye
Rockets legend Tracy McGrady will be traded to another team, ending the season-long spat between star and management.”Rockets legend”? Too much? Not when you think of all the championships, clutch playoff victories and daring drives to the basket to lift his teammates that McGrady has provided. In his dreams.McGrady is…
Ask A Rapper: The Swagtastically Swaggerific Swaggerbird PKT
The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place – lots of times, you’re even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good – so once a week we’re going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Something you always wanted to…
Old Houston, Hiding Away In Long-Unopened Boxes
Elizabeth Avedon has boxes full of treasure, yet unopened. Her dad was president of the Harris County Mounted Posse back in the day — making him a bigwig in the rodeo — and he kept a large amount of pictures from his stint. Pictures that show a young Houston on…
Yuletide Mayhem Round-Up: Bank Robbing Santas, Spouse-Throttling ‘Round The Xmas Tree, And Wal-Mart Parking Lot Catfights
‘Twas the season to be jolly. Too bad these people didn’t get the memo…First, there’s this 60-year-old Missouri City woman who was charged with assault after a fight over a parking spot outside a Fort Bend County Wal-Mart. Fort Bend Now picks up the tale… According to reports, the victim…
Where Are We Drinking?
Go on and grab a nice, cold one. Help yourself! After all, this week’s drinking establishment implores you to do so. Think you know where we’re dipping into a cooler this week? Leave your best guess in the comments section below…
Distant Early Warning: Alicia Keys, Alkaline Trio, Infected Mushroom, Obituary, Slaid Cleaves and More
10th Grade Cutie, Muhammadali, Freddie Gonorrhea & The Gunz: Mon., Jan. 25. Super Happy Fun Land. Alicia Keys: Sat., April 3. Toyota Center. Alkaline Trio, Cursive: Fri., March 26. Warehouse Live. Fair To Midland, Chrome 44, Raging Apathy: Wed., March 24. Scout Bar Clear Lake. Finntroll, Moonsorrow, Swallow The Sun:…
Pop Rocks: “I Nail These Women Not Because They Are Easy, But Because I Am Haahd”
The Facebers and Twitbooks were abuzz yesterday morning with the news of a recently discovered picture reportedly showing former President John F. Kennedy sunning himself on a boat with naked women frolicking around him…as naked women are wont to do. Allegedly taken in the mid-1950s, this pic would’ve coincided with…
The Year In Photos
2009 was a good year for food. On that, we can all certainly agree. Looking back at all the fantastic and fun food events in which Eating Our Words has participated in the past year, it was nearly impossible to choose only our ten favorite photos. So we didn’t. Here…
Last Of The Incarcerated Gay-Bashing Woodlands Ten To Stay In Prison At Least One More Year
The parole of Jon Buice, the last incarcerated member of the so-called Woodlands 10, was denied earlier this month. Buice is currently serving a 45-year sentence for his role in the Montrose murder of 27-year-old banker Paul Broussard on the Fourth of July in 1991.In a nationally notorious precursor to…
A New Year’s to Rave About: Part One
New Year’s — to us — is that one holiday that never seems to live up to expectations. We’re supposed to have this *amazing* start to the new calendar, but everything always falls apart logistically: Restaurants are packed, booze is overpriced, and transportation’s a bitch. This year, why not host…
Hey, Texas Smokers: You Have Only Days To Stock Up
A little-noticed deadline is fast approaching — the last day when Texas merchants can legally sell cigarettes that are not “fire-safe.” For you tobacco addicts, that means cigarettes that taste like they’re supposed to.The Texas Department of Insurance (for some reason) is sending out reminders — as of January 1,…
2009 Concert Rewind, August: Weezy, Blondie, Depeche Mode, JoBros, Katy Perry, Mos Def, De La Soul, Blue October, Green Day and an Audience With King George
Asher Roth, Kid Cudi, House of Blues, August 1: “[Cudi has] tapped John Goldstein, Kanye’s famed stage light guy, to help him create an actual feel to his show. Hipster rappers get derided a lot as not being “real rappers,” but they put on a hell of a show. The…
Health Department Roundup: “Season of Joy” Edition
It’s in the air; everywhere we look around – hope, joy and lots of pie. Even on the Health Department website, we found holiday sentiment lurking in the names of a few unlucky establishments, among the mentions of ill-fitting sink fixtures and possible food contaminations. Not measuring things like chemical…
Allen Stanford Breaks A Congressman’s Heart
Oh, Allen Stanford, Houston’s biggest scammer since Ken Lay, dost the blackness of thine soul know no bottom?It was one thing to fool investors, but now you have broken the heart of a Texas congressman.The McClatchy chain’s Washington, DC bureau has been examining Stanford’s ties to members of Congress, and…
Behind the Lyrics: Although Rap Doesn’t Pay His Bills, the Northside’s Stunta “Keeps It 100”
STUNTA “I’m 100” Music Video from G Films on Vimeo. The last time Rocks Off hooked up with Stunta, there was lots of talk about “keeping it 100.” “When I say I’m bein’ 100 I’m basically sayin’ I’m being 100 percent authentic, 100 percent true to myself and to anybody…
Lunch Special: Sushi Raku
The newly opened Sushi Raku (3201 Louisiana Street) is a swanky, modern-looking place. It is huge – you could have a large corporate function here – and well built, with interesting depth in the windows and private booths galore. We can see why the build-out of this location took some…
Sure, The Colts Screwed The Texans Yesterday. But You Can Get A Free Glass Of Champagne Because Of It!
As our Sean Pendergast ably points out, the Indianapolis Colts gave a big eff-you to the Houston Texans yesterday, dealing the locals’ playoff chances a deathblow. (Technically, the Texans’ playoff hopes are alive, but they’re as alive as David Carr’s Hall of Fame candidacy.)The Colts called off the dogs midway…
Monoliths & Dimensions: The Best Metal Records of 2009, Part 1
This year was such a good one for heavy music, I wound up having to cheat when putting this list together. I just couldn’t settle on ten albums that kicked my ass the hardest in 2009; there were dozens of candidates. The best I could do was fourteen, so each…
Recipe: Boliche Mechado
The holidays at my house was always a battle of cuisines: traditional Southern versus traditional Cuban. My mother, a proud immigrant from Santiago de Cuba, always liked to bring a few of mi abuela’s recipes to the table. From stories I have I heard, there may have been a bit…
Game Time: Texans Playoff Rooting Manifesto 3.0…”Jim Caldwell Sucks” Edition
There will be no need for 2,000 words to explain the various permutations of things that need to happen this week for the Texans to make the 2009 NFL Playoffs. Thanks to the various dominoes falling yesterday, heading into Week 17, the following scenario needs to play out:– Texans beat…
Hit the Road, Jack: 10 More Notable Musical Deaths From the Past Decade
Looking back, this past decade wasn’t too kind to rock and roll as a whole. We lost plenty of people who weren’t exactly disgustingly huge as Michael Jackson or as monolithic as Johnny Cash. This decade took its share of people who were massively influential and iconic, but not on…
New Year’s Eve Dinner …At Home?
Recently, we read a chef’s recommendation to not eat out on New Year’s Eve. Why? It’s the busiest time of year for restaurants, and the volume prevents them from providing service and food up to their normal standards. But you can still eat a restaurant quality meal at home with…
Texas Traveler: Antiquing and Christmas Lights in Galveston
By the time you read this, Texas Traveler will be well on our way to deep West Texas for the first time, on a road trip that will culminate in Big Bend on New Year’s Eve. We’ve been planning this trip for a while now, and because of that we’ve…
Curse Your Branches: The Top College-Rockish Records of 2009, Part 2
5. Booker T., Potato Hole (Anti-) Booker T. Jones, as usual, is having exactly as much fun as he appears to be – in a word, lots. Here he’s backed by the Drive-By Truckers, an inspired pairing of sweet and surly garage R&B atop which that exuberant organ emotes more…
Gingerbread Houses at the House of Blues
The House of Blues (in the Downtown Pavilions, 201 San Jacinto) held four gingerbread house workshops on the weekends leading up to Christmas, run by executive chef Jeff Inman. We stopped by to video one and have sped up the video for your amusement. At $45 per Swedish-made gingerbread kit…
This Week In TV: Joss Whedon Is A Free Man
It’s way too cold outside, I can’t believe I’m back at work, and I’ve already braved one after-Christmas sale. This was the week in TV Land: • I watched the finale of The Sing-Off. That’s how little there was to watch on TV last week, kids: I watched a reality…
Beignets at The Big Mamou
On a basic level, beignets are French doughnuts, pastries of deep-fried dough sprinkled with powdered sugar and served piping hot with a side of coffee. Much like free drinks and lottery tickets, they are impossible to turn down — warm, sweet and crisp-golden. Yet despite their splendor, few restaurants in…
Lonesome Onry and Mean: R.I.P. Vic Chesnutt
The saddest musical news from the Christmas holiday is the overdose suicide of Athens, Ga. singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt. Rumors circulated on the Internet Christmas Eve that Chesnutt had died overnight but, according to a spokesperson from his record label, he remained alive but in a coma. The label later issued…
Mango Raspa with Cream
At the Refresqueria Rio Verdes truck on Longpoint, I bought a mango raspa with cream for dessert when I finished my Frito Pie. I had never had a raspa before, and I was thinking it was a mound of ice with syrup poured over top — what we call a…
Coogs Still In Transition As Conference Play Nears
The Houston Cougar men’s basketball team found just the way to go into the Christmas break, with a 105-81 win over the TCU Horned Frogs that was close for the first half of the first half, but then saw the Cougars move into pull-away mode. Kelvin Lewis was hot in…
Aftermath: Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas Megachurch Metal at Toyota Center
Whatever happened to Savatage? They really weren’t half bad. Somewhere between their 1995 album Dead Winter Dead and the light bulb that lit up in producer Paul O’Neill’s head in 1996 and told him to create the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, a metal-lite equivalent of Mannheim Steamroller, something went tragically awry. Not…
Texans 27, Dolphins 20: So Close, Yet So Far
One game. One of two missed Kris Brown field goals. One of two Chris Brown rushing attempts from a yard out. A ridiculous Chris Brown pass on first and goal in Jacksonville. Take away any of those — just one — and the Texans are most likely 9-6 and controlling…
Turning the Screw: Fat Pat, Trae, Shane Sparks, Gucci Mane, The Kanye, Maino, Eminem, Kid Cudi, Bun B and More
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. Single of the Week: “No Glory,” Fat Pat Wire to Wire So Trae spent the holidays handing out thousands of pairs of shoes…
Where Are We Eating?
Meat, glorious meat. Juicy, tender, toothsome and perfectly cooked to a lovely medium rare. But lots of restaurants in town serve meat. Can you figure out where we’re eating this week? Leave your best guess in the comments section below…
Anjelah Johnson’s Houston Special Airs Tonight
Stand-up comic and actress Anjelah Johnson came through Houston last summer to tape her first special for Comedy Central. Hair Balls spoke with Johnson, a former NFL cheerleader, who appears in the just-released film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and will soon be seen in the upcoming Our Family…
25 High And Low Points Of The Decade In Astro-Land
Yesterday we looked at the decade’s highlights and low points for the Texans. Here’s a look at the Houston Astros.1. October 2005: The Astros drive past the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals in two memorable NL playoff series to make the first World Series in the history of the…
2009 Concert Rewind: The 2009 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase and Ceremony
Showcase Sunday, Part 1 Dominique: “We guess critics would call her style ‘neo-soul,’ but it didn’t seem very ‘neo’ to me, more like ‘jazzy soul.’ She fronted a piano-led trio with two backing vocalists and from the first sultry Fender Rhodes groove to the final explosive climax, she added some…
Odd Pair: Gingerbread and Gewurztraminer
During the holidays, you can’t escape desserts. If they’re not staring you down at the office, they’re waiting for you at the multitude of holiday parties. Well, we aren’t any different. If you can’t beat them, join them, right? In this holiday version of odd pairings, we bring you gingerbread…
Yes, Jo Koy Will Talk About His Mom This Weekend
Comedian Jo Koy is having a great year, even if he isn’t having a great week. He’s got the flu and he’s spending the holidays in airports and hotel rooms as he travels around the country doing his stand-up show. Hair Balls got to talk to him between flights, after…
Game Time: The Decade’s Five Most Lucrative Miracles
First, I want to wish everybody out there a very happy holiday, and thank all of you who have read my stuff here on HoustonPress.com since I started up a couple months ago, especially those of you who leave comments (even if you think what you’ve just read is utter…
Curse Your Branches: The Top College-Rockish Records of 2009, Part 1
Yeah, pal, that’s “college rock,” scare quotes very much included. Look, it’s a meaningless term. As are “indie,” “alternative,” “hipster,” etc., etc. Let’s not overthink this: Here we have ten splendid records with an amorphous rock ‘n’ roll designation, albeit in a perhaps slightly more experimental and thoughtful vein than…
Openings and Closings: Market Square Edition
By now, most Houstonians have heard of the efforts to once again revitalize downtown’s Market Square. The city block, which is bounded by Travis, Milam, Congress and Preston, has long been a park but has also long been ignored, despite many past efforts to revive it to its former glory…
The Top Five Christmas Day Sports Moments
As you’ve probably figured our by now, Christmas Day is not just for opening presents and spreading the love. It’s also about parking yourself in front of a television and watching sports. It’s part of what it makes the day so unique, especially for men — they get to do…
The Kids Are All Right: Hip-Hop Finally Comes of Age, Part 2
5. DOOM, Born Like This (Lex) The man behind the metal mask, Daniel Dumile, emerges from a mysterious exile to turn in his best effort since 2004’s Madvillainy collaboration with Madlib. The dense verbiage and the beats (some of them reclaimed from the late J. Dilla) are familiar, but DOOM’s…
Where to Drink Christmas Night
Looking to carry your holiday celebration into the wee hours? Most restaurants and restaurant-bars around town close their doors on Christmas Day, but that’s no reason to stay in, Mr. Grinch. Plenty of bars will welcome you with open arms, ready to add some jingle to your belly. First and…
Our Decade In iTunes, Ol’ Dirty Bastard Through the Fleshtones and Good Ol’ Morrissey
Maybe the biggest evolution in music this decade has been the availability of online downloads, starting with Napster and ending with half a dozen legitimately – licensed venues for purchasing music over the tubes. Rocks Off will admit it. Back in the day, we were illegal downloaders. Waiting 20 minutes…
A Chorus Line: One Day A Hairstylist, The Next A Dancer On National Tour
Rebecca Riker always liked dancing and was good enough at it to land a gig as an NBA dancer for the Sacramento Kings in her home town when she was 18 — but a try at college didn’t take. “Wasn’t for me,” she says. Being the practical sort, she knew…
Late Night Scene: Sinh Sinh
After a long day of hitting bars I was on my way home and decided to stop in Chinatown for a quick bite. I wanted to try something new, and there were several places still open with their large neon signs beckoning to me like I was a lost sailor…
Christmas In Baghdad With One Houstonian
Hair Balls was able to check in by e-mail with Houstonian Private First Class Matthew Slayden, currently deployed to Baghdad with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Married, with a wife and kids at home, Slayden is scheduled to return stateside early next year. We got to ask…
Inquiring Minds: Pocket Full of Soul Director and Harmonica Apologist Marc Lempert
As you can also see in this week’s print edition of the Press – yes, we still make those – Rocks Off recently had a chance to chat via email with Marc Lempert, director of the harmonica documentary Pocket Full of Soul that screens Saturday night at Verizon before a…
Merry Christmas to Ale and to Ale a Good Night
If you ever wondered when it as appropriate to drink a particular beer, this is the one day when the instructions are printed on the bottle. Saint Arnold’s Christmas Ale should be consumed most of Christmas Day and all of Christmas night. It’s a beer that combines big malty flavors…
25 Texans Highlights Of The Decade
As we come up on the end of the decade, I thought I would look back at some of the city’s professional sports franchises and throw out some of their highlight moments. I figured I would start with the Houston Texans.1. February 18, 2002: The team’s very first draft choice…
Happy Hour Scene: Cielo Mexican Bistro
We had the wind knocked out of our sails, or stomach or lungs or whatever, on a Tuesday night trip to Cielo Mexican Bistro downtown, at 300 Main St. It started with a late night in the office and me desperately wanting to not go to Midtown. One of our…
2009 Concert Rewind, July: Beyonce, Coldplay, Aerosmith/ZZ Top, Judas Priest, Rod Stewart… and the Trae Day Gunplay
Wooden Birds, Other Lives, Walter’s on Washington, July 2: “This is Andrew Kenny’s latest project away from American Analog Set. That band is currently on hold while Kenny and the rest of the group go off to pollinate elsewhere. The Birds don’t fall far from the AmAnSet tree at all,…
When It Really Is “Last-Minute”: Best Gifts From The Convenience Store
Whether you just got out of prison, a nasty case of swine flu had you bedridden for weeks, or you just plain don’t like your family that much, there are a million reasons many folks wait until the last minute to go Christmas shopping. And really, who wants to truck…
St. Arnold’s Winter Stout
Normally we use the anniversary of some historical event to try to justify what would otherwise be a random beer review each week. But this is current folks, no encyclopedia digging required. This week, as early as yesterday at some stores and watering holes, our own St. Arnold Brewing Co…
The Kids Are All Right: Hip-Hop Finally Comes of Age, Part 1
While year-end, catch-all wrap-ups are common to every musical genre, in no other style of music do they turn into the hand-wringing, “state of the game” examinations that hip-hop seems to provoke. We worry because we care, of course. But at some point, like a thirty-something parent, those of us…
Rosenberg Home To The Newest And Biggest Kroger Concept Store
You’d think that a 123,000-square-foot grocery store that also sells jewelry, toys, small appliances, linens, home accessories and furniture (yes, furniture) would be overwhelming. After all, Eating Our Words once had a full-blown panic attack inside the similarly sized (and fully overwhelming) H-E-B on Bunker Hill at I-10. But the brand-new…
A Christmas Carol: The Best And Worst Versions
There’s no use trying to hide it — we’re a sucker for A Christmas Carol. Any version of it can grab our attention; we’ve read the original countless times; the magic is always there.Charles Dickens was in somewhat dire straits. His wife was pregnant yet again, and the serialization of…
Top 5 Holiday Wines under $30
Holidays are meant for splurging, and what better way to splurge than with holiday wine? Normally, we drink $10 to $15 wine, but for the holidays, we treat ourselves to a little luxury. When we are feeling nice, we give these wines as gifts or enjoy them with family and…
In the Mix: DJ and Dance Music for the New Malaise, Part 2
5. MSTRKRFT, Fist of God (Downtown) Canadian duo MSTRKRFT gave the cool kids what they want – grinding, “keytar” synths, a punk-rock attitude and plenty of pop references (John Legend, N.O.R.E., and Ghostface Killah make appearances). Despite the pair’s hockey-mask appearance and heavy-metal-dance aspirations, Fist of God is surprisingly accessible…
He Said She Said: “Fergitrocious” and the Worst Songs of the Decade
In a perfect world, The Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps” would actually be called “My Bumps,” and it would be an ode to Stacy Ferguson’s rampant misadventures with meth addiction, because that would be the only thing that could make that horrible, horrible song bearable. You might think it’s harsh…
Pop Rocks: The Year In Houston Movies
Like most years, 2009 wasn’t hugely eventful for Houston as a movie town. There wasn’t a big, locally filmed tentpole release like Armageddon, and most news revolved around the death of one of the city’s biggest celebrities or, to a much lesser extent, the inaugural Cinema Arts Festival.Some movies this…
Serbian Potica Bread
Who doesn’t like a good Serbi-Slavic treat for the holidays? Potica (po-TEET-za) is a popular European nut bread most often served as a breakfast treat, an afternoon snack, or a lightly sweet dessert during the nativity season. Never heard of it? For shame! Paper-thin walls of rolled dough are spread…
He Said She Said: “Fuck You Owl City” and the other Worst Songs of the Decade
Sweet Jeebus, this decade had some awful pop music. You would think the Lord would spare us a little in light of all the terrorist attacks and hurricanes we got this past period. Where the past ten year cycles had disco, new wave, and classic West Coast hip-hop to sate…
All I Want For Christmas Is No More ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas Parodies
It’s the night before Christmas!! If only there was some kind of poem about it.Not only is there a poem about it, it’s one that someone, somewhere, feels the need to parody every year. It could be a sportswriter hard up for a column, it could be someone wanting to…
The H-Town Countdown, No. 5: Lil’ Keke’s Don’t Mess Wit Texas
There are roughly 84,000 rap albums that have been released in Houston since 1989. We’re counting down the 25 best of all time. We’ll be here every Thursday. Got a problem with the list? Shove it. Just kidding. Friendship. Email it to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Back in July (when this here Countdown…
Hong Kong Stocking Stuffers
Stuffing stockings with candy canes and chocolate bars is boring. So every year I try to come up with some original ideas. One year I stuffed the stockings with drugstore items like toothpaste, dental floss, Q-tips, and Band-Aids. That didn’t work out so well. Aggrieved parties are still whining about…
Jo Koy
To hear him tell it, comedian Jo Koy’s ego must be a bruised and ragged little thing. On a recent road trip with the Comedians of Chelsea Lately, Koy, comedian Josh Wolf and Chuy were hanging out in a bar (Chuy, for those few of you who aren’t Chelsea Lately…
Year in Film: One from the Heart
Enticing Jeff Bridges to voice a washed-up surfer dude in the 2007 children’s movie Surf’s Up, the filmmakers sent the actor a video of an animated penguin declaiming a few of his lines from The Big Lebowski. They probably didn’t need to work that hard: An avid surfer, Bridges has…
Robert Earl Keen
Previewing Robert Earl Keen’s House of Blues date last December, we noted, “Since he hasn’t released any new material since 2005’s What I Really Mean, expect Sunday’s set to be heavy on old favorites.” Well, Keen made it a very merry Christmas from the family indeed with September’s The Rose…
Year in Film: Three Critics’ Top Three
Looking back on a decade dominated by the movie franchise — Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars and Spider-Man to name just a few — and overrun with prequels and sequels (Saw I, Saw II, Saw III, Saw…), our three critics each pick three favorites of the ’00s…
I Set My Friends on Fire
Hmmm. If you’ve never heard of I Set My Friends on Fire before, it’s two Miami homeboys — Matt Mihana and Nabil Moo — who used to play around South Florida as We Are the Cavalry. The music on their first project as ISMFOF, 2008’s You Can’t Spell Slaughter Without…
Year in Film: Rent a Wreck
In a Dallas strip mall, in the neighborhood George W. Bush now calls home, sits a bright and fluorescent Blockbuster that, on this cold Thursday night in December, is populated by maybe a handful of customers — high-schoolers grabbing a game, a middle-aged mom checking to see if Julie &…
The Gourds
Against all odds, 15 years in, the scruffy, chaotic Gourds are still firing on all cylinders. Over that period, record labels have come and gone, legal hurdles have been leapt, yet still somewhere in the belly of the beast the creative fires have continued to burn, bubble and belch. This…
Year in Film: Three Critics, One List, Ten Best
1. The Hurt Locker: The decade’s strongest Iraq movie is also the year’s finest action flick, not to mention director Kathryn Bigelow’s personal best. Working from Mark Boal’s knowledgeable script, The Hurt Locker is impressively old-school in its construction of suspense and character, and horrifically topical in its depiction of…
Holiday Madness
For Kelly Robertson, it all started stupidly enough with a fight on Twitter with her boyfriend. She wanted to leave town; he didn’t. She went home, argued with him face-to-face and had a meltdown. She’d been diagnosed with depression four months earlier, was in a doctor’s care and on medication,…
Director’s Block
There’s no city-clogging traffic jam in Nine, the musicalized version of Federico Fellini’s movie-about-moviemaking urtext 8 1/2, but the result feels like the celluloid equivalent of a 12-car pileup. An assault on the senses from every conceivable direction — smash zooms, the ear-splitting eruption of something like music, the spectacle…
Pot au Pho
The first time I ate at the original Pho Binh on Beamer, it was a cold, foggy Saturday morning. The single-wide trailer that’s home to the Vietnamese restaurant was packed. The hot beef broth and hearty rice noodle dish called pho is a favorite Vietnamese breakfast — especially in cold…
Something’s Gotta Give
Does Nancy Meyers hate women? The thought ran through my head not very long into It’s Complicated, Meyers’s biennial stocking-stuffer about the romantic trials and tribulations of obscenely privileged and narcissistic Southern Californians. Once more into the breach goes Meyers to show us what women really want, this time with…
Shade at Canopy
“Since shade is such an important part of our lives as an element in Houston’s weather, and that’s what we called our first restaurant, we extended this concept with Canopy, which really means a canopy of oak trees sheltering us from the elements,” says Claire Smith of her new Canopy…
Blind Faith
“Equal parts comic melodrama and film noir, and twice as fun as it ought to be, Broken Embraces boasts more bifurcations than any two Hitchcock classics. Channeling Audrey Hepburn, Almodóvar muse Penélope Cruz plays Lena, a Madrid secretary who moonlights as a hooker named Severine before turning full-time to (what…
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…
Our Stars Have Arrived!
Spaced City If You Can’t Beat ‘Em We totally agree with the Chronicle’s ideas on news judgment By Richard Connelly On a recent Sunday, nothing whatsoever was as important to the Houston Chronicle as the announcement of its new society reporters. Mayoral race? Texans victory? Meh. The Chron placed a…
The Cowboy Way
Two-stepping is not parallel parking or buying birthday gifts: You can’t be “okay” at it — you’re either brilliant or you’re a train wreck. Consider Todd Yarbrough brilliant, then. Yarbrough, 43, has been two-stepping nearly his entire life. He doesn’t explicitly say it, but watching him dance at Rebels Honky…
The T-Mac Question
The T-Mac Question Online readers respond to “Game Time: Five Jobs The Rockets Can Give Tracy McGrady,” By Sean Pendergast, Hair Balls blog, December 15: Get clubbed yourself: Maybe you should get clubbed on the head. What makes you think that someone else should be hit on the head when…
SPECIAL NAVIDAD GIFTS EDITION
Dear Mexican, Can you recommend a solid, accessible history of California and Arizona so I can learn what really happened when the U.S. gobbled Aztlán? La Chica Confundida Dear Wabette, The holistic classic in this genre of Rodolfu Acuña’s Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, but it’s a bit pricey,…
Year in Film: Director of the Decade
On a late March morning, the sun sits high in the Cape Town sky, illuminating the trapezoidal monolith of Table Mountain in the distance, while down by the city’s busy waterfront, the players of South Africa’s national rugby union team — the Springboks — go for a training run. Only…
Midwinter Graces
The signs of Christmas are all around us: The air has turned chilly, Starbucks has resumed serving gingerbread lattes in seasonal red cups and countless recording artists have released holiday albums. This year’s crop contains some diverse offerings and unexpected gems from Hall of Famers (Bob Dylan), faerie goddesses (Tori…
Cool Threads
I’m a sucker for a good painting gimmick, and Brian Wills has one. Wills creates stripe paintings with slender and precisely spaced strands of thread instead of lines of paint. It’s work probably best suited to someone with steady hands and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but the results can be pretty nice…
Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go
Remember how Noise was bitching and moaning last week about the lack of solid front-to-back albums released in 2009? Add the following 15 records to the haystack-size pile of reasons we thank our lucky stars every day that we live in Texas. Born Liars, Ragged Island: This Houston quartet’s songs…
Capsule Art Reviews: “A Room of Her Own”, “Carlos Cruz-Diez: Crosswalk”, “Cy Twombly: Treatise on the Veil”, Damascus Gate (Stretch Variation III), “Dario Robleto: Some Longings Survive Death”
“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…
Buh-Bye 2009
The year is finally coming to a close, and it’s a close a lot of people are more than happy to embrace. With the recession technically “over,” we’re all eager to kick 2009 to the curb and launch ourselves into a slightly more secure future. So we’ve compiled a list…
Blow Out
Believed to date back to an ancient Chinese wind instrument called the sheng, the harmonica as we know it today was developed in Europe in the early 19th century. A distant cousin of the oboe and bassoon, the pocket-size instrument truly came into its own in the New World —…
Fat Tony’s Black Christmas
Night before Christmas? Nah, man. Night after Christmas. “It’s a good time to get shit poppin’ because all the kids got money from their parents…and they got nothing to do,” says local rapper/promoter Fat Tony, who plans to get the house stirring with the clatter of in- and out-of-towners: “B…
Capsule Stage Reviews: A Christmas Carol, A Fertle Holiday, 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…
Hayes Carll
Home for the holidays…Hayes Carll may not live here anymore, but The Woodlands native has become one of Southeast Texas’s leading musical ambassadors. Texas talent scouts first picked up on Carll’s ear for whiskey melodies and nose for downcast detail on now-shuttered local label Compadre’s Flowers and Liquor in 2002,…
Year in Film: Grounded
Unlike the zigzagging protagonist of his latest film, Up in the Air, Jason Reitman tends to stay close to home. “If we were in a small town, you’d call me a ‘townie.’ I’d be the guy who’s always lived within a mile of the house he grew up in,” says…
Delbert McClinton
There’s an old adage, especially for blues singers, that when the women start coming to your shows the men will follow, and Delbert McClinton is its epitome. Born in Lubbock in 1940 and raised in the rowdy honky-tonk/R&B cauldrons of Fort Worth, McClinton has carved out one of the most…