Kids’ Night Out
WED 12/31 Some parents keep their wee ones corralled upstairs during their New Year’s Eve festivities and then toss ’em bleary-eyed into the melee, right at the climax. How lousy. Why not let them have a party of their own? That’s the idea behind Main Street Theater’s Kids On Stage…
Want Fries with That?
THU 12/25 It’s Christmas night, and you seriously need to get away from your family and the stress they bestow on you on this holiest of days. Downtown’s M Bar will be open and offering up a “Milkshake” — the party, not the drink. It seems the weekly NoDo shindig…
I Got You, Babe
MON 12/29 Saxophonist Stan Killian might be one of the brightest stars on the Texas jazz scene, but that doesn’t mean he’s got a ‘tude. As a matter of fact, he just can’t stop talking about how great his singer is. “She’s pretty instrumental in my life,” he chuckles. “I…
Sparkling Leftovers
Tip for Obsessive Holiday DecoratorsChampagne cocktails look great in glasses rimmed with red or green sugar (the kind you put on Christmas cookies). To rim the champagne flutes, pour the colored sugar in a saucer. Turn the glass upside down and dip the rim in a little water. Then swish it in the sugar.
Wine Flight for Carnivores
Chef g’s Seafood and Steakhouse (1915 Westheimer, 713-522-5551) is marking its first year with a little menu tweaking. The popular “dinner journey” ($24.95 per person) is a scaled-back version of chef Gower Idrees’s original “meat and seafood journey,” which could choke a horse. The new option is a sharable sampler…
Masters and Commanders
The M/S Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship floats amid the turquoise reefs of Cozumel, Mexico, and passenger Kathy Henehif lounges on the pool deck. She wears a Margaritaville T-shirt, braids tipped with dozens of red beads, and a grin that has grown by Friday into a nearly permanent imprint…
Always Darkest Before the Dawn
If you’ve ever read one of these jive-ass year-enders before, you’ll know that (insert year here) was full of plenty of Ups and Downs. That for every (insert major star here) that joined that great rock and roll band in heaven, we said hello to an (insert flavor-of-the-month chart-topper here)…
The Sex Life of Cynthia Hunt
Channel 2 reporter Cynthia Hunt may flash some thigh on her personal Web site, www.cynthiahunt.com, but apparently she’s not quite the sex kitten the photos make her out to be. Hunt did a report December 8 on how the city’s library system encourages kids to visit a Web site called…
Majic 102 Holiday Jamm
The smoothest of smooth R&B brothas will be out in abundance for this post-Christmas concert. Maze featuring Frankie Beverly will be there because, well, people would probably be pissed if they weren’t. Gerald Levert will be there to make all the ladies in the audience feel beautiful even though most…
Stocking Stuffers
Christmas came early in a big way for some Houston politicos, but a whole lot more of them should be hitting up the Houston Chronicle Goodfellows Editor for donations. Or appealing to Governor Rick Perry for a quickie appointment to any position that pays. This has been the year when…
The Class of ’03
Well, another Christmas has come and gone, and by now you should have a fistful of gift certificates, not to mention more crap than Fred Sanford. But if you’re lucky, the place that bread machine or Chia Pet came from will have a generous return policy — that way you…
Food for Political Thought
Imagine this scenario: Soon-to-be-mayor Bill White comes off a late-night round of community meetings to spend a grueling morning sorting through financial wreckage at City Hall. His energy is flagging. He needs sustenance desperately, but there’s time for only a brief bite. So what’s his pick-me-up of choice? Riyad and…
Petering Out
“All children, except one, grow up…” So begins J.M. Barrie’s classic children’s tale about the boy who defiantly refuses to grow up and the girl who’s torn between remaining a child with him or accepting the inevitable passage into adulthood. Adapted from Barrie’s own 1904 stage play, the 1911 novel…
Heart Broken
Convict John Michael Harvey complained to medical staff of chest pains, but he was ordered back to his cell after routine blood pressure and temperature checks. He later told his lawyer he demanded to see a prison doctor at his Allred prison unit, but a nurse instead threatened him with…
A Mountainous Achievement
Anthony Minghella’s magnificent film version of the Civil War epic Cold Mountain has much more going for it than Hollywood grandeur. Beyond its striking set pieces, gruesome battle scenes populated with thousands of extras and movie-star glamour — Jude Law and Nicole Kidman are like beautiful pieces of china about…
Letters
The Price of Vice Help the hookers: I understand that prostitution is seen as a problem by some, but that still does not warrant the utterly stereotypical, judgmental and offensive tone of this article [“The Breakfast Club,” by Wendy Grossman, December 11]. “Crack whore” is a term I am disappointed…
The Mod Squad
Millie is modern, meaning she plans to marry to better her lot in life. For her, love isn’t part of the equation. It’s the Roaring Twenties, and she’s traveled all the way from nowhere Kansas to New York City in a cornflowered frock to ensure she fulfills her decidedly unromantic…
Holiday Rapping
It’s the 28th century. You’ve valet-parked your hovercraft and are now entering a museum exhibit on the life of Mudbone, an influential rap MC who rose to fame in the late 20th century. Perhaps we should explain at this point that Mudbone is a fictional character, a creation of local…
This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks
Thursday, December 25 Merry Christmas, Houston singles. Have you had enough silent nights? No? Then take yourself over to Solero for silent dating, the newest trend in mate-meeting. The idea is less pressure-filled than speed-dating, and more likely to guarantee actual chemistry than online personals. Soothing instrumental music and chirping-bird…
Sweet Drunk Love
Conroe-based physician Ken Davis has a chilled-out perspective on health care. “If you like to drink, drink a beer a day,” he says. “It reduces your chance of a heart attack.” Davis recently wrote a book called Health Yourself: The Candy, Booze and Sex Prescription, which is filled with juicy…
Putti Call
If your taste in holiday decor runs to rare Christian-themed works of art rather than gaudy tinsel and lights, then Rienzi is the place for you this time of year. The grand River Oaks manor, billed as the former home of one of “Houston’s finest families” (whatever that means), now…
The Houston Shuffle
THU 12/25 First off, in this case, shuffleboard is not the game of big sticks pushing huge disks across the deck of the “Love Boat” or the hotel patio in Del Boca Vista. No, this is the game of 15th-century English taverns, where besotted patrons push small red or blue…