Texans – Jaguars: Just Who Are These Guys?
You were thinking it. I was thinking it. Hell, the whole city of Houston (or at least those who actually cared enough to watch) was thinking it: “Same old Texans.” And who could blame you? Faced with a golden opportunity to finally record a non-losing season, the Texans came out…
Resolutions of the Rich and Famous
While the rest of us are trying to drop ten pounds, stop living at Target, and cut back to just drinking in the evening (or maybe that’s just yours truly), it seems to me that a certain number of celebrities out there need to make some resolutions as well. So…
New Year’s Resolutions
Welcome to 2008. How is everybody? I hope that none of you is too hung over, especially with this whole returning to work after the holidays thing today. Being that it’s New Year’s means it’s time for the whole resolutions thing. I’ll give you my resolutions for the year down…
Drenched in Blog: Say Ya Want a Resolution?
Last year’s resolution to not engage in any homoerotic prose using florid and corrosive language didn’t work. So for 2008, this blogger is resolving to not weep like a colicky infant when Albert Maysles, acclaimed director of Rolling Stones documentary Gimme Shelter, releases his Fall Out Boy documentary. Yes, that’s…
$13 at D’Amico’s Italian Lunch Market Café
Where: D’Amico’s Italian Lunch Market Café, 5510 Morningside, 713-526-3400 What $13 gets you: A dream come true This Rice Village trattoria has such an adorably clichéd décor, it feels like something out of Epcot’s Italian Pavilion. Complete with Lady & the Tramp style red & white gingham tablecloths, plates on…
To Do: La Destrucción at the Silo
Looking to burn in the new year? We’ve got a suggestion. And no, we’re not about to make a joke about marijuana (or herpes). The American Wandering Club is recreating La Destrucción, an art happening that went down 44 years ago in Paris, when Argentine artist Marta Minujín destroyed all…
What to Watch: Football, Hockey, Football and Football
It’s the final weekend of 2007. And I know most of you are going to be spending it drunk and hung-over. And you’re probably not going to be in the mood to figure out what to watch, sporting wise. And you’ll probably just stick to the first game you land…
Sole of Houston: This One’s for Rory Miggins
Click here for a slideshow. This installment of the Sole of Houston takes us to the Southeast side of town. There were a lot of firsts to this walk. For starters, it was the first that had a theme – since it took us through Rory Miggins’s old stomping grounds,…
John Royal’s NFL Picks, Week 17: Betting Against the Texans for the Last Time (Till Next Year)
Thank God, it’s the end of the NFL regular season. My record for the season so far is 100-138. At least I’m not the Dolphins or the Falcons. I don’t think you can have a much worse season than those two teams. So, let’s end it and get these final…
Navigating MySpace’s Musical Wilderness
Tokyo Pudding: Like Devo, but Japanese I resisted MySpace like I resisted the World Wide Web, seat belts, unleaded gas, Barry Goldwater… but I digress. Since familiarizing myself with MySpace’s vast musical wilderness, I’ve become addicted to the surprises it reveals. Sometimes you discover a new outhouse, sometimes it’s like…
Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 17: Are the Texans Half Empty or Half Full of It?
I don’t know what to make of the Texans. Are they an up-and-coming squad destined for a playoff push in ’08? Or are they still a sorry bunch of misfits who just so happened to play a weak schedule this season, allowing them to make a run at .500? There…
High School Photo Contest: Weather
Danielle Riley, Westchester Academy for International Studies We’ve just loaded up the latest round of entries from our photo contest for Houston-area high school students. The theme was weather. You can check out the entries over here. Be sure to let us know which one’s your favorite in the comments…
Prince Fielder Sued in Houston Federal Court for Allegedly Helping Pops Hide Assets
Milwaukee Brewer All-Star first baseman Prince Fielder may have learned how to hit the long-ball from his famous baseball father Cecil Fielder, but he has also inherited his dad’s long-standing legal troubles. When Prince was 18 years old, playing A-league ball in the minors, a process server tracked him down…
Steroids and Roger Clemens: The Game Is Afoot
So, I see Rocket is going after the real killers, oops, I mean, he’s searching for the people who didn’t testify for the Mitchell Report who should’ve testified for the Mitchell Report, i.e. anyone who will say Rocket is innocent. Hey, Rocket, I know just the place to start. According…
Houston Aeros Best the San Antonio Rampage in a Sluggish Game
The Houston Aeros got off to a sluggish start last night. And for the entire first period, the 7,274 fans in attendance could be forgiven for thinking that they were watching a bunch of guys so stuffed with Christmas turkey that they couldn’t lift their feet in order to move…
The Carniceria Connoisseur in Canada
ST. LAWRENCE MARKET, TORONTO — “You must be from the States,” the butcher at the St. Lawrence Market said as I took his picture carrying a huge hindquarter of beef into his meat market. “You guys don’t get to see real meat anymore, hey?” He was right. In Houston, meat…
Best Non-2007 Music of 2007
One side note to my “official” list of favorite 2007 albums: A lot of my favorite “new” music from this past year didn’t even come out in 2007. Originally, at least. The music biz may have been slow in coming around to the whole digital-revolution thing, but it has realized…
Alonzo Bodden
Jet mechanic-turned-comedian Alonzo Bodden just can’t understand the process of buying new bedding. “Now I know how women feel when they talk to car mechanics,” Bodden says in stand-up routines about shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond. “You have that kind of vague sense you’re being ripped off.” The tall…
Sérvulo Esmeraldo’s “Les Excitables 1966-1975”
Most galleries will toss out anyone who tries to touch the art. Sicardi Gallery won’t, though; in fact, they’ll give you a pair of soft gloves and a personal invitation to go right ahead. It’s Sérvulo Esmeraldo’s “Les Excitables 1966-1975,” a series of boxes, that visitors get to touch. Each…
Joe Ely
Joe Ely is experiencing a revival. The continually downtrodden-sounding, Lubbock-based country-rocker, who plays the Verizon Wireless Theater today, re-released some of his much-in demand older solo material on his own Rack ‘Em Records, published his beat author-like journals and, once again, reunited the Flatliners, the all-star band that didn’t know…
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, you can’t deny that the yuletide concert tours of the Trans–Siberian Orchestra have become a hugely popular annual tradition (one that Andy Williams or the Heat Miser never could have foreseen). Founded in 1996 by composer and rock producer Paul O’Neill, the more-than-30-member troupe plays…
Redefinition: An Artistic Experience
The 4th Annual Redefinition: An Artistic Experience, a multimedia event, brings together 25 performing and visual artists for an evening of dance, poetry, music and art. Native Houstonian Autumn Knight, well known as an actress and multimedia artist, will be among the poets performing. Making his third Redefinition appearance is…
Playhouse Disney Live
The latest extravaganza from the Magic Kingdom is Playhouse Disney Live on Stage. Featuring characters from the Disney Channel’s “Playhouse Disney” block of programming for preschoolers, the show gives tykes a chance to see their favorites from The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins and the new show My…
Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker
The touring Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker pairs dancers and choreographers from the Soviet era with today’s newest stars. It’s the real thing, chock-full of elegant pas de deux, decadent sets of the Kingdom of Sweets and a host of local children skittering around as mice or snowflakes. Plus, we…
NYE, HS Style
Want to end the year on a high note? Then join the Houston Symphony for their New Year’s Eve Concert. Conductor Brett Mitchell leads guest soloist Timothy Jones and the Houston Symphony Orchestra in a program ranging from Haydn’s Symphony No. 101 (Clock), to Bernstein’s West Side Story to Strauss’s…
Clandestine Classics
It may seem odd to ring in the New Year with a celebration of two composers who died 250 years ago, but Ars Lyrica Houston, who specialize in baroque music, have found a way to make centuries-old music seem new. In tonight’s Clandestine Classics, they’ll perform lesser-known masterworks from Bach…
Kwanzaa WonderWeek
Kids can learn more about the African-American holiday Kwanzaa at the Children’s Museum of Houston’s Kwanzaa WonderWeek. During Kwanzaa’s weeklong celebration, a candle is lit every day to represent each of Kwanzaa’s seven principles, such as creativity and unity. Quick Kwanzaa quiz No. 1: What’s today’s principle? (Nia, or purpose)…
XXXmas: BooTown’s Sexy Christmas
Bring sexy back to Christmas — or not. Emily Hynds says either way, you’ll be welcome at XXXmas: BooTown’s Sexy Christmas. “We certainly don’t want to deter anybody who would not want to come because they’re afraid of that,” Hynds says of the theme. “A lot of people have been…
Texas Bowl
Rising out of the ashes of the disaster that was Mattress Mac’s Galleryfurniture.com Bowl, today’s Texas Bowl stages its second-ever match-up at Reliant Stadium. This year’s battle features two old Southwest Conference foes that are meeting for the first time since 2004. The 8-4 Houston Cougars, led by interim head…
Caroline or Change
The Civil Rights Movement makes mighty fodder for musical theater in Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner’s Caroline, or Change, a groundbreaking show that’s been hailed by critics across the nation. The story follows Caroline, a maid in a Jewish household in 1960s Louisiana. Caroline finds herself at the center of…
“The Much-to-Consider Season”
Visitors might look at “The Much-to-Consider Season” and think something along the lines of, “naked people.” “Whatever happens, it’s still going to be a photo that a girl took of herself naked, and that’s fine,” says Ashley Maclean. “I think it can be just as complex as anything else.” The…
Christmas Chaos 2
Technically, Christmas Chaos 2 should be called After-Christmas Chaos 2. But hey, have you seen headliner Booker T? The former WWE champ and present Pro Wrestling Alliance star is huge! We’re certainly not going to tell him he’s off-schedule. Today, Mr. T squares off against RVD, and you can expect…
D. L. Hughley
Comic D. L. Hughley might be the hardest working bullshit detector around today. Ever since he was freed from the shackles of reciting Aaron Sorkin’s self-indulgent dialogue on the failed Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Hughley has been pretty much able to tell it like it is. Already set…
Hansel and Gretel
Can’t get to New York for the latest Metropolitan Opera performance? Don’t worry, the Met is coming to you. Several local movie theaters will host an HD broadcast of a live performance of Hansel and Gretel. Even though we all know the wicked-witch-meets-kids/wicked-witch-tries-to-eat-kids story, seeing Metropolitan Opera’s live performance of…
New Year’s Eve Rundown
The New Year’s clock is counting down, and if you’re reading this, chances are you’re still trying to figure out what to do (or you just enjoy reading our witty prose). Your time is precious — especially if you’re still looking for a date — so without further ado, here’s…
Super Happy Fun Land 5th Annual Hangover Party
If you’re a drinker, New Year’s Day means you probably a) have a hangover, or b) are still drunk. Luckily, you’ll be welcome at the Super Happy Fun Land 5th Annual Hangover Party, where guests can recover from their headaches — or keep the party going with the grunge rock…
Asylum Street Spankers
The Asylum Street Spankers are God’s favorite band. Well, at least according to their MySpace page. We’ve never asked the One Above about His/Her musical preferences, but the Spankers would make for worthy candidates — that is, if God doesn’t mind parental advisory stickers. The Austin sextet’s vaudeville-inspired country and…
Finesse Mitchell
Finesse Mitchell is fine. Seriously, boy looks good. We’re guessing if he isn’t bringing a date along to the Laff Stop’s New Year’s Eve celebration, which he’s hosting, he’ll definitely get a few takers before the ball drops at midnight. Ladies looking to get a leg up on the competition…
The Big Lebowski
Last March, during an open-forum chat between visitors of the Washington Post’s Web site and the author of yet another book on why today’s young men don’t have the same ambitions as their fathers, a 26-year-old declared, “Today’s hero is not the blazing, iconoclastic industrialist of Ayn Rand, but the…
The Best DVDs of 2007
Blade Runner: The Final Cut (Warner Bros.) — It’s the collector’s-set briefcase that seals the deal, a gunmetal gray case that all but shouts “Completist dork!” Also: There’s damned near every single version imaginable, plus a making-of doc almost as essential as any iteration of the movie itself. Film school…
Local Motion
Cactus Music 2110 Portsmouth, 713-526-9272 1. Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, Raising Sand 2. Ben Lee, Ripe 3. Levon Helm, Dirt Farmer 4. Jesse Dayton & Brennen Leigh, Holdin’ Our Own 5. Derailers, Under the Influence of Buck 6. Gougers, Long Day for the Weathervane 7. Various Artists, Putumayo Presents:…
Mockingbird Bistro
When you order the char-grilled American Kobe beef burger ($28) at Mockingbird Bistro (1985 Welch, 713-533-0200), get it with a slice of seared foie gras. It’s an amazing textural and taste experience, combining the bold flavor of the foie gras with the delicate flavor of the Kobe beef. Even without the…
The Year In Film
Absolutely, unequivocally, this has been The Year of The Apatow: Judd got Knocked Up to the tune of $150 million (at the box office alone); the super-okay Superbad, which Apatow produced, grossed another $120 million, “gross” being the operative word; and at year’s end, he walks hard to the finish…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Jerry Kearns: Between Heaven and Earth,” “Little Known Facts,” “Mary Heilmann: To Be Someone,” “Ryan Geiger: Secret Garden”
“Jerry Kearns: Between Heaven and Earth” After the 2001 terrorist attacks, artist Jerry Kearns began a series of works inspired by the blue sky that was the backdrop of the twin towers collapsing. “Between Heaven and Earth” captures the confusion and conflict of that day, as well as the absurdities…
Outback Steakhouse’s Gingerbread Martini
Attention, friends and readers of this column: I need an intervention. Hold on, it’s not what you think. I don’t have a problem with booze; I have a problem with baked goods. My addiction started out small — a donut here, a cookie there, all recreational use. Then the holidays…
Capsule Stage Reviews: A Christmas Carol, Christmas Tree-O, The Nutcracker, Sister’s Christmas Catechism, The Twelve Ways of Christmas
A Christmas Carol Among the charms of December in Houston is the Alley Theatre’s annual production of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’s amusing, sweet tale about an old man who finds his heart one cold Christmas Eve. This year’s production, directed by James Black, is full of laughs and good…
Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week:
American Pie Presents: Beta House (Universal) The Brothers Solomon (Universal) Eastern Promises (Universal) Galactica 1980: The Complete Epic Series (Universal) The Heartbreak Kid (Universal) Intimate Affairs (Universal) The Kingdom (Universal) Lost and Found: The Harry Langdon Collection (Facets) Shattered (Lions Gate) WWE: The Best of Raw 15th Anniversary (WWE)…
The Best Games of 2007
Best Sleeper Hit: WordJong (Nintendo DS) — It may not sell like Mario, but this mishmash of Scrabble and mahjong hooks you like handheld crack. Already a word-of-mouth hit despite being released only this month, WordJong is perfect for quiet afternoons, loud commutes or romantic walks on the beach. Best…
Bayousphere
“Ummmm, yeah….Two buttons. Pretty sophisticated. So, a ummm….anyway….how’s that whole stormtrooper thing working out for you? They got good benefits and all?” The last, desultory attempts at conversation fail in a Space Center Houston elevator during an exhibition of Star Wars memorabilia. To view image larger, click here…
Creationism, Food Not Bombs, Fake Panhandling
And on the seventh day, God cemented Texas’s reputation as the home of ignorant yokels who don’t need no book-larnin’. In case you haven’t heard, an advisory panel to the Texas Higher Education Committee — an advisory panel made up of educators from places like UT-Austin and Texas A&M-Commerce —…
The Savages
Simmering below the squeamish elder-care euphemism “uncharted territory” is a fearful awareness that when it comes to dealing with the growing army of senile parents, we have no idea what the hell we’re doing. Tamara Jenkins plumbs the depths of that terror in her new film, The Savages, and jacks…
ASK A MEXICAN
Apologize for the shortened column this week, but there are tamales to make… Dear Readers, Gracias, thank you, gracias for another successful year. The Mexican now appears in 32 newspapers across the country, with a weekly circulation of just over two million! As more readers join the Reconquista, many ask…
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the American painter turned filmmaker Julian Schnabel (Basquiat, Before Night Falls) won the jury’s Best Director award for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, his French-language adaptation of the best-selling memoir by the late Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby. Felled by a massive stroke…
Vogue Lounge
If you like having sex in public places, the unisex bathrooms at the Vogue Lounge (2800 Sage) are perfect. There are four clean rooms with locking doors, mood lighting and enough room to go crazy. Sure, you have to wait in line until Nick, the bathroom tsar, deems you worthy,…
Our Favorite Albums of 2007
The end of the year is a conflicting time for music writers and editors. The pedagogue in us can’t wait to reveal the recordings that rocked our world over the previous 52 weeks, while the approval-seeker nervously hopes that list isn’t too far out of line from all the others…
Grupo Fantasma
The cultural and musical explosion that epitomizes Grupo Fantasma is no small secret in Texas. The Latin-based 11-piece ensemble, formed in 2000, cut a stunning live album at Antone’s last year and has performed on Austin City Limits (both the music festival and the television series), but it was the…
Toxic Runoff : Somerville Mayor Tommy Thompson Discusses the Public Health Situation
The mood in Somerville has taken a distinct turn since the Houston Press published its special report “Toxic Town” (December 6, 2007), and attorneys get ready to try their first case. Hundreds of Somerville residents are suing the current and former owners of a century-old wood-treatment plant set along the…
Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu steadfastly refuses to be conveniently placed in a box, and why should she? Throughout her career, the Dallas native and resident has continually experimented with music and fashion, making her the complete antithesis of the cookie-cutter R&B singers we’ve become accustomed to. With some ‘nu’ Badu due in…
Victoria Osteen, Carol Porter, Baby Boomers
Our Main Attraction The Osteens: Anybody I know who’s taking the time to go to Texas is going for one primary reason, and that is to visit Joel Osteen [“Legal History,” Hair Balls, by Richard Connelly, December 6]. What other reasons are there for visiting Houston? From there they usually visit…
Grand Buffet
A little more than two years ago, Ceeplus and DJ Jester hit the Rudyard’s stage with Pittsburgh’s Grand Buffet; clearly, it was a good night, as the three acts are teaming up again this week on the very same stage. Pennsylvania’s Jackson and Lord Grunge have been doing the DIY…
Thai Café
There was a red-scented candle on our table at Thai Café on Westheimer. I believe it was that festive cranberry scent that’s so popular during the holiday season. Why anyone would want to sniff artificial candle aromas while eating curry is a mystery to me. But the candle didn’t last…
Che Arthur
When Che Arthur embarked on a solo career alongside his five-year stint with scuffed-up Chicago noise-punks Atombombpocketknife, you might’ve expected him to slow down and mellow out some. Not bloody likely. His 2003 solo debut, All of Your Tomorrows Were Decided Today, still thrashed about with chaotic zeal, even as…
Jesse Dayton, Johnny Bush
Jesse Dayton is no stranger to country music royalty, having inherited the Outlaw mantle directly from the legends themselves. “I’ve gotten to play with Johnny Bush, Willie Nelson, Ray Price [and] I did a TV thing with Cash,” attests the hard-drivin’ Beaumont-bred honky-tonker. “But Waylon was like my runnin’ buddy…
Arc Angels
“More a legend than a band,” a slogan devised for another of Texas’s most critically lauded musical outfits, the Flatlanders, also fits the Arc Angels perfectly — sometimes. The blues-rock quartet formed shortly after Stevie Ray Vaughan’s untimely death in 1990, providing a new musical home for his grieving band,…
All about Eve
We have some hefty issues to face in the next year, like, oh, who our next president’s going to be. So tonight let it all hang out. You know half the city will be hurting tomorrow, and with so many venues vying for your attention, it’s easy to see why…
Music Deaths
First, the standard disclaimer: A few years ago, we started stealing the Greil Marcus Rock Death Meter, which he invented in his now 28-year-old work “Rock Death in the 1970s: A Sweepstakes.” In that seminal essay, Marcus rated dead 1970s rockers on their past and potential future contributions, and their…
Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection
Nothing in “Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection” is for sale, but I really wish it was. The show includes approximately 300 works from the 1960s to the present, and while the MFAH owns plenty of things to covet, something about jewelry really brings out those…
Altar Boyz
There’s no accounting for taste. No show makes that clearer than the award-winning, audience-pleasing sugar cube now causing cavities at Stages Repertory Theatre. Altar Boyz, the dithering musical about a Christian boy band by Kevin Del Aguila, Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker, is supposed to be parody, but the…
Musical lowlights of 2007
As the only year in the next thousand to end in 007, this past “James Bond Year” was unique. Its never-ending parade of music-related embarrassments, humiliations and gaffes, however, was not. Every year brings a tide of such ignominious moments, so the Houston Press polled a few of our regular…