Equusearch Founder Seeks City’s Support to Recover 127 Vehicles from Bayous
Equusearch founder Tim Miller told Houston City Council members Tuesday that he’s lined up companies willing to retrieve more than 100 cars submerged in bayous at no cost to the city. KPRC’s Joel Eisenbaum broke the story that Equusearch had discovered 127 sunken vehicles while searching for a missing woman…
Reality Bites: Eaten Alive
Fool me once, shame on you… There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. I didn’t actually watch Eaten Alive when it aired last weekend, though I understand quite a few people did. How do I know this?…
Calm Down, Texas; Selena’s Killer Will Not Be Released From Prison Early
If you happened upon those recent reports stating that Selena Quintanilla’s killer would be getting an early release from prison and freaked, please get those panties out of a bunch. The rumors are not true. The fake article, first posted on the satirical news site National Report, stated that Yolanda…
Fan Fighting League! Raiders vs 49ers, Super Bowl of Thuggery
I’ve been to a San Francisco 49ers home game. I’ve also been to an Oakland Raiders home game. In fact, I am the rare individual who has been to see both in the same night. Last season, the Texans played the 49ers in San Francisco in a Sunday night game…
VOM FASS: A Playland of Oils, Vinegars and Spices
VOM FASS, the new oil, vinegar and spice store at 2424 Times in Rice Village, is not huge but the well-organized space has a whole lot to offer. To the left is a triangular stack of barrels. To the right are bottles, jars, sets and dispensers of spices and spice…
Rockets Recap: Running Down the Rockets Injuries (Hint: There Are a Bunch)
Record Since Last Recap: 5-1 MVP Since Last Recap: Donatas Montejunas Best Win Last 2 Weeks: vs. Grizzlies Toughest Loss Last 2 Weeks: vs. Clippers Current Record: 16-4 Next Five: at Warriors, at Kings, vs. Nuggets, at Nuggets, vs Pelicans No matter what comes of this season for the Rockets,…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Anthony Russo of Russo’s New York Pizzeria
No matter how you slice it, Anthony Russo is a success story. He developed one of the first New York-style pizzeria concepts in Houston. After perfecting his family’s recipes for his own restaurants, he took the concept and started franchising it. That concept was Russo’s New York Pizzeria. Today, you…
Reviews for the Lazy Gamer: Tomb Raider: Temple of Osiris
Game: Tomb Raider: The Temple of Osiris Platform: PS4, Xbox 360, PC Publisher/Developer: Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics Genre: Action Score: 8 out of 10 Synopsis: Lara Croft has discovered the Tomb of Osiris, but in doing so has been marked for death by the Egyptian eater of souls. Now she, Carter…
100 Creatives 2014: Kendall Kaminsky, Playwright
What did you do last weekend? Laundry? Dinner with friends? Last weekend, University of Houston theater student Kendal Kaminsky had the world premiere of her play The End of Side A. The 22-year-old was selected from several other playwriting students to develop a full-length play. Working with UH Professor Rob…
Houston’s Unofficial Driving Rules and Road Etiquette for Newbies
Hey there, all you newbies! We’d like to welcome you to Houston. It’s easy to see why you’re all making the move to the Bayou City. Where else will you find such a rad job market or affordable cost of living? And you certainly can’t match our city’s restaurant or…
“I’ll Be Stoned for Christmas” Argues for Keeping Weed Illegal
So that photo happened, apparently at the hands of a dude named Dent May. And not only is he the culprit for the worst Christmas photo known to man, but his holiday-themed song is a little foggy, too. And yes, we remember that awful Mariah Carey earworm. “I’ll Be Stoned…
This Week In Food Blogs: Local Blogger Attacked For Having Deep Thoughts
We’re in the throes of the holiday season. Just hang in there–we’re all going to make it through this. Tag Sale Tastes has a thoughtful gift idea: why not make care packages of goodies? Whether for soldiers, the hospitalized, college students or someone else you care about who’s far away,…
J.J. Watt To Appear On South Park (w/ VIDEO Trailer)
In our age of trending topics, social media, Klout scores, and Twitter followers, relevance has never been more quantifiable. Or better put, relevance has never had so many methods of quantification. And while it’s not a numeric score or a quantity of followers, appearance in animated form on the show…
Doctor Who: Are Weeping Angels Really Time Lords?
The Weeping Angels remain one of the few significant contributions to The Doctor’s rogue’s gallery made in the revived series. Since “Blink” they’ve appeared in four episodes and a handful of short stories and novels. Unlike the Silence or the Ood, though, they remain very mysterious in origin. According to…
Try These Five Crazy Delicious Warm-Spiced Eats in Houston
With winter in full swing (kinda), it’s time to warm things up a bit. And what better way to do that than with these 5 outrageously good warmly-spiced foodstuffs: See also: Try These 5 Awesomely Delicious Kimchi-Packed Eats in Houston Try These Five Monster Breakfast Dishes Try These Five Monster…
Human Behavior’s Soul-Searching Via TV Screens
Tucson’s Human Behavior asks you to peer deep into your soul and examine its makeup through the one conduit they’re certain you’re comfortable looking through: the TV screen. That’s just part of the premise behind the band’s captivating video for “Chapter 1” from its forthcoming album, Bethphage. The video is…
Exposure 2.0: David Sadof’s New Alternative Wonderland
If Houston has anything close to an alternative-music guru, it’s got to be David Sadof. Last week he rolled out Exposure, his new online station that takes its name from the late-night FM program he hosted on the KLOL in the ’80s that was like MTV’s old 120 Minutes, except…
Casting Doubt on Eric Clapton’s “Retirement” Tour
Planes, Trains and Eric Directed by David Maxwell Eagle Rock Entertainment, 156 min., $14.98 DVD/$19.98 Blu-Ray Guitar God Eric Clapton surprised some English fans earlier this year when he announced his likely retirement from regular touring. “The road has become unbearable,” he told Uncut magazine. “It’s become unapproachable, because it…
Rock Stars and Their Weird Nature-Based Hobbies
The life of mega-famous rock stars has got to get tedious after a while. Drug-fueled backstage orgies with supermodels undoubtedly begin to grate on a person’s nerves after a few years, and it makes sense that some famous musicians long to escape that fast-paced lifestyle. A lot of famous musicians…
RIP Jim Tommaney, Playwright, Critic, Actor and Director
James J. “Jim” Tommaney, a writer and critic for the Houston Press since 2011, died last night after a long illness, his niece informed us this morning. Tommaney, who began writing for the Press as a theater critic and later transitioned to visual arts critic, had a wide range of…
UPDATED: Woman Found in Fridge Was Stabbed, Had Been Missing for Months
Update, Dec. 10, 2014, 9:10 a.m.: Houston police have identified the woman found fatally stabbed at 10555 Fondren as 27-year-old Anastacia Oaikhena Lambert. HPD also released a photo of Anastacia and her 11-month-old son Apollo, who is still missing, and has been for at least a week. Police believe that…
Supremes Are Looking at Texas Confederate License Plates
You’d think that the concept of Confederate license plates would go over wonderfully in Texas, but surprisingly that’s not exactly the case. When the Sons of Confederate Veterans state branch (think mostly guys who like to dress up in gray wool and who really love all things Confederate) applied for…
Inmate With History of Carrying Shanks Uses One to Stab Harris County Jailer
One shank, two shanks, three shanks, four? An inmate with a propensity for carrying homemade stabbing devices, or “shanks,” for you novices, has now been accused of stabbing a Harris County jailer with…well…a shank. According to authorities, 33-year-old Weylin Alford, who is currently serving a sentence for burglary with attempt…
UPDATED Trial Begins in “Satanic” Killing of 15-Year-Old Girl
Update: Jose Reyes was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison, the Chron reports. The jury only took a little more than an hour to return the verdict, according to the Chron. Prosecutors used Reyes’ jailhouse letters in closing arguments, quoting a passage about how Satan…
4 Arguments Anti-Feminists Use in Gaming (That Don’t Work)
The feminist movement in gaming over the last several years has been a fun one to watch. At least for me because I’m a guy and nobody threatens to drive a bomb truck through my house for talking about the subject. Still, it has been very interesting to see gaming…
Where to Eat This Christmas Eve & Day in Houston
We can feel it in the air — Christmas is almost here! And while we do love a good homemade feast, sometimes it’s easier to let the professionals do the cooking, especially on the holidays where all you care about is when you’re getting your next glass of egg nog…
Season’s Greetings: Come Write for Us
Here at Rocks Off, we love our writers dearly, but there’s always room for more; frankly, right now we could use a few more hands on deck. The best part of it is, lots of companies may be looking to expand this time of year, but this job doesn’t end…
Holiday Theater in Houston: Amazing in Variety but Not Always in Form
Who can deny the eternal appropriateness of Tchaikovsky’s snowy score for The Nutcracker, the spiritual depths of Handel’s splendid Messiah, or Dickens’s immortal tale of redemption and charity, A Christmas Carol? In its own particular (and sometimes peculiar) way, every theater company celebrates the season in its own fashion. Three…
Officer Threatens to Erase Open Carry Protester Video, Can’t Figure Out How
An open carry protester released footage over the weekend of what he says is an HPD officer attempting to erase footage of the interaction he recorded with his cell phone camera. The only problem? The officer couldn’t quite figure out how. The four-minute video opens with an explanation of what…
The Best Bet for Novice Diners at Taiko Is to Stick to the Basic Menu
The tempura at Taiko Japanese Restaurant is wispy light and incredibly crisp at the same time. It doesn’t matter if you order the shrimp, the vegetable or the bakudan (which means “bomb”), a big ball of vegetable tempura the size of a small football. Each bite, dipped into the scratch-made…
Why Sofia the First Will End in a Bloody Civil War
My primary hobby in the world is overanalyzing the complex feudal politics of the kingdoms in Disney. It’s how I relax. I’ve already explained before how Brave is not just the story of a plucky young woman finding the strength to be who she really is, but also a complex…
The Sick Untouched by the Affordable Care Act Turn to Houston’s San José Clinic
Just after midnight on January 1, 2011, Jason Villareal and his wife were driving home from a church service when they were hit head-on by a drunk driver. The damage was massive. “My wife broke her right foot. I was knocked unconscious. I had a shattered right foot, heel and…
Ho Ho Humbug Disappoints With a Predictable Holiday Plot
The 17th-century English poet Thomas Shadwell once said, “No man is happy but by comparison.” While this may be true in life as well as art, it still has to suck when your brand spanking new play can’t be mentioned without everyone also calling up another older, famous and frankly…
Space Whiskey in Space City: Ardbeg’s Latest Project Lands in Houston
Q: What’s the only thing better than whiskey? A: Space whiskey. Appropriately enough for Space City, Houston has just acquired what some people are calling “Space Whiskey”. Officially, it’s an experimental Ardbeg distillation that’s just returned to Earth after three years in space. At its premiere to the media last…
Five Things We Learned From the First College Football Playoff Selections
In the season long beauty contest that is College Football 2014, the first season being played to impress an audience of what amounts to twelve judges, Saturday night was the finale. It was the swimsuit competition, if you will. And make no mistake, the six teams vying for the four…
10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About the Nintendo DS and 3DS
The DS line of Nintendo handhelds is a monster. Not only is it the best-selling handheld gaming system of all time, it’s the second-best-selling video game system period of all time. Only the PlayStation 2 beats it in terms of numbers moved. The amount of power that developers manage to…
This Week in Food Events: Celebrate One Year With “The Cats”
Tuesday, December 9 Toys For Tots Holiday Drive at Mr. Peeples Sip a holiday cocktail, enjoy hors d’oeuvres and visit with Santa Claus and the U.S. Marines during Mr. Peeple’s Second Annual Toys For Tots drive. 6 to 9 p.m. $20 donation or one new toy…
Great Hair, Stellar Entertainment: We’re Really Going to Miss Rick Perry
For the past 14 years, the state of Texas has been run by the guy with the best head of hair in professional politics. Now we are reaching the end of an era. Come January 20, Gov. Rick Perry will leave office after serving the longest gubernatorial term in the…
Upcoming: 30footFALL, Black Oak Arkansas, Dan & Shay, Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, etc.
30footFALL: With Dead to the World, the Ballistics. Thu., December 25, 8 p.m., $12 to $15. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak, Houston, 713-862-3838. Abby Gough: With American Stereo Type, Feral the Earthworm, Los Vagabundos., Sun., December 14, 8 p.m., $3 to $10. Acadia Bar & Grill, 3939 Cypress Creek, Houston, 281-893-2860…
Misunderstanding Lauryn Hill’s G.O.A.T-ness
Buying a ticket to a Lauryn Hill show, like tonight’s at House of Blues, might mean you need to have backup evening plans ready. Or you might need to tell the babysitter you’ll be home later than expected because Hill might not get there on time. On paper, if Grammy…
Jim Morrison’s Long-Lost Adventures Now Revealed
The Doors: Feast of Friends Eagle Rock Entertainment; 144 mins.; $14.98 DVD/$19.98 Blu-Ray While definitely not for the casual fan, Feast of Friends offers hardcore Doors aficionados a treasure trove of rare and unreleased footage, all of it all glowingly restored. Shot with the band’s cooperation while on their 1968…
The 10 Best Local Concerts of 2014
93.7’s “Welcome to Houston” Party Arena Theatre, February When 93.7 The Beat premiered early this year, you could tell that the station really wanted to establish itself in the local hip-hop community and forge a connection with Houston listeners. And the reason you could tell is that they called up…
Family Rescued on a Sinking Boat in Galveston Are Now Running From the FBI
Remember the dramatic rescue of the couple and their seven children whose boat had run aground in Galveston in late October? Well, according to police, those parents are fugitives, wanted in Colorado on charges of wire fraud. Whoops. Galveston authorities say the FBI contacted them after they recognized the couple…
Tony Buzbee, Rick Perry’s Top Lawyer, Is Suing Some California “Film Producers” After Investing $1.5 Million in a Failed Dance Movie
Tony Buzbee is probably the wrong guy to target if you’re a con-artist looking for a mark. Buzbee has built for himself a larger-than-life persona in the course of his many years as a top-gun Texas trial attorney. He’s fought BP, represented families suing the late Texas philanthropist/accused pedophile Stanley…
HFD Captain Threatens to Make Hispanic Male Teens “Deceased” on Facebook
Apparently Hispanic male teenagers should watch out around a Houston Fire Department captain, who threatened to “make them deceased,” saying during a Facebook rant that “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot shit” doesn’t work with him. The department is investigating HFD Captain Larry Batiste after he posted the threat on his Facebook…
10 Things We Hate (But Have Come to Accept) About Houston
I am an unabashed supporter of the city of Houston. I am a third-generation Houstonian and despite having visited places around the country and world, I’m perfectly happy to call Houston home. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its problems. Oh, it has a boatload of them. Some are fixable…
Texans 27, Jaguars 13: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Two weeks ago, the Bengals game was the latest “Texans must win this game or the season is over and the world ends” game, and we all know what happened. The Texans lost, the season (felt like it) was over and the world (temporarily) ended. Of course, the NFL season…
D.R.I. Stokes a Thirsty Crowd of Thrash Maniacs
D.R.I., Owl Witch, Thraxis, Gallion, Legion Scout Bar December 5, 2014 While some of Texas’ latest and greatest hardcore bands whipped up sweaty mayhem downtown at Fallcore on Friday, a couple of Houston’s earliest and most crucial practitioners of the style were proving they can still rip it up with…
All Good Things Poured: A Look at Public Services Wine & Whisky
Public Services Wine & Whisky is on the first floor of the historic Cotton Exchange building at 202 Travis. The place feels a bit like the giant living room of an old Southern mansion. Everywhere you look, there are elaborate, carefully preserved or restored details: intricately carved crown molding, antique…
Julon Pinkston’s “Nailed” Is a Disappointment
Sometimes an artist is inspired to proceed in a certain direction, but the direction to a viewer may seem the opposite – uninspired. This is the case with Julon Pinkston’s solo show, “Nailed” at Zoya Tommy Gallery. There are two very different approaches shown, though both feature nails. As one…
“Urban Asia: Kirk Pedersen” Examines Urban Japan, Old and New
The population shift of Asians toward large cities has captured the imagination of Kirk Pedersen, and he in turn has captured its complexity in a series of photographs and photographic montages on display at the Asia Society. Rudyard Kipling’s dictum “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never…
UPDATED It’s College Bowl Announcement Time, Levine Ousted as UH Football Coach
Update December 8 at 1 p.m.: UH announced this morning that it has fired head coach Tony Levine. Defensive coordinator David Gibbs will take over as interim head coach until the university hires a replacement. “Coach Levine and I met several times throughout the season, and again late last night,…
Dish of the Week: Bulgogi
From classic comfort foods to regional standouts and desserts, we’ll be sharing a new recipe with you each week. See the complete list of recipes at the end of this post. This week, we’re looking at bulgogi. Bulgogi is Korean dish of grilled, marinated beef that is said to have…
A W Is a W: Texans Take Down Jaguars in Jacksonville
Sometimes, you just need to get a win. On a gloomy, rainy afternoon in northern Florida, the Texans ground out a win against a competitive but too young to be a serious threat Jaguars team. Through two quarters, Jacksonville led 13-10, but the Texans defense didn’t allow a single score…
The Changing Face of Houston – Timbergrove Manor & Lazybrook
Just west of The Heights are Timbergrove Manor and Lazybrook, two interesting neighborhoods consisting mostly of postwar, ranch style homes. I spent more than 15 years living on the western edge of The Heights, just a few blocks from Timbergrove Manor, and that neighborhood held a certain fascination for me…
Whiskey Shivers Enlist Familiar Face for Further Hijinks
“I was on a trip to Ireland with my family when I fell in love with the fiddle,” recalls Bobby Fitzgerald. “It just seemed so fucking cool!” The Whiskey Shivers front man began playing the instrument at 12 years old, honing the skill while growing up in the tiny upstate…
DEFCON Dining: Good Dog
Dining out with children is an exercise in situational awareness. Each experience is unique, with different variables leading to different possible outcomes, DEFCON-like in their escalating threat levels. Keen observation, forward planning and prior experience are critical in determining the proper strategy. Here at DEFCON Dining, we do the grunt…
The 10 Best Texans-Jaguars Rapper Tweets
The 2014 Houston Texans have a new coach, new players, new hope and the same dedicated fan base of Houston-based rappers. As in years past, they took to Twitter on game day to comment on the home team’s gridiron action. And, as in years past, Rocks Off spent Sunday afternoon…
Usher’s Spot-On Parade of Party-Rockers and Panty-Droppers
Usher, August Alsina Toyota Center December 5, 2014 You can have an epiphany about R&B at 26 right? Like, you can glance over all the mix CDs you made with the intent to woo a girl and then immediately wonder where it all went to hell, right? Right. Usher, for…
The Five Best Concerts in Houston This Week: Lauryn Hill, Andrea Bocelli, RL Grime, etc.
Ms. Lauryn Hill House of Blues, December 9 One of the biggest question marks coming into this past Free Press Summer Fest, Ms. Lauryn Hill emerged instead as one of the weekend’s biggest surprises with a Sunday-afternoon set many fans said was one of the weekend’s best. The ex-Fugee and…
NASA’s First Orion Launch Is a Big Deal for Houston
The spacecraft stood there gleaming on the launchpad as the countdown began, the numbers ticked off by a cool, measured voice. On NASA TV, the audibly giddy voice of the announcer took over, his voice raised to an almost-shout. “Three-two one and lift off art dawn, the dawn of Orion…
Rosanne Cash’s Golden Thread of an Album
Brazoria County is in for a real treat this evening, because Rosanne Cash is bringing a whole lot more than “Seven Year Ache” to Brazosport College’s Clarion Theater. Her calling card this time is The River and the Thread, her cinematic, deeply soulful album-length account of the relatively recent trips…
UPDATED Group Holds Grand Jury Registration Drive in Third Ward
It was a largely black crowd with at least a third of the audience made up of white people and a few anarchists sprinkled in. They were there to share ideas, sign some petitions, and to vent about injustice in the Mike Brown and Eric Garner deaths. Inside the packed…
HPD Chief McClelland Calls War on Drugs “A Miserable Failure” in Radio Interview
In a 30-minute in-depth interview set to air on KPFT 90.1 FM this afternoon, Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland acknowledged that the war on drugs has disproportionately hurt “young minority men,” and that law enforcement attitudes on marijuana use are beginning to shift. In a wide-ranging interview with Dean Becker,…
College and Pro Football: This Weekend’s Best Bets
Before we get to the Best Bets, a couple of quick comments on the college football coaching carousel… Florida found their guy in Colorado State’s Jim McElwain, and by doing so kept alive the streak of 1,143 straight schools who have fired their head coach and then gone and found…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: Wild
Title: Wild Does REI Really Send You New Boots If Yours Don’t Fit? Apparently. Now if I could just get Stone Brewing to FedEx me more IPA when I underestimate how much I’m actually going to drink. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Three western diamondback rattlesnakes out…
What’s Up With Visa Lottery Assistance Sites?
Each year, the U.S. Department of State issues 50,000 green cards through the Diversity Immigrant Visa program, sometimes called the “green card lottery.” It’s free to apply, but a slew of online companies of dubious provenance offer to assist applicants for a healthy fee. The State Department recommends avoiding them,…
Upcoming Event: Dinner in the Dark, a Special Lights Out French Wine Dinner at Lucille’s
Imagine this: You’re dining in a restaurant and the lights go out on the whole entire block. If you’re the chef and owner, what do you do? Last year, Chris Williams of Lucille’s found himself in that perplexing situation. “It was a Friday or Saturday night and there was an…
Univision Wins Primetime Ratings War in Houston and Other Major Cities
For several years, Spanish-language network Univision has been making inroads in the ratings wars with the big four networks, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. In 2013, it notched its first real ratings win by posting the highest marks in key demographics during the summer months. While impressive, summer is not…
Santa on the Cheap: Where to Find Holiday Entertainment in Houston You Can Afford
It’s beginning to cost a lot like Christmas Add up gifts for your family and friends, wrapping paper, bows, a turkey dinner, cupcakes for your kids’ classmates, stocking stuffers for co-workers, a Christmas tree, Christmas tree ornaments and tinsel, lights for the house, throw in an inflatable Santa for the…
Is This the Year for Jeff Bagwell? Probably Not
There will likely once again be no Hall of Fame induction for Jeff BagelThe new inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame will be announced early next month. So let’s just get this out of the way now: Jeff Bagwell’s name will not be one of the inductees. Craig Biggio’s…
The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Celebrate the End of Prohibition
Repeal Day @ Prohibition Supperclub & Bar Friday, starting at 3 p.m. 1008 Prairie The dark era of Prohibition — which lasted a long 13 years and very well may have been the birthplace of the craft cocktail movement — was lifted on December 5, 1933. To commemorate the date,…
100 Creatives 2014: Christopher Turbessi, Pianist
Early on, Christopher Turbessi played percussion but quit after a couple years. (“I hated it; not for me.”) Then he went on to the French horn and stayed with that for a while. He finally found his way to piano when he was 12; he calls that a late start…
Upcoming Events: Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza Is So Close We Can Almost Taste It
After much anticipation, Chicago-based pizzeria Gino’s East will be opening its doors in The Woodlands on Thursday, December 11. The restaurant is looking to fill the Chicago-style, deep-dish pizza void with a menu that focuses their signature pies alongside new Texas-inspired menu items like BBQ Brisket Za. Celebrate the grand…
Meet George West: Bang Bangz Drummer Plays First Solo Show
Vik Montemayor is best known as the solid and smooth drummer for Bang Bangz, Houston’s increasingly popular ethereal electronica act. Earlier this year, though, Montemayor began branching out with a solo act called George West, and tomorrow night will be the first chance Houstonians will have to see him in…
Jadeveon Clowney Done for the Year, Texans Fans Deserve Answers
“We met as an organization this morning with all of our medical personnel, doctors, trainers. We came to the decision that in the best interest of JD is that we will place him on injured reserve and he will have surgery on his right knee. I will not get into…
Openings & Closings: Urban Eats Is Now In Soft Opening
Urban Eats, 3414 Washington will officially open on Monday, December 15, but you can visit now. Be kind, as they’re still in their soft opening phase. The interesting concept has three parts to it: a full service bistro and bar, fast-casual eatery and a specialty market. The market section sells…
The 5 (+ 1) Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: The World Premieres Edition
Houston audiences received their Christmas presents a little early this year – in the way of five (yes, cinco) productions making their world premieres this weekend. Our choices for Friday include Ashley Horn’s Dans La Lune, a dance program inspired by the film of the same name. Also on Friday,…
Everybody Loves the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Houston does not have a musical ensemble anywhere close to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, but then again, no other city does either. Based in a cozy former art gallery not far from Jackson Square in the French Quarter, this old-timey brass band has become one of one of America’s…
Houston Can Believe in the Sauce Twinz
MIXTAPE OF THE WEEK: Sauce Twinz, In Sauce We Trust Should you believe in The Sauce Twinz? It’s hard to exactly pinpoint when the Sauce Twinz leapfrogged over plenty of other names to sit at the precipice of local stardom. In their eyes, they were already stars on a street…
The 10 Best Concerts in Houston This Weekend: Usher, Jessica Hernandez, Atomic Opera, etc.
Usher Toyota Center, December 5 A master showman and entertainer, Usher is so far at the top of pop music’s pecking order his only real peers are Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars. Now 36, the epicenter of Atlanta’s urban-music diaspora has been making records for a full 20 years, has…
NASA’s Orion Launch Scrubbed and Twitter Responded
NASA’s first test launch of Orion, the craft that may one day carry astronauts to Mars, had to be scrubbed on Thursday morning after a stray boat, high winds and a valve problem on one or more of the liquid-oxygen tanks forced each launch attempt to be pulled. This was…
Jadeveon Clowney Placed on Injured Reserve
After reportedly getting several expert opinions on his injured knee, the Texans announced on Thursday afternoon that Jadeveon Clowney has been placed on injured reserve, effectively ending his rookie season. O’Brien update on Clowney: We will place him on IR and he will have surgery on his right knee. #Texans—…
Ryan Adams Charms Yet Another Loutish Houston Crowd
Ryan Adams Bayou Music Center December 3, 2014 The story of Ryan Adams’ performance at Bayou Music Center Wednesday night can be boiled down to one song called “Amstar.” Born of something a fan shouted at the stage, the word was deemed by Adams to be the name of an…
Pet Alligator Confiscated From Galveston Back Yard
We’ve always thought those “Beware of Alligator” signs are obviously tongue-in-cheek warnings that are never meant to give notice of a real live alligator. Otherwise, every cluttered chain restaurant in the nation has some ‘splaining to do about what they’re housing in their back alleyways. But on Monday, a Galveston…
White Lone Star College Student Doesn’t Want to Learn About White Privilege, Files Complaint With School
The concept of white privilege remains controversial in the same way people still argue about climate change. A small, increasingly-fringe faction might argue that it doesn’t exist at all. Another broad, more conservative group might concede that it does, technically, exist, but still disagree about what it means, whether it’s…
American Horror Story: Freak Show: She Wants Revenge
The glory of American Horror Story is that it’s a network show like no other. The folly of American Horror Story is when it becomes a show like any other. After a week’s break for Thanksgiving, we check in again on the cast of the Freak Show. The fallout from…
Houston Officer Accused of Accepting Bribes From Tow Truck Drivers
A veteran officer with the Houston Police Department who was only months away from retirement has been relieved of duty, accused of taking bribes from tow truck drivers. Fifty-nine-year-old Charles Russell is now being accused of contacting two tow truck drivers to tow cars that were parked downtown illegally in…
Doctor Who: 10 Best Doctor Who Christmas Ornaments on Etsy
The time has come to trim your festive shrub in order to have it shade the baubles and trinkets most desired by your loved ones! Christmahanakwanzika is upon us all, and for Whovians that means two things; First, we’ve got Peter Capaldi’s meeting with Father Christmas later this month, so…
Fallcore’s Incendiary on the Rise of Suburban Hardcore
Proper hoodie weather has arrived in Houston at last, and that can mean only one thing — it’s time again for Fallcore. For 14 years running now, the two-day festival has served as the city’s most essential hardcore throwdown, showcasing the best (and noisiest) bands from the Texas scene and…
Partygoers Pack the Patio at Houston Press Tequila & Tamales
Last night proved to be one of those delightfully balmy evenings that Houston is graced with sometimes, even in December. It was perfect for the approximately 200 attendees who gathered on the patio of The El Cantina Superior to taste tamales, as well as margaritas, and vote on their favorites…
Fan Fighting League! Bengals Fans Gang Up on Bucs Fan
Generally speaking, I have very few complaints about this football season. The NFL season has been highly compelling, with a record 16 teams (half the league!) at seven wins or more through 12 weeks, and seemingly different team being touted as the “odds-on favorite” every couple of weeks. (Right now,…
The Bruce High Quality Foundation: Isles of the Dead
This is a most unusual exhibition, interesting and innovative, and also almost a demonstration of how crucial color choices are. Arnold Bocklin’s 1880 painting, Isle of the Dead, shows a white-shrouded figure being rowed to an island. Inevitably, it is perceived as Charon on the River Styx carrying souls to…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Ben McPherson of Prohibition Supperclub & Bar
Ben McPherson has been up and down the Gulf Coast, from Pensacola to Houston. As a kid, he faced down the challenge of moving from Alabama to Germany and back again, being bullied for his accent in two different countries. As we discussed in Part 1 yesterday, after spending some…
HPD Officer Who Kicked Teen in the Face During Arrest Denied Appeal
One of the HPD officers caught on tape brutally beating a teenager during a 2010 arrest failed to convince a state appeals court that the video footage wasn’t enough to support a conviction. The appeal was filed by Drew Ryser, one of the four Houston Police Department officers indicted on…
10 Best Houston Commercials
Some people watch the Super Bowl for the advertisments, but me? I always liked to lurk on basic cable near the end of the night when local businesses could afford commercial spots. Sure, they usually lack the polish of the big firms and their lights, cameras and action, but they…
The 5 Best Happy Hours in The Woodlands
If you love happy hour as much as we do, you’ll love this new series. We’re taking a look at the best happy hours in town, ‘hood by ‘hood. To narrow it down, we’re focusing on the spots with the best deals on not only drinks, but eats, too. From…
This Is Your Life, Billy Joel
Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography By Fred Schruers Crown Archetype, 400 pp. $29. Hardcore fans of the Piano Man (including this writer) were severely bummed in 2011 when he decided to pull the plug on his autobiography, The Book of Joel, less than two months before it was slated to…
Panto Rapunzel (and Zombies)
When an actor “lays an egg onstage,” it’s usually not a good thing. For Panto Rapunzel (and Zombies), currently at Stages Repertory Theatre, however, it’s one of the highlights of the show. Director Josh Morrison tells us that, along with Rapunzel, the family musical includes a frog that paints, an…
“William Reaves Fine Art Holiday Show”
In the exhibit “The William Reaves Fine Art Holiday Show,” viewers see new works by 15 contemporary Texas Regionalist artists whose art is directly inspired by Texas masters at work in the early 20th century. The gallery reports a holiday-themed exhibit will likely become an annual tradition. Gallery owner William…
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The much-loved children’s adventure tale by C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, has been adapted for the stage in a two-actor version by Le Clanché du Rand. The Lion centers on two children, Peter and his youngest sister, Lucy. The pair spin their tale of how they…
My Husband Wears My Panties. Help!
Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off’s advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, “funny, serious or unpredictable.” Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! MY SISTER IS BLACKMAILING ME Dear Willie D: I met a guy who is four years…
A Christmas Carol (Steampunk)
Stage Door, Inc. has a talent for putting interesting twists on popular and familiar theatrical properties. Last year the company gave us a wonderful production of Sweeney Todd with a steampunk theme. Now Marc Glover, Stage Door’s artistic director, has added a steampunk theme to the perennial holiday–season classic A…
A Christmas Carol
Two and a half years ago, British composer Iain Bell was about a third of the way through his first opera, A Harlot’s Progress, a dark work with a less than happy ending, when he met with Houston Grand Opera’s Artistic and Music Director, Patrick Summers, and they began talking…
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens’s classic holiday staple, A Christmas Carol, adapted by Joseph Hanreddy and Edward Morgan, is brought to life at the Houston Family Arts Center in a lavish production with a cast of 30 actors. Ebenezer Scrooge goes on a fantastical journey through Christmas Past, Present and Future in 19th-century…
Sanders Family Christmas
With a rich choice of versions of the classic A Christmas Carol in the Houston area, the enterprising Texas Repertory Theatre Company breaks from the pack to present Sanders Family Christmas, a toe-tapping, foot-stomping bluegrass musical. Texas Rep audiences first met the Sanders family in 2007 with a production of…
Ho Ho Humbug
For years, New York actor and playwright Scott Burkell got a lot of mileage out of telling stories at parties about the time he worked as a Macy’s Santa. But he never thought of putting it together to make a play because of its similarity to David Sedaris’s tale of…
Bruce Munro: Field of Light
It takes 42 people working in rotation over five days to place the 4,500 radiant glass spheres that make up Bruce Munro’s Field of Light installation at Discovery Green. Each sphere is set atop a thin, clear stem. Installed in the ground on either side of the Brown Promenade, under…
A Selfie Goes to War
Can profundity be accidental? Marshall Curry’s documentary Point and Shoot is a study in naifdom that seems to think it’s about something else: masculinity, honor, war. But it’s mostly about the way Americans of means see the wider world as a self-help proving ground, an exotic backdrop against which to…
Dans La Lune
“I have a real love for special-effects pioneers in film,” choreographer/dancer/filmmaker Ashley Horn tells us. “[When I was younger,] I saw Dans La Lune, which was one of the first silent films to ever have special effects in it, and it really stuck with me.” In the newly created evening-length…
The End of Side A
Having a production of your first full-length play is a big deal. Having a production of your first full-length when you’re still in college and only 22 years old is a huge deal. University of Houston theater student Kendal Kaminsky’s The End of Side A is making its world premiere…
Hannibal Buress
Two minutes into our conversation, comedian Hannibal Buress stops to take another call. “Sorry,” he says when he comes back to the phone. “I had to have a big bottled water conversation with the hotel’s front desk.” Before the interruption, Buress, a former writer for 30 Rock, was explaining his…
Don’t Lose the Manual
Filmmaker Andrew Lampert and musician Chris Corsano present a screening of Don’t Lose the Manual. The duo “deconstructs expanded cinema performance with high tension and hilarity.” Translation: Anything can happen. Don’t Lose the Manual, a series of short documentary scenes, is Lampert’s irreverent look at technology in modern life. “Will…
A Disco Christmas Carol
With music by Josh Jordan and Bethany MacLachland and a book by Jordan, Red Door Theatre’s A Disco Christmas Carol is a decidedly different take on Dickens’s classic parable. Jordan promises the show’s “not the same old story; not the same old Scrooge. Eris Scrooge (she replaces Ebenezer) is an…
The White Christmas Album 3
What do A Christmas Carol and the Beatles have in common? At the Music Box Theater’s The White Christmas Album 3, lots. The group has combined elements from Charles Dickens’s story and the Beatles’ music into a brisk, lively and highly tuneful holiday extravaganza that promises to be great fun…
Retro Musicians Still Make Houston Swing
Louis Armstrong once said, “The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the back yard on a hot night or something said long ago.” Bittersweet in its achy nostalgia, the saying is quite fitting for some of Houston’s…
The Scarifying Babadook Is a Rare Horror Triumph
If we’re honest, most of us who relish a good horror film don’t actually hope to feel something like horror. The appeal is, instead, that of shock and surprise, all candied up, the crowd-pleasing bits staged with the kind of extended setup/payoff patience that the makers of comedies have long…
Garfield‘s Jim Davis Discusses Kitties’ Online Domination and More
Garfield creator Jim Davis is well aware of the Internet’s cat obsession. In fact, he’s got an upcoming strip about it. “But if I told you the joke, I’d have to kill you,” he deadpans, before cracking his paternal composure with a chuckle. (He did tell me, and I’ve chosen…
Capsule Art Reviews: December 4, 2014
“The Bruce High Quality Foundation: Isles of the Dead” Arnold Bocklin’s 1880 painting Isle of the Dead shows a white-shrouded figure being rowed to an island. Inevitably, it is perceived as Charon on the River Styx carrying souls to the afterlife. Bocklin created five variations between 1880 and 1886, and…
Racist Assumptions and Christmas Adaptations
Dear Mexican, I teach writing at a local community college. My students are writing their final essays on a local problem; I have one student who has decided to write about illegal immigration (specifically Mexican). We were discussing, as a class, each student’s project, and this student made a comment…
