Put Those Other Doors Bios On The Funeral Pyre
Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre By Mick Wall Chicago Review Press, 416 pp., $28.95 Does the world really need another book on the Doors? With a groaning shelf of them already written by music journos, managers and executives, friends, lovers, hangers-on, and actual band members, does the group’s short but fiery existence…
DEFCON Dining: Tweens, Birthdays and Fried Everything at Luby’s
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…
Up Close: Getting Serious With Mind Kill
Mercifully, Darius Rucker is about to be blown out of the building. I guess there’s nothing all that bad about the former Hootie. His CMT music video playing on the big screen television is a mostly non-offensive thing. But we’re at White Swan, a venerable Houston music spot better known for…
Lance Higdon on Synth-Rock Dinosaurs and the Evils of Kidz Bop
Adam P. Newton recently became a father for the first time, so he has decided to explain the entirety of post-WWII Western pop music to his new daughter, “Fig”…one genre at a time. Greeting, Fig! Ready for another chat with a good friend of mine who also happens to make…
Confessions of a Teenage Live-Music Junkie
The Houston music scene infected me at a very young age. I was 12 years old when I first stepped into the famous music venue Fitzgerald’s. My older brother was in a local band while he was in high school, and they often played different music events and competitions at…
Chiefs-Texans, Week 1 — Four Things To Watch For
The 2015 NFL regular season gets underway Sunday afternoon. Finally! I don’t know if it’s because we’ve spent the entire summer anticipating the next episode of Hard Knocks (as Tom Petty says, the waiting is the hardest part) or because the season’s starting on September 13 makes it feel like…
NFL 2015: Five Season Win Totals Best Bets
The Tom Brady Deflate-Gate suspension, four games if it had held up, had hung over the NFL regular season like a black cloud until a federal judge reversed it and vacated it last week. With Brady now free to play 16 regular season games, assuming he stays healthy, that cloud…
College And NFL Football: This Weekend’s Best Bets
The first weekend of the betting season can be a little bit treacherous, with a bunch of college players and coaches we haven’t seen, and for the sake of my format here, having to find six games I really, really like. This is my way of saying, I’m not devastated by…
Kyle Hubbard Returns to Check Into a Majestic Hotel
Majestic Hotel is the record that Kyle Hubbard never thought you’d hear. Hell, this time last year, odds seemed pretty set against it ever existing at all. After struggling mightily to come up with a worthy successor to his critically acclaimed 2012 debut, You’re Not That Special, Hubbard had given…
The 5 Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Small Mouth Sounds, Joshua Bell, Manon and More
Six people are grouped together in a silent yoga retreat. Of all of them, only two make up a couple. There’s little talking; most character and plot development is conveyed through glances, movement across the stage, facial expressions. This is the setting for Small Mouth Sounds, brought to Houston by…
The 50 Best Houston Concerts of Fall 2015
Taylor Swift has come and gone now, which means fall can officially begin. Let’s do this thing. THE GET UP KIDS Walters Downtown, September 15 There is a flip side to the emo revival going on these days; not only are there new bands for fans of the genre to…
Houston Texans “Hard Knocks,” Final Episode Review
How do you know a series is truly great? A pretty good litmus test — when it defines your leisure time during that particular day of the week, leaving behind a massive void once the season ends, then it’s probably pretty great. Game of Thrones fans know how that feels on…
Dangerously Political Americana With a Touch of Saccharine
For a glimpse of some dangerously political work, veiled as Americana with a touch of saccharine, be sure to check out Jin Joo Chae’s piece, The Sweet Taste of Capitalism with Communist Cream III in “The Spaces We Know” exhibit at Octavia Art Gallery, a group show featuring works by…
Leave Lemmy Alone: It’s OK For Musicians to Get Sick
It’s been a rough few weeks for Motörhead, one of metal’s most influential bands. According to the group’s Facebook page, lead singer and bass player, Lemmy Kilmister has suffered from a lung infection exacerbated by the high altitude and it has “since been taken care of.” The tour was scheduled to…
Wu-Tang Solo Releases Show Clan May Be Better Off Split Up
If you were to judge Wu-Tang Clan based on their last few group albums, you might think that they’re as musty and stale as most other hip-hop groups of their era. Last year’s A Better Tomorrow LP was just as weak as any modern-day effort by Cypress Hill or the Outlawz; fans…
Rating The Shock Factor On Texans 53-Man Roster Cuts
By the middle of the afternoon on Saturday, the speculation had ended. The hay was all the way in the barn. The Houston Texans had chosen their 53-man roster. They even did a solid for those of us who like to take Labor Day off by not making any waiver…
Public Works Finally Has Some Plans to Block Flooded Roads
The morning after the Memorial Day rains, city officials announced that some 2,500 cars had been abandoned on Houston area roads. The floods had claimed five lives. Some were found stranded in their cars. “We had localized street flooding, sheet flooding in certain areas,” said Mayor Annise Parker at a…
We Asked Some Local Bikers What Music Gets Their Motor Running
Ask any biker and they’ll tell you sometimes it’s about the ride and sometimes it’s about the destination. That maxim applies to the role music plays in what’s more a lifestyle than a passion for some Houstonians. We cruised out to meet a few bikers to discuss this very subject…
Two San Antonio HS Football Players Could Face Criminal Charges For Hit On Referee (w/ VIDEO)
Proving that you don’t have to be older or bigger than someone to bully them, two San Antonio-Jay High School football players could be facing criminal charges for a gutless, grotesque display of cowardice Friday night when they attacked a referee on the field during a game against Marble Falls…
This Week in Houston Food Blogs: Another Smokehouse Road Trip
This week, we’ve got recipes for gyros and biscuit bakes, plus reviews of a few very carnivore-friendly restaurants and some recommendations for your weekday lunches. Check out this recipe for open-faced chicken sausage gyros from Bev at Bev Cooks; these gyros are more reminiscent of pizza than a sandwich, with…
Symbolic Landscapes and Highly Detailed Oils Offer Different Looks at Nature
The current exhibit at The Jung Center, “The Micro and the Macro of Nature,” showcases works by two Houstonians – recent paintings by Bill Frazier and photorealistic oils by Joan Laughlin – both of which draw inspiration from our separation from nature. The landscapes in Bill Frazier’s “The View From…
Get Out on the Deck at La Grange and Take in Great Food and the View
Tranquility abides on Sunday mornings in La Grange — not the Texas town but the combination bar and restaurant just off Westheimer where freewheeling gay hangout EJ’s used to be. The migas would shine even if not already lit by the friendly sunbeams on the patio. The plate is full…
If TEA Made House Calls, Would it Punch a Man in the Face?
About the only thing A.J. Felix is sure of is that the guy who came to his house saying he was from the Texas Education Agency and that Felix should “stop talking to the media” was an imposter. An imposter who finger poked Felix in the chest and then punched…
As State Announces Medicaid Cuts, Access to Care Is Already a Growing Problem
When the Texas Health and Human Services Commission released its modified Medicaid rate cuts on September 4, they had no effect on Advocate Pediatric Home Care. By then, the home care agency had already laid off all 15 of its speech, occupational and physical therapists and discharged 120 of those…
100 Favorite Houston Dishes 2015, No. 61: Heritage Sampler Plate At Rudi Lechner’s
Phaedra Cook is eating her way through Houston and counting down her 100 favorite dishes of 2015. It’s a collection of personal favorites that is also indicative of Houston dining. It’s a scene where a vast range of dishes coexist: highbrow and lowbrow; local and international; cheap and expensive; modern…
Paws Pet Resort’s Dog Days of Summer a Picture Perfect Combination of Fun and Fundraising to Benefit Adore Houston
The residents of Oak Forest know Jamie Cupps and her doggie daycare/boarding facility Paws Pet Resort very well. Her name frequently pops up on Facebook neighborhood organization and rescue pages; if you are seeking boarding or daycare for your pet, help with a rescue situation, or grooming for an anxious…
The Pendergast Method: Predicting the 2015 Houston Texans Season
It was a Monday following the Houston Texans’ third preseason game (a 27-13 win over the New Orleans Saints, for those of you who keep track of those sorts of things), and head coach Bill O’Brien was conducting his routine Monday afternoon press conference. As had been the case with…
Jonathan’s The Rub: Great Food, Glowing Reviews and a Bitter Family Feud
In the far west dining room of Houston eatery Jonathan’s The Rub, its namesake chef is greeting a corner table of four men in suits who seem to have taken the restaurant’s bring-your-own-booze option as a command. They look like captains of industry, settling in for a long night of…
UH’s Tom Herman Can Do Everything But Get Fans To Actually Attend The Games
Tom Herman’s been seemingly everywhere since being hired as the University of Houston’s head coach. He’s done television and radio. He looms large on billboards dotted throughout the city. He’s likely been to more than a few gas station openings. Herman’s job is to be a football coach. But he’s…
Things Taylor Swift Should See or Do While She’s In Houston
Taylor Swift probably won’t have a whole lot of free time while she’s Houston. If pop’s brightest star is within the city limits for 24 hours from roll-in/touchdown to “good night, Houston!” Wednesday evening, that might be a generous estimate. Still, Swift’s reputation is built around being personable and accessible…
Mötley Crüe Don’t Go Away Mad, Just Go Away in Farewell Tour
Mötley Crüe, Alice Cooper Toyota Center September 5, 2015 That was it, right? For real, no backsies? Last Saturday night at the Toyota Center was — according to everyone — the last show venerable Los Angeles sleaze-rockers Mötley Crüe would ever perform on stage in Houston. And this time they…
Slipknot’s Rage Still Connects After Nearly 20 Years
Slipknot Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 4, 2015 Eighteen years. That is how long Corey Taylor has been fronting the Iowa born, nu-metal nine-piece Slipknot. He has pursued other projects during that time — forming another band and publishing a few novels — but it was as No. 8 in…
College Football Opening Weekend — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
What a glorious weekend, the first of fourteen consecutive Saturdays that will be spent tracking, monitoring, and God willing, watching intently (with a remote in my hand) the 2015 College Football season. It’s strange, despite having the first ever preseason unanimous AP number one team in Ohio State, a potentially…
12 Angry Men at A.D. Players Offers a Sterling Cast in a Classic Tale
The set-up: Courtroom dramas have been a staple of theater since…well, at least since Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. This particular genre is a natural for the stage because it comes fully packed with drama already built in. What’s more basic than guilt or innocence? Fact or fiction? Truth or consequences?…
NASA is Taking a Page From Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Seriously.
It was only a matter of time before someone at NASA found something in a Douglas Adams book that he could try and turn into a reality. The time is finally upon us. Right now, NASA scientists are really, truly, seriously working on a project inspired by the immortal science…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Desserts for the Dogs at Tony Mandola’s
All Month Long When you buy a dessert this month at Tony Mandola’s, 1212 Waugh, Tony will give $1 to BARC, the City of Houston animal shelter. As if that weren’t incentive enough to spend a meal at the creole and Italian restaurant, you’ll also get $10 off every bottle…
Texas A&M 38, Arizona State 17, NRG Stadium Tailgating 0
Inside of NRG Stadium, everything about the Texas A&M Aggies’ domination of the Arizona State Sun Devils felt like a home game at Kyle Field. Outside of the Houston Texans’ home, not so much. On Saturday night, the AdvoCare Texas Kickoff jumpstarted the 2015 college football season with a game…
An Afterparty Straight Out of a Mötley Crüe Video
Walking into Dirt Bar Saturday night after the Mötley Crüe’s farewell tour show, I was struck with the feeling that I’d wandered into an awesomely decadent corner of the Twilight Zone, where rock stars, people who looked like rock stars, and people who looked like they might be famous for…
The Best Concerts In Houston This Week: The Donkeys, Passion Pit, Earl Sweatshirt, Taylor Swift, etc.
The Donkeys Walters Downtown, September 7 Like Best Coast, the Donkeys are one of those bands that bathes in the abundant California sunshine and it just makes them sad. In ten years, the San Diego-based quartet has crafted four albums brimming with loneliness and melancholy, most recently last year’s Ride the…
RIP Gene Elston, the Original (and the Best) Voice of the Houston Astros
I met Gene Elston only once, at the Barnes & Noble in Vanderbilt Square off of Holcombe. It was a June afternoon in 2002. He was promoting a book he’d written about the history of baseball, and the Press had asked me to interview him — forget about the book,…
Rational East Texas Man Urges Violence and Tells Cops to “Step the Hell Aside” (#crazyassdudeslivesmatter)
Thank God for former Texas Department of Criminal Justice officer Nathan Ener, the Sage of East Texas, and his video calling for violence against black protesters: it’s just the kind of insightful, measured response that the senseless slaying of a Houston peace officer deserves. For those of you who aren’t…
#NewHoustonRap: Scarface’s ‘Deeply Rooted’ Is a Career Triumph
Scarface is a historian of the utmost kind. When asked about whether or not he watched Straight Outta Compton when it was released, he immediately said no. “Because I was there, bro,” he told Charlamange Tha God of Power 105.1’s syndicated morning show The Breakfast Club. Connecting the dots in…
Texas Horse Racing Will Continue, At Least For Three More Months
Yesterday, Texas race tracks reopened their doors after the Legislature decided to give the Texas Racing Commission some funding. Previously, the commission faced a temporary shutdown when the Legislature withheld the money. But this is no grand bargain. The Legislature has only granted the commission funding for three months, meaning…
Court Calls Texas Churches Campaigning Against LGBT-Friendly Politicians “Paranoid”
After Houston and San Antonio passed their non-discrimination ordinances in 2013, three large, unhappy churches set out to launch a coordinated recall movement to oust the elected officials who let the ordinances pass—including then San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro (now the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development) and Houston Mayor Annise Parker…
Ed Sheeran’s Tour Kickoff Is a One-Man Triumph
Ed Sheeran, Christina Perri BBVA Compass Stadium September 3, 2015 Ed Sheeran does so much with so little that it’s almost infuriating. Thousands upon thousands of people packed a soccer stadium to watch him get onstage, alone, and play some songs with nothing more than a guitar and loop pedals…
Empower Texans’ Ken Paxton Conspiracy Theory Involves Republican Infighting and “Battletoads”
Ken Paxton’s legal problems began just as he was entering the height of his political career. Paxton led the pack heading into the 2014 GOP primary for Texas Attorney General, just as his opponents bought airtime to highlight a 2009 lawsuit against the state senator and his longtime business associate…
Here Come the Astros, Breathing Orange Fire!
I never saw it coming. I thought there was absolutely no way the Astros would compete for the playoffs this season. I thought maybe the Astros might come close to a 81-81 finish for the season. There were just too many holes in the lineups, too many unknowns, too much…
The 10 Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Slipknot, Travi$ Scott, Bobby Long, Bill Anderson, etc.
Slipknot, Lamb of God, Bullet For My Valentine Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, September 4 Earlier this summer the Rockstar Mayhem tour took some heat — and from its own co-founder, Kevin Lyman — because crowds were down, leading to Lyman’s charges that the traditional headliners had grown “old and fat.”…
