Stabbing Victim Margarita Sanchez Credits Legal Aid with Saving Her Life at Austin Press Conference Today
Margarita Sanchez stood at the front of the room at the Capitol, quiet and small, talking about the moment she woke up in a hospital with nowhere to turn. Sanchez’s husband had stabbed her, the last in a long line of humiliations that ranged from forcing her to quit her…
Top 10 Coolest Cars under $25,000
Believe it or not, the average transaction price for new cars is more than $30,000 these days. That’s a lot of money. But just because you’re on a budget doesn’t mean you have to settle for something boring. What you drive says a lot about you, and your average economy…
Rice Student’s National Efforts Earn Scathing Rebuttal from Head of Creationist Museum
It’s easy to see that Zack Kopplin, a 19-year-old student at Rice University, has fast become one of the leading faces of the anti-creationist movement. He’s appeared on numerous national interviews, sharing his opposition to publicly funding creationist academies. He has latched onto outspoken evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins’s website. He…
Revisiting Robertson Stadium’s Forgotten Concert History
After years of dreaming, planning and even a little begging, the University of Houston broke ground on a new on-campus football stadium this month. It’s a pretty darn exciting development for the Cougars that marks the beginning of a new era of UH athletics: The program will play its first…
Reality Bites: Freakshow
Todd Ray was a rich 90s music producer (Cypress Hill, Helmet, White Zombie), and he gave it all up for freaks. Specifically, the Venice Beach Freakshow, which he founded several years ago around his vast collection of two-headed animals, vintage photos, and people who enjoy swallowing sharp objects and breathing…
Opulent or Overdone? Nosh Bistro’s Ornate Decor Proves Divisive
“It looks like Prince exploded in that place,” sneered a male friend of mine about the over-the-top decor inside the new Nosh Bistro on Kirby at Highway 59. It’s not over the top in the way that the now-closed Zula on Main or Américas on Post Oak once were, during…
Wait — Before You Take a Pic of a Knife Held to Your Infant’s Throat, Make Sure to Smear Her Face With Your Own Menstrual Blood. It Really Helps Drive Home the Point!
If you’re a mom looking for a novel way to lose custody of your kids, Casey Olford of Lufkin has allegedly come up with your solution: Smear your menstrual blood on your child’s chin, then smear some more on a knife, hold that knife to your child’s throat, text the…
Top 5 Most Sampled George Clinton Songs
Unpaid royalties have long been a problem in the music industry. Artists, songwriters, and producers miss out on millions due to the misappropriation of funds at the hands of shady labels and music executives. One of the most recent instances of this is the ongoing dispute between pioneering funk artist/producer…
The Mainstreaming of Dubstep and the Rise of Trap Music (Wait, What Is Trap Music?)
Mainstream music has a history of taking musical genres, smoothing out the rough edges and turning them into something easily digestible to the masses. Punk rock went from being the music of rebellion to the music of crying about failed relationships, and rappers went from rapping about what was happening…
God of Carnage Proves Playground Fights Aren’t Just Kids’ Territory
A playground fight between two children has led to a meeting of four concerned (well some not so much) parents. In playwright Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage, politeness turns to disagreement and then impossible behavior in this tale of parents behaving increasingly badly. Even though the Alley Theatre put this…
This Week in Food Blogs: “The Most Electrifying Food Destination in America” Is Houston
GQ: In the first of a few national spotlights on Houston this week (did you see the James Beard Award nominations yesterday? hot damn!), GQ’s head food writer Alan Richman lists the 12 most outstanding restaurants of 2013 (early in the year though it may be.) and gives two of…
Basic, Practical Sex Tips For the Married Man
I’ve been with my wife for close to 13 years now, and like a lot of married people sex isn’t always as dynamic or often as either of us might like. It’s hard to find the time for love when you’re both busy with work (two jobs in my case),…
Pop Quiz: The Original Names of Some of Houston’s Best Bands
Here at the Houston Press, we make it a point to delve deep into the meanings behind band names on a regular basis. Today we wanted to see how closely you’ve been paying attention over the years. Ten great past and current bands that made splashes in the Houston music…
My Top 5 Forbidden Foods: Bet You Can’t Eat Just One
There are just some foods I can’t keep in the house, because if I did, they would be fully consumed within a 24-hour period. This wasn’t always the case, however. Years ago, when I worked at grown-up jobs (the kind where I put on pants and left the house in…
Copycat Recipe: Pappa Geno’s Wicked Philly
Holy shit, you guys. I made Pappa Geno’s Wicked Philly at home and it was the best thing ever. For real — this cheese steak is legit. Like MC Hammer legit. Maybe I’ll call it the MC Hammer. Or maybe the BV Hammer. I don’t know, I’ll have to think…
The Genesis of King’s X: The DUg Pinnick Interview, Part 1
Check out Part 2 of this interview here. Go ahead and open another window on that browser. It’s Friday. “My house in Texas is a really great thing,” King’s X bassist/singer DUg Pinnick says. “So I don’t want to get rid of it.” Pinnick now lives in Los Angeles, he…
In This Man of la Mancha, They’ll Be Moving, But Not Off Stage
Probably the most interesting conceit in this version of Man of La Mancha as produced by Theatre Under the Stars is that all the actors stay on stage the whole time throughout the play. They’re prisoners of the Spanish Inquisition after all. “Once you were arrested there wasn’t much chance…
Juan Villareal: HISD Teacher Pleads Guilty to Distributing Child Porn
A third-grade teacher in the Houston school district entered a guilty plea Tuesday to charges of possessing and distributing child pornography. Juan A. Villarreal, 52, a teacher at Anderson Elementary in Westbury, has taught in the district for 11 years, but he was out of a job once he was…
Houston: The 352nd-Happiest American City. We Analyze Our Closest Competitors
A new survey based on Twitter use — and actually filled with all sorts of math — has ranked 373 American metropolitan areas in terms of how happy and sad residents are. The study, by the Vermont Complex Systems Center, looked at more than 10 million geotagged tweets. It looked…
Top 5 Food Trends on College Campuses
Dining halls in colleges have changed for the better over the last several years. Thankfully, we have said good-bye to mystery meat and slop, and are saying hello to upscale cuisine, various methods of service and eco-friendly options. Over the last four years I have been in school at Baylor…
Happy Birthday, Kurt Cobain: Where Would He Be Today?
Last year on this date, in honor of what would have been late Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain’s 45th birthday, I wrote a blog supposing where the grunge icon would have been in 2012. It got a lot of traction, and people loved and hated it. Imagining him as a…
Is the MFAH Too Damn Expensive?
Paris, France-based artist and writer Payam Sharifi was recently back in his hometown Houston when he decided to pay a visit to his hometown museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Often cited as one of the largest and most prestigious art institutions in the country, the MFAH is a…
Texans Don’t Actually Loathe Birth Control Access, Sex Education
It seems that the sweeping cuts that gutted family planning services for low-income Texans in 2011 aren’t quite as popular as a clamorous minority would have led us to believe. Based on new poll results from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, the majority of Texans — across party, gender, and racial…
100 Creatives 2013: Amanda Stevens, Scary Book Author
Houston author Amanda Stevens says she got into writing as a fluke. After being inspired by a professor to write when she was just a junior at the University of Houston, Stevens penned her first novel, Killing Moon, a romance thriller. The book was quickly picked up and shortly after…
La Casa de Caballo Brings Tex-Mex and Steaks to Montrose
UPDATE: After many requests, I’ve uploaded a full copy of La Casa de Caballo’s menu — with prices. I admit: I was wary when I heard the news that a Mexican steakhouse would be moving into the old La Strada location in Montrose. The two-story building at Westheimer and Taft…
Happy Birthday, Anthony Head, Criminally Underappreciated Musical Badass
Today is Anthony Stewart Head’s 59th birthday, and if you aren’t familiar with him, then I pity you. He’s best-known for the role of Watcher Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but he’s done everything from film to stage and video games, and was just a hair away from…
Arian Foster’s Television Acting Debut on Hawaii Five-O (w/ VIDEO)
The annual Pro Bowl is generally viewed by NFL players as, in this order, 1) a reward for a job well done, 2) an opportunity to get some much needed rest and relaxation, and 3) a chance to play a glorified sandlot football game another football game. Well, Houston Texans…
5 Ways the Government is Getting Involved With Your Video Games
Normally I abhor fear mongering in journalism as a base practice designed to control a population through paranoia, but I grew a mustache recently and that means I’m now my own evil twin. With that in mind I’m here to tell you that the government is absolutely going to come…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Beer Bars
Just 24 months ago, making a list of Houston’s ten best beer bars would have been far easier. Since that time, not only have a ton of new beer bars opened up, many places have elevated their game. In fact, our rough draft for this list boasted over 20 bars…
Washington Avenue Sports Bar Sawyer Park Closes Its Doors After Four Years
Almost from the beginning, Washington Avenue sports bar Sawyer Park was embattled. There were the allegations of racial profiling at the door, a shooting nearby in 2011, the malleable dress codes, its “doucheoisie” clientele, a partial blinding of an employee, and the people who still missed its former life as…
(Updated with Semi-NSFW Text) LaShawn Simmons: Pasadena Teacher Had Sex with Four Students, Cops Say
LaShawn Simmons, a 41-year-old former middle-school math teacher in Pasadena, is facing a slew of charges in connection with her having sex with four students, police say. Simmons, who has resigned her position at the Pasadena district’s Beverly Hills Intermediate School, is charged with sexual assault of a child, two…
Bipartisan Bill Filed Creating Hike & Bike Paths From Houston’s Utility Easements
People have been talking about it for years, but the idea came one step closer to reality this week when a bipartisan group of legislators filed bills to help create hike-and-bike paths along Houston’s utility easements. Those easements — the property surrounding, say, those large electricity towers carrying power along…
The Rocks Off 100: Kristine Mills, Houston’s Brassiest Voice
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there, too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? Nobody puts Baby into…
Stillborn Baby Delivered to Funeral Home Frozen in a Bucket, Lawsuit Says
The parents of a stillborn child are suing a hospital after they say it delivered the child’s corpse to a funeral home frozen in an open bucket. Maritza and Joel Lievanos sued Valley Baptist Health System over what the suit says is “the horrific experience of finding her son’s body…
Houston Heats Up: Eight Semifinalists Announced for the 2013 James Beard Foundation Awards
Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the number of chefs, restaurants, bars, wine programs and more that were nominated as semifinalists in this year’s James Beard Foundation Awards. You know the one — the so-called “Oscars of the food world.” It’s kind of a big deal. The Lone Star State received…
Get in the Mood for Some Hot Negus
One of the many things I find pleasurable about reading Victorian literature is the peculiar foods and drink references. Case in point, when I was rereading Charles Dickens’s Bleak House a few weekends ago and I came across this passage: I was to take hot soup and broiled fowl, while…
Today’s DVDs & Blu-rays: Ben Affleck’s Argo, C. Robert Cargill’s Sinister and More
Argo stars Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman; Ben Affleck directs. Even though Argo, which already won a couple of Golden Globes – best drama and best director – is being released on DVD/Blu-ray this week, it’s still in a few local theaters so you still have…
Rocker Tony Sheridan, One-Time Beatles “Front Man,” Dead at 72
In the realm of mainstream Beatles lore, Tony Sheridan gets largely forgotten. The British singer in fact led an early incarnation of the band in their Hamburg days, when they were the Silver Beatles, a boozy club act. He played on the same circuit as the boys, and they acted…
Weather Week: Some Rocky Weather, Then More Sunshine
It seems perfectly appropriate that the day after people cleared out of town following All-Star weekend, it poured down rain. We had some seriously gorgeous weather last week and into the weekend, giving people who visited our fair city a lot to be happy about. Now we get to clean…
New iPic Luxury Movie Theater to open in River Oaks
The price of movie tickets is ridiculous these days. Once you’ve bought a ticket for you and your date, plus popcorn, candy, and a drink, you’re easily pushing $40. Next year, a new “upscale” movie theater will be opening in River Oaks, pushing the boundaries of your wallet and your…
Svelte Roast Beef for Lunch at Potbelly
My favorite lunch is a soup and sandwich. The idea of soup and salad confuses me — why order a bowl of soup along with something you can’t even dip into it? Who are you soup and salad people, anyway!? I mean, I’ll do it, but only if I have…
All-Star Weekend: Five Things Houston Got Right
Whenever there is a large event in the city of Houston, there is a moment where Houstonians who really want things to go well hold our collective breath and hope nothing crazy happens. We imagine the worst: 90-degree weather with 100 percent humidity, giant mosquitoes the size of humming birds,…
Menu of Menus® 2013: Ticket Presale Begins Today
Anyone who went to Best Bites at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo this past Sunday night can attest to how much fun these grand tasting event extravaganzas can be. Our very own tasting night is coming up on April 9 at 7 p.m., and plans to be bigger and…
Upcoming: Yo La Tengo, Scott Weiland, Meek Mill, Shabazz Palaces, Transit, Etc.
Alt-J: With Hundred Waters., Sun., March 10, 8 p.m., $15/$17. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Battery (Metallica Tribute): With Ozz (Ozzy/Sabbath Tribute)., Fri., March 8, 8 p.m., $10. Scout Bar, 18307 Egret Bay Blvd., Houston. Billy Currington: Sat., March 9, 7 p.m., $35-$65. Nutty Jerry’s (Winnie), 18291 Englin Road, Winnie…
February Kickstarter Round-Up: Snables, Death, and Ruling the World
Once a month we’ll be bringing you a look at some of the best local Kickstarter campaigns in order to let you know what’s getting ready to be unleashed through the help of small investors. Snable – A different way to manage cord/cable clutter I’m an infomercial junkie, which is…
Seal Turning 50 Gives Us an Excuse to Use This Picture on a Blog
Today British singer Seal turns 50 years old, which is a perfect excuse for me to finally use the above picture and for you to all bask in its glory. Look at it. It’s Seal’s head on an actual seal’s head! I mean, when I first saw it years ago,…
Five Things We Learned from That Beyoncé Documentary on HBO
Life is But a Dream, the HBO documentary about Beyoncé that was directed and produced by Beyoncé, premiered over the weekend. Did you watch it? Of course not, you’re much too cool for that. Luckily for you, we ain’t, because it was a pretty interesting little film. Not due to…
What’s Cooking on Pinterest? Turning Cookie Dough into Frosting
Raise your hand if you have ever eaten raw cookie dough before. That should be just about everyone. What if there was a way you could eat raw cookie dough without the guilt of eating raw eggs? This week, I found a recipe that shows how to turn regular cookie…
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Returns With a New Trailer
It’s been two years since Kevin Tancharoen finished the first season of his Mortal Kombat web series, a daring if at times flawed reimagining of the Mortal Kombat universe that was nonetheless an incredible accomplishment in the world of web series. We covered it avidly, and are pleased to see…
All-Star Weekend: Five Things That Made Houston Look Bad
Sometimes, when you want things to go just right, you make mistakes. You try so hard to get it right, you end up screwing it up. Fortunately, Houston did not make an utter disaster of All-Star weekend here, but we had our share of hiccups. And some of them were…
Pop Rocks: Just In Time For Spring Training, Here Are The Ten Worst Baseball Movies
I hope you’ve enjoyed the relatively temperate weather lately, because summer’s just around the corner. All the seasonal indicators are there: pitchers and catchers reported last week, spring games start this Friday, and they’ve begun the process of thawing Tim McCarver from cryo-stasis. Baseball — in case you haven’t recovered…
Dallas Baseball Fans Suck, Former Ranger Star Josh Hamilton Says
Josh Hamilton is no longer a Texas Ranger, meaning the Dallas-Fort Worth area is deprived of its chance to spot the recovering alcoholic in bars and be subjected yet again to his Jesus-centric quotes. Maybe he should stick to proselytizing, because all he’s doing now is pissing off Dallas fans…
Sometimes Uncomfortable Doc Resurrects ’70s Superstar Paul Williams
Paul Williams: Still Alive A Film by Stephen Kessler Virgil Films, 84 mins, $19.99. In the 1970s the diminutive Paul Williams was everywhere. And I mean, everywhere. The singer-songwriter was best known for penning hits for others like the Carpenters (“Rainy Days and Mondays,” “We’ve Only Just Begun”), Three Dog…
Burger King’s Twitter Account Hacked: The Best Responses Across Twitter
Starting around 11 a.m. yesterday morning, a merry prankster “hacked” Burger King’s Twitter account and began posting status updates in a style which Gizmodo writer Sam Biddle described as “a combination of McDonald’s and amphetamine addict.” Read the first fake Tweet from the Burger King account: “We just got sold…
Texas Starts the Debate Whether to Take Obamacare’s Medicaid Money
Advocates of Medicaid expansion — part of Obama’s Affordable Care Act — continue to ply Texas lawmakers with economic numbers, making the point that the expansion of the program is not a cost, but a benefit, to taxpayers. Like Sisyphus eternally pushing his boulder up the hill, advocates for Medicaid…
How Much Would You Pay for the New My Bloody Valentine?
I have to admit, I’m not the biggest My Bloody Valentine fan in the world. I thoroughly enjoy Loveless and their newest record, mbv, but they’re not my favorite band. I guess that’s why I wasn’t aware until the band released a statement about it that people are selling that…
First Church of Texaco: An Unlikely Play With Gifted Actors
The set-up: A highly successful corporate tycoon returns to the abandoned Texaco gas station in Blessing, Texas, in which he grew up, and hires the local librarian to be his secretary, while fighting a hostile takeover of his corporation. Complications ensue as the librarian seeks to use him as surrogate…
League City Grants Itself Right to Ignore Any Firearm Limits Elected Officials Pass
Heidi Thiess wants you to know that this isn’t about her. This resolution — this resolution that League City’s just passed, banning any federal limits pertaining to guns, to ammunition, to the Second Amendment — isn’t anything personal. This is something larger, she says. This isn’t a woman and a…
The Art of Solitude at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
Janice Jakielski’s work somehow manages to feel futuristic and Victorian all at the same time. Her colorful headdresses on display at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft are quite photogenic, embroidered prettily with birds and adorned with paper flowers. They also feature some curious fashion choices: coffee mug halves that…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Tapas Restaurants
Although etymologists agree that the word “tapas” comes from the Spanish word tapar, which means “to cover,” that’s where agreement on the origin of the Spanish snack-stravaganza ends. Seminal cookbook The Joy of Cooking claims that “tapas” originally referred to slices of bread or meat used to cover glasses of…
How to Survive the Harlem Shake Meme (Now with Air-Humpers)
Dear Internet Friends, Please do not post one more damn video of you, your dog or your grandmother doing the Harlem Shake. You’ve spammed my Facebook with videos of you shaking your goods in a Power Ranger costume, holding some sort of very phallic pool noodle. We shouldn’t know each…
UPDATED: Does Hotel ZaZa Have a Creepy, Hidden Room They Don’t Want You to Know About?
From reddit.comWelcome to ZaZa — NOW YOU DIE!Hair Balls is kinda flipping out over online pics purporting to show a secret, mysterious room at Hotel ZaZa, with concrete floors, a bed chained to the wall, a giant skull-and-bones painting, and a portrait of a dude who looks a lot like…
Possible Tornado Touches Down Outside Willis; Rain Hits Houston
A potential tornado appears to have touched down outside Willis earlier this afternoon. Following a tornado warning issued around 1:30 p.m., Texas Storm Chasers Tweeted a photo that shows a nearby storm cycle, with an “interesting feature” touching the ground. Willis Police Department said they had received not received any…
Friday Night: Badass Weekend at Walter’s
While much of Houston was embroiled in NBA All-Star Weekend, the north end of downtown was operating on an entirely different end of the spectrum as Walter’s hosted its Badass Weekend. Packed with over 30 bands across two days, the show boasted hardcore, noise and grindcore acts from all over…
Last Night: Sprint All-Star Jam Session Concert With Ludacris And Ke$ha
Sprint Pre-Game Concert feat. B.O.b, Ludacris, and Ke$ha All-Star Jam Session at George R. Brown Convention Center February 17th, 2013 Sunday afternoon, as I was counting down the minutes until I had to leave an amazing All-Star day party, where I was making friends with a beautiful girl, drinking a…
Last Night: Flogging Molly at House of Blues
Flogging Molly February 17, 2013 House of Blues Damn, I wish I was Irish. So does half of Houston, apparently, judging by last night’s sold out Flogging Molly concert at House of Blues. Thanks to the salty sea-dog opener Skinny Lister (who deserve much more than my little mention; they…
A Crop of New Restaurants Win Big at the Rodeo’s Best Bites Competition
“We shucked 1,500 oysters tonight,” said chef Randy Evans, owner of Haven and its raw bar, Cove. His table at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s annual Rodeo Uncorked!® Roundup and Best Bites competition was littered with the remnants of oyster shells. The sauces in front, including Cove’s signature truffle-and-Crystal…
Friday Night: Fabolous, Meek Mill and a Brawl at Warehouse Live
Fabolous, Meek Mill Warehouse Live February 15, 2013 Rap is probably my favorite genre of music, though I could never really put into words why that is. Maybe it’s nostalgia. Maybe it’s because I grew up on Houston hip-hop and eventually found myself listening to the likes of Biggie, Ice…
Mike Tyson’s “Undisputed Truth” Houston Stop Has Been Canceled
On Wednesday night, boxing legend and pop-culture mainstay Mike Tyson was to bring his “Undisputed Truth” speaking tour to Houston’s Bayou Music Center. Today we have learned from Live Nation that the show has been canceled, with no word of a rescheduled date. No statement has been released as to…
Maribel Vasquez: Low-Rent Beer Entrepreneur with Big Dreams Gets Busted, Not Applauded
Fill a need — that’s what they tell you in business school. (We assume, anyway, since we escaped from a business major about two courses into it.) Fill a need and you can charge a premium to folks who can’t get what you’re selling anywhere else. It’s a sophisticated plan,…
Dave Matthews Band Coming To The Woodlands May 17
That annual rite of passage for college kids and jam-band heads across the land, the Dave Matthews Band summer tour, will commence on May 17 up north at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. The band’s summer run also includes a date at Austin’s brand-new Tower Amphitheatre on May 21. DMB…
The Language Archive: A Modern Fable of Language Lost and Found
Check out our interview with director Sally Edmundson. The set-up: An academic, a linguist immersed in the problem of languages disappearing as people cease to speak them, seeks to record one that may be saved from extinction. His obsession with the spoken word is ironic as he is hugely inarticulate,…
Mario Diaz-Gomez: Gives Cops Awesome Car-Spinning Demo on Washington Ave., Gets Fired Upon and Arrested
People pay to see Fast and Furious movies, you know. Like all ten or 15 of them, or however many they’ve made. Give the public some wildly spinning cars, and it’s money in the bank. Give Houston cops a wildly spinning car on a busy party street, and you get…
Saturday Night: Rakim at Fitzgerald’s
Rakim Fitzgerald’s February 16, 2013 In the beginning, The God MC, legally known as William Michael Griffin, Jr., best known as Rakim, became one-half of one of hip-hop’s very first groups, Eric B. and Rakim. The pair recorded a series of classic albums (Paid in Full, Follow the Leader) that…
Where to Eat During Lent 2013: 40 Days of Meatless Meals, Vegetables & Fish
Lenten season is upon us. Many people have decided to give up something that they love in their lives, and most of the time that something ends up being food or drink. I’m talking about beer, chocolate, candy, coffee and meat. Devout Catholics also abstain from meat throughout the Lent…
Lisa Ludwig’s Porcelain Forest Dwellers Come Alive at Moody Gallery
Lisa Ludwig made a name for herself making cake sculptures out of sugar cubes and crafting enchanting, elaborate installations. One of her most memorable shows at Moody Gallery involved a field of silica in the center of the gallery that sprouted barren trees and had crystalline apples lying in the…
Ten Thousand Angels: The Music Of The Late Mindy McCready
By now we all know about the sad end to the life of Mindy McReady, the embattled country singer who took her own life on her front porch on Sunday, according to Cleburne County, Arkansas officials. McCready was 37 years old, and the mother two young sons. Earlier in January,…
Oh, You Mean There Is Actually a Game During NBA All-Star Weekend? (Plus, Can You Name the Rappers in Our Courtside Photo?)
After a weekend of human gridlock at the Galleria, traffic snarls, bottles poppin’ and all the parties you could handle, NBA All-Star Weekend in Houston came to a close on Sunday with the Western Conference defeating their Eastern foes 143-138, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul getting the game’s MVP…
Friday Night: The Chieftains 50th Anniversary Tour At Jones Hall
The Chieftains with the Houston Symphony Jones Hall February 15, 2013 When your band’s been around for half a century, you could probably be forgiven for reliving past glory and staying safely within the established confines of whatever envelope you’ve developed for yourself. Just don’t tell that to the Chieftains,…
Nazi Deception Leads to Rediscovery of Venetian Jewish Artifacts
As Germany’s Nazi soldiers invaded countries throughout Europe during their height of their powers, they would – like armies throughout the centuries – also plunder. So it was not uncommon for families or institutions to frantically try to hide items of financial or sentimental value, in the hopes that they…
Can One Woman Eat a 24-Inch Shrimp Po-Boy?
Some people spent their Valentine’s Day dining amid white tablecloths or indulging in a quiet, romantic meal at home. Still others spent it as any other Thursday evening. I spent mine watching one of my best friends come face to face with two feet of bread, fried shrimp and hot…
Stanford’s Mark Appel Gets the Attention, But Rice Pitchers Get the Wins
Stanford’s Mark Appel was the focus of Friday’s pre-Rice/Stanford season opening talk. But while Appel showed some of the electric stuff that made him the number one choice of the Pittsburgh Pirates last summer, his thunder was stolen by the performance of the Rice Owls pitching staff. The Owls defeated…
How the University of Houston Became Home of the Food Trucks
Phi Nguyen, a University of Houston alumni who had recently started his own food truck business, The Waffle Bus, after spending a year unemployed, found himself right back at his alma mater last spring when the school’s University Center was closed for reconstruction. Little did he know that he was…
Marzia Faggin’s “Dissatisfaction” Examines Your Dirty, Nightstand Secrets
For a period of time I traveled quite frequently for work. Conference life is a series of endless late nights at hotel bars schmoozing, followed by even later night vending machine runs and poor sleep. Many a following morning, I would awake with a half eaten bag of Skittles on…
Five Weird Bands to Watch in 2013
I have to be honest with you here, readers: when I see a “bands to watch in (insert year here)” list, I usually give it a cursory look, wretch in disgust, and x out of it as quickly as possible. Not because the bands are awful, because they’re bland! Almost…
What’s Cooking This Week? Spinach & Shrimp Pizza + More
I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don’t make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient’s I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter…
No Seriously, Now the World is Ending
When December 21 came and went and the world realized that the Mayan’s were wrong (or rather we were all wrong about it), our efforts have been focused more on concrete issues like gun control, immigration and what the addition of Shakira and Usher mean for The Voice’s ratings. You…
Guns on Campus? Texas Legislator Files Bill Letting Schools Offer Gun-Training Courses to Kids During School Day
While other states debate whether or not to allow armed guards in schools, one Texas legislator has decided to shift the discussion with a novel, untested idea. Rep. James White, representing an area around Hillister, has recently put forth a bill that, instead of placing weaponry in the hands of…
Miles Runs the Voodoo Down on New “Bootleg Series”
Fans of jazz giant Miles Davis were overjoyed in 2011 to hear that Columbia/Legacy had tapped the artist as the next subject of their Bootleg Series, offering rare live recordings of performances only available previously as, well… bootlegs, if at all. Though of course, these “official” releases come with incredible…
NBA All-Star Weekend: 5 Observations and a Plea for More Barkley
In the spirit of full disclosure, I feel like I should tell you that I chose not to stick around Houston for the NBA All Star Game and it’s peripheral festivities (up to and including the transformation of the Galleria into some kind of three-story clown car on Saturday) this…
True West: An Early Sam Shepard Work That Still Blazes at Country Playhouse
The set-up: Cain asked it first — to God in Genesis when confronted by the Big Guy who asked the whereabouts of murdered brother Abel — “Am I my brother’s keeper?” In Sam Shepard’s fraternally fraught and comically high True West (1980), in a superb rendition from Country Playhouse, you…
Fratelli’s Authentic Italian Cuisine Restaurant Closing After 13 Years
Fratelli’s Authentic Italian Cuisine Restaurant is closing after 13 years spent in a quiet strip mall on Highway 290, just outside of Garden Oaks. The restaurant is owned and run by husband-and-wife team Bob Wittman and Teresa Tadeo Wittman. Teresa, who was born in Xoxocapa, Veracruz, and trained as a…
The Best Concerts In Houston This Week: John Egan, P!nk, etc.
John Egan The Big Easy Social & Pleasure Club, Februrary 18 John Egan is back at the Big Easy after his trip to the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, where he advanced to the semifinal round of 28 — meaning that by that reckoning, Egan is one of the Top…
Your All-Star Weekend Celebrity Guestbook, Part 2
Houston is by most accounts one of America’s more cultured and sophisticated cities, but it still loses its damn mind when a lot of famous people come to town. The swarm of people created by celebrities and their spotters forced the Galleria to shut down early Saturday evening, while a…
Beyonce, Jay-Z, LeBron Throw an Elegant Uptown Park Affair
Red carpet moments don’t yield many moments of candid humor. Camera guys tuck themselves inside of smiles and insider stories about their best and worst shots, writers peg themselves as the anxious ones itching for a quote when it’s really the other way around, and handlers attempt to make sure…
All-Star Friday: Rookies, Legends and Media Chaos
Admittedly, I’ve never been to an All-Star event, definitely not as a member of the media, but one thing is for sure: this isn’t a weeknight Rockets game. Players, celebrities and media descended on downtown Houston for All-Star weekend 2013 and filled every square inch of space in the Toyota…
NBA All-Star Madness Closes Galleria
If you had any doubts that the NBA All-Star Game was a major event, you weren’t at the Galleria today. And if you were at the Galleria, we hope you weren’t crushed. Massive crowds packed every square inch of the mall today — and the traffic outside was just as…
Your All-Star Weekend Celebrity Guestbook
Rocks Off thought we’d stay as far away as the NBA All-Star Weekend hoopla as possible, so Friday night we went to see the wonderful Tift Merritt at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, where a friend of ours who works there told us he had worked out alongside Common and Ne-Yo at…
Catastrophic Theatre Announces its Fifth Season & With Good Reason, There’s More Verse, So Don’t Be Adverse (To Going)
Catastrophic Theatre has announced its fifth season in which it’s bringing back a recent success (There Is a Happiness That Morning Is) , presenting two world premieres (Tamarie Cooper is Old as Hell and The Pine) and turning to playwrights Samuel Beckett and Wallace Shawn to fill out the season…
Ah, Twitter: It’s Apparently Also NBA “All Start” Weekend Too
While Houston finds itself mired in NBA All-Star Game fever, a section of Twitter is watching something called the “All Start Game,” with players’ names that parallel those of the NBA’s superstar-packed weekend. Follow this link to a Twitter search to see what I mean. One young lad thinks it…
Theatre Under the Stars Announces its 2013-14 Season: An Elf, a Mermaid, A Wizard and Two Drag Queens and a Transsexual to Boot
Today, Theatre Under the Stars is announcing its main stage Hobby Center productions for the next season, one that depends heavily on the tried-and-true and Hollywood-to-stage offerings. And a little bit of edge. Starting off in style with Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical, the official announcement refers to…
The Most Pointless Part of 2013 NBA All-Star Houston: The “Rising Stars” Practice (PRACTICE?!)
It would’ve been better if the coaches made the players perform drills like the spider, the Cousy or the box-out circle. Hell, even watching these anointed “stars” running suicides would’ve been riveting compared to the whatever on display at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Friday morning. These things…
Tift Merritt Looks Outside Herself to Kindle a Spark
Tift Merritt makes country music for city dwellers, the kinds of songs that NPR adores but Nashville doesn’t have much use for anymore. Still, the thirtysomething singer-songwriter managed to score a Best Country Album Grammy nomination for 2004’s Tambourine. But a couple of songs from that record, “Good Hearted Man”…
Found Art: A Collection of NBA All-Star Party Flyers from the Streets of Downtown Houston
Yes, these were picked up off the ground along 100 yards of Polk near the Toyota Center, including a cool one from the City of Houston about parking. The flyers are for parties, parties and more parties, with appearances by Diddy, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Gary Payton, Jay-Z, Casey Anthony,…
(UPDATED) The NBA Announces Their 2013 Hall of Fame Finalists; UH’s Guy V. Makes the Cut
(Updated with statement from Guy V. Lewis’s family.) Today at the Hilton Americas just steps away from the Toyota Center, the NBA announced their nominees for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The formal announcement of inductees doesn’t come until April 8 at the Final Four festivities in Atlanta…
Treaty Oak Collective Aims For a Badass Weekend at Walters
Walters’ new location finally has a head of steam. A frighteningly long downtime followed the shuttering of the Washington Avenue location, and some began to fear a new one would never materialize. Sure enough, the new location finally opened it’s doors at 1120 Naylor late in 2011, just north of…
Top Five Things to Do This Weekend in Houston: The Chieftains, Heights Pub Crawl, Classic Horror Flicks and More
It’s going to be a coming home of sorts for Paddy Moloney, founder of the Irish folk group The Chieftains, our pick for Friday. Not that Moloney ever lived here exactly, but he did spend lots of time visiting his rocket scientist son who worked at NASA and the group…
HISD Bus Crash Sends Student to Hospital
A Houston school district bus was involved in what officials are calling a “major accident” this morning, sending one student to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Three students were on the bus, headed to Scarborough High, when the accident occurred at Beechnut and Braeburn Valley about 6:30 a.m. today. KHOU…
Person Of Interest: “I Really Hope Derek’s The Threat.”
Remember all those old movies and TV shows set in hotels, like Hotel (the movie) and Hotel (the TV series)? Yeah, I don’t either. They’re as good a setting for an episode of Person of Interest, I guess; hundreds of guests, numerous staff members with possible hidden agendas, and weird…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Hoi Fung of Fung’s Kitchen, a Taste of His Cantonese Cooking
This is the third part of a three-part Chef Chat series. If you missed our previous posts, you can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. This week, we spent some time with Hoi Fung, the patriarch, owner and chef at Fung’s Kitchen, located just off the Southwest Freeway…
H.I.S.D.: “We Consider Ourselves Teachers and Students”
What we are told is “The Gold Room” is actually a home in a quiet neighborhood in southwest Houston. It takes a few wrong turns and repeat passes by a darkened warehouse before we figure this out. This is where we find ourselves watching local rap group H.I.S.D., made up…
Love: The Week in Photos
It’s time again to check out the Houston Press Flickr Pool and see what kinds of art shots our talented photographers have added. We love street art, unique perspectives and beautiful photos of Houston’s creative community. If you think you’ve got a good eye, drop your pictures in the pool…
The Astros Will Suck, But They Do Have a Good Plan
The Houston Astros are a subject of much derision. They’re a bad team with very few, if any, names on the roster recognizable to the average fan. They’ll probably struggle to win 60 games. And there are national writers who think that the Astros are an embarrassment to baseball. I’m…
How To: Low-Calorie and Low-Fat Ice Cream
I absolutely love ice cream, whether it’s in a cone, in a giant bowl or topped with chocolate syrup, sprinkles and whipped cream. But as we all know, on a health standard, ice cream is not exactly the best thing to eat. It has lots of sugar, fat and carbohydrates,…
Last Night: Nas Raps Most of Illmatic at Ei8ht Lounge
Nas Ei8ht Lounge February 14, 2013 “I ain’t been to no All-Star shit in so long… I’m glad it’s in Houston,” a cheerful Nasir Jones told the crowd that packed one of Washington Ave’s newer establishments, E8ght Lounge on Thursday night. “I love y’all.” Inside the venue itself, a sprawl…
NBA All-Star Game Features Some of the Best Players Today, Tomorrow, Ever
It’s easy to sit around like an old fart and complain about how great All-Star games used to be. In some ways, the old farts are right. There were NBA All-Star games in the ’80s and ’90s where the number of future Hall of Famers numbered in the mid-teens. No…
Community: Halloween on Valentine’s Day
That wacky Community study group. Rather than giving each other handmade Valentines and Russell Stovers, they celebrate Halloween. Wrong holiday guys! Oh wait, last night’s episode was supposed to air around Halloween but due to the inexplicable decision of NBC to postpone the show’s start, we’ve got a spooky scary…
TV One’s Soulful “Verses & Flow” Brings Tank to the Heights
It started with tapping: a snare drum repeating itself, over and over again. An electric guitar followed, fighting to be heard over the incessant gnashing of drumstick against bass drum. A cymbal clashed with a piano’s keys. The caterers, setting up in another room, clinked glasses together, while above them,…
Upcoming Events: Menu of Menus Is Back, Bigger and Badder (in a Good Way, of Course)
Our grand tasting event — Menu of Menus — is coming up on April 9 and we want you, our loyal readers, to be the first to get discounted tickets this year. We are offering a semi-private pre-sale to loyal Houston Press readers that will allow you to purchase tickets…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: A Good Day To Die Hard
Title: A Good Day to Die Hard Is It? A Good Day, I Mean? It might indeed be a good day to walk the franchise behind the woodshed and, how to put this politely, “send it to doggie heaven.” Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Two Mi-24 Hind…
Last Night: All-Star Weekend Kick-Off Celebration at Warehouse Live
Slim Thug, Z-Ro, etc. Warehouse Live February 14, 2013 If partying it up in the same building as a bunch of famous rappers sounds like a pretty good time to you, you’re in luck: Every rapper in existence is in town for the NBA All-Star Game this weekend, and many…
Oliver Lake Talks About the Black Artists’ Group, His Upcoming TRIO 3 Concert Presented by Nameless Sound
Before saxophonist Oliver Lake co-founded the overlooked-until-lately Black Artists’ Group (BAG), before he appeared on records with Anthony Braxton and Michael Gregory Jackson and helped establish the World Saxophone Quartet, the heavy-hitting jazz musician dealt with the rigors of being a developing unknown, playing informal jam sessions in St. Louis…
You Don’t Wanna Buy Fake NBA Gear, Right?
It sucks to get faked out on the court, mostly because it makes you look silly. It sucks even more to get faked out off the court, mostly because it makes you look foolish and naive. With NBA All-Star festivities starting this Friday and leading up to the 2013 NBA…
Red-Light Foe Michael Kubosh Running for City Council
Michael Kubosh, part of the fighting brothers who finally rid Houston of red-light cameras, is announcing today he’s running for an at-large city council seat. Kubosh will announce he’s running for Melissa Noriega’s at-large seat (she is term-limited out), and an eclectic cast of Houston politicos will be there, according…
What’s In a Name? A Look at “American Harvest” and the Nasty Business of Nationalism
I get a lot of bizarre press releases. Men’s speedos packaged with cans of tuna. A recipe for an Empty Nester cocktail that blends red wine with tequila. A flyer touting a penis-shaped muffin restaurant. The press release I received yesterday doesn’t fall within that bizarre realm. It’s a perfectly…
The 10 Most Horribly Depressing Children’s Books
We moved when my daughter was just a year old, and in order to help prepare her for the transition my wife and I went out and got The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day. As a child I had the birth of my baby brother explained to me through the offices…
New Map Splits Texas Into Five States, Again
Neil Freeman is a civic planner and artist who puts out the engaging Web site Fake Is The New Real. You never really know what you’ll find on the site, but one of his recent efforts has started buzzing around the net, especially among political types frustrated with the electoral-college…
The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Inspired Recipes for Hard-to-Inspire Cooks (That’s Me)
Molly Dunn really needs to stop writing about cookbooks, because I’m going broke and gaining weight. That goes for you, too, Patrise Shuttlesworth! I was browsing the shelves at Brazos Bookstore less than two weeks ago, and mentioned to manager Jeremy Ellis how much I had enjoyed the cookbook Plenty,…
100 Creatives 2013: Peter Lucas, Film and Video Curator, Music Lover and Self-Described Culture-Slinger
What He Does Native Houstonian Peter Lucas in an independent curator who works with numerous art organizations in Houston to bring film and collaborative arts to the masses. Among other projects, he’s the creator of Aurora Picture Show’s massively popular Soul Nite series, he compiled found footage for the CAMH’s…
Yoko Ono Turns 80, Still Weird as Hell
Yoko Ono, never one to bend to the rules of societal convention, has got this old-age shit down to a science. Screw bridge club and Metamucil; this soon-to-be octogenarian is putting your grandma’s ideas about the twilight years to shame. True to form, the famed conceptual artist/musician/fashion-designer/philanthropist/Beatles destroyer (to a…
Artists Who Need Their Own Sirius/XM Channel Already
I’ve had satellite radio in my life since Christmas. Nothing is better than falling asleep on the couch on a Saturday afternoon after a big fat lunch with Willie’s Roadhouse playing; waking up every few hours to piss during a Ray Price cut and then falling back to sleep. What…
Seven ZERO Time NBA All-Stars Who Made More in Career Earnings Than Michael Jordan
I once had a boss who told me “The only thing worse than being underpaid is being overpaid.” Looking back, perhaps he was trying to send a message to me personally, but the general message was this — making too much money makes one utterly expendable. That’s a fine notion,…
5 Sea Adventure Movies Carnival Cruisers Are Lucky To Not Be In
This Carnival cruise ship just can’t seem to catch a break, or rather, that’s all it seems to be catching. The ship has been stranded since Sunday due to a fire in its propulsion system, and without the engines they seem to have lost a lot of the necessities. Slowly,…
Openings & Closings: More Americana, Headed Your Way
Intercontinental Airport must have finally gotten the memo that its dining options were sorely limited considering Houston’s rich culinary offerings, because it looks like something’s finally being done about it. Earlier this month, there was the news that chef Johnny Hernandez is opening The Fruteria – Botano in the airport…
The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Badass Weekend, Tift Merritt, etc.
Badass Weekend Walters/Houston House of Creeps, February 15 and 16 The first annual Badass Weekend is spread out over two days and three stages at Walters, Houston House of Creeps, and the adjoining Ballistic Skate House, and is sure to give you lonely and wild hearts something to do over…
UH President Renu Khator Thinks You’re Fat!! (Maybe)
University of Houston president Renu Khator has been known throughout her stint as a chic dresser, in a business-savvy way. Her fashion style is constantly on display to UH alumni who get the school’s magazine; each issue seems to contain a half-dozen or so pictures of Khator on the job…
For Valentine’s Day: A Few Musical Bone-Zone Bummers
Today the Internet is awash with song suggestions to help you get your honeys into a sexin’ mood, but I’ve collected some stories from completely real people that I in no way made up to serve as a warning that your Valentine’s playlist has got to be foolproof. I’ve chosen…
Rockets at Midseason: The Grades Are In
With the All-Star break on us, it seems logical to talk about where our local NBA team stands at the season’s figurative midpoint. I say “figurative” because the Rockets passed their actual midpoint in January at which point they were 21-20 coming off the last game of a season-long seven-game…
We Scare Coyotes: Ambient Chupacabra Lies
It’s a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we’re trying hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. Normally if you hand me a bunch of instrumental music I will respond with some variation on the famous Cave Johnson Lemon Speech except…
Texas Joins in $29 Million Settlement with Toyota over Sudden Acceleration, AG Announces
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced today that Texans will be part of a $29 million settlement with Toyota over its actions after claims that various models had sudden, unexplained accelerations that endangered drivers. Texas and 27 other states “investigated whether Toyota adequately and promptly disclosed that its voluntary recalls…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Hoi Fung of Fung’s Kitchen, on the Evolution of Chop Suey, Where He Takes Visiting Chefs for a Good Steak and Serving Fresh Peking Duck at Banquets
This is part two of a three-part Chef Chat series. You can read Part 1 here and Part 3 in this same space Friday. EOW: You came to Houston in 1982, but you didn’t open your first restaurant until 1990. How come? HF: Because I worked in the Golden China…
Black Sabbath Teases New Album With YouTube Clip
Yesterday Black Sabbath released a three-minute YouTube clip for their new upcoming album, 13, which is due to hit the streets in June. Producer Rick Rubin is behind the boards and Rage Against the Machine’s Brad Wilk is on drums, as Bill Ward is still involved in a contract dispute…
The Americans: “I Saw You.”
The life of a Directorate S operative is a bit more stressful than average, for while most of us have our hands full with job, marriage, kids, and Ashley Madison accounts, the covert KGB agent also has to worry about the whole “executed if caught by the foreign government I’m…
Great Egret Found Walking Around Front Yards with an Arrow in It
Great Egrets can be distinguished by their yellow bills and black legs and feet. And in Beaumont, they sometimes can be distinguished by the arrow sticking out of them as they wander through neighborhoods. Beaumont police say they received a call last week that a large white bird that “was…
Last Night: fun. at Bayou Music Center
fun. Bayou Music Center February 13, 2013 How long has it been since America’s young people have had something to be optimistic about besides the music on the radio? The ’80s? That must be the guiding principle behind newly crowned Grammy Best New Artist winners fun., who played to a…
The Best “Hidden” Fast-Food Items You’re Not Ordering According to Reddit
Secret items or off-menu dishes at restaurants are nothing new. In many cases, they’re arguably more famous than the regular food, such as the “Animal Style” fries at In-N-Out Burger (a chain which has more “secret” menu items than regular ones). Our own Brooke Viggiano has been compiling lists of…
Houston Is Bad for Romance Because of….All the Rain?
The days leading up to Valentine’s Day can fill reporters’ in-boxes with lots of “studies” purporting to show some type of love-related finding that’s connected to whatever product is being pushed. “San Diego Is Most Romantic City Because of Drano,” one might say, for instance. Everyone knows they’re hardly scientific,…
Roosh Williams: “I’m All About Flow and Lyrics”
If you were a local up-and-coming rapper and you got the call that you will be performing with hip-hop legend Rakim this Saturday in front of an All-Star Weekend audience, you’d be pretty excited. For rapper Roosh Williams, that’s an understatement. “I was fuckin’ ecstatic,” the 23-year-old rapper says over…
Straight or Gay, Find Love on Valentine’s Day the Jodie Foster Way
Awards season. The Emmys, Grammies, Oscars, Tonys, Golden Globes–all esteemed institutions of praise that exist to honor and exhibit the deserving few. Or are they simply another viewer-packed vehicle for television networks to sell premium advertising until the next NFL season begins? No Matter. The bravado and backslapping that accompanies…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Beautiful Creatures
Title: Beautiful Creatures So, We’re Doing Witches Now? That’s an unfortunate choice of words. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Two-and-a-half ruby slippers out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: Teenage witch “caster” not named Sabrina approaches milestone birthday, chooses inopportune time to fall in love with mortal redneck…
This “85 Years of Oscars” Poster By Olly Moss Utterly Rules
This Oscar poster was created by artist Olly Moss ahead of this year’s awards show. It encompasses 85 years of film history, and each year is represented by a totem signifying each Best Picture winner. That blank spot in 2001? It confused me at first too, but it is for…
Ask Willie D: How Do I Keep the Love Alive?
Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off’s advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about, in his own words, “funny, serious, unpredictable, diverse coverage of real-life shit.” Got some real-life shit bothering you? Ask Willie D! BABY MAMA DRAMA I have joint custody of my son. I…
Locavores, Meet Invasivores: Cooking and Eating Invasive Lionfish at Haven
Invasive species are nothing new. Neither is eating them, as anyone who’s eaten Cambodian water spinach — much of it grown here in Houston — will tell you. But bringing in water spinach from Cambodia and growing it for profit (despite its status over here as a noxious weed) is…
The Five Greatest Houston Rockets Who Played in the All-Star Game: A List That Might Surprise You
The Houston Rockets have only sent 14 different players to the NBA All Star game. The team’s most celebrated All Stars have routinely been big men and the playground atmosphere of the game does not lend itself to players who need help getting the ball leading to some forgettable performances…
Pop Rocks: No Matter Who Loses A Celebrity Battle Royale, We All Win
Feuds. Beefs. Tiffs. With few exceptions (mostly on Bravo), celebrities don’t really get into physical altercations. They usually just bitch at each other in interviews or over Twitter, thereby perpetuating a steady state of pointless bickering that slips into uneasy detente any time the two principals share the same physical…
Jan Michael Vincent Arrested in Houston! (Not That Jan-Michael Vincent.) A Chart to Tell Them Apart
Jan Michael Vincent got himself shot at by a cop and arrested yesterday on the north side after, cops say, he refused to follow their instructions and looked to be reaching for a gun in his car. No, not that Jan-Michael Vincent. This Jan Michael Vincent (the hyphen is all-important)…
The Rocks Off 100: Brian Davis, Punk Drummer, Horror Composer
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? You probably know Brian…
The Eating…Our Words 100: Catherine Rodriguez, Pastry Chef at The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa
Since the age of 18, Catherine Rodriguez has been a rockstar at making pastries and desserts. She started her culinary career at the Institut Villa Pierrefeu in Gilon, Switzerland, then traveled back to the States to improve and develop her pastry and dessert skills in California at various kitchens and…
There’s Also Puppy Love on Valentine’s Day: These Photos Prove It
As you scramble to find that all-important gift that says so much — the finale to a project to which you’ve given months seconds of support — you are taking part in a time-honored tradition celebrating the love that can thrive between two people. But what about the dogs? Surely…
Mike Tyson Brings His “Undisputed Truth” Tour To Houston Next Week
I’m talking to boxing great and media darling Mike Tyson as he is getting into a car somewhere near Indianapolis, namely the Plainfield Correctional Facility a few miles southwest of town. No, Tyson isn’t in trouble again. But why is Tyson coming back to his prison home of three and…
Chubby Checker, the Man Who Killed the Boner App
There’s no way to say this in a ladylike fashion, so fuck it. Because someone, somewhere wants me to make middle-school boner jokes today, Chubby Checker of “Twist” fame is suing Hewlett-Packard and Palm for releasing the “Chubby Checker,” an app used to estimate a dude’s potential boner size by…
NBA All-Star Game: Your Prop Bets for This Weekend
Michael Jordan turns 50 this weekend, I’m not sure if you’ve heard. In case you missed the incessant career retrospective pieces that ran on Sportscenter or the story of MJ’s renting the Museum of Fine Arts here in Houston for his birthday shindig this weekend, the most iconic team sport…
Dinner and a Show: Houston’s Top 10 Restaurants for Pre-Theater Dining
Chances are that if you’re heading downtown for a night out at the opera, the symphony or the Alley, you’re not simply grabbing McDonald’s on your way — you want to make an evening of this, as well you should. Many restaurants have done away with theater menus, meaning you’ll…
Top 10 Songs Inspired By Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy is one of my personal religions. No really, I wrote an article about it and everything. Like all good religions, the classic series of role-playing video games has inspired musicians to pay tribute to it, and today we celebrate the Top 10 who have done so…
Doctor Who: The Strange Legacy of The First Doctor and William Hartnell
Doctor Who turns 50 years old on November 23 of this year, and a massive television special is both in preparation and being kept extremely under wraps. The rumor right now is the Steven Moffat has finished a script that will include all 11 incarnations of the Time Lord. The…
A Toast to Lena Dunham’s Panties
Internet assholes are always yelling about what Lena Dunham doesn’t wear on Girls, but let’s talk about something she does. Bros who think everything should be marketed to them never get tired of pointing out that Dunham’s Hannah Horvath seems to be topless more often than not, a point of…
Berlin Discoveries: Greatness Emerges at the Year’s First Major Film Festival
If Sundance signals the annual launch of American indie cinema’s new product line, the 63-year-old Berlin Film Festival (February 7-17) offers the year’s first major look at what the rest of the world has to offer. In addition to the 19-film official competition — this year presided over by jury…
Rap Capitalism
This is a company that generated a multimillion-dollar idea out of empty space. A company that was started by people that weren’t legally old enough to purchase liquor. A company that might’ve altered not only the trajectory of the careers of a handful of modern day rap stars, but the…
Mytiburger Is on the Way
Editor’s clarification: Kathy Green says she was not forced to close Mytiburger, but chose to do so. Take a trip behind the 46-year-old grills at Mytiburger in our slideshow. The small dining room at Mytiburger is laid out in intricate fashion, maximizing every bit of black-and-white-checkered floor space to fit…
Throw Back
The pedigree for the musical Catch Me If You Can, based on the somewhat fictionalized biography of Frank Abagnale, Jr., security and fraud guru extraordinaire, which in turn was the basis for the Steven Spielberg movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, is unrivaled. The team for this production presented…
May Induce Queasy Pleasure
If Side Effects, an immensely pleasurable thriller centering around psychotropic drugs, really is Steven Soderbergh’s final big-screen film, as the director claims it will be, then he has peaked in the Valley of the Dolls. Scripted by Scott Z. Burns, who also wrote the screenplay for Soderbergh’s Contagion (2011), Side…
Melissa McCarthy’s Body Horror
Just a week or so after the Pentagon reversed its ban on allowing female soldiers into combat, here’s another breakthrough, of a sort: The funniest scenes in the confused and shaggy comedy Identity Thief are of Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman beating the hell out of each other. McCarthy —…
Die Hard, Die Alone
Does anyone care about John McClane anymore? That’s not the same as asking if you want to see A Good Day to Die Hard, the fifth in this series of films with increasingly outlandish action — and increasingly cumbersome titles. The most recent entry — the slick, ridiculous hit Live…
Kiarostami in Exile
Abbas Kiarostami is preoccupied with my tape recorder. He wonders if it’s too far away from where he’s sitting. He makes his translator switch from one side of him to another so that the recorder is between them. After a while, clearly still anxious about, he picks it up and…
The Sounds of H-Town
Only in Houston The song must be either inspired by Houston or written and performed by a Houston-based artist, and be no longer than five minutes. All nominations must be submitted to Cactus via a link that can be found at www.cactusmusictx.com. One entry will be chosen at random for…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Greg Miller: Over Time,” “[Houston Times Eight],” “Kathryn Kelley: “The uncontrollable nature of grief and forgiveness (or lack of),” “Mac Whitney: Sculptures and Paintings,” “Mie Olise: Crystal Bites of Dust,” “Wilo Vargas”
“Greg Miller: Over Time” Greg Miller often gets grouped with the Shepard Faireys and Banksys of the art world, though what the post-pop artist does is quite the opposite of the famed street artists. Miller doesn’t go out and tag walls (he considers himself “something of an environmentalist” he says…
Goodwill Ambassador
Highlights from Hair Balls SPORTS Former Rockets guard and current member of the best pregame sports show on television Kenny Smith is a big fan of Houston, calling his ties here “deep-rooted.” “People I consider my best friends in the world are still in Houston,” Smith told Hair Balls. “My…
Go West, Young Man
Top 10 Westchase — for its relatively small boundaries — is a poster child for the breadth of ethnic cuisines available in Houston. Far from simply an area saturated with mid-rise office buildings and chain restaurants, it’s also a microcosm of the BayouCity. The neighborhood offers Cajun, Persian, Bosnian, Argentinean,…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Broadway at the Box, Knock Me a Kiss, The Lion in Winter, The Young Man from Atlanta
Broadway at the Box The Music Box Theater is a repertory group of three women and two men — they sing, they dance, they act, they reminisce about their childhoods, they do solos and they do ensemble numbers, all this with such a sense of togetherness, of fun, of personal…
Mexican Identity and Living in the Street
Dear Mexican, I’m 39. My stepdad — who raised me — just died. This freed my mother to tell me (stepdad always forbade it) that the man I thought was my biological father all this time was not. The man who is my biological father is Mexican…totally, (e.g. both of…
