Drake Will Not Be Running Through Arena Theatre With His Woes
It sounded too good to be true, ya know? That Drake show over at Arena Theatre on May 17? It’s being “postponed.” This evening Arena Theatre sent out emails saying… well… “Regrettably, we want to offer a full refund for your purchase of Drake tickets. The Arena Theatre was issued…
Could ExxonMobil Buy BP?
Imagine a world where the largest energy company in the world becomes even more massive by gobbling up one of the most notorious energy companies around. Got it? Okay, now prepare yourself because the rumors are swirling that such a thing could actually happen. Bloomberg is reporting that ExxonMobil, the…
Thursday Weather Proof God is Mad About Andre Johnson Situation, Too
A constant gripe Houstonians, and Texans in general, have is the bi-polar nature of the weather here in the Lone Star State. If you’ve grown weary of these endless conversations about winter storms and weird (cue spooky sound effects) weather, you may want to avoid Twitter, Facebook and the water…
-Us Creates Dance Music For Difficult Breakups
Jackson Pollack once said that “Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.” The Houston artist known as -Us is in pursuit of making music that reflects who he truly is. Certainly, what multi-instrumentaist Avery Davis has done is to distill the finer points of great -80s synthpop…
Steve Francis Gets Choked With His Gold Chain at Local Rap Show (w/ VIDEO)
Rare is the athlete (especially an NBA player, let alone an NBA player who was selected to multiple All-Star Games) whom people are able to enjoy more in retirement than they did during his playing days. I think it’s safe to say that, for me, Steve Francis has cracked that…
The Sound of Music Is Turning 50, and I Have Never Seen It
On March 2, 1965, a movie about an almost-nun who becomes governess to a forbidding Austrian widower’s seven Aryan kids on the even of World War II opened in U.S. theaters. Although it was famously panned upon release (Pauline Kael called it “the sugar-coated lie that people seem to want…
City Hall Staying Out of R. Kelly Controversy
Right now a lot of people in City Hall are probably wishing they’d never heard the name “R. Kelly.” After multiple entreaties to the mayor’s office, late Tuesday afternoon the Press received an official statement about R&B star and alleged pedophile R. Kelly’s upcoming appearance at Free Press Summer Fest…
Woo-Hoo! Houston Getting Another Low-Cost Spay-Neuter Clinic
Awesome news: Houston will be getting another low-cost spay/neuter clinic in the spring. City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to give Austin-based Emancipet $260,000 for the clinic, which will be located at 4410 Navigation Blvd. “The clinic will be able to spay/neuter 7,000-8,000 animals per year and provide approximately 10,000 preventive…
Best Food We Found at the Houston Rodeo This Year
We covered food at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo carnival last week during the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Competition, but many vendors didn’t start serving until the rodeo officially started on yesterday. We went back to see what new tasty goodies we could find. This was what we found on-the-fly–the…
Fleetwood Mac Gives Houston an Extended Encore
Fleetwood Mac Toyota Center March 3, 2015 Tuesday night marked, according to Stevie Nicks, the sixtieth show on this string of dates for Fleetwood Mac. It’s a hell of a run. It’s even the second time they’ve hit Houston’s Toyota Center. How do they maintain the fire? Even 60 shows…
Podcast: Here’s Why Fox’s Empire Rules
There are five reasons why Fox’s Empire has become a breakout hit, and on this week’s Voice Film Club podcast, we run down why the show, introduced as a mid-season replacement, has surged to nearly 14 million viewers an episode by its eighth week. Joining Voice film editor Alan Scherstuhl…
Andre Johnson Odds Board: Where Will He Play Next?
Well, Texan fan, hopefully you’ve put your grief behind you. Yeah, I know it hasn’t even been 48 hours since you were forced to digest the news that Andre Johnson’s Texan career will be coming to a close imminently. But this is 2015. It’s the age of short attention spans,…
JerryBuilt’s Outlaw Burger Will Make You Go “Yee-Hah!”
Touted by Houstonia’s Gastronaut blog as one “alternative barbeque fix” for rodeo season, the new “Outlaw” burger at JerryBuilt Homegrown Burgers may not satisfy the most fastidious connoisseurs of grilled meats. But extreme food snobs are jackasses and who wants to eat barbecue with them, anyway? Burger enthusiasts as well…
Tina Fey’s Weird and Winsome Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Channels Liz Lemon and Leslie Knope
The world is a terrible place. That’s the uncompromising truth with which Tina Fey and Robert Carlock begin Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix), their follow-up to the under-seen but culturally monumental 30 Rock. The very first scenes of Unbreakable’s first season, which will be released in its binge-able entirety on March…
The 2015 Houston Saint Patrick’s Day Guide
We hope Saint Patrick loved green beer, bagpipes and the Dropkick Murphys, because you’re sure to find at least one of the three at the festivities honoring him around town. From “Irish Open” golf tourneys to the annual downtown Saint Patrick’s Day parade, here’s how to celebrate St. Paddy in…
Chef Chat: The Pit Masters Trent Brooks of Brooks’ Place
It’s not easy smoking barbecue in a trailer. Briskets take overnight to cook and have to be minded to make sure the temperature stays consistent and the fires don’t die out. Trent Brooks, however, has been managing for years and it’s not like he gets to just run out to…
Breeder Group That Totally Swears It’s Not a Breeder Group Is Fighting Law That Regulates Breeders
A San Antonio-based commercial animal breeders’ interest group is once again seeking to neuter a 2011 statute licensing and regulating people who own 11 or more female animals for breeding purposes. The nonprofit group, which calls itself Responsible Pet Owners Alliance and whose website largely eschews any mention of the…
Thai Pop-Up Dinner in Houston by New York Chef Hong Thaimee
There are pop-up dinners and then there are must-not-miss pop-up dinners, and this coming Sunday and Monday, Paper Co. is going to be playing host to two must-not-miss pop-up dinners that will showcase the cuisine of visiting chef Hong Thaimee of Ngam Thai Restaurant in New York City’s East Village…
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Arrive in Houston With an Updated Version
It’s the story of the trials of Joseph, the kid who was his father’s favorite out of 12 brothers and had the special coat to prove it, and could see the future through dreams (although somehow he missed that his envious brothers would throw him in a pit and sell…
Try These 5 Outrageously Awesome Chicken Wings in Houston
Wings of any kind are generally delicious, but these stuffed, twice-fried, seriously spicy and sticky-as-all-hell takes on wings really pump things up to the next level. And we can promise they are finger-licking good. Check them out: See also: Try These 5 Seriously Outrageous Sushi Rolls Try These 5 Seriously…
6 Surprising Things That Are Legal to Own in Texas. What a State!
Texas has a reputation as a state which places a high value on personal liberty, and it may come as no surprise that it is legal to own some interesting things in the Lone Star State. How interesting? Well, interesting enough to make a person wonder how viable it would…
Goat Milking Is Way Harder Than It Looks
It all seemed so easy on the practice goat. The udders were long and full, and when you pinched and squeezed, the way the instructor coached, they obligingly filled with milk that squirted easily into the bucket. But that was only the practice run. During the actual Celebrity Goat Milking…
March Madness: Z-Ro vs. the World
With so much news to that flies by in the Houston rap scene, luckily we are here to sit back and deal with all of the madness. Welcome to our own version of March Madness, where we’re delivering stories every workday to keep you occupied with the ins and outs…
The Late Jack Bruce Throws a Belated Birthday Party
Jack Bruce: The 50th Birthday Concerts MIG Music, Multiple Formats When Jack Bruce passed away late last year at the age of 71, every story and obituary led, understandably, with his best known musical job as the bassist for Cream. But in fact, Bruce had a wide and diverse journeyman…
For Real Country at the Rodeo, Seek the Hideout
The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is unique, in terms of both size and the way it becomes the epicenter of the city’s social calendar during the month of March. It’s so big that one of the dozens of amusements is even a tent stuffed with the kind of music…
Daughter of Man Killed at Texas City Refinery Watches USW Strike
Since the start of the United Steelworkers strike at the oil refineries, Katherine Rodriguez has been watching the developments and thinking of her father, Ray Gonzalez. “He would have loved this. He would have been out there on the picket line with them if he was still here,” she says…
State Rep. David Simpson Says God Wants to Legalize Weed
We don’t agree with state Rep. David Simpson on a lot of things. Okay, most things. But the guy surprised us with a novel argument in favor of decriminalizing marijuana: It’s what God would want. “I don’t believe that when God made marijuana, he made a mistake that government needs…
Buxton Shows Off New Maturity on Half a Native
Buxton’s new album, Half a Native, comes out today, a little more than three years after its previous effort, Nothing Here Seems Strange. About half of the new songs carry on the line of contemplative, finger-picked acoustic tunes that characterized Strange and its predecessor, 2008’s A Family Light. But “Good…
J.J. Watt’s Cabin Is Really, Really Nice (with PICTURES)
“It’s really minimalistic. The only thing I have to focus on is training and that’s the way I like it. There’s no frills, there’s nothing to distract you up here. It’s just an empty space and a log cabin and snow.” — J.J. Watt on his new offseason cabin in…
Fifth Circuit Court Disses Houston Federal Judge, Reassigns Case
In January, we took issue with U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Hughe’s bizarre ruling in a suit against a Houston police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man in 2011, and now the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is taking issue with another Hughes ruling. Texas Lawyer reports that,…
Best At-Home Margarita Contest Continues in Mixology Meets Bracketology
Okay, so you’re a great mixologist but nobody much knows that. Now’s your chance to shine. Not only will you get recognition, but as part of our Mixology Meets Bracketology competition, you stand a chance to win some cash. Here’s how:…
So-So Food, Great Fun: More Than Making the Best of It at Little Matt’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. In this special edition of DEFCON Dining, we…
Texans Talk Dominates, Even With Rockets Winning, Harden on MVP Pace
On Sunday, about an hour before the Rockets took on the Cleveland Cavaliers on national television, pitting two MVP candidates and culminating in one of the most exciting overtime wins in recent memory for your local NBA team, KILT 610 was on my radio while I was running errands and…
Crossing the Line: Money, Safety, Power – What Makes a Union Strike at a Bad Time for Oil and Gas?
He had only an hour’s notice. Lee Medley, local president of USW District 13-1, got the call from the national representatives of the United Steelworkers at 11 p.m. on January 31. There was no new contract, and he was going to have to lead 800 workers from Shell Deer Park…
This Week in Houston Food Blogs: Shake Off the Cold With Soup or Embrace It With Ice Cream
If you’re tired of the gloomy, gray weather, shake off the blues with Zagat Houston’s list of soups by Marcy de Luna. The duck soup at Huynh and the oyster and fennel stew at Liberty Kitchen and Oysterette are particularly inspiring choices…
Family of Woman Injured in Houston Rodeo Golf Cart Accident Settles
Just over two years after Bonnie Herndon was injured in a golf cart accident at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in February 2013, the Herndon family has settled. Herndon and her husband attended the Toby Keith concert that was put on in conjunction with the 2013 Houston Livestock Show…
Upcoming: Beth Hart, Bryan Adams, Cake, Doobie Brothers, Ginger Baker, Whitesnake, etc.
A Sundae Drive: With Sky Acre, Golden Sombrero., Sat., April 4, 9 p.m., $7 to $10. Rudyard’s, 2010 Waugh, Houston, 713-521-0521. Acoustic Alchemy: Sun., June 7, 7:30 p.m., $88 to $128. Dosey Doe, 25911 I-45 N., Spring, 281-367-3774. After the Well: Thu., April 9, 8:30 p.m., $8. Dosey Doe Music…
Longtime Houston Restaurateur Opens Waitstaff School
Manfred Jachmich has been involved in the Houston restaurant industry for a very long time. He grew up in Koblenz, Germany, and worked as a pastry chef there and in Switzerland before emigrating to Houston in 1963. He earned a degree in economics and management from Houston Baptist University. In…
Nigel Barker Presenting Models of Influence at Brazos Bookstore
A photographer, television personality (The Face, America’s Next Top Model), and former model himself, Nigel Barker is a man who understands the fashion industry. It’s his insider’s point-of-view and keen eye that make his new book, Models of Influence: 50 Women Who Reset the Course of Fashion so absorbing. You’ll…
Houston Texans Decide the Andre Johnson Era Is Over
“I know that we would like to have him back, we’d like to see him retire a Houston Texan. But again, I don’t think retirement is in his mind. When I say that, I just mean in the future. We don’t want him to play anywhere else. He’s a Houston…
Moving Sidewalk Ushers in a Different Kind of Ladies’ Night
And on the seventh day, ye shall rest. That is certainly what most people try to do. The day before Monday is usually reserved for having brunch, doing laundry and sitting around binge-watching terrible reality-TV staples like Bridezillas. For many of us nine-to-fivers who are workin’ for the weekend, the…
Tribute CD Honors Texas Blues Legend Bugs Henderson
When blues guitarist Bugs Henderson died from liver cancer in 2012 at the age of 68, Texas music lost one of its storied veterans. The native of Tyler spent much of his life performing and based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. And while he briefly flirted with larger stardom in…
FPSF Taking Some Heat for R. Kelly Booking
Free Press Summer Fest’s booking of R. Kelly, the R&B star who has been dogged by allegations of sexual improprieties for decades, is striking a sour note with some people on social media. Others, however, seem perfectly fine with the idea. City of Houston officials, on whose property FPSF is…
Bad Ass Weekend 2: A Banquet for Extreme-Music Lovers
Maybe it was the dank weather that drove them out of their burrows, or the deep bass vibrations that attracted them. But the extreme rock underground slithered up through the cracks and into the daylight on Saturday, turning out early and with enthusiasm to Day 2 of the Bad Ass…
Sarah McLachlan Brings the Love to Jones Hall
Sarah McLachlan Jones Hall March 1, 2015 Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan is probably just as well-known these days for her animal-rights activism and the founding of Lilith Fair as she is for her music, which doesn’t seem right, somehow. After all, her lush arrangements and marked contrast in her vocal…
Bad Ass Weekend 1: Third Installment Lives Up to Name
For the third year in a row, Houston’s Bad Ass Weekend, a three-day festival focusing on all different types of metal and punk music, lived up to its name. The last couple of days leading up to the festival were filled with a few last minute band cancellations due to…
Cursive Still Sounds Vital After All These Years
Written by Eric Grubbs Cursive Fitzgerald’s March 1, 2015 Sunday night at Fitzgerald’s, Cursive might have played songs from an album released 12 years ago, but the long-running Omaha-based band still sounded vital and viable. Co-fronted by Tim Kasher and Ted Stevens (along with original bassist Matt Maginn, longtime drummer…
5 Lessons From the Houston Rodeo Dessert Competition
This was my second year to help judge the Dutch Oven Dessert Competition. I’m glad I had a little judging experience under my belt this time. I already knew what it was like being on the competitor side of the equation. I used to participate in a private competition that…
Congressman Gene Green Checked Out the USW Picket Lines This Weekend
Shell and USW representatives may be starting another round of negotiations soon, but things are getting more tense on the picket line as the strike drags on. Congressman Gene Green came out on Saturday morning to meet with USW District 13-1 local president Lee Medley and to talk with the…
Past Houston Rodeo Bar-B-Que Competition Winner Does It Again
Despite temperatures that hovered in the 40s at night at NRG Park, competing barbecue teams from across the country toughed it out to submit 419 entries. Amazingly, the grand champion this year was Across the Track, a Houston cookoff team that took home the exact same honor in 2013. Across…
Leonard Nimoy Represented the Best of Humanity
Leonard Nimoy has died at the age of 83. Both on camera and off, he exemplified the best of what Star Trek, and thus humanity, could represent. Part of that was Trek’s writing, of course. But it was Nimoy who took what was on the page — often repaired what…
Doctor Who: Ben Jackson, The Lost Companion
The Tumblr picture to your right was one that a friend sent me and it makes me a little sad. The screencap comes from the 50th anniversary special “The Day of the Doctor” where Clara Oswald is taken into the UNIT Black Archives and passes a board decorated with known…
NFL Fantasy Crime League Update: Ravens DB Gets a DWI Going 100 in a 55
It’s been a quiet NFL Fantasy Crime season so far in 2015. After the initial flurry a few weeks ago — the infamous Randle-Guion-Jackson triangle of transgression — there’s really been nothing to speak of. Ahmad Bradshaw getting popped for weed on February 5, but other than that, the offseason…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Sweeney’s Waiting (With a Cocktail)
Monday, March 2 Ghetto Dinner Benefitting Melange Creperie Melange Creperie’s Kickstarter is nearing the end, and Pax Americana’s chef Adam Dorris and Will Walsh are putting on one of their notorious Ghetto Dinners on to help. Downtown bar Moving Sidewalk is hosting the festivities. Expect a memorable, inexpensive gourmet dinner…
Tel Aviv-Based Artist Brings Bold Colors to Desert Landscape
For his fourth solo exhibition at Inman Gallery, Israeli-born Gilad Efrat, who lives and works in Tel Aviv, continues to challenge himself as a painter. In his earlier works he perfected the art of producing fluid representations of the expansive desert landscape, veering towards cooler browns and tans. Evolving from…
Dish of the Week: Bobotie
From classic comfort foods to regional standouts and desserts, we’ll be sharing a new recipe with you each week. Find other dishes of the week here. This week, we’re covering a traditional South African food: bobotie. Bobotie is a baked dish consisting of minced, slightly sweet curried meat (often beef…
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller Voted to Cut Ag Funding But Now He Wants it Back
The Cupcake Crusader has a new cause! And surprisingly it has nothing to do with cupcakes! That’s right, Sid Miller, Texas Agriculture Commissioner, easily won his office last November, and now it looks like he’s actually trying to improve the agriculture department. There’s just one tiny problem: funding. “I need…
Sure, the Astros Are Run by Geniuses (But How Do We Really Know?)
Time and time again Houston Astros fans are told not to worry about the state of the franchise. The team’s run by geniuses, by literal rocket scientists. The smartest men in the room who can outthink every other team in MLB, and in doing so, are turning the Astros into…
4 Hidden Shopping Gems in Montrose
Montrose has that “off the beaten path” feel. The shops are a little worn around the edges, the buildings seem to have a story to tell, and anything shiny and new looks kind of out of place. The entire area is teaming with hidden gems, but I did my best…
The 10 Best Crawfish Dishes in Houston
Crawfish season is back! And while, yes, we love the regular ol’ Cajun crawfish boil, we ALSO love these spectacular crawfish loaded dishes. From a seriously creamy crawfish bisque to deep-fried crawfish mac and cheese (yes, your heard that right), check out our top picks for mudbugs this season:…
Making of Purple Rain Makes a Great Read
Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain By Alan Light Atria Books, 304 pp., $26. If you were a Warner Brothers movie studio executive, you had damn good reason to be nervous in July 1984, awaiting the release, critical reception and box-office fortunes of a film called…
Camera Cult Kicks Off Evening of House of Creep-y Fun
Camera Cult, Hank & Cupcakes, Say Girl Say, Sphynx Houston House of Creeps February 27, 2015 It’s not every day that you get to catch the first-ever live performance of what could be Houston’s next big act, but I was lucky enough to see Camera Cult’s debut on Friday, February…
Houston’s Five Best Concerts This Week: Eric Church, Helmet, Ledisi, Miranda Lambert, etc.
Eric Church NRG Stadium, March 3 RodeoHouston kicks off its 2015 season with a first-time entertainer whose appearance says as much about the changing times as it does his hosts’ unending need to stay in tune with what’s hot. Once all but blacklisted by radio programmers for a hell-raising attitude…
The Trail Rides Head Into Downtown Houston
It’s Go Texan Day, and that means one thing for Houstonians: trail rides. Thirteen trail rides from across Texas will set up camp in Memorial Park today. Tomorrow morning, they’ll head downtown for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s annual Parade. One group, the Southwestern Trail Ride, travels in 100…
Hey, NFL, You Can Keep Your Super Bowl and We’ll Hang Onto Our $50M, Deal?
According to a report from Chron.com, the NFL, after touring NRG Stadium this week, says the stadium needs up to $50 million in upgrades in anticipation of Super Bowl LI, to be held in Houston in 2017. While the upgrades include the installation of Wi-Fi (a requirement for all NFL…
USW and Shell Are Talking About Talking
Representatives from the United Steelworkers and Royal Dutch Shell have been arguing over a new national contract for the oil refinery workers with no success, but now it looks like the two sides are gearing up to sit down and try once again to work out a new national contract…
Best Carnival Food at the Houston Rodeo This Year
There are dozens of food booths and a vast selection of tasty and downright clever things to eat at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo NOV Carnival. Why settle for a boring turkey leg when you can get one wrapped in bacon? Do you want to be seen eating fried…
HPD: Help Us Help You Not Get Shot by HPD
HPD has released a handy YouTube video that offers a basic rundown of how not to spook a cop that’s decided to pull you over or detain you. HPD Chief Charles McClelland says the department made the video after receiving numerous questions from citizens on “how best to interact with…
Mother Charged With Brutally Stabbing 4-Year-Old Son
Sheriff’s deputies were called out to a northwest Harris County neighborhood yesterday after a passing driver saw a mother dragging her young son out of a house and throwing him onto the pavement. When police finally got there, they encountered a disturbing scene. The mother, police say, had badly mutilated…
A Place to Bury Strangers’ Theater of Feedback Ravages Fitz
A Place to Bury Strangers Fitzgerald’s February 26, 2015 Thursday night, the world’s loudest three-piece rock and roll band made ears ring without regretting the premature acquisition of tinnitus. A Place to Bury Strangers created a tone of desperation and wild abandon while playing to a mesmerized audience downstairs at…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: The Lazarus Effect
Title: The Lazarus Effect Sum Up The Movie Using Other Movies: Pet Semetary plus Flatliners divided by Paranormal Activity Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: One Nothing Like the Sun albumout of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: “Did you wreck the car?” “No.” “Did you raise the dead?” “Yes.”…
Once Tells the Story of a Dublin Street Musician’s Dreams and the Woman Who Inspires Him
Winner of eight 2012 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Once tells the story of a Dublin street musician, “Guy,” who thanks to the help of a beautiful woman, “Girl,” decides to continue pursuing his career in music. John Steven Gardner, who plays Eamon, a sound engineer at a recording studio,…
The Houston Cougars Are One of the Best College Baseball Teams in the Country
The Cougar Red infield dirt at Cougar FieldThe University of Houston is a baseball school. There might be a nice shiny new football stadium, but the football team doesn’t sell it out. The men’s basketball program has a new, big name head coach. But the facility sucks, the team’s awful,…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Plenty of BBQ & Texan Pride
“Go Texas” Day @ Brennan’s of Houston Friday 3300 Smith In honor of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s “Go Texan” day, Brennan’s of Houston will feature a special prix fixe, Texas edition meal with Creole flare for $29. The three-course menu (available for both lunch and dinner) features a…
The 12 Most Exciting Acts at Bad Ass Weekend III
Written by David Sackllah and Nathan Smith A date that has been blacked out on the calendars of Houston’s gnarliest music fans has finally arrived: Bad Ass Weekend III is here at last. Assembling quite a collection of the baddest-ass and most brutal acts from the local and international punk,…
Stanton Welch Creates Memorable If Uneven Romeo and Juliet
The Execution: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most well-known love story in the West, not because the play is his best work but because its themes of young passion and ill fortune are as universal as it is adaptable to just about any form of dramatic artistic expression…
Sarah McLachlan’s Fans Aren’t Shy About Hugging Her
Whenever the subject of the greatest Canadian singer-songwriters in history comes up, as it often does, Sarah McLachlan deserves a seat at the same table as Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. McLachlan’s music is so beloved in her homeland that in 2010 she was asked to write the…
Creatives 2015: Alecia Lawyer, Founder/Artistic Director of River Oaks Chamber Orchestra
Alecia Lawyer was inspired to found the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in much the same way Noah was inspired to build his ark. “Really, I think God just put the idea in my head,” she tells us. “With Noah and the ark, God said, ‘You know it’s going to rain…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Celebrate Texas Independence With Beer
Every Friday through April 20, Saint Arnold Brewery, 2000 Lyons, will be offering a “Fish on Fridays” Lent special featuring two courses and beer for $19. To ensure a spot, you can prepay online, then show up anytime between 11 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. to take advantage of the special…
Some A-Hole Is Training His Dog to Attack Strays in Clark Park
Residents of a neighborhood around Robert Clark Park in northeast Houston say at least one man has been training his dog to attack stray dogs who’ve made the park their home for years. One dog sustained serious cuts to his face and chin earlier this month, but fortunately volunteers who…
Openings & Closings in Houston: A Stand-Alone Restaurant for Asia Market
An email from Asia Market on February 23 shared the joyous news that after years of being part of a grocery store-restaurant combination, the restaurant part is finally getting its own building. Asia Market has long been known for its shamelessly spicy curries and is a favorite of Thai food…
The Glorious Sons Seek a More Perfect Union
With American Top 40 playlists dominated these days by pop tarts, hip-hoppers, alt-screamers, sensitive singer-songwriters, and boy bands, there isn’t much room for straight-ahead rock and rollers anymore. Interestingly, a number of today’s “current but classic-sounding” rock bands are springing out of Canada; groups like the Sheepdogs, Monster Truck and…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Events: Jazz Fest, the I-45 Killing Fields and More
Music took saxophonist Shelley Carrol from the Houston Boys Choir to Carnegie Hall. Along the way, Carrol, who’s being featured in the 17th Annual Moores School of Music Jazz Festival on Friday and Saturday, spent some time at Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, with the University…
Aaron Hernandez’s Bar Tab From the Night Odin Lloyd Was Killed (w/ VIDEO)
Most of us, thankfully, have no firsthand knowledge of what goes through the mind of a murderer mere hours before he or she commits such a dastardly deed. Now, we are not completely certain that former New England Patriots tight end (and current guest of the Massachusetts correctional system) Aaron…
Houston’s 10 Friendliest Bars
On our bar adventures about town, most of us are going out to have a good time and hoping to encounter some friendly faces. From our experience, the bars on this list meet these requirements, as we usually encounter both good-natured and approachable patrons and staff at these places. Keep…
Why It’s Okay Your Band Isn’t Playing FPSF ’15
So, your band isn’t listed among the many invited to play Free Press Summer Fest 2015. Is there anything that could conceivably comfort the gnawing ache in your spurned bones? Well, for starters, just remember that Run the Jewels, Lana Del Rey, Beck and Drake won’t be playing, either. In…
The 10 Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Aaron Watson, Robyn Ludwick, Cursive, etc.
World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest NRG Park, February 27 & 28 Never mind the Hideout during the rodeo itself, but critics who gripe that the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo embraces the likes of Fall Out Boy at the expense of the boot-scootin’ talent in its own backyard must have overlooked…
Kathryn Casey: Deliver Us: Three Decades of Murder and Redemption in the Infamous I-45/Texas Killing Fields
To you and me, I-45 is just another highway. To true-crime author Kathryn Casey, it’s a crime scene. A 50-mile stretch of I-45 connects Houston to Galveston. Over the past 40 years, dozens of bodies of young women, mostly teenagers, have been found dumped in the woods that border the highway…
The 17th Annual Moores School of Music Jazz Festival
Music took saxophonist Shelley Carrol from the Houston Boys Choir to Carnegie Hall. Along the way, Carrol, who’s being featured in the 17th Annual Moores School of Music Jazz Festival, spent some time at Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, with the University of North Texas’s One…
Annual African American Music Gala 2015: Duke, Dett and Three Premieres
Roland Carter, guest conductor for the Annual African American Music Gala 2015: Duke, Dett and Three Premieres, chose to honor Duke Ellington in this year’s program, in part to mark the 50th anniversary of Ellington’s “A Concert of Sacred Music.” (The piece premiered in 1965 at the Grace Cathedral in…
Movies Houstonians Love: Robert Earl Keen presents Being There
Americana musician Robert Earl Keen and the late British actor Peter Sellers might seem an odd couple, but the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston features both during Movies Houstonians Love: Robert Earl Keen presents Being There. Hal Ashby’s 1979 film follows a simple-minded gardener fittingly named Chance (Sellers) who lucks…
From Wonder Woman to Ms. Thor: Feminism in Comic Books
Things in the comic superhero world are changing. Ms. Marvel has been promoted to Captain Marvel. Thor is now a female. And Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel are each getting their own movie. “These are three really huge steps for feminism and big hurdles that shouldn’t have been a big…
Focus Is a Bright Trifle That Shows Off Margot Robbie Like a Diamond
If Grace Kelly had been raised by coyotes, she might have stalked the screen like Focus’s Margot Robbie, a va-va-voom blonde with bite. Robbie is too beautiful to play normal, too sly to play nice. Miscast as a shy saint in Craig Zobel’s upcoming Sundance hit Z for Zachariah, she…
Jan Jarboe Russell: The Train to Crystal City
It’s a little known and dark episode in Texas history: the WWII family internment camp in Crystal City. Thousands of German and Japanese immigrants — and their American-born children — were held in the Crystal City facility, deep in South Texas. Jan Jarboe Russell, a contributing editor for Texas Monthly,…
Hal Holbrook: Mark Twain Tonight
Mark Twain was born shortly after the 1835 appearance of Halley’s Comet. He predicted that he would “go out with it,” too. And he did. Twain died the day after its 1910 return. Just a bit of trivia for Twain fans. Noted for writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and…
2015 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade
Trailriders, marching bands, color guards, local celebrities and dancing girls — they’ll all share the spotlight at the 2015 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade. A Houston tradition for more than 75 years, the parade is the kickoff to the three-week-long rodeo that seems to take over the city every…
Sadly, the Latest Hot Tub Time Machine Is on the Fritz
Five years ago, four losers passed out in a jacuzzi, boiled back to 1986, healed their past wounds, rocked out to Poison and returned to their timeline as gods. Thusly, Hot Tub Time Machine director Steve Pink was hailed as a minor deity: He’d taken a dumber-than-huffing-hairspray premise and made…
Capsule Art Reviews: February 26, 2015
“Mel Chin: Rematch” For the next few months, Houston-born and raised Mel Chin will be taking up practically the whole art atmosphere of the city with his 40-year retrospective. It’s a progressive art feast so big that it takes four museums to hold it all. And as a special treat…
Capsule Stage Reviews: February 26, 2015
The Blackest Shore Catastrophic Theatre brings the work of New York-based up-and-coming playwright Mark Schulz to us twice this season. Closing out the year is Schultz’s play Everything Will Be Different: A Brief History of Helen of Troy, a show about teen girl anguish. On offer now is the premiere…
