Charles Fischer: Child Psychiatrist at State Home Accused of Molesting Boys Over Last 20 Years
The Texas Medical Board has suspended the license of the chief child psychiatrist of a state-run treatment center for the mentally ill after the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services accused him of sexually assaulting teen boys in his care over the last 20 years. According to the board’s…
Comment of the Day: To Hell with the Bird
Here on Eating Our Words, the commenters absolutely make the blog, and our Comment of the Day honors the best of the bunch. Every day, we read you guys and pick the commenter, or commenters, who made us laugh, cry, salivate over something delicious, or think about things in a…
Where to See Some Live Music on Thanksgiving (and the Wednesday before)
We all need a place to mellow out after a day of dealing with family. Don’t get us wrong, we love our families. It’s just that, getting together with the extended crew can take a toll and relaxing with some live, local music helps take the edge off. Holidays like…
Harris County Keeps Burn Ban in Effect
Yeah, we’ve had some rain lately, but that doesn’t mean the burn ban is going to be lifted. At least not for two weeks. Harris County was thinking of lifting it, but the proposal was pulled. “Even though the passage of cold fronts has brought needed rainfall and the number…
Burger House Heading to Houston: Will a Dallas Burger Joint Make It Here?
Burger House — the oldest continually operating burger joint in Dallas — was opened in 1951 on Hillcrest Avenue, just down the street from Southern Methodist University. It remains there to this day. Its red-white-and-blue sign is iconic in the Big D, and although the restaurant has franchised out to…
Buxton, Allen Oldies Band at Cactus Music Record Store Black Friday Event
Most of us wince when we think about Black Friday. Sure, you can get that limited edition, glow in the dark Blu Ray Player/Coffee Maker that heals your broken dreams and cleans your toilet, but is it really worth the midnight (or 10 p.m. on Thursday depending on your location)…
Joe Pressil: Dude, Where’s My Semen?
Hair Balls is familiar with people stealing cars, money and jewelry, but a civil suit filed Monday alleges the theft of perhaps an even more precious commodity: semen. Joe Pressil is accusing a Houston fertility clinic, Advanced Fertility, of accepting a semen sample from a woman claiming to be his…
Fast Times: Pinewood Café at Hermann Park
When I grabbed a book and headed out to Hermann Park last week, I had no intention of eating, much less of writing a Fast Times review of the new Pinewood Café. My favorite reading spot is near the paddleboat rental, which is right next door to the café and…
Ruben O. Agostadero, 15, Bayou Body Count No. 181; Third Teen Killed in a Week
A 15-year-old kid was killed in a southwest-side drive-by shooting Monday night, Houston police say. Both the victim, Ruben O. Agostadero, 15, and his companion, Raul Pillado, 16, suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Pillado is hospitalized in guarded condition. HPD says the two were standing outside in the 10000 block of…
Marcus Manchild Finishes Out Tour in Style
Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), Wodie, George, Chad and Nate, just finished traveling the country as part of the Smoker’s Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker’s Club tour was at Warehouse Live November 11 (read the…
Tuesday November 22, 2011 Deals of the Day
Today’s VOICE Daily Deal from the Houston Press is good for 53 percent off ($7 for $15) at The Concert Pub. This Houston Press Best of Houston Award-Winner (Best Crawfish, Best Drink Specials)often features shows by Houston’s best musicians. But let’s talk about the food. Classic appetizers like Buffalo wings…
R.I.P. Andrew Rebori, Longtime Houston Restaurateur
Andrew Rebori was most recently known for running the cozy Just Dinner supper club on Dunlavy, the same restaurant that graciously hosted the very first pop-up dinners from chefs Seth Siegel-Gardner, Terrence Gallivan and Justin Yu. But longtime Houstonians will also remember Rebori from his popular Tutto Bene Italian Family…
Kansas State As “Texas State Football Champs”: You Didn’t Play UH, Chumps
These are apparently the latest in fashion in Manhattan, Kansas. The K-State football team is touting its victories over Baylor, Tech, A&M and UT. Fine, Jayhawks whatever you call yourselves, tout away. But if you want to declare yourself “Texas State Champs,” you’d have to beat the best football team…
Sick of Nickelback? Remove Them with Nickelblock
The holidays are a time for miracles and small gestures of goodwill by your fellow man. It’s also a time of pushing and shoving and trampling to save 15 bucks on a flat screen that has the resolution of an iPhone. It’s a complicated time of year. But, something that…
How To: Make Butter
Churn, baby churn! Pilgrim Inferno! Churn, baby churn! Come butter that mother down! …I apologize for that. I got a little too excited. But when I stumbled across the process of making your own butter, I became instantly intrigued. With Thanksgiving on the horizon, I’m always looking for new ways…
DVDs & Blu-rays for the Cinephile: 12 Angry Men and a Thanksgiving Day Special
12 Angry Men stars Henry Fonda, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden and Jack Klugman; Sidney Lumet directs. The Setup: Sidney Lumet made his directorial debut in 1957 with 12 Angry Men. The film takes place almost entirely inside a hot, stuffy jury room. An 18-year-old Hispanic man is on trial for…
Joshua Anthony Twohig: Occupy Houston Shooter Charged
The guy who started shooting a rifle at the Occupy Houston site last evening has been charged with aggravated assault against a public servant, Houston police say. The shooter was injured by return fire from police, but is in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries. Joshua Anthony Twohig, 21, of Houston…
Three Days of Thanks: Ask A Rapper
The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place – lots of times, you’re even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good – so once a week we’re going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Something you always wanted to…
The New Game of Thrones Teaser’s Here!The New Game of Thrones Teaser’s Here!
I’m so happy I could plotz: Season 2 – In Production It’s still five months until the second season of Game of Thrones premieres on HBO. You already know (if you’ve read book #2, A Clash of Kings, that is) that this time around, the series will take Jon Snow…
Central Market’s Justin Vann on His 5 Favorite Holiday Beers
Two weeks ago, we featured our favorite local beers to take home for the Thanksgiving holidays. This week, we turn to Central Market’s beer badass Justin Vann for his thoughts on the five best craft beers for the holidays. You might know Vann from Central Market’s aisles, or you might…
Pot-Filled Plane Abandoned in What Must Have Been a Wrenching Decision
Your landing at a remote exurban airport has not gone smoothly, due to malfunctioning landing gear. Seeing as your plane is filled with weed, you certainly don’t want to sit around and wait for rescue vehicles. But, seeing as your plane is filled with weed, you certainly hate to abandon…
5 Bands Your Musician Friends Love…But You Don’t
In a 2005 interview with Esquire, Johnny Depp discusses the unwavering authenticity of Hunter S. Thompson, and likens his late friend to another great, often-troubled mind, saying: “…like Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, a band out of Texas. They were basically the first psychedelic-rock band. 1965. And if…
Warming Up to Down House
I first visited Down House to vet the Pumpkin Phosphate during my search for great pumpkin dishes in Houston. I was heartily impressed with the phosphate but still a bit wary of the food. The restaurant, as Katharine Shilcutt has pointed out, has some identity issues, and I wondered whether…
Theater LaB’s A Contemporary American’s Guide to a Successful Marriage @ 1959 Features Lots of Bad Advice, Plenty of Fun
The setup: A satire of marital advice from a clueless “expert” tracks two very different 1959 Iowa marriages and chronicles their outcomes in this production from Theater LaB Houston. The execution: First, yes, it is the era of big hair and the wigs, often blond. Molly Pierce plays Abby, a…
Yohance McClane, 30, Bayou Body Count No. 180
The Harris County District Attorney’s office will decide whether to present charges to a grand jury in the death of Yohance McClane, 30, who was stabbed to death by his girlfriend, police say. McClane died at his apartment in the 16100 block of Vickery on the northside about 12:40 a.m…
Upcoming: Young The Giant, Old 97’s, Anvil, Mason Jennings, Poor Pilate
Anvil: Thu., Feb. 9. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Aaron Lewis: Thu., Jan. 12. Verizon Wireless Theater, 520 Texas, Houston. Andy Grammer, Ryan Star: Fri., Feb. 17. The Bronze Peacock Room @ House Of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston. Anthony Green, The Dear Hunter: Tue., Jan. 31. Warehouse Live, 813…
Batman & Robin: Turkey & Gravy Tips
Turkey & Gravy, Thanksgiving’s dynamic duo; one can exist without the other, but then you just end up with a guy in tights. That can’t be good. Gravy is one thing, but really good gravy seems to be the ungettable get for many. It needs not be. Cue the Batman…
Kindle Fire: We’re Just Not That into You
The hype’s been going on for months — the new Kindle Fire is supposed to be the best thing to hit the sub-tablet/amped-up book reader market ever. This is not the typical book reader with a plain old black-and-white screen, the Fire is touted as a movie-watching/book-reading/game-playing/Web-surfing marvel with a…
6 Musicians and Their Charities
The main knock on celebrity charity is that it’s essentially a brand-building tool — good for image and not much else. The tax savings don’t hurt, either. But not all charitable connections are about image-burnishing and tax savings. (God, we sure hope not.) The number-crunchers at Forbes love making lists…
10 Ways You Can Dis a Turkey
We’ve all heard the stories: an entire family spent most of Thanksgiving at the ER barfing; a friend of a friend forgot to thaw the turkey before putting it in the oven; turkey breast meat that looked like hay; Uncle Fred kept staring at your cleavage. Next Thanksgiving doesn’t have…
The Hidden: Just Like Ghost Hunting… Unfortunately
We probably should’ve known that something was up with the Hidden for 3DS when we received a review copy two weeks after the general public could buy it. The game promises you a realistic ghost-hunting experience, which it delivers perfectly because while we are open to the possibility of ghosts,…
Comment of the Day: Why Drought-Stricken Trees Need to Come Down
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Pop Rocks: A Brief Cinematic History of Lachrymatory Agents
By now you’ve seen the photographs and videos from UC Davis last Friday, where brave campus police officers defended themselves from a group of seated and docile OWS protestors the only way their extended law enforcement training would allow: by dousing them in pepper spray. The chancellor of the University…
Pop Rocks: A Cinematic History of Pepper Spray
By now you’ve seen the photographs and videos from UC Davis last Friday, where brave campus police officers defended themselves from a group of seated and docile OWS protestors the only way their extended law enforcement training would allow: by dousing them in pepper spray. The chancellor of the University…
Collins and Gorathy Uwake: Feds Seize Over $1M and Five Fancy Cars in Drug Raid
With a Missouri City drug raid late last month, agents from the DEA and multiple other local and state agencies closed an investigation into the activities of husband-and-wife Collins Ike Uwake and Gorathy Maria Uwake. According to court documents, the couple ran two pill -mill pharmacies dispensing the so-called “Houston…
Six Dancing and Singing Toys for the Holidays with Video
The holiday season has crept upon us once again. There is nothing kids love more than toys that can bust a move. Dancing toys have always made the list of hot commodities during the Christmas season. Even some adults are amused and intrigued by their favorite characters moving to the…
Happy Etsygiving: Your Guide to Pointless Holiday Craft
There are many holidays that warrant some quality, DIY craftiness. Easter is certainly the season to get your food dye on, the 4th of July, sure, sew yourself a red, white and blue scrunchie, and at Christmas time you are at free will to break out all the red and…
Where Are We Drinking?
Sometimes, a bar is so familiar that you only have to catch a gauzy glimpse of its bottles and taps to know it instantly. Is this bar ringing those bells for you? Think you know where we’re drinking this week? Leave your best guess in the comments section below…
12 Odd, Racy Thanksgiving Pin-Ups of Scantily Clad Women (Semi-NSFW)
Is Thanksgiving the un-sexiest holiday ever? Maybe. Unless the possibility of drunken sex with your tipsy divorced aunt or uncle trips your trigger, of course. But America — back when it really was America — was not going to be dictated to by prudes trying to keep the hawtness out…
