Rome Burns. School Cancelled.
The “deadly ice storm” didn’t quite live up to its hype in these parts, but that didn’t stop some aspiring truants from taking advantage of the hysteria. The Chron has a story today about how several students dredged up a 1997 article from the paper’s Web site and passed off…
Vaginus Transylvanius
www.sekulagibbsforcongress.com She definitely became known as a D.C. politician. Every great journalist has that one story, that pi�ce de resistance that makes his or her career. Rachel Carson had Silent Spring. Sy Hersh had the Mai Lai massacre. Woodward and Bernstein had Watergate. And our very own Richard Connelly has…
Say It Ain’t So!
Sure, it’s delicious, but at what price? One of our favorite late-night hangover busters just got popped by the U.S. Department of Labor for not paying its workers enough. La Tapatia, home of the best burrito al pastor money can buy at 2 a.m., has agreed to shell out $109,708…
Say It Ain’t So!
Sure, it’s delicious, but at what price? One of our favorite late-night hangover busters just got popped by the U.S. Department of Labor for not paying its workers enough. La Tapatia, home of the best burrito al pastor money can buy at 2 a.m., has agreed to shell out $109,708…
Why Must I Cry?
Why must I cry? Tell me. Why must I cry why must I cry why must I cryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? Find out when you watch the video. You’ll also find out what happens when Biz Markie is reborn as Akon and drinks a gallon of transmission fluid before jumping in the shower…
Re: Sucks to be Gary Block
With her lookin’ all fine like that, this dude had no choice. Editor’s note: Dusti Rhodes wasn’t too pleased after reading the comments on Isiah Carey’s blog about Gary Block’s civil suit. She spit out the following remarks faster than you can say “blame the victim.” There’s nothing like blaming…
Idol Chatter
“To crush your enemies, to see them fall at your feet — to take their horses and goods and hear the lamentation of their women. That is best.” — Genghis Khan, 1162-1227 Ol’ Genghis could just as easily have been talking about the appeal of the early rounds of American…
Playbill: Moodafaruka
Local multi-genre, multi-cultural music group Moodafrauka is performing tonight at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-528-5999. This is a copy of the note they sent over telling us about the performance. We’re not sure why it’s all in caps, since that’s the equivalent of screaming on the Internet. Maybe they…
Sucks to be Gary Block
We believe the technical term for this pose is “deer in the headlights.” It’s been a tough year for Harris County Criminal Court-at-Law Judge Gary Block. Then again, there are plenty of people who say he deserves it. Block was beaten in a re-election attempt in the GOP primary last…
Well, They Both Have Great Hair
Extra overhead lights added for that special angelic effect. As we write, Houston staple Joel Osteen is preparing to give the invocation to swear in Governor Rick Perry for his second term. This seems odd to us, since Osteen, in contrast to leaders of many mega-churches, generally avoids involvement in…
We’ll Take D00 D00
Sean Tierney Normally, we’d blur out the license plate on a photo like this, but that would kind of miss the point. Yesterday we helped you through the Chron’s online quiz for icy driving. The cold weather’s still coming, so be sure to bone up. But we here at HouStoned…
Break the Silence
BABAK AMIRKHANI O-Hum The subtitles of Sounds of Silence are almost unnecessary. Just by watching Iranian rock band O-Hum bounce around like Pearl Jam and rapper Soroush confront the camera like he’s Biggie Smalls, you get the documentary’s message: Western pop has crept into the Islamic republic and has had…
Man, It’s Cold
Vandemonium If this van’s a skidding, we’re not kidding. Houstonians really don’t know how to deal with icy weather. It’s almost comical, you know, save for the highway deaths and all that. So be safe out there, folks, and if you’re so inclined, head over to the Chron’s site and…
No Irish Need Apply
Carpooling can be fun. This Saturday a protest by local day laborers got a little hairy when the folks from US Border Watch showed up. KHOU has the story. Here’s one side: “This is our country. Most of these people are in this country illegally.” Curtis Collier of the US…
That’s Quite a Bust
The Smoking Gun Any of you strip club patrons ever wonder what Amber looks like when she’s not wrapping her legs around that pole and gyrating to Brahms’s Symphony Number Four? (Hey, I’ve never been to a strip club; I don’t know what kind of music they have there.) Anyway,…
Need Something to do This Weekend?
Still haven’t figured out your weekend plans? Well, tonight, Friday, January 12, the Jetspeed Music Showcase is happening over at The Meridian. My Own I, Spiracell, Deus Machina, and Prognosis. Saturday, January13, rapper Baby Jay is performing during halftime at the College North-South All-Star Game, which will be aired on…
Boiled Rice
Todd Graham, aka the guy who plotted to give West Point to the British during the American Revolution New Rice football coach Todd Graham led the team to its first bowl game in 45 years, for which he was granted a contract extension three days ago. To show his appreciation,…
Boiled Rice
Todd Graham, aka the guy who plotted to give West Point to the British during the American Revolution New Rice football coach Todd Graham led the team to its first bowl game in 45 years, for which he was granted a contract extension three days ago. To show his appreciation,…
Jerking Our Chain
All we wanted was the chance to make a few jokes about one-handed typing. Honest. So our fearless blog editor gets an e-mail from a PR company about a new porno site called Red Light Center. Think “X-rated Second Life.” He asks if I want to write anything up for…
Re: Can’t We Be Friends?
www.freewayfilms.org This link just popped up in the comments section for an earlier post, but it definitely deserves some above-the-fold love. Freeway Films is a new online magazine comprised of short documentaries on people, places and events in the Houston area. This month the mag features an interview with graff…
Re: Lyre, Lyre
As promised, here are a couple of snaps from the reception for New Tang Dynasty Television’s Chinese New Year Spectacular. — Keith Plocek Daniel Kramer Xiaoling Zhang wearing an outfit from the Qing Dynasty…
The Bad Seed?
www.west11thstreetpark.org “There’s the study. And over there we’ll put the swimming pool. And the driveway goes right there…” As we wrote about in October, the efforts to save the urban forest at 11th Street near T.C. Jester were running into problems. Namely, a deadline was looming and fund-raising efforts were…
Don’t Show, Don’t Tell
An Air Force Staff Sergeant stationed in San Antonio has been relieved of her duties after posing in Playboy. The Chron has the story: In a six-page spread in February’s issue, hitting newsstands this week, [Michelle] Manhart is photographed in uniform yelling and holding weapons under the headline “Tough Love.”…
Can’t We Be Friends?
Here’s a little YouTubage from last night’s graffiti forum at the MFAH. The woman speaking is City Councilwoman Sue Lovell. The dude on her right is a local artist named Article. — Keith Plocek…
Playbill: Money Waters
Matt Sonzala’s b-day party Money Waters latest CD, Swalhaggin It’s a birthday party for our friend and fellow blog-miester Matt Sonzala of HoustonSoReal and KPFT’s Damage Control featuring the sounds of DJ Sun and DJ Melodic, Peekaboo Theory, and Dallas rapper Money Waters. Talking about one of his favorite performers,…
Tut, Tut, Tu!
Poor Father Joseph Tu Ngoc Nguyen. It seems like nary a month can go by without some uppity broad accusing him of abusing her when she was a kid. I mean, c’mon, the Houston Archdiocese said two years ago that the dude didn’t like little girls — and if there…
An Airtight Case. Really, Really Airtight.
We hate to be the ones to break this news to you, but it appears that some Houston strippers do not completely abide by the three-foot rule. In other news, water is wet. HPD went out to Tresures nightclub on Westheimer after complaints by residents. (Click here for a video…
Lunch is Overrated Anyway
Like a candle in the pen Feeling feisty? Head down to the Mecom Fountain (Main and Montrose) at noon today to join Amnesty International for a protest to mark the fifth anniversary of the first arrival of detainees at Gitmo. We’re all for civil disobedience, but we do have to…
To CD or Not CD
Their MySpace page says they play “Psychedelic/Experimental/Christian Rap” music. “Actually, we were just joking about the Christian rap,” says ST 37 bassist/singer SL Telles on the phone from his home in Austin. “But yes, we do play psychedelic/experimental music. Actually, some people call it space rock. For better or worse,…
The Great Unknown
With his backwoods Count Dracula suit, bloodsucking fangs, overgrown Elvis sideburns-from-hell, NASCAR accent and enigmatic moniker, you might expect Unknown Hinson to be more about shtick than musical prowess. He is, after all, from the land of Jesco White, the cough syrup-drinking outlaw clog dancer. But while shtick has an…
The Game
The Game rose to fame with help from Dr. Dre, who godfathered the 2005 album The Documentary, a smash that featured cameos by 50 Cent. But a feud with 50 was followed by the sudden end of the Game’s label deal — a split that indicates with whom Dre sided…
Getting Basted
While I admit that I have seen alcoholic beverages in the Houston Press building before, they’ve always been as part of a staff party. I’ve never had a band bring beer to an interview. But there they were, three tall boy beers and three Turkeys. Sorry, that should be three…
This is Their Brain on Drugs
At face value, Alpha Dog — based on a real-life story that’s still waiting for its ending — plays like an amped-up, drugged-out episode of Dragnet: In 2000, a gang of SoCal kids kidnapped and murdered 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz, a soft-spoken boy from the San Fernando Valley who dreamed of…
Heartless Bastards
Singer/songwriter Erika Wennerstrom is the driving force behind the indie rock trio Heartless Bastards. She started the group as a quartet in 2003 with co-founder/bassist Mike Lamping. After a couple changes in staff lineup, drummer Kevin Vaughn joined the group, and the current version of Heartless Bastards was formed. In…
Magic Touch
Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth is something alchemical. To an astonishing degree, the 42-year-old Mexican filmmaker best known for his contribution to the Blade and Hellboy franchises has transformed the horror of mid-20th-century European history into a boldly fanciful example of what surrealists would call le…
Guitar Shorty
Catch Guitar Shorty before he heads out for a tour of the Northeast to promote his new CD, We the People. Everybody (okay, everybody who follows blues music) knows Shorty was born right here in Houston, Texas, but (sigh!) he went off to Florida the first chance he got. He…
A Play a Day
In November of 2002, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks made an audacious decision — she was going to write a play each day of the year. The results of all that scribbling have come to fruition in an astounding project called 365 Days/365 Plays. Of course, it takes a lot…
The Crxshadows
Darkwave. It’s a kind of goth/new wave/electronica/dance music, and The Crxshadows are at its forefront, headlining festivals that draw almost a million people and circling the globe over and over on a relentless touring schedule. Relentless is actually an accurate description of The Crxshadows’ music. The beats-per-minute rate on some…
Capsule Reviews
Enter Laughing You’d be hard-pressed to find a play as sweet and family-friendly as this one. It’s as warm and cozy as your favorite old sweater, if a little threadbare. Based on a partly autobiographical novel by legendary comedy writer Carl Reiner (Your Show of Shows, Dick Van Dyke Show),…
White Demons
The guys in White Demons may occasionally wear eyeliner and tight jeans, but there is not a single song about a chick on this CD and not one stinky whiff of shitty emo. What we’ve got here instead is explosive, trashy, borderline-glam punk ‘n’ roll with shouted choruses and crisp,…
Striking Three
The Target Collection of American Photography: A Century in Pictures” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston surveys a hundred years of work by American photographers. In the exhibition, three powerful works by three renowned photographers stand out. They not only give us striking images but glimpses into race, poverty…
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
Sometimes, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead seems to feel obligated to produce music of immediate and undeniable greatness. Artists like Guided by Voices and Radiohead made anthemic music during the 1990s, but they did so with a disarming sense of humility. For GBV, this resulted…
Capsule Reviews
“The Cat’s Meow” “The Cat’s Meow” is a one-room, in-house affair. One standout is a video by Peter Fischli and David Weiss. In it, a cat, with what looks like a dead flea on its head, laps milk from a saucer. That’s all that happens. But the cat is so…
Low-Riders Are High-Tech
Dear Mexican, Why do non-Mexicans consider it a compliment when they tell Mexicans they don’t look Mexican? I am 100 percent Mexican — 5’7″, with black hair, brown eyes and olive skin — and ever since I left my hometown of El Paso, I’ve been subject to this backhanded compliment…
Bikini Revolution
Miss April looks out from her page with an expression of concern. Could it be consternation over the water fountains that have slicked her long brown hair to her scalp, neck and breasts? Or maybe it’s the knowledge that those bikinied breasts have already caused one international incident. They angered…
No Comment
The next time some government agency asks for citizen comments on a proposed public-works project, think twice before you offer your two cents: You may just get your ass sued. That’s what has happened in Jefferson County, where two agencies have joined with a group of landowners to sue three…
Hold Your Horses
Bandidas (Fox) This review is not long enough for a suitable treatment of the beauty of Penlope Cruz and Salma Hayek. The makers of Bandidas would certainly prefer I tried, though, than to discuss this plodding cliché of a western featuring the two. You could write the script right now…
Fruits of Their Labor
The Grapes of Wrath is more than just another Great Depression-era sob story about another family down on its luck — the 1940 film is a painful portrayal of a society in ruins. Director John Ford and novelist/co-screenwriter John Steinbeck show us how, after the banks collapse, every institution that…
Our top DVD picks for the week of January 11
America’s Funniest Home Videos: Salute to Romance (Shout Factory) Behind the Mask (Good Times) Broken Bridges (Paramount) Color of the Cross (Fox) Conversations With Other Women (Hart Sharp) Crank (Lions Gate) Everybody Says I’m Fine (BFS) Good Morning World (S’More) Hello Kitty’s Animation Theater: Complete Collection (ADV) Live Nude Girls…
Blame Canada
The fish and chips at the new Firkin & Phoenix pub on Westheimer come with two huge trapezoids of fried fish that are covered with a batter that is so thick, it has waves in it where the liquid almost flowed off before the fish hit the hot oil. When…
Screwed-Up Klick
Not one red cent: I read your article “The New KKK,” [by Keith Plocek, December 28] thinking I would be reading about one despicable, opportunistic organization, but instead found it was about a very different one which I would still characterize in the same way. Should all of the legal…
Nice Salade
As one might expect, salade Niçoise means a salad in the style of Nice, in the south of France, made with ingredients found there. And the version ($7.50) at The French House (5901-Y Westheimer, 713-781-2106) has all the right stuff — green leaf lettuce, white tuna, sliced potatoes, tomatoes, anchovies,…
The Meaning of Mayhem
First Blood frontman Carl Schwartz says he’s looking forward to performing in Houston. What does he expect? “Mayhem,” he says evenly. “That’s a good word to describe it, mayhem. At least, that’s the goal. We’ve been pumped up to come to Houston for a while. We were on a bigger…
Katz’s Deli’s
Despite its status as one of the largest cities in America, Houston has surprisingly few 24-hour establishments whose main trade doesn’t involve pornography or “tobacco pipes.” Katz’s Deli (616 Westheimer, 713-521-3838) is a welcome exception to the rule. And while most of the time I find it jaw-grindingly annoying when…
Rogue Waves
Ho hum, another year has come and gone, and Houston’s commercial FM pop and rock radio — both contemporary and classic — is still, on the whole, terrible. But is Houston unique in that regard? Hardly, says music industry watchdog group the Future of Music Coalition, who recently released a…