People Are Already Camped Out for Lady Gaga
Let’s see, it’s now 4 p.m. Wednesday, or about 26 hours before doors open for Ms. Gaga’s Born This Way Ball, and look at what we have here. Our wonderful receptionist Abe happened to swing by Toyota Center on his bike on the way back from lunch. At least the…
Take That, Canada! Soccer Nerd Chants at USA-Canada Game
Last night’s soccer game between the U.S. Men’s team and Canada’s Men’s Team was a little slow, admittedly, but fans seated in Section 113 got to experience fanatic behavior at its most bizarre. Well bizarre in terms of a man with a limited vocabulary and an odd view of what…
HPD Canine Unit Helping with Bomb-Sniffing at the Super Bowl
Those of us coming into Super Bowl Media Day on Tuesday morning were greeted with TSA-like screenings, army personnel sweeping our bags for explosives, and even bomb-sniffing dogs, including one of Houston’s finest four-legged officers, driven in to help out New Orleans’s squad, whose K-9 unit was temporarily short-staffed on…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Chris Kinjo of MF Sushi, On the Meaning of MF, Creating Perfect Nigiri, and His Favorite Fish Family
This is Part 1 of a three-part Chef Chat series. Check back with us for Parts 2 and 3, which will run in this same space Thursday and Friday. Just outside the Galleria on Westheimer near Fountainview, in a strip mall overshadowed by the prominent signage of Nazar’s Fine Jewelry,…
Cover Story: Larry Schacht, the Doctor of Jonestown
On the day of the Jonestown massacre in November 1978, three native Texans played significant roles. Sixty-year-old Christine Miller, born in Brownsville, is heard on the infamous “death tape” trying to negotiate with Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones to save the lives of more than 900 people. With incredible courage…
Reality Bites: The Taste
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. Few things add class to your reality competition like celebrity judges. In the past, those selected to judge singing shows were likely to be more recognizable to the layman than…
The Third Time’s a Charm for Line & Lariat
It occurred to me — perhaps too late — that the owners of Line & Lariat, which is the subject of this week’s cafe review, may not appreciate my saying that there’s a confusing lack of diners at the downtown restaurant. After all, one of my friends recently noted: Houston…
Eli Young Band: “We Like to Stay Busy”
Now more than a decade old, the Eli Young Band is the rare Texas country act whose lyrics are not dominated by their home state and its musical heroes. Their music is largely fiddle-free, rather cut from the same cloth as pop-rockers like Tom Petty, Matchbox 20 and the Wallflowers,…
U.S. Men’s National Team Not Impressive in BBVA Compass Stadium Debut
With the final round of World Cup Qualifying just around the corner for the U.S. Men’s National Team, head coach Jürgen Klinsmann elected to exclude his European and Mexico-based players from the U.S. January Training Camp that started three weeks ago. Instead, he called upon a squad of young players…
Why Is Everyone Hating on that Movie Canyons?
This week the indie “sexual thriller” Canyons took another hit. After, being dissed by Sundance, which apparently had its fill of over-sexed indies, it was also rejected by Texas’ own SXSW. Why is everyone hating on this film? If you haven’t heard about it, the film has had a very…
The Taste: Three Chefs and a Baby
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. – H.L. Mencken Greetings, Eating…Our Words-ians. My name’s Pete and I usually skulk over on Art Attack writing about things of little import. This includes weekly recaps of random reality shows, so when I decided to recap The Taste,…
MKT Bar: Tale of an Unexpected Hot Spot, Act 2
PREVIOUSLY MKT Bar, the lounge within downtown supermarket Phoenicia Foods, was subdued and sparsely populated on a recent Monday evening, full of stray diners and none of the music that has made it such a popular downtown destination. Rewind: MKT Bar: Tale of an Unexpected Hot Spot, Act 1 CHARACTERS…
Drive-Through Robbery: Southwest Houston Chase Bank Robber Used the Convenient Drive-Through for His Cash Grab
I guess bank drive-throughs aren’t any different from fast-food drive-throughs. On Monday, a robber placed an order for free money at the Chase Bank located at 14651 Alief Clodine Road. To ensure that there was no mix-up in his order, he handed a threatening note to the teller, with which…
This Week in Food Blogs: Brooks Brisket Will Blow You Away, Says Urban Swank
Eating My Words: Not to be confused with our own blog, this is Texas Monthly’s food blog — mostly penned by head food writer Patricia Sharpe, who recently named her top picks for the 12 best new restaurants in Texas. Spoiler alert: Four are in Houston, by far the most…
Top 5 Albums Lost to Us Because of Thieving Dicks
Songs are like babies. Some of them drop into the world with barely a push, while others require yanking out with a wicked set of tongs after a long labor. Generally the latter is more common than the former, which is why any musician worth his or her salt carries…
Kathryn Kelley Works Through Her Monsters at Art League Houston
There’s a lot going on in Kathryn Kelley’s installation at Art League Houston. For starter’s, there’s the title — “The uncontrollable nature of grief and forgiveness (or lack of)” — which is accompanied by several stanzas of a poem on the gallery wall. Beyond text, in her exploration of grief…
The Harbowl, Colin Kaepernick, Ray Lewis Dominate Super Bowl Media Day
On Tuesday morning, the sports media world centered itself on the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and Super Bowl Media Day, with the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers diving into the day’s orgy of interviews on the stadium floor. Media from all over the world were present to ask players the…
Must Read Now: Nine Fashion Reads to Help You Avoid Work
What do you get when you combine spring and pre-fall runway shows, awards season, and a deep desire to avoid doing actual work? Why, a round-up of the best, most beautiful, most time-wasting articles about fashion and beauty, THAT’S what. In addition to the good, bad, and ugly of the…
Healthy Choice: A Foray into the Frozen Foods Section
In case you hadn’t noticed, some of us here at EOW have been trying to clean up our diets a bit since the holidays. Personally, it’s been a struggle since my household has tried to balance travel, illness and the general insanities of everyday life. There are some days that…
Yellow Brick Road Brings Elton John to Toyota Center March 28
Wednesday morning, Live Nation announced that British superstar Elton John and his band will perform at Toyota Center on Thursday, March 28. This is good news, because Rocks Off has been in a Tumbleweed Connection phase anyhow, not that we’re all that likely to hear “Ballad of a Well-Known Gun,”…
Rockets’ Confounding Season of Ups and Downs Continues with a 45-Point Win in Utah
For all their inconsistency this season, there is a certain amount of relative consistency to the Rockets season. Whenever they lose a few, they come back and win a few, or vice versa. The league’s youngest team will struggle to shoot with any consistency and turn the ball over like…
Old Gold: The Explosion of Vintage Jewelry in Hip-Hop
In the past year, the hip-hop scene has traded in a great deal of its diamond-encrusted Jesus pieces and record-label logo necklaces for items with a bit more “vintage designer” style. From coast to coast, we are now seeing entertainers and tastemakers flash their vintage Chanel and antique Versace pieces,…
Clay, Ceramics and Human Expression Play a Big Part in Three Exhibitions at HCCC
Would it be inappropriate to refer to a serious art exhibition as awesome? If so, our apologies, but that’s the first word that comes to mind when taking in “2013 NCECA Biennial,” “Constructing Solitude” and “Roughneck: A Juried ClayHouston Exhibition” — the trio of exhibitions that opened at Houston Center…
Super Bowl Makeovers: 5 Favorites Lightened Up
Super Bowl Sunday is most definitely a day of indulgence. Beer, wings, nachos, sliders — it’s all so good, but so, soooo bad. Normally. Have no fear — with just a few simple tweaks, you can still enjoy these game-day favorites, and with only a fraction of the guilt. Check…
Carlton Berry and Quanell X Hold a Dumb Press Conference Asking Sheriff Garcia for an Apology
We were hoping for something better, actually. There was so much stupid on display at Quanell X’s press conference Tuesday for Carlton Berry, the man originally charged with a shooting at Lone Star College, that it’s hard to tell where to begin. First, the fact that Berry is even seeking…
100 Creatives 2013: Kelly Sears Animator & Filmmaker
Animator and filmmaker Kelly Sears collects books, films, castoff images and turns them into collage animations, complete with “speculative histories.” “They teeter somewhere between wild fiction and documentary film making… at some point you’re actually getting a documentary in history at other points you are getting an absurd tale,” says…
How Social Media Is Making Band Breakups Even Worse
Though we had previously noted on Rocks Off that psychedelic prog-rockers the Mars Volta had gone on the dreaded “indefinite hiatus” last year, none of us foresaw how truly acrimonious the split would become a short time later. For those who missed it, last week TMV front man Cedric Bixler-Zavala…
The “Secret” Menu at Los Tios
A funny thing happened when I was preparing to visit Los Tios to conduct research on their skinny margarita. Since I have nothing to do all day but peruse menus online, I spent [too] much of one morning scanning the food options at Los Tios in the hopes of preventing…
Twitter for Video App Vine Loaded Down with Porn Videos in First Week of Launch
Twitter finally released its much-anticipated video companion app, Vine, last week. The video sharing network allows users to post very short video clips and share them with other users both on their own network and on Twitter. Like Twitter, hashtags help define videos and make them more easily searchable. Only…
Help Combat the City’s Proposed Parking Increases Today at City Hall
If you thought the fight against proposed parking increases for bars and restaurants was over, you’re wrong. The battle is just gearing up, although it’s been 16 months since proposed changes to the City of Houston’s severely outdated Off-Street Parking Ordinance were first introduced by the Planning Commission. Anyone who’s…
[VIDEO] Senator Carlos Uresti and Lleanna Elizondo Uresti Get Funky in Choreographed First Wedding Dance
What is it with Texas legislators and dancing? I guess they just like to get their boogie on, y’all. We all remember Tom DeLay’s unintentionally hilarious turn on Dancing with the Stars. Now, there is Texas state Senator Carlos Uresti from San Antonio dancing with his bride, the former Margaret…
I Tried to Explain CDs to My Three-Year-Old Daughter
I was strapping my daughter into her carseat when she said, “Daddy, I want my favorite book.” She was pointing at the floorboards in the back, where a stratified layer of various toys, books and random objects she has demanded to entertain her during car rides and abandoned after 15…
Don McLeroy, Chief Creationist, On Your Television and in Your Textbooks
Don McLeroy hasn’t changed. The man – the creationist – is as personable and principled as he was during the taping of The Revisionaries, a truncated version of which will appear on Houston PBS this evening at 10 p.m. He’s 66 years old. He’s still assured of Genesis’s inerrancy. He’s…
Dynamo Trio Hope for a Spot with the U.S.
Would it be blasphemeous if Will Bruin, Brad Davis, or Tally Hall stepped on the pitch at BBVA Compass Stadium wearing anything but orange? Well, they did it Monday night at an open training session and received a standing ovation for it. But that’s only because they were training with…
Weekly Weather: Heat and Rain Followed by More Beautiful Weather
If you have been wondering if it was hotter than normal lately, it was, but like much of last year, it didn’t come in the form of high temperatures. Sure, it’s been in the 70s the last few days, but what is really odd is the extremely warm low temperatures…
Today’s DVDs & Blu-rays: Why We Won’t be Buying the Die Hard 25th Anniversary Collection, and a Look at Cherry Tree Lane and The Duelists
Dear 20th Century Fox – Sorry, but it’s no sale for the Die Hard 25th Anniversary Blu-ray Collection. Not because we don’t love Bruce Willis as the relentless New York City cop John McClane who never met a bad guy he didn’t want to kill. We do. And not because…
Hot Deals at The Chili Shak, The Capital at St. Germain and Azteca’s
Enjoy fifty percent off at Houston’s only chili-focused restaurant with today’s Houston Press Voice Daily Deal. Your voucher earns you $20 worth of food for just $10 at Chili Shak — your money’s worth at full price, trust us. Use your voucher to receive a four menu item punch card…
Liam Gallagher Is My Hero. Don’t Judge Me.
Liam Gallagher is a literary genius. Yes, I said it. And I won’t take it back. But wait. Don’t start typing out your “Beady Eye sucks and their album tanked” rant just yet. I can explain. I say this based not on Liam’s musical prowess but on his inane ability…
Dallas: “Love Is For Pussies.”
So much has happened since we last enjoyed the company the devious denizens of Southfork: Obama was re-elected, Stan “The Man” Musial passed away at 92, and the Texans suffered another ignominious early ouster from the NFL playoffs. In short, not a lot of surprises. But that’s sure to change…
New Orleans Braces for Super Bowl XLVII Onslaught As Future of the Game Is Debated
Excited tension hung heavy in the air in New Orleans on Monday evening as the coming Super Bowl XLVII super-storm of tourist dollars began to filter into town. Most streets downtown near convention center are already cordoned off. There are NFL banners blanketing the city. The Mercedes-Benz Superdome is bathed…
Hooters Rearms Itself In the Battle of the Breastaurants: 4 New Slogan Ideas
The Hooters at Highway 59 and Kirby has just rearmed itself in the battle of the breastaurants. Presumably in response to the recent opening and immense popularity of Twin Peaks — located just across the freeway — as well as other competitors entering the market like Bone Daddy’s and Bikinis…
Upcoming: The Zombies, Jewel, Knife Party, King Khan, Paramore, Son Volt, etc.
The Airborne Toxic Event: Mon., April 29, 8 p.m., $18/$25. House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston. The Black Angels: With Hanni El-Khatib, Wall of Death., Fri., May 24, 8 p.m., TBA. Fitzgerald’s, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Blowfly: Sun., Feb. 10, 8 p.m., $10. Walter’s, 1120 Naylor St., Houston. Blue October:…
Beautiful Paintings of a Most Toxic Waterway
The Gowanus Canal is barely two miles long and yet the lore surrounding the Brooklyn waterway is renowned. Decades of pollution from chemical plants and coal yards on its shores has made it one of the most contaminated bodies of water in the nation, and two years ago it was…
Sledgehammering Your Way into a Church: Ocean’s 14, Your Script Is Ready
The road to riches begins with a good sledgehammer.It’s like a potential script for Ocean’s 14, except that instead of glitzy casinos you have a ramshackle church, and in place of an incredibly complicated and time-sensitive scheme that relies heavily on the latest in high-tech computer technology, you have one…
When Culinary Gadgetry Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be
I still remember the sight of my first — and only — glass cooktop. It gleamed in the soft glow of the kitchen lights like some beautifully alien technology. With all of the coils and heating elements contained under a sleek, shiny surface, it would be a breeze to clean…or…
Wittenberg: Where Faustus and Luther Battle Over Faith, Doubt & Hamlet
Check out our interview with playwright David Davalos, actor Luis Galindo and Director Josh Morrison. The set-up: Martin Luther, the radical father of the Protestant reformation, taught theology at Wittenberg University, Germany’s most prestigious institute of higher learning. Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe placed his quasi-mythical Doctor Faustus, who sells his…
Tha Phoundation Read from the Book of Lil Keke, and So Should You
Tracing the growth of Lil Keke these days is a fun topic to touch on while also discussing his legacy. We spoke with Da Don back in September, leading to the build of his Heart of a Hustler album while he was mentioning working with two up-and-comers from the local…
The Terms and Conditions of Pink’s Pizza Insurance
As the spawn of two lawyers, I’ve been bred to obsess over written documentation. Contracts, leases, purchasing agreements, etc. all bring out my OCD tendencies like little else. Case in point: When I discovered Pink’s Pizza offered “insurance” on their pizza for 50 cents, I needed to know more specifics…
MKT Bar: Tale of an Unexpected Hot Spot, Act 1
ACT 1 Winter. 4 p.m. The bar is not a bar in and of itself, but a bar within a bar, or more specifically, a bar within a grocery store. The housing structure is Phoenicia Foods’ downtown store, located on the high-traffic corner of Austin Street facing Discovery Green. Outside,…
Desperate Dudes Take to Craigslist for Super Bowl Fun in New Orleans
This week New Orleans goes into party overdrive as the sports and celebrity world descends on the city for Super Bowl XLVII. Before you Google it, that means Super Bowl 47. The Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers are coming to New Orleans to play for NFL dominance in the…
Religious Rapprochement Will Make History (Sorta), But Don’t Tell Houston
It’s been nearly 500 years since Martin Luther tacked his Ninety-Five Theses on a Wittenberg door. Nearly five centuries of Christian schism — of discussions on indulgence and fallibility, of the Thirty Years War and the Irish Troubles, of the demise of the Holy Roman Empire and the rise of…
Pop Rocks: Everybody Hates Chris [Brown]
Chris Brown, in what I can only assume is a devious plan to become the Most Hated Man On Earth now that Larry “J.R. Ewing” Hagman has died, got involved in alleged fisticuffs with R&B singer Frank Ocean the other night: L.A. County Sheriff’s detectives say they want to question…
Yraias Ruiz Salas, 66, Caught with Naked 53-Year-Old Prostitute and the Pictures to Prove It
For the most part, porn films don’t involve older people because, well, the average degenerate doesn’t want to watch the elderly get it on. Most filthy porn-loving freaks prefer young, nubile and possibly cosmetically enhanced “actors” doing the nasty for their viewing pleasure. So, even if the older people in…
The Rocks Off 100: Frank Zweback, Funkmaster General
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? Frank Zweback has a…
The Eating Our Words 100: Sean Beck, Sommelier Extraordinaire
Who he is: Sommelier and wine consultant to a number of Houston establishments, Sean Beck started working as a waiter at Backstreet Cafe 15 years ago while he was pursuing a history degree at the University of Houston. “At the time, Backstreet had about a 55-bottle wine list,” Beck recalls…
We Demand to See Rep. Bill Zedler’s Birth Certificate, So He Can Prove Once and for All That He Was Not Born on Easter Island.
Apparently still unconvinced that President Barack Obama’s birth certificate is the real McCoy — and afraid that a foreign-born candidate might once again move his foreign self into the White House — Arlington Congressman Bill Zedler has introduced a House bill that would give the Texas Secretary of State the…
Atlanta Food Blogger Missing in Houston: Have You Seen Victoria Moon Erickson?
Update: KHOU is reporting several confirmed sightings of Erickson today. She apparently hitched a ride west to El Paso from a friend in Austin, and reportedly told that friend she “is not Vicky anymore.” A 31-year-old food blogger from Atlanta has gone missing in Houston, and her friends and family…
Formerly the Mink, the Alley Kat Reinvents Itself as a Suaver Sort of Lounge
“It doesn’t smell like sewage anymore!” Although a sign above the entrance still reads “The Mink,” little inside this newly renovated drinkery feels quite the same. The layout is unchanged, but burgundy walls, low lighting and the soft sounds of jazz or blues now set the tone of The Alley…
The 2013 Fall Pilots Look Halfway Decent
Every year around this time the networks pin all of their monetary aspirations on several pilots that they hope will eventually be the next Friends. The 2013 pilots have been released and several trends have floated to the top. 1. Single-camera Comedies With the critical success of comedies like The…
Fan Fighting League! FFL Pro Bowl Brawl (w/ VIDEO)
I would guess that most fan fights at stadiums are fueled by three things: 1. Alcohol, 2. The undying, overzealous love of a fan for his team, and 3. Some modicum of disrespect. And in that order. Point being, to some degree, most fights probably have something to do with…
The Lion in Winter: A Medieval Game of Politics and Lies
The set-up: James Goldman’s play The Lion in Winter had a respectable run of 92 performances on B’way in 1966, with Rosemary Harris winning the Tony Award as Best Actress, but it only became an international stage hit after the release of the 1968 film starring Peter O’Toole and Katharine…
Top 10 Restaurants in Garden Oaks/Oak Forest
It wasn’t too long ago that the Houston Chronicle called Oak Forest “the new West University.” The neighborhood just north of Loop 610 and to the east of Highway 290 has been attracting young families in spades — families who are helping to reinvigorate the subdivisions that make up Garden…
UPDATED: Battle of the Black Flags: Which One Is Better?
UPDATE (Thursday, 11:22 a.m.): Ginn put out a press release this week saying that neither Robo nor Chuck Dukowski are part of his Black Flag. Dukowski remains in Keith Morris’ FLAG, but Robo is not involved in either band. Greg Ginn’s new Black Flag consists of himself, Ron Reyes, drummer…
Friday Night: Square and Compass Record Release at Mango’s
Square and Compass Mango’s January 25, 2013 Sometimes you have to go backwards in order to make progress. In years where dubstep continues to proliferate and Owl City insists on building a genre around a Postal Service record that is now over a decade old, I’m perfectly OK with re-examining…
Wesley Lavender: Caught Showering After Taking a Hummer from a Woman Who Left It Running to Buy Cigarettes
A woman in a Hummer stopped at a gas station to pick up some smokes and left her SUV running in the parking lot. This sounds an awful lot like the first line in a really weird joke, but it’s actually something that happened, according to a report in the…
HPD Officers Arrested for Shady Coke Dealings, Face Life Imprisonment
The coke game was kind to Houston Police Department officers until Sunday when the two 26-year-olds were arrested when they reported for duty. Emerson Canizales of Kingwood and Michael Miceli of Humble have been accused of accepting $1,000 bribes and smuggling five kilos of cocaine with an intent to distribute…
Tales from the Gilded Age: Auto Dealer Pays $25k to Put HOUSTON on His Hunting Truck’s License Plate
There are those moments when you think you’ve seen every cliché there is to see, and then the owner of a car dealership in Houston pays $25,000 for the right to put the word HOUSTON on his hunting truck and you’re right back to square one. That’s what happened on…
Pro Tips for Taste of the Town, Happening this Thursday in The Woodlands
The Woodlands boasts exactly two large food and beverage showcases each year: The Woodlands Wine & Food Week in the summer, and The Taste of the Town at the end of January. Needless to say, when these events take place, they are kind of a big deal. This Thursday is…
Houston Choreographers Showcased at JCC’s Dance Month
The Set-Up: On January 26 and 27, the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center continued this year’s Dance Month with Choreographers X6, a showcase of work produced by six Houston dance-makers, including Kristen Frankiewicz, Laura Gutierrez, Lydia Hance, Erin Reck, Sandra Organ Solis, jhon r. stronks (one of Houston Press’ 100…
App of the Week: Local Attorney Offers Embeddable Interactive Houston Traffic Accident Map
One thing we in Houston are unfortunately used to is traffic. Most of us spend an awful lot of time driving in it and too many of us are victims of traffic accidents at one point in our lives. It is the price we pay for living in a city…
What’s Cooking on Pinterest? Taco Cupcakes
The Food & Drink section of Pinterest is overflowing with recipes for Super Bowl weekend. Almost every pin is an easy appetizers, hearty game-day chili or a football-themed dessert. So, I decided to make an easy appetizer you can serve up to everyone at your home as you enjoy all…
Last Night: The Cool Club Tour at Jet Lounge
The Cool Club Tour feat. Scotty, League of Extraordinary Gz, Kyle Hubbard, Onehunnidt, Show, Rob Gullatte, K-Rino, etc. Jet Lounge January 27, 2013 Early Monday morning, Scotty, a rather lanky ATLien, rocked within the crowd to finish off his set and the Houston leg of his “The Cool Club” tour,…
Broadway at The Box Covers Broadway Over the Years
The set-up: The Music Box Theater is a repertory group of three women and two men – they sing, they dance, they act, they reminisce about their childhood, they do solos and they do ensemble numbers, and all this with such a sense of togetherness, of fun, of personal enjoyment…
Fan Fighting League! It’s FFL Playoff Time! Falcons Fans Pummel 49er Fan (w/ VIDEO..and Pepper Spray!)
When it comes to playoff time in the NFL, we know tensions can run high. They especially run high when you root for one of the chokiest of choking dog home teams in recent history, and yes, I’m looking right at you, Atlanta. On the heels of the Falcons’ most…
Saturday: Will to Live, etc. at Walters
Will to Live, Band of Mercy, Black Coffee, Altered Minds Walters January 26, 2013 Anytime I find myself at a real, honest-to-God hardcore show, it’s hard not to compare it to the anarchic, adrenaline-soaked matinees at New York’s legendary CBGB. Long after the likes of the Ramones and Television made…
5 Houston Chefs We Want to See on Chopped
Chopped has to be one of the best culinary competition shows on TV today. It’s filled with excitement as contestants from all over the country open up a basket full of mystery ingredients that you (and probably the competitors) would never put together in a dish. The four selected chefs…
Don Giovanni:HGO Mounts a Masterful Interpretation In This Tale of Lust and Sin
Check out our interview with Adrian Eröd, who sings the title role. The set-up: Opera is full of surprises, and their opera houses too. After a dim and dispirited production of the classic American musical Showboat, Houston Grand Opera shoots off fireworks in a return of the classically elegant Gören…
Houston YouTube History: The Houston Rockets
For this edition of Houston YouTube History, I dived into the Houston Rockets’ YouTube stamp. There are tons of random clips of games, which are pretty recent, but those are boring rips from cable TV. I wanted weird stuff that you may have forgotten about. Not that you would have…
Greenling.com Launching Home Delivery Service of Local, Organic Foods Today
You’ve probably heard of community-supported agriculture programs that allow you to pick up boxes of farm-fresh produce each week, like Utility Research Garden. And you may have heard about companies such as Austin-based Farmhouse Delivery, which delivers CSA boxes straight to your door. Now another Texas company is aiming to…
In Fishing, a Marriage Becomes a Question of Balance
The set-up: In the world premiere of Leighza Walker’s first full-length play, Fishing, a marriage is in the doldrums but the husband finds solace in a platonic relationship with an attractive blond. The suspense lies in the question: how long can this delicate balance survive? The execution: There are five…
Friday Night: Porter Robinson at Stereo Live
Porter Robinson Stereo Live January 25, 2K13 If you asked the average artist how they’d feel about playing three shows in the same city within seven months of each other, they’d probably tell you, “That’s madness.” The belief is that you don’t want to burn out your fans with repeated…
Juan Medrano: Busted for Something He Didn’t Do…He Didn’t Run Fast Enough
Ah, beer runs, classic activity for frat initiations and dumb-ass rednecks for centuries. The basic rules: 1. Grab a bunch of beer from a store. 2. Run. Pretty simple stuff unless you are Juan Medrano, 24, of San Benito. Medrano and a buddy allegedly went on a beer run Sunday,…
What’s Cooking This Week? Beef Keema, Curried Potato Salad & 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…
Happy Birthday, Mike Patton: His 5 Greatest Albums
Sunday, Mike Patton turned 45 years old. Tomorrow, the fourth album by his long-running project Tomahawk, entitled Oddfellows, will be released. To say I’ve got a little bit of Patton fever is an understatement. Maybe some still only know him for Faith No More’s rap-metal classic “Epic,” which still gets…
Author Michael Chabon Travels Up Telegraph Avenue
Zadie Smith was set to be the guest at this month’s Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series, but she’s pregnant and has been advised not to fly so Michael Chabon was tapped for tonight’s reading instead. A Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Chabon will be reading and discussing his latest novel, the…
Houston’s Not the Only City Having Problems with Comcast SportsNet
The Portland Trail Blazers are in the middle of a ten-year contract with Comcast SportsNet Northwest. And so far, the only people in the CSN Northwest viewing area who can see the Trail Blazers are those people who have Comcast. Not people with Direct TV. Not people with Dish Network…
Forget Mad Men: Adventures in Boardwalk Empire-esque Fashions
Between Christmas and New Year I picked up a crack habit, in which crack=Boardwalk Empire. Yeah, yeah, I know–I’m a little late to the game. My husband and I wanted to get caught up on Dexter while we enjoyed our individual bouts of the flu over the holidays, but when…
Sneak Peek at the New Whole Foods Market in Katy, Opening Wednesday…with Growlers of Wine To Go
Texas grocer Whole Foods Market is in full prep mode as it prepares to open its newest location, at Grand Parkway and Fry Road in Katy. With plenty of features exclusive to the location, the new store was designed from the ground up as a unique Whole Foods experience tailor-made…
Put a (Super Bowl) Ring On It: The Beyoncé Set List We’d Like to See
Remember when it actually seemed halfway likely that the Texans could make the Super Bowl this season? Ha! Good times. After the team’s collapse down the stretch, highlighted by a couple of humiliating losses to Tom Brady and pals, the only way Matt Schaub will be in the Superdome on…
Twitter Fight! LeSean McCoy’s Baby Momma Goes Insane
Super Bowl week is off and running, and if it’s Super Bowl week it means that there’s a chance we could get some NFL-related drama. Back in the day, that drama would be limited to actual shenanigans the night before the game (Barrett Robbins heading to Tijuana, Stanford Jennings getting…
The Best Concerts in Houston This Week
Punch Brothers Fitzgerald’s, January 29 It’s easy to call Punch Brothers a thinking-man’s bluegrass band, but even that doesn’t describe the kind of ambition and virtuosity we’re dealing with here. After flirting with the mainstream on a few pop-tinged albums, Nickel Creek banjo prodigy Chris Thiele formed this quintet in…
Reviews for the Lazy Gamer: Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Game: Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Platform: PS3 Publisher/Developer: Level-5 and Studio Ghibli/Namco Bandai Genre: RPG Describe This Game in Three Words: It’s Almost Perfect. Plot Synopsis: A young boy named Oliver has just lost his mother. Orphaned, his tears free the King of the Fairies, named…
Texas Cattle Ranchers Face a Trifecta of Worrying Issues, Which Means Higher Beef Prices in 2013
This year will mark the 136th time the Cattle Raisers Convention has met, but it’s in a climate that these cattlemen haven’t battled for a long time. More than 2,500 ranchers and landowners are convening in Fort Worth this March to discuss a trifecta of issues that won’t easily be…
The Book of Mormon, War Horse, Top List of Gexa Energy Broadway Houston Offerings For 2013-14 Season
Today, Gexa Energy Broadway is announcing its 2013-14 musical season starting in September with one that a lot of theater patrons have been hoping to see here: The Book of Mormon, the story of two Mormon missionaries spreading the good word in Uganda — and winner of nine Tony Awards…
What You Need to Know From Sundance
erpbUpstream ColorBold, impassioned, ecstatically beautiful, Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color — a lyric reverie on loss, love, and various invasions of the body — was in a class by itself at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Well, let’s say it was a class shared by a more conventional but no less…
Artopia Band Poor Pilate: “We Sleep… Sometimes”
The Houston Press’s annual art party and hobnob mecca Artopia returns for another round of well-dressed, well-heeled revelry at Winter Street Studios. Each year we line up a handful of local acts who are too hip for words, and this time around Artopia presents the hirsute, burly Poor Pilate, icy…
Pro Bowl 2013 More Like the No Show Bowl
The NFL’s version of an All Star game has come under scrutiny in recent years by fans and players alike. Even Commissioner Goodell thinks it’s becoming a waste of time, admitting, “We are going to either have to improve the quality of what we are doing in the Pro Bowl…
John Egan Gets His Mojo Working For IBC Challenge
John Egan has been brushing up on his networking skills, while working up his mojo for the world’s leading blues competition. “They told me I needed fresh business cards,” says the solo Houston bluesman known for twisting barbed licks out of his silver hollowbody Resonator guitar. “It’s totally counterintuitive to…
Top 10 Sexiest Cars of the Houston Auto Show (with Photos)
Check out our slideshows: 2013 Houston Auto Show and Booth Babes of the Houston Auto Show. Concept cars are what auto shows are all about. With their nuclear hybrid propulsion systems, bamboo radio control knobs, and intergalactic navigation displays, concept cars give us a chance to look into the unlikely…
Heights Vinyl Celebrates One Year Slinging Wax
This weekend Heights Vinyl celebrates its first year of life with a big party at their shop on White Oak, just blocks from Fitzgerald’s, featuring beer, food, giveaways, and performances from Electric Attitude, Brandon West, Come See My Dead Person and the Heights Boogaloo All-Stars, a band brought together by…
Four Seasons Houston Says NAACP Owes Nearly $100,000 — That’s Like 12 Bottled Waters From the Mini-Fridge!
We were surprised to hear Thursday that the Four Seasons Houston has sued the NAACP for allegedly stiffing the hotel out of nearly $100,000 its members racked up for a banquet last July (including interest). In support of its claim, the hotel provided a printout of an e-mail exchange between…
Camelot Still Retains its Power to Move Us
Check out our interview with director Richard Stafford. The set-up: With all due respect to Stephen Sondheim, is there a wittier, more sophisticated, cleverer Broadway musical lyricist than Alan Jay Lerner? He’s what the old-timers would call a “wordsmith.” And, boy, he is that — forging together themes, a show’s…
Austin, Houston and Dallas Top Three in Fastest-Growing Cities in America
I’m pretty sure everyone outside of Texas hates the phrase “everything’s big in Texas” about as much as every person in Houston hates the phrase “Houston, we have a problem.” But, I’m about to drop it on you one more time because, according to Forbes, the top three fastest-growing cities…
Statue: 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…
Terrible Tribute Showdown: Porter Robinson’s “Language”
The thing I hate about karaoke, aside from drunk bachelorette parties and my own crippling fear of singing in front of people, is the music, these bad knockoffs pretending to be the songs we love. I know spending all day making pretend versions of songs isn’t the most glamorous job…
Bullying Turns Into Assault for 16-Year-Old Girl
Lorenthia Richardson, a single mother of two, dropped off her 16-year-old daughter at the Girls and Boys Preparatory Academy on West Bellfort, not knowing that a regular day at school would result in her daughter becoming the victim of an assult. On Monday, January 14, Richardson’s daughter was walking towards…
Upcoming Events: John Mueller Brings His Barbecue to Houston
Don’t have the time or gas money to burn driving out to legendary barbecue spots like Smitty’s, Kreuz, Franklin, Snow’s or Louie Mueller, but have a hankering for classic Central Texas-style ‘cue? You’re in luck, then, because highly-regarded pitmaster John Mueller is headed to Houston for a one-day-only charity event…
Texas Film Black Metal Looks to Make Waves at Sundance
In its very brief nine-minute running time, Black Metal — filmed in Austin — manages to lay bare some harsh truths and expose bundles of raw nerves. Without revealing too much, the film centers on a fictitious Texas black metal band, Crown of Horns, played on film and tracked by…
The Capsule Collection Craze is Here to Stay: Kate Young for Target
Slowly but surely Target has been constructing a middle ground where upmarket designers can meet the masses who crave big-name labels, but can’t afford the corresponding price tag. The trend started in the cosmetics and skincare departments through partnerships with Boots No. 7 and Jemma Kidd cosmetics and has morphed…
Audrina Cardenas: Miracle Baby With Heart Born Outside Her Body Leaves the Hospital (with Photos)
Back on Thanksgiving Day, I said you should count your blessings if for no other reason than because of the story of little Audrina Cardenas, a baby born with a rare birth defect, her heart was literally formed outside her chest. A team of doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital raced…
Artopia’s Bagheera: “Dance Music for People Who Give a Damn About Dance Music”
Bagheera’s Aidan Kennedy has opened for M83’s Anthony Gonzalez in Austin and warmed up the crowd before a Halloween 2012 Ghostland Observatory gig at Warehouse Live. Now his group takes on the Houston Press’s Artopia party. Rewind: Bang Bangz: A Rare Houston Band Brimming With Mystery When Kennedy isn’t helping…
Super Bowl Recipe: Beer-Braised Pork Tostadas from Chef David Luna at Line & Lariat
The first time I tasted chef David Luna’s beer-braised pork tostada at Line & Lariat, I thought it was some of the best bar food I’d found in Houston. The pork had been braised in local brewery Karbach’s Rodeo Clown and paired perfectly with the pint of Sympathy for the…
Top Five Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Wittenberg, Artopia 2013, Houston Choreographers X6 and More
Even before Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the gloomy Danish prince haunted by the ghost of his murdered father, couldn’t make up his mind back at the castle, he was something of a ditherer while at university. At least that’s according to the premise of Wittenberg, a comic play by David Davalos that…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
Title: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters Does Jeremy Renner Have A Gambling Problem Or Something? H&G:WH was shot before both The Avengers and The Bourne Legacy, so Renner wasn’t exactly “A-list” at the time. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Three Witch Hazels out of five. Brief Plot…
Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend Is A Man (UPDATED — No, It’s Not)
Just when you thought “Manti Te’o’s Girlfriend Did Not Exist” is the weirdest headline that you would ever see in your sports watching lifetime, along comes the news that the voice behind “Lennay Kekua,” Manti Te’o’s phony girlfriend and the central character of an apparent hoax perpetrated on the former…
Clybourne Park: A Wry Play About Race Relations Features a Magnificent Jeffrey Bean, an Outstanding Ensemble Cast and the Sure Eye of Director James Black
Check out our interview with director James Black. The set-up: “If we could all just sit down together at one big table and …” pleads ’50s housewife Bev (Elizabeth Bunch) at the end of the first act of Bruce Norris’ unflinching — and immensely funny — headlong dive into the…
Salads: Not Your Diet’s Best Friend
Whenever someone says they are on a diet, look for them to eat more salads. With the base of every salad being a leafy green, it’s understandable why dieters migrate to the salad bar or choose a salad on a menu when dining out. But dieters, be warned — the…
Coachella 2013 Takes It Back to the ’90s
Coachella, the Only Music Festival That Matters (or so we’re told), announced its 2013 lineup late Thursday night, no holograms or Rolling Stones included. Instead, two beloved ’90s UK acts whose popularity in the U.S. is spotty at best, Blur and the Stone Roses, headline the first night of the…
Feministing’s Jessica Valenti on Accessible Medical Care And Not Resting On Your Laurels
Feministing founder Jessica Valenti will have a lot to talk about Monday when she speaks at the annual Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Roe v. Wade Luncheon. There’s the fortieth anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case, plus the news this week that the Pentagon has removed the ban on women…
Brutal Promotions’ Kahna Is Houston’s Most Metal Unknown Poet
Back in October of 2011, I was chasing the story of promoter Mike Kelley, who once seemed like a bright hope for a rejuvenated live goth music scene in Houston, but instead ended up leaving a trail of disappointed bands and concertgoers behind him. But in the course of my…
Health Department Round Up: Pho, Cheesesteaks, Seoul-Searching and More
Last week’s entry was so long that we had to leave off a couple places. (And for the record: No, we’re not actually offended by the name “House of Guys.”) Starting with those two: Pho Binh Trailer (10928 Beamer) avoided a citation but earned seven violations, including potentially hazardous food…
4 “One Picture Every Day” Videos That Will Change You Forever
The ability of average people to make a video that can instantly be seen by almost anyone all of the world is simply mindblowing. One day you’re singing into a camera and uploading it and the next you’re Justin Bieber. The world is literally a stage for anyone that wants…
Is Gary Kubiak Going to Be the Next Norv Turner?
There is no more hope.Despite what you heard, the Houston Texans will be playing football on Sunday. Not all of them, maybe. But nine of the guys will suit up and take the field for the AFC in the Pro Bowl. Sure, it’s not the Super Bowl, but who really…
Top 5 Ways to Improve Oatmeal
I start every day with a bowl of oatmeal and a big cup of coffee. It’s simple, filling and gives me the energy I need to make it until lunch. As good as some of those flavored oatmeal packages are (two words: banana bread), sometimes I want more than just…
Bang Bangz: A Rare Houston Band Brimming With Mystery
To make a gross generalization that’s still pretty much true, most of Houston’s better-known musical acts (God bless them) aren’t exactly known for their subtlety. Slim Thug, ZZ Top, Rusted Shut, Linus Pauling Quartet, Venomous Maximus, B L A C K I E, Indian Jewelry — no matter the genre,…
100 Creatives 2013: Colton Berry, Bayou City Theatrics’ Artistic Director
Colton Berry, a committed, enthusiastic and accomplished theater guru, is everything a new theater company would want in an artistic director. An American Idol semifinalist in 2008 (a.k.a. the show’s seventh season), Berry, 23, heads the new Bayou City Theatrics, Houston’s newest musical theater company that offers youth education and…
A.J. McCarron’s Hot Girlfriend Will Be Bikini Clad On A Reality Diving Show
The clock is ticking on Katherine Webb’s 15 minutes of fame, and to say that she is striking while the iron is hot would be putting it mildly. If you are asking “Who in the blue hell is Katherine Webb?” then you don’t read headlines of my stories very closely…
Mad Men Season Six’s Time-Jumps: What We Really Want To See
On Tuesday afternoon Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner sat down with reporters to detail the sixth season of his hit AMC drama, announcing an April 7 premiere kicking off the second-to-last season of the show. He dispelled fan rumors and conjecture about Pete Campbell killing himself, Peggy being completely out…
The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend
What Made Milwaukee Famous Fitzgerald’s, January 25 What Made Milwaukee Famous have been plying their melodic, emotionally fraught brand of indie-rock for a decade now, appearing on Austin City Limits (the festival and the TV show) and releasing a pair of albums on Seattle indie Barsuk. The brand-new, self-released LP…
Openings & Closings: Green Grocers Come to Katy and Hooters Enhances Its Seats
Congratulations, Katy — your grocers have officially gone green. Two new grocery stores are opening this week in Houston’s far west suburbs, starting with the Whole Foods Market that’s opening this coming Wednesday, January 30. The newest Whole Foods will feature 34,000 square feet of organic goods at its location…
Houston Grand Opera Gets $2 Million Gift From Two Donors Who Really Like Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelungen
With less than two weeks to go before Mardi Gras season, two gentlemen from Louisiana began the party early for the Houston Grand Opera by deciding to donate $2 million toward the company’s ambitious plan to produce four seasons of Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelungen starting in 2014…
Andrew Simmons: Caught With More Than 1,600 Ecstasy Pills (Look at His Goofy Face and Neck Tattoos!)
If you’re going to deal ecstasy, it may be a good idea to keep a lower profile than Andrew Taylor Simmons (and not just the quintessential hipster look). On Saturday, Simmons was inside his black Chevy Avalanche, which was parked on North 77 Sunshine Strip in Harlingen, when Harlingen Police…
Rice Offers Course on Batman’s History, for the Second Time
I have no idea what the tuition is at Rice anymore. $40,000? $45,000? More? Not nearly the “Best Bang for your Buck” it once was – that buck had passed long ago – Rice has, over the past decade, stretched its costs to something approaching Berkeley, U. Chicago, and the…
Frank Zappa and Other Quicksand Artists
Tonight House of Blues will be graced by Zappa Plays Zappa, led by the late Papa Frank’s oldest son Dweezil, who inherited some of his father’s guitar skills. Zappa Plays Zappa is the preeminent traveling Zappa tribute show going, and Dweezil’s love letter to his father’s body of work, which…
Voucher Scheme’s Most Notable Economist Has Neither an Economics Background nor a College Degree
Joseph Bast, one of the leading theorists behind the viability of school vouchers, believes he’s an economist. He believes that he carries the necessary background, and carries the necessary credentials, and that “mainstream economic thinking” backs up his findings and reports. And he’s not wrong, especially. These are his beliefs…
Sashoun Denicholas Brown: Tries to Avoid Arrest by Hiding in a Plastic Children’s Playhouse
When you are on the run from police, you have to think fast. There isn’t time to sit around and make plans. First, you need to run. Second, you need to hide. It’s a lot like hide and seek, but instead of being forced to be the seeker if caught,…
Great Dining Deals Around Town: Little Napoli, Pesca, Laurenzo’s and More
It’s a new year, and new deals on delicious food around Houston await! Today the Houston Press Voice Daily Deal is good for 60 percent off ($10 for $25) at Little Napoli Restaurant — both locations! You can get your Italian on at Little Napoli downtown or Little Napoli Westheimer…
Rusted Shut’s Don Walsh Loves Him Some Zappa
If I were forced to choose a single favorite Houston musician, and no offense to all the others, I would pick Rusted Shut mastermind Don Walsh, easily. Rusted Shut has been a presence on the local scene for probably 25 years now, specializing in the kind of gruesomely loud and…
Schadenfreude Alert! 5 Thoughts On JaMarcus Russell’s Attempted Comeback
For most football players, when their careers finally end, rarely does it happen on their terms. More often than not (WAY more often, actually), players are either asked to leave, never asked back, or beat up physically to the point of no return. The bravest of football warriors continue to…
5 Reasons EDM Shows Are Better Than Rock Concerts
Rather than slowly work my way up to my point I’m going to cut to the chase: over the next few hundred words, I’m going to make a case for why EDM shows are better than rock concerts. This statement will be viewed as heretical by many of you, especially…
Free for All: Robert Crais, Dallas Asian Film Festival and the Teapot Tournament
Two broken spirits search for redemption in Robert Crais’s new crime thriller Suspect, which he’ll be reading from and signing on Friday. One is Scott James, a Los Angeles cop who’s been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder since he and his partner were attacked several months earlier. The nighttime blitz…
Top 5 Low-Cal Margaritas to Try in Houston
In the spirit of a healthy start to the New Year, I’m trying to cut back on excessively sugary beverages. My biggest weakness is margaritas at mainstream bars and restaurants, which tend to use high-calorie commercial mixers. Thankfully, many Houston establishments have jumped on the skinny cocktail bandwagon. Here are…
You’ll Put Your Eye Out! Suspects Caught on Camera in BB Gun Drive By
In the old days, kids got BB guns for two things: shooting birds in the yard and then sobbing and swearing never to shoot anything again when their fathers forced them to watch as they mercifully ended the bird’s life that took a BB to the eye (ahem) and for…
5 Ways to Honor National Irish Coffee Day, Including an Irish Coffee Cupcake
Tomorrow is National Irish Coffee Day. And who doesn’t like when it’s completely acceptable to put a little extra somethin’ in your drink in the daytime. I may or may not be doing it right now. What? It’s just coffee. To celebrate this very special holiday, here are five boozy…
REWIND: The Mars Volta at Verizon, 9/17/09
Note: In a series of tweets Wednesday night, Cedric Bixler-Zavala of latter-day prog-rockers The Mars Volta announced he was effectively done with the band, the result of an evident falling-out with partner Omar Rodriguez-Lopez over touring. “What am I suppose to do be some progressive house wife that’s cool with…
American Horror Story: Asylum: Everyone Leaves
The two greatest endings in television are Angel and Six Feet Under, and they are defined as endings that leave everything forward, and endings that close the book forever. In Angel our heroes stand looking out onto an oncoming war with smiles on their faces, ready to battle on. In…
Councilwoman Helena Brown Is A Self-Made Video Star, Of Sorts
When Hair Balls first cast about for reasons behind Houston Woman Magazine’s selection of Helena Brown as one of Houston’s “50 Most Influential Women” earlier this month, the only thing we could come away with was a statement from Brown’s office. According to the councilwoman’s coterie, her selection attested to…
Last Night: Underoath Farewell Tour at House of Blues
Underoath House of Blues January 23, 2013 It looks like all of the members of Underoath finally decided to quit at the same time. The Florida metalcore turned post-hardcore outfit has had no less than 15 people fill its ranks in its 15-year history, leaving the current iteration with no…
New Yoga Clothes are Good for the Soul
So there’s this concept in many spiritual practices–most often associated with Hindu and Buddhism, but also Christianity, among others–of “non-attachment.” The idea is that when we let go of our worldly desires, in whatever form they take (material things, conscious thoughts, particular outcomes) that we achieve freedom and peace. If…
How Not to Screw Up Homemade Mayonnaise
First things first: If you’ve never had homemade mayonnaise, hie thee to Jeannine’s Bistro or Cafe Brussels immediately and experience for yourself what real mayo is supposed to taste like. (PROTIP: Eat it with fries.) It’s slightly tangy from lemon juice, and a darker chamois color than the wiggly white…
Pop Rocks: Rating Mel Brooks’ Movies (The Ones That Count, Anyway)
Mel Brooks, the venerable writer/director/producer of some of the greatest comedies of all time, gave a nifty interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition” this week. The occasion was the release of The Incredible Mel Brooks: An Irresistible Collection Of Unhinged Comedy, a self-described “anarchic” collection of bits, songs, interviews, and other…
Rub a Dub: Suspect Steals $300 in Bath Products from CVS, Hides Female Deodorant on a String Inside Pants
An old boss of mine said you really have to watch people because they will steal anything that isn’t nailed down. I always assumed that was an exaggeration and there were certain things that couldn’t possibly apply to such an axiom. Apparently, I was wrong. According to a report from…
The Eating…Our Words 100: Brooksy Smith, Owner of JerryBuilt Homegrown Burgers
What he does: The friendly, calm-mannered Brooksy Smith runs JerryBuilt Homegrown Burgers, which means that he has “spent the past year getting them built, getting them open, getting them staffed, developing the menu, developing the pricing and developing the marketing around it.” He’s referring to both JerryBuilt locations — the…
The Rocks Off 100: OG Bobby Trill, Bombon Beatmaker
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? Last Saturday night, OG…
Calling Your Boss a Dick on Facebook Might No Longer Be a Fireable Offense (But I Wouldn’t Test It)
The National Labor Relations Board, through a series of new rules governing small business and social media, has provided greater protections for employees who speak out against employers online. Expanding existing rules, the NLRB said, “workers have a right to discuss work conditions freely and without fear of retribution, whether…
What Carrying the New “ReviewerCard” from Brad Newman Says About You
With Yelp currently tangled up in piles of Federal Trade Commission complaints about its business practices — which restaurant owners allege range from libel to extortion — a new scourge upon the dining scene seems poised to take its weaselly place: the ReviewerCard. First reported in the LA Times, the…
Alamo Drafthouse Singalongs Bring ’80s Music Videos to Big Screen
The Alamo Drafthouse people are known for bringing you great movies and TV to their big-screens every week. Plus, the “coolest movie theater in the world” serves booze, which is never a bad thing, and their “no talking or texting” rules are even better. With locations coast to coast, the…
Top 5 Weirdly Incestuous Performances in Television That Creeped Us Out
Have you ever fallen in love, or just supreme hump fever with someone you worked with? It makes sense, you’re around them a lot, you share a lot of the same experiences, maybe it’s not allowed so there’s the danger aspect, and most of all work is boring so you…
Royce White Close To Returning To The Houston Rockets
After a standoff that’s lasted since virtually the beginning of the 2012-2013 NBA season, and on the heels of a piece that ran on HBO’s Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel on Tuesday night, it appears that Houston Rockets rookie forward Royce White will soon return to work under parameters contained…
Megan Fox Is Confused
There’s been way too much Megan Fox in the news lately, and I don’t even know what she’s promoting. Just yesterday, a “hilarious” blooper reel was released of Leslie Mann groping Fox’s boobs from the movie This is 40. Why this is so funny I don’t know, but apparently it…
Cheaper by the Dozen: The Top 10 Oyster Deals in Houston
With oyster season in full swing, many of our readers have asked where to get great oyster deals around town. After all, the chief allure of Gulf oysters aside from their plump sweetness is the low cost. (God, we are so tremendously spoiled down here.) I called around to some…
Happy 69th Birthday, Klaus Nomi — Who Was He Again?
How do you know Klaus Nomi? Maybe you know him as one of David Bowie’s cohorts back in the ’70s. Maybe you know him for his kitschy covers of old pop standards. Maybe you know him for his bizarre costumes and facepaint. Or maybe you just know that he was…
Rowboat
As soon as the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical adaptation of Edna Ferber’s best-seller premiered on Broadway in 1927, American musical theater grew up. Overnight, Showboat turned song and dance into art. No longer were musical shows destined to be fantasy romances set in make-believe Ruritania or old Heidelberg, or…
Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Face Monsters
A chiller about two abandoned little girls and their bond to the wraith of the title, Mama never delivers the primal terror its premise would suggest. Instead, the movie — the first feature by Andy Muschietti, who co-scripted with his sibling Barbara and Neil Cross — distracts with too much…
George Stark’s Parker
In George A. Romero’s deeply silly 1993 Stephen King adaptation The Dark Half, Timothy Hutton stars as Thad Beaumont, a writer whose highbrow pretensions don’t pay the bills. When Thad needs to make a quick buck, then, he seals himself into his study and grinds out a nihilistic thriller to…
‘Girls’ Boy Makes Good
The coffee shop in New York’s Union Square might be packed on this cold afternoon, but scanning the crowded bar it’s hard to miss Alex Karpovsky looming at the far end — even if you’re not familiar with his work. He’s more than six feet tall, so he towers a…
The Dan Marino Restaurants
On the Road If you read last week’s feature — “Eat Here: The 30 Essential Texas Restaurants to Visit Before You Die” — then you no doubt asked why X, Y or Z restaurant didn’t make the list. Below are the 13 restaurants that kept getting mentioned again and again…
The Taxman Cometh
They Fought the Law According to officials from both agencies, officers from both the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission visited Pearl Bar the evening of January 12 and confiscated cash to help offset the once-popular Washington Avenue bar’s substantial tax debt. R.J. DeSilva, spokesman…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Claes Oldenburg: Strange Eggs,” “Ewan Gibbs: Arlington National Cemetery,” “Mac Whitney: Sculptures and Paintings,” “The Progress of Love,” “Unpremeditated Natures: Russ Havard and David McClain”
“Claes Oldenburg: Strange Eggs” The name Claes Oldenburg may bring to mind sculptures of giant lipsticks, ice cream cones and shuttlecocks. Today, the esteemed 83-year-old artist is known for his playful, larger-than-life public art installations of ordinary objects. This conversation between art and the everyday is one Oldenburg’s been having…
Rockets Blocked Out
Highlights from Hair Balls Sports According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the Houston Astros, who are part owners of Comcast SportsNet Houston along with the Houston Rockets and NBC, nixed an 11th-hour deal with DirecTV that could have put CSN Houston on the provider and delivered Rockets games…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Memory House, The Mountaintop, Private Lives, Ubu Roi (King Ubu), The Young Man from Atlanta
Memory House A mother attempts to connect with her adopted daughter, while the daughter works on finishing an essay required for a college application. The daughter, Katia, was adopted from Russia at the age of six, and is resentful because she has no memory of her early life. Katia is…
Jonny Chingas and Piteado Technique
Dear Mexican, In 1983 or 1984, I was walking home from work down Haight Street in San Francisco one evening and stopped into Watusi Records to look through the dollar cutout bin. I flipped through it for a bit and then stopped dead when I saw the Jonny Chingas Pachuco LP. I looked…
Announcing the 2013 MasterMind Winners
It’s hard to believe it’s already five years since the Houston Press started out to recognize some of the wonderful artistic talent we have in Houston with the MasterMind Awards. This year was as tough as any; in fact, for the first time ever, the panel of judges had to…
Mellow Mushroom’s Kaleidoscope Pies
Take a trip through Mellow Mushroom’s colorful kitchen and dining room in this week’s slideshow. Mellow Mushroom’s neon sign is one of the largest I’ve seen outside of the Las Vegas strip, screaming bright carnival colors into the night and illuminating two mushroom-shaped cartoon characters that look like relics from…
