A Weekend with Pablo Picasso
Alley Theatre fans will remember actor/playwright Herbert Siguenza. In 2003 he mesmerized audiences with his wonderfully funny ¡Cantinflas!, about one of Mexico’s most adored film stars. Then Siguenza came back in 2006 with his wildly irreverent Chicano/Latino performance troupe Culture Clash and wowed the city with Culture Clash in AmeriCCa,…
Miro volík, Colin Blakey and Gilbert Garcin: “A Matter of Wit”
When’s the last time an artwork made you laugh? “Wit and humor are among the rarest and most precious aspects of creative expression in almost any field of art,” says FotoFest Artistic Director and Senior Curator Wendy Watriss. But that’s not so at “A Matter of Wit,” a collection of…
Bus Stop
When Marilyn Monroe cooed her lovely lines in the 1956 film version of William Inge’s comedy Bus Stop, she made the playwright about as famous as a playwright can get. Of course, it didn’t hurt that his story about a fifth-rate nightclub singer who gets abducted by a cowboy, only…
Candida
The woman at the center of the George Bernard Shaw comedy Candida is a modern woman, according to the actress who plays her. “She is very forward-thinking for her time, very grounded,” Shannon Emerick says via press materials, “not swayed by superficial things.” Set in the 19th century, Candida examines…
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
Get swept away to the dramatic Scottish landscape in the new Houston Grand Opera production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. A story of love, power and betrayal, the opera centers on Enrico (sung by Scott Hendricks), who is ruthlessly trying to force his sister Lucia (Albina Shagimuratova) to marry a…
Don Carlos
Family drama is as bad as it gets in Giuseppe Verdi’s 1867 opera Don Carlos. The dark drama tells what happens in a royal household when a king marries the woman who was promised to his son. And it’s all for political gain — what an enormous bummer! According to…
HFD: 30 Elevator Rescues Today Because of Rolling Blackouts
The Houston Fire Department reports that it had 30 elevator rescues today because of the rolling blackouts. Normally HFD would handle two or three a day, spokeswoman Alicia Whitehead says. The first call came at 4:30 a.m., and most of the action was between 7 and 10 a.m. We’re sure…
Hogg Middle School May Transform into an IB School After Parents Fuss
Can Hogg make the jump to an IB school?It was the politest group of revolutionaries Hair Balls can ever remember meeting. Gathered in the church parlor at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in the Heights, a small group of mothers gathered last night to discuss their petition drive to revitalize…
Comment of the Day
Oh, man, this contest was over before it started. Scrolling down from Katharine Shilcutt’s piece on taste-testing “marital aids,” how could we resist this gem from commenter Bruce R? Forget those store bought edible undies–you can make your own. All you need are some licorice whips (for the waist) and…
High School Recruitnik — The Silent Predator
Well, today is the day. The day where entitled 17-year-old kids everywhere say hello to the free world by putting five hats of various universities in front of them, faking that they will grab one (completely offending that school which invested hours of manpower and thousands of dollars in that…
Rolling Blackouts Were Made For Baby-Making Music
So the Chron says Texas’ Arctic blast-enabled rolling power blackouts are over for now, although more might be on the way later this evening and tomorrow. Obviously, there are only three things to do with no electricity in sub-freezing temperatures: Shiver; Snuggle up; Knock boots. Repeat if necessary. No one…
Health Department Roundup
Looks like it was a relatively slow week for inspections, with only a handful of places racking up serious (and entertaining) violations. Seeing a sushi restaurant, of all places, get a stamp of disapproval from the health department is a little disconcerting. Taiko Japanese Grill & Sushi (5857 Westheimer) earned…
How to Cook Like a Champ – Even During a Blackout
The crock pot recipes that EOW blogger Kevin Shalin shares here each week have become one of our most popular series of posts, but what are you to do when rolling blackouts prevent you from making those tasty crock pot recipes at home? And what are you to do when…
Super Bowl: Welcome to JerryWorld
The Metroplex powers-that-be are cursing the weather gods right now — Lord knows they’d never curse the man they think is the actual God — over the terrible conditions hitting town for Super Bowl week. And we’re not just talking Steeler fans!! Ba-dum-bump. The game will go on icebox or…
Has The Houston Music Scene Turned Things Around?
It’s hard, if not impossible, to argue that Lee Alexander is one of Houston’s most celebrated musical sons. If his Houston Press Music Awards were stacked on top of each other they would be taller than he is. Like many of the solid veteran names in Houston, Alexander has occasionally…
Brew Blog: Left Hand Brewing Co. Milk Stout
As best I can tell, Milk Stout began as something like the Brewer’s version of fortified water. In an attempt to make their stouts appear healthful, brewer’s advertised the nutritious qualities of milk, and touted the health benefits of stouts including sugars derived from it. Surely a marketing gimmick, but…
Super Bowl & Rolling Blackouts: Start Panicking NOW (Five Doomsday Scenarios)
Sure, the rolling blackouts appear to be coming to an end….for the moment. No one is saying for sure they won’t happen again, especially as Houston digs out from what might be three entire inches of snow Friday. No one really predicted this morning’s need for blackouts, so no one…
Shawn Roberts: Lawyer Threatens Us, Then Tries to Bum a Ride
Shawn RobertsWhen we first reached out to interview Shawn Roberts, the subject of this week’s cover story, it was through the lawyer who represented him in a felony drug case related to the 2007 death of his girlfriend. After three years, during which time crucial evidence went missing and three…
Five Marvel Characters You Won’t See in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3
Marvel vs Capcom 3 is a game that we have been highly anticipating for a decade, and it’s going to be here in less than two weeks! We’re not sure if we’d sell our first born to get our hands on a copy right now, but we might be open…
Chefs Taste Test Edible “Marital Aids” for Valentine’s Day
A chef, a pastry chef and a food critic walk into Erotic Cabaret. It’s not the beginning of a joke; it’s how I spent my Saturday afternoon. I took chef Jonathan Jones of Beaver’s and pastry chef Jody Stevens of Jodycakes to the “marital aid” store this past weekend in…
Placing Rappers With The Proper Charity, Because We Care
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. Have something you always wanted…
Hong Kong Food in the House (of Bowls)
One of — if not the primary — reason I love food so much, and the main reason I lean toward enjoying ethnic restaurants more than “mainstream” places, is the opportunity to learn and be taken on a journey. Even if it’s only for that hour at the table. House…
Rolling Blackouts Likely to Continue for “a Matter of Hours,” PUC Says (Updated)
The rolling blackouts that have been ordered in an effort to relieve Texas’s electricity grid will likely continue for hours, Public Utilities Commission spokesman Terry Hadley tells Hair Balls. “It’s probably a matter of hours, but I’m not going to give any predictions,” he said. Fifty electricity-producing plants have been…
Jolanda Jones’s Controversial Visit to HFD Station No Big Deal, City Investigators Say
The latest brouhaha between city council member Jolanda Jones and the Houston Fire Department — concerning claims she belittled firefighters while visiting the downtown station — is overblown and involved no misconduct, the city’s Office of Inspector General has ruled. Union chief Jeff Caynon called for the investigation after, he…
Sampling the Goods (and the Bads) at the HISD School Lunch Food Show
Yesterday afternoon HISD held the School Lunch Food Show in the cafeteria of Jefferson Davis High School. Parents, teachers, students and the media were given the opportunity to voice their opinions on more than 80 new, healthier menu items — with reduced levels of sodium, fat and sugar, and no…
White Stripes Break Up After Exactly Two Houston Shows
Ed. Note: Rumors are floating around about a third Stripes show here, before the Rudz date. If anyone can confirm this, please let us know. About an hour ago, Rocks Off got the news over Twitter that the White Stripes, easily the biggest indie-duo of the past decade, had decided…
Joseph Michael Weeks: Teen “Male Whore Dog” in Trouble Again, for Doing What Male Whore Dogs Do
Back in July, hours before he allegedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl who was messed up on cough syrup, a Lufkin mother called Joseph Michael Weeks a “male whore dog.” And now, while out on bond for that case, the 19-year-old has racked up two more counts of sexual assault…
Panda Express Offering Free Food for Chinese New Year
I am an equal opportunity junk food lover, but when it’s anything Asian, I’m even more on board. Fast, greasy, sometimes mildly-dried-out-from-sitting-under-heat-lamps food qualifies – that’s how much I love soy sauce, sugar and spice. It’s somehow ingrained in my weekly cravings; I can’t escape it. So I’m excited that…
St. Thomas Student Struggles To Start Campus Music Fest
Clinton Kuykendall, a senior at the University of St. Thomas, tried to have an on-campus music festival last spring and ran into a bevy of problems with the university. Concert in the Mall, which was scheduled for March 2010 on UST’s Campus Life Mall, a courtyard in the middle of…
Cougars Come Close, But Close Isn’t Good Enough
John RoyalZamal Nixon looks for the open guy in the first halfBasketball teams don’t win games they let the opponent shoot 50 percent from the floor. They also don’t win basketball games when they miss 12 of 31 free throw shots. Or take ill-advised three-point shots when hanging on to…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Michael Kramer of The Tasting Room
Eating Our Words recently caught up with Chef Michael Kramer at The Tasting Room’s Uptown location to get the scoop on the huge new City Centre location, set to open in February 16, and find out what goes into a good wine bar restaurant. Eating Our Words: Hi Michael. This…
Z-Ro Actually Smiles, Laughs – We Have Proof!
This morning, one of Rocks Off’s readers in Dallas sent us an email. In fact, that sentence was almost the headline of this blog – apparently we actually have readers up there, so maybe those North Texans Southern Oklahomans aren’t as hopeless as we thought. Nah. Our Metroplex mole, one…
Rolling Blackouts: Five Important Tips to Remember
Who knows how long this terrible scourge of rolling blackouts might go on, or whether it will resume tomorrow or — gasp — the day after? ERCOT, the entity in charge of distributing Texas electricity, sure doesn’t know at the moment. But Houston, it’s important not to panic. (It’s also…
Ten Social Networking Wearables
Tweet rings. They are real. When we first saw this idea for a ring with a Tweet engraved on it, we thought there’s no way it could be true. It was. It is. We’re still flummoxed. But it doesn’t stop there. There are also Tweet necklaces shaped like little birds,…
Double Cheeseburger at Natachee’s Supper n’ Punch
I can’t get over the cute look of Natachee’s. True, it’s a man-made, highly manufactured aesthetic: a fake weathered roof over the bar, quirkily dressed waitresses, and a whole lotta random kitsch. But I still liked how this (artificial) retro atmosphere allowed me to imagine I was leisurely chowing down…
Grandfather Child Finish Album, Resume Crushing Crowds
There are two things you need to know about Grandfather Child: They’re a super group made up of the best pieces of other bands. The lineup is Lucas Gorham, Ryan Chavez, Robert Ellis and Geoffrey Muller. In case you’re not terribly familiar with the Houston independent music scene, this is…
Rolling Blackouts: City, HISD Try to Cope
ERCOT, the electricity cooperative that distributes power across Texas, has ordered rolling blackouts this morning because all you damn people insist on staying warm. You probably know this if, like Hair Balls, you awoke to no power this morning. About 330,000 customers go out at a time for up to…
Top Five in Television Music: Tuning In to a Lost Art
From 1965 through 1980, scoring music for television was an especially brutal gig. Composer Quincy Jones writes in his autobiography Q: “Television scoring can be one of the most stressful and demanding jobs in the musical profession…we all busted our asses keeping up.” Keep in mind that this was a…
Mexican Breakfast at Don Patron Bar and Grill
Well, I’m getting closer to the tunnels, anyway. Don Patron Bar and Grill is located in the ground floor lobby of One Allen Center, at 500 Dallas. For dinner, Don Patron turns into a full-service restaurant. For breakfast and lunch, however, they open up a small take-out wing off to…
Comments of the Day: Dealing with Unhealed Wounds
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…
App of the Week: Six Awesome, Free Apps for Movie Buffs
It’s awards season. From People’s Choice to the Screen Actors Guild to the Academy Awards and the other hundred worthless statues given out this time of year, people are talking about movies, and squeezing every last drop of richness from the moviegoing experience can be daunting. Reviews, trailers, showtimes, theater…
Five Top Rappers’ Ideal Corporate Jobs
The U.S. economy has been limping for a while now, causing more and more people to seek innovative ways of generating revenue. Rappers, it turns out, aren’t immune from the economic turmoil. Just ask will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas, who recently secured a second job with Intel to stay…
Epic Houston Snowstorms: Five Terrifying Videos of Armageddon Through the Years
The forecasters have issued their grim decrees: Houston will get smothered Friday by a massive snow storm. Accumulations of over an inch are possible, if your mind can wrap itself around the idea of such carnage. Houston, of course, is well familiar with such snowstorms. YouTube provides the evidence of…
Sampler Plate: This Week in Food Blogs
Each week, we put together a sampler plate of the most interesting links from both local and national food blogs. Know a blog we should be paying particular attention to? Leave the address in the comments section below. 29-95: Syd said it best about the new restaurant opening in the…
National Signing Day: Five Things That Make It Ridiculous
If you’re not a college football fan, you’re unaware that today is National Signing Day, when high school seniors sign letters binding them to a college. If you’re a certain type of college football fan — the type who obsesses over the decision-making process used by 18-year-old pampered jocks, for…
Miranda Phillips: Poses As Medical Pro in Attempt to Score Purple Drank
Although Miranda Phillips claimed to be working for a doctor in Livingston, employees at the Lufkin Walmart’s pharmacy thought something was fishy about her phoned-in request for a prescription last December. She told the pharmacist that she wanted a certain quantity of codeine / promethazine, a narcotic cough syrup known…
Comment of the Day
Today Kevin Shalin counted down his “Top 5: I-10 Eats,” and as usual with these geographical lists, debate followed. Commenter nguyenhm16 was one of several who disagreed with the inclusion of Taste of Texas: Reasonable prices? More like “Outback Steakhouse” quality and ambience for “Flemings” prices. The place is like…
Wine of the Week: Chasing Venus 2010 Malborough Appellation Sauvignon Blanc
With the recent burst of spring-like weather earlier this week, it just felt wrong to open up another heavy red, so instead, I picked a tingly New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from a selection of samples I’ve received lately. It was a nice change up from all the red wine I’ve…
Creationism Group Backs Out of Upcoming Textbook Battle
The always entertaining State Board of Education is scheduled to take up biology textbooks this year, which usually means someone will be pushing to get a whole lot of creationism/intelligent design in there instead of actual science. One of the big boys in the creationism game, the Foundation for Thought…
Top 10 Super Bowl Halftime Shows
This Sunday, Rocks Off will be live-blogging and tweeting this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, which will feature noted scholars The Black Eyed Peas. We are diligently studying the entire BEP canon and that of all of their solo members, like the dedicated pop historians we are. OK, not really…
The City Hall Farmers Market is Back
After an extended Christmas vacation, the City Hall Farmers Market is back for 2011, with its first market of the year scheduled for tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The most important thing to note is that the market starts one hour later than it did previously, so don’t…
Morbid Curiosity: The Month in Notable Deaths
Here at Art Attack, we believe it’s good to reflect on those that came before us. Whether they were artists, inventors, politicians, athletes or innovators, it seems fitting to take a moment and look back at their accomplishments. We’ve already spotlighted some of these notable people here – early fitness…
Arun Sharma, Pill Mill Doctor Found With $1.5 Million in Cash, Gets 15 Years
Arun Sharma, the Kemah doctor who ran wildly successful if not exactly overly supervised pain clinics — and who had $1.5 million in cash in his house and safety deposit boxes when arrested — got sentenced to 15 years in prison today. Sharma was also ordered to forfeit $43 million,…
Carolyn Farb On Producing New Kinky Musical
The musical Becoming Kinky: The World According To Kinky Friedman, which will star former Houstonian Jesse Dayton as the Texas author, humorist, novelist, musician and two-time gubernatorial candidate, was hatched during and after a 2009 benefit performance of former Houstonian Ted Swindley’s play, Always…Patsy Cline, at Stages Repertory Theater. The…
Are Teach For America Teachers Better? $39K Later, We Still Don’t Know
Anyone who’s been holding his breath waiting for the Texas Education Agency to release its evaluation of the Teach For America program in the state can let it out now — along with a sigh of disappointment. Tasked by the Texas Legislature with determining whether the state is getting its…
Pink Papa
I wish I liked Pink’s Pizza more than I do. Everybody tells me how great it is. Heck, when it first opened, I told other people how great it was. I think it was just excitement at having a new pizza delivery place at hand that wasn’t Papa John’s. Then…
Harris County Prosecutor Goes on Today Show to Talk Sex Trafficking
A sign that won’t be seen at the Super BowlHuman trafficking is a major problem in Texas, which is why Linda Geffin, chief of the Harris County Attorney’s Special Prosecution Unit, will be giving people the 411 on The Today Show Thursday. “Houston serves as a destination for victims of…
The Most Suggestive Teen Performances in Cinema
The Skins debacle on MTV brought underage sex, drinking, and generally bad behavior back to the forefront of the pop culture conversation. Every few years, society stands back aghast at what kids are up to, and then they forget again until a new crop of kids wakes up with an…
Fried Oysters at TQLA
I wasn’t very excited when I first heard about TQLA. The restaurant website’s graphics suggested it was trying too hard to be cool (something about that flaming saucepan), and its soundtrack gave me a headache. I do love tequila, however, and couldn’t help but be impressed when I heard TQLA…
On-Campus Houston Concerts Now Ancient History
For lots more posters from Hofheinz, see below and our slideshow. Essentially, universities in Houston don’t have rock concerts anymore. In fact, pretty much all across America, institutions of higher learning are focusing less on bringing in live entertainment for students and more on building their collegiate resumes. But Rocks…
Texas Seceded 150 Years Ago Today: Five Reasons It Was a Great Idea
On this day 150 years ago, the Texas legislature voted to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. Nowadays, of course, we have a governor who daydreams about the seceding, if not (necessarily) the Confederacy part. So it makes sense to look at how things worked out for the…
Ingredient of the Week: Verjus
What is it? Verjus has a long history in the culinary world. Used in Europe before lemons and other citrus fruits were commonly available (the first lemon is said to have entered Italy around the 1st century AD), it is made from the juice of pressed, unripe grapes. Literally translating…
We Want Your Crazy Roommate Stories! (Win Stuff)
In the upcoming movie The Roommate, opening February 4, a college freshman (Minka Kelly) gets paired with a psychotic roommate (Leighton Meester) off her meds and out for blood. Now while we’re sure similar incidents have happened, we’re also sure the truth is even stranger than fiction. We know you’ve…
H-Town, Meet Roel Osteen; You Already Know Him
In this edition of The Mailbag – which, FYI, is currently the most popular semi-regular blog post dedicated to championing underground Houston rap on the planet – we’ve got music from a guy who isn’t necessarily an underground artist, offer up ideas for nicknames for two acts and imply that…
Texans Support Statewide Smoking Ban, Says Group Pushing for Statewide Smoking Ban
If you want to ban smoking in all indoor work and public places in Texas, then you agree with 70 percent of residents here, according to a new poll by the Smoke-Free Texas Coalition. Such a ban is supported by 67 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of Independents and 74…
HISD Cancels All Soccer Games This Week
Get ready for snickers from the Midwest and Northeast, if they possibly get this news through the tons of ice and snow they’re buried under: HISD is canceling all soccer games for the rest of the week. Soccer is the only outdoor sport going on now, and afternoon temps might…
Top 5: I-10 Eats
I continue my search for the best eateries off major highway arteries. This time around, let’s check out I-10. This list includes restaurants right off I-10, between Loop 610 and Beltway 8. 5. Five Guys Burger & Fries Save the speech, devout burger lovers. This chain is good, and given…
Art Attack Visits The People’s Republic of Travis County (Or Not)
The more things change, the more they…change but also sort of stay the same? ArtAttack was in Austin yesterday, taking in the old and the new in the Capitol City. Here’s what we saw on and around Congress Avenue: Changed with a vengeance: the architecture and visual arts scenes. They…
Neil’s Nephews: Indie-Rock’s Brightest Young Acolytes
Neil Young has spawned many children in the indie/folk-rock community, many of whom have directly constructed their style based on the Canadian humanitarian’s more acoustic oeurve rather than the ragged-glory feedback cues that goosed grunge gods like Pearl Jam a generation ago. In the tradition of Rocks Off’s “Sons of…
James Peters: Fed Helicopter Pilot Indicted for Lying About Illegal Immigrant’s Death
A helicopter pilot with the Department of Homeland Security has been indicted for making false statements to investigators about an incident where a man drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande River. James Peters, 41, had been flying interdiction patrols along the border. Investigators say that in 2006 he spotted…
Mexican Truffles: Classing Up Corn Smut
Poring over the short menu at the recently reopened Spindletop (1200 Louisiana, 713-654-1234) last week, something odd caught my eye. There, listed next to the cumin-rubbed rack of lamb, was a phrase I hadn’t seen used in quite a long time: Mexican truffle. Mexican truffle is a very rosy-sounding term…
CTC’s Striking Candida One of the Season’s Best
The Setup: George Bernard Shaw, a great admirer of Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (which had scandalized Europe), turned its theme of female emancipation inside out. Instead of leaving her husband and slamming the door, Shaw’s enlightened heroine Candida (Shannon Emerick) — hey, wait a minute, you’ve got…
KPRC’s Owen Conflenti Shows Who’s Number One
This clip is from a Web site called guyism.com, and it stars Houston’s own Owen Conflenti, who apparently thought his arms were long enough to reach outside the frame. They weren’t…
30 Seconds With Cradle Of Filth’s Dani Filth
Rocks Off sat down with Cradle of Filth’s Dani Filth to see we could find out about the front man and founder of the British goth-metal band, which formed in 1991, in 30 seconds. Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Dani Filth: The Scissor Sisters’ “I…
James Cameron McKinney: Assistant Principal Caught Sexting Six Students Gets No Jail Time
James Cameron McKinney, an assistant principal at a Brownsville high school, was caught sexting a half-dozen of his students, asking for sex in return for money. He’s not going to prison. McKinney received five years of deferred adjudication yesterday, the Brownsville Herald reports. On the other hand, at least he’s…
Upcoming: Wilco, Wilco, Jimmy Buffett, Wilco, Wilco, Etc.
“Canned Acoustica II” With Robert Ellis, Roky Moon, Tyagaraja, Black Queen Speaks, Chase Hamblin, Winter Wallace, Sara Van Buskirk, Ancient Cat Society: Thu., March 3. Warehouse Live. The Canvas Waiting, Holy Fiction, Finnegan, The Shallows: Fri., Feb. 11. Fitzgerald’s. Clan Of Xymox: Sat., May 7. Numbers. Cowboy Mouth: Sat., May…
Super Bowl Cuisine: The “Roethlisburger”
For the Steelers fan looking to serve themed fare this Superbowl Sunday, I suggest skipping the wings and pizza. Instead, take a cue from sandwich shop Peppi’s and construct your own “Roethlisburger” in honor of Pittsburgh’s famed (okay, notorious) quarterback. When Big Ben first started for the Steelers, Peppi’s offered…
Houston By The Book: Murder By The Book
The fine people over at Murder By The Book know a thing or two about a mystery. They have to, after all, because that’s all they deal in when it comes to books. The small shop on Bissonnet has been trading in tales of suspense and intrigue for 30 years…
Germany Meets Texas: Rieslings at The Tasting Room
Nik Weis of St. Urbans-Hof traveled all the way from Germany to show off his Rieslings, and after a few sips, it was evident why he would make the effort to share this refreshingly light and sweet wine with Houstonians. The first of The Tasting Room’s Winemaker Dinner Series events…
Comment of the Day: Missing Coach Matthews
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…
I Think We’re Alone Now, Except for the Mega Pythons
I realize Egypt is in chaos and everyone north of the Mason-Dixon line is going to be flash frozen like a bag of Birds Eye broccoli florets and Charlie Sheen is apparently the reincarnation of Grigori Rasputin, but that is no excuse, no excuse, for the criminal lack of attention…
Egypt, Shmeegypt…
Yes, the Middle East is in turmoil and yes, everyone north of the Mason-Dixon line is going to be flash frozen like a bag of Birdseye broccoli florets this week and yes, Charlie Sheen is apparently the living reincarnation of Grigori Rasputin, but that is no excuse, no excuse, for…
Gothic Council Debates Peter Murphy’s March 19 Show
It was announced recently that the Godfather of Goth himself, Peter Murphy, will be making a special trip down to Houston. The former Bauhaus front man and composer of super-hits like “Cuts You Up” and “Strange Kind of Love” will be playing Numbers (naturally) March 19 to celebrate Underworld’s 12th…
It’s a Brand-New Day for Cougar Baseball
John RoyalCodey Morehouse throws a pitch during Friday’s practiceThe sun was bright and high Friday afternoon. The temperature warm. The breeze slight. It was one of those absolutely beautiful days that make one happy to be alive. It was, quite fittingly, the first practice under a new coach for the…
Your Meme of the Week: Do Nothing for Two Minutes
This website is impossible. I have way too many friends trying to talk to me, emails from rock stars, and porn to download to not touch anything on my computer for two straight minutes. I’m sorry, but I’m really popular, so a site trying to get me to do nothing…
Where Are We Drinking?
There are only a few restaurants in town that serve Yarden wines, Israeli wines from Golan Heights Winery and Galil Mountain Winery, and we were just enjoying some at this iconic Houston institution last week. Think you know where we’re drinking? Leave your best guess in the comments section below…
A Day at the Concealed Handgun Class: Sunday Morning Coming Down
“Don’t point your gun at anything you are not willing to destroy or kill,” reads the sign in the middle of the room. It’s 8 a.m on Sunday morning and I am reading this, while drinking a cup of coffee, still bleary from being dragged out of bed. No, I’m…
Jeffrey Stern: Bellaire Attorney Indicted in Failed Murder-for-Hire Plot Against Wife
Over six months after the arrest of his mistress Michelle Gaiser, prominent Bellaire attorney Jeffrey Stern has been indicted on two counts of solicitation of capital murder in the attempts to take the life of his wife, Yvonne Stern. Harris County prosecutors have requested bond of $500,000 on each of…
Koffi Gnagby: Dude, If You Steal $100K From Self-Pay Parking Machines, It Will Get Noticed
Koffi Gnagby, who has at least half a Dickensian name, had a simple job: Go around to the self-pay parking machines in the Medical Center and collect the cash deposited therein. Apparently handling that cash became too much of a temptation. Gnagby, whose first name really should be Silas or…
Comment of the Day
Today the intrepid Katharine Shilcutt brought EOW readers something they didn’t know was missing from their lives – the edible condom. And it was… horrifying. Commenter Houston Reader wasn’t pleased: I’m all for creating awareness of very serious causes but I do not need a dirty looking condom slapped on…
Jesse Dayton Lands Kinky Friedman Role In New Play
Houston socialite Carolyn Farb co-producing dramatization of eccentric Texan’s life Former Houstonian Jesse Dayton has been tapped to play the lead role of Kinky Friedman in Becoming Kinky: The World According to Kinky Friedman, Dayton told Rocks Off this afternoon. Written by New York author Ted Swindley, whose credits include…
Super Bowl Day One — Jim Rome (Sort of) Calls My Show
So this week, I’m covering my first Super Bowl. Radio Row. Sporting News Radio. Some national run. The whole deal. It’s all very exciting, especially for someone like me who still doesn’t entirely view what I do as “work.” I’ve been at this radio thing now for going on four…
Uncle Funky’s Daughter: Not Strictly for the Curly Haired
Everyone knows Uncle Funky’s Daughter in Rice Village is THE place to go if you have curly hair. It’s the only salon in Houston that caters specifically to curls, and its eponymous hair products are 100-percent natural, organic and PETA-friendly. Well, we’re here to tell you that Uncle Funky’s Daughter…
Dollar Store Find: Horehound Candy
We here at Eating Our Words take serious food journalism, well, seriously. That’s why, when I found a bag of Claeys Natural Herbal Candies: Horehound Old Fashioned Hard Candies, I felt it my professional duty to investigate and report. Horehound is a bushy, herbaceous plant that grows wild in Europe…
They’re Already Spraying For Ice on Houston-Area Roads
Let the fear begin! The Ice Monster that will likely put a deep freeze on Dallas’s Super Bowl festivities is also headed our way, as anyone who watched television news today or tomorrow will learn (Here are five tips on surriving the unsurvivable, by the way.) And TxDOT is already…
John Lydon’s 10 Best Non-Sex Pistols Songs
John Lydon turns 55 today, and the former (current? sometime?) Sex Pistols/Public Image Ltd. frontman is as pugnacious as when we first met him in 1975 as Pistols mouthpiece Johnny Rotten, creating the modern archetype of the punk-rock loudmouth. With PiL, he fused punk with droning dub to make eerie…
Victor Ray Wortham: Loud Gum-Smacking Spurs Domestic Violence Complaint
Let’s face it: sharing space with someone who smacks their gum can be damned annoying. Still, we think Lufkin’s Victor Ray Wortham might have slightly overreacted when his wife’s gum-popping allegedly spurred him on to a vicious assault. According to a police report summarized in the Lufkin Daily News, the…
HGO’s Lucia di Lammermoor Drained of Passion and Frenzy
The Setup: Gaetano Donizetti’s operatic masterpiece (1835) is known as one of the most psychologically astute works in the rep. The Execution: How strange then that Houston Grand Opera’s production takes mad Lucia and browbeats her into gentleness. The chorus members, while singing how happy they are for Lucia’s wedding,…
Eat a Condom, Fight AIDS
Look carefully at the photo above. That’s not a used, partially-filled condom. (Thank God.) It’s actually an entirely edible, fake condom on faux sand. And it’s the brainchild of “Demon Chef” Alvin Leung of Bo Innovation, who created the presentation at Identita Golose, a yearly culinary convention and trade show…
Rel The Chosen Throws A Beautiful Release Party
One year ago, a cat named Diamond Dave got at Rocks Off about a fresh new voice in Houston’s hip-hop underground, and it was because of that interaction that we wrote a Behind The Lyrics piece on an Alief rapper named Harkore. We’re still not sure what Diamond Dave’s place…
Slideshow: Third Annual Artopia and MasterMinds Awards
Winter Street Studios was packed to the gills Saturday night for our sold-out, Third Annual Artopia celebration. Partygoers gorged on complimentary bites and swilled Stella Artois while mingling among the visual art exhibits, fashion shows and performances by local bands and performing groups. We also awarded three checks for $2000…
Theaola Robinson: Longtime Charter School Head Sues KTRK for Libel
Theaola Robinson was, for decades, the head of Benji’s, a Fifth Ward facility for special-ed kids that eventually became a charter school. Last year she retired amid controversy from the Texas Education Agency over its finances; when the TEA tried to close it down, Robinson led a parent protest that…
Thomas Glassford’s Plexiglas Flora Dazzles at Sicardi Gallery
Thomas Glassford is doing some cool stuff in “Pteridomania” at Sicardi Gallery. “Pteridomania” means “fern fever” and was coined in the 19th century to describe the Victorian era obsession with ferns from a botanical, as well as a decorative, standpoint. Glassford displays a range of fern imagery, but the most…
UC Radio’s Mike Yusi: How To Succeed In Podcasting
“Traditional radio is as dead as Joey Ramone.” Last year, Rocks Off’s editor – who will be played by upcoming Celebrity Apprentice contestant Gary Busey for the duration of this article – hauled us into his office and said, “Dammit, With One F! This radio on the Internet thing is…
What a Crock: Beef Short Ribs
A few days back, I was all about the pork ribs. But let us not forget the cow. Check out this as-easy-as-it-gets crock pot recipe. The rundown If you can, I’d recommend going to a butcher you trust for some really nice beef short ribs. I love this cut of…
Unidentified Security Guard, Bayou Body Count No. 13
A security guard who tried to break up a fight in a northwest side sports bar was killed early this morning, police say. A fight between a man and a woman broke out in La Pantera Sports Bar in the 8300 block of N. Houston Rosslyn about 3:30 a.m. this…
Cults and the Uncertain Future Dominate Sundance
In Mike Cahill’s Another Earth–a multiple prize-winner at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and one of two titles co-written by and starring the festival’s biggest break-out, Brit Marling–both hope and anxiety follow the discovery of Earth 2, a planet on which each resident of our globe has a doppelgänger living…
Christopher Matthews: One Punch From Angry Husband Kills Popular Coach
Christopher Matthews, a popular girls’ soccer coach in Spring Branch, was walking outside the LosTios restaurant on the far west side with a woman about 11 p.m. Friday. The woman’s husband, Ronald Lee Newman, 51, saw them and approached. Convinced the two were having an affair, he punched Matthews. The…
Saint Arnold’s 4th Annual One Pot Showdown
Sometimes taking a risk pays off. At least it did yesterday, when the One Pot Wenches won second place at Saint Arnold’s 4th Annual One Pot Showdown with a very unusual ingredient: collard greens. “We had people giving us so much shit for using collard greens,” said team member Allison…
Joe Ely’s Top Five Live Shots, By iFest’s Rick Mitchell
Next Friday, Feb. 11, the Joe Ely Band returns to Rockefeller Hall for the first time in more than a decade, since the legendary Washington Avenue showcase club stopped presenting live music to focus on the less risky business of private parties and other rental arrangements. Houston’s Mike Stinson Band…
Fred Durst & Austin’s Solid Waste: A Match Made in Heaven
Austin is looking to rename its Solid Waste Department, because come on — that’s a name far too untrendy and icky for a forward-thinking burg like Austin. The city has opened up the name change to a vote, and residents have come through as only they can in that city…
Soul Nite Brings a Mindblowing Collection of Music Films to Eldorado Ballroom
The heyday of soul was arguably the ’60s, with many of the genre’s most popular artists in their prime, young and lithe, churning out not only great music, but also stellar live performances. Unfortunately, much of that was never documented in video form, as cameras were not commonplace in the…
Chicken Soup for Many Souls
Judging by the turnout for yesterday’s 10th Annual Chicken Soup Cookoff, Houstonians like their soup. The event, held at Congregation Emanu El, consisted of 40 vendors ladling out soup to what must have been over a thousand people. “This is the biggest it’s ever been,” said event co-chair Keith Solomon…
Aeros Freeze The Heat, Move Into First Place
John RoyalAbbotsford’s Josh Meyers was taken off the ice on a stretcher Friday nightThe Aeros are on an incredible hot streak. They won 10 of 13 games in January and they’ve won 12 of their last 17 games. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the AHL has…
Apollo 20 Pluses and Minuses at Mid-Year
During Saturday’s tutoring session for 6th to 8th graders at Ryan Middle School, students were first asked to fill out a multiplication grid table going from 1 times 1 on up. Claudia J. “Coach” Sylvester told them it was “not cheating” because they were creating it themselves. It would remove…
Devo And The 16 Other Best Bands In Uniform
Devo hits Warehouse Live on March 25, the band’s first Houston date since a 2006 appearance with the Psychedelic Furs – who, coincidentally enough, are also coming to Warehouse (April 23) to do all of 1981’s Talk Talk Talk (“Pretty In Pink,” “Into You Like a Train”), plus “Love My…
Wine 101 at Central Market with Justin Vann
When I saw that Central Market was hosting a wine class, I quickly signed up. I was a bit wary of the Wine 101 title, as I felt I was at least at a 201 level, but I figured I still might learn something useful, and since I always have…
Blunt and Profane Art Commentary at DiverseWorks’ Flickerlounge
Art of Painting 3, by Lily Sparks, is a four-minute, 30-second video styled as a Bob Ross-eque painting show – which makes hostess/instructor Sparks’ blunt and profane commentary on art all that more entertaining. Part of this edition of Diversworks’ flickerlounge screening room, co-presented by Aurora Picture show, Sparks sets…
Last Night: Kickback Sunday At Club L.A.X.
SF2 Kickback Sunday Club L.A.X. January 30, 2011 8:10 p.m.: Since we last checked in with SF2’s Kickback Sunday event, it has grown a bit. They’ve picked up a sponsor or two, signed up GT Mayne and Rapid Ric to be a part of it, and are putting together larger…
Kraft Singles, Not Cool-Whip, On Pie
It’s not unusual for me to get distracted by food and drink in movies. While viewing The King’s Speech, for example, I kept wondering what flavor tea everyone was drinking and whether the Duke of York (Collin Firth) preferred milk or cream. And when I saw Jurassic Park, I started…
Comment of the Day: Tattoo Logic
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…
The Week In TV
There were pick-ups, castings, and even a chance to mist myself with hand sanitizer. This was the week in TV Land: • It’s been a good year for Aaron Sorkin. After washing out of TV in 2006-07 with Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip — a cloying, unfunny show that…
Armando Alcantara, 47, Bayou Body Count No. 12
An attempted robbery left the owner of a roofing supply business dead Friday afternoon, Houston police say. Armando Alcantara, 47, was shot several times when three men tried to rob his business in the 13700 block of Almeda School Road about 4 p.m. Friday, HPD says. Two composite drawings of…
Who Makes The Mt. Rushmore Of Houston Rap?
Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday that isn’t a national holiday Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. This Week’s Panel: Bun B, Z-Ro, Chamillionaire, Lil Flip, E.S.G., Paul Wall, Fat Tony, A.D.D., Matt Sonzala Not Invited: George Washington,…
5 Memorable Foods Advertised During Saturday Morning Cartoons
If only they’d been edible, Madballs would have been the perfect product. It’s difficult for me to believe that I used to set my alarm to get up on Saturday morning, but I did. If there was a show I wanted to see that was on before sunrise, sometimes I…
Egypt & Rice Basketball: You Say You Want a Revolution
John RoyalExcuse Omar Oraby if his mind is on something other than basketballIt’s easy to forget that basketball is just a game. Particularly on the college level where, for the most part, it’s played mostly by kids who are a long way from home. And as much as fans might…
Where Are We Eating?
A simple and sturdy meal of ox tails, cabbage, green beans and mac & cheese. With, of course, a cup of sweet tea. Can you tell where we were feeding our souls with this meal? Leave your best guess in the comments section below…
Sex Toy Not Included: A Houston Real Estate Listing
If you’re trying to sell a house in this economic climate, you’re going to include all the come-ons you can. Including, according to this item from Gawker, a huge dildo prominently shown in one of the pictures of your listing. The address and details from the listing have been blocked…
Texas Watchdog Unearths More KTRU Sale Documents
We’re all still waiting to see if the Federal Communications Commission will approve the proposed sale of Rice University’s student-staffed station KTRU to the University of Houston, which (among other things) would more or less be the death knell for local music on Houston’s airwaves. No word on that, but…
This Week in Deliciousness
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we’ve just invented the Emperor Cake. It’s just like a king cake, except stuffed with donuts. Talk about Fat Tuesday. We started the week off with a look into some of Houston’s better restaurant logos. Who knew how…
Twitter Follow Friday — Antonio Cromartie (@A_Cromartie31)
“I don’t give a who about Ray Lewis or @ddockett talking about what I said. There’s 10’s of thousand ppl who will lose jobs. They taking our healthcare away and for players that have surgery can’t even get rehab once March 3rd gets here.” — New York Jets defensive back…
Comment of the Day
Today, Nicholas Hall wrote about making freaking mole at work. And he copped to using his boss’s coffee grinder on some spices. Which gave commenter Mary cause for concern: I think your boss’s coffee didn’t taste so good this morning. Good job (on the dish, not on irritating the boss)…
Liberty County FEMA Scam: As Classy as Expected
A county judge and a county commissioner used Hurricane Ike as a personal moneymaking scheme, according to federal indictments announced today. Best part: Liberty County Judge Phil Fitzgerald had FEMA buy the county a large generator which he then used to power Fitzpak, the convenience store he owns. Because most…
Book-To-Stage Adaptation Lacks Drama
The Setup: The idea of adapting Joan Didion’s bestselling memoir The Year of Magical Thinking to the stage sounds thrilling, and almost plausible. The book, which mostly describes Didion’s emotional and mental reactions to the unexpected death of her husband, and also to the mysterious and serious (eventually fatal) sickness…
Aaron Scheerhoorn: Newly Formed Group Hopes to Honor Him by Improving Montrose
It was one of the year’s more horrific widely publicized murders. In mid-December, in a case that echoed that of Kitty Genovese, 28-year-old Aaron Scheerhoorn was stabbed to death in front of Club Blur in front of numerous onlookers. Scheerhoorn had slipped from the grasp of the alleged killer, 33-year-old…
Artopia, Honky Tonk Blood & A Gang Of Music News
Another Friday, another Magnolia City Mixtape, assembled just for you. Seriously, we put in a lot of time crawling through the internet just to bring everyone up to date on the scraps of local music news floating out there in the cyber-abyss. For this week’s soundtrack, how’s about this instrumental…
Egyptian Protests: Houston Playing Its Role
With amazing events going on in Egypt — some sort of “big announcement” is expected soon — Houston isn’t being left out. A group is outside the Egyptian Consulate near Westheimer and Chimney Rock, as photographed by the intrepid Mike McGuff. When the history of the 30-year reign of Hosni…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Shiva Patel of the Queen Vic Pub and Kitchen
In this week’s chef chat, we caught up with Shiva Patel of the Queen Vic Pub and Kitchen (see our conversation here and here). I stopped in just in time for High Tea, a small meal-between-meals that traditionally consists of lighter fare — sandwiches, scones, and the like. I’ve been…
Weekly Web Game: Tealy & Orangey
You’d think with a name like Tealy & Orangey, a game about a teal ball and an orange ball wouldn’t be much of a hotbed for subtlety. And while the game is fairly blunt in describing itself, and its mechanic is quick to pick up (you control both balls at…
Carb-Loading for the Marathon? Here’s Where to Do It
In the book Going Higher: Oxygen, Man, and Mountains, the necessity of carb-loading before any highly strenuous, acutely physical activity is explained as, basically, the hoarding of glucose — your body’s fundamental energy source — in order to create energy reserves. Much like animals gather and store food before the…
Timothy Rosales: DPS Ups the Ante on Finding Escaped Sex Offender
The Department of Public Safety is upping by 50 percent the reward for helping to find the sex offender who escaped from a Houston halfway house. Information on Timothy Rosales will now be worth $7,500. DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange says investigators are concentrating on the Denton and Amarillo areas, where…
Remember Delo’s Hood Politics?
Houston’s history is dotted with albums that, fairly or un, have been swept aside. We’ll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. Delo Hood Politics (Self-released, 2010) Delo is a Missouri City rapper who, as proof that the music industry is…
Michael Brown, TV-Ad Doctor, Indicted for Felony Assault
Michael Brown the hand doctor, in trouble againOur favorite dildo-lovin’, coke-sniffin’, license-losin’, creepy-home-video-makin’ ex-doctor, Michael Brown, has been indicted for felony assault by a Harris County grand jury.The January 25 indictment follows Brown’s August 2010 arrest for allegedly “twisting” his wife’s “arm behind her back.” Although assault is a Class A misdemeanor…
Upcoming Events
Whether you have baking skills, crafting skills or just helping skills, you’re invited to come out to Anvil Bar & Refuge on Monday, February 7 from 5 to 8 p.m. to help assemble Valentine’s Day care packages for our troops serving abroad. Although there will be plenty of baked treats…
Jasper’s Hidden Past: Terrific Vintage Photos of Black Life
The New York Times has a great slideshow up now called “The Hidden Half of an East Texas Town” featuring photos of black life in Jasper back in the pre-Civil Rights era. They come from a new exhibit at the International Center for Photography in New York, an exhibit dedicated…
Win a Pair of Artopia Tickets (SOLD OUT)
Tickets are virtually SOLD OUT for our Artopia party tomorrow night. As we’ve said earlier in the week, all VIP tickets are gone, and as of this moment, we have exactly 23 general admission tickets left. We will not be selling tickets at the door. Repeat: We will not be…
Bartender Chat: Caitlin Murray of The Oceanaire
Housed inside The Galleria, The Oceanaire is a swanky seafood restaurant designed to make diners feel like they’re on a 1930s ocean liner. The elegant bar offers just about every liquor you could want, plus a smiling staff that includes Caitlin Murray. Originally from Virginia, Murray has that genteel southern…
Artopia: Act Now or Lose Out (UPDATED: You Lost Out)
Update: And they’re gone. All tickets have been sold. Congrats to those who acted in time, and let this be a lesson to the rest of you. Houston Press publisher Stuart Folb tells us that it’s getting down to nut-cutting time when it comes to buying tickets for Saturday’s Artopia…
Free Radicals Blend Break-Dancing, Capoeira Into Fitz’s Show
The Free Radicals remain an institution of incredible sound here in H-town, having amassed 13 Houston Press Music Awards in the realms of jazz and funk since their inception in 1996, as well as making a name for themselves as one of the city’s most prolific protest bands. So when…
Charlie Sheen: A Guide to His Porn Stars (Some Are From Texas!)
Actor Charlie Sheen is either a true American hero or a drug-addicted, porn-obsessed monster, depending on who you ask. The Two and a Half Men star and one-time Oliver Stone muse was admitted to the hospital with extreme stomach pains in his most recent incident. That all came on the…
Vid Pick: The Making of Black Swan
Towelroad.com posted a fascinating view of the special effects used in Black Swan. It’s no secret we’re big fans of the movie here at Art Attack, and here’s another reason why. Instead of banal visual effects, the film uses them for intellectual purposes in subtle and haunting ways: The tattoo…
Kombu Enriched Bread
I bake a lot of bread. As with most people who bake a lot of bread, I hardly look at recipes anymore. Bread is intimidating to a lot of people because of the precision involved. The funny thing is, the very exactness of bread makes it a very simple matter…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: The Mechanic
Title: The Mechanic Sounds…Vocational. If you need a refresher on driving an SUV through a bus, he’s your man. Does Jason Statham Take His Shirt Off? Is Simon West a hack? Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Two exploding Metro buses (that aren’t really Metro buses) out of…
Tamraka McGriff: Judge Says No More Tattoos for School Administrator
Tamrake McGriff is the coordinator of transportation for the Beaumont school district and, apparently, she loves her skin art as much as she doesn’t like her body. So much so, in fact, that a judge has barred her from getting any more tattoos or plastic surgery until she pays off…
A Liberal Author’s Defense of Sarah Palin’s Book Sales
Dropping the royal we for the moment. Hey everybody, it’s Jef. A recurring theme on various left-wing websites and cable news shows is that Sarah Palin’s second book, America by Heart, is bombing. Apparently there are literally stacks of it gathering dust on tables across the nation, despite the fact…
Grand Prix Houston Making a Comeback?
A local organizing committee (LOC) for the Grand Prix of Houston announced Thursday its intentions of reviving the event at a press conference from the Houston Auto Show at Reliant Park. The committee, spearheaded by local businessman George DeMontrond, hopes to bring back the annual race for the 2012 IZOD…
Lady Gaga: Born This Way… As A Meme
Thursday, Lady Gaga created an Internet tizzy by merely releasing the lyrics to the first single and title track from her new album, Born This Way. It was as if she was released a perfume that smelled like semen and blood or something. The lyrics to “Born This Way” already…
Butterscotch Milkshake at Little Big’s
Ever since I turned my scoop of pumpkin praline ice cream into a milkshake (or squash shake), I’ve been on the lookout for unusual shake flavors. Word on the street was that Little Big’s produces a rocking butterscotch milkshake, so I stopped by during one of the warmer evenings this…
The Texans Promise To Address The Defense In The Draft. Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
Who will be the next Texans draft bust?Guess what kids, according to the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Texans are going to use this upcoming draft to address problems with the defense. Yeah, that’s rather shocking news because, God knows, they’ve been ignoring the defensive end of the team for the…
Odd Pair: Plum Wine and Pickles
As I was enjoying my Japanese dinner party last week, I stumbled across a food and wine pair that was so odd, it actually worked. The wine was Choya Umeshu, which is an almost disturbingly sweet wine containing real plums floating within. Authentically Japanese, it’s housed in a strange but…
Idol Beat: Viva Nash Vegas
I was randomly scrolling back through past Idol Beats last night, doing my best to ignore mentally unbalanced dental hygienist Christine McCaffrey’s butchering of “I Hope You Dance,” when I realized something. The American Idol beat for Rocks Off is basically the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position at…
Community: “Celebrity Pharmacology”
Community tends to swing back and forth between episodes that call upon the ensemble as a whole and those that focus more specifically on one or two characters at a time. It’s not an all-or-nothing thing: Group episodes can still have special moments with two characters alone, and more narrowly…
Last Night: Vince Gill At Arena Theatre
Vince Gill Arena Theatre January 27, 2011 Nashville superstar and Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill spent his Thursday hanging with former President George H.W. Bush, but that and four margaritas didn’t keep Gill from laying down a note-perfect, immaculate 28 song tour de force at the Arena Theater…
Shiftwork Bites: Mole
In honor of the recent celebration of International Hot and Spicy Foods Day, I decided to heat things up for my most recent Shiftwork Bites adventure. I settled on molé. The blessing, and the curse, of molé lies in the fact that there are so damn many versions of it…
Comment of the Day: Does the Challenger Explosion Only Resonate in Houston?
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…
Sarah Rothenberg’s The Blue Rider: Kandinsky and Music
Wander through any museum that displays works by modern and contemporary artists and you’ll rarely, if ever, overhear someone say “Oh God! How much longer do I have to LOOK at this?” And you’ll never see someone run for the exit shortly after confronting a painting or sculpture. Dead shark…
Arthur Rubinstein, Pimp Pianist, Sick-Burns Einstein
Today is Arthur Rubinstein’s birthday, and if he were still alive he would be a) 124 years old; and b) almost certainly banging ballerinas in their early twenties. Perhaps the most celebrated pianist of the last century, Rubinstein himself admitted that there were other pianists of equal or perhaps superior…
January 22-28: The Week in Photos
Each week, we take a dip into the Houston Press Flickr pool and see what our talented photographers have been up to. Be sure to post your pics to our photo group. You never know which images we might choose. As always, for more information on a subject or photographer,…
Gabrielle Giffords and TIRR: Country Legend Mickey Gilley Spent Eight Months at Hospital
Monday, in Rocks Off’s review of Jerry Lee Lewis’s show in Winnie, Texas, we mentioned that Mickey Gilley, legendary 74-year-old country pianist and proprietor of probably the most famous honky-tonk in the universe, was sitting at stage right. Gilley and Jerry Lee are cousins, about six months apart in age,…
Openings & Closings
A one-two punch of great news from the team at Revival Market (550 Heights Boulevard), which is set to open soon in the Heights space formerly inhabited by McCain’s Market. According to co-owner Morgan Weber, “The shop will probably be open mid-late February.” As previously reported, the shop plans to…
Mickey Gilley Talks Rehabbing From ’09 Spinal Injury
Monday, in Rocks Off’s our review of Jerry Lee Lewis’s show in Winnie, Texas, we mentioned that Mickey Gilley, legendary country pianist and proprietor of probably the most famous honky-tonk in the universe was sitting at stage right. Gilley and Jerry Lee are cousins, about a six months apart in…
Five of the Most Disgusting Marathon Pictures Ever
The Houston Marathon is on Sunday, with thousands of runners ready to do their utmost and push their bodies to the limit to get a personal best. Unfortunately for spectators, sometimes that means having to view some kinda disgusting stuff. Marathoners, apparently, can get in such a zone they ignore…
HISD’s Single-Sex Schools: Not Quite a Hot Ticket
The Houston school board announced with great fanfare two months ago the opening of separate schools for girls and boys; supporters were confident the idea would be popular. Maybe it eventually will be, but the district has not exactly been overwhelmed with applicants. It’s been forced to extend the deadline…
Houston Rockets — Chuck Hayes Needs To Ease Up
“He is as good as any defender in this league in the low post. I’m going to start talking to the coaches at the end of the year when they have the (All-NBA) defensive team. If he’s not on one of the defensive teams, there’s something wrong. … He deserves…
Play A Bad Solo, Get Smacked Upside The Head
If you’re like Rocks Off, you could probably use a good laugh this afternoon. Judging by the number of times this video has been shared on break.com, you may have already seen this, but just in case you haven’t, enjoy. The real fun starts at about the 40-second mark. Why…
Comment of the Day
Today we published Katharine Shilcutt’s “United States of Beer,” and of course, expected beer nerds the country over to go apeshit. We closed our eyes and landed our arrow on a typical comment from one of them: Congratulations. This is the stupidest thing I’ve seen all day. MGD 64? WTH?…
Mary Jesse Cuadros: Two Years for Running Alien-Smuggling Ring That Included World’s Worst Body Disposal Service
Mary Jesse Cuadros, 24, was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison today for her role in an alien-smuggling ring that featured an extremely casual policy on getting rid of dead bodies. Federal prosecutors say Cuadros, her husband and stepfather all were involved in the ring, which fell apart after…
Erin Hicks Miller Signs Houston Classic Mexican Recipes
Erin Hicks Miller was beaming as she put her pen to one bright green book after another at Hugo’s last night. It was the first of several book signing parties celebrating the release of her newest cookbook: Houston Classic Mexican Recipes, the second in a series of books showcasing popular…
Your Gathering at Memorial Park Might Require a Permit. Or It Might Not.
Hermann Park photo by Flickr user darkhairedgirl If you and a group of friends are planning on training for April’s MS150 ride by barraging the picnic loop at Memorial Park, be prepared to show police an official permit to gather. While permits have always been required for large gatherings at…
Ingredient of the Week: Axis Deer
ironammoniteWhat is it? Not just another deer, it’s known as a “chital” in India, its native habitat. Introduced to Texas in 1932, this species of deer is now the most abundant exotic hoofed mammal in our wonderful state. They can be found roaming in wild herds as well as on…
Is A Hit Rap Song The Texans’ Key To The Super Bowl?
Want a worthy Super Bowl pick? In the words of Wesley Snipes in 1992’s Passenger 57, “Always bet on black,” … and yellow. Don’t thank Rocks Off for that profitable betting tip. Thank Wiz Khalifa, who is going to bring glory back to his frigid blue-collar hometown of Pittsburgh. It’s…
Jane Draycott, Allegedly Harassed Firefighter, Gets Probation on Shoplifting Charge
Jane Draycott, the Houston firefighter who the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says was harassed by colleagues for being female, has accepted a probation deal on charges she shoplifted at a Walmart, the district attorney’s office says. Draycott was accused of taking $300 from a Walmart, including a DVD player, DVDs…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Shiva Patel of the Queen Vic Pub and Kitchen
Yesterday we spoke with Chef Shiva Patel about how she came to start new British- and Indian-inspired restaurant, the Queen Vic. In today’s segment, we learn more about her culturally rich heritage and how it’s manifested on the playful menu. EOW: Culturally speaking, both the Queen Vic and Oporto Cafe…
Five Artists That Make Deadlier Weapons Than Creed
The headline is promising: “Norwegian Boy Fends Off Wolf Pack With Heavy Metal.” Pretty awesome, right? Picture the frozen steppes of Rakkestad – we’re just assuming there are steppes there – and it’s after 2 p.m. in the wintertime, so the sun has long since set. A lone young man…
Razzies Trash Jennifer Aniston and Various Vampires
Sure the Oscars celebrated Natalie Portman, the Coen Brothers, and Banksy earlier this week with their predictable noms, but the real fun fatty meat is with the Golden Raspberry Awards or Razzies. The Razzies have been skewering the worst in film since 1981, which makes 30 years of hating on…
Vintners Own Winery: Wine (in a Freaking Keg!) in the Heights
I called my most wine-savvy friend upon receiving the invitation to the event. “Did you know there’s a freaking winery in the Heights, just a few blocks from your house?” This was followed by a string of expletives (apparently she was not aware). I continued, “And they’re having a little…
Nelson Mandela Hospitalized; Five Great Speeches He’s Given
Nelson Mandela is in the hospital with a collapsed lung. Doctors say that he is in no immediate danger, but then again he is 92 years old. He has stayed largely out of the public eye for years, of course, except for big events like the recent World Cup. His…
Win a Pair of Artopia Tickets
Got tickets to Artopia this Saturday? VIP tickets sold out quick, and while general admission tickets are still on sale, they’re going fast. But you could win a pair of general admission tickets ($80 value) just for giving the correct answer to a trivia question about one of the participating…
King Cakes at Whole Foods
There’s many a king cake flavor available this year at Whole Foods, which provided us with three of the newer ones to sample. “There are different flavors of king cake? I thought it was just sort of like apple pie,” said one of my coworkers when I brought them into…
Dynegy: Homeless Man Comes ThisClose to Buying It
The Houston Business Journal has ferreted out a nice nugget from the reams of paper surrounding the sale of Houston’s Dynegy Inc.: Goldman Sachs tracked down and talked to a homeless guy who put in a bid to buy it. SEC filings show that after Carl Icahn put in a…
Third World: Never Making Music For Other People
Each Wednesday (or Thursday), Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group “Artist of the Week,” bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn’t awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Typically – typically – what a…
Paul Nolen May: Now It’s the Teacher Calling in Threats to the School
The life of a substitute teacher is difficult, as anyone who remembers torturing subs in school can well imagine. But perhaps — just perhaps — students pulled one “Mike Hunt” or “Dick Hertz” roll-call prank too many with Paul Nolen May of Matagorda County. May, a subsitute teacher in the…
Idol Beat: Milwaukee’s Best
So it seems the only difference between the two-hour Wednesday Idols and their one hour counterparts on Thursdays is twice as many “wacky” interludes (über Green Bay Packer fan Megan Frazier is going to make one lucky man…really miserable someday) and a third more shots of Steven Tyler walking into…
How Willie Nelson & Charley Pride Integrated East Texas
Willie Nelson’s Conroe buddy Larry Butler was not only a performer, he also ran a series of clubs in the area over the past 50 years, including Willie Nelson’s Night Life on FM 1960 during Willie’s IRS problem years. And while Butler has some fond memories of IRS agents hanging…
Architecture Can Keep You Young
Yes, the buildings he photographed are stunningly beautiful, but try not to let that distract you from the real point: Architectural photographer Julius Shulman was above all a humanist, drawn to modern architecture for its ability to make life better for individuals and society. “Julius was a complete pragmatist,” says…
Shake Weight Olympics: Not for the Faint of Heart
To see photos of the Shake Weight Games, check out our slideshow. There are scads of ways to get people to come to a bar, and in our experience cheap drinks, entertainment, free food, bands, etc. all work pretty well. Hair Balls has a special place in our heart for…
Abu Omar: Houston’s Only Halal Taco Truck
I scanned the short menu on the side of Abu Omar, a silver-sided taco truck on Hillcroft at Pagewood. It wasn’t very forthcoming about the kinds of meats it served, just listing items like tacos and tortas. “Do you have chicharron?” I asked the smiling young man, Roberto, inside. “No,”…
Top 10 Mentally Unstable Rap Songs
As you may have already heard, Gucci Mane was recently admitted into a mental-health facility on a “special plea of mental incompetency” in order to delay his probation revocation trial. He has since been released, and got an ice-cream-cone face tattoo in time for his trial this week. In light…
Food Fight: Battle Baguette
In a recent Chef Chat, Philippe Schmit said the best baguette he’d found in Houston was at French Riviera Bakery and Café. It wasn’t a surprising choice; French Riviera, run by the Madagascar-born and Paris-trained Wu brothers, has been turning out fantastic bread and other delights for more than 30…
Joel Osteen Is Confused About Both Gays and the Death Penalty
Houston’s own Joel Osteen and his wife Victoria took to the national airwaves last night on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight. The net has been buzzing for a while, of course, about the pre-released clip above where Osteen sounds very, very confused about gays. We tuned in last night and –…
Owls Basketball: Given the Second Chance, Owls Soar Over the Cougars
John RoyalRice guard Connor Frizzelle awaits a pass in the first halfThe Houston Cougars were 11-6 and tied for first place in Conference USA this time last week. The Rice Owls were 8-10 and floundering in last place in C-USA. What a difference a week makes. Now it’s the Cougars…
Megafauna, The Yeti Of Texas Prog-Rock Bands
It’s a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we’re trying hard to unravel the meanings behind some of the odder monikers. Sooooooo… Megafauna is this way trippy experimental rock act out of Austin who will be here annihilating Walter’s tonight with their…
The United States of Beer
You asked for it, we delivered. Last week, while many of you were enjoying our map of the United States of Soft Drinks, just as many of you alcoholics were demanding a United States of Beer map instead. And so we hunkered down all weekend, doing the kind of brutal…
Che Rickman’s Swings of Happiness
Why is it photos of baby dolls are so…creepy? Just look at the image that accompanies the PR for Houston artist Che Rickman’s multi-media event Swings of Happiness / Mood Swings happening next Saturday, February 5th, 8pm at Frenetic Theater, 5102 Navigation Blvd. Why does this photograph give us the…
Idol Beat: Schlemiel. Schlimazel.
So it seems the only difference between the two-hour Wednesday Idols and their one hour counterparts on Thursdays is twice as many “wacky” interludes (über Green Bay Packer fan Megan Frazier is going to make one lucky man…really miserable someday) and a third more shots of Steven Tyler walking into…
Off the Wall: Bruce R Suggests B&M Brown Bread – in a Can
Each week, I’ll take one reader’s comment and base a post around it. Anything is fair game–from restaurant suggestions to cooking strategies to new product purchases. John Seaborn Gray’s recent post about the worst canned goods contains my favorite line in food blogging history. In reference to the high cholesterol…
Comment of the Day: Parking in Houston
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…
Atoning for the [Cinematic] Sins of the Father
That rumbling you heard yesterday was the muted “harrumph”-ing of thousands of American film journalists after news of the Will Smith/Jay-Z Annie reboot was confirmed: Overbrook Entertainment has formally announced a partnership with Jay-Z for future film projects, starting with a big screen remake of American musical classic “Annie.” Will…
Which Video Game Characters Do Rappers Idolize?
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. Have something you always wanted…
Nepotism, Hollywood Style
If your world hadn’t been shattered enough by the fact that Jackass 3-D didn’t receive one single Academy Award nomination, now it seems Will Smith/Jay-Z are remaking Annie: Overbrook Entertainment has formally announced a partnership with Jay-Z for future film projects, starting with a big screen remake of American musical…
Randy Carl Russell: Pentecostal Preacher, Terroristic Threat
An East Texas Pentecostal preacher is reportedly free on bond after allegedly threatening to kill his daughter’s boyfriend and his family. Last Wednesday, Randy Carl Russell, the 52-year-old pastor of the Weches United Pentecostal Church in Grapeland, called a fellow holy man in Silsbee and allegedly told him of his…
Happy Hour Scene: Hans’ Bier Haus
The Place: Hans’ Bier Haus 2523 Quenby 713-520-7474 The Hours: 4 to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays The Deals: $1 off all beer (no liquor served) The Scene: On Tuesday, Hans Bier Haus didn’t seem like the kind of scene that would inspire condo owners to allegedly destroy property and…
Challenger Disaster, 25 Years Later: The Five Most Chilling Moments
Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, a news event that remains so vivid — especially to Houstonians — that most everyone can remember where they were when they learned of it or when they first saw a replay of that launch, embedded above. That day and its…
10th Annual Trinity Jazz Festival
The Trinity Jazz Festival, now in its tenth year, has grown from a local jam to a much-respected event on the national music scene. Over this weekend, Houston audiences will enjoy evening performances with international stars Tia Fuller and Nestor Torres, in addition to appearances from vocalist Greta Matassa and…
Movies Houstonians Love: Justin Cronin’s Favorite Film — Das Lebden der Anderen (The Lives of Others)
A Stasi agent learns about life from the people he is spying on in Das Lebden der Anderen (The Lives of Others), writer Justin Cronin’s choice for today’s installment of the Movies Houstonians Love series. Cronin, a Rice University professor and the author of the award-winning Mary and O’Neil as…
3rd Annual Artopia Party
There are three main reasons to attend the 3rd Annual Houston Press Artopia bash. One, to celebrate the MasterMind Awards winners (this year’s nods — and $2,000 checks — go to David Dove of Nameless Sound, Jason Nodler of Catastrophic Theatre, and Foodways Texas). Two, to enjoy a blistering rush…
Herb & Dorothy
The award-winning documentary Herb & Dorothy proves that you don’t have to have absurdly deep pockets to put together a world-class art collection. Herb and Dorothy Vogel, a postal clerk and librarian, respectively, managed to amass one of the most important collections of contemporary art in the world. In the…
Tango Buenos Aires: The Fire and Passion of Tango
Tango Buenos Aires brings the exciting, sensual show The Fire and Passion of Tango to the Houston stage today, set to live music by South American composers such as the legendary Astor Piazzolla. Performing with lightning speed and exacting precision, Tango Buenos Aires offers audiences a rare look at the…
Coming Back for More
Funk-alicious! If there’s any musician from those hazy pharmaceutical days of the ‘60s who needs a documentary movie, it’s Sylvester Stewart, a.k.a. “Sly” of Sly and the Family Stone. This reclusive Texas native’s had enough comebacks, rehab stints and Top Ten hits for a double feature. Remember “Dance to the…
The Peking Acrobats
In recordings of the Peking Acrobats’ performances on YouTube, the only audible sounds are the gasps of the audience over and over as the people onstage perform incredible feats of strength and gymnastic ability. Acrobatics have been around as a significant cultural practice in China for 2,000 years, and the…
Dark Frames: Animations from Devious and Daring Places
So you think animation is for kids? Maybe, but it might be a good idea to keep the kids away from Kelly Sears’s The Velvet Tigress, about a woman who chops up her lover and takes him to Los Angeles inside of a trunk. The Houston filmmaker is screening The…
2nd Annual United Nations Association Film Festival
You don’t need experience in international relations in order to appreciate the films being screened at the four-day United Nations Association Film Festival. The movies examine political problems around the world, with topics such as crimes against humanity (The Reckoning, from the Congo), honor killing (Dishonored, from Pakistan) and environmental…
Poison Pen Reading Series: Matthew Zapruder
In “Poem for California,” Matthew Zapruder starts with an ankle scar and ends up pondering how he went from academic nomad to soon-to-married settler. The author often calls upon the everyday to unlock the mysteries of life. “When I write about something I don’t know why it’s important or meaningful,…
Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales
E. Patrick Johnson performs Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales, based upon his book of the same name, today at Rice University. Pouring Tea is a dramatic reading of some of the oral histories that Johnson collected through interviews with gay black men of various generations,…
39th Annual Chevron Marathon Houston
It was 1972 when the first Houston marathon took place, with just 113 runners racing over a five-mile loop. According to race organizers, “200 people, five dogs and three cats” lined the streets cheering the runners. In the 38 years since then, the race, now called the Chevron Houston Marathon,…
Framing Dance
Aren’t sure what contemporary dance is all about? Travesty Dance Group is here to help you figure it out with Framing Dance. The program moves from narrative to abstract styles through performance, projections and audience participation, and it includes a talk by Travesty Dance Group Director Karen Stokes. Not so…
Chinaberry Reflections
Even though Rodney Crowell has called Nashville home for almost 40 years, he will forever be the Houston Kid. Raised in Channelview and Jacinto City, Crowell had a typical upbringing for children of the sharecroppers, tenant farmers and small-town escapees who descended on Houston and the Ship Channel looking for…
Yells at Eels
Dallas-based trumpeter Dennis Gonzalez has been called the most significant avant-garde jazz musician to make his home in Texas. Since founding the Dallas Association for Avant-Garde and Neo-Impressionistic Music — now there’s a mouthful — Gonzalez has worked with a who’s who of modern jazz, including a few names even…
The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys took their name from a small Tennessee town best known as a base for the Manhattan Project, and evolved from a gospel quartet into a Grammy-winning pop-country sensation in the 1970s and early ’80s. Listen to “Bobbie Sue,” a disco-influenced honky-tonk romp complete with a vocal…
Artopia
It’s that time of year again, when the Houston Press honors the best art mavens in town with our “MasterMinds” issue. Every year at Winter Street Studios, you can celebrate with the winners and sample some of the best food and wine out there at our Artopia shindig. Along with…
Julieta Venegas
A tiny wisp of a woman and a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, keyboard, accordion) who has been playing since age eight, Tijuana native Julieta Venegas has been one of the top names in Latin alternative music since the late ’90s. She broadened her audience considerably both north and south of the border…
Not Dead
If there are any of you out there who, after hearing the words “modern opera,” scratch at imaginary scars or develop an annoying tic, I have a remedy: Jake Heggie’s contemporary work from 2000, Dead Man Walking, at Houston Grand Opera. Adapted from the book by Sister Helen Prejean about…
Capsule Art Reviews: “James Drake: A Thousand Tongues Burn and Sing,” “A Matter of Wit,” “Plenitude,” “Timothy Greenfield-Sanders: Injured Soldiers and Marines,” “Tony Smith: Drawings”
“James Drake: A Thousand Tongues Burn and Sing” James Drake’s 1982 installation Trophy Room, crafted from cut and welded steel, is a raw tour de force. Its steel-walled 12-by-16-foot room is furnished with a throne-like chair, weaponry and animal heads, all in blackened steel. Simmering with barely controlled violence, it…
Capsule Stage Reviews: God of Carnage, Sonia and Suzy, Triple Focus
God of Carnage By the time chic and sleek Annette announces she feels sick, after eating Veronica’s much-vaunted apple and pear clafouti, and then hurls all over Michael and Veronica’s white-on-white home including Veronica’s prized art books, the jokes have been adroitly set and the laughs occur nonstop. In Yasmina…
Another Time
For more photos from the soda fountain and Another Time’s kitchen, check out our slideshow. From my perch at the long wooden bar, I watched with childlike glee as a soda jerk at Another Time Soda Fountain built a one-pound banana split that could have rivaled the enormous Ziggy Pig…
Sick Of It All
For a time in the mid-’90s, Sick Of It All was a more than worthy emissary for hardcore culture on MTV. We remember seeing their videos on Beavis & Butt-Head — “Premature Evacuation,” from 1994 major-label debut Scratch the Surface, to be exact. We even saw an MTV News profile…
MasterMinds 2011
In the third year of its MasterMind Awards, the Houston Press had a lot more work to review. Nominations poured in from readers willing to help us determine who we should recognize for cutting-edge work in the local arts and creative scene. In addition, our review panel came up with…
The Devil You Know
The Rite is the latest of at least a dozen widely released American movies in half as many years with demonic possession a major plot-point. This doesn’t mean the subject is wrung out — its continuing resonance with audiences hasn’t been effaced by secular pop psychology or modernization within the…
Death and Heritage
Dear Mexican, A few years ago, I moved to Tucson. In said city, I noticed that there were little piles of stuff accumulated on the medians of the main roads. It looks like what was Dia de la Muertos paraphernalia — I’m not so gringo as to not know what’s…
Drink Up, Texas
POLITICAL ANIMALS Drink Up, Texas Sunday liquor sales to close budget gap By Richard Connelly The conservative-dominated Texas House has come out with its plan on how to close the state’s massive budget gap, and it’s not just full of silly stuff like “make state employees pay for parking.” Although…
Women of Rock
Katy Perry, Ke$ha and Lady Gaga An online reader comments on “Slutwave: Pop Phenomenon or Feminist Scourge?” Rocks Off blog, by Neph Basedow, January 13: Love ’em and leave ’em: The problem with Katy Perry isn’t necessarily what she’s wearing, but rather what she’s saying. In one song she reinforces hetero-normative…
Pickin’ on Nashville
One of the great tenor voices in country music history, Vince Gill has a staggering list of accomplishments: 20 Grammys, 18 Country Music Association awards – including two for Entertainer of the Year and five for Best Male Vocalist – 40 charting singles, and membership in the Country Music Hall…
