“Barbara Jones: Her Life in Paint”
“Barbara Jones: Her Life in Paint” reveals one of Houston’s hardest-working, yet rarely showcased, painters. “[In] her 25-year-or-so career she only had one solo show,” says curator Jim Hatchett. Jones, who died from cancer in 2009, was a part of the illustrious group of artists out of the University of…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Jamie Zelko of Zelko Bistro
We had a great time catching up with one of Houston’s hottest and humblest chefs at her cozy bistro in the Heights. Eating Our Words: So we’ve been hearing a lot about your fried green tomatoes. Why is there so much buzz about them? Zelko: I really don’t know. I…
Casey D. Reed, 43, Bayou Body Count No. 169
The body of a man shot to death was discovered this morning near Almeda Genoa and Riverside.Casey D. Reed, 43, of Houston, was discovered about 6:40 a.m. today, Houston police say. They say they responded to a “person down” call and found Reed’s body “lying on the side of the…
Some More HPMA Nominee MP3s And A Little Showcase Info
One week from tomorrow, the 2010 Houston Press Music Awards ballot goes live online, so hello this year’s nominees, you’re running out of time to send us your MP3s so we can post them and show the city (and the rest of the Interwebs) what you sound like. Please send…
Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski Says Ignore Those Tar Balls (All Seven Gallons Of Them)
Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski, who despite what his windblown shirt seems to indicate is not a corpulent man, wants “to assure you that the small amount of tar balls were immediately removed.”All 32 miles of Galveston beaches are pristine and clean, by Galveston standards.Of course, that “mayorBroll” header puts us…
Wine of the Week: Now & Zen Wasabi White (2007)
Bargain buys are to me what crack is to…someone addicted to crack. So when I find a decent looking wine that’s not raspberry flavored or bright blue in color for under $5 sitting in a lonely shopping cart in the middle of Foodarama, I will buy it. All in the…
Game Time: LeBron James — Seven Scenarios For Thursday Night
“Hello World, the Real King James is in the Building ‘Finally’. My Brother @oneandonlycp3 gas’d me up to jump on board so I’m here. Haaaa” — LeBron James (oh sorry…@KingJames on Twitter, and what is sadly his most interesting tweet thus far)I’ve always thought that when Twitter is at its…
Rachael Ray’s You Won’t Be Single for Long Vodka-Cream Sauce: Part 1
Who doesn’t love Rachael Ray — with her big smile, bouncy hair and corny jokes? Even if you find her constant perkiness annoying, she’s too nice too really hate. And her 30 Minute Meals show is often good for a meal idea or two. I’ve been watching it on and…
Top 10 “Girls Gone Wild” Music Videos
Saturday night, Girls Gone Wild will be at Scout Bar in Clear Lake looking for the hottest talent the Bay Area has to offer, or something comparable. A camera crew will be out there filming an edition of the video series, looking for “The Hottest Girl In America” at the…
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. The Mighty Rib: It’s always refreshing to see new food blogs in…
Lindsay Lohan: Five Celebrity Courtroom Meltdowns Better Than Hers
Turns out the Mean Girl wasn’t so mean after all. Former child star and current cautionary tale Lindsay Lohan broke down in court after receiving a 90-day jail sentence for probation violation: “Are you serious?” she sobbed to her attorney as she furiously plucked Kleenex out of a tissue box…
Nick Gaitan, Houston Music’s Wolf-Like Problem Solver
Each Wednesday, 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. Remember the scene in Pulp Fiction where John…
Cesar Manuel Cazares: Nabbed For A Stabbing Death 21 Years Later
Score one for the cold-case squad at the Houston Police Department — they’ve announced the arrest of a man suspected of stabbing a romantic rival to death 21 years ago.Cesar Manual Cazares, 42, is accused of killing Leonides Ponce, then 27, back in 1989 (The Simpsons premiered that year!! The…
Local Spotlight: Texas Hill Country Olive Company
WHAT: Beautifully pure olive oil that will have you dreaming — not of Italy — but of the verdant Texas hills… When John Gambini moved back to Texas after ten years away, he just knew he wanted to build a vineyard. It would be a family-run business, just like the…
Courtney Love Helps Christmas Come Early
Not that it ever happened to Rocks Off growing up, but can you imagine turning in your wish list to Santa Claus a few weeks before Christmas and getting everything you asked for? The new Playstation, Star Wars toys, the go-kart, new little brother and signed Jeff Bagwell baseball bat,…
Kenneth Page: Honky-Tonk Heartbreak Trifecta Compels Five-State Lawnmower Ride
Newsflash: country music can be corny. Many a shit-kicker heartbreak song is riddled by cliches. But you know what they say about cliches: they get to be cliches because they are true.That is especially the case with Kenneth Page. The Waco-area mechanic was freshly married when he lost his job…
Robb Walsh’s 100 Favorite Houston Dishes: #9 Pho at Pho Binh on Beamer
Over the course of the next few months, I’m counting down 100 of my favorite Houston dishes. I chose some because they are such quintessential Houston creations, others for their cultural or historical significance, and others because they are just so damn tasty. Share your own nominations in the comments…
Zachary Snow: Texan Sues Marines For Making Him Exercise In Hot Weather
They don’t make Marines like they used to. Or Texans, for that matter.That’s the likely response from grumbly old-timers who learn that Zachary Ryan Snow, a Marine recruit, is suing the USMC in federal court because, he says, he was forced to exercise in a Texas summer and suffered heat…
Managua: Making Friends with Nicaraguan Food
I’ll admit to having absolutely no familiarity with Nicaraguan food whatsoever prior to my meal at Managua on Sunday afternoon. But after passing Managua an untold number of times on my way down Bellaire Boulevard towards the culinary paradise that is Chinatown, I finally decided to make a destination out…
Trae vs. The Box Feud Now Has Its Own Web Site
Things have been quiet on the Trae vs. 97.9 The Box front for the past week or so. Rocks Off assumes that’s because the rapper is looking for another site willing to host his annual Trae Day (still scheduled for later this month), and the radio station is trying to…
Cheer Up, Houston: Your Traffic Pain Is Way Better Than Moscow Or Madrid
When IBM puts out a survey that features bar graphs and big circles somehow illustrating results, you can rest assured it is beyond reproach.So know this, Houston: Among 20 top international cities, your “traffic pain” is about as low as can be.Oh, and apparently, you’re one of the top 20…
How To Boil Crawfish
July marks the tail end of crawfish season. You can still score mudbugs after that time, but they get too tough to peel and aren’t as tasty. Making crawfish at home really isn’t that hard, and is a nice way to waste a weekend day eating and drinking beer. Anyone…
Last Night: Thrice At Warehouse Live
Thrice, Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band Warehouse Live July 6, 2010 Walking up to Warehouse Live for Thrice Tuesday night, Aftermath witnessed one of the most interesting spectacles we’ve ever seen outside of a venue. As we got there, we heard a gentleman – and we use that term…
Geoff Blum Joins Baseball’s Stupid-Injury List: Here Are 11 Others
Astros utility player Geoff Blum popped his elbow putting on his shirt last week.Yes, that’s right, putting on his shirt. Not his jersey. Not during the game. But his shirt. After the game. He’s currently on the disabled list, and he might end up requiring surgery. So Blum joins that…
Black Sesame Gelato At Gelato Cup
Taking a break from exploring Chinatown and its million restaurants, we popped into Gelato Cup Italian Ice Cream (9889 Bellaire Boulevard, 713-271-1082) to try their durian gelato that I heard smells like rotting fruit. We sampled it and decided one spoonful was enough. We would not want to eat a…
Adios, Garageband.com
Being a struggling, unsigned musician involves a lot of faith and superstition. You begin to believe that fame, fortune, and hot and cold running groupies are just around the corner, and if you can just complete that one magical task, it will all be yours for the taking. Once upon…
World Cup 2010: Spain Vs. Germany — Starry Individuals Face A Daunting Team Of Relative No-Names
One team has been laying beat downs.The other team, well, hasn’t.That pretty much sums up the difference between Germany and Spain heading into their semifinal date later this afternoon – evening in Durban, South Africa.In a rematch of the 2008 European finals, the Germans look to extract a little revenge…
Last Night: Hole At House Of Blues
Hole House of Blues July 6, 2010 It wasn’t a train wreck. And we all had such high hopes. Courtney Love and the four-man retinue she calls Hole these days – mostly distinguishable by their wardrobe (dreadlocked drummer, Scally-capped keyboardist/guitarist, and so forth), but who carried their share of the…
Jaime Salazar, Bayou Body Count No. 168
A dispute with a bouncer at a Gulf Freeway nightclub ended in death, but any charges in the incident are in the hands of a Harris County grand jury. Houston police say Jaime Salazar, no age given, was refusing to leave the El Antro nightclub in the 8100 block of…
We Have Our 4th Of July Contest Winners!! Probably Not You!!
Thanks to everyone for the great response to our Fourth of July photo contest.You went out, you saw, you clicked, you uploaded to our Flickr page.And two of you won prizes. First place went to allison_b216 who, in addition to taking the winning shot, took the photo to the right.She’ll…
Pool Battles In First Colony: Keep Your Damn Waterpark Out Of Here!!
It’s tense times out in First Colony, the Fort Bend County suburb.Residents are manning the barricades to prevent a plan by the community association to close five of First Colony’s public swimming pools and build a $800,000 water park.An $800,000 water park? These are not exactly the priorities the Acres…
Stirred and Shaken: Lucky Strike Lanes & Lounge’s Luxetini
Lucky Strike Lanes & Lounge (1201 San Jacinto, 713-343-3300) is the kind of place where Zac Efron and John Mayer bowl. At least the Lucky Strike in Los Angeles is, according to the framed PR rags mounted over the urinals at the Houston location. So you might not run into…
This Rap Party Is Two Things: Tea And Lame
So there is a rap song for the Tea Party, “That’s a Tea Party” by Polatik. Now, Rocks Off has heard rap used for many different purposes. We’ve heard it try and justify the money we wasted going to see Deep Blue Sea. We’ve heard it from the mouth of…
Dave Chappelle and Other Memorable Celebrity Airplane Freak-Outs
Because celebrities are better than regular people and therefore fly a lot, it’s only natural that the friendly skies are occasionally subjected to the inexplicable fame-fueled freakout.The latest famous person to go bananas at 30,000 feet was comedian Dave Chappelle, who allegedly stormed the cabin of the private jet he…
Walmart Vs. The Heights: About What You’d Expect (Plus Annise Parker Weighs In)
The Heights may soon be dealing with an unwanted resident, and they’re going to have to put up a strong fight to keep them out. The possibility that Houston’s seventh Super Walmart could land in the historic area has residents squirming, and a strong reaction for and against its development…
Game Time: JaMarcus Russell — The Raiders’ “Purple Drank”
His Wikipedia profile merely describes JaMarcus Russell as follows: JaMarcus Russell is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent. Right about now, the only items that are true in that statement are Russell’s first and last names, because as of Monday morning he’s a better known “American…
The Shameless Chef: A Fistful of Breakfast
You can’t mention the concept of breakfast without someone near you piping up that it’s the most important meal of the day. Well if it’s so damn important, how come I sleep straight through it 95% of the time, Mr. Smarty Pants? And I happen to be in perfect health,…
Five Superheroes Who Need A Makeover More Than Wonder Woman
You might not know this if you don’t follow superhero news, or news about dominatrix-type lasso-wielding heroines, but Wonder Woman is getting a new look. Gone are the star-spangled shorts, exchanged for black leather.Why Wonder Woman? Here are five superheroes in much bigger need of a makeover than her.1. The…
Espresso On The Go
If you’re lucky, you work at one of those offices with a fancy coffee machine that brews individual little coffee pods for you — or tea pods! — and the toughest decision you make every morning is whether or not you’ll chose the chai tea latte or the mocha macchiato…
Going Platinum: Artists We’d Pay $10,000 To See – And When
It started one night on the patio of Big Star Bar in the Heights; over Lone Star and cigarettes, a handful of Houston music wags debated the shows they would pay top dollar to see from lartists, iving or dead. We argued the aspects of an At the Drive-In reformation,…
How Not To Commit Insurance Fraud
Died trying, police sayIt must have seemed a great idea at the time. Although the time in question was two o’clock this morning, so you never know.At any rate, the plan was to drive your semi-trailer cab into a freeway column, jumping out before impact, and collecting the insurance dough.The…
Top 5 Kid-Friendly Restaurants That Adults Can Also Enjoy
When it comes to meal time with the kids, there is often a lot of compromise involved. You agree to a meal at McDonald’s one night in order to eat at a more grown-up place the next day. And while this works well most of the time, sometimes you wish…
Hot Dogs For Breakfast at Hot Bagel Shop
The sign on the door at Hot Bagel Shop (2009 South Shepherd Drive, 713-520-0340) says “no pets allowed inside.” I guess they’re not talking about the dogs already inside…the bagel dogs that is…
Wicked Witch Switch: New Elphaba at the Hobby Starting July 8
Donna Vivino, whom Hair Balls spoke with just the other day, is taking a break from singing the role of Elphaba as part of the Wicked tour brought to Houston by Broadway Across America.Instead, Jackie Burns will take over the role “indefinitely” starting July 8. Burns was most recently seen…
Five Onstage Meltdowns Funnier Than Courtney Love In D.C.
As far as Rocks Off knows, everything is hunky-dory for Hole’s show at House of Blues this evening. Courtney Love and friends are scheduled to play from 9:45 to 11:15, which Rocks Off is interpreting as they could go on anywhere from 9:45 to 11:15. As Hole’s rambling, sloppy, completely…
Allen Henson: A Heartfelt Discussion On A Lap-Dance Rip-Off
Allen Henson is a UH student who’s served two stints in Iraq, according to online info. He’s also e-published a book about raucous male behavior in the Tucker Max style, and has a website and a Twitter feed.He’s also the victim of lap-dance fraud, he writes to us.”I’ve spent my…
New Bar Menu at The Capital Grille
With more than forty locations across the country, The Capital Grille is a fine-dining locale catering predominantly to a well dressed, well mannered business crowd. Houston’s Galleria location fills up nightly with pretty people stopping by after work for a drink or a salad or a steak. Lest its reputation…
Talking Rock Docs With All Tomorrow’s Parties’ Jonathan Caouette
Jonathan Caouette (right) is a Houston success story. He turned home movies into the award-winning 2003 autobiographical film Tarnation, receiving some encouragement from Hedwig and the Angry Inch creator John Cameron Mitchell on the project. His latest film is All Tomorrow’s Parties, a documentary on the music festival of the…
Representative Harold Dutton: Every Texas Felon Gets A Life Sentence
We like to think life sentences only go to the worst of the worst, the criminals whose deeds were so heinous they stopped just short of deserving the death penalty.According to state representative Harold Dutton, that’s not the case. The Houston Democrat and member of the House Committee on Corrections…
Grouper Sandwich From Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill
With an empty stomach and a heart full of hope, we headed to Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill in Clearwater Beach, Florida on the recommendation of a local on our quest to find the ultimate grouper sandwich. After a dip in the Gulf of Mexico, which is only about the length of…
Tar Balls In Galveston: What’s New?
The tar balls in Galveston have gotten widespread attention, even though their number and effect is laughably small compared to other states and even though they probably traveled here by boat and not ocean currents, meaning more ain’t coming soon.But their arrival did mean that Texas, home of BP’s American…
Soyrizo: Even Better Than The Real Thing?
The reason I first started eating Soyrizo had nothing to do with health concerns or the welfare of the animals that were going into the tasty Mexican sausage with the trademark bright-orange grease. No, it was a much more selfish reason than that. I was living in a small town…
Houston Vinyl Junkies May Get Some Relief Soon
• Above is a video from Arthur Yoria’s Web site which seems to document his recently wrapped-up “Protest Jingle” tour, but it was posted with commentary so we aren’t 100% sure. • It’s a quiet start to the week around these parts. Magnolia City Mixtape thinks most of Houston’s music…
Unidentified Male, Bayou Body Count No. 167
A man was found stabbed to death in a Third Ward garage apartment Sunday; the man with whom he was arguing was questioned but not charged.Police responded to a disturbance call in the 5900 block of Grace about 12:10 a.m. Sunday and found a man stabbed in the torso. He…
Robb Walsh’s 100 Favorite Houston Dishes: #10 Crispy Skin Snapper at Reef
Over the course of the next few months, I’m counting down 100 of my favorite Houston dishes. I chose some because they are such quintessential Houston creations, others for their cultural or historical significance, and others because they are just so damn tasty. Share your own nominations in the comments…
Upcoming: Night Ranger, KeSha, Soulja Boy, Stars, Etc.
Black Queen Speaks, Dimitri’s Rail: Fri., July 23. Verizon Wireless Theater. Burn The Boats, Venomous Maximus, Secret Prostitutes: Sat., July 24. Rudyard’s. Forbidden, Evile, Gama Bomb, Bonded By Blood: Fri., Dec. 3. Scout Bar Clear Lake. Great White, Night Ranger: Sat., Sept. 4. Moody Gardens. Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato: CHANGED…
Last Night: Islands, Steel Phantoms And Active Child At Mango’s
Islands, Steel Phantom, Active Child Mango’s July 5, 2010 Mango’s is a terrible venue, and it made a picture-perfect setting for Islands’ sticky and infectiously energetic set last night. Shitty acoustics, views obstructed by support beams, fans sitting on the floor, and cramped quarters despite a somewhat modest crowd gave…
Unidentified Male, Bayou Body Count No. 166
Outside of a South Gessner nightclub at 4:40 a.m. is not particularly the safest place to be.One man found that out early Saturday morning when he got in a dispute with other clubgoers and was shot to death, Houston police say.The incident occurred outside the El Nuevo club in the…
Five Foods of Our Founding Fathers (And Mothers)
Like many of my fellow Americans, I celebrated Independence Day with hamburgers, potato salad, and some sort of red, white, and blue dessert concoction. As much as I enjoy this federally sanctioned annual feast, I have always found it a bit strange that the holiday has become synonymous with picnic…
Is The National Recording Registry Ready For The Geto Boyz?
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…
Astros’ Mid-Season Report Card: It’s Ugly Out There
The Houston Astros passed the halfway mark in games played this weekend, and after losing three straight to the San Diego Padres, the team’s record for the season is 32-51. There are only two teams in baseball with worse records than the Astros, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Baltimore Orioles…
Pop Rocks: Why You Should Be Watching The Good Guys
We’re in the doldrums, people. Nothing but baseball until August, craptastic “blockbuster” movies for the next two months…hell, even the World Cup is a bore now unless you’re lucky enough to have an ancestral connection to one of the remaining teams (go Germany!). What we need is a decent summer…
Lovable Children’s-Music Performer Totally Eats It
Rocks Off watches a lot of lovable children’s characters singing endless cheerful songs about the basic virtues that make up the best of humanity. And not because we smoke a bowl each day, it’s to appease our 10-month-old empress. And most of the time, programs like Yo Gabba Gabba are…
Where Are We Drinking?
With a sign like this at the entrance, how could you possibly go wrong? Well, there’s always the possiblity that the women inside look like this. Keep your fingers crossed as you enter this fine establishment… Does this dive bar look familiar? Think you know where we’re drinking this week?…
Six Classic Comic Covers That Could Be About Houston
The Golden Age of comics (or the Silver Age, or whatever, we’re not nerds about it) had some truly entertaining covers for horror-tale collections.The folks at io9 gathered 105 of them.Who knew that some of them were about…..HOUSTON?!?!!?!?!!? For instance, this one is obviously about BARC.And that is one pissed-off…
Albert Briede: Montrose Man Celebrates July 4th In His Own Peculiar Way
A Montrose-area man is charged with arson after his 4th of July celebration ended with a homemade fireworks display consisting of his girlfriend’s entire wardrobe.According to a complaint filed by HPD’s arson squad, Albert Briede, 30, spent the holiday clubbing with his girlfriend and another couple, all of whom shared…
You Still Have Time To Enter Our 4th Of July Photo Contest
Silly us, we thought everyone was taking Friday off instead of Monday to celebrate the Fourth.So we made the deadline for entering our photo contest 8 a.m. this morning. We’ve gotten a lot of great shots, but we don’t want to penalize anyone who was too busy clicking and celebrating…
Top Five ’90s Food Trends
We’re not really nostalgic for any of these food items–perhaps it hasn’t been long enough yet? What 1990s foods do you remember consuming in great quantities (that you’re willing to admit)? 5. Fat-Free/Diet Snack Foods All of that playing around in the laboratory led to some pretty sketchy products on…
The Tarballs Cometh, To Galveston
As the Fourth of July weekend loomed, Galveston’s visitors bureau put out a press release “reminding the public that Island beaches remain oil free and open for business this 4th of July holiday weekend….The U.S. Coast Guard confirms that the spill remains more than 200 miles away from Galveston’s shoreline.”Not…
A Cooler Coke: Dry Soda
One of my favorite cocktails at Hearsay Gastro Lounge contains a mixture of vodka, champagne, and dry lavender soda. I like to try a drink at a restaurant or bar and then later try to recreate it at home, and though I could clearly figure out the first two parts…
Post-Fireworks Meat: 5 Things To Do With Leftovers
First things first: I now thoroughly enjoy leftovers but that wasn’t always the case. In the days of yesteryear my dad worked overnight every third day-of-the-week at the fire station and my mom would only serve my brother and me the scraps from the previous nights meals. I suppose new…
Lilith Fair’s Top 5 Headline-Grabbing Moments
Friday, while Rocks Off was enjoying a blissful if soggy day off, Lilith Fair canceled the final ten dates of this year’s summer resurrection, including all three scheduled Texas stops. The news was hardly shocking: One headliner, Norah Jones, had already bailed, and The New York Times reported the festival…
Rigoberto Orellana, 18, Bayou Body Count No. 165
An 18-year-old man was discovered beaten to death in the Heights Thursday afternoon, police say.Rigoberto Orellana of Houston, was found inside a home in the 1100 block of Nicholson about 1 p.m. Thursday and was pronounced dead at the scene.HPD says simply they responded to a call at the address…
Game Time: 10 Simple Rules To Safe Fireworking (With Video Of People Being Unsafe!)
For those working today, I hope you all had a very happy and safe 4th of July weekend. For those blessed with a vacation day today, I hope your happy and safe 4th of July weekend continues. This post is actually for you.I realize that many of you took in…
Totally Bar: Stag’s Head’s Sausage Rolls
What could be better than two pork sausages wrapped with puff pastry, two scoops of mashed potatoes covered with brown gravy and a pile of English peas? Chasing it all down with a cold pint of beer, that’s what…
Warped Tour Extra: Houston Fans Sure Love To Throw Things
Kids these days must like throwing shit. Judging by what we saw at the Vans Warped Tour Friday afternoon, it seems to be second or third to smoking dope and being sexually active. Don’t worry about that, though; Trojan Condoms was out in force giving up the goods. Luckily, they…
SWAT Team Called Out For Troubled Police-Union Fundraiser
Come out with your hands up…..In a major victory for irony last Friday, Houston SWAT officers arrested a man whose company is a major phone fundraiser for the Houston Police Patrolmen’s Union.Although the Houston Chronicle reported the basic details of a three-hour standoff outside a business in the 2800 block…
Retro Restaurant Signs: A Houston Retrospective
With so many of Houston’s great culinary landmarks being either abandoned or demolished, we’re just thankful that people captured pictures of them before another piece of our history was thoughtlessly thrown away like table scraps. Although the Pig Stand (pictured above) is now nothing more than a memory — its…
Does Being An Actor Compromise Your Rap Career?
Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday that isn’t a national holiday, Rocks Off will have some of them discussing issues relevant to their culture. This Week’s Panel: Paul Wall, Damien Randle, Sam Sneed Not Invited: Freekey Zeekey, for getting Dipset back together. Ack. This Week’s Prompt:…
Top 10 Restaurants in River Oaks
It’s not surprising that one of the most exclusive zip codes in the country has some pretty fantastic food — but rest assured that the ‘hood isn’t all iced tea and crumpets. So excited were we about the ten below that we didn’t find room for neighborhood icons like Avalon…
Woman Wins Million-Plus In Texas Lottery For Fourth Time
We’re not the biggest lottery fans in the world (tax on the mathematically illiterate and all that), but if we had Joan Ginther’s luck maybe we’d change our mind.Last week Ginther traveled to Austin to pick up $10 million she won from some super extreme amazing give-us-your-money scratch-off ticket.Which isn’t…
Foxy Shazam: Rock’s Next Great Glam Hope?
Superlatives begin to run dry when talking about Cincinnati’s Foxy Shazam, who open for Hole tomorrow night at House of Blues. Foxy is a stadium-sized band playing clubs and mid-sized theaters, threatening to burst each venue at the seams during any minute of their hour-long sets. With this year’s self-titled…
Ingredient of the Week: White Acre Peas
What are they? White acre peas are small, delicate legumes that have a creamy, mild taste and soft texture. They’re related to the black eyed pea, but have a much softer outside making them more tender and definitely more refined. The peas themselves are also slightly smaller in size than…
Win Preview Passes To Inception, And Ponder Our Five Questions About It
Inception seems like the best bet yet to save a summer full of dreary by-the-books blockbusters. Has there been anything released yet that’s made you want to go to the movies? (We admit, we’ve never quite gotten into the whole Toy Story thing.)Inception is directed by Christopher Nolan, it’s over-the-top…
Restaurant Chains We Wish Were In Houston
While we know that #SLGT (which means supporting local for all those sans twitter accounts) is the way to eat if you’re a cool kid — or just a supporter of locally owned independent businesses — occasionally, the call of a familiar dish from a familiar restaurant is too much…
Friday Night: Wild Moccasins, The Eastern Sea And The Wiggins At Walter’s
Wild Moccasins, The Eastern Sea, The Wiggins Walter’s on Washington July 2, 2010 Friday night at a packed Walter’s on Washington, the Wild Moccasins hosted a party to kick off their summer West Coast tour with friends The Wiggins and The Eastern Sea, and Aftermath wouldn’t have wanted to be…
True Blood: Jace Everett’s Ominous Theme Song “Bad Things”
Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He’s lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood – which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. No New Episode This Week…
Eyesore Apartments On South Side Finally Being Torn Down
Tomorrow is D-Day for the blighted Park Place Apartments at 7410 Park Place. D as in demolition, as the city announced today it has finally won the long battle to tear down the 43-unit complex.Demolition begins 9 a.m. tomorrow.”This is one of the worst examples of neglectful ownership that I…
Teala’s Thai-Mexican Fusion: Cochinita Pibil
It’s a little known fact that Teala’s Mexican Restaurant and Bar on West Dallas actually serves a Thai-Mexican fusion menu. Thai and Mexican flavors have a lot in common — they both use lime, cilantro and very hot peppers — so the marriage of the two cuisines is a logical…
The Week In TV: Enjoy Hulu While It Lasts
My backyard flooded, I went half-blind on fireworks, and I am exponentially losing my agility. This was the week in TV Land: • As if to taunt my very desires, Hulu announced last week that it’s launching Hulu Plus, a paid version of the site that will allow users to…
Friday: The (Very Wet) Vans Warped Tour At Sam Houston Race Park
Vans Warped Tour Sam Houston Race Park July 2, 2010 As they always have, teenagers get a bad rap these days. In our minds, any kid who was willing to brave the dirty side of Hurricane Alex on Friday afternoon to see their favorite bands, eat a shit-ton of free…
Todd Whitting Takes The Reins As UH Baseball Coach
The University of Houston baseball squad wasn’t very good last season.There was some talent on the roster, but too often the team appeared dispirited and just didn’t seem to be putting forth a full effort.Though Rayner Noble had been a successful coach, and had won more games than any other…
Where Are We Eating?
Sometimes, at the end of a long and sweaty day, all you really want is a fat margarita and a plate filled with every Tex-Mex masterpiece known to man. Does the scene below look familiar to you? Think you know where we’re eating this week? Leave your best guess in…
Hyperbubble’s PSA For Remembering Your Cat’s Birthday
Just back from a tour of various European locales is Texas’ happiest electronic-pop couple, Hyperbubble. Earlier this year we told you how their latest release, Candy Apple Daydreams, was possibly the best beepity boopity spin-disc to come out of Texas since Asmodeus X’s Morningstar, and now the synthesizer duo has…
Two Unidentified DWI Victims, Bayou Body Count Nos. 163 & 164
Intoxication manslaughter charges have been filed against a driver who ran a stop sign on Almeda Genoa and killed two people, Houston police said.Few details were available, but police say a suspected drunk driver ran through a stop sign about 11:45 p.m. Saturday in the 800 block of Almeda Genoa…
Fishing By A Superfund Site Will Get You Noticed
Were you fishing along the San Jacinto Battleground of Lynchburg Ferry this weekend? Did you get the feeling you were being watched?You probably dismissed it as “Well, yeah, if I’m enough of an idiot to fish in these polluted waters, I have to expect to be looked at like I’m…
Put On Your High Water Pants, Houston
As heavy rain continues to fall across the Houston area, the usual suspects have begun to flood. Portions of Allen Parkway and I-45 north have been closed and the bayous continue their predictable rise. And even though it floods in Houston on a disconcertingly routine basis, there will always be…
Commute Home If You Dare
Freeways and some streets are a mess with the rain, so don’t expect to get home quickly anytime soon.TV, of course, has sought out the worst intersections, so there’s a lot of video of reporters standing in water as cars go splashing by.The worst of it seems to be over,…
Guy V. Lewis: What’s A Guy Got To Do To Get In The Hall Of Fame?
I saw this item posted over at Coogfans the other day. I don’t know whether it’s the real deal or not, but supposedly there was somebody on eBay selling what he claimed to be the floor from the Game of the Century. For those to young to remember, the Game…
Bud Lee, Young & Recessioned: Working In Porn Is Not Like Working At Target
Today’s installment of Young & Recessioned features Bud Lee, who has worked in every area of the adult industry during the last 30 years. Today he works as an agent at LA Direct Models and says that these days more young women are choosing pornography as a career. I think…
Ten Fun Facts About “God Bless The USA”
As America (fuck yeah!) prepares to celebrate its 234th birthday over the long July 4 weekend, our proud yet troubled nation is about to be inundated once again by Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” About as innocuous as a song can be on the surface, it’s become one of…
This Week in Deliciousness
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where all jokes are served up fried in a light, crispy breading with a side of coleslaw. We started the week off right, with some hilariously bungled recipes from one of those little local cookbooks you sometimes see in…
More HPMA Nominee MP3s? Why The Hell Not?
Tick-tock, Clarice HPMA nominees. As many of you hopefully found out yesterday, Matt & Kim and Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights will be our special guests at this year’s Houston Press Music Awards showcase all along Washington Avenue Saturday, August 7. Tickets go on sale next Friday at houstonpress.com…
Patriotic Pastries For Your Fourth
No holiday in America is complete these days without an amusing and sometimes absurd selection of appropriately holiday-themed baked goods available for sale at your local grocery store. We hit up Randall’s, Kroger and H-E-B in a search for the best stars-and-stripes sweets for your Fourth of July holiday weekend…
Edwin James Johnson: Legend Of The Port Arthur Pimp Game
As the hometown of late Texas rap legend Pimp C., you’d expect the pimp game in Port Arthur to be pretty damn strong. Innovative, even. If the case of Edwin James Johnson is any indication, you would not be disappointed.According to TV station KBMT, Johnson “gave prospective customers ‘coupons’ with…
Has Eminem Rescued His Reputation On Recovery?
Eminem is an interesting fellow. He was when he lit the world on fire with The Slim Shady LP back in 1999, and when he followed that up a year later with The Marshall Mathers LP. He was even interesting when he clumsily scrapped together some songs in 2009 and…
FAIL: Courtney Love, KeSha, Beta Band, Rock And Roll Lawyers
Courtney Love Melts Down Onstage… No, We Mean More Than Usual: We’re hoping our Rocks Off counterpart Craig Hlavaty gets to witness his fantasy Hole show next week, but judging from the performance Courtney Love put on last Sunday night at Washington DC’s 9:30 Club, it doesn’t seem very likely…
Robb Walsh’s 100 Favorite Houston Dishes: #11 Crispy Pork Belly with Steen’s Cane Syrup at Catalan
Over the course of the next few months, I’m counting down 100 of my favorite Houston dishes. I chose some because they are such quintessential Houston creations, others for their cultural or historical significance, and others because they are just so damn tasty. Share your own nominations in the comments…
Houston And Texas Letting Money For Low-Income Housing Go To Waste
According to a new report from a low income housing group, the City of Houston may have to repay millions of dollars in federal funds that were meant to clean up neighborhoods hit hardest by foreclosed homes. “Houston has done demonstratively worse than other places,” John Henneberger, director of the…
When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong: Pop Princess Edition
Dave Chapelle teaches us that the art of “keeping it real” may sometimes go awry. According to urbandictionary.com, this occurs when “in the act of keeping it real, the outcome is unexpected and usually has a negative effect on the individual who decided to keep it real.” Pop princesses are…
Trae Day Venue Backs Out; Jonas Bros. Reschedule
As we mentioned in last week’s cover story, Houston rapper Trae tha Truth has been having his share of recent struggles. His luck appears to not have changed much. Just hours after the online commercial for the forthcoming Trae Day, July 22, hit the net, and a mere three weeks…
Top 10 Pop-Star Bobbleheads We’d Like To See
The good people over at Aggronautix have done it again. The toy company has been releasing bobbleheads of punk-rock luminaries such as GG Allin and the Descendents’ Milo Aukerman for the past year. Rocks Off has been lucky enough to snag a few. Sitting a few feet from us right…
10 Tweets From The Debates Over The Declaration Of Independence And Constitution
Every politician trying to be hip has a Twitter account now, tweeting furiously on hot-button issues and debates.They didn’t have no Twitter back when the Founding Fathers were debating the Declaration of Independence and, later, the Constitution and Bill of Rights.Or so we thought. Recent research has uncovered a trove…
Chef Chat, Part 3: John Ly of Strata Restaurant
We wrap up our meeting with Chef John Ly by tasting some of the strata of flavors layered into his dishes. We first sampled a fish entrée. Chef Ly’s sea bass was pan-seared to perfection with a crispy crunch that made a great contrast with the moist, flaky fish. The…
The Top Five Overexposed Classical Works In The Movies
Have you heard of the Wilhelm Scream? Basically, it was a one-second sound bite from a bit character in a 1951 movie that somehow made its way into Warner Brothers Studios’ collection of sound effects. It has since been used as a special effect in hundreds – maybe thousands -…
Plum Lowell Applewhite: Portly Galvestonian’s Bad Decisions Could Lead To Decades Away From Beloved Ice Cream
As he reached in the cooler of the Broadway CVS in Galveston and pocketed the gold-rimmed pint of Blue Bell chocolate ice cream, 35-year-old Plum Lowell Applewhite had to know he was playing a very dangerous game.Over the past seven years he had been arrested time and time again for…
Are You Totally Goth?
Being a Goth often requires a constant image check. How many points do you lose for owning a Cher album? If you don’t wear black leather in the summer, does that show a lack of dedication? These are the questions and queries and posers that whip up a Goth into…
Upcoming Events
With a three-day weekend ahead, you can make the most of it (rain or shine) by heading to one of the patriotic parties hosted by some of the city’s best restaurants. Branch Water Tavern is hosting a Fourth of July pig roast that kicks off at 1 p.m. on Sunday…
For The Fourth: Five Strange Uncle Sam Appearances On Screen
For some people, today is the Fourth of July holiday. For others, it’s Monday.Whatever one works for you, it’s time to get in a patriotic, Uncle Sam mood!! And what better way than to see ol’ Sam in five strange screen appearances?Whether it’s Sam in a soft-core porn film, as…
The Once and Future Ernie’s
Barflies and beer lovers were shocked to learn today that Ernie’s on Banks had suddenly and mysteriously closed overnight. The stalwart bar on Banks — its very name reflecting the unpretentious nature of the place (“Yeah, we’re on Banks. Just like it says.”) — had been a Montrose landmark for…
“Stamping Your Vegetarian Passport” at Backstreet Cafe
The “Stamping Your Vegetarian Passport” event hosted by Sommelier Sean Beck at Backstreet Café on Wednesday night was an all-vegetarian food event, a rare find in meat-hungry Houston that I, a recently converted vegetarian, greatly enjoyed. Passed appetizers included green tomato gazpacho shots, couscous-stuffed piquillo peppers, nicely textured and balanced,…
More Consolidation For Chronicle And San Antonio
Hearst’s unending efforts to make the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News one and the same continue apace.The latest memo appoints several editors to oversee matters at both papers, and offers tips on how the two can share coverage.Chron editors Laura Goldberg and Kyrie O’Connor will oversee business and…
Top Five ’80s Cereal Commercials
If the food police wanted to really control childhood obesity, then they would just go into every grocery store in America and set fire to the cereal isle. But, we know that the sugar-coated cereal lobby led by Sam the Toucan, Dig-Em the Frog and their evil leader Tony the…
Houston, You Are No Longer The Most Sexed-Up City, Amazingly Scientific Survey Says
If you’re reading this, it means you’re one of the few Houstonians who is not outside right now, having sex. Or at least that’s how we’re thinking after having read the results of an extremely informative survey brought to us by the jimmyhat experts at Trojan.The “Trojan Degrees of Pleasure Survey”…
Kermit Ruffins, New Orleans’ Beaming Musical Ambassador
Many people say that going to New Orleans feels like being in another time. In fact, the city’s current slogan for its tourism TV spots, which Rocks Off caught just this morning, is “you’re different here.” Listening to Kermit Ruffins, who plays House of Blues Friday night, has that effect…
Happy Hour Scene: La Tapatia
The Place: La Tapatia1749 Richmond Ave. 713-521-3144www.latapatiamexcafe.comThe Hours: Monday through Friday 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. The Deals: House margaritas are $3; domestic beers are $2.The Scene: There was only one other person at the bar at La Tapatia during the early hours of Thursday afternoon, but after finishing our…
Don’t Forget Our 4th Of July Photo Contest — Free Food For The Winner!!
Are you getting off tomorrow or Monday for the Fourth? There seems to be differing theories out there.Here in Hair Balls land, we’re calling tomorrow the Fourth — we’ll still be posting plenty of stuff, so be sure to check in, though. We do it because we love.But if you’re…
Vic & Anthony’s: An Exercise In Overindulgence
Once upon a time, when I worked in a job that required the daily donning of pantyhose and a suit, I ate at places like Vic & Anthony’s on a fairly routine basis, despite never having the stamina to make it through a full meal at these types of endurance…
Jarvis Johnson Tweets, But Doesn’t Talk, After His Arrest
“Leading by example” still remains on the web site for City Council Member Jarvis Johnson but the councilman is being charged with evading arrest by the Houston Police Department. According to the HPD, Johnson was arrested Wednesday night when he initially refused to stop his vehicle when a police officer…
Chef Chat, Part 2: John Ly of Strata Restaurant
Today we continue our chat with Chef John Ly of Strata Restaurant, discussing what’s in a name and the challenges that come with running a restaurant in the ‘burbs. EOW: So let’s talk about the restaurant. What does the name Strata mean to you? Ly: To me, “strata” means different…
Rocks Off Goes To Synth Central: Montrose’s Fjardeson’s Studios
Right in the warm, arrhythmic heart of Montrose is a convenience store on Richmond just east of Montrose Blvd. The D&Q Food Store has two things. First is the largest selection of beers in the Houston area. Seriously, they put Spec’s downtown to shame. Plus the have a deal where…
Game Time: Michael Vick — Why Can’t You Just Be A Schnook Like The Rest Of Us?
“As far back as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be a gangster.” — Henry Hill at the beginning of Goodfellas, when it was all about greed, excess, and privilege”Today, everything is different. There’s no action. I have to wait around like everyone else. Can’t even get decent food…
A HPMA Latin Hip-Hop Video Sampler
Since this is the first time the “Best Latin Hip-Hop” category is in the Houston Press Music Awards mix, Rocks Off thought we should provide those voting for this year’s awards – but not familiar with Latinos in Houston hip-hop – a visual of who is up for this inaugural…
Wine of the Week: Salentein Malbec
I never met a Malbec I didn’t like. They’re always smooth, fruit-forward and a beautifully inky purple that stains the lips and teeth, giving you what a friend of mine once referred to as a “serial-killer-smile.” Malbecs are exotic and historic, with French origins and a now large production in…
Brian Bledsoe And Esther Sustaita: Home-Grilled Meat Spells Doom For Bryan Pair’s Alleged Motel Drug Spree
Brian Bledsoe and Esther Sustaita had made all the arrangements, and their alleged Tuesday evening drug bender was going well. They had rented a room at the Travel Lodge on Bryan’s Texas Avenue, and the pharmaceutical cornucopia they had on hand would have (mildly) impressed Hunter S. Thompson. And in…
Pat Green Or Monkeys Riding Dogs? A July 4 Dilemma Solved
Sunday, the City of Houston will celebrate our fine country’s independence from the Redcoats in the same way it does every single other year, with the self-proclaimed “Largest Land-Based Fireworks Show in the Nation,” Freedom Over Texas. This year, the festival’s blander-than-white-bread headliner will be Pat “The Devil’s Spawn” Green,…
The 5 Most Comforting Funeral Foods
My sweet aunt passed away last week, with the funeral held this past Monday at my childhood church. Like at every proper Texas funeral, there was a spread of food laid out afterward that would rival any church potluck supper. The gorging that commences after a funeral is both cathartic…
Matt & Kim, Jonathan Tyler Sign On To Music Awards Showcase
Today Rocks Off is pleased to announce that we have two special guests for this year’s Houston Press Music Awards showcase, all day Saturday, August 7, inside and outside along Washington Avenue. After the locals do their thing, we have indie duo Matt & Kim and Texas boogie-rockers Jonathan Tyler…
Ryan Chase Winters, 24, Bayou Body Count No. 162
A passerby in the Third Ward discovered Wednesday the body of a man who had been shot to death.Investigators have identified the deceased as Ryan Chase Winters, 24, but they have no suspects or witnesses at this time.The body was discovered in the 3000 block of Prospect by a person…
Yeee-Haw!! Houstonians Headed To Arizona To Show Support
The Freedom Riders of the `60s were brave, visionary fighters for civil rights, but they pale in comparison to the Pale Riders of the Michael Berry Brigade.Berry, the former city councilman and current KTRH talk-show host who recently hoped that a mosque would get bombed, is boldly leading Lovers of…
The New Tequila Service at Cyclone Anaya’s
People like to see their food being made tableside. What else explains the success of Benihana? Cyclone Anaya’s is taking the tableside service to another level with its new tableside tequila feature. For $75 a pop, diners can have a bartender come to their table with a tray filled with…
Scarface Endorses Music Rights Now’s Anti-Piracy Campaign
One thing Rocks Off learned from working in Washington, D.C. is that if you constantly get in Congress’ face, and bring a big enough crew with you, legislators – believe it or not – listen and sometimes even act on your concerns. When it comes to the music industry, there’s…
Astro All Stars: They Have To Have One, Right?
Today is your last chance to cast your vote for Kazuo Matsui to start in the MLB All Star Game. And the voting ends at 10:59 p.m., so get to it while you still can.But no matter what happens, no matter how many times you vote today, no Houston Astros…
Health Dept. Roundup: An International Tour
This week on Health Department Roundup, we take an international tour of sorts, and even throw in dessert. If you want to pretend it’s in honor of the World Cup, feel free. At Cazadores Mexican Restaurant (11031 Northwest Fwy.), in a June 29 routine visit , inspectors found the hand-washing…
Remember Chamillionaire’s The Sound Of Revenge?
Houston’s history is dotted with albums that, fairly or not, have been swept aside. We’ll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. Chamillionaire The Sound of Revenge (Universal, 2005) Boom. The Sound of Revenge. Remember how big this album was? You…
The Top 10 Coolest Music-Video Explosions
We like fireworks and explosions, and with July 4th right around the corner, we are sure to get our fill. Things burning or blowing up are pretty cool, except of course if it’s your house, car or business. In that case, it’s an awful, horrible atrocity and God is a…
Cyrus: Win Free Preview Passes To A Movie Where John C. Reilly Does Not Play A Cop
Cyrus is a quirky comedy starring Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei and John C. Reilly.Reilly plays a guy whose romance with Tomei gets complicated by her relationship with Hill, a son who’s kind of challenging.Reilly does not play a cop. Actually, he hasn’t in a while, but starting out it was…
Believe It Or Not, There Are Bigger Crybabies Than Cristiano Ronaldo
We’ve reached the quarterfinal stage of the World Cup, and some big names have already been unceremoniously booted after early round losses. Not many people were surprised at France’s exit, and The USA and England were lucky to make the Round of 16 in the first place. But Italy, the…
Opera: The Video Game
Recently, Valerie Alberto gave you a list of video-game theme-song covers that sent your humble narrator hurtling back into his childhood, a time when beating a game was called “flipping.” And when Rocks Off thinks of video-game music, only one things comes to mind – the opera scene in Final…
Sweet Tea & Vodka: Deep Eddy, A Uniquely Texas Spirit
Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka couldn’t be more Texas if it tried. Its namesake is the oldest swimming pool in Texas, on the National Register of Historic Places. The water for Deep Eddy comes from an artesian well in north Texas, and the corn for the vodka — which is…
SpaceCenter Houston’s Rocket Park Fills In A Missing Piece
Last week, with little fanfare, a truck rolled up to the Johnson Space Center with a unique cargo.It was a replica of a Gemini-Titan rocket with capsule, and it means SpaceCenter’s Rocket Park will fill in a missing piece of JSC history.As CollectSpace reports, JSC had been missing a Gemini-Titan,…
Lance Reyna: An Arrest, But No Hate-Crime Charges
Authorities have made an arrest in the assault of a gay-rights leader who was attacked on the central campus of Houston Community College, but no hate-crime charges will be filed.HCC student Terrance Calhoun, 22, was charged in the assault of Lance Reyna in an HCC bathroom June 22.But Donna Hawkins,…
DockDogs
Proud dog owners will show off their canines’ talents during this weekend’s DockDogs. Pooches of every size and stripe will compete by leaping off a deck and into a pool of water. The dog that goes the highest or the farthest wins. There are pro, semi-pro and amateur heats, and…
Breath Made Visible
“I dance for the fun of it,” states the irrepressible American avant-gardist Anna Halprin, still dancing at 90 years old. You’ll understand her passion when you watch Ruedi Gerber’s recently released documentary about Halprin, Breath Made Visible. (The title is taken from her quote, “Dance is breath made visible. Anybody…
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
McMurphy, the lead character in the play One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, thinks he has a plan: To avoid hard time on a prison farm for statutory rape, he’ll spend his time at a cushy psych ward. He isn’t crazy, of course, but he’s displayed enough antiauthoritarian tendencies that…
4th of July Parade
The water near Galveston might still be brownish, but the city is turning red, white and blue today. One of the main features of the celebration in Galveston will be the island city’s traditional 4th of July Parade, which will go through the streets of the historical Strand District. 10…
An Evening of Original Plays
Girls hook up and talk-show hosts kick the bucket in An Evening of Original Plays, presented by Aside Productions. “This show has something for everyone,” says Jessica Canfield, the temporary administrator of the company. The student-written plays featured in the evening include The Male Alphabet: “It’s a romantic comedy about…
While the Lights Were Out
American playwright Jack Sharkey certainly knows how to twist an old-fashioned murder mystery into an outrageously funny comedy. His silly thriller While the Lights Were Out has all the requisite trappings of a whodunit. British accents, watercress sandwiches and characters with names such as Lord and Lady Wickenham fill up…
Live at the MGM Grand Garden Arena: Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin
See some explosive fighting the day before the fourth of July with the UFC. The main event features heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar vs. interim title holder Shane Carwin. In a Live at the MGM Grand Garden Arena event in Las Vegas, one of these fighters will be declared the undisputed…
The Glass Menagerie
David Rainey has big ideas for the Landing Theatre Company, the brand-new professional theater company housed at the University of Houston-Downtown. Rainey, a company member of the Alley Theatre, is artistic director of the enterprise. “Our goal is to eventually offer a full season during the summer, like Williamstown,” he…
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
See Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Volume 1 and Volume 2 film duet as it was intended to be seen – on a big screen and back-to-back in Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair. The story of a bride who seeks revenge on a former lover who busted up her wedding…
An Immigrant’s Heart
It began as a cold that Julia Amparo-Alvarado couldn’t seem to shake. One January night in 2003 when her boss called, asking her to come in for a night shift of janitorial work at the Brooklyn Con Ed building, Julia protested, complaining of a fever. But with an eight-year-old son…
Leaving Iowa
If you’re too busy or too broke to leave town this summer, the A.D. Players have the show for you. Leaving Iowa is a comedic homage to the classic family road trip. Written by Tim Clue and Spike Manton, the story follows a middle-aged writer named Don Browning as he…
Singin’ in the Rain
The Gene Kelly film Singin’ in the Rain is considered a screen classic. The movie features Kelly’s famous dance down a street during a pouring rain, and co-stars Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds doing a little hoofing themselves. What you might not know is that while Kelly and Reynolds fall…
Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Celebration
An icon of country music, Willie Nelson is also famous for his 4th of July concerts, not paying taxes and his tireless advocacy of freedom – as in, the freedom to smoke weed. So it’s appropriate the Aurora Picture Show is marking the anniversary our nation’s founding with an outdoor…
Judy Shepard
Judy Shepard had every reason to retreat into silent anonymity after the horrible events of 1998. Her son Matthew, a university student who happened to be gay, was brutally beaten and left to die in Laramie, Wyoming. Following his death, antigay protesters publicly declared that her son was in hell…
“Harold Garde”
Artist Harold Garde once said, “I don’t trust pretty, and I don’t trust nice.” Viewers will see just how unpretty and un-nice the ninetysomething artist’s work can be at the “Harold Garde” exhibit, part of Art Houston 2010. Garde’s work might seem to be an odd choice for Wade Wilson…
“Sixty Years of Animation: Paintings and Drawings by Gerard Baldwin”
Thirtysomethings will know – or should know – who Gerard Baldwin is. He’s the man who brought them their Saturday-morning cartoons. “Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that,” says the man partially behind The Smurfs, George of the Jungle and Rocky and Bullwinkle (to name a few). “Sixty Years…
One Hot Texican Summer (or the Summer I Found Out I was Mexican)
At the age of seven, playwright Alvaro Saar Rios had a hell of an epiphany. “We were listening to the radio, dad was playing some ranchera music,” he says, “and I was like, ‘Why does dad always have to listen to Mexican music?’ And my big brother said, ‘Because he’s…
Target Free First Sunday: America the Beautiful
Just say no to whining kids and biting mosquitoes this holiday weekend. Instead, head to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston for the kid-friendly Target Free First Sunday: America the Beautiful. Upstairs, there’s readings about American heroes and how our country began. Downstairs, kids can learn about our founding fathers…
July 4th Weekend Extravaganza at Sam Houston Race Park
The Sam Houston Race Park Firework Extravaganza includes 12 live races and a performance by Team Ghost Rider that features four monkeys riding dogs and herding sheep (we’re hoping for marching-band formations, but the sheep aren’t always too cooperative). Then it’s time for the fireworks, one of the biggest displays…
Crowne Plaza Hotel 4th of July Freedom Package
You’ll have the best view in town for the downtown fireworks from your room with a Crown Plaza Hotel 4th of July Freedom Package. Or you can walk over to the show, enjoy the fireworks and music, then come back to enjoy deluxe overnight accommodations. In the morning, enjoy a…
Baytown’s 4th of July Parade and Celebration
One day isn’t long enough to celebrate America’s independence, so the annual Baytown 4th of July Parade and Celebration is a full weekend of live entertainment, including music by Blue Oyster Cult and Joe Nichols; a parade with floats, marching bands and drill teams all bedazzled in red, white and…
4th of July Cruise
Enjoy a four-course meal, party favors, live entertainment, complimentary beer, wine and champagne aboard a luxury yacht while you watch the spectacular fireworks over Clear Lake. 8 p.m. South Shore Harbour Marina, 2551 South Shore Boulevard, League City. For information, call 281-538-9600 or visit www.southshoreharbourmarina.com. $39.95 to $89.95. OLIVIA FLORES…
Kemah Boardwalk Firework Extravaganza
Kemah and neighboring areas will be able to see an exiting display of fireworks as the Kemah Boardwalk Firework Extravaganza lights up over Galveston Bay. 9:30 p.m. Kemah Board Walk. For information, call 281-344-9880 or visit www.kemah.net. Free. Sun., July 4, 9:30 p.m., 2010…
Target Free First Sunday: America the Beautiful
Just say no to whining kids and biting mosquitoes this holiday weekend. Instead, head to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston for the kid-friendly Target Free First Sunday: America the Beautiful. Upstairs, there’s readings about American heroes and how our country began. Downstairs, kids can learn about our founding fathers…
Best in Show
If they ever award an Oscar for the “Best Mockumentary about a Dog Show Competition,” 2000’s Best in Show would win hands down. Then again, pretty much any film from the brilliant writer/director/actor Christopher Guest and his stable of regulars (including Parker Posey, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara and that gym…
Houston Symphony: Star Spangled Salute
Amid the incessant political bickering and general national strife, you might not be feeling too patriotic these days. But for most of us all it takes to stir up that deep-seated loyalty is some rousing Tchaikovsky. All right, so his 1812 Overture was written to commemorate Russia’s defeat of Napoleon,…
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Before he was Mr. Madonna, Guy Ritchie was a filmmaker churning out quirky works like his 1998 comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The film features a quartet of unlucky, hapless lads who get suckered by some card sharks. The guys find themselves owing big bucks to some scary…
Red Riding Trilogy
The wild beauty of Yorkshire, England, is the setting for Red Riding Trilogy, a remarkable British TV adaptation of David Peace’s series of detective books, Red Riding Quartet. (The four books were squeezed into three films, each with a different director.) The highly prized interlocking triptych of movies spans ten…
Waking Sleeping Beauty
The house that Mickey Mouse built almost fell apart in the early 1980s thanks to corporate chaos and infighting. The near ruin of the company is captured in the award-winning documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty. A raging power struggle between three of Disney’s principals – Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Roy…
Psychedelic Furs
The Psychedelic Furs are a study in retroactive popularity. They toiled in the punk and new wave underground for years before finding success as the inspiration for a John Hughes movie in 1986. They re-recorded that song (“Pretty in Pink”) for the soundtrack, and after being an afterthought for so…
A Case of the Vapours
Nick Thorburn has been through a lot with Islands: regular lineup changes; massive critical and popular acclaim; the disappointment of an ambitious yet poorly received sophomore outing; and return to form with a near-perfect pop gem in last year’s Vapours. It’s been a wild ride. Just before the Canadian band…
Thrice
Over the last decade, no other band from the Screamo Class of 2001 has made as many strides sonically as Thrice. Although early labelmates Thursday carved out their own emotionally cathartic niche, Thrice constantly set the bar for themselves higher and higher with each successive album until they were almost…
Peanut Butter Miracles
In Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, everyone rises with the roosters, and by 8 a.m. the unpaved streets outside Hospital Justinien are jammed. Taxicabs and pickup trucks, some painted with religious slogans and turned into makeshift buses called taptaps, jostle for space on the narrow thoroughfares, dodging potholes and negotiating chaotic corners unregulated…
Book ’em, Danno
EDUCATION, CRIME Book ’em, Danno Constables go after HISD students’ unreturned books By Margaret Downing Irma Alvarez was at work on Thursday, June 17, when her cousin called her to say a uniformed officer was at the door, demanding the return of the textbooks Alvarez’s son still had after the…
SPECIAL POETRY EDITION
Dear Readers, The Arizona pendejas have emboldened hundreds of Know Nothings in the past week to boast to the Mexican that they’re not racist if they support SB 1070 because, according to them, they believe in the law and they have no problems with immigrants as long as they’re legal…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Daniel Heimbinder: Story,” “Hand+Made: The Performative Impulse in Art and Craft,” “Maurizio Cattelan,” “Steve Wolfe on Paper”
“Daniel Heimbinder: Story” Cheetos, pink monsters, crystal vases and bell-bottomed pants are the major characters in Houston artist Daniel Heimbinder’s “Story,” presented by cool Montrose house/gallery the Joannex. One marker-on-paper series depicts slews of plaid pants legs and boots slung over the edges of walls, into deep pits and piled…
The Watermarks
Already seen the Psychedelic Furs? Houston’s Watermarks cultivate that same kind of sensual, sunglasses-after-dark modern-rock sound – albeit with synthesizers standing in for saxophones, and both live and electronic drums – and have been lauded by blogs such as Under Control and Never Enough Notes in the Furs’ homeland for…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Fear of Ducks, Panic
Fear of Ducks Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the theater, along comes the inspired lunacy of Radio Music Theatre. You’re never safe around these three (Steve Farrell, Vicki Farrell, Rich Mills), for you could die laughing, or at the very least spray your drink…
Disemboweled at Dinner
Civilization is a ruse. Down in our guts, we’re all just bloodthirsty animals. That’s the truth devouring audiences of Catastrophic Theatre’s remount of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s hilariously gory Hunter Gatherers. The four-character play Catastrophic first produced last year to critical raves is running this year at DiverseWorks. The script is…
Police Problems
Police Problems Online readers comment on “Under Fire,” by Chris Vogel, June 17: Hire her back: This officer has every right to stand up for herself. As a female officer, I know how hard it is out there. Everything gets looked at and twisted up the wrong way. God bless her…
Pho on Fannin
My third visit to Kim Tai Restaurant was my favorite one. I sat at one of the smaller tables while the owners’ family and friends drank iced beer (a popular way to drink it in Vietnam), watched soccer on a plasma TV, talked really loud and laughed even louder. By…
Heights West
For someone with no restaurant experience, Connie Masterson sure seems to know what she’s talking about and, more important, what she wants. “I live in the area and what we needed here was a restaurant serving high-quality food at very reasonable prices, where you can get a bottle of wine…
Hot Shrimp
There’s a dish at Brio Tuscan Grille (12808 Queensbury Ln., 713-973-9610) that demands attention, from the moment you see it on the menu until the moment you inhale the last morsel. It’s the appetizer called Spicy Shrimp with Eggplant ($11.95). Thin slices of eggplant encrusted with Romano cheese and bread…
The Ginger Man Pub’s Scottish Schwinn
The Ginger Man Pub (5607 Morningside Dr., 713-526-2770) is the misfit at the frat party that is the southeastern corner of Rice Village. Its bigger neighbors, two of which also feature “pub” in their names, make The Ginger Man seem so precious in comparison that I’m forced to pinch my…
Courtney’s Revenge
Room, meet the rhinoplastied elephant in a tutu. To address the new Hole record, Nobody’s Daughter, without considering Courtney Love’s chaos-prone reputation — the “Courtney Love Monster,” as she recently described it on Twitter — is to analyze the recent health-care bill without acknowledging Barack Obama. It’s impossible not to…
Return of the Boomba
Dubstep is a club-friendly genre of music that popped up at the end of the ’90s. Suraj Kurian, one of Houston’s most prominent figures in the local dubstep scene, describes it as “what Justin Timberlake was doing with [producer] Timbaland, except there’s no vocals.” In other words, it’s a super…
Vans Warped Tour
Friday, this annual punk-rock summer caravan pulls into northwest Houston for its 15th stop in the Bayou City. You can always expect a sweltering and sweaty good time, as kids come every year to carouse, get heat exhaustion, drink sugary energy drinks and have their impressionable minds blown by new…
Kermit Ruffins
Kermit Ruffins may not be a household name to Houstonians, but he may be the most accomplished New Orleans jazz musician of his generation and he is definitely Crescent City to the core. (He’s not a bad cook, either…he named his backing band the Barbecue Swingers for a reason.) Born…
