“Perspectives 171: Jennifer West”
Jennifer West has some interesting editing techniques. The filmmaker/multimedia artist’s movies are stepped on, skated over and sprayed with everything from whiskey to hardboiled eggs before seeing screen time. But these beatings random — West carefully chooses her torturous methods to match her subject matter. For Shred the Gnar Full…
Garden to Glass at Backstreet Cafe
Garden-fresh doesn’t always have to refer to the food you’re eating. In some cases, as with Backstreet Cafe’s Garden to Glass event, it can refer to the beverages you’re sipping as well. The restaurant is holding what it hopes will be the first of a series of Garden to Glass…
The Single Most Epic Pest-Control Ad Ever Heard On Radio
Houstonians who listen to 1560 The Game occasionally get to hear the most epic pest-control commercial of all time.Words hardly do it justice; it must be experienced to achieve full appreciation. Speaking over a bouncy tune, a twangy voice informs us: “My name is Scott McGrath. The day before my…
Beyonce: What Was She Texting While Driving?
A few days ago, Beyonce was texting while driving, which is not only dangerous but now actually against the law in most places. One of those places happens to be New York City, where she was pulled over by the police and given a ticket for the aforementioned digital-age misdemeanor…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Gilbert Arismendez of Phil’s Texas Barbecue
In June, Phil’s Texas Barbecue at 110 S. Heights Boulevard and Washington fired up its smokers and opened for business. We caught up with Phil’s pitmaster Gilbert Arismendez to discuss the best day for opening a restaurant. Eating Our Words: Your grand opening was in Jun,e but that wasn’t the…
Michael Anthony Green: To Be Released After Wrongly Serving 27 Years (UPDATE: “Too Upset” To Be Freed?)
For the second time in a week, the Harris County DA’s office is announcing they are taking steps to free a wrongly convicted inmate.Michael Anthony Green, 45, has served 27 years for a sexual assault prosecutors are now convinced he did not commit, thanks to DNA evidence. It’s believed to…
Stirred & Shaken: Teotihuacán’s Topo and Gin
I feel guilty badmouthing the drink that probably had a hand in my conception (hi, Mom and Dad), but I don’t like most house frozen margaritas. I do enjoy a good ‘rita on the rocks made with fresh lime juice. I just can’t stomach the blended Ectoplasm a lot of…
Arizona’s Immigration Law Delayed; A Battle Report From the State
A federal judge has delayed implementation of the most controversial parts of Arizona’s new immigration-enforcement law, but that is only a first step in the state’s frontline battle over border policy.Our sister paper Phoenix New Times is at the heart of the conflict, and has been devoting special attention –…
Hey Lois: Local Musician Serenades The Corpse Flower
After keeping Houston in suspense for much longer than expected, Lois the corpse flower bloomed over the weekend, and is now a mass of rotting organic debris instead of just smelling like one. Local musician Danny Osterwisch was hired to play Jessica Zabala and John Smith’s wedding, which the soon-to-be…
On the Road in Miami
A summer vacation without the beach is like a cookie without sugar: pointless. Luckily our beautiful neighbor to the south, Miami, has yet to be affected by the negligence of BP. The city is as vibrant as ever with its glitz, glam and ever-present Latin flair. Whether you’re in the…
Game Time: Bryan Colangelo Calls Chris Bosh A Pussy
Right now, the Miami Heat are 0-0 in the 2010-2011 season. We’ve learned nothing about them from a basketball standpoint. At this point, all we know is how this new marriage made in hell has been processed emotionally — by jilted fans, jilted teammates, and jilted former employers.To assess, Dwyane…
A “National” Tour Is Not L.A. To San Francisco Or A Few Festival Dates
Tuesday, Rocks Off was a busy beaver keeping up with all the concert announcements coming over the wire. Along with the Fitzgerald’s news, it was hard to keep up with everything going on. Interpol, Stone Temple Pilots, Drake, and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros all announced dates in Houston…
Top Five Food-Related Idiomatic Expressions
Of the activities that provide me with endless entertainment, eating is high up on the list (shocking, I know), as is analyzing literature, speech, dialogue…you know, words. It came to my attention once when I was teaching ESL how much of our day-to-day slang involves metaphors and similes of consumption,…
Rick Perry On Twitter: Following Hitler’s Girlfriend And Fans Of Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato And The Jonas Brothers
Governor Rick Perry is as modern as they come, what with the Twitter and the webpage and the secession and all.So who’s he following on Twitter? Well, according to the above screenshot, he likes to keep up with Eva Braun, Hitler’s old galpal.To be completely fair, he actually appears to…
Turkish Ravioli: Manti at Istanbul
Manti is one of the few Turkish dishes that Americans might be familiar with that didn’t come from the Mediterranean. Foods like hummus, baba ganoush and dolmades all have roots in the Levant and its bordering countries. Not manti. The clever little dumplings — which Istabnbul (5613 Morningside) has listed…
Lady Gaga’s Imaginary Penis: Music’s Best Sex Urban Legend Ever?
Well, milady has come and gone, leaving in her wake a trail of Christ’s blood and broken hearts. And a lot of people who couldn’t get into the show having to make do with Kesha. Rocks Off was not among the anointed allowed to cover the concert, and we couldn’t…
Houston’s 10 Best And Five Worst Sports Moments, Revealed And Ranked
Your long wait is over.For years, you have waited patiently for a definitive list of the Top Ten Houston Sports Moments. You have been equally eager for a list of the Top Five Heartbreaking Moments. But no one had the balls to do the job.Until now.Houston’s sports history is filled…
Robb Walsh’s 100 Favorite Houston Dishes #1 Oysters Gilhooley at Gilhooley’s Raw Bar in San Leon
For a slideshow of all Robb’s favorite 100 dishes, click here. Over the course of the past few months, I’ve counted 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…
Houston, We Have A….Well, Let’s Look At What The Cliche Is Giving Us Recently
“Houston, we have a problem,” as many (most?) Houstonians know, is not what was said on Apollo 13.”Houston, we’ve had a problem” is the actual quote. But that wasn’t deemed dramatic enough for fiction, so changes were made, much to the relief of headline writers, newspaper reporters and bloggers everywhere,…
Last Night: The Cool Tour At Verizon Wireless Theater
As I Lay Dying, UnderOath, Between the Buried and Me, Bless the Fall Verizon Wireless Theater July 27, 2010 Tuesday night, Aftermath witnessed a few things we didn’t expect to see: A lot of fans who were extremely drunk before the sun even set, the loneliest mosh pit ever (about…
Chile Pancho Hot Sauces
On the way back from a recent trip to Mexico, I wandered into the duty-free area. In the sea of merchandise was a small island of nothing but hot sauces, sitting quietly behind a tower of buy one, get one free tequila. Normally, I choose the El Yucateco habanero hot…
Manchester United vs. MLS All-Stars: Who Will Win?
The day of reckoning is upon us, when a band of Red Devils from Manchester, England visit our fair city to square off against an outfit of America’s best. Well, not necessarily the US national team that played in South Africa, but a group of All-Stars from our domestic soccer…
Roznovsky’s: Texas Burgers and Beer
The chili at Roznovsky’s (3401 West T. C. Jester Blvd., 713-957-1100) is house-made. It is thick and spicy, with mostly ground beef and no beans. I saw some green chiles in there between the fine-diced onions and shredded cheddar cheese…
The American Heist Steal Houston’s Punk-Rock Hearts
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. This week we’re sipping from the diamond-crested HPMA…
Houston’s Love For Caffeine A Middling 15th Among Nation’s Top 20. We Blame You, Water Drinker
Houston, you drink a lot of cofffee. Not as much as New York, definitely not as much as Seattle (of course), but more than Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta.This comes from the Daily Beast, which has combined marketing data, a survey and whatever else they could find to make a pseudo-scientific…
Last Night: Matisyahu At House Of Blues
Matisyahu House of Blues July 27, 2010 8:54 p.m.: Man, we totally underestimated the market for American Hassidic Jewish reggae musicians. This place is packed. 8:56: Dub Trio is on stage. They’re a fairly impressive trio from Brooklyn. Not Beastie Boys impressive, but fun nonetheless. 8:59: Are you aware that…
MLS All-Star Game: Commissioner, Dynamo Honcho Talk Houston Soccer
Last night, Major League Soccer hosted a party for the who’s who in Houston. The evening soiree at Hotel ZaZa had players past and present, corporate honchos, team owners and executives; basically anyone with deep pockets in American soccer.So how did Hair Balls crash the joint? A long-sleeve shirt and…
Please, Let Mark Cuban Buy The Rangers, For The Astros’ Sake
Don’t despair, Houston Astros fans. I know you’re tired of bad baseball. I know you’re a tired of good ol’ boy Drayton and his bumbling sidekick Ed. I know you’re tired of laggards like Carlos Lee and contracts wasted on the likes of Pedro Feliz. I know you’re fed up…
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. Aghastronome: Former contributor to the now-defunct Houstonist, Mary Jane Poorman has started…
ChubbyBoi95: Caught In A Loop
Every day Rocks Off trolls the tubes of you in search of videos to share. If you have something that you think deserves to be video of the day, send a link to jef_rouner at yahoo dot com. We do so love gimmicky filmmaking here at the daily video project…
Heights Walmart: City Council Gets An Earful, Developer May Get Tax Incentives
Members of the “Stop Heights Walmart” group came out in force to the City Hall meeting Tuesday to let officials get a glimpse of a small part of the opposition that has grown to more than 4,000 members in the past few weeks.Meanwhile, Houston officials told Hair Balls they are…
HISD’s E-Rate Report is Out, Some Mysteries Remain
It’s debatable what’s more amazing when reading over the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm’s report on ethical violations in the so-called E-rate program by Houston ISD employees and their too-tempting IT vendors — the stuff they can verify or the allegations that have been filed away as “not confirmed” by…
Top Five Delicious Foods (With Disgusting Ingredients)
We’re well aware that the terms “delicious” and “disgusting” are subjective. One man’s “Best Burger Ever!” is another man’s “Craptastic Beefy Abortion.” We know. We’re going by general popularity here, dishes that most of you eat, yet most likely significantly fewer of you are familiar with the production of. We’ll…
New Playground: MLS Means Well, But Credit Goes To The Volunteers
How many Major League Soccer All-Stars does it take to put in a playground? Apparently only three.Well, three, along with the assistance of nearly 250 sweaty volunteers, most of whom were wearing mud-caked shoes by the end of the day. And don’t forget a bit of extra labor from five…
Cartoon Band To Play Toyota Center
My my, we’re busy today. Rocks Off sent this into the Twitterverse earlier, but for all you non-tweeters, Gorillaz, the UK hip-hop/electronica/rock band composed of Murdoc Niccals, 2D, Noodle and Russel Hobbs – the cartoon avatars of Blur’s Damon Albarn and his pal Jamie Hewlett – are penciled in for…
Metro Didn’t Illegally Shred Any Documents, DA Says
Metro released news today that the District Attorney’s Office has closed its investigation into allegations that Metro employees were illegally destroying documents and violating the Texas Public Information Act. In a one-paragraph letter sent on July 21, the DA’s office informed Metro that the investigation “…found no evidence of criminal…
The Tex-Mex Grill and Backyard Barbacoa Cookbook by Robb Walsh
Robb Walsh’s latest publication, The Tex-Mex Grill and Backyard Barbacoa Cookbook, belongs to a very distinctive category of cookbooks — the kind that’s just as much fun to read as it is to cook from. Easy, informative prose is what you’d expect from Walsh, who certainly needs no introduction around…
Best & Worst Houston Sports Moments: What Didn’t Make The Cut
Tomorrow we officially reveal the unimpeachable, inarguable list of the Ten Best Sports Moments in Houston History, not to mention the five most heartbreaking ones.There were plenty of candidates for both lists, thanks to readers, and winnowing it down was a task suited only to those who laugh in the…
Free Press Summer Fest Team Taking Over Fitzgerald’s
4:38 p.m.: UPDATED with more information from Afra. Free Press Houston editor/publisher Omar Afra and Pegstar.net owner Jagi Katial, the principal figures behind Free Press Summer Fest, announced this afternoon they are taking over the lease and day-to-day operations of historic Heights nightclub Fitzgerald’s, effective in September. After current Fitz’s…
Soft-Shell Crab (Legs) at Patu’s Thai Cusine
I try to eat, or should I say, enjoy as much soft-shell crab possible while it’s in season, but for the second time in a row, I have failed. Recently at Reef, I attempted to order their gigonzo tempura soft-shell crab (big as my forearm, no joke) only to find…
Premiere: Fat Tony’s “Like, Hell Yeah” Video (Slightly NSFW)
Rocks Off is proud to be the first to premiere the first clip of Fat Tony’s “Like, Hell Yeah,” which is also up for Best Song in this year’s Houston Press Music Awards. The music video was filmed inside a house in Montrose and features enough Houston indie scene luminaries…
Game Time: Yao Ming — My Career Advice
As NBA stars go, when healthy Yao Ming is a game changer. We all know this to be true. He’s as skilled an offensive big man as there is in the league, he draws double teams, and what he lacks in footspeed defensively, he makes up for in effort and…
Bobby Heugel’s Weekly Cocktail: The Maple Leaf
Why write about a drink whose names suggest such a pro-Canadian agenda in, of all states, Texas? Because right about now, we are probably all wishing we were in Canada. The upcoming weekend in Montreal sounds nice – high of 77 and low of 56. Hell, sitting through a Celine…
Confirmed: Trae And The Box Both Drop Lawsuits
Saturday, reports began popping up that Trae tha Truth, recent celebrator of Trae Day/Houston Press cover man/upcoming HPMA special guest, had dropped his suit against Radio One and The Box. Though no one from Trae’s side has been available for comment – Trae did address the matter cryptically on Twitter…
TEA Says Key, Kashmere “Academically Unacceptable”
The Texas Education Agency has declared Key Middle School and Kashmere High School “Academically Unacceptable” following an investigation into the standardized test cheating and other employee shenanigans at the schools.The TEA is reporting that “actions by some campus staff …compromised the integrity of the 2008-09 results.”The Houston ISD had launched…
What Will Be Robb Walsh’s No. 1 Dish in Houston?
Since Robb Walsh first started his list of Houston’s 100 Best Dishes in February with green chile chicken kebabs from Chatkhara Grill (pictured above), people have been buzzing about what the much-anticipated No. 1 dish will ultimately be. The long wait will be over tomorrow, when Walsh announces his top…
Texas Monthly: Houston is Chow Town
Here at Eating Our Words, we tend to agree. Houston is the best culinary city in Texas, and I’m not just saying that out of a sense of loyalty or native bias. Although from reading the Twitter account that Texas Monthly has set up specifically for the food section of…
i-Dosing: Can Downloading Music Get You High?
What if recreational drugs were legally available and, better yet, digitally downloadable? You’d plug in your headphones, hit play, and melt away in digital ecstasy. Welcome to the world of i-Dosing. It’s the new musical drug craze fascinating Web-surfing kids these days. Dosing sites claim to use harmless methods of…
Housrou Kedji: Swallows 85 Coke-Filled Condoms, Spends Long Night On The Bowl
Housrou Kedji’s got 85 problems, but a bitch ain’t one. Except for the bitch of shitting out 85 cocaine-filled condoms while law enforcement agents watched.Kedji was acting very, very nervous as he boarded a plane at Bush Intercontinental June 29, according to court documents. “His heart was racing, his hands…
Fried Cow at Latina Cafe
For the many years I’ve spent in Montrose — as a visitor and, later, as a resident — I’d never stopped to eat at the little clapboard Latina Cafe on Fairview, no matter how many times I passed it. I decided to rectify this oversight last night, and stopped into…
ACLU Says Texas Teens Being Sent To Debtors’ Prison
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas is challenging officials in Hidalgo County because teenagers are being jailed in an adult detention center for skipping school and not paying truancy fines, which, according to a class action lawsuit filed Monday in federal court, shouldn’t be punishable by jail time. In…
When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong: 2010 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.” Since we’re more…
On the Road in New Orleans
With the economy in the dumps and airline companies being more annoying than ever, more and more people are choosing to spend their summer vacation at closer, drivable locales. One popular destination is the Crescent City. With its old-world charm, plethora of gourmet food choices, and crazy selection of bars…
Wine-O: Ex-Spiritual Rapper Set To Go “Bang Bang”
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…
Unidentified Males, 67 and 55, Bayou Body Counts Nos. 184 & 185
Intoxication manslaughter charges have been filed against the driver of a truck that rammed into a vehicle and caused the death of two men Monday afternoon on the Gulf Freeway.Michael Gregory Petty, 28, was charged in the accident, which occured about 12:30 p.m. Monday in the 18900 block of the…
Recipe: Marinated Mozzarella
Continuing my Italian kick, I’ll share with you a simple method to spruce up that delicious chunk of mozzarella you have sitting in your fridge. This is a marinated mozzarella recipe inspired by Josh, the cheese guy at Whole Foods in Plano, who tediously but happily makes his fresh mozzarella…
Michael Cera: We Don’t Get Him. Help Us Learn Why We Should, And Win Preview Passes To Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Maybe it’s just a low tolerance for indie-movie tweeness, but we have to admit the charms of Michael Cera largely escape us.Now we freely admit we haven’t seen Year One, so there’s a chance that our admiration for his subtle comedic skills might yet be awakened, replacing our annoyance at…
Matisyahu Knows His Reggae – And His Disney
When Rocks Off called Matisyahu last week, he was battling a nasty cold. But it didn’t stop him from giving us a few minutes of his time. If you’ve never heard of Matisyahu, then you’ve probably never heard of the greatest basketball game in history: NBA2K10. That slow-rolling reggae jam…
Brew Blog: Stash IPA from Independence Brewing Co.
We weren’t able to make any of the Firkin Fest events a few weeks back, so we jumped at the chance to try a cask of Stash IPA from Austin’s Independence Brewing Co. last Friday at Anvil. For the uninitiated, all this recent buzz about firkins and casks might be…
Man U Fans Hate Houston (Or Maybe Just Us)
The MLS All-Star Game is only a day away, where the league’s best will take on Manchester United, who are the New York Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys, the Notre Dame of soccer: You either love them or hate them.We decided to hate them, just because they get enough love elsewhere.The…
Last Night: Kesha At House of Blues
Kesha House of Blues July 26, 2010 If Lady Gaga is Chipotle, arguably the trendiest gourmet fast-food burrito on Earth, then Kesha is a frozen gas-station burrito. The kind that you buy drunk while you have gas on your hands, and ends up burning your mouth and you taste petrol…
Houston Texans: Crank Up The Chronicle’s Propaganda Machine
Training camp opens for the Houston Texans on Friday. And as hard as it is to believe, the Houston Chronicle is high on the team’s chances to make the playoffs.NFL “expert” John McClain says the Texans will be a contender for a wild card spot. As McClain writes, the Texans,…
Upcoming: Allen Toussaint, Dead Confederate, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Vibrators, Etc.
500 Megatons Of Boogie, The Jonx, Recreator: Sat., Aug. 14. Rudyard’s. Allen Toussaint, Nicholas Payton, Joe Krown: Thu., Nov. 4. Miller Outdoor Theatre. Behemoth, Black Anvil, Withered: Tue., Nov. 23. Warehouse Live. Better Than Ezra: Wed., Dec. 29. House of Blues. Big Head Todd & The Monsters: Sat., Nov. 20…
Pop Rocks: Finally, Some Important Movie News
Now that the dust has cleared (and the blood has been spilled, thanks to a stabbing before the…Cowboys and Aliens panel) at Comic-Con, we can finally move forward, away from the overwrought announcements about the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Green Lantern (Ryan Reynolds is better suited to play…
Peanuts’ Linus Van Pelt Vs. The Police
Every day Rocks Off trolls the tubes of you in search of videos to share. If you have something that you think deserves to be video of the day, send a link to jef_rouner at yahoo dot com. Who could argue that the cast member of Charles Schultz’s beloved Peanuts…
Where Are We Drinking?
A glass of water, a glass of ice and a bottle of maracuya: What else do you need to stay refreshed and hydrated in the summer? Does the drink selection above look familiar to you? Think you know where we’re drinking this week? Leave your best guess in the comments…
Manchester United: Five Reasons To Hate Them
Manchester United F.C. will be making their first trip to Houston as they play the MLS All-Stars at Reliant Stadium Wednesday. As one of soccer’s most successful and most recognizable clubs, Man U is the sole reason why a record-sellout crowd is expected this Wednesday evening. Man U is a…
HISD Says Get the Facts and We Did — From HISD!
Hair Balls has obtained copies of a power point presentation given to principals of the Houston Independent School District in June that appears to bear out earlier reports that principals were being asked to cover a shortage of $19 million in federal funds. In a slide entitled “Title 1, Part…
Fresh Fruit at Fruituzy
In the comments section of a post on frozen yogurt at Chinatown’s The Yogurt Spot a couple of Fridays ago, reader Puig mentioned that we should give Fruituzy a shot, too: For something different, try Fruituzy, from Fadi Dimassi. The idea was a yogurt bar with middle-east/mediterranean inflections. (Side note:…
Saturday Night: Cadre, Brave Combo And Brains For Dinner At Fitzgerald’s
Cadre, Brave Combo, Brains for Dinner Fitzgerald’s July 24, 2010 Some would argue that Reggae is dead, but the youth of Houston would beg to differ. In dramatic fashion on Saturday night, fans, friends and loved ones were all brought to their feet at Fitzgerald’s, where Cadre, Brave Combo and…
Robb Walsh’s 100 Favorite Houston Dishes #2: Fajitas at the Original Ninfa’s on Navigation
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…
Bugs: There Are Two States Actually Buggier Than Texas
Houston, as you slap your arms, face and neck while trying to enjoy a sunset, reassure yourself that things could be worse: You could be in Florida or Louisiana.Those two states are officially and somewhat scientifically more bug-infested than Texas, according to an industry survey.The least buggiest state of all?…
Chef Chat: Nguyet Nguyen of the Houston Country Club
The Houston Country Club has been experiencing a sweet revolution ever since Nguyet Nguyen assumed the role of assistant pastry chef. Originally from My Tho, Vietnam, Nguyen is just 27 years old but has already won accolades for her desserts in numerous cooking competitions. This August, Nguyen will travel to…
How To Become A Pop Star In Seven Easy Steps
When you become a pop star, you have to worry about things like keeping up with all your many different bank accounts (most of them will only let you store a paltry $100,000 per location), jetting from posh hotel to posh hotel, and the tiresome selection of which two to…
Human Rights Watch Blasts Treatment Of Mentally Disabled In Immigration Cases
Alberto was born in Portugal, but moved with his parents to the United States before his second birthday. In time, he received his green card, becoming a legal permanent resident.But Alberto was bipolar, and as the decades ticked by, he found himself homeless in 2008 after a 50-day stint in…
Woodford Reserve Hosts Cocktail Pairing Dinner at Strip House
Last Thursday, Woodford Reserve hosted a bourbon cocktail pairing dinner at Strip House downtown. Cocktail-pairing dinner parties are popping up everywhere you turn, demonstrating how spirits can replace wine as the go-to dinner drink. And after experiencing the brilliant pairings showcased here, I am definitely a convert. Though bourbon is…
Saturday Night: The Houston Symphony Does Final Fantasy At Jones Hall
The Houston Symphony Jones Hall July 24, 2010 While everyone else in Houston was going gaga for Gaga, Aftermath headed down to Jones Hall to hear the Houston Symphony play Nobuo Uematsu’s fantastic scores from the Final Fantasy series of video games. The hall was absolutely packed with fans ranging…
Game Time: Tracy McGrady Has Unfinished Business (And Water Is Wet)
“I have unfinished business….” — Tracy McGrady, via Twitter on SaturdayYeah, I got that doozy on my Tweetdeck on Saturday and had to laugh. I wondered if maybe the Twitter universe had started up one of its viral bandwagon topics, where people start hurling their contributions onto the Twitter bonfire…
Chef Tats: Katie Leggett
Although it’s been a while since we’ve featured any chef tattoos here at Eating Our Words, we couldn’t resist sharing the sweet sleeve that pastry chef Katie Leggett has been working on for years. Besides being a canvas for some gorgeous artwork, Leggett has plenty more up her “sleeve” than…
Saturday Night: Robert Plant & Band Of Joy At The Woodlands
Robert Plant & Band of Joy, Bettye LaVette Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion July 24, 2010 Robert Plant is a master of the musical bait and switch, but an exceptionally gracious one. Plant is no dummy. He has to know that the commercial radio stations in Houston (and, let’s be fair,…
Greg Abbott Sues Obama Administration Over Clean-Air Rules
The Texas regulations on clean air, such as they are, have done a marvelous job for years, and we don’t need the feds messing with our pristine environment, Texas attorney general Greg Abbott said today in a suit filed against the Obama administration.Texas’ (notorious) Flexible Permitting Program “improves air quality…
$2.99 Southern Point Wine from…Walgreens
It’s called Southern Point, retails for $2.99, and you can only get it at Walgreens. Oh, and it’s as good as any $10 to $12 wine in recent memory. Yes, Walgreens. America’s largest retail drugstore brought wine and beer back to its shelves earlier this year, ending a nearly 15-year…
Trae’s Lawsuit Against The Box Appears To Be Over
Apparently the long, dramatic saga of Houston rapper Trae’s lawsuit against local radio station 97.9 The Box has come to an mysterious and abrupt end. Fox 26 News reported earlier today that Trae and his legal team have dropped the suit they filed back in May that alleges The Box…
Mike Lout, Mayor Of Jasper: Drunk, Shirtless And Arrested At A Sonic
Jasper is a true Piney Woods burg — it’s got a notorious bit of racist history, it’s got an isolated, closed-off feeling to it, it’s got a mayor arrested for public intoxication when he was found wandering down the road from where he had crashed his car at the local…
Which Rappers Would You Fight?
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: Fat Tony, Yung Redd, Candi Redd, Preemo, Ram of Optimo Radio Not Invited: Ganksta NIP, because we already…
Odd Pair at Absolve: Wish You Were There
Our latest Eating Our Words event — Odd Pair at Absolve — went so well yesterday that we wish we could host it every Sunday. Although the event was sold out, the concept of Odd Pair also translates well to a party at home, whether for 100 or just a…
Channel 39 Maybe Doesn’t Want You To Watch Mia Gradney
You know all those semi-sultry billboards with Channel 39’s Mia Gradney asking you to watch her?Forget them.As we noted a month ago, Channel 39’s owners, The Tribune Company, were looking to “bust the TV cliches” on its chain of local stations.And Houston gets to go first. And, as first reported…
True Blood: Even Junkies Got A Right To Sing The Blues
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. Season 3, Episode 6: “I…
Ingredient of the Week: Israeli Couscous
What is it? Israeli couscous, also known as ptitim, is a baked pasta most commonly in the shape of tiny little spheres. Like the other couscous, it is made of semolina wheat, but instead of being dried, it is toasted, and the individual granules are almost twice as large. It…
Will Ferrell: Win Passes To The Other Guys And See His Five Best Funny Or Die Videos
Will Ferrell has been a little uneven in his comedies lately — Land of the Lost and Semi-Pro, for instance — but you know the slump won’t last. Not only because he’s inherently hilarious, but because we’ve got Funny or Die providing all the evidence we need that he hasn’t…
The Chicken Burrito from Tacos Del Julio
Burritos and I have an interesting relationship. On occasion, I don’t mind stopping by the nearest Freebirds World Burrito and grabbing a carnitas with corn salsa and barbecue sauce. Or in an uber-pinch, the breakfast burrito at McDonald’s will do (even though I’ll probably feel guilty later). But I don’t…
Last Night: Lady Gaga At Toyota Center – Again
Ed. Note: Since Ms. Gaga is playing two nights in Houston but reviewer tickets were only available for the first one, Rocks Off figured we’d double up on Sunday reviews. Lady Gaga Toyota Center July 25, 2010 Aftermath fell in love with Lady Gaga last December, when she appeared on…
The Week In TV: Who Watched Mad Men?
The best thing I watched last week was an airing of Ratatouille on ABC Family. This was the week in TV Land: • I’ll tell you right now: I didn’t watch Mad Men. “BUT DAN,” I can hear you shouting even though you’re reading this at work, “it’s amazing! Plus,…
Dear Sarah Palin: This Is Shakespeare
Every day Rocks Off trolls the tubes of you in search of videos to share. If you have something that you think deserves to be our video of the day, send a link to jef_rouner at yahoo dot com. Fresh off a stellar week of featuring the cream of the…
Roy Oswalt: Don’t Blame Him For Astros’ Front-Office Incompetence
In a way, it’s probably all kismet. The stars were perfectly aligned (thanks to a little magic fairy dust from Drayton McLane applied to the pitching order), the scouts were in attendance, and the event had been hyped for awhile.Roy Oswalt was pitching Saturday night to tie Joe Niekro for…
Where Are We Eating?
A basket of fresh, soft bread, some slices of green apple, a cup of honey and an array of delicious cheeses: It’s the perfect picnic. And — even better — it’s indoors. Houstonians don’t do picnics in the dead of summer, after all. Does the spread above look familiar to…
Last Night: Lady Gaga At Toyota Center
Lady Gaga Toyota Center July 25, 2010 For Lady Gaga’s show last night at Toyota Center, the first of a two-night sold-out stand in Houston, she managed to meld blood, sacrilege, fire, pain, heavy metal, love, and the power of music into one mass of light and sound. From a…
Gregory Hundl, 25, Bayou Body Count No. 183
A jailer with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office was killed early Saturday when a drunk teen rammed into his motorcycle as he waited at a red light, officials say.Gregory Hundl was heading home after a shift at the jail and was stopped at the U.S. 9 service road near Aldine-Bender…
Pamela And Jack Wright: Houston’s Pawn Stars
We know we’re a little late to the game, but Hair Balls recently became a fan of Pawn Stars, the History Channel’s beer-gutted, blue-collar answer to PBS’s effete, pinky-sipping Antiques Roadshow. (Which we also love.)Thanks to its Las Vegas setting, and of course the fact that it is, after all,…
This Week in Deliciousness
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where there can never be enough varieties of the Newton. We’re working on a Boston Cream Pie Newton that should be ready before the end of the year, assuming we can get our taste testers to stop coughing up…
Upcoming Events
When you’re done voting in this year’s Houston Press Music Awards, head over to the new and improved 2010 Houston Culinary Awards from My Table Magazine. You’ll find a whole host of new categories in which to cast your vote in a section called Houston Foodie Star awards. The usual…
Estate Sale Of The Century
If you’re going to be a collector, be a collector. Of anything.That seems to have been the motto of one Paul Harsfai, of University Boulevard near Rice Village.There’s an estate sale there tomorrow, and let’s just say you’ll have plenty to choose from. Collectible action figures? Check…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Sylvia Casares of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen
After discussing Sylvia Casares’s unique cuisine, it was getting hard for me to hear her over my growling gut. She presented two sampler plates. The first came with beef carne asada, her famous chili-gravy enchilada, and grilled quail. The carne asada and quail were cooked on her mesquite grill. Both…
New Bar’s Jukebox Takes The Grand Prize
Thursday night, after seeing the Houston Symphony cover Queen and then running to Warehouse Live to bathe in Ratt, Rocks Off went to the opening night of Brad Moore’s new bar in Montrose, Grand Prize. Formerly Ernie’s On Banks, GP was hopping from 9 p.m., when the first drink was…
Game Time: LSU Football Coach Les Miles Breaks Down the Oil Spill (w/ video)
I think most people are in agreement that LeBron James’ decision to broadcast his decision of where he would be playing basketball next season — for the record, he chose “South Beach” — on the creatively titled, made-for-sheep-like-us ESPN infomercial LeBron: The Decision was a disastrous public relations decision for…
Urban Cowboy 2: Close Up The Honky-Tonks
A middle-aged man wakes up bleary-eyed and groggy to the sounds of the neighbor’s lawn mower. Why do people insist on doing their yard work so early on the weekend? It’s a Saturday morning in Pearland, Texas, and for Bud Davis, a senior plant manager with a gold watch, it…
Winning the Grand Prize
The bartenders were all punch-drunk tired and most of the patrons were just plain drunk. The lightbulbs were red and the jukebox blessedly didn’t have an Internet connection. The air conditioning was cold and the patio was filled with smoke. The drinks were strong and the beers were cheap. It…
Last Night: Ratt At Warehouse Live
Ratt Warehouse Live July 22, 2010 Must have been a slow night at the strip clubs Thursday. Sorry, cheap shot. Actually, Ratt deserves a lot of credit. In a summer where tours are wilting right and left and every day seems to bring another “rescheduling” or outright cancellation into Aftermath’s…
Corpse Flower: Lois Finally Delivers
We can all finally get back to caring about things that matter (the oil spill, the state of our education system, the MLS All-Star game, etc.) because Lois the Corpse Flower has finally given her audience what it wanted: Nausea. The six-foot tall, phallus-like, hermaphrodite plant finally sent her unpleasant…
Macaroni — Hold the Cheese — at Tan Tan
One can be forgiven for missing an entire section on the enormous menu at Tan Tan. After all, there are 265 different dishes (yes, 265; yes, I counted) to choose from at the Chinese restaurant, which is popular with late-night diners and families seeking old-fashioned comfort food like congee. It…
Obama & Bill White: Five Reasons The Former Mayor Can’t Meet The Prez
President Barack Obama is visiting Texas — including Houston — next month to raise money for Democrats, but Bill White won’t be appearing with him.White, in fact, has gone out of his way to be snippy about it, telling USA Today “I was in the oil and gas business when…
Creole Creamery
What’s cooler than being cool? Ice cream…in New Orleans. Having appeared on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Kid in a Candy Store on the Food Network, media darling Creole Creamery had a lot to live up to. With chef Bryan Gilmore at the helm, Creole Creamery offers flavors ranging from…
FAIL: Creed, Ice-T, Liam Gallagher
Creed Doesn’t Get It, Guys: You know how some people just never seem to get the message, no matter how obvious you’re being? Even if that message is “I hate your guts”? Not surprisingly, Creed are those guys. You remember Creed: four tribal-tattooed purveyors of pseudo-Christian late-’90s bro-rock anthems so…
Dan Shea: The Man Who Sued The Pope Not Mollified By Vatican’s Latest Sex Abuse Plan
“The Pope and the Vatican just can’t stop showing their ass, can they?”So asks Daniel Shea, the former Roman Catholic deacon turned plaintiff’s lawyer who once hoped to put the Pope in a Houston court docket.Shea is referring to the Church’s latest official directives on the ongoing sex abuse scandals…
Last Night: The Houston Symphony Does The Music Of Queen
The Houston Symphony Jones Hall July 22, 2010 There is perhaps no better way to experience the music of Freddie Mercury and Queen than with a full orchestra. Nothing about the band wasn’t large and grandiose in scope, making them one of the bands most ripe for the orchestral treatment…
Recipe Review: Bon Appetit’s Truffle Brownies
This recipe for truffle brownies is so unbelievably yummy, there is really no need to modify it at all. The only suggestion I have is to be sure to use good-quality chocolate, especially in the ganache part. Also, I like topping each brownie with a walnut half for a nice…
Friday Meal Deals
Just because we’re in a recession doesn’t mean we need to give up eating well. Sure, everyone’s trying to save some green nowadays, but the restaurants are still trying to get us to give it up. That only means one thing: coupons! Below are some deals that will help everyone…
Twitter Fail Guarantee: Any Tweet With The Word “Hubby”
Twitter fail comes in many many forms, but there is one guaranteed way of achieving it: use the word “hubby” in your tweet. It’s guaranteed to therefore be either sickly sweet, TMI or boring. And often it will include an emoticon. Here’s a sampling just from the last hour or…
Paul Wall Shows His Skillz On Heart of a Champion
Paul Wall is the subject of this week’s music feature. Read that right now. Two weeks ago, he released his fifth studio LP, Heart of a Champion. Buy that right now. Go on. We’ll wait. … … Now, in that feature that you just read, it notes that the central…
Report On HCC’s Police Chief: Why The Secrecy?
Months ago, amidst a flood of internal complaints and accusations against Houston Community College police chief Gregory Cunningham, including discrimination and retaliatory discipline against officers, the college administration hired Houston attorney Kathy Butler to investigate the claims and write up a report .Butler interviewed HCC police officers, conducted her investigation,…
$13 at Auntie Chang’s Dumpling House
Where: Auntie Chang’s Dumpling House, 2621 South Shepherd #290, 713-524-8410 What $13 gets you: A generous serving of tea-flavored crispy duck and broccoli with a vegetable soup…
Last Night: Trae Day At Northwest Mall
Trae Day Northwest Mall July 22, 2010 3:36 p.m.: Some dark, menacing clouds are off in the horizon. After everything that’s happened this past year – the ban, the last-minute venue cancellation, etc – is there any way that it won’t rain today? It sort of has to, right? Maybe…
Houston Texans: Shouldn’t The Most Popular Team Win Something?
So the argument being made by Richard Justice and the Houston Chronicle is that Houston has once again become a football town. It’s not really hard to argue with this, thanks to the Astros being so damn bad, and all. But that aside, the question needs to be asked, why?According…
Heights Walmart: The Property Owner Isn’t Ready To Share Information Yet
Ainbinder, the company that owns the Heights-area property being considered for a Walmart, is not quite ready to share its information.Michael Ainbinder. chairman & CEO of the company told Hair Balls that incomplete information has been shared prematurely. “We are not yet able to provide the answers and information that…
A Thousand Cranes = One Great Big WTF
Every day Rocks Off trolls the tubes of you in search of videos to share. If you have something that you think deserves to be video of the day, send a link to jef_rouner at yahoo dot com. This is the last day of Houston Week here at the daily…
Health Dept. Roundup
There were some big offenders this week on Health Department Roundup — where we bring them to you free of charge, so you can stay free of food poisoning! (We’re trying out catchphrases. What do you think? Work in progress…) A complaint yielded a July 16 inspection of Taqueria Lulu…
The Corpse Flower Smells, Or Maybe It’s Just Your Neighbor
Depending on who you talk to, Lois the Corpse Flower may finally be doing her thing: stinking up the place.”A dead rat,” is how one woman described the faint smell. “Cabbagey,” said another. “An old aquarium; that decaying, fishy smell,” said Katherine Ellis, a museum volunteer.”My dad,” said a young…
Nikki Araguz Gives Statement, Doesn’t Answer Questions
Nikki Araguz, the widow of the Wharton firefighter who is being sued by his ex-wife and mother over allegations the marriage was invalid because she was born a man, had an unenlightening press conference yesterday.We didn’t get the invite, but video shows Araguz haltingly giving a simple statement and then…
More Lady Gaga Tickets Just Released
Hot off the wire from our pals at Toyota Center: Hey friends! We are releasing tickets for the Sunday, July 25 and Monday, July 26 Lady Gaga shows right now. They will be in the $49.50 price level (lower bowl and upper bowl seats). These tickets are available at www.toyotacentertix.com,…
Tarp Surfing: Pipeline Tubes Coming To A Parking Lot Near You
It may be storm season in the Gulf, but so far the local breaks have been far from fruitful. For stir-crazy surfers looking for their tube-riding fix, you may want to look no further than that massive blue (or black, for an authentic Gulf surfing experience) tarp folded up in…
Happy Hour Scene: Farrago
The Place: Farrago318 Gray St. 713-523-6404www.farragohouston.comThe Hours: Monday 4-close. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 4-7 p.m. All day Thursday. The Deals: Domestic beers are $2.50 and house wine is $3.50. Well drinks and frozen mojitos are $4.50. Appetizers are half price when ordered at the bar, and on Mondays, the bar…
The Internet’s Freakiest Fan-Drawn Musical Art
Rocks Off scoured the Interwebs for at least an hour Thursday looking for the worst musical fan art we could find. Aside from being mildly sidetracked by pictures of Katy Perry and Britney Spears, we also found plenty of ghastly fan-made visages of their favorite rock and pop stars. Art…
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit of Despair
Have you ever wondered what the food that comes out of the replicator on board the Starship Enterprise tastes like? I mean, sure it looks like Tea, Earl Gray, Hot. But do you think that Captain Picard ever sips on his hot cup of replicated tea and laments the fact…
God of Carnage Rounds Out Alley’s Upcoming Season
The Alley Theatre announced today the final play in the line-up for the upcoming season, and it’s God of Carnage, a recent Broadway hit.Written by Yasmina Reza, who wrote Art, Carnage won a Best Play Tony in 2009 and played to packed crowds with a cast featuring James Gandolfini and…
Robb Walsh’s 100 Favorite Houston Dishes #3 Snapper on a Sizzling Comal at Tampico
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…
Seven Modern Bands We’d Like To See At The Symphony
This evening at Jones Hall, the Houston Symphony will be playing the music of Queen. Pretty fitting, considering the grand, orchestra-friendly nature of many Queen songs. However, there are a slew of other bands whose oeuvres Rocks Off would like to see interpreted by a symphony, and they’re not all…
Getting Divorced In Harris County? Good Luck
Texas Lawyer magazine has a good look at the docket problems in Harris County’s Family Law Center, where nine courts have about 34,500 cases pending on their dockets.One lawyer notes that in his 25 years of practice, the county’s population has doubled but the number of courts hearing family-law matters…
Texas Folklife Seeks Texas Stories
When I was little I ate tomatoes off the vine in my grandparents’ garden, Jell-O from the box at swim meets, and coffee-rubbed ribs straight from the smoker. Today I eat duck gumbo with the fruits of the hunt, Texas roadside dewberry pie, and Cookies ‘n Cream ice cream from…
Game Time: Roy Oswalt — Translating Athlete-Speak 1.0
“It’s not like I’m not happy here. This is the only place I know. They’ve given me a chance to play since ’97, and I’ve always wanted to finish here. But I want to win, too. If you go into spring training knowing you’re not going to win the whole…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Sylvia Casares of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen
We continue our chat with Sylvia Casares of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen, who dispenses advice to those daydreaming of their own restaurants and tells us how to develop a winning recipe. EOW: To those of us dreaming of opening our own restaurant, what words of advice can you give? Casares: Start…
“Metal, Dude!”: Ten Juicy Quotes From The Ultimate Metal Movie
With hair-metal legends(?) Ratt playing Warehouse Live this evening, Rocks Off decided we’d take a look back at the definitive document of that era of metal in Los Angeles: Penelope Spheeris’ rockumentary The Decline Of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years. Ratt isn’t featured in the film, but plenty of…
Metro Takes Several More Steps To Distance Itself From Frank Wilson
The buzzword around Metro is “new.”A recent press release from the agency, for example, promoted “New Metro’s” standards, and at this morning’s board meeting, the agency’s president, George Greanias, talked about the same New Metro.And it did seem new when board member Burt Ballanfant — he was around with the…
Odd Pair: Guacamole
Apparently, Chardonnay seems to be a popular choice to pair with Tex-Mex dips. So why fight the urge to pair a big, buttery, creamy Chardonnay like Clos Du Bois with some creamy, rich, tangy guacamole? While the queso and Chardonnay pairing in the past was less than stellar, the tangy…
Last Night: Streetlight Manifesto At Warehouse Live
Streetlight Manifesto, the Supervillains, the Wonder Years, Dan Potthast Warehouse Live July 21, 2010 Ska/punk had a great night in Houston Thursday, with four bands each pushing the crowd until the Studio area of Warehouse Live became one sweaty heap of people moving to the music. Although headliners Streetlight Manifesto…
Drive-By Shootings: Texas Is Second Only To California
For those of you who always get bummed when Texas gets the lowest spots on national rankings for mental health care, children’s insurance, and other benchmarks of civilized society, here’s a study that puts us at an impressive Number Two: Drive-by shootings.The gun-control communists at the Washington, D.C.-based Violence Policy…
Barefoot Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits
Don’t you sometimes want to kick off your Sunday shoes, get in touch with your feminine side and prance around the kitchen like Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa? Yeah…me neither. But I do enjoy trying out her recipes. This one came from her book Back to Basics, page 228. This…
Gerald Dwayne Woods: Okay, Yeah — I Masturbated In Front Of Kids. But My Attorney Stinks!!
Gerald Dwayne Woods is an old-school, classic sex offender. None of this internet shit.He pulled up to a school bus stop in his BMW, stared at the young middle-school girl waiting there, and started jerking off. After “two to three minutes,” apparently judging the moment to be right, he called…
Remember Killa Kyleon’s Natural Born Killa?
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. Killa Kyleon Natural Born Killa (mixtape, 2010) Back in February, Killa Kyleon threw a picture up on his Twitter…
Every Restaurant Worth Knowing
An article in today’s food section at the Guardian alerted me to a fascinating new concept in the world of food criticism. No, not the “food critic paywall” that the article is primarily concerned with, but an aside in the middle of the column about something called Page One. According…
Tropical Storm In The Gulf: Three Reasons Not To Worry
Here’s a pleasant map to study — a tropical-storm dagger pointed right at the heart of Houston. Even worse than right at the heart — we’re on the dirty side of the storm.Not to worry. Why?…
Lady Gaga: Is She Marilyn Manson? The Debate Continues…
Lady Gaga will be in town this weekend, and although avid Rocks Off readers may think otherwise, we really aren’t her biggest fans – with the exception of Craig’s Hlist, of course. Still, what we do respect about the glam-pop artist is her ability to bring Marilyn Manson’s marketing tactics…
When Feng Shui Gets Even More Sillier Than Usual
The folks at Swamplot have uncovered the story behind the turd-looking rock standing in front of the BNIM Architects office on Main Street south of the Southwest Freeway.It’s all about the feng shui, that mystical combination of expensive interior design and ancient, storied Chinese principles of getting you to spend…
Trevisio Touts a Texas-Sized Happy Hour
A common complaint of Medical Center denizens — whether they’re in the area to work, to receive treatment or to visit someone in one of the maze-like hospitals — is that there are very few decent places to eat and drink. (You thought we were going to say “parking,” didn’t…
Adios Houstonist, Hello H-Town Rock
Keep Houston Rich posts this video from Chingo Bling and Fade Dogg’s new collaboration, “Let Me Know”. The song is featured on Chingo’s new mixtape, Stuntin 4 The Summer. As you well know, the HMPAs are coming up in the next few weeks, but you can find out what Texas…
Will Bob McNair Kill The 2011 NFL Season?
As some NFL fans know, the possibility is growing that there will not be a NFL season in 2011. The reason of course is that there is currently no agreed-upon Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and the players, and while they’re going to play this season, if the two…
Rice University Residential College Guarantee: Not All Students Get What They Pay For
Note to incoming Rice University undergrads (and their parents) expecting the full “residential college” experience: Be sure to read everything that you get on Rice letterhead.One of the universities’ primary selling points is its residential college system, which, according to its website, is “fundamental to the distinctiveness and success of…
New Orleans’s Breakfast: Bananas Foster French Toast
I have a new cooking obsession: French toast. I am not sure how this happened, considering that a year ago I hated the stuff. Now, somehow, I have found myself scouring the web, cookbooks and magazines for new variations to make. I make it not just for breakfast, but also…
“Le Kick”: Proof American Fangs Is Houston’s Best Band?
Every day Rocks Off trolls the tubes of you in search of videos to share. If you have something that you think deserves to be video of the day, send a link to jef_rouner at yahoo dot com. It may come as some surprise to readers that we here at…
Rockets’ Power Dancer Tryouts, Featuring A NASA Engineer
The Rockets Power Dancer final auditions were in full swing Tuesday night: oh the glamour, the perfectly-sculpted legs … the NASA engineer adjusting her hot shorts?Yup.”I’m an engineer at NASA, so when I’m not dancing I work with some of the best and brightest in Houston,” Summer Williams told Hair…
Aggies Might Cut Out Toilet Paper In Dorms: Students Tighten Belts While Dropping Pants
“Immediate action” and “toilet paper” are often used in the same sentence. But it is usually a need for toilet paper, not the removal of it.In an effort to save money, Texas A&M is considering getting rid of the toilet paper for students living in the dorms that don’t have…
Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010
If you weren’t lucky enough to be in Chicago in June to attend the Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010, you have another chance to enjoy the whirlwind of performances by a star-studded line-up of guitar greats at today’s screening of the documentary Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010. A two-hour film…
Patience
Scott Peacock, publicity chair for the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston, sums up the society’s production of Patience this way: “If Monty Python had gotten together and written an opera, this is what they would have come up with. There’s just lots and lots of silliness.” The story of…
Taxidermia
The 2006 Hungarian film Taxidermia, directed by Gyorgy Palfi, features a flame-throwing penis, an obese competitive eater and a taxidermist who makes himself his last project (come on, any two out of those three make it a must-see). There’s Morosgovanyi, who as an orderly in the war is so hot…
Annie
Don’t wait until tomorrow to see the Stage Right production of the family musical Annie, which boasts such songs as “It’s a Hard Knock Life,” “Easy Street” and, of course, the show’s signature, “Tomorrow.” Artistic Director Carolyn Wong says Annie was an easy choice for the group. “We wanted something…
Daniel Silva: The Rembrandt Affair
Gabriel Allon, the protagonist in the new Daniel Silva title The Rembrandt Affair, has just one desire in life: to spend time with his lovely wife Chiara. It isn’t such a lofty goal, but circumstances always seem to conspire to derail his plans. Allon, now working as an art restorer,…
Rent
Jonathan Larson’s Rent, a postmodern remix of Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème, took New York by storm in the mid-’90s. The story was über-original at the time (it turned Puccini’s penniless bohemians in love in 19th-century Paris into 20th-century hipsters in the Big Apple). The groundbreaking show features characters with AIDS,…
“Houston Center for Photography’s 28th Annual Juried Membership Exhibition”
The beauty of the Houston Center for Photography’s “28th Annual Juried Membership Exhibition” is that a viewer with even the most particular tastes should find something to inspire in the works of the 36 artists, selected from 200 by Hannah Frieser, director of the Syracuse-based arts nonprofit Light Work. Ranging…
“Long Way She Wave”
In the last few years, legendary Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai has joined Salvador Dalí and M.C. Escher on the list of artists whose work is most likely to adorn college dorm rooms. His highly energized prints of rampant waves have that kind of instant coolness. Houston artist Marco Villegas pays…
Tuned to a Dead Channel
Local playwright Andrew Kozma’s Tuned to a Dead Channel finds a loose thread and just keeps pulling. “It’s a close-up of a slow unraveling of a person,” says director Erin Kidwell, who, along with Kozma, is co-founder of the brand-new Theatre 42. The play, which is making its world premiere…
2010 Year-Round Exhibition
Some new artists are hanging around the Aerosol Warfare Gallery. “We kind of wanted to open the doors and see who wanted to walk through it,” says co-founder/curator GONZO247. The predominantly graffiti- and street-based art space branched out to include a number of other mediums in its “2010 Year-Round Exhibition.”…
Rent
Jonathan Larson’s Rent, a postmodern remix of Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème, took New York by storm in the mid-’90s. The story was über-original at the time (it turned Puccini’s penniless bohemians in love in 19th-century Paris into 20th-century hipsters in the Big Apple). The groundbreaking show features characters with AIDS,…
Mary Karr book signing
It takes just one read of Liars’ Club, Mary Karr’s first memoir, to recognize that she does not harbor exactly fond memories of her Southeast Texas upbringing. But today, Karr comes to Houston on good terms as a rare talent who has created an incredibly successful literary career using the…
The Big Slide Show
The opening reception for “The Big Show” at Lawndale Art Center was, as one person called it, like “a nightclub.” There were so many people to meet and greet, no one had the chance to delve into the art. For a little more in-depth exploration of the works, Lawndale has…
I Love the ’80s Month: E.T.
E.T. is not going home; he’s coming to the Alamo Drafthouse. Steven Spielberg’s 1982 science fiction classic, the story of Elliot (Henry Thomas), a young boy who befriends an alien, is packed with iconic scenes that seeped their way into our lives long ago. The movie features a young Drew…
Just a Few Feet Away
The premise for Just a Few Feet Away is simple; it’s a cross between Crash and Six Degrees of Separation. A series of monologues told by 12 characters, the story slowly unfolds, not only to the audience but to the characters themselves. Some of the characters know each other, some…
[Rec]2
The Spanish horror movie [Rec]2 will be shown at the River Oaks Theatre in a midnight screening. Writers and directors Jaume Balaguer and Paco Plaza pick up the action right where the last [Rec] left off, with reporter çngela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) getting dragged away from the camera, screaming. In…
Inherit the Wind
Monkeys will be tried at Playhouse 1960 during the production of Inherit the Wind. The play centers on John T. Scopes, a high school teacher in 1925 Dayton, Tennessee, who violated the Butler Act when he taught his students Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. The resulting uproar from parents, school and…
“Little by Little”
Los Angeles-based artist Sarah Cain usually doesn’t include much personal subject matter in her work, but that’s not the case for the exhibit “Little by Little.” The exhibit takes its title from the Chuck Klosterman quote “Living is dying, little by little.” During the time Cain was working on the…
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
In 2009, the author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni launched a blog and wrote, “I think amazement is a wonderful quality, one worth cultivating…Some of us lost it along the way. But we can regain it if we pay attention.” Just over a year later, she has published the novel One Amazing…
WWE Raw World Tour
Get to see some of your favorite wrestlers bang, bump and slam each other around the ring today when the WWE Raw World Tour makes a stop in Houston. And don’t forget about all the spitting, bleeding and bone breaking. Sure, it’s all fake and just for show, but it’s…
Filter
Filter hit modern-rock radio hard and heavy with 1995’s industrial-tinged single “Hey Man, Nice Shot” from the Cleveland-formed group’s debut Short Bus. For lead singer Richard Patrick, the band’s upcoming album The Trouble with Angels is a step forward, but has its aural pulse on what got Filter to the…
Lost in Space
With the demise of the space-shuttle program at hand and the future of NASA in question, it’s been heartwarming recently to see Houston galleries embracing the city’s one-time nickname “Space City.” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston kicked it off with “The Moon,” which closed in January. Art Palace moved…
Over the Line
In the early morning hours of May 1, Mexican authorities found two trucks smashed into each other along a federal highway, about 30 miles northwest of Monterrey in northern Mexico. Inside one of the vehicles, a black Dodge pickup with Texas license plates, police found three dead bodies — two…
Robert Plant & Band of Joy, Bettye LaVette
Robert Plant raised a lot more than sand on that 2007 album with Alison Krauss, one of the very few Americana albums to go platinum since O Brother, Where Art Thou? He also raised five Grammys in February 2009 — Raising Sand was released too late to make the ’08 awards…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Maurizio Cattelan”, “The Paper Runway”, “Steve Wolfe on Paper”
“Maurizio Cattelan” It’s tempting to think that artist Maurizio Cattelan is putting one over on The Menil Collection. The Italian sculptor’s works often tease art-world conventions and mock institutional authority. What’s happened, though, in the delightful exhibition “Maurizio Cattelan,” is a perfect harmony of two voices, the artist’s and the…
Mark Chesnutt
With early-’90s barroom memoirs both funny (“Bubba Shot the Jukebox”) and not so funny (“Too Cold at Home”), Mark Chesnutt was one of the last in the George Jones line of Beaumont-bred, bona fide honky-tonkers to find real major-label success. Chesnutt’s dad was actually one of Jones’s running buddies, and…
Capsule Stage Reviews: The Laramie Project, Jewtopia, The Marvelous Wonderettes
The Laramie Project The chilling discovery of Matthew Shepard, still and tied to a fence, ends Act I of Moisés Kaufman’s docudrama The Laramie Project, and a more devastating, poignant lead-in to intermission would be difficult to find in theater. It’s doubly harrowing, perhaps, since it’s all true. If you’ve…
Chances Are…
SURREAL ESTATE Chances Are, It’s Done By Richard Connelly Chances Bar, the semi-landmark at the corner of Westheimer and Waugh, may soon be no more. On the heels of Mary’s, Hollywood Video, Skybar and Felix all pretty much biting the dust, the owners of Chances have put the property on…
Maps & Atlases
Chicago quartet Maps & Atlases serves up loose, bluesy pop tunes set against technically stringent arrangements. Their melodies are a bit off-kilter, sometimes stringing repetitive vocal lines together, sometimes splashing with unexpected drumbeats from Texas-born Chris Hainey. Singer Dave Davison’s voice is crowing and languid — think Tunde Adebimpe of…
The First (Ambiguous) Action Heroine
Salt, famously the Spy Flick Rewritten for Angelina Jolie After Tom Cruise Dropped Out, has been publicized as the cinematic equivalent of the 19th Amendment: finally, a level playing field for female action stars! This is mostly bullshit, of course — Jolie’s Evelyn Salt is not the first action hero…
The Curious Case of the People’s Champ
When you call Paul Wall’s cell phone and he doesn’t answer, the automatic voice mail picks up, as automatic voice mails are wont to do: “The mailbox belonging to ‘Whut it dew?’ is full and cannot accept new messages at this time.” Yes. “Whut it dew?” Wall recorded his signature catchphrase…
The Producer
The Father of My Children, a drama about love, sorrow and the heartbreak of independent film financing, is sliced neatly in half by the sudden death of its protagonist, Grégoire Canvel. I’m not spoiling: Writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve has admitted that Grégoire is based on the French producer Humbert Balsan, who…
Mexicans, Mormonism and the “Texans” of Mexico
Dear Mexican, I heard Mormonism is a quickly spreading religion down in ye olde Mexico. What is it about this religion that a lot of Mexicans find so fascinating? Jack Mormón Dear Gabacho, Historically? Mexico has long had the second-largest community of Mormons in the world after the United States…
Toy Story
The story of Mic Skills, likely Houston’s hardest-working underground rapper, begins with a collection of Transformers. His popular Mission Control showcase and debut album behind him, Mic’s honest, autobiographical rhymes owe largely to a rare Optimus Prime action figure. Chatter caught up with Mic — set to release the follow-up…
Tropic Thunder
To view more photos in Troy Fields’s Tropic Thunder slideshow, click here. During the last tropical depression, I talked a friend into meeting me for lunch at Tropical Diner and Cocktail Lounge for some tropical cuisine. The rain was coming down in sheets. I sidled up to the bar and…
On the Search
On the Search Online readers comment on “Ramiro C. Lozano, World’s Dumbest Child Pornographer, Gets 20 Years,” Hair Balls blog, by Richard Connelly, July 13: Not right: So being drunk entitles the cops to boot up your computer and look at everything on it? Sounds like the guy had some…
Canyon Creek Cafe
Gary Mosley bought the property in 2006. At that time it was called the Westcott Bar & Grill and had been there since the ’50s. He decided to change the concept to Canyon Creek Cafe (6603 Westcott, 713-864-5885), he says, “after we got e-mails from people that live close by…
Liberty Station’s Pants on the Ground
Liberty Station (2101 Washington Ave., 713-640-5220), the latest bar to sprout up on Washington, was designed to be different from the Ed Hardy/woo-girl places that come to life four days a week on the west side of Studemont. “We don’t want any pretentious douche bags,” bartender Shadi told us on…
Happy Meal
There’s only one place in Houston to find a dish called fritura ($5), and it’s at the Happy Jalapeño (4504 Caroline, 713-527-0622). The base of the dish is a chicharrón de harina, basically a hard, deep-fried block of wheat flour with a consistency somewhere between that of a chewy churro…
Keane
It would have been easy for Britpop trio Keane to stick to the Snow Patrol and Coldplay bandwagoneering that they exhibited on 2004’s debut LP, the VH1-embraced Hopes and Fears. Instead of resting with that sound, albeit how profitable it could be, Keane instead struck out on its own path,…
Ke$ha
If Lady Gaga is somehow too arty or brainy for you, look no further than Ke$ha, the bane of all those who must type her name on a regular basis. Does there really have to be a dollar sign in the middle? Initially known for singing the hook on Flo…
