R.I.P. Numbers Owner Robert Burtenshaw, aka DJ Robot
Monday morning the official Numbers Facebook page changed its profile and cover pic to flat black images as rumors of a tragedy began to swirl among the goth and club scenes in Houston. In the initial silence a sad story began to take form. Owner Robert Burtenshaw, better known as…
Cake Decorating 101: At-Home Wedding Cake
After learning the basics with cake baking and decorating, and learning how to create special shapes and designs out of fondant, like Dogwood flowers, it’s time to put all of these skills together to make a spectacular, eye-catching cake. Now that we are halfway through wedding season, I thought it…
Weed Farm Discovered Thanks to Tip from Smartphone App
Harris County Sheriff’s deputies discovered a marijuana field in southern Harris County with plants worth $125,000, thanks to a tip from a user of the iWatchHarrisCounty smartphone app. All the plants were destroyed, according to a release from the department. I wrote about this app back in 2011 and described…
Top 5 Cheesecakes to Try in Houston
Cheesecake — be it New York-style, Chicago-style, vegan or savory — is a pretty wonderful invention and I wish I could kiss the Greek who came up with the first recipe. Because, seriously, cheese on its own is one of the best things in the world and praise the Lord…
HPMA Showcase Spotlight: DJ Sun, “Throw This Down Just After the BBQ…”
In the weeks leading up to the Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Sunday, August 4, Rocks Off will be profiling a handful of performers each day, mostly in their own words – part of the best top-to-bottum lineup the showcase has ever had, in our humble opinion. See the…
Why the Rockets Are Equipped to Handle the Spotlight Shifting to Howard
When the Rockets signed Jeremy Lin and traded for James Harden, they became the team’s marketable superstars. Neither was exactly a proven commodity on the floor, but at least Lin brought Linsanity and Harden brought the beard. By the end of last season, Harden had more than proven he was…
Your Choice of Two Deals at Angus Grill Brazilian Steakhouse, Chef’s Tasting Menu Opportunity at Mark’s, Plus CAKE BALLS!
Nine different meats, carved table-side. Incredible side dishes like fried banana, Brazilian-style black beans, and carreteiro rice. A fantastic, generous salad bar where you can load up on your favorite veggies. Get all this, and more, with today’s Houston Press Voice Daily Deal, good for half-off your choice of two…
The Grandma Drummer and Other Awesome Elderly Musicians
Ask a young person what they think of old people, and you’ll typically get a wide range of responses, all negative. For better or worse, America and most industrialized nations have moved past the elder worship of our ancestors, now preferring everyone to be between the ages of 18 and…
HPMA Showcase Spotlight: Venomous Maximus, “Cheesy, Curious, Obsessed, Immortal”
In the weeks leading up to the Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Sunday, August 4, Rocks Off will be profiling a handful of performers each day, mostly in their own words – part of the best top-to-bottum lineup the showcase has ever had, in our humble opinion. See the…
Dallas Suburb Can’t Force Illegal Immigrant Renters Out, Court Says
If you’ve never been to Farmers Branch, you haven’t missed much. It’s a neighborhood/suburban bubble/town engulfed by Dallas’s urban sprawl, and it’s such a bland place you’d probably never have noticed or heard tell of it until the city government enacted a controversial housing law back in May 2007. We…
Summer Break: The Best Houston Rap Albums/Mixtapes of 2013 So Far
Here’s our fitting conclusion to Summer Break, as these have been the must have mixtapes/albums to employ inside of your vehicle or headphones at all times. A few more are still on the horizon, so of course this list will have more context come December. But as far as 2013…
Investigating Food in Film: “Timpano Di Maccheroni” in Big Night
It’s little surprise many famous movie scenes involve food; there’s a certain pleasure in watching characters eat the foods we enjoy in real life or grapple with the familiar challenges of cooking, say, lobsters. But have you ever been watching a film and someone mentions a food you’ve never heard…
HPMA Showcase Spotlight: The Manichean, “Overtly Dramatic Narrative Rock”
In the weeks leading up to the Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Sunday, August 4, Rocks Off will be profiling a handful of performers each day, mostly in their own words – part of the best top-to-bottum lineup the showcase has ever had, in our humble opinion. See the…
Project Runway Season 12: Heidi, Tim and the Gang Are Still Making It Work
Just before this latest season of Project Runway started, the Lifetime network began promoting it with A Very Shocking Image! (see above), one that was clearly intended to be provocative and create buzz about how Edgy, Controversial, and Cutting-Edge a 12-year-old show can be. Online, people asked why a show…
The Astros Rebuild Is Ugly, But It Can’t Be Rushed
Astros fans are getting reckless. The team’s losing night after night. There’s another 100-loss season staring people in the face. The team’s challenging the Miami Marlins for the number one draft pick, which would be the third year in a row that the Astros would have that pick. The bullpen’s…
Upcoming: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Herman’s Hermits, The Head & The Heart, etc.
13 Black Coffins: With The Freakouts., Sat., August 24, 9 p.m., $10. House of Blues — Bronze Peacock Room, 1204 Caroline, Houston, 888-402-5837. AJ Rafael: With Ross Turner, TJ Brown., Sun., August 11, 8 p.m., $10 to $40. Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar, 1031 E. 24th, Houston, 713-862-8707. America’s Got Talent…
The Little Sommelier Conference That Could: Texsom Now Major National Event
“Texsom has grown from just a few diehard fans to a fairly decent following,” wrote Master Sommelier and Texsom co-founder Drew Hendricks in an e-mail. The Houston-based wine pro and former wine director for Pappas Bros. Steakhouse is “nervous and excited about the amount of seminars,” he said. “We have…
HPMA Showcase Spotlight: The Niceguys, “Great. Great. Great. Great. Great. Great. Great. Great.”
In the weeks leading up to the Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Sunday, August 4, Rocks Off will be profiling a handful of performers each day, mostly in their own words – part of the best top-to-bottum lineup the showcase has ever had, in our humble opinion. See the…
Houston Bucket List — 100 Things To Do in Houston Before You Die: I’m on Top of the World
The Houston Press is presenting a series of posts leading up to a feature story in the print edition of the 100 Things to Do in Houston Before You Die. Each blog post contains one of our top 10 bucket list items along with nine others in the top 100…
Top 8 Culinary Scandals of the Past Decade
It seems every day someone new is coming out of the woodwork to claim he or she was wronged by Paula Deen. The once-beloved host of Paula’s Home Cooking on the Food Network has been accused of racial and sexual discrimination by a number of former employees and was quoted…
Bonnie & Clyde (Original Broadway Cast Recording) is Rollicking and Nicely Infectious
Research tells us there is a strong correlation between heat and violent crime. So, as summer heat drives the thermometer up, why not give a listen to Frank Wildhorn’s (Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel & Dracula) score for his 2012 Broadway musical Bonnie & Clyde? The New York production…
The Rocks Off 100: Kathryn Hallberg, Little Girl Gone
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? I have followed Kathryn…
Weekly Weather: Summer Heat and Ding Dong Dorian Is Dead
It’s the dog days of summer are upon us. We did manage to get just a bit of rain over the weekend. As I talked about last week, showers were widely scattered, but a few areas got over an inch of the wet stuff. Most of the city only saw…
Today’s DVDs & Blu-rays: Filly Brown, Night Across the Street and More
Movie hype is a two edged sword. Do too much and no one believes you. Do too little, and no one cares. Filly Brown, a hip-hop version of Girl Fight, written and directed by Youssef Delara and Michael D. Olmos has a respectable cast. Lou Diamond Phillips (who we love),…
Remembering J.J. Cale, Architect of Laid-Back “Tulsa Sound”
In his 2007 memoir Clapton: The Autobiography, Eric Clapton wrote that John Weldon “J.J.” Cale “is one of the most important artists in the history of rock, quietly representing the greatest asset his country has ever had.” Cale, who was 74, died last Friday night in La Jolla, Calif. after…
Taste-Testing Houston’s Cronut, the “Dosant”
I’ve been avoiding this whole “cronut” craze since the donut-croissant hybrids first appeared on everyone’s radar back in early may. I just haven’t been that interested. I like donuts. I love croissants. Why do I need to eat them together? What’s so magical about that? Aren’t some things best left…
More Crippling: Albert Pujols’s Plantar Fascia Tear Or Albert Pujols’s Contract?
Any general manager with a decent modicum of self-awareness will tell you that sometimes the best deals are the ones you don’t make. To that end, I have to assume that St. Louis Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak wakes up every day and thanks God that Albert Pujols decided to…
Take Your “Lobster” for Lobster at The Palm
Phoebe: Hang in there, it’s gonna happen. Ross: What? Okay, now how do you know that? Phoebe: Because she’s your lobster. Chandler: Oh, she’s goin’ somewhere. Phoebe: Come on, you guys. It’s a known fact that lobsters fall in love and mate for life. You know what? You can actually…
Big Wheel Keep on Turning: Arena Theatre’s Strange Staying Power
Rocks Off recently ran a blog recalling some of the numerous music venues which have come and gone in our fair (albeit fickle) city. We listed more than two dozen and readers offered many, many more. By the time we wiped away our collective tears, it was clear how much…
5 ’80s TV Shows That Need Comics
I will admit to being a little behind the curve on this one but I just read that Lion Forge Comics and NBC Universal are taking some of nostalgia’s favorite television shows from the ’80s and ’90s and making them into digital comics. The shows currently on the docket are…
Moving Sidewalks Finally Book Houston Reunion Gig — at $225/Head
A biker gang has done what Houston’s top concert promoters have so far been unable to pull off. Granted, the Deacons of Deadwood is no biker gang. They might kick our ass for using such a term. (We hope not.) But the Houston-based nonprofit, a motorcycle club that takes its…
Carlos Vives at Toyota Center, 7/28/2013
Carlos Vives Toyota Center July 28, 2013 The Republic of Colombia is a South American nation known for its beautiful people, delicious food, and festive music. On the one hand, you have cumbia, an especially wonderful and eternally danceable music that has evolved and grown throughout the Americas and into…
Dynamo Hold Lead for a Minute: 5 Things We Learned
A goal from Cam Weaver that was disallowed early in Saturday’s duel between the Dynamo and the Chicago Fire was what stood in the way of a third straight victory for the Orange. Well, there was that — and the fact that the Dynamo only held onto their lead in…
Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky, B.o.B. & Trinidad James at The Woodlands, 7/26/2013
Under The Influence Tour feat. Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky, B.o.B, and Trinidad James Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion July 26, 2013 When I tell people that I shoot and review rap shows for a living, the overwhelming response is hate, as in “I HATE RAP SHOWS!” The feeling is understandable. Headliners…
Revisiting a Classic: The McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese
Call me a masochist, but I like to read the comments you guys leave on my stories. I get a lot of great ideas on where to eat and what to order; this is particularly true for Fast Times, since I don’t often sample widely from fast-food menus. A few…
1970s Slideshow Takes Texans Back to Houston’s Polluted Past
Throughout July, The Atlantic published a series of slideshows depicting America in the 1970s, a time that seems filtered by the yellow-tinted images of the era. In its fourth installment released last week, it focused on the state of Texas. The images capture an interesting time in the state mixing…
Brad Paisley at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 7/28/2013
Brad Paisley Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion July 29, 2013 Brad Paisley is doing just fine. The world may have scoffed at “Accidental Racist,” but that hasn’t stopped Paisley from filling amphitheaters coast to coast with fans who dig his brand of humor and earnestness. What folks on the outside don’t…
100 Favorite Dishes 2013: No. 100, Bangkok Fries at Boheme
Every year, leading up to our annual Best of Houston issue, we count down our 100 favorite dishes. It’s a list of 100 of the most awesome, most creative and, of course, most delicious dishes in Houston. It’s a list of our personal favorites, dishes we think any visitor or…
HPMA Showcase Spotlight: Chase Hamblin, “Rock and Roll, Psych-Tinged Roots-Pop”
In the weeks leading up to the Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Sunday, August 4, Rocks Off will be profiling a handful of performers each day, mostly in their own words – part of the best top-to-bottum lineup the showcase has ever had, in our humble opinion. See the…
Texans Training Camp: What Stood Out on Opening Weekend
First impressions are tricky business in NFL training camps. With pads off, contact limited and many veterans still rounding into shape, the cream may not instantly rise. Nonetheless, premature analysis comes with the territory during the unofficial start to the NFL season. It’s especially the case for the Texans, considering…
Montrose Dishcrawl: A Culinary Tour of Fairview Street
By the time we got to Boheme, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to eat another bite. We’d already “crawled” from Cuchara to Gratifi, so eating another plate of food at Boheme seemed like too much of a good thing. And then I saw the spread. Heaping piles…
Living Colour at Warehouse Live, 7/28/2013
Living Colour Warehouse Live July 28, 2013 You could see the looks of shock on the faces of the audience when, for just the second song of the night, guitarist Vernon Reid ripped into the recognizable intro for “Cult of Personality,” Living Colour’s most recognizable and arguably most powerful track…
HPMA Showcase Spotlight: Jealous Creatures, “Professional Goofballs Who Make Rock Music”
In the weeks leading up to the Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Sunday, August 4, Rocks Off will be profiling a handful of performers each day, mostly in their own words – part of the best top-to-bottum lineup the showcase has ever had, in our humble opinion. See the…
Artists Explore Inner Psyche in “Self, Model, and Self as Other”
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have reprogrammed human existence into an endless newsfeed of status updates and photos. However eponymous they may be, these social media sites weren’t the first of their kind. Long before the dawn of social media, “selfies” were already being shot by some of history’s most famous…
More Daryl Morey Showing Off, Rockets Bring Back Marcus Camby
Two years ago, with the curtain falling on the Rick Adelman Era here in Houston, the Rockets were closing out a 2010-11 NBA season where Chuck Hayes — all six-foot-six (listed) of him — had started 63 games for them at the center position. Now, we all love Chuck Hayes…
9 Ways Not to Make an Ass of Yourself as a Food Critic
Hanna Raskin, formerly the food critic for two of our sister papers, just published Yelp Help: How to Write Great Online Restaurant Reviews. The book’s a how-to guide for contributors to sites such as our own Voice Places, where you can weigh in with your opinions of local restaurants. We…
Sublime With Rome, 311, Cypress Hill, etc. at The Woodlands, 7/27/2013
94.5 The Buzz “Weenie Roast” feat. Sublime With Rome, 311, Cypress Hill, Pennywise and G. Love & Special Sauce Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion July 27, 2013 Houston radio station 94.5 The Buzz has been hosting large-scale, almost festival-like events at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion for several years now. Mostly focusing…
HPMA Showcase Spotlight: DJ Ipodammo, “Progressive, Weird, Contemporary, Sound Archeology”
In the weeks leading up to the Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Sunday, August 4, Rocks Off will be profiling a handful of performers each day, mostly in their own words – part of the best top-to-bottum lineup the showcase has ever had, in our humble opinion. See the…
Boom or Bust: How the Exploding Housing Market in Houston is Complicating Matters for Buyers and Sellers
We never expected to find a home as quickly as we did. When my fiancée and I started looking, we assumed we would casually search until after our wedding in October, then get serious. But as we watched interest rates slowly begin to tick upward, we decided to speed up…
5 16-Bit RPGS to We Want for Rerelease Besides Earthbound
Earthbound has finally found it’s way onto the Wii U. I don’t know why it was necessary to include Ness in a dozen spin-offs before we were allowed a chance to play him on the virtual console in his original adventure, but whatever. This is a great opportunity for folks…
In Praise of Cookie Cake
I’m reluctant to say that I want cookie cake to be the next big thing because that would mean it’s a passing trend. What I actually want is for cookie cake to be around forever and to (eventually) rival regular cake in popularity for celebrations. So, I hope after reading…
The Tontons at Fitzgerald’s, 7/26/2013
The Tontons, Ishi Fitzgerald’s July 26, 2013 One of the bigger local acts playing the Houston stages these days, The Tontons headlined a Friday-night gig at Fitzgerald’s before a who’s who of Houston music scenesters at the near-capacity showcase. Upon arrival, I realized that Austinites The Couch had already finished…
HPMA Showcase Spotlight: American Fangs, “Relentless. Mouthy. Gypsies. Dollar Menu.”
In the weeks leading up to the Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Sunday, August 4, Rocks Off will be profiling a handful of performers each day, mostly in their own words – part of the best top-to-bottum lineup the showcase has ever had, in our humble opinion. See the…
George Mitchell, ‘Father of Fracking,’ Dies
George Phydias Mitchell was the kind of oilman other oilmen tell stories about. Decades before the Galveston native became known as “The Father of Fracking,” he was the son of Greek immigrants who’d come up from nothing and made good millions of times over. Mitchell died Friday at the age…
Do It at Alabama Song, Filled With Possibilities
Twenty years ago, art critic and enthusiast, Hans Ulrich Obrist, came upon the idea to write a manual, with the help of some of his well-known artist friends, on how to create art – in a sense. The Do It guide offers instructions to its successors in the form of…
BurgerFi: Saving the Environment One Bad Dish at a Time
I love that the Market Street and Woodlands Waterway areas are growing with new shops and restaurants, so I had to check out the new burger joint next door to Hubbell & Hudson. BurgerFi is a chain burger restaurant based in Florida that just opened its first Texas location in…
The Summer Slaughter Tour at House of Blues, 7/27/2013
Summer Slaughter Tour feat. Dillinger Escape Plan, Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Cattle Decapitation, etc. House of Blues July 27, 2013 There’s something incongruous about raw, dirty metal and hardcore punk taking place at a venue like House of Blues, a corporate, suit-and-tie restaurant/bar that boasts doctor’s-office wallpaper, faux brass banisters,…
Halliburton Destroys BP Oil Spill Evidence, Gets an Underwhelming $200K Fine (But That’s Not the End of the Story)
British Petroleum has been synonymous with the Gulf Coast Oil spill — called the worst environmental disaster in American history by some — since the Deepwater Horizon rig blew out on April 20, 2010, killing 11 and starting a leak that dumped almost 5 million barrels of crude oil into…
Video Game High School: Still the Best Web Series on the Internet
It’s been far too long since the end of Season 1 of Video Game High School, and finally it’s back. The first episode was plagued by server issues requiring redoing VFX shots at the last minute, but eventually the first episode got up and running. Question is, can it keep…
What’s Cooking This Week? Ginger Salmon Cakes & More
I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don’t make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient’s I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter…
True Blood: Zeppelin Take the Wheel
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. Much thanks to True-Blood.net, who…
Summer of Johnny: Adventures in Austin, Lessons in Trolling
Saturday night, I went to a live podcast recording for some standup comedian buddies of mine. The show was at Outlaw Dave’s bar over on Washington, and my buddies are four very funny guys collectively known as the “Whiskey Brothers,” or as I call them, “The Four Horsemen of Dick…
Salata’s Drive-Through Makes a Great Salad …Sometime in This Lifetime
Does the drive-through at Salata work? The short answer: No. I’m a major salad-lover, so the news that the local fast casual salad chain Salata had opened a drive-through was intriguing. I’m a girl on the go. I’ve got places to be and people to see (and food to eat)…
“Issa-nother” Capsule Collection! Issa London Launching Pre-Fall 2013 Capsule Collection with Banana Republic
Oh, so you haven’t had enough British Royal news yet? Well you’re in luck, because Kate Middleton-favored label Issa London has announced the launch of a capsule collection with retailer Banana Republic, and the launch is just a scant week away! It’s no secret that we love us some Kate…
The Best Concerts In Houston This Week: John Egan, Dirty River Boys, the Monkees, etc.
John Egan The Big Easy Social & Pleasure Club, June 3 Earlier this year, John Egan competed at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, where the Houston kinda-acoustic bluesman advanced to the semifinal round of 28 — so by that reckoning, Egan is one of the Top 30 solo acts…
TUTS Announces Its New Underground Season W/ Edgy Content, Lower Prices
Promising “No Revivals, No Dead Authors, No Boundaries,” Theatre Under the Stars today announces a sort of edgier subsidiary of itself, entitled TUTS Underground with more contemporary shows played out in a smaller theater at the Hobby Center. Months ago, artistic Director Bruce Lumpkin talked about the need to do…
Heights Vinyl’s Craig Brown Tries His Hand at Label Biz
You’d think owning a record store would be a convenient avenue for starting your own record label, but you really don’t hear about it that often. One guy who is, though, is Heights Vinyl’s Craig Brown. With Electric Attitude’s release party Saturday night at House of Blues for their first…
The Way Too Early Crack at the Texans’ 53-Man Roster
Photo by Marco TorresEach year on his nationally syndicated radio show, Jim Rome holds a little thing known as the Smack Off. I know many of you already know what that is (I’ve written roughly 10,000 words on the topic in the past few years), but briefly, for those who…
Rice Student Struck by METRO Light Rail Memorialized in Noon Vigil Today
A noontime vigil today at the spot where 20-year-old Rice architecture student Vivian Ziwei Guan was killed by a METRO train Monday attracted between 30 and 40 students, professors and architecture professionals. (Update: even more arrived later.) As people assembled, arriving either by light rail or walking up to the…
Aggie Statistician Joins Forensics Lab Advisory Panel
A Texas A&M statistician has joined a national panel of experts tasked with creating an independent forensics lab in Houston. Cliff Spiegelman is now part of the nine-member Technical Advisory Group, which “will provide input on best practices in forensic science and lab operations to help move part the [Houston…
The City at Night, an American Hero and More: The Top 10 Photos of the Week
We here at the Houston Press have long believed that some of the best photographers in the world live right here in Houston. Between the slideshows and blogs we publish and the images you share with us in our Flickr Pool, we see tons of amazing photos every week, and…
The 10 Best Rock Bands of the ’80s
Whether you lived through them or not, we can all admit that the ’80s were a long time ago. Even a kid born on New Year’s Eve 1989 could be most of his or her way through medical school by now. And although that decade refuses to go away in…
Fertitta Inches His Casino Empire Ever Closer to Texas and Houston
Tilman Fertitta, purveyor of gaudy restaurants and Vegas casinos, has made a deal to expand his Golden Nugget empire a bit closer to home. His company recently acquired the Casino Resort and Hotel in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is currently under construction. Just a short trip across Texas’s eastern border,…
Top 5 British Food Products in Houston Grocery Stores
All the recent hullabaloo around the royal baby has made me nostalgic for Britannia. Thanks to school grants and the generosity of good friends with large apartments, I have been fortunate enough to have been able to spend a decent amount of time in London and its environs. When I…
Well, It’s Official: Ozzy Osbourne Can’t Sing Anymore
Thursday night at the Woodlands was the first night of the reunited Black Sabbath’s world tour, and to say that anticipation was running high would be underselling it a bit. The band is fresh off the release of its first new album together in 35 years, 13, which went straight…
HPMA Showcase Spotlight: AThousandColours, “Not.there.yet.but.love.it.so”
In the weeks leading up to the Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Sunday, August 4, Rocks Off will be profiling a handful of performers each day, mostly in their own words — part of the best top-to-bottum lineup the showcase has ever had, in our humble opinion. See the…
[Photos] Light Rail Construction Under Cover of Darkness
As light-rail progress on the new North, Downtown, East End and Southeast lines continues, there is a bevy of construction, particularly in the heart of downtown and the theater district. Remarkably, a lot of it is done. The North Line, which extends the current Red Line from UH Downtown out…
Letters to Voltron: None of That Vehicle Crap
It’s a well-known fact that most band names are gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we’re looking hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. Every man has his Questing Beast, his White Whale, his Sephiroth if you will. For me and my quest to spread wide the names of…
Half-Off HMNS Admission for One, Plus Shop Till You Drop with More Fab Deals Around Town
It’s Friday, so it’s time to take a look around and find the best deals in art, beauty, fashion and style — it’s a whole lot better than working! Today’s Houston Press Voice Daily Deal is good for half-off ($10 for $20) for one admission to the Houston Museum of…
Ten Kicked-Up Breakfast for Dinner Dishes…Because Breakfast Is Good Any Time of the Day
Growing up, If I got to eat breakfast at any other time of the day than in the morning, it was always a treat. Whenever I saw it was breakfast-for-lunch day on the cafeteria lunch menu, I literally jumped for joy at the thought of having bacon, eggs and pancakes…
HPMA Showcase Spotlight: Oceans of Slumber, “Beautiful and Dynamic Progressive Music”
In the weeks leading up to the Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Sunday, August 4, Rocks Off will be profiling a handful of performers each day, mostly in their own words — part of the best top-to-bottum lineup the showcase has ever had, in our humble opinion. See the…
Court Says County Attorney Vince Ryan Can Sue for San Jacinto River Dioxin Pollution
Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan has got the go-ahead to continue his suit against a slew of companies for all the dioxin they allegedly dumped in the San Jacinto River back in the 1960s. Ryan’s office called in outside counsel when they decided to sue International Paper Company, Waste Management,…
Porcine Pleasure and Cherry Cheer at BRC’s July Pig Dinner
I’ve salivated from afar over the menus for BRC’s monthly pig dinners and even marked my calendar to remind myself to make reservations. Again and again, however, I failed to get it together in time to attend, but on July 24, I finally made it. Now, I have decided to…
Black Sabbath at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 7/25/2013
Black Sabbath Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion July 25, 2013 What can even be said about a Black Sabbath show in 2013? You know what you’re in for: good times with one of the all-time greatest rock and roll bands. The experience is one that defies a simple explanation. It’s becoming…
Summer TV Club: Star Trek “The Trouble with Tribbles”
This week Pete has taken to the high seas for some old-fashioned piracy, so we have once again accosted John Seaborn Gray to watch some boob tube with us. Luckily for him, Jef and I have chosen literally one of the greatest episodes of television of all time, Star Trek’s…
HPMA Showcase Spotlight: The Hates, “Surprisingly Fast. Fist-Pumping Loud”
In the weeks leading up to the Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Sunday, August 4, Rocks Off will be profiling a handful of performers each day, mostly in their own words – part of the best top-to-bottum lineup the showcase has ever had, in our humble opinion. See the…
Sheriff’s Deputies Raid Game Rooms
Harris County Sheriff’s officers and vice investigators raided four illegal game rooms in the past two weeks, arresting four people and confiscating gambling equipment and nearly $36,000 in cash. “The actions come after a new state law went into effect making it easier for law enforcement to file charges against…
More Than Human: A Houston Heroes Web Series
Earlier this month I was doing my regular round-up of the best local Kickstarter campaigns when I came across something I was certain I would hate. The Web series is called More Than Human, and it follows the fates of five high school students who gain superpowers after ingesting a…
Your Guide to This Year’s Summer Slaughter Tour
Brother, if you came for brutality, you’re in luck. It’s summer and that means it’s time for the metal roadshows to hit Houston once again. Over the course of the next week, we’ll be seeing the Summer Slaughter Tour, the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, the All-Stars Tour, and Vans…
The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink this Weekend: Tequila Fiesta, Opus One Wine Dinner, an Ice Cream Social & More!
Tequila Fiesta @ Pico’s Mex-Mex Restaurant All day Friday 5941 Bellaire Boulevard If you’re still mourning the fact that National Tequila Day is only one day a year, dry your pretty little eyes, ’cause Pico’s Mex-Mex is still celebrating! Their three-day tequila fiesta started on Wednesday, but it’s not too…
Weekend Weather: A Chance of Rain and the Tropics Heat Up
I hope you have had a nice week. It’s been damn hot out there meaning your a/c bills are probably going to be through the roof, but on the positive side, you’re probably sweating off that water weight. The heat will most definitely continue into the weekend. This is summer…
Upcoming Events: Yappy Hour, Breakfast in Bed and Alcoholic Athletics
Man’s best friend needs a night out on the town! On Wednesday, July 31, spoil your pooch at Whole Foods’ Yappy Hour from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Whole Foods on Kirby will be providing toys, treats and water for your dogs as they mingle on the patio, and the…
Houston’s Top 10 Bro Bars, Clubs & Ice Houses
As our sister blog Eating…Our Words does, from time to time Rocks Off will be giving your our picks for the top taverns in various Houston-area neighborhoods. Of course, the lines can be porous, but here anything with a TABC license that cannot reasonably be considered either a restaurant, coffeehouse…
100 Creatives 2013: Kerrelyn Sparks, Bestselling Romance Author
Novelist Kerrelyn Sparks owes her success to two things: determination and the undead. Sparks had toyed with the idea of writing for years but never actually put pen to paper. “I let my self-doubt get to me for years. Finally, I thought, ‘Why do I keep putting this off?’ I…
Biggest Loser v 8.0 — This Ridiculous Arkansas Football Fan
The Internet and technology in 2013 are awesome. I mean, who would have thought a decade ago that we would have the capability of gazing into our very own video camera (on our phones, no less!), busting out an a capella rendition of a homemade ode to our favorite college…
The Top 5 Things to Do in Houston this Weekend: QFest 2013, H-Town Sneaker Summit and More
The wide splash of venues for Friday’s films speaks to the growth of QFest 2013, Houston’s LGBT film festival, since its establishment 17 years ago. No fewer than 30 events and screenings focusing on the queer experience take place in nine venues as far-flung as Galveston and Katy. One must-see…
Openings & Closings: Steak on Acid, Louisiana Cookin’ and Twin Peaks
If you’re interested in a steakhouse on acid, then Mr. Peeples is the place for you! Eric at Eater reports that Mr. Peeples Seafood & Steaks will open on Monday July 29. Eric was able to snap some photos of the place, which is majorly purple. There’s also a 1,600-bottle…
Houston’s Best Weekend Concerts: Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky, Adam Ant, Brad Paisley, etc.
Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, July 26 Rapper and brand-spankin’-new father Wiz Khalifa may be one of the most likable characters on the hip-hop scene. Not only is he responsible for that super-catchy “Black and Yellow” earworm — an homage to his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers…
How Friends Illustrates the Depressing Insularity of Our Lives
Friends ended less than a decade ago, but it’s already a relic of a bygone era — a critically respected network sitcom that enjoyed massive ratings. That’s the central irony of the Must-See TV show’s legacy: It was one of the last programs to enjoy a national audience before cable…
Too Bad The Wolverine Isn’t as Interesting as Hugh Jackman
As summer comic-book blockbusters go, The Wolverine is not as elephantine as it could have been. It’s more, well, wolverine—bony, loping, a little shaggy—and, blessedly, director James Mangold doesn’t get bogged down in mythology. You don’t need to diagram the convoluted relationships between Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s X-Men characters…
The Death of the Makeover: The To Do List, The Spectacular Now and The Heat have killed Hollywood’s Most Obnoxious Scene
”I kept thinking she was the ugly duckling who was going to turn into a swan,” a fortyish loudmouth complained as the crowd trudged out of a preview screening of The To Do List. “But she was an ugly duckling all the way through!” He was talking to two women…
Out of the Past
Only in Houston Houston fancies itself as forever moving forward, a “city of the future,” but in a relatively short time span — the past 40, maybe 50 years — it’s managed to rack up an impressive number of live-music stages that have come and gone and left quite a…
Capsule Art Reviews: “The Big Show,” “Call It Street Art, Call It Fine Art, Call It What You Know,” “Gifts from the Past: The Isabel Brown Wilson Collection,” “Late Surrealism”
“The Big Show” “The Big Show” is Lawndale Art Center’s annual juried exhibition. The gallery drip-drops with life this year; though there is no set theme to Lawndale’s “Big Show” exhibitions, many of the works are figurative pieces. Bryan Forrester’s photograph Imogene C-Print shows a naked man and woman in…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, Festival of Originals, The Hollow, Nunsense, Tamarie Cooper’s Old as Hell, Wicked
Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party The Wild Party is a 1928 book-length poem by Joseph Moncure March. In 2000, Andrew Lippa adapted it for an off-Broadway version, writing book, music and lyrics. Blond vaudeville dancer Queenie (Danica Dawn Johnston) and famed clown Burrs (Colton Berry) settle down together, but after…
Contraception and Vocabulary
Dear Mexican, I had a conversation today with an 18-year-old female Mexican co-worker that completely blew me away. She has a three-month-old baby with her 19-year-old (also Mexican) unemployed boyfriend. They have just found out that she is pregnant again. After listening to her sob about it, I asked her…
Getting Stuck: Uninsured Patients Slammed with Lawsuits by Not-for-Profit Hospital
Car horns blared and the 5 o’clock traffic stacked up behind him as Ignacio Alaniz rolled back under his car to try to start the engine again. As he lay there, touching the wire to divert the starter on the ancient white Buick Century, he heard a click as the car…
La Casa del Caballo Gets Serious About Steak
Get a behind the scenes look at La Casa del Caballo in this slideshow. My friends and I ogled the giant platter of meat before us as if it were a mythical creature we had just discovered in the darkened depths of Montrose. The building on the corner of Westheimer…
Love Among the Ruins: A Town in Decline in LaToya Ruby Frazier’s Witness
LaToya Ruby Frazier was born in Braddock, Pennsylvania, in 1982, right about the time things started to go to hell for the once-booming steel town nine miles outside Pittsburgh. The photographs in “LaToya Ruby Frazier: Witness” at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston document the town’s continued decline. Braddock is where…
The Monsanto Menace
When you’re good at something, you want to leverage that. Monsanto’s specialty is killing stuff. In the early years, the St. Louis biotech giant helped pioneer such leading chemicals as DDT, PCBs and Agent Orange. Unfortunately, these breakthroughs had a tendency to kill stuff. And the torrent of lawsuits that…
The To Do List Is, at Least, a Welcome Start
Like first sex, writer-director Maggie Carey’s debut feature, The To Do List, is quick and messy, fitfully pleasurable, full of promise but not quite adept at getting everyone off. It’s an impossibly huge deal yet also a modest achievement, something we have to go through but that will no doubt…
Top 5 Coffee Shop Etiquette Tips
Top Five I don’t know about you, but I can easily hole up in a coffee shop, start writing (and by that I mean scouring Facebook and watching cat videos on YouTube) and not realize until three hours later that I haven’t moved or refilled my cup. But coffee-shop owners,…
Growth at All Costs
Highlights from Hair Balls Surreal Estate For several years, complaints raged around the development of a Walmart near the corner of Yale and I-10. Certainly there was some degree of “Walmart sucks and we don’t want it in our neighborhood” frustration, but chief among the legitimate concerns was what would…
