Idol Chatter
Here’s this week’s review and predictions. I have them ranked top-to-bottom by assessment of their performance along with a prediction of what will happen on tonight’s results show. — John Nova Lomax Melinda Doolittle: Routinely awesome. We have fun at our house amusing each other by pulling those “You’re too…
There’s No “I” in Blogger
And now HouStoned presents Jason Friedman, aka New Sports Columnist Number Two. He apparently opted to write his own intro, so we’ll just let him have at it. You’re not here to read about me. You want to talk sports. But you are here, in part, to hear what I…
You Thought the Cubs Had It Bad
Yee-haw! So, I’m surfing the Internets during lunch the other day, and I come across this article at SI.com. It’s about the Chicago Cubs. Well, it’s about how Cubs’s general manager Jim Hendry is on the hot seat this season. This is easy to understand. The team’s without, once again,…
This Modern World
It takes a while for the print edition of the Bryan-College Station Eagle to make its way to the Houston Press offices, and once it does it takes a while for us to get around to reading it. So it is only now that we can tell you that the…
This Modern World
It takes a while for the print edition of the Bryan-College Station Eagle to make its way to the Houston Press offices, and once it does it takes a while for us to get around to reading it. So it is only now that we can tell you that the…
Rotation: Otis Taylor
Otis Taylor Definition of a Circle Telarc While not one of the best-known contemporary blues players, the bearish, intimidating-looking Otis Taylor is certainly among the most unique. He’s the rare artist who actively pushes the boundaries of the genre to create music both challenging and wholly identifiable with no one…
Sea Monster
Check out the size of this oyster. You don’t see a seven-inch oyster very often. Counting the rings, I figure it’s five years old. I found it in a “boat sack” I bought for $36 a couple of weeks ago. You get somewhere between 220 and 250 oysters in a…
Sea Monster
Check out the size of this oyster. You don’t see a seven-inch oyster very often. Counting the rings, I figure it’s five years old. I found it in a “boat sack” I bought for $36 a couple of weeks ago. You get somewhere between 220 and 250 oysters in a…
Playbill: The Defenestration Unit
If you’re looking for some free form jazz, it doesn’t get much freer than The Defenestration Unit. The group includes Charlie Naked on tenor Sax, Kid Ornery on trombone, Jim Otterson on electric guitar, Gator Miller on electric bass, Tom Zermeno on percussion and voice and Kirk Suddreath on drums…
A View to the Rooms
The Washington Post reports the quality of hotel received by a team in the first two rounds of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament depends on that team’s seeding. The number one seed gets the Omni. The number 16 seed gets the Palace Inn. Now, for those of you who don’t…
Going Coastal
www.bestwebbuys.com See? It’s even on a book! We had a bone to pick with Chicago Public Radio’s Third Coast International Audio Festival. We know the U.S.’s oil rig-infested chunk of the Gulf of Mexico isn’t always pleasant to look at (let alone swim in) but it’s an actual part of…
Lights Out for Lidge?
And now HouStoned is pleased to introduce a new sports columnist: John Royal is a local lawyer who was part of the Houston Astros video crew in a previous life. You can check out his personal bloggity blog blog at The ClownVision Chronicles. In his first post for HouStoned, he…
Hey, You with the Camera!
The deadline is looming for the first round of the Houston Press photography contest for high school students. This month’s theme is animals – dogs, cats, rhinos, you name it. All photos must be received by 8 a.m., Monday, March 26. Winners will have their photos published in the Houston…
She Really Should Try a Subtler Shade of Red
Police are on the lookout for a cross-dressing bank robber. KHOU has the story: The thief struck the Woodforest Bank inside the Kroger at 2222 N. I-45 N Saturday night. The suspect wore bright red lipstick, a dark-colored wig, a woman’s pantsuit and dark sunglasses. Be advised: The suspect should…
And Yes, Chicken Is Meat
Don’t even think about it. A few weeks back we poked a little fun at the acronym SHARK, pissing off a few folks in the process. But what those critics didn’t seem to understand is that we’re not anti-vegetarian. We’re just anti-dumb-acronym. Which is why we’re pleased to introduce the…
Lights, Camera, Sheila!
A few years ago Hair Balls reported that Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee isn’t shy when it comes to being on camera. You can check out the (admittedly very heavily pixelated) photo gallery here. But none of those shots compare to the ones Isiah Carey has posted of a recent stopover…
Re: SXSW Audio. Now with Pictures!
Click here to watch an audio slideshow of last night’s Kings of Leon set…
South By Flores Alvarez
This is my first visit to Austin’s citywide music festival South by Southwest (SXSW). It’s been a whirling mass of people, music, dope, schmoozing, music, sex, one-upmanship and music. I expected crowds and great (and not so great music). Here’s a list of what I didn’t expect but got anyway…
“The Moon Over Chicago”
Okay, so this really, really has nothing to do with Houston — except maybe for the Dan Rather connection — but, hey, it’s almost the weekend… — Keith Plocek…
To Do: Art Opening Tonight
Looking to start your night off with a little agitprop? Head over to the Art League Houston for the opening of “The Pump That Jack Used: an Observation by Anthony Thompson Shumate.” According to the press materials, Shumate recently discovered “the same 15 people sit on almost every major oil…
South By Lomax: Part Two
How blue can UGK get? So me and my dad used to argue about who the best instrumental band of all time was. I always stumped for the Meters; Dad told me I had it all wrong, that it was Booker T. and the MG’s. And after seeing their reunion…
South by Rhodes: Part One
Funny, they just look like regular ol’ arms to us. What has SXSW come to when rock stars can’t be rock stars? Last night at the Jade Tree showcase at Lambert’s, headlining act These Arms Are Snakes almost had their lead singer kicked out of the bar right before the…
Re: SXSW Audio. Now with Pictures!
Click here for an audio slideshow of the Cold War Kids, doing their thing Thursday night at SXSW. And here to find out what Pete Townshend does when he’s not surfing the Internet for kiddie porn. — Keith Plocek…
Re: SXSW Audio. Now with Pictures!
Click here for an audio slideshow of the Cold War Kids, doing their thing Thursday night at SXSW. And to find out what Pete Townshend does when he’s not surfing the Internet for kiddie porn. — Keith Plocek…
We Thought You Were Just Supposed to Eat It
Going out to dinner this evening? Here’s a little how-to for sushi. Or not, as Robb Walsh learned in this week’s review. After the jump, Robb’s revelations…..
We Thought You Were Just Supposed to Eat It
Going out to dinner this evening? Here’s a little how-to for sushi. Or not, as Robb Walsh learned in this week’s review. After the jump, Robb’s revelations…..
Playbill: RJD2
Perhaps it was last September’s Pitchfork headline, “RJD2 Signs to XL, Ditches Hip-Hop,” that had the underground rap scene grumbling. In the nearly five years since his solo debut, RJ attained hero status for his unearthly beats and work with cats such as Mos Def and Aceyalone. But now he’s…
Take That, Princeton!
This guy clearly wasn’t a Rice grad. You ever notice how folks who went to Rice always refer to their time in college as “When I was at Rice”? It might not seem like much, but this verbal tic makes the school’s alumni fairly unique. When talking about that four-year…
Guerrilla Marketer Arrested at SXSW
Yesterday we told you Austin’s light poles had been wrapped in plastic to dam up the expected flood of stickers for SXSW. Well, that apparently didn’t stop some dude from Zune, who got arrested for putting up guerrilla posters, according to Losanjealous. At least he wasn’t blasting Justin Timberlake at…
SXSW Audio. Now with Pictures!
Click here for an audio slideshow from our sister paper, Seattle Weekly, featuring Oxford Collapse, Tiny Vipers and Loney, Dear. And here’s a with commentary. — Keith Plocek…
South By Lomax: Part One
The Dude. Drove thru intermittent rain to Austin with my dad, who is here in his newish capacity as the manager of country chanteuse Sunny Sweeney. It’s great to have him back in the game after his few years of semi-retirement. Over the years, he has managed Townes Van Zandt,…
It’s Never Too Early
Houstonians are consumed with March Madness — March 2008 Madness, to be exact. On second thought, they’re probably not. They probably are a little more concerned with March 2007 Madness, having finally finished their brackets and now getting ready for weeks of college hoop craziness. But March 2008 Madness is…
Scissor Sisters
When Oliver Stumm of the New York label A Touch of Class Recordings first saw the Scissor Sisters perform in 2000, he saw something special. This isn’t a surprise now — over-the-top shows have helped the quintet become pals with Elton John and fill arenas in Australia — but back…
“One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now”
In 1996 the Blaffer Gallery hosted “Asia/America: Identities in Contemporary Asian American Art,” organized by the Asia Society, New York. This was when “identity” was the buzzword in contemporary art, and the exhibition was quite an edgy endeavor for the super-conservative Asia Society, which had previously focused its exhibitions on…
South By Due East
Every year, from the looks of it, March is the finest month to be a music lover in Houston. (I wouldn’t know for sure — every year since 2001, I have been in Austin for the peak week, and this year is no exception.) Not only is the weather at…
Art Capsule Reviews
“…..all of the above” Judy Pfaff is considered a pioneer of installation art, and she’s got the MacArthur Fellowship to prove it. Her latest offering is awash in fluorescent oranges, blues, yellows, greens and purples, giving the space a decided Tron feel, sans digitized crotch rockets and wacky helmets. White…
Gretchen Schmaltz
Houston Press: Where can people find you online? Gretchen Schmaltz: My personal Web site is myspace.com/GretchenSchmaltz. HP: Where’s your hometown? Schmaltz: Roberts Cove, Louisiana. It’s a German farming town, very tiny. HP: Who do you think you sound like musically? Schmaltz: I think every artist hates this question, because every…
Mexican-American Culture
Dear Mexican, I am perplexed. I just saw a middle-aged wab (complete with a bright-red, lipstick-accentuated moustache) wearing tight pink stretch pants with the phrase “Pink Taco” emblazoned across her misshapen buttocks. In my experience, Mexicans of the Mexico-born variety seem to wear a lot of clothes with odd/tacky slogans…
Mojo Risin’ Coffee House
He’s the reason rock and roll works: an earnest young man with a three-day-old beard, carefully cultivated windswept hair and closed eyes, standing on a makeshift stage with a well-loved guitar in his hands, singing meaningfully into a mike. Tonight it’s sometime musician and full-time social studies teacher Dave Ransom…
Crackdown
Publisher: Microsoft Game
Studios
Platform: Xbox 360
Price: $59.99
ESRB Rating: M (for Mature)
Score: 8 (out of 10)
Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible is a dense, academic and ultimately rewarding album fixated on questions of spirituality, religion and the concept of self — and more specifically, how to reconcile these things in a bleak world where uncertainty is the norm, hope seems dead, and God isn’t exactly benevolent. (That…
DVDs
Casino Royale (Sony) James Bond gets a stirring shake-up in the best — yeah, Goldfinger fans, the best — film in the series’ 44-year history. Daniel Craig’s 007 has more going on above the neck and below the waist than even Sean Connery’s. He’s a genuinely compelling character — a…
Do Make Say Think
The world of indie rock has never really embraced the concept of the instrumental jam band. The few exceptions that (barely) fit into that category — Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Mogwai, Tortoise — don’t really follow the genre’s rules, instead occupying a space between the Fall’s deconstructed rock and the…
Top DVDs
American Cousins (BFS) Appetite for Deconstruction: A Punk Rockumentary (MVD) Barbie Fairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow (Universal) Bloody Reunion (Tartan) Blood Trails (Lions Gate) The Ed Wood Collection: A Salute to Incompetence (Passport) Favela Rising (Netflix) Fires on the Plain: The Criterion Collection (Criterion) The Gene Autry 100th Anniversary Collection…
Dead Rock West
Honey and Salt reaches for the jagged edge of country rock that brought such acclaim to Los Angeles legends X in the ’80s. A collaboration between West Coast veterans Frankie Lee Drennen and Cindy Wasserman, Dead Rock West ‘fesses up to the similarities between the two bands’ sounds by covering…
St. Patrick’s Day Guide
Sleep in today and wake up ready to imbibe. You have no excuse for missing out on the biggest drinking day of the year. Start it off at the parade or an Irish brunch — either way it’ll be the start of a big day of drinking, dancing, kissing and…
Menomena
Technological advancements in the ways music can now be recorded are marvelous, and Friend and Foe, the second proper full-length from Portland multi-instrumentalist trio Menomena, is proof. Its disparate experimental pop songs are organized, assembled and bound by the seamlessly random deconstructive process of the band’s Deeler computer application –…
A Look at SXSW Band Names
As you read this, Austin is inundated with hundreds of bands looking for that magic carpet ride to stardom. They will play in greasy dives on Sixth Street and points beyond, hoping to be discovered by some drunken A&R slouch. These bands all need their hook, their special quirk that…
Giant Squid
If you like your metal with a twist of something musical, then Giant Squid should be on your to-see list. The band takes its cues from Mike Patton by mixing up the thrashing and screaming with whimsical moments that seem inspired by composer and frequent Tim Burton collaborator Danny Elfman…
How to Be Musically Hip
Gratuitous Nudity Pitchfork now posting naked photos of indie-rock stars for some reason. Another reason not to look forward to the new LCD Soundsystem. Transcendent Concert Experience Explosions in the Sky’s quite beautiful but rather sleepy gig at the Society for Ethical Culture. Thank God there were pews. Imminent Medical…
Black Lips
For their debut on new label Vice Records, white-hot garage punkers Black Lips chose not to offer a new studio effort (although that is on the horizon), instead issuing a live record so raw that upon first listen, it seems like an accidental bootleg. Bum notes and scotched vocals? Equipment…
MSTRKRFT and John Digweed
MSTRKRFT’s “Easy Love” video will get you fired if you watch it online while you’re at work. Nobody in the video has sex and, unfortunately, there’s no nudity, but the vowel-shunning Canadian production duo churns out a heavily disco-influenced, grimy electro sound while squirming women in examination chairs are doused…
Las Fabulosas Taco Trucks
The bifstek taco at the Jarro trailer on Gessner came with Angus sirloin, sliced paper thin, without a thread of gristle, grilled well-done, and layered on two lightly fried corn tortillas. On the stainless steel counter that runs along the front of the trailer, there were salsas and condiments in…
Hella
California noisemaker Hella has prog-rocked it as a duo since 2001, but recently it has become a party of five. Guitarist Spencer Seim and drummer Zach Hill recruited Zach’s cousin Josh on second guitar, then added bassist Carson McWhirter and singer Aaron Ross. Released in January, There’s No 666 in…
Sage 400 Japanese Cuisine
The thick broiled salmon steak at Sage 400, a popular new sushi restaurant in the Galleria, was served with a red pepper puree and a garnish of frilly green shiso seaweed. The sushi-grade salmon was so fatty, it fell apart into luscious layers. I ate a big chunk of fish,…
Premonition
The space-time continuum smacks the shit out of Sandra Bullock in Premonition, the latest in nonlinear nonsense, but the fun really gets going when she starts to smack back. As Linda Hanson, humdrum mom of Anywhere, U.S.A., Bullock sets things up by doing her thing, effortlessly establishing the girl next…
Pesce
Arborio is the rice used to make risotto, but it’s not likely you’ll recognize it in the arborio-crusted diver scallops ($15) at Pesce (3029 Kirby, 713-522-4858), since it’s been ground up to create a breading. Diver scallops are exactly what they sound like: Handpicked by divers from the bottom of…
SXSW
By Monday afternoon, they had all left Austin — the A-minus-listers who flew into Texas to promote their studio releases with encroaching release dates. Among them were Shia “Is He or Isn’t He Indy Jones?” LaBeouf touting the Rear Window redo Disturbia and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Isla Fisher and Matthew Goode…
Las Fabulosas Taco Trucks…Delicioso!
There are some muy sabrosos tacos out there if you’re brave enough to eat at a taco truck and don’t mind ordering in Spanglish. — Photos by Robb Walsh Jarro Trailer In front of Jarro Café 1521 Gessner What to get: Don’t miss the steak (bifstek) taco made with thin-sliced…
School Discipline, Lisa Nowak, Terry Abbott, GHCVB Gay Ads
The state Legislature will be considering a number of bills this session that seek to put some leeway in the harsh world of school discipline. One would make it okay for a kid who, if he discovers he accidentally brought his Boy Scout knife to school, takes it to the…
An American Brat
Anyone who thinks the generation gap closed way back in the 1970s needs a ticket to Bapsi Sidhwa’s hilarious new play An American Brat. Based on the Pakistani-born writer’s novel of the same title, the charming story, now playing at Stages Theatre, demonstrates how wide that chasm between parents and…
LZ Pub
When a couple friends and I walk into LZ Pub (2239 Richmond, 713-522-7118), “Welcome to the Jungle” is playing, which is fitting, because we’re greeted by three middle-aged tigresses with the sloppy confidence that only three to four mixed drinks can bring. “Don’t worry. I don’t bite…” says one, grinning…
Mail Call
Hats off: I am a realtor, and I laughed out loud at the idea of an out-of-town guest visiting a Houston restaurant on Go Texan Day [“BEERS, STEERS AND…” by Richard Connelly, March 1]. It reminded me of the time I had a client here from California during the rodeo…
Stage Capsule Reviews
Fools Neil Simon’s comic fable was a big fat flop when it appeared on Broadway in 1981 and ran for 40 performances. Although apparently written in his sleep and savaged by critics, this tissue-paper-thin little comedy has plenty of Borscht Belt charm and Catskills know-how in its incessant one-liners, easy-on-the-brain…