Why Some Houston Restaurants Don’t/Didn’t Have to Be Good to Be Memorable
My wife and I got married in 2001 at the age of 19 (no, she wasn’t pregnant). We were very much in love and very, very broke. At the time, we were living in a tiny apartment at the corner of West Alabama and Greenbriar. That’s also where we got…
Lost Element Hope to Reach New Heights With ‘Stereo Dream’
A native Houstonian, Brian Barett returned to the Bayou City after college. It was here that he reunited with an old high school friend and band mate, guitarist Trace Sisson. That same year, Barett and Sisson met Omar Lopez, and the three decided to play music together. Bassist Kenneth Conlon…
UH Students Urge University to Divest From For-Profit Prisons
Grad students at the University of Houston have launched a petition urging the University of Houston to divest from the private prison industry, which is made up of companies that profit from incarcerating people. Two social work students, Julia Kramp and Nakia Winfield, learned that UH had several million dollars…
See What’s Next for the Houston Family That Tore Apart Its Home to Build a Rocket
Remember the family that built a rocket ship in their backyard? Well, imagine what their house looked like after they dismantled their sofa, cut holes in their kid’s bedroom door and re-purposed a sizable chunk of their possessions to build that gleaming, but oh-so-cool, silver monolith that had the neighbors…
Houston Restaurants That Serve Gulf and Other Domestic Seafood — and Why You Should Care
It would seem logical that because of higher transportation costs, imported fish and shrimp would be more costly than local. As with many imported goods, though, that’s often not the case. Regarding imported seafood, the reasons why is it often cheaper than domestic are both disgusting and disturbing. It’s a…
Dear Potheads, Please Stop Trying to Convince Us That Legalizing Weed Will Fix Everything
Dear potheads, Could you please stop trying to convince me that legalizing weed will fix all of our nation’s problems? It’s obvious that societal attitudes about marijuana have changed a great deal in recent years, and a majority of Americans now favor it’s legalization. 23 states and Washington DC have…
20 (More) of Houston’s Best Patios for 2016
Last year, we listed 20 of the best restaurant patios for dining, drinking and relaxing. It proved to be an extremely popular resource. Here’s some excellent news: every single option from last year is still viable. None of those restaurants have closed. In the meantime, several new restaurants featuring patios…
City of Houston Proclaims April 1, 2016, as “Archway Gallery Day”
There’s plenty of depressing news in the local arts scene: stories about galleries stiffing artists, artists being asked to work without pay, dealers overvaluing art to dupe the I.R.S., or even the Houston Arts Alliance commissioning a public work and then changing its mind (though, in a bit of karmic…
Deadthyme: A KPFT Show That Goes WAY Underground
90.1 FM KPFT’s Deadthyme program is the radio show in Houston for non-corporate, underground punk, industrial, and goth, including their various subgenres such as death rock, post-punk, hardcore, grindcore, and many more too numerous to mention here. Deadthyme comes on late Sunday nights/Monday mornings—starting Mondays at 2:30 a.m. to be…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Final Four Specials & Black Restaurant Week
From Final Four specials to dining out for a cause, take a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Final Four UNC Specials @ Revival Market Saturday – Sunday 550 Heights As Chef Ryan Pera is a proud UNC Tarheel, class of ’96, he dreamed up three Carolina specials to…
Texas Parks and Wildlife Uses BP Oil Spill Money to Sink a Ship (and Create a Reef)
British Petroleum oil spill money is being used to put another foreign object into the Gulf of Mexico. The catch is, this time around, it’s something that will actually be good for the marine life living in the waters off of the Texas Gulf Coast. The Texas Parks and Wildlife…
Strong Showing of Local Artists at Waterway Arts Festival in The Woodlands
It’s sort of our version of the San Antonio River Walk, only much better (no inebriated crowds or shopping carts in the water), and this year’s The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival has a strong showing of Texas artists, many of them local. From Houston, metal artist Terry Fromm is showing…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Opening Day Never Tasted So Sweet
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary events: Are you ready for Astros Opening Day on Monday, April 4? Ooh La La Dessert Boutique is, so they’ve brought back their Astros-themed shortbread cookies for die-hard fans and game-day watchers. Note that while seasonal items…
“One Shining Moment”: Why This Song Sucks
Monday night, the college basketball season ends. Some team, either led by a head coach of an embattled program or an underdog with a combined total of one national championship between them will climb a ladder, cut down the nets before eventually hoisting up college basketball’s ultimate prize. On the…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: I Saw The Light
Title: I Saw the Light Describe This Movie In One Simpsons Quote: Homer: “I just wanted to say your song touched me deeply in a way I’ve never felt before, and which way to the can?” Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: One-and-a-half Grand Ole Oprys out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: Man…
The Five Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Final Four, Need We Say More?
Not all the action this weekend will be at NRG Stadium. Sure, we’re excited about seeing two 2-seeds (Oklahoma, Villanova), a 1-seed (North Carolina), and a 10-seed that is largely considered a college basketball blue blood (Syracuse) take to the court for Saturday’s 2016 Men’s Final Four. Along with the…
Openings & Closings in Houston: A New Tacos A Go Go Concept [UPDATED]
The story of Tarakaan is wrought with twists and turns; just a month after announcing the permanent closure of the restaurant’s food service, it’s back at it again and serving meals. We’re glad to see the acclaimed restaurant and club curing the munchies again, but we can’t help but wonder…
Texas Environmental Regulators Argue Against Environmental Regulations — Again
Apparently, the officials at Texas Commission on Environmental Quality have never tried to go jogging in Houston on a high-level ozone day, or they wouldn’t be able to repeatedly appear before state lawmakers and insist that the state needs less air quality regulation, not more. But that’s what they continue…
March Madness: The 10 Biggest Gaffes in Final Four History (w/ VIDEO)
This weekend, right here in our own back yard over at NRG Stadium, four college basketball teams will take the floor to write the next chapter in the college basketball edition of the greatest reality TV show on earth — live sports. We’ve been down this road before here in…
BeatKing Masters His Structure on ‘Club God 5’
The legacy of club music as a whole is tied to a willingness to let go. To an extent, it’s how commercial radio has been bowing at the every whim of trap music. Club music & trap music are first cousins, especially trap music as it currently sits. It hasn’t…
Music Economics: How the Little Bands Fail at Festivals
It’s long been said that the trap of “exposure” for musicians comes at huge price. And many publications (including this one) have published numerous articles on the topic of how little musicians are paid, how unfairly the industry treats them and the inhibiting changes made in the music business in…
FDA Rule Change Lessens the Sting of Texas Anti-Abortion Law
On Wednesday the federal Food and Drug Administration effectively killed one of the more subtle barriers to abortion access created by Texas House Bill 2, the sweeping anti-abortion law Wendy Davis famously tried to kill with an 11-hour filibuster. Among the many restrictions buried in HB 2 was a requirement…
STAAR Testing Glitch Erased Untold Number of Students’ Test Answers
As if standardized testing wasn’t already an anxiety-inducing experience for nervous test takers, on Tuesday, some students in several Texas school districts took a break from online testing to eat lunch only to return to find that all their answers had disappeared. Yeah, this was the State of Texas Assessment…
Where to See Texas Bluebonnets, Officially and Unofficially
If you’re bull-headed and refuse to acknowledge that Ennis is the Bluebonnet City of Texas and that the Chappell Hill Historical Society Bluebonnet Festival is the Official State of Texas Bluebonnet Festival, you’re pretty much breaking the law. In 1997 during the 75th Texas Legislature, state lawmakers, in House Concurrent…
Grounded: Elizabeth Bunch Is Magnificent in the Role of Virtual Pilot
‘You are the blue,” avows the ballsy unnamed female fighter pilot, called The Pilot (Elizabeth Bunch), in George Brant’s disquieting, timely “one-man” 85-minute show Grounded at the Alley. The Pilot is an Air Force top gun, the best of the best in sweat, brains and guts. She lives for the…
With Trump’s “Punishment” Remark, GOP Loses Last Semi-Sane Candidate on Abortion
Until very recently there was one thing I could point to about Republican frontrunner for President Donald Trump as a positive. Amid all the racism, the outright fascism, the lack of anything resembling a workable plan for the country if elected, the foreign policy closer to a child bashing her…
J.J. Watt Reveals He Played With Herniated Disk Injury During 2015 Season
In many ways, 2015 was business as usual for J.J. Watt. He spent the season sacking quarterbacks (17.5 times, to be exact), routinely beating double- and triple-teams, and generally dominating opposing offensive lines on his way to a third Defensive Player of the Year award in five seasons. However, in…
Thom Pain (based on nothing) Promises Comedy Amid the Sadness
Thom Pain needs to find a human connection. “He’s sort of lost his tether in the world,” says Catastrophic Theatre Artistic Director Jason Nodler. Who’s he looking for? Anyone and everyone and so when Will Eno’s Thom Pain (based on nothing) begins, audience members should expect to be part of…
Cruising Houston Grocery Store Aisles Looking for Exotic Drinks
The rules of the game were simple: acquire, taste, and evaluate some of the most unusual offerings in bottles and cans found in the beverage aisles of several Houston grocery stores. Which ones would live up to the packaging hype, which literally fell flat, and which were downright weird. Four…
Potter Theory: Snape Was Testing to See If Harry Would Become Voldemort
My wife and I are going back through the Harry Potter series, introducing it to our daughter at bed time. We started with that awesome illustrated version of Philosopher’s Stone that came out last year, and I do mean Philosopher’s Stone because we’re anglophilic snobs who don’t support the dumbing…
Former Foster Care Commissioner John Specia Says State Should Appeal Judge’s Ruling
The state’s foster care system isn’t as bad as a federal judge’s damning ruling makes it out to be, the former head of the beleagured Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said on NPR’s Texas Standard show this week. John Specia, who resigned in the wake of a class-action…
Get Up Again: The 10 Best Obscure Nu-Metal Gems
The thing you have to understand about nu-metal is that the word doesn’t really describe a particular sound; it describes a moment in time. Sure, you can find the connective tissue bands that unite Limp Bizkit, Staind and Static-X in the same scene, but the only thing that kept those…
Texas Politics = “Gay Hitler”
Donald Trump’s insanity has nothing on Texas, where the political scene has descended into complete and utter madness. The Travis County GOP Chairman is a sex-obsessed conspiracy theorist who promised to lick Barbara Bush’s butt if Hilary Clinton wins the general election. There’s a woman running for the board of education…
Your Entertainment Choices Are Not Your Identity
As a professional media consumer and explainer, I’ll go ahead and say it: if your main source of your identity is related to the genre you consume, you probably need to diversify your hobbies. Sure, in the department, I’m the Early Americanist, the 19th Century guy, and sometimes the Film…
Houston Shop Celebrates One-Year Anniversary and Fights Sexism With Doughnut Competition
Last week, a male customer walked into Hugs & Donuts and placed an order. At the counter, the staff overheard him asking his male friend which “flavor” he’d choose out of three women sitting outside on the patio. The sexist comment led owners Matt Opaleski, Amy Ponterella and Jason Kerr…
37 Years And Counting, Houston Still Loves The Hates
The Hates aren’t just an essential Houston punk act; put simply, they’re an essential Houston music act, as critical to this city’s music development as their contemporaries in other genres. Like Lightnin’ Hopkins or DJ Screw, The Hates indelibly attached this city directly to a specific style of music. Christian…
The Salute to the SLAB Premiere Was Pretty Much a Huge Waste of Time
It could have been dope. I guess that’s what pisses me off—it could have legitimately been dope. I mean, it sounded so sweet: The red-carpet premiere of a new concert film called Salute to the SLAB, a high-definition chronicle of “the evolution of Houston’s music scene,” starring the likes of…
Ask Willie D: Ex’s New Woman Teaching My Daughter About Sex
Dear Willie D: My 11-year old daughter told me that when she visits her dad, his wife allows her to curse, and sleep in the same bed with her 13-year old son. She also told me that her stepmother showed her drawings of a naked man, and told her what…
Wiesenthal Succeeds as a Story With Humor, Heartache, Humanity and Hope
The set up: The trials of 95-year-old Hubert Zafke, a former Auschwitz paramedic, and of 94-year-old Reinhold Hanning, a former guard at the death camp, have already started. Mid-April will see 93-year-old former Auschwitz guard Ernst Tremmel tried in court. It is quite possible, given the ages of the accused…
Report: The Brian Hoyer Era May Be Ending Soon
When he was brought to the Houston Texans last spring, quarterback Brian Hoyer was never thought to be a major piece of the team’s long-term future, despite the protestations, both private and public, of Texans head coach Bill O’Brien in response to the naysayers who, quite frankly, merely read the…
The First Black Restaurant Week in Houston Kicks Off on April 3
Black Restaurant Week in Houston runs from April 3 through April 10 and organizers want to encourage everyone to especially support African American-owned businesses. The event is also a fundraiser. Fifteen percent of sales of special, multi-course prix fixe meals at each participating restaurant will go to Change Happens. The…
Looking Back and Ranking Thrash Metal’s “Big 4”
Recently, I got drawn into a debate on Facebook about Slayer, a band I’ve listened to for over 30 years. The discussion was a masterful attempt at trolling, where a guy was bashing the band for being overrated and inferior to both Testament and Megadeth. It was a sad nerd…
Texas Wine & Art Festival Keeps It Local
Anybody who’s gone on a tour of Texas wineries knows that they range from the very upscale (Hill country sandstone, high-end chandeliers, nice enough for a wedding) to small, spooky and cobbled together with a mishmash of construction materials. There was one visit to a small grower (who shall remain…
County and State Continue Crackdown on Anyone Selling Synthetic Pot
Last July, a defense attorney blamed synthetic marijuana in a woman’s death after his client allegedly smoked a “bad batch” of it, then stabbed, beat, and choked his girlfriend to death. In September, two Houston men allegedly high on synthetic marijuana attacked and shot at their neighbors who were having a…
Quick Recipes for Refreshing Light Meals on Hot, Hot Houston Days
The weather’s growing warmer, and as anyone whose ever lived through a Houston summer knows, things are just going to get hotter for the next several months. When the thermometers are redlining, eating a heavy hot meal isn’t appealing to a lot of folks, and many of us start to…
Harris County Flood Control District Won’t Be Sued Over the Memorial Day Floods — For Now
A local law firm considered suing the Harris County Flood Control District over the Memorial Day floods in Meyerland, but ditched legal action following the publication of a report by a decorated Rice University professor and hydrologist. But that report doesn’t address crucial, big-picture questions about flood control in Houston,…
A Look at the IRONMAN 70.3 Texas From Both Sides of the Course
By now you’re either in or you’re out. While general registration for Galveston’s Memorial Hermann IRONMAN 70.3 is now closed, many of the 2,700 amateur and professional athletes who signed up for the 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike course and 13.1-mile run also will be participating in the “race inside a…
Five Things You Should Never Say to a Woman at a Concert
There’s a common misconception among male concert attendees that females in the audience are present only to get close to the band and then attempt to sleep with them. And, this is wholly untrue. We know, we know…some breaking news just seems obvious to the most casual reader, but news…
Eat This: Soup Dumplings at One Dragon Restaurant
At Din Tai Fung in South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, a line begins forming about 45 minutes before the restaurant opens, with wait times reaching into the two hour range as the day progresses. The reason? Din Tai Fung is a famous restaurant chain from Taiwan known for…
Blue Bell Blames Listeria Problem on Everything But the People in Charge
For the first time since listeria was discovered at Blue Bell’s facilities in February 2015, the Brenham-based ice cream company has issued a report to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration explaining what went wrong at its plants and how the company officials are ensuring they’ll never send out listeria-laced…
The 10 Most Overrated Video Games of All Time
Gamers can be a little zealous in expressing their love of their favorite titles sometimes. Part of that is left over from a time when gaming struggled to be seen as more than toys, but it’s mostly because, well, gaming can be a very large investment of time and energy…
Gurf Morlix Can’t Knock Houston
Gurf Morlix lived in Montrose in one of its most creative heydays. He first laid eyes on Houston when he left Buffalo in 1975. He bounced around couch-surfing in Austin and Houston for a bit, but by 1978 he was living in Montrose with songwriting genius and wild-drinking Blaze Foley,…
Five Reasons Heartworn Highways Is Essential Country Viewing
The annual vinyl-lined Caligula’s den that is Record Store Day is often packed with unique offerings that we may or may not actually need. But for lovers of outlaw country and retro roots-rock, there isn’t likely a previous RSD release that can top the upcoming Heartworn Highways 40th Anniversary Edition…
Before You Know It, You’re In: Hulu’s The Path Gives New Meaning to Cult TV
Some free advice: If you ever find yourself defensively reminding people that you’re not in a cult, you’re probably in a cult. This comes up early and often in The Path, Hulu’s new series premiering on March 30th, not that any adherents of the fictional Meyerist Movement seem fazed by…
New Zealand Chess Drama The Dark Horse Wins Out Over Familiarity
The main attraction in the engaging, largely predictable chess drama The Dark Horse is the gripping lead performance by Cliff Curtis, a part-Maori actor from New Zealand who has spent more than two decades doing notable character parts in big films. You’ll likely recognize his face: His look suggests, at…
Channelview Taco Truck Owner Devastated After Vehicle Is Stolen
Business owner Cynthia Gonzales is devastated after the taco trailer that represented her and her family’s entire livelihood was stolen around 4 a.m on March 28. The Los Dos Vaqueros taco truck was where it is normally parked at the Star Food at 1234 Sheldon in Channelview. The theft was…
County Amends Gang Injunction, Adds “Rehabilitation” Clause
Late Monday, the Harris County filed an amended petition for the “Southlawn Safety Zone” gang injunction that seeks to ban supposed gang members from a community in southeast Houston. The amended petition slashes in half the amount of defendants the county wants to ban from the area, from 92 to…
Texans Re-sign CB A.J. Bouye, Free Agency Almost Closed Out
Some people like to compare NFL free agency to “speed dating,” and in some cases, that is absolutely true. When you’re signing another team’s highly sought after free agent, you have virtually no time to get to know them or query them, so it’s a total leap of faith. The…
John O’Quinn’s Former Lover Sues Funeral Home After It Transports His Body to Louisiana
John O’Quinn hasn’t exactly had the chance to “rest in peace.” The famed Houston billionaire plaintiff lawyer has been dug up and moved to a different grave site two times since he died in 2009 after a fatal car crash. As he wished, he was laid to rest in a…
This Week in Houston Food Blogs: Brewery Burger Hits the Spot
This week, we’ve got a few twists on classic recipes, plus reviews of top brunch spots, burgers and to-go bites in our food blog round-up. Lindy of the Patty and David Said blog stumbled upon the Cousins Maine Lobster food truck this week. She tried the lobster-loaded tater tots with…
Take an Unconventional Tour of the Menil in This Year’s CounterCurrent Festival
When Annie-B Parson did her recon at The Menil Collection, it was with the idea of co-creating an interactive performance piece at the museum that focused on just one piece of work. “I always feel overwhelmed when I go into a museum, like 100 plays going on simultaneously,” says Parson,…
NASA Is Going Green With a New Rocket Fuel in 2017
NASA is locked on making the Mars dream a reality in the coming years, but it seems the federal space agency wants to do things right as they delve into serious space travel. After decades of using the same type of rocket fuel, NASA has decided to find something more environmentally…
Drug Offender Exonerated Seven Years After Lab Test Proved His Innocence
Less than a month after Johnny Adams pled guilty to possession of less than a gram of cocaine in 2009, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office received results from the Houston Police Department crime lab showing that, actually, Adams had no drugs at all. And then: nothing. Adams continued to…
Help a Houston Bartender Prepare for National Competition and Get a Great Deal on Cocktails
To help one of their bartenders prepare for a big national competition in New York, Bad News Bar is offering a four-for-$25 cocktail special from 8 p.m. to midnight every Tuesday between now and May 17. The bartender: Elyse Blechman. The competition: Speed Rack. Only female bartenders can compete in…
Skip Hollandsworth Suggests an Austin Serial Killer Might Have Become Jack the Ripper
After speaking with Skip Hollandsworth – award-winning journalist, screenwriter and executive editor of Texas Monthly – I’m picturing one of those quirky forensic savants holed up in a war room paneled with heavily scribbled dry erase boards and taped-up mug shots, ignoring his now cold dinner, while he pores through…
Upcoming: Children of Pop, Dr. Boogie, Eagles of Death Metal, The Freeze, The Hates, Little Jon, Tanya Tucker, etc.
10th Annual Polish Festival: Fri., May 6, 5-10 p.m.; Sat., May 7, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sun., May 8, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Free to $5. Our Lady of Czestochowa Roman Catholic Church, 1731 Blalock, Houston, 713-973-1081. 80’s Night at the Moon!: Fri., April 15, 5 p.m., Free to $7. Howl at…
WorldFest Houston — Back at It for the 49th Year
Cannes. Sundance. Toronto. New York. Please. “[WorldFest] is the oldest indie film festival in the whole wide world,” says Hunter Todd, chairman and founding director of the WorldFest Houston International Film and Video Festival. “Yup, Cannes, Venice, and Berlin are older, but they focus on major studio films. And a…
iPic’s Venture Into High-End Dining Offers Hits, Misses and Plush Surroundings
When Alamo Drafthouse opened its initial theater in May 2003 near West Oaks Mall, it was the first venue where Houstonians could enjoy a full meal served right to their seats while they were watching a movie. It’s now closed, but there are locations in Katy on Mason Road and…
Are They There Yet?: A Look at the Astros’ World Series Potential
It was the last week of June back in 2014, and the Astros had just finished up a six-game road trip in which they went 1-5, standard fare for a team that was just less than a year removed from a 2013 season in which they had to pick their…
Anson Funderburgh’s New Group Builds Blues Bridges
While the region of the Mississippi Delta and the city of Chicago are the better known grounds of fertility for the blues, the state of Texas and California aren’t slouches either. The Gulf Coast has given birth to names like Lightnin’ Hopkins, Freddie King, and Albert Collins. Likewise, the Pacific…
Officials Can’t Remember the Last Time HPD Saw an Unjustified Shooting. Here’s Why.
John Domingues rushed to the corner of Francis and Sampson, in the heart of Houston’s Third Ward, as soon as he heard the call for “shots fired” crackle over his police radio. It was just after midnight when Domingues pulled up near the row of shotgun houses and saw Jason…
Double-Up the Punx: Punk Pairs We’d Like to See Live
There’s no fancy intro required for this one. Simply put, these are 10 punk bands we’d like to see teamed for future shows here in town. Each pair includes a visiting act and a local favorite. That’s it. So, as the late, great Ernie Banks would say, let’s play two:…
I Hated My Parent’s Music Until I Grew Up
At some point, I remember despising my parent’s musical choices. Really despising it. Like, with the kind of arm-fold, eye-roll loathing attitude that crops up in most omniscient teenagers. To hear the first few bars of a classic rock song from my mother’s kitchen radio sent me headed to my…
Richard Linklater’s College Bros Get Philosophical in Everybody Wants Some!!
Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! is being billed as a “spiritual sequel” to his 1993 high school stoner classic Dazed and Confused, but in some key ways it feels closer to his animated 2001 philosophy bull session Waking Life — a freewheeling grab bag of ideas, ruminations and loose ends…
Don Cheadle’s Miles Ahead Hits Bum Notes but Still Swings
The musician biopic might be stale and stupid as a genre, but it will endure. Each new one offers the possibility of the wondrous thing that made Hollywood into Hollywood: presence. You can guess from the trailers that I Saw the Light might be a botch job as drama, but…
Alleged Bank Robber Tricks Galveston County Jailers Into Letting Him Go
Over the weekend, a Galveston County Jail inmate escaped in plain sight. In fact, jailers just let him out on accident. Late Saturday, around 11:20 p.m., accused bank robber Alex Washington walked on out of the jail by pretending to be another inmate who had just secured a $100,000 bond;…
March Madness 2016: Elite Eight — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
You can exhale, Houston. There will be no repeat of the 2011 Final Four at then-Reliant Stadium, where a 3-seed UConn ended up cutting down the nets by beating then-Horizon League champion Butler in a largely unwatchable final, 53-41. In that Final Four, there were two mid-majors seeded 8th and…
Landing Theatre’s Brandon Weinbrenner Is Just a Fool For Love
Sam Shepard’s bold 1983 play Fool For Love is not for the faint of heart. “It’s about our capacity for passion,” say director Brandon Weinbrenner, who is directing The Landing Theatre’s production of motel-set drama . “The play [literally] says: ‘To be played relentlessly.’ These characters are desperate, and dramatic, full of life and angst…
Dish of the Week: Up Your Brunch Game With a Savory Bread Pudding
From classic comfort foods to regional standouts and desserts, we’ll be sharing a new recipe with you each week. Find other dishes of the week here. This week, we’re turning a traditional dessert into something perfect for brunch with savory bread pudding. Food historians have traced the origins of bread…
1946 Offers and Discards Too Many Plotlines
The set-up: I’m not entirely sure when it hit me, but I remember a disquieting, uncomfortable feeling, something odd sometime around the third scene, or maybe after the fourth. This play, I thought, is not going anywhere. It’s meandering and it’s never coming back. The execution: This Main Street Theater…
ESPN’s Remote Broadcasts Cheat Viewers
ESPN broadcast select first and second round games of this year’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament remotely. This means there were no broadcasters on location, just some camera guys and some technical people. The broadcasters instead announced the game from Bristol, Connecticut, ESPN’s headquarters, while watching the games off of TV…
Corpus Christi Lowriders Add Vegas-Style Bling to Houston’s Art Car Museum
Artist Irvin Tepper has been photographing art cars for almost 30 years and his images have graced the gallery walls at the Art Car Museum time and time again, including his “Vehicles of Havana” series from 1998 and collaborations with Maurice Roberts. He’s back for another FotoFest, this time capturing…
First Look at Ginger & Fork
Though there are many notable Hong Kong-style Cantonese restaurants in Houston — among them, Fung’s Kitchen, Shanghai Restaurant, and Ocean Palace — all are located in the Southwest side of town on or in the near vicinity of the Chinatown area of Bellaire Boulevard. Ginger & Fork, the new restaurant…
Relentlessly Overstuffed The Boundary Tests Our Patience
The set up: Hooray, a new play! Not something we get nearly enough of in Houston. And it’s written by a pair of Houston writers to boot? Double hooray! At least that’s the reaction of this critic, always eager to see new voices injected onto the stage. But with new,…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Crawfish Fests Around Town
Monday, March 28 BFM Cask Invasion at Hay Merchant Owner Jérôme Rebetez of Swiss brewery BFM and five of his beers are taking over the casks at Hay Merchant, 1100 Westheimer, beginning at 5 p.m. These casked beers include four variations on the brewery’s popular 225 saison, including dry-herbed with sage,…
Family, Feasting, Asphalt and Inspiration — Or, Me and Mr. Brown
Whether inspiration comes from a friend, the Internet, a book, a movie or a TV show, don’t waste too much time questioning the source. Just grab it and be on your way. Ultimately, the roots of why I’m a food writer harken back to having young children to feed, no…
Doctor Who’s Universes Are Exploding and No One Is Talking About It
Doctor Who is very unique in the fact that it has one of the largest expanded universes of any franchise in the world, and yet there is simply no dividing line between canon and non-canon. Not a definite one at any rate. The nature of the show means that’s things…
Tiptoeing Through the Bizarre Life (and Hygiene Practices) of Tiny Tim
Eternal Troubadour: The Improbable Life of Tiny Tim By Justin Martell and Alanna Wray McDonald Jawbone Press, 368 pp., $19.95 Even among the freaks of late-1960s music, Tiny Tim was pretty freaky-deaky. Who would have imagined that one of the most recognizable (if not successful) stars of the era would be a…
Shows of the Week: Final Four, They Might Be Giants or the Melvins…You Decide
CHRISTY HAYS Under the Volcano, March 30 Austin-based folk-rocker Christy Hays writes widescreen tales of the everyday and delivers them in a sultry, earnest, thoughtful Southern-belle style. Songs like “Birds Point Levee,” “Chicon” and “Winter Solstice” deal with big stuff — floods, Monsanto, integration, and a host of other concerns…
Animals Keep Dying at UTMB-Galveston, Even When They’re Not Supposed To
What the hell is going on with the animals at the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston? Last year, a federal agency’s audit found that twelve monkeys injected with a strain of the Marburg virus suffered needlessly, against the study’s protocols. And now, KPRC is reporting on a February USDA inspection showing…
Sleater-Kinney Knocks ‘Em Dead Down Under
Got no cities to love. It’s not the city, it’s the weather we love! It’s not the weather, it’s the people we love! — Sleater-Kinney, “No Cities to Love” Recently Sleater-Kinney returned to Australia, the nation that served as the setting for the iconic indie band’s first album 22 years…
15 Living Legends of Texas Music We Shouldn’t Take for Granted
Texans are fortunate to have a wealth of homegrown musical talent to listen to and enjoy, and that’s especially true of the many legends we still have the opportunity to see play live. But it’s easy to grow complacent and to take some of those performers for granted — in…
The Apostle at A.D. Players Is a Whole New Look at St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans
He was a murderer. He was a writer. He was one of the defining voices of Christianity, whose words still inspire believers and skeptics alike. “He” is St. Paul the Apostle and A..D. Players, the Houston theater company long known for bringing Christian-centric shows to its stage, looks to showcase…
Texas Death Match: Aggies Loss Leaves Next Week’s Final Four Texas-Less
When it comes to late game drama, Thursday night, the first night of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament’s Sweet Sixteen, was about as uneventful as it gets. The four favorites all covered the spread and won easily, giving us two regions on Saturday night with 1 versus 2 matches in…
While a Riot Explodes, Detroit ’67 Barely Simmers
The set up: These days, when we think of Detroit, it’s likely the first thing that to comes to mind is the city’s recent bankruptcy, the largest municipal filing in U.S. history. But five decades ago, Detroit’s troubles were more social than financial. It was the summer of 1967 when…
Professional Hockey in Pasadena? LOL. No.
Dear citizens of Pasadena, Texas: If some dude comes up to you and says that he wants you to invest over $70 million of your own money into a sports and entertainment complex to be built within your city limits, and that person says part of the deal is to…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets (Including Where to Dine on Easter)
From a crawfish boil to a margarita festival, check out this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Grand Opening Party @ Axelrad Beer Garden Friday – Sunday, noon to midnight 1517 Alabama Welcome Midtown’s newest beer garden to the neighborhood by joining them at their Grand Opening celebration. The festivities include a…
Handel’s Messiah: The Most Treasured Choral Work Is Beautiful and (Possibly) Revolting
George Frideric Handel’s Messiah is often thought of as a bulletproof choral work. That’s something considering the sprawling oratorio in 53 parts, when performed by a full orchestra and choir, can last for over two and a half hours. But now there’s a theory that gives the regarded piece a…
Russian Gym Strategies and Other Dream-Machine Sound Tracks
I visit the gym a few times a year, more out of a perversity of spirit than out of an abiding interest in keeping my incipient dad bod in check. From time to time the gym pipes in what my fellow silverbacks and I refer to as good music; I’ve…
Miss Teen Explores What Happens After You Win a Beauty Pageant
A shy teenage girl unexpectedly enters, and wins, a beauty pageant. In turn, her single mother, gets drawn into what happens next, what image a beauty queen is expected to project now that she has won her crown. Canadian playwright Michele Riml (Sexy Laundry) didn’t have far to go to…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Get Early Bird Tickets for BrewFest
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary events: Get early bird pricing for the 5th Annual Houston Press & Lucky’s Pub BrewFest now through Thursday, March 31. The event will be held on Saturday, April 30 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Silver…
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Joins Lawsuit Against Activists Who Lied Their Way Into a Local Clinic
On Thursday, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast joined a lawsuit that accuses two anti-abortion activists who infiltrated a local clinic last year of being part of a criminal conspiracy. Earlier this year, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed its suit in California alleging that activists behind the series of Planned…
The Five Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Horse Races & a Drone Drama
It’s the first weekend of spring, and there’s lots to see and do in Houston before sitting down for this Sunday’s Easter brunch or dinner. It’s opening night and the quarter horses are at the starting gate over at Sam Houston Race Park, there’s a battle between sci-fi and fantasy…
Every Texan and His Mother Applied for a License to Carry a Gun in the Past Two Months
In the months immediately preceding and following the January 1, 2016 start-date for Texas’ new open carry law, a pretty astounding amount of Texans applied for a license to carry a gun. According to a Texas Department of Public Safety press release, “during the three-month period from December 2015 through…
Openings and Closings in Houston: Owners of Favorite French Restaurant Bid Us Adieu
The Marque, an exclusive and private club at 798 Sorella in CityCentre, has suddenly closed after five years in business. The fine wine-ing and dining establishment featured a cigar lounge, meeting rooms and fine liquor storage for its members, and it also occasionally hosted public events and dinners. The Marque…
The New Offenders Offer Up Southern Hospitality, Rock and Roll Style
Houston’s diverse music scene offers up multiple flavors in an aural buffet of variety, and it’s not hard to find a range of sounds in one set on the right stage at the right time. We can claim both rock and country and a good mix in between, including the…
Hearing Loss at Festivals and Concerts Is Not Something to Ignore
Tucked in the northeast corner of Ultra Music Festival near the UMF Radio stage, dozens are unabashedly grabbing condoms courtesy of the Florida Department of Health. Most pick up the flavored ones that come in pineapple and strawberry varieties, and there the confident few who grab the Magnum XL’s. (Just…
Prairie View A&M Fires Coach After She Suspends Lesbian Couple From Team
This week, Prairie View A&M fired its head women’s basketball coach, Dawn Brown after she suspended two of her players for having a relationship off the court. The unnamed players had filed a Title IX complaint, claiming that Brown discriminated against them because they were gay, according to a university…
United Airlines Pilot Accused of Managing “Prostitution Enterprise” Across Houston
A United Airlines pilot was arrested and accused yesterday with running a brothel ring in a half dozen office or apartment buildings across Houston. Fifty-one-year-old Bruce Wayne Willis is charged with aggravated promotion of prostitution and engaging in organized crime. Prosecutors said during his probable cause hearing that Willis charged women…
KPFT Seeks Out Younger Listeners With Some “Spring Sounds”
Jay Sauseda is aware we live in a digital age. But, he said, there’s still something special about a terrestrial radio setting, something that musicians still find romantic and inspiring. It’s something he’s witnessed time and again as one of the on-air talents for KPFT 90.1 FM’s Night Sounds. “It’s…
Bros Gone Wild: FPSF Doubles Down on Bad Boys
Bros will be bros. Looking over this year’s Free Press Summer Fest lineup after Thursday’s addition of Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz, Father John Misty and a few others, it’s hard not to think about Wesley Morris’ “First Words” column in last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. Each week, a…
Put Down Your Knitting and Visit This Cabaret
Willkommen and leave your troubles at the door. After a day spent reeling over the latest ISIS attack in Brussels is there any greater desire than to shut out the world and lose yourself for a couple of hours in the theater? Cabaret, here brought to us in terrific touring…
Intronaut and Scale the Summit Cram a Ton of Strings and Notes Into Walters Downtown
Intronaut, Scale the Summit, North, Agamemnon Walter’s Downtown March 23, 2016 For a certain subset of heavy-metal fans, the distorted crunch doesn’t get interesting until a little arithmetic is factored into the proceedings. And for those who worship at the altar of looping, odd-time guitar riffs, Wednesday night’s show at…
Lil’ Wayne & 2 Chainz, Father John Misty Top FPSF 2016 Lineup Adds
ColleGrove, a bounce-rap duo comprised of Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz, leads the handful of lineup additions to Free Press Summer Fest just announced this morning, alongside witheringly sarcastic singer-songwriter Father John Misty and goth-pop ingenue Zola Jesus. The other additions are Brooklyn duo Lewis Del Mar and New Orleans’…
City Council Green-Lights Mayor Turner’s Last-Minute Recycling Contract
It’s official: Houston will continue recycling—at least for two more years. Yesterday, City Council approved the recycling contract that Mayor Sylvester Turner negotiated with Waste Management and announced March 11. Before then, the city almost ditched recycling completely when it considered cutting ties with Waste Management—its previous contract was about…
Islamophobia Runs Deep in Ted Cruz’s Campaign, and He’s Not Sorry About It
Hours after suicide bombers killed more than 31 people and injured dozens more in Brussels on Tuesday, in an attack that ISIS eventually claimed responsibility for, Sen. Ted Cruz released a hard-edged response, calling for law enforcement agencies to “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.” The statement…
Marvel’s Daredevil Returns to Netflix for a Punishing (in a Good Way!) Second Season
When the news broke about Netflix’s plans to air an original series based on Daredevil, Marvel Comics’ “Man Without Fear,” there was some skepticism. The streaming provider’s brief history of original programming was spotty, with some bona fide hits (House of Cards, Orange is the New Black) and some not…
A Chat With the “Father of Sour Beers,” Caretaker of One of Belgium’s Most Prized Ales
Rudi Ghequire of Rodenbach Brewery in Belgium is sometimes referred to as “the father of sour beer” but he’s very careful to correct anyone who would refer to his beers with that description. For that matter, he says it is Rodenbach Brewery, not him, that should receive any paternal credit…
The Most Congested, Confusing and Hated Intersections in Houston
Traffic. We all hate it. We hate the stopping and starting. We hate the construction. We hate all of it. But, it is price we pay for living in a city spread out over 600 square miles. But, that doesn’t always adequately explain the nightmare of traffic intersections. It’s one…
Why Tetris Is the Most Artistic Video Game Ever Made
The elevation of video games to free speech and art has been a slow, fascinating process that I’ve avidly watched over most of my life. These days between games like Firewatch and That Dragon, Cancer, it’s become more or less a given that a game is supposed to say something…
Here’s How Prosecutors Judge Potential Jurors in Wharton County
Over in Wharton County, apparently rejecting black people during jury selection is something the district attorney has openly encouraged, according to two prosecutors. Assistant District Attorneys Nathan Wood and Daniel LaBruyere both said during a hearing that at some point or other, their boss, District Attorney Ross Kurtz, offered this…
Remembering Phife Dawg, Rap’s Favorite Underdog
Rap’s favorite underdog died this week, and that is a very sad thing. To play catch up, Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest passed away late Tuesday after a lifelong battle with Type 1 diabetes. Even at the young age of 45, Phife left a mark on many areas…
After SXSW, Sosamann Is Ready for the National Stage
Last week during South by Southwest, one of the worst-kept secrets in Houston rap was revealed: Sosamann, The Sauce Factory’s bright, colorful provider of raspy sing-song flows and shouts, had signed with Wiz Khalifa’s Taylor Gang imprint. Videos had already surfaced of Khalifa and Sosamann hanging tight, especially on the road…
My Boyfriend Started Praying During Sex. Help!
MY BOYFRIEND STARTED PRAYING DURING SEX Dear Willie D: I normally don’t share my business with people, but you don’t know me so here it goes. My boyfriend is an emotional guy. He is very passionate about everything he does. Today was our first time making love, and he prayed…
NASA’s New Gravity Map Gives Most Detailed View of Mars to Date
NASA has come up with yet another way to get a totally different view of the Red Planet. This time, the federal space agency made a map using the pull of gravity to illustrate the surface of Mars as well as providing new information about what lies beneath the Martian crust,…
Ted and Trump Trade Twitter Punches Over Each Other’s Spouses
Trigger fingers turned to Twitter fingers for Ted Cruz last night, as he fended off a Donald Trump tweet threatening to “spill the beans” on Heidi Cruz. BuzzFeed says the beef stems from a Facebook ad that an anti-Trump super-PAC recently circulated in Utah and Arizona, mocking a nude photoshoot…
The Masks, Monsters and Mythos of Lucha Underground, TV’s Best Wrestling Drama
Ask weary WWE viewers to identify why the professional-wrestling titan’s creative direction has gone so stagnant and you’ll hear one answer time and again: lack of competition. It’s no coincidence that the company’s late-‘90s heyday ran concurrent with the rise of Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling, which at one point…
Death Threats and a Not Guilty Plea for Trooper in Sandra Bland Arrest
Yesterday, former Texas state trooper Brian Encinia pled not guilty to perjury, a charge stemming from his role in the arrest of Sandra Bland in Waller County last summer. According to the Los Angeles Times, Encinia’s lawyer said his client “has received a steady stream of threatening calls and letters”…
Deftones Bring the Fury to Way-Packed Revention Music Center
Deftones Revention Music Center March 22, 2016 Way back when Revention was still called the Ariel Theater, Deftones came to town for one of their first big Houston headlining shows. Riding high on the critical acclaim and general success of White Pony, the band was out on the road with…
Houston’s So Raw: The 10 Best Restaurants for Raw Seafood
As Houston diners have become more sophisticated, so have their tastes. Just 30 years ago, sushi was regarded as adventurous and the vast majority of available oysters were the big, nonspecific ones from the Gulf. Thanks to the educational efforts of organizations like Southern Foodways Alliance and Texas Foodways, appellation…
The Coolest Thing to Hit Downtown Houston in Ages (R.I.P. Michael Condray)
Next month’s March Madness Music Festival may be a bunch of dog shit, but at least now all those out-of-towners will have something pretty cool to look at on their way to Discovery Green. Above is a mural by the artist Jamal Cyrus entitled Lightnin’ Field. Part of the city’s…
Mimi Yam Out As Houston Immigration Judge
Following the publication of an investigation into the harebrained antics of Houston Immigration Judge Mimi Schooley Yam, the Houston Press learned that Judge Yam is gone from Houston’s immigration court. “She’s no longer employed with [the Executive Office for Immigration Review],” says EOIR spokesperson Kathryn Mattingly, who wouldn’t say whether Yam was fired or…
Scavenging the Frozen Food Aisle in Houston for the Unusual and Exotic
Most days, my evening kitchen is bubbling and sizzling away with the sounds and aromas of a healthy, planned-out dinner comprised of thoughtfully paired starches and proteins. Salads share space with grilled meats, fresh sandwiches, and sundry produce selections. Some days, however, I get a wrinkle in my metaphorical chef’s…
The ’90s Still Have a Powerful Grip on Today’s Dance Music
When Prince decided to party like it was 1999, little did he, or anyone else for that matter, understand the significance of the year. For the purposes of his song, it was the end of the century and thus a reason to celebrate. However, for electronic dance music, it was…
Was the Houston Man Caught Having Sex in a Ferris Wheel Killed Over Payment He Got for Doing an Interview?
Philip Panzica, the Houston man who made international headlines last month after he was arrested for having sex on a Las Vegas Ferris wheel, was shot to death this past weekend near a Houston strip club. And it appears there’s a chance the two events may be linked. Mistie Bozant,…
Grab Your Quill, the Houston Press Is Looking for Music Writers
Perhaps it’s in keeping with this month’s whole “madness” theme, but it seems like a perfect time to get some new music writers around here. Nothing wrong with the ones we already have, each of whom is his or her own special snowflake. There’s just not enough of them. Houston…
Batman v Superman Is Too Weighty to Soar, but It Has Its Moments
Thunderous, ponderous and occasionally exciting, Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opens with one of those grim proclamations that the creators of modern superhero movies are so fond of: “There was a time above, a time before,” intones the voice of Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), over a by-now…
Hank Williams Will Never Get Out of I Saw the Light Alive
Have you ever considered the fact that, in 1951, Hank Williams actually wrote “Hey Good Lookin'”? That, for the first 175 years years of American history, those words and that melody weren’t already part of our shared heritage? Williams didn’t just pluck it out of the air, of course. Cole…
