Kinda Gay
We took note this week of the attempts by the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau to capture the wily gay audience for our area. They’ll be advertising in gay publications and other stuff like that. We pointed out that the GHCVB Web site wasn’t really aiding in the effort…
Free Shows for SXSW
Heading up to Austin this weekend? Here’s an extensive list of free shows for those of you who don’t have wristbands. (This list will also be useful for wristband wearers once they realize all they get is the chance to stand in line.) — Keith Plocek…
It’s Always Nice When We Get to Use the “This Just In” Button
“Hello, Houston! Cough. Cough. Hack.” Quick note for all you rodeo lovers and loathers: Rascall Flatts will not be playing tonight. Lead singer Gary LeVox has severe bronchitis. The band will be replaced by Clay Walker, Joe Nichols and Jack Ingram. “We hope that our ticket purchasers will enjoy these…
It’s Always Nice When We Get to Use the “This Just In” Button
“Hello, Houston! Cough. Cough. Hack.” Quick note for all you rodeo lovers and loathers: Rascall Flatts will not be playing tonight. Lead singer Gary LeVox has severe bronchitis. The band will be replaced by Clay Walker, Joe Nichols and Jack Ingram. “We hope that our ticket purchasers will enjoy these…
So It Starts…
Austin is heating up for SXSW. Okay, it’s not exactly heating up, since the city was doused in rain yesterday, but signs of the incoming industry storm are everywhere. Pretty much every venue in town has the 2 Ss, the X and the W on a placard outside its doors…
Best Taco Truck in the City?
Photos by Robb Walsh Memo with 2 Angus sirloin tacos Go get an Angus sirloin taco at the Jarro taco trailer, slather it with your choice of five awesome salsas, smother it with pickled onions, and tell me whether or not this is the best taco truck in the city…
Best Taco Truck in the City?
Photos by Robb Walsh Memo with 2 Angus sirloin tacos Go get an Angus sirloin taco at the Jarro taco trailer, slather it with your choice of five awesome salsas, smother it with pickled onions, and tell me whether or not this is the best taco truck in the city…
“Pinch” Hit
We had one question when we heard about ComedySportz’s “More than a Pinch of Fun”: Making jokes about the Irish? Come on, isn’t that like shooting fish in a barrel? “Well, I wouldn’t say we are making fun of the Irish,” says Dianah Dulany, a performer with the improv troupe…
Mister, Mister Upgrayedd, Walkin’ Down the Block…
So I finally got around to catching Mike Judge’s new flick Idiocracy this weekend. All I have to say in the way of a review is this: It’s better than Borat, and America needed this movie more. The humor in Borat, while abundant and at times side-splitting, was either hollow…
Mister, Mister Upgrayedd, Walkin’ Down the Block…
So I finally got around to catching Mike Judge’s new flick Idiocracy this weekend. All I have to say in the way of a review is this: It’s better than Borat, and America needed this movie more. The humor in Borat, while abundant and at times side-splitting, was either hollow…
HouStoned Theatre Presents…
Mark Graham And now HouStoned Theatre presents an interpretation of what exactly went down when DPS troopers pulled over an alleged drunk driver last night and were informed of the location of an alleged cockfighting ring. Officer: License and insurance, please. Driver: Yezzur, Ocifer. Officer: You been drinking tonight? Driver:…
So Many Bad Jokes, So Little Time
This weekend Halliburton announced plans to move its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai. We here at HouStoned are unsure exactly which tack to pursue when covering this story. We could… a) wonder where the HPD mounted division is now going to find protestors to run over with its horses;…
Playbill: Matt “The Electrician” Sever
Matt “the Electrician” Sever is one of those Beaver Nelson-ish Austin artists who always get more respect than money. On his fourth self-released collection, One Thing Right, Sever continues to carefully observe his personal life and deliver warm, catchy Paul Simon-esque miniatures like “My Dog” (“Don’t tell me and my…
Rotation: Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods
Bill Kirchen Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods Proper Records Any time Telecasting twangbanger Bill Kirchen gets together with his old boss Nick Lowe, I’m in. Recorded mostly in London with ringers like keyboardist Geraint Watkins, Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods is a tour de force of the Kirchenist…
Playbill: Winger (Yep, You Read That Right)
Before Winger was the butt of many jokes, the Bon Jovi doppelg�nger and his bandmates undoubtedly had busloads of Betties on standby in every zip code and were printing their own money, thanks to two consecutive albums that went platinum (a feat nearly unheard of in today’s digital age). Little…
To Do: AIDS Walk on Sunday
Courtesy of Jon Segura Walkin’ tall. There’s still time to sign up for Sunday’s AIDS Walk, which starts out in Sam Houston Park and stretches five kilometers. Not sure why you should donate to the AIDS Foundation? “This is still an epidemic and people need to be conscious of the…
No Fun
Let’s just say this was the least interesting image we found when Googling “Jameson.” Tom Horan is one of the last of the old-time PR guys in Houston — he made his bones hyping the faux-Vegas glitz of the old Shamrock Hotel. For the past 15 years or so, he’s…
3/13 Playbill: Vienna Teng
A graduate of Stanford, a former employee of computer giant Cisco, and a classically trained pianist, Vienna Teng shortens the distance between Beethoven and ‘Sixties folk, delivering a mixture she refers to as “chamber folk” that will surely remind Tori Amos fans of, well, Tori Amos. Maybe Teng doesn’t push…
Dugg Up
Looks like our, um, pals over at Lone Star Times are having bandwidth issues, no doubt because an old entry was just made popular on Digg.com The subject of the post: Urhines Kendall Icy Eight Special K. And yes, that does just seem like a random string of words. –…
Houston Couture
“Looks like they imported some gays for this thing, probably from Dallas,” says my buddy, standing next to me at Fashion Week Live, the biggest attempt at runway action I’ve ever seen in Houston. We’re surrounded by glitterati of all sorts, and yes, much to my friend’s excitement, there are…
Playbill: Eugene Chadbourne
Eugene Chadbourne All hail the inventor of the electric rake! Though the unearthly clatter of the amplified yard implement may be Eugene Chadbourne’s oddest claim to fame, chances are it isn’t his most remarkable. The completist’s nightmare that is Chadbourne’s official discography spans three decades and lists more than 130…
Playbill: Deerhoof
Ten years ago, a maniac of a drummer named Greg Saunier talked a seemingly timid woman, whom recently moved from Japan to San Francisco into joining his band. Forming the structure of what can seem like a structure-less band at times. They’ve never been concerned with convention; Deerhoof’s music fluctuates,…
“The guy knows Texas food.”
Looks like our very own Robb Walsh just got name-checked in some publication called the New York Times. To quote: Anonymity is required for Robb’s job, so we’ll just provide an artist’s rendering. A few years ago, I went to see Robb Walsh when he came through town on a…
Feedback
Some folks haven’t been too pleased with our rodeo coverage. Here are a couple of emails, in their entirety, that reference Richard Connelly’s feature and Keith Plocek’s blog entry on the boot-scootin’ spectacle. My husband and I are horrified at your tasteless article you wrote regarding the rodeo – “Shocking…
Idol Chatter
I missed the bulk of this week’s guys night, but I did catch the review at the end, so I have enough to go on to make some predictions. Also, I have now officially soured on Chris Sligh. Yeah, the boy can sing, and yeah, he’s cracked a few good…
Idol Chatter
I missed the bulk of this week’s guys night, but I did catch the review at the end, so I have enough to go on to make some predictions. Also, I have now officially soured on Chris Sligh. Yeah, the boy can sing, and yeah, he’s cracked a few good…
Take Five with Gretchen Schmaltz
Colleen Smith Gretchen Schmaltz In next week’s issue of the Houston Press you’ll be able to read our article with singer/songwriter Gretchen Schmaltz, but until then, you can click here and listen to a podcast of Gretchen discussing her upcoming EP, Laced Up Tightly. – Olivia Flores Alvarez…
Technicolor
The limitations of black & white wouldn’t let us show off the subtle colors of Judy Pfaff’s installation at Rice Gallery in the print version of this week’s art review. So here’s a color shot of “…..all of the above,” an installation that’s definitely worth a look. nashbaker.com Bonus: More…
As If Your House Didn’t Get Enough Love in the Previous Post
Of course, there’s more to life than reality TV. There are also homegrown movies, such as The Maestro, a film we know absolutely nothing about, save for what we’ve been told in a press release. Let’s just say the flick has “surefire hit written all over it,” with its “well-written…
New Media
A lot of talk has been made about the way online media have been encroaching upon traditional print and television news. The diehards complain that bloggers don’t do any original reporting, that blogs are filled with snark and overzealous accusations of bias, that real journalism is dying, being replaced with…
300
Long ago there reigned a clan of Speedo-wearing militaristic psychopaths called the Spartans. They lived beneath a copper-colored sky, on a copper-colored land, amidst copper-colored fields, in copper-colored homes made from copper-colored stone. Legend has it they would outline their copper-colored pecs and abs with ash to enhance their manly…
Downloading Music
You don’t have to have supernatural powers to sense which direction the music industry is headed. With that sentiment in mind, we’ve sorted through the riffraff of the digital universe to provide you with links to the best in legitimate, artist-approved exclusives. It’s instant gratification at its finest, minus the…
The Host
Gross-out horror is never far from comedy, and The Host, Bong Joon-ho’s giddy creature feature, has the anarchic mess factor worthy of a pile of old Mad magazines. A broadly played clown show full of lowbrow antics, Bong’s big splat is itself a sort of monster — the top-grossing movie…
J Xavier
Rapper J Xavier was only 12 years old when he won the America’s Most Talented Kids Show contest in 2004. Now, at age 14, he already has a CD and a couple of music videos out, as well as a part in an MTV movie. But Xavier is serious about…
Rot
John Harvey’s mind seems to be a tortured place indeed. In Rot, the newest story coming from Harvey’s dangerous pen, incest, disease and a general sense of the hatefulness in us all are wrapped up in an outrageous examination of family life. The fact that the bitter production, created by…
Keith Reynolds
Going for a pee in this ramshackle house turns out to be an exercise. Careening off of walls and fellow attendees, I feel that I’m not so much walking as being tossed by the rollicking, nearly swashbuckling vibe of the room across the sagging frame of the structure. It reminds…
Stage Capsule Reviews
Burn This Playing one of the most incendiary, original characters in modern drama, Pale in Lanford Wilson’s 1987 oddball romance drama, Bernardo Cubria sets Silver House Theatre’s small stage afire. Let’s hope Unhinged Productions carries insurance. Cubria lights up the place and the overwrought script with a blazing characterization that…
SXSW Preview
South by Southwest is again upon us, bigger and maybe even better than ever, and Houston has what looks like a record number of bands, rappers and DJs making the short trip west. These include rockers the Wiggins and Peekaboo Theory, rappers Rob G and Chamillionaire, and everything in between…
“…..all of the above”
In the seminal CGI flick Tron, Jeff Bridges plays a hacker transported into a video game environment where he must perform all kinds of arcade-riffic feats in order to defeat an enemy programmer. Containing Christ-like narrative elements and super-cool — you know, for the early ’80s — graphics, the movie…
Keller Williams
Known primarily for performing live as a one-man band, Keller Williams had the chance to collaborate with many of his personal heroes on his new release Dream (that explains the CD’s title). Joining the singer-songwriter for this project are Bob Weir, Michael Franti, Charlie Hunter, Bla Fleck, Victor Wooten, Steve…
Art Capsule Reviews
“Ariane Roesch” Ariane Roesch is still in school at the University of Houston, but she’s managing to put out some really interesting work. In her show at DeSantos Gallery, Roesch reprints and manipulates vintage photographs — both personal and found. She uses threads, yarn and wires to physically create connections…
Trans Am
Trans Am was always good at playing its blend of Kraftwerk and classic rock for shits and giggles. Its semi-ironic attitude and commendable ability to make irony sound like a dance party earned the DC-based trio legendary indie-rock status. Past albums contained moments where the band’s signature “man meets machine”…
Mexican-American Culture
Dear Mexican, I have a major crush on a worker with the Mexican Consulate aqu en Tucson. But I fear that, like two star-crossed lovers, we’re destined for doom. I’m a gabacha yaktivist and against governments in general. He represents the PAN or PRD or PRI or whatever Mexican political…
Bill Kirchen
Any time twangbanger Bill Kirchen gets together with his old boss Nick Lowe, I’m in. Recorded mostly in London with ringers like keyboardist Geraint Watkins, this is a tour de force of the Kirchenist religion, ranging from the twangiest Bakersfield tonk to make-you-cry country soul. Kirchen also hammers out a…
Wii Play
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Wii
Price: $49.99
ESRB Rating: E (for Everyone)
Score: 4.5 (out of 10)
DragonForce
The last time I was invited to have a chat with the cops was at a DragonForce show, where my “leaning-plus-smoking” combo had pegged me as “suspicious.” Really, I think the po-po were just trying to get the goods on the concert happening inside — wandering in and out was…
DVDs
Revenge of the Nerds: Panty Raid Edition (Fox) Revenge of the Nerds is a great movie. No, really. It’s got a bitching new-wave soundtrack and some truly inspired performances — memorable enough to wreck the careers of Robert Carradine (Lewis) and Curtis Armstrong (Booger). But mostly it’s the mix of…
Dub Trio
The fusing of punk and dub music isn’t a recent development. The Clash’s seminal 1980 track “Bankrobber,” with Mikey Dread at the controls, is an early (and still most recognizable) stab at this Frankenstein genre. But the New York-based instrumental band Dub Trio makes the musical melding the linchpin of…
Top DVDs
A Brush With Death (New Light) Buster Crabbe Collection (St. Clair Vision) Captain Horatio Hornblower (Warner Bros.) Care Bears: Friends Forever (Lions Gate) Commissar (Kino) Confetti (Fox) Death Row (Anchor Bay) The Electric Company’s Greatest Hits & Bits (Shout) Fast Food Nation (Fox) The Full Monty: Fully Exposed Edition (Fox)…
Shout Out Out Out Out
Edmonton, Alberta is known primarily for being really effing cold, housing the biggest mall in North America and being down the road from new-money boomtown Calgary. It’s nice, then, that one of the premier Canadian electro outfits to get noticed elsewhere, six-man Shout Out Out Out Out, is from underrepresented…
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…
The Silos
In one configuration or another, The Silos have teetered along the abyss of fame since they broke into the national consciousness in 1987. By 1988, the band was Rolling Stone’s “Best New American Band” on the strength of the classic album Cuba. But while The Silos were eagerly embraced by…
U.S. informants take part in murder and drug running in Mexico
There is one chair in the room and they sit him in it. He pulls out his wallet. He’s looking for a number. A phone number, an address. That is why he is here. Fernando the lawyer. Fernando the drug trafficker. He’s got a load of marijuana, and they want…
KTRK, License Plate Frames, City Council, Bun B and Google
The world of dating can be tough these days. Sensing, somehow, that single Houstonians lacked anything like computers that had eHarmony or Craigslist, the folks at Channel 13 set up a “Morning Matchmaker” contest where guys and gals would get together on blind dates as the cameras rolled. Sounds like…
Thepthidaa Thai Restaurant
After a deep whiff of the duck red curry at Thepthidaa, the new Thai restaurant near the Alley Theatre on Louisiana, I burst into song: “If you like piña coladas, and getting caught in the rain…” My dining partner was chagrined. Blame the duck. The curry sauce it was served…
Mail Call
Similar situation: I have never written in response to a story before, but I just had to say thank you for this one [“Homeless in Suburbia,” by Todd Spivak, February 22]. I grew up in a very similar situation to Michael’s ten years ago in Memorial. I went to the…
Turquoise Grill
Domino’s has nothing on the Turkish lahmajun pizza (a.k.a. lahmacun pide) ($5.99) at Turquoise Grill (3701 Kirby, 713-526-3800). Lahmajun is an Arabic word that means “meat on dough.” The pizza’s wafer-thin, hand-formed crust is extra crispy as it emerges from the brick oven. It’s topped with a mixture of finely…
Moneen
My interview with Kenny Bridges, vocalist and guitar player for the rock band Moneen, starts off as expected — with him being sarcastic and charming at the same time and me falling for it. After I unsuccessfully tried calling his cell phone several times, his publicity rep has finally had…
Johnny Bush
The last few years have seen a mini-trend of internationally renowned artists releasing albums about growing up in Houston. Rodney Crowell got the ball rolling with The Houston Kid in 2001; a year later, jazzman Joe Sample served up his H-Town homage The Pecan Tree. And last week, Johnny Bush…