Hit & Run Driver Stops, Checks Damage to His Car, Drives Away from Dying Victim
Priorities: Some people have them. Not good priorities, but priorities nevertheless. Like the owner of a white Honda sedan, “a black male in his 30s.” Police say he hit a pedestrian in the 3400 block of West Fuqua shortly after 2 a.m. today and drove away. He drove away not…
Incredible Medibles: The Official High Times Cannabis Cookbook, Part 1
“Ancient people almost exclusively ate their cannabis, saving seeds for food, and using the resinous flowers for medicinal, recreational, and spiritual use,” the introduction to the new The Official High Times Cannabis Cookbook tells us in its fascinating introduction to humanity’s long history of eating marijuana. “One of the oldest…
What Would You Do to Keep Mario Williams? Check #houstonwhatugot
Already dazed by several unexpected farewells, two Houston Texans have started a Twitter campaign to get Mario Williams to stay here. Texans Shaun Cody and Connor Barwin are urging fans to use the hashtag #houstonwhatugot to convince Super Mario to stay. Some highlights:…
Last Night: The Jesus And Mary Chain At House Of Blues
The Jesus and Mary Chain House of Blues March 13, 2012 The Jesus and Mary Chain must be the definition of “acquired taste.” According to my admittedly brief research – which consisted of searching setlist.fm a couple of days before the show – Tuesday was the Mary Chain’s first show…
Food Poison(ed): A History of Death By, For and From Food
On December 16, 1916, the Russian monk, mystic and politically polarizing figure Grigori Rasputin was invited to a bit of a soiree, one which ended with his body being bound, wrapped in carpet and tossed into the frigid Neva river, but only after he was beaten, stabbed and shot. All…
Sylvia Casares, Noted Chef, Shot By Boyfriend
Sylvia Casares, the chef and owner of Houston fave Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen, was shot in the stomach Monday night by her boyfriend, our sister blog Eating Our Words reports. Casares was allegedly shot by Michael Warren, who is also her business partner. Warren is on the run and the Fort…
UPDATED: Sylvia Casares, Owner of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen, Shot and Wounded
Sylvia Casares, chef and owner of Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen, was shot in the stomach on Monday night at her home near Fulshear, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office. Casares was taken by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann Hospital and is currently in stable condition at an undisclosed Houston…
Cover Story: Chronic Back Pain One More Problem for Vets of Iraq & Afghanistan
Tough-talking, Texas-bred Carroll McInroe was the Iraq / Afghanistan coordinator in the Veterans Administration’s Spokane, Washington office from 2003 to 2008. It was his job to interview returnees from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and help them readjust to civilian life. He saw plenty of cases of PTSD…
Last Night: Girls At Fitzgerald’s
Girls, Young Man, Fanfarlo, Unknown Mortal Orchestra Fitzgerald’s March 13, 2012 San Francisco’s Girls kept it going strong last night, touring in support of their album Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Another vaunted acted of the Pitchfork set, they held up even better live than their 9.3 album prepared me for…
How to Eat Crawfish (with Video)
This week’s cafe review found us in Westchase to review The Seafood Shoppe, a Viet-Cajun place specializing in boiled crawfish by the pound. We were led to the under-the-radar spot by long-time commenter SirRon, who said of the place: Someday you’ll mention Seafood Shoppe on Westheimer near the Belt –…
St. Patrick’s Day Food Trinity #3: Salmon in Dill Sauce, Colcannon, and Misty Champagne
As a warm-up to St. Patrick’s Day, I’ve been going back to my Irish roots and preparing three mini-meals consisting of three Irish items of food and drink. A trinity of trinities, you might say. Some dishes are more or less authentic than others; all promote mirth and are therefore…
Thomas Dillion: 22-Year HFD Vet Dies on Duty
A longtime Houston firefighter died this morning while on a call, but HFD said the death did not appear to be fire-related. Senior Captain Thomas W. Dillion, 49, was on the scene of a small kitchen fire in the 8500 block of Cook Road about 8:30 this morning when he…
White Rabbits Have Some Very Strange Ideas About Spring Break Songs
White Rabbits aren’t your run-of-the-mill hipsters. The New York Times recently likened the New York band’s third album, Milk Famous, to “Radiohead’s technique of surrounding a sustained vocal melody with jagged pointillism… some songs barely bother to flesh out their chords. They’re all rhythm and riffs,” cobbled together from an…
Reality Bites: When Vacations Attack
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. One of my favorite Simpsons episodes was “Lisa the Simpson,” where Lisa thinks she’s getting dumber. In one eerily prescient scene, Homer and Bart are watching a show on Fox…
Gilberto Montezano: Valley Cop Avoids Jail After Shaking Down Motorist For Beer
For the third time since August, a cop in the Rio Grande Valley town of Edinburg has been terminated and faced criminal charges for varied forms of corruption. In the most recent case, in April of last year, 30-year-old Gilberto Montezano pulled over a truck driven by Miguel Guzman and…
Rocks Off’s Ultra-Hip Rodeo Concert Guide: The Band Perry
Date: March 14 Name: The Band Perry AKA: “No, Not Katy Perry” Genre: Nashvegas…
Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs
After reading our blogging colleague Katharine Shilcutt’s post about Robb Walsh’s tasting and pairing of Texas Gulf oysters and wines last week at Oceanaire on Westheimer, we were geeked to see a post from a wine blogger’s perspective by one of our favorite Houston wine educators, Sandra Crittenden. While Katharine…
Don’t Forget About Home: Local Music To Catch At SXSW
Big-hitting acts are piling up at this year’s SXSW, with the likes of Jack White, Fiona Apple, GZA, 50 Cent, Bruce Springsteen, Skrillex, and the list goes on. Though, whether you’re travelling with a fancy badge or wristband, or especially if you’re just going to partake in the free festivities,…
The Ties That Bind: Roberta Stokes’s TIE-BREAKER Exhibit Breathes New Life into an Old Accessory
Chances are that paisley tie you gave or received for Dad’s Day that one year — and quietly chucked into the oversized bin at Goodwill — is now part of Roberta Stokes’s TIE-BREAKER exhibition, on display at Art League Houston. It’s a collection of ties, bowties and tie labels, all…
UK Papers Explain Strange Concept of “Basketball” & “March Madness” to Their Readers
President Obama took UK Prime Minister David Cameron to a play-in game for March Madness last night. As a result, newspapers in the UK had to explain just what the hell was going on. Basketball isn’t big there — it was the first time Cameron had ever seen a game…
Last Night: Miranda Lambert At Reliant Stadium
Miranda Lambert RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 13, 2012 Miranda Lambert has been “doing this music thing for 10 years now,” and her mantra is simple: She’s all about girl power and being a sassy southern belle. A Texas-born blonde with attitude up to her ears, she doesn’t apologize for being…
Comment of the Day: A Simple Solution to Houston’s Dangerous Drivers
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Unidentified Male Partygoer, Bayou Body Count No. 33
Ain’t no party like a Tuesday-night party on the south side. Police got a call shortly after midnight this morning about a loud party in the 4400 block of Allison. “As officers and security guards attempted to disperse a large crowd,” HPD says, “several gunshots were heard.” A man whose…
Healthy Snacking: Homemade Kale Chips
I recently ended up with an excess of kale on my hands. Never one to waste food, I threw it into soups, omelets and anything else I could think of. But still, the bunch of kale remained. Almost out of ideas and determined to finish this sucker off, it dawned…
Shout! The Mod Musical Channels the Energy and Style of ’60s London
The setup: The songs of London in the ’60s join the galaxy of jukebox musicals, bringing the energy, verve and style that made the music so memorable. The execution: Five vibrant young women, identified by the color of their clothing, fill the stage at Theatre LaB. The Blue Girl is…
Banh Cuon Like They Make it in Hanoi
When I think of classic Vietnamese dishes, they are usually quite simple. There are the noodle soups such as pho, there are the rice vermicelli dishes, such as bun thit nuong, and there are rice plates like com tam bi cha thit nuong. Another dish that I grew up eating…
Gothic Council Sings Your Kids to Sleep
We hate you, Peter Murphy. Well, OK. Not really. Murphy is a good guy who is a joy to interview and who still puts out amazing music. That being said, we are getting thoroughly sick of his trademark voice. Our two-year-old daughter requests his song “The Line Between the Devil’s…
Geoff Winningham: Fleeting Images Caught in Time at Koelsch Gallery
Geoff Winningham doesn’t so much tell stories with photographs as he spots other people’s stories and photographs them. They’re fleeting images — signs that are long gone, a shop undone by Hurricane Rita, a coliseum destroyed in the name of progress — thought-provoking relics of people who have long left…
Cowboy Diaries: Luke Branquinho — World Champion from the Left Coast
True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they’ll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will spotlight one person with enough…
Kirk Boudreaux: County Judge Fires Employee, Saying He Misused Funds
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett has fired a staff member who he says siphoned off funds to spend on himself. Ed Emmett said the funds allegedly diverted by the employee, Kirk Boudreaux, were not county funds but instead involved Emmett’s nonprofit organization that helps put on a trade show each…
Top Five Classic Novels You Can’t Read on a Kindle (and Why)
We ran across an article in The News Herald about the classic books that aren’t available in e-book format yet and we were surprised at the list they dug up. We did a little research and found even more titles that you can’t read on a Kindle, Nook, iPad (no…
Finally, a Swingers Site That Doesn’t Freak Us Out
We couldn’t help but take LoveVoodoo.com co-founder Todd Crawford up on his e-mail request to check out his swingers site, especially because he claimed that “Texas is a particularly hot swingers market!” Two things impressed us right away: For one, there are hundreds of Texas members (heh) on the site,…
100 Creatives 2012: Kenn McLaughlin
Kenn McLaughlin takes risks, which is no small thing when you’re in charge of a community theater where some audiences may be more comfortable with, well, more comfortable fare. But McLauglin has also brought the edge along to the play selection at Stages Repertory Theatre. For every Panto Red Riding…
Sampler Plate: This Week in Food Blogs
OC Weekly: In response to our response to his original post (how meta) on the five most influential American cities in Mexican cuisine, the OC Weekly’s Gustavo Arellano admits that Houston has been influential in the development of Mexican cuisine. Just not in the ways that you’re thinking. Delicious Mischief:…
Put On A Happy Face: 6 Ex-Emos Who Found More Success By Being Happy
Emo. The word conjures so many images. For your average American, it will make them think of black eyeliner, wrist-cutting, and essentially hair metal for the ’00s. For hardcore kids, they’ll think of Jawbreaker. But either way you slice it, emo has had its ups and downs as a genre…
The FBI’s Most Wanted List Turns 62 Today: Songs About Eight People Who Made It
Today marks the 62nd birthday of the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list, a gimmick cooked up by J. Edgar Hoover and a friendly newspaperman. Through the years the list has mostly been filled with criminals no one has ever heard of, but there have been some famous names on it…
Rocks Off’s SXSW Survival Tips & Tricks
If you’re like us, you’ve been counting down the days to South By Southwest for months. You’ve gone over the line ups as they’ve been announced, watched twitter feeds spring back to life after 11 months of silence, and followed the rumors about all the big names heading to Austin…
5 Video Game Movies YouTube Did Better Than Hollywood Ever Could
Making video game movies is hard, much harder than you think it would be. After all, the marketing research is done for you at the get-go, they’re usually full of action and excitement, and the modern ones have whole bits of brilliant dialogue you can just lift right out. How…
Houston Texans Spring Cleaning Hits Winston, Leinart, Vickers
If you’re looking for more signs of the Texans’ continuing shift from also-ran to legitimate Super Bowl contender, you needn’t look any further than the “Transactions” portion of any NFL-related Web site the last two days. Whereas in past seasons (hell, as recently as last summer), the Texans were definitive…
Houston: Only Two U.S. Cities Have More Dangerous Drivers
As you head out for your commute, keep this cheery thought in mind: You are about to hand your life over to some of the most dangerous people around: other Houstonian drivers. Space City drivers are the third-most dangerous in the nation, according to another one of those pseudoscientific studies…
Umami Dinners at Kata Robata Encourage Chef Collaboration
“I stayed away from making any fish courses,” joked chef Randy Evans after last night’s Umami dinner at Kata Robata. “I left that to Hori.” To his left, Kata Robata’s executive chef — and recent James Beard semi-finalist for his work at the sushi restaurant — simply laughed good-naturedly. This…
Black Chevy Avalanche Sought in Hit-And-Run
If you’re driving around town in a black Chevy Avalanche today, you might get some extra attention from Houston police. They’re looking for the driver of such a car, one who smashed into a pedestrian on the Gulf Freeway service road early this morning and then took off. The 29-year-old…
Cactus Music Sees Record Number Of SXSW Spillover Shows
Talking about Busby Marou, the Australian folk-pop duo that plays Cactus Music at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, owner Quinn Bishop sounds a familiar tune for this time of year. “Who knows when they’ll ever play Houston again?” he says. Actually, Busby Marou also plays the Australian American Chamber of Commerce’s Down…
Ben & Jerry’s Greek Frozen Yogurt
It was only a matter of time. Lunch break at the Ben & Jerry’s think tank: some enterprising young person looks at her carton of Chobani, then at the freezer, then at her Chobani…and voila, Ben & Jerry’s Greek Frozen Yogurt. Greek yogurt has been all the rage (in the…
Kill Wild Hogs, Get Money!
They’re nasty, mean and do $400 million in economic damage to the state every year. No, they’re not the dreaded chupacabra — they’re worse: feral hogs. Sure, killin’ ’em is necessary. But getting money for killin’ ’em is necessary and fun, which is why Wulf Outdoor Sports of Center is…
Rocks Off’s Ultra-Hip Rodeo Concert Guide: Miranda Lambert
Date: March 13 Name: Miranda Lambert AKA: “The Other Woman” Genre: Music to burn down your ex-boyfriend’s house to…
Tuesday March 13, 2012 Deals of the Day
Today’s Houston Press Voice Daily Deal is good for half-off ($10 for $20) at Jasmine Thai. The authentic flavors of traditional Thai food will please you as much as Jasmine Thai’s attention to detail–all food is prepared fresh daily, and created with a health-conscious twist. Their extensive menu includes a…
Rating the Rides: Fear Is a Factor for the Rodeo’s Roller Coasters
You can’t go to the Rodeo without going on the rides. Well, you could, but what fun is that? But if you’re going on the rides, you definitely want to know what you’re getting yourself into. So we rode `em and rated `em, just for you. 6. Mega Drop Does…
The ’90s Dream Is Alive In The Woodlands This Summer
Barenaked Ladies, Blues Traveler, Big Head Todd & The Monsters, and Cracker are heading to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on July 20. The “Last Summer on Earth” will take the crew on over 30 stops through the United States, celebrating the last summer on Earth with some of the…
DVDs & Blu-rays: My Week with Marilyn
My Week with Marilyn stars Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh and Eddie Redmayne; Simon Curtis directs. The Setup: Based on the memoir of Colin Clark (played by Eddie Redmayne), My Week with Marilyn chronicles Clark’s unexpected friendship with Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) during the 1956 filming of The Prince and the…
Craaaack! Goes the Cheese at Whole Foods Market (with Video)
This past weekend, more than 300 Whole Foods Market stores across the country cracked open wheels of Parmesan cheese. Called the “Crack Heard Round the World,” the event was a nationwide attempt to maintain the store chain’s Guinness World Record for Most Parmigiano Wheels Cracked Simultaneously, set in 2008. For…
Last Night: Built To Spill At Fitzgerald’s
Built to Spill Fitzgerald’s March 12, 2012 After an interview last week with Built to Spill front man Doug Martsch, we noted how humble the rocker was. Modest, even. Our observation was upheld Monday night, as Martsch and his bearded band walked onstage, setting up their own gear before their…
Joe Newhouse: Spring Breaker Turns Public Intox into Felony by Threatening & Spitting on Cops
The world of Spring Break is a world of bad decisions made under the influence of various substances, and the cops in South Padre are usually patient about things. So when 21-year-old Joe Newhouse darted out of the fog last night and stopped in front of a slowly moving cop…
Upcoming: Peelander-Z, Collective Soul, Merle Haggard, Ting Tings, Isley Bros., Etc.
Calle 13: Thu., May 10. House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston. Carrie Rodriguez: Thu., March 29. Dosey Doe Coffee Company, 25911 I-45 N., Spring. Charlie Wilson: Fri., May 25. Arena Theatre, 7326 SW Freeway, Houston. Collective Soul: Fri., June 1. House of Blues Dirty Ghosts: Fri., April 27. Walter’s, 1120…
On the Waterfront: Eva Marie Saint on the Road to Hollywood Tour
There isn’t a single navy blue item of clothing in actor Eva Marie Saint’s closet. Not one. She blames it on her experience filming On the Waterfront, which is screening on Wednesday at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston as part of the Road to Hollywood. Saint and Ben Mankiewicz,…
Coming Soon to River Oaks: A 24-Hour Cupcake Vending Machine
Cupcake fans in Los Angeles lined up around the block this past weekend to get their Sprinkles fix. But they weren’t lined up for a new Sprinkles store; they were lined up for Sprinkles’ new cupcake vending machine. Or, as Sprinkles is referring to the device, its new ACM: automatic…
Comment of the Day: Your Astute Analysis of Texas’s Voter ID Law Should Be in All-Caps, Sir
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Fast Times: Kentucky Fried Chicken ‘Chunky Chicken’ Pot Pie
A $4, fast food pot pie — who could resist? Certainly not me, and as soon as I saw an advert for the Chunky Chicken Pot Pie at KFC I was pulling up to the drive-thru window. Chicken pot pie is a total throwback to my childhood, when my brother…
Top 5 Video Game Ron Jeremys (NSFW)
Yesterday was the 59th birthday of legendary pornographic actor Ron Jeremy, affectionately known as the Hedgehog. Jeremy started out a special education teacher (Indeed, he has a master’s degree in the field), but he wanted to get into acting. He found little success on Broadway, but began making money in…
Kitty Genovese: 5 Songs For A Girl No One Would Help
The eyes of Kitty Genovese have haunted us since the first moment we saw this picture. On this day in 1964, she was walking home to her New York apartment when a man named Winston Moseley approached her. Less than 100 feet from the apartment she shared with girlfriend Mary…
Brew Blog: New Belgium Lips of Faith Cocoa Molé Ale
Gimmicky beers bother me a little bit. Take, for example, the absolutely horrible blueberry beer I tried a while back, in a fit of unexplainable masochism. I knew what I was getting myself into, really. I mean, we can all agree that nobody needs to put blueberries in beer, pretty…
Last Night: Zac Brown Band At Reliant Stadium
Zac Brown Band RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 12, 2012 As the Zac Brown Band began to play through the last verse of “Highway 20 Ride,” just as Brown finished singing, “And my whole world, it begins and ends with you” while lightly picking at his guitar strings, our dad reached…
Hilarity Indeed Ensues in Theatre Suburbia’s Farce Play On!
The setup: In this farce, an amateur troupe rehearses a mystery drama as temperamental, ill-prepared actors clash with their director, and with the authoress, who enters with last-minute rewrites, and, yes, hilarity does ensue. The execution: Can it be satire if it’s all too true? If not satire, then broad…
Cowboy Diaries: Clint Cannon — Surfer Dude
True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they’ll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will spotlight one person with enough…
Mary Elizabeth Herring: Admits Performing Oral Sex on Female Relative, 14, During Threesome
A Highlands woman admitted to police that she performed oral sex on a 14-year-old relative as part of a threesome with her boyfriend. Mary Elizabeth Herring, 21, has been charged with the felony of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 17. Media reports say her boyfriend has also been…
Pop Rocks: Ten Celebrities We Wish Would Take Nude Pics of Themselves
Scarlett Johansson. Olivia Munn. Christina Hendricks. Heather Morris: The Glee star is apparently the latest celeb to fall victim to hackers after a series of racy photos purportedly of the actress (or someone bearing a remarkable resemblance) leaked online yesterday. […] The images include a series of salacious cell phone…
Former NBAer Doug Christie Is Making Porn the Family Business
It’s the middle of March Madness, the NBA regular season and the cusp of NFL free agency, so if you had told me a week ago that I’d do two straight posts that involved some variation of sex tapes and athletes, I’d have said, “Well, yeah, possibly, but probably not.”…
Janis Joplin And Her “Big Brothers” Come Back Live And Raw
A boon for classic-rock fans in recent years has been an increased activity in vault-mining, as record labels are discovering, polishing up, and releasing a lot of unearthed “new” material from favorite bands in the form of live shows, as well as outtakes, demos, new songs and alternate versions often…
Where Are We Drinking?
That plastic tumbler is filled with a tart and refreshing hibiscus tea. It’s one of the beverages that come standard — along with dessert, soup, salad, fruit and more — on the lunch buffet at this new downtown destination. And after you’re done with the tasty tea, you can get…
4 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Werewolves
Anne Rice is coming to Houston on March 21 to do a signing of her new book, The Wolf Gift, at Murder by the Book. We haven’t read her latest, non-Jesus book thoroughly, but a brief flip through reveals the same awesome, trashy pulp style she used on the underrated…
A Look Ahead to Texan Free Agency, and Why It Won’t Involve Peyton Manning
It was less than a month ago when I believed the Texans would consider making a play for quarterback Peyton Manning. But on the verge of the NFL’s free-agent signing bonanza on Tuesday, it looks as though any Texans changes will be on a smaller scale — and rightfully so…
Top 10 Commercials Directed by Actual (Awesome) Directors
In the most bizarre of bizzares, last week it was announced that a new J Lo/Kohl’s commercial was being released. The commercial is promoting Lopez’s Kohl’s clothing line, and it features the singer/actress/entrepreneur/American Idol judge/mother of twins dancing around in her bright and lively Kohl’s clothing. Of course, she is…
Bill & Ted’s Alex Winter Examines Napster’s Fall In SXSW Doc Downloaded
Alex Winter (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, The Idiot Box) has spent the last decade trying to make a movie about Napster, the revolutionary peer-to-peer filesharing site that changed the music industry forever. Winter met Napster founder Shawn Fanning in 2002 and was instantly energized by the possibility of telling…
Lucero: Memphis Band Loves Horns, Texas “Knuckleheads”
It’s always reassuring to know that some things never change – like Houston concert audiences’ loutish reputation. “Houston is notorious for its knuckleheads,” says Lucero lead guitarist Brian Venable, who doesn’t seem to hold a grudge. If there were any doubt that the Memphis alt.country rockers have forgotten about the…
Last Night: Heart At House Of Blues
Heart House of Blues March 11, 2012 Sunday night Heart played to one electrified and enthusiastic crowd at House of Blues. There were people of varying ages there: A few teenagers (okay, one I saw), some in their twenties, and quite a big chunk ranging from middle-aged to older adults…
Comment of the Day: An Impassioned Defense of Drinking
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Saturday Night: Praia Urbana At Last Concert Cafe
Ed. Note: This review has been edited to correct some inaccurate language. Rocks Off regrets the errors. Praia Urbana Last Concert Cafe March 10, 2011 Between the unrelenting rain and RodeoHouston traffic, Saturday night got a little messy as Aftermath attempted to weave through the outskirts of downtown for the…
Not Cool, Nerds: Company Turns Homeless into Hotspots
There is a scene in the movie Scrooged where the family representing Bob Cratchit’s impoverished clan in the Dickens classic, being too poor to afford a Christmas tree, decorate the Tiny Tim character with lights and turn them on as he stands there with a sad look on his face…
Last Night: Of Montreal At Fitzgerald’s
Of Montreal, Cults, Roman GianArthur, Kishi Bashi Fitzgerald’s March 11, 2012 This was a sold-out show where all of the acts really put on a, well, show. Although the theatrics Of Montreal provided at previous shows was toned down, they still delivered a spectacle. In fact, all of the billed…
Bee Rustlers Steal Haven’s Hives
Thanks to Eater’s long-running “Shit People Steal” series, it’s possible to think that you’ve heard it all when it comes to the bizarre items that people steal from restaurants. Not so: Sunday’s news that Haven’s bee hives were stolen from outside the restaurant was a new low. Chef Randy Evans…
The Best (Fake) SXSW 2012 Rumors So Far
It happens every year: an errant rumor turns Austin and SXSW upside down for a few hours or even days, leading to mass hysteria, mild apathy, and sometimes sadness. At my first SXSW in 2001, I got a “hot tip” that the Beastie Boys were going to join Mix Master…
Modernist Cuisine: Volume 2 : To Sous Vide or Not to Sous Vide
A revolution is underway in the art of cooking. Just as French Impressionists upended centuries of tradition, Modern cuisine has in recent years blown through the boundaries of the culinary arts. Borrowing techniques from the laboratory, pioneering chefs at world-renowned restaurants such as elBulli, The Fat Duck, Alinea, and wd~50…
Your “BMW in an East Texas Sinkhole” Photo of the Day
This weekend’s storms caused a little bit of road flooding around here, with the usual spots going underwater for a while. In East Texas, things got a little hairier. In Central, which is in Lufkin’s Angelina County, a couple driving on FM 2021 near Highway 59 “felt the road about…
Last Night: Go Tejano Day At Reliant Stadium
Go Tejano Day feat. Duelo, La Original Banda El Limon, Mariachi Invitational Finalists RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 11, 2012 The rain didn’t dampen the mariachi spirit last night. Check out our slideshow from Go Tejano Day. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Tejano is dead. But that…
Luck 1.7: “One Mystery Put to Rest”
“While another one deepens.” Mike’s deduction about Nathan’s intentions isn’t entirely accurate. For aside from the Englisman figuring out that Nathan is still wholly Ace’s man (and beating him within an inch of his life as a result), the other mystery solved this week was the question of whether or…
Anvil Bar & Refuge Unveils Its Spring Cocktail Menu
A few times a year, Anvil Bar & Refuge changes its menu to reflect the seasons. Now that spring is here, it’s time to transition away from the toddies and winter-spiced drinks. There are no food changes this time around; Chris Shepherd’s menu is still in place. It’s a fair…
Rocks Off’s Ultra-Hip Rodeo Concert Guide: Zac Brown Band
Date: March 12 Name: Zac Brown Band AKA: “That band with that guy with that beard” Genre: Jam country…
William Webb: Baby in His Care Gets Wasted on Vodka; He Then Tries to Burn Accuser’s Home
Two things you should know about William Webb, if what police charge him with is true: Don’t let him babysit your kid, and don’t hire him to be your arsonist. Webb, 27, was arrested last week after a lengthy investigation. Waco police say, according to KWTX, that he was babysitting…
Wine of the Week: Who Needs Another Merlot When You Have Cerasuolo di Vittoria?
Did the world really need another Merlot and Chardonnay in 1995? Evidently, the Planeta family thought so, and when the younger generation of this Sicilian clan launched the eponymous winery in the mid-1990s, they delivered bold, oaky, concentrated, and highly alcoholic Chardonnay, Merlot, and Syrah to a world already saturated…
Kyle Vento Unveils Skruncha-roo Project, C’est La Vie, At The Class Room
A few years back, beat-maestro Kyle Vento made a splash in the Houston music scene as one-half of the electro/hip-hop duo Simple Success, with producer Edgar Miranda. After briefly touring the underground electronica scene with Miranda, Vento’s creative energy spawned the solo project Skruncha-roo, a mash-up of hip-hop, downtempo and…
William Shatner Brings His World to Jones Hall
TV and film legend William Shatner’s new one-man show, “Shatner’s World: We Just Live In It …,” comes to Houston and Jones Hall for a one-night stand on March 23 filled with music, laughter and, possibly, something new for fans of his long, illustrious and, yes, cheeky career. At the…
Last Night: O’Brother & Junius At Warehouse Live
O’Brother, Junius, The Tempest Warehouse Live March 11, 2012 Check out our slideshow from O’Brother and Junius last night. Maybe it was the gloomy, chilly weather and maybe it was the scads of cold medicines we’d been taking all day, but Rocks Off found ourselves in a weird headspace on…
Unidentified Male, Bayou Body Count No. 32
An early-hours argument led to a fatal shooting in a northwest side apartment Sunday, Houston police say. Rodney Wayne Allen, 21, has been charged with murder in the incident, which happened about 5 a.m. in the 5700 block of Guhn. Police say Allen was visiting the victim’s apartment when he…
First Look at FotoFest 2012 Biennial Contemporary Russian Photography
It’s almost impossible to discuss FotoFest 2012 Biennial Contemporary Russian Photography as a whole, there are so many parts to it. For more than six weeks, Houston will be host to exhibits of more than 1,000 photographs by some 150 Russian artists covering the time from the late 1940s to…
Burger Bracket 2012: The Elite 8
Between our last Burger Bracket 2012 announcement and today, we had an interesting development: The owners of H-Town StrEATs welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world. The team is taking a well-deserved leave of absence, which means that H-Town StrEATs had to drop out of this year’s competition. Never…
Feds Block Texas’s Voter ID Law: Unfair to Hispanics, They Say (UPDATED)
Texas’s strict new voter ID law, put in place by this past session’s Tea Party legislature to stem the tidal wave of voter fraud that is actually not happening at all, has been blocked by the U.S. Department of Justice. The new law unfairly targets Hispanic voters, the feds said…
Saturday Night: Dr. Dog At Fitzgerald’s
Dr. Dog Fitzgerald’s March 10, 2012 Houston weather was balmy and wet Saturday night, but that didn’t stop Philadelphia harmonic rockers Dr. Dog from sporting their trademark wintry wool beanies and shades. Kicking off their set with the “That Old Black Hole” from this year’s Be the Void, the band…
5 Things We Learned from Dynamo’s Opening Day Win
Six years. That’s how long it’s been since the Houston Dynamo last won an Opening Day game, a 5-2 victory in their inaugural game against the Colorado Rapids. The hero then was Brian Ching, who put in a memorable four-goal performance. Sunday night, the Orange revisited the Home Depot Center…
Fotini: Fashion Line Focuses on Modest Femininity
There are a few factors that Fotini Copeland takes into account when designing her clothes, with one being the backbone that the line is built around. “The DNA of the brand is femininity,” said Copeland at Elizabeth Anthony/Esther Wolf, a spacious boutique in River Oaks, where she hosted an invitation-only…
What’s Cooking This Week?
I had the best salad at this little cafe in Boston called Za. It was one of their incredible blackboard specials; mixed greens topped with ricotta salata and fried eggplant and the freshest mix of tomatoes and red onions and my god was it incredible. So incredible that it is…
Friday Night: Reba McEntire At Reliant Stadium
Reba McEntire RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 9, 2012 A Reba McEntire concert is like visiting your really fun aunt, except not all aunts wear rhinestone-covered go-go boots and had a hit TV show on the WB network for a better part of the ’00s. Plus, most aunts can’t get away…
The Chronicle Takes Middle Road on Controversial Doonesbury Strips
This week’s Doonesbury strips deal with the Texas law mandating sonograms for women seeking abortions. Many newspapers around the country are refusing to run the strips, which compare what the law requires to “rape” at one point. Some are moving the strip to the op-ed page, or just putting it…
Track Your Bud Lets You Find Out Where Your Brew Was Born
There are many things about food and drink that I will readily admit confound me. How did salty, slimy fish eggs become a delicacy an ounce of which cost more than my monthly rent? What is the obsession with food so spicy, it literally hurts to eat it? If Anthony…
The Live Lights: Two Is A Synth-Heavy Five Across the Eyes
We haven’t seen the Live Lights perform live, so bear that in mind. Whenever we mentioned that we were going to review the band’s recently released five-song EP of synth-heavy rock that’s all anyone said to us: “Have you seen them live? Dude, you’ve got to see them. They’re incredible.”…
13 Miles from Security from Big Head Productions: Battle of the Sexes Makes for a Good Night of Theater
The setup: Local playwright Kathy Drum creates vivid characters in a Texarkana setting as the battle of the sexes rages on. The execution: The sometimes stark stage of the Obsidian Art Space now sports not one but two detailed sets, designed by Leighza Walker: the rural porch and yard of…
Cowboy Diaries: Brittany Pozzi — Raises Hot Fillies in Victoria
True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they’ll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will spotlight one person with enough…
John Waters: DiverseWorks Offers a Chance to Win Two Tickets to His Live Show
As we told you last week, the acclaimed director John Waters (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray) is bringing his incredible one-man show to Houston. This Filthy World: Filthier and Dirtier promises to be an evening of shocking hilarity delivered by Waters’s trademark foppish humor. Those of you who may have caught This…
Aeros Return to Toyota Center, Risk Falling into Irrelevancy
John RoyalThe Aeros put up a fight on Saturday night, but not so much on Sunday.When the Houston Aeros last played a home game at Toyota Center, the New York Giants had yet to defeat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Astros had yet to report to…
St. Patrick’s Day Green Fashion: Get Lucky Three Ways
Everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. March 17 is a day dedicated to corned beef and cabbage, Guinness and Jameson, and the wearing o’ the green. As luck o’ the Irish would have it, green is one of the hottest color trends this spring. With hues ranging from pastels…
App of the Week: iCab — A Highly Recommended Alternative to Safari
App: iCab Platform: iPhone, iPad Website: iCab Mobile Cost: $1.99 One of the great innovations of cell phone technology is the ability to use the Web on a phone in much the same way you use it on your computer. When the iPhone first emerged, Apple’s Safari browser was included…
Where Are We Eating?
If you think that’s a little crawfish tail peeking out of those enchiladas, you’d be correct. It’s crawfish season, after all, which means the mudbugs start showing up everywhere — even in our Tex-Mex food. Not that I’m complaining. Think you know where we’re eating this week? Leave your best…
Logo Network Goodbye: 8 Television Shows That Actually Helped the LGBT Community
Last week, the Logo network, which was the only gay-focused channel on the block, announced that it is officially dumping its LGBT programming for more mainstream fare. Sadly, the network only lasted briefly and never seemed to get its foothold in the community it tried to cater to. Its biggest…
Alert: SXSW Coverage Ahead — 50 Cent And Much More
“What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area.” — Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don’t have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of…
The School That Holds the Record for First-Day License-Plate Sales in Texas Is…Ole Miss?
MyPlates.com, the private company that offers Texans vanity plates of all types, sells a lot of school plates. Plates for the University of South Carolina just went on sale (and no, you can’t get COCKLUVR even if you’re a rabid Gamecock fan). They’ve been doing it for a while now,…
This Week in Deliciousness
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we’ve only recently discovered that there is a vegetable called “rocket” and it is not nearly as awesome as it sounds. It’s supposed to taste like adventure and wonder, not like bitter spinach.We started the week off right…
Weekend Reminder: Don’t Leave Your Kids Behind at Chuck E. Cheese
Just two days after a Maryland family left their three-year-old daughter behind at Chuck E. Cheese by accident — and were only alerted after seeing her picture on the 11 p.m. news that night — Texas has one-upped the Old Line State. KTRK reported this afternoon that a five-year-old girl…
Kony: Some Thoughts from a Local Expert (and General Crankiness from Us)
If you’re a sentient creature, chances are you’ve seen, or heard tell of, Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 campaign, and chances are you have an opinion about it. There’s also a good chance that, regardless of which camp you’re in, you’re an insufferable, sanctimonious dillweed. (Sorry; we’ve just had more than…
Kevin Barnes Gets Personal — We Think — On Of Montreal’s New Stalks
Of Montreal hasn’t gone a year without releasing some kind of new, evolved material since their debut album Cherry Peel in 1997. Lead singer Kevin Barnes repeatedly claims the group’s new album, Paralytic Stalks to be his most personal. Barnes has written and produced most of Of Montreal’s tracks since…
Shocking News: The Owls and Cougars Not Going Dancing
There might still be a month left in the season for several college basketball teams. But the alumni, students and fans of Rice and the University of Houston are either going to have to ignore March Madness, or they’re going to have to find some other teams for whom to…
Top 10 Possible Future RodeoHouston Performers
The hardest thing about making a list of possible future RodeoHouston performers is making sure to color inside the lines, which means the things that I want probably wouldn’t work. Sure, the Black Keys on opening night and the Rolling Stones doing an-all country set to close out the season…
In Honor of Hulk Hogan, 5 WWE-Storyline Sex Tapes (w/ VIDEO)
I’m sure many of you have heard of (and some of you, admit it, have probably participated in) a death pool, where you and, say, four of your friends each get to pick ten people and you accumulate points depending on how many of those people die that year. (For…
Unknown Mortal Orchestra Debunks Stranger Danger
We want to move to Oregon, because apparently when you’re weird in Oregon they give you money and tell you to go make a music video. Somewhere between the laziest music videos of all time and the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” comes “Strangers are Strange” by Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The video,…
Settlement Goods Is Open Open
After sprinkling in a couple of pop-up offerings during the long haul that is opening one’s own retail shop, Jenny Schlief, Gene Morgan and Alicia Redman are finally in business business. Last night, Settlement Goods had a grand opening shindig at its official location at 3939 Montrose, Suite M. The…
Upcoming Events: Bigmista Is Back
Local boy done good, Neil “Bigmista” Strawder, is returning home to Galveston once again on Saturday, March 17. Strawder, best known as the Long Beach, California pitmaster who impressed Jonathan Gold enough to be included on Gold’s list of “99 Essential LA Restaurants” and as a contestant on TLC’s BBQ…
And Lo the Astros Said, “Let There Be Guns”
You wanted guns, you got `em. As expected, the Astros announced that the pistols are back on the Colt .45 throwbacks being worn to celebrate the team’s 50th season, now that Major League Baseball has reversed its ban. “I think it’s a great jersey and was a great tie-in for…
Rocks Off’s Ultra-Hip Rodeo Concert Guide: Reba
Date: March 9 Name: Reba McEntire AKA: “Reba”… wait, when did she get the single-name treatment? Was it before or after that horrible TV show? Genre: Pure country…
Moves Like Jagger: Houston Ballet Rocks a Tutu
“It reminded me of a Maxfield Parish painting,” my companion said as we sipped plastic glasses of red wine during the first intermission of last night’s Houston Ballet performance. He was referring to the world premiere of Artistic Director Stanton Welch’s “Tapestry” — a comparison that fits not only due…
Houston Gets Super Happy, Welcomes Annual SXSW Overflow Fest
Remember a two-week pass for SXSW Overflow fest is $12 Friday only in our “Deal of the Day.” Depending on the fuel efficiency of your car, the 160-mile road trip to Austin has the ability to throw a serious wet blank over your SXSW fundage. Three and half dollar gas…
Trinity, Texas: Home of the Best Mugshots in the Lone Star State
Here at Hair Balls Crime Central, we gaze upon many a mugshot in our daily routine. After looking at thousands from dozens and dozens of jurisdictions, we can say beyond a shadow of a doubt than none are consistently as wonderful as those made by the police in Trinity, Texas…
Project Runway All Stars: The Final Four Meet Nanette Lepore
This week on PRAS: We’ve hit the final four: Austin, Kenley, Michael and Mondo battle it out in what Mondo so accurately describes as “the last challenge before the final three.” New York City designer Nanette Lepore is this week’s guest judge, and the winning look will be sold in…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Amanda McGraw of Brasserie 19 – The Tasting
This week, we’ve been chatting with Brasserie 19 and Ibiza’s Chef de Cuisine, Amanda McGraw, about the rewards of staging in kitchens outside of Houston, and about the specifics of her role. Today, we sample some of her food. To highlight the in-house charcuterie program, McGraw put together a picturesque…
Why Taking The Piss Out Of Your Most Beloved Musicians Is Healthy
A few days back I wrote a less-than-excited review of Bruce Springsteen’s latest album, Wrecking Ball. The Boss’ official Twitter account has been retweeting every hyperbolic 140-character superfan review of the new disc. One guy claimed that Wrecking Ball made him sob on the side of the highway for close…
Comment of the Day: Montrose Redevelopment
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
V and the Butterfly: The Week in Photos
It’s time again to check out the Houston Press Flickr Pool and see what kinds of art shots our talented photographers have added. We love street art, unique perspectives and beautiful photos of Houston’s creative community. If you think you’ve got a good eye, drop your pictures in the pool…
Last Night: ZZ Top At Reliant Stadium
ZZ Top RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 8, 2012 See more photos from Thursday, even some without beards, in our slideshow. I admit, I had almost given up on waiting for ZZ Top to show me something new. Not even something from their new album – which is finally completed but…
Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs
VintageTexas: While we were celebrating the Texas repatriation of Houston native son and U.S. wine celebrity Ray Isle, it seems that top Texas wine blogger Russ Kane was not pleased by the fact that Ray didn’t include any Texan wines in his recommendations is his Eatocracy.CNN.com post “Pairings for Tex-Mex:…
Dr. Dog’s Scott McMicken: Texas Crowds Are More Fun
Dr. Dog singer/guitarist Scott McMicken describes the band’s newly released seventh album, Be the Void, as “rawer and more powerful” than its polished predecessors. We chatted with McMicken about the album, the band’s recent lineup additions, and why he deems Texas crowds among the world’s best…
Openings and Closings: Triniti Takes a Break, Bohemeo’s Brings In Beer
Starting off the week with a bang was news that Triniti, which is less than three months old, will be closing temporarily on March 12 (this coming Monday). Said a press release: “Triniti Restaurant will be breaking to produce and refine the Spring lunch, dinner, wine and cocktail menus.” It’s…
Houston 101: Carrie Nation Comes to Town, Hatchet in Hand
The Houston of 1905 was a two-fisted drinking town, with more than 50 saloons servicing a population of 58,000 people. It so happened that back in 1903, a man named Charles Crook opened one such establishment, and as a raised middle-finger to the age’s most formidable anti-alcohol crusader, named his…
Person of Interest: Kind of “Baby Blue”
We’re baaack. It seems not even TV’s #1 new drama wanted to go up against the juggernaut that is a two-hour episode of American Idol last week. I’m sure we all appreciated the break, and the chance to contemplate the long-awaited return of Elias in February 24’s episode. We’re in…
Henry Rollins Details His 1982 Run-In With A Houston “Fan”
Former Black Flag frontman, public speaker, actor, and author Henry Rollins has a regular blog he writes for our sister blog, LA Weekly’s West Coast Sound, in which he delves into current events and sometimes gives us musical history lessons. This week’s blog, entitled “Justice, Texas Style”, features Rollins reminiscing…
Comparing the Rockets Starting Lineup to the Best in the West
The Rockets are mired in a five-game losing streak and slumping their way towards the NBA trade deadline next week. They lost two overtime heartbreakers to the Clippers and the Celtics and dropped an uninspired road loss the the abysmal Toronto Raptors. The Rockets aren’t exactly free-falling, but their schedule…
Joshua Tree: 7 Musicians Who Have Felt The High Desert’s Pull
Twenty-five years ago today, U2 released their paramount record, The Joshua Tree. The record was intended to be a spiritual quest for Bono: A meditative dissection of the “spoiled child” he saw in American culture. Before Bono blessed the area with his humanitarian spirit, however, many other musicians visited the…
Comedy Central the Book Publisher? 5 Books We Want to See
After watching Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert rake in the big bucks publishing their respective works, Comedy Central has finally had enough and is throwing its funny-hats into the book-publishing ring. The comedy-only television channel has teamed up with the Running Press to form a division of their partnership that…
Health Department Roundup
Last week, a commenter pointed out that we didn’t include El Real’s inspection report in the roundup. That was because at the time we checked out the city’s database, reports ran only through February 22. El Real’s inspection occurred February 28. Bitching about food is currently in second place behind…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: John Carter
Title: John Carter Who Is John Carter? He’s this guy who goes to Mars and…does things. With his…feet. You Didn’t Actually See The Movie, Did You? Yes, yes I did. These questions always fluster me, is all. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Three-and-a-half Frazettas out of five…
Canvases and Paint Breathe Life into the Alley’s Red
The setup: “What does it need?” ponders abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko (Scott Wentworth) as he stares deeply into the unseen canvas that hangs over the audience in his cavernous Bowery studio. He peers through us as he contemplates the work in progress. Surrounding him are his latest children, his…
Bartender Chat: Rex of Boondocks
Sometimes, when you have a rough week that just so happens to fall between pay periods, you need a really cheap drink.That’s when happy hour at Boondocks comes to the rescue. The vibe was pretty laid-back recently at 5 p.m., which was a major contrast with some of the rowdier…
9 Cool & Cheap Things To Do This Weekend
Dozens of local rock, blues, jazz, folk and jam acts take over Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar in the Heights for the completely free annual South by Due East festival, tonight through Monday. Door times are 5 p.m. Tonight and Monday, 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. DJ duo Ceeplus Bad Knives…
Cowboy Diaries: Bobby Welsh — Houston Champeen Defends His Title
True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they’ll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will spotlight one person with enough…
Week in Photos: Tupelo
Each week, we take a dip into the Houston Press Flickr pool and see what our talented photographers have been up to. We’re looking for pictures that represent the best of Houston, from food to art to events, to secret hidden spots of beauty. Just drop them in our Flickr…
A Brand-New Super Nintendo Game Is on Its Way
The scene is Christmas 1991, and your humble narrator is ten years old. The only packages under the tree we have any interest in are two oddly light square boxes. Money had been tight for many years, and we knew our parents didn’t have $200 to drop on the new…
Complaints Down, Citizen Praise up for HPD, HPD Says
Patting themselves on the backHouston police are doing swell, Houston police say. And they say they have the numbers to back it up. HPD announced that complaints filed by citizens dropped by 20 percent in 2011, while at the same time “commendations given to officers from citizens” — which is…
5 Intentionally Bad Albums By Geniuses That Really Aren’t So Bad
If there’s one thing artists hate, it’s record labels. Like managers, they were a necessary evil for the music business throughout much of the previous century, at least until piracy and digital uploading became a thing. The way it worked in the olden days, though, was that a record label…
Vote for Houston’s Worst Barbecue; We’ll Do the Dirty Work of Eating It
On Monday, we asked our readers to tell us where they’ve found the worst barbecue in Houston. Rubbery ribs, dry brisket, shriveled-up sausage: We want to know where the truly bad stuff is, so as to better highlight the good. We also wanted to know what Houstonians thought of as…
100 Creatives 2012: Justin Whitney
What He Does: Justin Whitney has been a part of the goth and metal scenes in Houston for many years. His latest project is the Church of Melkarth, which recently sold out the Alamo Drafthouse playing halftime between screenings of the demonic horror films The Gate and its sequel. The…
Five Faces of Colts Fan: A “Goodbye Peyton” Video Anthology
Peyton Manning was cut loose by the Indianapolis Colts yesterday, and while Peyton himself picks up the pieces and figures out which team’s tens of millions to take next, the city of Indianapolis will take decidedly longer than Peyton himself to recover from yesterday’s events. In 2012, we no longer…
Comment of the Day: Office Space Reference of the Year
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Astros Say the Pistol on the Colt .45 Throwbacks Might Be Back
The Astros have announced that Major League Baseball has reversed its decision to ban the pistols from the Colt .45 throwbacks the team will wear in honor of their 50th anniversary. The team says they will announce tomorrow whether the pistols will be on the unis, which will be worn…
Grand Forks, North Dakota, Gets an Olive Garden
Since I first read the Grand Forks Herald article last night — “Long-awaited Olive Garden receives warm welcome” — it’s made its way around the Internet as an object of fascination faster than faked cell phone pictures of Christina Hendricks’s breasts. “An Onion-worthy, rave review of…Olive Garden,” wrote Washington Post…
Houston Scores Big-Time In Latest Encyclopedia Of Country Music
With 53 related entries, Houston fared well in the second edition of The Encyclopedia of Country Music (Oxford University Press, $65), released last month, the first revision of the 600-page volume since its initial printing in 1998. Michael McCall, Country Music Hall of Fame archivist and one of the editors…
Port Arthur School District: Sorry One of Our Principals Hit Your Fifth-Grade Children
Port Arthur police are investigating an elementary school principal who reportedly hit fifth-grade students who performed poorly on practice tests last week. The Beaumont Enterprise reported that the Port Arthur Independent School District has apologized for the behavior of Travis Elementary School Principal Bessie Johnson, a 40-year district employee. One…
There Will Be Feasting at Indian Wok
When I started questing for great restaurant finds in the Northwest Houston area, high on my priority list was a great Indian lunch buffet. I was used to being able to hit one up inside the Loop at least once every few weeks. The first place I found was a…
Rocks Off’s Ultra-Hip Rodeo Concert Guide: ZZ Top
Date: March 8 Name: ZZ Top AKA: “ZZ Fucking Top” Genre: Tube snake boogie…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Amanda McGraw of Brasserie 19 and Ibiza
Yesterday, we chatted with Amanda McGraw of Brasserie 19 and Ibiza about her times staging in Chicago, and what it was like opening a restaurant like Brasserie 19. Today, we continue our conversation. EOW: What is your official title? AM: I am the Chef de Cuisine for Brasserie 19 and…
Big Changes for Montrose? Block with That Half Price Books Strip Center Is for Sale
The real-estate gurus at Swamplot took note of an interesting listing among commercial real estate properties: The block of land at Montrose and Westheimer that contains the strip center with Half Price Books. The listing by HFF says the 2.86-acre plot, which includes the entire block, “represents an excellent opportunity…
The Most “Oh God Why?” Wikipedia Pages
Inspired by our fellow Art Attack writer Craig Hlavaty’s take on the weirdest entries on Wikipedia, we decided to trot out our own list. Maybe we’re jaded from years of Rocky Horror and two days’ worth of dildo research, but we’re intrigued by entries that make you say, “Why on…
Last Night: Blake Shelton At Reliant Stadium
Blake Shelton RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 7, 2012 See more pictures from Wednesday’s rodeo in our slideshow. Blake Shelton could very well be the Vince Vaughn of modern country music. Or is that Brad Paisley? No, I think Brad Paisley is the Paul Rudd and that would make someone like…
Xavier Jamar Clinton, 27: March 1 Murder Victim ID’d, Two Suspects Arrested
The man who was was found shot to death March 1 has been identified, and two men have confessed to the crime, police say. Xavier Jamar Clinton, 27, was found shot to death in an apartment complex in the 10900 block of Tanner Park Court about 8:30 p.m. March 1,…
7 Insane Foods We’d Like to See At the Rodeo
Every year at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, it seems like the food just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Fried Oreos? Pizza on a stick? Zany! And yet somehow it just doesn’t go far enough. We thought up some ideas to truly shatter the border between flavor and insanity…
Top 5 Bands We’d Like To See At The Ballet
Tonight, Houston Ballet performs Rooster, Associate Choreographer Christopher Bruce’s dance interpretations of eight Rolling Stones songs including “Little Red Rooster,” “Paint It Black” and “Sympathy for the Devil.” If that sounds a little lowbrow for the ballet, the program also includes two works by the company’s Artistic Director, Stanton Welch:…
App of the Week: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo App
App: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Platform: iPhone, Android Website: Apple Store, Android Store Cost: Free One of the growing trends in app development is the use of location-based apps for very specific events. It started with large concerts like Austin City Limits and spread to big conferences around the…
Free for All: Art Without a Price Tag
The Arts gods have given us a wonderful weekend of free events. First up is the opening reception for “Baroque on the Border: Paintings by Rigoberto A. Gonzalez” on Friday. The series was sparked by the growing violence in Mexico. Gonzalez, a Mexican native living in Texas, was struck by…
Hubcap Grill’s Ricky Craig on Twitter Outbursts and Axl Rose Rants
This past Tuesday around 10 p.m., anyone who follows Hubcap Grill owner Ricky Craig on Twitter could tell that he was having a bad night. Craig is well-known for voicing his opinions — often stridently — on Twitter, but Tuesday was different. “Ewan MacDonald get out of Houston and GO…
Seeking Date To Jesus And Mary Chain: Oral Service Required
The things you find on Craigslist. Rocks Off photographer and contributor Marc Brubaker passed this our way: Free ticket for JESUS AND MARY CHAIN concert March 13 in House of Blues Houston. ONLY for a sexy, adventurous, sensual woman for an evening of good music and hot fun. you need…
Brittany Martinez: EMT Hired Hit Man to Kill Her Firefighter Husband
An emergency medical technician has been charged with hiring a hit man to kill her husband, a Houston firefighter. Court records show Brittany Martinez, 24, paid $1,000 and provided a work schedule and tips on how best to off her husband, Adrian Ray Martinez. She didn’t micromanage things, though: Although…
Chill Out with Homemade Limoncello
The weather’s warming, and I’m about ready for nights by the pool spent wining and dining with friends. I’ve been dreaming up a warm-weather grilled pizza and sangria party ever since “winter” came around, trying to come up with a special little something to top the evening off. Enter Limoncello,…
The Freakouts: Freaking Out All Over Your Faces
Each week, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group “Artist of the Week,” bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn’t awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Two Saturdays ago, we were out at the…
Finding Order in Disorder at Art Palace
In his first solo show in eight years, for those keeping track, Kyle Young picks up right where he left off. His bold paintings continue the play with the geometric shape and order that he’s become known for in his new show, “Push Play,” at Art Palace. And the colors…
Garth Brooks In Country Music Fall of Fame: Harbinger Of Doom
Even though Mason Lankford said, “There will come a day when we forget the Rapture ever even happened,” Rocks Off is keeping an eye out for signs of our impending Armageddon. We were wrong last time, but we’re totally right this time! We’d more or less forgotten about Garth Brooks,…
Top 10 Most Useful Patented Inventions
The 2012 National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees were announced late last week and Steve Jobs, co-founder of both Apple and Pixar, with more than 300 patents under his belt, was posthumously honored. According to the Invent Now Web site, Jobs is credited “with revolutionizing entire industries, including personal computing,…
Chinese-Style Barbecue at Willie’s
Years ago, when I was consulting in the Bay Area, I would drive to this street called Castro in Mountain View whenever I got the craving for traditional Hong Kong-style barbecue. I’m talking small diners with char-siu barbecue pork and roast duck hanging in the window. If you’ve ever been…
Cowboy Diaries: Nikki Steffes — Future Dentist?
True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they’ll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will spotlight one person with enough…
Seven Highlights from the “Rick Perry for President 2012” Facebook Page, Where Hope Never Dies
As we proved conclusively yesterday in chart form, Rick Perry is riding a rocket of momentum (Note: The chart included an actual rocket) towards the White House, with his Super Tuesday vote total a vast increase over his Michigan/Arizona primaries total. The fever is building, if the mainstream media would…
Pop Rocks: What Jessica Simpson Won’t Be Naming Her Baby
If, like me, you were unaware Jessica Simpson was pregnant, here you go: The 31-year-old Fashion Star mentor graces the cover of Elle in all her pregnant glory–à la Demi Moore, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey, to name a few. Jessica also revealed that she and fiancé Eric…
Wayne Christian: State Rep Hilariously Backtracks from That “In-State Tuition for Illegals” Vote
Note: There was some confusion between me and Christian’s office — when I talked to them, my understanding was that they confirmed the red- and green-type in the letter, and they said they’d send me a copy. I never got it, but they now say the original letter did not…
What Does Your Choice of Girl Scout Cookie Say About You?
What does your choice of Girl Scout cookie say about you? If you’re the type of person who likes to steal Girl Scout cookies, it says that you’re a useless jackass who likes to be punched in the face by little girls. (True story.) Most of us, though, just stick…
Billy Gibbons Interviewed: New ZZ Top Album Sounds Like Tequila
With ZZ Top ready to rock RodeoHouston Thursday, Rocks Off began to ponder whatever happened to the band’s long awaited new-album. Last summer, guitarist Billy Gibbons told Rocks Off that the band’s first collection of new material since 2003’s Mescalero would arrive in stores this winter. So far, however, the…
5 Video Game Sidekicks That Deserve Their Own Game
Every hero needs a little help every now and then. Somebody to keep them grounded, to have the antidote to their weakness or just to be quippy in an otherwise quip-poor environment. It’s not unheard of for these sidekicks to get their own spinoffs, like DC’s excellent Red Hood series,…
Peyton Manning’s Colts Career Ends, More Cheesy Peyton Videos Begin
If everyday breakups went as smoothly as the press conference at Colts headquarters Wednesday, you’d see far fewer people staying in dysfunctional relationships merely to avoid the pain and anguish that comes with ending it. Colts owner Jim Irsay and longtime quarterback/franchise icon Peyton Manning held a joint press conference…
Kid Flix Mix 2011
The true story of a little girl and her yellow balloon on the New York City subway is the basis for just one of the films that make up today’s Kid Flix Mix 2011. Screening as part of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s MFAH Reel Kids series, the 12…
This Filthy World: Filthier and Dirtier
Here’s some of the best advice we’ve ever heard: “If you go to someone’s house and they don’t have books, don’t fuck them.” That’s a quote from John Waters’s acclaimed one-man show This Filthy World: Filthier and Dirtier, which he’ll be presenting today at DiverseWorks. The legendary director of films…
Cactus Flower
Abe Burrows’s romantic comedy Cactus Flower follows Toni, a wild young woman who tries to kill herself when she realizes her married lover Julian will never leave his wife and settle down with her. The truth is Julian isn’t married; it’s just a cover to keep his mistresses from getting…
”Photographic Mirror”
Tasked by Lawndale Art Center with putting together a show of portraits by up-and-coming photographers, Chuy Benitez knew he needed to take the idea a step further. ”This is the Me Generation,” he says. “Everybody has a Facebook page. We all have an allegiance to ‘me’ rather than to any…
Bet on the Rockets
BASKETBALL Bet on the Rockets What will the second half bring? By Sean Pendergast The Rockets have kicked off the second half of the 2011-2012 season. I’m not sure how many of you care about this. The acres of empty seats at Toyota Center lead me to believe that fewer…
La Resurrezione
Lyric soprano Gillian Keith’s voice has often been called angelic, so her role as an angel in Ars Lyrica’s La Resurrezione seems appropriate. She’ll be making her Houston debut in Handel’s musical interpretation of the Resurrection story not as a meek, timid being with wings but rather as the fiery…
Mijo: Road House
Japanese performance art and the B-film Road House: Leave it to the Boo Town theater troupe to bring them together. Benshi is a form of Japanese performance art that originated in the silent film era. While American audiences were reading title cards and listening to live music, Japanese audiences enjoyed…
The Winter’s Tale
Shakespeare is known for his comedies and his tragedies; less popular are his “problem plays,” which start off as tragedies but finish with a happy ending. One such work is The Winter’s Tale. The very complicated story follows King Leontes, who believes that his pregnant wife Hermione has had an…
Rock, Roll & Tutus
Cinderella has barely left the stage, and it’s already time for Rock, Roll & Tutus, the Houston Ballet’s winter repertory program. The wildly sexy, exuberant program includes Rooster, which is the rock and roll part. Created by HB Associate Choreographer Christopher Bruce, the multilayered piece is set to hit songs…
”Utopia/Dystopia: Construction and Destruction in Photography and Collage”
There’s one image that neatly sums up the idea behind ”Utopia/Dystopia: Construction and Destruction in Photography and Collage,” the newly opened exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. It’s Patio View, by American artist Martha Rosler. The montage, from Rosler’s Bringing the War Home: House Beautiful series, utilizes found…
Symphony Under the Sea
Introduce your little music lover to classical concerts at today’s Symphony Under the Sea. Designed especially for families, the program features the theme to Disney’s The Little Mermaid, as well as Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Debussy’s La Mer. Hundreds of paper fish crafted by Houston children will transform Jones Hall into…
Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou Dinner
Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) is a brilliant auteur who has delivered some of the greatest dead-pan comedies of the last two decades. One of his best, though somewhat misunderstood, is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which continues to draw in audiences years after its release with its…
Two Thirties and a Baby
In the opening scene of Friends with Kids, a conspicuously placed copy of Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion on the bedside table of Jason (Adam Scott) marks him as a nonbeliever. His doubt also extends to conjugal matters, for he is unconvinced that married parents could ever be happy. Sharing…
Buffalo Bayou Regatta
The Buffalo Bayou Partnership hosts the annual Buffalo Bayou Regatta, Texas’s largest canoe and kayak race. The 15-mile route stretches from San Felipe just west of Voss to Sesquicentennial Park. After the race, awards will be handed out amid other festivities at the park, including zydeco music, food and drinks…
Under Fire: Journalists in Combat
Consider this statistic: Only two journalists were killed covering World War I. Almost 900 have been killed covering conflicts in the past two decades. The dangers faced by the brave men and women who risk their lives in order to bring back firsthand accounts of hostilities abroad are the subject…
Readers Theatre
If you think Edward Scissorhands had it bad, wait until you meet Rupert; he has a screwdriver for a penis. An electric screwdriver, to be exact. Rupert is a character in Tommy Jamerson’s new play, Once Upon a Screw. It’s just one of the 11 short plays selected for the…
M. William Phelps: Never See Them Again
A rich Houston suburb seemed an unlikely place for a horrific murder in the summer of 2003. But then, everything in M. William Phelps’s true crime thriller Never See Them Again is unlikely, starting with the victims and ending with their killer. Phelps, a best-selling author, will be reading from…
After Debussy
Say “Happy 150th Birthday” to Claude Debussy at Da Camera of Houston’s After Debussy concert. The program includes Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp, L. 137 as well as Kaija Saariaho’s Je Sens Un Deuxième Coeur for Piano, Viola, and Cello. The latter was composed in homage to Dubussy…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Dinner with Friends, Proposals, Seussical the Musical, Whatever Happened to the Villa Real?
Dinner with Friends Donald Margulies’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, seen here in Stark Naked Theatre’s finely tuned hands, begins as the dissolution of a ten-year marriage between Beth and Tom (Kim Tobin and Drake Simpson) and then turns into an affecting, abiding portrait of another ten-year marriage between their best friends…
Of Montreal
Of Montreal – not of Montreal, Quebec, but of Athens, Georgia — has now been making music for about 15 years. Throughout those years, the band has delivered a variety of sounds, ranging from zany twee-pop and neo-psychedelia to glam and funk, while hitting all kinds of notes in between…
Nosey Neighbors
Dear Mexican, I’m so perplexed by my Mexican neighbor. For one, he already has four girls, and I just saw his wife — and looks like she’s pregnant AGAIN! What really bothers me is that I live in an affordable housing unit. The rent is cheap and based on our…
Bobby Womack
Younger ears may know Bobby Womack from his recent work with Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz project, guesting on the supergroup’s 2010 album Plastic Beach, lending his magic to the disco-throb of “Stylo” with Mos Def, and the forlorn stunner “Cloud of Unknowing.” Older audiences, though, know the R&B survivor for his…
Class of ’79
Something Fierce sounds like a punk-rock timeline of the past, a golden age when energy and attitude were over-the-top and people actually paid for their music. But lately the Houston trio’s focus has become even narrower. For the past few years, Steven Garcia (guitar/vocals), Nikki Seven (bass) and Andrew Keith…
The Jesus & Mary Chain
Few bands wreaked more havoc within alternative rock in the late ’80s and the first half of the ’90s than the Jesus & Mary Chain. Known for their ill temper, beautiful melodies and deafening feedback, Glaswegian brothers Jim and William Reid sometimes greeted their early audiences with 20-minute barrages of…
Heartless Bastards
The Black Keys and Heartless Bastards share more than Ohio roots. The Keys were based in Akron for ages, and Bastards front woman Erika Wennerstrom relocated her band to Austin from Cincinnati some years ago, but now both bands’ blue-collar rock-and-roll work ethic is paying real dividends after years and…
Gemma Ray
When you need a sultry British soul fix, you must reach for one Gemma Ray, the modern answer to Dusty Springfield whose spooky PJ Harvey bent is built for a Tim Burton soundtrack. Active since 2006, the singer-songwriter is known for smoky vocal expanses and extravagantly sparse beds of sound,…
@TheEnd
On November 7, 2011, Ashley Marie Billasano stayed home from school so she could kill herself. The 18-year-old Rosenberg high school senior told her closest friend, who drove her to school every morning, that she wasn’t feeling well. Then, from 6:44 a.m. to 2:08 p.m., she issued 144 tweets, many…
Nabi-Hood Hangout
Chalkboards and an open kitchen make Nabi a cozy place to enjoy a meal. See more in our slideshow. The bowl of ramen that arrived on my table at Nabi last week looked and smelled like a minor masterpiece, even if it wasn’t really traditional ramen. Like every other dish…
One-Take Wonder
The foundations of Silent House are laid atop La Casa Muda, a nil-budget 2010 Uruguayan horror film that enjoyed an afterlife in international film festivals. It is not surprising that La Casa Muda was hastily snapped up for an English-language remake, for the concept is the sort of low-overhead, trend-conscious…
Idaho Gem
Built to Spill is a dichotomy in the “rock band” sense. They’re regarded as pioneering hard-rockers, yet their rocking nature more or less ends there. Everything else about the group is wholly unassuming. Doug Martsch, the band’s burly, bearded singer/guitarist, maintains a quiet life, residing in Boise with his poet…
Pot o’ Parties
This year, St. Paddy’s falls on a Saturday, so you’ve got all day to party, watch a parade, and ingest as much green food coloring as you can. And don’t forget to get a good running start on the holiday with a few pre-game events at your favorite pub. March…
Tut, Tut
You may have already grown accustomed to the giant fiberglass statue of Anubis outside the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the jackal-headed Egyptian god of the afterlife looks more like something from the Magic Kingdom than the Old Kingdom. Currently presiding over traffic on Bissonnet (and wearing an MFAH medallion…
Swamp People
Local artists don’t release new music every day, or even every week, but enough do to keep the pump primed on a pretty regular basis. We thought it would be fun to go over a few such releases during those weeks our colleague The Nightfly is soaking his feet. At…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Berlin, Potsdamer Platz,” “The Graphic Arts of Hans Erni,” “The Livable Forest,” “Love Man,” “New Paintings: Geoff Hippenstiel,” “Perspectives 177: McArthur Binion”
“Berlin, Potsdamer Platz” Magda Boltz-Wilson’s current collection features an abstract succession of block prints, some monotone, others with striking swipes of colors. Potsdamer Platz is one of the most noted intersections in Germany. It has been at the center of decades of history for the country, from its total destruction…
The Relatives, Kool & Together
Heavy Light Records is turning out to be a wonderful divining rod for lost chapters of great black Texas music. First the Austin label unearthed The Relatives, the 1970s Dallas family that sang gospel music with a brick-thick funk foundation. Heavy Light issued The Relatives’ previously unreleased LP Don’t Let…
