R.I.P., The Astros’ “Peanut Dude”
Arnie the Peanut Dude is a fixture at Astros games, his chatter and canny ability to toss accurately a bag of peanuts far distances often being enough to distract from the crummy play by the home team.Change that “is” to “was.” KHOU is reporting that Arnie Murphy died yesterday.Here’s how…
Feds All But OK Funding For Two More Light-Rail Lines, Costing Whatever
More news — good or bad depending on your side of the fence — about Metro’s planned light-rail lines came today when board chairman David Wolff announced that Metro has all but got its first funding agreement from the Federal Transit Administration.For 2010, the feds listed the North and Southeast…
Slainte — Let The Pee-Drinking Begin!
Today NASA made history again, breaking down barriers: For the first time (that we know of), astronauts drank their own urine in space.The piss was said to be “purified” and “recycled” and all that, but the bottom line is the bottom line: They might as well sign up for this…
The Last Roundup: A Birthday Blog, Mic Skills, Listenlisten, UGK, Riff Tiffs and More
Happy birthday, Houston’s Most Hated! They’re celebrating next Saturday at Numbers with The Juan MacLean, Switzerland’s the Field and a bunch of local DJs. 29-95.com has a nice chat with local MC Mic Skills, mostly about his new album Defiant. We Wore Masks caught the freshly reunited Blink-182 (Woodlands Pavilion,…
A Cafe Bites Nibble
When Scott Sen, co-owner of the new Bayou Mama’s Seafood & Oyster Bar (13165 Northwest Freeway, 713-690-6262), decided to open a new place with his brother, they had a debate. “I wanted to open a bar but my brother and partner, Mike, wanted to open a restaurant.” The two came…
Battle Of The Sportswriters: Oh, It’s Already Been Broughten
We noted a while back that Texas Monthly writer Gary Cartwright had written a stinging take on today’s Texas sportswriters, saying they weren’t as talented or wacky as him and his old gang of Blackie Sherrod, Dan Jenkins, Bud Shrake and Mickey Herskowitz were.He particularly pointed out two Austin American-Statesmen…
The Episcopal Church In Texas — Covering Up For Its Pedophiles
In 2005, the Austin American-Statesman wrote about Allen Becker, the retired headmaster of a prestigious Austin Episcopal boarding school, hitting the bricks once again to raise money for a lower-income black congregation on the city’s east side.”We want to give children in this part of Austin a chance for a…
Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe Open for Business Again
Old Quarter Acoustic Café owner Wrecks Bell announced today that the broken beam that supported the roof and second story of the Galveston venue has finally been replaced and the venerable joint will be open for business as of tonight. Bell, the former Townes van Zandt sideman and Starbucks litigant,…
Sportwswriter Brian McTaggart Leaves The Chron — Voluntarily
The sinking ship that is the Houston Chronicle’s sports department is now closer to being fully submerged. Brian McTaggart has confirmed today that he is leaving Chron sports as of June 1 and will be moving over to MLB.com to report on the Houston Astros full-time.I’m sure this isn’t a…
Health Department Roundup: Bizarre Names Edition
There are restaurants that simply sound unappealing based on their name alone; the presence of health department violations certainly doesn’t help bolster that appeal. This week, we’re featuring places that just sound like they had it coming. Finger Licking Bukateria (9811 Bissonnet) sounds too uncomfortably close to an Internet phenomenon…
This Weekend’s DWI Crackdowns Will Include Boaters, Baby
Tired of all those pain-in-the-ass DWI crackdowns? Thinking you can get around them and still indulge your urge to endanger yourself and others by operating heavy, moving machinery while drunk by tossing back some Jack Daniel’s on your boat?Think again. This Memorial Day weekend, the DWI crackdown will be on…
We Still Miss You, Joey Ramone
Even though he’s been gone for almost a decade now, we still love Joey Ramone. We defy anyone to find a more perfect way to spend 30 or so minutes than listening to the band’s self-titled 1976 debut. It cures what ails ya. The lead howler of the Ramones, born…
A Delicious Recipe for Success
It was a gorgeous summer night in the gardens of a stately West University mansion, and Monica Pope was serving a most unlikely dish to the well-to-do types at the table: scrapple. A dozen enraptured guests had their first taste of the dish – a luscious but decidedly down-home mishmash…
Aftermath: Forgive Durden at Java Jazz
Photos by Meredith BakerI was initially skeptical when I heard that the indie band Forgive Durden, was turning its latest album, last year’s Razia’s Shadow, into a musical for the tour that stopped at Java Jazz Tuesday evening. Razia’s Shadow follows a storyline about a a world torn between the…
Congressman Michael McCaul Lands The Big Kahuna — Rush
Congressman Michael McCaul, whose district stretches (somehow) from Katy to Austin, has landed a Big Fish for a fundraiser: Rush Limbaugh, the de facto head of the current Republican party.An invitation to the May 28 event in Houston has gone out to supporters. McCaul’s wife is apparently the daughter of…
Building The New YMCA From Above
The old Downtown YMCA does have its architectural charms, but this is Houston, and we tear such things down and put up gleaming new glass towers.That’s what’s happening at the corner of Milam & Pease (across the street from the Houston Press, as it happens). Construction has been going on…
Art Rock: AI, Dissent, War Cry, The Delta Block and 50/50 at the Rat’s Nest
Reminder: The Rat’s Nest is the Todo Moto Warehouse, 2305 Lyons Avenue…
Talk About a Fundraiser
Chez Roux, the very fancy, very upscale top restaurant at La Torretta Del Lago Resort & Spa on Lake Conroe, is putting on a six-course wine dinner Saturday, June 6. It will cost $500++ per couple, or $600++, if you want to sit at one of the chef’s-table seats (hurry,…
Artist of the Week: Buxton
Every once in a while, after the Artist of the Week feature is posted each Wednesday, we’ll receive a few emails from territorial fans informing us that our selection should have gone to a different band. Most of the time they’ll start with something classy like “What a dumb shit…
Astros Suck At Everything But Texting Anonymous Criticism Of Their Boss
I’ve got an admission to make. Baseball is my true love. My favorite sport. Yet I haven’t really been following the Astros these past couple of weeks because I’ve found myself busy with the Houston Aeros. I know a little of how the team’s been doing, and that Cecil Cooper…
Summer Openings: The Houston Press Wants Interns
The Houston Press is now accepting applications for college interns for the summer. Applicants should have a solid grounding in journalism principles, be self-starters with a good command of the English language, and be able to make their deadlines. Interns must commit to a certain amount of time in the…
Things That Make Us Feel Old: Enter The Vaselines
Don’t ask Rocks Off to explain how it came to be that we hadn’t listened to the Vaselines in such a long time. It is what it is. Fortunately for us, Sub Pop just gave Eugene and Francis the deluxe double-disc treatment, and we’ve been listening almost non-stop since it…
Houston’s Favorite Playboy Model And WWE Diva Heads To Jungle, Says She Can Kick Stephen Baldwin’s Ass
Things seem to be going well for Torrie Wilson. After a ten-year stint as a pro wrestling diva, the former Miss Galaxy and Playboy cover girl has settled down in Houston and opened her own Melrose-themed clothing store. But a week from today she’ll be abandoned in a Costa Rican…
The Many Faces of Mien Chin
In this week’s Cafe review, we explore the many faces of mien chin, or wheat gluten. First served as a meat substitute for the vegetarian Buddhists of ancient China, wheat gluten is also powdered and sold in health food stores as seitan. In Shanghainese cuisine, gluten is appreciated by non-vegetarians…
The Willie D Scam: Read Along As It Goes Down
Willie D is still cooling his heels in a Federal lock-up as we write this, but there’s updates o’plenty. Hair Balls’s old buddy Matt Sonzala posted a Willie D round-up on his blog yesterday. To us, the most fascinating link Sonzala unearthed was this one, in which you can document…
Idol Beat: The Final Two
More Than This: Ryan Seacrest’s idle chatter couldn’t mask the import of Tuesday’s finale. The heat is on. Now or never. And better yet, it’s a no-brainer, the same way Dubya vs. Kerry or Obama vs. McCain or Coke vs. Pepsi or Bird vs. Jordan were no-brainers. There’s no gray…
ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill is 60 Today
You didn’t think we’d get out of here without wishing happy birthday to Houston’s own Dusty Hill, the ZZ Top bassist who turns 60 today, did you? Hell no! To celebrate – and give any neophytes an idea of just how widely loved the Top really is – here’s a…
WTF U Texting 4? Highlights From The 713
Texts From Last Night is an entertaining website that purports to collect text messages from around the country. The idea is recipients send the idiotic or odd messages they’ve received to the site. Or maybe the site just makes them up.There’s no way to tell. But assuming it’s on the…
GQ‘s Alan Richman Names 25 Best Pizzas; Unsurprisingly, Ignores Most Everything Outside of New York and Chicago
Pepperoni lovers across the nation are already salivating over food guru Alan Richman’s latest article in GQ magazine, which hits newsstands today. In it, Richman delivers his verdict on the 25 best pizzas in the country, and – to no one’s great surprise – ignores nearly everything outside of Chicago…
Happy Birthday Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend, lead guitarist of The Who, turns 64 today. The King of the Mods was the brains behind every twist and turn in the band’s long history, from proto-punk stabs like “I Can’t Explain” through angst template “My Generation and monolithic rock operas like Tommy and Quadrophenia. (Or, more…
Good News About The Recession: Those Massive County Projects Will Cost Less
When Harris County decided to build a package of big projects like a new Jury Assembly Building and some Tollway construction, it thought it would have to spend $332 million doing so.Then the recession hit. All of a sudden construction companies, and their subcontractors, needed work now. More of them…
Where Are We Eating?
Although you wouldn’t traditionally eat at this establishment’s bar, far too much would be given away by showing its dining room. Can you guess where we’re eating this week? Hints abound in the photo above for those clever enough to spot them. And if you’re able to name the restaurant…
The Dames Will Be Dancing At Domy Books
Any fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 knows that some of the best bits came from watching the B&W short films. Whether it was the social-etiquette epic A Date With Your Family or an industrial film showing life on the farm or the latest in Space-Age Technology, the films were…
The Distillery: Cam’ron’s Crime Pays
Any Cam’ron reckoning that doesn’t address the Harlem MC’s unflagging inhumanity is a dishonest one. Most hip-hop heads have developed a cognitive-dissonance filter for the misogyny and nihilism coating most rap product; we try to see the hateful forest for the acrobatic trees. Still, though: Jay-Z takes the drug-kingpin longview,…
Death Rumors Swirl About Houston’s Patrick Swayze
Patrick Swayze, one of a handful of famous Hollywood types from Houston, has been sick for a long time.Today, rumors started coursing throughout the Internet and Twitter and whatever that the end had finally come.His publicist, however, is denying the rumors, according to this article that doesn’t quote the publicist,…
Grammy Winner May Have Stolen Some Tires… But Probably Didn’t
No, not that Little Joe. Not the one that, as far as we know, is playing Boondocks tonight and – Rocks Off doesn’t mind telling you – is about to find himself nominated for a whole slew of Houston Press Music Awards thanks to his new LP Texas Fire Line…
A Stout Dinner at Hotel Icon
If you like good food but elaborate wine pairings just give you a headache, then consider this upcoming meal put together by Voice Executive Chef Michael Kramer, in which he pairs good food with craft (no Bud) beer. On May 28 at the Hotel Icon, Kramer will offer a reception…
Distant Early Warning: Blink-182, Clutch, Jaime Foxx, Poison the Well, Wooden Birds and More
Blink-182: Wed., Sept. 23. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Clutch, Baroness, Lionize: Wed., July 15. House of Blues. Computer Club: Thu., June 18. Escobar. Crosby, Stills & Nash: Fri., Aug. 28. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. D. Ramirez: Fri., Aug. 14. Rich’s Houston. “FallCore 2009”: Sat., Oct. 10, 5 p.m. Fitzgerald’s. Frank…
Tejano Star Claims Someone’s Using His Name To Buy…Tires?
Joe Hernandez, better known as the star of the legendary Tejano band Little Joe y la Familia, spent half a day in jail near Tyler last week on charges of writing a bad $1,500 check.His agent, the Temple Daily Telegram says, is blaming identity theft. Someone in Dallas has been…
Aeros See It Slipping Away
So close, yet so far away. With the Aeros trailing two games to none in this best-of-seven series with the Manitoba Moose, they found themselves so close in Game Three, yet so far away. The Aeros lost 4-3 in a game where, if the puck bounces the right way at…
Let’s Spread the Restaurant Wealth
Recently, two Houston restaurants, both less than two years old, have garnered national acclaim. Chef Bryan Caswell of Reef, the kicked-up Gulf Coast seafood restaurant in midtown, was recently named one of the 2009 Best New Chefs by Food & Wine magazine. And a few blocks away in Montrose, Feast…
Bill White & Chron Editor Jeff Cohen: Facebook BFFs?
The Facebook page of Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen looks pretty much like every other page on that social network, we’re told. (We’re not Friendly enough to see it, apparently.)You know the routine:”Jeff completed the quiz What kind of Star Trek character are you? with the result Remulon The Budget-Cutter.””Jeff is…
Album of the Week: Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown
In all actuality, there are two Green Days: The three punk snots who recorded everything from 39/Smooth to 1997’s Nimrod and two thinly veiled side projects, the electro The Network and the reverberating Foxboro Hot Tubs. This represents Billie Joe and the boys at their most adventurously unhinged, spewing forth…
Attack Of The HISD Robots!!!
LARA and the Milby teamWhat is up with HISD and robots?Two schools had terrific results recently in separate robot competitions. And they weren’t the schools that leap to mind when you think cutting-edge technological devices.The Robobuffs from Milby took their robot, LARA (Lego Autonomous Robotic Andriod) to Michigan to compete…
Morning MP3: Rusted Shut’s “Shot In the Head”
www.dullkniferecords.com Well good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today Rocks Off is proud to present “Shot In the Head,” from legendary Houston noise crew Rusted Shut’s forthcoming LP, Dead. If your computer is within range of about 60 feet of any co-worker, time for those earphones, unless you’re feeling extra Fight…
Chinese Breakfast Nook
Start your day with a thick scallion pancake, wonton soup, seaweed salad, dan dan noodles and a pot of hot tea from the dim sum menu at the Fruitiful Café at 9889 Bellaire. This new Shanghai-style Chinese restaurant opens for business at 9:30 a.m. and serves dim sum daily, according…
Jon And Kate Plus Schadenfreude!
Ha ha, the Gosselins are having marriage trouble, ha ha! Nyah nyah nyah! I’m making no apologies for my delight in this story. I know there are innocent babes involved, babes that apparently spend little time with their parents who too busy cavorting about with others (if the tabs…
$7 at Bubba’s Texas Burger Shack
Where: Bubba’s Texas Burger Shack, 5230 Westpark Dr., 713-661-1622 What $7 gets you: Your pick from ten burgers made with beef or buffalo. Bubba’s has a long list of other menu items, like a bowl of chili or patty melt, but it’s no chili shack. Any place that has “Bubba’s,”…
Slide Show and Bonus MP3: Albums Influenced by the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds
To celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the Beach Boys’ sonically revolutionary album Pet Sounds – released May 16, 1966 – Rocks Off is featuring a cavalcade of albums which have, according to critics, fans, friends of the artist or even the artists themselves, been influenced by Brian Wilson and Co.’s…
Move Over, Reba: Michael Strahan’s New Sitcom Also Set In Houston
Fox Network just announced its fall schedule, and in just under the wire is Brothers, a low-key comedy set in Houston starring former Westbury and TSU star and future NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan. The Hollywood Reporter claims Brothers received strong feedback during the pilot’s test-viewings last week, and…
Willie D — Still Behind Bars, Trying To Make Bond
Maybe Willie D did need to (allegedly) scam people out of iPhones — he appears to be having trouble making bond.Nancy Herrera, executive assistant US Attorney, says a federal magistrate has set the bond conditions former Geto Boy William James Dennis needs to meet — a bond of $100,000 and…
Woman Sues City Over Sexual Assault By Cop
The woman who accused a Houston police officer of sexually assaulting her during a traffic stop is now suing the city for, among other things, failing to “properly screen, identify and eliminate recruits with the propensity to commit violent sexual acts,” according to the lawsuit filed last week in federal…
The Crema de Chile Poblano at Mexico’s Deli
Mexico’s Deli (2374 Dairy Ashford) still gets my vote for the best and most creative Mexican torta in Houston. But recently, I tried the crema de chile poblano soup, and it was so good and so spicy, I’m already dreaming of getting to that side of town for another. Cremas…
HPMA Nominations Over, Suggestions Still Count
Here’s a link to Channel 39’s news report live from Friday’s Houston Press Music Awards nomination party at Meridian, where – as you can no doubt discern – Rocks Off and a few of our Press cohorts had a fine old time. (Not so much the next day, though.) Friday’s…
Bill Would Keep Sex Offenders From Doing Something, Maybe. It’s Hard To Tell
Sometimes legislative bills don’t seem to be written in plain English, so it’s always best to go straight to the bill’s author to find out what’s up.But a bill authored by Republican State Senator Florence Shapiro of Plano seems remarkably straightforward: It prohibits registered sex offenders from “using the Internet…
Galveston’s Bathing-Beauty Contest Fails To Address “Opposite Marriage” Issue
Photos by Kevin ScottIn a parade of beehive hair-dos, demure, frilly one-pieces and coquettishly-brandished parasols, and catcalls of “hubba-hubba” and “va-va-va-voom,” the ghosts of Bettie Page and Galveston’s glorious past were brought back to life Saturday. After a 77-year absence, the Galveston Bathing Beauty Contest, a.k.a. “the pageant of pulchritude,”…
Texas Traveler: Luling
Whenever I drive to San Antonio, I try to stop for barbecue in Luling. There is no better breakfast in the world than juicy brisket and “wet” links with a sleeve of saltines. You don’t have to worry about arriving before lunchtime — City Market, the legendary barbecue joint on…
Aftermath: Steve Earle at Cactus Music
Video by Craig Hlavaty Guided from the office by Cactus Music general manager Quinn Bishop, Steve Earle strode by within a foot of me. He had his game face on. I remembered seeing that look on him in the ’80s, especially the night he and The Dukes tore the roof…
Hell Of A Honey-Do Weekend For Four Guys
You thought you had some crummy honey-dos this weekend? You could have been Mike Massimino, Mike Good, John Grunsfeld or Andre Feustal.Their job was to fix some long-past-its-prime, but still working, POS vehicle. The nuts were rusted and sheer brute force was needed.Oh, and they weren’t in the driveway working…
Snackshot: Dahi Poori
Today’s savory Snackshot comes to us from shnewell and Indika. From the photographer’s description: “The dahi poori appetizer at Indika on Westheimer. Each one is like a little puff of deliciousness!”…
Aftermath: Fischerspooner at House of Blues
So that’s why Nancy Reagan hated drugs so much. With the hair gel, and the glitter, and the smiles, and the neon, and the gender-bending, and the fingers constantly touching sides of noses, and the shifting eyes – the ’80s must have been a wild time, man. Fischerspooner: Welcome to…
More Shake-Ups In The Sports-Talk World
Big changes at KILT-AM, one of the many sports-talk stations in town struggling to get their piece of small pie.Program director Bill Van Rysdam is gone; he’s long been around the scene, both at KILT and KTRH. Rumored to be taking his place: Mark Vandermeer, the Houston Texans radio play-by-play…
Extreme Relaxation: How to Adequately Slow One’s Roll
Is there any other option for insomniacs besides taking those dubious sleeping pills that claim to be harmless yet killed Heath Ledger? A new type of drink known as “extreme relaxation beverages” claims to result in calmness, drowsiness and/or “chillaxation.” These drinks intend to “slow your roll” with ingredients like…
Turning the Screw: Willie D, Cool Kids, DMX, Eminem, Jaime Foxx, Aries Spears, Mrs. Paul Wall, Snoop Dogg, Big Pokey and More
Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off’s weekly rap post. It probably won’t rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: “Hearse Cadillac,” Willie D Wire To Wire Say it ain’t so: Willie D gets locked up for wire-fraud conspiracy…
One Frustrating Sunday For Rocket Fans
Yeah, ummm, so the Rockets didn’t quite pull off the upset yesterday, starting the game colder than Dick Cheney’s ice-encrusted heart. Sure, they gave the town a great ride in the playoffs, and the two wins at Toyota Center will be long remembered. But then again they put their fans…
Lonesome Onry and Mean: Blaze Foley Documentary Screening This Friday at the Old Quarter
It’s been a long time in the making, but apparently the long-rumored documentary on Austin songwriting legend Blaze Foley is about to finally get a screening. Thursday, Lonesome Onry and Mean received an email from Old Quarter Acoustic Café empressario Wrecks Bell announcing a showing of the documentary May 29…
Backstage Royalty: Crews From National Broadway Tours Travel With All Their Stuff, Down To The Last Cable, Glass And Stage Bra
There’s an old joke. The stagehand has a son. One day the son tells his father that when he grows up, he wants to be a stagehand, too. “Son, it’s going to be one or the other. You can’t do both.” — retold by Martin Blacker, head carpenter (foreman) for…
Texas Traveler: Brazos Bend and the George Observatory
About an hour south of Houston, far enough away to evade the light pollution from Downtown, stands one of the largest and most powerful telescopes in the nation open to the public. The 36-inch Gueymard Research Telescope is the centerpiece for the George Observatory, a facility owned and operated by…
Local 7″ of the Week: KGBeasley & the Leather Violence’s “Sonic Bondage”
Two meaty man-slabs of Cramps-style psychobilly make up this new release from Beau Beasley’s KGBeasley & the Leather Violence project. Encased in a hilariously profane pink cover, with a beefy man literally banging out with his wang out, the seven-inch – no pun intended, seriously. Come on, we mean it…
Despite Loss, These Aren’t Same Old Rockets
The ending was all too familiar, but the ride was so, so different. Sure, history will show another Rockets season concluded without a title, this time on an 89-70 second-round, Game 7 loss to the Lakers on Sunday afternoon at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. And like so many…
Art Rock: Pretty Little Flower Tour Kickoff at the Rat’s Nest
Note: the Rat’s Nest is the Todo Moto Warehouse, 2305 Lyons Avenue. Show starts at 8 p.m…
Opera At UH Sparks Threats, Even Though It’s About Radical Islam & Homosexuality
Edalat Square is an opera based on the true story of two gays teens who were hung in Iran in 2005 for homosexuality.The Opera Vista Festival at UH is featuring the piece this year, and organizers say they expected some controversy. It’s arrived, in the form of a death threat.Amy…
This Week In Deliciousness
Well, I never. Last week, a couple of truants snuck in a pair of articles after This Week In Deliciousness went to press, so even though they were tardy, go read about Spec’s cheese-less Wine & Cheese festival, and make sure you send the link to Robb Walsh’s article on…
Cutout Bin Slideshow: How-To Albums, Part 1
Ever wondered how to be a Jewish mother? How to play quarterback like two-time Super Bowl champion Bob Griese? Or – something all of us have wondered – how to stay the hell out of probate? Our man in the Cutout Bin, Nick DiFonzo, has all the answers. Click here…
A Quicker Way Through Customs At Bush Intercontinental
Hair Balls was escorted by a customs agent out of the Bush airport today, and we left through a door with a big red sign that said, “Do Not Exit, Alarm Will Sound.” When we exited and the alarm didn’t sound, the agent chuckled a bit and said, “That’s government.”We…
Breakfast With a Bourbon Expert
Chris Morris is sipping coffee at the bar. It’s dark and sleepy at 9:30 am inside the Downing Street Pub, a cigar-and-mustache type of place where an imposing rack of whiskey takes up most of the back wall.Morris jumps behind the bar like he owns it and grabs three bottles…
Last Call For Art: Shows Closing This Weekend
The must-see shows Jesse Lott: “The Urban Frontier” and Javier de Villota: “DeHumanization Echo” close this Sunday at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art. Lott and de Villota, both based in Houston, share not so much a style as a purpose — to express a belief in humanism.Lott’s “Urban Frontier,”…
Mick Jagger’s Brother Tells British Readers About His Recent Visit To The Balinese Room, Somehow
Has British tabloid the Daily Mail become the Daily Fail? It sure seemed like it when Hair Balls came across a Texas travelogue by Chris Jagger.Jagger, the brother of Mick, gathered little moss as he rolled around the Lone Star State last month. (The story is listed as “last updated”…
This Week in Beyonce: Bjork, BET Awards, “I Saw Beyonce at Burger King” and A Two-Year Break?
TWIB may be folding up shop soon: B says she’s considering taking a two-year break. Gay New York rapper Cazwell, self-described as “imagine if Biggie Smalls ate Donna Summer for breakfast, has a song called “I Seen Beyonce at Burger King” (see video above) on next month’s album Watch My Mouth…
PJ Stoops’ Fishmonger’s Booth
PJ Stoops has a fishmonger’s booth at the Bayou City Farmer’s Market at 3000 Richmond most Saturday mornings. He told me he lived in Lake Jackson and made the rounds of the docks where fishing boats pull in early in the morning. He buys good-looking fish right off the boat,…
Bayou Body Count: Nudity, Crack Pipes & A Double-Murder-Suicide
The big news this week in Bayou Body Count is the three dead family members League City police are investigating as a possible murder-murder-suicide. Lewis Cantrell Jr. and his wife Gayle Cantrell were found shot to death in their living room on the 2900 block of Chinaberry Park Lane. Lewis…
Aftermath: Bonnie Raitt at Verizon Wireless Theater
For someone with such a deep California/New England pedigree – daughter of Broadway/Hollywood actor John Raitt, schooled at Radcliffe and the Northeast coffeehouse ’60s folk scene, now living in Northern California – Bonnie Raitt sure gets Texas music. She could almost be the female Delbert McClinton, in fact, except that…
KPRC Digs Deep To Discover Cops Like Washington Avenue, Too
KPRC’s Stephen Dean had a breathless report last night, a two-month hidden-camera investigation, proving without a doubt…that cops like to sit around and talk to women on the Washington Avenue strip.Wait, that’s the “hot, happening strip of bars along Washington Avenue,” according to the completely un-hot or happening Dean.Dean’s video…
Coming Up Next…
The city’s gearing up for the 2009 Food and Wine Week in The Woodlands at the end of May, but there’s still plenty to do in the meantime.Saint Arnold Twitter Crawl: If you aren’t on Twitter, you’re missing out on secret deals and offers that local places only offer to…
Travis Elementary: Flu Central (For Kids, Not Teachers) UPDATED
Even more kids are out at Travis Elementary today, HISD spokesman Norm Uhl tells Hair Balls — of the 712 registered, 378 stayed home today. Another dozen felt sick at school, went to the clinic and were sent home.Oddly, teachers don’t seem to be affected: Only two are out sick…
Breakfast With A Bourbon Expert
Chris Morris is sipping coffee at the bar. It’s dark and sleepy at 9:30 am inside the Downing Street Pub, a cigar-and-mustache type of place where an imposing rack of whiskey takes up most of the back wall.Morris jumps behind the bar like he owns it and grabs three bottles…
Five Spot: Big M.O.E. of the S.U.C.
We were flipping through the Trae playlist in our iPod yesterday, and “Swang” came on. “Swang,” if you’ll remember, was the Big Hawk and Fat Pat-assisted second-best song from Trae’s irreplaceable Restless album. It was swirling, ethereal wonder of a track, but the thing that made it a staple of…
That Other Sports Team In Town — Who’s Running It?
I know I’ve asked this question before, but I feel that it needs asking again. So, seriously, who’s running the Houston Astros?I ask because it came out yesterday that Cecil Cooper has been pitching injured pitchers, even though he knows they’re injured, because they say that they want to pitch…
Openings and Closings
Recent restaurant openings around Houston indicate that seafood and the seashore are the buzzwords of the day. Several new restaurants have cropped up in Galveston, among them Boudreaux’s on the Bayou (6310 Heards Lane), Chopin Mon Ami Restaurant (1508 39th Street) and Gumbo Bar (2105 Post Office). Down the street from…
Morning MP3s: Selections from ArtStorm Records’ Summer Exposure
The folks over at ArtStorm Records were kind enough to send Rocks Off a few selections from the Summer Exposure compilation that will be formally released Saturday at the Mink; doors open at 4 p.m. (More information here.) Might as well go to the crawfish boil next door in the…
Meyerland’s Nob Hill Apartments Become A TSU Dorm; Hilarity Ensues
In August, thousands of residents at Meyerland’s Nob Hill apartments went from living in a quiet complex to being part of a swinging college housing facility, complete with shirtlessness and extreme sports — and for some reason, the transition was less than smooth. The experiment ends next week, when the…
No Matter Game 7 Outcome, These Rockets Have Heart Of Champions
Thirty-seven million of the Rockets’ approximately $70 million payroll sits on the bench in luxury suits instead of basketball uniforms. With Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady sidelined, the Rockets counter the Lakers’ top scoring option — only one of the best players ever, Kobe Bryant — with the erratic Ron…
Album of the Week: St. Vincent’s Actor
Not to sound like an American conditioned on the stuff of the patriarchy, but thank God St. Vincent is a woman; to say Annie Clark is a saint among female musicians would be way too obvious. It’s a shame that critics feel forced to throw in the caveat ‘female’ when…
A Singing, Dancing Fonz Hits Houston
The Fonz never seemed much of a song-and-dance man on the TV show that ran for 11 seasons and ended about a quarter century ago. But Broadway has seen some mega successes by adding music to successful TV shows and movies.(Case in point: The Producers and The Full Monty raked…
Authentic Mexico City Pineapple Burgers
Love the hamburgesa estilo D.F. at Tortas Las Llardas — bacon with pineapple is a truly wacky burger topping. The bun is toasted, and the patty is big and juicy too. I may not want to eat one everyday, but it’s an interesting change, especially with a lot of pickled…
Mayoral-Race Forum: The Beef Stroganoff Was More Filling
Much like the beef stroganoff on the buffet table, yesterday’s mayoral forum was safe and unassuming. It was a packed banquet room of business attire for the luncheon, which the Rotary Club of Houston hosted at the Junior League. Candidates sat side-to-side at a table on stage. Roy…
Recession Claims Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo
The annual Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo, a giant exhibition held in Austin, will be suspended for at least the next two years, officials said.TPWD says they just can’t line up enough corporate sponsors to defray the $400,000 cost of the October event, which features a 35-acre area filled with…
Before We Go: A Thousand Cranes, the Muses, Johnny Bush, the Old Quarter, Katy Perry, a Numbers Documentary and More
The above cartoon – give it a minute; it’ll show up – is somehow tied into Saturday’s show at Avant Garden featuring A Thousand Cranes, How I Quit Crack and Metal Rouge. Rocks Off wishes he could tell you how, but he digs the Monty Python and the Holy Grail…
The Legend Of Letting Sleeping Drunks Lie At City Hall
Every time there’s a “homeless sweep” in downtown Houston, a local historian will trot out the old legend about Hermann Square. Supposedly, George Hermann willed to the City of Houston the land that had once been occupied by his boyhood home (and now sprawls at the foot of City Hall)…
Pearland Attorney Takes On The State’s Teacher Retirement System
It’s not everyday you see a nearly half-a-billion-dollar lawsuit. But one was recently filed in Harris County district court against the state agency responsible for issuing retired public school teachers their benefits and for managing the retirement fund’s assets. The Teacher Retirement System of Texas posts in its website that…
Recession Lunching at Feast
Feast’s abundant lunch specials put other recession dining features to shame. Every weekday at lunch, Feast puts together a menu with two courses for $12.95 or three courses for $15.95. Last Wednesday, the appetizer list offered choices like spiced red lentil soup, Welsh rarebit and a salad with romaine, cucumber,…
Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of…Something
The hallways are pretty empty today at Travis Elementary near the Woodland Heights. Of the 712 students there, 242 are out sick.It can’t be a Senior Skip Day, so what is up, HISD?”Twenty-six additional students at Travis were sent home sick today bringing the total to 242,” spokesman Norm Uhl…
The Distillery: The Cool Kids’ “Going Fishin'” mixtape
Chuck “Chuck Inglish” Ingersoll (Michigan) and Antoine “Mikey Rocks” Reed (Illinois) – the Cool Kids, to you – may qualify as the 00s’ biggest teases. Since 2007, they’ve unleashed a cavalcade of individual tracks and mixtapes, massaging Internet buzz into a sort of droning hum: 80s babies building a name…
Rockets Once Again Get No Respect
The Rockets season ends tonight at Toyota Center — wait, wait, did we just say that out loud? We mean the Rockets season likely ends tonight — no, wait, we mean the Rockets’ improbable Game Four win will be repeated tonight!! Yeah, that’s what we mean!!Kinda.Anyway, after the injury-riddled Rockets…
Dewberry Season
For a couple of weeks in May, the wild blackberries known as dewberries are ripe in East Texas. The right-of-ways alongside railroad tracks are a good place to pick the intensely flavored blackberries. You also can buy them on the side of the road. The intersection of Highway 290 and…
Italian Filmmaker Just Loves Our Jails
Hot on the heels of winning the Special Jury Prize for best short film at the Houston International Film Festival, Roberto Minervini is working on a feature film that will be shot in Houston and Marfa.MarfaRed, which Minervini tells Hair Balls is “as much as road trip movie as it…
Aftermath: Elvis Perkins in Dearland at Walter’s on Washington
For his part, though, Perkins didn’t seem to care. He ripped through thirteen or so songs in a way only he can, with a style part rock and roll, part pop, part country, part gospel, part danceabilly. Call it folka-dot. The set was mostly made up of songs from his…
UH Closing Its Acclaimed Pre-School; Parent Of An Alumnus Saddened
There is an acclaimed — if ominously titled — place on the UH campus called the “Human Development Lab.” No cyborgs are created there (that we know of); instead it’s a pre-school where UH students in relevant majors can come in and watch, often behind a two-way mirror, as tots…
The Last Roundup: New Wilco LP, Tori Amos, G.I. Joe Junkies, D Rose and More
Once again Rocks Off has been scanning Houston’s music-oriented blogs so you don’t have to. But go ahead and do it anyway. Breakfast On Tour has a link to stream the new Wilco album, conveniently called Wilco (The Album) and due June 30. Like Rocks Off often does, Dryvetyme Onlyne…
Aeros Make Another Game Seven Escape, Head To Conference Finals
“If you can’t get yourself ready for a game like this,” Houston Aeros captain Clayton Stoner said Wednesday morning, “then you don’t deserve to be here.”The “here” was Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The game was Game Seven of the West Division Finals. The Aeros, who had been up three games to one…
Willie D Arrested on Wire Fraud Charges
Willie D, member of Houston rap pioneers the Geto Boys and CEO of Relentless Entertainment, was arrested by FBI agents Wednesday night at George Bush International Airport as he returned from an overseas trip. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office, D, whose real name is William Dennis,…
Gulf Shrimp Season Ending This Week
Gulf shrimp season is over as of this Friday, May 15. It is scheduled to resume in mid-July. “The closure is designed to allow these small shrimp to grow to a larger, more valuable size before they are vulnerable to harvest,” said Robin Riechers, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Coastal…
Rapper Willie D Arrested Over Alleged iPhone Scam
Rapper Willie D has been arrested and charged with wire fraud, US Attorney Tim Johnson has announced.William James Dennis, as he’s more formally known, was arrested last night at Bush Intercontinental after an indictment was unsealed charging him in connection “with his purported sales of iPhones through a company known…
Eat Your Vegetables: The Pop Group
This noisy, caustic band with the smartass name was founded in Bristol, England, in 1978. The group broke up 1981, and members went on to other notable yet now-obscure projects. During that period of less than four years, the Pop Group produced two albums and another album’s worth of singles…
Sean Hannity To Torture Houston’s Wallets
What would you pay to see Sean Hannity in concert? No, we don’t mean seeing him be waterboarded — although he said he’d do that for charity, and Keith Olbermann offered to pay $1,000 to an Army charity for every second Hannity stood it, Sean-o somehow hasn’t agreed to it…
Local Album of the Week: Paul Wall’s Fast Life
Did high gas prices kill off Paul Wall? Not really – that’s just a coincidence. Rather, the H-Town artist known for his candy cars and diamond grills has suffered from being too closely identified with a regional sound that is no longer fashionable. Just as Chingy stopped selling records after…
The Legislature Stands Up For Dildos
It’s not often that the state Senate rejects a gubernatorial appointment, but they did yesterday when they voted against Rick Perry’s choice of Shanda Perkins for the state parole Board.You could argue that the Senate rejected her 27-4 because she was horrendously underqualified for the $95,000-a-year position: She’s an unemployed…
Ann Curry, WTF Is Up, Girl?
Ann Curry drives me batshit crazy. Apparently, I’m not the only one. Google “Ann Curry annoying” or “Ann Curry awkward” and you’ll be struck by the number of hits you get about how Today’s news reader strikes fear and frustration in the hearts of hundreds…maybe thousands. Hopefully millions.I can’t quite…
Poppy Seed Kolaches at Olde Towne
The poppy seed kolaches at Olde Towne Kolaches on Memorial near Kirkwood are stuffed extra thick in a nice moist pastry dough, Is my addiction to poppy seed pastries genetic or is it the opiates in the little black seeds? I don’t know but my Eastern European grandmother baked poppy…
“Reload”
Take a look at Jeanette Degollado’s For Cassie and you might get the wrong idea about the new premiumgoods exhibit “Reload.” The painting shows a young woman pointing a gun, surrounded by graffiti-like images, but artist/curator Melinda Mosheim says the title for the show comes not so much from gunplay…
National Black Book Festival
If you live by the pen (or just pretend you do to impress chicks), hit the George R. Brown Convention Center for the National Black Book Festival this weekend. Hosted by bookseller Cushcity.com and the Houston Black Expo trade show, the second annual fest will feature readings and signings by…
“The Shell Prints of Jean Charles Chenu”
See some serious seashells in “The Shell Prints of Jean Charles Chenu.” The exhibit features a shellection (err, we mean selection) of original hand-painted, copperplate engravings from the French physician’s first book, Illustrations Conchyliologiques. These 150-year-old prints of various types of shells show Chenu’s fascination with nature’s creations. (Chenu went…
The Third Side
Chances are Darwin had no idea that his theory of evolution would still be causing such a controversy 150 years after he published Origin of the Species. As the debate in education circles continues, Mildred’s Umbrella Theatre Company is taking another look at the naturalist’s legacy with its premiere of…
Bill Welling: Cinema Houston: From Nickelodeon to Megaplex
Perhaps it’s due to a desire to just stay out of the heat, but Houstonians seem to have a particularly strong attachment to the movie theater. Today, as part of their “Authors in Architecture” series, the American Institute of Architects’ Houston chapter presents Bill Welling, author of Cinema Houston: From…
Houston Fringe Festival
BooTown’s Houston Fringe Festival shows you things you’ve never seen before. For the annual presentation, local theater troupes, filmmakers, playwrights and performance artists perform their latest, and often previously unseen, works at bars, coffee shops, tattoo parlors and street corners. Participating groups include Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre, Mildred’s Umbrella Theater, Scatter!…
Crips and Bloods: Made in America
In the film Crips and Bloods: Made in America, street philosophers recount how the Watts riots in the mid 1960s eventually led to the birth of the Crips and Bloods a generation later — and then, how those powerful gangs crippled Los Angeles African-American neighborhoods. Black men living in Los…
Collectors and Cocktails
Become one while you enjoy the other at Collectors and Cocktails, a fund-raiser for Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. You can bid on artworks donated by Houston collectors and artists while you sip a few inebriating beverages, all the time supporting the good folks at HCCC. 7 p.m. 4848 Main…
“Conceal/Disclose”
Two women from the Middle East examine concealment and disclosure in an exhibit cleverly called “Conceal/Disclose.” Israeli painter Hagit Barkai and Iranian photographer Tala Vahabzadeh both work with images of the human body in various states of vulnerability, leaving viewers feeling as if they’ve intruded on a private moment. 9…
Grey Gardens
While mother and daughter “Big Edie” and “Little Edie” Beale are, respectively, aunt and cousin to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, it is their personal on-again, off-again mother-daughter relationship that makes the musical Grey Gardens sing. In the 1940s, the Beales were society scions with the most impeccable of pedigrees living in…
“FotoFence”
Over the last year, the Literacy Through Photography program put hundreds of students together with dozens of teachers and artists. LTP gave the kids just one mandate: Show us what you see. The result is “FotoFence”, an exhibit of 500 student posters and writings. Some kids worked on photo-blogging and…
Sideways Stories from Wayside School
Author Louis Sachar’s series of hit children’s novels is the basis for Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Set in a school that was built with all the classrooms stacked one on top of another, Sideways Stories follows the zany adventures of Myron, Bebe and the rest of the kids from…
“Recollections of Havana”
The Russian Cultural Center’s latest exhibit, “Recollection of Havana: The Art of Vladimir Frumin,” is a collection of photographs of the Cuban capital by St. Petersburg-born Frumin. “I saw historical layers of Havana: layers of a flourishing and fashionable city,” he’s said. “And on top of it was another set…
Parlami d’amore (Let’s Talk about Love)
Silivio Muccino’s 2008 comedy Parlami d’amore (Let’s Talk about Love) features Sasha, a twentysomething man hopelessly in love with the young and beautiful Benedetta, who begins a friendship with a French woman in her forties. Which woman ends up winning his heart? You’ll have to drop by the Italian Cultural…
Happy Days — A New Musical
Talk about an odd couple — one’s a too-cool-for-words chick magnet, the other’s a hopeless innocent. But somehow the Fonz and Richie are best friends. And in Happy Days — A New Musical, that ode to all things 1950s, they’re best friends who also happen to sing and dance. 8…
Pasadena Strawberry Festival
Pasadena is the Strawberry Capital of Texas — the tiny town once shipped freight-loads of the sweet treats to Chicago and Kansas every day. A blast for adults and kids alike, the Strawberry Festival is a yearly celebration of all things red and juicy. It pays homage to those bygone…
Redbud Gallery: “Broken Brushes: Degenerate German Art 1930 – 1940”
This is one time that being called a degenerate is a good thing: German artists from the 1930s and 1940s whom Hitler found objectionable were labeled “degenerate.” Redbud Gallery has a rare showing of these artists in “Broken Brushes: Degenerate German Art 1930-1940.” The exhibit includes paper work by such…
“Perspectives 166: Torsten Slama”
We dare you to try to look away from the works in “Perspectives 166: Torsten Slama” at the Contemporary Art Museum Houston. The art might make you uncomfortable — but not so uncomfortable you can look away. The first solo museum exhibition of the Austrian-born, Berlin-based artist’s work, “Perspectives 166”…
Classical Theatre Company: Antigone
Actress Bree Welch plays Antigone, the woman at the center of a struggle that will forever change not only her family but her nation as well. After her uncle, the King of Thebes, staves off an attempted overthrow by his nephew, Antigone steps up to challenge the king as well…
The Terminator
Back in 1984, nobody knew we were watching the future governor of Cali on screen in the sci-fi thriller The Terminator. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the ultimate cyborg assassin (he’d been practicing being robotic for years). The Terminator was sent back in time from a future where machines ruled the world…
Jon Ginoli: Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division
The founding member of the first openly gay punk rock band Pansy Division, Jon Ginoli, is in town today for a reading and singing of his book Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division. He’ll also play an acoustic set. (Acoustic punk rock? Ah, okay.) 6 p.m. Borders, 570 Meyerland Plaza…
Idol Beat: The Top Three Results
“I think we’ve had enough suspense, enough commercials – let’s just get to it.” This is what Danny Gokey told Ryan Seacrest, and, by proxy, America. We were in agreeance – Wednesday night’s show was almost over, and at the point Gokey said the above, Katy Perry’s appearance was the…
Vinyl & Compilations
It seems like the last thing local guitar-type bands or musicians want to do these days is release a full-length CD. So far this year, the lion’s share of notable Houston indie and punk releases has come on either vinyl LP (Born Liars’ Ragged Island), EPs (Wild Moccasins, Benjamin Wesley,…
Frat Friendly Fun
Half an hour isn’t much time, but sometimes — in Night World, especially — it can mean a world of difference. Get to Vintage Lounge (2108 Kipling) around 11 p.m., for example, and the sprawling, two-year-old venue near Shepherd and Westheimer is a graveyard. Maybe 12 people will be inside…
Live
In the beginning of its nearly three-decade career, the almost un-Googleable Live was hailed in late-’80s college rock circles as the second coming of U2, or at least a more muscled Smithereens. Front man Ed Kowalczyk led the York, Pennsylvania, crew, his vaguely Eastern lyrics steeped in an awkward mysticism…
Olga Tañón
Early in her career, Puerto Rican singer Olga Tañón was the queen of merengue, but with an expanded repertoire that includes ballads, pop and all types of tropicalia, she’s pretty much shaken off that title and is now simply known as la mujer de fuego (woman on fire). One of…
Edgar Winter
If you have a thick skull, nimble feet and a proclivity toward violence, you become a prizefighter. If you have a bluesman’s soul, a musical family and a tendency toward paleness, you become ’70s icon Edgar Winter. Not a bad shake. Three decades on, the Beaumont-born Winter’s edgy blend of…
Jason Aldean
The riff in Jason Aldean’s latest smash, “She’s Country,” as far as I can tell, comes from AC/DC. He’s easily got the hackiest cowboy hat in today’s crop of country hunks, but what sets him apart are frequent hooks that don’t just feel hard – they feel heavy. The first…
Fischerspooner
In hindsight, the idea that people once considered Fischerspooner an electroclash act is laughable. NYC duo Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner have always been a synth-pop band with a penchant for flamboyant glam and performance art. The proof is in enduring songs such as “Emerge,” a stuttering single full of…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul,” “Bryan Wheeler: The Souls of Texans Are In Jeopardy In Ways Not Common To Other Men,” “Helen Lessick: Other Arrangements,” “Javier de Villota,” “Round 30: Home. Space”
“Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul” Although the Taliban managed to blow up the Bamyan Buddhas, they didn’t get their hands on everything. This exhibition showcases artifacts from the country’s incredibly rich cultural heritage. It includes delicate gold ornaments from the 2,000-year-old “Bactrian Hoard.” Discovered by a Soviet…
The Dears
Montreal’s The Dears have always been a curiosity. While front man Murray Lightburn ignored pesky “Black Morrissey” comparisons, the rest of the band was reshuffled in a dramatic lineup change for the recording of newest album Missiles. Not quite Broken Social Scene (though Lightburn did contribute vocals), with too few…
Creep Show
Minimalist Houston punk-rock trio O Pioneers!!! creates a pulsating, unrelenting, yet thoroughly engaging wall of sound. The trio tours throughout the southern U.S. pretty regularly, so Chatter was stoked when guitarist/vocalist Eric Solomon agreed to answer a few of our questions recently, when the band was chosen as our music…
The Vibrators
The Vibrators are year-zero godfathers of singalong punk who shook the world in ten days; that’s how long it took to record their iconic, hook-filled 1977 debut Pure Mania. Outlasting safety-pin peers such as the Clash and Sex Pistols, they toured with Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter manimal Iggy Pop…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Dangerous Corner, Miss Firecracker Contest, Rock ‘N’ Roll
Dangerous Corner Whodunits are often so predictable that you can guess the outcome halfway through scene one. The one great thing about Company Onstage’s production of J.B. Priestley’s Dangerous Corner is that it really is hard to tell what’s going to happen, all the way down to the chilly end…
Bob Dylan: Together Through Life
Nearly as interesting as his musical progression is Bob Dylan’s vocal progression: the nasal whine of Freewheelin’; warm tones of Nashville Skyline; full-throated roar of the Rolling Thunder/gospel years; the phlegmy throat of Time Out of Mind and thereafter. He’s never sounded as ragged as on Together Through Life, which…
Mind Games
Standing chest-deep in the hotel pool, Ron White felt foolish. Were the people on lounge chairs near the deep end watching him? Well, screw it. If he cared what a few strangers thought and let it get in the way of his training, how would he possibly bring home the…
Young Jeezy: The Recession
Fuck Huey Long: Young Jeezy is the master of populism. Here’s a self-made millionaire who empathizes with the day-to-day troubles of the working class, preaches distrust of the media and authority figures and always gets his base boiling. While he leaves the lofty rhetoric to the arugula-chomping pantywaist he endorses…
Angels & Demons with Tom Hanks
At the tail end of The Da Vinci Code, having traipsed around scenic Paris and London for over two hours to find out whether the Holy Grail was just an old cup or the womanly seed of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, Tom Hanks’s Robert Langdon, ace symbologist, sloped off back…
Steve Earle: Townes
Considered by many to be the best Americana songwriter, living or dead, Townes Van Zandt certainly never made it the way Steve Earle has. But on Townes, Earle mines Van Zandt’s prolific songbook to pay homage as only a true student of the master could. Shrewdly observing that Van Zandt’s…
Rudo y Cursi: Beautiful Losers
Not quite The Further Adventures of Cain & Abel, the second coming of Beavis & Butt-Head, King Kong vs. Godzilla Redux or Peyton Meets Eli, but energetic fun nonetheless, Rudo y Cursi is a multiple brother act: It’s written and directed by Carlos Cuarón and produced by elder sibling Alfonso,…
Great Depression
Clifford Odets’s Awake and Sing! is more relevant than ever in Main Street Theater’s emotionally charged performance — and it was first produced in 1935, during the Great Depression. The famous play attacks everything from petty bourgeois desire to heartless capitalists ready to crush the little guy for a buck…
Mature Strippers and Lottery Money:
Courts Too Old To Demean Herself Feds file age-discrimination suit against strip club Now this is the kind of federal government you’re getting now that Obama’s in office — the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing a Houston strip club for firing a worker because she was too old. Finally,…
Going Viral
A virus is currently spreading among today’s young people. Like swine flu, it has made life extremely unpleasant for many, but unlike the H1N1 strain, it is exclusively passed between old and young. If left unchecked, it could have the far-reaching effect of rendering an entire generation between ages 20…
There Will Be Blood:
Kidney Money Heartbreaking work: These are just two of your stories I’ve read. Very seldom does an article move me to even wonder who wrote it “You Want a Piece of Me?” by Mike Giglio, April 30]. Your work is heartbreaking and lovely. You let readers see through your eyes…
Pork and Beans on a Bun
The steak, onion and raw jalapeño sandwich called the “Pepito” at Tortas El Angel in the Heights was my unexpected favorite. The crunchy fire of the chiles sparked every bite of tender steak, soft bread, mushy avocado and refried beans, all of which made for a remarkable sandwich. The fried…
Mike Jones: The Voice
Here’s the thing about The Voice, Mike Jones’s follow-up to double-platinum debut Who Is Mike Jones?: People automatically want to hate it. Perhaps even more interesting, though, is that Jones knows this. The Voice’s most meaningful song is a cathartic track aptly titled “Hate On Me,” which even goes so far as…
Peli-Peli
Paul Friedman is originally from South Africa, where he opened and ran 47 steakhouses before moving here in 1978 to run a successful travel and safari business. Then he opened and sold three Paul’s Pizza Shops and, three and a half years ago, retired. But Friedman couldn’t stay away —…
¿Quieres Chingar?
Dear Mexican, My wife is from Michoacán state. We’ve bought a home in the small town of her birth. I love everything about the quiet little place. Even her mother is kind to me, as if I were her son. The food is incredibly good. The puerco is killed that…
Magical Mystery Tour
It’s easy to get firm fish like snapper or shrimp to turn out crispy if you cover them in panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and then fry them, but getting scallops, which hold so much water, to do the same — that’s nothing short of magical. The fisherman’s plate ($19) at…
