And So It Begins: We Have Our First Tropical Depression of the Year
There comes a time every May where the days start to get a little longer, the temperatures start to get a little hotter and our eyes turn to those big bodies of water flanking us that we’ve been ignoring the last few months. Hurricane season may start June 1, but…
Gladys House, Fourth Ward activist, pays her tax bill (swears revenge)
Last week, Gladys House had every reason to think she was about to see her property auctioned off for failure to pay her taxes, before someone swooped in to loan her the money. “I always felt like it was going to be all right. I just didn’t know how it…
My Reply to the Astros’ Statement About the Cancellation of the Wives’ Gala
“There’s such a thing… as manners. A way of treating people. These fish have manners.” — Jerry Maguire There is no easy way to disband an event like the Astros Wives’ gala, a fantastic annual spectacle that’s simultaneously raised over $4 million in 23 years for the Houston Area Women’s…
Cover Story: Federal Animal “Crush” Law Tested in Houston
In December 2012, two Houstonians became the first defendants charged under the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010, which criminalizes the production and distribution of images of animal cruelty. Ashley Nicole Richards and Brent Wayne Justice were originally charged in Harris County District Court with animal cruelty, which carries…
Reality Bites: Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy
The History Channel never really had a chance. Sorry, it just goes by “History” now, but they’re not fooling anyone. Almost since its origin, the channel’s been a running punch line for its heavy dependence on World War II material (and that war’s most recognizable antagonist), before swerving sharply into…
Need More Camo in Your Life? Spruce Up Your License Plate for a Good Cause
If you’ve never felt the need to accessorize every last thing in your life, you may have no idea about the world of options that exist when it comes to license plate customization. We’re not just talking the six-letter/number message you can display, either; there are over 140 license plate…
The Five Most Disappointing Goth Albums: Bauhaus, Go Away White
All this week we’re going to look back over albums from undeniable goth icons and talk about their failures. Thus far I’ve been focusing on endings, what with Siouxsie and the Banshees’ last album and another that made Robert Smith seriously consider ending The Cure. Now I’d like to bring…
FDA Says No to Caffeinated Gum
Wrigley’s new caffeinated gum, Alert Energy Gum, only lasted a couple of weeks on the shelves of supermarkets, grocery stores and convenient stores after the FDA became concerned about the amount of caffeine each piece of gum offered. With 40 milligrams of caffeine (equal to half a cup of coffee)…
Houston-Born Tejano Icon Lydia Mendoza Honored With New Postage Stamp
Texas music lovers have one more thing to celebrate as of today. The United States Postal Service is issuing a new series of stamps titled Music Icons, and Houston’s own Lydia Mendoza is the first honoree. Long before Selena, there was Lydia Mendoza. A master of the twelve-string guitar, Ms…
Sean Shim-Boyle’s ‘Salt House’ Will Take Your Breath Away
When artists take over the seven row houses from 2505-2521 Holman Street in the Third Ward, there is usually the desire to be busy. Sculpture hangs from the ceiling, drawings are done right on the white paint, or each wall is painted a different color entirely. So what’s so remarkable…
Mikkail Antonio Jimenez: Feds Say Dude Swallowed 53 Pellets of Cocaine
In what we’re guessing was just a simple misunderstanding, federal prosecutors in Houston have charged a Dominican citizen with importing drugs after he was allegedly caught flying into Bush Intercontinental Airport with 53 pellets of cocaine in his belly. Mikkail Antonio Nolasco Jimenez, 27, was arrested at the airport Saturday…
Opposites Attract: Italian-Mexican Fusion Works Wonderfully at Bellissimo
A little more than two years ago, I had dinner at a Heights-area restaurant serving Italian-Mexican fusion cuisine and endured a less than appealing meal with two friends. The saving grace of La Casa de Frida was our sweet server, a jovial man who treated us like family. So when…
The Case for Neil Gaiman as Showrunner of Doctor Who
Though there are no definite plans in the works that we’ve been made aware of, Steven Moffat has said in recent interviews that he is probably closer to the end of his time as head of Doctor Who than the beginning. Ten men and one woman (appropriately enough) have served…
How to Get Signed In Five Easy Steps, Starring Hacienda
Maybe it all comes down to being in the right place at the right time. Maybe luck has something to do with it. Or maybe it’s crafting a vintage-era sound with odes of talent that landed Hacienda a lottery ticket to musical gold. It’s no secret that The Black Keys…
Concert Pub North Gives 1960 Area All the Rock It Can Handle
“It’s an exciting time for us,” says Concert Pub North (CPN) talent buyer John Escamilla. “A year ago, we were a tribute [act] and local venue. Today we are being looked at like a live-music venue for touring acts.” Escamilla and I were waiting for Cinderella front man Tom Keifer…
This Week In Food Blogs: Why Some BBQ Lists Are Suspect and Gordon Ramsey
29-95: Can a national media outlet really name the “top” restaurants across the country without putting in the legwork that people such as barbecue blogger Daniel Vaughn do, driving over 10,000 miles to visit ‘cue joints for his book Prophets of Smoked Meat? That’s the question Syd Kearney asks in…
Ad Deum Dance Company Gives Dances of Praise
The Setup: On May 17, Ad Deum Dance Company presented its Spring concert, The End Is the Beginning, at Houston Community College’s Spring Branch campus. The program featured work by Artistic Director Randall Flinn as well as choreography by Durell R. Comedy, Cheryl Cutlip, Steve Rooks and Joanna Tan. The…
Five Disco Songs That Make Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” Blush
Hey 2013. We need to talk. You’ve already produced a number of good albums, some even by new bands. But I’ve got a bone to pick with you, and it’s about this new song by Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams. It’s called “Get Lucky” and it’s making waves with its…
Top 10 Pieces of Advice from New Adulting Book
This past week the new book by author Kelly Williams Brown, of the adultingblog, was released to a good amount of hype. Brown was up until recently a writer for the Oregon Statesman Journal, but probably quit when she got the advance for her book because that’s the adult thing…
Top 5 Cookbooks for Recent Graduates
The end of May is approaching, meaning that graduation season has begun. Many high school and college graduates will soon be on their own and no longer under the wings of their parents, which means that they must provide for themselves. Every parent wants to know that their child is…
PR 101: The Astros Could Learn a Lot From Other Houston Team Owners
Fame has a fifteen minute half-life, infamy lasts a little longer. – The Insider Owners of sports franchises never have it easy. From Charlie Thomas to Les Alexander, John McMullen to Drayton McLane, Bud Adams to, yes, even Bob McNair, fans are ruthless and we’re talking Houston, not Philadelphia or…
Hipster Garbage: The Indie Band Drinking Challenge, Round 2
It’s no longer a secret that I hold a deep disdain for most of the hipster music that runs across my desk. I try to give it a fair shot, but I just can’t get into it. And a ton of it has come across my desk as of late,…
100 Creatives 2013: Outspoken Bean, Performance Poet
Emanuelee “Outspoken” Bean understands that being a Slam poet isn’t for everyone. The process involves performing original work not only for a live audience, but also for a panel of randomly chosen judges who award each poet a competitive score. “A lot of people shy away from it because they…
Grown-up Fun with Easy-Bake Oven
Having recently achieved a major life goal, I decided to buy myself a present. The latest Apple invention? A designer handbag? A well-aged Merlot? Not for this 31-year-old woman. A used Easy-Bake Oven off of Amazon was my reward. I didn’t own an Easy-Bake Oven as a kid, but my…
Fan Fighting League! Iroquois Steeplechase Cat Fight Edition (w/ VIDEO)
I’ll be honest, until this weekend I didn’t even know that the Iroquois Steeplechase in Nashville was a thing. Had no idea. Even after I found out it was a thing, after seeing my colleague Clay Travis (Nashville talk-show host and founder of outkickthecoverage.com) tweet that he was on his…
Our Reaction to the New Taco Bell “Waffle Taco” in GIF Form
When we first heard that Taco Bell was launching a new breakfast menu, we were intrigued. And, being Houstonians, naturally assumed that this breakfast menu at Taco Bell would include breakfast tacos. Foolishness and folly. Instead, we were pained to discover, Taco Bell is making another kind of breakfast taco…
Wear This, Not That: Wedding Guest Edition
It’s wedding season! You read that sentence in one of two ways: Your internal voice was full of joy and excitement, OR your internal voice was filled with dread for the weekend-killing, money-spending nuptial events. As someone who has been in eight weddings (counting the one where I was the…
Not Quite Ready to Die: In Defense of Iggy and the Stooges
Iggy and the Stooges, headliners of this year’s Free Press Summer Fest, recently released their first new record under their current moniker since 1973. Titled Ready to Die, it’s also the group’s first record with guitarist James Williamson since then, following the death of guitarist Ron Asheton a few years…
Texas Activist Chains Neck to White House Fence (German Bike Locks Rock)
If you’ve never heard of Diane Wilson, you’ve probably heard about the environmentalist who poured Karo syrup on herself on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., to protest the BP oil spill. (That was Wilson.) Or about the one who chained herself to the Dow Chemical tower…
The Five Most Disappointing Goth Albums: The Cure, Wild Mood Swings
All this week we’re looking back over albums by undeniable goth icons and talk about their failures. As we proved in Monday’s entry in the series, the mid-’90s wasn’t an easy time for the pioneers of the goth genre. On the one hand they were reasonably secure as established and…
My No-Fail Late-Night Order at Mai’s
It starts out innocently enough. With a long day spent squinting at a computer screen behind us and the glistening sun beckoning us to one of Houston’s many patios, we find ourselves letting loose at a happy hour with friends. Fast-forward a few buckets of beer and a handful of…
Houston Not Very Racist, Homophobic Based on Twitter “Geography of Hate” Map
Since Twitter feeds were able to be aggregated on Google Maps, there have been Web sites that published all sorts of geographic representations of the things we say. But one of the more recent goes to greater length to determine just how racist and homophobic parts of the country are…
Lawndale’s Oddly Pretty Paper Plate Snake
Abhidnya Ghuge works with the most common and disposable of materials — paper plates. Their abundance comes in handy, though. In her site-specific installations, the artist employs them by the thousands to create unusual forms that snake organically across the room. Her latest installation, poetically yet incomprehensibly titled “Halls without…
Stevie Wonder: The Greatest Mother’s Day Gift of All (Almost)
My dad and Stevie Wonder have a love/hate relationship. He’s a year older than the soul singer, so it’s rather weird hearing him talk about Stevie as if they were brothers, despite the fact that they have never met. Ever. But that’s how it is with my family: we have…
Nerds FTW! UH Nets a Pair of Finalists in Microsoft’s Video Game Design Contest
The video game industry is massive. Video game sales outpaced music sales years ago and they continue to grow. And Houston has been home to many a video game programmer over the years. Perhaps that’s because of the success at the University of Houston. For the fourth straight year, UH…
5 Recipes with 5 Ingredients (or Less!) You’ll Love
In the kitchen I vacillate between insanely ambitious and incredibly lazy, but “incredibly lazy” wins out most weeknights. I like recipes that require minimal prep, using just a few ingredients, to get dinner on the table in as short a time as possible (or at least with very little work…
Five Bands Who Could Replace The Roots On Late Night
This past Sunday, NBC announced that Seth Meyers will officially take over as the host of Late Night, when Jimmy Fallon succeeds Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show in early 2014. But with Meyers set to inherit a show with a tradition of turning talk-show hosts into late-night…
Our 20 Favorite Rides from the 2013 Houston Art Car Parade
One imagines that a lot of the appeal of art cars — aside from the fact that they’re often insane looking — is the fact that it takes art out of the gallery and into the streets. There’s nothing stuffy or pretentious about it, it’s simply art that anyone from…
UPDATED Houston Council Candidate Graci Garces Demands Apology Over Photo
Houston City Council District I candidate Graci Garces is calling for opponent Ben Mendez’s apology after Mendez — or someone with his campaign — allegedly e-mail-blasted a photo of….um, Garces enjoying a meal at a restaurant. “I was appalled that Ben Mendez and his campaign would distribute a photo of…
Latino Music’s Many Styles Charge Austin’s Pachanga Fest
Pachanga Fest Latino Music Festival Feat. Los Lobos, Celso Piña, Intocable, 3BallMTY, y más Fiesta Gardens, Austin May 10 & 11, 2013 Since 2008, the annual, family-friendly Pachanga Fest Latino Music Festival has showcased the vibrant blend of Latino-created music and art and its impact on American culture. That includes…
Sister Act Takes Its Show on the Road and Brings Deloris and the Nuns to Houston
Ta’Rea Campbell grew up singing in a choir and started acting at age 12. She’s been on Broadway in Lion King and The Book of Mormon. So who could be more perfect to play Deloris in the musical Sister Act? There are some differences between the 1992 movie version starring…
Is Football’s Dominance of Sports Talk Sign of the Times or Permanent Fixture?
One man’s opinion…not whether too little Astro/baseball coverage on local sports radio, but whether too much football in off season.— Greg Lucas(@GREGCLUCAS) May 13, 2013 Former Astros broadcaster Greg Lucas tweeted the above a few days ago, and it resonated with me and something I’ve been thinking lately. I do…
Upcoming: Backstreet Boys, Imagine Dragons, Mindless Behavior, Stoney LaRue, etc.
Backstreet Boys: With DJ Pauly D., Sat., Aug. 31, 7:30 p.m., $39.50-$89.50. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Dr., Spring, 281-363-3300. Carlos Vives: Fri., June 28, 8 p.m., $21-$139. Toyota Center, 1510 Polk, Houston, 713-758-7200. Casey Donahew Band: Fri., June 21, 10 p.m., $12.50-$18.00. Big Texas Dancehall and Saloon…
Today’s DVDs & Blu-rays: Cloud Atlas, Two Classic Westerns and a Warning
Tom Hanks and Halle Berry star in the sci-fi epic Cloud Atlas. Our sister paper the Village Voice named Cloud Atlas one of the worst movies of 2012. Film critic Roger Ebert named it one of the best. For us, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. At just under…
Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Frozen Dinners for Two
I find Ina Garten to be downright fascinating. Before she was a Food Network personality, she owned a specialty food shop in the veddy-posh Westhampton, New York; before that, she worked for the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) on nuclear energy analysis. She and her husband, Jeffrey, have no…
Four Reasons Why Sending an Outlook Request for a Meeting Without Asking Is Inappropriate
There is a moment when e-mails are exchanged or phone messages traded that everyone knows what the deal is with a meeting. You have all agreed upon a time and there isn’t really anything left to say. Then, someone decides everyone must have an Outlook meeting request. I have never…
The Lazy Dog Cafe in Huntington Beach, California, Comes to the Rescue of Lazy, Forgetful Sons Everywhere
So you managed to take your mother somewhere halfway nice for Mother’s Day this past Sunday. Congratulations. I’m sure she’s happy just to spend time with you. But what’s this? You’ve forgotten to pick up a card? All this planning will be for nothing! Except if you were dining at…
The Rocks Off 100: DJ Panchitron, Stirring the Cumbia/Moombahton Melting Pot
One-fourth of the Bombón crew, DJ Panchitron continues to evolve as one of the best DJ/Producer combos in Houston. His ear for combining cumbia, tropical and tribal with rap creates some of the most adventurous, hard-hitting, and downright funnest music in the city. Who? Panchitron is a native of Mexico…
Doctor Who: The Cybermen Get Upgraded
I am legitimately one of those people that would read Neil Gaiman’s shopping list if it were published in book form, so you’ll pardon the lack of objectivity in this week’s review. Gaiman returns us to the Cybermen, and not the Cybermen we’ve known thus far in the rebooted Doctor…
Astros Upheaval: Postolos Resigns, Astros Wives Organization Disbanded
When your product on the field is really crappy, changes in a baseball organization are to be expected. But when they happen off the field, it makes you wonder just what the hell is going on. In the case of the Astros, the maneuvers at Minute Maid on Monday ran…
Happy Mother’s Day, From the Cheddar’s Family
“It’s hog killin’ weather,” my grandmother announced in weary voice, her East Texas twang hobbling the words as they spilled out. It’s hawg killun waythuh. She sat her purse down on the kitchen counter and shuffled into the living room as my mother closed the garage door behind us with…
Hipster Garbage: The Indie Band Drinking Challenge, Round 1
Here’s the deal. A lot of hipster garbage music lands on my desk. I want to try to like it, I really do. I listen to the streaming albums these artists send, and try not to giggle when they’re dressed like bearded trees or sporting gender-bending granny clothing in a…
Six Degrees of Separation: Where Everyone’s a Con Man Or About to Be Scammed
The setup: Everybody’s either a con man in Six Degrees of Separation, John Guare’s acidic comedy of manners, or about to get scammed. Nobody’s pure at heart, not in this Manhattan nest of privileged vipers, where everyone seems to reinvent him or herself or to be in desperate need of…
Former Lions WR Titus Young Arrested 3 Times in One Week
A couple years ago during the NFL lockout, much was made of the arrest list compiled by NFL people during the league’s self-imposed downtime. (I use the word “people” because it wasn’t just players. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a coach and a front office person make the list.) When…
Here, Eat This: A Beginner’s Guide to Ethiopian Cuisine
People unfamiliar with African cuisines often tend to lump them all in together: East African, West African, North African…what’s the difference? We don’t lump French and Spanish food together simply because they share a border, however, nor do we regard Indian and Chinese as the same because they share a…
Top 10 Spitters In Music History (w/VIDEO)
Spitting. It’s a symbolic form of communication that means nothing good in any language or culture — a sign of disrespect that garners admiration or adoration from no one. Well, except for fans. Stars and celebrities themselves get mighty pissed off if you spit on them, but if they spit…
5 Bachelors for Martha Stewart to Date
Martha Stewart is a busy lady. She’s running an empire, fighting legal battles with several retailers, constantly showing up to daily talk shows to give lessons on how to properly clean your whites and/or bake a cake in the shape of a birdhouse, and now she’s also online dating. Stewart…
Long Live the Long Island Iced Tea
I have many fond memories of Long Island, home to one of my favorite branches of the O’Leary family, including my wonderful cousins Julie and Deirdre. As a child, I was in awe of their sparkling wit and giggled constantly at their wonderful stories and convincing impressions. If I managed…
Yee-Haw! Arlington, Fort Worth Make “Most Redneck Cities” List
Arlington and Fort Worth are two of the ten most “redneck” cities in the country, according to a highly scientific study by a California-based real estate blog called Movoto. Contributing blogger Natalie Grigson, an Austin native who boasts of her hometown’s “open-mindedness,” selected the cities based on such criteria as…
La Mafia Lead Singer Assaulted Outside Local Bar
Accoding to the group’s Facebook page, Oscar de la Rosa, lead singer of Houston-based Tejano stars La Mafia is recovering after an assault early Monday morning outside an unnamed Houston bar. This messsage was posted on La Mafia’s page earlier today: Oscar De La Rosa was assaulted around 1:30 a.m…
Game of Thrones: “Girls See More Blood Than Boys”
Last night’s “Bear and the Maiden Fair” was the Game of Thrones equivalent of a Dear Abby column, except instead of “My husband burns his nose hairs out with a lit match and wants a divorce because I voted for Goldwater,” you have various arguably unqualified folks giving romantic advice…
The Five Most Disappointing Goth Albums: Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Rapture
All this week we’re going to look back over albums from undeniable goth icons and talk about their failures. By the time Siouxsie and the Banshees released The Rapture in 1995, they had been together for almost two decades. They’d blazed a path with a dark and daring sound that…
Space Memorabilia Up for Auction Includes Canceled Checks, Postcards from the Moon, Carl Sagan Letters
My friend, Frank, is a bit of a space enthusiast and by that I mean the walls of his office are lined with autographed photos of NASA astronauts. When I read about an upcoming auction of space memorabilia, he was the first one I thought of. The auction, hosted by…
Panera Bread’s Healthy Hidden Menu: Why So Secretive?
Secret menus at some of our favorite fast food, quick-service restaurants like Burger King, Sonic, Chipotle and McDonald’s are not so secret anymore, and now you can add Panera Bread to that list. Like most secret menus go, the items off the menu are usually unhealthy, loaded with calories/carbs/fat and…
Chinglish Has Good Acting But Goes in Three Directions at Once
The setup: In Chinglish, Victor Cavanaugh, a businessman from Cleveland, travels to the city of Guiyang in China seeking a contract to create the signage for a Chinese cultural center. Cavanaugh speaks no Chinese but uses as an interpreter an English-speaking expatriate fluent in Mandarin who has lived 19 years…
One More Time: A Tribute to Daft Punk at Stereo Live, 5/11/13
One More Time: A Tribute to Daft Punk Stereo Live May 11, 2013 It’s safe to say that Daft Punk fever is at an all time high. Fifteen-second clips of new music were enough to nearly break the internet and no major gathering of musicians can happen without rumors of…
App of the Week: What Is the Deal with Vine Anyway?
If you don’t follow social media closely (hey, good for you!), you may be wondering what the hell a Vine is and why it has been in the news lately? Good question. Vine is another free social media app for smartphones built to share super short videos in much the…
The Parade of Bad, Bad Baby Names on Mother’s Day from PBS Sprout
When the Daughter With One F insists on watching PBS Sprout in our house, I have something I do to maintain my sanity. I watch the various birthday wishes that you can send in to The Birthday Show flash across the screen, and I make fun of the names of…
Cannibal Corpse and Napalm Death at Fitzgerald’s, 5/10/2013
Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death, Immolation Fitzgerald’s May 10, 2013 By the time the clock struck 9 p.m. at Fitzgerald’s on Friday night, it didn’t appear possible to cram another black T-shirt into the place. Longhairs were already stacked up past the rafters inside the old club on White Oak, even…
It’s Not Too Late to Celebrate National Burger Month
The great thing about National Burger Month is that it runs, y’know, all month. So you have until the end of May to serve God and your country by eating as many good, ol’ American hamburgers as your stomach will fit. The other good thing about National Burger Month is…
Weather Week: Ain’t No Cure for the Summertime Blues
Get ready because it’s coming. We’ve been pretty spoiled the last month or so with all the cool weather. It’s been downright pleasant at times, even in the last two weeks. And while it might be July before we start seeing consistent low to mid 90s high temperatures, summer is…
In Race, David Mamet Blowtorches Our Perceptions
The set-up: The title of David Mamet’s last successful play is a four-letter word. Surprise? Mamet is the Shakespeare of the scatological, the poet of the profane. He’s the only contemporary playwright who can drop the f-bomb with such gleeful aplomb, as well as other earthy, Chaucerian depictions of anatomy…
Titus Andronicus at Walters, 5/10/2013
Titus Andronicus, The So So Glos, The Caldwell Walters May 10, 2013 Friday night featured a four-band showcase at the new Walters (not on Washington) headlined by New Jersey indie-punk group Titus Andronicus, bringing their Brooklyn friends The So So Glos along on what they are calling the “Bring Back…
Astronaut Chris Hadfield Makes Video for David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” Video in Space
That shockwave you felt across social media this morning was due to the collective nerdgasm over a video produced by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. Before leaving the International Space Station, Hadfield, who is an avid user of social media and clearly gets how to use it, put together a video…
Five Lady Celebs Who Look Great, But Still Need Makeovers
Sometimes (every day) I daydream about what it would be like to have piles of money and access to more designer clothes and makeup than I could ever possibly wear in one lifetime. This habit is kind of hilarious, when you consider I hardly wear any of the piles of…
The 10 Most Hilariously Awful Wrestling Entrance Themes
Last Friday was the 46th birthday of one of my absolute favorite wrestlers, William Regal aka Steve Regal before the WWE instituted its rather bizarre No-More-Steves rule. Not that it matters, his real name is Darren Matthews. “Regal” is an amazing man, rising to hold more than 60 titles in…
Taco Nuts, L.J. Wiley’s New Taco Truck, Is Open for Business
The last time I visited with chef L.J. Wiley was in March. That’s when the prodigal chef was busy hosting a pop-up dinner called “Yelapagain” with his former employees and colleagues from Yelapa, the modern Mexican restaurant Wiley helmed to critical acclaim before departing for New York City in 2011…
What’s Cooking This Week? Buttermilk Fried Chicken & More
I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don’t make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient’s I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter…
ESPN’s Keith Law’s Goes for the Jugular, Calls Rice’s Wayne Graham a Pitcher Killer
Philip Humber was designated for assignment by the Astros yesterday. This came after his disastrous relief performance against the Rangers on Saturday night. And with that the feel good story about the Rice pitching star coming back to Houston to rejuvenate his career is over. Humber, one of the aces…
The Doctors Office: One More Live-Music Remedy In Emerging Warehouse District
Walters and House of Creeps have relocated there. It’s home to venues, businesses and homes. And now, the northeastern edge of Downtown near Nance Street — an area coming to be known as the “Warehouse District” — is home to the Doctor’s Office, Houston’s newest DIY house venue. Named for…
Catastrophic’s There Is a Happiness That Morning Is; What Theater Is Supposed to Be
The Setup: In 2011, Catastrophic Theatre mounted Mickle Maher’s boldly original dedication to “love, sex and the poetry of William Blake,” There Is a Happiness That Morning Is and due to popular demand, they have brought the production back for another limited run. Now being performed in their newly christened,…
5 Thoughts On These Way-Too-Early NFL 2013 Season Win Totals
So this is my second post in about five days where I go through betting lines for the 2013 NFL season with a fine tooth comb. Keep in mind that none of the games I’m investing my time and energy in here take place until at least four months from…
Which Gatsby Is the Greatest? Comparing the Great Gatsby films of 2013 and 1974 with GIFs
On the left, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan in the 2013 version, and Mia Farrow in the same role in 1974.Anyone who’s familiar with the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby with Robert Redford should recognize the scenes and shots from trailers for the 2013 film, which opens Friday with…
The Best Concerts In Houston This Week: Smashing Pumpkins, Taylor Swift, etc.
Free Radicals Avant Garden, May 13 Free Radicals is both Nick Cooper’s revolving-door ensemble that at any given moment could be playing free jazz or Latin funk, and also Cooper’s ongoing testimonial to how much he digs being a member of the Houston music community. He has so much experience…
UPDATED: RIP Scott Daniels: Horseshoe, Carolyn Wonderland Guitarist Dies Suddenly
UPDATED (Monday, 10 a.m.): Corrects Daniels’ moving to Austin, and adds information on the burial service and memorial. UPDATE 2: Comments from Daniels’ girlfriend, Candyce Prince have been added. Scott Daniels, longtime Houstonian and guitarist for Carolyn Wonderland and Horseshoe, has passed. Like many rock and rollers, Daniels had long…
How to Roast the Perfect Chicken in 10 Simple Steps: It’s Easier Than You Think
“Who’s going to teach me to roast a chicken?” I saw my best friend Tweet a few days ago. After a two month-long work trip to Norway, she had come back to the States more determined than ever to eat healthy. And what’s healthier than a roasted chicken with a…
Lone Star College System’s $500 Million Question (UPDATED)
Tomorrow’s another big day for the Lone Star College System as it seeks to persuade voters that it needs a bunch more money — $497.7 million — to expand its facilities and who cares about those old Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board projections anyway? Well some people do and they…
Yevette Walton & Lakisha Rogers: They Interview Tax Preparers Until They Find One Willing to File 53 Fake Returns
We don’t know who first came up with the phrase “you can’t get good help nowadays,” but whoever did likely realized the importance of having a staffer interview someone before hiring. It’s a valuable personnel lesson ingrained in Yevette Lauren Walton and Lakisha Lashell Rogers, but for all their painstaking…
Person of Interest: “Come On, Harold, Time to Meet God.”
While the first season of Person of Interest was mostly devoted to the circumstances that brought Mr. Reese to work for the Machine, this last season has been all about the Machine — and Mr. Finch — itself. The last eight months (minus American Idol and basketball-related preemptions) have tightened…
Meteor: 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…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio of Hawthorn Makes His Own Pastas, Sausages and Pie Crust
This is last part of a three-part chef chat series. If you missed our previous posts, you can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. This week, we chatted with Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio, the executive chef and partner at Hawthorn in Upper Kirby, a restaurant that is literally a hidden…
Kirk Franklin Puts Dynamic Stamp On House of Blues’ Gospel Brunch
Even talking to Kirk Franklin makes you want to straighten up and fly right, not to mention feel a little lazy. The 43-year-old Fort Worth native is arguably the most decorated gospel performer of his generation, winner of close to 100 music awards across a wide variety of platforms: Grammys…
Upcoming Events: Wine Dinner at Roost, Beer Dinner at BRC and Burgers for Burgers
If you read yesterday’s list of the 10 best bistros in Houston, you’ll know that Roost came in at the No. 1 spot. The restaurant is celebrating another first this month, when Roost will host its very first wine dinner. Chef Kevin Naderi will host the award-winning Wrath winery from…
Top 10 Bars, Clubs & Ice Houses On the Northside
The Greater Northside Management District classifies “The Northside” as the “24 square miles north of Downtown Houston” between Interstate-10/Katy Freeway on the south, Studewood/Yale on the West, Little York to the north, and Interstate-59 Eastex Freeway to the East (although for this article, we set the boundary at Hardy Street)…
Community: The End or Not?
It’s been a bumpy ride for our friends over at Greendale Community College. In real life, this season saw a series of stops and starts, premiere dates pushed back for no reason, loss of actors, loss of show creator, critical skepticism and the need to work around Joel McHale’s obviously…
Severe Weather Is Here (w/Pictures!): Save Those Files, Use the Tunnels & Tip Your Pizza Guy Better (Updated: Person Hit By Lightning)
If you don’t have a window, you might not realize it’s 10 p.m. in parts of Houston. It’s a dark and stormy night out there, as Edward George Bulwer-Lytton would say. Last night saw some major thunderstorm activity, with impressive lightning shows in some parts of town. (This being Houston,…
Astros Out to Prove Einstein Was Right About Insanity
Albert Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The Houston Astros didn’t yet exist when he offered up this wisdom, yet it’s hard to believe that he didn’t have the Astros in mind when he spoke this. The Astros…
McDonald’s New “Premium” McWrap: Ambitiously Named, Website-ed
McDonald’s convinced me to try their new Premium McWraps with their weird interactive Web site promotion. It seems as if a lot of time and effort went into constructing this animated cityscape, where you can “explore the world of the new Premium McWrap” and also click on some balloons to…
Your Bra Does Not Fit — No, Seriously, It Doesn’t
In which we talk about boobs… Several years ago, when Oprah Winfrey still rocked our mid-afternoons with book clubs and hot topics, The Big O set off a firestorm — a Bra Revolution — with a segment on proper bra fittings that included fittings for her entire audience, courtesy of…
Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway on Thatcher, Nostalgia and the Pursuit of Happiness
Most of the people who pass Mark “Barney” Greenway in the street every day almost certainly have no idea what the man does for a living. His sensible haircut, unassuming demeanor and soft-spoken Birmingham accent betray nothing of his status as one of the most ferocious and accomplished voices in…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: The Great Gatsby
Title: The Great Gatsby What A Time To Be Alive. Certainly, if civil rights and polio vaccines weren’t your bag. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Two and a half Huey Lewis and News Sports albums out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: Dissolute Roaring Twenties casualty recounts tales…
Vim and Vigor; New Energetic Exhibition Opens at Fresh Arts
They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and despite the cliché of the quote, there is something to be said about it especially in terms of art. Using found objects for the sake of creating new art work is nothing new but that doesn’t take away from the…
The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Wild Game Cook-off, Art Cars & Food Trucks, a Craw-wish Boil and a Mother’s Day Reminder
Yaga’s Wild Game BBQ Cook-off Saturday, 8 a.m. Pier 21, Galveston Island Yaga’s has been one of the most consistent fixtures on downtown Galveston’s Strand for decades, and this year the restaurant is celebrating its 17th annual Yaga’s Wild Game BBQ Cook-off by raising its millionth dollar for Galveston County…
Pissed Grave: Let’s Pee On American Hitler
It’s a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Houston Press we’re trying hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. I live for a band like Dallas’ Pissed Grave, honestly. Oh, not because they’re especially brilliant or move me musically or anything. I just…
Top Five Things to Do in Houston Sports This Weekend: How to Fight Early Summer Boredom Edition
Despite a last gasp of cold air last week, it’s warm outside and getting hotter by the minute. For me, the best day of the year is October 1. It’s the probable end to hurricane season in Texas (if not the ACTUAL end for the Atlantic), the NFL is in…
Librotraficantes Ends Up Victorious, Killing Bills That Would Restrict University Ethnic-History Courses
When Tony Diaz first walked up to the State Capitol last month, he had to pause. The man — normally so well-regarded, so well-spoken — was, of all things, tense. He’d never given testimony at such level. He’d never gone to the mat with state legislators. He’d never put his…
Poker Night 2 is Incredible! 10 More Characters I Want to Take My Money
So desperate am I for another Portal game that when I heard someone had GLaDOS dealing hands in a poker game I downloaded it even though I hate poker and am objectively awful at it. I didn’t care, as long as a bitchy robot called me fat. Imagine my surprise…
New Feature: The Voice Places “Vocalizer” Badge for You, Prolific Commenters
If you spend any time in the comments section of our blogs, you may have already noticed that some people have “Editor” or “Community Manager” next to their usernames. Well, there’s a new badge on the block, and it’s called the “Vocalizer.” Check out some examples from our sister papers,…
10 Awesome ’90s Boy Bands You Probably Forgot Existed
The ’90’s produced the best stuff known to man. I mean, who doesn’t wax nostalgic over Girbaud jeans, color-blocked windbreakers, and old episodes of Saved By the Bell? That shit was so awesome. You know who else thinks ’90’s nostalgia is awesome? The boys — rather, real live men –…
Sean Walsh: Feds Send Him Child-Porn Catalog, He Orders, Is Busted
Beware the plain brown envelope.Modern marketing involves aggressively targeting a potential customer and then quickly and efficiently fulfilling his needs. And when you think of the words “efficiently” and “fulfilling his needs,” you think of nothing else but the federal government, right? Right? Okay, okay — maybe the feds don’t…
5 Simple Breakfast-in-Bed Meals and Morning Cocktails for Mom
On Mother’s Day, Mom deserves royal treatment. What better way to make her feel like the queen she is than to make her breakfast in bed (and serve up some morning cocktails)? While the kids make breakfast, Dad can whip up a cocktail to complement her scrumptious and relaxing meal…
I Regularly Open My Home to Strange Touring Bands… Why?
The sheriff department’s officer was standing on my doorstep, still trembling with excitement. The red and blue lights from the patrol car flashed over his face, which was incredulous at the site of the person who opened the door at three in the morning – me, a middle-aged, gray-haired man…
100 Creatives 2013: Barry Moore, Architect
What He Does Barry Moore in a Houston-raised architect who has been working for 47 years in the city. He’s currently employed by Gensler, one of the largest architecture firms in the country. The company, founded in San Francisco, opened its first branch office in Houston 40 years ago. Much…
Filomena Tobias: Middle Finger-Flipping Miami Heat Fan’s 15 Minutes of Fame Has Begun
While the viral celebrities of the Internet age are, in our minds, all part of the same dysfunctional family (Ladies and gentlemen, the VIRAL Family! Tay, Chris, Antoine, Charles, and Zombie Kid! Ready for action!) , the fact of the matter is that none of them actually know each other…
Top Five Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Chinglish, Philip Glass’s Dracula, Art Car Parade and More
Lots of folks in Houston don’t find anything funny about the Enron scandal; Tony Award® winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang, however, found a way to weave it into his comedy Chinglish, our choice for Friday. The Broadway hit follows Daniel Cavanaugh, an American businessman to China where…
The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Lost Bayou Ramblers, Daft Punk Tribute, etc.
Will Downing Bayou Music Center, May 10 Known for his rich baritone vocals and an unabashed devotion to romantic ballads, Will Downing may be the quintessential ladies man, so keep a close eye on your woman as he croons a blend of contemporary jazz and R&B that would make even…
Openings & Closings: Renovated Restaurants and Born-Again Bars
It was a busy week for openings, so we’ll kick things off this Friday with some happy news. Eleven XI, the new restaurant helmed by chef Kevin Bryant, opened this past Tuesday night…and it already has three Yelp reviews. The location at 607 West Gray had to be extensively renovated…
Planned Parenthood’s Sandra Fluke Event Forced Out of Midtown Bar Proof
Planned Parenthood’s quarterly “Cocktails For A Cause” get-together last Tuesday had some extra star power — Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student famously called a slut by Rush Limbaugh for daring to speak her mind. What the event didn’t have was a venue, after the bar that had agreed…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Riccardo Palazzo-Giorgio of Hawthorn, on His Favorite Dishes at Hawthorn and Where He Likes to Get a Good Fish Sandwich
This is Part 2 of a three-part Chef Chat series. You can read Part 1 here and Part 3 in this same space Friday. EOW: So, Hawthorn. How did you get involved in this project? It was a different concept before. RPG: The original owners intended this on being a…
Tom Keifer Steps Away From Cinderella… Down to Concert Pub North
Tom Keifer plays his first non-Cinderella show ever in Houston this Friday, tomorrow, at Concert Pub North on F.M. 1960. Mostly he’ll play songs from his first-ever solo album, The Way Life Goes, but he’ll let it get loud too, playing Cinderella songs and even a segment of what he…
Pop Rocks: What’s More Spock than Spock? Spock(s)
It’s like every Star Trek fanboys wet dream! OG Spock, Leonard Nimoy, and newbie Spock, Zachary Quinto go head-to-head in Audi’s snazzy new A7 commercial. In the ad, Nimoy is the old fuddy-duddy Spock, driving a Mercedes, of all the un-futuristic cars out there, which not only doesn’t have the…
Warrior Class: Political Theater That Goes From Idle Chatter to Intense Negotiations
The set-up: In Warrior Class, a Republican assemblyman from New York, Chinese-American, has given an inspirational talk that has gone viral and brought him to the attention of some political kingmakers. He is being vetted for the nomination for a Congressional seat by a veteran political practitioner, who works behind…
Aggie Lyle Lovett Wants Rain, Has Very Odd Idea of How It’s Created
Lyle Lovett went to Texas A&M. He majored in German and journalism, not agriculture or meteorology. With that in mind, he still has a very odd idea of how weather is made. Specifically, he seems to believe weather is at the beck and call of any Aggie weatherman out there…
Houston Artists Up For Some Big Blues Awards Tonight
Blues artists — like real, legitimate rhythm-and-blues players — aren’t in the headlines very often these days. But whenever they are, Rocks Off is both happy and proud to point out that unlike most other places, Houston still has quite a few of them, many of whom continue to do…
Summer Sipper: Adults-Only Ginger Watermelon Milkshake
One bottle of Pucker Watermelon Wow Vodka + Weekend Boredom = Most Delicious Cocktail Experimentation Ever. In the spirit of approaching summer, I have been sampling fruit vodkas with the vague goal of concocting some sort of killer fruit punch that I can serve on the Fourth of July. (You…
UPDATED: At West Texas High School, One Student Pushes Against Principal to Bring Discussion of Gay Rights to Campus
Updated with comments from Sundown Superintendent Mike Motheral and Murray Lipp, who runs Gay Marriage USA’s Facebook site. On Wednesday morning, an eighth grader at Sundown Middle School approached Morgan Sisk, a senior at Sundown’s high school. The 1,400-strong town, located just west of Lubbock, is small enough that the…
Houston Getting Two More Tacos y Tequila Joints
Fresh off the news from earlier this week that El Gran Malo is opening a second location downtown comes word that Pistolero’s — the restaurant replacing Nabi on Lower Westheimer — celebrated its grand opening last night. Owner Shawn Bermudez is best known for his other Montrose-based projects such as…
Straight-To-Vimeo is the New Straight-To-Video
Straight-to-video has gotten a 2013 makeover. Last week, Vimeo, the mature brother of Youtube, released that it would be starting an On Demand service and it will kick off with Neil LaBute’s Some Girls. Some Girls is an indie/low budget film version of LaBute’s 2006 play about a man who…
Black Moth Super Rainbow’s Unique Lo-Fi Space Fuzz: Powered By Garbage Pail Kids
Imagine my surprise when, last fall, at a late-night gig after Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, I discovered that the falsetto-voiced singer of a new favorite band, Black Moth Super Rainbow, was a male, not a female. To be fair, Thomas Fec (who also goes by the moniker “Tobacco”),…
The Super-Fast Hennessy Venom GT Visits City Hall (w/Video of It Getting to 186 MPH in 13.63 Seconds at Ellington)
If Mayor Annise Parker endorses — nay, celebrates — a street-legal car that went 300 kilometers per hour (that’s 186 mph) within the city limits of Houston, then she’s obviously encouraging everyone to get out on the Loop and hit triple digits on the speedometer, right? Not necessarily, you’ll be…
Last Night: The Killers at Bayou Music Center
The Killers, The Virgins Bayou Music Center May 8, 2013 On a less than steamy May evening, a packed house at Bayou Music Center waited patiently in a temperature more commonly associated with Bonnaroo or Dengue Fever. About 30 minutes later than expected burst another hot entity, Brandon Flowers, and…
The Rest of the Best: The 10 Most Recognizable People in Houston
Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the Unites States, and we can best prove that point by highlighting some of our more unmissable citizens. No matter where you are in Houston there are ten people that you’re likely to run into and will instantly know who they…
Copycat Recipe: Max’s Wine Dive’s The “RVP”
If you’ve never been to brunch at Max’s Wine Dive and you enjoy lovely things like hot cakes, wings and fresh mimosas, I urge you to check it out (they even do brunch on Fridays). Until then, I’m sharing a copycat recipe for one my favorite MWD brunch dishes –…
Line & Lariat Hosting Downtown for Dummies, Buffalo Bayou for Beginners Open House
With all the buzz around downtown Houston lately, you may feel a little out of the loop if you haven’t had a chance to check out the revitalized dining and entertainment district for yourself in the past year. Line & Lariat — one of downtown’s best restaurants, housed in the…
Yes, I’m In Love With a Stripper
Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off’s advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, “funny, serious or unpredictable.” Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! BURNED BY THE RELATIVE I LOANED MONEY Dear Willie D: I loaned my cousin $500 more…
Art Car Creators on Parade: Mark “Scrapdaddy” Bradford W/ Video
The 2013 Art Car Parade starts this Saturday, May 11 at 1 p.m. In this week’s cover story “Enjoying the Ride” with story and photos by Chris Curry, we decided to highlight some of this year’s entrants. Throughout this week, we’ll run posts with video to give you a closer…
No Wrist-Slap: Dereon Kelley Gets Almost Three Years for Texas State University TSU Bomb Threat
Kids, if you’re thinking of getting out of that final you never studied for by phoning in a bomb threat to the school, think again. Dereon Tayronne Kelley, 22, may not have been trying to miss a test, but he communicated a bomb threat to Texas Southern University Texas State…
New Bicycle Laws for Houston? Take Our Quiz!
In a long-overdue move, the City of Houston has passed an ordinance intended to make the roads safer for bicyclists and other non-car users of the road. How enforceable it is, we’ll find out. Until then, it’s important to arm yourself with KNOWLEDGE!!, and the best way to do it…
The Rocks Off 100: D.R.I’s Kurt Brecht, Thrash Zone Supervisor
Who? Kurt Brecht is the iron-lunged front man of D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles), the ridiculously speedy hardcore punk band that got its start bashing out tunes inside his parents’ house in Houston back in 1982. After shattering the sound barrier with the 18-minute, 22-song Dirty Rotten EP the same year,…
The Eating…Our Words 100: Christian & Lisa Seger of Blue Heron Farm
Who they are He is a former sound engineer who toured around the world with live musical acts, before promising Lisa that if she helped him start a farm, she could make cheese. “The goat dream was a joke, really, and it’s gotten too far out of hand at this…
Prostitution Sting Johns: The Oddly Haired, the Wife-Fearing & the Guy Who Wants the Party to Keep on Going
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office decided to get in the way of working women on their way to a master’s in geopolitics by having itself a prostitution sting Tuesday. This time they weren’t after the master’s students hookers, they were after the johns. The operation focused on suspects soliciting sex…
Students to Put on “One Stop Hip-Hop Shop” at Hobby Center May 10
Music Doing Good, Inc. is a fine arts organization serving at-risk schools and students in the Houston area. According to Julie Lambert, press and media manager for Music Doing Good, Inc., the nonprofit organization’s mission “is to inspire and transform lives through innovative, music-based programming.” One way they are doing…
Cannibal Ox Is Back, But Is Anybody Listening?
You may have missed it, but no one would blame if you did because you’re not alone. In March, legendary indie hip-hop group Cannibal Ox announced they were making a comeback in a big way, launching a new album, their very own record label, and a Kickstarter campaign to fund…
DEAD GIVEAWAY: The Seven Stages of Charles Ramsey
The Internet has made our lives easier in so many ways. Thanks to the Internet, we can now Christmas shop without having to leave the comfort of our own homes, Johnny Manziel can take an entire semester’s worth of courses at Texas A&M without leaving his apartment or even putting…
Back In the U.S.S.R.: The Obsolete Beatles
The next time someone who’s too “cool” to “get” the Beatles asks what makes them so important, ask that person what’s so great about his or her nose. First, if you’re lucky, you’ll be treated to an entertaining look of befuddlement. Then, when you’re done being amused by that, avoid…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Bistros
How do you define a bistro? If you’re going to stick to the traditional Parisian definition, a bistro (or bistrot) is a small, tidy restaurant that serves inexpensive wine and simple dishes in a modest price range. Those dishes are traditionally French “comfort food” recipes like coq au vin, boeuf…
10 Most Amazingly Bizarre Paintings of Obama on Etsy
As Houston Press’ bizarre Etsy art expert, I thought I’d see how a nation of crafty lunatics would portray our commander-in-chief. The answer is somewhere between “awesomely” and “needs medication badly.” Mike and Mollie took the title commander-in-chief a little too literally, and here we have Barack Obama looking like…
Hollywood: Enough with the Father-Son Dramas, Already!
In his new film, the social drama At Any Price, director and co-writer Ramin Bahrani examines how the transformation of food into intellectual property through seed patents has corrupted, impoverished or dissolved the American family farm. As with the Iranian-American director’s previous films (Man Push Cart, Chop Shop, Goodbye Solo),…
What Gatsby Gets Wrong: Ten Ways the New Movie Will Trip Up the Lazy Students of Tomorrow
The only thing we English teachers hate more than SparkNotes is a high-quality, mostly faithful movie version of a book. Why would a student slog through Pride and Prejudice when she can drool over Colin Firth in the excellent BBC miniseries? And shh! Don’t tell the eighth graders about Gregory…
R.I.P., Ray Harryhausen, Master of the Handmade Fantasy
In the course of reviewing movies in the early 2000s, just as computer-generated special effects were becoming radically sophisticated and were also, increasingly, becoming the chief selling point of big-ticket movies, I more and more often found myself invoking the name “Ray Harryhausen.” He died on Tuesday, May 7, 2013…
Todo con Queso
It’s been more than a century since the first Tex-Mex restaurant opened in Houston. George Caldwell brought The Original Mexican Restaurant to our city in 1907, influenced — most agree — by a restaurant of the same name in his hometown of San Antonio. It would be another 20 years…
Jackasses and Fixing Papers
Dear Mexican: Why is it that people from Chihuahua and Monterrey are such jackasses? They come from pinches ranchitos and talk about their haciendas, They cross the border and act as if their cagada does not stink. Why do pinches chihuahuenses act as if they are better than us American…
The Art Car Parade: Enjoying the Ride
Be sure to check out our slideshow from the Art Car Parade. Mark “Scrapdaddy” Bradford is busy living up to his moniker at his Heights scrap metal studio. He and helper Rey Aguilar are bringing life to his latest creation. Using 15-foot radius industrial spools as wheels and scrap metal…
Getting Crafty at Witchcraft Tavern
Take a trip through Witchcraft’s rock ‘n’ roll-inspired dining room and check out its wall-mounted sculpture made of vintage speakers. If you’re expecting a review full of puns on Witchcraft Tavern & Provision Co.’s name — being spellbound by its burgers, or enchanted by its brunch — look elsewhere. That’s…
Smashing Pumpkins: Life After Death
“To destroy is always the first step in any creation,” wrote the late American poet e.e. cummings. For Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan, destruction and creation are a way of life. “A good artist is willing to die many times over,” Corgan says during a recent phone interview. “What’s…
The Found Treasures of Beachcombing
There is something strangely compelling about beach combing. You never know what will turn up. Tar balls, dead jellyfish and medical waste are more likely on the Texas coast than a Jean Lafitte pirate hoard, but seeing what the ocean throws up is always fascinating. For All Time Finds: The…
Sterling High School: Keeping It All Together
A call comes in over the walkie-talkies “There are students who can’t get into the school. The gates are locked.” School receptionist Cherlyn Pinkney immediately goes into action, calling out for help and soon the late-arriving students and their cars are inside the black fencing. The gates at Sterling High…
The Great Gatsby
There’s a scene in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s hyperrich, super-awkward Jay Gatsby takes it upon himself to redecorate the bachelor pad of his less-prosperous friend, Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire). Gatsby’s old flame, Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), is coming to Nick’s house for tea. Eager to…
Assault on Wall Street
Uwe Boll’s rep is on the upswing, but, really, what other direction could it go? The consensus choice for the world’s worst professional director even before he cast Burt Reynolds as a fantasyland king, auteur Boll has in recent years put away childish things—his violent adventure flicks and their sequels—in…
Rashomom
Jean-Luc Godard said, “All you need for a movie is a girl and a gun.” But really, all you need is a girl, preferably a charismatic one with a secret in her heart. Director and actress Sarah Polley has found that girl: her own mother. Polley’s documentary, Stories We Tell,…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Pastmodern,” “Shambhala”
“Pastmodern” The influences in Russell Prince’s collages intriguingly range from the Cubists and Dadaists to tattered billboards, old textbooks, and his great-grandmother’s deteriorating Victorian home. Indeed, the Houston artist’s works have an aged quality to them, from the musty old book covers of classics like David Copperfield that he rips…
Pot Not
Highlights from Hair Balls Crime College footballer with weed — you’re thinking Mack Brown’s Longhorns, right? Forget it — we’re talking Aggies. Former Aggies. Former Aggies like quarterback Reggie McNeal, currently a Canadian Football League free agent. Currently a CFL free agent who keeps getting arrested for weed. McNeal was…
Distant Relatives
Only in Houston Think about your favorite musician for a minute. Do you remember the first time you heard his or her voice? Can you relate each album or song to a different stage or major occurrence in your life? How many times have you seen him or her (or…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Artifice Eight, Ravenscroft, Tribute, Wildest Dreams
Artifice Eight’s vivid and very varied characters are invited to a private showing of art, but trapped into an overnight stay thanks to a blizzard. Hosting the gathering is Maggie LaRue (Lindsay Smith), whose estranged husband, a talented painter, has perished, and she and his art dealer, Richard (Christopher C…
