Avett Brothers Postponed To May 20
Bluegrass stars The Avett Brothers’ show scheduled for Thursday at Verizon Wireless Theater has been rescheduled to Friday, May 20, due to the birth of banjoist/singer Scott Avett’s first second child. The group, which performed on this year’s Grammys alongside Bob Dylan and fellow up-and-comers Mumford & Sons, also postponed…
My Threatening Letter to the Astros
Dear Astros: Last night, you and the Cubs drew the second-smallest crowd in the history of Minute Maid Park. I say that both teams drew that crowd because any time the Cubs come to town, a legitimately vocal portion of the ticket-buying audience is comprised of Cub fans, so hence…
Comment of the Day
One of life’s truths: For every bad experience an EOW writer has at a restaurant, someone else has a good one, and vice versa. Katharine Shilcutt didn’t enjoy dinner last night at the new Tasting Room, but commenter Rebecca Hadley had a great time last week: You went too fancy,…
Ronnie Earl Brewer, 47, Bayou Body Count No. 49
A deputy constable was found shot to death in his car on the north side near the Eastex Freeway early this morning, Houston police say. Ronnie Earl Brewer, 47, had been a deputy constable in Precinct 4 for a decade; the car he was driving slammed into a tree about…
Top Five Giggle-Worthy Cocktail Names
I can definitely order a Cosmopolitan or a Sazerac with a straight face (unless I happen to be on my third one). But a “Boob Grabber”? Here are my Five Favorite Giggle-Worthy Cocktail Names. 5. Monkey Piss (amaretto, banana liqueur, pineapple juice). If I ever ordered this drink, my grammarian…
Gourds Drummer Lives The Dream At Levon Helm’s Studio
Hanging out with the Band’s legendary drummer Levon Helm would be a dream for almost any other timekeeper. The Gourds have just returned to Austin from two weeks of recording at Helm’s studio in Woodstock, N.Y, where drummer Keith Langford got to live the dream. The untitled album, the follow-up…
Rene Lopez: Caught Two Years After Murdering Boss
HPDRene Lopez: Charged with murder after two years on the run.Andre Palacios ran an auto-repair business on the east side until he was gunned down at it in broad daylight a little over two years ago. The case has been open ever since, but Houston police announced today they have…
The Magic of Mexican Composer Daniel Catán
Mexican composer Daniel Catán died suddenly last weekend. The 62-year-old Catán had a special relationship with Houston, working closely with the Houston Grand Opera and the UH’s Moores School of Music over the last few years. HGO Music Director Patrick Summers spoke to us about the loss of Catán, its…
Garden Fresh: The Cucumber
Sick of the Royal Wedding? Not me. Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton don’t seem to give a damn themselves, which spares us the fairytale nightmare that doomed his mother. Furthermore, Prince Charles is the new Godfather of organic agriculture, so he gets auto-props from this grower. Vevo trumps…
Today’s Deals
Groupon: How does a three-course meal, cooked for you in your home, from Cooking For You! sound? Get 53 percent off ($175 for $375) a three-course meal, cooked by a professional chef, in your own home with today’s Groupon deal. Limit two coupons per person (you may purchase two additional…
“Comeback” Albums Nobody Is Really Asking For
Mark your calendars, fellow music lovers. June 28 will be a sales matchup that’ll make 50 Cent and Kanye’s 2007 album release square-off look like a playground brawl. The contenders are Limp Bizkit and Taking Back Sunday, who will both be releasing their “comeback” albums on the same day. Of…
Happy Equal Pay Day: Top Five Ways for Women to Close the Wage Gap, All by Our Damned Selves.
April 12 is Equal Pay Day, a holiday that can only be likened to Steak and a Blowjob Day on those odd years when it also falls on Opposite Day. Yup, it’s that grim. This year looks especially dismal for Texas, according to a study released by National Partnership for…
Shot In The Dark: Music Photographers’ Personal Wish Lists
UPDATE (3:23 p.m.): Promotional video by Monica Fuentes added after the jump. Slowly but surely, Art Attack’s sister blog Rocks Off has been getting ready for their “Shot In the Dark” photo exhibition at Warehouse Live’s Studio next Thursday. Our 12 photographers have chosen the photos they will be exhibiting…
First Look at The Tasting Room at CityCentre
Before my wine or food (or even my dinner date) had arrived at The Tasting Room at CityCentre last night, I thought that I’d already had the place mostly figured out. The shiny new space sat directly across the street from my dilapidated old haunt, the Burlap Barrel Pub, an…
Shot In The Dark: The Ones Who Got Away (So Far)
UPDATE (3:23 p.m.): Promotional video by Monica Fuentes added after the jump. Slowly but surely, Rocks Off has been getting ready for our “Shot In the Dark” photo exhibition at Warehouse Live’s Studio next Thursday. Our 12 photographers have chosen the photos they will be exhibiting and we are working…
Robert Wayne Niffen: Carnie Fugitive Sex Offender Nabbed In Santa Fe
Given two key facts, you could safely probably suppose that 52-year-old Robert Wayne Niffen was a miscreant of some sort. To wit: 1. His middle name is Wayne. 2. He is a carnie. And its Peace Officer 101 that all carnies with the middle name Wayne should probably be locked…
Flip Cam Being Discontinued by Cisco
Today, Cisco gave Flip Cam fans the one-fingered salute by announcing that they’re discontinuing their on-the-cheap camcorder. In addition, 550 Cisco employees will be canned at the end of the 2011 fiscal year. In 2009, Cisco bought the technology from the upstart Flip company for $590 million in stock. The…
Brenner’s on the Bayou Hosts a Wine Fest
This past weekend, Brenner’s on the Bayou hosted its second Wine Fest. Encouraged by the fantastic response from the one held last year, Brenner’s has decided to turn this into an annual event. Days before the weekend arrived, the event was completely sold out. At first I was a bit…
Dear Astros: Try The Old Rainbow Unis, Then You’d At Least Be Interesting To Look At
Dear Astros, if you’re going to be bad, could you at least wear the rainbows?Hey Astros fans, here’s some news for you. The Astros have the same record as the Boston Red Sox. And the Red Sox are supposed to be playing in the World Series at the end of…
The Intertubes: The Guild
Once a week, the Intertubes will look at popular internet-only television-style series and comment on them. We’re trying to avoid porn, but you really never can tell with the internet. Felicia Day’s face is an easy one to look at. She’s so endearingly, geekily pretty that I could watch her…
The Texas Bowl Gets An Ungainly Corporate Name
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that the Texas Bowl, which is sometimes great, sometimes underwhelming but has at least always had a classy, simple name, is getting an unclassy, convouted new moniker. Get ready to feel the excitement of…..The Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas!!!! Not as silly as the…
Tasting Spring Branch
Nothing makes a late Sunday afternoon like tasty food, cold beer and a sense of community. This is what I found at the Memorial Assistance Ministries’ Taste of Spring Branch food tasting event this weekend. After a minor snafu involving a tree and my tendency to get flustered when directed…
Out Today: Paul Simon Resurgent, Foos Get Loud, Isbell Kills
It’s New Release Tuesday, and this week’s is one of the biggest days of the year, with new discs by the Foo Fighters, a reinvigorated Paul Simon and TV On The Radio leading the pack, plus a few other artists returning to the scene after a few years away from…
More Semen Means Less Depression for Women, Surgeon Writes
Want to make a woman less depressed? Pump some semen into her. Apparently any orifice will do. Of course, that means having unprotected sex, so the above advice, given in a recent issue of Surgery News, the journal of the American College of Surgeons, is causing some problems. The magazine…
Kate Breakey Moves in an Interesting Direction with “Painted Light”
I’ve never been a huge fan of Kate Breakey’s work. Breakey’s stock-in-trade is painstakingly hand-painted photographs of cut flowers and dead birds. The “deadness” of both is a particular area of interest to the artist. The results are colorful, treacly and crowd-pleasingly decorative. But in a wall installation of new…
Houston Gets No Space Shuttle: See What Happens When You Don’t Have a Texan in the White House?
Cue the loser horn: Houston is not getting one of the retiring Space Shuttles, according to every media report out there. It’s not even getting a shuttle that never went to space. Houston put on a furious last-minute push to land one of the orbiters, but the fact that it…
Professor Punk: Hates Singer To Be Guest Lecturer At U Of H
Quick. What do Ice-T and Houston’s own punk-rock elder statesman Christian Arnheiter of The Hates have in common? Well, both are respected lectures at institutes of higher learning. Arnheiter will be guest lecturing from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Wednesday during the Popular Music of the Americas Since 1840 class…
Sybil Berndt, 89, Left Dead on Floor for Months by Twin Sons, Bayou Body Count No. 48 (Updated: They’re Rich)
Two undeniably creep-looking twin brother have been charged with murder for letting their mother slowly die from neglect after she fell in her home near Hobby Airport, Houston police say. They then left her dead body on the floor for three months. Sybil Berndt, 89, was discovered dead about 4:30…
Fun, Gender-Bending She Stoops to Comedy
The setup: Gender-bending roars in like a lion in Unhinged Productions’ farce about small theater and gay identities, complete with backstage antics and a play within a play. The 4th wall is not only deliberately broken, it is machine-gunned to smithereens with quips reminding us that theater is an illusion…
Getting Inspired at Esther’s Cajun Cafe & Soul Food
My eyes lit up when I saw the picture posted by my friend Paula on Facebook: All that the caption said underneath was “smothered pork chops…banana pudding to share.” It was close to lunchtime and the dilemma of where to go had suddenly been solved. But I didn’t know where…
Lynde Chunn: Hard Luck East Texas Woman Dies On Cusp Of Personal Rebirth
(Be warned. In ten years here at the Houston Press, we’ve seldom come across a story sadder than this one.) Lynde Chunn had a tough row to hoe for many of her 28 years. The Houston-born Caney Creek High School graduate was mentally challenged but had long lived alone in…
The 5 Best Comedians You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of
We don’t say you’ve probably never heard of these funny people as a challenge, or to suggest that we’re more in-the-know and therefore cooler than you, so calm down and don’t be so defensive. We simply mean that these comedians aren’t as big as we believe they ought to be,…
Fast Times: Wendy’s Premium Fish Sandwich Combo
Advertising got the best of me for this edition of Fast Times. How could it not? Wendy’s is now offering a chance to “Get Hooked on a Real Fish Sandwich.” That sounds like my kind of deal. I don’t enjoy fake fish sandwiches. I ordered the combo meal, which came…
HISD Eyes More School Closures, a Hike in Lunch Prices, UPDATED
Update:HISD spokesman Jason Spencer sent us a note that these schools are now up for closure and/or consolidation: Elementary schools: Memorial, Paige, N.Q. Henderson, Port Houston, Gordon, Pleasantville, Stevenson, Houston Gardens, Burrus, Rhoads, Grimes, McDade, and Love. Middle schools: Ryan, M.C. Williams, Key, Black. Also, preliminery numbers show that there…
Wes Blak: Houston Rapper, 17, Is No Odd Future Clone
Joshua Roach, better known as Wes Blak, is a 17-year old Houston rapper. You’ve probably never heard of Wes Blak, but you’ve definitely heard of Tyler, The Creator and his Odd Future crew. That might explain why Wes has spent the last ten days posting and promoting YouTube clips that…
Upcoming: Steve Earle, Rev. Horton Heat, Scott H. Biram, Etc.
100 Monkeys: Fri., Aug. 5. House of Blues. Bob Schneider: Sat., May 14. Cypress Saloon. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony: Sat., May 21. Warehouse Live. Chicago: Sun., Aug. 7. Verizon Wireless Theater. Eddie Money: Sat., April 23. The Showgrounds @ Sam Houston Race Park. The Gold Sounds, Disfrutalo!, Screwtape, Jody Seabody & The…
Look Closely at “Regine Schumann: Chameleon” at Gallery Sonja Roesch
Regine Schumann’s fluorescent Plexiglas boxes may have a subtle glow during the day, but under black light, they look like they’ve been plugged in. Schumann combines planes of vividly colored Plexi to create her wall-mounted works, on view now at Gallery Sonja Roesch…
The Poop Deck at Beaver’s BBQ
I’m usually so overwhelmed (in a good way) by the food at Beaver’s that I stop paying close attention to whatever drink I’ve ordered. A damn shame, considering Beaver’s mixed drinks themselves are wonderful creations. But “The Poop Deck” actually succeeded in distracting me from my delectable Chickwich with extra…
Comment of the Day: Cops Get Dissed Over Squirrel Incident
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula…
Pop Rocks: Everyone’s A Critic
While looking for ways to avoid writing about Charlie Sheen again researching topics for today’s column, I found myself going through Roger Ebert’s web site over at the Chicago Sun-Times. Christ, but that guy writes a lot. He was fairly prolific even before he lost his voice to cancer, but…
Pop Rocks: Condition Critical
While looking for ways to avoid writing about Charlie Sheen again researching topics for today’s column, I found myself going through Roger Ebert’s web site over at the Chicago Sun-Times. Christ, but that guy writes a lot. He was fairly prolific even before he lost his voice to cancer, but…
Musicians Oblige Peer’s Request For Honest Critique
Rocks Off likes to troll the musicians’ section of Craigslist in an effort to catch interesting acts at their very inception. Usually we get the same old thing day in and day out: Need FOC (Friend of Christ) bass player for worship band. Must have ride. 18 SERIOUS singer looking…
Hilton Kelley: Port Arthur Oil Refinery Activist Wins Huge Green Prize
Ten years ago, by anyone’s standard, Hilton Kelley was living the dream. Then just turning 40, he was in sunny California, having escaped his malodorous hometown of Port Arthur via the United States Navy. After his life at sea came to a close, Kelley came ashore in Oakland, where he…
Where Are We Drinking?
There’s a good chance that at any given hour, you can walk into the bar seen below and find at least one Houston Press staff writer escaping into a cheap bottle of beer for a little while. Think you know where we’re all drinking this week? Leave your best guess…
100 Creatives: Nancy Henderek, founder of Dance Salad
What she does: Nancy Henderek enjoys putting together a “dance salad” every year and uses the Wortham Theater Center stage as her bowl. Her best ingredients include a blend of unique choreography and professional dancers from all around the world. Henderek dutifully serves her main course in the form of…
ACLU Asks Goose Creek ISD to Stop Blocking Gay Content On Its Computers
The Goose Creek ISD is one of four in the country being sent letters from the American Civil Liberties Union saying students’ civil rights are being violated because the district blocks gay-related content from its school computers. One student said he was trying to research a story on complaints about…
