Seven Things You Should Never, Ever, EVER Send Via E-Mail
Recently, the IRS has made a broad claim that communications via e-mail are not directly protected under privacy laws. This would seem to be counter to many of the discussions Congress has had over the past few years about tightening up those same privacy concerns. Whatever the outcome of these…
Are You There, Senate? It’s Me, the National Rifle Association’s Legislative Dude
Figuring that the pen is mightier than the, uh, firearm, the National Rifle Association’s legislative director has sent an open letter to the U.S. Senate, stating the association’s stance against a Senate bill that would regulate private gun transfers and expand background checks. Senate Bill 649, aka the Safe Communities,…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Jonathan Jones of Monarch at the Hotel Zaza, On the Ethnic Diversity in Houston’s Dining Scene, Comfort Food and Surprises on His New Spring Menu
This is the second part of a three part Chef Chat series. You can read Part 1 here, and Part 3 in this same space Friday. Yesterday, we chatted with chef Jonathan Jones of Monarch at the Hotel Zaza about his role as a chef in a big hotel restaurant…
The Americans: “I’m Way Past Tricks, Curtis.”
I just realized I don’t know anybody named “Stan.” The last one I did, in fact, was in grade school in the 1970s. Checking the Social Security name site, I see the name “Stanley” has been in steady decline since its peak popularity (#34) during the Great War. It really…
Last Night: Anthrax & Exodus at House of Blues
Anthrax, Exodus House of Blues April 10, 2013 I am going to come right out and say it: I never thought Anthrax should have been a part of The Big Four. When laying out the titans of thrash metal, the boys from New York — a fact they never seem…
UPDATED (with Video): University of St. Thomas Evacuated After Bomb Threats; No Bombs Found
UPDATE: An HPD officer on the scene told reporters that it was more than likely “a hoax.” Video from St. Thomas HPD press conference after the jump. Original post: The University of St. Thomas was evacuated this morning after receiving two bomb threats, but Houston police have not found any…
A Feeling of Discomfort Clouds Lone Star College-Cy Fair
It may not exactly be your typical day in class when you see your school on CNN and find out that a student at your school has had fantasies about stabbing people. For junior Jimmy Kim, he was just following routine, doing his usual workout for a kinesiology class. He…
Traffic Jams: Five Songs Guaranteed to Induce Road Rage
Marconi, Tesla, Steve Jobs and some other folks we rarely mention should be elevated to hero status for creating the means and devices we turn to while spending hours in traffic. Groups that geek out on such stats suggest at least ten percent of Americans spend about 90 minutes a…
A Walk Through Art League’s Four-Part Ceramics Shows
These aren’t your grandmother’s ceramics. Art League Houston is celebrating the unconventional and unexpected in the craft with four shows this month that challenge the expectations of ceramics. “These exhibitions feature artists who are not just creating conventional art objects using clay but creating new environments and experiences through innovative…
How To: Homemade Stove-Top Smoker
Last summer, my mom and I attended a fish cooking class at Hubbell & Hudson. We learned how to make fish in several different ways, but one of the methods stood out to me. Rather than grilling a piece of salmon, we smoked an entire salmon on the stove. This…
Five Reasons I’ll Miss the Aeros That Have Little to Do with Hockey
As our own John Royal reported Wednesday, it appears the Aeros’ run as the only hockey in Houston has come to an end. I have been to fewer than five Aeros games. I’m not really a hockey fan. Still, I hate to see any team leave the city, particularly when…
Celebrity Pitmaster Neil “Bigmista” Strawder Heading Back Home for One-Day Barbecue Extravaganza
Good things always come in threes: First, it was the smashingly successful Houston Barbecue Festival. Then it was the annual Foodways Texas symposium, which spotlighted barbecue. Now it’s news that California-based celebrity pitmaster Neil “Bigmista” Strawder is headed back to his hometown of Galveston for a one-day-only meat-filled extravaganza that…
You Won’t Catch Slightly Stoopid With Cottonmouth Anytime Soon
Hey, so you can cancel those drum lessons with the guy who teaches out of his parents’ basement. Ryan Moran, Slightly Stoopid’s resident drummer animal, is ready to take over those teaching duties. No, I’m not fucking with you. Those lessons exist, and are yours for the taking. Slightly Stoopid,…
Same-Sex Marriage: The Video Game Boss Battle the Right Cannot Win
I tend to think of things in video-game terms. That’s understandable since I get paid to review and cover the video-game industry, but sometimes I find that there are certain aspects of modern life that are just best expressed through the lens of digital play. Let’s take same-sex marriage, an…
Room 237 and Three Conspiracy Theories About Back to the Future
This Thursday, April 11, the MFAH will premiere the new documentary Room 237. The movie, which has gotten great reviews thus far, is about three of the conspiracy theories behind Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 masterpiece The Shining. Apparently, there are some out there that don’t think this movie was just about…
Ask Willie D: Sexually Active Teen; White Man, Black Woman
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! I’M 15: I SMOKE, I DRINK AND I’M SEXUALLY ACTIVE Willie D: I have had sex…
Hunker Down: The Hurricane Forecasts Are Out. Five Things to Keep in Mind
It’s that time again. No, not hurricane season, it’s hurricane-predictin’ season, partner. So get out yer slide rule and a room full of supercomputers. Grab the nerdiest guy you can find and shelter in place because this is going to be a wild ride. Every year in April, the forecasters…
Pop Rocks: What Are the 10 Most Recorded TV Shows in Houston?
And by “most recorded” I mean “most recorded using TiVo®’s ‘Season Pass’ option,” because that’s the data that was made available to me. It’s still a decent sample, as DirectTV has almost 370,000 subscribers in Houston (second only to Comcast), so these are probably a good representation of what the…
Bartice “Cool” King: Arrested for Running Billion-Dollar Offshore Betting Company Legendz Sports
A Spring man was arrested yesterday for being one of the masterminds behind Legendz Sports, a billion-dollar offshore betting company. Federal agents arrested Bartice King and three others from the Houston area as part of a sweep that resulted in indictments against 34 individuals and 23 corporate entities, the Department…
The Rocks Off 100: David DeLaGarza, Don of Tejano Stars La Mafia
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link. Any conversation about Tejano music…
Doritos Rice Krispie Treats, Plus Additional Proof the Internet Has Gone Loco for Doritos
Even our goats are going crazy. Ever since Taco Bell introduced the Doritos Locos Tacos in 2012 (Nacho Cheese) and again in 2013 (Cool Ranch), the Internet has lost its collective shit for Doritos. Our own Christina Uticone got the chip-induced fever and reviewed both flavors herself and rumor has…
The Six Most Iconic Station Wagons of All Time
The 2010s will forever be known as the decade of the crossover. But what is a crossover, exactly? It’s a car that’s trying its hardest to look like an SUV. Crossovers are the poseurs of the automotive world. My friend’s car got totaled last week, and she called to ask…
Pondering Ramen Across the State, as Houston Finally Joins the Fun
Although all the wild press coverage of Goro & Gun (my own coverage firmly included) may lead you to believe that ramen — that national craze and newest foodie obsession — didn’t exist in Houston until last month, that simply isn’t true. As Mai Pham pointed out earlier this week,…
Bad Girls Club: Emily Bell’s Technicolor Soul Comes Out Swinging
Lets just get this out of the way right now. Emily Bell is indeed ex-Houston roots-rocker John Evans’ girlfriend, but by no means does that mean she can’t hold her own with even the best of the Houston honky-tonkers. Bell was raised in musical theater and she knows a thing…
April Kickstarter Round-Up: Let’s Build a Freakin’ TARDIS!
Once a month we’ll be bringing you a look at some of the local Kickstarter campaigns in order to let you know what’s getting ready to be unleashed through the help of small investors. Chesstache: Chess is fun and easy to learn. In fact, if you want to look über-smart…
The Rockets Are Back in the NBA Playoffs! Their Complete Rebuilding Anthology
With four games to go in the 2011-2012 season, the Rockets were coming off a 117-110 loss to Dallas, a loss in which Dirk Nowitzki provided a stark reminder to last season’s Rockets team that they were devoid of a superstar-caliber player by dropping 21 points on them in the…
Notable Recluses: Five Musicians Who Almost Never Tour
Some musicians are just road rats. They can’t get enough of life on tour. For others, it wears down on them to a breaking point. Many have been very vocal about how much they despise touring, especially as they’ve gotten older. Some, like Trent Reznor, have expressed fears of being…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Places to Buy Comics
Houston is quickly becoming a hub of geek society. Sure, you can find all kinds of high art to explore, but some of us just want a safe place to play Friday Night Magic and find out what Deadpool is up to (Shenanigans with a chance of buffoonery in the…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 “Fancy” Food Trucks
Talk about an agonizing list to write. Houston food trucks have never been more clever, more inventive or more consistently enjoyable than they are right now. (The most recent sold-out Haute Wheels food truck festival can surely attest to that.) A few years of winnowing out dilettantes since the first…
