Authorities Say Nurse Dropped Near-Deadly Amounts of Salt in Daughter’s Feeding Tube
It took removing a pre-schooler from her mother’s care for seven months for authorities to build their case against a mom they say tried to poison her little girl with salt. Katie Alice Ripstra, 31, was charged this week by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office for allegedly poisoning her 4-year-old…
Houston Texans’ Tough Choice: Number One Draft Pick Is a Blessing and a Curse
You wouldn’t think a team would consider having the number one pick in the draft an unenviable position, but the Texans may indeed find themselves in that very spot come May. Much like the last time the Texans picked at the top of the NFL draft, there is no consensus…
Applying the Three True Outcomes to the CSN Houston Fiasco
The Houston Astros are in week two of the regular season. The Houston Rockets regular season is quickly coming to an end. This makes for two years that the Rockets games have not been available for most Houston viewers, and it’s the start of the second year that Astros games…
Mobb Deep & Nosaprise at Fitzgerald’s, 4/9/2014
Mobb Deep, Nosaprise Fitzgerald’s April 9, 2014 A hip-hop show on a Wednesday night is as good as a rap show on any other night, except maybe better. Everyone who claims to be a hip-hop fan but is really just a whats-new-on-the-radio rap fan stays home to watch Basketball Wives…
Communicating Doors: A Time-Warping Comedy-Thriller
The set-up: On the modern British stage there are three old masters: Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, and Alan Ayckbourn. Pinter spins pauses into taut existential thrillers, Stoppard spins words into new worlds, Ayckbourn literally spins doors into plays. His Communicating Doors (1994), a comedy thriller sandwiched somewhere between a good…
Ben & Jerry’s New Core Sundae Flavors Have Finally Reached Houston
Almost two months ago, I read that Ben & Jerry’s had released a new line of ice cream designed to approximate a sundae in a pint. These four “core” flavors (That’s My Jam, Peanut Butter Fudge, Hazed and Confused, Salted Caramel) would involve multiple types of ice cream, chunks, and,…
Arcade Fire at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 4/9/2014
Arcade Fire Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion April 9, 2014 I may not be the first person to say it, but then Arcade Fire is not the first group to counter the “most important band in the world” tag by breaking out the costumes and mirrors. U2 is the obvious model,…
Peek Inside Telemundo’s Houston Offices and Their Play for TV News
Who isn’t familiar with Telemundo? As the second largest Spanish language network, Telemundo has a huge following in Houston. There are over a million Hispanic people living in Harris County alone. As part of my Spanish for Global Professions class at the University of Houston I was able to take…
Pre-Theater Dining Without the Hassle: These Houston Restaurants Offer Free Shuttle Service
Who doesn’t love a night out at the theater? The beauty. The culture. The pre-show dinner and drinks. It’s all good and fun until you realize what a hassle it is trying to navigate your transportation/parking situation for the night. Do you have time to walk, or do you have…
Ted Cruz Is Writing a Memoir: Ways He Can Make It Even More Awesome
It’s finally happening! After all his time in Washington D.C. (he’s been there almost two whole years now, folks) Sen. Ted Cruz is finally going to put pen to paper and write about his own oh-so-personal experiences fighting the good fight against pretty much everything that might get him media…
Passover Staples at Kenny & Ziggy’s
I am so food-obsessed that I use the arrival of every holiday (even if it’s in no way associated with my ethnicity/religion/national origin) as an opportunity to eat special food. Which is why my lapsed Catholic/spiritual-agnostic self is crazy excited for the start of Passover. I don’t have a Jewish…
Blackbird Raum: Encouraging Weirdness, Even on MTV
Recently, Blackbird Raum went where no folk-punk band has gone before — to MTV. MTV Iggy, to be exact. The Santa Cruz, Calif. anarcho-folk outfit, now ten years into their run as a band, was recently featured on the Web site, which focuses on “cutting-edge global music.” Lest anyone think…
Film Podcast: Only Lovers Left Alive Is One of Our Favorite Movies This Year
On this week’s Voice Film Club podcast, this paper’s film critics discuss Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive, starring Tom Hiddleston and David Gordon Green’s Joe, starring Nicolas Cage. “I loved this movie so much,” says film critic Stephanie Zacharek of the vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive. “It might…
Doctor Who: Oliver Harper and the Future of Homosexuals in Doctor Who
Warning: Spoilers. Here in the United States we are undergoing a social shift that is simply staggering in its speed and scope. Anti-same-sex marriage laws all over America are falling so fast that it’s honestly difficult to keep up with them at this point. Equality for our LGBT brothers and…
5 Best Video Games (Used as Propaganda by Governments)
I love propaganda. No, really. I wholeheartedly love it when giant governments use enormous resources to try and fight a war of ideas instead of a war with guns. It’s a hopeful sort of thing that led to stuff like the United States using Jackson Pollack paintings to show the…
City Hall Farmers Market to Relocate in May
The City Hall Farmers Market must relocate during the first week of May, a change forced by a plumbing project to be carried out on the Reflection Pond at City Hall. The construction is set to begin on May 1, so the market will be heading down the street and…
The Ultimate Warrior on 1990 Episode of Arsenio Hall Show
When you go to a concert to see a legendary musical act, sometimes the regular show just isn’t enough. You need an encore. And I feel the exact same way about YouTube tributes to wrestlers who pass away at a very young age. The jabronis, they get their requisite four…
The Rocks Off 200: Alex LaRotta, Crate-Digging Fistful of Soul Brother
Welcome to The Rocks Off 200, 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 previous entries in the Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? Until Neil…
Bartender Chat: Gratifi Gets a Restaurant Impossible Makover
Welcome to Eating…Our Words’ Bartender Chat, in which we sit down with local bartenders and get to know their style. Whether they’re slinging beers or mixing complex cocktails, bartenders are our buddies and confidants, but now we’re turning the tables and the camera on them to find out what they’re…
Weekend Weather: Get Out and Enjoy the Spring
One of the wonderful benefits of spring in Houston is how green everything gets and how quickly it got that way. Within weeks, trees devoid of leaves are covered again, flowers bloom and everything seems to be growing at breakneck speed. The down side of course: the pollen. For the…
Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Tourist Attractions (For Locals Too)
Whether it’s hauling around out-of-town relatives and friends or because you just want something different to do, Houston has plenty of tourist attractions. Here’s our list of tourist attractions that locals will enjoy. 10.The George Observatory at Brazos Bend Park 2901 FM 762, Needville 281-242-3055, hmns.org A satellite of the…
UPDATED: HISD Gets Ready to Fire 3 Teachers, Teachers’ Attorney Says Not So Fast
After a five-month investigation into testing irregularities at Atherton Elementary School, three of the teachers involved are going to be recommended for termination at Thursday’s school board meeting, Houston ISD announced in a press release Wednesday. But Larry Watts, attorney for teachers Reuel Sosa, Jennifer Sterling and Veronica Davis, says…
The Most Underrated Pizza in Houston… According to You
Okay, Houston, let’s talk pizza. This city has a surprising variety of pizza for a region so burger- and barbecue-happy. There are some incredible Neapolitan-style wood-fired pies from places like Dolce Vita and Pizaro’s, late-night munchie slices from Pi Pizza Truck and solid delivery options from Pink’s and Pizza L’Vino…
A Sweet Story About Phil Collins and the Ultimate Warrior (R.I.P.)
Days after he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Warrior, better known as the wrestling phenom the Ultimate Warrior, collapsed on the sidewalk outside his Arizona hotel room Wednesday. Despite being rushed to the hospital, he was pronounced dead on arrival of as yet unknown causes. The 54-year-old…
The Last VJ’s Top Five Videos of the Week
Welcome back to The Last VJ, music fans! There is beauty and pain this week, as well as several varieties of video that will probably get you in trouble at work for watching them. Oh, and kickball, because sometimes you just got to go back to the playground to get…
I Want to Ask a Girl to Prom. Help!
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 NEED TO KNOW HOW TO ASK A GIRL TO PROM Dear Willie D: There’s this…
Top 10 Awesome Old-School ’80s Jamz
Remember when those sweet, sweet jamz were full of rhymes about gettin’ down with the underground? The ’80s were the best, man. That’s why we’re here. We dig old-school jamz, you dig old-school jamz, and we want you to have a festive Throwback Thursday. What better way to do that…
