Scott Wizig’s Shell Companies File for Bankruptcy in Baltimore
Seven shell companies managed by Houston-based absentee landlord Scott Wizig, who was ordered to repair 49 dilapidated properties he owns in Baltimore, filed for bankruptcy Tuesday in an apparent bid to sidestep the circuit court judge’s order. (Wizig is the subject of this week’s cover story). Baltimore City Circuit Court…
Fashion Houston Five Begins With a Bang, and Boys
We Houstonians have a myriad of festivals, shows, and performances to pick from on any given weekend, but there are a handful of events that are must sees and Fashion Houston is now one of those few…
Reality Bites: Hungry Games
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. The first Mockingjay — which is the penultimate entry in the Hunger Games movie franchise — comes out this week. Normally I’d have reviewed it, but I was unable to…
UPDATED: Houston Business Owner Sued for Allegedly Taking Creepy Photos of Women
UPDATED November 19, 2014 at 6:50 p.m.: We were able to get in touch with BJ Farmer and get his explanation. His responses are in bold type throughout the story. Here’s a pro-tip: If you’re going to take, shall we say, unusual pictures of your friends and neighbors, make sure…
Willie Nelson at House of Blues, 11/18/2014
Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver House of Blues November 18, 2014 See enough Willie Nelson concerts, say at least a half-dozen, and you’ll really start focusing on the little things. Sure, the set list may not change much from show to show, if at all, but each one that comes…
Author John Connolly: Living With Small Evils
Novelist John Connolly, the Irish writer behind the Charlie Parker thriller series and several other books, is coming in for a signing session of his latest release, The Wolf in Winter. This won’t be his first time in Houston; he’s been here before and taken away, can we say, vivid…
UPDATED Fed Up With City Council, Montgomery Mayor Posts About Resignation on Facebook
Fed up with his city council’s “fear” and “arrogance” over a proposed grocery store in his town, the mayor of Montgomery, Texas, took to Facebook to vent post his official resignation* last week. In a rant worthy of a thousand “likes,” Montgomery Mayor John L. Fox aired the city’s dirty…
This Week In Food Blogs: High Marks for Main Kitchen
During this week, where Houston has hit near-freezing temperatures night after night, a tray full of barbeque ribs looks very friendly indeed. But who wants to stand out in the cold and mind the grill or smoker? Manuel de la Mora of “Where’s My Gravy” comes to the rescue with…
Show Us Your Stuff: The Houston Press Is Looking for Visual Artists for Artopia 2015
We’re hard at work on the upcoming Houston Press Artopia 2015, a celebration of culture, fashion, art, music and food. (And hands down one of the year’s best parties, even if we do say so ourselves.) As part of our preparations, we’re on the lookout for visual artists to exhibit…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Joe Cervantez of Killen’s Steakhouse
Ronnie Killen has made a big name for himself, not just in Pearland, where his eponymous Killen’s Steakhouse is located, but across the Houston area and the United States. He has been a guest chef at the Beard House and, just within this past week, Killen’s Steakhouse was on Open…
College Football Playoff Rankings v 4.0: Welcome to the Party, Bama
And then there were seven. Okay, maybe eight. Nine? All right, I’ll draw the line at ten. Ten teams that still have mathematical hope of getting into the four-team playoff. Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, Mississippi State, TCU, Ohio State, Baylor, Ole Miss, UCLA and Georgia. Ten teams, which is way…
A Passionless Dirty Dancing Has Two Left Feet
The set up: The story of how Dirty Dancing came to be is as Tinseltown-ready as the film itself. The year was 1987 and Eleanor Bergstein had written a dance movie of the Flashdance/Footloose variety but with somewhat more realistic characters and issue stuff like abortion and class snobbery thrown…
100 Creatives 2014: Lauren Burke, Dancer and Choreographer
Lauren Burke has had a busy couple of years. She was named the 2014 Outstanding Dance Student of the Year at the University of Houston (her picture is currently on UH Dance department’s promotional material). She was awarded a prestigious scholarship to attend American Dance Festival 2014. She was one…
Nostalgic Thanksgiving Side: Broccoli Puff
In a recent survey,* 79 percent of Americans admitted to enjoying side dishes more than the turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Hardly a surprising result, certainly, as it’s hard to compete with the smorgasboard chorus of stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, candied sweet potatoes, etc., etc. In addition…
Local Islamic Group Wants Probe Into HISD Teacher Who Called Muslims “Goat-Fuckers”
UPDATE December 4, 2014 10:45 a.m.: The HISD Board of Education signed off on Angela Box’s resignation Thursday morning in a special meeting. HISD says that Box, whose resignation will take effect immediately, will receive the equivalent of three months’ pay. The Houston office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations…
Houston Police Officer Charged With Raping Teen Girl He Met at Chick-fil-A
A Houston police officer is out on $50,000 bond after being arrested on allegations that he raped a teenage girl he met while she was working at a local restaurant. Ruben Anthony Carrera has been charged with sexual assault of a child under 17, a second-degree felony, according to court…
Six Types of People You Might Meet at a Guitar Store
Any guitar player will occasionally venture into a guitar shop or musical-supply store that specializes in guitars. They can be wonderlands to anyone who likes to play guitar and wants to see firsthand what kind of gear is available. Like a comic-book store is a playground for comic fans, a…
Try These Five Outrageously Awesome Shellfish Dishes in Houston
Lobster, shrimp, crab, oysters…these shellfish are all delicious when simply prepared. But sometimes you just want to soak them in beer-butter or coat them in an ultra-thick spiced batter and deep fry them whole until they are crunchy-as-all-hell. And that, our friends, is what we’re looking at today. Check out…
Christmas Things That Are the Worst Already
The holidays are a delicate balance of excitement and weariness. On one hand it starts too early, but on the other who doesn’t get excited when all of their holiday shopping is done by the first week of December? Then again, who doesn’t get all rage-y when Christmas carols are…
Dancing With Himself, as Only Billy Idol Can
Dancing with Myself By Billy Idol Touchstone Books, 336 pp., $28 When a young, snotty, peroxide-headed English punk rocker needed a moniker more in touch with his current life than what his birth certificate said, he recalled what a chemistry professor had once written across the top of a school…
The 10 Funkiest Chicken Songs Ever Recorded
Lonesome Onry and Mean was hanging with some folks the other night when Rufus Thomas’ classic Memphis dance tune “Do the Funky Chicken” came on the jukebox. The owner happened to be standing near the volume control and cranked it; the energy level in the place went off the meter,…
The Majestic Ride of Le$’s Steak X Shrimp Vol. 1
Oh New Houston Rap column, where did you take a complete left? Well for starters, Kim Kardashian tried to #BreaktheInternet. Then Solange got married, took a wedding photo that looked like the Final Boss fight in Knowles Mortal Kombat and that supposedly broke the Internet. Then the Smith kids, Willow…
Let’s Meet Our Houston Press Artopia 2015 Bands
Rocks Off is excited to announce the musical lineup of Houston Press Artopia 2015, the quickest way to warm up your winter with an evening of the city’s top visual and performance artists, fashion designers, purveyors of victuals and of course musicians. It all goes down 8 p.m. Saturday, January…
Adrian Peterson Suspended Through the Rest of the 2014 Season
The Adrian Peterson child abuse saga was adjudicated in a court of law two weeks ago, with Peterson pleading no contest to a misdemeanor of reckless conduct. For the last two weeks, we’ve waited (and waited) for it to be adjudicated in the court of Roger Goodell, which is a…
Halliburton Is Buying Baker Hughes: Another Sign the Oil Industry Is Nervous?
It’s finally happened. After months of reading the tea leaves, we have the first clear indication that all is not entirely well in the land of Big Oil in the form of the merger between Halliburton and Baker Hughes. There are lots of stories right now about the Houston-based companies…
Former Constable Victor Trevino Avoids Jail Time, Sentenced to 10 Years Probation
Longtime Harris County Precinct 6 Constable Victor Trevino won’t face jail time but will remain a convicted felon. Trevino, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to misapplication of fiduciary duty, a felony that could have put him behind bars for 10 years, will instead face 10 years probation, along with…
Method Man & Redman at House of Blues, 11/17/2014
Method Man & Redman, B-Real, Berner, Mick Jenkins House of Blues November 17, 2014 Fans had every excuse in the book to skip last night’s stop on the Smokers’ Club “World Wide Rollers” tour. It fell on a Monday, for one thing, and at the venue with the strictest anti-smoking…
City Gets $300,000 for Illegally Removed Oak Trees on Kirby
Remember those massive oak trees that were illegally removed in front of the Wendy’s off Kirby a few weeks ago? You know, the ones that triggered a massive uproar after they were chopped down in the middle of the night illegally. Well, the City of Houston is about to get…
Texans-Browns: Individual Player Ratings, Offensive Line Dominates
While I wouldn’t call myself a true sports “analytic,” I do dork out over statistics. Always have. Back in the day, for true stat geeks, numbers were like nudity. There was no internet, so you had to work to find statistical information, and the team-by-team numbers in the weekly issues…
10 Things Your Mother Didn’t Teach You About Thanksgiving Wines
10. Don’t believe the “perfect pairing” hype. The Thanksgiving feast is one of the most challenging culinary events of the year when it comes to wine pairing. Between cranberry sauce, sweet potato pie, and the roast turkey, you have intensely tart, radically sweet, and richly savory flavors on the table…
Review: Pax Americana Focuses on Food From This Country in a Quietly Spectacular Way
It’s a nearly religious experience when Pax Americana’s chef, Adam Dorris, takes one simple ingredient and builds a dish around it that highlights its inherent goodness. Take, for example, the beautiful deep red confit carrots, lightly sweetened with sorghum, that recline in the most lovely way atop a carrot purée…
The End Is Finally in Sight for the Texas Textbook Battle (At Least for Now)
It seemed like it would never happen, but it looks like the Texas Textbook Battle: Social Studies Edition is finally wrapping up. The State Board of Education is holding a public meeting today at 1 p.m. in Austin to allow people to submit their comments on the controversial textbooks before…
“Monet and the Seine” Is a Must-See Show if You Can Find the Right Spot
As museum-goers, it seems we can never get enough French Impressionist painting — or at least that art museum curators and directors think we can’t. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is giving us another opportunity to test that proposition with the exhibition “Monet and the Seine: Impressions of a…
Seven Enforcement Actions, $270,000 in Fines and 51 Violation Notices in Five Years Is “Satisfactory” for TCEQ
On Saturday morning, people living near the DuPont chemical plant in La Porte awoke to the rotten-egg smell of methyl mercaptan, the chemical used to scent natural gas so you can sniff out a leak before your house explodes. By day’s end, news had surfaced that one plant worker was…
Selling Homes, Ruining Lives: Getting Rich in Real Estate the Scott Wizig Way
Forget those late-night infomercials — here’s how you get rich in real estate: First, find a city with a large population of vulnerable consumers. We’re talking first-time home buyers, undocumented immigrants, people with no credit or with credit shot to hell. Houston will work perfectly — these folks are on…
Houston’s Slade Ham: How to Start a Bar Fight in a Comedy Club
Comedian Slade Ham has a complicated relationship with hecklers. He hates that they interrupt his stand-up act; he loves shutting them up when they do. Ham, who spends 200 days out of the year on the road, is a Houstonian; he frequently entertains the troops overseas. He found that while…
Kipper Club Test Kitchen To Host Forbes Five-Star Chef Zachary Ladwig
It’s early days still in the life of the Kipper Club Test Kitchen. The kitchen space by the Treadsack Group (Down House, D&T Drive Inn, Sugar & Rice Magazine) launched quietly in August, where it has been playing host to a rotating roster of guest chefs. “We built it as…
Rockets Recap: Despite Record, Cracks Beginning to Show
Last week, the Rockets made an early season trip south of the border to play a game in Mexico City. Basketball is an international game and like NFL games in London, sending NBA teams to other countries is good business. The Rockets took care of the Minnesota Timberwolves, but it…
10 Annoying People You Run Into Christmas Shopping in Houston
The holiday buying season has officially commenced, as anyone who had the misfortune to go to the mall as I did this past weekend can tell you. In the rush to celebrate the birth of Christ, the solstice, and some old Roman god with various expensive baubles and trinkets, I’ve…
These Houston Area Grocery Stores Are Open on Thanksgiving Day
Whether you forgot an ingredient for your famous cornbread dressing, can’t fit in the shopping, or just really, really like to wait until the last minute, here’s a list of the grocery/convenience stores that will be open this Thanksgiving Day: Note: All information is based on telephone checks with the…
Upcoming: Above & Beyond, Chris Brown, Gang of Four, Hozier, The Lacs, Sarah McLachlan, etc.
5 Seconds Of Summer: Sat., August 8, 7:30 p.m., $25 to $69.50. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Dr., The Woodlands, 281-363-3300. Above & Beyond: Sat., March 7, 8:30 p.m., $30. Bayou Music Center, 520 Texas, Houston, 713-225-8551. Alan Haynes: Sat., November 29, 8 p.m., $5. The Big Easy…
Just Who Is Jefe Wine, a.k.a. Iggy Azalea’s Nemesis?
Throughout this fall, the weirdest Iggy Azalea headlines haven’t come from her music, which is objectively mediocre, or her label boss, T.I., defending her because she’s from Australia yet raps like she’s from Memphis. Instead, they’ve all come from allegations and maneuvers pulled by Maurice Williams. Or Jefe Wine. Or…
More Unreleased Pink Floyd Material That Should Come Out
This past week, Pink Floyd released their first album in 20 years, The Endless River, culled from recording sessions that took place in 1994 around the time of their last album, The Division Bell. While peppered with outtakes, it sounds like a cohesive, complete work, and it is definitely an…
This Week In Food Events: It’s Beaujolais Time
Tuesday, November 18 Chocolate and Charity With The Houston Texans Cacao & Cardamom, the Galleria-area shop known for its luxurious exotic chocolates, is hosting an event benefiting the Chester Pitts Charitable Foundation. Players for the Houston Texans, as well former Houston Texans player and ambassador Pitts himself, will sell as…
HISD Teacher Angela Box Says She’s Sick of “Bacon-Haters” and “Goat-Fucking Muslims” on TV Show
UPDATE December 4, 2014 10:45 a.m.: The HISD Board of Education signed off on Angela Box’s resignation Thursday morning in a special meeting. HISD says that Box, whose resignation will take effect immediately, will receive the equivalent of three months’ pay. Should you be an elementary school teacher who wants…
Sturgill Simpson at Fitzgerald’s, 11/16/2014
Sturgill Simpson Fitzgerald’s November 16, 2014 Artists like Sturgill Simpson don’t come along very often, but they do show up enough to prevent those of us who contend we love “real” country music from truly despairing. But honestly, what does that even mean anymore? In an age dominated by Florida…
Rockets Fans, Meet Your New Best Friend: Root Sports Southwest
Tonight I will leave work after my show is over, I will settle in, fix myself a plate of whatever tasty treats my girlfriend Amy has prepared for dinner, sit down on the couch and do something that I’ve been unable to do since the end of the 2011-2012 NBA…
Carole A. Feuerman’s Solo Exhibition Celebrates Hyperrealism
Hyperrealism is in full swing at the intimate Octavia Art Gallery, as Carole A. Feuerman displays a major new work, Christina, created for this exhibition, along with a number of works from the past few years. Hyperrealism art is intended to simulate reality so precisely that the art can easily…
The Servant of Two Masters: A Farce With Confusion and Romance at Rice
The setup: Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni wrote The Servant of Two Masters, a farce in 1743 — it employs stock characters from Commedia dell’arte and originally left extensive room for improvisation, but Goldoni rewrote it in 1753 to create the present script. The version used by Rice is an adaptation…
The Black Keys at Toyota Center, 11/15/2014
The Black Keys, Jake Bugg Toyota Center November 15, 2014 For the past few years, there has been a lot of chatter about the viability of “rock and roll.” Are any artists truly making rock anymore, or has the genre itself been so heavily diluted that its roots have totally…
Texans 23, Browns 7: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Consuming sports in 2014, it’s almost impossible to 100 percent live in “the now” during a sport’s given season. The wealth of information and conjecture at our fingertips combined with the perpetual misery and self-pity that 95 percent of fans wallow in during the season because their team is somehow…
Dish of the Week: Classic Bread Pudding
From classic comfort foods to regional standouts and desserts, we’ll be sharing a new recipe with you each week. See the complete list of recipes at the end of this post. This week, we’re indulging in a classic comfort food: Bread Pudding. Bread pudding is a dessert consisting of stale…
Doctor Who: Prominent Whovians Look Back on Season 8
Peter Capaldi has finished up his first season as The Doctor, and it’s been a season that was particularly divisive among the fandom. Barring John Hurt’s appearances in the 50th anniversary special, Capaldi is the oldest man to take on the role in the revived series, and when you add…
On Chill Filtering and the Aberlour A’Bundah
Not too long ago I started noticing that some Scotches were described as “non-chill filtered.” Aware of how marketing and branding works, at first I paid this no mind. I figured it could be essentially meaningless, similar to vodkas that brag about how many times they’re distilled, as if past…
Astros Contemplating Ball Park Changes
The Astros announced a couple of weeks ago that they’re considering possible changes to Minute Maid Park. Changes such as finally bulldozing that monstrosity known as Tal’s Hill, providing more high-end food options, and moving the bullpens. And there’s also a discussion about starting an Astros Hall of Fame. Some…
Up and Coming Fashion Designers Present Their Newest at 2015 Artopia
For the fashion fanatic who wants to get out and experience other forms of creative arts, may I present to you our seventh annual Artopia night at Winter Street Studios. Don’t let the name fool you, the night is dedicated to all things creative – culture, art, music, food, and…
How to Make Pizza Monkey Bread
Monkey Bread, also apparently sometimes called “pluck-it cake” (by WHOM!!) is not for those with a fear of napkins or sticky things. But for everyone else, it’s a delightful treat that’s particularly fun to consume in a small group for brunch or dessert. Traditional monkey bread is very sweet, its…
New QB, No Arian Foster? No Problem as Texans Beat Browns in Cleveland
There was a moment in the fourth quarter Sunday when Brian Cushing laid his second bone-crushing hit of the day on Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer that it appeared the “Battle of Tom Brady’s Backups” would become the debut of Johnny Football. To Hoyer’s credit, he hung in there, but it…
Say Good-bye to Hollywood Vietnamese and Chinese Restaurant in Houston
Let’s face it: People don’t go to Hollywood Vietnamese and Chinese Restaurant because it’s serving the best examples of either cuisine. In fact, the place got written up and temporarily shut down by health inspectors this past August, as reported by KPRC Channel 2 …
The Changing Face of Houston – River Oaks
When I first considered covering River Oaks for this series, I figured that I would eventually almost have to, but was unsure how to present it. After all, River Oaks is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the United States, much less Houston. How many people can truly relate to…
The 10 Best Texans-Browns Rapper Tweets
The 2014 Houston Texans have a new coach, new players, new hope and the same dedicated fan base of Houston-based rappers. As in years past, they took to Twitter on game day to comment on the home team’s gridiron action. And, as in years past, Rocks Off spent Sunday afternoon…
What Songs Should Metallica Play on The Late Late Show?
Tonight Metallica will begin a week-long residency on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as a sendoff for the departing late-night host. It marks one of the highest-profile television appearances the band has made since the ’90s, all at the request of Ferguson himself. During the residency, they’ll have…
The Five Best Concerts in Houston This Week: Willie Nelson, Chrissie Hynde, etc.
Method Man & Redman House of Blues, November 17 Although there are many to choose from, one of the best hip-hop duos of the past 20 years is the paring of Method Man and Redman. Between two successful albums and their cult-favorite movie How High, Meth and Red have proven…
The Liar at UH: Great Fun in All Directions
The setup: The Liar, a classic French farce from 1644 by Pierre Corneille has a new translation and adaptation by David Ives, and the University of Houston is presenting it at its Jose Quintero Theatre. The protagonist is Dorante, a gallant of whom it can be truly said “the truth…
Late, A Cowboy Song Gives Us a Look at Early Work by Playwright Sarah Ruhl
The set up: Written by Sarah Ruhl in 2003, Late: A Cowboy Song is an early effort by a playwright on the cusp of becoming one of the most celebrated names in modern American theater. A quick glance through the reception of her later plays reads like a writer’s dream…
Hansel und Gretel: A Folk Tale Spun Into Operatic Gold at Opera in the Heights
When Opera in the Heights announced it would perform Englebert Humperdinck’s gargantuan fairy tale – gargantuan in size of its orchestra – I immediately thought, what a boneheaded mistake, this’ll never work. This late Romantic behemoth (1893), progeny of Wagner and stepchild of soon-to-be Richard Strauss, requires orchestral forces that…
HPD Shootout With Disgruntled Motel Guest Ends in Suspect Stealing, Crashing Cop Car
Getting in a shootout with the Houston Police Department after getting kicked out of a motel is one thing. But getting in a shootout with HPD after getting thrown out of said motel, and then stealing and crashing a cop car? Well, that’s a whole other ball of ballsy wax…
Beat the Movember/No-Shave November Itch
Whether you’re sick and tired of seeing photos of Elsa from Disney’s FROZEN hashtagged #LetItGrow or not; hopefully, your charitable soul has been making the most of the American Cancer Society’s annual No-Shave November and/or The Movember Foundation’s annual Movember campaign, which raises money to improve the lives of men…
PRIDE Houston Moves Date of 2015 Celebration After Uproar Over Juneteenth Conflict
The organizers of the 2015 PRIDE Houston have agreed to move festivities from the weekend of Juneteenth to a later date after a number of community members spoke out about the conflicting dates. PRIDE organizers had originally scheduled the annual parade a week earlier than last year’s festivities, meaning PRIDE…
Texas Visions of an Earlier Time: An Exhibit Worth Taking Your Time Over
In this very large exhibition, 57 works of early Texas art, there are two paintings that should be seen, for historical reasons. One is On Texas Waters: USS Constitution; this wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate won many victories in the War of 1812, and became much-loved, nick-named “Old Ironsides” by Oliver Wendell…
Two Companies Settle Over San Jacinto River Waste Pits, Jury Clears Lone Holdout of Liability
Harris County’s years-long legal battle to wring billions of dollars out of companies the county says are responsible for the San Jacinto River’s toxic legacy ended with whimper Thursday. Following a four-week trial, Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan’s office settled with two of three defendants just as the case was…
Do One Kind Favor for Little Joe Washington
I’m sad and grateful with tears for Marion Washington, better known by his nickname “Little Joe.” I am grieving more deeply than I would have guessed for what was obviously inevitable, given his 75 years and his frail and failing health in recent months. If you want to understand where…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: Dumb and Dumber To
Title: Dumb and Dumber To Is It Worth The 20 Year Wait? Nothing is worth a 20-year wait, except perhaps the reunion of the cast of D2: The Mighty Ducks. Because really, who wasn’t looking forward to that? Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: One bottle of Turbo…
Josh Abbott Band: The Merry Pranksters of Texas Country
About the last place you might expect Josh Abbott to be doing a phone interview is…Nashville. His eponymous group is synonymous with Texas country, arguably the only act of its kind this decade to graduate to the very top tier occupied by the likes of the Randy Rogers Band and…
College and Pro Football: This Weekend’s Best Bets
We interrupt this week’s football picks (which I swear I’ll get to, because I know you want to ride that 3-3 wave I was on last week) for a brief worshipping at the altar of Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner. We are not even a year into Silver’s tenure yet,…
Why I Love Greenling
UPDATE: December 3, 2014: After this blog went live, we received some questions about Greenling and local farmers. In a followup post, we went straight to the source to find out what “local” means and to answer the following: does Greenling really help local farmers? It’s always lame to hear…
Big-Name Designers Say They Flock to Houston Because of Our Art Scene, Unique Style & the Weather Is Good
New York City and Los Angeles are the understood hubs of American fashion. Being that Houston is way below the Mason Dixon Line and on the wrong side of the Rocky Mountains, you would think we are not on the radar of those en vogue, but I would have to…
Even Some Conservatives Think Ted Cruz Doesn’t Understand Net Neutrality
You can always count on Sen. Ted Cruz to lead the charge, even if it sometimes turns out he didn’t entirely understand what he was charging toward (read: the Lorne Michaels bit about corporations, most of what he said about Obamacare, ect.). This week Cruz was ready with a neo-classic…
The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Gumbo, Wine & Whiskey
2nd Annual Gumbo Smackdown @ Houstonia House Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. 447 Heights Boulevard Join Houstonia magazine as the city’s finest chef’s compete for the title of Best Gumbo. The tough competition includes The Cajun Stop, Fleming’s (last year’s champion), and more, while the judging panel includes local celebrity…
[Video] We Watched a Taser Scramble at Fun Fun Fun Fest
“If you’ve got a stomach for Jackass then Punk Rock Circus is an all you can eat buffet of pure stupidity.” Reading those words, I knew exactly where I would be Fun Fun Fun Fest Sunday afternoon at 2:25 p.m. If I’m somewhere and there’s a sideshow or a stunt…
100 Creatives 2014: Ben Fritzsching, Comic Book Show Promoter and Character Actor
Ben Fritzsching, a partner in the comic book show promotion group STX Shows, has a very simple explanation as to how he started collecting comic books: “My mom never made me get rid of anything. The next thing I knew, I was collecting.” His parents took him to a couple…
Upcoming Events: Celebrate 1 Year With Union Kitchen – Kingwood
Earlier this week, Julep launched a month-long happy hour featuring classic libations that pay homage to the spirit of the South. From now until Deember 9, get a taste of 30 cocktails — including Mississippi Punch, which references the popular sport of boxing in the South; and the Meyer Lemon…
Houston’s LGBT Equality Score Is Mediocre, While Dallas Is Awesome, According to HRC Report
So, it seems that the city of Houston rates right around “pretty darn mediocre” when it comes to supporting LGBT folks, according to a new report by the The Human Rights Campaign. HRC, the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization, released its third annual report assessing LGBT equality in 353…
The 5 Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Revolve Dance Company and More
Revolve Dance Company is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a program of new works entitled X over a two-day run on Friday and Saturday. Choreographers/dancers Amy Cain, Lindsey McGill and Dawn Dippel created the new works, which include Cain’s jazz pieces The Search (about the struggle between living in the…
Openings & Closings: Only Two Weeks Left For Houston’s Most Dog-Friendly Bar
There’s awful news for Houston dog owners. As initially noted by Syd Kearney at the Houston Chronicle, pup-friendly bar Boneyard Drinkery announced on its Facebook page that it is closing on November 30. It was Houston’s first combination bar and dog park. It’s another sad chapter in a story we’re…
Sorry, BeyHive, But We Are All Yoncé’d Out
This past Wednesday night, there was an entire Beyoncé category on on Jeopardy. Just let that sink in for a minute. Ready? Here we go. We are all Yoncé’d out. That means we are over the Jeopardy categories. We are over the album drops. We are weary of the gossip…
CSN Houston Is Gone and the Rockets Are Back on TV
The time has finally come. On Monday night, after two years, Houston Rockets games will once again be legally available to a majority of the Houston-area viewing public. Roots Sports Houston, an undoubtedly inferior product to CSN Houston, takes over as the rights holder for Rockets and Astros games, and…
Houston’s 10 Best Bars to Watch the Texans
BOURBON STREET SPORTS BAR If there’s a bar I wish the Texans could be just a little more like, it’s Bourbon Street Sports Bar in Katy. It’s kind of reckless and maybe a little dangerous. It can be sexy, but in that sort of scary way some people like. If…
Gabe Bravo Drums Up a Comedy Career
A funny thing happened to Gabe Bravo on the way to a successful career in music: He found out he was funny. More precisely, others are finding out Bravo is funny. The well-known and highly regarded Houston musician is notably an outstanding drummer known for his time in acts such…
The 10 Best Concerts in Houston This Weekend: Real Friends, Black Keys, Sturgill Simpson, etc.
Real Friends, Neck Deep Scout Bar, November 14 Had they existed in the early ’00s, it’s likely a lot of people in their late twenties or early thirties would have Real Friends lyrics tattooed on their body. The Chicago group’s new album, Maybe This Place Is the Same and We’re…
Japanese Investor Claims Houston “Space Law” Expert’s Private Space Flight Company Was a Scam
Takafumi “Horiemon” Horie, the Japanese entrepreneur who founded the tech company Livedoor and later spent time in jail for securities fraud, is suing a Houston “space law” attorney, along with a number of related corporations, for allegedly duping him into investing $49 million dollars in a defunct space travel company,…
Houston Texans’ Core Players: Who’s Better, Who’s Worse Compared to 2013
They say it takes a village to raise a child, a collective group effort whose results are ultimately indicative of the time, effort and most of all, capability of those doing the raising. The same can be said of a 2-14 NFL season. It takes a village to go 2-14…
Some Brave Soul Stole a Bunch of HPD-Issued Shotguns From an Officer’s Truck Tuesday Night
Stealing one gun from an officer is probably risky business, considering the potential consequences that could arise from such a deed. Still, crooks on the North side of Houston took that risky gun-thieving business to the extreme Tuesday night when they stole a bunch of shotguns from a police officer’s…
UPDATED: Downtown Gets a New Place for Drinking and Dancing
The Clumsy Butcher Group finally has opened The Nightingale Room at 308 Main Street. It is the last on their list of slated projects that included Julep and The Pastry War. Partner Bobby Heugel swears he’s going to relax after this, but we’ll just have to wait and see. They’re…
American Horror Story: Freak Show: In Small Hands
There’s no doubt about it that the best thing this season has been Mat Fraser as Paul, the Illustrated Seal Boy. Part of the collection of real human identities that were cast for this landmark season, he of course brings his own unusual appearance to bear on the screen. But…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Samuel Beier of Tony Mandola’s
When we left off in Part 1 of our Chef Chat with Samuel Beier, he had just completed a long stint under Jean-Georges Vongerichten at Spice Market and Market restaurants in Atlanta. It was his second time to work for the world-renowned French chef. The first time being at the…
Podcast: It’s Our All ‘Daily Show’ Week with ‘Foxcatcher’ and ‘Rosewater’
It’s a special The Daily Show edition of the Voice Film Club podcast, as we talk about Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher (starring Steve Carell) and move onto Rosewater, the movie Jon Stewart left The Daily Show for three months in 2013 to direct. Both are in theaters starting November 14. Here’s…
Papa John’s Frito Chili Pizza Ain’t Nothin’ But Schwag
A few weeks ago, Papa John’s announced a new pizza and created a bit of an uproar. I won’t weigh in on the espionage issue, but I will weigh in on the pizza. With apologies to Anthony Calleo. Or perhaps the opposite. I’ve only had the Pi Pizza Truck 420…
Uber Can Now Legally Drive You to the Airport in Houston for a Couple Extra Bucks
New rules that will allow ride-share drivers to pick up and drop off passengers at Houston airports were rather quietly approved by City Council Wednesday. Under the new rules, which saw no discussion from council members yesterday, ride-share drivers can pick you up and drop you off at Houston’s airport…
The Mystifying Element to Larry Bell’s Paintings
There is a mystifying element to Larry Bell’s paintings – distance seems to add further enchantment. Up too close, I felt I was missing the forest for the trees. Nicole Longnecker Gallery has wisely hung the wonderful AAAAA98 at the furthest reach, so it dominates from afar. I liked it…
Filling the Gaps: Cafe Pita +
I’ve lived in Houston for 22 years. It took me 16 of those to visit the Rothko Chapel for the first time. I didn’t eat at Ninfa’s on Navigation until I’d counted myself a Houstonian for nearly a decade. I still haven’t eaten at Frenchy’s. The list of glaring omissions…
Add These to Your Arsenal: The 10 Most Irritating Text Message Responses Ever
So, there is apparently a thing called “textiquette.” According to Urban Dictionary, “textiquette” is the proper behavior one should use when texting, i.e., responding promptly or the correct use of “lol.” Not quite grasping it? Need an example? Brooke: God, why does it take so long for Taylor to text…
Weather Channel Advises Not Buying That Galveston Dream Home
Somewhere in Galveston County, officials must be smacking their foreheads in exasperation over the latest bit with Galveston. Namely, the Weather Channel’s recently-compiled list of the 50 worst places to own a home based on natural factors. Galveston made it into the top 10, ranking eighth on the list. This…
Homemade Guacamole – A 10-Minute Recipe
Buying ripe avocados is tricky. Timed perfectly so that they are ripe and creamy, you have to use them within a day or throw them out. As a result, it’s more prudent to buy avocados when they’re still green so that they can ripen naturally on your counter. But what…
Best in Beauty Holiday Gift Sets: Man Edition
As far as relaxation techniques go, we all have our own but a personal favorite is list-making. It’s simple and satisfying, and rarely comes in as handy as holiday shopping season. So technically this is kind of a confession that these holiday shopping lists are created for purely selfish reasons–but…
Little Joe Washington: The Stories Never End
Houston is a little less of an action town today after Wednesday’s passing of Little Joe Washington, the mighty-mite of the local blues scene. Washington’s death is believed to be due to diabetic complications; he was 75. I could prattle on here with the nuts and bolts of an overview…
Houston Remembers Little Joe Washington
Whenever someone important like Little Joe Washington dies, an easy way to gauge just how much impact they had on their community is to see what people were saying about them right before they passed. Enter social media. In Washington’s case, it was a site called Funky Blues Radio, an…
The 5 Best Happy Hours in River Oaks
If you love happy hour as much as we do, you’ll love this new series. We’re taking a look at the best happy hours in town, ‘hood by ‘hood. To narrow it down, we’re focusing on the spots with the best deals on not only drinks, but eats, too. From…
10 Best Houston YouTube Videos That Went Viral
YouTube can be the window to a city’s soul. What content our residents (and in some cases elected officials) generate that spreads out to the rest of the world can define who we are in their eyes. Here are ten videos that show us at our best and at our…
Is Scott Panetti Too Mentally Ill for Execution? Does Texas Care?
UPDATE December 3, 2014: The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has stayed the execution of Scott Panetti, who had been scheduled for execution in Texas December 3 at 6 p.m. Scott Panetti has been in that will-they-or-won’t they execution limbo for about a decade. However, by this time next…
Robert Plant Is Ever the Sensational Space Shifter
Robert Plant: The Voice That Sailed the Zeppelin By Dave Thompson Backbeat Books, 280 pp., $27.99. He’s been in a laundry list of bands: The Crawling King Snakes. The Honeydrippers. Strange Sensation. The Band of Joy (twice). The Priory of Brion. And the Sensational Space Shifters. There’s also that solo…
I Want to Get My Lip Pierced. 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’M A GUY THINKING ABOUT GETTING MY LIP PIERCED Dear Willie D: I have wanted to…
“Danny Rolph: Paradiso”
Danny Rolph offers us a hint of the future to come, in nine major paintings, acrylic on canvas, all completed this year or last. It is a utopian future, airy, bright, with open spaces, colorful, and filled with vibrant energy. “Paradiso” might have been called Dragster as well, as there…
Disney on Ice: Princesses and Heroes
Eight Disney princesses — Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Tiana, Jasmine, Aurora and Snow White — and their princes take to the ice in Disney on Ice: Princesses and Heroes. Their stories of heroic adventures are told through high-flying jumps and daring acrobatics, all performed on skates! 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and…
Bill King: Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for a Rational Center in American Politics
Houston Chronicle columnist Bill King has been getting positive reaction to his new book Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for a Rational Center in American Politics. Some 400 people crowded into his first signing earlier this month. “I signed books for three hours,” he tells us. The book is a compilation…
Dirty Dancing
Jenny Winton grew up dancing ballet, including time with the San Francisco Ballet and five years with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago when a casting agent trying to fill roles in the stage version of Dirty Dancing gave her a call. “They were looking at pictures of different ballerinas from…
LATE: A Cowboy Song
Playwright Sarah Ruhl’s LATE: A Cowboy Song isn’t easy to describe. Like many of Ruhl’s plots, LATE doesn’t go in a straight line from point A to point B. There’s a woman, Mary, who has been in a stifling marriage to Crick for a long time. Mary meets Red, a…
Bhopal
On the night of December 2, 1984, there was a gas leak of the pesticide chemical methyl isocyanate at the Union Carbide India Limited plant in Bhopal, India. The lethal chemical made its way to the surrounding area, poisoning people and livestock as it spread. Estimates of deaths range from…
Hansel und Gretel
Mezzo-soprano Claudia Chapa is enjoying her role as the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel, currently being produced by Opera in the Heights. The Witch is a sinister, evil character (she eats children, after all), but the role allows Chapa to explore the darker side of her personality and to experiment…
“Yusuke Asai: Yamatane”
A remarkable installation by Japanese artist Yusuke Asai painted entirely with earth found around Houston — 27 different colors — is now on view at Rice Gallery. The mural, called “Yusuke Asai: Yamatane,” dominates the exhibition room, rising from floor to ceiling, sweeping to three walls and even spilling onto…
The Servant of Two Masters
What’s a servant to do when he’s always hungry? Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni answered that question in his 1743 play The Servant of Two Masters. The servant is Truffaldino, one of theater’s great comic characters. It will come as no surprise that things don’t go as smoothly as envisioned and…
The Liar
Nobody can do farce like the French — that has been evident for centuries. Playwright David Ives, author of the runaway hit Venus in Fur, has reached back to The Liar, a play by Pierre Corneille first performed in 1644, and added a fresh translation and adaptation. The University of…
How Reality TV Went From Launchpad to Dumpster
Minor spoilers for the second episode of The Comeback’s sophomore season. It’s no mystery why The Comeback, which returned for its second season this past Sunday after a nine-year hiatus, never became a big hit for HBO. Other mockumentaries like The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Modern Family have thrived,…
Ted Flato: Lake/Flato Houses: Embracing the Landscape
Pick up a copy of Lake/Flato Houses: Embracing the Landscape, a 300-page photography book showing some of the group’s spectacular environmentally friendly home designs, and it’s easy to sigh and say, “Well, if I had a million dollars, I could have a beautiful house like that, too.” That’s missing the…
Lewis Black
Those people too young to remember comedian Don Rickles might think that Lewis Black originated the “angry guy” style he’s famous for. Ah, no. Don Rickles, who was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show and a Las Vegas regular during the ’60s and ’70s, was spouting insults long before…
Revolve Dance Company: X
Revolve Dance Company is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a program of new works entitled X. Choreographers/dancers Amy Cain, Lindsey McGill and Dawn Dippel created the new works, which include Cain’s jazz pieces The Search (about the struggle between living in the now and planning for the future) and Pride…
A Star Survives
Tales of fame and its trappings — and the way they’re never enough to build a life — are as old as show business itself. Maybe for that reason, almost any story about discovering the hollowness of fame is often written off as a cliché. But what’s the difference, really,…
Ice Land: Ice Sculptures with SpongeBob SquarePants and Festival of Lights
T-shirts and shorts are usually appropriate for Gulf Coast weather during the winter holiday season. Usually, but not this year. You’re going to have to break out the parkas and mittens when you visit Moody Gardens’ newest attraction, Ice Land: Ice Sculptures with SpongeBob SquarePants. A team of artisans from…
Dumb and Dumber To Is Missing the Original’s Magic Idiocy
In the mid 1990s, self-appointed cultural gatekeepers used to wield Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s Dumb and Dumber as proof of the deterioration of film artistry. Those people hadn’t, of course, actually bothered to see the movie, and thus had no sense of its peculiar, sweet-spirited, un-toilet-trained brilliance. Times have changed,…
Iggy Pop’s 10 Best Guest Vocal Appearances
I’m one of those people who grew up thinking David Bowie was a genius from beyond the realm of human evolution, but the older I get the more I tend to believe that Iggy Pop is the true wizard within the Big Three of Glam. Though he’s never going to…
The Theory of Everything: Stephen Hawking’s Marriage Makes for a Wise but Glossy Drama
If the universe is infinitely finite, an entity whose mystery is knowable only through an evolving progression of theories and equations, it’s nothing compared to a marriage. Every marriage or long-term partnership is knowable only to the people inside it — and sometimes not even then. The Theory of Everything…
Capsule Art Reviews: November 13, 2014
“Larry Bell: Three Decades of Art” There is a mystifying element to Larry Bell’s paintings — distance seems to add further enchantment. Up too close, I felt I was missing the forest for the trees. Nicole Longnecker Gallery has wisely hung AAAAA98 at the furthest reach, so it dominates from…
Big Hero 6 Upgrades Disney’s Cartoon Kid’s Flicks
Imagine if nerdy Clark Kent didn’t have to remove his glasses and pocket protector to save the world. Then imagine him as fat and sweet as a marshmallow. Meet Big Hero 6’s Baymax, Disney’s new cuddly champion: a waddling, inflatable health-care companion who can sense your pulse, diagnose disease and,…
Capsule Stage Reviews: November 13, 2014
Company Bracing and potent as a vodka stinger, Company (1970), Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s multiple Tony Award-winning “musical comedy” on marriage, commitment and New York City, ushered in Sondheim as potential king of Broadway. This intimate production from MJR Theatricals and Music Box Musicals supplies plenty of grit and…
Latin Music and a Tenth Anniversary
Dear Mexican, I’m interested in a job that says it is a plus to have an understanding of Latin, Spanish and Mexican music. I found out some names of musical styles such as Tejano, norteño, mariachi, banda, cumbia, merengue, flamenco and so on. I’m wondering if there is a way…
