Happy Biebermas: 2011’s Bumper Crop Of Holiday Albums
The Christmas season started back in the late summer for Rocks Off when we began getting PR e-mails about so and so’s new Christmas album, and then in October they started showing up in our stacks of snail mail. This year the biggest complaint amongst everyone is the increasing length…
Three Days of Thanks: Artist of the Week
Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group “Artist of the Week,” bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn’t awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Ah, Artist of the Week. This is the…
Whatever Happened to the Mai Tai? 5 Out-of-Fashion Cocktails
Earlier this week, CBS News reported that — finally — Tiki drinks are coming back in fashion. The story delighted folks like our web editor, Brittanie Shey, who is still convinced that the fantastical, rum-based drinks should never have gone out of style in the first place. But it also…
Football! A&M-UT, LSU: This Weekend’s Best Bets
So yeah, about that “Bully Theory” from last week. Um, well, um….sorry? In case you missed it, I shared a theory of mine last week, and without rehashing the details it all led up to me telling all of you to take Wisconsin, Oregon, Oklahoma State, and Stanford laying the…
Sundance Cinemas Houston Opens Today
In a speech at last night’s private grand opening party for downtown’s new Sundance Cinemas, Mayor Annise Parker expressed sentiments echoed by many Houstonians, saying, “When the [Angelika Theater] closed its doors, it was like a light went off downtown.” The Mayor felt the Angelika’s sudden and unexpected closure left…
Killer/Killer: Mike Terror’s Making Dick Jokes and No More Kemo for Emo?
We got a note from Larry Fenix, formerly of Kemo for Emo and now serving in Mike Terror’s band that he and Terror were tackling a new side project called Killer/Killer. We got a chance to check out their debut song, “Hardy All the Time” on the band’s Facebook page,…
Ingredient of the Week: Butter
Ah, Thanksgiving. Hands down the best holiday of the year. Four days off, football, usually the beginning of cooler weather, no gift-giving frenzy — just good, old-fashioned gluttony. And what ingredient better to be gluttonous about than butter? Earlier this week, we showed you how to make butter. Now, we…
Lamest Cop Impersonator Ever Gets Arrested
The mind of a 17-year-old male is a wondrous thing to behold, especially because oftentimes it isn’t working properly. Take the case of one unnamed Montgomery County teen who, according to the police blotter, now faces charges of impersonating a public servant. Sure, it might mess up the kid’s chances…
Musicians Can Wait: Black Friday More About Flat Screens Than Instruments
Back in college — yes, in the stone age — I worked for a musical instrument store on the north side of Houston. Over the years, there were busy days where I just stood behind the counter while a line of people handed me guitars to buy without the hint…
Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs (Thanksgiving Edition)
Wine Skinny: We’re sorry to report that the Houston wine blogging scene has entirely ignored Thanksgiving (except for us). But Robyn Tinsley, author of Wine Skinny, did weigh in with a Thanksgiving recipe for Robyn’s Potatoes (sadly, no wine recommendations or notes). We’re looking forward to more wine blogging from…
Two Unidentified Victims Of Alleged Drunk Driver, Bayou Body Count Nos. 182 & 183
A 20-year-old man has been charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter after a weekend accident. The identities of Eric Quiroz’ victims have not been released pending verification by the medical examiner. Police say Quiroz was driving a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo south on State Highway 6 about 8 a.m…
Last Night: The NiceGuys, Propain, John Dew and Youngest N Charge at Warehouse Live
Warehouse Live’s studio was filled with Houston hip-hop heads on a brisk November night. Women were clad in skin-tight leggings with boots and the men bundled up in leather jackets and hoodies. The host for the evening was MC Kane, who normally MC’s hip-hop clubs in the city. He gave…
Green Seed Vegan and The Eat Gallery: A Perfect Pair
For most of the week, Matti Merrell and her husband Rodney Perry cook out of the little, cabbage-green food truck that’s parked on Wheeler near Dowling. Their truck, Green Seed Vegan, is one of the few vegan eateries in town and certainly the only vegan food truck. That changes on…
Turkeys Of The Year: The Invasion Begins
They’ve been trying their best for the past 12 months, and now it’s time to reveal which Houstonians and Texans have earned the coveted honor of being named a Houston Press Turkey of the Year. In some ways, dynasties continued their reign in this, the ninth year of competition; in…
Mosh Potatoes: Thanksgiving Recipes From Metal Musicians
If there is one thing virtually all of us agree on when it comes to Thanksgiving, it is that we like to eat and we often do more of it on that particular day than we should. Apparently, heavy metal musicians are no different. In between blood-soaked shows filled with…
Carol Swarbrick Says There’s No Blues in White Christmas at TUTS
Even if you’re one of the people who saw White Christmas at the Hobby three years ago, actress Carol Swarbrick says you’ll still see some new things if you come to the latest version courtesy of Theatre Under the Stars. With a new director and choreographer, she says the dance…
Thankgiving Recipes from Metal Musicians Courtesy of Mosh Potatoes
We all love to eat at Thanksgiving and, apparently, that includes some of the loudest and angriest sounding bands on the planet. If Mosh Potatoes: Recipes, Anecdotes and Mayhem from the Heavyweights of Heavy Metal is any indication, there are a bunch of culinary experts in the world of metal…
It’s Official: Matt Schaub Out For The Year; Your New Backup QB Is…
The Houston Texans have made it official, placing quarterback Matt Schaub on the injured reserve list, meaning he’s out for the rest of the season. The Matt Leinart Era begins Sunday. And if Leinart gets hurt, or plays utterly Leinart-ly, and T.J Yates blows it? Your new backup QB is…
Jeffrey Tomorris Wright : Escapes From Trunk To Tell Cops About Buying Coke With Counterfeit Bills
Sounds like quite a scene for Houston Police to roll up on last month… According to court records, on October 16, a squad car was dispatched to the scene of a disturbance with a weapon in the 4500 block of Yale, just north of Crosstimbers in Independence Heights. Just as…
Nickelback Fights Back With Funny Or Die Clip
Check out yesterday’s superb Nickelblock blog…. Call me a contrarian asshole, but I like Nickelback for what they are, not for who they aren’t. The blunt-force studio magick of their riffs, the stoopid lyrics, the robo-drums, the Chad Kroeger…I just don’t care. I think that they feed off of all…
The X Factor Gets Grateful
Last night’s episode of The X Factor was all about gratitude. Contestants dedicated their performances to someone special in their lives, telling heartwarming tales designed to maximize viewer empathy and increase voting by tugging on the ol’ heartstrings. And you know what? It worked. The theme resonated both because of…
Do This, Not That: Thanksgiving Do’s and Don’t’s for the Holiday Guest
Being something of a professional Thanksgiving guest — we live too far away to host any family get-togethers, and frequently travel during the holidays — I have seen some heinous holiday behavior over the years. You would think being a good guest, especially as an adult, would be second nature,…
William Adams: Texas Supreme Court Suspends Judge Who Whipped Daughter Pending Investigation
Aransas County judge William Adams, whose daughter set off a worldwide firestorm by releasing video of him beating her with a belt when she was 16, has been suspended by the Texas Supreme Court. Adams has accepted the recommendation by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct that he be suspended…
@#$! Bowser! Top 5 Mario Bosses Who Should Get More Respect
Look, we get that Bowser is a pretty good antagonist, not the least in that he actually does succeed a fair amount of the time. Plus, he’s a dedicated single father, and that can’t be an easy thing to do even when you’re a monarch and a wizard at the…
7 Gifts for Your Nerdy Little Audiophile
In a classic bit of stand up comedy, Steve Martin described his obsessive search for the best stereo system of the day. He kept adding more and more speakers until he finally reached the “google-phonic” stereo with the closest number of speakers to infinity, which, like all the rest, sounded…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Sophie Elhage of Skewers Mediterranean Café & Grill
Sophie Elhage is the lovely 26-year-old chef and co-owner of Skewers Mediterranean Café & Grill. The sexy Lebanese fusion joint on Richmond is the Saturday-night hotspot for belly-dancing (and belly-pleasing food.) It’s the first restaurant venture for Elhage — who was previously a medical school student. EOW: So when did…
Chopsticks: The DOs and DON’Ts
There used to be a time when if you went to a Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean or Thai restaurant and someone was not of Asian descent, they were automatically given silverware, as it was commonly assumed they would not know how to use chopsticks. I’ve noticed that somewhere along the way,…
Comment of the Day: Let the Coog Hatred Bloom
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…
Like fer Sure: When the Movies Go to the Mall
This week malls, department stores, and discount stores will be inundated with customers busting down the hatches to get at Black Friday sales, risking life and limb for cheap plasma television sets, digital cameras, shotguns, PlayStation systems. You can use at least one of those to guard your precious cargo…
Four Arrested, Charged with Capital Murder in Wild Shootout That Left Sheriff’s Deputy Injured
Four arrests have been made in the wake of a wild drug-related shootout that left one man dead and a Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy injured, HCSO has announced. The deputy, working undercover, was tailing an 18-wheeler carrying a large amount of marijuana Monday on Hollister near Bourgeois in the northwest…
Thanksgiving Television Episodes That Didn’t Knock Us Out From Tryptophan
We can’t lie and say that Thanksgiving television specials give us that same warm and fuzzy feeling as their Yuletide counterparts. For starters, there are very few of them and it is difficult to find them anywhere besides the Hallmark Channel. Lucky enough, regularly scheduled television uses the holiday as…
Christopher Clark Pollett: Guilty Child-Porn Plea from Kids’ Nonprofit Worker
Christopher Clark Pollett, a former employee of well-respected kids-and-family nonprofit agency Neighborhood Centers, Inc., has entered a guilty plea to charges of owning a massive cache of child pornography. Pollett was arrested in January, while still an NCI employee, and charged with possession of more than 17,000 digital images, approximately…
Tryptophanatics: Thanksgiving Lullabies For Your Post-Meal Snooze
You’ve finished your Thanksgiving feast and endured a few hours of awkward conversation with the extended family you never see and now it’s finally time for a holiday hibernation. You deserve it, it’s the third most important part of Thanksgiving, after overeating and overdrinking. No one really knows why we…
Sampler Plate: This Week in Food Blogs
Slate: In one of the most interesting pieces I read all week, Slate’s Benjamin Phelan explains that one of the main reasons that Colorado can now consider pizza a vegetable is that there really is no such thing as a vegetable in the first place. Dude, You Going to Eat…
Moustair: Fun Internet Meme Or Nightmare Machine?
Growing up I read a lot of books about physical oddities and medical mysteries. World’s tallest man, the world’s shortest couple, bearded ladies, that sort of thing. One of the books I had featured an entry on parasitic twins, wherein people have whole heads, faces, arms, and legs attached to…
Clifton Grasham-Reeves and Kaci Pomerenke: A Tale of Two Texas Sex Cases
Is the Texas justice system simply a crapshoot? Is there still an enormous double standard when it comes to sex crimes? Or has Jerry Sandusky cast a huge shadow over future sentences for all those convicted of sex crimes against children? A while back we introduced you to the tale…
Shots Fired at Occupy Houston
Reports are coming in via Twitter about shots fired at Tranquility Park, home of the Occupy Houston protest. It seems the incident is over, with the only injury being the shooter. The intrepid Kyle Neilsen is on the scene, and he reports a man dressed in “business casual” fired shots…
Comment of the Day: Sexist or Silly?
Here on Eating Our Words, the commenters absolutely make the blog, and our Comment of the Day honors the best of the bunch. Every day, we read you guys and pick the commenter, or commenters, who made us laugh, cry, salivate over something delicious, or think about things in a…
A Very Special BCS Edition of 4 Winners, 4 Losers
For the first time in the history of my Texans fandom, their bye week left me with a palpable void. Sure, I love having NFL football in this city, even bad football is better than no football, so the bye week always feels a little weird. However, this season’s team…
Those Other Pairings
We know what goes with margaritas and with beer, and for wine pairings, Jeremy Parzen, enough said. But we’re fans of a few lesser known matches that have that special something. Coffee with Chocolate Croissant and Orange Juice This combo came from an interview with author/director Sam Hoffman on Popmatters.com…
Bill Moyers at Progressive Forum: An East Texas Sage’s Optimism Twists in Today’s Ill Winds
Bill Moyers believes that the sun-baked scattered bones of Wall Street’s carcass are being picked clean by “animal spirits” — namely, hyenas, and that these scavengers believe that they are justified, indeed morally sanctioned, in behaving as such, and that nobody in government is willing or able to stop them…
If the American Music Awards Fell in the Forest, Would Anyone Hear Them?
Last night, the American Music Awards were broadcast on ABC to record low ratings. A show that featured typically lackluster performances from artists far more interested in choreographed dance moves than actually singing and playing bordered on all-out awful at times, which begs the question: Are music awards shows even relevant…
Your Mugshots of the Day: Supermarket Worker Warren White’s Alleged Murderers
Here is an unlikely looking trio of alleged murderers. If they were with Snow White, they’d be Pissy, Sneery and Shocked. Angelica Lee Serrano, 20, Ralph Ernest Alonso, 23, and Daniel Allen Porter, 21, have all been charged with murder in the November 16 murder of Warren Keith White, 29…
15 Odd Christmas Gift Ideas for Musicians
As the timeless tale of the Little Drummer Boy reminds us, there is no greater gift than the gift of music. But what about those on your Christmas list who already have plenty of music in their lives? Buying gifts for musicians is no easy task — most of them…
Wine of the Week: The Aegean Sea in a Glass
The first time I tasted Thalassitis by the Gaia winery (Santorini, Greece), it was poured for me by the “best sommelier in the world 2008,” Aldo Sohm, at Le Bernardin in New York City in 2010. Aldo paired the wine with raw sea urchin: The “saltiness” and intense acidity of…
Enjoy Our Playground!! Our Deadly, Alligator-Infested Playground
Driving around the more rural parts of Fort Bend County, we found this playground tucked inside a subdivision. When you count your blessings, you might be grateful this isn’t your childhood playground…
Teen Angels: 10 Musicians with a Penchant for Young Girls
In the great 80s comedy Night Shift, there is a scene where Michael Keaton is driving down what appears to be the West Side Highway in New York in a brand new Cadillac with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” blaring from the speakers. In a bid to impress a mildly terrified Henry…
What’s Cooking This Week?
Woo! Thanksgiving is almost here. I’ve been cooking a bit lighter in preparation, and I will continue to do so all the way up to the day when I will stuff myself fuller than the bird itself. Since I’ll be cooking all day on Thursday, I’m thinking quick and easy,…
Virtually Painless: Navigating Black Friday Online
What is the appeal of Black Friday? Much like the recent Missoni for Target frenzy (to which we, admittedly, happily succumbed), it seems like an event created by retail forces to trick us into buying things we don’t really want, and our loved ones won’t really want to get, just…
Horace Jackson, 56, Bayou Body Count No. 179
A man was shot to death at his Third Ward home by a masked attacker, police say. Horace Jackson, 56, was killed shortly before midnight Saturday at his home in the 6200 block of Sherwood. He suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was found lying on the ground,…
Three Days of Thanks: Rap Round Table
Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Each week Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. This Week’s Panel: Not Invited: This Week’s Prompt: There are a bunch of things we’re responsible for writing each week; it’s like, these borderline racist jokes…
Torchy’s Tacos Opening at 7 a.m. on December 7
Christmas comes early this year for fans of the Austin-based Torchy’s Tacos. The Houston location is opening at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, December 7, in the former location of Greatfull Taco at 2411 S. Shepherd. It’s Torchy’s first entry into the Houston market. The taco chain was founded by Michael…
The Art Guys Marry a Plant: Part II
When The Art Guys married a plant two years ago, they admittedly piggybacked off of the gay marriage debate as a tool for promotion. When The Art Guys commemorated their marriage to the plant this past weekend, the only thing piggybacked off of was the year-long drought. “Wouldn’t it be…
Julio César Chávez Jr. Defeats Peter Manfredo at Reliant to Retain WBC Crown
Ed Hocken: You sure know your boxing. Lt. Frank Drebin: All I know is never bet on the white guy. I’m not quite as ignorant of boxing as the late Leslie Nielsen. For example, I’ve watched most of the heavyweight title bouts (of the various sanctioning bodies) since the 1980s,…
Get Fresh: Our Interactive Map of Houston’s Farmers Markets
Houston just welcomed two new farmers markets to town: one at HCC Southwest’s campus and one at Sugar Land’s Town Square. And although our individual markets might not [yet] be as large as the ones in Seattle or San Francisco, we can still boast that there’s a farmers market for…
Via Colori: Taking It to the Streets
Lots more pictures from Via Colori can be found in our slideshow. This weekend marked the annual Via Colori street painting festival. Now in its sixth year, the weekend-long festival brings the asphalt surrounding Sam Houston Park to life with art…literally. Artists from across the country, as well as a…
Last Night: GWAR At House Of Blues
Check out our slideshow of GWAR’s messy concert. GWAR has to be the most quintessentially American band that has ever existed. They play disgustingly loud hardcore-inflected thrash while covered in blood and gore, hating celebrities as much as your average citizen — even to the point of wanting to disembowel…
More Drought Victims: The Trees of T.C. Jester (w/Photos)
It smelled like Pine-Sol near the intersection of 43rd and T.C. Jester this morning, but for a depressing reason: A major culling of the beloved trees in the area. The drought is to blame, most likely; the city has been taking down trees that have died of thirst and have…
Saturday Night: Korn At Verizon Wireless Theater
Apparently, the members of Korn are of the mentality that if you can’t beat ’em, you join ’em. And not in a sheepish, let’s-get-in-line-behind-these-trendsetters way. No, no. They have the ability to see what’s working for others and capitalize on it while stepping to the front of the line. Saturday…
A Fun-Filled Cinderella at Ensemble Theatre
The setup: The Ensemble Theatre’s take on Cinderella sheds the gossamer fragility of the fairy tale for broad humor and a lively, rollicking treatment. The execution: There are two moments of poignant beauty in this Cinderella, once in a flashback as a young Cinderella (Taylor Nelson) moves from a glum…
Respect The Bird: 10 Steps to Perfect Turkey
It may not be cold in Houston, but I know most Houstonians have got turkey on the brain. It also means the grocery stores are jammed packed and the Butterball 800 tip-line is getting more calls than most phone sex operators. But you won’t have to waste your minutes calling…
Dynamo Fall Short In Bid For Third MLS Cup
If ever there was a textbook way of how to go about winning an MLS Cup, the LA Galaxy were the perfect example Sunday night. Their game plan was simple: buy high-priced prima donna players, sign over-the-hill veterans to accompany them, bring in a head coach whose best quality is…
Friday Night: Hollisters at Blanco’s
A capacity crowd jammed into Blanco’s Friday night for the return of 90s local favorites, the Hollisters. The dance floor was thronged, the beer line was long, strings were bent and twanged, and there was plenty of big hair. Fronted by Mike Barfield, currently of the Austin roots outfit Stone…
The Week in TV: Class Dismissed for Community?
This was the week in TV Land (at least, in this timeline): • The TV gods giveth, and the TV gods taketh away. It’s been an eventful week for fans of narrowly targeted, metatextual, self-referential sitcoms with cult followings. First up: NBC released its midseason schedule, and Community isn’t on…
DEFCON Dining: Cafe Adobe
DEFCON Dining isn’t always about dealing with the kids’ tenuous grip on civility. At least not directly. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of parental weariness, or adult surliness, and the need to go somewhere the kids won’t mind, and where we won’t be required to be on our best behavior…
Friday Night: Vince Neil At House Of Blues
I didn’t find out that Friday night’s Vince Neil show was a pseudo-private gig until right before he went on. A company in town had hired the Motley Crue frontman for a party and decided to sell tickets for the event, to make up some cash against Neil’s fee. Which…
My Fair Lady from Masquerade Theatre: Abso-blumin’-lutely Loverly
The setup: By George, Masquerade Theatre’s done it! The crown jewel of Broadway musicals — one of its most renowned and beloved — receives a setting worthy of Tiffany. Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s legendary musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s most magical and popular play, Pygmalion, has been…
Six Surprisingly Sexist Television Commercials From Way After the Mad Men Era
By now, most of us have seen the new commercials for Dr Pepper’s new product line, Dr Pepper 10, a diet drink which, ostensibly, tastes better than Diet Dr Pepper thanks to whatever’s in those ten measly calories (our theory: brown sugar and wormwood). Of course, every advertiser knows that…
Xaiver Rubio, 17, Bayou Body Count No. 178
An altercation on the far southeast side ended in murder Friday night, police said. Xaiver Rubio, 17, was shot after a sidewalk argument. His brother, Ruben Rubio, 22, was injured but is expected to survive. The suspect, Johnathan Anthony Franklin, 22, escaped and is on the run. The incident happened…
Comment of the Day: Deer Hunting Blues
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…
4 R-Rated Films We’re Missing in Theaters Because a Studio Insists on PG-13
Look, we’re not that kid who went around screaming about how movie studio executives are a bunch of shivering wusses afraid of blood and their own erections anymore. We understand that a lot is riding on films, especially big-budget releases, and the difference between an R-rating and a PG-13 may…
Marcos Juarez, 18, Bayou Body Count No. 178
A second teenager was gunned down over the weekend, Houston police say. Marcos Juarez, 18, was shot Sunday afternoon on the southwest side in a drive-by shooting, HPD said. Juarez was standing outside when a man pulled p in a pick-up truck and shot him about 2:30 p.m. in the…
10 Things You Need To Grab At Black Friday Record Store Day
While your other shopping contemporaries are slashing each others’ throats at Walmart and Best Buy for $20 plasma televisions and six Blu-Ray players for $5 on Black Friday next week, why not sleep in and head up to your favorite local record store and fight other music nerds for limited…
Top 5 Bicycle Accessories That Need to Be Invented
Have you heard that they’ve started to make USB ports for bicycles, which allows mobile devices to be charged while riding? Put technology to better use, we say, with these five inventions that should be on some smart person’s drawing board. Houston’s bike messengers as well as Bayou City bike…
Where Are We Eating?
I scream, you scream, even the owner of this mobile eatery screams for its signature product. Just call it one of the few positive side-effects of La Niña: it’s ice cream weather all year long. Think you know where we’re eating? Leave your best guess in the comments section below…
Cougars and Mustangs, Orange and Sugar, BCS Comes Calling
See pics from ESPN GameDay at UH in our slideshow. Maybe it was the stadium packed to the gills before kickoff. Maybe it was the excitement and energy of Senior Day. Maybe it was ESPN’s Lee Corso letting loose with a profanity as he picked the Cougars to defeat SMU…
This Week in Deliciousness
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we promise never to have a talking anthropomorphic food item as our mascot. You know the fates those cutesy little M&M’s and Chips Ahoy are resigned to, don’t you? They will die screaming in someone’s gnashing maw. Yummy?…
Tevin Marks Will Shoot Bar Mitzvahs, Weddings & (Police Say) Women Peeing in the Bathroom
Tevin Marks, owner of a video company that shoots bar mitzvahs and weddings, has been charged with leaving a hidden camera in a bathroom at a party. The investigation pretty much consisted of viewing the video already in the discovered camera and seeing Marks, 40, hiding it, KHOU reports. The…
Of Leather Diapers, Mulch and the Accessibility of Jay-Z
Earlier this afternoon, a news bit landed in our inbox. It was about Jay-Z remarking (playfully) that his and Beyonce’s baby, the first for both, was going to wear leather diapers. A story, then: Two days ago, Boy B came to me with a proposition. The moving parts seemed simple…
Prospect of $30 Sex with Beyoncay & Cymone Leads to One Murder, One Narrow Escape
Three more suspects have been arrested in the October 16 murder of Luis Vasquez, Houston police announced today. Cymone Anthony, 30, Beyoncay Sade Kesee, 23, Ashtin Johnson, 34, and Martez Levy, 25, all face capital murder charges stemming from an early morning shooting on the far west side, HPD says…
Review: Jack Freeman’s Lynnie Free’s Juke Joint
A little more than a year ago, Jack Freeman, a magnetic underground R&B singer, released an EP called Dark Liquor. Here’s what was written about it here in this space at the time: “It is, in short, excellent; six songs saturated with heart and sexiness and allure and magnetism. If…
Guess the Labels, Win Some Swag
Don’t say we never do anything for you, loyal Rocks Off readers. With Record Store Black Friday next week, we decided it would be a good idea to give you a chance to win some record store swag, but it will take more than good looks and a winning personality…
Unidentified Female, 39, Bayou Body Count No. 177
A woman was shot to death by a man who has turned himself in and faces murder charges, police say. Matthew Hollowell Layton, 26, shot the 39-year-old woman, whose name has not been released pending notification of family members, during an argument about 5:50 p.m.Thursday in the 2200 block of…
Jonestown: Soundtrack for a Mass Suicide
Today marks the day in 1978 that cult leader Jim Jones ordered his followers to drink cyanide-laced Flavor Aid at his Jonestown compound in Guyana. Congressman Leo Ryan had come to the compound to investigate reports of abuse, and even though Ryan stated he planned to report positively on the…
Upcoming Events: Lend a Helping Hand on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is what? It’s next week? Wait, are you serious? If you, like me, are terrible at planning (or knowing what week of the month it currently is), turn to Lauren Marmaduke’s excellent guide to dining out on Thanksgiving Day or ordering a full Turkey Day meal from one of…
Football! This Weekend’s Best Bets: Take the Bullies
Nobody likes a bully. That is, nobody likes a bully unless that bully can win you piles of loot by doing their bully things. And that’s exactly what the gambling gods have continued to bless us with this season. As I outlined last week, if you just rode the four…
Last Night: Aretha Franklin at Arena Theater
Aretha Franklin Arena Theater November 17th, 2011 A grown and sexy crowd filled the room at the Arena Theater last night to welcome the undisputed Queen of Soul to Houston, the lovely Miss Aretha Franklin. Her majesty was escorted down the aisle by her team, not so much to deter…
An Evening with Don Hertzfeldt
You know Don Hertzfeldt. He’s the genius animator behind Billy’s Balloon, where the world’s children are suddenly attacked by their helium-filled companions. More likely you’ve seen his Academy Award-nominated film Rejected, where his trademark stick figures act out a series of fictional advertisements for the Family Channel and birth the…
Last Night: Mac Miller at Warehouse Live
9:55 p.m.: Mac Miller concert. Let’s just get them all out of the way now: Asher Roth, Eminem, Yelawolf, Machine Gun Kelly, Paul Wall, Rich Hill, Aesop Rock, Bubba Sparxxx, El-P, MC Serch, R.A. the Rugged Man… He’s white, get it? It’s cool to be like, “Race doesn’t matter to…
Two Houston Chefs Honored by James Beard House
Being asked to serve as guest chef at the James Beard House in New York City is as high an honor as they come for a professional chef. And now two Houston chefs — each completely different from the other — have been asked to cook at the famed house…
Shayla Rightmire: UPDATED: Shayla Rightmire Killed by Husband; No Charges Filed Yet in Auto-Ped Incident
Say what you will about accused East Texas meth dealer Shayla Rightmire, but you can’t deny that the woman has a code. On her Facebook page, it’s right there, clearly stated for the world to see: Shayla answered Do you support drug testing to get approval to be on Welfare?…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Mark Gabriel Medina of Kata Robata – The Tasting
One of the best things about doing a chef chat is it really allows me to get to know the chef behind the food. Something that may not have come through in Part 1 and Part 2 of Mark Gabriel Medina’s chef chats is his personality. In person, Medina has…
Person of Interest: “He Makes No Friends Who Never Made a ‘Foe.'”
Did I forget to mention there was no Person of Interest last week? Sorry folks (said in my best John Candy from National Lampoon’s Vacation voice), I’m not sure what the deal was with that. They didn’t pre-empt it for the World Series but did for…Thursday night football? Crazy old…
Slim Thug, Paul Wall and Chamillionaire Get Behind the Texans
Slim Thug posted a video today for #ThugThursday simply titled “Houston” that is all about the Texans and he invited Paul Wall and Chamillionaire along for the ride, which we assume is not dirty. The song, which opens with and samples throughout the NFL on Fox theme song (much better…
Comment of the Day: The Day The Astros Died
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…
Nine Charged in Grocery-Store Bank-Robbery Ring; One Still on the Run
Federal prosecutors and the FBI announced the indictments of nine men who they say robbed eight Houston-area bank branches in grocery stores. One of the men, Patrick Wayne Simmons, 27, is still on the run; the others are in custody. Arrested are Marcus Rosemond Tarpley, 30, Anthony Demonde Nowlin, 22,…
A Smiling/Grimacing Scott Weiland Takes You To His “Winter Wonderland”
A few weeks back I applauded Scott Weiland’s Christmas album, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, for it’s charming weirdness. It had his signature raspy Stone Temple Pilots baritone, a modern Bing Crosby vibe, and just the right amount of creep to at least warrant three spins in the…
I’m a Fan: Week in Art 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…
Openings & Closings: Every Day We’re Shuffling
It’s been a busy week to be in the restaurant business, especially if you’re in Montrose. When Latina Cafe closed a few months ago, not many tears were shed over the loss of the little Cuban restaurant — I liked it just fine, but it had gone downhill over the…
Odd Pair: A Favorite Wine for Breakfast
In one of my favorite novels of all time, a character in Kurt Vonnegut’s 1973 masterpiece calls the martini the Breakfast of Champions. And while “morning drinks” like a Tom Collins, a Bloody Mary, or a Tequila Sunrise (my personal favorite) are perfectly acceptable in polite society, a martini as…
Parishioners at Holy Rosary Church Will Hear More About Their Predatory Priest on Sunday
The head of the religious order in charge of a Houston priest accused of molesting eight girls and young women is scheduled to address parishioners at Holy Rosary Parish in midtown Sunday. As part of a confidential settlement between six of the accusers and the Southern Dominican Province of St…
Last Night: Corey Taylor At House of Blues
Corey Taylor has a lot of regrets. He’ll talk openly about them; he’ll avert his eyes at the mention of friends who have passed away; and he’ll even laugh at his own stupidity as he tells stories from his past. But all those regrets have led him to where he…
The X Factor Results Show: Rhythm Method
The X Factor host, Steve Jones, is fast becoming one of the best, most hilarious parts of the show. His comedy is certainly unintentional, and often subtle: a fist pump, a rude comment hurrying the judges along, awkward hugs with musical guest stars (last night’s was Rhianna). He’s great to…
Warren Keith White, 29, Killed at His Supermarket Job, Bayou Body Count No. 176
A man on the southwest side was shot multiple times when he tried to break up a group of men trying to steal his vehicle, police say. Warren Keith White, 29, of Webster, was shot at his Food Town job in the 15600 block of Old Galveston Road about 9…
Last Night: Sting At Verizon Wireless Theater
Sting Verizon Wireless Theater November 17, 2011 Sting gets a lot of shit that Rocks Off has frankly never really understood. Is it the myriad social causes? The way he expected you to know who Chaucer was? The tantric sex thing? We’re not going to sit here and defend absolutely…
Community: I Love the Smell of Guzman in the Morning
“I’m just saying, don’t worship the people leaving Greendale. Worship the people that are here. Worship this place. It changes people’s lives. … This is a special school.” If there’s a theme to this season of Community, it’s that these characters are made for each other. Actually, more than that:…
Health Department Roundup
Today we’re covering everything from a hotel that caters to the 1 percent, or those who likely aspire to be in that class, to a fast food chain that caters to 100 percent of people who like wings and rice. Probably a good 25 percent of those people also enjoy…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
Title: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 That’s Quite A Mouthful If you’re waiting for me to make a cheap vampire joke, it’s not gonna happen. Not Even How Much The Twilight Movies…Suck? I’m done shouting at the rain about these movies, honestly. I know my opinion means…
Love That TURKEY From Popeye’s
I just bought a holiday bird from Popeye’s. Supposedly, it’s one of those “best kept secrets” the chain keeps on the down-low, because they’ve been selling (cooked but frozen) whole turkeys during the holiday season for years now. But have you ever heard of it? My family and I have…
Do the Dynamo Have a Chance Against the Mighty Galaxy on Sunday?
“If you wanna crown them, then crown their ass” — ex-head coach for the Arizona Cardinals, Dennis Green Those words run deep inside the minds of Houston Dynamo faithful, as their team is a heavy underdog to the Los Angeles Galaxy at the 2011 MLS Cup Final (Sunday, 8 p.m.,…
Week in Photos: Chinese Baby Cat Hat
Each week, we take a dip into the Houston Press Flickr pool and see what our talented photographers have been up to. We’re looking for pictures that represent the best of Houston, from food to art to events, to secret hidden spots of beauty. Just drop them in our Flickr…
Record Store Day Contest Coming This Afternoon
When so many Americans will be camping out at Best Buys and fighting over big screen televisions at Walmart, music fans will be sleeping soundly in anticipation of Record Store Day’s Black Friday events. The now annual day celebrating the stores that once carried the weight of music sales is…
For an Otherworldly Experience, Just Head to the HCP
Today, any Joe Schmoe with a decent camera and ability to download Photoshop can manipulate photographs to some eye-catching results. Still, having the right tools doesn’t necessarily mean the skill or creativity is there (for an example, see Exhibit A). It’s the difference between a photo that catches your attention…
Coogs Should Beat SMU; Rice Should Top Tulane
The season has come to this. Two weeks for the Houston Cougars to continue with perfection and reach a goal set this summer. Two weeks for the Rice Owls to gain some redemption for a season gone very wrong. The Cougars acknowledged their possible BCS-buster status this summer. Acknowledged, but…
Three Trends We Love: Spring 2012 Ready to Wear Runway
Femininity reigns on the Spring 2012 ready-to-wear runways: Think lace and feathers, white-whites and bright-brights. In addition to fabrics and colors, the designs and cuts of garments are trending toward feminine as well, with a lot of flouncy skirts and princess seaming. The trends have boomeranged from menswear-inspired cuts to…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 5 Bar Food
For the next 20 weeks, we’ll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year’s winner is no easy task. We’ll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants…
Game Warden Tricks 9-Year-Old into Ratting on Dad
The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s weekly round-up of game-warden activity is always entertaining, and it’s written in a lively style most law enforcement agencies abhor. One of their most recent items was headlined “Wife bags her first buck…Not!” and it gleefully told the tale of…getting some young kid to…
The Astros Are Heading to the Promised Land — The American League!
As a major league sport, baseball has always done a fairly good job of keeping itself relevant throughout the calendar year. (Football is the king of year-round relevancy. Basketball is the court jester. Baseball lies somewhere in between.) November is normally a fun baseball month because the awards for the…
Occupy Houston: Some Arrests Made As Traffic Is Blocked
Above is a screencap from KTRK’s helicopter coverage of an Occupy Houston protest at the north end of town. Several arrests have been made, peacefully, for blocking traffic. Right now things look to be relatively calm. Occupy Wall Street protests have heated up in other cities today and this week;…
Southwest Freeway Should Be Entirely Aggravating This Weekend
The Southwest Freeway near Kirby can often be a mess, but that condition will be all but guaranteed this weekend. Major repairs are scheduled, resulting in multiple closures. Let’s let TxDOT give you the ugly details: Starting Friday, November 18 at 9 p.m. until Monday, November 21 at 5 a.m…
RIP Joe Gracey, Austin Media Giant
Another Austin music legend, Joe Gracey, passed away this morning of cancer complications. He was 61. When Lonesome, Onry and Mean arrived in Austin in June, 1973 after having worked in radio in West Texas, Gracey immediately became our hero. A disc jockey at the notorious KOKE-FM, Gracey and cohort…
Pierson & Company Bar-B-Que Likely Not Closed For Good
UPDATE: J.C. Reid reports from Twitter: “Talked to Clarence Pierson. Still recuperating from 2x knee replacements. He vows to be back! Hopefully after holidays.” Our phone breath must smell bad, but we’re just glad that Reid spoke to Pierson and has good news to report. Earlier this year, local food…
ESPN’s GameDay Is Almost Good to Go at UH
The truck has arrived, there will be a 6 p.m. pep rally at Cougar Village with University of Houston football players tonight, and, beginning tomorrow morning, GameDay will officially be in the house at UH’s Third Ward campus for the game between the Cougars and the SMU Mustangs. According to…
Playbill: What’s In The DNA Of Titan Blood?
I get a lot of local music across my desk, mostly defanged and bloodless. Things that I feel an obligation to enjoy, an act which is starting to take it’s toll on a soul. I’m too nice to say something sucks because something-something social contract. Cool story, bro. Like James…
Shocker: Buying “Commemorative Gold Coins” Not Sure-Fire Moneymaker
A company behind some of those inescapable ads hawking commemorative gold coins as good investments will reimburse customers $5 million because the coins aren’t really good investments, the state’s Attorney General’s office announced. U.S. Money Reserve Inc., an Austin-based commemorative coin marketer that does business as U.S. Rare Coin and…
14 Notable Female Rock Drummers
Last week, we rounded up a list of our favorite female rock bassists. We’d like to continue the trend of honoring rock’s finest females, by next recognizing 14 notable female rock drummers. As usual, we will focus on the live-performing, touring drummers over time, rather than studio musicians…
Staying Sane at Owl Bar
The best thing about Owl Bar is that it doesn’t feel like it belongs. A couple of years ago, when Mugsy’s occupied the same space, it would have been a little more at home in its neighborhood. Upper Kirby has since come up in the world, though. Standing on Owl…
Tina Marie Arie’s Hummer Heard Round the World
We report, the world reacts. That’s pretty much what has happened in the days since we helped the Montgomery County Police Reporter break the story of Howard Keith Windham and Tina Marie Arie and the cop-car hummer heard ’round the world. Here’s a portion of what people on three continents…
Blood Is Thicker Than Blood: Bella and Edward Lock It Down in Breaking Dawn-Part 1
The single advantage the awful Twilight movies have over Stephenie Meyer’s awful-but-gripping novels is that, unlike the books’ sad sack, movie Bella Swan is a spiky, populist heroine. On film, Kristen Stewart beautifully underplays (or, for all I know, overplays to the absolute peak of her abilities) Bella’s deadpan ordinariness,…
10 Thanksgiving Wines (That We Actually Drink)
Yes, folks, it’s that predictable time of year when everyone posts their Thanksgiving wine recommendations. Among the literally hundreds of blogs and feeds that I follow, one of my favorites this year was Eric Asimov’s “What Can I Drink at Thanksgiving Besides Wine?” There are a gazillion interesting posts out…
The 2011 Houston Press Music Awards Ceremony In Moving Picture Form
Here’s a quick recap of some of the winners and performances from Tuesday night’s Houston Press Music Awards ceremony. Crank it up. No, seriously, turn the volume up, the video is kinda low. Once again, thanks to everyone who voted, performed, and supported the showcase and awards this year. Looking…
It’s Official, Houston: You Live in an American League City Now
Pretty much as Peter Gammons called it last month, Major League Baseball owners have approved the sale of the Astros to businessman Jim Crane, and the move of the team to the American League. The move tosses away more than a half-century of tradition: The Astros have been in the…
Top 5 Reasons Why Classical Music Is More Punk Rock Than Punk, Avant-Garde Jazz, Metal and Noise
Art Attack cares a lot about classical and choral music. (The Houston Symphony as well as Cantare, for instance.) Sadly, it seems as if we’re in the minority. A similar interest/disinterest among the masses also seems to apply to punk rock, free jazz and experimental music. However, there are probably…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Mark Gabriel Medina of Kata Robata
Yesterday, Kata Robata’s Chef de Cuisine, Mark Gabriel Medina, told us about growing up on fine dining in Southeast Asia, and serving President Bush Senior sushi at Houston Country Clubs. Today, we talk to him about his role Kata Robata, working with his predecessor Seth Siegel-Gardner and Executive Chef Manabu…
Arthur Davis Brown, Speeding Down Highway, to 911: No, My Wife’s Not in the Car, She’s on the Car
Arthur Brown was living in Houston with his wife when they ran into some domestic trouble, so he took their kid and moved back to his home in Diboll. She followed, with her father, and they confronted him. Things happened, leading to this classic 911 exchange from Brown as he…
Ace Frehley’s Wild Rocket Ride
No Regrets by Ace Frehley with Joe Layden and John Ostrosky 320 pp., $26, Gallery Books Even by standards of ’70s hard rock excess, original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was out of this world. In this breezy, buzzy, and debauched memoir, The Spaceman takes readers on a rocket ride through…
The X Factor: Rock Night, Now with Less Rock
Last week on The X Factor: I was in Alaska and when I got home, my parents (our dogsitters) had erased the episode from my DVR to make room for Dancing with the Stars. After berating them, I consulted the Internet, which informed me that Houston’s Stereo Hogzz were ousted…
Lebanese Queso and More at the Fabulous New Phoenicia Downtown
I feel almost obligated to turn in my Texan card for saying this, but the “queso” I enjoyed at the MKT Bar (1001 Austin) inside the new downtown Phoenicia grocery store earlier this week was better than any Tex-Mex queso I’ve ever had. This has troubled me as much as…
Scarlet Spider (That’s Spider-Man’s Clone, Yo) Lives in Houston in New Series
Marvel Comics is launching a new series in January based on the adventures of the Scarlet Spider, who is a clone of Spider-Man. The Scarlet Spider, a dude named Kaine, has Spidey’s DNA but none of his nice features. As a supporting character in the past he’s been seen as…
Eat It: Houston Rappers Love to Write Songs About Eating
One thing Houston rappers are proficient in-besides rapping great-is eating well. Many of the more influential artists were/are big and fat: Fat Pat, Big Pokey, Big Moe, Big HAWK, Big Mello, and Big Steve. Even DJ Screw was a husky man. That’s not to say that their weight was ever…
Build-A-Bar: Bärenjäger Honey Liqueur
A few days ago on Twitter, I commented on the strange turns my job has taken of late, migrating into areas that fall outside of my actual job description by a good margin. My friend Phaedra and I joked back and forth about it for a while, offering our lists…
Win the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection
Looney Tunes, we admit, have always been a favorite of Art Attack. So when we heard the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, Volume One was coming out on Blu-ray, we were thrilled. When we heard that the Houston Press would be handing out copies as prizes, we were super-thrilled. Then we…
Walter’s Finally Has New Digs: Roky Moon Christmas Gig Announced
Now you can all stop asking us on Twitter: Walter’s On Washington has found a new home, at 1120 Naylor, right behind DiverseWorks, according to a flyer and press release sent to us this morning. A Roky Moon & BOLT! holiday show set for December 25 featuring the Manichean and…
Seven Arrested with 1,600 Pounds of Pot
Seven men have been arrested and 1,600 pounds of weed taken on the northwest side of town, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says. The men had transported the weed from the Rio Grande Valley to the 13200 block of Reeveston. They unloaded it there and reloaded it onto two vehicles, not…
Five Crazy Rapper Fashion Trends
Rappers are known for setting trends with their signature fashion styles. Some of these ideas are utterly outrageous and scream “Pay me attention!” Other eye-catching trends are worn by rappers to send out a message to fans. The latest “trend setting” rapper is Dallas based rapper Dphil Spanglishman, a straight…
American Horror Story: Dead Babies and Fun with Genitals
We should probably point out that those two things — dead babies and fun with genitals — are mutually exclusive. Even this show doesn’t go quite that far…yet. To be perfectly honest, a whole lot of exciting nothing happened this week on American Horror Story. The scares are light, though…
Ingredient of the Week: Prosciutto
What is it? Pronounced “proh-SHOOT-oh,” prosciutto is a thinly sliced Italian dry-cured ham. The uncooked version highlighted today is called prosciutto crudo (the cooked kind is prosciutto cotto). The most revered cuts of prosciutto come from the northern and central regions of Italy (hence the famous mildly nutty prosciutto di…
This Weekend’s Via Colori Bands Include Sideshow Tramps, Roky Moon, Ben Wesley And Many More
This Saturday and Sunday at Sam Houston Park Downtown, the Via Colori Street Painting Festival once again marries professional and beginner sidewalk chalk artists with some of the best bands that Houston has to offer sound-tracking the event. For two days, the concrete in the park transforms into a labyrinth…
Blissful Chef Christy Morgan Chops It Up In Houston
Vegan chef and book author Christy Morgan has been taking her food philosophy all over the U.S. “I want people to know that food is very powerful,” Morgan said. “That cooking healthy is easy and doable.” This past Friday the chef stopped in Houston to give a cooking demonstration, tasting…
Free for All: Art Without a Price Tag
Start your weekend off at the Friday opening of the “This Is for You” show by Darcy Rosenberger, one of four exhibits opening at the Lawndale Art Center. Rosenberger uses lots of mediums in her work, from paper to installation, drawing, video and sculpture. One piece, Untitled (seen above), is…
Comment of the Day: Oh, NOW I Get It
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: Twilight: Breaking Dawn: Part 1 Recapped with Animated Gifs
I was up against it last night, y’all. Home with the kids all day, then a movie screening, and then up into the wee hours trying to write something for today’s Pop Rocks. Fortunately, the screening in question was for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. Not because…
Pop Rocks: Summarizing Breaking Dawn – Part 1 with Animated Gifs
I was up against it last night, y’all. Home with the kids all day, then a movie screening, and then up into the wee hours trying to write something for today’s Pop Rocks. Fortunately, the screening in question was for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. Not because…
Eliseo Gonzalez Jr.: 300,000 Child-Porn Images Weren’t “Perverted”
Federal investigators were looking into a members-only web message board dealing with child pornography and noticed one enthusiastic user named “panchovilla.” They eventually traced panchovilla to a Channelview arrest, which happened to be the residence of one Eliseo Gonzalez Jr., 30. Armed with a search warrant, they went to Gonzalez’s…
30 Seconds With Dahvie Vanity of Blood on the Dance Floor
After taking a moment to mop the bodily fluid from our lap top, we fired off an email to Dahvie Vanity of the morbid electronica masters Blood on the Dance Floor to see what we could bleed out of him in 30 seconds. Rocks Off: What is the worst song…
Old Age Makeup in the Movies: The Good, the Bad and the LOL
If you saw Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar this past weekend, and many of you didn’t since it only came in fifth at the box office to the tune of $11.2 million, then you were forced to look at some of the strangest old age makeup jobs in recent film history…
Of Rattlesnakes and Quinceañeras: Top Chef: Texas
This is the time at which I should point out that I don’t have a DVR and in fact only recently got cable (which is awesome and, whoa, so many episodes of House Hunters!). That means that each week at 9 p.m., I quit whatever awesome thing I’m doing and…
Music Editor Chris Gray’s Heart Attack: The Video
We’ve obtained security-cam footage of the morning when Houston Press Music Editor Chris Gray suffered a heart attack at a Metro light-rail station. Chris is recovering nicely, due in no small part to prompt action by a good samaritan and two Metro police officers. (We wrote before how it was…
Anjelah Johnson
No matter what she does, comedian Anjelah Johnson looks like she’s a cheerleader. A very attractive young woman, Johnson spent a year shaking her pom-poms for the Oakland Raiders, but left them behind when she figured out that being funny paid better. Trouble is, when she walks on the stage,…
Houston Via Colori ® The Street Painting Festival
Nine of the country’s best street painters will be among the 200-plus artists gathering at Sam Houston Park to produce pastel chalk masterpieces for the Houston Via Colori® The Street Painting Festival. Among them are Houston’s own Anat Ronen, Los Angeles’s Julio Jiminez and Coral Springs’s Betty Dominguez. Planned works…
Kriegie Wartime Log
Gingerhead Productions brings us a story about survival in the worst of wartime circumstances with the play Kriegie Wartime Log. Based on the WWII journal of 2nd Lt. Warren Arieux, an American bombardier, Kriegie takes us to Barth, Germany, in 1944. That’s where Arieux, Gingerhead’s founder and Brandy Holmes’s grandfather,…
Cultural Feast: Shaken or Stirred? The Chemistry and History of the Cocktail
Taste a bit of New Orleans at the Cultural Feast: Shaken or Stirred? The Chemistry and History of the Cocktail. Culinary historian Merrianne Timko discusses the origins of today’s most popular cocktails (big surprise, the majority come from The Big Easy), while master bartender Richard Middleton takes care of the…
Breaking Dawn Feast
Forget William and Kate, the real wedding of the year is Bella and Edward’s nuptials in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. To celebrate, the Alamo Drafthouse at Mason Park is hosting The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Feast, a special dinner for Twi-hard revelers. The lavish four-course feast…
Invisible Lines: Up Against You: The Sordid Path of Debra Matthes
The new poetry performance group Invisible Lines makes its debut with Up Against You: The Sordid Path of Debra Matthes, based on her 2003 chapbook of the same title. “She’s a really incredible poet; her words carry a strong, emotional punch,” says show director Bucky Rea. “It’s a really good…
“Drawn Out Death”
Talento Bilingüe de Houston will be gathering together work by more than 70 different artists as part of its Día de los Muertos celebration in an exhibition called “Drawn Out Death.” It’s no surprise that each of the many works deals in some way with death or mortality. Mediums on…
Houston Beer Week Beer Dinner and Brewer Q&A
The Alamo Drafthouse is tapping into the popularity of craft brewing by hosting Houston Beer Week Beer Dinner and Brewer Q&A. Brewers from four companies — (512) Brewing Co., Karbach Brewing Co., No Label Brewing Co. and Southern Star Brewing Co. — will be on hand to present a variety…
My Fair Lady
Eliza Doolittle, the much-loved Cockney flower girl from Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s musical My Fair Lady, is singing her way across the boards at the Hobby Center today. Eliza’s tender story is based on Pygmalion, a play about class warfare by George Bernard Shaw. In My Fair Lady,…
Bill Moyers
Journalism icon Bill Moyers has spent his professional life lifting the lid off of major news stories, both in print and on television. The 77-year-old veteran newsman already has 30 Emmy Awards, but he shows no signs that he’s planning to slow down. He’s already working on a new weekly…
Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini was a New York Times bestselling author while still in his teens. His first book, Eragon, was published by Knopf in 2003 and became an immediate success. Inheritance, released earlier this month, is the fourth and final book in the series. Reportedly, Paolini’s goal was “to make sure…
8th Annual Houston Championship Chili Cookoff
It’s time for the 8th Annual Houston Championship Chili Cookoff at Trader’s Village, where cooking teams from all over Southeast Texas will come together to compete for top honors. Awards are handed out in four categories: Open Chili, Open Beans, People’s Choice and Showmanship. For a $5 donation to the…
Psophonia Dance Company: New Pulse
Psophonia Dance Company Co-Artistic Directors Sonia Noriega and Sophia L. Torres handed choreography duties over to several past and current company members for the group’s upcoming performance, New Pulse. Company member Emily Bischoff presents Shenanigans. “Her idea was that you constantly have numerous things going on in your mind, trying…
Memoirs of the Sistahood: Chapter Three: Ave Maria
Growing up in a Catholic family in Louisiana has provided the Beaullieu sisters — choreographer Becky Beaullieu Valls and sculptor Babette Beaullieu — with plenty of material for their Memoirs of the Sistahood, a humorous multimedia performance series. The sisters worked with filmmaker Deborah Schildt for the newest installment in…
Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles
The story goes that when he was six years old, Ralph Castelli saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and decided what he wanted to do for the rest of his life — namely, play drums. But for the past 27 years, Castelli has gone beyond that with even…
A Lonely Place to Die
The breathtakingly barren mountains of Scotland make the perfect setting for the British thriller A Lonely Place to Die. Hauntingly poetic, the film is the story of a group of rock climbers who discover a little girl buried in a box out in the wilderness. As soon as they rescue…
Emanuel Ax plus Tchaikovsky 3
If you’ve shied away from classical music because you’ve found concert halls too stuffy, the Houston Symphony’s new Friday ACCESS series is just for you. Kicking off with Emanuel Ax plus Tchaikovsky 3, not only does the ACCESS program have an earlier start time and no intermission, Miles Hoffman, well-known…
Corey Taylor
Corey Taylor is known for being the daddy of all Maggots in Slipknot as well as the subdued and earthy voice of Stone Sour, but on this tour, Taylor steps away from the masks and trappings of a big rock spectacle for an evening of acoustic cuts and a spoken-word…
Sting
There are some artists who can’t escape their past, no matter how hard they try. Paul Simon is inextricably linked to Simon & Garfunkel. Robert Plant will always be the tousle-haired, bare-chested vocalist of Led Zeppelin. John Fogerty will never fully put Creedence Clearwater Revival behind him. And Sting, despite…
Vince Neil
You have to give it up to Vince Neil, and not just in that way. When the man isn’t fronting Mötley Crüe on the random hits tour, like the one that hit Houston back in June, he makes sure to sate fans who don’t want to pay Tommy-Nikki-Mick arena prices,…
The Jayhawks
The average music fan knows the Beatles and the Rolling Stones are responsible for influencing countless artists that followed them. But, few recognize there is a fairly long list of more obscure bands and musicians like Big Star, Jellyfish and Tom Waits who were responsible for the emergence of countless…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Book Report,” “If you didn’t get to Austin to see the Texas Biennial,” “Insperity Golf Experience,” “Katja Loher: Multiverse,” “Matt Magee,” “New Formations: Czech Avant-Garde Art and Modern Glass from the Roy and Mary Cullen Co
“Book Report” As the electronic word slowly usurps the printed word, books are becoming increasingly fetishized. “Book Report,” organized by Kinzelman Art Consulting in the lobby of the Bank of America building, brings together a host of book-related works. Given all the recent bank bailouts (and my personal animosity towards…
Korn
Coming off 2010’s Remember Who You Are, an album that front man and vocalist Jonathan Davis called “simple,” Korn is back. This year, the group will be making a stop in Houston at Verizon Wireless Theater in support of their tenth studio album, The Path of Totality. Drawing a stark…
Texas on Washington
The night before Halloween was fairly quiet at benjy’s, despite its location on Washington Avenue. Two Hamburglars — one male, one female — sat at the bar, sipping pints of beer, while a woman dressed as a Rubik’s cube ambled around semi-awkwardly in search of her friends. They were upstairs,…
MasterMind Awards 2012
Nominations are now open for the fourth annual MasterMind Award competition honoring the best in Houston arts. Once again, the Houston Press is looking for artists of all types who are changing our creative and cultural landscape in the Houston area. Past honorees have included chefs, members of the visual…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Cosi fan tutte, Dear Santa, Speed-the-Plow, There Is a Happiness That Morning Is, When the Day Met the Night (a moosehunt experience)
Così fan tutte Among all of Mozart’s splendid operas, perhaps Così is most special, because it has taken the most lumps, molding in the closet after its 1791 premiere for more than one hundred years and then bowdlerized when it later infrequently appeared. Hard to believe that a work with…
Failure Breeds Success
“I don’t think about the home where my films will land,” says Alexander Payne, free-range in a film culture fenced off into art house and multiplex, to the detriment of both. He describes the audience that he writes for as “My best friends and myself…Then your luck in your career…
Fantasy Island
As life-or-death dramedy, The Descendants poses several important questions: Why has it taken Alexander Payne seven years to follow up on his critically beloved, box-office boffo, Merlot-squelching Sideways? And what has blunted this gifted writer-director’s edge? Payne topped his debut feature, the provocatively obnoxious abortion comedy Citizen Ruth (1996), with…
Texas Tweakers
Check out our slideshow of James Durham’s descent in meth hell. The pride and shame of the Piney Woods city of Lufkin, Texas, are located about a half mile from each other. Just west of the town’s east loop, there’s Abe Martin Stadium, site of many a triumph for the…
Crystal Gayle
Since its inception, Dosey Doe Coffee House has become something of a Branson South, with owner/booker Steve Said specializing in high-dollar legacy acts like Larry Gatlin, Pam Tillis and other faded stars. The club certainly has pulled a nice coup in luring Crystal Gayle to The Woodlands. Gayle hasn’t had…
Apology (?) for Anti-Gay Slur
POLITICAL ANIMALS Apology (?) for Anti-Gay Slur HISD trustee kinda sorry for flyer By Richard Connelly Houston school board member Manuel Rodriguez barely eeked out a re-election victory this week, despite — or maybe because of — putting out an anti-gay flyer at the end of the campaign. As we…
Why Is Mexico Such a Dump?
Dear Mexican, Why is Mexico such a dump? Just to name a few of the problems: stray dogs running all over the place, piles of trash burning in the street, blown out tires hanging from cactus by the side of the road, shredded plastic shopping bags plastering every fence in…
Showcase Showdown
Saturday’s Houston Press Music Awards Showcase was spread out, with 50 bands playing over five areas and some 11 stages, which meant most of our photographers and writers were stationed at one location for most of the day. Our team circled the venues with the help of a few shuttle…
Here to Stay
If “Tuba Phil” Frazier, the founder and leader of the Rebirth Brass Band, hadn’t taken to music in his junior high school marching band, he’d probably be working in government. “I got a degree in public administration from University of New Orleans, so I had options if this hadn’t worked…
Holidays with the Folks
Where would theater be without family? This great fount of inspiration, conflict and character building (or warping) flows from drama’s very heart, starting with the original dysfunctional family, that of Agamemnon. Just in time for Thanksgiving, two such examples remind us yet again of the unfathomable power of moms and…
Aretha Franklin
Following a “mysterious surgery” in January, rumored to be for pancreatic cancer, Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, has resumed touring. It’s been 50 years since the precocious 18-year-old gospel singer recorded her first single for Columbia Records. Since that time, she has racked up 20 Grammy awards and had…
Melt Banana
Though renowned among fans of bizarro punk rock in the West, Melt Banana is still somewhat unknown in its home of Tokyo, where J-pop still reigns supreme. Early in their career, the members of Melt Banana heard the No New York compilation, and it sparked their collective interest in taking…
