Worker Sues BP Over Handling of Algerian Terrorist Attack
An American worker who survived a 2013 terrorist attack at an Algerian BP plant is suing the oil giant in Harris County District Court for $100 million, saying BP did not disclose security threats to employees or increase security at the plant. Steve Wysocki’s suit is the third Houston complaint…
Stray Horses Wander Onto Busy Houston Highway During Rush Hour, One Killed
It’s pretty common, albeit terribly unfortunate, to see stray animals — usually dogs or the occasional cat — make their way across busy Houston highways, stranded in the middle of traffic as terrified onlookers whiz past. Rarely are those stray animals horses, though. But that’s exactly what drivers in Northwest…
Houston Nonprofits Get Windfall From Millionaire’s Will
A bevvy of local organizations, including the Houston Parks Board and Trees for Houston, will receive $308,000 each, after a state probate judge approved the settlement of businessman James Martin Hill Jr.’s estate. Hill, who “established a successful home building company,” died in 2010, but an agreement over the distribution…
The Hidden Treasures of the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden
Tucked away next to a parking lot, a remarkable collection of majestic sculptures by internationally famed artists is on display behind attractive stone walls in an open-air park. It’s the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden, designed and created by Isamu Noguchi, himself a…
Fashion Houston Finale Full of Glitz, Glamour and Surprises
The rain would not deter the Fashion Houston crowd Friday night as the annual event came to a close. The cloudy weather cleared up just in time for the red carpet as the crowd filed into the theater to grab their seat and get ready for the runway action…
Embarrassing Emails Filed in Legal Battle Between Galveston County Commissioners and Judges
Galveston County Judge Mark Henry sure knows how to spice up dull legal dispute over the hiring and firing of court staff. Mix in some backroom sniping, a bit of rumor-mongering, and just a hint of public sex and you’ve got the awkward mess that’s now before the state’s First…
Review: KUU Needs to Work on Consistently Good Cooking, but the Seafood Is Wonderful
The kanpaccio, a word play on “carpaccio” and “kanpachi,” or mature amberjack, is a dish that delights every taste bud. Rich slices of fish, shaped into rosettes, gather a bit of heat from small green slices of fresh Thai pepper before being bounced back and forth between the salinity of…
Rockets Recap: Team Defense Keeping Rockets on Winning Track Despite Injuries
Record Since Last Recap: 2-1 MVP Since Last Recap: James Harden Best Win Last Week: Mavericks Toughest Loss Last Week: Lakers Current Record: 11-3 On Saturday night, there was a sequence of plays that represented the antithesis of what people thought about James Harden’s defense last season. Not only was…
10 Silly Reasons to Move to Houston
There are lots of reasons to move to Houston that make perfect sense. If you work in oil and gas, you can double your lifestyle with high paying jobs and a low cost of living. It never snows here, we’ve got culture coming out of every orifice, a professional team…
A Christmas Carol Becomes an Opera Thanks to a Houston Grand Opera Commission
Until eight months ago, British composer Iain Bell was writing in his bedroom in London. That’s where he did most of his work on the world premiere we’re about to see of the operatic version of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. (He’s since moved to a larger place with two…
Setting New Standards in Stupid: The 2014 Turkeys of the Year
Albert Einstein once said that the only difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. Obviously Einstein didn’t factor the Turkey of the Year, a creature with a seemingly infinite capacity for senseless, ludicrous and ill-advised decisions, into the equation. This has been a remarkable year for…
Faith No More’s Disappointing Return to Music
In 2009, I was a hardcore fan in a state of bliss. I saw Faith No More was reuniting and I probably shrieked like a little girl imagining seeing them perform live. Truth be told, they have long been one of my favorite bands, but given their career trajectory I…
Eat This: Duck Confit Sandwich at Local Foods
Planning some holiday shopping in Rice Village this weekend? Something tells me you won’t be alone. To fuel your retail binge as well as restore your faith in humanity after another crazy shopper snatches that last model on the shelf just as you were obviously about to grab it, take…
Texas Man Accused of Trying to “Destroy” Christian Beliefs for Objecting to Courthouse Nativity Scene
Plastic Jesus is the reason for the season. Well, it’s the reason for the season at one East Texas courthouse, anyway, where a religious battle royal is heating up between Christians and Atheists over some novelty-sized Christmas lawn ornaments. On the lawn of the Cherokee County Courthouse there sits an…
Doctor Who: Just How Many Masters Are There?
Series 8 of Doctor Who has come and gone, and with it a new, and female incarnation of longtime nemesis The Master. The insane Time Lord has been a staple villain since Jon Pertwee’s run as the Third Doctor, and he has stuck around in various incarnations ever since. However,…
Upcoming: Arlo Guthrie, Bush, Cannibal Corpse, Hayes Carll, K Michelle, The Temptations, etc.
2-Bit Palomino: Sat., December 20, 9 p.m., $15. Anderson Fair Retail Restaurant, 2007 Grant, Houston, 832-767-2785. 6400 Party: With DJ LeRoy Peters, DJ Xcess. Sat., January 24, 9 p.m., TBA. Numbers, 300 Westheimer, Houston, 713-526-6551. Acoustic Song Swap: With Gary Braun, Micky Braun, Jason Eady. Tue., December 2, 7:30 p.m.,…
Neil Young Firmly in the Driver’s Seat on Special Deluxe
Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life & Cars By Neil Young Blue Rider Press, 384 pp., $32. Fans of Canada’s Greatest Musical Export were happy to hear that he would be delivering a second, meaty memoir just two years after the well-received Waging Heavy Peace. Take that, Dylan! We’ve been…
New Albums by Classic-Rock Greats…What Year Is It Again?
I miss albums. Not specifically the 12″ dual-sided flat of vinyl that some may envision upon reading that word, but the concept of an album: a cohesive piece of work that, from the first track to the last, is meant to be taken in by the listener in one entire…
Four Controversial Songs by Current Houston Acts
Controversy abounds, as it always has. But we’re reminded more frequently than ever just how confusing our modern-day existence is, what with these phones-turned-newspapers and social-media feeds and such. In Denmark, Santa Claus is apparently a heinous slave owner who dictates his nefarious Christmas plans to someone called Black Pete…
Ryan Mallett Out for the Season With Torn Pectoral Muscle
Last Friday, talk around Houston in football circles was happy. It was optimistic. It was about opportunity. At 5-5, you beat the Bengals at NRG Stadium on Sunday (something the Texans had gotten good at during the Andy Dalton Era, going 2-0 in two home playoff games) and now you’re…
Fish & The Knife’s Owners Close It To Rethink Its Life
Life is full of odd coincidences. I was at brunch with friends on Saturday. We were talking about restaurants, as we often do. One mentioned the Fish & The Knife and asked if I’d ever been. I replied that I had not. “Oh, it’s just awful,” she lamented, “and they…
Catholic Charities Accused of Covering Up Years of Sexual Abuse by Employees
The family of a child who was abused by an employee at Catholic Charities has filed a lawsuit claiming that the charity has a long, troubling history of covering up sexual assault cases. The family of the victim filed the lawsuit last week, naming Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of…
#30DaysInLA: An Exhausting, Red Bull-Fueled Musical Feast
During the month of November, Red Bull Sound Select presented an innovative music showcase in Los Angeles called #30DaysInLA. A different show or event, at a different venue, each night, for 30 nights. The shows include big names such as Juicy J, Chance the Rapper, Cut Copy, and A$AP Mob,…
UPDATED: This Week In Food Events: The Black Friday/Small Business Saturday Edition
Everyone’s gearing up for Thanksgiving, so the beginning of this week is quiet, but the holiday season gears up in a big way on Black Friday. Check out this calendar for dining deals, special beer tappings and more. Tuesday, November 25 Demystifying French Wines Many people find French wine intimidating…
Point Blank at Numbers, 11/22/2014
Point Blank Numbers November 22, 2014 The weather was ugly in Houston on Saturday night, with rolling thunderstorms dumping buckets of rain on the city and keeping a lot of folks indoors for the evening. But if the South Park Coalition could be stopped by a little rain, they never…
Bengals 22, Texans 13: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
At this stage of the season, there are two different flavors of .500 (or around .500) football teams in the NFL. There are the kind who have played hard schedules, have good quarterbacks, and have enough solutions on the roster to eventually win the 9, 10, or 11 games they…
Ho Ho Humbug: The Story of One Man’s Journey Out of Housewares to Elfdom and Eventually Santa’s Throne
For years, New York actor and playwright Scott Burkell got a lot of mileage out of telling stories at parties about the time he worked as a Macy’s Santa. But he never thought of putting it together to make a play because of its similarity to David Sedaris’s tale of…
River Science Expert Says Buffalo Bayou is in Good Shape
G. Mathias Kondolf climbed up the muddy banks of Buffalo Bayou with a small smile on his face. Kondolf, one of the leading fluvial geomorphologists in the world (he’s a river scientist) and one of the most vocal opponents to a method of river restructuring called natural channel design, was…
Dish of the Week: Étouffée
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 sharing a recipe for a Louisiana classic: étouffée (or etouffee) Étouffée (pronounced eh-too-fay) is a popular…
5 Realizations You Come to During Children’s Extracurricular Activities
This past week my five-year-old daughter completed her first season of soccer. It was her first real extracurricular activity, and something we decided she should do after she started being able to kick a ball over my sister-in-law’s house. We found a league highly recommended by a co-worker for kindergartners,…
UH and Rice Survive the Weekend Weather and Prepare to Go Bowling
TDECU Stadium was lifeless on Saturday morning. Perhaps it was the 11:00 kickoff (originally scheduled to kick-off at 2:00 and moved up by the threat of bad weather). Maybe it was the grey, dismal, overcast sky. Maybe it was the stadium that looked to be two-thirds empty. Maybe it was…
North Houston Is Getting Its Very Own DPS Mega-Center Because Standing in Line Sucks
We’re pretty sure there has never not been a line at the Houston DPS offices. All of them. Well, that may change come summer 2015, when the massive new Houston-North Mega Center opens at Dewalt Street and Veterans Memorial on the city’s north side. The project, announced last week, will…
The Nutcracker Returns Courtesy of Houston Ballet
There’s giant mice, a King Rat, toy soldiers that come to life, and Clara who seems a nice enough young girl whirled into a wild post-party night when magic and Tchaikovsky’s music take over the evening’s events. Yes it’s time once again for Houston Ballet’s annual offering of The Nutcracker…
First Taste of Ramen Jin With Ramen in Common
Tucked away in a strip mall on the corner of Westheimer and Wilcrest is Ramen Jin, a cute, trendy ramen shop by owner Brian Chen. Chen had no prior experience making ramen, but he did all the homework, reading cookbooks, going online and experimenting in the kitchen until he found…
The Changing Face of Houston – Alief
Researching various Houston neighborhoods has been an interesting endeavor for me, because while I have watched many of those communities experience huge changes over the last few decades, a few of them are old enough to have undergone really enormous transformations, and a lot of that older history gets buried…
Texans Regress in Loss to Bengals at NRG Stadium
Oh, what a difference a week makes. Last Sunday, the Texans went into Ohio and whopped up on a Cleveland team with a new quarterback and a second string running back. This Sunday, another team from Ohio walked into NRG Stadium and put it to the Texans with essentially the…
Countdown Thanksgiving: Excellent To-Go Side Dishes and More
So, you’ve got the turkey covered for Thanksgiving but you’re still overwhelmed? Focusing on what you really want to cook at home and picking up the rest can save a lot of time and headaches. This handy guide includes suggestions from Houston Press readers and staff. Some of what’s listed…
The 10 Best Texans-Bengals 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…
Caribou at Fitzgerald’s, 11/22/2014
Caribou, Jessy Lanza Fitzgerald’s November 22, 2014 I want to begin this review by showing my respect and appreciation for the crowd that showed up to see Caribou and Jessy Lanza rock Fitzgerald’s Saturday. Not only was this show sold out in advance, but the house was packed even though…
The Five Best Concerts in Houston This Week: Leon Russell, Hell City Kings, The 1975, etc.
Leon Russell House of Blues, November 24 Though he’s not quite a household name, Leon Russell’s gospel-soaked style has infiltrated so much rock and pop of the past 40 years it’s practically a genre of its own. The Lawton, Okla. native has been a go-to keyboardist, songwriter and partner in…
A New Baby Okapi Was Born at the Houston Zoo, and It Wants to Kill Us All With Cuteness
In case you needed an absolute overdose of sugary cuteness today, may we present to you this baby okapi, the Houston Zoo’s newest resident. This as-yet-unnamed baby boy was born at the Houston Zoo November 6, and weighed in at about 40 pounds. He’s the first okapi, or “forest giraffe,”…
Houston Texans: Your Definitive Week 12 Rooting Guide
As a society, we’ve never been more advanced in the functionality we have at our fingertips. Unfortunately, that functionality (which is 98 percent a result of having an app for nearly EVERYTHING on our phones) has made us a little lazy. As one example, Jimmy John’s latest ad campaign touts…
Obama’s Immigration Speech Was A Bittersweet Moment for “Dreamers”
A tinge of disappointment hung in the air at the MECA cultural arts center before the live-stream of President Obama’s immigration speech began Thursday night. A small group of undocumented students and families had gathered to hear the long-awaited announcement that Obama would halt the deportations of some immigrants. But…
The Flu Is on the Rise in Texas, Just in Time for the Holidays
Should you want to avoid some Thanksgiving awkwardness with the family, well, just go out into the general public and touch a bunch of stuff. Flu cases are up in Texas, a bit earlier than normal, according to the CDC, which means there’s still hope for a valid excuse for…
A Thanksgiving Wish: My Dee Dee’s Pie Shop Still Needs Help
Almost exactly a year ago, My Dee Dee’s Pie Shoppe on West Gulf Bank burned to the ground. Owner Bella-Katherine Curtis’s home was connected to the shop as well. It was not insured. Out of 8,000 square feet, 5,000 burned. Looters quickly ransacked the place, taking anything they could that…
Triniti’s New Seasonal Menu a Lovely, Leisurely Taste of Fall
Every meal at Triniti makes an impact. From a dinner with coworkers, to cocktails with girlfriends, to an anniversary brunch with out-of-town family, each meal exceeds the last in both beauty and flavor. We’ve never left the table at Triniti without a newcomer commenting on the lovely décor, and welcoming…
4 Houston Kickstarters That Made Me Quit Writing About Crowdsourcing
For two years, I’ve done a monthly column on local Kickstarters. From the first moment I heard about the crowdsourcing site, I fell in love with the idea. It’s birthed great web series like Video Game High School and the remake of Shadowgate I’d been asking for year after year…
Chrissie Hynde at Bayou Music Center, 11/20/2014
Chrissie Hynde Bayou Music Center November 20, 2014 During “Talk of the Town,” one of the Pretenders’ best-loved songs, Chrissie Hynde pointed up to the seats in Bayou Music Center’s balcony. It was intended to be a nod to the people at the back of the hall, a standard rock…
College and Pro Football: This Weekend’s Best Bets
Normally, this is the portion of the Best Bets post where I complain (or, even on a rare occasion, brag) about how I did the week before. But this week, no complaining and no bragging, and that’s for two reasons. First, I went 3-3 for a second week in a…
The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Wine Fest, Tamales and Free Pizza for Life!
Cigar & Whiskey Dinner @ Sullivan’s Steakhouse Friday, 7 p.m. 4608 Westheimer Enjoy a three-course menu perfectly paired with Herman Marshall whiskey and Padron’s signature 1926 cigar this Friday at Sullivan’s. The extravagant meal — featuring whiskey-paired steak tartare and quail over jalapeño polenta — is $75 per guest (plus…
Rock Star Fashion Designer Tod Waters Scouting a Houston Home for Junker Designs
The name Tod Waters is a familiar one to nearly everyone who had any involvement in Houston’s explosive and legendary music scene in the ’80s and ’90s. Popular for his notorious, insane, and sometimes dangerous theatrical antics with area punk bands such as Spunk – infamous for their over-the-top theatrics,…
A Houston Man Disappears in Gambia, and Officials Don’t Seem to Care
For much of the past year and a half, Juka Ceesay has wondered if her brother was alive or dead. Alhagie Mamut Ceesay, a 39-year-old father of two, and his friend went to their native Gambia in May 2013 to look into investing in a cashew exporting business. A month…
Upcoming Events: Christmastime at Texas Ren Fest and More
Rice Village’s Café Rabelais will be hosting a Burgundy Dinner on Monday, November 24 at 7 p.m. The event will feature an elegant French-inspired meal paired with Burgundy wines from Domaine Manuel Oliver ($95 per person plus tax and gratuity). See caferabelais.com for more details and to make reservations. It’s…
100 Creatives 2014: Jera Rose Petal Lodge, Metalsmith and Jewelrymaker
Jera Rose Petal Lodge, one of five artists currently in residence at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, has been making things her whole life, she says. “I was always really into sewing and would make jewelry with whatever I could get my hands on, but I didn’t think making…
Openings & Closings: Is the Old Stella Sola Location Cursed?
Will there ever be a restaurant at 1001 Studewood Street again? The building, which was originally constructed to house Robert Gadsby’s Bedford in 2008, has sat vacant since subsequent tenant Stella Sola closed in May 2012. There were plans for a while for it to be a second Killen’s Steakhouse…
The 5 Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Samurai Warriors, François Truffaut and More
Seven hundred years of Japanese history and tradition goes on display when the “Samurai: The Way of the Warrior” exhibit opens at the Houston Museum of Natural Science on Friday. Composed of pieces from one of the most important private Samurai collections outside of Japan, “Warrior” includes rare and elegant…
New Double Album? The SPC’s Point Blank Has His Reasons
South Park Coalition rapper Point Blank has done a lot in the past 25 years. He helped found Houston’s first and most important hip-hop clique. He recorded landmark tracks with DJ Screw. He’s shared a label with UGK, and he’s toured overseas. And most impressively of all, he never stopped,…
UPDATED It’s Perfect Football Weather This Weekend
Update 11/21 at 11 a.m.: UH announced this morning they’ve moved kickoff to 11 a.m. due to weather. The weather’s supposed to be wet and stormy this weekend. Just the perfect November weather for college football teams to slip and slide in the mud while dodging puddles on the field…
Houston’s 10 Best Metal Bars and Clubs
10. CECIL’S PUB This West Gray institution is best known for its cheap drinks on Mondays and gigantic, covered patio, but its darkened, Bohemian charm and bitchin’ jukebox have long made it a favorite among Montrose metalheads. Expect to hear a healthy dose of the heavy stuff inside, especially on…
What Is to Be Done About Children of Pop?
Children of Pop has been lighting up the Houston music scene over the past year, hustling the way that dedicated musicians should. Following an album release, Chase DeMaster’s musical alter ego has played countless headlining and supporting slots, sometimes even DJing or hosting a troupe of local acts. And though…
The 10 Best Concerts in Houston This Weekend: From Indian Lakes, Bubble Puppy, etc.
From Indian Lakes House of Blues, November 21 With all apologies to Relient K and Blondfire, can we take a moment to talk about great the new From Indian Lakes record is? Absent Sounds is one of the best records to come out this year, and “Sleeping Limbs” is one…
Local Youth Minister Accused of Sexually Assaulting a Member of Church Youth Group
A former local youth minister has been arrested in New York City, accused of sexually assaulting a young girl at the local church where he once worked. Police in New York arrested 33-year-old Jude Ramdial on charges of sexual assault of a child last week after the local victim reported…
Whitmire and Khator Make Up, Announce Wedding Campus Housing Scholarship
When we last left University of Houston President Renu Khator and state Senator John Whitmire, the latter was chewing the former out over the University’s plan to make it mandatory for most freshmen to live on campus. Whitmire gave Khator such a brutal text-lashing (he called it “one of the…
The Galveston Plague of 1920
While Ebola is the most recent incredibly unexpected disease to show up in Texas, it isn’t anywhere near the most deadly. Long before anyone even knew Ebola existed, the city of Galveston grappled with an outbreak of bubonic plague. When the first few patients started getting sick in June 1920,…
HISD Teacher Who Called Muslims “Goat-Fuckers” Challenges Quanell X Over Racism Accusations
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 controversial HISD teacher who made disparaging comments about…
The Finer Points of Turntable Science, According to DJ QBert
If any ever decided to erect a Mount Rushmore-like monument dedicated to DJs and turntablism, DJ QBert’s face would definitely be one of the chosen few on the side of that mountain. A pioneer of the craft of scratching, juggling and mixing, QBert visited Fitzgerald’s Wednesday night on his “Extraterrestrium…
American Horror Story: Freak Show: The Metaphor Hammer
I can honestly say that “Test of Strength” is the first episode of this season of American Horror Story to honestly and completely bore me. The show has struggled since the death of Twisty the Clown and the brilliance of Edward Mordrake’s ghostly quest. Left without one of the show’s…
Rodeo Outlines New AXS-Based Ticketing System
Officials from the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo and ticketing company AXS explained their new ticketing system to members of the media Thursday morning, saying they hope it will prevent the demand-induced server crashes of recent years as well as help ward off scalpers and ticket brokers. The change, which…
Doc’s Motorworks Westheimer Offers Quality Bar Food and Drink in a Unique Venue
Doc’s, a small chain started in Austin with three locations, has expanded to Houston. Last night, there was a soft opening at Doc’s Motorworks Westheimer with food, drinks and a staff ready to answer questions about their new restaurant. The decor was labeled as a “DYI” aesthetic: Much of the…
Farrell Dyde, Living and Dancing in Today
Dancer/choreographer Farrell Dyde celebrates more than 40 years onstage with Dat is Het: Farrell Dyde Solo Dance Concert. The program takes its title from the Dutch phrase “Dat is het,” which means ‘That is it.’ Dyde came across the phrase in reading a Van Gogh biography. “Vincent was very much…
Buildering: Misbehaving the City
“Buildering” is a word you probably have never heard before, and the same is true of the French word “parkour”, but both these describe overt acts of artistic expression with elements of rebellion against the establishment – a “flash mob” may be a contemporary example. Both have an unsanctioned, “in-your-face”…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Joe Cervantez of Killen’s Steakhouse
After four-and-a-half years at Brennan’s of Houston, Joe Cervantez made a bold move, accepting an executive chef position at Killen’s Steakhouse in Pearland. Yesterday in Part 1 of our Chef Chat, we talked with him about his very early start in restaurants and what it was like to work in…
Be Better Dressed Than the Turkey This Thanksgiving: Ten Outfits for Dinner
Unless you are glamping in Big Bend for Thanksgiving, you will probably need something fancy to wear to dinner next Thursday. Dudes have it kind of easy–a flick of the button and the pants are loose, and ready to accommodate another heaping helping of turkey and stuffing. For the ladies,…
A Sanctuari for More Than Cocktails
More often these days, when I’m looking for a happy hour or a hangout, my thoughts are turning to Triniti. More accurately, I’m seeking Sanctuari, where the food is atypically luxurious for a bar setting…
Matthew Shipp Brings His Free Jazz to Houston, Sitting in With The Core Trio
A lot of tinkerers want to fix Houston’s jazz scene, but Matthew Shipp says there’s no need to break out the toolkit for something that either isn’t broken or requires a larger repair than all the city’s musical handy men and women can muster. “So many players come out of…
Texas Companies are Pretty Awesome About LGBT Equality, According to Report
Even if politicians in our deep red state are lagging behind, it seems Texas businesses know a thing or two about good, old fashioned equality, according to a new report from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Each year, the HRC looks at Fortune 500 companies and top law firms around…
HPD Says Animals Behind Timbergrove Cat Deaths, Finally Returns Remains to Grieving Owners
In the last five years, roughly 25 cats in the Timbergrove/Lazybrook neighborhoods have been ripped to pieces and their remains left on people’s lawns. Many of these cats were people’s pets. Some in the neighborhood believed a person (or persons) were responsible, and although the Houston Police Department was largely…
Songs to Remember #GamerGate By
#GamerGate is dead, and Allah be praised that it is so. Oh, there’s still some twitching, of course. Cockroaches can live a week without a head, I’m told, and the same generally holds true of lame Internet “revolutions.” In the end the whole writhing mess got dragged into the daylight…
10 Best Action Figures Based on Houstonians
I’m an action figure collector from way back in the day. One wall of my room was totally dedicated to various mint-in-box plastic heroes and villains hung from pushpins. It’s not the sort of thing I have the cash for these days, but I recently found out that if you…
The 5 Best Happy Hours Near Highland Village
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…
Phillip Zimmerle Puts Down Love Knife, Adds Cello
Former Love Knife guitarist Phillip Zimmerle has swerved again. A Baton Rouge native with a creative writing degree from L.S.U., Zimmerle has recently been working with his drummer and wife Mary Beth Zimmerle in a new duo called Black Lodge. But Friday night at Khon’s, Zimmerle will fulfill a dream…
Farrell Dyde Solo Dance Concert Dat is Het
Dancer/choreographer Farrell Dyde celebrates more than 40 years onstage with Dat is Het: Farrell Dyde Solo Dance Concert. Modern dance has changed significantly over the past four decades. Dyde concedes that his work has evolved in that time, but maintains its basic goal has remained the same. “In some ways,…
Mozart’s Requiem + Beethoven
Controversy and scandal have surrounded Mozart’s landmark Requiem from the very beginning. An anonymous patron commissioned the work to commemorate the death of his wife. The patron may or may not have been planning to pass it off as his own composition. Mozart died before he completed the score; he…
Skate Night! ICE Rink Opening
The irony’s not lost on Alexandre Hamel that Le Patin Libre, the ice-skating group he founded, is making its American debut in Houston. “We’re doing ice skating in Texas?” he laughs. “We’re going so far south…you wouldn’t think about ice skating in Texas, but we’ll be there.” Le Patin Libre,…
Slade Ham
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 and it was here in H-Town that he had his…
I Want My Man to Prove He’s Divorced. 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! DID I TAKE IT TOO FAR? Dear Willie D: In December of 2016, my boyfriend and…
“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 the wonderful AAAAA98 at the furthest reach, so it dominates from afar. It has a…
“Carole A. Feuerman Solo Exhibition”
Hyperrealism is in full swing at the intimate Octavia Art Gallery, as Carole A. Feuerman displays “Carole A. Feuerman Solo Exhibition.” 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…
Texas Treasures: Fine Furnishings from The Heritage Society’s Kellum-Noble House
Seldom has serendipity been more opportune than it is with the exhibition of 19th-century furniture from The Heritage Society, now at One Allen Center. The furniture is normally displayed in nearby Sam Houston Park, in the historic 1847 Kellum-Noble House, Houston’s oldest surviving residence, which is being renovated. Instead of…
“Texas Visions of an Earlier Time: An Exhibition of Historic Texas Art”
In the very large exhibition “Texas Visions of an Earlier Time: An Exhibition of Historic Texas Art”, 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…
A Cardboard Christmas
Did you ever wonder about the origins of the Christmas carols we sing every year? A.D. Players has the answer to many of these questions with its production of A Cardboard Christmas. Kevin Dean, director of the holiday play, says the show incorporates three things most people use to celebrate…
“Homage to Domestic Familiarity III”
Turning ordinary objects into art was pioneered by Marcel Duchamp, who in 1917 entered a wall urinal in a Manhattan art competition, signed it “R. Mutt” and titled it “Fountain.” As expected, scandal ensued. Almost a century later, this approach is encouraged by the Anya Tish Gallery with a group…
Men in the Landslide
Ruben Östlund makes films the way sociologists devise thought experiments: by posing a hypothesis and thinking fully through its consequences. The Swedish director’s previous feature, 2011’s Play, follows a group of black teenagers in Gothenburg as they blithely coerce a trio of affluent white children to hand over their valuables…
John Connolly: The Wolf in Winter
Novelist John Connolly seems like an awfully nice guy, much too nice to spend all his time writing about hit men, serial killers, perverts and deviants. But he does. With the release of The Wolf in Winter, the 12th novel in his bestselling Charlie Parker thriller series, Connolly continues the…
The Last Metro
Other than his first three movie triumphs (The 400 Blows, Shoot the Piano Player and Jules and Jim), François Truffaut’s most lauded film is The Last Metro (1980), winner of multiple Césars (France’s Academy Award) and an actual Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film. Set in Nazi-occupied Paris, Truffaut’s…
Barber of Seville
Not since 1907, when Richard Strauss’s gyrating nympho Salome got the ax after her one-night-only Metropolitan Opera premiere has such rancor rattled America’s foremost opera house. When the august Met unveiled John Adam’s The Death of Klinghoffer (1991) last month, charges of antisemitism and pro-Palestinian sentiments were hurled at the…
FotoFest Bike Scramble ArtCrawl 2014
Get into gear (pun completely intended) for the FotoFest Bike Scramble ArtCrawl 2014. FotoFest International and ArtCrawl Houston first teamed up in 2010 and are teaming up again to offer Houstonians the chance to see the city’s art from the seat of a bicycle. Jennifer Ward, associate curator and exhibitions…
Confidentially Yours (Vivement dimanche)
Before he became an internationally renowned filmmaker, François Truffaut (The 400 Blows, Shoot the Piano Player, Jules and Jim) was a film critic. His scathing reviews for the influential film journal Cahiers du Cinéma earned him the nickname Gravedigger, and his audacious, idiosyncratic attacks on movies got him banned from…
The 10 Most Quintessential Old Jazz Songs
The best thing about old jazz is how just one good song will serve as a reminder of how brilliantly romantic that time period was. The soulful cry of artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong was just made to intertwine with the rat-tat-tat-tat of crisp drums and and the…
The War Goes Viral in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
Over the first two Hunger Games films, we’ve watched coal miner’s daughter Katniss Everdeen become the pawn, then the pest, of the Capitol, whose President Snow (Donald Sutherland) has enslaved the adults of the 12 poorer Districts and annually commanded that they together sacrifice 24 of their children to likely…
Jon Stewart’s Rosewater Is Outraged, Cinematic and Even Funny
During a 2009 Daily Show interview with Maziar Bahari, the Canadian-Iranian journalist who, earlier that year, had been imprisoned in Iran for 118 days on espionage charges, Jon Stewart said, “We hear a lot about the banality of evil, but so little about the stupidity of evil.” Or about its…
Capsule Art Reviews: November 20, 2014
Carole A. Feuerman Solo Exhibition Hyperrealist art is intended to simulate reality so precisely that the art can easily be mistaken for the real thing, and prime examples are on view at the intimate Octavia Art Gallery. Christina is a life-size sculpture, painted resin, of an attractive, fit woman in…
Capsule Stage Reviews: November 20, 2014
Hänsel und Gretel When Opera in the Heights announced it would perform Englebert Humperdinck’s gargantuan fairy tale — gargantuan in the 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,…
Similarities and Automobile Etiquette
Dear Mexican, Why do Mexicans and gabachos resemble each other so much? Both are very conservative about sex, marriage and family. Both are very Christian, either Catholic or Protestant. Both keep similar attitudes towards immigrants. Both are very patriotic or nationalistic. Both deal with the same social issues like high…
