Local Woman Poses as Teen Girl Online to Catch Alleged Facebook Predator
Acccording to court documents, “Jessica,” a 36-year-old Houston-area woman was creeped out by an acquaintance of hers, 26-year-old Daniel Riekstins of Webster. Jessica had heard that Riekstins’s behavior with underage teen girls was suspicious and that his relationships with some of them had been inappropriate. (None has been proven to…
McCartney In Houston Update: 99 Percenters, Rail It Don’t Park It
I just came back from snooping around the Minute Maid Park grounds to see what was shaking at the ballpark before tonight’s Paul McCartney gig. I even got to sneak in a trip to the Astros team store. All the Altuve jerseys you can handle! There were already a few…
Rick Perry Should Pee in a Cup if the Poor Have to for Benefits, State Rep Joe Deshotel Says
Texas Senate Bill 11 aims to make drug-testing mandatory for all applicants to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. If applicants pee dirty, they would be ineligible to reapply for one year, unless they enroll in a treatment program. The bill would also require that parents who flunked be…
Rice Epicurean Markets Closing Four Locations; The Fresh Market Moving In
A long-running joke with many Houstonians is that no one quite knew how Rice Epicurean Markets stayed in business. Despite a history in our city spanning 75 years, the family-run grocery stores — which were the biggest thing going for grocery shopping when I was a kid, 20 years ago…
A Patio and a Postcard View at The Refinery
It seems as though a new burger joint opens in Houston every week. Whether it’s imports like Denver-based Elevation Burger and Dallas-based Burger House or homegrown concepts like Guru Burger in Sugar Land and JerryBuilt in Bellaire, it’s no longer good enough just to serve a terrific burger. You have…
Cover Story: Mine Fields: Injured Iraq / Afghanistan Contractors Fight to Get Compensated for War Wounds
In the summer and fall of 2004, 58-year-old William Manning was working east of the Green Zone in Iraq. As a labor foreman, Manning, a marine Vietnam vet, was overseeing and escorting other civilian contractors at a work site near the police academy where Iraqi rookie cops were trained. The…
Ringo Starr: A Few Words In Favor of the Other Surviving Beatle
Both the Rocks Off team in particular and (I guess) Houston in general have had Paul McCartney mania for days. You can feel the anticipation for tonight’s show building like the bridge in “I Saw Her Standing There.” But before the show tonight, I wanted to put in a quick…
KCOH, Houston’s Last AM Bastion of Old-School R&B, Is Sold
This post also appeared on our sister blog Hair Balls — ed. Radio is generally in a constant state of upheaval. Witness the lineup changes throughout sports radio and the rise of News92 FM from the ashes of formerly all-news KTRH. There are two FM music stations playing the exact…
Historic Local Station KCOH Sold to Catholic Radio Network
Radio is generally in a constant state of upheaval. Witness the line-up changes throughout sports radio and the rise of News92 FM from the ashes of formerly all news KTRH. There are two FM music stations playing the exact same stuff every day because one was sold and not reformatted…
Reality Bites: Flipping Out
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. Jeff Lewis is a California (well, Los Angeles and environs) real estate investor/designer who buys houses for the purpose of fixing them up for quick resale, or “flipping” as our…
A Crunchy, Low-Alcohol Wine for Thanksgiving from California Naturally
Of the California winemakers who thrill me the most, three of them are bottling fruit grown in California’s El Dorado AVA in the Sierra Foothills — the heart of historic Gold Rush country. They’ve been attracted to the area, they tell me, in part because they’ve found older vines (some…
Here Are 10 Free Beatles & Paul McCartney Flicks to Watch On YouTube
The day is finally here. The stage is set inside Minute Maid Park. The ticket scalpers are getting ready. The oldsters are reminiscing. The youngsters are getting excited. The critics, bloggers, and nerds are brushing up on their Beatlease, and crossing their fingers for their faves. That’s right, we are…
Forget the Rothko Chapel and Meditate in Front of David Simpson’s Calming, Intense Paintings
The early works in David Simpson’s new show at Gallery Sonja Roesch were made in 1982. Though for an artist who has been painting since the late 1950s, “early” in this case is relative. At 82 years old, the San Francisco artist is a contemporary of stalwarts like Ellsworth Kelly…
George Aragon Charged with Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child, is Brought Back From Guam
It took about a month but Harris County Sheriff’s Office investigators finally have U.S. Marine George Aragon back in the United States, specifically in the Harris County Jail on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child. The 22-year-old Aragon was picked up about a month ago in Guam but…
Boxing Lesson’s “Better Daze” Makes Sinister Sci-Fi
Austin’s The Boxing Lesson is a consistently wonderful jaunt through indie music. I usually describe them as, “Radiohead, but you can fuck to it.” Now they’re back with a new music video, “Better Daze,” which follows an invasion of Earth by strange, black aliens. The video comes from the mind…
Get Out! Eat Lunch at Pinewood Cafe
Pinewood Café in Hermann Park has officially become one of my favorite places to have lunch. I love the proximity to my home, the generous amount of indoor and outdoor seating, and the excellent menu. I wrote about them for Fast Times a while ago, and have continued to frequent…
Meet Travis $cott, The Biggest Houston Rapper You’ve Never Heard Of
Asking your typical Houston rap nerd about artists on the verge or in the national spotlight usually circles the same cliched wagon. Normally they’d list off your usual suspects, sprinkle off a couple indie darlings who hang in different sects of the city, all while being very political and not…
Upcoming Taxidermy Auction Comes Just In Time For Christmas
Over off Hansen and Airport Boulevard just miles away Hobby Airport sits Worstell Auction Co., where Mark Thomas and his auction team is working hard to put together a big taxidermy auction set for this Saturday inside a large warehouse on the Worstell grounds. On Friday there will be an…
This Week In Food Blogs: Thanksgiving Breakfast Muffins and Elevated Burgers
Robb Walsh: “Gustavo Arellano’s oft-stated opinion that ‘Tex-Mex is dying,’ has been forwarded to me repeatedly by Tex-Mex enthusiasts,” writes former Houston Press food critic Robb Walsh. “They think I should challenge him to a debate – or a duel. Few people seem to realize that Gustavo and I are…
Houston Kickstarter Round-Up: November: Tabletop Hacking and The Night the Animals Talked
Once a month we’ll be bringing you a look at some of the best local Kickstarter campaigns in order to let you know what’s getting ready to be unleashed through the help of small investors. Data Fortress: Hacking and Tiles Tabletop gaming can be kind of a drag when you…
Happy Birthday Claude Monet: Top 5 Monet Paintings
November 14 marks the birth of one of the art world’s most beloved painters, Claude Monet. Monet was one of the first painters to explore impressionism, which gained popularity in France and Europe in the 19th Century. As art movements go, impressionism has stuck around both in admiration and reputation…
Zapruder Video Analysis Of Drunk, Racist Aggie Fan Starting A Fight In An Airport
In the wake of Texas A&M’s landscape-changing 29-24 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide this weekend, with his fame escalating from “local cult hero” to “full fledged Heisman candidate,” Johnny Manziel and his family began the process on trademarking his catchy “Johnny Football” moniker. Their motivation is clear and commendable…
First Look at Mellow Mushroom, Spring’s Destination for Gourmet Pizza and Craft Beer
At first glance, the sprawling suburb of Spring — whose restaurant preferences seem to run the gamut from McDonald’s all the way to Sonic, with Tex-Mex mixed in for special occasions — might not be where you would pick to open a place known for gourmet pizzas and sandwiches, not…
Rex Brown On Moving On, Kill Devil Hill & Smoking Dope With Dio
To fans, bassist Rex Brown was always a bit like Pantera’s answer to “The Quiet Beatle,” typically overshadowed by the more outsized personalities of his bandmates. Nevertheless, his contributions to the group’s groundbreaking metal groove were undeniable, and as a founding member of the band, he was involved in every…
For Crimes Against the Dancefloor, 5 DJs Enter EDM Kangaroo Court
Like any style of music with more than 15 fans, EDM has its artists that people love to hate. You don’t get to a million followers on Twitter without gathering a few haters along the way, and no matter how many fans you have, it seems like the minority is…
What Do Texas Secessionists, Teenagers and Hibernating Bears Have in Common? A Venn Diagram
Texas once again masterfully thrust itself into the national spotlight yesterday when it became clear that on Monday, more than 51,000 people had signed a petition and sent it in to Washington D.C. saying Texas should say adios to the United States. At issue continues to be the disconnect between…
Abby Koenig’s New Play, Your Family Sucks, Gets its World Premiere at Horse Head Theatre
The idea for the black comedy Your Family Sucks first came to local playwright (and frequent Houston Press contributor) Abby Koenig some ten years ago. When Horse Head Theatre Co. was scheduling its new season, Koenig dusted it off and finished a script for it in three weeks. Horse Head…
El Rey Tacos Fail to Fully Vanquish My Hangover Blues
It is not a coincidence that I’m usually hungover when seeking out food for a Fast Times review. Not only are my defenses down, allowing me to eat fast food (mostly) guilt-free, but only during a hangover do the food groups “greasy” and “salty” have such a positive impact on…
100 Creatives 2012: Macy Perrone, Costume Designer
If you’ve gone to the theater in Houston, chances are you’ve seen costume designer Macy Perrone’s work. She recently worked on Dog Act for Main Street Theater; that show was filled with apocalyptic scavengers that had a steam punk vibe. She also costumed the comedy The Nacirema Society at the…
Monday Night Football Cavalcade Of Errors, Starring Rick Reilly!
Something amazing happened last night during ESPN’s coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 16-13 overtime atrocity win over the lowly Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night. It wasn’t the Chiefs’ miraculously hanging well within the 12 point spread on this game (obliterating degenerate teaser bets everywhere). It wasn’t the Chiefs’ finally…
Say No To Dry Turkey: Top 5 Thanksgiving Alternatives
Thanksgiving: a day full of love, laughter, and some truly great food. It’s one of the best days of the year…as long as you’re not the one making the turkey. Because let’s face it: cooking the turkey is a bitch (okay, so I never had to make it myself but…
Here Are Some Underground Rapper T-Shirts That Someone Should Make
That’s Doughbeezy. You probably know that. Or maybe you don’t. If you don’t, you (probably) will eventually. He’s a hard worker, and a very good rapper. So we made that shirt design. (The writing underneath is a signature line of his, obvs.) Someone please use it to make an actual…
To Order Fish on Mondays or Not: How Valid Are the “Rules” of Ordering in Restaurants?
You’ve heard the old adages about dining pitfalls to avoid: Don’t order fish on Mondays. (It’s all left over from Friday’s seafood shipment, goes the tale, and you don’t want gross, slimy salmon.) Don’t eat the bread in the bread basket. (It’s supposedly recycled from table to table, people say.)…
Ruh Roh! Ten of the Weirdest Gifts for Your Pet This Christmas
Black Friday is nearly upon us, people, and while all those other fools will be out buying flat screen TVs, computers and trampling each other for a $5 DVD player, we pet lovers will be searching for the best possible gifts for our furry little friends. For now, we’ll stick…
Seinfeld’s Most Salacious Episode, “The Contest”, Turns 20
On November 18, 1992, the creators and writers of Seinfeld posed a serious question to Americans, just weeks after they elected Bill Clinton as their new president. “How long can a modern human go without masturbating?” they asked, without even using the dreaded M-word, with more than 22 minutes of…
Is One Halfway Decent Thanksgiving Pop Song Too Much to Ask For?
Not so long ago, Rocks Off was wondering why there has never been a decent pop song about Thanksgiving. Not despairing, just wondering. Apart from all the complete shite, you could fill an entire wing of your iTunes library with quality tunes about Thankgiving’s yuletide neighbor, but Turkey Day itself?…
Harris County Sheriff’s Office Asks For Help Finding Who Killed Coty Beavers
If you are so inclined, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help in finding who killed Coty Beavers, who was shot to death on Monday, November 12 in his apartment. And to sweeten the deal, Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $5,000….
Marilyn Rodriguez, 18, Run Over By Car After Arguing With Friends: Bayou Body Count No. 199
Houston police are investigating the early morning death of Marilyn Rodriguez, 18, who died after trying to get into a friend’s car during a fight with friends. At the same time as Rodriguez was attempting to get into the car, her brother was banging on the back of the car…
Jaque Fields, 18, Died While Comparing Guns With Another Guy: Bayou Body Count No. 198
Eighteen-year-old Jaque Fields of Houston was comparing pistols with another man when one of the guns went off, resulting in his death, say Houston police who are investigating the case. Police said the shooting at 5734 Reed Road occurred about 12:45 p.m. on Sunday November 11. Fields was pronounced dead…
Cold Weather Boozin’: Winter Reprieve Cocktail
Halloween has come and gone and despite expectations, I did not overdo it on brain hemorrhage cocktails. This meant I had some leftover spiced rum. Not a terrible problem to have except for the fact that the sudden cold snap did not put me in the mood for all the…
Lightened Comfort Food: Alfredo Pasta
One of the creamiest dishes I know is pasta with Alfredo sauce. I mean it’s practically cheese, cream, butter and pasta … that’s why it is so good. As a kid, I never liked tomatoes (don’t shun me; I love tomatoes now). So tomato sauce on my pasta was never…
Upcoming: Jeff Mangum, Flogging Molly, They Might Be Giants, Down, etc.
Aaron Watson: Sat., Nov. 24, 8 p.m., $10/$15. Mo’s Place, 21940 Kingsland Blvd., Katy. Action Item, Hello Highway, Before You Exit, Paradise Fears: Sat., Jan. 19, 8 p.m., $15/$17. House of Blues– Bronze Peacock Room, 1204 Caroline, Houston. Always Guilty, Molotov Compromise, Fuska, Gods Of Death Skrew, Ghost Concept, Mannequin…
Airsanity: Lin and the Rockets Struggle with More Than Airballs
I once interviewed MLB writer and former Astro social media maven Alyson Footer for a story about sports radio and she gave me a fantastic quote about the media in general. “The news cycle used to be 24 hours and now it’s 24 seconds,” she told me. The impact that…
Cameron Dorsey Confesses to Murdering His Aunt and Great-Grandfather, Police Say: Bayou Body Count No. 196 & 197
A 20-year-old Houston man has been arrested and charged with capital murder in the deaths of his great-grandfather and his aunt on Thursday, November 8. Cameron Gerald Dorsey is charged in the deaths of Clements Vincent Dorsey, 89, and Barbara Ann Dorsey Alexander, 61, whose bodies were discovered at 8118…
Last Night: Eddie Vedder at Jones Hall
Eddie Vedder, Glen Hansard Jones Hall November 12, 2012 Aging grungers are the new aging hippies. When the first wave of grunge hit in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the world was still rife with greybeards and their old ladies just two decades removed from cultural nirvana. Before the…
Coffee Beans Could Be Extinct In 60 Years; Then What?
If you believe the news from over the weekend that coffee beans are in danger of extinction, you’re probably hoarding all the Arabica you can find today and envisioning a future in which coffee — already liquid gold for many of us caffeine addicts — can be used as delicious,…
It’s Hip to Be Square: Hope Stone and Houston Met Present Squared Dancer
The Set-Up: One November 9 and 10, two of Houston’s most cherished companies joined forces for squared dancer, a highly anticipated collaboration between Hope Stone and Houston Metropolitan Dance Company at the Wortham Theater Center. The program featured new work by Hope Stone Artistic Director Jane Weiner, as well as…
Finally — an Interactive Exhibit of Third World Poverty!
Screw Disneyworld: this year, Hair Balls is forgoing the traditional theme park experience to explore the sights and sounds of abject third world poverty at Houston Baptist University November 14-17. Yep, that’s right: a traveling interactive exhibit by Compassion International, which touts itself as “the world’s largest Christian child development…
Today’s DVDs & Blu-rays: A Duck Dynasty, Season One Give-away and Company
The past decade’s flood of reality programming has brought us more real housewives and paranormal investigators than you can shake an immunity idol at. So when one of these shows demonstrates genuine wit, and the subject family treats each other with (admittedly mocking) affection, you tend to take notice. Enter…
David Sha’s “Her Hair” Is Unapologetically Natural
The other day our dear friend Lisa told Rocks Off a story that really brought emotion and life to Houston R&B artist David Sha’s anthem, “Her Hair,” a romantic cry for African-American women to wear their hair as God intended — natural. The story goes that when Lisa saw Mary…
The Inexplicable Shame of Buying Discount Holiday Candy
One of my favorite Halloween traditions occurs well after the holiday itself: trolling for discount confections. In the days following October 31 I hit drugstores, supermarkets, craft supplies shops, et cetera in the hopes of scoring some reduced-price bags of fun-size Snickers or pumpkin-shaped Peeps. But along with the sense…
UPDATED: Neil Mukherjee Charged in Vanessa Rodriguez Shooting Death
This story is updated with the arrest of a suspect in the case. Houston police homicide investigators have arrested Neil Mukherjee, 20, who is charged with capital murder in the killing of Vanessa Rodriguez, 23, who suffered several gunshot wounds at her home at 8520 Pitner on November 8 and…
Black Friday Dining Deals: Everything Tastes Better on Sale
While you’re going crazy running from store to store to grab the best deals for Christmas gifts this Black Friday, you’re definitely going to be starving for something good to eat. Why not stick with the theme of finding the best deals when it comes to where you’ll eat or…
Justin, Selena and Music’s Top 10 Heartbreaking Split-Ups
By now, we’ve all had a few days to digest the awful, shocking news that North America’s sweethearts, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, have decided to buck destiny and call it quits. We’re not entirely sure how this could have happened, but Obama was just reelected. Clearly, our worst fears…
Doing Penance on Thanksgiving Day, How Screwed up are Americans?
Thanksgiving – that most American of holidays and many people’s (including Hair Balls’) favorite given as it is to sloth, gluttony and hours of mindlessly brain-sucking TV be it parades or football – is also most American in the guilt we’re supposed to feel for enjoying it. How else to…
Pop Rocks: Would The Kevin Clash (of Elmo Fame) Thing Be Easier To Accept If He’d Created One Of These Characters?
UPDATE (5:07 PM, 11/13/2012): Clash’s accuser has recanted and now says he was an adult at the time of the relationship. I heard the news today, oh boy About a puppet man who … took a leave of absence: The puppeteer behind the “Sesame Street” character Elmo has taken a…
The Rocks Off 100: DJ Sun, Builder of Soular Grooves
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. Who? The man who goes by DJ Sun was born in The Netherlands, grew…
The Eating…Our Words 100: Brock Wagner, Godfather of Craft Beer in Houston and Founder of Saint Arnold Brewery, the Oldest Microbrewery in Texas
Eating…Our Words has embarked on a project to profile 100 Houston culinarians of all fields, practices, careers and backgrounds. This isn’t a Best of Houston list, it’s not a 100 Favorites list and it’s not in any particular order. Instead, the Eating…Our Words 100 is a way to introduce our…
Joe Ely at Dosey Doe Conroe: Not Your Average Shopping-Center Show
It has been said that the original Dosey Doe recalls a cozier, more tastefully curated Branson, Missouri. To that comparison I often joke that it’s more like a giant Cracker Barrel or Saltgrass Steakhouse with world-class in-store performances. But Saturday night at Dosey Doe’s new Conroe location (463 FM 1488)…
In the Great Battle Of Comfort vs. Style, Check Out Tsubo Footwear
If you watch enough makeover shows — or if you ever get dressed — you know that one of the greatest dichotomies of fashion is Comfort vs. Style. Every time Tim Gunn (or Stacy London) rolls their eyes at a hopeless fashion case who whines, “But I don’t caaaare about…
Chupacabras, Assault Rifles, and Busting Facebragging Hunters: True Texas Game Warden Adventures
Among crime blotters in the state, two of the best belong to the Lufkin Daily News and the Wise County Messenger. But those are both private sector news sources. Our favorite “socialist” crime blotter comes from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, whose periodic Game Warden Field Notes is must-reading…
Some Real World Techie Advice for Petraeus, His Wife, His Mistress and Cheaters in General
I’m no Dear Abby (she’s shorter than me), but reading the sordid details of the David Petraeus affair and how the whole thing blew up in his face causing him to resign from the CIA helped to confirm the fact that way too many people do not understand technology and…
Top 10 Restaurants in Midtown
Although Midtown may be more well-known for its bars and late-night clubs, there isn’t a shortage of good food to be found — even if the neighborhood is steadily losing many of the Vietnamese restaurants that once saturated the area. In keeping with Midtown’s current incarnation as the drinking-out capital…
Neo-Riot Grrrls: Today’s Top 5 Female Punk Rockers
There have been punk-rock chicks as long as there has been punk rock. That much is true, but what is also unfortunately true is that the genre can all too often be a boys’ club. Consider that emo, an entire genre based around angsty young men bemoaning their troubles with…
Twilight’s Breaking Dawn: Interview with a Cullen
Twi-hards around the globe are preparing for extreme happiness followed by inevitable heartache as Friday approaches. Breaking Dawn: Part Two, the final chapter in the popular Twilight Saga vampire series will be released and fans of the films and novels will have to say goodbye to some of their favorite…
VIDEO: At Creeperfest, Free Beer Wins Every Time
Some time ago, I started noticing shows at something called “House of Creeps” way down off Old Spanish Trail, which couldn’t help but pique my curiosity. It eventually moved to a location across the street from Last Concert Cafe, and Saturday House of Creeps hosted its first-ever Creeperfest, promising dozens…
Houston Chronicle Prez Still Obsessing Transformation to a Top 50 Workplace, Cites Own Special Section As Handy Guide for Employees
John O”Loughlin, president of the Houston Chronicle, was apparently beside himself with bliss after this weekend’s special section on the Top 50 Workplaces in Texas, calling it “stunning.” In an e-mail sent out to the entire Chron staff, he pointed out that not only was this a mammoth, year-long enterprise…
What’s Cooking on Pinterest? Sweet Potato Casserole Biscuits
With the holiday season in full swing, Pinterest has been filled with Thanksgiving and Christmas dishes ranging from stuffing and pies to brunch and breakfast treats. I decided to make these sweet potato casserole biscuits this week to give some ideas to those of us who plan our holiday meals…
Dear Houston, Kindly Shut the Hell Up at Eddie Vedder
Pearl Jam lead singer and everything advocate Eddie Vedder pulls into Houston today for a two-night stand at Jones Hall, making up two shows he had to cancel back in the spring due to injury. Singer-songwriter Glen Hansard will also be on hand to open both shows, and he even…
Daily Juice CEO John Martin on Expanding Into Houston and Beyond
If you’ve spent any time in Austin, there’s a good chance you’ve visited Daily Juice. The original on Barton Springs has been making fresh juices from its quirky, rock-covered building for nearly 10 years. A third location on 3rd Street gave the juice bar a facelift when it opened a…
UPDATED: Iceland’s Sigur Ros Make Third Houston Visit April 9
UPDATE (12:30 p.m.): After further research, according to the Sigur Ros itinerary at popplagid.com, it appears they played Verizon Wireless Theater in February 2006 and March 2003. Sigur Ros, Iceland’s most popular musical export apart from Bjork, will play their first Houston show in seven years make their Houston debut…
Alleged Election Night Domestic Assault Has Local Attorney and Obama Fan Facing Felony Charge
An alleged domestic assault on election night has a local defense attorney and marine Iraq vet facing a felony family violence charge. According to court records, David Christopher Hesse was drinking beer and watching election returns with his wife Sandra Hesse in their Clear Lake-area home on November 7. His…
Top 5 Under-$25 Wines for Thanksgiving 2012
My over-arching advice for Thanksgiving wines is to cap your price ceiling at $25 (unless, of course, you’re celebrating over turkey for two with your significant other). Thanksgiving wines should be easy, approachable, accessible. The emphasis should be on drinkability (that’s wine speak for “quaffability”) and food-friendliness. And hey, let’s…
Texans 13, Bears 6: Slugfest Win Just What Houston Needed
See pics: Texans fans celebrate win in chilly Chicago. It seems an eternity ago, but it’s been less than two years since many considered the Texans soft. Led by second-year defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, the evolution is finally complete. The “Bulls on Parade” are now bullying long-established league bullies. “I’ve…
Friday Night: Snow Patrol & High Flying Birds at Bayou Music Center
Snow Patrol, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds Bayou Music Center November 9, 2012 Snow Patrol never quite landed on my musical radar. I’ve heard a few of their songs on the radio – you couldn’t escape “Chasing Cars” in 2007 — but nothing really stuck in my head or made…
Dynamo win 3-1, 90 minutes away from MLS Cup
Maybe it was a case of DC United having the case of the tired the legs; having been on the road since Wednesday in New York. Maybe it was case of pure dumb luck; as the Dynamo escaped a possible red card right before the half. Maybe it was just…
Who Will Be 2012’s Turkey of the Year? Only the Shadow Knows. (Well, and Us, Too, Because We Wrote the Dang Thing.)
Hair Balls had an amazing dream the other night — one of the best dreams we had that didn’t involve us having to immediately change the sheets. In the dream, we had no reason to do our annual Turkeys of the Year issue, for no officials or other prominent Texans…
Texans-Bears: The 10 Best Rapper Tweets
Houston has a professional football team, called the Houston Texans. A lot of people like them; some are rappers. The Internet has several forms of social media; one is called Twitter. A lot of people use it. Some of them are rappers. Like last week and every other week prior,…
Tartuffe at Rice University: Tweaking the Noses of Nobility
The set-up: Any play banned in Paris during the reign of Sun King Louis XIV meant the playwright must be doing something right. With gleeful rapier wit, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (a.k.a. Moliere) tweaked the noses of the nobility, the bourgeoisie, and even those of the lower class. No one’s nose went…
Anthony Bourdain: Not Quite Evil but Still a Badass
We last saw Anthony Bourdain in Houston back in 2010 right after the release of his book, Medium Raw. It was a sold out show befitting of a rock star, and those that came looking for his usual offensive language and utter disdain for Food Network stars and all things…
666 Park Avenue: Please Tell Us What is Going On Already
Many amazing things happened in 1998, Japan launched a probe to Mars, the Second Congo War began, Frank Sinatra passed away and Nona from 666 Park Avenue was born in an elevator at the maniacal Drake building. Now, 14 years later, she is a young kleptomaniac living with her mute…
The Coolest Thing I’ve Ever Found at a Show
As I was leaving the Fun Fun Fun Fest grounds last weekend, I spotted a lost coozie on the ground in front of me. Now, finding a lost beer coozie on the ground is my preferred method of acquiring beer coozies. I almost never pay for them, since I am…
Food Fight: Battle Relaxation Drinks
A drink that makes you relax? Isn’t that called “booze”? That was my reaction when I heard that one of the latest trends in beverages was anti-energy elixirs. As a person who will climb the walls (or the nearest tree) if she has more than two fluid ounces of coffee,…
Reviews for the Lazy Gamer: Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Game: Paper Mario: Sticker Star Platform: 3DS Publisher/Developer: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo Genre: RPG Describe This Game in Three Words: Still Ain’t SMRPG Plot Synopsis: The Mushroom Kingdom is celebrating a sticker festival (Your guess is as good as mine, folks), when the festivities are interrupted by Bowser. Soon, he’s up to…
Pics: Texans Fans Celebrate Win in Chilly Chicago
The Houston Texans had been talking all week about the adjustments they’d have to make playing at Soldier Field in Chicago, well known for not having a roof and being exposed to the elements. With cold rain pouring throughout all four quarters and winds whipping between the goalposts, a number…
First Look at The Burger Guys’ New, Swanked-Up Downtown Location
I’ll be honest: The first thing I noticed when I walked into The Burger Guys’ spiffy new downtown location at 706 Main wasn’t the expanded dining room (which seats three times as many guests than its original Westheimer location) nor the artwork and TV screens that hung from the sunflower-yellow…
A Collection Of Taxidermied Bears On The Occasion Of A Texans Windy City Win
Yes, it’s immature. Yes, it’s kinda wrong, considering Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was hit so hard his moustache flew off and he suffered a concussion and had to leave the game. And yes, it wasn’t a high-scoring game at all and looked for more like a losing Astros score…
Skirting Visual Controversy: 4 Musicians Who Have Pulled Their Own Videos
Recently No Doubt pulled the video for their song “Looking Hot” in response to criticism that it was discriminatory against Native Americans — ironic, considering November is Native American Heritage Month. Smooth one, Stefani. Still, the revived ’90s ska band shouldn’t feel too bad. They’re in some pretty good company…
Sharon Engelstein’s Tableau of Weirdness at Devin Borden Gallery
The 10 ceramic objects in Sharon Engelstein’s new show at Devin Borden Gallery aren’t placed on shelves lining the gallery’s walls as you’d typically expect in a traditional show. Instead, they stand on boxes of Styrofoam arranged at varying heights towards the back of the gallery, all united in their…
Top 10 Kitschy Pop-Related Gift Items to Give This Year
Thanksgiving is in ten days, and then we’ll all be fully immersed in the holiday season. While shopping recently, I noticed that Taylor Swift now has her own greeting-card line featuring her photography and sweet words. If you were to receive one such card from a loved one, would you…
What’s Cooking This Week? Italian-Style Bangers and Mash Plus More
I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don’t make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient’s I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter…
Cougars Crash And Burn Against Tulsa
Many times, when sports teams must deal with devastating injuries, they rise to the occasion. They might not get the win, but the game is closer than it should be. Then there are the Houston Cougars. The Cougars dealt with the tragic, freakish loss of cornerback D.J. Hayden much as…
Gaybrahams & Babe-Rahams: The Best Pop-Culture Abe Lincolns Ever
This week you will hear more about Abraham Lincoln than you have probably ever heard in your life, unless you are more than 150 years old and remember when he was president in the 1860’s. With the wide release this Friday of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and it…
Go to Hell, Milk Duds: The 5 Foods Most Likely to Mess Up Your Mouth
On Halloween night, I sat at home having wine with two of my best friends. No trick-or-treaters ever come through our neighborhood, thanks to its close proximity to the county jail, so we were set for a quiet evening of drinking and cheese-bingeing. Until one friend pulled out the Halloween…
Mugshot Etiquette 101: Don’t Smile Unless You Did Something Cool
Every day here at Hair Balls we get to see great, sad, and dumbfounding mugshots from around the state of Texas. We sure do have a lot of criminals in the Lone Star State. Makes me fearful of seceding in 2025. REWIND: Sean Payne: Humble Man Too Drunk To Pose…
The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: November 12-15
DJ Sun The Flat, November 12 For two decades now, DJ Sun has been a Houston turntable institution thanks to his his wide-ranging sets, which only start with jazz, hip-hop, R&B, soul, Latin, reggae, funk and electronica. They always come twice a week, on his KPFT-FM show Soular Grooves (9…
Robert Redford Talks Sundance, His Craft and Messing With Paul Newman at the Cinema Arts Festival
Friday night, Houston got a little taste of Hollywood when renowned actor, producer and director Robert Redford graced us with his presence. Redford was in town because of the 2012 Houston Cinema Arts Festival (HCAF), which ran from November 7 through November 11. Redford did not just come for the…
Revolve Dance Company Premieres Work, Solves Staging Challenges in Nexus
The Setup On November 9 and 10, Revolve Dance Company takes over Barnevelder Theater to present its fall concert Nexus, a collection of new pieces imagined by a variety of choreographers, including its co-directors and founding members. The Execution The pieces comprising Nexus were an eclectic bunch, spanning a variety…
Weird-Ass Parental Rights Case Resolved: Judge Rules That Kids’ Mom Is Legally Their, uh, Mom
One of the strangest custody cases in memory has been resolved in favor of a biological mother of twins, whose father had argued that the woman was simply a surrogate and had no parental rights. Marvin McMurrey III had argued that his gal-pal Cindy Close was not genetically related to…
Pasadena Walmart Employee Swipes Customer’s Debit Card, Uses It at Same Store
Buddy Olvera might want to try some other career. This whole crime thing doesn’t seem to be working out for the (now) former Walmart employee. Not even the Eye of Sauron takes in more than Walmart’s security cams, so there is a plethora of video evidence backing up the Pasadena…
10 Doug Sahm/Sir Douglas Quintet Albums You Need to Own
Tonight at the Continental Club, Austin’s Freddie Steady 5 will head up a tribute to the late Doug Sahm focusing on Sahm’s 2000 album The Return of Wayne Douglas, which he recorded only a few months before dying of a heart attack in November 1999. La Porte native Freddie Krc,…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Chris Williams of Lucille’s and His Southern Cooking
Chris Williams Lucille’s 5512 La Branch Tel: 713-568-2505 www.lucilleshouston.com This is Part 3 of a three-part Chef Chat series. If you missed our previous posts, you can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. This week, we’ve been chatting with chef Chris Williams of Lucille’s, the restaurant he named…
Happy Birthday, Mr. Scarface: 10 Gift Ideas for H-Town’s Finest
It’s Scarface’s birthday, y’all. What, you didn’t get him anything, either? Thank God. The humiliation of letting Houston’s most lyrical, most respected and all-around best MC turn 42 without handing him something to unwrap was hitting us pretty hard, but since you dropped the ball, too, maybe we don’t look…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Skyfall
Title: Skyfall So, Is Bond Back? James Bond is 50 years old, making him as venerable a cinematic institution as there is. Bond isn’t “back” because he can never leave. He’s like the “Hotel California” of movie series. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Three Komodo dragons out…
Paul McCartney Songs We Secretly Want to Hear at Minute Maid
Paul McCartney usually starts his set lists with “Magical Mystery Tour” and then lives up to it, hopscotching between Beatles, Wings, and his solo stuff. But there are a few cuts out of his 50-plus-year catalog that I want to hear out of total selfishness, songs that I know he…
This Week in Deliciousness: Stoners From Philly Obviously Don’t Know How Patenting Works
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating…Our Words, where we’re relieved that the election is over and we can finally stop talking about it and go back to our celebratory feasting / comfort eating in a newly rejuvenated / doomed world. We started the week off right with…
Judge to Rule on Whether Dude Is Sherman Hemsley’s Half-Brother
Hair Balls would’ve never guessed there’d be drama over the estate of the late Jeffersons star Sherman Hemsley, whose soul went to the de-luxe apartment in the sky last July. But that’s just what happened: Although Hemsley, who lived in El Paso for the last 20 years, left everything to…
Top Five Things to Do This Weekend: Hapa Photos, Moody Gardens Festival of Lights, Anthony Bourdain, Les Miz & More
Artist/filmmaker Kip Fulbeck is what’s popularly known as a Hapa, that is, a person who has a mixed ethnic heritage that includes Asian roots. Starting in 2001, Fulbeck traveled the country taking photographs of fellow Hapas in order to create a book that he wished he had had as a…
Rockport Meth Trailer Yields Strong Ice; Pit Bull Killed in Raid
A pit bull is dead and three people have been arrested after a police raid on a Rockport meth house. According to KIII-TV, police found more than $1,000 and eight grams of high-grade ice hidden in an Altoids can and a pill bottle inside the trailer home. Elizabeth Martinez, 44,…
Vanessa Rodriguez, 23, Shot to Death at Home, 1-year-old in Apartment: Bayou Body Count No. 195
A 23-year-old woman was shot in her apartment Thursday and died later at Memorial Hermann Hospital, Houston police say. Vanessa Rodriguez called police about 11 a.m. on November 8, telling them she had been shot. When they arrived at her apartment at 8520 Pitner they found that she had suffered…
Car Show: The 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…
Peter Case: Ex-Plimsoul Heads Back to San Francisco’s Beatnik Nights
Old-school punk impresario, power-pop godfather, and singer-songwriter extraordinaire Peter Case (The Nerves, The Plimsouls) continues to thrive on the weary road, armed with a sense of honesty and history in the newfangled digital era. Rocks Off spoke with him recently before he arrives in Houston next week. Rocks Off: The…
Thanos: Destroyer of Worlds and Nøgne Ø/Terrapin Imperial Rye Porter
For some reason, Guinness’s “Alive Inside” campaign has always given me the heebie-jeebies. The thought that all that roiling foam, moving like a slow-mo horizontal lava lamp of boozy goodness, is actually a microscopic civilization just seems unsettling. Echos of Horton Hears A Who for hopheads ring in my ears…
Person of Interest: You Take “The High Road” and I’ll Be in Suburbia Afore Ye
I grew up in what amounted to a suburban environment (small college town), so I can understand the disdain doled out by Hollywood writers. They can be insular, and xenophobic and almost comedically fascistic (check out certain local HOA guidelines on grass length and home color sometime). These attributes have…
Pinot Grigio, I Love You Just the Way You Are
“Italy’s finest white wine,” reads the copy in an advertisement for Pinot Grigio that appeared in an issue of New York published in November 1980, “magnificently dry with a beautiful straw-like color, Cavit Pinot Grigio has opened to rave reviews from wine critics. If you love white wine, discover this…
Special Delivery: 5 Artists Who Could Be the Future Face of Pizza Boxes
Recently my partner in crime and I decided to have a pizza night. This is pretty typical for us, but what wasn’t typical was the question Papa John’s asked me while I was ordering: would I like to add a copy of Taylor Swift’s new album Red to my order…
Freakish Practice Injury Nearly Kills Houston Cougars’ D.J. Hayden
Football is a violent, dangerous sport. But when watching a running back break free of the line of scrimmage and bust into the open and sprint 40 yards for a touchdown, the violence and danger can be forgotten. The perfect spiral into the outstretched arms of a receiver sprinting down…
Upcoming Events: Downtown Hoppy Hours and Italian Stallions
Everyone loves The Orange Show — but the non-profit Center for Visionary Art needs your help to keep providing Houston with amazing public art displays like the annual Art Car Parade and concerts at the Orange Show monument itself. To that end, Saint Arnold is sponsoring the 2012 Foamraiser tomorrow,…
I Capuleti e i Montecchi: A Bel Canto Rarity
The setup: You can hear the haste in Vincenzo Bellini’s The Capulets and the Montagues (1830), whose libretto is a maladroit rewrite of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet by someone who should have known better, the master of 19-century opera stories, Felice Romani. The Bard was horribly ill-served by most opera…
The Song is a Lie: Billy Idol, Cyberposeur
All week we’ve been exposing the song titles that don’t check out when put against the test of truth. Thus far you’ve learned: 1. George Harrison’s guitar did not gently weep. It was actually Eric Clapton’s. 2. Kiss said we got the best when we wanted it, but mostly we…
Football! This Weekend’s Best Bets (Including Bears-Texans Prediction)
Election season is over, and in my home state of Connecticut, Linda McMahon is left to pick up the pieces of her second failed campaign for Senator. 100 million pieces to be exact. According to the Associated Press, the wife of WWE patriarch Vince McMahon spent nearly $100 million on…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Lincoln
Title: Lincoln Great President? Or Greatest President? Greatest President, but mad props to Washington, Jefferson, and both Roosevelts, yo. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Three-and-a-half chin beards out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: 16th President fights for passage of 13th Amendment before the end of the 1st…
Chill Out: Big Changes Coming in Houston Weather Next Week
Most of us who live in Houston like to bitch about the weather. It’s too hot. It’s too cold. It’s too dry. It’s too rainy. As the saying goes, “If you don’t like the weather in Texas, wait.” For a tropical weather climate like ours, it is hard to get…
HCP’s “Soldier, At Ease” Captures the Human Behind the Camo
At various points during this embittered election, talks of the events in the Middle East came up. Did we accomplish anything? Has anything changed from the time we entered upon their foreign soil? Opinions run wild and tend to polarize on either side of the political spectrum, but the one…
Did Usher Deserve Special Voting Treatment?
The wire services and social media are abuzz this morning because the manager of Usher’s Atlanta-area polling place is taking some heat for allowing the R&B superstar/Bieber mentor to skip the line on Election Day. Rewind: Last Night: Usher at Toyota Center (November 23, 2010) According to the Associated Press,…
Visit Our Food Truck Court Tomorrow and Enter to Win a Free Pair of Tickets to the Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert Show
As promised in the aftermath of Anthony Bourdain’s last visit to Jones Hall in 2010, the foul-mouthed chef is back — and this time with Eric Ripert, Bourdain’s constant friend and foil. Bourdain and Ripert’s speaking engagement tomorrow night is rightfully called Good vs. Evil and although it’s not sold…
Trailer Park: The Adaptation of World War Z with Brad Pitt and Ant-People-Zombie Things
This week the trailer for Brad Pitt’s summer 2013 entry, World War Z, dropped online, showing us innumerable zombies, Pitt as a family man, and bullets galore. Would Brad Pitt be as hunky if he wasn’t “Brad Pitt”? Adapting such a well-received novel like Max Brooks’s 2006 bestseller World War…
Health Department Report: Food Trucks, St. John’s, Skewers and More
If you had the over on the number of places the Health Department would inspect this week, you’re probably a little unhappy; it’s been a slow past few days. As for betting on the number of times Bears quarterback Jay Cutler puts on his cranky face when he goes against…
Bandcamp: 10 Houston Bands You Should Hear Right Now
Above everything else, my favorite Web site for finding and listening to local music is Bandcamp. Facebook is too distracting, ReverbNation is ugly, and the new MySpace isn’t quite ready; many of the good bands left the site altogether long ago. Rewind: 14 Brand-New Houston Bands You Should Know About…
Week in Photos: Election Day
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…
Sounds of Twilight: The 5 Best Songs From the Twilight Soundtracks
Like most writers who aren’t named Stephenie Meyer, I find the Twilight novels an abhorrent abomination and a great offense to the written word. I assume the movies are the same to serious filmmakers. But Twilight presents me with a unique problem. Having one foot in the world of writing…
Twin Towers: A Fascinating Tale of the ’80s Rockets and What Never Was
On June 5, 1986, I was barely 17 years old and on my way home from a music lesson. While cutting through a nearby neighborhood, my car, an amazingly awful pumpkin orange Datsun B-210 I bought from a friend for 500 bucks, broke down…again. Fortunately, I was only about two…
100 Creatives 2012: Elsa Briggs, Painter, Jewelry Maker
What She Does: In 2007 Elsa Briggs began playing around with acrylic paints by doing portraits of various Finnish metal musicians she had a crush on. She would try and capture them with almost psychotic reverence and devotion, but it was just a hobby. Nothing serious. Then in the summer…
10 Oyster Dishes to Try in Houston: No. 1, Grilled Oysters at Tommy’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar
You know what I love about SeptembeR, OctobeR, NovembeR and DecembeR? It’s oyster season! During these months, oysters are at their peak. For the next few weeks, I’ll be sampling the most memorable and tasty oyster dishes in Houston. No. 1, Grilled Oysters at Tommy’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar “Tommy’s…
10 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: November 9-11
Glass the Sky Fitzgerald’s, November 9 Glass the Sky has been around about a year, but consider Friday’s show a coming-out party. According to bassist and vocalist Michael Mazzella, the five local musicians had been playing in other bands for years and gradually realized they were going through the motions…
Texans-Bears: NEW BATTLE-DRINK Bingo Drinking Card, “Cutler Messes You Up” Version
For a franchise that was lucky to play one primetime game per season for so many seasons, this whole “Texans on national television” thing is getting to be old hat! For the third time in the last five games, the Texans will show their wares in front of a national…
The Best Fashion Twits: Who to Follow
If you are feeling overly productive today, there is a cure for that: The Twitters. Unlike you, I am unable to just fritter away the hours when I am on Twitter, because I am actually working. It’s called important and vital research, people, and I am absolutely dedicated to bringing…
Openings & Closings: Block 7 on the Chopping Block and Birdwell Flies the Coop
The big news this week was word from Ronnie Killen of Killen’s Steakhouse and Ricky Craig of Hubcap Grill that the two are combining their magical meat skills to open CK’s Steakhouse in the Heights. The new steakhouse serves, in a way, to replace the plans that Killen had to…
Oklahoma Po-Po Busts Three-Year-old Taking a Public Pee-Pee; Mom Fined Price of Used Car
A Piedmont, Oklahoma cop caught a three-year-old boy peeing in his own front yard and brought down the hammer. The cop wrote little Dillan’s mother Ashley Warden a citation for public urination, and the fine is $2,500. “I said really, he is 3 years old, and [the cop] said it…
Pamela C. Dixon Charged W/ Intoxication Manslaughter in Death of Alan Jeffrey Mininni: Bayou Body Count No. 194
A 26-year-old man standing by his apparently stalled-out truck and trailer was hit and killed by a car driven by Pamela C. Dixon, who police say was intoxicated at the time of the accident. Houston police say the 44-year-old Dixon was driving a Honda Accord about 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday,…
Last Night: Jackson Browne at Bayou Music Center
Jackson Browne Bayou Music Center November 7, 2012 Jackson Browne must find himself in a curious position. At times the requests he got from an otherwise adoring and attentive crowd (minus those people would wouldn’t shut up about two rows behind us) Wednesday night resembled the trading floor of a…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Chris Williams of Lucille’s, On Hustling His Way Back to the States, and Southern Cooking vs. Soul Food
Chris Williams Lucille’s 5512 La Branch Tel: 713-568-2505 www.lucilleshouston.com This is Part 2 of a three-part Chef Chat series. You can read Part 1 here and Part 3 in this same space on Friday. EOW: You were in Europe for about four years. What brought you back? CW: My brother…
Kirk Pierre Rhodes, 34, Arrested in Fatal Shooting of 53-year-old Man: Bayou Body Count No. 193
Murder charges are pending against a 34-year-old man in the fatal shooting of another man, Houston police report. Kirk Pierre Rhodes was arrested following the shooting at 6013 Schroeder about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, November 7. The identity of the male victim, 53, was being withheld pending notification to family members…
Free for All: Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler, “Soldier at Ease,” and An American in Paris
Author Daniel Handler, better known to the world as Lemony Snicket, stands alongside Edward Gorey and Roald Dahl as a modern master of Gothic-flavored youngster literature. His award-winning children’s A Series of Unfortunate Events was a 13-novel series that explored witty wordplay, loss, evil, and adventure so perfectly that each…
SXSW Releases First Batch of 2013 Performers
Here go hell come, SXSW has just released the first batch of names for the 2013 festival. I know, only a week after Fun Fun Fun Fest and a month since ACL. Did you see the FPSF blog from earlier today? Yeah, time is moving too fast. The big names…
Celebrate National Harvey Wallbanger Day (and Not with a Screwdriver)
“Harvey Wallbanger” may sound like the name of an insurance agent, but it’s actually the playful moniker for a bodacious 1970s cocktail made of orange juice, vodka and Galliano. Supposedly a certain surfer dude (Harvey) enjoyed this drink so much that he repeatedly ran into his domicile’s vertical planes (get…
YouTube’s Daughter-Beatin’ Judge Goes Back to the Bench
Score one for Justice: Judge William “Beltin’ Bill” Adams, who made history with a YouTube video showing him whipping his 16-year-old daughter for illegally downloading music, gets to return to the bench this week. The Texas Supreme Court had suspended Adams in November 2011 while the Texas Commission on Judicial…
5 Fast Food “Secret Menu” Burgers You Probably Shouldn’t Try
Remember the McGangbang? Yeah, sorry…We’re sorry we brought it up again, too. But it got us thinking: Surely there have to be other “secret menu” items lurking out there, just waiting to be discovered. And because we live in a sick, sick world, there are. So we dug them up…
The Beebo Brinker Chronicles: An Earnest, Well-Intentioned Play That Falls Flat
The set-up: Celebration Theatre specializes in gay theater, and brought to Houston the award-winning play The Temperamentals, followed up with the sensitive drama Next Fall, and now brings to the stage The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, a play set in Greenwich Village in the ’50s centering on the lives and loves…
2013 Free Press Summer Fest Presale Begins
Get ready Houston, the 2013 Free Press Summer Fest blind presale begins today — like now — on the FPSF website for the fifth edition of the festival. Of course no bands have been announced yet, which makes it a blind sale, and could mean you are unwittingly buying tickets…
Unidentified 37-year-old Man Found Dead on Clay Road: Bayou Body Count No. 192
Houston police are investigating the death of a man found dead at 9590 Clay Road about 2:10 p.m. Wednesday, November 7. A person sorting wastepaper at a paper recyling facility found the 37-year-old man. His identity is pending verification by the Harris County Insititute of Forensic Sciences…
An Amy’s Kitchen Obsession Continues with Indian Wraps
Within the last few months, a certain Houston Press food critic posted a photo of an Amy’s Kitchen wrap to her Facebook page. This particular photo caught my eye because the wrap in question was not the usual burrito, but an “Indian wrap.” As an Amy’s devotee and lover of…
American Horror Story: Asylum: What’s a German Game You Play With Dice? NAZI!
This week’s Asylum was the first of a two-parter, and for a horror series it sure did keep the fright down to a bare minimum. The newest resident of Briarcliff claims to be Anne Frank. You know, one of the two dead teenage girls your English teacher made you read…
Last Night: Everclear at Scout Bar
Everclear, Eve 6 Scout Bar November 7, 2012 Halfway through Everclear’s performance at Scout Bar Wednesday night, the crowd had been thoroughly hyped and innumerable expletives had been shouted. Vocalist Art Alexakis then addressed the crowd. “Six years ago, we got to play two shows with the Rolling Stones. Their…
Check Out Richard S. Dunham’s 6 Takeaways From the Elections
We turn your attention now to an article in the Houston Chronicle today by Richard S. Dunham, a well-respected veteran political writer and no it’s not the one on the front page. On page three there’s a well-reasoned, thought-provoking analysis he’s done – 6 “takeaways” from the just completed national…
A Car Just For the Ladies and Other Women Centric-Products
Now that the election is starting to wind down, the pundits are flapping their gums over the results — who got the most votes from this, who got the least votes from that, etc. Of the many demographics that went out to vote this Tuesday, women seem to be one…
Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems: 5 Musicians Who Had to File for Bankruptcy
Recently it was revealed that Cat Power was not only suffering from a serious illness called angiodema that was threatening to stop her European tour, but also that she has filed for bankruptcy. That tour has indeed been postponed, but Cat Power is hardly the first musician to be running…
Dynamo Lose Match, Advance to Eastern Conference Finals
Do you remember those two goals the Dynamo scored on Sporting Kansas City last Sunday at BBVA Compass Stadium? Even though they lost 1-0 to Sporting Wednesday night at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, the 2-1 aggregate score secured the Dynamo’s place in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Dynamo know one thing:…
Why Don’t More Craft Beer Bars Cater to Vegetarians?
“Another new crafty beer type place just opened, Cottonwood. And if this is not the 15th of these types of craft beer-meet-upscale food, but with a casual vibe, places to open up in Houston that serves nothing vegetarian,” a colleague here at the Houston Press recently complained. “The food of…
Pop Rocks: Pop Culture’s Most Bad Ass Presidents
Steven Speilberg’s Lincoln opens tomorrow. I saw it last night, and it was definitely a movie about our 16th President. I’ll have more to say in my actual review, which I realize has roughly zero chance of affecting your decision to see it. But if you “like” it on Facebook,…
The Rocks Off 100: Anna Garza, Girls Rock Camp Houston Guru
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. Who? Very busy Victoria native Anna Garza grew up in Houston and, she says,…
Farmers’ Market Spotlight of the Week: Jerusalem Artichokes, a.k.a. Sunchokes
Cooler temperatures mean that the City Hall Farmers Market is open once again and that more Houstonians will be heading out to enjoy the many other excellent farmers’ markets across the city. Each week, we’ll be spotlighting a produce pick from the Urban Harvest network of farmers’ markets by showing…
Kiss Me Baby: Macy’s Bringing Giant Mistletoe to Houston
As part of Downtown Houston’s annual Holiday Spectacular, Macy’s is bringing 15-foot candy cane with a 4-foot hanging piece of mistletoe to Houston for a five-stop tour. Beware ladies, creepsters all over town will no doubt be doubling-down to somehow get your unsuspecting ass under this thing to goad you…
It’s National Cappuccino Day: Celebrate with Cappuccino Biscotti
Today we celebrate a wonderful national food holiday: National Cappuccino Day. This classic creamy and simple coffee beverage is a favorite throughout the world. How can you resist roasted espresso with steamed milk and a beautiful foam layer on top? One of my favorite parts of drinking creamy coffees is…
This Week In New Houston Rap: Dante Higgins, hasHBrown, Hollywood FLOSS
It’s almost Thanksgiving time. Election season has ended, and your bellies and ears are itching to pull in more new music before the end of the year. Frankly, Houston’s rap contingent has been putting out mixtapes and singles to the point where if you happen to sleep one day, you…
MasterMind Award Nominations Now Open, & Have We Got a Deal For You
Nominations are now open for the fifth annual MasterMind Award competition honoring the best in Houston arts. We’re looking for life-changing artistic types and we’re also offering a special deal on our Deal of the Day today to help you get in the door cheaper at the party we throw…
Best Comics In October Part 2: Satan’s Chili and Here Comes Skeletor
Once a month the folks at 8th Dimension comics select the best comics for us to review. We’re splitting the round-up into two parts this month to accommodate some of the brilliant longer works that debuted in their own section, but here’s the star single issues of the month. Check…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Steakhouses
With this week’s news that meat magnates Ronnie Killen of Killen’s Steakhouse and Ricky Craig of Hubcap Grill are teaming up to create a mega-steakhouse, Wonder Twins-style, it seems as good a time as any to examine the steakhouse scene here in Houston. (It should also serve as succor for…
5 College Football Players Who Would Have Chosen Colorado With New Weed Laws
Tuesday night was a groundbreaking night in the history of this country. No, I’m not referring to the election of an African-American president (technically, a re-election), we had already crossed that off the social bucket list four years ago. Breaking down racial barriers is so 2008. No, I’m talking about…
I Capuleti e i Montecchi, A Different Romeo and Giulietta from Opera in the Heights
Enrique Carreón-Robledo isn’t bragging when he says that both of the two alternating casts of I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and The Montagues), the latest production by Opera in the Heights, are excellent. (It isn’t bragging if it’s true, right?) “It’s very easy to say when you have…
Jan Hammer and the Top 10 TV Theme Songs of the ’80s
Not a lot of television shows win multiple Grammys. Then again, not a lot of television shows ever sounded (or looked) like Miami Vice. The cutting-edge series perfectly captured the pastel zeitgeist of its time when it debuted in 1984, influencing film, fashion, design and music in a way that…
Freddie Steady 5
Before he became Texas’s first homegrown rock and roll star since Buddy Holly, the late Sir Douglas Sahm of San Antonio was a steel-playing guitar phenom said to have once impressed Hank Williams Sr. himself. Through his psychedelic San Francisco years and later return to Texas, Sahm clung to that…
Creeperfest
Creeperfest looks scary. Truly. Promising 30 bands on five stages and a bottomless free keg, it sounds like the kind of party most people left behind when they got their diploma. But the lineup is stuffed with so many noteworthy local bands that Creeperfest should be counted as a success…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Assassins, Body Awareness, Fleaven, Murdering Marlowe, The Oldest Profession,
Assassins Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s disturbing and deeply inky cult musical (1990), whose main characters happen to be either presidential assassins or attempted assassins, is brought to chilling life by Music Box Musicals, a newly formed venture between our favorite cabaret quintet The Music Box Theater and MJR Theatrics…
What’s Behind Gary Douglas’s Scientology Knockoff?
“This is something I’ve wanted to do for the kids for a long time,” Gary Douglas says to an audience of children in an Austin hotel conference room over the summer. Other kids across the country are watching the seminar online. Douglas, 70, just got done hearing from a mother…
Island Reunion
Recently the Houston Press’s David Ensminger did two articles on our Rocks Off music blog about the place punk rock and New Wave sprang up in Houston, a scrappy and resilient little club near 59 and Main known alternately as Paradise Island, Rock Island and then simply The Island. It…
Patent Law: The New Cold War
The morning that Michael Risch inserted himself into the battle between a Fortune 100 company and the man known as the “father of the iPod” began like any other, with a wake-up call from his six-year-old son. Risch, a professor of intellectual property law at Villanova University, padded to the…
Special Texas Edicion: Are There Any Mexican Virgins Who Wait Until Marriage?
Dear Mexican, When are the racial minorities going to give up la causa? We have a black man for el presidente, and as a white middle-aged male, I couldn’t be happier. I have been hearing all of my life about how oppressed the racial minorities have been and what needs…
Doshi House Does It All
Check out the charming interior and vegetable-packed paninis at Doshi House in our slideshow. Driving south on Dowling, downtown Houston’s skyline behind you, it’s easy to drive right past Doshi House. It’s on a quiet corner in the Third Ward, just past Emancipation Park and the Project Row House galleries…
10 Songs That Will Pack Your Wedding Reception’s Dance Floor
Kill Us Now, Please 10. “Sweet Caroline”: This is a classic singalong. It hasn’t hurt that the Boston Red Sox turned it into a ballpark anthem as well. Put this on and listen to everyone sing “SO GOOD! SO GOOD!” 9. “Twist and Shout”: I love the Beatles perhaps as…
Beauty in a Bottle Cap
There’s a lot of sculptural work around right now that is heavily reliant on piles of random crap, sometimes found, sometimes purchased. Portions of Andy Coolquitt’s installation at last year’s Texas Contemporary Fair were actually thrown away by janitorial staff. Sometimes those scatters, piles, arrangements and accumulations manage to connect…
Face to Face
One of the most influential acts of the ’90s, Face to Face comes to Houston Sunday for an acoustic gig, quite a change from the band’s wall of pop-punk noise. F2F will be playing songs from 1999’s Ignorance Is Bliss, pairing down the lineup to just singer/guitarist Trever Keith and…
Puppets and Starlets
Sean Baker’s Starlet stars Dree Hemingway (Ernest’s great-granddaughter) as Jane, a 21-year-old “girl next door” porn performer whose off-hours are spent getting high in the Valley house she shares with fellow “starlet” Melissa (Stella Maeve) and Melissa’s small-time impresario boyfriend (James Ransone). The story in the movie, which screens at…
James Bond, Out of Time
Attention, Eon Productions, Daniel Craig, and Heineken: James Bond is not a beer drinker! Sure, I know. Getting all worked up about the new James Bond installment is like freaking out about a new Tim Burton movie — past glories don’t justify contemporary relevance. The year 2012 marks 50 years…
James Bond’s License to Feel
If Hollywood’s rut du jour is the origin story as bid for franchise immortality, you can’t say that Skyfall — the 23rd “official” James Bond film in 50 years — isn’t on trend. Eight years ago in Casino Royale, Daniel Craig’s first outing as Bond, we learned that 007 owes…
Paul McCartney
Mr. McCartney, or Sir Paul, was one-half of the core songwriting arm of modestly influential British rock quartet the Beatles for a decade. That band released a gang of well-received albums and singles, and even some films, in the mid-to-late ’60s before calling it quits in 1970. McCartney branched out…
Capsule Art Reviews: “CraftTexas 2012” “Debra Barrera: Kissing in Cars, Driving Alone” “[Houston Times Eight]” “Liz Ward: Cryosphere” “Ruth Shouval: Settle,” “Andrea Bianconi: Romance” and “Anthony Thompson Shumate: Sweetly Broken” “Translucent Trajector
“CraftTexas 2012” This juried biennial show at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft purports to feature the best in Texas-made contemporary craft, and the 40 artists featured don’t call that into question. Paula Gron is a basket weaver by nature, but uses her skills to concoct a wooden handle with found…
Glass the Sky
Glass the Sky has been around about a year, but consider Friday’s show a coming-out party. According to bassist and vocalist Michael Mazzella, the five local musicians had been playing in other bands for years and gradually realized they were going through the motions. Three of them started jamming together,…
Jens Lekman
Swedish singer-songwriter Lekman makes all the cool kids swoon with his subdued Morrissey-gone-folk bedroom anthems. Lekman’s work makes for a great Sunday-morning lounging soundtrack, or at least background music for a weekday chill-out/make-out session, whichever happens first. Check out his latest, September’s I Know What Love Isn’t, to see what…
Chronic Burglar
Highlights from Hair Balls CRIME Chronic Burglar Foiled by his Love of Chef Boyardee. JOHN NOVA LOMAX A freaky-looking Longview man faces a burglary charge after police found him with a reusable shopping bag, a fleece hoodie and about $87 he had allegedly taken from a nearby home on Monday…
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
Noel Gallagher, late of iconic Britpop powerhouse Oasis, branched out as a solo act after he and his brother Liam decided to part ways creatively. They hate each other’s guts, too, but that comes with being a Gallagher. His new enterprise, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, released a self-titled debut…
Pass the Vegenaise
Top 10 It’s becoming easier than ever to go vegan in Houston, with local restaurants filling nearly every niche possible: You can get vegan baked goods from Sinfull Bakery, wedding cakes from Jodycakes or all-raw falafels at Pat Greer’s Kitchen. There are food trucks like Bare Bowls, which makes exquisite…
