A Touch Of Old Times Square At Notsuoh
No stranger to shocking Houston’s square community, artist/Notsuoh owner Jim Pirtle is at it again. Right now, the capacious shop windows of his club in the 300 block of Main, facing out toward Preston MetroRail station, are filled with a controversial art installation. The work, by local artists Shawna Mouser…
Houston Leading Nation In Job Growth
Houston, you’re still kicking ass when it comes to jobs. At least relatively. The Bureau of Labor Statistics came out with its September report on job growth in the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan areas, and Houston leads the way. Employment rose 2.2 percent here, as compared to decond-place Dallas-Fort Worth’s…
The Five Worst Basketball Movies of All Time
With the NFL season in full swing and all the tumult surrounding the World Series, it would be perfectly understandable if you let the opening of the pro basketball season pass you by. But open it did, with the Celtics and Lakers both winning their openers. The as-yet unArtested Rockets…
Aftermath: Kings of Leon at Verizon Wireless Theater
Photos by Mark C. Austin Kings of Leon may be the most frustrating band out there at the moment. They’re killer musicians, girls love them and Tuesday night the three Followill brothers and one cousin proved they can sell out Verizon-size venues despite largely getting the cold shoulder from radio…
DPS Office Closes For Much-Needed Renovations
If there is anything in life more fun than dealing in-person with drivers’ license issues, we don’t know what it is. Unless it’s six months at Guantanamo. The closest DPS office for people inside the Loop is the Dacoma office, just outside the northwest corner of 610. Unfortunately, it’s also…
What $9 Billion Would Have Wrought
We talked below about a 1970 Time magazine article on Houston’s efforts to attract Yankees. As we mentioned, one of the things Time discussed was a $1.2 billion development that was about to be built “on the edges of downtown.” That translates to about $9 billion in today’s dollars, which…
Kentucky Newspaper Says R.I.P, Galveston
A Kentucky newspaper has pronounced Galveston to be DOA, and BOIs aren’t happy about it. A melancholy feature in the Lexington News is headlined “The City That Isn’t Coming Back.” The article is written by Amy Wilson, born in La Marque and the daughter of a UTMB professor. She came…
The Case of Patrick Edwards
If you’ve been watching ESPN SportsCenter, or listening to sports talk radio, then you’ve either seen or heard of the injury suffered last night by Patrick Edwards of the University of Houston. If you haven’t seen it, and for purposes of the discussion to follow, here it is: Edwards is…
The 2008 Voting Charts: U.S. House District 22
Congressional District 22, even after a few years, still contains the strong stench of Tom DeLay. Not to mention his hapless successor, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, known forever to readers of the popular Wonkette blog as “Dracula Cunt” after we noted how she had received a write-in vote (that counted!) under that…
Eggs Poached in Milk Over Cheese Grits
Inspired by all the spicy, cheesy, and otherwise exceptional grits I ate at the Southern Foodways Alliance gathering last weekend, I couldn’t resist cooking some grits when I got home. A sack of Anson Mills stone-ground yellow grits had been sitting in the back of my pantry for years. You…
Halloween Slideshow: 28 Creepy Album Covers
All Hallows Eve is right around the corner, so Rocks Off asked Houston’s Nick DiFonzo – album-cover connoisseur, proprietor of bizarrerecords.com and author of Seriously Bad Album Covers (available at Cactus Music and Antidote) – to pull some of his collection’s most ghoulish examples. Click here for the slideshow. -…
Houston In The `70s: Still Not Good Enough For Snobs
We stumbled across a Time magazine article from 1970 with a startling headline: “Houston Seeks The Refugees.” Times have changed. But maybe not — the “refugees” in question were big corporations and their workforces, apparently eager to escape “the problem-plagued urban areas of the Northeast.” Houston was seeking to attract…
Aftermath: Danzig at House of Blues
An Open Letter to Glenn Danzig Dear Sir, Photos by Craig Hlavaty First, I would love to extend my most bountiful praise on you for starting the Misfits, then Samhain. Both were really kick-ass bands, and made good T-shirts that scared countless school administrators. I, like many others thoroughly enjoyed…
Whole Offense, Hole Defense: The Houston Rockets Preview
It’s now our pleasure to introduce Sesha Kalapatapu, who will be blogging about b-ball for us from time to time. Be nice. Or not. We get the feeling this guy doesn’t mind a good argument. Sometimes I imagine that the major newspapers each have a huge white board that lists…
Artist of the Week: Wild Moccasins
Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group “Artist of the Week,” bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn’t awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com. Photo by Grant Hickey It’s clear that youthful…
Day Laborers Struggling Even More These Days
You may have heard that Houston, a city driven by the energy industry, fares better than the rest of the country during tough economic times. Somebody really should mention that to local day laborers – it seems they could use something to cheer them up. A recent Agence France-Presse story…
Just A Simple Wedding For 50 At Minute Maid Park
They survived Hurricane Ike. Now they’ll have to survive Rachael Ray. Fifty Houston couples whose wedding plans were disrupted by Ike will now have a very special wedding thanks to Ray, who in our limited knowledge of such things seems to be a Martha Stewart knock-off. By “very special wedding,”…
US Attorney Resigns (Before The Rush?)
Democrats are obviously hoping that soon there will be a lot of resignations in the federal branch of government, but here in Houston the flood — if there is to be one (Dewey Defeats Truman!) — has begun. U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced his resignation this morning; he’s headed to…
Ten Rejected Hockey Names for Sarah Palin’s Sixth Child
So let me get this straight. There are people out there who seriously think I’m supposed to vote for a person who would name her children after a sport (Track), the location of ESPN (Bristol), a lesbian witch (Willow), an airplane (Piper), and a form of math (Trig)? Okay, in…
Comcast’s Sam Houston Somehow Isn’t The Worst Local TV Ad
We’re still stewing over the truly historic Comcast Sam Houston ad campaign, so much so that it got us reminiscing about the history of TV ads in the Houston market. We set out looking for some that were as weird as that campaign, but ended up with a bunch that…
MasterMinds — Deadline Approacheth
Deadline is fast coming up to apply to win one of three Houston Press MasterMinds grant, a cool $2K prize to any local gifted artist, entrepreneur or innovator. Hurricane Ike messed with us a little, so the original deadline was moved back. But the new one, October 30, is nigh…
Tidbits — Missing Their Target Demographic
We’d like to know whom Houston Tidbits is trying to reach with its email blasts. Last week’s blast began: “The nice homeless man on Shepherd keeps telling you, ‘Give me some change – I’m for Obama!’ It’s clear everyone’s got an opinion about this election.” The email did not say,…
Rental-Car Tip: Ask “By Any Chance, Is This Car Listed As Stolen?”
When the police pulled over Malcolm Riles earlier this week and told him he was driving a stolen car, the 29-year-old TSU grad student didn’t know what to think. Initially, he said, one HPD car was behind him, but by the time he pulled into his apartment complex’s parking lot,…
Led Zeppelin Pulls a Van Hagar
As Gomer Pyle used to say, well surprahs, surprahs, suprahs. Billboard and several other news outlets reported yesterday that Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham (son of John) will tour next summer as Led Zeppelin, which was pretty much guaranteed when last year’s reunion at an Ahmet Ertegun…
Aftermath: Alkaline Trio and Thrice at House of Blues
It’s troubling why I don’t enjoy Alkaline Trio’s newer albums. Everything through Good Mourning is lovely, but the last two not so much. But why not? The band hasn’t changed. Its two original songwriters, Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano, are still behind the wheels, but something just isn’t the same…
Documentary Takes A Look At Houston, Port Arthur
Vanguard producer Lauren Cerre filmed The Great American Detour over a three-week period as she went from Los Angeles to New York, stopping at eight cities and towns along the way to talk to young people about their concerns regarding the upcoming election. Instead of asking, “What do you think…
The 2008 Voting Charts: The County Judge Race
Part two of our look at local races, in chart form, concentrates on the Harris County Judge race. County Judge is an extremely important position that flies under the radar of most people. The two candidates for the office aren’t exactly changing that. David Mincberg is Bill White’s former housing…
Sam’s Club To Open Hispanic-Oriented Shop In Houston; Right-Wing Nuts’ Heads To Explode
Get ready to get fired up, all you border-fence fetishists: Sam’s Club is opening a store in Houston aimed at Hispanics. The first Mas Club will open early next year, the company announced today. The shop will feature an expanded selection of products from Mexico, officials said. Customers will have…
Aftermath: Tina Turner at Toyota Center
Photos by Mark C. Austin. Click here for a slideshow. It should come as no surprise that Tina Turner’s little performance at Toyota Center Monday night has left Aftermath grasping for superlatives. It was like watching Mark Twain read aloud from Huckleberry Finn or Edward R. Murrow interview Gen. Dwight…
Buttermilk–The New Yogurt?
“Southern Drinkways” was the theme of this year’s Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium at Ole Miss. Bourbon, Coca-cola and iced tea were the clichés–the unexpected discovery was Cruze Farm Churned Buttermilk. We saw a short film by Joe York about Cruze Farm owner Earl Cruze on Friday night. The next morning,…
Teacher Of The Year And Hero To Drunk Drivers
We wondered yesterday if the woman who may set hundreds of drunk drivers free because she failed to test breathalyzer equipment could possibly be the same woman who won a Teacher of the Year award in 2007 for her work at Sharpstown Middle School. No way, we thought, although how…
Slideshow: Tina Turner at Toyota Center
With all due respect to Ike, or maybe not, Acid Queen Tina Turner rocked Toyota Center like a hurricane last night. The Aftermath worker bees are industriously hiving together a full review, but for now enjoy this slideshow. Let’s just say it was a little better than Monday Night Football…
Lawsuit Filed Over Channel 13 Chopper Crash
It’s been slightly more than two weeks since KTRK Channel 13 photographer Dave Garrett died in a helicopter crash, more than enough time to sue. Shelley Garrett, guardian over Dave Garrett’s only son and heir, filed a product-liability and negligence lawsuit late last week against Bell Helicopter in Harris County…
Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: Mike Singletary Gives the Weekend’s Best Performance
I have nothing to rant about with the Houston Texans this week. The team looked really good while defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 35-6. It was fun to watch. There’s just nothing to bitch about. It was nice to watch the team go for the kill for once instead of getting…
Halloween Video Week Pt. 2: Welcome to Alice Cooper’s Nightmare, Muppets
They let this kind of stuff on television back in the day? I mean, this was filmed in 1978. At this point, wasn’t Alice Cooper still a degenerate cross-dressing rock star who put his wang in a donut? And it’s on a children’s show with puppets? I know the Muppets…
First Names For SXSW Film Fest Are Out
Some people wait eagerly for the Houston rodeo to announce its musical acts (Holla in the house for the Jonas Brothers!!!); others wait just as eagerly to see who’s coming to the SXSW Film Festival in Austin. Wait no longer. For at least a taste of who’s coming, anyway. The…
Why Pennies Suck, or What Not to Buy for Halloween
With Halloween right around the corner and candy on our minds, we thought we’d share this list of the 11 Halloween treats no kid wants. Of course everyone knows the thing to do is just buy the stuff you like and then hope it’s a slow night. — Keith Plocek…
The Cutest Fifth Grader Ever!
For those of you who are tired of listening to Wolf Blitzer and Sean Hannity and the rest blab on about the current election, I have a clip that will give you a bit of respite from the media talking heads. I’m talking about fifth grader Damon Weaver of Palm…
Tonight and Wednesday: Chris Knight at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
www.chrisknight.net Is it just me, or do all Chris Knight records sound the same? With Texan David Grissom driving the sessions in 1997, Knight’s sonic template was set with his first release Chris Knight, and his hard twang formula hasn’t been tinkered with much since. Quite successfully, I might add…
Drunk Drivers: Here’s The Person Who’s Giving You Hope
The Texas Department of Public Safety announced great, terrific news for Houston-area drunk drivers Friday: as many as 2,600 DUI cases may be jeopardized because an independent contractor had not done the tests on Breathalyzer machines that she claimed to have done. Today Harris County DA Kenneth Magidson arrested and…
Texas Votes 2008: In Chart Form!!
The 2008 election, which began sometime back in the late `90s, is finally coming to a close. Election Day is November 4, and everyone of voting age should get out there and cast a ballot. If you haven’t registered, just contact your local ACORN office. (JK!!!) There are many down-ballot…
Aftermath: Asmodeus X at Numbers
Photos by Jef With One F Though billed as a Halloween spectacular, there were precious few costumes on display at Numbers’ Underworld, the monthly Goth night that hosts some of Houston’s most entertaining performers and audience members. For a group of people whose chosen dress tends to be viewed as…
McCafe Latte at McDonald’s
“Do you want vanilla or caramel?” the lady behind the counter asked when I ordered a large McCafe Latte at a fancy McDonald’s in Mississippi. I was driving across the state on my way to the annual symposium of the Southern Foodways Alliance in Oxford. “I don’t want a flavor,”…
Katy Freeway Finished As Of Tomorrow
As of 10 a.m. tomorrow, all traffic problems on the Katy Freeway will cease. That’s when the official ribbon-cutting ceremony will mark the end of the five-year construction nightmare that has widened the highway from six lanes to — if our most recent trip is any indication — about 48…
More Genius Rankings from the BCS
The Texas Tech Red Raiders came out this weekend and kicked the asses of the Kansas Jayhawks 63-21. The ass-kicking allowed Texas Tech to go 8-0 on the season. Yet, despite the impressive victory, the Red Raiders still find themselves looking in from the outside when it comes to the…
Tonight: Tina Turner at Toyota Center
“Nutbush City Limits,” 1974 ‘Nuff said, really. “Proud Mary,” “Private Dancer” and all the rest are just fine, but Rocks Off is looking forward to “Nutbush” the most. According to this review from Press sister paper The Pitch in Kansas City, she also does the Beatles’ “Get Back” and “Help!”,…
The Early-Voting Rush Isn’t Everywhere
Early voting totals continue to astound political watchers in Harris County — more than 314,000 folks have already gone to the polls, more than twice the pace of 2004. That’s resulted in lots of lines…but not everywhere. County clerk spokesman Hector DeLeon says that a third of the early-voting locations…
Free The Texas Beer Industry!! And Remember, Democrats Suck!!
The editorial writers at The Dallas Morning News usually spend their time frothing at the mouth about the downfall of civilization being brought about by radical groups like Democrats. Now they have taken up a new cause. Inspired our Robb Walsh’s story on the sad state of Texas microbreweries, the…
Turning the Screw: Bun B and Q-Tip Team Up, Jennifer Hudson, Ludacris, T-Pain, G-Unit, MF Doom, Cypress Hill and More
Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off’s weekly rap post. It probably won’t rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. (Video) Single of the Week: Hurricane Chris, Knaan, Bun B and Q-Tip, “Cypher Round 1”: The first two guys are rather unremarkable –…
Halloween Video Week Pt 1: Hot Blood on a Monday
It’s Halloween week, all week, and we’re celebrating the Religious Right’s least favorite holiday with a festive video each day. This is from a one-off French disco group from the ’70s called Hot Blood. It’s European, it’s freaky and you’re gonna be humming that chorus all damn day long. And…
Free The Texas Beer Industry!! And Remember, Democrats Suck!!
The editorial writers at The Dallas Morning News usually spend their time frothing at the mouth about the downfall of civilization being brought about by radical groups like Democrats. Now they have taken up a new cause. Inspired our Robb Walsh’s story on the sad state of Texas microbreweries, the…
A Seawall For The West End Of Galveston?
They’re still picking up the pieces on the West End of Galveston, that ultra-low-lying stretch of land that, in the years before Ike, became a hotbed of development. High-priced homes were built, huge condo developments were begun, population boomed in the flat miles west of the seawall. As the boom…
Venue Shuffle: Rise Against, Tek9 Cancel; Alkaline Trio, Thrice Moved to House of Blues
This is a lot of information to process for a Monday morning, especially since Rocks Off stayed up far too late watching Pet Sematary Two on AMC’s “Fear Fest” last night. Shut up. It was totally worth it, if for no other reason than to watch the evil sheriff, played…
Houston Pottery People Fight Back Against Ike
If you’re a Houstonian who’s into pottery — that’s pottery, Phish phan — then you’ve probably heard of V. Chin. His actual name is the mouthful of Vorakit Chinookoswong, but he’s known around here (and around America, actually) by the way he signs his work. The bad news for Chin…
Over the Weekend: Davenport and Poison Girl
Good morning! Time to get to work. Or you could start off your day by staring at the documentation from Bill Olive’s bar-hopping last night. Your call. 10:30 p.m. at Davenport First stop: Shepherd Plaza. 11 p.m. at Poison Girl And of course you all know where this is, and…
Free DP and Tacos for All!
Unless your name is Slash or Buckethead, you’re due a free soda. Dr Pepper is about to come through on its promise to give everyone in America (minus 2) a free soda if Guns N’ Roses manages to release Chinese Democracy album before the end of the year. The band…
Get Lit: Riot on Sunset Strip — Rock ‘n Roll’s Last Stand in Hollywood
The Sunset Strip running from Beverly Hills to Hollywood is only 1.7 miles long and is inevitably linked to celebrity and the film industry. But for a brief time in the mid-‘60s, it also served as the epicenter of American – and thus worldwide – rock and roll with its…
Tonight: Vicente Fernandez at Toyota Center
Regarded by many as “The Sinatra of Rancheras,” Vicente Fernandez is arguably the best-known singer of his genre, and is one of the first to reach international icon status without having to resort to any other musical style. The comparison to Sinatra is not difficult to understand: The former gave…
Don’t Forget Your Texans History
So once again we find our Houston Texans favored to win a football game. And once again, they are favored by 9.5 points. This time, they’re favored to beat the Cincinnati Bengals. There’s an old saying that goes something like this: He who forgets history is doomed to repeat it…
Comcast Didn’t Mean To Sic A Collection Agency On Ike Victims
Comcast’s latest customer-service misstep makes you wonder what Sam Houston would think. The Galveston County Daily News reported that 81 former customers on the island whose homes were seriously damaged by Ike received letters from a collection agency informing them they owe the cable provider money for missing equipment. In…
Obama Accuser NOT An Aggie, Aggies Thankfully Discover
If you haven’t heard of Ashley Todd, she’s the 20-year-old girl who was campaigning for McCain in Pittsburgh and made up a story about an Obama supporter carving a “B” in the side of her face. You’d think that she would take that story straight to the police, but she…
Aftermath: Butthole Surfers at Meridian
Photos by Craig Hlavaty Aftermath doesn’t shock easily. But last night, I was absolutely floored when I walked out of Meridian as the Butthole Surfers were mopping up their nearly 90-minute set and realized I was stone. Cold. Sober. Of all the shows to climb on the wagon… Don’t get…
Rotation: Jenny Westbury’s Jenny French and the Pelican Wrench
If words were defined by a sound, Jenny Westbury’s voice would epitomize “bittersweet.” The former Houston folkstress, now a Seattleite, uses perfect pitch to drive a nasally soprano and complement songs that are as silly as they are sad and sincere. Her first full-length release, Jenny French and the Pelican…
Washburn Tunnel Reopens
It’s been a while — since Ike, to be precise — but the only underwater traffic tunnel in Texas is finally re-opening. The Washburn Tunnel, which goes under the Ship Channel, has been closed ever since the storm surge from Ike did what was thought to be all but impossible…
It Ain’t No Town And It Ain’t No City
Since Halloween is but a week away, we got to thinking about ghosts. And since we were thinking about ghosts, we started thinking about ghost towns. The Web site Texasescapes.com has a run-down of over 400 forgotten Lone Star State burgs, hamlets and wide spots in the road, but only…
Waller County Sheriff’s Race: Grenades & Gun-Toting Campaign Managers
There’s a pretty interesting election going on for boss of the sheriff’s department in Waller County, a mostly rural area on the western border of Harris County. The elected candidate will be the first new sheriff in two decades, because long-time sheriff Randy Smith is retiring. The candidates are: -…
Noted Art Collector Robert Chaney Dies
Local oil tycoon and art enthusiast Robert Chaney died Wednesday. He was known locally and nationally for his collection of contemporary Asian and British art which were showcased in the exhibits “Red Hot: Asian Art Today From the Chaney Family Collection” and “End Game: British Contemporary Art From the Chaney…
Memorial & Hunters Creek Village — The Real America
Human Events has released its latest Top Ten list, in this case the top ten zip codes in terms of donations to John McCain. On the list at Number 8 — Our very own 77024. It’s given $540,309 to the McCain campaign. It’s right behind 75205 in “Dallas” (actually Highland…
Five Spot: Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin’ Ta Fuck Wit… Still
Welcome back to The Five Spot. Every Friday, we’ll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it’s either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. So, earlier this week we heard the new Wu-Tang greatest-hits, Wu: The Story Of The Wu-Tang Clan, whose release will…
Finally, Some Good Pet Publicity For Houston
Most of the TV-viewing nation gets its sense of how Houston treats its pets from Animal Planet’s Animal Cops: Houston. (How feel-good is it? The opening contains a warning about graphic content.) Now viewers will get a more uplifting version of us. At least those viewers who would actually miss…
Hello Budweiser American Ale
Photo by Robb Walsh I finally found a six-pack of Budweiser’s new American Ale at Spec’s. It cost me $6.49, the same price I pay for Saint Arnold’s. As you can see, it’s a deep brown color. I hate to admit it, but it tastes great. (More filling!) It’s not…
Looking For A Little Stimulus?
Men: Not getting as much stimulus as you think you should? We have the answer!! And it’s not a blue pill or some iffy dose of something you might see in a creepy commercial starring Santa and the gals in the office. (Creepiest commercial of all time? Possibly!) No, this…
Why Do I Watch Shows About Weird Medical Problems?
Am I the only one who every so often finds herself sucked into TLC and Discovery Health programs about people with weird, effed up health issues like tumors on their faces and bark growing on their arms and just sick shit like that? Please say you watch these programs, too,…
Biba’s One’s A Meal Closing!! (And Then Re-Opening In New Location)
Late night diners will soon have one less option to choose from in the Greek Village area on lower West Gray while those in search of an after-midnight bite on Lower Westheimer will have one more — Biba’s One’s a Meal is moving. “We are moving to 812 Westheimer,” legendary…
Not So Great News from the Health Department, Mexican Edition
We checked on health department reports for Mexican restaurants visited in October, and our biggest offenders are in the Northwest / 290 part of town; that was disappointing because we’ve previously eaten at all three Northwest area restaurants mentioned. We won’t be returning any time soon – once the term…
K.A. Paul Endorses Obama, Race Effectively Over Now
For those still on the fence for the presidential election, and for those silently pondering the question, “Who would a leper-stealing, lawsuit-losing, non-debt-paying fake minister vote for?” – your prayers have been answered. Allowing the rest of the voting public to exhale, Anand “K.A. Paul” Kilari has officially endorsed Sen…
Early Voting Still Shattering Records
There’s been no signs of a slowdown in the early-voting pace in Harris County, the clerk’s office reports. Voting today — and for the four-day period so far — has been about double that of 2004. Says the clerk’s office: As of 4:52 pm on Oct. 23nd 2008, the County…
Somali Refugee Locked Up For No Good Reason In Texas
Abdi Ahmed was cruising through South Texas one evening in his truck just a few hours before sunset when he slowed at a border patrol checkpoint about three miles west of the town of Bruni. Ahmed had no reason to worry. Granted, he was not born in the States, but…
Biba’s One’s A Meal Closing!! (And Then Re-Opening In New Location)
Late night diners will soon have one less option to choose from in the Greek Village area on lower West Gray while those in search of an after-midnight bite on Lower Westheimer will have one more — Biba’s One’s a Meal is moving. “We are moving to 812 Westheimer,” legendary…
The Maggiano Diet
I try my best to seek out the places that slip under the radar, the mom ‘n pops, the holes in the wall. You’re more apt to see me tracking down zacahuil than pecan crusted mango infused mahi mahi. So I feel a little guilty when I write about a…
ESPN Discovers Katy High Football
In this week’s feature, “No Pressure,” we write about the Katy High School football team and its season leading up to the “Battle at Rhodes,” a manufactured game against an opponent flown in from south Florida. Our sister paper, the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, wrote a similar story from Florida,…
Butthole Surfers Part 3: Tom Bunch on Signing With Capitol, the Media’s Problem with the Name, Babysitting the Buttholes, Gibby vs. Paul and the End of the Affair
Butthole Surfers live at Stubb’s in Austin, September 2008 Photos by Gary Miller Texas psych-punk renegades the Butthole Surfers have temporarily put aside their differences for a handful of shows, including at Meridian tonight (doors 8 p.m.). This is the final installment of Rocks Off’s interview with the Surfers’ former…
Buy Lemonade, Help The Federal Government Out
It’s heartwarming — an 11-year-old Girl Scout from Houston opening a lemonade stand to help victims of Ike. Sunkist, which has a whole PR effort devoted to getting these lemonade-stand-for-a-cause stories out, was enraptured with Rama Imad and her friends: “They will be raising money for FEMA, in order to…
Top One Reason To Censor Unfunny Lists
When a list of “Top Ten Gun Safety Tips” begins with “Always keep your gun pointed in a safe direction, such as at a hippy or a Communist,” you know two things: 1) Some conservative group is involved. 2) You won’t be rolling in tears of laughter by the time…
The Pollution Hits Keep Coming
At first blush, one would think that the $541,450 fine levied yesterday against Enterprise Products Operating LLC would freak out any cost-conscious CEO. But then you realize the Houston-based company, whose refinery in Mont Belvieu incurred the fine for air quality violations this year, reported a 72 percent increase in…
Houston Still A Hot Real Estate Market, Somehow
So how is it that local home sales have dropped for 13 months in a row while Houston’s commercial real estate market is rated one of the top ten in the country? “One is going up in smoke, and the other is about to go up in smoke,” Steve Blank,…
ESPN Discovers Katy High Football
In this week’s feature, “No Pressure,” we write about the Katy High School football team and its season leading up to the “Battle at Rhodes,” a manufactured game against an opponent flown in from south Florida. Our sister paper, the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, wrote a similar story from Florida,…
Lonesome Onry and Mean: Roy Orbison and Odessa
Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings Opening the mail the other day, I found a four-disc set of Roy Orbison recordings, Columbia/Legacy’s Roy Orbison: The Soul of Rock and Roll, going all the way back to his West Texas bands the Teen Kings and the Wink Westerners. Disc 1 is…
Truancy In Missouri City May Cost You
Truancy appears to be a growing concern in Missouri City, which is part of the Fort Bend school district. It may become more of a concern for parents, who might start getting hit in the pocketbook for their kids’ actions. Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen has been discussing, at least…
Artist of the Week: Prince AJ
Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group “Artist of the Week,” bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. [Ed. note: due to MP3 difficulties, we’re posting it Thursday this week.] Know a band or artist that isn’t awful? Email…
Houston Aeros: Halloween Costumes and Bobbleheads, But No Dildos
The Aeros head into this weekend with a 4-0-0-0 record, which is their best start since 2002-03 when they went 8-0-0-0. Their last game was a 4-3 victory on Sunday afternoon against the San Antonio Rampage in San Antonio. The team’s leading scorer is Corey Locke, the new acquisition who…
More Boots On The Ground In Galveston
An ornery-looking biker gang will be cruising down the Gulf Freeway later this morning towards Galveston. Once they get there, they’ll be wreaking havoc among the citizenry, asking “What you got?” when some resident wonders what they’re rebelling against, doing wheelies and circling around mamas taking their kids to school…
Book Review: Doomed Queens
In her introduction to the morbidly entertaining Doomed Queens: Royal Women Who Met Bad Ends from Cleopatra to Princess Di, author Kris Waldherr asserts that there are still “doomed queens among us.” “Whatever your opinion of [Hillary] Clinton or [assassinated Pakistani Benazir] Bhutto, there’s one point we can all agree…
River Oaks Racketeering at Capone’s
At Moodafaruka’s regular Wednesday night show at Capone’s (4304 Westheimer), Highland Village’s eight-month-old bar and oven, three things are readily apparent: 1. Mooda is in beast mode tonight. Every song they collectively jam through seems to forcibly pull people to Capone’s impromptu dance floor, even the guy dressed head-to-toe in…
“A Time for Change”
Barack Obama is talking at “A Time for Change”…sort of. Obama appears in I am BLUE ‘Cause I am RED Over You XOXOXO, a video installation by Anthony Thompson Shumate. The artist animated Shepard Fairey’s portrait of the presidential hopeful to lip-synch speeches by former congressmen. The show features 24…
Lawndale Art Center’s “Día de los Muertos” Gala/Exhibit
Sure to be a highlight of the season, the Lawndale Art Center’s 21st Annual “Día de los Muertos” is a celebration of Mexican cultural traditions of Day of the Dead – as seen through the eyes of Texas artists. The centerpiece is an exhibit of retablos, or tin devotional paintings…
Polysics
You won’t need an interpreter to be rocked by Tokyo’s Polysics. The quartet sings many a tune in its native tongue, but they all translate into kick-ass jams. Polysics are the Japanese version of Devo and borrow heavily (but tastefully) from their jumpsuit/energy dome-sporting counterparts. The two-male, two-female crew attacks…
The Night Stalker Author James Swain
It seems the hardened sensibilities of the cops and criminals he writes about have rubbed off a little on author James Swain. Talking about his latest book, The Night Stalker, which was inspired by a real-life event, Swain has said, “Yes. A little boy in Florida was taken from his…
Reed Farrel Coleman
Author Reed Farrel Coleman claims his alter ego Tony Spinosa was “raised by nuns in a Brooklyn orphanage…the product of an affair between the blind daughter of a neighborhood rabbi and a local wiseguy.” In his latest outing under the Tony Spinosa pseudonym, Coleman’s The Fourth Victim takes a look…
Greg Behrendt
Taking advice from a comedian seems an inadvisable proposition, but Greg Behrendt is a different sort of stand-up comic. He saw his name on The New York Times Best Seller List for He’s Just Not That Into You, a 2004 self-help book he co-authored about why John Q. Handsome didn’t…
Noche de Brujas, Noche de Torturas
Tired of the same old, same old for Halloween? Kick it up a few notches at the Noche de Brujas, Noche de Torturas (Witches’ Night, an Evening of Torture). The performers (we think that’s the right word) of Constructs of Ritual Evolution (CoRE) will present The Mourning Star, a reenactment…
Waugh Bridge Bat Colony Pontoon Boat Tour
Holy smokes, Batman! Why should hipper-than-thou Austin get all the attention when it comes to those little Halloween-lovin’ bloodsuckers? Houston has its own colony of about 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats that emerge nightly from the Waugh Street bridge wearing tiny sombreros, and you can experience the Dracula-like swarm during the…
36th Annual Moonlight Bicycle Ramble
Riders will get lit again for the 36th Annual Moonlight Bicycle Ramble. BikeHouston’s annual fund-raiser on wheels gets bigger and brighter every year as participants light themselves and their bikes up (safely, of course) to cruise the town. And while we’re on the subject, please note that helmets are required…
Ben Folds
We’re a little worried about the poster promoting the new Ben Folds tour. The piano man is sporting a keytar, a keyboard that’s worn like a guitar. Hey, we get it: It’s hard to connect with the crowd when you’re stuck behind the ivories, but we just can’t imagine hearing…
The Bermondsey Joyriders
The Bermondsey Joyriders don’t sound like snotty English punk rockers – but they are. The UK threesome (featuring ex-members of Cock Sparrer and Chelsea) plays rough-and-tumble jams sure to get your tattoos shakin’ (wherever they are). Dirty guitars, dance-friendly bass and drums and growling vocals pair perfectly with crowds known…
Taiwanese New Wave Cinema Movement
Hou Hsiao-hsien’s 1989 film A City of Sadness was the first movie to depict the “228 incident” (named for the date it began, February 28, 1947), in which an anti-Chinese uprising in Taiwan resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians. The event, which also marked the start of the…
International Quilt Festival
Grandmas were into stitching and patching before it was cool. All you young knitsters keep that in mind at the International Quilt Festival. As you peruse the offerings of more than 1,000 vendors, marvel at the designs of more than 2,000 quilts and other fabric creations, and check out the…
David Macaulay
Children’s author David Macaulay’s latest title, The Way We Work, is filled with blood, goo, germs and snot. That’s because The Way We Work details the mechanics of the human body, and that’s basically what’s inside of us (along with some bones and a little brain matter). Macaulay starts with…
Reel Talk: Exploring the Films of kA’RAMUU KUSH
So what’s Hollywood got to do with Texas Southern University? Lots, if communications instructor Jordyn Lorenz gets her way. As a way to introduce her students to the film industry, she’s launched a series of lectures and screenings with movieland insiders. Reel Talk: Exploring the Films of kA’RAMUU KUSH, an…
Kenny Barron
In the ranks of mainstream jazz musicians, Kenny Barron is solidly A-list. The Philadelphia-born pianist, who opens Da Camera’s 2008-2009 jazz series today, is also a composer and arranger. He hit the national scene in the ’60s when he joined the Dizzy Gillespie Quartet. Later, Barron played alongside Yusef Lateef,…
“Made From Ike”
“Made From Ike” is an exhibit that benefited from the not-exactly-speedy post-hurricane cleanup efforts. The silent auction/contest sponsored by Fresh Arts Coalition encouraged local artists and nonartists to create works from signs, trees and other debris blown free during the storm to end all storms. Remember your old street sign?…
Secret Order
Conspiracy theorists love it when they’re right, and they might be right about big medicine, at least according to playwright Bob Clyman’s The Secret Order. The play opens just as Dr. William Shumway, a brilliant but naive young researcher in the Midwest, may have found the cure for cancer. An…
2nd Annual Russian Documentary Film Showcase: Images of Russia
The 2nd Annual Russian Documentary Film Showcase: Images of Russia is dedicated to Nobel Prize-winning writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a political icon famous for telling the world about the Soviet Union’s brutal work camps. The multi-day festival includes today’s screening of Aleksandr Sokurov’s 1998 film Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn, in which the…
The Midnight Meat Train
Be there for the Houston premiere of The Midnight Meat Train. No, it’s not a porno flick. Instead, this 2008 celluloid locomotive journey is a hardcore horror film based on a Clive Barker short story in which a New York City photographer tries to hunt down a serial killer he…
14th Annual Houston Women’s Festival
Men run Houston’s music scene for 364 days out of the year. But the 14th Annual Houston Women’s Festival keeps it from being a clean sweep. The women-centric event showcases the talents of independent up-and-coming artists. One of this year’s headliners is multi-instrumentalist songwriter Carrie Rodriguez, who started out a…
Houston Survivor Challenge
So you didn’t make it through the auditions for the latest Survivor but you like the taste of dirt grubs? Or maybe you just don’t want to run around half naked for the world (and your ex) to see. Try the Houston Survivor Challenge. The inaugural challenge will pit regular…
Carl Cox
The world of dance music is a fickle place; today’s sick DJ or superproducer is a has-been tomorrow. Hardly anyone seems to carry any kind of continued weight amongst the clubbers, but those select few who do are gods among men. British DJ Carl Cox is one such deity, moving…
The Shredder
Pierced Arrows: Portland garage-rock legends Dead Moon reborn; with Rustler and Alvin instro-rockers Motion Turns It On. (Friday, Rudyard’s) Thievery Corporation: D.C. guerrilla dance duo wants the airwaves on this year’s Radio Retaliation (Eighteenth Street). (Friday, House of Blues) Dan Electro’s 20th Anniversary: North Heights mainstay marks two decades of…
Kings of Leon: Only By the Night
Able to sell out 20,000-seat venues in the UK, this Tennessee-born band of three brothers and a cousin has mystifyingly never achieved anywhere near that status in its homeland. Unfortunately, while the group’s fourth record is certainly its most experimental, it’s also the weakest, never really sparkling in its attempt…
TV on the Radio: Dear Science
Over the last five years, Brooklyn’s TV on the Radio has succeeded in making weird sounds relatively accessible, garnering that much-coveted “art-rock” designation. Yet seemingly cognizant of how “played” that distinction may be, the band’s third full-length, Dear Science, is a noticeable shift away from driving guitars to a more…
Trails to Terror
It’s scream time, Houston, and whether you party funny or sexy, know that with a Friday-night Halloween, it’s going to be huge. The clubs around town are getting together to give you something special to do, and plenty of beer to wash it down with. Trend watchers say many of…
Single File
50 Cent, “Get Up”: “You got a Bentley coupe booty, baby / I wanna drive” — 50’s a smooth ladies’ man, at heart! “I have the savoir faire / I’m the reason everybody here” equals an excuse, finally, to include Fitty and Pavement’s Steve Malkmus in the same sentence. Baseless…
Shabu Chic at Shabu House
Japanese shabu is similar to the Vietnamese noodle soup pho and the Chinese hot pot. As with many things Japanese, there is quite a ceremony involved in the preparation of shabu. At Shabu House (9889 Bellaire, 713-995-5428), there’s a burner with a pot of boiling broth in front of you,…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Houston Collects: African American Art,” “Indifference Personified,” “RADAR EYES,” “A Time for Change”
“Houston Collects: African American Art” In 1865, a North Carolina father built a desk for his little girl, who was learning to read. Such a desk may not seem noteworthy, as it is rough-hewn and made from mismatched scraps of old furniture, with some pieces painted and others written upon…
ETRO LOUNGE’S ORANGIE
It had already been a long day when we rolled into Etro Lounge (1424-A Westheimer at Windsor; 713-529-3449) on a recent Saturday night. Most of my days don’t involve drinking at 10 a.m., but this was Texas/OU weekend and you can’t drink all day if you don’t start when you…
Mick Jagger meets Gilley’s
Let’s face it, Urban Cowboy isn’t the best movie ever made. Far from it. It has great moments — Ray Villalobos’s chamber-of-commerce cinematography as John Travolta cruises down Memorial Drive in the opening titles; Debra Winger’s opening line to end all opening lines, “You a real cowboy?” — but there’s…
Meat Lovers’ Swordfight at Fuegovivo Churrascaria
The server with the filet mignons wrapped in bacon was hovering nearby, and the guy with the lamb chops was on his way. But I was busy catching thin slices of rare rib eye with my tongs as they were carved off the sizzling steak. There were so many guys…
Capsule Stage Reviews: The Altruists, …and L.A. Is Burning, Cav/Pag, The Strangerer
The Altruists For Unhinged Productions’ electrifying version of Nicky Silver’s mordant black comedy, set designer Dominic Klovensky has made a mess. There’s stuff strewn across the three-room set — crushed beer cans, assorted bottles, M&Ms, soiled towels, Cheerios, used Kleenex and various clothes. It’s the magnificent visual equivalent of Silver’s…
We Rent the Night: Pride and Glory
Pride and Glory doesn’t make any effort to disguise precisely what it is: a barely-held-together string of vignettes lifted from every cop movie ever made, save, perhaps, Turner & Hooch. It serves up clichés bound together by a flimsy, bored-out-of-its-own-skull story about bad cops, black sheep, good sons and a…
Whatever Fracture’s breaking, it ain’t new ground
One of the oft-repeated historical curiosities about the Maya is that they conceived the wheel yet never found a practical application for it. Maya kids had wheeled toys and Maya calendars were imagined as wheels…yet when it came to hauling something, your average Maya just heaped his shit on a…
Sam Houston, Ad Man
Comcast’s current Sam Houston campaign has made for some of the stranger local TV ads in recent memory. In them, a, um, statuesque General Houston reminisces on his life and career and touts Houston’s favorite — well, only — cable provider. Some in the local blogosphere are not amused. At…
Who’s Crying Now?
Our online readers responded to our October 9 feature “Don’t Nobody Cry” by Randall Patterson: Wait a minute: Regarding your October 9 feature on the exoneration of Ronald Taylor: The author had called this office only to inquire about the process for defendants involved in negotiated pleas of guilty. He…
Parking Tickets and Clamato
Dear Mexican, One of our Arizona politicians once said on the PBS show Horizonte that the “crime” of being undocumented in this country is equivalent legally to that of a parking ticket. Do you know where I can verify this statement? So often in the argument over immigration, the bottom…
Analyzing Bocephus’s “McCain-Palin Tradition”
John McCain is floundering. Worse yet, his rallies just can’t find the correct music. Foo Fighters, Heart, John Mellencamp, Van Halen, Gretchen Peters (Martina McBride’s “Independence Day”) and even demographically appropriate Frankie Valli have all asked the Republican candidates to stop playing their music at McCain/Palin rallies. So what to…
Sweet Temptation in the Heights
Ignacio Soraiano has just opened Sweet Temptation (1594 Airline, 713-861-0300) in the Heights. “There’s not another Italian restaurant close by in the Heights area which is really growing,” he says. “We’re also just down the road from the produce market and the meat market, and Sysco is five minutes away,…
Bottom Shakefest
No one we spoke to at Last Concert Cafe seems quite sure what the significance of “2nd Annual Bottom Shakefest and Fall (down)” is or what exactly it means, but what they are sure of is that longtime Houston roots-rocker Larry (LL) Cooper will be on hand with his band…
House of Lightnin’
Now open just under two weeks, House of Blues Houston has immediately set a high standard — not just for other music venues in the city, but for itself. A corporate-owned multimillion-dollar shrine to a style of music born of racism, poverty and deprivation is by definition ironic (at the…
No Pressure. It’s Just Texas High School Football.
Gold trophies are the first thing kids see inside the Katy High School field house, and that’s by design. “It’s not all right to be mediocre, it’s not all right to be average,” says Gary Joseph, the school’s head football coach since 2003. “They understand.” During the last three decades,…
Cold War Kids
Thanks in no small part to his throaty wail and sturdy songwriting, Nathan Willett has expertly steered his Orange County quartet Cold War Kids from mere blog buzz to a sweet record deal, worldwide attention and now a domino-like series of sold-out tour dates at big venues. Yet he still…
The Alley’s Cyrano is an over-the-top period piece
Though it’s called a heroic comedy by the Alley Theatre, in truth, Brian Hooker’s adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac is most of all a melodrama, with all the gooey indulgences the genre implies. Secret love letters, gauzy ringleted women, war-loving men, clanking sword fights, swooning deaths — all…
Alkaline Trio
Not really a threesome — tour manager Nolan McGuire often plays guitar for live shows — Alkaline Trio is one of the best purveyors of catchy, thoughtful punk/hardcore at a time when fashion sense and well-applied eyeliner have sadly become the modus operandi of many in the genre. Even though…
