Roland Laurenzo Announces El Tiempo 1308 Cantina Probably Will Have to Move
Sometime after the start of the year, El Tiempo 1308 Cantina will have to move. Roland Laurenzo announced this in an email today, saying that his landlord is selling the land to someone for an apartment project…
The City Is Withdrawing Sermon Subpoenas, So Stop Sending Bibles
The City of Houston is withdrawing the controversial “sermon subpoenas” that targeted five local religious leaders who vocally fought the city’s equal rights ordinance, Mayor Annise Parker announced Wednesday. “I am directing the city legal department to withdraw the subpoenas,” said Parker. Parker’s announcement came amid heavy criticism over the…
Lab Reports Show Hundreds “Convicted in Error” for Drug Offenses
In recent months the Harris County District Attorney’s Office has sent out hundreds of notices to defendants convicted of drug offenses, telling them that forensic lab reports show they were “convicted in error.” The Houston Press has obtained copies of those letters from Wayne Dolcefino, a former investigative reporter and…
Reality Bites: Naked and Afraid
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. Forget Ebola, America is in the midst of a nudity epidemic. Having already worked the black seam of wine-soaked, furniture-tossing housewives and twentysomething mooks on the make to exhaustion, reality…
Shrapnel-Shooting Airbag Recall Now Focused on Gulf Coast
A nationwide recall of defective, shrapnel-shooting airbags may affect more than 7 million vehicles in the U.S. from nearly two dozen brands, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now saying owners of the cars in extremely humid areas like the Gulf Coast are most at risk. The airbags…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Kevin Naderi of Roost and Lillo & Ella
Kevin Naderi has the daunting task of running not one, but two independent restaurants that each have a unique identity. Roost has been a mainstay of the Montrose neighborhood for almost three years and has scored national recognition on more than one occasion. He’s dad to a new “baby” now,…
Former HCC Lawyer: Trustees Wanted to Make Multimillion-Dollar Bond a “Private Slush Fund”
If you believe Renee Byas, her tenure at Houston Community College was an incredibly rocky one. Shortly after joining HCC as general counsel in 2008, the college, one of the country’s largest community college systems, was rocked by allegations that board members shuffled contracts to family members and demanded kickbacks…
A Zen Workshop Complete With Actor Peter Coyote in Houston
This Sunday, Peter Coyote whose distinctive voice was heard most recently in Ken Burns’ The Roosevelts:An Intimate History on PBS is headed back to Houston to lead a three-hour Mask Workshop. According to a press release announcing the event at the Houston Zen Center from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m…
This Week in Food Blogs: Impostor Lemons and Patio Cocktails
In the fall, limes that aren’t yet harvested can begin to turn yellow and, unless you know better, can look just like lemons. This case of “bait and switch” initially fooled the blogger at Tag Sale Tastes, who subsequently comes up with a riff on an old adage. If life…
HJ BOTT’s “Scribble Morphings”: A Serious Artist With a Sense of Humor
The scribbles over these acrylic on canvas paintings document that HJ Bott has a sense of humor, and refuses to take himself too solemnly, though this in no way questions his seriousness as an artist. The press release undermines the light-hearted tone, going into considerable detail in claiming that “the…
The 10 Best Reasons to Visit Voodoo Fest This Weekend
This weekend you could be carving pumpkins and handing out candy, or doing something much cooler by jumping in the car and heading to New Orleans for the 16th annual Voodoo Music + Arts Experience. Costumed freaks and music fans alike will be descending on the historic City Park for…
Citing “War on Teachers,” Houston Educators Vow to Back Ogg in DA’s Race
Claiming incumbent Devon Anderson has helped launch a “war on teachers,” representatives from five Houston-area teacher groups vowed to back Kim Ogg for District Attorney at a news conference Tuesday. At issue is a supposed agreement between the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and Superintendent Terry Grier, an agreement under…
Filling the Gaps: Eatsie Boys Cafe
I’ve lived in Houston for 22 years. It took me 16 of those to visit the Rothko Chapel for the first time. I didn’t eat at Ninfa’s on Navigation until I’d counted myself a Houstonian for nearly a decade. I still haven’t eaten at Frenchy’s. The list of glaring omissions…
Houston Cinema Arts Festival Brings in Julie Taymor and James Ivory
The sixth annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival will start this year’s festivities with a screening of Julie Taymor’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream complete with The Lion King (Broadway version) creator herself. Another highpoint will be director James Ivory (known for A Room With a View, Howard’s End and The Remains…
100 Creatives 2014: Andy McWilliams, Sound Designer and Composer
Quick, name a sound designer that’s won an Emmy Award. Can’t? Actually, neither can we right off the top of our head. Unless there big bombs or huge explosions, an audience usually doesn’t pay much attention to a show’s sound design. Ambient sound and incidental music are crucial to a…
Babysitter Accused of Causing Toddler’s Scalding Death
A Houston woman has been arrested and charged in connection with the scalding death of a toddler whose injuries were so devastating that the skin around her elbows “slipped off” when she was removed from the boiling water. 20-year-old Carmen Pleasant was babysitting Nevaeh Cornwall, 2, and a younger sibling…
Howard, Bryant Smack Talk as Rockets Roll Over Lakers in Season Opener
In a game that saw the Houston Rockets lead the LA Lakers for all but 21 seconds and go on to lead by 27 before finishing off the Lakers 108-90 at Staples Center, there were a couple of memorable highlights, neither of which involved basketball. Late in the fourth quarter,…
Five Don’t-Miss Fashion Events in Houston in November
The weather is cooling down just in time for fashion season in Houston to heat up! Clear your calendars (and your credit card balance) because in addition to this onslaught of fashion–Christmas is coming. You know it, I know it, and the retailers in the Galleria know it. (Seriously, the…
Try These 5 Monster Sandwiches in Houston
From triple deckers loaded with slaw and delicatessen to a bbq number stacked with everything but the kitchen sink, here are five awesomely massive sandwiches to try in Houston: See also: Try These 5 Absolutely Loaded Pizzas Try These 5 Absolutely Loaded Fries Try These 5 Chili-Smothered Dishes…
Special Early Halloween Weekend Concert Guide
So you say you don’t have anything to do on Halloween. Maybe all your plans have fallen apart, or you just don’t feel like going to a party or a bar’s cheesy costume contest this year. That’s okay, because Houston has you covered. This year Halloween falls on a Friday,…
DeLorean Looks Sharp on Look Alive
MIXTAPE OF THE WEEK: DeLorean, Look Alive Is DeLorean underrated, overrated or properly rated? We’ve been dancing around this thought for a little while now. You see, the rapper is responsible for two of the city’s most noted projects of the past five years, Hood Politics 2: Acknowledgment and Hood Politics 3…
Country Music Time Machine: World Series Edition
Right now Texans are in the middle of football season, and therefore even attempting to talk about any other pro sports amounts to ripping a wet fart into the wind — unless it’s the Rockets, and most of us Houstonians can’t watch them on TV anyway. But in case you…
[Video] EDM Fans Turn Out for Something Wicked 2014
It’s been interesting to watch Something Wicked grow over the past three years. Walking into the festival on Saturday, it was easy to forget that in the grand scheme of things it’s still a very young fest. Quite frankly, between the lineup and the stage designs, the people behind the…
NASA Rocket Explodes After Launch
Well, it looks like the astronauts will have to wait a little longer for their snacks and supplies. An unmanned NASA rocket exploded shortly after launching on Tuesday evening. The rocket, an unmanned cargo spacecraft that was slated to dock at the International Space Station, exploded roughly six seconds after…
Officer Suspended for Allegedly Demanding to Smell Woman’s Feet, Underwear
An alleged foot and underwear fetish has prompted Cy-Fair ISD to suspend Officer Patrick Quinn, a licensed peace officer with the district. Cy-Fair suspended Quinn Monday after Harris County prosecutors filed two charges of official oppression against him in a strange case stemming from an early August traffic stop. Quinn…
Rockets Season Preview 2014-15: Uphill Climb in the Stacked Western Conference
Since 1997 when the Rockets took a dagger to the heart in the form of a John Stockton three pointer in the Western Conference Finals, the team has toiled in mediocrity. Sure, they’ve made the playoffs on several occasions, but they have made it past the first round exactly once…
Julian Sands: A Celebration of Harold Pinter
The setup: Harold Pinter is best known as an English playwright (The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, The Homecoming, No Man’s Land, Betrayal et al.), but he was also an actor, screenwriter, theater director, and poet. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. He had formed a friendship…
Vote on Buffalo Bayou Takes Place Behind Closed Doors
A handful of people clustered in the dim hallway outside Room 100 in the building that houses the Harris County Flood Control District. The clock nosed to 2 p.m. and everyone allowed in the meeting — the members of the Harris County Flood Control District Task Force, each of whom…
Michael and Elizabeth O’Brien Update Their The Face of Texas Photography Book
He’s an award-winning photographer who’s worked with National Geographic, Texas Monthly and Life. She’s a former reporter for Life who still gathers life stories. Husband and wife team Michael and Elizabeth O’Brien put their talents together to capture a bit of Texas history with the book The Face of Texas,…
Watch Our Favorite Texas Tech Cheerleader Go Gator-Huntin’
“I want to shoot a gator in the face!” says a charming H-town gal in the debut episode of our favorite new YouTube show, “Game On,” featuring Texas Tech cheerleader/elephant killer Kendall Jones. Jones got a ton of flack for posting huntin’ pics from what we’re sure was a dangerous…
Skeptical but Open-Minded, Texan Ken Gerhard Hunts for Bigfoot and Other Monsters
In a world where the hunt for unknown animals such as Bigfoot has become reality TV fodder, Ken Gerhard quietly goes in search of the truth behind monster sightings. All over America and even beyond, when people see monsters or unexplainable animals, they give Gerhard a call or shoot him…
Nick Verreos – Designer, Scholar, Gentleman – on Finding Your Style Muse and Looking Nice at Airports
Last Saturday, fashion designer, Project Runway alum, and red carpet commentator Nick Verreos was at Macy’s at the Houston Galleria presenting Fashion Rocks–inspirational fall looks based on the kind of strong, confident women that inform Verreos’s own design aesthetic. “I like that people are using celebrity muses. People can argue…
Review: Dosi Takes a Lighthearted, Unpretentious Approach to Its Food
The smoked Spanish mackerel at Dosi Restaurant + Soju Bar looks like pop art on a plate. Bite-size rectangles of luminescent filet as tender as one could wish for are each garnished with a strip of lardo so thin that it’s translucent. Rolls made of equally thin strips of celery…
E-cig, Vape Users Brace for FDA Regulations
Cloud blowers, flavor connoisseurs, smokeless e-cig puffers, surreptitious stoners, cancer patients trying to quit cigarettes — Houston’s e-cigarette and vape consumers as are diverse as the products created in the local DIY market. It’s a market that’s been allowed to frankenstein and modify new contraptions for vaporizing countless blends of…
Pop Rocks: NBC’s Friday Night Monster Mash Could Be Sleeper Hit of the Fall TV Season
The latest ratings have been released and it is good news for NBC’s Friday night lineup featuring a pair of creature features that could be consistent winners for the network. Despite going up against the World Series, ratings for Grimm grew 15 percent over the season finale and the series…
Texas Could Soon Be Home to a Giant, Crowd-Funded Vagina
With any luck — and about $600 in Kickstarter donations — Austin, Texas will soon be home to one giant vagina statue. Aptly entitled “Texas Women by Chloe,” the project is currently in the fundraising phase on Kickstarter, and appears — at least on the surface — to be awesome…
The Pumpkin Beer Taste Test, Part 1
In 2012, I had the bright idea to gather as many pumpkin beers as I could find and hold a taste test. I split half a dozen or so pumpkin beers with my girlfriend and my buddy Joey. Last year, we acquired ten beers. Another friend accompanied us, and I…
Fashion Houston Is a Go, Let Houston’s Fashion Season Begin
The rest of the fashion world is recuperating from September a.k.a. Fashion Month, but Houston is just getting revved up. Just this past week, the team at Fashion Houston hosted its official launch party at JW Marriott Houston Downtown. Local Houston designers, professionals, media, and fans gathered to celebrate the…
Five Animals That Make Damn Good Musicians
Several things separate human beings from the rest of the animals. We can put them in Halloween costumes and they can’t put us in ones, we have smartphones, and there’s the whole food-chain thing as well. Music, however, is not one of those things unknown to the animal kingdom. Sometimes…
Upcoming: Blues for Food, Cheap Trick, Run the Jewels, Rachael Yamagata, Spoon, etc.
3Ball MTY: With Los Rakas. Mon., December 1, 7 p.m., $22. House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston, 888-402-5837. Abysmal Dawn: Thu., October 30, 8 p.m., $7 to $10. Mango’s, 403 Westheimer, Houston, 713-522-8903. Al Staehely: Tue., November 4, 7:30 p.m., $20 to $22. McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, Houston, 713-528-5999…
Best and Worst Halloween Candy of the Past 5 Years
In 2009, J.C. Reid (who now handles barbecue coverage for the Houston Chronicle) wrote a memorable post called “Top 5 Creepiest Halloween Candy” in which zit poppers, box of boogers and scab-a-roni were some of the attention-getting highlights. In referencing the scab-a-roni (do they even make that anymore?), Reid poignantly…
6 Horror Films Featuring Early Pre-Fame Roles of Hollywood Stars
Halloween is almost upon us, and a lot of folks like to watch old horror films to get in the mood. Of course, some of us are into horror movies all year round and they represent a major source of entertainment for us. I belong to that second category, and…
Gambling! NBA Season Win Total Best Bets
The 2013-2014 wagering year was a strange one for me personally. By the way, for your information, the “wagering year” is defined as the last week of August (early season college football bets, season win total and futures bets in college and NFL) through late June (NBA Finals, the occasional…
Get to Know Houston’s Unified Underground
You don’t need to turn over rocks to find musical gems in Houston. They sparkle across our landscape and reflect their brilliance back upon us. But if you insist on mining for diamonds in the rough, Juan Olivo and his friends want to help you on your treasure hunt. Olivo…
Jim Peterik Still Has That Eye of the Tiger
An answering-machine message not only changed Jim Peterik’s life forever, but led to the creation of one of the ’80s biggest anthems that can still be heard all over the place some three decades later. “When I played the message, I thought someone was pranking me, because our road manager,…
The Best Things Overheard at Something Wicked 2014
“Look at all these cheeks just hanging out!” “I met my ex-boyfriend to get my ticket and he ripped it up right in front of me!” “That there’s a puddle makes it suspicious” — someone vocalizing what we were all thinking about a parking-lot portapotty…
Daily Show Comes to Texas This Week, Should Be Easy Pickins
Good news, guys. Jon Stewart and The Daily Show will be making Texas the new (temporary) world news headquarters this week, just in time for midterm elections. In a segment they’ve dubbed “Democalypse: South by South Mess,” Stewart will be in Austin from October 27 – 30, putting all of…
The Best & Worst of Something Wicked 2014
THE BEST A-TRAK If you don’t follow the EDM blogosphere, you may have missed the debate about real DJing that A-Trak started a few months back. It’s an interesting discussion, because it seems like the people who care the most are those not inclined to enjoy your typical “button-pushing” DJ…
Man Accidentally Shot in Face After Wrestling Gun-Toting Infant
A gun falls out of a sleeping man’s pocket…Stop us if you’ve heard this one. Houston police are investigating the apparent accidental shooting of 20-year-old Patrick Sanders Saturday after a gun fell out of his pocket during a nap and landed in the hands of an infant…
Rubblebucket at Fitzgerald’s, 10/24/2014
Rubblebucket, Landlady Fitzgerald’s October 24, 2014 Bands on the rise generally give you their all during a live performance. They have something to prove more than an already established act, with their careers on the line every single night. For a band to make it these days, they have to…
The Rice Owls Are the Best Football Team in Houston
The most entertaining football team in Houston is not the Houston Cougars. The most professional football team in Houston is not the Texans. The best prepared, and easily the most motivated, football team in Houston is the one that plays in Rice Stadium, the Rice Owls. Most of Houston ignores…
Ghosts and Giraffes at Houston’s Zoo Boo 2014
The Houston Zoo’s annual Zoo Boo is always a popular and packed affair. Part of it is because we usually hope that it will be one of the first weekends where you can visit the zoo when it isn’t quite so bloody hot, and partly as an excuse for kids…
Dish of the Week: Klobasneks
From classic comfort foods to regional standouts and desserts, we’ll be sharing a new recipe with you each week. See the complete list of recipes at the end of this post. This week, after our Underrated Kolache post last week, we decided to delve deeper into the kolach’s savory cousin,…
GWAR at Warehouse Live, 10/26/2014
GWAR, Decapitated, American Sharks Warehouse Live October 26, 2014 GWAR is alive and well, folks. That was the most important takeaway from the band’s performance at Warehouse Live on Sunday. It was something that didn’t seem quite possible when Dave Brockie, the man who fronted the band for 30 years…
An Open Letter to the Teenage Male GamerGaters About Growing Up
Dear Dudes, I seem to run into you a lot online these days. Mostly through friends who share articles I’ve written regarding gaming and the current state of harassment of women in it on Facebook. I don’t mind debating and arguing with you or anyone else. It’s where I get…
Texans 30, Titans 16: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Last week, on the post game show for the Texans’ 30-23 Monday night loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, as we were trying to assess just exactly where the Texans rank among NFL teams, my colleague Mike Meltser had a general observation that I thought was accurate: In the NFL, there…
Doctor Who: Can’t See the Forest for the Trees
“That was bloody terrible.” My Facebook app was blowing up with variations on that sentiment from my Whovian friends across the Atlantic on Saturday afternoon. It’s not the sort of thing that you necessarily want to read knowing that you’ll get your own chance to witness it later that evening…
The Tontons at Fitzgerald’s, 10/24/2014
The Tontons, Ume, Buckamore, -Us. Fitzgerald’s October 24, 2014 The Tontons are no longer Houston’s little secret, and haven’t been for a minute. The local indie darlings have spent the last couple of years crisscrossing the country, playing to some of the hippest crowds in the hippest cities. This summer,…
Black Panther Party Founder Rejects Local Successors
On a whirlwind tour of local media stations, Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale firmly clashed with some local black activists on the role of armed resistance in current affairs. Houston, home of an active New Black Panther chapter, hosted Seale this weekend for the revolutionary anti-police brutality organization’s alumni…
HGO’s Otello Great Sound and Fury Signifying Very Much Indeed
The set-up: Giuseppe Verdi certainly knew how to start an opera. A tumultuous dissonant chord blasts forth fortissimo, followed by rushing strings and woodwinds. It’s a cacophony of nature, as the curtain rises on an aural storm that can only be called Shakespearean – elemental and terrifying. Wind, rain, and…
Texans, Foster Roll Titans in Tennessee to Get Back to .500
Going into Tennessee on Sunday, the Texans were teetering on the brink of another disastrous season. After three straight losses, they were facing a division rival on the road. Another loss and they go to 3-5 including 0-2 inside the division. Win and they go to 4-4 keeping their season…
UPDATED: This Week in Food Events: Where Are You Going For Halloween?
A special part of Houston’s ever-growing food and beverage culture includes many wine dinners, parties, beer dinners, special keg tappings and classes. This new weekly feature is a “foodie calendar” that helps adventurous diners and drinkers plan ahead. It’s important to note that there are only a certain number of…
The Changing Face of Houston – Gulfton
Just outside the 610 Loop on the southwest side of town lies the Gulfton area, Houston’s most densely populated neighborhood. The community has changed dramatically over its history, originally being a rural area belonging to Westmoreland Farms before the 1950s. During that decade, the Shenandoah subdivision was constructed southeast of…
The 10 Best Texans-Titans Rapper Tweets
The best back we’ve had in Houston. pic.twitter.com/Z0ACVtZmZy— #FreeRyanMallett (@DJAudiTory) October 26, 2014 The 2014 Houston Texans have a new coach, new players, new hope and the same dedicated fan base of Houston-based rappers. As in years past, they took to Twitter on game day to comment on the home…
Remembering Jack Bruce, Cream’s Gentleman Bassist
Note: Cream bassist and lead vocalist Jack Bruce, universally recognized among his peers as one of the greatest instrumental talents in rock history, passed away last Saturday at age 71. Rocks Off’s Bob Ruggiero was lucky enough to speak with Bruce this past spring, and would like to re-run this…
The Five Best Concerts in Houston This Week: Finch, Jay Farrar, Arctic Monkeys, etc.
Finch Warehouse Live, October 28 From Cory Garcia’s review of Finch’s October 2013 concert at Warehouse Live, when they played 2002’s What It Is to Burn in its entirety: To their credit, the band was in good form. They perform like a band that hasn’t played the exact same show…
DPS Tells Mayor Parker’s Daughter She Can’t Have Two Moms
We already know that Texas’ bullheaded stance on gay marriage — that it won’t in any way recognize it, even if couples were married in other states — trickles down to individual Texas Department of Public Safety clerks. Same-sex couples in Texas have to navigate roadblocks that can royally screw…
Sex Offender Charged With Raping Toddler, Teen Was “Low” Risk
The Houston man charged with raping a toddler and teenager and infecting both with HIV was listed as a low-risk sex offender in the state’s database, despite two previous violations of court orders — and a Facebook profile pic showing him cradling a toddler. David Richard Wilson, 33, also gave…
Project Runway: Threads Invites Teens to the Design Table, Brings Past Winner Christian Siriano Back Into the Fold
The latest franchise from Project Runway is geared toward teens and tweens–but only as far as the contestant pool. Project Runway: Threads is a design competition for teen and tween designers, but if the first episode is any indication, they will still be charged primarily with creating adult fashions; kind…
College and Pro Football: This Weekend’s Best Bets
Before we get to the Best Bets for the week, I’ll use this space (and perhaps a lengthier column in the future) to salute the recently laid off employees at the soon-to-be-sold-and-renamed-and-lobotomized Comcast Sports Net Houston. As you all are probably aware, painfully so if you’re a non-Comcast subscriber, the…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: John Wick
Title: John Wick This Time, It’s Personal? And how. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Four Chow Yun-Fats out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: Retired button man is unable to comprehend the concept of “proportionate response.” Tagline: “Don’t set him off.” Better Tagline: “Sadness is a cold puppy”…
Così fan tutte Considers Just How Faithful Are We After All
Don Alfonso, an old bachelor and some would say meddler, tells two young soldiers Ferrando and Guglielmo that women cannot be faithful. The soldiers argue that the women to whom they are betrothed, the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella are indeed trustworthy. A bet is made and the soldiers enter into…
Lotto Shuts Down ‘Fun 5’ Game Because People Got Upset When They Found Out They Lost
A batch of Texas Lotto scratch-offs have become a major source of contention for frustrated lotto players, who say the language on Fun 5 is misleading. And for that confusion, they say they’re owed millions. The controversy revolving around Fun 5 is limited to one specific game on the card…
Are Houston and San Francisco Competing Against Each Other?
Recently, Joel Kotkin, an urban studies professor at Chapman University in California, stirred up some controversy by contending that either San Francisco or Houston would be in the running to push out New York as America’s pre-eminent city within a few years. Professor Kotkin went so far as to opine…
Kelvin Sampson Takes Over the Coogs (Just Don’t Expect a Tourney Visit This Year)
The Houston Cougars come into this basketball season with a new coach. They have new players, and supposedly a new culture. But some things never change, and just as with last season, the Cougars are going to lose a lot of games. Kelvin Sampson’s the new guy in charge. The…
The 5 Best Things to Eat and Drink This Weekend: Brews, Biers and Tequila
Galveston Island Oktoberfest @ First Lutheran Church Friday, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. 2415 Ave. G Sausage, and strudels, and biers! Oh my! Celebrate Oktoberfest with live music, dancing, and traditional German delights like brats, homemade apple cake, and — what else? — beers…
100 Creatives 2014: Maria-Elisa Heg, Zine Queen
What She Does: Maria-Elisa Heg has been drawing since she was a kid. As her talent progressed, her work became more and more derivative, and realizing that, she made it a point as a teenager to focus on creating a unique style that embodied her. Most recently she’s embraced sketching…
The 25 Best Songs About Houston
Bobby Bare, “I Can Almost See Houston From Here” One of the great homesick songs, Bobby Bare infuses this one with downtrodden ennui as he pines for the warmness of his old hometown. Usually veteran Houstonians are forced to deal with some newbie from Portland telling us all the things…
Upcoming Events: A Quite Unusual Oktoberfest
Only in Houston would it make sense to celebrate Oktoberfest at a Korean soju bar. Dosi Restaurant and Soju Bar is offering two flights of any four Karbach beers (each pour is 5 ounces) with their signature bo ssam — a two pound roasted pork shank with shattering crisp skin…
TEA Investigating More Shady Student-Teacher Relationships
The Texas Education Agency is reporting a rise in the number of investigations opened on allegations of inappropriate student-teacher relationships over the past three years, according to newly released numbers by the agency. The number of investigations into student-teacher relationships has risen from 141 in 2009-10 to 179 in 2013-14,…
UPDATED: Openings & Closings: Jose Hernandez Re-emerges at Radio Milano
Good news for Houston foodies: after his short but lauded stint as executive chef at La Balance in Katy, Jose Hernandez has re-emerged in a big way. Houston Business Journal reports that his new place, Radio Milano, opens in CityCentre today. This follows up his temporary role as Etoile’s sous…
Texans-Titans Preview: 2014 Season on the Brink
Three weeks ago the Texans sat at two games over .500, ready to attack a difficult upcoming three-game stretch that would define the first half of the season. All three games would be against playoff contenders and/or played in a tough environment in prime time. Despite showing some fight in…
The 5 Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Sexy Devils, Otello and More
It’s hard to imagine a Monster Mash where the partiers are both semi-naked yet still somehow costumed, but if there’s any place that can pull such a thing off, it’s The Colorado Bar & Grill. It is, after all, a hunting-lodge-themed topless bar filled with not only stages full of…
GWAR’s Vulvatron: “Ebola Is Not Doing as Well as We’d Hoped”
When Dave Brockie –the human avatar of GWAR’s hideous, hilarious front-thing, Oderus Urungus–passed away last year, it was only natural that many fans assumed that it would be curtains for the band. After more than 30 years of blasting worldwide audiences with various bodily fluids, GWAR’s face, voice and only…
15 Acts to Watch for at Something Wicked 2014
LIQUID TODD 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Mystic Meadows Stage DJ Liquid Todd can be heard on two different Sirius XM Radio channels, BPM and Alt Nation. The personable producer has interviewed some of the biggest stars at the biggest festivals across the globe. In addition to his music career, he has…
Linus Pauling Quartet Brings Cthulhu to Life
Ramon Medina of Linus Pauling Quartet has over the years proven himself a music-video visionary. Increasingly his work in stop-motion animation has shown a depth and nuance that is edging him into Tool-level of brilliance. That said, when I heard that he was doing a live-music video premiere I thought…
Hitching a Ride With Screaming Females
Screaming Females’ drummer Jarrett Dougherty said the band has played Houston a few times before, but is still looking for that one knockout performance here as headliners. Those who know one of rock’s most exciting groups may find that hard to believe. Dougherty and bassist King Mike are a solid…
The 10 Best Concerts in Houston This Weekend: PUJOL, Wade Bowen, Mike Doughty, etc.
PUJOL Walters Downtown, October 24 Few feelings can match the exuberance of playing rock and roll in your early twenties. It’s a potent combination of arrogance, recklessness and a hint of vulnerability that, done right, taps into the grand tradition of the Stones, the Clash, the Replacements, the Strokes and…
American Horror Story: Freak Show: The God of Carnies
My favorite season of American Horror Story was Asylum. I know a lot of people didn’t like it because it was too confusing and unfocused. There were lots of loose threads left over, and the season ranged across many different horror genres. That’s the key to what makes the show…
Heart at Stafford Centre, 10/22/2014
Heart Stafford Centre October 22, 2014 The tone of this review has already changed between Wednesday evening’s Heart concert and today’s news of Walters owner Pam Robinson’s passing; in my case it was a matter of a simple drive into the office. It would have been a great show coming…
Last-Minute Shit-Slinging in District Attorney’s Race
As the race for District Attorney continues to heat up, Democratic challenger Kim Ogg is talking weed policy again — and this time, she’s questioning the low number of burglary cases Devon Anderson, the incumbent DA, has prosecuted compared to misdemeanor pot charges pursued by the office. Citing the 10,903…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Erin Smith of Main Kitchen at JW Marriott
Yesterday we did the first part of our interview with Erin Smith of Main Street Kitchen. EOW: Why did you end up leaving Plonk? ES: Plonk was the first restaurant I worked at when I moved back to Houston and I had no idea what the food scene was going…
Here’s What the Houston-Dallas Bullet Train Routes Might Look Like
A more concrete picture of the high-speed bullet train from Dallas to Houston is emerging now that Texas Central Railway, the private company behind the multibillion dollar project, has revealed the two routes the line may take. The bullet train, meant to rival air travel between the two cities, will…
Christopher Titus: “You Can’t Help Crazy”
In his new show currently on tour, The Angry Pursuit of Happiness, hard-funny comedian Christopher Titus has some good news for Texas gun owners: “I can prove that the government is not going to take your guns. In three easy steps, I can prove it. The government can never come…
Judge in Adrian Peterson Case Will Not Be Recused
If you’re somebody who wants the child abuse trial of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson to begin as quickly as possible (a subset of people that happens to include one Mr. Adrian Peterson), then you received the news you wanted to hear on Wednesday in the decision whether or…
Jaston Williams Returns to Galveston, This Time With a Stolen Car Story
Jaston Williams of Greater Tuna fame is headed back to Galveston for three Thanksgiving weekend shows and in this case, the name of his latest one-man show – Maid Marian in a Stolen Car – isn’t just a catchy title but an episode he’s reliving from his own life. Williams…
Don’t Call Al Hoang a Communist or He’ll Sue
Politics is an ugly business, but things went from ugly to violent this week when supporters of state Rep. Hubert Vo, Democrat, and those backing Republican opponent Al Hoang showed up at an early voting center in District 149 on Monday afternoon. Hoang’s party took offense to a banner that…
UPDATED: Walters Downtown Owner Pam Robinson Passes Away
Sad news this morning. Walters Downtown owner Pam Robinson, a fan and champion of Houston musicians for decades, has apparently passed away following a long battle with cancer. Robinson’s family released a statement earlier this afternoon on Walters’ Facebook page: Yesterday afternoon we lost our beloved owner, Pam Robinson, to…
Wingtoberfest: And the Winner Is…
It was a messy shootout at Outlaw Dave’s last night, where almost 200 people turned out to judge the best wings in Houston. Six vendors vied for the top spot: H-Town StrEATS (food truck), Dosi Restaurant, Little Bitty Burger Barn, Sticky’s Chicken (food truck), Bonfire Wings and Dry Creek Cafe…
Doctor Who: The 8 Best Missy Theories
Series 8 (Season 34) of Doctor Who is drawing to a close and with it we are presumably edging closer to the revelation regarding the identity of Missy, presumably the season’s final boss battle. She’s appeared here and there mysteriously, always related to welcoming deceased characters into a new area,…
A Preview of the Whole Foods Post Oak Store with Dinner, Beer, and a Chat
Next month, a new Whole Foods Market location is opening in the Galleria area that promises, for the time being, to be the biggest Whole Foods in Houston. Inside Whole Foods Post Oak will be the company’s first brewery– according to Whole Foods, the first in-store brewery of any kind…
Study Focuses on Youth Pot Use, Should Focus on Pill Popping Instead
The Prevention Resource Center at the Council on Alcohol and Drugs Houston has released its annual Regional Needs Assessment, which gathers a ton of data and compiles it to identify everything you need to know about substance abuse. The study shines a light on what’s going on in our area…
Reviews for the Lazy Gamer: Dust: An Elysian Tail
Game: Dust: An Elysian Tail Platform: PS4, Xbox 360, PC Publisher/Developer: Humble hearts Genre: Action RPG Describe This Game in Three Words: Samurai Bunny Metroidvania Score: 6 out of 10 Synopsis: A young man with amnesia named Dust wakes up in the forest to find he’s been summoned by a…
Jim Lauderdale Is Way Past Where the Sidewalk Ends
One of the most respected songwriters in the suddenly-chic genre called Americana had been chasing the dream of a recording deal ten years when he finally found success through the backdoor to Nashville at age 35. Jim Lauderdale, 57, who visits Dosey Doe’s satellite Music Cafe in Conroe Friday night,…
Houston Restaurant Weeks 2014 Registers Another Good Year
Houston Restaurants Weeks which took up the month of August has raised more than $1.6 million in donation commitments to the Houston Food Bank, it was announced Wednesday. According to the event’s organizers, chief among them Houston radio and TV personality Cleverley Stone, this translates to more than 4.8 million…
Local Acts Besiege CMJ for Texas Takeover
All this week, aspiring rock stars, rappers, DJs and even a folksinger or two have fanned out across Manhattan and Brooklyn for the 33rd annual CMJ Music Marathon. But today New York City’s week-long festival will have a pronounced Texas twang. Lone Star acts, almost two dozen of them, will…
Brian Cushing to Miss Titans Game, Possibly More With Sore Knee
From the rubble of the 2013 season, the rebuild of the Houston Texans was going to begin with the construction of a fearsome front seven on defense. You already had a built-in starting point with the best defensive player in football in J.J. Watt. From there, you unleash a nuclear…
10 Best Businesses to Tour in and Around Houston
Maybe you were one of those kids who resented a trip to tour factories and other proud bastions of industry in and around the city of Houston. If so, have fun, hippies, because nothing says masterhood like carving the natural resources of Mother Earth into mechanical submission! Me, I love…
Try These 5 Absolutely Loaded Pizzas in Houston
We often find the best pizzas are light on sauce, with just a few high-quality toppings scattered about. But we’re not here to talk about those pizzas. We’re here to talk about the sauced up, cheese-loaded, absolutely-smothered pies and slices that are completely outrageous, but oh-so-worth it. Because sometimes, a…
The 5 Best Happy Hours Near the Museum District
If you love happy hour as much as we do, you’ll love this new series. We’re taking a look at the best happy hours in town, ‘hood by ‘hood. To narrow it down, we’re focusing on the spots with the best deals on not only drinks, but eats, too. From…
Now Just Freeman, Gene Moves on Past Ween
Life wasn’t so sweet for Gene Ween in 2011. In fact, it was pretty sour, hitting a tragic low at a concert in Vancouver, during which the former Ween front man mostly lay sprawled across the stage floor, incorrectly mumbling his own lyrics, his band eventually abandoning him onstage. The…
“Monet and the Seine: Impressions of a River”
Considered the leading light of French Impressionist art, Claude Monet had a particular fondness for water, actually for a certain body of water. “I have painted the Seine throughout my entire life, at every hour, at every season,” he once said. “I have never tired of it. For me, the…
Citizenfour‘s Laura Poitras Explains Why Edward Snowden Did It
With the first two documentaries in her post–9-11 trilogy — My Country, My Country, a portrait of Iraq under American occupation, and The Oath, which focused on two Guantánamo Bay prisoners — Laura Poitras seemed to be making a bid for the title of film’s most vigilant observer of American…
The Dark Comes From Us
Jake Gyllenhaal is used to exhaustion. During his research for the LAPD drama End of Watch, he spent five months patrolling the streets with real-life police officers until 7 a.m. It was good preparation for his new movie Nightcrawler, a blistering portrait of a morally corrupt crime-scene videographer who works…
School Colors
Among its many attributes, Justin Simien’s exuberant debut feature, Dear White People, proves that we’re not yet living in a “post-racial America”: Forget for a moment that there are so many vexing problems entwining race, class and economics that we haven’t been able to put a Band-Aid on, let alone…
Copy Master
Knocking out the first-rate forgeries that fooled 60 American museums? That was a curiously mundane miracle, something for Mark Landis to do while watching TV. A frail and ascetic Mississippian who resembles Michael Stipe playing Truman Capote, Landis sketched and painted minor Currans, Averys and Cassatts with one eye on…
An Evening with Billy Stritch
How does a piano player who grew up in Sugar Land watching Carol Burnett and Cher on television end up singing jazz with Mel Tormé at Carnegie Hall? Find out at An Evening With Billy Stritch. You’ll get some music (Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim), some anecdotes about his…
Houston Symphony: Ravel and Debussy
Pianist Jon Kimura Parker had performed as a guest soloist with the Houston Symphony several times before he moved to Houston to join the Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music faculty. “I thought, oh, that’s it. I’m never going to get to [appear] with them again now that I’m local,”…
Christopher Titus
Comedian Christopher Titus is tired of bad comedy. “I see people doing what they call comedy these days and I want to say, ‘Stop doing that. That’s never gonna get you a TV show.’ Everyone thinks they’re being edgy talking about their penis or about anal sex. I’m like, ‘Redd…
Tales of Hoffmann
There’s a mechanical doll. Also a singer, a seductress and a woman protected by her father. And Hoffman loves them all. Billed as a mixture of “steampunk, the supernatural and romantic decadence,” Jacques Offenbach’s opera fantasy The Tales of Hoffmann is coming back to the University of Houston Moores Opera…
Skylight
Here’s a tag team made in West End theater heaven. In the acclaimed revival of David Hare’s class-conscious Skylight (1995), one of England’s most respected actors, Bill Nighy (The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) butts heads and other body parts against one of England’s youngest,…
My Neighbor Is Creeping Me Out. Help!
Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off’s advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, “funny, serious or unpredictable.” Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! I’M WORRIED ABOUT MY SON Dear Willie D: My son is 15 years old and he…
Julian Sands in Celebration of Harold Pinter
Asked to sub in at a charity event by an ailing Harold Pinter, the British actor Julian Sands not only helped out a friend for one occasion — after quite a few sessions spent with the playwright learning how his lines of prose and poetry should be delivered — but…
Carmen Boullosa: Texas: The Great Theft
The struggle over the U.S.-Mexican border isn’t a new problem. Texas had become part of the United States in 1848. Question settled, right? Ah, no. In the years immediately following the Mexican-American War, military forces from both sides were often deployed. The era’s invading-being invaded struggle is captured in Carmen…
Kathleen Kent: The Outcasts
Dallas-based author Kathleen Kent wasn’t quite prepared for her tour of the Middle Bayou area during research for her western novel The Outcasts. “I show up in a T-shirt and shorts. [My guide] has on a beekeeper’s helmet, long sleeves, boots and his pant legs are duct-taped closed so no…
Nation Theatre Live’s Frankenstein
Nothing could be more perfect for Halloween than National Theatre Live’s Frankenstein, filmed for broadcast during its recent highly praised run in London. Heartthrob Benedict Cumberbatch (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and TV’s Sherlock) and Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting) alternated in the roles of god-like scientist Victor Frankenstein and…
2014 International Quilt Festival/Houston
Sheila Frampton Cooper, an award-winning artist who will be among the hundreds attending the 2014 International Quilt Festival/Houston, wants to be clear: She makes art, not blankets. Cooper, who was originally a painter, is one of the quilting world’s rising stars even though, in the strict sense of the word,…
Otello
Otello is a Muslim and several years senior to Desdemona, a Christian who defies her father and family to run away and marry the man she believes is her true love. Perhaps he should have known better, but he falls in love with the idea of her being in love…
Houston’s Best Music Photographer Is…
…finally over. After more than six months and 7,000 votes (wow), we have a winner. Take a bow, Greg Noire. The floor is yours. “Wow. I am literally amazed by all of this,” he says. “My photography got me on this list, but my supporters definitely got me this win…
Drugs, Meat and Mail
Dear Mexican, What do Mexicans in the United States think of the violent drug cartel problem currently in Mexico? Do local Latinos cringe with disgust or fear when they hear another drug cartel story on the news…or do they feel a sense of disconnect because they are living in America…
As Lit’s Biggest Prick, Jason Schwartzman Wears Us Down in Listen Up Philip
You can’t live in New York for more than ten days without meeting some truly dreadful people: couples who fret about having to choose between buying a summer home and having a second child, even as you’re struggling to pay your monthly rent; large groups of people getting together for…
Whiplash Offers a Painful and Joyous Jazz Education
Jazz isn’t dead. Miraculously, there’s always a small but steady stream of young people who continue to fall in love with this most dazzling and elusive American genre, spending hours, days and months running ribbons of scales and memorizing Charlie Parker solos in the hopes that some of the alto…
Capsule Stage Reviews: October 23, 2014
Marie Antoinette The ill-fated queen of France (Emily Neves) sashays down the halls of Versailles to a heavy techno beat. Gigantic neon fleurs-de-lis flash blindingly. Looking as tasty and pastel as any of those luscious macarons piled into a decorous pyramid on the acrylic table, she could be a classy…
Capsule Art Reviews: October 23, 2014
“Mokha Laget: Chromatic Constructs” Mokha Laget has broken free of “the tyranny of the rectangle,” a straitjacket that many artists seem condemned to wear. Her shapes are her own, and they are refreshingly different. Laget’s work has elements of architecture; while the paintings are two-dimensional, the images portray boxes, pathways,…
