(UPDATED W/ Sketch) 5-year-old Girl Abducted from Fairbanks Library, HCSO Looking For Man in His 30s
Harris County Sheriff’s Department investigators are looking for a man, said to be 30 to 35 years old, who they believe abducted a five-year-old girl from the Fairbanks Library, 7122 North Gessner. Authorities are asking for the public’s help in finding the man who offered the girl candy to come…
A Bittersweet Life: A Chef Loses His Sense of Taste, But Not His Passion for Cooking
If you could no longer taste food, could you still cook? And if you were dying of brain cancer, would you spend the last years of your life working in a kitchen? David Guerrero can — and does. The young Houston chef has just opened his very own restaurant, in…
Cover Story: Chef David Guerrero Keeps Working, Despite Losing His Sense of Taste
If you could no longer taste food, could you still cook? And if you were dying of brain cancer, would you spend the last years of your life working in a kitchen? David Guerrero can — and does. The young Houston chef has just opened his very own restaurant, in…
Michael Don Mitchell, Terrifying-Looking Drifter and Chronic Burglar, Foiled by Love of Chef Boyardee
A freaky-looking Longview man faces a burglary charge after police found him with a reusable shopping bag, a fleece hoodie and about $87 he had allegedly taken from a nearby home on Monday. The homeowner told police that the person who had broken into her house had paused long enough…
Yes, But How Do White Supremacists Celebrate Halloween?
Halloween is one of our favorite holidays here at Hair Balls, and we just love to see how different communities get into the spirit. Where better to learn about new ways to enjoy the holiday than white supremacist forum site Stormfront.org? Here are snippets of past Halloween discussions you can…
The High Price of Hearsay
There are three things I love about Hearsay, the “gastrolounge” on downtown’s Market Square: (1) The Byrd, a magnificently messy beast of a burger that comes with a side of smoky macaroni and cheese, (2) the creative, confidently modern cocktail list and (3) the ambience of the historic space and…
Reality Bites: Toy Hunter
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. Did you know private self-storage — the renting of mini-garages to store your crap — only came into being as an industry in the late 1950s? Before that, we somehow…
Thanks a Lot, Hurricane Sandy — Violinist Augustin Hadelich Cancels Houston Symphony Appearance
There’s good news and bad news about violinist Augustin Hadelich’s scheduled performance for this weekend with the Houston Symphony. Bad news first — Hadelich has canceled his appearance. We just got a note from the symphony saying that “due to the massive travel disruptions caused by Hurricane Sandy…violin soloist Augustin…
An Under-$30 Delicious American Sparkler Returns to Houston
Houston wine maven and man-about-town Denman Moody loves him some Dr. Frank from the Finger Lakes, New York. He poured and spoke about the winery’s dry Riesling when I met him for the first time a few weeks ago in Austin (where he was presenting his new self-published book –…
Talking Politics, and Almost No Music, With Punk Legend John Lydon
A few weeks back I had the pleasure of speaking with John Lydon, iconic lead singer of the Sex Pistols, currently touring and recording with Public Image Ltd. That group has been Lydon’s main squeeze since the Pistols’ 1978 implosion, and released their First Issue later that year. REWIND: John…
Victoria Perez, Exotic Dancer, Half-Blinds Strip Club Patron with High-Heeled Shoe, Police Say
A stripper was jailed and a man might lose his left eye after a huge Friday night melee at southeast Austin gentlemen’s club Hot Bodies. According to KXAN, Austin police responded to a call about a dressing room fight involving no fewer than 17 of the dancers — that’s what…
Freak in Scream Mask Terrorizes Walmart
Shopping at Walmart is supposed to be an activity of peace and serenity — a moment where you can leave your troubles behind and explore aisle after aisle of majestically rolled-back prices. That tranquility was shattered at a Cleveland, Texas Walmart Sunday night by a maniac in a Scream mask…
Last Night: Rob Zombie & Marilyn Manson at Reliant Arena
Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson Reliant Arena October 30, 2012 The men of the “Twins of Evil” tour made two important statements at Reliant Arena Tuesday evening. Marilyn Manson’s was that people are zombies. Rob Zombie’s was that fire is awesome. Which one do you think was more fun? Manson must…
Petrol Station’s New Food Menu Gives Us More Reasons to Love It
Petrol Station has long had a good food menu (and remember when it had coffee?). That’s why the pub made it to the final round of our first-ever Burger Bracket and why the bacon-cheese-and-fried egg-topped Rancor consistently makes our lists of Houston’s best burgers. The hand-cut fries don’t hurt, either…
Style Guides: Five Great Books for the Fashion Lover
Style guides are sort of the opposite of the September Issues. Where September Issues scream at us — WHAT’S HOT WHAT’S NOW WHAT’S TRENDY — style guides (the good ones, anyway) are all about creating a foundational wardrobe for “real life.” A foundational wardrobe is more than the sum of…
A Delightful Dough at Trader Joe’s
It was inevitable, really. Eventually, I would have to eat my words here at Eating…Our Words. Although I technically did not trash the Trader Joe’s pizza dough I picked up a few weeks ago, I certainly implied that I didn’t think it would be very good. And thankfully, I was…
Girls Gone Wild: Bieber Fever Grips Toyota Center
I have to admit, I only know a handful of things about Justin Bieber. I know that Usher is his mentor, his girlfriend is Selena Gomez and that he vomited onstage a few weeks ago after taking too many shots of milk mixed with tequila or something. SLIDESHOW: Beliebers: Justin…
Bernard Cardenas Charged as a Serial Home Burglar; Took His 3-year-old Along on His Last Job
A suspected serial burglar has been arrested and charged after police say they found him trying to break into a house, while his 3-year-old son sat waiting for his dad in his car out front. Police say they believe Bernard Cardenas, 34, is responsible for more than a dozen burglaries…
UPDATED: Monte Pittman: Madonna’s Texan Guitarist Has Deep Metal Roots
UPDATED (3:15 p.m.) to correct the name of Pittman’s first band, Insanity. Just a guess, but when Madonna played to tens of thousands of fans at Toyota Center last week, most of them probably didn’t know that onstage with her was a member of one of the most severe metal…
Video Game Atlas: Velvet Room
Once a week Art Attack will offer you a handy little travel guide to the fictional worlds of video games. Name: The Velvet Room, Persona (Shin Megami Tensei) series Population: 5 Staff Members Government: Private club Though the goal of the Atlas is to provide fellow video game travelers with…
Food Truck Friday Spotlight: Flaming Patties
Our third Food Truck Friday event is this coming Friday, November 2. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the House of Dereon (2204 Crawford) we’ll be featuring four of Houston’s finest food trucks — Koagie Hots, Flaming Patties, Kay’s Kitchen and Zeapod Cakery — along with free beverages from…
The Five Scariest Moments in Your Computer Life
There are plenty of good reasons to be scared this Halloween, be it Hurricane Sandy or the economy or JJ Watt (assuming you are an opposing team quarterback), but just in case none of these things hits home with you, geek, I’d like to offer some items that will. Every…
Highlights from People.com’s “Celebrity” Baby Blog Because Such a Thing Exists
Celebrities and their babies have become a bizarre infatuation in this country over the past decade. Why are the working uteruses of famous people so fascinating? Maybe we can’t believe that the beautiful people go through the same horrors that we regular folk go through when it comes to childbirth…
Does Toby Keith Need an Intervention? His Top 5 Drinking Songs
Rocks Off was excited to hear that Toby Keith is scheduled to make an appearance at next year’s RodeoHouston. We just hope he makes it here. Rewind: Saturday Night: Toby Keith at The Woodlands You see, we’re starting to worry a little about Toby Keith’s health. Not about the health…
100 Creatives 2012: Heather Rainwater, a.k.a. The Lady Spleen
What She Does: Rainwater’s talent is multifaceted. She began work in Houston as a comic artist on the awesome indie goth book Polyglot & Spleen, and also plays various instruments and sings in musical projects with her husband, Larry Rainwater of Ex-Voto. Spleen’s current focus is a jewelry line of…
McDonald’s CBO Angus Burger (and Free French Fries!)
After writing Fast Times for about a year now, I remain amazed at the frequency with which my fast-food orders are screwed up. If I were (more) OCD, I would probably be keeping a spreadsheet, but it’s definitely hovering around two-thirds of the time. I have actually played a game,…
VIDEO: Happy Halloween! See the Freaks at the 6th Annual Montrose Crawl
See more pics of the 6th annual Montrose Crawl in our slideshow. The Montrose Crawl is but a distant memory for the several hundred revelers who took part in the multi-bar block party on Saturday. But Halloween week ain’t over yet. And to help us remember what a great time…
Pass the Wine: Our Writers Review Rolling Stones Merlot
Rocks Off gets bottles of wine here at the office every few weeks. We once had an AC/DC tasting at the office with middling results, though I finished off the Highway to Hell bottle at home by my lonesome, so it wasn’t so bad. I have a bottle of Pink…
A Caravaggio in Our Midsts, and Other Observations from the Station’s “HX8”
The Station Museum of Contemporary Art recently kicked off an ambitious new series called “HX8” (“Houston Times Eight”) wherein the museum curates a show of eight diverse, contemporary Houston artists. By all accounts, this inaugural show lives up to the mission, with a mix of modern styles, from collage to…
This Week in Food Blogs: Saying Hola to hOla
Dallas Observer: Last week’s cover story at our sister paper in Dallas chronicled the resurgence of craft breweries in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. “Free from the hangover of the ’90s craft beer bust,” writes Lauren Drewes Daniels, “Dallas’ small brewers cheer another round of growth.” Anyone who’s tasted Deep Ellum’s…
The Art of Storytelling Gone Wrong: The 5 Worst Hip-Hop Concept Albums
Hip-hop is a genre based around storytelling skills. Some people can’t form a coherent story and it sometimes still works for them, but the absolute best are the ones who can keep you hanging off their heavy wordplay and take you through the twists and turns of a good story…
Zapruder Analysis of Shirtless Guy (Presumably) on Bath Salts Wandering onto Football Field
Most of the time, when fans inject themselves into a sporting event by trespassing onto the field, the motives are pretty clear. The perpetrator either (a) is looking to wind up on television, (b) trying to steal a memento of some sort (ball, piece of turf, etc.), or (c) responding…
Caution: Selling Your PlayStation to a Stranger at 2 a.m. Might Not Be a Good Idea
It’s a sad sign of the times when people aren’t even able to sell their Sony PlayStations at 2 a.m. to some dude they found on Facebook without getting stabbed. But that’s just what happened to a Corpus Christi man this morning, according to the Caller-Times…
It’s National Candy Corn Day: Make Candy Corn Fudge
Since today is Halloween Eve, it’s fitting that we nationally celebrate the candy of the month, candy corn. I’m a big fan of candy corn. If there is a bowl of it in front of me, I’m definitely going to be eating it by the handful…yeah, I know…it’s a problem…
Bennie Ray Dupnik Jr., Infamous 1970s Port Aransas Murderer, Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide
The paroled murderer of the owner of a famous, long-lived Texas Gulf Coast beer joint is dead, apparently at his own hand after killing his girlfriend in their Victoria apartment. 51-year-old Bennie Ray Dupnik Jr. and 44-year-old Sandra Rivera were discovered by Rivera’s sons. Rivera had been stabbed to death,…
Upcoming: Willie Nelson, Local Natives, Fun., The Manichean, Taj Mahal, etc.
Al Stewart: Fri., Nov. 16, 8:30 p.m., $58-$98. Dosey Doe, 25911 I-45 N., Spring. Alejandro Escovedo: Fri., Nov. 2, 8:30 p.m., $28. Dosey Doe Music Cafe, 463 FM Road 1488, Conroe. Alex Cuba: Fri., Nov. 16, 7:30 p.m., $15/$16. McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, Houston. Angelspit, Myparasites, Cyanotic: Tue., Dec…
Tuesday Steak Night at Community Bar in Midtown
Steak night, like football, is practically an inalienable right in Houston. Growing up as a carnivore, it’s one of the things I love about our great food city. If you know where to look, every night each week, there are restaurants offering up unbelievable steak dinner deals, usually involving a…
So What Happened to That Kendrick Lamar Show Anyway?
If you had penciled Kendrick Lamar in your Halloween-week concert plans (Bieber, Manson/Zombie tonight, Nas/she-might-show-up-on-time Lauryn Hill tomorrow) you might be disappointed. The Compton rapper, whose debut album good kid, m.A.A.d city has become the talk of music (besides Taylor Swift), won’t be taking the stage tonight at Warehouse Live…
Big Savings at Little Bitty Burger Barn, Half-Off Sushi, and More
This week’s Houston Press Voice Daily Deal is good for 53 percent off ($7 for $15) burgers and more at Little Bitty Burger Barn. All-fresh — never frozen! — beef and homemade fries are just the beginning; check out LBBB’s wings, sandwiches, salads and daily home-style specials. But if you…
Food Truck Friday Spotlight: Zeapod Cakery
Our third Food Truck Friday event is this coming Friday, November 2. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the House of Dereon (2204 Crawford), we’ll be featuring four of Houston’s finest food trucks — Koagie Hots, Flaming Patties, Kay’s Kitchen and Zeapod Cakery — along with free beverages from…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 5 Piano Bars
5. CAPS PIANO BAR Tuesday through Saturday, Caps Piano Bar boasts one of the best house bands in town. Jazz and blues hits from days long gone by may be the artists’ favorites, but they’ll happily play you some Top 40 hits, as long as you keep the tips coming…
Where Are We Drinking?
The licuados served at this popular East End haunt are frothy, refreshing, not-too-sweet but maybe too big; the glass they’re served in is practically the size of a fish bowl. If you can’t make it through an entire cinnamon-topped papaya licuado (as shown here), don’t sweat it. I think there’s…
DVDs & Blu-rays: The Halloween Edition, Part 2 (Rosemary’s Baby and Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection) and the Non-scary Americano
Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for her portrayal of Minnie Castevet, the weird neighbor in Rosemary’s Baby, but the horror film is Mia Farrow’s playground. After moving into a Manhattan apartment building, Rosemary (Farrow) and her husband (John Cassavetes) encounter a couple of over-friendly elderly neighbors (Gordon and Sidney Blackmer)…
Toby Keith, Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan Kick Off RodeoHouston 2013
Moments ago, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announced its first four non-George Strait entertainers for the 2013 season: Toby Keith (February 25), teen stars Demi Lovato and Austin Mahone (March 3), Jason Aldean (March 11) and Luke Bryan (March 16). As usual, the rodeo is offering two pocket-sized season…
What’s Cooking on Pinterest? Mexican Dorito Casserole
The classic cheesy nacho chips known as Doritos have been used in various ways over the years. Most recently, Taco Bell has transformed their signature taco shell into a Dorito taco shell…still not too sure about that one. But this week on Pinterest, I stumbled upon a casserole dish using…
(UPDATED) New Astros Logo & Uniforms Leaked Early by MLB!
Word was, VIP ticketholders were going to get the first look at the Astros’ new uniforms, logos and mascot attire. Friday was supposed to be the day. But Major League Baseball beat the home team to it, pretty much well undermining at least the planned unveiling at Minute Maid Park…
Chef David Guerrero’s Alma Cebiche + Bar: Ceviche-licious, and So Much More
In a quiet, nearly empty restaurant, he sat with his crisp white chef coat contrasted by his spiked up black hair, crouched over the bar, scribbling away on a sheet of paper. He heard footsteps moving towards the bar (my own) and turned around, in a daze. He squinted at…
Mother Courage and Her Children at the University of Houston: A Courageous Undertaking
The setup: Mother Courage and Her Children is acclaimed as Bertolt Brecht’s best play, often described as an antiwar play but more accurately labeled by Brecht as an anti-business play. It chronicles the trials and tribulations of Anna, a woman with three adult children who peddles wares from a cart…
The Young Ones: Rockets Season Will Be Infused With, Complicated By Youth
Back in the late ’90s, when the Rockets had real championship aspirations, the team was consistently one of the oldest in the NBA. They routinely filled the end of the roster with guys like Charles Jones, who Rockets TV play-by-play man Bill Worrell affectionately called “Old Man River.” By contrast,…
5 Simple Ways to Improve the Average Festival Experience
Music festivals are a bit of a no-brainer for live music fans. Getting to see a ton of bands for a mostly reasonable price? What’s not to love? Well, a few things, if we’re being honest. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of little things that have happened over the last…
Pop Rocks: What’s in a Name? A Lot, If You’re Talking About Hurricanes
Hurricane Sandy slammed into the New Jersey coast yesterday as a Category 1 storm. The mid-Atlantic seaboard and New England will be dealing with flooding, power outages and property damage in the billions of dollars before all is said and done. Local officials and newscasters were out in force in…
The Eating…Our Words 100: Sam Ray of Republic National
Eating…Our Words has embarked on a project to profile 100 Houston culinarians of all fields, practices, careers and backgrounds. This isn’t a Best of Houston list, it’s not a 100 Favorites list and it’s not in any particular order. Instead, the Eating…Our Words 100 is a way to introduce our…
(UPDATED: Second Suit Filed) Cadillac Ranch Owner Stanley Marsh 3 Called Child Sex Predator in Lawsuit
(Details on the second suit at the end of this post) For decades, those with an artistic bent have viewed quirky provocateur Stanley Marsh 3 and his Cadillac Ranch on the outskirts of Amarillo as one of the Panhandle’s sole redeeming qualities, beacons of culture and mischief in a region…
The Rocks Off 100: Alexis Hoillada, Doomstress of Project Armageddon
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. Who? Better known as Doomstress Alexis, Hoillada plays bass and sings in the excellent…
A Gallery of U.S. Presidents Working on Their Fitness
I don’t know about you guys, but when I looked at the crop of Republican presidential candidates about a year ago, as the media and primary wars waged on, I could only think about what they would look like jogging or working out. It’s a hidden hot-button issue. Depraved, mindless…
UPDATED: Gatsby-Mania: 5 Songs for the New Great Gatsby Soundtrack
UPDATED to correct Daisy with Myrtle Wilson in item No. 2. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is the greatest novel ever written that everyone had to read in high school. And now it’s going to be the greatest movie ever made that everyone will have to watch, supposedly out…
Alamo Drafthouse Soliciting Your PSAs About Movie Etiquette
There are few things more annoying than going to a movie and having to sit in front of some loudmouth going on and on during the film. Horror flick, comedy, you name it, there’s nothing cool about talking while a movie is going on. I once had the unfortunate circumstance…
What Is Terroir and Why Is It Important in Wine?
One of the greatest examples of terroir is Parmigiano Reggiano, the unmistakable and incomparably delicious cheese made in the region of Emilia-Romagna (in northern Italy). They make a similar cheese, using similar methods, just across the Po river on the north side of the great waterway (which flows through the…
Debra Barrera’s Kickass Tribute to Car Culture at Moody Gallery
The standout piece in Debra Barrera’s debut show at Moody Gallery isn’t one of her meticulously detailed black-and-white drawings (though those are very good) or unusual car door-balloon installation. No, it’s a little red rearview mirror near the back on the gallery’s wall. Titled For Dorothy Levitt, the found sculpture,…
James Harden Is a Houston Rocket: So, Now What?
I haven’t used a Sopranos analogy in a long time, and frankly, since the series has been defunct for more than five years, I have no idea how much longer the Relevancy Police are going to allow me to do so, so if I may: Remember in the first half…
Top 10 Restaurants in the East End
The East End is undergoing some necessary growing pains right now as a new generation of Houstonians rediscover the neighborhoods right next door to downtown. Construction of a METRO light rail to connect the East End with the main line has had Harrisburg torn up for some time, but is…
A Birthday Playlist for Edge (No, the Other One)
It’s been a fair few years since I watched professional wrestling regularly, something you can trace back to absolute mishandling of the ECW invasion and the death of women’s wrestling in favor of juvenile sex fantasies. That being said, WWE Raw was on the other night and I decided to…
First Taylor Swift, Now Carrie Underwood
It’s going to be a blond spring, when it comes to wholesome country-pop role models touring through Houston. Days after Taylor Swift announced Houston will be part of her upcoming “Red” tour on May 16 (venue TBD), Carrie Underwood’s Web site unveiled the dates of her 40-city spring 2013 outing…
Halloween Party Plans Send Sister to Jail for Allegedly Slashing Sister
A 17-year-old Lufkin woman was jailed Friday night after a fracas erupted when her father forbade her from attending a Halloween party, police said. According to KTRE, Hernandez responded to dad’s attempt at disciplining her by going to the kitchen and retrieving a knife…
Thomas Davis, 26, Shot Dead: Bayou Body Count No. 188
A 26-year-old Houston man died early Sunday morning after he went over to his ex-girlfriend’s residence, Houston Police say. Police are investigating the 12:45 a.m. October 28 shooting at 8100 Crestview that left Thomas Davis, of Houston, dead at the scene…
As Hurricane Sandy Moves to East Coast, The HMS Bounty Has Sunk, 2 Crew Missing, Was Supposed to Winter in Galveston
The HMS Bounty, the historic wooden ship that was supposed to winter in Galveston this year, has sunk off the North Carolina coast, it was reported today. According to a statement from the U.S. Coast Guard, two members of the crew were still missing, after 14 others were rescued by…
Something Wicked: 10 More Notes From Saturday’s Festival
Much to my editor’s annoyance, I have a bad tendency of overwriting. [Not true — ed.] This comes from an obsessive need to take as many notes as possible so that when it comes time to write my concert reviews, I don’t run out of things to talk about. Rewind:…
First Look at Kurry Walah
Chef Nirman Shah, a native of Jaipur, has an interesting connection to Houston despite only arriving very recently: Shah opened the first U.S. location of Indian bakery chain Hot Breads in Edison, New Jersey. There are only two other American locations of the wildly popular Indian bakery; one of them…
Last Night: Alanis Morissette at Bayou Music Center
Alanis Morissette Bayou Music Center October 28, 2012 Alanis Morissette has come a long way since her 1995 breakthrough album, Jagged Little Pill. When recording it, she was pissed off, a bit confused and completely unapologetic about all of it. The album became a rallying cry for young women who…
Managing Editor Job Opening at the Houston Press
The Houston Press has an immediate opening for a managing editor. We’re looking for a journalist with exceptional writing, editing and management skills who can meet the daily challenges of our rapidly expanding online content while supporting high-quality print work. The ideal candidate will have some experience in food writing…
Something Wicked: The 10 Best Halloween Costumes From Saturday
Whether or not electronic-music promoters Nightculture and Disco Donnie Presents always had Halloween in mind for the inaugural Something Wicked festival this past Saturday at Sam Houston Race Park, it couldn’t have worked out any better. The weather was perfect (if a little chilly once night fell), and some of…
Election 2012: Vote With Your Sweet Tooth, Not Your Heart
Looking to advertise your political views in a consumable form, specifically circular baked goods? You are in luck this election season. Two Houston bakeries are not only offering themed Republican and Democrat cookies but are also tracking their sales: What better way to cater those debate-watching parties than to symbolically…
Modern Dance Collaboration Investigates Trauma Survival in Regifting Lions
The setup: On October 25-27, choreographers Catalina Molnari and Toni Leago Valle, alongside dance photographer Lynn Lane, presented Regifting Lions, a dance concert that investigated the theme of trauma survival, at Barnevelder Movement/Arts. The execution: Lions makes a strong first impression. The performance opens with its six dancers in a…
Where Are We Eating?
At this burger stand in the East End, lunchtime is the busiest time of the day. But there’s a not-so-secret secret to avoiding their midday lines: call ahead. Your food will be ready by the time you get there and you can take it with you or eat in the…
Advice on Handling Hurricane Sandy From the Gulf Coast (i.e. Hurricane Central)
Hey, East Coast, how you doin’? Sorry, our Jersey accent is a little rusty. We along the Gulf Coast have been watching with interest the furor over Hurricane Sandy as it makes its way towards the Jersey Shore. Maybe the hurricane wants to do some gambling. Maybe it wants to…
Your Marilyn Manson YouTube Contest Winner Announced
Last week we announced a Marilyn Manson YouTube contest for a pair of guest list spots for The Manson and Rob Zombie co-headlining show here in Houston, set for tomorrow night at Reliant Arena. REWIND: Rocks Off’s Marilyn Manson YouTube Video Contest The contest was fun, but most of the…
666 Park Avenue: Nothing Ruins a Good Party Like a Murderous Ghost
Let’s take a stroll back in time. It’s October 31, 1929, and the fabulous Drake, the real star of ABC’s 666 Park Avenue, is bopping with news of the Wall Street crash. The mystery smoke man, whom we met last week and I know by the name of Roland Pryzbylewski…
A Surprising Win With Betty Crocker’s Shake-n-Pour Cupcake Mix
I don’t think I could have had lower expectations for Betty Crocker’s Shake-n-Pour mixes. Curiosity compelled me to purchase the confetti cupcake mix even though I had read some rather scathing online reviews. And the sale price ($2!) certainly didn’t hurt. I’ve been intrigued by the Shake-n-Pour line from Betty…
Last Night: Justice at House of Blues
Justice House of Blues October 28, 2012 “They told me if I brought out this flag they would kick me out,” says a guy dressed like Hunter S. Thompson sitting next to me on the balcony last night at Justice. In his cargo pocket was a large French flag, in…
The Italian Girl in Algiers from Houston Grand Opera: Magnificently Sung, But the Director Gets in the Way
The setup: Let’s start with some undeniable facts. (1) Rossini’s glittery opera buffa, The Italian Girl in Algiers, dazzles with an impeccable cast. It is magnificently sung. (2) There isn’t one scene in this Houston Grand Opera production that doesn’t wow the senses. The opera’s mise-en-scène is a sumptuous riot…
Comment of the Day: Canadian Threat, Eh?
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it’s time we paid some damn attention to them. So we’ll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning or afternoon from the previous day’s work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous…
Lightened Comfort Food: Chicken Pot Pie
As the temperatures drop, we begin to crave creamy and comforting meals. Creamy warm crock-pot dinners, tender beef pot roasts, cheesy pasta dishes and many more delicious winter foods always come to mind when the weather begins to change. But sometimes we want to enjoy the comforts of winter food…
Saturday: Something Wicked Festival at Sam Houston Race Park
Something Wicked Festival Sam Houston Race Park October 27, 2012 SLIDESHOW: Something Wicked Music Fest: Costumes and Crowd Shots Ultra Music Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival, Nocturnal Festival- from coast to coast and many points in between these big name EDM festivals have become a big deal. Taking EDM out of…
Remembering The Island: Where R.E.M. Played, but XTC Wouldn’t
Despite the dust of time that usually befalls venues and lore from punk’s rambunctious past, The Island has remained a steady icon of Houston’s underground movement that swept to the surface as classic arena rock and cosmic country choked the FM airwaves. Rewind: Houston’s Island of Misfit Bands Briefly Resurfaces…
The Oldest Profession at Theatre Southwest: A Turkey
The setup: In The Oldest Profession, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel has turned her attention to prostitution, and created a play about four women of a certain age who turn tricks in a Westside hotel in New York and meet in a park to turn in their earnings to an…
Texans Bye Week Twitter Fun: The Implosion of Tony Romo (w/ MANY Tweets)
“I don’t understand Tony Romo being called the most overrated player in the NFL. If anything, he’s the most underrated player in the NFL.” — Troy Aikman during Sunday’s telecast of Cowboys-Giants I’m not sure what’s crazier, that Troy Aikman gets paid several hundreds of thousands of dollars for inane…
10 Oyster Dishes to Try in Houston: No. 4, Oysters 1/2 Shelled at Liberty Kitchen & Oyster Bar
You know what I love about SeptembeR, OctobeR, NovembeR and DecembeR? It’s oyster season! During these months, oysters are at their peak. For the next few weeks, I’ll be sampling the most memorable and tasty oyster dishes in Houston. No. 4, Oysters 1/2 Shelled at Liberty Kitchen & Oyster Bar…
Return to Glory: Rick Rubin’s 5 Best Comeback Productions
Recently, Black Sabbath confirmed that record magnate and production auteur Rick Rubin would be twiddling the knobs on their new record, set to be released next year. It will be their first with Ozzy Osbourne on vocals since 1978, and a lot of their reputation is riding on this. Not…
What’s Cooking This Week? Bagels, Lox and Schmear + More
I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don’t make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredients I’ve bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter…
The Moores School of Music Goes Latin with Salsipuedes
A lighthearted romp overtook the Moores Opera Center this weekend with its production of Daniel Catan’s Salsipuedes: A Tale of Love, War, and Anchovies. Catan was a celebrated composer who died quite suddenly last year. His name may sound familiar to opera-goers in Houston; this production is the third of…
Geeks Get Clever to Help Find Missing Children with Custom 404 Pages
If you’ve ever visited a Web site but went to a page that doesn’t exist, you have probably found yourself stuck on a page that says something like “The page you are looking for doesn’t exist” if the site didn’t automatically redirect you to the main page. Visiting a page…
Heights Walmart Opened Over the Weekend; Redefines “Local”
Jeff Randall, the store manager for the new Walmart that just opened on Yale Street over the weekend, is incredibly eager and affable as he leads me around the giant Supercenter that covers 150,000 square feet of retail space — and roughly triple that in a parking lot outside that…
The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: October 29-November 1
Mike Watt & the Missingmen, Rivers Fitzgerald’s, October 29 Mike Watt is like a human perpetual-motion machine, constantly in motion and usually on the road somewhere. He recently played ACL fest in Austin’s Zilker Park with his “day job” of a few years now, bassist in Iggy & the Stooges,…
Just a Wall of Asses and Titties at Your Local Halloween Store
The best part of Halloween isn’t the shapely sorority girls in slutty costumes, cute kids dressed as Ewoks, couples going as mustard and ketchup, free candy at the office or even all the creepy movies on cable. It’s being able to walk into your local Halloween store, peruse the aisles…
Cougars Mine the Miners, Get the Win
When does a 45-35 win over a conference foe not feel like a win? The Houston Cougars weren’t too happy about their 45-35 win over UTEP on Saturday night. The fans weren’t too happy either. So the Cougars might now be 4-4 on the season. Their bowl hopes are still…
Taylor Swift Visiting Houston May 16
Now that Taylor Swift’s new album Red is out, you may have noticed the recent media blitz that has brought her to the cover of Rolling Stone and a prime-time TV appearance on ABC’s All Access Nashville Friday. So she might as well tour, right? The country-pop star, now one…
Morrissey Postpones Remainder of U.S. Tour, Including Beaumont
Morrissey’s ailing mother has forced the singer to postpone his entire North American tour, according to promoter C3 Presents. The former Smiths front man and popular if mopey solo artist has already flown back to England to be with his mum. Earlier this week, several dates in the Midwest were…
Your Marilyn Manson YouTube Contest Entries
This week Rocks Off asked Marilyn Manson fans to send us videos of their best Manson impersonations to win tickets to next Tuesday’s gig with Rob Zombie at Reliant Arena. Like with most giveaways we do, sometimes interest is sparse, but this time you guys went all out. It didn’t…
Houston Babylon: The 1970s Shotgun Death of Bonnie and Clyde Assistant William Daniel “Deacon” Jones
Houston Babylon, the feature that came out earlier this week, dissects a few of the creepiest and most chilling events in Houston history. In coming up with four of those tales, we stumbled over many more — too many to fit the print edition. All this week we’ll bring you…
ACLU Wants Answers in DPS Shooting of Unarmed Men From a Helicopter During Chase
The ACLU of Texas wants state officials to investigate a Department of Public Safety sharpshooter’s killing of two unarmed men during an intense chase Thursday in the Rio Grande Valley. The DPS agent was in a helicopter that was pursuing a pickup truck occupied by suspected illegal immigrants. Three other…
Catching Up With Austin Smith of A Sea Es
Tonight at 9 p.m., Fitzgerald’s begins your torrid, drunken Halloween weekend with a free show featuring A Sea Es, Mystery Flavor, Poor Pilate and Candy Coated Mothership. Free for those of drinking age, that is. There will also be a $500 costume contest, great giveaways and, you know, tacos. Headlining…
Texas Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Michelle Gaines Case, $8 Million Judgment Remains Overturned
The Texas Supreme Court today rejected the appeal by Michelle Gaines, the Palestine, Texas woman we wrote about in August who as a teenager was broadsided by an 18-wheeler with no brakes and suffered extensive lasting brain injuries. Initially a jury had awarded Gaines more than $8 million in damages…
This Week in Deliciousness: ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown’ Is ‘Waiting for Godot’ for Kids
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating…Our Words, where we’ve finally figured out what our Halloween costume is going to be. Ready? Here it is: genetically modified fruit. Simple enough concept, but the hard part is the execution, where I need to figure out a way to combine…
Stark Naked Theatre Company Is a Perfect Match with the Warm, Perceptive Body Awareness
The setup: What other theater troupe in town has a more appropriate name to produce Annie Baker’s neo-feminist, warm, perceptive comedy Body Awareness than Stark Naked Theatre Company? What other company in town could do it so well? The execution: It’s Body Awareness Week at Shirley State College, a small…
R.I.P: Ruggles Grill Demolished This Morning
A bright yellow hydraulic excavator loomed over the Ruggles Grill this morning like the Grim Reaper, shortly before its jaws tore into the old restaurant and demolished it for good. The grill was opened in 1986 by Bruce Molzan and his then-wife, Susan, and for many Houstonians growing up in…
The 25 Creepiest Heavy Metal Album Covers
BY JEFF ROCHE, LA WEEKLY Halloween is the time where it’s acceptable to wallow in the creepy, the crawly, the dark, and the macabre. Sounds like the themes of heavy metal, year-round! Here then, are those most spine-tingliest metal album covers, for your All Hallow’s Eve viewing pleasure. Step inside…..
Person of Interest: Man…Or “Triggerman?”
After a few weeks of mythology building and numerous trips in the Way Back Machine, POI was due a night off. Not an “off night,” necessarily, as “Triggerman” wasn’t really a bad episode, but it was the first one in a long time that overtly (and slavishly) adhered to CBS’s…
Last Night: Ghostland Observatory at Warehouse Live
Ghostland Observatory Warehouse Live October 25, 2012 Lasers. Costumes. Queen-like flights of fancy. Ominous, incredibly sassy beats. Lasers. A steadfast, almost militant, devotion to shaking your ass. And more lasers. No one will ever accuse Austin’s Ghostland Observatory of ever putting on anything less than the best party of the…
Catie: The Week in Art Photos
It’s time again to check out the Houston Press Flickr Pool and see what kinds of art shots our talented photographers have added. We love street art, unique perspectives and beautiful photos of Houston’s creative community. If you think you’ve got a good eye, drop your pictures in the pool…
Ten Houston Men Named (So Far) in Boy Scouts “Perversion Files”
Since 1919 the Boy Scouts of America has maintained a database of “ineligible volunteers.” Known informally as “the perversion files,” the database contains the names of 5,000 men and a few women who have been expelled from the BSA because of allegations of sexual abuse of children. Last week a…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Johan Schuster of Charivari, A Mix of Classic, Nouvelle French, and European Cuisine
Johan Schuster Charivari Restaurant 2521 Bagby 713-521-7231 www.charivarirest.com This is Part 3 in a three part Chef Chat series. You can read Parts 1 here and Part 2 here. This week, Chef Johan Schuster sat down with us for a long chat. We learned a bit about his homeland of…
Eater National’s Talia Baiocchi Joins Wine Spectator Team
UPDATE AND CLARIFICATION: We received word from Talia Baiocchi that this post has caused some confusion. She is not leaving her position as wine editor at Eater National. She is picking up a weekly column for the Wine Spectator in addition to her current job with Eater. New York-based, twentysomething…
Upcoming Events: Dia de los Muertos at Malo
El Gran Malo is hosting a big, bad Dia de los Muertos party on Saturday, November 3 — all day long. In addition to a giant Dia de los Muertos shrine on the patio, the gastrocantina will have crafts to make your own veladoras (Mexican saint candles), papel picado and…
Rocks Off’s Something Wicked Mini-Guide: The Experiment
BY CHRIS GRAY AND CORY GARCIA Of the dozens of electronic-music artists from all over the world playing Saturday’s Something Wicked Festival at Sam Houston Race Park, the ones at “The Experiment” area bear should not be overlooked for one simple reason: They live here. Rewind: Rocks Off’s Something Wicked…
Cancer Bats: “A Total B-Horror Movie Type Plot”
It’s a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we’re trying hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. The meme goes, “Some men just want to watch the world burn.” I couldn’t agree more, so when you name a song “Hail Destroyer”…
Dioxin-contaminated Fish Still Being Hauled Out of the San Jacinto River — and Eaten — Vince Ryan Warns
Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan is asking for a quick trial date in the San Jacinto River Waste Pits case because people are still fishing the San Jacinto River and may be eating dioxin-contaminated fish. Ryan announced his action today, saying that somehow, people haven’t gotten the word about the…
Openings & Closings: Downtown Derring-Do
Restaurants and bars are betting on downtown in increasing numbers, as more business owners perform daring feats like — gasp! — moving into vacant spaces on Main Street or taking over failed locations with zest and zeal. Now that I’ve gotten all of the Errol Flynn language out of my…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: Cloud Atlas
Title: Cloud Atlas That Would Be A Huge Atlas: I always liked how our old Rand McNally monstrosity would take up an entire shelf, but a “cloud atlas” just seems extravagant. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Three and a half shooting star tattoos out of five. Brief…
10 Songs That Influenced Shovels & Rope
Tonight Shovels & Rope plays two sets at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, a venue that is quickly becoming their natural habitat here in Houston. The duo, made up of Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst, is currently touring behind O’ Be Joyful, released this past summer. Obviously, the group is gaining…
Game Day Snacks: Pulled Pork Sliders w/ Cider BBQ Sauce
Football season is here! I could not be more excited to throw on a jersey, stress over my fantasy team and get a nice buzz while watching the games every weekend. But equally as important — the food! These Pulled Pork Sliders w/ Cider Barbecue Sauce make the perfect, stress-free…
A Chat with Aurora Picture Show’s New Executive Director, Sarah Stauder
Aurora Picture Show is always on the hunt for something — a good film, a good arts collaboration, a new filmmaker — but its latest acquisition wasn’t of the celluloid kind, it was of the executive director kind. Aurora announced last week that its latest search, which began in August,…
Fifty Sheds of Grey: An Interview with the Man Behind the Twitter
Love it or leave it, the trend of books based on parody accounts, Tumblrs and social media profiles appears to be going nowhere. I’m pretty sure this particular trend started with the Web site Stuff White People Like (though bloggers were landing book deals long before that). Then there were…
Week in Photos: Renfest 2012
Each week, we take a dip into the Houston Press Flickr pool and see what our talented photographers have been up to. We’re looking for pictures that represent the best of Houston, from food to art to events, to secret hidden spots of beauty. Just drop them in our Flickr…
Farmers Market Spotlight of the Week: Winged Beans, a.k.a. Goa Beans
Cooler temperatures mean that the City Hall Farmers Market is open once again and that more Houstonians will be heading out to enjoy the many other excellent farmers’ markets across the city. Each week, we’ll be spotlighting a produce pick from the Urban Harvest network of farmers’ markets by showing…
The Best Managers in Astros History
With the Washington Nationals out of the playoffs, their former third base coach Bo Porter is now in the field manager of the Houston Astros. He’s busy assembling staff — retaining Doug Brocail and Dave Clark as coaches doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence, however. As of now, Porter’s just…
Horror Business: The Top 5 Most Evil Rock Stars
Halloween and rock and roll go together like peanut butter and jelly. Something about darkened rooms filled with outlandish costumes and screaming girls, we guess. Some of the rock’s most ghoulish stars are also its most fun, as Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson will no doubt prove once again at…
100 Creatives: Detria Ward, Actress and Entrepreneur
Longtime Houston actress Detria Ward was still a teenager when George Hawkins, the late founder of the Ensemble Theatre, pronounced her a “natural.” She went on to study theater at Texas Southern University and after graduating, performed in local productions, including a few shows with Stages Repertory Theatre. She also…
Candidates, METRO Referendums Confusing? Use the League of Women Voters Guide
In the grand scheme of things, the bigger the election, generally the more attention it gets and the more distantly removed it is from our day-to-day activities. Sure, voting for school board members and county tax collectors isn’t as sexy as voting for president, but it is more likely to…
Business as Usual at Music Town CDs & Records, Since 1979
When James May unlocks the doors to Music Town each day at noon, his little shop on Stuebner Airline across from Klein High School is mainly filled with CDs, new and used vinyl and an enormous amount of cassettes. When he first opened the shop in 1979, the sign actually…
Moving Day = Session Beer: Stone Levitation Ale
It’s been almost a month since I bought a house. As is typical for me, a chronic procrastinator, I was still packing the night before the move. Well into the night, actually. This beer kept me company; flavorful enough to distract me, mild-mannered enough to not distract me too much,…
4 Things People Who Grew Up in the ’80s Need to Stop Bitching About
I was born in 1981, which gives me a lot to complain about. For instance, I got to spend my early adulthood watching Houston’s economy tank in the wake of the Enron failure, 9/11, two wars and now the Great Recession. That was not how John Hughes told me I…
5 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: October 26-28
Something Wicked Sam Houston Race Park, October 27 Whether you’re a dance-music fan from the days people went to “raves” or a little wetter behind the ears, Something Wicked promises to be something memorable. Megapromoter Disco Donnie and Houston’s own Nightculture are hoping to bring a little Electric Daisy Carnival-style…
Football! This Weekend’s Best Bets And The World’s Weirdest Lawsuit Victory
For this week’s random person with newfound wealth via frivolous lawsuit or dumb luck, we go to northern China and a fellow by the name of Jian Feng. Until recently, Feng was married to the love of his life, an unnamed (in the article, at least) beauty who had also…
All-Day Fundraiser Today at Liberty Kitchen for Injured Bartender David Brown
On Thursday, September 13, Liberty Kitchen bartender David Brown was riding his bicycle — his main means of transportation — down a busy stretch of Studemont that crosses White Oak Bayou when he lost his balance and plummeted 40 feet over the railing into the bayou below. Luckily for Brown,…
Huntin’ Season Begins: A Collection of Old-Time Hunting and Boozing Ads
Right now in the state of Texas, thousands of virile Texan fathers, uncles, brothers and grandpas are heading to leases all over this great part of the union to track, shoot, skin and mount furry things. Yes, it’s hunting season again in the Lone Star State. Whether you are wielding…
Female Veterans Needed for PTSD Study
The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine are seeking female veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder for a study that might hopefully lead to a new medical treatment for the condition. The study is aimed at the role played by a neuropeptide called corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)…
Carefully Curated Deals include Half-Price on Pizza at Bombay Pizza Company, Brunch at Birraporetti’s
This week’s Houston Press Voice Daily Deal is good for 53 percent off ($7 for $15) the unique, Indian-Italian fusion food at Bombay Pizza Company. Your coupon this week is good at both the downtown and the new Sugar Land locations, so enjoy the pizza named to Eating…Our Words’ recent…
Notes on Nashville: The Thief of Hearts
I’ll try and keep this relatively brief, because I’ve been at the dentist all morning. Wednesday’s Nashville was considerably more pleasant. At this point the show has done about all the establishing shots it can, and Wednesday it slipped a few new wrinkles into the plot (both subtle and not-so-subtle)…
Don’t Bother Voting: An East Texas Eggplant Has Foretold the Next President
An East Texas woman claims that God has manifested Himself in her garden in the form of a miraculous eggplant that foretells the winner of the presidential election. Kathryn Murray of Broaddus in San Augustine County claims that because one of her eggplants is shaped like a mitten, Mitt Romney…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Johan Schuster of Charivari, On Cooking Throughout Europe, What He Would Prepare Each Season and Who He Would Want to Prepare His Last Meal
Johan Schuster Charivari Restaurant 2521 Bagby 713-521-7231 www.charivarirest.com This is Part 2 in a three part Chef Chat series. You can read Parts 1 here and Part 3 in this same space on Friday. EOW: When did you start cooking? JS: I’ve been doing this for 34 years. We were…
Last Night: Band of Horses at House of Blues
Band of Horses, Skating Polly House of Blues October 24, 2012 When this fall’s highly-anticipated Railroad Revival Tour was scuttled a lot of hearts broke, but luckily one of the artists on that traveling bill, Band Of Horses, ended up booking a House Of Blues show instead. The band’s previous…
Alicia Richman: 86 Gallons of Breast Milk and One World Record
We always see commercials urging folks to give blood, but there are other precious bodily fluids that can be expelled and given away to strangers in need, and certainly breast milk ranks highly on that list. And thanks to Alicia Richman of Granbury, there are 86 more gallons of boob-juice…
John Dorsett Coburn Dies After Falling Ill During Jail Booking: Bayou Body Count No. 187
A man arrested on October 15 and charged with possession of a controlled substance, who fell ill during the booking procedure, died Monday at Ben Taub Hospital, Houston police say. Houston police are investigting the death of John Dorsett Coburn, 34, of Houston, who was transported to Ben Taub General…
Who Should Play RodeoHouston In 2013?
On October 30, just a few days from now, RodeoHouston will announce its first round of performers for the 2013 edition of the star-studded, yeehawin’, nearly three-week event at Reliant Park. The booking the last few years has been getting more adventurous, with the likes of Kid Rock, KISS, Mary…
The Rest of the Best: Houston’s Top 10 Barbecue
For the next 20 weeks, we’ll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2012 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year’s winner is no easy task. We’ll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the winner had hefty competition from other Houston bars and restaurants. Just…
Free for All: Barkitecture Houston 2012, 6th Annual Montrose Crawl, Day of the Dead and Michael Feinstein
For most of us, doghouses are pretty simple things. But the folks behind Barkitecture Houston aren’t like most of us. Things kick off on Friday with a Yappy Hour (yes, you can bring your leashed dog) and continue on Saturday. Since 2009, professional builders, architects and design teams have constructed…
Butternut Squash with Pasta: A Warm and Comforting Meal
November is right around the corner, meaning (hopefully) the weather will cool down, allowing us to indulge in rich, warm meals. One of my favorite dishes to make during the fall and winter seasons is always a bowl full of comforting pasta. Probably because my mom always makes a delicious…
American Horror Story: Asylum: Where I Tell You How It’s Going to End
Appropriate for the second season of the show, Asylum seems to be following a dual horror approach. Just as the first episode dabbled in both extraterrestrial threats and body horror, so does the second utilize exorcism and slasher tropes. The main focus this week is on an apparently possessed patient…
Rocks Off’s Something Wicked Mini-Guide: Shadow Field
Cooler temperatures? Check. Loud music? Check. Crazy outfits? Check. If my scientific calculations are correct, those three things are a recipe for a great fall day. And while the pubs will be crawling and the houses will be haunted the best place to get all three of those this weekend…
Last Night: Madonna at Toyota Center
Photos by Julian BajselMadonna expresses herself.Madonna Toyota Center October 24, 2012 Slideshow: Madonnabes: Material Girl Plays Toyota Center A sharp influx of sequined booty shorts and fashionable ankle boots invaded downtown last night, and many of them were even worn by women. Madonna, the Queen Mother of pop music, was…
Andrew Varela Sings the Tough French Cop Role in Les Miserables
In college, Andrew Varela trained in opera while at Rutgers University in New York. But even though he says he loves the performing art form, he took another path. “One of the realities of opera is that whenever you’re in college and you’re singing, everyone says, ‘Wow, you’re going to…
10 Oyster Dishes to Try in Houston: No. 5, Oysters Victoria at The Queen Vic Pub & Kitchen
You know what I love about SeptembeR, OctobeR, NovembeR and DecembeR? It’s oyster season! During these months, oysters are at their peak. For the next few weeks, I’ll be sampling the most memorable and tasty oyster dishes in Houston. No. 5, Oysters Victoria at The Queen Vic Pub & Kitchen…
Pop Rocks: The Trailer for the Evil Dead Remake Doesn’t Suck, Deal With It
I’ve been kind of ambivalent about the idea of an Evil Dead remake ever since, well, it was announced they were doing one (in 2006). Then Bruce “Ash” Campbell said it wasn’t happening (in 2007). Then director Sam Raimi said he was working on a sequel (in 2008), before Campbell…
State Criminal Justice System Group: “Texas Failing Traumatized Girls”
The state’s juvenile justice system is failing the girls in its custody, according to a new report from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition. The findings of a one-day survey of approximately 100 girls at the Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex suggest that the residents, most of whom suffered past…
The Eating Our Words 100: Server Thai Van of Kata Robata
Eating…Our Words has embarked on a project to profile 100 Houston culinarians of all fields, practices, careers and backgrounds. This isn’t a Best of Houston list, it’s not a 100 Favorites list and it’s not in any particular order. Instead, the Eating…Our Words 100 is a way to introduce our…
The Rocks Off 100: Zach Sandford, Prog-Metal Prodigy
Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. Who? Zach Sandford is an audio engineer at Warehouse Live who splits his time…
Reserve 101 Rolls Out a Fall Cocktail Menu with Something for Everyone
There’s a huge range of palates when it comes to cocktail drinkers. Some like boozy concoctions where it’s basically drinking the spirit with just a little enhancement, and others — especially younger drinkers and those who rarely indulge — don’t even want to know the alcohol is there. You wouldn’t…
HSPVA’s Robert Glasper: Jazz’s Newest Hip-Hop Star
If you’re looking for homegrown musical success stories of 2012, you could do a lot worse than Robert Glasper. True, technically he lives in New York, where he became such an in-demand session player he called his 2009 album Double Booked, but now the Missouri City native and HSPVA grad…
Houston Babylon: The Sad, Murky Demise of Lois Marie Gilbert
Houston Babylon, the feature that came out yesterday, dissects a few of the creepiest and most chilling events in Houston history. In coming up with four of those tales, we stumbled over many more — too many to fit the print edition. All this week we’ll bring you some extra,…
3 Brilliant Authors You Forgot Were Tremendous Douchebags
Around this time last year I discovered some pretty abhorrent things about some of my favorite authors. I found out that Orson Scott Card advocated armed revolt to keep gays from getting married, that Ayn Rand had praised a man that had kidnapped a little girl, killed her, then sawn…
30 Seconds With GWAR’s Oderus Urungus
By day Dave Brockie is just regular awesome, but by night he fronts the legendary metal band GWAR as the ancient, profane barbarian Oderus Urungus. We traveled through the scummiest parts of the universe to see what we could find out about him in 30 seconds. RO: What is worst…
Anthony Bourdain, Part 2: Layovers, Twitter, Ruth Bourdain and the Dangers of Boredom
Yesterday, we caught up with Anthony Bourdain — chef, author, TV host, publisher and recent Texas barbecue convert. We talked about his love affair with Austin (he used the word “quirky” twice, if you’re counting) and his disdain for Dallas Morning News critic Leslie Brenner, why restaurants serving tasting menus…
Mario Williams Has Wrist Surgery, “Judgment Day” Hangs in the Balance
“I don’t care about your expectations. I don’t care about anybody’s expectations.” — Mario Williams via the Buffalo News, when asked if he thinks he is living up to expectations Underachievement, excuses, sporadic to nonexistent productivity. Buffalo, I know this version of the Mario Williams Experience is not what you…
Doctor Who: Tomb of the Cybermen at Alamo Drafthouse
Once a month the Alamo Drafthouse – Mason will be bringing classic serials of Doctor Who to audiences, and they’ve kindly asked me to host the events for them. Apparently they have confused expertise with a complete inability to shut up about a television show, but it’s nonetheless an honor…
Frankenstein and Evil Dead
Halloween is upon us, and I can’t think of any better place to celebrate the spooky weekend than at Country Playhouse with its scary double feature, Frankenstein on the main stage and musical spoof Evil Dead in the intimate Black Box. They are frightening in different ways. Thunder cracks. Lightning…
Where Do Mexican Gardeners Throw Away Their Clippings?
Dear Mexican, Why is it that every Mexican I know refuses to eat chocolate? My in-laws drink things I wouldn’t clean my carburetor in. They fill their piñatas with every kind of hard candy — but no chocolate! I bring out a bag of M&Ms and everyone backs away to…
Centuries of Too Muchness
The trailer for Cloud Atlas, the gargantuan new movie of David Mitchell’s 2004 novel that took two Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer to adapt, looks less like a preview than a whole slate of coming attractions, so many and varied are the times and places that it touches down. The…
GWAR
GWAR plays disgustingly loud, hilarious, hardcore-inflected thrash while covered in blood and gore, living for violence and mutilation. They are an American, if not worldwide, metal and comedy institution. Be sure to wear a crisp new white tee to show off to your grand-bastards when they ask you if you…
Finally, a Treat with Fun Size
Gossip Girl and The O.C., the two teen TV shows created in the past decade by 36-year-old Josh Schwartz, are sly bait and switches. Both are easily marketable for their hot (mess) fashion-plate stars, wide-eyed luxury fetishism, soapy season arcs and savvy self-reference, but both are also, at heart, deeply…
Capsule Art Reviews: “Ariane Roesch: Simple Machines and Simple Dreams,” “CraftTexas 2012,” “Dieter Balzer: Objects,” “Endless Disharmony and Telltale Ashes,” “Endless Disharmony and Telltale Ashes,” “Texas Eclectic,” “Tony Feher: A Work in Four Parts”
“Ariane Roesch: Simple Machines and Simple Dreams” For the past several years, Houston artist Ariane Roesch’s work has been cleverly at the intersection of people and technology, and the multimedia artist continues to explore that dynamic in this well-crafted solo show at Redbud Gallery. Roesch presents three distinct series that…
Starship Wachowski
It’s a Sunday afternoon in New York, and Tom Tykwer and the filmmakers formerly known as the Wachowski Brothers are talking about Zardoz, that odd and ambitious 1974 science fiction drama most infamous for featuring a gun-vomiting godhead and Sean Connery in a mankini. As a film that confronts viewers…
Something Wicked
Whether you’re a dance-music fan from the days people went to “raves” or a little wetter behind the ears, Something Wicked promises to be something memorable. Megapromoter Disco Donnie and Houston’s own Nightculture are hoping to bring a little Electric Daisy Carnival-style magic to Southeast Texas, with more than a…
Sons of Hercules
San Antonio is justifiably famous for its rabid metal fan base and contributions to conjunto music, but it also may be Texas’s No. 1 garage-rock city. For more than two decades now, Frank Pugliese — an S.A. scenester from way back who once opened for the Sex Pistols at Randy’s…
The Humble Deli Sandwich
Top 10 The sandwich is a wonderfully portable creation, a meal which pleases the pickiest of eaters and in the simplest of ways: bread, meat, maybe some cheese. With that in mind, we kept this week’s list to low-key places serving straightforward deli-style sandwiches, preferably those who slice their own…
Cactus Music 5th Anniversary
Amazingly, it’s already been five years since Cactus Music reopened in its Shepherd Plaza location, snatched from the brink of extinction by a rekindled interest in vinyl and the undying loyalty of local music fans who know just how important the store is to the scene. So why not celebrate?…
Justice
French electro duo Justice rarely tours this part of the States, usually opting to stay on the two coasts and haunt major music festivals. This is Houston’s first-ever chance to see the pair, who first came above ground with 2007’s Cross, a torridly catchy disc full of ubiquitous singles like…
Creepiest Threesome
Highlights from Hair Balls CRIME Creepiest Threesome Wife and 8-year-old boy. Jeffie Dennis Melder may well be one of the most disgusting men ever to appear in this column. Earlier this month, a courtroom heard that the Groveton tugboat operator coerced his wife, 31-year-old Shelly Renee Melder, into having a…
Nas, Lauryn Hill
Halloween night, Houston gets a visit from two icons of ’90s rap who have probably seen their share of drama for one lifetime. After debuting so precociously with his riveting account of life in New York’s Queensbridge housing projects, Illmatic — he was just 20 when the album was released…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Death of a Salesman, La Bohème, Much Ado About Nothing, When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder
Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller’s vaunted and much-lauded play remains full of fresh surprises, and the Alley’s reverential production is a true theater treasure. Glenn Fleshler, who was understudy for Philip Seymour Hoffman in the recent Broadway revival that closed in June, and who is stepping in after James…
Houston Babylon
Houston and New Orleans stand alone as the creepiest cities on the Gulf Coast. With its pervasive voodoo ambience, sprawling cities of the dead, air of genteel decay, and long history of murder and mayhem, New Orleans is undeniably a spooky town. Fright is a cottage industry there. Having said…
Valient Thorr, Venomous Maximus, Texxxas
Get your Halloween on with Valient Thorr on the actual holiday while all your friends are still nursing hangovers from the weekend and handing out candy to the little monsters in their apartment complex. The band’s annual Houston stops at Rudz are the stuff of hazy legends, and sometimes if…
Bread and Relaxation at Kraftsmen Cafe
See more photos from Kraftsmen Cafe’s cozy dining room and kitchen filled with baked goods in our slideshow. As you’re sipping a latte from a downy chair tucked into one sunlit corner of Kraftsmen Cafe in the Heights, it’s difficult to recall the space’s days as ultra-high-concept Textile. Although the…
Firts Loook Inside Rice’s New Swishahouse Library Archive
Screwston, Texas A bejeweled pimp cup. A young Chamillionaire in do rag. Slim Thug before the ubiquitous singles. Mike Jones clutching a cell phone on the cover of Murder Dog. These are only a handful of the Swishahouse images and memorabilia now archived in Special Collections at Rice University’s Fondren…
Game Changer
Walking across the Macalester College campus, Chris Kluwe passes unnoticed. As usual, the 30-year-old Vikings punter is dressed down: a pair of brown flip-flops, black basketball shorts and a baggy zip-up sweatshirt. A backward World of Warcraft hat pins back his shaggy brown surfer haircut, a giveaway to the Southern…
Ghostland Observatory
Austin’s laser-drenched big-beat gods Ghostland Observatory are so popular that they have to play two nights in a row here to pack in all the party people. The duo, producer Thomas Turner and singer Aaron Behrens, have been at it since the mid-’00s, making foggy memories for rock revelers and…
Bayou City Boo
Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year, which means most of your partying will have to happen in advance. Don’t worry, though, there’s still plenty of spooky fun to be had, and with this summer’s superhero movies and celeb gossip fresh in mind, you should have no trouble finding something…
Wachowski Overload
At around the four-minute mark of my first viewing of the Cloud Atlas trailer, as the M83 track swelled to its bursting point and a hoverbike darted through future-Korea, I remember e-mailing and GChatting at least a dozen friends with a link to the preview and my take: “Holy Shit.”…
