The Eagle Huntress’ Teen Eagle Wrangler Takes America — and Wins Big at Ring Toss
Aisholpan Nurgaiv has never met this eagle she’s posing with — borrowed from a local animal wrangler — on a balcony at the London Hotel in West Hollywood. In 90-degree heat, she’s a 15-year-old girl sweating in her Mongolian winter clothes, including a hat made from the first fox she…
21 Best Things to Do in Houston This Week: Doomsday Wrestling and Neon iLuminate
Tuesday, November 8 Pierre Alexandre admits to being a little anxious. He’ll be making his debut in the iconic role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the upcoming Theatre Under The Stars production of The Rocky Horror Show and knows about the cultlike following the comic rock opera engenders. The basic plot is,…
This Week in Houston Food Events: It’s Sweet Week!
From a charitable week of all things sweet to the release of a chocolate milk stout, here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All week long Sweet Week Michael’s Cookie Jar’s Michael Savino and Fluff Bake Bar’s Rebecca Masson are hosting Houston’s first ever “Sweet Week” from Sunday,…
Our Worst (Best?) Stories of Houston’s Beloved Traffic
We all know you can strike up a conversation with anyone in Houston on either of two topics: traffic and the weather. And this week’s dreadful news that a downtown section of I-45 will be closed for several weekends got us thinking about the former. While weird weather comes and…
5 Houston Restaurants You Need to Get to Right Away in November
The fall weather is finally (sorta) here. Here’s the restaurants you need to hit right away. Call it your own scavenger hunt of new and newish places that score high on our food radar. Shake Shack Announces Friday, November 4 Opening in The Galleria Shake Shack® fans, if you’ve been…
Audience Participation Undoes The Judgment of Fools
The set up: There are two types of theater goers in the world – those who like audience participation and those who loathe it. You should probably know into which of these camps you fall before making arrangements to see the absurdist/vaudevillian social commentary comedy, The Judgment of Fools. You…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Margaritas, Wine and Southern Smoke
From wine and cheese fests to Southern Smoke, here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings: Cheese Fest at Hermann Square Park Friday, 5 to 10 p.m. 900 Smith Downtown’s Hermann Square Park is transforming into a cheese lover’s paradise. Tickets are $35 and include unlimited samples of artisan…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Holiday Sweets & Bubbles
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary happenings, from a Vietnamese comfort food pop-up to cookbook-inspired dinners: Before the guys over at Pass & Provisions, 807 Taft, head to Southern Smoke on Sunday, November 6, they’ll be hosting chef Marcus Samuelsson for a special…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Doctor Strange
Title: Doctor Strange Describe This Movie Using One Simpsons Quote: Homer: Oh, here’s something you’ll like: When Animals Attack Magicians. Brief Plot Synopsis: Gifted neurosurgeon loses use of hands, gains third eye. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Three-and-a-half M.C. Escher’s Relativity prints out of five. Tagline: “Question reality. Change your destiny.” Better…
The Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Quilts, Fools and Ambition
Everything old is new again, and especially with TUTS’ production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. This updated classic sparkles and shines, so get thee to the Hobby Center because this weekend is your last chance to be beguiled. We’ve also got Internet sensation Puddles (the sad…
Dillinger Escape Plan Comes to Crush Houston One Final Time
They’ve been one of the heaviest avant-garde bands in America for nearly 20 years, and they aren’t planning to make it 21. Guitarist Ben Weinman explains why Sunday’s performance will be the band’s last in Houston.
Openings & Closings: Hello Harlem Road, Good-bye Rockwell
Shake Shack is scheduled to open its doors Friday, November 4, setting up shop at 5015 Westheimer Road in the center of Galleria I. Shake Shack, known for 100 percent all-natural Angus beef burgers, is offering a “Texas-exclusive called the Lockhart Link Burger, a cheeseburger topped with griddled Kreuz Market…
Solving the Number Theory Behind Paul Wall’s The Houston Oiler
Paul Wall is an American rapper, jewelry magnate and a man I once compared to Stone Cold Steve Austin because The People’s Champ is literally one of the few people in the city who is both immediately recognizable and gracious enough to hang with you is one of his absolute…
Believe It or Not, Adele Is Underrated
Adele may be the queen of pop music today. Then why is she still underrated?
Pet Shop Boys Help a Houston Crowd Find Their Inner Pop Kids
Pet Shop Boys White Oak Music Hall November 2, 2016 The idea of seeing Pet Shop Boys outside seemed absurd. If ever there was a group that screamed for four black walls, a ceiling and ear-damaging sound it was this duo of dance legends from London, England. Sure, at a…
Houston Moral Authority Steve Hotze Compares Gays to Termites
Houston homophobic hatemonger Dr. Steve “Birth Control Makes Women Less Attractive” Hotze compared gays to termites at a conservative rally in Houston last weekend, the Dallas Morning News reports. Hotze’s entomologically suspect remarks were recorded by RightWingWatch.org, following “the second annual Stand4Truth conference,” headlined by Dallas pastor and Fox News…
Best Bets for This Weekend’s College and NFL Games
When someone sits down to write a book about some of the great runs of success in all of sports, and that person chronicles feats like the 1972 Dolphins finishing 17-0, UCLA men’s basketball team winning seven straight titles in the late ’60s and early ’70s, or the Undertaker winning…
How to Succeed in Our Looming Dystopian Future Without Really Trying
Going by a recent article in The Intercept, the future will not be as Timbuk 3 once foretold: According to a startling Pentagon video obtained by The Intercept, the future of global cities will be an amalgam of the settings of “Escape from New York” and “Robocop” — with dashes…
Classy Aaron Watson Shuts Down the Internet Outrage Machine
It was an innocent enough post. On Halloween, Texas country singer Aaron Watson shared a photo of his family dressed up in costume. Watson and his son were dressed up like Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, and his wife was dressed up like Disney’s version of Pocahontas. In light of…
More Beds at Harris County Jail? Legislators Not Embracing Sheriff’s Request.
Thirteen Harris County legislators have asked the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to think carefully before approving a request from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office to increase the number of beds at the county jail. The request comes just two months after the Harris County Jail was so crowded the…
Where to Dine in Houston on Thanksgiving Day 2016
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and it’s time to make those Turkey Day plans. This year, why not let Houston restaurants do the work for you? From casual roast turkey dinners to elegant five-course affairs, check out our 2016 Thanksgiving Day Dining Guide. Note: Don’t forget to make reservations,…
The 2016 Houston Press Music Award Nominees
First things first. This year’s Houston Press Music Awards ballot doesn’t look anything like the ballots we’ve had in previous years. It’s not supposed to. To be honest, the previous model was in danger of collapsing under its own weight; perversely, it almost became a victim of Houston’s amazing diversity…
He’s Ignoring My Calls. Help!
Dear Willie D: I was at a party and ran into a guy who I’ve seen out a few times. He walked over and sat in the booth me and my friends were sitting in, and ordered drinks for the table. As the night progressed I found myself talking to…
Westworld and the Gamification of Who Gets to Be Human
A wall of white and black hats. Terrifying darkness. A woman staggering through a medical facility with her guts ripped open. And always, in the background: the player piano ticking along according to its programming, playing modern-day ballads to the denizens of a future world. Welcome to Westworld, a slick…
Disney Goes Dada: With Right Now Kapow, XD Learns to Love the Gag
Right now, Disney XD is probably best known for its increasingly relevant Star Wars Rebels series, as well as for being the only cable channel with an emoticon in its name — at least until the inevitable debut of the Trump 🙁 Channel. Disney XD is also on probation with…
Judge Accepts $1.9 Million Settlement for Sandra Bland’s Family
A federal judge in Houston on Tuesday signed off on a settlement between Texas officials and Geneva Reed-Veal, whose daughter, Sandra Bland, died at the Waller County Jail in July 2015. Reed-Veal accepted the $1.9 million settlement offer from the defendants, former Department of Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia and…
Harris County Goes After Another Convenience Store for Selling Kush
Vince Ryan is at it again. The Harris County Attorney on Wednesday announced his office had obtained a restraining order against a Gulf Freeway gas station and convenience store preventing the sale of kush there. The bust was the latest in a string his office has conducted across the county…
Katy ISD Gets a Bare-Bones $58 Million Stadium. Now for the Extras.
When voters in the Katy Independent School District thought they were approving $58 million for a brand new stadium in 2014, it’s a pretty good bet that they didn’t know that didn’t include the cost of clearing the land for that stadium. Turns on, that was an add-on, as determined…
Nothing Is “Better Than” T2 the Ghetto Hippie’s New Single
Any conversation with T2 The Ghetto Hippie operates in the same vein of a movie script. He’ll play protagonist but also operate as narrator, side character, comic relief and more. On a random night, he’ll recall the night he sat up and realized he had a song with Z-Ro on…
Sid Miller Calls Hillary Clinton a Certain C-word on Twitter
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has truly outdone himself this time with a tweet that called Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton the c-word. On Tuesday, Miller was riding high and enjoying the delights of being Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s man in Texas, out on the campaign trail stumping for…
Contemporary Color and Flag-Waving Fanfare to Close Houston Cinema Arts Festival
When it came to choosing a film for a free, outdoor screening with new partner the Downtown District – which would have to get the approval of all the downtown establishments, clear the streets, arrange the projection and get the permit – Richard Herskowitz, artistic director and curator for the…
The 10 Greatest Performances of Andre Johnson’s NFL Career
For Houston Texans fans, the last month has been an interesting education in the whimsical nature of the football gods. In the same five-week period in which Houston was hit in its collective face with the bucket of cold water with the news that J.J. Watt can indeed break, now…
Akaushi Burgers at Houston’s Largest Outdoor Patio
How can you beat a great burger outside on the patio with an ice cold Karbach Hopadillo on a less than 90 degree Houston afternoon in Midtown? Only if you made that an Akaushi beef burger with a bucket of local craft beer at one of the newest hidden treasured…
Johnny Carrabba’s Cookbook: A Roller Coaster of a Restaurant Story With Beautiful Food
He was going to college at the time and says himself he “wasn’t much of a student.” But he wanted to go into the business world. He had some advantages: he came from a Sicilian family with a strong work ethic and one that was willing to help its relatives…
Houston Press Monthly Mixtape: Coming Home for the Holidays Edition
November is a time of year for people to come home. Houston musicians are no exception, and this month, we’re lucky to see lots of our favorite local artists make the trek back to play for those who have missed them. We’re glad to welcome back the Gulf Coast soul…
5 Insane Dining Experiences From Across the Country
These restaurant, café and bar experiences from across the country go beyond finding a hair in a salad or a rookie server. They’re completely wrecked. Notice that none of Houston’s restaurants are on the list. That’s because Houston knows what’s up. Where you bean? Last month, after a night of…
NASA’s New Asteroid Detector System Actually Detected an Asteroid
If the thought of asteroids whizzing toward Earth has ever had you freaked out, NASA has come up with a new computer system to help ease your flying-rock-unexpectedly-destroys-Earth fears, and it recently proved just how effective it is. Usually when asteroids are zipping dangerously close to the planet, NASA only…
Top 10 Most Overrated Avant-Garde Artists
From literature to architecture, experimental music to painting, these 10 creatives can be summed up in the words of Sir Paul McCartney: “Avant garde a clue.” Banksy Just because an artist’s identity is unverifiable doesn’t make him “underground” or “good.” But somehow, the English street artist and his cloaked persona…
Make it Stop! When Will It Finally Cool Off In Houston?
Readers, we’ve let you down. Twice, we’ve proclaimed cool temperatures were nigh. But even when temperatures dipped into the 50s for a few early morning hours, they shot right back up again. Houstonians who have been sweating in every moment spent outside lately (or opened an electric bill) already know…
Music and the 2016 Election: The Losers
Look, I get it, at this point in the presidential-election cycle, we are all suffering from information overload. A lot of us don’t even care anymore because we’ve already cast our ballots. However, many others remain undecided; shoutout to Ken Bone. A typical undecided voter might make his or her…
Houston’s 10 Best Venues for Free Live Music
Houston features plenty of venues that offer up free live music.
Interracial Marriage Drama Loving Stirs with Quiet Humility
With films like Take Shelter, Mud and even this spring’s somewhat uneven Midnight Special, Jeff Nichols has steadily built a filmography of terse beauty. With Loving, he tackles the kind of boldface subject matter that Oscar season feeds on: It’s a historical drama about the 1967 Supreme Court decision that…
Mel Gibson Celebrates Pacifism with the Most Mel Gibson of Bloodbaths
Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge is a film at war with itself. Which makes perfect sense, because it’s about a man at war with himself, and I’m pretty sure it was also made by a man at war with himself. The true-life story of Desmond Doss — a Seventh Day Adventist…
Uneasy Lies the Head of Queen Elizabeth in Netflix’s Epic The Crown
Netflix’s The Crown, a drama series about the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II, is the kind of sumptuous but tasteful British royals porn you’d expect from Ye Olde Masterpiece Theatre, not from the streaming giant that gave us BoJack Horseman and Stranger Things. A $130 million joint American/British…
Trolls Insists That Only Male-Female Couplings Can Make Your Kids Happy
The wooden troll figures that Thomas Dam began carving and selling in the ‘50s had a great deal of folklore behind them but no cast of fixed characters. Though the Trolls have since been in TV specials, video games and a short-lived series, none of those have established what we…
Seriously, Dan Brown Deserves Better Than Inferno
I’m not afraid to admit that I get a kick out of Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon thrillers. Yes, they’re indifferently plotted and predictably written. But I’m a sucker for ludicrous, centuries-spanning conspiracies and indulgent faux-gnosticism. The books serve, if nothing else, as gripping tours through art-world apocrypha, and Brown’s know-it-all…
Bun B Gives Some Lucky Houston Kids a Happy Trill-O-Ween
As the sun set across Houston’s beautiful pumpkin-colored sky on Halloween evening, rapper/professor Bernard Freeman, better known as Bun B of UGK, was on a mission. For many years now, Bun and his team have taken up the task of helping to eradicate hunger that many less fortunate Houstonians encounter…
Homeowners Threaten to Sue Over Pearland ISD’s $220 Million Bond Proposal
Urging Pearland residents to vote ‘no’ on a $220 million Pearland Independent School District bond proposal, a group of committed Pearland homeowners who are part of the Thriving Pearland PAC thought they could best spread the word at a Friday night football game. That is, until a Pearled ISD communications…
Rumer Willis Slays Houston With “Over The Love” Tour
Rumer Willis brings her Over The Love tour to Houston. The show also features opening act Tye Blue, who grew up in Houston.
Five Underrated Plays in the Texans Win Over the Lions
In many ways, the Texans’s Week 8 win over the Detroit Lions was a perfect microcosm of the first half of their season — there wasn’t anything the Texans did in an exceedingly superior fashion, they just seemed to make enough plays to have more points on the scoreboard at…
Upcoming: Beat Bash, The Damned, El Debarge, Travis Scott, Secret Prostitutes, Roger Waters, Valerie June, Weezer, etc.
20th Townes Van Zandt & Guy Clark Wake: Sun., January 1, 8 p.m., TBA. Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, 413 20th, Galveston, 409-762-9199. 93.7 Beat Bash 2016: With Travis Scott, Lil Wayne, Ty Dolla $ign, Yo Gotti, Desiigner. Sun., November 6, 6 p.m., $39.50 to $174.50. Toyota Center, 1510 Polk, Houston,…
Young Kids May Have the Hardest Aftereffects From Tackle Football Concussions
Friday Night Lights, college football Saturdays and the Red Zone Channel all day Sunday — for millions of red-blooded Americans, and certainly hundreds of thousands here in the state of Texas, our entire weekends are constructed around that agenda and our insatiable hunger for the sport of football. We spend…
Reality Contest Shows Need to Do Away With Weekly Elimination
So, the wife and I fell down a show hole on Netflix and have been binge-watching Steampunk’d. It’s a pretty neat program that combines building shows with one of my favorite design aesthetics. The set-up is that various steampunk makers in various disciplines are tasked with building themed rooms in…
Where to Find the 5 Best Burgers in Downtown Houston
We’ve covered the East End, and we’re going to continue this burger quest to keep you informed on good burgers and just where to find them. Downtown Houston has burgers for you. Yes, that place where not much happens before 8am or after 5pm. There are varying establishments with styles…
My Band Predicted the Alt-Right a Decade Ago
Twelve years ago I joined a band that was eventually called The Black Math Experiment as co-lead singer. If you’ve heard of us at all, it’s because of the nearly-impossible-to-explain anomaly that was “You Cannot Kill David Arquette.”If you haven’t heard of us, that’s okay, too. There’s a book, if…
New Emails Show Rape Victim’s Mom Never Knew Daughter Would be Jailed
As we noted last week, the jailed rape victim controversy has essentially consumed the race for Harris County district attorney this fall, putting other hot topics we previously predicted (wrongly, it appears) would overtake the race — such as drug diversion policies — in the backseat. The case, involving a mentally ill…
Lafayette’s Blackpot Festival Feels Like Two-Stepping Back in Time
Blackpot Music Festival and Cookoff in Lafayette, LA is an anachronism, but a happy anachronism. Now in its eleventh year, Blackpot is an annual testament to the warm, informal conviviality of Southern Louisiana culture. The festival is a two-day celebration of old-style campground life: the music is lo-fi and unplugged,…
Here’s Why Authorities Want to Stop the Sale of Jim Humble’s Miracle Cure
On the morning of May 12, 22-year-old Jennifer Hollis bought the gun she would use to kill herself later that day. According to a friend who spoke with a salesperson at the Academy Sports off I-10, Hollis, a petite, black-haired woman with a beauty mark just above her left eyebrow,…
Houston’s 10 Best Concerts in November
SIA Toyota Center, November 4 Fifteen and a half years into her musical career, Australian singer-songwriter Sia Furler finally released a breakthrough album: 1000 Forms of Fear. Produced by a handful of music-industry heavyweights, including Diplo, Fear featured such radio hits as “Chandelier” and “Elastic Heart,” both of which were accompanied…
Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme Won’t Blow Your Mind, but Doctor Strange Is Still a Trip
It’s too much to ask that a studio money-maker/sequel-generator like Doctor Strange actually be strange, much less flaunt doctoral levels of weirdness. Instead, it’s Strange 101 in super HD, its lavish pop-art psychedelia in service of 1963 comic-book-story beats. The attractions this time are Benedict Cumberbatch, haughtily Randian as a…
By Sidney Lumet Can’t Shake Memorable Insights Out of a Hollywood Great
Nancy Buirski’s By Sidney Lumet opens with the late filmmaker reflecting on his witnessing, as a young man, the rape of an underage girl by a group of soldiers on a train. Lumet was permanently haunted by the incident; what’s left unclear, until the end of the movie, is whether…
Paul Schrader’s Dog Eat Dog Never Transcends Pulp Nihilism
Edward Bunker’s novel Dog Eat Dog (1996) kicks off with a disgusting sequence in which a two-bit criminal named Gerald “Mad Dog” McCain — caught up in a cocaine binge that Bunker describes in beat-by-beat detail across several pages — stabs his girlfriend and her daughter to death in a…
With Dog Eat Dog, Paul Schrader Finds Himself Free of all Rules
Dog Eat Dog is like nothing Paul Schrader has ever done before. The director of films as diverse as American Gigolo, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, Affliction and Blue Collar (and the screenwriter of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and The Last Temptation of Christ), Schrader is no stranger to…
Netflix’s The Ivory Game Reduces Complex Tragedy to Hollywood Thriller
“Are we really in our generation going to allow the biggest mammal on earth to disappear?” asks a conservationist late in Richard Ladkani and Kief Davidson’s propulsive ivory-trade doc. That simple question cuts to the heart in ways that much of this showy, desperately dramatic pseudo-thriller doesn’t. The title is…
GE’s Oil Division Wants to Merge With Baker Hughes — But Will the Feds Approve?
Baker Hughes got knocked to the mat pretty hard when its planned merger with Halliburton — a longtime rival in the oil field services industry — fell apart in the face of U.S. Justice Department antitrust qualms earlier this year. But the Houston-based oil field services company is once again…
Something Wicked Rebounds, Costumes and DJs Both on Point
Stepping into Something Wicked Saturday afternoon felt familiar, as if the debacle last year had never happened. It felt, as it ideally should, like the festival it had been always been. It still has impeccable theming, and even with the warmer temperatures there was no mistaking that this was a…
Dish of the Week: Tortilla Española
From classic comfort foods to regional standouts and desserts, we’ll be sharing a new recipe with you each week. Find other dishes of the week here. This week, we’re sharing an easy recipe that can be served as a tapa or as an entire meal: Tortilla Española. Tortilla Española—otherwise known…
Despite Rigging Claims, Trump May Be Good for Texas Elections
Donald Trump may win Texas or he might lose it. But either way, it’s clear the Republican presidential nominee has already had an influence on the Lone Star State. Whether it’s a good or bad influence remains to be seen. And then there’s the voting thing. While plenty of people…
Bodies Galore in Bring Up the Bodies at Main Street Theater
The set-up: Let’s see, where were we when last we left this tortuous nest of Tudor tarantulas? The execution: In Bring Up the Bodies, influential Cardinal Wolsey (Rutherford Cravens), stripped of power, has died in disgrace or from too many “purgatives.” Former queen Catherine of Aragon (Kara Greenberg), long banished…
Sigh… No, Hillary Clinton Didn’t Call Doctor Who “Boring Garbage”
This election cycle has taken some very, very weird turns, but the latest bit of nonsense is this story coming out my beloved Doctor Who fandom. Among other things revealed in the WikiLeaks dump of Hillary Clinton’s emails, she apparently is not a fan of The Doctor. The email reads……
NFL Week 8: Texans 20, Lions 13 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Sunday morning, as I made my way up Highway 288 from Pearland, on an otherwise perfect weather day, there was a fog covering NRG Stadium and the Houston skyline. As I got closer to the stadium, around 9:30 a.m., the parking lots were surprisingly quiet and largely empty. As I…
10 Overrated Foods
In our opinion, the fashion statement of food, rather than the actual taste of a certain dish, is what makes a food overrated and trending. (By the way, writing the words “the fashion statement of food” bums us out so hard. Why can’t food just be something that we eat?)…
Charlie Robison’s Pub Fiction Gig Rescheduled for Wednesday
At the moment, Charlie Robison’s November tour dates include a string of real-deal venues like Coupland Dancehall, Masones Saloon, Hank’s Texas Grill, the Halfway House Bar & Grill, and the parking lot at Fort Worth’s Granada Theater for the Texas Chili Fest. A road warrior of the highest degree, Robison…
Ted Cruz Knows Better Than to Suggest Shrinking the Supreme Court
Sen. Ted Cruz is never one to miss an opportunity to grab some headlines, and now he’s done it again by stating publicly that he thinks it would be just fine if the U.S. Supreme Court — which has had a vacancy since Justice Antonin Scalia died in February —…
Stevie Nicks Digs Deep Into the Vaults For Haunting Toyota Center Set
Stevie Nicks, The Pretenders Toyota Center October 29, 2016 Before Stevie Nicks on Saturday, it had been quite a while since I’d covered a concert for the Houston Press, and the first time ever doing so at the Toyota Center. When I arrived I was greeted by religious protesters using…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Burgers, Margaritas & Halloween Mischief
From a Thanksgiving burger to a festival dedicated entirely to cheese, here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: All month long November specials at Hopdoddy Burger Bar Hopdoddy Burger Bar, 4444 Westheimer, is kicking off the holidays with seasonal favorites. The Thanksgiving on a Bun Burger ($11) will…
Expecting Conjoined Twins, Idaho Couple Seeks Houston Doctors
The first two doctors Chelsea and Nick Torres saw told the couple Chelsea was not even pregnant. The third urged them to choose abortion. It was July 10 — nearly a month after Chelsea first found out she was pregnant with various take-home pregnancy tests — when a doctor finally…
Shows of the Week: Dance-Music Ph.D.s Still Super After All These Years
PET SHOP BOYS White Oak Music Hall, November 2 Ranking elders of UK synth-pop alongside Depeche Mode and OMD, Pet Shop Boys carry themselves with a rare elegance, wit and style beyond what even those esteemed groups can touch. After debuting with a clutch of mid-‘80s transatlantic pop hits (“West…
Ask a Stoner: How Can I Avoid Employment Drug Tests?
Dear Stoner: The holidays are coming up, and I’m thinking about getting a seasonal job for extra income. Something with low responsibility, like retail or working with Christmas trees. I enjoy cannabis recreationally. Do you have any advice on how to surreptitiously find places of employment that do not conduct…
Cougars Overcome Self-Inflicted Wounds to Defeat UCF Knights
How quickly the Houston Cougar bandwagon empties. A loss to Navy, a narrow win over Tulsa, an embarrassing loss to SMU and suddenly TDECU Stadium is half empty for a Saturday morning kickoff against the visiting UCF Knights. Even the student section, usually packed to the gills as soon as…
HGO’s Faust: A Descent Into Hell With Wonderful Voices and Music
French composer Charles Gounod struggled to get into the inner circle at Paris Opera, but his first attempts didn’t set any hearts afire, although the young man showed promise, as critics said, and was heralded by none other than superstar soprano Pauline Viardot, who promised Gounod she would star in…
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at TUTS Succeeds Indeed
Just like Coco Chanel’s little black dress, there are certain Broadway musicals that are smart, chic, and timeless. Such is Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows’s precisely-tailored masterpiece, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), a revival via Theatre Under the Stars, that is so superbly altered that it…
Every Cheap, Easy, Last-Minute Costume Idea You’ll Ever Need
Don’t have a costume for the weekend yet? You’re not alone. In fact, I’m literally right there with you. While my roommate and I have discussed maybe going as a Press Your Luck player and Whammy, that does sound like a lot of work to be honest, especially with so…
Shake Shack Announces Friday, November 4 Opening in The Galleria
Shake Shack® fans, if you’ve been waiting with baited breath for Shake Shack to open in Houston, your wait is finally about to end. After months of build-up, which included a hugely popular pop-up event at The Pass & Provisions a couple of weeks ago, the New York-based cult burger…
Spend Halloween Eve Visiting Houston’s Greatest Jazz and Blues Legends
A guided tour of a graveyard may not sound like everyone’s cup of Halloween punch, but the Houston Society of the Archaeological Institute of America is betting that Houston has enough music-history buffs and other curious types to fill up a busload or two. Sunday afternoon, the bus (or buses)…
Believe It or Not, Texas GOP Leaders Still Fighting Marriage Equality
Because Republican state leaders can’t arrive at the conclusion on their own that marriage equality in turn means marriage-benefits equality, they are asking the Texas Supreme Court to please clear up that complicated legal issue for them instead. Even after the high court already decided once that it doesn’t want…
Of Course NFL’s Ratings are Dropping. The Texans Keep Playing in Prime Time
The NFL’s television ratings are down this season. There are some who blame that on the anthem protests. Others about the game being sissified. Some would tell you it’s because of too many commercials leading to too many TD-commercial break- replay review-commercial break-extra point-commercial break-kickoff downed in the end zone-commercial…
Feds Say Dozens of Monkeys Suffered Horrible Deaths in a South Texas Facility
The USDA has accused a provider of research monkeys in southeast Texas of violating animal welfare laws, saying 38 monkeys have died of thirst, suffocation and other harms since 2010. Filed in late September, the government’s complaint describes SNBL USA in Alice as a veritable house of horrors where macaques…
Two Successful Texas RenFest Artists Who Don’t Do Fairies or Dragons (Gasp!)
Head east through the grounds of the Texas Renaissance Festival, past the King’s Arm Feast Hall, and you’ll walk past a little cottage whose walls are adorned with prints of intricately painted, skeletal women and images of the Doctor Who Tardis swirling through space. That’s the booth of artists Sarah…
Say Good-bye to Video-Looping App Vine With Some of Its Best Videos
If you heard the Internet somehow collectively scream sometime Thursday afternoon, you’re not losing your mind. That was when Twitter announced that it’s shutting down Vine, an app that let users endlessly loop six seconds of video, sometime “in the coming months,” according to a blog post written by Twitter…
Harris County Prosecutor Who Jailed Rape Victim Speaks for First Time [UPDATED]
It was the eve of a major trial when Harris County prosecutor Nick Socias’s phone rang — a call from the woman who would be testifying in it, whose story would soon become the central controversy in this year’s race for district attorney. The call was from Jenny, who was…
Red Ribbon Week for Elementary School Kids Is Completely Pointless
It’s been Red Ribbon Week at my daughter’s school, and I don’t think I have ever seen a bigger waste of my time and attention than this ridiculous nonsense. Red Ribbon Week is supposed to be an annual observation of the dangers of drugs, and as a person that can…
White Oak Music Hall Releases Statement Regarding Permanent Stage
A subject of much conversation this week, White Oak Music Hall finally received approval to build a permanent stage this week, but has been forced to move tonight’s concert by Seattle indie-folk troupe The Head & The Heart to Revention Music Center. That appears to be the last show affected…
