First Look: Oui Banh Mi
It’s hard not to get excited about a phrase like “Drive-Thru Banh Mi.” The Vietnamese sandwich is classic Houston convenience food, and offering it via such a convenient retrieval method sounds like an Easy Button for deliciousness. Of course, a lot of that depends on the ratio of ease to…
Good (and Bad) Vibrations Abound in Mike Love’s Long-Awaited Beach Boys Memoir
Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy By Mike Love with James S. Hirsch 448 p. $28 Blue Rider Press One of the Beach Boys’ more interesting tunes is “Heroes and Villains.” And to many a casual fan (and lots of music journos), singer Mike Love was the latter…
Kate Winslet Saves the Poor With Couture in the Insulting The Dressmaker
A woman wears sunglasses, a tight red dress, matching long gloves and red lipstick. She stands and smokes a cigarette, ostensibly watching a rugby game, but really the players are watching her, fumbling their footwork, and it’s exactly the effect she desires. This early scene, with its shifting gazes and…
One Weekend, Two Art Fairs in Houston: Do We Really Have to Choose?
When we first heard that two of the biggest art fairs in Houston were going down on the same weekend, our first thought was, “Do we really have to choose?” With the exception of a couple of ultra-swanky Thursday preview events, the answer is “no.” Now that the Houston Art…
A Recap of Ken Paxton’s Odd Fascination With LGBT-related Issues
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has only been in office for 20 months, yet has entangled Texans in several lawsuits and controversies related to LGBT issues. Here’s a recap of some of the many, many fights he’s picked. Paxton Gets Behind Abbott on Gay Discrimination With all deliberate speed, Governor Greg…
The Most Popular Houston Press Recipe Posts Ever
Like to cook at home? Or is it the rare occasion that you tackle making something in the kitchen? The following are the top recipes we’ve run in the Houston Press — recipes that our readers turn to over and over again. Maybe one of these will bail you out…
NFL Week 3: Patriots 27, Texans 0 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
Ok, I’m not heading into this recap with any flowery prose or clever analogies. I’m operating on four hours of sleep after a night of taking three hours of angry phone calls from Houston Texan fans following three more hours of the worst football I’ve watched paid professionals play —…
Openings & Closings: Sigma Brewing Will Open in EaDo
The taproom at Sigma Brewing Company is due to open very soon at 3118 Harrisburg in EaDo. Eater Houston reports that “the 4,300 square foot operation will focus on small-batch beers with the aim of brewing approximately 1,000 barrels over the next year.” Owner Matt Peterson tells the Houston Press…
Let Yourself Be Grabbed by “Picasso The Line”
By now can there be even a single Picasso fart that has not been recorded and religiously researched for its artistic implications — perhaps even taken as the basis of a doctoral dissertation? Since everything about him seems to have the odor of genius, I doubt it. Picasso — everything…
Best Bets for This Weekend’s College and NFL Games
So far, through three weeks of college football and two weeks of the NFL, it’s steady as she goes on the gambling front. No losing weeks yet, and two winning weeks, which means right now, our wagering represents a trickle of revenue coming into our gambling LLC. We like that…
After All Media Passes Were Canceled, We Decided to See White Rabbit Red Rabbit Anyway
I’m sitting in a room with 55 other people watching an actor perform a solo play she knows absolutely nothing about. Which is quite fitting really, as the company putting on the play has no idea that I’m here reviewing it. To put it into Rumsfeldian terms, we have a…
Beyoncé vs. The World: Who’s the Biggest Pop Star?
It could be argued that Houston’s own Beyoncé is the biggest pop star in America, even up against the likes of Taylor Swift, Adele and Drake. Queen Bey, who plays NRG Stadium on Thursday, laid claim to this status through a blend of talent and charisma, not to mention a unique…
10 Do’s and Don’ts For Your First European Tour
In August, we loaded our backpacks and emptied our savings to follow my son and his band on its first-ever European tour. Whichever adjectives coax to mind any simultaneously challenging and wildly rewarding experience, they all apply. Including the band’s four members, our group numbered ten in all. Before any…
A Ugandan Grandmaster Emerges in Mira Nair’s Disney Charmer Queen of Katwe
Mira Nair’s Queen of Katwe is a true-life tale transformed into an inspirational fable. That’s not novel for the movies, but in this director’s hands, the results are mostly enchanting. The film follows Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga), an impoverished Ugandan girl who became a chess champion at the age of…
Lovers and the Despot Digs Into Kim Jong-il’s Plot to Rule Cinema: Kidnapping
Set aside all human decency and imagine, for a moment, that you’re Kim Jong-il. Imagine it’s 1978, and you’re pushing 40, still Great Leader’s son rather than the future Dear Leader. You have yearned for years to create a truly great North Korean cinema, one whose films would be celebrated…
Toronto Film Festival: Conjoined-Twin Drama Indivisible Is More Than the Sum of Its Parts
In lieu of a traditional title card, Indivisible offers a corker of an opening sequence that begins with three young women walking home from the beach like hungover soldiers in soft morning light until a blue panel van displays the original Italian title: Indivisibili. In between, that trio of up-all-night…
Broadway Legend Ben Vereen Stands Bravely in the Light
Even at age 69, Ben Vereen is still steppin’ out and looking good. The beloved actor-singer-dancer, the originator of iconic musical theater roles like Leading Player in Pippin and Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, is slipping on his soft shoes and tapping by The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston for a cool event…
NFL Week 3: Texans-Patriots — Four Things to Watch For
It’s nice when things seem to fall into place, and certainly for the Houston Texans, the football gods have been relatively kind early in this 2016 season. Sure, J.J. Watt is still rounding into form from disc surgery in his back, and a healthy Duane Brown would sure seem to…
First Look at Eureka Heights Brew Co.
Homegrown Eureka Heights Brew Co., located at 941 West 18th in the Heights is the new cool kid on the block, down the street from Hunky Dory and Bernadine’s. The Houston Press caught up with one of the founders, Casey Motes, for a first look at where they came from,…
It’s Spooky Time in Galveston
An estimated 8,000 poor souls lost their lives when the Great Storm of 1900 kicked Galveston’s butt in our nation’s deadliest natural disaster. While the survivors struggled with the decimation of 3,600 buildings, they also had to deal with the bodies of the deceased in that early-September heat. The Butterowe Building, strong enough…
Is the Next Bowie or Prince Already Among Us?
2016 has been a rough year for fans of wildly inventive (and reinventive) pop artists. Just three months after David Bowie was taken too soon, we also lost Prince. Not to claim sadness rights over anyone else, but these are two of my top three all-time favorite artists. I’m only…
10 Songs Inspired By Bioshock
So, Bioshock: The Collection is out now, incorporating all three original games plus their downloadable content, and then a director’s commentary from Ken Levine. Bioshock is the game that got me to finally return to the then-current generation of game consoles, having abandoned gaming almost entirely in my twenties. The…
A Non-Metalhead’s Guide to Houston Open Air
Despite being a fan of hard rock music, I don’t claim to be a metalhead. It’s slightly akin to how I like trying new restaurants and cooking new dishes at home, yet wouldn’t describe myself as a foodie (in part because the word “foodie” is nauseating). Point being, you can…
Judy Davis on the Art of Acting — and Being Judy Davis
Judy Davis doesn’t like the expression “scene-stealing,” even though it precisely describes her performance in The Dressmaker. “I always sort of cringe when I hear that,” she says, “because what it implies is that’s what the actor is after.” So let’s just put it this way: As Kate Winslet’s acerbic,…
Toronto Film Festival: All Hail the Female Filmmakers Who Splash Us in Blood
We’ve come a long way since American Psycho. And also not. When co-writer/director Mary Harron premiered her Bret Easton Ellis adaptation in 2000, the kneejerk assumption for audiences who’d only seen the trailer was that surely a man had made the ultra-bloody black comedy. The film was dismissed before it…
Storks Is So Funny You Might Forgive Its Mawkish Weirdness
In this age of billion-dollar, candy-colored, fully digital child-distraction movie-making, the new chatty-animal adventure comedy Storks wouldn’t have to be good in any way to be wildly profitable. It often is good, though, hilariously so, its too-familiar misfits-become-a-family storyline enlivened by flights of lavish comic invention. Its set pieces, especially…
Not Magnificent, but Not Bad
Look, if you’re not stirred by the sight of Denzel Washington, clad in head-to-toe black, riding a black stallion over dunes and bluffs and right up to the saloon of some two-bit frontier town — well, then maybe the movies just aren’t for you. Washington, of course, strides right into…
Drive-by Shooting in East Houston Starts on Street, Resumes at Hospital
When a drive-by shooting incident continues once a bleeding man is dropped off at the hospital, patients and family in the emergency room lobby are understandably nervous and scared. That’s what happened Monday at East Houston Regional Medical Center, which was placed on lockdown after shots rang out, coming from…
Five Underrated Plays That Helped the Texans Beat the Chiefs
In the history of the Texans, a 2-0 start hasn’t been a guarantee of anything. In 2010 and 2013, they started 2-0, and went on to 6-10 and 2-14 records. In 2011 and 2012, the Texans started 2-0, and went on to the two greatest seasons in franchise history. But…
Sandra Bland Act, To Be Introduced Next Session, Aims to Curb Bias in Policing
Just a few days ago, Sandra Bland’s family members reached a settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit against the Texas Department of Public Safety and Waller County. Now, Texas Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) wants to make sure that what happened to Bland will never happen to anyone else, as he’s…
String of Armed Robberies in Oak Forest Area Has Business Owners on Edge
He was only picking up drinking water from Restaurant Depot to prepare for his bar Ritual’s annual White Linen Night party in the Heights — but then a bullet flew over his head. And like everyone else in the store, all Ken Sheppard could think to do was run for…
The Motherfu**er With the Hat Is a Wonderful, if F-word-filled, Night at Obsidian Theater
An egg cracked for an omelet is raw. A patch of sunburned skin is raw. Stephen Adly Guirgis’s coruscating The Motherfu**er With the Hat (2011), filling Obsidian Theater’s intimate space with choked laughter and surprised, bated intakes of life-affirming breaths, takes raw to new heights. It transcends it. The entire…
Aces of Taste Focuses on Pop-up After Pop-up
With special tasting and pairing events available every weekend, Houston’s culinary scene has evolved dramatically from just a typical night out at a favorite restaurant. One group that has turned eating-out on its head is Aces of Taste. The core staff members include: Ahrif Sarumi and Abigail Diaz (co-founders), Julie…
Biskit Junkie Does a Wonderful Job With its Biscuits, Stumbles Elsewhere
The biscuits at Biskit Junkie are pretty good. They’re tender, buttery and satisfying, managing to be rich in flavor and light in texture at the same time. It’s a shame there are so many other things about eating at Biskit Junkie that don’t measure up. For starters, there’s the smell…
Ted Cruz Comfortingly, Predictably, Tries to Ban Middle Eastern Refugees Again
In the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Minnesota over the weekend Sen. Ted Cruz called for a ban on allowing refugees from “hotbeds of terrorism” in the Middle East to come to the United States. There’s just one tiny problem with this stance: Neither of the…
Women and Craft Beer – It’s Not Just a Guy Thing
A side effect of the continuous development of more choices and different flavors in craft beer has led more women to become interested in what has been a male-dominated industry — both as consumers and industry professionals. It’s a trend that has not passed Houston by. Sour, fruit flavored, and…
Upcoming: Day For Night, Junior Brown, Nicholas Jaar, Los Lonely Boys, Merchandise, Reba McEntire, War, etc.
Note: Events in bold reflect highly recommended shows. The 1st Annual Jam Fest: With The Sauce Twinz, K-Rino, H2, Kenzie, Supa, Laconda Davies, Mr. Wired Up. Sat., November 12, 9:30 p.m., $20. The Green Room/Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston, 713-225-5483. The Abominable Beard: With Orchiectomy, Gods, Putrid Womb, Cerebral…
What Happens After You Get Robbed in Broad Daylight in Montrose
My friends in college used to call me “Bad Luck Meagan,” a nickname I earned thanks to a near-hilarious number of brushes with misfortune: stolen iPhones, parking tickets after five minutes of expiration, debit-card information theft — you get the idea. I thought I had left the moniker behind following…
Learn How to Beckon the Spirits of the Dead Back From Beyond the Grave
“Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, is a tribute to the ancestors. It’s about remembering and honoring them,” says Macario Ramirez, who co-owns Casa Ramirez FOLKART Gallery along with his wife Chrissie. “We feel that on November 1 and 2 the heavens open and the spirits are allowed to come…
Six Bands Who Hated Their Biggest Hit
Whether Adam Duritz likes “Mr. Jones” is fairly inconsequential at this point. The somewhat moody Duritz – front man for pop-rock staple Counting Crows, produced one of the most iconic pop radio tracks of the decade when his band dropped “Mr. Jones” in 1993. The song propelled Counting Crows into…
Some State Board of Education Members Are Still Pushing Creationism, Of Course
Either Texas State Board of Education members have too much time on their hands or certain members are just as eager to keep creationism a part of the state science curriculum this time around. The State Board of Education is currently revising the Texas Essential Skills and Knowledge requirements for…
Sunshine Superman Donovan Marks Five Mostly Mellow Decades
Of all the artists who came to prominence during the time of Flower Power, perhaps no one evoked the era, spirit, and outlook more than Donovan. The Scottish troubadour began his musical journey as an earnest folkie in the Woody Guthrie mode (even writing “This Machine Kills” on his acoustic guitar,…
Oakman’s Visit to Locker Room Shows Baylor Still Doesn’t Get It [UPDATED]
The Rice Marching Owl Band has been vilified in some circles over the halftime show it performed during Friday’s night football game against Baylor at Rice Stadium. Baylor fans were horrified and felt the show to be low class and in bad taste. There were still others who felt the…
Command and Control Exposes the 1980 Nuke Accident that Could Have Leveled Arkansas
Command and Control is frightening for a whole pants-shitting list of reasons, but perhaps the scariest is that the near-detonation of a nuclear warhead in 1980 was sparked by the tiniest imaginable accident. A technician working on a Titan missile in a Damascus, Arkansas, silo dropped a wrench socket from…
With Cameraperson, Kirsten Johnson Interrogates Documentary Itself
“These are the images that have marked me and leave me wondering still.” That’s how Kirsten Johnson prefaces Cameraperson, made up of footage she has collected over 25 years of working as a camera operator, cinematographer and director on dozens of different documentaries — films like Laura Poitras’ The Oath…
Certain Movies: L.A. Weekly‘s Critics Pick Their Favorites at the Toronto Film Festival
Over the last 10 days, the Toronto International Film Festival has screened hundreds of movies from all across the world. LA Weekly’s April Wolfe and Michael Nordine trekked to Canada in search of the best of the fest, from the Cannes holdovers and awards hopefuls to the world premieres and…
Art-House Grind Goat Exposes the Obvious: College Hazing Sucks
Pasolini’s Salò meets red Solo cups in Goat, Andrew Neel’s deep, dank dive into the depravities of frat pledging that operates as its own kind of hazing ritual. Points are made and lessons imparted with all the subtlety and finesse of a Greek paddle to the head. Based on Brad…
Donald Glover’s Atlanta Is a Slice-of-Life that Slices Back
To show all that he can do, to show something of what life’s actually like, Donald Glover first has to break your heart. Glover – the star, creator, and often writer of FX’s tense, downwardly mobile hangout comedy Atlanta – is best known, still, as a handsome clown on NBC’s Community, Dan…
Bridget Jones Presses on Into Adulthood – and Her Best Film Yet
Bridget Jones mines the riches of embarrassment. Her gaffes, blunders, stumbles and pratfalls provide the laughs in the atypical romcoms built around her, films that rely heavily on the comedy of idiosyncrasy. Bridget is no outsider: She’s a straight, white, middle class, university-educated woman with a London apartment, a media…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Tastings & Lessons From Scotland
From a game day burger special to a kolache pop-up, here’s a look at this week’s hottest culinary happenings: Monday through Wednesday SaltAir Chef Series: Mediterranean at SaltAir Seafood Kitchen The 12-week, travel-inspired chef series (ending Wednesday, October 5) continues at SaltAir Seafood Kitchen, 3029 Kirby. This week’s passport takes diners…
Houston Police Net 131 Pounds of Kush in Another Undercover Sting Operation
Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson has a message for anyone selling or manufacturing kush in the county: Either get out of dodge or prepare to get arrested — and sued. Anderson, the Houston Police Department and Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Monday yet another successful sting operation targeting the source…
Five Things to Know About Harmony Schools Based on Documentary Killing Ed
The film “Killing Ed” dives into the workings of the Harmony charter schools, started by adherents of Fetullah Gulen, an Islamic cleric who may or may not have been the motor behind the failed coup in Turkey that erupted in July. The publicly funded charter schools are thought to be…
Houston Got Very, Very Loud for 5 Seconds of Summer
5 Seconds of Summer, Hey Violet, Roy English The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 18, 2016 It was a moment of both wonder and terror. It felt like it lasted for five minutes, but maybe only lasted for two; the thing about moments is sometimes you just have to ride…
The Best Acts of Yes, Indeed! 2016
The 2016 edition of the Yes, Indeed! Music Festival had all the hallmarks of a successful event of its sort. There were solid acts, eager listeners and, perhaps best of all, an adaptability shared by everyone involved. The event’s organizers set the go-with-it tone by relocating the fest from its…
Edward Albee, Surgeon of the American Dream
Edward Albee, America’s foremost living playwright, died Friday, September 16. He was 88. He has now joined that ethereal pantheon that includes founding father Eugene O’Neill, the immortal comedy duo of George Kaufman and Moss Hart, wistful fourth-wall breaker Thornton Wilder, the emotionally fraught Tennessee Williams, and maybe America’s post-war…
The Elite Rodeo Association Is Cutting Tour Dates, but Promises Bright Future
The Elite Rodeo Association’s first year hasn’t been the easiest, you know, ride. The ERA tour schedule has shrunk, the membership numbers have been whittled away, and it looks like the situation may be more challenging next year. But still Bobby Mote, one of the founders and owners of the ERA, is…
Die Fledermaus at OITH Offers Beautiful Music, an Awkward English Text
The set-up: Is there any other opera in the rep that so resembles champagne as the heady, intoxicating Die Fledermaus (“The Bat,” 1874) from Johann Strauss II? Opera in the Heights’s production is certainly vintage in sound with its young, appealing cast; maestro Eiki Isomura keeps his sprightly-tuned orchestra just…
NFL Week 2: Texans 19, Chiefs 12 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
In two games against the Kansas City Chiefs last season, the Houston Texans’ biggest problem was, well, the HOUSTON TEXANS. With a slew of turnovers, shoddy special teams plays, and ill-timed penalties, the Texans spent virtually all of eight quarters over two games worth of football getting dominated by a…
Dish of the Week: Cachapas
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 a South American specialty, cachapas. Cachapas are corn cakes made with fresh ground corn mixed with batter. They are similar…
DIY Venues Are What’s Keeping Houston’s Comedy Scene Alive
It’s hard to argue that the comedy club isn’t going the way of the dinosaur, right? Your life is already littered with SO MUCH COMEDY, and in more mediums that most can handle.YouTube stars vomit content just begging for your attention, you’ve got piles of unread meme stream across your…
Texas’s Conservatism on Reproductive Rights May Make Fighting Zika Harder
Thanks to Texas’s conservative stance on reproductive rights, women who contract Zika here might not be able to access the services needed to fight the disease’s symptoms and spread, argues a new report released this month. Texas – and particularly Houston – is likely to be hit with an outbreak…
Rice Apologizes for Hurting Baylor’s Feelings With Marching Band Stunt
How is it that Art Briles received an ovation from Baylor fans during Friday night’s Rice/Baylor football game, yet it’s the feelings of Baylor fans that got hurt? In what world does Shawn Oakman get to stay free and attend the Baylor/Rice game while Rice is the one issuing an…
Enjoy Free Drinks at These Houston Stores (Yes, Really)
“Open bar” might be one of the English language’s sweetest phrases, but outside of weddings and work parties, it’s all too rare to hear. In fact, drinking for free is disappointingly hard to do – sure, you might be able to score free samples at liquor and grocery stores, but…
Tegan and Sara Prove Music Still Needs Safe Spaces
Tegan and Sara Warehouse Live September 16, 2016 If you came to the Tegan and Sara show looking for some quintessentially ’90s-girl guitar, I’m sure you were disappointed. The twin-sister duo has evolved far away from the confessional indie niche that defined their earlier work. Indeed, the runaway success of…
Harris County’s Defense of Bail System in Court is Costing Taxpayers Thousands
In less than two months since Harris County was sued over its bail system that keeps poor people imprisoned before they have been convicted of a crime, the county has spent $170,000 to defending it. And that’s only as of July 15, the most recent bill the Houston Press was…
Shows of the Week: A Once-In-a-Generation Talent Not Named Kanye
CASS MCCOMBS White Oak Music Hall, September 20 A once-in-a-generation talent will be in Houston on Tuesday, but it’s not Kanye West. It’s tough to overstate how hard critics have fallen for Cass McCombs’ eighth album, Mangy Love; his clippings are full of words and phrases like “master,” “compelling” and…
How Kanye Can Find His Way Back
Kanye West is a desperate man. How else can one possibly explain his headline-grabbing antics, rants that go on forever but rarely yield anything of consequence, music videos that are dubbed art but are really just salacious for the sake of being salacious? Sure, Kanye, who plays Toyota Center on Tuesday…
Dear Stoner: What’s So Great About Smoking Weed?
Dear Stoner: Why are all you potheads so gung-ho about the benefits of smoking weed? I smoke it from time to time, but I don’t tell my friends to light up a joint instead of visiting the doctor. It’s pot, not magic beans. Grinding Gary Dear Gary: Magic buds, maybe…
Dear Stoner: Will Foria Oil Get Me High Down There?
Dear Stoner: I just heard about Foria, some marijuana oil claiming to enhance a female’s sex life. Is it basically female Viagra that also gets me high down there? Brittany Dear Brittany: I’m still looking for a girlfriend who will help me with hands-on research, but reviews of Foria describe…
Houston-area Cops Running Afoul of the Law So Far in 2016
After revelations of a Harris County deputy constable illegally destroying evidence for years surfaced last month, we decided to take a look back at our stories on Houston-area police running afoul of the law in 2016. Houston Police Officer Faces Intoxicated Manslaughter Charge Houston police officer James Combs was drunk…
Beginner’s Guides to 10 Ethnic or More Unusual Cuisines
In 2013 we ran a series of stories on how to get started with ethnic foods that may be strange to a lot of diners. Written by our former Food Editor Katharine Shilcutt, it remains a reader favorite. So we thought we’d pull it all together for you, ending with…
Toronto Film Festival: I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House Is the Best of Gothic Horror
Writer/director Osgood Perkins has been peeking at my Shirley Jackson book collection, and he’s already read through my favorites: The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. His sophomore feature, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, is a magical amalgam of…
Creativity on Display at Third Annual Great Banh Mi Cookoff in Houston
Houston’s very own Great Banh Mi Cookoff, hosted and organized by Boat People SOS of Houston (BPSOS), took place Wednesday night at Anheuser Busch Brewery. For the third year in a row, approximately 300 guests joined in the fun while supporting a good cause as local chefs tried to wow…
Two Metro Officers Suspended After One Beat Man With Baton on Train Platform
Two Metro police officers have been suspended after one beat a man with a baton while the other watched, Metro Police Chief Vera Bumpers said Friday. “We are not going to tolerate excessive force by our officers,” Bumpers told reporters at a news conference at Metro headquarters. “We expect our…
Westboro Baptist Church Brings Loving Message of Hatred to Houston
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church were on a tight schedule Friday, only staying at the corner of Richmond and U.S. 59 to yell about burning in hell for exactly 40 minutes because they needed to get to the University of Houston by noon — the next stop of their…
Martina McBride Hits It Out of the Park at Stafford Centre
Martina McBride Stafford Centre September 15, 2016 Martina McBride does things that few artists are able to do: consistently sing songs that last beyond their rise on the charts, and deliver vocal performances with depth and range and never disappoint. I have seen her perform in front of large rodeo…
HISD Has a New Superintendent, Now What’s He Going to Do?
The man comes into the room friendly and beaming, dapper as all get-out, nice firm handshake, gets down to business and speaks in clear, often measured terms without too much educational jargon. It’s his final one-on-one with a member of the media for the day, after a morning meeting with…
Puff Daddy & The Family Give Toyota Center Its Best Rap Show of 2016
Puff Daddy & The Bad Boy Family Toyota Center September 15, 2016 In terms of a “show,” fans should always consider two things. One is length. The longer, deeper the catalog, the more room a performer has to create a memorable experience. The second? How much energy is a performer…
In the Heights Is as Important as It Is Entertaining
The set up: If you heard a collective, ‘oh thank goodness’, exhale a few weeks ago, chances are it was on the day TUTS announced its cast list for In the Heights. Not because some big name had been secured to star in Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s 2008…
Court Ruling Clears Conroe School District Cop Who Had Sex With Student
Attention pervs who work in Texas school districts: a recent Court of Criminal Appeals ruling helps clear up confusion over who’s allowed to have sex with students. Issued Wednesday, the ruling was good news for a former Conroe Independent School District police sergeant who had received ten years of probation…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: National Cheeseburger Day
Here’s a look at this weekend’s best culinary happenings, including a champagne tour and Oktoberfest celebration: A Veuve Clicquot Journey Friday – Sunday This traveling Champagne Pop-Up has made its way to Houston. The tour begins Friday, as Veuve Clicquot kicks things of at Hotel ZaZa, 5701 Main, from 4 to 7…
The Best Late-Night TV Donald Trump Takedowns of 2016
Election Day is just 52 days away, and if Donald Trump loses, he may finally fade from the limelight. Since declaring his candidacy last summer, Trump has captured the attention (and near-universal scorn) of late-night television hosts. He re are the best Donald Trump takedowns by late-night shows so far this…
Bayou City Concert Musicals Does Right by Promises, Promises
One of the ’60s most prolific pop composers, Burt Bacharach wrote only two musicals: Ross Hunter’s cheesy remake of Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon (1973), a bomb, and an adaptation by Neil Simon of Billy Wilder’s Oscar-winning The Apartment, rechristened Promises, Promises (1968), a big hit on Broadway that ran three…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: Blair Witch
Title: Blair Witch Describe This Movie In One Simpsons Quote: Mayor Quimby: I sentence you hags to be burned at the stake until you are deemed fit to re-enter society. Brief Plot Synopsis: Millennials really don’t pay attention to history, after all. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Two-and-a-half packs of…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Fresh Corn Tamales & Chiles en Nogada
Mark your calendars, because you don’t want to miss these deliciously fun culinary events, including Scotch Lessons from Scotland and ceviche pop-up from L.A.: Chef Hugo Ortega of Hugo’s, 1600 Westheimer, is introducing two new seasonal dishes this month. Throughout September, Ortega will offer fresh corn tamales, as diners choose from poblano cream…
Ted Cruz Seeks New Friends, But is Still Content to Shut Down the Government
In the aftermath of his failed run for the the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. Ted Cruz has gone back to doing what he does best — or at least most often. Being the opposition. Specifically, Cruz is intent on blocking President Barack Obama’s plan to transfer United States authority over…
The Five Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Comics, Cars and Latin Culture
It’s shaping up to be a throwback weekend with a vintage festival for retro cars and fashion, plus there’s a revival of the first offering from Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda over at TUTS. And now that DC Comics has introduced us to the Dark Knight of a reborn universe, we’re celebrating comics through…
Freak Radar: Getting Right Down to the Trippy Heart of the Matter
FREAK RADAR The freak radar is actually just a crummy low-res screen housed within an average looking blue-gray box. What makes it special is that in a fit of inspiration, it has been decorated with a ‘Hello My Name Is’ sticker upon which someone has ingeniously written ‘freak radar’ in…
Cougars Overcome Errors to Stomp Cincinnati, 40-16
The Houston Cougars (3-0) got the 40-16 win over the (2-1) Cincinnati Bearcats last night. Looking at the final score viewers would be forgiven for thinking that UH ran away with the game. However, viewers would be mistaken for thinking that because Cincinnati led the game into the fourth quarter…
Inaugural Industrafest Slams Into Numbers On Saturday
For years, Houston industrial and electronic music fans have benefited from the efforts of promoters Past Present Productions and The New Beat. This Saturday at Numbers, they’ll kick off the first of a two-night “Industrafest” spread over September and October, featuring performances by members of Revolting Cocks and KMFDM, to…
Friday Free For All: Wally Farkas, Sherita Perez, Test Pattern, Sir Doug, Braniac, etc.
The Friday Free For All relays albums, artists, videos and vibes the Houston Press Music staff has been grooving to over the past week. WALLY FARKAS Wally Farkas, one of the coolest names in music and one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, needs our help. For decades,…
Toronto Film Festival: Superstar Fan Bingbing Fights for Her Honor in I Am Not Madame Bovary
According to Forbes, Fan Bingbing made $17 million last year — more than any actress on the planet not named Jennifer Lawrence, Melissa McCarthy, Scarlett Johansson or Jennifer Aniston. The Chinese megastar is likely most familiar to American audiences for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but…
Toronto Film Festival: Director Katherine Dieckmann Is a Master of Place and Messy Humanity
What’s constant in Katherine Dieckmann’s films – Motherhood (2009), Diggers (2006) and A Good Baby (2000) – is an attention to characters and place. Many of us in the world of film reside in the big coastal cities, but a good number come from somewhere else, smaller towns with subtle…
Toronto Film Festival: Laura Dern and Michelle Williams Warm Certain Women‘s Chilly North
Our critic April Wolfe is filing updates all week from the Toronto International Film Festival. When a quiet film is set outside of the big cities — New York, L.A., Chicago — it’s often called a “slice of life.” But that’s ultimately a condescending designation; to the millions of people…
What Shows Should Make the TV Canon? Two Critics Decide in TV (The Book)
At first glance, TV (The Book), which came out last week, may look like a survey of what two respected TV critics consider to be the greatest television shows of all time. But, really, it’s a book about friendship. The joint authors of this tome, Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller…
Poll Finds Texas Voters Aren’t as Into Trump’s Border Wall as He Is
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made his plan to build a “great, great wall” between the United States and Mexico a central part of his campaign platform, but, oddly enough, Texans aren’t as into the idea as Trump claims he is, according to a new poll by Texas Lyceum,…
Sandra Bland’s Family Reaches Settlement in Wrongful Death Suit
Sandra Bland’s family has reached a $1.9 million settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit against Waller County and the Texas Department of Public Safety, as the Houston Chronicle reported. After DPS trooper Brian Encinia threatened to physically pull Bland from her car, threatened to taze her and threw her to the…
Michele Thibeaux Keeps Pushing Into Uncharted Creative Territory
Sitting on the porch of a downtown café, I met Houston legend, Michele Thibeaux. Dressed in a maroon short-sleeved Members Only jacket, hoop earrings and a tuft of side-swept hair dripping in gorgeous natural curls, Thibeaux is an easy charmer. But it’s not her hip fashion, winning smile or even…
Gary Johnson Uses Altered Houston Chronicle Cartoon Without Permission
After not knowing about Aleppo — the Syrian city at the center of the country’s bloody civil war — copyright infringement isn’t exactly a good new look for Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson. Yesterday, Houston Chronicle editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson spotted his own work on Johnson’s Facebook page. His cartoon…
Lamar Smith Holds Hearing to Justify Climate Change Investigation Subpoenas
Rep. Lamar Smith held yet another hearing on Wednesday, and this time he was intent on using his gavel time to try and prove that the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology not only has the right to subpoena the state attorneys general investigating ExxonMobil’s history of covering up its own climate…
10 of the Worst Food Terms
If you catch yourself saying one of these terms, stuff your piehole with more donut soil. Then hightail it to the local gastropub for craft beer. And end the night with a deconstructed, farm-to-table, organic, signature salad. Don’t forget to blog about the flavor profile. Flavor profile What’s a snootier…
Meet the Pep Band of the Houston Texans — Deep Steel Thunder
From the very first season on, the Houston Texans have been supported by a band of horn players and percussionists who rev up the fans there for game day. Lamar Burkhalter is the director of Deep Steel Thunder and his group of musicians, many of them business professionals and educators,…
Burger King’s New Cheetos Chicken Fries Are a Failure at Every Level
Odds are the people in the Burger King test kitchen responsible for creating the Cheetos Chicken Fries fries are perfectly fine human beings. They have families who love them, friends who want to spend time with them and animals that miss them when they head to work. They have hobbies…
HHA to Offer Housing Vouchers for First Time in Four Years
It’s been a while since Thelma Vipson and her husband have slept on a mattress. Shacking up with their close friends willing to take them in, the couple and Vipson’s eight-year-old granddaughter have been without their own home since Vipson’s husband lost his job at Luby’s six months ago. They…
Houstonians Sound Off on Super Bowl Halftime Sweepstakes
Here’s a prediction for you: this year, the Houston Texans will win the AFC and appear in Super Bowl LI. That may seem like a bold prognostication, but the truth is I make the same call every year and have since the first game of the franchise’s first season. It’s entirely…
I Caught My 10-Year-Old Daughter Having Sex. Help!
Dear Willie D: I caught my 10-year-old daughter having sex in her room with a minor boy a few years older than her. I won’t go into details because I don’t want anyone matching stories and embarrassing my family any more than we are already. I want to call the…
Toronto Film Festival: Here’s the Best Drama Ever About a Woman Growing a Tail
Our critic April Wolfe is filing updates all week from the Toronto International Film Festival. Writer/director Ivan I. Tverdovsky may be a twentysomething male, but in his sophomore feature, he exhibits a direct pipeline into the psyche of a lonely, middle-aged woman. In Zoology, a lowly zoo worker suddenly sprouts…
Pamela Adlon’s Better Things Is Beautifully, Harshly Honest About Parenting and More
Better Things’ creators seem to anticipate that you’ll judge Sam Fox’s parenting – and they make you pay for it. In the first scene, Sam (Pamela Adlon) scrolls through her phone on a mall bench while her youngest daughter, Duke (Olivia Edward), cries and pulls on her arm. It’s one…
Oliver Stone’s Snowden Is a Somber, Conventional Study of Bringing Secrets to Light
Set aside your visions of histrionic, paranoid fireworks. Oliver Stone’s whistleblower biopic Snowden finds the director in an unusually somber and controlled mood, perhaps because of the introverted, awkward nature of Edward Snowden himself. The former CIA employee and National Security Agency contractor, who in 2013 exposed the U.S. government’s…
Toronto Film Festival: Terrence Malick Reveals the Majesty of Creation
“They should have sent a poet,” says Jodie Foster’s teary-eyed astronaut as she gazes upon the glory of space in Contact. It took nearly 20 years, but Terrence Malick has taken it upon himself to answer that call with Voyage of Time. Not every line rhymes, and some privilege sound…
Day For Night Ropes in Aphex Twin, Bjork, Butthole Surfers & Lots More for Year 2
By moving to an intriguing new location and reloading with a plethora of performers drawn from the most adventurous reaches of their respective genres, Day For Night once again hopes to produce a festival in 3-D Technicolor while its counterparts remain stuck in flat black and white. Among this year’s…
Another Dead Dog, Another Lawsuit Against Houston’s City Canine Kennel [UPDATED]
Another Houston couple says their dog died while in the care of a Houston kennel that was already under fire for alleged negligence in the death and disappearance of two other dogs. Eric Morrison and Casey Shoemaker sued City Canine owners Dan Davis and Jeffrey Ryan in Harris County District…
Death Cab for Cutie Exudes Veteran Confidence, Youthful Energy at Revention
Death Cab For Cutie Revention Music Center September 13, 2016 Much like people, bands age differently. Some acts grow complacent and let themselves go, content to rest on their past laurels, while others press on and continue crafting new music worth hearing and live performances worth seeing. In that regard, Death…
State Board of Education Gets an Earful About Mexican-American Studies Book
On Tuesday morning educators and activists turned out in Austin to protest before the start of the State Board of Education meeting to get public input on the proposed Mexican-American studies textbook. But in the actual meeting, everything was very civil as educators, activists, state lawmakers and others took their…
Study Ranks Houston Most Unsafe City for Women in the Country
It sucks to be a woman in Houston — or at least to feel as safe here compared to pretty much any other populous city across the country, according to a recent report. Ahead of only Miami, Houston came in an underwhelming 260th place out of 261 cities in a…
Most People Arrested for Low-Level Weed Possession Come From Poorer Areas of Harris County [UPDATED]
If you live in Harris County, make less than $80,000 a year and happen to smoke weed, you might want to look into getting a law yer. More than 98 percent of the people arrested for low-level weed possession by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office live in areas where household…
Jerry Lewis Soldiers Through the Mawkish Drama Max Rose
Still and silent, Jerry Lewis slumps there like old furniture in the lifeless house in which the first half of Daniel Noah’s coming-of-old-age drama Max Rose molders. The film is a fiction, a tidy and improbable one, but these scenes have documentary power. Lewis’ Max Rose, recently bereaved, sits and…
