You’ll Never Forget the End of the World
Those kooks at Radio Music Theatre are at it again with You’ll Never Forget the End of the World. This time, writer Steve Farrell is channeling Jiffy Dillard, a curly-haired preacher. Dillard is the most popular televangelist in the world, and he’s consulted everything from the Mayan calendar to Hollywood…
“Melanie Crader: The Eula Project”
There are two parts to the art exhibit “Melanie Crader: The Eula Project.” First, there’s the collection of small items Crader found in her grandmother’s purse more than 20 years after the older woman’s death. The purse was filled with the objects of everyday life such as pens, compacts, scarves…
Odd Pair: Fried Green Tomatoes and Cuvee
Last Thursday, Katharine Shilcutt got us desperately scrambling to find some good fried green tomatoes before the summer ends (soft weeping). We found ourselves at the bar at Max’s Wine Dive (4720 Washington Avenue) begging the chef to make us a plate of our favorite hot-weather food and then beseeching…
This Guy’s Been Exposing Himself To Schoolgirls
Courtesy HPDIf you see this guy, just keep looking him in the eyeHouston police have released a composite sketch of a man who they say has been exposing himself to girls from West Briar Middle School and Westside High School.His MO appears to pretty set: As kids are walking home…
Local Spotlight: Bee Wilde Honey
What: Heavenly honey from a guy that’s gone from a figurative worker bee to a literal beekeeper. Kenny Reed started his corporate life as a FedEx courier. He earned a respectable living at a respectable company that most any guy would be thrilled to work for. And he liked it…
Rocks Off’s 10 Favorite Family Bands
Tonight Kings of Leon plays their fourth Houston date in three years at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. The band of three Followill brothers and one cousin can’t stay away from us, or touring, or recording. This date precedes the upcoming release of the band’s new album, Come Around Sundown…
TUTS Dials Back its Weekday Start Times
Hairspray is coming to the Hobby Center courtesy of Theatre Under the Stars on October 5, and as a bonus it’ll be starting its weekday shows half an hour earlier. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, performances will start at 7:30 instead of 8 p.m., TUTS public relations coordinator Misty…
Genius: To Prove He Doesn’t Have An Alligator Skull, Dude Shows Lawmen His Dope Crop
“Officer, check my dope crop to make sure I don’t have an alligator skull!!!”An Angleton dude was selling alligator meat illegally online, which triggered a sting by Texas Parks & Wildlife Department authorities.As they negotiated the sale, the guy mentioned he also had an alligator skull he was bleaching back…
Cupcakes For a Cause at Sugarbaby’s Cupcake Boutique
Not that I ever need an excuse to eat cupcakes, but this week it’s nice to know those calories will do more than just fuel a sugar high. As part of Cupcakes for a Cause, Sugarbaby’s Cupcake Boutique will donate $1 from every specially decorated CancerCare cupcake sold through this…
Peter Pan at the Alley – Scratch the Fairy Dust
The rarely-produced version of Peter Pan that the Alley Theatre will be offering up shortly is more grown-up than childish, more Royal Shakespeare Company than Disney, reportedly closer to author J.M. Barrie’s original concept and has adults playing the children and a man (not a boy! not a woman in…
Drive-By Truckers: Hard At Work And Loving Hall & Oates
UPDATE: 6 p.m.: The contest is over. Thanks for playing! Grand Funk Railroad may have got there first, but Drive-By Truckers are an American band. If not for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, for whom the Truckers opened the Midwestern leg of their summer tour, the Georgia six-piece might be…
Duane Brown — I’m The One Guy Saying Something Nice About You
Duane Brown: We’re not jumping on the blame train”I vow to learn from this mistake and be a better player and teammate because of it.” — Duane Brown In May, when the news came down that Brian Cushing had been suspended for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy, the reaction among…
So You Think You Can Dance Road-Show Thrills Reliant Arena
“Whether you’re high or low,” sings Janelle Monae, “you gotta tip on the tightrope.” When So You Think You Can Dance star Kent Boyd seized the Reliant Arena stage last night to dance his teenage heart out to her jumpy hit, he sure didn’t have any safety net. And he…
Stirred & Shaken: The Hideaway’s Boilermaker
I drove out to the Hideaway on Dunvale (3122 Dunvale, 713-977-3515) with a couple friends for Tuesday steak night and to see a blues guitarist named Rick Lee. When we opened the side door of the barn-style building, he and his band, the Night Owls, were getting started on the…
Twilight, Cleavage, Drugs & Wiccans: Five Highlights From Texas’ Banned-Books List
Twilight: Celina ISD just wants to save your from “Team Edward” geekdom, kidsAs we noted earlier today, things are generally looking up in the banned-book department, especially in the Houston area.But the latest annual report by the ACLU of Texas does contain some stuff that shouldn’t be ignored.Five highlights:5. Among…
This Week’s Cover Story: Ire Greets Dedication Of Bolivar’s New Catholic Chapel
Ordinarily, the dedication of a new church building is cause for unbridled, unqualified celebration. Such is not the case in Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula, where the circumstances surrounding the dedication of the new Our Lady By The Sea Chapel and Catholic Center are anything but ordinary Our Lady…
The Houston Sound Maps Our “No Zoning” Music Scene
What is the Houston Sound? Until recently, it was a trick question. Although Houston has produced too many distinguished artists to name across a wide variety of genres from blues, country and jazz to psychedelic rock, noise and rap, the closest the city has ever come to having one signature…
BB’s Italian Beef: Chicago Comes to Houston
On a recent trip to Chicago, I had a scandalous affair with an Italian beef — dipped, with cheese and peppers — one late night in Little Italy. It was messy, but I didn’t care. I knew the affair might leave me burned (well, heartburn-ed), but it was worth every…
Foot Fetishist Hassling Local Realtors
Any listings, baby?It’s a tough time to be a Realtor here in Houston (or anywhere). The market is soft and buyers are scarce.Plus you’ve got a foot fetishist on line two.Houston area Realtors have been warned that there’s a foot freak out there who has been making heavy-breathing calls to…
Banned Books: HISD Goes From Worst To First
Denene Miller’s Hotlanta: Banned in Cy-FairBanned Books Week begins Saturday, and the ACLU of Texas has put out its annual report on censorship in the state’s schools.One highlight: “[W]e were pleased to see that Houston ISD, the largest school district in the state and the one with the most challenges…
A Hippie Stroll through Field of Greens
Recently, my wife suggested that, to help counteract a week of overindulgence, we head to Field of Greens for lunch. I had never heard of the place. I looked up the menu and discovered a tree-huggers’ utopia. Offerings include stuff like vegan grilled chicken and marinated wheat roast strips (still…
What Does A Local Record Deal Really Mean Nowadays?
Recording contract. Can there possibly be a more magical combination of two words in the English language? It’s the mystical gateway, the magic bullet, the ultimate sign of respectability and a harbinger of wealth and fame. People have sold out their family and closest friends for the merest hint of…
Heights Walmart, Jersey Shore, Ed Hardy And Montrose
It’s blowing up locally on Twitter, so why not post it for you non-Tweeters? One reaction to the Walmart vote. Not safe for work if you don’t like salty language or if you do like the Heights.It’s by Michael Coppens, known in the Twitterverse as @urbanhoustonian…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Catherine Duwez of The Broken Spoke Cafe
Eating Our Words ventured out to Belgian café The Broken Spoke (1809 Washington Avenue) to speak with owner/chef Catherine Duwez, formerly of Café Montrose. In addition to satisfying our stomachs with a plethora of delicious dishes, she also enlightened us on the differences between Belgian and French cuisine, and explained…
Top Five: Shows To Skip in 3-D TV
Sony’s new 3-D TV commercial has been airing non-stop. The TV is so powerful, it can turn Peyton Manning into a cardboard cutout (maybe that’s why the Texans did so well last week). As of now, ladies and gentlemen, if you own a TV, you now need to clarify that…
Crime Stoppers Offers $5K Reward For…A Guy Shoplifting Some Razors?
Crime Stoppers: Organized shoplifters now a targetThe latest release from Crime Stoppers is hardly a stop-the-presses kind of announcement: Crime Stoppers and Investigators with the Houston Police Department are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying a man wanted for stealing razors and razor cartridges from a grocery store located on…
ManKind Project Faces Another Lawsuit, More Publicity About Wooden Dildos
Pass around that wooden phallus, boysLooks like the folks at the ManKind Project are embroiled in another lawsuit, and along with it are getting a bit more media attention. On Monday, Bloomberg columnist Susan Antilla offered her take on a lawsuit filed in California by a lawyer who got pretty…
Twenty Eleven: Houston’s Answer To B.o.B.?
Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group “Artist of the Week,” bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn’t awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Walking hurts now because we messed up our…
Healthy Eating Is a Snap (Forgive the Pun) at Snap Kitchen
Snap Kitchen (3600 Richmond, 713-526-5700) was my first experience with the fast-healthy concept that’s mushroomed in Houston lately, which is predicated on the [not uncorrect] idea that most people do want to eat healthier these days, but don’t have the time or skill level necessary to make healthy meals for…
Killing Fields North? Montgomery County Detective Looks Anew Into ’80s Cases of Five Slain Women
Montogomery County might have had a serial killer 20 years agoA Montgomery County detective has detected a possible pattern in five murders committed between 1980 and 1983. All of the victims were young women from blue-collar backgrounds, and all were found dumped along major roadways. “That’s more [bodies] than there…
Liveblogging the Walmart Vote
The City Council is set to vote this morning on a proposed 380 agreement with developer Michael Ainbinder, who plans to build a Walmart near the Heights. The vote could technically be delayed another week, but Mayor Parker said yesterday if a council member tries to do that, she’d overrule the…
Scott Weiland: Five Great Onstage Meltdowns Before His
For more images from Sunday’s ill-fated show, see our slideshow here. As most of the continental U.S. knows by now, Stone Temple Pilots lead singer Scott Weiland (above) had some… issues… at the band’s Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion show Sunday. Arriving late and opening their set with a lengthy, slurred…
Vid Picks of the Week
Every week, Art Attack’s internet-video expert Vernon Caldera shares his current faves and curiosities. Got something to recommend? Email him. Check out Caldera’s picks after the jump…
Baja Bob’s Sugar-Free Margarita Mix
Ever since Bethenny Frankel on the Real Housewives of New York City started peddling the Skinnygirl margarita, I have been curious about low-calorie cocktail. I love me a good mixed drink, but as I generally dislike overly saccharine beverages, I find the average margarita rather cloying. At home I usually…
White Stallion Coal Plant Opposition Plays The Death-Count Card
White Stallion: The vote is coming soonSeveral clean-air advocacy groups joined forces Tuesday in their continuing push to keep the proposed White Stallion coal plant from getting a permit. And this time, they brought out the big guns: fear and death.According to a new report released Tuesday in Houston by…
Last Night: Smashing Pumpkins At Warehouse Live
Smashing Pumpkins Warehouse Live September 21, 2010 See photos from last night’s jam-packed show. Tuesday night’s nearly sold-out Smashing Pumpkins set at Warehouse Live should have been a greatest-hits affair, at least in the eyes of most people who haven’t been keeping up with the band these past three years…
The Downtown YMCA Loves Raymond
The new Tellepsen Family Downtown YMCA has a special treat for all its members, until its cable-TV system gets hooked up (just in time for the official October 4 grand opening). All TVs in the building will display an endless loop of Everybody Loves Raymond, The King of Queens, and…
UH Tries To Avoid Its History
Deja vu all over againA long time ago, in a football universe far, far away, the Houston Cougars were a dominant offensive force. Their run-and-shoot offense was putting up huge numbers on college teams nationwide. The team was regularly ranked in the Top 20, and though they had been on…
Anti-Scene: Marching-Band Nerds Turned Enlightened Metallers
It’s a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off, we’re trying hard to decode Houston’s oddest monikers in order to find a little meaning. “Scene” is a loaded word. To be part of one is to not be a part of another. Exclusion…
The Great Food Truck Race: Finale
Well, here we are–at the end of the food truck race, where the truth will be decided and destinies met and justice will fall down like rain…okay, maybe not, but still. It’s been kind of fun getting a glimpse into what makes a good food truck run, even if every…
Hurricane Rita, Five Years Later: What’s Your Story? (Now With Prizes!!)
As you sit in a bit of stalled traffic today or tomorrow, you can ease your annoyance a bit by remembering what was happening five years ago this week.Just weeks after Houstonians watched horrified as Hurricane Katrina pounded New Orleans and spawned jaw-dropping scenes of just how bad things can…
Glee At Last, Glee At Last, Thank God Almighty, We Have Glee At Last
It’s been a long, show tune-less summer. There were probably times during the last few months when some of you lost hope, when you drew the covers around your head and despaired of ever seeing that lovable troupe of so-called “misfits” (that were mostly hotter than anybody you actually went…
Fall Enrollment is Down at Nine Apollo 20 Schools in HISD
This year, there are fewer kids enrolled at the nine middle and high schools in the Apollo 20 schools than there were at this time last year — 810 fewer to be exact — according to numbers provided to Hair Balls by the Houston ISD.This number doesn’t come from looking…
Heights-Area Walmart Gets its Public Hearing
The mayor says the Walmart vote can’t be delayed any longer; City Council must decide tomorrow. The public had its last chance today to talk to the mayor and city council members about a proposed “380 agreement” between the city and developer Michael Ainbinder, who plans to build a Walmart…
Texan Duane Brown, Accidentally Taking Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Our Cowboys Week logo should have Duane Brown peeing in a cupTexans offensive tackle Duane Brown has been suspended for four games because of a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs.His explanation? “I unknowingly took a supplement tainted with a banned substance and now have to deal with the consequences.”Texans fans…
Ceci N’est Pas Une Glitch
We’re back — our long national nightmare of not being able to post has ended.It was a dark, empty time, but the thing is we got through it together…
We Have Glitchville In Our Rear-View Mirror
We’re back — our long national nightmare of not being able to post has ended.It was a dark, empty time, but the thing is we got through it together…
No More Glitches, Bitchaz
We’re back — our long national nightmare of not being able to post has ended.It was a dark, empty time, but the thing is we got through it together…
Pardon Us
We’ve had some technical difficulties today, folks. But our little meltdown appears to be over. See you tomorrow, foodies food fans!…
BARC Supervisor, On Tape, Squelches Employee Complaint And Says Mayor Has His Back
BARC, making sad puppies everywhereWhen Chatauqua Allen, a supervisor at the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, was shut out of certain meetings, she got the nagging notion that it may have to do with her race.The feeling was compounded when Allen, who is black, was later demoted from her post as Community Involvement Coordinator, and her…
Will Concert Craziness Continue At Smashing Pumpkins?
Sunday night we watched a rambling and, supposedly, elegantly wasted Scott Weiland confound a packed crowd of Stone Temple Pilots fans at the Woodlands. The comments are blowing up left and right, and even industry blog Pollstar took to quoting us on the occasion. Somehow even Rocks Off got accused…
Five Best Dallas Cowboys Arrests, Many Of Them Sexually Related
Lance Rentzel, with his pants onIt’s Cowboys Week. Just like in Green Bay, where Bears Week is always noted on the calendar, the days leading up to Sunday’s game at Reliant Stadium deserve a capital W.Of course, we should be taking pity on the Cowboys. They are, after all, coached…
Mia Kat Is Building A Scene, Not An Empire
There are magical times and places when in music history, points both chronological and geographical where everything came together to birth first a scene, then a movement. We’re talking about times like the early ’80s when the Sunset Strip birthed hair metal, or when Seattle and Athens, Ga., polarized alternative…
Recipe: Dairy Oxycontin, a.k.a. Macaroni & Cheese
I attempted to read Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin’s Skinny Bitch once, a few years back. They explained what was behind our yearning for Cheddar, Colby, Brie, Havarti, Romano, and Gouda. “Morphine, along with codeine and other opiates are naturally produced in cows’ livers and end up in their milk.”…
Top Five: Tackiest September Trends
We’re back this month with another list of the most tacky, weird, horrific, and just plain stupid, potential trends in popular culture. Be warned, and turn the tide. No Meat Diapers or Lobster Claw Booties There’s really nothing cuter than a baby all dressed up for Halloween. Unless that baby…
Dynamo Give Up Hope On Reaching Post-Season
Dynamo — Falling down when they should be standing upThe Houston Dynamo’s 2010 season is all but over now, following their 2-1 defeat at the hands of Toronto FC. It was only fitting that the power also went out at stadium following the game.”The season’s over,” said head coach Dominic…
Billy Corgan: Still A Smashing Pumpkin, But No Shrinking Violet
A couple of weeks back, Rocks Off spoke with the Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan for our print edition about the state of the music world, who excites him now and the indie-rock “shell game.” The initial interview was only scheduled for 15 minutes but we ended up chatting for half…
Sushi Lunch at Raku
It’s hard to find great sushi that doesn’t break the bank. You don’t take chances with raw fish, and to get good fish you generally gotsta spend some coin. But if you work downtown, Raku has become a nice option for a decently priced weekday sushi lunch. Not only will…
A Deep Discussion Of Thug Life With Thugz Of Normandy
The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place – lots of times, you’re even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good – so once a week we’re going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Have something you always wanted…
Carlos Tomas Rodriguez, 40, Bayou Body Count No. 226
Dead body gets a nameA man found dead last week in a northside home has been ruled a homicide and police have released his identity.Carlos Tomas Rodriguez, 40, was found dead in the 200 block of Frawley the morning of September 13.He was found dead in his living room.Police ask…
Troubles (and Lawsuits) Keep Coming for Bailey’s American Grille in Seabrook
After news broke last week that Brad Bailey, a Nassau Bay councilman in addition to the owner of Bailey’s American Grille in Seabrook, had suddenly closed his popular restaurant and banquet hall, Bailey quickly ran into more trouble after failing to show up for a deposition in one of several…
Boardwalk Empire Roars Into First Season
Watching the premiere of Boardwalk Empire, we were marveling at why no one had bothered to set a TV drama during Prohibition since The Untouchables, which ran on ABC from 1959-63. “It seems so obvious,” a friend said. “I would totally watch Miller’s Crossing: The Series.” The era’s rife with…
Bourdain Takes the Bayou City
A sold-out show at Jones Hall last night was enough to convince the Society for the Performing Arts that they should bring author and TV host Anthony Bourdain back for another speaking engagement — this time with Eric Ripert, it seems — but the question is: Will Houston come back…
Bun B’s Seven Most Obscure Guest Features
From coast to coast, Bun B is one of the hardest working men in hip-hop. In the course of his seemingly century-long career, he’s managed to collaborate with nearly every artist in the universe, including some you’ve probably never heard of. Walk with us as we unearth some of Bun…
Bullet Train Between Dallas And Houston: It’s Coming (Maybe)
How about a Lone Star flag on the front of that thing?Houston business leaders got briefed yesterday by a Japanese company looking to build a bullet train between Dallas and Houston, with mostly private funds.It’s part of a U.S. offense by the Central Japan Railway, which, according to media reports,…
The Confessions of a Recovering Lazyholic
“Dear Diary, I am a silly girl. Dear Girl, I know.” Erin Hanson, recoveringlazyholic.com “When one door closes, another opens.” “Everything happens for a reason.” Sage advice often only appreciated in hindsight. Such is the case for Erin Hanson’s provocative design art, the result of heartbreak, inner neurosis, and joblessness…
Brew Blog: Mississippi Mud
We went for the price, really, and the unique bottle, but we wound up pleased with the taste. Yes, the bottle was hokey, as was the name — Mississippi Mud — but it was $2.99 for a quart at Central Market, and we were in an impulsive mood. Several things…
Last Night: The Pixies At Verizon Wireless Theater
The Pixies Verizon Wireless Theater September 20, 2010 For more images from Monday’s show, see our slideshow here. The Pixies are Costanza. In one episode of Seinfeld, a woman who had recently made George Costanza’s acquaintance remarks to Jerry Seinfeld that there must be more to Jason Alexander’s balding, bespectacled…
Space Shuttle Discovery: Five Notable Missions, For Better Or Worse
Godspeed, DiscoveryThe space shuttle Discovery headed to the pad yesterday for its last trip into space.The 26-year-old craft has seen a lot in its career, some good, some bad, some odd. Here are five highlights:5. Being used as an old-folks’ tour busIn 1998 Discovery took John Glenn up to space…
Why Aren’t There Any Good Conservative Comedians?
It’s a valid question, even in light of the specter of Satanism rearing its seven heads over Delaware last week. Actually, maybe that’s the quick and dirty answer to my question: The reality of the Tea Party is funnier than any airplane food joke Christine O’Donnell could tell at the…
Why Aren’t There Any Good Conservative Comedians?
It’s a valid question, even in light of the specter of Satanism rearing its seven heads over Delaware last week. Actually, maybe that’s the quick and dirty answer to my question: the reality of the Tea Party is funnier than any airplane food joke Christine O’Donnell could tell at the…
Where Are We Drinking?
Even beer is getting into the skinny jeans trend! At least beer has the legs for this look to work. Do these super tall, super thin pints look familiar to you? Think you know where we’re drinking this week? Leave your best guess in the comments section below…
“In The Dark”: The Birthday Massacre’s Beautiful Nightmare
Since the tail end of the last millennium, The Birthday Massacre has quietly, but steadily built themselves a following as one of the pre-eminent goth synth-rock bands in the world. They’re like Evanescence without all that nu-metal and Top-40 crap slathered on top to make the Hot Topic set buy…
Lone Star Debuts: The Week In TV
So much happened last week in TV Land that I took an extra day to think about it all for this wrap-up. That’s not actually true, but the real answer’s less interesting. Onward! • The best news out of the past week was the announcement of the twin rallies hosted…
Bailey’s American Grille: The Troubles Keep Coming
Bailey’s American Grille: As far as we know, the banana-pudding recipe is not under litigationBrad Bailey, the Nassau Bay councilman who freaked out everyone in Seabrook by suddenly closing his popular restaurant and banquet hall last week, has failed to show up for a deposition in one of several civil suits…
Gun Store In A Former Circuit City: League City’s Latest Tourist Attraction
Photos by Marco TorresArms Room: A former Circuit City storeSee our slideshow from the Arms Room’s grand opening. Kathleen James and her family have been running the Arms Room out in League City for four years. Two months ago the family team moved the operation into the old Circuit City…
Crab Tower at Ouisie’s Table
When I ordered the “crab tower” recently at Ouisie’s Table, I was a bit wary of receiving an excessively tall stack of seafood that would collapse moments after it was placed on the table, leaving me to eat my way through the rubble. I also wondered if the understated components…
Oprah Gives $1 Million To Houston’s YES Charter School
Oprah shows some Houston loveThat Oprah, she just can’t stop with the giving.Today, in connection with a show on public education and the documentary Waiting for Superman, she announced a $1 million gift to the YES Preparatory charter schools here in Houston.”We had no clue,” Yes Prep CEO Chris Barbic,…
Slideshow: The Sexy Godz Gala
Saturday night, 1401 Branard was packed with partiers celebrating in support of the Joanna, a quirky house/gallery known for loose, lively openings and an informal approach to art exhibits. For the Sexy Godz Gala, guests dressed as their favorite deities, and head honchos Brian Rod and Cody Ledvina presided over…
HISD and Its Pluses and Minuses in Apollo 20 Schools
For two business days now, Houston ISD staff crunched numbers at Hair Balls’ request and finally came up with a more finely tuned status report on the transfers out of and into the Apollo 20 schools so far this year. We published an earlier accounting using the exact figures supplied…
Open Tab: Things Are Changing, Holmes
Pull up a chair, start a tab and order a round of shots, because this is Rocks Off’s weekly roundup of the goings-on in the Houston bar scene. Ups and downs, openings and closings, we will cover it all. Hit us up with any hot tips at craig.hlavaty@houstonpress.com. During our…
Weekly Time Waster: Manufactoria
Sometimes wasting time feels like, well, a waste of time, but we’ve all had those moments when suddenly whatever it is you’re doing sets something off in your brain, some little pattern or detail you’ve always managed to overlook because the world is so damn busy all the time. Of…
Health Dept. Roundup
Health inspectors finally seemed to get back to work this week, finding a healthy crop of repeat offenders worthy of mention on this week’s Health Department Roundup. Inspectors found seven violation during a September16 pre-opening inspection of Taqueria Los Sanchez (4 Maxey Road). The mobile eatery couldn’t provide hot enough…
Houston Texans Turn The Corner — 5 Winners, 5 Losers
I shouldn’t enjoy carnage as much as I do, but I have to admit that a few hours after Neil Rackers’ 35-yard field goal sailed through the uprights, sending the Houston Texans to an improbable 30-27 overtime win over the Washington Redskins yesterday afternoon, my destination listening/reading was Redskin websites…
Douglas Britt on Gawker
A reporter getting stuck with new duties — especially if those duties include covering society — might be expected to be a little touchy about things. And Houston Chronicle arts critic/society writer Douglas Britt sounds like he’s a bit stretched. He’s written a 1,400-word memo to arts organizations in Houston,…
Ingredient of the Week: Mayacopa Beans
What is it? So we’ve already covered heirloom tomatoes, right? Well, apparently there are such things as heirloom beans, and the Mayacopa variety is one of them. For one little legume, there are certainly many spellings and names – Mayacoba, Maya Copa, yellow beans, Mayocoba, Mayo Coba, Canario and Peruano…
Scott Weiland At The Woodlands, In His Own Slurred Words
For more images from the show, see our slideshow here. The comments are already racking up on our review of Sunday night’s Stone Temple Pilots show at the Woodlands, with readers firing disappointment at the band for their late start and shortened set. Rocks Off enjoyed the show, but was…
Chron Arts Writer’s “How To Deal With Me” Memo Goes National
NO chit-chat with the critic, pleaseDouglas Britt is the arts critic of the Houston Chronicle who, somewhat recently, was also ordered to shoulder part of the paper’s society coverage.As a result, he’s apparently desperate to manage his time better. So he wrote a 1,400-word memo to arts institutions around town…
The George W. Bush Library: We Get A Very Special Offer To Donate
A little something for the ladies….One of us here at the Houston Press — and we won’t say who — must have done something very, very Republican in a previous life.For the person — and since we feel the invitation is really to all of us here, we’re going with…
Primordial Gumbo at Finger Licking Bukateria
If you try to order primordial gumbo at Finger Licking Bukateria (9817 Bissonnet), they obviously won’t know what you’re asking for. Our waiter on Saturday night was completely befuddled when I tried to tell him about gumbo, in fact. I was referring to the fact that the restaurant’s delicious pepper…
This Week In Set Lists: Pixies, Kings Of Leon, Tom Petty, Rush, Etc.
Rocks Off has been both eagerly anticipating and dreading this week for months now. Anticipating because several of our all-time favorite bands are playing within the span of a few days, as are a couple of our favorite newer bands (though neither is especially new anymore) and one that we…
Unidentified Female, 42, Bayou Body Count No. 225
Dumped on a street?Police suspect a woman was killed and her body dumped on the roadway in the 4200 block of Westpark Sunday night.Police said they responded to a “body down” report about 10:30 last night and found the woman, whose name has not been released. She was in the…
Crabcake-Stuffed Shrimp and Filet Mignon Fajitas at Pappasito’s Cantina
Pappasito’s is now offering a crabcake-stuffed shrimp and filet mignon combination plate ($22). At first it seemed over the top, but after a few sips of my margarita, I thought, “Why not?”…
Sherrel Hamberger: Woman Sues After Falling Off Dollar Store Toilet
Danger! Danger ,Sherell Hamberger!!Some retail outlets are known for their restroom facilities. Buc-ee’s can’t stop bragging about theirs.On the other hand, if you’re in a Dollar General Store, you probably shouldn’t expect potpourri and a bidet. It might not be unreasonable to expect the toilet will remain bolted to the…
Chillin’ at Mam’s House of Ice
Mam’s is a pale blue icon of frozen delights parked on a nice patch of plush green grass next to a few wooden picnic tables. Open 1 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, it’s a great place to relax outside for half an hour…
Why Do Rappers Always Go Onstage So Late?
Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday (that isn’t a national holiday) Rocks Off will have some of them hear discussing issues relevant to their culture. This Week’s Panel: Paul Wall, Fat Tony, K-Rino and Kyle Hubbard Not Invited: Devin the Dude*, who leads the league in…
Tapas Out in The Woodlands
On Friday night, I found myself alone in The Woodlands for dinner. The last few times I’d been up that way, I’d eaten at Jasper’s, Cru and The Goose’s Acre, and I was in the mood for something different. To hit up Hubbell & Hudson, or one of the places…
Wedge Tower: HFD On The Scene
Houston fire trucks have responded to a callat the Wedge Tower, near Milam and Bell, but it doesn’t seem too serious.Witnesses report some smoke in a stairwell, and a casual evacuation by some workers, but HFD personnel didn’t seem overly concerned.Milam Street is blocked at the moment, though, so if…
Kareem Kentriell James, 31, Bayou Body Count No. 224
Shootout in an apartment complexA shootout in a southwest side apartment complex left one person dead Sunday afternoon, police say.Kareem Kentriell James, 31, was shot in his apartment comples in the 5400 block of Birdwood about 2:30 p.m. Sunday and was pronounced dead at the scene.Police say he was involved…
Friday Night: “Jai Ho: The Journey Home” At Toyota Center
A.R. Rahman “Jai Ho: The Journey Home” Toyota Center September 17, 2010 The Indian film-score composer A.R. Rahman, now widely known as the winner of two 2009 Academy Awards for Slumdog Millionaire, is the master of the movie-musical genre known as Bollywood. He is also one of the top-selling recording…
Kesha Rogers: Democrat LaRouchie Candidate’s “Impeach Obama” Campaign Goes To Black Congressional Caucus
Kesha Rogers: Making inroads on the impeachment fight?Kesha Rogers has already been disowned by the state’s Democratic Party, even though she’s a young, aggressive black candidate for Congress with a bold platform. Seeing as how that platform is to impeach President Obama, perhaps that’s not surprising.Rogers won the Democratic primary…
Slideshow: Fashiontini at Hotel Sorella
A showcase for two of the cutest boutiques in town played out at the Hotel Sorella last Thusday night. Coquette Boutique & Bistro and P.Jai’s filled the joint with ready-to-wear glory. Coquette Boutique is the quintessential east-coast-meets-European clothier of Houston. (Most of Aries Milan’s clothes do actually come from the…
“McDonald’s Fat Menu Will Kill You” Ads May Be Coming To Houston
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, who presumably spent years trying to come up with the most boring “eat your spinach” name ever, may be targeting Houston with its latest attack ad.That ad, which has run in Washington, DC, features a fat guy on a gurney in the morgue with…
Last Night: Stone Temple Pilots At The Woodlands
Stone Temple Pilots, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 19, 2010 For more images from the show, see our slideshow here. It took a good hour past their stated stage time to get Stone Temple Pilots in front of the crowd at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion…
Breakfast of Champions at Teotihuacan
It’s late in the morning, and I am hungover and hungry. I call up a friend, and she suggests Teotihuacan. I can’t even say that, but I agree because I am nearing death. She scoops me up, and before I know it we are on Airline and parking. I have…
Friday Night: KISS At The Woodlands
KISS Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 17, 2010 For more photos from the show, see our slideshow here. There are those who say that KISS is dying. Fans have heard this before. Even before WWII, fathers sternly told their children that comic-book superheroes were not real, that the storylines were…
Texans 30, Redskins 27: This Was The Game Great Teams Win, And The Old Texans Lose
Arian Foster’s a perfect 6-0On the surface, it could seem silly to characterize a 3-point overtime escape in Washington as more of a season-defining moment than a blowout of rival Indianapolis. But when you consider where the now 2-0 Texans have been, that appears to be exactly the case.Ask New…
Laser Graffiti Night at the Menil Collection
Last week, Aurora Picture Show hosted the first night of its “Media Archeology Festival,” and the street was packed with people. The main focus of the night was Graffiti Research Lab Houston’s interactive show. Viewers used a laser pointer to draw on the outer walls of the Menil Collection. There…
Wanted: “Reason-Filled” Musicians For Atheist Band
Rocks Off often trolls through Craigslist looking for the very beginnings of some of Houston’s next wave of notable musicians. Extremely prevalent throughout the Web site are requests for devout Christians to join together in a mission to glorify the love and word of God through the devil of rock…
Where Are We Eating?
Richly hued red sauce, peppery raw onions and a gentle crumble of queso fresco: Do these lovely enchiladas look familiar to you? Think you know where we’re eating this week? Leave your best guess in the comments section below…
Rice Finds Out What Big 10 Football Is Like
He does look meanThe Rice Owls came into Saturday’s game against the Northwestern Wildcats on a high.Though they had played a sloppy game against North Texas the week before, the Owls had come away with the win. The offense had moved the football. The defense had made stops when it…
“Wetback Wednesdays” At Huntsville Bar: What’s The Problem?
Not so happy for someThe Draft Bar in Huntsville has daily specials, and catchy names to go along with them.Including “WB Wednesdays.” When resident Arthur Guerrero recently asked what the “WB” stood for, television station KBTX reports, he found out it wasn’t “Warner Bros.”It’s Wetback Wednesdays, and the bar doesn’t…
Cougars Get Good Old-Fashioned Ass-Whipping From UCLA, Keenum Out For Year
Where UH’s BCS dreams go to dieThe final score from the Rose Bowl on Saturday night was only 31-13, UCLA over Houston. But the loss was much, much worse than the final score, or the stat sheet, indicate. Sure the Cougars lost the game, but they lost more than just…
Sheila Jackson Lee, We’re Sorry (Really)
Hair Balls regretfully posted this afternoon misleading information about a Washingtonian magazine survey concerning members of Congress.The blog item, which we’ve taken down, was supposed to be based on the survey the magazine published in its current September 2010 issue. However, the link on the magazine’s website for the story…
Inside “American Pie,” Pop Music’s Longest Allegory
Rocks Off has always been a fan of symbolism, hidden meanings and puzzles in general, so besides Raymond Chandler, Stephen King and Larry McMurtry, our favorite form of “lit-rah-chah” is allegorical stuff like George Orwell’s Animal Farm, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of…
Good News: 59/Loop Exit Will Finally Open. Bad News: Not Until Monday
They’re working on itIt’s been a long week for those who use or drive by the northbound Eastex Freeway to the North Loop westbound.A spectacular 18-wheeler crash has left the busy 59/610 connection closed, with all the attendant hassle that involves.Work has progressed enough that the ramp can now be…
Weird Weekly Video: Oak-Leaf People in an Animated Forest
Peat Duggins takes us into an artist’s forest as he explores technique in his new work St. Boniface’s Last Days on view through October 23 at Art Palace. Duggins uses a historic event as a source for imagery and themes for the works in his latest show. As the legend…
This Week in Deliciousness
Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we’re going to revolutionize the natural sweetener industry with our newest invention, high fructose yam syrup. Keep your eyes peeled for the official date of our start-up party in Florida, Gettin’ Yammy In Miami™! Brought to you by…
Bakery Fun at El Bolillo
There is something so empowering and just downright fun about walking around a Mexican panaderia with a giant silver platter and a pair of tongs self-selecting all the goodies you can pile on. It’s a carb lover’s paradise. At El Bolillo (2517 Airline Drive), after ogling the lusciously decadent cakes,…
iPhones: World’s Least Imaginative Crook Is Stealing Them At HCC Stafford
Take the iPhone and runSometimes you don’t have to spend weeks or months in your criminal lair thinking up highly intricate plots to attain riches and power.Sometimes the keep it simple, stupid path actually works.Houston Community College has sent an e-mail warning out to students at the Stafford campus that…
Galveston’s Wild Texas Shrimp Festival
We actually drifted off at one point, lost midsentence in a fantasy swirling with rich dark-brown roux. If you are prone to similar spells when thinking, talking or writing about gumbo, we suggest you seek treatment at Galveston Island’s Wild Texas Shrimp Fest, September 24-26. In addition to professional and…
Confusion, Cancellations Alter Weekend Music Landscape
There’s been some confusion surrounding tomorrow’s Rockers vs. Mods Hustle Town Rumble – “Café Bikes vs. Classic Scooters Meets Rock ‘n’ Roll” – at the Continental Club tomorrow. Rocks Off received a text message from Felipe Galvan of Los Skarnales early this afternoon informing us that Los Skarnales and Austin’s…
Elizabeth Warren: Obama’s New Consumer Watchdog Is A (UH) Cougar
Elizabeth Warren is making the UH hand sign, you just can’t see itPresident Obama announced today that he’s naming Elizabeth Warren to be his high-profile consumer advocate dealing with banks, finance companies and credit-card issues.She is so hardcore that he had to appoint her as an adviser rather than to…
Tribute Scheduled In Memory of Murder By the Book’s David Thompson
If you’ve ever stepped through the doors of Murder by the Book during the past 21 years, you no doubt were ably and cheerily assisted by David Thompson, the assistant manager, who started at the store when he was 17 years old. His love of the genre – and his…
College Football & NFL — This Weekend’s Best Bets
I’ll get to the Best Bets of the weekend in a second, I promise, but first some venting.Reggie Bush is rapidly moving up my most hated list.Not because he chose to attend Southern Cal instead of Notre Dame. Not because the defining play of Notre Dame’s decade of ineptitude bears…
FAIL: Kanye And Taylor, Lupe Fiasco, Kings Of Leon
Taylor and Kanye Need To Move the Hell On: The MTV Video Music Awards happened this past Sunday, so you had to know there was going to be at least one sizable fail in there somewhere, and of course they didn’t disappoint. Taylor Swift took the stage and sang a…
Thomas Slauter: Tossed Aggie Ring Spurs Wild Overreaction (Including a $50,000 Bond)
Aggies: Take their sabre or ring and it’s troubleIt’s been known to happen before: when multiple fraternities get together to booze in attempted Pan-Hellenic harmony, quite often the result is a fracas.Such was the case last Saturday in College Station, and before it was all over, one unidentified man had twisted…
Royally Food at the Queen Vic Pub
Let’s get a few things straight first. The Queen Vic Pub (2712 Richmond), which opened on September 3, is nothing like The Red Lion. Yes, they’re both pubs. Yes, they both serve a mixture of British and Indian food on their menus. But that’s where the similarities end. And although…
Continental & United: We Lost The Headquarters, But Won The Logo Battle
Houston’s Continental Airlines didn’t make out too well in its merger with United, at least from the viewpoint of Houston — the headquarters is gone, jobs are gone, flights will no doubt be more of a hassle.But at least Continental won the fight over what the new logo will be…
Bollywood’s Greatest Western Hits: Beatles, Elvis, “Thriller”…
Tonight, prolific Indian film composer/choreographer A.R. Rahman comes to Toyota Center to make up a July date he had to cancel after his tour was plagued with set malfunctions. In the wake of a near-disaster in Detroit back in June, Rahman and his company postponed dates in order to get…
Upcoming Events
Do you have your tickets ready to see Anthony Bourdain this Monday night at Jones Hall? I certainly hope so, because the event is sold out. But don’t fret; more celebrity chefs are on their way to Houston in coming months. Alton Brown, the original food nerd, will be coming…
A Literal Descent Into Violence, Among the Thugs
Last night, Horse Head Theatre Company premiered Among the Thugs, a new production based on the book by Bill Buford and adapted for the stage by Tom Szentgyorgyi. At its core, the play is not so much a story as it is an exploration of violence and crowds, using Buford’s…
David Thompson: Celebration Of His Life Set For Sunday
David Thompson: A celebration is set for SundayHouston’s murder-mystery lovers are still dealing with the shock of the sudden death of Murder by the Book’s David Thompson, a guy who apparently had unerring skills in leading readers to their newest favorite author.A celebration of his life is set for this…
Two-Thirds Of Texans Blow Off Church; Even More Don’t Want No “Social Justice” With Their Religion, Thank You
Two-thirds of those polled knew who this guy was?The latest UT/Texas Tribune poll shows some stuff to give Democrats hope (Rick Perry polling at his usual 39 percent, etc.), but there are also some interesting things in the throw-away questions on the survey.UT/TT polled 800 registered voters, and almost 80…
The Fries at Lola
At the end of August, the Chron’s Alison Cook released a top ten list of her French Fry Hall of Fame. The fries at the places on the list I have been to, I totally agree, are the city’s best. The fries at Little Big’s are indeed “remarkably consistent.” And…
What Numbers’ Real-Estate Listing Should Really Say
This week Houston’s goth, alternative and dance communities were rocked with the thought of Numbers losing its lease and – as one rumor has it – possibly being sold to the Pappa’s regime to build a restaurant where Houston’s grimiest nightclub now stands. (To which we’d just like to add:…
Rice One Of Top 50 Universities In The World, Limeys Proclaim
Rice’s ratings obviously don’t include student radioRice University is the 47th best university in the entire world, a bunch of Brits say.The Times Higher Education Magazine has come out with the list, and they probably pronounce every school on it with a haughty accent, so you know it’s true.Rice edged…
Lightnin’ Hopkins Marker Cast, Ready For Dedication
Good news on the Lightnin’ Hopkins historical marker front: It officially exists. R. Eric Davis, who raised the necessary funds and successfully petitioned the Texas Historical Commission to approve the marker, has received the monument to the legendary bluesman who spent the majority of his life in Houston. “I’m incredibly…
Openings & Closings
Two unexpected closings took the city by surprise this week, starting with the unceremonious shuttering of Bailey’s American Grille (2320 NASA Parkway) in Seabrook. Although former owner Brad Bailey blamed a poor economy and struggles to recover from Hurricane Ike, he is also in the midst of opening a five-story…
Shane Rushing: Throws Puppy Off A Bridge For Getting Into His Trash
Dogs can be lovely companions, but like all lovely companions they can have their little quirks.Maybe they back ferociously at butterflies, maybe they wake you up for a walk early in the morning, maybe they get in your trash and make a mess.What to do?Shane Rushing thought he had the…
The 5 Worst Houston Restaurant Websites
Yesterday, we rolled out our list of the five best Houston restaurant websites. Today is something different. In scouring dozens of websites over the past week, we came to realize something. Restaurant websites in Houston are mostly terrible. This may be true of other industries as well, but it seemed…
Preemo’s Flight 713: Houston Underground Rap’s Newest Star
Preemo has earned a ton of praise this past year; and rightfully so. Concrete Dreams, his first proper full-length showing, remains to be one of the year’s three best Houston rap albums. So when he let loose that he was planning a short-notice mixtape release for September 11 called Flight…
Ping-Pong, Whiskey and Sparklers: A Night at the Joanna
When Art Attack showed up at the Joanna Gallery to talk with masterminds Brian Rod and Cody Ledvina about their upcoming Gala, the duo had just finished brainstorming over a game of ping-pong. They have three days to get the space transformed into a deluxe party of all things art…
Apple Fritter at Shipley’s Donuts
One thing I learned in graduate school is that “snacktime” is not something reserved for the elementary school classroom. I wasn’t particularly surprised that my peers needed some brain fuel midway through seminar, but for whatever reason I assumed that tenured professors possessed an unnatural endurance for discussing Hegel for…
September 10-16: The Week in Photos
Each week, we take a dip into the Houston Press Flickr pool and see what our talented photographers have been up to. Celebrating the equinox? Be sure to add your images to our Flickr pool. They might even show up online. As usual, for more information on a subject or…
Musicians Who Will Fetch The Least In TwitChange Auction
TwitChange, a charity organization dedicated to helping Haiti led by the only Desperate Housewife who doesn’t look at least partially mummified, Eva Longoria, is having an auction that will change the very nature of self-obsession as we know it. Several celebrities have gotten together and agreed to let their Twitter…
UH Takes On UCLA And Emphasizes Line Play
The big uglies up front will be butting headsThe Houston Cougars have gotten the reputation, undeserved or not, of being a soft, finesse football team. When you pass the football, when you play the spread and go with one-back backfields, that can happen. The Cougar players don’t like this reputation…
Martin Saville Plays For Auntie Mame – Direct From the Rest of the World
A street performer from South Africa by way of Beale Street, Nashville, and the Chicago subway system is the primary musician for Auntie Mame, now running at Stages Repertory Theatre. The 23-year-old, guitar-playing Martin Saville was spotted by Stages artistic director Kenn McLaughlin a few months ago when McLaughlin was…
The Ride Home Joins Mia Kat Empire
Earlier this week, we brought you the incredible video for The Ride Home’s “Girls,” which was filmed in part at the traditional home for late-night detoxification, House of Pies. Just on the heels of that article came an email from the band’s Chase Harris with bad news and good news…
Crystal Sierra: Galveston Woman Jumps Gun On Birthday, Ends Up In Jail
Another week, and another Crystal gets in trouble in a kind of awesome way.This time it’s now-23-year-old Crystal Angelita Sierra’s turn.Seems last Sunday was her 23rd birthday, and apparently Sierra found the very prospect of that occasion so exciting she started celebrating early.By 11:30 p.m. Saturday night, she was in…
Chef Chat, Part 3: Anita Jaisinghani of Indika
Anita Jaisinghani of Indika (516 Westheimer) was kind enough to sit down with Eating Our Words for a nice chat and fantastic tasting at her beautiful boutique eatery. At the end of our conversation, we asked about the desserts, remembering the amazing chocolate croissants at brunch and the rice pudding…
The Week in Art Photos
Each week, we scour the Houston Press Flickr Pool and see what kinds of art shots our talented photographers have added. If you think you’ve got a good eye, drop your pictures in the pool and every Friday we’ll post the most eye-popping shots. (Be sure to enable the HTML…
Obama Birth Certificate: San Antonio Demands The Truth, Via Billboard
Dude, where’s the birth certificate?While the mainstream media continues to perpetuate the myth that Barack Hussein Obama is American as apple pie and waterboarding, one publication has been brave enough to answer the single-most important and totally unanswered question of our times: Where’s the birth certificate? Launched by WorldNetDaily.net founder…
HFD Announces It Doesn’t Know Much Yet About Election-Machines Fire
HFD still trying to come up with answersWondering what’s going on with the investigation into the warehouse fire on August 27 that destroyed more than $30 million of Harris County’s voting equipment? Well, lucky for you the Houston Fire Department threw a little media soiree Thursday afternoon to offer forth…
John Cornyn To Meet With Gays Because…They’re Like Fetuses?
John Cornyn: Affirming “basic human dignity” in odd waysTexas Senator John Cornyn has scheduled a meeting with Log Cabin Republicans, those GOP stalwarts who care so much about fiscal policy they’re willing to ignore who they’re associating with.To the surprise of no one, a “family values” preacher has taken offense…
Wine of the Week: 2008 Matchbook “Old Head” Chardonnay
Before your mind wanders into the gutter (like mine often does), the term “old head” in winespeak means that the wine was fermented in already-used barrels. This gives just a hint of oak to the Chardonnay without overpowering the fruit flavors. It’s a wily little trick that infuses lots of…
Happy Hour Scene: Griff’s
The Place: Griff’s3416 Roseland St. 713-528-9912www.griffshouston.netThe Hours: Monday through Friday 3-7 p.m.The Deals: All drinks are $1 cheaper than normal. The Scene: The great thing about Griff’s happy hour is that if you get there a few minutes or a few hours after it ends, there are still nightly drink…
Andre Sloan: Sheriff’s Office Says It’s Cracked 20-Year-Old Murder Case
Photo courtesy HCSOAndre Sloan: Charged with a 1990 murderThe Harris County Sheriff’s Office used DNA evidence to crack a cold case and file murder charges against Andre Sloan in a 20-year-old killing, officials said today.Finding Sloan, 48, won’t be too difficult: He’s currently serving a life sentence in TDCJ for…
Clifton Middle School — We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Textbooks!
All this fuss across the state about what’s in children’s textbooks and as Clifton Middle School in the Houston ISD will tell you — it doesn’t matter at all. A friend of Hair Balls contacted us the other day to say that there were no lockers and no textbooks for…
Gallery Scene: Opening This Week
Our picks for visual art this week: A sleek architectural installation at Rice Gallery; wild sculpture at Texas Gallery; Box 13’s building-wide exhibition; the Joannex throws a party for the gods; and the MFAH debuts a major exhibition of ancient African art–seen for the first time in the U.S. (Oh,…
Houston Cougars — An Early Lock of the Century
I realize that my Best Bets for the weekend are usually a Friday thing, and rest assured after my fast start last week, no one is chomping harder at the bit to get back to the business of picking winners than me. (By the way, did ya see? 4-2, bitches!…
Chef Adison Lee: Not New to Nobu, But New to Raku
Chef Adison Lee is passionate about fish. That should really come with the territory when you’re helming one of Houston’s most upscale sushi restaurants, but Lee seems singularly inspired. Visiting our table at last night’s media tasting for the brand new chef’s menu additions and changes, Lee waxed rhapsodic about…
Open Up And Say Ahhh: An Oral Surgery Playlist
If you’re reading this around the time it’s published, Rocks Off will once again be in the dentist’s chair. This has been something of a recurring theme for us this summer, as we have been trying to reverse years of neglecting our poor gums by undergoing several surgical procedures that…
Texas Tech’s “Silent Treatment”: Oooooh, Be Scared, Longhorns
Texas Tech, innovating againAs if the Texas Longhorns didn’t have enough troubles, what with struggling to beat Rice and Wyoming to open the season, now they face their most severe challenge ever.They go to Lubbock this weekend to play Texas Tech, and the student government at Tech is asking students…
Metro Tackles Huge Budget Gap…By Getting Rid Of Some Office Printers?
Metro promises to maintain service levels despite cutting its budget by 31 percent. At a Metro board meeting this morning, Metro’s president and CEO, George Greanias, gave his first formal presentation about what’s in store for the agency’s 2011 budget, which should be drafted and complete by the end of…
Odd Pair: Banana Nut Bread and Rose
I have a sneaking suspicion that members of my household are no longer eating bananas because they know if enough get overly ripe, I will inevitably bake a banana nut bread. With walnuts. And chocolate chunks. And lush that I am, I will usually wash it down with a nice…
The Rolling Stones At Hofheinz Pavilion In 1972, Firsthand
Ed. Note: Rocks Off’s own Lonesome Onry and Mean himself, William Michael Smith, attended the Rolling Stones concert at Hofheinz Pavilion in June 1972 that was filmed for the movie Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones. Since the movie screens at 7:30 p.m. tonight at several Houston-area theaters, we asked…
Is San Marcos the Next Broadway Training Ground?
Updated Friday, September 17, 11:10 a.m. When we think of San Marcos, we think of the Texas Hill Country, the river and those roadside signs for Wonder World. (Has anyone ever actually been there?) We don’t think “Broadway.” But Texas State University is on it way to becoming one of…
Arianna Huffington: Saving The Middle Class One Book At A Time
Hero of the middle classLast night, a full house at Wortham Center applauded her criticisms of government and laughed at her self-deprecating humor. They loved her support of the middle class and her accusations that the media is failing to tell the right stories. Arianna Huffington was a hit.And why…
Five Other Bands Calvin College Won’t Invite Anytime Soon
Calvin College, the “distinctly Christian, academically excellent liberal arts college” in Grand Rapids, Mich., doesn’t want you to associate the school with pornography. That means no New Pornographers show: Regrettably, Calvin College has decided to rescind its invitation to the band, The New Pornographers, slated to perform on Friday, October…
Feliz Diez y Seis! Let’s Eat
Diez y Seis de Septiembre — today, September 16 — is one of Mexico’s most important national holidays, or fiesta patrias. The grito de Dolores was issued this day in 1810 near Guanajuato by Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. The grito was a call to arms for the end of…
UT Study Shocks: For One-Night Stands, Men Value A Woman’s Body More Than Her Face
Another report from Captain ObviousThank God the University of Texas exists, or we would never have learned this piece of information: When making “short-term relationship” decisions, men rate a good body higher than they do a pretty face.The study, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, posits that when…
KISS Merchandise The Band Hasn’t Thought Of… Yet
KISS pulls back into Houston Friday night for a show over at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, less than a year after their last Bayou City stop at the Toyota Center. We aren’t really sure if this show will be much different than the one we saw in December, save for…
Game Day Recipes That Won’t Have You Sidelined
There are so many reasons to love the Fall. At the top of our list: the return of football. We can’t wait to get together with old friends from college so we can get drunk, jump around, and shout obscenities at a bunch of kids on TV (which happens to…
Unidentified Male, 59, Bayou Body Count No. 223
Shot near his truckA man was shot in the head and chest and found dead next to his truck south of downtown Wednesday evening.Police say the victim, whose name has not been released, was discovered at 8:10 p.m. after residents in the 1600 block of Rosewood heard a gunshot.The body…
Top 5 Foods to Eat Before Summer’s End
By this time next week, summer will officially be over. Not according to Houston’s weather system, mind you. But at least by the calendar, which marks September 22 as the autumnal equinox and the beginning of fall. We’ll believe that when it dips below 70 degrees. Until then, however, there…
First Play: V-Zilla’s “Unsigned State of Mind” vs. Young Sensation’s “Showcase Skillz”
Houston exists largely as its own market. As such, rappers here tend to not like to -on the record, anyway – rank themselves or their albums or songs against each other or each other’s. So we’ll do it for them. Email sheaserrano (at) gmail (dot) com. The Songs: This week,…
TCEQ Gets An Earful At Town Hall Meeting, Provides The Best In Lip Service
TCEQ listens and promisesIt was nearly standing-room-only at Wednesday evening’s environmental town hall meeting when Deborah Wilkerson stood at the mic and addressed the panel of legislators, state regulators and experts.A resident of Acres Homes in northwest Houston, she told the story of how a gunite factory moved in next…
The 5 Best Houston Restaurant Websites
Last week, we gave you our list of the ten reasons why your restaurant website sucks. Apparently, you agreed with us, so we set out to make a list of the best and worst restaurant websites in Houston. Today, the best of the best. For our list, we made a…
No Boat, No Problem: Wakeboarding Alternative Coming To Houston Next Spring
Photo courtesy of Wake Nation”Uh, where’s my boat?”What’s a wakeboarder to do when his access to a boat is strangled? Or when the local rivers, San Jacinto and Trinity, are closed off for, say, a piranha infestation? (Never say never!)Beginning in spring 2011, Houston wakeboarders, waterskiers and kneeboarders will have…
Unidentified Female, 60, Bayou Body Count No. 222
Found strangled in her apartmentA 60-year-old woman who was largely confined to her bed was found strangled on the northwest side, and police believe robbery was a motive.The woman’s caretaker arrived at the apartment in the 10 block of Burress about 3 p.m. Wednesday and found the woman, whose name…
Cardi’s Documentary Revisits Houston’s ’80s Metal Mecca
In the early ’80s, Cardi’s was the place in Houston for the rising world of metal to play. The club on Westheimer and Fountainview, which has since become Spotlight Karaoke, hosted Metallica, Dokken and a plethora of other iconic names before it was shut down with no notice in 1985…
UPDATED: More Than 4,000 Students Leave the Tougher Apollo 20 Schools
What’s not to like about a longer school year, longer school day, more rigor in the classroom and having your parents more involved in your education?Well, it may be coincidence or it may not be everyone’s idea of heaven because more than 4,000 students have transferred out of the nine…
Bubba’s Texas Burger Shack
My recent trip to Annie’s Hamburgers motivated me to try more “old-timey” burger places…
“Green” Sculpture (On The Green)
Looking for a way to observe Hispanic Heritage Month and learn a little something about Hispanic culture besides how many margaritas it takes to cause a blackout? There are two days left to take an up-close gander at the eight life-size “Doñas” (matriarchs) of the “Las Comadres Recycled: Outdoor Sculpture…
Remember J-Dawg’s Behind Tint Vol. 2?
Houston’s history is dotted with albums that, fairly or un, have been swept aside. We’ll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. J-Dawg Behind Tint, Vol. 2 (Boss Hawg Outlawz, 2010) J-Dawg first popped up at the very tail end of…
Rice Faces Northwestern In Battle Of The Brainiacs
The Rice of the north meets the Northwestern of the southThe Rice Owls (1-1) open the Rice Stadium portion of their home schedule on Saturday night when they host the Big 10’s Northwestern Wildcats (2-0). But despite last week’s 32-31 come from behind win over North Texas, the Owls know…
Five Things We’re Not Looking Forward To In The Upcoming Fall TV Season
Just when you were afraid the lack of fresh content on your television might finally force you to get up off your couches and engage in some meaningful interaction with your loved ones, here comes the 2010 fall season and its annual helping of canned laughter, reality shenanigans, and FCC-approved…
Five Things We’re Not Looking Forward To In The Upcoming Fall TV Season
Just when you were afraid the lack of fresh content on your television might finally force you to get up off your couches and engage in some meaningful interaction with your loved ones, here comes the 2010 fall season and its annual helping of canned laughter, reality shenanigans, and FCC-approved…
Cage Match: KISS Vs. Fiskadoro
Ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow night a battle for your musical soul will be waged in our fair city. In this corner, wearing make-up, black leather, and underpants made of your money, the knights in Satan’s service, KISS! And in this corner, weighing in at 600 lbs, the masters of the…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Anita Jaisinghani of Indika
Yesterday we spoke with Indika’s chef and owner, Anita Jaisinghari, about her culinary background and what rules she’s willing to break. Today we continue our talk. Eating Our Words: So we spoke about the “progressive” descriptor in your cuisine. Now tell us why you insist on using local, organic ingredients…
Five Best Places For Furtive Sex At The New Downtown Y
Some things never changeThe vintage Downtown YMCA is about to close, a shiny modern facility is set to take its place, and one question demands to be answered: Where are you gonna have your furtive gay sex in this new place?When we asked around seeking what people would/wouldn’t miss most…
TV & Film Production: Why Are Dallas And Austin Kicking Houston’s Ass?
Action!! (In Austin or Dallas)Yesterday we spoke with Bob Hudgins, the head of the Texas Film Commission, about the mini-brouhaha over the movie Machete and possible Texas tax breaks.We then moved on to another subject: Why is Dallas getting all the film and TV work these days?Currently five major TV…
“Dante Marioni: Recent Glass Works”
Dante Marioni knows how to blow glass. In “Dante Marioni: Recent Glass Works,” his vases are imbued with rich, striking colors that effortlessly invite light. The elongated pieces brilliantly display the meticulous, incredibly difficult technique of reticello – the Italian name for crisscrossed glass cane work. The stouter pieces are…
Among the Thugs
Horse Head Theatre is still relatively new to Houston’s theater scene, but the company seems to have a theme going: wildly testosterone-driven plays that revel in men behaving badly. The newest production, Among the Thugs, focuses on the violence of British soccer in the 1980s. A bit of history -…
Incorruptible
In the play Incorruptible, the year is 1250 and the poor monks of Priseaux, France are having a heck of a time with their relics. The bones of St. Foy have stopped performing miracles. No miracles means no alms from the peasants to keep the monastery going. To make things…
Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame is one of those episodic 1950s comedies filled with the sort of light laughs we don’t see much of anymore. Thankfully, Stages Repertory Theatre has come to our rescue with a new production of the madcap romp. The story features an orphan boy and his adventures with his…
Sylvia
Poodle-mix Sylvia thinks her new master is a god, which is the way most owners would like it. But that doesn’t stop the middle-aged, middle-class couple who take in the stray from coming apart at the seams when Sylvia romps into their lives. This is the basic story line of…
2nd Annual Indian Film Festival of Houston
Sutapa Ghosh, founder of Houston’s own Indian Film Festival, told us the idea for the first festival was inspired by the success of Slumdog Millionaire. “Slumdog, coupled with how international our city has become, made it clear for me that it was the right time for Houston to get [a…
Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain, the tattooed, foulmouthed, wine-juggling host of the television show No Reservations, says he’s amazed that ten years after the publication of Kitchen Confidential, people still give a shit what he thinks. This from a man, you remember, who at some point minced onions, but never words. Case in…
Amy Tan
Luck has had very little to do with the continued success of Amy Tan. She first came to mainstream audiences with The Joy Luck Club, published in 1989 and acclaimed for its honest portrayal of a Chinese-American family. (It’s now required reading in high schools across the nation.) She’s gone…
Madea’s Big Happy Family
Actor/writer/director Tyler Perry has built an entertainment empire on the back of a feisty, gray-haired, pistol-packing grandma named Madea. The star of several stage plays and films, Madea is played by the more than six-foot-tall Perry wearing flowered housedresses and slippers. Larger than life, she’s loud, rude and sometimes criminally…
Come As You Are: HOUSTON!
In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots (the Rosa Parks moment of the GLBT civil rights struggle), Come As You Are: HOUSTON! presents performance art by Houston-based artists celebrating the range of queer sexuality. Michael Harren’s piece Fucked!/Fucked, a mix of spoken text, video and original music,…
THX 1138
Before George Lucas went off the deep end with his Star Wars obsession, he wrote and directed THX 1138, a great movie about government censorship, sexual repression and Big Brother. The film stars Robert Duvall (complete with bald head) as THX, who lives in the future, where every person is…
The 24-Hour Plays
Jack Bauer had 24 hours to prevent major terrorist attacks from happening, but did he ever have to write, direct and act in a play in the same span of time? Well, that’s the mission the Rice University Players have accepted in The 24-hour Plays event. Testing their skills, teams…
Ghost Hunt Lock-In
The Spaghetti Warehouse is one of Houston’s most notoriously haunted buildings – but don’t take our word for it, find out for yourself during the Ghost Hunt Lock-In. Unlike some spirit hunts, the lock-in allows you to bring your own equipment and take your own readings and photographs as you…
Graphic Novel Day
Do you have a story to tell? Maybe have the beginnings of a comic book or graphic novel sitting in a drawer somewhere, but you don’t know how to take it to the next level? Graphic Novel Day at the Houston Public Library is just for you. Jennifer Schwartz of…
Rabbit Hole
Grief is a complex language that David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole understands completely. The dark drama about one couple’s struggle to cope with the loss of their son shows us two people who have very different ways of handling pain. Becca believes in ripping out the hurt, “quick and…
When I Knew: A Staged Reading
You walk into the exhibition “Because We Are” and stand in awe of a seven-foot-tall sculpture of a man built from 300 empty bottles of HIV meds. Moved by the piece, you go home and…well, if you’re Joe Watts, you’re inspired to do a staged reading of the book When…
Capsule Stage Reviews: Body, Soul & Gershwin, The Great Storm, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Laura
Body, Soul & Gershwin As the title implies, Houston Ballet’s season opener was indeed a collection of dances about movement, contemplation and fun. But Body, Soul & Gershwin just as well could have been called Let’s Check Out the New Talent. New principal Jun Shuang Huang is a tall drink…
Dialtone Records Showcase
Since 1998, Dialtone Records has been combing Texas’s inner cities and country juke joints for the kind of blues most people thought died out long ago but is in fact still going strong, thanks in no small part to this dogged, dedicated Austin label. Dialtone’s class of 2010 is one…
Workplace speech and Aztec ancestors
Dear Mexican, I work at a large hotel in Orange County, California, where 80 percent of the employees are Latin American, primarily Mexican. I love all of them and enjoy working with them. However, the one thing that bothers me is that when they are speaking to each other, they…
Smashing Pumpkins
Billy Corgan and some incarnation of Smashing Pumpkins have been part of each turn of the pop-music tide, good or bad, for a solid generation. The group’s founder, mastermind and sole remaining original member has now been playing under the Pumpkins moniker for more than 20 years, releasing eight albums…
Texans to the Top
Texans to the Top? Online readers comment on “Our Year,” by Sean Pendergast, September 2: Agreed: As a Houstonian myself, I concur with this analysis. Travis Rodgers Good job: Awesome breakdown of the season, Sean. Now I have a better idea of what to expect out of each game. And…
KISS Goes Boom
Car crashes cause enough commotion without rubberneckers stopping for autographs. So goes the thinking of KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer, who found himself outrageously overdressed a few years back in the middle of a Mexico intersection. “A lot of times when we finish a show, we’ll get off stage in full…
Townie Made Good
Directing himself as a verifiable big-movie lead after some time in supporting-actor Triple-A ball, director-star Ben Affleck models a full line of warm-up suits to play Doug MacRay, a second-generation blue-collar stickup man, brains of his four-man bank crew. The setting is Charlestown, the square-mile majority-Irish Boston neighborhood that shares…
Doolittle
Upon its release in April 1989, the Pixies’ Doolittle was almost immediately hailed as an indie-rock classic, even if sales weren’t quite through the roof. The album helped forge the wave of alternative rock just over the horizon, as soon-to-be platinum bands like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead and even Weezer…
Mental Cases
On a recent afternoon, Philip Grantham sat in a crowded but quiet waiting room at the Ripley Clinic, an outpatient center operated by the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County, and told the story about the crime that sent him to prison. It started with Grantham, now…
Aroma Classique
Israeli Michal Ravid-Avraham and her husband moved to Houston from Detroit. “Houston is a great place, but when we first moved here six years ago, I was a little disappointed at some of the food. I couldn’t find a good coffee and a real croissant,” she says. So she decided…
Heights West Restaurant
The French love leeks. At Heights West Restaurant (2307 Ella, 713-868-6148), Chef Glen Trumble, who trained all over France, makes a traditional leek terrine with goat cheese ($7.50). He thinly slices the leeks, then presses them into a mold and covers them in aspic to hold everything together. Just before…
Spinning Sichuan
I ate at Chinese Sichuan Cuisine by mistake. I suspect that quite a few people have done that so far, and that more will in the upcoming few weeks. The reason? As so often happens in Chinatown, the restaurant changed nearly overnight. One day, it was Chinese Halal Cuisine, serving…
Hefley’s Tea
Thanks to Hermine’s all-day downpour, there were only a few people at Hill Country-themed Hefley’s (138 W. Gray, 713-527-8100) last Tuesday night. A bar that quiet is a mixed deal. There isn’t a parade of drinkers waiting to start conversations with you or hook up with you or possibly punch…
I Am Mesmer, Hilary Sloan, Kelly Doyle
Jazz-grass wackos I Am Mesmer, psychedelic bluegrass fiddler Hilary Sloan and Robert Ellis/Three Fantastic guitar-slinger Kelly Doyle all have new CDs/EPs/We-Might-Release-Somethings. Mesmer’s full-length sounds like a band of Django Reinhardt gypsies chasing Two Star Symphony down a dark alley, and further confirms that this is one of the oddest ensembles…
Beauty School Dropouts
EDUCATION Beauty School Dropouts HISD might close little-used school By Margaret Downing Are classes in haircuts and skin care — especially if students are not actually going to pursue that as a career — really the best use of a kid’s high school years? Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier asked…
Bright Men of Learning
Bright Men of Learning has had a special place in our heart since we caught a couple members and Tody Castillo doing a brief Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers set at one of the Mink’s Hootenannys a while back (look for another one at the new Fitzgerald’s in December). So…
The Doctor’s Dilemma
A September 11 New York Times op-ed titled “Is Newer Better? Not Always” rails against our high-cost medical system, which encourages waste and allows patients to spend crazy amounts of money on doctors, hospitals and medical manufacturers for tests, treatments and surgeries they don’t need. The op-ed is yet another…
Stone Temple Pilots
Lead singer Scott Weiland’s burly Jim Morrison-esque baritone and brothers Robert and Dean DeLeo’s bass-and-guitar assault helped make Stone Temple Pilots alternative-FM darlings in the early ’90s. With singles like “Plush,” “Interstate Love Song” and “Big Empty,” the STP crew began a upward ascent that rivaled even certain other flannel-clad…
Capsule Art Reviews: “BECAUSE WE ARE,” “Being: Tobiah Mundt,” “Kaneem Smith,” “Math of the Afterward”
“BECAUSE WE ARE” In this sprawling group show, Eric Avery and Daniel Goldstein offer testaments to the ongoing pandemic that is AIDS. Avery, an artist and psychiatrist working with AIDS patients in the Houston area, creates portraits of his patients with a stark expressionism to them. The artist carves woodcuts…
Kings of Leon, The Black Keys
Must Kings of Leon do everything backwards? First the Followill boys went and got mega-popular in the UK before brooding but hook-loaded 2008 LP Only By the Night finally kicked them up to similar arena/amphitheater status in the States. Now the Kings are about to release Night’s follow-up, Come Around…
