Texans Draft Woes Continue, Louis Nix III Heads to Injured Reserve
It’s too early to tell if the Texans’ last couple of draft classes are cursed, just not that good or some combination of those two things. The one thing that is undeniable is that, on the whole, it’s hard to find another team in the NFL (certainly a team that…
Common Bond to Host First Pop-Up Dinner on October 6
Common Bond Bakery & Cafe is so much more than just beautiful kouign amanns, 33-layered flaky croissants and those ooey gooey chocolate chip (more like chunk) cookies. The newly established eatery on Westheimer also has a savory selection that is absolutely mouthwatering. While those plates change every week, you can…
The Pick-Axe Murders III: A True Old-School Slasher
Jeremy Sumrall got the idea for The Pick-Axe Murders III: The Final Chapter in 2007. Back then he was know more for his scriptwriting and for playing roles like The Beast in Sweatshop. Still enough people told him that he should give it a shot that he started making plans…
Jury Clears Patti LaBelle in Airport Assault
A federal jury on Tuesday cleared the Patti LaBelle and her entourage in the beating of a West Point cadet at George Bush International Airport. Richard King sued LaBelle, her son, her hair dresser, and a 400-pound body guard after the March 2011 brawl. Attorneys for LaBelle and her crew…
5 Upcoming Video Game Movies That Might Actually Not Suck
I’m not going out much on a limb here by stating that there have not really been any artistically successful film adaptations of video games. The Resident Evil series comes the closest, and for all that it’s a fun time, it really fails to capture either the cheesy horror homages…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Jason Gould of Cyclone Anaya’s
One of the joys of interviewing chefs is finding that very few are boring. They are often dynamic, adventurous people with amazing stories. Chef Jason Gould of Cyclone Anaya’s is no exception. This native Australian worked early in his career for one of the original “celebrity chefs” at a restaurant…
Royal Blood at Warehouse Live, 9/23/2014
Royal Blood, Meg Myers Warehouse Live Studio September 23, 2014 Playing Lollapalooza and SXSW is one thing. But to be a true buzz band, you’ve got to generate the kind of heat that can draw a big crowd to a club on a Tuesday night in flyover country. By that…
This Week in Food Blogs: Cheese Is Your Friend
Gastronaut: Change up your regular cheeseburger order at Sam’s Deli Diner and opt for a cheesesteak instead. Katharine Shilcutt writes in this Gastronaut post that the Texas cheesesteak at Sam’s is one of the best dishes the diner offers. A hoagie roll is stuffed with lots and lots of roast…
Keith Olbermann Eviscerates the Derek Jeter Farewell Tour
If there is one silver lining to all of the bad news that’s enveloped the NFL, jacked the 24 hour news cycle, and smothered our Twitter feeds over the last couple weeks, it’s that the Derek Jeter slurp-fest we all assumed ESPN would be conducting as the Yankee shortstop’s career…
“Kelley Devine: Unwhole” Offers an Intriguing Look at Body Parts
In entering the Nicole Longnecker Gallery for this exhibition — “Kelley Devine: Unwhole” — a viewer is exposed to a panoply of cyborgs, part human, part machine. That the human element here is a body fragment , not a complete body, perhaps makes it all the more ominous. And yet…
Review: Table On Post Oak Might Want to Risk More and Spice Up Its Offerings
The grilled octopus looked like hors d’oeuvres served on a silver tray at a fancy dinner party. Dollops of cannellini purée supported little rounds of octopus on top of bite-size, shatteringly crispy lavash crackers. Golden, saffron-infused slivers of onion and bits of olive garnished the little works of art, and…
A Banned Books Week Celebration at Brazos Bookstore, and Thanks, Highland Park High!
What banned book are you reading this week? Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye is always a favorite, along with Things Fall Apart, The Grapes of Wrath and Brave New World. You know, the classics. NBD. If you’re fresh out of banned titles, a high school in Dallas helped us all…
Eat This Stellar Chicken Parm Sandwich…At The Hay Merchant?
The Hay Merchant is known for craft beer and even craftier fare, serving everything from sweet and spicy pig ears and gochujang-spiced chicken wings to a plate of taco-meat-smothered nacho fries that is kind of like something you’d come up with in college when you were drunk, only with way…
Bad Blood: Chikungunya Kills and It’s Coming to a Mosquito Near You
It started in mid-April with a fever, as if her body were trying to burn itself up. Then 39-year-old Belkys Jimenez developed a pounding headache and pain in her muscles and joints. Her feet and ankles ballooned, and even taking a step became difficult. Jimenez had dealt with hypertension for…
100 Creatives 2014: Emily Robison, Choreographer and Filmmaker
Age is no indicator of achievement or ability for choreographer and filmmaker Emily Robison. At 17, she’s among the youngest artists we’ve profiled in this series. A dance student at the High School for Performing and Visual Arts, Robison has appeared at the Big Range Dance Festival and was a…
Doctor Who: A Predictable But Fun “Time Heist”
I’m hard-pressed to think of a time when The Doctor aimed directly for the bank-heist genre of entertainment. I mean, he’s definitely tackled breaking into all sorts of places before, and there are a few audios like “The Selachian Gambit” and “Grand Theft Cosmos” that sort of have that vibe,…
Pre-Theater Dining at Damian’s: Spaghetti & Meatballs and Complimentary Shuttle Service
Going to the theater district should be an occasion. Maybe you have tickets to the Houston Grand Opera or the Houston Ballet. Maybe you’re getting dressed up to see the Houston Symphony’s new music director, Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Occasions like these make for a perfect date night — especially if you…
Houston’s Best Music Photographers: David Block
Back in June Rocks Off brought you Houston’s ten best music photographers, as selected by a small panel of insiders and professionals. Now we’d like you readers to choose the best. Before voting opens, though, here’s a little more about our finalists, in alphabetical order — and a lot more…
Fan Fighting League! San Francisco and Arizona Fans in a Bleacher Bloodbath
The NFC West might be the toughest division in the National Football League. I don’t think I’m breaking any new ground with that take. The Seattle Seahawks are defending Super Bowl champions, the San Francisco 49ers are a year removed from winning the NFC and last season went to the…
Deep Undercover at the YMCA’s Beyoncé Fitness Class
Nykema Brown has just seamlessly executed a dance move that looks like a cross between something from a Qing Gong flick and a Crossfit burpee — and she’s managed to make it look sexy. She then whips her head back to the beat. “…5, 6, 7, 8!” she shouts with…
Be Very Afraid of Illegal Wiretaps’ 80th Release
The Illegal Wiretaps are bar-none my favorite band in Houston because they are nuts. Completely left their cakes out in the rain. Less than two months since their last EP they’re back with a new freakshow in the form of Cancer and the Princess Suite. Technically, it’s a single because…
Revisiting Johnny Winter’s Hell-Raising Memoir
Raisin’ Cain; The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter By Mary Lou Sullivan Backbeat Books, 384 pp., $24.99 As is the case when any musician dies, widespread interest in his or her career and catalog shoots up in the immediate aftermath. And that has certainly been the case with…
Brewfest Won’t Happen Again Till May, Ticket Refunds on Their Way
Due to scheduling conflicts, the Brewfest sponsored by Lucky’s Pub and the Houston Press scheduled for October 18 at Silver Street Station has been canceled, Press Publisher Stuart Folb announced today. Ticketfly will be issuing full refunds to all who have already purchased tickets. Purchasers won’t need to contact Ticketfly…
Dallas Author Merritt Tierce’s Love Me Back a Tour de Fierce for Female Protagonists
The word “unflinching” appears frequently in reviews of author Merrit Tierce’s debut novel, Love Me Back; so do words like “searing,” “raw,” and “unrelenting.” The book follows its protagonist Marie through one bad decision after another, leaving the reader to wonder why? Of course, the book isn’t just about “why”…
Reminder: DPS Will Not Recognize Name Changes From Same-Sex Marriages
Last year, after Connie married her partner of nine years in California, she took her wife’s surname, legally changing her diver’s license and Social Security card to Connie Wilson. Legally speaking, she is Connie Wilson. When work required that Wilson and her partner move from California to Houston with their…
Houston Film Critics Society Hosts David Fincher Double Feature at the Alamo Drafthouse
This Saturday, September 27, the Houston Film Critics Society is hosting a David Fincher double-feature at the Alamo Drafthouse Vintage Park: Join us for two back-to-back films from one of our great modern directors. We’re showing FIGHT CLUB, an adaptation of the once-thought unadaptable novel from Chuck Palahniuk – a…
Undercover Investigation Reveals Alleged Mistreatment at Monkey Lab
An undercover investigation of a major primate research lab in San Antonio revealed a pattern of mistreatment of its monkeys, including death, injury, overcrowding, and lack of medical care, according to the Humane Society of the United States. The organization claims that a five-week investigation of the Southwest National Primate…
Teaching Your Kid to Read the Final Fantasy X Way
I recently came home from my first Student Curriculum Meeting at my daughter’s elementary school where she’s started kindergarten. I’m totally one of those parents that goes to every meeting and follows all the online updates and reads every single progress reports. Partly it’s because I want to be that…
Swede Dairy Farm Needs Your Help: Donate to the Go Fund Me Fundraiser
Swede Farm Dairy has been in operation since 2008, but now the family-owned goat milk farm based out of Waller is facing the possibility of shutting down. Swede Farm sells goat milk to those who need it for health reasons, but like co-owner LeeAnne Carlson says, “cheese pays the bills.”…
Depressing Photos From Northwest Mall
Northwest Mall, the 800,000 square-foot shopping center situated right behind the U.S. 290 and 610 Loop construction project, is up for sale, according to the Chron. The listing company says the site is ideally suited for a hotel, multifamily housing, office, and retail development. The listing company, HFF, also told…
“45 Days: Explore the Arts in Houston” Initiative About Halfway Through Its Run
More than two weeks into this year’s “45 Days:Explore the Arts in Houston” initiative, Jonathon Glus, president and CEO of the Houston Arts Alliance, says the campaign “to drive cultural tourism and to drive people who already partial to the arts to do something new ” is working well. “The…
Pop Rocks: TV Fall Premiere Week Gets Rolling With Gotham
Monday night not only marked the first night of fall, but the first night of the new fall television season. My DVR was loaded with three new shows by the end of the night along with the season premiere of a favorite from last year, The Blacklist, which did not…
The Strange 9-1-1 Call in Ex-NFL Kicker Rob Bironas’s Fatal Car Crash
When it rains, it pours, and when it comes to bad news in the NFL, it’s been a monsoon over the past few weeks. The spate of domestic violence stories around the league, from Ray Rice to Jonathan Dwyer, were recently joined by child abuse charges against Adrian Peterson, and…
10 Comforting Recipes to Make This Fall
Ah, fall season. A time for cooler temperatures and heartier meals. Some of my favorite meals in the fall center around a warm, comforting dish usually while watching a football game. Unfortunately, everyone gets to celebrate the autumnal seasonal sooner than our portion of Texas does, but that doesn’t mean…
Houston’s Best Music Photographers: Violeta Alvarez
Back in June Rocks Off brought you Houston’s ten best music photographers, as selected by a small panel of insiders and professionals. Now we’d like you readers to choose the best. Before voting opens, though, here’s a little more about our finalists, in alphabetical order — and a lot more…
HPD Has a Machine That Can Steal Your Phone’s Data, Says ACLU
Craig Estes is about as conservative as they come in the Texas Senate. He helped kill Sen. Wendy Davis’ midnight filibuster over abortion regulations. The “Craig on the issues” portion of his website features photos of placards blaring, “Pro-Life, Pro-God, Pro-Gun,” “No! Amnesty,” and “Must Show ID To Vote.” He’s…
Carrie Ann Boutique Unveils Fresh New Look
Well known shopping spotCarrie Ann Boutique in Uptown Park has had a facelift and to commemorate the occasion the team threw open their doors, invited a few friends, a reality TV star, and had a party…
Eat This: Summer Salad and Crawdads Biscuit at Punk’s
The calendar says September, but it still feels like summer in Houston, so why not indulge in some warm-weather fare as long as it’s on offer? See Punk’s Simple Southern Food, where one of the best things on the current menu is the “Summer Salad.” Although most patrons go to…
Worst Freeway Interchange in Houston to Get Partial Makeover
In February, I wrote about what I considered to be the three worst freeway interchanges in Houston. One of them, the 290/North Loop/Interstate 10 mangle that came in third, is undergoing extensive renovations slated to be completed in January as part of the larger project to widen and improve Highway…
BCN Taste & Tradition – Houston’s First Modern Spanish Restaurant Now Open in Montrose
About 10 years ago, chef Luis Roger was happily employed as an executive chef at a privately owned, 16th century estate called Mas Anglada in Costa Brava, Spain. The food he cooked was simple. He used the freshest ingredients he could source from the local area — which was rich…
Upcoming: Blue October, English Beat, Eric Taylor, Melissa Etheridge, Railroad Earth, etc.
Action Frank: With Punk Rock Project, GFY Go Fuck Yourself, Carter, The Bloody Von Erichs. Sat., November 8, 2 p.m., TBA. Last Concert Cafe, 1403 Nance, Houston, 713-226-8563. After the Burial: With Texas In July, I Declare War, Reflections. Fri., October 3, 6 p.m., $15. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel,…
Facebook’s New “Real Name” Policy Is Unfair and Dangerous
Recently, the social networking powerhouse that is Facebook unveiled a new policy requiring all of its users to register under their legal names. Facebook claims that the newly enforced policy makes the site safer for everyone, protecting them from fraud and other activities that might allow some to be victimized…
The Doomstress Goes Digital-Goth in Vendetta Diabolique
Doomstress Alexis is one of Houston’s most gifted daughters when it comes to laying out the doom-metal in Project Armageddon. She’s got a voice like a wasteland wind that matches well with her brand of droning, funeral-march music. Now Alexis has teamed up with Jan Kimmel to work on something…
Afro-Cuban Beats Power Medeski & Friends’ Juice
As fans of the jazz/funk trio Medeski Martin & Wood know, the band likes to improvise, a big reason why they’re also a hit on the jam-band circuit. But dancing on the edge of a musical cliff isn’t always as effortless as it may look, according to drummer Billy Martin…
Euphoria Morning, Chris Cornell’s Unexpected Masterpiece
This summer, we saw one of the most exciting tours of 1994 come through Houston when relatively recently reunited bands Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails became a tag team for a super show full of all their greatest hits and songs from their new records that nobody cares about. By…
Peace in Our Time May Leave You Singing “God Save the Queen”
The set-up: In the late ’30s, Noel Coward became the most patriotic English playwright since Shakespeare. During the first World War, as a late teen, he was blasé and uncommitted, although he had friends and lovers who died at the front. In 1918 he was drafted into the army, but…
Another Cat Mutilated in Timbergrove
Timbergrove residents are upset after yet another dead and dismembered cat was discovered over the weekend. The September 20th discovery is the latest in a string of grisly killings in the otherwise peaceful community just west of the Heights. Jennifer Estopinal, who lives in the adjacent Lazybrook neighborhood and runs…
College Football, Week 4: The Weekend in Tweets, Vines and YouTube
We’re still waiting, college football. Still waiting on that “Holy shit!” weekend of games where some foundational pieces of the Top 25 get shaken up and we see the earth shift a little bit in this brave new world of college football where all roads lead to a post season…
Detroit: The Joys of Suburbia and Relationships at Catastrophic
A turntable stage swings from one backyard to the other. In Detroit, playwright Lisa D’Amour’s play about (despite its name) an unidentified suburbia, two couples end up living next door to each other and meet over a backyard barbecue. One couple is on its way up, the other spiraling downward…
Steven Hotze Reams Gays in Conference Call
If there’s one think Steven Hotze has thought long and hard about, it’s sex between a man and a boy. As elder statesman of Houston’s homophobic right-wingnutters, the doctor (we use that term loosely) wants everyone to know what will happen if the gays aren’t forced back into the closet…
Dish of the Week: Braised Beef Kreplach
From classic comfort foods to regional standouts and desserts, we’ll be sharing a new recipe with you each week. See the complete list of recipes at the end of this post. This week, in honor of the upcoming Jewish High Holidays Rosh Hashanah (beginning this Wednesday) and Yom Kippur (beginning…
Andre Watts Dazzles With a Spirited Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2
Pianist Andre Watts received a rousing standing ovation after his performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Houston Symphony on Friday night. Concert goers popped to their feet almost as soon as Watts hit the last note and the emotional response (and extended applause) was well deserved. During…
The 10 Best Texans-Giants Rapper Tweets
The 2014 Houston Texans have a new coach, new players, new hope and the same dedicated fan base of Houston-based rappers. As in years past, they took to Twitter on game day to comment on the home team’s gridiron action. And, as in years past, Rocks Off read their tweets…
Giants 30, Texans 17: 4 Winners, 4 Losers
So I guess the Texans aren’t going undefeated. Damn. Through the first three weeks of the season, it’s readily apparent that Bill O’Brien and his staff have made some headway in fixing some of what ailed this team in 2013. However, after Sunday’s 30-17 loss to the New York Giants,…
Better Know Your Real Texas Vampires
So, there’s a new Dracula movie coming out and Halloween is around the corner. Vampires are currently like the Rolling Stones in that they are ancient and trying desperately to stay relevant. Their heyday has passed in cinema and it couldn’t come soon enough. Time to move onto weresloths or…
8 Surprising Crimes on the Books in Texas
We’ve all heard about the arcane laws that somehow still survive on the books. Hell, the fifth graph of the Texas Constitution says you can’t hold office unless you “acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being.” This isn’t a post about those types of strange-yet-unenforced laws. Under Supreme Court precedent,…
Eat This: Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Cakeballs & Macarons at Petite Sweets
The first official day of fall is Tuesday, September 23, and you know what that means: pumpkin, pumpkin and more pumpkin. Throughout this autumnal season, recipes for pumpkin breads, muffins, cakes and pies will flood the Internet (or more accurately, will continue to) through a variety of social media outlets…
Conor Oberst at House of Blues, 9/19/2014
Conor Oberst House of Blues September 19, 2014 I was never sad enough to be a Bright Eyes fan. Growing up in Nebraska, I was always aware of the band, as Oberst is also from there, but I was too busy enjoying the good life to get into them. Not…
Women in the Pit Opens Ensemble Theatre’s New Season
The Setup:The play by Joyce Sylvester and directed by Eileen J. Morris opens with a dilemma: Mount Zion church is dying a slow death. Its congregation is dwindling, and its youth ministry is nonexistent. Women make up 83 percent of the population and men make up 17 percent. Both women…
Houston Bakers Band Together Again for Mental Health Awareness
It’s no secret that there are insufficient resources for mental health care in the United States. A local Houston baker decided to do something to help. Last year, Jody Stevens of Jodycakes recruited professionals and talented home cooks alike to create desserts for a bake sale called The Depressed Cake…
The Changing Face of Houston – Oak Forest
Today, the Oak Forest neighborhood, just north of Loop 610, is undergoing massive changes, just like many other older developments in Houston. Construction of what would become one of Houston’s largest residential neighborhoods began in 1946, and almost all of the earliest homes were sold to veterans returning from World…
Cougars Whip the Rebels, While Rice Embarrassed by Old Dominion
Morning football, evening football, there was plenty of college football for Houston-area fans on Saturday as Rice hosted Old Dominion in the morning and UH hosted UNLV that night. There were also plenty of seats available so that fans could come to the stadiums and watch the games, but those…
Love Grows for Deep Cuts at EP Release Show
Local indie-rockers Deep Cuts drew an enthusiastic crowd fans to Fitz’s upstairs stage Friday night to celebrate the release of their first-ever studio recording, the Love Grows EP. Joining them were a few more of Houston’s brighter new(ish) local groups, The Caldwell, Chemistry and Young Girls, as well as veterans…
Luke Bryan at The Woodlands, 9/19/2014
Luke Bryan, Lee Brice Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 19, 2014 Among the various forms of popular music, country seems to age the most gracefully. An old rapper can keep trying to put out new music, but it’s often just kind of embarrassing. Old rockers stay out on the road…
Joe Bonamassa Is Feeling Different Shades of Blue
If you were searching for Joe Bonamassa’s new record Different Shades of Blue in an actual record store (remember those?), you’d likely find it in the “Blues” section. But like most of the work he’s put out since 2000, the material is decidedly more rocking as well. Still, the 37-year-old…
The Five Best Concerts in Houston This Week: Royal Blood, Paul Thorn, Tom Petty, etc.
Royal Blood Warehouse Live, September 23 Britpop is having a moment in the U.S. again, as groups as disparate as Arctic Monkeys and Bastille have been greeted by alt-rock stations and listeners alike with open arms. The latest to make a big noise is Royal Blood, the Brighton duo of…
Untapped Festival Postponed Until Next Month
The heavy rains that have blanketed the Houston area the past 48 hours have forced the postponement of tomorrow’s Untapped festival due to the conditions at Discovery Green. According to the festival’s Facebook page, the makeup date is October 11. Untapped released this statement a few minutes ago: Due to…
Ex-Jailer Fired After Inmate Death Sues to Get Job Back
A Harris County detention officer fired in the wake of an inmate death is suing Sheriff Adrian Garcia and the Civil Service Commission in a bid to get his job back. Christopher Taylor claims that he was unfairly singled out, because two other officers fired after the 2011 incident were…
Victor/Victoria: A Girl Playing a Guy Playing a Girl, but Where’s the Show?
The set-up: The French have a word for it – lousy. When the best part of a Broadway musical is the proscenium curtain – a stunning piece of faux French art deco with golden geometric fountains by way of master theater designer Robin Wagner – you know there’s trouble on…
Know Something About Lights, Camera, Action? The Houston Press Has Some Opportunities for You
Here at the Houston Press, we’re all about sharing the stories of the city we live in. We’re big believers in the power of storytelling and the need for certain stories to be told. We’re looking for new people to help us share the stories of Houston to a larger…
The Great Banh Mi Cook-Off Was Really Great
Creativity was on display in abundance Wednesday night at The Great Banh Mi Cook-Off competition organized by non-profit Vietnamese organization, Boat People SOS (BPSOS), as a fundraiser for their domestic violence programs. It started with the organizers, who successfully pulled off a change of venue at the nth hour due…
UPDATED: USDA Warns UH Over Monkey Dehydration Death
UPDATE 10:25 am: We just heard from UH Spokeswoman Shawn Lindsey, who tells us in an email that “The staff and the leadership of the University of Houston care deeply about animals and strive to create a humane setting for all animals. This accident serves as a reminder of the…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: The Maze Runner
Title: The Maze Runner Finally! I’ve Been Wondering What Happened to Tom Hanks After His Psychotic Break. You’re thinking of Mazes and Monsters, though Dylan O’Brien does kind of resemble a young Pardieu. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant to the Film: Three Goblin Kings out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis:…
Robert Ellis Is in a New York State of Mind
You can take the boy out of Houston, but…well, this is part of how Robert Ellis has found himself spending his time after moving to New York City a little more than a month ago. “There’s actually a weird little honky-tonk scene in Brooklyn,” says the singer-songwriter who relocated from…
If You’ve Got a Ticket From One of These Four HPD Officers, Today’s Your Lucky Day
Rudolph Farias, John Garcia, Robert Manzanales and Gregory Rosa. If you’ve got an outstanding traffic citation from HPD, you’ll want to check to see if any of these officers scrawled their name on your ticket. In light of an internal investigation into charges that the officers ran a ticket-rigging scam,…
The Houston Press Is Looking for a Few Good Videographers
Here at the Houston Press, we’re all about sharing the stories of the city we live in. We’re big believers in the power of storytelling and the need for certain stories to be told. We’re looking for new people to help us share the stories of Houston to a larger…
Free Game Day: Robo Trobo
It’s Friday, and we know you’re just going to play on the Internet until it’s time to leave work. Each week we’ll be bringing you a free flash game to help the time pass! Game: Robo Trobo Genre: Puzzler Made By: Pegas Games Play at: Armor Games Rating: 4 out…
NFL: This Weekend’s Best Bets
Coming into the season, we all knew the Texans’ schedule was relatively light. Granted, every team on the Texans’ schedule was looking at the Texans as one of their opponents to justify thinking the same thing. But here we are, two weeks in, and with the Texans at 2-0, the…
4 Hidden Shopping Gems in Memorial/Energy Corridor
The Memorial area is in no way void of shopping meccas. Memorial City Mall, Town & Country, and City Centre provide plenty of retail therapy sessions to the locals. Each comes with trendy boutiques, great restaurants, and priceless people watching opportunities. But, there are a few spots that are, as…
The Houston Press Is Looking for a Few Good Videographers
Here at the Houston Press, we’re all about sharing the stories of the city we live in. We’re big believers in the power of storytelling and the need for certain stories to be told. We’re looking for new people to help us share the stories of Houston to a larger…
The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Spice Things Up at the 14th Annual Hot Sauce Festival
Mixers & Elixirs @ Houston Museum of Natural Science Friday, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. 5555 Hermann Park Drive Don’t you just love Talk Like A Pirate Day? The Houston Museum of Natural Science sure does because that’s the theme for this Mixers & Elixirs event. From 7 p.m. until…
Reformed Rapper Lecrae’s Chart Victory for Houston
Wednesday, Lecrae Moore, the 34-year-old rapper who was born and raised in Houston but now resides in Atlanta, broke new ground. His latest album, the accurately titled Anomaly sold 88,000 copies and landed at the top of the Billboard 200. 88,000 copies for a rap album in 2014 isn’t paltry,…
100 Creatives 2014: John Cramer, Freelance Violinist and Concertmaster at Opera in the Heights
When John Cramer was 6 years old, he hated the violin. He wanted to play the piano, but his family only owned an old violin that his father played long ago, so he bore with it and followed in his father’s footsteps. His mom also sang in a choir, leaving…
The Houston Press Is Looking for a Few Good Videographers
Here at the Houston Press, we’re all about sharing the stories of the city we live in. We’re big believers in the power of storytelling and the need for certain stories to be told. We’re looking for new people to help us share the stories of Houston to a larger…
Upcoming Events: Taco Tuesday Special at Skeeter’s Mesquite Grill
Taco Tuesdays have arrived at Skeeter’s Mesquite Grill. Each location is participating in this special where you get two tacos with chips and salsa for $7. You can pair any two tacos off the menu together, which normally cost $3.25 to $4.75 each. Make a meal with the fried avocado…
The 5 Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Andre Watts, Ira Glass and More
There’s an interesting backstory to the piano concerto that is the focus of the Houston Symphony’s concert Andre Watts Plays Rachmaninoff, our pick for Friday. The Russian pianist and composer had fallen into a deep depression after the critical failure of his first symphony (the work later went on to…
Requiem for the iPod
The year was 2002, and I was in the back of my mom’s Chevy high-top. She was driving my brother to Sam’s Club to pick up his new blue iPod 1st Generation. For months, I watched him listen to Papa Roach and moody pop-rock queen Avril Lavigne as he sat…
Openings & Closings: Enjoy Sorrel While You Still Can
If you enjoy Sorrel Urban Bistro, you might want to get over there for their last few months of service. Greg Morago of Houston Chronicle reports that Ziggy Gruber, of Kenny & Ziggy’s, is taking over the space at 2202 West Alabama on January 1st to convert it into Dubrow’s…
Totally True Tales of Classic-Rock Debauchery!
Come with me now, rock music fan, to visit a bygone time of yore. Imagine a time when radio station program directors could actually program their radio stations. When artists both on the rise and hugely successful playing in town might drop by the station, hang with the DJs, and…
The 10 Biggest Country Stars Who Live in Texas
By Chris Gray and Matthew Keever HONORABLE MENTION: SUNNY SWEENEY Thus far mainstream success has eluded Sunny Sweeney, but not for lack of either talent or trying. According to her Facebook page, Sweeney (a former standup comic) has now played the Grand Ole Opry 41 times but continues to reside…
The 10 Best Concerts in Houston This Weekend: A Fistful of Soul, Untapped, Numbers’ 36th, etc.
Deep Cuts Fitzgerald’s, September 19 Deep Cuts have gone from first band of the night to last band on the bill in an impressive amount of time; less than two years by our watch. Honed by many, many shows in between (including a FPSF 2013 spot), Chase Harris and Zach…
Houston Cop Tells Senate Committee, “We Are Not the NSA,” Argues Against Cell-Phone Privacy Protections
UPDATE September 23, 2014: Days after this story went up on our website, a story came to light about a special machine that HPD has that can steal your phone data. ACLU experts have testified on a state level about the device. HPD doesn’t have much to say about it…
A Tradition Like No Other: NFL Jackasses Getting Arrested for Domestic Violence
Ok, NFL, you are seriously ridiculous. Perhaps it’s unfair of me to address the league as one collective entity, because honestly, most of the guys in the league, all of the ones I’ve associated closely with, are seemingly good people. They do things for charities, they’re kind to other adults…
Coheed and Cambria at House of Blues, 9/17/2014
Coheed and Cambria, Thank You Scientist House of Blues September 17, 2014 Concerts are rarely a communal experience, even though they should be. The reality is that we all get our tickets for different reasons; someone’s favorite band may just be “those guys who have that one song” to someone…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Rebecca Masson of Fluff Bake Bar
In Part 1, we learned about Rebecca Masson’s journey that would take her from the slopes of Breckenridge, to one of the finest culinary schools in the world and, eventually, to Houston. Here in Part 2, we’ll find out how she became a contestant on “Top Chef: Just Desserts” and…
The Man Behind the Voice: This American Life‘s Ira Glass on Dance, Taylor Swift and Pro Wrestling
“We know it’s a weird premise,” says Ira Glass, the radio host of the very literally titled Three Acts, Two Dancers, and One Radio Host, hitting the stage at the Wortham Theater Center on Saturday night. Best known for his day job as the host of the Peabody Award winning…
Texas Nursing Homes Worst in the Nation
Nursing homes in Texas can’t seem to get it right, complained a Florida advocacy group. Texas was ranked last for the second year in a row according to Families for Better Care, receiving an walloping “F” across six out of eight categories of measurement. According to the group’s report card,…
Savory Spice Shop in Rice Village: An Easy Way to Test Out New Smells and Tastes
It’s not every day a store clerk encourages you to drop your sample on the floor once you’ve finished testing it. It makes sense, though, at Rice Village’s Savory Spice Shop where 99 percent of the wares are in powdered form. The store has been open since August, but had…
Root! Root! for Root Sports Houston!
If Judge Marvin Isgur approves the bankruptcy plan proposed for CSN Houston, Houston sports fans will be able to watch the Rockets this season. They’ll no longer be able to watch the Dynamo, or any of the Houston-centric sportscasts aired by CSN Houston, but the return of the World Poker…
The 5 Best Happy Hours in the Galleria
If you love happy hour as much as we do, you’ll love this new series. We’re taking a look at the best happy hours in town, ‘hood by ‘hood. To narrow it down, we’re focusing on the spots with the best deals on not only drinks, but eats, too. From…
9 Fall Trends for People With No Extra Time & Limited Cash, Like Me
Last week, The Galleria hosted a fashion extravaganza to launch the new Fall season. Simon Malls invited Vogue, GQ, and Glamour magazine reps and local bloggers to host a huge fashion show and trends presentation for guests. Everything was quite impressive and the clothing was, of course, superb, but as…
The Rocks Off 200: We Were Wolves, Howlers at the Moon Tower
Welcome to The Rocks Off 200, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. See previous entries in the Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? This here…
4 Classic Video Games for Ridiculous Perverts (NSFW)
I remember when I first started playing video games again after a long hiatus. That was in the PS2 days, and one of those games was God of War. I was shocked that in addition to allowing increasingly ridiculous amounts of ultra violence into gaming, it was now apparently OK…
A Wine Competition for a Cause: Iron Sommelier 2014
Iron Sommelier, the annual wine competition and fundraiser, returns on October 2nd from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at The Houstonian. The event benefits The Periwinkle Foundation, a non-profit organization which helps seriously ill children and their families. It’s also an opportunity for Houston’s top sommeliers to go out and…
Appeals Court Strikes Down “Improper Photography” Law
A Texas appeals court has ruled the state can’t ban “improper photography” in public places, striking down a sweeping law that criminalized photos taken in public “with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.” Like many free speech battles, the underlying case that triggered the…
10 Best Successful Houston Kickstarters
For around two years now, I have been covering the best crowd-sourced projects by Houstonians, and this month, instead of the usual roundup, we’re going to look back over some of those projects to see which were both awesome and successful. Stuff like… Rotten Writer/director Dallas Box came highly recommended…
Sampling Joe Sample: 1977
By 1977, the individual members of the Crusaders were so successful that the pressure to record two albums a year no longer applied. There was no new Crusaders album in 1977, but that doesn’t mean the members weren’t working, and working hard. Trombonist Wayne Henderson was trying his hand at…
Filling the Gaps: Tel-Wink Grill
I’ve lived in Houston for 22 years. It took me 16 of those to visit the Rothko Chapel for the first time. I didn’t eat at Ninfa’s on Navigation until I’d counted myself a Houstonian for nearly a decade. I still haven’t eaten at Frenchy’s. The list of glaring omissions…
Rob Gullatte’s “Seen It All” Passes the Sniff Test
The fun thing about having a rap column is that you get to sift through plenty to understand even more. Some projects, such as the fruitful, fire-charged ones by Neko and Stephen Jackson this week, are preludes to something bigger (Neko as an EP, Jackson as an album-before-the-album a la…
Border Disorder
Some movies seem to be put on this Earth just for actors. You look at the synopsis of a picture, and you think, “Well, it could be OK,” but then you notice who’s in it — maybe a performer you like but haven’t seen in a while, or someone you…
“Illustrations of War & Peace by Igor Karash”
See Leo Tolstoy’s most famous work from a new perspective at the “Illustrations of War & Peace by Igor Karash” exhibit. An award-winning artist, the Azerbaijan-born Karash created the illustrations for an upcoming reprint of the novel. Karash has worked with theater companies in Russia and the United States as…
Nice Guy Denzel Kills in the Cartoonish Equalizer
Before its regular-joe hero gets bitten by a radioactive equation and becomes the Equalizer, who’s sort of the Rain Man of puncturing Russian mobsters’ windpipes with corkscrews, Antoine Fuqua’s eye-gouging, brain-drilling, crowd-pleasing latest gives you a reel or two to remember what movies felt like back when they were about…
Grub-eating Boxtrolls Thrive in Moral Grayness
The Boxtrolls is a kiddie charmer that makes you laugh, cower and think of Hitler. That’s an unusual trifecta, but then again, this is an unusual film. If the German Expressionists were skilled at stop-motion animation, they’d have already made it. This is a cartoon Caligari, a fable set on…
Kevin Nealon
If you’ve ever wanted to pump up with those Saturday Night Live muscle heads Hans and Franz, make your way down to Improv to catch a performance from comedian Kevin Nealon. He is, after all, one half of that meaty late night duo of olde. As a cast member during…
Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival
Returning to Houston for a second time, Funny or Die’s Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival -delivers the funniest faces from television and film. This one-night-only affair features recent Emmy Award winners Louis C.K. (Louie) and Sarah Silverman (We Are Miracles) as headliners alongside a murderer’s row of comics like Marc…
Three Acts, Two Dancers and One Radio Host
“We know it’s a weird premise,” says Ira Glass, the voice of Three Acts, Two Dancers and One Radio Host. Best known for his work on the Peabody Award winning radio program This American Life, Glass understands that the idea of mixing the very visual medium of dance and very…
André Watts Plays Rachmaninoff
There’s an interesting backstory to the piano concerto that is the focus of the Houston Symphony’s concert André Watts Plays Rachmaninoff. The Russian pianist and composer had fallen into a deep depression after the critical failure of his first symphony (the work later went on to much acclaim). Rachmaninoff’s Piano…
Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series: David Mitchell
The 2014/2015 Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series opens with novelist David Mitchell, author of The Bone Clocks. Called “a genius” by The New York Times Book Review, Mitchell has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine. His previous work includes the…
The Little Tramp at 100: Centennial 35mm Screening of City Lights
The Southwest Alternate Media Project celebrates one of the most beloved talents ever seen on screen in The Little Tramp at 100: Centennial 35mm Screening of City Lights. Charlie Chaplin was responsible for dozens of landmark performances and innovations as both an actor and director in the early days of…
I Live Well But I’m Not Happy. Help!
Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off’s advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, “funny, serious or unpredictable.” Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! I WANT TO LEARN HOW TO BE HAPPY Dear Willie D: I’m a computer analyst who…
History in Print Author Series — The Astrodome: Building an American Spectacle
It was 1960 and a group of men in Houston set out to build a “room.” Not just any “room;” mind you. They wanted to build the largest “room” in the world. It had to be big enough to hold an entire baseball field, bright enough to grow grass with…
If You’re Not a Rich Dope, This Is Where I Leave You Offers Nothing
“I’ve spent my whole life playing it safe,” whines Judd Altman (Jason Bateman), the middle-class milquetoast at the center of This Is Where I Leave You. Yes, well, so has director Shawn Levy, but on the basis of his latest vacuous trifle he has no apparent intention, as Altman does,…
What’s Opera, Duck?
It began as a fundraiser for the Moores Opera Center, but What’s Opera, Duck? has developed into an unlikely niche: casual opera. Buck Ross, director of the Moores Opera Center, part of the nationally recognized Moores School of Music, is acting as emcee for the concert. Calling it an “entirely…
Capsule Art Reviews: September 18, 2014
“Earl Staley: Reconstructions” The transformations caused by time and the evolution of thought have been illustrated brilliantly by artist Earl Staley, who did a series of paintings of Greco-Roman mythology 30 years ago, and has now cut each of these works into strips of canvas, repainted over them with brush…
The Piano Guys
Marketing professionals will tell you that often, simplicity and directness is the key to establishing brand identity. So if you buy a ticket to see The Piano Guys, don’t expect to hear a horn section. Though you will, oddly enough, get a cello. Producers, videographers, songwriters and musicians Paul Anderson,…
Capsule Stage Reviews: September 18, 2014
Capsule reviews by D.L. Groover The 39 Steps A.D. Players has one of its freshest, funniest productions in memory with Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps. This 2008 Tony-winner and Drama Desk award recipient for “unique theatrical experience” is just plain goofy — and that goofiness is…
From Houston to the World
Audiences have the opportunity to revisit three repertory jewels in From Houston to the World, a mixed-rep program composed of works created especially for the dancers of the Houston Ballet. The program includes Edwaard Liang’s breathtakingly beautiful Murmuration. The inspiration for the work, which features eight couples and a male…
The Waiting Game and Black Mexicans
Dear Mexican, A very close friend of mine is supposed to become a U.S. citizen. He was brought here by his parents when he was nine and has been illegal since then. When the laws changed, he went through a lot of hoops and it really didn’t look good for…
7th Annual Houston Fringe Festival
Don’t say that you weren’t warned if you get syphilis at the 7th Annual Houston Fringe Festival. Kaci Beeler, along with co-producer Curtis Luciani and a troupe of improvisational actors, perform F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Save the World: A Maladjusted All-Star Comedy Disaster (9:30 p.m. September 25 and 27,…
No Good Deed: Oh, to Be Rich and Hunted by Idris Elba!
Married Women Over 30, here’s a pitch for a movie: My Dinner With Idris. You never thought it would happen to you, but one rainy night when your handsome and successful but distracted husband who doesn’t appreciate you is out of town, Idris Elba (The Wire, Mandela: Long Walk to…
Women in the Pit
It would be easy to assume the pit in Women in the Pit refers to the pulpit; the play is about a congregation searching for a new pastor. But that’s not it, playwright Joyce Sylvester tells us. “It’s the pit that women fall into, get thrown into sometimes. The pit…
A Chopped-Up Eleanor Rigby Suffers a Fate Worse Than Loneliness
In two minutes, the Beatles captured the empty life of sad singleton Eleanor Rigby. Director Ned Benson is devoting three films to her namesake — a New York divorcée (Jessica Chastain) — and this first entry, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them, barely explains her at all. Wan and adrift,…
Peace in Our Time
In a departure from history and from his usual brittle and sophisticated comedies, playwright Noel Coward wrote a story in which the Battle of Britain was lost to Germany, which has taken over England. Little produced — it has a large cast and while it has humorous elements, it is…
Before They Were Stars, They Were…Awful
Let’s talk about genre-jumpers, shall we? A number of successful artists have made the leap from one genre to another at some point in their careers. but it doesn’t always pay off. Take Darius Rucker, for example. The onetime Hootie and the Blowfish front man made the right choice by…
Wiig and Hader Brave Despair in The Skeleton Twins — and Still Get Laughs
Surprisingly moving for a film assembled from such familiar scenes, Craig Johnson’s The Skeleton Twins mushes together queasy/quirky indie family drama with the beats of a romantic comedy. You know the outline just from eyeballing the poster: Kristen Wiig’s Maggie and Bill Hader’s Milo find their way toward loving each…
A Walk Among the Tombstones Is the Kind of Thriller Liam Neeson Deserves
They’ve done it at last: made a Liam Neeson-stomps-some-ass flick where, as the credits roll, there’s more stuff to be glad you saw than Neeson himself. Based on one of those Lawrence Block novels that’s pretty smart but also too invested in the mechanics of rape and torture, the movie’s…
Kevin Smith’s Tusk Labors for Infamy
Kevin Smith is a bright guy who over the years has become a little too taken with his own persona, his own jokes, his own cult following — it’s the filmmaker’s equivalent of getting high on your own supply. No matter how awkwardly pontifical or ill-shapen his movies have gotten…
