Mother Drummer: Paige Powell Is Learning to Love “Lady Music”
Adam P. Newton recently became a father for the first time, so he has decided to explain the entirety of post-WWII Western pop music to his new daughter, “FIg”…one genre at a time. From time to time, he also chats with child-rearing Houston musicians. Good morning, Fig! Ready to chat…
Reviews For The Easily Distracted: The Martian
Title: The Martian Describe This Movie In One Simpsons Quote: “The only danger is if they send us to that terrible Planet of the Apes. Wait a minute … Statue of Liberty … that was our planet! You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!” Rating Using Random…
Houston’s Best Free Concerts in October
* Events in italics are free to $5+ due to possible age restrictions/club membership. EDITOR’S PICKS Trudy Lynn, Jewel Brown, Trudy Lynn, Milton Hopkins: A true All-Star Houston Blues Revue. (October 8) Romeo Dogs: Veteran Houston roadhouse rockers have a nearly bottomless repertoire. (October 9) Mucky Duck Irish Sessons: Houston’s top…
100 Favorite Houston Dishes 2015, No. 53: Foie Gras Breakfast at Triniti
Phaedra Cook is eating her way through Houston and counting down her 100 favorite dishes of 2015. It’s a collection of personal favorites that is also indicative of Houston dining. It’s a scene where a vast range of dishes coexist: highbrow and lowbrow; local and international; cheap and expensive; modern…
100 Favorite Houston Dishes 2015, No. 54: Korean Fried Chicken at The ToreOre at Super H Mart
Phaedra Cook is eating her way through Houston and counting down her 100 favorite dishes of 2015. It’s a collection of personal favorites that is also indicative of Houston dining. It’s a scene where a vast range of dishes coexist: highbrow and lowbrow; local and international; cheap and expensive; modern…
12 Tips Bands Applying to SXSW Should Know
If your band is hoping to showcase at South By Southwest 2016, the pressing business is to meet the application deadline of 11:59 p.m. Friday, October 23. If you haven’t done so, then: a) quickly read the rest of this informative article; and b) complete the application already, slacker. You…
Don’t Miss Houston’s Newest Fall Menus (UPDATED)
While the air has been getting slightly crisper, Houston restaurants have been working up new seasonal menus perfect for the changing weather. From a hearty mushroom stroganoff to rich pumpkin fudge, here is Houston’s Fall 2015 Menu Roundup: Berryhill, all locations October’s taco of the month is taking the field…
5 More Haunted Places in Texas for Ghost Hunters to Explore
As time draws nearer to Halloween, more of us begin to long for some spooky fun, and prepare for our scariest holiday. But Texas is a huge place, with plenty of real ghost stories attached to places scattered throughout the state, and that means people who wish to have encounters…
What’s the Use of a Live Album Nowadays?
On October 9, Johnny Marr, the guitar legend who made up an integral part of the Smiths’ sound, will release a new live record documenting his latest tour, entitled Adrenalin Baby. At one time live records were cause for excitement, but I can’t help but feel like this followup to…
Eastdown Warehouse’s Rapid Rise to Crucial Local Venue
The proprietor of Randall’s BBQ pulled a pork rib from his barrel smoker and walked it over to us. The smoke that emerged from within the pit seemed to envelop him. It followed him and gave us the illusion that he was some sort of barbecue angel from on high,…
Kim Burrell, Houston’s Pastor and Gospel Singer to the Stars
Kim Burrell is the singer the stars call on when they’re looking for some real gospel. When she was in her mid-twenties, Stevie Wonder told her, “when I hear you sing, I hear God.” As a last-minute Jazz at Lincoln Center replacement for Dianne Reeves a few years ago, Wynton…
Randy Bullock Warning Shot: Texans Bring in Five Kickers for Tryouts
“We need to cover better. Obviously, we need to kick better. Extra Points, field goals. We need to kick better. I thought Shane [Lechler] punted pretty well today. We need to understand on the sky punt situation, how to guard the goal line and down punt inside the five yard…
Report: Harris County Could Save Millions by Not Jailing Drug Offenders
To Texas Criminal Justice Coalition Project Attorney Jay Jenkins, Harris County’s jail diversion program for potheads is good—but not good enough. In October 2014, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office launched the First Chance Intervention Program, which gives first-time pot offenders (class B misdemeanor only) the option of community service…
Matilda the Musical: Come See the Wormwoods Get Their Comeuppance
A young girl, unappreciated and abused by her parents (Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood) and the principal (Miss Trunchbill) of the school she’s sent to, somehow remains true to herself and prospers. “She shows her strength and she stands up for what’s right. I’m so excited to share with that with…
Kings Chicken Tandoori Cuisine Delivers Its Namesake in Grand Style
When a place is called Kings Chicken Tandoori Cuisine, the namesake dish had better be good. Indeed, even when served buffet-style, the Tandoori chicken is a better prospect than the usual. Here, it achieves its higher form. It’s smoky, but not dry as is too often typical. The interior is…
“Songs of Lao”: The Photos of Kenro Izu and the Spirits of the Lao People
The small child in Hmong Girl is wearing her nicest clothes for the camera, though she seems uncomfortable with her disheveled collar and nervous hands as she sits on the dirty steps. She appears again in Hmong Girl with her Grandma; this time the nervousness is gone, as she poses…
TV Viewers Held Hostage In Contract Battle Between KHOU and DISH [UPDATED]
DISH and KHOU are fighting again, which means all of Houston’s innocent DISH subscribers who are stuck in the middle might have one less TV channel to watch starting Wednesday evening. Apparently Houston’s CBS affiliate KHOU and DISH, the national TV-provider company, have reached an impasse in their negotiations over…
The Rise and Crashing Fall of Girls and Boys Academy
During the 2014-15 school year, students at the Girls and Boys Preparatory Academy, a Houston charter school in Harris County, were taken over to Fort Bend County by school van on a Saturday to do volunteer work for the Fort Bend Democratic Party. As a student wrote in a letter…
One Man, Two Guvnors Starts the Alley Theatre Season in Style
It’s 1960s England and skiffle music – a sort of American folk music played on the poorest of instruments (think washboards) – has been all the rage since being brought over in the 1940s and ’50s. “Everybody and their mother played skiffle. There were estimated to be 20,000 to 50,000…
This Week in Houston Food Blogs: Southern Cooking Tips and DIY Cured Olives
This week, we’ve got some excellent recipes to get you in the spirit of fall (even though the thermometer still says summer), plus a few restaurant reviews and some cooking myth-bustering that you desperately need. Nishta shared this pear-hazelnut muffin recipe on Blue Jean Gourmet that has us thinking of…
Flood City, Part 2: HFD Wasn’t Prepared to Handle the Memorial Day Flood or its Victims
(This is the second part of a series on the Memorial Day flood. Go here to read the first part of the series.) The weary crew of Rescue Boat 42 motored through Meyerland’s flooded streets in silence. On the left side of the boat sat 55-year-old Leslie Alter and her…
Doctor Who: “The Witch’s Familiar” Is Disturbingly Magical
There is a lot to love and even more to unpack in Season 9’s blockbuster two-part opening, but let’s start with something meta-critical of showrunner Steven Moffat. There are several recurring criticisms of him. One is that his writing involving female characters is often a little sexist, something that could…
100 Favorite Houston Dishes 2015, No. 55: Bibimbap From BiBiJo Express in Super H Mart
Phaedra Cook is eating her way through Houston and counting down her 100 favorite dishes of 2015. It’s a collection of personal favorites that is also indicative of Houston dining. It’s a scene where a vast range of dishes coexist: highbrow and lowbrow; local and international; cheap and expensive; modern…
Upcoming: Adam Lambert, Buzzfest 32, Golden Dawn Arkestra, Insane Clown Posse, The SLAB Tour, Tori Kelly, etc.
The 3DNATEE Show: With Big Bad Kab, NEGUS, Karma Jonze, Reginald Gohnson. Tue., October 6, 8 p.m., $15 to $30. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston, 713-225-5483. 80 Proof Band: Fri., October 9, 8 p.m., $5 to $10. Concert Pub — Galleria, 5636 Richmond, Houston, 713-278-7272. 93.7 The Beat presents…
Houston Supports Tejano Por Siempre in Grand Fashion
La Mafia, David Lee Garza y Los Musicales, Emilio Navaira, Jay Perez, Ram Hererra El Dorado Western Club Parking Lot @ Almeda Mall September 26, 2015 Friday evening, the night before the inaugural Tejano Por Siempre Music Festival was to take place, the heavens opened up and poured sheets of…
Selena Gomez & A$AP Rocky’s “Good For You”: Why This Song Sucks
Let’s start off this “Why This Song Sucks” with an anecdote. Around 19 years old, I dated a girl. She was pretty and nice, and thought I wasn’t a complete loser who thought I only wanted her because she had decent-sized boobs. It lasted like most typical relationships do, where she…
NASA Announces Liquid Water Has Been Discovered on Mars
It’s official. On Monday morning NASA scientists announced they have confirmed there is liquid water on Mars. The space agency had announced there would be a press conference to announce a “major scientific mystery” on Friday, but they didn’t elaborate on what sort of discovery they’d made. However, within hours…
College Football, Week 4 — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
We are four weeks into the college football season, and we officially have our first “winners and losers” topic/person that I didn’t include in a post because he’s so great, that it’s just going to be repetitive to list him with three other people here every week. His greatness is…
Houston Sex Workers Accuse Reality Show Producers of Fraud
Last October, a television producer called the woman while she was at the West Oaks Hospital in a drug rehab program. The cable network A&E was producing a reality series about sex work in Houston and was looking for anyone willing to be interviewed. Producers with the show would twice…
Texas Police Organization Says Fundraising Company Up to No Good (taken offline 4-15-19)
The state’s largest law enforcement officers’ association is warning affiliates in Texas not to partner with a private California fundraising company that was once cited for not being properly registered in that state. The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas says that New Equity Productions’ “standard contract allows it to…
Catastrophic Theatre Presents a Loving Tribute to the Avant-garde in The Danube
The set-up: The final apocalyptic image in Mariá Irene Fornés’s dystopian drama, The Danube, finds her hapless characters flash-frozen in a blinding burst of white light and giant whomp of electronic noise. They go out with a bang. The execution: A mysterious illness plagues 1930s Budapest, felling these ordinary people…
You Can’t Miss These 10 Stand-Out Toronto Festival Films
Summer officially starts to end with the dawn of film festival season, when we critics pack our suitcases and trek to the Toronto International Film Festival to see what great, smart, small movies are going to make a run at the art house, or even the Oscars. The 10 best…
Cougars Destroy Texas State to Go 3-0 on Season
The first game of the Tony Levine regime was the last time that Texas State visited the Houston Cougars. The Bobcats, playing their first game ever as a FBS-level team, defeated the Cougars in one of the biggest upsets of 2012. Levine’s offensive coordinator “resigned” the next day. Levine and…
Dish of the Week: Cincinnati Chili
From classic comfort foods to regional standouts and desserts, we’ll be sharing a new recipe with you each week. Find other dishes of the week here. This week, we’re going Midwest with Cincinnati Chili. Often served over spaghetti or on coneys (hot dogs), Cincinnati chili is a meat sauce made…
Meet the Ultimate Black Widow in As Bees in Honey Drown
The set-up: Con artist deluxe Alexa Vere de Vere loves to drop names. During her non-stop sweet-sell assault, she might mention Andy Warhol, then Gore Vidal, maybe rocker Simon Le Bon, or her intimate friend Lord Chichester. She’s so adept at dropping names, she even dropped hers, Barbara Gelb…years ago…
Woodlands Pavilion Goes For Hall and Oates In a Big Way
Hall and Oates, Mutlu Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 26, 2015 In the brilliant viral Web series “Yacht Rock” – which fictitiously imagines the lives and interactions of the Super Soft Rockers of the seventies – “Hall and Oates” are tough street outsiders from Philly who want to bust into the cozy…
Mac Sabbath at Scout Bar: WTF Did I Just Witness?
Mac Sabbath Scout Bar September 26, 2016 When you find yourself at a Mac Sabbath show, painfully sober and fully self-aware, you may question your own motives for attending such an event. Perhaps, you may even question the deeper purpose of your life and it’s seemingly aimless, coincidental and chaotic…
This Apocalypse Sucks! Why the Blood Moon Didn’t Kill Us, and 6 Other Failed Doomsdays
Once again, the world has failed to end, despite predictions by some soothsayers who claimed that the supermoon eclipse wasn’t just a rare and awe inspiring astronomic event, but instead a dreadful “Blood Moon” that would usher in the apocalypse. Since the world still seems to be here, and isn’t…
NFL Week 3: Texans-Buccaneers — 4 Winners, 4 Losers
So this past week, around Wednesday, when asked a question by ESPN.com’s Tania Ganguli about previous 0-2 outfits he had coached, Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien went on a mini-tirade before Ganguli could even finish her question. He brought up his awareness of the percentage of 0-2 teams that…
This Week in Houston Food Events: Fall Festivals Abound
All Week Long Dessert for the Dogs at Tony Mandola’s When you buy a dessert in September at Tony Mandola’s, 1212 Waugh, Tony will give $1 to BARC, the City of Houston animal shelter. As if that weren’t incentive enough to spend a meal at the creole and Italian restaurant,…
David Lee Roth Delivers for Van Halen…Mostly
Van Halen Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 25, 2015 In a provocative article published by Billboard magazine back in June, Eddie Van Halen is quoted as saying of David Lee Roth, “He does not want to be my friend,” and went on to explain that he thinks that Roth should…
Zedd Keeps It Simple and Amazing at Revention
Zedd, Madeon, Borgore (?!?), Alex Metric Revention Music Center September 25, 2015 There are no surprises in a Zedd set, but that’s a good thing. It’s not that EDM fans aren’t receptive to surprises – more on that further down the page – but when you have a crowd packed…
The 10 Most Relieved Texans-Bucs Rapper Tweets
The Houston Texans’ 2015 season began with HBO’s Hard Knocks introducing the team to America at large. It took a month of filming and some fancy editing to present to the nation our sometimes thrilling and frequently frustrating NFL franchise. Home Box Office could have saved all that time and…
Legendary Crusaders Sax Man Wilton Felder Passes Away
Houston and the world lost a giant today with the passing of Wilton Felder, saxophonist for the fabled Crusaders. Mr. Felder was 75. Word of his passing reached the Internet via longtime collaborator Ray Parker, Jr.’s Facebook page around 2 p.m. today. Felder’s passing comes only a year after the…
Jury Finds Former Nurse Guilty of Salt Poisoning Daughter
For jurors to find Katie Alice Ripstra guilty of child abuse, defense attorney Casey Garrett said in her closing argument, they would have to believe that Ripstra was drawing blood from her three-year-old “like a vampire” and flushing it down the toilet. That she was intentionally putting salt and bacteria…
Texas Is Now a Drug Dealer, According to Court Filing
The last time state prison officials revealed their supplier death penalty drugs the source dried up. Two years ago, The Woodlands Compounding Pharmacy backed out of its deal with the state and demanded prison officials return its vials of pentobarbital, the sedative Texas uses to execute inmates. A public records…
Talking Tejano Por Siempre With Bo Corona
“DUN NAH NA NA NA, NA, NA, NA, DUN NAH NA NA NA… BO! CORONA!!!” For many Tejanos living and growing up in the barrios of Houston back in the 1990s, this was the entry music you heard as you tuned your radio to KXTJ Super Tejano 108 FM (which…
KTRU Due Back on FM Dial Next Friday
KTRU, the beloved Rice University student-radio station that was relegated to the Internet and one of KPFT’s HD channels after its frequency at 91.7 FM was bought by the University of Houston in 2011, announced this morning it will return to the FM dial next Friday. The new low-power frequency…
College and NFL Football: This Weekend’s Best Bets
Three weeks in, we’re still sort of treading water a little bit with my picks. A couple of 3-3 weeks sandwiched around a 4-2 week. No disasters yet, but not a big enough jump to buy that Gulfstream you’ve had your eye on. So let’s get it cranked up this…
Lawsuit Alleges Daycare Center Allowed a “Toddler Fight Club”
In a lawsuit filed in Montgomery County Thursday, a mother alleges that someone at a daycare center filmed her son fighting with another kid as part of a “toddler fight club.” Heather Howerton says that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services contacted her last December about a video…
When Do We Start Treating Baylor Like One of the Bad Guys?
Outlaw programs in college sports are usually easy to define. Any school that hires Lane Kiffin or Tim Floyd or John Caliperi is odds on a favorite to be an outlaw program. Think USC about a decade ago. Think Oklahoma while Barry Switzer was in charge, or while Kelvin Sampson…
Houston’s 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Oktoberfest Is Back!
Galveston Island Shrimp Festival @ 23rd & Strand Friday – Sunday 2300 Strand Hit the island for three shrimp-filled days of fun. Weekend highlights include the Shrimp Gumbo Cook-Off, Gumbo Tasting, 5k, Lil’ Shrimps Parade, and Strand Merchant Walk-About on Saturday; plus a free outdoors show and plenty of fresh…
Will Lawmakers Reform the System That Keeps Poor, Legally Innocent People in Lockup?
When state lawmakers met to discuss jail policies this week, Sen. John Whitmire rattled off a list of names to show how even a short stint in lockup can lead to tragedy. There was Sandra Bland, whose arrest and ultimate hanging death inside the Waller County jail this summer became…
4 Lessons I’ve Learned at County Fairs
I love fairs and carnivals, and always have. I grew up going to the Fort Bend County Fair almost every year until I hit my thirties, and still try to visit it when I can. I have many vivid memories of that fair and others, but they’ve also taught me…
Upcoming Houston Food Events: Pizzas, BBQ & an Oktoberfestivus
Join the Houston Food Bank in a special Happy Hour for Hunger on Wednesday, September 30 at 1919 Wine & Mixology, 2736 Virginia. For $10, guests will get two drinks and $6 will go back to the Houston Food Bank. The happy hour runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. …
Buccaneers-Texans, Week 3 — Four Things to Watch For
Back in the day, Notre Dame head football coach Lou Holtz used to talk about inferior opponents in glowing terms. Even when he was sitting there with a roster full of future first round NFL draft choices, Holtz would tell the media how he was “scared to death of the…
Openings and Closings in Houston: Good-bye, Commonwealth; Hello, The Barking Pig
Although unconfirmed, it appears that Commonwealth at 4601 Washington has shuttered its doors for good instead of simply undergoing the rebranding that we previously reported. The phone line is out of service, the Twitter page has been taken down and a reader reported an eviction notice on the door. The…
dj NIMBUS Salutes Three Years of Exposure, Houston’s Go-To House Party
For more than 20 years, dj NIMBUS (born Greg Stevens) has been mixing house, soul, techno, hip-hop, and more in various places. His brainchild, a monthly party called Exposure, is held every fourth Friday and celebrates its three-year anniversary tonight at Cafe 4212 in Third Ward. The Press recently spoke…
The 5 Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Danube, Goldthwait and more
You’re going to have to fill in some blanks this Friday at Catastrophic Theatre’s The Danube. There’s a plot, sure. An American, Paul (played by Troy Schulze), visits a foreign country and falls in love with a woman there, Eve (Amy Bruce). As the two begin their relationship, both are…
Midtown’s 10 Least Douchey Bars
Houston’s Midtown district has not always had the best reputation for nightlife, and the recent allegations of discriminatory practices by the nightclub Gaslamp and the subsequent video statement from its lawyer have angered many and turned them off further from the scene; there are, however, some cool bars and clubs…
The 10 Greatest Tribute-Band Gimmicks of All Time
In some small way, perhaps Mac Sabbath was inevitable. Just as Black Sabbath arose from the soot of Birmingham, England, to herald the end of pop’s peace-and-love ‘60s and usher in something altogether darker and heavier, now, too, has a Black Sabbath cover band dressed as funhouse-mirror McDonaldland freaks appeared,…
Gaslamp Owner Wants Out, Says Allegations of Racism Have “Hurt Me More Than Anybody Else”
On most nights, the red and green neon sign at Gaslamp is brightly lit as music emanates from inside the Midtown club. However, it was completely dark on Wednesday night, likely due to the TABC suspension of their mixed beverage license that lasted from September 16 up until yesterday. Gaslamp,…
New Billboards Highlight Efforts To Free Captive Journalist Austin Tice
It has been over 1,000 days that Houston native Austin Tice has been held in captivity for being a journalist. That’s what four Houston-area billboards, paid for by his parents and donations, seek to remind not just passers-by, but the U.S. government. Tice disappeared in Syria in August 2012. A…
Houston Hates The Gas Can That Is The Astros Bullpen
It was shaping up to be a pretty enjoyable Wednesday afternoon, with a nice businessman’s special out at Minute Maid Park, a game that looked like it was shaping up to be an Astros win when they scored two runs to take a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the…
Bonnie & Clyde Comes to TUTS Underground As a Musical
Even though everyone knows how it’s going to end (badly), Bonnie & Clyde will have audiences rooting for the young couple to succeed, even if they are criminals, predicts Kathryn Porterfield, a recent Sam Houston State BFA grad who’s playing the lead female role in the musical Bonnie & Clyde…
Will Scott Panetti Get a Chance to Prove He’s Too Mentally Ill to Be Executed?
Twenty years ago, a man in a purple cowboy suit was sentenced to death after failing to convince jurors that he was insane. After he was accused of murdering his in-laws in 1992, Scott Panetti was found competent to stand trial and defend himself, despite having been diagnosed with schizophrenia…
Honky-Tonk Heroes Are Scarce Nowadays, Except Dale Watson
Dale Watson is a straight shooter and the most authoritative baritone this side of Johnny Cash; when he sings something, you believe it straightaway. He usually spends a couple of hundred days a year on the road, and whenever he goes out of state or overseas, Watson reinforces an image…
The Sexy Donald Trump Halloween Costume Worries Me
Yes, there is a Sexy Donald Trump Costume out there. It’s being marketed under the name Donna T. Rumpshaker, which is how costume makers avoid getting sued while simultaneously showing you they have the sense of humor of a high school freshman. This ensemble comes with a shirt, blazer, tie…
Rodney Justo, Atlanta Rhythm Section’s First Singer, Signs On For Another Tour
In the revolving door-lineups of classic-rock bands over the years, the lead singer is usually the most difficult to replace. His or her look and sound are often the most distinctive, and locked in the collective audience memory. For the Atlanta Rhythm Section, it was Ronnie Hammond’s voice on classic-rock…
The Marriage of Burger and Fajita at Laurenzo’s Plus Last Chance for Sunday Gravy!
“Love,” as Johnny Cash wrote, “is a burnin’ thing.” That is certainly true in the happy marriage that is Laurenzo’s Fajita burger, made from a half-pound of ground fajita beef (yes, I note redundancy) and topped with caramelized onions, a thick slice of asadero cheese, avocado slices, and tongue-tickling poblano…
Suspended John Jay HS Football Players Allowed To Return To School In January (w/ VIDEO)
In the last 48 hours, we’ve moved closer to overall resolution and learned even more disturbing details behind an attack on a referee in a Texas high school football game a few weeks ago. To refresh the details on the attack, on September 4, two San Antonio-Jay High School football…
Three Things I Learned Working Club Security
I recently volunteered to help work security at a concert being held at a large club, and the experience was interesting. I’ve been going to concerts since the early 1980s, ranging from punk bands playing backyard parties or small clubs to huge festivals at arenas, and have seen countless bands…
#NewHoustonRap: Sauce Walka Will Never Apologize
By my count, I’ve written more about Sauce Walka, the Sauce Factory and any affiliate, offshoot or worth-mentioning clone than anyone. Last Friday, we went deep into the real purpose of the local rapper waging a war against Drake and his always hyperbolic, seemingly insanely invested for no other reason…
I Mask My Pain With Sex. Help!
CAN MY SISTER PUT MY MOM IN A NURSING HOME? Dear Willie D: My sister is making plans to put my mother in a nursing facility. She lives with my mother in Phoenix, and I live nearby, about 10-minutes away with my husband, and three sons. My mother is 63…
Defense Claims Girl’s Illness Stumped Doctors, So They Blamed Salt Poisoning
The first time jurors saw a mother accused of medical child abuse interact with her daughter was yesterday, when the defense showed videos of Katie Ripstra with her three-year-old. In the first video, Ripstra encourages her baby to take a spoonful of carrots as she sits in a kitchen high-chair…
Dude Says He Lost an Eye at University of Houston Frat Party
We’ve heard of drunken bros doing stupid, harmful stuff to each other, but the allegations in Brenton Griffin’s lawsuit against the University of Houston’s Sigma Phi Epsilon are a doozy: the 23-year-old says that he lost an eye at an SPE party in 2013, after he passed out and one…
R.I.P. Yogi Berra, 1925-2015
It’s been a rough month for the Astros’ family. Longtime announcer Gene Elston passed away on Septmeber 5 at the age of 93. Then, last Thursday, Hall of Fame announcer and voice of the Astros for most of the last three decades Milo Hamilton passed away at age 88. Now,…
Prairie View City Council Decides to Keep Sandra Bland Memorial Street Name
The street named in memory of Sandra Bland will stay that way. Last night, the Prairie View city council voted 4-1 to uphold its decision to name the road where Bland was arrested “Sandra Bland Memorial Parkway,” the as the Houston Chronicle first reported. The council first voted to rename the…
Buffalo Bills Fans Are Unwashed Savages (w/ VIDEO)
Never let it be said that I don’t provide as many varied services to Texans fans as I possibly can. Many of you look to me for analysis (sorry), prognostication (double sorry, lately), and a little but of humor (no apology there, I’m a funny mofo when I’m motivated). But…
100 Favorite Houston Dishes 2015, No. 56: Vegetarian Plate at Hugo’s
Phaedra Cook is eating her way through Houston and counting down her 100 favorite dishes of 2015. It’s a collection of personal favorites that is also indicative of Houston dining. It’s a scene where a vast range of dishes coexist: highbrow and lowbrow; local and international; cheap and expensive; modern…
Judge Halts $350 Million in Cuts to Children’s Therapy Services
After therapy providers and families with disabled children filed a second lawsuit against the state for the deep cuts it has ordered to Medicaid therapy services, a judge has halted the cuts from going through on October 1, as the Texas Tribune reported Tuesday evening. The lawsuit claims the Texas Health…
Don’t Miss Out on the Four Seasons Hotel Houston’s “Dinner and a Movie” Series
Since early August, Quattro Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Houston has been hosting a terrifically sophisticated yet terribly relaxing “dinner and a movie” series in which patrons feast on multiple while watching a popular movie. Films features thus far have included The Big Lebowski, Pretty Woman, The Sound of…
Trailblazing Houston Restaurant Churrascos Gets a Facelift for Its Silver Anniversary
There are probably a lot of commercial landlords in Houston who wish they were able to turn back the clock to 1988. That was the year when would-be restaurateur Michael Cordúa went from one to the other, seeking a site for his Latin American restaurant concept, Churrascos. The economy was…
Deep End Records Now Open Inside Walters Downtown
This weekend, the list of Houston’s local record shops officially grew with the opening of Deep End Records. What’s special about this shop, though, is that it’s not in your run-of-the-mill location. While stores like Heights Vinyl and Sig’s Lagoon are conveniently located near other shopping hot spots and music…
Catfish and the Bottlemen Are About More Than Just That Weird Name
OK, let’s get that name out of the way first. Even within the realm of rock and roll, it’s so unusual that Catfish and the Bottlemen have posted an adorable animated YouTube video about it. Long story short, front man Van McCann spent the early part of his life in Australia,…
The Intern Works Hard to Be With It, but De Niro’s Hardly Working
Some veteran filmmakers try to capture the younger generation and fail to get it right, coming up with characters and faux with-it dialogue that invite lots of “Oh, Mom!” eye-rolling. That’s not the problem with writer-director Nancy Meyers’s The Intern, in which retiree Robert De Niro finds meaning in life…
Foreclosure Drama 99 Homes Thrills With Its On-Point Fury
Right up into the 1960s, the Hays Code demanded that criminals in American movies face punishment by the final reel, a stricture that, however well-intentioned, served to propagate our national myth: that the only route to success is hard work and decency. Crime still doesn’t pay, exactly, onscreen — the…
99 Homes Star Michael Shannon Talks Monopoly and the Game of Life
Michael Shannon isn’t a stickler for rules. In his career, he’s ignored most of them, especially the mandate that a theater-trained, Oscar-nominated actor should shun the large roles in dumb movies that let him afford the smart ones. (See: Kangaroo Jack, Bad Boys II, Premium Rush, Man of Steel.) Shannon’s…
Pawn Sacrifice: A Chess Master Faces Off Against Himself
The hardest type of guy for an actor to play is one without charisma. That’s the challenge faced by Tobey Maguire in Edward Zwick’s Pawn Sacrifice, which tells the story of Cold War–era chess champ and totally strange human being Bobby Fischer. He’s good at it — maybe too good…
The Green Inferno Goes All In on Gore and Cruelty
With found footage having long ago supplanted torture porn as the horror subgenre du jour, the prospect of a new Eli Roth movie might seem even more dubious than it was during the director’s heyday. The Green Inferno arrives in theaters two years after making the festival rounds and a…
