UPDATED Houston’s Pride Parade Moving Out of Montrose to Downtown
Update 5:57 p.m. October 1. AbOUT Magazine has sent out an email blast calling for a meeting at Westheimer and Montrose at 9 p.m. today in support of the parade remaining in Montrose. Well, there’s been a lot of talk and reports (the Houston Press included) about the changing Montrose…
Best of Houston 2014: One Week to Go Before This Year’s BOH and Readers’ Choice Awards
Next week, the results of our annual search for all things “best” in Houston will be revealed in the October 9 edition of the Houston Press. We’ve munched burgers across the city, gone to all sorts of sporting events, and checked out promises big and small from politicians and officials…
Reality Bites: The Jennie Garth Project
There are a million reality shows on the naked television. We’re going to watch them all, one at a time. Jennie Garth is an actor. She’s best known for playing Kelly Taylor in the quintessential ’90s TV show Beverly Hills, 90210, and again in 90210, the CW’s not-at-all necrophiliac revival…
Red Tide Season Is Upon Us: Oysters and Fish Beware
Beware the red tide. That may sound like a pseudo-biblical warning, but the nasty algae that goes by that name is already popping up in Texas waters this season. And you know what this means: Oyster season, that magical time of the year when we can eat raw oysters fished…
OH!’s Erin Kenneavy Explains Rigoletto’s Gilda
Verdi’s tragedy Rigoletto, being presented by Opera in the Heights, is filled with contrary characters. There’s the Duke. An indulgent tyrant, he beds women — from young, innocent virgins to manipulating women of the court — as casual entertainment. (The role of the Duke is shared by Dane Suarez and…
Chef Chat, Part 1: Chris Shepherd of Underbelly
Chris Shepherd won the James Beard award for Best Chef: Southwest earlier this year. He is the first Houston chef to do so since Robert del Grande won in 1992, and has helped thrust our culinary scene into the national spotlight. Shepherd’s story is of a chef who has taken…
Controversial Pinot Noir Festival Slated to Come to Houston in 2015
In yet another sign that Houston is becoming one of the leading “wine destination” cities in the United States, California winemaker and festival co-founder Jasmine Hirsch (above) revealed yesterday that the controversial “In Pursuit of Balance” tasting will be held in Houston on March 30, 2015. It’s the first that…
UPDATED Ebola Reaches Texas: CDC Officials Confirm First U.S. Case in Dallas
Update: 2:35 p.m. October 1 Update: On Wednesday afternoon Gov. Rick Perry announced that five children who attend Dallas schools had contact with the Dallas Ebola patient and are being monitored at home for any signs of the disease. However, Perry used the press conference held at Texas Health Presbyterian…
This Week in Food Blogs: It’s Always Better With a Fried Egg
Zagat Houston: Marcy de Luna of Zagat Houston has the scoop on four new restaurants serving stellar brunches. You can’t miss the Quinoa Johnny Cakes with blueberries, maple syrup and Greek yogurt at True Food Kitchen in the Galleria area. Order the Cereal Crunch French Toast at Tout Suite –…
Fan Fighting League: Syracuse Squares Off With Notre Dame!
I attended the University of Notre Dame from the football seasons of 1987 through 1990. During that time, I saw a Heisman Trophy winner, a national championship and a lot of really good football. In my student lifetime there, I attended every home game and sat in the student section,…
What’s New on Netflix: October Releases
Just in case you might not want to spend all of October watching endless re-runs of installments from the Friday the 13th, Saw and Scream movie franchises, here are a few films that will be joining the Netflix line-up in October. There’s no particular theme here, just a random pick…
Review: Gratifi Stands Out for the Wrong Reasons
Brunch at Gratifi is a leisurely affair, whether or not you want it to be. A little less than two hours after we first sat down for brunch on Sunday, my wife’s pain perdue arrived, soggy in the middle. Perhaps the kitchen had rushed it out, a too-late attempt at…
Five Bands That Are Obvious Doctor Who Fans
Doctor Who fandom has spread across every corner of the Earth. To celebrate the return of the show to its eighth season, the cast took a worldwide trip to meet fans. Some of those fans are rock stars you know and love, and sometimes they let you know in the…
Cole Porter’s Anything Goes on Its Way to the Hobby Center
“Reno Sweeney is a nightclub singer and evangelist, which is a little contradictory,” says actress Emma Stratton who’ll play the character in the upcoming Broadway at the Hobby Center production of Anything Goes featuring music and lyrics by Cole Porter at the Hobby Center. The recent graduate of Penn State…
Sheriff Launches Investigation After Inmate Found in Cell With Bugs, Garbage and Feces
It’s not necessarily that Harris County Jail officials didn’t know about the squalid conditions inmate Terry Goodwin was forced to live in for weeks. It’s just that nobody told Sheriff Adrian Garcia about it, his office insists. Garcia would have immediately taken corrective action, according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Christina Garza,…
100 Creatives 2014: Mason Sweeney, Drawing Away the Pain
What He Does: When Mason Sweeney’s parents were going through a divorce, he sought solace in comic books. He was an imaginative kid, always trying to build replicas of Godzilla out of tin foil, and he realized that art could be used to escape from reality. Trading in crayons for…
How To: Make Your Own Chicken Liver Pâté
There are few foods that offer as much heme iron per serving as liver and if you suffer from anemia and like this author aspire to do endurance sports, a liverwurst sandwich, crackers and pâté, or liver ‘n’ onions (once a week or more) can really give you a boost…
Medical Marijuana Refugees Are Fleeing Texas to Help Their Loved Ones
Sitting cross-legged on the floor in her apartment outside of Houston, Faith’s mother looks over at the toddler repeatedly as she talks. There are no physical indicators that signal the start of a seizure, but Faith’s mother can tell one is on its way. Everything about raising Faith involves watching…
The 10 Best Coffee Shops in Houston
For most of us, our day hasn’t started until we take our first sip of coffee in the morning. America seriously runs on this stuff. No wonder people call it “liquid gold.” Gone are the days where Starbucks is the end-all-be-all place to grab a cup of Joe, especially in…
The Texans’ Toughest Opponent May Be Under Their Feet
With about three minutes to go in the first half of the season opener between the Houston Texans and Washington Redskins, the Redskins faced a daunting third down and 16 yards to go. The sellout crowd in NRG Stadium was already abuzz from DeAndre Hopkins’s 76-yard touchdown just minutes before,…
8 Things to Consider Before Getting a Tattoo
Tattoos were once considered taboo in this country, something ne’er-do-wells and criminals got to mark themselves as outsiders in society. Tattoos weren’t something respectable people considered for themselves. That’s changed, with something in the neighborhood of 23 percent of all Americans and 32 percent of people between the ages of…
Houston’s Best Music Photographers: Victor Cervantes
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…
Drink Like an Adult at El Patio’s Club No Minors
Driving anywhere near the Galleria is about as miserable as reliving the terrible events of the Houston Texans’ abysmal 2013 season; I shudder at the very thought. The area is always an overcrowded cesspool, swamped with traffic and plenty of tourists trying to find parking for the Cheesecake Factory. But…
Rock Songs That Will Creep the Hell Out of You
There have been popular songs with creepy or spooky lyrics since the beginning of rock music. Sure, entire subgenres are intentionally dark and scary, but when you filter out songs by shock-rockers, heavy metal bands and gothic groups, we are still left with plenty of songs that seem a little…
Houston Dancer Hopes Theft Won’t Dash His Documentary Dreams
All Jose Figueroa ever wanted to do was dance. This year, he also decided to make a documentary about it. The 49-year-old native Houstonian, who during the day teaches life skills to special-needs students at Channelview High School, has become a fixture in the smaller corners of the local music…
UPDATED America Family Law Center’s “Legal Aid” for Low-Income Folks Is Sorta Expensive
Update: We were awaiting comment from attorney Peter Bergman, who is the lawyer mentioned in McDermott’s letter, but not named in the original post. Bergman told us Tuesday morning that he could not recall if he ever met with the woman from McDermott’s letter, but would get back to us…
Chefs Represent Houston at Heritage Breed Pig Competition
The challenge: prepare six courses using as many parts of a whole heritage breed pig for 24 judges. Consider how hard it would be to pull that off for private guests, much less be judged on it! That, however, is exactly what each chef had to pull off last Sunday…
Palms at Scout Bar, 9/29/2014
Palms, Boyfrndz, Born From Ruins Scout Bar September 29, 2014 The last time we saw Chino Moreno around these parts, he was rocking one of the big stages at Free Press Summer Festival with the Deftones. In recent years, though, that band’s pace of output seemingly hasn’t been steady enough…
The Harris County DA’s Race Is Mostly About Drugs
This year, the race for Harris County District Attorney, who heads the largest prosecutor’s office in Texas and one of the largest in the country, is mostly about drugs. That much was clear in a debate this weekend hosted by Fox 26 between incumbent Republican Devon Anderson and Democratic challenger…
Italian Oil Exec Brings Food Makers to Houston
Representatives from six commercial food producers from the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna are visiting Houston this week on a trip organized by the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce of Texas. Their tour of the city included a walk-around tasting with Houston food buyers and restaurateurs yesterday at the Hilton Houston…
Takeout Trials: Tokyohana in Greenway Plaza
In the pepto-bismol colored shopping center known as the Greenway Plaza lies Tokyohana, a Japanese restaurant that offers patrons a Benihanaesque dining experience, i.e., communal tables surrounding a hibachi grill manned by a chef charged with entertaining as well as cooking. But, according to the website, Tokyohana isn’t your standard…
Zapruder Analysis of the “Wives of the SEC” Feature on GameDay
ESPN’s College GameDay is the gold standard for preview/studio shows. While I state this as opinion, by almost any statistical measurement, it is practically fact. The show attracts a couple million viewers every Saturday morning, draws another several thousand to whatever venue the traveling roadshow brings the circus to each…
Pop Rocks: ABC Turns Thursday Nights Into Must-See Shonda With Trio of Rhimes Dramas
Let’s be clear, there are few things as ridiculous as a Shonda Rhimes plot. Her wildly successful shows, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and the talk of the new fall television season, How to Get Away with Murder, are part soap operas and part romantic dramas with some Aaron Sorkin-like holier-than-thou speech-making…
Houston’s Best Music Photographers: Julian Bajsel
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…
Eat This: The Salted Caramel Peanut Tart at Tout Suite
Before Tout Suite opened in East Downtown, I knew the cafe would be serving incredible desserts and pastries, like those delicate macarons and beautiful cupcakes sold at the sister bakery, Sweet in CityCentre, along with a savory menu served throughout the day. But, the tarts and treats were a surprise…
Houston’s 10 Best Make-a-Wish Wishes
Here’s a factoid that will brighten your day a little because, trust me, you’re going to need all the sunshine in the world here in a minute. Houston is one of the highest-ranked cities in America when it comes to having the best charities. Only St. Louis has us beat…
Podcast: In The Equalizer, Denzel Kills, Summarizes Hemingway, Kills Again
As Bob McCall in The Equalizer, Denzel Washington plays a regular Joe who turns into an eye-gouging, brain-drilling nightmare for Boston’s Russian mob. At first Washington “toodles about a Home Depot-like store, helping customers, decked out in New Balance shoes and jeans so last-century you’ll be looking for pleats,” writes…
Doctor Who: “The Caretaker” and Class Warfare
One of the things that’s been hard about Peter Capaldi’s run on Doctor Who so far is that he feels very hard to know, let alone like. “The Caretaker” was honestly the first episode where I felt like I really understood where he was coming from, which led me to…
Middling Appetizers, Better Entrées at Polovina Italian Cafe
On the never-ending restaurant row that is Washington Avenue, it is easy to overlook Polovina Italian Cafe with its generic facade and mini-strip mall locale. Or, perhaps, people do look at Polovina and are confused. The menu features many red sauce Italian-American classics like chicken marsala, fettuccine alfredo, and eggplant…
Upcoming: Cheetah Chrome, Gene Watson, Night Ranger, Rosanne Cash, Skatestock III, etc.
Adam Bricks: With Bart Maloney & the Belmont Five, Cavern Hymnal. Fri., October 3, 9 p.m., TBA. Rudyard’s, 2010 Waugh, Houston, 713-521-0521. Adam Hood: Thu., October 2, 8:30 p.m., $15. Dosey Doe Music Cafe, 463 Fm 1488, Conroe, 936-271-2171. Adrian & the Sickness: With Bloodline 713, Gods, Funeral Shroud, the…
On Cusp of NBA Season, Rockets-Mavericks Rivalry Is Going Next Level
As much as we’d all like to get along, as much as life becomes easier with peace and harmony, there is no doubt that conflict stokes people. Many of you reading this live in the great state of Texas, where conflict is inherently baked into our opinions on the state…
Anti-Lilly & EnVy Hunter Seek REdefinition
MIXTAPE OF THE WEEK Anti-Lilly & EnVy Hunter, REdefinition Last year, Anti-Lilly awoke from a haze. He picked out his afro, put on his glasses, rolled up, smoked and then released Memoirs & the ’90s, a template of how to create a jazz-rap album inspired by your upbringing watching The…
Soul Brother No. 1 Was a Complicated Dad, Says New Book
James Brown was, of course, the Godfather of Soul and The Hardest Working Man in Show Business. But all that he worked to grab those titles over decades seemed to come crashing down through much of the ’80s and ’90s. That’s when he derailed into years of drug and domestic…
Opera in the Heights Serves up Love, Lust, Sex and Violence in Rigoletto
The set-up: Like the plays of Shakespeare, the operas of Verdi remain as fresh as ever. No matter how many times we see Rigoletto (last season at Houston Grand Opera, to name the most recent production), there is always something new to hear, see, or feel. There are no surprises…
Reefer Madness: A Smart, Funny Musical With Lots of Pot Jokes
The set-up: Hey, dude, Reefer Madness made me high. No, not like that hazy way in college when the original propaganda film Tell Your Children (1936) was re-released for laughs and everybody got stoned, but a real, true-to-life contact high that is happily shared by everyone in the audience. The…
Marc Anthony at Toyota Center, 9/27/2014
Marc Anthony Cambio De Piel Tour Toyota Center September 27, 2014 Triumphant. That was the adjective that came to mind while roaming the photo pit Saturday night, trying my best to keep up with international Latin-pop/salsa superstar Marc Anthony as he danced, sang and smiled in front of his adoring…
College Football, Week 5: The Weekend in Tweets, Vines and YouTube
September is almost over, and this week the calendar will flip to October, which is the de facto beginning of fall, and in college football, the de facto beginning of the real regular season. Yes, we’ve seen a rise in the number of power conference teams willing to take on…
Dish of the Week: Loco Moco
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, we’re sharing a recipe for loco moco. Loco moco is a Hawaiian dish typically consisting of white…
“Mokha Laget: Chromatic Constructs” Provides Delightful Moments
My first praise for Mokha Laget is to compliment her on breaking free of what I term “the tyranny of the rectangle”, a straightjacket which many artists seem condemned to wear. Her shapes are her own, and they are refreshingly different. Laget’s work has elements of architecture – while the…
Houstonians Hate Traffic, Have No Desire to Change
Those of us who live in Houston are a diverse lot. We have members of our community from all over the world, never mind the state of Texas. Yet we can all agree that traffic here is god-awful. But what we can’t seem to agree on is why or how…
The War On Drugs at House of Blues, 9/27/2014
The War On Drugs House of Blues September 27, 2014 There was a certain point in time when I thought truly simple and original music was a thing of the past. These days, if you don’t have a certain niche or unique twist to your sound, there’s a good chance…
Of Rape and NES’s Ice Hockey
I apologize for the strange headline, but if you’ll bear with me you’ll see it makes sense eventually. This last week has been an interesting one if you’re concerned about rape culture, particularly how it affects life in college. Forbes contributor Bill Frezza penned an (since taken down) essay detailing…
First Look at eT Craft Burgers & Beer in Northwest Houston
Fans of the mini double-patty burgers from eT Premium Grill in the tunnels below the JP Morgan Chase tower now have a larger location to frequent in Northwest Houston. eT Craft Burgers & Beer opened in Cypress on September 25 and features a much larger space than the restaurant downtown…
The 2014 Houston Astros: The Good and The Bad
And so another Astros season is in the books. Another season of good, and bad, of head-shaking stupidity and inexplicable thinking. Of outstanding individual performances and huge steps back. The team made the cover of Sports Illustrated, which projected the Astros would win the World Series in 2017. But it’s…
Chris Loftis in as Executive Chef at Number 13 in Galveston
Number 13 Prime Steak and Seafood, the swanky waterfront restaurant overlooking Galveston island’s Pelican Rest Marina, has named Chris Loftis as executive chef. Loftis, who joined Number 13 as part of their opening crew, had originally joined the restaurant as a sous chef when the restaurant opened in December. He…
UPDATED Detroit: Lisa D’Amour’s Compelling Vision of the American Dream
Update: Please see update with correction later in copy. The set-up: At the end of Lisa D’Amour’s provocative, spiky, prize-winning Detroit, suburban middle class couple Mary and Ben (Mischa Hutchings and Jeff Miller) face their own apocalypse. All they have left among the burned out ruins of their American Dream…
5 Texas Murderabilia Items: Charles Whitman’s Gun Isn’t Even the Creepiest Thing on the List
People are oddly fascinated with horrible happenings. We get it. Some want to see the evidence and make contact with people who perpetrated the crimes. But it’s still stunning to see the gun Charles Whitman used at the University of Texas Tower shootings up for auction. That is, until we…
The Changing Face of Houston – Downtown Then and Now
To a large degree, a city’s downtown area is its heartbeat. In many places, downtown is the most significant part of town, filling many roles in the lives of residents, and serving as the public face of a city’s image to those that visit. Houston’s downtown is no different in…
Texans 23, Bills 17: Four Winners, Four Losers
The way the Texans’ 2014 schedule lays out, given the caliber of opponent they’ve played, the first quarter of the season looked a lot like the same portion of many college teams’ schedules — a few non-divisional opponents, one of them (as it turns out) that’s pretty good, the remainder…
The 10 Best Texans-Bills 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…
Drake vs. Lil Wayne at The Woodlands, 9/27/2014
Drake vs. Lil Wayne Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 27, 2014 “He flew across the stage on the stripper pole?” And so the summer of 2014 concluded with two best friends forever trading insults about themselves and the quirks that make them who they are. It’s been a summer of…
The Five Best Concerts in Houston This Week: Santana, Paul Collins, Kacey Musgraves, etc.
Santana Bayou Music Center, October 1 Carlos Santana has been a treasure of American music for more than 40 years and as many albums. Combining blues and rock with Latin-American rhythms, the fiery soul of his guitar enthralls listeners to open both heart and mind to his thrilling sonic experience…
Now and Then Doesn’t Shine at the Fringe Festival
The set-up: Jim Tommaney is the kind of artist that wears several hats within the theater community. Houston Press readers will know him as a contributing art critic and former theater critic. Tommaney also spends time on the stage and can be seen in the upcoming performance of Catastrophic Theatre’s…
Could a Houstonian Be the Next Millionaire on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
It’s not everyday a Houstonian is on a nationally televised game show. Especially one where the top prize is a million dollars. I had the opportunity of being on The Price is Right in August and although I wasn’t lucky enough to be a contestant, host Drew Carey did speak…
4 Ways to Make a Better Homemade Pizza
Most people in this country love pizza. On any given day, 13 percent of the country’s population eats the tasty Italian culinary treat in one form or another. Despite its European origin, it’s difficult to imagine a time when pizza wasn’t a major part of the American food scene. Unsurprisingly,…
“Unfolding: Lucrecia Waggoner” Where Open Spaces Are as Important as the Art Elements
The open spaces in some of Lucrecia Waggoner’s art are as important as the art elements themselves. Two major works in this elegant and graceful exhibition are comprised of numerous, very numerous, individual ceramic plate-like “vessels”, so how they are arranged is paramount. 290 in the Spring has 98 vessels…
Trouble in Galveston’s Version of Paradise
Bobby Wasylik didn’t think he’d ever seen the guy before. Cue-ball bald, standing at 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 225 pounds, the man towered over 68-year-old Wasylik in the front yard of his Galveston home. “Are you Bobby?” the man asked. Like most assault cases, exactly what happened…
The Felice Brothers at Fitzgerald’s, 9/25/2014
The Felice Brothers Fitzgerald’s September 25, 2014 Without a doubt, the best shows to come through town are those that basically go unnoticed. Whether they don’t get enough advertising or another big-name event or two in town is taking the crowds away, there is nothing better than a non-packed show…
Reviews for the Easily Distracted: The Equalizer
Title: The Equalizer Cool, Does Edward Woodward Have A Cameo? Woodward died in 2009, you insensitive clod. Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: Three Breaker Morants out of five. Brief Plot Synopsis: Mysterious loner likes teenage hookers, dislikes Russians. Tagline: “What do you see when you look at…
First Look at Moving Sidewalk
The name of the new bar, Moving Sidewalk was inspired by a band that Billy Gibbons played in before ZZ Top. It’s also a reference to the foot traffic to the area near Congress and Main. The area is officially bar-heavy now: The Original OKRA Charity Saloon, Bad News Bar,…
Women Who Kill: Kathy Reichs Balances the Science and the Story in Bones Never Lie
Novelist Kathy Reichs and Temperance Brennan, the lead character in Reichs’ series of best-selling thrillers and spin-off television series Bones, are a lot alike. Both lead fascinating lives working as forensic anthropologists and novelists; both travel the world working on high-profile cases (Reichs helped identify victims of 9/11), training FBI…
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at Toyota Center, 9/25/2014
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Steve Winwood Toyota Center September 25, 2014 Anyone curious what might motivate Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers to continue making records could do worse than starting with “Shadow People,” a song from the band’s new album Hypnotic Eye. Like its neighbor “American Dream Plan B,”…
NFL: This Weekend’s Best Bets
Last weekend was an amazing bounce back weekend for me. After back to back 2-4 stinkers, the doubters began creeping out of the woodwork again. Actually, to say they crept out of the woodwork would imply they were hiding and then being somewhat subtle about their lack of faith in…
10 Tips on Getting Your Indie Book Reviewed
As part of a small publishing house that is constantly releasing books, I’ll be seeing my own first standalone short story come out next month from there, actually, but one of the things I constantly see posted in my house’s super-secret Facebook group is that they’re having trouble getting their…
The 5 Best Things to Eat or Drink This Weekend: Can You Complete The World’s End Pub Crawl?
5th Annual Galveston Island Shrimp Festival @ Saengerfest Park Friday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 23rd and Strand, Galveston Spend your weekend in Galveston at the 5th Annual Galveston Island Shrimp Festival. The weekend is filled with events…
What $1,500 in Rent Gets You in 5 Houston Neighborhoods
If you’re in New York or Boston, $1,500 in rent might get you a studio apartment that more closely resembles a glorified dorm room than an actual adult’s living space. On the other end of the spectrum, you can basically rent a mansion in Omaha, Nebraska, or Missoula, Montana, for…
Taylor Momsen, Rock’s Smartest Wild Child
Taylor Momsen can name her rock and roll heroes with a disarming amount of speed. Her father’s record collection instilled in her a love of loud guitars and thunderous drums from childhood, says the 21-year-old former Gossip Girl actress, who then rattles off the greats like her band The Pretty…
100 Creatives 2014: K.J. Russell, Sci-Fi Author and Writing Teacher
There’s a rumor that sci-fi author and writing teacher K. J. Russell is actually a “mustachioed robot powered by coffee and good science fiction.” We’re pretty sure that’s just a rumor since robots usually lack any sense of humor or imagination and Russell has an abundance of both. We aren’t…
Upcoming Events: Bratoberfest at Hay Merchant
The Hay Merchant will celebrate Oktoberfest, or as they like to call it “Bratoberfest,” by serving a special bratwurst created by Underbelly’s chef Chris Shepherd available now until October 5. Pair that slow-cooked bratwurst featuring hints of nutmeg and garlic topped with butter-braised onions all inside a pretzel bun with…
The Chron’s Evan Drellich Does a Great Job With a Tough Beat
I remember a Astros game from way back in the early 1990s, back when the team was really bad, but rebuilding. I don’t remember the exact year, or the exact day beyond it being a midweek day game against the Montreal Expos (I think it’s this game). The Dome was…
Guess the Fake Death-Metal Band Names!
Well, it’s just about that time of year again: the time when it turns dark and cold and everything that’s good and green and living in Houston begins to wither and decay. Not due to the weather, obviously — we ain’t got but one season in this town. No, that…
The 5 Best Things to Do in Houston This Weekend: Rigoletto, Detroit and More
It’s hard to know who to root for in Rigoletto, Verdi’s tragedy being presented by Opera in the Heights and our choice for Friday. There’s the Duke. An indulgent tyrant, he beds women — from young, innocent virgins to manipulating women of the court — as casual entertainment. There’s the…
Openings & Closings: There’s a New Doner Kebap in Town
Early in the morning on Tuesday, September 23, Spanky’s Homemade Pizza’s kitchen caught on fire, causing enough damage to close the 7210 South Loop East pizza shop. No one was injured during the fire and the owner plans to reopen Spanky’s. The southeast Houston restaurant posted this statement on Facebook,…
10 Houston Acts to See Before You Can’t
The passing of Texas Johnny Brown last year hit me and a bunch of people pretty hard, so the September 12 death of Crusaders pianist Joe Sample was another slap in the face that many of Houston’s musical heroes are closer to the end than the beginning. The latest bad…
Jethro Tull Was a Great Band Before Aqualung
The classic-rock world lost another of its members last month with the passing of Jethro Tull’s original bass player, Glen Cornick. They, alongside Deep Purple and Judas Priest, are one of what I consider the last three bands unjustly omitted from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For those…
The 10 Best Concerts in Houston This Weekend: Mary Sarah, David Gray, Marc Anthony, etc.
Mary Sarah Firehouse Saloon, September 26 On her remarkable album Bridges, 18-year-old Houston singer Mary Sarah goes well beyond holding her own against some of the greatest talents in country-music history, from Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson on down. This is no stunt record. Just about anyone who has been…
ROCO Alive in Concert: Once Upon a Time
The River Oaks Chamber Orchestra opens its tenth season with ROCO Alive in Concert: Once Upon a Time. The program includes the world premiere of Maria Newman’s Abilene Concerto, commissioned by ROCO. “Every concert this season will feature a ROCO-commissioned world premiere,” says founder and artistic director Alecia Lawyer via…
Fourth Annual Tweens Read Book Festival
You don’t have to be a kid to attend the Fourth Annual Tweens Read Book Festival, but kids get first dibs on asking questions of the various panels and on seating. Grownups can ask questions, of course, just not first. It’s not anti-adult, by any means; it’s just very pro-kid…
St. Lawrence String Quartet
Hugely influential in the development of chamber music, Franz Joseph Haydn was known as “the father of the string quartet.” The St. Lawrence String Quartet pays tribute to him and his continued influence in its program The Birth of the String Quartet: Haydn Discovery and Beethoven. The Da Camera-produced concert…
TV’s Greatest Hits
Music from the small screen gets its moment to shine thanks to the Houston Symphony’s TV’s Greatest Hits concert. Led by guest conductor Steven Reineke and featuring the always funny singer and comedian Nicole Parker, the program is a tribute to the theme music of television shows from the past…
Manhattan Short Film Festival
Film festivals aren’t usually thought of as examples of democracy in action, but the Manhattan Short Film Festival certainly qualifies. During the week of September 26, more than 100,000 moviegoers in 300 cities across six continents will gather to vote for the winner of the festival. The ten entries in…
Rigoletto
It’s hard to know who to root for in Rigoletto, Verdi’s tragedy being presented by Opera in the Heights. There’s the Duke. An indulgent tyrant, he beds women — from young, innocent virgins to manipulating women of the court — as casual entertainment. There’s the title character, Rigoletto. He’s an…
Carolyn Kneese and John DeMers: Bragging Rights: The Dallas-Houston Rivalry
Texans love a good rivalry, and what better feud to define life in the Lone Star State than the one between Dallas and Houston? Fuel may be added to that dueling big-city fire when Carolyn Kneese and John DeMers take center stage to discuss their new book, Bragging Rights: The Dallas-Houston…
Nashville Hurricane
Chase Padgett created and stars in Nashville Hurricane, a one-person show about the rise to fame of a shy young guitarist. Pushed into performing by an ambitious mother and taken advantage of by an unscrupulous talent scout, he’s an unlikely hero, but he eventually wins his way to stardom. The…
Third Coast Dance Film Festival
Be among the first to see the short films in the Third Coast Dance Film Festival, now in its fourth year. A total of 19 shorts are included, but three are making their world premieres, six their USA premieres and ten their Texas premieres. Submissions came in from around the…
Reefer Madness, The Musical
“It’s based on the ’30s propaganda film. The one that said marijuana will make you sell your babies,” says Dylan Godwin, whose character in the upcoming Reefer Madness, The Musical at TUTS Underground is the master of ceremonies with strains of Joseph McCarthy and Cotton Mather running through him. “It’s…
“Dracula Cemetery Exhibition”
The “Dracula Cemetery Exhibition” at the National Museum of Funeral History doesn’t have any actual, authentic relics from Vlad “The Impaler” Tepes, the real-life 15th-century bloodthirsty royal who’s the inspiration for the infamous Dracula character of Bram Stoker’s 1897 horror novel. There is a coffin set up where visitors can…
Find Your Smile, Again
Simon Pegg has always been more like a cartoon than a real boy. He’s one part Charlie Brown to two parts Tintin, a round-faced runt who can channel both childlike depression and old-fashioned cowlicked pluck. In Pegg’s new film, Hector and the Search for Happiness, director Peter Chelsom simply allows…
“Jonathan Clark: Tracing Towers”
Ordinary #2 pencils are the focus of the “Jonathan Clark: Tracing Towers” exhibit. Well, actually, not ordinary #2 pencils. Clark, the gallery and installation assistant at the Rice University Art Gallery, has produced a series of oversize pencils (some stand as tall as their viewers) in a playful examination of the…
Golden Years
It’s the kind of forward-thinking experience David Bowie himself might have predicted. Just for one day, on silver screens across the country, a movie about a museum exhibition — featuring the rocker’s groundbreaking albums, outlandish costumes, and clips from his artistic videos — will briefly tantalize the world — and…
“CraftTexas 2014”
Elizabeth Kozlowski, curator at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, says the organization’s newest exhibit, “CraftTexas 2014,” reveals the depth and breadth of talent in the state of Texas. The eighth in a series of biennial juried exhibitions showcasing the best in Texas-made contemporary craft, “CraftTexas 2014” features 49 works by…
Nick Cave’s New Movie Doesn’t Quite Reveal the Man Behind the Myth — and That’s a Good Thing
In one Nick Cave song, a pedophiliac outlaw caps a murder spree by killing the devil himself. In another, the narrator muses on Miley Cyrus while seeking the “God particle” down a boulevard lined with burning trees. Cave is fluent in apocalyptic imagery and the Bible; his songs are filled…
Performance and Conversation: Nathaniel Donnett
Sound, light and sculpture take center stage at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in Performance and Conversation: Nathaniel Donnett. CAMH focuses on the Bayou City’s ever-evolving art community in “Right Here, Right Now: Houston,” a showcase of work by the city’s most vibrant artists in which Donnett’s Nothing to See…
Gone Girl is Smartly Crafted, Well Acted – and a Bit Too Slick
Everything about Gone Girl, David Fincher’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s enormously popular 2012 thriller about a deteriorating marriage and a wife gone missing, is precise and thoughtful — it’s as well planned as the perfect murder, with its share of vicious, shivery delights. But at the end of the perfect…
André Benjamin is Hendrix, but the women make Jimi.
‘Groupie” has come to be an ugly word, a misogynist dig that’s used all too casually by men and women alike. A groupie is a woman who doesn’t “do” anything; she gets all of her glamour via her association with a strong man, most often a rock star. How can…
Nas: Time is Illmatic looks Back at One of the Greatest Hip-Hop Albums
One rhyme in particular crystallizes the genius of Nas’s 1994 classic Illmatic. It comes in the song “One Love,” which takes the form of a letter to a friend in prison: “Congratulations, you know you got a son,” Nas raps. “I heard he looks like ya, why don’t your lady…
The Passing Zone
Juggling, like film stunts and fifth-grade homework, should be left to the professionals — and that means Jon Wee and Owen Morse, who have perfected the art of tossing and catching a variety of sometimes flaming or incredibly sharp objects over the past two decades or so. The two, who…
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…
3D Printing Doc Print the Legend Shows That Yes, You Will Be Able to Print a Gun
In 2010, The Social Network fictionalized the dramatic building-up and falling-out around Facebook’s founding. Four years later, the documentary Print the Legend, a Netflix original, needs no fictional filter. The filmmakers assume, rightly for the most part, that viewers will be invested in the origin story and power struggles at…
Capsule Art Reviews: September 25, 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…
Capsule Stage Reviews: September 25, 2014
Peace in Our Time In the late ’30s, Noel Coward became the most patriotic English playwright since Shakespeare. His playwriting heyday in the ’20s and ’30s saw him in pajamas, silk dressing gown, holding a martini, as he dissected the social and sexual mores in his idiosyncratic, and utterly unconventional,…
Language and Machismo
Dear Mexican, One of the things I have found enjoyable and profound is the use of language by Chicanos, mexicanos and Mexican-Americans. Humor and a sardonic sense of history, in my view, are encapsulated in many everyday expressions. Two examples I can think of are the use of huey (or…
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…
