Jockey Indicted for Shocking Horse at Sam Houston Race Park
A jockey was indicted by a Harris County Grand Jury on Wednesday for allegedly shocking a horse to fix a race at Sam Houston Race Park on January 17. When Quiet Acceleration galloped across the finish line with 43-year-old jockey Roman Chapa aboard to win the $50,000 Richard King Stakes…
USW and Shell Have Reached a Tentative Deal
After more than a month of wrangling, United Steelworkers and Royal Dutch Shell representatives have reached a tentative deal. The USW oil refinery strike, the first major oil refinery strike in 35 years, started February 1 and the USW members at Shell Deer Park, LyondellBasell and Marathon Texas City were…
Harris County Thinks It Can Reduce Jail Population by Letting Inmates Jot Down Some Phone Numbers
Keeping criminal defendants in jail is expensive. On average it costs around $59 to house one inmate for one day, according to the state Commission on Jail Standards. It’s estimated Harris County spends $300,000-plus each day incarcerating people who are waiting for their court appearance. While the Harris County jail…
Johnny’s Gold Brick Opens Tomorrow
An industry event at Johnny’s Gold Brick at 2518 Yale gave us a glimpse into the bar that replaced the Boom Boom Room. It opens to the public on Friday, March 13. The cream booths, freshly painted chartreuse walls and wood accents strike a careful balance between dive bar and…
Paul Wall Cameos Onstage at Own Birthday Bash
Paul Wall’s Birthday Party Warehouse Live March 11, 2015 It’s good to be the People’s Champ. Paul Wall and about 250 of his closest friends celebrated his 34th birthday with a concert at Warehouse Live Wednesday night. The bar lines were very short, but people were still feeling good from…
UHD Students Protest Late Change in Commencement Date
A last minute switch of date and time for the University of Houston Downtown commencement has upset a number of graduating seniors and their families — so much so that there will be a meeting today with the UHD administration. Students complain that the late change of when commencement will…
The Opera Hansel and Gretel With a Modern Twist
Hansel and Gretel are lured to the sweet-smelling kitchen of a hungry witch, who turns out to the a 1950s matron. Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel has been reset a bit in the production being mounted by The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Veteran stage director Pat…
Houston Is Burning: Andre Johnson Is an Indianapolis Colt
In sports, when an athlete’s career in his main city ends, rarely does it end well. Typically, it ends in some sort of depressing mix of hubris, resignation, and finite math. All of these instances hurt to some degree, because you hate to see it end, but the amount of…
Galveston Island Jeweler Making Waves in Hollywood and Beyond
To say that John Ford is just a jeweler would be the understatement of the year. The Galveston based designer http://www.johnfordjewelers.com/ has been making an impact on the fine jewelry market for more than 30 years and become the leader in a sector that, in the past, was a no-mans…
Lawmakers Want to End Revenge Porn in Texas
A bipartisan group of women in the House and Senate have filed legislation to take down revenge porn, the act of posting naked photos of women for fun or profit. Holly Toups, who found her 10-year-old photographs on the website Texxxans.com – use your imagination – could be called the…
Stupid F##king Bird Requires Audience Participation at Stages
Anton Chekhov’s take on life, love and artistic integrity, The Seagull, has been a masterpiece for generations. Meet Aaron Posner–the cheeky playwright who has sort-of adapted the show for modern audiences–and named it, Stupid F##king Bird. Directed at Stages Repertory Theatre by Kenn McLaughlin, “Bird” follows the story of an…
USW and Shell Say They’re Making Progress (And That’s All They’ll Say)
All week long representatives from United Steelworkers and Royal Dutch Shell have been ensconced in some undisclosed Houston location trying to hammer out a national contract for the USW oil refinery workers that both sides can agree on. They’ve admitted that the two sides have been talking in the same…
Best of Houston: The 10 Best Houston Documentaries
Houston is one of the most unique cities in the country, certainly the most diverse. This naturally leads to having a bunch of people and places with stories waiting to be told in documentary film. In order to celebrate the folks that just made their Kickstarter goal in order to…
The Dead Rabbits Own March in Houston
Certain times of the yearly calendar find themselves strongly associated with certain musical acts. For example, French pop chanteuse April March recalls the perkiness of spring and The Decemberists bring, well, December to mind. In March, in Houston, it’s Rabbit season. Like our furry little bunny friends, The Dead Rabbits are…
Chef Chat, Part 2: Liz Brooks of Canopy and Woodbar
In Part 1 of our Chef Chat with Liz Brooks, we talked about her progression as a chef. In culinary school, she interned at Claire Smith’s restaurant Shade. After working various places after culinary school, she ultimately returned to a Claire Smith restaurant. Brooks is now executive chef not only…
Is Kanye About to Drop His First Bomb?
So what’s the deal with that new Kanye West album? It’s supposedly titled So Help Me God, and we’ve already seen artwork for it. We’ve been told by Kanye himself that it will drop as a surprise release, because release dates are “played out.” We’ve also heard some music from…
I Got Stood Up On a Date. 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! MY FRIEND AND HIS NEGATIVE ENERGY Dear Willie D: I have been platonic friends with a…
They Came From the ’60s! The Zombie Invasion Continues!
So imagine this sonic scenario. You are a member of a ’60s British Invasion band looking to distinguish yourself from various Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Animals, Pacemakers, Hermits, Troggs and Pretty Things. Your group has had a couple of Top 10 hits in America a few years before, both nothing that…
