Sheriff’s Deputy/Pizza Delivery Driver Shot a Man in the Face in Robbery Attempt
Who is the part-time Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputy who also delivers pizza for Domino’s? Shaft! Damn Right. Who is the man that would shoot a suspected robber in the face and risk his life for his co-workers? Shaft! Can you dig it? They say this 25-year veteran of the…
Judge Denise Pratt in Runoff — But What of Her Peculiar “Gag Order”?
Now that incumbent Harris County Family Court Judge Denise Pratt is in a runoff, we thought it would be a good time for another look at Pratt’s bizarre gag order of January 2013. It appears to be a blanket order barring any party or attorney with such a pending case…
The Wizard of Oz at Hobby Center Is a Visual Feast With a Familiar Story
The setup: The acclaimed, much-loved film The Wizard of Oz had been re-created on stage, with four new songs added by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber to the original songs by Harold Arlen (music) and E.Y. Harburg (lyrics). The production is necessarily short on suspense, since you know it…
Podcast: Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel Is Surprisingly Great
On this week’s Voice Film Club podcast, L.A. Weekly film critic Amy Nicholson admits her surprise at actually enjoying Wes Anderson’s latest movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and discusses her recent longform piece on the death of the romantic comedy. The Village Voice’s Alan Scherstuhl and Stephanie Zacharek join in…
Top 5 Soft Cheeses From Murray’s Cheese Bar (in Kroger)
In 2012, Murray’s Cheese opened mini-shops in three Houston-area Kroger locations. Since then my quality of life has doubled (my LDL cholesterol levels have probably tripled). Even though I’m lucky enough to have an amateur cheesemonger for a husband, I still frequent Murray’s outposts, particularly for their soft, often stinky…
Eli Young Band at Reliant Stadium, 3/5/2014
Eli Young Band Reliant Stadium March 5, 2014 Anyone who’s ever wondered if the entertainers for the rodeo’s annual Armed Forces Appreciation Day are chosen at random might have had a few of their questions answered Tuesday night. Show business is selfish almost by design, but the Eli Young Band…
HISD Won’t Close Three Schools Thanks to a Presidential Pardon
Just like the turkey who gets a presidential pardon right before Thanksgiving, three Houston ISD schools have been taken off the chopping block by executive privilege. Flexing her new HISD board president powers, Juliet Stipeche removed Nathaniel Q. Henderson Elementary, Port Houston Elementary and Fleming Middle School from consideration for…
Celebrities Tell Magazines: “Stop Looking at My Baby Unless You Pay Me!”
I just finished reading Alec Baldwin’s piece in New York Magazine in regards to his dismay over public life. After reading all about the massive cross he has to bear by being a celebrity that makes millions of dollars, I still don’t feel bad for him. His new baby, on…
UH Basketball Slinking Toward Oblivion
The Shasta mascot showed up for Tuesday’s Houston Cougar basketball game against the visiting USF Bulls. It roamed the sidelines, did a half-assed imitation of mascots for other schools, but really didn’t do much of anything. And then there’s one other minor detail: the mascot showed up for the basketball…
100 Favorite Dishes 2013-2014: No. 20, Fried Catfish and Cajun Crawfish at The Cajun Stop
This year, leading up to our annual Menu of Menus® issue, Kaitlin Steinberg counts down her 100 favorite dishes as she eats her way through Houston. She’ll compile a collection of the dishes she thinks are the most awesome, most creative and, of course, most delicious in town. It’s a…
Frozen Proves We Can Have a Female Superhero Movie
The superhero movie has come of age, and I think we can all agree it’s a glorious age. Sure, it would be nice to have Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four in the Marvel Studio pen rather than being executed with varying degrees of success by other studios that…
St. Patrick’s Day Recipe: Guinness Cake
I use almost any holiday as an excuse to celebrate, and St. Patrick’s Day is no exception. If you know my full name (Joanna Shawn Brigid O’Leary) it’s clear that I was born with a shillelagh in my mouth. My Irish heritage compels me to mark the feast day of…
This Might Be the Greatest Craigslist Ad Ever Written
You ever read a Craigslist ad that was too good to be true? Then you saw the product being hawked, right there in your face, and come to find out the real thing was less than advertised. Doesn’t that just piss you off? Well, we were hipped to one Craigslist…
Lorde at Bayou Music Center, 3/5/2014
Lorde, Lo-Fang Bayou Music Center March 5, 2014 The crowd screams for Lorde like she’s a pop star. They roar at the start of every song, from her big singles to her album cuts to her Replacements cover. They cheer when she moves to their side of the stage or…
For the Fancy Potheads: Cannabis Wedding Receptions and Luxury Pot Tours
So, let’s talk about the traditional method of weed delivery, shall we? The nickel sack. Does anyone here remember the nickel sack? You’d buy it in some hurried drug deal, a process in which you’d deliver your five dollar bill to some the shady guy out of view, who would…
Zapruder Analysis of Ken Griffey Jr.’s Horrific SportsCenter Interview
On the spectrum of sports interviews, there are many categories — in-studio sit down interviews, brief post-game quick hit interviews, standard one segment phone interviews, to name a few. But if the spectrum of sports interviews were to be rated by “clunker potential,” i.e. the possibility that the conversation comes…
How Do You Know a Wine Is Corked (& How Do You Send It Back)?
Click here for previous entries in our “how-to wine” series. The following is a true story. A few years ago, my wife, Tracie P — then a wine sales rep — and I were running late for a dinner with the upper-echelon management team of the company for whom she…
The Rocks Off 200: Noon, Rapper With a Lot on His Mind
Who? The Houston rapper who goes by Noon, or Noonston, has a pretty compelling tale to tell and an easy flow, so we’ll just let him take it from the top, as unfiltered as one of his rhymes. Here he is: Who I am is a question I think I…
Cool Guy Rodeo Gear by Matthew McConaughey
Did you know that Matthew McConaughey has a clothing line? Yup. The newly minted Academy Award winner for his starring role in Dallas Buyers Club debuted his JLK men’s sportswear line last year and is now expanding the line to include t-shirt emblazoned with McConaughey-isms…
Spring in Houston: 5 Standout Asparagus Dishes Around Town
Spring is right around the corner. And with it come peak-season vegetables like artichokes, peas and the subject of this post, asparagus. Not only is the delicately flavored garden vegetable delicious, it’s an excellent source of vitamin B, calcium, magnesium, zinc, fiber and protein, among other good things. Get rid…
Don’t Drink the Green Fairy…Eat It With an Absinthe Meal at Bistro Provence
I imagine that before 2007, many people in the United States had never tried absinthe. That year, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau made it legal to buy and sell in America, provided it was free of thujones, the chemical compound in wormwood that was long thought to…
Cowboy Diaries 2014: J.W. Harris, Born to Rodeo
True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they’ll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will spotlight one person with enough…
The Last VJ’s Top Five Videos of the Week
Welcome back to The Last VJ, music fans. We’re keeping things very weird this week, with barely a normal offering to be had at any level. Black-light love songs and animated hellscapes await, as do pretty girls, melting dogs and whatever else the black pit of the Internet has thrown…
I Don’t Want My Man Having Female Friends. 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 DON’T WANT MY BOYFRIEND TO HAVE FEMALE FRIENDS Dear Willie D: I have been with…
10 Awesome Hair-Band Videos You Probably Forgot
Sorry, but we refuse to start spamming the Rocks Off Twitter account with gnarly photos of our ’80s mullets and half-shirts. No one needs to see that. So instead, we’re going to take things old-school in another way — spamming your eyeballs with some of the sweetest hair-band videos known…
