UPDATED: Michael Brown Gets 30 Days in Federal Slammer
Former hand-surgeon/wife-beater Michael Brown has been sentenced to 30 days in a federal penitentiary for choking several stewardesses aboard a British Airways flight in January. He’ll get two years of supervised release afterwards, with mandatory mental health treatment and substance abuse evaluation. More in a bit…
Sheriff’s Office Releases Sketches of Suspects in Brutal Sexual Assault
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has released composite sketches of two suspects wanted in connection with a sexual assault of a woman in north Houston Sunday. Investigators say the suspects slit the woman’s throat and left her for dead before fleeing in a white four-door Nissan…
Man Dies on Flight to Houston from Nigeria
On Tuesday, a man identified as Benedict Sylvester Igwedike, 67, of Lagos, Nigeria was found dead on a United Airlines flight from his home town. Investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy on the man, who apparently died relatively early in the flight. Back in January, a woman died…
Person Of Interest: “In The Arm, Through A Brick Wall, In The Dark. You’re Welcome.”
As good a job as CBS has done with stocking Person of Interest with interesting and capable female characters (Zoe Morgan, Kara Stanton, Root), much of the day-to-day ass kicking has been left to Mr. Reese. And capable as he’s been at it, after two seasons things were threatening to…
This Week’s Cafe Review: Reconsider the Lobster at Hai Cang Seafood
When I first read David Foster Wallace’s now famous story on the Maine Lobster Festival, which was published in Gourmet in 2004, I pretty much gave up on eating lobster. The brilliant article (you really must read it), entitled “Consider the Lobster,” made many people, myself included, take a moment…
Cover Story: Houston Baptist University Dives Into the Big Business of College Football
A little over a year ago, Houston Baptist University was mostly known for high academic standards and a men’s gymnastics squad that achieved success in the 1980s. After a $10 million investment that helped pay for a football field, a full-fledged coaching staff and enough manpower to examine 300 additional…
Fall TV Pilot Review: Trophy Wife
Title: Trophy Wife Network – Day – Time: ABC – Tuesday – 8:30 PM Brief Plot Synopsis: Former party girl Kate (Malin Åkerman) marries Pete (Bradley Whitford) after literally falling into his lap at a karaoke bar. Oh, did I forget to mention Pete has four kids and two ex-wives…
Rudyard’s Partners With Shmaltz for September Beer Dinner
Just before the month of September leaves us, Rudyard’s British Pub is hosting its monthly beer dinner with a special brewery located outside of Texas. Shmaltz Brewing Co. is an American craft-brewing company and founded “Jewish celebration craft beer,” the He’Brew Beer. Recently, Shmaltz opened a New York brewing facility,…
Bun B, Houston Symphony Join Forces to Fight the Haters
When last we saw Bun B, the Buddha of Gulf Coast rap also dubbed “Houston’s unofficial mayor” – by us, yes, but it fits, don’t it? – was all smiles as usual. Saturday afternoon the ever-trill UGK rapper’s countenance beamed as he shook hands, posed for pictures, and signed autographs…
Deconstructing the Liberal Myth of What’s the Matter with Kansas
Remember back in 2008 when then-candidate Obama said this at a fund-raiser in San Francisco: You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through…
Fall TV Pilot Review: The Goldbergs
Title: The Goldbergs Network – Day – Time: ABC – Tuesday – 8 PMCT Brief Plot Synopsis: The Goldbergs are a dysfunctional Jewish family living and dropping pop-culture references in the 1980s. The family consists of overbearing mom Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey), angry dad Murray (Jeff Garlin), obliviously aging grandfather Pops…
This Week in Food Blogs: Origin Stories, Yelp Feuds and Frito Pie
Houstonia: The folks over at Houstonia were conducting some really interesting reporting on Monday, and decided to go the Buzzfeed route with an entertaining list. John Nova Lomax scoured fast-food companies’ histories to uncover fun and surprising facts about your favorite joints. Among the interesting tidbits he uncovered: The original…
The Weeknd at Bayou Music Center, 9/25/13
The Weeknd, Banks Bayou Music Center September 25, 2013 There were signs posted outside the Bayou Music Center Tuesday night that read “Tonight Show Contains Mature Content.” Now, when it comes to an artist who seemingly knows no boundaries when it comes to lyrical content, a “mature content” caveat is…
PopularScience.com Shuts Down Commenting, Cites “Trolls”, “Spambots” and Politics
Arguing is a terribly exhaustive thing that is often mostly about ego. Often, fights that begin as well-intentioned if impassioned discussions about a given subject devolve into name calling simply because no one is willing to relent. The great thing about science, however, is that a theory must be proven…
“Gary Komarin: The Bowman Sixpence Has Got to Have Soul”
Into this art world of faux-philosophizing and “deeper meaning” comes an exhibition that is just for fun: “Gary Komarin: The Bowman Sixpence Has Got to Have Soul,” on view at Gremillion & Co. Fine Art. The first thing one notices about “The Bowman Sixpence” is the absence of theme. There…
Get To Houston-area Estate Sales for Culinary Finds
I’ve never thought of myself as a “garage sale person.” You know, the type that gets up at the crack of dawn every Saturday with a pre-planned itinerary of all the yard sales and flea markets around town and a steadfast determination to wrangle great bargains on novelty items. During…
Forgotten Houston for Kids: Peppermint Park
When you are VERY little, way too short to reach the hand of the wooden cutout that says you must be “this high” to ride a roller coaster, there aren’t a lot of options for you. But, in the ’60s and ’70s, there was a place that could accommodate you…
Fall TV Pilot Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Title: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Network – Day – Time: ABC – Tuesday – 7 PMCT Brief Plot Synopsis: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. takes place sometime after The Avenger’s movie that ABC is assuming everyone on the planet saw (a fair assumption). Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), who was presumed dead at the…
Food Expiration Dates Not Necessarily the Last Word
Last week, the Natural Resources Defense Council released a report titled “The Dating Game: How Confusing Food Date Labels Lead to Food Waste in America”. The gist of it is something that most Americans can probably agree on: Labels on our food that seek to aid us are often very…
Unauthorized Immigration Ticks Back Up Nationally (Probably), But Never Went Down in Texas
Check out this chart from a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project. What is this chart telling us? Well, it’s telling us that unauthorized immigration is increasing after declining — mostly likely due to the Great Recession — from its high in 2007 (12.2 million) to…
100 Creatives 2013: Composer Karim Al-Zand
The Apollo Chamber Players are just days away from making their Carnegie Hall debut. At the center of their program is Fantasy on Bulgarian Rhythms, a new work by composer Karim Al-Zand. A professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Al-Zand drew inspiration for the commissioned piece from the…
The Breaking Bad Series Finale Is Upon Us; Comfort Yourself With Homemade Blue Rock Candy
It’s the end of an era. A really messed up era, in which a down-on-his luck, cancer-ridden chemistry teacher turned hardcore crystal meth producer has simultaneously stolen and broken our hearts. This Sunday marks the death of Breaking Bad. We’ll miss Walt and Jesse dearly (but not Skyler … never…
How Many Things Can You Find Wrong With This Texans Article From 2012?
WARNING: Following the instructions I’m about to give you will cause great mental pain and anguish, but damn, if everyone’s pissed at Matt Schaub, let’s go all the way in. No half steppin’. Flashback to March 2012, the Peyton Manning Sweepstakes. The future Hall of Famer was coming off of…
The Five Best “Band’s Breaking Up” Singles
Folks, I’ve said it before, but I have an undying love for the musical partnership of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, regardless of whether they’re calling themselves At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta, De Facto or the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group. As long as they were together, they made beautiful, magical…
The 10 Gods That MUST Exist in Houston
I made a deal with myself years ago in regards to religion… they’re all equally correct. Every single god, deity, anthropomorphic representation, saint, demon, devil, goblin, gremlin, kobold, psychopomp, cultural hallucination, creator, avatar, and atheist denial is all 100 percent equally real in my book. Lately, as summer loses its…
Pumpkin Spice M&M’s Debut, So Let’s Get Cooking
Earlier this month, M&M’S debuted its newest flavor, Pumpkin Spice. So obviously we bought some, because we’re not crazy, people. While the new flavor isn’t bad, the artificial pumpkin-cinnamon essence doesn’t do it for us like a good PSL does (that’s what the kids call Pumpkin Spice Lattes these days;…
1,100 Beers, 31 States: One Young Kiwi Band’s Summer-Long Odyssey
This summer, indie bands everywhere booked out-of-town gigs, loaded up the van and hit the open American road in search of new fans and more success. They racked up miles and formed impressions of the places they visited. Few crossed an ocean, drove 15,000 miles or put as much trust…
Graham Nash: CSNY’s “Mellow One” Spins Some Wild Tales
Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life By Graham Nash Crown Archetype, 368 pp., $28 When David Crosby walked out of the gates of Texas’ Huntsville State Prison on August 8, 1986 after serving nine months for drugs and weapons charges, two people were waiting to greet him: Crosby’s Manager…
Houston Music Hall of Famer Creole Joe Sample Is On a New Mission
Joe Sample is on a mission. While the illustrious keyboard genius behind the Crusaders continues to expand his career and is as in-demand at 75 as at any point in his life, these days he balances his commercial career with good works. Inducted into the Houston Music Hall of Fame’s…
35 Years of Numbers Memories: The Titans of Local Goth
The week, Numbers turns an impressive 35 years-old, making it one of the oldest clubs in Houston to stay at the same location. It’s an institution; there can be no argument about that. To celebrate, we’re bringing you three solid days of memories related to the old girl, who continues…
