B L A C K I E, The Goods, The Mathletes, Giant Princess, Reverse X-Rays, and Generation Landslide this Thursday at Numbers

Heard B L A C K I E? Go do it now.

Also, Austin's Reverse X-Rays added to the already incredi-lux bill.

I want to break free: Have you ever quit smoking before?

Man- I am sick of being a smoker. I have reached the apex of hating smoking yet continuing to subject myself to feeling like dog shit. I woke up last night with a fever and a possible ear infection. Have a success story? Gimme some inspirado!

Musical Soapbox - 10 Things not to do!

Yea, verily, for as sure as Thor (right) rocks the halls of Valhalla with his mighty sword metal, will a hungover writer dispense with dubious advice. Therefore, in the place of the weekly live review, we have 10 things you should refrain from doing as a band (Link).

This Week's Music Preview - August 22nd, 2008

This week we pay tribute to the only man who can sing about rainbows and still be metal! Yes, Dio is on town with his Black Sabbath mates which gets one of these \m/. That's not all though. We've got Rad Rich's birthday bash, Rudyard's birthday weekend, Jonbenet, Guitars, Something Fierce and a whole lot more. (Read more in the Music Section)

CANCELED- Something Fierce, Alkari, Television Skies, and Generation Landslide for this Recession Thursday

This Thursday is gonna be a lil' different folks with Something Fierce calling for the equivalent of a house party by deciding to play in the small crawlspace on the 2nd floor of Numbers. They always put on a stellar show and this promises to ooze joy. Also on the bill are Television Skies, Alkari, and Generation Landslide.

UPDATE: Yup show's cancelled. If you must know - Something Firece would describe Steven Garcia's flu while Television Skies decided to break up. C'est la vie folks. Stay dry and maybe go see the Melvins show if you still have a live music hankering.

Axe to the brain!

Music Review - The Riff Tiffs, The Wild Moccasins, and The Eastern Sea

Let's go back in the way back machine to this past Friday's Warehouse party! No controversy, just awesomeness and fun. (Link)

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Some say Woody'a back. I say he never left. Vicky Cristina Barcelona ...

Kung Fu Theatre presents: The White Swan

It's ain't quite up to Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee action but the White Swan's had some serious fisticuffs on Thursday night. Like any story there are three sides - one person's account, another person's account, and the truth. We make no attempt to give the third but we do have the first two for you. (Link)

This Week's Music Preview - August 15th, 2008

If you are like us (and made some brilliant mistake like umm paying your car note a pay cycle early- D'OH!) and find yourself scraping a bit more than you usually would, then you are in luck. This is your week! There is a hella lot of stuff going on which will cost you not a penny in your pocket. We have Two Star Symphony, Wild Moccasins, Radio Broadcasts, Bun B, Cactus and Sound Exchange Instores, Secret Saturday shows....Houston on nigh zero dollars a day - it's possible. There's also a lot of not free stuff going down that's worth your while. So no excuses; get out of the house. (Link)

HOT OFF THE PRESSES - Houston Grindcore Band Sells Out!!

OK posers, listen up! Gulf Coast Grindcore is getting some love from across the pond. One of our finest is striking a pretty sweet deal with one of the genre's most esteemed labels. Find out the scoop in our music section (Link)





Photo Uncredited from metal-archives.com (Link)

Riff Tiffs, earnie banks, Eastern Sea, !ALARMA!, Lazy Horse, Old Coyote, and Electric Attitude all play Aug.14th Recession Thursday!

This one is gonna be off the chain! Whatever that means! (more details )

Man on Wire

Man on Wire documents what has to be the ultimate performance art crime of all time. Artist and acrobat Philippe Petit schemed and planned and surreptitiously assembled an international crew, snuck into both towers of the World Trade Center at the appropriate time, strung cable throughout the night and at daybreak walked across the span about eight times over a period of forty minutes. All this went down on August 7, 1974 although Petit had planned the walk for several years. Petit flew to New York a few times during his planning and as he tells the story in director James Marsh’s Man on Wire he was planning it like a noir crime caper. (cont.)

Penis! Vote for FPH in Houston Press awards!

Okay kids! Make sure and vote for us in the Houston Press Awards under the options "Best Magazine' and Westheimer Block Party under 'Best Music Festival'! Do it mayne!

Sid Meirer's Civilization Revolution reviewed

By Tyler Barber

Publisher: 2K Games | Developer: Firaxis Games | Platform: Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3 & Xbox 360 | Rating: E10+ | Players: 2-4 via Online & Wi-Fi



Final Grade: B+
In three words: Deep, Accessible & Addictive

I'm at E3, at a demo of Borderlands and BioShock, when 2K rep comes over, asking if I want a demo of Sid Meirer's Civilization Revolution.
"No thanks," I respond. "I have a meeting in 15 minutes, and I don't want to be late."
"It only takes 15 minutes," the rep quipped.
"Thanks, but I gotta get going," I said, thinking myself: "Yea, like I'm going to miss my hands-on with Fallout 3 to see the absolute train-wreck of Civilization's PC exodus to home consoles."

And my pessimistic attitude stood firm, until I got home from E3 where a review copy of CivRev was waiting for me. I felt a little bad for declining the demo at E3, so the first night I got home (even though I had my fill of gaming) I popped the disc into my Xbox 360, and gave it a try. Next thing I know it's 4 a.m., and I've just won my first campaign. CivRev is addictive in the just-one-more-turn kinda way. Each new turn meant I would have another infantry unit to defend my home base, that I'd be one more turn closer to finishing my Nuclear research. Would a great leader abandon their civilization at a time like this? Hell no.

Read the full review here.