1. Noise Gates Installation artist group ‘exurb’ has fashioned two massive ‘human theremins’ that produce sound and frequency by human interaction. This is some sci-fi madness. 2. Select Skate Park Our friends at Select Skate are building out a massive Skate Park on site at the festival. Some of the city’s best skaters will be doing what they do. 3. Sony Playstation Experience Sony is bringing a 90 foot footprint they call the Playstation Experience where you can slow it down for a minute and game it up. Nerds are encouraged to get out of the sunlight periodically and step ... Read More »

Summer Fest is coming up next weekend but if you’re into comic books make sure to clear your schedule this weekend for another festival. Comicpalooza has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 2025. According to the website, the festival was originally just a small signing event in the lobby of Katy’s Alamo Drafthouse but this year’s incarnation will be held on a much grander scale at the George R. Brown Center. In addition to boasting a long list of guest artists there will be local bands, comedy troupes, and even a musical production of “Evil Dead” courtesy ... Read More »

13 Assassins has to be one of the great samurai films of all time. As directed by Takashi Miike 13 Assassins builds slowly to a stupendous battle sequence that last nearly 40-minutes and pits our baker’s dozen heroes against 200 troops. Sure this is a Japanese film, and it’s a period actioner set in the middle of the 19th century but aside from that 13 Assassins depicts battle strategy in a manner so complex you would think this is a course offered at West Point. 13 Assassins is a remake of another Japanese film of the same title from 1963. ... Read More »

Punk Rock has been so commercialized, commoditized, and tamed that these days you can likely turn on Disney channel and find some teen sitcom with a character that superficially swipes from the genre. But it wasn’t always that way. Punk actually had something to say and that made a lot of society antsy and given the political turmoil of the Reagan 80′s the genre was filled with biting social commentary and youthful angst. Houston’s scene was no exception and so music and art flourished in the ”scary” Montrose where all the stoners, hippies, faggots, and other walks of society shunned by suburbia resided. It was ... Read More »

Psychedelic noise pop duo Caddywhompus, born in Houston but raised in New Orleans, have been turning heads with their frenetic, math rock sound. Landing a spot on Flavorwire’s 10 New Orleans Bands You Need to Hear, as well as opening for high-profile acts including Sleigh Bells and Givers, the band has evolved into a household name for Houstonians and New Orleans residents alike. We spoke to guitarist and vocalist Chris Rehm about city rivalries, ice cream, benefit shows, and more: FPH – We remember you playing solo stuff as Afrodisiac years ago in high school. How did that evolve into ... Read More »

This Week’s Featured Show Anarchitex CD Release @ Cactus Music (5PM free) Is it me or has Punk Rock been reduced to hardcore and Pop-Punk?  Sometimes it seems that way but back in the 80′s bands like Really Red, The Party Owls, Mydolls, The Pain Teens, Happy Fingers Institute, and Culturecide (to name a few) constantly played outside the sandbox of many today consider Punk.  Maybe they just called it Punk back then because there were no other labels at the time but the gamut was wide and the music was definitely uncompromising.  The Anarchitex are one such band.  They made ... Read More »

Incendies is not a difficult film to fathom, but you will have a difficult time getting this film out of your mind. That’s a good thing. Canadian director Denis Villeneuve has fashioned a modern day tale of tragedy that begs comparisons to Greek theater. The style isn’t classic drama however so much as non-linear storylines that culminate in great revelations. Brother and sister Jeanne and Simon (Melissa Desormeaux Poulin, Maxim Gaudette), twins, are given instructions per their mother’s will that sends them half way around the world to search for a brother and a father that they never knew. As ... Read More »

The Hangover Part II will be the perfect tonic for those that thought the movie Choke was too tame. The ads for the film give the protagonists a brown tinged grimness, soaked in sweat and guilt. More to the point would be posters with the lead characters (the Wolfpack) swearing “I’ve got a demon in me,” or “Don’t mess with my tranny.” Worse sequels have been made but in all honesty the scope and breath of Hangover Part II exceeds the original by a generous length. Setting the movie in Bangkok keeps the dangerous city mythos while also adding a ... Read More »

The folks over here at FPH know what it is like to be ‘livin’ la vida ‘broke-ah’. Having no money not only means no food, no shelter, no medicine but also no well deserved entertainment. Times are tough for some right now and we want to show ‘WE KINDA CARE’ by offering several needy music lovers who can’t afford it the chance to attend Free Press Summer Fest. So here are the rules: • Send us a 300 word essay about your friend’s hardships and why they deserve a free pass. • Include their full name and email address. • ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman There are plays that are entertaining for both the audience and the actors. There are plays that challenge the audience or actors, either through the difficulty of the script or the themes that are explored; and then there’s Catastrophic Theatre’s production of Sarah Kane’s play Crave. The performance doesn’t so much begin as unfold; the audience is admitted into a smoky theatre filled with a diffused light that offers little clue as to when, or even where, the play is set. It could be on a fishing pier in a British coastal town with an oddly descriptive name, like  Walton On The Naze or Broadstairs, in 1995 or it could be  inside someone’s mind. The costumes and the four ... Read More »