We ♥ Houston

Every time someone comes to visit me in Houston, I try to find something new in the area to show them. It is a great way to get some items off the bucket list while exploring a new part of the city. One of the items I had always had on my Houston bucket list was to see the We ♥ Houston sign visible from I-10 west of downtown. It is pretty iconic and my wife and I finally went to check it out when her parents were in town over Christmas. Below are some pics:

Here is a pic from the other side

My wife cheesing it up

We stopped by the Beer Can House since it was nearby. It was not open to tour the inside of the house (thanks to the crappy weather) but I have toured it before and it is definitely worth checking out if you ever visit Houston. Below is a pic I took from a previous trip there:

We also had a chance to go see the Nutcracker with the Houston Ballet. This was the final year of the Nutcracker in its current form as the director was planning to create his own version next year. It was nice to see it before it was gone! Below are some pics of the beautiful Wortham Center, where the ballet takes place:

We sat in the nosebleeds, but it was still fun

If you were a gingerbread house, would you eat yourself?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Cowboy Mouth

I will be honest. I had only heard a few Cowboy Mouth songs before seeing them live in person last night, and therefore I can only provide a novice perspective on their performance at the Houston House of Blues. Any true Cowboy Mouth fans can feel free to provide a more expert take on their show.

After seeing the band, I felt compelled to write a review for this blog and share my experience.

First off, I arrived to the venue at 8:30 p.m. since the show was billed to start at that time. I’ve been to a million concerts and none of them ever start on time, but the Houston House of Blues (HOB) is usually pretty good at starting close to schedule. Not this time. I grabbed a beer and found a spot near the stage while a blast of frigid A/C cooled me off from walking in the Houston humidity from the Metro rail to the HOB. I was alone since my wife was working, so I sat there and followed the Sporting KC versus FC Dallas MLS match on my phone. The bartender had told me that the opening act would come on at 9:30 and Cowboy Mouth would probably hit the stage around 10:30. I just prayed my phone battery wouldn’t die before the band came on so I could take some pics.

Around 9:00 p.m., someone started passing out some red spoons to others in the crowd. I had no idea why, but they approached me and asked if I wanted one. I asked what they were for and the guy gave me a puzzled look and said they were “for the song”. Ok. I took the spoon and went back to checking the soccer score.

At 9:30, an opening artist came on stage. It was weird because no one had set up any sound equipment or checked the mic’s. Just some dude walking out with an acoustic guitar. I thought he said his name was Josh Roberts but I couldn’t find him on the internet. He wasn’t bad though, but in the tradition of horrible Houston concert crowds, you could barely hear him over the chatter. Idiots.

He played a 45-minute set, gave out 2 CD’s to lucky crowd members, then walked off. I bought another beer, went outside to stare at the Houston Rockets home stadium and defrost a little (the A/C was freezing), then went back to my spot by the stage. A guy came up to me seeing my red spoon and asked if I had an extra. I thought that was weird. I mean, when would you ever in your lifetime have to ask another dude for a red spoon, outside of a Target company picnic? I referred him to some others I had seen passing some out. He got a spoon and gave me the most enthusiastic “Thanks!” I have ever received in my life. This guy was overjoyed at being handed a red piece of plastic.

Since I was still puzzled by this, I texted my brother and he said it had something to do with a song. I was saving my phone battery and decided not to google it, but a guy standing next to me was wearing a Texas Tech hat (which is where I worked last year) and holding a bag of red spoons, so I asked him what I was supposed to do with the spoon. He said “Just wait for the song! You will know!” Um, ok.

I decided to close out my bar tab lest I forget, and also because I only planned to stay for a few songs. After closing it out, I went back to my spot under the A/C blast and waited for the band to hit the stage. At a little bit after 10:30, they came on stage with a drum set on a platform right in the front and 3 microphone stands on the side of that. The band started playing a warm-up beat and everyone was cheering. Then the real fun started…

The singer of the band, Fred LeBlanc, was also the drummer, which is pretty interesting. Additionally, he looked a lot like Jon Laughran, the cross-eyed linebacker from the Adam Sandler movie Waterboy. He immediately got the crowd pumped by talking about how awesome it was to be in Texas. Then he told everyone to hug 2-3 people around them because we were gonna have a good time and we were all friends. And crazily enough, everyone was hugging each other. Possible solution for World Peace?

They launched into a song that just got everyone clapping and moving, and even created banter with the crowd in the middle of the song by encouraging people to clap along. Later, one of their conversations (I forget the context) was punctuated with the statement “Texas is better than the Middle East!”

They also interacted with the folks in the balcony above the floor area, and found out it was one girl’s birthday. They got the entire crowd to sing her Happy Birthday and after everyone flubbed on her name (Emma Rose), Fred made us all sing it again so we could get her name right. Hilarious.

In the middle of the set, they started talking about how they were professionals and had a show the next night in Louisiana (their home state) and talked about how they needed to save their voices for that show but who cares, they would worry about it tomorrow. It was great fun, and I haven’t even talked about their music yet, which was tremendous and energetic. It is like a combination of rock, pop, country, alternative, and rockabilly. They played some of their old songs from the 1990’s and some songs from their most recent album (2014). They even played rockabilly covers of Stand by Me and Rock Me Baby by BB King.

At around 11:45, they started a drum beat and all of a sudden everyone got out their red spoons. I was glad I had stayed this long because I had originally thought I would leave within 20 minutes (I got free tickets so don’t judge me). Guess I would finally see what the spoons were about. The song is called Everyone Loves Jill and basically every line in the song incudes the word “red.” Some guy saw that I only had one spoon and gave me about 15 to hold.

At some point the band shouted “she eats her red cake with my favorite red spoon” and everyone started tossing their red spoons towards the stage. The best way to describe it is the scene in the movie 300 when the Persians “blot out the sun” with arrows, only instead of deadly weapons filling the sky, it was cheap red spoons.

I was holding my phone up with my right hand trying to capture the moment on video (see below) and at the same time toss 15 red spoons onto the stage with my left hand. I probably launched all 15 spoons into the back of someone’s head but NO ONE CARED because we were all having a great time. And before the band was even done playing, some guy came out on stage and started sweeping up the spoons (my guess is there were enough spoons for the entire Duggar clan to use at a family picnic). The guy even started sweeping the spoons back towards the crowd and people just LOVED having red spoons swept into their faces. I got a decent video of what it looked like and all I can say is that if you get a chance to see Cowboy Mouth live, DO IT. 

Out and about

I haven’t posted in a while on here, but that is because I have yet again been too busy experiencing all that Houston has to offer. So I would like to give y’all a quick update and show you some things that I have seen around town. Also, a quick disclaimer about the new photo on the heading for this blog: I grew an identical beard to James Harden’s of the Houston Rockets, my brother from another mother, and thought you might enjoy seeing said beard.

My last post was in October. Since then, I have attended 4 Rockets games (they went 4-0 in those games), attended the Astros Opening Day (they won 2-0), took a road trip to New Orleans, became a member at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, saw the Christmas lights at the Zoo, checked out the Rothko Chapel and Menil Collection (free stuff!!!), took a road trip to Corpus Christi, ate at 2 different private tents at the World Championship BBQ Cookoff, attended several days of the Houston Rodeo, walked around the Space Center, checked out the Beer Can House, and saw the Astrodome turn 50 years old. And that barely touches the surface of the Exploring-Houston-iceberg.

My bucket list includes: 

The Heights

San Jacinto Monument

Underbelly

St. Arnold's/Karbach/8th Wonder brewery tour

Little Matt's near Rice Village

Art Car Parade (just missed it this year)

Texans game (In 2015 they play my hometown Kansas City Chiefs!)

Pasadena Strawberry Fest

 

 

Below are some other neat things I have seen:

Houston City Hall lit up at night downtown.

Scary storm clouds

More scary storm clouds..Felt like being under a blanket

Indian blanket. My favorite wildflower here because it reminds me of my hometown KC Chiefs

A baby owl that I saw while walking my dog. Poor thing couldn't fly and had birds and cats trying to eat it.

Amazing sunset. Looks like a painting. No filter needed here

Water fountain in the Texas Medical Center.

 What a beautiful city. By the way, the Astros are in first place right now. Suck it Rangers. 

Scootin’ around Houston

I haven’t made a post on here in a while, probably BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN TOO BUSY SEEING EVERYTHING IN HOUSTON. I have also been busy with my wedding, my job, and watching the Kansas City Royals. 

In the months since my last post here, I have seen so much more of this huge city. What a great town with an endless array of things to do. Below are some pics and stories of places I have explored:

My brand new wife and I took a jaunt downtown to the Aquarium because we had buy one, get one All-Day Adventure pass coupons. Pretty sweet deal. It was a great time. We saw some cool animals, including these weird "Waxy" frogs. THEY DID NOT MOVE A SINGLE CENTIMETER THE ENTIRE DAY. I am guessing that the aquarium is playing a joke on everyone by making up some cool names for a fake animal (Waxy? That is the best you could come up with? I mean they do look waxy but that is PROBABLY CUZ THEY ARE MADE OF WAX), then placing the fake animals in comical positions in terrariums.

Doesn't the frog in the back look like he is taking an eternal poop?

We also saw one of the most heartwarming scenes you will NEVER see in real-live nature. In the picture below, note that a baby alligator is resting on a bigger alligator that is RESTING ON A TURTLE. This is no joke. And these animals were alive and real, unlike the weird fake frogs above. You could literally see the sweat beads forming on the turtle's head as he sat there, completely at the mercy of the bigger alligator, just knowing if he tried to move out of being the alligator's head rest, he would be immediately eaten. Soupe à la tortue, as they say in French...

What I wanna know is, what happens if the turtle farts?

 I apologize in advance but this aquarium was full of toilet humor. No joke. The aquarium is home to several white tigers, and one of them must have a sick fetish or something because it walked right up to the observation window and took the longest bathroom break in the history of animals RIGHT IN FRONT OF LITTLE KIDS AND EVERYTHING. Seriously, the potty break lasted almost as long as an episode of Glee. It was long enough to snap several pictures and wonder if the tiger had been holding it in for several days, just waiting for this very moment that someone would capture on their iPhone and post on the internet. Animals sure are funny...

However, that tiger got his revenge on me after I snapped a pic of him in mid-tinkle. You can see the tiger in the picture below that I somehow snapped before he slashed my shoulder and carried off my wife back to his tiger den. A totally unsuspecting tourist mistake...

Just kidding! The tiger was a prop for pictures next to the aquarium gift shop. We had to get another selfie just for kicks. Tons of fun at the Downtown Aquarium!

 A few weeks after watching that tiger tinkle (which would be a great name for a rock band), we went to the Original Houston Greek Festival, which was pretty neat. We had some great pastries and stuff wrapped in grape leaves (not sure what but it tasted good even though it looked a little bit like tiger doo-doo).

This is not tiger doodoo. This is actual Greek food that is called dolmades and is delicious. Get those dirty thoughts out of your head and stop making fun of other cultures.

 Then we watched some Greek children dance to traditional music which was pretty cool, and everywhere we saw these pictures of some dude with a ponytail wearing a skirt and tights. Every culture has their own traditions so let's try not to make fun of them...

Very little at the Greek Fest was similar to the Greek Life that I had known in my undergrad years. Take a look at college Greeks:

I don't know what it going on here. You don't either. It is best if we never try to explain.

After the Greek Fest, we went to the House of Blues in downtown Houston because I had scored free tickets to a show by The Preatures. Pretty awesome band and the show was really fun.

 A few nights after that we decided to check out Little Woodrows in Rice Village to imbibe some adult beverages and watch sports. Just an FYI for anyone visiting Woodrows, they do not serve food. So if you plan to indulge in some sustenance while imbibing your beverages, be prepared to bring your own foodstuffs. My wife and I brought a Domino's pizza because we had a coupon for one. You may notice a pattern here, which is that I AM CHEAP.

Beverages and sports at Woodrows: BYOF

 To cap all of this off, we watched the nice sunset (below) yesterday evening before heading to Baker St. Pub to imbibe some more adult beverages. Unaware of why it was called Baker St. Pub (because it is located at the corner of Times Blvd. and Morningside Dr.), I used my super sleuth powers to determine that it is named after the street that Sherlock Holmes resided on, which explained the pictures of Sherlock Holmes inside the bar. Not bad, if I say so myself. Might have a career as a detective ahead of me...

Winning the Pizza Lottery

If you take a look at my profile description right there -------------------------------->>>>>>>

you will notice that pizza is clearly listed as my favorite thing in the world. I once ate pizza for 30 days straight. If I could, I would eat pizza for 30 meals straight. It is one of the most amazing things in the world; it is a combination of cultures, flavors and textures, it can include all of the major food groups and provides nourishment for the body, and it can be eaten ANY TIME OF THE DAY. If you do not like pizza then you are a Class A jerk.

This past weekend was a lovely adventure for my fiancee and I that involved pizza. First, we went to the Astros game and had some helmet nachos. I have previously written about my love for helmet nachos. Below is a mouth-watering picture of the ones we ate.

I apologize if I made you hungry. We ate every single nacho molecule and would have had bought another one but we wanted to save the few ounces of dignity that we had left. After eating the nachos, I had to take a Helmet Nachos Selfie, because YOLO...

The next day, we ended up going to the Houston Dynamo game with new friends we had made. What a beautiful night for soccer. Check out some pictures from the game below:

The game was sort of a dud, with the Dynamo losing 1-0 in a friendly match with Aston Villa, from "across the pond." I wonder what idiot came up with that because if you think the Atlantic Ocean is a pond then you are (of course) a Class A jerk.

Our friend Bedrich somehow also got us free Dynamo scarves so we were able to look fashionable in the summer heat while watching the game.

At this point you might wonder why I started this post by talking about pizza if all I am going to do is show you pictures of myself wearing Random Professional Sports Items (RPSI). Well it is my blog and I can do what I want. In fact, just for that, you get one more picture of me and RPSI:

That is a beach towel that we got at the Astros game. I love RPSI, especially when they are free.

Anyway, after the Dynamo game, we had several adult beverages until we decided that WE NEEDED PIZZA. Or maybe it was just me that needed pizza. Either way, it was a NEED, not a WANT. And after a hilarious incident involving some girl tripping in a puddle and Bedrich sticking his BARE hand into that disgusting puddle to retrieve the girl's sandal, we ended up at Gotham Pizza, which just so happened to have a pizza large enough to feed all 5 of us. A 30" pizza pie. I HAD WON THE PIZZA LOTTERY. Take a look at this thing:

It actually looks bigger in person, but the pizza was no match for the 5 of us. We demolished the pizza, but not before burning our mouths like idiots. When will the pizza industry protect its valuable customers by inventing protection for our mouths from piping hot pizza??? (There is a million dollar idea right there for any of you who have the intelligence to design something like this, but I get at least half of your profits...)

We did finish the pizza but it took some willpower to eat the last few pieces. Below is picture proof:

If you were wondering how many slices I ate, the answer is... I don't know. That is what several adult beverages will do to you. What an awesome weekend though. You are welcome to come visit and burn your mouth with me and a 30" pizza...