Starvin Marvin's Bar & Grill

A group of us went to Starvin Marvin's when they first opened.  At that time, they had a limited menu and marginal service.  I've gone back a couple of times since that first visit, but it was just for drinks and appetizers on the patio.  I finally went again for dinner and everything was wonderful.

They have a beautiful outdoor area and live music Wednesday through Saturday with no cover charge.  I highly recommend the crawfish nachos.

Since the website doesn't have a copy of the menu, I'm posting it here.

Starvin Marvin's Bar & Grill
2310 N. 11th Street
Beaumont, TX   77703
(409) 234-5002

Hours:
Monday: 11am - 12am
Tuesday: 11am - 12am
Wednesday: 11am - 12am
Thursday: 11am - 2am
Friday: 11am - 2am
Saturday: 11am - 2am
Sunday: 11am - 12am

Spindletop Roller Girls and Painting With a Twist

Spindletop Roller Girls

Thursday, July 1 at 7:00 p.m.  Just three more home games including this one.  I'll be there.  Will you?

Painting With a Twist

I'll be attempting to paint the lovely picture above on July 16th at Painting With a Twist.  You bring your favorite beverage, snacks and friends and instructors walk you through the painting of the day.  Sounds so fun.

Painting With a Twist
www.paintingwithatwist.com/beaumont
The Oaks Shopping Center 229 Dowlen Rd., Suite 11A
Beaumont, TX 77707
(409) 866-0399

Rock for Haiti (Beaumont, Texas)

Another Longneck Road Show!

Cool Venue,..Cool Bands...You're Cool, too...Right?

Friday, December 18th, at The Barking Dog (downtown Beaumont) - Josh Langston Band with special guests Longneck Road. This will be great.

Zydeco Louisiana Diner - Oh, yeah!

We temporarily interrupt our Dannielle the Golden Eagle picture-ama to talk about lunch...



Jennifer (click here for her new fabulous blog) and I had lunch today at the Zydeco Louisiana Diner on Crockett Street (click here for previous blog post). It was fantastic.

I had the Wednesday plate lunch of Chicken Fricasse and, as you can see above, accessorized with stewed okra and tomatoes and corn maque choux (pronounced mock shoo, by the way...Cory). The above picture doesn't do it justice. It was delicious.

I also bought some homemade bread pudding for "later" and had a glass of their "real" strawberry lemonade. The lemonade was fantastic and "later" for the bread pudding turned out to be about five minutes after I got back to the office. I poured the provided sauce over the pudding, put it in the microwave for about 15 seconds and...oh momma...that's some good stuff.

So, grab your co-workers or some people you like and go there. Soon.

Edited to add:
I forgot to mention that the daily specials are served cafeteria style which is perfect for a quick lunch. They also have a huge patio, so you can even eat outside.

Go see my friends! That's an order!

My good friends Southern Embers and Longneck Road will be playing at the Outlaw Drinkin' Club Saturday night for the Southern Embers CD release party. Don't let the name fool you. It's a nice little bar. Don't be skeered.

My Friends Longneck Road Opening for Django Walker

Longneck Road features, from left, Ron Arceneaux,

Robert Arena, Dick LeMasters and Miles Sykes

Stolen from the Port Arthur News article by By Darragh Doiron...

Boys’ Haven’s biggest fund raiser of the year has a new name.

The Boys' Haven Food & Music Festival, formerly known as the Boys’ Haven Crawfish Festival, will help keep the center open for young boys in need. Music from The Bryce Shaver Band, Cajun Harmony, Still Cruisin', Longneck Road and Django Walker will highlight the affair, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 23, at Ford Park Pavilion off Interstate 10 in Beaumont, Jim Ferrell, the center’s development and business manager, said.

The affair will include Boys’ Haven’s “famous” crawfish dinners with corn and potatoes, pork-ka-bobs, boudain, roasted corn, barbecue and funnel cakes. Tickets are $8 in advance from FastLane stores and $10 at the gate.

A youth play area, games, face painting and a car show will make for family fun, Ferrell said. For information or sponsorship information call Robert Pate Ferrell at 833-5060, or visit www.boyshaven.com.

Django Walker is son of Texas music legend Jerry Jeff Walker. He will take the stage from 9:30 to 11:00 p.m. Local band Longneck Road will take the stage around 7:40 p.m. to warm up for Walker.

Longneck Road members call their music “Texas Rock,” a blend of rock, Texas Country, blues and boogie. The band mixes its original music with covers of Jimi Hendrix, Steve Earle, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and even the occasional Johnny Cash song.

Members say they’re excited to play the same bill as Walker.

“Having grown up listening to Jerry Jeff, opening up for Django Walker is certainly an honor,” said Dick LeMasters, singer and songwriter for Longneck Road.

Ron Arceneaux, bass player for Longneck Road, has performed at shows with Walker in the past.

“Opening for Django back in 2005 at Texas GatorFest was an awesome experience,” Arceneaux said. “He’s really an inspired writer in the Lone Star music tradition and reaches across many genres having been influenced by Tom Petty and Coldplay.”

Drummer Robert Arena and lead guitar player Miles Sykes round out the lineup of Longneck Road, which was formed in early 2008 in Beaumont. The focus of the band has been on perfecting and performing original music, and events such as the Boys Haven festival are ideal, members say.

“We have a great time playing at events like this,” said Arena. The band is quick to thank the directors of Boys Haven for featuring Longneck Road in this year’s lineup.

“Robert Pate, who handled the music lineup, was great to deal with, and we all really appreciate him including us in the show,” Sykes said

Retrograde...Smetzrograde

I'll do a post about Mercury retrogrades later. For now, I have to tell you that one of my favorite local bands will be paying at one of my favorite night spots Friday night. Don't miss Simple Logic at The Logon Cafe.

The sound at the Logon is great, they have yummy sandwiches, a nice wine list, lots of cold interesting beers and Simple Logic has one of the best lead singers of any band in the area. They play covers of groups like Maroon 5, Jason Mraz, Matchbox 20, Dishwalla...you get my drift. They also play some fun dance music.

Don't miss this one.

First Thursdays at the Mildred Building

This sounds wonderful. I can't go this month, but I'm going to definitely try to go next month and take pictures. The Mildred Building is a fantastic piece of architecture here in Beaumont,Texas located at the corner of Calder Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard. I hope this is a success.







Click here for more pictures of The Mildred and for a link to the site from which I heisted the above pictures.

Ava's First Trip to the Fair

The merry-go-round was zooming. Ava was not impressed. Notice the older little girl holding on for dear life. This video was actually taken after the ride had slowed down a little.

"Yes, you may worship me."

"You talkin' to me?"

"I would like to thank the Academy."


This one's for Carly. It's an Elvis quilt.

"Warm, sweet, tasty...I like it."

"Then I want to touch a cow, then I want ice cream, then I want to touch a pig...."


"Look! Pork-ka-bobs!"



"Don't anybody move."

"Merry-go-round? Mom, are you sure this is a good idea?"


"These are my people."



For more pictures click here.

Southeast Texas Paranormal Convention Update

Note: Comments have been disabled on posts about the paranormal conventions. Someone (NOT ME) has created a site to continue those discussions if you're interested. CLICK HERE.

In March 2010, there will be a paranormal convention in Beaumont. Click here to read my previous post.

The promoter recently left two comments on the earlier post:

Comment 1:
"Wow, I have to remember that this is 2009 and the internet is a wonderful thing! I am the promoter of the convention and if you guys have any questions feel free to contact me at our website : http://www.txparanormal.com/. "

Comment 2:
"Oh, once we have the convention website up you can go to http://www.texasghostshow.com/! Some of the guests we are planning on having are Kristyn Garland and Tango (from TAPS), John Zaffis and Mrs. Hester Eby from the Myrtles Plantation."

For those of you who aren't paranormally crazy like me, Kristyn Garland, Tango, John Zaffis and Ms. Hester are impressive guests indeed.


EDITED TO ADD:

A short time after posting the above entry, I received a couple more comments on the original post:

Comment 1:
"Oh well, you should see the Soulsfest that is coming to Beaumont this year! It is a paranormal convention with guests like Barry Fitzgerald from Ghost Hunters International, Shannon Sylvia from GHI, too. They are supposed to be getting Brian Harnois from Taps and GHI too and many more! It will be 10-10-09 at the Julie Rogers Theatre and they will be having a ghost hunt too!!!"

Comment 2:
"Oh yeah, they have a link it is http://www.soulsparanormal.com/ and http://soulsfest.eventbrite.com/."


Competing paranormal groups, perhaps? It's great that Beaumont has enough interest in the paranormal that there are two active groups and both are promoting the field by holding conventions and fests and ghost hunts.

Any other paranormal groups out there planning to do something to entertain me? Seriously, I'm easily entertained.


Note: Comments have been disabled on posts about the paranormal conventions. Someone (NOT ME) has created a site to continue those discussions if you're interested. CLICK HERE.

Space Rockers!!

Space Rockers

Friday Night - April 3, 2009

$5

Scout Bar on Crockett Street

'80s Music

Fun!!

Billy Bob canceled, Simple Logic rocked and Back in Black gets a nit-picky review

Billy Bob Thornton decided to skip Beaumont at the last minute, which simplified my music choices last night. Scheduled to open for Billy Bob was one of my favorite local bands Simple Logic. They did not cancel. I've told you about these guys before (see previous post) and, once again, they put on a great show.

I can't find a website for Simple Logic, but according to the Logon Cafe website (which may or may not be correct), current members are:

Chris Kozlowski (drums)
Chuck Ferguson (guitar)
David Simon (guitar)
Tony Buagas (vocal, acoustic guitar)
Joel Schoening (keyboards)
Joe Boucher (bass)

You can see Simple Logic, and I highly recommend that you do, at the South Texas State Fair on Saturday, March 28 at noon and Wednesday, April 1 at 5:30 p.m.

Tony Buagas of Simple Logic

Now, for my nit-picky review of AC/DC tribute band Back in Black. I have a favorite AC/DC tribute band and their name is Hells Bells. As musicians, some would say that Back in Black is the superior band.

I, however, couldn't get past the fact that Back in Black's "Angus" was taller than "Bon/Brian." Not only was he tall, he was handsome in a Jim from The Office kind of way. That's just not right.


"Brian Johnson" and "Angus"


"Angus"
(Jim Halpert...right?)


"Angus" still being taller than "Brian"



"Brian" going all AC/DC on our asses

Friday Night on Crockett Street

Back in Black - AC/DC Tribute Band - Scout Bar

The Boxmasters - Billy Bob Thornton's band - Dixie Dancehall

Opening for The Boxmasters will be my favorite new local band Simple Logic. Here's my review from a show last month...

"As fantastic as all of that was, the highlight of my week was the discovery of the band I saw tonight. Evidently, they've been around a couple of years, but I had never seen them before. The band is called Simple Logic and the lead singer is the best I've ever seen locally and I've seen lots and lots and lots of incredible local talent in my day.His covers of Maroon 5, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Eric Clapton, Train, Dishwalla, Matchbox 20 and so many others that I can't even remember were perfection. Then, as if all that weren't enough, to top it all off, he did Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On."

N-Fuego

There is a fabulous new place to eat in Beaumont called N-Fuego. It's sort of like Subway except with Mexican food ingredients instead of sandwich fillings and burritos, tacos, nachos, quesadillas and salads instead of bread.

You go through the serving line and the people behind the counter add your choice of ingredients to your order. It's a cute little restaurant (it used to be Novrosky's at Calder and Lucas) and has a nice patio in front.

The ingredients are mostly healthy and all of the meats are delicious. Give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

N-Fuego
4230 Calder
Beaumont, Texas
(409) 898-8688

Space Rockers!!

My friend Jan tells me that this Friday night, March 13, the Space Rockers will be at Scout Bar on Crockett Street. She said they put on a great show and they really want to pack the house so Scout Bar will continue to book fun bands that make you want to dance all night.

I'm a little under the weather, so I don't know if I'll be there. If you're looking for something to do Friday night, go out to Crockett Street, eat dinner at Pancho Villa and checkout the Space Rockers.

Now, that's a bargain!!

Every week, some of the local radio stations offer a Deal of the Week. A couple of weeks ago, you could pay $25 for $50 worth of Pancho Villa Mexican Kitchen food. They still have some left.

Click here to get yours.

Pancho Villa's Mexican Restaurant
230 Crockett Street
Beaumont, Texas 77701
Phone: 409-833-3701

See you Friday?

My friend Dick's band will be playing in The Back Room this Friday night. The Back Room is part of Whiskey River...but it's in the back. It's a really cool venue and they're a great band. They play all kinds of cover tunes for your musical pleasure. Come see me...I mean them. Come see them.

Madison Monroe

Last night Madison Monroe opened for my friend's (Longneck Road) band. He's a local boy who attended the same high school as me. If you ever have an opportunity to see him, you should check it out. I loved his set.

I don't know Madison well enough to know if he would approve of the comparison, but to give you an idea of my impression of his music, I would say it was sort of a combination of Bryan Adams and Tom Petty. That is high praise indeed from me.