http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/10-03-11-susan-powell-trumpets-guys-and-dolls-the-broadway-values-of-tuts-and-miss-america/

Susan Powell (not that one) is a multitalented lady with an enviable resume. She was Miss America in 1981, the host of a television show on the Discovery Channel for nearly a decade, and she boasts a long and impressive list of concert appearances and theater performances to boot.

Powell is currently in town, portraying Sarah Brown in Theatre Under the Stars‘ production of Guys and Dolls, which runs through Sunday at the Hobby Center. CultureMap spoke with the entertainer about her some all-American past endeavors and where Houston’s theater scene rates.

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/10-03-11-susan-powell-trumpets-guys-and-dolls-the-broadway-values-of-tuts-and-miss-america/

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/10-03-11-central-market-hits-the-road-with-new-food-truck-plans/

Love Central Market but hate the parking lot? Now the gourmet grocer is taking its popular kitchen creations on the road in Houston.

The Houston store is debuting a new food truck this fall, dubbed the Central Market Roadie. Details are scarce, but the new food truck Twitter account describes the operation as “fresh, fast Central Market food with a changing menu and specials.”

This won’t be Central Market’s first mobile unit. The Fort Worth store debuted the “Herban Eatery Assault Truck,” or H.E.A.T, in February. The HEAT serves up a changing menu of gourmet burgers and fries at the Central Market patio during weekly live music performances, attends community events like Fort Worth South’s “First Friday on the Green” and also houses a catering operation that can be rented for corporate events or private parties.

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/10-03-11-central-market-hits-the-road-with-new-food-truck-plans/

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/10-02-11-10-11-was-it-pyramid-power-or-a-midas-touch-that-catapulted-the-museum-ball-into-a-king-tut-windfall/

It was a swell crowd that danced in the shadow of the pyramids Saturday night as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston raised a pharaoh’s ransom in greenbacks at the Grand Gala Ball, this year themed an “Egyptian Fantasy” in honor of the upcoming King Tutexhibition.

While Cleopatras preened in the spotlight and soaring palm trees swayed in the flow of the air-conditioning in the museum’s Law building, a heavy-hitter contingent totalling 450 partied against a backdrop of the iconic Egyptian pyramids and the Temple of Luxor, presented in practically life-sized projections.

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/10-02-11-10-11-was-it-pyramid-power-or-a-midas-touch-that-catapulted-the-museum-ball-into-a-king-tut-windfall/

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/10-03-11-pappas-brothers-win-top-honors-and-new-favorites-emerge-at-my-table-culinary-awards/

Houston’s foodie community never manages to feel as big and yet as tight-knit as during My Table’s annual Houston Culinary Awards. With exponential growth since the beginning of the awards 15 years ago, the event was held for the second time at the Conrad Hilton ballroom at the University of Houston Hilton and emceed by KUHF’s St. John Flynn, with a three-course dinner catered by Jason Hauck, Quattro‘s Maurizio Ferrarese, Jeramie Robison of Cinq, Grant Gordon of Tony’s, Eatsie Boys‘ Matt Marcus and Rebecca Masson ofFluff Bake Bar.

The 10 official Houston Culinary Awards have been augmented by 15 more casual categories, dubbed Houston Foodie Star award. All the awards were decided through online voting from Houston foodies.

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/10-03-11-pappas-brothers-win-top-honors-and-new-favorites-emerge-at-my-table-culinary-awards/

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http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-15-11-your-weekly-guide-to-houston/

Busy week? It sure beats the other extreme — boredom. Here at CultureMap, we are feeling the beginning buzz of the 2011-12 art season and social calendar. Whether you prefer an informal gathering, an artsy evening or a back-tie soiree — with so many things to do, why stay home? That’s my philosophy.

Here are a few of last week’s highlights:

Think art crime is sexy? With images of foxy Hollywood stars carrying out art heists, it’s tempting to see why we would almost excuse anyone worthy of a magazine cover if they decided to dabble in art theft. Robert Wittman, retired FBI art crime investigator and author of Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures told a different story. With on-the-job anecdotes and even video of actual arrests, guests at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston got the inside scoop on the realities of the cultural black market.

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-15-11-your-weekly-guide-to-houston/

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-15-11-bush-still-burning-two-days-after-west-houston-wildfire-began-its-under-control-but-not-out/

The large wildfire in George Bush Park that started Tuesday afternoon is “well under control” according to a Houston Fire Department spokesperson, but parts of the fire are still burning two days later. The Texas Forest Service and HFD personnel are still on site, keeping any lingering fire in check.

Right now, there are two Texas Forest Service bulldozers and seven HFD boosters (water-spraying vehicles) in George Bush Park. That’s a far cry from the 50 pieces of firefighting equipment, the four bulldozers and the 175 firefighters that were on the scene at the height of thewildfire Tuesday night. In a just-released update, an HFD official says that the fire has been contained to 1,500 acres in the park.

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-15-11-bush-still-burning-two-days-after-west-houston-wildfire-began-its-under-control-but-not-out/

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-12-11-going-bananas-23-monkeys-are-running-loose-in-waller-wild-wildfire-escapees-tormenting-cops/

While the wildfires just north of Houston continue to fluctuate between containment and rage, some of the inhabitants of Waller County are going a little bananas.

After all, they are monkeys.

Yes, you heard us correctly. Word in the forest is that one of the ravaged county’s residents had illegally housed 23 primates, which, with the onset of the fiery catastrophes, were either voluntarily or involuntarily released into the wild.

But since this is the fourth-largest city in the United States, you simply can’t have monkeys running wild across the metropolitan area, Planet of the Apes-style.

So authorities were called in to capture the critters, and that’s when the real monkey business began.

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-12-11-going-bananas-23-monkeys-are-running-loose-in-waller-wild-wildfire-escapees-tormenting-cops/

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-13-11-with-bachelor-pad-2-final-erica-rose-in-talks-for-another-reality-show-crystal-gavel-and-stunning-dress-included/

Houston’s own Erica Rose was back front and center for the finale of Bachelor Pad 2, which unfolded Monday night in two back-to-back episodes of dramz.

First came the final challenge, in which the final four couples competed in a physically demanding stunt performance on the Las Vegas set of Cirque du Soleil. Guest judges and ex-Bachelor contestants Trista Sutter, Jason Mesnick and Ali Fedotowsky were charged with declaring one couple the winner, who got immunity, and one couple the loser, who was voted off on the spot.

Michael Stagliano’s dance background paid off as he and partner Holly Durst outperformed the other couples and earned immunity for the night, along with two roses to hand off to another couple. Not so lucky were perpetual sob-story-seller Ella Nolan and hot-for-a-ginger Kirk Dewindt, who got sent home for their less-than-stellar attempt at acrobatic grace.

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-13-11-with-bachelor-pad-2-final-erica-rose-in-talks-for-another-reality-show-crystal-gavel-and-stunning-dress-included/

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http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-13-11-texas-am-jumps-up-in-us-news-world-report-college-rankings-rice-holds-steady-as-best-in-texas/

According to the experts at U.S. News & World Report, Rice University is once again the best college in Texas, and one of the best in the nation.

Houston’s premier private university has been ranked No. 17 among national universities for the eighth year in a row, tying with Vanderbilt and coming in just behind ivies Brown and Cornell. Rice was also ranked No. 16 for Best Value and the graduate programs in business and engineering were listed as “best” programs.

Topping the U.S. News list in a tie were perennial favorites Harvard and Princeton, followed by Yale. The rankings are based on a matrix oftraditional factors — the applicant acceptance rate, freshman retention rate, six-year graduation rate, the percentage of classes with under 20 students and SAT scores for the 25th and 75th percentile of incoming students.

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-13-11-texas-am-jumps-up-in-us-news-world-report-college-rankings-rice-holds-steady-as-best-in-texas/

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http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-12-11-houston-has-another-blooming-corpse-flower-pewtina-on-pace-to-open-this-weekend-at-zoo/

It’s happening again . . .  Houston has itself another corpse flower that’s set to bloom.

Out of the blue, the Houston Zoo revealed Monday that it has its ownAmorphophallus titanum and it’s estimating that the flower will open it stinky self this upcoming weekend. Rather than sugarcoat the corpse flower’s trademark stench, which bares a remarkable similarity to rotting flesh, the zoo embraced the rare flower’s reputation, naming it Pewtunia.

You can view the flower in its current home in the zoo’s African Forest, the recently opened six-acre wooded habitat that features white rhinos, giraffes and a colony of chimpanzees. Horticultural experts will offer special talks at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. every day and field any questions guests have about the 19-pound, 35-inch Pewtunia.

Read the full story at CultureMap,

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-12-11-houston-has-another-blooming-corpse-flower-pewtina-on-pace-to-open-this-weekend-at-zoo/