Jim Rome = Not Burning in Houston.

​Jim Rome is done in the Houston sports-talk radio market after KILT-AM 610 dropped the popular The Jim Rome Show last week.

Rome's show had become more than a little tedious in recent years, so replacing it should be easy; here are five replacements that would make for riveting programming in Rome's vacated three-hour hole.

5. 106: A Pitch-by-Pitch Breakdown of the Astros' 2011 Season
Can't recall how, during Houston's shutout loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on April 29, Carlos Lee took Shaun Marcum's first pitch for a strike in the bottom of the fourth? You will now.

More >>

KGOW's now former creative team of Frank Bullington (left) and Chance McClain (right)

​If you have listened at all to KGOW 1560 the Game over the last month or two, you may have noticed some changes taking place that represent a distinct shift in the overall vibe of the station. Gone are the oddball promos and borderline inappropriate interludes (what some might argue are integral to the station's personality), replaced with a more traditional, bombastic sports radio tone.

These changes coincide with the recent demotion of former program director Chance McClain, who was replaced with Sporting News Radio PD Craig Larson in May. McClain opted to resign not long after his demotion and will now be followed by his creative partner, production director Frank Bullington, who will officially leave the station at the end of the week.

Neither was able to comment on the situation, but Bullington said in his exit e-mail, "As the station and network move in a new direction, I felt it was time for me to do the same."

More >>

John Nova Lomax: Unlike the NPR segment being taped in this photo, his This American Life piece will air.

​It was one of those things in life you just can't quite believe. A few weeks back, I received an e-mail from Robyn Semien telling me that This American Life was interested in a story I had submitted, and asking if I would be interested in being interviewed by Ira Glass for possible inclusion on their show.

I read it once, twice, three times. I even had a little trouble remembering that I had submitted a story to them at all -- I had done so way back in October or November of last year and forgot all about it after a month or so. But there was that e-mail, still there in my inbox.

And then I talked to Semien and set the date with Glass. Maybe it was real after all. Later that day, I did double-check and, yes, the e-mail was still there. Maybe it wasn't a dream, acid flashback or practical joke after all.

More >>

Our April 6 cover on KGOW.

​In April, our cover story featured the irreverent, independent nature of local sports radio station KGOW 1560 The Game. It appears both of those characteristics may be on their way out as changes at the station inch them closer to the mainstream.

Longtime program director Chance McClain -- one of the creative minds behind the station's alternative approach to sports talk -- was recently replaced with Craig Larson, the PD at Sporting News Radio, the network purchased by KGOW investors last year.

"Craig is one of the top program directors in the country," station president David Gow told Hair Balls via e-mail. "In this move, we are trying to deploy our team in areas/assignments where we can achieve the best possible total impact." According to Gow, McClain has been put in charge of new media initiatives they believe "will be big winners for us and that leverage his [McClain's] creativity well."

More >>

Timothy Eric plays Blind Jordan in the current production of The Sty of the Blind Pig at the Ensemble Theatre. Blind Jordan is searching for a woman from his past when he knocks on the door of Alberta’s apartment. When Alberta decides to help Blind Jordan search for the woman he’s looking for, her domineering and manipulative mother starts scheming and plotting ways to stop the two from forming any kind of relationship.

Timothy Eric, a veteran Houston actor, stopped by the Houston Press offices to discuss The Sty of the Blind Pig with Night & Day Editor Olivia Flores Alvarez. To hear a Radio Houstoned podcast with Timothy Eric and Olivia Flores Alvarez, click the button below:

The Sty of the Blind Pig is performed 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 3 p.m. Sundays. Through April 13. 3535 Main. For tickets and information, call 713-520-0055 or visit www.ensemblehouston.com. $15 to $35.

Click here for a Houston Press review of The Sty of the Blind Pig. -- Olivia Flores Alvarez

Click the button below to listen to Nevada Barr reading from her latest work, followed by an interview with Night & Day Editor Olivia Flores Alvarez...

Nevada Barr fans have been anxiously awaiting the 14th installment of the Anna Pigeon series of mysteries and Winter Study does not disappoint. Set on Isle Royal in Lake Superior, where temperatures are around zero 24 hours a day, Winter Study follows Pigeon as she joins a wolf study team. As if being stuck in an icy camp out in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of brainiac, self-absorbed scientists isn’t bad enough, Pigeon has to contend with a couple of Homeland Security bureaucrats and giant wolf right off Dr. Moreau’s island.

Catch Nevada Barr as she reads from Winter Study at 6:30 p.m. today. Murder by the Book, 2342 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-524-8597 or visit www.murderbooks.com. Free. – Olivia Flores Alvarez

Houston vocalist Kristine Mills was at a cocktail party when she bumped into artist/curator Wade Wilson. In between chitchat and mixed drinks, the two came up with Wade Wilson Art’s Second Anniversary Party, a combo art exhibit/jazz concert benefiting Texas Children’s Hospital and Houston Center for Photography. Joining Mills will be members of the famed Duke Ellington Orchestra. It’s a little pricey, but hey, cough it up – it’s for a good cause. 7 p.m. Today. 4411 Montrose. For information, call 713-521-2977 or visit www.wadewilsonart.com. $100 to $500. -- Olivia Flores Alvarez

To listen to an interview with Kristine Mills and Houston Press Night & Day Editor Olivia Flores Alvarez , click the button below.

And here are a few more tunes from Kristine’s newest album.

Click the LISTEN button below for a preview...

Angelina Jolie can’t save all the orphans in Africa, can she? Thankfully, the orphans of the African Children’s Choir are saving themselves. The choir, started 23 years ago, takes orphaned or abandoned African children with amazing musical talent on a worldwide tour to raise awareness of the plight of Africa’s youngest citizens, including children from Darfur, Sudan, Chad and Kenya. You can see them perform today at 8 p.m. Wortham Center, 500 Texas Avenue. For information, call 713-227-2787 or visit www.houstonballet.org. $17 to $47. — Francisca Ortega

It’s your last chance to catch the musical Altar Boyz at Stages Repertory Theatre this weekend. The story of a Christian boy band, Altar Boyz is a bit of fluff, but fun fluff nonetheless.

You can read what our reviewer Lee Williams had to say about the show here, and click the button below to listen to one of the show’s songs.

Altar Boyz runs at 8 p.m. tonight, 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. tomorrow and 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway. For tickets and information, call 713-527-0123 or visit www.stagestheatre.com. $26 to $36.— Olivia Flores Alvarez

Click the button below for an interview with El Mero Cocinero and Night & Day Editor Olivia Flores Alvarez.

Robert Karimi puts together comedy, food, politics and culture to serve up the off-Broadway comedy The Cooking Show. “The show is about a progressive chef that wants to change the world, one recipe at a time,” Karimi says. The chef, a.k.a. Mero Cocinero, “went to the Paolo Freire Culinary Institute; it’s a cooking school that you cannot find because they are clandestine and they believe that cooking is a political act that brings communities together. [He has] a sidekick, Comrade Castro, who is a flunky from the CIA, the Culinary Institute of America. Mero Cocinero is Iranian/Guatemalan like me, and Comrade Castro is Filipino, and we do our Iranian-Guatemalan-Filipino fusion, which means we cook whatever the hell we want.” More >>