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    Music matters

    No need for oysters before this show: Sade and John Legend bring the love toToyota Center

    Michael D. Clark
    Jul 22, 2011 | 10:17 pm

    Looking for a can't miss love cocktail for the weekend?

    Take one part Sade and add just a smidgen of John Legend. Shake it up on Saturday night downtown at the Toyota Center and let the sparks fly where they may.

    Back in May I predicted in the summer concert preview that the Sade/John Legend swoon-fest that is about to descend on Houston would be the can't-miss live music performance of the season. Some thought I had I had finally huffed too many Sharpie fumes.

    Few other concerts on the summer calendar, however, have a one-two punch built to perfectly draw a multi-generational, multi-cultural crowd.

    With Britney Spears, Rihanna, Motley Crue and a slew of other hot shot pop stars and classic rock legends playing in the area this summer, how dare I dub this night of "smooth jazz"oldies (a radio term for which I have yet to find a plausible definition) and soulful piano refrains the best? Even CultureMap Editor-in-Chief Clifford Pugh gave me the e-mail equivalent of a raised eyebrow.

    (Which was funny, because he's witnessed me say — and write — far more ridiculous declarations than this one over the years.)

    Nearly three months later and I am standing by my statement.

    True, many of these other shows had a lot of flash, glitz and pretty people posing as the cooed catchy choruses that we all like to sing-along with. Few other concerts on the calendar, however, have a one-two punch built to perfectly draw a multi-generational, multi-cultural crowd. Some ticket holders will be more excited about Grammy-winning, ivory-tickling, velvet-croon of opener John Legend than they will be for the 27 years of "quiet storm" — that's another term that I have trouble putting my ears around —hits by headliner Sade.

    But the one thing that none of those other shows have is the pitch-perfect delivery, exotic beauty and ageless sexiness that has defined Sade's multi-Grammy, multi-platinum career.

    Sade is to beauty what Chuck Norris is to toughness or that Dos Equis pitchman The Most Interesting Man in the World is to being... well, interesting.

    In that vein, I even thought up a couple of bon mots to describe Sade's sensuality.

    - Sade doesn't step up to a microphone to sing. The microphone eagerly sacrifices itself to her.

    - When Sade walks across a concert stage, the boards under her feet mute her graceful steps in gratitude.

    - Though Sade has sold millions of albums and enjoyed many successful singles like "Smooth Operator" and "The Sweetest Taboo," over the years, she has never enjoyed a chart-topping single. I guess there had to be something that stopped her from ascending to the heavens as a perfect angel.

    You can see where I'm going with this.

    But don't take my word for it. Go. Arrive early. Enjoy the show. And afterward I ask you acknowledge that this is not only one of the most surprising concerts of the year, but one of the most memorable.

    Sade with special guest John Legend, Saturday 7:30 p.m. at Toyota Center

    Tickets: $49.50-$149.50
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    bring the HEAT

    Top-rated Texas pitmaster headlines new Food Network barbecue show

    Brandon Watson
    Jun 23, 2026 | 10:30 am
    Pitmasters, Servantes, cast
    Photo courtesy of Food Network
    Ernest Servantes (in denim jacket) is among the judges of a new Food Network series.

    Ernest Servantes already knows what it takes to win $50,000 from Food Network; now the Seguin pitmaster is the one handing it out. The Burnt Bean Co. pitmaster, who won a big check on Chopped Grill Masters in 2012 and took the No. 1 spot on Texas Monthly's 2025 list of the state's top 50 barbecue joints, is one of four judges on Pitmasters, a new series that puts elite barbecue teams through a week of live-fire competition.

    The series puts the teams through the wringer with a breakneck schedule of challenges ranging from whole-hog cooking to a four-protein showdown. The premiere episode drops the contestants straight into a "Big Burn" challenge, giving the pitmaster pairs nine hours to build a family-style platter of two meats and a side that defines their style.

    But it wouldn’t be a Food Network show without a twist. This time, Servantes and his fellow judges — Andrew Zimmern, competition barbecue great Moe Cason, and Austin-based barbecue personality Jess Pryles — throw the cast a 60-minute "Flash Burn" curveball that asks them to create the perfect barbecue bite.San Antonio talent won’t just be behind the judges' table. Three teams will feature well-known names in the local smoked meat scene.

    Grecia and Esaul Ramos, the proprietors of San Antonio’s 2M Smokehouse, might have an advantage. After all, the duo is not only married; they work together in the kitchen every day. But they’ll face stiff competition from two other locals with their own live-fire superpowers.

    Boerne’s Al Frugoni, paired with Louisville, Kentucky influencer Jeremy Yoder, is known for his Argentine asado-style cooking and self-named line of seasonings sold at Walmart and H-E-B. Also representing Boerne will be Ruben Santana, paired with Palmira Barbecue pitmaster Hector Garate from Charleston, South Carolina.

    That Santana is listed as a hometown pitmaster may raise a few eyebrows. He’s best known as the founder of Brooklyn’s Bark Barbecue, a project that has gained him national recognition for fusing Dominican and Texas styles. We’ll have to wait to see if he is firing something new in Texas.

    Pitmasters premieres July 13 on Food Network. Episodes will air on Mondays and be available to stream on HBO Max the following day.

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