The Soul Rebels Brass Band Find a Houston Home

DJ Blaknificent, who spins at the lounge Thursdays through Mondays, says he tries to create a different vibe each night, ranging from old-school funk through classic hip-hop to neo-soul to bounce, which he only plays on brass band nights. "We want you to get a taste of something different every time you come to Libra Lounge," he says.

And you can find a lot of different stuff along this stretch of Almeda, from historic KCOH to vintage Tex-Mex cuisine to Ashanti woodwork to incense, clothing and Jamaican grooves at Reggae Bodega to unique sandwiches at Culinary Kreations (our favorite: the "Callitwhatchawant": roast beef, guacamole, Swiss cheese, Dijon mustard, onion and green peppers on a French loaf).

It's a far cry from yesteryear. LeBlanc is a graduate of Texas Southern, and he remembers the strip in its oil bust nadir. "Oh Lord, back in the late '80s this looked like a dying strip," he says. "It was a rough part of town. We only used to go there, like you said, to get liquor" — LeBlanc and I discovered that when I was in high school and he was in college, we frequented the same "don't ask, don't tell" bottle shop there on Almeda — "and something like that. It wasn't nowhere near the kind of vibrance it has now."

And a big part of that vibrance, for me, at least, is that the Soul Rebels Brass Band has found a home away from home.

Red Beans and Blue Jeans with the Soul Rebels Brass Band is held every Monday night at the Libra Lounge, 4830 Almeda, Suite B, 713-520-1691.