Most Popular
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Barack Obama and Me
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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Mescaline on the Mexican Border
Texas is the only state in the country where peyote is sold legally. Really.
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Little Bitty Burger Barn
"It's okay to be little bitty in the big city" is an apt slogan for this new burger joint, where sliders rule
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Ghost Town CFS: Carriage House Cafe
Step back in time — to a spooky old carriage barn with a monster chicken-fried steak
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Barack Obama and Me (251)
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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Save Lobo: A Siberian Husky Mix is Sentenced to Die (28)
Why? Because he's big and intimidating and because one family complained about him over and over again
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita (15)
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge? (7)
All This Useless Beauty
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Rotten to the Corps: A Question of Justice at Texas A&M (140)
Thanks to A& M and a district attorney, two cadets escape punishment for beating in a student's face
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Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge?
All This Useless Beauty
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Tired of the Hype, But That's All There Is
Next month, Houston gets to be a cool kid. But only for a week.
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The improbable redemption of Ashlee Simpson
"La La" Love You
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Rap's Rapidly Vanishing Female MC
The Why Chromosome
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A New Official State Song for Texas?
A case for a new — or different, anyway — state song
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Over the Weekend: Fotos, Dogs and Sausage. And Hannah Montana Too.
08:50AM 03/10/08 -
Friday Night: Wilco at Verizon Wireless Theater
05:04PM 03/10/08 -
Spring Training Doesn’t Count, Except for When It Does
04:29PM 03/10/08 -
Sausage Fest: Bangers and Mash at Red Lion Pub
11:40AM 03/08/08
What we are writing about
- American Gangster
- Amy Sillman: Suitors...
- birth defects
- Bob Dylan
- Christmas Tree-O
- Continental Club
- Houston art
- Houston local music
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- Houston theater
- I'm Not There
- illegal immigrants
- Main Street Theater
- McGonigel's Mucky Duck
- Meridian
- Perspectives 158:...
- players' scoring averages
- Proletariat
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- toxic industrial...
- Toyota Center
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- Verizon Wireless Theater
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Recent Articles By Bob Ruggiero
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Detroit Cobras, Willowz
concert preview
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Grady
Grady performs Saturday, July 28, at the Continental Club, 3700 Main, 713-529-9899. Studio Magick Black is also on the bill.
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Elvis on Speed, Amplified Heat
Elvis on Speed and Amplified Heat perform Friday, July 13, at Rudyard's, 2010 Waugh, 713-521-0521.
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Houston Roller Derby
Skating queens hit the rink -- and each other
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Dave Mason
Dave Mason performs Friday, June 15, at the Meridian, 1503 Chartres, 713-225-1717.
National Features
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SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
By Nadia Pflaum -
Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
Valient Thorr, Riverboat Gamblers
Valient Thorr and Riverboat Gamblers perform Monday, August 6, at Red Room inside Meridian, 1503 Chartres, 713-225-1717. ASG and Totimoshi are also on the bill.
By Bob Ruggiero
Published: August 2, 2007People of Earth, the overlords of Valient Thorr have not come here from their RVT Starship Cruiser to dominate, detain or disembowel us. Nay, these manly mountains of rawk simply offer deliverance from a world of pop-punk high-schoolers, whiny emo brats and blinged-out gangsta wannabes, all of whom would quiver at the mere sight of the Thorrs' intimidating, bushy beards and sleeveless denim jackets with wolf's-fur lining. With the power of the almighty riff and a heavy Motörhead/Thin Lizzy/KISS influence, second album Legend of the World is what Odin spins on the rainbow bridge, though he might question antiwar bombshell 'Exit Strategy" (even if the battlefield is Iraq, not Valhalla). Volcom labelmates the Riverboat Gamblers, on the other hand, do veer toward pop-punk territory, but with enough hard edge to avoid being smote by Thorr's hammer. The Austin group's 2006 album To the Confusion of Our Enemies cribs its title from one of Frank Sinatra's favorite drinking toasts, and it boasts the most excellent song title 'The Art of Getting Fucked." Forsooth! 'Tis a double bill thou must attend, lest thou art in league with Loki.
