Email Author Bob Ruggiero

2006 Stories by Bob Ruggiero

• Vienna Calling

  published March 9, 2006

  Vienna has given the world brilliant musicians: Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss…Falco. Sadly, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra won't bust... More >>

• Cowboy Up

  published March 16, 2006

  Despite the protests of PETA, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo -- or RodeoHouston, as it's known -- has remained the premier annual... More >>

• Go for Brogue

  published January 19, 2006

  For more than 40 years, the Chieftains have taken traditional Irish music (jigs, reels, drinking/sailing songs and, of course, tales of the... More >>

• Vaughan's On

  published May 18, 2006

  Though he doesn't possess the fiery showmanship of his late brother Stevie Ray, Austin legend Jimmie Vaughan has forged his own amazing... More >>

• Bon Appétit!

  published February 16, 2006

  Of all the ´80s MTV metal bands (Poison, anyone? Skid Row? Hello?), perhaps none have survived and evolved -- or at least laid off the hair... More >>

• Taking the Plunge

  published March 2, 2006

  The plot seems straight out of Montel. Guy, who's looking to hook up his lonely buddy, finds him the perfect girl: his own wife. But the... More >>

• Duck It Out

  published March 9, 2006

  Wednesday nights at McGonigel's Mucky Duck have long been home to loose-limbed Irish jam sessions, but today early birds will get to mix politics,... More >>

• Beast of an Actor

  published March 2, 2006

  You may remember the Super Bowl commercial where the Budweiser Clydesdales are having a friendly game of pigskin in front of an animal... More >>

• A Riverdance Runs Through It

  published March 16, 2006

  Few professional gamblers would have bet that a show mixing Celtic music, hokey Irish history and dancers whose upper bodies remain stiff... More >>

• Green Day

  published March 16, 2006

  We all know that alcohol and exposed flesh make one do bad things in the eyes of God, but today you can wipe the slate clean. Start off your... More >>

• Really Good Sax

  published June 8, 2006

  Saxman Branford Marsalis has worked with such jazz greats as Miles Davis and Art Blakey, and he's played with acts including Sting and the... More >>

• Don't Cry for Her, Israel

  published March 23, 2006

  She was born in Russia, spent her adolescence in Milwaukee, immigrated to Israel to live and work on a kibbutz, and eventually rose to become that... More >>

• Killer Ratings

  published April 6, 2006

  Love it or loathe it, there's no denying the impact that reality television has made on the social and cultural landscape. We've seen strangers... More >>

• The Party Frontier

  published March 30, 2006

  Finally, a college party that doesn't take place in a cramped dorm room. Each year, students at the University of Houston build a small town to... More >>

• Aw, Shuck!

  published April 6, 2006

  A few weeks ago, local foodies and Cajuns went into a near panic when it was announced that this year's crawfish harvest wouldn't be so hot,... More >>

• Wheel Good Time

  published May 11, 2006

  You probably won't see Carolyn Farb or Shelby Hodge sipping bubbly at the 2006 Art Car Ball. But it is the social event of the... More >>

• One Hot Show

  published May 4, 2006

  110 in the Shade isn't just the Houston weather forecast for, oh, the entire month of August. It's also a musical version of the... More >>

• Outta the Box

  published May 4, 2006

  Mystery novelist C.J. Box ain't one of those pale-skinned writers strapped indoors by the dull glow of a computer screen. In addition to... More >>

• Ton of Tamales

  published May 4, 2006

  In the just-released Eat This Book, journalist Ryan Nerz says the fastest-growing sport in the country today is…competitive eating.... More >>

• Go See Gosey

  published May 4, 2006

  As documented in Roger Wood's excellent book Down in Houston, this city has a long and rich blues history. But there won't be many... More >>

• Saget Said It

  published May 11, 2006

  Who knew that Bob Saget, that clean-scrubbed patriarch of the G-rated family sitcom Full House, was in reality such a... More >>

• Our Favorite Hussain

  published May 11, 2006

  Sure, John Bonham and Keith Moon were powerful rock and roll drummers -- but could they dance while they were playing? See some pounding of the... More >>

• Vroom with a View

  published May 11, 2006

  After a five-year absence, that unique combination of The Fast and the Furious and NASCAR, the Grand Prix of Houston, returns to the... More >>

• Bolly Good Time

  published May 18, 2006

  Which country leads the motion picture industry in terms of both number of films produced each year and tickets sold? If you answered the... More >>

• Meet a Real Renoir

  published May 18, 2006

  Though it's now an art staple, impressionism hasn't always been so popular. At its inception in France during the latter 1800s, its practitioners... More >>