Angola

Top 5 Reasons Not to Be a Concert Promoter

Have you ever dreamed of promoting your own shows? I'll bet you've even sat around at times plotting out your own bills, dreaming of how awesome it would be to see an all-star line-up of, let's say, Poison, Ratt, Tesla, WASP, White Lion, and Cinderella. And while that sounds absolutely horrific, I'm ... More >>

Tabu

Miguel Gomes offers more.

John Kinsel, Claiming Wrongful Conviction, Is Denied New Trial: "Our Hands Are Tied", Says Court

Photo by Mandy OaklanderJohn Kinsel's chances of freedom grow slimmer.​A few months ago, we wrote a cover story about John Kinsel, a Texas man sentenced in Louisiana to life without parole for the rape of his girlfriend's live-in daughter. That girl, 9-year-old Alyssa Medlin, testified that Ki ... More >>

Doing Time, Wrongly

Finally, a chat with our cover subject.

John Kinsel: Kicked Out Of Angola Prison For Hair Balls Interview

Mandy OaklanderJohn Kinsel at the Angola Prison Rodeo.​Not every blog post can free a man from Angola Prison, but ours did. Sort of. In 1999, John Kinsel was convicted of raping a child and sentenced to life without parole. Despite his accuser coming forward as an adult and saying she made ... More >>

John Kinsel, Imprisoned For A Crime His Accuser Says She Made Up, Hangs Out At Angola Prison Rodeo

Mandy OaklanderJohn Kinsel sells his wares at the Angola Prison Rodeo.​Dooney & Bourke knockoff purses and stainless steel crosses line a long row of picnic tables at the Angola Prison Rodeo craft sale. The artisans wait close behind in a parallel craggy row, separated from their wares by a ch ... More >>

Angola Prison Rodeo Recap and Sweet Access to Cover-Story Subject John Kinsel

Steve JansenA poor sap about to get stomped upon (middle, underneath the bull) during Saturday's Angola Prison Rodeo.​Hair Balls attended this past weekend's Angola Prison Rodeo and all we got to say is that the event is super weird. The longest continuous prison rodeo, which began in 1964 at ... More >>

Life Without Parole

John Kinsel remains in prison even after alleged rape victim recanted.

Cover Story: John Kinsel's Life Without Parole

​This week's feature tells the story of John Kinsel, a man who will spend the rest of his life locked up at Angola Prison for a crime his accuser has since said he didn't commit. Alyssa Medlin testified as a nine-year-old that Kinsel -- her mother's boyfriend -- had raped her for years. The gi ... More >>

Free Radicals Blend Break-Dancing, Capoeira Into Fitz's Show

​The Free Radicals remain an institution of incredible sound here in H-town, having amassed 13 Houston Press Music Awards in the realms of jazz and funk since their inception in 1996, as well as making a name for themselves as one of the city's most prolific protest bands. So when founder Nick ... More >>

WHAT?!? Companies Pay BRIBES To Do Business In Russia And Angola?

Shocking, we know​Be prepared to lose all faith in -- well, if not humanity, per se, at least capitalism and government officials in Nigeria.It appears -- are you sitting down? -- that bribery is sometimes used when American companies try to do business in Russia, Nigeria, Angola and Kazakhstan. Y ... More >>

Book Learning

Houston's Literary Greats sail onto the college-radio charts with Ocean, Meet the Valley.

Mary McBride Finds Home In Prisons, Shelters, Nightclubs

​ On her current tour in support of her new CD The Way Home, soul/folk singer-songwriter Mary McBride - best known for the touching "No One's Gonna Love You Like Me" from the of the movie Brokeback Mountain soundtrack - has given herself a challenge: in addition to each club date she will be makin ... More >>

Love in the Time of Leprosy

The life after death of José and Magdalena Ramirez

For the Fourth Of July: Worst Cinematic Attempts At Patriotism

This weekend, as we come together to celebrate Independence Day, let's do our best to remember what this holiday is all about. It's more than merely dodging DWI checkpoints on your way home from backyard barbecues and trying to decide between the Jon & Kate 8 or Deadliest Catch marathons on TV ... More >>

Idol Beat: The Top Three

Disclaimer: Thanks to technical difficulties brought about by the crap DVR capture feature of our limp-ass new cable box/provider, I missed the first 15-20 minutes of Tuesday's episode of American Idol. Please feel free to attempt to conjecture about whatever you think I would have said - had I been ... More >>

Stuff The Ballot Box For A Local Author! Maybe Even Read His Book!

A local author is making a concerted run at the big time, and he's looking for help.John Oehler has written a book called Papyrus, a thriller that deals with modern and ancient Egypt in what seems like a not-exactly-un-Da Vinci Code way. But hey, if you're looking to be a best-selling author, there ... More >>

Tonight: Carnaval Houston at Planeta Bar-Rio

Carnaval, the four-day festival that precedes the beginning of Lent for Catholics, is probably Brazil's biggest Holiday. During this period (which officially ends at noon Ash Wednesday - people need their sleep), revelers take the streets and dance to the beat of the Afro-inspired drums of samb ... More >>

Sole of Houston: Airport Drive, The Finale (Including Unwanted Puke)

And here is the final installment of David Beebe and John Lomax's 20-plus mile hike from Intercontinental Airport to Spanish Flowers restaurant. Part one is here and part two is here.David Beebe's accounts of the same hike are here and here.Airline's furthest reaches are lined by sprawling and run-d ... More >>

Top Ten Dance Collections of 2008, Both Mixed and Unmixed

Any knucklehead with DSL and a laptop can now make an electronic track. With a half hour of clicking and fiddling, you can sample enough cheesy beats and mashups to clog arteries from here to Berlin. Simple dropdown mouse maneuvers can transform electro tracks into progressive house tracks (from dry ... More >>

Mutiny On The Iberville: The Most Thrilling Legal Opinion Of The Year

"Art and Power in the Central African Savannah"

The Menil Collection highlights the sculptures of the Chokwe, Luluwa, Songye and Luba peoples of Africa

Freddy Fender is 'El Bebop Kid'

The Houston 100: The Master List

Houston's Very Best Songs Ever

...otherwise known as the H-Town 20

Cowboy Clips

My Darlin' New Orleans

What hath God wrought?

The Real Deal

Who is the more "authentic" bluesman -- Bobby Bland or T-Model Ford?

The Love of Giants

Yao Ming and Ye Li won't be seeing each other May 6 after all

Sloppy Joes

For Austin's Weary Boys, energy and exuberance trump technique

Angola Bound

The Neville Brothers have toiled long and hard to win freedom from prisons of the body and mind.

Out of Africa

In a small office off the Southwest Freeway, an editor carries on his crusade against public corruption and press censorship in his native Nigeria and other African countries

Blast from the Past

Bridging Lead Belly is a new release of recently discovered songs

Wasted Days, Wasted Lives (Part II)

Record producer Huey Meaux was a legend in the music business. Now he's an accused pedophile on the run.

Death and Doubts

Dead Man Walking finds no easy answers to the hard questions of capital punishment