Baton Rouge

The Art Car Parade: Enjoying the Ride

Art Car stalwarts employ time, energy and creativity to bring their new creations to life. Oh, and scrap metal comes in handy too.

Wild Moccasins Tapped to Open Of Montreal's Spring U.S. Tour

Houston's Wild Moccasins have been hand-picked by Of Montreal to be the main support act on their Athens-based friends' three-week spring U.S. theater tour, New West Records announced Thursday. The two indie-pop bands have developed a similar sound -- drawing on elements of psychedelic '60s pop and ... More >>

Better Than Ezra's Long-Running Love Affair With Houston Fans

"Houston is a city we've been playing since the very beginning," says Better than Ezra bassist and backing vocalist Tom Drummond. "I even think we may have sold more records there than anywhere else." A lot has changed since Better than Ezra's inception more than two decades ago, but Drummond still ... More >>

Friday Night: Hamilton Loomis at Dan Electro's

Hamilton Loomis Dan Electro's December 14, 2012 It never quite feels like Christmas until the kids come home. That seemed to be the sentiment behind the Christmas show at Dan Electro's on Friday, which brought Galveston native Hamilton Loomis, the ex-wunderkind guitarist who was jamming with Bo Did ... More >>

Trail Of Slime: Tommy Tuberville Bolts Texas Tech For Cincinnati, Skips Out On Dinner Tab

This past Saturday night at the Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony in New York, ESPN host Chris Fowler was interviewing Notre Dame senior linebacker and Heisman finalist Manti Te'o about his mostly amazing, sometimes tragic senior season. Ever the positive thinker, Te'o at one point in the convers ... More >>

10 Oyster Dishes To Try in Houston: No. 1, Grilled Oysters at Tommy's Restaurant & Oyster Bar

You know what I love about SeptembeR, OctobeR, NovembeR and DecembeR? It's oyster season! During these months, oysters are at their peak. For the next few weeks, I'll be sampling the most memorable and tasty oyster dishes in Houston. No. 1, Grilled Oysters at Tommy's Restaurant & Oyster Bar "Tommy ... More >>

Texans-Bills: 4 Winners, 4 Losers, "Judgment Day" Edition

So that was "Judgment Day" huh? All righty then. What was billed (by Mario Williams) as Mario Williams' authoritative homecoming, basically turned into a fairly ho-hum day of work for the Texans, a 21-9 victory over the Buffalo Bills. Consider the following numbers: - The Texans won by 12 points. ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets, Helping NBA Stars With Their Finances

To exactly nobody's surprise, the Rockets and James Harden agreed on Wednesday afternoon to a five year, $80 million contract extension, making Harden the first maximum contract player that Daryl Morey has inked to a deal in his tenure as Rockets general manager, and sending a clear message that Har ... More >>

Your Marilyn Manson YouTube Contest Winner Announced

Last week we announced a Marilyn Manson YouTube contest for a pair of guest list spots for the The Manson and Rob Zombie co-headlining show here in Houston, set for tomorrow night at Reliant Arena. REWIND: Rocks Off's Marilyn Manson YouTube Video Contest The contest was fun, but most of the ent ... More >>

10 Oyster Dishes to Try in Houston: No. 8, Oyster Stew at Danton's Seafood Kitchen

You know what I love about SeptembeR, OctobeR, NovembeR and DecembeR? It's oyster season! During these months, oysters are at their peak. For the next few weeks, I'll be sampling the most memorable and tasty oyster dishes in Houston. No. 8, Oyster Stew at Danton's Seafood Kitchen "Hurrah," I sho ... More >>

Best Of Free Press Summer Fest Day 2: Willie Nelson, Avett Bros., Wallpaper, Etc.

More FPSF 2012 Coverage: • Summer Fest line-up reviews on the Rocks Off blog. • Free Press Summer Fest 2012: The Sexy, Sweaty Crowds • Popsicles and Pizza: The Food of Summer Fest • FPSF: The Bands from Saturday • FPSF: The Bands from Sunday Nathan Smith: The best part of Summer Fest Day ... More >>

Umami Dinners at Kata Robata Encourage Chef Collaboration

"I stayed away from making any fish courses," joked chef Randy Evans after last night's Umami dinner at Kata Robata. "I left that to Hori." To his left, Kata Robata's executive chef -- and recent James Beard semi-finalist for his work at the sushi restaurant -- simply laughed good-naturedly. This w ... More >>

Deontay Greenberry: A Texans-Related Grain Of Salt For College Football National Signing Day

There was a time not too long ago when the last-minute defection of wide receiver Deontay Greenberry from my alma mater Notre Dame to the University of Houston would have sent me into a mental funk that would have taken me a week from which to recover. After all, Greenberry is a dynamic "four star ... More >>

Jambalaya, Crawfish Pie and File' Gumbo: The Bounty of Lafayette

Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and file' gumbo / 'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio / Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o / Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou -- Hank Williams, "Jambalaya" In late December, Southern Living announced a contest in which 10 "Southern" cities wo ... More >>

Houston Texans Grieving Process 1.0: At Least We're Not in Louisiana!

Ha-ha!​Forty-eight hours have come and gone since Sunday, and the Texans' loss to the Baltimore Ravens is still maddening and painful. How does one process the anguish coming out of a sporting event in which your team had every chance to win the game and put themselves one step away from th ... More >>

A Very Special BCS Edition of 4 Winners, 4 Losers

For the first time in the history of my Texans fandom, their bye week left me with a palpable void. Sure, I love having NFL football in this city, even bad football is better than no football, so the bye week always feels a little weird. However, this season's team is a little different. If the Te ... More >>

We're Rich: Houston Income Growth Tops Nation, Survey Says

It comes in, but it also goes out​Income in Houston grew faster than any other city in the nation last decade, a new report says. On Numbers studied U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.numbers and found that total income in Houston grew at an annual rate of 5.69 percent between 2000 and 2010. T ... More >>

College Realignment Talk Is The New NFL Lockout Talk

More a-holery from Ken Starr​During this past summer of sports talk radio, our insatiable appetite for any topic football-related, our perennial need to talk about minutiae at all times, and the usual summer content-related radio doldrums met at a tedious midpoint -- a no man's land that left ... More >>

Four Artists Who Died Before Playing Houston

theindependent.co.uk​When Amy Winehouse died Saturday, almost everyone noted how the troubled British soul singer had joined the "27 Club," the list of legendary musicians who passed away at that age that also includes Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, ... More >>

Last Night: Ben Sollee At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Jessica Perry​Ben Sollee, Thousands Fitzgerald's July 21, 2011 "I don't know anything about cello or classical arrangements but I like this stuff," Aftermath said to our classical-music teacher, great friend and sometime colleague Meghan Hendley, keyboardist for local group Tyagaraj ... More >>

Five Rappers You Didn't Know Had College Degrees

​Myth: The ability to string rhymes together automatically kills brain cells, thereby making it impossible for said stringer of rhymes to obtain a college degree. Fact: Many of your favorite hip-hoppers are college graduates with funny-sounding honorary titles. Myth: Street education is a pr ... More >>

Top 10 Louisiana Bands Of All Time

​Pardon the geographical pun, but besides Texas, our neighbor to the east may be the most musical state in these United States. And in terms of per capita, Louisiana, which ranks 25th in population to Texas' second, is probably second to none. Outside Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, the program m ... More >>

Fifth Ward Saints

Carlos Honore and his wife Tatum started up a youth football league out of nothing in an area of Houston not much known for opportunity or hope.

HISD Payola

Kids get money for homework

ESPN GameDay Coming To....Waco?

Colleges all over the country drool at the thought of hosting ESPN GameDay. It's a mark of high honor and respect, and students try to outdo each other in raucously cheering on-camera behind the hosts.Baton Rouge, Austin, Gainesville, they've all hosted. And ESPN has now announced that they will be ... More >>

Top 5 Rapper "Secret" Identities

Rocks Off wonders what hip-hop would look like if rappers were true to who they really are, or should we say... who they were. Perhaps it would look like the video "Swagger Wagon," by The Sienna Family, the latest Internet phenomenon that has amassed 2.4 million hits in less than a month. Those G's ... More >>

Five Great Cajun Songs By Non-Cajuns

​As far as He Said knows, he has zero Cajun blood in his veins. His family is pretty much straight-up Anglo/Scotch-Irish, settling in the Piney Woods of Newton County via Alabama in the early 1800s. However, although the Sabine-straddling area around Newton, Burkeville and Wiergate is about an hou ... More >>

Krabby Patty Sandwich

​On the way to Baton Rouge, I hit Lake Charles around noon and decided to take a break. The crab cake burger at Mazen's Seafood on Prien Lake Road made a decent lunch. The crab cake was a nice blend of crabmeat and seasoned breading served with lettuce, red onion, and cherry tomatoes on toaste ... More >>

The Incredible Truth: The Best Southern Rap Albums (and Mixtapes) of 2009, Part 2

5. Z-Ro Cocaine (Rap-A-Lot) ​With Z-Ro's long-awaited album Heroin delayed, Cocaine ended up as the appropriately named followup to 2008's Crack. Though Cocaine was originally intended to be a mixtape put out by little-known producer DJ Drama Queen, it more than holds its own as a proper album. Fu ... More >>

If You Don't Know Them by Now

Through word of mouth alone, Smitty's has become a Third Ward staple.

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas: "New Texas"

In the third in our continuing series on the music of the five states of Texas, we examine the fictional state of New Texas, comprising Austin and the Hill Country. See Part 1 here and Part 2 here. New Texas Capital: Austin Patron Saint: Willie Nelson ​Lesser Icons: Roky Erickson/Thirteenth Floor ... More >>

Five Spot: The Illustrious Dustin Prestige

Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and, sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. It's five videos and occasional cussing. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com.We suspect the goal of every music writer is to be able to answer "Who are you ... More >>

NFL Review, Week Four: Cowboys Lose, and Bitch

Whither Southern Rock?

The College Football Preview, Week Eight: More Babes. And More Babes.

The College Football Preview, Week Seven: Babes. Lots and Lots of Babes.

The College Football Preview, Week Six: The Red River Showdown, the Tears of Touchdown Jesus, the Glory of the Rice Owls

The College Football Preview, Week Four: Longhorns in Jail and Cougars with Excuses

Displaced in the Diaspora

New Orleans mayoral candidates are looking for votes -- and finding them in Houston

Mary Gauthier

Mercy Now

Americana Pie

Grab a slice of 2004's best roots music while it's still hot

Americana Pie

Grab a slice of 2004's best roots music while it's still hot

Funeral Blues

Three local music figures are cut down in one week

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Roll Over, Eric Clapton. And Tell Stevie Ray the News.

The blues is back -- rawer and louder (and punker) than ever

David Banner

Mississippi: The Album (Street Records Corporation/Universal)

My Kinda Sound

Chicago plays home to the blues in Houston

Breaking Through to the Mainstream

Hot Plate

Gawkers' Palace

Lagniappe's neo-Creole cuisine may sound wacky, but it works