El Paso

Racial Identity and Driving Señora Daisy

Praise the Lord and Pass the Pints

Houston's 10 best beer bars

The 30 Essential Texas Restaurants: The List Is Live

Sorry about that teaser earlier this week. No fooling around this time, though: Our list is live. Go check out this week's feature -- "Eat Here: 30 Essential Texas Restaurants to Visit Before You Die" -- before reading on. We don't want to spoil any surprises for you. *** Read it yet? Are you sure ... More >>

Special Navidad Gift Guide Edition

What books on Mexicans should I buy this Christmas?

The 25 Best Reasons To Love Texas In The Fall

Fall has arrived in Texas, and thank God. There is no better time in the Lone Star State, for so many reasons. The switch in season may be more subtle than it is in the north -- you never can get that far away from a Texas summer, after all -- but there's enough change in the air to signify that y ... More >>

Houston 101: Opium-Addled Hookers in Old Houston's Red Light District

Drug busts on the Mexican border are nothing new. At the El Paso / Juarez crossing in 1910, the feds seized a huge shipment of Texas-bound opium, at least some of which was believed to be headed to Houston. That was the theory of George McCann, at any rate, one he expounded on at length in an April ... More >>

Texas Appeals Court: Longneck Bud Bottles Just Fine For Whomping Someone Over The Head With, Thanks

In an august decision that will shine in the annals of beer-related jurisprudence for as long as bar patrons whomp each other over the side of the head, a Texas state appeals court has ruled that Anheuser-Busch cannot be sued just because their longneck beer bottles are so damn handy for getting tha ... More >>

Last Night: The Gourds at Discovery Green

The Gourds Discovery Green June 14, 2012 I have lost count of how many Gourds shows I have seen over the years. I doubt I have seen any other band live more times than this one. But I never realized how much children loved the Gourds until Thursday at Discovery Green. Man, these kids loved the Gou ... More >>

The Poets: A Play in 2 Acts

This Week in Deliciousness: New Mex to Tex-Mex, the Monte Cristo & More

Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where we're growing out our summer mustaches so that we can carry around the savory scent of any crawfish boils we attend for at least a week. Speaking of weeks, we started this one off right with a look at how New Mexican cuisine compare ... More >>

The Best (Fake) SXSW 2012 Rumors So Far

It happens every year: an errant rumor turns Austin and SXSW upside down for a few hours or even days, leading to mass hysteria, mild apathy, and sometimes sadness. At my first SXSW in 2001, I got a "hot tip" that the Beastie Boys were going to join Mix Master Mike at La Zona Rosa for a secret show, ... More >>

This Station Is Now Operational: At The Drive-In Is Reuniting. Finally.

With the beginning of a Twitter account and an official website, heavily influential El Paso-based rock act At The Drive-In has announced their reformation today. What the future will hold for the group, which splintered into the Mars Volta and Sparta after their 2001 split, is anyone's guess. SXSW? ... More >>

Texans Getting Dumber: More Are Playing the Lottery

Step right up.​In these tough economic times, there's no greater financial plan than putting your money into a game where the odds of winning are relatively microscopic. Right? Apparently that's what a lot of Texans think: This year, for the first time in ten years, there has been an increas ... More >>

Full Swag For Das Racist, No Swag For Astros & Paul Wall

​Das Racist is Rocks Off's favorite joke-rap group, ever. It annoys most people we know -including our boss, who is like, "All right, no more Das Racist for everyone's sake, please." That's being nice - Ed. Earlier this year, we traveled to SXSW strictly to catch every show, and we're planning ... More >>

Sittin Sidewayz: Paul Wall Busted For Pot In El Paso

lockerz.com/Paul Wall via Twitter​Paul Wall followed in the footsteps of his outlaw country heroes over the weekend... all the way to jail. Wall, fellow Houston rapper Baby Bash ("Suga Suga") and producer BiggRoy were arrested early Sunday on suspicion of possession of less than 2 ounces of m ... More >>

Exactly How Safe Is Juarez?

Owls Basketball: Just One or Two Plays Away, Again

John RoyalBen Braun questions a call in the first half​Rice Owls head coach Ben Braun says that his team is close. One or two plays away close. One or two plays away from winning those close games and being a good basketball team. But all that actually matters is that the Owls are still a f ... More >>

Bartender Chat: Ashley Vasquez of Junction Bar & Grill

​Ashley Vasquez, who's been in the bartending business for ten years now, says most of her hours spent slinging whiskey have been at sports bars. She originally hails from El Paso, but moved to Kingwood when she was six years old. She ended up going to Lamar High School and chose to stay in ... More >>

No Shame

Dr. Dog shrugs off faint praise.

Valley Sheriffs Want To Search Southbound Cars, Too

Be careful headin' south​Be careful if you're driving south with your guns and life savings. If some sheriffs have their way, county cops could take it all away.Late last week, sheriffs from Cameron County and El Paso County announced that they would love it if deputies started inspecting every ca ... More >>

Brew Blog: Deschutes Brewery

​Many excellent West Coast and Pacific Northwest brewers have long shown the good sense to ship their wares to Texas, and Deschutes Brewery has now joined the party in a real way, too. The Bend, Oregon brewery has inked a deal with Ben E. Keith Beverages to expand its local reach. Of course ... More >>

Before the Flood

West Texan Ned Sublette reflects on pre-Katrina New Orleans in a new memoir.

He Said She Said: Did We Shave Our Legs For This? More Cornball Country Comedy

Not all country music has to be about down-and-out truck-driving lifestyles, D-I-V-O-R-C-E, abusive husbands and the dissolution of the American Dream. More than any other genre, country lends itself so nicely to parody and self-satire. The best country music is self-referential, where the artist k ... More >>

Kinky Friedman

Thanksgiving Recipe: Pork Chops in Apple Butter Mole

Photo by Jasmine&Roses​Calvin Trillin has lobbied to replace the Thanksgiving turkey with spaghetti carbonara --something to do with Columbus being Italian, I think. In the Tex-Mex Cookbook, I pointed out that Juan de Onate and his Mexican pioneers held a Tex-Mex thanksgiving in El Paso ... More >>

TEA Releases Further Details On School Rankings

​The Texas Education Agency has released the 2009 school rankings -- let the talk of how schools are gaming the system begin!!Results are searchable by district, by category, by all kinds of things.The 12 HISd schools that have been ranked "unacceptable":High Schools -- Jones, Kashmere, Lee, Sterl ... More >>

Burnin' for You

“The Harmony of Mexico/Matizando Mexico”

Web exclusive!

Sunday Sunday Sunday: Zechs Marquise at the Mink

A natural talent for psychedelia must be as common as Y chromosomes in the Rodriguez-Lopez family DNA. That gene pool has produced a trio of rockers - Omar, Marcel and Marfred - that has proved its mastery of the genre in more than one incarnation. The most notable, of course, is Omar, co-masterm ... More >>

Texas Horror Movies: The Top Five

SPECIAL TORTILLA CONTEST EDITION

Tonight: Sleepercar at the Mink

Tom Russell

Okay, That's It. We're Calling Bullshit.

Curtain Call

A new doc celebrates the glory days of movie time

The Mars Volta, with Saul Williams

Saturday, October 4

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

War Dance

Alabama-Coushatta Indians are shedding their passive ways in big bets on land claims and casinos. But some fear they could be gambling away their great tribal heritage.

The Bored Patrol

Border Patrol agents in South Texas contend they are getting paid to stay put as illegal immigrants go around them. Is this how the much-hyped crackdown along the Rio Grande is supposed to work?

World Class?

Houston can't join the ranks of other cities until it has an anthem of its own

Like a Virgin

KPRC kicks off another mind-boggling sweeps month

Platinum Dreams

Local Latium Records rides pop Latin wave to success

News of the Weird

Trench Warfare

There's a hole carved out of the earth 32 feet deep, 210 feet wide, and 400 feet long near the Texas-Mexico border.

Tangled Web

From Mexico to L.A. via Alaska and El Paso, Tito Larriva has seen it all -- and more

Press Picks

Bullet Proof

The D.A.'s office gets under the skin of an accused robber

Pushing the Artistic Borders

Mexico, America and La Frontera find expression in "Poison Amor"

Open Mouths, Closed Hearts

The Feds created a program to feed the hungry. In Harris County, it became a program to feed the greedy.

Press Picks