Ford Motor Company

The Six Most Iconic Station Wagons of All Time

The 2010s will forever be known as the decade of the crossover. But what is a crossover, exactly? It's a car that's trying its hardest to look like an SUV. Crossovers are the poseurs of the automotive world. My friend's car got totaled last week, and she called to ask me for used car advice. "What' ... More >>

Top 10 Sexiest Cars of the Houston Auto Show (with Photos)

Concept cars are what auto shows are all about. With their nuclear hybrid propulsion systems, bamboo radio control knobs, and intergalactic navigation displays, concept cars give us a chance to look into the unlikely future of the automobile. Weren't we supposed to have flying cars by now? This yea ... More >>

Man Murdered for Playing Loud Music in His Truck, Perpetrators on the Loose

On December 3 around 3:30 a.m., Silas Armando Najera-Hernandez and three other men were driving around the parking lot at Bar Uno, located at 5829 South Gessner Drive in southwest Houston. As Najera-Hernandez navigated the silver Ford F-150 pickup through the crowded lot, loud music screamed out o ... More >>

The 30 Best Texas Albums

Ranking the 30 best Texas albums of the past 30 years seemed like an impossible task. We did it anyway.

Billy Wayne Ebarb: Short Jail Term for Latest Chapter in 30-Year Brotherly Feud

"He and his brother have been fighting for 30 years. They don't talk to each other. They just act irrational." So said an Angelina County cop to KTRE. "He" in this case is 50-year-old Billy Wayne Ebarb, and the latest manifestation of that decades-long irrationality was a doozy. In March of 2011, ... More >>

Saturday Night: Toby Keith at The Woodlands

Toby Keith Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 8, 2012 Toby Keith is America writ small: beholden to corporate interests, often hypocritical, prone to pursuing his baser urges while exhorting others to hold themselves to a higher standard. He is, in many ways, our exemplary artist for these m ... More >>

Enrique Alvaraez-Soria: Had 14 Gallons Of Liquid Meth In Truck's Fuel Tank

Those Ford truck ads with Denis Leary schticking his way through the vehicle's high points so far have not included one enticement: "Great for carrying LIQUID METH." (We see the "LIQUID METH" as the words emblazoned on screen as he growls them.) Enrique Alvaraez-Soria, an undocumented immigrant fro ... More >>

Magic Bus: Ford Discontinuing Econoline, the Van of Choice for Bands

Stryper and their custom Econoline... we call it the "God-mobile"​We learned today about this unfortunate development: This week Ford Motor Co. said it is ramping up development and production of its Transit commercial van to make it into a truly global vehicle. The plan includes building the ... More >>

Marcos Juarez's Killers Drove This Truck

Photo by HPD​The killers of 18-year-old Marcos Juarez in a drive-by shooting November 20 were in the truck pictured above, Houston police say. The suspects -- "described only as three Hispanic males and one white or Hispanic female with curly blond or brown hair" -- were "last seen in a 2002 ... More >>

What The "Top 10 Stolen Vehicles" List Says About Houston

Stolen, by manly men​Every month Houston police put out a list of the most-often stolen vehicles, a list that defines what are either the most vulnerable or most desirable members of our automotive society. This month's is out....what does it tell us about Houston? 3. Our car thieves want yo ... More >>

Broke Down: A Playlist From The Middle Of Nowhere

motiontowing.com​There are eight spark plugs in the Eddie Bauer edition of Ford's 2001 Expedition. Eight. And if one of them isn't working properly - if it becomes loose or stripped or a gremlin sneaks under the hood and gobbles it up (a common problem in Fords) - the whole car is pretty much ... More >>

Drayton McLane: Where He Ranks Among Astro Owners

You won't have Uncle Drayton to kick around anymore.​Today's the day: The official announcement that Drayton McLane has found a buyer for the Houston Astros. McLane has been owner of the Astros for 18 years. In that time they've moved to a downtown ballpark (thanks, taxpayers!!), gone to a Wo ... More >>

Idol Beat: My Faith In A Just Universe Is Restored

You're paying for that suit now, kid.​60 million votes. That's how many it took to ensure karmic balance in the universe and send Jacob Lusk to the American Idol equivalent of hell... which is probably an alternate dimension where Simon Cowell never existed. Last night was so chock-full of en ... More >>

Betting Their Lives

It's easy for a three-time felon to get $20 million for his investment company, as long as no one asks any questions.

Theodore Mitsakos, 49, Bayou Body Count No. 252

Killed in a road rage incident, police say​A road rage incident on the southwest sideleft a 49-year-old man dead Tuesday afternoon, police say.Theodore Mitsakos, 49, had gotten into a traffic altercation about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday while driving on the Southwest Freeway, the Houston Chronicle reported ... More >>

Ford Jumping On Houston's Electric-Car Trend

Horseless carriages that run on electricity?​Houston has been getting a lot of attention for its seeming devotion to the electric car -- or at least its demonstrated devotion to issuing plans about using electric cars -- and now Ford is jumping on the bandwagon.The company announced today it would ... More >>

Reduxion: Talking Kinks With Young Girls' Pete Tijerina

Find Young Girls on Facebook hereYoung Girls, dedicated followers of fashion.​When it comes to the Big Three of the British Invasion, the Kinks were always the Chrysler to the Beatles and Stones' Ford and GM - up there, but not quite that far up there. Nevertheless, among Anglophiles and songw ... More >>

Game Time: Tennessee Whiskey -- Jack Daniel vs Willie Wonka

caption goes here​Having just returned from vacation literally about eight minutes ago, today's pearls of wisdom will not be sports-related (sports resumes in this space tomorrow). In my best efforts to derive some sort of synergy out of the 18-hour odyssey I just endured (Elkhart, IN to Houst ... More >>

Houston Leading "Ford Fiesta Movement" Bonnaroo Contest

myspace.com/blackqueenspeaksBlack Queen Speaks​ For what seems like months now, Rocks Off has been seeing emails and posts about Team Houston, Ford Fiesta, Backseat Jukeboxes, and the battle of the bands this Saturday at Warehouse Live. To clear up any confusion, Rocks Off recently asked local pho ... More >>

Aftermath: Justin Bieber And Selena Gomez's Calculated Preteen Pop Shuts Down RodeoHouston's 2010 Go-Round

Photos by Mark C. AustinJustin Bieber​ What kind of blog crew follows a five-day SXSW music binge with a double shot of power-pop built for those born in the second Clinton administration? Why Rocks Off, of course. Think of it as a preemptive inoculation for the two minutes or so of post-SXSW, pre ... More >>

Superthief

Joshua Paul Calhoun likes to take things...BIG things

Bayou Body Count: Never Trust A Man With A Hatchet

​Throughout history, the term "hatchet man" has meant different things. In the 1880s, it was slang for a Chinese hired assassin. In the mid-1900s, it was used to describe a journalist who assassinated the character of a public figure.Today in Houston, it means something much simpler: someone who a ... More >>

Songs Slightly Less Inappropriate Than R. Kelly's Latest Single, "Number One"

So R. Kelly's newest single is called "Number One." Seriously? Okay, we know Kelly was found innocent of all child-related golden-shower charges by a jury of 12 idiots, but when the subject of Dave Chappelle's "(I Wanna) Piss On You" releases a single called "Number One"... sorry, but we have to be ... More >>

Big Prostitution Ring Busted In Houston

​Four years ago, Ronnie Presley jammed a gun in the face of a teen-aged girl walking down the street in Kansas, pulled her into his car and drove her to Houston. There, he forced her to have sex for money. Every dime she earned went into Presley's pocket. As time went by, Presley threatened to hur ... More >>

Transformers, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Crazy Love and Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film

Why John McMullen, Not Drayton McLane, Is the Best Owner in the History of the Astros

Truth in Advertising

Millionaire Mindsetters

No skeptics need apply to this get-rich-quick proposition

Playin' Possum

An elderly gang of seedy Mississippi bluesmen anchors Fat Possum Records and the label's documentary

The Real Deal

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

The Ballad of the Singing Shuttle Bus Driver

Ellen Trevathan finds her own brand of salvation driving people to and from the city economy lot at the airport

Rubber Fetish

Glory days for KHOU and Anna Werner

Revolution in Chrome

In the '70s, Jim Harithas's radical chic collided with the CAM. Twenty-five years later, he's back, gunning his engines at the Art Car Museum.

Art Car Outs

There's some fury over a jury deciding who gets in the parade

The Whole (Foods) Story

Another Time, Another Country

Art Car Macho

Mike Scranton's creations are the evilest looking things in the parade. And he'll wrassle anyone who says otherwise.

Return to Sender

With The Postman, Kevin Costner fails to deliver

Adams Family Values

Why do we hate Bud so? Maybe we never understood him, or those... Adams Family Values

Soundcheck

Winners and Losers

Lottery operator Gtech was especially kind to the political friends of Texas Comptroller John Sharp. But when supervision of the company was moved from Sharp's office, the party was over.

The Curriculum Question

Businessman John Privett thought he had a solution to the problems of some of Houston's troubled schools. The parents wanted to try it. The teachers wanted to try it. But HISD administrators said no.

Press Picks

Open Mouths, Closed Hearts

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