Houston Astrodome

Tear-Down

Plans to turn the Astrodome into a parking lot are just wrong.

Tear the Dome Down If You Must, But Not for a Freaking Parking Garage

I have spent most of my 44 years on this earth in the city of Houston. I started visiting the Astrodome when I was just a kid for Astros and Oilers games as well as the occasional high school football game. I even walked on the floor for one of them. After all the memories and all the discussions, I ... More >>

Officials Say Chronicle "Just Wrong" In Story On Future Of Astrodome

A report came out in last week's Houston Chronicle purporting to detail a "vote on an unspecified plan concerning what to do with the Astrodome." According to John McClain, the board of the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation was set to approve the plan and shuffle it to the Harris County ... More >>

Another Visit Inside The Abandoned Astrodome, And Still No One Knows What To Do With It

It's been a common theme every year around RodeoHouston season: Houstonians start asking again about the plight of the Reliant Astrodome and arguing amongst themselves about what is to be done with the dilapidated Eighth Wonder. It's a giant elephant sitting in the middle of Houston's biggest annual ... More >>

Visitor's Guide: 7 Things We Don't Want You to See When You Come to Houston

Last week, many were surprised -- some even perplexed -- to see our beloved city on the annual New York Times list of places to visit in 2013. Houston was number seven on a list of 46 that included Rio, Amsterdam, Singapore, Hawaii's Big Island, Oslo, Bangkok and Paris. Yes, we were on a "must visit ... More >>

Texans and Rockets Players Help Launch Crazy Golf Complex, TopGolf

Years ago, I was playing a gig at a sports bar way out on the southwest side of town. The bar was surrounded by a massive ring of softball fields used by adult teams, mostly made up of corporate teams and the like. There was a strange, green glow that came up off the fields as grown men strode in we ... More >>

UPDATED: Memorable Houston Concerts of 1992

UPDATE (2:03 p.m.): Alice In Chains was advertised but dropped out, and was replaced with Australia's Baby Animals. The year 1992 was an important one for me as far as Houston concerts are concerned: It's the first time I went to a concert within the Houston city limits, the "Outside Broadcast" leg ... More >>

For The NFL Season: The Overpowering Awfulness Of Houston Oiler Fight Songs, Collected

Everyone's happy, happy, happy with where the Houston Texans are headed into the 2012 season -- the roster battles are largely confined to low-profile back-up positions, the division's weak and a Super Bowl beckons - but this city has been there before. We've gone through it with the Texans themsel ... More >>

Comment of the Day: The Astrodome Debate Sounds Familiar To Detroit

We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning or afternoon from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula i ... More >>

The Astrodome Will Live Another Year, If You Call What It's Doing Living

So another year's going to pass with nothing being done about the Astrodome. Another year where the citizens of Harris County will be paying three to four million dollars in maintenance fees for a place that's being so poorly maintained that it's not safe to enter and has just become a useless bulk ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Another Vote To Raze The Dome

We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involving wit ... More >>

The 5 Oddest AstroWorld Items on eBay Right Now

AstroWorld may be gone as a physical entity, but it lives on in the hearts of Houstonians and in people trying to make a buck on eBay. We took a look at the AstroWorld items currently up for auction, and found some odd stuff. Like these five: 5. Swellegant cup and saucerWe think we saw m'lady sipp ... More >>

Local Landmarks Dominate the 3rd Annual Gingerbread Build-Off

Photos by Rachel BohananThe Alabama Theater, complete with tiny, edible movie posters, was one of the most heartfelt entries in Saturday's competition.​For David Stagg, Caitlin Kaluza and the rest of their team from Schipul, their gingerbread house was meant to evoke emotions: a vintage Alabam ... More >>

The Astros Curse: They Are The Damned

The Astros have been damned​The following is based on true facts, but names have been redacted to protect the innocent, and not so innocent... The Houston Astros are a bad baseball team this season. They're beyond bad. They're beyond awful. They're closing in on worst team in MLB history b ... More >>

Comment of the Day: The World's Most Passionate Astrodome Defender

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

The 15 Worst Astro Baseball Cards

Baaaaaaby Ruth!!!​It's Astros season again, which more than likely means copious losses, manly tears, beer bottles broken over televisions, and the testicular fortitude of a snake-charmer to get through nine innings of a game without the aid of alcohol, narcotics, or a distracting game of Angr ... More >>

Comment of the Day: The Astrodome Ain't No Wrigley Field

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Ed Emmett: Keep the Dome, But Make a Decision

More study and discussion, but no dynamite​Harris County Judge Ed Emmett became the latest in a series of local elected officials delivering dire economic news, in his State of the County speech today. Cuts are coming, and the county will be searching for ways to get by with less, he said. B ... More >>

Spare a Square: Public Restroom Survival Kit Kills Germs for Under 15 Bucks

If you have this kit, you CAN spare a square.​When I was only a teenager, I went on a trip with my parents and one of the stops was in Ephesus, Turkey. As I was strolling the what some consider holy grounds, I felt the need to, you know, use the little boy's room.I located a restroom and made my w ... More >>

BrewsterMcCloud: Your Chance To See 1970s Houston Through Robert Altman's Eyes

Roger Ebert is a happy man: "Altman's "Brewster McCloud" is *finally* on DVD!" he's just tweeted.You should be happy, too, if you have any interest in seeing old Houston.The 1970 film -- which, frankly, we haven't heard great things about -- was filmed in Houston. It's known for the semi-iconic scen ... More >>

Sharp-Dressed Fans

Billy Gibbons and other Houstonians share their favorite Astros memories.

Great Moments With Mr. Rockefeller: Billy Harper, Garth Brooks and Sonny Rollins

[Ed. Note: To help spread the word about next Friday's benefit for the Houston International Festival's education programs at Rockefeller Hall, featuring Texas Johnny Brown and Marcia Ball, Rocks Off asked iFest director of performing arts and former Houston Chronicle music critic Rick Mitchell to r ... More >>

Rocks Off's Brother Once Stepped in Human Shit at a U2 Show... Got a Better Astrodome Story?

Smash Mouth had just finished playing, and not coincidentally, Rocks Off's brother John had just returned from a trip to the bathroom. It was November 1997, and we were watching the stagehands putting the finishing touches on U2's ginormous set in the Astrodome. The Irish rockers were touring behin ... More >>

EP of the Week: Battle Rifle's Guaranteed To Rattle Dat Trunk!!!

You really can't get any more H-Town than our very own Battle Rifle and its latest vinyl EP, Guaranteed To Rattle Dat Trunk!!! Unless, that is, we taught Mayor Bill White to how to make blast beats and had Quanell X rhyme over them and the pair played guerrilla shows outside the Rodeo during a ZZ To ... More >>

Monster Jam: Absurdly Huge Trucks to Crush Cars This Weekend, Unprovoked

Ballz is losing confidence in the upcoming third Batman installment. Many people might see this as Super Bowl weekend, but I know that, for some reason, there are many of you out there who see this Saturday as being the most important day of the weekend. That's because it's the Monster Jam at Reli ... More >>

Monster Jam: Absurdly Huge Trucks to Crush Cars This Weekend, Unprovoked

Ballz is losing confidence in the upcoming third Batman installment. Many people might see this as Super Bowl weekend, but I know that, for some reason, there are many of you out there who see this Saturday as being the most important day of the weekend. That's because it's the Monster Jam at Reli ... More >>

The Quanell X Factor

Steve Guttenberg, Hero Of Houston

You may remember Steve Guttenberg. You may not, as the former star of Cocoon and Three Men & A Baby is now "appearing in Cinderella as Baron Hard-up at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley," which is in England and isn't exactly considered a step up from starring in Hollywood blockbusters.But Gutten ... More >>

The Dome As Movie Studio -- Now On The Web

Top Five Failed Houston Sports Franchises

Houston Sports Movies: The Top Five

The Astrodome Keeps Crumbling Along

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Films at Discovery Green

Clips and short films from the National Baseball Hall of Fame show Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle and other greats on the big screen

Slideshow: Baseball Parks Across America

The Astrodome Speaks...

Summer Concert Survival Guide

Who loves the sun?

The Astrodome Speaks

The Astrodome Speaks

Back in the Dome

Cheap Shots

A new film exposes the ugly deeds of legendary Texas heroes

The Mystery of Monsters

Kiss the Dome good-bye at this weekend's Monster Jam

Parking Whoa

More than spectators will be reined in by the loss of the rodeo's wide-open spaces

Letters

Traditional and Trite

Plastic and the past melt together in a field of schemes

The Killer-est B

Forget Biggio, Bagwell, Bell. Move over, Barkley. The sports figure of the decade is...

Strike Three, They're Out

Cameron Frye Has a Big Idea

And he's put his own money behind it. But who's Cameron Frye?

Forecast: Raining Stadiums

Forget the committee -- the city's sports future already is being negotiated by the mayor

The Cloud Over Lightning Strike

Did the U.S. government spend $2 million just to nail little guys like David Proctor?

Live Shots