Indiana

Texas and Indiana Attorneys General Go After Alleged Houston Fraudster-Spammers ("Frammers"?)

Hair Balls was crestfallen to learn that unsolicited faxes and e-mails from travel agencies offering luxury vacations at bargain prices might not always be 100 percent legit: Lawsuits filed by attorneys general in Texas and Indiana are accusing at least four Houstonians of defrauding folks with bogu ... More >>

Cowboy Diaries 2013: Shayde Etherton, In It For The Money

True cowboys are hard to find, but not at the Houston Rodeo. Life on the road leads them here this time every year for the biggest rodeo in the world, where they'll ride and wrangle livestock for cash and glory. Each day, Hair Balls will spotlight one person with enough dirt on his boots to call him ... More >>

The Most Incredible, Heartbreaking Buzzer Beater You'll Ever See (w/ VIDEO)

Reason number 3,142 that living in the internet age is awesome: Whereas back in the day, basketball fans were largely privy only to buzzer beaters during March Madness, NBA games, and a random hand-filmed highlight from one of their local high school teams on the evening news, thanks to the intern ... More >>

Want Love? Live in Texas? Then I'll See You at Walmart

Walmart has anything you could need. Ninety-eight-inch televisions. Formica bookshelves. Palettes of alcohols. Piles of strollers. All for under $50, and all available just down the interstate. The Waltons have perfected the pursuit of capitalism, 102.7 billion times over. They've timed their sales ... More >>

Beat LA: Rockets Take Out Injury-Riddled Lakers to Run Streak to Five

The Rockets faced a depleted Lakers squad missing three key players including Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard Tuesday night at Toyota Center in a classic trap game. The first game of yet another five-games-in-four-nights stretch for the Rockets against a very short-handed team makes for situation Coach ... More >>

John Hiatt & the Combo

By Land, Air & Sea: Five Playlists For Any Travel Occasion

Whether it's a 24-hour road trip to visit family, hopping on an airplane to kill off personal days at work, or avoiding the holidays by taking a cruise a lot of people choose to do their travelling in December. Once things are sorted out at the office, arrangements have been made for the pets, and ... More >>

Pinot Grigio Nation

"Soon as we walk through the door," sang Mariah Carey in her 2008 hit, "Migrate," "Fellas be grabbin' at us like yo / Tryin' to get us going off the Patron / We sippin' Grigio... slow." These lines came to mind last night when the day's umpteenth press release caught my eye from an over-saturated i ... More >>

Megabus: Just How Safe Is Houston's New, Plush Long-Distance Travel Option?

Much excitement -- well, as much excitement as can surround a bus ride -- was generated by the announcement this summer that Megabus will be offering service from Houston to cities such as Dallas, San Antonio and New Orleans. Cheap fares, luxurious (again, for a bus) accommodations, wi-fi -- it sou ... More >>

Booze, Nostalgia and RPGs: Redstone Meadery Honey Wine with Vanilla Beans and Cinnamon Sticks

My dork resume is long and varied. Much more so than its professional counterpart. Band, debate, drama ... the list goes on and on. For the purposes of this article, we're going to focus on the RPG bullet. I haven't been much of a gamer since I had kids of my own; the little bastards always want to ... More >>

Murder By Death

The 10 Funniest Lines In Recent Extreme-Music Press Releases

Most days, Rocks Off's email inbox is swamped with dozens of messages from industrious publicists eager for us to write something about their artists. That's their job. Hitting the "save" or "delete" button is ours. We certainly have our own lapses sometimes, but we have also been writing (and readi ... More >>

March Madness -- 4 Prop Bets For NCAA Title Game (And My Game Prediction)

In Friday's post, it turns out I went a painful 0-2 on my Final Four semifinal selections with Kentucky missing by half a point against Louisville (in a game where in ultra-shady fashion, Louisville folded up their tents down eight with 30 seconds to go), and Ohio State choking away a double-digit l ... More >>

College Basketball: Sweet Sixteen Best Bets

The casual fan likes March Madness because, unquestionably more than any other major sports postseason, the odds are at least only stacked manageably against the Davids (as opposed to football and series-based postseasons like baseball and in the NBA). In short, when there's no personal interest, pe ... More >>

The Super Bowl Prostitution Hoax

Indianapolis mobilizes for an epic battle with an urban legend.

Let the Super Bowl/Human Trafficking Stories Begin Again!

It's a staple of every Super Bowl: Politicians pumping up the idea that a tidal wave of prostitutes, many of them underage, are about to descend on the host city. News outlets lap it up, and no one pays any attention to post-mortem comments from cops who say they didn't notice any real increase in ... More >>

Death Penalty Is Going Out of Style, New Report Says

Texas is still doing its part​America, you just ain't the criminal-killin' place you used to be. A new report from the Death Penalty Information Center says that for the first time since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, less than 100 executions took place in the U.S. There have bee ... More >>

Marcus Manchild Puts on a Show at KFC

Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), George, Chad and Wodie, are currently traveling the country as part of the Smoker's Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker's Club tour comes to Warehouse Live November 11, and Marc ... More >>

Por Favor, Nanny

Houston moms help the help.

Bass Pro Shops Alleged Racism: The Five Worst Quotes From Managers

You probably don't want to hear what that fish is saying​The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit against the national Bass pro Shop chain here in Houston, alleging it routinely discriminated against minorities in its hiring practices. The nine-page complaint offers these ge ... More >>

Brew Blog: Bard's Original Sorghum Malt Beer

Yes, there's an elephant in this picture. No, it doesn't mean anything. I have kids, remember?​I really wanted to like this beer. No, I don't have Celiac disease, or any other form of gluten intolerance. I did, however, recommend it to someone who does. I suppose I should have known better tha ... More >>

More Godless GOP Governors Say No to Rick Perry's Prayerapalooza: The (Possible) Reasons Why

Jersey's Chris Christie sent his regrets, for obvious reasons.​The Texas Independent has more or less been keeping a running tally of gubernatorial RSVPs to Rick Perry's invitation to come to Houston to pray and fast and be all Jesus-y. So far it's looking grim, as would any event where Kansa ... More >>

Garden Fresh: Corn

John Kiely​For half of my life, a crop was part of my ID. "Where are you from?" "Indiana." "Oh, yeah, I've been there. Lots of corn." I thought it would get better when I moved west to New Mexico. "Oh, yeah, green chiles." It's better to live in Texas, where the stereotypes are more sub ... More >>

John Mellencamp

Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band

One Live Humpback Whale: Local Fantasy Tour Riders

​Everyone probably knows that top-selling bands like Van Halen routinely demand everything short of the moon and stars for their tour contract and rider, but specifically No Brown M&Ms. Some bands have a schedule for required nourishment, or in Rush's case, for booze. The "Weekly Booze Schedul ... More >>

Les Miles for President (Also, 5 Winners and 5 Losers From This Weekend)

Everyone's talking about Les Miles, and not in a good way​"In the game of life nobody -- repeat, NOBODY -- is playing with more house money than Les Miles." -- Me on Twitter just after LSU's 16-14 win over Tennessee As Homer Simpson would say, it's funny because it's true. The truly funny th ... More >>

Unbelieva-Burger (Again)

​In another "does-the-world-really-need-another-giant-burger" story, Hardee's (in Indiana) and Carl's Jr. (in Southern California) are testing out a new 12-inch burger. In the anti-Subway move, these abominations contain three large patties and three cheese slices wedged into a foot-long sub r ... More >>

Game Time: I, For One, Am Excited About the Texans Schedule

​As far as an industry goes, there is a lot for the National Football League to be proud of. Massive global appeal, groundbreaking television offerings surrounding both the games themselves as well as the happenings behind the scenes, competitive balance -- all reasons it's the most successful ... More >>

Texans Schedule Out, And More Rides On Kubiak Than Ever Before

​The season remains nearly five months away, but with Tuesday night's much-celebrated release of the 2010 NFL schedule, the gameplanning for Peyton Manning among the Texans' brain trust can and should officially begin. Sure, this week's draft is the more pressing matter. Yes, there are still ... More >>

Suck On It, New York!! Houston Has Direct Flights To Branson, Missouri!!

​In case you've been experiencing the typical Houstonian's self-doubt about whether or not we're really a sophisticated metropolis, you can relax.Houston is now one of only five American cities with direct flights to Branson, Missouri. On real planes, too!You didn't think he would do "Moon River," ... More >>

Houston Ranks Second in All-Important Commando Cilantro Index

Photo by babyparentingguideDamn, guys, what's up with Houston only being the 39th manliest city in the land? We're only one spot above Seattle, and we all know what kind of dudes hang out there. Not very manly dudes, that's who. In all seriousness, this is easily one of the lamest surveys ever. ... More >>

Tonight: Margo & the Nuclear So and So's at the Mink

Murder by Death creates stunning, dark works that transcend the provocative name

Swan Songs

Last Night: Scott Miller at the Mucky Duck

Get Lit: W.A.R.: The Unauthorized Biography of William Axl Rose, by Mick Wall

Rockets-Pacers: All Aboard the Chuck Wagon

Pro Athlete Musicians

Athletes step off the field and into the studio

The ManKind Project

Raw Nerves

Touchdown Jesus Wept

Playbill: Austin Lucas

Playbill: Austin Lucas

Football U: The Thugs Love Us!

Football U: The Thugs Love Us!

Hitting the Jim

Hard Time

Ray Hill's tips for surviving prison

Toogood to Be True?

Local cops give the alleged lowdown on the clan of an accused child abuser

Conference Kudos and Crud

Brothers of the Road

'The I-69 "NAFTA Highway" is supposed to create thousands of jobs. Thanks to your tax dollars, it's already provided a very good one for the underemployed brother of Tom DeLay.

Rotation