La Porte

Rocks Off's 10(ish) Favorite Local Albums of 2012

Continuing with our year-end panorama, Rocks Off asked our contributors a simple question with a not-so-simple answer: What was your favorite local album of 2012? ALEXA CRENSHAW: Whatever I say here, I'm going to want to take back shortly because there's so much good stuff out there, y'all. Althoug ... More >>

Breaking News: Funnel Cloud Warning for Fort Bend County

Click 2 Houston is passing on a weather report warning of possible funnel clouds this morning in Fort Bend County. The report says that rapidly developing thunderstorms coupled with "a very buoyant atmosphere" will lead to funnel clouds. Their report follows:

The Anarchist Song Book

Noise musician BLACKIE searches for total freedom in music.

Kevin Wheeler: Algebra Teacher Getting Blow Job from Student Tells Her, "You Must Not Be Into It Because You're Not Wet," Cops Say

A La Porte algebra teacher and coach has been arrested for having sex with a student, although he could also be charged with worst bedside manner ever. Kevin Wheeler, 31, began flirting with one of his algebra students, a 17-year-old female, on Facebook and eventually arranged a rendevous in his c ... More >>

HISD Joins the Lawsuit Against State's Educational Funding Plan

Taking it to the courthouse.​The Houston school board voted unanimously this morning (with four absentees) to join the burgeoning lawsuit against Rick Perry's latest funding scheme for public education, which cuts $5 billion over the next two years. HISD's state funding was cut $78 million th ... More >>

Good Air Pollution News in Texas? "Flexible Permit" Companies Agree to EPA Guidelines

Breath of fresh air​It's a rarity: Good air-pollution news in Texas that doesn't involve the Obama administration forcing state officials to do their job. The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that 156 Texas companies who have received the notoriously loose "flexible" permits ha ... More >>

Speed In A Hunstville School Zone, Get Fined $312

Houston makes the top 10 list for big fines​The school year has begun in some places, and that means school zones are up and cops are watching for violators. In some places you can't text or talk on your cell in a school zone; in every place you can't speed in one.What are the worst places in Texa ... More >>

Remember Pimp C's Sweet James Jones Stories?

Houston's history is dotted with albums that, fairly or un, have been swept aside. We'll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. Pimp C Sweet James Jones Stories (Asylum, 2005) ​We're not sure where we saw it, but we once read a l ... More >>

The Worst Rap Battle Ever, And Best-Kept Hip-Hop Secret In Town

There's lots of talk about Cypress Hill coming to Houston next Tuesday. But to get that legendary Latin hip-hop/funk sound on a regular basis, you might not have to go farther than La Porte. That's where you'll find a group called Hafaza, made up of mike-wreckers Frank, Omar, Luno, Gonz and Bar Jes ... More >>

Texas Traveler: Independence Day

Photo by photine​How did you celebrate the 174th anniversary of Texas' independence from Mexico? You probably didn't do anything like what a group of stalwart runners spent their weekend doing -- running the 203 miles from Gonzales to the San Jacinto Battleground in Deer Park.Dozens of teams ... More >>

The Explosives

Wanna Make $100? Kill This Guy's Drummer.

[Thanks to our buddy, former Meridian talent buyer John Escamilla, for posting this on Facebook.] ​ The New Year's Eve gig must not have gone well at all. Twenty minutes into 2010, a La Porte man posted a Craigslist invitation to kill his drummer for the low, low bounty of $100. Applicants need no ... More >>

Houston Musicians Recall Their Own Rock and Roll High School Days

​Tonight Rocks Off is hosting the first annual Texas High School Rock Off, with local bands from area schools fighting for a grand prize of $500 and bragging rights around town. This past week we have profiled the seven bands in the running: The Paperwaits, Useful Information, The Handshake, Livin ... More >>

It's Really Snowing Down Near La Porte, And By "Snowing" We Mean Cocaine

​As if there weren't enough snow coming down today, cops found over a million dollars' worth of it near La Porte.A Harris County deputy sheriff was on patrol with his drug-sniffing dog this morning when he "stopped the driver of a 2001 Honda Odyssey in the 10300 block of Fairmont Parkway for a tra ... More >>

Chef Chat: Jonathan Jones of Beaver's

Former chef for Max's Wine Dive and head honcho at Beaver's (2310 Decatur Street), Jonathan Jones is a gastropub's irreverent dream and tweet-a-holic who wants you to "get your tails to the Beaver." How do you feel about being associated with comfort food? I'm fine with being known for grass root ... More >>

Houston Music Fight Club: Chris Wise vs. Cody Swann, Chris Ryan vs. Frank Beard, Washington Avenue vs. Westheimer

​So this past week, Houston Music Fight Club began getting solicitations from various local musicians to be matched against other strummers and pickers around town in their cage matches. Rocks Off looks around. We see a lot of new faces. This means a lot of you have (happily for us) been breaking ... More >>

Inquiring Minds: Frank Zwee of D.R.U.M.

There was a time when world music was simply just a trend. That odd section in Barnes & Noble, the one where people with beaded jewelry and Birkenstocks went to buy their Christmas presents. Now, it's a widely respected genre that includes exactly what its title professes, blending in a mix of m ... More >>

MP3 Monday: Buxton's "Flint" and "Feathers"

In advance of the release of Buxton's new seven-inch, that little ol' Americana band from La Porte has shot us the new B-side from the single, entitled "Flint." The single will be available on yellow vinyl and, to quote guitarist Chris Wise, it will be "pretty." Since we're suckers for colored vi ... More >>

Freddie Krc

“Developing Houston: Photographic Treasures from the Cecil Thomson Collection”

Web exclusive!

A Handy Guide To Terror Targets In Houston

Sometimes it seems like organizations that want to protect Americans from terrorism end up doing all the terrorists' research for them. The Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank headed by John Podesta, formerly Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff, has compiled a handy guide to the nation' ... More >>

RIP, Some of Our Best Of Houston® Winners

Hardly Knew Ye

This Just In: More Cancellation/Closing Updates

Ike Brings On The Pollution

Hey Truants -- They're Coming After You

Stageside Blogging: Buxton and a Sweet Ride

Midday MP3s: Twotenanny Edition

Here Comes the Black

Sitting Down with La Porte's Buxton

Weekend Music: Help Save the Houston Music Scene

Weekend Music: Sublime Lives (Sort Of)

Weekend Music: Carry On, Wayward Sons

Drenched In Blog: Japanese Melody Roads and Songs for Houston's Highways

A Blighted Slough of Smells, Steel and Chemicals

Touring bands sound off on Houston

Needling the Haystack

A 1,683-mile drive taught us that educators don't always entertain an open-door policy when it comes to public records

Letters to the Editor

Letters

Teenage Wasteland

Two artists ask how boys become men in a videocracy

Club Directory

Best Place to Take Out-of-Towners

Fred Hartmann Bridge

Best Y2K Story

Butch Forest

J-U-N-K in the Y2K

Butch Forest is ready. Are you?

Bar Fight

Margaret Lindsey has battled bad debt, bad luck and a bunch of men in suits to keep Blondie's open - right in the middle of downtown La Porte

View From the Kitchen

Table Talk. Or: Why I love working with artists

Great Escapes

Communities try to cope with toxic releases

King of the Pile

Butch Forrest lives off the land. Need a used doughnut fryer?

Semi-Safe

Pasadena police wanted bad trucks off the road. Then big-rig politics wrecked their plans.

An American in London

Press Picks

Press Picks