National Public Radio Inc.

Fried Beer Wuz Robbed

Try making this at home.​The overall winner of this year's Big Tex Choice Awards (the much publicized food awards at the annual State Fair of Texas) was an underdog from three brand-new competitors: the fried Frito pie. And although I'm happy for the gentlemen who won (as happy as you can be t ... More >>

Ingredient of the Week: Mache

balise42​What is it? Pronounced "mawsh," it's also known as lamb's lettuce. At Whole Foods the other day, a woman picked up a prepackaged container and asked herself aloud, "What's mache?" I had no idea. But thanks to this story on NPR, I now have a little background to go on. Mache is a sal ... More >>

Paula Poundstone

Ignore her past; this comedian has earned her way back onstage

KUHF: It's Going 24/7 News And Talk, But It's Not Adding Staff To Do It

More airtime to fill; no new staff to do it​So now that KUHF is going 24/7 news and talk -- taking Rice's KTRU to the graveyard as it does so -- we should be getting a whole lot of new local programming, with more reporters and staff to produce lots of additional news product?Not so much.We'll let ... More >>

KTRU News Roils, Saddens Local Music Community

UPDATED (5:35 p.m.) to include comments from Rice's B.J. Almond and a new Facebook count. The fate of KTRU's annual outdoor free concert in the spring is one of many things that has yet to be decided.​News of the University of Houston's impending purchase of Rice University student radio stat ... More >>

KTRU: Is UH About To Buy Rice's Station And Transform It From Unique To Bland?

R.I.P., KTRU as we know it?​Could the end of KTRU as Houston knows it be upon us? Our sister blog Rocks Off has heard that Rice student station at 91.7 FM, long one of Houston radio's few outlets for underground, avant-garde and local music, may about to be acquired by the University of Houston f ... More >>

Cartoon Band To Play Toyota Center

My my, we're busy today. Rocks Off this sent this into the Twitterverse earlier, but for all you non-tweeters, Gorillaz, the UK hip-hop/electronica/rock band composed of Murdoc Niccals, 2D, Noodle and Russel Hobbs - the cartoon avatars of Blur's Damon Albarn and his pal Jamie Hewlett - are pencile ... More >>

Houston Locals Musicians Film Video With Dallas Native, Head to Austin for Release

• Fat Tony, Tom Nguyen from The Ton Tons and Kyle Vento from Simple Success teamed up with director Tedric Huff to play the backing band for Dallas artist Angela Carter in the new video for her song "Love Anymore." It looks like they had tons of fun. • Roky Erickson spent about 30 minutes las ... More >>

Drink With Mike Stinson, Help Terrible Eagle, Learn How Weed Won The West, Buy Summerfest Tix At Urban Outfitters

MCM's boss came across the above video of Mike Stinson's "I've Got No One to Drink With Anymore," from the local honky-tonk transplant's brand-new (and excellent) album The Jukebox In Your Heart, while he was waiting for her to turn in this article. As a staunch proponent of Coors Light, he strongl ... More >>

The Krayolas

Sarah Vowell Comes To Beaumont (Of All Places)

​Something about the idea of Sarah Vowell, that This American Life star, regular NPR contributor, droll historian, frequent Jon Stewart foil, voice of Violet of The Incredibles and all around Person Who White People Like coming to Beaumont was utterly irresistible.It seemed like the exact inverse ... More >>

ZZ On NPR -- Everyone In Houston Has A Story About Them

A few weeks after they taped the show when it came here, you can listen to the bearded ones of ZZ Top as they play "Not My Job" on NPR's Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me."Were three guys; we know three chords," Dusty Hill says of recording the group's new album."Everyone in Houston has a ZZ Top story -- eit ... More >>

How Ex-Runaways Manager Kim Fowley Stole The Mayor Of The Sunset Strip

​The Runaways opens nationwide next Friday and one of the things Hollywood Shuffle is most looking forward to when the film hits Houston theaters is how delicately director Floria Sigismondi will treat the character of Kim Fowley, whom HS likes to refer to as the Creepiest Man in Hollywood. Hey! A ... More >>

SXSW Aftermath: Mexican Spazz-Punk, Sulky Broken Bells, Spoon In The Pocket

Photos by Craig HlavatyMexico's scuzzy Hong Kong Blood Opera​ We stopped off Red River at Barbarella to see Mexico City's Hong Kong Blood Opera, decent Blood Brothers-style spazz-punk, buoyed by electrics and plenty of howling by the band's co-singers. If anything, they engaged the crowd and we hu ... More >>

Still Not Sold On SXSW? How About Smokey Robinson, High On Fire, She & Him, Band Of Horses, Drive-By Truckers, Deer Tick, Anya Marina, Black Angels, Major Lazer...

Today the organizers of the SXSW Music Festival announced their showcase schedule for the music portion of the industry fest starting on March 17. This is the news Rocks Off has been looking for, so let's get it on. We are now one month away from Sixth Street and one of the world's biggest conglome ... More >>

OMG!!!111!!1! Zac Efron Loves Us!!1!!! Totes!1!!

Photo from justjared.com​ Breathes there a hotter man alive on the face of this earth -- nay, in this solar system -- than Zac Efron?And before you fans pile on us, we'd take the category to "the entire extent of the galaxy," but we just don't know what the stars of Zebon-17's version High School ... More >>

Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!

National Public Radio's quiz show heads to Houston

Spoon to Engage In Transference at Stubb's SXSW Wednesday

Yes, Houston, they'll be back...​Whenever Rocks Off thinks about Spoon - which, over the past decade, has been quite a bit - the one word that always comes to mind is "punctuation." No other band we can think of consistently crafts songs that are so heavily punctuated, from Britt Daniel's sharp-a ... More >>

Mary Karr

Inprint invites a renowned/reluctant memoirist

Curse Your Branches: The Top College-Rockish Records of 2009, Part 1

​Yeah, pal, that's "college rock," scare quotes very much included. Look, it's a meaningless term. As are "indie," "alternative," "hipster," etc., etc. Let's not overthink this: Here we have ten splendid records with an amorphous rock 'n' roll designation, albeit in a perhaps slightly more experim ... More >>

Avoid The Cyber Monday Crowds By Shopping At These Sites

Today is Cyber Monday, a special day drummed up by the National Retail Federation to trick people into thinking there's some special reason people should shop online today, as opposed to yesterday. Or two weeks from now. The Federation's idea was to drive people to www.CyberMonday.com, which f ... More >>

NPR Visits Houston To Examine Growth, Using A Soothing Voice

​You may have missed it this morning -- but a podcast should be available here (and part two is tomorrow)-- but NPR's Morning Edition came to Houston to look at how we handle growth.The network's Steve Inskeep said Houston represents the latest chapter of the Urban Frontier series because we have ... More >>

Zoya Shuhatovich plays Shostakovich

Web exclusive

Bayou Beat: Three Fantastic on NPR, Beyonce Leads MTV Noms, Rocks Off Seeking Intern, More Live Nation Deals, etc.

Mark C. Austin​ Congratulations to Houston's Three Fantastic, whose "Hot Summer Day" was chosen as NPR's "Song of the Day" Wednesday. Comparing it to "one of those half-remembered Sugar Ray hits from a decade ago," NPR's David Browne is a little taken aback by the band's idea of a "glorious summer ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Another Record Store Day at Cactus Music

Cactus Music and the Record Ranch is having another Record Store Day Saturday, with a lineup of events that borders on serious party happening. The highlight of the day will be a live appearance by red-hot San Antonio band The Krayolas (above). San Antonio's oldest and most respected rockero outfit ... More >>

Slate Isn't Exactly Encouraging You To Go To The Houston Library Tomorrow

Tomorrow morning the Houston Public Library is bringing in Cokie Roberts to talk about her book We Are Our Mothers' Daughters, which is somehow not subtitled (In Case You Were Wondering).We've never been big fans of Roberts; on the Sunday talk shows she's seemed to be pretty much Queen of the Conven ... More >>

This American Life - LIVE!

A National Public Radio favorite takes the big screen

Andrei Codrescu

Web exclusive!

SXSW BBQ Panel: Brisket as Health Food

The location of the nearest Texas barbecue joint and what to order when you get there seem to be the first questions on the minds of many visitors to SXSW in Austin. So this year, veteran barbecue writer Joe Nick Patoski put together a Texas barbecue panel for conference-goers. Panelists included ... More >>

SXSW BBQ Panel: Brisket as Health Food

The location of the nearest Texas barbecue joint and what to order when you get there seem to be the first questions on the minds of many visitors to SXSW in Austin. So this year, veteran barbecue writer Joe Nick Patoski put together a Texas barbecue panel for conference-goers. Panelists included ... More >>

Why Do the "Car Talk" Guys Have a Cartoon and I Don’t?

In the Shade: Shady Shots

National Non-fiction Writers Conference in Texas

This American Life — Live!

Ira Glass takes his show on the road…via satellite

Arthur Alexander

Lonely Just Like Me: The Final Chapter

There Is But One Story with Many Tellings

Catfish Reef: Happy Woman Blues

Join the Corps

Domino Kings

Friday, February 24, at Blanco's, 3406 West Alabama, 713-439-0072. Saturday, February 25, at 2 p.m., in-store performance at Sig's Lagoon, 3710 Main, 713-533-9525.

Mary Gauthier

Thursday, April 15

Joss Stone

The Soul Sessions (S-Curve)

Cleaning Rags to Riches

Crappy gigs are grist for this humorist's mill

Strange Days

Theater LaB and Atomic Cafe take us from a Squeamish religious sect to drinks with cannibals

John Prine with Iris DeMent

Friday, December 6

Overthrow the Revolution

Factory Direct might be the Next Big Thing

Cowboy in the Kitchen

Welcome The Houston Press's new food critic, Robb Walsh

Amplified

All People Considered

Silence on the Dial

Two weeks ago the FCC shut down Montrose Radio. Can the pirate station survive the bust? Can the pirate station survive itself?

Naked Brunch

Press Picks