Pittsburgh

Houston Ranked No. 3 on Happiest Cities for Recent College Grads List

I think it is fair to say Houstonians are a friendly lot. We say "hi" to people on the street whether we know them or not. We take in hurricane victims and wave at our neighbors. Syndicated sports talk show host Travis Rogers once explained to me how confused he was when a total stranger started up ... More >>

The Most Valuable Player At Minute Maid Is....Astro Mascot Orbit?

We all know things have been pretty grim at Minute Maid Park this year. (Well, actually the past six or so seasons, to be honest.) Winning, of any sort, has been thin on the ground. Until now. Today we learned that one member of the Astros organization is willing to put in the time to make himself ... More >>

According to This, San Antonio Has a Better Music Scene Than Houston

Like any and all lists, the Martin Prosperity Institute (MPI)'s list regarding the best music scenes in the country will leave most of you passing out side-eyes and stares. Easy to spot and digest, Nashville, New York and Los Angeles ranked 1-3, but after that it's a complete flaming crapshoot. Th ... More >>

Friday Night: Murder by Death at Fitzgerald's

Murder by Death, Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons Fitzgerald's July 27, 2012 When I discovered that Murder by Death was set up to play the smaller downstairs room at Fitzgerald's Friday night, I was a little surprised. The Indiana-based y'allternative act may hail from a small town, but they've got ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: The Foreigner, King Hedley II, Made in America, Next to Normal

Houston: More Hipster-Friendly than Salt Lake City and Dallas, At Least

Earlier this month Travel and Leisure asked their readers to rank 35 American cities on the quantity and quality of their live music scenes, coffeehouses, microbrews, and independent boutiques. They also asked their readers to quantify more ineffable qualities such as the quirkiness of a city and h ... More >>

The Houston Beer Experiment: It Takes Grit(s) to Win

The buzz in the air at Fitzgerald's on Sunday could be attributed to more than just the $4 Brooklyn drafts: the Houston Beer Experiment had arrived. Seventeen teams were lined up and ready to compete -- whose beer-infused recipe would win the grand prize trip to New York City to compete in the natio ... More >>

Mason Jennings

Brain-Eating Bands and Songs for the Walking Dead

ssgmusic.com​Zombies or vampires? It's a classic debate along the line of The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones. We're not sure the Fab Four qualifies as either monster, but with The Glimmer Twins' propensity to remain upright and touring despite advanced age, decay, and a million other complicat ... More >>

Half a Century Late

Benjamin Patterson gets his due as Houston goes avant-garde.

Gothic Council Debates Gothiness Of "Graveyard" Video

​Though Gothtopia doesn't get to do our daily music-video column anymore, they're still one of our favorite things to write about. So, while trolling through YouTube yesterday, we came across the music video for the latest single by Pittsburgh electo-goth duo Candy Apple Blue, "Graveyard." ... More >>

Houston Not a Gay City, Gay Magazine Declares

It doesn't fly in Houston, apparently​The Advocate, the leading national GLBT magazine, has issued a proclamation outlining the 15 gayest cities in America. Houston isn't one of them. Yeah, yeah: lesbian mayor, Montrose, huge Pride Parade -- counts for nothing, apparently. Cities that are ga ... More >>

Good Lord: Are The Texans About To Make A Playoff Run?

Beat the Ravens, and things get interesting quickly​Nothing hurts our head more than calculating NFL playoff scenarios, with the possible exception of getting hit directly on the skull by a 50-pound block of ice. So we will leave those calculations to more-obsessed people, but we do know this ... More >>

Next to Nothing

Paul Haggis shows no improvement.

Harris County's Jail-Population Growth Third In Nation, Study Finds

Harris County Jail's having a population boom​In an era when locking fewer people up and spending less on jails seems to make sense and is rapidly becoming en vogue, Harris County was increasing its spending and putting more folks behind bars than nearly any other populous county in the country, a ... More >>

Carlos Lee Goes AWOL: At Least Someone Noticed

Carlos Lee: Bats right, throws right, jogs all the time​So the Astros were upset that Carlos Lee missed a voluntary workout in Pittsburgh on Thursday, and as a result, he was benched on Friday night.The puzzling thing is trying to figure out just why it is the Astros were upset. The workout ... More >>

11 Songs Sean Hannity Won't Be Listening To Today

​Today Americans celebrate Memorial Day, honoring the military servicemen and women that have passed while serving our country. The holiday is definitely not as flashy or as popular as Independence Day in July, seeing that there are no Memorial Day fireworks or picnics. It's not stuck in November ... More >>

Texas Traveler: Sri Meenakshi Temple

Photos by Brittanie Shey​Texas Traveler has a friend who used to lived in a trailer in an empty field near Pearland. On their way to his house once he surprised her by driving her by the Sri Meenakshi Temple. Maybe you already know about this place and maybe you don't, but suffice it to say th ... More >>

Kolache Crawl: All Hail the King of Kolaches

​We begin our Texas kolache tour at Weikels's in LaGrange, home of the best commercial kolaches in Texas. The standard by which I measure sweet kolaches is the poppy seed variety, mainly because I grew up eating poppy seed kolaches in my grandma's Ruthenian kitchen in Pittsburgh.

Capsule Stage Reviews: Little Shop of Horrors, Seven Guitars, Red Light Winter, Our Town,

Capsule Stage Reviews: Southern Rapture, The House of the Spirits, Night of the Giant, Seven Guitars

Capsule Stage Reviews: Southern Rapture, Night of the Giant, Oliver!, Seven Guitars

Experts Ask The Pressing Question Tonight: Are You Ready For Some Football?

​The NFL season opens tonight. We've already given you our astute and accurate take on the Houston Texans. (9-7, if you must know.) But what about the rest of the league? Do you actually want to sit through all the games, or learn what will happen in the next few grafs?We thought so.So here is how ... More >>

Milo, Maine Gets More Federal Stimulus Cash For Cops Than Houston

Photo courtesy MiloMilo Town Hall​We've been reading all day about how Houston got stiffed on the latest handout of federal stimulus money for cops and were kinda blase about it.Houston, after all, has gotten its fair share of Homeland Security cash because of the port and our target-rich refineri ... More >>

Cutout Bin: Novo Combo's Animation Generation

Novo Combo Animation Generation (Polydor, 1982) The 1980s: everything was changing. A new generation was taking over the musical and cultural landscape. Heavy Metal showed that even animated boobs could be a turn-on. Tron told us that even crappy, monochromatic animation made by crappy, low-p ... More >>

Rice Students Get Their Art Displayed On Billboards! In, Ummm, College Station

Photo by west.mIt's not every day that college art students get to see their work displayed on billboards, but that's what's happening with a group of Rice seniors - they'll just have to drive to College Station to it.Rice University was kind enough to send Hair Balls a press release explaining how ... More >>

10 Ways Miguel Tejada Can Do His Public Service

To: Drayton McLane From: Pam Gardner Cc: Ed Wade, Tal Smith, Cecil Cooper Re: Miguel Tejada's Community Service _____________________________________________ Mr. McLane: As you are no doubt aware, the team yesterday agreed to help Miguel Tejada, shortstop, fulfill the 100 hours of communit ... More >>

10 Ways Miguel Tejada Can Do His Public Service

To: Drayton McLane From: Pam Gardner Cc: Ed Wade, Tal Smith, Cecil Cooper Re: Miguel Tejada's Community Service _____________________________________________ Mr. McLane: As you are no doubt aware, the team yesterday agreed to help Miguel Tejada, shortstop, fulfill the 100 hours of communit ... More >>

Saturday: Don Caballero at Meridian

Perhaps Damon Che should have simply joined Creta Bourzia, rather than assimilating the Pittsburgh band into Don Caballero v 2.0. The allure of riding his own famous coattails certainly had something to do with the decision. It didn't hurt that the Bourzia boys were Caballero disciples, no doubt ... More >>

Football Watching Food (No, Really)

Okay, nice joke J.C., you totally had me. Although I should have known something was up since nobody makes their own corny dogs (except maybe Jay Francis). Don't look for any Super Bowl recipes from me. The spirit has gone out of our great national guacamole-eating holiday since the NFL started su ... More >>

Don't Miss Wayne DeHart in Radio Golf

Hole in One

College Football Review: Tulsa Beats Rice in Douchebag Bowl

Ike: Officially A Disaster

Over the Weekend: Mixed Media at MFAH, Houston Texans and MTV Video Music Awards

The College Football Review, With a Little More Ashley Judd

Mando Saenz: Bucket

Toxic Runoff : Somerville Mayor Tommy Thompson Discusses the Public Health Situation

No Mexicans in Detroit? What about Fairies?

The College Football Preview, Week 14: All These Bowls Are Making Us Groggy

Girl Talk

John Royal's NFL Picks: Week Two

The Crystal Clear Glasses of Detachment

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Capsule Reviews

A picture of our opinions on local exhibitions

Special Delivery

Punk rock queen Patti Smith finally gets some respect from the art world

Confidence Man

Is the BBB's Dan Parsons the most honest man in Houston?

Writer's Blah

Wonder Boys, an insipid tale about a depressed author, could use a few more exclamation points

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

News of the Weird