South Carolina

Ramps Aren't Rampant in Houston

From the mailbag, a reader request for ramps: Ramps, which are basically wild leeks, are widely available in other parts of the country in the spring. Where can Houstonians find lovely spring vegetables like ramps, fiddleheads, etc? Tried Trader Joe's, no luck. Houston needs our ramps! Sorry to ... More >>

Visiting Brits Search For The Soul Of Rock And Roll

Live Fast, Die Young: Misadventures in Rock 'n' Roll America by Chris Price and Joe Harland Trafalgar Square Publishing, 320 pp., $13.95 Friends and former coworkers at the BBC -- where they programmed radio and video music -- Price and Harland's jumping-off point for this music travelogue across ... More >>

Last Night: Black Dahlia Murder & Nile At Warehouse Live

Recent weeknight metal shows at Warehouse Live have been a tad hit-or-miss as far as attendance goes--mostly miss. Whether it's been the hassle of driving downtown on a school night or simply fans cooling a bit on the genre as a whole, heavy touring acts have done well to fill the venue's lounge are ... More >>

Kevin Corley's Murder-For-Hire/Drug Complaint Reads Like Quentin Tarantino Movie

Kevin Corley was one of a group of men whose arrests were announced today by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston, and let's just say the man makes for a good criminal complaint. It reads like a Quentin Tarantino rip-off and has guns, drugs and a murder for hire in which the killer promised to car ... More >>

Decoding Newt Gingrich Based on His Known Musical Tastes

The digital revolution is slowly killing our favorite form of amateur psychoanalysis. We've all gone through someone's CD collection at some point when they weren't in the room, and from the albums we found we were able to deduce something about their personality. Now, we don't even have a CD shelf, ... More >>

The 10 Dumbest Meat-Related Crimes

Last week, we brought you a short compendium of the dumbest fast food-related crimes, eventually reaching the conclusion that McDonald's Chicken Nuggets make people do crazy, crazy things. (Don't tell me that correlation doesn't imply causation!) This week, we take a look at the dumb things that me ... More >>

Texas's Sonogram Law Gets New Lease on Life

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the temporary injunction on Texas's so-called sonogram law, clearing the way for abortion providers to enforce the new mandate. The law, championed by Senator Dan Patrick, requires a sonogram whenever a woman seeks an abortion. The law requires the wom ... More >>

Declassified KBR Contract Shows How It Gets a Free Pass for Willful Misconduct

These dudes know how to write a sweet contract.​A KBR government contract protected the company from liability for injuries or deaths caused by willful misconduct, according to recently declassified Army documents. Although the existence of the clause was revealed as a part of a lawsuit file ... More >>

Marcus Manchild Reporting via Text from Magic City

Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), George, Chad and Nate, 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 was at Warehouse Live November 11 (read the re ... More >>

The Taste of Nostalgia at C&D Burger Shoppe

Photos by Troy FieldsPrepping for a busy lunch at C&D.​Everything about C&D Burger Shoppe has that pleasant glow of a hazy, nostalgic time somewhere in between the late 1970s and early 1980s. Even the slideshow accompanying this week's cafe review of the little burger joint in South Houston lo ... More >>

Houston Web Awards: The Best Tweets From Last Night's Ceremony

Marco TorresJenny Kelley of I Love Flavor accepts the award for Best Food Video.​Check out all our pics from last night's inaugural Houston Web Awards. Bun B was a busy man last night. If you check the Houston Twitterverse's timelime from about 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., you'll probably see dozens of ... More >>

Perry For Prez Speculation Heats Up With His Key Aides Quitting Gingrich Campaign

New signs point to yes​The political world is buzzing with word today that key aides to the hilarious Newt Gingrich presidential campaign have resigned. Why? Because some of those aides are longtime Rick Perry people, and their presence on the Gingrich team was often cited as evidence Perry wa ... More >>

Texas AG Greg Abbott Grabs The Spotlight In Fight Against EPA's Tailpipe-Emissions Rule

Greg Abbott leads a mostly southern uprising​Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wants everyone to know that he is doing everything he can to stop the federal Environmental Protection Agency from trying to implement greenhouse-gas limits on cars and trucks. In the latest of a series of lawsuit ... More >>

Marshall Tucker Band Singer: "This Ain't A Jerk-Off Contest"

The Marshall Tucker Band today​While they were often tagged strictly as "Southern Rockers" after starting out in the early '70s, the Marshall Tucker Band also freely incorporated blues, jazz, country, and other sounds into their music. They had a flute player, for chrissakes! Led by guitarist ... More >>

UH Wins Gowalla Challenge, $10K

UH didn't go to a bowl, but did win this contest​Gowalla is the Avis to Foursquare's Hertz when it comes to apps that tell everyone where you are, because Lord knows everyone needs to know that. In a bid for publicity, they had a contest to see which college could drum up the most check-ins ... More >>

The Nation's BBQ Capital According to Google, and It Ain't Texas

Last week, we showed you how Google has been actively tracking food and drink trends since at least 2004 and how 2010 was the year of pizza (at least according to your search patterns and the number of times people have Googled "Pizza Hut"). But that's not the only thing that Google Insight lets you ... More >>

Third World

Problems n a First World country

Last Night: Iron & Wine At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Jim Bricker​Iron & Wine Fitzgerald's November 21, 2010 When Hill Country transplant Sam Beam, who played a sold-out pre-Thanksgiving show at Fitzgerald's Sunday night, was still signed with Sub Pop, the Seattle label's founder Jonathan Poneman wanted to see the South Carolina native ... More >>

Five Best Sexy-Time Moments Of Campaign 2010 (And "Best" Can Just Mean "Weird")

Nikki Haley: Hey, I did her too!!!​Dear Gawd, there are only four more days left in this hellspawn of an election year. Although we're sure the recounts and voter-fraud investigations will go on forever, most of the activity will be over.There's been a lot to hate about Campaign 2010; there's been ... More >>

Exile In Margaritaville: Marshall Chapman Blooms After Jimmy Buffett

tallgirl.comL-R: Kenny Vaughan, Tim Krekel, Carl Perkins and Marshall Chapman at New York's Bottom Line, November 1996​A year ago, Lonesome Onry and Mean wrote in these pages about the passing of a rather unsung musical giant, Tim Krekel. So it was quite a pleasant surprise to recently open a ... More >>

Bugs: There Are Two States Actually Buggier Than Texas

It's a bug's life in Texas​Houston, as you slap your arms, face and neck while trying to enjoy a sunset, reassure yourself that things could be worse: You could be in Florida or Louisiana.Those two states are officially and somewhat scientifically more bug-infested than Texas, according to an indu ... More >>

Rice University Residential College Guarantee: Not All Students Get What They Pay For

Photo by SkinnyOrangeCatRice: Getting crowded in here​Note to incoming Rice University undergrads (and their parents) expecting the full "residential college" experience: Be sure to read everything that you get on Rice letterhead.One of the universities' primary selling points is its residential c ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Lying Liars and the Songs Written About Them

​After South Carolina representative Joe Wilson's bush-league grandstander heckling of the President last night - imagine the hue and cry if Nancy Pelosi had done the same thing during one of W's inane lie-filled speeches! - what Lonesome, Onry and Mean needs is some songs about lies and liars. On ... More >>

HISD Set To Pick Old White Guy For Next Superintendent?

​The Houston Chronicle is reporting that HISD seems to have settled on Terry Grier, of the San Diego school district, to be its next superintendent. They have the sources over there, so we're inclined to believe it.Earlier this afternoon HISD spokesman Norm Uhl sent out word that the supe pick wou ... More >>

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. in Song

In the Name of Love

New EPA List Of Polluted Cities Leaves Off Houston, To Some Folks' Dismay

The good news is that the Environmental Protection Agency has issued its list of counties that don't meet the agency's standards for fine-particle air pollution, and Harris County is not on that list.The bad news is that the American Lung Association thinks it damn well should be on the list.The EPA ... More >>

Santa Round-Up Part Five: The Crying Game

This and every Christmas season the most important person is the baby Jesus, with a bearded, white-haired toy factory owner coming in a close second. Every year we flock to the malls to sit in our kids down on Santa's lap. Sometimes they run off screaming, while others take to the old guy just like ... More >>

Fighting Cancer

Who says Texas isn't battling cigs?

How Could Anyone Criticize Texas' Anti-Smoking Campaign?

Here’s yet another list that Texas finds itself at the bottom of: the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids’ report of how states have been spending (or not spending) the money they’ve been receiving from the landmark 1998 multi-billion dollar settlement with Big Tobacco. Texas comes in at 46, s ... More >>

Going Big in the Bay Area with Cullen's Upscale American Grill

Nile

Stage Capsule Reviews: Arsenic and Old Lace, Black Pearl Sings, The Daughter of the Regiment, Fools and Rumors

Blue

Nona Hendryx’s music makes this production a must-see

The College Football Review, Week Four: Coogs Win Despite Mascot Shame

The College Football Preview, Week Four: Longhorns in Jail and Cougars with Excuses

Houston Rock Scene Woes, Continued

A tri-ologue with three scene vets about selling out, not being true to yourself and rocking too hard

Letters to the Editor

One for the Girls

Traveling Pants is an ill fit for the screen, but teens and tweens will love it

Little Wonder

Dwarf sisters ditch the doughnuts to become trail-glazers on the strip circuit

Heart Broken

Despite the mounting evidence of innocence, a convict remains in prison

Penned In

Almost nobody -- not even the trial judge or the victim -- thinks John Michael Harvey molested a child. So why's he still serving 40 years in prison?

Dire Forecast

Plus: Ailing Isle, Enron Angles, Rules and Drools

No Moor

Tim Blake Nelson's ill-conceived O reimages Othello as a basketball star

The State of Things

Chef Scott Atlas

The Highs and Low Country

Fox Diner is fabulous when it sticks to what it does best

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

Press Picks

Press Picks

WorldFest's World View

Hunter Todd returns with a slimmed-down film festival