South Texas

Travel Through Texas Barbecue (Good and Bad) with Daniel Vaughn

This Saturday, June 15, Daniel Vaughn, who's the new barbecue editor for Texas Monthly and has been dubbed "BBQ Snob," will be signing his new book, The Prophets of Smoked Meat, at Leibman's Foods/Blue Willow Bookshop from 1 to 3 p.m. and River Oaks Bookstore from 4 to 6 p.m. We spoke with Vaughn ... More >>

MUY CALIENTE SUMMER EDITION

The Best Concerts In Houston This Week: Smashing Pumpkins, Taylor Swift, etc.

Free Radicals Avant Garden, May 13 Free Radicals is both Nick Cooper's revolving-door ensemble that at any given moment could be playing free jazz or Latin funk, and also Cooper's ongoing testimonial to how much he digs being a member of the Houston music community. He has so much experience at thi ... More >>

This Week In Food Blogs: Quails and 'Que

Urban Swank: What were your favorite meals of 2012? The Urban Swank girls -- along with fellow food bloggers Hank On Food and our own Carla Soriano -- round up their own magical meals, including the spaghetti carbonara from Coppa, jar-jar duck from Uchi and foie gras torchon from Brasserie 19. Eate ... More >>

Cover Story: Texas's Seven Deadly Crime Sins

When staff writer John Nova Lomax set about his review of the crimes committed in Texas in 2012, he rapidly discovered that the Bible had a lot to say about them. Yes, all manner of crime that had evaded other groupings seemed to fall right into place once the Seven Deadly Sins were ticked off one ... More >>

All 52 Restaurant Reviews of 2012, Broken Down and Mapped Out

View 2012 Restaurant Reviews in a larger map. In 2012, I reviewed 50 restaurants. Jeremy Parzen and Mai Pham graciously stepped in when I went on vacation two weeks, filling in for me and each writing a full restaurant review of their own. Together, the three of us wrote one restaurant review for e ... More >>

The 10 Most Overplayed Songs at Mexican Weddings, Texas Edition

Earlier this month, Rocks Off contributor and all-around nice guy Jeff Balke enlightened us with this little list of songs that are standard operating procedure at weddings. But as much as I love "Twist & Shout" and "YMCA," in my very Mexican experience, those songs were not what I was used to heari ... More >>

The Rocks Off 100: Festival Chicano's Daniel Bustamante

Who? Two weekends ago, Rocks Off attended the 33rd annual Festival Chicano at Miller Outdoor Theatre. We were surprised and delighted to see almost 30,000 fans of Tejano music come out to support a movement that many have written off as dormant and dead. The man behind the success of the event is M ... More >>

Is Tejano Music Completely Dead? We Ask The Experts

In the past decade or so, much has been written about the decline and apparent death of Tejano Music, the much-loved yet all but forgotten genre that mixes traditional conjunto music with modernized, keyboard-driven pop sounds native to the Mexican-American population of South Texas. The Houston ra ... More >>

Malice in Alice: Four Dead in Ongoing Gang War

Isaac Vela probably never knew what hit him. At 3 a.m. Sunday, the young Latin King was waiting for a ride on a barely paved street in front of a ramshackle house in the scraggly South Texas town. Suddenly a Ford Escape containing five armed men belonging to the rival Raza Unida gang came roaring do ... More >>

The Rest of the Best: Houston's Top 10 Coffeehouses

Photo by Kevin O'MaraA reminder of what our No. 3 pick used to look like.​For the next 20 weeks, we'll be rounding up the runners-up to our 2011 Best of Houston® winners. In many categories, picking each year's winner is no easy task. We'll be spotlighting 20 of those categories, in which the ... More >>

Bayou Country

Mike Stinson has a thing for his adopted hometown.

She-Male Porn Pics Come to Fore in Valley Cop Election

No comment.​A South Texas county constable election turned smutty last week when one candidate texted his opponent several graphic images of "she-male porn." Cameron County Precinct 4 Constable Robert Lopez was on the receiving end of the chicks with dicks images sent by electoral foe Joe Rod ... More >>

Hickoids Indulge Deviant UK Fetish On Twits

hickoids.com​At least for Lonesome, Onry and Mean, a good cover is one that takes an old chestnut in a new direction. And if about halfway through the chorus a light bulb flashes on in the brain: "Eureka, Batman, I know this song." The Hickoids' new album of all British-rock covers album Kicki ... More >>

Deer Sausage and Eggs at Goode Co. Taqueria

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttPatio weather demands a bloody mary and a Goode Co. breakfast.​The recent news that Goode Co. Taqueria will start serving its breakfast menu seven days a week starting on May 1 got me very excited. Perhaps too excited, as I dragged my boyfriend over there first thin ... More >>

Just What America Needs: Four More Texas Votes In The U.S. House Of Representatives

Texas is a big winner​Republicans in the Texas Legislature have already been salivating over the opportunity to redraw Congressional districts with little to no interference from those annoying Democrats. The U.S. Census just handed them another gift: Four more seats to mess with. A 20 perce ... More >>

Larry Garza: Corpus Man Busted With Beer In Car-Seat And Kids Roaming Free

Larry Garza likes his beer​South Texas is hell-bent on showing the rest of us exciting new ways of involving the whole family in drunk driving shenanigans.Last week, Hair Balls brought you the Padre Island-based story of the (allegedly) shit-faced Rosales ladies -- one of whom allegedly attempted ... More >>

Bruce Machart: The Wake of Forgiveness

The Texas landscape reflects the harsh tone of this debut novel

Stefani Vara's Operation Musical Rewrite

​ Wednesday, just a few minutes shy of 4 p.m., Stefani Vara was driving from Corpus Christi back to her home in Houston after a quick day trip. It had been a while since she heard Tejano music. It's what she grew up with and she realized she missed it. She realized it was part of her roots...part ... More >>

Sorry, Houston Lawyers: The New U.S. Attorney Is From Laredo

Photo courtesy DOJ​The new U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas has just been announced, and it's not a Houstonian.Jose Angel Moreno, a 53-year-old ex-Marine from Laredo, has been nominated to fill the important post."There can be no greater honor nor privilege for a career prosecutor ... More >>

Somewhere Trouble Don't Go

The best Texas albums of 2009...or what we could squeeze in.

Artist of the Week: Country Store Buffalo on Breast Implants, Beer-Drinking Bison and That Old Devil Cocaine

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com.​ You are in the enviable ... More >>

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas: Houston and "Brazoria"

The final installment of our Five States of Texas project brings it all back home, to the new state of Brazoria, encompassing all of Southeast Texas from the Brazos Valley to Sabine Pass. ​Patron Saint: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. A master of rock and roll, country, Cajun/Creole, blues and jazz, n ... More >>

Aftermath: The Krayolas at Cactus Music

Photos by Chris Gray The coolest band in Houston this weekend couldn't find a club or venue to play. Not at night, anyway - San Antonio's the Krayolas did manage to play Dan Electro's during Saturday afternoon's live broadcast of KPFT's Joe's Roadhouse, and Cactus Music an hour or two thereafter. If ... More >>

Rocks Off Checks Out Corpus Christi

Photos by Craig Hlavaty This past weekend, Rocks Off took a respite from sweltering H-Town to visit family in our equallly sweltering, ball-sweat-inducing neighbor to the south. Corpus Christi is rather small compared the teeming ant farm we have here, topping just over a quarter of a million beachi ... More >>

Aftermath: Brave Combo at Discovery Green

Photos by Allen Hill It would be interesting to find out how many weddings have taken place at Discovery Green since it opened last year, but it's hard to imagine that any of them could have been any livelier than Brave Combo's free concert there Thursday evening. In its second season, DG's free con ... More >>

Texas Traveler: Eating in the Alamo City

photos by Robb Walsh Chef Scott Cohen was trying out some new sandwiches for the summer menu when I stopped by San Antonio's hottest new restaurant, Brasserie Pavil on Loop 1604 at Huebner. When I first walked in the door and took in the high ceilings and dark wood, I was immediately reminded of t ... More >>

Texas Traveler: Eating in the Alamo City

photos by Robb Walsh Chef Scott Cohen was trying out some new sandwiches for the summer menu when I stopped by San Antonio's hottest new restaurant, Brasserie Pavil on Loop 1604 at Huebner. When I first walked in the door and took in the high ceilings and dark wood, I was immediately reminded of t ... More >>

Texans Throw Parties for Michael Chertoff and He's Not Invited

Local South Texas officials didn't like Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff too much to begin with and then when he pushed forward with the border wall despite every political and ecological plea they could make, the dislike morphed into something very akin to hatred. That hasn't passed, apparen ... More >>

Johnny Falstaff: Honky Tonkin' Daddy, John Evans Band: Lucky 13, Kanude: Kanude

How Mexican Is Mexican Enough?

Americans Recording Mexican Songs

The Bueno, the Bad and the Muy Ugly

Move Along. Nothing to See Here. Oh, Wait...

Buttercup

Buttercup appears at Friday, September 29, at Rudyard's, 2010 Waugh. Moonlight Towers also appears. 713-521-0521.

Hog Wild

Feral pigs are ugly, destructive and mean. Some people in Texas just love to trap, stab or shoot them. Or put them in rodeos. With dogs.

The Full Nelson

A Rhino rerelease celebrates Willie's new concept for country

Gator Aid

Thanks to the Endangered Species Act, alligators are everywhere in southeast Texas. So now the state is going to make it easier for you to shoot you one.

Eric Taylor

Saturday, January 21, at Anderson Fair, 2007 Grant, 713-528-8576.

St. Patrick's Day Guide 2005

Roll Your Own

Saigon Pagolac's DIY Vietnamese fajitas may be a lot of work, but they're worth it

Libbi Bosworth

Libbiville (Ramble Records)

Street-Fighting Man

Roy Head used to love to mix it up. Now the blue-eyed soul man fights to keep his career alive.

Arena Love

The establishment's attack dog is muzzled, so far

Rewriting the Good Book

Corpus Christi casts Jesus as a South Texas gay guy

Easygoing George W. Bush

With help from Democrats Pete Laney and Bob Bullock, Bush has been a Republican governor Texans love. But who'll be his pals if he sets his sights on the presidency?

The Insider

Night & Day

June 4- 10, 1998

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.

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