Texarkana

I-69 Signs Along I-59: No, It's Not a Clever Joke. Stop Giggling.

Whenever I think of U.S. 59, I think of constant gridlock from Shepherd through the 288/I-45 interchange, the flat, treeless drive to Ft. Bend County and the piney woods of east Texas, in all its glory. It is a unique stretch of road that runs from Mexico well into Missouri. Oh, sure, it changes num ... More >>

College Football: National Signing Day 2013, A Decade Of Cautionary Tales

Beginning bright and early Wednesday morning, 18-year-old football players far and wide will finalize in writing their plans on where they will ply their trade for the next three to five years, causing high blood pressure in adults three times their age coast to coast and dragging the fax machine in ... More >>

Keith Judd: Texas Prisoner/Presidential Candidate Does Shockingly Well in West Virginia Primary

Majestically mulleted Texas prisoner-cum-presidential candidate Keith Judd has picked up 41 percent of the vote in West Virginia's Democratic primary. (We examined the Keith Judd phenomenon back before he was just a gleam in West Virginia's eye.) The Associated Press reports that Judd, serving time ... More >>

5 Artists Whose Second Acts Surpassed Their First

Rocks Off has always had a soft spot for Rick Nelson. Although our oldest memory of him is probably hearing about the plane crash outside Texarkana that killed him, his band and his fiancee on New Year's Eve 1985, we're also old enough to remember actually his songs like "Hello, Mary Lou," "Lonesome ... More >>

Keith Judd: Totally Qualified Texas Prisoner on Presidential Ballot (Democrat, of Course)

Just when we threw up our hands in despair over the dearth of worthwhile presidential candidates, a federal prisoner in Texas has made it onto the ballot in West Virginia. Keith Russell Judd, who's serving 210 months in a decidedly un-oval office in Texarkana for making threats while on the Univer ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: 13 Miles from Security, Oscar in the Box, Play On!, Shout! The Mod Musical, Whatever Happened to the Villa Real?

Playboy Comes A-Courting To Houston For A Casting Call

Photo By Brittanie SheySandy Garza works it for the cameras​ Be sure to check out our slideshow Girl Next Door: Behind The Scenes at Playboy's Casting Call (sNSFW) here. The first day of Playboy's two-day Houston casting call lured women from as far as Cleveland, Ohio, and New Boston, Texas ... More >>

Best/Worst College Football QB Transfers: A List Inspired by Former Texas Main Man Garrett Gilbert

Obviously, Garrett Gilbert is no Colt McCoy. Or Case McCoy. Or David Ash. Earlier today, the Texas Longhorns announced that Gilbert -- who filled in admirably for the injured Colt McCoy during the Longhorns' loss in the 2010 BCS Championship game...and that's about it -- is leaving the program. G ... More >>

Your Weekly Heat Wave Music Blog: Hotter Than Hell Edition

Ed. Note: Remember that "songs about Hell" blog we mentioned a couple of days ago? It's still hot, and here it is. maximumwage.wordpress.comThe Southwest Freeway and Loop 610, 4 p.m.​There's an old saying in Botswana: "Shitfire is it hot!" Wait, maybe that was Bandera. Anyway, whatever hemisp ... More >>

Six Questions I Would Ask Chip Kelly About Will Lyles

Chip Kelley back when he was answering questions​In the weeks leading up to the BCS Championship Game between Auburn and Oregon back in January, a lot of the game-related chit-chat centered on the controversy swirling around Auburn and the "pay for play" scheme that Cecil Newton, the father of ... More >>

Remember Kritikal's Late Nights, Early Mornings?

Houston's history is dotted with albums that, fairly or not, have been swept aside. We'll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. ​Kritikal Late Nights, Early Mornings (Self-Released, 2010) Kritikal (pronounced Kriti-cal) r ... More >>

Fine Dining By The Sea(Brook)

Chocolate-peanut butter icebox pie.​"Don't get too caught up in it; it's just grape juice," laughed Mark McWilliams, seated to my right. Those are words you don't expect to hear from someone who runs a successful winery for a living, but it set the tone for a refreshing evening. Anyone expecti ... More >>

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas, Part 2: "Trinity"

[Note: This week Rocks Off is looking at the musical heritage, highs and lows, for each of the five possible states that might result should Texas secede from the U.S. like Gov. Rick Perry wants it to. Yesterday we began with the Panhandle/West Texas "Palo Duro" territory; today it's northeastern qu ... More >>

Five Hour Energy

The 2009 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase in 300 minutes or less.

HPMA Aftermath: Ozeal & the Eulypians, Nosaprise, Benjamin Wesley, Tha Fucking Transmissions, Kristine Mills, Peekaboo Theory, Versecity and Spain Colored Orange

Chris Gray​Five hours is not a long time. It is if you're driving from Houston to Texarkana or Uvalde, maybe. But when hopscotching all over downtown trying to take in as much of the Houston Press Music Awards showcase as you can until your feet and your ears cry uncle, those 300 minutes go by in ... More >>

For Sale: the Remains of Burt Reynolds's Career, Plus: An Odd Couple of Entrepreneurs

Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

Even Burt Reynolds In That Black Trans-Am, All Gonna Meet Down At The Lakewood Yacht Club

Houston is once again proudly claiming its mantle for all things classy. For it is here -- not in Paris, not in Monaco or Palm Springs -- where Burt Reynold's legendary Bandit will be auctioned off next month.What is the Bandit, you ask, obviously putting down your dog-eared copy of Recherche du Tem ... More >>

Whistleblower Wins Suit, Even Without Feds' Help

Bartender, Pour the Wine: Ten Great Country Breakup Songs

Child Protective Services: Problems, Reforms and More Problems

A quick fix may only have created more problems for CPS and the families it serves

We Heart CFS

We Heart CFS

¡Viva la Margarita!

The drink that changed the way we eat

Beating a (Nearly) Dead Horse

Ready for a Rumbo?

News wars return as two Spanish papers go mano a mano

Strings Attached

Will Linden move on to become a music mecca or fall beneath the weight of a racist past?

Head Ways

Dillard's may dominate advertising -- and be all but absent from news headlines

Letters

Love Hurts

Six of her ex-lovers or associates are wounded or dead. Authorities wonder if old ways die hard for former Houston attorney Catherine Mehaffey Shelton.

Smart Pop

Rogue Elephant

Log Cabin Republicans want to be part of the GOP, which wants no part of them

Traveling Waste

On their way to West Texas, trucks carrying nuclear waste may be routed through your community

(Pay)checks and (Im)balances

Fat starting salaries! Hefty raises! HISD says its administrators deserve them.

Letters

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.

Basic Ballard

Donna Ballard and her Christian conservative cohorts have transformed the State Board of Education. But will they transform the way Texas teaches its kids?

Bitter Lesson

For 27 years, math teacher Phyllis Landes had a spotless record. Then the Texas Education Agency accused her of making racist remarks, and nearly ruined her school and her life.

Wasted Days, Wasted Lives (Part I)

Record producer Huey Meaux was a legend in the music business. Now he's an accused pedophile on the run.

Gayle Force

A vigorous advocate for teachers and the bane of HISD administrators, confrontational union boss Gayle Fallon wields a growing power over the direction of Houston's public schools

Fast-Track Diversion

Harris County experiments with a new sentencing tool in cocaine cases

Dyssing Christmas

Why theater critics get grouchy in December, and a review of the audience at 12 Steps to a More Dysfunctional Christmas