Texas Tech University

Rocks Off's Something Wicked Mini-Guide: Bass Massacre

Saturday, something very strange is about to go down at Sam Houston Race Park when Something Wicked, billed as "Texas's first ever large-scale Halloween electronic dance music festival," takes over the grounds, subdivided into three nebulously named areas: "Shadow Field," "Bass Massacre" and "The Ex ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Erin Smith of Plonk Bistro, on Her Externship at Per Se

Erin Smith Plonk Bistro 1214 West 43rd Street 713-290-1070 www.plonkbistro.com This is the first part of a three-part chef chat series. Look for Part 2 and Part 3 in this space Thursday and Friday. There are just a handful of female executive chefs in Houston, and at 29, Erin Smith of Plonk Bistr ... More >>

Today's Cover Story on the Texas Wine Industry

See our slideshow of Texas wines and wineries. The cover story for this week's issue of the paper, coming out online this afternoon, is an article on the Texas wine industry by my colleague Katharine Shilcutt and me. In the piece, we take a hard look at the challenges that Texas winemakers face. ... More >>

Tasting Notes: This Week in Wine Blogs

Eat My Words: This week Texas Monthly wine writer Jessica Dupuy gives a glowing review to new releases by the Duchman Family Winery, the Texas Hill Country winery owned by Houston's own celebrity cardiologist Stan Duchman. "I'll be honest," she writes, "I fell in love with all of these wines, which ... More >>

Arsalan Kazemi Chases Refs, Shoves Security Guard: Chaos Reigns Supreme As Coogs Stun Owls

The Rice Owls didn't just lose a basketball game on Saturday night. They lost a home game by the score of 76-75. They lost to their crosstown rivals, the Houston Cougars (15-14, 7-9 in conference). They lost while having a one-point lead and the ball with 5.2 seconds left and the Cougars having no t ... More >>

8 Very Odd Covers Of Old Rice Football Programs: From Kinky Sex To Deadly Dull

You can't tell the players without a program, the old saying goes, and it goes double for Rice football. Once a power so established it built the huge stadium that still sits on campus, times have grown leaner for the Owls on the field. But through it all they (or their opponents) have put out pro ... More >>

100 Creatives 2012: Viswa Subbaraman

When Viswa Subbaraman was an undergraduate at Duke University, he had no idea where he would end up. He had played trombone and violin, but music as a career to him did not seem like an option. He had come from a family of doctors and was planning on becoming one himself -- that was, until his sopho ... More >>

Tasting Notes: Holiday Wine Blog Round Up

Vintage Texas: Top Texas wine writer and Houstonian Russ Kane weighs in this week with his Top Texas Wines of 2011. In the first installment, he reveals five of the ten, including a few from wineries we don't always see in year-end lists of favorite labels from Texas. Russ's new guide to Texas wi ... More >>

Saturday At Numbers: A Night Of Pure Texas Goth

Ending the Vicious Cycle​Saturday will bring some of Texas' darkest and most talented Goths together for a night of music and fashion. While the rest of you are out soaking up BestFest a good portion of the Gothic Council will be over at Numbers for an evening of fashion and music. The focus ... More >>

Texas Tech's Chancellor Gives Longhorns a Big Middle Finger, Maybe

Other fingers can be used, too.​Everyone who doesn't love burnt orange hates the Longhorn Network, the lucrative collaboration between UT and ESPN. Among those haters: Texas Tech chancellor and former congressman Kent Hance. UT's deal with ESPN calls for one Big 12 conference game to be aire ... More >>

Sex Dolls & Texans

The men who love pseudo-women

Cougar Beats Bearkat, Thus UH Beats Sam Houston State

The Cougars head into Christmas with the win​The Houston Cougars (7-5) don't play very good basketball in the first half. At 12 games into the season, that can be established as a fact. The players know it and admit it. The coaches know it and it admit it. It's something they say they're wor ... More >>

The So-So Year In Cougar Sports: 25 Things From 2010

The year in UH sports​Since I'm taking a look at the sports year that is about to come to an end, I thought I would focus on the Houston Cougars, one of the teams that I cover for the Press. So... 1. The men's basketball team shocked the students, alums, administration, fans, C-USA, and the ... More >>

Happy Hour Scene: Phil's Texas Barbecue

​The Place: Phil's Texas Barbecue110 S. Heights Blvd.713-862-8600www.philstxbbq.comThe Hours: Seven days a week, 4-7 p.m.The Deals: Domestics are $2.50, well drinks are $2.25. There are also nightly specials, which the bartender chooses. Wednesday night, for example, featured $10 buckets of be ... More >>

College Football and NFL: This Weekend's Best Bets (And a Promise From Me)

You can't lose, except when you lose​I'm coming up on almost one year now writing a daily post on Hair Balls for HoustonPress.com. In that time, I've written tens of thousands of words about topics like the Summer of LeBron, the Brian Cushing saga, the Houston Texans, and the death of Jose Lima. ... More >>

Game Time: Football -- This Season's First Round of Best Bets

Oregon Ducks: Ignore the uniforms and jump onboard​Okay, it's the first officially great football weekend of the season (loaded college slate plus first weekend of NFL).Last weekend's college slate was sort of like a "soft" opening for a new restaurant, working out the kinks in anticipation of the ... More >>

Michael Jackson As Scholarly Subject: A Texas Tech Study

Finally, all the MJ scholarship in one place​When The Journal of Pan African Studies decided to devote an entire volume to Michael Jackson after the Gloved One's passing, Texas Tech librarian Rob Weiner had an idea: why not find out how many times MJ popped up in academic journals, and for what re ... More >>

Alvin Brooks Gets A Second Chance With UH Hoops

It may look like a mausoleum, but it's home for the Coogs​The story of the University of Houston men's basketball team can be seen as one of rebirths, second chances, starting over.Head coach James Dickey hasn't been a head coach since losing his job at Texas Tech in 2001. His associate head ... More >>

UH Begins To Look At Renovating Its Football And Basketball Facilities

Photo by krisandapril​Lost amidst the news of a tuition increase and the "leave of absence" granted to associate basketball coach Marvin Haralson last week at the University of Houston was some big news coming out of the athletic department. That news was the school's retaining of Fortune 500 comp ... More >>

UH Steps Up With Sumlin Contract Extension; Will The Fans Do Their Part?

Photo courtesy UH​Let's hear it for UH Athletic Director Mack Rhoades. He got one of the nation's hottest coaches, Kevin Sumlin, to put his signature to a new six-year contract which is a rather a good deal for the Sumlin and the Cougars. The deal is for six years and $6.8 million with another ... More >>

Red Blooded Fans

Win or lose, the mood is always congenial in U of H watering hole The Den.

The Cougars Run Into Upset City, Again

Photo courtesy UH​It's easy to blame the Houston Cougar defense for Saturday's 37-32 loss to the University of Central Florida Knights. After all, the Knights scored 37 points, gained 393 yards, and controlled the ball for almost 40 minutes of  of the game.If the defense makes some plays, th ... More >>

Rice Hosts NCAA Baseball Regional, Doesn't Get Top Seed

Photo by Daniel KramerYesterday saw the announcement of the NCAA's 64-team bracket for the College World Series, and it was a mixed bag for local fans.Good news: Seven Texas teams are in it.Bad news: Rice didn't get a top regional seeding, for the first time in three years, kind of a slap to the new ... More >>

Vote Carrie Milbank for Playboy's Sexiest Sportscaster

Last week I wrote a post about the latest edition of Playboy.com's Sexiest Sportscaster contest. And I was a bit disappointed at some of the choices. And though I have some Erin Andrews burnout, I could understand the desire of many of my fellow males (and probably quite a few females too) to see ... More >>

Vote Carrie Milbank for Playboy's Sexiest Sportscaster

Last week I wrote a post about the latest edition of Playboy.com's Sexiest Sportscaster contest. And I was a bit disappointed at some of the choices. And though I have some Erin Andrews burnout, I could understand the desire of many of my fellow males (and probably quite a few females too) to see ... More >>

Bowling for UT, TCU, UH and Rice

I'm sure the Longhorns and their fans are still pissed they didn't win the Big 12 and aren't playing for the national title. But screw Longhorns fans. I think I can speak for many college football fans who are pissed the Horns are playing in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State. Ohio effing Sta ... More >>

College Football Review: Tulsa Beats Rice in Douchebag Bowl

Football U: Texas Roundup, and Then Some

College Football Preview, Tea Leoni Edition

The College Football Review, With a Little More Ashley Judd

Prosecutors Hate Bible-Lovers

John Royal’s NCAA Picks

What to Watch: Football, Hockey, Football and Football

The College Football Preview, Week 12: Now with 84 Percent Fewer References to Erin Andrews

The College Football Preview, Week Nine: What Do Pushing Daisies, The Office and Chuck Have to Do with Football? Good Question.

The College Football Review, Week Eight: Rice Is Just as Good as Notre Dame

The College Football Preview, Week Eight: More Babes. And More Babes.

Classiness, Thy Name Is Texas Tech

The College Football Preview, Week Five: No Wins for Notre Dame, No Arrests for Texas

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

Millionaire Mindsetters

No skeptics need apply to this get-rich-quick proposition

Football U: Week Four

Football U: Week Four

Welcome to Football U

Welcome to Football U

Unlucky Winners

Is there a Houston Press Music Award jinx?

We Take It Back

Mattress Mac's bowl game is a joke, after all

Best Houston Comet

Sheryl Swoopes

The Menu from Hell

A retrospective of the dishes that made us shudder, not salivate

Crisis on Cullen Boulevard

Funding is down. Faculty is fleeing. And 50 professors are in semi-open revolt. Is the University of Houston on an irrovocable slide toward mediocrity?