Texas

5 Houston-Area Barbecue Joints Top Texas Monthly List of 50 Best BBQ Spots

The last time Texas Monthly released its list of the 50 best barbecue joints in Texas was 2008. During that five-year interim, a lot has changed. Namely, the Austin-based magazine now boasts its very own barbecue editor -- the only publication anywhere to have a single person devoted to the cuisine. ... More >>

Weather Sucks: Thank God We Only Have Hurricanes to Deal with in Houston

"It's already here! - Twister Overnight in north Texas, a rash of tornadoes killed at least six people and injured many more. There could be another outbreak of twisters tonight as dry, cool air from the north slams into warm Gulf air over Texas. It's unfortunately a common occurrence for an area l ... More >>

GIANT SNAILS!! GIANT KILLER SNAILS Have Invaded Texas & Targeted Gullible Children!!

Beautiful spring weather, it's not hurricane season yet, nothing to worry about outside except the occasional mosquito, giant deadly snail and annoying neighbor kid. What-whut? Giant deadly snail? Yep -- if various sightings around town are to be believed, the Giant African Land Snail (Lissachatin ... More >>

Perry Spokesperson Welcomes Obama to Texas. Perry Himself? Not So Much

Sometimes, silence truly is deafening. Rick Perry spends an awful lot of time engaging anyone who will listen around the country on why they ought to move to Texas. It's good for business. We got lots o' guns. We let you live the way you want to live. We don't have no dad-gum income taxes. We're jus ... More >>

It's Good to Be the King: Texas Renaissance Festival is Holding Auditions

Do you long to speak in a British accent all day? Do you feel comfortable in tights or cod pieces? Are you a huge fan of crying children who kick you in the shins, annoying teenagers who yank on your clothing and busty wenches? Well, my good fellow (or me lady), we may have just the thing for you be ... More >>

AG Greg Abbott Bans Same-Sex Benefits In Cities, Counties & School Districts, Sorta

Attorney General Greg Abbott, in an ironic twist of timing, has struck down the ability of cities, counties and school districts to offer domestic partner benefits. By almost any measure, today was a landmark day for the GLBT community, with all eyes focused on basketball player Jason Collins, the ... More >>

Ninjas From Texas: San Antonio Metal Crew Sells "Sex, Drugs and Mopeds"

It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we're doing out best to make sense of the oddest monikers. Ninjas From Texas is a metal/hardcore act out of San Antonio. It's the sort of music that makes me sad there are no good Van Damme movies anymor ... More >>

Acts You Shouldn't Miss at iFest's Second Weekend

Texas Brass Band Bud Light World Music Stage, 1 p.m. April 27; Houston Press Rocks Off Texas Music Stage, 4:30 p.m. April 27 The Texas Brass Band combines trumpet flourishes and tuba-led bass lines with jazz, R&B, and hip-hop influences to create a unique, distinctively Southern sound. Last year, t ... More >>

Five Reasons The Rockets Playoff Run Isn't Generating More Buzz

I listen to a lot of sports radio and talk to people online and off about sports on a regular basis. Despite the fact that the Rockets are in the playoffs for the first time in three years, there just isn't the buzz about the team Houston has seen in years past. There are fewer calls about them on s ... More >>

Because the HCSCC Doesn't Have Enough Ideas, Here Are 5 More Things We Can Do with the Astrodome

Let's see if I've got this: The Confederacy of Dunces charged with making decisions on the Astrodome are once again acting like they want to make decisions on the Astrodome. Decisions that will involve them punting the ultimate decision to a higher authority that has, time and again, punted the deci ... More >>

West, Texas Explosion: 5 Things You Might Not Know About The Town, Including Willie Nelson & Kolaches

Dire news coming out of West, Texas -- an explosion at a fertilizer plant has rocked the town, killed five to 15 people, and possibly injured scores of others. Hair Balls has a father-in-law who lives on a farm a few miles from the explosion. The house shook, he said; initially he thought it was a ... More >>

State Rep Wants to Force Universities to Allow Faculty to Research Intelligent Design, Thousand-Head Giants, and Earth-Creating Ravens

The current legislative session has been, as far as we can tell at Hair Balls, a series of marginal victories for the state's education system. The voucher system State Sen. Dan Patrick attempted to instill -- the same kind that's beset Georgia in corrupt conflicts; the same sort that's hollowed Lou ... More >>

This Week in Craft Beer: Petrol Celebrates 4/20, Drink of Ages at The Hay Merchant and More

Every week we try to harvest all the news in local craft beer and serve it up so that you don't miss out on events that may have slipped past you each week. From brewery events to pub crawls and breaking craft beer news, if something is going down, we will try to round it up here on This Week in Cr ... More >>

Celebrity Pitmaster Neil "Bigmista" Strawder Heading Back Home for One-Day Barbecue Extravaganza

Good things always come in threes: First, it was the smashingly successful Houston Barbecue Festival. Then it was the annual Foodways Texas symposium, which spotlighted barbecue. Now it's news that California-based celebrity pitmaster Neil "Bigmista" Strawder is headed back to his hometown of Galves ... More >>

Barbecue, Onions and Red Soda: Dispatches from the 2013 Foodways Texas Symposium

When I first heard about the theme of the 2013 Foodways Texas symposium, I was wary: two-and-a-half days of barbecue panels, meals and talks. Two-and-a-half days? Not that there isn't fertile ground to plow for topics, but the sheer amount of time devoted to discussions of smoked meat seemed excessi ... More >>

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 >>

Ted Nugent Tells Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee He Hunts 300 Days Per Year

Apparently, there is a debate over the practice of hunting deer in captivity in the state of Texas. I grew up with a father who loved the outdoors, so much so he worked as an outdoor writer and broadcaster for many years. While he was more into fishing than hunting, he did like to go out and shoot a ... More >>

This Week in Craft Beer: Ash Bash Continues, Beer Legislation News and More

It's a busy week in beer. That said, it always seems to be a busy week in beer around here lately thanks to Houston's growth in the industry over the past two years. The Craft Brewer's Conference is wrapping up in Washington D.C. and we're creeping closer to National Craft Beer Week, but there's ple ... More >>

Racial Identity and Driving Señora Daisy

Texas EDM Fans Dealt Setback With Nocturnal Wonderland Pullout

For three consecutive years, Apache Pass near the Central Texas town of Rockdale has been the home of Nocturnal Wonderland, a multi-day electronic dance music festival that Texas EDM fans have counted on to kick off their EDM festival season. The season is largely driven by L.A.-based supergiant pr ... More >>

Seven Spring Music Festivals In Texas That Beat Staying Home

SXSW is officially over, thank the sweet baby Jesus. Now music fans have already begun to fan out to the four winds, seeking sunshine, swimsuits, alcohol, easy hookups and all the tunes they can handle until it gets ridiculously hot. Texans: you have about three hours. It's already begun over in Mi ... More >>

Experts: Conservation the Key to Future Texas Water Needs

Since the summer of 2011, Texas has been faced with a drought which not only harmed wildlife, but reduced our recreational opportunities and damaged our water supplies. By 2012 the drought conditions marginally improved, but the Texas population continues to grow making the demand for water increase ... More >>

East Texas and Butcher Knives: Two Great Tastes That Go Great Together

East Texas is known for many things: the piney woods, beautiful lakes, white supremacists, meth dealers and girls name Crystal immediately come to mind. But, apparently, you may soon be able to add butcher knife to that list. Two separate reports detail the use of butcher knives used in recent crime ... More >>

New Texas Beer Legislation: What It Could Mean For You

In case you didn't know, we here in Texas are so far behind the curve when it comes to alcohol laws, we might as well be your grandmother trying to work The America Online. Other states literally look to Texas as the textbook example of how not to do things. It's an embarrassment, really. States li ... More >>

An Open Letter To The Texas Craft Beer Industry

A lot of news has been made of the recent legislation that exited committee earlier this week regarding the Texas beer industry. I addressed the basics of these bills earlier today. While generally positive, reactions in the craft beer community have been noticeably and understandably mixed. See a ... More >>

State Rep Debbie Riddle To Breastfeeding Hordes: Hey, "I Breastfed" Too!!!

As we noted yesterday, State Rep Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) smacked open a hornet's nest of angry breastfeeding moms when she posted on Facebook her reasons for opposing a bill increasing breastfeeders rights. Riddle said the bill would make it easier to sue business owners who interrupted women bre ... More >>

Debbie Riddle's Facebook Page Gets Tsunami'd By Pissed-Off Breastfeeding Moms

You don't mess with moms. Especially if it's about breastfeeding. The Texas legislature is once again taking up the ticklish subject of whether moms should be able to breastfeed in public. Representatives like Jessica Farrar (D-Houston) are backing a bill that would allow business owners to be sued ... More >>

The 12 Finest Trees In Texas: A Photo Tour Of The State's Pretty, Historic, Beloved Live Oaks & More

Texans love their trees, whether they're being used for climbing, or getting some desperately needed August shade, or as a easy-to-remember landmark for locals making plans to meet each other. To be sure there are some less peaceful uses of trees in Texas history: lynching, sniping, chaining people ... More >>

Hotel ZaZa's Hidden Dungeon

You have to ask for this cell.

"Racist" Democratic Adviser Takes to Colbert, Refers to Hispanics and Blacks as "Demographics"

For anyone without their head dug in a sand-pit over the past three months, you can't go more than a few minutes without hearing about America's changing demographics. The minority swell; the youth bubble; the shrinking, screeching white populace: All of it has turned one party as confident as it's ... More >>

Texas' Forgotten Artificial Reefs: Six Great Photographs

For the past 30 years, the Texas Artificial Reef program has been adding reef sites throughout the state's waters, with 68 reef sites in the Gulf of Mexico ranging from 40 to 360 acres in size. The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department realizes most people haven't heard of the program. "The Texas Artif ... More >>

Locavores, Meet Invasivores: Cooking and Eating Invasive Lionfish at Haven

Invasive species are nothing new. Neither is eating them, as anyone who's eaten Cambodian water spinach -- much of it grown here in Houston -- will tell you. But bringing in water spinach from Cambodia and growing it for profit (despite its status over here as a noxious weed) is entirely different ... More >>

Why Electric Daisy Carnival Texas Should Be In Houston

The largest music festival in the United States in terms of attendance is not Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, or Austin City Limits. While each sees thousands of music fans pass through the gates every year, the real attendance champ is Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas. The 2012 version of the e ... More >>

Rick Perry Calls For California To Move To Texas

Governor Rick Perry, apparently abandoning his idea of seceding from the U.S., has another plan -- if you can't take the Texas out of America, you can bring the America into Texas. Or something like that. Perrryesque logic can be tough to decipher sometimes. Perry's office has announced it's purch ... More >>

Texas Cattle Ranchers Face a Trifecta of Worrying Issues, Which Means Higher Beef Prices in 2013

This year will mark the 136th time the Cattle Raisers Convention has met, but it's in a climate that these cattlemen haven't battled for a long time. More than 2,500 ranchers and landowners are convening in Fort Worth this March to discuss a trifecta of issues that won't easily be solved. Ranchers ... More >>

How Less Accountability and a Smaller Tax Base Could Place Jesus on a Stegosaurus

After a comprehensive, scathing report detailing the implementation of Bible-as-literature courses within Texas' public school systems -- nothing like looking to Noah's sons to figure out which race you belong to! -- it's perhaps not the best time to revisit the latest steps in Texas' long slog towa ... More >>

Sunday Fun-day: Five Great Reasons to Allow Liquor Stores to Sell Booze on the Sabbath

Local Texas state rep Senfronia Thompson has introduced a bill that would allow liquor stores to open on Sunday, something they have not been able to do in my lifetime thanks to "blue" laws that prevent certain businesses from operating on Sunday. In fact, I remember when virtually all stores were f ... More >>

Texas Attorney General Wants New York Gun Lovers to Move to Texas

Even for Texas this ranks about a 9.8 on the "YEE HAW, WE'RE FROM TEXAS" crazy shit-o-meter. Attorney General Greg Abbot has launched a quasi campaign to encourage people in commie states like New York, who feel like their liberties are being infringed upon because they can't own a garage full of as ... More >>

What Does "Comfort Food" Mean Across the World?

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." -- Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin A lot of people have a problem with the term "comfort food." It's far too arbitrary, they argue. It changes from one part of the world to the next. Ice cream and brownies aren't nearly as popular in China as ... More >>

What Are the 30 Seminal Texas Restaurants?

After reading Chris Gray's recent feature ("The Texas 30") on the 30 best Texas albums of the last 30 years, the question of the 30 best Texas restaurants naturally arose at the Houston Press offices. But not just the best -- the most seminal. What are the restaurants that are most essential to the ... More >>

How Beyoncé Microwaved The News This Week

Here's how a major announcement would roll in the life of Brando: short, quick, brief moments of celebration, smug congratulations and thank-yous from people before the realization that only douches do that sort of thing and I'd be captain of their army. And nobody wants to hitch a ride on that tr ... More >>

First Look at Michiru Sushi: Affordable Luxury in Greenway Plaza

Michiru Sushi is the other high-profile sushi restaurant which opened recently, not to be confused with Chris Kinjo's MF Sushi on Westheimer. I haven't been to MF Sushi yet, and I'm keen to dine there. Although reviews so far have been mixed, one thing has been noted across the board: MF Sushi is qu ... More >>

Texas Legislature Opens Amid Protests from Texas Secessionists

Certainly no first day of a Texas legislative session would be complete without the appearance of the Texas secessionist movement. The nationalism movement in Texas has existed since the early '90s, splintered into various sub-groups and was fueled by future presidential candidate Gov. Rick Perry's ... More >>

Report: Texas Ranks Near the Bottom in Tobacco Settlement Spending

Texas is only spending 2.4 percent of the tobacco settlement money it collects on tobacco prevention campaigns, placing the state near the bottom of the Centers for Disease Control's recommended state-spending list, according to a December report. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids' report states t ... More >>

Rockets Crash Back to Earth With Losses to Division Rivals

Check out our slideshow from the Thunder game! This was not the best weekend ever for Houston sports fans. The Texans...well, let's just leave them to their misery and inevitable playoff floundering and talk about the other team that went from boom to bust, the Houston Rockets. Of course, there wer ... More >>

The Demise of Cereal Box Toys?

When I was home in Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving, I started rifling through some old boxes of my childhood ephemera to see if there was anything worth transporting back to Texas. On this trip down material memory lane, I came across one of my favorite doodads, this neon plastic action figure tha ... More >>

Kitchen Improv: Stovetop Smoking

If there's one thing Shiftwork Bites taught me, it's how to improvise. From poaching eggs in a coffee maker, to the space-management required to cook in 25 square feet, I learned how to make do with what limited resources, both in terms of space and equipment. I try to incorporate those lessons into ... More >>

Infamous Last Words: Some of the Strangest Final Utterances from Death Row

"Well, gentlemen, you are about to see a baked Appel." Those were the last words of one George Appel, a cop-killer electrocuted by the state of New York back in 1928, and it might just be the greatest such utterance of all time. Not that Appel hasn't had some competition over the years. At his 196 ... More >>

Could You Get All of Your Christmas Shopping Done at Buc-ee's? Probably

If you travel anywhere in Texas, you have no doubt been to a Buc-ee's super gas station, home of clean restrooms, cheap gas, crack-like Beaver Nuggets, cutesy Texas trinkets, hunting gear and, at peak traveling hours during weekends and holidays, groggy and zombie-like humans hungry for beef jerky a ... More >>

Twitter's Homage to Jeff Van Gundy After Bryan Braman's Touchdown Against the Colts

It's always kind of fun when worlds collide in the professional sports world, when we get crossover of a sports personality commenting on or participating in some way in another professional sport. It's like Reese's peanut butter cups -- "Hey, you dipped your NBA into my NFL!!"..."No, you spilled yo ... More >>