United Nations

The 10 Best Downtown Restaurants

More than tunnels and tourist traps.

Islam, Communism, And Black Panthers Are Indoctrinating Texas Children -- Fingers Crossed!

One of the best courses I took in high school was an elective entitled "Islam and the West." Examining the cultural, political, and literary borderlands between the two spheres, the course provided some of the most educational and edifying lessons as anything I'd found at my school. Those lessons, n ... More >>

Helena Brown

One of Houston's Fifty Most Influential Women?

Helena Brown: One of Houston's Fifty Most Influential Women?

We had a major WTF moment when we saw that Houston Woman Magazine had named conspiracy theorist/elected leader Helena Brown as one of the city's "50 Most Influential Women" of 2012. According to a statement by publisher Beverly Denver, "Influential people are often charismatic individuals with a v ... More >>

Upcoming Events: 'Tis the Truffle Season

White truffle season has finally arrived after a delay in the harvest thanks to weather issues in Italy. And as a result of that weather delay, the white truffle supply is somewhat limited this year -- so the truffles that are already Italy's most expensive (costing upwards of $350 an ounce) are mor ... More >>

The 25 Creepiest Heavy Metal Album Covers

BY JEFF ROCHE, LA WEEKLY Halloween is the time where it's acceptable to wallow in the creepy, the crawly, the dark, and the macabre. Sounds like the themes of heavy metal, year-round! Here then, are those most spine-tingliest metal album covers, for your All Hallow's Eve viewing pleasure. Step insi ... More >>

Middle Eastern Wine for Xenophobic Times

Let's face it: Texas is often the butt of our nation's jokes. Nearly every day, The New York Times shares some of our less savory idiosyncrasies with readers across the country. Today it's voter discrimination by our state's legislature. Yesterday it was Lubbock County Judge Tom Head's plans to rise ... More >>

13 Wacky Texas History Facts That Texas School Kids Need To Be Taught

This week Mother Jones uncovered a handful of spurious, less-than-scientific facts that Louisiana grade-schoolers will be learning while attending the state's new voucher schools. Obviously, people aren't happy. A new voucher program under the watch of Governor Bobby Jindal will allot money for st ... More >>

Who's Behind Helena Brown?

Some say the councilwoman known for her diatribes is influenced by senior adviser William Park, who last year was banned from the investments industry.

Rest Of The Best: Houston's Top 8 Latin Nights

Note: This article was written by Rolando Rodriguez and Marco Torres. In March of this year, Houston beat the likes of Los Angeles and New York as the most ethnically diverse metropolitan area in the country and that landmark development was mainly due to the growth of Latinos. Back in 1990, Latin ... More >>

Last Night: Jandek At Big Star Bar

Jandek Big Star Bar April 1, 2012 The first time I saw Jandek live, I learned to leave whatever I had been expecting in another room. That was Rudyard's in April 2009, and I had been expecting (correctly or not) some kind of solo Bill Callahan-like avant-folk implosion, and got a trio playing a sol ... More >>

Blood Money

More than 200 soldiers are suing KBR for knowingly exposing them to toxic chemicals in Iraq, whose effects started with nose bleeds and could end with cancer. KBR says that didn't happen. But even if it did, the company isn't responsible. Taxpayers are.

An Afternoon with SEARCH Leads a Writer to Recall His Own Homeless Mother

As a guest of local homelessness advocates SEARCH, I spent last Friday afternoon pretending to be homeless. Sort of...At any rate, it was a strange afternoon for me as my experience of homelessness is far more up close and personal than that of most people. The afternoon began at the SEARCH facili ... More >>

Five Questionable Musical Tributes To Nelson Mandela

White House Photographic Office, Clinton Administration​As recognized by the United Nations, today is Mandela Day, honoring the birthday of the beloved South African president, humanitarian, and all-around badass Nelson Mandela, who turns 93. Mandela is a living legend, leader, hero and inspir ... More >>

10 Houston Restaurants Every Out-Of-Towner Should Visit

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttTexas barbecue done right at Gatlin's.​On Wednesday afternoon, I mused that some day I hoped for visitors to Houston to feel as excited about our dining scene as I was about New York City's. The sheer breadth and depth of ethnic and regional cuisines present here is ... More >>

On Beards and Becco: Coming Down from New York City

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttCrispy-skinned salmon atop cauliflower and ramps at Becco.​I first visited New York City 17 years ago, for one day. I saw Times Square, the United Nations building, stayed in a ratty hotel, ate at a TGI Friday's and had my pocket cut, my wallet and camera stolen fro ... More >>

SXSW: The 10 Best Of The Fest This Year

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​

The 10 Worse Things About Family Thanksgivings

Congrats!! You're stuck next to Tea Party Dude!!​It's coming, people: Thanksgiving. There's nothing you can do about it. You will not be allowed to sit around alone at home. If you're lucky, you'll be with friends or with a nice, fun, easy-going bunch of relatives. But not everyone's that lu ... More >>

FAIL: Kanye And Taylor, Lupe Fiasco, Kings Of Leon

​Taylor and Kanye Need To Move the Hell On: The MTV Video Music Awards happened this past Sunday, so you had to know there was going to be at least one sizable fail in there somewhere, and of course they didn't disappoint. Taylor Swift took the stage and sang a melodramatic tune she'd written ... More >>

Masters of the Universe

Two artists explore pop culture and space imagery at Art Palace.

Phoenicia To Give Downtown A New Place To Grocery Shop

One Park Place, where you can't afford to live but at least you can afford to grocery shop.​Ending once and for all the rumors that a Whole Foods was negotiating with Finger Companies to open a grocery store in the lobby of the glamorous new One Park Place residential tower downtown is the new ... More >>

"Hood Politician" Delo Chooses A Cabinet Of H-Town Rappers

The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place -lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good- so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Have something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email it to introducingliston@ ... More >>

"Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews during the Holocaust"

Photographer Norman Gershman sheds some light on an often overlooked bit of history

Nobel Prize Winner Gets Hassled At Bush Intercontinental Airport

Mairead Corrigan Maguire thought the hard part was over. Along with fellow Nobel Laureates Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala, American landmine activist Jody Williams, and Iranian Shirin Ebadi, she had been in Guatemala, where the women had just co-hosted a three-day conference on democracy, human right ... More >>

A Mutt, Just Like Obama

Oh, Canada

Midway through the Toronto film fest, and things are looking bleak

So Angelina Jolie Had Her Babies

The Houston International Festival Is Upon Us

Paneer and Pizza at Gourmet India and Kings Chicken

Universal Soldier: 'Rambo'

Twenty years later, our one-man military machine's still going

Kyoto Protocol: The View from Kyoto

Without U.S. participation, the first-ever global-warming treaty was doomed to only partial success. Will Bali be better?

DragonForce

DragonForce perform Monday, March 12, at the Verizon Wireless Theater, 520 Texas Avenue, 713-230-1666. Chimaira, He is Legend and Killswitch Engage also perform.

Dance of the Penguin

That whole talking animal genre? Let's be done with it

The End of Days

DiverseWorks goes apocalyptic in "Run For Your Lives!"

Dates and Camels

A new Afghani restaurant on Bissonnet offers a novel way to break your Ramadan fast

Back to Busch

The Astros' first five NLCS games, as they happened

Another Look at a Legend

Walk on the Wild Side

Meet Supestar diva Holly Woodlawn at the Houston Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

How Low Can You Go?

Let's see with the last installment of our guilty-pleasures project

Lost in Translation

All talk and little action, The Interpreter doesn't even make sense

Who'd Guess

Can it be that Bernie and Ashton are better than Spencer and Sidney?

Letters

The Best Freedom Restaurant in Town?

Rouge chef Edelberto Gonçalves is staying out of food fights

Protesting Peace

Plus: Been There, Din That; No Smut Glut; Cursory Check

Musicians Sound Off

For Nick Cooper, music and politics are hard to separate

Tresspassers Will Be Prosecuted

Ranch Rescue's Jack Foote swears he just wants to mend fences. Is pseudomilitary secrecy, right-wing rhetoric and an armed vigilante militia the best way?

Seek Bomb Shelter

Director Rod Lurie's nuclear debate blows up in his face

New World Order

The Brownstone tries to welcome the new while appreciating the old

Press Picks

Hybrid City