Village Voice Media Inc.

This Week In Food Blogs: The End of Cheap Food?

The Village Voice: One of the highlights of my recent trip to D.C. was getting to watch the announcement of the brand-new American Chef Corps live at the State Department. Robert Sietsema at the Village Voice has more on what the so-called Diplomatic Culinary Partnership entails, while Eater has the ... More >>

Dining Out Near Closing Time: How Late Is Too Late?

How late is too late to order food at a restaurant? That was the thought that plagued me as I sped toward Jeannine's Bistro last week, determined to get in a necessary lunch of moules-frites for a post. The bistro closes for lunch at 2 p.m.; at best, I was going to make it in the door at 1:40 p.m. I ... More >>

The Night After Cancellation, EDC Closes Fest With Massive Turnout

See also: EDC Vegas Pulls Plug on Music Due to High Winds Organizers of the second annual Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas declared the three-day party a success , despite high-winds that cut its marquee night short on Saturday. Promoters say a whopping 115,000 people were in attendance on the ... More >>

Crossing the Line: Love the Beans, Hate the Beaner

One of the greatest stories I ever worked on involved neo-Nazis and burritos.

Cover Story: The War on Mexicans Has to Stop

America's peculiar war on Mexicans has gone too far, says this week's cover package from Village Voice Media. A hostile Supreme Court and a feckless Obama administration have resulted in abominations like Arizona's Senate Bill 1070, which gives cops all but carte blanche to question the immigration ... More >>

Seven Sins: A True-Crime E-Book From Village Voice Media

Every week writers for Houston Press and our parent company, Village Voice Media, produce elegant magazine-style feature writing--a gritty portion of which comes in the form of true-crime stories. Now VVM has collected some of its best recent true-crime yarns into an ebook: Seven Sins: A True Crime ... More >>

Alert: SXSW Coverage Ahead -- 50 Cent And Much More

"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area." -- Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don't have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of the above building ... More >>

The 39th Pazz And Jop Poll Features Quite A Few Surprises

​And by surprises, I mean that I didn't like most of the albums in the top ten. Usually I fall lock-step in with the crowd, but this year not so much, with my love for arena-rock and Americana dominating my list. Pazz And Jop is the Village Voice's annual critics' poll, with critics from music ... More >>

The Expensive Scam That Is the College Bowl System

Bowling for chumps​College bowl season is about to start, which means for the next few weeks football fans will be watching terrible match-ups in half-empty stadiums, mostly because there are no other games on. A bowl game is supposed to be a reward for a team's good season, but today it's mo ... More >>

The 2011 Houston Press Music Awards Ceremony In Moving Picture Form

2011 Houston Press Music Awards from Village Voice Media on Vimeo.Video By Francisco Montes Here's a quick recap of some of the winners and performances from Tuesday night's Houston Press Music Awards ceremony. Crank it up. No, seriously, turn the volume up, the video is kinda low. Once again, t ... More >>

Lost Boys

New research demolishes the stereotype of the underage sex worker — and sparks an outbreak of denial among child-sex-trafficking alarmists nationwide.

Some Actual Sex-Trafficking Numbers, Instead of Myths

​There has been much discussion of sex trafficking, and much doling out of federal dollars to groups pledged to fight it. What there hasn't been a lot of is a close determination of the actual extent of the phenomenon, as opposed to widely accepted tales of countless girls coerced into prosti ... More >>

Village Voice Media Responds to Clergy

A response from Village Voice Media​Today 36 clergy affixed their names to a paid ad and open letter to Village Voice and the classified ad site Backpage.com. The full page ad was published in The New York Times. The religious coalition demanded that we close down our legal, adult classifieds ... More >>

CNN Won't Answer Questions About Its Child-Sex Trafficking Crusade

​CNN reporter Amber Lyon has made a crusade out of trumpeting the "fact" that "100,000 to 300,000" children are enslaved into sex trafficking each year. As our sister paper the Village Voice pointed out, in a piece we ran in the print edition, those numbers are almost certainly a gross exagge ... More >>

Underage Sex Trafficking: Real Men Get Their Facts Straight

Ashton Kutcher needs a fact-checker.​It's called "moral panic," and it's the kind of urban legend people like Ashton Kutcher cite when he told Piers Morgan two months ago in an nterview that 100,000 to 300,000 kids are forced into underage sex trafficking every year in America. In March, Vill ... More >>

33 Years of Pride Houston Celebrates NASA, Marriage Equality

Theo SantosA reveler at Houston's 33rd annual Pride celebration.​Photos from the 33rd annual Houston Pride Festival and Parade are in our slideshow. Houston's 33rd annual Pride Parade took on an emotional note just a day after New York became the sixth state in the U.S. to pass a law guarante ... More >>

Best of Houston Just Got Better

Best Of: there's an app for that.​You totally trust Houston Press to help you find the best margaritas in town, the best place to watch wildlife in this urban jungle of ours, and the best place to be glad you're alive, right? Now we can help you make the most of 31 other cities, thanks to a ne ... More >>

Ghosts of SXSWs Past: Justice, Glasvegas, Monotonix...

Craig Hlavaty​This year marks the fourth year Craig's Hlist has covered SXSW in Austin for the Houston Press, from the days when we had to shoot all of our own shows, had neither Facebook nor Twitter, and slogged through the day mostly drunk. It's a far cry from now, when we are glued to our p ... More >>

SXSW With LOM: French Rockers, Free Tequila And MXMW

Photos by Amy PrasadInspector Cluzo, aka The French Bastards​So we're checked in and we're on the way up to the room. Who's in the elevator with us? John Popper from Blues Traveler. In person, he looks like a cartoon character, something waxy and a bit spooky about his motel tan. He's all effu ... More >>

Wild Flag, Wu-Tang, Erykah Badu and Yelawolf: Liveblogging the Village Voice Media SXSW Showdown

Marc BrubakerTimes New Viking gets the party started.​The doors didn't open exactly at 5 p.m., but that didn't stop the Austin Music Hall from filling quickly just before Austin-by-way-of-Houston locals Ume took the stage, the first band in the all-night line-up for the 2011 Village Voice and ... More >>

SXSW Video: Dudes Fighting Over A Foo Fighters Drum Stick

Bill Jensen​Tuesday night at the Foo Fighters gig at Stubb's, which Rocks Off only heard, drummer Taylor Hawkins through a drum stick out into the crowd, as per the norm for the smiley rock skinsman. But the best part was hearing about what happened after the stick hit the crowd. Bill Jensen, ... More >>

Houston At SXSW: Where & When The Bayou City Invades

​In the coming week, legions of Houstonians will trek northwest to descend upon the city of Austin, blessing it with our mere presence during the madhouse that is SXSW. Heck, some of Houston is already there. Our delegation is not limited to SXSW attendees, however. A host of Houston bands, r ... More >>

VVM Hosts Our First Ever SXSWi Party and You're Invited

​Village Voice Media is pretty legendary for our party and showcase during the music portion of South By Southwest. (Seriously, have you checked out 2011's line-up?) This year, for the first time, we're also hosting a party for SXSW Interactive. The party will take place March 14 from 10 p. ... More >>

Wu-Tang, Fishbone, Trae Top Village Voice/Frank 151 SXSW Party

Marco TorresMethod Man returns to Texas to smoke our SXSW party this year.​We finally have the full lineup for the 2011 Village Voice Media/Frank 151 SXSW party, and it's a doozy. Heading up the bill are Staten Island Shao-Lin spitters the Wu Tang clan, still coasting on their late 2010 reunio ... More >>

Cactus Poaching

Return to Sender

What Would Comprehensive Immigration Reform Look Like If the Feds Got Off Their Duffs?

Houston Press Goes All Glossy

Shiny​As you pick up your print edition of the Houston Press this week, you'll notice something different about the cover.And not just that it has a cute monkey staring at you.The Press is the latest paper in the Village Voice Media chain to get a glossy, heavy-stock cover, which allows for much s ... More >>

Arizona's Immigration Law Delayed; A Battle Report From the State

​A federal judge has delayed implementation of the most controversial parts of Arizona's new immigration-enforcement law, but that is only a first step in the state's frontline battle over border policy.Our sister paper Phoenix New Times is at the heart of the conflict, and has been devoting speci ... More >>

Jose "Smiley" Saenz: Representing The Worst Of The U.S. And Mexico

​Jose Saenz, known as Smiley, was an aimless dropout and tagger in Los Angeles when he went on a killing binge.He shot two rival gang members in an "honor killing," then viciously murdered the mother of his kid.He then went to Mexico. He came back a drug-cartel solider, on the FBI's Ten Most W ... More >>

An Opportunity to Stand Up

Amongst Us: A Series On Immigration By Village Voice Media

​Our sister paper Phoenix New Times is at Ground Zero in the burgeoning debate over immigration and Arizona's efforts to control it.Village Voice Media, the chain that owns the Houston Press and publications in other such immigration hotspots as LA, Miami and New York, is beginning an extensive lo ... More >>

It's Five O'clock Somewhere: We're So App-App-Appy

The Houston Press partners with GoTime.com in the quest for cheap drinks.

The Rev. Billy Gibbons Scats About Old Buff Stadium And The Astros... We Think

Kevin Scanlon​It's a gray day in Houston today (no pun intended), and just this past weekend, only a promotional hoodie a friend fortuitously found at our Village Voice Media party - we have no idea who or what a "Mojofilter" is; we're just glad they didn't make keychains this year - kept us from ... More >>

SXSW Aftermath: The xx And Duchess Says Highlight A Cheery Bacchanalia

Katharine ShilcuttThe xx at the Village Voice Media party at La Zona Rosa​ If we ignore some of the "real life" issues we had to contend with, Aftermath spent three excellent days in Austin for SXSW 2010. Our energy remained consistently up, mostly fueled by being constantly on the move, as we saw ... More >>

SXSW: Wild Moccasins Enjoy Their Day Off

Nick CodyThe Pains of Being Pure at Heart​ Hello HP Rocks Off! This is Nick of the Wild Moccasins sending an email about our South by experience. We are staying at Will Patterson of KVRX's apt. off the drag and he made us pancakes for breakfast which were delicious, a great start for the day.Then ... More >>

SXSW As It Happens: Surfer Blood Makes Waves at the Village Voice Media Party

Photos by Katharine Shilcutt​A series of texts from Brandon K. Hernsberger starting at 12:41 p.m.: I'm in line at Village Voice. Shit is CRAZY long. Most people here to see The xx. 5 in 5 out. Surfer Blood up next. Dudes are effing HUGE. I see people eating inside and I'm jealous. Next door ... More >>

We've Got Surfer Blood, The xx and Superchunk for Our SXSW Party This Year, Y'all

Village Voice Media, the Houston Press' daddy company, has announced the line-up for this year's SXSW day party at La Zona Rosa, set for March 19 at noon. The show hasn't disappointed since Rocks Off has been aboard, with 2008 bringing the Black Keys, HEALTH and ...Trail Of Dead and last year the C ... More >>

Jordan Fuchs Company: Thicket and Strange Planet

This dance concert defines the phrase "new and different"

Welcome To Glitchville. Population: Us

There have been some troubles with the blogging software throughout the massive Village Voice Media empire, so we haven't been able to post.We're confident the problem has been solved, and we'll be able to get back to doing whatever the hell it is we do.Thanks for the patience, even if you didn't re ... More >>

Exclusive: Details On How The Ship's Crew Outfoxed The Somali Pirates

Our sister paper, the Village Voice, has gotten its hands on an e-mail describing just what went on as the crew of the Maersk Alabama went toe-to-toe with pirates off the African coast. It turns out the cook wasn't an ex-Navy SEAL (Under Siege reference!). Instead, the crew took matters into their o ... More >>

SXSW 10-Cent Review: Camera Obscura at Central Presbyterian Church

jensenReady to be heartbroken: Tracyanne and Camera Obscura in Austin. Camera ObscuraSXSWCentral Presbyterian ChurchMarch 18, 2009Said Tracyanne: "This is our first show in a church. Well, in a church that's working. Can a church work? I guess for some people."Bonus: Church acoustics go great w ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: 2008's Heavy Rotation

For the second (third?) year in a row, LOM didn't vote in either the Nashville Scene's best of country music poll or the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop best of American music poll. I'm just not a good list-maker. Detest that stuff. Just trying to compile a list of possibles makes my brain hate me. ... More >>

Your Election Night Soundtrack

National Non-fiction Writers Conference in Texas

MP3: The Soundtrack of Our Lives Play New Songs at SXSW

SXSW: Stomping my feet to British Sea Power

Weird Wide Web: International Strange Music Day, Oddmusic, Starving Weirdos, Strange Glue and many more

Ten sites dedicated to offbeat, off-kilter and downright strange music

Lazy Gabacho

The Briefs and Fabulous Disaster, with the Kimonos

Thursday, February 27

The Kants, with Groceries and Drillbox Ignition

Saturday, December 14