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Don McLean Serves Up Historical Slice of "American Pie"

By Bob Ruggiero

Jun 23, 2022

There are a lot of songs in the Canon of Classic Rock, but only a handful qualify as True Epics. Think “Stairway to Heaven,” “Freebird,” “Hey Jude,” “Layla,” “Hotel California” and “Don’t Stop Believin’.” A quieter entry on that hallowed list is Don McLean’s “American Pie.” Clocking in at an...

Don’t Pretend Chrissie Hynde Doesn’t Deserve Her Number One Hit from a TV Series

By Jesse Sendejas Jr.

Jun 17, 2022

One of the most popular songs in the world this week is an oldie performed by the incomparable Kate Bush. It’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” originally released back in the summer of Live Aid. If you’re one of the song’s young fans, properly obsessed with it...

In Houston: Women's Marchers Protest the Expected Overturning of Roe v. Wade

By Houston Press

May 16, 2022

On Saturday, protesters marched from Discovery Green to Houston's City Hall in opposition to the expected overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court. The crowd was dominated by women, several of whom carried signs demanding the right to control their own bodies. The U.S. Supreme Court, thanks...

New Documentary Gives Horrifying Grounds-Eye View of Astroworld Concert

By Jef Rouner

Apr 5, 2022

Charlie Minn’s documentary on the tragic 2021 Astroworld concert is about 85 minutes long At a guess, about 5 percent of the runtime contains the sights and sounds of injured people screaming for help. Concert Crush takes viewers into a minute-by-minute account of the Travis Scott concert that topped off...

Los Skarnales' Richard Molina on This Saturday's Dedication of Joe Campos Torres Plaza

By Jesse Sendejas Jr.

Mar 31, 2022

Richard Molina is in several Houston bands. He’s a member of the veteran Latino ska punk act Fuska. He’s got a solo project dubbed Future Ghost. Perhaps most notably, he’s keyboardist for the legendary Los Skarnales. “It’s like therapy, being able to play music and being able to perform live,”...

Bill Maher Has a Lot to Say about Trump, Ted Cruz, Wokeness, Millennials & More

By Bob Ruggiero

Mar 31, 2022

For one hour each week (and a little extra online), Bill Maher addresses, dissects, skewers, pontificates and debates with guests the social and political topics of the day on his long-running HBO series Real Time with Bill Maher. But given just how batshit crazy things are going these days in...

6 Awful Conspiracy Theory Raps You’ll Wish You Never Heard

By Jef Rouner

Mar 24, 2022

Music is often made by geniuses who see the world in different ways. Sometimes that’s great, and sometimes you end up with worm-brained insanity with a beat. Rap is extremely vulnerable to conspiracy theory songs because the format works well with unhinged rants. Today, we’re going to look at some...

Houston Hit With Another Round of Racist Flyers, This Time With a Bonus: Hitler's Picture

By Jef Rouner

Mar 23, 2022

White supremacists have been at it again in Houston, this time hitting multiple neighborhoods around the city with racist flyers. This weekend, the Heights was hit with a round of leaflets featuring the face of Adolf Hitler and the phrase “white lives matter.” According to the Houston Chronicle, previous neighborhoods...

Ukraine: How Tensions on Earth Have Invaded the Space World

By Dianna Wray

Mar 21, 2022

Despite NASA administrator Bill Nelson’s reassurances on Friday morning that his Russian counterpart Dmitry Rogozin’s recent statements about the United States—including the particularly catchy line that the United States will have to use broomsticks to get to space once Russia stops supplying U.S.-based companies with rocket engines—were just a bunch...

Debunking The Many When We Were Young Conspiracies

By Cory Garcia

Jan 21, 2022

There’s a lot of money to be made selling you your past. Long before culture critics were wringing their hands over the lack of new ideas on the big screen and the endless parade of reboots on the small screen, the music industry was reselling the masses their teen years...

New Non-Profit Media Outlet Planned For Houston

By Margaret Downing

Jan 20, 2022

An as yet unnamed new non-profit news outlet has announced plans to open a region-wide in Houston in late 2022 or early 2023, saying it "will answer the community's calls for additional news coverage." A coalition of five foundations — three of them local — is funding the effort with...

Mail-in Ballot Applications Are Being Flagged for Rejection at 7 Times the Rate of Previous Elections

By Margaret Downing

Jan 19, 2022

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, echoing the rising chorus of complaints about what is happening with the state's new applications for a ballot-by-mail thanks to the passage of Senate Bill 1 in the last legislative session, said Wednesday that "The attacks we're seeing on voting are but a thinly veiled...

Vanilla Fudge's Mark Stein Cooks Up Contemporary Issues on Solo Record

By Bob Ruggiero

Nov 30, 2021

Like a lot of Classic Rockers who make their living on the road these days, Mark Stein found himself with a lot of at-home time during the pandemic. But also like many of his musician brethren, he decided to take that forced time off and pour it into a creative...

Federal Judge Blocks Texas Abortion Law — For Now

By Margaret Downing

Oct 7, 2021

”Labeling it an "unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme," a federal judge Wednesday issued an order blocking the new Texas abortion law — at least for now — which means that abortion providers can resume their activities in the state if they feel confident enough to do so. Predictably, the opinion...

Turner’s Housing Deal Mess. How Has Such a Deft Politician Ended Up Here?

By Dianna Wray

Oct 6, 2021

As the narrative continues to unfold over the recent accusations alleging that Mayor Sylvester Turner committed ethics violations by awarding an affordable housing contract to a firm co-owned by one of his former law partners, we keep finding ourselves pondering just how strange it is that Turner has allowed himself to...

COVID Metrics Improve Across Texas As U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Pass Grim Milestone

By Schaefer Edwards

Oct 5, 2021

The United States finally hit the tragic milestone of over 700,000 COVID-19 fatalities over the weekend, solidifying the coronavirus pandemic as the most deadly pandemic in the history of our country. But thankfully, key COVID-19 metrics across the country, Texas and in the greater Houston area continue to trend downward...

Texas House Speaker Phelan Rebukes Abbott and Patrick On Illegal Voting And Winter Storm Response

By Schaefer Edwards

Oct 1, 2021

In a series of tweets Thursday night, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) publicly broke with Gov. Greg Abbott over Abbott's insistence that Texas lawmakers should increase penalties for voting illegally, and disagreed with Gov. Dan Patrick’s assertion that retiring state Rep. Chris Paddie (R-Marshall) couldn’t be trusted based on...

Proposed Texas House District Maps Would Protect GOP Advantage Statewide

By Schaefer Edwards

Sep 30, 2021

If the new Texas House district maps unveiled by the Republican-led House Redistricting Committee Thursday are approved as expected, incumbent Republicans across the state would by and large be protected, likely solidifying the GOP’s grip on the House for the next decade. That advantage would come at the expense of...

Trump Tells Texas Four County Audit Isn't Good Enough

By Schaefer Edwards

Sep 30, 2021

Days after Gov. Greg Abbott’s administration hastily announced a partial audit of Texas’ 2020 election results, former President Donald Trump declared that the limited audit wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him or the legions of MAGA diehards in the Lone Star State. In a statement to the Texas Tribune Wednesday,...

Over 1.2 Million Marriage Licenses Added To Harris County's Website

By Schaefer Edwards

Sep 30, 2021

Access to Harris County’s marriage records took a leap into the 21st century on Wednesday, as the Harris County Clerk’s Office announced it had added more than 1.2 million marriage license records to its website, making it possible to view copies of them and purchase them online. All Harris County...

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