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The Beatles: Get Back Gives Fans a Look at How Songs Are Written

Anthrax's Frank Bello Brings the Noise—and the Memories

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Lukas Nelson Is (So to Speak) On the Road Again

By Tom Richards
Nov 1, 2021

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real are back on the road promoting a new album. They will play at the House of Blues on Monday, November 8.
Jonathan Goldstein On the Punch Music Adds to Heavyweight

By Jesse Sendejas Jr.
Sep 27, 2021

Jonathan Goldstein has created his own unique job, one which demands a unique job title. He could simply go with podcast host, producer or writer, but there’s more to what he’s doing on Heavyweight, his popular podcast (returning for its sixth season September 30), than those designations might allow. As...
A Trio of Texas Authors Take on the Many Myths of the Alamo

By Bob Ruggiero
Jun 8, 2021

It is, likely, the most cherished and entrenched story in Texas history. How in late February/early March of 1836, heroic Texas defenders including marquee names like Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis fought a pitched but losing battle inside an old Spanish mission against a bloodthirsty and overwhelming...
1974: The Year that Movies, Music, TV, and Politics All Came Together

By Bob Ruggiero
Apr 26, 2021

Ronald Brownstein has spent most of his life as a professional reporter in Washington, D.C., and today is a frequent political analyst for CNN and a senior editor at The Atlantic. But he also holds a deep interest in pop culture and—more importantly—how it relates to and connects with history...
Conan's Creator Gets His Own Epic Origin (and Death) Tale Told

By Bob Ruggiero
Apr 2, 2021

With the recent death of Larry McMurtry at the age of 84, Texas lost one of its biggest literary stars and influences. Someone whose works managed to be both popular and of higher ambition at the same time. And of course, found even wider fame in television and movie adaptations...
Superheroes (and Their Creators) Battle for Truth, Justice, and Cold Hard Cash

By Bob Ruggiero
Mar 29, 2021

Empire of the Superheroes: America’s Comic Book Creators and the Making of a Billion Dollar Industry By Mark Cotta Vaz 488 pp. $34.95 University of Texas Press Pop culture and comic book fandom have been abuzz recently with the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. It’s an extended (way extended)...
A Very Filthy Christmas: John Waters Is Coming to Town

By Gladys Fuentes
Dec 10, 2019

Every year, like clockwork, there are signs of the upcoming holiday season. It can be something as subtle as a mailbox overflowing with junk mail to the giant bows atop of fancy shopping centers. John Waters and his annual Christmas show can be added to the list of indicators that...
How Austin Became "Austin" is a Wild 'n Weird Tale

By Bob Ruggiero
Apr 10, 2019

Austin to ATX: The Hippies, Pickers, Slackers & Geeks Who Transformed The Capital of Texas By Joe Nick Patoski 376 pp. $32 Texas A&M University Press First things first: You are reading the identity of the publisher correctly above. That the literary cabal at College Station could (and would) put...
Controversial Book Looks at "Truth" in Today's Journalism

By Bob Ruggiero
Feb 14, 2019

Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts By Jill Abramson 544 pp. $30 Simon & Schuster You’d be hard pressed to name an industry that the Digital Age has affected more – both positively and negatively – than journalism. Though the days of people getting...
Houston Filmmakers Tackle Tough Subject of OCD in New Short

By Susie Tommaney
Sep 4, 2018

Where's your happy place? Whether it's gardening, dance, art or volunteering, those lucky enough to find that passion also get respite from office drama, money worries or life's travails. But what happens when your paintbrush or gardening trowel grows fangs and bites you instead? Such is the premise of Sky,...
Pulitzer-Prize Winning Texan Looks at Texas...and It's Not All Wright

By Bob Ruggiero
Apr 11, 2018

God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State By Lawrence Wright 368 pp. $27.95 Alfred A. Knopf The writing of Lawrence Wright is all over the map. Novelist. Playwright. Screenwriter. Journalist. A correspondent for both Texas Monthly and The New Yorker. And author of Important...
Stages Repertory Theatre Readies Itself For a Big Move

By Margaret Downing
Jan 29, 2018

The plan was to keep it simple. Stages Repertory Theatre’s board and directors, like most thriving mid-size operations, had stayed solvent all these years with a mix of audience favorites and daring, edgier works while keeping a careful eye on the purse strings. They knew they needed a redo to...

Writing

The Beatles: Get Back Gives Fans a Look at How Songs Are Written

Anthrax's Frank Bello Brings the Noise—and the Memories

I support

Keep the Houston Press Free.