Most Popular
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Barack Obama and Me
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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Mescaline on the Mexican Border
Texas is the only state in the country where peyote is sold legally. Really.
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Little Bitty Burger Barn
"It's okay to be little bitty in the big city" is an apt slogan for this new burger joint, where sliders rule
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Ghost Town CFS: Carriage House Cafe
Step back in time — to a spooky old carriage barn with a monster chicken-fried steak
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Barack Obama and Me (246)
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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Save Lobo: A Siberian Husky Mix is Sentenced to Die (28)
Why? Because he's big and intimidating and because one family complained about him over and over again
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita (13)
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge? (6)
All This Useless Beauty
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Rotten to the Corps: A Question of Justice at Texas A&M (140)
Thanks to A& M and a district attorney, two cadets escape punishment for beating in a student's face
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Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge?
All This Useless Beauty
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Tired of the Hype, But That's All There Is
Next month, Houston gets to be a cool kid. But only for a week.
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The improbable redemption of Ashlee Simpson
"La La" Love You
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Rap's Rapidly Vanishing Female MC
The Why Chromosome
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A New Official State Song for Texas?
A case for a new — or different, anyway — state song
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Over the Weekend: Fotos, Dogs and Sausage
08:50AM 03/10/08 -
Weekend Music: Help Save the Houston Music Scene
03:54PM 03/07/08 -
Aeros Win Two More, Thanks to Barry Brust, Ryan Hamilton, Steve Kelly, Benoit Pouliot...a Lot of Guys, Actually
08:58AM 03/10/08 -
Sausage Fest: Bangers and Mash at Red Lion Pub
11:40AM 03/08/08
What we are writing about
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Recent Articles By Bob Ruggiero
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Detroit Cobras, Willowz
concert preview
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Valient Thorr, Riverboat Gamblers
Valient Thorr and Riverboat Gamblers perform Monday, August 6, at Red Room inside Meridian, 1503 Chartres, 713-225-1717. ASG and Totimoshi are also on the bill.
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Grady
Grady performs Saturday, July 28, at the Continental Club, 3700 Main, 713-529-9899. Studio Magick Black is also on the bill.
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Elvis on Speed, Amplified Heat
Elvis on Speed and Amplified Heat perform Friday, July 13, at Rudyard's, 2010 Waugh, 713-521-0521.
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Houston Roller Derby
Skating queens hit the rink -- and each other
National Features
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SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
By Nadia Pflaum -
Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
Rest assured that the new breed of Americana-laced Texas singer-songwriter is in no danger of immediate extinction. Bearing names such as Pat, Jack, Jesse, Darden, Roger, Cory and Hadden, they come thundering across the Texas plains like an old-fashioned stampede. With Wishbones, Austinite Slaid Cleaves has left the rest of the herd in the dust.
Possessing a breathy, smooth voice at times reminiscent of piano rocker Ben Folds, Cleaves is aided by the guitar, bass and production of the industrious Gurf Morlix, as well as quality guest shots from mandolinist Billy Bright and organist (and ex-Small Faces member) Ian MacLagan. While two of his most recent efforts, For the Brave & Free and Broke Down, veered a bit toward the bland side, Wishbones is a far more muscular effort that plugs in with chugging rhythms and a real ensemble feel -- thanks mostly to Morlix's deft touches. More important, Cleaves's offbeat lyrics and character snapshots inject plenty of freshness into tried-and-true subjects such as life on the road ("Road Too Long"), alcoholism ("Drinkin' Days"), small towns in peril ("Below") and barstool wisdom ("Horses and Divorces"). In the last two numbers, "Borderline" and "New Year's Day," Cleaves even manages to write a song about the tragic plight of an illegal immigrant looking for work and one that's a farewell to a departed friend -- without dipping into maudlin sentiment.
And "Drinkin' Days" certainly avoids that pitfall. In assessing his mistakes while on a bus trip to standardized housing in Huntsville, the song's protagonist reflects on his last bar fight thusly: "I didn't know that other guy was a cop / I guess I didn't care / Sometimes you gotta act like / You got a pair."
Likewise, on Wishbones, Cleaves finds his own cojones as a performer and, in the process, emerges out of the stampede the lead bull.
