Most Popular
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Madagascar Birthmarks at French Riviera Bakery
This fabulous little French Bakery is one of the coolest hangouts in the Galleria
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County Attorney Candidate Vince Ryan Sues Linebarger Goggan
Saying he deserves a bigger piece of the pie, the former city councilman serves up cherry information to his current political opponent
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Hippie Cops and Loan Sharks
No beards allowed at HPD
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The Not Terrible Hulk
In the shadow of Iron Man, the latest from Marvel can't live up to its billing
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Capsule Stage Reviews: bare, Big Range Dance Festival, Electile Dysfunction, La Sylphide and A Doll's House, Present Laughter, The Splasher
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The DREAM Act Might Be Dead, But These Kids' Hopes Are Not (17)
They are American in everything but name. They can go to college in Texas and improve themselves. Doesn't matter. At the end of the day, they're just illegal immigrants without social security numbers or futures.
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Ten Things I Love About the Houston Music Scene (6)
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Houston Has a Bad Reputation with Touring Indie Bands (5)
They'd just as soon give us a miss.
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Machinist and Truck Drivers (5)
The College Question
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Temples of Tex-Mex: A Diner's Guide to the State's Oldest Mexican Restaurants (5)
We took a pilgrimage in search of old-fashioned tamales, chili con carne and cheese enchiladas
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God, Texas and Tom Waits
Tom Waits may not come from around here, but a good chunk of his favorite music does
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The 2008 Vans Warped Tour, with Angels & Airwaves
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Juneteenth Revisited
Two arts organizations attempt a new spin on an old event
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Precisely 88 mph at Etro Lounge
Montrose Throwback
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What Do Shepard Smith and Soulja Boy have in common?
Wack's here to tell you: more than you might expect
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Houstoned Is Not Long for This World
10:58AM 07/09/08 -
Aftermath: Harry and the Potters at Walter's on Washington
11:56AM 07/09/08 -
Twelve Best Sports Books of All Time
06:11AM 07/04/08 -
Be It Ever So at Humble Cafe
10:19AM 07/09/08
What we are writing about
- Altar Boyz
- Backroom at the Mink
- Cactus Music
- Chantal Akerman
- Continental Club
- Cuban immigrants
- Erykah Badu
- Frozen
- Houston art
- Houston local music
- Houston music stores
- Houston theater
- McGonigel's Mucky Duck
- Meridian
- Ornament as Art:...
- PlayStation
- Proletariat
- Roger Clemens
- Rudyard's
- Sig's Lagoon
- Sound Exchange
- southwest Houston
- Sugar Bean Sisters
- The Menil Collection
- There Will Be Blood
- Vinal Edge Records
- Walter's on Washington
- Warehouse Live
- Wii
- Young and Fertle
Recent Articles By William Michael Smith
National Features
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Broward-Palm Beach New Times
Sexual Healing
For Florida's sole remaining sex surrogate, love is a many splintered thing.
By Michael J. Mooney -
City Pages
Your Friendly Neighborhood War Profiteer
It's not just giant companies cashing in on America's defense industry.
By Jeff Severns Guntzel -
The Pitch
Supersizing Sonic
How a throwaway idea at the Barkley ad agency became the "Sonic Guys."
By Justin Kendall
Dwight Yoakam, who cut Mike Stinson's "Late Great Golden State" on 2003's Population Me, isn't the only country singer to realize Stinson may be the best writer of stone-cold honky-tonk songs on the planet today. Jesse Dayton, no slouch as a honky-tonk writer himself, is producing Stinson's next album. "The guy is like Roger Miller, just the wittiest writer out there right now," Dayton says. "I just played a show with Dave Alvin, and Mike stole the show from us." Fresh from his sessions with Dayton in Austin, Stinson comes armed with a new batch of songs with can't-miss titles like "I've Got No One to Drink With Anymore," the Ray Price-ish "Other Side of the Blues," the sentimental "I'd Make It This Time" and smash-in-waiting "Square With the World." When he sings "square with the world, that's how I wanna live, only take what I need and give what I can give," his Dust Bowl voice makes it almost sound like a lost Merle Haggard hit. And when Stinson originals like "Tomorrow's Gonna Hurt" or "Take Out the Trash" aren't making audiences cry in their beer, he'll pull out an old Chuck Berry rocker and set the stage on fire. A mainstay of the L.A. country and singer-songwriter scenes, Stinson doesn't come this way often, so for any fan of great writing and honest delivery, this is not to be missed.
