At Sammy's at 2016 Main, on September 8, a historic jam session occurred, an impromptu reunion of many of the city of New Orleans's finest musicians. Each player who walked in the door was much more than a mere musician that night -- they were an affirmation of life. Not only did their attendance indicate that they had survived the storm, but their collective presence also indicated that their music would survive, too.

The New Birth Brass Band (and friends) tears it the hell up in downtown Houston post-Katrina. The whole show is great, but if you're short on time, parts one and three are especially smoking.
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas on Dec 14, 2008 - 3 comments

For many people who lived in Houston in the early 1970s, trick or treat brings up memories of "The Candy Man," serial killer Dean Corll. He, along with accomplices David Brooks and Wayne Henley (YouTube), kidnapped, raped, and tortured to death 27 boys between the ages of thirteen and eighteen between 1970 and 1973. Thirty-seven years after the bodies of their victims were discovered in mass graves in southwest Houston and the Bolivar Peninsula, three still were unidentified until recently when the efforts of forensic anthropologist Sharon Derrick identified victim ML73-3349, now known to be Randall Lee Harvey.
posted by WolfDaddy on Oct 31, 2008 - 32 comments

"Girl, he died a hero with tons of people loving him." A jack-of-all-trades worker from Florida came to Houston to help clean up in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, and was killed while trying to save three dogs on a freeway. At first, it seemed the man, while praised as a local hero, and receiving tons of support in death from animal lovers, would remain an unknown loner in death as he had been in life. Then a Google search and an exchange of e-mails led one Houston woman to the man's daughter, living in Pittsburgh. The young woman had been searching for her father for thirteen years.
posted by WolfDaddy on Oct 8, 2008 - 37 comments

Pimp C , one half of Texas rap group UGK (along with Bun B) was found dead today in a hotel room in Los Angeles.
posted by hominid211 on Dec 4, 2007 - 59 comments

When Conrad O. Johnson heard Otis Redding in concert in the year 1967, he was inspired to bring the kind of explosive energy he felt from that performance to the high school band he was charged with leading. He wanted to lead not only the best high school stage band in Texas, but the best high school stage band in the world. And with the Kashmere Stage Band, it's arguable that that's exactly what he did. Check out the Texas Thunder Soul.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Sep 29, 2007 - 19 comments

Inversion [more pics] [text] "This house has many hearts."
posted by moonbird on Jun 30, 2007 - 31 comments

Houston man kills, then cooks ex-girlfriend on his patio barbecue. Neighbors called authorities when they realized Timothy Wayne Shepard had been acting strange and had spent 48 hours straight barbecuing on two separate grills. Also starring one of Houston's most colorful characters, Quanell X.
posted by Brittanie on Mar 29, 2007 - 53 comments

“Treating you with respect and honesty are the cornerstones of our reputation.” --unless you're gay, that is, for a Houston landscaper. Step 1: Turn down 2 gay customers. Step 2: Watch furor ensue. Step 3: Profit (to the tune of $40,000 in new business)
posted by amberglow on Nov 11, 2006 - 141 comments

Last week, a textbook example of irony occurred in Houston. Last week was also Banned Books Week.
posted by joannemerriam on Oct 2, 2006 - 79 comments

Hot Town, Cool City : You live in the best city in the U.S. and you want to go back to Houston, Texas? Maureen McNamara came home from San Francisco and has now produced a web "treasure map" and a film about the hidden gems of Houston. Love it, hate it, is Houston worth it?
posted by Robert Angelo on Jul 9, 2006 - 48 comments

The New Orleans Effect: Crime is up. Schools are overcrowded. Hospitals are jammed. Houston welcomed a flood of hurricane evacuees with open arms. But now the city is suffering from a case of 'compassion fatigue.'
posted by The Jesse Helms on Mar 5, 2006 - 37 comments

Today is Texas Independence Day On March 2, 1836, the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed at Washington-on-the-Brazos. The document was created by the Convention of 1836 while almost a couple hundred brave Texans at the Alamo held Gen. Santa Anna's army of several thousand at bay for 13 days. On March 6, the Alamo finally fell, slaughtered to the last man. On March 27, 352 Texas soliders were slaughtered at the Goliad Massacre. Finally on April 21, the untrained armies of Texas, outnumbered and under the command of Sam Houston, decisively defeated the much larger and better trained and equipped Army of Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto and captured the Mexican dictator Santa Anna. Happy Texas Independence Day.
posted by dios on Mar 2, 2006 - 89 comments

NewsFilter: I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?
posted by I Love Tacos on Feb 18, 2006 - 154 comments

So long, and thanks for all the thrills. This weekend, Astroworld (I refuse to prepend "Six Flags") will close its doors. Envisioned in 1968 by Judge Roy Hofheinz (who also brought us Houstonians a major league baseball team, and a stadium in which they could play), the amusement park was where I spent a lot of my childhood in the 70s. Grass roots movements to save the park have failed, and thus it's time to say goodbye to the place that played host to one of the best rollercoasters in the world, a ride that scared the crap out of me, a double ferris wheel with a twist, as well as the Boogie Fog Disco, where I learned how to do The Hustle. All's not lost, as at least I can download the Texas Cyclone, but I still feel a little misty-eyed for the boy who spent most of his weekends in this magical and wondrous place. Farewell.
posted by WolfDaddy on Oct 24, 2005 - 58 comments

Fireflies in Houston. As a kid growing up in Houston, I remember going out into the front yard every evening and seeing hundreds and hundreds of fireflies dancing through the air, one of the most magical memories of childhood. As I grew older, their numbers declined, slowly but surely (in fact, at one point as a kid, I thought I was partially responsible as I'd caught so many of 'em in Flintstones jelly jars). Now back in Houston as an adult, I haven't seen a one, and am wondering, where have all the fireflies gone? This site aims to tell you, and it's not just for Houstonians.
posted by WolfDaddy on Aug 3, 2004 - 41 comments

After 25 years away, I've recently moved back to the metropolis of my birth, Houston, Texas, and have been reminded that a lot of my favorite buildings here are from the Modern Movement in architecture. However, many of these buildings--much less than a century old!--are now giving way to newer ones, and many unique residences fast being replaced with McMansions. Even the Astrodome's fate is in the air. HoustonMod is trying to preserve these buildings and their place in history. More power to 'em.
posted by WolfDaddy on Apr 23, 2004 - 21 comments

On September 17, 1998, in response to an armed robbery call, Houston police burst in to the home of John Lawrence. The police didn’t find a robber (nor would they – the call was deliberately false), but they did find Lawrence having sex with another man, Tyrone Garner. Lawrence and Garner were promptly charged with “engaging in homosexual conduct,” a misdemeanor under Texas law. They paid their fine and began a long legal challenge to Texas’ anti-sodomy law. That challenge has finally reached the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, which today agreed to hear their appeal early next year. Standing in the way is the Court’s own 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, in which it held that anti-sodomy laws are constitutional. That may be about to change.
posted by pardonyou? on Dec 2, 2002 - 43 comments

Followup on Houston's great K-Mart roundup To the great relief of many in Houston, it does indeed appear that heads are going to roll over the mass arrest last week. Or at least, one head will.
posted by John Smallberries on Aug 24, 2002 - 17 comments

Lesson learned in Houston, Texas yesterday: shop at a 24-hour Kmart in the middle of the night, go directly to jail. If you're a 10-year-old girl having a late dinner with your father at the next door Sonic, well, it's off to jail with you, too.
posted by ewagoner on Aug 19, 2002 - 103 comments

Enraged about Enron? Buy the T-shirt
The latest Enron related meme in Houston is a slew of anti-Enron shirts. Just today at lunch I picked up the coolest one to date, the Enrage shirt, for $10 with a $2 donation to the ex-Enron employees fund. Other Enron shirts can be found here.
posted by DragonBoy on Feb 14, 2002 - 8 comments

Ex Enron Vice Chair Commits Suicide J. Clifford Baxter was found dead in his car in a Houston suburb Firday. Texas police said the cause of death was suicide.
posted by Lanternjmk on Jan 25, 2002 - 40 comments

I think I may have just found the most explicit example of crass American commercialism. At eroticbid.com, you can purchase a porn star's actual labia. No, I'm not joking, and no, this isn't a rotten link.
posted by Spanktacular on Oct 4, 2001 - 17 comments

At least 12 people are dead and damage could be $1 billion as a result of flooding in the US' fourth largest city of Houston. Some areas received more than two feet of rain in a 24 hour period this weekend after the remains of Tropical Storm Allison regrouped and poured on southeast Texas. Why does this story only get one page on the major news sites, when the Seattle quake was covered extensively all over the country?
posted by LeiaS on Jun 10, 2001 - 15 comments

Yesterday I went to a local Comic Book Store here in Houston, Texas. I was looking for the hard to find 'Death Row Marv' figure that recently made the news across the nation. After I asked to see the figure (it was kept behind the counter) and dicided that the price was right, the sales person asked me if I was a policeman. I told him I was not and asked why. He told me that the Death Row Marv figure is very popular with the Houston Police Department. The officers like to have them on their desks and in their squad cars - scary huh?
posted by DragonBoy on Sep 10, 2000 - 3 comments