Do you find yourself a little scared to venture downtown these days, for fear of what you may or may not find? We'll admit, it's not out first pick for happy hour, what, with all the awesome parking opportunities and diverse bars, clubs, and retail? So we are looking forward to giving it a chance tonight, as ArtsHouston hosts a Meet & Greet (Hello, downtown, my name is ______) tonight at Butterfly High (705 Main......

This week saw the usual ho-hum type of Missed Connections with a few Halloween misses thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, some posts were more depressing than others. Hopefully the following MCs will make you smile. I DONT UNDERSTAND HOW YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME! - w4m - 42 YOU DONT CALL U DONT EMAIL N THEN WHEN YOU DO YOU HAVE NOTHING OF WHT I ASK FOR - ALL I WANT IS THE......

Downtown Houston Nightcrawl Still celebrating the blue skys since the Bllind Melon gods have bestowed upon us a week without precip? Why not celebrate outdoors? Join the Downtown Houston Nighcrawl tonight. "Discover downtown Houston’s hottest nightspots after dark but before the crowds arrive." Whether you’re just passing through the city or looking for a way to entertain friends or business colleagues or celebrate a special event, Discover Houston Tours guarantees you a laugh and a......

Houston's hometown hero (and shoulda,woulda, coulda been Texan) Vince Young popped up on the NFL wire for being caught in an altercation during yesterday's training camp practice. The build up to the showdown occurred at Baptist Sports Park in Nashville, TN when S Donnie Nickey knocked down WR Joel Filani after the wideout ran the wrong route. Trainers were forced to assist Filani, and on the subsequent play Nickey threw WR Courtney Roby to......

With all of the rain we’ve been having, it’d be nice to just sit (or stand) indoors somewhere and enjoy some good music. So, that’s what Houstonist is going to do. Many good choices for this weekend – here are our picks: Tonight Jazz comes to Fitzgerald’s tonight. However, this isn’t your grandfather’s jazz. One of our local favorites, Drop Trio (pictured on the left), will be joining headliner O’2L (which features a member of......

As part of a way to get some international exposure (and perhaps credibility), the MLS has introduced the North American SuperLiga Tournament this year. This is a competition between 4 MLS teams and 4 teams in Mexico’s Primera División. The 4 MLS teams were selected by invitation this year, but in the future tournaments they will be selected based on the top 4 teams during regular season play. The Houston Dynamo, along with DC United......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

So, you might have heard about this already, but the story is too good to pass up: There was a power outage in the north end of downtown early Thursday morning, and it was caused by a raccoon trying to raid a bird nest. It happened around 12:30 a.m. at CenterPoint Energy's Gable Street substation in the 500 block of McKee when the unfortunate raccoon got electrocuted, plunging more than 1,500 customers north of Congress......

Last week, we spotlighted George Clinton, the iFest headliner from this past weekend. So, why not do it again with this weekend’s headliner – Lucinda Williams. Born in Lake Charles, Lucinda is no stranger to Houston, spending her early years playing at clubs and honky-tonks around the area. Her first album came out 28 years ago, but it wasn’t until the late 80’s when she started to receive critical acclaim and had others singing......

Sometimes, bands just evolve into a band – that’s how it seems to be for The Hudsons. We spoke to ¾ of the Austin-based band this week (Hudson Mueller, Phoebe Hunt, and Jason Vopni, who'll most likely sit this show out as he recovers at home from an accident), as they prepare for tonight's show in Houston at Anderson Fair. You can check out their music and live videos on their MySpace page. We're pretty......

There's an interesting legislative battle brewing in Austin over the appropriateness of a tax that would go toward funding sexual assault prevention, response and counseling. No one would oppose a measure supporting that work, would they? Ah, you'd be surprised: There's opposition when the funding is tied to the adult entertainment industry. At issue here is a $5 fee that would be added to price of admission to adult entertainment clubs, which was proposed in......

Dynamo back-up goal keeper Zach Wells made an incredilbe P.K. save yesterday vs. Puntarenas FC, but it didn't serve well enough to make the win. The Dynamo was in Coasta Rica for the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. By winning the 2006 MLS Cup, the Houston Dynamo secured one of two MLS spots representing the United States in the Champions Cup, the other being D.C. United. In addition, the Dynamo becomes the first......

Let's think back a few years to the late 1990s, when Houston's downtown revitalization was beginning in earnest and a variety of bars, restaurants, clubs and entertainment venues were opening in the area that once was a virtual no-man's-land after business hours. Everything seemed like it was going well for a while — Bayou Place was developed, the baseball stadium opened, old buildings were being restored, some great businesses popped up — and then, over......

Movies Houstonians Love: Houston Rapper Bun B presents "Style Wars" It's just that Larry Dierker, Barbara Bush, and B-U-N-B! That's right, folks. Houston's hometown rap impresario, and one half of UGK, Bun B joins the Movies Houstonians Love series at the Museum at Fine Arts tonight. Bun will be presenting "Style Wars", regarded by many as the definitive document of the emerging hip-hop culture.An emblem of the spirit that burst forth from underground tunnels, uptown......

A group of downtown residents gathered last night to talk with city leaders about what development that they'd like to see in their 'hood — and, not surprisingly, at the top of their list were more retail markets and fewer nightclubs. "I'm sick of seeing [downtown] slide, going into a burlesque environment," Annette McBride, who has lived downtown for more than 10 years, said. City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado agreed that the clubs can be a......

The shot from flickr user and Houstonist photo contributor The Bald Heretic. As the title suggests, this is DJ Amanda Robinson throwing down on the ones and twos at the Meridian last saturday for Rent 42. The shot is crisp despite the low light, something we have trouble with when shooting in clubs. The Merdian is particularly hard to shoot in thanks to all of the support beams everywhere. If you want to see......

Good morning, Houston! There's some good news: If you graduated from high school, you're already ahead of a third of Texas students. Of course, that means there's also some bad news — namely, that a third of Texas students don't finish high school. And according to statistics, the situation is even worse in the state's big cities: There, more students drop out than finish high school. Elleen Coppola, a Rice University researcher, said dropouts......

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend......

The week starts off with some holiday shows. The country-flavored annual Christmas songwriter’s showcase kicks off tonight with some great Texas artists, including Radney Foster, Roger Creager and Randy Rogers. Also tonight, brother/sister act Trish and Darin hold their annual dinner show (yes, Trish is making dinner – seriously) at the Duck. Husband/wife team Kelly Willis and Bruce Robinson will play their holiday shows the following two nights at the Duck. We also recommend......

This week on Craigslist, users were missing each other in clubs and, weirdly, laundry mats and sharing conversations about some really unlikely possibilities, near-death experiences and, interestingly, God. Here is the cream of the crop: In the laundry room Deerwood at the Park I was waiting for a dryer and you had all of them tied up with your clothes. Because I was standing outside you assumed I was irritated to have to wait.......

Houstonist will be taking Thanksgiving off, but that doesn't mean you should. There are plenty of places all over the city that need volunteers to do everything from deliver meals to carry balloons this week. Here are just a few: TXU Energy is sponsoring a 5K Fun Run that benefits Sheltering Arms, an agency that provides a wide array of services for the elderly. Volunteers are needed to help with registration, set-up, water stations, etc.......

Big news from the Juice Box! Craig Biggio and Houston Astro's announced a deal today that will keep him an Astro for his 20th season. The single season deal is valued at just over $5 million dollars and will insure that Biggio is an Astro when he reaches 3,000 career hits. Biggio needs only 70 hits to reach the batting milestone. Houstonist is no mathematician, but we've done some spreadsheet wrangling with the last......

Hello Houstonians! Here's what's on tap.... Friday, November 3 For all your possibly-pretentious dance needs, the Hope Stone dance troupe will respond to the work of Paul Klee through dance over at the Menil Collection (one of Houston's hidden treasures--you must go if you haven't been. We're serious, we're requiring it.) The performance will be in Richmond Hall @ The Menil (1500 Richmond) at 7:30 pm. It's free, and a talk follows the performance. Saturday,......

More on Houston's newly expanded smoking ban: Everyone knows the ordinance prohibits smoking in all workplaces, including restaurants and bars, but what's still sort of unclear is where people will be able to smoke under the new law. That's because of potential vagueness in the exceptions to the ordinance, which include outdoor patios, private rooms in nursing homes, tobacco shops, cigar bars and designated rooms in meeting facilities during private functions. The patios and nursing-home......

A couple of City Councilmembers have come up with 11th-hour alternatives to the city's proposed smoking ban, which council is supposed to take up tomorrow. The proposal would ban smoking at all workplaces in Houston, including restaurants and bars; exceptions would be patio areas and businesses designated as tobacconists or cigar bars. Councilwoman Toni Lawrence has one alternative: She's begun circulating a petition that would exempt standalone bars and clubs from the citywide ban. "My......

Looks like Ashley Paige Benton, the sweet-natured, Bible-reading teenage girl her lawyer says was forced to stab a 15-year-old boy repeatedly during a gang attack in early June, is finding out murder is kind of a hard thing to deal with: a state district judge ruled Monday that Benton, 16, will stand trial as an adult. In issuing his ruling on the 16-year-old's case, state District Judge Pat Shelton cited the "heinous" nature of the......

The lawyer for Ashley Paige Benton, the 16-year-old girl charged with stabbing a 15-year-old boy in a gang fight in early June changed his tune and asked for Benton to be released from custody Friday, but a judge ruled that Benton will remain in jail because of the seriousness of the charge against her. Rick DeToto, the attorney, asked the court to keep Benton in custody last month because he said she would have been......

That building going up next to Bayou Place — Phase II — is that going to be more Bayou Place-like things (restaurants, clubs, destinations)? For some reason, I get a non-fun vibe off that building. You're right about the non-fun vibe: Bayou Place II, which was actually built out in the part of the former Albert Thomas Convention Center west of Bagby Street, will house "loft office space" (which, we assume, means large windows, exposed......

A judge ordered today that Ashley Paige Benton, the 16-year-old girl accused of stabbing teen Gabriel Granillo to death at a Montrose-area park June 6, will remain in jail because her attorney believes she's in danger. Today's hearing was the second time Benton's lawyer, Rick DeToto, has said Benton has received death threats and could be at risk if she's released. Meanwhile, investigators say they're close to arresting other people in the fight, in which......

Houstonist is pretty white, guys. Let's just get that out there. But we like to feel we have a finger on the ever-interesting pulse of the hip-hop milieu. (And how many people have put the words "hip-hop" and "milieu" together successfully? Come on, we get points.) In any case, our voluminous street cred allows us to bring you this, the latest news from HipHop nation: Jay-Z is boycotting Cristal! That's right, Jay-Z is the rapper......