We're not going to beat around the bush here: we can't draw. Not a bit. It's embarrassing. The last time that our artwork was recognized as quality was in fifth grade, when we took 3rd place in a Rodeo-themed art contest with a crayon drawing of a ghost town. Really. But would we miss the opportunity to pick up a pencil and start sketching if it meant it was in a cabaret atmosphere? Aww, hell......

With so many fun and interesting gallery openings this evening, we thought we would briefly give you a few options and let you, dear readers, decide which one to attend...or maybe gallery hopping is your thing! Eating, drinking, being merry, viewing art and what-not. Either way, there is much interesting work on view this beautiful fall evening in Houston. First up is the opening of Jack Zajac A Survey: 1967-2007 at Gremillion & Co. Gallery.......

Did you hear that Alamo Drafthouse's Rolling Road Show is featuring The Big Lebowski at Copperfield Bowling Center? No? "Well, okay, you're not privy to all the new shit, so uh, you know, but that's what you [read Houstonist] for." The Coen Brothers' follow up to Fargo, The Big Lebowski is the story of mistaken identity involving a slacker and a millionaire. Jeff Bridges stars as bowling slacker Jeffrey Lebowski (but everyone calls him......

If you can't find a live show you like this week, then you're not trying hard enough. Tonight, NYC's (once) indie-rockers Interpol hits the Verizon Wireless Theater. For something more local, check out John Evans roots rock set at the Mucky Duck. Tomorrow night, German DJ Paul Van Dyke will have everyone dancing at Warehouse Live. The Meridian turns down the amp (just a bit) on Thursday night to host Americana flavored Junior Brown......

Back in February of this year, Houstonist attended a screening of the 1983 ground-breaking documentary Style Wars, as part of the MFA's "Movies Houstonians Love" series. The film, presented by one half of UGK,Bun B, was screened to a sold out crowd of Houstonians, and was followed by more than an hour's worth of conversation surrounding Houston's underground music and art culture, that was co-led by Style Wars star and DJ legend, Kay Slay.......

It's time again to look into the wilds of the internets and see what people are saying about Houston's sports teams. Without further ado, here we go. -Jacoby Jones is hands-down the most exciting player on the Texans right now, and probably their most anticipated rookie since David Carr. The national press is starting to take notice as well, as noted in this NFL.com article that compares Jones to last NFL season's IT GUY Devin......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

After much anticipation, Sugarbaby’s finally opened its doors this past summer. As a rule of thumb, Houstonist always likes to give these big openings a bit of time to iron out wrinkles before we come in. In the meantime, we had images of a Houston version of Magnolia Bakery in NYC and Sprinkles in LA. And when we finally walked in, it took us a bit to take in the interior - all black, white......

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take......

Tossed is a New York based fast casual rabbit food salad eatery on the west side of town. Having only been open in Houston for a couple of weeks, and despite the awkward name, there was quite a big crowd at Tossed when we tried it out for lunch recently. Located in an odd shaped shopping center at Briar Forest and Eldridge Parkway, we couldn’t help but wonder if this location would have any resemblance,......

Trips to New York City always entail a few specific requirements for Houstonist, one of which is a visit to Joe’s Shanghai for the mind-blowing soup dumplings. Our last visit to NYC was over a year ago, but the soup dumplings have haunted our dreams ever since. So we set out to find soup dumplings of our very own in the international mecca of Houston. After many disappointing experiences, we finally found a place that......

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a......

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......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

Dance, Dance. Double-header Dancing tonight in the form of two of Houston's best dance companies: The Metropolitan Dance Company and City Dance. >>>Summer Dance with the Houston Met Dynamic, exhilarating and high-energy. It’s how critics and the public alike describe the performances of Houston Metropolitan Dance Company. To complete their stellar season they are brining their artistry to Miller Outdoor Theatre for a free performance, Summer Dance: The Best of the Houston Met Season tonight,......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......

Four Walls: Untitled Exhibit Opening @ Winter Street Studios As we are all recovering from the Houstonist Happyist last night @ Kay's, it's on to thinking about tonight's festivities. Some of us will be all-electronica'ed out at Warehouse, but if you are looking for a treat for your other senses, check out Winter Street Studios exhibition, Four Walls: Untitled Check out what Spacetaker.org has to say about the opening: "If you have ever been......

The third Friday of the month is upon us, which means that Movers + Shakers will takeover The BackRoom @ The Mink tonight at 9 pm. Houstonist sat down for a beer with DJ & Producer Dave Wrangler, mastermind of the party. How long have you been DJing? How did you get started spinning? I first started toying with turntables in 99’. My first musical projects were hip-hop/mash-up tape edits that my brother and I......

We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we're sensational, but it's very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we've decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week. Torontoist Special Report: Rosie to Trump: "Fire 300 Bicyclists for Fraud!" On DCist: Students Go Wild for Slogans, Secrets and Sexual Harassment The action was thick......

Saturday, March 31: Mixed Media @ MFA Prince Language, one of NYC's premier underground DJs and producers brings his famed remixes to the third segment of the Starbucks Mixed Media Music Series at the MFAH featuring Hélio Oiticica: The Body of Color. With performances by DJ Franki Chan with iheartcomix out of LA, Austin-based DJ New Berlin, local favorite resident DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives, and the Brazilian Arts Foundation, after hours access to the Hélio......

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... Gothamist spent the week writing about New Yorkers behaving badly: at the post office, at the Garden, and at the fertility clinic. Calvin Klein may not be misbehaving, but he's just a little dirty, and in a completely different way than some NYC kitchens. SFist had its share of misbehave-rs, too, like......

Looking for something to do one night this week or this weekend? Enjoy the theater and some good "chick humor"? Head on down Galveston way, er, to The Island, and take in the limited run of Menopause The Musical at the Grand 1894 Opera House from March 6 - 11. Written and produced by Jeanie Linders, this is a hilarious celebration of the most dreaded event in any woman's life (except the news that she......

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it's sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal......

Saturday: MFAH Mixed Media Series It's back! Quickly becoming a Houstonist favorite, Mixed Media Series returns this weekend with a Brazilian flare. This month's musical artists include: The Juan Maclean | NYC / DFA Records / Astralwerks / EMI / thejuanmaclean.com Cassiano & DJ Sujinho | NYC / Brazil / I Love Baile Funk mix cd / nossadesign.com Ceeplus Bad Knives | 90.1 KPFT / ReprogramMusic.com / Le Crash Club Jeffery Mac | Hard......