Many artists make a living on the road, but few have been able to do it as successfully, and consistently, as Garrett Dutton. The Philadelphia native and his band, better known as G. Love & Special Sauce, have been churning out albums and have been known for their fantastic live shows for a decade and a half now. Their unique blend of rock, hip-hop, and blues, among other ingredients, has made them a crowd favorite.......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • The suspected father of a murdered three month old baby boy who was found Tuesday in Galveston has surrendered to authorities in Philadelphia. • 8,000 cases of meat from HISD school cafeterias are being pulled after hidden camera video released by the Humane Society shows ill cows being tortured before slaughter. • A Union Pacific train en route to Indiana derailed near......

::Your Beat is Nice Tuesday:: Houston's got it's own Music Tuesday tonight with four chances to see our diverse music scene in action:a surviving grunge rocker, a Texas Marine, a mock-yeah-ing-yeah-bird-yeah Hollywood star, and a string quartet. Pick your poison. Foo Fighter at Toyota Center Dave Grohl and his fighets of Foo visit the Toyota Center tonight in support of their 2007 release Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. Having commemorated their tenth anniversary with a......

• A weather system rolled through Houston last night reeking havoc on this morning's commute. • The body of Baby Grace, Riley Ann Sawyers, will be laid to rest today in Eastlake, Ohio. • A pedestrian who ran in front of a car being driven by a Harris County deputy constable was hit and killed Tuesday night. • A truck and the garage it was parked in caught fire and burned on Houston's south......

Several more venues are celebrating the holidays this week with showcases. The Meridian is hosting the annual Holiday Babes Christmas Party tomorrow night with our favorite local musical babe, Katie Stuckey. Verizon Wireless will be a haven for country singer/songwriter lovers tomorrow night (includes Roger Creager and Bruce Robinson). Warehouse Live celebrates twice with the Jingle Balls Friday night, showcasing local favorites Paris Green and Glass Intrepid, and their annual Eve of Christmas Eve......

Somewhere, Marvin Zindler is rolling over in what is no doubt a very lavish coffin. While this article in the Chron todaylooks into the health inspections at sports venues makes no particular mention of slime or its proximity relative to the ice machine, you can be sure that Marvin would've known and would've shouted it from the rooftops. Or at least from somewhere near Dave Ward's elbow. The stadiums reviewed under the auspices of the......

The Houston Astros have just announced a 3 p.m. press conference to introduce Ed Wade as new GM. Wade's last job was with the Philadelphia Phillies as GM from 1988-2005. Wade is the main reason the Phillies are a contender today; stockpiling their future with superstars such as Ryan Howard ('06 NL MVP), Cole Hammels (14-5, 3.59 ERA), Chas Utley (.333, 97 RBI) and Jimmy Rollins (.293, 88 RBI). Wade returns to Houston where......

The Astros search for a replacement for Tim Purpura may be coming to an end. The baseball world is atwitter with reports that the new GM will be selected as soon as today. After interviewing eleven different candidates, owner Drayton McLane and team president/acting GM Tal Smith (pictured, on left) have narrowed the field and will be making an announcement some time this week. The leading candidate right now is Phillies assistant GM Ruben Amaro,......

There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and......

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......

How does a band with "Church" in its name end up playing more dive bars than youth groups? That's what we set out to discover in our conversation with The Woodlands-based group The Church of Philadelphia. Their sound is evocative of some of the big names in indie rock and Americana, and ranges from foot-stomping hoe-downs to hauntingly dreary dirges. Houstonist had the opportunity to sit down with members Brian Tharpe and Joey Matthews (they......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

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......

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......

Houston and four other Texas cities were among the big American cities that gained the largest number of new residents last year, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau today. The estimates show that 26,600 people moved to Houston in 2006, bringing the city's population to 2.14 million — and we're sure every one of them is already joining the fray on the Katy Freeway. San Antonio and Fort Worth gained the second-......

With 10 hits to go for the historic mark, Houstonist will be counting down as Craig Biggio marches towards his 3,000th hit. Last night vs. the Angels, Craig Biggio recorded hit 2,990 in the fifth inning off Angels pitcher and native Texan John Lackey. Biggio Fact of the Day: Biggio is the only player in MLB history to be elected to the All-Star game as a catcher (1991) and second baseman ('92, '94-'98). 3,000......

Well, here's something to be proud of: Houston's homicide rate is now the second-highest among large American cities, according to FBI figures released Monday. Keep in mind that this is the homicide rate we're talking about — Houston's was 18.2 per 100,000 residents last year, putting us second only to Philadelphia and ahead of Dallas (fifth place), which has had a higher homicide rate than Houston for each of the last 11 years. The numbers......

University of Houston quarterback Kevin Kolb was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round, 36th overall, in the NFL draft on Saturday. Kolb, one the nation's best quarterbacks last year, was in Poth, Texas at a family ranch and was stunned to receive the early call. "It was a shock. Obviously, as an athlete you feel you are as capable as anyone else on the board, but in the draft it has......

The Astros woes continued last night after a dominant complete game outing by Pirates southpaw, Paul Maholm (1-2, 3.96 ERA) as the Bucs defeated the Astros 3-0. Playing in their third city in as many days, the Astros bats must have been left back in Philadelphia. Maholm surrendered only three hits, two to Craig Biggio, while striking out four. The game got to an ugly start in the bottom of the first inning when......

Here are some upcoming shows that were recently announced: Norah Jones – 6/12 @ Jones Hall Dave Matthews Band/Robert Earl Keen – 9/21 @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion The highlight of the week has to be indie-band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's show Thursday night at Warehouse Live. However, some of the graying crowd may prefer the combo of Chicago and Kool & the Gang in The Woodlands on Friday (and we wonder how......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

With 4 days until Roy Oswalt and the Houston Astros start the 2007 season, we are holding back the “giddy.” While this spring had some highlights (Jason Lane, .260, 5HR’s & newbie Carlos Lee .370), concerns abound in the pitching department. With the loss of Andy Pettitte and presumably Roger Clemens, the Astros are looking for newly acquired veterans Jason Jennings and Woody Williams to shoulder the load. While its never the perfect indicator......

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......

Good morning, Houston. Do you feel more metropolitan? Or bigger, maybe? According to estimates released by the Census Bureau yesterday, the influx of hurricane evacuees has made the Houston metro area the country's sixth largest. The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area now has an estimated 5,483,857 residents, which puts it ahead of Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach but still behind the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Philadelphia metro areas. Another population fact: Harris County......

Welcome fellow NBA fans to the first installment of the Rockets Report, a weekly discussion of all things relating to the Houston Rockets. Fortunately for us, we get to start on a positive note given the last few weeks. Yao Ming, sidelined for 32 games due to a broken leg, has been back for nine games. While he was out, the team performed well above expectations going 20-12, but no one would dispute the fact......

The Houston Rockets dismantled the Philadelphia 76ers Sunday night in a 124-74 shellacking at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. Led by all-stars Tracy McGrady (21 points) and Yao Ming (24 points), the Rockets dominated in every facet of the game shooting 53.3% from the field compared to the 76ers 33.8%. Leading by 17 after the first quarter, the Rockets never looked back; relentlessly pounding the 76ers in the paint who had no answer for......

In an interesting example of public-private partnership, Target Corp. has offered to help pay for security cameras to be installed around Houston to help the officer-short HPD out. It seems a little odd at first glance, but it turns out Target is no stranger to the law-enforcement game: Turns out Target has one of the most advanced crime labs in the country at its headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was initially set up to deal......

Houstonist was sad to hear this weekend about the sudden death of Phillyist co-editor Star C. Foster. She had complained about a pain in her foot, which she thought was caused by moves she made in dance class — but it turns out the pain was from a tumor in her leg that spread to her heart. On Sunday morning, she had a seizure and was soon dead from a pulmonary embolism. The news, you......

So we now know the two frontrunners in the bid to build Houston's citywide wi-fi network: EartLink Municipal Networks, run by Internet giant Earthlink, and Convergent Broadband, a local group with former Reliant Energy CEO Don Jordan at the helm. And that's about all we know: No official announcement has been made, though the city could name its final pick for the wi-fi vendor as early as the end of this week, according to the......

Jagshemash! Borat is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. In Shanghai, Borat would be observing Inane Learnings of Penis Photos for Make Benefit Glorious Flat World of......