The Reliant Park World Series of Dog Shows is back in town this weekend, marking 31 years of the beloved canine competition. We can't think of a better or more enjoyable way to spend a hot Houston afternoon than inside the Reliant Center watching some fine canine athletic competitions. Less strict and far more fun than its stuffy cousins, the Reliant dog show offers events such as flyball, agility and obedience, doggie dancing competitions and......

The first ever Houston Green Expo, Sustainable Energy and Green Building Consumer Event will be held this Saturday and Sunday April 5 - 6, 2008, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m at Reliant Park, in hall B. What's that you say?! A green-tech expo in Houston! No Way! We know, we're absolutely crazy about it too! The all day event is Free and open to the public. Think of the event as a new-age sustainable......

::World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest:: Or something like that. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's barbeque contest is happening this weekend and Houstonist thinks your tastebuds are as qualified as anyone's to make a judgement. Find yoiur favorite team or choose by the most appealing name on this listing and map of the area. Besides lots and lots of stuff from the grill, expect to find mucho live music to give you a smile for......

We're going to be Texans-heavy this week because there's so much to be proud about at Reliant Park this week. And the Astros are depressing except for the rookies. - Battle Red Blog is still on Cloud Nine about the undefeated Texans. - DGDB&D continues to knock everyone else out of the park with their Texans coverage. This Man In Black homage to the Man Who Was Frequently On His Back (David Carr) is an......

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus If you've got a kid, access to one, or just the jones to relive childhood memories, you're in luck. The circus is in town! They opened yesterday and will be here at Reliant Park only until July 22, so hurry up and get your tickets, which are fairly inexpensive. Unless, of course, you'd like to be a "Circus Celebrity" for $125. The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Baily......

Good morning, Houston. We don't mind telling you that we really have no love for cockroaches, but we do have a little bit more appreciation for the little critters after reading the Chronicle's interview with the Houston Museum of Natural Science's curator of entomology, Nancy Greig. "They're neat," Greig said. "Only 12 out of 4,000 are pests." Ah, well, good. But why are those 12 always in our apartment? >> Perry: We need more......

Houstonist joined over 70,000 rodeo fans and rock music lovers in Reliant Stadium last night for the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo finale. This wasn't our first Houston Rodeo, but it was the first time Houstonist had attended with a rodeo nut. We were skeptical about arriving at 10:45 AM on a day when the main events did not commence until 3:45 PM. How were we to occupy our time until the stadium opened? Team......

Houstonist has gotten to where we avoid Kirby Drive whenever we can — not only because of the constant traffic, but also because the torn-up pavement makes us feel like we're sitting in the rear car of the Texas Cyclone. So we were excited to hear about changes coming for Kirby, including new pavement, new storm sewers and fancy decorative intersections. The practical parts of the project — reconstructed storm sewers and fresh pavement —......

Incumbent candidate Rick Perry, in a last-ditch effort to boost his already immense popularity, decreed that morality is something that should be included in legislation. The Chronicle reported that Perry announced this not to the general public, but in a closed meeting at the Houston Grand Plaza hotel on Kirby across from Reliant Park. The majority of attendees were African American ministers. From the Chronicle:Gov. Rick Perry in a closed meeting Thursday told African-American......

The Homeland Security Department has put officials and NFL stadium owners in seven U.S. cities, including Houston, on alert after a warning was posted online claiming that the cities' stadiums would be destroyed by dirty bombs this weekend — but the government says it's looking at the threat "with strong skepticism." The threat was posted Oct. 12 as part of an ongoing online conversation. It warned of attacks on NFL stadiums in Houston, Atlanta, New......

Harris County Commissioners Court gave the go-ahead for a private firm's proposal to redevelop the Astrodome as a mega-hotel, saying the 41-year-old stadium will no longer be a part of the county's disaster shelter plans. During future emergencies, other facilities, including the George R. Brown Convention Center and Reliant Center, will be the region's primary shelters, Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said. The Dome "is too expensive to maintain as a potential shelter space that......

The shot from flickr user and houstonist photo contributor Jeff Balke. We've gone from buildings to the dogs this week. Here's another awesome shot from Jeff, this time of a competitor at the Reliant Park World Series of Dogs. According to Jeff, this little guy was "tearing up the course." I think it's important to not view this as a shot of a dog on an obstacle course, but rather as an athlete in......

Here's what's on tap this week: Friday, July 21 The Reliant Park World Series of Dog Shows (no, really) comes to Reliant Park (click for directions). The shows today and tomorrow will culminate in "Best In Show" winners, anf there's lots of other excitement: vendors, exhibitions of canine skill (dog frisbee, for example), and probably some great peoplewatching, too. Tickets are $5-10 at the door, and stuff goes on all day: 8 am to 4......

The Astrodome has been home to many things. It bore witness to the highs and lows of the Oilers and Astros. It has been credited with helping to change the face of men's college basketball and March Madness. People roped dogies, jumped over cars on motorcycles, cheered on Ronald Reagan and promised to kick things in on the floor of the Eighth Wonder of the World. More recently, it has sheltered evacuees during Hurricane Katrina......

So we noted earlier this week that people who attended this year's Essence Music Festival whined about how Houston isn't New Orleans. And now festival organizers have joined in, saying Houston apparently didn't realize just how important the three-day music, shopping and education festival was. Essence Communications President Michelle Ebanks said festivalgoers complained about the distance between Reliant Park, where the festival was held, and hotels, shopping districts and downtown. She said the fact that......

So if you didn't party too hard yesterday, you'll probably remember the Essence Music Festival, held in Houston for the first time this year as its traditional home, New Orleans, struggles to get back on its feet. We knew the festival events would go on as usual — at Reliant Park rather than the Superdome — but the big unknown was how festivalgoers would react to Houston. As we've heard over and over again post-Katrina,......

Here's some advice: Unless you're attending the Essence Music Festival this weekend, you might want to avoid the Essence Music Festival. That's because more than 200,000 people may come to the three-day festival, being held in Houston for the first time this year. We just don't think Reliant Park-area traffic will be any fun. The EMF started in New Orleans in 1994 to mark the 25th anniversary of Essence magazine. Since then, it's grown into......

Tuesday Will T. Massey sings from the heart. He’s exactly what you would expect from a singer/songwriter from San Angelo – a good folk storyteller. 8 p.m. at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck | info Wednesday Experimental is probably the best word to use when describing the Legendary Pink Dots. They’ve been around over a quarter of a century now, and have been likened to Pink Floyd, but if you listen to some of their 80’s......

The site where AstroWorld once was has been bought by Angel/McIver Interests, a Conroe real estate firm. According to the Chronicle, the new owner said the property will be a "mixed-use" development. No more plans for the property will be disclosed until the deal is finalized Wednesday. Angel/McIver Interests has operated quietly for years, amassing 1,300 acres of land around Houston. This will be the firm's highest profile acquisition. Michael McIver, one of the company's......

Before he had his own reality TV show, before he was in jail multiple times for drug charges, before he married Whitney Houston, and before he was a hot solo act, Bobby Brown was a member of the teen band New Edition. It was announced this week that Bobby Brown would be reuniting with the band in Houston this summer for the Essence Music Festival. We hope Whitney shows up, too – that media circus......

This week is your last chance to check out the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, so dig out those old Wranglers and boots and get a move on to Reliant Park. Monday: • Carnival: 2 p.m. to midnight • Rodeo Houston featuring LeAnn Rimes: begins 6:45 p.m. at Reliant Stadium • The Hideout featuring Big Al White: begins 10:15 p.m. at Reliant Astrodome Tuesday: • Carnival: 2 p.m. to midnight • Rodeo Houston featuring Larry......

President Bush took a 1,500-mile trip to Crawford today to vote in the state Republican primary; from there, he'll head to New Orleans Speaking of the primaries, Harris County officials predict a 7 percent voter turnout, but they say that's no surprise A man going to Reliant Park at lunchtime today turned in front of a MetroRail train, which crashed into his truck: "I feel pretty stupid," he said Narrow streets in older neighborhoods are......

Somehow we missed the story of the carnival ride that got stuck at the Rodeo, trapping some kids at the top of a roller coaster — which is one of those irrational concerns that's always in the back of Houstonist's mind when we're riding a coaster. The ride got stuck at about 11 p.m., and several children were confined to the top of the ride for nearly an hour, Local 2 reported from Reliant......

It's rodeo time again — the one weekend in the year when we can gorge ourselves on barbecue and beer, then head across the Astrodome parking lot for a spin on the Tilt-a-Whirl. (Wait, the one weekend? We take that back — that's pretty much a weekly activity for Houstonist.) So here's what's happening this weekend at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo: Thursday • World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest: 5 to 11 p.m. at Reliant......

Even though it was a fairly bad place to actually see a sporting event, and an even worse place to see a concert, the Astrodome has a place in Houstonist's heart (and in our logo). We remember fondly the loud upholstery, the scoreboard, the inexplicably addictive Dome Dogs, the Great Moments in Sports. So it's been sad to see the Dome sitting there empty in the shadow of the new Reliant Stadium — and......