Houstonist keeps reading about Vijay Iyer (among the “new stars of jazz” by U.S. News & World Report and one of “today’s most important pianists” by The New Yorker). Vijay and his quartet make their Houston debut thanks to the ever-on-top-of-it folks at Da Camera. They play Saturday, April 26th at 8:00 PM in the Cullen Theater at the Wortham. And here's your chance to win tickets. Rollicking with an ever-morphing rhythm, Iyer's music......

Three years ago, young Max Bemis and his band Say Anything [pictured] had us in stitches with the wickedly irreverent song, “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too,” from their debut album, …Is a Real Boy. The boys have gone a bit Emo on their latest record, In Defense of the Genre, telling a sweeping epic love story over the span of a 26 song double-disc set. Say Anything’s tour in support of In Defense makes......

Ontario's Tokyo Police Club [pictured] became overnight post-punk sensations with their all-too-brief thrill, A Lesson in Crime EP. Fortunately for them, people took notice of the group’s brand of fuzzy garage rock and lead singer Dave Monk’s direct deadpan howl, and TPC scored a sweet record deal with Saddle Creek. Unfortunately for us, nearly two years went by with hardly any new music from the young band. Fans will soon get their fix though; TPC's......

:: Exiles in Paris Concert by Da Camera :: At the turn of the twentieth century, musicians, choreographers, writers and painters from all over the world converged in Paris and began sharing their work and ideas with each other with the goal of revolutionizing their artistic disciplines. (We at Houstonist are expecting the same thing to happen here at any moment.) Da Camera made a series of two concerts highlights the work of these......

Oh, indie rock. Does such a genre even really mean anything anymore? What was once "independent" is now major label material; a few major label material acts are now "independent." The grass is blue, the sky is green, up is down, down is up; nothing makes sense in this day and age. Leave it to Built to Spill to defy space and time by continuing to rock the same songs they've been playing since 1993......

These days, Citizen Cope's Clarence Greenwood [pictured] reps Brooklyn to the fullest, but his sound resides in a different part of the country. The singer/songwriter blends southern rock, blues, and soul with everyman lyrics for an aesthetic that seems more wide open spaces than concrete jungle. Over the span of his three solo album career, Greenwood has collaborated with the likes of Santana, and MeShell DeNdegeocello (on his breakout hit, "Sideways,") and his tunes have......

OneRepublic’s lead singer Ryan Tedder knows a thing or two about pop music. After all, we have him to thank (or to blame) for having written and produced hits sung by Hilary Duff, Ashley Tisdale, and Jennifer Lopez. But Tedder wrote a different formula for success when it came to his own band, opting to create melodic radio pop with a refined twist (when was the last time you heard a cellist on KRBE?) Myspace......

Bridal Extravaganza + Ticket Giveaway Getting married soon? (Yikes.) If you are ready to dive into the world of florists, photographers, DJ's, and bridal gowns, you are in luck! This weekend, the 23rd Bi-Annual Bridal Extravaganza walks down the aisle at the GRB, July 14 & 15. The nation’s largest bridal show will take place on Saturday, at the George R. Brown Convention Center this Saturday and Sunday. This year’s event features over 300,000......

Looking for something to do this weekend? Look no further than, well, just keep looking at what your reading. Two great festivals begin this weekend, and both continue next weekend. Lucky you. Double your pleasure, double the fun. Houston International Festival: iFest Spotlights China Sorry if you missed the Houstonist ticket giveaway, we are all out. But you can still see some of the greatest acts visiting Houston this year for only $10. A steal!......

Wherefore art thou, Radar? This week KPRC dumped the lovable weather dog (sending Ken Hoffman into a tizzy, no doubt), and the mikemcguff blog chronicled it for us. Radar is moving on to bigger things though: he'll become the mascot for the John C. Freeman Weather Museum. The best part of this blog post is the speculation about Radar's uncontrollable barking during newscasts and the jealousy stewing in the hearts of KPRC anchors. We'll miss......

Wallace Smith, a 27-year-old Houston man, was charged today with murder in connection with the shooting death of a man on a local sidewalk Monday Two people were injured this afternoon when a car slammed into an office building off the North Freeway A KHOU news crew went to a southeast Houston apartment complex yesterday to check out reports of rising crime and ended up witnessing a guy getting beaten with a baseball bat Ronald......