Artists from both coasts duke it out on the charts this week. We’ve been fans of the Helio Sequence's ambient sound for some time now, and today the band releases their fourth album, Keep Your Eyes Ahead. -Download some songs at CNET -Aversion interviewed Helio singer Brandon Summers -Read an album review at Billboard.com -Buy Keep Your Eyes Ahead So if you visit the Mars Volta’s website, you can read a very elaborate story about......

On Monday, we told you about the super groovy Houston: It's Worth It campaign, the brains behind it, and the accompanying photo book that will be released tonight at a special event at Lawndale. Check. So what else is happening tonight? Glad you asked. Hey, we can't do it all, we need your help in this fight to cover the mean streets of the H. Now get out there and get your event on. The......

Ok, ok. We listened to you. We DO do that sometimes. And you've said that even though you can't live without really enjoy the Daily-ist everyday, a feature that picks out one kick arse event each day from the thousands, um, ok, lots and lots of things going on in the city, you are busy people. And you would like to plan ahead. Ok, we hear ya. So it's back: The Weekly-ist List. We'll......

Here are a few things that have been said about local rockers Southern Backtones. "The only way this could get any beautifully darker is if it grew black wings and flew away." - Ft. Worth Weekly "Alt-rock guitars, darkly poetic lyrics and a vocal style reminiscent of the mid-90s Britpop movement...the musicianship and songwriting on this effort are top notch. Highly recommended." - Exclaim! Canada's Music Authority "Smacks of mass appeal!" - Houston Press "If......

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......

Word Around Town Poetry Tour Happy Monday! (Because Fridays shouldn't have all the fun.) With high hopes for a drier week, today's Daily-ist is actually a Weekly-ist. Yep, folks. You're getting more bang for your buck with this one. Wait, you don't pay for these? You mean to tell me you get these events just GIVEN to you everyday?! Madness, I say! Lucky you. The second annual Word Around Town Poetry Tour descends upon, around,......

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......

Let's suppose you're a devoted Houstonist reader — you are, of course — but you don't always have the time to check out every post we put up on the site. To help you out, we've had the Favorites page for a while now, where you can see the most commented and recommended posts of the past week, month, year and through the site's entire history. But now there's an easier way to keep up......

We get all our Beyonce--and other celeb--news from PerezHilton.com. The deliciously mean Perez--who calls himself the Queen of All Media-- has been getting lots of press recently, and his site is the place for gossip. Admit it, everyone reads US Weekly sometimes. And if catty columnists are your thing, check out this blog for a ton of guilty-pleasure fun. As an added bonus, the proudly gay and Latino Perez has also got great taste it......

Celebrate Ben Franklin's 300th birthday with the Bikini Bandits and Phillyist! (NSFW). Speaking of Mr. Franklin, send in a picture of Ben (or Ed Rendell) with a red tongue and win a free t-shirt. And they might have the next YearlyKos in Philly. You know who's going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater. LAist's sex advice column on......

Brought to you by the producers of another summertime hit (albeit one of a few years ago), VH1's World Series of Pop Culture is a gameshow based on Entertainment Weekly's Pop Culture Quiz, and it's brought to you by the zany folks behind Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Sixteen three-person teams compete in tournament-style gameplay, answering questions in categories covering everything from The Brady Bunch to Buncha Crunch. The show is the first to......

The weeks starts out right when a sucker punch on the field lands Chicagoist in the middle of a Sox/Cubs throwdown and the fists continue to fly in the comments. Despite suburban resident Ms. Pinney's best little try no books will be banned anytime soon and the El is really really gross. Houstonist is there to start compiling the punditry when when the guilty, guilty Enron verdict comes down. This guy seems to be able......