Houston News Blog

Halloween weekend was cause for much merriment and mischief making. Whether at Rich's or the Roxy, the House of Blues or the streets of Montrose, a cosplay convention or an erotic ball, fun was found all over the city this weekend. Check out our favorite photos below.

Photo by Son Lam

​The huge Houston Press Halloween Bash at the House of Blues brought out guys and ghouls from all over the city. See more photos from the event here.

​These days, there are a lot of misconceptions about what constitutes a dive bar. Going by lists on sites like Yelp and Citysearch, and especially this laughable list from the Houston Chronicle, apparently any drinking establishment that does not sport bottle service, valet parking and a velvet rope is a dive.

How else can you explain the presence of places like Under the Volcano and Kenneally's on such lists? Kenneally's is just an Irish pub, and at Volcano, they squeeze fresh fruit in the cocktails. Unless you are talking limes and limes only, that is not a dive bar. And the more we think of that Chron list, the more we wonder what in the name of Sam Houston is going on in this city when the town's alleged Leading Information Source dares with a straight face to say that Catbird's, The Mink, Dean's, The Harp, McElroy's, Komodo, Woodrow's, and Boondocks are dive bars. That's eight of what they are calling the top 20 in the city, and they've listed two Irish pubs, a chain bar, and a couple of hipster joints. That list sucks.

Sorry.

At any rate, we even recently talked to a twentysomething guy who liked carousing in Midtown and on Washington who was scared to go inside Griff's, because it was a such a rough and tough dive bar.

Brad Moore, current co-owner of Big Star Bar and former co-founding owner of Pearl Bar, thinks the velvet rope/valet parking litmus test is crazy. "By that standard, 95 percent of the bars in the world are dives," he says. "I've even seen people call Pearl Bar a dive. It's just not the case."

You also often see the Continental Club listed as a dive bar. It's not. With very few exceptions, places that are first and foremost music venues, especially ones that are less than ten years old, are not dive bars. Not that dive bars can't offer live music. It's just that live music is not usually the focus at a dive bar. Drinking is the focus, and often dive-bar clienteles like to pick their own soundtrack to cry in their beers to.

Photo by Txrelichunter

​Here at Hair Balls and the Houston Press, we really love the Lone Star Saloon. Really. That's why we hope that police take swift action and find the dirty, dirty bastard that stole 21 bottles of liquor from Lone Star last weekend.

"I hope they catch the S.O.B.," Joe Lee Thomas, the Lone Star's owner, tells Hair Balls. "They took the most expensive liquor."

He lost about $800 to $1,000 in booze.

The crime is a bit of a mystery, because the thief didn't break into Lone Star, and the front door was found unlocked the next morning, Thomas says. He has a couple theories.
 

Photo by photine

​In our Best of Houston issue last year, we selected the scant few tables in front of La Carafe as the Best Place to Smoke and Drink in town. We loved the place for its "prime view of the skyline" and the fact that outside speakers allowed patrons to "bathe in the sweet sounds of the bar's award-winning jukebox."

We also dug how you could "scope out the action in Market Square" and on Congress Street and ponder the history of your surroundings. Oddly for Houston, there's no shortage of it there. Late local columnist Sig Byrd once waxed particularly lyrical about Congress, that "old, crowded, tired avenue once so proud, so bright with gaslight and hearty laughter. Sam Houston walked this avenue. So did Mirabeau Lamar, Gail Borden, Audubon, Dick Dowling, and other great ones."

And now there's good news. The best place to smoke and drink (and think about local history) is about to get a lot bigger.

Sgt. Mohamed Sesay, not good enough for Bronx Bar

 The weekend visit to Houston had been going well enough for Army Sergeant Mohamed Sesay. Now stationed at Killeen's Fort Hood, he'd been back in the States for less than a week, after serving for over a year at Camp Bucca prison in Iraq, where he had helped guard the estimated 20,000-30,000 detainees -- many of whom had been transferred there from Abu Ghraib.

But now that he was back in America, the Sierra Leonean-American soldier came to Houston to have some fun at the invitation of his friend Lamine Faye, a Houstonian originally from Senegal.

The two West Africans hit several clubs in Midtown and on Washington Avenue on Friday night, and on Saturday started out downtown. All without incident. Their luck would change when they decided to end their evening in Rice Village's Bronx Bar.

Faye had been there before, as recently as two months ago, and had enjoyed the place. "The only reason we wanted to go there was that it has a nice atmosphere and they play hip-hop and it isn't too rowdy like the more traditional hip-hop clubs," he tells Hair Balls. That wasn't the only way it differed from most hip-hop clubs.

Sesay and Faye arrived around midnight. On their way from their car to the door, they ran into a knot of people -- mostly black and Hispanic -- standing around outside the club. These strangers warned Faye and Sesay to expect trouble. "They told us that we weren't going to be allowed in the club," says Sesay. "They said minorities were not being allowed in."

"We looked at him like he was crazy," says Faye. "We told him he had to be joking. He said 'I'm not even being funny. This is for real. I've been here for 15 minutes and this guy lets every white person walk into this club and he's not letting any minorities in.' When we heard that, we had to go and see for ourselves."

Photo by Bill Olive

The place to be this weekend was in the Heights. How do we know that? Because our intrepid Bill Olive was there to provide the photographic evidence.

Clieck here and here for slideshows on the happenings.

Lest you think our attention was too focused on Austin this weekend, we now present a bevy of photos from Saturday night at Sovino.

Not sure if you noticed, but we took a ton of photos over the last few days. Click the links for all kinds of action.

SXSW, Day One

Photo by Mark C. Austin

The Austin Music Awards

A chronicle in picture form of some of the SXSW live acts you could have caught on Wednesday, March 18, if only you had been in Austin, TX. And really, why weren't you? Featuring Alejandro Escovedo, Aqualung, The Dicks, and more.

Live at the Red Eyed Fly and Stubb's BBQ

Photo by Patrick Michels

Heartless Bastards

Folks from all over crammed into two of Austin's best known venues on Wednesday, March 18, to catch some of the first acts of SXSW, including the Heartless Bastards, The Decemberists, The Von Bondies, and more.

We just loaded up some photos from Thursday's pre-South By party at Caroline Collective. Click here for more action.

Dang, it's chilly. We thought the last cold spell was supposed to be the last cold spell.

Anyway, what'd y'all do this weekend? We stayed out late at Saez and Zouk and then got up early to watch the implosion of 2200 Post Oak. Click the photos below for more details.

Midnight at Saez and Zouk

Demolition of 2200 Post Oak

We'll spare the introductory message, since we know y'all probably have already clicked on that photo of the Jonas Brother below and are now in pubescent heaven.

Jonas Brothers at Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

The Jonas Brothers. They came to the rodeo. They did their thing. We posted tons of photos. A review too.

1:30 a.m. at Las Haciendas

The time might've changed, but that doesn't mean Bill Olive's nocturnal habits did.

The rodeo got off to a bucking great start, and we had photogs snapping away on both Friday and Saturday. Click the images below for more action.

Carnival, BBQ Cookoff and Loverboy

Downtown Parade

Photo by klynslis

We'll get to the usual ogle-friendly galleries here in a sec, but we just wanted to talk about bingo real quick. Yep, bingo. In particular the action at American Legion #586. We went there yesterday, looking for fun. We bought some cards and plopped down. A couple of nice older women even helped us figure out the different games. All was right with the world. We learned about New Friend Number One's deceased husband and how New Friend Number Two has had everything she ever wanted in life but a diamond ring.

Then some woman at another table tells us we could maybe learn better if we quit talking so much. This prompts Number Two to tell her to pipe down. But then Number One slams her palm on the table and tells Number Two to shut the hell up. We had no idea what was going on, but within five minutes Number One is mumbling something about shoving a gun in Number Two's mouth.

Who needs a date when you've got two booty-shaking options catty-corner from each other on Westheimer? Click the pics for more.

12:20 a.m. at Avant Garden

1 a.m. at La Strada

Last night at Caroline Collective, hundreds of Houston Tweeters gathered for charity, conversation and music. Mark C. Austin brought back plenty of photos.

Follow us on Twitter here.

As promised, here's a triple shot of nightlife action. Click the individual photos to get the goods.

10 p.m. at Turquoise Grill

12:17 a.m. at Pravada

Morning! We've been plenty busy these last few days. Time to share.

Top Ten Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Photos

John Royal started things off with an in-depth cultural analysis of the phenomenon that is the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

Dr. John at House of Blues

Mark C. Austin and Chris Gray took the next shift, bringing back pics and a review from the good doctor's show.

We'll have some Groundhog Day coverage up in a little bit (yep, you read that right), but we start things off with the usual Bill Olive action.

1 a.m. at Last Concert Cafe

Saturday night was all right for hanging out in the Warehouse District...

Super Bowl XLIII

...and then on Sunday apparently there was a big game or something.

We shot some video during last weekend's festivities and have managed to cram it onto an already full-to-bursting YouTube. Enjoy.

Houston Metropolitan Dance Company Performs at Artopia

As you should know if you've been following the Houston Press recently (and why wouldn't you?) we held a little get-together called Artopia at Winter Street Studios in the Heights to honor and showcase local artists and performers.

Sandwiched in between the railroad tracks and various industrial factories, Winter Street Studios still managed to cut a glamorous figure, lit up like the belle of the ball with a line of cars out front stretching all the way down the street. A similar line of people snaked out the door, braving the cold (and if you remember Saturday night, good Lord was it cold) in order to gain entrance.

We've got plenty of coverage of Artopia coming up, but to help keep you in the weekend mood, we've loaded up three slideshows from Bill Olive of further nightlife action. Click the individual pics to get the goods.

11:43 p.m. at Leon's Lounge

For those of you who still can't believe America has a new President, we've loaded up several more batches of photo documentation. Click each pic below to load up the corresponding slideshow.

Apparently there's some kind of political thing happening in a few hours that's supposed to be a big deal, but we'll pause here for a quick sec to look back at the long weekend.

12:26 a.m. at Status

We start things off on San Jacinto, where Bill Olive started his Saturday night prowl...

1:30 a.m. at Notsuoh

And then he went to Houston's favorite backwards nightspot...

Enough with the holidays. We now return to our regularly scheduled drinking.

11:05 p.m. at Saint Dane's Bar & Grille

Bill Olive started off Saturday night at the former site of Late Night Pie.

11:30 p.m. at the Maple Leaf Pub

He then moved down Elgin to Canuck-ville...

We hope you and yours had a good NYE. Here are some photos to help bring in '09.

-- Keith Plocek

Can't decide on your plans for New Year's? Or whether you want to have plans? Hair Balls has come up with nine reasons to ring in the New Year in your own humble abode. Cheers.

1. The booze is free. Well, at least it is after you buy it from the store and bring it home, but you know what we mean. And if you already had some stashed away - bonus! - you don't have to go to the crowded liquor store. Also, it's never crowded in front of the bar at your place (read: kitchen). You don't have to muscle your way to the fridge through a bunch of d-bags trying to hit on the blonde who looks like she arrived alone tonight.

2. You don't have to worry about hitting on the blonde who looks like she arrived alone tonight. Dateless this New Year's? Nobody notices at The Your House Bar. Save yourself from memorable awkward moments like "I think my date just went to the bathroom" or "My date had to cancel at the last minute" or "My date is out of town to visit family" or the always fun "I don't have a date."

Heck, you can make a face puppet and kiss your hand when the clock strikes 2009 without fearing judgment. Just remember to wipe it off before tomorrow, because the excuse "Uh, it's how they marked 21-and-ups at the bar I went to last night" will likely be met with "I thought you stayed home last night?"

Welcome back. We hope you and yours had a good holiday, or weekend, or whatever. Here are some photos from Christmas night to help keep you in a merry mood.

-- Keith Plocek

We've loaded up the mother of all nightlife slideshows, which just might be perfect hair-of-the-dog viewing for a lazy Sunday.

-- Keith Plocek

Over at Rocks Off, we've just loaded up the first of 11 (cuz that's way better than ten) music-related lists to cap off 2008. Chris Gray bats leadoff, counting down the year's best reissues. Over the next two weeks we'll have...oh, wait, why not do this in list form?

1. Top Ten Pop Songs of 2008

2. Top Ten Indie Rock Songs of 2008

3. Top Ten Dance Mixes of 2008

Brrrr. It's getting chilly. Not that you could tell from looking at the photo below.

Sinful Xmas at Warehouse Live

Yuletide naughtiness was in season at Dare Ware's December 13 bash.

Houston Aeros Win Two of Three

It was a good week for the Aeros, complete with free wings and flying teddy bears.