Yes, Houston - The Black Godfather is gracing us with his presence this Friday night!!! Houston's own, The Allen Oldies Band will be backin' up Andre Williams at the Continental Club and the show begins at 10 p.m. You don't know who he is? We'll hook you up. A ladie's man from way back, Andre was born in Bessemer, Alabama in 1936 and eventually ended up in Detroit, where he recorded over 50 songs for......

Houstonist has a special place in our hearts for The Last Concert Cafe on Nance - it was the fabled "knock or you won't get in" mystery Mexican Restaurant of our mispent youth. The location of many nights of live music, cold beer and hot food. Now, we're asking Houston to help the fine folks there raise money in loving memory of their granddaughter Aubrie Kristine Acosta who succumbed to SIDS on January 12th at......

Radio rock fans have a decision to make tonight: see the currently hot band Avenged Sevenfold at Warehouse Live or catch the now-grown-up Silverchair at The Meridian. Speaking of the 90's, old school rapper Tone Loc will stop off at Fitzgerald's Thursday night. Local eclectic classical trio Two Star Symphony plays a special show Saturday night on the St. Thomas campus. Another local favorite, The Mathletes, open a show at Rudyard's Saturday night. The......

It’s like Divas Las Vegas 2007 this week, but in a good way! Celine Dion, Alicia Keys, and the Queen of Soul all have new albums debuting on the charts. It took us a little longer than usual to warm up to Alicia Keys’ new single, “No One” from her latest album, As I Am. But now that we’ve heard it endlessly on the radio and on TV, and it’s formed its own repeat loop......

::Elizabeth Alexander & Taha Muhammad Ali at the Alley:: Well, if the intellects are to take over a day, might as well be Monday. Leave the killing brain cells to us the rest of the week. ELIZABETH ALEXANDER, whose dynamic work penetrates the African American experience, is a poet, essayist, and playwright. Winner of the Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers (one of the nation’s leading poetry prizes), she is the author of......

::Danielle Reich Trio at King Biscuit:: We saw this and we couldn't remember the last time we stopped by Height's area neighborhood pub & grub, King Biscuit. So we decided to swing back by tonight to see jazz artist, Danielle Reich. It's been too long. They probably miss us. Right? Riiiiiight. A regular at The Black Swan in the Omni Hotel, Danielle plays weekly with a trio at King Biscuit in The Heights. A veteran......

The party is at Rudyard’s tomorrow – you know - THE party. The Black Math Experiment’s CD Release Party for “All You Need is Blood”, at which a couple of other bands will be performing. La Sed will bring some progressive rock courtesy of Puerto Rico and Mk Ultra adds politically-minded psychedelic punk to the mix (political as in the song writing may focus on fighting military culture and the 9/11 conspiracy). This should be......

Local bands AWAKE and Together. We Are Instruments play at the ultra-hip Super Happy Fun Land. Other local favorites Prodigal Sons and Lanky open for emerging Geffen pop artist Matt White at Jet Lounge. Thursday, check out Twelve Girls Band: a dozen classically-trained musicians (all women, of course) playing both traditional Chinese songs and popular pop songs. Friday night, Beaumont's own classic blues-rocker Johnny Winter returns to Houston at the Meridian. Saturday, block-off your......

The Dimes may not have swept the Houston Press Music Awards last week, but they did leave with the most trophies – three, to be exact (Best New Act, Best Indie Rock, and Song of the Year). While puppies (in age, that is) compared to many on the Houston music scene, they’re making a big splash right out-of-the-box. We caught up with Carlos Sanchez, guitarist and lead vocalist for The Dimes, as he and the......

Last night, Warehouse Live played host to the annual Houston Press Music Awards. Houstonist was there to absorb all of the entertainment and was treated to some of the best local music around. The Dimes (pictured above) walked away as big winners, with three awards – Best New Act, Best Indie Rock, and Song of the Year, for “Delilah,” which they performed on stage midway through the night. Other performers included Million Year Dance......

In the late 80's and early 90's, Massachusetts alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. made head waves in college radio, then finally to mainstream rock radio with this song from 1994, "Feel the Pain." Their music has been sighted by many, including Nirvana, to be one of the inspirations for the grunge movement. With lots of distortion (which you won't find on this particular song) and J Mascis' vocals, it's easy to see how they......

Tonight, Norah Jones plays in a very suitable place, Jones Hall. The show is sold out, but with M. Ward opening, it’s one that may be worth getting tickets for. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club returns to Houston on Thursday. Rock legend Dave Mason hits The Meridian Friday night, while former Rock Star: Supernova contestant and Austin native Patrice Pike visits Fitzgeralds. Another great double bill comes to us on Sunday night – The Black......

Folk Legend Bert Jansch, who has influenced artists from many genres, including Neil Young (who refers to him as the acoustical version of Jimi Hendrix), Devendra Banhart, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Johnny Marr (The Smiths), Nick Drake, Beth Orton, Noel Gallagher (Oasis) and Mike Oldfield, will make a rare live appearance at the Orange Show. Infused with American folk, blues and Traditional British Isles music, his style is singularly unique and his song-writing very affecting.......

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with......

A lot of people seemed to like last month’s iMix (and, in all honesty, we did, too), so we’re proud to bring you Houstonist iMix: April 2007. This month, we bring you some more new and uprising artists, including some of those that we caught at SXSW last month (The Black Angels, The Bird and the Bee, Mika, RJD2). We threw in some other independent artists we like (Beulah, Marah) and a band that’s so......

Black Math Experiment Lures David Arquette to the Proletariat Under the "Random Events" file, Houstonist sniffs out this unique show at the Proletariat tonight. Houston's own Black Math Experiment are bringing to town their self-proclaimed "muse and patron" David Arquette to meet and greet fans, and show clips from his recently written and directed thriller, The Tripper. The night will include a full set from The Black Math Experiment and Dewy Deputy Dawg himself previewing......

Living With War: The Black Angels / VietNam Official After Party @ Jet Lounge As you learned in yesterday's Music Calendar, some of Houstonist's favorite sounds will be making an appearance tonight at Warehouse Live. Fresh off of SXSW, Austin's The Black Angels and The Fader's recent obsession, VietNam, play tonight, with locals Flowers to Hide supporting. Following the sure-to-be-stellar show, Squad Car Media hosts the Official After Party for both bands at nearby......

Now that most of the SXSW artists have left Texas, we have a slower week for concerts, but there are still some great shows to catch. Houstonist caught The Black Angels and VietNam in Austin this past weekend, and we're glad to hear that they (along with Flowers to Hide) are making a stop at Warehouse Live on Wednesday. The Westheimer Street Festival is this Saturday, with several dozen local acts on the roster.......

The concert week begins with the Toys for Tots benefit at the Mucky Duck, lots of good local acts and a great cause. The weekend starts with a party, courtesy of Grupo Fantasma at the Continental Club. If you prefer holiday music, check out Mannheim Steamroller at the Toyota Center the same night. Local boys (and girl) Skyblue 72 go on stage at Rudyard’s Saturday night, and the alternative/blue/rock outfit The Black Keys come......

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......

We're admittedly still sick over this story about a 14-year-old boy allegedly stabbed and beaten to death by a female member of a rival gang, 15, in a Montrose park. The boy and his friends were attacked with baseball bats, knives and other assorted makeshift weapons over turf at the park. Houstonist wonders if this could have been avoided if only the teens had taken part in gangs that wouldn't get them killed. For......

Bitterly cold weather is setting upon Houston for the next week. This gives Houstonist a great excuse to sit at home by the fireplace and sip some Irish Coffee – but we’ll prepare it the true, simple Irish way: 1 jigger of Irish Whiskey 2 teaspoons of Sugar Fresh Hot Coffee Fresh Cream Rinse your glass with boiling water, so it is good and hot to start with. Add your Whiskey, Sugar & Coffee.......