Results tagged “wednesday”

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Good morning, Houston. Sure, the national economy may be going to hell in a handbasket, but look on the bright side: Houston's housing market is remaining pretty strong, so at least you homeowners have something of value! According to a new report, the median home value in Houston fell just $500 between the end of the third quarter 2007 and the end of the year, to $119,300 from $119,800 — still a gain of more than $4,000 over the 2006 year-end average of $115,700. Oh, one other thing: People from more expensive markets are apparently discovering that things are cheaper here. "Areas in Texas, which we have long characterized as undervalued, are now attracting significant migration at the expense of much higher-cost metros of California or Florida," the report said. Oh, .

Not-so-fresh off the heels of last year's Wild Mountain Nation, Portland's Blitzen Trapper swings by the Bayou City tonight at Walter's on Washington. Even though they're painfully under the Houston musical consciousness' radar, it'll do you some good to check their set out.

We’ve got a busy week on the concert front. Our favorite duo from New York arrives at The Meridian tomorrow night. They Might Be Giants have been making quirky alt/pop songs for grown-ups over 20 years now, and a few albums for the kids that us grown-ups enjoy, too. Wilco’s Friday night show at Verizon Wireless Theater is sold out, but if you’re willing to pay a little, you can still get your hands on some tickets (believe us, it’s worth it). Finally, a great double-bill Monday night with Yo La Tengo opening for My Morning Jacket, also at Verizon. We're in concert heaven!

Internationally acclaimed artists, architect, and weirdo Vito Acconci will be lecturing at the MFA tonight. Over the course of his almost fifty year career in the art world Vito has stuffed marbles in his face, bitten himself, and whispered lewd remarks to strangers while inappropriately touching himself in public for the sake of his art. In the 1990's Vito turned his artistic talents to the fields of architecture and landscape design. And has developed a significant body of experimental architectural projects. He has lectured around the world, has taught at many institutions, including the Cooper Union; School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Yale University; and the Parsons School of Design. He currently teaches at Brooklyn College.

Yesterday was the second of the Super Tuesdays for this Presidential Election year and included primary elections in Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont. Houstonist could careless about who wins. We're just excited to see the record turnout at the polls. We all win when that happens. Congratulations, Houston, and all you Texans that don't live in our kickass town.

-ABC, 11:05pm: Jimmy Kimmel Live, Maroon 5

If you prefer 90’s music over today’s, there are a few shows this week that’ll be right up your alley. Tomorrow night, Matchbook Twenty and Alanis Morisette play a sold out show at Toyota Center (MuteMath opens). For rap fans, check out Too $hort at the Meridian Friday night and Snoop Dogg returns with new material at Warehouse Live Saturday night. Finally, Marilyn Manson gives you an alternative to Sunday night church this weekend.

The Queen of Hip Hop Soul, Mary J. Blige takes the stage at the latest installment of Vh1 Storytellers, airing tonight at 7pm on Vh1.

You know what they say, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

Good morning, Houston. Remember the city's smoking ban, which went into effect in September? Well, so does KPRC. The station checked around and found something that will shock you to your very core: Houstonians are still smoking in bars and restaurants! No, . One of the bars Channel 2 visited was Henry Hudson's Pub on the west side, where reporters found customers and the bartender smoking — and "we even bought a pack of cigarettes out of a machine inside the pub," according to reports. We're just as surprised as you are — and as City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado is. "To be breaking the law so blatantly, obviously these people have no concern, no care, no sensitivity," she said. And no Nicorette, it would seem. KPRC reports that two city smoking inspectors have followed up on 228 complaints since the ban went into effect, which have resulted in more than 60 warnings and four citations.

Tonight, catch Grammy award-winning R&B vocalist, singer/songwriter Jill Scott at Verizon Wireless. Frequent visitor Bob Schneider makes his trip from Austin a little bit shorter tomorrow by playing at the Cypress Saloon in northwest Houston. Local faves Orange Is In is opening, which makes for a great double-bill. Another local act, The Mighty Orq, will be presenting a lot of new material at his CD release show at the Meridian Friday night (you’ll probably hear some new stuff from his opener Tody Castillo, too). Saturday night, be sure to catch a whole slew of local bands at the Free Press’ five year anniversary bash at Super Happy Fun Land.

Did we miss something? Let us know. Here’s the full week line-up. Local bands are noted by an asterisk (*):

Houstonist is really looking forward to the Over The Rhine show tonight at the Mucky Duck. In an intimate setting like the Duck, their sopisticated art-pop sound will probably cause shivers down your spine.

::Edward Grigassy Trio - Gypsy Anthems::

The Foo Fighters, Beyonce, Rihanna and many others are set to perform at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards airing next Sunday on CBS at 7pm.

This is your last week to check out shows at The Proletariat before it closes for good. They packed their schedule with some great local bands. Be on the lookout for more information on these shows soon.

Tonight, Houston will host the U.S. debut of the first Western-style interpretation of the classic Chinese opera, Farewell My Concubine. With performances only today and tomorrow at the Wortham, this is a rare opportunity. The original Chinese opera will be performed by a Chinese cast and sung in Mandarin. Chinese opera has come to the United States so very infrequently that if you have any interest in Chinese music, art, opera or culture, you should get over to the Wortham.

This week marks the debut of the new location for Super Happy Fun Land. They have moved to 3801 Polk Street, and you can join their "Grand Opening Polka Party" (get it?) Friday night.

Three day weekends are a beast. You end the previous week by slacking in some fashion on Friday, since you're planning all the shennanigans you'll be committing over the weekend. Then you pick things up after the weekend with the realization that you've got to fit five days of work into four. Plus, it's cold and depressing (like a Packers fan on Monday) and that pretty much explains why a Monday feature is appearing on Wednesday. Here's what the blogs are saying about Houston sports this week.

Unfortunately, our pick of the week has already aired. Kimya Dawson and Adam Green of the Moldy Peaches performed our favorite song from the Juno soundtrack, "Anyone Else But You," on The View this morning. We're hoping it'll pop up on The View's website or on Youtube soon.

Spent all your cash on girlie drinks and shattered dreams again this weekend, didn't you? No worries - Thriftster gives you the lowdown on cheap stuff to do until Paycheck Friday.

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 buzz and an opportune collaboration with Timbaland landed OneRepublic on the map, and according to Billboard, the band's tune, "Apologize," has received the most airplay in Top 40 history.

Local tech news in a compact, digital format.

::Spacetaker's Artist Saloon: Gene Morgan, Skeez 181, and Cory Wagner::

Today the Rice Design Alliance kicks off this years spring lecture series 30N 60S: Latin American Architecture Revisited with guest speaker Francisco Liernur. Proffessor Liernur is Chair of the School of Architecture at Di Tella University in Buenos Aires, Argentina and has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Princeton, Sci-Arc, and Columbia University. His books include Writings on Twentieth Century Architecture in Latin America and Architecture in Latin America 1965-1985.

The Mars Volta will be performing on Letterman this week, mostly likely in support of their upcoming epic, The Bedlam in Goliath. Too bad the intellectual prog-rockers with Texas roots currently have no shows in the Lone Star State scheduled on their winter tour. We kind of think that's cold-blooded.