Houston

[grievous angel]

Going to be in town sometime in early September.  Who can recommend cool shit to do?  Not just record stores/music related (although suggestions are welcome), but restaurants, bars, things to see/do, museums, etc.  I know that "Houston sucks," but I know there MUST be at least a few decent options in a city of 2.5+ million.

[rub-a-dub]

I'm curious about this too.  It's less then 3 hours from Austin and I haven't been there yet.  Definitely want to check out the Rothko Chapel.

[Old Kyle]

Heights Vinyl (ha ha - I've never been there, and have heard they have an annoying color coded pricing system, so uhh sorry if you hate it)
Sound Exchange

Bars and venues:
Poison Girl
Rudyards (gigs too, sometimes of Termbro interest) (has decent pub food too)
Mangos (gigs too, sometimes of Termbro interest)
Grand Prize
Walters - for gigs (not really a bar, per se), sometimes of termbro interest

Eats:
Cheap and amazing - Les Givrals for Vietnamese sandwiches
La Tapatia for Mexican
Lankford grocery for ridiculously fattening, gnarly hamburgers and amazing mexican and comfort food daily specials (cash only)
Avoid barbecue places - they all suck
Burger guys (but it's kinda far outside of the main inner part of town - Houston is a very huge, decentralized metro area, much like Los Angeles)
There's tons of Pho places, but I'm not super knowledgeable about which are great, etc. 


Umm, there are tons and tons of restaurants in Houston, of all pricing levels and I"m not sure what you can or want to afford, but some higher priced fare:

Uchi
Dolce Vita
Hugos
Vinoteca Poscol


Too bad you won't be here in early October - some decent gigs going on then.  Nothing is  popping into my head for early September gigs.
Rothko chapel and museum as said before.

please bear in mind - I am a 47 year old, sorta out of touch old guy so I may not be that helpful here.

[jalapeno eyes]

Sound Exchange and Vinal Edge were always my standbys growing up, but I haven't lived there in about six years, and I know a few new stores have opened up since then, but I haven't been to them. Whenever I go back to visit, I just wind up back at those two stores. Vinal Edge used to be in a completely dead part of town but moved to the Heights, an old neighborhood with a lot of vintage stores, etc. recently.

Mango's is the hip new(ish) venue, but again, it opened after I left, so I've only been there maybe once. Here's a Houston showlist page: http://www.spacecityrock.com/shows/

The Menil is an outstanding private art collection that always has interesting exhibits and is free. The Rothko Chapel is right next door and is definitely also worth a visit.

I went to this a few weeks ago when I was in Houston and enjoyed it: http://www.mfah.org/exhibitions/james-turrell-retrospective/

There's a Vietnamese placed called Mai's that everyone swears by. It burned down and subsequently reopened a few years ago--I haven't been since it reopened, so I don't know if it's changed for better or worse.

Oh, and Old Kyle is right--Les Givrals is great and cheap.

[Old Kyle]

Dang, I meant to mention Vinyl Edge.  Fuck Heights Vinyl.

I was gonna say Mai's, but some people say it's worse now.  It seems fine to me though, so keep it on the list!

[seb]

Another rec for Menil/Rothko.

Big Star bar is fun in the summer.

[2 Cold Scorpio]

PROMETHAZINE

[Bc]

Space Center Houston, Astroworld, the Astrodome, Transco Tower, The Galleria, The Kemah Boardwalk, I-45S, Southside Smoke Shop, Southside Skate park, HWY3.

[hugebomber]

i think they tore down Astroworld.   somebody got raped in there i think.  bulldozed the whole thing.  also the Astrodome might be gone too.   
houston has changed alot, i used to go there sometimes in the late 80's, 90's.    fingered a black chick at Waterworld one time.   listening to Prince on the
intercom.  look dude, all those places are closed down.   you gotta open your eyes man.   there's a place on Alabama near River Oaks theater that is
combination cool bar/sex club, and it doesn't have a name, so you won't find it, but its very decent and the bartender is like an asian wolf-man jack.

[Old Kyle]

all very true

[grievous angel]

Anything going on this weekend?  Will be in town from Friday to Monday.