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How Willie Nelson got himself banned from this Texas university

The ban has been in effect ever since. As recently as 2019, a petition was circulated asking Baylor President Linda Livingstone to lift the ban, but it appears that Willie is still persona non grata on campus. (Calls to Baylor's media relations department to inquire about the ban went to voicemail.)

But why? It makes sense that the Christian university might look down upon the behavior of one of the world's most famous cannabis connoisseurs. But in a deliciously awkward interview from 1988 with
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Houston's upcoming gospel music museum has its official home

Houston's Third Ward neighborhood could soon be home to a museum dedicated to gospel music, its history and its legacy.

While the Gospel Music Haus & Museum has been in the works since 2021, organizers recently made a significant announcement in the museum's progress. The former Wesley Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, at 2209 Emancipation Ave., has been secured as the official location for the museum. The historical church-turned-museum will be the centerpiece of a major redevelopment
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Texas Eclipse Fest was canceled for weather—it was worse inside

The festival hosted at the sprawling Reveille Peak Ranch began on Friday, April 6, and was supposed to close on Tuesday, April 9. Instead, organizers announced around 10 a.m. on April 8 that the festival was shutting down early due to severe weather. At the time, many festival attendees were eagerly awaiting the start of the eclipse, set to begin around noon that same day, with totality occurring around 1:30 p.m.

"We regret to inform you of the severe weather forecast, including risks of high w
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Drake dropped from huge Astroworld lawsuit

Drake has been dropped from at least one class action lawsuit filed in the wake of the 2021 Astroworld Festival crowd crush incident that left 10 people dead and hundreds more injured.

Thousands of lawsuits were filed in the aftermath of the concert. The Toronto-born rapper, whose real name is Aubrey Graham, was listed as one of dozens of defendants in a class-action lawsuit filed in Harris County alleging negligence in the planning and execution of the event. Other defendants include Travis Sc
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Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' references the Chitlin' Circuit. What is it?

Beyoncé's visuals for Cowboy Carter, her country album released Friday, are rife with references to Southern culture, from the border blaster radio stations that gave voice to regional artists in the postwar era, to the trail riders and rodeo queens that help preserve Black cowboy history. With the release of the Cowboy Carter track list earlier this week, some fans might be wondering about another reference: the Chitlin Circuit, mentioned prominently at the top of the track listing.

The Chitli
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Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic is leaving the South for 2024

The concert announcement was made on Nelson's Instagram account on Tuesday morning. A poster for the festival advertises headliners Bob Dylan, frequent collaborators Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Maren Morris, Mavis Staples, and Celissa, along with Nelson and his family band.

Below an image of Willie modeled after Uncle Sam, the poster lists the venue—the Freedom Mortgage Pavillion in Camden, New Jersey. The caption refers to the city, directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, as
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Megan Thee Stallion announces Hot Girl Summer Tour with dates

H-Town hottie Megan Thee Stallion will hit up three Texas cities this summer in the "Hot Girl Summer Tour," supporting her third studio album.

Meg announced the tour on X and Instagram on March 13 with a list of 27 cities, set to start in mid-May. The list includes Dallas, Austin, and naturally, Megan's hometown of Houston. In addition to several other U.S. cities, Megan will also perform in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Glasgow and more European cities. Dates for each city, along with venues, will
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Greg Abbott tells bands protesting SXSW to leave Texas

The governor posted his message to social media platform X on Tuesday after dozens of bands dropped out of the music festival's official showcases over connections the festival has to the U.S. Army and defense contractor RTX, formerly known as Raytheon.

"Austin remains the HQ for the Army Futures Command. San Antonio is Military City USA. We are proud of the U.S. military in Texas," Abbott wrote. "If you don’t like it, don’t come here."

Bands and artists began announcing boycotts of the event
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Can beer get people excited about opera? This Houston group thinks so.

Called Hopera, the group has been bringing vocal recitals to local breweries for the past year. Now they're set to debut their first semi-staged opera, a rendition of Carmen modified for modern audiences. Their first performances will be March 19 at 8th Wonder Distillery, and March 25 at Eureka Heights Brewery.

Hopera founder Megan Berti studied opera throughout undergrad, graduate and post-graduate school and now performs with Houston Grand Opera. However, she explained that opera singers work
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Everyone Bun B is enlisting for his Houston rodeo take-over (so far)

Bun B's first Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo "Takeover," in 2022, was an iconic performance that featured a who's who of legendary and up-and-coming Houston rappers. Dubbed the "H Town Takeover" that first year included more than a dozen guests, including Willie D, Devin the Dude, Slim Thug, LeToya Luckett and Tobe Nwigwe, among others.

This year, the Port Arthur-born rapper has been teasing numerous guest appearances for his third rode performance, the “All-American Takeover” on March 12.

I
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Meet the young Houstonian bringing music to shelter animals

A 10-year-old Houston boy has created a program to help bring comfort to shelter animals through the power of music. The program, called Wild Tunes, just launched an official partnership with the Houston Humane Society and is hoping to spread the word to both musically-inclined potential volunteers and other animal shelters looking for innovative behavioral programming.

Yuvannh "Yuvi" Agarwal is a self-proclaimed music nut and animal lover who has been playing the piano and drums since ages 4 a
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Beyoncé launches $500K fund for cosmetology students

Beyoncé's much-anticipated hair care line, Cécred, launches today, and with it comes a new surprise. The Houston native and global superstar is also announcing a $500,000 annual fund that will pay for cosmetology scholarships and grants in five locales known for their diverse community of hair stylists: Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and New Jersey.

The project is part of Beyoncé's Bey Good Fund, and will award 25 scholarships of $10,000 each year to cosmetology students in those five a
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Is giving Selena's killer a platform really necessary?

The documentary, called Selena & Yolanda: Secrets Between Them, features several jailhouse interviews with Saldivar, as well as interviews with her family, Corpus Christi police, Texas journalists, and other figures involved in the shooting’s investigation. The series marks the first time in more than two decades that Saldivar has been interviewed extensively in English and on camera, according to the network.

Selena's family did not participate in the documentary and have criticized the series
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All the references in Beyoncé's 'Act II' announcement

Beyoncé's previous album, Renaissance, released in 2022, paid homage to the queer Black culture that gave birth to disco, house and other dance music. Renaissance is also sometimes referred to as Act I: Renaissance, and with the announcement of Act II, it appears Beyoncé will now pay tribute to Black and brown country artists.

The visuals announcing Act II, which were posted to Bey's Instagram account during the Big Game, are rife with pop culture references. Here are some of the most notable.
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Beyoncé is launching a hair care line this month

Fresh off one of the highest-grossing tours of all time, Houston native and global superstar Beyoncé has announced a new venture: a hair care line set to be released later this month.

Queen Bey made the announcement on her Instagram account on Feb. 6. The line, called Cécred (presumably pronounced "sacred") will launch on Feb. 20. "Hair is sacred," the announcement reads.

The website for the line contains little details about the brand but includes a Venn diagram with the words “science” and “
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Jay-Z calls out Grammys for repeatedly snubbing Beyoncé

During an acceptance speech at the 66th annual Grammy Awards, rapper Jay-Z criticized the American Recording Academy for repeatedly snubbing Beyoncé when it comes to the Album of the Year Award.

With daughter Blue Ivy, 12, by his side, the rapper gave an at times scathing speech while accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, which was established in 2022. In the speech, he questioned the subjective nature of the Grammy award process, in which members of the Recording Academy vote anonymously
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Megan Thee Stallion announces Hot Girl Summer tour, new album

Megan Thee Stallion went on Good Morning America this morning to announce her very first solo tour, happening later this year.

The Hot Girl Summer Tour will come after the release of Megan's third studio album. A date and name for the album have not yet been released, nor have dates and stops for the tour. But rest assured: Megan told GMA she's ready to "give the hotties the Megan The Stallion experience."

"I feel like I've never been able to be outside doing my own thing during the summer, si
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Mike Jones, Slim Thug, Paul Wall to reunite for 'Still Tippin’' tour

Fresh off their halftime performance during Jan. 13's Texans-Browns Wild Card Game, legendary Houston rappers Mike Jones, Slim Thug and certified silver fox Paul Wall appear to be teasing a reunion tour.

In a video posted after the Texans game by X user AuxGod, Wall pans through an empty Reliant Field, pausing to show the back of Jones' hoodie, which reads "Still Tippin' tour" with the number 44 in the center. "The tour's official mayne, the tour is official," Jones says. "Let's go baby let's g
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Another Texas music festival is taking place during solar eclipse

Yet another Hill Country music festival coinciding with this year's total solar eclipse has been announced.

The long-running Utopiafest will celebrate the eclipse April 4–9 at Four Sisters Ranch in Utopia, Texas, which is right in the path of totality for the April 8 celestial event. Utopia is about 80 miles northwest of San Antonio.

The lineup, released on Jan. 5, includes electro-pop duo Ghostland Observatory, singer-songwriter Sir Woman, roots musician The Mighty Orq, hip-hop duo Riders Aga
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Bun B tells everyone to leave Pimp C's legacy 'the f--k alone'

"Please let Chad rest in peace. Y'all doing way too much out here right now," Bun wrote. "Leave that man's hard earned and well deserved [sic] legacy the f--k alone."

Commenters in Bun's mentions appeared confused about why the rapper, whose real name is Bernard Freeman, was suddenly bringing up his collaborator, who died of a drug overdose in December 2007. The post appears to be a response to a recently released story alleging that Pimp made fun of rapper Jay Z when approached to collaborate
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Houston man sets Christmas lights to UGK, iconic raps

Frankie To-ong, who goes by the name htown_frankie online, has gone viral before for his front yard displays, which feature lights and videos synced to popular music. To-ong, who works in information technology, has been participating in the DIY hobby since about 2012. His setup is simple compared to others in the Christmas lights world, he said, as it consists of several thousand pixels that can be programmed via computer. He personally programs each display, a task that can sometimes take hour
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Rap lyrics are education in this Houston program

When they first met at Prairie View A&M University a decade ago, Jarren Small and Douglas Johnson became fast friends. Though they came from different backgrounds—Small is from Houston and Johnson grew up in Brooklyn,—they had similar upbringings. Both were feeling pulled to the streets even though their interests lie elsewhere: in music, arts and giving back to their community.

While working with those communities, Small and Johnson noticed other needs—kids who were falling through the educati
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Houston's Scarface cements legend in Tiny Desk Concert

Houston rap legend Scarface is the latest musician to record a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR, and the half-hour set, which dropped on Dec. 18, is being lauded as one of the best hip-hop Tiny Desks of all time.

The former member of iconic rap trio Geto Boys, Scarface (whose real name is Brad Jordan) is joined by nearly a dozen backing musicians for a tight six-song set. Rounding out the performance is longtime collaborator and Houston-based music producer Mike Dean on the Moog synthesizer, giving th
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RodeoHouston is teasing its 2024 concert lineup

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is teasing its 2024 musical lineup with the drop of a genre calendar, the first clue to the popular event's concert component.

The three-week festival, which takes place Feb. 27 through March 17, will include one night each of Christian, hip-hop, Latin, EDM, Norteño, rap, rock and pop performances. Scattered throughout there will also be 11 country performers, and one country rock artist or group.

"Our dedicated team has worked hard to curate a lineup that
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