Culture of Houston
Houston is a multicultural city with a thriving international community supported by the third largest concentration of consular offices in the United States, representing 86 nations.
The largest is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo that is held over 20 days from late February through early March.
The event begins with trail rides that originate from several points throughout the state, all of which convene at Reliant Park for a barbecue cook-off.
Anna Rohleder of Forbes said "Among Houston's wealthy denizens, social life centers on charity events and the arts.
Other notable theaters include The Ensemble Theatre, which gives voice to the African-American community and Talento Bilingüe de Houston, which spotlights playwrights and actors who express the Latino experience in America.
The Theater District, a 17-block area in the heart of downtown Houston, is home to Bayou Place Entertainment Complex, restaurants, movies, plazas, and parks.
Bayou Place is a large multilevel building that is home to restaurants, bars, live music, billiards, theatres, and art house films.
[13] The Houston Rockets are a member of the NBA's Western Conference Southern Division, playing home games at the Toyota Center.
Several of the team's members, such as Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson are considered among the greatest WNBA players of all time.
The first iteration of the Houston Aeros played in the World Hockey Association from 1972 until folding in 1978 after an unsuccessful bid to join the NHL.
[18] In recent years, prominent figures in the city have expressed interest in bringing the NHL to Houston, such as current Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta.
[24] The only other major publication to serve the city is the Houston Press, an online newspaper covering arts and culture.
Houston Press previously published an alternative weekly until 2017, when it moved to an online-only format [25] KTRK's Marvin Zindler became a recognized television journalist throughout the United States in the 1970s.
[citation needed] Among the journalists who have worked for KHOU, the best known are former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather, Linda Ellerbee, and Jessica Savitch.
Led by Investigative reporter Patricio Espinoza, the segment generated strong community following and historic ratings along with several Emmy awards through 2005.
[citation needed] Automobiles of all kinds have had enormous influence on Houston culture, largely a result of the urban sprawl and sparse public transportation that has followed the dismantling of the city's former trolley system.
METRORail, Houston's light rail system opened in 2004,[31] and today operates three lines across 22.7-miles (36.5 km) of tracks throughout the city.
[32][33] As of 2018[update], in English, the prepositions up, down, out, and over are used, by residents of Houston, to refer to traveling to points, within about a 100 miles (160 km) radius: north (Conroe), south (Galveston), west (Katy), and east (Baytown and Beaumont).
[34] Author James W. Corder wrote in Yonder: Life on the Far Side of Change that he adhered to the said prepositions no matter how far away a place was.
John Nova Lomax of Texas Monthly stated that he typically did not adhere to the prepositions for more distant cities of about 100 miles (160 km), and/or at least about one to two hours driving distance, away, especially in regards to east-west travel (for example to the state of Louisiana, the city of New Orleans, and San Antonio), while he continued to use the prepositions for further-out places to the north and south (such as Corpus Christi, Dallas, and the Rio Grande Valley).
[38] As long as there's been popular music in America, there have been musicians who grew and developed in Houston contributing their own brand to the American cultural milieu.
Pop icons from Houston include Hilary Duff, R&B singers Solange and Beyoncé, rockers ZZ Top, country legend Kenny Rogers, blues master Lightnin' Hopkins, tejano superstar Selena and the folksy country songwriter Lyle Lovett, among hundreds of others.
The style would gain international notoriety in the modern era when it was adopted by popular regional rockers Stevie Ray Vaughan and ZZ Top, among others.
Within tejano music, Houston forged a distinctively modern sound that began with pop and rock fusions using electronic keyboards and synthesizers.
The style was popularized in the 1980s and 1990s by the Grammy-award-winning Houston tejano band La Mafia, but which was thrust into a national and international spotlight by young female performer Selena.
Quintanilla, through his band Kumbia Kings would further push the Houston style of tejano even further by fusing it with hip-hop to create songs that appealed to a younger, more urban audience.
[42][43] Ben Westhoff, author of Dirty South: Outkast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers who Reinvented Hip-Hop, said that Houston is geographically isolated from other cities that have rap music traditions, so Houston rap music has its own slang and sound which does not "translate" in other regions.
Screw began making this type of music while under the influence of promethazine with codeine cough syrup, the drinking of which is now heavily popularized in hip-hop culture.
[47] Zydeco was developed in Houston by black Creole people that crossed the Sabine River from southwest Louisiana in the mid-20th century.
[52] In 2016, Dr. Robin Davidson announced that the office of the Poet Laureate was accepting submissions for an anthology of Houstonian's favorite poems.
