Houston

Reliant Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas,... USA. The stadium is part of the Reliant Park complex. It opened in 1965 as Harris County Domed Stadium and was nicknamed the "Eighth Wonder of the World". Major League Baseball expanded to Houston in 1962 with the Houston Colt .45s, who were in 1965 renamed the Houston Astros. Roy Hofheinz and his group were granted the franchise after they promised to build a covered stadium. It was thought a covered stadium was a must for a major-league team to be viable in Houston due to the area's subtropical climate and scorching Texas summers. Game-time temperatures are usually well above 95 degrees in July and August, and the humidity makes it feel even more oppressive. Additionally, rain is very common in the summer. Several baseball franchises had toyed with the idea of building enclosed, air-conditioned stadiums. Hofheinz claimed inspiration for what would eventually become the Astrodome when he was on a tour of Rome, where he learned that the builders of the ancient Colosseum installed giant velaria to shield spectators from the Roman sun.
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The Toyota Center is an indoor arena located in downtown Houston, Texas. It is named after the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The arena is... home to the Rockets of the National Basketball Association, the principal owners of the building, and the Aeros of the American Hockey League. Rockets owner Leslie Alexander first began to request a new arena in 1995, and attempted to release the Rockets from their lease at The Summit, which ran until 2003. However, he was denied by arena owner Chuck Watson, then-owner of the Aeros, who also wanted control of a new arena. The two sides agreed to equal control over an arena in a deal signed in 1997, but the proposal was rejected by city voters in a 1999 referendum. It was not until the city and the Rockets signed an amended agreement in 2001, excluding the Aeros, that the proposal was accepted. Construction began in July 2001, and the new arena was officially opened in September 2003. The total costs were $235 million, with the city of Houston paying the majority, and the Rockets paying for enhancements. Toyota paid $100 million for the naming rights.
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Reliant Stadium is a multiple-use stadium in Houston, Texas, USA. The stadium is the home of the National Football League's Houston Texans, the... Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Texas Bowl, host to many international soccer matches for the USA National Soccer Team and other events. The stadium served as the host facility for Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1, 2004 and WrestleMania XXV on April 5, 2009. Reliant Stadium is part of a collection of venues , which are collectively called Reliant Park. The entire complex is named for Reliant Energy under a 32-year, US$300 million naming rights deal in 2000. Reliant Stadium has a seating capacity of 71,500, a total square footage of 1,900,000 square feet with 97,000 sq ft . of natural grass playing surface. The stadium was constructed at the cost of $352 million. Reliant Stadium is the first facility in the NFL to have a retractable roof. The Houston NFL Holdings group came to Populous to begin the schematic design for the first-ever NFL retractable roof football stadium in 1997.
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The Lakewood Church Central Campus is a house of worship in Houston, Texas, United States. From 1975 until 1998, it was a multi-purpose sports arena... known as The Summit, and from 1998 until 2003 it was known as the Compaq Center. This venue is located about five miles southwest of Downtown Houston next to the Greenway Plaza. In 1971, the National Basketball Association's San Diego Rockets were purchased by a new ownership group that moved the franchise to Houston. The city, however, lacked an indoor arena suitable to host a major sports franchise, so plans were immediately undertaken to construct the new venue that would become The Summit. The Rockets played their home games in various local facilities such as Hofheinz Pavilion during the interim. Completed in 1975, The Summit represented a lavish new breed of sports arena, replete with amenities, that would help the NBA grow from a second-tier professional sport into the multi-billion dollar entertainment industry that it is today.
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The Houston Museum District commonly known as, “The Museum District,” is an association of museums, galleries, cultural centers and... community organizations located in Houston, Texas, dedicated to promoting the arts, sciences, and cultural amenities of the area. The Houston Museum District currently comprises 18 museums that recorded a collective attendance of over 8.7 million in 2007. All of the museums offer free hours, and 11 of the museums are free all the time. Bordered roughly by Rice University, Montrose, and the Texas Medical Center, the Museum District specifically refers to the area located within a 1.5 mile radius of the Mecom Fountain in Hermann Park. The Museum District is served by four stops on the METRORail, one specifically named for it and is easily accessible from US 59, State Highway 288 and Main Street. The beginnings of the Museum District are found in 1977, when it became apparent that some action needed to be taken to provide easier access to the museums of the area. This call for community improvement evolved into the non-profit Montrose Project by the mid-80s but changed into the Museum District Development Association of Houston shortly thereafter.
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The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston , located in Houston, is one of the largest museums in the United States. The permanent collection of the museum... spans more than 6,000 years of history with more than 56,000 works from six continents. The museum benefits the Houston community through programs, publications and media presentations. Each year, 1.25 million people benefit from museum's programs, workshops and resource centers. Of that total, more than 500,000 people participate in the community outreach programs. The MFAH's permanent collection totals over 56,000 pieces with a total 300,000 square feet of exhibition space, making it the fifth largest museum in the United States. The museum's collections and programs are housed in seven facilities. Main Campus Other Facilities The original museum building, designed by William Ward Watkin, was opened in 1924. It was the first art museum building in Texas and the third in the South. Cullinan Hall, designed by Mies van der Rohe, was opened in 1958.
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Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos is the founder, president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Amazon.com. Bezos, a Tau Beta Pi... graduate of Princeton University, worked as a financial analyst for D. E. Shaw & Co. before founding Amazon in 1994. Bezos' maternal ancestors were settlers who lived in Texas, and over the generations had acquired a 25,000 acre ranch in Cotulla. Bezos' maternal grandfather was a regional director of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in Albuquerque. He retired early to the ranch, where Bezos spent most summers of his youth, working with his grandfather at the enormously varied tasks essential to the operation. At an early age, he displayed a striking mechanical aptitude. When a toddler, he tried dismantling his crib with a screwdriver. Bezos was born when his mother, Jackie Bezos, was still in her teens. Her marriage to his father lasted little more than a year. She remarried when Bezos was five. Bezos' stepfather, Miguel Bezos, born in Cuba, emigrated to the United States alone at age 15 and worked his way through the University of Albuquerque.
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Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday... of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll. Although he reported many events from 1937 to 1981, including bombing in World War II, the Nuremberg trials, combat in the Vietnam War, the death of President John F. Kennedy, Watergate, and the Iran Hostage Crisis, he was known for extensive TV coverage of the U.S. space program, from Project Mercury to the Moon landings to the Space Shuttle. He was the only non-NASA recipient of a Moon-rock award. The Beatles' first American TV broadcast was with Walter Cronkite. Cronkite was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the son of Helen Lena and Dr. Walter Leland Cronkite , a dentist. He had remote Dutch ancestry on his father's side, the family surname originally being Krankheyt. Cronkite lived in Kansas City, Missouri, until he was ten, when his family moved to Houston, Texas.
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Farrah Fawcett was an American actress. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared... as private investigator Jill Munroe in the TV series Charlie's Angels in 1976. Fawcett later appeared off-Broadway to the approval of critics and in highly rated television movies in roles often challenging and sometimes unsympathetic . Fawcett was also a pop culture figure whose hairstyle was emulated by millions of young women and whose poster sales broke records, making her an international sex symbol in the 1970s and 1980s. Farrah Leni Fawcett was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the younger of two daughters. Her mother, Pauline Alice , was a homemaker, and her father, James William Fawcett, was an oil field contractor. She was of French, English and Choctaw Native American ancestry. Fawcett once said that the name "Farrah" was "made up" by her mother because it went well with their last name.
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Patrick Wayne Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best-known for his roles as romantic leading men in the films Dirty... Dancing and Ghost and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was named by People magazine as its "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991. Diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer in January 2008, Swayze told Barbara Walters a year later that he was "kicking it". However, he died from the disease on September 14, 2009. His last role was the lead in an ill-fated A&E TV series, The Beast, which premiered on January 15, 2009. Due to a prolonged decline in health, Swayze was unable to promote the series. On June 15, 2009, Entertainment Tonight announced that the show has been canceled. Patrick Swayze was born on August 18, 1952 in Houston, Texas, the second child of Patricia "Patsy" Yvonne Helen , a choreographer, dance instructor, and dancer, and Jesse Wayne Swayze , an engineering draftsman.
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Solange Piaget Knowles , who performs under the mononym Solange, is an American recording artist, actress, model, DJ and dancer. Knowles was born and... raised in Houston, Texas along with her older sister singer Beyoncé Knowles of pop group Destiny's Child. Showing an interest in music recording at an early age, she eventually broke into the music scene at 16. She has released two studios albums: Solo Star in 2003 and Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams in 2008. Aside from recording, Knowles has ventured into film, modeling, and entrepreneurship. She co-launched the junior apparel collection Deréon, a sister line to House of Deréon that was established by her mother and sister. Knowles has been compared to her sister by the media, but she dismisses the notion, saying they are artistically different. Solange Knowles was born on June 24, 1986, in Houston, Texas, to Mathew and Tina Knowles. Solange is the second child of Mathew and Tina, and the younger sister of Beyoncé. Her father is African American and her mother is Creole . Her maternal grandparents are Lumis Beyincé and Agnéz Deréon, .
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Sharmell Sullivan-Huffman is an American professional wrestling valet and occasional wrestler. She is best known for her work as Queen Sharmell with... WWE until her release in 2007. She first came to prominence in the wrestling world as Paisley, a member of the World Championship Wrestling dance troupe the Nitro Girls. At age 20, Sullivan won the 1991 Miss Black America pageant , which was marred by accusations of rape by Miss Black Rhode Island, Desiree Washington, against pageant judge Mike Tyson. After winning the title, Sullivan began a career in professional dance, touring with several hip hop artists and R&B bands, including a 3½ year stint with James Brown. Sullivan joined World Championship Wrestling's Nitro Girl dance troupe in December 1998 under the name Storm. When the Nitro Girls began becoming more involved in WCW storylines, she was made the valet for The Artist, re dubbing herself Paisley. As Paisley, she made her in-ring singles debut against Tammy Lynn Sytch on the April 26, 2000 edition of WCW Thunder, winning with a DDT. Following The Artist's release from WCW, Sullivan began valeting for Kwee Wee.
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Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress and recording artist. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood,... Duff gained fame for playing the title role in the television series Lizzie McGuire. Duff subsequently ventured into feature films, with her most commercially successful movies being Cheaper by the Dozen , The Lizzie McGuire Movie , and A Cinderella Story . Duff expanded her repertoire into pop music with the release of three RIAA-certified platinum albums and over thirteen million records sold worldwide as of February 2007. Her first studio album, Metamorphosis , was certified triple platinum and she followed it up with two more platinum albums, Hilary Duff and Most Wanted . Duff released her third studio album, Dignity , which was certified gold in August 2007 and released two singles, "With Love", her biggest US single to date and "Stranger". In November 2008, she released a Greatest Hits compilation, Best of Hilary Duff with her third #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play single "Reach Out" .
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Brent Jay Spiner is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of the android Lieutenant Commander Data in the television series Star Trek: The... Next Generation and four subsequent films. His portrayal of Data in Star Trek: First Contact and of Dr. Brackish Okun in Independence Day, both in 1996, earned him a Saturn Award and Saturn Award nomination respectively. He has also enjoyed a career in the theatre and as a musician. Spiner was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Sylvia and Jack Spiner, who owned a furniture store. After Jack's death, he was adopted by Sylvia's second husband, Sol Mintz, whose surname he used between 1955 and 1975. Spiner attended Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas, where he was influenced by drama teacher Cecil Pickett—the same drama teacher who coached such people as Cindy Pickett, Randy Quaid, Dennis Quaid, Trey Wilson, Robert Wuhl, and Thomas Schlamme. Spiner would become active on the Bellaire Speech team, eventually winning the national championship in dramatic interpretation. Spiner attended the University of Houston where he performed in local theatre.
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Haylie Katherine Duff is an American actress and singer songwriter. She is the older sister of Hilary Duff. Duff was born in Houston, Harris County,... Texas. She is two and a half years older than her sister, the popular musician and actress Hilary Duff. Her mother, Susan Colleen , a homemaker and film producer and producer of The Perfect Man and Material Girls , as well as the manager of her sister Hilary. Her father, Robert Erhard Duff, is a partner and owner in a chain of convenience stores with father John B. Duff and who resides at the family home in Houston to maintain the family's business. She began her acting career as an offshoot of her early dance training. Growing up in Texas, Duff began ballet at an early age. By age ten, Duff landed a role in the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company’s production of The Nutcracker. Duff's early career started by making guest appearances on made for television movies such as Hope and True Women and on TV shows such as The Amanda Show.
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Carlos Coy , better known by his stage name South Park Mexican, is an American rapper, and company founder of Dope House Records. His stage name is... derived from the South Park neighborhood in Houston, Texas where he was raised. Coy, his brother Arthur, and a friend founded Dope House Records in 1995; Coy debuted as South Park Mexican in 1998 with the album Power Moves under the label. His next album, The 3rd Wish, generated two charting singles, "You Know My Name" and "High So High". In 2002, Coy was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child and sentenced to 45 years incarceration, and is currently serving his sentence at Powledge Unit near Palestine, Texas. While incarcerated, he continues to record music. SPM was born to Arturo Coy, a former Marine from the Falfurrias community in Brooks County, and a woman who dropped out of high school to marry. The marriage ended three years after Coy's birth. Coy's sister, Sylvia, described herself as his "mother-sister". Coy attended various elementary schools, before entering the music magnet program at Welch Middle School. His family moved from southeast Houston to South Park, and Coy attended Woodson Middle School.
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Jandek is the musical project of an outsider musician who operates out of Houston, Texas. Since 1978, Jandek has self-released over 60 albums of... unusual, often emotionally dissolute folk and blues songs without ever granting more than the occasional interview or providing any biographical information. Jandek often plays a highly idiosyncratic and frequently atonal form of folk and blues music, often using an open and unconventional chord structure. Jandek's music is unique, but the lyrics closely mirror the country blues and folk traditions of East Texas. The name "Jandek" is most commonly used to refer specifically to the main—often sole—performer, rather than to the project. Only a handful of people claimed to have successfully contacted Jandek before he began regularly playing in public . He releases albums through his own record label Corwood Industries, keeping a Houston post office box so fans can write to Corwood for a typewritten catalogue and order Jandek’s albums, usually at inexpensive prices.
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Burton Christopher Bell is an American musician. Bell is best known as the frontman of the metal band Fear Factory where he is the only consistent... member. His singing style mixes clean vocals with death growls. Prior to his role in Fear Factory, Bell performed with Hate Face. In 1989, he joined guitarist Dino Cazares and drummer Raymond Herrera to form the band Ulceration, which later changed its name to Fear Factory during the 1990s. The group recorded four studio albums before Fear Factory disbanded temporarily in 2002 due to infighting between Bell and Cazares. The band reformed later that year with Christian Olde Wolbers switching from bass to guitar and Byron Stroud on bass, and released two albums with this line-up. During the following period of inactivity within the band, Cazares and Bell patched up their differences, and in 2009 decided to re-form Fear Factory excluding Herrera and Olde Wolbers, whom had since formed the band Arkaea. Drummer Gene Hoglan was recruited to complete the new line-up. Burton C. Bell is the only member to appear on every Fear Factory release.
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