Houston 1995 Compared To Houston 2005

[DJ V Lawrence]

I'm not pleased.

1995:

Astroworld was one of the best tourist attractions in Houston. I think Astroworld was more successful when it was NOT a part of Six Flags. Some of my friends back then actually enjoyed Astroworld more than they enjoyed DisneyWorld.

2005:

Astroworld is closing down because, let's face it, after Six Flags bought it, they didn't think of Astroworld as much as a priority compared to Astroworld's previous owners. What did Six Flags do for Astroworld after Serial Thriller? Move Taz Texas Tornado? WTF

1995:

104KRBE had live electronic music coming out your speakers with Paul "Cubby" Bryant MC'ing on Friday AND Saturday night (The Beat) from 10pm to 6am, when the clubs closed back then. Nobody in my neighborhood would sleep until the last song was played. Richmond Strip businesses were bussiling. You'd cruise and party all night. Texas Style. Sam Malone's morning show was just starting around then, too.

2005:

104KRBE, after being bought by Clear Channel Entertainment, moves Paul "Cubby" Bryant to Z100 in New York. 104KRBE, great radio station, but dude,

where's the good electronic music on Houston's airwaves? Not cheezy pop electronica. DARK, H-TOWN electronica from Roxy or Praque or Booty music from Kiss98.5 or 100.7 House Party. It's ALL hip-hop now. Where's the variety? Why is Houston's city council pushing for clubs to close at 2am. Where's the nightlife? Where's Richmond Strip as a result? Why is Clear Channel not puting Houston's customers first? The live club broadcasts? It's not just 104. 97.9 and 94.5 have the same problem at times. All three stations are restricted to what they'd like to do because they have to answer to somebody OUTSIDE the city of Houston

1995:

We were moving up in the international community because we were all private companies

2005:

Some of those companies, being a threat to competition, are lured by cash to a corporation that doesn't know whar they're doing, and they (and Houston) end up losing something at the end

We've gained so much as a city since 1995, but we still could have had so much more than we currently have because people outside Houston don't seem to take us seriously as THE city.

Does anybody feel the same way I do?

[nmainguy]

I'm not pleased.

1995:

Astroworld was one of the best tourist attractions in Houston. I think Astroworld was more successful when it was NOT a part of Six Flags. Some of my friends back then actually enjoyed Astroworld more than they enjoyed DisneyWorld.

2005:

Astroworld is closing down because, let's face it, after Six Flags bought it, they didn't think of Astroworld as much as a priority compared to Astroworld's previous owners. What did Six Flags do for Astroworld after Serial Thriller? Move Taz Texas Tornado? WTF

1995:

104KRBE had live electronic music coming out your speakers with Paul "Cubby" Bryant MC'ing on Friday AND Saturday night (The Beat) from 10pm to 6am, when the clubs closed back then. Nobody in my neighborhood would sleep until the last song was played. Richmond Strip businesses were bussiling. You'd cruise and party all night. Texas Style. Sam Malone's morning show was just starting around then, too.

2005:

104KRBE, after being bought by Clear Channel Entertainment, moves Paul "Cubby" Bryant to Z100 in New York. 104KRBE, great radio station, but dude,

where's the good electronic music on Houston's airwaves? Not cheezy pop electronica. DARK, H-TOWN electronica from Roxy or Praque or Booty music from Kiss98.5 or 100.7 House Party. It's ALL hip-hop now. Where's the variety? Why is Houston's city council pushing for clubs to close at 2am. Where's the nightlife? Where's Richmond Strip as a result? Why is Clear Channel not puting Houston's customers first? The live club broadcasts? It's not just 104. 97.9 and 94.5 have the same problem at times. All three stations are restricted to what they'd like to do because they have to answer to somebody OUTSIDE the city of Houston

1995:

We were moving up in the international community because we were all private companies

2005:

Some of those companies, being a threat to competition, are lured by cash to a corporation that doesn't know whar they're doing, and they (and Houston) end up losing something at the end

We've gained so much as a city since 1995, but we still could have had so much more than we currently have because people outside Houston don't seem to take us seriously as THE city.

Does anybody feel the same way I do?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

2005:

We just baby-sat 10's of thousands of our neighbors-without even being asked.

"...people outside Houston don't seem to take us seriously as THE city."

I'm not sure what constitutes being THE city is...unless it's THE city that gave refuge to alot of people left with nothing. That would be THE City of Houston.

I'm quite pleased.

[Jeebus]

I feel your pain DJ. The sad fact of life is that things change - even Houston. I know you're usually upbeat so all I can do is tell you to stay positive.

[DJ V Lawrence]

2005:

We just baby-sat 10's of thousands of our neighbors-without even being asked.

"...people outside Houston don't seem to take us seriously as THE city."

I'm not sure what constitutes being THE city is...unless it's THE city that gave refuge to alot of people left with nothing. That would be THE City of Houston.

I'm quite pleased.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

By THE city, I mean this...

We KNOW how great Houston is, and how great Houston can become. But if we were to ask anyone across America or around the world who they thought were the five most recognizable cities in America, I want Houston to be on that list, and I feel that we aren't even near that mark yet.

I want Houston to eventually be THE city that's recognized by others as the standard for how an American city should be. Sounds far-fetched, but I honestly feel we have so much class, so much compassion, and our architecture is stellar. We need to be recognized for how great our city is, and I feel we get shafted compared to New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, San Fransisco, Orlando, Boston, San Diego, Seattle, and quite a few others.

Hell, even DALLAS had a successful t.v. drama named after it, and became recognizable after THAT! Where's our t.v. exposure when something doesn't go wrong? Would the American media give a damn about Houston if Hurricane Katrina never even happened? WTF?

[DJ V Lawrence]

I feel your pain DJ. The sad fact of life is that things change - even Houston. I know you're usually upbeat so all I can do is tell you to stay positive.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanx yo

[Heights2Bastrop]

If you look for the negatives in Life, you will surely find them.

[saigon_2005]

>>>104KRBE, great radio station, but dude,

where's the good electronic music on Houston's airwaves? Not cheezy pop electronica. DARK, H-TOWN electronica from Roxy or Praque or Booty music from Kiss98.5 or 100.7 House Party. It's ALL hip-hop now. Where's the variety? Why is Houston's city council pushing for clubs to close at 2am. Where's the nightlife?

Sounds like you need to start a pirate radio station.

My brother and I were talking about hip-hop the other day and recalled at one time thinking it would be a fad that would soon pass. I never have liked the stuff save for the Ghetto Boy's Office Space hit, "damn it feels good to be a gangsta".

For whatever reason from the flow of the beats to the lyrics, most of it just comes across sounding neanderthalic and ignorant. If reggae is brie then hip-hop is Velveeta.

I have not listened to Houston radio for over a year. (car radio was ripped off and work is only minutes away, why bother) Hmm, maybe now that their are some house stations.... cause you know I'm addicted to drum and I'm a slave to the dark beat!

[DJ V Lawrence]

Hmm, maybe now that their are some house stations.... cause you know I'm addicted to drum and I'm a slave to the dark beat!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Me too, dude!!! H-town was a Dark-music mecca about five years ago. The 20,000+ raves, the metal bands, the drum n bass, the progressive trance, Praque, Rozy, Kaboom, underground=non commercial-in yo FACE music being mixed live on the air all night on at least 3 different radio stations at the same time (including 104), PLUS remixes on 97.9 you wouldn't hear anywhere else in America, PLUS 104's mixes being available on the world wide web for the globe to hear. We need that energy back now more than ever!

This thread isn't to say Houston is a negative place. It's a GREAT city, but I feel that certain things may be holding us back from being even better than we currently are.

How is it development when we gain the Astrodome Hotel and lose our biggest theme park right across the freeway from it? I mean, when is next theme park going to open in Houston to rival San Antonio and Dallas? Why don't our djs, clubs, parties, and radio stations in Houston get worldwide recognition the way we were getting in the late 90's? Why do we have to give up the Richmond Strip in order to gain a clubbing area in Downtown?

I'm all for development, but I'm against compromise. We can have more than one theme park. We can have more than one clubbing/entertainment area. We can have a local media that the world listens to. I believe we have the potential to have ALL those things, PLUS the development that we're currently seeing in Houston Pavillions, Uptown Park, and others as well.

I will say this though. I really have been really pleased with the developments of the shopping districts. I would however like to see a few stores move in the Galleria, Houston Pavillions, and Uptown Park that you can only find in 4 or 5 other exclusive cities. You usually see New York ,London, Miami, L.A., Paris, or Tokyo on those lists of exlusive retail locations (if you understand what I'm trying to describe.) If Houston pushes for more of those stores to have retail in Houston as well, I think it could seriously boost our title as the place to be.

[VelvetJ]

DJ,

I totally feel you on what you want Houston to be. Since I have been in this city, I have always wanted Houston to be highly regarded. When people thought of Texas, the first thing I wanted people to think of was Houston, not Dallas. When it came to being on the cutting edge of Architecture, I've always wanted Houston to be right up there with the best of them, instead of only being referenced when a particular decade is mentioned. When people outside of Houston thought of cool American cities, I wanted Houston to be regarded as one of them, instead of cities much smaller than ours. But after many years of ups and downs I came to the conclusion that maybe Houston isn't those things, maybe it doesn't want to be those things, and maybe we are not meant to be those things.

Who knows, maybe we think more highly of ourselves than we should. Barring the past couple of weeks, most people don't think of Houston, and many who do have a negative view of it. Instead of asking ourselves why this is, we have a tendency to shift into defensive mode, and answer every criticism with, "Houston is a great city with a diverse population". Sometimes I think we have a false sense of reality. We RAVE to the World about our Kemah Boardwalk. We RAVE to the World about AstroWorld. We RAVE to the World about our beaches at Galveston. And the world laughs. It's not that those places aren't nice.......for us. But there are so many other boardwalks that blow Kemah out of the water. There are so many other theme parks that blow AstroWorld out of the water. There are so many other beaches that blow Galveston away. But the funny thing is in many instances, we don't seem to be aware of it. And when we find out, we tend not to care.

In my view Houston always seem to be an afterthought. We always seem to be a step behind. We always seem to "get it" after everyone else has. I have my own theories as to why this has happened but I really don't want to argue. But I will say we could use a leader in this city with vision. IMO, there isn't a visible balance of those in power who are progressive and who are conservative. Although there have been things about each mayor we have had that I like and dislike, for me, something shifted in this city after Kathy Whitmire left. There is no need for anyone to begin to point out here failures and her successes. I am aware. But again, when she left, it seemed the city began to loose that edge that we had. The ideas that came to this city began to decline in substance. We began to embrace mediocrity using "wise money management" as the scapegoat. We began to loose our ability to see the big picture of things and began to rely on short term fixes, which in turn retarded our city. Even our infamous Montrose seems to have lost it's edge. IMO, the vibe has changed dramatically.

Again DJ, I want Houston to be the same as you described, but seriously maybe we just need to come to the conclusion that it is not and maybe isn't meant to be.

[C2H]

i think the notion that Dallas is the main Texas city is becoming a thing of the past. I think Houston is beggining to get recognized even more and more along with Dallas and San Antonio. I mean give some credit, Houston had 2 Superbowls here, so its definitely noticed by the NFL and is also vastly noticed by the hip hop industry.