our musical mt. rushmore

Ken Hoffman chisels Beyoncé into Houston's musical Mt. Rushmore after her historic Grammy wins — and predicts who's next

By winning her 29th, 30th, 31st, and 32nd Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 5, Beyoncé became the all-time Grammy champion and cemented her position as Houston’s greatest homegrown treasure.

Beyoncé stands alone for her entertainment and cultural impact. She isn’t just on our Mount Rushmore, she’s an entire mountain range by herself.

Ah, but who’s second on Houston’s musical landscape? (Though it’s a far distant second now — and Beyoncé is far from finished creating new art and performing for millions of fans.)

There are many performers who started here and spread their talents beyond Houston to Texas, the U.S., and the world. The nominees are … and who gets your vote for Vice-Superstar?

Bun B

The rap icon, guest lecturer at Rice University, and Unofficial Mayor of Houston has released five albums, with his debut Trill reaching Top 5 in the U.S. He made history as the first Black male Houstonian to headline the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. His tastiest production? Trill Burgers, coming soon to the old James Coney Island location on South Shepherd and Richmond.

Megan Thee Stallion

The TSU grad has exploded on the scene and burned up the Billboard Hot 100 singles and Hot 200 albums charts in the past two years. Time Magazine included her on its list of 100 Most Influential People in the World. Recorded "Savage" with Beyoncé and "WAP" with Cardi B.

Last year hosted and was musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Won the Grammy for Best New Artist and four American Music Awards.

Lyle Lovett

Recorded 13 albums and 25 singles. “Cowboy Man” reached No. 10 on the country singles chart. Once married to Pretty Woman Julia Roberts. Similar hairstyle to Cosmo Kramer.

ZZ Top

The “Little Ol’ Band from Texas” recorded 15 albums and sold 50 million copies worldwide. They were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. Their videos for “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs” were instrumental to MTV’s success in the 1980s. This is amazing, in 1991 the Texas House of Representatives named ZZ Top as “Official Heroes for the State of Texas.”

Kenny Rogers

The Gambler boasts credits like Country music Hall of Fame, 120 singles on various hit charts around the world, more than 100 million records sold, starred in a series of TV movies based on his The Gambler character, co-founded Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurants that got the entire cast of Seinfeld hooked on chicken. “It’s the wood that makes it good.” In 1986 a national poll ranked Rogers as the “Greatest Singer of All-Time.”

Johnny Nash

The Houston native wrote, produced and performed “I Can See Clearly Now” in 1972, the first reggae song to hit No. 1 on Billboard’s singles chart.

Michael Nesmith

Original member of The Monkees, one of the biggest acts of the 1960s, wrote “A Different Drum” for the Stone Poneys with lead singer Linda Ronstadt in 1967. Oh, and NBD but, his mother invented Liquid Paper. For real.

Billy Preston

He had solo hit records like “That’s the Way God Planned It,” “Nothing From Nothing,” and “Will It Go Round In Circles.” He co-wrote “You Are So Beautiful” for Joe Cocker. Perhaps best known for being the only person to get credit on a Beatles recording at the Fab Four’s request. The label reads “Get Back by The Beatles with Billy Preston.”

Archie Bell and the Drells

They had a Top 10 single with Tighten Up in 1968. The song opens with, “Hi everybody, I’m Archie Bell of the Drells, from Houston, Texas and we don’t only sing, but we dance just as good as we walk. In Houston we just started a new dance called the Tighten Up.” That’s called representing.

Also receiving consideration:

$Beyonc\u00e9 Grammy Awards 2023$

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Houston's Queen Bey is clearly No. 1 after making Grammy history.

You can make a case for Slim Thug, La Mafia, Machine Gun Kelly, The Geto Boys, Barbara Mandrell, Paul Wall, Destiny’s Child, Travis Scott, and B.J. Thomas.

holiday budgeting news

Here's how much Houstonians are budgeting for holiday gifts in 2025

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

San Antonio residents are expected to spend over $900 on their Christmas gifts this year, WalletHub found.

Residents living in Houston's well-to-do suburbs aren't stressing about stretching their holiday spending this year: A new report from WalletHub found Pearland, The Woodlands, and Sugar Land residents are all among the top-25 biggest holiday spenders in the nation for 2025.

Pearland gift givers are expected to spend $3,277 on their festive presents, says WalletHub's 2025 "Holiday Budgets by City" report.

Pearland's holiday budget earned it No. 19 in WalletHub's national ranking of cities with largest holiday budgets, with The Woodlands and Sugar Land appearing right behind as No. 20 and No. 22, respectively.

To determine the U.S. cities with the biggest holiday budgets, WalletHub's experts compared 558 cities across five categories: Income, age, a debt-to-income ratio, residents' monthly income-to-monthly expenses ratio, and their savings-to-monthly expenses ratio.

The three U.S. cities that boast the loftiest holiday budgets are Palo Alto, California (No. 1); Mountain View, California (No. 2); and Newton, Massachusetts (No. 3). Palo Alto residents are expected to spend nearly $4,500 on their Christmas gifts this year, with the latter cities budgeting for $4,266 and $4,069.

Pearland's current holiday budget is $711 higher than it was in 2024, when the city ranked No. 31 in WalletHub's list of U.S. cities with the biggest holiday spenders. It's also much higher than the $2,127 projected budget from the 2023 report, when Pearland ranked No. 36 nationally. They're definitely competing with Mr. Claus for the "best Christmas present" award.

Festive neighbor The Woodlands ranked as the city with the 10th-highest holiday budgets last year, so its current rank as No. 20 is a bit surprising. Even with a dip in the rankings, The Woodlands residents are still expected to spend a lofty $3,265 on their holiday presents this year, or about $51 less than last year.

Residents living in No. 22-ranking Sugar Land are projected to spend $3,191 on their holiday gifts this year, or $19 less than last year, the report found.

Houston proper ranked 285th on the list with a $1,302 projected holiday budget this year, or $6 more than last year's budget.

Five more Houston-area cities landed in this year's report on the heftiest holiday budgets:

No. 34 – League City ($2,997)
No. 291 – Pasadena ($1,294)
No. 321 – Missouri City ($1,233)
No. 412 – Conroe ($1,063)
No. 490 – Baytown ($890)

Regardless of the dollar amount, Houstonians should pay attention to their spending and pick a budget that works for their financial situation, experts say. The National Retail Federation expects holiday sales to surpass $1 trillion this year, and the report warns credit card debt is a major challenge faced by many Americans as they plan their holiday shopping sprees.

"The holidays bring plenty of joy, but they can also spark seasonal stress, much of it tied to overspending," the report's author wrote. "In Q3 2025, the average household carried $10,227 in credit card debt, up 2.3 percent from the year before, according to WalletHub data. Adding holiday shopping on top of that can quickly increase the financial strain, especially if balances roll into the new year."

Other Texas cities that ranked among the top 100 biggest holiday spenders include:

No. 4 – Flower Mound ($3,941)
No. 12 – Frisco ($3,491)
No. 28 – Allen ($3,055)
No. 31 – Cedar Park ($3,028)
No. 40 – Plano ($2,812)
No. 47 – Round Rock ($2,641)
No. 55 – McKinney ($2,502)
No. 56 – Carrollton ($2,498)
No. 82 – Richardson ($2,146)
No. 96 – North Richland Hills ($1,985)

According to the study's methodology, a consumer is considered to be in a "comfortable financial position to engage in holiday spending if they have: 1) enough emergency savings to cover at least six months of expenses and 2) a debt-to-income ratio smaller than 22 percent for a renter or 43 percent for a homeowner."

holiday budgets holidays christmas wallethub houston pearland the woodlands sugar land suburbs