Cyan, you've come to the right place. My parents and sister live there, and I lived there for a few years during my medical training.
Fortunately, it will not have its' usual disgusting hot and humid weather when you visit. After about May 1, it is pretty uninhabitable....unless you park yourself in front of an air conditioner 24/7, or stay in a swimming pool, half-drunk on cold beer like I did my entire residency.
The city is full of fantastic restaurants and bars, not much in the way of music clubs though, anymore, but there is still an abundance of small cafes with live music. One place I'd particularly recommend is McGonagles' Mucky Duck. It is a small, smoke-free venue with table seating, and serves hundreds (yes hundreds) of different brews, some on tap. You'll have to look them up to find directions but they are mid-town, right near the US 59, close to Kirby boulevard, Rice Village and about 5 miles from downtown. They usually have Tex Americana type folks play there....think folkie, folkie, folkie, usually very good stuff. You might enjoy it. It's the type of place that might even allow Baerwald to play there....
Downtown is deader than dogshit after the bankers run home to the burbs at 5pm, but has a recent "loft" culture, and is linked to the Medical Center area (a city unto itself)by a lightrail system. Jones Hall for Symphony (their orchestra is superb, and they also have very good Opera), Alley Theatre for contemporary plays.
The best restaurants are in the burbs, and the area adjacent to the medical center. Check out Rice Village. Wonderful. You can walk around there and find wine bars, microbrew places and ethnic restaurants all walking distance.
Montrose area has museums, and very impressive ones at that, beginning with the Houston Art Museum (highly recommended) and the Museum of Modern Art (also highly recommended). One of my favs is the Menil gallery, which not only has a fabulous regular collection, but houses the only dedicated single-housed collection of Cy Twombly works in the world; seek out the Cy Twombly permanent collection there. Cy is one of my favs, but he's not for everybody.
If you are only there for 3 days, you probably won't leave your hotel much, but there is plenty to see and do. Crime rate is astronomical, but in the areas I mentioned, you shouldn't experience much problem. The "rough" areas area all called "wards" and are not anywhere near the city center, but are a series of shanty towns on either side of the Freeway on the way to and from the George Bush Airport. However, walking alone is not recommended anywhere...except Rice Village.
Enjoy!
http://www.menil.org/home.html
