Live Shots The easy way to go about saying you went to a Beyonc show is to gawk at the way people surrounding you interact with one another, how they smile, wave, twist and contort to every move the 32-year-old Houstonian performs onstage. How t...
Jay Z Toyota Center December 19, 2013 Jay Z is the king. A few other rappers have enjoyed their time at the top throughout the years, but Hov's been perched upon the throne for the better part of a decade and a half. A handful of others have tried ...
Garth Brooks performing in 2003 Without question, one of the music's biggest sweepstakes in the weeks and months to come will be speculation on Garth Brooks' impending tour, his first since more or less retiring in 2001. But with his children abou...
Sanctus Bellum at last year's El Birthday Metal Fest, Rudyard's Looking for an eggnog-free outlet for your holiday frustrations? You're in luck! Local doomsayers Sanctus Bellum unwrap Houston's headbangin'-est birthday party tomorrow at the third ...
King Douchebag himself, Kanye West. Just like I told you last year, the musical landscape abounds with douchebags of all stripes. Normally their D-bag behavior is pretty amusing, but this year things took a turn for the completely messed-up. Music...
"We all need a little fuel to get the engine going every now and then, and 'Gwan' is that fuel." -- Kam Franklin, lead singer of The Suffers From the very first notes of "Gwan," the newly recorded track by Houston Press Music Award winners the Suf...
As our sister blog Eating...Our Words does, from time to time Rocks Off will be giving your our picks for the top taverns in various Houston-area neighborhoods. Of course, the lines can be porous, but here anything with a TABC license that cannot rea...
Dwight Yoakam at the Texas Concert for Conservation in May Dwight Yoakam Arena Theatre, December 20 Throughout his career in the public eye, Dwight Yoakam has successully negotiated the perils of country stardom without ever once coming close to ...
Backstreet Boys Bayou Music Center December 18, 2013 Backstreet's back...all right? There comes a point when it's disingenuous to keep calling these nostalgic boy bands "boys," and we've definitely reached that point here. There's nothing boyish ab...
Welcome to The Rocks Off 200, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community -- a lot more than just musicians, but of course they're in there too. See previous entries in The Rocks Off...
Watching the Saturday Night Live Christmas special last week, I was reminded how the show has revered -- and skewered -- the holiday season over the years. From Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song" to Alec Baldwin's "Schweddy Balls," the show's churned out...
When I first began to listen to rap music as a student at Jesse H. Jones Senior High, it was mostly screwed-down versions of hits by UGK and freestyles by Lil Keke, Lil Flip and Yungstar. Only after I graduated did I begin digging deeper into rap's h...
Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off's advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, "funny, serious or unpredictable." Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! Photo courtesy of Peter Beste I W...
He crossed the line with my daughter. It didn't get to the extreme of that [sex tape] video or else I wouldn't be here, if you know what I'm talking about... The reason that I'm talking about this, it's not just for me, it's not for my wife, it's not...
KISS at the 2011 Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo You can never get a Hall of Fame induction class exactly right. Every single year near the Super Bowl, the NFL's inductees have plenty of detractors. But there may not be a cattier Hall of Fame proc...
Make sure you vote for your favorite at the end. Shapeshifter, "Endless" Coming in strong as the winner last week was Shapeshifter. "Endless" is not just a music video, but a strange and dark short film about the very nature of meaninglessness. ...
Boz Scaggs at Stafford Centre in 2011 In terms of classic-rock anthologies, Columbia/Legacy's "The Essential" series would be difficult to improve upon. The single-or-double CD sets provide a solid overview of an artist's career with a historical ...
"All That Matters," Justin Bieber No R&B; or pop singer decided to reinvent himself musically and be taken seriously as the Biebs has in the past month or so. So sue me. Biebervelli might get tatted across my belly. BRANDO "Berzerk," Eminem ...
Loads of them! There's big piles of bright stuff under trees. Once a year splurges on things you may desire but not ordinarily have the means for. There's that feeling of handing off to a loved one an expression of your affection measured in both dol...
The Casualties' Jorge Herrera Last month, fledgling blog Put Your Damn Pants On ran a guest post entitled "I Won't Apologize for Being Assaulted." The article's author, identified as "Beth," described herself as a "recovering scenester, 30-someth...
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