Email Author Bob Ruggiero

2013 Stories by Bob Ruggiero

• Rockshow: Paul McCartney's First Marathon, But Not His Last

  published Jun 18, 2013

  Rockshow Paul McCartney and Wings Eagle Vision, 139 mins., $29.98 DVD/$34.98 Blu-ray According to rollingstone.com, the act that owned last weekend's Bonnaroo Festival was not some hirsute jam band,... More >>

• Louder Than Hell: Feast Upon The Heaviest Metal Book In Recorded History

  published Jun 14, 2013

  Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Heavy Metal By Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman It Books, 736 pp., $32.50 Damn, this book is big. But then again, everything about heavy metal --... More >>

• Chuck Negron: "I Would Love to Sing Harmonies With Those Guys One More Time"

  published Jun 11, 2013

  When Chuck Negron comes to the Stafford Centre tonight at part of the "Happy Together" '60s-music package tour, he says it will remind him of his Houston connection and how important the state of Texa... More >>

• Chuck Negron: Estranged Three Dog Night Voice Keeps Singing "Joy to the World"

  published Jun 10, 2013

  "JEREMIAH WAS A BULLFROG!" That odd, simple and urgent declarative sentence from Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World" is one of the most famous classic-rock song openings of all time. But the man who... More >>

• Turtle Soup: More With One of the Wildest Bands of the '60s

  published Jun 07, 2013

  Today, when the 65-year-old Howard Kaylan looks back on the '60s, it's still hard to imagine the kind of commercial and chart success he had with the Turtles, and how by age 22, it was all over. "The... More >>

• The Turtles: The Raunchiest Band of the '60sr

  published Jun 06, 2013

  Even the most voracious reader or rock-music biographies and autobiographies would be hard-pressed to find a better opening sentence than Howard Kaylan, lead vocalist of The Turtles, has in his new me... More >>

• Any Beatles Fan's Bucket List, Now In Easy Book Form

  published Jun 06, 2013

  100 Things Beatles Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die By Gillian G. Gaar Triumph Books, 256 pp., $14.95 It's a good thing that we are living longer these days as a human species, because given the... More >>

• Late Stooges Guitarist Ron Asheton Remembered Fondly, and LOUDLY

  published Jun 05, 2013

  Tribute to Ron Asheton MVD Video, $16.95, 114 mins. While at the time not a whole lot of people "got" the first two Stooges records - The Stooges and Fun House - and only slightly more come on board ... More >>

• MFAH Exhibit Proves Photo Manipulation Did Not Start With Photoshop

  published Jun 03, 2013

  In these days where even the most basic of computers has Photoshop or some photo manipulation software, it's easy even for the non-techy to, say, create a visual or chef Mario Batali's head on Angeli... More >>

• Rolling Stones Attempt to Tell Their Own Story On Crossfire Hurricane

  published May 28, 2013

  The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane Eagle Rock, $14.98 DVD/$19.98 Blu-Ray, 147 mins. Originally shown on HBO last year, Crossfire Hurricane is the latest release from the Stones camp to commemora... More >>

• New Eagles Doc Shows Feathered Friends Didn't Always Have Peaceful Easy Feelings

  published May 07, 2013

  History of the Eagles Jigsaw Productions, 3-DVD, $34.99 Originally shown as a two-part special on Showtime earlier this year, History of the Eagles arrives for home consumption in a variety of format... More >>

• Midnight Oil Reopens the Blue Sky Mines On Essential Oils

  published Apr 30, 2013

  In the U.S., Midnight Oil are probably best known for their single "Beds are Burning." The video helped define late-'80s MTV by showing the group (most notably tall, gangly, bald singer Peter Garrett)... More >>

• UPDATED: Last Night: The Black Crowes at House of Blues

  published Apr 29, 2013

  UPDATED (Tuesday, 9:55 a.m.) to correct the mandolin player on "She Talks to Angels." The Black Crowes House of Blues April 26, 2013 Over the past nearly quarter-century, Chris Robinson's lyrics hav... More >>

• Yet Another Springsteen Book, This Time In the Boss' Own Words

  published Apr 23, 2013

  Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters Edited by Jeff Burger Even editor Burger himself poses this question in his intro: Does the world really need another book on Bruce Sp... More >>

• Paul Anka, Ladies' Man and Sinatra Worshipper, Tells It His Way

  published Apr 09, 2013

  My Way: An Autobiography By Paul Anka with David Dalton St. Martin's Press, 384 pp., $29.99 Currently celebrating his 55th year in show business with this autobiography and the new CD Duets -- which... More >>

• Dust Never Sleeps: Lost '70s Power Rock Trio Reemerges with Reissues

  published Mar 28, 2013

  When you think of classic rock power trios, names like Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer, Grand Funk Railroad, and Mountain come to mind. But only hardcore music nerds may remember the ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  MFAH Offers Rare Screenings of Infamous Stones Doc This Week

  published Mar 25, 2013

  It is the most infamous rock documentary of all time that the fewest people have actually seen in its entirety -- and even then mostly through third-generation VHS dubs or grainy DVDs. And its legend ... More >>

• Saturday Night: Eric Clapton at Toyota Center

  published Mar 18, 2013

  Eric Clapton, the Wallflowers Toyota Center March 16, 2013 As the house lights went up on the near-capacity crowd at the Toyota Center, there was an audible collective gasp. Thousands of concertgoers... More >>

• Mississippi-Bred the Weeks Hope That You Know Bo

  published Mar 15, 2013

  When the Beatles were signing acts to their Apple Records label, it proved to be both advantageous and not so much for Badfinger. For while that band got great exposure, they were also tagged as the "... More >>

• Opening for Clapton Makes the Wallflowers Glad All Over

  published Mar 15, 2013

  When listeners first heard the hypnotic, disco-inflected "Reboot the Mission," the first single off the Wallflowers' recent Glad All Over CD, they could probably be forgiven for the momentary shock. B... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Hates Singer Looks Back on 35 Years of Houston Punk Rock

  published Mar 08, 2013

  As the singer, guitarist and chief songwriter for the Hates -- Houston's most enduring punk rock band and a local institution -- Christian Kidd (nee Christian Arnheiter, Christian Oppression and Chris... More >>

• When Zombies Attack: The Colin Blunstone Interview, Part 2

  published Mar 08, 2013

  Much of the Zombies' music, even early on, was original material mostly written by Rod Argent and Chris White. It's something that Colin Blunstone still marvels at today. "Our first album was going t... More >>

• When Zombies Attack: The Colin Blunstone Interview, Part 1

  published Mar 07, 2013

  In today's pop culture, zombies are hot. Their lumbering, slack-jawed forms are moving (albeit slowly) on TV and in movies, video games, and off the pages of books. So it's sort of appropriate that -... More >>

• Here's the Lowdown: The Boz Scaggs Interview, Part 2

  published Mar 06, 2013

  Summoned to San Francisco by school friend Steve Miller to join his band on a couple of albums, Scaggs set out on his own with 1969's Boz Scaggs, produced by Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner. It set ... More >>

• Here's the Lowdown: The Boz Scaggs Interview, Part 1

  published Mar 05, 2013

  From his earliest records and concerts to his most recent discs and tours with buddies Michael McDonald and Donald Fagen as the Dukes of September, Boz Scaggs has always shown a reverence for music hi... More >>