Subject: American Idol

• Carrie On!

  The American Idol finals inspire Beatlemania-like frenzies on the Richmond Strip

  June 2, 2005

• American Idol Returns Tonight... Yawn

  Come back Kelly Clarkson, all is forgiven... If you've been lucky enough to spend the past several months in a media-deprivation tank - or maybe you just don't read the Houston Chronicle - then you no doubt know Fox's shrill-singing flagship series American Idol returns tonight at 7 p.m. (As opposed to its torture-sanctioning flagship series 24, which returned Sunday.) Rocks Off realizes many readers will greet this occasion by turning off their cell phones and instructing family members

  January 13, 2009

• Idol Beat: Hollywood Week, Part 1

  [Note: Because a lot of people are apparently into American Idol, Rocks Off asked contributor Ray Cummings to keep track of this season for us. This is his first report.] "Hollywood Week" marks the point in American Idol's grist-mill rigamorole calendar where the kid gloves come off, when being cute 'n' quirky with the hint of a decent set of pipes isn't enough anymore, when it's time to separate the Kimberly Caldwells from the Josiah Lemings, when the cavalcade of Ford product placement be

  February 5, 2009

• Idol Beat, Part 1: More Hollywood Week

  Photos courtesy FoxYou thought the funeral was over? You thought all those tears were dried up? You were wrong, my friends - so very, very wrong. Aye, verily, the bloodletting continued unabated as Hollywood Week wound down. Hey, Ryan Seacrest warned us at the outset: "The stakes are as high as they've ever been, and the pressure is even higher. This... is American Idol!" DAY 4 Seacrest: "It's Day 4 of a long and grinding Hell week." Indeed, but with all due respect to the nervous, s

  February 12, 2009

• Idol Beat, Part 2: Still More Hollywood Week

  Michael Becker/ Fox AI judges Simon Cowell and Kara DioguardiDAY 5 This new Idol concept - a lushly appointed "judges' mansion" where contestants on thin ice are forced to sing for their survival - was squandered, somewhat, by the producers. I mean, this was a two-hour show, and really, there was time to make it a bit wacky, with mock bits wherein Simon, Kara, Paula and Randy pretend to live the high life: pedicures, pampering, sending butlers on petty errands, flipping out on chambermai

  February 12, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Final 36, Group 2

  Michael Becker/ Fox Adam LambertThere were a few seconds during the Rolling Stones' 2006 Super Bowl halftime performance where formaldehyded guitarist Keith Richards let his inner demon peek out. I can't remember for the life of me which song the band was playing, but Richards let loose with a bit of gnarly fret nastiness where he could've played it straight; it was a quick, effective display of virtuosity, a reminder that dude could've run away with the entire mini-set if he'd so chose.

  February 26, 2009

• Idol Beat: Wild Card Wildout

  Frank Micelotta/ Fox Lucky 13: the American Idol season 8 finalistsFirst off, I'd like to extend a hearty Idol Beat way-to-go to the Fox minion or technological gremlin responsible for causing last night's episode of American Idol to cut out while Simon Cowell and Tatiana Del Toro were quibbling over the latter's decision to re-visit a particular Whitney Houston song. (Personally, I'm of the opinion that singing any given song more than once on this show shouldn't be allowed, but come on

  March 6, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Final 13 Results

  Ray Mickshaw/ Fox Nunez out: Don't let the door hit you where the Good Lord split you, Jorge (middle).A new wrinkle in the elimination curve! The return of a prodigal Idol winner! A performance from a self-important pop-rap blowhard! Two more contestants falling under the proverbial sword! The first of the dreaded Ford-sponsored videos-cum-advertisements! Gratuitous decolletage courtesy of Paula Abdul! This...is American Idol! * Get this: the judges can perform one 11th-hour stay-of-exec

  March 12, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top 11

  Photo by Ray Mickshaw / FOXPictured: Matt Giraud, exquisite gumline Traditionally, I've concluded the first Idol Beat of any given week with predictions as to who the American Idol judges or viewing public will send home the next night. This week I'm upending that, and predicting that no one will go home. That's right: all eleven of the remaining finalists are safe as houses. "But how is that even possible," you ask, you cry, you pound the sides of your PC monitor. Well, the judges have that

  March 18, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Ten

  Photos by Michael Becker/ Fox Michael Sarver couldn't patch Motown's soul.Man, Sarvernator! What happened? When first we met, you were so dope, flexing serious white-soul chops - minus a soul patch - and you had the sort of blue-collar backstory that seemed to make you a lock for the Top Seven or Top Eight. But it turned out that you had an Achilles heel: the audience. When you sang for the American Idol judges' panel, you were golden; when you had to get up in front of a studio audience

  March 26, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Ten Results

  Photos by Frank Micelotta/ Fox Songs in the Key of Idol: Stevie Wonder performs Thursday night.I dare you. I double-dog dare you. Try not to break out into a toothy, mile-wide grin while watching Stevie Wonder command a stage, loop-de-looping through a handful of his zillions of classics in that inimitable zig-zag, running-through-tonal-mazes-at-light-speed style of his. Was he actually playing those keys live last night on American Idol? Doesn't matter, because we knew he was singing "O

  March 27, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Eight

  Photos by Michael Becker/ Fox Front runner: Adam Lambert, American Idol's likely last man standing.Long before being voted in as California's current governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in a popular sci-fi action movie called Predator. The specifics of the plot aren't important, but the underlying schematic is a bunch of characters getting picked off, one by one, by some dangerous, mysterious other. (See also Alien, Sunshine, Event Horizon, and a billion other movies.) And so the big

  April 8, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Eight Results

  Photos by Frank Micelotta/ Fox Guests of the Sheik: Flo Rida and his "harem."First things first: in yesterday's Idol Beat, I made reference to how excited I was for Idol Gives Back, a wildly successful annual event/trainwreck wherein the program brings a ton of celebrities on in an effort to raise money for various worthy charaties. I've just learned that Idol Gives Back won't be happening this year due to the recession. (The announcement was made last December, and I totally missed it.)

  April 9, 2009

• Dollyrockers, Hellbound Hoedown

  January 22, 2009

• A Gift of Christmas — LIVE

  Web exclusive!

  December 18, 2008

• 18th Annual Houston International Jazz Festival

  Ruben Studdard, Hiroshima and the “Sax Pack” head up Bubba Thomas’s yearly ode to all things jazz

  July 31, 2008

• Carrie Underwood, Carnival Ride

  Carnival Ride

  November 8, 2007

• Idol Beat: The Top Seven Results

  Michael Becker/ Fox Bottom Feeding: Lil Rounds and Matt Giraud will likely be right back here next week.At the beginning of Wednesday's American Idol, I was pretty sure that whoever the week's lowest vote-getter was - Lil Rounds or Matt Giraud - would go home. No save for them. So when Simon Cowell announced that despite the fact that low-man-on-the-totem pole Giraud wasn't improving and had no prayer of winning Season 8 - then went and saved his bacon anyway - I was totally floored; didn

  April 16, 2009

• Il Communication

  June 15, 2006

• American Idols Live

  Which megatour is really more punk rock?

  July 12, 2007

• Critic's Dictionary

  The A's

  May 3, 2007

• The Head of the Class

  Allen Hill leads the cheers for Houston's only American Idol contestant

  February 22, 2007

• Royal Flush

  February 15, 2007

• The Best Thing on TV

  A look at The White Rapper Show

  February 1, 2007

• Idol Chatter

  Opening day for America's fourth national sport is upon us

  January 18, 2007

• Making Scents of the Stars

  A buyer's guide to celebrity fragrances

  December 21, 2006

• Took a Shot

  October 19, 2006

• Capsule Reviews

  Our critics weigh in on local theater

  July 27, 2006

• Cowboy Up

  We just can't quit this countrified Karaoke

  April 13, 2006

• Reality Nightlife

  Get off the couch!

  January 19, 2006

• I'd Much Rather Be with the Girls

  Critics might damn Fantasia's music with faint praise, but we say she's keeping up a sacred pop tradition

  November 24, 2005

• Various Artists

  Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen

  August 18, 2005

• Addicted to Fluff

  Racket and company's American Idol symposium

  May 19, 2005

• A Nashville Star Is Born

  Former Richmond Strip denizen Sheila Marshall makes it all the way to Music City

  March 18, 2004

• Bluegrass Meltdown, Montrose-Style

  Medicine Show, J.W. Americana and Two Star Symphony have the cure for the Monday-night blahs

  August 21, 2003

• Cattle Call

  Boozing with a few aggrieved bad seeds at the American Idol audition

  August 21, 2003

• Idol Beat: The Top Five

  That Jamie Foxx, right? A Rennaisance man if there ever was one: the guy's a comedic genius (see In Living Color; tons of flicks), a big-screen leading man, credible action star, R&B champion - plus, as it turns out, he's a natural at mentoring American Idol hopefuls. I wouldn't have figured on him doling out advice to contestants during "Rat Pack Week," yet there he was. (I smell a Foxx-as-Sammy-Davis-Jr. in an as-yet-unconceived Rat Pack biopic, don't you?) Let's consider our Top Five from

  April 29, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Five Results

  Photos by Frank Micelotta/ FoxAuto Pilot: Jaime Foxx "performs" on American Idol Wednesday night.Blame it on the vodka, blame it on the Henny, blame it on whatever you wanna, but I'm going to place blame for the hiply generic feel of Jamie Foxx's new single squarely on the shoulders of everybody responsible for perpetuating the increasingly dispiriting ubiquity of AutoTune-slimed pop hits this decade: Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Akon, and most especially T-Pain. See, "Blame It" - the T-Pain-assisted

  April 30, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Four Results

  Photos by Ray Mickshaw/ FoxNo More Pencils: Slash (right) took American Idol's Final 4 to school Wednesday night. "Who will graduate from the school of rock? And who will just get schooled?" Ryan Seacrest asked, rhetorically, at the beginning of Wednesday night's episode of American Idol. We wondered, then. I smelled an upset, myself. Just felt it. Kris Allen should be going home, I knew - but the likelihood that America could screw up and shaft Allison Iraheta or Adam Lambert just as easily. (L

  May 7, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Four

  Photos by Ray Mickshaw/ FoxMan alive! Jamie Foxx mentored last week, and now guitarist-celeb Slash is in the proverbial American Idol house for "Rock and Roll Week"! Okay, sure, these people have projects and albums to promote, but these still feel like coups. Lot to address, so today I'm skipping the expository rant and going straight to my patented bullet-point breakdown: * Slash is looking rough! He's like a cross between Lenny Kravitz, Howard Stern and Bloom County asswipe Steve Dallas or so

  May 6, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Three

  Disclaimer: Thanks to technical difficulties brought about by the crap DVR capture feature of our limp-ass new cable box/provider, I missed the first 15-20 minutes of Tuesday's episode of American Idol. Please feel free to attempt to conjecture about whatever you think I would have said - had I been able to watch - in the comment section. Or just call me a homophobe, or get all up in my grill for screwing something up! Whatever. So I have no idea what song the American Idol judges decided

  May 13, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Three Results

  Photos by Frank Micelotta/ Fox Homeward Bound: Danny Gokey's exit didn't prompt a whole lot of tears."I think we've had enough suspense, enough commercials - let's just get to it." This is what Danny Gokey told Ryan Seacrest, and, by proxy, America. We were in agreeance - Wednesday night's show was almost over, and at the point Gokey said the above, Katy Perry's appearance was the last roadblock standing in the way of everybody on Earth discovering whether the Idol axe would fall on MOR

  May 14, 2009

• Before We Go: A Thousand Cranes, the Muses, Johnny Bush, the Old Quarter, Katy Perry, a Numbers Documentary and More

  The above cartoon - give it a minute; it'll show up - is somehow tied into Saturday's show at Avant Garden featuring A Thousand Cranes, How I Quit Crack and Metal Rouge. Rocks Off wishes he could tell you how, but he digs the Monty Python and the Holy Grail homage. Colorado traditional Celtic duo the Muses will play a free show Wednesday, May 27, on the plaza in front of the main branch of the Houston Public Library (500 McKinney) at 6 p.m. "Whiskey River" author Johnny Bush will play this week

  May 14, 2009

• Idol Beat: The One

  Mea culpa: Yi. I typed this entire post - then accidentally closed the Mozilla Firefox window and lost everything. Let this be a lesson to every blogger out there: compose in Word. For real.Photos by Ray Mickshaw/ FoxAmerican Idol winner Kris Allen practices his "Who, me?" showbiz face. Let's not belabor this: Kris Allen won. It is not, in fact, gay folks' time. I'm not especially surprised, but I am disappointed. What can you do, though? Adam Lambert will drop an amazing album someday. Kris wil

  May 21, 2009

• Please Add to Our F*** List

  Life is hard; we understand that all too well. Some days, the whole thing just seems meaningless and trite, not unlike like so many new American Idol runners-up who are being foisted upon the general public as if they are the second coming of Freddie Mercury, when they are in all actuality just a dude that knows his way around a Mac store. On our recent "Artist Of The Week" blog post, our man Shea Serrano discovered local rap-rock outfit Daylight Coma. The band is heavily enamored with conspirac

  June 12, 2009

• It's Not Too Late for a Hurricane to Interrupt Talentless Taylor Hicks' Turn in Grease. Please?

  Braaaaaaaap!​That's the sound of us thinking about Taylor Hicks. For the uninitiated, it's a fart noise, meant to denote a lack of candor or warmth. In another case of the Good Lord shitting the bed of mankind, Hicks is coming to Houston next month to play "Teen Angel" (Frankie Valli's role) in Theater Under the Stars' production of Grease at the Hobby Center - which we don't care about, hence the loud flatulence. The experience starts September 8 and runs five days or so; we are currently pra

  August 21, 2009

• It's 4:30 p.m. and Taylor Hicks, Clay Aiken, John Mayer, Nickelback and ICP Still Suck

  Er... no comment. OK, maybe one or two...​In the world of rock writing, there are just some artists' fans that you can't help but fuck with. While you're alternately enamored and disgusted by their chosen obsession, they exert a near religious fanaticism for their fixation of worship, making them all too open for mockery. In the past decade, the increasing omnipresence of the Internet and the advent of American Idol have created a new sub-species of rabid followers who take each barb thrown in

  September 14, 2009

• Last Call for Art: Taylor Hicks Performing & Torture (FYI, That's Two Different Shows)

  ​The national touring production of the musical comedy Grease, being presented by TUTS, is taking its final bow on Sunday. Emily Padgett and Eric Scheider play the star-crossed lovers Sandy and Danny, but it's Allie Shultz as Rizzo and David Ruffin as Kenickie who steal the show. American Idol winner Taylor Hicks appears as the Teen Angel, who appears in a dream sequence giving beauty school dropout Frenchy some advice. 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. For inf

  September 18, 2009

• Festa Italiana

  October 15, 2009

• Vote With a Bullet: Songs for an Otherwise Ho-Hum Election Day

  ​ The run-up to the 2009 elections has been quite a letdown compared to the fascinating and occasionally surreal 2008 campaigns. Obviously, there's nothing that can compare to last year's Presidential contests, and the local mayoral race has been less than compelling. We were going to present this as a list of songs to listen to while waiting in line to vote, but considering that area turnout is estimated to be in the 30 percent range and you'll probably be in and out of the booth in a matter

  November 3, 2009