Best Buy Co. Inc.

PS3 Party, Houston

Fighting Tech with Tech: Red-light Camera Detectors Soon Available in Houston

Drenched in Blog: Nickelback DVD Collection! Yeah!!

Maxim Magazine Readers: The Uncoolest Boys Around

Holy Crap: "Chinese Democracy" is Real

The Wreck of the Record Rack

Another local music institution bites the dust

College Credit

Shopping spree for your first apartment: $2,500
Spring break in Cabo: $1,000
Avoiding college credit card debt: priceless

Slideshow: Things that Took Less Time than Chinese Democracy

      As many of you no doubt know by now, what passes for Guns 'N' Roses these days did the unthinkable Sunday and released Chinese Democracy (available exclusively at Best Buy), disappointing thousands of critics who are going to have to think of some other metaphor for something ... More >>

Chinese Democracy Not Exactly Flying Off the Shelves

  Photos by Craig Hlavaty For curiosity's sake, Rocks Off drove over to the Galleria-area Best Buy at 5133 Richmond yesterday afternoon to see if Guns 'N' Roses' new album, Chinese Democracy, was flying off the shelves. This record has taken over thirteen years to come out. Thirteen years ag ... More >>

Houston's Child-Porn-Lovin' Attorney Arrested Again

Man, the Christmas season really blows for disbarred attorney Tom Zaratti.First, on Christmas Eve 2003, he was arrested for possession of child pornography, which ultimately led to a ten-year, $10,000 sentence. But while fortune smiled in the form of early parole, the anti-Christmas spirit came back ... More >>

Quadruple Weird

"Experimental" doesn't quite describe Flaming Lips' Zaireeka

Hightower High Broadcast Academy Scores Another Grant

This past January, when the Houston Press awarded its first-ever MasterMinds Awards to three local groups showing cutting edge creativity and determination, one of the recipients of a $2,000 check from us was the Hightower High School's Broadcast Academy, headed up by Ted Irving, the media academy c ... More >>

The Derek Trucks Band: Already Free

This past January, when the Houston Press awarded its first-ever MasterMinds Awards to three local groups showing cutting edge creativity and determination, one of the recipients of a $2,000 check from us was the Hightower High School's Broadcast Academy, headed up by Ted Irving, the media academy c ... More >>

The Stars of HISD

"Prominent" takes on new meaning

Chinese Democracy's Liner Notes Upstage Axl Rose's Would-Be Magnum opus

Amuse Your Delusion

Vinyl Heads

They're turning to needles, looking for purity

DISConnect

Sales of CDs are falling faster than you can say iPod

Midnight in the Garden of PS3

Camping out at Best Buy with gamers -- and entrepreneurs

Letters to the Editor

Camping out at Best Buy with gamers -- and entrepreneurs

Reliantly Unhelpful

The abyss of customer service gets deeper

Told You So

Racket gets his gloat on

Black-Ass Fleas

Are they sellouts -- or just really bad rappers?

Cowboy Mouth

Friday, May 6, at Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak Drive, 713-862-3838.

Best Video Selection

Cactus Music and Video

Drastic Unilateral Action

Universal hopes to JumpSTART flagging CD sales with aggressive price cuts. Who benefits the most?

A Prickly Pair of Problems

Cactus Music and Video battles to keep its marquee and to get the Eagles on its shelves

Turning the Screw: J-Dawg, DMX, Birdman/Weezy, Kelis/Nas, Weezy/Obama, Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J, Geto Boys and More

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: J-Dawg, "Never" Wire To Wire Did you know that it costs $240,000 to impersonate an FBI agent? DMX does. ... More >>

Branch Water Tavern: The Best New Restaurant Not Open Yet?

​Branch Water Tavern at 510 Shepherd will be a new American tavern with outstanding whiskeys, microbrewery beers and one of the hottest chefs in the city behind the stove. CIA grad David Grossman used to cook at Gravitas and Reef. Before that, he worked with the legendary Alfred Portale at Got ... More >>

Does Anyone Care About Super Tuesdays Anymore? Besides Us?

​Time was that Tuesdays used to be the best day of the week for your average recorded-music consumer. Since Rocks Off was just a wee music nerd, Tuesdays were his favorite days of the week because it was always the universal day for all new releases to hit the stores. It started with begging our p ... More >>

For Black Friday, The Top 5 Videos Set In Shopping Malls

"Are you off your fucking meds or something?"​We at Rocks Off are a bit puzzled by the continued practice of cramming ourselves into local malls on "Black Friday," or whatever we're calling the day after Thanksgiving this year (we perfer to remember it as a Megadeth song). Wasn't online shoppi ... More >>

I Hate the Holidays Cabaret

Phoenix, INC. musically explores the horrendousness of the holidays

Magnolia City Mixtape: Nameless Sound Kids' Classes, Runaway Sun to NYC, '59 Nash for Sale, etc.

​ New Year, new feature for Rocks Off. Each week we'll digest the Houston music scene's subtle notes you might not have caught in your online travels. We call it Magnolia City Mixtape. Like to hear it? Here it go. Starting today, Nameless Sound is offering free creative music classes for youths, t ... More >>

Houston Slammed By European Travel Blog: We're Boooorrring

But...but...there's the Kemah Boardwalk!!​Among world cities, in which category does Houston rank second only to Brussels, the capital of the European Union? Tedium, at least according to the European Union-funded wiki blog OpenTravel. According to "Chili," an English-language challenged scr ... More >>

Rockin' His Life Away, Jerry Lee Lewis Shows Signs Of Age

​Lonesome, Onry and Mean waited anxiously as the appointed hour neared. We'd had this feeling around this time last year as we awaited the appearance of Shane MacGowan and the Pogues. Would MacGowan die onstage, spilling his drink? Would he be so drunk he'd make a pathetic fool of himself? We ... More >>

Space Shuttle Discovery: Five Notable Missions, For Better Or Worse

Godspeed, Discovery​The space shuttle Discovery headed to the pad yesterday for its last trip into space.The 26-year-old craft has seen a lot in its career, some good, some bad, some odd. Here are five highlights:5. Being used as an old-folks' tour busIn 1998 Discovery took John Glenn up to space ... More >>

What Is The Best Album Cover Ever?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. ​This Week's Panel: Bun B, Lil Flip, Hollywood FLOSS, hasHBrown, Kyle Hubbard, Renzo, Brad Gilmore and Nash White Not Invited: Kanye, bec ... More >>

Five Reasons Not to Shop on Black Friday

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Shopping Free-For-All!​Every year around this time in the United States, we celebrate a day so important, so American that it brings people together like no other day can. Around 3 a.m. this Friday, bleary-eyed shopaholics will power into retail outlets all over the country in ... More >>

Shop 'Til You Drop: People Already Lined Up for Black Friday

Like Blair Witch Project, but without the death and black and white photography.​If you're wondering if it's too early to get in Black-Friday mode, no, it's not. Customers are already lining up in front of Best Buys, Targets and other popular stores for those early Friday morning openings. (Ta ... More >>

The Five Most Annoying Christmas Ads

Anyone who's watched football (or What Not to Wear, we guess) recently knows that the onslaught has begun: The horror of Christmas commercials. These heinous 30-second bits of torture can abuse viewers in several ways. Here are five of the worst. 5. Jewelry for the Meek, Submissive Weaker Sex Whet ... More >>

Lamar's eLibrary

Goodbye paper books, hello Facebook.

Walmart vs Best Buy: Rice Studies Why Walmart's Kicking Butt

Best Buy might become the next Blockbuster, Rice researchers say​Walmart is going to kick Best Buy's ass this holiday shopping season, and researchers at Rice say they know why. And the stunning answer is.....prices. Though they maintained equivalent levels of overall customer satisfaction ( ... More >>

Christmas Eve Store Hours, For All You Procrastinators

The doors!! They are closing!!​Maybe you've got today off and are planning to do your Christmas shopping. Maybe you don't have today off, or maybe you just like putting things off to the last minute. A Friday Christmas Eve shopping trip sounds like hell to us, but if you're determined to go t ... More >>

Super Bowl XLV: Livebloggin' the Commercials!

Betty White enjoys a Snickers.​For someone who watches the biggest television event in America strictly for the breaks, last year was a bummer. Betty White's Snicker's ad, and the Kia commercial featuring a posse of partying toys were two standouts in a year of boring, sexist and outright dumb ... More >>

Montrose Muffled

Residents take sides on bar noise issue.

David Allen Smith: Busted for Kiddy Porn after Wife Turns Geek Squad Loose on Computer

He doesn't look like he'd have kiddie porn at ALL.​Marriage and a weakness for child porn. It's a combo that doesn't mix. The latest area man to find that out the hard way is 67-year-old David Allen Smith of Lufkin. Police there say Smith's vile stash came to light after his wife took thei ... More >>

Marcus Manchild: NYC Flips For UGK

Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), George, Chad and Nate, are currently traveling the country as part of the Smoker's Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker's Club tour comes to Warehouse Live November 11, and Marcu ... More >>

7 Gifts for Your Nerdy Little Audiophile

Audiophiles think Doc Brown's speaker sounds like shit.​In a classic bit of stand up comedy, Steve Martin described his obsessive search for the best stereo system of the day. He kept adding more and more speakers until he finally reached the "google-phonic" stereo with the closest number of s ... More >>

Top 5 Reasons Cyber Monday Is Better Than Black Friday

​To bastardize a line from Groundhog Day, "Well, it's Black Friday...again." It's that oh-so-magical time of year when the strong walk away from predawn shopping trips with armfuls of electronic goodies while the weak get treated by EMS for boot marks left by shoppers stampeding into Best Buy. ... More >>

For Cold and Flu Season: Which Cough Syrup Tastes Best?

Nature Fusion had points docked for being ridiculously, outlandishly difficult to open.​General holiday stress, wildly schizophrenic weather and two weekends in a row of driving to Dallas-Fort Worth has taken its toll on me: I have a cold. It happens once a year, despite my best efforts. And ... More >>