Bette Midler

Terminal Confusion: Why Are These the UK's Most Popular Funeral Songs?

Recently, a survey conducted in the UK revealed the most popular songs played at funerals. The big news everyone seems to be talking about is that Adele's "Someone Like You -- a song all about how replaceable a person is -- made it to No. 22. But we here at Rocks Off find the Top 5 equally confoundi ... More >>

7 Disney Characters Based On Pop Musicians

One of the interesting things about Walt Disney films is the way they borrow from or hold up a mirror to popular culture. Along with great storytelling and good songs, this is quite possibly why people like them in the first place. In fact, it's how some of us get introduced to great artists such a ... More >>

Lou Ann Barton: Austin Blues Queen Is Working Her Butt Off

It's 2 p.m. and Austin blues diva Lou Ann Barton is just downing her first cup of coffee of the day. Rocks Off admitted to her he was only on his second. "We were recording last night, so I'm a little sluggish," says the Fort Worth native in her gravelly voice. One of the masters of ceremony at t ... More >>

Living Loud and Proud

Celebrating Houston’s Gay Pride 2012—The celebrity grand marshal, local GLBT history, where to watch the parade — and the parties

Kristin Chenoweth

The Bassman Cometh: Jerry Scheff On Working With Elvis, Dylan & The Doors

Way Down: Playing Bass with Elvis, Dylan, The Doors & More By Jerry Scheff Backbeat Books, 240 pp., $19.95 Bassist Jerry Scheff had a bird's -eye view of a lot of musical greats in the '60s through the '80s, and in this memoir, the easygoing, affable storyteller tells about his experiences and how ... More >>

Denise Vivaldo Talks Food Styling, Sandra Lee and Tips for Better Food Photos

Denise Vivaldo is scooping fluffy spoonfuls of mashed potatoes atop a mountain of cotton balls. She tamps them down a bit with the edge of her spoon, securing them to the cotton mound underneath, then smiles and moves on to her next task: using a pair of tweezers to apply pieces of parsley so small, ... More >>

Bang A Gong: Duran Duran Guitarist Turned Rocker Andy Taylor Is 51

In the summer of 1987, the day before driving to Austin for freshmen orientation at the University of Texas, I went to see Andy Taylor at Fitzgerald's. The former Duran Duran guitarist had done a near-180 in his career, opting for T. Rex-inspired hard rock over the glamorous Britpop of Rio. After ... More >>

Gay Mermaid Ornaments: Why the Hell Not?

We did not know this, but apparently there's a gay thing about mermaid ornaments. You go on Web sites that sell Christmas stuff to Teh Gheys, and chances are you'll see some mermaids and mermans. Why? Mermaids have always seemed sexless to us. Sure, you've got the boobs, but there seems to be an in ... More >>

No Surprises: Rock Hall Set To Induct Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys

Photo By Marco TorresGuns N' Roses are Rock Hall bound, but which version of GNR will show up? ​This morning (well, it leaked last night) the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced their 2012 class of inductees. Included on the list are Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Bo ... More >>

Awesomeness and Hearing Loss at the 2011 Texas BigBeat

How do a crapload of drums sound when playing in unison in an airplane hangar? Pretty freaking awesome. ​In the Cameron Crowe-directed documentary Pearl Jam Twenty, lead singer Eddie Vedder discusses the detrimental impact of the band's Spinal Tap-like replacement of drummers, equating each ch ... More >>

Texas Big Beat Drums for Charity This Sunday

Photo by groovehouseDrummers young and old.​Five years ago, drummer Donna Fisher noticed that Seattle had been doing a charity drum gathering each year called Woodstick, and it sparked an idea. "They got over 400 drummers and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, we have to do that in Houston,'" she told Ro ... More >>

Margaret Cho: Cho Dependent Tour

She's singing - and still sassy

SUMMER GUIDE: (100) Days of Summer Movies

Enjoy the great indoors!

Bobby Lyle

More SXSW Speculation: Perhaps a Visit from the Plastic Ono Band?

​We haven't even passed MLK Day, and already Rocks Off is spinning our collective wheels about SXSW. Hell, we haven't even covered RodeoHouston, and we have already begun talking about where we are going to crash every morning at dawn. Rocks Off would like to admit that even on the way home from A ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" and the Tragic Ballad of Kirsty MacColl

Lonesome, Onry and Mean has never hidden our distaste for Christmas music. So if we were ever called on to choose our favorite Christmas song, the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" would win hands down. We can still remember the day - we were still Pogues virgins - when the lyrics, waffling between a ... More >>

Ladies Light in The Women

Once grand, this story is now just another chick flick

Mail Call: What's in the Crate?

Mindless Fun

Gilligan's Island is so silly and appealing, you can only enjoy it

Beat the Crowd

Idol Chatter

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

Burning the Yule Log

Never Go to a Party in Friendswood

Where does your town rank in the Houston-area good-taste stakes?

Get Back, Honky Cat

Barry Manilow whites the songs. Is that so wrong?

Pryor Experience

A comedian's daughter dishes on growing up Jewish and black

A Real Doll

It ain't easy being a sexy rocker

The Kings of Queens

The Kinsey Sicks quartet busts into Houston

Reelin' In the Years

A look back at Houston Press Music Awards of yore

Internal Distress

To: Jeff Cohen, CC: The entire World Wide Web

Les Passé

A tap-dancing Tony Curtis? Yet another My Fair Lady? The shows may be aging and tired, but TUTS remains Young at heart.

Best Easter Bunny

Rick Hurt, a.k.a. Rainbo de Klown

One for the Geezers

Former staffers line up to testify against KHOU

Blow Up the Box

TV managed to suck and blow in 2000, but still, we watched...and watched

The Theater Shopping Network

Apparently What Women Want is a feature-length commercial

Out of the Closets

Archiving Houston's queer history, one T-shirt at a time

Redneck Mystery Theater

Sneeringly funny Drowning Mona sleuths around backwater America

Valley of the Dull

Susann biopic isn't Great, not by a long shot

Disney Lightens Up

Fantasia/2000 strikes a better balance between serious and comic elements

Rotation

Jazzed Up

A Gay Old Time at Fuzzy's

In a turnabout, homosexuals raid a police bar

Rudy T's Spin Move

Lady Sings the Pinks

Self-created disco-diva Pinque: If this is camp, it's camp with a guilelessly straight face

Celebrity Photographer, Photographer Celebrity

Talking with Annie Leibovitz about the manufacture of cultural identity and the American dream