Subject: Billy Joel

• Glory Days

  February 20, 2007

• Explain Your Most Played

  June 15, 2007

• Re: Explain Your Most Played

  June 15, 2007

• Touchdown Jesus Wept

  August 21, 2007

• Get Lit: Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music, by Phil Ramone

  October 10, 2007

• Sailing with Captain Jack

  December 9, 2007

• We Now Present... Steroids, The Musical

  June 4, 2008

• ACL: Sunny Sweeney Yes, Vampire Weekend No

  September 26, 2008

• He Will Survive

  Houston piano man Ezra Charles has outlasted even his worst enemies

  December 30, 1999

• Damn the Torpedoes, Live Nation is Full Steam Ahead

  Start saving those nickels and dimes, kids, because the biggest tour of 2009 (so far) is headed for Houston. At a press conference in House of Blues' Foundation Room this morning, Live Nation President Bob Roux and Toyota Center General Manager Doug Hall announced Elton John and Billy Joel will bring their "Face 2 Face Tour" to the venue March 19. Sadly, Rocks Off will be in Austin covering SXSW, but he hopes all of you have a lovely time. Tickets go on sale Saturday, with a top price of $175.

  December 8, 2008

• Thrift Store Cowboy: Garth Brooks, Sonic Youth and Yaz

  Location: Salvation Army, 3620 Broadway, Pearland Thrift stores are a museum of random genius. Where else can one find a faded D.A.R.E. t-shirt and a pair of soiled leather pants? Each trip is a chance for magic. Rocks Off spent some time at the Salvation Army out in the badlands of Pearland last week, on a mission for music. One afternoon he found a vinyl copy of the Nuggets compilation, and his fifth copy of Sgt. Pepper. Increasingly, this location has become a goldmine for compact disc ca

  December 16, 2008

• Bill-bored

  December 15, 1994

• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducts Metallica, Run-DMC, Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson

  Yesterday marked a tremendous day for rappers and thrashers across the world: Metallica and Run-DMC were announced as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's newest inductees, along with Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Bobby Womack, two members of Elvis Presley's backing band and pianist Spooner Oldham. This will be Beck's second induction into the Hall. The British blues guitarist was first inducted in 1992 with the Yardbirds, where he replaced the departing Eric Clapto

  January 15, 2009

• The Brits Love Them Some "Blastbeats"

  Leave it to the British music press to read more into something than it merits. Any new fad they see pop up they immediately have to make a celebratory month for, or start spending thousands of pounds on to trace its source. It's a dirty habit. They can't leave well enough alone. That's how you get an article in the Guardian speculating on the origins of blastbeats. Come on, blastbeats? Alexis Petridis, who looks like Mr. Bean's stoned kid, also writes a weekly fashion column for the Guardian w

  January 20, 2009

• Rock and Roll Royalty

  May 18, 1995

• SXSW Update: Watch Out for Devo; Peter, Bjorn & John; Justin Townes Earle; Hungry Villagers and More

  Devo on the BBC's Top of the Pops 2 With the big bad final band announcement coming next week, all is quiet on the SXSW front. For now. This past week was slow, with the biggest names confirmed being Devo, Cursive, Peter, Bjorn & John, and Justin Townes Earle. Devo will be closing out the BMI showcase March 20 at the Austin Music Hall, with (fingers crossed) one or two other shows yet to be announced. More than likely we see those guys playing at the huge annual Vice maga

  January 22, 2009

• Rotation

  February 8, 1996

• Rotation

  July 16, 1998

• Tonight: Battle of the Bar Bands at House of Blues

  A more cutthroat distant cousin to the rock/soul package tours of the late '50s and '60s, "Battle of the Bands" competitions were never really in style - except maybe in the Sunset Strip hair-metal heyday of the mid-'80s - but they never really go out of style either. Tonight at House of Blues, the old BOB warhorse gets trotted out once again, with an interesting local twist: six Houston groups will meet in six-string combat to determine Houston's best bar band. Winners get a one-year membe

  March 26, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Nine

  Fox Scott McIntyre: Don't go changin'...Remember last week's requiem for the Sarvernator? Turns out that Anoop - Season 8's Great Dork Hope - is in the same damn leaky boat: a phenom before the judges, a lamestain when serenading America. His put-on Usher turn last night cemented his unworthy status, and officially killed any affection I ever had for the guy. In all likelihood, Anoop will be in tonight's bottom three with Megan Joy and Lil Rounds, and he will deserve it. Last night was r

  April 1, 2009

• Another Rock Mag Bites The Dust: Performing Songwriter Says Goodbye

  Print publications focusing on music continue to fall like pine trees in a hurricane. The latest to close its doors is 16-year-old Performing Songwriter. Editor/publisher Lydia Hutchison announced Wednesday that the June issue would be the last. The magazine joins No Depression, Blender and Country Standard Time, all of which ceased print operations in the face of a bad economy, shrinking record industry, and heated competition for a dwindling advertising base. Decatur, Georgia-based Paste ma

  June 5, 2009

• Morrissey Taps His Never-ending Reserve of Lyrical Bons Mots

  April 9, 2009

• “Messiaen Centennial Concert: Visions de l’Amen”

  December 4, 2008

• Music to Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil

  October 30, 2008

• The Clash: Live at Shea Stadium

  September 25, 2008

• Indianapolis 500 Legends

  Indy Legends brings Brickyard history to life

  January 10, 2008

• John Mulaney

  January 3, 2008

• Sunshine When It's Gray

  March 9, 2006

• Cutout Bin: Novo Combo's Animation Generation

  Novo Combo Animation Generation (Polydor, 1982) The 1980s: everything was changing. A new generation was taking over the musical and cultural landscape. Heavy Metal showed that even animated boobs could be a turn-on. Tron told us that even crappy, monochromatic animation made by crappy, low-powered computers could entertain for an hour or two. It was the Animation Generation. This was a generation that no longer needed to tie its shoes - thanks to a fellow by the name of Mr. Velcro.* The

  April 17, 2009

• "Black Light/White Noise: Sound and Light in Contemporary Art."

  Black or not, the artists showing at the CAMH are a talented group

  June 21, 2007

• Waking Ashland

  The Well

  April 19, 2007

• Musical Food Groups

  If singers were cheese, what kind of cheese would they be?

  February 22, 2007

• The Easy Road

  In Honky Tonk Angels, three gals get what they wish for -- but the audience doesn't

  August 11, 2005

• How Low Can You Go?

  Let's see with the last installment of our guilty-pleasures project

  June 23, 2005

• Capsule Reviews

  Our critics weigh in on local theater

  April 21, 2005

• Joel Jams

  This Billy-based show will get you Movin'

  April 7, 2005

• The Best of Us

  Houston Ballet struts its stuff in "Rock, Roll & Tutus"

  March 3, 2005

• A Thin Line...

  Introducing the most hated men in rock (besides Sting)

  September 23, 2004

• Take This Love and Shove It

  The best X-rated breakup songs

  July 1, 2004

• Family Feud

  Hip-hop turns 25, and the battle lines are drawn

  April 1, 2004

• Best Band to Break Up

  Simpleton

  September 25, 2003

• Uptown Down

  Girls tries a tired lesson -- grow up, already

  August 14, 2003

• Game, Set and Match

  Former tennis player Melinda Mones serves up an ace with her self-titled debut

  March 20, 2003

• Suburban Escape

  Raoul's Red Apple Martini

  February 13, 2003

• Ben Kweller

  Saturday, March 2

  February 28, 2002

• A New Tune

  After September 11, some new songs just don't sound the same

  November 8, 2001

• Think Houston Radio Sucks? Try KACC's Lost Fidelity

  Photos by Craig Hlavaty Last week, we railed on the big boys over at the Eagle and the Arrow for perpetrating hours and hours of Billy Joel and the Eagles on the ears of Houston. It seemed to us that between those two fighting for the same audience, it was in fact the listener who was losing. But we didn't take into account the excellent work that is going on down Highway 35 every Friday afternoon on KACC (89.7 FM), Alvin Community College's radio station also known as "The Gulf Coast Rocker." D

  June 24, 2009

• Five Ways to Improve 107.5 the Eagle

  Paging the Purple One... the Eagle Needs You!For Houston music commentators, picking on the sorry state of the city's commercial airwaves is even more fun than sportswriters must have making fun of the Astros. But on the rare occasion a new format does come along - even if it's hardly "new" - it still inspires a glimmer of hope in even the most jaded among us. That's why Rocks Off still can't quite bring ourselves to give up on the Eagle (107.5 FM), "Houston's Classic Hits." For one thing, morni

  July 21, 2009

• OK, Maybe the Eagle Does Play Some Black People

  As we usually do when we get into work, Rocks Off tuned into Dean & Rog on the Eagle and lo and behold, they were talking about our suggestions to improve the station we posted here Tuesday. D&R especially seemed to enjoy the part where we said it wouldn't kill the Eagle to play some more people of color - if you missed this morning's show, it was probably your only chance to hear Lou Rawls and Gladys Knight & the Pips on the station, like, ever. In the interest of fairness, Rocks Of

  July 22, 2009

• Songs Slightly Less Inappropriate Than R. Kelly's Latest Single, "Number One"

  So R. Kelly's newest single is called "Number One." Seriously? Okay, we know Kelly was found innocent of all child-related golden-shower charges by a jury of 12 idiots, but when the subject of Dave Chappelle's "(I Wanna) Piss On You" releases a single called "Number One"... sorry, but we have to believe he is now simply taunting us. We taxed our brains to their very limits, and we were able to think of ten (as-yet) fictional songs that would be only slightly less appropriate. Have a look - you

  September 15, 2009