Blondie (Band)

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

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. "They say that wisdom comes with age, and at that time, I had absolutely none of it!" he laughs. "I mean ... More >>

It Came From the Bowery: Punk Magazine Returns

The Best of Punk Magazine Edited by John Holstrom It Books. 372 pp., $30. While the thought of a hardcover, slick-papered, coffee-table book anthologizing the decidedly low-rent, ragtag Punk magazine might seem the antithesis of punk, even a curmudgeon like Johnny Rotten would have to spit a gob in ... More >>

15 Notable Houston Concerts of 2012

As we look back over 2012 this week, it is now time to revisit some of this year's memorable shows. It wasn't easy narrowing the list down to 15. Concerts are in chronological order. CHRIS GRAY DAY, The Continental Club So much local talent and so much love. Uh, if I'm maybe a little too biased on ... More >>

Who's Ripping Off the '80s This Year?: The 5 Biggest Offenders

In case you hadn't noticed, the '80s are back. They have been for a few years, but it seems like with each passing year we get more and more new bands wearing their influences on their sleeve. That's putting it mildly. The influence is, in fact, so pervasive as to make these bands practically offens ... More >>

Last Night: Devo & Blondie at Arena Theatre

Blondie, Devo Arena Theatre September 19, 2012 What a week for New Wave around here. Psychedelic Furs and Go-Go's still to come, and Blondie and Devo teaming up for the "Whip It to Shreds" tour Wednesday night at the Arena Theatre. New Wave is as good a term as any to describe a style of music tha ... More >>

The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: Blondie/Devo, Uncle Lucius, etc.

Houston's football, etc., who package the spidery and poignant guitar passages of '90s bands like Mineral and Rainer Maria into a super-crunchy outer shell, went to the UK this summer and released a three-song split with Square Business in July. Monday, see if you can talk the trio out of a T-shirt ... More >>

Blondie: The Best New Wave Band of All Time

Grace Potter: The Lion That Roared

In this week's print edition of the Houston Press, Rocks Off talked to singer Grace Potter about her spot opening this summer's "Brothers of the Sun" tour co-starring country superstars Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw, and the hit duet with Chesney that got her there, "You and Tequila." But there's so ... More >>

New Wave Crazy: Blondie & Devo Hit Arena Theatre September 19 (UPDATED)

UPDATE: According to Press Here Publicity, the venue is Arena Theatre, not Bayou Music Center. Everything else is the same. This makes me happier than anything on a Monday morning should. I listen to music in cycles, and for the past several months have been stuck in the '80s, more specifically any ... More >>

Wild Moccasins: Zahira Gutierrez's Top 10 New Wave Songs

Have you seen the Wild Moccasins? Rocks Off is starting to get a little worried. Just kidding. Houston's favorite indie-pop quintet has been strangely scarce recently, working their day jobs and getting ready to head out for a month of dates with Michigan don't-call-them-emo crew Saturday Looks Goo ... More >>

Turn The Radio On: Top 10 Musicians Who Should Be DJs

A few years ago, Van Halen front man David Lee Roth filled in for Howard Stern on his nationally syndicated radio show. Roth also served a stint as a deejay for New York's 92.3 Free FM. This is nothing new, because many artists have at some point served as DJs, such as Greg Kihn of the Greg Kihn ba ... More >>

Rude: Your Essential First-Wave And 2-Tone Ska Playlist

When you ask the younger dubstep generation what ska is, they will usually begin to wax poetic about bands like No Doubt, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake - the kind of stuff they heard on their older siblings' stereos in the '90s. Only a precious few will throw the Spec ... More >>

Songs For A Future Generation: Top 10 B-52's Deep Cuts

The B-52's are the quintessential alternative/New Wave/jam band. They can be both metaphorical and fun at the same time. However, what makes them different from other New Wave bands is that lead singer Fred Schneider provides a unique sprechgesang style to the genre. The band met after having a few ... More >>

Friday Night: Tontons, Wild Moccasins, A Sea Es at Fitzgerald's

Check out pics from the Tontons' tour kickoff in our slideshow. Friday night's wonderful assortment of tasty sweet indie pop was just that -- delicious! Now, you're probably wondering if you can you have some cheese with that opening description. Why yes, you can, metaphorically, at least. Ima ... More >>

Last Night: The Sounds at Fitzgerald's

Photos by James Bricker​Aftermath wasn't sure whether the tank top that Maja Ivarsson was wearing last night was meant to be ironic or not. It didn't really matter anyway; when the Swedish, platinum blonde lead singer came to the stage with The Sounds, every red-blooded American in the audienc ... More >>

Wild Moccasins: What They Can't Live Without On Tour

Still younger than springtime, the Wild Moccasins are getting to be old hands at this touring thing. (If you missed their set at BestFest - it was way early - you missed something special.) Lately it seems like the sunny Houston five-piece is either just getting off the road or about to go back on. ... More >>

Capsule Art Reviews: "Collections: Annual HSPVA Juried Show", "Dan Kopp: TIMEAWAY" and "Josh Bernstein: Galveston", Hardbodies, Marc Swanson: The Second Story, Mitch Dobrowner: New Work, Musicians Who Make Art

Capsule Stage Reviews: Arline Fisch: Creatures from the Deep, Hardbodies, "Liz Hickok: Jiggling Geography", Lynda Benglis: Glass Masks, Marc Swanson: The Second Story, "Mitch Dobrowner: New Work", "Musicians Who Make Art"

25 Essential Eponymous Albums

​Eponymous: (of a literary work, film, etc) named after its central character or creator: The Stooges' eponymous debut album. On this day in 1983, a young woman from Michigan who had recently given up on a career as a hard-rock singer released her first album of electronic dance-pop, an album ... More >>

Iggy Pop, the Bordeaux Connoisseur: The Funniest Food Requests on Riders

ITO EN, you're all that I wanted in a tea.​The next time someone calls you a picky eater, direct them to Weezer's backstage rider for their 2010 tour. Weezer demands that both regular and Canadian bacon be available for breakfast, that there be almond butter but no peanut butter, that there m ... More >>

Capsule Art Reviews: "The Clearing — Joey Fauerso," "Evergreen: Original Contemporary Prints," "Exurb: Input/Output," "George Gittoes: Witness to War," "Jackie Gendel: Fables in Slang," "Jenny Schlief Stock Photography: From the Woman Series"

Born This Way: The Ultimate Soundalike Playlist

​When Lady Gaga released her new single, "Born This Way," in February, it took less than a minute of the title track from her upcoming disc for fans and detractors alike to scream "Express Yourself!" in unison. Yes, it does sound like an amped-up version of the 1989 Madonna track. A lot. Thi ... More >>

SXSW Last Night: Queens Of The Stone Age At La Zona Rosa

Craig Hlavaty​Rolling Stone magazine surely knows how to throw a showcase, bringing forth Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis, Mini Mansions, and Black Angels to open for a reinvigorated Queens Of The Stone Age on Wednesday night. Every band on the bill coalesced with each other beautifully and succinctl ... More >>

Stars

This Week in Deliciousness

When we first heard of oxtails, we were like "Oxtails?" Then we actually tried some, and now we're like "OMG OXTAILS!!!"​Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where our enemies are chopped up and fed to their relatives. It's a succulent dish we like to call "Long Pork An ... More >>

Famous Juggalos Throughout Music History

Photo illustrations by Monica FuentesBig Money Hustla, My World 2.0​This weekend Rocks Off and photographer Marc Brubaker head once more into the Juggalo breach, to bathe in Faygo at the Insane Clown Posse concert Saturday night at Warehouse Live. It's somewhat become our beat, what with las ... More >>

Mullets & More: 17 Signature Musical Hairstyles

​If you have hair, Craig's Hlist hates you. Not in a "you shot my whole family" or "you are the serial killer who dissolved my sibling in a vat of acid" way, more in a "you got the last sausage and cheese kolaches at the office" way. Our hair loss began sometime in high school, when we were ... More >>

Million Miles Away

Plimsouls rocker Peter Case bounces back from heart ­surgery.

Ten French Lyrics Google-Translated For Bastille Day

​Here at Rocks Off, we loves us some French culture. French toast, French horns, French breakfast, The French Connection, French ticklers... wait, never mind. We even took a whole semester in college once. Seriously, though, we are big fans of Bizet, Berlioz, Debussy, Edith Piaf, Air, Justice ... More >>

4 Summer-Movie Soundtracks We Already Hate

​Last week, we told you of some upcoming summer-movie soundtracks that look like they're going to be fantastic. If positivity is your thing, go read that article. This one is going to be all about the upcoming soundtracks that make us wince so hard it feels like someone's chopping our balls with a ... More >>

The AIDS-Spreading German Popstar And Four Other Horrifying Rock Legends

​Hanging out backstage with Ronan Harris of VNV Nation last Sunday, his synth-excellency imparted a tale that Rocks Off hoped to the gods was not true, and led us down the path of myth and rumor to bring you a list of five of the most horrifying legends in pop-music lore. The tale Ronan told is th ... More >>

Songs We Play When We Play With Guns

​After almost 27 years, Craig's Hlist has found himself immersed in gun culture. It's not so much a masculine phallic thing (believe us, we have questioned it), as much as it is a family bonding experience. It's easier to go to a gun range with our family out in Pearland on a Sunday afternoon than ... More >>

He Said She Said: Our Musical Resolutions for 2010

​It's barely a week into 2010, and we still find ourselves writing 2009 on invoices and checks. We can't seem to shake that last quasi-awful year out of our heads. It seemed like one of the most interminable years we had ever had the bittersweet pleasure to find ourselves mired in. Little wonder t ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, August: Weezy, Blondie, Depeche Mode, JoBros, Katy Perry, Mos Def, De La Soul, Blue October, Green Day and an Audience With King George

Shea Serrano​ Asher Roth, Kid Cudi, House of Blues, August 1: "[Cudi has] tapped John Goldstein, Kanye's famed stage light guy, to help him create an actual feel to his show. Hipster rappers get derided a lot as not being "real rappers," but they put on a hell of a show. The crowd is already his." ... More >>

Beer, Pizza and Monster Truck Racing at Spaghetti Western

​We were on North Shepherd last week and stopped into the Spaghetti Western Italian Cafe to start off my day. We began with a house-made bellini -- vodka and peach schnapps is a great way to get things going. We spotted the Italian nachos -- fried wonton chips covered with alfredo sauce, mozza ... More >>

Aftermath: Metric's New Wave Coming-Out Party at Warehouse Live

[Ed note: Yes, we stayed for the entire show this time, but then... oh, never mind.] Photos by Marc Brubaker​ When Aftermath first walked into Warehouse Live Monday night, we figured there must be some sort of secret Canada-to-Houston information pipeline we'd never heard about. We didn't think To ... More >>

Comrade Ambassadors

Mumiy Troll, the biggest rock band in Russia, hopes for a belated U.S. breakthrough.

Aftermath: Blondie, Graceful and Casual at the Arena Theatre

Photos by Daniel Kramer​ Even at today's prices, dreaming is free. That's why an evening with Blondie is such a bargain. Sandwiched between the Donnas (who sounded tight and sassy from the will call line) and Pat Benatar (still "Invincible"), Debbie Harry's crew navigated the Arena's revolving sta ... More >>

No Exit

Blondie casts a wide net indeed on the band's Last.fm station.

Are You Ready for That Great Atomic Power? Songs That Go Nuclear

This past week marks the 64th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S., on August 6 and 9, respectively, bringing an end to World War II. The subsequent decades have brought us a Cold War, explosive proliferation, and largely fruitless attempts to ... More >>

Peter Case benefit

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 sti ... More >>

Single-Album Sets We'd Like to See, Part 2: Blondie, Green Day, U2 and More

There are so many artists coming to Houston this summer and fall who should pick up on the "classic album" trend Rocks Off could hardly stop at just five. See our picks for Nos. 6-10 here. 5. Blondie (Arena Theater, August 23) Album: Eat to the Beat (Chrysalis, 1979) After 1978's Giorgio Moroder-ass ... More >>

Frozen Fast Food Frenzy

I, for one, welcome our new McFlurry overlords.It's hot as balls in Houston. You can do your best to hurry from air-conditioned house to air-conditioned car to air-conditioned movie theater / bar / restaurant / etc., but at some point you're going to be forced to spend more than 30 seconds out ... More >>

No Doubt

Rotation

Rotation

Simple Case

Rotation

All That Jazz

Robert Altman finds his way home to Kansas City