Cab Calloway

Top 10 Films to Celebrate Black History Month

In 1926 historian Carter G. Wilson began what was known as Negro History Week in an effort to make the African American story more prevalent in our culture's consciousnesses. The week evolved into an entire month-long celebration and promotion of African American history, which we recognize this mon ... More >>

Tramps On Your Street

Neartown stalwarts Sideshow Tramps make real-life "Montrose music" on eclectic new album Revelator.

Saturday Night: Los Amigos Invisibles & Trombone Shorty At House Of Blues

Photos by Marco Torres​Los Amigos Invisibles, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue House of Blues February 19, 2011 When Aftermath first learned that Los Amigos Invisibles and Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews would be playing the same concert, we were a little confused. We had no idea what would re ... More >>

BANGBANGBOOM: Houston's Brand-New Swingin' All-Star Band

John Powers​Late Monday morning, Rocks Off got a press release announcing BANGBANGBOOM, the new jazz and swing covers project of local luminaries Andrew Karnavas and Nick Gaitan. Seeing as how Karnavas' Runaway Sun and, well, everything Gaitan's ever done comprise some of our favorite sounds i ... More >>

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Five '90s Musical Fads We Remember Well, But Don't Really Miss

​A little over a decade ago, swing music made a strange comeback. You may remember seeing people all over dressing like '40s hipsters, jumping and jiving in Gap commercials and most every club or bar was offering swing lessons. It started with the release of the film Swingers, which still mi ... More >>

On Its 40th Birthday, the Top 10 Sesame Street Musical Guests

Sing the blues, Kermit... or greens. We know how you feel. Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, Elmo and Grover have something to celebrate. Sesame Street, their fictional New York borough, and the television show probably responsible for everything you knew as a kid, turns 40 today. Created ... More >>

Aftermath: ZZ Top and Aerosmith at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Photos by Mark C. Austin Make all the Guitar Hero jokes you want. Whatever it is that's kept ZZ Top and Aerosmith in the public eye for almost four decades - video games or beards-n-babes videos, Back to the Future cameos or Michael Bay ballads, bee-stung lips or cheap sunglasses - they've never for ... More >>

For April 15: Five Movies About Taxes

April 15 each year brings with it the journalistic challenge of covering yet another "last-rush filers" story, or some clever way to say that it's the deadline for getting your return in. (We still wonder if anyone's ever been prosecuted because their return had an April 16 postmark.)The subject of ... More >>

Striped Donkeys, Hep Pachucos and Defensive Driving

The Houston International Festival Is Upon Us

This Just In: Get Ready for iFest

Stealing the Show

New Orleans musicians blew into Houston on Katrina's winds and everything was magic for a while

The Houston Slide

The Medicine Show rocks the ephemeral city with eternal music

The Black Godfather

The wit and wisdom of Andre Williams

New Angels in Rock Heaven

Scoring the grim reaper's 2004 harvest

Bluegrass Meltdown, Montrose-Style

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

Brass Tacks

Who killed "When the Saints..."? The Dirty Dozen, and don't you forget it.

Hard Bop

Jazz legend Rick Porter has beaten more than his drum kit. He's also beaten addiction.

Gettin' the Munchies

Grass documentary leaves the viewer hungry for more

World of Their Own

Carolina retronauts the Squirrel Nut Zippers swing clear of camp

Night & Day

March 26-April 1, 1998

Swing Crazy

Zoot Me Up!

Joe Coleman, tailor to Houston's zoot suit culture, knows one thing for certain: Sometimes, clothes do make the man.

Press Picks

Fine Times On Catfish Row

HGO revives, and reinvents, a pleasing Porgy and Bess

All Rise