Celebrity News

10 Other Musicians Who Should Have Said "Blow Me"

The line between rock star and cranky toddler can be a fine one; deny them their candy and you've got tears welling up and naughty words being shrieked at ear-bursting decibels. Every once in a blue moon, though, a rational thought will pipe up from said rock star, and it deserves a little bit of no ... More >>

Slip Slidin' Away: My Life as a Rock Journalist With the Houston Press

I had a hernia operation in the early summer of 2006, and had nothing to do all day but hobble around with cool cane a borrowed from Grandpa Hlavaty and play on the Internets for two months or so. I had developed the injury while working at Domino's, but it was cool because their insurance helped ... More >>

Today's 10 Most Predictable Acts to See In Concert

There's nothing quite as soul-crushing as a disappointing concert. We've all been there; shit rolls downhill the minute the dude behind you dumps his beer on your girl's shoes, or the security bro doesn't find your umpteenth "Freebird" request to be quite as funny as you did. It'll ruin the night wi ... More >>

Dear Grammys, I'm Breaking Up With You

Dear Stupid Grammys, I have a bone to pick with you. I sat through Taylor Swift's uninspired opening act while she half-sung/half-yodeled at a guy on a spinning bullseye. It was complete with an insulting and transparent Alice in Wonderland costume ripoff (which I'm not getting, by the way... is s ... More >>

Liam Gallagher Is My Hero. Don't Judge Me.

Liam Gallagher is a literary genius. Yes, I said it. And I won't take it back. But wait. Don't start typing out your "Beady Eye sucks and their album tanked" rant just yet. I can explain. I say this based not on Liam's musical prowess but on his inane ability to drop pearls of bitchy wisdom aime ... More >>

Jazz Fest Scores With Willie, John Mayer, Frank Ocean, Fleetwood Mac, Patti Smith, etc.

Well, I never thought that I would have John Mayer and Patti Smith together in the same headline with Willie Nelson and Frank Ocean, but that's why I kinda love New Orleans Jazz Fest 2013, whose lineup was released earlier this morning. Rewind: A Texican in New Orleans: Lessons Learned from Jazz F ... More >>

American Idol Returns, Selling More Drama Than Music

If you can believe it, American Idol kicks off its twelfth season tonight on Fox. But not just on Fox. Here is how One India Entertainment, "India's No. 1 Language Portal," announced the news at 18:03 IST (India Standard Time) today: MUMBAI: After the successful run of The X Factor USA while cashin ... More >>

The 5 Worst Trends Started By the Class of '99

Chris Gray's write-up of the Brian Setzer Orchestra's "Christmas Rocks" show at the Arena Theatre a couple of weeks ago got me thinking. These days, the swing maestro seems to be comfortably settled into his own little niche in the music industry, playing swingin' Christmas carols to grown folks. Bu ... More >>

The 2012 Village Voice Film Critic's Poll

Movies are alive in the Age of McConaughey.

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Houston's top 5 local music venues.

10 Surprising Things About This Year's Grammy Nominations

This year music has been dominated by viral pop like "Call Me Maybe" and "Gangnam Style," songs that initially became "hits" from outside the music business' traditional delivery system, usually YouTube. Thursday, the Grammys recognized that by nominating "Maybe," by 17-year-old Justin Bieber proteg ... More >>

Bruce Kessler's Incredible Houston Concert Photo Archive

Last Night: Sir Paul McCartney at Minute Maid Park

Sir Paul McCartney Minute Maid Park November 14, 2012 Seeing Paul McCartney live is a lot of things. It's communing with a spirit that touched millions and will touch millions for as long as humanity lurches forward. It's hearing the old schmaltzy bedrock anthems and the proto-everything blasts tha ... More >>

Justin, Selena and Music's Top 10 Heartbreaking Split-Ups

By now, we've all had a few days to digest the awful, shocking news that North America's sweethearts, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, have decided to buck destiny and call it quits. We're not entirely sure how this could have happened, but Obama was just reelected. Clearly, our worst fears are alrea ... More >>

The Voice Is Still Gone: 10 More Singers Who Have Lost It Live

Per your comments, we here at Rocks Off realized that a whole lot more singers have lost their voices over the years than just Axl Rose and the five included in last week's look at the subject. It's unfortunate, but it seems that many, many pop and rock singers are struggling along in their middle-t ... More >>

A Playlist for Tonight's Hurricane Sandy Telethon

The music business was hardly spared the effects of Hurricane Sandy. As reported by our New York sister blog, Sound of the City, dozens of shows in the New York-New Jersey area were postponed or canceled; the resulting travel snafu has scuttled touring plans as far away as tonight's (former) Houston ... More >>

5 Great Songs by Psy Besides “Gangnam Style”

10 Totally Played Out Wedding Songs That Will Still Pack the Dance Floor at Your Reception

Years ago, a wedding planner told me the basis of a successful wedding is remembering that primarily the ceremony is for the bride, the food is for the groom, the photos are for the family and the music is for the friends. While not 100 percent accurate, it does form the basis of a pretty successful ... More >>

Top 10 Great Guests for Beyonce's Super Bowl Halftime Show

Beyonce, the queen of all showbiz, is expected to officially be named the halftime headliner at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans sometime today after MTV broke the news Tuesday afternoon. The choice seems fairly sensible. There are precious few pop stars of her magnitude out there right now, although ... More >>

Hard Knock Life: Jay-Z Then and Now

This week marks the beginning of a legacy. On October 17, 1998, Jay-Z's Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the first of Jay-Z's many albums to do so and the start of a streak that continues today. Every Jay-Z album since has hit No. 1, making him the current record holde ... More >>

MTV: Beyonce Headlining Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show

Beyonce, native Houstonian, role model, Tumblr-keeper, wife of Jay-Z, friend and favorite of President Obama, supposedly has yet another feather to add to her headdress come February: Super Bowl Halftime headliner. According to MTV.com, the 31-year-old HSPVA alumna will be the featured entertainmen ... More >>

Is Adele's "Skyfall" the Worst Bond Theme of All Time?

Fifty years after the release of the very first Hollywood adaptation of Ian Fleming's superspy, James Bond returns to make his 23rd appearance on the silver screen this month in Skyfall, Daniel Craig's third crack at the character. The media blitz for the film's premiere is already in full effect, l ... More >>

MTV's Best Year: The Top 5 Videos of 1992

In 1992, the recording industry was riding high. The compact disc had become a major success, with music lovers purchasing new albums and old releases in astonishing numbers despite the format's comparatively steep price tags. And the music-video juggernaut known as MTV was helping major labels to b ... More >>

Turning 10, American Idol Struggles to Make New Stars -- But Mostly Misses

It's hard to imagine it now, just a shade less than a decade later, but at one time American Idol was able to crank out star after star in a succession of seasons. Most people couldn't name at least one of the last five winners of Fox's cash-cow pop show, even as ratings have remained healthy (if no ... More >>

Top 10 Mark Romanek Videos

Today is the 53rd birthday of Mark Romanek. Though he's a perfectly legit Hollywood director of great films like One Hour Photo and Never Let Me Go, he is also responsible for some of the greatest music videos of all time. For 20 years he has worked with top-level performers, and today we celebrate ... More >>

10 More Black Stars Who Should Try Country

Country Time is a new biweekly column for our sister music blog in Seattle, celebrating that city's favorite musical genre: Mainstream country. BY MIKE SEELY With the nation's major-party political conventions drawing to a close last week with a rousing reelection appeal from the nation's first bl ... More >>

Sir Paul McCartney, Rihanna Houston Bound

Rewind: Dear Paul McCartney: Please Come Play Houston Two pretty big concert announcements this Friday morning. First, Rihanna, last seen missing most of her hair at Thursday night's VMAs, is bringing her just-announced Rihanna Diamonds World Tour to Toyota Center April 15, according to Live Nati ... More >>

Best-Selling Single Of All Time "Candle In The Wind 1997" Turns 15 Years Old

Re-written in the wake of his friend Princess Diana's car accident death on August 31, 1997, Elton John's "Candle In The Wind" was merely a maudlin tribute to Marilyn Monroe before tragedy struck. Diana died from her wounds in a Paris road tunnel crash, along with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, and the d ... More >>

Explaining Classic Rock Bands to Kids

This past Sunday, The New York Times ran a piece by Paul Greenberg where the author explained how important the Beatles were to music and pop culture to his five-year old son. The child didn't know that the band had albums, but only knew the Fab Four from iTunes playlists. "When the Beatles record ... More >>

Death Be Not, Uh... True: The 8 Most Asinine Musician Death Hoaxes

Why do people perpetrate death hoaxes? Why would someone deliberately set out to spread rumors of a famous person's demise that they know simply aren't true? Is it some kind of Munchausen-By-Proxy thing, where they hope to absorb some of the residual sympathy and outpouring of goodwill? Is it a mad ... More >>

Switcharoo: 10 Artists Who Tried Other Genres

Have you ever bought an album of an artist you were familiar with and thought, "wow... that's different?" In fact, many artists try out other genres than the one where they originally became popular as a way for them to grow as artists. But a big question remains: Will the audience grow with them a ... More >>

The 10 Best Guest Appearances On Other People's Songs

Have you ever had one of those moments when, you're listening to a song and hear something familiar, like maybe a familiar voice or wonder, "Okay, who is really playing this particular instrument?" Many times a band or an artist will guest star on a recording. Sometimes it's a well-known fact, such ... More >>

¿Como se dice "Whoops?": 5 Musicians' Romney-esque Blunders In Foreign Lands

Mitt Romney had a troublesome time during his recent trip abroad, pissing off politicians and citizens in England, Palestine, and Poland (although to be fair, that last one was simply a guy who worked for Romney, not Romney himself). Besides providing a potential future Ted Nugent album name -- "Ki ... More >>

Musically Speaking, What Is the Best Zodiac Sign?

Sometimes some musicians just can't even be put in the same sentence as one another. Depending on people's musical preferences. It's hard to compare and can be a bit confrontational. But one thing is for sure the day on which someone is born can't be changed. And then that's where astrology comes in ... More >>

Justin Bieber and the Secret War Against Music

When people start going on about a hip hop illuminati or the secret messages in Lady Gaga videos we tend to laugh at them, call them kooks, and suggest they spend their free time in more productive ways. Jay-Z is powerful but only a crazy person would believe that Blue Ivy Carter was some sort of hi ... More >>

Top 10 Musical Moments on The Arsenio Hall Show

One of the greatest late-night talk show hosts of all time was Arsenio Hall. He was the quintessential Ed Sullivan for the '80s and early '90s. He featured all kinds of musical artists, but most importantly, he helped introduce rap music into the mainstream. Hall, who won Donald Trump's most recent ... More >>

2012 Summer Guide: Summer Movie Preview

Burn! Music's 12 Best Insults & Jabs

One of the not-so-fun things in the world is to get insulted or, in the words of Kelso from That 70's Show, get "burned." Now, let's imagine what it would be like to be insulted by some musician on one of their albums -- that "burn" I can only imagine was magnified by a million. Nevertheless, som ... More >>

Unscripted: Top 10 Actor/Musician Collaborations

Johnny Depp and Marilyn Manson have been hanging out a lot lately. The actor joined the antichrist onstage a couple of weeks ago at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards show in L.A., and played guitar on "Sweet Dreams" and "Beautiful People." Depp also collaborated with Manson on a cover of Carly Simon' ... More >>

Double Duds: The 10 Worst Duets Since "Ebony and Ivory"

Thirty years ago this week, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder hit No. 1 on the charts with their duet, "Ebony and Ivory." The song spent seven weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and the past three decades as a joke. Perhaps history's most hackneyed call for racial harmony (which, admittedly, ... More >>

Girl Gone Wild: Madonna's Top 10 Dance/Club Chart-Toppers

For the past two weeks, Madonna's latest single, "Girl Gone Wild," has been sitting pretty at the top of Billboard's Hot Dance/Club Play chart. That's the chart that tabulates which songs are getting the most spins in discos and dance clubs. It's a cool, upbeat track about losing control of your de ... More >>

Missed Opportunities: 10 Musicians Who Turned Down Big Hits

Have you ever had one of those moments where you thought to yourself, "Why did I do that?" or "Why did I turn that down?" Those kinds of moments happen to all of us. It's part of life, unfortunately. This happens all the time in the movie world, but you never seem to hear about it in the music worl ... More >>

A Very Special Message: The 10 Best Rock-Star Public Service Announcements

Ever since the Ad Council introduced the "Rosie the Riveter" poster, public service announcements have either warned us of the dangers of such risky behaviors as having unsafe sex, as well as reasons you should vote, or even to spay and neuter your pets. As rock and roll became more popular, artists ... More >>

Madonna's New MDNA Is Quality Dangerous Grandmother Monster

Today Madonna's 12th studio album, MDNA, is in stores and on iTunes. It's her first since 2008's Hard Candy, and the album title is already bringing the ire of electronic artist deadmau5, who took exception with what he saw as her excessive use of drug references in tandem with her new sound. The ... More >>

Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" And The Death Of The Word "Swag"

Sunday night, when Justin Bieber's new song "Boyfriend" dropped, the social-media landscape at large began comparing it to the work of Justin Timberlake, the music industry's somewhat dormant leading man. I was sad, because I like the Timberlake. Justin Bieber, I bought Justin Timberlake records, ... More >>

Law and Order: Top 10 Best (Or Worst) Musicians' Arrests

Nobody is above the law - not even musicians even though some of them may think they are. However, some of their outrageous behavior has become legendary. Others have spawned rumors, killed their careers and/or made them the butt of many jokes. In fact, this makes me wonder why there is not a cele ... More >>

Rumor: Eminem To Perform At Tonight's Shady Records SXSW Party

Most of the world's biggest rappers - Jay-Z, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, T.I., 50 Cent - have performed in Austin within the past week, are about to perform, or are at least in the city partaking in the SXSW festivities. Rocks Off was leaving Stubb's late Thursday night and heard Snoop Dogg performing ... More >>

Pulling A Cee-Lo: 11 More Contemporary Artists Who Need Their Own Vegas Residency

​Cee-Lo Green raised eyebrows a couple of weeks ago when he announced that he was settling down -- in Las Vegas. The Grammy-winning "Fuck You" singer says that his new semi-permanent show, "Loberace," will launch Aug. 29 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Vegas Strip and run at least throu ... More >>

Alert: SXSW Coverage Ahead -- 50 Cent And Much More

"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area." -- Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don't have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of the above building ... More >>

Top 10 Possible Future RodeoHouston Performers

The hardest thing about making a list of possible future RodeoHouston performers is making sure to color inside the lines, which means the things that I want probably wouldn't work. Sure, the Black Keys on opening night and the Rolling Stones doing an-all country set to close out the season would be ... More >>