Cher (Entertainer)

Last Night: Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo at Stafford Centre

Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo Stafford Centre April 17, 2013 If you grew up during a particular window of the early 1980s, there were certain things you couldn't escape: economic malaise, the San Francisco 49ers, and MTV. If you were an early enough adopter of Music Television, you were more than fam ... More >>

Welcome Back: 5 "Retired" Artists Who Have Returned

Retirements in everyday life are often final, rewarding caps to distinguished careers so that the retirees can pursue lifelong hobbies and ambitions. Alternatively, they move to Florida and join a country club. In music, however, retirements are often little more than an excuse to sell concert tick ... More >>

Quietly, For a Dance Club, Rich's Reopens Under New Ownership

Rich's, the popular but troubled Midtown dance club, has quietly reopened under a new ownership group after the landlord evicted previous tenants in May. The venue at 2401 San Jacinto is now operated by a group of investors calling itself Rich's Sacred Ground Inc. According to Texas Alcoholic Bever ... More >>

Danger Zone: 5 Great Tony Scott Film Soundtracks

Tony Scott, one of the greatest action directors of all time, committed suicide by jumping off a bridge near Los Angeles this past Sunday. He was 69 and thought to have an inoperable brain tumor. Many of Scott's films also had great soundtracks, due in part to Hans Zimmer and Harold Faltermeyer. S ... More >>

New Book Gives Session Aces the Wrecking Crew Their Past Due

The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret By Kent Hartman Thomas Dunne Books, 304 pp., $25.99. Motown had the Funk Brothers, Nashville had the A-Team, and Stax/Volt had their Memphis men, but gold-record-for-gold-record, no group played on more hits in the '60s and '70 ... 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 >>

Gregg Allman's Cross To Bear: Not Gonna Catch the Midnight Writer

My Cross to Bear By Gregg Allman with Alan Light William Morrow, 400 pp., $27.99 If there were a classic-rocker version of the TV show Survivor, Gregg Allman would surely be one of the last contestants on the island, perhaps engaging in stealth coconut-bombing wars with Keith Richards, Eric Clapton ... More >>

Blue Hate Special: Loving to Loathe Guy Fieri

We've all seen this spiked, peroxide-dyed Food Network star eating his way across America's heartland. We've all heard him choking out limp catchphrases around mouthfuls of food, wheezing out airy, hyena-like whinnies of laughter while wiping grease and mustard off of his perfectly manicured, bleac ... More >>

Supergroups: 10 Bands That Sprang From Other Bands

From the remnants of other great bands are often birthed more great bands. Oftentimes these little side projects go under the radar unless you are a hardcore fan, or the new band itself gains a lot of airplay or word of mouth. Either way, some of the greatest rock bands of all time have been birthe ... 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 >>

Enjoy Your Lunar New Year With Some Of Music's Greatest Butts

According to Chinese reckoning, today marks the lunar new year. It's the Year of the Dragon. Specifically, the Year of the Water Dragon, which I'm told will bestow a peaceful energy on the coming year, favoring the ideals of negotiation and forward thinking. I know, right? BOOORING. We Americans kn ... More >>

Classic Christmas: A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Christmas music comes in all shapes and sizes. From jazz and blues to hip hop and heavy metal, everybody thinks they have an interesting take on holiday classics, but ... More >>

Teen Angels: 10 Musicians with a Penchant for Young Girls

In the great 80s comedy Night Shift, there is a scene where Michael Keaton is driving down what appears to be the West Side Highway in New York in a brand new Cadillac with "Jumpin' Jack Flash" blaring from the speakers. In a bid to impress a mildly terrified Henry Winkler, Keaton attempts to demons ... More >>

Slim Thug's Boss Hogg Outlawz Not Sorry For Outlaw Wayz

​The Boss Hogg Outlawz, Slim Thug's stable of gorillas, have been dormant long enough. They are readying the newest piece in their Serve and Collect series, Serve and Collect 3. That tape, a proper album, will release August 30. In the meantime, you get the holdover Outlaw Wayz, which they're ... More >>

Punk Rock's 10 Most Potent Women

David EnsmingerExene Cervenka at Cactus Music​Women are the resilient backbone of punk, providing creative DNA for the movement since the "zero hour," including Houston's own MyDolls and members of AK-47 and Bevatron, among others. Up 'n' comers like Vivian Pikkles keep the faith as Zipperneck ... More >>

Krayolas Score Surprise Hit With Bob Dylan Cover

​If you follow these pages you may have noticed that Rocks Off recently tabbed Tipsy Topsy Turvy by veteran San Antonio rockers The Krayolas as our choice for best Texas album of the year so far. Yes, we understand that this may be running counter to the other members of the local media and ev ... More >>

Houston First In Race to Gaily Cruise the Amazon

Photo from www.conciergetravel.ccA gay cruise to the Amazon awaits.​Nobody's celebrating Pride month quite like Concierge Travel, the Houston-based GLBT cruise agency. They just announced the first gay cruise on the Amazon is scheduled to set sail, reported USA Today. So grab your breathable c ... More >>

Saturday Night: Bob Seger At Toyota Center

Photos by Jay Lee​Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band Toyota Center April 30, 2011 If Saturday night was supposed to be Bob Seger's final farewell to Houston on what is reported to be his last go-round through the country as a performer, then he picked a stellar set list: 25 songs full of hist ... More >>

Beyonce, Dad No Longer Client, Manager

​Beyonce has severed business ties with her father and longtime manager since the days of Destiny's Child, Mathew Knowles, according to a press release from Houston-based Music World Entertainment. "The decision for Beyonce and Music World Entertainment to part was mutual," Mathew Knowles, Mu ... More >>

Christina Aguilera's National Anthem: Better Than Carl Lewis', Anyway

​Today, Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers are presumably on their way to Disney World, the Pittsburgh Steelers are praying Ben Roethlisberger did not do anything in the many, many strip clubs of the greater Metroplex to bring on a repeat of his season-opening four-game sus ... More >>

Rocks Off's Favorite Shows Of 2010

Marco Torres​Editor's Picks: Mary J. Blige, Reliant Stadium (RodeoHouston), March: Exquisite. Beach House, Walter's on Washington, April: Can't hate on this one either. Magical. Wu-Tang Clan, Numbers, December: Against all odds, they brought the motherfuckin' ruckus.

Stripping Through the Ages

Island Of Misfit Christmas Albums: Teen Pop Meltdown

​It happens like this: You are in charge of a major teen-pop act who can sell anything with their face or voice on it, be it training bras, shaving cream, or caskets. You have a week off in the summer from touring. Do you let the talent go home and sleep in their own beds or do you shove the ... More >>

Stripped

Rehashing yesterday's musicals, Burlesque squanders its hottest asset: Xtina.

Last Night: Hacienda At Under The Volcano

Photos by Jason Wolter​Hacienda Under the Volcano November 4, 2010 How long did it take Hacienda to warm up and find the rock groove Thursday night? About two drum beats. For a bunch of peaceful, soft-spoken, just-grateful-to-be-here guys who have been touring non-stop all year, the rising ... More >>

Burlesque: Cher, Christina Aguilera And A 14-Year-Old Houstonian

Nothing but class​Aficionados of the strip-club epic Showgirls are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Burlesque.Burlesque hasn't been rated yet, but it has Cher and Christina Aguilera in it, so you know taste and decorum will likely be in short supply in this movie about a seedy "neo-burlesque" house ... More >>

Musicians Who Will Fetch The Least In TwitChange Auction

​TwitChange, a charity organization dedicated to helping Haiti led by the only Desperate Housewife who doesn't look at least partially mummified, Eva Longoria, is having an auction that will change the very nature of self-obsession as we know it. Several celebrities have gotten together and ag ... More >>

The Ladies' Man

Meat Loaf says he's outdone Bat Out of Hell

Sushi Surprise

This nondescript-looking restaurant is serving the real thing.

Sashimi at Sushi Miyagi: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Photos by Troy FieldsMiyagi presents a freshly made sashimi platter.​This week's cafe review of Sushi Miyagi couldn't possibly capture with words alone how vibrantly beautiful all of the sashimi was. Luckily, we're now running slideshows along with all of our restaurant reviews each week. Have ... More >>

Lady Gaga's Imaginary Penis: Music's Best Sex Urban Legend Ever?

Marco Torres​Well, milady has come and gone, leaving in her wake a trail of Christ's blood and broken hearts. And a lot of people who couldn't get into the show having to make do with Kesha. Rocks Off was not among the anointed allowed to cover the concert, and we couldn't buy our way in becau ... More >>

Are You Totally Goth?

This guy is definitely Goth.​Being a Goth often requires a constant image check. How many points do you lose for owning a Cher album? If you don't wear black leather in the summer, does that show a lack of dedication? These are the questions and queries and posers that whip up a Goth into a fr ... More >>

Why Did Christina Aguilera Really Postpone Her Tour?

​So Christina Aguilera isn't touring this summer after all, according to a release Live Nation floated late Monday and Rocks Off caught via Billboard this morning: "Christina Aguilera's summer tour has been moved to 2011 due to prior commitments that the singer had made to her film Burlesque and t ... More >>

Idol Beat: Adios, Aaron

What does this have to do with crooning, Frank Sinatra and Harry Connick Jr.? Absolutely nothing.​I was amazed, if not exactly surprised, at how much time Idol can kill in a one-hour results show. Now that we're down to just a handful of singers, the producers are really reaching for padding, ... More >>

American Idol: Adios, Aaron

What does this have to do with crooning, Frank Sinatra and Harry Connick Jr.? Absolutely nothing.​I was amazed, if not exactly surprised, at how much time Idol can kill in a one-hour results show. Now that we're down to just a handful of singers, the producers are really reaching for padding, ... More >>

37th Annual Moonlight Ramble

Roll into a new season

Tommy Drake

The Woodlands-based comedian has some “kids, do try this at home” advice for wanna-be knife jugglers

Tea with Mussolini

Zeffirelli has a different take on life under a dictator

Scored by a Stranger

(Man) Love and War

Forget the Food

Go to La Strada for Sunday brunch, and the fiesta will leave you wanting more