Donovan (Singer)

Things We Learned from the Vince Young Outside The Lines Feature

Since falling out of favor with the Tennessee Titans in 2010, Vince Young's slide to the bottom of the quarterback food chain has been precipitous and eventful. The highlights include: - Backing up Michael Vick in Philadelphia in 2011 and pronouncing the Eagles a "Dream Team," a hex on that franchi ... More >>

Rolling Stones Let Psych Flag Fly On '67's Their Satanic Majesties Request

The Rolling Stones' 1967 album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, turns 45 today. The album's subject matter and oddity make it a strange holiday release, but hey it was the '60s. Best-known for the saccharine "She's a Rainbow" and oft-covered "2000 Man," the album gets lost in the Stones' greater l ... 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 >>

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 >>

Last Night: Rodriguez at House of Blues

Rodriguez House of Blues (Bronze Peacock Room) October 23, 2012 Ouch. You have to wonder how Houston has managed to produce and nurture as many great songwriters as it has over the years, because it's amazing any of them could ever keep their guitars in tune. Tuesday night our city's pernicious hu ... More >>

Mail Dump: Janis, Little Richard, dBs, Donovan, Etc.

The mailbox has been truly kind the past several weeks. Sure, there are still piles of useless dreck to wade through/past/over. But those all get to go to the big box in the dark closet and await the apocalypse. But there are standouts and surprises almost daily. Let's begin with three important re ... More >>

Promised Land

SXSW 2012, from Bruce Springsteen to Buxton.

The Best of SXSW Music: Saturday 3/17/2012

So, we come to it: the end of all things. Four days of madness, Doritos, Skrillex and finally, St. Patrick's Day. Before we bid SXSW 2012 farewell, allow us to share our favorite moments from SXSW day four. Later, we'll let you know which shows weren't so hot. Find our favorites below, and if there ... More >>

Joshua Tree: 7 Musicians Who Have Felt The High Desert's Pull

Twenty-five years ago today, U2 released their paramount record, The Joshua Tree. The record was intended to be a spiritual quest for Bono: A meditative dissection of the "spoiled child" he saw in American culture. Before Bono blessed the area with his humanitarian spirit, however, many other musici ... More >>

No Surprises: Rock Hall Set To Induct Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys

Photo By Marco TorresGuns N' Roses are Rock Hall bound, but which version of GNR will show up? ​This morning (well, it leaked last night) the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced their 2012 class of inductees. Included on the list are Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Bo ... More >>

RIP Bert Jansch: Legendary Folk Guitarist Dies At 67

Dave Alvin alerted us via Facebook shortly ago that British guitar master Bert Jansch has died. Jansch, who along with his band Pentangle was at the forefront of the '60s British folk movement, was 67. According to the Associated Press, the cause of death was lung cancer. The Scottish-born Jansch o ... More >>

The End is Nigh: 2012 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Edition

Mason Lankford said, "There will come a day when we forget the Rapture ever even happened," but Rocks Off is keeping an eye out for signs of our impending Armageddon. We were wrong last time, but we're totally right this time! Once again the time has come to select the most excellent musicians in o ... More >>

G N' R, The Cure & Chili Peppers Could Be Hall Of Famers Next Year

Oh, this will be a fun induction ceremony...​This morning, The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced the list of nominees for its Class of 2012: The Small Faces & The Faces, Freddie King, The Cure, Guns 'N Roses, Heart, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Spinners, War, Joan Jett and the Bl ... More >>

10 Things You May Not Know About The Beatles' Revolver

​First released in the UK on August 5, 1966, the Beatles' Revolver was born into tumultuous times for the band. The "Bigger Than Jesus" debacle was reaching its height in the United States, as some fans who took John Lennon's flippant remark about his band's popularity as heresy burned Beatles ... More >>

Top 10 Texas Movie Soundtracks

​This weekend, as the rest of the world catches Harry Potter mania for (perhaps) the final time, Houston gets a serious dose of Urban Cowboy nostalgia. Theater Under the Stars' production of the Tony-nominated 2003 musical - which The New York Times called "a conclusive demonstration that it's ... More >>

True Blood: Boxing Gandhis & Other Likely Possibilities

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. ​Each season of True Blood is based on a corresponding novel ... More >>

Get Ready: True Blood Report Returns Monday

​Rocks Off is super-excited that we'll once again be bringing you coverage of the music featured in Season 4 of Alan Ball's HBO adaptation of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels. The fourth book is our favorite in the series, and as each season sequentially corresponds with the books ( ... More >>

ACL Day 3 Recap: Devendra Banhart, Band Of Horses, Other Beardos

Photos by Marco Torres​Aftermath doesn't know the bargain Austin City Limits promoter C3 Presents gets by booking both Lollapalooza and ACL, but to this dog-tired participant, this year's Zilker Park festivities ended up feeling less Austin weird and more something-something. Not that it's a ... More >>

Bon Jovi, Rock & Roll Hall Of Famers? It Could Happen...

Stay classy, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame...​This morning the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced this year's ballot of nominees, with the winners to be announced in December and inducted next March in New York. Fifteen names are on this year's ballot, ranging from hip-hoppers, proto-metal icons, ... More >>

The 7 Most Polarizing Albums In Recent Memory

​This Monday night, MGMT hits the House Of Blues behind new album Congratulations, which has been getting one of the most tepid responses for a new album by a buzz band in recent media memory. The people that jumped on the bandwagon in 2008 after the Brooklyn-based then-duo released Oracular Spect ... More >>

Hollywood Ain't No Sunshine in Bill Withers Documentary

Still Bill, the documentary about soul legend Bill Withers (not the Tarantino movie), was released on DVD this week. The filmmakers spent eight years documenting the life of the Thoreau-quoting, piano-playing, philosophizing bluesman, who had immense success with a string of R&B and pop hits bu ... More >>

Magnolia City Mixtape: Nameless Sound Kids' Classes, Runaway Sun to NYC, '59 Nash for Sale, etc.

​ New Year, new feature for Rocks Off. Each week we'll digest the Houston music scene's subtle notes you might not have caught in your online travels. We call it Magnolia City Mixtape. Like to hear it? Here it go. Starting today, Nameless Sound is offering free creative music classes for youths, t ... More >>

He Said She Said: Music From the Past Decade of Our Lives, Part 2

​ She Said remembers being a little kid, thinking to herself, In the year 2000, you're going to be 20 YEARS OLD. Thinking of how old that would feel like and how far away it seemed. In truth, She Said feels no different today than she did ten years ago, but one look at her musical tastes over the ... More >>

Season of the Witch

U2's awe-inspiring Reliant Stadium show prompts a search for the unknown — and unknowable — in music.

MP3 of the Day: Chase Hamblin

​Chase Hamblin's A Fine Time EP somehow bridges the gap between the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the late orchestral work of Elliott Smith, without all the suicidal tendencies. The five-song release really is a marvel to listen, sounding like George Martin or Jon Brion themse ... More >>

Screen Plays

Shawn Phillips Is Stranger Than Fiction

Meet Navy rescuer and true rock and roll Zelig

Songs of Planet Krypton

The Man of Steel's pop-culture appeal is inscribed in decades of lyrics

The Velvet Viking

Norwegian phenom Sondre Lerche brings his precocious sunny-day pop straight outta the fjords

Stone Soup

Austin's Davíd Garza shuns talk and comparisons and lets his muse do the cooking

Blues Brothers

When not exploding with Jon Spencer, Judah Bauer testifies with kin as 20 Miles

Playbill

Experimental Folk: Shawn Phillips, Tom Jones

Night & Day

June 11 - 17, 1998

Rotation

Rotation