George Harrison

The Five Best Songs That Sample the Beatles

Pop and R&B superstar Frank Ocean has recently opened up to MTV News that he's been on a Beatles and Beach Boys binge when seeking inspiration for his upcoming second full-length record. While it's not exactly surprising to hear of a young artist gorging himself on Beatles classics for ideas, it is ... More >>

The 5 Worst Disasters In Benefit Concert History

Benefit concerts are great. The practice of bands playing to raise money for a cause can be as local as helping a fellow unsigned musician pay for their son's hospital bills to as international as world hunger. Though we may pinch our noses at the perceived sanctimoniousness of people like Bono and ... More >>

Radioactive Duo

Classic-rock station 93.7 The Arrow yanks controversial morning DJs Walton and Johnson off the air.

RIP Ravi Shankar, Sitar Pioneer And Beatles Buddy

One of the greatest musicians of all-time has died. Ravi Shankar, sitar legend and easily one of India's most revered cultural ambassadors, passed away Tuesday afternoon at the age 92 in San Diego. According to ZeeNews, he had been having trouble breathing and was admitted into the hospital last w ... 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 >>

The Song Is a Lie: We Wanted the Best. We Didn't Get It.

This week it's all about exposing song titles that are complete and outright blatant lies. So far the Beatles have let us down. George Harrison's guitar wasn't gently weeping, it was breathing easy in a corner while Eric Clapton's rig wailed like a broken-hearted banshee all over the "White Album." ... More >>

The Song Is a Lie: The White (Lie) Album

Song titles should speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Take it from me, I'm the guy who co-wrote "You Cannot Kill David Arquette" and he's still completely undeniably alive despite multiple ninja attacks. That's called credibility, children, and you might want to take notes. ... More >>

''One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer — Guitar Art, No Strings Attached''

Jane's Addiction & Other Big 1987 Debut Albums

Tonight Jane's Addiction comes to the Bayou Music Center, touring behind last year's The Great Escape Artist, only their fourth studio album in their nearly 27 years as a band. A few weeks back Rocks Off talked to lead singer and Lollapalooza honcho Perry Farrell about the band's future and what cou ... More >>

The Damn Quails & 10 Other Bird-Brained Bands

Tonight the Houston Press Concert Series resumes at Pub Fiction with Oklahoma duo the Damn Quails. The Quails' song "Fools Gold," from their 2011 album Down the Hatch, is tearing it up on Texas country and roots-rock radio right now, landing them three Lonestar Music Awards and airplay on BBC roots ... More >>

Six-String Pawn Stars: Top 10 Famous Stolen Guitars

Tom Petty got a real kick in the balls late last week when he discovered that his vintage blond 1967 12-string Rickenbacker and his Gibson SGTV Junior had been stolen from a California soundstage where the Heartbreakers had been rehearsing for an upcoming tour. Three other vintage guitars owned by b ... 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 >>

Shanti: Music's Top 10 Yoga Enthusiasts

This weekend, the Texas Yoga Conference hits town at the University of Houston Recreation and Wellness Center. It's like a big party where everyone practices yoga and learns or improves yoga techniques. At the end of the weekend, there will be musical performances by the Desert Dwellers, Tyagaraja, ... More >>

Lord Lordy, Look Who's Forty: The Best Albums Of 1972

Last week I told you about the best debut albums of 1992, making a lot of us feel old in the process. Hell, I was only nine when those came out and I felt feeble making the list. This week we look at the best albums of 1972, now four decades in the hole, but no less fulfilling and influential. Wha ... More >>

Your Biggest Fan: When Rockers Get Stalkers

cinemafestival/shutterstock.com​This past week a statement by pop institution Madonna helped put away one of her newest stalkers, Polish citizen Grzegorz Matlok, who broke into Madge's London home and the residence of her ex-hubby Guy Ritchie. Madonna submitted the statement to Southwark Crown ... More >>

The Simpsons' Top 11 Musical Guests

​When The Simpsons completes its last (contracted) season in 2014, it will have set staggering new broadcast records for longest running sitcom (over 550 episodes) and longest running prime time scripted TV series (25 seasons). These are all American records, of course, because the Japanese co ... More >>

Troubled Fantasy: Creepy Wax Figures Of John Lennon

It's a big week for Beatles fans, which is like saying it's a big week for people who like air and water. Yesterday was John Lennon's 71st birthday, and tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of "Imagine." The Martin Scorsese-directed doc on George Harrison's life, the beyond stellar George Harrison: Livi ... More >>

5 Movies That Wouldn't Exist Without George Harrison

After giving the deluxe documentary treatment to Bob Dylan (No Direction Home) and the Rolling Stones (Shine a Light), Martin Scorsese now trains his camera on George Harrison for George Harrison: Living In the Material World, his two-part film about the "Quiet Beatle" that airs at 8 p.m. tonight an ... More >>

The Most Bizarre Music Memorabilia Ever Auctioned Off

michaeljacksonfuneral.orgNote: Not the actual million-dollar jacket.​Have you ever worked in a souvenir store, memorabilia outlet or run an online auction? If so, odds are you have developed a venal, burning hatred for collectors. Rocks Off isn't going to mince words: collectors are some of t ... More >>

Comment of the Day: My Sweet Lord, George Harrison Liked What?

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

George Harrison, Dedicated Dallas Fan

All things must pass, but Dallas can't be missed​We're currently reading the second volume of the voluminous diaries of Monty Python's Michael Palin, a good potato chip read that, in this case, covers the 1980s. Among the things we learned: former Beatle George Harrison, he of the mystical in ... More >>

Top Five Songs About Horses

​Rocks Off's regular readers presumably know by now that we love few things more than offbeat anniversaries, and recently we came across one of the oddest yet. Thirty-two years ago Monday, on Feb. 28, 1979, the "actor" who played the original Mr. Ed in the 1960s TV show passed away. Yes, we're ... More >>

10 Beatles Urban Legends: True Or False?

​When you're a band like the Beatles - who first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964, 47 years ago today - tall tales and urban legends spring up all around... mostly because when a band is a worldwide cultural phenomenon, anything can seem possible or even plausible. Some of th ... More >>

Top 10 Double Albums That Should Have Stayed Single

​Not all double albums should have been double albums, just as some albums had to be double albums in order for their point to be made. Each case is different with each band or artist. The Who's Tommy and Quadrophenia had to be double albums to tell their stories of teenage wastelands and po ... More >>

FAIL: Morrissey, Scott Weiland, Whitesnake, Conspiracy Theorists

​Morrissey Loves Animals So Much It Makes Him Racist: Morrissey has been one of the biggest ambiguously snarky pussies in all of rock music for some years now, popular among 15-year-old bisexuals of all races and creeds. Sometimes, however, the former Smiths frontman likes to make a straightf ... More >>

Beatles Mockumentary Revisits "Paul Is Dead" Myth

Paul McCartney Really is Dead: The Last Testament of George Harrison Highway 61 Entertainment 95 mins., $14.95. ​ROCKS OFF WORLD EXCLUSIVE: At last, the truth can be told about one of rock and roll's greatest mysteries! As he lay dying of lung cancer in 2001, a weak George Harrison dictated ... More >>

Seven Musical Marriages Sullied By Proposition 8's Repeal

​Just in case you're one of the very few people who hasn't yet been seized by government shock troops and forced to marry someone of the same sex, a California Supreme Court judge ruled Proposition 8 unconstitutional Wednesday. This would be the proposition which officially defines marriage as ... More >>

A Weird Pop Heaven Via Bay City's "Happy Radio"

​Along Rocks Off's various Texas travels, we almost never listen to an iPod or compact discs anymore. Anything we could pop in wouldn't match the rhythm of the road; the Stooges or Metallica don't really jive with Highways 59, 71 or 77. In today's world of satellite radios, streaming tunes on your ... More >>

Idol Beat: Lennon-McCartney, Weak

"Paul, I'm starting to wish we'd never written these songs."​There was no mentor this week on American Idol, though I find myself pining for one when I realized that that meant this week's taped bits would be the kind of cheesy and unfeeling montages in which the contestants talk about how muc ... More >>

American Idol: Lennon-McCartney, Weak

"Paul, I'm starting to wish we'd never written these songs."​There was no mentor this week on American Idol, though I find myself pining for one when I realized that that meant this week's taped bits would be the kind of cheesy and unfeeling montages in which the contestants talk about how muc ... More >>

He Said She Said: The Sweet, Sweet Sounds of Revenge, Part 2

​For someone who wears motorcycle boots and carries a knife, the bald(ing) He Said rightfully looks like he should be one of the most vindictive cats in the world. But in reality, the only revenge we have ever taken has been of the emotional variety, and that's probably much worse than any windows ... More >>

The Man Comes Around: Top Ten Big-Deal Musical Deaths of the Decade

​This past decade saw the passing of an innumerable amount of musical icons and pioneering giants. Not only did we lose the second coolest Beatle, but we lost two of the best dancers and performers the world will ever see. Punk rock and metal saw some of their best and brightest lights get snuffed ... More >>

Come On, Avatar: Do Your Aliens Really Have To Be Blue? It's Been Done

It's hard to escape the ad campaign for James Cameron's Avatar, much as you'd like to. We've seen the trailer in a theater -- even in a 3-D theater -- and we are...whelmed. Certainly not overwhelmed; not yet ready to declare ourselves completely underwhelmed. We're sure it comes off better as a ful ... More >>

Bayou Beat: Live Nation Goes All In, ZZ Top Tickets Up for Grabs, Meridian Rocks the Sabbath and More

Courtesy of Stephen "Rube" Sager Live Nation has outdone itself on its latest "No Service Fee" Wednesday. All day, $29.99 buys a lawn ticket - one lawn ticket, mind you - parking, all those pesky fees, a hot dog and a soda for any participating show at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Once they ... More >>

Remembering 1969, Part 3: The Beginning of the End for the Beatles

Note: see Part 1 here and Part 2 here. For most of 1969, the Beatles were pretty much comatose - after the disastrous Get Back sessions (which would later spawn the Phil Spector-produced Let It Be), they reconvened to the studio that spring to record the music for what would become their final reco ... More >>

The Whole Wide World: Putumayo Presents: India

Various Artists Putumayo Presents: India www.putumayo.com With Slumdog Millionaire's recent sweep at this year's Oscars, the music of India has become more and more present on our airwaves - a slow trend that began four decades ago when George Harrison first introduced Ravi Shankar's ragas t ... More >>

Heroic Boys and Mexican Families

Reverberations: Bipolaroid’s E(i)ther Or

Boxed Out

Do we really need to hear every last studio detail?

Os Mutantes

Mutantes Ao Vivo: Barbican Theatre, London 2006

The Girl Next Door, Ford at Fox, Saturday Night Live: The Complete Second Season, The Wire: The Complete Fourth Season

Get Lit: Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me by Pattie Boyd

Dead Rock West

Honey and Salt

Kevin Carroll

Kevin Carroll performs Wednesday, February 14, at Mojo Risin' Coffee Shop, 1600 Shepherd Dr., 713-426-1505.

Our Favorite Hussain

Wisdom of Solomon

A street preacher helps crack the meaning of the Sleepy Jackson's Lovers

Bluegrass Meltdown, Montrose-Style

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

Reckless Kelly

Saturday, July 12

Sitars in Her Eyes

Anoushka Shankar is her father's little raga-muffin

Static