Holiday Season

Capsule Stage Review: Fruitcakes

Classic Christmas: Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Let me just get this out of the way right off the bat: I don't care for Mannheim Steamroller. I think their music is odd and a little creepy. But, that doesn't mean 1 ... More >>

Hail, Santa: The Top 10 Metal Christmas Carol Covers

​Rocks Off likes to believe that Christmas is such a merry holiday, even some of Satan's most stalwart servants can't help but get into the act. Of course, it could be that heavy metal musicians record Christmas music for the same reason as Mariah Carey: Because there's a crapload of money to ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, A Christmas Story — A Ghost Story of Christmas, Fruitcakes, The Nutcracker, The Santaland Diaries

​Rocks Off likes to believe that Christmas is such a merry holiday, even some of Satan's most stalwart servants can't help but get into the act. Of course, it could be that heavy metal musicians record Christmas music for the same reason as Mariah Carey: Because there's a crapload of money to ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Ella Fitzgerald's Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​There is an admission that I have to make having written all these Classic Christmas posts this year. When I think of Christmas, I don't think of carols or choirs or ... More >>

Sex and Spacemen: The Weirdest Christmas Songs We Could Find

Photo illustration by John Seaborn GrayI want to believe.​Just the other day, Rocks Off sat at the computer, blank-faced and still, the cursor blinking uninterrupted. See, normally at this time of year, we come up with a list of depressing Christmas songs. This year, though, there was a proble ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Originally titled The Magic of Christmas, when it was released in 1963, this collection of Christmas songs was basically cobbled together in support of what many -- m ... More >>

Feliz Navidad: A Christmas Playlist En Español

photo by Marco TorresNavidad en el Barrio​We here at Rocks Off love our Christmas music, except when we don't. Seriously, big box retailer and car commercials? Why must you always try to force the Christmas spirit on us a full two weeks before Thanksgiving? But then, about a week before the big da ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Elvis' Christmas Album

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​In 1957 at the near peak of his early success, Elvis Presley did what many artists did: He made a Christmas record. The result was what would become one of the best s ... More >>

Classic Christmas: The Perry Como Christmas Album

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​When we think back now about the 1950's, we tend to idealize them as the birth of rock and roll, when kids were wearing leather jackets and rebelling against their pa ... More >>

Wine for Hanukkah, the Festival of Fried Foods and Olive Oil

Photos by Jeremy Parzen.Tomorrow night is the first night of Hanukkah. In the U.S., Ashkenazi Jews eat potato pancakes to celebrate the festival. Here and in other parts of the world, Sephardi Jews eat doughnuts.​You don't need me to tell you why we eat fried foods for Hanukkah, the Jewish fes ... More >>

Dining Out on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

elitemom.net​It's allegedly the most wonderful time of the year. But we're guessing whomever penned that phrase never spent Christmas Eve amid the pandemonium of wide-eyed, frantic shoppers desperately trying to cross those last few names off of the shopping list, or stayed up until the wee ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Bing Crosby's White Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Bing Crobsy was the first crossover pop star. He made movies, music, appeared in both radio and television programs and did all of it successfully and, more important ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Charles Brown & Friends' Merry Christmas Baby

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Blues musician Charles Brown released and re-released Christmas songs numerous times throughout his career. The Texas City native got a lot of mileage out of Christma ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Johnny Mathis' Merry Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​On the popular '70s and '80s sitcom The Jeffersons whenever George wanted to get Weezie in the mood, all he had to do was mimic the voice of Johnny Mathis while singi ... More >>

Classic Christmas: The Andy Williams Christmas Album

​There are two reasons we think of Andy Williams fondly. First, there is the classic episode of The Simpsons when Bart, Milhouse, Nelson and Martin travel to Branson where they see Williams perform. A teary-eyed Nelson said, "I didn't think he'd do "Moon River," but then -- bam! -- second enco ... More >>

"And A S.W.A.T Team in a Pear Tree": Hip Hop Christmas songs

​Have you grown tired of hearing the same played out Christmas songs on 99.1 yet? Of course you have. Even if you avoid the radio, you hear the music at the grocery store, company holiday parties, even at bars you escape to in order to avoid holiday overcheer. It's almost depressing. Christmas ... More >>

Classic Christmas: A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra

​There are many arguments to be made about music, but one that I doubt anyone could actually win is the one that goes, "There was someone in music at some point cooler than Frank Sinatra." Trying to make that argument is like trying to say Kobe was better than Michael. Sure, you can say it, bu ... More >>

Very Merry Pops

​There are many arguments to be made about music, but one that I doubt anyone could actually win is the one that goes, "There was someone in music at some point cooler than Frank Sinatra." Trying to make that argument is like trying to say Kobe was better than Michael. Sure, you can say it, bu ... More >>

A Modern Throwback: Mel Torme's Christmas Songs

​Mel Torme holds a special place in the hearts of Gen Xers because of his re-occurring appearance on Night Court and his classic guest stint on Seinfeld. In fact, Torme put in quite a bit of time on TV and in films despite the fact that his main gig was as a singer and composer. Torme was old ... More >>

Rocks Off's Annual Descent Into Sunny 99.1's Christmas Music K-Hole

Since 2008, I have spent an hour listening to Sunny 99.1 FM's Christmas music for the Rocks Off blog. Right after Thanksgiving, it's the first thing on my checklist, right next to finding new, weird holiday music for you and trying not to gain 20 pounds in merriment by January. Most of the time on ... More >>

Looking Back at A Very Special Christmas Track by Track

In the late 1980's, music empresario Jimmy Iovine cobbled together quite a collection of pop and rock artists to record songs for a Christmas album benefitting the Special Olympics. In 1987, A Very Special Christmas was released and rapidly became an instant holiday classic thanks to the star powere ... More >>

26th Annual Uptown Holiday Lighting

In the late 1980's, music empresario Jimmy Iovine cobbled together quite a collection of pop and rock artists to record songs for a Christmas album benefitting the Special Olympics. In 1987, A Very Special Christmas was released and rapidly became an instant holiday classic thanks to the star powere ... More >>

62nd Annual Holiday Parade Presented by H-E-B

In the late 1980's, music empresario Jimmy Iovine cobbled together quite a collection of pop and rock artists to record songs for a Christmas album benefitting the Special Olympics. In 1987, A Very Special Christmas was released and rapidly became an instant holiday classic thanks to the star powere ... More >>

Happy Biebermas: 2011's Bumper Crop Of Holiday Albums

Wishing You An Adorkable Christmas...​The Christmas season started back in the late summer for Rocks Off when we began getting PR e-mails about so and so's new Christmas album, and then in October they started showing up in our stacks of snail mail. This year the biggest complaint amongst ev ... More >>

Winter Wonderettes

Wishing You An Adorkable Christmas...​The Christmas season started back in the late summer for Rocks Off when we began getting PR e-mails about so and so's new Christmas album, and then in October they started showing up in our stacks of snail mail. This year the biggest complaint amongst ev ... More >>

10 Christmas Songs That Are Really About Drugs

memecenter.comMerry fuckin' Christmas, mang.​Halloween is right around the corner, so you know what that means: Time to start making a list and checking it twice. Bourbon, gin, scotch, vodka, Xanax, painkillers... Walgreen's and CVS have already stocked their shelves with wrapping paper, plas ... More >>

Justin Bieber's Voice Changes Just In Time For Christmas Album

"Say shawty, Merry Christmas, or whatever year-end holiday greeting that makes you happy." ​Children and adults alike are getting their holiday wish granted early this year, and they don't have to wait until Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus or even Christmas morning to receive it. Justin Bieber's v ... More >>

Odd Pair: Candy Canes & Pink Catawba

​Christmas is nearly here, and I know you all are desperately searching for a wine to pair with your favorite edible Christmas decoration: candy canes! Look no further, dear readers, because after sampling many, many wines while simultaneously licking on peppermint sticks, I have found the pe ... More >>

The Galleria Is Hardly A Winter Wonderland

confarta.com​Rocks Off, like the rest of you, hasn't finished all of our holiday shopping. Every Christmas, we tell ourselves that we'll begin earlier next year, but it never quite pans out the way we want it to. Ain't that feeling all too familiar? While we braved the crowds at the Galleria ... More >>

Eight Tips for Improving Your Christmas Dinner Photos

John McStravickGet creative with your Christmas dinner photos and even a drunken brawl will look good!​Christmas dinner can be a wonderful experience, sitting around a big table with family and friends laughing and enjoying each other's company. It can also be a horrible disaster complete with ... More >>

Ten Bizarro Christmas-Carol Covers

​Thanks to holiday-themed compilations like A Very Special Christmas and Little Steven's Christmas A Go-Go, we often hear our favorite modern artists putting their spin on holiday classics. But for those who are tired of forcing Mariah Carey's eight-octave "All I Want For Christmas" on their f ... More >>

Random Christmas Food Traditions: Junk Food, Arby's and Red Lobster

​Quickie-mart junk food, roast "beef" from Arby's and Cheddar Bay Biscuits from Red Lobster were what we ate around the holidays when I was growing up back in Florida. Sure, Christmas Day had the usual suspects of turkey and cornbread dressing, but before Christmas and after, we bowed down to ... More >>

Random Christmas Food Tradition: Pizza on Christmas Eve

barron​We eat pizza every Christmas Eve for at least the last five years. It's nothing special, we just call in a delivery or takeout order to the nearest pizza chain (last year it was Domino's), pitch in a couple bucks, and chow down when it arrives, presumably hot and steaming. It's one of ... More >>

Blues Christmas

barron​We eat pizza every Christmas Eve for at least the last five years. It's nothing special, we just call in a delivery or takeout order to the nearest pizza chain (last year it was Domino's), pitch in a couple bucks, and chow down when it arrives, presumably hot and steaming. It's one of ... More >>

11 Songs You Shouldn't Sing At The Office Holiday Party

​'Tis the season for office Christmas holiday parties. No doubt you have already had yours at work, or are getting ready for one. They all include copious drinking, great food, stolen glances, slurry conversations, "Can ah bum ah cigarette?" and intentional accidental groping. No bonus this ... More >>

Top 10 Non-Traditional Christmas Songs

"Baby Jesus, born to rock..." ​Amidst the time of year when we're bombarded with cliché holiday tunes and trite Christmas-carol covers, Rocks Off will now take time to appreciate a few original nontraditional takes on festive songs. Whether they're dismal adaptations of holiday malaise, tale ... More >>

Five More Severely Depressing Christmas Songs

​Last year, we rounded up quite a collection of depressing Christmas songs to darken your mood just in time for the holidays, but - as many people were quick to point out - we left a few off the list. Well, we're nothing if not thorough, and this year we've found five more monsters of morosen ... More >>

Five Alternative Uses for Candy Canes

pinguinoBonus idea: the candy cane mohawk. ​During the holiday season I am always inundated with candy canes. Friends, family and co-workers offer them as snacks, affix them to presents and, in the case of my mother, send them to me in the mail. I can't possibly consume this stockpile, and no ... More >>

WAR ON CHRISTMAS: Texas Principals Still Face Lawsuit Over Banning Jesus Pencils & Candy Canes

Who knew Jesus was a "Say my name! Say my name!" guy?​Two Texas elementary school principals have failed in their attempt to have the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismiss a suit filed against them for trying to kill the spirit of Christmas, not to mention Jesus, in innocent young children ... More >>

Our Annual Hour In Sunny 99.1's Holiday Hell

​The day before Thanksgiving, Sunny 99.1, "Houston's Official At-Work Station" did its yearly change-over to all holiday music. It's now a Houston tradition to turn over the dial at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Eve to snort your first line of Burl Ives or Brenda Lee of the season, before you have ev ... More >>

Seasons of Sharing: Christmas

Have a pint-sized holiday

Wumwoyo Wa Kwanzaa/The Spirit of Kwanzaa

Web exclusive!

Sugar Land Town Square Christmas Concert and Movie

Web exclusive!

Seasons of Sharing: Merry Christmas

Web exclusive!

Christmas Candlelight Tours

Web exclusive!

Where Santa Shops: 2008 Print Sale

Web exclusive!

Eve of Christmas Eve Party

‘Twas the night before the night before Christmas and there was plenty to entertain, including a band based on “pain.”

Very Merry Pops

The Houston Symphony take Christmas tunes from Muzak to merry

BBAP Xmas Tree Project

Local artists create a different type of seasonal decoration