Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

Last Night: Yo La Tengo at Fitzgerald's

Yo La Tengo Fitzgerald's May 2, 2013 It's such a treat to see a band like Yo La Tengo perform at a club the size of Fitzgerald's, and that was clear during their headlining set on Thursday night. Sure, they play to hundreds more people at most of their other gigs, but anyone in attendance - includi ... More >>

The Six Most Iconic Station Wagons of All Time

The 2010s will forever be known as the decade of the crossover. But what is a crossover, exactly? It's a car that's trying its hardest to look like an SUV. Crossovers are the poseurs of the automotive world. My friend's car got totaled last week, and she called to ask me for used car advice. "What' ... More >>

ACL 2012: Sunday's 10 Best & Funniest Moments at Zilker

The rains came early on Sunday morning, but by the time the ACL opened up for business before noon, there was hardly a cloud in the sky, making for an extremely warm and muddy day. The biggest acts of the day -- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Iggy & the Stooges, Crystal Castles, and the Avett Brothers -- he ... More >>

6 More ACL Acts to Look Out For This Weekend

I'm what you can call a late bloomer when it comes to music festivals. Before coming to work for Rocks Off, my festival expertise was regulated to the Houston International Festival and that one SXSW that I spent bar hopping on Red River then somehow managing to sneak into Stubbs through the artist ... More >>

Top 10 Stolen Vehicles in Houston in August

Ready to buy a new vehicle? Besides checking out insurance prices and Consumer Reports ratings on certain models, you might want to take a look at the accounting Houston cops keep each month of reported thefts. Ford trucks were the fan favorite among Houston's thieves for the month of August, acco ... More >>

Incubus, Linkin Park

Jerrell Dwayne Lewis, 28, Bayou Body Count No. 137

A man was shot to death on the northwest side Wednesday night, police say. Jerrell Dwayne Lewis, 28, was found lying dead from several gunshot wounds in an apartment complex in the 5700 block of Lost Forest about 11:30 p.m. last night, HPD says. Officers responded to "a shots fired" call and found ... More >>

Shannon Michelle Garcia: Wanted In Fatal Hit & Run That Killed Jeremy Choate

Police are looking for a 25-year-old woman who they say hit and killed a motorcyclist Saturday and then took off without rendering aid. Shannon Michelle Garcia, 25, has been charged with accident involving injury or death in the incident, which left a 33-year-old man dead. His identity has been wit ... More >>

HPMA Showcase: Sunday's 12 Best Random Moments

Besides all the music, Rocks Off asked our writers to keep an eye out for the unusual at Sunday's HPMA showcase -- because it's everywhere -- and let us know if they found anything especially offbeat or otherwise noteworthy. HPMA Showcase: The 12 Best Artists of 2012 HPMA Showcase: Rocks Off's Top ... More >>

Friday Night: The Beach Boys at The Woodlands

The Beach Boys Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion June 8, 2012 The Beach Boys taught a generation of American kids how to be teenagers. With songs about the perils of love, the magic of cars, school ties, faceless authority, and depression and isolation, they wrote the book on high-octane hormonal roc ... More >>

Long-Time Car Salesman Rocky McCullough: Dealership Fired Me Because I Have Cancer

You might recognize Rocky McCullough from his Goodson Honda TV spots, where he guaranteed low prices while standing next to a buxom model or two. But now McCullough is playing a different role: the plaintiff in an employment discrimination lawsuit against Southern Ford in Pearland. McCullough claim ... More >>

2012 Summer Guide: It's a Scorcher

A summer concert season to melt your face off.

This Is the Guy Who Checked His Car for Damage, Not His Victim, in Fatal Hit & Run

Crime Stoppers has released a composite photo for a leading candidate of Most Skewed Priorities of the Year: The guy who smashed into a pedestrian and knew it, who then drove a couple of blocks before stopping to check his car for damage and then driving blithely on. The incident happened March 14, ... More >>

Shell Eco-Challenge Marathon

Hit & Run Driver Stops, Checks Damage to His Car, Drives Away from Dying Victim

Priorities: Some people have them. Not good priorities, but priorities nevertheless. Like the owner of a white Honda sedan, "a black male in his 30s." Police say he hit a pedestrian in the 3400 block of West Fuqua shortly after 2 a.m. today and drove away. He drove away not because he was unaware ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 1: Chef Junnajet "Jett" Hurapan of Blu Loves Race Car Driving

Executive Chef Junnajet "Jett" Hurapan of the new Blu Restaurant and Lounge (2248 Texas Dr; www.blusugarland.com) in Sugar Land's Town Square, couldn't stop smiling when I was taking pictures of him in the kitchen. "In New York, the photographers didn't want me to smile," he says, but for me he smil ... More >>

5th-Grader Abducted, Sexually "Touched" & Returned to HISD School

A fifth-grade girl from White Elementary was abducted this morning on her way to school by a man who drove her to an apartment "where he touched her in an inappropriate sexual manner" and then returned her to school, HISD says. The principal of the west side school, at 9001 Triola Lane, sent a lett ... More >>

Tea Party Princess

Victoria Jackson went from the big leagues of comedy to the rabid right of modern politics.

Bayou Cleanup Crew Finds Body of Motorcycle Rider Near Downtown

Went airborne, with fatal results.​A boat crew cleaning up Buffalo Bayou found, among the usual debris, the body of a dead motorcyclist about 10 a.m. today. Police think the man, 31, whose name has not been released pending verification, might have been in the water for as long as ten hours, ... More >>

What The "Top 10 Stolen Vehicles" List Says About Houston

Stolen, by manly men​Every month Houston police put out a list of the most-often stolen vehicles, a list that defines what are either the most vulnerable or most desirable members of our automotive society. This month's is out....what does it tell us about Houston? 3. Our car thieves want yo ... More >>

We Have Visited The BestFest Grounds, And It Is Good

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​Just minutes ago, Rocks Off returned from the Best of Houston® BestFest grounds at the Midtown superblock off Main and Travis, and we can say with all certainty that this weekend will be huge. We were there shooting a segment to air on Channel 39's NewsFix today at 5 ... More >>

ACL: The Sound (Or Lack Thereof) & The Fury

Photos by Chris GrayYes, that stage is as far away as it looks.​When a bleary Rocks Off arrived at the media area this morning, there was some chatter about Stevie Wonder's supposed sound troubles, and more online, both in our review and the Austin American-Statesman's. (By the way, we've upda ... More >>

ACL: Batman's Bale At Bingham, Nick 13 is a 10 On Sunday Afternoon

Marco Torresoh hai Batman!​The widget on our phone says it's only 91 degrees here at Zilker Park but we don't believe that voodoo. The humidity and heat pounding the park reminds us of Houston. We smell Pasadena and our fair city's taco trucks all the way from Austin. Our day started by walk ... More >>

30 Seconds With Chromeo

​Rocks Off sat down with Dave1 and P-Thugg of one of the best bands around, Chromeo, to see what we could learn from their royal smoothnesses in just 30 seconds. Note: They wished to be credited for their answers collectively, because My Little Pony is right and friendship really is magic. Ro ... More >>

Matthew Mehdi Rouhani, 61, Bayou Body Count No. 139

A man was found shot to death in his westside business Saturday and his car was stolen, Houston police say. Matthew Mehdi Rouhani, 61, was found dead by employees in the 1600 block of Upland about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, HPD says. "Mr. Rouhani had not been seen since last Tuesday (Aug. 30) and his emp ... More >>

Jeremy Kaelin, Accused 'Roid-Dealer/Woman-Beater, Loses Fancy Breitling Watch to State. What a Pity.

Jeremy Kaelin: Probably won't need that watch for a while anyway.​With last Friday's default judgment favoring the plaintiff, the case of The State of Texas vs One (1) Watch with Clear Stones has come to an end. A court found that Jeremy Kaelin's silver-colored Breitling for Bentley watch fo ... More >>

ACL Fest Schedule Released; Your Guide To The "Death Duels"

Stevie Wonder on FacebookStevie Wonder: Even My Morning Jacket will be watching.​This morning, the organizers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced the schedule for the September 16-18 Zilker Park throwdown. We all knew there would be some tough choices, but Rocks Off found that w ... More >>

"Come On Buick, Light My Fire."

Not official Nike footwear.​Like most of Western society, I'd figured I was pretty much numb to the use of popular songs in commercials. I don't know how far back the practice dates, exactly, but I remember the anecdote from No One Here Gets Out Alive about Jim Morrison shooting down the sugge ... More >>

ACL Day 2 Recap: M.I.A., Gogol Bordello, Deadmau5, Mouse Masks

credReturn of the Bamboo Banger: M.I.A.​Aftermath was eager to catch Gogol Bordello, only because our companion had missed their last Houston show at Meridian in 2008. We were convinced he'd get a kick out of them so we dragged him over to the AMD stage early in order to get a good view. One ... More >>

Live From The Austin City Limits Festival, Day 1

Brittanie SheyThe Ettes​Brittanie Shey: Things seem incredibly crowded, and hotter than Houston, if that's even possible. The dust is already flying. Some of us here braved the bro-crowd at the Black Keys (see jump) but some of us, seeing the mile of bodies wobbling before the stage, decided t ... More >>

Maria Hernandez, 59, Bayou Body Count No. 153

Killed while sweeping​All Maria Hernandez wanted was to keep the front of her home on Crosstimbers clean. Instead she ended up dead.Hernandez, 57, 59, was slammed by a hit-and-run driver in the 400 block of Crosstimbers a little before 9 a.m. Sunday morning, and was pronounced dead at the scene.Wi ... More >>

Tobi Oyedeji: Tragedy Hits Bellaire High

Photo courtesy FacebookOyedeji had a good academic record at Bellaire​A kid with a shining future, one who worked hard in class, who seemed to have everything before him, died this weekend, and Bellaire High is grieving.Tobi Oyedeji, 17, was set to play basketball for Texas A&M next year, but ... More >>

Rock And Roll Saved Steve Almond's Life - Here's How

​It's one thing to enjoy music as the kind of casual background noise to a car ride, jog in the park or commercial extolling the incredible mileage of the new Honda. Fiction writer, memoirist and former Miami New Times music writer Steve Almond (My Life in Heavy Metal, Candyfreak) is not that kind ... More >>

Unidentified Man, Bayou Body Count No. 90

​At 8:20 AM, while the rest of us were downing coffee, dozing over our cereal, or enduring a freeway traffic jam somewhere in this sprawling metropolis, two of our fellow Houstonians were arguing about money in the parking lot of a Hobby Airport-area apartment complex. And that discussion wou ... More >>

Houstonian Going Off-Road In Africa To Fight HIV/AIDS

​What are you doing next month to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and poverty in South Africa? Hair Balls admits we didn't get around to scheduling any time for that, but Houstonian Ganesh Krishnan is heading to South Africa to participate in Enduro Africa, an eight-day motorcycle ride through the cou ... More >>

Bayou Body Count: Sometimes The Cases Are Easy, Sometimes Not

courtesy of HCSOSandra Martinez​It may seem like it sometimes, but not all murders in Houston go unsolved.Take, for instance, a case last Friday inside a home at 10727 Lumber Ridge Trail. Sandra Martinez and her husband, Cesar Barrera, had been arguing most of the night when at about 9:30 p.m. Bar ... More >>

Wild Rides

Between serious safety and environmental concerns, the Toyota Prius isn't the angel that everyone thinks it is.

Kelly Reichardt's Modest But Cosmic Wendy and Lucy

Lady with the Little Dog

Guy Discovers Months Later His Car Wasn't Stolen, Just Impounded

Photo by di the huntressOn December 1, Jesse Elliot walked out of his apartment and realized his tricked-out Honda Accord - the car he loved - had been stolen. Jesse missed his morning classes at Universal Technical Institute, where he took mechanic classes, to file a report with the Precinct 4 Cons ... More >>

Still Lapping It Up with Mario Kart Wii

Nothing you haven't seen, but still a welcome sight

Chuck Rosenthal: So Tough on Crime That a Suspect Goes Free

The DA doesn't make deals. And that's why Jesus Salazar is living the free life in Venezuela while a teenage girl lies dead, stabbed 26 times.

Letters to the Editor

Houston's Best Public High Schools

Counting down: Our sixth- through tenth-place finishers

Electronic Music

The year in review

Speed Racers

Every kid wants an ultra-fast sport bike -- until the day he dies

Down on the Corner

An evening with the workers and players at Montrose and Westheimer

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Toni Price

Born to Be Blue (Antone's Records)

Bordering on Bennigan's

Is Morgan's on Montrose just an unfortunate chain reaction?

Punk of the Month Club

Good Charlotte knows it's more than a passing fancy. But does America?