Ireland

The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: JD McPherson, Drew Ireland Benefit, etc.

JD McPherson Continental Club, March 1 Tickets are already getting scarce for one JD McPherson, who is rapidly rising out of obscurity via Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. McPherson came by his bopping R&B/rockabilly sound honestly, by studying vintage labels such as Vee-Jay and Specialty, and then working ... More >>

Houston Rockers Pitch In to Help Some Ukrainian Kids Learn English

Houston native/musician Drew Ireland is currently volunteering in Kryzhopil, a small village in the Ukraine, teaching young kids English as a second language. Ireland is need of updated supplies, and some of his friends here in the Bayou City are putting on a show to help him out. The benefit show ... More >>

Allen Pinkett Suspended 3 Games For Having The Backs Of Dudes Suspended For 1 Game

"I've always felt like to have a successful team you've got to have a few bad citizens on the team." Allen Pinkett, in an interview last week with 670-WSCR in Chicago Last week, on the way to the airport to hop a flight over to Dublin, Ireland, so that he could handle his weekly color analyst dutie ... More >>

The Six Worst One-Game Uniforms You'll See In The 2012 College Football Season

Look good, feel good, play good? Not in these cases. This list doesn't include full-time offenders like Houston, who substituted a perfectly slick design for a blob. Instead, these universities -- some with long traditions -- will subject us to a fashion upchuck on select game days.

6 Non-Yank Bands Who Wrote American Anthems

Some of the most definitive "all-American" rock anthems were written by bands who not originally from the United States. Think about it... what are some rock and roll staples that remind you of our beloved country, which gave us the freedom to rock? "The Boys Are Back In Town" "We Are The Champions ... More >>

Stuart Neville: Ratlines

Montrose Muffled

Residents take sides on bar noise issue.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The 46th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival

Dogtooth

NFL & College Football -- Weekend's Best Bets

Does not look like fun​Before I get into the Best Bets for this weekend, a public service announcement for those of you traveling to Singapore any time soon. They still cane people there. Just ask former Florida State tight end Kamari Charlton. He is over in Singapore as you read this helping ... More >>

Bingo! The Documentary

Go for the win, baby, go for the win

The Ginger Man Pub's Scottish Schwinn

Stirred and Shaken: The Ginger Man Pub's Scottish Schwinn

Photo by Troy Fields​The Ginger Man Pub (5607 Morningside Dr., 713-526-2770) is the misfit at the frat party that is the southeastern corner of Rice Village. Its bigger neighbors, two of which also feature "pub" in their names, make The Ginger Man seem so precious in comparison that I'm forced ... More >>

Paula Webb, Young & Recessioned: College Grads Have A Reality Check Coming

​Today's installment of Young & Recessioned features Paula Webb, president of  LPC Personnel, who has worked as a job recruiter in Houston since she moved here from Ireland 30 years ago. Back in the late `70s in Ireland, everybody was watching Dallas and thought this was the land of oppo ... More >>

Blaggards Do Ireland: A 400-Year-Old Galway Pub And Reunion In Waterford

Houston Celtic rockers - "stout" Celtic rockers - the Blaggards are back on Texas soil after a weeklong tour of Ireland, where the band mixed sightseeing with a few gigs here and there. Rocks Off asked bassist Chad Smalley if he'd share a few Blaggards experiences on the Emerald Isle with us and our ... More >>

Blaggards Do Ireland: The Old Dublin Neighborhood, Free Drinks In Killarney

Houston Celtic rockers - "stout" Celtic rockers - the Blaggards are back on Texas soil after a weeklong tour of Ireland, where the band mixed sightseeing with a few gigs here and there. Rocks Off asked bassist Chad Smalley if he'd share a few of the band's experiences on the Emerald Isle with us and ... More >>

Blaggards Do Ireland: First Stop, The Guinness Factory And Phil Lynott Statue; Three Encores At First Dublin Gig

Houston Celtic rockers - "stout" Celtic rockers - the Blaggards are back on Texas soil after a weeklong tour of Ireland, where the band mixed sightseeing with a few gigs here and there. Rocks Off asked bassist Chad Smalley if he'd share a few of the band's experiences on the Emerald Isle with us and ... More >>

Butterfly Explosion at SXSW: Irish Shoegaze in a Basement Rec Room

Shoegazer shoes Butterfly Explosion March 17 Habana, Austin, Texas When you go see a band because they're labeled "shoegaze," you get a smile on your face when you see them set up 19 different foot pedals on the stage. You don't need to double-check your SXSW schedule. You know you're in the right ... More >>

For St. Patrick's Day: Five Irish Movies You Need To See

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, when everyone's Irish, yadda yadda yadda.How best to get ready for it? Watching a movie tonight would be one way. Unfortunately, a lot of the "great" Irish movies suck. The Quiet Man? Oy vey. Maureen O'Hara is nicely feisty, but John Wayne is as wooden as ever and the ... More >>

Whiskey in the Jar

The Blaggards warm up for an Irish tour by rocking the Rory Miggins Memorial Irish Stew Cook-Off.

ACL 2009 Day Two: Flogging Molly Brings a Little Bit of Ireland to Austin

Photos by Groovehouse​Okay, so between the Guinness and the pissing-down rain, Flogging Molly actually brought a lot of Ireland to Austin today. Lead singer Dave King wasn't phased by the weather, proclaiming that it was just like being at home. The band then proceeded to put on a belter of a show ... More >>

Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series: Joseph O'Neill and Marilynne Robinson

Two acclaimed authors stop in Houston to read for Inprint Series

Boxty Breakfast at The Angel & The Ox Pub & Restaurant

Houston May Be Getting Its Irish Up

Photo by closelyobserved.comAuthentic Irish weather greeted this weekend's St. Patrick's Day Parade, but the chilly rain didn't deter over 150 entrants from promenading down Caroline and San Jacinto streets in honor of Ireland's patron. According to information we received, it may be that some of th ... More >>

H-town Hangman: Guess the Band, Win a Prize

All right, all you kids out there, time to test your mettle. Rocks Off knows you know what's up. We've seen you at Walter's, Rudz and all those other hallowed haunts that make up this little "scene" of ours. You can probably rattle off a dozen or so favorite local bands without batting an eyelas ... More >>

A Musical Guide to Navigating the Economic Crisis

Down Payment Blues

Robb's Oyster Book

My new book Sex, Death & Oysters: A Half Shell Lover's World Tour was released January 1 and is now selling on Amazon. I'll make the rounds of Houston bookstores this week signing as many copies as I can find. It was a 2004 cover story by the same name in the Houston Press that got the ball rollin ... More >>

Bootlegging Dr Pepper

The demand for sugar-sweetened Dublin Dr Pepper has never been higher — just ask the bootleggers

Capsule Stage Reviews: Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, Pack of Lies, Translations, Young and Fertle

Love of Language

Words provide beauty in the harsh world of Translations

Translations

Be transported to Ireland in all its glory

The Blaggards

Step one: Drink. Step two: Jig.

The Year In Film

Judd Apatow's pretty good year and much more

The Irish Tenors’ Christmas Special

The classical/pop trio makes its debut in Houston

The Chieftains

The Chieftains perform with the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pops, Friday through Sunday, January 5, through January 7, at Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana, 713-224-7575.

Best Ensemble

Main Street Theater's The Weir

A Really Bad Apple

Best Book by a Local Author

A Sort of Homecoming, by Robert Cremins

Tuam Raiders

For Irish rockers the Saw Doctors, the local is universal

Flogging Molly

Friday, March 29

Oh, Danny Boy

A faux Irish pub serves up great meals

Irish By Design

Slainte -- Bronx Bar -- Lucia's Garden -- Sur La Table

Empire's End

High drama and spirited romance spice up The Last September

Return to Sender

Horny Irish men wait for mail-order brides in The Closer You Get. And wait. And wait.

Irish Ayes

At the Claddagh, the order of the day is excellent pub grub

Press Picks

Letters

Live Shots