Jamie Foxx

Tom Cruise Can Still Be Great — Why Aren’t His Movies?

Django Unchained: The Most Moving Scene Quentin Tarantino Has Yet Filmed

Django is Like “Accidental Racist,” Except Not Godawful.

Ask Willie D: Trying to Be a Good Stepmother; Undercover Freak

Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off's advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, "funny, serious or unpredictable." Something on your mind? Ask Willie D! TRYING TO BE A GOOD STEPMOTHER Willie D, I wanted to know your thoughts on how I should deal ... More >>

The Best Concerts In Houston This Week: Imagine Dragons, fun., etc.

Imagine Dragons House of Blues, February 12 You've seen the name all over, from Blog A to Blog B, and the haircuts should look mighty familiar. This Las Vegas act has a sound in the same vein as Passion Pit and AWOLNATION, two acts with a veritable stranglehold on the rock dollar these days. Their ... More >>

Films of 2012: The Ultimate Review

Quentin Tarantino emerges from a chaotic couple of years with his most ambitious film to date, Django Unchained. Will the academy really, really like it?

World AIDS Day: Artists Who Have Contributed to the Cause

​Today is World AIDS Day. The theme this year is "Getting to Zero," focusing on zero AIDS related deaths. In hopes of achieving this goal, there has been many a celebrity to endorse AIDS awareness and various charities around the world. Quite a few musicians have used their celebrity status ... More >>

Keisha Hunt

Thunder Soul: Kashmere Stage Band Rumbles Onto Big Screen

Photos courtesy of thundersoulmovie.comHow many high-school bands can you name that had their own publicity shots?​It's hard enough to believe that a single high-school stage band could win 42 out of 46 competitions entered throughout the '70s. It's even harder to believe that the same band th ... More >>

The Great Grinding Debate: Which Song Is Freakiest?

Bun B: "I wouldn't know. At all."

White Man's Lament

It's hard out there for an employed, middle-class, white-collar male in Horrible Bosses.

The 2011 BET Awards, Or The Vindication Of Chris Brown

​6:58: High-five to the Houston Press for flying us out to Los Angeles to cover the BET Awards. Cool move. Thus far, it's been extra fun. We ran into Kobe and, um, saw some people filming a movie, and... uh... there were some angels or something, and... there... there was... eh, shit. We're n ... More >>

Drake: What's The Best Song He - And You - Ever Wrote?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday that isn't the day after a major local music festival, but sometimes on Tuesday anyway, Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​This Week's ... More >>

Idol Beat: Mona Lisas And Mad Haleys

​Hans Gruber: You are most troublesome, for a security guard. John McClane: Eeeh! Sorry Hans, wrong guess. Would you like to go for Double Jeopardy where the scores can really change? It's double jeopardy of a sort for the remaining 11 Idol hopefuls, because thanks to the judges' save of Cas ... More >>

20 Musician Biopics Currently In Development Hell

Happy birthday, Janis.​News came down last week that Sacha Baron Cohen will be stepping into the rhinestones and glitter as Queen icon Freddie Mercury. It's been a long time coming for Cohen, the Borat and Bruno star who is slowly becoming his generation's Peter Sellers and has been rumored to ... More >>

The Happen-Ins

R&B-tinged rockers shun Austin's "dorky" alt-country scene.

Zach Attack

Galifianakis steals another Todd Phillips buddy comedy in Due Date.

Game Time: Whaler Fan Fest -- Houston Oiler Fans May Know How I Feel

Hartford Whalers: They live on as a dessert​"Somewhere along the line, we will see you in another place in another time. God bless all of you fans. Remember one thing, you may have lost the NHL, but you have not lost the memories." -- Chuck Kaiton, the voice of the Hartford Whalers after the Whal ... More >>

Summer Swoon

Proudly independent, recent Grammy nominees Silversun Pickups aren't ready to hit the "Panic Switch."

Today's DVDs: The Thrill Of Victory, The Agony Of Valentine's Day

Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Who else was Clint gonna call?​Director Clint Eastwood, actors Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. That powerhouse trio could have chosen to tell just about any story they wanted and made it into an Academy Award worthy film. They chose Invictus, the real-life story o ... More >>

Idol Beat: Jamie Foxx, Officially Not Giving a Crap Since 1992

​Last night's Idol took us down to the top three contestants, but as expected, it took a long time to get there. The thing is, at this point the filler doesn't even feel like filler any more, just as the eliminations don't even feel real. This is the end of the 18th week of the season, and the ... More >>

American Idol: Jamie Foxx, Officially Not Giving a Crap Since 1992

​Last night's Idol took us down to the top three contestants, but as expected, it took a long time to get there. The thing is, at this point the filler doesn't even feel like filler any more, just as the eliminations don't even feel real. This is the end of the 18th week of the season, and the ... More >>

Idol Beat: Adios, Aaron

What does this have to do with crooning, Frank Sinatra and Harry Connick Jr.? Absolutely nothing.​I was amazed, if not exactly surprised, at how much time Idol can kill in a one-hour results show. Now that we're down to just a handful of singers, the producers are really reaching for padding, ... More >>

Beyonce's Naughty T-Shirt, Devin's Suite 420, Eric B Vs. Nicki Minaj, Rick Astley Chopped And Screwed...

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: Kritikal Van Gogh, "Dog Eat Dog" Wire to Wire ​Beyonce had tongues wagging at this weekend's Coac ... More >>

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

So many stars, so many storylines: It's a Valentine's Day massacre!

Hit the Road, Jack: 10 More Notable Musical Deaths From the Past Decade

​ Looking back, this past decade wasn't too kind to rock and roll as a whole. We lost plenty of people who weren't exactly disgustingly huge as Michael Jackson or as monolithic as Johnny Cash. This decade took its share of people who were massively influential and iconic, but not on the grand worl ... More >>

Complete List of Texas' 2010 Grammy Nominees

​Rocks Off was pretty sure we missed a few Texas (or Texas-connected) artists in Thursday's writeup of the 2010 Grammy nominees, and it turns out we were right. We don't even remember scrolling past some of these categories over at Grammy.com, to be honest, but thanks to the Texas Music Office's C ... More >>

Life on Mars

Grammy-winning prog-punks The Mars Volta mellow out on Octahedron.

He Said, She Said: Get Your Ass In Shape Workout Songs

Unlike our male counterpart, we aren't seeking to purge our inner demons when we work out (and some of us - shudder - purge something else before working out anyway). Instead, we're looking for something fun, upbeat and beat-heavy. Something that makes you want to shake your ass while you're w ... More >>

Rap Vixen And Houston Radio Host Tangle To The Death

 Quick, who's Karinne Steffans?You're supposed to know that. At least, according to her you are.Steffans, massive internet research reveals, is a former model and moneymaker-shaker in videos who wrote a tell-all book about her high-flying life called Confessions of a Video Vixen. (Among the peo ... More >>

Turning the Screw: All-Houston Edition with GT Garza, Trae Day, Trouble Sum, Jay'Ton, Paul Wall, Z-Ro, Letoya vs. Slim Thug, Coast, Z-Ro, Juan Gotti and More

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: GT Garza, "52 Pick Up" (We've listened to a bunch of GT's stuff, but this remains to be the rawest thin ... More >>

In Honor Of Will Ferrell: The Five Biggest "Summer Blockbuster" Duds

That thud you heard last weekend was Will Ferrell's career settling noisily back to earth. With a budget estimated at over $100 million, Land of the Lost was supposed to propagate the 2009 summer blockbuster season (handily inaugurated by the new Star Trek) and continue Ferrell's successful box-offi ... More >>

Young Mammals Chow Down on First LP Carrots

Dynamically Yours

Oz the Great and Terrible

Happy Australia Day, everybody

The Return of Chart Check: Beyonce Runs "Rings" Around the Competition

[Note: Chart Check is back, now spotlighting Texans on this week's various Billboard lists.] The Billboard 200 (albums) 4. Beyonce, I Am... Sasha Fierce 8. Jaime Foxx, Intuition Hot 100 (singles) 2. Beyonce, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" 19. Beyonce, "If I Were a Boy" Digital Songs 5. Beyonce, ... More >>

Five Spot: Axl Rose is Not Impressed by Dr Pepper's Fun and Games

Welcome back to Five Spot. Every week, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it's either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com.   Back in March, Dr Pepper (easily one of our favorite doctors, right behind J., Scholls and Dre) set forth a ... More >>

By The Time You Read This, Jennifer Aniston Could Be Dead

Eastern Promises, American Pie: Beta House, The Kingdom, War

Black Box Office: Polarizing Perry

$110 million can't be wrong. Can it?

A Masterpiece on Canvas

T.I.

King

Lord of the Cover Bands

Lonnie Posey rules the retread roost

Wars, Penguins and Gays: Oh, My!

The year in review

Killing Time

In the profound Jarhead, a soldier can be his own worst enemy

Ain't Saying He's a Gold Digger

Local hip-hop duo the Legendary K.O. throws a left cross Dubya's way with an Internet smash hit

Eight Minutes to Fame

Comicview's Rushion McDonald has a short attention span

Sting Like a Bee

Ali lands some solid blows, but sadly it's no knockout

Mean and Masterful

Denzel the narc finally takes a fine swagger into the darkness of Training Day

Rap Actor

LL Cool J rocks microphone, silver screen

Who R. You?

The enigma that is R. Kelly keeps audiences enthralled, guessing

Punchy Fun