Janet Jackson

Way to Suck All the Fun Out of the Grammys, New CBS Dress Code

With CBS still smarting from its bungling of the Super Bowl XLVII blackout coverage and a (supposed) Beyonce halftime nip-slip, earlier this week the network's Program Practices wing released wardrobe guidelines for Grammy Awards attendees. With the awards show happening this coming Sunday evening ... More >>

Saturday Night: Red Bull Thre3style Regional Qualifier at Fitzgerald's

Red Bull Thre3Style DJ Competition Regional Qualifier Fitzgerald's January 19th, 2013 The illustrious Fitzgerald's was once again the center of the city's rich music scene Saturday night, as it hosted the Red Bull Thre3Style Houston qualifier. Five of Houston's brightest and most talented DJ stars ... More >>

Who Should Play RodeoHouston In 2013?

On October 30, just a few days from now, RodeoHouston will announce its first round of performers for the 2013 edition of the star-studded, yeehawin', nearly three-week event at Reliant Park. The booking the last few years has been getting more adventurous, with the likes of Kid Rock, KISS, Mary J. ... More >>

Girl Gone Wild: Madonna's Top 10 Dance/Club Chart-Toppers

For the past two weeks, Madonna's latest single, "Girl Gone Wild," has been sitting pretty at the top of Billboard's Hot Dance/Club Play chart. That's the chart that tabulates which songs are getting the most spins in discos and dance clubs. It's a cool, upbeat track about losing control of your de ... More >>

Material Girl: Madonna's Top 10 TV Commercials

They don't call Madonna the Material Girl for nothing. She's definitely a self-promoter when it comes to her music. Better yet, when she does this, it's never the same advertised persona. Take, for example, when she first came onto MTV and performed "Like A Virgin" at the 1985 VMAs versus her perce ... 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 >>

Father Figures: 100 Famous Musicians' Paternal Professions

If you're a Texan of a certain age, this week you've probably spent some time mourning the death of Jerry Haynes, the children's TV host better known as Mr. Peppermint. Haynes' show on WFAA-TV in Dallas, Peppermint Place, ran from the '60s to the '90s and was widely syndicated across the state, incl ... More >>

"Change Your Name To A Symbol" & Other Dumb Ways To Derail Your Music Career

brightestyoungthings.comThe sign officially known as "Love Symbol #2"​Sunday marked the 18th anniversary of the date Prince changed his name to that confounded "Love Symbol", and we can't help but wonder if he would have had more success had he waited a decade or two. Like it or not, in toda ... More >>

Last Night: Jason Aldean At RodeoHouston

Photos courtesy of Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo​Jason Aldean Reliant Stadium March 20, 2011 You can tell everything you need to know about Jason Aldean by looking at his steel guitarist's forearms Sunday. First, he had a steel guitarist. Of the handful of Rodeo acts Aftermath saw this year ... More >>

Last Night: Kid Rock At RodeoHouston

Photos by Marco Torres​Kid Rock Reliant Stadium March 14, 2011 First things first: Yes, Aftermath got to Reliant Stadium with plenty of time to spare Monday. One embarrassing screw-up per Rodeo season is more than enough, thank you very much. Besides, no way were we gonna miss Kid Rock's Rod ... More >>

Top 10 Super Bowl Halftime Shows

idontlikeyouinthatway.com​This Sunday, Rocks Off will be live-blogging and tweeting this year's Super Bowl halftime show, which will feature noted scholars The Black Eyed Peas. We are diligently studying the entire BEP canon and that of all of their solo members, like the dedicated pop histori ... More >>

Hugh Hefner's Fiancee: 11 Things That Are Older Than Her

Crystal Harris: Not older than Iron Eagle​You know what is messed up and completely awesome? Hugh Hefner was 60 years old when his current fiancee, Crystal Harris, was born. Hef was hatched on April 9, 1926, and six decades and 20 days later his soon-to-be bride was born in Lake Havasu, Arizon ... More >>

Time Waster Tuesday -- NBA Superstars Videos (via YouTube)

"'Remember when' is the lowest form of conversation." -- Tony Soprano Tony was right, you never want to be "remember when" guy, and I try my best not to be. But the fact of the matter is, for many of us, what happened between the ages of 16 and 28 constitute the "good times." High school, maybe ... More >>

Friday Night: "Jai Ho: The Journey Home" At Toyota Center

Photos by Marco Torres​A.R. Rahman "Jai Ho: The Journey Home" Toyota Center September 17, 2010 The Indian film-score composer A.R. Rahman, now widely known as the winner of two 2009 Academy Awards for Slumdog Millionaire, is the master of the movie-musical genre known as Bollywood. He is also ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Fantasy Football For (Immature) Dummies

​Football season is almost upon us. For many people, this time of year offers renewed hope for the future, ranging from the merely possible (can the Saints repeat?) to the improbable (will the Texans makes the playoffs) to the "You gotta be fucking kidding me" (Kris Brown kicks a last-minute f ... More >>

Best & Worst Houston Sports Moments: What Didn't Make The Cut

A great moment, but not great enough​Tomorrow we officially reveal the unimpeachable, inarguable list of the Ten Best Sports Moments in Houston History, not to mention the five most heartbreaking ones.There were plenty of candidates for both lists, thanks to readers, and winnowing it down was a ta ... More >>

Does Being An Actor Compromise Your Rap Career?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday that isn't a national holiday, Rocks Off will have some of them discussing issues relevant to their culture. This Week's Panel: Paul Wall, Damien Randle, Sam Sneed Not Invited: Freekey Zeekey, for getting Dipset back together ... More >>

MTV Struggles to Remain Relevant By Naming A Twitter Jockey

​This week MTV announced an online campaign looking for the network's first-ever TJ, or Twitter Jockey. Unlike the video jockeys of the cable station's past, these folks would instead live-tweet from MTV events for a year, earning a salary, and live in New York City. In addition to Twitter, th ... More >>

Whatchoo Talkin' Bout? R.I.P. Gary Coleman

The Diff'rent Strokes curse has struck yet again. Gary Coleman, who played Arnold Jackson on the '70s-'80s sitcom and made "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis" a national catchphrase, has died in a Utah hospital from a brain hemorrhage he suffered earlier this week. Unlike his co-stars Todd Bridges and ... More >>

Idol Beat: That's All, Folks

Um...really? This was it? This was the best you could do, America?​And so, the ninth season of American Idol comes to a lumbering and terrible end. The show is frequently boring and often aggressive in its desire to force viewers to sit through bad guest performances, but even by the show's ow ... More >>

American Idol: That's All, Folks

Um...really? This was it? This was the best you could do, America?​And so, the ninth season of American Idol comes to a lumbering and terrible end. The show is frequently boring and often aggressive in its desire to force viewers to sit through bad guest performances, but even by the show's ow ... More >>

The Five Biggest Sex Scandals Of The Decade In Houston, All Unfortunately Not Very Sexy

​The Oughts have been a busy decade of people getting busy here in Houston, as perhaps every other decade has been. There's a reason the population has been booming, after all, and it's not all due to people leaving Detroit.But some Houstonians have been shtupping where they shouldn't shtup, and t ... More >>

Bud Adams, Owner Of One Darn Expensive Middle Finger

Houstonians have long been aware of the class and dignity that comes in the package we know as Bud Adams.Adams has demonstrated once again his nuanced understanding of the social mores of our time, and it has resulted in some pain to his pocketbook.The NFL has fined Adams a quarter-million dollars f ... More >>

John Mayer Is Full of Crap

​Something about John Mayer just gets under Rocks Off's skin. We'll admit there was a time he made us believe our body was a wonderland, and yes, we've even wanted to "run through the halls of our high school and scream at the top of our lungs." But no more. The quiet little guitar player we once ... More >>

Janet Jackson's Houston Nipple Flash Refuses To Die

What, you thought you were getting nip?The single greatest news event to occur in Houston since the turn of the century -- one that's clearly gotten more ink than Ike -- is Janet Jackson's Super Bowl-icious nipple. (Katrina we're counting as a N'Awlins event.)The Awesome Areola is back in the ... More >>

Photoshop Phun At The Baylor College Of Medicine

The wonders of Photoshop are bountiful -- they let Sooner football fans taunt UT; they allow people to make bold, trenchant analysis of the current socio-political world by showing George Bush in his "Mission Accomplished" flightsuit in unlikely settings; they probably have something to do with lolc ... More >>

Aftermath: Latin Grammys at Toyota Center, Pt. 2

Gloria Estefan meets the media/ Photo by Olivia Flores Alvarez The woman of the hour Thursday night was unquestionably 2008 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year Gloria Estefan, whose “Mi Tierra” was big, brassy, jazzy, horn-heavy and as Cuban as a fine Cohiba cigar. So was “Oye Mi Ca ... More >>

Get Lit: Always By My Side: A Father’s Grace and a Sports Journey Unlike Any Other, by Jim Nantz

Kanye, Jay-Z, Mary J. and Rihanna Clamor for Diva Status

Get Lit: Prince: A Thief in the Temple, by Brian Morton

Joni Mitchell, Shine

CD Review

Miss Pop Rocks: When Good Girls Go Bad, Vanessa Hudgens Edition!

Odd Couples

Strange musical pairings

Flash Back

Cat Scratch Fever

The Pussycat Dolls

Comeback Clips

A music-video renaissance is afoot -- but it's strictly on the download

Rotation

Cope With This

Finally, someone figures out how to craft an interesting rock/hip-hop blend

Rogue Bosoms, Bouncing Booties and Pac-Man Raps

Looking back on the '04

Hedberg and the Angry Lynch

The PC and the un-PC make nice at the Verizon

Law? What Law?

City Council proposed; City Hall didn't dispose

Letters

Party Like It's 1899

Super Bowl week turned out to be a slow one for HPD's vice squad

Letters

No Free Meals?

Plus: Movie Props, Blame the Magnets, Crossed Out

Age-Old Axiom

The Axiom can't seem to shake its past

Saturated Fat

Nutty Professor II may be hazardous to your health

Rotation

Adam and Eve Hit the Sauza

The Sound of Muzak

Jason's Lyric puts cliched words to an inept tune