Joan Jett

Dust Never Sleeps: Lost '70s Power Rock Trio Reemerges with Reissues

When you think of classic rock power trios, names like Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer, Grand Funk Railroad, and Mountain come to mind. But only hardcore music nerds may remember the short-lived Brooklyn-based Dust. Formed in 1969 the band - which included Richie Wise (vocals/guita ... More >>

Last Night: P!nk at Toyota Center

P!nk with The Hives Toyota Center February 21, 2013 On Thursday night at the Toyota Center, P!nk did things onstage that made her contemporaries look like saggy blobs of glitter and Starbucks. Not many poppers in her weight class can sport a body that makes Lady Gaga, Britney, Katy, and Beyonce l ... More >>

Danger Zone: 5 Great Tony Scott Film Soundtracks

Tony Scott, one of the greatest action directors of all time, committed suicide by jumping off a bridge near Los Angeles this past Sunday. He was 69 and thought to have an inoperable brain tumor. Many of Scott's films also had great soundtracks, due in part to Hans Zimmer and Harold Faltermeyer. S ... More >>

10 One-Hit Wonders Who Should Have Had More Success

One-hit wonders, in some ways, are more innovative than their legendary counterparts. Sometimes -- such as is the case with the Buggles -- they are too innovative. People are not ready for them, and musical trends may not be in their favor, whether they are innovative or passe. Anyway, here are te ... More >>

Top 5 Acts to Catch at Pride Weekend

See many more events this weekend in the Houston Press' 2012 Pride Guide. This Saturday, the streets around Westheimer and Montrose will be swamped with people for the 34th annual Houston LGBT Pride Celebration, one of the oldest and largest events of its kind in the South. Started to commemorate t ... More >>

Women On Top: 10 Female Artists We're Way Into Right Now

March is Women's History Month, and Rocks Off has been thinking a lot lately about the indelible contributions to popular music made by women over the last few decades. After all, where would Elvis Presley be if it weren't for Big Mama Thornton? Probably still dead, we guess, but you get the point. ... More >>

Lady Bartenders Kick Cocktail Ass at Speed Rack Houston

Photos by GroovehouseLindsay Heffron moved like a blur during the knockout rounds of competition, eventually securing herself second place in the Speed Rack challenge.​An arc of Plymouth gin shot briefly through the air at Gallery M Squared on Sunday night, leaping out of the bottle like liqui ... More >>

Saturday Night: Stevie Nicks At The Woodlands

Photos by Jay Lee"Anybody seen my wand?"​Stevie Nicks Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion August 13, 2011 Aftermath can't help but wonder if the people who think Stevie Nicks is some kind of wand-waving white-witch faerie queen have paid much attention to anything she's done besides "Rihannon." N ... More >>

Four Artists Who Died Before Playing Houston

theindependent.co.uk​When Amy Winehouse died Saturday, almost everyone noted how the troubled British soul singer had joined the "27 Club," the list of legendary musicians who passed away at that age that also includes Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, ... More >>

True Blood: Boxing Gandhis & Other Likely Possibilities

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. ​Each season of True Blood is based on a corresponding novel ... More >>

True Blood: Nick Cave, Neko Case Open Season 4

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. ​We're a little more than a month away from the fourth seaso ... More >>

Last Night: Miranda Lambert At RodeoHouston

Photo courtesy of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo​Miranda Lambert Reliant Stadium March 16, 2011 Shucks, ma. Our lil' ol' East Texas gal done all growed up. Sugar and spice and definitely everything nice, unless you piss her off, Miranda Lambert is a different kind of crossover act. A r ... More >>

Friday Night: Batusis At Mango's

Photos by David EnsmingerCheetah Chrome​Batusis feat. Sylvain Sylvain and Cheetah Chrome Mango's December 10, 2010 "Everything was as it always had been ... the years were a mirage and there had been no years," E.B. White once wrote, describing the collapse of time. This is what Batusis effor ... More >>

Ten Songs Worse Than A TSA Pat-Down

​Today is the biggest travel day in the United States, according to the airlines. That means many of you will be experiencing for the first time the intrusive X-rays or demeaning pat-downs handed out by TSA as part of their new "You Assholes Don't Have to Fly, You Know" business strategy. Kee ... More >>

Last Night: Carrie Underwood At Toyota Center

Photos by Marco Torres​Carrie Underwood Toyota Center October 6, 2010 Carrie Underwood is perfect for Vegas. That's not a knock - mostly. Underwood is wholesome, engaging and dynamic. She's no Tina Turner, but she can strut onstage. Her voice is excellent - good range and control, on key and ... More >>

Cyndi Lauper Vs. Pat Benatar: An '80s Lady Grudge Match

​Honestly, if Rocks Off had been around in the early '80s, we would have been the biggest damned Cyndi Lauper fan in this city. Our second favorite female artist would have been Pat Benatar, because gruff chicks who snap their fingers menacingly at the camera are foxy. Also, Lauper sang about ... More >>

Riding The Musical Wave At Saturday's HPMAs

The American Heist at Walter's on WashingtonJim Bricker​Saturday didn't start out very promising: Almost as soon as Rocks Off arrived at the intersection of Washington and Silver, where the Bud Light main stage was set up, the sky darkened, then drizzled, then began pouring rain. The downpour ... More >>

Last Night: Hole At House Of Blues

Photos by Groovehouse / Click here for a slideshow​Hole House of Blues July 6, 2010 It wasn't a train wreck. And we all had such high hopes. Courtney Love and the four-man retinue she calls Hole these days - mostly distinguishable by their wardrobe (dreadlocked drummer, Scally-capped keyboar ... More >>

Pop Rocks: The Passion Of The K-Stew

​Much hay is being made of Kristen Stewart's ("Bella" in the Twilight movies) comments to British Elle magazine about the perils of fame. This one in particular: On the paparazzi: "What you don't see are the cameras shoved in my face and the bizarre intrusive questions being asked, or the peo ... More >>

Girls Rock! Screens For Houston's Own Rocker Girls

Girls Rock!, the 2008 movie about the students of the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Ore., will screen next Thursday, June 3, at Beaver's Icehouse as part of a fundraiser for the first Girls Rock Camp Houston. The Portland camp, which started in 2005, was the first of its kind in the cou ... More >>

Fails Of The Week: The Runaways, Pete Doherty, The Strokes And Liam Gallagher

If you're reading this, you're either on the Internet, or else you've mastered multi-dimensional thought-projection processes that would make Michio Kaku cry like a little girl. We'll assume the former, and just in case you don't already know, the Internet has decided that the word "failure" is too ... More >>

Enter at Your Own Risk

The Alley's trip through Wonderland is a work in progress.

Jonathan Richman

Happy Birthday, "Louie Louie"

Forty-six years ago today, a group of teenagers gathered in a Portland, Oregon, studio to record a ridiculously simple anthem that would go on to become one of the most influential - and most misunderstood - songs in rock history. The group was the Kingsmen - none of whom was over age 17 - and the ... More >>

The Best Christmas Gift Idea Evar

Thanks to Idolator, Rocks Off nearly had a stroke when he saw Mattel's new "Goth Punk Barbie," available exclusively at the Hard Rock Cafe's online Rock Shop for the not-so-low, low price of $70. Bitchin' lemon-yellow guitar sold separately, though this bad-girl Barbie does come with her own s ... More >>

Aftermath: Madonna at Minute Maid Park

Photos by Daniel Kramer “Did you cry?” Aftermath asked a new friend during the mass exodus from Minute Maid Park after Madonna’s first Houston show since she opened 1990’s Blonde Ambition tour at the Summit. “Yes,” she said, and from what Aftermath could gather from an informal stra ... More >>

SXSW Extra: What's In My Pockets (Again)?

Free for All

A brief history of musicians giving it away

John Royal's Astros Recap. In Song.

Cage Match

concert preview

Rotation: Avril Lavigne

Lord of the Cover Bands

Lonnie Posey rules the retread roost

Now Dirtier than Ever

Rivers Runs Dry

Weezer's sullen front man trades good songwriting for meditation. Such a pity, indeed.

Time to Grow Up

No more excuses for the Houston Texans

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Baring Fangs

Heavily hyped L.A. punks the Distillers jump to the majors with a highly guarded new album

Bang Your Head

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs finally catch big air with their new record

Mag Hags

What's wrong with the state of music journalism -- and how to fix it

Rock and Roll Swirlie

Manhattan's Toilet Boys keep '80s hair metal and '70s glam rock from circling the drain

Vanessa Handrick

A Letter Home to You (Self-released)

Sugar & Spice

The Sweet Girls pretend to be bad and try to be good, but Houston's newest social club fails at both

Normal Al Yankovic

Rotation

Spunk Rock

The Muffs' Kim Shattuck can't understand why everyone else doesn't write like her

Press Picks

Just Bitchin'

7 Year Bitch does it faster and harder

And I Ran (From the '80s)

I couldn't get away: The Houston music underground salutes our recently departed decade