Kris Kristofferson

The Best Concerts In Houston This Week: Tianna Hall, Tom Russell, Bruno Mars, etc.

Tianna Hall Sambuca, March 4 You could argue that Tianna Hall is the best jazz singer in all of Houston. I mean, you could argue against it too, but it's like arguing that the moon landing was faked. Her smoky voice is a fine mix of skill and improvised magic, and it's landed her on the Grammy nomi ... More >>

No Requests

Five reasons EDM shows are better than rock concerts.

Bizarre Acting Roles by 20 Famous Musicians

It's a toss-up whether actors or musicians will go to greater lengths to make rent, but some musicians have even found themselves so hard up they've been forced to take an acting gig. Such is the case with the haystack-sized Sleepy LaBeef, who in 1968's The Exotic Ones appeared as the "Swamp Monster ... More >>

Kris Kristofferson's Favorite Place on Earth Is In Texas, But Not Houston

Rocks Off spoke to Kris Kristofferson by phone from his home in Hawaii where he describes living a life as spare and literal as the records he makes with producer Don Was. Twice he told us that he's old, once he told us that he's brain-damaged and then he told us that his favorite place on Earth is ... More >>

5 Folk Acts Who Wandered Down the Synth Road

Mandolin enthusiasts Mumford and Sons have been on top of the world the past couple of years, dominating rock-driven radio with a folk sound that apparently touches the hearts of hard-rock bros around the world. Given that they have an apparently winning formula, one wouldn't expect them to change i ... More >>

Christ, It's Another "Red Dawn"

North Korea (and audiences) go home unhappy.

CMA Nominations Don't Forget Texans Miranda Lambert, Eli Young Band

Nothing says country music like Times Square. Or is that the other way around? Regardless, the 2012 nominees for the Country Music Association were announced by stars (and nominees) Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean earlier this morning. It helps that Times Square is the home of Good Morning America's st ... More >>

Together Always: Country Duets for Valentine's Day

Maybe it's because I'm a Libra, but I believe that everything in life should be as harmonious as possible-love, especially. Duets might be the ultimate musical testament to such a theory. I'm not talking about the resonance that's created when a woman is vacuuming while her man watches television. I ... More >>

30 Seconds With Astronautalis

Rocks Off hitched a ride on a space whale in order to hook up with Andy Bothwell, also known as Astronautalis to see what we could learn about our biggest hope for rap in 30 seconds. paperocean​Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Astronautalis: "Love in an Elevator" by Aerosmith. ... More >>

2 Become 1: Musical Match-Ups We'd Like To See

​Kanye "Hitler" West and Jay-Z released their (overused music writer word alert) epic Watch the Throne album this week, to mostly great reviews. This fall the first fruits from the recently announced Lou Reed/Metallica collaboration should be on the store shelves, which still sorta weirds us o ... More >>

My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink: Five Songs For A Hangover

funny.desivalley.com​Every now and then after a night out, Lonesome, Onry and Mean's head feels like it's been in a fight with some guy who owns a nail gun. While we may no longer be on a regular first-name basis with morning - nor, by way of waiver, are we particularly prone to over-serving o ... More >>

Pop Rocks: "Getting Too Old For This Shit" - A Cinematic History

The first?​Time marches on. There comes a point in all of our lives when the inevitability of our eventual demise goes from esoteric concept to concrete fact. There's no set schedule for when awareness will strike; maybe it's the first time your back gives out, or when you find yourself squint ... More >>

Rocks Off's Fantasy RodeoHouston Lineup

Photos courtesy of Houston Livestock Show & RodeoGeorge Strait in 1996​If you walk through Reliant Center, hanging from the ceiling are banners listing almost every musical performer RodeoHouston has hosted since the '60s. The names reflect the hallowed history of country and fleeting fancies ... More >>

The 10 Sexiest (Male) Texans Of Our Lifetime

Last week we gave you our 10 Sexiest Texans of Our Lifetime. It was a list that was, admittedly, vagina-biased. We make it up to the people who love guys with this definitive list, which involved more asking around than the first one. Here are, then, the 10 sexiest Texas men of our lives: 10. Sea ... More >>

Mickey Newbury: Houston's Forgotten Genius

"Hank Williams' pain songs, Newbury's train songs/ And 'Blue Eyes Cryin' In the Rain' - Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings, "Luckenbach, Texas" ​Lonesome, Onry and Mean was sitting around having a few cold pops the other night when we put on The Best of Mickey Newbury. It wasn't long before the ... More >>

Last Night: Merle Haggard At Mo's Place

Photos by Jason Wolter​Merle Haggard Mo's Place November 7, 2010 Next month, President Obama will look on while Willie Nelson inducts Merle Haggard into the Kennedy Center ring of honor, our nation's artistic equivalent of a Purple Heart. A glance at the Hag's tour calendar could offer a sma ... More >>

Falcon Lake: Casting The Inevitable Lifetime Movie

Tiffany Young-Hartley: Only Reese Witherspoon could do her justice​Okay, so it's time to get started on the script and casting for the movie about David and Tiffany's fateful Jet-Ski trip on Falcon Lake. First, what to name this movie? The Pirates of Falcon Lake will never do: it conjures Johnn ... More >>

Mark Chesnutt

There's a One In Four Chance The Truck Behind You Has Got Crappy Brakes

Kris Kristofferson's abs & Ali MacGraw's hair don't care about no DPS crackdown​The Texas Department of Public Safety has wrapped up its latest crackdown on truck inspections, and the news isn't good, if you enjoy things like surviving trips on the interstate.About 25 percent of the trucks DPS ... More >>

Seeking Joy

Jill Scott returns to the studio after various screen projects and a son.

Paul Thorn Loves "Pimps And Preachers" Alike

​Like a lot of folks, we're sure, Rocks Off is chomping at the bit to get our ears around the remastered and expanded version of the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street, due in stores Tuesday. Rocks Off has done a lot of things while Exile was blasting out of a jukebox, radio, our iPod's earbuds, ... More >>

Aftermath: Merle Haggard And Kris Kristofferson Help Us Make It Through The Night

Photos by Jason Wolter​There's a line in Merle Haggard's "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)" that has become a daily affirmation of sorts for us. It's not the pre-parenthetical part of the title, although we've wondered that often enough. It's this one: "Are we ... More >>

My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers: 18 Readings From The Book Of Hag

​ When Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson take the Verizon stage for tonight's "Who's More Grizzled?" grudge match, they'll bring with them a century of experience as two of the most iconoclastic, poetic voices in popular song, country or any other genre. No disrespect to Kristofferson (four wor ... More >>

Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson

Thanks, But No Thanks: See What Dallas Has to Deal With All the Time?

We know, we know... it's just too easy.​ Rocks Off would like to thank Force Field PR and, we suppose, Neon Indian for sending the above picture to our email this morning. It nearly made us spray coffee all over our monitor. We don't quite know where to start, except to venture a guess that if you ... More >>

Remembering Janis: Port Arthur's Pearl Would Have Been 67 Today

Today would have been Port Arthur native Janis Joplin's 67th birthday. Rocks Off started his day at the desk with her greatest-hits collection and all her work with Big Brother & the Holding Company that gets overlooked in lieu of her bigger singles. Pearl is still seen by many as the magnum op ... More >>

Misery and Gin

Country music, faded stardom, liquor, and age in Crazy Heart.

Rocks Off Has Some Issues This Morning, But Not as Many as This Guy

​Rocks Off came into the office this morning to discover we had been beset by a bad case of the gremlins. One of our photographers' Web site was down, there was another mix-up with the Willie Nelson photos from Saturday night (which has since been fixed) and... well, it's just a Monday. However, w ... More >>

Miss Leslie & Her Juke Jointers

Aftermath: David Allan Coe at House of Blues

Chris Gray David Allan Coe will hang around as long as you will let him. And he wrote "Take This Job and Shove It." Although it was a little hard to get past the sheer sight of him - the grizzly offspring of Gregg Allman and one of Dr. Teeth's band from The Muppet Show, maybe - he wasn't getting pai ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: R.I.P. Stephen Bruton

Photos courtesy New West Records Stephen Bruton, one of Austin's great pickers, songwriters, and good citizens, died Saturday of throat cancer, which he had battled for years, according to a press release by his label, New West Records. The 60-year-old Bruton came out of the school of influential Fo ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Darrell Scott's Modern Hymns

Music, Art Collide in Montrose, Shepherd Plaza

The Houston 100: From Scarface to Robert Earl Keen

Raul Malo

The Wendell Baker Story

Wendell Baker is a dysfunctional Wilson family affair

Requiem for a Dreamer

This horse movie needs to be put down as soon as possible

Without Sin

It isn't the movie you may think it is, but Hostage will get your attention

Shock Treatment

An experimental director and a harrowing tale fit The Jacket perfectly

Method Rocking

Minnie Driver and Juliette Lewis have started bands. Come on, you know you're curious.

World Party

Dubtex grooves with global drum 'n' bass

Songs Of Freedom

Perhaps the candidates running in the 2004 election could use some help selecting their campaign music

The Year of Living Dangerously

Cinema 2002 counterbalanced a treacherous world

Songbird Silenced

Pioneering singer/songwriter and native Houstonian Mickey Newbury passes away

Limbo Shtick

Alaskan survival story suffers from Sayles's moralizing

Pulp Friction

Gibson's Payback translates solidly to the screen

French Disconnection

Shining Sobieski has to carry A Soldier's Daughter

Escapism from Houston

Dance has local angles but an unimaginative story

Sayles' Pitch

The Lies of Texas

In Lone Star, a modern border town confronts race, murder and history