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The Worst Things at Coachella This Year, Weekend Two

Ed. Note: Brought to you by our tired, dusty and very tolerant friends at LA Weekly and OC Weekly. Here's everything that bothered us about Coachella's second weekend. Hey, at least there was no dust storm! Native American Headdresses These have still not gone away. In fact, one particularly irrit ... More >>

The Best Things at Coachella This Year, Weekend Two

Ed. Note: This is the final post of our piggyback Coachella 2013 coverage, with an eternal debt to our friends at LA Weekly and OC Weekly. The Visual Stimulations for People Who Were High Coachella's art installations -- the ones designed to impress you while you're high, aka all of them -- were pa ... More >>

The Best of Coachella, Weekend One

Ed. Note: Rocks Off proudly presents to our readers coverage of Coachella's first weekend courtesy of our sister papers LA Weekly and OC Weekly. Karen O's Outfit Karen O's wardrobe on Friday night was bad-ass. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs front woman appeared on the main stage in a technicolor cape draped o ... More >>

Daft Punk Rumors Abound at Coachella

Ed. Note: This one comes to us from our friends at LA Weekly's West Coast Sound. No, Seriously, Is Daft Punk Playing Coachella? This is, so far, the burning question of this festival, being asked everywhere from the campsites to the press tent. Even though the French dance-punk duo officially squa ... More >>

Here, Eat This

A beginner's guide to Korean cuisine.

Saturday Funday? Houstonians Hold Sunday Sacred for Brunching

After the third out-of-towner in a week asked me why Saturday brunch wasn't a "thing" in Houston, I got curious. Once is a blip, twice is a coincidence, three times is a trend. The problem is that -- as far as I know -- Saturday isn't the traditional brunching day of choice in Houston. Saturdays ar ... More >>

Texas EDM Fans Dealt Setback With Nocturnal Wonderland Pullout

For three consecutive years, Apache Pass near the Central Texas town of Rockdale has been the home of Nocturnal Wonderland, a multi-day electronic dance music festival that Texas EDM fans have counted on to kick off their EDM festival season. The season is largely driven by L.A.-based supergiant pr ... More >>

Rage Against the Machinima

As YouTube becomes increasingly wealthy, its stars and the networks who contract with them battle for money and creative control.

Small Plates the Right Way at 1252 Tapas

This past summer, long before he was raising Guy Fieri's frosted tip hackles, New York Times food critic Pete Wells was lashing out against the continuing "small plate" trend and its tendency -- as Wells put it -- to lend "the sensation of having eaten a delicious meal without feeling truly satisfie ... More >>

Look at What One of Our Writers Has Gone and Done

Provided they're not making us wish them bodily harm (kidding), Rocks Off is proud of each and every one of our writers. But sometimes one of them up and does something that makes us give them an extra pat on the head and a biscuit to go along with it. Like right now. The writer in question is our ... More >>

Dining Out Near Closing Time: How Late Is Too Late?

How late is too late to order food at a restaurant? That was the thought that plagued me as I sped toward Jeannine's Bistro last week, determined to get in a necessary lunch of moules-frites for a post. The bistro closes for lunch at 2 p.m.; at best, I was going to make it in the door at 1:40 p.m. I ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes 2012: No. 55, Palestinian Chicken at Al Aseel

This year leading up to our annual Best of Houston® issue, we're counting down our 100 favorite dishes in Houston. This list comprises our favorite dishes from the last year, dishes that are essential to Houston's cultural landscape and/or dishes that any visitor (or resident) should try at least o ... More >>

The Night After Cancellation, EDC Closes Fest With Massive Turnout

See also: EDC Vegas Pulls Plug on Music Due to High Winds Organizers of the second annual Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas declared the three-day party a success , despite high-winds that cut its marquee night short on Saturday. Promoters say a whopping 115,000 people were in attendance on the ... More >>

EDC 2012: The Underground Has Left the Building

See also our EDC slideshows: Day 1, and another Day 2 Day 3 Twenty years after rave culture first entered the American mainstream, the success of a festival like Electric Daisy Carnival begs the question: Can electronic dance music retain its authenticity, warehouse roots and peace, love, unity ... More >>

EDC 2012: Calvin Harris Plays CDs of Himself Singing

Dance music is fighting for its soul. The charts are filled with tracks (Rihanna, Flo Rida) that borrow from the ecstatic trance and pulsing grooves of electronic dance music. The last time pop was so infatuated with the dance floor was 1979, the year disco died. This time around fans are more sa ... More >>

EDC 2012: House Music Beef With DJ Sneak Plays Out in Steve Angello's DJ Set

In early spring, a Twitter beef erupted between DJ Sneak, a Chicago house music legend, and Steve Angello, one-third of the DJ supergroup Swedish House Mafia. Sneak called SHM's music "fake shit" and said they "do not play house music" -- as in, real house music. On Friday, in front of a huge crow ... More >>

iFest: Top 5 Argentine-American Musicians

The Houston International Festival enters its second weekend tomorrow, with featured musical acts WAR, Joe Louis Walker, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Texas Tornados, Del Castillo, Steel Pulse and lots more. Although iFest's performers come from all over the world, all around the main stages will be the sig ... More >>

Coachella: 10 Hot, Sweaty, Silly Dances, In GIF Form

This was written by LA Weekly's Rebecca Haithcoat -- ed. During Coachella's second weekend, temperatures topped 100 degrees every day. Yet somehow folks were dancing even crazy-er! Most just stripped down and let the sweat flow. Here are the ten funkiest, silliest Coachella dancers we saw, in GIF ... More >>

Coachella: 10 Hot, Sweaty, Silly Dances, in GIF Form

Note: This was written by LA Weekly's Rebecca Haithcoat -- ed. See also: *Top Ten Awkward Coachella Dance Move GIFs *Our Complete Coachella Coverage During Coachella's second weekend, temperatures topped 100 degrees every day. Yet somehow folks were dancing even crazy-er! Most just stripped dow ... More >>

Coachella: Best Of Weekend 2, Day 2

More fun in the desert from our friends at LA Weekly and OC Weekly -- ed. Saturday at Coachella meant tributes, tributes, tributes. From Levon Helms to Biggie, everyone got a shout-out. In between all that, some nasty partying and a little recreational drug use. Read our highly-trained writers as t ... More >>

Coachella: Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum Is A Real Hero

Note: This was written by LA Weekly's Taylor Hamby -- ed. "What's going on over there?" Jeff Mangum, the reclusive singer of Neutral Milk Hotel, halted a rare public appearance at weekend two of Coachella Saturday night to call attention to a distressed fan. At first, Mangum wasn't sure what h ... More >>

Coachella: Best Of Weekend 2, Day 1

Our friends at LA Weekly and OC Weekly are at Coachella again. Here's what they're up to. It's "hot, sultry and steamy," they say. Here's the best of what they saw Friday. Other Lives: Amidst the day's scorching heat -- when most sane people were asleep in their tents or at a fancy pool party -- a ... More >>

Coachella 4/20: People Were Smoking Weed

Friday was 4/20. It was also Coachella. And so, the percentage of festival-goers who were stoned rose from a paltry 75 percent to a full 98 percent. (These estimates come courtesy of our editor, LA Weekly's Ben Westhoff, who did a small survey with a margin of error of plus or minus 45 percent.) Be ... More >>

Coachella: The 10 Most Awkward Dance Moves In GIF Form

Note: This post was written by Rocks Off's friend and LA Weekly music editor Ben Westhoff, who obviously had a more interesting weekend than we did. See also: *"What My Spirit Hood Means To Me": Coachella-Goers Explain *Coachella: The Black Lips' Cole Alexander Goes Full Monty, Plays Guitar W ... More >>

Bonna-What?: How 7 U.S. Music Festivals Got Their Names

This whole week, the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, featuring the Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg, Pulp, At the Drive-In, the Shins, AVICII, David Guetta and maybe one or two others, will be all anyone who follows music these days will be talking about. Then early next week, it' ... More >>

The Worst Moments from SXSW 2012

The last few days, Village Voice Media's indefatigable music staff has been regaling you with stories of the best from SXSW 2012. In the midst of these discoveries, we've been culling another list: the worst shit. The acts that ranged from huge bore-fests to downright lame. Below, you'll find our cr ... More >>

SXSW: Five Attractive Strange People Working for Tips

Ed. Note: This article was written by L.A. Weekly music editor Ben Westhoff. Paying homeless people $70 a day to serve as human wifi hotspots is a bizarre way to make a buck, but it's indicative of the hustler's spirit at South By Southwest this year. Folks are grinding hard and employing increas ... More >>

Coming Soon to River Oaks: A 24-Hour Cupcake Vending Machine

Cupcake fans in Los Angeles lined up around the block this past weekend to get their Sprinkles fix. But they weren't lined up for a new Sprinkles store; they were lined up for Sprinkles' new cupcake vending machine. Or, as Sprinkles is referring to the device, its new ACM: automatic cupcake machine. ... More >>

Grand Forks, North Dakota, Gets an Olive Garden

Since I first read the Grand Forks Herald article last night -- "Long-awaited Olive Garden receives warm welcome" -- it's made its way around the Internet as an object of fascination faster than faked cell phone pictures of Christina Hendricks's breasts. "An Onion-worthy, rave review of...Olive Gar ... More >>

In Prog We Trust: Five Progressive Rock Bands You Hate, But Shouldn't

There are some forms of music that struggle to find critical acclaim while others are loved by critics but universally dismissed by the public. Then, there is another group that, despite a loyal and sometimes massive cult following, are disliked by critics and everyday music fans alike. Meet prog-r ... More >>

Top 10 Greatest And Most Essential Music Lists Of All Time

​Any fan of music journalism, well hell any sort of journalism in the past five years has seen a massive amount of top 10, 20, or 31 lists all over the Internets. They help cull information into one meaty morsel for you to swallow without, you know, have to type shit. Pretty cool, huh? As a ... More >>

Victoria Jackson Responds, Claims Feature Profile Was Lies Written by a Socialist

Responds is probably the wrong word to use when you consider the long rebuttal Jackson wrote regarding Gus Garcia-Roberts profile on the former SNL cast member that ran this week in Village Voice publications including the Houston Press. Jackson claims that Garcia-Roberts wrote things that were fal ... More >>

Palestinian Chicken at Al Aseel: Yes, It's Real

In this week's cafe review of Palestinian diner Al Aseel, I referred to an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm called "Palestinian Chicken" in which Larry David's character on the HBO show finds a Middle Eastern restaurant serving the best grilled chicken he's ever tasted. David, a Jew, keeps eating th ... More >>

GT Garza Tastier Than Free Fajitas On @ItzGarza

Photos by T. Gray​Thursday evening, perennially (and unjustifiably) overlooked rapper GT Garza held a release party for his latest tape, @ItzGarza. Sponsored by Jose Cuervo, the event was held at SF2 South, a store that has suddenly become a juggernaut within the Houston hip-hop community. ... More >>

Neil "Bigmista" Strawder Returns to Texas for a Good Cause

Photos by GroovehouseRev. Chester J. Makowski, Vicar of St. Augustine and Neil "Bigmista" Strawder share a laugh in the church's kitchen.​"My momma told me the church was gonna have a celebrity barbecue," recalled Neil "Bigmista" Strawder as he stood heads and shoulders above everyone else in ... More >>

Rally To Restore Sanity/Etc.: Pictures and Reports From Around the Nation

See Denver rally photos.​The Rally Whose name You're Already Familiar With was not just a Washington, DC event. Cities across the country held satellite versions of the event who couldn't make it to DC.Our papers covered the local stuff and what went on at the Mall, and Nick Luccehsi of our Denve ... More >>

Mike Stinson, Robert Ellis

Gram Rabbit To Bring Psychedelic Disco To Last Concert Café

​Talk about great news, Lonesome, Onry and Mean's favorite California psychedelic disco glam rockers Gram Rabbit will play Last Concert Café August 14. According the band's management, this will be the anchor date for their Texas swing, but no other Texas dates have yet been announced. The ... More >>

Tag, You're It

A doc about street art, sort of. Brought to you by Banksy, kind of.

Astro Memories, Part Two: Author/ Supermodel Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top

Photos by Bob Merlis​As we mentioned earlier, today's issue -- our annual look at Astros' Opening Day -- takes what Sarah Palin would no doubt call a "hopey-changey" approach to the 2010 season.Not for us to wallow in despair; instead we asked prominent Houstonians for their favorite Astro memorie ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Killa Kyleon, Destiny's Child, New Boyz, Lil' Flip, Devin, Trae, Cham, Freddy Gibbs, Weezy, Jeezy, Gucci Mane, Rihanna, etc.

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: "H-Town State of Mind," Killa Kyleon Killa is so, so, so good at flipping at other people's songs. Wire ... More >>

Farewell Anonysaurus Tex

​So long, anonymity -- it's been swell. For nearly ten years now, I have done my job incognito. Now I am joining the ranks of no-longer-anonymous restaurant critics. Last Friday, I gave a lecture to the students and faculty of the Texas A&M Meat Science Center without the usual hat and sunglas ... More >>

Sheila Jackson Lee Honors Michael Jackson, At Incredible Length

Via The Hill's blog, we've learned of our own Sheila Jackson Lee's epic attempt to immortalize Michael Jackson (who is being celebrated as we speak; check out the twittering/liveblogging at the music blog of our sister paper LA Weekly).Amazingly, Lee's bill declaring the House of Representatives "re ... More >>

Mike Tyson: Back In Our Hearts Again?

Photo by Kevin ScanlonMike Tyson's had an...ummm....interesting life. Winning the heavyweight title, getting convicted of rape, biting guy's ears off, making $300 million over his career but going bankrupt, being the basis for The Simpsons' Drederick Tatum.It's a full life.And now it's being examine ... More >>

Hitsville: The Year in Music, by the Numbers

You don't need a half-wit music critic to tell you it's been a remarkable year for America, one historians will be discussing and researching for centuries to come. War, financial collapse, politics, technology: All have been dinner-table topics for many Americans. Racial barriers in 2008 were demol ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Lil Wayne, Hip-Hop and the Election, Wu-Tang Clan, Danity Kane, The Kanye

Drenched in Blog: Emo Kids Getting Attacked in Mexico

Keira Get Your Gun

Domino chronicles the life of a model-turned-bounty hunter

Brain Food

You may puzzle over the menu at Robert Gadsby's Noé, but you'll love the clever chow

Letters