Leonard Cohen

Seven Recent Albums By '60s Artists That Don't Suck

Age gets us all eventually. I'm only in my early twenties and already I'm having to do stupid things like eating healthier, quitting the smokes, and watching my blood pressure. So it really shouldn't come as any surprise that musicians start to slow down in their old age, especially if they've been ... More >>

Rock's Best Fiction Novelists and Poets

We writers are a masturbatory bunch, if you don't mind me saying so. We love to talk about our own work, the works of others, and generally just get into a huge hubbub over the art of the written word. So I don't think it should come as any surprise that some of our favorite musicians are also accla ... More >>

Notable Recluses: Five Musicians Who Almost Never Tour

Some musicians are just road rats. They can't get enough of life on tour. For others, it wears down on them to a breaking point. Many have been very vocal about how much they despise touring, especially as they've gotten older. Some, like Trent Reznor, have expressed fears of being a KISS-esque nos ... More >>

Mo' Money, Mo' Problems: 5 Musicians Who Had to File for Bankruptcy

Recently it was revealed that Cat Power was not only suffering from a serious illness called angiodema that was threatening to stop her European tour, but also that she has filed for bankruptcy. That tour has indeed been postponed, but Cat Power is hardly the first musician to be running low on cash ... More >>

Grey Victory: A Playlist for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony

In 1945, the Japanese city of Hiroshima became the first target of a nuclear weapon ever. The United States called for the unconditional surrender of the country at the end of World War II, an ultimatum that was ignored. In response, we deployed a weapon that killed between 90,000 and 166,000 Japane ... More >>

The 4 Best Cocktails Named For Rock Stars

I played rock star for a few years here in town, loading in equipment at 7 p.m. to go on around midnight. You know what you do in the interim? You drink, heavily, because you're in a bar and you're bored off your ass. I even ended up writing the Black Math Experiment song "Alcohol" about it. Alcoh ... More >>

Defying Ambiguity: Jandek & 5 Other Curious Cult Musicians

As a musician, there are many reasons behind choosing to remain an ambiguous character in the public eye as opposed to taking in all of the public attention one can. Choosing to remain ambiguous or elusive is sometimes a decidedly defiant statement, sometimes even a backwards-marketing tool, or is s ... More >>

30 Seconds With John Mills-McCoin

There is no one in Houston like John Mills-McCoin. The Rock 'N' Roll Circus that is scheduled to raise the bar on Houston shows this weekend was birthed from the depth of his brain's wackiness. We waded into to see what we could learn about him in 30 seconds. Rocks Off: What is worst song in the w ... More >>

Sugarland Says It Will Play New BBVA Compass Stadium

Updated with comments from BBVA Compass Stadium Director of Marketing, PR & Booking Gina Rotolo -- 12:24 p.m. Pop-country duo Sugarland will be playing the Houston Dynamo's new stadium, BBVA Compass Stadium, the band announced in a set of tour dates on its Web site. The show, scheduled for Aug. 26, ... More >>

Top 10 Local Covers Of Famous Songs

A good cover song must reach a perfect balance between innovation and preserving the original's appeal. There have been some really great covers from Houston's music scene, and we wanted to pay tribute to them.

Decoding Newt Gingrich Based on His Known Musical Tastes

The digital revolution is slowly killing our favorite form of amateur psychoanalysis. We've all gone through someone's CD collection at some point when they weren't in the room, and from the albums we found we were able to deduce something about their personality. Now, we don't even have a CD shelf, ... More >>

Friday Night: The Civil Wars at The Wortham Center

The Civil Wars Wortham Center January 20, 2012 Check out our slideshow of Civil Wars playing to a packed house. Strolling up Wortham Center's grand staircase in advance of The Civil Wars show on Friday night, several thoughts went tumbling through Aftermath's head. We weren't certain what to expec ... More >>

Gothic Council Debates Great Gothic Album Cover Art

​Gothtopia would like to firmly bitch-slap an old adage, that being the warning about judging a book by its cover. The lesson we are supposed to draw from that is that we should look deeper inside than just the surface in order to better appreciate the true character of whatever the subject is ... More >>

30 Seconds With Miles Zuniga

Rocks Off interrogated Miles Zuniga, who just released his solo debut These Ghosts Have Bones, to see what we could find out about the Fastball singer/guitarist and Austin's own acolyte of the Church of John Coltrane 30 seconds.​ Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Miles Zuniga ... More >>

Behind The Secret Chord David Played To Please The Lord

​Lately Rocks Off has two main hobbies. One is predicting the end of the world; you won't believe this, but this week we found absolutely nothing in Revelation that seemed relevant. The second is tying in the simple joy of our word-a-day calendar to different songs. Last week's word was "wainw ... More >>

Your Musical Word Of The Day: Wainwright

John Constable's "The Hay Wain"​Definition: A person who either builds or repairs wagons. It's from two old English words, "waen" meaning "wagon," and "whryta" meaning "worker." You see similar words like playwright, shipwright, and cartwright. Now it's usually a last name. Use in a sentence: ... More >>

Canada Day: Top 10 Artists From Way Up Yonder

​Hello? Is this thing on? Rocks Off has a feeling that a lot of folks are nowhere near their computers today. Must be some sort of holiday. It is, actually. Today, not Monday. It's Canada Day, or as it's known in the U.S., "What Is Princess Kate Wearing?" Day. (Also, Friday.) Honestly, Rocks ... More >>

Zoo Station: A Noah's Ark Of 75 Animal Songs

And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee ... More >>

Five Vices That Need Celebrity Endorsements

Ed. Note: Rocks Off does not advocate trying any of the products mentioned in this article (even if they exist) or, really, following any of Jef With One F's advice about anything at all. ​When Marilyn Manson put out Mansinthe, that was cute. Then David Lynch put out his own brand of coffee, ... More >>

Top 10 Hottest Jewish Musicians

​The Festival of Lights is upon us, as the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah officially kicks off at sundown tonight. Some of music's leading bigwigs will likely be sparking up the menorah, among them Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Leonard Cohen, Diamond David Lee Roth, Perry Farrell an ... More >>

Ten Rejected Glee Episodes

Fox​It seems like Glee can make any song, no matter how trite, terrible, or just inappropriate for singing by high-school-age children into a runaway smash pop hit. However, Rocks Off would like to hypothesize that there are artists that are beyond even Fox's ability to mold into mainstream. ... More >>

Houston's 10 Favorite Rainy-Day Albums

Hola, Hermine...​Weather like Houston had this past week seems to make everyone "sad panda" and turn to lusher, less upbeat music. snuggle-rock, dad-rock, beard-rock - music you hear in coffee shops seems to be ruling our city's personal airwaves. As Tropical Storm Hermine trampled through H ... More >>

Justin Bieber's Autobiography: The Lost Introduction

​Today Rocks Off got word that pop sensation Justin Bieber was finishing up his first autobiography. The 16-year-old is set to release Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story in October - in print, not tweet by tweet, no less. Following in the footsteps of other poppers like Miley Cyrus, ... More >>

Confessions Of A Sheet Music Salesman

rbcmusic.com​Readers may be surprised to learn this, but searching for YouTube videos to mock and talking about Goth bands does not exactly pay for the finer things in life. So six days a week, Rocks Off - or at least the Rocks Off writer with only one "f" in his name - sells sheet music to th ... More >>

Rdio.com Helps Us Get Over Lala

​Rocks Off is no longer a grieving widower, bemoaning the loss of his faithful Lala.com with the shades drawn and a glass of wine, constantly clicking a dead link while listening to Leonard Cohen on CD like a caveman. A few days after Lala died, we got a message from a friend that he had the ... More >>

Aftermath: At The End Of The World As We Know It, Shooter Jennings Feels Fine

Photos by Marc Brubaker​ "I've seen the future, brother," Leonard Cohen once sang. "It is murder." Maybe that's why there weren't more people at Meridian Wired Live Friday night. Pondering the shape of things to come is bad enough without coughing up a Jackson to have your weekend entertainment ha ... More >>

Road Trip, Anyone? If You Want To See Nouvelle Vague, You'll Have To

​ One more sign that Houston don't count for jack: Nouvelle Vague is playing Dallas (Feb. 12) and Austin (13th), but no Houston date. Hmmm...where have I heard this story before? NV have been wildly popular in Europe since their eponymous 2004 debut. We first stumbled upon them when we heard t ... More >>

Most Downloaded "Hope For Haiti" Texan? Although She Killed, Not Beyonce

Between fighting crime, reducing global warming, mending our socks and, you know, everything else Rocks Off does when we're away from the office, we caught a good bit of Friday evening's "Hope for Haiti" telethon. We didn't have much choice, because the George Clooney-organized, celebrity-packed fu ... More >>

Curse Your Branches: The Top College-Rockish Records of 2009, Part 1

​Yeah, pal, that's "college rock," scare quotes very much included. Look, it's a meaningless term. As are "indie," "alternative," "hipster," etc., etc. Let's not overthink this: Here we have ten splendid records with an amorphous rock 'n' roll designation, albeit in a perhaps slightly more experim ... More >>

American Central Dust: The Americana Class of 2009, Part 2

​5. Great Lake Swimmers, Lost Channels (Nettwerk) Great Lake Swimmers frontman Tony Dekker has written his fair share of heartbreaking, reverb-soaked ballads in the past, but Lost Channels finds him and his band also dabbling in Waterboys-style folk rock. What results is the Swimmers' most varied ... More >>

The Brunettes

He Said She Said: Breakup Songs to Help You Bawl, Part 2

Ever since men and women set eyes upon each other at the beginning of time, there have been break-ups, and painful dissolutions of romantic escapades have made the best art in the world. Hell, somewhere in the world there is a probably a cave painting of a pretty young Neanderthal girl with devil h ... More >>

Phil Spector Sentenced To 19 Years In Prison

Phil Spector, preeminent music producer and architect of the famed "Wall of Sound" made popular by such artists as The Ronettes, The Righteous Brothers and John Lennon, was sentenced to 19 years in a California jail this past Friday for his alleged part in the death of ladyfriend Lana Clarkson in ea ... More >>

Even Burt Reynolds In That Black Trans-Am, All Gonna Meet Down At The Lakewood Yacht Club

Houston is once again proudly claiming its mantle for all things classy. For it is here -- not in Paris, not in Monaco or Palm Springs -- where Burt Reynold's legendary Bandit will be auctioned off next month.What is the Bandit, you ask, obviously putting down your dog-eared copy of Recherche du Tem ... More >>

Don't Ever Count Britney Out — Just Like These Others.

Back in Black

Beck at ACL Fest

Drenched In Blog: Um… Hallelujah?

Drenched in Blog: Hall of Fame Nominations a Big Cleveland Steamer

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Top DVDs

Our picks for the week of April 26

Bill Callahan

Bill Callahan will perform on Wednesday, April 18, at the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, 2402 Munger, 713-926-6368.

Droning On

The Hanukkah Songs

Wherein we find the coining of our new favorite word: Jewpergroup

Girls' Night Out

Le Tigre and Electrelane bring an evening of transatlantic feminist mayhem to the Engine Room. Don't worry, boys -- you can come too.

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Press Picks

The Heavenly Twins