Lilith Fair

John Mayer, Cowboy?: 6 WTF Moments Of Musical Reinvention

Oh, you hadn't heard? At some point between his extended hiatus from singing and the recording of his newly announced album, Shadow Days, ol' big-mouth Mayer seems to have stumbled on some old Willie Nelson CDs and raided the nearest Cavender's in a transformation Rocks Off can only assume as bein ... More >>

What's The Best Rap Song About A Girlfriend, Wife Or Side Chick?

Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​For shame. Generally, the way Rap Round Table works is Rocks Off sends out a question of varying importance each week to rappers for them to discuss. About two years of doing this column has taught us that the best way to get responses is to do it on T ... More >>

Zach Attack

Galifianakis steals another Todd Phillips buddy comedy in Due Date.

Live From The Austin City Limits Festival, Day 2

Brittanie Shey: When you go to a festival lit this, you're always looking for the discovery. The one band that either blows you away or causes you to alter all your expectations. Today it was Dan Black, a performer we caught only because there was nothing else going on. As soon as we get home, we' ... More >>

How Is Houston Doing ACL-Wise?

Marco TorresThe Eagles have flown, at least as far as Houston is concerned.​If you have even bothered to venture out of doors during these days of 105-degree heat indices and "Unhealthy" air-quality advisories, you may have noticed that things have been a little light on the roadshow front lat ... More >>

FAIL: "American Idols Live," Montreal Jazz Festival, George Michael, Suge Knight

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Jazz Festival Audience Somehow Unprepared to Enjoy Aimless, Self-Indulgent Noodling: Lou Reed, John Zorn, and Reed's wife Laurie Anderson performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival recently, and treated the audience to improvisational jazz which the linked ... More >>

Lilith Fair's Top 5 Headline-Grabbing Moments

​Friday, while Rocks Off was enjoying a blissful if soggy day off, Lilith Fair canceled the final ten dates of this year's summer resurrection, including all three scheduled Texas stops. The news was hardly shocking: One headliner, Norah Jones, had already bailed, and The New York Times report ... More >>

Is The Westheimer Block Party Done For?

Bun B For Lafayette - ATLiens Freestyle from Decatur Dan on Vimeo. • Dave Bry at the witty pop-culture blog The Awl writes about rap music's eternal embrace of consumerism, using Bun B's most recent release, a rap written in honor of Japanese clothing company Lafayette, as an example. It's a great ... More >>

How To Survive The Summer Concert Season

​You may be saying, "Rocks Off, how can you guys be doing a summer concert tips blog when it's almost July?" Well, imaginary naysayer who just had an imaginary conversation with us, here in Houston summer lasts until the trannies off Pacific Street start wearing two pairs of Spanx, which is ... More >>

La Gran Senora

Jenni Rivera flirts with pop crossovers but remains true to regional Mexican music.

Erykah Badu, Hotter Than July At Verizon

Photos by Jody Perry / Click here for a slideshow​Erykah Badu is a vanishing specimen, a pop star who courts controversy - see the "Window Seat" video, coming soon to a Dallas courtroom near you - not out of some narcissistic need to be in the headlines, but because she is legitimately differe ... More >>

Aussie Anne McCue Seeking Trumpet, Sax For Volcano Gig

myspace.com/annemccue​Aussie guitarslinger Anne McCue, now a resident of Nashville, has hung around the edges of the U.S. alt-country and blues-rock scenes for years now. However, her third American release, Broken Promise Land, may finally put the slinky blonde firmly on the map. Beginning with t ... More >>

FAIL: Jeff Beck, Jonas Brothers, Lilith Fair, ACL Fest

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 >>

Summer Tours We'd Like To See: Bring Back Texxas Jam!

Reminder: Tickets for Lady Gaga's Toyota Center show next year go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m.​ Summer concert season doesn't last as long as hurricane season, and leaves somewhat less damage in its aftermath, but at least it gives us something to look forward to during those long, hot months. This ... More >>

Norah Jones, Miranda Lambert Top Lilith Houston Lineup

​ If you missed Norah Jones Wednesday or Miranda Lambert a couple weeks back, don't worry - they'll both be back when the revived Lilith Fair hits the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion August 16. Also scheduled for Houston are Dixie Chicks Emily Robison and Martie Maguire's new band, Court Yard Houn ... More >>

Musical Moms That Make Us Melt

​ With Mother's Day fast approaching, we can't help but recognize all the hot rocker mamas out there making music and babies. It can't be easy to write the next great pop song and have a tiny human being inside you sucking nutrients from your body, in the process girding their loins for making you ... More >>

It's Not Easy Being Green: How Venues And Festivals Handle All That Garbage

Marco TorresSold-out Jay-Z crowd = A lot of trash at Toyota Center.​ On any given night, 18,000 to 25,000 people fill the Toyota Center, whether to watch the Rockets play or to see Lady Gaga in full regalia. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces more than ... More >>

Distant Early Warning: Athlete, The Bangles, Cypress Hill, Imogen Heap, MGMT, O'Jays, Rush, Talib Kweli, Etc.

​Athlete, Carney: Sat., June 26. Walter's on Washington. All Leather, Balaclavas, Yip-Yip: Sat., May 15. The Mink. The Bangles, Tonic: Sat., May 29. Moody Gardens Outdoor Amphitheater. Tyagaraja, Black Queen Speaks, Peekaboo Theory, Robert Ellis & The Boys, The Tontons, VerseCity, Wayside Dri ... More >>

Smoke Drugs Or Snuggle? Roger Waters And Lilith Fair Coming To Town Soon

Craig Hlavaty​This morning two big Houston concert announcements came down the wire, sure to delight the senses. One will no doubt get you brownie points from your girlfriend if you go, and the other will probably score you some really wicked brownies from a dude that knows a friend of yours. Pink ... More >>

Lilith Fair Returns To Houston; The Last Time Around Didn't Go Too Smoothly

​Hair Balls is clutching our pearls in anticipation of the official announcement from Lilith Fair headquarters on a date, venue and lineup for the festival's Houston show. (They've already announced they're coming here, just not when.) From 1997 to 1999 the festival's first incarnation made waves ... More >>

Melissa Savcic, Not Jessica Alba But Both Band And Kickboxing Singer-Songwriter

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com.​The other day President Obama* ... More >>

Houston Women's Festival

Anne McCue

Vagina Music Roundup

A scintillating survey

Leaps, Leather and Lingerie

Catch a Dark and Lovely performance at Houston Ballet's "Mentors & Prodigy"

Can't Touch the MMMBop

A new boxed set excavates the '90s

Party On, Dan

Who knew HPD gave away free heroin shots?

Not So Complic8ted

Our latest pop phenomenon, Avril Lavigne, deconstructed for your convenience

Deep Thoughts

Lost and Delirious makes Jack Handey sound like Kant

Bored? Tired?...

L7 delivers a message of defiance to all those prepackaged rockers

The Dish

Native Houstonian Trish Murphy's new record is something to talk about

New Releases Reviewed

Luscious Jackson

Living Doll

Mary Chapin Carpenter's new tour will rekindle old flames

Rotation

Rotation

Night & Day

September 24 - 30, 1998

Old Soul

Static

In with the Old

Born to Sing

Aggie Yoke

Rotation

Loud and Clear

Girl in the Spotlight

Lisa Loeb is figuring it out in public

Sound Check

Rotation

Rotation

Press Picks

Strange Days

Lilith Fair-ness

Sarah McLachlan had a brainchild, and it was a girl