Louis Armstrong

7 Disney Characters Based On Pop Musicians

One of the interesting things about Walt Disney films is the way they borrow from or hold up a mirror to popular culture. Along with great storytelling and good songs, this is quite possibly why people like them in the first place. In fact, it's how some of us get introduced to great artists such a ... More >>

What a Wonderful World: The Best of Louis Armstrong

Trinity Jazz Festival

Satin Doll

Third Ward singer Jewel Brown once worked for both Louis Armstrong and Jack Ruby.

Third Ward Treasure Jewel Brown: "I've Seen 'Em All"

Along with Lightnin' Hopkins's cousin Milton Hopkins, Houston jazz diva Jewel Brown heads north to Chicago this weekend, where she and Hopkins will entertain folks with their new album, Milton Hopkins and Jewel Brown. The festival is paying tribute to Lightnin' Hopkins since this would have been hi ... More >>

Homegrown Houston - 3G

Rest Of The Best: Houston's Top 8 Jukeboxes

Along with pickled pig's feet and a steady supply of Slim Jims, a good jukebox is a prime element for any great bar. But, like dinosaurs, jukeboxes are a vanishing breed. Unlike digital jukes, iPods or DJs, jukeboxes require love, care and maintenance, as well as -- among the truly great ones -- som ... More >>

The 10 Oddest Super Bowl Halftime Performers

The Super Bowl seems to be running out of stadium-sized performers who can attract eyeballs (the Black-Eyed Peas?), and this year they're hoping that faded scandalist Madonna will do the trick. It's not like they haven't been desperate before. In the early days of the event, producers regularly tu ... More >>

The Roots Of Jimbo Mathus: From Charley Patton To Charlie Parker

Jimbo Mathus's latest work, Confederate Buddha, was easily one of the most overlooked roots albums of 2011. Don't worry, we sort of slept through it too, but that just means you can make up for that with us by checking him out Saturday night at the Continental Club, with opening act Shinyribs. You ... More >>

Capsule Stage Review: Fruitcakes

Elvis Costello to Fans: "Don't Buy My Overpriced Record"

In a recession, particularly one as deep and annoyingly persistent as the one we currently find ourselves in, it is tough to justify larger purchases, particularly for things that aren't necessities. As much as we love music here at Rocks Off, we too are often shocked at the price of boxed sets and ... More >>

Houston Via Colori ® The Street Painting Festival

ESPN Headlines -- Sex, Lies, And Shrunken Testicles

It's a bad news day when you're hoping for stories on barry Bonds' shrunken balls​"I see trees of green ... red roses too I see em bloom ... for me and you And I think to myself ... what a wonderful world." -- Louis Armstrong Clearly, Louis Armstrong would have never made it as a sports fan ... More >>

Top 10 Louisiana Bands Of All Time

​Pardon the geographical pun, but besides Texas, our neighbor to the east may be the most musical state in these United States. And in terms of per capita, Louisiana, which ranks 25th in population to Texas' second, is probably second to none. Outside Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, the program m ... More >>

Saturday Night: Los Amigos Invisibles & Trombone Shorty At House Of Blues

Photos by Marco Torres​Los Amigos Invisibles, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue House of Blues February 19, 2011 When Aftermath first learned that Los Amigos Invisibles and Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews would be playing the same concert, we were a little confused. We had no idea what would re ... More >>

Ella: The Musical

For Once in My Life

Ella Fitzgerald, Jailed in Houston for Shooting Dice: Photo of the Day

Photo by Pete Vazquez/via Houston ChronicleElla: Shooting dice will get you arrested.​Is this a great picture or what? It's the inestimable Ella Fitzgerald sitting forlornly in a Houston jail, arrested for shooting dice in her Music Hall dressing room with -- get this lineup -- Dizzy Gillespi ... More >>

Answers To Rocks Off's Musical Nickname Quiz

​Rocks Off hopes you enjoyed our musical nickname quiz earlier today. We have had a few nicknames ourselves over the years - our dad called us "Boog" after former Baltimore Orioles first baseman Boog Powell, and we were known for years around the Austin Chronicle offices as "Weezer," which we ... More >>

Kermit Ruffins, New Orleans' Beaming Musical Ambassador

​Many people say that going to New Orleans feels like being in another time. In fact, the city's current slogan for its tourism TV spots, which Rocks Off caught just this morning, is "you're different here." Listening to Kermit Ruffins, who plays House of Blues Friday night, has that effect t ... More >>

Reds Beans and Ricely Yours

​I had red beans and rice with an excellent smoked sausage at Kojak's deli last Monday. Red beans and rice on Mondays is an old New Orleans tradition. It comes from a time when ham was commonly served for Sunday dinner and Monday was laundry day. The beans would simmer on the stove with the ha ... More >>

The Music of True Blood, Episode 1.12: Closing Up Shop With a Ditty Called "Ain't No Grave"

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. With Season 2 just completed, Rocks Off is now working our way backw ... More >>

Happy Hour Scene - Boheme

​If you blink, you might miss Boheme. The coffee shop-by-day, cocktails-by-night hideaway is tucked away on Fairview between Morgan and Taft. On Thursday nights, Boheme gives you the perfect excuse to drink - Spacetaker's Cultured Cocktails Happy Hour. Each week from 5 to 10 p.m., a portion of ... More >>

Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra

The Nickel: A Musical History of the Fifth Ward, Part 2

[Note: Part 1 is here, and the Eating Our Words entry that inspired this series is here.] To tell the story of music in the Fifth Ward with anything like the sweep it deserves, we will have to go way back to the 19th century. On a November day in 1898, Beulah Thomas was born to Fanny Bradley an ... More >>

Can Lil Wayne Overcome His Spotty Live Track Record?

Weezy Peezy

Glenn Gould, The Russian Journey

This documentary film captures the Canadian pianist's visit to Leningrad and Moscow

The Iguanas

Dr. Roger Wood's Matagorda Island Discs

Get Lit: Pot Culture: The A-Z Guide to Stoner Language and Life, by Shirley Halperin & Steve Bloom

This Just In: Get Ready for iFest

Hello Dolly!

Now how does that song go again?

Black History Month Retrospective

Celebrate the contributions of African-Americans with the Sandra Organ Dance Company

Woodbelly

Woodbelly performs Friday, March 30, at Dan Electro's Guitar Bar, 1031 East 24th, 713-862-8707.

Irie iFest

Finding the coolest runnings at this year's Jamaica-themed Houston International Festival

Between the Cracks

Profiling local bands

Big Boss Man

Jimmy T99 Nelson predated and outlived Elvis P. and has won the affections of Elvis C.

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Jammin' on the Sabbath

If the Sunday-afternoon concert series isn't enough, there are still 10,000 free reasons to go to the Space Place

Best Radio Station

Star 790

Get Some

On the Green Records

Cindy Scott

Major to Minor (Self-released)

Wham, Bam, Thank You MAMH

The proposed Museum of American Music History could be the solution to our "image problem"

Louis Armstrong

The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (Columbia/Legacy)

Various Artists

Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of America's Music (Columbia Legacy)

Rollin' on the River

San Antonian Jim Cullum and his band keep the Dixieland torch alive and burnin'

Best Jukebox

Warren's Inn

Hot Plate

Big Band Bayou?

Blue thoughts for BCT, and the Karankawas are hungry again

All Rise