Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson: The Man (?) In the Mirror

Drenched in Blog: Happy 25th, Thriller

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Banned Books in Prison; Best Movies of the 1980s

Booked in Prison

Remaking Michael Jackson

Why waste money on (or steal) those bogus Thriller remixes when you can get better ones legally for free?

Mike Epps

The Friday and Def Comedy Jam star takes no prisoners

Rush Hour 3

The third time's the guilty pleasure for Tucker and Chan's buddy-cop franchise

Fall of Troy

Monday, April 24, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, 713-225-5483

The Handsomes

The Handsomes

Hail to the Freak

Interesting times call for an interesting man of the year. We nominate Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson: Magic Moments With The King Of "Alleged"

It's a sure bet that when Neil Armstrong dies, coverage will be limited to a two minute retrospective culminating with "One small step for man..." playing over his official NASA photo. Meanwhile, CNBC today is still reporting on the "financial impact of Michael Jackson's death." One walked on the m ... More >>

Ben Kweller Remembers Michael Jackson at House of Blues

Rocks Off just found this video of Dallas-born, Austin-dwelling indie-cum-roots-rocker Ben Kweller dedicating a melancholy piano ballad to the late King of Pop at Thursday night's House of Blues show. Those of you who cheered when Kweller announced "Michael Jackson is gone" can rest assured you're ... More >>

Michael Jackson in Real Bad Shape... R.I.P. Jacko

[Update: at 5:15 p.m. Houston time, the Los Angeles Times confirmed Jackson's death, citing "city and law enforcement sources." The King of Pop was all of 50 years old.] As if there wasn't enough going on today - Farrah, Roky, Jenny Lewis - the Internet is now exploding with reports of Michael Jack ... More >>

State of Shock

How Michael Jackson (sort of) introduced me to the Rolling Stones.

Houstonians Learn the "Thriller" Dance

Craig Hlavaty Who would have ever imagined just a little over a week ago that Houstonians would be convening on the lush confines of Discovery Green to learn to do the "Thriller" dance? Or in the sweltering dog days of July for that matter? The dance seems way more like a Halloween affair than anyth ... More >>

Michael Jackson Funeral Coverage Coming Tomorrow

Somehow the folks at West Coast Sound, Rocks Off's sister music blog over at L.A. Weekly, have scored the hottest ticket in show business in years: a ticket to Michael Jackson's funeral Tuesday at Los Angeles' Staples Center. So far Stevie Wonder, Jackson's old Motown boss Berry Gordy, Brooke Shiel ... More >>

Michael Jackson, You Will Be Honored...And Twittered

The Most Important Event Ever....Will Be Twittered!!!!Our colleagues at West Coast Sound, the music blog of our sister paper L.A. Weekly, will be in attendance when The Nation Stops at noon tomorrow (Houston time) to give a final send-off to Michael Jackson at Los Angeles' Staples Center. So far St ... More >>

Beyonce Scheduled to Perform at Michael Jackson Memorial

Daniel Kramer ABC News is reporting that Beyonce, who sang tributes to Michael Jackson at her Toyota Center concert and at New Orleans' Essence Music Festival over the weekend, will perform at Jackson's funeral in Los Angeles this afternoon. Also expected to attend are Justin Timberlake, P Diddy, Sm ... More >>

Ron Artest Misses Michael Jackson Too, Y'all

Recently departed Rocket Ron Artest has never had any trouble making headlines on or off the basketball court, so it's easy to forget that occasionally he also fancies himself a musician. Now the ever-misunderstood Artest has put his feelings about Michael Jackson in song with "Michael Michael." Be ... 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 >>

Requiem for Michael: The Last Rock Star

Amid the past two weeks of Michael Jackson worship, the details of his drug use were slowly leaked out. The man had done enough painkillers and random legal narcotics that would make all-star druggies like Keith Richards and Lemmy Kilmister shudder and cower away. It's funny that this small and spri ... More >>

Bayou Beat: Live Nation Goes All In, ZZ Top Tickets Up for Grabs, Meridian Rocks the Sabbath and More

Courtesy of Stephen "Rube" Sager Live Nation has outdone itself on its latest "No Service Fee" Wednesday. All day, $29.99 buys a lawn ticket - one lawn ticket, mind you - parking, all those pesky fees, a hot dog and a soda for any participating show at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Once they ... More >>

Memories of Michael

Also: Secessionist Session

"Prison Sex" and Other Songs Jacko's Ex-Doctor Doesn't Want to Hear Right Now

Well, this is a strange and incongruous turn of events. Normally when a celebrity gets pumped full of pills by a dubious "personal physician" and croaks, there are no repercussions and everyone's free to split up the dead guy's loot like Christmas came early. Not this time, however: Fox News report ... More >>

A Bizarre, and Sometimes Electrifying, Tribute to Michael Jackson, Luther and Marvin at Miller Outdoor Theater

​Saturday Rocks Off and a friend attended Keeping the Music Alive, a free concert at Miller Outdoor Theatre. The show was a tribute in honor of the late Michael Jackson, the later Bernie Mac, the even later Gerald Levert, the later still Luther Vandross, and the even yet later still Barry White - ... More >>

Coroner Rules Michael Jackson's Death a Homicide

TMZ.com​It already looked bad for Houston physician Dr. Conrad Murray, whom just about everyone with a pulse expects to face criminal charges stemming from his client Michael Jackson's June 25 death and is already the subject of a manslaughter probe by the LAPD. Now things look even wors ... More >>

For Teddy: Our Favorite Dead Kennedys Songs

​That's right, we went there. Longtime Massachussetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, better known as Teddy, passed away late Tuesday night at age 77. News media sites have already gone to Defcon 2 - "A Famous Person Not Named Michael Jackson Has Died" - so Rocks Off thought we'd take a different appro ... More >>

Kick 'em While They're Down: The Worst Songs Ever Recorded For Charity

Please take this thing away from me. Please.​ When Rocks Off received an email touting Sting's new MySpace charity video for the Prince of Wales' Rainforest Project, we almost chipped a fingernail hurriedly clicking on the link, which promised oodles of celebrities such as Olivia Newton-John, Rich ... More >>

Dancing With the Stars: Damn That Michael Irvin!

​It's the halfway point of the season! Tom Bergeron said so! I wish he'd said that the night before, when I was glumly pondering how many more episodes this season would foist upon an innocent populace. But there you go: only a few left. Here's hoping someone gets really hurt. The opening cr ... More >>

The Top Rock-Star Death Conspiracies: Elvis, Michael, Kurt, Tupac and More

It seems that the stranger and weirder our world gets by the day, humanity struggles to find reasons behind all this calamity and tragedy. We try our best to find conclusions to why bad things happen, and when we can't fully fathom that the awful truth is just that, instead try to blame the influen ... More >>

DVDs This Week: Michael Jackson & Houston's Je'caryous Johnson

There's only one DVD release that's getting any attention today: Michael Jackson's This Is It. Culled from 80 hours of footage of Jackson in rehearsal for a series of London concerts, and interviews with associates and friends, This Is It is what fans get instead of a good-bye tour. The document ... More >>

"Tuff Enuff"

Jenny Schlief chops and screws Michael Jackson's Thriller

Great Moments in Douchebaggotry: Michael Jackson Takes Paul McCartney's Advice... In the Douchiest Way Possible

Great Moments in Douchebaggery is brought to you by Rocks Off's upcoming Washington Shore party, Thursday, February 11, at the Washington Avenue Drinkery. All types of douchebags are encouraged to attend. Sadly, the duo enjoyed only a very brief period of skipping merrily about together.​In the ea ... More >>

Dancing the Dozens

Yo' mama's feet so big, they each got their own zip code

Can't Forget The Motor City: Our Favorite Motown Jams

​ She Said has always been a fan of Stax Records, the gritty Southern label started by a white brother-sister team in a movie theater in Memphis. Something about Stax' organic sound and integrated musical influences (this is the same city that gave us Sun Records) had always felt so raw and real. ... More >>

The Week In TV: What Do You Watch During The Summer?

With Treme off the air, what are you going to watch the rest of the summer?​Blah blah basketball blah blah soccer blah blah I miss real shows. This was the week in TV Land: • Treme wrapped its first season last night with an episode that was probably among its best so far, though it also hi ... More >>

Michael Jackson As Scholarly Subject: A Texas Tech Study

Finally, all the MJ scholarship in one place​When The Journal of Pan African Studies decided to devote an entire volume to Michael Jackson after the Gloved One's passing, Texas Tech librarian Rob Weiner had an idea: why not find out how many times MJ popped up in academic journals, and for what re ... More >>

The Day Michael Jackson Died: A Look Back

​One year ago tomorrow, one of the strangest, most volatile lives in American pop-culture history came to an end. Michael Jackson left this mortal coil on June 25, 2009, and in his wake we were left to not only deal with all of our conflicted and cherished memories of him, but also the public ... More >>

The Glamour Boyz: Beware Of Found Footage

Every day Rocks Off trolls the tubes of you in search of videos to share. If you have something that you think deserves to be video of the day, send a link to jef_rouner at yahoo dot com. ​One of your daily video guide's favorite people is Rocks Off's own Craig Hlavaty. His articles are well- ... More >>

Friday Night: "Jai Ho: The Journey Home" At Toyota Center

Photos by Marco Torres​A.R. Rahman "Jai Ho: The Journey Home" Toyota Center September 17, 2010 The Indian film-score composer A.R. Rahman, now widely known as the winner of two 2009 Academy Awards for Slumdog Millionaire, is the master of the movie-musical genre known as Bollywood. He is also ... More >>

1991: Best Music Year Ever?

Rocks Off Sr.'s choice for 1991's best album.​1991 was one of the biggest years in modern music. It was when metal went pop, radio country ruled, grunge went mainstream, and rap began its climb to chart dominance, even if it was spearheaded by a white candy rapper from Dallas. There were man ... More >>

Suggestive Restaurants to Get You in the Mood This Valentine's Day

The big red cock itself.​On the way to Jimmy Changa's a few weeks ago, my dining companion and I passed a country-cute little restaurant in Deer Park called Jug and Muffin. Aside from reminding me that I still want to open a pub some day called The Honk and Jiggle, we couldn't stop giggling to ... More >>

The Eagles' Real Greatest Hits, 1971-1975

​Thirty-five years ago today, the Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), became the very first album to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, at least in the modern period of the RIAA keeping track. No doubt before Frey & Henley hit the scene, Elvis and the ... More >>

Pre-Bieber, Five Memorable Musician Interview Gaffes

​Remember in the days before "Bi-winning," when Twitter was all up in arms about Justin Beiber's interview with Rolling Stone? Was it really a surprise that some of the pop star's opinions, as told to the magazine last month, would be half-baked and maybe even a bit ignorant? Put aside for a ... More >>

Michael Jackson Memories: 28 Years And Counting

​Saturday, Michael Jackson will have been dead for two years. Already. The King of Pop succumbed to a drug addiction on June 25, 2009, helped along by a crooked Houston doctor, a team of enablers, and public that had grown largely indifferent to the man (but not his music) by two summers ago. ... More >>

The 10 Most Horrible Music-Biz Bosses

​The movie Horrible Bosses comes out today, and while the heinous supervisors in question all work in areas unrelated to entertainment, this shouldn't be taken to mean the music industry is free of bad managers and executives. Rocks Off knows if anything, the music biz has had more than its fa ... More >>

Music's Top 5 Dubious "Dr. Feelgoods"

ibtimes.com​To say that Dr. Conrad Murray had a bad day in court yesterday is probably something of an understatement. In addition to veiwing graphic pictures of Michael Jackson's autopsy, jurors in the involuntary manslaughter trial of the King of Pop's former physician heard damaging testimo ... More >>

Thriller Turns 30: Five Reasons It Rocked

​Today marks the thirty-year anniversary of the release of Thriller, which broke basically every record in the book. It remains the best selling album of all time with over 10 million in total sales. It not only solidified Michael Jackson as one of the biggest pop stars of all time, it deliver ... More >>

Speed Limit: 10 Songs About Fast Driving That Aren't By Sammy Haggar

​On this day in 1974 Richard Nixon signed into law that mandated lowering the speed limit to 55 mph. Now, the reason for this was to make the country preserve gasoline in the middle of an OPEC embargo (which it did), but they also sold the bill to us as a march towards safety. After all, speed ... More >>

Disaster Ball

​On this day in 1974 Richard Nixon signed into law that mandated lowering the speed limit to 55 mph. Now, the reason for this was to make the country preserve gasoline in the middle of an OPEC embargo (which it did), but they also sold the bill to us as a march towards safety. After all, speed ... More >>