Subject: Music Charts

• Paul Wall Update

  April 17, 2007

• Chart Check: R. Kelly

  June 6, 2007

• The Houston 100: From Scarface to Robert Earl Keen

  September 26, 2007

• The Houston 100: The Master List

  October 4, 2007

• Chamillionaire: Not So Dirty

  October 24, 2007

• Drenched in Blog: Juno Hits No. 1

  January 30, 2008

• Bartender, Pour the Wine: Ten Great Country Breakup Songs

  February 14, 2008

• MP3: Jackie Wilson and Laverne Baker, Like You’ve Never Heard Them Before

  April 1, 2008

• Tonight: Shontelle at House of Blues

  November 11, 2008

• The Kanye Is a "Sharp Dressed Man"

  Rocks Off would like to thank Dallas Observer Music Editor Pete Freedman for hipping him to this little nugget: the White Folks Get Crunk blog has chosen DJ Shade's splice job welding Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" and ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man" as one of 2008's top five mashups (it's No. 4). Check it out... Pretty cool, although if Rocks Off were Kanye, he'd lay off the Vocoder just a little on his next album. But he's not, so he has to use both names when referring to himself.

  December 11, 2008

• 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 demolished by a Midwestern black man, and gender barriers were hurdled by an Arkansan and an Alaskan.Democracy has a few awesome new dance moves rolling into the Obama presidency, and it'll be a feast for

  December 31, 2008

• The Return of Chart Check: Beyonce Runs "Rings" Around the Competition

  [Note: Chart Check is back, now spotlighting Texans on this week's various Billboard lists.] The Billboard 200 (albums) 4. Beyonce, I Am... Sasha Fierce 8. Jaime Foxx, Intuition Hot 100 (singles) 2. Beyonce, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" 19. Beyonce, "If I Were a Boy" Digital Songs 5. Beyonce, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"

  January 15, 2009

• Rotation: Plies' Da REAList

  Plies, Florida's 32-year-old snarl with a rapper hidden underneath, is nothing if not a work horse. Over the last 16 months he's released three(!) full-length albums: The Real Testament ("Shawty" feat T-Pain), Definition of Real ("Bust it Baby Pt. 2"), and, most recently, Da REAList. (That's three more than Q-Tip released between 2000 and 2008, in case you're curious.) The immediate concern, then, becomes obvious: With an abundance of content created, will his message not wane in substance? The

  January 16, 2009

• Dave's World

  August 13, 1998

• Chart Check: Texans on Billboard

  A periodic look at how Lone Star natives are faring in the national music biz...Hot 100 (singles) 10. Kelly Clarkson, "My Life Would Suck Without You" 12. Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain, "Blame It" 16. Beyonce, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" 21. Beyonce, "Diva" 41. Beyonce, "Halo" Billboard 200 (albums) 6. Beyonce, I Am... Sasha Fierce 9. Jamie Foxx, Intuition 87. Miranda Lambert, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 100. Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel, Willie and the Wheel

  March 11, 2009

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: Texas Music Will Solve Everything! Thanks, Ed!

  Photo by aznviolaguyOkay, Ed, if you insist. We've been lax in our examinations of Ed Shane's monthly Flack Fest, Best in Texas, lately. Let's rectify that. In the January issue, publisher Shane led off with this sterling bit of advice as the national and world economies fell apart. "Be careful. I'm one of those people trying to offset the gloom-and-doom headlines with a positive attitude, so let me say this: Happy New Year!" Wow, with that kind of depth, you have to wonder if Shane was ev

  March 19, 2009

• Gene Loves Jezebel

  February 26, 2009

• Vanilla Ice

  March 20, 2008

• Snoop Dogg

  February 28, 2008

• Steve Poltz

  February 7, 2008

• The 5 Browns

  The SPA hosts a homecoming for the Juilliard quintet

  January 10, 2008

• The Irish Tenors’ Christmas Special

  The classical/pop trio makes its debut in Houston

  December 6, 2007

• Pro Athlete Musicians

  Athletes step off the field and into the studio

  November 29, 2007

• Max Stalling, blacktopGYPSY

  September 6, 2007

• Sean Kingston, Lil Scrappy, Slim Thug, Paul Wall

  August 23, 2007

• Hoob Job

  April 20, 2006

• R. Kelly's Artistic Process

  A look inside his musical mind

  June 28, 2007

• Live

  Live appears Friday, September 29, at Verizon Wireless Theater, 520 Texas, 713-230-1600.

  September 28, 2006

• Brian Keane, Wayne Sutton and Rachel Loy

  Friday, February 10, Dan Electro's Guitar Bar, 1031 East 24th Street, 713-862-8707.

  February 9, 2006

• Chaka Khan

  Friday, April 9

  April 8, 2004

• Ice Ice Maybe

  A decade after Vanilla Ice melted down, he's back with the man who made him

  July 4, 2002

• Racket

  In his first 24 years of life, Brad Turcotte has already become a music-business veteran

  September 6, 2001

• Six Strings Under

  Unlike many of his rock guitar god peers, Joe Satriani has yet to flee to audiences overseas

  April 13, 2000

• Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, the Smithereens

  April 30, 2009

• Olga Tañón

  May 14, 2009

• Earl Thomas Conley

  October 22, 2009

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: Has Miranda Lambert Sparked a Revolution In Nashville?

  If there is a ticking time bomb signaling the impending end of the '80s hair-band nature of mainstream country music, Miranda Lambert is probably lighting the fuse. Lambert's third album, Revolution, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart last week and sold 23 percent more (almost 69,000 units) out of the gate than her previous album, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which ended up as the 2008 Country Music Association album of the Year.​It doesn't take many listens to the searing Revol

  October 22, 2009

• The Music of True Blood, Episode 1.5: Playing Chicken With the Train, and an AIDS Burger

  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 backwards through the episodes we missed as HBO begins reruns. Episode 1.5, "Sparks Fly Out" Country Rap is a lot like Albanian folk dancing... and we're not going to explain that comparison. Just take ou

  November 6, 2009