Neil Diamond

Slip Slidin' Away: My Life as a Rock Journalist With the Houston Press

I had a hernia operation in the early summer of 2006, and had nothing to do all day but hobble around with cool cane a borrowed from Grandpa Hlavaty and play on the Internets for two months or so. I had developed the injury while working at Domino's, but it was cool because their insurance helped ... More >>

Time-Trippin': Great Houston Radio TV Ads From Yesterday

If I have learned anything over the past year at Rocks Off, it's that you guys really, really get heated when it comes to FM radio in Houston. From format changes, myopic classic-rock playlists, and controversial morning hosts, Houstonians care about their terrestrial radio choices. Hell, you do spe ... More >>

Hearing Garth Brooks' No Fences for the Very First Time

Twenty-two years ago this week, Garth Brooks' second album, No Fences entered the charts and made itself comfortable. It was a titanic, monumental record for country music, eventually going platinum 17 times over on its way to becoming a global smash. No Fences is often credited with ushering in a ... More >>

Saturday Night: The Tontons at Warehouse Live

The Tontons, Quiet Company, Featherface Warehouse Live Studio September 1, 2012 Rewind: The Tontons Are Deemed Buzzworthy By MTV, Playing PopMontreal It's hard to put my finger on why, but Saturday felt like the most important night for local music since at least Friday's Grandfather Child hoedown ... More >>

Last Night: Rod Stewart & Stevie Nicks at Toyota Center

Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks Toyota Center August 9, 2012 I really wish that Rod Stewart is recording the past few years of tours he's had under his belt, because he's in essence setting the bar for how to grow old in rock and roll without looking like a granny doofus or a stuttering clown. At 67 year ... More >>

The Bassman Cometh: Jerry Scheff On Working With Elvis, Dylan & The Doors

Way Down: Playing Bass with Elvis, Dylan, The Doors & More By Jerry Scheff Backbeat Books, 240 pp., $19.95 Bassist Jerry Scheff had a bird's -eye view of a lot of musical greats in the '60s through the '80s, and in this memoir, the easygoing, affable storyteller tells about his experiences and how ... More >>

The American Bandstand (Extended) Hot 100

Somehow it's hard to believe that Dick Clark was only 82 years old when he died after suffering a "massive heart attack" Wednesday morning in Santa Monica, Calif. (Since I managed to survive one myself, I've noticed that anytime someone dies of a heart attack, it's always "massive."). Despite his yo ... More >>

Distant Early Warning: Social Distortion, Gary Clark Jr., Melvins, Girls, Maná, De La Soul

Photo By Jim BrickerBobby Womack onstage with Gorillaz in October 2010 at Toyota Center​2 Chainz, Paul Wall, Propain: Thu., March 1. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Anvil, Rotting Corpse, Metavenge, Fallacy: Thu., Feb. 9. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Asleep At The Whee ... More >>

The Year In Astros Baseball: Thank God That's Over

​So let's continue our look back at the sporting year that was 2011 by taking a look at the Top 25 events to happen to the Houston Astros. 1. They finished with the worst record in team history, which was quite the accomplishment seeing as how the Astros were pretty damn bad for most of the ... More >>

Rocks Off's Fantasy RodeoHouston Lineup

Photos courtesy of Houston Livestock Show & RodeoGeorge Strait in 1996​If you walk through Reliant Center, hanging from the ceiling are banners listing almost every musical performer RodeoHouston has hosted since the '60s. The names reflect the hallowed history of country and fleeting fancies ... More >>

Last Night: Sugarland At RodeoHouston

Courtesy of Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo​Sugarland Reliant Stadium March 3, 2011 The shenanigans have begun, folks. The Rodeo is back in Houston, and if you haven't already, it's time to stop by Reliant Stadium, pet some adorable farm animals, gain a few pounds eating fried everything - may ... More >>

Don Kirshner, Late-Night Rock TV Mogul, Dies At 76

Don Kirshner, the music-business impresario responsible for hits by the Monkees and the Archies, as well as introducing scores of pre-MTV American youth to rock via his late-night network program Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, died Monday. Kirshner, a songwriter, producer and publisher, was 76 and ... More >>

Five Songs That Huck Finn Guy Should Censor Next

gutenberg.org​As many of you probably already know, Alabama publisher NewSouth Inc. plans to release censored versions of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, replacing the words "nigger" and "Injun" with "slave" and "Indian," respectively. That's ... More >>

Guns N' Roses, Rolling Stones, Prince Coming In 2011?

Sind Axl und Slash wieder Freunde geworden?​Rocks Off is in the concert business for all intents and purposes. We scour Pollstar and other Web sites and almost hourly looking for new shows and tours to tell you about around the clock. In the span of writing this introduction we just listed Luc ... More >>

Last Night: Deer Tick At The Bronze Peacock

Photos by Jason Wolter​Deer Tick House of Blues (Bronze Peacock Room) October 13, 2010 What makes a Deer Tick? Equal parts The Band, Nirvana, Ritchie Valens, Duane Eddy and a heap of firewater. It's hard to describe Deer Tick to people who haven't heard them, but those are the best terms we c ... More >>

Last Night: Michael Bolton At Jones Hall

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​Michael Bolton with the Houston Symphony Jones Hall September 8, 2010 It was a little over a year ago that Aftermath saw Yanni, and just a few months back that we saw Kenny G. Wednesday night we saw Michael Bolton, forming a power-trio of artists that you're not suppos ... More >>

A Case of the Vapours

Islands' Nick Thorburn tries to keep track of his bandmates and their aliases.

Blue October Makes It Personal, As Always, At Sam Houston Race Park

Photos by Groovehouse​ For more photos from the show, see our slideshow here. Aftermath can recognize when a band connects with people on a different level than we could ever fathom personally. We've waded in Faygo cola with Juggalos, sat with bluehairs at a Neil Diamond concert and consorted with ... More >>

Fool Hearted Memory: Music That Chooses You, Not the Other Way Around

​ Someone once observed wryly that the only member of your family you'll ever actually choose is your spouse, and perhaps a whole lot of that observation is equally applicable to the music of our lives. A couple of years back we were sitting at Prince's Hamburgers off the Southwest Freeway in the ... More >>

Creepy, Inappropriate and Otherwise Weird Christmas Albums

​ Christmas is 22 days away, so you still have time to put in some online orders for delivery. And, coincidentally enough, we're going to bet that whatever holiday album you've been playing for the past few years is starting to get a little stale. You can only enjoy the velvet crooning of Bing Cro ... More >>

Distant Early Warning: Bobby Bare, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Mariza, Green Jelly, Randy Rogers, etc.

​Between The Buried And Me, Devin Townsend Band, Cynic, Scale The Summit: Mon., Jan. 11. Meridian. Billy Dean: Fri., April 16. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Bobby Bare: Sat., May 22. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. "The Canvas Grand Opening" With Chase Hamblin, listenlisten, Sideshow Tramps, The Mighty Orq ... More >>

Taking That La-Z-Boy Out for a Drunken Spin? Don't Forget the Tunes!

Where are the cup holders?​As part of our court-appointed public service, we at Rocks Off don't condone driving while intoxicated. But if you must get behind the wheel after having a few, there are far worse things to be driving than a La-Z-Boy. From Yahoo! news this morning: "A Minnesota man has ... More >>

Listology: Blaggards' Patrick Devlin Picks Ten Acts He'd Sing Backup For

Jay Lee/ www.baldheretic.com​ Anyone who's seen them knows that local "Stout Irish Rockers" Blaggards' front man Patrick Devlin's natural place is center stage. But even he has artists he wouldn't mind stepping back for, so we asked him to list us a few in advance of Blaggards' free concert at Dis ... More >>

"Sweet Caroline," Complete With 10-Minute Guitar Solo

Man, we're sorry we missed the Grammys last night.Check out the bit of news in this Associated Press story, via the Beaumont Enterprise: "Neil Young, honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year for his aid to Hurricane Ike victims on Oak Island in Galveston Bay, performed his hit 'Sweet Caroline.'"T ... More >>

Mail Call: Diagonals, Fountains of Wayne, Jason Isbell, Chess Records, Sally Crewe and More

After a hot minute, Mail Call returns in a slightly revamped format... Pick of the Litter Diagonals (Austin), Valley of the Cyclops (Monofonus Press) They Say: "A sweet-and-sour dark-pop soundtrack for the dawn of the post-Bush era." Rocks Off Says: Loose-fitting, lo-fi melodic garage ... More >>

Tonight: Gary Nicholson at Dosey Doe

GOP Party -- Not So Much

Johnny Cash/Various Artists: Johnny Cash Remixed

Johnny Cash Up In Da Club

Astros-Dodgers: Carlos Lee Homers, Houston Loses 4-1

Some Country for Old Men: Shine a Light

Seniors Scorsese and the Stones together again

Last Night: Van Halen at Toyota Center

Yo La Tengo in Hoboken

A Hanukkah pilgrimage

You Should’ve Been There: The Fatal Flying Guilloteens, The Dimes and L.A.W.S. at Walter’s on Washington

American Idols Live

Which megatour is really more punk rock?

I'd Much Rather Be with the Girls

Critics might damn Fantasia's music with faint praise, but we say she's keeping up a sacred pop tradition

Encore or Bust?

Stressing about the 'Stros begins anew

Boy Meets Whirl

A lost lad longs for life

Free Will

Another SNL vet may be the next Bill Murray. Seriously.

Barry Manilow

Sunday, July 7

Clear Channel Cajun Invasion

April 5 through 7

Ouch!

E.T. returns to heal our cynical hearts

Racket

Clear Channel keeps the air free of insensitive songs

Rose, By Any Other Name

Jim Rose got a makeover, but he still has fans rolling in the aisles

Rotation

New Releases Reviewed

Spade and Neutered

Sterile, overdone comedy dogs Lost and Found

Sound Check

A Band's Dissolve

Banana Blender Surprise calls it quits or do they?

Live Shots

The Lame and the Great

Lists you've been waiting all year for, in no particular order