Nordic Countries

How to Roast the Perfect Chicken in 10 Simple Steps: It's Easier Than You Think

"Who's going to teach me to roast a chicken?" I saw my best friend Tweet a few days ago. After a two month-long work trip to Norway, she had come back to the States more determined than ever to eat healthy. And what's healthier than a roasted chicken with a few vegetables tossed in? It's cost-effici ... More >>

Horror Business: The Top 5 Most Evil Rock Stars

Halloween and rock and roll go together like peanut butter and jelly. Something about darkened rooms filled with outlandish costumes and screaming girls, we guess. Some of the rock's most ghoulish stars are also its most fun, as Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson will no doubt prove once again at Reliant ... More >>

Mono

Last Night: Beach House at House of Blues

Beach House House of Blues September 19, 2012 It's been two years since Baltimore dream-team Beach House visited Houston. When they played Walter's in 2010, we foresaw bigger things for them -- a bigger stage, to be exact. Our vision was accurate: Beach House played to a near sold-out crowd at Hous ... More >>

Sunday: Niki & the Dove Bring Electric Instinct to Houston

Sweden produces some of the best electronic music in the world, as evidenced by the exhilarating Covenant show that hit Numbers two weeks ago. This time, Fitz's gets to host some Scandinavian beep-and-boopery, and it doesn't get any better than Niki & the Dove. I first got into the band after cover ... More >>

"Tonight We Unite Tour"

Third Coast Dance Film Festival

“Scandinavian Design”

''International Discoveries IV''

Oslo, August 31st

An addict revisits the people he has hurt and his own demons.

Kid Flix Mix 2011

Children of Bodom

The Tyranny of Choice: Top 5 Single-Dish Restaurants I Want to See in 2012

I was happy to read Katharine's Shilcutt's piece on the single-dish restaurant trend for several reasons. First, I generally love the idea of specialty shops and sometimes long for the days when grocery shopping meant going to the butcher, then the cheese-monger, then the bakery, etc., etc., rather ... More >>

Refused Are Not Fucking Dead, Playing Coachella

Photo via officialrefused.com​Holyshitholyshitholyshit. As if the news of the At The Drive In reunion wasn't enough, Refused is back. The trailblazing hardcore band that called it quits in 1998 have reassembled and in a statement on their site, confirmed that they're playing Coachella as well ... More >>

New Girl in Town

Rooney Mara takes control of the Stieg Larsson juggernaut in Dragon Tattoo.

This Just In: SXSW Announces First Round Of 2012 Showcasing Bands, Including Fat Tony and Something Fierce

Photo By Marco TorresFat Tony at a day show at SXSW '11​Sweet lord, it's not even Thanksgiving yet and South By Southwest is making us excited for March in Austin already. Today the industry festival announced a few bands coming to the capitol city next year, and a few Houston names and Rocks ... More >>

SPECIAL GOOD GABACHO/EVIL ALABAMA EDITION

When Should You Use Usted instead of Tú And Are the Letters in this Column Real??

Chef Chat, Part 1: Soren Pedersen of Sorrel Urban Bistro, On Culinary School in Denmark

In late July, Sorrel Urban Bistro opened in the old Ziggy's Healthy Grille space at Greenbriar and West Alabama. In the open kitchen, Chef Soren Pedersen can be seen every day, turning out some of the most beautifully plated food in the city. We were curious about this newcomer to the Houston resta ... More >>

Eight Businesses We Expect Will Be Getting Custom Texas License Plates Soon

​We recently wrote about a new crop of Texas license plates with a variety of themes, most of them sports related. One of the designs, however, was for the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain that isn't even based in the Lone Star State. We certainly understand the passion of a sports fan, but ... More >>

Houston Is an International "City of Opportunity"

There's opportunity in them thar skyscrapers.​A big new report by PwC, which used to be PriceWaterhouseCoopers, says Houston is one of 26 "Cities of Opportunity" in the world today. The only other American cities: New York, LA, Chicago and San Francisco. Pretty classy company. We came in 11 ... More >>

Guitarist Brian Robertson Loves Thin Lizzy, Texas Women

​As one half of Thin Lizzy's legendary "twin guitar" classic lineup in the mid- to late '70s, Scottish guitarist Brian "Robbo" Robertson started to make an impact on classic-rock history while still a teenager. That's him shredding on the legendary break in Lizzy's most popular (and, alas, al ... More >>

The Asle Roe Trio

Greed, Interrupted

Part meltdown memoir, part essential finger pointing, Inside Job will make you seethe.

Houston Slammed By European Travel Blog: We're Boooorrring

But...but...there's the Kemah Boardwalk!!​Among world cities, in which category does Houston rank second only to Brussels, the capital of the European Union? Tedium, at least according to the European Union-funded wiki blog OpenTravel. According to "Chili," an English-language challenged scr ... More >>

Nekromantix

A Royal ABBA Salute And Other Scandinavian Musical Delights

Photos by Brittanie SheyThe Royal Band outside Stockholm Palace​Välkommen from Scandinavia! More specifically, Gothenburg, Sweden, the country's "second city" and home to some of Rocks Off's favorite bands from recent years, including El Perro Del Mar, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives and The Knif ... More >>

Bun B Hurt At Gumball 3000 Rally Concert

Careful there, Bun.​Bun B jumps onstage at Houston-area hip-hop concerts so often that the idea of the II Trill rapper getting hurt under the lights is almost inconceivable. But apparently that's what has happened. Allhiphop.com is reporting that Bun, whose presence will no doubt be missed at toni ... More >>

Houston's Anne-Kathrine Ubberud Learns The Hard Way About Immigration Law

America, you will soon be free of this (we assume) terrorist​Ever-vigilant of illegal aliens taking over our state and country, Hair Balls jumped at the chance to look into the case of Anne-Kathrine Ubberud, a Norwegian citizen who will have to leave Houston Wednesday, after 17 years in the U.S.Ub ... More >>

Nature's Revenge: Tunes For A Vengeful Planet

Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​ We like to think of the planet we live on as "Mother" Earth, a caring, nurturing parent figure who we thoughtlessly abuse. Well, we at Rocks Off don't know if you've noticed, but Mom ain't exactly helpless. In fact, sometimes she seems less like a benevolen ... More >>

For San Jacinto Day: Five Victories More Lopsided Than The Texas Army's

​I probably didn't need to remind you that today is the 174th anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, where Sam Houston led the Texas Army to victory over the forces of General Antonio López de Santa Anna. The battle brought an end to the bloody Texas Revolution, and made siestas unfashiona ... More >>

For Eyjaf...Eyjafj...For that Iceland Volcano, Five Crappy Magma-Laden Movies

​As you've probably heard by now, the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano erupting in Iceland is causing some problems across the pond: EU transport ministers are to hold emergency talks by video conference on easing the volcanic ash cloud chaos paralysing air travel across Europe. Sixty-three thousan ... More >>

Would YOU Let A Band That Looks Like This Entertain Your Children?

www.hevisaurus.com​ Rocks Off just thought we'd ask. Because if so - and you live in Finland, and are, like, the CEO of Nokia or something - Hevisaurus will probably play your kid's next birthday party. These GWAR-meets-Barney boys come to us from over at Dlisted, where they're today's winners of ... More >>

"Perspectives: An Intercultural View on American Values"

Artists from around the world look at the elements that bind Americans together

SXSW Aftermath: Pirate Love's Proto-Punk, Codiene Velvet Club's Swinging Harmonies Carry The Night At Rusty Spurs

Photos by Adam P. Newton​Aftermath is quite the fan of tromping across the whole of downtown Austin, moving from one day party to the next. The point of those events is to provide people with an unending stream of options so as to gain a fairly decent glimpse of what's happening in current mus ... More >>

Cocio Mudslides

​We all love free samples, right? True, sometimes they make you want to throw that flimsy little toothpick right back at the poor old lady who made you put a gummy piece of "beef" stroganoff in your mouth. But other times, things turn out rather well, and you end up discovering something new a ... More >>

Dance Salad Festival

Believe the hype (not the name)

Casseroles and Cocktails: A 1950s Themed Aurora House Party

Web exclusive!

The United Nations of Food at Phoenicia Specialty Foods

UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra

Conductor Charles Dutoit and pianist Martha Argerich join the international youth orchestra for a world tour

“Array”

Birds, words and persona moments make up CTRL Gallery’s latest exhibition

The Spy in the Mes

Polka just got a whole lot cooler

“A Thing Called Early Blur”

This exhibit is a product of Reykjavík

Whistling Mexicans

A Heavy Salad

They're Burning Up

Sun and Skin

The Most Extreme Sport of All

Bike messengers converge in Houston for some extreme competition