Ontario

Friday Night: Badass Weekend at Walter's

While much of Houston was embroiled in NBA All-Star Weekend, the north end of downtown was operating on an entirely different end of the spectrum as Walter's hosted its Badass Weekend. Packed with over 30 bands across two days, the show boasted hardcore, noise and grindcore acts from all over the co ... More >>

ACL Last Night: Neil Young & Crazy Horse at Zilker Park

Neil Young & Crazy Horse Bud Light Stage Austin City Limits Music Festival, Zilker Park October 13, 2012 Rewind: SLIDESHOW: Neil Young, Jack White, The Roots: ACL 2012 Saturday Bands SLIDESHOW: Rainy Saturday at ACL 2012: Crowd Shots ACL 2012: Friday's 12 Best & Funniest Moments at Zilker With ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets, Charlie Weis Celebration Practice Video Edition

This week's tale of gambling riches comes from Branford, Ontario, where locally their version of the lottery is actually an NFL parlay card of sorts, where if a player picks 15 games 100 percent correctly, they will win a sizable six-figure payout. In Week 3 of the NFL season, a man named Gino DiFe ... More >>

Friday Night: Neil Young & Crazy Horse at Outside Lands Festival

The following is a dispatch from San Francisco's Outside Lands Festival from our VVM Bay Area sister paper, SF Weekly. -- ed. While he's putting everything into a solo, Neil Young's face looks like his electric guitar sounds: Flush with feeling, vaguely threatening, and thoroughly aged. Not old as ... More >>

Neil Young's Ragged Glories

Jonathan Demme directs Journeys, a documentary aboout the Canadian singer-songwriter.

Uh-Oh: George Jones Is Sick

It's never really not old, but since we've already been going through it with Levon Helm and the Bee Gees' Robin Gibb (who, gratefully, is at least out of his coma), this isn't good news at all. Saratoga native and Country Music Hall of Famer George Jones, the man who could break the Tin Man's pre-E ... More >>

Law and Order: Top 10 Best (Or Worst) Musicians' Arrests

Nobody is above the law - not even musicians even though some of them may think they are. However, some of their outrageous behavior has become legendary. Others have spawned rumors, killed their careers and/or made them the butt of many jokes. In fact, this makes me wonder why there is not a cele ... More >>

One Year After Woman Gets Masters In The Beatles, We Hunt Down Most Bizarre College Music Courses

A year ago today, Mary-Lu Zahalan-Kennedy of Ontario became the first person in the world to earn a master's degree in The Beatles. I'm not quite sure what she's doing now, but I do know she could probably kick anyone's ass in Beatles trivia. This little anniversary of her graduation got me think ... More >>

Canada Day: Top 10 Artists From Way Up Yonder

​Hello? Is this thing on? Rocks Off has a feeling that a lot of folks are nowhere near their computers today. Must be some sort of holiday. It is, actually. Today, not Monday. It's Canada Day, or as it's known in the U.S., "What Is Princess Kate Wearing?" Day. (Also, Friday.) Honestly, Rocks ... More >>

Our List of Weird Criminal Names, Part Three: The Recent Alvin Walmart Vigilante Case Was Full of Them

Not this Lawless, but also a fighter.​News of the Walmart Wahoo Vigilante rang out far and wide over the Houston area the other day, but in case you missed it, here's the story in a nutshell: Three brothers walked out of an Alvin Walmart with three cases of beer they allegedly neglected to pay ... More >>

Houstonians Place High In International Blues Contest

​This past week, Ezra Charles & the Works and The Mighty Orq, both long-running pillars of the local blues scene, each represented Houston and the Houston Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tenn. The week-long competition brought in 110 performers from all over the ... More >>

Tokyo Police Club Enter Indie Big Leagues With Champ

Canvas Media​Though Ontario indie-rockers Tokyo Police Club might still technically be considered wet behind the ears in terms of age, their notable résumé and relentless work ethic speak a different story. Forming in 2005 after disbanding their previous group, Suburbia, the foursome, then b ... More >>

Mike Yeo And The Other New Aeros Coaches Have A Houston Connection

Mike Yeo is behind the bench for the Aeros this year​Come the start of this AHL hockey season, the fans of the Houston Aeros will see lots of familiar faces on the ice as, even though last season was rather disappointing, many of the players will be returning. But where the fans will not be seeing ... More >>

The Top 5 Musical Eco-Fails

uscgd8 via Flick​The bad news about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is that BP's magic undersea dome didn't work, and the slick is now the size of Connecticut. And unless the latest half-assed stopgap measure (a "junk shot" of debris fired down the well in an attempt to plug it) works, it could be ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Hope Justin Bieber Dies Before He Gets Old

​Oh, calm down. This isn't a call for the murder of American's favorite prepubescent pop idol. Sure, the former YouTube sensation from Stratford, Ontario who dresses and talks (and Tweets) like a diminutive Tupac Shakur has made more money in the last two years than you or I will see in ten li ... More >>

Four Possible Reasons Jay-Z Is Skipping Houston on His Blueprint 3 Tour

​Self-proclaimed king-of-rap Jay-Z unveiled his autumn tour schedule last week. The 26-date jaunt - which began Monday night in Chi-town and winds down just in time for Thanksgiving - will take Hovito all around the world, from New York to London to Kentucky to noise-rock haven Providence, R.I., t ... More >>

Swine Flu FAQs: The Answers You Need...And The Answers You Deserve

Unlike in 1918, when the flu really bitch-slapped humanity, leading medical experts have the ability to immediately update us with information on how to stay safe, and how to separate myth from fact. For example: By now, unless you're a vapid hotel-fortune heiress who answers the cell phone during s ... More >>

What If They Gave A Horse Show And Nobody Came?

The Kantemirov family calls its famous Russian circus, which has toured all over the world for the last 62 years, a "celebration of life and of man's love for horses, demonstrating the harmony between mankind and nature."So when the troupe needed a city to host its first show in the United States, H ... More >>

U.S. Military Deserters Once Again Flock to Canada to Avoid War

Looks like this time they picked the wrong country.

When Publicists Attack: Solarcaded

Dana Boyce I had already drawn a bullseye on the side of my forehead and was just getting the gun out of the drawer. I'm normally not suicidal or, for that matter, the type to brood and get depressed. But as has been mentioned in these pages before, every so often a publicist just makes me wa ... More >>

Missing NASA Tool Bag Found! Launch A Rescue Mission!

The famous $100,000 tool bag lost by an astronaut on the current shuttle mission has been found!And no, not by that nut from Minnesota who's been calling media outlets all over to say the bag is up for sale on eBay.It's been found in space, streaking through the night.An amateur astronomer in Ontari ... More >>

Crushing on Avril Lavigne

Confessions of a closet Avril lover

Caribou Times Two

Comparing the synth-popper with his mammalian namesake

Is Benoit Pouliot Gonna Be the First to Go?

Do Make Say Think

Catching up with Canadian instrumental wizards Do Make Say Think

Away from Her

Love and marriage meet life and Alzheimer's in Away from Her

Musical Food Groups

If singers were cheese, what kind of cheese would they be?

The Plane Truth

Houston minister Dr. K.A. Paul flies around the globe using Jesus to pull in worldwide donations -- unfortunately spending more money on jet fuel than orphans

Grab Some Grub

It's time to get messy

Thrilled to Death

Riders may get more than they bargained for when they head to amusement parks this summer

Tattle Tales

The use of jailhouse snitches has been debated for ages, especially since they don't always tell the truth

The Gord Is My Shepherd

For the Canadian multitudes and the American few, the Tragically Hip offer up secular gospel and quasi-religious concerts

Face To Face

The murder of their loved one haunted Amy and Linda White until a Texas prison mediation program brought them together with the killer. Now they've all got their answers -- and unique justice.

Confidence Man

Is the BBB's Dan Parsons the most honest man in Houston?

Getting to the Show

Minor leaguers toil away, hoping for a shot at the majors. One of them, Round Rock's Jason Green, got a call from the Astros, giving him a chance to live the dream. Others labor on.

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

Take This Show on the Road

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

News of the Weird

Canadian Born, but Texas Proud

Fred Eaglesmith descends from the Great White North with a unique American vision

Alison Cook looks back at 1996: Year of the Rat

Sound Check

Northern Exposure

Canada's favorites, The Tragically Hip, try to conquer the lower 48 without violence