Patti Smith

Happy Birthday Kurt Cobain: Where Would He Be Today?

Last year on this date in honor of what would have been late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's 45th birthday, I wrote a blog supposing where the grunge icon would have been in 2012. It got a lot of traction and people loved and hated it. Imagining him as a dubstep DJ was really for grins and shock valu ... More >>

The Cavern and the Top 10 Iconic Rock Clubs In History

Last week back in 1957, the most famous rock club in England opened in Liverpool. There was absolutely no rock and roll on the bill that night. The Cavern Club was originally opened to mimic the cellar jazz bars that owner Alan Synter visited in Paris. There was a strict jazz-only policy in place ... More >>

Last Night: Garbage at House of Blues

Garbage October 9, 2012 House of Blues See Garbage and Houston's most devoted darklings in our slideshow. Shirley Manson pays her debts. Maybe it's that Scottish Calvinist ancestry, or the discipline honed by decades with the same group of bandmates. Maybe she's really a Lannister. Whatever the r ... More >>

Surely Bill Brown Will Still Broadcast Astros Games Next Season. Right? Right?

Last week the Houston Astros attempted to give us Weekend at Bernie's involving Joe Niekro. Then they misspelled Jim Deshaies' name in the post about Niekro. And in wake of the erector-set billboards blocking the views in left field, one can only wonder what the Astros are going to botch next. What ... More >>

What, Larry Dierker Wants To Come Back? Then What Are The Astros Waiting For?

You've probably checked out on the Astros already, at least you have judging by the attendance. But the Astros are busy making preparations for next season in hopes that they'll be able to grab your attention and get you back out to the ballpark. They've fired most of the front office staff, and th ... More >>

For Beach House, Everything Is Necessary

Baltimore's dreamy duo turned down Starbucks to keep their music pure.

Music World Stands Up for Embattled Russian Punks Pussy Riot

Above: A burka-clad Madonna talks about Pussy Riot to her Moscow audience Rewind: Vladimir Putin: No Pussy Riot on His Watch Free speech is a valued thing in this country. It's why journalists, writers, musicians and artists exist and are able to do what they do. However, in Russia, it seems to be ... More >>

10 Suggestions For Improving the Poorly Ranked Astros Radio Broadcasts

Baseball blog and stats-geek delight Fangraphs did a little post over the weekend ranking the radio broadcasts of the 30 major league teams (h/t to Crawfish Boxes). There's nothing really shocking in the rankings, unless you count the Astros radio broadcast team only finishing at number 23 -- they'r ... More >>

Kurt Cobain At 45: Where Would He Be In 2012?

​Had he not died in April 1994 by his own hand -- or sinister forces working for Courtney Love (insert maniacal laugh) -- Kurt Cobain would have turned 45 years old today. The rock icon killed himself at the age of 27, leaving behind not only a daughter to fend for herself against the wiles of ... More >>

Tea Party Princess

Victoria Jackson went from the big leagues of comedy to the rabid right of modern politics.

Get Lit: Everything is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson by Kevin Avery

Everything is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson by Kevin Avery 584 pp., $29.99, Fantagraphics Books ​It was a scene like out of the hardboiled detective novels that Paul Nelson loved so much when police broke into his New York apartment in 2006. What they found was a dark ... More >>

Buddy Holly Raves On Into 21st Century

​Lonesome Onry and Mean's buddy doesn't like the new tribute to Buddy Holly, Rave On, which features a major-league lineup of artists ranging from Sir Paul McCartney, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, and Graham Nash to youngsters like Modest Mouse, My Morning Jacket, Black Keys and the unlikely inclusio ... More >>

Friday Night: Pat Benatar At House Of Blues

Photos by Groovehouse​Pat Benatar House of Blues August 13, 2010 For more photos from Friday's show, see our slideshow here. For some reason whenever we saw people after Friday night's Pat Benatar show and they asked what we thought, all we could do was shrug our shoulders. Usually after a s ... More >>

Dream of Life Offers An Intimate Look At The Newly Widowed Patti Smith

​Dream of Life, the 2008 documentary about Patti Smith, opens with Smith's own narration of the many loved ones she's outlived over the years. Among those names are her husband, MC5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith; her brother Todd; and controversial photographer and close friend Robert Mapplethorpe. ... More >>

SXSW As It Happens: SXXpress, Kindles, Paradise for Little Girls and Finding Free Food

Photo by Dan OkoRock and roll hall of fame inductee and founder of Sire Records, Seymore Stein, answers questions oustide the "Stories From CBGBs" panel, Friday.​Adam Newton, 12:46 p.m.: I'm at Paradise for Little Girls, a Canadian act making Bauhaus-inspired post-punk. There are three Jewish- ... More >>

Remembering Janis: Port Arthur's Pearl Would Have Been 67 Today

Today would have been Port Arthur native Janis Joplin's 67th birthday. Rocks Off started his day at the desk with her greatest-hits collection and all her work with Big Brother & the Holding Company that gets overlooked in lieu of her bigger singles. Pearl is still seen by many as the magnum op ... More >>

Aftermath: Regina Spektor Wins a New Fan at Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Jody Perry​"This bed is on fire with passionate love..." Aftermath has always loved James' "Laid." It's one of our absolute favorite '90s songs, and there couldn't be a better one to preface Regina Spektor's impending appearance at Verizon. The crowd is young, mixed (but mostly white), w ... More >>

I Walked With a Zombie: A Roky Erickson Primer

Chris GrayOkkervil River's Will Sheff (left) and Roky Erickson at the 2008 Austin Music AwardsRocks Off is starting to get really excited about Roky Erickson's show at the Continental Club Wednesday night. As of around noon Tuesday, about 50 tickets were left, available at Sig's Lagoon. Sig's owner ... More >>

2008 in Texas Albums and Local EPs

Doll Parts: Mydolls

Amid Noise and Smoke, legendary Houston post-punks reunite

Astros-Red Sox: 33 Runs = Two Out of Three for Houston

Astros-Cubs: Shawn Chacon Breaks His No-Decision Streak, While Hunter Pence Decides to Date a Very Attractive Woman

Turn Out the Lights, the Party's Over

Cactus Music & Video shutters with a melancholy beer bash

Sisters Are Punking It for Themselves

Mel Hell and Alice Sin lead the charge of the misfit boy-toys

Playbill

Food Art

Get sauced at the Hobby Center's Artista. It's divine.

Unexpected Success

Just when he thought fame had passed him by, Austinite Jon Dee Graham gets rediscovered

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Holiday Gestures

Press Picks

Mining the Mainstream

Stir is out to whip Hootieat their own game

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A Girl and Her Garbage

Shirley Manson supplies the fire to fuel some musical waste from Wisconsin

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