Paul McCartney

Your Easy Guide to Purchasing Houston Concert Tickets... In 1983

I went to see Paul McCartney at Minute Maid last year. A friend bought the tickets, and I asked if he'd mail mine so I could hold it in my hand and marvel at this new, treasured souvenir. He said he would just email it to me as a PDF once he'd received a confirmation in his inbox. Rewind: Last Nig ... More >>

Hell Freezes Over: The Ends of Five Great Musical Feuds

Last month marked the end of one of the great musical feuds of the 1990s. Any Britpop fan knows you can either be a fan of Oasis or of Blur, but not a fan of both. The two bands hated each other's guts and were in constant competition throughout the decade. So all of us in the press were shocked wh ... More >>

Top 10 Musicians Who Have Written Children's Books

Today is International Children's Book Day, celebrated every April 2 on the birthday of Little Mermaid author Hans Christian Andersen. It's a day to honor the joy of reading to your children (which I do with Lovecraft because, well, I'm kind of a bad person), and some wonderful musicians have gotten ... More >>

Kings of the Stone Age

Dave Grohl and other rockers toast L.A.'s Sound City.

Dave Grohl Doc Sound City Screens at River Oaks January 31

For one night only, Dave Grohl's Sound City flick will screen at the Landmark River Oaks on January 31. Tickets should be available for pre-sale on the Landmark site very soon. Rewind: Dave Grohl Releases Trailer for Nerd-Boner Doc Sound City Rocks Off has been tracking the film since it was ann ... More >>

Old News: Paul McCartney Could Have Been In Them Crooked Vultures

If you have seen and heard Paul McCartney's collaboration with the surviving members of Nirvana this past week, then you no doubt have entertained the thought of a tour or at least an album by the super group. As of now of course, they have only publicly released one track, "Cut Me Some Slack", whic ... More >>

The Name Of That Paul McCartney/Nirvana Song Is "Cut Me Some Slack"

If you were watching the long, long, long Hurricane Sandy benefit on Wednesday night with The Who, Chris Martin, Kanye West, Billy Joel, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and Alicia Keys, then you more than likely stayed up late to see Paul McCartney play with the surviving members of Nirvana. ... More >>

Today's Top 5 Female Punk Rockers

Paul McCartney's Wonderful, Bizarre McCartney II

Last Night: Sir Paul McCartney at Minute Maid Park

Sir Paul McCartney Minute Maid Park November 14, 2012 Seeing Paul McCartney live is a lot of things. It's communing with a spirit that touched millions and will touch millions for as long as humanity lurches forward. It's hearing the old schmaltzy bedrock anthems and the proto-everything blasts tha ... More >>

Here Are 10 Free Beatles & Paul McCartney Flicks to Watch On YouTube

The day is finally here. The stage is set inside Minute Maid Park. The ticket scalpers are getting ready. The oldsters are reminiscing. The youngsters are getting excited. The critics, bloggers, and nerds are brushing up on their Beatlease, and crossing their fingers for their faves. That's rig ... More >>

The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: November 12-15

DJ Sun The Flat, November 12 For two decades now, DJ Sun has been a Houston turntable institution thanks to his his wide-ranging sets, which only start with jazz, hip-hop, R&B, soul, Latin, reggae, funk and electronica. They always come twice a week, on his KPFT-FM show Soular Grooves (9 p.m. Satur ... More >>

Paul McCartney Songs We Secretly Want to Hear at Minute Maid

Paul McCartney usually starts his set lists with "Magical Mystery Tour" and then lives up to it, hopscotching between Beatles, Wings, and his solo stuff. But there are a few cuts out of his 50-plus-year catalog that I want to hear out of total selfishness, songs that I know he could never probably ... More >>

Looking Back at Paul McCartney's Wonderful, Bizarre McCartney II

Next week's Paul McCartney show at Minute Maid Park is sure to be one for the books, as the former Beatle and lauded solo artist comes to Houston for the first time in years. Rewind: Who Is Paul McCartney?!: Rocks Off Tells You Comin' Up: Happy 70th Birthday, Paul McCartney His set lists are lar ... More >>

Top 5 Singular Musical Forces

Great bands are a dime a dozen. How often has a great band broken up, only to have the individual efforts of the ex-members lambasted by critics and public alike? Sometimes the chemistry of a band, collectively, makes them great, but sometimes it's "The Talent," a singular musical force. When I sp ... More >>

Comin' Up: Happy 70th Birthday, Paul McCartney

By now you all know that today is Sir Paul McCartney's 70th birthday. Over on chron.com, there is a wire story on the milestone with a curious headline: "Say It Ain't So: Mop Top Paul McCartney Turns 70." Now does this mean that it's a shame he made it seven decades of service, or does it suck that ... More >>

Double Duds: The 10 Worst Duets Since "Ebony and Ivory"

Thirty years ago this week, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder hit No. 1 on the charts with their duet, "Ebony and Ivory." The song spent seven weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and the past three decades as a joke. Perhaps history's most hackneyed call for racial harmony (which, admittedly, ... More >>

Six-String Pawn Stars: Top 10 Famous Stolen Guitars

Tom Petty got a real kick in the balls late last week when he discovered that his vintage blond 1967 12-string Rickenbacker and his Gibson SGTV Junior had been stolen from a California soundstage where the Heartbreakers had been rehearsing for an upcoming tour. Three other vintage guitars owned by b ... More >>

The Beats Go On As Grammys Take Care Of Their Own

Hands up, everyone who is surprised.​The Grammy Awards on CBS Sunday night could have easily turned into a wake - or worse, a funeral. After Whitney Houston's death Saturday, the mood was appropriately somber until a dance party broke out, or perhaps a coming-out party for dance music. Foreve ... More >>

He's Alive! Top 9 Musician Death Hoaxes of 2011

It seems like 2011 was the year of the celebrity death hoax which involved many musicians. We use that term loosely for the sake of this blog. Death is never a joking matter but you can't help but chuckle at the thousands of folk who got punked over fake death reports. Let's run through the most m ... More >>

Live and Let Die: The Music of Paul McCartney

Ask Me Anything: What Would You Ask Your Favorite Artist?

"What do you love about music?" ​Part of the job here at Rocks Off - this daily Make-A-Wish kid circus - is talking to musicians and people in the musical know. One of the most fun parts of the job is booking an interview with an artist coming to town and cramming for a few days into the nook ... More >>

10 Awesome, Awful & Odd "Hey Jude" Covers

​This week in 1968, The Beatles inaugurated their Apple Records label in a most auspicious fashion, releasing "Hey Jude" as a 45. The B-side was "Revolution." Written by Paul McCartney and employing a 36-piece orchestra, "Jude" did nothing to dispel the perception that Paul was the "soft" Beat ... More >>

The Best Episodes Of MTV's Unplugged

​MTV Unplugged was like health food for your soul during its heyday on the music channel, which was full of junk food. When artists stuck to the template and went untethered to electronic instruments and really dug into their music with new eyes it was amazing. Debuting in 1989 with Squeeze ... More >>

10 Songs For Pissed-Off Travelers

This spring, Austin honky-tonker and Pasadena native Dale Watson had some dates in Australia and made the mistake of booking a flight from Sydney to Melbourne on Singapore-based budget carrier Tiger Airways. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, not only did the airline charge Watson a $500 exce ... More >>

10 Beatles Urban Legends: True Or False?

​When you're a band like the Beatles - who first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964, 47 years ago today - tall tales and urban legends spring up all around... mostly because when a band is a worldwide cultural phenomenon, anything can seem possible or even plausible. Some of th ... More >>

Paul McCartney's Life Seldom Less Than Fab

​Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney By Howard Sounes Da Capo Press, 634 pp., $29.95. While the Beatles and Beatle-related bookshelf is groaning beyond belief, the main thing to know about Fab is this: Howard Sounes has produced the finest, most detailed, and most up-to-date doorstop tome ... 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 >>

In Case You Missed It...

Marco TorresIt's a bird... it's a plane... it's... Usher!​Rocks Off knows you have had a busy week. So have we. But, we figured, what with Thanksgiving and Black Friday and traveling to and from your various other holiday ports of call, you may not have had as much time in front a computer as ... More >>

Beatles Mockumentary Revisits "Paul Is Dead" Myth

Paul McCartney Really is Dead: The Last Testament of George Harrison Highway 61 Entertainment 95 mins., $14.95. ​ROCKS OFF WORLD EXCLUSIVE: At last, the truth can be told about one of rock and roll's greatest mysteries! As he lay dying of lung cancer in 2001, a weak George Harrison dictated ... More >>

Seven Musical Marriages Sullied By Proposition 8's Repeal

​Just in case you're one of the very few people who hasn't yet been seized by government shock troops and forced to marry someone of the same sex, a California Supreme Court judge ruled Proposition 8 unconstitutional Wednesday. This would be the proposition which officially defines marriage as ... More >>

Weird Al Yankovic Dishes On Gaga, Michael Jackson, McCartney And More

Seth Olenick​While most comedy artists quickly dissipate into one-hit-wonderdom, Weird Al Yankovic has continued to reign as the accordion-toting king of musical satire for over three decades now. In anticipation of Saturday's show at Verizon Wireless Theatre, Rocks Off chatted with Weird Al a ... More >>

Great Moments in Douchebaggotry: Michael Jackson Takes Paul McCartney's Advice... In the Douchiest Way Possible

Great Moments in Douchebaggery is brought to you by Rocks Off's upcoming Washington Shore party, Thursday, February 11, at the Washington Avenue Drinkery. All types of douchebags are encouraged to attend. Sadly, the duo enjoyed only a very brief period of skipping merrily about together.​In the ea ... More >>

Get Lit: Paul McCartney: A Life by Peter Ames Carlin

​Rocks Off understands that this effort is meant for a more general audience and not a Beatles obsessive like himself who owns a bookcase stocked with 93 Fab-related tomes (we counted). And on that level, A Life is a fine if surface summation of the life and career of Sir Paul. Much of Carlin's na ... More >>

Shonen Knife

More Musical Medocrity For Houston's Private Party Of The Year

​For those folks out there wondering if superlawyer Mark Lanier had suddenly -- after all these years -- finally developed good musical taste, you can rest assured: He hasn't.Tort King Lanier is famous for his Christmas parties, elaborate (if liquor-free) bacchanals that feature kiddie rides, top- ... More >>

The Beatles: Rock Band Is In the House

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ It's like Christmas morning here at Rocks Off today. We just got our copy of The Beatles: Rock Band and, like a car wreck or the Williams Tower waterwall, can't stop staring at it. (Must... look... away...) It looks like developer Harmonix spared no expense - and, at $250 ... More >>

Slide Show: Day of the Duos

Today marks the anniversary of the day in 1957 that John Lennon met Paul McCartney, when Paul happened to take in John's pre-Beatles band, the Quarrymen, at a Liverpool church picnic. Exactly seven years later came the London premiere of A Hard Day's Night, the manic movie whose soundtrack cemented ... More >>

Paul McCartney Stuns Oklahoma City

Drenched in Blog: Happy 25th, Thriller

Hinder, Papa Roach, Buckcherry

The Chieftains

The Chieftains perform with the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pops, Friday through Sunday, January 5, through January 7, at Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana, 713-224-7575.

Old Folks Rock

McCartney doesn't pretend to be anything but a sap. And Jagger still acts like he's God's gift to sexdom.

Paul McCartney

Saturday, November 19, at Toyota Center, 1510 Polk, 713-758-7200.

A Thin Line...

Introducing the most hated men in rock (besides Sting)

Houston Music Map

Queen Norah reigns, Josh Groban pains, and lots of Natalie Maines

Up in the Air

Continental Airlines helps out Lee Brown's re-election campaign

News Hostage

KPRC RSVPs

Classic Touch

Rotation