Randy Newman

The 10 Most Hilariously Awful Wrestling Entrance Themes

Last Friday was the 46th birthday of one of my absolute favorite wrestlers, William Regal aka Steve Regal before the WWE instituted its rather bizarre No-More-Steves rule. Not that it matters, his real name is Darren Matthews. "Regal" is an amazing man, rising to hold more than 60 titles in various ... More >>

For Once, the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Got It Right

Despite being sick and hacking up more different colors of phlegm than there are Power Rangers, I needed to certify that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wasn't completely mad for its incoming inductees. Rewind: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Set To Induct Rush, Heart, Donna Summer, and Public Enemy Y ... More >>

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Set To Induct Rush, Heart, Donna Summer, And Public Enemy

Today the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland announced their 2013 class of inductees. Public Enemy, Donna Summer, Heart, Albert King, Randy Newman, and longtime jilted proggers Rush have all made the cut. The star-studded ceremony is set for April 18 in Los Angeles. REWIND: Last Night: Rush ... More >>

Understanding the Rock Hall's 2013 Nominees: Chic? Kraftwerk? Butterfield?

Wednesday night The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced their 2013 nominees for induction next year. These names will be voted on by a committee of guys in bad weaves, rich people who know the right people, and tenured music writers with axes to grind. The names are as follows: The Pa ... More >>

Justin Townes Earle

Capsule Stage Reviews: Menopause The Musical, Oscar in the Box, See Rock City & Other Destinations, The Tempest

Capsule Stage Reviews: 13 Miles from Security, Oscar in the Box, Play On!, Shout! The Mod Musical, Whatever Happened to the Villa Real?

Travelin' Band: What Do The Features Listen To On The Road?

So The Twilight Saga has exactly two things that keep the films from being absolute torture. The first is Ashley Greene in all her pixie-hotness, and the second is that there really are some excellent bands that end up on the soundtracks. Case in point, the Features were featured recently in Break ... More >>

5 Most Needless Song Updates

We got into rock journalism from being a local musician, so we understand both sides of the industry pretty well. We've recorded songs that later-on we wish we'd done very differently, and the temptation to go back and re-try for perfection can be very overpowering. Take it from us, though, do not f ... More >>

No Surprises: Rock Hall Set To Induct Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys

Photo By Marco TorresGuns N' Roses are Rock Hall bound, but which version of GNR will show up? ​This morning (well, it leaked last night) the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced their 2012 class of inductees. Included on the list are Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Bo ... More >>

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Snubs Rush...Again

Photo by Jeff Balke​A couple years ago, I was sitting on the back porch at the Continental Club talking music with a fairly well known music writer who seemed to believe that anything with a big hook or the slightest inkling of musicianship beyond the garage band aesthetic was utter garbage. I ... More >>

Old Man: A Happy Birthday Randy Newman Playlist

Photo By Jim BrickerRandy Newman at ACL '11 back in September. ​Mr. Randy Newman, who turns 68 years old today, turned in one of the best and our most most favorite sets of this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival. In a festival littered with Kanye West, Coldplay, and Skrillex, Newman's s ... More >>

10 Things You Need To Grab At Black Friday Record Store Day

While your other shopping contemporaries are slashing each others' throats at Walmart and Best Buy for $20 plasma televisions and six Blu-Ray players for $5 on Black Friday next week, why not sleep in and head up to your favorite local record store and fight other music nerds for limited edition vin ... More >>

Survival Skills

Jason Isbell sees a glimmer of hope in his true-to-life melancholy story-songs.

G N' R, The Cure & Chili Peppers Could Be Hall Of Famers Next Year

Oh, this will be a fun induction ceremony...​This morning, The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced the list of nominees for its Class of 2012: The Small Faces & The Faces, Freddie King, The Cure, Guns 'N Roses, Heart, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Spinners, War, Joan Jett and the Bl ... More >>

Touch the Sky

The 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival in exactly 12 paragraphs.

ACL Last Night: Randy Newman & A Steinway Is All We Needed

Jim BrickerNo, he didn't just sing about what he was seeing. ​Check out all of our coverage from ACL 2011, including our hottest crowd shots and our slideshow from Sunday featuring Randy Newman, Arcade Fire and The Walkmen. We still don't know how a 67-year-old turned in our favorite set of t ... More >>

ACL: Arcade Fire, Big As The Great Outdoors

Photos by Jim Bricker​Check out all our ACL 2011 coverage, including our hottest crowd shots and slideshow from Sunday featuring Randy Newman, Arcade Fire and The Walkmen. Arcade Fire Bud Light Stage, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Zilker Park September 18, 2011 Sunday night in a serene ... More >>

10 Things We're Probably Doing At ACL This Year

villagevoice.comBjork at ACL '07, when part of her staging caught fire.​This is the Rocks Off team's (well, Craig Hlavaty and Chris Gray) fifth year covering the Austin City Limits Music Festival. The first year this smart guy wore black jeans and a black shirt to try to look cool, which made ... More >>

Five Can't-Miss Acts At ACL Fest This Year

Craig HlavatyWe're running this picture of My Morning Jacket's Jim James now because this will be the last we see of him all weekend.​For weeks after we skipped last year's Austin City Limits Music Festival to man the controls in Houston, Rocks Off found ourselves thinking, "Man, I wish I woul ... More >>

J Roddy Walston & the Business

Ben Sollee

PJ's Sports Bar Gets Some National Love

Take THAT, Chicago​You can travel `cross this entire land, as Randy Newman sang, and you will find only 11 -- eleven -- sports bars better than Montrose's very own PJ's Sports Bar. That's according to The Chive, which is a website that from now on will be our go-to place for sports-bar inform ... More >>

ACL Fest Schedule Released; Your Guide To The "Death Duels"

Stevie Wonder on FacebookStevie Wonder: Even My Morning Jacket will be watching.​This morning, the organizers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced the schedule for the September 16-18 Zilker Park throwdown. We all knew there would be some tough choices, but Rocks Off found that w ... More >>

A Dream Austin City Limits Weekend For Houston

Craig HlavatyColdplay at The Woodlands, July 2009​Summer is creeping in, which means the fall concert calendars are filling up fast, and we should know which Austin City Limits Music Festival artists will book side dates in our area sooner rather than later. The standard disclaimer: Rocks Off ... More >>

Bob Schneider's Five Favorite Albums Of All Time

Jeff Swensen/ Bob Schneider on Facebook​It's been said that if you have lived in Texas for at least a decade and you haven't at least been in the vicinity of a Bob Schneider show, you are probably lying. Our introduction to Schneider was kind of heartbreaking, but that's another story for anot ... More >>

Oscar Night 2011: The Live Blog!

​We are only less than three hours out from bringing you live-blogging coverage, right here, of this year's Academy Awards, and we are more than excited to take you through the night for every win, loss, awful dress, awesome dress, foible, and foul-up Hollywood throws our way.

Katrina, Five Years Later: A News Consumer's Guide To The Anniversary Stories

Brian Williams emits manly concern over the situation​If you aren't aware that this weekend marks the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, you will be by the time Monday rolls around.Newspapers, TV shows and websites will be heavy on commemorating the event. Here's what to look for:1. The use o ... More >>

4 Summer-Movie Soundtracks We Already Hate

​Last week, we told you of some upcoming summer-movie soundtracks that look like they're going to be fantastic. If positivity is your thing, go read that article. This one is going to be all about the upcoming soundtracks that make us wince so hard it feels like someone's chopping our balls with a ... More >>

Ben Folds, Still Fighting His "Piano Man" Side

Photos by Groovehouse​ For more pictures from Ben and Kate, see our slideshow here. It's been awhile since Aftermath came out of a show so ambivalent, so very "eh" that we almost feel bad about even attempting to review it. It didn't offend us in any way, nor did it blow any wind up our ripped jor ... More >>

Ben Folds

Westheimer Block Party Listology: Paris Falls' Favorite, and Least Favorite, Musical Moments In the Movies

All this week, Rocks Off is previewing Saturday and Sunday's Westheimer Block Party by asking WBP performers to fill out a list from Lisa Nola's Music Listography book we're so fond of. It's not too late for your band to be up here, either; just email chris.gray@houstonpress.com by noon Thursday if ... More >>

ACL Fest Preview: Ben Sollee and !!!

With eight stages rumbling with musical noises for nearly 12 hours a day, it's hard to fully grab a hold of the Austin City Limits Music Festival without having one or two bands slipping through your hands. With the festival getting such ridiculously amazing talent each year on each stage, one must ... More >>

Free Show: Ben Sollee at House of Blues Downstairs

It's not every day you hear a cellist bust out socially aware, Randy Newman-esque pop yarns. Kentuckian Ben Sollee sings plaintive, soulful slices of song like the kind that made Newman famous and so very influential in the '70s. Sollee is only 24 years old, yet he somehow bridges the generation ... More >>

Willie Nelson

Irma Thomas: Simply Grand

Drew Smith: Drew Smith's Lonely Choir

The 2008 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase Is Filled with Talent and Absurdity

Some of the best rock and roll in town right now is en español

HPMA Aftermath: Indian Jewelry, Wild Moccasins, Espantapajaros, Poor Dumb Bastards and More

Bryan Adams's 11, 11 Times Through

Just Like "Heaven"

Ordinary Smart People

Intelligence goes soft in this more obvious than smart rom-com

Meet Paul Ford, the 763 mp3 Guy: He Covered the Waterfront like No Other, from Over 1,000 Miles Away

Miss Pop Rocks Loves (the Second Half of) the Oscars

The Girl Next Door, Ford at Fox, Saturday Night Live: The Complete Second Season, The Wire: The Complete Fourth Season

A Masterpiece on Canvas

Todd Snider

The Devil You Know

Solitary Man

Part ironic sophisticate, part sentimental movie composer, Randy Newman is an American original

Frozen Dinner

In Ice Age, three mammals and a baby get warmed over

Odd Man Out

Van Dyke Parks, the invisible legend of L.A. music, finally goes live

Sound Check