Ringo Starr

Rotation: Ringo Starr, Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo

Miss Pop Rocks: Memo to Larry King: Retire

Get Lit: A Turtle’s Life

Still Smilin'?

Part Disney, part Barnum, the man who saved comics is all Stan Lee

Aftermath: Cheech & Chong at Verizon Wireless Theater; Willie Nelson at House of Blues

Part Disney, part Barnum, the man who saved comics is all Stan Lee

The Top 10 Reissues of 2008

[Note: This is the first in a series of articles that constitute Village Voice Media's year-end music package. The others - pop, indie-rock, dance mixes, Latin, country, alt-country/Americana, metal, rap/hip-hop and special graphics breaking down the year in charts and 2008's worst lyrics - will be ... More >>

Lost Tuneage: Spooky Tooth

Who Dat? Spooky Tooth was formed in 1967 out of the ashes of a band called Art, which featured Mike Harrison (vocals/keyboards), Luther Grosvenor (guitar), Greg Ridley (bass), and Mike Kellie (drums). Signed to Chris Blackwell's Island label, Art's debut album went nowhere. Blackwell spotted voc ... More >>

Press Picks

Who Dat? Spooky Tooth was formed in 1967 out of the ashes of a band called Art, which featured Mike Harrison (vocals/keyboards), Luther Grosvenor (guitar), Greg Ridley (bass), and Mike Kellie (drums). Signed to Chris Blackwell's Island label, Art's debut album went nowhere. Blackwell spotted voc ... More >>

A Tale of a Tune

Tommy Tune comes home, and brings Buskers with him

Rotation

Tommy Tune comes home, and brings Buskers with him

Static

Tommy Tune comes home, and brings Buskers with him

Press Picks

Tommy Tune comes home, and brings Buskers with him

Chris Squire on 40 Years of Prog Life

Yes Man

Behind the Music (City)

Is she rock? Is she soul? Jonell Mosser keeps 'em guessing

HARD ROCK CAFE'S

ROCK N' ROLL PUNCH

Primary Season

Check out some of the new candidates for this year's Houston Press Music Awards

Capsule Reviews

A picture of our opinions on local exhibits

Live Sex Chat

Get the dirt on doin' the dirty with these college ladies

Bingo Was Its Name-O

The Texas Lottery Commission brings the hammer down on the El Orbits' Monday-night institution

A Grand Guy

How Steven Soderbergh kept the Terry Southern tale from turning tragic

Nice to Be Nice

Once again, the Chronicle avoids a delicate subject

Wading for Godot

Allison arrived in a flood of thoughts -- mattress rafts, murky thigh-deep water and the sudden flotsam of family life rushing out the back door

Silver and Gold (and Green)

Some artists make holiday records for the beauty, not the bucks

Remembering 1969, Part 3: The Beginning of the End for the Beatles

Note: see Part 1 here and Part 2 here. For most of 1969, the Beatles were pretty much comatose - after the disastrous Get Back sessions (which would later spawn the Phil Spector-produced Let It Be), they reconvened to the studio that spring to record the music for what would become their final reco ... More >>

Men of Steel

Three decades after a metal classic, Judas Priest keeps "Livin' After Midnight."

Five Unfairly Underappreciated Beatles Songs

Between the early bubblegum pop of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and the epic sentimental balladry of "Hey Jude," the Beatles were always about much more than just the songs you hear on the radio. Even the biggest band there ever was has a few high-quality little gems that the masses aren't aware of a ... More >>

Please Help Us Give Away This Live Nation "Club Passport" We've Been Sitting on for Way Too Long

[Note: While we're on the subject of House of Blues shows, please note the Goodie Mob/Scarface concert scheduled for tonight has been rescheduled for Thursday, January 14.]www.drivebytruckers.com​Once again Rocks Off allowed ourselves to get distracted and nearly forgot we've got this Live Nation ... More >>

Feel a Whole Lot Better: For His Birthday, Five Great Non-Petty Tom Petty Songs

Tuesday just happens to be the 59th birthday of Rocks Off's personal hero, role model and by all accounts someone who smokes even more weed than we do, Thomas Earl Petty. Speaking of, it's also Snoop Dogg's birthday, which means 10/20 deserves to be a NORML holiday even more than 4/20 does. But unt ... More >>

Get Lit: Miss O'Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved by Chris O'Dell with Katherine Ketcham

​In one of the most rollicking and enjoyable classic rock memoirs of recent years, Chris O'Dell offers scores of interesting first-hand experiences with a who's who of icons, as well as her own keen observations on their personalities even hardcore fans will find fresh. But just who, you might ask ... More >>

The Week In TV: Enjoy Hulu While It Lasts

The good stuff won't be free for much longer.​My backyard flooded, I went half-blind on fireworks, and I am exponentially losing my agility. This was the week in TV Land: • As if to taunt my very desires, Hulu announced last week that it's launching Hulu Plus, a paid version of the site th ... More >>

What If The Beatles Broke Up After Revolver?

​Thursday is the 44th anniversary of the release of the Beatles' pivotal Revolver, an album that continued their growth away from their boy-band roots and into something stranger, better and far more complex. 1965's Rubber Soul had started the transformation with its multiple psychedelic influ ... More >>

Po Lightnin': Lightnin' Hopkins: His Life and Blues

​Lightnin' Hopkins: His Life and Blues By Alan Govenar Chicago Review Press, 368 pp., $28.95. With the dedication of a state historical marker in the Third Ward where he lived and played, Lightnin' Hopkins' name and music has gotten a bit of a boost lately. Long overdue, many would say, and ... More >>

Apathy For The Devil: Adrift In The Snowblind '70s

​Apathy for the Devil: A 70s Memoir By Nick Kent Da Capo Press, 416 pp., $17.95. While Cameron Crowe's wonderful but fictional Almost Famous told a sanitized story of music-journalist-meets-bands in the '70s, Former New Musical Express writer Nick Kent's memoir is a warts/coke spoons/social d ... More >>

Lightnin' Hopkins Finally Gets What's Coming To Him

This week Rocks Off is counting down our choices for the Top 5 local music stories of 2010. Matthew KeeverR. Eric Davis, Texas Johnny Brown and Milton Hopkins at the Lightnin' Hopkins Historical Marker dedication ceremony, November 13​WHAT HAPPENED? Coming in at No. 5 on our year-end list is ... 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 >>

Yoko Ono: Five Reasons She Still Matters

​Friday, Yoko Ono Lennon, widow of John Lennon, turns 78 years old. She's still as vibrant and prolific as ever, staying in the spotlight, not only as the keeper of Lennon's flame but also as an influential artist and public figure. Here is where Beatles fans will scoff and say her art was g ... More >>

Solo Albums: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

​Tomorrow night, former Audioslave lead singer and (thankfully) current Soundgarden member Chris Cornell will be at House of Blues for a long-sold-out acoustic show. Recent set lists have included a number of Temple of the Dog songs, some solo work, the usual 'Garden and 'Slave tracks, plus a ... More >>

Gourds Drummer Lives The Dream At Levon Helm's Studio

John Carrico​Hanging out with the Band's legendary drummer Levon Helm would be a dream for almost any other timekeeper. The Gourds have just returned to Austin from two weeks of recording at Helm's studio in Woodstock, N.Y, where drummer Keith Langford got to live the dream. The untitled albu ... More >>

The 10 Worst Things Texas Has Given To The Modern World

It's not nature's way, it's Houston's​If we were to list all the great, terrific things Texas, Our Texas has given to civilization, we would be here all day. (Two words: Jessica Simpson.) Unfortunately, Texas has also gifted America and the world with some things the world and America would n ... More >>

Five Life Lessons From John Lennon's "Lost Weekend"

​Rocks Off would like to wish a very happy 70th birthday to one of the coolest pop cats out there, Harry Nilsson. Four times out of five, whenever we play the jukebox at Warren's, we put on something from his Greatest Hits - like Martin Scorsese, we usually leave the lime in the coconut and ju ... More >>

Four Musicians Roth Vs. U.S. Would Have Jailed (NSFW)

AP/Life.comSamuel Roth​Standing up for the First Amendement is a hard row to hoe sometimes. Sure, it's fun when you can defend someone like Marilyn Manson, but it's a lot less fun when you realize you also have to defend people like the Westboro Baptist Church. Thems the breaks, though. If you ... 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 >>

The 20 Best Tribute Albums Of All Time

Hootie covered Zeppelin!? '90s U So Crazy!​This year alone has seen a multitude of tribute albums, from two Buddy Holly lovefests to the upcoming ZZ Top tribute set from a very motley crew of artists, including Nickelback, Daughtry, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals (yum), and Wyclef Jean. Let t ... More >>

Father Figures: 100 Famous Musicians' Paternal Professions

Mr. Peppermint: Sire of a Surfer.​If you're a Texan of a certain age, this week you've probably spent some time mourning the death of Jerry Haynes, the children's TV host better known as Mr. Peppermint. Haynes' show on WFAA-TV in Dallas, Peppermint Place, ran from the '60s to the '90s and was ... More >>

The Simpsons' Top 11 Musical Guests

​When The Simpsons completes its last (contracted) season in 2014, it will have set staggering new broadcast records for longest running sitcom (over 550 episodes) and longest running prime time scripted TV series (25 seasons). These are all American records, of course, because the Japanese co ... More >>

14 Notable Female Rock Drummers

girlscantwhat.com​Last week, we rounded up a list of our favorite female rock bassists. We'd like to continue the trend of honoring rock's finest females, by next recognizing 14 notable female rock drummers. As usual, we will focus on the live-performing, touring drummers over time, rather tha ... More >>

Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles

girlscantwhat.com​Last week, we rounded up a list of our favorite female rock bassists. We'd like to continue the trend of honoring rock's finest females, by next recognizing 14 notable female rock drummers. As usual, we will focus on the live-performing, touring drummers over time, rather tha ... More >>

Peter Cetera & Richard Marx

girlscantwhat.com​Last week, we rounded up a list of our favorite female rock bassists. We'd like to continue the trend of honoring rock's finest females, by next recognizing 14 notable female rock drummers. As usual, we will focus on the live-performing, touring drummers over time, rather tha ... More >>

Lord Lordy, Look Who's Forty: The Best Albums Of 1972

​Last week I told you about the best debut albums of 1992, making a lot of us feel old in the process. Hell, I was only nine when those came out and I felt feeble making the list. This week we look at the best albums of 1972, now four decades in the hole, but no less fulfilling and influenti ... More >>