I had a hernia operation in the early summer of 2006, and had nothing to do all day but hobble around with cool cane a borrowed from Grandpa Hlavaty and play on the Internets for two months or so. I had developed the injury while working at Domino's, but it was cool because their insurance helped ... More >>
My last official day at the Houston Press is tomorrow, so these past two weeks I have been sifting through my body of work here at Rocks Off, almost seven years of words. I've been gleefully overdosing on nostalgia here at my desk, and I have (almost) no regrets. I'll have some more words on my depa ... More >>
Rewind: So Chad Kroeger and Avril Lavigne Are Engaged: How Should You Feel? Boy, that Avril Lavigne/Chad Kroeger engagement announcement came out of left field, huh? Who knows which other terrible music makers are secretly seeing one another right now? Why, it could be anyone! Even... Ke$ha and Sc ... More >>
Well, we've done it again. Creed singer Scott Stapp's birthday came and went this week (he's 39), and we didn't get him a thing. Didn't even shout him out on Twitter. After the considerable musical gifts this man has given us over the years, that's completely unacceptable. There's only one way to ... More >>
Every so often, a ballplayer or musician will accidentally post their private phone number on Twitter, or perhaps a social-media-savvy celeb like Charlie Sheen will tweet out a buddy's digits as a prank. Hilarity ensues, usually in the form of thousands of text messages, and that person is usually s ... More >>
Creed Bayou Music Center May 1, 2012 Read our review of Creed's My Own Prison performance Monday night. Creed fans were out in full force for the second night of the "2 NIGHTS" tour. The previous night the band performed their 1997 album, My Own Prison, from beginning to end. Tuesday night, it was ... More >>
Creed Bayou Music Center April 30, 2012 Villains are infinitely more interesting than heroes, and have way better origin tales. All human mythology features roguish baddies, who are actually more engaging than their lily-hearted counterparts. Kids of all ages dress up like Darth Vader and the Joker ... More >>
Creed lead singer Scott Stapp talks about faith, haters and a whole lot more.
Tonight House of Blues welcomes Garbage back to Houston after a seven-year hiatus. The group, lead by fearsome Scottish redhead Shirley Manson, has been sorely missed from the music scene. They are currently touring behind their upcoming album Not Your Kind of People, which hits stores May 14. Rock ... More >>
Everyone has their meltdown moments, no doubt about it. We make mistakes and, most of the time, we try to correct them. We have them because we are all human. Unfortunately, though, when you are in the spotlight, your hurts, tantrums, mistakes and meltdowns are all magnified for all the world to se ... More >>
It's no secret that chart success is no real guarantor of musical quality. Hell, "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" went number one way back in 1952, pissing kids off so badly that they had to invent rock 'n roll. Twenty-five years ago this week, however, Billboard reached a new low when m ... More >>
Photo By GroovehouseCreed's Scott Stapp at his nearly sold-out acoustic date at the House Of Blues in March. It's hard to believe, but Florida rock giants Creed will be celebrating 15 years of 1997's landmark debut, My Own Prison. Well, it's not that hard to believe if you can do math and shi ... More >>
This week, we found out that a sex tape featuring Tupac Shakur exists, made in 1991 just five years before his fatal shooting in Las Vegas. Shakur's estate is the only entity that can release an item with the late rapper's likeness involved, and his mother Afeni Shakur is unlikely to allow a video o ... More >>
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 widely syndicated across the state, incl ... More >>
Photos courtesy of Mitch BurmanMitch Burman, owner of Jet Lounge and all-around rock star, has worked and played hard for the better part of two decades in Houston's music scene. It's all paying off now, but success didn't come easy. Besides being a successful business owner, Burman is also ... More >>
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 >>
I'm positive that the Astros would have been better off with these three guys in chargeAs it hard as it might be to believe, there are some people, friends even, who think I'm being too negative toward the Astros. They'd like for me to say something positive, something that might, hopefully, ... More >>
Ed. Note: Unlike the Astros' season (darnit), Stapp's concert appears to have been canceled. GroovehouseA few weeks ago, Rocks Off wondered if the real reason our hometown baseball club is having such a woeful season is because the music most of the players use to pump themselves up as they' ... More >>
Photos by Marc BrubakerChris Cornell Warehouse Live April 2, 2011 Check out our slideshow of Chris Cornell performing solo at House of Blues. We can only assume that this current cross-country solo acoustic jaunt by Chris Cornell is a warm-up for a full assault by his recently reunited Soun ... More >>
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 >>
Photos by GroovehouseScott Stapp House of Blues March 29, 2011 We all knew coming into this what would happen. It was going to be a show for the fans, not the smirking cynics. Fair enough. A Scott Stapp solo acoustic show is what it was billed as, but it was really a quasi-electrified solo ... More >>
Scott Stapp, lead singer of Creed (above), stops at House of Blues tonight on his current acoustic tour. More than likely you have already clicked off this blog, or at least already gone on auto-pilot to call him a fuck-ass in the comments section. We'll wait a sec for you to come back. OK, the ... More >>
Magnolia City Mixtape might have taken the week off in order to cover SXSW last week, but Houston's music scene kept right on rolling. That means that we've got not one, but two full weeks of news wrapped up in this installment. For our soundtrack this week, we've a brand-new album from Buxt ... More >>
"Canned Acoustica II" With Robert Ellis, Roky Moon, Tyagaraja, Black Queen Speaks, Chase Hamblin, Winter Wallace, Sara Van Buskirk, Ancient Cat Society: Thu., March 3. Warehouse Live. The Canvas Waiting, Holy Fiction, Finnegan, The Shallows: Fri., Feb. 11. Fitzgerald's. Clan Of Xymox: Sat. ... More >>
Photo illustrations by John Seaborn GrayEverybody's favorite lovelorn rock has-been Vince Neil has signed on to Skating With the Stars, an upcoming reality show sure to feature an exact recreation of the photo illustration above. Times, it seems, are tough all over, and Neil can't be the only ... More >>
Photos by Marc BrubakerStone Temple Pilots, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 19, 2010 It took a good hour past their stated stage time to get Stone Temple Pilots in front of the crowd at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Sunday night. But that hour in ... More >>
Courtesy of Codi RoweCodi Rowe (right) with Creed guitarist Mark TremontiRocks Off is not generally a fan of tribute bands, and even less so of Creed. We did have one guy hear who was a fan, but we left his body in the lobby as a warning to others who would embrace Stapp and Co. with arms wid ... More >>
Photos by Jim BrickerCreed Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 3, 2010 Imagine God is a million eggs, trying to fit inside the tiny little basket that is His consumers' wallet. These eggs never change, never ripen (do eggs ripen?), never move, never dance. The owner of these eggs, mean ... More >>
GroovehouseCreed pulls into the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Saturday night for the second Houston stop on the band's now year-long reunion tour lap. What guttural sounds will you be hearing coming out of lead singer Scott Stapp's mouth all night? Click the jump to find out.
Photos by GroovehouseCreed at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, September 2009Hello, Creed fans. Listen, it's no secret that Creed isn't exactly Rocks Off's favorite band. Anyone at Rocks Off. In fact, it could be said that we despise them. But wait! Wait, don't go. Creed fans, we're here ... More >>
Photo illustrations by John Seaborn GrayCreed Doesn't Get It, Guys: You know how some people just never seem to get the message, no matter how obvious you're being? Even if that message is "I hate your guts"? Not surprisingly, Creed are those guys. You remember Creed: four tribal-tattooed pu ... More >>
Sunday, Rocks Off is going to the Pasadena Fairgrounds to see Ted Nugent and the Charlie Lucas Band headline a charity event to raise money to secure homes for wounded military vets and their families. It's for a great cause and benefits the Bay Area Home Builders Association's "Operation Fin ... More >>
Universal Music GroupAs far as Rocks Off knows, everything is hunky-dory for Hole's show at House of Blues this evening. Courtney Love and friends are scheduled to play from 9:45 to 11:15, which Rocks Off is interpreting as they could go on anywhere from 9:45 to 11:15. As Hole's rambling, sl ... More >>
Getting arrested and booked isn't the end of the world, by any means. Well unless you just killed a shit-ton of people at a bowling alley or something, it really is. But if you are a rocker or a celebrity who committed a minor offense, it's just a funny footnote in your public life you can look ... More >>
Armed with our sort-of handy cellphone we were able to Tweet from ground level at the festival, with sometimes hilarious and vulgar results. Mostly the latter, because we are foul people. Over time, our Twitter updates devolved into angry rants, as you will see below.@hprocksoff sez:Oh god they real ... More >>
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