Subject: Taylor Swift

• Digitalia: iTunes' Top Holiday Songs

  The holiday season is a time to enjoy favorite pastimes like expanding your credit-card debt, eating way too much food, and arguing with your relatives. And of course, there's the best staple of them all: butchering holiday jingles. Never finding a song they didn't want to shill, iTunes offers an extensive holiday collection ready to aid you in your quest to be merry and croon. The Freebies (because you know you love free stuff) Faith Hill, "O Holy Night": Taken from her new Christmas album, Jo

  December 11, 2008

• Hitsville: The Year in Music, by the Numbers

  You don't need a half-wit music critic to tell you it's been a remarkable year for America, one historians will be discussing and researching for centuries to come. War, financial collapse, politics, technology: All have been dinner-table topics for many Americans. Racial barriers in 2008 were demolished by a Midwestern black man, and gender barriers were hurdled by an Arkansan and an Alaskan.Democracy has a few awesome new dance moves rolling into the Obama presidency, and it'll be a feast for

  December 31, 2008

• RodeoHouston Hideout Schedule

  Two Tons of Steel/ bbqfilm.com Music at RodeoHouston doesn't necessarily mean doe-eyed ingenues like Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers, leathery country veterans like Brooks & Dunn and Alan Jackson or tube snake boogeymen like ZZ Top, you know. Although there's no hog-calling contest - which Rocks Off thinks is a crime - admission to the grounds (either a RodeoHouston ticket or Reliant Park general-admission stub) also gets you into the Hideout, RodeoHouston's own honky-tonk that mo

  January 13, 2009

• Aftermath: Loretta Lynn at Arena Theatre

  Photos by Craig HlavatyLoretta Lynn came to the stage Saturday night swathed in a baby-blue evening gown the likes of which haven't been seen in country music since before Taylor Swift was even in a twinkle in her father's eye. At age 74, the "Blue Kentucky Girl" still packs a room, and her following is still as fervent as it was decades ago. The Arena Theatre off the Southwest Freeway was completely packed with gray-haired grannies, tattooed gals in Misfits tees, well-coiffed g

  February 23, 2009

• Aftermath: Taylor Swift at RodeoHouston

  Photos courtesy Houston Livestock Show and RodeoTeenage girls turned up in droves for Taylor Swift at RodeoHouston Friday night, letting out piercing screams in between every song, rivaling the intensity of those at the Jonas Brothers concert. Swift already belongs among that small cadre of artists who can send then fans into a frenzy just by showing up at the venue; at Reliant Stadium, her easygoing charm, and flairs of spunk and sass showed why. Swift seemed genuinely elated to be at t

  March 23, 2009

• Aftermath: Bamboozle Roadshow at House of Blues

  Photos by Meredith Baker The Perfect Scene: Techno-pop rockers Mercy Mercedes radiate some "extra energy." This year's Bamboozle Roadshow, which passed through Houston Thursday night, fused together a variety of musical flavors among up-and-coming bands Mercy Mercedes, NeverShoutNever!, The Cab We the Kings and Forever the Sickest Kids. (The tour is sponsored by the Wonka candy company, which allowed concertgoers a preview of its new fruit-punch licorice candy, "Kazoozles," due on shelves

  April 10, 2009

• Don't Ever Count Britney Out — Just Like These Others.

  March 26, 2009

• Could Alternative Country Work at the Rodeo?

  February 26, 2009

• Crash Into Me: Predicting the Economy's Impact on the Music Biz

  April 16, 2009

• Turkey Trot

  Artists choose the songs that rocked their 2008 worlds

  November 27, 2008

• Music's Ickiest of the Icky, Circa 2008

  Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

  October 30, 2008

• The Last Word from the Press on SXSW 2008

  We swear, we're done now

  March 20, 2008

• Texas Albums

  2007's best Texas albums, from Houston, Austin and beyond

  January 3, 2008

• Voodoo Healing

  Stan Ridgway is still tuning in "Mexican Radio."

  April 23, 2009

• Aftermath: Fleetwood Mac at Toyota Center

  Photos by Jay Lee Every night the band goes onstage, Fleetwood Mac faces a concert onus only a handful of other groups need worry about: Are its songs too iconic? Is the rush of watching Stevie Nicks twirl out "Landslide" or "Rhiannon" live any match for the lifetime (or decades, anyway) of memories, associations and emotions those songs bring forth? Of course not. It's a trick question anyway. For one thing, only a fraction of Saturday night's nearly sold-out Toyota Center crowd - twenty- to si

  May 4, 2009

• Creep Show

  May 14, 2009

• Cattle Decapitation

  May 21, 2009

• Hell on Earth

  July 16, 2009

• The Katy Perry Experiment

  July 30, 2009

• StubHub: Houston Is More "Rockin'" Than Vegas, Less So Than Hartford and Milwaukee

  Craig HlavatyThe Phish of the Southwest and king of Houston's summer concert hill: George Strait​Online ticket broker StubHub.com released its annual list of America's Top 20 "Most Rockin' Cities" Friday, with Houston holding steady at No. 17 for the second year in a row. We probably would have been even higher - in several ways - if Vermont jam-band overlords Phish, who reunited this summer for the first time since 2004, weren't such pussies and booked some shows south of the Mason-Dixon line

  August 21, 2009

• Sound Off on The Kanye's Jackassery at Sunday Night's VMAs

  This is what happens when MTV pulls all its VMA footage from YouTube... their lawyers were up early this morning.​ By now you've seen or at least heard about Kanye West's latest bit of spotlight-grabbing at Sunday night's MTV awards - Rocks Off doubts morning-drive DJs are talking about little else (Serena Williams, cough) - when Mr. "Love Lockdown" interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech to let everyone know he thought Beyonce should have won. Which she did, a little later for Video of t

  September 14, 2009

• Texas Traveler: Artesian Springs

  Photos by Brittanie Shey​The first thing you need to know about Artesian Springs Resort is that there is nothing resort-like about it. Nestled way in the middle of bumblefuck Egypt, ten minutes from the closest concrete road, and just a few miles west of the Louisiana border, the privately-owned "resort" is a advertised as a rustic weekend getaway from the stresses of city life, featuring roomy cabins, a crystal-clear artesian-fed lake, and pavilions perfect for family reunions or other g

  September 14, 2009

• Turning the Screw: Dustin Prestige: ESG, 50 Cent, Lil' Jon (Whaaaat?!), Lil' Wayne, Snoop & Dre, Taylor Swift's Revenge, etc.

  Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies.Courtesy Dustin Prestige​Single of the Week: Dustin Prestige (right), "Polos and AKs, Pt. 2" Wire To Wire Counting down the days until ESG releases his album. Please don't let it be crappy, please don't let it be crappy, please don't let... And for this week's installment of Books That Probably Aren't Helping The Book Ind

  September 14, 2009

• All Falls Down: Kanye West's Six - Well, Seven Now - Douchiest Moments

  ​If you're aware of Kanye West's - whom Pollstar is reporting stops at Toyota Center with Lady GaGa January 22; good luck selling tickets for that one now, kiddo - past behavior at all, then you're probably surprised this article isn't longer. His habit of blurting out inappropriate, nonsensical non sequiturs, his tendency to throw a tantrum at the tiniest provocation, his love of blogging in all caps - you'd normally expect this kind of behavior from a 12-year-old Xbox Live player in Ritalin

  September 14, 2009

• Distant Early Warning: Anvil(!), David Cook, Lee Greenwood, Skatalites, Tanya Tucker, Tegan & Sara, etc.

  ​"13th Annual Pimp-N-Prostitute Ball" With MINIKISS, The Crisis, DJ Looney, DJ Jager, DJ Velvet: Sat., Oct. 31. Warehouse Live. Ali Zafar: Sat., Oct. 24. Arena Theatre. Anvil: Sun., Jan. 24. House of Blues. Brave Combo: Fri., Dec. 11. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Buxton, Surfer Blood, F.G. and the Gunz: Tue., Nov. 3. Mango's. Dave Guetta: Fri., Nov. 20. Planeta Bar-Rio. David Cook: Sat., Nov. 7. Warehouse Live. Epica, Daath, Blackguard, Of Raven And Ruin: Wed., Feb. 24. Scout Bar Clear Lake.

  October 13, 2009

• It's Brodeo Time! RodeoHouston Announces Jonas Brothers, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Brooks & Dunn for 2010

  Daniel KramerThe Jonas Brothers at RodeoHouston 2009​ Monday morning, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announced the first four entertainers next March's musical entertainment at Reliant Stadium. Jonas Brothers, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, and Brooks & Dunn have all been tapped to perform at next year's rodeo. The Kix and Ronnie date will be the duo's last rodeo appearance, as B&D plan to part ways at the end of 2010. This will be the Jonas Brothers' second Houston rodeo appearance a

  October 19, 2009

• Ask a Rapper: Karina Nistal Loves Common, Mike Jones Not So Much

  The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place - lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good - so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Have something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email it to introducingliston@gmail.com. This Week's Rapper: Bilingual Latina femmestress Karina Nistal This Week's Subject(s): Rappers switching genres; Rappers getting that money. Sadia Zubair​Ask A Rapper: Okay, we might be

  October 20, 2009

• Oregon Trail

  October 22, 2009

• The Red Nation Manifesto, Honored Mostly In The Breach

  Photos by Monica Fuentes​The Houston Rockets hosted a party last night at Hotel Icon to celebrate the team's new Red Nation marketing campaign. Other than "alternative jerseys" for this year, the team -- as part of the campaign -- has developed a Bill of Red, "a document passed down from high and now ratified by the House of REDpresentatives."Hair Balls went to last night's event armed with the bill to see how well the party goers (we think about 200 people showed up) represented the Red Natio

  October 23, 2009

• Dancing With the Stars: The Michael Irvin Conspiracy

  His partner may or may not be the devil. Just look at those eyes!​Last night's Dancing With the Stars results show kicked off in an even more insanely dramatic fashion than normal. The montage of clips from the competition ep featured fireball cuts and blood and heavy metal! It's like Stephen Colbert without the irony. It was all because this week saw the elimination of two of the "stars," as will next week. Bring on the filler! Tom Bergeron and Lady Co-Host wasted no time talking about

  October 28, 2009

• Tween Dreams

  October 29, 2009

• This Week In TV: Miracle Cures From Alien Civilizations

  The Yankees won, Doug Hoffman lost, and I'm thinking of joining a neighborhood dad garage band. This was the week in TV Land: • 30 Rock continues to be the quickest comedy on the air and the spiritual descendant of Arrested Development. This week's episode was stuffed with more meta-jokes than ever, including Liz and Pete's multiple looks into the camera, Jack's dismissal of the Olympics as pointless just before plugging NBC's impending coverage, and the hilarious use of Cisco Systems tagline

  November 9, 2009