The Gap Inc.

Study: 1 in 5 Don't Have Access to Enough Food in Houston

It's really amazing to think that in a city that has become so renowned for its restaurant scene, nearly 20 percent of the population doesn't have consistent access to food. But a new study from Feeding America found that to be the case. Even worse, in 18 southeast Texas counties, one-third of child ... More >>

Chuck Negron: Estranged Three Dog Night Voice Keeps Singing "Joy to the World"

"JEREMIAH WAS A BULLFROG!" That odd, simple and urgent declarative sentence from Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World" is one of the most famous classic-rock song openings of all time. But the man who sang it both then and now, Chuck Negron, says that what became the group's most recognizable hit al ... More >>

The Turtles: The Raunchiest Band of the '60s?

Even the most voracious reader or rock-music biographies and autobiographies would be hard-pressed to find a better opening sentence than Howard Kaylan, lead vocalist of The Turtles, has in his new memoir Shell Shocked. "I was snorting coke on Abraham Lincoln's desk in the White House," it reads. T ... More >>

The Rocks Off 100: Richard Ramirez, Noise God and Black Leather Jesus

Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community -- a lot more than just musicians, but of course they're in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? Richard Ramirez is one of Houston's fi ... More >>

BARC's Cat of the Week Dares You to Adopt It

Friday brings another pair of allegedly adoptable pets from BARC and Mayor Annise Parker. And if you think you're bored with the routine, you've got nothing on today's Cat of the Week, Mason. What could his expression here be saying? a) "What're you looking at, loser?" b) "Forget it -- she's mine." ... More >>

Illegal vs Legal...Again.

Navagating the courtship ritual.

The 5 Worst Trends Started By the Class of '99

Chris Gray's write-up of the Brian Setzer Orchestra's "Christmas Rocks" show at the Arena Theatre a couple of weeks ago got me thinking. These days, the swing maestro seems to be comfortably settled into his own little niche in the music industry, playing swingin' Christmas carols to grown folks. Bu ... More >>

Modern Prematurity

Seth Rogan takes his Centrum Silver in Guilt Trip

Pinot Grigio Nation

"Soon as we walk through the door," sang Mariah Carey in her 2008 hit, "Migrate," "Fellas be grabbin' at us like yo / Tryin' to get us going off the Patron / We sippin' Grigio... slow." These lines came to mind last night when the day's umpteenth press release caught my eye from an over-saturated i ... More >>

Saturday Night: Kashmere Stage Band at Fitzgerald's

The Legendary Kashmere Stage Band Fitzgerald's July 21, 2012 Craig Baldwin, the passionately loud and boisterous band director of the Kashmere Stage Band, broke his ankle recently and was forced to perform in a boot and with a cane Saturday night at Fitzgerald's in the Heights. Music, however, is a ... More >>

Legendary Appalachian Picker Doc Watson Passes Away At 89

Arthel "Doc" Watson, one of the all-time virtuosos of Appalachian guitar and a beloved figure in both the bluegrass and Americana communities, passed away Tuesday night Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., a statement a statement on his Web site www.docsguitar.com said. He was ... More >>

Bluegrass Great Doc Watson Hospitalized

Word has come that Doc Watson, beloved 89-year-old flat-picking genius and elder statesman of the Americana music scene, has been airlifted to Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after suffering a fall at his home. According to reports in Bluegrass Today and the Raleigh News & Obser ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: The Beams Are Creaking, First Baptist of Ivy Gap, The Foreigner, Magdalene, The Unexpected Man

Capsule Stage Reviews: Don't Drink the Water, First Baptist of Ivy Gap, Mary Stuart, The Seafarer, The Unexpected Man

Russian Radio: Top 5 Tasty Cold War Synth Jamz

Hey, remember the Russians? Before they had a gajillion oil dollars and all those supermodels, they wanted to kill us all. But it wasn't all creeping dread and mutually assured destruction. Until the Berlin Wall came down, the Cold War was a common subject in popular culture. Besides KGB trenchcoat ... More >>

Material Girl: Madonna's Top 10 TV Commercials

They don't call Madonna the Material Girl for nothing. She's definitely a self-promoter when it comes to her music. Better yet, when she does this, it's never the same advertised persona. Take, for example, when she first came onto MTV and performed "Like A Virgin" at the 1985 VMAs versus her perce ... More >>

Here's The Pitch: Top 10 Commercials Starring Musicians

Madonna's infamous "Like a Prayer" Pepsi ad, 1989​Every now and then, name-brand companies need a little extra pizzazz when it comes to advertising, and often they turn to the music world to do this. Either way, it's a win-win situation for both the artist and the company because the artist us ... More >>

Express Yourself: The 10 Best Deep Tracks of Madonna's Career

Daniel KramerPhoto by Daniel Kramer.​Madonna is one of those artists that does it all: she sings, dances, acts, and occasionally writes. The main thing that keeps her fans begging for more is that she always seeks to reinvent herself - whether it be her 'Borderline'-era '80s street-style or th ... More >>

Das Racist: Deconstructing The Rappers' References

​Over the past two years, Das Racist has been a Pitchfork favorite and highly revered for their witty, perhaps smarmy delivery of mostly historical and pop-culture references. The duo - trio if you include their hypeman, Dap, and quartet if you include their hypeman's hypeman, Lakutis - is com ... More >>

Mary Sarah Ready For The World At Age 15

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Mary Sarah on Facebook​We ... More >>

Chances Are...

Popular lesbian bar Chances is done.

Chances Bar, Longtime Lesbian Bar: On The Market?

On the market​Chances Bar, the semi-landmark at the corner of Westheimer and Waugh, may soon be no more.Just as Mary's, Hollywood Video, Skybar and Felix's have all pretty much bit the dust,  the owners of Chances have put the property on the market: Entire block in busy Midtown commercial ar ... More >>

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Fails Of The Week: Justin Bieber, Tom Petty, Jenna Jameson, The Killers, Voxtrot

If you're reading this, you're either on the Internet, or else you've mastered multi-dimensional thought-projection processes that would make Michio Kaku cry like a little girl. We'll assume the former, and just in case you don't already know, the Internet has decided that the word "failure" is too ... More >>

Overcrowding Crisis Hits BARC

Photo by Robyn Arouty​The Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care is packed to an "unsustainable" level, so if you've been thinking about fostering or adopting, get thee to the shelter, stat.The facility "has experienced a drastic increase in the number of animals turned into the shelter in the previ ... More >>

No Logo — Brands, Globalization, Resistance

Naomi Klein’s documentary about branding covers clothes, shoes and people

Party Like It's 1982

The Gatsby's Sauza Cosmopolitan

Babes in Uniform

Yes, even preschoolers' apparel has been regimented