Tom Waits

Bizarre Acting Roles by 20 Famous Musicians

It's a toss-up whether actors or musicians will go to greater lengths to make rent, but some musicians have even found themselves so hard up they've been forced to take an acting gig. Such is the case with the haystack-sized Sleepy LaBeef, who in 1968's The Exotic Ones appeared as the "Swamp Monster ... More >>

10 Songs That Influenced Shovels & Rope

Tonight Shovels & Rope plays two sets at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, a venue that is quickly becoming their natural habitat here in Houston. The duo, made up of Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst, is currently touring behind O' Be Joyful, released this past summer. Obviously, the group is gaining mucho s ... More >>

Waits Variations

Six ways of looking at Tom Waits, character actor.

If This Is It

Poor Pilate's keyboard man David Lascoe doesn't hide his love of Huey Lewis.

The Jayhawks

Last Night: Ben Sollee At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Jessica Perry​Ben Sollee, Thousands Fitzgerald's July 21, 2011 "I don't know anything about cello or classical arrangements but I like this stuff," Aftermath said to our classical-music teacher, great friend and sometime colleague Meghan Hendley, keyboardist for local group Tyagaraj ... More >>

The Five Best Shows Bob Schneider Has Ever Seen

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

Saturday Night: Bob Seger At Toyota Center

Photos by Jay Lee​Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band Toyota Center April 30, 2011 If Saturday night was supposed to be Bob Seger's final farewell to Houston on what is reported to be his last go-round through the country as a performer, then he picked a stellar set list: 25 songs full of hist ... 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 >>

Top 10 Musician Movie Cameos

Rocks Off has no idea why Mick Jagger might prefer Performance to Ned Kelly.​Over recent years, Rocks Off has been repeatedly surprised by the quality performances of musicians in films. Naturally, there are some duds in the mix; even Mick Jagger himself, who starred in 1970's Ned Kelly, disow ... More >>

Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band

More Like "Hall Of Lame," Am I Right?

​Ladies and gentlemen, your 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is ready to admit a new class: Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, Darlene Love and Dr. John have all been inducted for 2011, the foundation announced Wednesday. With the exception of Wai ... More >>

Bon Jovi, Rock & Roll Hall Of Famers? It Could Happen...

Stay classy, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame...​This morning the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced this year's ballot of nominees, with the winners to be announced in December and inducted next March in New York. Fifteen names are on this year's ballot, ranging from hip-hoppers, proto-metal icons, ... More >>

Top Eight Bands That Sound Best When You're Drunk

​Some bands are great no matter what state you're in; some are terrible regardless of whether or not you could pass a breathalyzer test. Some bands, however, exist in a curious in-between zone, where what was merely decent, average or even uninteresting becomes enthralling with the simple addi ... More >>

The Big Easy's Origo Malum

Stirred and Shaken: The Big Easy's Origo Malum

Photo by Troy Fields​Sitting at the bar on a quiet night at the Big Easy (5731 Kirby, 713-523-9999), it feels like you're a one-armed dwarf and an exotic dancer away from being in a Tom Waits song. Something about the music, empty space and Mardi Gras lights gives it that shore-leave-gone-wron ... More >>

Matt the Electrician

Mardi Gras Mambo: "Krewe de Blue" DJ Clint Broussard's Favorite Fat Tuesday Jams

It's Fat Tuesday, which means before you get ashes painted on your forehead tomorrow, you'll be face-down in the gutter tonight. Rocks Off asked Clint Broussard, DJ for KTRU's "Blues In Hi-Fi" and tonight's "Krewe de Blue" Cowboy Mouth pre-party at House of Blues, to give us a few of his favorite M ... More >>

Happy Birthday to the Would-Be Bard of "Fannin Street," Tom Waits

Rocks Off would like to wish happy birthday to that hero of barflies, beatniks and gravel-garglers everywhere, Tom Waits. Waits turns the big 6-0 today, and released Glitter and Doom, a live account of the Southern U.S. tour that brought him to Jones Hall in June of last year, a couple of days befo ... More >>

Next Time You're Bored at a Party, Amuse Yourself With Some "Musical Profiling"

​ Recently, Rocks Off found ourselves skulking around the edges of a birthday party wondering what the hell we were doing there. The week had brutally kicked our ass, and the only place we really wanted to be at that juncture was sitting on our couch watching the Syfy channel with a very strong dr ... More >>

Ten Cover Songs So Bad They'll Shrivel Your Soul

Two nights ago, while carelessly patrolling the back alleys of the internet, Rocks Off stumbled across Hilary Duff's execrable cover of The Who's "My Generation". Well, what did you think, YouTube commenters? ​ You sure you're not being too harsh? ​ Yeah... ours too. Someday, when we ... More >>

Blind Boys of Alabama

Defending Bob Dylan and the Mac Guy

Tonight: Th' Legendary Shack Shakers at Walter's on Washington

Joshua Black WilkinsTh' Legendary Shack Shakers are not typical Southern-fried fare, no insipid Nashville muzak served up safe and soft. Think demented Dixieland instead. Imagine vaudevillians, carnies, punks and Tom Waits producing whisky-drizzled psychobilly. The sizzling Shakers are s ... More >>

Crooked Fingers

Aftermath Extra: The Best Concerts of the Year, Part 4

Tom Waits, Jones Hall, June 22: "Us Rain Dogs fans had to make do with a spastic "Cemetery Polka" that was a fair representation of Waits' cross-pollination of beatnik jazz and guttural blues; whether or not he's your cup of bourbon, the man does have a unique sound." Peter Murphy, Meridian, Jul ... More >>

Tonight: James Jackson Toth and The Dutchess and the Duke at the Mink

Crime Stories

Aftermath: Tom Waits at Jones Hall

Step Right Up: The favorite Tom Waits songs of tons of local and national music figures

“Moments in a Decade”

The Psophonia Dance Company is as old as the Euro and going just as strong

Tom Waits (nearly) Returns To Fannin Street

The Blog of Lists: 20 Teetotaling Musicians other than Ian Mackaye

Happy Record Store Day

SXSW: Black Diamond Heavies at Fado's Patio

Born to Bruise

Jolie Holland takes it to the river

Get Busy Living

The moans on Dylan's latest aren't exactly of the morbid death-rattle variety

Pop Goes the Dead

Sam Winch

The Lullabadeer

Hidden Treasures

Introducing some of the best discs you've never heard

Tom Waits

Real Gone (Anti)

Lhasa

The Living Road (Nettwerk)

Blackbird Fly

Jolie Holland returns to her old hometown with the Tom Waits seal of approval

A Good Buzz

Jim Jarmusch serves the perfect blend: Coffee and Cigarettes

M. Ward, with Rilo Kiley and Statistics

Thursday, August 7

Nightmare Before Christmas

The Voodoo Organist brings his Beelzebub blues to town

Skeleton Key

Saturday, October 12

Go Ask Alice

With two new releases, Tom Waits travels ever farther down the rabbit hole of his imagination -- and our American past

Born to Sing