Tom Waits

Songza: Can a "Musical Concierge" Match Your Mood?

"Working? Relaxing? At the gym? Songza plays you the right music at the right time." Or so it thinks. I do a lot of weird stuff, Songza. As I write this, I am still nursing a swift kick in the feels after a brutally frustrating Sunday-evening Texans loss to the New England Patriots. Where is the ... More >>

Top 5 New Rules for Internet Jukeboxes

Used to be, you'd have to hit bar after bar until you found one with just the right jukebox, and then that was your own personal lair of alcohol consumption from then on. The people demanded more freedom of choice, however, so most bars have already switched over to Internet jukeboxes, where one can ... More >>

Last Night: Rod Stewart & Stevie Nicks at Toyota Center

Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks Toyota Center August 9, 2012 I really wish that Rod Stewart is recording the past few years of tours he's had under his belt, because he's in essence setting the bar for how to grow old in rock and roll without looking like a granny doofus or a stuttering clown. At 67 year ... More >>

Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks

State Sues to Close Midtown Convenience Store; Is City Trying to De-Funk Midtown?

Acting through the Harris County Attorney's Office, the State of Texas is suing the Fannin Food Mart and the property's landlord, Jae Kim. The state claims that the property is a public nuisance and neither Fannin Food Mart's registered agent Azeem Ali Noorani nor Kim have done anything to abate t ... More >>

Gimme Some Truth: What Happens When Rabid Fans & Bands Meet

​We have all been there. You may have had a few drinks, you are at your favorite band's show, and you come to find yourself in the vicinity of one of your heroes. Word vomit. Torrential word vomit. But you mean well. "I really think youse guys is great and your albums really means a lots to ... More >>

Hank3

Hank3 & 7 Other Country Bloodlines

​Free of the constricting trappings of his former label Curb Records, Hank Williams III is wasting no time getting new product to his fans. "They didn't care for my thinking," says the artist, performing these days as Hank3. This week he officially busted loose from the clutches of Curb, rele ... More >>

15 Unfamous But Great Space Shuttle Photos

Even if it's not today, at some point Atlantis will lift off and eventually finish the last of the space shuttle missions. There are plenty of famous, even iconic, NASA photographs of the program; we pulled some highlights of lesser-known ones. 15. Almost a rocket ship This makes the shuttle look ... More >>

Zoo Station: A Noah's Ark Of 75 Animal Songs

And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee ... More >>

Out Today: Glee Warbles, Gorillaz Fall, Kinks Ride Again

​It's been a week since the Foo Fighters' album, Wasting Light, hit the stores, and Rocks Off has probably averaged at least one or two spins of the solid disc per day. Right now, we are actually on track four. Will anything top Light this week? That remains to be seen. Next week will bring ... More >>

Top 5 Off-The-Wall Musical Instruments In Regular Use

John Cage is playing a cactus. Your argument is irrelevant.​ Last year at Free Press Summer Fest, we saw Stars haul out this little thingy that was basically a tiny keyboard with a mouthpiece you could blow into. It was the first time we'd ever seen a melodica played live. Since then, Rocks O ... More >>

"Come On Buick, Light My Fire."

Not official Nike footwear.​Like most of Western society, I'd figured I was pretty much numb to the use of popular songs in commercials. I don't know how far back the practice dates, exactly, but I remember the anecdote from No One Here Gets Out Alive about Jim Morrison shooting down the sugge ... More >>

Houston Rap Year-End Odds And Ends

​We're seven days away from the beginning of the New Year. Let's make sure we go in there clean, shall we? Time to dump out the mailbag: First, stay tuned for our Top 10 Houston Rap Albums of the Year, coming Monday. Iceberg Slim of Screwheads Only traded emails with us while we put it togeth ... More >>

30 Seconds With Bob Schneider

Rocks Off sat down with Bob Schneider to see what we could learn about the popular Austin singer-songwriter in 30 seconds. Utopiajoe1 via Wikipedia​Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Bob Schneider: Obviously this is a personal preference issue. That's one of the amazing things a ... More >>

Carolina Chocolate Drops

"Three Records: New Photos by Chrissy Piper"

The rock photographer polls music fans about their favorite three albums

Monoliths & Dimensions: The Best Metal Records of 2009, Part 1

​This year was such a good one for heavy music, I wound up having to cheat when putting this list together. I just couldn't settle on ten albums that kicked my ass the hardest in 2009; there were dozens of candidates. The best I could do was fourteen, so each of my top four slots are ties. 10. Meg ... More >>

Damaged

Surly one-man Houston feedback storm Jon Read, a.k.a. The Wiggins, stays solo.

Listology: The American Heist Soundtracks Their Funerals

​ ​Of all the bands to emerge out of the Houston music puppy mill this year, none has been as steadfastly working class and punk rock as the American Heist. Rocks Off first spied the band opening up for Florida's Fake Problems in May. At the time they were still called Born Anchor, but a Seattle ... More >>

A Rocks Off Playlist: Halloween Songs That Don't Suck

Yeah... screw this thing.​Let's face it: the Monster Mash blows. So do many of the songs we're forced to suffer through every Halloweentide. A couple of years ago, Rocks Off heard "One-Eyed One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater" on XM Radio's Halloween-themed channel, and wanted to sneak into a ha ... More >>

Cleanse Your Dirty, Dirty Soul With the Blind Boys of Alabama at House of Blues

Ladies and gentlemen, Rocks Off doesn't mind telling you he feels a little dirty after editing that last Britney Spears post. We swear, we ourselves have never, ever rubbed one out to the cover art of Oops... I Did It Again - we just wish we knew why we always have such a hard time getting the damn ... More >>

Top Ten Americana Albums of 2008

Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen Trapper's fantastic ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Pride Parade, La Carafe, Frank's Pizza, Stone Temple Pilots and Houston Astros

Slideshow: Tom Waits at Jones Hall

God, Texas and Tom Waits

Tom Waits may not come from around here, but a good chunk of his favorite music does

Dr. Roger Wood's Matagorda Island Discs

Yesterday Afternoon: Westheimer Block Party at Numbers, Mango's and Avant Garden

Eels: Meet the Eels: Essential Eels Vol. 1Useless Trinkets

Ode Hazelwood

Give Us a Hand

Last Night: Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys at Verizon Wireless Theater

Cred Sheet

Stuff You Need to Know to Avoid Musical Ostracism

Man Man, with the Lovely Feathers and Apollo Sunshine

Thursday, June 22, Walter's on Washington, 4215 Washington Avenue, 713-862-2513

Bruce Springsteen

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

Fall of Troy

Monday, April 24, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, 713-225-5483

Kinky's Got His Mojo Workin'

A Texas wild man enlists his Appalachian counterpart in his crusade

Keira Get Your Gun

Domino chronicles the life of a model-turned-bounty hunter

I'll Drink to That

Fuel your New Year's Eve with these boozy sing-along tunes

Various Artists

Music from Coffee and Cigarettes (Milan)

Los Lobos

The Ride (Hollywood/Mammoth)

Taj Mahal & the Hula Blues, with Susan Tedeschi

Sunday, May 2

The Walkmen

Bows + Arrows (Record Collection)

Maura O'Connell

Saturday, July 27

Chuck E. Weiss

Old Souls & Wolf Tracks (Ryko/Slow River)

Jon Dee Graham

Hooray for the Moon (New West)

Playbill

The Blacks

Guy Forsyth

Steak (Texas Music)

Rotations

Alternative Notion Lollapalooza doesn't say much about its generation, but the music's fine

y Brad Tyer