Tony Bennett

SXSW's 2013 Panels: EDM, Nashville, and Tony Bennett's Headphones

Since 2010 or so, while I am at SXSW in Austin I have started to make the panels during the day a priority for my time at the conference. The trick is waking up by 10 a.m. most days. They are usually filled with industry celebs I can geek out on (like singer-songwriter Paul Williams) and almost al ... More >>

22 Coots and Codgers Making the Rest of Us Look Bad

While the rest of the music business has been slow to awaken from its holiday slumbers, the biggest shows in Houston this weekend come from two artists who have been up a long, long time -- 87 years, to be exact: Bluesman B.B. King and country crooner Ray Price. (Actually, Price will turn 87 on Satu ... More >>

The Rocks Off 100: Tianna Hall, Singer of Sweet Songs

Who? You could argue that Tianna Hall is the best jazz singer in all of Houston. I mean, you could argue against it too, but it's like arguing that the moon landing was faked. Her smoky voice is a fine mix of skill and improvised magic, and it's landed her on the Grammy nomination ballot three time ... More >>

10 Gloriously Terrible Lesser-Known Motivational '80s Songs to Pump! You Up!

If my gym is any indication, Olympics Fever is spurring folks into action. There used to be plenty of elliptical machines, barbells, and room in the pool available during the time of day I would go. Now it seems like every elliptical machine is taken except the one in front of the wonky TV that only ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: First Lady Suite, KOOZA, The Lion King, Top Shelf Shorts, Travelsty

Capsule Stage Reviews: Beehive, Black Coffee, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Lion King, Tamarie Cooper's DOOMSDAY REVUE (the greatest musical ever), Travelsty

Capsule Stage Reviews: Next to Normal, Travelsty, Twelve Angry Men, What We're Up Against

Katy/West Houston Jazz Festival

The American Bandstand (Extended) Hot 100

Somehow it's hard to believe that Dick Clark was only 82 years old when he died after suffering a "massive heart attack" Wednesday morning in Santa Monica, Calif. (Since I managed to survive one myself, I've noticed that anytime someone dies of a heart attack, it's always "massive."). Despite his yo ... More >>

The Beats Go On As Grammys Take Care Of Their Own

Hands up, everyone who is surprised.​The Grammy Awards on CBS Sunday night could have easily turned into a wake - or worse, a funeral. After Whitney Houston's death Saturday, the mood was appropriately somber until a dance party broke out, or perhaps a coming-out party for dance music. Foreve ... More >>

End Times: Dave Eggers's Shower Curtain Short Story and Other Sure Signs of the APX

The Mayan calendar is ticking steadily on toward expiration, but that is the least convincing sign of the apocalypse since Harold Camping predicted one in May. More persuasive: 5,000 dead blackbirds falling from the sky on January 1, 2011, the New York Observer trend piece on how young people aren ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Ella Fitzgerald's Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​There is an admission that I have to make having written all these Classic Christmas posts this year. When I think of Christmas, I don't think of carols or choirs or ... More >>

Last Night: Aretha Franklin at Arena Theater

Aretha Franklin Arena Theater November 17th, 2011 Photos by Marc Brubaker​A grown and sexy crowd filled the room at the Arena Theater last night to welcome the undisputed Queen of Soul to Houston, the lovely Miss Aretha Franklin. Her majesty was escorted down the aisle by her team, not so muc ... More >>

The Simpsons' Top 11 Musical Guests

​When The Simpsons completes its last (contracted) season in 2014, it will have set staggering new broadcast records for longest running sitcom (over 550 episodes) and longest running prime time scripted TV series (25 seasons). These are all American records, of course, because the Japanese co ... More >>

Midtown Throwdown

Your guide to our very first Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest.

The Best Episodes Of MTV's Unplugged

​MTV Unplugged was like health food for your soul during its heyday on the music channel, which was full of junk food. When artists stuck to the template and went untethered to electronic instruments and really dug into their music with new eyes it was amazing. Debuting in 1989 with Squeeze ... More >>

Top 10 Texas Movie Soundtracks

​This weekend, as the rest of the world catches Harry Potter mania for (perhaps) the final time, Houston gets a serious dose of Urban Cowboy nostalgia. Theater Under the Stars' production of the Tony-nominated 2003 musical - which The New York Times called "a conclusive demonstration that it's ... More >>

Idol Beat: American Idiots

Spoiler alert: the smug one wins.​Thanks to Shea Serrano for taking the bullet yesterday. After what felt like eons, the 10th season of American Idol lurched to its inevitable anticlimax last night. It was as especially torturous affair, stretching well over two hours and mixing performances ... More >>

Last Night: Tony Bennett At Jones Hall

No photogaphy was permitted at Thursday's show.​Tony Bennett Jones Hall April 26, 2011 Tuesday night was the 60th anniversary of Tony Bennett recording what would become first No. 1 single, a little tune called "Because of You." After hearing the 85-year-old singer perform with his quartet a ... More >>

Odd Pairs: Ten Upcoming Nights of Music Bring Wild Variations

Photo by groovehouseTry to guess who's playing the same night as Toadies.​Diversity is a big deal in H-Town. In fact, our cultural diversity creates such a wide variety of musical styles, it is hard to figure out just what kind of music town we are. In places like Memphis, Nashville, Seattle a ... More >>

Billy Joel Safe At Home In Final Play At Shea

​Billy Joel Live at Shea Stadium: The Concert Sony Legacy, $13.98 While not a Queens-bred boy, what better choice for a musical performer to close out Shea before its demolition than Billy Joel? Filmed over two nights in July 2008, this 2-CD/1-DVD package offers a great overview of Joel's car ... More >>

Rocks Off's Fantasy RodeoHouston Lineup

Photos courtesy of Houston Livestock Show & RodeoGeorge Strait in 1996​If you walk through Reliant Center, hanging from the ceiling are banners listing almost every musical performer RodeoHouston has hosted since the '60s. The names reflect the hallowed history of country and fleeting fancies ... More >>

Five Icy-Road Skid-Crash Videos, To Get You Ready for Your Commute Home

Okay, you waited until the ice melted and the streets cleared up a bit, then you headed into work because that's the kind of dedicated employee you are. And you're going to burn the midnight oil a bit to make up for that lost morning. Don't stay too long, though: The streets with water on them are ... More >>

What Is Classic Rock Today?

​What is classic rock in 2010? 15 years ago, it was was the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, anything Eric Clapton touched and every band your dad played in his car while he was making out with the girls he met before your mom. That's how we know classic rock: Big riffs, big voices, in ... More >>

Drowning In A Sea Of White Liberal Elitists At The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear

​Just thought I'd head off the obvious criticisms. CBS estimated that the crowd at Saturday's Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear in Washington DC drew some 215,000 attendees, though my favorite part of that story was this: TBD reported that because of the high turnout many would-be rally at ... More >>

Vic & Anthony's: An Exercise In Overindulgence

Crab and meat...and crab and meat and crab and meat.​Once upon a time, when I worked in a job that required the daily donning of pantyhose and a suit, I ate at places like Vic & Anthony's on a fairly routine basis, despite never having the stamina to make it through a full meal at these types ... More >>

"Monkey With Arthritis": Top 10 Cattiest Musician Insults

​Think of Tony Bennett and you'll probably picture the kindly older gentleman crooning "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" and any number of other pop standards, or perhaps the guy who upstaged Alec Baldwin as "Anthony Benedetto" (his birth name) on a 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live, turnin ... More >>

The Ice Rink at Woodlands Town Center

Have yourself a merry little navidad

Lonesome Onry and Mean: A Brief History of "Danny Boy" - Evergreen But Not Exactly Irish

​The Pogues are only one week away, so no time like the present to reflect on Irish music. For many Americans, no song epitomizes Irish music like "Danny Boy." Lonesome Onry and Mean was gently prodding my Irish and European friends at the boozer recently regarding their opinions about the top rec ... More >>

Cool Out on Your Commute

2009 is only a few days old, and Houston's radio climate is already improving. Not on the FM dial, which remains a wasteland north of 91.7 (same as it ever was), but starting at 4 p.m. today, commuters can immerse themselves in the swinging sounds of Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, B.B. Kin ... More >>

The Great Waller: Ain't Misbehavin'

At the Ensemble, a 1978 musical still feels fresh and alive

Get Lit: Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music, by Phil Ramone

Tony Bennett

Around and Back Again

The El Orbits are still hoppin'

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