Coronavirus

The FDA Considers New Plan of Administering COVID-19 Vaccines

The FDA Considers New Plan of Administering COVID-19 Vaccines

Pediatric COVID-19 Cases on the Rise Again in Houston

Pediatric COVID-19 Cases on the Rise Again in Houston

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A New Omicron Variant Poses a Threat With Already Growing COVID-19 Cases in Houston

By Faith Bugenhagen
Jan 13, 2023

A new dominant variant of COVID-19 in the Northeast leaves Houston bracing for impact and the possibility of a third brutal winter wave reminiscent of those in 2021 and 2022. The latest variant of the omicron family, XBB1.5, started to rapidly accelerate in both New York and New England in...
Steve Martin and Martin Short: The Two Amigos Ride Into Sugar Land

By Bob Ruggiero
Oct 18, 2022

For many years, when an excited fan would approach Steve Martin and ask for an autograph or picture, the actor/screenwriter/novelist/playwright/comedian (whew!) would immediately hand the person a pre-printed, autopen-signed business card. It said, “This certifies that you have had a personal encounter with me and that you found me warm,...
Accept This: Classic German Heavy Metal Comes Roaring Back

By Bob Ruggiero
Sep 29, 2022

During the pandemic, bands had to come up with creative ways to record and perform. The heavy metal men of Accept already had half a new record in the can before scattering, but months later they gathered in Nashville where leader/guitarist Wolf Hoffmann lived to finish the tracks. The problem...
Harris County Public Health Has Pfizer Omicron Booster Shots

By Houston Press
Sep 13, 2022

The new COVID-19 vaccination booster shots are now available and Harris County Public Health began giving them out Monday. The bivalent Pfizer COVID-19 booster vaccine authorized for individuals 12 years and older, is available to eligible residents and is administered in a single dose. The new vaccine is designed to protect...
The Manhattan Transfer Celebrate 50 Years of Vocal Harmony—and the End of Their Touring Days

By Bob Ruggiero
Sep 5, 2022

A few years before the 1976 movie Taxi Driver came out—complete with its raw depiction of New York City during the era—another “hack” was out on the road trying to figure out his future, this one of a more musical nature. And in the 1972 world of hard rock, glitter...
John McCutcheon Takes a Leap of Faith and Folk Music

By Bob Ruggiero
Aug 30, 2022

While a student at Minnesota’s St. John’s University in the early 1970s, John McCutcheon had a pretty good system going. He had a friend who worked in the school library and who could be persuaded to order certain requested records in exchange for beer. Records that McCutcheon could then borrow,...
The Australian Pink Floyd Show Continues Building Bricks in Wall of Fans

By Bob Ruggiero
Aug 25, 2022

Chris Barnes vividly recalls the first time he was exposed to the music of Pink Floyd. The UK native was about six years old when a cousin who had been living with his family left his record collection in the hands of Chris and his older brother. Among the discs...
Toto's David Paich is a Boy with His Toys

By Bob Ruggiero
Aug 17, 2022

In this new era of Zoom journalism interviews, it’s sometimes jarring to be instantly face-to-face (albeit via computer) with a live musician who for decades you’ve only seen on stage, in videos, or photographs. But there’s Toto’s co-founding singer/keyboardist/songwriter David Paich popping up on screen to tell me what he’s...
Rick Springfield & Friends Promise an Evening of "Wall to Wall Hits"

By Bob Ruggiero
Aug 11, 2022

It’s a myth-busting notion that, outside of the 90 minutes or so they’re onstage performing, the reality of a successful touring rock musician is often blur of airports and airplanes, car rides, hotels and room service menus, and sound checks. And sometimes, interviews. As when Rick Springfield calls from his...
Opinion: Immune Compromised People Still Treated Like Collateral Damage as Pandemic Goes On

By Jef Rouner
Aug 2, 2022

I think I’m more pissed off now than when COVID-19 first sent us all scurrying into hidey-holes. Despite the coronavirus continuing to spread, mutate, and kill, it seems like the country has moved on and let at-risk populations live in isolation and fear. Here in Harris County, we’re still averaging...
REO Speedwagon's Bruce Hall Talks Licks, Links and Blazing (Hot!) Summer Tour

By Bob Ruggiero
Jul 14, 2022

When we recently spoke with Ricky Phillips of Styx, the bass player told us that he and his fellow four-string thumpers and the current Live and Unzoomed classic rock package tour (Bruce Hall of REO Speedwagon and Ken “Spider’ Sinnaeve of Loverboy) often have a “bass hang” at group dinners...
The Bennett Matteo Band Defy the Blues Police on Debut Record

By Bob Ruggiero
Jul 12, 2022

When guitarist Gino Matteo and vocalist Jade Bennett log into a Zoom meeting for a scheduled interview, it’s not the live visages of the duo that appears onscreen, but just a static shot of Matteo. The reason, it is learned, might have to do something with a spotty internet connection,...
Styx's Ricky Phillips Bottoms Out (on the Bass) for Summer Tour

By Bob Ruggiero
Jul 11, 2022

The cell phone sitting on the desk rings at the appointed time, and there’s a high-energy voice on the other end of the line. “Hey Bob, it’s Ricky Phillips! From the rock band Styx!” Hmmm…it wouldn’t seem that the band whose Classic Rock catalog includes such warhorses as “Come Sail...
The Sheepdogs Concoct a Batch of "Craft Rock and Roll"

By Bob Ruggiero
Jun 28, 2022

On the press release announcing their seventh and most recent studio record, Outta Sight (Dine Alone Records), it is promised that the Sheepdogs will deliver “non-bummer rock and roll” on the disc. Zooming in by video from his home in Canada, lead dog in the pack Ewan Currie explains the...
MFAH's Jazz on Film Series Swings Back After Pandemic Absence

By Bob Ruggiero
May 31, 2022

You’ll have to forgive Peter Lucas if he—like so many of us—has sort of lost track of time a bit during the past 2 ½ years living under a pandemic. He’s trying to recall the last time the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston held its Jazz on Film series. “That...
Shaun Cassidy: The Hardly Idle Idol

By Bob Ruggiero
May 25, 2022

Even though it was quite a while ago, Shaun Cassidy certainly remembers the last time he played Houston. It was in early 1980 at a now-defunct little venue called the Astrodome, as part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. What he didn’t know at the time is that it...
Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia's Blues PDA of "Brotherly" Love

By Bob Ruggiero
Apr 29, 2022

Once a necessity and staple of ‘70s rock and roll culture, the double live record has had less of a significance in the blues genre. That certainly didn’t stop singer/guitarist (and proud current resident of Nederland, Texas) Mike Zito from unleashing Blues for the Southside earlier this year on Gulf...
Heart by Heart Keeps the Magic Men Spinning and Barracudas Swimming

By Bob Ruggiero
Apr 22, 2022

Asked to name any members of the band Heart, most casual listeners would be able to mentally cough up sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. After all, the vocalist and guitarist have been the “faces” and most photographed of the group since their 1975 debut Dreamboat Annie, as well as being...
Art Alexakis on Three Decades of Everclear, Making Noise and His Own Future Path

By Bob Ruggiero
Apr 20, 2022

When we spoke with Art Alexakis of Everclear in July of last year, the band’s founder/singer/guitarist was literally a day away from launching their Summerland package tour trek across the U.S. One that already filled him with equal amounts of excitement and nervousness, given the whole pandemic situation. “It was...
Classic Rockers Nazareth Keep Surviving on 25th Album

By Bob Ruggiero
Apr 19, 2022

Ah, COVID, you bastard! You have not been a friend to so, so many Classic Rock bands who had ambitious and wonderful plans to celebrate a 50th anniversary of their founding or first album in 2020…or 2021…or 2022. That includes Scottish hard rockers Nazareth, whose self-titled debut dropped in 1971...

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