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That interplanetary jazz ambassador, Sun Ra, from "A Joyful Noise."

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...

The Beatles and their significant others (front row) with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (seated, top) in February, 1968, in Rishikesh, India.

New Doc Details the Beatles' Indian Connections

By Bob Ruggiero

May 10, 2022

In all the nooks and crannies of Beatles Scholarship, the Fabs’ relationship to and time spent in India is one of the most interesting. In fact, it could be argued that no group did more to open Western ears, eyes, and minds to Indian music, culture, and spirituality than the...

Jean Millington, Brie Darling, and June Millington of Fanny in 2018.

Rock Doc Showcases Fanny—The All-Female '70s Band You Haven't Heard

By Bob Ruggiero

Feb 28, 2022

In the last issue of Rolling Stone produced in the 20th century, a bevy of musicians were asked what musical issues they’d like to see remedied or addressed in the 21st. In a quote that was pulled out to feature, David Bowie was very much to the point. “One of...

View of a portion of the digital walls in "Immersive Frida Kahlo."

Immersive Frida Kahlo Animates the Famed Mexican Artist

By Bob Ruggiero

Feb 17, 2022

Mara Kahlo is standing in at the edge of a large room in a converted building near the intersection of Beltway 8 and I-10. Her gaze wanders in awe across the four walls that surround her. “It’s an honor and a responsibility to be here. I get emotional even now,”...

The Gin Blossoms in 2022: Scotty Johnson, Jesse Valenzuela, Robin Wilson, Bill Leen and Scott Hessel.

The Gin Blossoms Get Miserable Again

By Bob Ruggiero

Jan 31, 2022

It was March 2019 and the last chords of “Cheatin’” rang out over the audience at Houston’s House of Blues. It’s the last track on the Gin Blossoms’ New Miserable Experience, and the band was performing their 1992 breakthrough record in its entirety on this tour. Houston was the last...

The 100 Best Music Videos of 2021 You Probably Missed Part 5: 20-1

By Jef Rouner

Dec 24, 2021

We're finally here with the cream of the crop. Here are the 20 best music videos from underground, indie, and lesser-known artists of 2021. Overall, it was a fantastic year for videos despite the lingering pandemic, and some artists crafted visuals of epic proportions. Thank you for spending the week...

The 100 Best Music Videos of 2021 You Probably Missed Part 4: 40-21

By Jef Rouner

Dec 23, 2021

We're almost through the 100 best music videos from underground, indie, and lesser-known artists! Today we start getting a lot weirder and more visceral, with haunted houses, strange experiments, and fascist games on the menu. Put on your headphones and dive in with us. 40. Hybrid, “Flashpoint” Hybrid is a...

The 100 Best Music Videos of 2021 You Probably Missed Part 3: 60-41

By Jef Rouner

Dec 22, 2021

We're halfway through the best music videos from underground, indie, and lesser-known artists in 2021. This time, the subjects range from Mothra to river cults to pancake parties. Be on the look out for some local talent this time around! 60. White Cliffs, “Just Like You” Normally, lyric videos are...

The 100 Best Music Videos of 2021 You Probably Missed Part 2: 80-61

By Jef Rouner

Dec 21, 2021

Our week-long look at the 100 best indie and underground music videos of 2021 continues. Today we have some new takes on old holiday favorites, a couple of apocalypses, and the best pop star Canada has to offer. Clear some space and enjoy. 80. The Great Kat, “Barber of Seville”...

The 100 Best Music Videos of 2021 You Probably Missed, Part 1: 100-81

By Jef Rouner

Dec 20, 2021

Every year, the Houston Press combs through the best indie and lesser-known artists out there to find the best music videos around. You can keep your Taylor Swifts, Lil Nas Xs, and even your Ghosts. This week, we go deep into the underground to close our the 2021. 100. Split...

Thin Lizzy's classic lineup graphic doppelgangers on the "Jailbreak" cover: Brian Robertson, Brian Downey, Phil Lynott, and Scott Gorham.

Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy Finally Get Their Documentary Due

By Bob Ruggiero

Nov 9, 2021

On many a Classic Rock fan’s shortlist of groups who have thus far been denied by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Thin Lizzy is usually high on the ranking. And though mainstream U.S. audiences only know “The Boys Are Back in Town” or (perhaps) “Whiskey in the Jar”...

Splice Records artists Maggie Belle is releasing her first single "Hold Me" off of her upcoming album Starting Anew due out next spring.

Video Premiere: Maggie Belle Releases "Hold Me"

By Gladys Fuentes

Oct 22, 2021

Splice Records has been contributing to the Houston music scene and repping diverse and quality music acts since 2016. Their latest project is an upcoming album from Maggie Belle, Starting Anew, due out next spring. Starting Anew was recorded during 2019 and 2020 while Belle worked as an ICU nurse...

The centerpiece of the Experience is a large room with 360-degree digital/animated projections of Van Gogh's work, including one of his most famous paintings, "The Starry Night."

Mind-Bending Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience Adapts the Troubled Artist for the Digital Age

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 18, 2021

Of all the Impressionist painters, Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) is likely the genre’s Biggest Rock Star. An artist whose name and work is recognizable even among the general non-art loving public, and whose rudimentary life sketch only burnishes his image (the madness, the poverty, the suicide and that auditory appendage...

Acclaimed musician Archie Bell, Founding Member of the R&B group Archie Bell & the Drells, with film director Isaac Yowman (right) and producer Greg Carter (left) on set for the filming of Memory Builds the Monument documentary.

Memory Builds The Monument: Documentary Celebrates Fifth Ward's Club Matinee

By Gladys Fuentes

Aug 25, 2021

Last September the State of Texas officially honored Houston’s Fifth Ward by designating it as a Cultural Arts District, making Houston the city with the most Cultural Arts districts with a total of seven neighborhoods. “This area down Lyons that is just known for its history and heritage,” says Harrison...

BROS and Sheepdogs: Ewan and Shamus Currie.

There's Harmony and Humor with the BROS Currie on Side Project

By Bob Ruggiero

Jul 2, 2021

It’s a well-worn trope—albeit one that seems to be true—that rock and roll brothers in the same band will battle and break up. Ask the Everlys, Gibbs, Wilsons, Fogertys, Davies, Robinsons, or Gallaghers. Hell, even the Dorsey brothers had a bitter feud with competing big bands back in the day...

The Jenny Thing is: Mike Phillips, Ehren Becker, Matt Easton, and Shyam Rao.

The Jenny Thing: Uniting an '80s Sound and '90s History with Today's Worldview

By Bob Ruggiero

Jul 1, 2021

The plot line of middle aged men “trying to get the band back together” from their youth has been mined—usually for comedic purposes—by plenty of novels and movies. But the reunited four members of The Jenny Thing are plenty serious about reestablishing themselves in 2021. To that end, the ‘90s-born...

The Police (Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers, Sting) were the biggest success of bands managed by Mlles Copeland.

Miles Copeland Remembers the Police, Go-Go's, Bangles, and Timbuk 3 in New Memoir

By Bob Ruggiero

Jun 11, 2021

Miles Copeland II was a longtime CIA operative in the Middle East and involved in all sorts of secretive spy missions from the 1940s through the ‘60s. And his son—Miles A. Copeland III—often had to use similarly delicate skills and negotiating tactics, only in the world of rock and roll...

If only every bigot could be shut up with a kiss.

AstroWorld Fan Shuts Down Homophobe in Awesome Way

By Jef Rouner

Jun 3, 2021

Happy Pride Month. Would you like to see a ridiculous homophobe get absolutely owned by a woman in an AstroWorld hoodie? Me too! The person screaming in this Tik Tok uploaded by boilyourbottoms is known as Sister Cindy Smock. She and her husband, Brother Jed, travel around to various college campuses...

Only a few years after the real-life assassination attempts or successes against John Lennon, Ronald Reagan, and Pope John Paul II, Eddie Murphy's "SNL" sketches on the murder of his Buckwheat character got big laughs.

How Soon is "Too Soon" for TV Comedy to Address Tragedy and Trauma?

By Bob Ruggiero

May 17, 2021

Tragedy Plus Time: National Trauma and Television Comedy By Philip Scepanski 280 pp. $50 University of Texas Press On September 29, 2001, just a little over two weeks after the terrorist attack on 9/11, the New York Friars Club and Comedy Central went ahead with a planned “roast” of Hugh...

Former Grand Funker Mark Farner Offers Up His Chile Recipe

By Bob Ruggiero

Apr 2, 2021

As the former lead singer/guitarist for Grand Funk Railroad, Mark Farner’s voice and playing have been classic rock staples on stereo systems and radio for more than 50 years. Tracks he wrote or covered include “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “Bad Time,” “The Loco-Motion,” “Rock and Roll Soul,” “Footstompin’ Music” and...

Video

The Sheepdogs Concoct a Batch of "Craft Rock and Roll"

The Impressionists Get Immersed

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