Email Author Chris Gray

Awards

• 2012 - Best of the West/First Amendment Funding, Inc., published February 10, 2011

  "Getting Past the Bouncer"

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2008 Stories by Chris Gray

• New Year's Eve

  published December 25, 2008

  Known to those in the biz as "amateur night," New Year's Eve is nonetheless a near-guaranteed full house for bands and clubs, and a boon to... More >>

• Robert Earl Keen

  published December 25, 2008

  For the past 25 years, Sharpstown's own Robert Earl Keen has been every bit as influential a songwriter and performer as his onetime College... More >>

• The Year in Albums

  published December 25, 2008

  Don't believe the hype. The album is alive and well and procreating furiously. Too furiously. Printed out, the Wikipedia entry for albums... More >>

• The Best Christmas Album of 2008 is... Metal?

  published December 18, 2008

  Perhaps Willie Nelson said it best: "This looks like a December day." Or Merle Haggard: "If we make it through December..." The icy wind whips... More >>

• King's X

  published December 18, 2008

  Simply put, King's X is a marvel. The Katy-based trio has been hanging around the margins of hard rock for nearly 30 years; next year... More >>

• Bianca Noons Tribute

  published December 18, 2008

  Bianca Noons, who passed away peacefully November 29 after lying in a diabetic coma for a year, was half of Houston sibling reggae duo the... More >>

• Making Sense of a Trying Year

  published December 11, 2008

  Although it seems like it, Noise doesn't listen to music all the time. Sometimes he ­watches DVDs. His immediate past viewing... More >>

• Chatter's Ever-So-HandyAC/DCtionary

  published December 11, 2008

  Hands down, AC/DC are 2008's comeback kids. The Australian hard-rockers' first album in eight years, the Walmart-­exclusive Black Ice,... More >>

• The Shredder

  published December 11, 2008

  Eugene Chadbourne & Walter Daniels: Warped stringmaster and harp hellhound send Texas country-blues through the looking glass.... More >>

• Texas Music on Sirius/XM's Outlaw Country

  published December 4, 2008

  "And I can sing all those songs about Texas..." — David Allan Coe, "Longhaired Redneck" In that longhaired redneck's most... More >>

• Andy Rourke

  published December 4, 2008

  While Morrissey leads a life of leisure in Rome and Johnny Marr beefs up Modest Mouse's guitar corps, the Smiths are back on the new-release... More >>

• Duran Duran

  published December 4, 2008

  Duran Duran's attempt to contemporize its sound by collaborating with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Timbaland on last year's Red Carpet... More >>

• Noise's Handy Holiday Local-Music Gift Guide

  published November 27, 2008

  Happy Thanksgiving, Houston. (Go Horns!) The holiday shopping season starts Friday, and considering the state of the economy, many of you loyal... More >>

• The Shredder

  published November 27, 2008

  Felipe Galván y Sus Carnales: After your nap — and the Backyard Brawl, back where it belongs — dance off Thanksgiving... More >>

• The Shredder

  published November 20, 2008

  John Waite: He's been "Missing You" too, Houston. (Thursday, Meridian) Suspects/Neptones: Sweet ska and swooshing... More >>

• Me and Mr. Jones

  published November 20, 2008

  To paraphrase one of his favorite Iggy Pop songs, Noise is now the passenger. So for all of his Facebook friends wondering why his "status" is now... More >>

• The Shredder

  published November 13, 2008

  Julieta Venegas: Willowy Chicana singer-songwriter and multiple Latin Grammy nominee plays post-awards show. (Friday, Arena... More >>

• Supersuckers

  published November 13, 2008

  Whether you were born with a tail or a pair of angel wings — or neither — the Supersuckers' fire-and-brimstone rock and roll circus... More >>

• Houston Goes International with the Latin Grammys

  published November 13, 2008

  Thursday night, for the first time in its history, Houston will be front and center on the international musical stage when the curtain rises on... More >>

• Sugar Shack, Teisco Del Rey, Neptones, etc.

  published November 6, 2008

  This is the story of Johnny Romano, a Galveston surfing prodigy who succumbed to leukemia September 23, days after his family lost its home to... More >>

• ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

  published November 6, 2008

  The body count keeps rising for ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. The ­Austin-via-Olympia noise-rockers scored one of the... More >>

• Fund-raiser Blues

  published November 6, 2008

  Every day seems to bring more bad news. "Consumer Spending Tumbles," blared last Friday's Houston Chronicle, two days after the Federal Reserve... More >>

• Rabbit in the Moon

  published October 30, 2008

  If your Halloween isn't bizarre enough already, consider the sensory overload of Rabbit in the Moon live: strobe lights, lasers, smoke machines... More >>

• Willie Nelson

  published October 30, 2008

  Willie Nelson has had quite the 75th birthday year. He's been feted in print — Joe Nick Patoski's deluxe biography Willie —... More >>

• Music to Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil

  published October 30, 2008

  Hank Williams and Jim Morrison knew it. Did they ever. Temple-born bluesman Blind Willie Johnson had a pretty good idea, owning up "Dark Was the... More >>