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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2010 Stories by Chris Gray

• The Strangest, and Creepiest, Way to Promote a Super Bowl Halftime Show We've Ever Seen

  published Jan 28, 2010

  Even if you're not excited by what could perhaps be the highest-scoring, most exciting Super Bowl in years - or at least amused by all the bickering between thin-skinned Colts and Saints fans - The W... More >>

• Selena Co-Authors New Book... From Beyond the Grave

  published Jan 28, 2010

  Selena Quintanilla Perez, as most Texans know, was gunned down by her former fan-club president Yolanda Saldivar in a Corpus Christi motel in March 1995, just as the Tejano superstar was crossing ove... More >>

• Some New Stuff From Our "Washington Shore" DJ Dave Wrangler

  published Jan 27, 2010

  Rocks Off is pleased as punch to announce that Houston mash-up maestro Dave Wrangler will be providing the tunes for our douche-tastic "Washington Shore" party at the Washington Avenue Drinkery on Fe... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Inquiring Minds: Exene Cervenka on Losing a Friend, Weeping Willows, Albums as Collage and Her Good Buddy Biscuit

  published Jan 27, 2010

  rExene Cervenka is one of those musicians who makes an interviewer nervous; like, you hope the questions you come up with are good enough not to piss her off, or worse, laugh at you. Besides a publis... More >>

• Houston 2020: The Future Is Unwritten

  published January 28, 2010

  As you probably know by now, it's possible to find just about anything on the Internet. Nevertheless, Noise was shocked — shocked, we tell... More >>

• Free Press Releases Partial Summer Fest 2010 Lineup

  published Jan 26, 2010

  ...or did theyr Rocks Off has the slightest feeling Omar Afra and friends might be messing with us. But who knowsr We bet they're right about Geoffrey Muller's bands, though.... More >>

• Art Rock (and RSVP Invite): House of Blues' Rockin' Rodeo

  published Jan 25, 2010

  Ever been thrown from a mechanical bullr Rocks Off has, and it ain't fun. Nevertheless, if you think you have the stones (literally) to follow in the bootsteps of Urban Cowboy's Buford Uan "Bud" Davis... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Report: Justice Dept. Approves Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger (UPDATED)

  published Jan 25, 2010

  [UPDATED to include AEG President and CEO Timothy J. Leiwecke's statement about the merger.] r Via CNBC, businessinsider.com reported Monday morning that the U.S. Justice Department has approved the ... More >>

• Most Downloaded "Hope For Haiti" Texanr Although She Killed, Not Beyonce

  published Jan 25, 2010

  Between fighting crime, reducing global warming, mending our socks and, you know, everything else Rocks Off does when we're away from the office, we caught a good bit of Friday evening's "Hope for Ha... More >>

• How Far Did We Have to Scroll Down In the 2010 Pazz & Jop Poll to Find a Houstonianr

  published Jan 22, 2010

  Our sister paper in NYC's Cooper Square, the Village Voice, released its Pazz & Jop poll Thursday. The annual coast-to-coast survey of music critics ranks the previous year's best (according to th... More >>

• Another Way to Help Haiti... "Don't Change" a Thing

  published Jan 21, 2010

  Even though it misrepresents a bunch of funky Australian pub-rockers as a New Wave band, "Don't Change," from 1982's Shabooh Shoobah, broke INXS on U.S. college radio long before "What You Need" or "... More >>

• Second Haitian Relief Concert at Warehouse Live This Week Scheduled for Friday

  published Jan 20, 2010

  On the heels of Bun B's all-star (if borderline interminable) "Houston 4 Haiti" relief concert at Warehouse Live Monday night that reportedly raised in the neighborhood of $10,000, the venue will ope... More >>

• Happy Anniversary Texas Music Magazine, or "Austin and (Maybe) Everything After"

  published Jan 20, 2010

  Towards the end of last week, Rocks Off got the latest issue of Texas Music magazine in the mail, which just happens to mark the quarterly periodical's tenth anniversary. Naturally, as just about ever... More >>

• More Good News In The Lightnin' Hopkins Historical Marker Campaign

  published Jan 19, 2010

  Eric Davis, whose application to erect a state historical marker for iconic Texas bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins was approved by the Harris County Historical Commission in November, said today his campai... More >>

• More Good News In the Lightnin' Hopkins Historical Marker Campaign

  published Jan 19, 2010

  Eric Davis, whose application to erect a state historical marker for iconic Texas bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins was approved by the Harris County Historical Commission in November, said today his campai... More >>

• Straight, No Chaser

  published January 21, 2010

  We won't go so far as to say it means we're "maturing," but one sure sign Noise is getting older is that recently we've begun paying much more... More >>

• 2010 Coachella Lineup Includes Zero Houstonians

  published Jan 19, 2010

  Surprise. But the headliner is married to one.... More >>

• Get "All Jacked Up" at Rodeo's Hideout With Gretchen Wilson, Dale Watson, Honeybrowne, Others

  published Jan 19, 2010

  The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo announced the lineup for its smaller Hideout venue this morning and, well, it's countrier than the Black Eyed Peas. This year's bill includes "Here for the Part... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Wanna Make $100r Kill This Guy's Drummer.

  published Jan 19, 2010

  [Thanks to our buddy, former Meridian talent buyer John Escamilla, for posting this on Facebook.] r The New Year's Eve gig must not have gone well at all. Twenty minutes into 2010, a La Porte man post... More >>

• Happy MLK Day from Rocks Off and Patty Griffin

  published Jan 18, 2010

  We will resume our regularly scheduled buffoonery soon enough, but if Rocks Off lives to be 100 years old (and we're still working here), we will post this song every MLK Day. As long as people keep ... More >>

• Tonight: Enlist In the Kunst Fascion at Persuasion Art Opening

  published Jan 15, 2010

  Rocks Off is a big fan of the honky-tonk, Southern rock and all things bluesy and soulful (as you may have guessed), but our first love will always be the throb and grind of industrial music. Seriousl... More >>

• Cornbreadd Drops His "Pants on the Ground"

  published Jan 15, 2010

  After all the death in the music world the last couple of days, Rocks Off figured everyone could use a laugh this dreary Friday morning. Luckily, we can always count on Cornbreadd in a pinch. Bless h... More >>

• Quiet Storm In Heaven: R.I.P. Teddy Pendergrass

  published Jan 14, 2010

  Teddy Pendergrass, one of the main voices of the ultra-smooth "Philly Soul" sound of the '70s, passed away Wednesday evening in a Philadelphia hospital. The R&B singer had been hospitalized for s... More >>

• Spoon to Engage In Transference at Stubb's SXSW Wednesday

  published Jan 13, 2010

  Yes, Houston, they'll be back...rWhenever Rocks Off thinks about Spoon - which, over the past decade, has been quite a bit - the one word that always comes to mind is "punctuation." No other band we ... More >>

• Despite Impending Merger, Live Nation Shows No Longer Available Through Ticketmaster

  published Jan 13, 2010

  Last week, shareholders of both Ticketmaster and Live Nation voted to approve the companies' impending merger, which was first announced last February. The stock price of both companies rose sharply ... More >>