Email Author Craig Hlavaty

Awards

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

  "Getting Past the Bouncer"

• 2009 - Lone Star Awards

  "Metallica at Toyota"

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2009 Stories by Craig Hlavaty

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  FEATURED STORY

  Aftermath: Rascal Flatts at RodeoHouston

  published Mar 04, 2009

  Anyone who thought that '80s-style power ballads had long gone away with Kurt Cobain's green sweater and Crystal Pepsi is dead wrong. They are kept alive, nightly, by Columbus, Ohio's Rascal Fla... More >>

• Lily Allen: It's Not Me, It's You

  published March 5, 2009

  Lily Allen would be the perfect girlfriend. She likes to drink and smoke. Growing up, family friend Joe Strummer played old ska records for... More >>

• Free Show: Ben Sollee at House of Blues Downstairs

  published Mar 03, 2009

  It's not every day you hear a cellist bust out socially aware, Randy Newman-esque pop yarns. Kentuckian Ben Sollee sings plaintive, soulful slices of song like the kind that made Newman famous and... More >>

• Aftermath: The Ka-Nives at Big Star Bar

  published Mar 02, 2009

  With a roaring fire pit outside and the Schlitz flowing freely inside, three-piece Ka-Nives put on a one-off gig in a corner of the Heights' Big Star Bar late Saturday night. The erstwhile Austi... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Tonight: Loverboy at RodeoHouston's Championship BBQ Contest

  published Feb 27, 2009

  Freakin' Loverboyr! You mean not only can we eat our weight in brisket and drink whiskey like a bender-bound Hank Williams Jr. circa 1973, but we can also rock our sauce-soaked asses to "Working F... More >>

• Bill Hicks, Still Dead 15 Years Later

  published Feb 26, 2009

  Wholly influential and ridiculously honest stand-up comic Bill Hicks died fifteen years ago today, succumbing to lung cancer. Ironically he had always opined that that was how he would meet his end. S... More >>

• Houston Blows Up Real Good

  published Feb 26, 2009

  The awesomely morbid folks at Carlos Labs have created a "Ground Zero" nightmare generator for every city on Earth. Using Java Script and some Google Map magic, anyone can pinpoint a location in the w... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Aftermath: Slipknot and Coheed and Cambria at Verizon Wireless Theater

  published Feb 26, 2009

  Corey Taylor never told his fans that everything would be OK. Not on an album, not in the press and most definitely not at a live show. The lead singer of Slipknot, the Iowa noise-metal band tha... More >>

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  Aftermath: Loretta Lynn at Arena Theatre

  published Feb 23, 2009

  Loretta Lynn came to the stage Saturday night swathed in a baby-blue evening gown the likes of which haven't been seen in country music since before Taylor Swift was even in a twinkle... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  WTF Island: Jackson Five, Kid Rock, Glenn Danzig, Rock Camp and Assteroids

  published Feb 20, 2009

  Even as our economy continued to go up in flames like the Toyota Center, the carnival of WTF kept trolling along this week. It seemed that every day we saw something so asinine and foolish that we cou... More >>

• Tonight: Cradle of Filth at House of Blues

  published Feb 18, 2009

  Creepy symphonic extreme metal doesn't get much better than Cradle of Filth. Over the Suffolk, England-spawned band's nearly 20-year history, lead singer Dani Filth has become the standard by w... More >>

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  Aftermath: Greg Ginn & the Taylor Texas Corrugators and Jambang at Last Concert Cafe

  published Feb 18, 2009

  Even while playing dissonant improvised bass in a trio consisting of himself, a shit-hot mandolin player, and a jazz drummer, Greg Ginn still sounds like Greg Ginn. After almost a decade as the... More >>

• Brian Posehn

  published February 19, 2009

  Comedian Brian Posehn, who describes himself as “farts in man suit,” has a comically menacing presence. With his six-foot-six frame,... More >>

• DJ Sun: Para EP

  published February 19, 2009

  DJ Sun has been the DJ laureate for Houston at large for almost two decades. His KPFT radio show Soular Grooves was required listening... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Tonight: Greg Ginn & the Taylor Texas Corrugators at Last Concert Cafe

  published Feb 17, 2009

  If we were to tell you that one of the most influential guitarists and innovators in the early '80s hardcore movement was living in the tiny town of Taylor (30 miles outside Austin) you would cal... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  The Scientifically Engineered Worst Song in the World

  published Feb 13, 2009

  Crazy science, will you ever learnr Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. Sure, we could start transplanting monkey heads on humans, but you shouldn't. The atom bomb sure as... More >>

• Tonight: Pat MacDonald and Melanie Jane at the Continental Club

  published Feb 12, 2009

  The only thing more disheartening than being a one-hit wonder is having your one hit's lyrical intentions misconstrued from here to eternity. Bruce Springsteen didn't write "Born in the USA" as p... More >>

• Tonight: Twestival Houston at Caroline Collective

  published Feb 12, 2009

  Tonight at Caroline Collective, Houston will be joining over 175 cities across the world for the Twestival. The Twitter-spawned event was set-up to benefit Charity:Water, a nonprofit group that... More >>

• The Oak Ridge Boys Sure Have Changed

  published Feb 11, 2009

  Yes, this is the Oak Ridge Boys, who will be collectively speaking March 19 at the Austin Convention Center during SXSW, about reinvention in changing music markets. The popular country-... More >>

• This Week in SXSW: Katy Perry Kisses the "Lake of Fire"

  published Feb 11, 2009

  There's now less than a month to go until we here at Rocks Off throw sobriety and sane living to the wind at this year's SXSW festival. This past week we learned of a boatload of new stuff about ... More >>

• Greg Ginn and the Texas Corrugators

  published February 12, 2009

  If we were to tell you that one of the most influential guitarists and innovators in the early '80s hardcore movement was living in the tiny... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Tonight: Agnostic Front at Walter's on Washington

  published Feb 10, 2009

  For close to 30 years, Agnostic Front has been the lode-bearer for American street punk and oi. Since forming in 1980, Roger Miret and company have released twelve lengths, numerous splits and a ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  New Songs from Metavenge

  published Feb 06, 2009

  Metavenge are a gaggle of teenagers in faded Slayer shirts from the Friendswood/Alvin area, but they sound like they opened for Metallica on the Ride The Lightning tour. Ever since we first heard... More >>

• Local Rotation: Muhammad Ali & Black Congress' Split Cassette (That's Right, Cassette)

  published Feb 04, 2009

  Yesterday afternoon, Rocks Off bought his first new cassette tape since 1996. The last tape we bought was the Schoolhouse Rocks soundtrack that came out the year before. It was a collection of 90'... More >>

• Don't Worry About That Plane Buzzing Downtown Houston. Really

  published Feb 04, 2009

  Houstonians downtown during today's lunch hour were treating to a very curious aerial display as they walking to and from their offices. A small single-engine was seen doing swoops and twirls in betwe... More >>