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

• It's Been 50 Years Since the Music Died

  published Feb 03, 2009

  Fifty years ago today - February 3, 1959 - the world lost three of its early pioneering rock and rollers in a fiery plane crash over Clear Lake, Iowa. Texan Buddy Holly, Chicano rock godfather Ri... More >>

• Moments the Grammy Awards Would Rather Forget

  published February 5, 2009

  The Grammy Awards are second only to the Oscars for self-aggrandizement and clannish political overtones. They seem to exist only for Vera Wang... More >>

• Free Tickets for Back In Black and Fan Halen

  published Jan 30, 2009

  Fan Halen We have been given a handful of tickets to tonight's Fan Halen/Back In Black show at the House Of Blues to give away. Hurry up and come grab a few while they last. The Aqua-Net sten... More >>

• Neil Diamond Turns On His Heart Light For H-Town (Again)

  published Jan 29, 2009

  When Neil Diamond hit Houston last October, he told us in the crowd that the proceeds from that night's merchandise sales were going into a Hurricane Ike relief fund. He had traveled around our area ... More >>

• Can't Get It Out of My Head: Kleenex-Core with Justin Townes Earle's "Mama's Eyes"

  published Jan 28, 2009

  I will be the first to admit that when it comes to music, I get misty at points. I guess it's the sentiment of a song, if it lines up with something that I could never intimate to someone else. Love,... More >>

• Thrift Store Cowboy: The Move

  published Jan 28, 2009

  The best thing about digging around thrift-store CD bins is discovering someone else's cast-offs. The records that people got sick of, or had absolutely no regard for how awesome it cou... More >>

• Ska/Reggae Fest, with the Slackers

  published January 29, 2009

  Given its members' myriad side projects, it's a wonder that we still get to see the Slackers proper live anymore, ever. It seems like each one... More >>

• AC/DC to Piledrive Wrestlemania

  published Jan 26, 2009

  Do people still watch professional wrestlingr We stopped watching when the Rock left to make awful mummy movies and Stone Cold Steve Austin started fighting women instead of other dudes in black... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Remix Rev. Joseph Lowery's Inaugural Benediction

  published Jan 23, 2009

  America is now basking in the glow of our new President and his hottie of a First Lady. That is if you aren't Sean Hannity, Michael Berry or John McCain, we guess. The whirlwind inaugural festivi... More >>

• SXSW Update: Watch Out for Devo; Peter, Bjorn & John; Justin Townes Earle; Hungry Villagers and More

  published Jan 22, 2009

  Devo on the BBC's Top of the Pops 2 With the big bad final band announcement coming next week, all is quiet on the SXSW front. For now. This past week was slow, with the biggest names con... More >>

• Tonight: Brett Dennen at Warehouse Live

  published Jan 22, 2009

  There's forlornness in Brett Dennen that puts a lump in your throat and makes you want to buy the guy a beer and let him have your last two cigarettes. He somehow manages to marry the vocal quiver of... More >>

• Are You Ready for the Homo Moccasinsr

  published Jan 21, 2009

  We saw this come over the Hands Up! Houston message board on Monday morning and it took us a good 48 hours to fully digest it. It's the Homopolice covering - or, more accurately, eviscerating -... More >>

• The Brits Love Them Some "Blastbeats"

  published Jan 20, 2009

  Leave it to the British music press to read more into something than it merits. Any new fad they see pop up they immediately have to make a celebratory month for, or start spending thousands of pound... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  This Damn "Angry Whopper" Could Be a Damn Sight Angrier, Damn It

  published Jan 20, 2009

  You ever get the feeling that sometimes corporations go about product development backwardsr That they begin with an abstract idea, and then reverse engineer the idea until they find a product they c... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Musicians Don't Have W. to Kick Around Anymore... So Now Whatr

  published Jan 20, 2009

  Now that Lil' Bush has shuffled off the Presidential coil - or will in a couple of hours, anyway - and heads off into some Dallas burg to write his memoirs and reflect on his two wild and strange ter... More >>

• Michael Berry, Houston's Least-Likely Howard Stern Wanna-Be

  published Jan 19, 2009

  Anyone fortunate to be listening to "The Michael Berry" on KTRH 740 AM this past Friday night got to hear about an hour's worth of girl talk. No, Berry didn't change formats and start expressing his f... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Aftermath: Scott Weiland at Warehouse Live

  published Jan 19, 2009

  Photos by Mark C. Austin There has to be an unspoken rule from now on that solo albums from the lead singers of big rock bands should be studio-only affairs. These are meant to fulfill record-com... More >>

• Tonight: Scott Weiland at Warehouse Live

  published Jan 17, 2009

  Stone Temple Pilots, "Big Empty," from MTV Unplugged You never know what you'll get with Scott Weiland. The former lead singer of Velvet Revolver, sometime Stone Temple Pilot frontman and full-tim... More >>

• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducts Metallica, Run-DMC, Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson

  published Jan 15, 2009

  Yesterday marked a tremendous day for rappers and thrashers across the world: Metallica and Run-DMC were announced as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's newest inductees, along with Jeff Beck, Wanda J... More >>

• Tonight: The Pharmacy at the Mink

  published Jan 14, 2009

  The Pharmacy, recent New Orleans transplants from Seattle, sounds like a synthy Guided By Voices after a gallon of coffee and a summer nursing a dangerous harpsichord fetish - a throwback to the ind... More >>

• SXSW Update: Sonics, Bar-Kays, Black Lips, Young Mammals, Wild Moccasins Added

  published Jan 14, 2009

  The Sonics, "Psycho a Go-Go" Another week goes by, with yet gigantic list of SXSW performers coming to Austin in March. The final list comes out January 30, so be prepared for maximum bloggage. We'r... More >>

• Secret Saturday Shows Exit Shady Tavern

  published Jan 14, 2009

  Monday, Rocks Off learned from community message board Hands Up! Houston that the organizer behind the long-running Secret Saturday shows at Shady Tavern was leaving the venue. The split was far... More >>

• Scott Weiland

  published January 15, 2009

  Amid all the drug issues and band strife, it's easy to forget what a talent Scott Weiland is. His distinctive Morrison-style croon has never... More >>

• Aftermath: White Rhino at Scout Bar

  published Jan 12, 2009

  Scout Bar in Clear Lake gets a bad rep most of the time, as far as our clannish Houston scene goes. It's so far out of the Loop, physically and aesthetically, that rarely do Inner Loopers make the dr... More >>

• I Have Seen the Devil, and His Name Is Big Mac Snack Wrap

  published Jan 09, 2009

  You know, F. Scott Fitzgerald was right about American lives having no second acts. I found that to be sadly true yesterday as I sat down at the McDonald's near the bus station off Main and jumped te... More >>