Alex Jones

Ted Nugent, Who Shit His Pants to Avoid Vietnam, Blames Military Suicides on Constitutional Violation

For whatever reason, there are those among us who feel Ted Nugent is a cogent voice for Second Amendment rights. There are people who feel he's doing a service to those seeking to maintain their right to bear arms every time he flaps his soul patch. There are those that respect him. Hopefully, afte ... More >>

The Five Most Idiotic Things Louie Gohmert, Who Sees Radical Muslims Anywhere He Looks, Believes

Louis Gohmert doesn't need evidence. He doesn't need proof, or sourcing, or the ability to back up a claim with anything other than the vitriol in his voice and the consternation in his gut. All he needs is an idea, and a microphone, and away we go. Gohmert's idiocies idiosyncrasies have brought pl ... More >>

Boston Bombing: Social Media Rumors Swirl Around Pages Allegedly Created Before the Attack

This is how rumors get started. Take a Facebook page or Indigogo campaign started days or even weeks ago, change the name of it and what it is about on the day of the attack on the Boston Marathon and let the conspiracy theories fly. In at least two cases thus far -- one really odd and one fairly st ... More >>

Alex Jones, Texas-Based Radio Host, Conspiracy Theorist Goes Ape Shit on CNN's Piers Morgan (with Video)

Every "9/11 was an inside job" conspiracy theorist's favorite radio host, Alex Jones, made an appearance on Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN Monday night after he launched a petition that has gained over 30,000 signatures to have Morgan deported back to England when the British news show host ripped into ... More >>

Where Have All Our Heroes Gone?: The Four Saddest Fallen Idols of Our Generation

When we're kids, we'll look anywhere for idols and role models. Most often, we look to pop culture and we find our heroes there by way of idolizing whoever's work we enjoy the most. We copy them in the worst ways. We adopt their style of dress, their opinions on music, their viewpoints on the world ... More >>

Last Night: The Gaslight Anthem, Rise Against, And Hot Water Music At Bayou Music Center

Houston punks had two choices last night: Rise Against and the Gaslight Anthem, with Hot Water Music at Bayou Music Center -- still getting used to that name -- or OFF! and Negative Approach at Warehouse Live a few miles east. I ended up catching both somehow, though our Nathan Smith would write w ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Obama & Lubbock County Judge Tom Head

We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning or afternoon from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula i ... More >>

Congratulations Galveston, You Are Only 96 Percent Honest

A few weeks back I told you about Honest Tea's "honesty experiment" where they planned to set up a few unmanned kiosks across the country offering their bottles of iced tea for with a jar asking for $1, with payment based on the honor system. Many of you were rightfully confused, asking where the "h ... More >>

13 Wacky Texas History Facts That Texas School Kids Need To Be Taught

This week Mother Jones uncovered a handful of spurious, less-than-scientific facts that Louisiana grade-schoolers will be learning while attending the state's new voucher schools. Obviously, people aren't happy. A new voucher program under the watch of Governor Bobby Jindal will allot money for st ... More >>

Fetal Disgorge Endorses Albino Race Hunting

It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we're trying hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. Soooooo... a while back I delved into the meaning of a metal band called Dying Fetus, an encounter from which I barely escaped alive. Since I ha ... More >>

The Billy Corgan/Wilson From Home Improvement Meme

Tuesday Sirius-XM's Alt Nation posted the picture (right) of Smashing Pumpkins mastermind Billy Corgan hanging in their studio on the channel's Facebook page. Slum-dapper in a bucket hat, flannel and army surplus coat, it's obviously a far cry from the tall, lithe guy in silver pants and a ZERO shir ... More >>

Katy Perry: Pop Star Runs Afoul Of Alex Jones And InfoWars

Katy Perry's newest video for "Part Of Me", featuring her chopping off her hair in a bathroom before joining the Marine Corps, seems to be pissing off a few people, including our fellow Texan Alex Jones. According to the Austin freedom fighter and radio host, it's a man-hating recruitment video. W ... More >>

The Best (Fake) SXSW 2012 Rumors So Far

It happens every year: an errant rumor turns Austin and SXSW upside down for a few hours or even days, leading to mass hysteria, mild apathy, and sometimes sadness. At my first SXSW in 2001, I got a "hot tip" that the Beastie Boys were going to join Mix Master Mike at La Zona Rosa for a secret show, ... More >>

Friday Night: Megadeth At Verizon Wireless Theater

Gigantour: Megadeth, Volbeat, Lacuna Coil Verizon Wireless Theater March 2, 2012 Check out our slideshow of the Gigatour. No, Motorhead didn't play in Houston Friday night at Verizon Wireless Theater, but the rest of the 2012 Gigantour bill of Megadeth, Volbeat and Lacuna Coil made it to the Bayou ... More >>

Bill O'Reilly Has A Hard-On For Willie Nelson

Wilco, "Pot Kettle Black" Despite his appearance on SNL's "What's Up With That?" skit this weekend, Bill O'Reilly has managed to squander what little credibility he has among liberals, moderates and (we're guessing) anyone under age 60 by calling Willie Nelson a "creep." The conservative Fox News ... More >>

The Hair Balls Super Bowl Live Blog: Remember To Piss

In some alternate universe, the streets of Houston are currently bathed in Miller Lite, Reliant Stadium and every bar in town is a watch party, with even the homeless folks are wearing soiled Texans jerseys. But alas, our Houston Texans only made it into the second round of the playoffs, and here we ... More >>

ERRRRRR: Get Ready to Get Emergency Broadcasted On, Y'All

​A nationwide test of Emergency Alert System is set for today at 1 p.m. Houston time, when a half-minute message will air on all television and radio stations. The purpose is to test out the preparedness of the system to break into radio and TV channels to give instructions and news in the eve ... More >>

One Night with Glenn Beck: A Twitter Diary

Photo by Craig HlavatyThey lined up to hear Glenn Beck.​Glenn Beck was in Houston on Friday for a stop on his current speaking tour, dubbed the "Glenn Beck Live On Stage!" tour; it was everything I hoped it would be, with a few twists and turns. As an observer of most things Tea Party and cons ... More >>

SXSW Last Night: Men Without Hats Dance If They Want To

PPhotos by Chris Gray​Men Without Hats Club de Ville March 18, 2011 Every year at SXSW, Aftermath scans the schedule of hundreds and hundreds of bands and always has the same reaction: "They're still around?" This year it was Canadian synth-pop safety dancers Men Without Hats. Since Aftermat ... More >>

SXSW Music, Day One, Minus One...

Craig Hlavaty​Tuesday marked the first full day that Rocks Off was on the ground for this year's South By Southwest in Austin, and it was also the last day of the interactive and film portions of the ten-day festival. This made for some fun culture-clash, as the typically tech-driven and nerdier h ... More >>

Food Safety Modernization Act Passes, But at What Cost?

This...probably won't happen to your friendly local farm. Geez, Alex Jones...​Yesterday afternoon, President Obama signed what's being called "one of the most expansive food regulation bills in living memory," the Food Safety Modernization Act (FMSA), effectively creating a new arm of the Food ... More >>

Top 10 Worst Food Comas Ever

Jesus VDangerous: Mexican pastries.​Postprandial somnolence is the scientific term for a food coma. How do I know this? Because I looked it up on my phone on Thanksgiving Day while I was slowly getting under the covers at my parents house that afternoon, swearing to myself that I was just "res ... More >>

Valient Thorr

Machete's Potential Tax Incentives Rile Conservatives

Texas tax breaks for THIS? Tea Party unite!​Machete, the bloody, gory, spoofy film by Robert Rodriguez, has become the latest mini-scandal de jour for conservatives.Why? Because it might get tax breaks from Texas, and it portrays a race war that favors immigrants over right-wing politicians like t ... More >>

Aftermath: Megadeth And Testament Power-Metal Through Irritating Fans

Photos by Groovehouse / Click here for a slideshow​Why would you want to piss off Dave Mustaine? The Megadeth front man doesn't seem like the proverbial shrinking violet. He's a pissed-off and generally irritable redhead who sings about crushing people's heads and not taking prisoners. So wh ... More >>

Megadeth

Houston To Be Transformed Into District 9, Entirely Plausible Radio Host Says

​Alex Jones, the sometimes-entertaining nationwide radio host based out of Austin, has seldom met a conspiracy theory he didn't embrace whole-heartedly. He's the author of 9/11:Descent Into Tyranny which, as you might guess, outlines the New World Order's plans to enslave us all.His latest call to ... More >>

Dave Mustaine, Johnny Ramone, ZZ Top And A Few Other Right-Wing Rockers

​ Most people wouldn't associate right-wing conservative politics with dirty rock and rollers, but you would be surprised. Not all rock cats are card-carrying communists and lily-livered liberals trying to save the sacred animal of the week and converting their buses to biodiesel. In fact, many ol ... More >>

Hlavaty On The Hloose At SXSW

Photos by Craig Hlavaty12:08 p.m.: "Apparently MGMT is playing in that white box tonight."​ While Rocks Off Sr. holds down the fort in Houston, we've dispatched Craig Hlavaty, the Riker to our Picard, as a one-man away team to SXSW, and he's already been a busy boy. Reinforcements will arrive in t ... More >>

Top 7 Couples' Costumes for Halloween

Halloween is coming, and that means many, many costuming mistakes will be made by normally sane adults. To help stop this scourge, each Thursday we will be offering tips and analysis of what to avoid, or possibly what to do. Check out past entries here, here and here. There's one thing -- or should ... More >>

Move Over, Ron Paul: There's A New Nut In The Texas Congressional Delegation

​Be proud, Lufkin: Your Congressman is a nut.We're not talking even Ron Paul nuttiness; U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert has left even that far behind.Gohmert appeared on the Alex Jones radio show last week. That sentence should be enough to prove nuttiness; Jones (a native Texan! He's appeared in Richard ... More >>

That's One Ugly Baby: The 10 Creepiest Babies Ever

We've been seeing pregnant bellies all over H-Town. From The Woodlands down to Lake Jackson, it seems every other woman we see is either in the family way or accompanied by a doting father lugging around a car seat right not too far behind. What gives? One conspiracy theory is that these are ... More >>

Last Night: Valient Thorr and ASG at the Meridian

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Deep Thoughts

Richard Linklater's Waking Life is as frustrating as it is stimulating

Tresspassers Will Be Prosecuted

Ranch Rescue's Jack Foote swears he just wants to mend fences. Is pseudomilitary secrecy, right-wing rhetoric and an armed vigilante militia the best way?