Audio and Video Devices

Christmas Past: 15 Odd Christmas Gift Ideas for Musicians

While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait... resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared November 21, 2011. As the timeless tale of the Little Drummer Boy reminds us, there is no greater ... More >>

Is It Time to Ditch Cable for Streaming Digital Video? Six Questions to Help You Decide

Lately, a number of my friends have asked the question: should I get rid of cable? Ten years ago, the answer would be yes only if you didn't watch any cable network television shows, at which point you could simply go back to an antennae. With the advent of digital television, that has become a more ... More >>

Happy 114th Birthday to Waldo Semon, Father of Vinyl

Yesterday, September 10, marked the 114th birthday of a man who helped introduce more people to music in the 20th Century than perhaps any other person despite never picking up an instrument or plugging in a microphone. Unless you're a serious chemistry geek, you've probably never heard of Waldo Lon ... More >>

Ten Television Tech Advances That Have Made Watching Sports More Interesting

Seeing a sporting event in person is one of the more enjoyable parts of being a sports fan. From the smell of the grass to the roar of the crowd, it can be an exhilarating experience, particularly if you are fairly close to the action. On the other hand, tickets are expensive, sitting in the noseble ... More >>

''You Are Here''

Rest Of The Best: Houston's Top 6 Live-Music Sound Systems

It's often difficult enough to hear a great band or solo artist over the yammering of those in attendance, but it is made worse when the sound system sounds like garbage. We music lovers have often lamented the lack of decorum shown by some local music "fans" when it comes to talking during shows, b ... More >>

App of the Week: U-Verse Gives You Control Over Your DVR

App: U-Verse Platform: iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows Website: ATT U-Verse Price: Free I've been a U-Verse user for several years now. I left Comcast for numerous reasons and never looked back. There are certainly benefits to each and neither is perfect, but U-Verse has been great for me and ... More >>

Vinyl Gets Another Spin

Showing it has more lives than a cockroach, vinyl has been reborn, resulting in some beautiful music. But sometimes production values in records and turntables are lacking.

7 Gifts for Your Nerdy Little Audiophile

In a classic bit of stand up comedy, Steve Martin described his obsessive search for the best stereo system of the day. He kept adding more and more speakers until he finally reached the "google-phonic" stereo with the closest number of speakers to infinity, which, like all the rest, sounded like sh ... More >>

15 Odd Christmas Gift Ideas for Musicians

​As the timeless tale of the Little Drummer Boy reminds us, there is no greater gift than the gift of music. But what about those on your Christmas list who already have plenty of music in their lives? Buying gifts for musicians is no easy task -- most of them already own the entire Rush disco ... More >>

Tylan Thomas, Two Years Old, Bayou Body Count No. 133

HPDReginald Dancy was arrested without incident.​A live-in boyfriend has been charged with capital murder in the beating death of his girlfriend's two-year-old son. Reginald Dancy, 22, is accused of killing Tylan Thomas via " blunt force trauma to the abdomen." The boy died August 30 in an a ... More >>

Fun Fun Fun Fest Leaking 2011 Lineup On Turntable.fm

​After leaking artists including Okkervil River, Odd Future, X and - most people believe - Slayer, Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest has officially begun announcing its 2011 lineup via the brand-new file-sharing/social-media hybrid Turntable FM. Fun Fun Fun began streaming songs from this year's arti ... More >>

Hot Stuff: Will The Texas Heat Melt Your Vinyl LPs?

Note: All temperatures in the following article are given in degrees Fahrenheit. Here is a helpful Celsius conversion calculator. ​You might not have noticed it lately, but outdoors, rays of this thing called "sunshine" are hitting the Earth like the planet didn't bring the Sun a sandwich wh ... More >>

Comcast Cable Boxes: Are They Notoriously Bad?

Nothing to see here, move along​The mother of a friend of ours recently had to get her Comcast cable box replaced. It led to an interesting conversation, he said. My mom has been having big problems with Comcast and, apparently, repair guys have admitted that their DVR boxes have a design fla ... More >>

Five Spot: Dwane Sweazie's The Remix Vol. 1

​Dwane (pronounced Dwane) Sweazie (pronounced Sway-zee) is a new guy, but he's an old guy too. He's been rapping for about six years and ghostwriting for an untold number of those. He's fairly secretive about the ghostwriting process, responding to most queries with a politely short, "Ehhh, ... More >>

Texas Police Pimp Their Rides With Trunk Rumblers

lemonsauctioneers.comThis ride may be beyond pimping.​The next time you hear a boom box roaring thunderously at the traffic light, listen closely before cursing under your breath. It could be a patrol car trying to squeak by. Channel 11 News reported this week that a new emergency vehicle sir ... More >>

iPod: Happy Anniversary, You Little Devil

Can somebody please tell us what the hell Firewire is? Nine years ago today - November 10, 2001 - Apple unveiled a new kind of MP3 player known as an iPod. About the size of a deck of cards, the device contained five gigabytes of memory, enough for about 1,000 songs, and cost $400. Four. Hundred. ... More >>

DJ Hero: A Review

​The geniuses that first let you rock 'n' roll with guitar legends in Guitar Hero decided to bring out a new instrument for gamers to party on. This time, Activision brought out the turntables for their newest title, DJ Hero. Available for the Playstations 2 & 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii, DJ ... More >>

A Third Ward Pawnshop iPod and the Mysterious Fate of Previous Owner "Scooby"

Whoever he is (was?), Scooby's iPod wasn't short on R. Kelly.​So a couple of weeks ago, after three or four years of increasingly faltering service, Rocks Off's 30 GB iPod finally died. Completely. Out of sheer broke-assedness, we had held on to it for longer than most. By the end, its quirks and ... More >>

TPWD Says "Great Outdoors Day" Is Coming: How To Celebrate It With Your Teen-Ager

Photo by marxchivistYou knew this, of course, but June 13 is National "Get Outdoors" Day. We knew this because the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department just sent out the news."As a part of the second annual GO Day, more than two dozen Texas state parks are joining federal agencies, nonprofit organi ... More >>

Playing Favorites

Chairlift

Fried Rice: In the Hot Seat with Eric C. Hughes from El Orbits, Freddy Steady Five, Allen Oldies Band

Thursday Night: Umbrella Man at the Big Top

The SteelDrivers: The SteelDrivers

British Television Advertising Awards

It’s the Super Bowl for hawkers on the small screen

Drenched In Blog: Car Stereo (Blogs)

My Music Tastes Suck Now and I Couldn’t Care Less

2007 Music Year in Review

Anders Parker

Vinyl Heads: Round and Round

DJ Sun's turntable buying advice

The Return of Magic iPod

Magic iPod

DISConnect

Sales of CDs are falling faster than you can say iPod

Loony Zunes

Universal Music helps Microsoft set a crappy precedent

Not That We Don't Love the Classics...

Beat Down

This DJ simulator is nothing to rave about

Podnography

And you thought those audio files were only used for music

Best Battle DJ

Fast4ward

Best Place to Play Ping-Pong

The Tavern

Man, Oh Man! Another Tie?

Men's gifts

Spin Art

Not just deejaying anymore

Life in the Slow Lane

DJ Screw lived mostly for his work, as if he would have time later to celebrate his success. That time would never come.

X-ecutioners' Song

Four New York turntablists redefine the art of deejaying

Blasted

When you can't trust your partners, you're likely to get burned

Boogie Nights

Music, a Houston DJ andthe lure of Austin

Talk About Speedy Delivery

Spun From the Underground

How an ex-con, a would-be physicist and a kindergarten teacher helped shape Houston's DJ subculture

Swangin' and Bangin' ... and getting to that other level with the disciples of screw