Subject: Austin City Limits

• Speaking of Umbrellas...It's Bumbershoot Time

  August 31, 2007

• Three Quick Things: Kashmere Director Passes Away; Free Beethoven Lookalike; ACL Fest Tickets On Sale

  February 5, 2008

• Friday Night: Wilco at Verizon Wireless Theater

  March 10, 2008

• Texans Electric Touch Top Amazon's MP3 Chart

  July 9, 2008

• Slideshow: Saturday at Rock the Bayou

  September 2, 2008

• This Just In: Butthole Surfers Moved to Meridian

  September 2, 2008

• Tonight: Back Door Slam at Warehouse Live

  September 25, 2008

• Tonight: Heartless Bastards at Last Concert Cafe

  September 25, 2008

• So There's This Little Festival In Austin This Weekend...

  September 26, 2008

• ACL Dudefest: M. Ward, David Byrne, Bobby Bare Jr. and Ryan Bingham

  September 26, 2008

• Aftermath: The Black Keys at Meridian

  October 1, 2008

• iFest Unveils Complete Lineup

  Photos courtesy of iFest BeogaSince we're already playing hangman today, here's another riddle: What do America's finest genre-hopping Latino band, Houston's best Guinness-chugging rockers, a daughter of the nation's premiere gospel family, a perennially unsung honky-tonker who sounds like the ghost of Hank Williams, a bayou-born boogie-woogie piano queen, a Grammy-winning Tejano godfather, two of Louisiana's hottest young Cajun groups, more regional zydeco groups than you can shake a Hoh

  February 19, 2009

• Static

  December 25, 1997

• SXSW: Protest Outside Austin City Limits

  A dozen Austin activists staked out the four corners of the University of Texas communications building earlier today, passing out flyers to people on the way to Ben Harper's Austin City Limits taping. Surprisingly, the flyer had nothing to do with herb not being a gift of the earth, but rather was a call to support the production and engineering employees inside. KLRU, the Austin PBS station behind Austin City Limits, wants to eliminate longstanding provisions in the employee's contracts, inc

  March 21, 2009

• 14th Annual Houston Women's Festival

  October 23, 2008

• Drive-By Truckers, A to Z

  Alabama Ass Whuppin'

  September 18, 2008

• High Gas Prices Still Hurting Touring Bands

  Notes toward a post-cheap-gas touring economy

  June 5, 2008

• Roky Erickson and the Explosives: Halloween: Live 1979-1981

  March 27, 2008

• Grupo Fantasma

  December 27, 2007

• Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival

  October 11, 2007

• The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker

  September 13, 2007

• Local Motion

  August 16, 2007

• The Gourds

  concert preview

  August 9, 2007

• What Made Milwaukee Famous

  What Made Milwaukee Famous performs Friday, March 2, at Walter's on Washington, 4215 Washington, 713-862-2513. Dr. Dog also performs.

  March 1, 2007

• Our top DVD picks for the week of June 20

  June 22, 2006

• Freestyle Fellowship

  Sometimes awesome live bands also make magic in the studio

  December 8, 2005

• Reach for the Stars

  Astra Heights returns from L.A. with a major-label deal in hand

  December 1, 2005

• W.C. Clark

  Saturday, May 14, at the Big Easy, 5733 Kirby, 713-523-9999.

  May 12, 2005

• An iFest Fan (and Former Music Programmer) Responds

  An open letter to Racket from Rick Mitchell, with Racket's reply

  April 28, 2005

• Festivus Maximus

  The Austin City Limits Music Festival's got a roster that won't quit

  September 18, 2003

• Robert Randolph and the Family Band

  March 27, 2003

• Flop Like an Eagle

  Brad Tyer checks out of the Hotel California after five songs

  July 14, 1994

• Some Further Thoughts on iFest, and Festivals

  Photos by Chris Gray Skyscrapers - something you won't see at Austin City Limits. Western Swing maidens the Quebe Sisters performed in the shadow of the Jesse H. Jones Library.Previously, Rocks Off's idea about what a "festival" should look like, and what to expect, came from his experiences at Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, various one-offs at Austin's Auditorium Shores and - though he's never been - what he's heard/seen/read about Jazzfest, Coachella, Bumbershoot, et al. Eithe

  April 20, 2009

• HPMA Aftermath: Born Liars, Ryan Scroggins and the Trenchtown Texans, B L A C K I E, Metavenge and Buxton

  Photos by Craig Hlavaty​This member of Rocks Off has never felt so proud of his city, especially after last night's Houston Press Music Awards showcase. He was wont to call it "his" city just a few years back, commuting back and forth into the Inner-Loop breach to review show after show from the suburbs down Highway 288. He had always felt that he perhaps wasn't quite getting what was going on, or that he just wasn't built for it. But Sunday, as we walked down the streets of downtown and saw r

  July 27, 2009

• For Method Man, Five Musical Shootings

  ​Should be an interesting scene at House of Blues this evening, where Method Man, not exactly the shy type, might get a little more attention than he bargained for. Rumor has it some time between sound check and the tall, fragrant rapper's headlining set with Redman, he'll be served with papers in conjunction with the lawsuit area resident Mary Anderson filed this week claiming Mr. "Tical" shot her in the chest after his and Red's House of Blues show last year. Anderson says she was waiting fo

  August 7, 2009

• Upstairs, Downstairs: Drive-By Truckers, "The Living Bubba" and the Steep Price of Radioactive Ice Water

  ​After many, many years, Rocks Off is beginning to realize that it's possible to have a worthwhile musical experience nowhere near a stage. Ironically, the band responsible is Drive-By Truckers, whom we've seen live more often than probably any other save Wilco, Rev. Horton Heat and a handful of old Austin favorites like the Gourds, Grand Champeen and Lil Cap'n Travis. Our history with the Truckers goes back at least a decade, when they used to blow in from Athens, Georgia, and wreck Austin's

  August 21, 2009

• The Living Bubba

  August 27, 2009

• Cleanse Your Dirty, Dirty Soul With the Blind Boys of Alabama at House of Blues

  Ladies and gentlemen, Rocks Off doesn't mind telling you he feels a little dirty after editing that last Britney Spears post. We swear, we ourselves have never, ever rubbed one out to the cover art of Oops... I Did It Again - we just wish we knew why we always have such a hard time getting the damn CD case to open. We have some serious atoning to do, and we haven't even gotten around to posting our slideshow of penis album covers or our list of upcoming singles even more inappropriate than note

  September 11, 2009

• Aftermath: Grupo Fantasma at Discovery Green

  Photos by Bryan Parras​Grupo Fantasma found their way back to Houston last night to "rock the green" for the third installation of the Capital One Bank Thursday concert series at Discovery Green. Billed as "hip-shaking, horn-blaring, Grammy-nominated Latin funk at its best," Grupo didn't fail to live up to their reputation. Even the weather was cooperating. The cool breeze made it feel like an authentic autumn evening giving Houstonians the opportunity to appreciate the outdoors. Good

  October 2, 2009

• Aftermath: Them Crooked Vultures at Stubb's in Austin

  Photos By Craig Hlavaty​Just a few short hours ago Aftermath saw the rock world's newest supergroup in action as Queens of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, ex-Nirvana drummer/current Foo Fighters helmer Dave Grohl, and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones took the stage at Stubb's in Austin for a warm-up gig before this afternoon's Austin City Limits festival appearance. Thursday night's show was only the second US date for Them Crooked Vultures since their inception this past summer.

  October 2, 2009

• Songs By ACL Artists That Should Be Covered By Other ACL Artists

  Isn't it fun to imagine all your favorite bands are best friends? And that when they spend time together, as so many of them are doing right this second at the Austin City Limits festival, they would inevitably learn each others' songs? Here are some songs by ACL bands which we'd like to see covered by other ACL bands. We think they've got time to make it happen. Song: Sleepyhead Original Artist: Passion Pit Who Should Cover It: The Dirty Projectors "Sleepyhead" is the weirdest song that Roc

  October 2, 2009

• This Week in Deliciousness

  Golden-brown is the proper tone for any loaf of sourdough / Hollywood starlet.​Welcome back to the weekly roundup here at Eating Our Words, where today we're bitterly sniffling at the fact that everyone else from the office is at the Austin City Limits festival. It's cool! There's lots of fun stuff to do in Houston, too, you know! Bastards. We hope you've been following along all week, and got to experience first-hand the epic sourdough odyssey begun on Monday by Robb Walsh. It started wi

  October 2, 2009

• Live From ACL: Buckets of Rain, and a Bright Spot or Two

  Photos by Chris GrayThis photo was NOT taken Saturday. Trust us.​ The streak is over. In eight years, Austin City Limits has seen plenty of days of unbearable heat, but hardly any rain. The most significant time was during Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' headlining 2006 set, but even that was more of a lighting show than an actual shower.All that ended Saturday, to spectacular (and disgusting) effect. It started raining in Austin before noon, but the heavens really opened up around 3 p.m.,

  October 3, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day Two: Aftermath

  Photo by Mark C. Austin​Was it something we said or did? Aftermath openly gushed about how great the weather was on Friday and how it seemed that maybe, just maybe, we were going to finally attend an Austin City Limits (ACL) that didn't consist of heat and dust. Well, it seems that the powers-the-be misunderstood what our words of thankfulness and decided to perpetuate the lack of oppressive heat and dust by having it rain all day long. As in, Aftermath arrived at Zilker Park just after n

  October 4, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day Three: Aftermath

  Photos by Mark C. AustinDavid Garza​So, what happens to freshly laid grass in a public park after a day full of rain and thousands of people walking back and forth across it at the same time? Well, as anyone who was present for Day Three of Austin City Limits Festival 2009 (ACL) could tell you, it turns into a big muddy, stinking, sloppy mess, one with the power to swallow shoes and small children whole. The stories from this day will mostly revolve around how people were able to survive

  October 5, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day Three: Spin the Black Circle

  Photos by Mark C. Austin​It only took one song in to Pearl Jam's Sunday night closing set at the Austin City Limits music festival for it to dawn on Rocks Off that for way too long this band has been forsaken by back-handed hipster discount and radio-influenced apathy. No band from the grunge-era is still honing their craft as well, and continues to thoughtfully subvert their own musical journey as much as Pearl Jam. Opening with "Why Go" from Ten, the band wasn't just firing on all cyli

  October 5, 2009

• Aftermath: Kings of Leon, and Their "Fans," Trying Our Patience at Toyota Center

  Photos by Groovehouse/ Click here for a slideshow​ Aftermath has seen almost every single step on the road to fame Kings of Leon have taken since their debut album Youth and Young Manhood in 2003. We heard a track off that album in mid-2003, "California Waiting," on a radio show while living in San Diego that year and the band stuck with us ever since. The first time we saw them live was at Meridian in 2006 at a free Camel cigarettes show. The entire band was still hirsute and on fire, coming

  October 7, 2009

• Epicurean Adventure at Bayou City Arts Festival

  Photos by Katharine Shilcutt David Cordua in the demonstration tent.​Perhaps we our hopes were too high for what is essentially a street festival (large and wonderful though it may be). Or perhaps our bodies were still too water-logged and mud-coated from last weekend's three-day exercise in stamina at Austin City Limits. But we just didn't come away impressed with this weekend's Epicurean Adventure area at downtown's Bayou City Arts Festival. With few tables or chairs on hand,

  October 13, 2009

• Ain't No Party (Around Here) Like Houston's The Factory Party

  www.myspace.com/thefactorypartymusic​ It always amazes Rocks Off how we'll start liking one band - Bunnymen-loving London post-punks White Lies, in this case - and then a little while later, stumble across a local band who could be their twin. If only, you know, they weren't from halfway around the world. That's what happened with Houston's The Factory Party. Just as we were ending our extended honeymoon with White Lies, which lasted from a week or two before Austin City Limits to the trio's d

  October 26, 2009

• Drive-By Truckers

  October 29, 2009