Berlin (Germany)

Austin Is Overrated, Try Houston Instead, Says Most Insightful Travel Writer To Ever Grace The Web

We -- to be frank -- had absolutely no idea who David Landsel was...until we opened an e-mail to discover that he is the single most insightful, knowledgeable, trenchant and trustworthy travel writer to ever be on the web. Why he has no multi-platform empire of his own -- why he's not the Martha St ... More >>

Josh Trevino: A Chat With The Prominent Texan Conservative Voice Outed as Malaysian Agent

After the Berlin Wall fell in late 1989, Western agents began probing the documents long squirreled away in Soviet-satellite archives. Among the documents unearthed following Prime Minister Eric Honecker's democratic decisions was a money trail circling an Australian journalist named Wilfred Burchet ... More >>

Molly Flogs Houston

Flogging Molly makes the walls sweat at the House of Blues.

Miles Runs the Voodoo Down on New "Bootleg Series"

Fans of jazz giant Miles Davis were overjoyed in 2011 to hear that Columbia/Legacy had tapped the artist as the next subject of their Bootleg Series, offering rare live recordings of performances only available previously as, well... bootlegs, if at all. Though of course, these "official" releases c ... More >>

Yoko Ono Turns 80, Still Weird as Hell

Yoko Ono, never one to bend to the rules of societal convention, has got this old-age shit down to a science. Screw bridge club and Metamucil; this soon-to-be octogenarian is putting your grandma's ideas about the twilight years to shame. True to form, the famed conceptual artist/musician/fashion- ... More >>

German Food Truck Der Brat Bus Seeks Funding on Kickstarter, Hopes to Make Houston Home

Despite Texas' solidly German heritage, Houston boasts only a handful of restaurants, a fact I've often lamented. If my favorite spot, King's Biergarten, were any closer to town, I would probably spend way too much time there. Though the cuisine might seem a bit antiquated by today's standards, th ... More >>

Happy Birthday, Mike Patton: His 5 Greatest Albums

Sunday, Mike Patton turned 45 years old. Tomorrow, the fourth album by his long-running project Tomahawk, entitled Oddfellows, will be released. To say I've got a little bit of Patton fever is an understatement. Maybe some still only know him for Faith No More's rap-metal classic "Epic," which still ... More >>

Crappy Ringtone Tumblr Makes Indie-Someone's Music More Crappy

For the past two months, New York City-based composer/songwriter David Nyman has been turning back the clock and making MIDI versions of popular and current indie-rock and hip-hop jams. His Tumblr page, where he unloads his Soundcloud clips of these tiny wonders, is getting very popular, and was s ... More >>

Capsule Art Reviews: "Ariane Roesch: Simple Machines and Simple Dreams," "CraftTexas 2012," "Dieter Balzer: Objects," "Endless Disharmony and Telltale Ashes," "Endless Disharmony and Telltale Ashes," "Texas Eclectic," "Tony Feher: A Work in Four Parts"

Rocks Off's Something Wicked Mini-Guide: Shadow Field

Cooler temperatures? Check. Loud music? Check. Crazy outfits? Check. If my scientific calculations are correct, those three things are a recipe for a great fall day. And while the pubs will be crawling and the houses will be haunted the best place to get all three of those this weekend is going to b ... More >>

10 Iconic Final Concerts Plus The End Of Beatlemania

The Beatles' concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park 46 years ago today was the end of an era for the band. Except for a famously unannounced appearance on top the Apple building two and a half years later, it would be the final live performance that the Fab Four would ever play together. It w ... More >>

Local Musicians Come Together For Charalambides' Tom Carter

Rewind: Charalambides Guitarist Tom Carter On the Mend Some local musicians are rallying to help out one of their own this weekend, and it appears that some good, weird tunes will be a happy side effect for the rest of us. Tom Carter, guitarist for long-running H-town expatriate avant-gardists Cha ... More >>

The 4 Best Cocktails Named For Rock Stars

I played rock star for a few years here in town, loading in equipment at 7 p.m. to go on around midnight. You know what you do in the interim? You drink, heavily, because you're in a bar and you're bored off your ass. I even ended up writing the Black Math Experiment song "Alcohol" about it. Alcoh ... More >>

Charalambides Guitarist Tom Carter On the Mend

Tom Carter, guitarist for Charalambides, the influential and prolific ex-Houston avant-garde/psychedelic duo, is out of intensive care and recovering at a rehabilitation hospital in Ahrenshoop, Germany after awakening from a medically induced coma last week. Carter's bandmate and ex-wife, Christina ... More >>

Capsule Art Reviews: "Bo Joseph: Empire of Spoils," "David Aylsworth: The Reverses Wiped Away," "Endearing the Line," "Jason Yates: All We Ever Wanted Was Everything," "Lucas Johnson: Original Prints," "reverse of volume RG," "Tu Eres O No Tu Eres Mi Ba

Capsule Art Reviews: "Bo Joseph: Empire of Spoils," "David Aylsworth: The Reverses Wiped Away," "Endearing the Line," "The Graphic Arts of Hans Erni," "HJ Bott: Rhythm and Rhetoric," "Jason Yates: All We Ever Wanted Was Everything," "Source Material: Wor

Capsule Art Reviews: "Bo Joseph: Empire of Spoils," "Endearing the Line," "HJ Bott: Rhythm and Rhetoric," "How I Will Die," "Members," "reverse of volume RG," "Jason Yates: All We Ever Wanted Was Everything"

Capsule Art reviews: "Elegance and Refinement: The Still-Life Paintings of Willem van Aelst," "Endearing the Line," "Five Houses," "The Graphic Arts of Hans Erni," "Round 36"

Play It Again, Sam: 10 Artists & Comedians Signed To Casablanca Records

Casablanca Records was a record company started by Neil Bogart -- no relation to the late legendary actor Humphrey Bogart, although Neil was a big Bogie enthusiast and admirer. In the 1970s, Casablanca Records was the go-to label for disco much like Death Row was the go-to place for gangsta rap in t ... More >>

10 Movie Songs We Can't Hear Without Thinking Of Sex

While we at Rocks Off boast many obsessions and vices (we'll call them "hobbies"), a few choice ones unashamedly top our list. If you perverted pop-culture junkies agree that sex, music, and movies are among life's simplest and most necessary pleasures, then keep reading. If you still blush during s ... More >>

Last Night: Jandek At Big Star Bar

Jandek Big Star Bar April 1, 2012 The first time I saw Jandek live, I learned to leave whatever I had been expecting in another room. That was Rudyard's in April 2009, and I had been expecting (correctly or not) some kind of solo Bill Callahan-like avant-folk implosion, and got a trio playing a sol ... More >>

Capsule Art Reviews: "Berlin, Potsdamer Platz," "The Graphic Arts of Hans Erni," "The Livable Forest," "Love Man," "New Paintings: Geoff Hippenstiel," "Perspectives 177: McArthur Binion"

Nathan Carter's Faux Cityscape at Window Into Houston

In a way, it makes sense that Art Attack's phone interview with Nathan Carter took place while the New York City-based artist was holed up in a Chicago airport awaiting the departure of a re-routed flight. For the past decade, Carter has created and exhibited fictional cityscapes (made from wall r ... More >>

Executive Entertainers: America's Most Musical Presidents

Big-money supporters were treated to the first indelible moment in Barack Obama's reelection campaign last Thursday when the President crooned the opening lyric from Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" from the stage of the Apollo Theater in Harlem. It was just the sort of off-the-cuff instance that c ... More >>

Happy Birthday, Jim Morrison: Top 5 Songs About the Lizard King

​We've always felt a deep connection with Jim Morrison, so much so that we'd rather read No One Here gets Out Alive than listen to any one Doors song. The poet and legendary front man left us far too soon, and in his wake is a wealth of stories and music that continues to echo down and find an ... More >>

The Man Who Fell to Earth

Desert Couscous

Casablanca worth a visit in a city with so little Moroccan food.

Wine of the Week: Zweigelt, a Red to Chill for Summer

​1888 was a momentous year in the history of Western Civilization. It was the year that Nietzsche went mad and the year he scribed his last cogent and coherent works (I, for one, am a huge fan of Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer). And it's also the year that marked ... More >>

Lemmy & HeadCat Mates Walk The Rockabilly Walk

​You could say that the members of roots-rock trio HeadCat got together to pay tribute to the King. But instead of the baby Jesus of Bethlehem, these three wise men -bassist/singer Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead), drummer Slim Jim Phantom (ex-Stray Cats), and guitarist/pianist Danny B. Harvey (ex ... More >>

Saturday Night: Clan Of Xymox At Numbers

Photos by Erica O'Brien​Clan of Xymox, Provision Numbers May 7, 2011 Rocks Off would like to thank Erica O'Brien for saving our tushies and providing these pics when ye old camera when kaput. Is it really possible that we've been hanging around Numbers for almost a decade and somehow never s ... More >>

Saturday Night: Psychedelic Furs At Warehouse Live

Photos by Groovehouse​Psychedelic Furs Warehouse Live April 23, 2010 The Psychedelic Furs are very much a throwback band, but not in the way you might be thinking. Thanks largely to John Hughes, the Butler brothers' UK crew will forever be remembered as one of the premier musical avatars of t ... More >>

Notes from an Obscure Car Chase

Tased and confused on West 11th.​So last night I am cycling home, listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast about the Red Army's sacking of Berlin. As I pedal up North Shepherd near the 11th Street Kroger, Carlin regaling me with tale after tale of unspeakable Red Army atrocities, a m ... More >>

Teenage Mutant Ninja

Virtuoso filmmaking, retro ­politics in a crisp thriller.

Cognitive Dissonance

Unknown is yet another empty-headed vehicle for Liam Neeson.

Arthur Rubinstein, Pimp Pianist, Sick-Burns Einstein

Carl Van Vecht​Today is Arthur Rubinstein's birthday, and if he were still alive he would be a) 124 years old; and b) almost certainly banging ballerinas in their early twenties. Perhaps the most celebrated pianist of the last century, Rubinstein himself admitted that there were other pianists ... More >>

Time Waster Tuesday -- NBA Superstars Videos (via YouTube)

"'Remember when' is the lowest form of conversation." -- Tony Soprano Tony was right, you never want to be "remember when" guy, and I try my best not to be. But the fact of the matter is, for many of us, what happened between the ages of 16 and 28 constitute the "good times." High school, maybe ... More >>

Dancing With the Stars ' Dream Rock-Star Cast

​Fluff reality show Dancing With the Stars is (shockingly) in its 11th season, which wraps up with tonight's finale. While browsing this season's "celebrity" dancers - Bristol Palin, Kurt Warner, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, etc. - we couldn't help but fantasize about out ideal musical ve ... More >>

Last Night: Roger Waters' The Wall at the Toyota Center

Photos by Jim BrickerRoger Waters performed The Wall in its entirety Saturday night at Toyota Center. See our slideshow for more photos.​Roger Waters Toyota Center November 20, 2010 Ed. note: The sold-out Roger Waters show was so highly anticipated, we sent two reviewers. Tune in Monday morni ... More >>

Friday Night: Interpol At Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Groovehouse​Interpol Verizon Wireless Theater October 29, 2010 Interpol should not have been at Verizon Friday night. Not by any traditional yardstick. A decade or so after their first release, the Fukd ID #3 EP, Interpol is a genuine anomaly. In an age when image is everything in ... More >>

Eight Delicious Goth Covers Of Mainstream Hit Songs

​The Halloween season is upon us, which means that the powers that be have let Gothtopia run amuck just a bit in bringing you music of a darker persuasion. Usually, Gothtopia and the Wife With One F would be at Numbers on Halloween vaccinating ourselves for snakebites with vodka and cranberr ... More >>

Atari Teenage Riot's Empire

Techno-punks have a new MC and a new message.

Whoa! 21 Famous Musicians' High-School Yearbook Photos

Willie Nelson, the LAST time he had his hair short.​While Rocks Off was seeking out the best rock star yearbook photos for this blog, we came to a conclusion: Everyone was ugly in their yearbook photos, except Gwen Stefani and Beyonce Knowles. Everyone else looks weird as hell, or nothing like the ... More >>

Rick Perry Breaks Out The Ozzy

As the race for the next governor heats up between former Houston mayor Bill White and the purtiest governor in Texas history, Rick Perry, we will be subject to all manner of mudslinging from both sides. They will use anything they can to drive their point across or in Perry's case, getting all hi ... More >>

Rick Perry Rides Ozzy's "Crazy Train"

As the race for the next governor heats up between former Houston mayor Bill White and the purtiest governor in Texas history, Rick Perry, we will be subject to all manner of mudslinging from both sides. They will use anything they can to drive their point across - or, in Perry's case, getting all ... More >>

Parisian EVIL MOISTURE Mastermind Teaches Us Some Russian Prison Slang

We're not really sure what's going on here, but it looks like fun. And possibly illegal.​ Radar Eyes: State your name and purpose... AB: Andy Bolus... EVIL MOISTURE. I am an artist, musician, and builder of machines among other things. RE: Where are you currently located? AB: Paris France since ab ... More >>

A Wunderbar Feast at "Lunch With The Germans"

Photos by Katharine Shilcutt​More and more, organizers are mixing music with food at the industry parties that permeate the scene during the daylight hours of SXSW. This morning, I quelled my angry stomach with a full English breakfast of grilled tomatoes, Heinz beans, egg butties and tea at t ... More >>

Aftermath: Peaches, Stripping the Onion (and Herself) at House of Blues

Photos by Jody Perry/ Click here for a slideshow​ It's been a long time since Aftermath has been to the kind of high-energy, high-theatrics rock and roll show that makes us totally forget ourselves, even if just for an hour. Monday night at House of Blues, Peaches gave us exactly that kind of show ... More >>

Donut Patrol: Ich Bin Ein Bismark

​The Bavarian cream-filled Bismark is the thing to get at Daily Donut on Barker Cypress just north of 290. The cream-filled donut there was delicious, while the raised donut was stale and lame. Though Daily Donut calls this a Bismark, some would disagree with both the usage and the spelling. E ... More >>

Slide Jam: Ariane Roesch and Jane Eifler

Two artists explain their work (kinda)

Joy Division's Expanded Reissues

Unknown Pleasures, Closer, Still, Control Original Motion Picture Sound Track